2014. Can you believe it's almost here?!! It IS!
This new year feels even more like a gift waiting to be unwrapped, to me. I've heard others feeling this way, in years past, but I can't remember feeling it to this extent, myself. How about you? Do you feel the coming of this new year to be full of promise and exciting things?
I'm excited to, hopefully,
get to know you better. I hope to learn more what you would like to hear from me and what you would like to see happening here. I sure hope
you will tell me!
One of the things, pertaining to my blog, that I'm pretty excited about is GUEST POSTING. Won't you come read me in other blogs when I share with you where I'm writing?!? I sure do looking forward to this new experience and I hope you'll tell me what you think about my efforts along the way!
I'm excited about building my businesseses. I feel a huge impetus. Have I told you about the dream that drives me? It's probably not what you'd expect. I hope to share it with you sometime. Lilla Rose, among my business building efforts, is doing best, currently. I love selling beautiful hair jewelry at the Farmer's Market on Wednesdays. It's really enjoyable to meet so many new people. If you'd like to earn some FREE Lilla Rose Hair Jewelry, I can do Facebook and Catalog parties. In fact, if you are a hostess with me during January or February 2014 and your party reaches $200 in sales, you'll be entered into an opportunity to receive a pretty hefty cash prize (around $500 or MORE!). I would love to help you qualify for that incentive! :)
Although I'm not doing as well at selling/earning with Juice Plus and Young Living, I am very glad to be part of both companies. I'm pleased and impressed with their products and very glad I am able to use them at a discounted price! I love my Tower Garden (through Juice Plus) and am REALLY impressed with Young Living's essential oils.
I'm happy that my crocheting business has already made a little money and hope to experience exponential growth in that endeavor. Crochet has been my longest standing friend (next to food, but I'm getting over that dependent relationship. haha!). I've had crochet as a time of peace and enjoyment since I was ten years old!!!
Another exciting thing in the coming year is the new experience/effort of working my blog as a business. I hope very much to reap some monetary rewards from
this part of my life. I really believe multiple streams of income is really the way to go in this day and age. And since I already do it and love, I figured: why not try to make a little money from what I do already! Can you believe I've been blogging since 2008!??
I'm happily surprised, myself.
I've joined a writing team for a fitness blog. NOT because I'm actually fit and healthy, but because I'm striving to be. I'm REALLY real and full of flaws... I sure am hoping to reduce some of they physical flaws (mostly the ones in the form of rolls of fat on my figure) in the coming year.
If you are planning and hoping to become fit and healthy in 2014, you may find my next venture helpful. It'll go live for purchases on January 3rd. Right now you can read a bit about the products offered. I've become an affiliate, which is one of the ways bloggers are able to make an income via what we do out of love (write our blogs, of course!).
Showing posts with label gift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift. Show all posts
Friday, December 27, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
His Mercy Endureth Forever!
Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever! I'm so happy i cannot contain myself. I desire to share of God's mercy to ME and a bit to my family. Although I cannot do so in detail about all, i ache to share the detail i am able to share!
This morning, i left for my walk feeling good and hopeful that the heavy clouds would not burst upon me in the way they did on Wednesday. What an eventuful morning walk THAT was... just getting wet and hanging out under a tree as I did. ^_^
Well, i didn't get too far before they started to drip... those dang clouds started wetting me with a mist and then a full on downpour. I was more worried about babygirl getting wet by that horrible first rain... chemtrial rain that is more likely to have lots of the horrible chemicals used by those who desire to poison the earth. So, i took shelter under a tree.
Before i took shelter, though, i must confess that I was less than my best. On my walks i talk to and listen to our Father in Heaven. When it was obvious that the wet was going to be much more than the mist it started out as, i felt upset and told our Father about it. I said, "I feel betrayed. It doesn't normally rain in the morning and i feel betrayed that it isn't held off for me to finish my walk. I know such is possible, but is not being done and i feel betrayed." Soon after i stopped under a tree. It was good shelter and babygirl wasn't getting wet much at all - especially in her sling. She just suckled away and was content.
As I was standing there, i finished griping at Father and began thanking Him. I didn't know what for, but i wanted to thank Him... so i did. Before I got very far, I noticed a car drive by. And then, a moment later, i noticed the same car driving back toward me in reverse. When parallel to me, the driver (a woman in workout attire), holding up an umbrella verbally offered it to me. I was a little shocked, but very happy and even more thankful. I asked if there was some way i could return it to her, she said no, i took it and she drove away.
If I'd had to wait for the rain to abate, I would've been standing under that tree for at least 15 minutes. Praise the Lord for providing me a way to continue my walk with Him! ^_^
Even now i feel some of the swellings in my heart that i felt in the moment. SUCH gratitude and Love. Some of it is my own (especially the gratitude), but most of the Love is me feeling what Father was communicating to me for and about me. How awesome! And although I am special and dear to Him, I am no more so than you! He loves us all exactly the same, though still differently! ^_^ I felt chastened, too, and blessed and SO Loved.
Our Father is EVER Faithful. It is our challenge, seperated from Him as we are by the veil of forgetfulness, to be Faithful to Him!
The other thing is something I've been praying over for weeks. I've been so worried and even tearful during prayer to Father about this other thing. More recently I began to hear that something pertinent to the issue over which I have been praying would appear before the end of the month (August). Even more recently, I heard that a piece of the puzzle that I need will be provided on August 26th. Well, I received a call about an hour ago that communicated to me that the puzzle piece i do not have, but need, may well be provided on Monday (OR BEFORE).
Praise the Lord, for His Mercy Endureth Forever!!!! Our God is a MIGHTY God!
This morning, i left for my walk feeling good and hopeful that the heavy clouds would not burst upon me in the way they did on Wednesday. What an eventuful morning walk THAT was... just getting wet and hanging out under a tree as I did. ^_^
Well, i didn't get too far before they started to drip... those dang clouds started wetting me with a mist and then a full on downpour. I was more worried about babygirl getting wet by that horrible first rain... chemtrial rain that is more likely to have lots of the horrible chemicals used by those who desire to poison the earth. So, i took shelter under a tree.
Before i took shelter, though, i must confess that I was less than my best. On my walks i talk to and listen to our Father in Heaven. When it was obvious that the wet was going to be much more than the mist it started out as, i felt upset and told our Father about it. I said, "I feel betrayed. It doesn't normally rain in the morning and i feel betrayed that it isn't held off for me to finish my walk. I know such is possible, but is not being done and i feel betrayed." Soon after i stopped under a tree. It was good shelter and babygirl wasn't getting wet much at all - especially in her sling. She just suckled away and was content.
As I was standing there, i finished griping at Father and began thanking Him. I didn't know what for, but i wanted to thank Him... so i did. Before I got very far, I noticed a car drive by. And then, a moment later, i noticed the same car driving back toward me in reverse. When parallel to me, the driver (a woman in workout attire), holding up an umbrella verbally offered it to me. I was a little shocked, but very happy and even more thankful. I asked if there was some way i could return it to her, she said no, i took it and she drove away.
If I'd had to wait for the rain to abate, I would've been standing under that tree for at least 15 minutes. Praise the Lord for providing me a way to continue my walk with Him! ^_^
Even now i feel some of the swellings in my heart that i felt in the moment. SUCH gratitude and Love. Some of it is my own (especially the gratitude), but most of the Love is me feeling what Father was communicating to me for and about me. How awesome! And although I am special and dear to Him, I am no more so than you! He loves us all exactly the same, though still differently! ^_^ I felt chastened, too, and blessed and SO Loved.
Our Father is EVER Faithful. It is our challenge, seperated from Him as we are by the veil of forgetfulness, to be Faithful to Him!
The other thing is something I've been praying over for weeks. I've been so worried and even tearful during prayer to Father about this other thing. More recently I began to hear that something pertinent to the issue over which I have been praying would appear before the end of the month (August). Even more recently, I heard that a piece of the puzzle that I need will be provided on August 26th. Well, I received a call about an hour ago that communicated to me that the puzzle piece i do not have, but need, may well be provided on Monday (OR BEFORE).
Praise the Lord, for His Mercy Endureth Forever!!!! Our God is a MIGHTY God!
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Sunday, December 26, 2010
A Very Merry and totally Miraculous Christmas!
