Things I am learning...

We have sat through 6 of the 10 classes required to become certified foster parents. They started off rather slow and have become more and more insightful and helpful in understanding the needs of the children in the system and how to deal with those children in the most effective manner. At times, the classes have been downright sad and disturbing; talking about giving back children to their birth family that have been with you for years, or talking about sexual abuse and protecting your own biological children. This is what I know now:

~ This (being a foster parent) will likely be the hardest thing we ever do.

~ It will require much time, energy and fortitude to be successful.

~ Foster children deserve so much more than the life they have been dealt thus far.

~ We are ABSOLUTELY meant to do this! Everything in me tells me that this is right time and the right thing.

After a great meeting with our case worker a week ago, we learned that we may be certified earlier than we originally thought. Perhaps as early as December, but definitely by January. Its even possible that we could have children in our home by Christmas.

Is it springtime?

It almost feels like it should be spring. You know, a time of new beginnings. Monday we will begin our foster care training classes. I could not be happier or more excited about the path that God has led us down. Did I ever expect in a million years to be doing foster care? I thought we would only walk that path for the necessary few months in order to foster "our kids" until their adoption was legal. However, when God does a huge work on your heart and the heart of your husband, simultaneously whispering to you both that this is the path He would like you to walk...you don't argue. You scratch your head and wonder at the new way of thinking. You marvel at it, but then you just revel in the peace that comes with knowing God's will for your life and doing it.

Today, I'm busy organizing and cleaning. So far I have yet to make it out of the living room, but I've dusted the ceiling (trust me, it really needed it), made a few spiders homeless, and just gave the room a very necessary cleaning. I'm not done yet. I couldn't help but think of the symbolism. Out with the old, in with the new. Get rid of the stuff that slows you down, the old stuff, the broken. Make way for the functional and fresh. Make way for a different type of "broken". Children. Broken children who are starving for love and affection. Shake off what slows you down, so that you can do what you need to do. Literally and figuratively.

I am on the edge of major change in my life. But its a wonderful, God breathed change. I'm sure there will be hurts and tears along the way, but I also know that God does not call us to do anything that He does not equip us to do. God has poured into my life so many blessings, and I think its the time that he is placing a demand on those blessings. To whom much has been given, much is required...

Blessings

You know its been a long time since you last blogged when you have to try over and over to remember your own blog address...no kidding! I'm here, and alive and doing great. Time slips through my hands faster than you can imagine and it boggles my mind. I must also admit that Facebook is just way too easy to get addicted to. There is a lot more instantaneous gratification available there, also. You post your status update, and within minutes people have commented. It can spoil you.

But, I have also felt like this blog has been neglected as well. Not that there are many readers...all 5 of you, perhaps? And yet, this serves as a journal of sorts. I look back and remember when I first started blogging while pregnant with our third child. Life has changed a lot in the last 17 months since she was born. That brings me to the title of my post.

I was sitting on my couch a minute ago. Just sitting and thinking about how blessed I am. I had just caught up reading several blogs I follow. Blogs written by people who have sick children. One blogger just lost her daughter to cancer. She was just a baby...less than a year. The heartbreaking twist to this story is that she is the second child this family has lost to cancer. I sit here and think about my super healthy children. My warm home. My full refrigerator. My clean clothes. My bed. My faithful husband. My working vehicle. My hot water. The children (ours and others) who are filling up our yard and living room, playing together so nicely. Does it mean I am without "troubles"? No. But, my troubles are so small in comparison to many. And so small to my BIG GOD. I'm blessed beyond measure.

Awww....

Yesterday, Gracyn sneezed and "sprayed" Noah a bit as he was sitting next to her. Noah turned to me and said, rather indignantly, "Mama, Gracie just blessed all over me!!"
Tee hee...too cute!

A journey begins...

See these papers? They will dramatically change our life as we currently know it. What are these papers, and how can they change your life so dramatically, you ask? I'm glad you asked. These are applications for us to adopt a child or children from the foster care system. Yes, we have finally decided to get the ball rolling and persue a lifelong dream for both of us.

