Not just bon bons and soap operas

Two days in a row!  I know, right?!  It's totally crazy.  All or nothing around here, what can I say?

I have another reason for not blogging recently (although general laziness still comes in first).  A close second would be the time and energy I've been putting in to volunteering at my kids' school.  Each week I spend 6 hours in the classroom, 2 hours per kid.  Since all three of my kids are in different classrooms, I have the opportunity to meet many kids at the school.  It has been so life-giving to me.  Because I am just a volunteer, I don't have to do any planning, I have just a few responsibilities (which mostly include giving individual attention to kids with their reading... which I absolutely LOVE) and because I'm *just a volunteer* I have flexibility.  I have gotten to know my kids' teachers and classmates in a unique and valuable way.

One project I gave some leadership to right before Christmas break was organizing the local faith- based, not-for-profit group, Shoes4theShoeless, to come in and fit kids in need at our school with a brand new pair of gym shoes.

My friend, Kris, started this organization about 3 years ago.  They have fitted over 10,000 pairs of shoes to children in need in the Dayton area.  I would encourage you to head over to the website and check it out.  It is an amazing organization and God has blessed it greatly.

I casually asked Kris if she would consider coming to our school back in November.  She said she thought they could squeeze us in before the winter break.  I got my buns in gear and began working on the necessary details to mobilize volunteers and determine which kids were in need. 

On December 17th, 25 volunteers came to fit kids for their new shoes and over 250 kids (at our school of about 500) received a new pair of shoes, socks and a Bible that day.  It was amazing!

We set up *shop* in our school's front hallway.  Each student was greeted by a smiling adult, then fitted for a correct size of shoe, put on a fresh new pair of socks and shoes and walked away with a Bible and, in most cases, a huge smile.  There were many who had shoes several sizes too big or too small.  Many had never picked out their own shoes before or have never owned a Bible.

Our school has a large population of immigrant families.  Many have come from the Middle East and are in need of warm clothes and proper shoes.  It was fun to be able to fit them.  There are also some very, very needy families.  One girl asked if she could give up her new pair of shoes and pick out a pair for her dad so that she could give him a Christmas gift that he really needed. 

My friend pictured with me above is 11 years old.  She didn't even come to get fitted for shoes.  I saw her walking down the hall looking so sad.  I insisted she come and get fitted.  When we went to sit she quietly told me she wears a women's size 11.  I knew we would not have any in her size that day.  I got her info and my sweet friend, Kris, found a cute pair of men's Converse that would fit her and brought them for her the next day.

When we got her set up with her new shoes, she lit up and had the most beautiful smile on her face.  The sad girl from the day before disappeared.  She had a cool new pair of shoes that did not look like something her dad would wear.  She was also super excited about her Bible.  She told me she had never owned her own Bible before.  I encouraged her to read it and she said she would.

I am aware of the privilege it is to volunteer at my kids' school.  I am thankful.  I am sometimes overwhelmed with sadness of the situations I find myself surrounded by.  I'm busy.  I don't blog as much as I would like.  And I wouldn't change a thing!

New Year, New News

Happy New Year.  I guess I would say I'd like to resolve getting back into blogging this year.  But I always would *like* to- it's more a matter of just doing it.  There is so much to journal, so much I would like to keep track of.  And presuming you're interested, so much I would like to tell you.  Instead of beating myself up or trying to make up for lost time... I'll just start with some GOOD NEWS.

If you have read my story over the years you will remember, and should you not know anything about me, I'll go ahead and let you know this key piece of information... January for me is a dreaded month.  I don't truly believe in Jinx' or bad luck or stuff like that.  But if I did; I might would believe that bad stuff happens to/near/or around me in January.  There were a string of years my parents would end up in the hospital (and not just the  "I feel weird, I'll go get checked out at the hospital" kind of hospital- I'm talking life threatening, ICU kind of hospital.)  I was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer 2 years ago on January 20th.  Last year, one of my best friends was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor in January.  So when New Year's Eve rolls around, I usually start counting down until February.

Our family drove down to New Orleans in between Christmas and New Year's this year.  (If you're doing the math in your head, that's a whole lotta togetherness from here to there!).  I contemplated (and prayed) about the fact that I had a CT scan and a doctor's appointment to look forward upon my return, on Jan 7th.  I also contemplated (and prayed) about the fact that I will trust God and no longer fear January.

This past Monday I had my CA125 (blood labs to indicate cancer levels) drawn and a CT scan done.  By that afternoon I received a call to let me know that everything is clear and wonderful.  A big sigh of relief and a "Thank you, Jesus" was let out- that's for sure. 

