Vegas and God

Last week Cole and I went with another couple (Pat and Michelle) to Las Vegas to celebrate her 40th birthday. It's not the first place I'd pick to go, but it's where she wanted to go and we knew we'd have fun. I was looking forward to the 4 of us spending time together, without kids. I was also looking forward to being a grown up for a while. It was my 3rd time going, and I think it was my favorite. I was not shocked by the city and barely noticed the bad parts. We enjoyed ourselves as friends. There was something funny that kept happening though. I get a bible verse on my phone every weekday morning and sometimes they are relevant to my day, sometimes not. I know that God is with me all of the time, but sometimes I forget. It's hard to imagine that He is in Vegas/Sin City, but I know He is. This is what He did to keep me laughing and focused on Him...

Monday morning was our first morning there. Sunday had been very hot and sunny, and I woke up Monday thinking about how we were going to stay in the shade and that we needed to go buy a bunch of water. This was the verse I got that morning...

The Lord will guide you always, he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land. Isaiah 58:11

I laughed and shared it with everyone. I was so tickled that God cared enough to remind me that he was with us, even in hot and sunny Vegas!

Tuesday morning I woke up not feeling that great. We had stayed out late on Monday and had a couple too many lemon drops. It wasn't terrible, but I could have felt better. I seemed to have lost the verse from that day, but it was something about how He will always be there and care for us, no matter what, and that we were not forsaken. I was glad to know that He hadn't forgotten about us, despite the fact that we were in what many perceive as a "God forsaken land".

Wednesday morning we packed up and headed out. Even though we all had fun, we were happy to be headed home. As we were sitting in the airport shuttle, pulling away from the curb, this is what came over on my phone...

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us in to the kingdom of the Son. Colossians 1:13

Oh the joy of knowing that He was with us the whole time!

Is your hand in His?

I heard an interesting story on the radio tonight while driving home from work. It was about a little boy who wanted to hear a certain preacher preach. The boy was dirty and homeless and the preacher was talking way across town. The boy wanted to see him so bad that he did everything he could to get across town. Finally, after a lot of hard work and tirals, he made it across town to the church that the preacher was at. He ran up the steps only to find a man there, beside a closed door. The man asked the boy what he was doing there. The boy told him that he had come very far and worked very hard to see the preacher preach. The man told him that he was much too dirty and would not be allowed in. The boy walked away and looked around for another way in. The windows were all too high and there weren't any other doors. He went back to the front steps, sat down, and cried. Soon, a big car drove up and out stepped a man with a top hat and large hands. The man asked the boy why he was crying and the boy explained that he had come so far and worked so hard to see the preacher, but was not allowed in-even after trying so hard. The man put his big hand out and said, "Put your hand in mine." The boy did without question, and they walked toward the previously closed door. The door was flung open wide and they were permitted in. They walked all the way to the front where the man with the big hands had the boy sit in the front pew. Then, the man walked to the pulpit and started to preach. He was the preacher the boy was coming to see!

This is a beautiful illustration of Heaven and how to get there. You can't get there by trying hard, or your good works. You can only get there by placing your trust in Jesus. He will walk you in. Is your hand in His???

Toddler concentration

I was doing some picking up while Justin and I were home with Gavin at preschool. Justin got the box of games that Gavin and I play from. It has bingo, tick tack toe, dominoes and some others. Gavin and I play with them at the table before Justin gets up from his nap. Anyway, Justin got the box and said, "Play table." He wanted to sit right where Gavin sits and play the games with me. He's 2 and really won't get most of them, but I sat down with him and we decided to play with the dominoes. We made a train and some towers, and had a fun time together. My favorite part was just looking at Justin and watching him think and work. I spent some time thanking God for him and basking in the peace. These pictures don't begin to capture what I saw as I was sitting there, but they are close enough. Little kids concentrating are just so cute! The last one was of him asking me to stop taking pictures.

Signs that he's growing

Gavin has had a tooth that has been hurting him for a while. I looked at it and touched it and realized that it was loose. I didn't tell him to see if he would figure it out on his own. This was a month or more ago. Since then he has stopped eating bagels, apples and carrots. He doesn't complain or question his tooth. It just is. So yesterday I looked at it again and mentioned that maybe it was getting loose. Gavin's face lit up so bright! He got really excited that the tooth fairy would be coming soon. Since then he will spontaneously break in to a dance and laughing because his tooth is loose. He can't wiggle it with his tongue because, "My tongue is too slimy" but can move it with his fingers. He doesn't like to move it though because it is sore. I remember when I was bummed that he was getting teeth because I loved his toothless baby smile. Now he's loosing those very teeth. I swear that was last week!

