Tate's Haircut

Well, apparently, little boys in our family who have hair before they're 2, don't do so well with the whole haircut procedure. :) Tate had a haircut about a week ago, and as I was telling my dad the story of how he wailed and screamed and wiggled throughout the whole thing, he laughed and recounted the time when my brother did exactly the same thing!! Maybe it's genetic?? :) Either way, it makes for a funny story. Here are the pictures to go with.

Somehow, I can't edit where the pics go...sorry. Maybe it's because I've not had enough coffee! :) Anyway, that first pic up top is my brother and my mom...the next pic is Tate. I had to hold Tate and watch Ev, so my picture isn't nearly as dramatic, but you get the gist with the tear on the cheek. :)

When you want something

Ethan and I are on different pages about another child. It's been a little rough lately, because I have that strong desire for another and he has a strong desire to be just where we are.

It's hard to be a woman sometimes...and have to listen to someone else's opinion on what we should do for our lives, and then have to submit to that, especially when their decision is so entirely permanent and life altering. This is somewhere where not submitting would be a disaster...

So what do you do?? I don't know...I'm kind of glad it's a rainy day, though: I'm going to have an ultrasound today to make sure it's OK to go on birth control. I'm going to need some hot chocolate today...

My sister...AKA: The coolest woman ever.

No really, she is. When I "grow up" I want to be just like her!! She's thoughtful, kind, hysterical, generous, fit, gorgous, emotionally and spiritually mature...and I don't want to brag, but she IS my sister. :) Seriously, though, she's rather amazing, and I can only hope that I can be that cool. She came for a visit this week and totally spoiled me with great conversation, with help with my boys, with great wine, with lots of laughs, with noticing things that only another mom notices, and for just being here with me. We went to King Family Vineyards: Veritas Vineyards:to the famous Downtown Mall:to include having lunch at Cafe Cubano and yummy ice cream:...and time for the boys at the Discovery Museum:We went to Fridays after Five to let Ev dance, and to City Market the next day:She loved on my kiddos:she let me take a shower, she washed my dishes, she took pictures, she bought lunch and ice cream and all sorts of goodies:...AND NOW SHE'S GONE! Can I cry, now???!! There's a big part of me that just wants to live near her. It might be possible for us to live in San Francisco, but if we can't, Ethan and I have already planned to take a bi-annual trip there as part of our future lives. :) When someone is that much fun, and that influential in your life, you've just gotta make a way to be together.

Fun family! Fun days!

Wow. Just wow. It's hard to capture with words how much fun we've had over the last few days. Tim and Megan came to visit us on Sunday night. Having family here is so great; it makes our little place here feel a little more like home, instead of just camping out. There is a sense of wholeness when your family knows "what it's like" where you live. They know where you are when you say you're in the basement...or in the kitchen. It's kind of fun to have your space be known like that. Anyway, we weren't sure how the boys were going to fare with visitors and going places and doing things, but man, it couldn't have been better! On Monday, we took them to Bodo's for breakfast and then we took them around campus to see what that was like.

After that, we went to Little John's for lunch, which was...as usual...delicious and cheap! :) Then that afternoon, we braved Monticello with the boys. And it was SO great. Monticello is beautiful. The views are spectacular, the history is great, the tour guides are fun and knowledgeable. It's expensive...so we might not go back all that much! BUT, the boys were great, the company of our family and friends was delightful.

The boys loved "exploring" the grounds, in their own way, of course, which included digging in the dirt and making mountains, eating grass and leaves, and collecting rocks and sticks of various shapes and sizes. Having Tim and Megan with us was so much fun. They are great company and great friends. After Monticello, we went to Bizou on the downtown Mall for dinner. Without kids. :) Dinner was delicious, but the best part was that we sat outside and the weather was perfect. And the conversation was interesting and fun, too.

The next day, we braved going to vineyards! We went to King's Family Vineyard first. Oh. dear. We might go broke living here. The wine is so good and the vineyards are beautiful. Manicured, gorgeous. The owners were there and talked to us like we were old friends. They are Texans, by the way, so maybe that's why. :) At King's Family, they have polo games on Sundays, so we'll go back to see one sometime soon. We definitely came back with a few bottles of their wine. The Meritage is sooooo delicious, but they are all fantastic wines. We went to Cardinal Point Vineyard, too, and for a young winery, they are outstanding. Their Quattro wine is to die for.

