Thanksgiving Thankfulness

I have been watching so many of my friends posting on their blogs all of the wonderful things they are thankful for. I am not consistent enough to blog every day to do that. So I will just do this one post to note all of the blessings that God has poured out on me. First of all, I am thankful for my heavenly Father who provided his son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for my sins so that I could have a relationship with Him for all eternity. Second, I am thankful for my three beautiful children. They are hard work, but they are blessings in their own, indivdual and priceless ways. Third, I am thankful for God's peace that passes all understanding. As I am currently struggling with my third, early pregnancy miscarriage, I praise God that He provides peace and joy to us in times of pain. And I will praise my God for He is sovereign in all of His ways and I will trust Him. Fourth, I am thankful for my amazing husband. I was not feeling well this morning and Josh got up with the kids so that I could rest. I could hear Josh all the way downstairs, making waffles and singing songs to the kids at the top of his lungs. I laid in my bed and I thanked God that He gave me the wisdom to marry that man. I am overjoyed that my children have a father who adores them, delights in them, provides for them, plays with them, nurtures them, and leads them in a way gives them an earthly taste of their heavenly Father. Fifth, I am thankful for friends. It never ceases to amaze me how God provides the most amazing women into my life at every stage and place. I have a sisterhood of women that have collected from high school, to college, to Tulsa, to Columbus, and now Michigan. Each group has been priceless and touched my soul in too many ways to count. I am incredibly thankful for family. I have the best parents who continue to support me into adulthood and help me to be the wife and mother I need to be. My parents gave me the greatest gift in life by teaching me about Jesus Christ and then allowing me to make that faith my own. They taught me by example about a relationship with Christ, marriage, parenthood, and so much more. I am blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law who makes helping me with the kids a priority. She gave me the gift of her son so that I could have the incredible husband and my kids can have the incredible father that they do. And I am so thankful for my brothers and sisters-in-law. It is because of these precious relationships that I seek to provide my kids with a similar experience in our family. I am thankful that I get to be a stay at home mom. I am able to kiss every boo boo and be there for every silly song and joke. I get to volunteer in the kids' classrooms and experience every milestone. My kids will always know that when they have a rough day at school, they only have to make it to our door and I will be there will listening ears and a hug (and maybe a plate of chocolate chip cookies, but probably not because I'm no June Cleaver afterall.) There are so many other things for which I am thankful that I could not possibly name them all. I just touched on the big ones. And I know that they are the same "big ones" that most moms have, but I still felt the need to say them out loud. =) Happy Thanksgiving!

off the radar

I have been off of the radar for a while in blogdom. Usually when I go off the radar it is because there is actually quite a lot going on and I don't really know what to say about it all. That is the case for me this time. We finished a wonderful summer and began the school year in September. Seth started kindergarten and Lilah began preschool. Both are enjoying school and I have been getting used to the new routine. We do morning classes this year, so I have been having to switch my schedule around to get up early, etc. I am liking it for the most part because I think it is making my days way more productive and I have a a couple mornings each week to run errands with just Isaac, which is easier than doing it with all three. The kids like school and we are working on "following instructions" with Lilah and Seth is working on "putting his wiggles and sillies away" when he goes to school. (Although that conversation spiraled quickly when he wanted to know where to put them because they might fall out of his pocket or get lost in his back pack, etc. etc. etc..... It was all very serious) His teacher has expressed concern about possible ADHD (although he's not a behavior problem, just has trouble focusing), and some other observations that are probably related to Seth's mild cerebral palsey issue. We're struggling with our next steps in this area because we don't want Seth labeled too early with any titles and overall he is doing very well. We have known that his CP could affect him academically, and this new stage of life in school is very much a "wait and see" time as we learn exactly how Seth's brain really works. For those who don't really know, CP is basically just brain damage caused by traumatic birth. Seth has some muscle tightness and weakness, but aside from that we really have no idea exactly how his brain might have been affected from lack of oxygen and are aware that it could show in learning challenges as he progresses academically. We are watching and waiting for now. And he is having fun in school and doing fine in the meantime.

Isaac is enjoying the time alone with mommy and he is actually (knock on wood) becoming a little bit easier to deal with in that his tantrums are lessening and he is starting to communicate and understand things better (Praise God). Josh is in his fourth year of residency and now is the time to start the decisions about next steps. This is all very stressful as we weigh the benefits/cost of fellowships or taking a job somewhere, etc. Much prayer is going into this phase of life because we don't want to do the wrong thing. I have been busy with the Side By Side Detroit chapter and even had the opportunity to attend the leadership retreat in Minnesota last week. It was great to learn more about how to improve our chapter and now I am preoccupied with implementing everything we learned. SBS Detroit is growing steadily and I think God has huge plans for this ministry to women married to medical professionals. It's very exciting because SBS is really the only support system for most of the wives in the Detroit area.

Sidenote: My mom met me to take the kids for the entire 4 day weekend while I was in MN and even watched our 11 week old puppy for us. I just have to say, if I haven't said it before, that I really do have the bonafied "best mom in the world." I seriously could not survive motherhood and residency if it were not for her and am so blessed to have a mom who legitimately understands because she has lived through exactly my life herself. Thanks mom!

