A Front Row Seat to Our Life!

So Sobering

2012-01-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

My fingers have been resting on my keyboard, trying to process what I have just read. A blog I follow of a family I know has received a devastating diagnosis. A few months, perhaps a few years... three kiddos, one on the way.

My stomach feels sick trying to imagine the emotional pain Derek and his family are experiencing. Here is their blog, http://lrsauder.blogspot.com/2012/01/treatment-plan.html

Please add them to your prayers!

I Dread...

2012-01-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

I dread the day that I fall off of Mickey's pedestal.

It will be a hard fall.

I know it is coming.. which sometimes steals the joy of basking in his adoration.

He has no idea that I am not at my ideal weight.

He has no idea that I have glaring character flaws.

He only knows that I am his mother and he feels infinitely loved by me.

When I was heading out on a date with hubby a few months back, Mickey stopped in his tracks and gazed at me with admiration, "MOM! You are the most beautiful lady wherever you go! I have tucked those sweet words in the pocket of my heart!

This morning as I was preparing breakfast for the Mousekins and singing-- (it's a family trait--we randomly break out into song--drives Hubby crazy) Mickey broke in, "OH MOM, You MUST go on American IDOL! You have the most beautiful voice!"

Others see me as an ordinary housewife/mom in a small midwestern town, but in the eyes of my six year old son, I am a Rock Star Beauty Queen!

And while I am on this pedestal, I know this is my optimal time to have my actions, my words, and my thoughts point to Jesus so that when I take my rightful place in Mickey's heart, he will realize that it was Jesus on the Pedestal all along!

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

We are in a beautiful time of life. Our blessings are overflowing and we wish we could make time stand still! We cherish these moments that our children are loving to be around us and love to snuggle in our arms to read books!

For those of you visiting our blog for the first time, welcome! We don't use our real names on our blog for security reasons. If you get confused, refer to the picture at the top of the blog for a name reference guide :)

Here is our official Christmas Picture!

We have been celebrating for ONE WHOLE year now that Mickey's milk allergy is non-existent! Wow, what a huge change this has been for our family! Eating in restaurants, and going out for ice-cream is still a novelty for us and we give thanks to God for healing Mickey and allowing us to experience such joys! He is still allergic to bananas and sensitive to latex products but those allergies do not inhibit our lives much and we are SO GRATEFUL!

Mickey started Kindergarten in the fall and loves it! It took his mama longer to adjust than it took him. Minnie (age 3) gleefully started preschool two afternoons a week. This leaves Mouseymom (me) with six hours a week to myself. I get asked often what occupies those precious 6 hours and I am not always sure. Sometimes I sit down with a cup of tea, sometimes I rush out to do some errands or clean the house without interruptions, sometimes I disappear in to my Frills and Flowers room happily creating, and sometimes I set my timer and enjoy an afternoon siesta!

Hubby is enjoying his job at Foam Fabricators. He loved attending Father Daughter Dances with Minnie and spends many hours lego-building with Mickey He also had the opportunity to visit Bangladesh in December with my father.

The community pool was our home for the summer and it was a sad day when it closed for the season. Both of the kiddos love to swim. Minnie is part-mermaid and liked to show off by diving off of the high dive. Minnie won a bike through the library summer program and now the whole family can ride around our little town together. The autumn provided us with lots of hiking days. One of our favorite new hiking spots is Wild Cat Den State Park just outside of Muscatine.

We said goodbye to my wonderful Grandpa Joe just before Thanksgiving. He was an inspiration of love and compassion to us and we hope to continue his legacy. We know that because he placed his faith in Jesus , he is whole and alive with Jesus in heaven and that our goodbye is only temporary.

We give thanks that we have such wonderful blessings of clean water to drink, food to sustain us, shelter over our heads, the love of family and friends and a God who is the Rock through all of the ups and downs.

Celebrating the birth of our Savior has been an incredible blessing this Christmas season as our children grow in their understanding of the plan of salvation for all.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Motherhood: sometimes lonely and isolating...

2011-12-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

The topic today for the Hearts at Home Blog Hop is: When did you realize that you were not alone on this journey called Motherhood?

Today's topic pulls at my heart strings and takes my mind soaring through the emotions that accompanied this journey. It is wonderful to look back at a vulnerable time in my life and to see how God has been so faithful.

After 16 hours of Labor, eight of them excruciating, eight of them blissful (grateful shout-out to the inventor of epidurals), my mid-wife informed me that the baby was simply not going to come out so we had to do a C-section.

I was not open to this option.

"I don't have time to have a C-section! I am moving in eight weeks!!!!," I insisted.

And this was not a simple move for me. It was a heart-wrenching move from my ultra-coddling church family in Indiana, to the great unknown in South Carolina. Leaving my girlfriends and Bible Study Ladies felt like I was being torn from all my support. I did not want to move and I was having troubles trusting my husband that he had our best interests at heart. All of this would have been hard for me all on it's own, but mix that in with becoming a first-time mama and I was a real mess.

Well, the C-section happened in spite of my protests. And eight weeks later I found myself feeling very alone in a new house, with a new baby, in a new town. Actually it turns out that the South is a whole new culture.

I can still remember that feeling six years ago of strolling my baby around my new neighborhood with a deep sense of grief washing over me... missing my "old life", longing for the familiar and resenting all the "new".

Starting over was hard.

My next door neighbors were so sweet and welcomed me with such grace. But I did not know them, I could not depend on them, they knew nothing about me.

The struggles of becoming a new mom overwhelmed me, esp. when my son broke out in hives on his face when a milk-based formula dripped on him. I was scared, and alone.

I went to my first MOPS-like moms group at a local church and the speaker talked all about how moms need support. He encouraged us to lean on our families and depend on our friends. I choked back tears as my mind screamed, "but what should I do when I have no one here!!!!" My family is a plane ride away, and everyone here is so foreign to me! I felt hopeless. I knew that friendships took a long time to form and that I needed help NOW! I felt so needy and I despised that feeling.

I attended another MOPS group at another local church and I clicked immediately with all the other moms at my table... who were all first time moms with new babies! I was not about to let on how needy I was, but one of the girls confided to the group that she felt all alone and had no one. One by one, all the other mom's at my table expressed the same thing. I felt like I could let my shell down a bit and admit how alone I was as well. God had put me in a group of amazing ladies that not only I needed, but that needed me!

My neighbor friends also continued to win me over with their love. They showed me that even though we had not been life-long friends, that I could trust them and that they were there for me. And they were. In just a few short months, I felt surrounded by love and support.

I remember distinctly the time when I realized "wow, I am not alone in this motherhood thing"... it was when I had taken my son to the doctor for something and when I got home there were two messages on my answering machine. Both of the messages were my neighbors calling to see how my son was doing and wanting to know what the doctor had said.

It was at that moment that I realized that I had friends who truly cared and were with me on this journey. They were with me in the daily stuff... brightening my days when I would go out and get my mail and end up talking for hours at the mailbox, sharing food and discussing all the details of mothering...like which diapers held in blow-outs and when it was time to take the bumper off the crib.

It was different this time. These new friends had never met my parents, did not know my sisters' names and had no understanding of my past... but it was okay and I was grateful. I knew God had provided for me and showed his great love for me even when I doubted.

I lived in South Carolina for only 1.5 years.

We moved to Iowa where I live only a few miles from my parents and have cousins galore in a 15 mile radius. Surprisingly, I was sad to move from South Carolina where these wonderful women had made a glorious impact on my life in such a short time. I was a bridesmaid in my neighbor's wedding in South Carolina, two years after I moved away.

Lessons learned: God is good! God is faithful! Friends are a gift. Friends don't have to know every detail of your life to be a true friend. I still have my life-long friends that I have known all my life and I am so blessed by them. I have learned to open my heart to different "levels' of friends along the way.
I also have a heart for the mom who is feeling alone and needing "connected". A great way to integrate that mom is through MOPS and/or invite her to the Hearts at Home Conference.

A lot of bonding happens in that car ride and hotel stay! I have invited moms that I BARELY know and it has been a huge blessing for them and me! One mom that came with me two years ago is now one of my closest friends and a huge support to me. Reaching out is a two-way blessing!

Check out other Hearts at Home Bloggers below writing sharing their thoughts on this topic!

Unforgettable

2011-11-18T06:59:00.000-08:00

My beloved Grandpa is so close to taking his final breaths here on earth. Every time my phone rings, a mixture of emotions confuses me.

I want so badly for my Grandpa to be set free from his body that does not work, to be set free from confusion from his deteriorated mind that time has stolen.

He is trapped in a weak and failing body, but I know his soul well. Grandpa Joe is a free spirit and soon to be in the arms of Jesus, Free at last. But the human part of me is a little scared to let the earthly shell of him go, fearful to depend only on memories.

Last night I laid in bed thinking of all the things I wanted to write about my grandpa, but it seems overwhelming to use mere words to describe the incredible influence Grandpa Joe had on my life. So in the mean time I want to share a tribute that my sister's husband wrote about our grandpa Joe on Facebook this morning:

Grandpa Joe

As he awaits his moment to go to his eternal home I thought I would take a moment to public tribute a man that many call, and many that would love to call, Grandpa. Joe Wiegand has written memoirs of a fascinating life, truly a documentation of the greatest generation. We know his story well, one of loving his wife and children, war hero, inventor, spirituality, hard work and charity.

A life worth studying, a life worth honoring, and a life that I am confident will be rewarded with “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

I feel especially close to Joe as I believe my wife Gayla, his grand-daughter (I think his favorite – inside joke to all Wiegands), inherited so much of him in her charity, love for the underdog, compassion and willingness to love and help.

No respecter of person and no job to low – that is what Joe passed to my family. Joe has an innate desire to believe in people and to sympathize with failures, never standing in judgment. Quick to humor and a flashing good looking smile, never a stranger in his life. A goal to make every person in the supermarket lines an instant friend, bringing 10 seconds of joy to them. Joe always would error to the side of over forgiveness, blind love, and compassion.

He knew that he was often taken advantage of, subject of judgment, however, he leaves us with a great impression, respect, love, admiration, and frankly I can’t even remember the people that might have abused his love, but Joe we will never forget. Yes, he passed these traits to his family, but fortunately not the trait of drinking the cereal milk left out from all the little kids. I look forward to being reunited someday with Joe.

He is the man that you wish you could call buddy when you were young, hoped you could call a mentor as you went thru life, and if lucky you called him grandpa, father, or husband. To those that know Joe, he will always be the visual and definer of the term, “A life well lived.” Joe Wiegand - Farmer

~written by Jason Stoecker on Nov. 18, 2011~

Well THAT Explains It!

2011-11-02T20:08:00.001-07:00

Minnie at age three and a half has hit new heights of wretchedness. The kind that at the end of the day, Hubby and I collapse on the couch with blank stares in our eyes, stripped of all energy...hoping to find a netflix show to numb our minds.

Now it is not all bad. Minnie has many hours a day where she is pure joy:
announcing her deep deep love and thankfulness for us,
slathering us with kisses and hugs and nestled up in our arms reading books.

She melodiously makes up songs of praise to her great and wonderful Savior Jesus Christ and prays with a fervent heart, with hands raised in the air. (If she did not look so much like me, I would think we had a hospital mix-up with a Pentecostal baby)

And then there is the......other side.

The dark side of Minnie.

Where tantrums are paramount and no reasoning can be applied.

She destroys all in her path.. especially her big brother Mickey takes quite a beating from this tiny but mighty storm.

The storm leaves us all listless and drained.

Tonight we had a BIG STORM. A tsunami. So this is all very fresh as I write.

I was doing laundry and was listening to Hubby talk to Minnie after the storm had settled.

Hubby: "Minnie, It is important that you obey your mommy and daddy. It is not okay to hurt your brother. It is not okay to throw a big fit when you are angry. Jesus is in your heart and He can help you to choose rightly."

Minnie: (matter of factly) Jesus flew out my ear.

I was glad that I was out of sight and did not have suppress a smile! That is quite the explanation for the reason behind her volatile behavior!

And in the morning she will pad out to the kitchen with wild bed head and her darling footed pink fuzzy pajamas and hug me. And a fresh day will begin. How someone so absolutely adorable can be so vicious is mind-boggling. Yet every day I thank God that I get to be part of these complex, amazing and beautiful children's lives. My heart never ceases to adore them and I count them as my most precious blessings.

Epic Fail

2011-10-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today we took a glorious hike with my parents at Wild Cat Den State Park. We crunched through leaves in the brisk autumn air and marveled at the natural beauty carved out by the hand of God! We took loads of pictures. But the ones I am sharing with my blog readers here are the infamous family pics. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that this is not usually successful.

This event was no different.

Epic Fail.

I have put these in order that they were taken.

Zombie son

umm. no caption necessary.

same story... just a bit deeper

The disgusting finale... which sent Hubby and I both in to gales of laughter when we viewed this.... followed by disgusted "yechhhs"

The Sweet Scene in My Living room

2011-10-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

9:35pm Friday Night

Sweet

Serene

So Blessed

This Is A Test!

2011-10-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

What is the major difference between these two pictures?

If you chose Hair color, then you are correct.

Let's just say that Hubby is in a bit of hot water as he noticed not ONE change!

My roots were getting dark and it was time to transition to my fall hair color. Its the time of year where I give my hair a rest from bleach. I do a gentle semi-permanent color that gets rid of the blond and slowly fades away so that regrowth is not a problem.

So about an hour before Awanas started on Wednesday night, I threw some color in my hair (went from a level 10 to a level 5--in cosmetology terms)

I had a friend in town, so the three of us (friend, hubby and I) went up to the local restaurant together, then we came home and sat around in the living room solving the worlds problems :) In other words, we had lots of face time.

HOURS later, I suddenly realized that Hubby had not noted my fairly drastic hair color change, but assumed that he had just noticed and not commented.

"Hey Hubby, notice anything different about my hair?"

He looks at me as if he is seeing me for the first time that night and a shocked expression filled his face

"HOLY COW!!! When did that happen!?"

I laughed so hard as his expression was priceless.

After all, this was not a subtle change. And hubby is usually very observant of all thing.

The next day I found myself being less amused and more disturbed.

Hubby felt really bad, and he still cannot figure out how he missed the fact that his wife had a COMPLETELY different hair color!

So just to throw him off, I found this awesome wig a few hours ago at Jo Ann Fabrics for a few bucks and I will be wearing it when he comes home tonight. (yes, I know.. I have a total ornery streak!)

I hope he notices!!!!

Update 10/8/2011

Well I guess it runs in the family~ I was just talking to Solomon a few minutes ago and he exclaimed, "Hey Mom, your hair is darker!" Curiously I asked him, " When did you first notice?"

His reply?

"Just right now!"

Note: I colored my hair on Wednesday, and just now on Saturday afternoon is when this conversation took place. sigh :)

Like Father, like Son.

But I have no complaints as aside from noticing signifigant hair color changes, they are both so loving and attentive and I am blessed to have such wonderful males in my life!

Oh, and yes, Hubby DID notice the long blonde wig and was very amused!

My Mickey Day!

2011-08-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

In the blink of an eye, summer was over and school was about to begin.

I panicked!

My days of having Mickey around were coming to an abrupt end.

He was about to start Kindergarten.

Regrets started pouring in..
"why didn't I play Legos with him more"
" Why do I get so impatient with him"
"Why have I not focused on more one on one time?"

But wait! All these feelings seem dimly familiar...

Ah yes...

These are the same thoughts I was having when Mickey was nearly three and I was about to pop out baby number two.... I knew my days alone with him were numbered and I grieved that a bit.

A few weeks before baby number two was born, I took Mickey to the local outdoor water park for a fun-filled day with his Mommy. I will never forget that. It's forever marked in my traumatized mind. YOU try being 20months pregnant and try getting out an inner tube after floating around the lazy river??? Poor Mickey was stranded, yelling for his mommy as I got caught in the current, unable to hoist myself out of the small plastic doughnut. I had to be rescued by a stranger to be reunited with my child. It was mortifying and actually kind of scary!

Anyway, aside from the inner tube incident, it was a really special time that enabled be to feel more prepared for the next season of our family.

Since our family was undergoing another major change, I wanted to set aside another special day for Mickey and I! Thanks to my wonderful mother for keeping Minnie for the day, Mickey and I set out for a day long adventure!

First we went out to eat and enjoyed uninterrupted conversation and shared dessert. It was so cold in the restaurant that we snuggled together the whole time!

Then we played laser tag. Yes, I am pretty much the coolest mom in my son's eyes! It was SO fun!

And then we hit the waterpark! This time it was WAY more fun! Zooming Water Slides, Swim Races and yes a few rounds of the Lazy River--with NO drama!

It was a super day that I have locked deep into my heart! Just spending time with my little guy was precious. I love his personality and his deep thoughts. He adores me and I am drinking it up!

A few days later we went to a "Meet the Teacher" night at his school! Here is a picture of Mickey and Mrs. H!

Apparently Mrs. H made quite an impression on my Mickey because the next day he said to me, "Mommy, I thought you were the sweetest girl in the whole world, but I think Mrs. H MIGHT be sweeter than you, but don't worry mommy, she will only be my teacher for one year, and then you will go back to being the sweetest girl in my life!"

What a lovebug!

Stay Tuned... First Day of School Pictures coming soon!

