Monday morning

This has been a long week and it is only Wednesday.


Monday morning I woke up to my cell phone ringing. I answered it and then things felt like they were going in slow motion. It was my sister, she was very upset, not making a lot of sense, there had been a terrible accident, she was in the hospital, she was hurt, confused, and shaken up. I was shaking, called my parents and broke the news to them. They went to the hospital, I had to wait for the social worker to make her monthly visit. Finally she was done and I got in the car and went to the hospital.

ICU

My sister laying there. Looking so small, so hurt.

Fractured pelvic bone
Lacerated liver
Broken nose and forehead
Stitches above her eye
Puncture wound on her upper thigh

I almost lost my sister on Monday but she is going to be alright.

She has a very long recovery road ahead of her but they say she will heal

She is in a lot of pain, there is still a possibility of surgery but not very likely

They might move her out of the ICU today.

It has been a rough week. It is going to be long couple of weeks still.

God spared her life and we are all very thankful.

I have been Memed also...

My good friend Kristin passed along a meme.
It is eight things about me that you probably do not know...

1. I have lived in 10 places (houses, apartments) in the last 7 1/2 years

2. I have never broken a bone or needed stitches

3. I have one sister who is almost 6 years younger than me

4. I have friends that I have known since fourth grade

5. I cannot fall asleep at night without reading first

6. I like coffee and salads a lot more if someone else makes them

7. I want to take cooking lessons someday

8. I really, really love to swim

Boxes, Boxes, So Many Boxes....

We are officially moved. Things have been crazy for the last week but we are in our new house and that is good. We are all loving it so much. We have room to breath and a yard to run around in. The kids have been running through the sprinkler and going in the little pool. We have been using the BBQ and enjoying all the nice things about having a back yard.

I will try to post pictures sometime but right now I am just trying to keep my head above water. I am swimming in boxes, trying to keep kids busy, and doing all the little things that have to be done when you move (change address, get garbage cans, get the Internet hooked up) all of that fun stuff.

A week or so more and we should be back to normal, I hope.

Enchantment

Last night at an outdoor theater we watched A Mid summers Night Dream while sitting on a blanket and eating a picnic with my mom and sister.

At the end of the play my daughter looks at me and says, " I have never hugged a fairy in my whole life"

I almost died from the cuteness.

We then went and found a fairy for her to hug which the fairy was very sweet and accommodating. Then she said, " can I hug a princess too?" She thought the girls in the play were princesses and so we found a princess. My daughter was beaming from ear to ear.

In the car we were talking about it and I said, "you are so lucky that you got to hug a fairy and a princess.

My daughter responded by saying," yeah, and I got to hug Donia (my sister) and Nana (my mom).

It was just so sweet.

Book List

I have been so behind but I posted a couple more books over at my book list blog. The summer is a great time to read lots and lots of books.

Summer is here

Here I was getting excited that we were going to have a summer break. No need to do anything in particular and free to do whatever we wanted.

What I found was that little kids do not do so well without some structure. They need to know what they are doing and what to expect. So we have a new schedual. It is different from the school year but still we have a schedual.

I am wondering what other moms do during the summer break? Anybody have any great ideas that have worked for you or web sites that have great ideas?

Today's challenges and one blessing

Today started out with me not having enough sleep from the baby waking up last night. Then my husband left for work and life got really fun.

I went upstairs to see what my daughter was doing in her room and found that she had peed all over her floor, some toys, and her shelf. It looks like she was climbing her shelf like she always does to get her clothes and then peed while she was standing on the shelf. When asked what happened she told me that she did not know that she needed to go to the bathroom. That was fun to clean up.

Our house is packed up for the move to the point that it is annoying to live here. All the things you need are packed and the house is a mess. There is not a lot of motivation to clean but then I cannot stand it so dirty and it is driving me crazy. We found out that we have no idea now when we will be moving. The owner is not answering any of his real estate agents calls and there has been a little hold up in the paperwork and basically we need his signature to go ahead and move in but we cannot get that if nobody can get ahold of him. Not the highlight of my day.

I am pmsing so everything just seems that much harder and I am on the brink of losing my mind. I do not like this part of moving. I do not mind the packing and un-packing so much, it is the waiting that is hard for me. And the kids are kind of going crazy with the unknowns and excitement all at the same time.

