A November Saturday

My 3 early risers.  Parker Bear was still hibernating.

The Bear has emerged from his cave

 Football with Daddy

 

Absolute perfection

You Capture - Motherhood

Maybe I should just link to my post from earlier today (how crazy that I'm posting twice in one day even though I haven't posted in 2 weeks!) since it is such an accurate representation of busy motherhood days. (It also cracks me up that the theme next week for You Capture is (drum roll...):  BUSY!  I'll have to link up to that same post next week too.

Motherhood starts this way.  With one (maybe more) growing inside.

 (For the record Mandy in this picture only has one.  Don't want to confuse you.)

Then you get to hold that pink, squishy infant and you gaze at them in wonder through bleary sleepless eyes.

(For the record, Annie looks incredibly beautiful for having a newborn!  No bleariness here.  I'm strictly speaking about myself.)  ; )

 Then, if you're brave enough (or insane like me), you have more.

Maybe, if you're really lucky, they'll marry some beautiful/handsome, sweet girl/guy and they'll look at you like this when they walk down the aisle.

Then perhaps they'll have children and that will make you a grandmother!

And maybe, just maybe, you'll be supremely blessed and live a long, happy life with these people that you call your family.  And they'll love you as much as you love them.

Lone Survivor ... So Far

Captain's Log:

Stardate December 29th, 2010.

I will write about Christmas and post pictures from that happy day some day.

But right now there is only agony.  Vomit and agony and gloom and despair.

Since December 6th someone in my family has thrown up every other day - which is why I haven't blogged hardly at all in a month.   I have disinfected, washed, cleaned and taken at least one to the doctor (who said he thought we were probably done with it and offered the advice to treat their bellies like volatile volcanos) and nothing has helped.

I am the lone survivor.  Six out of seven of us have had this particular ailment at least once each and Anna and Landon have had it three times.

Every time someone asks, "How are you all doing?" or "Is everyone finally done throwing up?" then someone else throws up!  It's like this bug is lying in wait...lurking behind shadows...and when it hears its name mentioned...IT   POUNCES  on its next victim!!!!  I think its out to get me and it won't stop picking on everyone else until it has me in its calamitous clutches.

I think I hear it now...creeping around like Gollum...................*shudder*

The light at the end of my tunnel is fading fast...Is it hopeless?

Vomit and agony and gloom and despair.

You Capture - Kindred

These were mostly taken this past weekend from my very first family photoshoots!  I'm ready to get this thing started. 

Not all of these images of kindred show blood-relations but in some way they are each connected to eachother.

More kindred captures at:

Our Story - Year Eleven

This was a year for settling in to a routine.  Work and school and church and play.  Work and school and church and play.  Repeat as necessary.

Just before our tenth anniversary we had started going to a friend's church in Atlantic Station.  Larry and Kathy had started up a church there called The Midtown Bridge Church and were meeting in FOX Sports Grill in the private event room.  We had been friends with them since 2002 and felt led to work alongside them as they reached out to the city of Atlanta.  Brian and I mostly helped with the preschool children - setting up and taking down the equipment and watching the children during service and coordinating the schedule of volunteers in this area.  Not long after joining them, they had the opportunity to move the church down the street to the movie theater where they had a lot more room for growth.  Larry likes to say that "the smell of popcorn is the new incense".   So each week we drove into the city and had more fun at church than I think you're allowed to!   It's definitely "a church that looks like the city".

Cameron was in 1st grade, Parker was in preschool and Anna and Landon were home with me.  I was still working part-time at FBCW in childcare and things seemed to be picking up at Brian's office.  He likes to say that it's "up and down on it's way up."  Think "line graph"   and you'll get the idea.  Some months are up and some are down but always inching their way a little higher.  (hopefully)  

We had a few very rough months that year and without our friends Shana and Jay we would have had a very meager Christmas.  One night they showed up on our doorstep with a dozen bags of groceries, a Christmas tree and a check to help us out with a few bills.  Looking back, if we had used that money we spent on our 10th anniversary trip then perhaps we wouldn't have been struggling so much.  But, of course, we couldn't have known that November and December were going to be such slow months for Brian's business.  You just never quite know how much business you'll do from one month to the next.  It's just part and parcel, I suppose.  It was tough because Brian was kind of stressing out about it but wasn't sharing with me how bad it was.  But one night he laid it all out for me and we took Dr. Phil's advice and played out the "What If" game all the way to the end.  What if we can't pay this bill and that one?  What if we have to shut the business down?   What if he had to find work doing something else?  What if the bank forecloses on our house?  What if?  

And, in the end, the result was that we would still be a family.  And we hung on tight and business started inching it's way back up again.

That winter it snowed just the teensiest little bit and my dad came for a visit and Landon turned a year old.  

 

 And the boys played soccer in the spring and there was a tornado a mile from our house.

 

 

And my cousin had a beautiful baby girl and Cameron turned 7 years old and Anna turned 3 years old.

And my grandma in Michigan died and Brian and I went up for the funeral.  We visited my family and we talked about how much we loved her spunk and her cooking.  How much we admired her green thumb and her ability to fall asleep and snore louder than the T.V. blaring in the same room. And we talked about how much we missed watching her play Solitaire on her plastic covered ottoman while taking a break from her knitting or quilting.

And then, in the fall, Parker started Kindergarten and Anna and Landon were cuter than they likely ever will be again.

 

 

And I started this blog and we celebrated our 11th anniversary in Savannah
and we took my favorite family portrait.