It all started back in late October or sometime in early November. Projecting our finances, especially after the demotion at River Grille on The Tomoka, I knew we wouldn't be able to afford our "regular" $10 gift Christmas (giving each person $10 to spend on each other person in our little family). While our norm is really quite reasonable, when you do not have enough coming in, there isn't anything else to go out!
While, in truth, this was at first sort of depressing to me, I came up with a plan that was exciting to me and would include wonderful lessons for our whole family... The plan? To allocate only $50 ($10 each), which would be a stretch but much easier than the alternative, and spend it on gift certificates which we would then give to individuals at the homeless camp near-ish our home. When we discussed this plan as a family, the girls were, at first, sort of disappointed about not getting any presents themselves, but then they caught the vision and were excited about giving to those who need so much more than we. Ria even came up with a plan to have an art show to sell their art work so that they could have more money to buy gifts for those in need. Jess agreed with the plan.
Unbeknownst to me, Jess began to reconsider our family agreement. He was trying to figure out ways he could have gifts to give our girls on Christmas. Then he was fired from RG and he became, it seems to me, even more anxious to provide gifts for the girls even though the way for him to do so in and of ourselves was even more impossible. All this without telling me a thing about his thoughts or feelings.
Then, one day in early December he received a phone call from our midwife. He was out grocery shopping. She told him about an organization that chooses 100 Chef's in the area each year and then provides gifts for theChef's children. (My midwife did not know Jess had been fired from RG.) Jess told me he was in shock when he heard her tell him this and then ask if she could submit wish lists for our girls. He thanked her while on the phone, but the magnitude of the magnitude of the blessing only hit him when he got to his car, where he promptly began to shed tears of gratitude.
He came home and told me all about it. I felt angry at first (because he started by telling me he'd been trying to think of how to get gifts for the girls), but as I listened I became aware of the blessing and miracle. My reaction: "You know this is not about our girls. This is about YOU. This is a gift from Father to YOU for our girls because He knows your heart and the wishes of it and He wants to show you that He loves you and that you are worthy in His sight." I think Jessie heard me this time.... He acknowledged the truthfulness of what I said, at least.
There's more.
My Ward family (earth angels, in my sight) gave us gift certificates to use at Wal-Mart for the girls. A lot of them.
There's more.
A really sweet family in our Ward was given dresses (just about the sizes of our daughters), which they wrapped and gave to our girls as well as a matching shirt for Mama. Then, Christmas Eve that same thoughtful family came over to deliver gifts for the girls (2 each, I believe, plus a few gifts for all three)! A whole family of earth angels, that!
So, our Christmas Tree, when we moved all the gifts to places around it, was so very FULL of gifts.... More full than any Christmas I can remember from my childhood... and I have 5 siblings! More full than any Christmas Jess can recall (though he does have only one sib). The only "match" for this Christmas is the Christmas Jessie's sister Anni visited and my sweet, dear friend Heather came to deliver more than 3 large black garbage bags full of presents for our family on Christmas Eve back in 2008 (I think).... We are so very blessed!!!
Now, some might consider all this story a series of sweet coincidences. Some might write it off to synchronicity. Others might say it's a chance collaboration of unlikely events. Another might say it's luck, or a happy accident, fate, or some other such verbal "write off" of what is REALLY miraculous. You see, to see miracles, I have learned, it takes an Eye of Faith. It requires Spiritual Eyes, which are only ever opened BY Fiath, to see what can not be seen by those who would name away that which is plainly seen through Faith... who would close their eyes to what is real and readily before us, but easily explained away. Yes, it IS easy to explain away! I used to do it. Jess has only recently stopped! But let's call a miracle a miracle and open our dimmed eyes to see the fine threads, invisible without Faith, of Father's awesome plan. Let's see them as they intertwine and combine to create this magnificent tapestry we live, it makes up our lives! God's got it! For sure. Let Go, Let God. He will bring so much more than we can provide, if we'll just WAIT ON THE LORD in ALL things!
And so, seeing with my Spiritual Eyes, opened by Faith, I proclaim that THIS, my friends... this Christmas is for Jessie (as well as our daughters, of course... and for me, too, I'm sure, but I just feel SO much that it's FOR Jessie most of all cause it's the wishes and hopes of HIS heart that was answered upon the heads and into the hearts of our children!). Do you see how the Lord loves him?? And our Father loves us ALL this way!!! Isn't His Love amazing??!!!?? The way our AWESOME God knows the wishes and hopes of our heart and manifests them in the world when we are simply TRYING to live as He would have us do to the best of our ability at any given time!??!!
Our God is a personal God. He knows us as individuals and Loves us no matter what. He knows what we are capeable of right now... as well as what we MAY do in the future if we'll just submit to Him and His knowledge and His guidance and do our best understanding of His Will! And He blesses us so tremendously for our pitiful and puny efforts to be like our Dear Savior, Jesus Christ. I must confess Christ in all things. We are commanded to do so and so I do: This is ALL from Him and we are SO VERY THANKFUL!!! We are so thankful to those who have acted as instruments in His hands to bless our lives, to bring such temporal manifestations of God's Love into our world this Christmas. THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you, God.
Merry MERRY Christmas! I hope His Birthday was a lovely day for you and yours and that some of the wishes and hopes of YOUR heart were manifest in this temporal and saddly fallen world of ours! :)
This is my truth. This is my testimony. And I bear this, my testimony, in the name of our Savior and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. AMEN!
While, in truth, this was at first sort of depressing to me, I came up with a plan that was exciting to me and would include wonderful lessons for our whole family... The plan? To allocate only $50 ($10 each), which would be a stretch but much easier than the alternative, and spend it on gift certificates which we would then give to individuals at the homeless camp near-ish our home. When we discussed this plan as a family, the girls were, at first, sort of disappointed about not getting any presents themselves, but then they caught the vision and were excited about giving to those who need so much more than we. Ria even came up with a plan to have an art show to sell their art work so that they could have more money to buy gifts for those in need. Jess agreed with the plan.
Unbeknownst to me, Jess began to reconsider our family agreement. He was trying to figure out ways he could have gifts to give our girls on Christmas. Then he was fired from RG and he became, it seems to me, even more anxious to provide gifts for the girls even though the way for him to do so in and of ourselves was even more impossible. All this without telling me a thing about his thoughts or feelings.
Then, one day in early December he received a phone call from our midwife. He was out grocery shopping. She told him about an organization that chooses 100 Chef's in the area each year and then provides gifts for theChef's children. (My midwife did not know Jess had been fired from RG.) Jess told me he was in shock when he heard her tell him this and then ask if she could submit wish lists for our girls. He thanked her while on the phone, but the magnitude of the magnitude of the blessing only hit him when he got to his car, where he promptly began to shed tears of gratitude.
He came home and told me all about it. I felt angry at first (because he started by telling me he'd been trying to think of how to get gifts for the girls), but as I listened I became aware of the blessing and miracle. My reaction: "You know this is not about our girls. This is about YOU. This is a gift from Father to YOU for our girls because He knows your heart and the wishes of it and He wants to show you that He loves you and that you are worthy in His sight." I think Jessie heard me this time.... He acknowledged the truthfulness of what I said, at least.
There's more.
My Ward family (earth angels, in my sight) gave us gift certificates to use at Wal-Mart for the girls. A lot of them.
There's more.
A really sweet family in our Ward was given dresses (just about the sizes of our daughters), which they wrapped and gave to our girls as well as a matching shirt for Mama. Then, Christmas Eve that same thoughtful family came over to deliver gifts for the girls (2 each, I believe, plus a few gifts for all three)! A whole family of earth angels, that!
So, our Christmas Tree, when we moved all the gifts to places around it, was so very FULL of gifts.... More full than any Christmas I can remember from my childhood... and I have 5 siblings! More full than any Christmas Jess can recall (though he does have only one sib). The only "match" for this Christmas is the Christmas Jessie's sister Anni visited and my sweet, dear friend Heather came to deliver more than 3 large black garbage bags full of presents for our family on Christmas Eve back in 2008 (I think).... We are so very blessed!!!
