You know... I love Friday's for so many reasons. The obvious reason: anticipation of the weekend!

My other reason: It's bagel day at work! How I love my Everything Bagel and cream cheese (although, the person purchasing today bought strawberry and honey walnut cream cheese -- not too yummy on an everything bagel!). Anyone else just LOVE bagels? And to think -- I'm trying to cut out carbs.

And my other reason 2 weeks of every month: Interoffice Olympics, aka Cross Functional Games. Today it's basketball! I'm so ridiculously out of shape that it will be slightly amusing (or perhaps that should say embarrassing). And our team is slightly height challenged. So it could be interesting. But it will be fun! It's awesome to be part of an office, and especially part of a team, who values hanging out together in this way.

But the mixed bag for today is that I have to fly out this evening to work all weekend in Florida. I know... you're saying "Florida - how is that a bad thing?" The fact that it falls on Saturday and Sunday (getting home at 10:30pm) and my family stays home is what makes it horrible. I live for weekends and the time we get to spend together just relaxing and having fun. And it's been taken away from me. I'm so thankful that it doesn't happen often, and I'm a team player; willing to go when necessary. But it's been a long month of sick kids, and the house, meals, etc, are all kind of paying the price. Jon's beat -- so it would have been nice to be home to help him with all the stuff that weekends at home entail.

Oh well... next weekend.

You know... for healthy kids, my kids are sure sick A LOT!!! And I'm sick of it.

I have to remind myself to be thankful for their health. While they're sick a lot, it's always just a cold or a stomach bug or allergies. Nothing horrible. Nothing life altering. Nothing devastating. It could be SO much worse, and I'm so very grateful it's not. But sick is still sick and it's no fun.

Seriously, it's probably the single most challenging thing for me being a working mom. My job when we moved a year ago is significantly more responsible and stressful, and less flexible. However, my job itself is wonderful and not at all the source of my stress. My stress comes from balancing my life outside of work and trying to be everything to everybody. So yes... in away, that's related to my job, because if I was a SAHM, I would have more time to figure out how to fit everything in. But that's neither here nor there right now.

So yesterday... two calls about Dominic. He's got a rash on his stomach (excema that's worse when he gets over-tired, a cold, or allergies), he's moody, he's coughing. Yes, he has a cold. Yes, he has allergies. And it's even more noticable, because on a normal day, he's always this cheery wonderful little ball of boy. Everyone loves him. But the contrast is certainly glaring.

And on Amara's My Day sheet it said, "Asked for Mommy at 3pm. I don't think she feels well." Yep, she's got a cold and a nasty cough, too. It stinks.

They better have iron-clad immune systems by the time they get to Kindergarden.

It's such a Catch-22. Do I pick them up for every cough and sniffle? Are they truly sick enough to stay home? And who picks up my slack at work when I have to be home with the kids. I'm so thankful for an understanding team. But still -- I feel like I'm tacking advantage of them when I have to call in sick. And Jon certainly does his share, too -- there are days where he takes the morning, and I the afternoon. And we're both just burned out of "sick." No more!

Sickies, stay away!!!

Are there any of us out there?

Or am I the only one?

Sometimes I feel as if I am...

Have you ever done a google search (or any search for that matter) for resources for Christian Working Moms on the internet? Try it. There's not much out there. Or there's Work at Home resources. Or there's maybe how to get a job resources.

I think it's maybe because people like us have NO TIME to create resources for others like us, and therefore, there are none. Not that I have the time to do so... but maybe I should!

We moved to our current area about a year ago. We visited pretty much every church in the area that we felt we could really plug into. We found lots of churches with great things to offer -- but it seemed like all of the great things were found in various different churches -- one church had great music, but a weak children's program, and mediocre message. One church had a great message, but the music was horrible and there were very few kids. You get the point....

We had been attending a church for about 6 months (great music (i.e. LOUD and current), engaging pastor, but only a decent message, a virtually non-existant kids' program, and an inconsistent small group structure. The small group structure and the kids program (or lack thereof) was really beginning to eat away at me. I was actually beginning to feel depressed and despairing about our church situation. It's like my "center" was missing, and everything in life was incomplete as a result of that.

Jon was able to connect through softball, but all the games were too late for me to take the kids -- so I never really met any of the other wives. Nevermind that all the wives also had no kids. And those who did, were stay at home moms. I just didn't feel like there was any one "like me" in that church and I was feeling a bit desperate that I'd never fit in or feel at home.

So we started going to another church about 5 weeks ago. I immediately joined the ladies Bible Study -- which amazingly includes 7 generations of women! Certainly they're not all "like me" -- but I appreciate drawing on the wealth of knowledge and experience represented by all those generations. We've also been going to a Sunday School class with people in our age group. However, as Jon pointed out to me yesterday... all the women are stay at home moms.

Sigh.

Why is that? Is it the type of churches that we attend that there are just a larger percentage of women who choose to stay at home? (Probably so.) How come there are so few working Christian women who are more than just Christian in definition -- who really want to grow and learn and study and seek God.

If you're out there -- let me know!!!

I felt the need to take on baby gifts this weekend. And I even completed them! Wonders never cease.