I'm so impressed with the person that he's turning in to. Such a wonderful son to have. Recently we tried a new church. I was almost sick with all the butterflies about how the kids were going to do in the nursery. Gavin didn't want to go and Justin had no idea what we were doing. After signing them up and talking to Gavin, we walked him to his area. I mouthed to the workers that they may have to hold him while he cried (he's 5 and that would not be easy), but he walked in to the area on his own. He was not happy about it, but he didn't cry! I was so impressed that I almost lost it and started crying myself. When I handed Justin over he had caught on and was saying, "Mama come too. Mama come too." He cried, but we expected that. Apparently he cried for a bit and was then very cautious. He perked up and was happy after a cookie :-) They both did well and had positive things to say. Gavin didn't want to go back unless he gets to play on the slide the whole time, but too bad buddy, we went again and all went well (with a little crying from Justin). Gavin said that he wants to ride the church bus next week. They have shuttles from remote lots and we'll give them a try.

My boys are so awesome! They are very different and I love it. They have taught me the value of silence and that patience is always the right choice. They are growing so fast!

I hope he gets it eventually

One of the things that my mom used to tell us was that there is no trying. You either do it or you don't. It drove me crazy when she told us this. She would demonstrate by asking us to make a fist. Either we did or we didn't. There was no in-between. I still don't totally believe in that and I think there are circumstances where something is a "try" and not a failure. I think she would agree, but sometimes you need to be black and white with kids. Even though I don't totally agree, it causes me to think and I certainly learned from her teachings.

Lately, I've been talking with Gavin about how there are times when he chooses how he feels. Or, actually, he chooses what to do with the feelings he has. When I ask him to pick up the toys and he misses part of Sesame Street because he was dilly dallying, he says that I made him angry. Well, he may be angry because of the consequence of his dilly dallying, but in his eyes it's because I asked him to pick up. In that moment, it's ok to feel the anger, but he can decide how to act. That just makes him madder. I have the feeling that this will be one of those things that he remembers as an adult. Just like I remember the trying thing with my mom.

My struggle is to model the behavior that I am preaching! I don't always demonstrate the best choice when it comes to my frustration. When I let it take over, I do take time to talk to Gavin later about how I could have acted differently and that it's normal to feel the emotion, but we need to continually work to display it in a way that won't hurt others. I hope that when he looks back and remembers the things that I told him that drove him crazy, he'll also realize that he learned something from them. He doesn't have to completely agree with what I'm trying to teach, but at least he'll have something to ponder.

The first hour I was awake

Keep in mind that preschool drop off is between 9 and 9:10, and we generally leave the house at around 8:30 or 8:40 to hit that window...

We had a fun, but very long weekend over Thanksgiving. It included 2 work evenings and 2 big dinners with an overnight at my mom's in there too. We had fun, but were beat. I worked last night and went to bed at around 11pm. Cole left this morning at 6. I had high hopes of getting up then to have a little time before the kids got up at 7, but I quickly fell back to sleep. That is typical for me and Gavin is usually out of bed between 7 and 7:30 and will wake me up.

I opened my eyes to a clock that read 8:29! Gavin was still sleeping and I couldn't hear much from Justin's room either. I thought about skipping preschool since it was time to leave and I was still in bed, but I made the decision to see if we could make it. I put my contacts in and woke up Gavin. He was not sick (like I thought he might since he slept so long) and he was pretty resistant to getting up and dressed so fast. I gently told him that if he didn't get dressed right now, we would not make it to school. I ran in and got dressed myself and he actually finished before me. We went in to get Justin and while I was dressing him, Gavin got his show and tell item and loaded his backpack. I put some waffles in the toaster and went outside to put the car seats in the car. The kids got all buckled in and I still had to wait a minute or so on the waffles! I smeared a little peanut butter on them and we left for school. I got up at 8:29 and drove out of the driveway with dressed and eating kids at 8:46! I couldn't have done it without my amazing Gavin. I did forget his jacket though, so I hope he does ok when they go outside today.

