Thank you friends

I love my friends. I think of them as family that God gave me instead of having me be born into the family.

I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you that have been very caring, loving, supportive, praying, encouraging...well should I say acting as Jesus would while helping me through my pregnancy and now praying and being supportive while Princess P is in NICU. I really do not know how I would have made it through without all of you to help me out.

This week it has been nice to have the boldness of one friend who does not take no lightly when she feels that someone needs companionship. I love her for that because I needed the time with a friend and my girls needed time with their friends. She also planned playgroup to be at the park a minute away from my house today so it encouraged me to get out...which we so needed.

I appreciate the dinners so much because it helps with us being able to stay at the hospital a little bit longer because I do not have to rush home to cook or I can spend time with my girls at home and not have to cook before we go to the hospital in the evening when most of my time is spent with Princess P and Lou and Rae have to sit and watch a movie on the laptop when they are done visiting their baby sister.

Thank you just does not seem like enough because my friends have helped so much. My dear friend, Bossy Dossey, youngest's child really does not differentiate between her sister and my girls...she thinks they all are her siblings because my girls have been over to their house so much.

The prayers are incredible and so appreciated.

Well, I need to fish my girls out of their afternoon bubble bath.

Thank you again my dear friends!

hugs and love

Locks of Love

Those of you that know my husband have seen his long, girlish locks. Of course being guy, he has hair that most woman are jealous of because he can wash it and brush it and it stays in place while staying soft and shiny (without the use of products.) Lately he has not been brushing it as often as he use to so it did not always look so good. I guess staying home has made him a little lazy about his appearance...said with a smile.

He was growing his hair out with a purpose and yesterday I cut off an 11 inch pony tail so he can donate his hair to Locks of Love. I am very impressed with his decision. Sometimes I forget that he cares about helping others too. It seems that women make those choices more frequently just because we are more tender hearted. When he does something to help others out, it makes me love him a little more because it reminds me that he does have a heart for others.

So if you have long hair and are interested in cutting it short, consider donating your hair to Locks of Love or some other organization that makes wigs for those with terminal illnesses.

Oh, we don't do that here...

On May 29th I had a c-section. During pre-op, my husband and I asked the nurses if I could get my tubes tied after the baby was delivered. The nurse looked at us and with a slight laugh told us "We don't do sterilizations at this hospital because it is a Catholic hospital." What?!?! We were perplexed and had no idea it was not allowed. When my doctor came in and we were discussing it, he confirmed the Catholic ruling and told us a story of how one of the Bishops that presided over the hospital was removed of his position for allowing tubal ligations for women that were considered at risk of complications if subsequent pregnancies should occur.

If we would have discussed getting my tubes tied before I was in pre-op then we would have discussed going to another hospital. I am not sure how comfortable I would have been with that because I am familiar with this hospital and all my records are here etc etc...

Besides it just reaffirms that it is my husband's turn to take one for the team. He was even was even told that a vasectomy is less invasive than me getting my tubes tied....several times. As I sit here with staples in my abdomen, I am reassured that it is way less invasive. He will be able to walk in and walk out of the procedure. HMMMM...I think I just made an executive decision for this family. Now I need to tell him. OH Honey....are you reading my blog??? All said with a wink and smile of course.

As much as I love having babies, it has been medically recommended that I do not get pregnant again. It is sad being told that even though we know our family is complete. We have been very blessed with our lil' darlins'!

Preschool Graduation

Last night was Lou's preschool graduation. It was more emotionally than I thought. It is just preschool, right? No, it is not. It is new chapter in their young lives? Lou is moving from preschool to elementary school. Wow, what a step. Good thing she is being homeschooled or I may have lost it even more.

All the children were so innocent, unknowing of the world they are about to enter. Right now they are surrounded by Godly people who pray for them daily, who teach them about the Lord, and teach them to sing praises. Most will be moving into a world where bullies dwell, the Lord is not mentioned, and teachers cannot give hugs for the fear of harassment charges being filed. The teachers at HighHopes Preschool prayed for these young children moving into this new world and knowing that Jesus is protecting them as they start this new journey is comforting.

During the graduation ceremony, each child was called up to stage and presented with a framed picture that they drew, a special book, and small gift. The boys were Warriors for Christ and the girls were God's Little Princesses and their gifts fit accordingly. The pictures the children drew were of what they wanted they wanted to be when they grew up. There was a robot, a few princesses, ballerinas, super heroes, policemen, and doctors. Jason and I thought for sure that Lou was going to say she wanted to be a princess when she grew up, but when she got up on stage and was presented with picture she has stated that when she grows up she wants to be a Mommy! The audience Awwwwed and I teared up. She was the only little girl that said she wanted to be a mommy. Now, I am thinking it is because I have such an important influence in her life right now and not that she does not have any more aspirations in life. It warmed my heart because it made me realize that I do make a difference and she sees how important being a Mommy is in the life of a child. Her picture is really cute too. She drew a mommy holding a baby.

