Broke Arm Baby

Today went well at 4:00pm.  Perhaps I'll post more on that in the future....

Lily broke her wrist today at my sister-in-law's.  Apparently she was carrying a big container with a handle and slipped on another toy and broke her wrist trying to break her fall.  A buckle fracture.  3 weeks in a cast--yippee!

I'm so tired.  It's been a LONG day!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!

And something very exciting is happening at 4:00pm.  I'd appreciate it if you would join me in prayer.  :)

I had a great conversation with a friend today who reaffirmed my peace about this situation.  

I feel good.  

I feel blessed.  

I am humbled. 

Ephesians 3:20-21:  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Friday at 4:00pm

I have something very important going on.  I'd like your prayers if you don't mind.  

Day 26:  I'm so pleased with this commitment.  I feel such incredible gratitude for the things I've been given!

My voice is still pretty terrible.  My kids at school were mostly sympathetic.  Of course there are always one or two who feel the need to be jerks and take advantage of the situation, but I suppose it could always be worse.  

My grandparents will be celebrating their 60th anniversary on February 3rd.  I'm excited to go spend the day with them and dad's family.  We're not going to do anything huge--they are not ones that like a fuss.  I've heard that we will be eating at a restaraunt in Jacksonville.  The next day Chris will be leaving for Savannah, and AGAIN I am not joining him.  I really, really, really want to go, but now is not the time.  Maybe next year.  

 

Be still....be silent.

Today has been a good, but challenging day.  Since last Sunday I have been fighting a cold/congestion/sinus headache, and overall blah.  I woke up this morning with absolutely no voice...well, I take that back.  The small amount of voice I have reminds me of a choking victim on a horror movie.  Very gaspy, hardly any volume, just terrible.  

Sweet Molly took this as an indication that I couldn't hear (since she couldn't hear me) and has been yelling at me all day.  She is so considerate!  Lily just whispers back to me.  So cute.  It's been something trying to communicate all day.  

The girls and I went to Victoria's birthday party at the church.  I really felt like staying at home, but I decided to load up the girls and go.  Molly had a lot of fun at the party and while I'm glad we went, I really strained my voice trying to socially communicate.  Rachel and Tyler came over later and took Molly to see "Hotel For Dogs."  Molly was sooo excited, and I was glad to be able to rest my voice while Lily took a nap.  I'm not sure how tomorrow is going to go.  I was planning to go to church and a baby shower, but I'm not sure if that will happen after all.  

I've been working on my theory homework off and on.  We'll see how it goes.  I have my first quiz due Sunday at 11:59pm.  I really don't care for this class for several reasons.  The professor takes his time grading assignments and several assignments lapse before we receive feedback.  If I knew I made mistakes on assignment 1, then I would correct these mistakes on assignment 2.  Instead, when I'm ready to turn in assignment 3, I receive assignment 1 with corrections (and of course I had made the same mistakes on 1 and 2).  The professor also fails to answer emails in a timely fashion.  He is teaching a distance ed. course--he should be on his email several times every day!  Finally, I have been teaching for 8 years and not ONCE have I used theory outside of basic fundamentals.  This class is not going to make me a better teacher--if anything I feel like I'm a worse teacher because I spend all of my planning and evenings working on these stupid assignments.  

My precariousness is still precarious.  I'm not quite ready to share it with my small blogging community, but things have been really interesting at our house.  I will tell you that a.  NO babies, b.  NO marital issues, and c. NO health concerns (other than my lack of voice and plague).  I am very humbled by some things that have been going on at our house, and I am amazed how the Lord works these days.  Chris and I have been in constant prayer (as are a few others who are aware of our situation) and I've been straining my ears to hear every single word that God says back to me.  I have experienced joy, tears, worry, and peace all at once and this has been one of the coolest things I have been through in a long time.  I have decided to lean completely on God for this one, and have determined that if He has decided to put me in this place, then He will work the details out, and I'm not going to worry about it.  If you know me personally, you know I have major control issues and this is probably a first for me.  