We dropped him off and ran to Fred Meyer. I had remembered my list, but not my coupons. Oh well. We picked up a few things and were going to go back home. Justin had asked for a doughnut, but I forgot about it. I was putting the last bag in the car when he started to dance in the seat of the car cart, getting all excited about his doughnut. I felt really bad that I had forgotten it when I heard him start to scream and cry. I looked over and the cart was rolling backward in to the parking lot. He was so terrified! Of course I ran and caught it, but we were both scared for sure.

We left Fred Meyer 1 hour after I got out of bed. What a crazy morning! Now, I'm enjoying a little coffee and a quick sit down before I pack up an item to ship to an ebay buyer and head back out to pick up Gavin. I am also taking a moment to thank God for his work in our morning. The potential was there for several disasters and He took care of us. He never ceases to amaze me :-)

no NO NOOOOOO!

I lost Justin's Fuzzy Blankie! He has 2 blankets. One from Target (that I have a duplicate of) and one from someone at my mom's work. The second one is pretty small and crocheted from this pastel, very fuzzy yarn. When he wants Blankie, he wants both of them. We put the small fuzzy one on his little pillow in bed. We were shopping in Fred Meyer today and he had both of them tucked in next to him in the cart. We got all through the checkstand and out to the car before I realized that Fuzzy Blankie was missing. I remember when he was letting it drop and I gave it back twice. Typically, if he's playing that game, I'll put it in my bag until he's ready to hold it, instead of dropping it. I don't remember seeing Blankie after he dropped it twice. We walked all through the store and weren't able to find it. I left my information with Customer Service and we're hoping that someone turns it in.

When I put him down for his nap, I found another blanket that was much bigger, but was also fuzzy. He was ok with it, but I know he would prefer his friend back.

On the drive in to town this morning, I was thinking about Fuzzy Blankie and wondering what would happen if it became unraveled or otherwise broken. I thought that I could probably crochet one for him if that ever happened. I've never thought about it before and it sure is funny that I thought about it just an hour before Blankie went missing. God sure makes me laugh sometimes! Ha ha.

So, when Cole gets home, I'm headed back out to buy some yarn and will be digging out my "How to Crochet" book this evening. Not exactly how I planned to spend the evening, but that's ok. Anything for my boys huh? Thank goodness I don't have to work today.

After Fred Meyer, we still needed to go to Safeway, but didn't have enough time. My trip this evening will then include Safeway too. I'm actually excited to do a little grocery shopping by myself. :-)

Justin's check up

I know you've all been waiting, so here it is. A review of our day at Children's yesterday...

I had a couple of ultrasounds at the end of my pregnancy with Justin and they revealed some abnormalities with his kidneys. By the time he was 2 months old, he had undergone a couple of tests and was diagnosed with Vesicoureteral Reflux. Yesterday, we went for some check up tests... http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/Kudiseases/pubs/vesicoureteralreflux/

Justin and I drove down to Children's and got there an hour before his first appointment. We got all checked in and hung out in the Radiology waiting room. He played and I worried. My only worry for the day (and for the many days leading up to yesterday) was how he was going to respond to one of his exams. He went for his Ultrasound and did fine. He wouldn't look at me at first, but after a couple of minutes he was talking about the cartoon that was on the TV. Then we went for the VCUG. He had one at 2 months old, but I knew that at that time, he would not be able to associate me with the discomfort of the test. This time I knew would be different.

When we got in to the x-ray room, I got him naked and put a little hospital gown on him (so cute by the way!). I sat him on the table and put him on his back. He was cooperative, but apprehensive. They moved the x-ray camera to situate it over his abdomen, but it was so big that it pretty much hovered over his neck down to his upper legs. It came down to about 6-8" above him. That's what freaked him out. It was moving on it's own, and coming straight down n him. It didn't touch him, but he was shaking with fear :-( I was holding on to his arms (which he never fought-even once) and had my face touching his face the whole time. I never lifted my head from his. I talked to him and offered to hold my hand over his eyes. He was so sweet and really seemed comforted by my very close proximity. He liked having Blankie over his face too. They put the catheter in and he didn't seem to really notice. He flinched, but didn't cry. Near the end of the test we had to wait for him to urinate (the catheter was out). I asked him to do it and he was able to go, many times. His bladder was quite full and I'm sure it was a relief to get that stuff out. They were doing the continuous x-ray the whole time. I think that I was hugging his head and almost smothering him for at least 20 min. My shoulders and back are sore, but it was worth it to be such a support for him. So, my fear of him associating me with the pain and fear of the test was turned in to gratitude that I could be his strength. I hope that in his subconscious he sees me as his comfort during a very scary time.