Apparently Smiling Would Have Killed Them!

2011-08-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Last night we were headed out and I realized we had hit a combination of three key things:

1. we were all looking presentable
2. we were not headed out in a hurry
3. it was not horribly hot outside

Put those three things together and its a darn near miracle in our family. So I grabbed my tripod and yelled for the troops. Honestly I thought Hubby would shut down "Operation Lets Get a Quick Family Picture Taken" when he saw my camera and tripod set up in the backyard. But much to my delight, not one grumble!

I knew I had less than three minutes to accomplish this project or... well I don't have to explain "or" as you probably have a husband and kids or know someone who does.

Three minutes later we have an up-to-date family photo!

And that- my friends- is the new picture at the top of my blog.

I did not say it was a great photo..
It's just...
a CURRENT photo...
of everyone in my family--
with nary a finger in the nose!

Look at the Mousekins in the picture--(yes, go ahead and scroll up to the top of the blog)

Do they look like children who have a loving and supportive family? NO! They look like they have the world on their shoulders. Mickey and Minnie's sullen expressions look like they should be on the cover of a pamphlet that reads, "Unloved Orphans Need Your Help!

Please don't send us money or food. It would be embarrassing.

So I just wanted to clarify to anyone out there that our children are indeed loved, fed and cuddled in case you were wondering after seeing the updated picture on my blog!

And honestly..this is a step up from a photos shoot from last year. Do any of you remember This! ?

Eating My Words

2011-08-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

A Beee-YOOOOO-ti-full day called for a picnic in our playhouse in our backyard. The Mousekins were delighted that I had the idea! Mickey volunteered to make the PB & J sandwiches.

It took a bit of effort for me to fit into the little house filled with The Mousekins, paper plates, drinks, and plastic dinosaurs. (Mickey had set up a dinosaur museum)

As I sat down to indulge in my Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, I-out-of-curiosity- opened my sandwich to inspect Mickey's work.

Much to my dismay, the portions of Peanut Butter and Jelly were very very slim!

I did not think I could stomach eating two pieces of dry bread with a faint taste of PB&J, so I said, "I don't have enough peanut butter and jelly on my sandwich, so I am going to go add some more"
~though the idea of unscrunchling myself out of my position on the playset was quite uninviting.

What happened next took me by surprise.

Mickey countered politely yet firmly, "Mommy, you should eat what is in front of you with no complaint!"

Turns out it appeared I was going to have to eat my own words. Literally.

Luckily one of the mousekins needed a refill on their drink and I quickly volunteered to serve them so I could sneak back in the house and slather a bit more peanut butter and jelly on my sandwich! phew!

Its moments like this that my gratitude soars... soaking up the beautiful day, with my beautiful children, wishing time would freeze this moment forever.

I feel like I have a double personality sometimes. I can go from a serene moment like this longing to never let go of my sweet angels.

And literally five minutes later I can feel like I am on the brink of sanity

as I am cleaning up pea off the bathroom floor-

-the mousekins are fighting over legos--

and the house looks like Hurricane Mickey and Hurricane Minnie have decimated everything in their path--

and the phone is ringing!
The description of sweet angels in my thoughts has morphed into maniacal monsters!

Chaos reins and I wonder if I have what it takes to survive until the end of the day.

Then God--in His great, sweet mercy plants beautiful times in the midst of my day to just drink in the beauty of getting to be with my children. Their sweet voices and endless pictures they draw for me, their declarations of love, their utter joy when I take the time to sit and "be" with them. What a treasure--and I want to hold it close forever...

until the mind-numbing chaos rolls around.... again!!!

Yes, I feel like I might be on the brink of multiple personality disorder sometimes.

No, you may not call me Sybill.

I go to the Nursing Home and see the adoration in the eyes of the elderly as they gaze at my angels/monsters. I remember the gift I have at that moment and it causes my heart to cherish the ups and the downs of this crazy phase called motherhood!

Pride comes Before a Fall!

2011-08-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

So true. Just a FEW days ago I had a jubilant thought cross my mind, "Wow, I can't remember the last time I had a big huge zit!" Then I started trying to figure out why it had been months since Mt. Teton had graced my face!

Was it the fish oil supplements?

Perhaps the Chia seed?

The sunshine?

The chlorine from the pool?

and then it began... slowly, just a small, tender to the touch area right below my lip (the favorite breeding ground for my zits) (hmm, perhaps I drool)

and then The Zit continued to progress.

And even though I went to Cosmetology School and we learned all about how you should leave a zit ALONE, and NEVER EVER ATTEMPT TO POP A ZIT! I instead fuss with it 24/7. Of course that makes it worse, which is why we learned what we did in school.

But seriously.... isn't it SO satisfying to have a zit that pops the HUGE POP and then it immediately vanishes?

And isn't it so frustrating when you just cannot get the zit to pop and it turns into weepy, red, inflamed mess on your face? Does this happen only to me or do I have some sympathizers out there?

And to top off the fact that I have an irritating oozing zit on my face, I have a sun spot (darkened skin tone from sun exposure). Well this is not just any ordinary sun spot on some random side of the face. NO! that would be to simple!

My skin discoloration happens JUST above my top lip

In the shape of a mustache.

It looks like I perpetually have a chocolate milk mustache. or worse.

I heavily smear it with concealer, so that no one mistakes me for Tom Selleck. But the concealer is not that effective.

The good news-- The gross zit detracts attention from my 'stache! The even better news-- as my tan fades, so shall my chocolate milk mustache--happens every year!

You were hoping I would post a picture of myself and my face woes. HA! Never! And even if a photograph were snapped of me at this time~ I would in a matter of seconds whisk the blemishes from my face with the handy dandy photo editing tools!

But who cares about zits and unsavory mustaches...there are bigger issues ( and I don't mean bigger zits). Somalia is in big time need of our prayer and resources!

"God get us out of our little bubbles and prick our hearts to seek to show love to the starving and desperate Somalians"

It could be us, but for the grace of God, and someday it may be us... may we respond the way we would want others to respond if it was our children dying in front of us!

I realize that it appear totally random to write about zits and starvation in one blog post. The sad thing is that we uber-blessed Americans can sometimes be more affected by our blemishes, than the fact that there is intense desperation and starvation. Let's change that! Be motivated to LOVE, and give sacrificially. Seriously, even if you can only give $5. That goes a long way. And if you pass this info on and all those people give $5.... well you get the picture. We can't just shake our heads and think "Well that's too bad"...Be part of the solution!

Click HERE for a recent CNN article about the Somalia

Click HERE for a list of organizations that you can give to. My personal vote goes to World Vision, or Samaritan's Purse.

From Shaggy to Short.. and Other Random Musings...

2011-07-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have always kept Mickey's hair a bit tousled. It has always been so low maintenance, it rarely ever needs combed. So why fix something that "ain't" broken?

Well, I was feeling bad for Minnie since her hair had fallen out and her new growth was less than an 1/8th of an inch and it seemed unfair that her brother should have longer hair....

So in my spur-of-the-moment ways-- I sheared the golden locks off my Mickey.

"Hey Mickey, feel your head"!

Mickey suddenly looked older and I immediately regretted my hasty ways.

A few days later I asked him how he was liking his shorter hair. He had not previously expressed any opinion at all, so I figured he was ambivalent.

Mickey ever-so-sweetly reported, " I don't really like it mom. I don't look like Mickey!"

***

Mickey starts school three weeks from today!

My stomach just flip-flopped! The reason this is so much on my heart tonight as tomorrow morning we start practicing our morning routine for school.

You may think this is a bit overkill to start three weeks before school starts. I hope you are right. It's just that my kids take after me... NIGHT OWLS! I cannot think of one blogpost that I have written before midnight.

It is a genetic issue.

My mother passed it down to me.

And apparently I pitter-pattered all through the night when I was a wee one.

And in college, it was not unusual to find me chatting on the phone to my friend Amy at 3am.

And when I became a nanny in Chicago, my employers lovingly described me as part-vampire due to my love of staying up late.

Hubby says I was created to work third shift.

So it does not really matter what time my kids get up, or how little sleep they got the night before, or if they have been swimming ALL day.. my kids never collapse into bed early. They get a second wind when most kids drift off to sleep.

So naturally they like to sleep in!

And so do I!
Thus our mornings are very relaxed and laid back. Getting out the door is not one our strong points.

So of course we need to get him in the groove of a speedy morning routine. Is it wrong to give a 6 yr. old coffee? (JUST KIDDING)

So ANYWAY...Tomorrow begins our practice for our morning routine for school.. which makes it all seem so real now!

And I have such mixed feelings!

Part of me wants to cry my eyes out and grieve the loss of this precious stage of having him at my side all day!

Part of me is rejoicing that I won't have to break up so many sibling wars and quarrels!

Part of me is so proud of the amazing boy he has become and can't wait for him to shine in the next stage of life!

Part of me is downright terrified that I will stalk and stomp on the first kid who dares to make fun of my sweet Mickey.

Part of me is so excited for him as he LOVES learning and I *think* he will thrive in an educational environment!

Part of me feels so insecure, filled with regrets and "wish I would haves"

He may be growing up super fast, but he is still my little darling... proof to follow:

This past weekend, we were at a over-night family reunion at a very cool camp (hold on here, let me go insert a picture or two so I can have this in my blog book)

This is Hubby's immediate family plus the in-laws and kiddos!

Cousin Oliver!

So anyway, Mickey may have a new "do" that makes him look older, and yes he is going to be getting on a big yellow school bus and at school for the WHOLE day, EVERY DAY! (okay, totally psyching myself out) BUT, he is still my sweet lovey-dovey mousekin!

As we drove home from our super-fun reunion full of swimming and playing with cousins from near and far, I asked the kids what their favorite part of the vacation (reunion) was.

Mickey piped up from the backseat.

"Oh mommy, my favorite part of the vacation was snuggling you this morning!"

Melt, Melt!

Mickey, I do realize that someday you may be reading this years down the road,
you will roll your eyes,
grimace at such a thought
and deny such a thing
and that will be perfectly normal.. and healthy!

And we will laugh about it. And I bet I will feel a little twinge in my heart, a bit of sadness that those days are gone.

And that is why I write... to capture these little moments.

Yes I know this is a completely multi-faceted blogpost that is lacking focus. I just felt the need to acknowlege that, lest you think I thought it was acceptable. But the alarm clock will be ringing early tomorrow morning so no time for me to reconstruct this crazy post! Sweet Dreams!

New Every Morning!

2011-07-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Lamentations 3:22-23

New International Version (NIV)

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Minnie is testing her boundaries

And my patience.

insert deep sigh of resignation.

I remember Mickey in this stage. Minnie was a sweet angelic newborn when Mickey was a strong-willed (an understatement) and determined to take-control child. I can remember wearily staring at my darling baby and thinking... "I have to go through that stage AGAIN?" (referring to the cute but exhausting just-turned-age-three -stage)

Anyway, last night was a rough one and as I was putting Minnie to bed, I opened up her Children's Bible and it fell open to Lamentations which describes the Lord's mercies and how they are new every morning. I used this to encourage her.

"Minnie, I know we have had a rough day and we have had to discipline you a lot. (sniffle sniffle from Minnie) But tomorrow is a NEW DAY and the Lord's Mercies are new EVERY morning!

Minnie refusing to be encouraged stated defeatedly, "Well, God's mwoosies (mercies) are ode (old) at night. " (sniffle sniffle, wilt)

A very good theological point that I had not yet considered.

Morning does come with so much "new"! Minnie wakes up every morning with a bright smile on her face and loves me more in the first 10 minutes of her day than she does the rest of the day! I cherish those 10 minutes!

I had to include this picture of Minnie as I LOVE it! She is snuggled in with her dollies on her "lovey"! The doll right beside her is her most beloved. Her name is "Diseasa" Isn't that hilarious!!!

As you can see from the picture, Minnie has lost pretty much every strand of her hair hence looking exactly like her dollies! The good news is that it is coming back in.. and appears to still be red..perhaps a few shades lighter than before... but its hard to tell when it is so short.

After we visited the Pediatrician and did blood testing, we were referred to the Dermatologist and he *thinks* it is hair condition called Telogen Effluvium--although we cannot think of a fever or trauma that would have caused it. So her hair should grow back... but for now I am thankful for the arsenal of flower headbands that I have and of course very thankful that her hair loss does not appear to be any grave medical issue.

Missed the original post about Minnie's Hair Loss, (and some of my own crazy hair pics)? click here

The Meek and Mild Mother

2011-07-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

A few months back I attended a Silent Auction Fundraiser for a friend of mine who is battling health issues. I put my bid in on a Pampered Chef Item and won!

I came back home with my "prize" in my hand and proclaimed, "Look at what I won at the Silent Auction!"

Mickey(age 5) studied me thoughtfully for a moment and then asked incredulously, "Really Mom, you were the quietest one there??"

Hubby had to muffle his amusement.

Clearly Hubby and Mickey had a hard time believing that I could ever win a prize for being silent.

Haruumph. What? I am not a Meek and Mild Mother???

Neither Hubby or I could ever be described as meek or mild--and sadly our children have no sign of those traits either.

My sweet cousin Ashley said to me, "At least you don't have boring children!"

And that is true, never EVER a dull moment around here!

Pink Pirate Party!

2011-07-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

Guess who just had a Birthday? Oh my little Minnie! As delicate as a sweet princess and tough as a pirate!!

She can take her big brother in a wrestling match--which has earned her much respect with him;

she can pour out tears on command and demand that everyone notice her poor tears;

she has the confidence to commandeer her own pirate ship;

and she adores all things pink (and really likes purple as a close second)!

What a girl!

Minnie started many months ago planning out her "Pink Pirate Party" with her grandma. My mom hosted the party and I made the cake and Minnie's Pirate shirt. A pretty good deal for me! My mom is the ultimate party thrower! She loves coordinating the tablecloth and the napkins and all things like that and incorporates so much from the theme!

Not me so much--which is why Minnie turns to my mother to host her birthday parties.

Su-WEET!

The cake-- lemon cake ribboned with cherry jello. I used the edible frosting sheets off of Ebay! So easy and makes for cute cakes! Pirate Minnie and some of her fellow mates! (cousins)

Birthday Girl Minnie and her Grandma and Grandpa--the hosts of the Pink Pirate Party!

Big Brother Mickey is beyond excited that his little sister likes pirate-fighting. He thinks she is the coolest girl! In fact he wants to marry her.

A lovely family picture! Look at the adorable eye patch my mom made for Minnie!!

It was super special as my sister and her family were able to be at the party as they were in town for just a bit!

Do you see a faint family resemblance?

Minnie got a Princess Fishing Pole from my parents, her dream gift!

My super hot swashbuckling Pirate!

We had a blast and Minnie was at the height of her glory!Everyone got in the theme! It's so awesome to have family that goes the extra mile to make a little girl feel so special!!

The next morning she jumped into my bed, sat on top of me and said in her chirpy little voice, "OTAY! WETTS HAVE PUH-POH PIWATT PARTY! TODAY!

Translation: Okay! Let's have a Purple Pirate Party... TODAY! She was ready to do it all again the next day.. but in Purple...her second favorite color!!

Showing Off!

2011-07-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

The favorite time of swimming lessons was jumping off the diving board!
Mickey and Minnie would look at me to make sure my attention and camera was locked into their stunts.

I love this picture as her confidence shines through. She loves the water and prefers to be UNDER water as much a possible, head and all! She is a little fish and perhaps part mermaid :)

The swim cap has been such a life-saver as both of the Mousekins have my fair, quick to burn skin and since Minnie has lost most of her hair~ (I blogged about this here, but it has gotten way worse since I did that blogpost.) basically there are a few strands left, and about 1/8 inch of new hair growth--and very thin, leaving her scalp very vulnerable to the sun. So fabulous friend Danielle who recently finished a triathlon gave me this cap and it works like a charm!

Minnie working the back float!

I love this picture! It totally looks like Mickey is ice-skating on the pool!

Oh how I felt sorry for the sweet teen lifeguards who had the privilege of teaching my children swimming lessons. My mighty-willed Mousekins had their own agenda at all times and I think wore those sweet gals out!

While I was sipping my Diet Coke watching the swimming lessons and feeling aggravated that my Mousekins were not being better listeners, the thought crossed my mind....."Hmm, I am taking Mickey to Safety Town and Nature Camp this summer and my friend in South Carolina sent her kiddos to a Manners Camp, SOMEONE should offer an OBEDIENCE CAMP!"

You know, just to re-affirm the teaching they are getting at home in a fun campy sort of environment!!

You think I am kidding.

I am not.

Yes, I am aware that it is like Obedience School for dogs.

I am okay with that.

In fact I think the dogs and the kids would have so much fun if they mingle them together.

Just saying.

Who's Your Daddy?

2011-07-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

I am fairly sure that every good Mama keeps a pacifier in her mouth,

a "lovey" on top of her head,

and a baby hanging by its neck...

from a hooded garment (aka the swim towel--though the towel was not from a swimming excursion that day, just a part of the fashion statement for the hour)

I

Minnie loves her dollies. She cried last week because she is very sad that neither Mickey nor Hubby can be her "baby-daddy"

"My babies will need a DADDY when I gwow (grow) up and be a Mommy!

Hubby has assured her that he will be the Papa...

