Hot Dog

For Christmas we got the kids floor seats to Playhouse Disney Live. The date finally came this past Friday and we had a great time. Jeff and I joke that we have never sat that close for concert we love, but have sat front row for the Doodlebops and floor seats for Playhouse Disney, go figure. Here are some pictures from our grand adventure. I posted some on FB, but I know not everyone is a FB fan, my husband included.

At the end when Jeff took our almost 4 year old little girl towards the front to see Minnie Mouse just a tad bit closer she gave him a huge hug and said "I love you!". And that ladies and gentlemen is what attending a show that your kids adore can get you! Sean, well he was just mesmerized by it all.

New Jobs

Since my little girl was about 18 months old, if anyone were to ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up she would always answer "garbage man". This has been her answer 98% of the time you ask her. Sure, for a brief moment she said doctor, but I think that is only because her friend was saying he was going to be a doctor.
Yesterday we spent a great morning at the zoo, just wandering around looking at animals when she exclaims that she wants to feed the bears. I explained to her that they only eat certain food, not "people" food, and that the only people allowed and responsible for feeding the animals was the zoo keeper.
She then says to me, "After I am a garbage man, I am going to be a zoo keeper." I laughed aloud. :)

New Door

After years of searching we found the "perfect" security/screen door. As pictured above. :) We have been looking and what seems to be thousands of designs and several companies for about 2 years. We finally found an amazing company and their turn around was the quickest of any of the companies we researched. We ordered the door last Friday and it was installed yesterday!!!! :) I am very excited about it especially since the little ones have learned to open the front door, but this one has a dead bolt on both sides, YIPEEEE!

So, I thought I'd share in my excitement.

Lesson One of 2009: God's Timing is Perfect

1/1/09 will forever live in my family's mind. It is the day that my dad almost died. And yet you wonder how I can title this God's Timing is Perfect.

I received a call from my mom on Thursday evening the first day of the new year and her words were "now don't freak out, but". You always know when you hear those words from anyone what follows is never good. She was in the ER with my dad who was having chest pains and all the symptoms of a heart attack. He did not even sit in the chairs they rushed him right back and started working immediately. Mom said "don't come" it will be okay, but that is hard to even hear when your head is spinning. They weren't sure what had happened, they did not declare it a heart attack and weren't even sure that was it. . they had to wait and do tests.

Later that night he was admitted into the Cardiac ICU at Phx Baptist Hospital. The next day he was on plenty of meds and his blood pressure began to drop too low so they took him off some meds. We were waiting for the big test to tell us what really happened. I drove up that afternoon to be there hopefully during the test and after. I was able to sit with my mom as the doctors explain the procedure. I am glad I was there as the surgeon first used the words "tricky" and "amazed" at the blockage. Lovely.

He began to explain that my dad had a blockage in an artery that carried 70% of our blood flow. It was blocked 90%. After several attempts at the stent they finally were able to put it in, which meant he would not have to have bypass surgery. Blessing. He did say he was so glad that he came in when he did. The surgeon was wonderful, unlike many doctors I have ever met in the hospital. Was amazing skilled but didn't act as though he knew that at all. He was humble, caring, was glad to explain, help and didn't seem to mind taking as much time as possible at 4 pm on a Friday.

My dad, mom & I then returned to the cardiac ICU where we were greeted with incredible nurses, in fact all the nurses were amazing. He then recovered and by only the miracle of the Lord he went home the next day. The surgeon had wanted to keep him until Sunday and that was the plan, but everything looked so good that we were able to take him home. Much to his delight. He is now resting comfortably at home with the care of my mom and Murphy laying by his side. He is pretty much not allowed to do anything for 2 weeks which I am sure is driving him crazy. But that is okay. . . . he needs it!

The following are just a few incidents about Gods timing. . . perfect. Even though I would NEVER want this to happened. The Lord was truly present in all of it.

1. They got to the ER right when they were supposed to. Anymore time at home and it would have been worse.

2. Although they had to wait until Friday late afternoon for the test it was better from my perspective as if his blood pressure would have dropped during the test that would have been bad.

