Dear Fans, Supporters, Encouragers, and Friends,
Kathryn used her big girl potty for the FIRST time yesterday!! I have to admit, I was a little curious what would happen and I can tell you she and I both were thoroughly amused! It really does play music when you "potty" in it! So last night was a huge success (and breakthrough) and just the beginning of fun to come. (FYI: it's 1:47pm now and she hasn't used it once today...I know what you're thinking, "girl, this is just the beginning"...) Matt missed this time of celebration so you can just imagine his eagerness to hear this contraption play sweet music when you pee in it.
Sincerely,
A Proud Mama
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
My Parents
I was recently informed that I needed to blog more... Two times in January just isn't going to cut it if I'm going to be a real blogger. So, topic of choice tonight: Parenting.
Whenever anyone asks me about growing up or my parents, etc...my response is, "my parents hung the moon". I know everyone is not able to say that but to me, I truly could not have asked for anything more. Of course there were times where we disagreed, and they annoyed the living daylights out of me, but they still established a strong foundation for me to learn who Christ is and what He's all about. I can call either parent up and ask for advice and I'll know they'll be giving me something biblical.
Dad's the kind of guy who when you call him, you just know you're making his day because he always sounds like you just made it. He can always make things look better and I definitely got my "optimistic" trait from him. I remember calling him up while I was in college playing soccer and I was absolutely miserable. I called him up crying and said, "Dad, I have 130 more days of this! There's no way I can do it!" and he said, "Erin, that's just about 5 months, not even half a year. I know you can do this!" I remember thinking, he does have a point, "5 sounds a lot better than 130!!" And he was right; I made it.
Mom is the fun mom. Not the kind of mom who isn't the parent, but the mom who will play cards (or any game with you for that matter), go shopping with you, cook your favorite dinner when you need it and listen when you just need her to listen. We were in a really bad car accident when we were little and she was in a coma for a few days and had to relearn a lot of things. Her memory never quite made a full recovery, at least, that's what I believed for many years...I've just recently been introduced to the word "selective" and I have a hunch that may play a small role in hers.. But all that is to say that she is surprised when I tell her things she used to do for us that meant a lot to me.
They took us to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, VBS and church camps. They took us to soccer practice all over the state of Georgia, multiple nights a week and came to all our games. They were our #1 fans. They helped us with homework. They were consistent. They tried to lead by example and they loved us unconditionally.
I've always been and will forever be grateful. Now as a parent, I know I have a big responsibility to carry on.
Whenever anyone asks me about growing up or my parents, etc...my response is, "my parents hung the moon". I know everyone is not able to say that but to me, I truly could not have asked for anything more. Of course there were times where we disagreed, and they annoyed the living daylights out of me, but they still established a strong foundation for me to learn who Christ is and what He's all about. I can call either parent up and ask for advice and I'll know they'll be giving me something biblical.
Dad's the kind of guy who when you call him, you just know you're making his day because he always sounds like you just made it. He can always make things look better and I definitely got my "optimistic" trait from him. I remember calling him up while I was in college playing soccer and I was absolutely miserable. I called him up crying and said, "Dad, I have 130 more days of this! There's no way I can do it!" and he said, "Erin, that's just about 5 months, not even half a year. I know you can do this!" I remember thinking, he does have a point, "5 sounds a lot better than 130!!" And he was right; I made it.
Mom is the fun mom. Not the kind of mom who isn't the parent, but the mom who will play cards (or any game with you for that matter), go shopping with you, cook your favorite dinner when you need it and listen when you just need her to listen. We were in a really bad car accident when we were little and she was in a coma for a few days and had to relearn a lot of things. Her memory never quite made a full recovery, at least, that's what I believed for many years...I've just recently been introduced to the word "selective" and I have a hunch that may play a small role in hers.. But all that is to say that she is surprised when I tell her things she used to do for us that meant a lot to me.
They took us to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, VBS and church camps. They took us to soccer practice all over the state of Georgia, multiple nights a week and came to all our games. They were our #1 fans. They helped us with homework. They were consistent. They tried to lead by example and they loved us unconditionally.
I've always been and will forever be grateful. Now as a parent, I know I have a big responsibility to carry on.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A favorite...
