At the Moment...

Celebrating... my man's birthday.  He's caught up to me again, for the next 5 1/2 months.

Watching... comments roll in on the little album I posted on Facebook of Nolan.

Loving... the weather this week.  Warm temps, no wind, colored leaves still on the trees, sunshine...

Excitement... went for a cruise in Sean's new ride - he bought a red  97 Cobra Convertible Mustang this week.  We went out after Nolan went to sleep, and left M in charge.  So nice to have that option!  I know most people with babies can't just leave like that, so we appreciate the flexibility she gives us.

Glad... to have Sean back home after being sequestered away on jury duty.  He was at the trial all last week, but was able to come home nights, and we had some nice lunch dates downtown, too.  Monday morning till Tuesday supper they were locked away - felt long.  Felt way longer for him!  He said it was an experience everyone should have.

Looking forward to... soccer season.  Madeline is playing city league this year, which is a big step up from the community association league she has been in.  The preliminary emails have been rolling in, and it should be starting soon.

Wondering... church small groups will be starting soon.  We've said we'll host, so we're wondering who our group will end up including.

Tasting... a nice little treat Sean whipped up.  He had birthday cake at work today, so tomorrow we'll be having DQ ice cream cupcakes (did you know they had such a thing?) and going to the Keg to celebrate on Saturday.  Those should both be tasty, too.

Feeling... lots of little aches and pains.  Nolan is almost 22 lbs, but is still a baby that needs a lot of carrying.  I did get in a long walk yesterday, a good stretch this morning, and a workout in the pool this afternoon (Fit for Two at the Y downtown).  Those all help.  I should do them all more often!

Going... to bed now.  Looking forward to another night without getting up with Nolan!  He's only done one night where we haven't heard a peep from bedtime at 7:30 to 7 am, but most nights this past week he's only woken once and cried just for a minute or two before soothing himself back to sleep.  The last 2 days he's gotten up at 6:15 and 6, though - I'm ready for those 7 am's again!!  Sleep is such a good thing.  We all are enjoying this new phase, and are thankful that training him for this only took a week or so.

Compassion on Pinterest

I'd like to introduce you to our 'other' two kids.

On the left is Damian - he lives way down in the south of Mexico.  On the right is Salomey - she lives in Ghana.  We got this frame with their pictures as a gift from Compassion Canada a few years ago, to celebrate 10 years of sponsorship.

Part of what I did for Compassion's Blog Month was make a new Pinterest board just for Compassion stuff.  Come by and see the stuff I've pinned there!  I wanted to post this shot on there to show how we display our kid's pictures; I would be curious to see how other people display theirs.  

Where do you keep your sponsored kids photos?

Nolan's 8th Month

Just a few shots, as promised, of our favorite little man:

Loves playing the piano.

Seeing M off on the first day of school.

Granny & Papa came to visit!

Bowl and spoon drumming.

Mustangs, iPods, and Jury Duty!

Nolan is 8 months old today!  I will post a little update and some pictures of the awesome little man soon, but today there are too many other bits to share from our week.

 

The week started off with Sean going to the courthouse for Jury selection, and since he was approved by both parties, he's doing his civic duty this week and serving on the jury.  It should go until should go till Friday; with the hours of 10 - 5 and a 1.5 hour lunch, you'd think it would be way cushier than a normal job, but there's a lot to take in and think about, not to mention the pressure of knowing you have to decide someone's fate.  They're not sequestered, so Nolan gets extra Dad time in the morning, and we've had lunch together each day so far.  Sean is finding the whole process pretty interesting, and as a bonus, appreciates our marriage so much more after hearing some of the stuff he's had to listen to.

In other Sean news, he went out last night and bought another Mustang.  It's a 97 cherry red convertible Cobra.  Now he's got one for the road, not just the one that's in the garage being built (slowly) for speed.  We should get it early next week.  Just in time for his birthday.  How convenient.  Now I don't have to buy him anything.

