A new challenge

So for me, it’s kind of been about climbing mountains lately. After weeks of preparing for the half-marathon, I climbed that mountain and then after weeks of preparing to speak at the women’s retreat, I climbed that mountain the following week. Feeling slightly taxed from the nerves and time and endurance not to mention the physical and mental and spiritual commitment necessary to complete these tasks I purposely decided I was going to sit this week out. I wasn’t going to run – much. I wasn’t going to study the Bible – much. I fully intended to waste nap times and early bedtimes reading a cheap novel and eating ice cream. Now isn’t that a goal to be proud of? Not so much, but I may as well be honest.

While I have enjoyed the more relaxed pace of this week I also know that I am genetically wired to love a good challenge. I get bored with the seemingly mundane tasks of life pretty quickly if I don’t have an underlying project or goal to plan or work on. And really, who doesn’t like having something to be excited about, right? So, let me introduce you to my newest challenge……drum roll please…….coupons!

Yup, that’s it coupons! Fun, fun, fun! For the first time in our married lives Ross and I have decided to set up a budget. And, thankfully, since we both have always viewed money pretty similarly that doesn’t mean too many changes to our spending habits but I have noticed one huge area that I could rein in – groceries. I am too embarrassed to even state the sum we arrived at when adding up last month’s debits for groceries, but the bright side – very, very bright side – is that anything I do to cut corners this month is going to look just wonderful! Yea for that!

So besides a small trip to Wal-mart last week today was my first-ever serious coupon clipping day. Look what I got for less than $39! Total savings $85.36!!! And I even missed $3 in coupons that I could have used.



So far I am just loving this challenge! I have a long way to go to catch up with my coupon hero over at fistfulofcoupons.com but it’s a new way of thinking for me. It takes a little more planning and I am still feeling the learning curve but saving that much money is plain fun too me. I just can’t wait until next week so I can do it again!

The Running Bug

So this is the weekend I have been waiting for. Well, one of them anyway. As of tomorrow, the training will be done. 14 weeks gone; 13.1 miles ahead. That’s right, this weekend I will enter my first ever half-marathon. What, you didn’t know I was a runner? Well, that’s because I wasn’t and I’m not and I may never be, naturally, but I am always a girl who loves a good challenge and this time, the challenge comes in the form of a 13.1 mile run.

While in retrospect it’s easy to get romantic and sentimental about the training process, the truth is that it’s tough. It’s aches and pains, loss of sleep and time away from the family. Physically, it is one of the tougher things I have ever done but, at the same time, it’s been one of the most rewarding. Rewarding when I look in the mirror, rewarding when I add up the miles, rewarding when I realize it’s almost over. Hallelujah for that!

I think the most amazing part of this whole adventure though has been realizing that, little by little, it is possible to do things that you thought were totally out of your league. And in the end, it may not even be nearly as difficult as you imagined. I am now fully convinced that anyone who is physically able (and by that I do not even mean in good shape – just able) can run a half-marathon. Seriously. This coming from the girl who a few short months ago thought 2 mile jogs would be her lifetime capacity. Funny what a couple months of running can do to you.

What’s more? It’s contagious. My mother-in-law started it and I got a couple of friends to jump on board with me. Slowly but surely another one came along and after a little more prodding I have even got my own hubby out there pounding the pavement. Why? Because it’s fun, it’s free, it’s good for you and, well, it’s contagious. Just beware…the bug may be headed your way next!

Anyone got some Elmer's?

So out of the dust and ashes I took time to throw together a post today and wouldn't you know that Blogger isn't letting me use the paste function? What's up with that? I can copy from Word but I can't paste. Ugh! If anyone has an idea...or some glue...let me know. :)

Growing Pains

I’ve known for some time that it was going to happen, years actually, but none of that seems to matter now. It’s not like it snuck up on me or surprised me or came without warning, it came every bit as expected yet nothing like I expected at the very same time.

