CHASE AWAY CANCER

Don’t Eat the Landscaping

Recently, as I was picking up* my house, I ran into a pair of my shoes (that I’d been searching for all day) sitting on top of the coffee table. Where had they been before landing on the table? I can only speculate …

*one of my endless side notes: I had to include the information that I was picking up the house. It needed to documented. It happens so rarely. Ask my husband.

This made me think though … how much time I could lose every single day in fruitless speculation over how things got to be where they currently are when I find them. My children seem to be masters at putting things where they absolutely shouldn’t go (including at times, THEMSELVES), and short of bubble-wrapping the entire house as a child-proofing measure, I’m slightly at a loss. Still, when I’m not in the stress of the moment, they make me laugh hysterically (maybe too hysterically). So, please feel free to enjoy some amusement at our expense … someday they’ll be geniuses, right?

Here are some of my favorite questions from the past few weeks …

Why is there a graham cracker in the VCR slot?

Who put Daddy’s tie on the dog? (toy dog … our kids are our pets right now, thank you very much)

Why are there match sticks in the door jamb? …and for that matter, how did you get matches?!

Why are you eating Grandma’s landscaping?

Why is there a half-eaten lollipop stuck to my dress pants?

Why is Daddy’s cell ear-piece in the high chair?

Where are my keys? …and why are they in the pac ‘n’ play?

Who locked Mommy’s bedroom door and then closed it?

Who took the toilet paper (cardboard) tube out of the recycling? …and ate a bite out of it?

How did Chase get stuck in the bunk bed ladder again?

How did this sippy cup get in my bed table drawer?

Why are there action figures in the bathroom magazine basket?

And, my absolute favorite …

Why are you sitting in the refrigerator?

Ever asked yourself a crazy question like this? Please share. I need to know I’m not alone. Or at least, that I’m not the only crazy one.

One Hope

Remember Carrie, my bratty little sister? Okay, well, for the moment, put the brat thing out of your head because this is way too cool to be bothered with silly sibling stuff. Is it out now? Good.

Carrie (or “Care” to me) will be working with One Hope Ministry in Tulsa, Oklahoma this summer.

One Hope is a ministry seeking to transform the inner city by targeting the devastating cycles of poverty, racism, abuse, and violence. We believe that the hope of the Gospel can change individuals who are imprisoned in these cycles and can transform families and communities by destroying the cycles themselves. Our goal is to combat the cycles of devastation in the inner city with research based and relationally oriented programs that specifically target kids who are at-risk for being the next wave of those cycles. ~www.onehopeministry.org

Unlike many large cities where our poorest are often located directly within the city, Care describes many of Tulsa’s projects as being totally removed. The city has moved the poorest of the poor into a field outside the city. Kids growing up in this environment are totally isolated. Those who can go to school face high drop out rates and failing public schools, not to mention large areas of economic depression with few prospects available.

Working with One Hope as a “getAHEAD” tutor, Carrie will be one of a team of people seeking to close the learning gap for at-risk kids in school and taking every opportunity to share Christ.

The night before she left, I asked Care why she cared so much about this particular ministry and why I should care with her. She looked at me and said “Why? Because it’s the only thing that matters in 500 years, that’s why. Everything else is going to go away, but what you do to help people come to Jesus and have a better life … that’s priceless. That’s the next generation, and the next generation after that.”

You can go to One Hope’s website to better understand their mission, “getAHEAD”, and One Hope Academy. There is also a video page with several informative shorts on the ministry, the impact, and better understanding the gang problem. Why should you care in this moment? Why should you learn about this ministry?

For the small children (ages 5, 6 and up) who are turning to gangs to follow in their older sibling’s steps, refusing to use certain crayon colors in the classroom because it represents a rival gang’s signature color … for the 12 and 13 year olds being targeted by gang recruitment and pressed to prove themselves with acts of aggression, violence and speculatively even murder … for the small boy failing his classes whose mother keeps him alive by prostituting herself … for all the children who have no fathers… for all the children caught in nightmare cycle after nightmare cycle with no hope. Why? Because there is HOPE for these children:

^“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, andthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 [ESV]

Please go to One Hope’s website and prayerfully consider how you can be involved with this amazing ministry as they seek to rescue and impact the next generation.

To become a “Friend of One Hope” and receive regular prayer updates, contact: onehopeministry@gmail.com

Follow One Hope Ministry on their blog: www.onehopeblog.wordpress.com (side note: the daily life stories of these kids are amazing!)

Do you have more questions or want further information on One Hope Ministry? Contact Pastor Joe Blankenship at: be2Himglory@gmail.com

Tomorrow: Carrie’s Summer

Okay, so I’m really excited about tomorrow. I have been writing a post about Carrie’s summer …

This is Carrie, by the way … in case you forgot….

[Not sure who that gigantic blur is next to her …]

Anyway, I’m really excited to share with you what I’ve been learning about in regards to Care’s summer. Because she’s cool …

And she puts up with a lot from my kids …

Oh yeah, and she’s cool. Did I say that already?

Hope to see you tomorrow!

A Slice of Our Holiday

As promised, I updated our Memorial Day pictures this weekend. Hey! In my defense … I remembered yesterday that we didn’t have pictures from last year because we were in the middle of a cross-country marathon drive. I’ll have to tell that story another time … I’ll also have to figure out my excuses for the other three years not having pictures at a later date as well.

We started out our morning with a parade…

And, the “A++ Father Award for Standing in The Hot Sun On a Parade Route” goes to … my husband! I say this because I was over here for about 98.5% of the morning …

…sitting on the step of a dentist’s office in the shade of the building right behind Bob the whole time. PS: I wish I could tell you why Aidan makes that face at the camera, but I can’t, because I don’t know why. I think my two year old is officially “too cool for school” … or the camera … whichever the case may be.

