I decided to not blog during our Advent activities this year. It was part of my attempt at keeping things simple, sacred, and sane. I feel pretty confident that I did as well as I could this year, and will strive to do even better next year. I may do a wrap up post at some point because I took pictures and I will need to remember what we did so I can do it all again next year :)

I also chose not to do at tenth birthday post for Faith. I have been wanting to take pressure off of myself this year. I feel under almost constant pressure to make everyone happy, do the right thing, be strong, etc. It got to the point that a few times last year I was experiencing heart palpitations. So, I decided that if a post didn't come to mind, I wasn't going to force it and pressure myself into something deep and meaningful. That's not to say that I didn't think of her. Honestly, I think of her all the time. And ten years is a big birthday. I hate that our world is broken, that DNA is broken, that humans are broken and that I have not had her with me for the last ten years. But God is good. He is good yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That is the hope that I will cling to for the rest of my days.

Anywhoo--this is becoming much longer than I had planned and I haven't even gotten started :) Bill and I watch the show "Men at Work." It's on TBS and we think it's hysterical. It's probably totally inappropriate, but whatever. Anyway, last week, one of the characters told another character that her relationship with her boyfriend was like an old pair of sweatpants. He meant that they go together well and are really comfortable. She took this as a bad thing and when her boyfriend proposed, she broke up with him.

This winter has been rough--and it's not even February yet. It's been the winter of vomits--in my case I felt that my insides were now on my outside, and that I may have to die to get better. I was so exhausted and dehydrated that when I got an ice cube and dropped it on the carpet, I almost ignored the cat hair, dog hair, carpet fuzz and Captain America sticker stuck to it instead of going all the way back to the kitchen to get another. Almost. To say that it's been cold is an understatement. I'm pretty sure that my kids will be going to school until Fall. I have fed my children 14 times today and was interrupted at least 5 times, for emergencies, during my shower today. There were all kinds of emergencies--"can I have a popsicle?" "Can you open my popsicle?" "Can you find my DVD?" etc. Let's say I am ready for Spring.

Sunday night Bill came home from basketball. We watched some shows, talked for a while and he rubbed my feet. He could tell I was getting drowsy and ready to go up to bed. He said to me "I am starving, but I'm scared if I get up you will go to bed." For some reason that sentence meant the world to me. He enjoyed my company (drowsy as it was) so much that he was willing to skip his after basketball snack. There is really nothing like an old pair of sweatpants. I can do the vomits, the interruptions, the whining, the cold, as long as I have my old pair of sweatpants, and there is nothing boring about that!

Day 2 Soldiers!

Today I got to accomplish both of my Advent goals! Our activity was very simple, but it was also very sweet. It needed to be a relativly quick activity because I wasn't going to be home--I am taking an exercise class at the Park District (hence avoiding the dreaded holiday weight gain!) and it is in the evening. So we thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to make cards for soldiers. Here is the website where I got the address to mail the cards. It worked out perfectly--the cards should make it to Maryland just in time for the deadline. We did this last year--and I love it because it teaches our kids about the men and women that make sacrifices daily for our country.

When I got home from my class the kids were very excited to show me their cards and Bill forgot to take pictures during, so I took some when I got home. You will never be able to tell which child of mine is the biggest ham...

Anyway, yay for simple and sane activities! (and burning some calories!)

So It Begins...Advent Day 1

My goals for this Advent Season are twofold. I want to keep our activities simple and sane so we can focus on the sacred. And I want to not gain any weight. Let's see which one ends up being more difficult :) This year I made the mistake of suggesting to Bill that we not do Advent activities because they tend to lead me to exhaustion and someone ends up crying and then I end up yelling something along the lines of, "WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FOCUSING ON JESUS AND BE LOVING AND KIND TO EACH OTHER!" Truly sacred, ay? Somehow Bill and the kids don't remember the Advent Activities in the same way that I do and I was met with cries of "we have to do it! We love it! We won't whine, I promise!" And those were just from Bill :)  So I agreed, but I told Bill I wanted to try and make it more simple so that we could keep the focus on waiting for Jesus. And so I didn't lose my mind--I have very few airplane xanax left!

Anyway, so the movie Frozen came out recently and Grandma Casey asked if she could take the kids to see it. We suggested making it the first Advent activity. I had an internal war with myself--I really wanted to see the movie too but I didn't want to infringe on Grandma's time, but she was very gracious and said that we could come too! It was really cute and we all really enjoyed it, although Rori was starting to get really angry about the ridiculous number of previews beforehand. She is the opposite of Bill in this manner!

Anyway, it was a very lovely time and a great start to the Advent Season! Thank you Grandma Casey for a great day!

