Barf

(Any stalkers or axe murders, please don't read the following post)

So, Jason is gone to the NW SBC annual convention for 3 days.  We're just finishing day 2 and I'm hoping I can make it through tomorrow.  Let me just remind all you single moms how awesome you are (Julie, that means you, too!).  I don't know how you do it.  Seriously.

I'm in a tired/grumpy mood, but I'm hoping that blogging about it will make me feel better.  Here are the highlights of the last 36 hours:

• I'm still sick.  I've been sick since I got back from my AWESOME weekend in TN with my girls, but being sick while Jason's gone just feels worse.
• Jason insisted on getting me a new phone this weekend because my other one was almost dead.  Great, except it didn't transfer all my numbers.  I can't figure out how to get the back off of the phone so I can get the SIM card out to put back into my old phone to get the numbers out of there.  And I'm SURE not going to take 3 boys to the AT&T store at the mall...
• Gideon started getting a cold about the minute Jason walked out the door.  He's snotty, fussy, coughing, etc.  Good times...
• Luke woke up last night crying in pain.  He said his waist hurt & couldn't stop crying b/c of the pain.  I was about ready to text Nicolle out of bed & head to the ER, when the pain finally passed.  Just gas I guess?!?  He ended up sleeping in my bed with me.
• There have been 2 men to knock at our door tonight.  I think they were both evanglists, but it still unnerves me when Jason's gone.  And no, mother, I did not answer the door.
• Luke & I were at each other all day.  He seemed to be especially irratating to his brothers & disobedient to me.  Always makes for a fun evening.
• I had just finished getting everyone's dinner (real dinner!: chicken pot pie) on the table.  Christmas music playing in the background.  I sat down to the table with my plate and said "Ahhh.  Great music, great food & great boys."  As soon as the words were out of my mouth (I KID YOU NOT!), Gideon pukes out the entire contents of his stomach.  He turned out to be fine (?!?), but needed an immediate clean up, bath, etc.

So there's the exciting wrap-up.  And I do feel better.  I'm headed to put my pjs on, make some Godiva hot chocolate & watch "Pride & Prejudice."  (Right after I do a load of puke clothes.  Yipee!)

The little things

I want to go ahead & put one of those movie ratings on this post.  This post is "MA"-for mature audiences only.  What do I mean?  Well, if you're not a Christian or if you're even a new follower of Christ, you just won't get what I'm blogging about today.

That being said, I was reminded this week about a quality of God that I had forgotten.  I've found that no matter how many times we read about it in the Bible or hear it in a sermon, there are still things that we forget.  For me, it was Matthew 7:7-11; asking for something we want.  Let me explain.

I've been DYING to get some new furniture (by new, I mean "like new" off of craigslist.com) for our living room.  We brought our couch & loveseat with us from TN, but have realized it's not the best fit for our apartment.  We plan on having lots of people over, at different times, and want to optimize our seating for their comfort.  So 2 chairs, in addition to the tan loveseat we already have, seemed like the best option.

I listed our red sofa (which Jason just recently told me looks like it's from The Wizard of Oz!) on craigslist several weeks ago & expected the offers to come flooding in.  At night, I would pour over craigslist looking for the perfect pair of chairs for us.  Days & weeks passed.  No sale of the couch.  No perfect chairs.  On Tuesday night, it dawned on me "Why don't I ask God for a pair of chairs?"  Duh!  The quiet answer I got was "Sell the sofa first."  Duh again!

Yesterday morning, before I really had time to think about what to do next to sell the sofa, I got a text from a girl wanting to see it.  An hour after that, I got another call from a man who wanted to see it.  Now remember, this sofa has been on craigslist for WEEKS.  I hadn't lowed the price again or changed the picture since that prayer to God.  No change on my part!  Well..you guessed it.  The girl came last night & bought the sofa.  :-)  Wow!  Is that awesome or what?  Within 24 hours of my initial prayer, the sofa was gone!!!  I can't wait to see what chairs He has picked out for us to find.