I let the kids watch two movies today which I am not proud of but it was all I could stand to do right now. Leaving the house sounded like a lot of work, but so much of our stuff is packed that it is hard to be home and do anything else.

I discovered that a jelly jar was sitting on its side in the back of the fridge and had leaked onto a couple of shelves. Now I need to take everything out and clean it really good because every time I pull something out it is all sticky and I can't leave it like that. I feel like my whole house is covered in pee and sticky stuff right now. I bet that makes you want to come over to my house.

The blessing though on this frustrating day. My baby took a four hour nap. In her crib. This has never happened before and I do not expect it to happen again anytime soon but it was a nice little surprise on a very hard day.

Food Adventures

I try to teach my kids to have an open mind about eating. Tonight I told them that we should try a new restaurant that we had not been to before. It is a Greek restaurant so I was not really sure what to expect. I told them to keep their minds open and just give it a try. They might discover that they like it.

So, we go in and I order for the family. We sit down to hummus with pita bread, grilled vegis, and two gyros. My husband and I take a bite. And then a couple more. I start to wonder about the meat but do not want to say anything in front to the kids. Then I am starting to get really grossed out as I discover that it is LAMB! I do not like lamb, I do not eat lamb. How did I miss the fact that it was going to be lamb in my food.

I descretly slide my food away, my husband doing the same thing. Then we leave. I talk to the kids about how it is good to try new foods because how else will you know that you like it or not. We all decide that we are not to fond of this restaurant and will not be going back there.

I went into the whole adventure thinking that it would be good for the kids but it was me who was really in for an adventure.

Then we headed straight to Big Spoon ( our local frozen yogurt shop) so that I could get that horrible taste and thought out of my mind.

Peanut butter frozen yogurt with granola on top did the trick.

Lesson learned.. I might think my kids are picky but I have my things that I do not like to eat also.

Family

We had a great memorial weekend. My family had a big birthday bash for my grandma. She turned 70 this year. It was at my parents house which is always a really nice place to go. It is up in the woods and really peaceful and beautiful. The kids just ran around all day and played. We ate great food and visited. I think my grandma was very happy.

We stayed the night there and then went over to my grandpa's house where my great-grandma lived. My mom and her two sisters were here so we thought it was a good time to go through some of my great-grandma's stuff. It was really sad but we were also laughing a lot. We found things that reminded us of her and things she would say or do. We went through all of her jewelry, which was a lot, and divided it up between all us girls. I am so glad that I get to have little bits of her to remember her by and to pass down to my girls.

It was a really nice time with family. I really enjoy being with them. We all have our quirky things but that is what we love about each other. My moms older sister always makes me laugh and see things in ways that I would not look at them. Her younger sister is really good at giving advise. And I think every time I am with my mom I feel closer and closer to her. She truly is a friend to me and a mom. She loves my kids so much and through doing that she loves me. My dad is also so important to me. He was getting mad at the party because he had not had a chance to hold the baby. He really likes her a lot and she likes him. I think that the older I get the more I appreciate my family.

My son told me that he likes it when my sister cooks for him because she likes plain food also so he does not have to worry about her making it spicy. My cousin made a treasure hunt for all of the kids at the party and they loved that.

I guess I am just realizing that I do not want to take my family for granted. It is a very special thing to have them in my life.

It is not something that just happens but is something that has to be worked at and important to everyone involved. My great-grandma taught us that. She taught us that it is ok to tease each other as long as it was in love. We were to spend holidays together, not because we had to but because it was more fun with everyone around. Staying up late and visiting was one of her greatest joys and she passed that on to us. She made every visit, every encounter a special one just by her being happy.

I realized that my family does not really talk bad about each other. We may get a bit irritated but there was always an excuse. Like if you got upset my great-grandma would say, "o that poor thing, is just to busy or stressed or tired." She taught us so much about loving and treasuring your family. And as far as the grand kids went, they could do no wrong and we knew that she would love us unconditionally. She knew that it was the parents place to raise and discipline but that everyone needs someone in their life that will think they are wonderful not matter what they do.

She has taught me so much and I want to make sure that I pass it on to my kids. I am thankful that my parents have taken up the role of loving unconditionally. To them, the grand kids can do no wrong. And I want to pass on the importance of getting together and just visiting until late at night, laughing and eating. We will pass on this wisdom to our kids that their great-great-grandma taught her family.

