Poor Daisy

So begins a looonnnnng 45 days of recovery. Daisy 'blew out her knee' (torn cruciate ligament) and she could either hobble around on 3 legs the rest of her life or have surgery. Being that she is only one year old and we have an active lifestyle, we opted for the surgery. sigh.

Poor pup! I'm glad she is back home, but I'm not really looking forward to the next 45 days. First challenge - keep this cast on for the next 10 days!

Sisters

Yesterday I was reminded of the special bond of sisterhood my girls share. Sarah's teacher let the kids write letters to someone else in the building and Sarah took her letter to her sister. So Morgan's teacher sends me the following email:

Just now, Sarah brought Morgan a letter. It was the sweetest exchange ever. I got a little misty eyed. Precious girls.

Awww...I love teacher emails like that one! :)

Being only 19 months apart, they have always shared a special bond of friendship. Oh, they have their sister moments, but they really are very close. Here's a couple pictures from 2003 that I've simply labeled "Sisterhood begins..."

Not my Proudest Morning

Apparently I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Unfortunately, the girls got an earful of my screaming this a.m., lets just say it's not one of my prouder moments.

It was an accumulation of things...fishing stuff out of the toilet they dropped in there, their clothes still being all over the bathroom floor after I'd already asked them a half a dozen times to pick them up, trying to get ready for picture day, needing to sew a button on at the last minute, and the last straw was stepping on the tube of toothpaste that they somehow managed to get on the floor without a lid, so I had glob of toothpaste all over the bottom of my foot. None of that is major, so I'm not real sure why I was so grumpy, but I was.

So I called Mike to calm down and what does he do? Make me cry! Yes, he has to say "You know, you're gonna miss this one day!" That did it...I know I am going to miss this one day, however crazy that might sound. I went and apologized to the girls. We all make mistakes and I certainly did this morning. We had a good rest of the morning getting ready and I enjoyed seeing them both while subbing at their school today...so forgiving they are, all smiles and hugs.

pandora.com

I've been loving http://www.pandora.com/ - it's been fun to listen to so many songs that I had forgotten about. If you haven't tried pandora for your music enjoyment - you should! You type in a song or artist and it creates a radio station for you based on that. My list of free radio stations is growing. Just now, I had typed in the song Shepherd Boy (by Ray Boltz) - I realize not too many people know his music, but it stirred something in me many years ago. I don't listen to this music much anymore, but when I hear it, it still moves me. Well the next song that came on was Find Us Faithful (by Steve Green). I don't think I'd heard this song since becoming a parent, but today, I found it inspiring me in this journey of parenthood. Here's some of lyrics:

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

CHORUS:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Just a few reasons...

Here are just a few reasons I've appreciated my husband this week -

• At this moment he is downstairs singing karaoke with the girls and their friends.
• 10 minutes after our small group bible study left, I walked into the kitchen and found it all cleaned up.
• He's believed in and encouraged me to pursue my dreams of writing. He's excited for me and the writing competition I entered. He told me that I'll be the first to know when they've declared a winner 'cuz they will be calling me to say I won!
• He took 2 hours of vacation time to take the dog to her surgical consult with me.
• He paused to reminisce with me about our first date 19 years ago.
• He packed my lunch last night.
• He gave me numerous back rubs.
• When I was stressed he asked, "What can I do to help?"
• He made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.

Life is just sweet with him by my side!!

Where Fairies Fly

In the magical world of my children’s minds there still exists a place where fairies fly. I love imagining this place with them! When we go camping, there are two staples on my list of items to pack – 1. s’mores fixins’ and 2. Fairy Dust (aka, glitter).

Again this weekend, at Pomme de Terre Lake (or as my girls call it, 'potato lake') the girls spent literally hours building fairy houses, which eventually turned into fortresses. As I watch them search our campsite, they turn leaves into fortress walls, rocks into tvs, couches, & beds, moss into carpet, twigs into trees and gardens, bottle caps become bird baths (after all, fairies do love shiny things!), leaves become towels that are left next to the fairies pool (an empty plastic fruit cup).

I love their creativity! I love the magic of it all… of them imagining the fairies visiting the houses they created after they go to bed! I love sprinkling magic fairy dust all over their homes and dropping a few shiny things (dimes) into their fairy worlds. I love their look of sheer delight when they see the fairy dust in the morning and exclaim, “look, they slept in the fairy bed!”