Madeline is a booky girl like her mom, and sometimes that pays off in more ways than just the adventures you go on when reading... When we got home yesterday, there was a message from the library for Madeline letting her know she won the top prize in the summer reading contest draw - an iPod touch!  Her face was pretty funny when she was listening to it; she just bought herself one three weeks ago.  (Can you say ironic?)  It's a white 8gb just like the one she has, so she'll sell it and fill her bank account back up to where it was. 

 

In other M news, she came upstairs tonight after her shower with a round bristle brush completely tangled in her hair.  I'm kicking myself for not grabbing the camera before I helped her out of it.

 

We had our first book club of the year last night; I'll have to post our book list for all you bibliophiles out there.  One of the things that's great about our group is that everyone brings a snack every time.  You might think it's overkill, but no.  It's great.  There's usually something inspired by the book, too; last night it was Lisa bringing a platter of grapes and other fruit a la Grapes of Wrath.  Well done, Lisa.  Last night was the first time I left Nolan at home, too.

 

Wishing you a great week, whether it's a normal one or not!

Meatloaf & Liver

A few months ago we were sitting around the dinner table, talking about food and why we never eat certain things, and we decided that we would find some well-ranked recipes and try out a couple of things that we never make.  How adventurous of us, hey?

I made a meatloaf last month, and for a funny twist, we just happened to have company over.  The supper was already in the works, and since Holly was dropping off M around 5, I invited her and David to join us - giving them fair warning of what I was making, of course!  They were happy to be guinea pigs with us, and we all decided that it wasn't too bad.  It wasn't going to make it onto our monthly menu, but it could be an every-six-months kind of a meal.

Tonight was our liver night.  We put it on the menu and knew it was coming; the onions were sauteed and smothering the lightly breaded meat, and we all took the first bite together... and for both M and Sean, the first bite was also the last.  I ate my whole piece, but it may be my last for a very long time, since it won't be made in this house for another, oh, say, decade or so...

An Open Letter to God...

Dear Jesus,

I thank you for the people who provide opportunities that bridge the gap between people who have needs and people who have resources.  Thank you that because of them, I have the opportunity to make a difference.  Thank you that there are so many little ones around the world who are being fed, clothed, educated and kept healthy - in your name -  and being introduced to you, the one who makes all the difference.

I thank you for Salomey and Damian.  Even though I was not the one getting up nights with them when they were little, and I'm not the one making their meals or tucking them in, it does feel like we are family.  Just as M's teachers, coaches, camp cabin leaders, and church youth leaders play an important role in her life, it is very cool to know that we do provide supports that shapes our sponsored children.  My deepest prayer for them, Lord, is that they'd know you truly and love you deeply.  May their faith influence their families and their communities.

Bless those who work in the Compassion projects.  Give them wisdom and patience and the ability to spread your love to each child and their families.

Amen.

If you'd like to check out how you could have a relationship like this, visit here.

A Silver Lining

In the spring, I was approached by someone who had seen my magic bags on Used Regina or Kijiji, asking if I would like to come and have a table at their vendor's market.  I planned to do that, but it ended up being cancelled.  So when she let me know it would be on again in September, in conjunction with the town fall festival, I started sewing again...

It was the worst sale I've ever been in.  Nobody came!  My guess is too many events scheduled for the day, and all the other stuff was more fun.  I sold a grand total of one item: a set of magnets for $2.  (I took magnets and poppycock to sell along with the bags.)

When I went to our credit union before hand to get a float for the sale, the friendly teller asked about it, and wanted me to bring a bag by for her; when I went to return the unused rolls of coin yesterday, I took her a few samples.  Later that afternoon, she called, asking me to bring more samples, because lots of the staff were interested and wanted to see some of the other fabrics...  So the ladies at the bank are going to make it worth my while to have gone to that sale.  Nice!

In the last two weeks, I have had three other orders for bags.  Word of mouth is a wonderful thing!  I've got the shop updated with all my current fabrics (and you'll notice that I've upped the price to $15.  Don't worry, I've still got my friends and family rate!) I'll post them here for you, too:

The Dad Collection (Dark, Argyle)

The Colors Collection (top: Yellow, Sky, Green bottom: Indigo, Purple, Teal)

The Fun Collection (Blue or Green Chevron, Frogs, Chickies)

The Red Collection (Strips, Dots, Flowers, Strips & Dots)

Jesus Loves the Little Children...

