Christmas Loot!

There are a lot of things that I really love about my husband.  First off, I learn, daily, from the respect he shows other people.  Whether he knows them or not, they get treated with the highest amount of value (especially his parents).  Second, whether he’s just met you or knows almost entirely everything about your life, he always has questions to ask.  When I first introduced him to my great grandma in 1995, I remember him asking her a million questions (which she loved, of course) and very earnestly, she told me with a smile, “The wisest people in the world ask a lot of questions.”  And lastly, he is very disciplined when it comes to spending and saving money.   Of course, there are a lot of other things that I love about him, but these are my top three :). 

What’s strange about these amazing attributes is that that they are the things that I struggle with the most.  So, how could one argue that there wasn’t a HIGHER appointment in our introduction and relationship? 

I’ve been reading and hearing a lot lately about the amount of money spent on Christmas this year.  In just that one day, I read in an msn article that there was over 11 billion dollars spent in actual stores!  Dave Ramsey mentioned in an interview he did with Family Minute that over 75% of that obscene dollar amount was spent using credit cards!  Yikes!  That is beyond scary to me! 

About 4 years ago, Matt and I vowed to each other NEVER to purchase anything on credit again (except our house) and to put every extra penny that we had towards paying off our debt (school loans, credit card, cars, home equity line of credit).  It was a struggle at first, but somehow, we’ve managed to keep that promise.  There are A LOT of times that we look at each other and I can read in his eyes that he’d really like to buy that fancy new lawn mower NOW and pay for it next year or that he’d love nothing more than to have that four wheeler with the snow plow this winter so that he could plow the driveway and make payments on it for the next....ohhhh...5 years!  Hmmmmm….I won’t lie and say that I never thought twice about it, either.  Although, I had my own temptations…an embroidery machine, a swimming pool, and yes, I also wanted the lawnmower, too J.

We pay for everything with cash.  If we don’t have the cash, we DON’T buy it…and that goes for Christmas presents, too.  We budget throughout the year to pay cash for every Christmas gift we purchase.  And shamefully, until last week, I hadn’t began to think about purchasing ANY of these gifts!  We had a pretty busy November, which is the excuse I'm using for not starting my shopping a bit earlier.  So, I made my first withdrawal last week of $300 and headed out to make a few purchases.  I’ll take part of the blame that someone was brave enough to steal my Christmas stash out of my purse because I was slightly distracted by a particular 2 year old that was suffering the consequences of being on a VERY strong antibiotic for over a week.  I felt violated, angry, ashamed, frustrated…all in that 1 second it took me to piece everything together and realize my cash was gone.  But then it left…I immediately went to the thought of how Matt would react and I got SCARED!  This seemed like a good enough reason to him to become a single dad!  In about the next 30 minutes, I talked to management at the store, filed a police report, called my mom and Matt.  After a quick conversation with my forgiving husband, he said, “It sucks!  But it’s not like we won’t be able to buy our kids any Christmas presents now.”  He was right.  Then, the thoughts I had about the thief using my husbands hard earned pay for drugs or porn or something changed to thoughts of a single parent using it to buy a special present for their son or daughter.  Still…not good to steal, but the anger and frustration left me and I was grateful for a husband that encouraged our family to live the way we do and PLAN for things like this.  If something like this had happened when every last penny of Matt’s paycheck was going to make our monthly loan payments, we would have been in trouble for sure. 

I shared a little bit of this story with the kids a few days back and Gabe asked if the person who took Mommy’s money went to jail.  Nate reminded him that we don’t know who took it.  Then, they both started asking questions about how it was going to affect their loot on Christmas morning.  Hmmmmm…how did I explain this?  I clarified that it was a little frustrating, but that Mommy and Daddy plan for unexpected things to happen and that Christmas would still go on.  I was also feeling a little frustrated that as hard as we try to teach the kids that Christmas isn’t about the presents, that’s immediately where their minds went. 