Mickey (who is very wise and KNOWS that siblings can't be married) scoffs and tells Minnie that he will be the uncle to her babies.

So all Minnie can imagine is her poor babies with no daddy since Mickey and Daddy will not comply with her wishes.

We giggle when she talks about the "baby-daddy".

So of course we have started praying with her that God will choose a very wonderful man that LOVES God with all of his heart, soul, and mind to be Minnie's husband and baby-daddy. This calms Minnie's heart and she nods her head appreciatively as we pray for her future soul-mate.

Wow, we were not prepared for this at almost three!

Blood and Guts

2011-06-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, blood and guts were what I saw when I walked into our backyard a few weeks ago.

This former farm girl nearly heaved up her lunch. The image is burned into my brain. I am grimacing even as I type, recalling the sordid memory.

"I ran over a baby bunny with the mower accidentally," explained Hubby.

My eyes were fixated on the bloody hunks and trying to keep 2yr old Minnie from seeing them or stepping on them.

"Can we remove them from the children's play area?" I pleaded (rather strongly)

Apparently bloody hunks of bunny were not of concern to Hubby, but he sweetly complied.

And then I saw the brother and sister of the previously whole bunny. The Mousekins were adoring them, begging to keep them.

They were a cute and adorable sight!!!

Why are babies so much cuter than the adult version?

So a tragedy turned into a sweet time of bunny-loving!

And we will just pretend that is the end of the story, as we all like to end on a happy note and not dwell on the fact that these two precious bunnies were relocated out to Papa's pond and have surely met their demise.

Can we all agree to stick with the "Happier ever after!"?

My Business Has Gone to the Dogs!!

2011-06-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Literally.

Isn't that the cutest puppy??? I love it!!!!!

A while back, Amy Tobias Photography contacted me with a "weird request". "Can you make a flowerband for a dog? "

I truly giggled when I recieved that message!

Thank you Amy for letting me use this image! Click here to "like" her Facebook Page and be in the know for her awesome give-aways, deals and specialty photo shoots

As for me, loving my little business. I am having lots of fun and adore the creative high. Hate the ~~mess~~ colossal disaster that I have created in our spare bedroom. Its a very pretty mess though; flowers, ribbons, tulle, fabric, beads and jewels! Anytime I have taken a little girl age 3-10 into my "work room" they pretty much think it is heaven.

To My Teenage Self...

2011-06-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

So this is my first attempt at being a Hearts at Home Blogger. The Third Thursday of every month there is a blog hop topic for Hearts at Home Bloggers! Last month we were supposed to write about our favorite home-cooked meal.... and since I have so many I just could not decide... okay okay-- I could not be bothered as me writing about my home-cooked meals would waste everybody's time!

June's topic is:

If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self one thing, what would you say?

I have been thinking about this topic for the last few days ever since I got an email about the topic. I have to really scale it down as this post could be SUPER long as I have a WHOLE lot to say to that little whippersnapper!

1. ummm. I hate to break it to ya darling--but your metabolism is going to come to a screeching halt at age 24 and your size 3 jeans will FOREVER be a thing of the past. So take a good look at that cute little figure and kiss it goodbye so you can have proper closure! Or learn to eat healthy at age 23... your choice.

2. that guy you talked to forever at that party at your cousins... well you are going to end up marrying him. He's the best. You are one incredibly blessed girl. You don't know a thing about choosing a mate for the rest of your life, but God is gonna bless the socks off of you! I don't know why--he just does.

3. I know you think you love God, but you need to really read his Word. Memorize Scripture and make it your passion in life. Seventeen Magazine is your main read these days, but trust me, knowing the Word of God is a whole lot more important that learning to apply your mascara at an angle to achieve that Marilyn Monroe look.

4. I know you think FHA (Future Homemakers of America) is a joke and you could have no interest in joining what-so-ever..but take it from me--you are not going to be a famous actress, cheerleader or sprinter--so a few real life skills would be VALUABLE!!

5. Sweet little teen without a care in the world~ you will be shocked and devastated and delighted at how some of your closest relationships will unfold... your eyes will open to the huge world and the horrors world -wide that you have no idea about.... the more you learn about God, the more questions you will have. You will begin to grasp the turbulence of life and the Rock that Christ is. Thank God for his blessings every day.

6. Your parents are amazing. You may think they are a bit too strict now. But you will soon realize that they have your best interests at heart and they will stick by you, encourage you and love you unconditionally for your whole life. You don't realize that you are soaking up their example of a committed marriage and devotion to God. Never take them for granted and thank God for them every day.

7.. You will never feel like a grown-up. Not even at 35.

Want to see what other Bloggers would share with their teenage self? Visit the Blog Hop below!

8EGTQACEW7TQ

Generational Hair

2011-06-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

I have an outgoing personality. I have to be. You see, when I was little, I was so cursed with horrible hair that I had to compensate by being friendly so that others did not think I was a troll.

At age 35, I still get comments like this, "OHHHH, you were the youngest of the girls---the one with "THE HAIR?"

It was a huge relief to all members of my family when Mickey did not appear to inherit my hair.

In fact, Mickey asked me a few years ago, "Why does Papa always say, 'Mickey your hair lays down SO nice'!" (Clearly a stark contrast the the wild-haired girl he had raised 30 years ago)

I spent most of my child in Dorothy's salon as she created potions to tame the hair ! It was in those very formitive years that I developed an interest in hair and later chose to study Cosmetology. Here are some pictures so that you KNOW I am not embellishing!

In an attempt to tame the wild hair, my sweet mother gave me a home perm which was affectionately referred to as my afro. This did not tame it so much as it fried it. I do not have pictures to show this most distasteful phase. They exist of course, but I don't have access to them for this blog post!

Since the Afro was a fail-- my mom learned how to use a curling iron to lovingly coerce every strand into laying in the same direction. (pictured below)

This hairstyle came to a screeching halt the day I visited my older sister's classroom. As I entered the classroom, a very hateful boy named Bart Andrews ( a name that I grimace at to this day) stood up, pointed at me and said, "MUSHROOM HEAD!"

and that was the end of that hairstyle.

From then on, when mom would curl my hair, I would say, curl it UP, not UNDER!

So why the blogpost on my childhood woes of hair?

Well, it seems that the genetic curse has fallen upon sweet Minnie!

It has been a mystery as to why it has taken her hair so long to come in. And of course we are delighted at the brilliant shade of red. So we have just been patiently waiting for her hair to grow.

And then we hit a glitch last weekend. We realized she was missing some hair.

We did not realize how much hair she was missing until we looked back at pictures from just a few weeks before. It was not missing in patches--but had considerably thinned out all over.

Stricken--I called our Pediatrician--who assured me it was most likely nothing, but did want to do blood tests to make sure that her thyroid was okay. And it is.

So what does this mean?

My heart kind of breaks for her thinking that she has the bad hair gene. Her hair has thinned out so much that it barely even curls on top any more. We have tried to be very careful and not mention any of this to Minnie as we certainly do NOT want her self-esteem to be compromised at almost three years old!

It is most awkward when others notice and bring it up around her. I think that adults forget how perceptive little kids are. I certainly remember the shame and embarrassment of people commenting on my orangutan-like hair.

This picture taken at the beginning of May--we were excited that Minnie's hair was starting to fill in and her curls were gorgeous! ........

Below is pictures taken yesterday June 6th-- the color is faded, the curls mostly gone due to the thinness and her hair is see-through and kind of fuzzy

So we have NO idea as to what this means! It appears that she is healthy in all other ways. She eats wonderfully--loves her vegetables, eats pretty sizeable portions and a balanced diet. This all happened before our community pool opened, so I know it can't be the chlorine. Saying that, I know that chlorine is horrible for her little hair, but she is a great swimmer and I cannot in good conscience keep her from the joys of the pool for the sake of her hair!

So Blog readers--any thoughts???

One thing to add is that she has been sweating PROFUSELY at night from her head? Could that be a connection?

Well I am not too distressed about Minnie's hair loss. I am sad a bit as cute hair always makes one look adorable---and pathetic hair kind of detracts. But ever-wise Hubby pointed out that this is a great time to emphasize to our children that their value is not in their outward appearance or in their possessions, but in the fact that they are loved completely by us and by their Creator God who has created them for the purpose of bringing Him glory.

Of course I don't want to leave you hanging in the journey on my own hair. I have often said that my hair has done a good job of keeping me humble. And perhaps that is the purpose for Minnie as well. My hair actually has a disorder called "Turning Hair". Which is nothing serious, it just means that it keratinizes on one side and then the next.. instead of both sides at once which leaves it not-so -shiny and not-so-strong. But never fear-- I was able to enjoy the early 90's as much as any teenager!

Check out this huge hair! Quite an accomplishment knowing that my hair is PATHETICALLY THIN!

It's a whole lot of perm, a whole lot of hairspray and a WHOLE lot of back-combing or RATTING :)

Okay, Okay Stop Laughing!!

So the hair saga continues. So sorry dear little Minnie for passing down this genetic deficiency and we hope your hair grows back in nice and full. And we can hope that people can remember their manners as little girls have impressionable hearts and not say "Where is her hair? or My, her hair is so short and thin!"

But there are worst things!! So buckle up Minnie, and learn to work with what you got and count your blessings. Hair is just hair and you are beautiful, hair or no hair!

And anyone in the blogworld have any advice or thoughts about what do do about thinning hair on an almost three year old--would love your thoughts!

Gettin' Some Air!

2011-06-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Heehee, it looks like Minnie is pinned to the light pole

And this one looks like Mickey is attacking Hubby--a huge ninja jump!

A Slice of Our Day

2011-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Not only did we get to see real Macaw Birds at Library Time today, but leaving the Library was just as much fun!

Splish Splash!

I posted two posts one right after each other--so if you have not read about Mickey and our discussion about Blackbeard--you will not want to miss out on this cute little amusement! click Here for that post!

Religious Pirates?

2011-06-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

Mickey has a fascination with pirates so when I saw on cnn.com that Blackbeard's anchor had been dredged up from the sea, I shared it with Mickey immediately. Then of course we googled Blackbeard to read more about this interesting pirate. On a side note--how did parents answer questions before Google?

I was reading aloud the article and Mickey interrupted me with this startling question:

Mickey: BLACKBEARD WAS A CHRISTIAN?

I looked at Mickey incredulously wondering how he could have possibly wondered that after hearing about the not-so-Christ-like activities of Mr. Blackbeard.

When Mickey saw my confused expression he said....

"Well you just said that Blackbeard easily preyed (PRAYED) on Merchant Ships...."

I have been giggling about this ever since!

Just What the Doctor Ordered!!!

2011-05-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Our family has just come through a particularly busy season the last few months. All great stuff--not stressful negative things, but nice wonderful, life-filling events plus the daily stuff! So the last few months we have not felt like we have been able to really "be" with our Mousekins (Mickey and Minnie). I know this sounds strange since I am a stay-at-home-mama, but it IS possible to be around your children all day and not really "be" with them and interacting the way I want to be.

Lo and Behold, on my Facebook page I saw a special rate from Honey Creek Resort that was too good to pass up! Yep, just what the doctor ordered! We had been there exactly one year ago (We had won a free family get-away) and we were ready to go back! Honey Creek Resort is a little over two hours from our house so its a perfect weekend family get-away!

Here was our wonderful cabin!

There was an awesome spiral staircase that completely mesmerized and entertained Mickey and Minnie which led up to the loft.

The weekend turned out to be MISERABLE weather. It rained and drizzled and dripped pretty much 24/7.

*So we did not get our ride our bikes on the trails (Honey Creek has bikes for rent in all sizes with the most comfortable seats which sharply contrasts to my bun-numbing bikeseat that tortures me on our family bike rides)

*And we did not get to hike in the beautiful state park that Honey Creek Resort rests on.

*And we did not get to go the the playground that is on site that Mickey has been dying to return to.

*And we did not get to hit the geocaches that we were hoping to discover- We had even "checked out" the Geocaching Bag that was filled with all the necessary equipment to locate the caches and discover nature--can't wait to try that out next time! Not sure what Geo caching is? Click Here to read more. Honey Creek has 23 permanent Geocaches on site and the weekend we were there, there was a big event and the die-hards were out there searching them out. Not the Mouseymom family--we melt in rain.

*And we did not get to play on the beach or boat on Lake Rathbun.....

*And we did not get to go on the Photography Hike with the onsite Naturalist...

And that was all okay, BECAUSE-- we got to just BE with our kids.

No Rushing

No Time Schedule

No getting things done

It was amazing how much more patient and relaxed we were being free of schedules and commitments!

The dreary weather actually made us kick back more and just relax.

So we got to enjoy the indoor water park to the fullest!

Played Playdough

Colored in coloring books....

Enjoyed the Game Room!

Its entirely possible that my children are better at those driving games than I.. just saying....

And when the temperature rose a bit above 55 and the rain stopped for a moment; we got to enjoy a campfire and smores with the onsite Naturalist for story time. (BRRR)

And we got to enjoy two glorious meals at the Honey Creek Restaurant. I love the food there. Wow! It was awesome that we could eat at the Restaurant as a year ago when we were here, Mickey's milk allergy was still in full swing and we had to make all of his food at our cabin. So the contrast of now being able to eat out was a time of celebration and thankfulness to the Healer.

It was at the aforementioned restaurant that Mickey and Minnie discovered cheesecake for the first time and they LOVE IT!!!!

We at most of the meals at our cabin (full kitchen--yay!) (very economical--double yay!)

Minnie loved her Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup so much that she drank the last part from the lip of the bowl! It was not so mannerly, but ever so darling.

We loved seeing Matthew Mosely again--the Manager of Honey Creek. He went out of his way to make us feel welcome! He is passionate about making Honey Creek Resort an incredible vacation destination and he is doing a magnificent job! At the end of our weekend he presented us with a laminated picture of our family from our blog, thanking us for staying with them and signed by the staff. Now that is above and beyond hospitality!

And when we weren't in our cabin, we were hanging out in the lobby, playing Wii, and board games.

The Resort is expanding each year with more on-site activities and amenities. The Interpretive Center is nearly finished, the beach is ready for playing and the award-winning golf course is perfectly groomed.

It is fair to say that our family loves Honey Creek. It is a perfect get-away rain or shine especially for our stage of life where our kids just want to BE with us! Long vacations thousands of miles away are not that conducive to travelling with little ones--so a little get-away like this is ideal and recharges us as a family and does not break the budget! (yes I realize that was a poorly constructed sentence--but do not care enough to try to edit it)

When my mom asked Minnie what she liked about her vacation to Honey Creek; Minnie did not mention
the water park,
the stuffed bobcat,
playing games
playdough fun
or the oodles of time with her doting parents....

Instead she answered enthusiastically.."I WIKED DA CHEESECAKE!"

oh precious girl-- you may be a tiny little thing now... but take it from your mama--those rich tastes catch up with you-most likely at the age of 25 when your metabolism will suddenly go into hibernation and never wake up! So enjoy it now, my little Minnie!

To read about our Free Family Get Away last year at Honey Creek click HERE

If you would like to get the Event Updates and Special Rates via Facebook from Honey Creek click Here

A Day to Remember!

2011-05-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

Mothers' Day 2011

Things I want to remember~

~The sound I awoke to was my little Minnie exclaiming gleefully, "Happy Muvvers Day, mama!"

~That I got to wear a silly putty necklace made by Mickey

~Mickey made me my own Lego Transformer kit. (he knows how very pathetic I am at legos, so he creates small kits for me in the snack sized ziploc bags... sometimes they come with hand-drawn instructions).

~ God blessed us with perfect weather!

~ I got to hike with my family in the woods and drink up the refreshing beauty in nature

~I had a fantastic meal at our hometown restaurant and now I am currently wishing I could duplicate that meal and devour it right now! (filet mignon stuffed with bleu cheese, creamy risotto, strawberry and cream puff )

~Hubby pledging his undying appreciation for me devoting myself whole-heartedly to our family. (and he was constantly reminding the mousekins to obey because--"its Mothers' Day and you should make this day easy for your mother!!!" :)

~ Worshiping God with my family at church- a wonderful blessing and privilege.

~a wooden birdhouse painted blue -because its my favorite color- given to me by Mickey that he made at preschool.

~a beaded key chain given to me by Minnie from her Sunday School Class. Although she called it an earring.

~I got to hug my own mother at the very end of the day!

The Unexpected!

2011-04-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

If you come to my house, it would be very rare for me to pull out a tupperware and say, "Oh hey, I just made some bars--would you like some?" Not because I don't like sweets, not because I don't want to be hospitable, not because I am uber healthy, BUT simply because I am a miserable failure when it comes to such cooking/baking ventures. But today was the last day for Mickey to take treats for preschool and he has been requesting rainbow jello.

So I scoured the internet and found a recipe and it worked! This morning Mickey said, "mom, they look exactly like the pictures!!!" I swelled with pride! And I can do that as usually I am so defeated-feeling in my culinary skills that a little pride in that area is most likely healthy!

So without further ado.....

Stained Glass Jello (or Broken Glass jello) (or rainbow jello)

I had more than enough made for the preschool class that I was able to take a small plate of this beautiful food over to a friend with sick kids. YAY! How Martha Stewart is that? hee hee!

To find the recipe, click HERE!

