Guest Blog: Andrew

Andrew was intrigued by my 25 random facts on Facebook and wanted to do his own version, so here he is:

1.I am addicted to any videogames.
2.I pick on my brother alot!!
3.My favorite subjects at school are lunch, recess, and social studies.
4.my favorite color is red.
5.I like to watch movies.
6. I like to eat at the China Buffet in Vincennes.
7. I love the songs Jesus Freak, International Harvester, and You Give Love a Bad Name.
8. I'm not scared of surgeries because I know God is with me.
9. I like to play with my friends a lot.
10. My mom and I want to adopt a little Asian girl. [HA! I think he wants a sister, not to be her adoptive father!]
11. I enjoy sitting at the table for supper with my family.
12. I like to light a candle when we eat dinner. I ask everyday.
13. My favorite vacation was to Washington, DC even though I don't remember it.
14. I like to watch football and play baseball.
15. My mom and dad always say it looks like a tornado went through my room.
16. My favorite movie is any Star Wars episode.
17. I like to watch Avatar: the last airbender, Star Wars the Clone Wars, and the Suite Life on Deck.
18. My favorite part of church is sunday school.
19. I like to watch the deleted scenes on dvds.
20. I always drink all the milk.
21. We have a psycho cat named Sparkles.
22. My favorite video games are WWII Aces and Mario Kart.
23. I like eat white rice with soy sauce.
24. I like to read about Moses parting the Red Sea.
25. I keep falling asleep all the time.

Pioneer Day Project

Being 'snowed in' has given Andrew a good chance to work on his Pioneer Day project for school. Since the 4th graders study Indiana history, this is one of their big events in the school year. They have to create a desk-sized model of a pioneer homestead. The kids will also be dressed in pioneer clothing - which means we get off cheap having a boy...flannel shirt and jeans! They will play pioneer games, eat a sack lunch, and just make a whole day of it. Unfortunately, this day has long been scheduled for tomorrow. With the weather, we don't know yet if there will be school or not. Regardless, he's had fun working on this project. He'd still like to gather twigs for a woodpile, but that's easier said than done right now. :)

Judas Asparagus

I got this in an email from my friend, Carla. Even though some of you are on her email list, I thought this was worth sharing with those who aren't. How many adults could even sum up the Bible this well?

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible.
This is amazing and brought tears of laughter to my eyes.
I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching??? Through the eyes of a child:

The Children's Bible in a Nutshell
In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something. One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would h ave to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Phara oh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.


God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets.

One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.After the Old Testament came the New Testament.

Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.

He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Me + Darvocet = Not So Good

So, I've been having strange mouth pain, which after a few days turned into most definately tooth pain. Since I'd just had said tooth majorly repaired for a broken marginal ridge, I was not too thrilled. Saw the dentist on Friday and he said what I dreaded hearing...root canal. He said the repair he did was quite deep and there was obviously a microscopic bacteria that got in there and got infected. Ouch! So, I go back next Friday for that, after the antibiotic has time to work. He gave me Darvocet for pain, which I knew nothing about. I was more concerned with the antibiotic, since about every one I've ever taken I've had a reaction of some sort to.

I started the meds last night and quickly realized how sssllleeeppppyyy I was. Court was fighting his own battle with a head cold, so we were both medicated and half out of it, while the boys ran the house. They seemed to enjoy taking full advantage of their drugged out parents. I felt like such a bad mother, after I woke up. :)

Took the meds again today but felt so woozy. Unfortunately, I was at formations when this feeling hit me. I have never felt so strange in my life. I finally decided it wasn't going away and knew I had to get home. A friend had been there to serve our breakfast, and thankfully she was able to drive me home. Her husband followed in their vehicle. I came home and slept hard for a good long while. Meanwhile, I was also quite entertaining to my family. I went to yell for Andrew, but somehow yelled "Leather" instead?? Then I just couldn't stop giggling...

Needless to say, we'll be cutting that dose in half and living with the pain. Hopefully the antibiotic will start working soon, and 1/2 dose of pain meds will still allow me to be a fully functional adult. At least as much as I was before the Darvocet. :)

My B'day Morning with Isaac

Isaac: Mom, do you know what day it is?

Me: Yes, do you?

I: Yes, it's 'Fursday'

Me: Oh, ok. Any thing you want to say to me?

I: Yes, I almost forgot...I love you.

Me: Well, I love you, too. But anything else you want to say just to mommy?

I: Yeah, I like when we have sack 'em day (sack up day) at school because we get to throw the lunch bags away. It feels like we're wasting them.

Me: (sigh) Oh. Anything else you want to tell me? Like happy _________??

I: Oh, happy new year! Happy new year...(jumping and dancing through living room now)

Me: Ok, I give up. Have a great day at school, honey.

