Utter Ridiculousness

I wish I could say I have spent this week doing something impressive, interesting even.  But I haven't.  I have been held hostage by this device that I wear on my arm.

 

 

I realize that I am way late to this technical gadgetry party.  I think it's a fine time to note that I am typically late to all things trendy.  I can be labeled a lot of things-- and probably last on the list would be trendy.  It was nearly 2011 until I purchased my first iPhone when the rest of the free world had long since learned all about it and how cool it was.  I never started texting until my cell phone bill was wrecked by enough friends texting me that it was costing me more every month NOT to text than it would have to get on board with everyone else.  I didn't own a pair of skinny jeans until at least three years past the time when they were the thing to buy.  I'm still not entirely sure that they look good.  This little technical marvel is really no different.  For years most other people have had one.  But I didn't...until about three weeks ago.

 

It seemed a wise decision.  Also, I was jealous that Jason bought himself one, and then when I saw that they came in teal, it sealed the deal for me.  We had made the purchase of a treadmill for the house, and both of us have gotten pretty serious about carving out time to exercise.  And so, this seemed a logical addition to the program.  Because when we get on board, we jump in all the way.

 

This FitBit calculates the number of steps I take in the course of a day.  It also counts distance, number of flights of stairs climbed, heart rate and calories burned.  It watches me when I sleep and records the number of times I am awake, and also restless.  I have yet to figure out what constitutes being restless, but I apparently do a lot of whatever that is.  I have found this sleep situation tracker to be quite depressing, if I'm telling the truth.  I'm only grateful that there was no such thing giving me a complete report of the horror of the night when the kids were little and not sleeping.

 

The goal that the FitBit set for me was to walk at least 10,000 steps every day and climb 10 flights of stairs.  These are the two major goals that I can seem to objectify.  They have become the source of so much energy that I am almost embarrassed.  Meeting the 10,000 step goal is such a goal that I have found myself walking in circles around the bottom floor of the house in order to get to the magic number.  I have marched in place to try to see if that will make the steps tick off of the count.  (It doesn't...evidently forward motion is required for my little teal friend to mark me down as having taken a step.  Such a slave driver.)  I have walked on the treadmill for "just one more minute" to see if I can get a few more of those steps crossed off.  I even made the girls climb the three flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator to Lauren's ballet class on Wednesday evening because I was behind. I have climbed flights of stairs in the garage to get the 10 flights in (although normally I don't have trouble with the 10 flights).   I must be horribly inefficient in the number of trips I am forced to make upstairs to fetch things or children or help with things that need to be done.  Either that or there are entirely too many things upstairs that it would be smarter for me to move downstairs.

 

The crazy part about this whole thing is that there is such a thing as FitBit friends.  I wasn't aware of this until I already had three or four.  What I have learned about this is that you can spy on your friends' step counts and even can invite them into a competition.  I have been part of two of these competitions so far-- one for a Weekend Warrior competition to see who can get the most steps in the course of a weekend, and one for a Workweek Challenge to see who can get the most steps from Monday through Friday.  Never have I been more stressed out over watching to see who had walked more over the course of a day.  It has made me do stupid things-- like walk on the treadmill right before bed because I see someone gaining on me.  Like parking a lot further away than I normally would because, "Hey, at least I'll get some steps in."  I am convinced that everyone else is also doing the same thing, because we have ended within 100 steps of each other each night this week.  I get the idea that we are all sitting there waiting for the others' step counts to stop moving as proof that they are in bed.   

 

Since I've been doing my working out in the morning hours before leaving for work, I have loved being about 5000 steps ahead of everyone each morning.  This all falls apart by 8 am when the rest of the world is awake and moving around.  My lead is always short lived, but at least I've had a taste of victory, albeit a short one.

 

It is utter ridiculousness.  The whole thing.

 

Except it has made me move a lot more than I was before, by giving me something concrete to aim for.  I certainly hope I'll see some kind of a result from all of this moving around when I weigh in tomorrow.   

A Snowy Weekend



The blizzard of 2016 has been relatively merciful to us in this part of PA.  While others around us have been contending with 12-36 inches of snow, we were graced with just enough for the kids to enjoy and to cancel obligations for the day on Saturday (although I had two disappointed kids to miss their first basketball games), but not so much that it was scary or overwhelming.  The 5 or so inches that fell in our backyard was just about perfect, if you ask me. 