I decided when I went to my journal later that night that this was a good example for them to read in the future, about why it’s important to have a plan for unexpected situations.  After all, one of the things we try to teach them is not to make the same mistakes we did as young adults (buying everything we coveted because we thought we DESERVED it).  We want them to grow up, knowing that we only spend what we HAVE and not what we think we’ll have some day or what we think we deserve.  We encourage them to give, save, and THEN spend. 

The icing on the cake to this entire situation was about midnight last Tuesday while I was finishing up this journal entry (another moment of appointment).  Gabe came into the living room with his little plastic jar labeled “God Cares,” and handed it to me.  “Why aren’t you in bed, Gabe?  Go back to bed.”  He insisted, “You can have the money in my piggy bank to buy some presents for Nate and Adri since you had yours stolen.”  As my heartstrings tugged at this moment, not wanting to forget that sweet, giving, and unselfish attitude that Gabe was showing me, I held back some tears (not all of them), and assured him that everyone would still get presents for Christmas, but that I was really pleased with his giving attitude.  Now, that’s what Christmas is about…maybe they are starting to get it, after all!

Merry Christmas, friends!

Panty Delimma

After Adri woke up this morning, I helped her to the bathroom and she eagerly picked out her clean panties, but refused to put on the clothes that I chose for her to wear today. We don't have big plans this morning, so I caved and let her stay in her night gown. It was a battle that I chose not to fight on this particular day.

After a little time had passed, I realized that her night gown was tucked into her panties and I couldn't help but giggle, so I took this picture. After taking the picture I pulled her night gown from her panties. About 5 minutes later, I noticed that it was tucked in there again.

I soon realized that she was doing it on purpose and I enjoyed tormenting her a little by continuing to pull it out and watching her tuck it back in.

After a few times, I asked her, "Why do you want your night gown tucked into your panties?"

She answered, "So you can see my panties."

We'll add this to the list of things she does to make it evident to everyone that she no longer wears diapers.

We continued our family tradition of having breakfast with Santa at Blu Falls last weekend.  I have no idea why Adri's mouth is wide open in this picture and I'm really surprised that Nate even sat on his lap!  

A few weeks ago, Nate told me that he knew the truth about Santa.  When I asked him what that was, he said, "I know that parents really give us our presents and there's no way that Santa could travel all over the world in one night."  I thought about it and three things came to mind.  

1.  Don't lie.  

2.  Don't cry.  

3.  Don't give him too much information.  

My response was...and almost word for word was... (I wrote down our conversation immediately after it was over so that I wouldn't forget)  

"You're right.  Santa can't travel around the world in one night and parents do put presents under their tree for their kids and say they're from Santa.  I believe, though, that Santa was alive and real at one time and Daddy and I choose to continue the tradition of passing out presents to our kids because we think it's fun.  Don't you?"  

"Why don't you just put your name on all the presents so that we know they're from you?"

"It's just a tradition that our parents had with us, and we enjoyed it, so we choose to continue it with you."  

"Okay."

That conversation ended with me feeling sad and a little nostalgic that my little boy was growing up.  Then I realized that I had to have another conversation with him about how he has to keep the lie from his brother, sister, and friends at school that still think Santa is real.  That conversation went well...I gave my 8 year old permission to lie!

A few weeks later Nate had an 'ah ha' moment and asked to talk to me in private (I also wrote this down, quickly, after our conversation was over).    

"I was thinking.  Isn't Santa a little like God?"

Anytime my kids ask me a thought provoking questions and I can tell they've been deep in thought over it, I get a little excited, scared, and proud...all at the same time!

"How do you mean, Nate"

"Well, he gives, I mean gave, presents to kids at Christmastime and that's a lot like God because God gave all of the people he loved his son at Christmastime?"  

*Don't cry, Amanda!

"That's a good analogy, Nate, and I'm very proud of you for coming up with that."  

"I guess now I don't feel so bad about lying to my friends because I know telling them that Santa is real is like teaching them about Jesus."

I love my kids.  Who doesn't, right?  And, I never cease to be awed by them and their intriguing questions and observations.  I'm often left wondering, who's doing the teaching here?

Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I had in my mind, for several weeks, about how I was going to journal, everyday, during the month of November, and be very intentional about noting what I was thankful for. That' right...I PLANNED on doing that, but it didn't happen. In fact, the kids and I made a board... "The Martin's are thankful for..." and this is what we got. We each only filled out once card and then we forgot all about it!

Although I haven't got much journaling done in the past few weeks, I have enjoyed my kids more than usual :) Thankfully, the marriage retreat that Matt and I went on at the beginning of the month, continues to energize me and I think the atmosphere of our home has DRASTICALLY changed. So, that is what I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving...the feeling of being refreshed and energized, when clearly, I should feel like I've hit a brick wall!

Here are a few pictures and notes featuring my AWESOME family!

This little girl LOVES her Daddy!

Everyone wears their jewelry in the bathtub, right?

Nate said that he wanted tortilla chips for lunch and I agreed that it was a great idea (There isn't any food that I love better than tortilla chips...especially with a margarita). "We have to have something with them, boys, we can't just have chips for lunch," I said. Nate added, "How about chicken noodle soup?" "That sounds awful! Chicken noodle soup doesn't go with chips," Gabe said. "Gabe, apparently your not a REAL tortilla chip lover like Mom and me. If you were, you'd know that EVERYTHING goes with tortilla chips!" He couldn't be any more correct!

We've been talking a lot about the holidays and what the REAL meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas are all about. A few weeks ago, I got out a nativity set that I bought last winter on clearance. I'd never had one before and I couldn't wait to get it out. It seems pretty durable, so I sat it down low on the fireplace hearth so that the kids could easily see it. Adrianna is VERY interested in it and wants to play with and talk to the figurines often. She refers to them as Mommy Mary, God Joseph, and Baby Jeez.

We were happy to host Thanksgiving dinner for approximately 60 family members, all branches of the Cowan family tree. Somehow we all fit in our house and the event was a success! We followed up dinner with a Bluegrass jam fest at Matt's mom and dad's house. Thank you to Andrea, who took most of these pictures! I failed to get many shots!

I think the kids had an amazing time playing together! Great memories!

My neck is long and skinny, isn't it? Ha! And how is it fair that Denna and Matt don't age? I realize I don't have that trait, but I sure hope that my kids get it! Promise me that no one will make fun of me when I look 80 and my darling husband still looks 33!

We had the privilege of hosting Matt's cousin Kelly, her husband, Bryan, and their two sweeties, Raegan and Rachel, for 5 days! Words cannot describe how well Raegan and Nate played together. On Friday morning, Nate woke up, and entered our room, very early. He asked, "Is it okay if I wear my church clothes today?" I said yes in my 'it's too early to think,' voice. After actually getting out of bed, I discovered that Nate had is 'church clothes' on (meaning they didn't have holes, rips, or stains on them), and he'd already eaten breakfast and brushed his teeth, too. When I found him, he was sitting quietly on the couch without even the TV on! I was curious why he had shown such initiative that morning and the only thing he said to me was, "Is Raegan up, yet?"

Adrianna and Rachel made quite the pair of playmates, as well. With the exception of a little whining, which is to be expected when a pair of two years olds play together, they were great company!

This little cherub had me giggling from Wednesday, all the way until they got in their car to head home. There isn't anything sweeter than hearing her little voice say, "Can I have a peanutbutternjelly please?" And she only asked for a PB&J about 30 times a day! She also stole my heart when she said, "I like your earring. And I like your other earring, too. And I like your pony tail." I miss her already!

Ring around the rosey!

Thank you to my Sister in law Andrea, nieces Kali, Brianna and Lacey, and cousin Kelly, I didn't have to wait to see Breaking Dawn until it came out on DVD! They accompanied me to see it on Friday night and we left Bryan and Matt home with 6 kids, ages 8 and under! This is what we came home to! Apparently, it's some pretty serious video game playing when you have to move the couch to be directly centered and in front of the TV! Thanks boys, for letting us have some girl time! I hope you enjoyed your boy time, too!

