cold again

I know, I know. Go figure, right?

So I mentioned on my facebook page this morning that I needed to go put on a toboggan. When I was growing up, that was the word we used for stocking caps, which were usually knitted yarn cozies for your head. I went on to describe the super-fantastic hats we all had as kids from Whirlpool, where a lot of our family members tended to work.

Which leads me to TWO questions today:

1. What is something that stands out as an under-used or entirely unknown word in your adult life that was used frequently as a child?

I rarely hear anyone use the term "toboggan" in reference to anything other than a sled these days. I've also noticed that the word "soda" is forgotten in favor of "pop".

2. What one article of clothing from your childhood do you wish you still had?

I would love to have my Whirlpool toboggan. I was also reminded yesterday (via a friend's tie-tack) of those awesome "Western" shirts we had as kids with the pearl snap buttons. I love me some snap buttons!

how cool would that be

An old friend comes to see you today, and wants to take you to lunch. Having amassed a large fortune since high school through shrewd business deals and inventing all sorts of products sold on late-night TV, you can literally go ANYWHERE. Favorite restaurant? No problem. Like Italian food? Why not hop on a personal jet to head to Rome?

Where would you go to lunch today?

totally forgot today

Can you forgive me?

Minute for your list

What music would you put on your Mix CD to get you motivated?

is it just me

...or does anyone else feel like they're on house arrest during the winter?

dinner ideas

Now that I'm spending a bit more time at home (understatement), I get to take care of the majority of the cooking during the week. Sometimes I'll make a dish(es) familiar to us that we have on a regular basis. Other times I try something new, whether it's an actual recipe or just something I concoct on my own.

Last night, I cut up the left-over pork roast from New Years dinner, along with some left-over ham in the freezer, and cooked it down for BBQ pork. Finding out too late that we had no BBQ sauce in the house, I substituted a jar of tequila lime salsa. Yuh-huh-hum-mmmy!

What is your favorite quick-fix dinner? Do you like to "experiment" in the kitchen?

i get by

with a little help from my friends!

What motivates you? 'Tis the season for fresh starts and new beginnings, after all. How do you motivate yourself to get going and stay on track? Post-its on the mirror? A simple list to check items off and be encouraged to continue when you see how far you've come? A note in your calendar? Maybe setting a reminder alert in your phone?

this one's a gimme

I'm not a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions, which I've talked about on my personal blog, but I feel like I would be a super-irresponsible blogger if I failed to ask about yours...

Any resolutions for the New Year?

disturbing

Am I the only one who wishes that dogs could tell you what's wrong with them so you can fix it? I hate it when one of my babies is sick. This too shall pass!

too cold

Since I'm currently freezing my tuckus off, I am once again pondering life in a more agreeable climate.

If you could move anywhere you wanted, where would it be?

*yawn... stretch*

So Julie posted a status update very similar to this blog title on her facebook page recently and I told her that I thought it was cute that she woke up like a cat. So today's question comes from that conversation:

How do you wake up? Grouchy? Happy-go-lucky? Zombie? Kitty-cat?

so i was in the neighborhood...

...i.e. my Blogger dashboard, and I realized none of us have posted here for a while. So I thought I'd start a conversation and basically just check in.

I miss all of you so much!

So, the question of the day is: Boxers or briefs? Do you have a preference and why?

Yeah, I know that I'm silly. But I'm cold and procrastinating, so deal with it!

Jonah's G-Tube Scheduled 4/29

Remember Jonah?

He's a big boy now, just celebrated his 1st birthday.

They are coming to Cincinnati in 2 weeks for G Tube surgery.

Go Jonah Go

Realizing

“We cannot choose how many years we will live, but we can choose how much life those years will have. We cannot control the beauty of our face, but we can control the expression on it. We cannot control life's difficult moments but we can choose to make life less difficult. We cannot control the negative atmosphere of the world, but we can control the atmosphere of our minds. Too often we try to choose and control things we cannot. Too seldom we choose to control what we can ... our attitude.”



- John Maxwell (Developing the Leader within You)

Alexa

Alexa passed away this morning at 4 am, after a long battle with cancer. Her parents were our choir teachers at our old church in our old hometown. She fought hard these past 3 weeks, and finally went home early this morning. I'm thinking she's enjoying some birthday cake up in Heaven with our Grandma Zehner who's birthday is on August 9th. Have a slice for us, and give a big hug from all of us back here.

just wanted to share

O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Thy praise.
For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
- Psalm 51: 15-17 NAS

