blessed beyond measure

Soooo. It snowed. Yep. Before Christmas. The weather was cold and wet at the same time . Brandon took our official measurement just as the storm was letting up. Eleven inches! And if reports from the news are to be believed, we got less than any area encircling us. Of course, much of the snow came in sideways with the strong winds, so it is really different depths wherever you look. Very exciting. They say it won't all melt away by Thursday/Friday, so we can look forward to a white Christmas! Nothing helps along the Christmas spirit like when your view from the window matches what you see in all the Christmas movies! Snow always brings out my inner Aunt Bee, so I have spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen. Homemade vegetable soup Homemade cinnamon buns (soy-based, so Trey could enjoy too!) Homemade pumpkin bread Yeah. Take that, morning sickness! Then my folks made it over today for some outdoor playtime with Trey. This time was so much more fun than last March, when ...

Christmas is coming, the goose is I am getting fat... We're getting more and more excited about Christmas every day. We had such a great time this past Sunday, where at church we had the children's program, handbell mini-concert, and choir cantata all on one night. It was just magical. Trey did a great job at ringing his gigantic jingle bell, and much to my relief, did not think it was a ball and try to ping someone in the congregation. AND, he sat relatively still through the handbells and choir, allowing all of us to watch the entire program! We have another weekend full of events coming up. That is, unless certain so-called "weather experts" might actually be right about certain white fluffiness coming our way. If so, I'll take it! Can't get much more Christmas-y than that. Well, the title of this post comes from the rapid pace at which my son seems to be changing these days. I'm not sure if time is going faster or if he is experiencing a seriou...

What are we getting ready for? A dry-erase calendar full of basketball games and holiday related events - in short, Christmas! The morning sickness has subsided a great deal, which means I can get excited about parties and dinners AND volunteer to cook a lot of food. Which I have done. And will continue to do for the rest of this month. Basketball is in full force (three games this week!?!). Our weekends are swamped, kicking off this weekend with company and Trey's third annual Christmas program at church. Family gatherings, friend gatherings, Christmas plays, living nativity... Merriment all around! I am almost done with gift-buying, which may be a record. I am almost done with Christmas cards - yet again, another record. Boy, it makes a huge difference having a child old enough to self-entertain for more than 3 minutes at a time. The house is decorated, though somewhat more low-key than in years past. Let's not get carried away. And amid the hustle and bustle, headl...

Wednesday night marked Brandon's debut as head coach. Though the game did not go as well as any of us would have liked, the guys showed glimpses of what they could do and how well they could play together. Hopefully the long season will help them grow to where those moments of solid play last for most of the game. Loss or not, it was amazing to be there and watch as my husband stepped into a goal he made for himself long, long ago. Brandon, we are so proud of you, and know that no matter what, God has brought you to where you are, and He will use you. We are your permanent cheering section. Trey was our pregame entertainment, dancing to the big boys' music. He did much better this year than last year, with relatively little whining. Only maybe a dozen times or so did he ask to go out on the floor and play in the game. Coach, before the game, with his game face on. This may or may not be the moment that someone walked by and asked if he needed a Tums. Can't see Brando...

It's been a while since we've done a Trey update, so here goes. - He is aware that there is a baby in Mama's tummy, and that sometimes the baby makes Mama not feel good or need to eat something at odd times. He loves looking at the ultrasound pictures. In fact, while we were looking at them the other day, Trey named the baby. Ladies and gentlemen, the little one shall henceforth be known as "Dolphin". - In our house, Trey will only eat two meals per day. He shuns dinner completely. Never even makes it to the table. I'll ask him, "Trey, are you hungry? Do you want to eat dinner?" The response is always, "No, I don't like dinner." Hasn't eaten dinner in over 2 weeks. I don't know if this is OK or not. - A few days after the "Daddy can't count" incident, Trey surprised us by counting to twenty correctly, and he has done it correctly ever since. Little stinker. So we've returned our educational focus to ...