The recipe says to only use 3 colors of 3 oz jello boxes, but I made two 9 x13 pans so I used all 6 colors of the rainbow and split them in half for each pan--to fullfil the request of my son for "rainbow jello"!

Of course you could do really pretty color combinations for baby or bridal showers, holidays...etc.

Mickey and Minnie were so intrigued with them and loved them! Me? Well, jello is not high on my list of foods, but I did enjoy the artistic beauty and brightness of the stained glass jello.

He's Fine!

2011-04-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well the title of the blog post pretty much sums it up! After a week of antihistamines, a week of a milk-less diet for Mickey--who was very very displeased to not have cheese for so long--has had no reaction when we started milk again!

phew!

So what was it you ask?

We don't know!!!

Unexplained Hives.

They happen!

In Fact they have a name for them... Idiopathic Hives... I think the idio is short for idiot--which is how the parent feels as they try and figure it out!! :)

Or was it prayer?... we will never know.. So thank you for praying, following up and loving our family!

Unsettling

2011-03-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

****Updates at bottom of post...

I said to my Aunt Jane on Saturday afternoon. "We have gone through some rough times, but with Mickey's milk allergy gone, we are just really enjoying an easier season of life".

Seriously less than two hours later--Mickey's back has a patch of hives across it.

dread.

But I calmly remind myself that he has gotten random hives before.

And then I unsettlingly remind myself that one time it wasn't so random and after a very stressful month of horrible hives and an anaphylactic reaction--a new allergy was discovered--bananas.

and then I remind myself again that its probably just random hives. It happens. It happens actually with frequency in my husband's family... so I really should not worry. IN FACT-- I have had two bouts with hives this winter.. both lasting a few very itchy weeks. So really, worrying is quite unnecessary.

In fact all of us in our immediate family have been sick this week and I have in the past drawn (possibly imaginary) some paralles that hives perhaps affect him when he is fighting sickness.

So why do I find myself recalling all the foods he ate in the last 24 hours?

My mind did not go there right away as I was "stuffing" it so much. But today, it just hit me--oh my gosh.... what if his MILK ALLERGY comes back...AGAIN!!

sinking, sinking feeling.

deep sigh.

The original hives yesterday disappeared within an hour or two, so at first I just dismissed it.

Then four hours later, hives covered his upper back and spattered randomly over his body. and then they came back again today....

dread.

Tomorrow (monday) is his pre-school field trip to a pizza place where they will tour and make and eat their own pizzas. Mickey has been looking forward to this trip with much anticipation and he is so happy that I get to accompany his class.

I told him that we will need to avoid milk protein in case his milk allergy came back. He was so sad. "What about the pizza-making tomorrow?" I assured him we could still go and just make a cheese-less pizza. He very sweetly said, "mom, I would rather not go if I can't put cheese on my pizza like all the other kids"

I get it. He gets sick of being different. This is the part of mothering I feel quite unprepared for. I don't know the right thing to do, I don't know the right thing to say.

Keep in mind, Mickey says that cheese is his very favorite food in the world. and ice cream. .. so going back to a milk protein restricted diet would be a very very very big deal. not just for him, but for all of us.

Trying not to go there in my mind as I am getting ahead of myself and allowing unsettling fears to encroach.

So I will bring Mickey into our bed tonight with the Snorer and I--knowing that his body is reacting, knowing that airways can shut suddenly... knowing that God is in control and focusing my mind to respond to that Truth. As the fact that God is in control does not alleviate us from our protective parenting role, but rather to ask Him for wisdom and rest in His provision while carrying out our duties with attentiveness and excellence.

I am not sure how to proceed from here. Do I go get more testing? Testing really has not proven anything with Mickey in the past so I am not sure how that would benefit us. . As every allergist will say, "The only real way to know if they can tolerate a food, is if they can tolerate a food!" So this will lead us into a few uncertain weeks. Removing milk protein, re-introducing it slowly.. watching for reactions. If the hives continue for weeks.. then it gets more difficult.

I am reminding myself right now. "you have done this before, you can do it again!"

Lord give me strength. I know I have had a few delightful months of relishing in less allergy worries for Mickey--but I kind of got attached to that freedom and I am reluctant to let it go. It just complicates so many things... like Kindergarten round-up in a few weeks.... like Kindergarten in a few months?!

Getting ahead of myself again.

I hesitated to even write this post, but I want to stay real to the purpose of my intent with this blog.... to be open with our struggles with having afood-allergic child. Even if this whole hives things turns out to be nothing, it is still part of our story and a common stress in food allergic familes. I remember a friend telling me a few years ago. "yeah, when our child gets hives, we think..'yep, our child has hives'. When your child has hives, you have to be very vigilant and figure out if it is food related or not." So true.

Lots and lots of moms have children who have random hives, and its not a big deal. Every mom of a food allergic child that is reading this post has a heart that is beating a little faster while reading this post as you know the fears that accompany this. For the rest of you, thank you for taking the time to empathize and understand, I really truly appreciate it and have felt immensely supported by you.

For when your child has hives that culminates in a life-threatening experience--it changes how you view those itchy red blotches.

And when your child's hives culminates twice in life-altering changes due to the discovery of food allergies--hives are not so benign.

And yet, life goes on as God gently reminds this worry-prone mom that there is devastation all over the world and that this is a trial she can "do"... with His strength. After all, I wouldn't be who I am today if not for weathering trials and knowing God on a deeper level because of them.

I am keeping perspective with this quote that I heard at the Hearts at Home conference, "It may not be well with my circumstances, but it is well with my soul" ~Jennifer Rothschild-

**** update: we are back from the pizza place field trip and it went so great. Hubby and I decided he could have a small amount of cheese on his pizza since I was right there and very near medical facilities. All went well and the pizza place owner even baked Mickey his very own personal pizza with just a sprinkling of cheese, now here is hoping for NO HIVES! :)*****

*****next update Five hours later. Hives. sigh. Was is from the pizza? Is it just a random thing? My mind is wrestling these things that I won't know the answer to for several weeks. My plan now... blast his body with anthistamines around the clock for 3 days and put Mickey on dairy-free diet. We have had to do this before to stop the cycle of hives. Then after we are sure the hives have stopped, we will start introducing foods containing milk...very slowly and PRAY that the hives won't show up with the introduction of milk products. I will call my allergist tomorrow and I can already hear her voice, "My, that boy will be talking at Allergy Conferences some day as his allergies just blow all the theories out of the water!" yay.*****

Thanks for all the sweet comments and prayers you left on my FB page concerning this post. Your support is so helpful!

*****weeks later**** Mickey is hive-free and is happily eating milk, cheese and yogurt again! No new allergy, no returning allergy. just random! Thank you God!

I Sure HOPE It's Not True!

2011-03-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

Minnie came in from outside and with her came a familiar stench.

Me: Minnie, did you poop in your pull-up?

Minnie: (very matter of factly): No! I NOT poop in my poh-up, Mickey poop in my poh-up!

And then, a faint-almost undetectable smile crossed her face--much like in the picture above --as if she were slightly amused at the idea that I might actually believe that outrageous claim!

Yes, the Mousekins are blame-shifters!

At this same age, Mickey came out of his room with a large wet spot on his pajamas and angrily accused, "Somebody PEED on ME!"

Must run in the family.

Oh we had FUN!

2011-02-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

Because I know you all are breathlessly awaiting to know the details of our Chicago trip...

My cousin Heather got married last weekend in the Chicago area and we thought it would be a great time to stay two extra days for a little mini vacation and get some quality family time!

It was wonderful!!

Shedd Aquarium

note: buying tickets online ahead of time saved us at least two hours of waiting in line OUTSIDE. We even went midweek!

We sat in the front row of the dolphin/whale/sea lion show and it was fantastic when the sea lion paraded right in front of us

Icosium Kafe (Algerian food)

Hubby drinking traditional Algerian coffee. It was thick and rich with such unique flavor--we could definitely taste cardamom

okay so eating out was a really big deal this trip! Why? Well this as our first trip ANYWHERE where we did not have to take mass amounts of food to accomodate our son's milk protein allergy! It was wonderful! So freeing! I thanked God so many times

for healing Mickey. We still had to be on the look out for the banana allergy like at Cold Stone creamery with cross-contamination--but over all it is a breeze!

We love exposing our children to lots of different food! So when we headed to downtown Chicago we had a mission to find good ethnic food! We ended up popping into an Algerian restaurant and it was out of this world delicious! We sat in a tented area. It was a little suspicious as we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant but it turns out that they had JUST opened up in this location.

note: I once ate in a Spanish restaurant in England and my friend and I were the only ones dining there. We noted that it was never a good sign to eat in an empty restaurant. I got very bad food poisoning and ended up having to get medical treatment--so you would THINK I would be a little more cautious, but the adventure of eating Algerian food was too intriguing!)

The owner was delighted to have us dine with him and had us try all sorts of food. Our kids LOVED it! The owner sat down and told us about growing up on a farm in Algeria. It was a perfectly cultural experience!

At one point Mickey told the owner: "This is my favorite restaurant in the whole world and I am going to come back every day!"
Then a few minutes later Mickey corrected himself," Well I WISH I could come back everyday but I can't. We have to go back to our own country!:)

Mickey also was very aware of the owners accent and assumed he was Spanish speaking like his friends Dora the Explorer and Diego! So he asked the owner if he would to like hear him count to ten in Spanish! The owner was of course delighted and then counted to ten in Arabic for the kids. They were very impressed!

LEGOLAND!

purchased our tickets online ahead of time. We went from 3:30- 7:00pm as suggested by online reviews and it was perfect--no waiting in any lines and not crowded at all!

Barack Obama made out of Legos!

Legoland was a huge highlight for the kids as they are both lego-obsessed. It was really fun!

Chicago made out of Legos. Mickey was so amused to see that they had used Star Wars Lego figures in and around the city.

Medieval Times Dinner and Jousting Tournament

This was a guys event. My parents were in Chicago with us for a day as they were attending the wedding as well. Have an adjoining room with my parents was like Christmas to my kids!
Mickey, Hubby and Papa went to watch the Knights jousting! Talk about a dream come true for a five year old!

Meanwhile mom and I entertained Minnie at Woodfield Mall at the Disney Store, Lego store and ate at the Rainforest Cafe! And I visited my favorite store Lush!

Urgent Care!

Much fun was spent in the hotel pool....
until Mickey slipped and hit his head.

and proceeded to vomit 3 times in the next 45 minutes.

which apparently can be a not-so-good sign.

I had visions of us waiting for 6.5 hours in a ER and bemoaning the loss of our precious vacation time. BUT, instead we found a great clinic that had him seen by a super nice doctor, CAT scan and popsicle all in under an hour.

CAT scan was fine--as we suspected as Mickey was acting like himself except a refusal to eat.

Mickey was absolutely perfect during the CAT scan. The technician told him not to move or not too open his eyes. Much to my shock-Mickey complied to perfection. The technician was in awe. I was in awe!

So he DOES know how to obey! AHA!

On our way out the door I said to Mickey,"Honey, you did AWESOME!" You were perfectly still!"

His Reply: "mom. I wasn't."

I looked at him questioningly.

"I tried to lay still,but I couldn't! I could feel my heart beating. I tried to make it stop, but it wouldn't.
Mom, how do I make my heart stop?"

Oh Bless his sweet heart!

We had a super special time and cherished our family time together!

And after all that eating, I tentatively stepped on the scale this morning and I only gained ONE pound!!! yippeee! SOOOOOOOO worth it!

Shame on Me

2011-02-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

Two years ago I was in the midst of winter and complaining about my loathesome feelings about winter to my husband. He patiently listened and then the words he spoke to me struck me deeply. "Honey" he said, "It really isn't fair that you complain about winter. We were living in Sunny South Carolina and we CHOSE to move back to the midwest to be near family. You can't have it both ways, so you might as well accept it and stop fighting it."

What a novel plan!

That hubby of mine is a clever one!

And so the last two winters I have adopted a NO-COMPLAINING policy for weather. Sometimes I stop myself mid-sentence. I never realized how much complaining was going on until I was making a valiant effort to avoid it! And you know what? It really has helped me to develop a more positive attitude towards my least favorite time of year.

HOWEVER..... Lest you think that I am Positive Pamela...just now I was telling my husband about my day--my very long day as he has been leaving for work at 6am and coming home at 9pm the last few days and I realized that my every sentence was tinged with complaint.

the crazy kids
they never obey
I am out of groceries
this went wrong
that went wrong

I ended up my re-cap of my day saying, "I don't know why I sound so negative, I have a perfectly blessed life! My head KNOWS how blessed I am. On paper I have everything I could ever dream of(minus the full-time cook and housekeeper) , but the minute to minute of the day can still be harried causing me to lose the big picture.

Now at the end of my day, I sit down catch up on Blog World and I see that my friend Jenny has updated her blog. Her blog entry stops me in my tracks and repentance for my disgruntled attitude washes over me.

Jenny and Zach are in the same stage of life as we are. Two little ones--even a little red-head girl like us. They went to our small church when we lived in Indiana.

Last year Zach found out he had terminal stage 4 colon cancer. Below I am going to reprint her blogpost and then at the end I want to introduce you to the amazing ministry they are starting in response to Zach's cancer called The Cancer Redemption Project.

Jenny's blogpost:

Some would say that it isn't fair that Zach has cancer at such a young age. I recently heard on the radio a discussion about the fact that we need to help our children understand that "Life isn't fair." I have considered this a lot over the past few days and here are a few thoughts.

-It's not fair that I can take my husband to the doctor to have his illness diagnosed. It's not fair that I can drive in a comfortable car/van to a hospital several hours away, so my husband can receive cancer treatment from a doctor who specializes in colon cancer. So many women in this world watch their husbands die and have no idea what is wrong because they don't have access to medical care.

-It's not fair that I have food to feed my children. Children are starving everyday and their mothers feed them dirt to take away the hunger pains.

-It's not fair that I can have full confidence that my children with be loved and cared from if something happened to both Zach and I. So many children in this world are in orphanages because there is no one to care for them when their parents can't care for them anymore

-It's not fair that I have many Bibles in my home and I can worship with believers any time I like. So many Christians are persecuted if they are found with a Bible or caught sharing their faith with others.
This journey through cancer is not an easy one, but God continues to remind me of my many blessings. If I think too far ahead I can easily get overwhelmed with what the coming months and years might bring. I am so thankful to know that God is by our side through everything and that we are blessed by the the prayers and support of so many. Thanks for your continued prayers for our family and for those around the world whose needs are even greater than ours.

So this couple has been an amazing example of trusting that God uses all things for HIS Glory. Zach and Jenny believe that he was given clear instructions from God “not to waste his cancer.” He and Jenny are very passionate about caring for orphans and had hoped to adopt some day. God used these desires.... and is redeeming Zach's cancer by making a way for 48 orphans in Haiti to find homes and care through The Cancer Redemption Project. That is 48 orphans who would not have a hope if not for Zach's suffering and great loss that is looming before him.

That is Redemption.

Of course the story is not fully written. We pray that Zach can be healed. We pray that the money will come so that Zach's dream can be fulfilled and his cancer will be will stop stealing and instead give life. This is where the you and I's--can jump in and make a difference. So often we think-- I can't make a difference in world hunger. I can't make a difference in the 147 million orphans... but we can! We can recognize the HUGE injustice that we have EVERYTHING and they have NOTHING and choose to be part of change.

cancerredemption.com

pass it on

That's US! But not about "us", but about God and how HE can use a few mamas!

2011-02-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share an article on my blog about a little fundraiser my prayer group did this past weekend. The local newspaper did a great article on it and we are thrilled, not because we want the glory, but because our hearts are set on raising awareness on the atrocities in this world so that help is on the way!

We raised $1000 by selling Valentine Cookies to our extremely generous and supportive local communities and every cent will go to PROJECT RESCUE! Please visit their website and hopefully this article will get your creative juices thinking about how you and a few friends can jump in and raise a few bucks to be part of rescue mission!

Moms with a mission

Related Images:

John Lovretta/The Hawk Eye
Lindi Kobliska of Burlington, a member of Missional Mamas, a local group of mothers, decorates one of 70 dozen cookie.

John Lovretta/The Hawk Eye
Carly Frankovic, foreground, along with Lorenia Schmidgall, left, and Megan Snyder, all of Burlington and members of Missional Mamas, decorates 70 dozen cookies Friday in the cafeteria of the Great River Christian School. The group, which has been raising money for various charities by selling purses and jewelry, was selling the cookies in an effort to help save children from child prostitution through Project Rescue.

By WILLIAM SMITH wsmith@thehawkeye.com

They call themselves Missional Mamas, and as the name implies, these ladies are on a mission. A mission to serve women and children around the world by drumming up money for charities that support them.

This year, the southeast Iowa-based Missional Mamas organization is focused on donating money to Project Rescue, which works to rescue and restore the victims of child prostitution through Jesus. The moms baked and sold more than 70 dozen sugar cookies Saturday, raising over $1,000 for the cause.

"We just want to be the hands and feet of Jesus from where we are," said Missional Mamas member Stacey Rascon. "We are not affiliated with one particular church. We are all followers of Jesus."

Consisting of 19 local mothers from Burlington, Danville, New London, Mediapolis and Fort Madison, the group is less than a year old, and already has a functioning website packed with blog entries and photos.