I know they are skeptical and keep trying to ‘figure it out’ – “mom, did you bring glitter?” – “ummm, why would I do that?” I know these days of ‘magic’ are quickly coming to an end, although I hope they will always hold on to a bit of that magic deep within. I hope their creativity never ends and they keep believing in places where fairies fly and visit magical fortresses, made by little girls, in the middle of the woods.

The pictures don't do these magical places justice... but at least they remind us of their existence!

A Hint of Fall

While it is still very much summer, with today's high reaching 90, yesterday I noticed an ever so slight hint of Fall in the air. The humidity has left the air (although it's still August in Missouri, so I'm highly expecting it to make another appearance!) and it feels so good to breathe in fresh air again! As I walked around our yard I noticed that the leaves from the Walnut trees had begun to turn from green to yellow and were ever so silently raining down around me. As I sat in the shade enjoying my last half-price Sonic happy hour drink of the summer, I noticed that my arms got the smallest goosebumps when the breeze blew.

The hint of Fall seemed to perfectly match the fact that the girls returned to school today. Now 2nd and 4th graders, another milestone is reached.

I could not have asked for a more perfect summer with them. I loved the time we spent just hanging out at home, completing our A to Z of summer fun, taking trips together.

And I just have to say that I LOVE how creative my girls are! I noticed that here it was just a couple days before school was to begin and they were still making up creative stuff! I love that summer gives them this down time to be creative - for example in these last two days- they got a cardboard box and decorated it up as a room for Sarah's new stuffed animal, lamby; they turned the hammock sideways and played volleyball over it; and, they made up their own Deal or No Deal game.

Here are pictures from the bus stop this morning, marking the end of one season and the beginning of another in their sweet lives, and in mine.

Sweet 16

I have this distinct memory of my 16th birthday. After my parents had celebrated me and showered me with presents, cake and a special birthday dinner, the day came to an end and I remember closing my bedroom door, eating almost an entire bag of candy hearts (after all it was Valentine’s day) and crying until my tears ran dry. Why? Well, ‘cuz I was ‘sweet 16’ and I’d never been kissed! Being so quiet, I barely even talked to guys, let alone had any sort of relationship with one. At that moment I could not envision a future for me that included love. I had dreams of love and happy ever after, but at that moment they seemed beyond my grasp.

Little did I know that I would meet my soul mate, my knight in shiny armor, my husband, just one and a half years after my sweet 16th birthday. We dated for three years and at the ‘mature age’ of 20 (ha!), we got married on August 13, 1994. Today we celebrate sweet 16 years of marriage! And what sweet years they have been!

As I wrote this just now, it came to me, I’ve been having trouble envisioning my future career lately. Oh I have dreams and passions, but I haven’t been able to envision how they will come together – it all seems beyond my grasp. Yet I only see a small piece of life’s puzzle, while there is a God who sees the bigger picture of my life. He has the lid to the puzzle box and each day of my life he keeps putting the pieces together. So for today, I am going to enjoy the journey, and trust that 16 years I will see a bit more clearly the bigger picture of my life.

Thanks Mike for 16 amazing years! I love you deeper and deeper with each passing year.

The Dash

This week has been filled with wonderful news of beautiful people discovering the joys of pregnancy and bringing life into this world. It's also been filled with tragic news of beautiful people suffering from cancer and about to lose their fight with the battle. I have been reminded of this poem I read long ago, called The Dash, by Linda Ellis. Here it is:

I read of a reverend who stood to speak
at the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth…
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard…
are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left.
(You could be at "dash mid-range.")

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile…
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy’s being read
with your life’s actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

2,733 miles

2,733 is how many miles we logged for this trip. This trip took us through NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, MO and KS. Our girls are the best travelers. I don't remember them complaning one time. I took this picture about 100 miles before the end of our trip. As you can see...they are still smiling! The benefit to not watching a lot of TV at home is that when we spend 25 hours in the car (over 3 days) to get home...watching movies is a fun treat for them. Their two favorite movies this trip were Princess Protection Program and Another Cinderella Story. They probably watched them each at least six times. They worked on their math workbooks (for candy & slushies) and screamed every time we'd cross a state line. Mike spent half the road trip saying "ok, guess who sings this" while I would pick a name out of the hat...I think I got like 1 out of 25 right!
We were so tired at the end of the trip we were acting a bit crazy - so I was snapping some pictures of Missouri scenery...largest morel mushroom, tree growing out of silo.
Mike drove at least 2,000 of these miles, which gave me lots of time to get lost in a few books and organize pictures on the laptop! Good times. Yes, "I could not ask for more than this time together, I could ask for more than this time with you. Right here in this moment, Is right where that I'm meant to be."