Now, some might consider all this story a series of sweet coincidences. Some might write it off to synchronicity. Others might say it's a chance collaboration of unlikely events. Another might say it's luck, or a happy accident, fate, or some other such verbal "write off" of what is REALLY miraculous. You see, to see miracles, I have learned, it takes an Eye of Faith. It requires Spiritual Eyes, which are only ever opened BY Fiath, to see what can not be seen by those who would name away that which is plainly seen through Faith... who would close their eyes to what is real and readily before us, but easily explained away. Yes, it IS easy to explain away! I used to do it. Jess has only recently stopped! But let's call a miracle a miracle and open our dimmed eyes to see the fine threads, invisible without Faith, of Father's awesome plan. Let's see them as they intertwine and combine to create this magnificent tapestry we live, it makes up our lives! God's got it! For sure. Let Go, Let God. He will bring so much more than we can provide, if we'll just WAIT ON THE LORD in ALL things!
And so, seeing with my Spiritual Eyes, opened by Faith, I proclaim that THIS, my friends... this Christmas is for Jessie (as well as our daughters, of course... and for me, too, I'm sure, but I just feel SO much that it's FOR Jessie most of all cause it's the wishes and hopes of HIS heart that was answered upon the heads and into the hearts of our children!). Do you see how the Lord loves him?? And our Father loves us ALL this way!!! Isn't His Love amazing??!!!?? The way our AWESOME God knows the wishes and hopes of our heart and manifests them in the world when we are simply TRYING to live as He would have us do to the best of our ability at any given time!??!!
Our God is a personal God. He knows us as individuals and Loves us no matter what. He knows what we are capeable of right now... as well as what we MAY do in the future if we'll just submit to Him and His knowledge and His guidance and do our best understanding of His Will! And He blesses us so tremendously for our pitiful and puny efforts to be like our Dear Savior, Jesus Christ. I must confess Christ in all things. We are commanded to do so and so I do: This is ALL from Him and we are SO VERY THANKFUL!!! We are so thankful to those who have acted as instruments in His hands to bless our lives, to bring such temporal manifestations of God's Love into our world this Christmas. THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you, God.
Merry MERRY Christmas! I hope His Birthday was a lovely day for you and yours and that some of the wishes and hopes of YOUR heart were manifest in this temporal and saddly fallen world of ours! :)
This is my truth. This is my testimony. And I bear this, my testimony, in the name of our Savior and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. AMEN!
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Friday, September 19, 2008
Temple Trip and Lots of Other News
TEMPLE TRIP
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
We were able to get to the temple on Tuesday. It was WONDERFUL for me. Jess let me do an endowment, which is at least 30 minutes longer than if I serve in an alternative way. I was able to converse with a lady I met last month. It was really nice. Jess and the girls were really hot when I was finished. I'm so grateful for their sacrifice for me! (Especially Jess, the girls were just totally happy to be at the temple!)
Kat was especially pleased to be there. She shrieked when she saw the temple spire the first time and then when she saw it (and I was present) each time after that she would say in her sweet loving way, "Bumpoo," which, 'in Kat,' is temple, of course.
Ria was totally and completely excited to get to go to the temple when we told her about the trip the night before. She was thrilled to be there and excited about the prospect of a picnic for breakfast, made possible by a sweet, generous, and totally thoughtful gift from someone we all love! That gift enabled us to have STORE BOUGHT food (we've been bringing our own lately) and that was RIGHT UP THERE with the joy of being at the temple for Ria! ^_^ It's pretty funny how into food our girls are... but, then again, maybe not. ;) We were able to stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, which was our first meal out in a restaurant in a VERY long time. And our girls really seem to LOVE eating in restaurants! It's pretty cool and sort of funny. They are quite well-behaved, too! Believe it or not.
Acorn TEA!
Jess and the girls gathered acorns for the purpose of making Acorn Coffee. Ria was just tickled pink that she would get to have some "coffee" and Mama is not pleased about the name of the beverage. We're trying to call it Acorn Tea, but Ria is really attached to "coffee" much to Mama's chagrin! Jess cracked the acorns and the girls and Mama worked to remove the meat from the shell on Wednesday. Jess finished the preparations and we had Acorn TEA with out dinner on Wed. It was actually pretty interesting in flavor. And then we tried it with some creamer - even better! And finally we added some Quick... WOW! What FLAVOR!!! And, apparently, acorns are FULL of nutrients (the squirrels knew it all along!). Indians used it in everything and it's really good as a fortifier! So, we're hoping to experiment with it (especially Jess). There will, surely, be a blog post about ACORNS from Jess before too long. ^_^
Midwife Non-Visit
Today at dance class someone made mention of the fact that Karen, my midwife, is the only one in her practice so that if she had a birth and I had an appointment I wouldn' t get to see her. I acknowledged that, but added that I probably wouldn't want to see anyone else even if there was another midwife in the practice. Well, Karen had a labor this evening and I had an appointment... so I didn't get to see her. It toally IS a bummer, but I still feel that I wouldn't want to see anyone else, so it all works out. She's planning to come on Saturday, so I'll still get to see her this week. I'm in my weekly visits now, so I think she feels it's important to make sure to see me this week.
People really look at you oddly when they find out you home birth... I never really KNEW it the way I do now because when I was preggie with Kat I couldn't really talk about it since my midwife was sort of not totally legal and all. It's weird how totally brainwashed basically EVERYONE is... okay, so out of 5 women, MAYBE 1 will be admiring or say something positive about the prospect and fact of home birth. The others just look at me like I'm a freak or say something negative (or both, really). I don't say rude things about their choice to expose their newborn to untold numbers of pathogens by having a hospital birth when they are completely and totally healthy... but hey, at least I know it! I'm glad hospitals are there, but I just wish people knew how unnecessary they are for the majority of births, mothers, and babies! ahwell...
DANCE CLASS
I had two talks with Ria before her dance class about her behavior in class last week and how she SHOULD behave. She did MUCH better even when she wasn't moved away from the other girls. She's SUCH a total social butterfly/magnet, though! A few times I saw her move from an "outskirts" sort of position (put there by teacher) to a position IN THE MIDDLE of the other girls. One of those moves is caught on a video you'll be able to view before long. When I asked her about it (without leading) she said that even after her teachers moved her the other girls came around her! ....hmmm.... that's TOTALLY NOT what I saw. But, obviously, that's how she felt things were happening! How funny, right?
TAP SHOES ALL AROUND
Ria received her special pink sparkly tap shoes in class this week. She's TOTALLY happy with them! I'm pleased that she's so happy and now Kat gets some tap shoes, too! :) TWO winners for the price of one! They are both SO in love with dancing and, especially right now, their new tap shoes!! Kat was completely and totally happy to get to wear tap shoes (even though they are AT LEAST 2 sizes too big!!). She snuck her little feet on the grey dance mat during class time to do her own tapping to the music and when the class was over I let her run around on the mat with her tap shoes on. She was IN HEAVEN!
I took some video and pictures of our two little dancers. They are so fun! Ria is actually very attentive and DANCING (she wasn't so much, last week, if you recall). Now, I just have to make the time (amidst my work and other activities) to upload them to the computer and then load into blogger (here).
Daddy Gifts
I have this tradition around the time of the birth of a new addition to our family. I feel it's really important and a way I can show Jess how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does. It's a gift of some sort that I give to him in expectation of the new arrival or shortly after the birth. With Ria I couldn't really think of anything particular, so I arranged for a few of his buddies to take him to a bar across the street and hang out there for a while. He really enjoyed spending time with his friends, but wasn't thrilled with the whole bar atmosphere anymore. A joy to hear, but also a crimp because I would have to come up with a new "gift" for the next birth.
When I was still preggie with Kat things were crazy and I knew they would get even crazier after she was born, so even though the "gift" wasn't extra humongo or anything, I arranged for a day that I would encourage him strongly to go off and fish on his own. Considering that I was packing the house while trying to deal with our unruley 2 yr 6 month old Ria, sacrificing a day of him being away was a BIG gift from me at the time! He was pleased with it, though. If you know him, you'll think, "Duh, give that man some time to fish and he's happy for a week!" But, if you know me, you'll know that I would like to do more for him.
This time (currently pregnancy) I had something very specific I wanted to do, but never any time to do it. Seriously, I haven't even finished the new baby's blanket, jacket, hat, shoes, or Tigger!!!! Well, the other night I decided to sacrifice work time (money making time) and baby gift making time to work on his special "Daddy" gift and some other house stuff. The reason for the "other house stuff" is that I couldn't possibly do just one thing, as per Tori, I had to have at least 3 things I could vascillate among depending upon my interest and ability to focus my attention on any one of them. It worked out quite well and I accomplished a GREAT DEAL in 3 hours!