This is one of my favorite songs. I think all of us are always "waiting" on something. Whether it's for a new job, a baby, to move, a friendship, retirement, relationships, or even for the sun to come out again after a few days of rain; this describes such a perfect prayer for waiting. I've been learning a lot about obedience lately so when I just heard this song again, the line "taking every step in obedience" rang over and over in my head. I hope this encourages you - as it always encourages me. We serve an ALMIGHTY God who is diligently working life out for us.
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord
Monday, January 4, 2010
Happy New Year to 2010
Happy New Year!!! I just wrote the date today for the first time. 2010. How crazy is that - a new decade. It's all about New Year Resolutions these days. My first resolution was to start posting on my blog daily...haha. Yeah right. I can tell you now, that will never be one of my resolutions. Matt and I made a commitment to read our bible in a year. Our church is doing "Voyage through the bible in 2010" and holding us accountable through our sunday school class and church service. We each have a new chronological bible and we're on Day 4 today. So far so good! I already know this is going to be an amazing year and I'm eager to see what all the Lord has in store for us.
Kathryn and I had a little heart to heart on January 1st and we agreed (or rather, I informed her) of her three New Year Resolutions:
1. Learn to go potty on "the big girl potty"
2. Learn to pick up her toys (we like to aim for the sky)
3. Learn to sleep in her big girl bed
I'll keep you posted on those.
One of my best friend's, Dabney, has this quote on her page: Don't rob yourself of the joy of this season by wishing you were in a future or a past one. Each season has its unique value; focus on the present possiblities, and be content wtih today. Live each day to its fullest. (C. Biehl) Wow! What a statement. And what a great mindset to start a new year!
Kathryn and I had a little heart to heart on January 1st and we agreed (or rather, I informed her) of her three New Year Resolutions:
1. Learn to go potty on "the big girl potty"
2. Learn to pick up her toys (we like to aim for the sky)
3. Learn to sleep in her big girl bed
I'll keep you posted on those.
One of my best friend's, Dabney, has this quote on her page: Don't rob yourself of the joy of this season by wishing you were in a future or a past one. Each season has its unique value; focus on the present possiblities, and be content wtih today. Live each day to its fullest. (C. Biehl) Wow! What a statement. And what a great mindset to start a new year!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Kathryn to the rescue
The other day Kathryn and I were in our master bathroom upstairs. I ran out of toilet paper. Grrrrrrr. Kathryn's two years old now and learning all sorts of new words and phrases and about following instructions. I thought, "how wonderful! she can help me out in a crisis!" so I asked her, "Kathryn, can you please get mama some more toilet paper?" She replied, "ok Mama!" and ran off. I heard her little feet go past the other bathroom upstairs and then I heard her going down the steps. I thought, "Thank you Lord for such a smart child!! She knows that there are extra rolls of toilet paper in the downstairs bathroom!" Waiting patiently, I hear her little feet climbing back up the stairs and then run to me in the bathroom. With utter delight and pride she goes, "here go Mama!" and hands me a single square of toilet paper. Awww. She's just way too cute. Yep, I made it work.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Christmas Tree Shopping
Let me tell you a little story about the Gram Family Christmas Tree... This year will be our 6th Christmas together. Our first Christmas in our apartment in Georgia, we borrowed mom's fake little Christmas tree that she used to use in her classroom at school. Hands-down I prefer live Christmas trees - the smell, picking out "the perfect one", how they look, etc..but having the fake little tree that first year didn't matter since we were celebrating our "first Christmas" together. The past five years living in our house, is where my story begins.
Year #1 - We venture out excited to purchase our very first tree together. We shop a few tree farms and end up at Home Depot and Lowes because we had no idea how expensive trees can get and they had the best (ie cheapest) prices. A little discouraged to be buying from a national superstore, and not driving up a mountain, finding "the perfect tree", chopping it down ourselves while sipping hot cocoa and singing Christmas songs, loading it into the car just as the first snow begins to fall as we drive away... No, that didn't happen our first year. Our first year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that Matt did not know how to tie a knot.
Year #2 - We venture out excited to purchase a Christmas tree. We drive to a few tree farms and remember how expensive Christmas trees can be and we end up at Home Depot and Lowes. We pick out the prettiest tree of the bunch and since we learned last year Matt didn't know how to tie a knot, we know this year it's up to me. Our second year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that I do not know how to tie knots very well either.
