My baby boy is growing up.

Three years ago today, this is what we saw:

Three years ago today, my precious son was brought into the world and completed our family.

Three years ago today, I was a rush of emotions: elated at the birth of my son, scared silly because of all the unexpected medical issues that came up (jaundice, low blood levels (I now forget what), difficulty breathing). In hindsight, I think he was just hungry and wish I could have put that together then. But then -- June 24 was one of the hardest days of my life. Mercifully, everything was just fine, despite the early scare.

We chose to name him Dominic because (1) we love the name, and (2) it means "Belonging to God." We acknowledge from the start that are children are truly God's children and are only on loan to us. We gave our children back to God from the second we knew them -- and trust that He will lead us as we help to steer them through this life. My mother in law said, during the turbulent hours after Dominic's birth, that God's honoring his little name sake, proving that Dominic does in fact belong to Him, and that He'd take care of him. In another ironic twist, the blanket that she crocheted for Dominic was made from a pattern called "Angel's Wings." He simply calls it his "rainbow blanket" -- but sleeps with it every night. God certainly sent his angels to watch over Dominic in the first days of his life.

Dominic James came into this world a whirlwind, and has been one ever since! He's the cutest, most charming, most perfect whirlwind you'll ever meet. He's a little light that shines for all, and draws everyone to him.



So what's he up to now that he's three? Well, he's about 38 pounds, about 3 feet tall (guess I need to go to the doc to get exact measures). He's in size 9 shoes and size 4T clothes. He's day potty trained and dry most mornings. He's got an over-full vocabulary which he loves to use as often as possible (in other words, he's never quiet). He loves to read, do puzzles (which he's quite good at), play baseball, play with cars and trains. He's about as stereotypical "all boy" as you can get. At the same time, he's a little snuggler; more than willing to share hugs and kisses. He loves to laugh, and loves it even more if he can make you laugh. We joke that he's his Great Grandpa Richard reincarnate. The stories about Grandpa tell of a man who always has a mischevious twinkle in his eye. He'll "do something wrong" but do it with a grin and get out of trouble every time. He's completely endearing and knows how to work his way out of whatever mess he's gotten himself into.

My precious boy, I'm so thankful that God gave you to me. Happy Third Birthday! You are pure joy!

June 13, 1998.

What a beautiful day.



June 12, 1998, was rainy and overcast. June 14, 1998, was too.



But June 13, 1998, held beautiful blue skies, warm sunshine, virtually no wind. The perfect day.



It was as if God looked down on us and blessed not only our marriage, but the day we chose to start it. (Not that we need sunshine and a perfect day to be blessed by God.)

Every part of the day was perfect. One of those "enshrined in gold" days.

Thank you to God for blessing us with not only the perfect day, but also each other and our marriage... not our wedding... our marriage. Thank you to our parents for preparing us for that day and for providing us with that day. Thank you to our wedding party for standing up for us that day and at many other important moments in our life -- both prior to the wedding, as well as after the wedding. Thank you to our guests for sharing our day with us and making it so very special. Thank you to the friends we've met after June 13, 1998; you've blessed us in so many ways, and the chapters in our book of life continue to reflect that.

Here's to many more wonderful years!

This is what I was watching:

It was June 12, 1998. It was Game 5 of the 1998 NBA Finals. The Chicago Bulls (with Jordan, Pippen, Rodman were playing against the Utah Jazz (Karl Malone, John Stockton, etc). I honestly don't remember who I was cheering for. Probably the Jazz. I was anti-Bulls and anti-Jordan. Not because he wasn't arguably the best basketball player we'd ever see, but because everyone loved MJ. And that was just my M.O. (still is) -- to go against the grain.

In hindsight, man.... what a decade to live through.... being able to watch Jordan play on any given night. A treat, I tell you!



If memory serves, Jordan retired after that season (well, in January of 1999). So we really got to watch him.... 11 years ago today.... at the peak of his career. Not in person, mind you... but on TV. I will say that when he came back out of retirement and played for the Wizards, Jon and I were able to watch him play against the Sixers in Philly. Now that was awesome! Sure, he wasn't at his prime -- but he was still just AMAZING to watch.