This particular gift is especially huge considering the amount of physical effort required. I have tried NOT to complain too much about the pain I've had more and more of lately, but it's getting quite rediculous, really. I'm going to share a bit about it here and now only to illustrate further what a great gift this thing that I did for Jess is. :) Illustration of my pains: most days I wake up and either my hips or back hurt VERY very baddly and I either have constipation and/or a totally upset tummy (like unable to eat barfy feeling upset!). My hips will throb off and on through the day and cause my walks, when I can kick my butt out the door (usually only 3 or 4 days a week right now), are very slow, but, amazingly, I still sweat! Perhaps I sweat as a result of the pain... either belly, back, or hips hurt every time now. Anyway... When my back hurts, it hurts ALL day. Major bummer, of course, but almost more tolerable than the off and on pulsing throb of the hips, which LITERALLY stops me in mid step and causes me to shriek when at their worst. I'm TOTALLY not exhaggerating. My poor girls are getting pretty desensitized to hearing Mama in pain... but then, maybe that's a GOOD thing! ^_^ I'd rather have neither of those pains, of course! And the upset tummy thing... well, I'm not eating very much. I'm drinking tons of milk (to get the protein in) and for whatever reason I can tolerate that. But I can often eat only 1 banana for breakfast and a ramakin size amount of most anything else. (I just discovered this is basically the perfect size (FULL) when I'm hungry. If I don't feel hungry, but need to eat, if I full the ramakin about 1/2 way it's enough to help me feel good about eating, but not feel barfy 30 minutes later. How annoying, right? Anyway... motion often aggravates the upset tummy feeling. ARGGH! BUT helps move the stuff that causes the constipation. Win on one hand, lose on the other! anyway...
Daddy's POCD Area/Spot
Back to the gift! So, when we were given the awesome livingroom furniture we have now Jess wondered what to do with the old $10 couch we'd purchased from Goodwill. I already knew what I wanted to do with it! I moved it to the garage and started a corner that I wanted to turn over to Jess as "HIS SPOT" at some point. He bugged me about getting rid of the couch, so I had to share my plan. He was really happy with the idea and subsequently found a really nice arm chair that seemed to go REALLY well with the couch! Then someone from Jessie's work gave him a small TV and VCR, which were the PERFECT size to fit in the shelving that I'd designated for his "entertainment center". You see, I got this idea that I wanted to make a corner in the garage for Jess from a house on my longer walks (way back when!). The front half of that garage was dedicated to a whole outside hang-out area/grill spot. While we couldn't do that because we park our vehicles in the garage, I could totally see using a small area for a Daddy area.
Well, over time the area was sort of jam packed with random things. Jess hadn't started using it because the TV/VCR came many moons after the furniture and he just never went out there to hang out alone when it was just the furniture. And the shelves had stuff he didn't want to move when he DID get the TV... so it just collected stuff.
The other night I spent the majority of the 3 hours I put ChaCha aside to clean up and clear out the spot I wanted for Jess. Just as a note, my back AND hips hurt really bad that night, but I just couldn't see it getting better and I wanted to have the area ready for Jess BEFORE this baby arrived. So, it was completed that night! The projected entailed reorganization of that whole side of the garage, movement of lots of things, large and small. It's been 2 days since the work and my shoulders are STILL killing me! My back actually felt better mid-way into the effort, but my hips have been significantly worse since then. But Jess is REALLY happy with it! Unfortunately, he found out about it WHILE I was doing the work because he heard something that woke him up. I was really hoping he would take the girls out there for Story Time and see it then... but, alas, he foiled my plan! My hard sleeping hubby actually awakened! :P
I had the joy of realizing exactly how much he loves his area over the past couple of days. I call his area "DADDY's POCD Area/Spot". The acronym stands for: Pissed Off Cool Down. ^_^ Appropriate, don't you think? So, not only did I find Jess with our girls chillin and sort of neslting down in HIS area after Story Time yesterday, but he told me how cool people at work thought it was (he doesn't tell people at work all that much, so that's a HUGE indicator of how much he loves it), AND again he and the girls were hanging out there today when I got up! ^_^ So, I'm SUPER pleased that he's so very happy with his spot!
Daddy's So Pleased
Jess has been Ria's primary HS teacher as of late. He's SO pleased with her reading ability and bragging to me about her reading level. I've sort of taken over the "Principal" role, in that I ask him to focus on ____ and follow up with questions about how it went afterward. It's been kind of nice. Difficult for me because he does classes SO different from how I would prefer... especially Writing Class, but I'm doing REALLY well at not criticising and just letting it happen. As Principal, though, I have asked him to be a little more attentive to reading class (since he falls asleep a lot) and to work more closely with Ria during Writing class so they can focus on spacing, which she doesn't stick to very well.
When they went to the library yesterday, Jess picked out a bunch of books that were all 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. When he was reading through the levels of the books, he came across one that said FIRST and he turns to Ria, all surprised, and asks, "Who snuck that one in there!?" Of course, it's totally not a big deal because we DO want and ask her to choose books SHE wants to read. But it was REALLY funny for me because he was just SURE that ALL of them were 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels! ^_^
I'm not at all surprised that her capacity is so high since he's had her reading the HUGE Disney watercolor illustrated books (like +60 pages and totally NOT easy readers)! He bragged to me when I awakened today that her reading class consisted of a 3rd grade book and she'd done perfectly well with it. ^_^ As it happens, it was a 2nd/3rd grade book, but still!
What a pleasure it is for me to hear him speaking with such excitement about her education! I mean, he's been totally supportive and all, and happy for my excitement, but he just wasn't getting excited about her abilities. Now that he's involved, he totally is! So, this is another way I'm trying to see this difficult time as a positive experience. He's becoming more invested in her education and intelligence! I'm so glad I turned classes over to him since he's home!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
An Amazing Blessing and Gift
Yesterday I picked up the mail. Jess often, if not usually, does that. But it was really nice that I got to do it and that he wasn't around to witness the ugly blubbering of his pregnant wife. I read a note (which I always tear into straight away because it's SUCH a treat to me to get actual mail and not just bills or junk!!) and almost immediately tears were streaming down my cheeks. Soon after the tears came sobs that totally surprised me and alarmed Ria. The note itself was definitely enough to get me crying, but I do think that the sobbing was pregnancy induced. I have, actually, gotten MUCH better at being a bit more reserved in my shows of emotion (especially the ones that make people uncomfortable). If you've known me for a while, you KNOW what I'm talking about! ;)
Okay, so what got me sobbing uncontrollably? Well, a little back-story is rather necessary here... I know I mentioned in a prior post that we've been having a much more difficult time with finances since Jess isn't working the part-time gig anymore. We're actually doing so poorly that we are receiving food assistance from Church. If it weren't for the help we are receiving from them we wouldn't have fresh milk, fresh fruits & veggies, or any real meat AND we would MUCH more quickly be tearing into and eating up our food storage. That's what it's for, of course. And I'm SO very thankful for the blessing of the anxiety Father bestowed upon me to gather together food stuffs because it enables us to ask for far less from our Church than we would otherwise need to ask. Needless to say, probably, we have little money for anything beyond our bills. We're eeking by with gas and asking for rides as much as possible.
I'm working doing the ChaCha thing and trying to get other things going to make money. I'll receive my first paycheck, since quitting the teaching thing a few years back, in the next few days. That money is set aside for gas for the van and Dance class for Ria. The latter may seem odd, or even frivolous to some, but it is SUPER important to me for MANY reasons, but I'm going to share the main two reasons. #1 reason dance class is so important to me that I'm willing and DO sacrifice in many other areas personally and as a family: Ria is and will continue to be homeschooled. We don't have tons of opportunities for her to spend time with other children her age. We often cannot drive out to playgroup activities with the Mom's groups in the area and/or to other friends' from church.
