I'm Back!!! Happy Halloween!

Well, well, well. What have we here? A new post? Why, yes.... a new post! Sorry for my absence. Life has been busy... but I'm well aware that is no excuse.

At this point I'm slightly overwhelmed and not quite certain where to start. So I thought I'd start with tonight. HALLOWEEN! Then I'll fill you in on the last several weeks over the course of the next few days. Sound good? Here we go.

So, for those of you who are tight with my kids, you know they are slightly insane. In a nutshell, they seem to be getting more insane the older they get. I blame their father. (I'm just sayin') So for Halloween 2008 this was what we had going on.

Emma was Caitlyn J. Turner. Enough said. Girlfriend worked the facial expressions AND the tambourine! It was magic. I felt like Cait had flown in all the way from Australia just to be with us tonight. (I don't think they trick or treat in their culture though) And Caitlyn.... Emma wanted me to tell you.... "you're welcome."

Abigail was the Bride of Frankenstein. So adorable! She had the crazy hair going on, the black lipstick. She even tried a few scary faces on for size. Priceless!

Samuel was Indiana Jones.... SHOCKER! So he basically wore exactly what he wears every other day (and YES, he carries a whip around most days). But he felt amazing! More amazing than usual! Yay for Sam!

Lily Kate was.....................wait for it.............wait for it....................Helen Keller. Yes, you read that right. Helen Keller. How in the heck do you come up with that one? The child is obsessed with Helen Keller. So we did our best to come up with the costume that she wanted. Which basically, her biggest concern was that she HAD to have an apron and she most definitely could not get into character without her weave in. So, we managed to make it happen for her. Then we had the joy of taking her out in public so she could attempt to trick or treat while acting both deaf and blind in public. Only motioning and signing for candy. The girl is hardcore. If you could have seen the expressions on peoples faces as we explained who she was and what she was doing. There are no words. No words.

I sit here now though... still laughing and just so incredibly grateful for the amazing gifts that God has given me in each of my children. They are all so different, so unique, and they bring me so much joy. I was just telling Steve last night that the older I get the faster time goes by. I hate the thought of them growing up so quickly. But I also can't wait to look back on this day with them, ten years from now, and laugh until ALL of our stomachs hurt! Good times!

I Was Thinking...

Yes. I do that. I think. I don't often share (unless it's my opinion on someone else's "stuff" - sad, I know). But rarely do I share what's going on with me. That's way to vulnerable to do on a regular basis. However... the last couple of weeks I've been watching a plant in my yard sort of come back to life. I thought I was going to have to pull it up. It just looked completely dead. But very, very slowly... it's happening. I sit on my front steps in those rare quiet moments around my house, usually early in the morning and/or later in the evening, and watch this thing slowly start to bloom again. And you know what I think.... "This is me, this is real, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now. Gotta let the light shine on me. Now I've found who I am. There's no way to hold it in. No more hiding who I want to be. This is me."

HOW INSANE!!! All these amazing worship songs and it's a CAMP ROCK song that basically sums up where I'm at in my life. Really God?? Seriously? Unbelievable. Sometimes I absolutely do not dig God's sense of humor.

But, it is what it is. That chorus is currently the soundtrack of my life. God is working, moving, watering, nurturing and bringing forth new life from a fairly dried up, stressed out daughter. And now it's time for me to respond to that. To be who He's called me to be. There can be a lot of freedom in getting older and becoming more comfortable with who you are. But I'm finding that becoming who God wants me to be isn't exactly "comfortable" for me.

Regardless though, I just feel like this plant fully represents me in this season. It's God's daily reminder to me, as soon as I step out of my front door, of what He is doing in my life.

Another update that is oh so very late

Several nights ago we had dinner with some fantastic friends in the fantastic city of San Francisco. Known to some as FRISCO. (you're welcome MARK KIEFER) Anyway, we had a great! Lots of laughs and great food too. We even enjoyed watching Jeramy learn the two step with Natalie. Bart had some issues negotiating traffic (I don't think he's used to driving in the city) - but we managed to talk him through it. And again Bart.... YOU'RE WELCOME. Sharon fell in love with my tiny little canon elph and refused to quit taking pictures. She was driving me crazy with the flash but Jeramy kept begging for her to take more pictures. What can I say... I just gave her complete access to my fancy pants pocket cam. I'm a team player--- FOR SURE. Fun times. The next grown up night out consists of San Quentin. I CAN'T WAIT!

Lily Had a Birthday...

... and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. OOPS --- Sorry Little! Lily turned SEVEN last Friday. And for the record, I'm not happy about it. My baby is growing up.

She was busy for the last several weeks counting down to her big day. And when it finally arrived it was tons of fun! She got to "skip school" and have breakfast at Bab's. (I know... that already makes it a perfect day!) Then we just played all day. Friday night we had her birthday dinner and of course, presents and cake. She did not disappoint on her delivery of "thank you's" to her guests. And she has ALWAYS been hysterical to watch (from the time she was in diapers) while you sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She soaks in the moment.

Let me just list some of her favorite gifts... skinny jeans (which are not even REMOTELY tight on her), a toy puppy (Katie), "footie" pajamas, a High School Musical barbie car, a sparkling pink head band, a baby doll and play pen, used toys from her siblings, a bike, and let's not forget the money and gift cards.

Happy Birthday Little! Love you!

This Made My Day Today

I love the logic of children... especially MY children. I was finishing math with Lily this morning and noticed that she had apparently jumped ahead in her workbook at some point. She has a graph to go along with the questions that she is supposed to refer to in order to answer them correctly. However, she felt that she didn't want to be bothered with retrieving the graph. So she just answered them as she felt was best. It was quite simple in her mind. She didn't understand my issues with her answers AT ALL. Read the first two problems on the page. What a hoot!

I'm a Survivor!!

Of what? My first week getting back into the grind... I mean joy of homeschooling! Seriously, I do consider it such a huge blessing to be able to spend these years at home with my amazing children. I know that I'm so extremely blessed to have this opportunity. It's just not always super easy to make it happen. Anyway... tonight we celebrate. Steve and I are heading to the city for dinner with friends! Yay us! But for now it's back to the dining room table to handle some math problems... And in case you didn't figure it out on your own. This was my obligatory blog for the week. Maybe next week I'll be inspired to share more. Probably not... but maybe.

How Much Fun Did We Have?

A LOT!!! Last night, Steve and I had a fantastic night out with the loves of our lives, Jeramy and Sharon Sossaman. We had dinner, conversation, AND live music... all without any kids (thanks sissy for being so great). Actually, upon reflection... was that a first for us J and Sharon??? As much time as we spend together, I don't think it's EVER been JUST the four of us??? Crazy! Anyhoo - LOVE Cafe DuNord. LOVE the Castro district. LOVE the city. We had great seats (except for J -- sorry -- we'll switch next time) to two guys with amazing talent, Jason Reeves and Tyrone Wells (I don't know how to do the fancy link thing with their names, so you'll have to find them on your own). It was ridiculous. To be that young and that good. After the show we chatted with Tyrone, a preacher's kid on a club tour. LOVE THAT. He was a really cool guy. Then Jeramy and I made sure to go meet Jason (who is like a minute and a half old and writes heart wrenching love songs -- it's just rude) and OF COURSE we asked him inappropriate and personal questions about his songs. We reassured him that he could trust us and tell us anything. He seriously did looked slightly frightened by us. And we're sure he lied to our faces. However, we had no choice but to take him at his word and move on. So, off we went. Great night! Great music! The best friends!!! Thanks for a great night guys.