Tuesday, March 20, 2007

They're BAAA-AAACK!

My two wonderfully cute kids are home again. They spent a week in Indiana with Dave's folks. They all seemed to have a great time and all seem to be exhausted as well. :-) The hardest parts are Dave and I saying good-bye when they leave us and then his parents crying as we take them back. *sigh* God love 'em. They are so excited when they get them. And we are blessed to have both of our parents so willing and excited to take our kids just about whenever we need them too!

This week has been crazy so far though! Yesterday was crazy busy. Glad it's done. Then today was less busy in a sense, but a playdate at the park with Hannah and a friend was COLD! I think that I just got so cold and then found that I couldn't get warm all day. So I'd hunker down under a blanket, and then I'd get sleepy. So my day was pretty unproductive! Ah well.

Some fun news: Dave got us 9th row floor seats to Alisson Krauss this July at the Scottrade Center (or whatever it's called now).
We have been to two of her concerts already. And we just really enjoy her and the laid back atmosphere of her concert. So I'm looking forward to that!

Went to the endocrinologist today. Trying to get my doctor visits in while we still have this insurance before the month long wait for our new insurance to start. So I had bloodwork done again after being on the methimazole for a month and my levels are getting better. Looks like my thyroid is balancing out a little, which will hopefully get me out of having to get the radio-active iodine treatment. My true wish is to get off of as much medication as I can. I am currently taking three daily meds and I'm only 33. I don't like that. And I don't want to make a habit of it. Which is another reason that this South Beach lifestyle seems to be a good fit for us. It can maybe help me to a med-free life too. By the way, today I am wearing a pair of capri pants that are two sizes smaller than before! Woohoo!

Had stamp class last night. Made some really cute cards at my friend/demo Lisa's house. She is quite crafty and I usually truly enjoy myself. The last few times have been crazy though! So many people, which is great for Lisa, but man, it's like LOUD and crazy! I took advantage of the Stampin Up March special and got me some fun paper, a jumbo wheel, and stamp set for bundle price and then got to order anything out of the mini catalog for half off! I was boring and got a pre folded card set in a new size... but I got it for only $3.28! And mostly went with that because none of the other stamp sets really lit me up. This weekend I was supposed to go to a shoe box swap, but time is just so packed with stuff to do, that I was able to talk another stamp friend who's going into taking my stuff for me. I was excited that she was willing! Thanks Beth!

Tomorrow I'm keeping Madison for Tracy. She is the little girl I watched part time for a year before my dog bit my son. After that, they stopped brining her. But this is Tracy's last full week of work as she is having another baby on 3/29. So, Maddi was asking for Spencer and Hannah so we'll have company all day tomorrow. Hopefully it will go well. Madison has just a slight temper! ;-) And quite a bite too!

*yawn* Well, I'd love to ramble on longer, but my brain is toast! I'll leave you with a fun picture...it is from our winter trip to Indiana. My kiddos' first b.b. gun experience! They were hilarious!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Day 2 without kids

So, it's been alright since my kids left to spend a week with Gma and Gpa. But it TOO quiet and I'm lonely. And I miss them! But it's been nice at the same time too. Dave and I walked Sunday and Monday nights. Tonight we were able to go up to the mall for Dave to find some pants for his new job, in a smaller size (way to go honey!). And we visited Trader Joe's for the first time where I discovered dark chocolate covered cherries. OMG! Delish! Tomorrow and Thursday nights we have dinner plans with two different couples. Which will be a blast too. Then on Friday morning, we'll head to Indy to see our kids and the in-law and the great grandparents too!

Today the weather was incredible! High 70's! I wore bermuda shorts. Not sure how I feel about how I look in them, but my friend Bethany assures me they looked fine and that my butt looked cute. I guess the most important thing was that they are a size smaller than what I had to wear last year. Last month for that matter. Although I have to say, eating healthier has its good side, but I am definitely going to be excited to eat a slice of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake tomorrow night! Lemon-Raspberry!
Bring it on!