Missional Mamas founder Carly Frankovic never expected the group to grow as fast as it did. In fact, she never expected the group to grow at all.

"I would have been happy with just four women getting together and praying for the nation," she said with a laugh.

Initially, that's all the group was. Frankovic founded Missional Mamas after taking a class called "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement" with several of her friends. The class inspired Frankovic to start a prayer group that prayed for suffering nations around the world, but that group soon turned in a service-oriented volunteer organization.

"Being young moms with young kids, we're kind of land locked," Frankovic said. "We wanted to know what we could do for the world globally without leaving our kids. We put service projects together to do just that."

That was in May of last year. By July, the moms already were organized and pursued their first service project through Timbali Crafts - an organization that takes handbags made by women in Swaziland, Africa, and sells them to volunteers like the Missional Mamas. The volunteers then sell those handbags and donate the extra money back to Timbali Crafts, which uses it to feed more than 2,600 children at 14 care points.

The Missional Mamas set a high fundraising goal last year with tongue firmly in cheek, but they ended up underestimating themselves.

"It was kind of a joke when we set a goal of $25,000 last year, and then we blew that out of the water," Frankovic said.

The ladies ended up raising more than $30,000, and that's when they knew they were on to something. The group has doubled in size over the past couple of months, with minimal recruitment effort from Frankovic. Word of mouth about their good deeds has spread, and now Missional Mamas has satellite groups in Kansas and Indiana.

"It was a God thing. It just happened," Frankovic said.

The social networking site Facebook also played a big part in growing the organization. In fact, the moms only advertised the cookie sale through Facebook and ended up selling nearly triple the amount they thought they would.

"I was one of the ones that found out about it (Missional Mamas) through word of mouth," said Dorian Fowler, one of the newest members of the group. "We have great leadership, smart women, a bunch of little kids running around and supportive husbands."

The ladies also talk to local churches and will be selling items throughout the year to raise money for Project Rescue.

Beyond that, they're not sure where their charity work will take them. That's up to God.

"Where God leads, we never really know," Rascon said.

To find out more, visit their website at www.missionalmamas.com.

Had to show off my cute apron that I bought at the Hearts at Home Conference last year!!! Minnie has a matching one!

Fashion for A Snowed-In Day!

2011-02-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Had to share another one of Minnie's fashion statements.

To see the crazy viking girl, click here!

By the way, being snowed in without Daddy home, is not nearly as fun!!! He has a 40 min commute and being at work was not optional, so he had to spent the night in the town of his factory. But we are NOT complaining as we are so thankul for a warm cozy house and plenty of food!

But, we will be quite excited to have Hubby home!!!! Hubby if you are reading this know that my sanity is hanging on by a thread!!!!! :)

Had to Write This Down!!!

2011-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

Minnie has not had very many chances to wear her fancy winter dress to church as it has been so bitter cold. But today was a bit warmer and so Minnie happily donned her ivory dress trimmed with fur and a flowing tulle skirt. She looked like an angel.

After church we were at a restaurant headed towards the ladies' room and as Minnie pranced her way through the restaurant she found herself in circle of admirers.

After all the oohs and ahhs, one lady exclaims, "Oh, she looks so fancy, she looks like she is on her way to the PROM!

Then she leans down to Minnie's level and inquired in the artificial high voice that grown-ups talk to children in,
"Sweetie, are going to PROM?"

Minnie stopped her twirling, looked at the lady in the eye and replied sweetly in her super darling voice,
"No, I not go to Pwom, I go to the Potty!"

Oh how they howled with laughter!

Minnie was pleased at the response, but quite unsure as to what was so funny!

When Minnie someday learns what Prom is, and her awkward date is picking her up in a white tuxedo, I just may have to repeat this little story back to her! :)

Two Words

2011-01-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Static
Electricity

In Lieu of a Christmas Letter

2010-12-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

The first nine years of our married life, our Christmas pictures were sent with a neatly folded letter that told of our family happenings. Well, Hubby and I both come from enormous families. In fact, Hubby can prove his family's claim to fame with a copy of the ever-reputable National Enquirer where his Great Grandfather was on the FRONT COVER and was touted to have the greatest number of descendants in the USA.

My point? Oh yes, my point :)

My point is that with loads of extended family, we naturally send lots of Christmas cards and so last year we nixed the letter (which shaved lots of time now that we no longer tri-fold 200 letters and I feel better about saving the paper due to my guilt of using copious amounts of paper towels daily). We now print out our blog address on the back of the picture and mail it as a postcard. So if you are here to check in on us... here is our "2010 Christmas Letter":

Our family has enjoyed a wonderful year. More ups than downs and for that we are extremely grateful! Our best news is that our son (on our public blog we don't use our real names) Mickey who is now five appears to have fully outgrown his milk allergy. Although--two years ago he also had outgrown his milk allergy and then it came back, so we are more on guard this time! Our life has changed dramatically and we often say, "wow, so this is what it feels like to be a 'normal' family." We still have an arsenal of epi-pens as Mickey is still very allergic to bananas but those are so much easier to avoid than milk protein. So we are a grateful family and thank God for His Healing hand.

Speaking of Mickey (age 5), he is a delight! He loves his family and friends and values them very much. He is a deep-thinker, but loves to entertain as well. His highlights of the year were receiving a trophy for winning a bike race and his Pirate-themed birthday party. He will start Kindergarten in the fall. Our favorite quote from him is when he said in all seriousness, "Dad, I would like to wrestle you for control of the family"

Our daughter (blogname is Minnie) is two. She is very proud of her red hair and when asked what color her hair is she will confidently reply "PINK!" Minnie lacks no confidence. She wants to do everything "MYFELF"! Several times I have offered her a hug when she is sad and she wraps her arms around her tiny little body and haughtily insists, "Don't need hug, mama, I do it MYFELF!!"

I (the mama aka blogname Mouseymom) have the most blissful mornings as I wake up with two little mousekins snuggled into me. I enjoy park or pool playdates, girls' nights, and quiet evenings at home with Hubby! I have had lots of fun starting a little cottage industry making flower accessories. I love the creative outlet and of course meeting and interacting with customers!

Hubby is the star of the show and he is quite famous in our little family. He arrives home and is immediately pummeled with energetic, bouncy, love-lavishing mousekins! They bemoan the tragedy of daddy having to go to work every day! Nick has been at his Foam Fabricators job for a little over a year. He really loves it and is grateful for good employment.

Our family enjoyed many summer days splashing in our local pool, and this fall we were SO blessed with oodles of gorgeous fall days for hiking. And already this winter we have had some ice-skating on Papa's pond and sledding. It bring us much joy to watch our children appreciate nature and its Creator.

A year of joy.

A year of gratefulness. Not to be taken for granted.

Gratefulness that we could have never known if not for other years where the downs seem to outweigh the ups.

We love celebrating the birth of our Savior. We love looking forward to our Home where it will be eternal rejoicing and no more tears! Minnie keeps us in an eternal perspective with her darling little two year old voice that randomly proclaims, "Jesus is tumming (coming) soon!"

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Hubby, Mouseymom, Mickey and Minnie!

And the winner of the Timbali Purse is........

2010-12-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Tami P!
(against all odds I might add as she is not a blogger nor facebooker!)

Tami and I go "way back"! She was one of my older sister's friends that was super sweet and not annoyed by my "little sisterness" We were bridesmaids together in my sister's wedding and I probably have not seen her in 15 years! Thank you for reading my blog Tami and for entering the give-away! I pray that as you carry your Timbali purse that God will open the doors for you to witness of His great Love and the work that is being done in His name in Swaziland! Pray for Lindiwe--the lady who lovingly sewed your purse as God is working through her to reach many orphans!

All of you, Thank you for entering my Give-Away!!! I had so much fun reading your comments and got to find many a new blog from you bloggers out there!

Do come back often as I have several more Give-Aways planned!! You will LOVE the next one! hint--its green and it has a fabulous purpose to it!

Timbali Bag Give-Away!

2010-12-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

As promised; A GIVE-AWAY!
Timbali Shoulder Bag~ padded shoulder straps, magnetic snap closure, inside side pocket for essentials (cell phone, keys, chapstick!)

These super-cool bags are more than an accessory!

They are made by women in Swaziland, really really poor women. These women then volunteer their time at feeding care points in Swaziland to feed thousands of orphans. Why are there so many orphans in Swaziland, you ask?

Well, Swaziland has the highest AIDS rate in the world and the average life-span is under 35. You can imagine if all most of the adults 35 and older are dead---that leaves a tremendous amount of children that are without parents. Many of these children are HIV+ as well. Timbali Crafts was started to give these women an income as well as spiritual nourishment which is also passed on to the orphans they care for. Here is their website: Timbalicrafts.org

There is a tag on each purse. On this tag, the lady who made the purse has written her name. Most of the bios can be found on the Timbali Crafts website.

Here is the bio of the lady who made the purse featured in this Give-Away:

Lindiwe Mathula is 38 years
old and the mother of 10
children. Her husband, who
passed away in 2009, had
multiple wives. Lindiwe has
been a volunteer at her
neighborhood care point since
2002, and says she started
volunteering to help those who
are sick and children who are
in need.

A widowed mother of ten.

Giving her time to others. wow!

Our prayer group has been so blessed to have partnered with these women!

I am doing this give-away to raise awareness for this amazing organization so please join me and send lots of people this way! To read about how our prayer group partnered with Timbali, click HERE:

TO ENTER GIVE-AWAY:
(from Fri Dec. 17th- Monday Dec. 13th)

1. Commenting on this blog will enter your name 1 time for the drawing! (even if coming from FB, please comment on blog only)

2. Posting a link to your blog will enter your name 5 times for the drawing! (then leave a comment to let me know)

3. Posting a link to your Facebook profile will enter your name 5 times for the drawing! (then leave a comment to let me know)

Come back and visit my blog as I have several more Give-aways in the next month!

Seven Mamas!

2010-12-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

How can God use busy busy mamas to reach desperate children and other mamas struggling to survive?

The Answer:

Prayer.

Meet my prayer group.

Thats what we do. We pray.

Honestly, when I was approached about joining some other women to start a prayer group after several of us finished the amazing Perspectives course... I thought I was too busy. But then I thought... wait, shouldn't this be a priority? I would like to say that I would have the passion and discipline to pray for the unreached people groups, children forced into sex-slavery, and orphaned children.. but I know myself too well.

Praying together is powerful and it has changed us. Changed us so that our selfish hearts broke and we desired to pour more of ourselves into loving the moms and children around the world who have not been blessed like us.

And so we had a party! That's right! A Christmas Party! We figured that we Americans spend disgusting amounts of money on Christmas Presents, why not make it count for something WONDERFUL! Let's turn around our Materialism and let it BLESS the world! We contacted several organizations who consigned items for us to sell. I have those organizations listed a bit further down in this post and hope that many of you consider finishing out your Christmas Lists with items from around the world.

So let me tell you a bit about this party. According to our Facebook Event, we had 41 confirmed guests coming . Seven of those were us. Over 150 Ladies showed up and poured out their love! At the end of the night we had over $7200 in sales!!!!!! We were exhausted and delirious all at the same time! We praised God for his amazing ways! Since July we have been selling items from mission organizations at our local farmers market, church and house parties and to date we have sold over $22,000! We are just busy moms, but we serve and worship a mighty God! He has showed us what He can do when we exchange our self-obsessed hearts in for a heart that seeks to give, bless and glorify Him. And its amazing.

Here are some pictures from the Missional Mama's Holiday Open House before the chaos began!

Beaded jewelry and scarves from Outreach Uganda. You can order directly from their website! Many of you know of the horrific circumstances in Uganda. A way we can help is to support the micro-businesses of the tribal women. These women make amazing jewelry and scarves! Each item comes with an explanation of the ministry.

Fine Jewelry (Thailand) from NightLight International. You can order directly from their website! This jewelry is higher-end as it is made with gorgeous Thai materials. NightLight is a micro-business for women escaping sex-slavery or prostitution. In Thailand, many women are forced into sex-slavery against their will or for survival. Many women sell themselves to provide for their families. Nightlight is an alternative way for them to survive!

Timbali Bags ~We had a whole other room not pictured devoted to these! www.timbalicrafts.org Timbali bags have been wildly popular in this area! They are made by women in Swaziland supporting Orphans. Swaziland is in Africa and has the highest AIDS ratio, and the average life span is under 35 leaving lots of children without parents and suffering from HIV.

Gobena Coffee--(not pictured) Organic Fair Trade Coffee from Ethiopia--this business was started by some friends of mine who desired to do more to help the orphans of Ethiopia after adopting a baby girl from an orphanage there. Coffee can be purchased online (5 bags=free shipping). Why not replace your regular coffee with Gobena? Each bag supports an Ethiopian Orphan in a nutritious feeding program for one month!

Gobena.org

Tee shirts and Hats were made by an Adoptive family raising money to go get their precious child!

You can purchase these items at this blog:

Check out Megan modeling the hat and tee-shirt! (and NightLight necklace)

Below is my Frills and Flowers table. I had been thinking asking God how I could give more. So why not use what I like to do! I love creating flower hair accessories! After all, why not use what we are already doing to Glorify God! My cousin Ashley had inspired me with this decision as she had comitted to using the money she was earning through selling Mary Kay to give for God's purposes in helping others.

It doesn't look like much. But this little table of hair treats brought in $400! I gave that money to another Missional Mama and she purchased socks, underwear, mittens, and small toys and our prayer group made over 90 care packages to send back to Kosovo for under-privileged children. I love that! Could my family have used $400? Sure! Would it have changed our lives considerably? NO. Will it have a huge impact on children in Kosovo? I know so.

Okay, so back to the open house.

We are doing it again. (slightly insane, we are!)

So much of our stuff sold out in the first hour that we have been mercilessly begged to host another event.

Who are we to deprive the orphans??

This Saturday
Dec 12th from 9am to noon
at our local Christian School Cafeteria
426 Harrison Avenue

Update Dec 12th
After the Open House our total is now just shy of ....
$29,000!!!!

PRAISE, PRAISE GOD!

And if God can use seven busy mamas with little ones running amuck.... trust me, He can use you to reach out to the sweet little ones powerfully in need of our help. Just ask him... pray. A fabulous way to round out your interest and heart in global issues is by taking the 15 week Perspectives Course where speakers who have been in the trenches of global outreach. Classes start in January... visit Perspectives.org for a location near you! The tuition is signifigant-but 100% worth it. Scholarships available.

If you would like to stay tuned in to the Missional Mamas stop by our very new--still in the works webpage. It was lovingly designed by our very good friend Amanda!(check out her awesome healthy food blog at Vegacious.com)

We would love for you to join us in praying. Interested in starting something similar? We would love to come alongside you! That's why we have a website now.
missionalmamas.com

If you have a blogroll, please consider adding our website.

Oh, and haven't I been promising a Timbali Bag give-away? Stay tuned!

Who's King of our Pride?

2010-12-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving began with a very hilarious proclamation.

Mickey turns to Hubby with utmost seriousness, "Dad, I would like to wrestle you for control of the family"

Out of Nowhere.

How long has Mickey been planning this Ousting?

A. Does he really think he could vanquish his daddy in a wrestling match?

B. Does he really think that we would let five year old handle the decisions and direction for our family if he proved victorious?

This challenge completely amused us. We adore his spirited ways! I think I will start referring to Hubby as Lion King, at least until he is overthrown by a feisty little five year old!

Family Pictures!

2010-11-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

Minnie and Mickey

Your favorite Random Blogger and her Dashing Husband!

A happy family? mostly. A blessed family? Definitely. A family that is learning through hard times and sweet times that God is our Rock? Yes.

Our church is doing a photo directory and so we all got FREE family photos taken! The photographer was excellent and in 5 minutes we had great pictures! This is no small task for our rascally little mousekins. If you don't believe me, refresh your memory with this post!

So there you have it! Successful Mousekin Family Pictures--proof that improbable things can happen!

It is only 9:30 and I am so tired that when I went to spell out "successful" in the previous sentence; I had to say the cheer from my high school cheer leading days...S-U-C-C-E-S-S---THAT'S THE WAY YOU SPELL SUCCESS, SUCCESS, STRIVE FOR SUCCESS!

Who says cheer leading doesn't improve your brain function? :)

Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde

2010-10-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Look at this adorable demure little sweetheart.

Big brown doe eyes.

passionate about the color pink

couldn't harm a flea???? check out the 2nd picture.....

Check out the sword in her pull-up!!

Yes little Minnie can be ever so princess-y, and then next minute she is a fierce Viking with a semi-automatic, shield and sword. But---notice her pink blanket flowing out from her Viking hat... now that's some style!

You Go, Girl!

2010-10-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Minnie attracts attention wherever she goes.

For a variety of reasons.

Perhaps it is her ear-splitting screech she tortures everyone with in a .5 mile radius when things don't go her way.

Or perhaps it is the way she is riding Mickey like a horse at church, or is it the way she valiantly tries to empty a shelf at the library in less than a nano-second?

Well, yes there are many ways that Minnie attracts attention, but her number one way is her unique hair color. (Kind of a caramel red-with a bit of blonde) Even my cousin Curt (who I was actually surprised that he knew her name) has commented a few times on her lovely locks! At two and 1/4 years, her hair is finally filling in and thus attracting more admirers as the color gets richer the thicker it gets.

