Creepy

It's creepy. I just updated my status on Facebook to say, "Rett is thinking that being obedient to God isn't always popular. And it sometimes increases the Tums intake." I posted that because, well, Tony and I are those unpopular, Tums eating people trying to be obedient. I'm working on a longer post about it, because frankly, I need the therapy of writing it out. But for now, I wanted to share something creepy about it.

I wrote that status update and then popped over to our blog to read the daily scripture. Look to the left, you'll see it. It says, "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me -- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Acts 20:24

Ok, God, I get it. It's not about people agreeing with what we're doing. It's not about people questioning our sanity. It's about completing the task you have given me. Given us. Just stepping out in faith and being obedient. We want to shout about and show your grace, and this task you've given is a good way to do that. Please, God, remind me of this often. You are God and we are your followers.

This post may mean nothing, or seem really confusing to some of you. And that's ok. I needed to work it out...and I'm sure there will be more on this topic later. I hope that, if anything, the scripture God gave me today, applies in your life today too.

And if you know someone who is being challenged to step out of the boat, encourage them. Pray for them. Support them. And if you think they're nuts...tell God, not them. Trust me. They're going to need you.

Ok, I promise, a fun post will happen soon. We've had a fantastic spring break of firsts. Museums, libraries, art...so much to share and rejoice about. Stay tuned!

Thankful Thursday/Photo Friday

Greetings.

It's me again (Tony). I hope all is well out there...it seems this world just keeps getting scarier every day (I will keep those views to myself during this post)...BECAUSE this is Thankful Thursday and I will discuss what I am thankful for...

I am thankful for a job (and Rett's) that allows me to spend time with the fam. when Rett is off.

I just finished my second day at home with Rett and the girls. It has been a great vacation thus far. Yesterday we visited the Children's Museum in Indy (photos on another post), strolled through some malls and had a good day. Today, was filled with appointments this morning and then an afternoon painting the hallway (ok, Rett did the work, and I am thankful because we did not kill each other during the process...painting is not one of those things we do well...but it did work out well in the end).

Tomorrow we have a few things to do in the morning but we plan to take the girls to the library. They have never been before. They LOVE books. I cannot wait to see their heads spin when the see all the books :) We're planning an art project for the afternoon...we'll post photos if it goes well.

I am thankful that although life gets ugly sometimes, it could be worse. We are blessed and we all need to remember that everyday.

Since this Thankful Thursday post is late in the day, here are a few photos to kick off Photo Friday...enjoy and have a great weekend!!!!!!

Abby enjoying chocolate pudding...enough said.

Laney in the morning before she gets her daily banana and doughnuts.

Ok, I know this is random, but here is a photo of one of my turtles :)

Happy Anniversary--um, late!

March 13, 1999...it was cold, it was blustery, and it was perfect. This was the day I married my best friend in the whole world, Tony. We had dated since the beginning of my freshman year and his sophomore year. In high school. Yes, high school. We met at a youth group meeting at our church...where his mom was the leader! I remember it well! It was in May because we were celebrating one of his (now our) best friend Paul's birthdays. It was fun. These guys were upperclassmen and fun! By that August, we were officially dating!

Tony is what I would call a planner and a provider. He worked hard in high school and was bound for college (all while working at his dad's service station).

Tony decided to stay local for college (hmmm, wonder why he did that) and worked hard on his career plans. He was determined to graduate from college and have his career established before we started a life together. Half of me was so impressed and thrilled that he wanted to provide security for me, for our future. The other half of me (ok, more like 3/4 of me) wanted to start our lives together. NOW!

Well, Tony got his first "real" job, bought a house and then proposed! He proposed in November (the same month eight years later we met our girls...actually, down to the same week...the week before Thanksgiving!) and we were married in March. It was a fun ceremony with our two of our good friends and pastors performing the ceremony. The hallelujiah chorus played after they announced us as man and wife and bolted out the door to run through McD*nald's drive-through! Our reception was fun, and our cake was topped with Hot Wheels! What a memorable day! (It was complete with bridesmaids dressed I loved and they hated. hehe)

Over the past ten years we have grown up and grown together in so many ways. We have moved once, changed jobs once or twice, and built our family. We have suffered through the deaths of a few family members, and the deaths two pets we considered our first "children". We have had to step out in faith together, and pray for direction. We have laughed, cried, fought, made-up, laughed some more, and loved intensely.