A bit of quiet

It is a rare moment of quiet so I thought I would try to write and put down all the things that I feel like are always running around in my head.

I ran into a girl that I went to high school with at trader Joe's yesterday. She was two years ahead of me but it was a small school and I knew her a little. The weird thing was when she asked what I was doing these days and I told her that I had THEEE kids. It kind of freaked me out. I think it might have been the first time I said it out loud, I am the mother of three kids. I felt so old but then so young at the same time. I do not think I really ever thought I would have three kids but I do, and I love it.

We went to the library yesterday, just me and the THREE kids. We go about once a week because no matter how many books we get my son reads them all in about a week and is needing more to read. I love the library and since we go a lot we kind of have a system and it works really good. The kids know what to expect and what is expected of them and they love to get new books. What I am trying to say is that when we got our baby I was not sure if we would be able to go anywhere let alone the library. It just seemed so hard and crazy but she is only three months old and we are able to go to the library. A small accomplishment but a good one.

Just in case you think things are easy and serene around here I need to inform you that the whole library thing was an accomplishment not a daily occurrence. I am the mother of three small children. I am so tired at night that all I want to do is watch tv or on a good night read. I spend my days cleaning up, doing laundry, breaking up arguments, and counting the hours until my husband comes home. It is not easy but there are moments of pure joy, like when our new baby smiles at us, when my daughter tells me that she likes my dancing dress, when my son wants to share one of his Lego creations with me, that make it all worth it.

Right now things are really good. We are in Tahoe for the weekend. I am drinking coffee in bed and the kids are all happy. I love getting away with my family. We get to spend uninterrupted time together. We read a lot, cuddle and watch movies, go for walks, and play games. I am going to enjoy every minute of our time here because when we get home things not only go back to normal but we have an added thing.

Here is a clue as to what it is

10x7=?

That would be ten moves in seven years. That's right. We are moving again. And it will be number ten in the seven years we have been married. It will be my sons ninth move.
It all happened really fast, like it always seems to for us. We found a great, wonderful house. It is hard to find new houses in our area close to midtown. We do not want to live in an old house if we can help it because it is a lot of upkeep and we just are not very good at it. Plus any extra time we have we do not want to spend working on our house if we can help it. The house we are in right now is about ten years old. It is no upkeep at all. But now with another child it is starting to feel really cramped and we do not have a yard. As the kids get bigger I see more and more the importance of a yard. The other thing we have been wanting it to have the "hang out house" You know the one that everybody wants to go to and just hang out. We love to have people at our house and we host a number of things so we have been wanting somewhere to be able to do that comfortably. Do I sound like I am justifying this move? I kind of am. I do not really want to move again but I do feel like God brought this house along right when we were looking. It is perfect and I hope one that we can settle down in but as you can see from our track record there are going to be no promises. We will be moving mid June. So, when we get back it will be time to start packing. At least now we are really good at it. We have a great system. Maybe we should write a book titled, how to move as many times as possible, with kids, and not lose your mind.

Happy Mothers Day

There are the beautiful, wonderful that I have been blessed with. I love that I get to be a mom to these precious kids. Hope all you moms out there have a wonderful day and give your kids lots of kisses.

My new hair cut and color

I just went and got it colored. It is different than I usually do but kind of fun. What do you think? I was asked for pictures so here they are.

Foster Care Awarness Month

May is foster care awareness month. My husband and I were able to go to a play that is playing here in our city. Our baby was with a babysitter for the first time. My really good friend offered to watch her and it just all worked out that we were able to get tickets that night. It was an amazing show. It is called Someones Somebody. It is written and acted by one woman. It is about her life growing up in the foster care system. It is heart breaking and inspiring all at the same time. She wrote a book first that is called the same thing. I really want to read it now. It is hard to describe the feel of the play but it made us cry and laugh. She is an amazing woman. And now she is spending her time getting the word spread on foster care and the needs that are there.

I also just looked up a program here in our city that pairs you up with a foster care child for one year. In that year you spend 10 hours a month with the child. Doing things that maybe that child would never get to do. Things like going to the zoo, a play, out to dinner. I just found it and I am going to try to go to the information night in June.