Last week, a nice lady said to Minnie, " Oh my, when your hair gets longer, you will be so pretty!"

Minnie promptly and confidently replied, " Minnie pwetty NOW!" Then smiles and nods her head!

You go Minnie! May you always have the confidence to hold your own, the sweetness to top it off with a smile, and the wisdom to know that beauty is not "someday" but just as you are!

Heebie Jeebies.... Shudder...

2010-10-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well, the Mousekin Family has had one FABULOUS WEEKEND! We celebrated Mickey's 5th Birthday with gusto (perhaps a blogpost later when I am not so bleary-eyed tired), followed by a family camp-out and hiking. We decided to top off the weekend with a special eating out experience....which had a few glitches.

First off, I want to say that it is SO exciting for our family to experience dining out. As Mickey's allergies lessen, we are able to embrace more and more freedoms! So tonight's restaurant was a Japanese Steakhouse. The mousekins did not even know this type of restaurant existed--the kind where the chef cooks in front of you and does all sorts of fancy schmancy things. At one point, Mickey leaned over and whispers, " Mommy, can you start cooking like that?"

Okay so here is the Heebie Jeebies part. I am not even sure if that is a real word, but in my mind it means CREEPY! So at this restaurant, they place you with other people and you all dine together. So four men sat down at our table and jovially introduced themselves. We love meeting new people so we heartily dove in getting to know them. They were on a motorcycle trip from Omaha. At one point I see the man sitting beside Hubby, start whispering conspiratorially to my husband and gesture towards the mousekins. I was of course a bit ill at ease with this and wondered what could be so secretive.

After the secret conversation had ceased, I gave Hubby a questioning look as if to say, " hey, what was THAT all about"? Hubby just gave me a funny look that said," not now," and " you don't even want to know"

Trust me, after 11 years of Marriage, you can get all that from just a few clandestine expressions.

Of course my curiosity was even more piqued.

I pointed at the water fountain and gave the mousekins permission to get a closer look, then summoned Hubby over so he could spill the beans.

I was SO not prepared for this!:

Here was the conversation between the nice man that we had been happily introducing ourselves to and chatting with and Hubby:

        Nice Man: UMMM, is it okay if I sit here?

        Hubby: SURE! Why not?

      Nice Man: Well, I am not supposed to be within 50 feet of children

      Hubby: oh.

      Nice Man (suddenly Nice Man has now turned into Creepy Man): Yeah, I have an ankle  bracelet on.

Hubby: oh, okay.

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HAVE A NICE MEAL NOW?????!?!

Now that I know that there is a sexual deviant sitting just feet away from my children talking to them, and that the pervert knows their name due to our over-friendliness from before, my meal just does not taste as good!

All I have to say, is that man is mighty lucky he whispered that to Straight Thinking Hubby, and not Fly Off the Handle Mouseymom!

Of course worst-case scenarios flooded my mind on our trip back to our house "What if he seeks out our children after staring at them and interacting with them for an hour" "Does he remember our first and LAST names that we cheerfully offered at the beginning of the meal, BEFORE we realized we were in the presence of a Destroyer of Innocence!!"

I shall do my BEST not to worry, Pray for the Lord's protection, and pray for that ~~pervert~~ man that he may find forgiveness through Jesus's death on the cross and healing for the children he hurt, and PRAY that my children can grow up to be adults that honor God with their choices, and never harm anyone with their actions.

On the bright side, Mickey loved the Japanese Steakhouse and happily exclaimed that he now has THREE favorite restaurants! "Arby's, Japanese Steakhouse, and McDonalds!!"

Ah, blissfully unaware children!

Multi-colored Balls of Sugar! YUM!

2010-10-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

Savoring each morsel.

Tomorrow is Mickey's 5th Birthday! We have planned a pirate party at the park tomorrow afternoon. It should be a balmy 80 degrees!! YES! Mickey then gets to camp overnight at the State Park with Daddy, Uncle and boy cousins!!! Today, though, we made some treats to take to Mickey's preschool. I was inspired by this post by my virtual friend Jamie who writes an awesome blog on managing her sons' food allergies. She has inspired me to try many new recipes via her blog and having a friend, although via blogging only, that understands our ups and downs with allergies has been a great blessing to me. Basically these are Rice Krispies, only I used Fruity Pebbles--rolled into a ball and stuck on a stick! It looks like a giant lollipop! HUGE HIT with the mousekins.

Here is the best part. Mickey handed out these treats to his classmates as they left today. I asked Mickey if the kids liked them. "Well, they didn't say, Mommy, but their eyes lit up like this (demonstrates )that showed they were excited, so I think they really liked them!"

Now I am not the sort of mom that usually does this sort of thing. In fact Hubby was acting like I had become someone else when he saw the shiny cellophane wrap with ribbon tied around the lollipops. But you know, I think its actually that Mickey has to be left out of so many "food things" that I wanted to let him be so excited to hand something out. And he is artistic and has a deep appreciation for "beautiful things". Me.. I like whatever is easiest.. not fussing much over trivial things, but Mickey is different than me and so I wanted to make it special for him.

There was two left after preschool, so the mousekins got to taste their creations! They loooooooooved them. Really, who would not love artificially fruity flavored balls of sugar?

Recipe:
1 half stick of butter or Earth Balance Sticks (dairy free)
8.5 cups of Fruity Pebbles
1 10 oz bag of big marshmallows ( I am sure the bag of little ones would work fine as well)
Popsicle sticks ( I got mine at hobby lobby)
cellophane sacks ( hobby lobby)

Microwave butter in big bowl until melted, add marshmallows and stir until coated. Microwave for 1.5 minutes or until marshmallows fully poofy and lost shape. Stir then press into greased 9 x 13 pan and use wax paper to press the top down. Wait 5 to 10 minutes until they are starting to set a bit, roll them into balls and stick in a popsicle stick. Let them set for a bit, then I put them in cellophane bags, tied a ribbon around the middle and there you have a fun, colorful, very unhealthy treat!

Give-Away!!! Don't You Just Love a Blogpost with that title?

2010-10-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

My virtual friend Amy--I mean, she is a real person (at least I am pretty sure), but I only know her through the wonderful world of blogging is hosting a give-away on her blog!
And she has beautiful babies that she adopted last year from Ethiopia!

And she is using this give-away to promote Orphan Sunday and a very cool ministry called 147 million orphans.

AND yes I know that it is not proper English to start sentences with "and" much less three sentences. Sorry.

For those of you who have purchased the paper beads from us (Missional Mamas)--that is the ministry where we get the necklaces from.

With no further ado.... zoom on over to Amy's blog, admire her babies and then spread the word for the give-away!

http://jonandamyg.blogspot.com/2010/10/stick-with-me-till-end-okay-giveaweay.html

Who Wants a Dinosaur?

2010-10-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

"Mickey!!! I just got the living room all picked up! Please pick up all these dinosaurs and papers and put them away!!!!" said the exasperated mother to her son.

"But mommy, I want to sell my dinosaurs to raise money for the orphans who do not have enough food and no one to love them".

Well, that kind of takes the wind out the exasperation and desire to have the living room nice and tidy!

The first and, only customer was his Grandma (bless her heart!). He had a row of his prized dinosaurs, and a sign below them, just like I had with the Timbali Purses that I sold out of my home to raise money for orphan care in Swaziland.

He gave a compelling speech about his desire to help the orphans and to do so he was going to sell his dinosaurs! He offered my mother a great deal, one dinosaur for $1 OR one dinosaur for $100. Although my mother has a huge heart and unending generosity, she opted for the better deal. She pocket the dinosaur and gave Mickey the dollar. I put the dollar in his church bag so that he would have it when the offering plate was passed at church.

Fast forward to this morning:

The plate had already passed by when I remembered his dollar. I found it and said, "Mickey, here is your money that you raised, go put it in the offering plate!" His deep brown eyes sparkled with excitement, grabbed the dollar and he left the bench to track down the unsuspecting man with the offering plate. I think he bounced all the way--giddy with delight to make a difference.

Seriously, how totally precious is that? My heart fluttered at the sweetness of his actions. Completely unprompted, full of joy. I know that warmed the Father's heart.

It made me realize how much our actions speak louder than words. I could preach a thousand sermons to my son about giving to the poor. But instead, he was mirroring what he had seen taken place in our home a few weeks ago. Something I did not realize he was drinking in. He had witnessed me displaying the Timbali purses and Gobena Coffee in our home and ladies coming and buying it up. He figured if I could sell something to help these children, well then so could he!

I cannot take the credit, I am part of an amazing group called Missional Mamas, a few busy mom's getting together to pray for people groups that do not know of Jesus and where suffering and hopelessness prevail. I am thankful how God is impacting me through Missional Mamas-- And even more, the trickle effect it is having on my children. Praise God!!!!

We will soon have a website--an awesome friend has offered her expertise and time-- and we hope to launch and equip many more Missional Mama groups. More to come on this....I will keep you posted!

For now, celebrating the sweet sweet things I see God doing in my children! Gotta hold on to those moments!

I Blame the Clean House!

2010-09-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago, my Facebook status read this:

"motivation: pretty sure that if I don't get my house cleaned today--it will be condemned. the upside? exposing my children to all sorts of germs that should get their immune system in full swing- bring on flu season!"

So that day I cleaned my house! I mean REALLY cleaned. I skipped my home-made all natural non-chemical all-purpose cleaner as my house was in such a condition that it needed some major chemicals! Fumes and all, I scrubbed my way through the house until it was glistening--steam-mopping my floors at 11pm no less!

I should have listened to my own sage wise words in the aforementioned Facebook Status! After a few days of living in a purified house, my kids immediately started succumbing to the stomach flu. SEE! I knew it! Clean houses are hazardous to ones HEALTH!

First Minnie, then Mickey, it bypassed Hubby ,then the Stomach Flu hit me like a Tornado. Not even miraculous airborne could save me. It is so peculiar--when you are dizzy with nausea and heaving your guts out, it is impossible to imagine what it feels like to be healthy. I always reprimand myself when I am sick for not being gloriously thankful when I am healthy. "How could I EVER take it for granted?" I wonder.

I vomited copious amounts of my innards, and expelled anything left the "other" way. I always wonder why it's okay to discuss puking but not the "other". Numerous times I have heard mothers say, "my daughter was vomiting last night, and also..... (she lowers her head and her voice drops to a whisper and shiftily looks around to see if anyone is eavesdropping).... has diarrhea."

So now we are all back to normal and I am trying to remember to stay gloriously thankful for days of health!

As for me and my household--we will stick with my homemade no-chemical, practically drinkable all-purpose cleaner from now on as CLEARLY we need a few bacteria around here to keep our immune systems on their toes! So if you come over and my house is less than gleaming... well, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do to keep her family healthy!

THIS is a snapshot of our life with Mickey....

2010-09-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

0/09/23/

Its kind of dreadful to be outsmarted by your four year old. Mickey has been studying dinosaurs for 2 years now. It used to be his only interest. Now he has varied interests that includes dinosaurs, pirates, and making his 2 year old sister scream at inhumane decibels. Hubby and I read this comic tonight and busted out loud laughing... yes, this is our life.

*** I realized after I posted this that the very last part of the comic is cut off by my Frills and Flowers slideshow. Calvin's dad is saying, " Why are we going here if he already knows everything?"

Weeks after we have read him some very dull book chock full of dinosaur facts, Mickey will ask us some about some obscure detail from that book. "Was it the Elasmosaurus or the Plesiosaurus that lays its eggs under water?" I totally made that example up.. but you get the idea. Of course we never know the answer. Oh to be able to absorb information like that little guy does!!!

OH, and for all blog readers, if you decide to write a dinosaur book some day, Please (desperate plea from parents) include the pronunciations! We have changed the way we pronounce "Parasaurolophus" three times. Pair- uh- sore- ALL- uff-uss (just in case you were curious in the final pronunciation!)

Very soon, Mickey will turn 5 and he will be having a Pirate cake and theme!!!! woo hoo! Birthdays three and four were Dinosaur themed, so I am thrilled to change it up a bit!!!

I saw an advertisement for these dinosaur shoes today and wanted to share it for all of you who have a little dino-loving child: dinosoles.com So Cool!

Mission Impossible....

2010-09-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Mission Impossible?

Apparently getting the Mousekins to smile properly.

Actually, I don't even care if they smile.

Would just "looking normal" qualify as TOO much to ask?

Six Minute Video--Life-Saving Information--very worth your time!

2010-09-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

Big Conversations

2010-09-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Mickey is one of those deep thinkers. Hubby and I are constantly astounded at the depth of his thoughts! He mulls things around in his mind and you just never know when it will come up again. Mickey comes into church with us and colors/plays during the sermon/worship time. He rarely appears to be paying attention, but he will often ask us questions about the message later on in the week. Children are sponges and they absorb EVERYTHING that they are exposed to.

At the advice of some of our best friends, we started "Bible Time" with Mickey as soon as we brought him home from the hospital. Hubby and Mickey pour over the Bible every night and Mickey truly views Hubby as the Spiritual Leader as the Bible directs Daddies to be. I love to overhear their conversations and often in the morning, Mickey will recount what he learned. Mickey has a great Bible base and has graduated several times to more "wordy" Bibles. I ordered many used Children's Bibles at various levels at Amazon.com a few years ago so that we could always anticipate the "next stage".

In the last few weeks, Mickey keeps bringing up that he wants to be baptized. When I asked him why, he replies that he wants to be a follower of Christ. "wow", I thought, he's ready! So then I replied to him, "If you are ready to be a follower of Christ for your whole life, then I think getting baptized is a great plan!" Mickey thought for a little bit then responded, " my WHOLE life? That's a long time, I am not so sure about my WHOLE life" ...then on to another topic.

Another time we had this conversation...

Mickey: Mom, I really want to be baptized

Me: That's great honey, we want to give this some time to see if its a decision that you really want.

then onto the diagnostic questions....

Me: Mickey, do you deserve to go to heaven?

Mickey: "NO!" of course not, Mom, I sin ALL the time "( I can verify that!) But I know that Jesus died on the cross, taking my sins away"

Me: Well, Mickey, the Bible says that if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.....

Mickey interrupts: But MOM! I only know what my brain thinks, I have NO idea what my heart thinks!

I love his honesty. I love how children have very few pretenses.

I love having these conversations with my almost five year old. I am grateful that God is drawing Mickey close to him. I am so grateful for these times of pure honesty.. I know all too well that in a few short years that will fade. Don't get me wrong, I get nervous during these conversations! My child's spiritual welfare is the most important thing ever and I am shaping that! That is sometimes a terrifying thought! But what a privilege, a humbling and true privilege.

I read a devotional the other day that challenged us moms on where we place our emphasis in our children's upbringing. Its not about our child being educated, polite, well-mannered, smart as a whip, athletic, musical, artistic.... its about our child knowing their worth in bringing glory to God. Often we lie to ourselves thinking that we can show and teach a child without living it out ourselves. That is simply not true, the best way to inspire your child to seek a relationship with his creator is for them to see it lived out in their parents. If you wonder how to begin a relationship with God, click Here.

And here is a video that I really love, by my all time favorite author Francis Chan. His writings catapult me out of my "all about me thinking" and into a peaceful and solid mindset of serving the Creator! This video is about 15 minutes, so grab a cup of coffee with some creamer and sit back and drink it in...

Life-Long Dream...fulfilled!

2010-08-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

According to Mickey, his life-long dream was to win a trophy! He holds his Aunt Penny in high esteem after seeing her trophies that she won at the fair for her goats. There is something so cute and amusing about a 4yr old discussing his life-long dream.

Lucky for Mickey--his life-long dream has been fulfilled!!!

As I mentioned in our previous post, our weekend was filled with fun events at our little town's yearly celebration. One of the events was a children's bike race. Mickey's chain fell off right before the race began. Luckily Mickey's dad was on hand!

Here he is speeding along!

Crossing the finish line!

The look on his face was priceless when he was handed his trophy!

The awards ceremony!

Darling! Love our small town and all of its fun stuff.

A few hours after the bike race, Mickey competed in a pedal tractor pull. Even though he was disappointed that he did not get a full pull, or a trophy, he had a great attitude and cheered his opponents on with gusto! This was a departure from his previous response at a previous pedal tractor pull. (see here)

I realized at the end of the day that we had been gushing over his bike race, totally going against what we had been preaching, (its not about the winning, its the attitude) So I took a moment to make it right--and told him that I was more proud of his attitude accomplishment, than him getting a trophy. "Having a good heart that pleases God is more important than winning!" He was a double winner that day and we are so proud of our little guy!

Everybody Needs a Paci!

2010-08-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Minnie and I were reading the book Tractor Mac Arrives at the Farm and there is a picture of a sad horse named Sibley.

Minnie kept coming back to that page and would mournfully say, "Sibbey Sad!" It seemed to disturb her.

Finally she had a solution.

She turned back to the "Sad Sibley Page" and said with delight, "Sibbey sad! Sibbey need Paci!" Then she pops hers out of her mouth and places the paci on the horses mouth. "Der Go, Sibbey" (There you go, Sibley)

She was pleased with herself for solving the horse's emotional needs.