...all the children of the world;
Red and Yellow, Black and White,
They are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world!

Remember that one?  I was thinking about Compassion tonight, and how I can tell you more about them, and those smiling faces made that song pop into my head.  Would you like to see some of the beautiful children that are a part of Compassion's projects?  This link will take you there.

I remember one time a few years ago visiting that page and seeing those children...  I had been reading a blog where the writer mentioned that she often visited the page of children waiting for sponsors to pray for them, and I thought it was a great idea. I wish the numbers in my bank account let me sponsor dozens of children; even though that's not a reality, it costs me nothing to pray for them!

I especially like to look for children who share our birthdays, and I like to pray for the ones that have been waiting longest for a sponsor.  It was doing this one time that led us to Salomey, the girl we sponsor from Ghana.  She and Madeline were born not only on the same day, but the same year. 

Perhaps you might go for a visit?  Find a child with your birthday and pray for them?  I'm headed over there now, and I've got that song stuck in my head.  Red and Yellow, Black and White...

Edited to add:
If you click here, you'll see the 9 children who share my birthday !  Hmm... and it's got me thinking - I turn 40 next year in March - the best birthday gift ever would be to have 40 children sponsored.  All the kids that share my birthday?  (First I would pick Moses, because he's from Kenya, which holds a special place in my heart because I've been there, and because he lives in an AIDS-affected area, and an area with a higher risk of exploitation and abuse, and because he has lost one or both of his parents...)

A Word Challenge

We have a 'rule' in our house.  It started this year at Lent when I challenged M to join me in reading the Bible before we read anything else each day, and has stuck as a good principle to gently enforce.  It's become new again this week as she has a new iPod with a Bible app; she changes translations, listens to it read, and generally is happy to have another excuse to use her new technology each day.  She subscribes to a plan on the app that gives her a reading each day, but I have also challenged her to keep track of what she's read with the goal of reading the entire thing.

I printed off a super simple Bible reading chart for her that she promptly lost when she was giving her room a deep clean.  I'm printing off another one today and I wanted to share it here for you, and may I challenge you to the same thing?  So many people have read some of the Bible, some have even read lots, but haven't ever tackled the whole thing.  Our churches and families do not push this as mandatory, which I agree with, but I do believe that as believers, we should want to know what it says.  The best way to know it is to read it all, then read it again, and again and never stop.  In my life I've switched up often how I do it - front to back, chronologically, with all the books on slips of paper in a jar and pulled out randomly...  There is no right way to read it, and the only wrong one I can think of is to just not read it!

How do you encourage your kids to read the Bible?  Have you ever finished the whole thing?

Sleep Training Update

Have I ever mentioned that my baby is an excellent baby?  I think he's pretty awesome.

He also does the opposite of what I think he will, and if I say something, I jinx it.  Even if I'm just thinking something - like, "He's doing so well on this drive!" - he'll go and change and do the opposite.  It's mostly pretty funny.

So when he was getting up four times a night and I wrote the post about thinking about sleep training?  That night he only woke once.  Just to mess with me, I'm sure.

But I did make my way through one book yesterday, and while so much of it is common sense, there is lots too, that you just don't think about until you make the effort to look into it.  Here's a few highlights of what 'THEY' say:

• Have a routine for bedtime.  We do - around 7 he gets a bath, into his jammies, we play a little more, then I'd nurse him and he'd fall asleep. 
• Have a routine for naptime.  Hmmm...
• Naptimes are important to do at home in his crib.  (Especially while training him to fall asleep on his own.)  Lots of the time he would fall asleep in the stroller or carseat while we were out; when he got tired at home I would nurse him or rock him to sleep.
• Babies need to go into their crib awake; the whole point of sleep training is to teach them how to fall asleep on their own - once they master this we can get a little more flexible in our schedule again.  I knew this, but haven't decided that it was something we needed to tackle, until now.  And I did put him in his crib awake some bedtimes and when we were home at naptime, but I was just introducing the idea to him, and would still help him get to sleep.
• Take away the props - nursing, rocking, stroller, carseat, soother; and introduce the favorites - the blankie or the stuffed animal that he can use to help himself fall asleep.  I had started to give him one 'stuffie' at bedtime; now I'm more intentional about it.