On Saturday evening, we attended, as we always do, an event hosted by a family from church. They invite you to their home to have a one on one visit with Santa. He tells you about Christmas and of course, the kids get a chance to tell them what gifts they would like. And then he sends you on your way, with a bag of candy in tow. While waiting for our turn to visit with Santa, Nate fell asleep. Initially, I though it was because of 4 days of nonstop playing with his cousins. He even chose to skip the Santa visit and wait in the car. Although he now knows that Santa doesn't really come down the chimney of every boy and girl each Christmas, he was excited to see him, nonetheless. So, Daddy sat with Nate in the car and I took Gabe and Adri to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Of course, Adri wouldn't come any closer to Santa than necessary to acquire her treat bag, but Gabe eagerly sat on his lap. The only gift he requested was a Pez dispenser.

After getting home, we discovered that Nate had a 104 temp and he held on to that until Monday morning. Gabe and Adri followed up with a fever on Monday and Adri is still holding on to a yucky cough and a double ear infection. Tis the Season!

This is what I got to do on Sunday...I think it had been weeks since I had done laundry, but then realized it had only been 5 days! This was the second time I had filled up the island with clean clothes. While I cleaned up the remnants of an awesome holiday weekend spent with family and the kids lounged around watching movies, recuperating, and trying to fight their bugs, Matt began the project of replacing all of the lights on our pre-lit Christmas tree. See, this is where we are VERY different. I would have just bought a new tree! 4 days later and he only has 2 more levels to go!

Monday night while Daddy slaved away on the tree, the kids and I finished up all of the other Christmas decorations and even worked on a craft. This is our Christmas wreath!

Since Adri's stocking didn't match all of ours and I have a small case of obsessive compulsive disorder, I spent about 4 hours on Monday night, while the rest of my crew slept, making us new stockings. I must say, I'm quite proud of my workmanship! What's especially exciting about our fireplace is that for the past 5 or so years, every time we decorated for Christmas, Matt and I would say to each other, "When we get our house built, won't it be exciting to decorate the fireplace?" Yeah, I'm pretty excited (and I realize this makes me a bit corny, too).

Merry Christmas!

Big things!

I realize this is a long post, but when I was going through my journal and trying to decide what I wanted to include, I had a hard time leaving out a lot of it. So, you get A LOT!

Some of you have heard me express lately that my coping mechanism for dealing with emotion is out of whack. I’ve been known lately, and on a very regular basis, to cry at Progressive commercials (most people find Flo humorous…she brings me to tears), if my children don’t obey (because I think I’m failing as a mother) and if my husband doesn’t make eye contact with me at least…oh….100 times per day. In fact, one day last week, I was convinced that we were headed for divorce because he had forgotten to call or text me all day! The thought never crossed my mind that he may have just been busy doing his ‘job.’

To top it off, Nate must have decided this year that a good present to his parents would be that we develop a close and intimate relationship with the school administration at East Elementary!

For someone who was having difficulty coping with the little things, the big things that have been going on in our life right now were close to putting me over the edge. I joked (but it may not have been so funny) that if things got worse for me, emotionally, I’d be spending Thanksgiving in a mental institution.

When our friends Rob and Lisa, suggested that we go to a couples retreat at Miracle Camp, in Lawton Michigan, for an ENTIRE weekend, we were on board! The thought of having two entire nights of uninterrupted sleep was thrilling. Well, at least not an interruption of a child screaming for Mom or Dad in the middle of the night or waking up at 2 a.m. and finding that the kids had apparently forgotten they had a room of their own and turned the floor of our bedroom into one large pallet.

It may have been because I was so focused on the actual ‘getting away from home’ or because so much of coordinating the weekend was done by someone else, but until the beginning of our first session on Friday night, I had no idea that the focus would be on marriage AND PARENTING! At that point, we opened our mind and hearts and followed the lead of the One in charge. Big things were about to happen!