Year #3 - We venture out excited to purchase a Christmas tree. We drive straight to Home Depot and Lowes. We pick out the prettiest tree of the bunch, promise each other we're not going to snap at each other in the parking lot like we did the two previous years and we're going to work together tying the tree to the roof. We successfully tie the tree to the roof and drive home. Our third year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that it is exactly 2.3 miles from Lowes to our house and if you drive under 20 miles an hour the whole way home so your tree won't fall off, it takes a really long time to get home and cars behind you aren't happy that you and your husband can't tie knots and have to drive really slow holding onto the tree through the windows.
Year #4 - We venture out to purchase a Christmas tree. We drive straight to Home Depot and Lowes. We find the perfect tree, dread getting it home and promise again to just work together but thankful that we have a Trailblazer this year and believe it will be much easier than year's past transporting. We take no chances tying knots and put it directly in the back of the Trailblazer. Our fourth year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that if you put a tree directly into your car, you should have a sheet or plastic under it.
Year #5 - We debate about venturing out to get a Christmas tree. The morning we were planning on going, it was cold and drizzly outside. We step outside to see exactly "how cold and wet" it actually is and like geniuses, remember we need nothing short than ideal weather conditions. We agree we should wait until the sun comes out..there's no point torturing ourselves when we know it's going to be a difficult hour.. We drive straight to Home Depot once the sun came out. We find the perfect tree and then the most amazing thing happened...Two men (I like to think angels..) who work at Home Depot carried our tree out for us, wrapped the netting around it, and told us to pull our car up. We did exactly as we were told without hesitation. They loaded it on top of the Trailblazer, tied knots and tied it down in under two minutes. Matt and I looked at each other, smiled, thanked the men repeatedly and exclaimed that this was the most wonderful tree experience we'd ever had. We drove to McDonalds and got the men gift cards because we were so elated. It's going to be a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Year #1 - We venture out excited to purchase our very first tree together. We shop a few tree farms and end up at Home Depot and Lowes because we had no idea how expensive trees can get and they had the best (ie cheapest) prices. A little discouraged to be buying from a national superstore, and not driving up a mountain, finding "the perfect tree", chopping it down ourselves while sipping hot cocoa and singing Christmas songs, loading it into the car just as the first snow begins to fall as we drive away... No, that didn't happen our first year. Our first year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that Matt did not know how to tie a knot.
Year #2 - We venture out excited to purchase a Christmas tree. We drive to a few tree farms and remember how expensive Christmas trees can be and we end up at Home Depot and Lowes. We pick out the prettiest tree of the bunch and since we learned last year Matt didn't know how to tie a knot, we know this year it's up to me. Our second year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that I do not know how to tie knots very well either.
Year #3 - We venture out excited to purchase a Christmas tree. We drive straight to Home Depot and Lowes. We pick out the prettiest tree of the bunch, promise each other we're not going to snap at each other in the parking lot like we did the two previous years and we're going to work together tying the tree to the roof. We successfully tie the tree to the roof and drive home. Our third year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that it is exactly 2.3 miles from Lowes to our house and if you drive under 20 miles an hour the whole way home so your tree won't fall off, it takes a really long time to get home and cars behind you aren't happy that you and your husband can't tie knots and have to drive really slow holding onto the tree through the windows.
Year #4 - We venture out to purchase a Christmas tree. We drive straight to Home Depot and Lowes. We find the perfect tree, dread getting it home and promise again to just work together but thankful that we have a Trailblazer this year and believe it will be much easier than year's past transporting. We take no chances tying knots and put it directly in the back of the Trailblazer. Our fourth year purchasing our Christmas tree, I learned that if you put a tree directly into your car, you should have a sheet or plastic under it.
Year #5 - We debate about venturing out to get a Christmas tree. The morning we were planning on going, it was cold and drizzly outside. We step outside to see exactly "how cold and wet" it actually is and like geniuses, remember we need nothing short than ideal weather conditions. We agree we should wait until the sun comes out..there's no point torturing ourselves when we know it's going to be a difficult hour.. We drive straight to Home Depot once the sun came out. We find the perfect tree and then the most amazing thing happened...Two men (I like to think angels..) who work at Home Depot carried our tree out for us, wrapped the netting around it, and told us to pull our car up. We did exactly as we were told without hesitation. They loaded it on top of the Trailblazer, tied knots and tied it down in under two minutes. Matt and I looked at each other, smiled, thanked the men repeatedly and exclaimed that this was the most wonderful tree experience we'd ever had. We drove to McDonalds and got the men gift cards because we were so elated. It's going to be a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Yummy new snack..
