5.30.2009

Fishing On The Farm


We joined our Sunday School Class for a fun day of fishing (eating, exploring, playing, laughing and even murder) on the farm!!!

For Keith, the highlight was getting to kill and behead a huge snake!!!

The kids had a blast hanging out with their friends and I loved the opportunity to relax, chat and of course eat!!!

5.29.2009

A Rare Dinner...


I attempted Thai food...inspired by and craving one of our favorite restaurants, Tana Thai. It was not as good as Tana Thai, but much cheaper...another work in progress!!!

5.28.2009

My Morning...

After 10 hours of sleep, you would think I would face a fabulous day. I try to be an organized person. And in some areas, I am making great progress! I have moved from only doing the occasional dish when Keith would cook and deciding where we will eat, to making somewhat of a plan for our meals, shopping, cooking (or at least microwaving) dinner and on occasion having a fabulous dinner ready for my sweet husband when he comes home. I try to keep the house at least sort of clean and make sure there is at least one clean pair of undies for each family member. On occasion, however, I fail. Today was one of those days!!!

This morning, I helped Keith look for the extra keys to my (borrowed) car, never asking why or remembering that I drove his car yesterday and left my set of keys in the ash tray. ME and I were going to go to the gym, saying good-bye to friends leaving for India and then going to work, so Keith could take ME to a Drop-In Babysitting Center (It is called Maui PlayCenter. ME loves the tons of fun things to do (4,000 spuare feet of fun!), new friends and fun staff...even though she could not remember anyones names!!! I love that I need no reservation, there are no membership fees, I only pay only for the time she is there (by the minute...and is only $6 an hour), I don't have to beg or burden friends and it is close to work!) on his way to see clients.

Dressed to sweat...for the first time this week...and thrilled that I was able to sneak in this work-out, I grabbed my purse, gym bag (AKA as a grocery store bag) and ME...but I could not find the keys. It was not until a major internal investigation was held did I remember that the keys were in Keith's car and so were the extra set. Why did he need the extra set?

Sooo, I called Keith, who had already dropped Gid off at school and was at the office...5 1/2 miles away. He drove home and handed me the keys and returned to his car...let's just say that he was not thrilled to see me! Since he had to go back to the office anyways and I had changed and was ready to work...not work-out, I decided to take advantage of the extra time and say bye to our friends...but they had already left...for India...4 years until we see them again...did I mention how much I hate good-byes.

Reluctantly, I headed to the office. As I was gathering my purse, book bag, snack bag, keys and milk, I forgot about the milk and spilt it all over me...I turned my hand and milk poured down my shirt, onto my skirt, into the seat and onto the floor!!! I walked into the office soaked, smiled at Keith and went straight to the bathroom. As I was bathing and washing clothes in the tiny restroom sink, I looked in the mirror at myself half naked, laughed and thought what a post this will make!!!

Hope you have a great day!!!

5.27.2009

2.3!!!


My dad is responding well to the Chemo Therapy!!! He went from 3.6 to 2.3, which is FABULOUS!!! Thank you for praying for him, please continue to pray for complete healing!!! Way to fight dad!!! We love you!!!

A Lesson Learned...

I learned a very insightful, powerful lesson today, in the bathroom with ME. I often wonder why ME is the way she is. Why does she ask sooo many questions? Why is she sooo stubborn? Why is she sooo defiant? Why is she sooo independent and sooo demanding?

We went to Enid this morning and met my parents for lunch. ME had to go to the bathroom and insisted that I join her. As she was taking care of business, she mentioned how warm the seat was. I wanted to try and had some of my own business to take care of...the seat was heated!!! ME and I were chatting and I noticed a remote control and a chart. Of course not interested enough to read the details, instructions or even what the remote control was really for...I pushed one of the buttons that said kid. If it said KID...how bad could it be?!?! Water...or at least I hope it was WATER...started shooting out of the toilet...THE TOILET...like a fountain, onto the wall!!! ME was on one side of the fountain and I was on the other. She was screaming, "I am scarred, go get Grandma!!!" I tried to reach over the flow of water, to grab the remote, which ended up falling onto the floor. After what felt like FOREVER and praying that the water would stop, I told ME to just crawl under. Picturing her bending over, she got on her hands and knees and crawled under the fountain, but through the puddle of water!!! I dried ME off and as I reached for the door to leave the nightmare, the water stopped. Thankfully lunch was over and we just headed straight for the exit...and laughed all the way home.

Sooo, why is ME the way she is??? Because, her sweet, loving, inquisitive, indepentdent, bold mommy is the way she is!!! I love you, ME!!!

5.26.2009

Kindergarten Graduation

I can not believe today Gideon "graduated" from Kindergarten. Seven years ago, I was reading "What To Expect When You Are Expecting" and contemplating the blessing of early retirement!!! I was thrilled to be a stay~at~home mom, dreaming of sleeping in, doing what ever I wanted with my precious little baby tagging along. WOW!!! Was I ever wrong...and naive!!!

The first night at home, Gideon cried for 12 straight hours. I called the hospital, honestly, to tell them that there had been a mistake. This could not be the precious little one I had dreamed about!!!

We have been through sooo much!!! At 6 weeks, we were taking passport pictures, packing our bags and moving to Russia. While at training in Richmond, Virginia, I cried the first day I dropped my little prince off with total strangers!!! I had his bag packed for the day and included a report of all the things my special 16 weeks old was accomplishing and the important things that they would need to work on while I was away. Little did I know that the sweet childcare workers, who had been watching MKs for 30 years, would teach me so much and that I would totally fall in love with them~after they finally stopped laughing at me and my ridiculous notes!!!

