Kylynn quotes

"Mommy, I wish we had a vehichle." To which I replied, "honey we do, we have two, our van is a vehicle and so is our truck." "No they're not," she infomed me, "they have tops on them." "Oh, I said, a convertible, you wish we had a convertible."

"Mommy, look, I have nipples just like Daddy." Laughing, "no honey you have freckles just like Daddy, those spots are called freckles, not nipples."

In a very serious tone, "Mommy, if you drive your car and you need gas, and you don't get gas, and you keep on driving your car...you'll get a flat tire."

Summer, come soon

I'm sitting here longing for summer, for days that are filled with nothing but trips to the pool, drinking lemonade, and reading a good book. Of course that sounds like I'm longing for a summer where I am not a mom to a soon to be 4 year old and realizing he's 2 year old, but it's my fantasy, darn it, and I'll think of summer however I want.

I want to open up my planner and see nothing!! Nothing, not on a single day in the week, I want to get bored, I want to say hey kids lets go to the movies in the middle of the day (even though Jack wouldn't do well and it would be a disaster). I want to drive down to the beach and spend the days by the ocean reading about celebrities and their messed up lives and then going out to eat in a sun dress with an ever so slight sun burn and eating the best salad, steak, baked potato combo I've ever had, with ice tea of course (unsweet with lots of lemon, if you care). I want the sand to be stuck on my shoes, my clothes, and my car for weeks to come. To feel the weight lift off my shoulders, breathe deep, and fully relax.

I want to be so hot that I eat less and therefore lose 15 pounds, hey stranger things have happened. Then I want to get things done. To catch up on my paperwork to bring my next baby home, to file the papers that have been stacking up for 18 months, to knit for a few minutes, to make lemonade from scratch, to make my yard look pretty, to get the to-dos done that have been following me around for 4 years now. I want to read approximately 23 books, all of them for pleasure, none for self-improvement. I want to discover new parts of my town I love, new restaurants, new streets, new parks. I want to ride my bike until I think my legs are going to really fall off this time.

Summer come soon. We are weary around here, we have been busy, everyday busy, and we need a break, a long hot summer filled with rest and slow days.

A fact about me

Have I ever told you I'm afraid of snakes? No, well I am. And I know what you're saying, so am I, so is everybody. But everybody is not scared of snakes the way I am, I have a really inappropriately large fear of snakes, as in I think about them every day, every time I go outside which is several times a day, every time I see a stick...even if it really doesn't look that much like a snake at all.

When I was a little girl, my dad played a very innocent trick on me, he made me think there was a snake in the outhouse I was using and it scared me half to death. This I don't think was actually the beginning of my fear, I think it just gave me an unusual fear of toilets for the next 8 years or so...but that's another story :). Apparently fear has been a big part of my life for most of it.

But back to the snakes. Every time we go out on a walk in anything wooded or play in the yard for that matter I think about snakes being somewhere unseen and have to pray for God to protect us and that I won't be afraid. This works relatively well, when I let God help me with my fear. What stinks is I absolutely love being outdoors and going on walks in wooded areas and my constant worry about the snakes steals so much of my joy away.

The other day the usual Christian radio station I listen to was not working so I switched it over to a country station and it was on the morning talk part, which I really enjoy, until suddenly they were talking to a woman with the local animal shelter about the fact that snakes have been unusually active this spring and they're seeing several pets get bitten. Why, oh why, did I have to hear that, it does me no good, and only gives me a new vengeance to my snake worries as I go out each day.

But heres the thing, I go out each day. I'm scared, but I do it anyway, that has been my motto for some years now and although I find the fears haven't necessarily gone away, I am able to not let them stop me from doing something that I enjoy or even just something I need to do.

How about you, what scares you? What could you resolve to do, even though it scares you?

*Can I tell you how much my skin is crawling right now, after going to find a picture of a snake for my blog, I can't even look at pictures of them without freaking out!*

Happy Earth Day!

