Monday, June 16, 2008

How Organized Are You?

No, this is not a post to brag about my closets or make you feel guilty. Quite the opposite, in fact. I keep a watch on Nancy Wilson's blog (wife of Doug Wilson, pastor and author of Her Hand in Marriage). She had a great post today on trying to be too organized, and I thought I'd share it with my other over-worked friends. It's a very encouraging post, and I already feel less guilty about my less-than-perfect housecleaning. Click on the link below to read it yourself.

How Organized Are Your Closets?

Back to Work

So today was my first day back to "work" (because I've just been lazing around the last few weeks). Thanks to everyone who was praying for me. It actually was a pretty good day. It was definitely sad to be away from Jonathan (and Brian) all day, since I'm used to spending so much time with them, but it was ok.

I got to work to find that a lot has changed in the two months I've been gone:
- two full-time people have left or are leaving
- at least three new people have joined the office
- two people are back in the office from educational ventures
- my desk space has moved
> the good news is, I now have a window view
> the bad news - the window view is directly under an air conditioning vent in the coldest part of the office...brrrr!
- email really piles up when you're gone for two months!!

For the next few weeks, I'll be helping out on a fire station project. It's actually the one I was heading up before I took off, but someone else is coordinating it now. Really, I'm fine. I found out today that the project I should get to start working on after the Fourth is an interior build-out project. This means that there is an outside to the building, but nothing on the interior but structure and insulation. So, working with someone else in the office, I'll get to do the programming (figuring out what spaces they need, how big they are), space planning (figuring out where the aforementioned spaces will go, and how they relate to one another) and the interior finishes. This is my favorite thing to do in architecture/design. Yea! So I'm really looking forward to this next project.

So, anyway, for those of you wondering, my first day back was pretty good. I don't have any pictures, sorry, but it really wouldn't be that interesting anyway. ;) Thanks for your prayers!

PS - Brian had a good day at home with Jonathan. J took a really long nap (3.5 hours) so Brian was able to get a lot done during that time. My hubby's getting up at the crazy early hour of 5 these days to maximize the time before J wakes up in the morning, so he's getting work done then, as well. And Brian said J would even play by himself a little today (which he won't always do) so Brian was able to get more reading done then. All in all, a good day for my guys.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Water Fun

Today something happened that I had almost given up on. Jonathan played with the water hose. When we first got him, he was not a fan of water - he screamed every time we gave him a bath. As he grew more comfortable with us, he would play for the first part of bath time and only scream when we washed his hair. In the last few weeks, he's given up screaming even then (mostly because Mommy and Daddy have gotten better at keeping water out of his face) and he enjoys all of his bath. Yea! But he still doesn't like having water in his face. Or so I thought until this morning.

My mom and Jonathan came outside with me as I watered our lawn this morning. Jonathan started reaching out and putting his hand in the spray, and grew bolder and bolder. As you can see from the pictures, he had a great time playing in the water and ended up wet from head to toe. Even getting water sprayed in his face didn't seem to faze him. Maybe in the next few weeks we can brave Tanglewood's Splash Pad...




Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Will you marry me?

Today marks the three-year anniversary of the day Brian proposed. The whole story of the week leading up to the proposal is too long for this post, just know it was a crazy, emotional week, and on Wednesday, neither of us expected to be engaged by Saturday. That said, Brian did a great job of making the day special and totally surprising me. :)

We started our evening by going to the movies to see Cinderella Man, which was actually the first time we had gone to the theater together. Then we had dinner at Cafe Eccell. His inability to eat much at dinner was in fact due to nerves, but I thought it was a result of the malaria pills he was taking in preparation for his trip to India. Convenient.

After dinner, we went to Bee Creek Park to take a walk. When we got to the first split in the path, I noticed a small white flower growing in the middle of one of the branches. I may have commented on it, but didn't really think much, other than that was kind of a weird place for a single flower to be growing. At the second branch (and second flower) instead of becoming curious, I thought I saw the reason for the lone flower. Up ahead, I could barely see white growing around the base of a large tree. In my head, I just thought that somehow seeds had migrated and this single flower was part of the larger group that had kind of "wandered away."

When we got up to the tree, Brian stopped and gave me a hug. He started talking to me and then before I registered the tone of what he was saying, he was down on one knee in front of me. It was one of the sweetest moments of my life. Then I found out that all the flowers I had seen - those in the path and in a circle around the tree - had been planted by Brian that morning, while I thought he was packing and having lunch with his sister. Crazy boy!

Here we are just after the fact. If I look a big more tired and weepy than excited, I had in fact spent part of the afternoon crying - Brian would leave the next day for a 6-week mission trip to India, and I was not looking forward to it.


The tree was an old, dead skeleton, basically. On a previous walk, I had commented on how cool and interesting I thought it was, and Brian remembered. Unfortunately, this spot has been almost destroyed due to the "improvements" in that area. Now there is a large drainage ditch beyond our cool dead tree instead of more trees.


And here's Brian, looking handsome, young and very pleased with himself. ;)


I love you, Brian. Thanks for making that day such a special memory!

