The One That Got Away

Well, on the first day of gun season, Kev was up at 4:00 a.m. and left to go hunting in the pouring rain. Yuckadoo. You couldn't pay me enough money to do that. However, I do love having meat in our freezer, and we just cooked up our last steak a couple of weeks ago. So, go hubby go! More power to ya! I'll just roll back over and get a couple more hours of shut-eye!

Anyway, he came home absolutely soggy and oh so stinky. Man - wool is potent when it's wet. He'd been tracking the blood of one he shot earlier in the day but couldn't find it. He's pretty sure it's dead by the several pools of blood that he tracked, but he's afraid that he got out his stand too soon and pushed it too hard. This is a major bummer on all accounts. I hate hate hate when a deer gets wounded or when one dies unnecessarily. Plus, Kev is probably going to get sick AND we have no meat in our freezer. Ah well. Live and learn, I guess. He was pretty bummed. But, back out again today at 4:00. Hopefully, he'll have success this time!

Whenever he gets back, Kaden always wants to hear his hunting stories. Kev is always very careful to say that he hunts to get food like steak and hamburger to feed our family - not for sport just for the sake of killing an animal. Anyway, Kaden has an imaginary wolf friend that goes everywhere with him. The other day at breakfast Kaden said: "Hey, Daddy! My wolf friend shot a hamburger in the road and he was really proud of himself!"

Doesn't make a lick of sense, but we just about died laughing!

Happy Thanksgiving.....A Day Late!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

I really love this holiday - it's far less commercialized and stressful than Christmas, and it's the one day out of the year when we sit back and take stock of what we are truly thankful for. We want to instill into our children traditions that involve family and relationships and giving as opposed to only thinking about and asking for things for ourselves. I want us all to have a constant attitude of contentment and gratefulnesss for everything that we've been given already instead of constantly looking around and wishing for things that we don't have.

So, only this holiday week-end, here is just a short list of the things that I am SO SO thankful for:

* First and foremost, I'm thankful for my relationship with Jesus and for how - time and time again - He has proven Himself faithful to me. I believe - help Thou my unbelief! His mercies truly are new every morning.

* I'm thankful for my hubby of eight years. He is truly my soulmate and best friend. He takes his roles and responsibilities of husband and father so seriously, and we are partners in every sense of the word in this journey called life!

* For my little Kaden - our tender heart. He daily makes us laugh. He is so sensitive and happy all the time. He is a fabulous big brother, and I really can't even remember what life was like without him. He is the neatest little kid, and already so tender toward the things of the Lord.

* For our wild child, Jesse Bear. He has made our home so full and alive. He is so comical, and it's so fun and interesting to see two little boys who are so night and day in every way! We never have to wonder how he's feeling - he LOUDLY lets us know! He is becoming so expressive and snuggly, and we are just so thankful for this new gift.

* And lastly, I'm thankful for our church family out here who has adopted us as their own, for family and friends old and new, for our cozy little apartment, for this college where Kev has been able to follow his dream, for friends who welcomed us into their home to celebrate with them yesterday, and for our family day today where we're going to get our Christmas tree! Whoo-hoo!!

Truly, there are SO many other things.....the list could go on forever. Bottom line: I'm a thankful girl this week-end!

Adventures in Parenting

Today is one of those days where in looking back, all we can do is laugh. So many silly, crazy, scary, and yucky things happened in the span of just a few hours that I just have to write about them and document their happenings!

We went to UNO's for lunch today where hubby was in rare form. First of all, he asked for a side of hot sauce for his sandwich, and as soon as it came, he looks over at Kaden all innocently and asks: "Kaden, would you like a drink of tomato juice?" Kaden - trusting his father completely AS HE SHOULD!!!! - leans forward and takes a nice haul off of Kev's Red Hot! I braced myself waiting.....meanwhile both Kev and I are dying laughing, and I'm feeling like a loser mommy for even finding it funny in the first place. Kaden swallows, looks over at us, and immediatly hangs his tongue out of his mouth and starts chugging his water. We had tears, it was so funny! Not two seconds later, Kev offers him a taste of his other side of BBQ sauce. Genuis that he was being today, he loads up a big scoop on his FORK and puts it up to Kaden's mouth. Well, of course, most of it dribbled out the slats of the fork and went all down the front of Kaden's shirt! When Kev saw this happen, he jerked his arm back and proceeded to spill even more of it down the arm of Kaden's white shirt. Kaden just looked at us like we were crazy today. It's true. Good thing I hadn't done laundry yet, because the story gets better.