Rob said in his blog this week that, “The staff and volunteers serve you as an extension of the love that Christ shares.” You know what? That was the main lesson that I walked away with this weekend. The people who work at this camp are helping to provide an awesome experience for their guests. I had a terrible cold this weekend, which I think was a result of my emotional over load the past several weeks, and without me asking, one of the staff members went into town to get me some cold meds. I almost cried when she handed it to me (surprise, right?). It wasn’t too long before I made the connection with the way that the staff was treating their guests and the way that I treat my kids. Christ’s love? Not sure that I was doing my best to show that to my kids (at least not all of the time). I surely don’t want to show them this love when their terrorizing each other, running and screaming all over the house and when I want to lock them in a closet. Big things were happening.

On top of the spiritual and emotional growth that was happening for us, I was not preparing meals, only fixing 1 plate at each meal, experienced the zip line, high ropes, archery, trap, fellowship with some AMAZING people, and we also got to enjoy the extra hour of sleep that the time change gifted us on Sunday morning!

While on the platform of the high ropes, scared like I have never been before, we were trying to decide which way to go next. Another couple was finishing up their first attempt ands the woman said to me, “You can do this. Keep your eyes up.” I’ve thought of her words a least 100 times since that afternoon…some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten. Big things were happening.

So, we headed home with all of these great new ideas and concepts on how to better parent out kids, according to scripture. My friend Erin said, “What are you gonna do? We’re going home different and the kids will still be the same?” We thought about it and decided that a family meeting was appropriate. First off, when we told the kids we were having a family meeting, Nate started dancing around the room. It was like he was saying, “Yeah, my parents want to become better parents and we need this, too!” We told them why we were making some changes and the response was positive. I think things have changed, too. I realize that we’re still in the honeymoon phase, but we have 5 other couples to help keep us in check! Nate even noticed that things had been different and referred to our family as the ‘before retreat’ and ‘after retreat.’ Big things are happening.

Thank you to Carol and my mom to taking care of our little chickadees while we were away. It was easy to enjoy ourselves knowing they were being take care of by people that love them!

Lisa took a video of me on the high ropes. If she gets it to me, I'll post it! I'm not embarrassed easily, and I'm like my son, I enjoy making others laugh!

Good morning, Sunshine! Thanks, Rob, for taking this picture!

Sunrise over Lake Bankson - Lawton, MI

On another note, we had some family pictures taken a few weeks ago and before posting them, I had to decide which one we were going to use for our Christmas card. Here are just a few of my favorites.

On the afternoon that these were taken, I got the kids ready first and put a video on for them, bribing them carmel corn if they stayed still and clean until I got dressed. I went into the bedroom wearing jammie pants, a tank top and my hair in a towel. I came out wearing makeup and clothes that didn't have food or snot on them. Gabe wouldn't stop looking at me. When Matt walked in, he said, "Dad, did you see mom?" I guess it's pretty rare that they see me looking that nice :)

I love the way Adri is looking at Matt in this picture. Too bad the rest of us aren't looking the right way!

Have a great weekend!

Correction

Correction: it was Cathy Rigby the gymnast!

Cathy Rigby Commercial

Like Mother Like Son

I’ve been told that as a child, I had a tendency to sit down whatever was in my hand when I spotted something else more interesting. I think a lot of kids do this. My parents would often find my toys in strange places. Once, I was holding our poodle, Shelly, and decided to get a snack out of the refrigerator. Later that day, my mom found Shelly on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, shaking. Who knows how long she’d been there.

In the early 80’s, there was a commercial on, staring an Olympic runner. She was promoting the newest maxi pads. It was about this time that my parents found me putting maxi pads in my tennis shoes because I thought they’d make me run faster!

My mom used to tell me that I’d get payback, as a mother, for all of the headache that I caused my parents. I didn’t believe her until after Gabriel was born. I should have known that parenting him would be a glimpse into the life of my parents when I was young. He wasn’t even 10 months old (barely walking) when I found him sneaking into the refrigerator to steal a push up. There was also the time that I found him hoarding Smarties in the grill under the refrigerator and in his toy box so that he’d have a stash of candy for when he got a craving and we said no. He also thinks that he can read Keely’s mind and until recently, referred to himself as Gabriel Dufus Martin. His middle name is Joseph and he’s named after my very spirited Great Uncle Joe. Watch out who you name your kids after! Just kidding!