Frustration

I know tons of parents go through the terrible 2's. Do they ever stop? M is having issues at school with frustration, and anger. Jeff & I work with him every day, hoping just hoping that he will catch on. We even started a sticker chart to help him see his good choices during the day, and when he makes a bad choice we talk about it. "We don't hit our friends", we don't yell at the top of our lungs when we are mad." Miss S even started the 'squeeze my hands when your mad' to help him get some frustration out. The other day, another little boy A was playing with a toy with M, and then he took it away. Of course M will get upset, what 4 year old boy wouldn't? He tried to take it back, and then he was pushed against the door by A, and smacked in the head. Adding to that insult, A also told him he didn't want to be his friend. I've read about this, M told his teacher what happened, A was talked to and he apologized to M. However, M also told A "I'm going to kill you". Tell me about it. For the last few months, we have limited his intake of cartoons to only include positive role models to him at his age level. Spongebob was just too brash, and Squidward was not treating him with respect. It seems so simple, but it's not at the same time. Last week he wacked his teacher on his back with one of those red bats (the ones that come with that white ball, and make an awesome sound when you hit a homer). It ended up leaving a raised mark and concerned the director because it was the teacher. If it was a student, I shudder at that thought. We had a meeting on Friday and we are all on the same page about working together and we need to all keep communication. He wacked another little boy J today on his back. When I asked him about it, he said it was because J didn't want to play with him. He felt rejected by J. That's the constant I believe. If the teacher, myself or daddy say no then it's not what he wants he gets frustrated. He was told by A that he didn't want to be friends. J didn't want to play the way M wanted to. Miss S wanted him to clean up centers, he didn't want to. Mr. S asked him to come inside after recess and he didn't want to. Rejection, rejection, rejection = frustrated little boy.

*sigh*

It feels like it might be hope...wait.. WHAT???

::Updated::

It has come to the attention of fellow bloggers that I stalk er follow that information or "accurate presentation of facts" of the story of April Rose is false. They do not feel that they should share what came about, or open a forum for people to vent frustration about the falsity of their story.

The family of April Rose has completely removed their blog that I posted a link to Sunday evening. When I checked it this morning when I first logged on, it was the same "update" post that "D" the father posted about 7 hours or so after April was born.

I don't know any details, I don't even know if the family is real if the story is real.
I just don't know, this saddens me so.

Click through to MckMama's page to read the collective email addressing the situation, the prayers for the family.


::ORIGINAL POST::


http://littleoneapril.blogspot.com/

April is here, praying for a miracle.

Wrap your arms around

Their hearts
Their hope
Their loss
Their gain
Their friends
Their love
Her life
Her sister
Her brother
Her mommy
Her daddy
Kayleigh Anne Freeman

Glendy

I sponsored a child today. Through World Vision at Family Christian Stores. I've been working at the one in Tri-County again for some extra dough (houses and things you want to do to them are expensive!) I've also been reading several blogs, Anne, Angie and Pete's specifically. They were on a trip with Compassion International. They were bloggers sent to Kolkata India with the goal of seeing how Compassion works and how it benefits the kids that are sponsored. Their trip garnered the most child sponsorships of any of the Compassion blogger trips to date. I don't know the exact number, but there are a lot of kids that are going to have adequate nutrition, education and medical care because of these people. There are tons of kids that are going to have hope for a future different than their parents.

While I was reading through these blogs, I was beginning to come out of this funk that I've found myself in in the last few months. The darkness had knocked me down hard and I was really struggling to get back up, struggling with even wanting to get back up. But in rare moments of clarity I reached out to some people that could partner with me in prayer and that I felt comfortable asking to truly press me into accountability. Because while there is a true darkness that grasps at my ankles far more often then I would care to admit, I do plenty to nurture it and invite it to make itself comfortable.

One of the things that I struggle with each year is April 24th. It's the day my friend was killed, and that day makes me really sad. I do pretty well 364 days of the year to not focus on her death but on her life, but that one day is such a struggle for me still, 9 years later.
While I was reading Angie's blog she mentioned that she and her family sponsored a child with the birth date of their daughter Audrey. Audrey who died the same day she was born. Audrey who Angie carried to term knowing that there was little medical hope for her baby girl to survive, but praying to a God that is so big that he would save her. Angie has a site that talks about Audrey, and it will bless you like little else to read about her journey. While Audrey is not with us in the flesh, her brief flicker of a life has been sparked into a bonfire by God himself. This girl that lived for only a few hours has worked miracles, in my faith, and in so many others.
But I digress....
So I was thinking that I wanted to start sponsoring a kid again, the one I had previously aged out of the program and I hadn't sponsored one since. Furthermore, I thought that it would be lovely to find a little girl that had a birthday of April 24th. Because that day holds so much sad for me, I wanted to try to put something good into it.
I sponsored Glendy today. She was born April 24th 2006, she is 3 years old and lives in Honduras. She loves playing with dolls. Because of the $30 a month I set aside to sponsor her she will have access to things such as clean water, nutritious food, and an education, so she can grow up to be a healthy and productive adult.
I sponsored her online, where you can search based on country, birth date, type of sponsorship etc. You can sponsor children with AIDS, you can sponsor whole families for not much more.

We are so rich in the US, so rich. I don't have a lot of money, I don't have a lot of room in my budget. But I'm making room for Glendy and I'm pushing the sadness out of the way on April 24th so I can make way for a celebration that Glendy was born.