That night, Tim and Megan left for Colonial Williamsburg. It was tough to say goodbye. We really enjoyed their company and can't wait for them to come back. Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. :) We can't wait for our next scheduled visitors, either: Susie in a week, and my mom and dad at Thanksgiving! It's going to be a great time.

Communion of the Saints

We've been "breaking bread" together as a family here in so many fun ways. I've been making my favorite Oatmeal Bread from my favorite cookbook ever. Yes, Mom...I still have YOUR copy of More With Less. Just in case you were wondering where it was. So, yesterday, I took the boys to City Market and we saw a vendor who had fresh honey with the honeycomb included in the jar. YUMMY. We love honey, and it's especially good on the bread I make. Toasted. With a little dab of butter...and fresh honey. That honey is so delicious, that we ate a whole half of a loaf of toasted bread slathered with honey within 20 minutes. Mmmmm...if it's this good here, I can't wait for heaven.

So, while we were at City Market, we gathered up some goods to make dinner for the evening. We made plans, thanks to our neighbors who told us about it, to attend Starry Night at Veritas Vineyards. Every month, they put on an outdoor concert...you can bring a picnic and listen to music in the beautiful setting of their vineyard...right at the base of the mountains. Ok, so words don't express how gorgeous it is. The weather was perfect, the scenery was to die for. The music was a live band covering swing. They were excellent. Everett and I danced for a long time, and Ethan and Tate joined us, too. The dinner? Well, we got fresh roma tomatoes, fresh basil and delicious artisan parmesan cheese, and combined it with pasta, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, chicken, for the best dinner ever. We bought peaches and made peach cobbler, and had delicious blackberries to boot. It was heavenly. And the wine from Veritas was fantastic. I'd highly recommend it. But mostly, if you get to come visit us, come for September 13. We'll take you back to Veritas and we'll listen to live Bluegrass music. I might even make dinner again!!

Attention

Maybe I should change the gist of this blog...It seems I kind of use it as a jornal to write about all sorts of things, not just our little family. :)

So, this morning I was in Isaiah 42. I've decided it's OK to let Ev watch TV while I spend time in the Word. Tate's asleep, so I get a minute to myself. A much needed minute. I really love Isaiah, thanks to Kim Ransleben. She's the most amazing mentor I've ever had, and I've really only had 20 or so conversations with her. All of them with a huge impact on me. That woman knows and loves the Word...and knows how to speak harsh truths into other lives in a loving way. Anyway, she's the one who has encouraged me to read Isaiah to learn to love WHO God is! I've been reading it with that bent...

Except this morning. I walk upstairs and all of the sudden, I'm bombarded by all of the things I have to do. Toys here, dishes there, laundry everywhere. Dusting, windows, bathrooms, grocery lists, plans for lunch. It all invades my brain and takes over like a horrible alien show. It's something that I'm struggling with, because I tend to make my "to do" list my idol. I put it above all things...above my kids, above my husband, above myself...above the Lord. So, I pray that the Lord will give me a still moment. And up runs Ev to ask me to play with him. What do I do now? It seems there are challenges everywhere...I tell Ev that I'm spending time with Jesus and that I need him to go back downstairs. I tell him I need this time so that I can be a good mommy. He says, "I want you to be a bad mommy!" *sigh* Anyway, I read through and then I come to these convicting verses:

"You have seen many things but have paid no attention; you ears are open but you hear nothing." This is on the heels of "But those who trust in idols...will be put to utter shame."

Oh, man. I see so much. I see toys, I see dishes, I see dirty clothes and unmade beds. I see dust and finger prints. I see grapes on the floor and trash that has to be taken out. Have I paid attention to the Lord? No. I have made an idol of my pride. Pride in a clean house, a well cooked meal, a routine to the day, "nice" children. All of these things are important, but secondary. I need to push the idols aside so I may pay attention. No wonder I feel so ashamed at times. I've made first things last and last things first in a bad way. Everything is backwards. No wonder my ears are open but I hear nothing.

So, here's my prayer for the day: "Open my eyes and mind to YOU, Lord, and CLOSE them to the clutter in my house and the pride that consumes me."

I know...