I have no idea why Matt and I were so surprised when a few weeks ago, he exited the bathroom, screaming and shaking with fear, because he thought he’d seen a lobster in the toilet. For the next week or so, he would only potty outside and would stand to poop. The most logical way for us to help him overcome this fear was teach him all we could about how impossible it would be for a lobster to live in our toilet. We spent a lot time talking about how lobsters and crabs only live near the ocean or at the beach, unless they are a pet, and how they’re more afraid of us than we are of them. We rented books from the library and even watched a documentary on animals that live at the beach. Matt even went as far as to give Gabe a lesson in the process of how our septic system works.

He started asking for a pet lobster and we decided that hermit crabs would be a good birthday present for him. In just a few days he was taking them out of their cage and letting them crawl all over his room and all over his hands and arms. The fear of using the toilet was also subsiding. Last week, we made our weekly grocery trip to Meijer and after one look at those lobsters in the seafood department; his fear was back in full force again. He’s still not afraid of Crabby and Frosty the hermit crabs, but is afraid of something coming up through the pipes and biting his privates went he’s on the toilet.

I don’t think I’m afraid of anything….except snakes, being in an ocean or lake when I can’t see my feet, ferris wheels and losing my kids in a public place. Okay, maybe a few things, and if can’t get over my fears, then I guess I can’ t blame Gabe for his. When I don’t know what to do about something we’re struggling with, I hand it over and stop worrying about it. I know it will pass.

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).

So, here’s to lots of accidents because he holds it in when he has to potty, lots more reading and talking about how LOBSTERS DO NOT LIVE IN OUR TOILETS, LOTS OF PRAYER AND PATIENCE, and a really good story to tell him when he brings home his first girlfriend!

Some of our Fall/Halloween activities

Family Day last week: Matt took the day off and we went to a pumpkin patch and spent the day enjoying the beautiful fall weather. The kids were tired from all of the festivities so they had to ride the wagon to pick their pumpkins!

I'll keep the comment Matt made when I took this picture to myself!

This is Gabe's most wonderful class! Because of the most awesome Miss Nancy, I got to go with Gabe's class to the pumpkin patch last week, too! Aren't they cute?

Happy Halloween!

Spider!

While searching for Halloween costumes on the internet and in a magazine, Adri informed me that she didn't like any of the ones we saw, so she decided to create her own costume. She said, "I'm a silly princess!" She did a good job!

Mario! This is the first year that Nate didn't think it was too cool that we don't 'buy' our costumes. We use what we've got or I copy something that we find. Personally, I think this Mario is way cooler than the $40 ones we saw at the costume store! Nate later informed me that he noticed how original his costume was. "I saw a lot of Marios out there and no one had one like mine. I guess that makes mine even more special!" He's so awesome! It took a while, but he came around!

Matt and I are off this weekend to a marriage retreat in southern Michigan. Right now, the weather looks good up there and we all seem to be getting over our bug. Thank you and good luck, Mom, for taking on the challenge of caring for these monsters all weekend!

Cant' sleep...

I went to bed last night about 11 p.m. At 12 a.m., I was still wide awake. So, I came downstairs and worked on an idea I had for a Christmas card. Then, I went back to bed. At 2 a.m., I was still awake, so I cam downstairs and journaled a bit. This is what you get at 2 a.m., after spending a night traveling down memory lane :)

The kids and I went to my Mom and Dad’s last night for dinner because Matt was working late. While there, my Dad started talking about some things he’d found in the attic that were my Grandma Hughes’s. He brought a few things down, but I wasn’t convinced that an old floor lamp and breakfast table were the only treasures to be found up there. Curious, I went on a treasure hunt! I only spent a short time up there and found things such as some old pictures, an old waterbed (at one time, my entire family had water beds), some camping gear (probably from the 70’s), A TON of Christmas decorations and wrapping paper, and a few totes FILLED to the brim with history! Included was a radio that my Dad remembered getting when he was about 14. I also found a rocking chair that I used when I played with my babies (I brought that home to Adrianna). These are just a few of the things that I discovered on my treasure hunt, but I literally stopped in my tracks when I found the tote that was filled with things that belong to my Great Grandma (Gram), who died in March of 2001.