 

We spent our snow day making some soup, and enjoying the smells of our roast beef and noodles simmering away in the crock pot all day long.  We scrounged through the basement and managed to find enough snow clothes for everyone, because I had a major Mom fail and neglected to think of new snow pants and boots prior to the flakes flying.  This may not have been an issue if Josh and Lauren hadn't grown like weeds over the past 12 months.  Luckily, Mara fit into Lauren's stuff from last year.  Lauren fit into Josh's.  And poor Josh played outside in boots that were at least 2 sizes too small, and our makeshift snow clothes of about 6 layers of his regular clothes that we hoped would keep him dry for long enough for him to enjoy it all.  There was all manner of complaining going on until he got outside-- at which point he either forgot about his suffering because he was having so much fun, or the cold numbed the feeling in his toes that were squished.  It wasn't our best work, but everyone was out there, and my Walmart list now includes snow clothes and boots for Josh before the next round of snow that we get.

 

I had to laugh at the kids outside with Toby yesterday-- he wasn't sure quite what to make of the snow, and just seemed happy to have the kids outside with him to run around.  Most of the pictures I got of him are a total blur, but I think everyone (furry friends included) had fun playing outside.

 

 

 

I am pretty sure that everyone's favorite part of playing in the snow is coming inside for hot chocolate when they're cold.  I know this because they told me, "Mommy, coming in for hot chocolate is our favorite part of the snow."  I'm perceptive.  Everyone warmed their insides and found enough of a sugar rush to make it through the rest of the afternoon with board games and coloring.  I'd say it was a winner of a day.  Especially since I managed a great treadmill workout while they were all occupied.

 

 

Jason and I are a little sad today because we had been scheduled to be in Lancaster today for my Christmas present, which was VIP Experience tickets to see Jennifer Nettles in concert at the American Music Theater.  Apparently 30+ inches of snow in Lancaster is too much to hold such an event, and we got the call late yesterday afternoon that the concert had been cancelled.  They're not sure if they're going to reschedule or not at this point, so we're just waiting to hear about that.  Although it's disappointing not to get to be there, I am grateful that the decision was made for us.  I was really nervous about making the trek south since we didn't really know what the road conditions were going to be like when we got past our own local area.  The concert was expected to be super late too- with Jennifer Nettles not even going on stage until 10:00.  (I nearly had a stroke when I heard that part.  Anyone who knows me knows that I start NOTHING after the hour of about 7:30 pm.  Those hours are for FINISHING things...not starting them.)  So we were envisioning a 2 am return time to the house, and that was without any complicated travel conditions.  That was going to necessitate a day off of work tomorrow, and I was figuring on needing some sort of illegal stimulant to keep me awake for the part of the concert we were really interested in seeing.  So I guess it's a win all the way around, besides the fact that we aren't getting to enjoy the show and a day out to ourselves.  Instead, we were able to go to church as a family, I got another workout in, and now I'll start working on dinner and laundry and all of the things that make me feel good on a Sunday night when I have them accomplished.

Here's to the start of another week after a pretty restful, home-bound weekend.

Another Friday Night

It seems this is our Friday night routine for the foreseeable future.  We had a super quick supper (pizza tonight for the kids...although not for me because the scale was NOT friendly to me this morning) and then ran out the door to make it to Lauren's basketball practice for 6:00. She seems to really be enjoying herself-- which I am grateful for since this is her first attempt at any kind of a sport. 

Tomorrow begins the season of Saturday games for Josh and Lauren both. So I guess Friday nights (and Tuesday nights) and Saturday mornings are going to look the same until the end of March. 

Morning Chats with Mara

I know I have mentioned before how much I love the mornings with Mara after the big kids leave for school. I try so hard to get all of my jobs done before 7:30 so that that last hour before I either leave for the office or we leave together to drop her off at school can be spent doing something just with her. One on one time with the kids is such a gift.

Last week we had received a note from Mara's teacher that she had raised her hand as one who wanted to ask Jesus to come into her heart. Apparently they had been reading the book, "Heaven Is For Real" and talking about how we all get to go to Heaven someday if we have Jesus in our heart. It brought tears to my eyes when I read the teacher's note that she said she wanted to be able to see her grandparents in Heaven someday. We obviously talk a lot about our family members who have passed away-- and she specifically mentions Pappy Fred and Pappy Ray a lot.  I do everything I can in telling stories and sharing pictures of all of my grandparents to keep their memory and influence alive for the kids. Although Lauren and Mara never met Grandma Mary, they all know how much I loved her and how much she would have adored them. And they know she baked the best  cookies and pies and taught me to love cooking too. But I digress.  Because of the note from her teacher, I have been talking to her a lot about Heaven to help reinforce that she made a very special choice to ask Jesus into her heart. 

This was a precious moment I wanted to write down so I never forget it. 