#2 reason: I know that dance as an activity will cultivate in my daughter many desirable attributes and characteristics that would be difficult to help her attain without it. For instance, and as only one example, Ria LOVED being on stage! Would we have discovered this about her without dance and her opportunity to participate in the recital at such a young age?? I don't know... but I really REALLY don't think so! Attached to that attribute (her enjoyment of the "bright lights and applause") is the feeling I have that as long as she can look forward to recitals she will, in some way, retain her enjoyment of being in front of people in that way. I LONG for my children to be comfortable in front of groups where I totally was not and had to and STILL have to REALLY stretch to put myself "out" there.
I could go on and on about why dance class is super important as a part of Ria's home education, but I won't. Basically, because the van sucks up tons of gas, that and the dance class will eat up my meager earnings from ChaCha, so I was trying to come up with more ways I could earn money to pay for our midwife. (Thus the blogging for money and searching for writing work.)
The whole issue was causing me great anxiety, which I was using to feed my work on the ChaCha thing and search for more work. I can't illustrate completely the amount of time I've sat on my butt in front of this computer lately. I wonder if I'm going to develop bedsores! No, not really... I DO still walk almost daily. But my butt REALLY does hurt by the time I go to bed around 2 or 3am (I do most of the consistent work I'm able to get done between around 9pm and 2am or later). In addition to the seriously late nights, I also do the ChaCha thing when the girls are watching their after-Ria's-reading-class-movie. If they happen to take a nap together, I work. If they are playing nicely together, I work. It's been stressful and I've felt like SUCH a bad Mama because I've spent so little time with my kiddos and so much time saying, "Ok, I'll be there in a minute." :( I know I'm not a bad Mama, but the feeling is still there. Ya know? Anyway... the point?
Well, yesterday we received in the mail, which I was so lucky to have to pick up!, a very sweet note from an anonymous benefactor. In the communication their love was extended and they expressed their desire to assist us in paying for our midwife. They'd heard we were in a difficult situation and didn't know how we'd get the money to finish payments (due at 36 weeks gestation, which is speedily approaching!). They'd been pondering for a while how they should use the "free" money from the government, which they'd recently received. When they realized our situation, they explained, they felt their answer was in that information. So, they sent the money on to us... and as of the next time we see our midwife, we will be: PAID IN FULL!!!! Can you believe it? Isn't that amazing and wonderful and... a MIRACLE!?!?!!?
If that's not the most awesome and amazing thing... let me add a bit more detail to help convince you. ;) The night before (Fri. night) I'd knelt in earnest prayer and tearfully shared my heart with Father. I truly feel that we really are doing the best we can and that I, personally, didn't feel that I could do any more than I was doing (by then I'd already added looking for additional writing work and such). I explained that and immediate I felt the complete peace and a sense of, "It's going to be all right," communicated to my mind. This feeling totally did NOT jive with my mental figuring, but I've had enough of miracles in my life (especially since just before and since our move here) to know that I should trust in the feeling rather than continue to try to figure it out. And then the special piece of mail happens the very next day!
Now, I know that the note and check were already in the mail when I said that prayer. But, you see, to me the miracles Father has bestowed upon me and my family are SO much in timing! For instance, someone may have been planning something for a while, but then they DO it for us right after I made a wished in my heart or prayed specifically about it. And, to me, that's still an enormous and amazing miracle!
We are tremendously blessed! I'm so grateful to those who have blessed our lives - in this moment I feel surging love for the benefactor who has acted as an Instrument in the Father's Hands in blessing us with the gift of decreased stress and anxiety over payment of our midwife by providing it for us! Thank you!!!!
As an ending note... I feel SO much less anxiety and so much MORE motivated by desire (rather than anxiety) to continue working ChaCha and to continue efforts to find additional (and hopefully significantly better paying) work to fill in the current gap in our finances. This is a wonderful and exciting feeling to/for me because in the past, when anxiety has been relieved (in situations similar, in any way, to what we're in now), I didn't feel the need or motivation to continue previous efforts. This time I feel inspired and just plain ol' motivated to keep going! That, too, is a HUGE blessing of this gift and I'm tremendously, heart-full-to-exploding grateful!!!! ^_^
Okay, so what got me sobbing uncontrollably? Well, a little back-story is rather necessary here... I know I mentioned in a prior post that we've been having a much more difficult time with finances since Jess isn't working the part-time gig anymore. We're actually doing so poorly that we are receiving food assistance from Church. If it weren't for the help we are receiving from them we wouldn't have fresh milk, fresh fruits & veggies, or any real meat AND we would MUCH more quickly be tearing into and eating up our food storage. That's what it's for, of course. And I'm SO very thankful for the blessing of the anxiety Father bestowed upon me to gather together food stuffs because it enables us to ask for far less from our Church than we would otherwise need to ask. Needless to say, probably, we have little money for anything beyond our bills. We're eeking by with gas and asking for rides as much as possible.
I'm working doing the ChaCha thing and trying to get other things going to make money. I'll receive my first paycheck, since quitting the teaching thing a few years back, in the next few days. That money is set aside for gas for the van and Dance class for Ria. The latter may seem odd, or even frivolous to some, but it is SUPER important to me for MANY reasons, but I'm going to share the main two reasons. #1 reason dance class is so important to me that I'm willing and DO sacrifice in many other areas personally and as a family: Ria is and will continue to be homeschooled. We don't have tons of opportunities for her to spend time with other children her age. We often cannot drive out to playgroup activities with the Mom's groups in the area and/or to other friends' from church.
#2 reason: I know that dance as an activity will cultivate in my daughter many desirable attributes and characteristics that would be difficult to help her attain without it. For instance, and as only one example, Ria LOVED being on stage! Would we have discovered this about her without dance and her opportunity to participate in the recital at such a young age?? I don't know... but I really REALLY don't think so! Attached to that attribute (her enjoyment of the "bright lights and applause") is the feeling I have that as long as she can look forward to recitals she will, in some way, retain her enjoyment of being in front of people in that way. I LONG for my children to be comfortable in front of groups where I totally was not and had to and STILL have to REALLY stretch to put myself "out" there.
I could go on and on about why dance class is super important as a part of Ria's home education, but I won't. Basically, because the van sucks up tons of gas, that and the dance class will eat up my meager earnings from ChaCha, so I was trying to come up with more ways I could earn money to pay for our midwife. (Thus the blogging for money and searching for writing work.)
The whole issue was causing me great anxiety, which I was using to feed my work on the ChaCha thing and search for more work. I can't illustrate completely the amount of time I've sat on my butt in front of this computer lately. I wonder if I'm going to develop bedsores! No, not really... I DO still walk almost daily. But my butt REALLY does hurt by the time I go to bed around 2 or 3am (I do most of the consistent work I'm able to get done between around 9pm and 2am or later). In addition to the seriously late nights, I also do the ChaCha thing when the girls are watching their after-Ria's-reading-class-movie. If they happen to take a nap together, I work. If they are playing nicely together, I work. It's been stressful and I've felt like SUCH a bad Mama because I've spent so little time with my kiddos and so much time saying, "Ok, I'll be there in a minute." :( I know I'm not a bad Mama, but the feeling is still there. Ya know? Anyway... the point?
Well, yesterday we received in the mail, which I was so lucky to have to pick up!, a very sweet note from an anonymous benefactor. In the communication their love was extended and they expressed their desire to assist us in paying for our midwife. They'd heard we were in a difficult situation and didn't know how we'd get the money to finish payments (due at 36 weeks gestation, which is speedily approaching!). They'd been pondering for a while how they should use the "free" money from the government, which they'd recently received. When they realized our situation, they explained, they felt their answer was in that information. So, they sent the money on to us... and as of the next time we see our midwife, we will be: PAID IN FULL!!!! Can you believe it? Isn't that amazing and wonderful and... a MIRACLE!?!?!!?
If that's not the most awesome and amazing thing... let me add a bit more detail to help convince you. ;) The night before (Fri. night) I'd knelt in earnest prayer and tearfully shared my heart with Father. I truly feel that we really are doing the best we can and that I, personally, didn't feel that I could do any more than I was doing (by then I'd already added looking for additional writing work and such). I explained that and immediate I felt the complete peace and a sense of, "It's going to be all right," communicated to my mind. This feeling totally did NOT jive with my mental figuring, but I've had enough of miracles in my life (especially since just before and since our move here) to know that I should trust in the feeling rather than continue to try to figure it out. And then the special piece of mail happens the very next day!