Please don't judge the quality of the photo. I am just happy my phone has a camera with a flash...Blame the movie theater--they should've put Olaf in the crazy well lit lobby.

He is coming!

It's the week before Thanksgiving. Christmas is right around the corner, and it's time for me to begin planning our family's Advent season. This morning, before school, I was telling Liam how many days of school are left before Thanksgiving break. Then I told him it will be Advent! He asked "what is Advent?" This gave me pause. He's six, so he hasn't heard the word thrown around by itself--only with the terms Advent Calendar and Advent Activities. So, I explained, Advent is us waiting. We are waiting for Jesus to be born. Waiting for Him to come to save the world. He looked at me and smiled and scampered off.

"I don't want a Christmas you can buy. I don't want a Christmas you can make. What I want is a Christmas you can hold. A Christmas that holds me, makes me, revives me. I want a Christmas that whispers, Jesus" Ann Voskamp

Yes. This. This is what I want for our Advent season. I want our actions to whisper His name, to get us excited that He is coming. Bill and I talked about buying a Wii U for the boys and for Bill for Christmas this year. For our family, that kind of gift is considered fairly extravagant. We figured out a way to get the extra money without it causing a burden to our budget. Yet, I felt unease. Please don't misunderstand me, I think it's fine to buy extravagant gifts at Christmas. Last year, my goal was to blow Bill's mind with presents because gifts are his love language. However, I don't think Christmas needs to focus on outdoing the previous year. We decided now is not the time to give them this present. Instead, now is the time to teach my munchkins the joy of giving--the character building of waiting for something, saving for it, wanting it. I want to teach them about the opportunity to be counter-cultural. More than anything, I want them to be waiting for Jesus.

Stay tuned for the beginning of Advent!

Brendan and the Knee

Ever since I have known Bill, he has suffered from arthritis. He told me that he had Juvenile Arthritis as a child. Every spring and fall I watch him quietly dealing with the pain in his knees, ankles, and hands. He tosses and turns at night while he tries to "steal my heat" to bring warmth to his aching joints.

Almost two weeks ago, Brendan complained about his knee aching. We looked at it and it was swollen. We assumed he had hurt it somehow, and gave him some ibuprofen and iced it. He managed to trick or treat on Thursday, but I ended up carrying him for the second half of it but that's not unusual. He loves to be carried and since he's my baby, I will oblige until I cannot any longer. There's a good chance I'm going to end up with a bicep  on my right arm to rival Arnold Schwarzenegger and scoliosis from him sitting on my hip, but it's worth it.

His knee stayed swollen but he didn't complain about it. Monday, Bill's mom noticed he grimaced as he got up and called Bill to tell him it was really swollen (we were both at work). Bill got him a doctor's appointment and I visited Dr. Google. The very first thing to come up was Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. My heart sank. I think God was preparing me for what the pediatrician had to say. After looking him over, she was confident it was juvenile arthritis and referred us to a pediatric rheumatologist at the Children's hospital.

I called and made an appointment. They couldn't get us in until the middle of January. Our pediatrician called and got us in within 2 days. My heart cried out to Jesus, our Great Physician, that he would heal my baby boy. I asked my friends and family to do the same. I didn't want to watch my baby suffer the way his Papa has. The day before his appointment I had to carry him around much of the day. His knee hurt and he even said to me at one point, "I hate this day." My heart hurt and my worry increased.

We went to the rheumatologist and she looked him over and said it was too early to diagnose him with arthritis--he needed to be swollen for 6 weeks. She requested a million blood tests (which he was A CHAMP for) and X-rays, and also insisted that we see an ophthalmologist because it shows up in the eyes as well. They told us we might not get the results back for 1-3 weeks. Normally this would have made my anxiety level skyrocket. However, I truly believe that God gave me peace during the waiting. The only sign of stress was an increase in eating my feelings--I may have had a few pieces of Halloween candy, the best cupcake known to man, and a giant plate of pulled pork nachos. What can I say?...Trust me, it could've been much much worse. We continued to pray and I knew there was a possibility that God would choose not to heal him. But, I knew that no matter what happened, God was good and He was the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We went to the ophthamologist and everything looked good. His leg, however, stayed swollen.

Yesterday I got a call from the nurse. He told me that Brendan's blood tested positive for a bacterial organism that causes infectious arthritis. A round of strong antibiotics should knock it out. It may take a few weeks for the swelling to go down, but it should completely clear up. I am so incredibly thankful that it's not Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. I can see God's hand in all of this--from getting us in to see the doctor so quickly (we found out while we were there that a conference the rheumatologist was going to was cancelled, so she decided to have office hours--thus us getting in so quickly), to them testing for the right bacteria, to the results coming back quickly and being treatable. I am thankful that God chose to heal him. And more than anything, I am thankful that God has given me friends who love Him, that I can go to and ask to meet me at His Throne.