As for the test results, they were neutral to me. His left kidney was at a grade 3 last time, and now has no signs of reflux! Reflux is graded 1-5, with 5 being the most severe. That kidney is growing well and is probably doing most of the work. The right kidney is at a grade 4-5 and was a 5 last time. It has barely grown at all and the doctor thinks that it really doesn't do much work at all.

During the past 2 years Justin was supposed to be on daily antibiotics to prevent any urinary tract infections. He was on them for a while, but I ended up stopping them without talking to the doctor. I would never advise going against the doctor's instruction, by the way! When I told him that I had stopped, I was surprised at his response. He said that there is a "small minority" of doctors that are trying the no antibiotic approach! That made me feel a little less like a non-compliant parent. Justin has never had a urinary tract infection or any unexplained fevers and has been completely normal. He is heading in to a period where he will be potty training soon though. Typically, when kids potty train, they are at higher risk of infection because they tend to hold their urine too long. The doctor and I both agreed that starting Justin back on the antibiotics at this time would be a good idea. So, he's back on them and that's all we need to do for now.

As long as Justin doesn't have any problems, we'll go back in a year. If all is well, he'll probably just get another ultrasound to check on the growth of the kidneys. The doctor said that he would not need another VCUG unless he was having issues and we were prepared to act on the results. That means, if he was having UTIs or other issues, he would probably need surgery. For now, he takes his meds and we live our lives. Not bad!

He has complained a couple of times about pain when he is peeing, but otherwise Justin has not had any ill effects from yesterday. When I got home and finally sat down to relax, it hit me how stressed I had actually been. I was not interested in thinking about anything and barely made it through the evening. I was in bed by 8:30 or so and really didn't sleep well. It was just the stress from thinking about my poor baby going through a medical procedure. The stress of it wore me out! It's over now though and we can move on to the rest of life's stresses :-)

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Anatomy lesson from Gavin

Gavin just explained to me how potty and poopy come out....

When you drink something, it floats in your belly and then in your penis for a while, then it "pops" out. When you eat something, you chew it, it floats in your belly like potty, then it goes to your back and then to your, bottom and comes out. Then he pondered how funny it would be if your bottom was in the front and your penis in the back. He said that poopy comes through your back because that's where your bottom is, in the back.

A day at the beach

It was about 8:15 this morning and Gavin was eating his waffles, I was getting some coffee ready and Justin was talking in his crib. It was late for us, but that's fine. I have a long week of work ahead of me, so I was just planning on going to the store this morning for more coffee (I had just ran out) and that was about it. My mom called and said that Scott was putting his mom in to a nursing home today. That's a good thing because she really needs the help so I was happy. It was going to take a couple of days and that left my mom in Indianola while he was dealing with his mom, and my mom had hoped to come back here today. I offered to come over and pick her up. To go there involves about 40 min of driving to get to the ferry, waiting to get on, riding the ferry for 30 min, then another 10-15 min drive to my mom's house in Indianola. She was really excited and I managed to get us all together and packed for the trip over (including a trip to the beach while we were there) and we were out of the house by 9:15.

After an uneventful drive, and a 30 min wait at the dock for the next ferry, we got on the boat and went upstairs to hang out for the float over the water. Gavin looked through his binoculars and saw jelly fish, ducks and "pseed boats". It was fun for all 3 of us.

After we got to my mom's we hung out for a few minutes, and headed up to the Inidanola Store for lunch. It is the only store in town, and I worked there for 5 1/2 years way back when. We said "hi" to the owner and enjoyed some yummy sandwiches. Then back to mom's to get ready for the beach. We got all ready and drove to a little trail just down the road. I had forgotten Gavin's sandals so he was going to go bare foot. Well, as he put it, "It looks like we're in the forest" which we certainly were. It is a really beautiful trail, but somewhat overgrown (that's an understatement). He did most of it on foot and was poked by sticks, but did amazingly well. It was so grown over that I was ducking. My mom and I were both carrying towels and beach toys, and responsible for a kid a piece. Finally, near the end (after I helped everyone over a narrow log over some water) we ditched the stuff, each held a kid up over the stickers, and finally made it out to the beach. I went back for the stuff myself. It was so hard to navigate the trail that I decided to walk down the beach to the "boat launch" where we'd be able to walk up a driveway to the road and back to the truck that way. The walk down the beach probably took 30 min, and if you know the beaches around here, the sand was scarce. It was mostly rocks, but Gavin was amazing. He kept saying how it was poky, but he kept pressing on. He could see where we were going and kept saying "we're almost there" to us. We'd pick our paths carefully through the rocks and sand and eventually we got there. We put our blanket down and played in the sand for a while. We tried to go in the water but the tide was too high, and the rocks near the water were all covered in barnacles. No different that when I grew up, but I was used to it as a kid.