There is still a lot of January to go.  To be honest, every month has it's good and bad.  It's bright spots and negatives.  I want to choose to look at January as just the same as every other month.  For me, that is a big deal.  And a new resolution if you will.  So... Happy New Year AND Happy January.

It's gettin' kinda hectic

The holidays are starting to get underway around here.  Or should I say busyness?!  Friday night Steve and Olivia went to a daddy/daughter dance put on by our church.  They had a great time.  Unfortunately, I still have not taken the time to get the pictures of the two of them from my phone.  But at least here you can see O in her adorable Christmas dress.

This girl is turning into such an amazing person.  I wish you could get to know her.  (Granted, she does have her moments...) but overall, I am so proud of who she is becoming.  Recently, we've decided to sponsor a child through Compassion.  Steve and O spent a long time researching countries.  We told her since the brothers have each other, we could choose a girl O's age.  They settled on a six year old from Bangladesh.  Her name is Pritilota and Olivia has been THRILLED to have a *sister.*  We sent Pritilota her first letter with O's school picture from this year.  Apparently we will get a letter back from her at some point.  Dear lord, please let it come soon, because this girl is beside herself to hear back and its only been 12 hours.  It's been a joy already to pray each night for this girl a half a world away.

This week is our neighborhood's home tours.  Several homes decorate and allow people to walk through.  Sunday night was free for people in the neighborhood.  It started out with carolling in the park.  It was a warm night so we managed to make it through half of the tour.  If you live in the Dayton area and are ever looking for a cool thing to do at the holidays, I would highly recommend the Oregon District home tour!

Our neighbor, Rob, is one of the tour guides.  It really is a fun and unique experience.  And my kids were even complimented on their manners.  And I didn't even medicate them before hand!  Our kids were very disappointed to find out our house was not on the tour.  When I made a comment about people probably not wanting to pay to walk through our trashed home, Olivia declared, "But our house is BEAUTIFUL, Mom!"  See what I mean?  She is such a keeper!

Bring it on

I had a post pre-Thanksgiving all set to go.  And then I got sick.  And never sent it.  Now it is post Thanksgiving and obsolete.  So, here is our Thanksgiving synopsis:

The kids were off of school.
I got sick.  102.5 fever.  Steve got sick.  We let the kids watch a super ton of tv.
We went to the Crowne Plaza for Thanksgiving day lunch.  I ate 3 bites and felt like crap.
Steve stayed sick until Sunday until we had a terrible fight because I was being a baby.
We feel better, kids are back to school and life rolls on.
The end.

Somehow in the midst of hacking coughs, Vick's Vapo Rub and cough syrup, I managed to haul all of my Christmas crap down from the attic.  We re-arranged our downstairs furniture and transformed our house into a winter wonderland.  This is the first year since we've been married w/ kids/dog that we have had a full size tree.  We usually have a 3 ft table top tree in order to keep ornaments out of temptation's way of kid and canine. This year I feel like a real grown up. The kids and I have been super excited about this.  I'm not sure Steve has even noticed.

I allowed the kids to decorate the 3 ft tree that will now live in the guest bedroom. They used all of the additional, unused decorations to decorate their own little space and they did a great job.  They had a blast and I didn't have to keep saying, "Please don't put that there." Or "Don't hang all the ornaments in one big clump."  They did it however they wanted.  It was a win/win.

Now I only have 27 more days to answer the "Is it Christmas yet?" question.  Let the Christmas season begin.

outsourcing

You probably thought the ten days without sugar killed me.  Nope.  I'm still here.  And knee deep in refined sugar.  In fact, I've been so busy pillaging my kids' Halloween candy, I couldn't be bothered to blog.  Sorry.  Making up for lost time.

Truth be told, life has been busy.  And my i phone continues to keep me from blogging.  Well, my i phone and three kids, volunteering 6 hours a week at their school, a nearly week long trip to Lexington, KY for a work conference, a lost tooth, riding a bike w/o training wheels (daughter, not me), my friend Susie's health, play dates, trick or treating, birthday parties, re-decorating our guest room, and other odds and ends.

I can't believe a week from today will be Thanksgiving.  And guess what we are doing to celebrate?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I'm not even cooking.  Does that make me the worst mother/wife/American/person in the country?  I can live with that.  We are going to find a nice buffet at some hotel in town and let someone else cook.  I'm not a super huge fan of Thanksgiving dinner and I'm an even smaller fan of being the one who cooks it.  I like to think of it as creating jobs and doing my part to improve the economy.  Now THAT is the ture American spirit, right?