I can tell you that if everything turns out the way I think it will, I will have one incredible story to tell everyone.  So, please continue to pray for our family if you don't mind.  

 

 

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Day 20:  The Lord continues to remind me of reasons to be thankful for what He has blessed me with.  I'm in awe!

Today started with Molly running in my room screaming, "MOMMY IT'S SNOWING AND STICKING TO THE GROUND!!!"  Poor child has never seen such a thing (at least not since she was a baby) and had no clue what it looked like.  It's so pretty watching the snow fall and swirl around.  She and Chris braved the elements earlier for newspaper collection and a small snowball fight.  It was so cute watching her squeal in delight.  They brought some of the snow inside and we made icies with grape Koolaid.  We were initially going to make snow cream, but we were out of vanilla (gasp!)  Poor Chris!  We're warming the two of them up and then we'll probably take a trip outside as a family in a little while so Lily can get a turn to play.  

My precarious position is still precarious, but I appreciate your continued prayers!

Off to do some homework and enjoy the day with my children!

Rainy Sunday

Day 18:  Things are going well.  I can definitely hear/see some areas of my life that need to be adjusted since this commitment to prayer.  I'm glad about so many things and becoming more thankful everyday for things I've taken for granted.  

We're moving slowly this morning.  In a few minutes the girls and I are going to load up and head to church, but I'm feeling a little head-coldish and I'm trying to savor a few moments at home while my girls are running around the living room with poptarts, baby strollers, and Barbies.  Not an organized breakfast of champions by any means, but a nice, happy, relaxed Sunday morning before the madness of the day hits us.  We have regular services, Friend's Meal, and SNK.  I also have several assignments I need to complete, as well as a much needed trip to Target to get diapers, printer cartridge, and a few toiletry items we have run out of all at once--eek!  I'm so thankful tomorrow is a holiday and I can have an extra day to take care of somethings I may not complete today.

I'm in a precarious position right this minute.  I really don't want to get into a lot of specifics, but if you wouldn't mind saying a few prayers on my family's behalf, I'm sure the Lord will intervene and put them in the right spot.  Thank you--

Have a great day everyone and THINK SNOW!

One Pure and Holy Passion

Give me one pure and holy passion

Give me one magnificent obsession

Give me one glorious ambition for my life

To know and follow hard after You.

I love love love that song--such great lyrics!  Chris and I had it sung at our wedding and it's been stuck in my head all day today.  

Theory is kicking my butt.  I am very out of practice with part writing.  It's been sooooo long since I've dealt with modulations and inversions, but it's slowly coming back to me.  It's true that if you don't use it, you lose it because I have had to remind myself how to do these crazy exercises!

I'm excited to go to my mom's this weekend.  Chris has a lock-in so it will just be us girls.  Mom's promising to cook breakfast for dinner--which will be FABULOUS since it's going to be crazy cold tomorrow!!!!

Have a nice weekend! :) 

Day 12

Day 12 of the Challenge:  So far so good!  It's amazing to see the changes that have occurred in my life since starting this commitment.  I'm so pleased with what has been revealed to me through prayer and taking the time to actually listen.  God is good!  

I have successfully completed my first round of assignments for this semesters.  I had a lot to do and a super busy weekend, but I got everything turned in by 11pm last night.  WHEW!  It was a little hectic this past weekend.  I had a night class on Thursday, attended a music workshop at ECU that I co-created with another teacher and one of my former professors at ECU, and just the basic Sunday activities.  Chris had the elder's planning meeting on Friday and Saturday and our girls spent the night with Chris' parents.  BUSY!  I was certainly not mentally prepared to start another week of work this morning to say the least!!!

Oh dear.  Molly and Lily are attacking Chris as he TRIES to take a little nap--I'm going to rescue him!

Sad

Our school experienced the death of a student today.  

Please be in prayer for the family of Ashley, a 4th grader at my school, who died of an apparent allergic reaction.  

Please also be in prayer for the students and the teachers as they deal with this situation.  