Right now I am reading another book by the woman that wrote Another Place at the Table. The one I am reading is One Small Boat. It is so good but really sad. It is so hard for me to grasp that all this is going on here in our country. There are children that at best are being neglected and at worst horribly abused. I am just trying to figure out what I can do realistically with three children to help other children.

We went out to Chick-fil-a last night. It is the kids favorite place to go because they have a play place. I do not usually like those places but this one is actually nice. It is new to start with so it has that factor but it is just a really nice fast food place. It is always clean, the people who work there are really nice and the food is pretty decent. You can get a grilled chicken sandwich that has a lot of lettuce and tomato on it. Anyway, the guy who took our order was really nice. After we had eaten, which by the way Monday is a special day that for every combo you buy you get the next one free so we at for under ten dollars and got four combos. After we were done the kids were still playing so I went up to get a milkshake for us to share. The same guy took my order and he asked me about our baby. She said something about her being a bit darker than the rest of us and I told him that she is adopted. He then shared that he is adopted and does not know anything about his birth parents and so does not really know his ethnic background. But he was so positive about it and said that he was so happy for us and that the baby would never know anything different. It was an encounter that I would not have had if we did not have our baby. I have a feeling she is going to open more doors for us to share.

So, in the spirit of foster care awareness month please pray for all the children in foster care. It is a scary place for some of them, and an uncertain way to live. We need to keep on praying for them.

Two more episodes and it is all over, forever...

So, so sad.

Bad is the new good

I just read this post about how we as moms do not feel like it is ok to say we are good at this job of being a mother. It really hit home. The biggest statement that really got to me was "it is like a competition of whose life sucks the most" We as moms sit around and question everything we do with and to our kids. We sit around and complain about how hard it all is. And it is, but is that all you get out of this job we call mom, really.

Not me. I love this job. And I am good at it. It is liberating to say that. It is like a forbidden thing to say. But it needs to be said. Because it is true. If you love your children, take care of their needs, and make your decisions based on that love. You are doing a good job. Not just a good job but an incredible job.

I have felt like for awhile that we as moms need to support each other more. Not be so hard on each other. Encourage, be supportive, but how can we do that for each other when we cannot even do it for ourselves.

We need to be proud. Not saying I am doing a better job than you, or comparing at all but just saying proudly, " I am good at this" I am doing a kick ass job" I rock!"

So as an early mothers day present to myself and anyone who wants to I am going to be proud of myself and not just in my head. I am going to be happy that I can do this job. I can be good at it. And I do not have to be ashamed of that fact. And you should be proud that you are good at it also.

A few things that I am good at

1. I can make my kids feel better when they are sad

2. I feed my kids nutritious food and they are all healthy

3. I read lots of books to my kids and they love it.

4. I play silly games with my kids

5. I love them and they know it!

Now it is your turn. Take pride in the fact that you are doing a great job and write some of the things that you are good at.

This girl is THREE months old

I cannot belive that it has happened so fast. It goes faster and faster with each kid. She is just wonderful. She is starting to really interact with us and it seems like she really knows us now. She is a little daddy's girl. While he was gone for the weekend with the other two kids she did not sleep as well and she would not let me put her down the whole time. As soon as her daddy got back she is sleeping good again and happy as can be. He has that special touch with her.

The kids were so happy to see her when they got home. They went straight to her and started kissing her and loving on her. It was so sweet.

She is just a complete joy to our whole family. It is at that point where we cannot imagine life without her. She is meant to be here and she completes our family.

I love her so much. Her name means, friend, and I feel like it describes her so well already. She is a friend to her brother and sister.

I went up to visit my parents the other day and she fell asleep in the chair with my dad and it was just so sweet for me to see her so content and being so loved by my dad.

We are happy to be so blessed with her and are awed by the way the Lord has blessed us so richly.

We love our little baby girl.

Life is flying

I did not mean to take so long to write again. I did not want to leave such a sad thing for so long. Life is just going by so fast and I feel like I am aprinting to keep up.

Our new little girl is almost three months old. She had a check up and is doing really good. She is 12lbs and very healthy. We are having so much fun with her. Things have become more normal and we are all adjusting to the changes. She is also sleeping a lot better so that makes everything a lot more tolerable. She smiles so much. From about 8:30pm to 10:30pm is her happy time and she just smiles and has a great time with us. It is when the other kids are in bed so it is nice one on one time with her.