Then, after Kaden's nap, Kev had a cup of black coffee sitting on the table. Kaden walked over and innocently asked: "Oh, Daddy! Can I have a sip of your soda?" Kev innocently answered, "Sure, Honey." Again - another long haul. (It was ice coffee - but still....you know when you're expecting to taste one thing and then you get another?" He's not going to trust Daddy much after today! Hubby was an IMP today!

Well, all of those things are nothing compared to MY saga with the boys today. While Kaden napped and Kev was doing homework at home, I decided to go out and do a little shopping with Jesse. I wore him in the backpack because he loves it, and as soon as I walked into the store, all of a sudden, I feel this huge shift, and Jesse slid right out the bottom of my pack! I reached down and grabbed his bum just in time - right before he smashed onto the floor! OH MY WORD!!! What if this had happened while I was walking across the parking lot? What if a car had been whizzing by????? Anyhoo, HE wasn't fazed in the least, but I just about had a bird!

Then - while we were walking through a store, Jesse decided that he wanted to suck on my cheek and my chin. This is his new thing lately. It was keeping him happy and occupied, so I just let him suck away while I was browsing. Upon looking in the mirror when I got home, however, I now see that I have a massive hickey on my face that is VERY noticeable! Perfect for when we go to company's house tomorrow for Thanksgiving. (I'm going to tell everyone that Kev did it! kidding.......)

Finally, when we came home, I sat Jesse in his little Bumbo seat to feed him some cereal, and I thought that I kept smelling a certain odor. (Having Daddy in the same room, I thought nothing of this odor, so I didn't think it necesssary to check Jesse!) Twenty minutes later, I lifted Jesse out of his seat, and to my utter horror, I realized that he had been sitting in a literal puddle of his own poo! It was SO gross! In lifting him out, I also successfully managed to ooze it all up his back, down his legs, and all over my own shirt, as well. Delish. In with the pile of hot sauce and BBQ laundry those clothes went. This is going to be a yummy load of wash, let me tell ya.

And finally, to top off this nutso day, when Kaden woke up from his nap, he came out and snuggled my leg while I was cooking. Just as I was turning to grab something from the fridge, he grabbed hold and gave me a pretty strong "love push," and down to the floor we both toppled with 135 pounds of me landing on 35 pounds of him. After many tears (from him) and a really sore bum (of mine), after baths and clean ups for all of us, and after supper, stories, and beddy-bies, I look back on today and am happy and amazed that we are all still in one piece!!! It was like a regular zoo around here today!

A Tender Heart

Kaden has been initiating a lot of conversation lately about Jesus. It's so cool to see his little brain working and thinking through things. One morning at breakfast he was telling Kev that in the night he dreamed about Jesus on the cross. He said, "Do you know what I was dreaming about? Jesus on the cross with that thing on his head with really sharp things on it that hurt Him really bad." We talked about it a little bit and asked Kaden if he knew why Jesus died on the cross that day. He said, "Because He loves me and because sometimes I do bad things."

It's been so cool to dialogue with him about this and to see that he's actually comprehending and understanding things. We don't want to push "the sinner's prayer" on him just so that we can say, Kaden got "saved" today, but we're really feeling like he's beginning to understand and that is just the neatest thing.

His little heart is so tender and he has SUCH a sensitive conscience. Often when I tell him how proud I am of his honesty or of being such a great big brother he'll respond by saying, "Yeah, but sometimes I do bad things." Yup. We all do - many of us just refuse to admit it!

Four Nights and Counting....

For the past month or so, Jesse's nighttime sleep has progressively gotten worse. He has gone from sleeping 10-12 hour stretches without waking and nursing to waking up once in the middle of the night (no big deal - we can handle that). Then a few days later, waking up every four hours (hmmm.....okay - growth spurt?), to waking every two hours, to finally deciding that every hour on the hour he would like to awaken and scream bloody murder until someone did something about it.

Finally, at the beginning of this week, I reached my breaking point and told Kev that I was just about ready to have a nervous breakdown unless something changed. I talked to my pediatrician and did lots of reading - so that I wouldn't just be looking at this issue through "baby wise" eyes, and all that I read agreed with what my pediatrician said in that - Jesse should be capable of sleeping through the night by now, and we need to help him learn to "work it out." She said, "Most kids will break the habit in 2-5 days, but there is a small minority that may take two to three months to kick it." Hmmmmm....now what category do we think our little Jesse will probably fall into?!!!!

