Barry Manilow on my mind...

It's not terribly uncommon for there to be a
Barry Manilow song in my head.
I'll admit it, I'm a Fanilow.

But there's a reason why there's a Barry Manilow song
in my head 24/7 right now.

"Time in New England
Took me away
To long, rocky beaches
And you, by the bay..."

Bill and I recently had the opportunity to go to Cape Cod
for a wedding he was officiating.
I have always wanted to go there and the Cape did not disappoint.
Even though it rained much of the time we were there,
it is a beautiful place.
And it has fun fringe benefits such as lobster
and New England clam chowder.
A highlight was the people we got to spend time with in the wedding party
as well as a high school friend who lives there.
I am now a big fan of destination weddings.
I hope any of you reading this who are unmarried will have one in a
really fabulous place and invite me.

An ongoing struggle was trying to get a picture of us on this little getaway.
I sort of had a problem
with figuring out the zoom on my camera. See for yourself...

He's cute alright, but not what I was going for

at least I'm in this one...somewhat
(my, what big pores you have)


I finally got enough sense to give someone else the camera!

Dear Cesar Millan,

I have a friend who has a dog that has "issues". This friend, we'll call her "Missy", went out of town with her family. While they were gone the dog, we'll call her "Ruby", went on a hunger strike. She also had diarrhea all over the bathroom floor (if only she had made it to the toliet in time!). This poor dogsitter, we'll call her "I'll never want to dogsit for you again", had to clean up the mess and called them with concerns for their poor dogs health. I think "Ruby" was nervous because they went out of town and she didn't have the mistreatment she was used to from their youngest child, we'll call him "Jack". What do you think, dear dog whisperer?

But wait, there's more...after these friends returned home and gave her the love and mistreatment she had been missing there was another incident. "Missy's" husband awoke to find excretement covering the living room floor ("Missy" is really thankful not to be an early riser in such situations). Could this be residual nervousness complicated by loose bowels or is this, as my friends husband suggests, a way for this "Ruby" to spite them for leaving?

As you can see, my friend has enough dysfunction in her family to even trickle down to her pet. Can you help or should I be writing Dr. Phil on her behalf?

Sincerely,
A concerned friend

I know she doesn't look spiteful, but don't let those puppy dog eyes deceive you.
"Missy" has the stained carpet to prove it.

Can you feel the love?

Driving home from school earlier this week in the ever-so-sexy dented mini-van, the scene went like this...

Me: I missed you guys today!

Tate: I missed you too, Mom.

Em: I didn't really miss you.

Jack: I didn't miss you because I forgot about you.

Ouch. I tell them that I want them to be honest, but not that honest!

Enthroned

Two years ago we were at the hospital while I miscarried our 10 week old baby, Baby Cali.
The pregnancy had been a surprise.
I love surprises.
I remember sitting in the hospital the next day, sad and alone.
The longing to have and know my child was almost more than I could bear.
God led me to Psalm 113.

v5Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
v6who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
v9He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.
Praise the LORD.

With 3 children at home, I didn't know the pain of being truly barren.
But my empty womb was barren that day when before it
had been full. Full of the promise of new life.

The promise God gave me that day is that He sits enthroned on high.
He was enthroned when we conceived. He was enthroned when the
ultrasound revealed that the baby had died. He was enthroned as I sat in
a hospital bed alone with my longing.

And He is enthroned now as I sit with another longing.
A longing to adopt that has been 5 years in the making.
Our miscarriage was a part of this process as,
after a time of grieving our loss,
we really sought the Lord about the best way to grow our family.

Adopting a child does not "replace" the one we lost.
You replace batteries, not people.
But as we walk this journey, with longing and hope,
I want to remember that there is One who sits enthroned on high.
I'm glad I know Him.

Actually, it IS easy being green

Though green is my favorite color, I ashamed to admit I haven't been very environmentally conscious in my life. We didn't recycle regularly, used disposable diapers, and I don't have the first clue when earth day is. But something has come along to change all that and that is accessories. As soon as cute bags became a "necessity" in being green, I was all over it. That I can justify my purchase of tote bags by saying I'm saving the earth is a beautiful concept. So, though I may have gotten to this place of environmental consciousness through the back door of fashion, at least I got there, right?

Some of my inspiration

We even recycle now, too!

As for disposable diapers, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Although, I have been inspired by a fellow blogger to consider cloth diapers and, well, they are really cute. I wish I wasn't this shallow, but I just am. Remember...green is the new black!

I will survive

I survived the first day of school. Thankfully I had a morning meeting that kept me from lying on the floor in the fetal position drowning my sorrows in Barry Manilow songs. The second day I used Target as a coping mechanism. I must say it was nice to be a little lonely while wondering the aisles. But, I miss my kids!

My big fifth grader...his last year in Elementary school (sniffle). He was the most nervous of all of them, my responsible first born. On the second day when we were done with breakfast and ready to go with 15 minutes to spare he said, "Wow, Mom, we're doing really good this year!"
Of course, it was only day two.
I'm counting on his responsibility to help me get out the door
on time this year.

The Divine Miss Em is off to second grade. It's hard to imagine a child
loving school more than she does. This year she and her best friend
get to be in the same class...yippie!

My big Kindergartner. I sobbed as he headed off into the school.
He didn't even look back. On the second day a Para said, "He sure has a lot of
energy!" Guess everyone is getting to know him around there already.

I will survive without my kids here with me.
I want to embrace each stage of life we are in.
When they are all home and fighting, I think what I want is a quiet house.
It sure is quiet now. But all I can think about is that it's only
an hour and 23 minutes until the noise returns. I can't wait!
And hopefully, in a year or so, I'll have another pal with me all day again.

So long summer!

We spent our last day of summer out at my parents lake cabin. I love that my kids are getting to make memories at the same place that so many of my childhood memories are from. As the years have gone by, I have gone in the water less and less due to the fact that I came to this adult realization: I am swimming where ducks and fish poop.

Have fun kids...but keep your mouths closed!

Check out his "I own this lake" stance. Let's hope he doesn't pull this out on the playground!