Yesterday morning, Mara and I were talking and randomly she said, "Mommy if we close our eyes too long, will we die?"  I was a little surprised but I told her that no, only God could decide when it is our time to go be with Him in Heaven. She said, "Well that's what happened to Pappy Fred, right?"  I told her that Pappy Fred's heart was tired and that God had just decided that it was his time to go to be with Jesus in Heaven. And then I told her, through tears, that although we all miss him, that he loves Jesus so much and I am sure he is so happy to be in Heaven with Him. She then asked if we could go to Heaven to visit, and I laughed and said how I wished we could. Then she asked if you need to ride on an airplane to get to Heaven.  "No," I explained. "You don't ride in an airplane to get to Heaven. When we die, we will just open our eyes and we will be with Jesus."

This is my favorite part. Serious as anything she said, "OH!  I know...Jesus has a wand." 

Something like that, sweet girl. Something like that. 

Memories Instead of Presents

I had a period of time this Christmas where I was on my soap box about my desire to have a "no gift" Christmas. I was feeling overrun with stuff and things already at the house and the thought of piling the house full of boxes of more stuff  made me feel like I was suffocating. Although I didn't get my wish because...hello, Scrooge...we did manage to pull off one less gift and replace it with a fun day together with Libby, Zig, Brooke and Hayden. This past Saturday was our lucky day, and I absolutely loved watching the kids enjoy the anticipation of it.

Each of the kids had gotten a box with a Build A Bear gift card, Hershey Kisses and a letter telling them of our plans together. We all met in Harrisburg at the mall with the closest Build A Bear and let the kids pick any animal they wanted. We ended up with a Superbowl Bear, an Elsa Bear complete with a crown and wand, and a Monkey in pajamas akin to the ones I am certain Richard Simmons wears to bed each night (not that I would know).

Although Josh may be pushing the upper limit of where Build A Bear is cool, he was a great sport and seemed to enjoy himself a lot. And that Superbowl bear has been his snuggle buddy ever since in his bed. 

After the stuffing of the creatures, we headed to Hershey to take the kids to Chocolate World where it was surprisingly reasonable in terms of crowd size. We didn't know what to expect with the Farm Show going on that weekend, but had hoped to not be managing five children who see and smell all manner of chocolate through crowds that gave us hives. The kids absolutely loved the ride--- so we did it a few times. And let's be honest, those singing cows are just adorable. 

Watching the kids' eyes light up gave Jason and I both the idea that it may be time to consider our next Disney trip for 2017.  The goal had been to get there when each of the kids are 6 because of how magical it still was for Josh when he was 6. We will miss that window slightly but I think we will begin planning that for next winter. (May be a fun non-present Christmas idea for next year to give them a countdown to their trip and not mention anything about it before then.)

Poor Jason missed this picture because he had gone for a cup of coffee while we rode the ride a second time. We all had such a great time together. 

After Chocolate World, we went to dinner  at Red Robin. I think it was more of a zoo than Chocolate World had been. But we didn't have to wait too long and all enjoyed our supper together. 

I loved the time together and being able to watch all of the kids enjoy themselves and being together. I am hoping a new tradition has been born here-- of a few les boxes under the tree and a few more precious memories tucked away in our hearts. 

Thank goodness we're through Puke City.

Just when I was starting to feel good about the whole keeping up on the blog thing, this happened.

 

 

You could pretty much have taken this picture and inserted any one of the faces who reside in this house (except me).  Somehow over the past week, everyone except me and Toby have managed to contract some death of a stomach virus that had all of my people flat laid out and miserable.  Mara started it last week for her birthday, and I ridiculously felt like we had managed to escape rounds 2 and 3 when, by Friday no one else was revisiting their meals from the past 24 hours.  But Lauren proved us all wrong early on Sunday morning, and Joshua hates to be left out, so he jumped in on Sunday night through Monday.  Just for extra fun, Jason went down Monday morning and literally stayed in bed from 10 am until this morning at 7:00.  I have washed more sheets, disinfected more yuck buckets, and snuggled more kids who smell like puke than I care to for a long time.  On a positive note, I think we're through it.  

Today, everyone was back to school and Joshua could finally do his presentation on Ulysses S. Grant.  I cannot even begin to recount the number of hours that child spent on this project to complete the written report (about 10 pages worth of paragraphs he had to write in cursive after doing research on specific areas of Grant's life), a shoebox diorama (seriously), and a Powerpoint for his oral presentation.  Goodness am I glad that's over with.  Thankfully he doesn't seem to be a procrastinator about things like that, but he is high strung about it and very particular.  No one could say that I did it for him because he had an opinion about the placement of every comma, capital letter and Civil War army figure in the diorama.  My job was to squirt the hot glue gun, cover the shoebox in brown package wrapping paper, and make sure it was sturdy enough to make the trek to Meadowbrook. 