Now, I know that the note and check were already in the mail when I said that prayer. But, you see, to me the miracles Father has bestowed upon me and my family are SO much in timing! For instance, someone may have been planning something for a while, but then they DO it for us right after I made a wished in my heart or prayed specifically about it. And, to me, that's still an enormous and amazing miracle!
We are tremendously blessed! I'm so grateful to those who have blessed our lives - in this moment I feel surging love for the benefactor who has acted as an Instrument in the Father's Hands in blessing us with the gift of decreased stress and anxiety over payment of our midwife by providing it for us! Thank you!!!!
As an ending note... I feel SO much less anxiety and so much MORE motivated by desire (rather than anxiety) to continue working ChaCha and to continue efforts to find additional (and hopefully significantly better paying) work to fill in the current gap in our finances. This is a wonderful and exciting feeling to/for me because in the past, when anxiety has been relieved (in situations similar, in any way, to what we're in now), I didn't feel the need or motivation to continue previous efforts. This time I feel inspired and just plain ol' motivated to keep going! That, too, is a HUGE blessing of this gift and I'm tremendously, heart-full-to-exploding grateful!!!! ^_^
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
It's Fixed.... er... Maybe Not
Did I mention that we found out Sunday afternoon that Jess wouldn't be able to work at the Cafe this week because the owner closed for all but two days of the week!?!?!??? Talk about adding financial stress to an already brittle pair of psyches!! We felt even more grateful that our home teacher had given us such a generous monetary gift. As it happens, it will pay for our food and gas (what the Cafe income usually covers)!!!
Monday Bro. Vaughn (my visiting teacher's husband) came over to help Jess work on the van. It was a huge blessing that he did because Jess was planning to attempt a thermostat replacement (difficult because of tight van engine space) . As it happens there was nothing wrong with the thermostat! John, aka Bro. Vaughn, has a background in mechanics. Obviously, his experience is greater than Jessie's considerable experience because he, John, was able to suggest some diagnostic sort of things that Jess hadn't considered. By the time John left we thought the problem was fixed. Not permanently, but we thought it would last, perhaps, 2-5 years. Jess even drove the van to and from work with no apparent problems. Jess even filled the van to the ridiculous and upsetting tune of $96!!!! Can you believe it? Very stressful.
Tuesday morning arrives (Jess had the whole day off) and so he's preparing to leave to go grocery shopping. Being the responsible husband and father that he is he proceeds to check on the repair work only to realize that the water leak had resumed to the same degree as previous. Return of the broken van.
He spent some time trying to remedy the problem with the same fix he'd used the day before. All to no avail, unfortunately.
We realized quite quickly that the only way to really fix this problem was to have someone else do it because Jess just doens't have the tools, experience, or time to deal with it himself. BIG problem, though... we totally do NOT have any money to deal with this problem!
Oh, did I forget to mention that we received notice that our student loan payment has increased about $70-$75?? Yes, it has. And I think I haven't shared, yet, that our landlords let us know Tuesday morning that, to get the new stove we've needed (since moving in here) and requested for the last 6 months we would have to sign a year lease. Oh... AND that if we didn't sign the new lease... $75 increased monthly rent payment... then he would be marketing the house to find new tenants. This fellow KNOWS we're expecting a new addition to our family and decides to pull this crap now!??? We really thought we had a great landlord, but I'm thinking NOW that perhaps we just had a great intermediary to deal with. Our landlord hasn't ever spoken to us prior to Tuesday... we've always talked to his property manager. So, this particular bit of information is very disturbing to ME.
Why should rent increase be disturbing? Well, quite a long while ago (around 6 months now) I had this really strong feeling and impression that we should plan to move soon. Attached to that impression/feeling was another strong feeling of like kind that if our rent should be raised, that would be a clear indication that the time had definitively arrived! So, as depressing as it feels to me, I think I will be moving with another newborn!!! :( But, it's not for sure. I just don't have a SURE feeling/answer as yet. I'm praying. Would you pray for me to understand, too? I would appreciate it!
So, not only do we have less money coming in because Jessie's hours at the Cafe have been drastically reduced (not even considering this current week's fiasco!), but we have at least one significant bill increase (through no fault of our own) and another that may increase should we learn/decide that we should remain here for at least another year. And then a shop bill to repair the van. Well, given our circumstances there is no way we could even consider adding anther monthly payment to this mess of finances. The only other option, since neither Jess nor I have rich families, to ask for help from our Ward.
If you have never had to do this... then you will not understand how we are feeling. And, really, there's NO way to describe to you/for you the frustration and desperation inherent in such a time. If you have asked for assistance from church, then you might understand a little. But you will probably NOT understand the feelings Jess and I have because this is not the first, not the second, but the THIRD time we're in such circumstances! It is very upsetting. I really truly thought that we would not encounter such a situation again since I really believe we are doing what we should be and living where Father wants us to be and so forth.
Still... I try to comfort myself with the possibility that all of this may be in answer to my prayers... do you remember my ALMA scripture reading the other night? So, I'm clinging to that at this point.
Since we didn't know (and still don't) how long the repair might take we decided to accept some help offered to us by a sweet couple, the Bugnets, in our Ward. They told me on Sunday that they had two cars just sitting at their home because they'd felt inspired NOT to sell them. So, if we encountered the need of a vehicle to make it through, they asked that we please let them know and they would be more than happy to lend us one. We decided to accept that offer and ask for their help. Jess went with Peter to pick up the car and drove it home last night. What a blessing! We seriously needed to get groceries and I was trying to figure out who to ask to take me. And I didn't like the idea of going myself because Jess is SOOO much better at getting just what is on the list and staying within or under the budgeted amount! With the borrowed car, Jess was able to get the grocery shopping done this morning AS WELL AS follow the tow for the van to the shop to talk with the mechanic there.
Jess has taken care of everything this time. I'm very pleased about that! Especially in light of the fact that I started to get super sick Monday night. I had a truly horrible sore throat and head throbbing headache. That turned into a wracking cough last night and I've been spitting up green stuff all day! :( My voice is starting to come back as I get more of the crud out of my chest, but it's still rather painful to speak - especially at more than a whisper. What a day.
Jess contacted our Elder's Quorum President (because our Home Teacher is out of town) to ask for assistance with the van repair. After EQP spoke to Bishop, we were reminded of the requirement to ask our families for assistance. That bit is really easy to forget to do because it makes the whole difficulty of the rotten situation feel even more horrible. But Jess did ask his Dad and I did ask my Mom. They are both helping to their ability, which is more than we expected. (We expected that they would not have any means what-so-ever with which TO help. We knew they would want to, but the ability to do so was the question.)
So, this morning Jess was able to follow the tow to the shop and talk to the mechanic and then go to the grocery store. YEAY! I had to recopy my original list onto another sheet of paper because Jess needed more paper room than the first offered to tally the prices as he went and I forgot to put milk on there! See, had I gone I would have remembered AND purchased that, but Jess just figured I didn't feel there was money in the budget so we couldn't get it this time. See what I mean!?? He's wonderful! Unfortunately, I get a good bit of protein from my milk, so he's going to stop and pick it up on his way home from work tonight. What a guy!
As it happens, the quote for the repair on the van is acceptable and the work was approved by our Ward. It appeared (to the last time we heard before Jess had to 'scooby' off to the Club) that the head gasket needed to be replaced... I believe. It's a rubber piece that wore out over time. It is, apparently, a common occurrence in Chevy Astro vans. So, hopefully we will have a fully operational vehicle of our own back before too long. :)
It sure is lovely to open the door to the garage and see the beautiful machine we have borrowed. A golden Mitsubishi Gallant. I haven't driven it - or even been in it, but hope to get a chance before we return it. I can't remember the last time I drove a vehicle so new and pretty! :) I'm really not a vehicle snob because I am so totally grateful for what we do have (especially when it is functioning properly), but it's pretty fun to have things that are nice to look at too, right?
I hope you will see and feel (through my depressed state of mind due to the stress AND illness combo) that we are amazingly blessed through all this difficulty! Isn't it amazing to see and feel Father's love!!?? We are so blessed to have a Father in Heaven who loves us so completely!!