I remember watching 20/20 on Friday nights with my parents while a young teen. At that time, reporters were uncovering the atrocities of Romanian orphanages. I remember 6 year old children, with atrophied muscles and hollow eyes laying in cribs for months on end, with little attention or affection shown to them. Six year old children, the weight of my 13 month old, who could not walk, simply because nobody had taken the time to show them or allow them out of their "cageg". I've always had a soft heart for the "underdog" and children. I've always loved the idea of adoption, perhaps because I grew up in such an amazing family, full of love, affection and affirmation. I longed for all children to experience that. When Matt and I first started dating, one of the major questions I had for him was a potential "deal breaker"...how did he feel about adoption? He was very much in favor of it and had wanted to adopt as an adult for a while. It was even greater confirmation that he was the guy for me! Fast forward about 3 years. We are happily married, but have not yet chosen to start our family. We attend a meeting through the county for potential foster parents and adoptive parents. We love it. We are unsure of the timing, but glad for the information, as it confirms what we have felt for years. A year later we are pregnant with Rylee, our oldest, and choose to put our adoption plans on hold until we feel the timing is just right. About 3 years later, Noah joins us. And almost 3 years after that, we welcome Gracyn, now 13 months.

When Noah was quite young, I was ready to begin the process of adoption, but Matt thought it might be best to finish our biological family first, then adopt. I definitely wanted him to be completely on board when the time came, so I waited it out. About a year or two ago I began praying that if my timing was off and we were supposed to wait, that God would change my heart. I also prayed that if we were to start the adoption process now, that God would change Matt's heart. Last Friday evening, while working on his sermon to be preached on Sunday, Matt turned toward me and said, "I'm ready to adopt now." Just like that. I think my mouth hung open for a bit before I said, "What?" He repeated himself and I asked, "What changed? Where did this come from?", to which he replied, "It just breaks my heart to wait any longer." Oh my goodness, here we go!

This past Sunday we shared with our family our intentions. They were full of questions and excitement. Monday morning I called the county. It was initially a bit discouraging to hear that almost all the children currently legally free for adoption are quite older with severe emotional, physical or mental issues. We were strongly encouraged to do foster care and find our child through that avenue. While I have the utmost of respect for foster parents, I'm not convinced that its a road God has called us to right now. We are considering possibly doing short term "respite" or "vacation" care. We'll see. However, we did learn something. Just prior to the county going before a judge to request that parental rights for a child be revoked, that child has to be moved into a foster home with the intention of adoption, if their current home will not be adopting them. Then, the jusge can terminate their parental rights, making them legally free for adoption. Its necessary for us to be foster care certified first, and the process is initially the same whether we choose to do foster care, adopt, or both. So, yesterday we got these papers in the mail. They are 99% filled out, and will be notarized tonight. Tomorrow they are mailed back to the county and we should receive a call to meet with a case worker in about 2 or 3 weeks.

We will take MAP classes (Foster care training classes) for 10 weeks, while working on our home study. We will be interviewed, have our home examined, undergo medical exams, be fingerprinted, and fill out mountains of paperwork. About 6 to 8 months from now our home study will be complete, at which time we just wait to be matched. Its quite possible that within the next 12 months we will meet our future children.

We are so very excited to begin this journey. Our children share our excitement and have already began praying for their new brother or sister. Ideally, Matt and I would love to adopt a sibling group of two children, with Rylee remaining the oldest at 7 years of age. Likely, the child or children will not be a baby, but an older (up to age 7) child. If you think of us, pray that God brings us the perfect children and equips us to care for them and that we don't run into any major snags in the meantime. They say a long journey begins with a single step. These papers represent that first single step, and we could not be more excited!

A picture is worth a thousand words....

Too long...

