The Anatomy of a Good Story

I aspire to be a good writer and story teller someday. I think maybe I'm a better story teller because I have to use facial expressions and hand gestures to get my point across--very difficult on the printed page. I'm not good at making up stories, though. I admire novelists like Karen Kingsbury who can think of an entire series, including characters and plots, on a plane trip home from somewhere. I'm really better at embellishing things that actually happened. My husband calls this exaggerating. I call it making a dull story a bit more interesting.

Tonight Big Sissy was desperately trying to tell her daddy a story while he was brushing Little Sissy's teeth. I was in the other room trying to get the baby to sleep, but I could hear that she was talking and no one was listening. I always have mommy guilt and this fear that my kids are going to end up in counseling because their parents had too many kids too close together and no one gets heard. So...I asked if I could hear her story. I really did want to hear it. Here's the story.

CJ: One time I was laying on the air vent cuddling with one of my sleeping friends...
Me: Which one?
CJ: I don't remember. It was one that I slept with every night, but not Dog Dog with the blue sweater or Dog Dog with the pink sweater.
Me: Was it Scarfy? You used to always sleep with Scarfy and the 2 Dog Dogs.
CJ: No, Mom. I wasn't a baby. I was 3.
Me: OK. So what happened while you were cuddling with your sleeping friend?
CJ: Nothing.
Me: Isn't there more to the story?
CJ: No. That's it. I was cuddling with my sleeping friend on the air vent one time, but I don't remember which one it was.
Me: OK. Good story.

Maybe I should have let her tell the counselor that story. Just kidding. Note to self: Never start with the punch line. Then people are always a little disappointed at the end. That's all. There's no more to this story. As a disclaimer, we do keep our house warm. She doesn't have to lay on the air vent to keep warm. She just likes to be REALLY warm in the mornings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I woke up thankful this morning. It IS Thanksgiving, but I often wake up thankful. Our family is healthy (besides colds. Nothing life threatening), I have a sweet husband who takes good care of me and lets me stay home with our kids. We have a warm house (with a basement even. That's a bonus.) We have a wonderful extended family who loves us, and we get to see all of them this weekend (except my brother. We'll miss him!!!!) I have good friends who love me despite the fact that I can't put as much time into cultivating those relationships as I would like to right now. I have a good church home. We have food to eat.

I faithfully read another blog who encouraged us to also express thanks for things that we don't actually feel thankful for, knowing that God is working all things for our good. That's not so easy because it's not warm and fuzzy, but here are a few. I'm thankful for the years of infertility because it has birthed a desire to adopt in my heart and has made me sensitive to the pain of others. I'm thankful for financial stress because it makes me trust God more (wow, that was hard). I'm thankful for this time of living away from family because it makes me appreciate our time together and depend on my husband. I'm thankful for our new president-elect because the Church needed a reminder about our mission on earth. It is our mission and not government's.

It's a good day, and the Lord has made it. Let us rejoice and be glad!!!

Pretend Play

Kids play what they know about--or think they know about. My kids play Mother's Day Out, church, library, grocery store, going to Grandma's house, and having babies. I'm sorry if this offends you, but I think it's hilarious. Beth, they name all of their babies Baby Ty.

Big Sissy's Thankful List

One thing I'm really thankful for is MOPS. No, not mops, although my husband would be thankful if I used one. Mothers of Preschoolers. Usually we have good speakers, sometimes we do a craft, but we ALWAYS have a hot breakfast and great times with other women (childcare included). Today was pajama day. Moms and kids all went in our pajamas, and the women watched a comedian on DVD and chatted, while the children were being cared for by top-notch volunteers. They love our children so well, and Big Sissy's class is always doing the best crafts. It's so great for me, because that might be my least favorite "fun activity." I think it's because I don't like messes. Anyway, I'm thankful for them. Today Big Sissy came home with 3 crafts, one of which was a turkey whose feathers each had the name of something she's thankful for.

Her list is Caroline Pudding (her stuffed kitty), Tabby (her Build-A-Bear stuffed kitty), Dog Dog (her stuffed puppy), Gracie (finally someone real. LOL.), Mommy, Baby Kitty (Tabby's baby), Levi, Daddy, and grilled cheese.

The Bananas Have Overstayed Their Welcome

Big Sissy and I have interesting conversations when she has to be in the bathroom for an extended session. Today she wanted to know how to draw a banana. Since we were in the bathroom, I drew one with my finger on my leg (which looked weird, even to me).

"You have to color it in to make it a banana," she said.