Words will NEVER be able to express the love I have for Tony. God spoiled me rotten with this man. He puts God first, and cherishes his family next. He always thinks of others before himself and challenges me to push myself and grow in God and in life.

I am so happy we have been blessed to enjoy 10 years as a married couple (that's almost 19 years total together for those of you keeping track). I pray that God blesses us with a hundred more years together!

I love you, Tony! Happy 10th anniversary!

Happy Birthday, Skate Diva!

My niece Kristy was surprised on February 28, with a birthday party (whispers...a 30th birthday party) at our local roller skating rink! It was BIG fun and brought back sixth grade memories!!

The morning of the event, we asked the girls if they wanted to skate later and they cheered, "YES!" But, when we asked them if they even KNEW what roller, not ice, skating was, they looked puzzled and answered, "No!" So Tony dug up our old fashioned research guide...YouTube...and showed the girls what skating was all about. Boy, were they pumped! All day they kept asking when we were going to surprise Kristy and go skating! The anticipation was killing them!

We arrived at the rink at our scheduled time and Kristy rolled in a few minutes later. Mind you, we weren't all in place because the decoy forgot to call and warn us they were almost there! It didn't matter...Kristy nearly died when she pulled in the parking lot! Whoo hoo!

We filed inside laughing the whole time. Talk about a blast from the past. The rink hadn't changed ONE bit since we were kids. Ok, I lied. The PacMan arcade game was replaced with one of those durn stuffed animal cranes. (What's up with that anyway?) The smells, the skate counter, the trippy colors and disco ball. Even the kiddie rink and the bearded umpire skate dude was still there!

Tony took our tickets up to get the girls each a pair of skates. (NO skates for us, thank you!) They were so cute...see below.

Sorry for the crummy pic of the girls together. I was playing with different settings on my camera. Note to self: this setting didn't work!

Well, we headed to the kiddie rink where bearded umpire dude instructed us to work on getting the girls to just WALK in their skates...that the skating will come later. Well, Laney got the walking thing down right away, while Abby thought, "Why walk when you can roll?"

Tony is doing such a good job! I abandoned them to snap a picture, like any good Mama would!

Kristy (and her aunt Jill) were too sweet when Abby announced she was done with the kiddie rink after two minutes and wanted to "Go out there"...to the abyss of skaters on the big rink. They rolled her out there, and took the time to go around the rink with her. She looked like such big stuff! It was painstakingly slow...but they were troopers! Abby even got a taste of skating with the black light on!

Soon after this picture, Jill rolled up to save Kristy and help them move a little faster!

Finally, Laney was brave enough to try it and Jill and Kristy took her out to do the Hokey Pokey. Oh my word...she LOVED it! Such a big girl! (Warning! Another dark picture alert!!! But if you focus really hard on the middle, you'll see they're down in the low Hokey Pokey position!)

One of the funniest moments was when Abby decided she was ready to go back out and wanted my nephew (and Kristy's brother) Jeremy to take her. Here's this tall handsome adult who is shy as can be (unless he's around family) and this little tiny girl skating together. The best part was when he was like five feet from us and turned around and asked, "Now, which one do I have?" Um, Abby, Jeremy!



The girls had a great time and didn't want to leave. They were such good girls, and they had only napped about 20 minutes or so!


I think Kristy had fun too...it was a neat way to celebrate such a milestone birthday.

Happy Birthday, Kristy. You've been such a close friend over the years. I'm glad we were close enough in age that we grew up together. I treasure you so much! I hope you had fun!!!!

Count to 10...

So, you know the cool-down technique of counting to 10 when you're angry? Yeah, well, focusing on taking pictures of the twinados' latest debacle was my "count to ten before you blow".