I left them there and walked the 10 min back to the truck to drive it to them and pick them up. We ended up having a great time, but next time we'll drive to a different part of the beach, and remember the shoes. I also plan to look at the tide maps and try to hit it at low tide so the boys can play on the sand flats.

When we were back at the house, the 4 of us sat out on the deck and enjoyed a cinnamon roll and a bunch of water. I asked Gavin to go get his shoes and socks on in preparations for going home, and the first thing he brought me was my ace wrap (I injured my ankle 1 week ago and the walk on the beach did not aide in the healing). He is so wonderful and intuitive! Then he got his shoes and socks on and my mom and I were both doubled over laughing. He still had his swim shorts and a swim shirt on, then put his brown camo socks on with his "Cars" shoes. His socks were pulled up as high as they would go and it was hilarious. Of course he had no idea what we were laughing at, but even now I am laughing about it. He is so awesome I can barely stand it!

Justin also was amazing today. He had a lot of trouble figuring out how to walk on the beach, but kept trying and eventually could walk almost as fast as normal. He loved playing in the sand and was not bothered at all by the cold water. Not much bothers him, except for Gavin trying to take something that Justin is playing with. He slept for a while in the truck and was as beautiful as ever. He is so adventuresome and fun to play with. I love my boys so much that my heart feels like it's going to burst. What a fun day.

(pictures to follow. I've tried 3 times and the upload isn't working)

Gavin

Gavin came down from his "nap" while I was writing the post below. He mentioned about how there "sure are a lot of pictures of Justin." I explained to him that was because he doesn't let me take pictures of him. He always looks away and runs from the camera. Justin is easier to catch, but not by much. Soooo, just now I asked him if he wanted me to take a couple of pictures and he was excited, but only if I posted them here. It took a few before I could get him to smile, but I posted all of them, just for him...

P.S. After I loaded the pictures I saw that they posted exactly backwards from how I took them, and he is too ansty to let me fix it.

Look Mom, It's Sunny Outside!

Yup, it was sunny today. It was only 45 degrees, but it was still sunny. What a welcome change! We headed out and the boys naturally wanted to play in a puddle in front of the house. I got both of them in their rain boots and let them go. Justin was in the boots for the first time so he took a few minutes to get used to them. They are a size too big, but he did fine (they're a hand-me-down from Gavin). Gavin wanted his pants outside of his boots, so they got pretty wet and muddy. Oh well, they had fun. When we came in Justin was wet all the way to his diaper and he was pretty dern cold. After I cleaned him up, I put some jammies one since he was going to bed soon after. Gavin thought that looked good, so he too put some jammies on. I think he's still wearing them.

The men in my life

Last night there were 3 jackets sitting on the couch after an evening out and about. I set them all together. Carhart, Spider Man and a Lego vest...

Funny thought

Okay, okay, I know. It's been a long time. I figure no one is even reading this because they've given up on me. Anyway, I just had this thought and it made me chuckle.

I was up in our room putting some laundry away and thought that I wanted to do some extra picking up. I didn't want to do it just then because Justin was sleeping (right next to our room) and Gavin would be coming out of his room in 20 min. When he comes out, he is loud and excited so if he found me in my room, it would probably wake up Justin. Soooo, I thought to myself, "I'd love to come up here and pick up. Maybe when Cole gets home I'll be able to do it for free."

For free? That must be my subconscious way of viewing a chore (or anything really) that I can do without the kids around. Funny.

And since it's been so long, I thought I'd include a couple of pictures. Justin had my rain boots on yesterday and did a great job walking in them. The other 2 are from in the truck while we were waiting for the ferry to go home from visiting my brother.

