Merry Christmas!

What a good day! Praise God that Jesus came in the flesh to save us! Also Praise God for the blessing of gifts even here on earth!

John, Malachi, and I have all had a very fun day. We read the Christmas story out of Matthew, opened presents (oh my!), and had breakfast. We played with our new toys, went to the theatre to see Bolt!, and then played Go Fish before Malachi went down for a nap. He's pretty good at that game (he did have some help).

I'll have to post some pictures but now I'm going to nap.

I love you all!

1 day to go!

It turns out that the person who needs to be held back from the Christmas tree is me! All the presents look so pretty, I just want to open them!!!

John's working all day today. When he gets home we're heading over to our friends for dinner. Then to church, then possibly back to our friends house. When we get home we're opening our Christmas eve presents. Malachi's getting pajama's and John and I are getting TX A&M sweat shirts. We'll all wear them tomorrow morning. Of course Malachi will wear them tonight.

I have some housework to do today, but I really don't feel very well. I started getting sick yesterday.

I'm very, very excited for tomorrow. It's going to be such a joy to see Malachi open presents.

3 Days to go!

We're so excited for Christmas this year. This is the first year in a couple of years that we've been able to buy presents for each other. We're having some fun with that. We made a deal at the beginning of this year that we wouldn't make lists for presents. John's theory is that if you are close enough to be married to a person, then you should know what they want with out needing a list. So far this year we've done pretty well. But Christmas morning will be the real test of this experiment. I know for sure I'm not getting the present that I really, really want since our Christmas budget didn't really allow for a $10,000-ish vehicle. But we were really blessed by the addition of my income and John's raise this year. Our Christmas budget was certainly much bigger this year than the previous two.

Tonight we wrapped all of Malachi's gifts and put them back in the closet. One of them did get left under the tree (his Christmas Eve gift). I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on him to make sure that he doesn't open that. Then on Christmas Eve all the rest of the presents will get put under the tree. John's working every day this week except Thursday. We both wish we'd known my office was going to be closed this week. We may have had him take off some days this week. Oh well. We had a great vacation over Thanksgiving. He so rarely uses his PTO, I hope it rolls over.

So cute!

Malachi was watching me put on make-up today and he said to me "I wish Grandma and Grandpa would come for Christmas." I thought that was so sweet, also I was excited because he expressed what he wants in a grammatically correct format. I was so proud of him!

I've been working extra hours this week because our office is going to be closed all next week. I'm working this afternoon because I'm hoping to see friends tonight. One of John's friends finished his first law school semester on Tuesday and came back from Austin to visit. Unfortunately his wife had to stay and work :(

John and I are so excited for Christmas to come. Malachi is really excited too! He keeps telling us what he's getting. Which is interesting because he's probably not getting those things. Although he did give us one good idea. He did find one of his toys which is unfortunate, but I suppose maybe we shouldn't have made our closet the hiding place since he goes in there to play. Although in truth he goes into every closet to play - except the one in his room, but that's the hiding place for John's (he's the one that suggested it because he never goes in there. I haven't been able to figure out where mine are being held. They're in a place I never go in the house, but I can't think of a place that I never go) presents this year, so I don't want to put Malachi's in there too.

John ordered something for me from Amazon, but it came broken. Then he re-ordered it and the replacement came broken. Now he's thinking they may not replace it again. I don't know who's fault it is, but it makes me sad. Every time he gets me something he says I'm really gonna like it, so I'm sad I may not get this thing that I'd really like.

John got Malachi a set of armor. It came with a sword and shield, I think Malachi is going to flip! We also got him The Dangerous Book for Boys, a plastic golf set, a Cars book with dashboard (which is what he found), his grandparents bought him a rumbling bridge for his Thomas table and some friends of mine are giving him a Thomas bed set. He saw the pillow, so we let him have that. He's still getting sheets and a comforter. We also got him Cars bedding. We were going to get him a Cars bed, then we decided on a plain bed with Cars bedding. He was given a plain white bed and now we're getting the bedding. I'm still using the crib sheets that we have and they're getting so old that it's hard to put them on. I really had to fight the bed the other day to get his sports sheets on. We're still using the crib mattress so it just shows how shrunken the sheets are. We also need new mattress pads, but I don't know if we're getting those.

I think I did pretty good with John's presents this year. Overall I think next Thursday will be a good day. Our family tradition is to have orange rolls and hot chocolate before opening (that came from my side) but our own little twist to it is John reading the Christmas story before we open presents. Up until now Malachi's been a bit oblivious to presents. Since his birthday is right before Christmas he was a bit aware last year what the presents were, but waiting for the Christmas story was ok. This year might be a bit harder. It will definitely be a lesson in self control for Malachi and patience for me while I try to hold him back :)

We're celebrating with Raul and Valerie this weekend, and then on Christmas eve at 8pm our church is doing their annual Candles, Carols, and Communion. We've actually never been, so I'm excited to go. Christmas day is just the three of us. I thought of maybe going to a movie but I don't think there'll be anything playing that day that he can watch. There is a kids movie that'll be playing, but I think he might be a little young to appreciate it since it's live action.

Atlanta Here We Come!!!

On February 12th John and I will fly to Atlanta and stay for two nights. On the 13th from 7am-5pm John will be doing his Oral Assessment. I'm so excited to go with him!!!

I'm going to spend that time seeing Atlanta. I don't know what I'll do but I'll figure it out.

Congratulations John!