So while closer to a weekend is better for letting him cry it out at night (less sleep deprivation for Sean at work), I figured I could still start some of these things with his naps.  Yesterday's first nap saw a new routine: clean diaper, nurse, story, light off, hold him for a lullaby, then into his crib.  "It's sleepy time..."  He cried for almost an hour, with me going in periodically to put him back down, sometimes to pick up and calm down for a minute.  His second nap he cried for 40 minutes.

Bedtime?  10 minutes.  Today's naps?  Two minutes this morning, three this afternoon.  This kid rocks!!  So glad he picked up on how to put himself to sleep so quickly.  In another day or two we'll have to address the nighttime wakings - it might be time to stop all nighttime feeds and just let us all sleep all the way through.  Hopefully he's got the skills now so that when I don't go in when he wakes up at night, he will just go back to sleep.  (Did I just jinx it???)

Blogging for Compassion

I have written lots of times before about our connection with Compassion, the organization we sponsor children through.  (The post where I tell about all our kids is here.)  I signed up a while ago to become a compassion blogger, because I believe so strongly in what they're doing and how they're doing it.  Every once in a while they send me topics to blog about, and sometimes, if I can write something interesting, then I have.  I'm not a pushy about anything, though (I would be the worst sales person ever), so writing to tell you that you should sponsor a child - I probably just wouldn't do it.  I couldn't tell anyone that they should do anything.  Except my 13 year old - that's a whole different story!!  That's in my job description as Mom.

I got an email the other day from Compassion International, saying that September is Blog Month.  They are focusing on getting more children sponsored via the internet than any previous September.  So you may see a few more posts here with a Compassion theme - I'm on board to help with that goal.  I do think they do a fantastic job with the whole sponsorship thing, and would love to see some kids sponsored because I took the time to make you aware of the need. 

I have to tell you that in thinking through this stay-at-home-mom job I've taken on, I did consider becoming an Advocate with Compassion.  There doesn't seem to be many events to help out at, though, and I didn't like the idea of having a stack of child packets that I was responsible for finding sponsors for.... because of that not-selling-things thing.  So I'll write a bit on their behalf, instead, and wear the Compassion Blogger badge with pride.

(Click here to see all of my posts about Compassion.)

Commenting to Save Lives

I followed a link on Twitter today to a blog that was part of something called the Shot@Life Relay.

Turns out Shot@Life is part of the United Nations Foundation, and is a "movement to protect children worldwide by providing life-saving vaccines where they are most needed."  In August (Blogust), 30 bloggers are writing posts and each comment left on those posts makes $20.  Twenty bucks.  That covers vaccinations for the 4 deadliest diseases for one child.  One comment = one kid protected.  Pretty sweet deal.  I've been reading blogs and commenting since Nolan went to bed, even though I planned to blog about something else.  Oh, well, I can't remember what that was, anyway.

Check out Shot@Life to see all the bloggers participating, visit one (or all of them!) and leave a comment!

Sleep Training

Nolan, with teething and learning to crawl, has been getting up twice as often at night these last couple of weeks.  Two times was doable; four is a bit much.  So we're starting to talk about training this little one to sleep through the night.  Sigh.  The end result sounds great, but the process sounds painful.

Any stories?  What worked for you and your child?  What do you recommend?

Seven Months Old

Nolan pushed through tooth #4 yesterday.  That's two at 4 months, two at 7 months... I don't think we'll be waiting another 3 months for the next ones!  He has been balancing like crazy this week, and even has been taking a step - once even two steps.  He's playing the "I need my mommy" game sometimes, like in the church nursery...  He cries every time he goes in the carseat, but just for a minute and then he's ok.  We just went through his clothes today, putting the too-small stuff in a giveaway pile and pulling out a few more things from his shower gifts and hand me downs.