 

These are just a few pictures I have on the camera from today.  The first with Lauren at the office for lunch today.  I was completely bummed that a special day that Emily and I had planned together had to be rearranged due to the impending winter weather that, as yet, has not materialized.  However, we both decided that our Richard blood would not let us be risk takers on this one because the stress of worrying about whether it might actually snow would negate the effects of what we were planning to do together.  And so, instead, I ended up picking Lauren up at school today and was thrilled that she decided to come back to the office with me.  Not only did it save me an extra 45 minutes of driving back to Turbotville, but it gave me some company for the afternoon.  She wanted to use one of her Book It coupons to get a pizza from Pizza Hut for lunch, so we did that, and picked up some Subway for me. 

 

 



And now, we're home for the afternoon.  Me with a pile of work stuff that I need to get done, and the kids with heads full of ideas of what to do since I'm home a bit early.  We need to rush supper to get out to basketball for Josh, so I'll count the little bit of extra time as a blessing to be able to breathe instead of rush around tonight. 

On the other side of Puke City, just about any day would be a good day.  But this one has turned out to be a pretty happy one. 

New Year-- New Chances

I love new beginnings. And so it is no surprise that I really enjoy the beginning of a new year. Our New Year's Eve plans aren't usually anything exciting because...well, no party animals here.  But I usually spend those awesome days between Christmas and New Year's thinking about my hopes and plans for the coming year. 

I get giddy over putting the first new marks into my planner. It is almost strange, but I wait until that last week to start getting anything into the new calendar. Imagine my excitement this year when the whole last week of December was included in my 2016 planner with Jan 1st being at the end of the week. I was super excited. 

As I reflected on 2015, there were definitely things that I hoped to improve upon. The best way to describe it was that I felt, the whole year long, that the tail was wagging the dog a bit. I was moving along at the pace of life- which seemed frantic most of the time. I know times like that are inevitable but the whole year shouldn't feel that way, I don't think. I managed to maintain my weight loss, but I was very sloppy about it. I would get careless with food and then gain. And then be disciplined again and lose it. So it is no wonder I felt frustrated to end the year a few pounds heavier than I began it. My ability to take care of myself was like a big giant hampster wheel, it had seemed. I had also fallen off from writing, and it is never good for me when that happens. My gratitude journal was mostly up to date, but the blog had suffered and I missed it. And so, a few hopes and plans for 2016 started to take shape. 

In 2016...

I will work hard to finally get to the weight I want to be.  It will require about 30 pounds to disappear. And then that isn't the ideal weight, but I would be happy if I could maintain there.  We have purchased a treadmill and I will be waking up earlier to use it before work in the mornings. I will have to give myself grace on that some days but it will be a huge help. 

I am working on reading through the Bible with the help of an app from Compass Bible Church that gives an Old Testament and New Testament reading for each day.  The pastor I listen to on my ride home each day on Sirius talks about it a lot and so far I really like it. I am hoping God will somehow talk me through Leviticus and all of those Kings. I struggle and stall there usually.  Oh, and the "begats". I could be in trouble there too. 

I want to write more-- to somehow make time because I never find it when I let the day dictate whether or not there will be any extra.  I am still working on my thankful list to record at least 5 ways every day that I have seen God in action or things that He has blessed me with. And the blog is getting some much needed attention. Writing is so therapeutic for me-- it is just something I need to do for me. And I am giving myself the permission to do it. 

Those are the biggies. I am also working on making more time for connections with other friends. When I look at the time I was out of the office last year, other than when we went away camping or to the beach, I was mostly using that time to chase my tail. Shopping for this thing, packing for that thing, never really using the time for what I needed. So I am making plans for real time with people I care about. I feel like we all have so much to give to each other, but we need to do it face to face. I am learning that the gift of time is truly the best we have to give.  

So-- that is a lot of words about a lot of things, but all plans are already in motion. I am excited about 2016. So many opportunities to make this a great year. 

Fairy Friends

You know what was probably the last thing I needed--- another "something" on my to do list for the evening hours of each day. It seems as if there are always more and more things that are clamoring their way into the few fleeting moments that there are in the evening once the kids are in bed. But I fell victim to the cuteness of something called the "Little Fairy Door" for the girls for Christmas this year.  As we were just reveling in the elimination of the elf's antics each night, now there is something new for me to remember and plan for. And yet another reason to make a new Pinterest board where I can keep whole bunches of ideas that I steal from people who are far more creative than I am. 