I love this day. I think it's a day that helps more people stop and consider their role in caring for our world and all of creation.

When I read God's word, I think it's pretty clear that God created the world and all that is in it, and that He loves all of His creation, not just us humans. We see in the gospels, that Jesus says that God clothes the flowers of the fields and feeds the birds. We also learn that all of creation is longing for Jesus' return and they wait with groaning for that day. It is clear to me that God has a special relationship with His creation, even though we cannot see it and that as with the other gifts He entrusts to us we are to be good stewards on this earth.

It is important to me to be a good steward of all God has given me, I often fail miserably at this, in many different areas, but especially in caring for His creation. However there are some things I've learned to do to better reduce my impact on this physical world. Below I listed some of the things we do that I hope are a little unique, I know these days we are overwhelmed with articles on living green and most of them say the same ideas over and over. Bonus, they'll all save you money too!

*I use dryer sheets two times, they work just as well the second time around, cutting down the number of dryer sheets I use by half.

*I use less detergent than recommended by the manufacture, it will clean just as well. And of course use concentrated detergent and never use more than recommended, it will NOT help clean your clothes any better.

*I got this idea from my friend Shannon, stop buying envelopes, instead use the ones that come in the mail with your bills. This of course only works if you pay your bills online, which I hope by now you are doing, it not only saves paper but about .50 per bill payed, that adds up! You get so many free envelopes in the mail, you could never use them all.

*I use cloth napkins, keep the same one assigned to the same family member and you can use them for up to a week before washing.

*I use washcloths to clean off Jack after eating, not wipes. Saving about 3650 wipes a year.

*We print on scrap printer paper from Kyle's office, just turn it over and print on it, this works for 99% of things we print. We also choose the "use black cartridge only" feature when printing, so as to not use up the more expensive color ink cartridge.

*We don't buy new printer cartridges, but instead have them refilled.

*We think before we shop, what is it I actually need or even want from the store, make a list, check to make sure I don't already have apples or a white shirt, and then put it off a day, maybe by tomorrow you'll have found a good replacement or decide you don't need/want it.

*Use freecyle.org to give and get free items people no longer want. Or pick up things people put out for the trash, we have so many items in our house that we got from people's trash, you would be shocked! I'm not kidding you, people put out great stuff by the curb just because they got something better and are too lazy to call Salvation Army to pick it up.

*Share. Not everybody needs to own a baby swing or a punch bowl or a yogurt maker or maternity clothes. I am a part of a great community where we are always sharing and there are so many things that I don't need to buy because I can borrow it during the times I need it.

Need a cute shirt?

I just saw this website on the Journey's blog, such a wonderful ministry and really great gear to show your love for adoption and orphans around the world.

Check it out here: 147 million orphans.

Surgery, check, Lawn mowed, check!

Jack's ear surgery went well, the doctor said that he had trouble with one of the ears due to the build up of pressure in it and that tube might not stay in as long as we expect the tubes to stay in, so you can prayer it would move into the correct position and stay in just as long, so we don't have to go back there any sooner than planned.

Thank you for all your prayers, I was relatively calm, but it was hard to hear that they had some problems with one of his ears, I was glad Kyle was with me because after those words I didn't really hear what he was saying.

He took a couple of hours to stop being loopy and nauseous, but he just finished eating a big Chick-Fil-A breakfast and seems to be keeping it down fine, and is now mowing my front lawn over and over again, in blue camo jamas, cowboy boots, oh and the lawn mower is pink! Oh he is the cutest little boy I've ever seen.

Surgery

Would you pray for Jack? He is having his surgery tomorrow morning at 7, to put in a new set of ear tubes. Please pray for the doctors, Jack, his ears, and us.

We know it's a routine surgery and we've been through much bigger ones, but it's still hard to watch them take away your baby to be put under anesthesia.

I will let you all know how he does and blog more soon, I'm sorry I've been lax lately, life has gotten crazy busy and I have a stack of papers staring at me that I need to fill out to bring home our next baby.