200th post

In my recent blog silence, so much happened in our lives it's hard to know what to write about, or even if I should. The most notable thing that happened was the passing of Jason's grandfather. He lived just a few stone's throws from us, and we would often take stroller walks to MawMaw and PawPaw's house. He was always glad to see his great grandchildren, even though gradually he couldn't hold them anymore, then couldn't put his arm around them, and finally was too weak to even hold out his hand for a five. He seemed to perk up when his grands and great-grands were around, and in fact Jason and Owen were two of the last people he recognized, or was able to mention that he recognized. I will never forget the phone call early Saturday morning. We had seen him the night before, but still we wished for one more goodbye.

In a pathetic twist of plot, The Virus hit. I should say walloped. The morning of the visitation, cousin Juli had stopped by to visit, and as we were talking, Owen threw up all over me and the carpet in the basement. Juli, about to graduate from nursing school, took it all in stride like a hero! Of course we were hosting out-of-state guests, my parents included, and I felt terrible about exposing them. There was little we could do but keep to ourselves, disinfect surfaces, change shirts and wash hands frequently. Helen got it about 12-14 hours later. I heard a little whimper during the middle of the night, checked on her, and discovered her lying in her crib, covered in cold puke. Around the same time my kids were getting sick, it was hitting other extended family members in various manners and intensities. My father in law, though he had a meditation to deliver, even considered staying home from his own dad's funeral, he felt so awful! Jason got hit during the funeral, and had to force himself to fulfill his pallbearer duties at the gravesite. Following the funeral, others began to get sick, and like us, most local family members were hosting out-of-state family. So the gift went on. Lots of us holed up in our homes for quite a while, but some poor, poor people had to endure cross-country travel while they were ill. There are all sorts of pathetically hilarious events associated with this particular GI bug that I don't have the freedom to mention, and no fewer than 34 family members got the bug. (The number may still be rising, who knows?) Fortunately, Jack did not get sick, and the worst it got for me was some slight nausea and a few skipped meals. Recounting the tale makes me feel a touch ill, sort of like getting itchy when you hear of someone getting lice. And I just rubbed my ear in a scratching sort of way. I wonder how you are feeling just reading this?!
The Nests.

Just at the end of Grandpa's burial service, it began to rain. When we arrived home, what we saw in the sky was absolutely amazing. Not one full rainbow, but four! If you look very closely, you can see that the one on the bottom is a triple. My parents and I were outside. My jaw was on the ground. Poor Jason was too sick to get out of the bed. It was such a timely gift from God, a sign of peace over Grandpa's life and his family, arching over the land he once farmed.



Grandpa was a big part of our lives, and we miss him. We had a near front-row seat to the final stages of life, and it was saddening but strengthening to watch those before us face death with courage and dignity. We love you, Grandpa, and we'll miss seeing you on your golf cart. Owen thinks maybe you are running in heaven, and he wants to run with you too.

Back to blogging!

Got the computer back. The thing hadn't actually crashed, but was well on its way. Unfortunately, we had to be grown-up and prudent and have it fixed instead of buying new. We had our memory quadrupled. Jay and I were reminiscing about when we bought it. We've had it for eight years! It was our first computer, and it was so cool back then....it was the coolest thing in the weird room that was our office, weird (free) desk included.

So now begins the process of re-bookmarking favorite sites.....sigh. Some are probably lost forever. And retraining Microsoft Word on my little time-saving keystrokes....groan. I'm finding myself kicking the dirt over these pesky little tasks. I guess I'd have to do the very same thing with a new computer. Only then it might be fun. But isn't that the lie of stuff?

Computer crashed!! I was about to kick it over the edge of the cliff anyway. Awaiting repair.

eight & nine

Jack is nine months old now, but here is the 8-month picture too:He is busy army-crawling everywhere. He can bustle along our floors very quickly, and doesn't let much slow him down. Yesterday, he left his jeans behind on the living room rug! When he's hungry, he finds me and scratches at my feet and ankles until I pick him up and feed him.

He's extra fussy right now. I think the crankiness may be due to teething and also readiness to hit a new milestone. Last night he pulled himself to standing by Owen's bed. His mind tells him he's a big boy that can stand up and play by the ottoman, but his coordination and balance haven't caught onto that yet.

Mama's Morning Out

This morning was glorious!! I got up early, ate my Grape-Nuts in relative silence, fed Jack, and headed out the door to the church's semi-annual yard sale to work my shift, since I was a contributing de-clutterer.

I had a lot of fun working with my friends. And I picked up some more stuff, other people's junk....funny how that works.

When I got back home after lunch, Owen and Helen came running, happy to see me. All three kids had gotten baths and were dressed in clothes that matched, and by "matched," I don't mean comprehensive coordinating outfits, I mean individually matched, that Helen's overalls and her shirt matched, and Owen's pants and shirt looked OK together. Jason usually does well with dressing the kids, but every once in a while, I will quietly pull a kid aside and swap out a shirt.

They had all eaten lunch, and Jack was sleeping. There was a floral arrangement on the table, courtesy of Helen and her daddy. They had picked flowers in the yard for me. Precious!There was bagged pasta on the counter. I had left a drying rack full of homemade noodles smack-dab in the middle of everything, and Jason had put it away and swept the floor before the kids got into it this morning. (Last night Jason was away, and I was making pasta with the ankle-biter battalion. Owen ate as much dough as he could get his fingers on; he even scraped off the counter where I had kneaded it. He and Helen took turns cranking the machine until Helen discovered the drying rack. She quickly lost interest in the pasta-making process, and there she stood by the finished product, rapidly eating fresh noodles. Jack swam around the floor and got flour on his tummy.)