It’s been brewing for awhile now, I guess. The little boy who was all mine, who was, just a few short years ago, a baby who wanted nothing but mommy, the toddler whose owies, whose fears, whose needs, who demands all warranted instinctive cries for mommy is now a little boy. I started to really notice it several months ago when many of the cries for “mommy” somehow changed to “daddy”. In the evening, on the weekend, even in the middle night, it’s usually “daddy” now.

This afternoon he is playing at friend’s house. Not being babysat by a friend’s mom, not being watched while mommy goes to the dentist or a doctor’s appointment, simply playing at a friend’s house because he wants to. That’s a first.

Next Friday he starts pre-school. Another first. Two and a half hours every other day away. Away from mom, away from home. It’s strange to physically see him go from being Ross and Katie’s son to really becoming Tyler. A little boy, operating independent of his parents, becoming responsible for his own actions, forming his own identity.

I have heard it said that having a child is like having a piece of your heart walking around outside your body and I get that, I just didn’t know what it would feel like to not have that piece walking right beside you, holding your hand, under your careful eye and in your constant care. As excited as I am for him to learn and grow and try new things, I can’t help but feel like I am beginning to lose something that I have nurtured and protected and guarded nearly every hour of every day for the past 4 years. I am not really sure how you just put a backpack on that and walk away.

At the same time that my stomach does flips over all these changes, I find it all quite silly. Kids start pre-school all the time, sappy moms cry, life goes on and kids grow up. But all of those others moms, they weren’t me. And all of those other kids, they weren’t mine. I guess it’s kind of like getting pregnant, you can prepare for the baby, you can plan for it, you can talk to all of your friends about it and gather all of the advice that’s out there, but until you are there, having that baby or watching that piece of your heart walk away – even if just for a few hours at a time – you will never really know what it’s like. And, what’s more, once you do, there is no going back.

So in a few weeks I may be over it and thanking God for a few precious hours alone with my baby girl, a couple of hours with a quieter house, at least half a day with 50% fewer tornados messing up the house, but for now, well, it just feels a little sad.

So much to smile about

Five things that make me smile today:

1. I had a fantastic weekend. We had a long weekend camping trip in Oregon which included two 6 hour road trips, time with family, a simply beautiful wedding, the Clackamas Mall, a date night with my favorite date, countless showers for a continually dirty little boy, the Woodburn Company Stores, not enough naps for my kids, and, thankfully, happy kids who perform amazingly well with less than enough sleep. A really fantastic weekend.

2. Pounding out 6 miles on the treadmill this morning. What’s more? When none of my training partners was going to make the run this morning, my dearly protective husband who, for safety reasons forbids me to run alone, got up at 5:00am and carried our weighty treadmill out to the back patio so I could run outside in the safety of our backyard. Brilliant, that man.


3. A lawn mower that likes my husband more than me. Except for when I am severely with child, I am the mower of the lawn in these parts. Recently, though, the darned lawn mower will not start for me. Even more frustrating is the fact that Ross can, at any given time, start the mower with grace and ease and without breaking fingernails or breaking a sweat or using foul language or any of the exertions I am not necessarily proud of. Today, though, even with my fussing and fighting, the lawn mower has chosen to completely cease operating for me. So when my husband stopped by on his lunch and smirked when easily fired up the engine of the trusty lawn mower I smirked right back and told him that we now have a new mower of the lawn. Come to thinkof it, maybe that vacuum cleaner is going to begin giving me trouble as well.


4. Naps. As most parents know, the repercussions of a weekend of depriving your children of their much needed naps is a Monday filled with glorious, lengthy, peaceful naps. And, thus, a chance for mommy to blog.


5. More fun ahead. I love summer, and this one in particularly. Last summer we spent our days and weeks tending to a newborn, but this year we have a pint sized traveling companion and we are making the most of it. With many more trip to look forward to, a garden that is blessing me with beans and zucchini and a dozen tomatoes this morning alone, it’s hard not to love this summer and the rest that is yet to come.

Thinking on good things

A mommy friend who I very much admire told me once that she believes God gives us children to teach us more than for us to teach them. Yesterday I found that to be truer than ever.