And here he is:

Fame and a Hero

Our favorite branch of the Regina Public Library had for lease signs in its windows last fall.  It eventually closed, opened in a small temporary space, and today, opened the doors to it's brand new facility.  It opened at 1 pm, but I knew Nolan would be sleeping then and that M would want to go too, so we waited and went after we picked her up from basketball camp.

While we were there, a guy with a CTV camera was roaming around - I saw him look at us and made my way to the far side of the library... and around the stack he came and asked if he could take a shot of us browsing.  I do have a cute baby, so I said sure, and we were on the news tonight checking out the baby board books!  At least four people saw it - I think that makes us famous.  Glad I wore makeup today, for the second time in a month!

The hero of the day is Sean.  Yesterday he discovered a virus on our computer and spent all last night and again tonight fighting it - and he recovered all our pictures and documents that we thought were gone for good!!  I'm glad I'm as caught up as I am with my album - there would only have been a week or two with no photos.  Still, it's so great to have all those other ones back!

Whew...

Madeline is off at Basketball camp, Nolan is sleeping, and there are no Olympics on to distract me, so grab a coffee and come in for a chat!  I wish you were here in person; this is a pretty one sided chat...

M is at the U of R this week for a bball camp; it runs 9 - 3:30, and she enjoyed the first day.  I don't think they were run as hard as we were expecting / hoping...  She should learn some good skills this week though, from some high quality athletes - I'm hoping her school season shows improvement this year because of it.  In her last two years playing, her team has won one game.  With M being one of the oldest players, they'll be looking to her for leadership and points whether she likes it or not!  Her big sports dilemma lately has been whether to play city basketball or city soccer this year, as opposed to just school bball or instead of community soccer.  She would prefer soccer because that is her favorite sport, but thinks that there is more of a future for her in basketball, with school sports and scholarships.  (I just looked, though, and I think the high school she's going to has soccer, as does the UofR if that's where she ends up.)  I'm glad she's taking more of an interest in athletics, and hope it's something she can enjoy for a long time.

She had a big babysitting job last weekend - she and a friend were recommended by their grade 5 teacher and sat at a hotel for the kids of 3 out of town sisters while the parents were at a wedding reception in the hotel.  She's got another babysitting job this weekend - it's not her favorite thing to do, but she likes the money! She'll be helping out with VBS at our church next week, too, and enjoys going to junior youth on Wednesday afternoons.  She enjoyed it more when there were older kids around; now that they are the older ones, it feels a little young for her.  We had a good discussion about following and leading and how it's important to still go so the younger ones have someone to watch...  One more year, then she'll be the young one again - grade 9 - high school!!

Nolan is a big boy now, with a third tooth as of yesterday.  He is a week away from seven months, and weighs in at 21 lbs.  He's crawling, starting to climb, loves to pull up to standing, and to walk around holding our fingers.  He naps three times a day still, but usually short ones in the morning / late afternoon, and a longer one mid day.  We're feeding him all kinds of foods, and he seems to enjoy it all.  He's not that great with the baby cookies or baby rice crackers yet - he prefers to chomp and swallow rather than gumming it till it's soft enough, so we'll wait a bit longer for those.  He's active and loud, with growls, screeches and flexing his whole body; it can be pretty entertaining as well as tiring!

And that's all I know - how my kids are doing - that's my whole world it seems.  It's not a bad life.  We don't have any more plans for the rest of the summer, other than finishing the back to school shopping.  The mornings are a bit cooler now, but I'm reassuring myself that there's still lots of time for eating out in the back yard and going for ice cream.  M got a Ladder Golf game for her birthday (aka Mexican Golf, Bolo Ball...), and we had that up the other day for some good fun.  (Thanks, Mom!) 

Off to see if there's anything else on my to-do list that needs to be done during nap time...

Party

Today we had M's birthday party.  I've been wrestling with photos for an hour and need to get to bed, so you're going to have to see these ones sideways till I can get back to this.