Wacky Wendesday

(No, this day wasn't particularly wacky, I just needed a title)

Wow, I just realized that I'm through Day 5. Somehow I missed counting Day 4. (for those of you sick of this count, I promise it will be over soon) Thank you to everyone who helped out and hung out with us this week. And thanks to all the people who offered to hang out, but didn't get to because the week was actually too short, or because Jonathan was sick. It has been a real blessing to know that I had so many friends who were there for me.

Our adventure for today came via Eric and Theresa. They came over at short notice and brought us dinner. Then, because Jonathan's asthma is still acting up, we headed to Chick-fil-A's indoor playground for a little after-dinner fun. Of course, Jonathan had more fun playing with the door than on the actual play equipment, but whatever. At least he got a change of scenery (I think my closet door was losing its appeal).


On a different note, Jonathan was evaluated today to see if he would need Early Childhood Intervention services. I was actually kind of surprised, but he failed two of the four areas she was testing. However, I was not surprised by which areas were weaker (does that make any sense?) His dexterity and verbal/comprehension skills were not where they should be /are expected to be. Now we will be referred to someone who will come and do a more in-depth study to see if and where he needs more directed help and development. It's an odd mix of emotions - I certainly want him to have help if he needs it and it will help with his development, but at the same time, my mommy heart wants to say, "Hey, what do you mean telling me my kid failed your test? I think he's just great!" Hopefully they can direct us to different things to do with him that can help him develop the skills he's behind in.

Ok, that's enough for one posting. My Mom will get here tomorrow evening to meet Jonathan for the first time, so hopefully I'll have some more good pictures to post soon.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Day Three: Survived

Thanks everyone for your prayers and encouraging comments.

I did get to talk to Brian today. Unfortunately, as soon as I heard his voice on the phone, I started crying, so of course, he thought something was wrong. I was eventually able to explain that we were ok. Jonathan had not been feeling well all day (asthma + allergies is a bad mix), and that had pretty much stressed me out. Brian confirmed that I needed to start him on the steroids the doctor gave him last week, and he is already doing much better. I still put him to bed early, because he's so tired from trying to breathe all day, but he is obviously doing better. I can hear him talking/singing to himself right now. :) Including a sing-song, "da-da," which I can only assume means that he loves and misses his Daddy.

Brian said they put in a hard day of manual labor today. Specifically digging holes. Haha, apparently he's doomed to dig holes on mission trips. (that's what we did the whole time we were in Peru two springs ago) Thankfully, no one has fallen in any of the holes yet! ;)

Just for fun, here's photos of our last hole-digging experience:




Day Three

We've made it through two days without Brian. And into Day Three. It's been a quiet morning so far, mostly because my little guy is still sleeping. Yes, that's right, almost 11 am and still asleep. He's been sniffly and coughy and kind of congested since Saturday, and he woke up a lot during the night, so I think he's just catching up on missed sleep. (Maybe I should be doing the same) About every 20 minutes I'll hear him cough and whimper, but no real sounds of being awake yet. Crazy. Last night I started showing signs of allergy problems or a cold, so it could be a rough couple of days. Please pray for health for both of us. Trying to take care of a sick child while feeling sick myself does not sound like fun.

I have now gone over 48 hours without talking to my husband. (except for a 5-minute call on Saturday to tell me they were there safely, which hardly counts) That's the longest I've gone since we've been married. And I don't like it. I hope he'll be able to call tonight, but I don't know.

I've been rereading letters that Brian left for me when he went to India three years ago. In the one I read this morning, he reminded me that God's mercies are new every day. So I asked God this morning to open my eyes to see His mercies today. These are a few I've thought of so far:

- Jonathan is sleeping, catching up on much-needed rest
- no more ants in my den (long story)
- I'm feeling much better, with less cold/allergy symptoms
- I have a very wide network of friends who would love to hang out with me and my son when I can't handle being home alone any more! ;)
- I have a husband who loves me
- my mom is only a cell-phone call away (and doesn't tire of me!)

I pray that I will continue to see God's hand in the rest of my day. I take so much for granted; I need new eyes to see how great our God is.

Because I need to see my husband's smile:


Because it's so sweet, here's Jonathan giving his Daddy kisses:


We miss you, Brian!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Long Week Ahead

I am about 1 1/2 hours into what will probably be a very long week. Brian left this morning for Mexico. He is leading a team of our youth (and one mom) on a week long trip to work with Isaiah 55 ministries in Reynosa, Mexico. So far I'm ok. If I keep busy, I generally tend to do better when Brian's gone. And with a 21-month old in the house, busy is something I can achieve! So far I've folded laundry (Jonathan helped by throwing his socks around), checked up on my blogs and worked on this posting. JOnathan wanted to contribute, so here are his thoughts for the morning:

.bmkrghthnmgrkmgvlov km vkmb jjhdefhhdhdhdhnbdjhc jnfcjhf

Mostly I think that means,"Mommy, play with me, where's Daddy, I want a cracker," but I'm not 100% sure. I've only been translating toddler speak for about 2 months, so I wouldn't call myself completely bilingual yet, just conversant. But since I can answer 2 of the 3 requests, I guess I better go. Here's a picture for the day:


One day at the park Brian was teaching Jonathan proper stick technique for drumming. I love Brian's jamming out look and the way Jonathan is gazing up at him.