The first gifts that I made are for a couple little babies whose parents work in my office. They are personalized pacifier clips. The one on the left says "Shhhh" in beads. Hopefully she thinks that's funny, too! I wanted to make more, but she doesn't know what she's having, and I couldn't find any more nice gender neutral ribbon -- it was all boring or blatantly boy/girl. So I'll have to find more to go with this one. The other 3 are for a guy who just adopted a little boy. The beads say I {heart} Mommy and Daddy, and also his initials. I was going to put his name on one, but would you believe the bag of beads didn't include an "R"!? Guess the makers didn't play Wheel of Fortune enough to realize how frequently an "R" is needed! Oh well.




















The next gift I made is a nap mat for my neice, who is due to be born in March. It was actually surprisingly quick and easy to make. By quick, I mean about 3-4 hours. But that's not bad! I'm going to make one for each of our kids, too. I quilted regular cotton fabric into large squares on the back (see the rolled up side), then the mat part is flannel. The blanket is a yard of fleece. I put queen sized quilt batting inside (I folded it 3 times to give it some padding -- so it's 3 layers of quilt batting). Then I just cut the edges of the fleece into fringe. That's the beauty of fleece -- no need to hem! The beauty of all this -- I sewed all the edges like a pillow -- I layered them all together (including the batting) and then just flipped it inside out and finished off the edge. I was actually giggly about how easy it was! The pillow is also just a couple pieces of fleece and is no-sew. I just made fringe and tied them in square knots. Then I put more of the quilt batting inside and finished off the edge. The roll is how the nap mat looks when it's all rolled up. I just added snaps to some grosgrain ribbon, sewed the ribbon into the seams, and it snaps together to finish it all off. Easy peasy!

This morning in church, the pastor addressed a question one hears often: How will you be remembered when you're gone? It wasn't in those exact words, but that was the gist of it. Or perhaps, that question has been weighing on my own mind, so therefore it was the most dominating theme of the sermon to me.

The other night as I was surfing, I ran across a blog (of course I don't remember where it was now) where the mother was saying she wants to be careful to balance correction/direction with praise. It really hit me squarely between the eyes.

As a working mother, I feel completely tapped at the end of the day. I feel like I spend a good share of my time "failing" all those I care most about by settling for "good enough." And there are certainly times that I feel like I spend more time correcting the kids than telling them just how awesome I think that they are and how much I love them. I'm thankful that kids are resilient and that my kiddos love me despite these faults. However, the combination of that blog post and this morning's sermon really impacted me.

So what will I do different? I'm not sure yet. At this point, I'm not sure just how I'll be remembered -- my family will miss me, as will my friends (I hope!), but beyond that, I've really not reached out to make an impact outside of my little world. While I do realize that my biggest legacy will be left in my children, and in my goal to raise them in to Godly people who love and serve God with all their hearts, I also know that there is more that I can and should be doing to serve those in the community around me.

One of Jon's biggest pet peeves has always been that the church (generally speaking) seems to be more focused on global missions (which are absolutely necessary, worthy, etc., -- we're not knocking missions in the least) instead of local outreach. It's typically much harder to raise funds to do an inner city mission than it is to go to China. Yet are these people in the inner cities of the US any less deserving of the message of the gift of Jesus Christ?

Jon's comment this morning is that many church's idea of reaching out to the local community includes hosting an event with universal appeal and sharing the gospel at the event. Sure, these events are great, often people are led to Christ, but the outreach requires that "they" come to "us" -- we need to meet them where they are. Live and work and toil alongside them, get to know them, respect them. Our opinion is that only at that point, will those who don't know Christ or don't see themselves as worthy, be willing to listen to us. If our actions and words don't jive, our words won't amount to a hill of beans in their minds.

So I guess that's one thing that I want to be remembered for -- that my actions are the prelude to my testimony. But I know that I've got a long ways to go in that, too, because actions alone will only make me "a good person" -- they must join my words to point to Christ.

I don't know... there's still a lot of thinking that must come out of all of this. But when two such common themes join like they have in the last couple days, my ears perk up, because I know God is talking to me. And I pray that He finds me obedient to His call.

Today was going to be one way, but turned out quite another.

There's a local Mardi Gras parade that I really wanted to take the kids to. Jon had to be down there for a fundraising event for his organization, so I figured we'd make a family day out of it.

Unfortunately, the temps dropped 20 degrees today. Despite a brightly shining sun, the wind was brisk, and at 38 degrees, and two kids with colds (again), I didn't think a day outside would probably be the best thing for them.

So it became a craft day instead.

We took a trip to the craft section of WM and picked up some necessities to add to the stash I had started at HL on Friday.

As the kids were eating their lunch, I began making pacifier clips for some coworkers. I've got 3 pregnant coworkers, and one who just adopted a baby. I thought these would be fun, simple, quick, and super-cute to make for them.

Then when the kids took their naps, I (nearly) finished a nap mat for our niece, who is due to be born in late March. I've got to make a nap mat for each of my kids, too -- they're pretty quick and easy to make, and I was quite excited about how it turned out. I'll take a picture of the real thing and share it once it's complete. The link is really just my inspiration (or one of them -- there are a ton out there).

