Eight years and counting

All the Things We've Never Done
By Martina McBride
(Craig Bickhardt/Jeff Pennig)

They drank their anniversary glass
A silent moment passed
Then they kissed
She knows there's something on his mind
He'll tell her in due time
What it is

He says "I've never built
Your mansion on a hill
Or warmed you in the Spanish sun
I simply blink my eye
And think as years fly by
Of all the things we've never done"

She smiles and takes his hand in hers
And says "It just occured
To me now
The thought that brings you such regret
What hasn't happened yet
It makes me proud..."

"You never walked away
When I needed you to stay
Or made me feel I'm not the one
There've been no broken vows
And the reason we're here now
Is all the things we've never done"

"We've never grown apart
You never broke my heart
With secrets that you've kept me from
We've never been untrue
And I'm still here with you
Through all the things we've never done"

Happy Anniversary, Baby! I would do it all again.

Woohoo!

What fun is having children and a blog if you don't get to brag a little from time to time. So, here goes. You can log off now if you don't want to read a Mommy bragfest. You have been warned.

The nine weeks awards day was held at school today. The girls racked up the awards. Cara received a perfect attendance certificate and a most improved award for this period. We knew about the perfect attendance, but the most improved was a nice surprise. (In other words, she did not get in the Watching Chair nearly as many times this nine weeks as the last nine weeks.)

Adriana received a certificate for all As, one for Accelerated Reader 25 point club and one for Good Citizen for her class. Her teacher told me that she has done so much better about doing her classwork on time this nine weeks that she had to give her something. (Her teacher has struggled with getting Adriana to do her classwork in the allotted time as we have with her homework.)

The tide is turning in the CoolHouse for the better in regards to school work. Why does it have to happen near the end of the year?

Okay, bragfest over. You are safe now to go back to your regular reading.

More questions

As I mentioned in the previous post, Adriana is a very inquisitive/nosey child and can come up with a hundred questions when her mind gets started.

Yesterday on the way to lunch she hit us with some questions out of the blue. She started asking me about a conversation that I had with Bruce's aunt last weekend.

While we were at Bruce's aunt's the children were acting like, well, children, and I was trying to settle them down. I had sat down beside his aunt and Adriana was leaning up against me when she said, "Enjoy them while they are little because they grow up so fast." She went on the say she had lost a couple of babies, and I shared with her that I had, too, before I realized Adriana was right there. I knew that conversation had not fallen on deaf ears.

I told Bruce later about the conversation and to be prepared because I knew she would probably ask us about it later. I thought it would be sometime that weekend, but she never brought it up.

For the record, we had never planned on keeping the miscarriages from her, but I planned on telling her when she was older when she could understand a little better. So much for my plans.

Out of the blue, here we were riding down the road a week later when she asks, "Mama, what were you and Aunt Edith talking about?" I immediately knew what she was referring to, but I wanted to make sure first, so I asked her what she meant. She answered something along the lines of you said something about one before me and one before Jonah.

Here we go. I tried to explain that I was pregnant before her and Jonah and something happened to the babies, they died and then I miscarried. I also explained that we believe that the babies are now in heaven with Jesus and that we will see them one day when we get to heaven. She was fascinated by all that and started asking me all kinds of questions about the babies. Some we could answer, some we couldn't. And it went on all day. She was excited that Mama actually has five babies in all and that she could possibly have two other brothers or sisters.

Surprisingly, I was not sad talking with her about the miscarriages like I thought I would be. I think part of it was the way it came up and I am glad that for whatever reason God chose that route.

I was bracing myself for the "how does a woman get pregnant" question, but thankfully, that one did not come up. Whew!

Answering questions

Adriana is really starting to blossom in her understanding and comprehension. She has always been an observant child and questions a lot.

The other night after I read a bedtime story to them, she had a thousand (okay, maybe not a thousand, but it sure felt that way) questions about how Jesus can be God and at the same time he is God's son. Cue Daddy.

Daddy answers but starts into the theological aspects. Okay, don't cue Daddy. I try to simplify it for her, ya know, because I have a simple mind. Doesn't work.

We tried to explain it with Mama is a daughter, mother and wife at the same time. Similar to the way God is. Bruce says that is not the perfect way to explain it, but until we can think of a way that is better, that has to work for now.

How do you explain something you don't fully understand yourself? I finally answered with the "He can do it because He is God" answer. Not sure if that sufficed, but she finally seemed satisfied enough that she settled down.

Her questions are starting to become pretty deep, so I am hoping she is getting close to accepting Christ as her Savior.

Cara, on the other hand, doesn't want to have anything to do with becoming a Christian. She said she doesn't want to die. We thought about it a while and then I figured out why she was worried. When we talk to them about becoming a Christian, the conversation goes something like this, "...You become a Christian, then when you die, you go to live with Jesus."

We have amended that conversation to say, "Hopefully, it will be a long, long time before you die." And, hopefully it will be.

