Random Stuff

I overheard Audrey and Wesley bickering over a toy today. Audrey said, "Wesley, I have two words for you: Mine and Mine."

Andy was making funny sound effects and being goofy for Ashton the other day. After a few moments, Ashton interrupts and says, "Daddy, are you okay?"

I was driving home from a short exursion the other day, during which time I had left all the kids at home with Dad. Dad calls, and says, "I have someone here who would like to talk to you!" And next thing I know, I'm listening to Cole shrieking into the receiver. Our first phone call. So sweet. :-/

I was watching SuperNanny last week with Audrey. As we watched, I said, "Maybe we should have Supernanny at our house!" And Audrey agreed. She said, "Yes, let's have Supernanny come to our house! I would be good for her!"

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So things are going well. I'm getting busier these days. I'm still not doing murals right now (no way no how since Cole doesn't like bottles) but I'm getting some commissioned projects here and there. I have cleaning and cooking and grocery shopping and all the normal stuff, I've been going to the gym constantly, and this past weekend I helped a friend with her moving sale. She's moving to Colorado and it was nice to have so much time to hang out before I said my goodbyes. We didn't hang out a lot but she is an incredible person and will be missed by many, many.

I do admit to being a tad bit greedy though! She has excellent taste and I bought my share of clothing, grocery items, jewelry, and other assorted goodies. Ah...garage sale season is coming soon! WOO HOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm such a garage-sale geek. I just love coming home with a car full of inexpensive loot, even if I just end up selling it all at my own garage sale a year later. My sister is always wondering what I do with all the stuff I lug home, but it's simple. It's like a revolving door. Stuff in, stuff out. I guess I like the variety. Today I hung up all the new clothes I bought from my friend and un-hung just as many things and packed them to sell at my sale this summer.

Maybe next time I write I'll update you on how I'm doing with my New Year's Resolutions (remember those?)

Prayers

Sometimes I think I pray and pray and that God just doesn't hear me, or doesn't care, or just plain does what He wants regardless of how I pray. Sometimes I wonder if it's all a futile exercise that's supposed to do more "good" for me, as a means of gaining discipline. Sometimes I get mad.

But what I've been thinking lately is that I simply don't NOTICE all the bazillions of times that God has answered my prayers. It's just that the times that my prayers aren't answered "my" way are the ones that I notice. How many prayers has God answered, a million times over, that might have just taken longer to unfold, and I wasn't paying any attention?

It occurred to me the other day that I prayed for my son when he was little, that whatever was happening with him wasn't something lasting. I mean, he was a screamer. A LOUD screamer. Out of control. Inconsolable. Irritable. Miserable. This continued for 2 years. Then, he was late to develop verbal skills. He never played "pretend." He had all sorts of strange behaviors, like carrying around bouquets of pencils and pens in both hands, always having to have his hands full. He lined up cars in long, long lines and constantly corrected us when we mismatched colors on his toys. At two years old, he went berserk on several occasions, screaming and thrashing and appearing possessed, all because he was scared of balloons floating away. Now he's six and seems quite normal (if a little like a hall monitor/boy scout sort :-)). When I pondered this the other day, I thought, maybe he didn't just "grow out of it." Maybe he was healed. Maybe God was answering my prayers and I just didn't have my heart and mind opened to acknowledge it.

There are so many other things, things which we could call "slow miracles," that happen all the time. Whenever I start resenting my circumstances or getting the wrong answer to my prayers (so I think), I need to start praying and asking God to make me aware of all those prayers he's been answering all along. Sometimes they just take longer. Which makes them even better.

crazy

Our church sends around clipboards during service, a way to monitor attendance, etc. They have been encouraging people to write down prayer requests, so they can pray for us on Wednesdays and Fridays. While I got up for a minute, dh wrote this "pray that Cole will sleep through the night, because he's driving us crazy." lol. Okay, not quite. What he really meant was, Cole was sick last week and not sleeping well and driving ME crazy, which had the inevitable effect of driving my husband crazy, since I'm not usually quiet about such matters as my husband sleeping peacefully as I am ready to shoot myself while walking a screaming baby around at 4 a.m.

But, really, I'm not exactly "crazy." Cole had been sleeping really well for a few weeks, and this cold kind of de-railed him for a few days. One night was particularly bad and I guess that's the one that's "driving us crazy." He was also rather cranky all week, as one should expect when a baby is under the weather and can't take anything. Still, he's gotten much better and last night he slept 10 hours without a peep, so we're good to go. Maybe God answered the prayers before they were prayed. That would be excellent. At any rate, maybe the prayer group will get a good laugh on Wednesday.

Because Cole and Ashton had colds last week, and the weather was ridiculously cold, we didn't venture out much. I didn't get to go to the gym, which really stunk. I'm hoping against hope for a healthy week here so I can go work out. I need this.

pictures

Oh, Not Good. Not Good at All.

This is going to make me more inefficient than ever. Like I need another reason to surf the internet all day....

All This For a Workout

So, I finally went back to the gym after months and months. My membership was supposed to be frozen until Feb. 1, but since it's a couple's membership and my husband got his frozen until March 1, I came to the gym today to find that I had to get re-activated. I had an "appointment" for my baby in childcare for 1 pm but it was taking a while to get us re-activated, so I called the childcare room to delay our arrival. Finally, I got all paid up and got a new card (which was lost with my wallet way back in November) and made my way (3 kids in tow) to the childcare center. Only to find that I had to get an add/drop form from the front desk (where I just was) to sign up Cole. So I deposited Ashton and Audrey in the childcare and trooped back to the desk to get him officially signed in (my pre-workout workout). Then I finally got him to the childcare room, and asked if I could nurse him first. While I was sitting there I was told that Ashton was poopy, so after nursing I had to get my bag and change him. THEN ( a good 40 minutes after arriving) I got to work out. And thankfully it was a good workout. Because afterwards I couldn't take a shower because there were men in the women's locker room fixing the sink. So much for my delusions about an invigorating workout complete with shower and steam room.

The scale there DID say I was one pound less than my home scale registered. So I'd say that was the highlight of that excursion.