3. God knew what doctors and nurses my dad would have at exactly what times.

4. If this would have happened a day earlier my mom might not have been there as she was in Tucson.

5. I was able to go up without kids and Jeff was able to take care of them because he was off of work.

6. My mom was off of work.

7. All the doctors and nurses kept saying over and over "thank goodness you came in when you did".

8. God allowed the healing to be quick at the hospital so dad could rest at home.

9. It happened 1/1/09. . . the Lord showed us the very first day of the new year what is REALLY important.

Little Things

God has reassured me that He cares about the little things.

I recently was reading a blog which I have added to my "must read" list. :) The woman was mentioning breastfeeding and challenges and feeling guilty, but just doing the best she could. Now. I am friends with her husband from college, but I didn't know his wife. However, I so wanted to encourage her that she needs to just do what is right for their family, pray, and that the Lord will take care of the rest (HA, obviously from my previous post I need to take my own advice! :) ). Anyway, I didn't write because we had never met, I felt awkward about it, worried if she would think me crazy, etc. So I went to bed that night and just mentioned it to the Lord as I prayed for them, that I wanted to encourage her, but wasn't quite sure what to do.

Then what do you know, but the next morning when I checked my FB account there was a note from the husband stating that they had been reading my blog and felt encourage. Well that right there was the Lord, because I had not a clue that they were reading and more importantly I rarely would describe my blog as encouraging. I owe all that to the Lord.

So. . . the Lord whispered to me and reminded me that morning that He cares about the small stuff. I must say that is probably why He says cast all your cares upon Him. He doesn't say "stuff you think is big" or "I will only listen to things having to do with A, B, or C", He says all of it.
To part on an encouraging note: He cares about the small stuff, we just have to give it to Him.

Much Better

Okay. .if you read my previous post I am doing MUUUUUCH better. Thank you so much for those that commented and have been praying for me as I truly felt lifted up and encouraged. Needless to say, Christmas was wonderful. And we all made it through.
We are now home and Jeff is busily putting together the new doll house, Sean is napping, and Lauren is anxiously awaiting the construction of her new house that will only be touched by her. :)
Ooops. . have to run. .Lauren is asking to snuggle. :) My favorite!!!!!

Not My Finest Moments

It is Christmas Eve and I am blogging. I guess I just need a minute to myself for a quick cathartic release. As much as I would love to say that this time of year brings out my loving, good natured, humorous, go with the flow attitude, the truth is that it doesn't. I become irritable, tired, bitter, sometimes angry, frustrated, traveling back and forth trying to follow the "schedule" and praying I can make it until we arrive back in Tucson without falling apart.
I am currently praying for peace.
I have this problem, I constantly over assess and analyze every look, comment, etc. made to me by family and others this season. I have found as I sit here with tears that I particularly sensitive about one little thing. . well a big thing to me. My little boy.
He is . . how shall we say. . all boy, he likes any button, gets into everything, never stops moving, can throw a tantrum like you wouldn't believe, can hit, sometimes throws things in immediate grasp when he is angry, and can turn around and tell you "NO!!" when he doesn't like the answer. But this little boy who does all these things is also a lover, a snuggler, hilarious and so inquisitive. He has brought amazing amount of joy and opened our eyes to what it is to have a boy after having the girl first.
It has come to my attention the past few days or should I say I have analyzed other statements, behaviors, reactions, etc. that others are less than fond of his challenging behaviors. Now my friends with boys some of them with more than one boy finds all these things "typical". I feel that others are frustrated with him, judge our parenting skills and others still thanking the Lord that at least "their kids doesn't do that"!!
I have learned it is so easy to judge parenting. We do not discipline our children differently we have done it the same. They are different personalities. And now I realize when we look at parents, even without saying a word, judging them for their children's bad behavior it hurts. It makes parents cry, it bring heartache and sadness, and a feeling of failure.
I wonder if Mary, the mother of Jesus ever felt this way. For some reason I think maybe she did, I mean, they crucified him. She loved him. . she birthed him, she raised him. Although he was the son of God and perfect she must of felt some of these same things, even if he didn't throw a 2 year old tantrum .
I know,such a depressing post on Christmas Eve. I am just praying for some Christmas peace. And a feeling from the Lord that I am doing the best I can with this precious little one.