Day out

The girls had a day out from school on Friday because apparently someone can't handle more than two weeks of school since spring break. The district personnel says it is for report card pick-up, but we have other theories.

Since the girls were out and the weather was nice, I loaded them up to go to a local state park to have a picnic and play.

Our area can seem lacking in resources at times, but we are an outdoors heaven. Too bad we are not more outdoorsy. As Bruce says, our idea of camping out is the Holiday Inn.

We did have a nice time, and we were the only ones there most of the time. I didn't have to worry about bigger children bullying any of mine on the playground.

Cool kids' observations on life

Cara: Mama, the Backyardigans are going to be at Applieopposites soon, and Pittsbird. (I think she meant Minneapolis or Indianapolis.)

Jonah: (watching the Masters yesterday with Daddy) He's playing in a big sandbox.

Losing teeth

Adriana has lost another tooth, bringing her grand total up to six. One of her bottom teeth was bothering her (and me!) the whole weekend we were gone to the reunion.

If she begged me once, she begged me 100 times to try to pull the thing. I kept telling her it was not loose enough, but somehow on Sunday afternoon, she pulled it herself! Good timing, too. The day before we bought another tooth fairy pillow since the Tooth Fairy seems to have made off with the first one because we can't find it anywhere.

Bruce was worried the the tooth was the one that was crowned back in the fall, but it was the one beside it. He said at this point, he might have cried if the crowned one came out. I reminded him Dr. B. said she should have that one until she is 10-12 years old.

Adriana was so excited, but she did say that the Tooth Fairy is Tinkerbell's cousin, and they must be about the same size. "So, Mama, how can the Tooth Fairy carry a dollar since it is so big and she is so little?" Uh, I wonder how. (For the record, a little boy in her class seems to talk too much.)

Here's a couple of pictures of her endeavor.

Jonah's first dentist visit and trauma

Jonah had his first dentist visit last week. He enjoyed the video games in the waiting room and the examining area, but he wasn't too thrilled to sit in the chair. I had to try a few times to get him to allow the dental hygentist to clean his teeth. He finally did let her clean them. He was a very big boy and let the dentist check his teeth without a problem.

After his dentist visit, I decided to take the van through an automatic car wash in preparation for the college reunion weekend. (Because, you know, people who knew you and lived with you for two years really judge you by a clean van.) While we were in the van, I called Bruce or he called me, I can't remember which, and we quickly reminded each other that Jonah does not like the car wash.

Pass the Bad Mommy Award my way, I had forgotten how much he hates the car wash. He was crying and shaking. I kept holding his knee and tried to comfort him. I looked the situation over and even contemplated how much damage would incur if I drove out before it was over. Don't worry, I didn't drive out. We endured it, but not without drama.

We took lunch to Bruce at work, and Jonah proceeded to tell everyone that he did not like the car wash. Even days later, when we stopped to get gas for the first time since "the incident", he mentioned that he didn't want to go through the car wash.

As we say around here, that bought us a few months of therapy.

College reunion

I attended a women's college (NOT a girls' school) my first two years in college. Due to circumstances beyond our control, none of the classes from the sophomore classes on down were able to graduate from that school.

I have to say in those two years I grew more and learned more about myself and others than I ever thought possible. We had some great times there and I hated to leave. I am not sure the women whom I came into contact with there ever realized what an impact they made on me. They helped challenge my walk with the Lord, and helped broaden my scope beyond my small world view.

Last weekend, some of the class members in the two classes ahead of mine had a reunion and invited some of us to attend it with them. So, Bruce, the children and I, along with Bruce's mom, loaded up into the van and traveled three hours to the reunion. I had a wonderful time, catching up with some people I haven't talked to in many, many years and sharing all memories from our days together. As someone said, our school was more like a sorority with lots of wonderful, time-honored traditions and things like sisterhood. While I was catching up with my friends, Bruce, the children and his mom visited with his mother's aunt who lives near where we had the reunion.

The next morning, some of us met in the hotel's lobby for breakfast. Poor Cara had a rough time that morning. We traveled to an area that had a lot of blooms and pollen. We all felt the effects that weekend. In fact, the temperature in the van went up about 25 degrees as we traveled the day before.

Cara started coughing and sneezing in the room before we left to you to breakfast. While we were downstairs getting breakfast for everyone, she keep coughing and I even had to explain to everyone that her allergies were acting up. Her acid reflux kicked in, so Bruce and I both spent some time running her back and forth to the restroom. After her last trip back to the table, she was trying to drink her juice and proceeded to spill it all over the place (in her defense, the waitress had put it in a tall glass). We tried to clean it up the best we could.

One of my friends had to wait a while for a high chair for her daughter, so the waitress said she was not going to charge her. Then, she leaned over and told me that she was not going to charge us, either. Bruce, his mother, Cara and Jonah had already gone back up to the room before that.

When I returned to the room, I told Bruce about the free meal and he said that she must not have charged us because of Cara's rough time. So, apparently if your child has allergies acting up and spills juice, you get a free meal. With the three children, we are bound to get a few more free meals at some time.

