You Don't See That Every Day

The month of March was full of .. everything. We had some rain. Ok, a lot of rain. And then we had some sun! It was wonderful to be able to say yes when they pleaded to go outside We even got the lawns mowed. Once. No, I didn't make them do it by hand. I have no idea why his hand is so green. We made cookies to share and to celebrate. Because there's always reason to bake and celebrate. And we had friends over. What else do they do when friends come over?! Dress up! And finally - spring break. One of my favorite weeks. The 2 kids went back to away-school today and I realized how much I enjoyed having them around last week. Ok, I didn't care for the constant questioning "Can I play Xbox?" because it poured rain most of the week. But I did enjoy just having them around. The teen years aren't actually all that bad. It's nice to be able to have (some) normal, nearly-adult conversations. And it's fun to see the younger ones interacting ...

This weekend was a winning weekend! On Saturday two of our girls, Dots and Squiggles, participated in the Awana Games. This is where teams from around the area get together at a local gym - a college in our case - and compete against each other in some fun games. There's the balloon volley, the 'marathon' - which is running in circles basically for 6 laps, the 3 legged-race, and some throwing-bean-bags competition. One of the fun ones is the Sparkies crawl - this is where the Sparkies, who are in grades K through 2, get down and crawl across the floor - not too hard, right? Except that there are 4 teams coming from 4 different directions, intersecting in the 'middle'. It's pretty much controlled chaos, and so fun to watch. Well, after all was said and done our church's teams won the games! Both girls' teams came in first, so that was pretty exciting. They each got to take home a medal, which is now hanging somewhere in their bedrooms. On Sunday the Mr...

I ran away from home last weekend. My family helped me pack. Now before you think about staging intervention - it was actually a good thing. Every 10 years or so, I go away to a women's retreat. Yeah, 10 years! It took me that long to recover from the last women's retreat I went on. Back in 2004, I managed to make it to 2 different retreats ... and at/during both of them, something tragic happened. One involved the death of a neighbor's child, the other involved my miscarriage. So, maybe way down deep inside I had subconscious reservations about going again. Or maybe life just got busy with babies and school kids and health issues. And beyond that, my fears kept me home. Some of you know about my chronic hives story. They are better; but lately I have been having gut reactions to some foods, not just hives reactions. So when I first heard about the retreat, which was going to be held at the coast, I was excited! because I love going to the beach. Even the cold, Oregon b...

Over here we've been busy living this life. So here is a little randomness from our days: Lots to do, sometimes so little energy to do it. We are finally all over the colds that plagued us for the month of February. The sun is out and even when it rains it still feels like spring! instead of winter dreariness. I went running for the first time yesterday since it snowed at the beginning of Feb. Which means I had 3 weeks off. Which means I was only able to go a little ways. My niece, with whom I am running the marathon in May, is up to 18 miles. She is going to smoke me! I am going to do this, and I am going to finish, but I am not so confident now about how well I'm going to do. The Mr's new job means he needs new clothes. Most of his shirts have the old company's logo on them. Can't really wear those to the new place! So we went shopping last Saturday, just he and I. And that was actually pretty fun. It sure is nice to finally be at the place in life where we c...

I am often in search of a good book to read. And it often depends on my mood and what is happening in my world at the time. Occasionally I will pick one up that I think I am not going to like, and then I am pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoy the book. " The Virginian" was a book like that. My friend recommended it to me, and trusting her opinion, I checked it out from the library and read it. Slowly. Savoringly. Imaginatively. It was that kind of book - an old one and a good one. This past week I was in need of another good read. I don't have a lot of time to read, but I like to ponder a few pages before bedtime. So I grabbed a book by Melody Carlson titled "Finding Alice" . And I could not put it down! It follows a college-age girl down her path of increasing schizophrenia. The author writes from Alice's viewpoint and gives the reader insight into the mind of someone with this mental disorder. Because I have a relative whom I care a lot about th...

In my corner of the world, life goes on despite the illness in the house: --the basketball team from my high school is playing against our son's high school basketball team this weekend. I really wanted to go watch, but due to health-money-travel-time-commitments, we won't be going this year. It's not like our son is playing .. if he was we would definitely be there! Maybe next year. --My husband started a new job! For years we were praying for a change, and we thought we had a chance at a job last summer, only to lose it at the last minute. Looking back, we see what a good thing that was, because this job the Mr. has now is exactly what he needs and what he wanted. It's pretty exciting when he comes home at night in a good mood, looking forward to actually going to work the next day. --Our girl Dot was in Awana Bible Quiz this past weekend. She didn't place this year, but she actually stood up and answered a question - which itself I find hard, because you ...

It has been 2 weeks and one day since my last run. 2 long weeks of coughing and sneezing and headaches and naps. It was sunny outside yesterday - glorious day! So I took the girls out for a walk. I figured a little walk around the neighborhood would do all of us some good; plus it was a little measurement of how my lungs were doing. I had hoped I could start running again this week. But after walking less than a mile, coughing half the time, and then needing a nap later in the day, I figure I won't be running yet. Last night I made it through the night without coughing - that is a plus! But I still think I am going to wait a little bit until I hit the road again. It's hard not to - knowing I am getting behind in my training, feeling my muscles atrophy. On the other hand, our boy is running again. Track season starts up next week, and he went out after school with some of the kids, for a 2 mile run. Makes my heart sing.