"Yes, I would color it yellow if I were really drawing a banana."

"And you would have to get a black crayon to make all the black spots."

Hmmm...maybe I should show her how to draw banana bread instead.

Branson Trip

Hubby was on vacation this week. This is the last week that UPS allows "their people" to take off before the Christmas rush begins. I can't believe it's already over. We've been in Branson for the last few days with Hubby's parents, who have a timeshare. It was so great to get away. It didn't exactly go as planned because it was COLD and nothing opens before about 1:00 in the afternoon this time of year--not good for little ones who take afternoon naps. So...we spent a lot of time in the room, at WalMart, and at really early lunches. It was still fun, though. We visited the Landing, got some shopping done while the kids napped (Thanks, MawMaw and PawPaw!!!), ate some good food, and took the girls miniature golfing for the first time.

OK. I told myself I wasn't going to make fun of anything in this Branson blog, but I'm just going to say one thing. I don't go to Branson for the shows; in fact, it's been years since I've seen one there.The billboard pictures are entertainment enough for me. I go for shopping and Silver Dollar City. The kids love the rides, and I love the kettle corn. Anyway, I saw a school bus one day and it dawned on me that people actually live there. I don't know why that struck me as weird. But I was picturing what the teachers must wear to keep the attention of all the entertainers' kids: maybe a tight leather pantsuit with diamonds and a big blonde wig. I don't know...it made me laugh. I met an elderly lady there who was traveling with other senior citizens on a tour bus. She was so happy to be able to talk to me and Little Buddy for a while. She said she was getting tired of all those old people. LOL. Makes me wonder what I'll be doing for fun when I'm that age.

Cold, sunny day at the Branson Landing. The big, shiny reindeer isn't actually part of the family. He just asked if he could be in the picture.

Little Sissy golfing. Mostly she liked to take everyone's balls out of the hole--or pick them up from wherever they were hit and drop them in the hole. Made keeping score a challenge!

Yes, this is actually how she hit the ball. I think she still beat me.

Family Portraits

We got our family portrait made today for Christmas cards. It's always such an ordeal trying to get all of us ready and looking cute AND happy. We actually got some pretty good ones this time, but here are some of the funny ones.

OK. Here's what we'll do. Little Sissy, you sing "Doo doo doo" while Big Sissy sings "Tra la la."

Now it's important to let your lipstick dry before our next little number.

Now, Little Buddy, you act like it's 30 degrees out and we just put you in the tub naked. Perfect.

Now go ahead and eat that duck while I jump around and put funny animals on my head to make you laugh.

For our family picture, Big Sissy, you concentrate on keeping your headband up. Everyone else, just stare at me like I'm from Mars. There. I think we're done!

Fun Balloon Art

Remember when I told you I had to break up with Cecil Whitaker's because Pizza Street treats us so much better? Well, Brian the Balloon Artist works at the one on Cave Springs, and he's there every Tuesday night. He can make anything--Elmo, Cookie Monster, aliens, spiders, turkeys, etc. Tonight the girls picked Snoopy and the Little Mermaid. Check this out. And did I mention that it's SO cheap?! Cheaper than fast food, definitely.

We Have Kids Stacked to the Ceiling

We told Big Sissy that when she turned 4, we would stack their beds. They are actually bunk beds, but we've had them separate because we were nervous Little Sissy was not ready. This week she slept in her "big girl bed" with no rail, and tonight is their first night in bunk beds. It's amazing how much bigger their room seems! I'm already thinking about where we can put our next one...

Mix at Your Own Discretion

There are some things that go great together, like peanut butter and jelly. Other things can be a fatal mix, like alcohol and certain medications. I've found in parenting that there are some bad combinations, too--not fatal, but certainly uncomfortable or messy. They can't always be avoided, but here are some bad combinations we've encountered:


1. Breastfeeding and teething

2. Playdough and carpet

3. Big box of crayons and really warm sunshine

4. Late nights and early mornings

5. Leftover food and really deep diaper bags

6. Babies and white shirts

7. C-sections and bikinis

8. Little tiny toys and little tiny nostrils

9. New walkers and coffee tables with sharp edges

10. Poorly-fitting diapers and big blowouts

11. Playing in the sandbox and rubbing eyes

12. Exploring spitup piles and sucking fingers

13. Socks and perfectionists

14. Pregnancy and fast toddlers

15. Long car trips and broken DVD players

16. Long car trips and nutrition

17. Halloween and nutrition

18. Icy days and fancy Christmas shoes

19. Damp bibs and closed hampers

20. Playing airplane with your mouth open and cute baby drool

Drive-By Christianity

I am not a big fan of bumper stickers. First of all, I just don't like clutter. Secondly, I think they try to say too much, which usually makes them offensive in the context of a "drive-by relationship." This is especially true with religious bumper stickers. I can't stand the ones that say things like "Abortion Kills" or "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" First of all, Jesus would never have put a bumper sticker on his back or on his donkey. He came to teach, to show people love, and to offer them hope of salvation. Some of the things He said were not easy to hear, but he didn't just shoot out a few hard-to-hear words and zoom away. His teaching was in the context of relationship and was ongoing. If you were a person who was struggling with guilt of an abortion, would you be helped by reading "Abortion Kills"? No, it's not helpful. It's just mean-spirited. What would be helpful is to know that Jesus forgives and things can be different for you in the future.

I live in a very conservative state. We are one of the only states who actually picked McCain to win the election. There are some good things about that, but I see a lot of those bumper stickers. I also see a lot of "Christian" businesses in my neighborhood. Down the street we have Savior Storage. What does that mean? If you don't pay your bill, your stuff will be gone in 3 days? Or it's guarded by angels? Or we've already paid the price for your storage since we know you can't? We also have Grace Waste Removal. I guess their motto is, "You deserve to live in your trash, but we'll take it away anyway." Today I saw a truck for The Paint Saint. I'm just thinking I'd rather that they just do a good job painting than that they stand around praying while I'm paying them. There's nothing wrong with these names, but like the bumper stickers, I think it's more important for your life and relationships to reflect your faith than a name on the door. If you have a religious bumper sticker on your car but you're driving like a maniac, it's probably better to just not have that on your car. Or if you have a religious label on your business, you better show up when you are scheduled and have good ethical practices. The only business name I've seen that actually makes sense is Petrat Construction. Petra means "rock." Jesus called Peter "the rock" and told him that He was going to build His Church on this rock. That makes sense for construction, at least.

I'm not suggesting you change your business name or tear all the bumper stickers off of your car. I'm just encouraging us to live out our faith rather than having a drive-by Christianity that wounds rather than heals. See what happens when I'm without a computer for a week? I have had too much time to think and am burdened with lots of extra words. Hopefully the rest of this blog has helped you get to know me somewhat so these aren't drive-by words either. So here's a thought to leave you with. I'm sure this will lift your spirits somehow.

We are Virus-Free

I'm talking about our computer. I don't want to sound like an idiot, but you know that feeling when you probably shouldn't click on an attachment? That little voice that says, "Hmmm...that sounds odd, but it came from someone I know..." Yeah, well you should listen to that voice. Otherwise, you might be without a computer for a week. We are finally virus-free. Now we just have to figure out how to get all our programs back. I'm so confused right now. Our dishwasher lights stopped working. Our van's maintenance light is on. And I can't figure out how to edit my pictures on my computer. Must be an election year.

To catch up my dear blog readers, it's been a busy week. Big Sissy turned 4. That's the biggest thing. It has been magical, actually. Now that she's 4, she wants to do everything by herself (wipe her own bottom, pour her own syrup on her pancakes, open the car doors). I think it's messy, but I like it. Thanks to Dora the Explorer, she can count to ten in Spanish. I've probably heard, "I'm cuatro!" a bazillion times this week. Oh, and "I'll never be uno, dos, or tres again!" Now that Big Sissy is 4, she also suddenly figured out that coloring can be realistic. Her thinking used to be something like, "I like pink. Here's a monkey. I'll make him a pink monkey." Suddenly it's changed to, "This is Belle. Belle wears a yellow dress. I should color her dress yellow." Maybe she should have reached that stage already. I don't know. It still makes me proud.

To celebrate her birthday, we had a Fancy Nancy party. If you have little girls and you haven't read Fancy Nancy, it would be worth your time to check it out. It's about a little girl who likes everything fancy (French words, frilly toothpicks, parasols). Her favorite colors are fuschia and lavendar, and she likes to decorate with things like feathers, Christmas decorations, and tiaras. Her parents are very plain, and so she gives them lessons on being fancy. Then they go out to a burger joint called the King's Crown in their posh clothes, and everyone thinks they are movie stars.