There are a whole boatload of varying philosophies out there to help parents teach their children to "work it out" from the "no cry solution" of just doing whatever it takes to make them happy to the "let 'em scream it out" until they cry themselves into oblivion. Kev and I talked about this for a few days and tried to decide what our plan of attack would be. The biggest issue at stake was that whatever we were going to do - we had to stick with it! If in a couple of days we couldn't hack it anymore and gave in, then it would all be for naught.

So, four nights ago, we decided to set the pack and play up in the kitchen with a really loud fan, we ran the bathroom fan, we gave Kaden two fans and a radio, and we gave ourselves a fan as well. The plan was that when Jesse woke - from here on out - he would not be nursed, and he would not be picked up unless he got absolutely hysterical. We would go to him every twenty minutes, rub his tummy, and tell him that he was okay, but then we would walk away and go back to bed. It was agreed that I would take the first shift, Kev would go next, and so on. Whew! Was I ever nervous. I knew that this would not be for the faint of heart, but I was ready! I was at the point where I was feeling that I had lost all control!

Well, the first night, I "tanked him up" right before we went to bed at 10:00 so that I would know his tummy was full, and then he was down for the count. Just like clockwork, at 2:00 a.m., Jesse woke up crying. I laid there and watched the clock tick by...five minutes.....ten minutes... until at the twenty minute mark, I went out into the kitchen, rubbed his tummy, and said, "No, Jesse. It's time to sleep." To which he promptly broke out into high-pitched-bloody-murder-I'm-mad-at-the-world-and-I-plan-to-wake-up-the-whole-entire-complex shrieks. Hmmmmm, that went well. I crawled back into bed, put some earplugs in, and told Kev that it was his turn next!

Twenty minutes later, Kev went out and did the same. It was to be my turn at 3:00, but when I rolled over again it was 3:45! Oh man...bad Mommy. But wait - our apartment was silent! I looked over at Kev who was staring up at the ceiling, and he calmly said: "Jesse fell asleep at 3:00." Only an hour! Not for the faint of heart, mind you - but I fully expected about three hours of screaming for this first night! I sank back into blissful sleep overwhelmingly happpy and thankful.

For the past three nights, Jesse has fallen back to sleep before the twenty minute mark each time. I can't even believe that he is not fighting this harder, and I am not holding my breathe - but I do feel that my world is beginning to right itself once more! My sister-in-law was here two nights ago, so we put Jesse in our room. When he woke at 2:00 I begged the Lord to put him back to sleep! PLEASE, LORD! NOT TONIGHT! NOT WITH COMPANY WHO WILL SURELY THINK THAT WE ARE HORRIBLE PARENTS FOR LETTING OUR CHILD CRY! But, thankfully, after just a couple of seconds of fussing, back he went to la la land!

So, we shall see what the future holds. For now, I am catching up on my sleep and am no longer a zombie crabmyster woman! We plan to keep Jesse in the kitchen for a few more weeks, but I am hopeful. And I have never been more thankful for an eight hour stretch of sleep in my life!

Slowing Down

This past week was way too busy for our little family, and we're all feeling it. Kaden missed his nap two days in a row, and when that happens there is no need to ever have a little daughter to experience high drama - we get it in spades with him! It's kind of comical, and we both feel bad, because it's really our fault that we've caused him to miss his naps, so we try to have a little grace with him. Poor thing. He's going on four years old, but still really requires at least a two hour nap every day and about ten hours of nighttime sleep, as well. Jesse on the other hand, is a completely different story. He's good on four little half hour cat naps. He will sleep between 10-14 hours at night, but doesn't give us much during the day. He still likes a little rhythm though, too, and I can tell that he's a little "off," as well.

So, for this week, we're going to stick close to home. We travelled a lot last week and had the boys in the car a lot, so I just plan to take it easy for the next couple of days. Having said that, we did have a good week, though! I was able to get trained and certified to do some premarital and marital counseling through Prepare-Enrich, Kev did a little hunting, we met with a Mission Board that we're interested in, we spent an afternoon with a family from church that we've been wanting to get to know better, and the highlight for all three of my boys was the fact that we spent an entire day at Cabella's!