Yep, its been too long. Of course I have been busy, but I also have felt uninspired to write. Plus, I felt the need to share things chronologically, and frankly, that just felt overwhelming. Perhaps Facebook is to blame for part of my laziness concerning blogging. I love the instantaneousness (is that a word?) of Facebook. I have a few thoughts rolling around my head...

First off, due to a persistent ear infection in Gracyn, followed by 3 weeks of various antibiotics, we have Thrush. We are treating it with Gentian Violet (Thanks, Carole, for the recommendation). Gentian Violet is BRIGHT PURPLE and so Gracie looks like she has been sucking on a purple ice pop for a week. Lets just say it leaves a stain on some *ahem* "interesting" places on me as well. But, it is working, and that is what is important. Can I just say I love "natural" and "homeopathic" remedies?

On top of the thrush, I have a cold...blah...who likes being sick? Not me, and especially not in warm weather while my lilacs are in full bloom.

I'm looking forward to our vegetable garden this year. Each year I get a bit better at keeping up with it. This year I'm going to search for Heirloom plants, so their seeds can be kept to grow future gardens. I'm also going to try my hand at growing some lettuces. I'm thinking spinach and buttercrunch?

We will be welcoming a bunch of chicks onto the property. We have raised chickens for our own fresh eggs for about 6 years. We are down to just one of the original hens. Its time to bring on some fresh cuties. This year we will be buying day old "Red Star" chicks. Sidenote....I was originally going to order these through Murray McMurray Hatcheries, however, due to EVERYONE and their brother raising chickens this year, there was over a 2 month wait for their chicks. I tried a different hatchery with a 6 week wait. I think I'm going to buy local off of craigslist. There is a guy about 50 minutes away with 40 Red Star eggs in the incubator. Maybe we'll clean him out of his pullets. The price was also better than buying via a hatchery and shipping them.

I'm reading an amazing book about children's health and nutrition by Dr. Sears. Its called, The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood. It talks about cutting out certain fats, food dyes and high fructose corn syrup. Its amazing where you find HFCS...bread, ketchup, yogurt, etc. I'd like to significantly reduce, if not completely cut out HFCS from our diet, or at least only consume it on special occasions. I'm learning about the hormones in milk and how some people suspect it leads to early puberty and breast development in some girls. I have decided for now to not introduce any milk to Gracyn, other than my own breast milk. I figure, god designed my milk to be best for her, why would I wean her from my milk, only to introduce cows milk, which really was designed for calfs? When the time does come to introduce her to cows milk, I'll probably start her on hormone free or organic milk, although I'm completely balking at the prices...does anyone know where to obtain good quality, hormone free milk without paying $6 a gallon. We go through LOTS of milk around here!! I don't really want to have to get a part time job just to pay for milk, LOL!

On that note, if anyone has any healthy recipes they would like to share, I'm all ears...or eyes, if you choose to email it : ) This week I'll be making hummus for the first time, ever. I also made cranberry cous-cous last night for dinner. I've made cous-cous numerous times before, just never added cranberries. I also bought some flaxseed to start adding to foods. Anyone use flaxseed? Beuler? Beuler? Just kidding...anyone recognize that movie line? (Not that its a hard one...)

Rainy day friends...

...are wonderful friends!

They don't mind relaxing with you in the hot tub on a rainy afternoon, or in this case splashing around and treating the hot tub like a swimming pool ; )

They eat snickerdoodle cookies with you and play trains and blocks. They let you run around and act crazy, all while your mom and their mom talk away the hours. Chatting about natural, healthy living, cloth diapers, childbirth, midwives, cooking, adoption, and everything else under the sun.

Yes, its true...rainy day friends are wonderful friends!

The face of exhaustion...

I know how you feel, buddy. The last few days have been a whirlwind of exciting things, but I'm feeling the effects of being busy and away from the house so much...dirty home, dirty kids and exhaustion. I'm off to see if I can remedy the first two right now. I'll post more about my excitement very soon!