Vulnerability: Celebrating Me

Tomorrow I will turn 34. Birthdays have never bothered me as far as getting older; however, I've always struggled with the whole idea of making a big deal about myself. I've kind of carried a complex with me all of my life about being born to parents who were young, not married, and certainly not planning on a baby. In fact, I don't know my biological dad, other than his name. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that my Dad later adopted me and raised me. It's just something that's always bothered me...how the day of my birth changed lives forever, in a way they never wished for. In addition, it's also the day many years later that my brother died of his short, hard battle with cancer. It was the day I turned 30, but I was dreading it for reasons other than the obvious "big 3-0". I knew when we heard the phone ring around 4 am that it was over. I joke about it and say Mikey had to get the last word in and die on my birthday, because that's just how our relationship was. :)

So yeah, I struggle with this day. I've always had a hard time accepting compliments and have never been one to want to give anyone a reason to look at me - I'd rather just blend in. I have an amazing husband, a wonderful close circle of friends and a great family, but outside of them, I'm outside of my comfort zone. I've always been very self-conscious and struggled with my self-esteem. I spent part of my childhood worrying that I was a burden, that my Dad was stuck raising me when he and my Mom seperated and later divorced. I think that's partly why Andrew's illness has bothered me so much. First, with guilt because the mito came maternally. Not that I could help it, but still.... Second, because I know what it's like to feel like a burden, and I have to rely on the whole village to care for my child. I struggle because I don't want to bother people or ever have Andrew feel like a burden.

Saying all that, I can tell you that I was a born encourager. I truly love people and hate to see them hurting and heartbroken. For years, I've told people that "God doesn't make junk" when they're down on themselves, but I haven't accepted that in my own life. Recently I was reading a devotional that hit me square between the eyes. It was talking about pride, which is something I obviously don't have a problem with, right? WRONG! It spoke of the two forms of self-centered people: arrogant people and people with low self-esteem. It went on to say, "they are both opposite expressions of the same thing. It doeosn't matter if you think you are better than or worse than everyone else - it is still the same, it is self-centeredness!" OUCH!

Just like an onion, we all have layers that must be peeled away. Underneath the layers and the tears, there is something that can be used for God's glory. I love Jeremiah 1:5 "before I formed you in the womb I knew you." It shows God has a plan for all of us, even if we weren't planned by our earthly parents. I also take great comfort from another verse in Jeremiah, this time in 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Regardless of my circumstances, my hurts, or anything else, God has a plan for my life. He has a plan for all of us! And He created us...and we all know that God doesn't make junk! And He loves us! So, as my little buddy Zach says, "Thank you God for making me!"

Finally...Snow!!

The boys and I were pretty excited to wake up and see the snow that had fallen overnight! Since I didn't get my trusy text message telling me school was delayed, the boys actually were ready early and had a little playtime before school. (Look closely at pic #5...Carly blends in with the snow pretty well)

Seven Wonders of the World

I got this video from my sweet friend Jenny. Check it out! And turn on your volume to hear one of my favorite songs. :)



Leave some feedback and let me know what you thought about the video!

guess who likes to play with my camera??

The kid just enjoys self portraits...what can I say??

What I love about mornings...

I'm not a real morning person. I don't mind getting up, but just let me do my own thing before I've had some coffee and a little time to adjust to the day. Plus, with Court's work schedule, I know that once my feet hit the floor, I'm the only parent on duty. However, there's one little morning ritual that I just love...and it happens almost every morning. About a half-hour to an hour before it's time to get up, I usually hear these little feet running across the hardwood floor, across the hall, and into my room. Isaac just loves to come in and snuggle before he officially has to get up. He goes right back to sleep, but never before he's kissed my cheek, kissed my hand, and cuddled with me. This morning he held my hand and fell right back asleep. How sweet is that? And to know Isaac, you know he's not really a cuddler the other 23 hours of the day. So I must appreciate the little moments with him and enjoy it while it lasts. ♥

Build A Bear Workshop

The boys got money from Nana for Christmas, which they were really excited about. You see, in this debit-card & gift card society, they think cash is a pretty cool concept! :) Much to my surprise, Andrew suggested they use their money at Build A Bear. Knowing if we waited too long, he might suddenly be too cool to do it, we got to it over break. Isaac was also quite thrilled to go, since they only time he went was for his 2nd b'day and made "Melmo" (Elmo). And when you're 5, Elmo is so uncool!

They had a good time making their panda bear and dog. Isaac was bound and determined he wasn't going to kiss the heart before it got stuffed, though. Not sure why, he kisses everything else? In the end, we ended up with a panda bear named Kung Fu Panda and a dog named Marley. Pretty original, huh? You can tell the kids like movies.

[Blogger pics are getting on my nerves...no matter what I do, they are in reverse order. So just scroll down, then back up. :) ]

Thankful Thursday

Happy 2009! What a way to start the New Year off with a thankful heart. I'll list some things I'm thankful for, then you can comment and do the same.

*For my family and friends

*For every good day Andrew has - several lately

*For reconnecting with old friends on Facebook

*For my husband stopping to buy me a candle last night after work 'just because'...and it's not like he passes any stores on his way home. :)

*For the traditional New Year's fondue at the outlaws...YUM!

*For the memories we've made over the last couple of weeks...there's been a lot less worry and a lot more laughter.

*That it's 10 am and Court is already off work for the day

Anyone else??