Flashback!

I was at the sink, washing my hands, when BAM!  I was suddenly swept back to 2004.  Without a warning, memories came flooding back.

I had been standing in a public restroom at the children's hospital where our third child spent the first seven weeks of his life.  I was there with him for a routine visit, one of many we make each year.  I was thinking of finishing up, driving home and picking up my other kids from after school care.

But suddenly, my thoughts were hijacked to another time, another era in our lives.  The recollections were strong and intense:

The fear of losing our son.

The joy of being surrounded by our family.

The drone of the breast pump.

The intense respect for and confidence we had in our son's doctors.

Our son's sweet, chubby face - the biggest baby in the NICU.

The warm summer air and walks outside with my husband.

The sounds of our other two children, clamoring to get a peek of him - at his bedside or through the NICU window.

The ventilator, oxygen, feeding tube, IV. . .the older children called him our cord baby - we called him our miracle child.

The incredibly skilled nurses, who always wore their rings on a necklace to keep their hands free of any harmful germs.

The beeps and whines and alarms of all the monitors.

The scent of the soap, as we washed our hands time and again each day.

It was a scary time, no doubt about it.  It was filled with joy and peace too, but my goodness, it was scary.  Yet my memories of that summer are always and only positive and happy.  We were surrounded by family daily, hourly and knew our son was in good hands, both the doctors' and his heavenly Father's.  Our son is now a healthy, happy, almost-nine-year old, and looking back to that time only makes me smile.  God answered our desperate prayers to watch over our son, and as He is wont to do, He answered them more generously than we could have ever imagined.


Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:34

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:6

Gross Margin

Whilst discussing math topics at dinner this evening, my daughter said to the table:

"I'll bet no one knows what number a gross is!"

Surprising myself (and probably my husband as well), I answered correctly.

But this did not sit well with a certain boy at the table.

"I think it's 2", said he, "because number 2 stands for poop and that's gross!"

Run, Forrest, run!

Today marks an epoch in my life.

I ran for six minutes.  In a row.  Without collapsing.

Yes, you read that right.  Not six miles, not sixty minutes.  Six.  Minutes.

I know to all you fitness-types that is laughable.  Six minutes is your warm up.  Six minutes is how long it takes you to run to the gym to actually begin your workout.  But for me - it's a big deal!

I have tried running many times, all without success.  Back in high school, my best friend and I "ran" on our school's fledgling cross country team.  We had to run a mile after school each day.   What I actually did was run a few seconds, walk, complain, run a few seconds more, wait for death to take me, and repeat.  I never did actually run the whole mile.  And I was super skinny back then!

Several times since, I have attempted to run again.  I tried the couch to 5K program on my ipod.  After several days, when the little voice in my earbuds told me to "begin running", I began thinking unkind thoughts toward running and exercise in general.

It is no secret that exercise, sweating and general fitness are Not My Thang.  But for the last eight or nine weeks, I have really integrated working out into my life.  Thrice a week I go to the Y for a class, and while I don't exactly anticipate it like I would, oh say, a plate of cheese fries, I don't exactly mind it.  It is just part of my week now.  And I can't tell you happy that makes me! Not only is my 40th birthday and my goal looming in the very near distance, I sincerely want to be in better shape.  I want to be able to hike and not bring up the rear - with or without a child near me as my excuse.

I don't think a marathon will ever be in my future, but by golly, I ran six minutes.  Maybe next time it will be ten.

Every good and perfect gift is from above

I last blogged a week ago today (about potty language, as it were).  What a glorious week it has been!  My oldest son was confirmed and received his first communion at the Easter Vigil on Saturday night.  He was surrounded by his family as his father laid his hands on our son's head.  What a beautiful, emotional moment!
As we approached the altar for the confirmation, my heart was overwhelmed with love for the people in our congregation.  We had just witnessed several baptisms and as we all sang Hallelujah, I imagined all of heaven singing Hallelujah to welcome these new children of God.  Now here we were, approaching the altar, 19 strong (missing one daddy who was at the altar and three little ones who stayed home with a babysitter).  So nineteen family members surrounded our son as he confirmed his faith.  God's blessings are too plentiful to even comprehend!  Oh, how He loves us!
The rest of the weekend was filled with family fun, conversation, food and Easter festivities.  As we did two years ago for my daughter's confirmation weekend, we had a huge Easter egg hunt and Egg Roll competition. We were given a beautiful, sunny, warm day amidst lots of late winter chilly days, so we were able to be outside much of the weekend.  It was perfect - all of it.
As if all this was not enough, we spent the last three days with family at an indoor water park and a museum.  The kids had a blast with their cousins and we all enjoyed each other's company.
Regular life seems hard to adjust to now after so many mountaintop experiences!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above. . .: James 1:17a

Word up!

Due to the extreme frequent usage of potty language around here, we have instituted a "three strikes and you're out" policy for any such words.  We have actually seen an improvement and hear far fewer of these oh-so-pleasant words that our boys like to punctuate with.

But one of our savvier boys came up with this, a way to circumvent that silly rule:

"HEY!  You're a big piece of strike word!!"

This same boy has also been known to sing the popular refrain from Gangnam Style as:

"Hey, bad word lady!  Woo! Woo woo woo woo!"

High Five!

I feel too discombobulated to blog in standard form, so I'll go with easy-peasy bulleted paragraphs instead:

1.  We have a teenager in the house!!!  Our oldest turned 13 yesterday on St. Paddy's day.  Her first order of business:  Get a Facebook account.  She had that one checked off before church!  I am so proud of the young lady she is becoming.  She is a loving daughter, sister and friend.  God has blessed us richly with this child.

2.  Our oldest son is going to be confirmed in two weeks at the Easter Vigil.  He is very excited for this big step in his faith journey.  We are all looking forward to experiencing this great event with him.  And I am preparing - food, cleaning, shopping. . .!  We will have 23 people in for the weekend (though not all sleeping here).  I love it!  Soon we will be stuffing eggs for the Easter egg hunt and making our hard boiled eggs for the Egg Roll.  Great times!

3.  My six year old, you might remember, decided to give up all things yellow for Lent on Ash Wednesday.  Well, that has morphed into Tails instead.  As in, Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog.  Thrice this weekend opportunities to deny himself have arisen.  He frantically shielded his eyes from seeing Tails during a chance sighting, and he opted for a different shirt than his original choice, because Tails was front and center on it.  And he asked me, quite earnestly, "Do you think I can play this game on your phone?  It has Tails in it and gave him up for Lent."  He chose to abstain from the game.

4.  I have been working out faithfully, three times a week.  Me, yes, me!!  The girl who hates to work out and sweat.  But you know what?  It hasn't been too bad!  A few friends also go to the classes I have been attending, and that helps a lot.  Also - I have set a wee little goal for my 40th birthday, less than a month away, so I am pedaling, piloxing and zumba'ing my little heart out trying to reach it.  I'll keep ya posted.

5.  After 14 years in this house, we are finally getting new carpet in our living room.  Our entire house is hardwood, save this one room.  For the last 14 years (it's actually been there for 20+ years, we have only been subjected to it for a mere 14) we have enjoyed burgundy carpet.  As in, darkish RED carpet.  In the living room.  Jealous you are?  Well, the carpet is out, and the new is coming today.  Today!  I have already warned the children that they will never step foot in the room again.  We will all relish it from the doorway.  It'll be fabulous!

Breadwinner!

"You make the best bread in the world!", said my son of the honey wheat bread I purchased at the Target bakery this afternoon.

"Even though you didn't make it," he continued, "you make it better just by holding it!"