God has done amazing work in the life of Gideon. This was one of the most difficult years for our family...full of change, testing and trials...but on this day, watching Gid graduate from Kindergarten, read books, write stories, memorize, sing new songs, recite the days of the weeks, months of the year, learning to tell time, add AND SOOO MUCH MORE...all things we were told he may never be able to do...has made it all worth it!!! As tears stream down my cheeks...all I can say is praise the Lord!!! We are sooo proud of you, Gid!!!

5.25.2009

Headed Home...


After A Weekend At Granny's...

My dream...
 
My reality...
 

One Of My Favorite Pictures...

 
I love pictures.  I love taking them, editing them and remembering the moments of time that they have captured.    Pictures are irreplacable and priceless.  

We still have many treasures left in Russia...Christmas orniments, our collection of tea cups, cookbooks and this photo, which thankfully also sits on Granny's shelf!

This was taken in December of 2006.  ME was 19 months old and Gideon was 5.

5.23.2009

Keith And His Dad...

Joey, The Newest Sullivan...


Saturday Morning...

Yesterday, we headed to Clovis for a totally unplanned, throw some clothes in the first empty thing we saw and hit the road Memorial Weekend adventure. After 6 hours of pure wildness, including a great amount of whining, fighting, crying, laughing, singing, silliness, we arrived at Granny's totally tired and totally thrilled!!! We pigged out on meatballs, played with Joey~the newest Sullivan~ and fell asleep watching a movie. This morning, after 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I am sipping coffee and clinking away on the computer ALONE in the dark...while Granny is buried in toys, bacon and kiddos!!!

During this rare quiet time, I came across several posts that I want to remember and ponder...
Lysa TerKeurst, a writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries, wrote Embracing Who I Am. Here is a great, insightful excerpt...
And while I still fall short at times, I'm finally learning that being fully me is so much better than an imitation version of someone else. I have the exact qualities God knew my kids would need in a mother. So, each day I hold up my willingness and ask God to make me the best version of me I can be.

I also love John Piper's Blog, Desiring God. In an interview with John Tripp, he discussed obedience and community.
Excerpts from "How Does God Motivate Obedience"...
God's warnings and encouragements are not just tools to manipulate my behavior, because it's clear that God is not satisfied with that. I think that what he is after is my heart.

Isn't that exactly why God rages through the prophets against Israel? He says, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. I won't take that. I don't want your holy days. I don't want your solemn assemblies. I don't want that stuff! I want your heart."

If I had the heart in view, I would never motivate that way because it's damaging to the heart of a child. God's warnings, on the other hand, are never damaging to the heart. They're after the heart, because he knows if he doesn't have my heart, he doesn't have me.

In the Old Testament, we see that God's people would actually, on the way to the temple, make sacrifices to Baal. On the way to the temple! That's how deep the idolatry was in their heart. If God is zealous after our hearts, he's never going to allow that.

This happens when I'm focused on doing whatever I can do to get my kid to do what I want him to. But if I could get at his heart for a moment, then when he goes to bed with his room still messy, it's still a victory. Maybe we haven't gotten to the room cleaning yet, but we've gained ground in the most important thing—the Lord ruling his heart.

Excerpts from "What Hinders Community"...
...the highest value of materialistic western culture is not possessing. It's actually acquiring.

And so we've bought an unbiblical definition of the good life of success... That doesn't promote community.

I've talked to a lot of families who literally think it's a victory to have 3 or 4 meals all together with one another in a week, because they're so busy. Well, if in that family unit they're not experiencing community, there's no hope of them experiencing it outside of that family unit.

So we've just been confronted with how all of those things that aren't evil in themselves become the complications of life that keep us away from the kind of community that we need in order to hold on to our identity.

These are only excerpts...I encourage you to read the original posts!

5.22.2009

Granny's



We made it to Granny's!!! The kids are full of laughter and smiles and I am loving the sense of relief I feel here!!!

5.21.2009

The Last Day of School For ME...


Today was Water Day and the last day of MDO for 4 weeks!!!

We went to the park with some classmates and then to the pool to celebrate the begining of summer!!!

It is already almost 90 here, which made the totally freezing pool feel great!!!

Tomorrow, we leave for CLOVIS to spend Memorial Weekend with Granny~sleeping, eating, napping, eating and loving every minute of it!!!

5.20.2009

New Shoes!!!


Granny gave Gid money for shoes, since he mentioned that he desperately needed new shoes after ME received new shoes for her Birthday. Since he really did not need new shoes, he decided that he needed skate shoes. Praise the Lord for the Internet~we found these cute shoe-skates on clearance for only $12 with free shipping!!! We had enough to buy both kiddos shoe-skates, which made ME very happy. They were thrilled when the box arrived today. They loved skating...AKA mommy dragging them through the parking lot...not near as much fun for mommy!!! Thanks Granny...you are AWESOME!!!

Lunch With ME...


Microwaved hot dog...minus the bun and condiments

Cookie dough...raw

And a fudge pop!!!

5.19.2009

Super Kids Day!!!


Today, Gid's school celebrated Super Kids with games, races and sugar!!!

ME and I crashed the party and enjoyed the fun!!!

The teachers formed a command central to observe the fun, tie shoes, cover wounds.

Moving Up!!!







Way to go SUPER STAR!!!

5.18.2009

Off To School


Keith takes Gid to school everyday...except Tuesday. On Tuesday, I take everyone and then go to work. Gideon is never late to school...except on Tuesday!

5.17.2009

Gideon's Preformance





Gideon's big debut!!! Gid, you are sooo sweet and thoughtful!!! You did an awesome job!!! We love you!!!

ME's Choir Preformance





ME's big debut! ME, you are sooo cute!!! Great job!!! We love you!!!

Practice




Choir Awards Ceremony