Also today Bethany and I hung out. We ate lunch here at my house. I made a quite tasty chicken salad. Simply put, I cooked some tenderloins (the frozen ones from cosco) in the crock pot with minced onion, pepper, and chicken broth. After it was cooked, I shredded it, added some chopped red grapes, chopped celery, chopped walnuts and some mayo. Light on the mayo, cuz I don't prefer slimy salad. We served it up on little whole wheat pita bread. Nothing to go along with it, and it was fine. Quite happy with how it turned out. Then we ran a few errands together and came home to watch a movie. We watched, The Holiday, with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. Very charming movie! I really liked it! It's long, but I highly recommend it for a nice romantic movie with some laughs too.

Anyhow, I'm off to watch American Idol. Tomorrow is Bible study and lunch with my dear friend Lisa. Haven't seen her face to face for quite a while. Looking forward to it!

Ta Ta For Now!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Bye Kiddos:(

Today my two kids are leaving me for a week to spend time with their grandparents in Indiana. I'm so sad for them to go, tho I know they will have a blast and that Dave and I will have such fun not having to worry about childcare or ANY disciplining for one whole week. But it is still weird to let them leave. Feels like you looks all control (which I guess, in a way, you do). Dave's parents are great and I know this will be theraputic for them too. They are lonely up there since Jeremy's been gone, so this will be good for them.

Our kid-free plans for the week include: a day at the shooting range with Dave's new pistol, dinner with my sister and bro-in-law at cheesecake factory, dinner with another couple on another night, Dave's last week on call with ESI (woohoo!), and then a day off for Dave on Friday so that we can go get our kids back!

Speaking of Dave's last week on call with ESI! He got a new job as a consultant. He will be doing something pretty new for him, AND he will have a 50% pay raise on his hourly! That is going to be a huge blessing to us as we have some debt that we've been working on. Who doesn't, right? We've been pretty faithful every year when raise time came around to continue living off of the original salary, and applying the rest toward our debt. So, by doing this with the new job, we can very potentially look at having only a house payment left by the end of a year! I'm so thrilled by that prospect. It would be a huge stress relief and hopefully make us even more conscious about creating debt. Like learning to wait for what we want instead of instant gratification.

South Beach diet still going pretty well, I realize that we really need to incorporate the exercise part into our routines now. I hate that. I hate exercise. Always have. But I know it works and I know if I want to have a splurge once or twice a month on a night out in a restaurant of choice without regret, then I'll have to work harder on exercizing. So, we'll see how I can do that this week. Dave too. Wish us luck. He's down 18 pounds already! So proud of him!

Well, I'm off to do bathtimes so that my in-laws don't have to take stinky, dirty headed kids home with them. :)

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Houston, we have strep!

So, to the best of my memory, we have our very first case of strep throat. My 6yo was running a fever when Dave and I got back into town from our weekend away. She was runnng about 102.7, so I kept her home from school yesterday and took her in to see our family doc. Doc says, throat isn't even red, fever was down, but she'd do a strep test anyhow. She came back into the room and said, "well, I lost the bet, cuz she's got strep". She said she never would've suspected it because of the symptoms not matching up.

Other than that, we are just waiting for the weekend. I know, it's only Tuesday. But on Thursday, Dave meets with his small group from church to tell them of our decision to leave this particular church. Then on Friday, Lord willing, he'll be giving his notice at work and, Lord willing, will have signed with a new company. Then LORD WILLING, our lives will once again not revolve around CRAP! We are so ready to just be done with these two overwhelming issues. Ready to be excited about going to church and for Dave to not dread going to work. We need some changes or we'll lose our minds.

Anyhoo. Hey, I've posted 2 days in a row! That's a record, I think!

Tonight we have parent/teacher conferences with Hannah's kindergarten teacher. Since she is home sick today, I sent her an email asking if there was anything she'd like me to have Hannah work on. And her teacher replied, that Hannah is so far ahead of the game, that she could do whatever she liked. You know what? She is a smart little girl. We are so proud of her!