On Perfection

Every now and then, I indulge myself in a runner's chat board. I am a has-been and a will-be-again. Someday, I'll run marathons again and go on my 6miler in the morning. But until then, I sort of live vicariously through my online friends who run. There was a thread in there about moms who have plastic surgery after having children...just to put things back in place.

I'd like to do that some day, to be honest. I'm feeling the pressures of perfection. And you know what? They're pressures coming from the wrong places and for the wrong things. I know this, and yet I still bow to them and give them power. I want to be the perfect mom, the perfect wife, the perfect neighbor, the perfect daughter. I want to LOOK the part...but BEING the part is entirely different. BEING the part is much harder than looking the part, because being the part requires that I BE in God's presence. It requires that I humble myself before the Lord, confess my sins, repent and live in light of His salvation for me. That's much harder than having plastic surgery. A quick fix is what I'd rather have. A little medicine, some microdermabrasion, some snip here and tuck there. It's so much easier to clean the outside than the inside.

I know all of this, and yet I still struggle with what I KNOW will make a difference. It's too hard to change. It's easier just to accept my mediocrity.

And yet, I still desire to be perfect. Perfect in what is important. I want to spend time in His word, in His presence. That will be what gives me the strength to do what I need to do. And yet, I turn to coffee in the morning. Coffee and a little checking of e-mail to see if anyone thought I was important enough to write to. *sigh* I'm chasing my tail.

I keep telling myself, if my children would just sleep in the morning, instead of wake up at 5:30 or 6, then I'd wake up and spend time in the word. As though I can bribe God instead of just waking up, letting them play and I'll just be in the word while they make a mess of the house. Oh, but if they make a mess, then I have to clean up...and the house isn't perfect. See? Tail chasing.

Andrew Peterson wrote a song...The Chasing Song. It's a little corny. It sounds like "Christian" music, which can bug me a little. But his words are spot on:

Now and then these feet just take to wandering
Now and then I prop them up at home
Sometimes I think about the consequences
Sometimes I don't
Well, I realize that falling down ain't graceful
But I thank the Lord that falling's full of grace
Sometimes I take my eyes off Jesus
And you know that's all it takes
Well I wish that I could say that at the close of every day
I was happy with the way that I'm behaving
'Cause Job, he chased and answer
The wise men chased the Child
Jacob chased her 14 years and he Captured Rachel's smile
Moses chased the Promised Land
Joseph chased a dream
David, he chased God's own heart
All I ever seem to chase is me
Well, they say a race can only have one winner
And you know you've got to pull out front to win
God knows the only time I'm winning
Is when I'm chasing Him
Well I wish that I could say that at the close of every day
I was happy with the way that I'm behaving
'Cause Samson chased a woman
and he chased the Philistines
I'm not quite sure what Jonah chased
But I know he caught the sea
Cain, he chased the harvest
While Abel chased the beasts
David, he chased God's own heart
All I ever seem to chase is me
And Jesus chased the moneymen
And he chased his Father's will
He chased my sin to Calvary
And he caught it on that hill
Saul, he chased the Christians
Till his blindness made him see
David, he chased God's own heart
All I ever seem to chase is me

....more thoughts later...I've been as honest as I can this morning...

It's going to be a crazy day!!

So, last night, the boys had a horrific time going down. Sundays are always hard that way. No one got a decent nap, we played really hard and by the end of the day, we were ALL over tired and cranky. Tate went down easy, then woke up at 7 and cried until 8:30 or so. :( Ev just refused to sleep. So, at 5:45 this morning, Tate wakes up...and didn't go back to sleep. I discovered that Ev was in Tate's room, playing with him! YEEPERS. That didn't fly well. I kept my cool, though...and now the day is going to be packed...We've GOT to go get milk and a few things at the grocery store, then to the gym for yoga (a MUST!)...then it'll be 1pm. And Tate has a doctor's appt at 2...so guess who isn't going to be napping again today???!! :)

I guess no one ever died from lack of sleep, but I'm getting close. :) I'm burning the candle on both ends...I stay up late to spend time with my husband, and making dinner, cleaning up... and then crawl in bed at 10:30 or so...and then I'm up in the middle of the night when Ethan can't sleep for about an hour or two...then I'm up at 5:45. PASS THE COFFEE!! With lots of sugar, please, to make me sweet. :)

So, wish me luck and pray that my kiddos cope with the crazy schedule.

Does anybody read this stuff?

I'm feeling like I'm just wasting time here. We'll see...