we were at the pool today and from every corner you could hear kids pretending they were michael phelps. it reminded me of the mary lou retton fever that happened when i was a girl. just seeing someone live their dream made you dream bigger. and it’s happened all over again. to be honest, i think it’s a good thing. i think children and adults alike need their heroes. we need reminders of what could be, a goal embodied. i remember when tim tebow accepted the heisman trophy this past year. his acceptance speech so motivated me as a mother because he was so thankful of his parents’ direction towards certain heroes, people of character and dedication to model himself after. it made me think what heroes i’m giving my children (if any!). and it made me think of the hero god gave us, how he knew we not only needed rescuing but also direction. we needed to see that it’s possible to live better and love bigger.
by popular demand
July 25, 2008 at 4:50 pm (Uncategorized)
so terra talking came over and took a few pictures of sophia and after the previous entry’s comments, i have to divulge the infamous gang sign/i just pooped in my pants picture. but to better appreciate it, i’ll also post the one terra took the second before that is just so precious. what changed in that second? i’ll never know.
you can also find more of terra’s stuff here.
punk rocker
July 22, 2008 at 9:35 am (Parenting)
i don’t why, but sophie’s hair won’t stay down. i’d use some kind of product to keep it down but somehow, that seems kind of wrong or premature for a 2 week old. i even got some comment while out yesterday, “look, that lady gave that baby a mohawk!” yeah, that’s what i did. along with a tattoo at the toddler tattoo parlor. anyway, i’ve just been telling myself that she’s just so punk rock.
good eats
July 16, 2008 at 8:00 pm (Cooking and Food)
my neighbors have shown me the most extraodinary kindnesses in the last few weeks, which have mainly come in my love language: food/cooking (and cute girl clothes). i love to cook or bake for people and i love when someone thinks to cook for me. but my efforts seem small in comparison to the feasts we’ve been getting around here lately. here’s our week in food:
greek salad and greek chicken and potatoes made by, you guessed it, our greek neighbors
spinach salad and bread with shrimp pasta, your choice of red or white sauce (i get to choose!!?!!)
meatloaf muffins with cheesey potatoes and fruit salad
carne asada mexican feast with every fixin you can think of and homemade spanish rice, guac, and salsa. crazy good.
pulled pork sandwiches with no she didn’t cheesy hashbrown casserole
chicken salad wraps
penne pasta bolognese
yummy pizza from rosati’s
yeah. life is beautiful. i feel loved. good thing i’m nursing or the scale could get ugly.
fruit pie
July 15, 2008 at 10:41 pm (Cooking and Food)
one of my favorite things to do in the summer is making fruit pies out of seasonal fruit, especially from fruit you’ve picked yourself or bought at a farmer’s market. ( i don’t know why exactly, it just feels like you’re that much more connected to the process.) well anyway, since sophia, there hasn’t been much cooking going on, or fruit picking. but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a whole lot of eating going on. people have been SO great about cooking meals that i haven’t had to touch my pans. but the real treat came when my mother-in-law made an apple-raspberry crumb pie for dessert the other night. it hit the spot. she adjusted the black raspberries and made half of them red raspberries, making the pie a beautiful and tasty tri-colored treat. thanks andrea!
death to life
July 12, 2008 at 7:37 pm (Life, Theological Thoughts and Questions)
i was talking with my friend diane the other day and she jokingly said, “i think everyone should have a near death experience and waitress for two weeks.” i think she may have a point.
i was reprocessing sophie’s birth with my doctor yesterday and it was strange to hear again how close sophia and i were to death. and i’ve noticed lately how much that really has affected me. it’s like i was watching black and white t.v. and now, things are in color. i mean i had color moments before but now, it seems like color alot. and let me tell you, being close to death can do wonders for your marriage. suddenly the veil of monotony, comfort, or routine are lifted, revealing tenderness, love and vulnerability. everything is sweeter and priorities are reshifted. stupid stuff doesn’t matter. clarity does. i guess that’s what i’m saying, more clarity.