Those little, tiny, adorable doors that you see are the magic portal through which fairies can enter your home.  And once you invite them in, all manner of magic can happen. The fairies can leave little miniature notes and sometimes even small treats for good little girls. 

Lauren and Mara absolutely love this. They have been leaving notes and pictures for their fairies and have been inclined to jump out of bed to see if something awaits them.  They both said they have always believed that fairies are real but now they have proof. I love the innocence and the imagination that they're enjoying if only for a little while. Before long, life and all of its heavy things will be theirs to bear. But not for now. For now they can dream of fairy wings flapping against their cheeks as they sleep, magic worlds that they can envision in their own little minds, places where tiny little fairies come to visit. 

Now...off to Pinterest to figure out what these fairies should think of next. 

4

 

To put it mildly, it has been a pretty crummy birthday for Mara today.  I actually feel really badly, because I attributed her horrendous behavior and worse-than-usual stubbornness about finishing her supper last night to her trying to get her last little bit of being three and acting like a fool before the calendar page turned to January 5th.  As it turned out, I believe she was working her way into a nasty stomach bug, as evidenced by the fact that I was doing all of the laundry from her bedding at 11:00 last night and then scrambling to find enough extras to keep the both of us warm on the exceptionally cold night.  She was up most of the night throwing up and just feeling awful-- which meant that I was too.  She came downstairs this morning, selected her spot on the couch with her pillow and blanket, and asked for Disney Jr.  And then promptly fell back to sleep.  I found her on the same couch when I got home from work, napping again.  She perked up for a birthday present, and then seemed to start feeling better.  After a bath and some play time with a new Baby Alive doll she wanted for her birthday, she asked for a Nutri Grain bar and some orange juice before bed, and then was zonked in a matter of minutes when we went upstairs.  I feel terrible that she had such a yucky birthday...but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. 

 

We talked a lot tonight about the night that she was born.  Mara always gets a kick out of hearing the story about how she surprised us by being born earlier than we had planned for her to come.  This is definitely a girl who enjoys calling the shots-- and I somehow suspect that it will be like that for the rest of our days.  She is the child who pushes me to my limits with her tenacity and her stubborn attitude and her sass and spunk.  But she is also the child who melts me when she cuddles in my lap, or gives me a kiss on the cheek, or asks to help me do whatever it is I am doing.  She is fire and she is sweetness all wrapped up into one complicated, complex, adorable little 34 pound package.  I do not know what life was like without her anymore.  And I wouldn't want to.  She has completed our family in a way that only she could. 

 

These last 4 years have been  so full of so much.  I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to love my daughter with my whole heart.

We're gonna party like it's (almost) her birthday!

 

We had the best time yesterday afternoon as we celebrated Mara's "pretend" birthday, as she informed everyone she saw during church yesterday morning.  I always feel a bit like Mara's birthday gets lost in the shuffle of the Christmas holiday.  It reminds me much about how I was feeling just before she was born--- rushed from Christmas and the cleaning up of all of it, and then like "Oh hey...let's get ready to welcome a human life into the world."  Her birthday always feels a bit like that, and it did this year too.  I was blessed with the New Year's holiday falling on Friday, though, since we had Friday and Saturday to get ready.  (Please don't think that means I wasn't rushing around like a fool at the last minute, because I surely was.)

 

Mara had requested a Peppa Pig party, so we did our best.  If you've never seen Peppa Pig, consider yourself lucky.  She is a little pig who speaks with a British accent and likes to jump in muddy puddles.  The theme song to her cartoon show is a little bit on the annoying side, and I promised Libby I would not have it playing on TV during the party.  Those few details were really all I had to work with.  So it wasn't our best theme job, but I don't think my "almost" 4 year old minded too much.  I was lucky to find some Peppa and George cake toppers because....how on earth would one make a Peppa Pig cake?  Even Pinterest failed me on that one with anything that looked doable and cute enough to make the effort worthwhile.  We had some coloring pages that I printed that the kids actually seemed to enjoy.  And we had some cute attempts at food that fit the theme--- pigs in a blanket, curly tail pasta salad, Muddy Puddle dirt pudding....get it?  And then there were lots of dips and snacks for the grownups and all manner of junk food for the kids.  The basket of cheese curls (somehow equated with party food in this house, I don't know how that happened, but don't even try to have a birthday party without them) was all but empty by the end of the afternoon.



