My life in bullets...

Life is...

Full. Busy. Good.

If you're interested, here's a glimpse, in no particular order, of what's been going on:

• I just got back from Ohio. We went to Sweet Adeline's Region 4 Winter Warmup. Though it was a bit overwhelming to not know anyone beside our quartet (my mom, her best friend and my sister) and a few faces from my mom's chorus, I feel like I really learned a lot about barbershop singing and even picked up some new warm ups and techniques for my voice students.
  

• I got very little sleep over said weekend so I feel like a bit of a zombie today

• Debbie Connelly is awesome. If you knew who she was, you'd be impressed that I had dinner with her. OK... I'll tell you. Debbie is the lead of "the BUZZ", the 2005 Queens of Harmony for Sweet Adelines International. They are hands down the best women's barbershop quartet ever. I already knew she had an incredible voice, but dinner with her allowed me to get to know her. She's a nut (like me) but an incredibly sweet and sensitive person at the same time. My sister and I had a wonderful time having dinner with her. Our quartet got to coach with her, too.

• We had about three inches of snow last Thursday. The boys and I had a blast. More on that later...

• I made a scrapbook for my sister for Christmas, but I just gave it to her this weekend. She LOVED it which subsequently made me happy because I worked really hard on it and it was kind of awesome.

• We're dog sitting for my BFF while she's out of town. Her dog is small and cute and I call her Claire Huxtable, though that is not her name.

• My husband leaves for New Orleans tomorrow to do some preliminary work on an event that's coming up in March. I will miss him, but will keep plenty busy while he is gone.

• I had a girls night out/MOPS reunion at my friend Heidi's house a couple of weeks ago. I got to see a lot of friends I haven't seen in awhile and it was wonderful We had so much fun.

That's it for now. I have to get ready for lessons. More later... I promise.

Loss - part 2

There is something about devastating loss that makes my stomach hurt.

Today, my mind is on an 8-year-old boy who is returning to school after losing his mother, three sisters and step-sister in a horrible car accident. This little boy goes to the same elementary school as my two youngest kids; he's actually a friend of my 8-year-old.

What's been haunting me even more is the image described to me by my youngest son yesterday. He told me that kids have been writing sad notes and pictures and putting them on the locker of this boy's younger sister (a second-grader) who was one of the victims of the accident. I've seen her picture and can't seem to get her adorable little, braided-hair smiling face out of my mind.

Both of my son's had substitutes yesterday because their teachers were attending the funeral. Teacher's shouldn't have to attend funerals! They should only be visited by students who have gone on the middle school and want to stop in to say hello.

Despite God's sovereignty and goodness of nature, nothing seems fair about a child dying. Nothing. Trust me -- I've explored probably every aspect of it over and over again. Everything about childhood is filled with innocence and goodness. When they're just "gone", it perverts the very nature of the whole thing.

Obviously, incidents like this bring me back very close to our own loss. I can't help it. And I don't know if that will ever change. There are times that fear wants to overtake me and I feel like life is an egg that I'm carrying around, hoping it won't roll off of my hand and break. Sometimes I'm fine. Honestly, I'm fine more often than I'm not, but when it hits hard, it hurts.

Jut please do me a favor and pray for this little boy. He has a long road ahead of him.

Update on my dad

Hey! Thanks for all of the follow up questions and prayers for my dad. He saw the doctor on Friday. The good news is that he doesn't have to have surgery. The doctor felt that, with my dad's age and occupation in consideration, it simply wasn't the best option. The bicep will never completely be what it was, but with time and physical therapy, he should be just fine. I talked to him today and he sounds pretty good -- optimistic and all that.

Thanks for keep him in mind. He's a pretty cool guy! :-)

Thursday Thirteen #12

I thought I would follow my dear friend, Ami's, lead (and by that I mean totally steal her idea) and make my T13 do double duty this week.

Thirteen Things I'd Like to Improve in 2008

1. Spend some time really focusing on God every day -- and it may look like something different each day. Something to keep my focus where it needs to be.

2. Exercise at least four times a week -- I started yoga on my OnDemand this week. It's only 10 minutes a day but a good place to start I figure (and I'm already feeling it!). Considering I lost over 30 pounds last year from just dieting, the exercise definitely can't hurt.

3. Lose those last 10-15 pounds -- I'll start with ten and then see how the jeans are fitting. I figure I'll want to go ahead and do the last five, but we'll see.

4. Get to bed earlier -- tough one. I'm such a night owl. I'm shooting for 11pm every night, though I've decided to let myself stay up later than that one random night each week (obviously, tonight's that night!).