Lou was very proud of herself too. I am not sure if she even knows what it means to graduate, but she woke up this morning and stated that she had so much fun at graduation last night. I have a feeling she knows it was an important milestone, but I do not think she realizes that she has just entered a entirely new realm of childhood...Kindergarten.

It feels good when you have one of those unexpected moments of realizing the difference you make in your child's life. It is comforting because there are days I feel all I do is correct, say No, and put them in time out, but it can't all be play...

My dear friend

I have a very close friend who needs lots of prayers and moral support right now. I have known her for about 10 years now...something like that. She is like a sister to me even though for the past 3 years we have only had a phone relationship. I have not seen her since Rae Rae was a around 7 months old, but we talk on the phone AT LEAST once a week and then there are those random weeks we talk daily even if it is only for a few minutes.

My friend's name is Sherri and she just started blogging to help her keep her sanity while her husband is in Iraq. She is blogging just about life while Todd is overseas. Her blog is http://www.cuppycakemom.blogspot.com/. She would love to have words of encouragement and prayers.

If I were not expecting a baby at anytime, I would be in St. Louis right now just to hug her and let her cry on my shoulder. Of course I would clean, cook, and take care of her girls while she had time to herself. Fortunately she has a supportive family and she will be going to Pennsylvania for almost two months to see her parents, sister and her mother-in-law.

Please pray for the safety of Todd while he is in Iraq. Please pray that the girls will be able to adjust to their Daddy being gone and that they will adjust just as well upon his return in September. Please pray that Sherri will be handle everything while Todd is overseas.

Thank you so much!

P.S. I wrote this a week ago, but I have been so bad about blogging lately. I am tired and cranky and the computer just makes me fall asleep these days...not much longer though.

How did you get to work today?

My father-in-law was in town for an extended weekend and he has some elderly cousins that live in Austin and he wanted to get together with them. After having dinner Friday evening with two of them, they decided to get together again at a coffee shop on Sunday so the other two could get a chance to visit.

Well why we just didn't go to the most obvious coffee shop around, I am not sure because there is one on every street corner (and I know what I like there). We ended up going to The Coffee Beanery. Never heard of it, never been there so we just took the directions she linked from MapQuest and went. Off we go, and go, and go as we loop all around the mall area and even across 183 just in case it is near the Super Target there. Where in the world is this place? We have the GPS in the car and we look it up on that, but the directions are still vague, but there is a phone number. By this time we are in the Home Depot parking lot. We call and ask for directions. The first person could not tell us where they were located so he passed my FIL off to another person who had a difficult time but finally told us...go back to 620 and make a right, turn right on Pecan Park, and then we are on the left. OK, cool...we just must have past it up as we were all looking the other direction, right?

I just wanted to ask them "HOW DID YOU GET TO WORK TODAY?" Even if you do not know the names of roads, you have to notice points of reference, right? Or is our youth of today that oblivious to their surroundings? I digress. We follow the directions and when we get there, we are in front of the mall. No one ever said anything about being inside the mall. If someone would have just told us that the store was located INSIDE THE MALL we would not have been driving around in the pouring down rain for 30 minutes looking for this place. Like I said, we should have met at the other coffee shop.

When we get there, we are only the second ones to arrive because no one else new the Coffee Beanery was located inside the mall either and when they called to ask for directions, no one ever said "we are located in the mall near Macy's." How hard is that, really? Does it take a genius to figure it out or maybe it takes a genius to look up the right directions? Whatever the case, it astonished me that someone could not give simple directions. My five year old can direct you all over town and that is because she is observant.

And No, I rarely go to the mall so I had no idea that the coffee shop was even there.

Do I WHAT?!?!

Should I slap your face or laugh at you for trying to talk like some "cool teenager". I mean for real, you are a grown man. What in the world do you mean....Do I grok? "Do I WHAT?!?!" And don't look at me like I am suppose to know the meaning of the word because I can turn into crazy woman and knock you into last week so you can rethink what you are going to say to me. Not really, but of course the thought races through my mind very quickly as I am annoyed by what my husband has said to me just because I do not understand.

So I investigate...
I find that grok is not some new teenage fad word, but it is actually a 1960's word...go figure, eh? The meaning of grok, according to the dictionary, is

–verb (used with object)

1.	to understand thoroughly and intuitively.

–verb (used without object)

2.	to communicate sympathetically.

It is also used in the IT realm. Well since I am not in the IT workforce and in my line of work...child rearing...I usually use words like: "do you understand?"

Since my husband has banished me to the couch, I often hear him on his phone interviews even though I try to tune him out, my ears perk up when I hear him use the word GROK. I often wonder if the person on the other line understands what he is saying, especially if it is an older person.

Did you know that the word Grok orginated in a movie? In Robert Heinlein's science-fiction novel of 1961, Stranger in a Strange Land, the word is Martian and literally means "to drink" but metaphorically means "to take it all in," to understand fully, or to "be at one with." (My reference is Google.)

Have you ever heard anyone use this word? Leave it to my husband to use it....I say with a giggle and smile.

Now I am wondering, Do you Grok it?

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