The Sweetest Thing

K, so Mondays are my "play guitar and sing at the very tip-top of my lungs" time while both kids are in school. As a result I just about threw a chair at my hubby's friend when he came in the door. I was seeing red as I dropped my son off, KNOWING they'd be chatting away in my living room when I got home (detect any selfish whining in there? I do.)

Then it hit me, I'll just climb into the hills behind our house and play there. So, I grabbed my Ipod, guitar, water and apple and hiked 20 minutes into the hills. I found a nice scrub tree and sang away for an hour. Oh, little did I know how more blessed that time would be in His creation! His presence sat and enjoyed the time with me.

Then, on the hike down, I listened to an amazing sermon by John Piper from Sept. 3 entitled, "How Satan Saves the Soul"...wow, it was like eating a sermon hoagie it was so meaty!

All this to say, why don't you slow down and spend some time with Him? What keeps you from it?

Byzantine Blues

I've had my moments of being irritated over the last three months with our guest. The Turk wasn't noisy or intrusive, but with our quarters being so tight there was bound to be some stress.
The last couple of weeks I've been counting down for tomorrow...dreaming of moving my hubby's piles of stuff back into his office where it won't drive me as crazy.
What I wasn't expecting was to feel sad...sad as if my child is leaving the house and going off into the scary world. He's 24 and no child, but in a spiritual sense we have been his parents and he is our baby. He's going back to a country where religion isn't encouraged and where his family would freak if he brought up Christianity.
I worry that we haven't given him enough love, enough insight, enough of anything to stay encouraged until he can come back to the states and explore God like he wants to. But hey, really it's all out of my control anyway...God speed Bestami.

It Only took a Month

This may be the first week where I get to spent my TWK (time w/o kids) exactly as I had purposed to. Here's my plan:

Mon-Meet w/ friends I barely see or rock out on my guitar
Wed-Study up for bible studies and workout at the Rec center for 2 hours.
Fri-Maybe window shop, deep clean house...this one is my anything goes time.

I just finished playing guitar and singing at the top (the very top!) of my lungs for 1 1/2 hours. I've known for the last 7 years that this way of worship is so integral to who I am. But, it's hard to rock out with your kids around...ya hate to look like the dorky parent! All that to say, my goal is to build up the old callouses, start playing fast again and being inspired to write music again. I've got this great 12 string guitar that I haven't approached (it's been in its case for 4 years) because I want to have some skills before I dare attempt it.

Also, I just gotta tell you, I'd like nothing better than to take drum lessons.

Pros & Cons Day

Pros-
Ate tasty lentil & sausage soup for lunch, ate tasty scone @ Starbucks while studying and guzzled down a quart of sweet, sweet coffee. Finished reading book about cadavers by Mary Roach. Got to exercise for 2 hours and burned an estimated 600 calories because the caffeine made me extra peppie!

Cons-Said soup & scone, while tasty, caused stomache discomfort and the real urge to upchuck. Coffee, while energizing, made my hands shaky and pupils get REALLY tiny.

Moral: Skip the scone and soup...maybe less coffee.

Money Doesn't Make Our World Go Round

Since the beginning of time there's been a drive to gain more than what we currently have. We, as Americans, know this all too well in our land of ample opportunity. The struggle we parents have to deal with is how to teach our youngin's what money should be.

Before we even can teach them though, I think we need to have a good handle on what we think money is.
Is it the most important aspect of our lives?
Is it a stressful means to an end?
Is it something we've been given to give away?
Whatever our personal philosophy of funds happens to be, that will be the monetary impression our kids will get.

We, in our unique journey, strive to use our funds to help those around us be who they are supposed to be. This means that we give a portion of our funds to mission work. Not only do we give monetarily, but we also are able to go and visit other countries. This has made the biggest impact on our 6 year old's view of money. Watching the street kids struggle to live on nothing in Nicaragua and the generosity of low income friends to give us a great meal in Turkey has shown her how blessed we are. On her own, our daughter has decided that she doesn't always need to buy more. We consistently reiterate in front of both of our kids that everything we own is not ours. We've been blessed with it for a time and it's ours to bless other's with.

I'm hoping that by setting this (mostly) consistent example of holding money as something that we are blessed with that our kids will keep a balanced view of it as they get older. We will see!

This was post was written for a contest on Parent Bloggers Network http://blog.parentbloggers.com/ in conjunction with Capital One http://www.capitalone.com/financialeducation/cbt/launcher.htm . They have a new program online ( Moneywi$e eLearning ) tool to help families learn to manage their finances.

Esta Es Un Gran Tarantula!!