This is where the "MA" rating comes in.  Mature Christians know that God is not a genie in a bottle.  We can't just wiggle our nose & expect to get our wishes instantaneously.  BUT sometimes He does just that.  My lesson learned was not to forget to ask God to take care of the little things.  What little things are you not turning over to God?

Our living room, before last night



Life's a Beach

We ended our day today like we do many others, at the beach.  Mukilteo Beach is only about 15 minutes from our house, so we can hop in the car & head over there pretty easily.  The sun was out most of the day & I wanted to enjoy the last little bit of the day.

So three random & interesting stories to tell from tonight.  The boys beat me to the playground.  By the time I get there, this 5ish year old boy asks me "Is that yours?" pointing to Gideon.  When I reply "yes", the boy tells another kid, "See, I told you.  (to me:) I told him it was a boy because girls have long hair."  About this time, I notice the boy has a 2 foot (no lie!) rat tail down his back.  So I quip back to him, "But you have long hair."  His answer?  "Well, that's my baby hair.  That's why I have it.  And I was a girl before I was a boy."  I had to try to keep from laughing out loud!  I don't really think his parents made a switch on him, but here in Seattle, I wouldn't be surprised.

By this time, Jonah has, of course, wandered off towards the beach.  I catch up to him to pull him back to the playground.  He whines "But I wanted to see the whale."  Whale?!  I begin looking around & notice that there are tons of people looking out to the water with cameras.  I quickly scan the Sound.  Sniff, sniff.  No whale to be seen.  We must have just missed him.  But still pretty awesome to be able to ALMOST see a whale.

Then, as we're walking along the beach, Jason & I notice a small crowd down a ways at the water.  We finally figure out that they were having a funeral service & had just finished spreading the ashes in the water.  Another new experience to add to the books.  (Is it wrong that I had a strong sense to tell the boys not to get near the water the rest of the night?!)

We ended our time there tonight with one more trip to the playground.  When Jonah reached the top of a certain part of it he said, "Look I can see all of Seattle.  Well, not really.  Because it's so big."  To which Luke answered, "Yeah!  It's as big as three blue whales!"  Now you know how big Seattle really is. :-)

Their shirts read "Yeti or not, here I come."



Too Big

Gideon.  He'll be 18 months old on Friday.  Wow!  Where does the time go?  Last night, Luke said, "Is Gideon a baby?"  "Not really.  He's more like a toddler."  I could tell even he was having a hard time wrapping his head around that.  So, I guess that means we should stop referring to Gideon as "the baby"?!  (Sigh).

His vocabulary has exploded in the past few weeks.  He trys to imitate almost any word we say to him.  A stranger walking by probably can't tell that "gah gah" means "Thank you", but we know what he's trying to say.   He physically trys to keep up with the other two & shows no fear when trying out something new.  His current "Look how big I am" feat is climbing to the top of the boy's bunk bed every chance he gets.  After climbing to the top, he just looks around like "Now what?" before I run to snatch him down.

His bad habit of biting seems to be getting a little better.  My other two boys never bit, but Gideon bites like he's part crocodile!  Biting is just a phase, right?!  I'd like to blame it on teething, but I seriously doubt it.  Currently, he's working on getting the last four of his major teeth in.  Poor thing.  You know it has to hurt.  He constantly has his fingers in his mouth; I guess it makes him feel better.

Gideon is still very clingy to me.  I've realized that the reason my back has been hurting so much lately is because I'm picking this huge boy up way too much.  So I've come to point where I have to stop toating him around all the time.  (Sniff, sniff).  I remember Melinda Chapman told me once that she remembers when she had to stop carrying Reed around.  Next thing you know, they're way too big to even pick up.  Oh my heartstrings!  I guess I'll just have to keep trying to push that "pause button" more often.  Maybe it will eventually work.

Gideon-coloring-his new favorite activity

Yearbook Photos

So does anyone else remember the agony of that yearly high school tradition?  I would lament over what I was going to wear, how to fix my hair, practice my smile, etc., etc.  And then, FLASH, it was all over before you had time to wipe the spittle off your braces.  Wow!  It's a miracle I made it out of there alive.