"One step forward...two steps back"

Or is it "Two steps forward, one step back"? I can not quite figure that out right now. As far as responsibilities and duties, I seem to have a difficult time finding the right balance. I suppose it all comes down to time management. Let me explain...

It seems like when my house is in good order (not perfect, but picked up and mostly clean), I am less stressed. I know this. But, it also seems like when my house is in good order, that there is less time to do school with Rylee, call a friend, catch up on my blog or email, etc. So, I set out to rectify the school issue and put aside more time to spend with Rylee. Then, dinner is late, the dishes are overflowing the sink and the same load of laundry I put in the washer at 8:00 am is still sitting in the washer.

This past Sunday night I started to get a little stuffy. I figured I was coming down with a cold. Monday I felt tired and very sneezy, but was really OK. Tuesday night I only got a couple of hours of sleep between my achy ears and head and Gracyn waking over and over. I had a fever as well as congestion and achiness all over. Matt actually stayed home from work to help care for the kids and do the necessary running around that comprises my Tuesdays. By yesterday, I felt mostly better and was fever free. I found no clean pants for Noah, so I had to dress him in a pair he had worn the day before. Don't worry...they had only been worn a few hours the day before, but it quickly became obvious we were in crisis mode as far as laundry was concerned. I had to use a big dish towel just to wipe Gracie's hands after breakfast because all the dishcloths were dirty. So, yesterday I started putting the house back in order. You ladies know how it gets when you are sick.

It seems like I can get a couple of areas of my life to really run smoothly, but then I turn around and the other areas have fallen into neglect. I feel like one of those circus acts where the guy starts spinning china plates on top of a pole. He gets one spinning, them moves on to the next, then the next. After a few moments he has to go back to the first plate to get it spinning faster again, or else the plate crashes to the ground. Every day its painfully obvious that I am NOT Super Mom or even Super Woman, for that matter. One day my kids are thriving and the house is kept up, but I have neglected to send out several birthday cards, my laundry room looks like Kilimanjaro, I have not spent any time reading my Bible or praying, and I realize with horror that I cannot remember how many days its been since my kids were bathed. Ouch...just keeping it real. I know I can not be the only one who struggles with the balance of life. Motherhood seems to find me striving to keep a tenuous balance of the different areas of my life. One day I am Super Wife, but Lousy Mom. The next day I'm Martha Stewart, but griping at the kids for tracking mud into the freshly cleaned kitchen and annoyed that once again school took a backseat to life.

I guess it comes down to this; choices. How do I choose to spend my time? I'm the first to admit that I spend too much time on the computer. I also know that I need to pray for wisdom and grace. Wisdom to know how to prioritize my day and spend my precious time, and grace to stick with that plan and manage it all. It does help to know that I am not the only one who deals with these same dilemmas. So, fellow mom's, its confession time. Let's be honest and take off out "Super Mom" cape and mask and share. Did your kid have to wear dirty clothes like mine did this past week? Do you have leftovers that are weeks,not days old in your fridge like I do? Does your yard look like a toy graveyard like mine does right this minute? Please share and make us all feel a little better...Are you brave enough to be honest and keep it real?

Overheard...

Overheard today while I was loading the washing machine with yet another load of laundry:

Rylee, to Brock, my nephew, "I really wish there were six of us kids in my family!"

Awww! I love that she wants to be part of a big family! I asked her about it to be sure I had understood her correctly, and she confirmed that she would love there to be lots of kids. What a great kid. I'm happy to hear that as its always been a desire of both Matt and I to adopt from the Foster Care system. We also would like more biological children as well, so its likely that Rylee will get her wish ; )

Baby Girls...

Reason #1 why baby girls are so much fun...



...you get to paint their itty, bitty toes with sparkly pink nail polish.

I'm feeling inspired....to sew!

I received a super frustrating call a few hours ago from someone who promised to pay me a month ago for money they owe me. While it looks like I'll be getting it (hopefully!) in a few days, I was so flabbergasted by their lack of regard and disrespectful attitude, that I literally was shaking as I got off the phone with them. To distract myself, I cleaned up the kitchen, then decided to check out some cute kids dresses on Etsy.