The picture is of the children in the lobby of the hotel where we stayed. Adriana wanted a picture with her Baby Alive. The other two jumped in for good measure.

More catching up

We decided to wear the girls out the rest of the weekend before the end of Spring Break. We surprised the children with a trip to a concert featuring Jonah's favorite television characters The Doodlebops.

If you have a child under the age of three who does not know who these characters are, be for warned, do not, I repeat, do not let them watch the show. It is highly addictive to those of a vulnerable age. Bruce and I greatly dislike the show, because if you ever see it, you will see that the creaters definitely have a, how shall I say it, unique sense of creativity. The show does teach some good ideas like sharing and trying things you don't like, so we tend to overlook the strange colors and sounds. Great appeal for a two year old.

When the show started, Jonah promptly sat in my lap and sucked his thumb. Bruce asked me if he was scared, but we think he was just trying to figure out how the people he sees on television ended up on the stage. Adriana intently watched the show, also, and Cara danced her way through it.

The girls enjoyed the show, also, and all of them thanked us for taking them. After it was over, we decided to try a restaurant that has catchy commercial theme songs. We had never been there before and one has opened on the road home. The food was decent, but we definitely regreted it later. Bruce and I both did not feel that great, and both girls got sick in the middle of the night. At first, we thought Cara's acid reflux was kicking in, but then Adriana was sick, also. Needless to say, we won't be eating at that restaurant again for a long time.

And, I was hoping Jonah's reaction to the concert would cure him from wanting to watch it. Not a chance. He asked us about three times the next day if we could go see them again.

Catching up again

So my goal is to catch the blog up by tomorrow. I will start with spring break for the girls. The girls had spring break the week after Easter. We spent the week going taking them to the dentist and general running around.

Bruce took the girls to a new pediatric dentist who is more local to the one we did have. When we first looked for a dentist when Adriana was three, we decided on one who is over an hour from us. At that time, that was about the closest we could find one. Dr. B. decided to retire late last year, and a new dentist opened an office about 30 minutes from us. We decided to try her out.

After taking the girls, Bruce has decided that I am going back to school to become a dentist. I think I need to show him my biology grades from college so he can see why I did not go into any medical field.

At the end of the week, we took a trip as a family to a zoo not too far from us. We actually bought a zoo membership last year because for a few dollars more than we were going to pay as a family for one visit, we could have unlimited visits to that zoo and one near our mothers.

Our membership is set to expire at the end of April, so we loaded up and headed to the zoo. We also took our mothers and treated them to a day at the zoo because their birthdays are within four days of each other. My mom's happened to be the day we went.

We were thinking that because spring breaks around the state are different weeks and we were going on a weekday, the zoo would not be too busy. How wrong we were! The place was packed, and we even saw a couple of people from our town.

We had a great time. The penguins were the big hit for all of us, especially Jonah. Adriana was a big help pushing my mother around in a wheelchair. (This came after Daddy tried to tell her she couldn't push the wheelchair and she started crying, saying she was too little to do anything. We found an area where she could keep it on the path, and she did great.)

The girls wanted to feed the giraffes, but they wouldn't hold the food up high enough for them to get it. I was able to, and had a giraffe eat right out of my hand! So, this picture is from the hungry giraffe.

The best part for me was when we first entered the gates of the zoo, Bruce spotted a Starbucks sign for me. I immensely enjoyed my latte that morning.

Heavy heart

I promise to update in the next few days about what has been going on in our lives, but right now I have a couple of prayer requests to post.

Please be in prayer for Ethan Powell's parents. I have posted about him before and his fight with leukemia. At two months of age, he was diagnosed with that terrible disease. This weekend on his 16 month birthday, God decided to end his suffering here and take him home. The website his parents have kept has been such an inspiration to me. They never stopped believing that the Lord would heal him. As Bruce has said before, the Lord did heal him, just not in the way we all wanted. I have never actually met Ethan or his parents, but they have had a profound impact on me. You can check out his website at http://www.ethanpowell.com.

Another prayer request is for another set of parents and a baby that is yet to be born. Almost three years ago, Bruce took me to a Michael W. Smith concert for my birthday. A group called Selah opened for Michael and we were blown away by their music. I instantly became a fan and enjoy listening to their music when I need encouragement.

The lead male singer of Selah, Todd Smith, and his wife are expecting their fourth daughter. I am not sure what all has happened, but the baby is not developing properly and unless a big miracle happens, she will probably not survive birth.

I have been following Audrey Caroline's journey for a few weeks on her mommy's blog. Todd's wife, Angie, has such a gift with words and has been so open about her feelings in her blog. She also has a deep faith that I have been amazed by. I would only hope that I could handle something like that with half the grace that she has.

You can follow their story here: http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com. The delivery date is tomorrow, so please pray for them.

Times like these I realize how blessed we are to have our three safe and healthy with us. Thank you, Lord.