Sweet Nothing

If you know me at all, you probably know I love me some dessert!  You know the question, "If you could live on one food, what would it be?"  My answer is always, "Wedding cake!" Hands down.  Don't get me wrong, in a pinch I'd take any kind of cake - or ice cream, or cookie, or cream pie, or candy- you get the picture.  But for some reason, wedding cake is the perfect food for me.

In fact, if I could, I might just shoot sugar straight into my vein.  Did I just say that out loud?

Recently, several of my friends have been doing a *cleanse.*  Yep, just the sound of it was enough to make me want to roll my eyes and eat a brownie.  Which I did.  I said things to them like, "Wow, that's amazing.  I could NOT give up sugar."  Then I thought about it.  For a few weeks.  The inner voice of "I could NEVER" got louder.  The thought of going without chocolate for 10 days seemed impossible.  That's when I really realized, I'm an addict.  A true addict.  So I thought, I'd better try this.

It wasn't really a need to lose weight (although a few pounds would be nice) but rather a freedom from the magnetic pull of the chocolate chip bag my hand found itself in several times a day.  Sheesh, I just need a hit every once in a while- is that wrong?

Seven days ago I started *the cleanse.*  Somehow, I managed to convince Steve to do it with me.  He was on a trip when I started, so he is three days behind me, which actually was helpful since I was able to figure it out before he started.  The cleanse is part of a plan and is not just eliminating sugar (and almost all processed food, bread, pasta, dairy, drinks except for water and fast food) it is filled with supplements and gentle herbal fibers to help eliminate toxins from your system.  There is a second phase and is actually a 24 day challenge designed to change your eating habits and help you lose weight.  I don't think we'll do the whole thing, in general, we eat rather healthy, but I will step it up even more after this.

Honestly, the first day was pretty rough.  I thought about food all day long.  I craved sugary treats.  I was grumpy.  Not hungry, because there is plenty to eat on the cleanse, but I was an addict going through with drawl... for sure!  The plan is set up for you to eat fruit/eggs or some kind of protein for breakfast, a snack and supplement for a mid morning snack (like nuts) lunch of fresh veggies, lean protein and fruit for lunch, another protein snack for afternoon, dinner of lean protein and veggies and perhaps a complex carb and then another snack before bed.  But dang it, cake, wasn't on the list.

I can say that on day 7 (today) I am not grumpy.  I have lost 2.5 lbs but also took measurements and I'm sure some inches around my waist will be gone.  Since I wasn't doing this with the intent to lose weight, I have to keep reminding myself I am reaching my goal of breaking the pull of sugar on my life and that I am succeeding.  If nothing more than reaching a personal goal.

I do have to add, since my experience with cancer, I kind of hate it when sugar is made out to be the devil.  I'll say it here, I do NOT THINK that.  I do not think that by eliminating sugar from my life I will keep cancer away forever. That is God's job!!

 I'm certainly not saying I will never eat sugar again!  Because I will.  I hope to do it in a much more controlled/limited way, though. I'm not even sure I *feel* all that much better.  (You know when people say, "I feel SO much better.")  Honestly, I felt really good and healthy before the cleanse.  But mentally and emotionally I feel amazing that I've been able to tackle this giant in my life. I don't think world peace would come if we all gave up sugar and sang kumbyya.  I just wanted to see if I could do this.  And I can.

Apparently, you can do the cleanse every three months.  I'll probably do it again.  I also might forever have a grudge against my husband- he's on day 4 and has lost 5.5 lbs.  Men.  Sheesh!

We are what we are

We had a family photo shoot the other day.  Why on Pinterest are all the families in co-ordinating outfits, on the beach, smiling, carefree and not pouting, whining or complaining?  Or they are and they are faking waaaayyyy better than we did! 

Obviously, Olivia was cold.  She made no bones about it.  Not so obvious, Steve and I were a bit *annoyed* with each other.  But grown ups can fake it a bit better than 6 year olds. 

And then there was the fight about my daughter wearing a certain hooded jacket that didn't match anything. She won. Oh well.

So guess what?  Our family isn't perfect.  We fight, we throw tantrums.  We pout and complain.  Sometimes we smile for the camera, sometimes we don't. 

But we press on.  We love each other.  We laugh.  We try not to take ourselves too seriously. We are not Pinterest Perfect.  And I kind of like that about us.