How cute is this little dress? These style dresses are called "pillowcase" dresses, and are sometimes literally made from vintage pillowcases. My favorites are ones like the above, with funky or whimsical patterns. I love the simplicity of the design, with the girlie embellishment of the matching bow. I did a little research and found out that they are about the easiest clothing item you can make. While I do not own my own sewing machine, my sister already gave me permission to use hers to craft some of my own matching pillowcase dresses for Rylee and Gracie. You can actually wear them year round by slipping a long sleeved shirt under the dress and pairing it with leggings or tights. You can also wear them as shirts rather than dresses, as the child grows. Just pair them up with a cute pair of capris or leggings. They are so versatile. While I'm no expert on a sewing machine, I know I can pull this off. Maybe Rylee's American Girl Doll, Jenna, will even find herself with a new dress! So, I'm envisioning cute and girlie bolts of fabric with matching ribbons, and maybe even some embellishments like ric-rac or funky buttons. The Etsy prices are great, so its almost not worth my time to make them myself, however, I have not felt "moved" to sew in years. Don't you feel inspired?

Edited to include the following: Please click on picture above to view the entire dress. I'm not sure why its only showing part...any ideas??

A new favorite song...

"By Your Side" by "Tenth Avenue North" (you can hear this on my play list in the sidebar)

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life


Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

Thoughts on George Washington's Birthday

As I glanced at the calendar yesterday morning before church, I realized it was George Washington's birthday. I mentioned it to Noah and Rylee, who are both very interested in him (perhaps because his image is found on money??). Noah said, "Wait a minute...George Washington is real?" I said, "Yes, Noah. George Washington was a real man, our first president, but he died a long time ago." Noah said, "Oh cool! Wow!"(his excitement was not over George dying, but the fact that he was real.) Perhaps in Noah's mind he was more like a super hero?

Later, after church, we had a potluck lunch. Rylee noticed that someone had brought in a large, decorated cookie cake for dessert. She wondered why someone brought it and I said it was for dessert. "Oh! They must have brought it in because they realized it was George Washington's birthday!!", she exclaimed. Too funny.

As we were gathering our things and leaving church, Noah carefully folded up his coloring sheet from Sunday School and tucked a little "note" in with it. He turned to me and said, very seriously, "This is a birthday card and a gift for George Washington." Well, if that isn't the most thoughtful thing! George Washington has gone from a make believe super hero type of a guy to a real, living person. Now, how to make him realize that George Washington was alive, but is no longer. Oh well...at least at this young age he knows who George Washington is.

Valentine's Day Fun

On Valentine's Day, we were treated to a fun party at our friend, Kristyn's house. It was wonderful to see her great family again. Her sister even brought her 5 day old son to the little party! We love those newborns. This is Kristyn's daughter, Maia, holding "Jofus", I mean Joseph. Isn't Maia a doll?



This is Kristyn's son Mekai, joining in the festivities. He's a cutie. He and Noah added some rough and tumble "boyness" to the otherwise mostly female party.



This is Gracie, Maia, and Maia's cousins. They were all hamming it up for the camera,especially Gracie.

Because our weekend was so packed, Matt and I were not able to celebrate Valentines Day then. Last night he arrives home, walks in the door and tells me to get ready to go. "Go where?" I say. "Out to dinner with me for a belated Valentine's Day dinner". "Awww...that's sweet honey, but this is the first I'm hearing about it and I have not called anyone to watch the kids." I say. "I have it all taken care of. Your sister Cindy should be here any second." As he says this, she pulls in. She even brought Happy Meals for the kids! I was relieved the house was halfway decent and picked up. I was originally going to bring Gracyn, but we decided to leave her with her siblings, and she did great. Not a peep out of her, even though she is teething. Matt and I enjoyed a really nice dinner together, without any kids. That is the first time in almost a year we have been without Gracyn, at least. As we arrive home, we hear loud laughter before we even open the door. Cindy was pulling the kids by their pant legs around the living room while they laid on blankets on the hardwood floor. They were nearly crying they were laughing so hard! So once again, Matt proves he's quite romantic, and once again, my family is there for us by letting us have a night out without kids. Sweet, huh?