Brandon brings home some pretty amusing stories from school. A while back, he told us about how one of his students was pre-sneeze - you know that I've-got-to-sneeze-but-I-can't moment. Another student told her, "Think about cows!" Either from sheer confusion or from actually thinking about cows, the girl's urge to sneeze went away. We got a good laugh out of that one. Switch gears a moment. Trey has reflux, and has had it since he was an infant. Along with that comes a very sensitive gag reflex. Sometimes the poor thing gags when we're changing even his #1 diapers. And more often than not, the gagging would lead to vomiting. Trey throws up more than the average kid. One day not long after we heard Brandon's story, Trey started gagging, and on a whim, I said "Think about cows!" Trey stopped gagging and laughed. And there was no vomit to clean up. Oh yeah. You can bet that phrase started popping up a lot in our house. It works to stop ...

There is much more I want to write about the pregnancy, and I will get back to it soon, but something else is weighing on my heart today. I'll warn you that this blog may be heavy. And long. I guarantee it will be difficult to write, but I feel I owe it to my friend, Cristin. Cristin was my first roommate at Roanoke College, in the fall of 1999. If you knew me at the time (and not too much has changed), I was quite the homebody, shy, scared to death of being on my own. The idea of a roommate was really unnerving - as high school ended and my world began to expand, I started to discover that (gasp!) not everyone was a true Christian . What is that about?? And you know what else? Teenagers drank. Actually, you were in the minority if you didn't. Now, I don't want to touch the alcohol issue here except to say, I didn't (and still don't) want any part of it, even to be under the same roof as it. And with all I had seen, the odds of finding a roommate that felt...

Lord willing, a new little someone will be joining our family in June. We are excited, a little overwhelmed (two kids!?!?), and everything else. Went to the doctor on Wednesday for regular checkup and ultrasound, and all is well. The baby (who is already measuring big, by the way - what is it with 5'2" me and big babies??) waved at us and kicked and squirmed the entire time. Pure joy. I will gladly go on record as saying that first trimesters stink. Even though it isn't explicitly listed in Genesis 3:16, I am utterly convinced that first trimester goes right along with pain in childbirth as part of the direct consequences of sin. We're right at 11 weeks now, so I'm reeeeally hoping the sickness will subside by Christmas. And amid my nauseated misery, God is walking with me and working in me. We had a scare at 7 weeks, where due to certain things happening with my body, there was a possibility the pregnancy may have been ectopic. That didn't cross my mind...

Trey has known how to count to ten since before he turned two. Counting past ten, however, still needs work. Though he uses numbers, they are somewhat out of order and a few are missing. He is very consistent in his pattern: 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 18, 20 A couple of nights ago while getting ready for bed, Trey was counting to twenty over and over, Trey-style of course. Brandon decided to count along with him using the correct numbers, to see if Trey would pick up on it. Brandon got to 13, and Trey stopped counting. Brandon got to 15, and Trey said, "Daddy, you can't say your numbers."

Here's a riddle for you. What do you get when you cross six inches of rain in two days with a house built in the 60s? Answer: A flooded basement. Bonus question. Multiple choice, so it's easier. Does the flood (A) stay in the unfinished side of the basement or (B) flow through the door and under the wall, thereby soaking the carpet on the finished side of the basement? Answer: B. And so we are making good use of our old towels and little fans, trying to dry the carpet out as quickly as we can. As for the unfinished basement, it bears a smell strikingly similar to the one we arrived home to after our honeymoon six years ago. The flood was a little worse then. But as we have done before, we'll eventually get it back to normal. Switching gears, this is going to be two posts in one. Blogging hasn't been on the priority list lately. Hope to remedy that soon. It's mid-November. Preseason work is done, and basketball tryouts start Monday. Which means we must let...

On Sunday I had the privelege of hosting a mini-reunion of my very best girls from high school. It was so great to see everyone, and in some cases to meet each other's kids for the first time! The kids enjoyed playing together, while the moms got to catch up. It was just a fabulous day, full of memories and laughs and loving on the little ones. Sarah showed off her beautiful baby belly. Laura tried to keep her sweet Savannah from eating leaves. Kelly impressed us all by being super-mom to angels Cana, Kayil, and Karis. And Trey, bless his heart, held down the fort as the only boy. Trey and Cana taking turns on the slide. Kayil showing everyone how to fly on the swings. Precious Savannah, wondering which leaf would taste best. Little Karis was asleep for these pictures. Amazing how all of the kids sat still at one time! Reminiscing This was too great to leave out In our heyday, we four girls were very close, almost inseparable. We were together not just in high school, but a...