This weekend my husband is taking the two older kids with a friend and his kids to go to the beach. They are so excited and I am looking forward to some time with just me and the baby.

Other news around here:

I got my hair cut short. I think I like it but it is short.

My son is going to go to school next year. We are all excited about it and we have found a really good school for him.

I moved some things around in our house and made a play/art room and it is so nice. The kids love it and they are not making such a mess right in our living room.

My alergies are getting really bad and I am dreading the month of May even though it is the best weather here.

I made it to the gym one time this week, which was one time more than I have in the past few weeks.

I am really looking forward to summer ( swimming, no school, vacations, and BBQ's)

I do not really have a point for this post but I wanted to put something a little more light hearted up. We all miss my grandma but she is so much happier now.

My kids have been counting down the days for a long time to their trip tomorrow and now it will finally be here. They sure have a great dad.

Luella Marker

My great-grandma passed away yesterday. I know that it was amazing that I even knew my great-grandma let alone had her as a big part of my life. She had three great-great-garandchildren before she died. I wish that I could put into words all that she was to my family and all who came into contact with her.

She was the oldest of eight children. Grew up in Oaklahoma, on a farm where life was hard. She helped raise her brothers and sister. She married at the age of 16 to a man 12 years older. At 18 she had her son. They lived through the dust bowl and the depression. Through wars and many hard times but it did not make my grandma bitter or hard. They moved to the Bay Area during the depression and stayed there until just the last few years of her life.

My grandma was never able to have more children but God blessed her with a lot of children in her life. Her son gave her three girls that she had a big part in raising. Then those girls gave her 8 great-grandchldren who have so many fun memories of her. And then I had three great-great grandchilden who loved her so much. My oldest daughter is named after her and she is proving to be continuing on the name. She is a lot like my grandma already.

Some of the memoris that I have are:

-playing dress up with all of her clothes and jewlery

-she always had special treats for us

-she was the best story teller and had great stories to tell

-she could stay up so late talking that she always out did us

-she loved almost everyone, even those who were hard to love

-she loved my grandpa so much and missed him dearly when he passed away

-she never seemed like an "old" grandma she was willing to accept the changing world, she read a ton, and wanted to kno what was going on in the world.

-she taught me a love of live theater

This list could truly go on forever. This is just a peek into her life.

She was 91 years old even though she told us he was 88. With her age did not really matter. She was 20 at heart. She lived a good long life. She will be greatly missed. We have all cried for our loss. My kids have cried and that is hard. They will miss her. My youngest will not remember her but she did meet her and we will keep the memories alive. My grandma was ready. She was ready to be with her Lord.

I know that she is in heaven dancing with my greandpa and happy as can be.

We will miss her but we will see her again and she will be ready to have a big party with us, like she always was.

My little settlers

Happy Easter ( a little late)

I am so behind in writing. There are things that I want to write about but it is so hard to find the time. I am almost always holding the baby so it is hard to type with one hand. When I am not holding the baby I am helping one kid or another or spending much needed time with them.

So, happy Easter. We had a very low key day here at our house with my parents and sister. We went to church, came home and ate, hung out a bit and then they left and I took a very long nap. I am sick. I think that it is a sinus infection. I seem to get one almost every year at this time. I am trying to fight it off myself but I usually end up at the doctor getting some antibiotics. I hope I can fight it.

Today was one of those days where I felt so bad and sick that it was asking a lot just to get through the day with all three kids. My husband had a meeting out of town so he was gone all day. Lets just say that we watched a lot of tv and layed around a lot. But we did make it through and I am hoping that with a good nights sleep things will be looking up tomorrow. We have a field trip that the kids are really looking forward so we will be doing that. It is to Sutters Fort and they will be dressing up. I will post pictures because I think they look really cute.

The best news for us though is that we have a date for our adoption hearing. It is July 12th. We are so excited. We had been told that it would most likely take a lot longer but God has really blessed us and made everything go very smoothly.

It has been a long week and things have not really been going so smoothly. There have been sicknesses with friends and losses. There have been hurts and frustrations but in the end God will get the glory and there will be light.

I read a friends blog today and learned that her son wanted to pray and ask God into his heart. These things make my day a little brighter.