Thursday, September 25, 2008

thursday thoughts

I am loving this Fall weather lately. The crisp cool mornings and clear skies just make me smile all over. With the gas problems we've been having around here it is a blessing to be able to roll down the window and enjoy the temperatures and low humidity while saving gas. When the humidity breaks in the South people are HAPPY. Now we are rolling toward Halloween and all the fun that brings. I saw the first pumpkins being sold the other day and I can hardly wait to buy ours at the farm. This is one of my favorite times of the year.

I have mentioned to many of you a baby from my church who had a sudden diagnosis of brain cancer last week. Hailey is a precious 8 month old who was diagnosed unexpectedly on Thursday in a whirlwind after a mri discovered the growths. Surgery was performed on Friday, so this family has been through so much in just a week. She remains in the PICU at Children's Hospital here. Hailey is the fourth child of Mark and Shauna. When they moved here a year ago Shauna was pregnant with her so she's been passed all around at our small group gatherings.



I wanted to post her care page address and ask that you pray for this family. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/haileyanntrainer
Shauna has made some very specific requests on the website so that has helped me to pray very specific prayers. I love being able to do that because I know God is listening. It is very obvious in this whole situation that God is present and has his arms around the family. If you have a moment leave them a message to let them know you are thinking about them.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

a little excitement

Dave has been gone this week on business. He left Sunday for a long plane ride to Korea for a business conference. We miss him when he travels, but usually make it ok. I felt happy to make it through Monday's hurdles into Tuesday. Lately my afternoons have been stinking crazy with all the pick ups and drop offs for practices and appointments. Yesterday I had to take Jordan to the dentist to have a gap filled which occurred as a permanent tooth grew. (No cavity, just preventative care.) I also had a Boy Scout Den meeting last night with William. I picked up our babysitter at the high school yesterday afternoon before it all began so I could take the appropriate child to each event without too much fuss.

Megan did a great job keeping the household running while I ran around. After I returned from the busy night with William I then put Grace and Megan in the car and we headed off to take Megan home. Jordan stayed at the house to continue working on homework. (She's getting old enough to stay by herself from time to time. I've been using little moments like this to help her get used to the responsibility.) When I got back a few minutes later I had a total scare. I rounded the corner onto Arabian Court to find two firetrucks and one ambulance. They were completely blocking the street and I jumped out of the van trying to make sure that Jordan was alright. My heart was in my stomach as I tried to figure out where were the emergency personal were. I was panicked!

I finally realized that they were at my neighbor's house across the street. She's nine months pregnant so it finally clicked when I saw them rolling Andrea out on a stretcher. Let me just pause to say that my friend Andrea is a marathon runner. She's one of the most fit people I know. She tolerated this second pregnancy beautifully and I happen to know that she was on the elliptical machine daily right up to the end. (Isn't that amazing? I was barely able to walk with my baby loads!)

Andrea is looking all calm and bright eyed. Turns out that her water broke. Tim was working late downtown and her mother was there at the house helping her with McKenzie. They called our neighbor Marla once the water broke so she could take Andrea to Northside. Marla was over at the Mages house in two minutes. By that time Andrea was down on all fours and panting. Her Mom had called 911. That's when they all arrived on our street to whisk her away. Tim decided to meet them at the hospital. Marla followed behind with the suitcases. The ambulance took off at full speed with lights and sirens down Johnson Ferry. Apparently somewhere between Merchant's Walk and the River Andrea birthed the baby. YES, the baby girl was born in an ambulance! It's a good thing her Mom decided to call 911 or Marla would have been birthing the baby in her SUV. So, Tim got to meet his new baby girl in the ambulance as they arrived at Northside. Quite a unique birth story, don't you think?

Welcome to the world Camryn! We are all anxious to know you in our neighborhood.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

what seven year old boys like

We are just completing the week of celebration for William's 7th birthday. What I didn't understand before becoming a parent was that birthdays are really a series of events for a kiddo...not just one day. For us that means that we have a mini family celebration on the day of the person's birthday where they get to pick the meal choice, get the gifts from Mom and Dad, and it is basically just a fun little family day which occurs on a weekday most times. Then there is the day where the birthday child gets to bring something into school to share. Sometimes we make it at home, sometimes it is bought. And finally there is the party with friends. A lot of this complicated celebration ends when a child gets older like Jordan. No longer does she desire to have me bringing cupcakes up to school (big grin here) and even her party style has changed. There is no need for an elaborate theme because middle school girls just like to talk and eat goodies together.

William turned 7 a week ago and I can't believe that this tall boy is the cute little baby I birthed that many years ago. He's over my shoulders height-wise and weighs 60 pounds. William is obsessed with all things Lego, Star Wars, and scientific. I'm so proud of the kind hearted spirit he exhibits. Just the other day in soccer practice he put his arm around a fallen teammate to comfort him. The prayers that he prays at night bring me to tears most time. I used to make him go through the whole family list and do our standard prayer. Now I just let him freeform and he completely blows me out of the water with the things he says to God. It's one of my favorite moments of the day.

I love the special "Book of Inventions" he keeps on top of his lego storage. It's like a journal of his ideas. He's so different from Jordan and yet he adores her so much. Over the summer she endowed him with some Magic Treehouse books that she had long outgrown and you would have thought it was a gold gift. He couldn't wait to discuss those books with her everyday. I love how he plays with Grace as if they are best friends. Dare I say he even tolerates her bossing him around at times? His language world is exploding right now and it's so fun to see him using big words with very few teeth in his mouth. First graders are at a fun age.

Our celebrations began on the September 7th, his actual birthday. William wanted to go to eat crab at Joe's Crab Shack so we met up with Dave's Dad and Ms. Mary there after church. William faked being too scared to do the "chicken dance" by himself and managed to talk both sisters into going up there with him. Jordan was mortified when she saw that I had plenty of embarrassing pictures in action. It was a fun afternoon. We gave William the Mario Kart game for the Wii so you can bet that plenty of racing happened on our television after that. We've all enjoyed the competition since then.



On Sunday night William and I made birthday cupcakes for his class. He recalled a recipe we made when he was in PreK and wanted to bring it again. It is a cupcake that you cook in an ice cream cone. Once cooked you then ice it and add sprinkles so it looks like ice cream. They were not exactly beautiful, but William was ever so pleased to take them to school the next morning. He insisted on Auburn colored sprinkles to decorate them.



Then this past Saturday we took William and his buddies to see Star Wars Clone Wars. Believe it or not, all those cute little boys were well behaved at the movies. My parents came over and my sister brought her family as well. It was a busy, but fun weekend. Happy Birthday William!