The other thing I got started on... well kind of... is name canvases for the kids' walls. I've seen so many of these, but Kim at Endless Possibilities really inspired me to try my hand at making one for the kids. I only got the base paint layered on. We'll see how it turns out. I'm sure not as good as Kim's are, but like so many other things in life (maid service, dry cleaning, etc), I'm not willing to pay money for something I'm perfectly capable of doing myself. Not to mention, these canvases are a want to have, not a need to have.

Once the kids woke up, we watched "Horton Hears a Who" together again. I love family movie days. Time passed so quickly I didn't realize it was 6pm, and suddenly Jon was home with no dinner made. So we went out to a Mexican restaurant! I've wanted Mexican all week. I promise, lack of dinner prep was not my underhanded way of getting to go out! (Though Jon may not believe me!)

Hopefully the kids will feel better in the morning. This wacky weather is making it hard for them to stay well.

I'm going to do it...

I'm going to pull the plug...

We're disconnecting our cable today. You read right. No more TV for our family. I kept trying to do it, but found excuses... my parents were coming and I wanted them to be able to watch, American Idol was on, etc., etc., etc. Well, Friday and weekend TV is pretty much junk, so I think we can get rid of it successfully if I pull the plug TODAY! Yikes! Wish me luck!

So why are we taking such a drastic step? It's really quite easy -- there's nothing worth watching on TV. I mean, why am I watching reality TV? Most of the "crazies" on there just help to confirm that perhaps my life is more "normal" than I sometimes think. However, most of them also represent values that we just don't agree with -- and why do I need to watch "junk" just so that I can spout off all the reasons why they're wrong? Last night I found myself staying up way past my bedtime watching "Sober House" on VH1. Why!? It was a train wreck of celebreties ruining their lives with drugs and alcohol -- yes, they're on the road to recovery, and certainly I applaud them for that. But why did I feel the need to watch it! There's NOTHING on TV that I feel like I absolutely NEED to watch, yet I'm "drawn in" to junk that I would never schedule myself to watch. Besides, most of the shows can be seen on the internet the next night!

The other reason why: we want to remodel our house. And by remodel, I mean tear down walls. Sure, we've got smaller projects, too, but we're planning a major overhaul. TV is a great way to not accomplish any of that! I'm too easily side-tracked by that big black box. Hopefully by disconnecting, we'll be more productive around the house (i.e. it will be neater), we'll get more work done on the renovations, we'll get outside for exercise more, we'll be more creative with toys and coloring and creative things with the kids... And when we want to watch something, there's always DVDs and Redbox!

So there you go... I'm off to call the cable company... As I said, wish me luck!

So I've been cruising blogs lately. I'm not sure exactly why I'm starting this today of all days, because I really don't have anything to say today specifically. But there's so much "cute" stuff out there. So many cute blogs. So many cute moms. So many fun surveys (or maybe I'm just a sucker for a good survey). I don't know... but today I decided to start a(nother) blog. I've already got two: one for funny things the kids say, one for digital scrapbook designs. So I'm not sure what this will even be. I do know that I need to do a better job of traveling with my camera! We'll make sure to get more of the life and times of the kids in there.

What's on my mind today? Mexico!

We're heading south in ONE MONTH! Yay! We've never taken a "just us" vacation ever. Not really anyway. I mean we've been places, but often they were with family, as part of a work trip, or something else that wasn't specifically purposed as an "us" vacation. It's about time! We're SO thankful for Jon's brother and his wife, who have graciously accepted our request for having them watch our kids for the week. I'm not sure how A&D will do. I know they'll have a blast with their cousins, but they've never been away from us for this long. I know... stop worrying... they'll be fine!

The other thing on my mind: the attire for Mexico. I'm looking all over for pre-smocked fabric. I think I'm a few weeks short of "spring" and therefore none of the stores have it (or it's only in limited supply). Of course, where I'm at, there are not a lot of options for fabric stores. I did find some pre-hemmed pre-smocked fabric at WM and bought some. Unfortunately, it makes a PERFECT length dress for Amara, but isn't long enough to make a swimsuit coverup for me. Oh well. Keep looking! I think I paid $12 for 1.5 yards, and will make two little girls dresses out of it. Yay!

I also started tanning today. It has been basically 5 years since my body has seen sun consistently, and I'm a bit worried about frying in Mexico. Of course, as I'm sitting here, I can feel that I've fried in the USA! I only bought a month, and that's all I intend to do, because I really HATE tanning. But it will feel good to be slightly less pasty!

The last two things on my "need to buy" list are flip flops and shorts. I actually own no flip flops. I hate the things! But something about tennis shoes on the beach just makes my feet feel the gritty sand wedged between the toes. Nope. Not going to happen! So I ordered myself some "stop sweating" stuff so that hopefully in a month, I'll be able to successfully wear flip flops without sliding right out of them. Get this: my hands are sweating RIGHT NOW just at the thought of going barefoot. Ugh. I hate my sweat glands!

I'm sure if I thought about it, I'd figure out a whole bunch of "must buys" -- but listing them all might make Jon nervous! So I'll restrain myself.