God is in control

I'm sitting here watching Grey's Anatomy and a mother is facing letting her child die. Of course I'm crying because I think of my own precious boys and can't even imagine how it would feel to face their death. I was quickly reminded that my step-dad had to see his son die very tragically 14 1/2 years ago, and a friend of mine delivered a baby that had already died just a year ago. There have been so many deaths since then, but those two stood out to me just now. I am so blessed by my beautiful boys that I am afraid to even think about what could ever happen to them. I have to continue to enjoy them each day because God has a plan and loves them even more than I do.
Anyway, I just had to try and express my love for my boys, but that seems impossible. It is overwhelming how I feel when I think about them.
By the way, my friend who lost her baby last year... I just brought her dinner because she has a very new little boy. God has a plan. We don't always understand it or like it, but He is in control.

By Your Side

One of my friends from high school posted this video of a song on her facebook page that I currently like. It's called "By Your Side" by Tenth Aveenue North. Whenever I hear the song I stop what I'm doing, close my eyes (no, not when I'm driving), and picture myself with God. In the chorus it says "I'll be by your side... In the dead of night whenever you call". I think of literally the middle of the night when I'm at work and how God is there with me. It also says "Please don't fight these hands that are holding you. My hands are holding you." I picture myself in the embrace of 2 big strong arms struggling against them, and then I surrender to the love and am forever protected. I really enjoy the words of the song and find that it speaks to me, right where I am.

Madness

For those of you that read my blog from time to time, you know that I like to give you background info to help round out the story. For those that are new, hang with me...

First, a quick rundown of our neighborhood. There are 7 houses, and 6 are occupied. We've become really close as a neighborhood. Part of it is that we have similar professions. I'm a nurse. We have a neighbor who is a police officer with a drug dog, one who is a detective, one who is in immigration, and one who works for the department of corrections. In the 6th house lives a convicted felon/drug dealer. Hmmmm, interesting combo. The drug dealer is named Sean and he doesn't cause too much trouble overall. He knows he is being watched. He doesn't do the dealing himself technically. The word is that he drives, and his girlfriend does the rest. A minor technicality. Overall, it is his friends and acquaintances that we worry about, not really him. The lady who works for the dept of corrections just happens to work in the same office as Sean's parole officer. Funny.

I worked last night. I left at 7:30pm as usual and noted that there was a sheriff driving by our road slowly with his spotlight. When I got home this morning at 8am, there was an unmarked police car sitting in the driveway across from our street, like he was clocking people. He was still there when I left to take Gavin to preschool at 9. I waved like any innocent person should :-) He was gone at 12:15 when we got home. I got the kids to bed by 1:15 and headed for a nap myself at 1:45. I had to get up and encourage Gavin to get in to bed so he would fall asleep and I would get more than 2 hours of sleep (I had been up for 30 after all). He is allowed to come out when there is a "3 in the front" on his clock, but I try really hard to get him to sleep on the days following my night shifts. At 2:05 I heard something loud and obnoxious through the window. I realized what it was and tore downstairs to look. Sure enough, it was what looked like the SWAT team at Sean's house. Great. There goes my sleep. They kept calling towards Sean's house to have anyone come out. Everyone did, but they were very cautious still. They apparently didn't believe that the 4 people on their knees with their hands on their heads were the only ones in the house. They headed in to the house with their (huge) rifles drawn and big shield in front of them. Oh geeze, this can't be good.

By this time my mom had come over from sleeping in her trailer (she had also worked last night) and Gavin had come downstairs. Before coming downstairs he stopped at the top and said that there were police with guns outside. Nice. He was worried that Sean was hurt. I explained that no one was hurt and that they were there to make sure everyone was safe. Seriously, how do you explain the SWAT team in your neighborhood to your sweet innocent 3 1/2 year old. I am still enforcing with him that police are there to help us, not catch us when we do wrong. Thankfully Gavin really likes our police officer neighbor and his drug dog Hunter. In fact, we routinely watch Hunter when his owner is out of town, so I think Gavin has a good positive exposure to police officers.

That reminds me of something. One of the girls who came out of the house was holding a baby. This whole police invasion was very exciting, but there are very sad points too.