I'm starting to wonder if my blog is turning into the lamest blog ever now that I'm resorting to posts on "yummy snacks"... Hmmm.. Now that I have your attention, try this one day:
Spread peanut butter on a small tortilla. Peel a banana and put onto of the peanut butter. Drizzle honey on top. Wrap up like a taco and eat. Yum.
I'm not going to lie and act like we have whole grain tortillas - I'm not that health concsience but that would make it healthier and I've also heard adding granola to it makes it tasty. That may actually push my health meter too far to the right though... Enjoy.
Spread peanut butter on a small tortilla. Peel a banana and put onto of the peanut butter. Drizzle honey on top. Wrap up like a taco and eat. Yum.
I'm not going to lie and act like we have whole grain tortillas - I'm not that health concsience but that would make it healthier and I've also heard adding granola to it makes it tasty. That may actually push my health meter too far to the right though... Enjoy.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Favorite Findings...
Why spend money on toys when your child can play in the coolest "boat" on the planet for the same cost as diapers?
Last night after I put Kathryn to bed, I started to pick up some of her toys she had left out downstairs... This is what I found:
A perfectly set table of tea and grapes for two.
Pizza in a play wallet. Why do I never remember to pack a slice??
Her cup of milk in "her" frig. (Hopefully it was not from earlier in the week..)
Her purse on the pony. It makes sense..
Monday, November 23, 2009
It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is actually THIS week. Time just seems to fly by. This is by far my absolute favorite time of year. I love the leaves changing, the cool air, drinking hot tea and hot chocolate, attempting to make delicious fall treats, the holidays and getting together with family and friends, starting and carrying on traditions. So many things.
This month was Matt and Kathryn's birthday! Matt is officially a "30 year old"...That's so funny to say now. It honestly doesn't seem old to me at all. I've always thought of age as just a number. Of course, he likes to remind me that I should "obey my elders"... He's such a funny old man. (He knows I'm joking.) We celebrated Kathryn's sweet birthday as well. She is two now and every day she is turning into such beautiful little girl. No offense to all my amazing girl friends out there, but she is hands down my favorite girl. (I am sure my friends have already figured that one out..) I can't get over her sense of humor and how witty she can be. It's so fun just laughing at each other during the day over the silliest little thing. Here are a few of her latest phrases:
"Carry-o please" - translation: "Carry me please"
"Help-u please" - translation: "Help me please"
"Whats dat?" - translation: "What's that?"
"Uh-oh, it fall down" - she says this about 50 times a day for anything that falls..
"Where'd he go?" - usually asking where Dada is or Cooper is or where Michael is...
"Luv-lou" - translation: "Love you"
Her current favorite foods:
Bean burritos -- that's my girl!!
Chips and salsa -- that's my girl!!
Carrots and ranch dressing -- (To everyone who thinks I deprive her of sweets, Matt introduced this to her!)
Apples
Oreo Cookies
Pictures to follow soon .... trouble uploading right now and I don't have the patience to keep trying!
Friday, November 13, 2009
frustrations and ramblings
I know I haven't written in a while and I'm sorry to post for the first time in a while on a "not so light-natured" topic, but I'm in a funk and I need to type and sort my thoughts out. This is one of the toughest situations I've ever had to come to terms with and this post is raw emotion and a needed outlet right now.
Yesterday evening, we had ABC News on with Charles Gibson. We never watch the news. Ever. I hate the news. After you read this, you'll know us having the news on last night was no coincidence. I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and in the background I heard, "We have never-seen-before footage from the Taliban. The date, July 13, 2008..." I jerked my head up so fast looking for the remote to turn the volume up. They showed home-video like footage of the Taliban hours before they attacked a remote outpost of American and Afghanistan soldiers. They talked of how they found out about the outpost and their plans of attack, their preparation and their encouragement to one another. They showed their discussion and prayers beforehand then they showed the actual attack - the fire, gunfire, rocket propelled grenades. I was watching the actual footage of the attack that killed MBP and eight other brave American soldiers. To clarify, I'd seen footage of the attack already. When we heard the news, I scoured the internet on any and every piece of information for weeks on end. If there was a story, interview, picture out there, I had to see it. What I saw yesterday didn't compare to anything I had already seen. This footage was all from "their" perspective. The enemy's perspective. I saw the attack from the Taliban's eyes and it was a victory to them.