Random beautiful things...

My childhood friend since second grade, Kelly, brought her son Brandon over last week for a playdate. Brandon fell in love with one of our dogs, Molly. Molly was so sweet and patient, letting Brandon cuddle her and love on her.


What is more beautiful than a pregnant woman? Not much! This is one of my best friends, Hannah, showing off her baby bump at her shower. Only a few short weeks to go!


This is the scene that greeted me this morning from our backyard. A beautiful sunrise breaking over the horizon. The orange glow was reflecting off of everything...our vehicles, the walls on our house, even the porch posts. It was stunning.





I came across this clip of Salma Hayek nursing a hungry African baby while she was visiting there doing humanitarian work. She nurses her one year old daughter and was able to hold this baby boy and fill his tummy up...how beatiful!

"Stanley, is that you?"

This afternoon I got a telemarketing phone call. The man was very polite, but all I could think of was this guy sounded just like Stanley from "The Office". I almost wanted to say, "Stanley, is that you? Are you trying to sell me Dunder Mifflin paper?".

Yes, I know Stanley is probably not his real name. Any other Office addicts out there?

That phone call just made me chuckle : )

Remembering...

Part of me wanted to post about this day just being bad overall...the baby is teething and had me up about 8 times overnight. I woke up not feeling great. And so the day began and it didn't ever seem to really improve all that much. However, I choose to not to devote a whole post to my yucky day. Because...there are so many more important things to dwell on, and I don't want to be so shallow. A week and a half ago, the kids and I were devastated to read that Tuesday had passed away from the Neuromblastoma that had plagued her for the last half year. She was just a little over 2 years old. We did not know her personally, but had been following her mother's blog for about 6 weeks. The kids and I had been praying for her every night and we even sent her cards and coloring pages, complete with our handprints traced on pretty paper. My heart just broke for her family, and especially her little twin sister. A few days later I followed a link in a blog I was reading to another blog. This mother was also writing about her 11 month old daughter who had just been diagnosed about 2 weeks ago with the same type of Neuroblastoma. Little Cora reminded me so much of our little Gracyn...chubby cheeks, bright blue eyes, fair hair and skin. Daily, I would follow the blog and see that Cora was holding her own. There were major bumps in the road, but it seemed like she was somewhat stable. Then, yesterday, I was shocked to read she had passed away early Sunday morning. Once again, a little girl I never met, but still loved by her family. I was crushed. In my head I've been reasoning how its so silly for me to get so upset at these little ones death. Yet, any mother often puts herself in that other mother's shoes. This little one who looked so much like my own daughter is gone, and now her parents are left childless. My consolation is that Cora's parents are believers, and that both girls are in the arms of Jesus, cancer free.

But, oh how my heart breaks for those parents. I have prayed for them so often since hearing their devastating news. I pray mostly for peace for them. As I was reading these sad posts, I felt so full of emotion. I'm so blessed...I'M SO BLESSED!! My children are healthy and full of life. I have an amazing husband. We enjoy our life together and have never had to deal with sadness like these parents are. Since first hearing the news of Tuesday's death, I've noticed I'm a bit more patient. I snuggle the kids close to me and breath them in. I squeeze the baby and hold her so close. I try not to complain when she wants me close in the middle of the night. So, who cares that I got up last night over and over with my fussy baby. At least my baby is here to be held and comforted. So, my kitchen was a mess this morning. At least I had children around to dirty it.

My arms feel full today. Full of blessings. And I'm so grateful.

Homeschool?