Overall there was a bunch of hullabaloo and no one was arrested. They did their thing and searched the house top to bottom. They even got a ladder from the top of the police truck to (I'm assuming) search the attic. I wish they had found something to get Sean, but they were looking for his brother and he must have gotten away. It seems that the house was clean, but I'm sure this won't be the last time.

We live in a great neighborhood. We are all professionals. We respect others. We take care of our yards. We work hard to provide good lives for the ones we love. We watch out for each other. I guess things can't always be perfect. It is Granite Falls after all.

(About the pictures, they are in reverse order and I'm too tired to fix it now. The one with the black and white police car in it was an officer posted in our neighbor's driveway. That car was not involved. It lives there-not at Sean's)

Sadness

Just over a year ago I met my neighbor Cindie. She is married to the detective and has a 21 year old son. They are a great family and we love to have them near. When I first met her, she was holding her "baby" Fancy. Fancy was a tiny, and I mean really really tiny, dog. We used to joke about eagles swooping down to have her for a snack. When our grass needed to be mowed, it was hard to see her hopping around. When she would walk down the road with Tony and Cindie, sometimes she would be wearing a hunter orange vest for better visibility. She didn't really like kids, but she loved to be chased by Gavin in our yard. The 2 of them had so much fun together.

Tonight I had just gotten off the phone with Cindie and we were coordinating our neighborhood's weekly trip to Taco Tuesday. She said she had to let Fancy out to potty, then she'd be over. She came and knocked on the door and the next thing I knew Cole was going to help find her in the dark (Tony was at a required meeting 2 hours away). Then Cole called me and said he needed me to call Tony because they had found Fancy on her side in the grass, unresponsive. Cindie gave her mouth to nose and could not revive her. Cole called back and asked me to come help since it was just the 2 of them and he was in over his head. I swooped Justin up and went to comfort Cindie in her grief. She was understandably distraught. Thankfully Gavin was with another neighbor's husband, and stayed there while that neighbor's wife came over too. We sat with Cindie while she held Fancy until her son came home.

That was terrible. Cindie has lost someone very special to her and it was very hard to not be able to anything to help, other than just be there. I was holding my usual distance until later when Gavin was talking about how sorry he was that Fancy died. He really wanted to go to Cindie and tell her how sorry he was, and that maybe she could get another Fancy. He was so sweet and got me choked up. It is so hard to loose a pet, and even harder to try and explain that to your child.

That is the 3rd completely unexpected death near my life in the last month. I am so very thankful that none of them were immediately parts of my family, but I am also so sad for the other families. A few weeks ago I was told that a friend from high school had suddenly lost his life. Last week one of my co-worker's grand-daughter went to bed acting normal and never woke up (she was 2). I know that Fancy was "just a dog" but she was loved as a family member in her house.

I have been having a hard time in the last few days learning to be content with my life and where we are. I am oh so grateful that we are anywhere at all, and that we have God with us, no matter where we are.

I'm like a motorcycle

It's a strange title I know, but bear with me...

I have been awake for 26 hours. As you all know, this is not unusual and happens on a regular basis. What I am bragging about right now is that I have been home for 1 hour and 10 min and this is what I've done so far:
Did my nighttime routine with Gavin (since I can't do it on the nights I work, he likes it when I get home)
Got Justin up and dressed
Started their eggs and toast
Got the pot roast in the crock pot (including flouring, browning and prepping the veggies)
Fed the kids their breakfast and cleaned each one of them up
Emptied the dishwasher
Did all of the morning dishes including the pot roast stuff (I even put it all away)
Put Gavin in Time out once
Checked my work e-mail and my calendar
Posted to Facebook and here
And finally, I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee (standing of course)

Soooo, to the reason I'm like a motorcycle! If I keep moving, I'll stay upright. If I stop, I'll drop like a stone. As hard as it is, and as crazy as it sounds, right at this very moment, I like my life? Maybe I'm just delirious. Well, I'm starting to sway from standing here at the counter, so until next time... Vroom!

So smart

Well, maybe it's not smarts, but routine. Just now Sesame street ended and Gavin turned off the TV as usual. Then Justin dropped what he had been doing and took off for the stairs. I followed him up and he went straight in to the bathroom. That's exactly where we always go after Sesame Street to brush Gavin's teeth before his nap. That was cool :-) Now they are both in their rooms. Justin is sleeping and Gavin is playing. I have 1 hour and 51 min until Gavin sees the 3 in front on his clock (3pm) and comes back out. :-)