I was instantly filled with hatred. Hatred may not even properly describe what I was feeling. Words like livid, and despise, and contempt all flushed over my body in an instant. I have never felt such bitter emotion so strongly towards someone in my life. I remember being so angry when I first heard the news about Matt and I really thought for a few weeks that I would never be able to forgive the men that killed him. I struggled with God so much during that time - pleading, questioning, begging, praying. It was almost a year before I had true peace with everything. To even say that is so surreal to me because I know it had nothing to do with my doing. It wouldn't have been possible if it were up to me. The reason I can say that is because I'm very capable of declaring who is evil in this situation and justifying my anger. I'm one of the best 'judges' I know and in this circumstance, my friend was the victim.
Peace in that type of circumstance isn't possible for human beings without God. Up until last night, I had a calmness so to speak knowing where Matt is and the glory that has been and will be received. That, I am firmly grounded on. I also believed I had forgiven. I think in my mind the forgiveness aspect was jumbled up in there since I had a peace about everything. With my reaction to seeing the video footage of the attack and my struggle today, I'm not sure that that may be the case. This is a very conflicting struggle for me. It's hard for me to concentrate on where Matt is rather than how he got there. I know typing this up has definitely helped me bring it back to Christ; which ultimately is where it should be. I'm doing a Beth Moore bible study called, "Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit". We're only in the third week of the study but I can already tell you that the title, Living Beyond Yourself is the best explanation to how I'm coping now. No peace, no clarity, no forgiveness is even possible without Christ. It's literally beyond myself and my capabilities.
Yesterday evening, we had ABC News on with Charles Gibson. We never watch the news. Ever. I hate the news. After you read this, you'll know us having the news on last night was no coincidence. I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and in the background I heard, "We have never-seen-before footage from the Taliban. The date, July 13, 2008..." I jerked my head up so fast looking for the remote to turn the volume up. They showed home-video like footage of the Taliban hours before they attacked a remote outpost of American and Afghanistan soldiers. They talked of how they found out about the outpost and their plans of attack, their preparation and their encouragement to one another. They showed their discussion and prayers beforehand then they showed the actual attack - the fire, gunfire, rocket propelled grenades. I was watching the actual footage of the attack that killed MBP and eight other brave American soldiers. To clarify, I'd seen footage of the attack already. When we heard the news, I scoured the internet on any and every piece of information for weeks on end. If there was a story, interview, picture out there, I had to see it. What I saw yesterday didn't compare to anything I had already seen. This footage was all from "their" perspective. The enemy's perspective. I saw the attack from the Taliban's eyes and it was a victory to them.
I was instantly filled with hatred. Hatred may not even properly describe what I was feeling. Words like livid, and despise, and contempt all flushed over my body in an instant. I have never felt such bitter emotion so strongly towards someone in my life. I remember being so angry when I first heard the news about Matt and I really thought for a few weeks that I would never be able to forgive the men that killed him. I struggled with God so much during that time - pleading, questioning, begging, praying. It was almost a year before I had true peace with everything. To even say that is so surreal to me because I know it had nothing to do with my doing. It wouldn't have been possible if it were up to me. The reason I can say that is because I'm very capable of declaring who is evil in this situation and justifying my anger. I'm one of the best 'judges' I know and in this circumstance, my friend was the victim.
Peace in that type of circumstance isn't possible for human beings without God. Up until last night, I had a calmness so to speak knowing where Matt is and the glory that has been and will be received. That, I am firmly grounded on. I also believed I had forgiven. I think in my mind the forgiveness aspect was jumbled up in there since I had a peace about everything. With my reaction to seeing the video footage of the attack and my struggle today, I'm not sure that that may be the case. This is a very conflicting struggle for me. It's hard for me to concentrate on where Matt is rather than how he got there. I know typing this up has definitely helped me bring it back to Christ; which ultimately is where it should be. I'm doing a Beth Moore bible study called, "Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit". We're only in the third week of the study but I can already tell you that the title, Living Beyond Yourself is the best explanation to how I'm coping now. No peace, no clarity, no forgiveness is even possible without Christ. It's literally beyond myself and my capabilities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)