Is that not the cutest little mouse you've ever seen?? The costume was actually Brandon's when he was a little boy, and Giga made the ears. Too sweet!! We had so much fun last night. Trey was great, at least after we got his costume on. When we first dressed him up, he was, um, not in the best of spirits. That changed quickly, though, and he enjoyed running wild for a while and then going around the circle of cars with Brandon. I think they may have collected a few pieces of candy for Brandon to eat. Some blessed soul brought Teddy Grahams to give out, so Trey was actually able to enjoy a treat also. And me, I gave in to one Snickers bar and a cup of hot apple cider. There's not much that says fall like apple cider. The rest of my night was spent dishing out candy to anywhere between 600 and 1000 kids. Now for my own personal awards ceremony... The best treat award goes to the car that gave out toothbrushes. The best costume award goes to the kid who was dressed ...

Trey loves going to Kroger, which makes me love it too. He is almost always well-behaved. He says hello to everyone we pass (no matter how many times we pass them) and will sometimes grace the entire store with a high-volume Bible song. It's so great. We were in the store last weekend. Lately, Trey wants me to hand him the groceries so he can put them in the cart. I had picked up a box of cereal and handed it to him. He started trying to open it. Trey : Open it? Open it? Mama : No buddy, we have to pay for it first. Trey : (Hugging the box to himself, he closes his eyes and bows his head) Thank you Jesus for the cereal. A-MEN! (Looking up) Now, open it??? Bless his heart. If only we could get all our groceries by praying for them, rather than paying for them.

Tonight ABC will air "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", kicking off my end-of-year season of celebration. Like many people, the fall/Thanksgiving/Christmas season is my favorite, and I look forward to it all year. But the associated feelings of warmth and nostalgia cannot officially begin until Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus (my favorite) have made their broadcast appearance. What am I looking forward to over the coming weeks?? - Trunk or Treat at church this Saturday. Pics of a cute little Trey-animal to come! - Mini-reunion with my best girls from high school in two weeks. - My mom recovering completely from her surgery. Thank you to everyone who prayed - she is doing well. - Thanksgiving. Family togetherness, cool weather, and gravy. May there be plenty of gravy. - Decorating, though I'm a little nervous about Trey and the decor. He's much more curious and harder to control this year. - Watching my all-time favorite Christmas cartoons. My super-du...

Over breakfast this morning... Trey : Daddy is not here. Mama : No, Daddy is not here. Do you know where he went? Trey : Go to work, make milk money. At school. Mama : That's right. Do you know what Daddy does at school? Trey : Make the boys and girls happy. There are probably only a select few of Brandon's students who would disagree with that. How many of your teachers would sing the theme song to Blue's Clues and teach entire lessons as Gomer Pyle on any given day?

Being sick stinks. We'll just say that now and get it out of the way. The swine has passed, and praise the Lord neither Brandon nor Trey caught it. Poor things just had to deal with a wife and mom who laid flat on her back for what seemed like forever. Bring on the daily cycle of Chef Boyardee and frozen chicken nuggets. News flash: I'm not hungry and I'm not cooking! The large amount of time I spent away from Trey, while devastating for me, had absolutely no impact on him. When Brandon finally brought him home, Trey said, "Hey Mama," gave me a quick hug, and ran to play with his toys. Yes, he missed them more than me. Oh well. May I brag on my husband for a moment? He has always talked about the importance of being a clutch player, coming through in dire situations. This is his logical explanation for procrastinating. Apparently people perform better under pressure. And he does. Every time I get sick, no matter what he has going on, he is ready and wil...

So I had a sore throat on Sunday. It got worse that night, and so as I laid awake in the wee hours of Monday morning, I decided that I couldn't go to work and that I needed to go to the doctor. Side note - I hate going to the doctor. In the handful of times I've gone over the last several years, I have waited well over an hour before being seen, and have only been seen by "my" doctor once. I'm thankful the place is there, but frankly, I despise it. But I was compelled to go. The doctor I saw asked me all the swine flu questions - I had a sore throat, slight fever, slight cough, and that was it. She said, just from looking at me, she would definitely not suggest flu. More likely strep. And wrote me a prescription for amoxicillin. As she was walking out of the room at the end of the appointment, she said it would just make her feel better to do the swine flu test. They stuck a q-tip up my nose and I waited 10 minutes. The nurse stuck her head back in the ro...