and i was thinking how in christianity we talk about a similar dynamic. we talk about being born again and going from death to life. and i’ll be honest. i had always seen this as a “die bad self, die!” rejecting all the things that made me selfish and superficial. which is not bad or untrue. but today i realized that there is a nuance to this metaphoric reality that i had missed. it’s not really about spending all your energy shunning the old as much as it is about the clarity of the new, about living in the truth and seeing things as they are. living in color, loving in color, and not letting the interference of other channels drown out the beauty of the song that is being sung over us by god. our energy for a new life is to come from our clarity, from truth. (is this near death cheryl lynn annoying or what?) anyway, that’s what i’m thinking about today. and i know that day to day life and routine will fight me for the priority of these things, so i mainly write this to remind myself of how i feel and what i see. to remind myself of what i want.
now i just need to waitress for 2 weeks.
homeward bound
July 7, 2008 at 3:03 pm (Life, Parenting)
well, we’re home! and we’re bound! i think i’m committed to this plot of land for awhile. i guess i won’t have all my blood levels at normal for at least a month. which means i won’t be doing alot. so that will be an interesting thing to learn. i have a feeling this will go down as “that summer” where alot happened but we went nowhere and did nothing. at least we gardened this year so i have something pretty to look at. and i’ll have the space to be thankful. that’s always a good thing.
speaking of, thanks again for all your support. we have been overwhelmed by the kindness of those around us.
the details
July 4, 2008 at 7:44 pm (Parenting)
sometimes, i become terribly romanticized by all things natural, homemade, and back to the good old days. but today is not one of those days. today, i am thankful for modern medicine.
although i know that god’s sovereign hand was over my delivery room, the truth is, sophia and i could’ve been goners on july 2nd. i apparently lost 1/3 of my blood because of an placental abruption and internal hemmorage and sophia was knotted from head to toe (or more literally from neck to feet) in her umbilical cord. so although i had seemingly reached the holy grail of childbirth, no pain meds and only a few pushes to go, it was really a c-section that ended up saving our lives. with the baby’s heart rate dropping so dramatically for so long and her inability to completely emerge from the pushing, i was whisked away in a most dramatic of emergency c-sections (my friend terra who was there likened it to a scene from ER, screaming doctors and all). then, after sophia was stabilized, they realized that our problems were not at all over as my blood loss was reaching life threatening levels. quickly that was addressed although we’re still in the hospital indefinitely because of my blood levels and a potential need for a blood transfusion. so we’d appreciate all your prayers for a continued safe recovery.
it is sobering to think that in another place or another time, there could have been another outcome. so tonight, inspite of the stitches, the pain, and the not so natural outcome, i am thankful for god’s hand of protection and for our daughter. and i’m even thankful for c-sections.
stimulating
July 1, 2008 at 11:59 am (Parenting)
warning: highly female post below. if you are easily offended by even the mention of the word “cramps”, don’t read on.
so like many women arriving at 40 weeks of pregnancy in the heat of summer, one begins wondering if there are ways that you can possibly help this process along. i mean, i’m not totally clueless, this is my third child. i know what most of you would suggest on the comments. but nevertheless, one feels the need to look it up again, hoping that somehow, between now and the last time you were 9 months pregnant, there was some breakthrough, surefire way of going into early labor. so i google “natural ways to induce labor.” and after reading the familiar list of suggested herbal teas, laxatives, etc., etc., i notice there is an asterik next to the technique: nipple stimulation. it reads: “studies found that women who did nipple stimulation for more than 3 hours a day for over a week’s time at 39 or 40 weeks, were more likely to go into labor.” 3 HOURS A DAY! i’m sorry, there was something about that statement that just cracked me up. so of course, i call my friend jamie to report my amusing findings, to which she says, “you gotta really feel sorry for that 2 hour a day group in the study. 14 hours of nipple stimulation and nothing to show for it.” i almost died laughing.