So why the basketball diary?

Well... because the REAL thing that was going on 11 years ago today (not that the basketball finals weren't real).... is this...



Jon and I were a day away from being married. We were at our wedding rehearsal. We were hanging out with those people who were (and are) most important to us in our lives. Our parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, many of our Cousins, our best friends. We were about to embark on the first day of the rest of our lives.

Jon, Brian, Bridget, Tara and I stayed late at the Lantern, where we had just set up for the reception. We stayed to watch the game -- Game 5 of the NBA Finals -- the game mentioned above. The one game I actually remember who was playing (Bulls and Jazz), who won (Jazz that game, Bulls the series), where I was sitting (in the lounge area of the Lantern), who I was with (already mentioned). It's just one of those "frozen in time" moments in my life. I remember Brian sneaking the M&M's from the tables we had just decorated into his pants pockets. I remember talking and laughing. I remember the feeling of hope and excitement about the life that Jon and I were about to begin together.

And here I sit -- 11 years later. I'm SO THANKFUL that God has blessed me with Jon... with our family... with our life together. I look at all that has changed in the last 11 years. I think about the dinner we're going to tonight to celebrate our anniversary -- not an intimate candlelight dinner -- but a feiry Japanese Steakhouse that will be fun for the kids to experience, but slightly more fancy than our normal fare.

And I still hold onto that hope and excitement about the life that Jon and I HAVE together. I love living my life with my husband and our family. I'm blessed more than I deserve to be blessed on a daily basis. I'm grateful for the life I've been given.


"For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God." - Ruth 1:16

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” - Ephesians 5:31

"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion." - Hosea 2:19

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

This morning the kids and I went to Lowe's to pick up Jon's Father's Day present. While there, I decided to pick up some flowers for our planters as well... and potting soil, garden soil, a couple clay pots for indoor plants... yeah, more than I intended to purchase.

Why I felt that today would be a good day to plant flowers, I may never know. I tend to get myself into impulsive situations such as this. With my eye being as it's been this week, I've got none of the work I intended to get done this week (i.e. cleaning, laundry, etc.), but felt the need to plant flowers.

We had fun though. And we've now got 6 planters full of impatiens. Hopefully the intense sun you see in the photo is short lived. The planters are on our front entry way, and being under all the trees, we really don't get much sun there or anywhere in the yard.

I called the post "Impatient Impatiens" because.... have you ever tried to plant flowers with a 2 and 4 year old!? I'm not sure which of us was more impatient! The flowers are lucky to have made it safely out of their store pots -- the kids wanted to just grab and pull them out. Filling the planters with garden dirt resulted in nearly as much on the ground as in the planters -- and easily as much on their knees, face, hands, and hair. Of course... the second they were covered in dirt, their eyes itched! Dominic was creative enough to use his sand shovel to itch his head.

But after all was said and done, we've got 6 planters with 6 impatiens in each pot. The kids helped (Amara carried the entire bag of potting soil from the van to the front stoop!), I don't think anything died in the process, dirt in the eyes was pretty much avoided, it all washes off, and they're sleeping soundly.

And yes... I did let Amara go out in public like that! She had sweat pants on, and I made her change. So she's sporting a tie-dyed t-shirt, bright orange skort, lime green necklace, purple crocs, and a rhinestone tiara! Dominic on the other hand, all he wanted was his pirate shirt (i.e. skull and cross bones). You think our kids have the stereotypes locked up?

Jon had to travel for work this week -- something that NEVER happens. His trip was to Chicago, where his college roomie (and best man in our wedding) happens to live -- along with many of his former college basketball teammates. So he made a guys weekend of it and took advantage of the time away. Not having close friends (i.e. those he's known for a long time) here is rough on him sometimes, I think.