I was about to graduate from college when she died, and with the exception of the two years I spent at IU, I don’t think more than 2 or 3 days at a time, went by without me seeing her, so I have a lot of memories of her and feel like I knew her quite well.

I opened up the tote, not knowing what was inside, and when I got a glimpse of her purse and the smell of green Wrigley’s gum escaped from the box, I couldn’t help but smile. I had every intention of taking everything in that box out and hoarding it at my house, but I couldn’t get past the purse. I opened it and quickly found her pick (remember those?), a few sticks of gum, her Nifty Lift card, some pictures, her coupon book (including the little folding scissors that she used to cut coupons), and a newspaper clipping. The article explained that the poem was found in the pocket of a civil war soldier after he was killed. The poem had been passed down to each of his family members. This is what the poem said…

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;

I was made weak, that I might learn to obey.

I asked for health, that I might do great things;

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy;

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praises of men;

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;

I received nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.

Despite myself, my prayers were answered;

I am among all men, richly blessed.

Sweet Grammie…still teaching, and she’s been gone over 10 years.

As I rummaged through her purse, what was underneath it in the box popped out at me…her aprons! Now, there are very few times that I remember seeing her without an apron because she was usually baking something. When I picked one up, it felt heavy. I reached into the pocket and found a letter from my Uncle Trent to her and my Great Grandpa (didn’t have a date, but probably written in the late 70’s), a wadded up tissue, and a whistle! The tissue makes sense, but what was so special about the letter? Of course, I kept it, because my Uncle Trent mentioned in the letter that he had just visited me (I was probably still a toddler), and that I made him laugh. Strangely, now, he’s always the one making me laugh! And why did she have a whistle in her apron pocket? I guess those are two questions that I’ll never have the answer to.

I went to bed last night (the 2^nd time), thinking about that sweet (and a little ornery) old lady. I wish that my kids would have been able to meet her. I can imagine that she would have tormented my boys a bit, insisting that they sing ‘take me out to the ballgame’ and eat cracker jacks with her every time a baseball game was on and I’m sure she would have spent every minute of her time with Adri, teaching her to measure ingredients for whatever dish she was preparing or how to crack an egg without leaving any ‘goody’ in the shell.

I was just telling Gabe a little about her and this morning when he asked about the aprons (which I brought home) and he said, “You had a Grammie just like we have a Mammaw?” Then I realized, they’re making their own memories with their grandparents…and they’ve got some pretty good ones!

Gabe is 5!

I can’t stop looking at my ‘new’ ring. While I was making candlelit pancakes for breakfast, in celebration of a certain 5-year-old boy’s birthday, he came in and sat down at the bar. Gabe was obviously hiding something behind his back. He handed it to me, very sweetly, and said, “It’s my birthday present to you.” I wore it all day!

Suddenly, I had flashes of the past several years. I went back as far as 2 years before he was born and couldn’t help but remember how thankful I am to the people in our lives at that time, our family, and our amazing friends, who prayed this little guy into our lives. We weren’t supposed to have any more kids (we all know how that turned out). I began thinking about his humor and sweet heart. He’s so giving and isn’t afraid to ask questions (gets that from Daddy) and always tells people just how it is. He's so gentle and loving with animals and really enjoys being in his underwear! He doesn’t take the little things for granted and knows without a doubt that Jesus loves him.

I asked him what he likes about being 5 and he said, “I got crabs (he got hermit crabs as a gift).” “What else,” I asked. “That I get to spend the day with you.” If I wasn’t already feeling a little nostalgic, that got me, for sure! There is one thing I can say for certain about the little charmer...he can sure melt my heart!

I put 5 candles in his pancakes, lit them and we sang. He asked a million questions before blowing them out. How typical…always asking questions!

I love you, sweet Gaber, and I’m glad I get to be your Mommy! I hope you had a wonderful party, birthday celebration and great weekend!