I also got Spencer registered for Mom's Day Out for next year. He is excited. He loves school this year and is already excited about being in the monkey class next year. It will be a big class, but there are three teachers and they have a blast! He only goes 2 days a week, but it's so fun.

Idol's on tonight too! Woohoo! The guys are alright, I like Blake and Chris Sligh for the guys. The gals, I am all about Melinda Doolittle! She is my absolute favorite. And if Annotella Barbra doesn't get her hind end voted off this week, I'm gonna pitch a fit! She's is awful and people need to not vote for her to keep her around to make a fool of herself! Seriously!

Monday, March 05, 2007

A Forced Hand and Answer to Prayer

So, the last year+ background revolves a lot around the loss of my BIL, Jeremy. He died while responding to an EMS call in December 2005, Middletown, Indiana. Since then, our lives have been a roller coaster journey. Sometimes more harried than others. Other factors have played into this craziness like Dave's job (him being very unhappy where he is and seeking a new job), my health (recent diagnosis with hyperthyroidism, which took a long time to diagnose), and then just normal craziness is life.

One of the things I've struggled with for a year now, is our church. Admittedly, we have not been as involved since we lost Jeremy. We got the news of Jeremy's passing on a Sunday morning, and quite honestly--for a LONG time, we woke every Sunday morning feeling like we were caught up in a bad dream. So we found it difficult to get out of bed and go to church. And as Dave would say, we didn't want people staring us down with that "oh, are you all doing alright" look. KWIM? I realize that grieving is a white elephant in the middle of the room. It still is for me when other people grieve, makes me uncomfortable, though now it makes me more sad, cuz I've been there in a real way. So we kind of closed ourselves off in some ways. But not to everyone. Only the ones who wanted us to mysteriously "pop" back into normalcy. The part where is gets difficult is that some of those same people, have accused me personally of running away from God. People who have really made NO attempt to be a part of our lives since our loss. No card, no phone calls, nothing. One of them being the leader of our women, and the other being a friend. They are not the only ones to left us hanging... by any means, but they are the ones who accuse me of being disobedient for various non-issue things. The biggest one being on whether or not I attend a women's retreat. That was last year. This year, when I didn't go, the other EMAILS me to say, she "noticed I wasn't there, so she can only assume that I'm still struggling with my spiritual life or 'church' or both". WHAT? You can get all that about a person that you've had NO contact with in at least 5 months and very little contact with in a year? I DO NOT understand how people work. Especially when they make statements with "I can only respond to what God lays on my heart".
Um, God never lays on our heart to lay into a person and tell them what they assume about that person, or to tell them through email either. Scripture is very clear on confronting other Christians. In Matthew 18:15, we are told how if another believer is in "sin" that you are to go personally to them and correct them in love. However, my not being at a retreat and dropping back from church activities is not SIN. Clearly, I am not in sin on this church issue. I know there is sin in my life, as I am human. But my husband and I and a few family and friends are in prayer for our decision regarding whether to continue as members of the current church we are in, or to leave and seek a new church. This judgemental email I got last week was the answer to that prayer. We will no longer be going to that church. Hurtful as that email was, another dear friend pointed out to me, that I'd been asking God to show me whether to stick it out or just leave and get out of a toxic situation. God showed me how toxic the situation is. So Dave and I feel that is our answer.

Now the daunting part is explaining to our kids that we'll be moving on, and that we will be asking Jesus to show us to a church where not only Mommy and Daddy can grow in faith in a loving environment, but where they can make new friends and learn new things about Jesus too. And have MORE FUN! Any who are reading this who believe in prayer can be lifting us up as we begin our search. That we wouldn't carry this hurt around and that it would not scar us to the point of mis-trust no matter where we go. That we could find joy in worshipping on a Sunday morning again and not dread it so. And that our kids would be comforted and trust that God will show Mommy and Daddy where to go. And that He will take care of us all.

So, a new path begins. The hard part here is walking on it, even tho we don't know where it may lead. Time to boost the faith muscles!