5. Read to and with the boys more -- Micah has to do 25 minutes each night for school and Jacob is supposed to read 15 books each month. I love to do it, but it's so hard to make the time. If I can just remember they will only be this little for so long...

6. Stick to my housework list -- I have everything broken down into a miraculous plan - if only I can stick to it! In theory, the whole house gets cleaned each week. I open for tweaking if my plan doesn't work.

7. Read at least 12 books this year -- I'm going to shoot for more non-fiction this year.

8. Spend some time on craft projects (at a minimum) once a week -- my craft room is almost completely organized and set up. I miss sewing. And along those lines...

9. Finish 40 scrapbook pages -- If Scrappy Chicks continues to get together once a month like we've been doing, that's only 3-4 pages per month. This only counts for our family album. Special things like gifts don't count. I can't wait!

10. Master a few piano pieces that are currently out of my league -- how can I expect my students to advance if I don't push my self?

11. Play board games with my kids more; let's shoot for twice a month -- they're getting to an age where they really love board games (Mic and Jay) but aren't too cool for them yet (Josh).

12. Get together with my girlfriends more -- we have a MOPS reunion scheduled for next weekend. How timely!

13. Go on a date with my husband at least once a month -- 17 years of dating and still loving it!

Nothing earth shattering here, but I feel like these are attainable and will be good for the health of me AND my family.

What do you want to do this year?

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Please pray for my dad...

I talked to my mom this morning and she said that my dad tore his bicep muscle yesterday (or the day before, or something like that). He's in a sling and may have to have surgery. He's not in too much pain as long as he doesn't straighten his arm. Please keep him in your prayers, though. He's still going to work, though I'm not sure how he's going to play the organ on Sunday!


Thanks!

It's going to be worth it...

Happy New Year! I hope your celebration was a good one. We had a party, about which I will blog later...

I was doing my devotions this morning (and especially enjoying a quiet house in almost two weeks!). I started by praying and thinking through the whole new year thing. I find myself asking God how things like this are observed in heaven. My thoughts have been more heaven-focused in the last two and a half years because of Caleb being there. I wondered if they watch all of the fireworks from Sidney to Los Angeles, though I'm sure they don't compare with anything in heaven itself. In any event, it still helps me to imagine celebrations and birthday parties for Jesus and the like. And there's Caleb with a grand spot at the banquet table right between Grandma Dot and George Washington!

Anyway, I prayed about some more things going on in our life, especially filled with gratitude for some recent open doors. I decided to do a devotional out of the Women of Faith Bible that my mom got me for Christmas (I've enjoyed their ministry, especially after attending a conference in Columbus last April and meeting cool people like Michelle ;-). The devotional I read today was by Patsy Clairmont and was titled Freedom from Perfectionism -- right up my alley. But the devotional held something for me that I wasn't expecting. The following is a passage from said devotional:

There's something about loss that has the potential to take us by the hand and help us find a way to survive outside the context of our pain.

I have found that my mistakes often lead to a clearer resolve, my losses often bulldoze a path to untapped courage, and my limitations can teach internal liberty by God's grace.

Not only do I want to make the mistakes in my life to mess with my perfectionism so that God can show Himself in my imperfection, but I am hoping that I may also learn -- no, embrace -- this year that, through my family's loss, God can give us strength that we never knew we had. Would I give up what we've gone through to not have that strength? You'd better believe it. But that was not God's plan. His plan is to use our painful loss to glorify Himself and manifest the strength in us that we didn't even know we could possess. At first, I would say to God, "I think you've got the wrong person. I don't think I can make it through this." But God knew from the beginning what he was doing. I still wouldn't chose this for myself, but for some reason God did.

I realized a while back that everyone has their "one big thing" with which they're struggling. It may not be the loss of a child like mine is, but it's just as big to you as that is to me. It may be a disappointment, divorce, job loss, broken relationship -- in any event, there's loss. Maybe God wants to use that loss to give you strength you didn't know you could have, too.

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Worth It All - Rita Springer

I don't understand Your ways
Oh but I will give You my song
Give You all of my praise
You hold on to all my pain
With it You are pulling me closer
And pulling me into Your ways

Now around every corner
And up every mountain
I'm not looking for crowns
Or the water from fountains
I'm desperate in seeking, frantic believing
That the sight of Your face
Is all that I need
I will say to You

It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it
It's gonna be worth it all
I believe this

You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it
You're gonna be worth it all
I believe this