The sink and drainer were empty and clean, and the dishwasher was running. You might think I'm some kind of freak for posting a picture of my dish drainer, but I'm just bragging on my husband!And outside, there were towels flapping in the breeze. Jason had done a load of laundry! I must add that all of his work this morning was unprompted. I was merely expecting him to entertain the kids, feed them, and keep the house relatively neat. He usually does an awesome job of cleaning up the kitchen, even better than I do, although I'm afraid that's not saying much, since I can be a tad lazy in that area. What a great guy!!!

And now another story, but I promise it connects with my morning, if you can just hang in there...

Last week I had a moment to run into town with only Jack. I stopped by the Economy shop and told myself I couldn't spend over $4. I immediately saw this dollhouse for $2. It was very dirty, and some little girl had colored all over it. I brought it home and cleaned it. My only disappointment was that it didn't have any furniture and was missing some windows and doors. I'm going through a Beth Moore study of Esther right now. In the whole book, God's name is never mentioned, but like Beth says, his name is all over it. What some people may dismiss as mere coincidence is God's providence. It's got me thinking of all the ways God has worked out details in my life. He has done some pretty huge things for us, like the timing of buying and selling houses and vehicles. It's been amazing the way he has led us and provided for us. But I also know he cares about the small details of our lives, and we can talk to him about the littlest things that trouble us.

Before I went to the yard sale, I asked him for some dollhouse furniture. It was a request mainly for my own benefit, since the kids are enjoying the dollhouse just as it sits right now. But, you gotta know me, I just drool all over myself at dollhouse furniture. I think it's so cute, I want to play with it myself! I knew I could be happy without the furniture, but I also knew it wouldn't have been a problem for God to provide it.

And look what I found:It's a whole new dollhouse, on a very much smaller scale, full of furniture and dolls. The front door even has a doorbell! A very sweet girl had outgrown it, and put it on the yard sale to make some money. God is so awesome.

And on another completely unrelated note except for the fact that my husband is so nice and accommodating, Jason ripped out the brown shag carpet in Uncle Phil's old bedroom downstairs. Now to tear down some wallpaper......

Some Bunny Loves You

Remember how my sister-in-law Les is soooooooo good at gift-giving? Heh heh. Heh. I'm talking about her famous white-elephant gifts. The girl has a knack for finding "eye-catching" items at resale shops and the nerve to gift them to friends and family. Off the top of my head, I remember a stuffed owl, some kid's T-ball trophy and a glass vase with red and green tissue paper squares glued to it.
The lovely Ms. Rabbit was her gift to Janice this past Christmas. Dressed in her finest.

When Leslie's birthday came around earlier this month, Jan and I hatched a plan.
It started out with a sweet stack of home-baked goodness--strawberry cake on the bottom and carrot cake on the top, and I began to play Ace of Cakes, right in my own kitchen.

Serated knife, hot glue gun, yellow sock, red bias tape, pillow stuffing, florist wire...just mere tools of the trade. A little buttercream and a few hours later, Ms. Bunny looked like a million bucks.
Ready for a stroll down Cottontail Lane as this year's Carrot Trail Maid, she clutched a single carrot in her delicate paw.
Ms. Bunny wore a smashing frock of yellow, purple and red, festooned with miniature carrot accents. What a feast for the eyes!

What's that? Did Abby say "beautiful"? With ears like that, it's hard to miss any compliment.

Azalea Trail Run

Today, I did something I never would have dreamed of doing in high school. I ran a 10k. My time is nothing to brag about--a 74 year old woman beat me by seven seconds--but I finished upright and breathing.

As a child I was never obese, but I did spend quite a bit of time in husky pants. By the end of my junior year in high school, I was on my way to a full blown weight problem. Fortunately, a summer with Teen Missions took about 25 pounds off of me. My senior year in high school was the first time I could get through the dreaded 1 mile physical fitness run without walking. I nearly died doing it. Since then, I have managed to keep myself from getting completely huge. Recently, however, I have started to look like a thirty-something with three kids. Not good. I have a taste for junk food and have never exercised seriously in my life. Under these conditions, I will be forty, bald, and fat in a little over six years. The first two I can't control, but the last one I can.

About four years ago, Joyce started running to lose the weight she put on with our first child. I started running a little bit as well but never kept it up for very long. I would always get busy on the farm and quit for several months at a time. Since then, we have had two more children and with each one she has managed to run off the pregnancy weight--something I am very proud of her for doing. Last May, Joyce and I decided to participate in the next Azalea Trail Run. Today, we did it and actually liked it. Me, the fat kid who avoided running like the plague, ran 6.2 miles and thought it was fun.

Over the last few months, I have wondered why I am in the best shape of my life at 33. (Not great shape, just the best I have ever achieved.) What on earth was I doing in college when I had no job, no kids, no responsibilities, and access to free fitness equipment whenever it suited my wide open schedule? Oh yeah--studying for a useless degree I don't even bother to hang on the wall any more.

Several observations. The oldest runner today was an 84 year old man who ran with his 81 year old wife. How cool is that? I saw a man wearing a race shirt from the Pizza Hut 10k in Gulfport--circa 1983. This was really neat on several levels. Number one, he has been running for at least 26 years. (Or he likes to shop at Goodwill.) Number two, he was actually wearing a shirt. Something about seeing a shirtless old man wearing little nutter shorts running down the street makes you want to either pass him, run the other way, or go blind. I guess anyone who can still run into their eighties has earned the right to wear whatever they want to. Or don't want to.

Jason