 Mara received some really sweet gifts that we have already been enjoying.  She got a few new games and we love all of them!  Last evening after the party mess was cleaned up, we got our tubs and then got right to game playing until it was time for bed.  We LOVE the Shelby's Snack Shack game, and Brooke's new favorite called Blink will be a favorite here as well I am sure.  We even played a Shopkins inspired "Go Fish" variation called "Go Shopping".  I cannot recommend the line of board games enough that includes the Shelby's Snack Shack, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, Frankie's Food Truck, and a few others.  They are absolutely perfect for smaller kids.  But all three of ours like to play them!  They're fast moving, non complicated, skill building games for things like colors and counting and shapes.  I love them and we seriously play them all the time.  (I will say, Josh isn't so interested in playing these, but he will for the sake of his sisters.)  Nana brought some Peppa blocks that I know will be a hit, and some new Doc McStuffins accessories for her pet vet station she got for Christmas.  Those were promptly removed from the packaging before the party was even over.

I failed in the photo department when it came to getting good pictures of all of the kids together.  But I had to include this one of Mara and Kinley.  Mara was SO over the moon excited about Kinley coming yesterday.  This tells me two things--- 1. I love that they adore each other.  And 2. We need to get these kiddos together more often.  I noticed it yesterday with Josh and Cooper playing well and enjoying each other too.  How blessed we are by these sweet friendships--- not only the kids, but the grown ups too.

 

We were missing the Dugan side of the family yesterday due to Grandma's cold and Aunt Sheri's store relocation, so that was a bummer.  But we had a wonderful day with family, and friends who are treasured like family.  All of these sweet people shared their last day of Christmas break with us--- when the to do lists were piled high with lunches to pack, backpacks to get ready, meals to prep for the week, laundry to fold and put away.  And the Lewistown bunch travelled an hour + on top of it all.  I know the sacrifice was not a small one, and I'm truly grateful for the sharing of this last precious day of peace to celebrate our not-so-little-anymore girl. 

 

I hope Mara felt the love that we all poured into this day for her.  By the looks on her face and the giggles that I heard, I think she did.  And for me, that's all that counts.

Ending the Year the Way It Began

I'm not sure whether I wrote about my goals for 2015 at the start of last year or not.  But I really had one goal.  I had decided to start a gratitude journal to write down at least 5 things that I was grateful for or 5 ways that I saw God working in my life. each day.  I had been doing a lot of learning about gratitude and awareness of God's presence and provision in our lives, 0and wanted to have a place where I could go to not only be intentional about recording it, but to be able to reflect on those days that I couldn't see it quite as clearly.  It was a wonderful exercise.  I wasn't perfect about writing it down every day, but I did find that I was so much more aware simply because I was looking for things to be thankful for. 

 

I mention this because I ended 2015 with not the happiest of days.  On Wednesday, December 30th, I was headed north on Route 15 to go to Walmart (we needed Drano for our downstairs sink, which I fear Mara had clogged by washing her Baby Alive food dishes in it) and to stop at Subway for a sandwich for lunch.  There was nothing out of the ordinary going on.  I reached down to grab a drink of water from my water bottle, and before I knew it, I looked up and realized that I was about to hit the car in front of me.  Traffic had stopped ahead of us, and just like that, there was nothing I could do.  I should note that, although there have been plenty of times that I have been distracted in the car while I'm driving, this was not one of those times.  I simply looked away for a split second.  But a split second was all it took.  The damage to the second vehicle was far worse-- and the glass that is everywhere in my picture is from that vehicle, whose back windshield had totally shattered.

 

 

I found it ironic that, although I'm the first person people call when these kinds of things happen to them in terms of my profession, it is still a pretty jarring thing to have happen to you.  I was horribly concerned about the woman and her passenger that I had hit.  Everyone seemed to be completely fine, but I just felt awful about the whole thing.  But here is where my mind quickly went to all the ways that God was providing even through something horrible that had happened.

 