Well, it was bound to happen. The big bad tropical bugs make their first appearance last night. Of course it would be in the room where the 4 kids sleep. The 8 ran out hysterical screaming that there was a tarantula in the room.
Sure enough, on the corner wall was a big bad creature straight out of "Arachnaphobia" (for the record, I've never been able to watch all of it). It wasn't the biggest bug I've ever seen, but it was the size of a hand. The gate guard was nice enough to come squish the heck out of it with his heavy boots. They're faster than I expected.

Other than the spider, yesterday was a pretty calm day for me...I laid around the house reading while rain flooded portions of the house. Reminded me of some days I had as a teenager at the lake.

Vote for Me!

I've got a mural up in a contest...vote for it if you like it:

http://www.mydigitalprints.ca/Contest/Sara.asp

A Nicaraguan Day

Hello all! I'm hailing you today from muggy Managua, Nicaragua. I got here last night with 3 checked bags (non of which had my stuff in them) that I flew down here for some friends. One of the perks of flying cheap is you get to be a long-distance sherpa!

Our friends are down here starting up a home for the street boys who are addicted to sniffing glue. Not the easiest group of kids to get cleaned up. For example, two of the boys who are still out on the street got into a fight today and one of them was stabbed. Another one looks like he's going back to jail because he didn't stay in the house like the judge told him to.

Right now three boys are willingly staying in the home and I marvel at the changes that have happened in the last 3 years. The hubby and I were here 3 summers ago and hung out with many of the same boys. At that point they had no hope past the glue under their noses. Now they have 3 square meals, a roof, the beginnings of some education and the love of some gringos. I know it's discouraging for my friends here to see how slowly things are progressing, but I'm still blown away by the addition of life back into their eyes. It's hard to see the big picture when you see the daily grind (kind of like being a mom).

Anyhoo, that's just a quick update from the low lands. Later skaters!

The Newton Equation

My son is a professed fruit hater...don't know why but at the age of 2 1/2 he refused to touch fruit anymore! So, I got around it by giving him healthy juices and letting him eat a Newton or two a day.
Yesterday there was a breakdown in the Newton monitoring. Somehow he ended up consuming 20 Newtons yesterday and 2 carrots. Sure enough at 3am he woke up screaming that his "tummy" was killing him and proceeded to whimper and fart for the next 40 minutes.

I'll take that over the spiders.

The Forgotten Frenulum

Do any of us ever give a thought to the frenulum? Why would we...for the most part it does what it supposed to do, unless you're my son. The frenulum is the skinny flap of skin that keeps your tongue anchored to the floor of your mouth, my son's has been attached at the very tip of his tongue since birth.
The docs keep assuring us that it would stretch out over time and not be so tight, but it never has. So, at four, he finally had it clipped.
Because of his age we got to trek down to the Children's Hospital here in Denver and have him put asleep for 10 minutes. Silly docs thought a 4 four old might not hold still for this, Psh! The whole thing went more smoothly than I could've thought. My son is shocked that he can actually stick his tongue past his teeth now...I can already tell a difference in the pronounciation of his "L's".
That's absorbed my weekend on top of us all developing our first "back to school" cold.

On a completely different note, the wolf spiders in our house are out of control this year. They're not quite the size of small dogs, but they're certainly shooting for it. Last night, as I was in the cusp of sleep I felt something skitter across my leg. Like lightening I brushed it off, pinned it under my other leg, flipped on the light and grabbed a tissue. I lifted up my leg and there was an injured wolf spider with the body (not including legs) of a half dollar! In my bed! This is the final straw, I HAVE to find some way of killing these buggers.

Though, I think I'll feel better about our spiders after I go down to Nicaragua in a week. Our friends have already seen a tarantula around their house.

The Things That Get Me

My 4 yr old son started his 3 afternoon/wk preschool program yesterday. It made me catch my breath a little when I watched him walk slowly into his classroom. (BTW, he loved it and couldn't stop raving about it)

I picked up my 6 yr old yesterday and as we walked to the car a boy who looked to be a year old said, "See ya Ruthie" and she coolly waved. She's so comfortable at that school and it makes me a little teary.

We watched "Rescue Dawn" last night, a Vietnam POW movie with Christian Bale. I couldn't stop thinking, "If someone could spend 5 years in conditions like that and come out sensible, then I know he can run a country."

Contest of the Day

DK Mommy (www.dkmommyspot.com) hosts many giveaways on a regular basis. She's holding a special round of giveaways this week that are all natural beauty products! Check out the info at this post: http://dkmommyspot.com/natural-beauty-week-is-coming/

Ineffectually Egged

If you're going to go to the trouble to TP and egg a house, the least you can do is do it well! I woke up to find 2 rolls of TP, one stick of margarine and 1 egg (1 egg?!) had been tossed into the tree and at the living room window. It's almost as if they lost the oomph for it. Makes me feel a little cheated too. If I have to clean it up, make it a BIG mess. Also, hello, no teenagers in this house...so, who did it?