Martin Family Craziness

I feel a bit silly saying this,especially to those Mom’s out there who work outside of the home…I know there are women (and men) that are A LOT busier than me. But, honestly, I don’t feel like I’ve ever been this busy in my entire life. Suddenly, going back to college and doing not much more than homework and reading, sounds like a vacation. I remember well, when I used to be able to read for pleasure :) I’ve been thinking back, as well, to the first year of Nate’s life when I was working (almost full time), which also sounds like a leisurely life. 1 kid...SO DIFFERENT THAN 3!

This somewhat recent business has been the reason that I’ve not posted much in my blog lately. I have managed to journal pretty regularly (sometimes in the middle of the night when I’m wide awake because I can’t turn off my brain, because Adrianna has to potty or because Gabe has a bad dream about lobsters in the toilet). There’s been a lot going on in our family lately, and the bottom line is that…I’M POOPED! I actually took a nap on Monday (which I haven’t done in months), and after closing my eyes for 2½ hours, I opened them, only to find that I was just as tired as before my rest. I won’t go into details about the Martin Family chaos or ramble on much more about how tired I am (what parent isn’t), but I will share with you that I wouldn’t give up or change any part of my life in exchange for rest. Someone very wise told me in high school that we make our own choices, good or bad. Whatever those choices are, lead us to the point in our life where we are now. If any of our decisions had been different, we’d be different. So, I'm writing this now, as a reminder for myself that the craziness, chaos, and disorganization in my life are only lessons that I’ll chose to learn from…not complain about or run from.

The realization is that as my kids get older, we'll just get busier...but that's okay! I'm learning to juggle a million things at once now. I should be a pro by the time their all in school!

I’m also enclosing a few conversations with my kids that I’d like to share. Enjoy!

By the way, if you’ve tried to call, text, or e-mail me, and I haven’t responded, I’m sorry. There has been a slight problem with my phone (it’s dead), which has also affected my e-mail and calendar. I ordered my new one today and will hopefully be back in the business of ‘obsessive organization’ really soon :)

Some interesting conversations...

“You’re making a huge mess, Gabe.” “That’s okay. I always do.”

Gabe said, “You know, Mom, I have magical powers.” “You do? Like what?” “I can make my body parts grow and then turn to mush again.” I kind of knew what he was talking about but was curious anyway. “What body parts, Gabe?” “Well…I’m only allowed to talk about it in the bathroom, so I’ll tellyou later.”

I heard Adrianna saying, after a very short nap, “Mommy, you see my fingers?” I went into the hallway to see what she was talking about and saw her little digits sticking out from under the door. Then she said, “Where is your pallet?” I realized she must think that I just hang out in the hallway while she’s resting and wait for her to wake up. I didn’t tell her any different.

As he’s showing me how me can pick the lock on his bedroom door, Gabe says, “See, Mom, I have special powers just like you.”

Nate said, “I really don’t like school.” “I wish you wouldn’t say that, Nate. How about you try thinking about all of the fun things you do at school and how much you like seeing all of your friends everyday instead of the things you don’t like.” “I would do that, but there’s nothing I like about school.” Gabe added,“I’m really tired of your attitude, Nate. If you say you don’t like school, then you won’t have any fun. If you wake up in the morning and tell yourself that today is gonna be a good day, then it will be. Don’t you ever listen to what Mommy says?” Nate finished, “Well…actually…no, I don’t.”

Adrianna likes nothing more than watching Yo Gabba Gabba with Daddy. While they’re watching, he rubs her feet (wish he’d rub my feet more often). She’s really becoming quite accustomed to their routine and now asks him, “Daddy, peeze pet my feet.”

We were trying to sleep in (sleeping in around here is anytime after 7), and we heard Adrianna saying,very sweetly, “Good morning, Sunshine.” After about 10 minutes, she started getting more assertive and saying, “I SAID…GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE!” After going in to get her, she said very sweetly, “Did I wake you up?”

This is the view right now, from my back porch. I love it! I try to sit on the back porch every morning before the kids wake up and drink my coffee :)

Aren't our ladies, beautiful? Oh yea...and isn't the little monster handsome?

Have a great week!