For whatever reason, our trip timing always seems to go slightly awry. This time, I got an infection in my eye! I'd take a photo of it, but you'd be scared! All day Thursday (Jon left Wednesday), I felt like things were hazy -- like our living room looked when we tore down the sheet rock. I assumed it was allergies, so bought some allergy eye drops. I put a couple drops in and knew instantly it was the wrong decision. My eyes immediately burned and watered -- and wouldn't stop. I seriously worried that I couldn't safely make it home. I had a 20 minute drive! Mercifully, we made it.

I went to bed at 8:30pm Thursday night, hoping against hope that my eye would be better by morning. All night long, my eye throbbed and watered. I woke up at 1am because I had tears running down my face -- not literal tears, because I wasn't crying -- but that's how bad my eyes were watering. I knew I had to get to the eye doctor, but wasn't sure how I could do it. I had to wear sunglasses in the house in the middle of the night, because I couldn't stand to see any small amount of light. I was trying to read my computer or blackberry to find out what was going on -- but literally couldn't see the words on the screen. That's how blurry it was. It was actually quite terrifying -- especially in the middle of the night with Jon out of town.

By Friday morning, I looked as if I'd spent the entire night crying. However, the pain had subsided. Again, I knew I needed to get to an eye doctor, but also knew I couldn't do it with the kids in tow. Stupidly, I braved the roads again -- with sunglasses OVER my eyeglasses. There was no way I was going to get a pair of contacts in my eyes! I made it safely to the kids' school and told the director good morning. She took one look at me and questioned, "Is it?" I assured her that I was OK and that no one had died. I looked SO awful! HA!

Then I made it to work and kind of shielded my face with my hair. I had an 8:30 meeting and the people coming into my office, I said, "Before I look up -- I want to assure you I'm OK." Then I looked up and the shock on their face was actually quite hysterical! I made it through my first meeting and was able to get an appointment at 10:15 with an opthamologist. My friend was nice enough to chauffer me -- the real reason I came into work that day. I needed help, but didn't want to have someone come all the way out to our house to give it! So she brought me to the eye doc, then to the pharmacist. The verdict: a viral infection in my eye. He called it something, but I'm not sure what. He thought it may be bacterial, so gave me antibiotic eye drops. I got my script, picked up the kids, went home, put the eye drops in, and took a 2 hour nap.

When I woke up after using the eye drops, they were MUCH better. Not completely, but not painful anymore either. Whew! That was AWFUL!!!

Since I was feeling better (i.e. not in pain), I took the kids to see the 3D movie, "Up" in the theater. It was a really cute/good story. Thankfully, it was also a cartoon without an "adult" underlying theme. I hate it when cartoons do that! There was a little bit that the kids just couldn't quite understand ("Why is he sad?") and parts that got a bit scary -- those were mean dogs! But for the most part, it was a great movie!

Saturday we tagged along with a couple friends to a local rescue/reserve for exotic cats. I had never heard of the place, but Adam and Chandra suggested it -- and suggested that feeding time would be the best time to go because the animals would be most active and you could hear them rather than just see them. This reserve had probably 100 cats -- lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) -- puma, lynx, bobcat, jaguar, servals, even a macaw! Many of them had such horrible stories -- private owners who thought it would be "cool" to own an exotic cat, but once it got big, couldn't handle it. Well duh -- what did you think it would grow up to be!? Sheesh! There were declawed tigers, jaguars with their canines broken off by pliers -- the lengths that some of these former owners went to in order to keep themselves safe. Just stupid. But the animals themselves were absolutely breathtaking. So big. So powerful... So CLOSE!!! We were only about 5 feet from them. They were in their cage, then there was a walkway for the staff to feed and interact with them (the staff never goes IN the cage -- but they do pet them), and then the outer cage for the people was there. That's it! You can't get that close in a zoo, that's for sure!

The kids thought it was really cool. They wanted to pet the cats, but had to be satisfied by the couple goats and lamb. The photos include the giant lion -- which the staff was petting through the fence! Look how tall that king of the jungle is! Then the kids had to take their turns acting like lions. And finally, we found a huge bear's chair that the kids enjoyed posing on. It looked like a scene from Goldilocks with the kids sitting in Papa Bear's chair! :)

All in all, a good weekend so far... but we're ready for Daddy to hop on the airplane and come home!