So that is the scoop for us these days. We have lots to think about and be praying about in every area of our lives and are staying busy with 3 active kiddos in the mean time. We are also loving all of the Fall fun and have picked pumpkins and apples and been enjoying everything else about Fall right now. =)

Education At It's Finest

Seth started soccer practice last week. He has a great coach and will be having his first game on Saturday. We're not sure he's really "getting" soccer because he tends to spend more time twirling in the grass than kicking the ball. The only point in time during practice where he really pays attention is at the beginning and end when the coach sings the theme from SpongeBob SquarePants and rolls around on the ground like a sea cucumber (At least that's what I'm guessing he's going for) I don't really understand how SpongeBob pertains to soccer (a swim team or aquatics class maybe, but not soccer), but I figured, what the heck, it makes it fun. So then I took Lilah to her preschool orientation today and what giant yellow sea sponge was waiting at the door to greet us? You guessed it, SpongeBob. And now I'm really confused, because while I don't actually allow my kids to watch SpongeBob, I have seen a few episodes and I have to say that I have never noticed an educational theme or even slight tendency towards intelligence on SpongeBob SquarePants. And I'm wondering why exactly it is that SpongeBob seems to have become the educational/extracurricular mascot, if you will, of at least southeastern Michigan. I can totally see the value in making education fun by tying in some of our kids' favorite cartoon characters. But SpongeBob? Really? And since we're at SpongeBob, why don't we just throw in his big, dumb, pink bestie, Patrick. Then our kids would be encouraged to pursue education by an exuberantly ignorant sponge who reeks of sarcasm and an even more astonishingly ignorant blob. They may be dumb, but at least they're funny. A sadly accurate depiction of the American school system? I don't know, maybe... maybe not. Either way, that's my rant for the day.

Lilah's 4th Birthday, Fancy Nanacy

Click here to view these pictures larger

Too much fun...

We have had a very busy week! It began with last week when we drove to Sidney, OH to drop the kids off with my parents. We made a side-trip to Columbus for family pictures and to visit friends. Then Josh and I drove back up to MI to spend the weekend with college friends. We stopped in Wauseon, OH to view the pug puppies on our way and have coffee with friends. (The puppies were SO CUTE!) Then we had a great weekend with ORU friends. I met my mom halfway to pick the kids up on Monday. Tuesday morning Seth woke up with a fever and now all three kids have hand, foot, and mouth disease... AGAIN. Yes, Seth and Lilah had it last year already. And now they have it again. They picked it up over the weekend either at church or the McDonalds playground. As childhood illnesses go, it's one of the mildest. Once the fever passes, the kids generally feel fine with just some mild discomfort from any sores they get in their mouth. The worst part about hand, foot, and mouth is that it is contagious and your have to be pretty much quarantined for like 10 days. So, we now have no plans for the next week. At least it all happened before Seth starts school.

Fundays!!!!

We have several fun days coming up that I am so excited about! I have been getting ready to leave tomorrow for my parents' house where we will be leaving our 3 beautifully loud children for the weekend so that Josh and I can come back to MI and spend an entire weekend with some of our best friends from college. But before the weekend festivities begin, we will be making a quick trip to Columbus to have some family pictures done and to visit our special friends, the Ross girls. Seth and Lilah are already bouncing off the walls with glee to see their best buddies and I think I always get just about as excited to get time with Erin. =) So we will very much enjoy an afternoon in Columbus and then will head back to Sidney to spend a little bit of time with my mom and dad. Then on Friday, Josh and I will be heading back towards MI, but will be making a stop on the way to visit my kindred spirit friend, Ruth (that's a shout out for those of you who know the value of a kindred spirit friend from Anne of Green Gables). I always love seeing Ruth and have to take advantage of every opportunity I can to get some time with her because we just don't live close enough. Josh and I will be driving near her area because we will be stopping by the dog breeder to see the pug puppy we are getting and the breeder is not too far from Ruth. And then, we will get back up to Detroit, where we will spend the entire weekend with several of our best friends from college.

There is a group of girls from ORU and we all lived together in the dorms and decided that when college ended, we simply could not bear the idea of possibly losing touch with each other. So, we created a "club" called the Sapphires and wrote all kinds of rules that required us to keep in touch. We are called the Sapphires because a sapphire is a precious stone that comes in a variety of different colors. We liken that to our group that is made up of multiple "colors" of personalities and our friendships take on different tones, but all come together to create something precious and beautiful. We are all well aware of the cheesiness of our club, but do not care because it is special to us and it has served its purpose of keeping us all connected. We all have real sapphire stones that we wear when we are together (and usually when we are apart too), we have a running Sapphire blog to keep in touch regularly, and we always pull through for each other whether it's a wedding, a new baby, or a less joyful moment that requires tears and prayers. We have a yearly reunion where we all get together if possible and we maintain a scrapbook following everyone's year between reunions. There are several Sapphires who can't make it this year because of new babies, finances, etc. But 4 out of 7 of us will be together and will have a blast catching up and being girls, and missing the girls who can't make it. This year was my year to host and I am ready. I have activities planned to keep us busy if we want, the scrapbook if done and ready to be "oohed and awed" over, there are Detroit-themed gift bags waiting for each Sapphire, and my house will soon be clean and ready to house us all. (Cleaning is on my "to do list" today and tomorrow morning). The hubbies are coming along this year as well, so the guys will have fun doing boy things. =)

And now I must go clean my house and finish packing for the Ohio drop-off. Yay for fun weeks!

Fun with Family

Josh's sister, Vanessa has been in town this past week. So we've been out doing some fun stuff in the area. The kids have been having a great time with cousin Victoria. We went to the Henry Ford Museum. The kids' favorite part is the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile area. The green screen pic is all of them dancing against a green screen and then the video monitor showed them dancing in an 80s MTV music video. They love to be the hot dog in the bun. We also went to a fun splash day where the city set up giant slip and slides and had a firetruck spray water down like a huge sprinkler. Lots of fun!