A funny thing about my family …

We love to cheer on a parade. Side note: look at my prim and proper mother with her backwards hat! I have no idea why it’s like that in this picture, but I’m sure she’ll die just a tiny bit when she sees it.

Anyway, we love to cheer a parade! Please notice my dad’s wide open mouth … he spends a large amount of any parade we attend calling out to the participants. There’s one parade we attend every year where we’ve started noticing that the same people sit by us year after year. I think it’s because my father is almost as entertaining as the parade. When we were younger, he’d call out and cheer to all the church and school kids we knew in the marching bands, etc. Now, he calls out to people he knows from the city … everyone from the mayor to the marching veteran whose coffee he pours at Starbuck’s and recognizes by name. We laugh and it’s entertaining, but my dad has a great gift for making people feel special, even those he doesn’t know … as evidenced in this picture: he’s calling out to the flute players and telling them what a great job they’re doing. True story. He often calls out to the parents marching alongside the groups and bands with “Way to go, PARENTS! You guys make it happen!!” I love my dad.

We finally got out of the heat for an awesome lunch that included an addictive spinach salad (a recipe I WILL be posting in the future) and then a little of this …

I’ll just let this picture speak for itself. Powerful in it’s total lack of action, right?

After a little siesta, we let the kids hang out in the sprinkler. I should just preface this by saying … I LOVE these pictures! I love them so much that I drool over them a little every time I look at them. Okay, I’m done.

Side note: THIS is why you cloth diaper. Green, Schmeen … do it for the awesome pictures of your babies’ little bums in adorable colors, that’s why.

If this picture had sound, you’d hear Darcy and Aidan laughing while Chase shrieks at the top of his lungs while clapping his hands.

Try as they might, the kids could no longer be patient after a while and so it was time for dessert … and by “kids“, I may mean “adults“, and by “dessert” I definitely mean “s’mores” … oh, yes. However, the kids (the real kids) aren’t big on s’mores yet (yes, I know, something is genetically wrong) so they got ice cream cones. Which probably made for better pictures anyway …

Not one to do things by half, my youngest ignored the “licking” concept and moved into the more intense ice cream consumption phase of trying to put the whole cone into his mouth.

Which didn’t really pay off as he ended up with more ON him then in him …

Please note the totally hair-tastic look of this child. Gracious, he’s going to hate this picture some day! However, for his mother, it will always be a work of art.

Hope you all made the most of your day and enjoyed it!

Have a funny Memorial day story or pic? Feel free to post it below!

Swaddling Blanket (the good, the bad, and the ugly)

It is done! My MDW (Memorial Day Weekend) project is completed!

In other good news, I got back behind the wheel of the sewing machine (wheel? hey, don’t kill the cliche, okay?) for the first time since I helped my mom make matching PJs for me and my American Girl doll when I was 9. This was BIG. I don’t sew.

Side note: This is where my mom and I are complete opposites. She says that all four of her children’s labors were more easy than setting up her first e-mail account but the woman can whip up vintage Vogue shift dresses over a 48 hr period with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. Think I’m kidding? It’s an impressive sight to behold! The pattern practically bows down to her. Anyway, back to me … I’m more with the computer than the sewing machine myself, so, this was epic.

As much as I’d love to “blog announce” that the blanket is perfect and I’m a natural, my finished product is probably closer to a grade school sewing class feel than a start-your-own-etsy-site feel. But, I feel that I, for one, am stronger for it (cleansing breath of deep and profound maturity).

Haha! Now for the technical stuff…

First, always read the manual (which I did) … even the trouble-shooting section (which I didn’t), and here’s why …

IMAG0041 — Hmmm ... Embroidery thread ... now that would have been helpful to know!

Because I ignored [cough], I mean, overlooked this paragraph, I experienced a couple, shall we say “thread malfunctions” that may or may not have involved a seam ripper and a prayers for patience. It also meant that the regular, non-embroidery thread I was using for my decorative finishing stitch went through cycles of doing this:

FxCam_1306724153190 (1) — puckered, warped, and just plain weird

Overall, the finished impression isn’t totally hideous. Nobody is running in terror. But, the “decorative stitch” I picked just looks more like my favorite inside-out sweatshirt stitching from high school than I’d like it to.

Second, the original pattern blog didn’t mention this, but I struggled with the different strengths/characteristics/whatever of sewing flannel to cotton. The flannel was more stretchy than the cotton and I felt like I was fighting it more than I would have liked. But that’s okay, I’m over it. And I’m already dreaming about trying another one of these guys in all flannel for my little Fall baby. 🙂

Last, Big Plus! Look at the SIZE! Have you ever seen such an awesome swaddling blanket? I’m thinking that this will be great for covering the carrier and tummy time as well!

Sorry about the shadow-y quality. This is what happens when you take pictures on your phone’s camera at 10:30 at night. Learn from me. Take normal pictures at normal times with normal light, okay? Thank you. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the animal print is green, teal, orange, brown and yellow on a cream background and the flannel stripe is in the same colors plus a dark navy (which I chose to accentuate with the aforementioned disaster of a decorative stitch).

That pretty much concludes my thoughts on this project. It was fun, easy, cute (especially if you follow all your sewing machine instructions) and I would definitely keep the pattern/idea on my list to reuse for baby shower gifts, etc.

Did I mention that I was taking pictures of this at 10:30 PM? I’m not old. It’s the pregnancy, really. Anyhow, I need to sign off before my kids wake back up at half past the crack of dawn.

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