Saturday ….Success!

Success this week was getting the baby boy healthy! It took a lot of prayer, a lot of lost sleep and enough steroids to make him the size of Hulk Hogan!

Other successes this week?

Let’s see…

Having a blast at Touch a Truck!

Another wonderful, uplifting Girl’s Night at my mom’s!

A slew of birthday gifts and a baby shower gift….but only one that I can post pictures of – the rest will come next week.

Several (yes more than 1…more than 2) ETSY sales! And I am excited to say had more site views this month than last! YAAAHH!

Oh, and a HEALTHY baby boy got a hair cut today!

What were your successes this week?

Friday, A Question for the Ages

I am leaving here in about an hour and half for a weekend away with the kids…and I have nothing in my suitcase!  So here is another effort in procrastination…

Advice time ladies…or more reassurance…I am not totally weird or lost in left field on this one, am I?

Facebook Friends:

I am not friends with this guy...and he is my dad!

I seem to be odd ball out when it comes to Facebook friends. I have maybe 35 friends (okay I stand corrected I have 84…I didn’t realize that I know 84 people, but I am glad you are all my friends!) while the rest of the world has 300 friends.  It is just who I am. I much prefer a close group of great friends to a larger group of acquaintances. I am sure there are some of you ladies who can keep up with a whole yearbook’s worth of people and feel totally connected with each and every one, I just can’t.

All of that said, I am not friends with many of my friends’ husbands. A few of those husbands are not on Facebook.  I only counted three that I am friends with – two are out of town and one I use to babysit for so I saw him more often than I see most of my friends’ husbands.  I just don’t feel right about being Facebook friends with everyone’s husband or guys in general and this from the girl who until post-college always had more guy friends than girl friends. Even my maid of honor was a guy.

Several of my husband’s friends have sent me friend requests – mostly guys from school who he is close to. I haven’t accepted those. It isn’t that I don’t like the guys, it’s just I don’t feel the need to be “friends” with them. I need a little space from that part of his life – school has already infiltrated so much of our family life.

I am friends with one of my husband’s  friends, who I have never met, but he is someone who is important in my husband’s life. At this point in all of our busy lives Facebook is the best opportunity I have to get to know him in any sense.

And it is not that I spend my time on Facebook  man-hating. If I had to guess I would say that since I am part of a couple, it is his job to be friends with the guys? Or maybe in this place in my life I have so little girl time, I don’t feel the need to drag the guys a long?

What do you think? Who do you not friend? Who do you friend?...and the infamous last question, WHY?

ETC - Embrace the Camera

Embrace…what a word.

These pictures were taken in the wee hours of Thursday morning, as I embraced my sweet, pitifully sick baby boy.  They aren’t pictures of joyous times or moments that are ordinary and extra ordinary all at once.  They are pictures of the rough road of real life.

We are blessed to have to two healthy, vibrant children. Each time they are sick, I thank God for their health. I cannot imagine what it is like to have a child who is not well. I cannot imagine what that feels like or how parents survive. Two days of a sick baby and I am physically and emotionally spent.

I know we are being lifted up in prayers and supported by friends and family for this short time. My baby boy will be well in a day or two.

As, I post this my heart and prayers go out to those whose children are not well.

Visit the other ETC's via The Anderson Crew.

No item of the week post for now...maybe later...

Wednesday...off topic...

It is Wednesday.

Where has this week gone? A trip to Roanoke to the doctors for the baby boy – two and a half hours actually in the office, plus 2 hours on the road. It was all worth it as he is doing so much better, but I am spent…so instead of a selection of lyrics I am going to share with you a post from my friends over at Just The Girls: Real Beauty Blog.

It is about motherhood – and being a beautiful mother.

I was reading – with the help of a 15 month old – a magazine in the doctors’ office yesterday. There was an article written by a mom, reflecting on ten years of motherhood and the ten lessons she had learned. One of these light bulb moment lessons for her was not to judge other moms.

This photo was taken by Faith,
one of the super talented photographers over
at Just the Girls: Real Beauty Blog

This is a lesson I am still working on. Not judging moms – my own mothering included –is hard. There is a fine line for me as mom; of thinking I am better than another mom and worrying about the safety, well-being of children and sometimes even another mom.  I believe that a great deal of what is wrong in the world today is a direct result of not valuing children – not making our children a priority. So, while I get each mom has her own style and way, and sometimes even a different style and way for each of her kids, I take real issue when people don’t put the safety and well-being of their kids at the top of the list. Children aren’t accessories and parenting is a privilege, not a right.

As a mom, I know that my daughter flourishes with praise and support, and that when she need discipline a big piece of that is helping her learn a better way. Why is it so hard then to take the same approach with grown-ups? Not that I think I should discipline other moms who aren’t living up to my standards, but a little compassionate support and encouragement for a mom who is struggling goes a long way – at least for me it has.

As Ruth points out over at JTG:RBB even the most beautiful of moms have ugly moments, so we should give each other grace.

After all, parenting is a process not a competition.

And we can all be beautiful moms – if we try!

Tuesday Treasures...Trucks!

Today’s treasure is sort of two-fold.

The treasure is officially TRUCKS – in honor of Touch aTruck this Saturday, which the kids and I will be attending. Let me just say that if you are in the Richmond area you should be sure to attend this gem of an event!

Which brings me to the second, unofficial treasure – those surprise moments that turn into lasting memories. The day that you thought was just going to be day and turned into magic! That is what Touch a Truck was for Grace and my folks last year.

We had seen an ad for it and it wasn’t very much to go. It was something for Grace and her Popsie and a chance for me and then teeny Jackson to get some rest and quite. I think the pictures speak for themselves, but they had a wonderful time and are so excited to go back this year and take Jackson!

I mean who doesn’t love trucks, right?

Enjoy the treasury!
And I hope to see you at Touch a Truck!

Made of Monday...Q&A

It was a weekend that had more questions than answers.

Sometimes in life are just like that.

For every answer, there is another question.

Sometime the questions are fueled by uncertainty, sometimes by curiosity, sometimes by doubt, sometimes by orneriness.

Sometimes the questions are fueled by hope.

As we approach the end of law school, there are so many questions about our future. The basics like where will we live, where will my husband work, where will Grace go to school. All of those are part of the bigger question – What does God have in store for us?

When we came here it was beyond obvious that God had something great in store for us here, but in the process of being here I have learned that here is not the ending, it is not where the greatness will occur. Though here has had its moments of greatness, this season of life for us is one of preparation and growth…so now where? And, now what?

When we so clearly saw that here was where God was leading (no, bringing!) us, it is hard to not expect the same glaring neon lights pointing to the next step. So far, though, there has been no giant blinking roadside arrow. I thought there was one – one of those big arrows like you see on the interstate crying, screaming “Stop Here!”  It led someplace unexpected and I had made peace with it in my heart, but it wasn’t our arrow and it left me with so many questions…Why? What next? How to reconcile the peace I felt in my heart knowing now it wasn’t our path to take?

Sometimes I just have to turn the questions off and take the answers that are in front of me and do the best I can. 

Answers or no answers, I am made of questions.