My sister took some great pictures and posted them on her blog, so I'll just post a few more and fill you in on the party details. I'm finding that I LOVE doing kid parties. I just don't like dragging all the accessories to the party place or cleaning up. We tried to serve chili, but I burned it. Oops. I need to just start my own website called chiliwrecks.com. We still had fancy hot dogs with parasols in them and ice cream with sprinkles in very fancy waffle bowls. All of the plates were lavendar, and we decorated with the tables with multi-colored feathers. The girls got their fingernails painted with sparkly polish, and they got to decorate their own crowns with markers and stick-on jewels. The treat bags had jewels on them and contained plume pens, fancy rings, princess stickers, and boas. The best part was that the whole family got into the costumes. We had everything from truly fancy to...well, me. I had a HUGE gold sparkly bow in my hair and Christmas ornaments in my ears. Fancy Nancy would have been proud. And here's our own Fancy Nancy, the birthday girl herself.

Bear-ly a Difference

This is Little Sissy at Halloween last year and Little Buddy at Halloween this year. No wonder I'm starting to get confused!

Happy 9 months, Little Buddy!

I can't believe we've had this little guy in our home longer than he was in my womb (because that felt like FOREVER), but here we are. He's 9 months old. This has been a big month developmentally. He's started waving, jabbering, scooting all over the room backwards, going from crawl position to sitting and sitting to crawl position. He's still so smiley and giggly. Today at his checkup he giggled the whole time she was pushing on his belly, checking his private parts, moving his legs back and forth. He just makes me smile all the time. He's starting to lose some of his chubs, too, which makes me a little sad. He's kind of average now, as opposed to the 95th percentile for weight when he was 4 months old. He's still eating mostly baby food, but he's the champion of bananas, Cheerios, and mushy sweet potatoes. He nurses 4 or 5 times a day now. That probably sounds like a lot, but it's nothing compared to the 10 times a day we were doing just a few months ago. Now it's just morning, night, naptimes, and sometimes one extra feeding.

Let's see...to celebrate we let him sleep with us. Well, that was really because he has a cold and screamed every time I put him in his bed. I slept with him propped up on me for as long as we both could stand it. Then he finished out the night in his own bed. Happy birthday, little man. You bring such joy to my life.

Honor the King

I've tried not to talk about politics very much on this blog. For one reason, I hate conflict. Obviously our country is very divided as to who should be the next president. So are my blog readers. For another, I have not felt totally warm and fuzzy about either party. I know, I love Sarah Palin. That doesn't necessarily make her a great candidate for VP. But I did vote, and I hope you did too--no matter which candidate you are in favor of. Now all we can do is wait...and pray.

See, I believe God is ultimately in control of all things. All of my pro-life friends (I am one of them) have this fear of what will happen if Obama gets into office. I have had nightmares about failed-abortion babies being left with no care. It just makes my heart hurt. But we all know there's a good chance he is going to win this election, and maybe that's God's plan for our country. How can that be? my pro-life friends ask. Well, God allows things to happen so that people will turn to Him and so that people will take action.

I have a friend (I hope she's still my friend) who sent a mass email saying she cannot and will not "honor the king" if Obama becomes the president. (This is what Paul commanded in 1 Peter 2.) She said our country is actually ruled by the constitution, so she will honor that. Even though I hate conflict, I have to disagree with that. We are not always called to do what is easy. We are commanded to "honor our parents" even when they do us harm. That doesn't mean we don't take necessary action to stop their behavior or change the situation. Paul actually said to "honor the king" when Nero was the emperor. His rule was known for tyranny and persecution of Christians. What does this mean if our "king" is someone who is making choices contrary to our beliefs? I think it means we pray for him. We abide by the laws insomuch as it doesn't go contrary to biblical mandates (Paul continued to preach the gospel even though it was illegal). We pay our taxes even if they are going to fund things that we find unthinkable. And we don't bad-mouth him with mockery or derision. That does not glorify God or win over the unbelievers. Rather, we need to put our faith into action. We can put our time and resources into places that provide abortion alternatives to women such as pregnancy resource centers. We can consider adoption. We can take in women that we know personally who don't feel they have other alternatives. Maybe we even enter the political arena ourselves rather than watching and criticizing.

I will not hide the fact that I am a Christian. I am conservative. I am pro-life. What this means to me is that I have an even bigger responsibility than ever, no matter the outcome of this election, to have a good attitude. I have done my part by voting. And no matter who becomes our "king," he needs prayer. He needs counsel from godly people who can help guide him rather than criticize him. And he needs to see Christians honoring him even when we disagree with his choices. Honoring does not mean endorsing. It means understanding that he has God-given authority. That being said, let's rally together and take action. Whoever he is, let's be strong where he is weak....without grumbling and complaining.

