Sunday, April 30, 2006

We've done it!

This post is an ode to our good friend Adam Langford who is currently in Ginja, Uganda. This
is a picture of our brand new game. The title is Rail Baron. Adam inspired us when he first purchased his own game for a fairly high price on E-Bay. He grew up playing it and felt it worth the price to own such a fabulous game. Ben and I were fortunate enough to play Adam's game numerous times and once he departed the country we felt a hole in our game repetroir(sp?). Unfortunatley for Adam, our game has never been played and we did'nt have to spend quite as much as him! If you look at the picture displayed you will notice the railroad cards are still attached to each other. For those of you out there who have not played Adam's game, do not plan on playing ours, or have not played someone else's, you should really try it out. It's great fun and worth every penny! Peace out! Posted by Picasa

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Baby-makin'

slight misconception… So Ben and I decided to be honest with our children about various issues, along with all the other things we’re honest about. Today in the car, somehow, making babies came up so I was very matter-of-fact about the details… You need a mom and a dad. The mom has an egg and the dad has the sperm. You can’t make a baby without the sperm fertilizing the egg… Aiden asked if the sperm hurts the baby. I told him that it does not hurt the baby and it’s not a baby yet, it’s just an egg. Well, tonight I was caught off guard when Aiden said,”Mom, I’m mad at you ‘cause you hurt me.” “What did I do?” I ask. “That sperm hurt me!” “Excuse me?” I’m lost… “When you put that sperm on me that hurt me and I don’t like it when you do that!” In my laughter I respond with,” Sorry, I won’t do that again.” and he gets his feelings hurt like he often does when we laugh… I never knew it was painful… Posted by Picasa

Friday, April 28, 2006

What Will I Choose?

Can I just comment on the title of my blog page? Every day I have the choice to live for something or to simply exist. I'm sure it's hard for many people, but I find it difficult to live purposefully. I have to focus intensely to remember that I'm living for a certain reason and I forget every five minutes. It's very exhausting. I can plan to live intentional and make lists and think of very specific ways to live out my days. I can get excited and passionate about striving to be more than I am right now, wanting to be the hands and feet of Jesus to my children and my husband, but I lose focus so quickly. I obviously need power from a higher source so I suppose that the more time I spend with Jesus, the more I'll become like him, and the more I'll live , truly live. I laugh like Ben, I use the same phrases as Chelan, and I find myself repeating the things my children say. I do that because I spend a lot of time with those people. I want to talk like Jesus. I want to step in the same places he steps. I want to be a copy cat. I want to live, not just exist. How do you choose to live?

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Focus

I think I have ADHD. It never ocurred to me because I am in no way hyper. But it was just explained to me that it does not mean hyperactivity, it means that your attention is hyperactive, which means that it quickly focuses on one thing and then another- distraction, you might say. That, on the other hand is me to a T. Ever since I was young I was distracted by anything. It amazed me that people could actually complete homework while listening to music. All I could do was sing! I couldn't even focus enough to stay angry at someone. I would completely forget after five minutes. And that's even with concentrating!
You can ask anyone who's ever tried to have a conversation with me while I played the piano and they'll tell you," It's like talking to yourself." The lights are on but no one's home. I feel sorry for my children. Anymore, I don't even need a piano to stare right through them. There'll be screaming of some sort off in the distance, water running, and a sharp pain in my foot. All of a sudden, Isabel is standing in front of me, on my toe, crying," Aida hit me! Aida hit me!" Then I notice all the water on the kitchen floor and ,hey, the water is running... Looks like someone's been washing dishes. Where have I been? Not anywhere, I can assure you. Sometimes driving can be a scary thing. You know how when you're really tired and you realize you're not quite sure if you remember driving into a town, let alone, through it? It's not actually as bad as that, but it happens to me and I'm not even tired.
I thought it was pretty normal to work on seven things at once. I can unload the dish washer, start a load of laundry, hang up some clothes in the closet, pick up the bedroom floor, vacuum, make my bed, find a sippy cup, put it by the sink, notice I had the dish washer open for a reason, clean off a countertop, pick up a dirty rag, take it to the laundry room, realize I still needed a few more clothes items in order to start it, go to a bedroom, find a child creating a disaster, help with clean up, change their clothes, take it to the laundry room, still need more clothes, didn't finish hanging up those clothes on my bed, another sippy cup, and there I am in the kitchen again and the dish washer is still not loaded... Isn't that how everyone cleans? Getting in arguments with Ben are just not fair. I have a pretty bad memory, at least short term, so when he comes back with," You said this... blah, blah,blah.." I have no clue if I said that exact thing or not. Sometimes all I can come back with is," Well, I don't feel like I said that..." That's a great come back! It can be painful.
Listening to sermons are another hard one for me. If I have a child nearby me, which is usually the case, there is no possible way that I can hear the sermon. It's like doing homework with music on... I have a hard enough time focusing when my children are absent, let alone when they're coloring or sitting on me or moving around at all. If I don't have both eyes on the preacher every second, it's over. If I don't hear two sentences you can just wish me luck trying to connect the information two sentences ago with the new info I've just recieved. I can't remember that far back! I am very glad I am married to my, soon to be, forever preacher because I get to read his sermon the night before. Very helpful for a girl like me. I always know where he's going and know where he's been. I'm hopeful!
I think that's all I can take right now of self-revelation. Hopefully you will look at your own lives and think," I don't have it so bad." Maybe some of you will feel the need to toss up a prayer on my behalf, and that's okay, too. Just know the learning never ends. Peace be with you (and peace be with me, too)!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

This is Aiden

This is my middle child. He is my daily entertainment. He lives in a world that mostly doesn't exist. It's true. He talks about his school, his teacher, his friends, and fun activities. Sounds normal, but none of them exist. Does he talk about the friends he actually has? No, only people that are never in contact with him. Does he attend school? No, not even daycare. One time I took him past a place that might have been his school and as far as he is concerned, it's his. Know what no school means? That's right, no teacher. But, boy do they do fun things! Is he a deprived child? No. We do fun things ocassionally but everybody he has conversations with think that he goes to the zoo all the time and that watching the penguins dance is the funniest thing ever. There are no penguins at the Abilene Zoo!
Off the top of my head, his favorite things to talk about are:
-Getting candy from his teacher at school.
-His free pizza day at school.
-A boy named Jacob who went to McDonalds with him, stabbed him with a fork, tried to eat his skin, and spit it out because it was gross.
-The zoo, of course.
-And lastly, the scary monster that lives in his ear.
Some people have monsters in their closets but not my son. It's in his ear. Usually it only comes up at bedtime but not today. We were driving in the car and I was trying to identify an unusual sound. First, he offered that it might just be the air conditioner, of which I protested. His conclusion, then, was that it was obviously just the monster in his ear.
This is but a taste of the inner workings of my four year old son. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Warm fuzzies..

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How Shall I Begin?

What started out as an honest mistake may turn out to be a new revolution for me... My brother has a blog. He's funny so I chose to bookmark his blog so I could grab some ten second entertainment on the ocassional dreary day. The few times I've responded Ben's name has appeared as the responder because he had registered and I had not. Today I thought,"I'll register, too." Did I know I was actually creating my own blog? I figured it out rather quickly and I thought to myself,"Maybe it's time..." Perhaps I will be the only one to visit washmydishesblogspot but I think I will be okay with that. For now let's just try the good ol' milk logo of yesteryear and end with "Pass it on". Let's spread the love to all those folks who wish someone would do their dishes. You know you'd love it!