• Wednesday was scheduled to be the day that I had Mara with me to get her hair cut.  But on Wednesday morning, our hairdresser had sent me a text to let me know that she wasn't feeling very well, and asked to reschedule.  Had this not happened, Mara would have been in the car with me.  And I would have been a wreck about that.
• Because of my profession, I was able to keep a really calm head about me and I knew just what to do.  We called the police right away, we had all of our information exchanged (she was also a State Farm customer, so I called her Agent and talked to them about what had happened), we even called State Farm claims from the scene of the accident to set up the claim so that she could get her vehicle repaired as quickly as possible.
• The woman who was driving the other car could not have been more gracious and forgiving.  She acted exactly the way you would HOPE you would act if your day had been totally ruined like hers had been.  She and her friend were visiting Lewisburg from Clearfield to do some antique shopping.  I kept asking her if she would let me help her to tape up her back windshield or call for a rental car for her, etc. but she insisted that they would be fine (in 30 degree weather) to take the car back home to Clearfield for repairs. In fact, she said they would still be going shopping some more, and now that she wasn't limited by her back windshield, she could buy some larger sized items to take with her.  She gave me a hug when she left, and told me to please not worry about any of this any more than I already had.  She had every right to be nasty with me--- to make me really feel bad about what I had done.  But she didn't.  She showed grace and mercy and that was such a gift.
• Since I had glass on the vehicle, I wanted to get it looked at right away, so I took the car to Swartz Collision just south of Lewisburg.  They are a shop that we probably deal with the most on customer claims and I never have any issues with them.  As soon as I pulled up, they got to work cleaning glass off of the car and looking at it to write the damage estimate.  When I asked how long it might be until we could schedule the repair, they said they were scheduling out till January 15th (ugh).  But shortly after that, they came out to tell me that they weren't comfortable with me driving the car for that long because the hood wouldn't close properly and there was a headlight that was broken.  And so, the Suburban was being admitted.  Before I could blink, they had Enterprise there with a rental for me, and had removed all of my car seats and installed them in the rental mini van for me.  And because my car is now considered a non driveable car, it just may bump me up a bit in terms of the priority of repairs.  Which means I might have it back sooner.  The rental car is brand new, and really nice, but I sure miss driving "my car".
• This is going to sound silly, but I have really started looking forward to the 5:00-5:30 half hour each day as I make my way home from the office.  I hardly ever listen to anything but Sirius XM radio anymore, and the Family Talk channel is my absolute favorite.  (I sometimes even listen to it online at the office.)  But at 5:00, there is a pastor by the name of Mike Fabarez, who delivers the most spot-on sermons I have ever heard.  He is a Bible teacher, and I really get a lot out of listening to him speak during that half hour, and I know God is using that time to teach me things that I need to know to be a better mother and wife and friend.  The thought of being without that time for the next possibly 3 weeks was the worst of this whole thing to me.  Imagine my surprise when I got into the rental car and found it tuned to Family Talk.  But then again, why was I surprised?

So, there were my 5 grateful points about December 30, 2015.

 

 

New Year's Eve was very quiet for us.  Let's face it, we're not really party animals in this house.  The kids wanted snacky foods for dinner, so we made some wings and stomboli for them, and I worked on cleaning up some leftovers in the fridge.  I had promised the kids that I would play a game with them, and so we played Head Bandz Act Up.  What a riot.  I only took a few pictures, but this was Lauren trying to get Mara to realize that she had a card on her head that said "zoo".  Made me laugh.  Lauren ended up winning that game.  I was pretty impressed with the ways that she came up with to act out the clues for the rest of us.  Let's just say she did a better job at it than I did.  (But give me a break-- the one I had to act out was "earthquake".  Just how would YOU do that?)  When we were done with that game, we played a new one of Mara's called Frankie's Food Truck.  All of the games like that are so perfect for that age group.  We had a great time.

 

And Lauren won again.  Lucky duck.

 

 

 

After the games were over, I figured my only slim chance of being able to stay awake to see the new year ushered in was to keep myself busy.  So I started working on taking down our Christmas decorations.  The kids started to de-ornament the tree while I gathered everything else that wasn't a snowman to get the house back into shape.  Undecorating is about 50% depressing, and 50% refreshing to me.  I love how the house looks with the lights and the decorations, but I also love getting rid of the clutter and having some space back in the living room.  I worked at that for the next few hours, and then found myself sitting on the couch with three sleepy kids who desperately wanted to make it to midnight.  About 11:15 they all gave up-- Mara asleep in my lap, Joshua begging to go to bed, and Lauren finally deciding that it would be OK to DVR the ball drop to watch it in the morning.  Jason was asleep on the chair after having been out to a car accident call.  And so, it was a very quiet, although productive New Year.  I'll share a few things I'm working on for 2016 in a post tomorrow.  I'm not one for huge resolutions and certainly not a long list of things, but there are definitely a few things I'd like to improve on in the new year.

Christmas--- Part III

After all of the excitement of Christmas Day had come and gone, we were so blessed that the other side of our family had offered to come to us this year to save us the run back to Lewistown for a second time.  To not have to worry about the kennel for Toby, and all of the packing and unpacking was a real gift.  We had planned a lasagna supper (not just any lasagna--- the Pioneer Woman's Supreme Pizza Lasagna...the be all and end all of lasagnas in my humble opinion).  So there was limited work that needed to be done to prep for everyone's arrival.  We had a few snacks and some other goodies around, but nothing too strenuous.  And I appreciated so much that no one was expecting anything too extreme.  All we wanted was some time together, and that we certainly delivered on.