Today I had the grown up version of the yearbook photo-the driver's license mug shot.  Thankfully, I am much more confident in who I am now then I was at age 15.  And amazingly, my boys left me alone long enough this morning to brush my teeth, pluck a few gray hairs & put in matching earrings.  Awesome!  So after an hour & a half at the DOL, I became an official Washingtonian.

And since you might need a good laugh, I'll tell you my infamous driver's license story.  When I turned 15, I went to get my driver's permit.  I studied the manual, put on my new red & white Espirit outfit (early 90s baby!), and went to take the test.  When I got back home, I ran up to dad & said "Dad!  I got my permit!  And they even picked a background color to match my outfit!"  He looked at me & burst out laughing.  Now of course, you know that DMV didn't care about my outfit.  They simply used the red backdrop to show that this was a permit & not a actual license.  My dad still laughs about that story today.  (Sigh.)  Like I said, it's amazing that I made it out of there alive.

Me-age 16ish-in Seaside, FL.  Jenn & Karen, wasn't that an awesome trip?!

(BTW, here's a link to one of my favorite Superchic(k) songs about high school:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RWQVYYKRQ)

I'm backkkkk!

It's finally happened.  We have internet at home again.  There are several reasons why, but the important part is WE HAVE IT!  I'm super-excited & it still feels a bit surreal to have easy access to the world wide web again.  But then again, most everything these past 6 months has felt surreal.  So whether I have anything worth blogging about or not, I'll be able to do it again on a regular basis. :-)

Our computer is set up in our "guest bedroom".  This luxurious suite is where you will be staying if you come to visit us!  Although it does contain luxury items like curtains and a sofa sleeper, there's not much else to it at this point.  The closet has three, white sliding doors that hide boxes from floor to ceiling.  The rest of the boxes that filled this room have been hidden in other spots around the house, but most of them went temporarily (I promise, Mike!) to the garage of our friends' Mike & Nicolle.  Those boxes I have to go through later this fall.

Yes, I said fall.  I think summer (all 3 weeks of it) is officially over here in Seattle.  Mom told me tonight that it was 97(!)° in Nashville.  I'm guessing the high here today was 67°.  I'm hoping that Falls here aren't all clouds & rain.  I can't wait to see the landscape in the fall & take pictures galore!

And when I figure out where my camera cord is, I'll be uploading pics of our life here.  Yay!

Paradise

Today is a great day! Jason swaped his days off this week, so all 5 of us took a little trip to paradise. It's hard to explain where we are, but here goes. My mom's first cousin, Susan, has an inherited beach house on Guemes Island.  It's one of the San Juan Islands that's about an hour and a half north of our house.  I grew up always hearing about "Guemes", but never thought I'd actually get to visit here.

Susan & Scott's house is right on the beach, so you can just imagine the view.  They have glass windows across the entire back of the house giving you a panoramic view while sitting on the sofa.  I've stolen a minute on her computer (while Gideon naps, & the big boys watch tv) & the view I have is just amazing.  Susan has described this spot as her "heaven on earth".

Before you're too terribly jealous, enjoy the fact that the water is FREEZING!  I can't imagine that the water ever gets above 70, but today it feels more like 60.  The boys had a blast throwing rocks, screaming over possible crabs & watching our fornlorn bucket float away (Luke still hasn't forgiven me for not swimming after it).

Where is Jason, you ask?  He's still out on an adventure with Scott.  They kayaked out to Scott's little boat (no one has boat docks, they just anchor the boats off shore because of the tide) & took off to speed around the nearby islands.  I'm told you can swim to the closest island (named Jack), but I can't see myself ever wanting to do that.  (Luke on the other hand...we'll see.)  Scott said you can see seals, eagles, and sometimes even whales on the other side of the islands.  I'm hoping they will come back & take us out with them.

Since I can't upload a picture of this paradise for you to see, I'm giving you a couple of links to get an idea of what it looks like.
http://www.whatcomrealestate.com/guemes-island-real-estate.php
http://www.scoraigwind.com/sei2009/index.html (this one's kind of random, but it has a map of the island & a pic with a great view with a rainbow)

Boat's headed this way!  Yipee!