Many thanks and much gratitude to those who have helped and desired to help us through this, our great difficulty! Joey - provident gift giver!! Brother and Sister Bugnet - beautiful machine lenders! Mom Farrell and Dad Gollihugh - helping to get the van repaired! Leslie - ride to and from church! Judy - dire to help bring Jess to work and lending of her husband's trucking tools for van repair! Chris - desire to help Jess get to and from work! Jena - willingness to help with the girls and cleaning of any sort! Our Bishop/Ward - van repair funding!! Shaun and Chris (Jessie's co-workers) who toted Jess and to from work one day each (thus far)!
Monday Bro. Vaughn (my visiting teacher's husband) came over to help Jess work on the van. It was a huge blessing that he did because Jess was planning to attempt a thermostat replacement (difficult because of tight van engine space) . As it happens there was nothing wrong with the thermostat! John, aka Bro. Vaughn, has a background in mechanics. Obviously, his experience is greater than Jessie's considerable experience because he, John, was able to suggest some diagnostic sort of things that Jess hadn't considered. By the time John left we thought the problem was fixed. Not permanently, but we thought it would last, perhaps, 2-5 years. Jess even drove the van to and from work with no apparent problems. Jess even filled the van to the ridiculous and upsetting tune of $96!!!! Can you believe it? Very stressful.
Tuesday morning arrives (Jess had the whole day off) and so he's preparing to leave to go grocery shopping. Being the responsible husband and father that he is he proceeds to check on the repair work only to realize that the water leak had resumed to the same degree as previous. Return of the broken van.
He spent some time trying to remedy the problem with the same fix he'd used the day before. All to no avail, unfortunately.
We realized quite quickly that the only way to really fix this problem was to have someone else do it because Jess just doens't have the tools, experience, or time to deal with it himself. BIG problem, though... we totally do NOT have any money to deal with this problem!
Oh, did I forget to mention that we received notice that our student loan payment has increased about $70-$75?? Yes, it has. And I think I haven't shared, yet, that our landlords let us know Tuesday morning that, to get the new stove we've needed (since moving in here) and requested for the last 6 months we would have to sign a year lease. Oh... AND that if we didn't sign the new lease... $75 increased monthly rent payment... then he would be marketing the house to find new tenants. This fellow KNOWS we're expecting a new addition to our family and decides to pull this crap now!??? We really thought we had a great landlord, but I'm thinking NOW that perhaps we just had a great intermediary to deal with. Our landlord hasn't ever spoken to us prior to Tuesday... we've always talked to his property manager. So, this particular bit of information is very disturbing to ME.
Why should rent increase be disturbing? Well, quite a long while ago (around 6 months now) I had this really strong feeling and impression that we should plan to move soon. Attached to that impression/feeling was another strong feeling of like kind that if our rent should be raised, that would be a clear indication that the time had definitively arrived! So, as depressing as it feels to me, I think I will be moving with another newborn!!! :( But, it's not for sure. I just don't have a SURE feeling/answer as yet. I'm praying. Would you pray for me to understand, too? I would appreciate it!
So, not only do we have less money coming in because Jessie's hours at the Cafe have been drastically reduced (not even considering this current week's fiasco!), but we have at least one significant bill increase (through no fault of our own) and another that may increase should we learn/decide that we should remain here for at least another year. And then a shop bill to repair the van. Well, given our circumstances there is no way we could even consider adding anther monthly payment to this mess of finances. The only other option, since neither Jess nor I have rich families, to ask for help from our Ward.
If you have never had to do this... then you will not understand how we are feeling. And, really, there's NO way to describe to you/for you the frustration and desperation inherent in such a time. If you have asked for assistance from church, then you might understand a little. But you will probably NOT understand the feelings Jess and I have because this is not the first, not the second, but the THIRD time we're in such circumstances! It is very upsetting. I really truly thought that we would not encounter such a situation again since I really believe we are doing what we should be and living where Father wants us to be and so forth.
Still... I try to comfort myself with the possibility that all of this may be in answer to my prayers... do you remember my ALMA scripture reading the other night? So, I'm clinging to that at this point.
Since we didn't know (and still don't) how long the repair might take we decided to accept some help offered to us by a sweet couple, the Bugnets, in our Ward. They told me on Sunday that they had two cars just sitting at their home because they'd felt inspired NOT to sell them. So, if we encountered the need of a vehicle to make it through, they asked that we please let them know and they would be more than happy to lend us one. We decided to accept that offer and ask for their help. Jess went with Peter to pick up the car and drove it home last night. What a blessing! We seriously needed to get groceries and I was trying to figure out who to ask to take me. And I didn't like the idea of going myself because Jess is SOOO much better at getting just what is on the list and staying within or under the budgeted amount! With the borrowed car, Jess was able to get the grocery shopping done this morning AS WELL AS follow the tow for the van to the shop to talk with the mechanic there.
Jess has taken care of everything this time. I'm very pleased about that! Especially in light of the fact that I started to get super sick Monday night. I had a truly horrible sore throat and head throbbing headache. That turned into a wracking cough last night and I've been spitting up green stuff all day! :( My voice is starting to come back as I get more of the crud out of my chest, but it's still rather painful to speak - especially at more than a whisper. What a day.
Jess contacted our Elder's Quorum President (because our Home Teacher is out of town) to ask for assistance with the van repair. After EQP spoke to Bishop, we were reminded of the requirement to ask our families for assistance. That bit is really easy to forget to do because it makes the whole difficulty of the rotten situation feel even more horrible. But Jess did ask his Dad and I did ask my Mom. They are both helping to their ability, which is more than we expected. (We expected that they would not have any means what-so-ever with which TO help. We knew they would want to, but the ability to do so was the question.)
So, this morning Jess was able to follow the tow to the shop and talk to the mechanic and then go to the grocery store. YEAY! I had to recopy my original list onto another sheet of paper because Jess needed more paper room than the first offered to tally the prices as he went and I forgot to put milk on there! See, had I gone I would have remembered AND purchased that, but Jess just figured I didn't feel there was money in the budget so we couldn't get it this time. See what I mean!?? He's wonderful! Unfortunately, I get a good bit of protein from my milk, so he's going to stop and pick it up on his way home from work tonight. What a guy!
As it happens, the quote for the repair on the van is acceptable and the work was approved by our Ward. It appeared (to the last time we heard before Jess had to 'scooby' off to the Club) that the head gasket needed to be replaced... I believe. It's a rubber piece that wore out over time. It is, apparently, a common occurrence in Chevy Astro vans. So, hopefully we will have a fully operational vehicle of our own back before too long. :)
It sure is lovely to open the door to the garage and see the beautiful machine we have borrowed. A golden Mitsubishi Gallant. I haven't driven it - or even been in it, but hope to get a chance before we return it. I can't remember the last time I drove a vehicle so new and pretty! :) I'm really not a vehicle snob because I am so totally grateful for what we do have (especially when it is functioning properly), but it's pretty fun to have things that are nice to look at too, right?
I hope you will see and feel (through my depressed state of mind due to the stress AND illness combo) that we are amazingly blessed through all this difficulty! Isn't it amazing to see and feel Father's love!!?? We are so blessed to have a Father in Heaven who loves us so completely!!
Many thanks and much gratitude to those who have helped and desired to help us through this, our great difficulty! Joey - provident gift giver!! Brother and Sister Bugnet - beautiful machine lenders! Mom Farrell and Dad Gollihugh - helping to get the van repaired! Leslie - ride to and from church! Judy - dire to help bring Jess to work and lending of her husband's trucking tools for van repair! Chris - desire to help Jess get to and from work! Jena - willingness to help with the girls and cleaning of any sort! Our Bishop/Ward - van repair funding!! Shaun and Chris (Jessie's co-workers) who toted Jess and to from work one day each (thus far)!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
The Surprise Unleashed
Have you been on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what Jess has been planning? Well, probably not... I understand. My present is NOT as big a deal to you as it is to me. :) That's okay. I totally understand!
Well, I was posing twenty questions to Jess and trying to figure out what it was that he'd purchased and put together for me. I thought it was something heavy and something he had to put togehter because Jess asked me a couple leading questions that conceivably could have gone either way, but the words he used to ask them totally lead me to believe the gift was heavy and had to be put together! Anyway... it isn't anything of the sort!