What did we learn during our eleventh year?:

• Encouragement is Easily Reciprocated - Larry and Kathy had held us up in prayer and had poured into our lives and we wanted to do the same for them.  And then, when we thought we were going to be a blessing to them, we ended up being the ones blessed.  We gave them a year of our physical help and in return we were given so much more.
• Accept Help and Be Grateful for Generous Friends - I don't think we had the option NOT to accept those groceries and gifts from the Howards.  They would have made us take it by leaving everything in the driveway if we had refused!  They had been convicted to be debt-free, which would free them up for the field, and because of this they were available to be generous to us.  I've learned so much from them that it would take several posts to cover all those lessons.
• Go Ahead and Play Out the What Ifs - The What Ifs aren't good to dwell on but when things get really tough then go ahead and play it out to the end and find out what it is you'll be left with.  You may find out that you're left with A LOT more than you thought.
• God Gives and He Takes Away -  This is life.  And He is good.  All the time.  No matter what.

Brian's post - click here.

Our Story - Year Ten

Mom moved in just after our ninth anniversary and we were all getting settled and setting boundaries and trying not to have too many expectations.  But not having any expectations of how a situation will look before it happens is tough and over the years we've had our ups and downs when it comes to living together.  And I'm sure there will be more ups and downs in the years to come but we have definitely been more on the up-side than on the down-side.  (I hope Mom would agree.)  

Every now and then someone will ask me if I recommend them moving a parent in with them or vice versa.  I have to say that I'm very careful about recommending it.  The relationship between my mom and I is very unique.  I won't say that we've always had crystal clear communication or that we haven't had our share of arguments but I believe we genuinely have each other's best interests at heart and we are always working toward understanding one another and try to communicate respectfully with each other.   So, for us, it works.

Remember, I was pregnant too so, when you add in the fact that I had super-charged emotions, it really is quite a miracle that we didn't kill each other that first year!  ; )  Several times people asked me if I was ready to have a fourth baby (I think they all thought we were crazy).   This was my reply, "I feel like I'm in the front seat of a roller coaster and we're headed up that steep climb to the top of the first big drop off.  I have my hands in the air in anticipation BUT  I'm NOT buckled in!   We'll just see if I fall out!"  I was excited but you just never know what it will be like until you go through a particular experience for yourself.  Going from 2 to 3 kids had been a breeze but that didn't mean it would go so smoothly this time.

Landon was born in February, just before Mom's birthday!  Now we had three sons and one daughter and we felt truly complete.  Brian and I felt like everyone in our family had arrived now.  Done.  Fini. Suddenly it felt like A  LOT of people were in this house!  And there were!  We had gone from a family of 5 to a family of 7 in less than 6 months.

Landon was my happy baby.  Cameron had been kind of a serious baby.  Parker had been a sad baby.  Anna was  a funny baby.  But Landon was happy.  And so were we.

We went on two small family vacations this year.  In the summer we went to Lake Hartwell and stayed in a flea-bitten cabin for a few days.

In the fall we went with our friends, the Banks family, to his parents' house on the swamp.  And I passed a kidney stone.  I've given birth to 3 out of 4 of my children with no drugs and no epidural and none of those experiences made me think I was going to die.  The kidney stone made me think I was dying.  Fun.  Thanks, Bill and Juli, for taking care of my babies while Brian rushed me to the hospital.

We were approaching our tenth anniversary and I was sure to "warn" Brian that we had better do something big to celebrate or I was going to be sorely disappointed!   Dinner and no gift was not going to cut it this year!

We decided we were definitely going on a kid-free vacation this year.  Just the two of us.  I was still working part-time at the church and started saving every single penny toward our trip and Brian was matching my contribution.  Brian narrowed it down to three possible destinations and we settled on The Florida Keys as the perfect getaway.

Next to taking care of four kids and the house, that trip was all I thought about for a year!!!

And BOY was it ever the perfect vacation!!!  We very cheaply (via Spirit Air) flew into Fort Lauderdale, rented a convertible and drove from Miami to Key West over the course of 5 days.  We stayed  one night in the Pelican Cove Resort & Marina (I think) on Islamorada, Tranquility Bay Beachfront Hotel and Resort on Marathon and and two nights in Parmer's Resort on Big Pine Key.   We spent lazy days on the gorgeous, nearly vacant beach at Bahia Honda State Park and marveled at star saturated skies at night.  We were introduced to lobster reuben sandwiches and chocolate covered, frozen key lime pie on a stick!

So, with smiles on our faces and lobster and key lime pie in our bellies we celebrated our TENTH anniversary!

What did we learn during our tenth year?

• Personal Boundaries are Healthy - everyone needs space and you need to communicate what your needs are with one another to keep the peace.  Mutual respect - it's a beautiful thing!
• We Had a Limit - We had always wanted four children and I believe God had made that the desire of our hearts and then He fulfilled it.  I think He gives some people a limit and to some He doesn't and we definitely reached our limit with four. 
• Paying Cash for a Vacation is so Freeing! - We had saved up enough money to do exactly what we wanted and we stayed within our budget and had nothing to pay for once we got home! 
• Time Alone as a Couple is Vital - Being together as a family is great but if you don't take time for just the two of you then you're really missing out.   Our pastor recommends this formula:  Dialog Daily, Date Weekly, Depart Quarterly.  We don't get to take a date every week and we don't get to get away quarterly but we try to get in a date at least twice a month and at least one departure each year (even if it's just overnight).

Brian's post - click here.