Thanks--

Speechless

How in the world do you tell someone that they are bugging the snot out of you?  

Especially when it's someone pretty close???  

Someone that you are not sure will take the news well...and how to do so without sounding condescending? 

I'm at a loss for words...a rarity.

2 for the Price of 1!

7 things to be thankful for:

1.  I have a wonderful husband.

2.  I have 2 cute girls who make me giggle.

3.  I have a job and am able to provide for my family.

4.  I am able to move freely without any assistance.

5.  I have fantastic friends.

6.  I go to a great church with some pretty awesome people.

7.  I have a snuggly bed for nights like tonight when I am exhausted!

Back to reality

Purpose Day 4:  So far so good---and I'm seeing some results.  God is good!

Tomorrow is back to the grind--I will miss this vacation time so much!  It's been great to relax and not have anything except the routine to deal with.  I've loved being a stay-at-home mommy the past 2 weeks.  It will be rough on the system tomorrow getting up at 5:15am.  I have a lot to do tomorrow at school and I'm not looking forward to dealing with it all.

Today was fun--we ate with Ottis and Kay after church.  We each had a gift card for Outback--yummy!  It was fun to catch up with them.  Ottis and Chris have been pals since childhood and Kay is a really cool girl.  They recently had a baby, Allie, and she is so little and precious--but I didn't feel any urge to have another one.  I'm pretty sure the Averys are closed for business in the children department.  

We hung some curtains yesterday in the living room.  I was not sorry at all to say goodbye to the 1992 vertical blinds!  WHOO!!!! Chris couldn't take them down fast enough!!  We need 2 more brown panels to make them look prettier when they are closed, but for right now they look way hipper than the terrible things before!

It's so nice and cozy in our house this afternoon--the clouds make it so homey feeling.  I think I'm going to make some hot tea and just enjoy the few more hours of vacation!

Day 3

I have decided what my "purpose" will be for the next 40 days.  It seems a little funny to say that, especially because I think our purposes are decided before we are born, so....am I just fulfilling what has already been decided?  I don't think there is anything wrong with committing to pray or fast for something at any time.  We are allowed to bring our requests to God at any time (thank you, Jesus!) as long as we don't consider it an open-checkbook system.  I feel really good about my decision.  There have been a lot of incidents in the past months that have led me to this decision, and I'm excited to see what will happen in the next 40 days.  I'll announce to my wee blogger world my 40 day topic--and then hopefully I'll have stories to share about God's amazing grace and revelations at the conclusion of the 40 days.  

I had an interesting conversation with my aunt over the vacation.  What does everyone know about the emergent church?  I'm not even sure if I'm spelling it right.... Anyone familiar with Rob Bell?  Velvet Elvis?  

We had Christmas/New Year's/Ryn's 1st Birthday/ECU Bowl Game/Will Signing with the Milburn's last night.  Heather  and Troy are some of our very closest friends and it's been such a long time since we've been able to spend time together.  Our kids are close in age (and they recently discovered they are expecting a 3rd in June--remember, their youngest just turned 1 last week!!!!)  We had to take care of all the necessary paperwork for my will--essentially that they will take our children in the event something terrible happens to Chris and I.  Morbid, but necessary.  No parent ever wants to talk about, or think about leaving their children.  ANYHOW, Heather got me Multiple Blessings--the Jon & Kate book!  I read it last night in about 2-3 hours--it was so good!  I was really impressed with Kate's candid stories and her openness.  She's taken a lot of hits in the past few months, but I think she's wonderful, and after reading her story I am so amazed at her dependency on God during some crazy moments.  It's a good light read--Heather wanted it next, but if anyone else is interested, I'll add you to the loan list! :)

Well, I hear Lily beating the walls with her feet--her signal to me to get her up.  She's a nutcase in her bunk beds!  She's so small and tiny looking--and very silly!  Instead of knocking on the door like a normal person, she's found it much more efficient to kick the wall until we rescue her.  She's unable to reach the doorknobs....poor thing got short genes from someone!