How Will People Remember Me?

I don't do weird things just so I have something to blog about. My life is just weird. I'm just weird. What I'm about to relay is too embarrassing to tell anyone, but I figure if your aim in reading this blog is to get to know me better, then you should know that I am a GOOFBALL. I don't pretend to be perfect. I yell at my kids. I am sarcastic to my husband. I care too much about stuff. I am passionate about things I don't know enough about...

Which brings me to today. I graduated from a seminary called Covenant. It took me a long time because I only took one class at a time except for one full-time semester. Mostly I took evening classes, and they all had hundreds of people in them. I got to know a couple of people well, but for the most part I recognized a lot of faces and knew a lot of people's first names. This week a tragedy happened to one of the girls who I graduated with. No one really knows what happened except they found her dead body late one night by her treadmill. It was completely unexpected. She was only 28, healthy, smart, loved life. Her name was Julie.

I found out about it 2 ways: First, some friends on Facebook started talking about how sad they were and one of them who works there shared the details on her service time and place. Then I got an email from the pastor of a church where we attended for about a year when my husband thought he might want to become ordained. It encouraged people to come, even those who didn't know her well. I had some classes with Julie. I remembered her as being very sweet and quiet. She was really gentle and had spent some time overseas doing missions work before coming to seminary. I really felt like I should go.

I got there right on time. They had pictures in the lobby, but I didn't have time to look at them. I just had time to slip into the back of the familiar chapel where I had worshipped many times as a student and employee of Covenant. People started sharing, and I was weepy. I was mourning because a young woman's life had been taken. I was grieving because I want to live the kind of life where those words would be said about me. I was particularly moved by the last verse in one of the hymns we sang called Christ Alone: "From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny." The service was long, and many people shared special memories of Julie. They talked about how she possessed a quiet strength, loved Jesus, loved people--all the things I remembered about her.

The last person to stand up and share took my breath away. She looked so much like Julie I thought they must have been twins. Then it hit me. Wrong Julie. I slipped out during the final song, nervous that someone would ask me how I knew Julie. I needed to look at the pictures in the lobby. She looked kind of familiar. Nope. Let's be honest. I have no idea who she is. I sat through 2 hours of a memorial service for a girl named Julie who I don't know at all. I suddenly felt like my--like someone who I love dearly who goes to funerals as a hobby. In the true spirit of this person, I shoved some cheese into my mouth on the way out. I promise I didn't know there would be snacks there. I could have eaten cheese at home.

The good news is that my friend named Julie is alive and doing fine. I am glad in some ways that I was there to support the family and grieve with my Covenant family. But when I die and people are sharing adjectives about me and my life, it's OK to say I'm a dork. And could you wrap some of that really good cheese in a napkin and put it in my casket with me?

Happy Halloween!

I get so excited for big events with my kids, and then I get so stressed out when they're actually here. Something about getting 3 little ones in a costume this year put me over the edge. This is how we looked just minutes before we walked out the door to bring cheer to our neighbors.

But then things got better, and I remembered why this is FUN. First, Aunt YaYa came to see the kids in their costumes. That's always a fun treat, although I think I might have scared her away from ever having children after she witnessed our chaos. Then we went to visit our sweet neighbors from Pakistan, who were literally in their driveway waiting for us, worried that we would forget to come. Oh, they are so sweet. They loaded our kids with treats and kept hugging us. They brought out candy dolls for the girls and a truck for Little Buddy. She kept saying, "I thought you weren't coming. Maybe I loved on your kids too much and you were upset." What?!? Seriously, it was a challenge for us just to get out the door. I could tell this was important to them, though, and we wouldn't have missed it--even though it meant being an hour and a half late for our party at church.

By the time we got to the party at church, everyone was in much better spirits. Little Sissy was trying to eat her candy through the Zip-loc bag that neighbor Jabeen gave us (in our rush to get out the door we forgot to bring anything to actually put the candy in). She had already ditched her Minnie Mouse gloves and ears, but at least she was content. The two little bears were very warm and cozy in their furry attire, and we were on our way. The church party was fun. The girls got tickets that they used to play games and win more candy to suck on through a zip-loc bag. Little Buddy pretty much stayed at the baby pool and chewed on rubber ducks all night. Here are some pictures of our non-evil, non-scary candy harvesters as promised. Little Buddy had 2 costumes. The pumpkin we borrowed. I took his picture in it because it was so cute, but it was really too small. He would have been a bear by the end of the night anyway, so we just switched to the happy bear costume.