Ok, let me set up the scene...while I was cleaning, the girls had a great time taking everything off of Laney's bed and piling it in Abby's bed. Once this task was complete, they both climbed in Abby's bed and just played and played. This gave me time to run around and get some cleaning done. WHOO HOO! Thanks girls, for cooperating!

Then...the call. Tony was at his third service for the weekend doing some vice-chair of the board kind of things when he called home to see how things were going. In the time it took me (yeah, isn't that the phrase most parents utter when they're getting ready to explain what they came back to?) to answer the phone, walk into my bathroom to pick up the trash bag, take it in the kitchen, and return to their room...THIS is what my two "cute", "adorable", "precious", "darling" little angels did.




For those of you who can't quite tell what the pictures are...the girls got the lovely PINK and PURPLE nail polish that their cousin Missy bought them off their dresser. (For the record, I had it out so that we could do manicures and pedicures after nap!) They proceeded to open the bottles, climb into Laney's empty bed (THANK GOODNESS) and paint their toes, legs, hands, etc! AAACCCKKK!!!!!!


I must say, Abby at least understood the paint was supposed to go on her toes. Mind you, it was so thick, her toes were webbed together. YUCK!

Laney, however, chose the bright PURPLE and decided her legs needed a good coating too, along with her feet (both top AND bottom)!

OH--and I only had was one tiny travel size bottle of nail polish remover!

Bless those girls' hearts...Ok, my friends. Lay it on me. Tell me a story about what your sweeties have done while your back was turned! Misery loves company!!!

Tony's Thankful Thursday

Ok, so Rett set me up. Is it because she does not think I am thankful for anything? Or does she think I should be posting on here more (I did the polyphenol post by the way). I think more dude's need to be posting on their family's blogs by the way...

So where do I begin...I am thankful for so many things. To start, I am of course thankful for my lovely wife, even after she set me up for the "thankful Thursday" post. Is there such a thing as blogger peer pressure (I guess so)? I am thankful for my beautiful daughters that keep us laughing and wondering why we are so lucky to have them, my family and friends.

From there, I'm lucky to have steady employment, a job that keeps me challenged and helps pay the bills. (Here I am presenting to city council which is shown on public access...the girls think I am cool)

Yes, there is more, but do you want to hear it all now? How about how Laney (our 3 year old traffic cop) yells at me for turning left when the traffic light is red (WHY ARE YOU GOING ON RED BABA????? she yells every morning)...she hasn't figured out the green turn arrow yet, but I am impressed that she understands the traffic signals. And how about how Abby still loves to be picked up and just carried around and has dance moves like no other. She kind of has the Elaine kick going on (Seinfeld fans may understand) when she dances. Hillarious!!!

Well, Rett is harassing me to read this post...you can blame her because I am cutting it short. Thanks for stopping by. Have a good weekend!

Thankful Thursday

Good grief! It's Thursday already??? Holy cow...well, I am exercising my wifey right to pass the buck. It's time that Tony does a thankful post. :) It might not be until tonight, but it can be called "Thankful Thursday Night". Don't get me wrong, it's NOT that I'm NOT thankful...trust me, I have a billion things to praise God for! I just think he should get a turn! Just to prove it to you that I am still thankful, I'll list a few before I sign off.

• I'm thankful that tomorrow is the last day of our state testing. My poor students have been so stressed out!
  
• I'm thankful for family and friends that love me, in spite of my flaws.
• I'm thankful for my health. (Good reminder, Sarah)

And finally...

• I'm thankful I serve a mighty God that knows how my story ends! (Even if He won't let me in on it when I think I should at least get a memo!)

I Am Your Daughter.

Ahhh....it's late. It's about 11:30, and my house is quiet. Well, all except for the clock ticking, the girls' lullaby music playing softly, and Linny's playlist from her blog, as I type. Today wasn't a particularly stressful day. It wasn't particularly tiring. It wasn't specifically reflective. But, as I settled into bed with Tony, I couldn't shut my mind off. I just couldn't relax and sleep. Do you ever have those nights?

