Tongue Tied

5:00 am Nurse baby. Grow agitated when husband doesn ’t hear his alarm going off, because now that you’ ve heard it, you’re AWAKE, but can’t turn it off. 5:30-7 am. Doze. Wake up when husband leaves for work. Doze. Wake up when dog wants to go outside. Doze. Wake up when baby needs changing. Doze. 7:01 am Hear the rousing of children. Cry for lost sleep. 7:30 am. Decide that Pop Tarts are an acceptable breakfast. They have fruit in them. Sorta. Or they would if you hadn ’t bought the chocolate ones. 8:00 am. Nurse baby. Put her back to sleep. Envy her. 8:30-9 am. Nag children to dress. In clothes. No, in *matching* clothes. And brush teeth. Try to locate child’s missing toothbrush. Find it at the bottom of the basement steps. 9 am Simultaneously educate eldest and appease middle child with “school toys” so he feels like he’s in school too and will leave eldest child alone. 9-12 pm. Repeatedly refuse requests for “ Wii breaks” and continue with education. Try to work in chores during ...

The world changed when I was nineteen. Well, maybe not the world. The world had long ago lost its innocence. Pain and sorrow had been the theme throughout thousands of years of human existence. It didn't originate the day terrorists hijacked planes and killed thousands. But for all of us living now, things were different after that September day. I wasn't too young to realize how significant that day would be in my life. Just as my parents' generation would always remember where they were when they heard Kennedy had been assassinated, so would I always recall with crystal clarity my experiences that day. Sitting in my living room in my pajamas and orange bathrobe as I watched the second plane pierce the tower. Holding my breath just as the newscasters did as the buildings fell. Calling loved ones. Going to work feeling a bit numb. Looking at the faces of the children I taught and realizing they would never know an America without terrorist attacks. Driving home from work an...

Ten photos from my day every tenth of the month.

I should blog. But there's not really anything on my mind to blog about. So I'll do a random list. 1. I am tired. Not as tired as I could be, but I could sleep at the drop of a hat. 2. Because of number one, the start of school has been delayed till after Labor Day. Because homeschooling is awesome that way. 3. I've decided new baby's blog name will be Homegirl. Not because it's creative or appealing, but because I just can't stop calling her that. 4. I also can't stop taking pictures of Homegirl. 5. So far, having a baby girl is pretty much the same as having a baby boy. There's plenty of awwing and kissing and staring and clothes changing in order to obtain optimal cuteness. I will say that the clothing is slightly more fun. I heart baby leggings. 6. I feel like Seth went from working two full time jobs to working one part time job. The firefighter schedule of 24 on/48 off totally rocks my world. I've actually gone out into the world ...

Don't worry if you don't get the obscure television reference in the title. Only, like, eight people are awesome enough to get it. So...she's a week old today. Yes, the war of the onesies ended in a spectacular display last Friday evening when our little girl quite literally exploded onto the scene. I may have lost the gender battle, but I like to think I totally won at giving birth. The whole thing was over in less than five hours of labor and zero minutes of pushing. She fits right in around here. The Things are obsessed with her and I spend my days protecting her from their exuberant love. They think it's quite unreasonable that all she does is eat, sleep, and poop and are longing for the day they can make her laugh and play with her. We are all quite smitten. It feels like everybody's here now. Like our family's complete. And not being pregnant anymore feels fantastic, even if I am a sleep deprived, milky, weepy mess whose sh...

I worry about Christians today. It seems that we, as a whole, have a hard time being sensible. We seem to oscillate between extremes. As a church, we either embrace whole heartedly legalism and being Pharisees, or we fly the other direction and shun anything that looks like a firm opinion about right and wrong. Hard shells or free spirits. All rules or no rules. Neither are right. Neither are what we should strive for. And neither look like Jesus. I grew up under the thumb of legalism, and never even questioned it till I was an adult. Everything was sin. Don't do anything, like drinking or getting tattoos or dancing or listening to secular music, or voting Democrat, because it's all sin, and believers are supposed to be totally alien in this world. There was no room for the Holy Spirit there. But now, I've seen a great exodus of my peers that have flooded to the other camp. They spend more time complaining about the church than worrying about finding out what G...

It's a historic day. A long awaited, much prayed for, dreamed about day. It seems we've been ending a lot of chapters lately, ready to make way for the new words to fill the pages of our marriage. Our story continues. I didn't know it was possible to be this proud of you. I have always loved you. Always, without question, regardless of the circumstances. I loved you in your failures. In your hurts. In the trenches. And now I can love you in your triumphs. And to see you succeed makes me so proud of you. Not because you did this on your own. I watched you try that before, and the hardest thing I have ever done is watch you suffer in your failures. No, I'm proud of you because this time, you relied on Someone else's strength. You worked hard. You did what was required of you and more. You kept a good attitude during the struggle. Your faith gave you strength and endurance I've never seen in you before. And now you are reaping what you sowed, in the best way possib...