It was a costume party, and I made up skit bags - each bag had 4 different props that they had to incorporate into a skit.  They had some good fun.  M wore my old basketball uniform.

Mackenzie had the best costume - a peacock!  They did her hair on the weekend, so she made the costume to match.

We found this for Nolan yesterday - so cute.

The other thing they did was a repeat of last year's party - decorating cupcakes.  They did two each - one to have here and one to take home.

Thirteen Years Ago - A Baby Story

Thirteen years ago, on July 24, at 2:37 pm, I was whispering "Hello!" to this little beauty:

She was due on Thursday, but her Daddy was working at camp until Friday at 5, so she waited until he was home; contractions started Friday about 7.  We went down to Memorial Park by the Legislative Buildings, and in the shadow of the Golden Boy we had samples at Taste of Manitoba, greeting people we knew, keeping an eye on our watches and our secret to ourselves.

Home again, we put sheets in the crib, the hospital bag by the door, and started playing cards.  At one in the morning, we figured the contractions were close enough to go in, and the long route all the way across town was empty and quick.  Once there, we were told 1 cm - we could go home to wait or just stay there... easy choice!  We were shown to our room and had a pretty good night's sleep; nice to not be wondering if and when.  The rooms at the Victoria General Hospital at the time were all-in-one: delivery & recovery; no moving around at all.  I was ready for some pain management at 7:30 am when they came in to check on us, and things progressed from there - no epidural, as they were 'using it down the hall' - so 7 hours later, with just laughing gas, she made her appearance.

It was a warm summer day and our doctor was wearing her volunteer shirt for the Pan Am Games that were being held in Winnipeg at the time.  All that dark fuzzy hair... it all fell out and she turned into a blond.  She was 9 lbs, 12 oz, and amazing.

This is her today - taller than her mom, and still amazing.  Love you, my first baby.

The Quality of the Fruit

We heard a great sermon on Sunday.  Our church is blessed to have Ken Thiessen (an author, consultant, former pastor and area minister) as a part of our congregation, and he occasionally takes the mic when the pastors are away.

He spoke about counterfeit things, and how you can tell if something's real.  Products can be fake (Riders and Jets jerseys in Mexico?), but people also can put on a false front.  The test is to look at the fruit - you can identify a tree by its fruit, and you can identify people by their actions.

I claim to be a Christian - but how is the quality of the fruit in my life?  My actions flow out of my inner character, and prove or disprove what I claim.  The 'Fruit of the Spirit' are listed in Galatians 5:22 & 23:  

  
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law. 

The fruit of the Spirit - it is the Holy Spirit that produces these fruit:
* this means that the Holy Spirit must be present in me, &
* this means that it is impossible to manufacture these apart from the Holy Spirit - I can't do it on my own.

So how do I test the fruit?  There is no magic formula or checklist, but an honest self examination will reveal the quality of these characteristics in my life.  I drove my daughter out to camp yesterday, and had a great hour long drive home in silence - time to think through the list and reflect.  Honestly, there are a lot of areas I would like to see an improvement in... and since I can't make them grow, I will focus on providing a good climate for growth.  Just as plants need good soil, light and water, I need to soak myself in the word, feed on Jesus, the bread of life, worship, and be thankful and pray in all circumstances.  That's off the top of my head - I'm curious what YOU do to provide yourself with an optimal circumstances for growth.  Leave a comment for us?


So thanks, Ken, for the thought provoking message - I hope many others will take the time for reflection this week, too.  (You can hear the whole message if you go to the church website, select Worship, then Messages onDemand - it wasn't up yet this morning, but should be soon.)


And because a reminder is always a great thing, I searched 'Fruit of the Spirit' on Pinterest... might find a nice print to put up in the house on there!


I also posted along these lines on As the Bus Goes By - Prayers for my Children.

Mexican Golf

In a roundabout way, a game of Mexican Golf ended up being the highlight of the family get-together last weekend.

Games were played, then one of the kids got one of the bolos (ropes with a ball at either end) wrapped around the power line up overhead.

Much of the rest of the evening was spent throwing balls at the balls to get them down.  Great spectator event with lots of laughs.