Honestly, I used to have more of these kind of nights before the girls came home. I would lie awake and dream about what life would be like as a mother. And before that, I would lie awake and wonder what it would be like to be a wife...Tony's wife. All wonderfully blissful things came to mind. But with that bliss brought insomnia. I never was one to drift off with dreams of sugarplums. If I think about the joy going on in my life (or life to come) I get a good dose of adrenaline...and I always turn to writing. Well, these experiences are fewer and fewer now. No, not because I'm not experiencing joy...trust me, my cup runneth over. It's just that after a long day at work, and time with the girls at night, I fall into bed exhausted. I haven't needed the sandman for a long time!

So where does that leave me? In the living room...typing. Talking to you. And to God. And to myself. Heheh.

It has been a long time since I've simply taken a few moments to relish in God's grace on my life. On me. Now, Tony and I try our best to update the blog with weekly quips and hilarity the girls impress us with, but it has been a while since I've gotten truly emotional. (For those of you who know me, you know I am one emotional chickadee!) Well, I've had this post building for a while...so humor me.

The girls had a great day today. They had ZERO time outs at our good friend, and their sitter, Theresa's house. She said they were good all day! When I picked them up, it was like seeing them recharged my batteries. (Now, mind you, there are nights that I'm too exhausted to enjoy them...it's not always sunshine and roses.) I mean it. We had a great talk on the way home about the clouds, their Baba, airplanes, China, dinner, birds, the semi-truck next to us, etc. And the rest of the night continued so well. We did beauty shop, played, read, sang, danced, bathed, they ate dinner well, and went to bed without a fuss.

But I had a moment with them. You know that moment. It's that one minute of time you wish you could freeze forever in your mind. I had both girls curled up in my lap while we were sitting on the floor. They said they were both babies and wanted to suck their thumbs. Well, this game made them giggle hysterically when I would tell them they weren't babies and would try to pull their thumbs out. They both were so carefree and just joyous.

After a particularly funny episode of this game, they both settled down and looked at me. I told them that they would always be my babies. I would love them forever. Abby looked at me and told me she loved me and kissed my arm. This prompted Laney to do the same. (Which is big, because Laney is becoming so affectionate too! I love it!) Then Abby said, " I am your daughter." (We've been working on this because she used to ask if she were my mama, like I was hers.) And I said, "Yes, Abby. You are my daughter, and I am your Mama." She snuggled in deeper and said, "Baba is my daddy and Mei-Mei is my sister." I agreed with her and she seemed just perfectly content. Of course Laney had to confirm it all, just to be sure, that she, too, was my daughter. Seriously, it was pure bliss.

Did you see it? Look again. It all comes down to that end mark. The punctuation after Abby's comment. It's a period. Not a question mark. Seriously, look again. "I am your daughter." She said it as a statement of fact. It wasn't a question in her mind at all. She has been declaring this for several days. Many times a day she will smile at me, or Tony, and say, "I am your daughter." Yes, my love. You are my daughter. How powerful that period is!!!!

And so, as I sit here in tears relishing in the perfect evening we had tonight, I think once again of God's grace. How in the world am I worthy of a God who heals, refreshes, forgives, challenges, grants, loves, adores, showers, raises, praises, saves, seeks, teaches, scolds, blesses us? It's by his grace. His blood. Without this, I would not be able to snuggle deep in His arms and say those same, innocent, powerful words that my Abby said.

"I am your daughter."

Wow. I am so thankful to be a part of God's family. I am so thankful that He deemed Tony and me worthy enough to raise two of His beautiful creations. Thankful doesn't describe the joy, the ache, the adrenaline I feel when I say those words...I am your daughter.

I am your daughter.

Polyphenols?

So, have you seen the Welch's grape juice commerical with Alton Brown (the Food Network guy)? Apparently Laney has seen it too.

We were watching TV while eating lunch. The commercial came on. When Laney saw/heard the commercial she immediately said "phenols". About one second later Alton Brown made a statement about the juice having Polyphenols in it. WOW! (I looked up Polyphenols on Wikipedia - they may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer if you were wondering.)

I guess when you think they are not paying attention, they really are...Polyphenols of all things??

P.S. - thank you for all of your comments on our last post RE: things you are thankful for...

Drink your Welch's.