He's a trickster, my Jessie. You might not know it, but you never can tell with my guy. I must say, though, that since he made the decision to quit smoking, he has been SUPER thoughtful and loving... it's like I have the guy I fell in love with back! It's AWEsome!!!!!! And this gift is definitely another instance of feeling that my "old" Jessie is back. :) I say that because when we were early in our years together he listened to things I said and remembered little things. Then, later on he would pull things out of the air (it seemed to me because I'd forgotten what I'd said that had to do with the moment) and give me the most wonderful gift of a thing or time or something he'd made. Well, that's exactly what he did for me for this Mother's Day!
Back to the trickster bit, he totally packaged my tiny light present in an assortment of various sized boxes. Then he carried it in like it was super heavy! Right before I sat down, I tapped the box with my foot to sort of test out the weight. He knew he was caught in that trick because the box moved a lot relative to the tap, so I KNEW it wasn't heavy gift. 4 boxes into opening the package I finally found my present. What, what, WHAT was it, you ask?
Well, I would like to forestall your gratification for just a moment and take you back in time. A little while after Mother's Day last year Jess, the girls, and I went to visit my friend Denise Poleski. She's also the sweet lady who gave me the makeup I'm wearing because she doesn't feel her most beautiful when preggie and wanted to give me something to spiffy-up. It's working, too! heeheehee ;) Anyway, while visiting her to drop off cookies I'd made for her birthday, she showed us her Mother's Day gift. Have YOU seen the iPod Shuffle? OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is tiny and light and an exerciser's dream for occupying the mind with something other than thoughts or baby squeals! I thought it was super cool.
I'm sure I mentioned it to Jessie a few times after that and I'm sure I talked to him about my friend, Heather Harris's iPod and how she uses it to run. And, I know for sure, I stopped to look at a display of the tiny little music holders (MP3 Players) they have at WalMart once, really recently, when Jess was shopping with us. I may have even commented that I thought they were cool and wished I could consider such an expenditure. But I would never have seriously considered purchasing it for myself in our current circumstances.
So, it becomes ever more clear how Jessie's statement of, "Sometimes you need things you don't need," really does make sense for this gift. Have you guessed what he got yet? Well, if you guessed an iPod (of any kind) you'd be wrong. ^_^ BUT he did get me an MP3 Player! It's a 2 gig player so it holds lots and lots of music and Jess wants to buy a subscription to either a music download thingy or a book download thingy. Ok, so I'm totally WAY out of the lingo in this area, but still. You know what I'm talking about, right? I actually get a free month trial on the book download thingy and he was going to put load one onto my player, but he had no idea WHAT I would like, so he didn't. However, he DID put some music he knew I would like: Metallica, OUR song, and a song about an Island in the Sun (because that's what we live on!). He also did a voice recording that explained the gift. SO AWESOME!!!!
There is yet another reason this is a timely and WONDERFUL gift for me. You see, recently I was frustrated (as I am many nights when we come home from walking) with the girls AND Jess happened to be available to hear my complaint. I was sort of unloading my grief over their bickering in the buggy and wondered outloud to him if there was some way I could attach a 10-foot pole to the buggy and still safely walk with them. I have LOTS of invention ideas, so he could have easily thought I was working on something. He looked at me oddly for a minute and then smiled and I laughed because I really was joking (even though it WOULD be nice sometimes!!!). Well, this gift is sort of like a 10-foot pole without the actual distance AND it's much safer than the pole would be considering how sometimes I have to move quickly because people just don't seem to like walkers very much! I just have to make sure to regularly check the sounds around me and not turn the music up TOO loudly when they are being disagreeable with one another. So, my hour-long walks will be ever more soothing and much less stressful for me now! :) Thanks to my dear thoughtful hubbie!!!
Now all I have to do is get a CD player or mini radio for the girls and we'll be set! ^_^ I would even consider one of those toteable movie players, but then I'd have to worry about timing reading class for right before our walk.... I dunno. It sure would keep Ria occupied, though! :) But, Ria really isn't the one that has the problem with the hour in the buggy.... ahwell
Well, I was posing twenty questions to Jess and trying to figure out what it was that he'd purchased and put together for me. I thought it was something heavy and something he had to put togehter because Jess asked me a couple leading questions that conceivably could have gone either way, but the words he used to ask them totally lead me to believe the gift was heavy and had to be put together! Anyway... it isn't anything of the sort!
He's a trickster, my Jessie. You might not know it, but you never can tell with my guy. I must say, though, that since he made the decision to quit smoking, he has been SUPER thoughtful and loving... it's like I have the guy I fell in love with back! It's AWEsome!!!!!! And this gift is definitely another instance of feeling that my "old" Jessie is back. :) I say that because when we were early in our years together he listened to things I said and remembered little things. Then, later on he would pull things out of the air (it seemed to me because I'd forgotten what I'd said that had to do with the moment) and give me the most wonderful gift of a thing or time or something he'd made. Well, that's exactly what he did for me for this Mother's Day!
Back to the trickster bit, he totally packaged my tiny light present in an assortment of various sized boxes. Then he carried it in like it was super heavy! Right before I sat down, I tapped the box with my foot to sort of test out the weight. He knew he was caught in that trick because the box moved a lot relative to the tap, so I KNEW it wasn't heavy gift. 4 boxes into opening the package I finally found my present. What, what, WHAT was it, you ask?
Well, I would like to forestall your gratification for just a moment and take you back in time. A little while after Mother's Day last year Jess, the girls, and I went to visit my friend Denise Poleski. She's also the sweet lady who gave me the makeup I'm wearing because she doesn't feel her most beautiful when preggie and wanted to give me something to spiffy-up. It's working, too! heeheehee ;) Anyway, while visiting her to drop off cookies I'd made for her birthday, she showed us her Mother's Day gift. Have YOU seen the iPod Shuffle? OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is tiny and light and an exerciser's dream for occupying the mind with something other than thoughts or baby squeals! I thought it was super cool.
I'm sure I mentioned it to Jessie a few times after that and I'm sure I talked to him about my friend, Heather Harris's iPod and how she uses it to run. And, I know for sure, I stopped to look at a display of the tiny little music holders (MP3 Players) they have at WalMart once, really recently, when Jess was shopping with us. I may have even commented that I thought they were cool and wished I could consider such an expenditure. But I would never have seriously considered purchasing it for myself in our current circumstances.
So, it becomes ever more clear how Jessie's statement of, "Sometimes you need things you don't need," really does make sense for this gift. Have you guessed what he got yet? Well, if you guessed an iPod (of any kind) you'd be wrong. ^_^ BUT he did get me an MP3 Player! It's a 2 gig player so it holds lots and lots of music and Jess wants to buy a subscription to either a music download thingy or a book download thingy. Ok, so I'm totally WAY out of the lingo in this area, but still. You know what I'm talking about, right? I actually get a free month trial on the book download thingy and he was going to put load one onto my player, but he had no idea WHAT I would like, so he didn't. However, he DID put some music he knew I would like: Metallica, OUR song, and a song about an Island in the Sun (because that's what we live on!). He also did a voice recording that explained the gift. SO AWESOME!!!!
There is yet another reason this is a timely and WONDERFUL gift for me. You see, recently I was frustrated (as I am many nights when we come home from walking) with the girls AND Jess happened to be available to hear my complaint. I was sort of unloading my grief over their bickering in the buggy and wondered outloud to him if there was some way I could attach a 10-foot pole to the buggy and still safely walk with them. I have LOTS of invention ideas, so he could have easily thought I was working on something. He looked at me oddly for a minute and then smiled and I laughed because I really was joking (even though it WOULD be nice sometimes!!!). Well, this gift is sort of like a 10-foot pole without the actual distance AND it's much safer than the pole would be considering how sometimes I have to move quickly because people just don't seem to like walkers very much! I just have to make sure to regularly check the sounds around me and not turn the music up TOO loudly when they are being disagreeable with one another. So, my hour-long walks will be ever more soothing and much less stressful for me now! :) Thanks to my dear thoughtful hubbie!!!
Now all I have to do is get a CD player or mini radio for the girls and we'll be set! ^_^ I would even consider one of those toteable movie players, but then I'd have to worry about timing reading class for right before our walk.... I dunno. It sure would keep Ria occupied, though! :) But, Ria really isn't the one that has the problem with the hour in the buggy.... ahwell
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