raising a mommy

raising a mommy

Sunday, April 27, 2014

don't forget

Today's blessing:
Today

Life Means So Much
written and recorded by Chris Rice

Every day is a journal page
Every man holds a quill and ink
And there's plenty of room for writing in
All we do and believe and think
So will you compose a curse
Or will today bring the blessing
Fill the page with rhyming verse
Or some random sketching
Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much

Every day is a bank account
And time is our currency
So nobody's rich, nobody's poor
We get 24 hours each
So how are you gonna spend
Will you invest, or squander
Try to get ahead
Or help someone who's under
Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much

Has anybody ever lived who knew the value of a life
And don't you think giving is all
What proves the worth of yours and mine
Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much

Every day is a gift you've been given
Make the most of the time every minute you're living

Every day is a gift you've been given
Make the most of the time every minute you're living

Thursday, April 24, 2014

fmf: friend

Here are the rules:
1. Write for five minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back to Lisa Jo Baker's blog with the rest of the Five Minute Friday-ers.
3. Comment on the person who linked up before you.

Please join us!

Today's prompt: Friend

GO

You know those people who you can go months or years without seeing, then you get together and it's like no time has passed at all?

Yeah. Those are the best. And I am so blessed to have so many of them!

From my locker-mate in first grade to my high school drama castmates to my college runners and fellow music majors and FCAers to my uppies...

Wow...as I got going on that list, I realized that there were so many other amazing groups of people I could list. I could probably spend my whole five minutes just listing off groups of wonderful people who have changed me for the better, to say nothing of naming actual people!

It's hard to remember sometimes, living out in the middle of nowhere like I do, but true friends are absolutely everywhere. Some of them are probably within miles of me right now, and I just haven't met them yet! I don't need a whole lot of human interaction (one of my realizations during my year on the prairie) but just having a few good friends to turn to is so necessary.

If you are one of those people for me or anyone else (and chances are...you are!) thank you for being the awesome you that God made you!

STOP

My beautiful friend, a former music major (who saw the light before I did and escaped!)

(Most of) My Uppies. Words cannot express my love for you!

My gorgeous roommates/running buddies...now hot are our socks?

More Uppies...love!

High school drama love...

My gay husband


Five Minute Friday

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

our little girl: 26 months

I'm sure it won't shock anyone to hear that P has gotten even more amazing over the last month. Some new developments:

She can sing her ABCs all the way through (when she wants to), and is starting to recognize letters, too. So far she knows A, B, C, O, P, and few others sometimes. It's kind of hit or miss with most of them!

I have to remind myself regularly that she's only 26 months old and doesn't need to be potty trained yet! She is physically ready - she usually tells us she needs a diaper change before she goes potty, but she has very little interest in going in her potty chair. Every now and then we'll get a few drops out of her, but then she decides she is done. We'll put a diaper on her, and five minutes later it will be soaked!

One of the sad developments...she is starting to say more words correctly. I know this is a good thing, but she just seems so much more grown up when she says "banana" instead of "babana" or "living room" instead of "vivivoom."

The transition from crib to toddler bed was smooth and seamless. We were going to start out with naps in the bed and nighttime in the crib, but after the first nap, she would have no more of her crib. She's even really good about staying in bed most of the time. Every now and then I'll find a book or toy in the bed with her when I go to get her up from her nap, and she was wearing a tutu at the end of nap the other day that she was not wearing when she laid down. Other than that, I haven't had to chase her back very often!

"Mommy" is slowly ceasing to exist, as all requests and questions are now being directed to Baby. "Come here, Baby!" "I want to snuggle with Baby." "Does Baby want to read a book?" I hope she's as excited about Baby when Baby actually makes an appearance!

We had a girls' date night at McDonalds one night while Daddy was gone and Mommy was sick of being at home!

P loved helping put her toddler bed together!

This is what she wore to church one day this month. I got her to put pants underneath, so I was happy.

Discovering the joy of the feather duster. Mommy likes this version of playing.

This girl loves broccoli. She requested it for a bedtime snack one night and again for lunch the next day. I'm not about to say no to that! 


We had to get outside one last time to play in the snow before it all disappeared. It was actually over 40 degrees when this picture was taken. The boots and snow pants were more to keep her dry when she waded through the melted snow than to keep her warm. The hat and mittens came off shortly after this picture was taken.

P loves "working." Maybe she can write her next update.

Friday, April 4, 2014

fmf: writer

Here are the rules:
1. Write for five minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back to Lisa Jo Baker's blog with the rest of the Five Minute Friday-ers.
3. Comment on the person who linked up before you.

Please join us!

Today's prompt: Writer

GO

I do love being a writer.

Let me clarify by saying that I write, therefore I am a writer. Kind of like I run and sing, so I am a runner and a singer. I'm not saying I'm exceptional or even particularly good at any of them, but I do them.

I've always loved writing. When I was in second grade, I won an honorable mention in a local story contest. It was then that I abandoned my dream of becoming as astronomer (because what first grader doesn't dream of becoming an astronomer?) and decided I wanted to be a children's book author. Aside from a brief detour in fifth grade when I flirted with the idea of becoming a meteorologist, (again, perfectly normal, right?) the children's book author thing stuck until well into high school. That's when I discovered that music was more of a passion than a hobby. Sadly, I kept that illusion until my junior year of college, when I rediscovered that it was still a passion, but more the kind of passion that was a hobby than a career. Oops.

My senior year, I took the required keystone course. I didn't particularly care for the course or the professors, but I didn't mind the homework. We had to write several short papers, the aims of which were probably to help us become more self-reflective and learn about ourselves before we entered the big scary real world. Cheesy, but a little fun to a nerd like me. I never put too much effort into them - I treated them as more of a "free write" assignment than anything.

After class one day, one of the professors stopped me and said, "Have you ever thought about pursuing a career in writing? You have a real gift for it."

This coming from someone who didn't know I'd abandoned such a dream seven years before. I haven't been able to shake that comment. Even now, six years later, I couldn't tell you a single thing about that class, except that my professor made me think about writing again.

That comment, along with a college friend/acquaintance (the beautiful Anna of girl with blog) are the reason you are reading this post today.

STOP

Isn't it funny how off hand comments can stick with you in ways that neither you nor the comment-er ever thought they would?


Five Minute Friday