Do you homeschool? If so, head over to www.octamom.com. Its a great blog written by a mom of eight, who coincidentally also homeschools. She is hosting a giveaway on her blog through Homeschool Boutique. There were lots of great T-shirts, bags, etc. Head on over and check it out. Leave a comment for your chance at winning.

Cute...

The first picture just speaks for itself, doesn't it? Noah is such a cheeser. I mean, just look at that grin. There's mischief behind that grin, experience tells me.

There's a bit of a story behind the second picture. Rylee was playing quietly in her room (perhaps that should have served as a warning with any other child, but Rylee playing quietly does not usually equate to trouble for me). She comes to me and says, "What do you think, Mom?" I look and realize that she has just decided to cut herself some bangs. My immediate reaction was to laugh, so I covered my mouth so she wouldn't see. I didn't want her to think it was funny to cut your own hair. After 30 seconds of silent laughter, I just couldn't help it anymore and realized that I simply was not going to be able to keep a straight face as I questioned her. I said, "Rylee, why did you cut your hair?" She says, "I just wanted bangs". I continue to smirk as I look at her cutting job. She said, "I don't want everyone to laugh at me because I have bangs now!" I said, "I'm laughing because I can not believe you just cut your hair and did such an amazing job...don't you dare ever cut your hair again!!" She cut her bangs so well you never would have guessed a 6 year old did it. The following day she went with me to get my hair trimmed. She decided to get her hair cut as well and now has a shoulder length "do". She looks so much older now, sniff, sniff!

The last picture is Gracyn taking a bath a couple of weeks ago. Does this child ever stop smiling and making herself look adorable? I mean, really. As my mom often says, "Not an ugly bone in her body".

Tagged!

I was tagged by Carole for this fun post. I am to post the fourth picture from my fourth folder in my pictures archive, then explain. This picture was taken by my sister, Cindy, while we were all on vacation in September of 2007. This is the beach in Corolla, Outer Banks of North Carolina. We has such a wonderful time on vacation that we repeated it this past September. We stayed at an even larger house and my other sister, her husband and kids all joined us. Its become one of our favorite places to visit.

By the way...how grateful am I that the fourth picture in my fourth picture folder was not one of those shots where my kids took my camera and shot really strange items up close, resulting in a weird blurry shot.

The rules are to tag 4 people...I tag:

Hannah
Trina
Jen
Jewel

Random...

~ The older I get the more I come to realize that I am a pretty open person. I honestly can not think of a subject that is truly "off limits". I guess I really value transparency. Some of my most favorite people on this earth are those who are open and transparent. Not only do I feel close to them, but it also satisfies my intense curiosity with humans in general. That being said, I realize that not all people are wired that way. That doesn't mean I'm not close to friends who are not as open, just that I love it when they don't hold back. Know what I mean?

~ It amazes me that things as seemingly insignificant as a haircut or trim can really boost my mood or self confidence or whatever you want to call it. I don't know whether that is a good thing that I am that easily boosted, or a bad thing that something so "unimportant" makes me feel better. Hmmm...

~ I like doing laundry for the most part, but find it difficult to follow through and actually put the clean clothes away in the dresser or closet. I'm guilty of living out of laundry baskets at times.

~ My Christmas tree and decorations around the house are STILL UP. Yup, its January 8th. I think that is a record for me. Due to our crazy schedule in December, our tree didn't get up and decorated until a week before Christmas. It was a shame to spend money on a beautiful, fragrant tree and not fully enjoy it, so I kept it up. I think its time, though. Its dry, and I sure could use the space that it occupies. I guess its time to stop listening to Christmas music also. Speaking of which...

~ For whatever reason, I love the song "Santa Baby". The old one that Earth Kitt sang. I also love "Jingle Bell Rock". As for Christmas carol's, probably my favorite would have to be "O Holy Night". Am I the only person that remembers that old Hallmark commercial where the adult son comes home and starts singing that for his family on Christmas Eve...it gave me goosebumps to see/hear that. Please tell me that someone else remembers that commercial.