Oh my - don't get me wrong - I like the store, but HELLO - almost five hours, people! I put my time in that day. Kev reminded me that if I truly do want a passle of all boys, this is what our family days may look a lot like in the future! Point taken. :0) Neither Kev or Kaden wanted to leave, and Jesse was as happy as a clam riding in the backpack staring at all the dead animals all day. Oh my. Lord, give grace! :0) It really was a lot of fun, though. We got most of our Christmas shopping done - at least for the guys, and had fun playing together as a family, so it's all good!

It's a Girl!

My sweet friend Charlotte just gave birth to numero two - a baby girl! After a seven hour labor, Madelyn Elizabeth G. - Meg for short - (how cute is that?) was born! Oh yay - I LOVE babies, and I LOVE that there's another Mommy around here with two chittlins now. We can just be half crazy together!

Other news....
Kev and I went and met with the Regional Director for U.S. Center for World Missions today. Should we decide to take Clarion Consulting and do it as our next step in life, this is most likely the Mission Board that we would be considered missionaries under.

I'm a rotty explainer of things, so if anyone is interested in the whole Clarion thing, go and check out their website and have a little looksee. It's www.clarionconsulting.com. Just a note - because it was originally designed to work with missions teams overseas, the website had to be made to look secular in order to protect the missionaries.

So....that's kind of exciting. It's been cool to see where the Lord has been leading and how He's been confirming our steps. Tomorrow, I'll also be getting certified in the Prepare/Enrich (www.prepare-enrich.com) assessment tool, as well. I would like to begin doing some premarital counseling with engaged couples and maybe even newlyweds here at the school.

We shall see. Who knows what the Lord has in store for us? It's all part of the journey - endings to some chapters and beginnings of others. It's comforting knowing that He's in control and we are not!

By Hed Is Feelig Stuffy!

I did the typos on purpose. That's how I've sounded all day - I woke up with a yucky cold, and I am completely stuffy and plugged up. Soooo, Katya - that sip of hot chocolate you had at the soccer game yesterday is probably gonna cost ya! So sorry, my friend. Blast. Load up on the echinacea and Vitamin C! Oh man - I hate colds. You feel yuckadoo but not enough to put your life on hold and justify napping or not taking care of your family. I've kind of been in a fog all day.

However, in spite of this mild annoyance, we had a fun family day. A few towns over in a little place called "Peddler's Village" there are a whole bunch of fun little shops and stores, neat little walkways with scarecrows everywhere, and just an all around pretty area to be outside all day. This weekend they are celebrating Apple Festival, so we went and rambled all around and sampled some of the apple wares. Quite delish, I must say.....I think.....everything taked a little bit like cardboard today....but the texture was nice!

It was a bit on the chilly side, but overall, very nice. We wore Jesse in the backpack for the first time, and he really liked it. He took a nice nap, and when he was awake he carried on a lovely conversation with the back of Kev's head! This will be his new mode of transportation, me thinks! Oh, and the kicker of today is that we get to turn our clocks back and get an extra hour of sleep. Bummer for the shorter days, but whoo-hoo for the longer nights!

Feeling Uninspired.....

Yet, it's been awhile since I last posted and I must stay with my new habit of at least posting once a week!

Had some lovely chats with friends from away this past week - Shannon, Esther, and Rachey. That's always nice! I love catching up and learning about the new things going on in everyone's life.

We also had a church retreat this past weekend which was really wonderful and refreshing. The boys did great and Jesse took fabulous naps, so that was wonderful! I was chatting with my pastor's wife and telling her how well Jesse sleeps when the room is pitch dark and completely quiet! Although not a whole lot can be done about the noise except for a few fans, my pastor's wife is now making me blackout curtains that will make his room completely dark. I am soooo excited! Hopefully, this will help in elongating some of those naps!

I guess what I've been really thinking about tonight is someone who comes and goes out of my life who I am constantly absolutely flabbergasted with. This person completely blows me away with the comments they make about people. I am so floored by the disrespect and crassness (is that a word?) that I am left literally reeling and speechless. This person claims to be so godly and in love with the Lord, yet I cannot believe some things that fly out of their mouth. I fear confrontation worse than death and this person COMPLETELY intimidates me. But, I tell you what - if I had the guts to say what I feel needs to be said...man oh man. One of these days, if they catch me sleepless and feeling she-bearish about those I love, they may just get their ears peeled back! I'm really praying about how to handle this......will keep you posted.