We love the Tractor Mac series! (by Billy Steers) We have a few ourselves, and when we told our local library about them, they ordered 6 of them and they have been hard to get at the library as they are checked out so much!

www.tractormac.com

We have our local town celebration starting tomorrow morning. We love it. It is small town living at its BEST! We will be in the parade tomorrow walking with the local Awanas. Mickey has been looking forward to the pedal tractor pull in which he has been planning to compete. I started my coaching today about the fun of participating and not being a sore loser. We shall see how that all turns out! He competed at the county fair on a whim and he was angry for days that he did not win that big shiny trophy. Interestingly enough, he became interested in tractor pulls via the tractor mac books.

For those of you who saw my two previous posts about the Timbali purses and bags... thank you SO much, you helped raise money for the sweet orphans in Swaziland. In 2.5 days via facebook and this blog, I sold $1008 and all that goes for orphan care!

Stay tuned for a Timbali Bag Give-away!!!!

More Timbali Purses

2010-08-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

The response was fabulous yesterday and sold lots over this blog and Facebook and I will be shipping them all over the USA!! Yay! It is so rewarding for me knowing that each purse sold is more meals for hungry little mouths. Here are more pictures of what I have available until Thursday afternoon.. as then I will deliver them to Farmer's Market. If you have no idea what I am talking about, see previous post!

click on images for a closer look!

Timbali Purses!

2010-08-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hi there! It's my turn to take the Timbali Purses to Farmer's Market this week, so my house is FILLED with incredible, artsy, hip purses!!! Another time, Another Blog Post, I will share with you how a few mamas (now named Missional Mamas) are setting out to make a difference!

Here is a little info about these purses from the Timbali website:

ABOUT TIMBALI CRAFTS: The women who create Timbali Crafts are all volunteer cooks at care points for orphans and vulnerable children in the rural Swaziland communities of Engculwini and Nsoko. The 90 women of Timbali Crafts help feed more than 2600 children each day at 14 different care points. The women themselves face many hardships: most are either widowed or abandoned, many are single mothers, or grandmothers raising their orphaned grandchildren. Timbali Crafts was started in 2006 to help reach out to the physical and spiritual needs of these hard-working women and their families who would otherwise have little or none.

So yeah, these purses are made by volunteers so that they can get food for the children they provide food for. Swaziland has such a high percentage of AIDS that a horrible amount of children are left parentless and are fending for themselves. These women are giving everything so that they can feed little mouths and love on these little ones--and more importantly--teaching them about Jesus--the One who "binds up the broken-hearted"

okay, SOOOO... since I have all these cool purses at my house, and SINCE lots of you have said that you would love to see the purses but going to Farmer's Market is not an option for those of us with little munchkins and limited time, I am listing some for sale right here on my BLOG!! And for those of you local, if you want to peruse the selection--we have the highest inventory we have ever had--you can call me to stop by and take a look! No pressure if you don't see something you love-- come take a look anyway! My number is 260.403.3164

Here are a few purses I picked out to "sell" if anyone is interested! Prices are listed on the photos. I would LOVE to take pictures of them all for you, but I had to just do few! I can mail them to anyone in the USA for $3 shipping. There are small coin purses available as well for $5. They are so cute, and I purchased a coordinating one for my purse to hold my lip gloss, epi-pen etc. These purses have been selling like crazy and everywhere I go I get compliments on my purse. They make great Purposeful gifts... so think about giving them as Christmas presents, birthday presents, diaper bags...etc. Each purse comes with a card that has a hand-written name of the lady who sewed each original purse. Each lady's life situation can be found at at Timbalicrafts.org. These are real ladies making a difference, and we are just helping them out! Feel free to share this with your Facebook Friends if you think they would be interested!

Message me or call me if interested(260-403-3164). There is only one of each bag, so when it is sold, it is sold. I have these until Thursday morning!

I will be doing a Timbali Purse Give-Away in the next few weeks on my blog, so keep your ears perked for that! http://mouseymom.blogspot.com/

very roomy, very hip

coin purses $5

This is the same style I have and I love it!

Mixed-Feeling Justice

2010-08-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Here is an article that I read this morning, I am admitting in front of all of you that it felt somewhat satisfying to read, but in the end... its not a happy story, its really sad and I feel bad that I had that fleeting smug feeling.

Here it is:

Columnist Eats Words
Mocking Allergies

Last year, humour writer Joel Stein scoffed at the rise in food allergies among kids as “a yuppie invention” of over-zealous parents. In a column for the Los Angeles Times, Stein began:
“Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who needs to feel special. Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, ‘No! Stop! Don't rub my head with peanut butter!’ "

Well, Stein is now eating those words. In a column in the August 9 issue of Time magazine, the writer fesses up to a change of heart – after his own toddler had an anaphylactic reaction to mixed nuts. “The column was not the first thing that came to mind after my 1-year-old son Laszlo started sneezing, then breaking out in hives, then rubbing his eyes, then crying through welded-shut eyes, then screaming and, finally, vomiting copiously at the entrance of the Childrens Hospital emergency room.”

He discusses how a blood test shows his child is very allergic to pistachios and cashews, and reasonably allergic to other nuts and seeds. The writer also describes his son as “totally pissed at his father,” as if the youngster falls into the same category as the parents who wrote Stein angry e-mails following the “yuppie invention” column.

Stein, whose new Time column unfortunately isn’t online, meets with a friend who’s child has food allergies. While the yuppie column left her upset, she’s truly sorry to hear of Stein’s son’s reaction. He “is not the one I wanted to get a food allergy,” she deadpans.

The humour writer concludes that: “The more I understand of other people’s difficulties, the less funny they are.” Now that we’re glad to hear. – Gwen Smith, Claire Gagné

Okay back to my thoughts. Its really really hard when society mocks, dismisses or minimizes a disease that is life threatening to your child, or assumes that you are "going overboard". Apparently Joel Stein was one of those scoffers. We have dealt with scoffers, or eye-rollers in church, our family and our friends (even doctors!) --the very people you would expect to support you. I understand a little where it comes from as there are lots of people that claim to have allergies that were diagnosed by naturopaths, or self diagnose and its a far cry from being anaphylactic which is deadly. It really undermines a true allergy, making it so much more difficult for us to find validity. But in general, as Mr. Stein pointed out, until you truly understand the disease of food allergies--until its your own child--its easy to dismiss or assume wrongly.

Now the sad part is that Mr. Stein's justice comes at a very high price--the safety of his son. And that is not happy for anyone--not even the millions of parents of allergic children. Actually, its probably us who feel the most badly for his child--happy that Mr. Stein has seen the error of his pompous and hurtful words, but sad that his child is in danger. I can hope that Mr. Stein can undo the public damage he did by belittling food allergies publicly and now become an advocate.

In a recent Allergy article that I read, I got sick to my stomach when I read about the high statistics of bullying done to food-allergic children. Not only were the children being made fun of, but THREATENED by other kids with the allergen. For example, the other children were taunting one peanut allergic child that they were going to rub peanut butter all over the drinking fountain... or at recess will chase allergic children while holding their allergen. I had to think how scary this would be for a child. Mickey KNOWS how dangerous a banana can be to him. He knows that it will make his lips and airway swell, he KNOWS he could die... so if child was chasing him with one and threatening to force-feed him or smear it on him, it would be terrifying, not to mention dangerous. And we all know that bullying can be self-esteem eroding and have life-long emotional effects.

The sad thing is that most non-allergic children don't understand how serious food allergies are and get their notions from their parents.

This is a plea from a mama-- please please teach your children to respect all children and to be understanding of those with special needs.

Now I know that there is the other extreme where the food allergy parent can be frustrating--demanding that EVERYONE know all the ins and outs of her child's food allergy. Yes it is frustrating when people think that lactose-intolerant and milk allergy are the same, yes it is frustrating when people assume that milk allergy is only avoiding milk and not the bazillion foods that contain milk protein (chicken nuggets, broth, toothpaste, almost EVERY bread, roll, or bun and almost every prepared food), BUT we cannot expect the regular public to deeply think about which foods our child can and cannot have.

I regularly encourage new allergy parents not to become demanding in their expectations of other's knowledge (unless they are watching your children) just as we cannot know all the details of other diseases such as different types of cancer, autism, heart issues..etc.

So if Mr. Stein were to happen upon this blog, I would want to say this to him:

I am truly sorry about your son and his life-threatening food allergies. I am grateful that you have come to realize how foolish your words were and how damaging they were to food allergy families. Please use your influence for good, right the wrong and become an advocate and for our cause--after all, we are in this together now! May God bless you and keep your child safe!

Sincerely, Mouseymom

this thing called food allergies....

2010-08-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

My blog has taken a back seat as summer is just too darn fun, that I don't have as much time to type away on the computer. Oh, and probably more realistically, Hubby and I have gotten addicted to watching TV series on Netflix, (first The Office and now Lie to Me) which is probably the real reason I have not taken the time to write on my blog.

Last Sunday in church, a mom my age asked me, "how is your summer going?" I replied happily that it has been a wonderful summer. "Great!" she warmly replied. "And how is your summer going?" I inquired. Her smiley face lost its light and she said with a shrug and a grimace, "its...okay."

I knew how she felt at that moment. Last summer was a rough rough time for our whole family, and I felt robbed that I could not enjoy the summer as it was meant to be enjoyed. I mean, I had oodles of blessings and I was grateful, but it was not summer bliss. Obviously that is how this lady was feeling.

But, you can bet that as this summer has been very wonderful and care-free, I am more thankful, more grateful and taking so much less for granted. It's true. No one wants trials, but trials truly are strengthening and character building.

Many of you ask how Mickey's allergies are doing, and I am sorry I have not done a better job of updating. His allergies are doing very well. We had an appt. in March with his wonderful allergist ( now 2.5 hours away) and he was pricked a horrible amount of times. I can't remember now... maybe 70 times? We found out some environmental allergies and she did some latex testing. Now the latex testing is not really an exact science and not even FDA approved... but it can give some indication. He did not show any sensitivity at this point and that was awesome to hear. It does not mean he is not allergic, but that he is not reacting at this time. He will always be high-risk due to his banana allergy which is considered a life-long allergy. So now we don't feel like we have to be concerned about each toy he is playing with but we are still very careful with high concentration latex items (dipped latex) like balloons and medical gloves. Latex is considered a cumulative allergy meaning the more you are around it and in contact with it the more likely you are to develop an allergy. But the fact that he is not currently reacting is great news to us!

Now here is the weird thing. The last 2 times Mickey has been skin pricked for milk protein it has been negative, this time it was positive. That was surprising for both the allergist and me! Keep in mind that he has been negative before and still reacted after eating milk. And he has also been highly positive--like major huge multiple hives from just a teensy amount of milk, after having previous negative tests. As Mickey's allergist says, "If I could figure out how Mickey's unconventional allergies work, I will be very famous in the allergy field".

Anyhow, Mickey is NOT touch-sensitive to milk protein anymore and that has made our life SUBSTANTIALLY free-er. For most of Mickey's life, he would break out in hives if someone would touch him after eating/handling dairy. This makes being social humans rather difficult. Everyone he was around had to wash their hands and mouth off. You would be shocked at how much milk protein residue can stay on the lips after eating a sandwich with cheese in it. This is the point of life in which we should have bought stock in Benadryl. So you can imagine the freedom we feel in not having that worry anymore; and we are thankful!

Mickey can definitely tolerate small amounts of dairy now. He has been eating a small container of Greek yogurt every morning for a month or more. Greek yogurt has only one of the two allergenic milk proteins, so it is a good way to introduce dairy to his body. So this has allowed us to even eat out with Mickey now and order off the menu! This has occasionally been a disaster, but many times a success! When he was touch sensitive, any spatula or grill that may have had cheese or any dairy-containing food on it would of course endanger our sons life...so eating out was simply not an option. Freedom! What seems like normal every day things to most families are huge victories for us and we are thankful!

I remember when Mickey was a baby and the allergist told us that most kids will outgrow their milk allergy by age 5, I did not feel relief.. instead my mind screamed... "AGE 5! I cannot do this for FIVE years!!!!" But God HAS given us the strength and the ability to adjust; and we are thankful!

Last year when Mickey's lips and tongue swelled up, then saved by the blessed Epi-pen, and we had no idea what had happened, then finally figuring out it was bananas and the terrible realization hit me that Mickey could continue to develop more and more allergies and suddenly the idea that all foods were potential poisons for his sweet little body was EXTREMELY overwhelming and fear-producing. Mickey has not developed any new food allergies this year and we are thankful.

Mickey did develop an allergy to cats after two months of adopting a baby kitty into our home. That was heart-breaking to have to take away a beloved pet. But, a cat allergy is way more do-able than a food allergy; and we are thankful!

Minnie now age 2 has not had any allergic reactions. whew! She randomly breaks out in red splotches on her face and neck while eating and I have kept track of those times and the foods ingested and have found no connections. We are sooo thankful! Most families with food allergies have multiple children with multiple food allergies making life very very hard and complicated. We have not feed peanuts or tree nuts ( almonds, pecans..etc) to either or our children per our allergist recommendation. At age 5 which is in a few months we will begin introducing them to Mickey. Just writing that last sentence made my heart skip a beat. It is so scary to feed your child something that you are waiting to see if it will produce a life-threatening reaction. And we know that Mickey does not follow the normal allergy routine. Most kids will react the first few times exposed. Who knows with Mickey, it may take weeks, months or years ( like the banana).

We are sending Mickey to a pre-school this fall. Scary. So scary for a food allergy mama! Many food-allergic children are home-schooled due to safety issues, but we are going to try it as we feel he is at the point that he can make wise choices and can have the support of the school.

I hope we are doing the right thing.

I just swallowed a big lump in my throat.

I felt that I wanted to try a pre-school out before I we jump right into the public school for Kindergarten. Home-schooling is an option that I am finally warming up to if need be, but I really hope that it will all work out well in our small-town public school.

Every few months I get a Facebook message or email from someone who has a friend that has just found out of their child's food allergy diagnosis and they are scared to death and have no idea what to cook or eat. My heart sinks for them and it brings a lot of emotional feelings for me as I remember that all to well. I am grateful that I can have the opportunity to lend a helping hand and to help them begin their journey. Sometimes its just a list of milk free foods.

When you first find out about avoiding milk and you have to read EVERY label of every food you pick up, it is exhausting and discouraging. Like breads, it is sooo hard to find a bread that does not contain milk. Just in case you are curious.. we use Arnolds--but for a while we had to figure out how to make our own bread as we simply could not find milk-free bread in our area. And it is really hard on the budget to suddenly have to be purchasing specialty foods. We have become accustomed to this over the years, but when it hits you all at once in the beginning, it is overwhelming. There is a study that shows that couples with a milk allergy child have higher divorce rates due to the stress it brings to the family.

Let me give you a glimpse into our life when this was new to us. I remember shortly after we had our first allergist appointment and we had started attending a new church that had a nursery setting that could accommodate Mickey. (Any church that had someone different in the nursery every Sunday was not feasible as we had to have them trained on the Epi-pen and allergy aware.) We had talked with the nursery care workers for several weeks and they were very willing to learn the Epi-pen and we finally felt safe to leave Mickey while we went into church.

Twenty minutes later, our pager went off and we went scurrying to the room to find Mickey with hives. Here another little toddler had been eating a donut with frosting before coming to nursery and he and Mickey had shared a toy. We gave Mickey Benadryl and when we could see the reaction was not going to progress we went back into church. Shaken, of course.

My mind was far away from the sermon as I was trying to process our situation. I suddenly felt so overwhelmed that my son could be in danger from another toddler, and of course I knew that I could not control what every other toddler in the world ate, so how could I ever protect my son? Every mother knows that protecting her child is instinctual and we would give our life to do so. To not feel like I had that ability was devastating. I remember the thought coming to my head and planting itself "If I can't protect Mickey, then Mickey will die." I am not a crier. My husband could probably count on his fingers the number of times he has seen me cry in our ten years of marriage. But that Sunday, fear and inadequacy overwhelmed me and I felt weak with sorrow. The tears started flowing and I quickly walked out of the sanctuary to avoid making a scene. I was planning to escape to a room somewhere in the church where I could just cry.

I was intercepted by two ladies as I left the sanctuary. I was crying too hard to protest their desire to soothe me. It was one of those crying sessions where I could not even talk. So they talked for me.

"You must have been really touched by the sermon?

"Are you feeling the weight of sin on your heart?

"Don't worry, Jesus can forgive all of our sins:

I kept crying and they kept talking. Then I realized what had happened and why these two ladies were keeping me from the solitude I desired.

The pastor had been presenting the Gospel--how all of us were born sinners and are destined for hell, except that through Jesus's sacrifice we could be saved from eternal suffering by trusting that Jesus's death did pay the penalty of sin for us.

These two ladies had been planted outside the church sanctuary to pray with anyone that desired to turn their life to Jesus. These two sweet ladies saw my tears and assumed that I was ready to give my life to Jesus! I honestly felt sad that I was about to disappoint them with the news that I WAS already trusting in Christ.

So I told them that it had nothing to do with the sermon and told them what happened in nursery and how scared I felt. Those two ladies loved on me, hugged me and prayed with me and brought me much comfort. We went to that church for the rest of the time we lived in South Carolina--about another 9 months and those two ladies were dedicated prayer warriors for me, hubby and Mickey's allergies.