 

As soon as the kids got here, all 5 of them disappeared to play together.  I absolutely love seeing them all together, and hearing them as they laugh.  There just is nothing like it.  Toby behaved himself, for the most part.  He only found himself in his crate when we opened presents because his penchant for eating wrapping paper and stealing things away from the kids was getting on our nerves.  This was the same issue we had with him on Christmas Day, so he was no stranger to the crate during present opening time.  Lucky for us, he doesn't seem to mind his crate, and doesn't make a fuss when he is in there.

 

I should note that the girls' faces in these pictures appear a bit....stained, shall we say.  Santa, in all of his wisdom, fulfilled a request for "real" makeup for Lauren.  And my girls had just finished a session of beautification when the troops arrived from Lewistown.  We attempted removal, but without makeup remover, that stuff is pretty stubborn, particularly when applied in a three inch thick layer (which appears to be their style at this point).  Heaven help me when they're 14 and wanting to wear it in public.

 

They were a little anxious for presents!

 

I think Josh might have the best story of the day with his gift.  He has been begging Santa for a real guitar and wanting to learn how to play it.  Mom and Dad, upon hearing about this, wanted to be the ones to get it for him.  And frankly, Dad's knowledge trumps Santa's on this by a long shot.  I was hesitant to take it off of Santa's list because I knew that it was his most special request, and I feared he would be heartbroken on Christmas morning to realize it wasn't there.  When he came downstairs that morning, the first thing he did was scan the boxes for something that might hold his guitar.  And when he didn't find it, he didn't act disappointed, but I knew he was.  Having had this game played on me quite a few times where Santa would "deliver" one of my most special requests across the street to my Gram and Pap's house, I knew the angst he would be feeling.  But I went along with the plan because I knew it would be something special for Josh and his Pap to share together. 

 

Josh was really struggling because each of the girls opened three presents.  And he had one box to open.  And it wasn't very big.  Add to this that he was starting to not feel well from some death of a cold that has plagued us both ever since this particular day, and I thought we were headed for disaster in the form of a 9 year old meltdown.  But he was a great sport and just kept laughing and saying "This doesn't seem very fair, you know!"  When he opened his one box, there was a paper inside telling him that we were going to play a game to find his gift.  And so a scavenger hunt commenced that had the kids running all around the house, up and down stairs from the bedrooms to the basement and then back upstairs again about 7 times before it led him to the garage where he found his...

...perfect, kid sized, good guitar.  He and Pap spent a half hour or so in his room learning the parts of the guitar and a few simple chords that he could work on until the next time they saw each other.  Pretty much every day since, he has spent some time in his room trying to get the chords down.  He's still working to master the right touch, but he isn't giving up.   We're going to work on a lesson for him after the beginning of the new year, and likely after his schedule with the school musical has died down.  Until then, he'll have to work on Pap's lessons and keep trying to figure things out on his own.  I have half a notion to learn along with him on the guitar that Mom and Dad got for me for my birthday ages ago that I couldn't ever quite seem to get a handle on.  Nothing about it came easily to me.  So I'm thinking maybe Josh can teach me what he learns and maybe we can practice together.

 

And so, this ends our Christmas adventures for 2015.  It was a great year and a very blessed Christmas season for us.  We had very happy kiddos, very happy gift recipients on both sides of our families despite all of my struggles to find the right things for everyone, and somehow everything managed to get done.  I finally gave up my fear of the rolling pin and learned how to make cut out sugar cookies (the big soft ones that I've always wanted to learn how to make), although icing them beautifully with royal icing wasn't exactly my gift.  I did finally figure out a trick to flood them with one color icing and then hit them with festive sprinkles before it hardened as a special treat for this party.  And that is how I believe I will be doing them from now on.  They certainly weren't the prettiest cookies you've ever seen, but they did disappear from the cookie tray before any of the others.  We cooked lots of yummy food and some new things that will absolutely make our Christmas rotation from now on--- especially the smoked salmon that we made for Christmas Day.  Wow.  Jason outdid himself on that.

 

To end the holiday, Josh and I both ended up sick, and spent nearly the entirety of the 27th on the couches.  I am pretty sure it was Lauren's virus that got us both, but my defenses were definitely down from a lack of sleep and too much stress and just being overloaded.  So it was no surprise.  Dad always said, "If you don't slow down, God's going to slow you down."  And He sure did.  I accomplished absolutely nothing on Sunday-- dinner was leftovers, no laundry done, no cleaning up done.  We just rested and napped and snuggled under the blankets.  And that was just fine with me.  I woke on Monday feeling much better.