Today my precious Mama is in New York for special surgery on her hip. If all goes well, Lord willing, this will fix a very painful problem that she has dealt with for years. The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up. James 5:15 I am on my knees, praying in as much faith as I can muster, that the Lord will work a healing miracle through this procedure.

The night didn't go as smoothly as expected. Here are the pictures, and you'll notice a recurring theme of a particular facial expression missing from the usually-jolly Trey. Trey pretending to drive a custom designed lawnmower. Most of our short evening was spent here. The mowers that didn't have their keys made him a bit angry. This was the second of three bites of dinner he took. If you know Trey and his obsession with chicken nuggets, you know how odd this is. I had been showing Trey last year's pictures of him riding the train, just to get him fired up for this year. And it worked - all he talked about once we got there was riding the train. Sat him in the seat, took the picture, conductor took off, Trey screamed and stood up, reaching for me to get him. No train ride. Hayride time. Trey was utterly crushed that he had to sit in the wagon instead of riding on the actual tractor. Thirty seconds into a six-minute ride, he was shouting, "Get down! Get do...

To best describe my blog-spiration of late, stale seems to be the best word. I keep thinking, I should put something on the blog. Of course we all know that not much would beat the last post. And to be honest, if that's excitement, bring on the stale! So we'll just update a little here. Speaking of certain slithery creatures, my dear Dad was kindhearted enough to tell me that the proper way to remove the snake would have been for me to trap its head with the scraper, pick it up (!) by the tail and snap it. Yeah. Thanks Dad. Insert full body shudders again. Let's move on. So fall is here, and if our schedules weren't full before, they are now. We worked together last week to fill out our brand new dry-erase calendar on the fridge, which at this point I'm not entirely sure how we lived without before. There might be six or seven days with nothing special written in. I'm tired just thinking about it. It's all good stuff though. Trey is as wonderfully...

This will be a long one. Remember the lizard incident? Well, the vacuum has proved valuable once again, only this time, not with a lizard. Nope. A snake. In the house. Yeah. It goes like this. Trey had been napping for about an hour, and Brandon had been in and out a few times saying he was going to mow the yard. After not hearing from Brandon for a little while, and not hearing the mower, I decided to go check on him. Looked out the windows all around the house - didn't see him. Opened the door to the basement den - didn't hear him. Walked down the stairs and across the room, which was rather dark, as the shades were pulled. Just outside the door to the unfinished part of the basement, I saw what looked like a shoestring. Hmm. Why would a shoestring be there? (Fear settles in.) Oh help, that's too short to be a shoestring. Gotta go get my weapon. Dashed up the stairs to the pantry, where my weapon is kept. It is a scraper that we used when taking up the vinyl ...

I am positively over the moon that we had to pull out the hoodie jacket for playing outside today. Ohh, fleece yoga pants, how I have missed you. We have one overachieving oak tree in our backyard, and today Trey found about a thousand acorns. There weren't many that still had their "hats", so Trey made a game out of finding those. And then he took a few handfuls of them to play on his little playground. New friends, I suppose. Another fall update, because I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting to hear - October is knocking on the door and several pumpkins are still alive and well. Maybe the cooler weather is slowing down the rotting process. Anyway, I have noticed that other houses in our neighborhood have pumpkins out too, so yay! Festiveness all around!

I promise that this is not how we left Trey in his crib at 9:00 Sunday night. But it is how we found him at 6:30 on Monday morning. Edited for modesty. Don't worry, we have a nice collection of un-edited pictures to taunt him with later in life.

Mama: What did you cook, Trey? Trey: Go-goggie. (Spaghetti) Mama: Now what are you making? Trey: Chicken nuggets. Put on Daddy's raincoat? Mama: (Confused, as Brandon doesn't have a raincoat.) What? Trey: (Runs to the door of the pantry and tries to open it.) Daddy's raincoat in here. We go in and Trey shows me the raincoat, which is, incidentally, Brandon's grilling apron.