At Bailey’s 1 year check-up yesterday she weighed in at a whopping 15.15 lbs and measured 26.75 inches, placing her firmly below the 3rd percentile of those government growth charts that might possibly have been invented just to give mothers one more thing to worry about.

At the doctor’s recommendation after the check-up we made our way to the lab for some blood tests – just to ensure that her little body is working exactly as it is supposed to. I am fairly convinced that there is not a thing wrong with our precious baby girl but at the same time I am thankful we are taking the steps to make certain of that. Even in my confidence, as a parent, there are always those moments when your mind takes the low road, when you begin to wonder a bit and ask the “what if” questions.

Last night as I was putting Tyler to bed he became hysteric with fear that a wizard was going to come in his room and take him from his mommy and daddy. Apparently he had seen a picture of a wizard in a book earlier in the day and he said he could not stop thinking about it.

In a rare moment of insight I quoted him Philippians 4:8, reminding him that the Bible instructs us to think on things that are true and noble and right and good and lovely. We talked about how he loves his family and Jesus and how birthday parties and ice cream make him very happy. As I kissed him goodnight I told him to think about all those very good things.

I couldn’t help but smile as I left his room and heard him saying “…rocky road and sherbet and…” and all the while knowing that I was given that verse every bit as much for me as I was for my little boy.

UPDATED: We are thanking the Lord that Bailey's blood tests have come back clear! We have a very healthy half-pint. Lucky for us, sometimes good things really do come in small packages.

On Blogging

I remember when I read my first blog. It was shortly after Tyler was born and I became a stay-at-home mom. The blog, authored by another stay-at-homer, was recommended to me by one of Ross’s aunts who indirectly knew the blogger. At first, I must admit, I found the whole idea a bit strange. Reading and becoming engaged by someone else’s life, someone who I did not even know, felt akin to peeking into another person’s medicine cabinet (did anyone else have that debate in college?). But the blog was funny, the writer smart, the posts witty and thoughtfully crafted. She was a stay-at home mom but she still had goals and ambitions and dreams and drive. It was that blog that helped me feel a little less lonely, a little less overwhelmed and a little more encouraged as I transitioned away from the working world and fully immersed myself in this mothering gig. And so over the past 4 years I have kept reading and adding a few other blogs to my favorites as well.

In my earlier days of following blogs, I hated it when the authors would go days without posting. Expanses of time without new entries always left me hanging, wondering what was going on, wishing for new updates or clever commentary. And then, finally, I started a blog of my own.

I had a goal of not being that blogger – the one who throws you a bone here and there and then disappears for awhile. I thought – even if it’s just a little entry, a couple of pictures, a small quote – I could easily post every 4 or 5 days. And then I read the book A Woman After God’s Own Heart – a tough book, a great book, a challenging book, and a book that screwed around with my goals just a bit.

There are weak moments when I wished I had never ordered the darn book, but in the end I would have to say, other than the Holy Bible itself, there is probably no other book that has had as much direct impact on my life. I know, scary. But, in a nutshell, that book has caused me to seriously re-think my priorities, to re-think how I spend every minute of each day. It has encouraged me to prioritize my heart for Christ, for my husband, for my family – and as you may well know the overflow of the heart is actions.

It’s crazy how easy it is for me to have a busy day and at the end of that day realize I didn’t spend any time reading my Bible or praying or furthering my relationship with the Heavenly Father who I owe my very life to. It’s sad how easily I can squander the few hours of quality time I am granted with my husband or my kids – on the internet, on the phone, reading a book, distracted. There is always a house to be cleaned, a meal to be cooked, bills to be paid, shopping to do, exercising to be done, a post to write – a million things vying for my time. None of them bad things, of course, just things competing with the relationships that I value the most.

So, I will still pay bills and I will still shop and I will still get a new post on the blog every now and then, but I am dedicated to putting what really matters first. And if that means I have a dozen posts running laps in my head that never make it to the keyboard (as I quite often do) then so be it. For now, it’s just a little lower on the list of priorities.