I've been feeling a little fuzzy around the edges the last couple of days. You know, that phase where food seems like a waste of time cause it's so boring and all the things in your day blur together and seem boring too. Yeah, I've figured out that it seems to be part of my hormone cycle...pretty sucky part really. Even my cooking gets boring.

Sidenote: Dried egg smells like fish after it's been washed off the window.

Nature's Out To Get Me

Or, at least get my veggies!

I don't have a very big garden at all...most of them are in planters because I don't have the ground space. So, you'd think the pesky varmints would leave it alone. No such luck.

I went outside to pick lettuce yesterday (after 3 days of glorious rain) to find the tops eaten off ALL my tomato plants, a lettuce plant and my watermelon plants. Argh!
Then, just to taunt me, the deer left their tracks, their scat and the skunk sat outside our house last night.

Is this pay back for hunting season?

Leukemia

My hubby's little brother was diagnosed with leukemia 6 years ago, when he was 10. It was a very stressful time for my in-laws, but it got them motivated to get involved and find the best way to help him. They held a couple of bone marrow drives that yielded no matches. On the plus side, some other kids were helped by those that got on the registry. Finally they put him on an experimental drug called Glevic (sp?) and he has had no symptoms and a good blood count for the last 4 years. We thank God after every good test result. Kevin (my bro-in-law) has gotten used to taking his pill every day, not fully comprehending how close he is to possible upset.

The Friends of Heroes blog and Goodies for Mom (see the link on this post ) are teaming up to raise awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Check out their site if you'd like to learn more about the organization and the contest (I'd love to win one of the gift cards!) in conjunction with it.

Flowing Through My Fingers

Ruth is loving first grade so far. They started Tuesday and she's come home so happy. The only downside is the emotionalability of there being a new order to her life. She's lashed out a couple of times and burst into tears over nothing this week.

I wonder if my son is going to react the same way when he starts in 2 weeks. I'm enjoying the time I've had with my son "mano-a-momo" this week. He's done a beautiful job of playing by himself happily. I think he's enjoying the conflictlessness that comes with playing by himself.

I'm tasting the freedom of getting things done with less people to take care of. Crevices of my house that haven't seen clean in months are getting a hefty dose of it now. We've had a friend of ours (the aformentioned Turk) living with us since mid-June. I've been okay with it, but the size of my house and extra body are finally getting to me. I love the guy like a brother, but I'm counting down the weeks until he heads back to Turkey (probably in mid-Sept).

It's nice to be standing on the lip of having both of my kids in school all day. It's hard to know that my kids will have so many different influences on them that I will never know about. BUT, I look forward to all of the prayer and (hopefully) good conversations we'll have as a result of our slowly changing relationship. God is their guide and it becomes more and more obvious that I have my place, but I can't control all of them...and shouldn't!

Thoughts?

Punchline: And They All Lost Sleep, Ha!

The plumber finally made it to our house at 10pm where he proceeded to snake the pipes for 2 1/2 hours.

Our dear, lazy rental agency hasn't snaked the pipes in awhile. The plumber said it was the most roots he's seen in a very...long...time. We would've fallen asleep, but the pipes were too close to us and the ringing kept us awake (see how small our place is).

All's well, that shower's well!

Where's the Punchline?

Okay, there's a family of four, a grandpa and a Turk living in an 800 sq. ft. house with one bathroom....and the pipes back up into the toilet and tub...and I wish this was a joke.

Nope, that's the status of my household today. The plumber is currently 2-5 hours from being available. And, yes, we're all crossing our legs in anticipation of his arrival.

Let The Countdown Begin!

My sweet girl is starting 1st grade on Tuesday and I couldn't be happier. Seems like too much free, unscheduled time brings out the whiny's in my kiddos. They were fine up until 2 weeks ago...then my house became the most boring place on the planet for them. It was a hard week anyway since their friends across the street were on vacation.

To top it off, my horrormones were off the charts last week, my hubby was out of town AND I had to go buy school supplies. I HATE BUYING SUPPLIES...I was going to buy the pre-packaged set from the store, but they were all out. So, now I'm trying to decipher the descriptions of various writing implements and notebooks they have to have on Tuesday.
My son starts pre-K in 2 weeks and I have a feeling it will be hard on him to be the only kid in the house. He's going to be badgering me to allow him to play 3 hours of James Bond and Sonic a day I'm sure.

How are you and your munckins handling the run up to school?

Vote for Me!

Hey guys over on Mental Magma (www.mentalmagma.com) I'm a finalist in a contest...please go vote for my cheesy answer! Here's the link: http://www.mentalmagma.com/archives/293
Polls close on Sunday!!