Is that not the cutest face you've ever seen? 

Real Men

Liam has started soccer for the first time. Bill and my friend, Leslie's husband, Jon are the coaches. Their team name is the Red Dragons, but they should be called the Mighty Ducks. They are the soccer version of the Island of Misfit Toys. While these boys are 0-4, they have no idea how lucky they are to have these two Real Men coaching them. I have watched other coaches yell at the kids, belittle them, put winning at the utmost importance. I have also seen parents put winning above encouragement. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those parents that think every kid should get a trophy, just for trying. I believe kids need to learn how to win and how to lose with grace, and that in the real world, not everyone gets a trophy. But this is an instructional league. These grades are not meant for competition, but for learning how to play the game. Tell that to some of the parents and coaches.

Not once had Bill or Jon yelled at a player for doing something wrong during a game

Back to my point, these two Real Men have more patience in their pinkies than I have in my entire body. I have felt myself be swept up in the disappointment of losing. 90% of the bones in my body are competitive. 10% of Bill's are (except when he's playing Ping Pong with me). I'm not sure about Jon's level of competitiveness outside of soccer, but I can tell you from what I've seen, he's very much like Bill. These men encourage these boys. They realize that these are first grade boys, who look up to them. 

Bill and Jon let them know that, while they can do better next time, they haven't failed their coaches. Their coaches are proud of them. After one of the games, a little boy on Liam's team told his parents that he would make them proud the next week. My heart broke for him. After hearing this, Bill and Jon picked that boy as the "player of the game" then next week. That's something a Real Man would do. There is one player who is hopelessly, hmmmm..., what's a nice way of saying, "completely not talented at soccer?" Anyway, Jon is in charge of calling kids out of the game to sub. If I was the coach, I would be having this kid constantly subbing because he is painful to watch and pretty much a detriment to the team. However, Jon, doesn't do that. Every kid is called out equally. A Real Man does that.  

Liam's not the kid I was talking about. However, goalie is NOT his strong suit :) But Jon took the time to teach him what to do, knowing full well the Liam will not sacrifice his body for the team.

These Real Men have made me so proud to be on the Red Dragons. They are teaching these boys that winning isn't everything. They are teaching them that sportsmanship, respect, patience, and grace are qualities that make you a Real Man. So, thank you Jon and Bill, for teaching our boys how to grow into Real Men (and teaching me about real sportsmanship)!

Lunch time Madness

I have been dreading this year for some time. And it has been looming on the horizon the last couple of weeks. This year we will be packing 2 school lunches. Our school does not have the option of hot lunch so 5 days a week, we need to make lunch and for those with less than adequate math skills, that's 10 lunches a week. My kids are fairly picky--neither eats sandwiches. Liam will eat PB&J but we are a peanut free school so that's not terribly helpful. Rori eats lunch meat, but hold the bread--nothing like sending her to school with a baggie full of salami. I decided to google lunches and try to find some new creative ideas. What I discovered was I need to be fired as a mom, or at least as domestic lunch lady.

One of the first pictures I came across was this one

Now, God bless this woman, and I am probably just jealous, but it made me want to stab my eyes out. This was her description of the lunch.

• Main compartment - Bus shaped sandwich which I free hand cut with Smoked Gouda and Colby Longhorn cheese. Large olive slices for wheels. Some cute food picks as little people.
• Lower left - Baby carrots and ranch in little dipper.
• Upper left - Seedless green grapes and strawberry halves.
• Center - Blueberries
• Upper right - Pencil shaped cheddar string cheese with mozzarella tip,raisin for pencil lead and ham for eraser, pencil tip and eraser are secured with a thin spaghetti. Wheat thins below the pencil. Packed in our PlanetBox Rover and I included a LunchBox Love note with his lunch.

What the what???? Free hand shapes? Olive wheels? Gouda AND Colby? Edible, crafted pencil? 2 things stood out to me. One, her kid is going to be constipated with all that cheese. And two, clearly I have some time management issues in that I don't have time to hand craft a cut out sandwich and pencil. Not to mention that my kids would eat exactly 4 ingredients from that lunch--not 4 items or compartments, 4 ingredients. So, my friends, if any of you have any wonderful ideas that will take me exactly 2.5 minutes per lunch, has some nutritional value, and is enticing to my little ones, I am forever indebted to you.