They took such an interest in his allergy situation and truly cared for us. I was so thankful that those ladies intercepted me. I thought I wanted solitude and I felt embarrassed to cry in front of others, but God knew that I needed hugs, reassurance and to hear someone pray out loud for me infused me with His peace. I was grateful.

This whole allergy journey has taught me a lot. Its not tragic like cancer or many other diseases or disabilites, but is has changed us and given us greater compassion for families that have concerns for their child's physical or emotional health. And now we see our almost 5 year old Mickey handling his challenges with grace and strength and a great compassion for others... and we are thankful.

Shared photo book from Tricia

2010-08-04T10:34:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Meet the Schros- Heartbroken and pleading for prayer...

2010-07-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a young family, Katelyn (whom I have known for years) and Jordan and their two precious toddler girls. Their hearts are breaking and their dreams are being shattered as Jordan is in the last stages of cancer and they are calling all who pray to intercede for them on Monday through prayer and fasting. Katelyn's mom grew up in locally in SE iowa, but they now live in Central Illinois. I wanted to post this as if this was my sweet husband, and my babies' daddy, I would be imploring the whole world to pray.

Visit their blog--read the last several posts as both Katelyn and Jordan have layed their hearts out in their writing. Let them know you are praying and share this on your facebook or blog if you will.

http://www.jkschroeder.blogspot.com/

They are on my blog roll on the right hand side of this blog, So you can check back here for update and click on their blog titled "The Schros". Only the blogs that have recently been updated show up on my blog roll, so if it is not on the list, it just means it has not been updated for a few days or more.

Update 9-09-10: A few days after writing this blog post, Jordan was taken from his wife and two little girls and entered his Heavenly Home. His life and death glorified His Father and that is what Jordan wished for. Keep the Schros in your prayers as adjusting to life without Daddy and Husband is a hard hard road. Thank you to all who prayed and continue to pray. The Bible says that Heaven is a place of no more tears and no more goodbyes, I can't even imagine how amazing that will be!

update Feb 25th 2011: Katelyn is engaged. Her husband Jordan had prayed that God would open her heart to another man. Jordan's prayers are answered and two darling little girls will get to have a daddy again!

The Trouble with Handcuffs

2010-07-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

I was over at my mom and dad's house and was lounging in an easy chair as Mickey followed his Papa all over the house. Papa and Mickey had gone out to the garden to pick some fresh veggies and now they were in the kitchen washing the their loot!

Mickey calls out to me in a hushed giggly voice, "Mommy, come here! I did something really sneaky and funny!"

"Really, what is it?" I ask-- truly hoping to not have to get out of my chair.

"You have to come see!" he insisted.

So I went out to the kitchen and there was Mickey with his hand over his mouth trying to stifle his giggles and his big brown eyes sparkling with mischievousness. He did not say a word, he just pointed down at the floor towards papa's feet.

My gaze followed his fingers and my eyes popped open very wide!!!!

There was my poor innocent dad, happily washing his vegetables... unbeknown to him, his tennis shoes had been HAND-CUFFED together by an ornery and stealthy little pirate!

"Dad," I said carefully and slowly, not to startle him, "um, don't move, your feet are shackled together."

And I snapped a picture.

I wish that was the end of the story.

Of course I commanded Mickey to take the handcuffs off, but apparently that did not happen.

And dad forgot that his feet were locked together.

Five minutes later, from my comfy easy chair, I hear "thump, thump bang.. aaaaughhh, grrr. mumble mumble.. I forgot about those handcuffs!!!!"

Dad was fine, Mickey was disciplined. And now I am trying stifle my giggles looking at the picture.

This made us laugh...

2010-07-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

For some reason when hubby and I saw this picture after I had uploaded a batch to my computer, we laughed.

I am not even sure why. We even discussed why it struck our funny bone... and no conclusion. Actually just glancing up at it again made me giggle right now.

Is it his defiant little look that we know all-to-well?

Is it the big-Daddy hand that is...

guiding?

assuring?

about ready to grab Mickey by the ears and drag him off to give him a talkin' to?

We don't remember the circumstances surrounding this photo, but it just brought a smile to our face!

Funny Story

2010-06-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know.. what an un-original blog title. But I can't think of anything more intriguing.

Mickey had an issue on his knee that required a tweezer, squeezing, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment and band-aid. Hubby handles these issues as much as possible as I am known to faint without warning.

So I distance myself from the situation and am busily cleaning up the kitchen when I overhear and observe this scenario:

Hubby: Well Mickey, you are all taken care of, I don't think you are going to die.

Mickey: WHAT?! (not realizing that his daddy's statement was in jest)

Hubby: (realizing that his four year old did not understand the jesting) Oh Mickey, I am KIDDING!

Mickey: You mean I AM going to die?

Hubby: No, NO, I mean I was kidding when I said that I don't think you are going to die...(pause) I mean, you AREN'T going to die from this, I mean....you are going to be fine. never mind.

Poor kids. We really mess them up, don't we!

What if it were your family?

2010-06-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

I am sure most of you have heard a bit about the situation in Kyrgyzstan. I have a missionary friend there that has been sendingng out urgent prayer requests and it is a horrible horrible crisis there. As you read this, try and imagine if this was happeni to you and your family and how you would want the "world" to respond. The letter below is written by a lady named Eunice who is Russian and living in Kyrgyzstan. She is calling for prayer and for us to truly know the depravity and horror of this crisis. I know that it is long, but take time to read the whole letter. Please pass this on so that the persecuted families can be helped. There is an envelope icon at the end of this post to enable you to send this information on and at the top left of the blog menu you can click on share and it enables you to share it via facebook. Or of course if you have a blog you can link to mine. I want to do everything I can do to give the voiceless a voice. How terrifying it must be for the attacked to have no hope of help! Here is what Eunice writes:

We are in the center of a war in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. It is impossible to imagine the horror. Whole blocks of Uzbek homes have been torched and burned. Women and children are being mercilessly killed. Many bodies and injured people are lying in the streets without anyone to help of the situation here!!

The news is only reporting a small portion of what is actually going on. It is ethnic cleansing
if you can call it that. . Kyrgyz youth under the influence of alcohol and drugs are running wild in the streets killing anyone and burning whatever lies in their paths.

This ethnic tension (between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks) has existed under the surface for many years but recently has been stirred up for political purposes. Because of this, it appears that authorities are doing nothing to stop the conflict and are silent. It seems that the whole situation was planned out in advance and that no one planned to put a stop to it.

One of my relatives went out today at great risk to get groceries for his household. On his way he saw an
old man badly injured who was lying in the street. He wanted to help him and turned him over onto his back. Immediately a group of youngmen ran up and starting kicking the old man fiercely. My relative heard one of these youths say, "He's Kyrgyz" Another said, "No he's Uzbek, let's set him on fire." When my relative returned the old man lay burned to death.

Officially the government has issued an order to shoot to kill anyone with a weapon but in reality no one
is carrying out this order. These horrendous acts are continuing to take place. Police and soldiers are patrolling the streets but doing nothing to stop the violence. Last night bandits broke into an army storage facility where weapons, helicopters, tanks, etc were stored.

We couldn't imagine where these simple people had obtained so many weapons before and now they have even more weapons, plus army equipment! On top of all of this there is a shortage of food as the stores have been vandalized. When our food supply runs out we will go hungry.. The news is reporting that humanitarian aid is getting in but the supply is very limited. Not long ago bread was given out but for some reason they refused to give it to the Russians. We are not concerned about humanitarian aid, we simply want to live!

Some news reports are saying that things are getting more stable but the truth is it is getting worse.
My goal in writing this is to the get word out to the world about what is actually happening here. We are afraid that we will be forgotten and alone in this crisis with no one coming to our aid. Presently they are not coming against us as Russians but we believe it is only a matter of time before they turn on us. People have "tasted blood" with no consequences and will not stop the killing. We are living in a state of fear.
Please send this information out to as many people as possible. This is our urgent plea for help.

Thank you for praying and for mobilizing others to pray!

Eunice

Now its me, Mouseymom again. Seriously, does that make your stomach sick? it does mine. My gut instinct is to push it to the back of my mind so I don't have the think about it. But what if it were my family? I would be begging begging for help and prayer.

Lets not stand for this ethnic cleansing.... how can people feel that they have the right to kill another... to treat them as insects? Anytime we pass on any hint of racism, or religious intolerance we are setting up our future generations to do the same thing. Parents, teach love and acceptance to all of humans.

Our God is a POWERFUL God and can change this situation in an instance. Let's not just tack on an extra prayer as we go to sleep tonight, lets be pro-active! Pray with your spouse, get some friends together and pray for the Uzbek people that are being killed, tortured and burned. Pray for the Kyrgs that their hearts can be softened and not give over to evil. Set your alarm for 30 minutes early and sincerely and earnestly plead with God for intervention. We can make a difference with God's help.

Lets not be ignorant Americans who turn our eyes away from horrendous crimes done to innocent people and go about our daily affairs! We are blessed to BE a blessing to others! Reject Apathy.

The Prize!

2010-06-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

In case you missed my exuberant post about winning a contest, click HERE. To hear me gush about the amazing time we had at Honey Creek Resort, read on!

Mid-May, the Mouseymom family packed up our minivan and drove a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes to claim our prize at a fabulous and amazing resort that was perfect, and I mean PERFECT for our family!

I was not sure what to expect, but our jaws dropped as we drove in and saw the beautiful Resort Lodge. For some reason I was expecting rustic and woodsy, which would have been fine. However I was pleasantly surprised to find the ambience warm yet classy with mostly Mission style furnishings.

After checking in, we went right to our two bedroom cottage. Here is a peek:

the kitchen--which is key for us--as travelling with food allergies is quite tricky. It is ABSOLUTELY necessary that we have the ability to prepare Mickey's food. Most families can just pick up,leave, and eat on the go--the joy of vacation. Families with food allergies (depending on which foods need to be avoided) do not get the luxury of spontaneous eating while travelling. I write this not as a complaint--but just to explain a bit why a kitchen is so vital to us.

This is the very reason that led me to to enter this contest! When I looked up Honeycreek Resort, I saw this as a place that could be vacation destination for our family's needs. I was not disappointed. We loved it here...

okay, more of the tour

Mickey and Minnie had their own room with bunk beds. They were so excited! Pack and Play's are also available for rental.

Right after supper we visited the Indoor Water Park.

We had a BLAST! We were at the waterpark a total of 3 times over the weekend. It was a huge highlight!

The next morning we got up and rented bikes and a bike trailer and glided through God's glorious nature!

Okay, I am totally kidding. We did not exactly "glide".

Here is the story. We rented the bikes, we have our helmets on, we are all set to go and I (a rare instance where I was actually the wise one) say, " Hey, Hubby, we don't have a trail map! Let me go get one"

Hubby says scornfully," We DON'T need a MAP! Look there is a trail right there."

And off we go.

Lets just say we should have stayed on the nicely paved sidewalks.

And not ventured into the wilderness.

I was fine.. since it was just me and my bike (which had the most amazingly comfortable bike seat I have ever experienced)

Hubby-on the other hand- was lugging behind him about 80 additional pounds which did not come in so handy on steep muddy hills.

He thought he was going to die.

I thought he was going to die.

That would have not been a nice vacation experience.

Hubby now thinks that map would have been a good plan.

We went back to the cabin to relax.

Then it was S'more time!

Now we don't do your normal run-of-the-mill S'mores. Well, you see, Hershey Bars have milk in them! So I take milk-free chocolate chips (Sunspire Brand)(apparently leaving milk out of chocolate chips is VERY expensive) and melt them at 50% power in the microwave until melted stirring every 40 seconds. Then I spoon out globs onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. I try to make them about the size of a graham cracker square. Then I freeze them until they harden and then store them in sealed container. These make the most deluxe S'mores you have ever tasted.

Take a look at my boy lovin' his milk-free S'mores. It's totally worth the money and extra effort!

Minnie was taking her S'mores very seriously as well!

After the S'mores we ventured out to the brand new playground at the Resort.

I was on a sugar high, clearly.

On our way back to our cabin we saw this beautiful sight...

It looked so magical and our kids were so enthralled .....

So we got to experience a little magic of our own!

Our Horse and Carriage ride ended at the Main Lodge and we decided to stroll down to see Lake Rathbun which is just outside the Lodge's back door.

A beautiful setting for a wedding!

The best part of this amazing prize that we won was the slow-paced, relaxing, quality family time that we shared together. Our hearts basked in thankfulness for a time of refreshment. Memories were made and Mickey is already asking to go back. Thank you Honey Creek Resort for choosing our family to win the Family Photo Contest! We had an AMAZING time and cannot wait to come back!

A few things worth mentioning:

1. Sportboats, runabouts, pontoon boats, personal watercraft, fishing boats, kayaks and canoes are some of the items available for rental at Honey Creek Resort.

2. A beautiful on-site golf course

3. The onsite restaurant Lakeshore Grille is MAGNIFICENT!!! Hubby and I ordered a few menu items that we snuck back to our cabin to eat when not around the kids. I am still savoring the Bananas Foster French Toast--indescribable. We also had Pesto Crusted Walley, Andouille and Mushroom Pizza--seriously the best pizza that I can remember. And a pasta dish that is described from the menu like this: Sautéed portobello, oyster and shiitake mushrooms, tossed in a rich Italian four cheese sauce, with elbow macaroni, proscuitto and sundried tomatoes. Wow, it was soooo good! Hubby and I can't wait to go back for a romantic get-away and eat every hour at Lakeshore Grille! Oh yeah, and the desserts we tried were awesome as well!

4. The staff was wonderful! So welcoming and helpful!

The Midwest is seriously so blessed to have this new beautiful resort at our finger tips. I love that nature is the main attraction--the Lake, the walking and biking trails, the fire rings. But since it is not perfect weather year round, Honeycreek offers family fun time for any time of the year.

I obviously cannot mention all of Honeycreek's ameneties and activites as this blog post is keeping me up way too late, not to mention the the carpal tunnel setting in from all this typing-- but I did want to highlight our family's experience.

Check out Honey Creek Resort's website and look them up on Facebook!

Seriously, What is Wrong with my Kids???

2010-06-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

My previous post was about me questioning the sanity of my beloved, imaginative four year old. Today, both Hubby and I are thinking that some crazy genetic mutation happened to our children as they CERTAINLY do not inherit any sort of weirdness from us.

Look at the above photo.

Can you tell that it appears that our almost two year old Minnie has bosoms?

Perhaps you can see the napkins spilling out the top as PROOF that Minnie has stuffed her shirt.

I can already hear your questions. "Where did Minnie get that?," you wonder suspiciously.

I can assure you of this. It was not from me. Trust me. If I could un-stuff myself as Mickey once did to poor Pooh Bear--I would. (Ever seen a slim Pooh? It was amusing... almost inspirational!)

So anyway, back to our psychologically-disturbed daughter. She found a huge tower of napkins and immediately began to de-tower them. I have learned that toddlers hate and I mean HATE anything with order and will seek to create mass chaos in quick fashion. My kitchen floor was covered in white napkins. Thus begins the moral dilemma--do I put them back in a stack and pretend they are still "clean" or suffer guilt for throwing away so many barely-used napkins and compromising the planet? Oh yes, back to the issue-- I ignore the gigantic mess for a few minutes as I am busily preparing supper.

THEN I see little miss Dolly Parton scoop up about 12 napkins and quickly stuff them into the top of her shirt.... then toddle around like she is "all that!"

Hubby arrives home and is immediately confused at the sight and of course turns to me for an explanation. I, who usually pretends to have one even when I don't, was mystified myself and thought it very odd.

I have to admit, when the Small Tornado dispersed her food in many directions during supper~the stuffed napkins did come in handy! We whisked them out and cleaned her up! Perhaps Minnie is not so strange-- perhaps she is just resourceful!

Gotta love being a parent.... I think I end most days with a smile as I replay the day's events in my head.... I love those two little mousekins!!!

Is my son normal?

2010-05-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Surely every parent has this haunting thought cross their mind? Should I be starting a bank account for years of therapy? Should he be in therapy as I write?

The concern actually came from Hubby.

Apparently a few weeks ago Hubby and Mickey were out and about in the minivan and just as the automatic doors were closing, Mickey spotted a dinosaur left behind on the floor. Mickey lunged forward to grab it and Hubby valiantly pulled Mickey out before his hand was severed. (now I know, the doors are supposed to stop if anything is in its way.. but apparently it did not appear to be stopping.. who knows)

Hubby gave Mickey a lecture. A lecture about how rescuing a small plastic dinosaur could have cost him his hand and he should never ever put his hand in a closing door!

Mickey did not have the response that Hubby was hoping for.

"So," Mickey said thoughtfully, chewing on the information he had just received.

Now this is the disturbing part:

"If I get my hand chopped off by the van door.... CAN I GET A HOOK!!!!?????"

So, what do you think? Therapy?

Give-Away!!!

2010-04-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

A Frills and Flowers Give Away! Hosted by My Open Book!

Technically I am not hosting this give-away, but I am supplying the goods, so I wanted to post this so all of you can get in on the give-away!

Hop on over to My Open Book, new blogger Anne who consistently cranks out thought-provoking blog posts using her amazing writing skills!