John got an email from the Department of State today saying he passed the QEP (Qualifications Evaluation Panel) and is one step closer to being a Foreign Service Officer for the DoS. Before you ask I'll tell you the next step.

He needs to go to D.C. sometime early next year for a day of interviews and testing. He'll be put into a group and they will be given a situation and have 30 minutes to make a proposal on how to address the situation. I believe he'll also do this on his own, also the interviews. I'm so proud of how far he's made it and everyone I've told so far (which is probably everyone who reads this) has been very proud. I have full confidence in his abilities to "knock 'em dead" in D.C.

Good job baby!

Oh btw, we were at a church Christmas Party last night and we both performed with groups so I'll let y'all know when the videos are on YouTube.

<3

1 more thing...

Bethany and I checked the race results yesterday and found our exact times. I ran the 5k in 36 minutes and 23 seconds! This is such a great accomplishment for me. I really thought that we'd do it in about 40-45 minutes. To find out that we did it in under 36 1/2 minutes is so encouraging.

Now John and I are thinking of doing one together next year.

We're back

The National Zoo was fun, unfortunately it was too cold for the panda's to be out in their habitat. But we did get to see them sleeping in their cages. We also got to see some gigantic elephants, plus a baby elephant. The lions were actually pretty active and that was fun. Malachi really liked a young gorilla that was hanging out by the window and running around.

That was Friday. On Saturday we went to D.C. to meet our friend Jessica who we all knew here in Dallas and her new husband. We decided to meet them at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian at 9:30. We got there at about 9:15 and found out it didn't open until 10:00. Turns out none of the memorials or museums open until then. We did walk over to the capital and hang out there for a little bit before walking back. Jessica and Armando didn't make it to the museum by 10 so we went in with out them.

Malachi LOVED it! He wanted to see everything! We saw rockets, planes, lunar modules, and so much more. We let him run around for the most part. John and I didn't really get to see too much because Malachi was running around so fast. Once the museum got really full he went into his stroller which he wasn't too happy about.

After the NAS Museum we headed over to the Natural History Museum and Malachi had to stay in his stroller most of that time because of how busy it was. Holy Cow was that a busy place! We headed over to see the dinosaurs, and we saw the lions, giraffe's, etc. (the stuff we see in a zoo, but less alive), we also saw some good water animals. Of course we also had to go see the Hope Diamond. It's so pretty! The gift shop had plenty of Hope Diamond booklets, necklaces, earings, etc. But we got Malachi a really cool popcorn rock that will grow crystals when we pour vinegar over it. The growing process will take about 1-3 weeks, so we hope Malachi can wait that long, but we thought it would be a fun thing for him. I got a heart shaped rock that's black but really sparkly. It looks great under some good lighting.

After that Joshua and Bethany were gracious enough to take Malachi back to eat lunch and nap so John and I could enjoy more of D.C. John and I had been on our feet for over three hours so we took a little break while trying to think of what we wanted to do next. I really wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial and the White House. John really wanted to see the Capital, The Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. Unfortuantely what he wanted and what I wanted were on the opposite sides of the Mall and we were in the middle. The mall is really, really long by the way.

So we decided that with how the Metro Stations worked we'd head over to the Lincoln Memorial first and then over to the stuff that John wanted to see. So we started walking (no Metro by Lincoln), and while we were walking we stopped at the Washington Monument quick just to get a little close to it. While we were on our way there our friend Jessica finally called us (2:00pm) and said that they'd meet us there at 2:20. So we hung out waiting for them, and waiting...and waiting. While we were there we had a pretty good view of the White House so we decided that we didn't need to go over there because it wasn't actually very close to anything else we wanted to see.

Finally we met them at about 2:45. We had a blast with them. Armando is really nice and we hadn't seen Jessica since Malachi was in the hospital when he was born. We did all that was on our schedule with them. Walking over to Lincoln first. We then took quite a walk to the nearest metro. On our walk we saw the buidling for The Department Of State. John got a picture since he's applied to it. We were all very excited that we got to see it.

We took the Metro to the opposite side of the Mall and saw The Library of Congress, The Supreme Court and The Nation's Capital. We got to only go into the Library because both the other buildings were closed. But it was still very cool to stand on the steps of the Supreme Court. We were all getting very tired so we decided not to cross the street and go over to the Captial because it didn't look like we'd get close to it anyway.

After that we decided to go to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial because it was on our way home on the Metro. It was already dark by the time we got there, so I think we enjoyed it less than we might have. But it was still cool.

One more Metro ride and we were home to Josh and Bethany. I think we got home about an hour or more later than everyone originally expected so we rushed out quick to dinner. Josh and Bethany took us out to the Ethiopian restuarant they like to go to. They're adopting two children from Ethiopia so they're getting themselves aquainted with the food. It was actually really good! The national dish they have wasn't actually one I liked, but the other stuff was great. They warned us it was spicy and it was, but nothing we couldn't handle. I don't think it was spicier than what we get here.

Sunday morning we were off to their church where we heard a good word from a guest speaker. It's too bad we didn't get to hear their head Pastor speak, but we enjoyed it none the less. Sunday afternoon was full of napping for everyone but John (who did homework). Sunday night we had their friends over for dinner and really enjoyed a visit with them. They have a 15 month old son, William, he and Malachi really enjoyed playing together.

Monday morning was full of laundry, packing and getting ready to leave. I filled their dryer too full and couldn't get all my laundry dried. It was quite a fiasco really. Currently I have one suitcase full of laundry that wasn't dry. I'm going to have to re-do all the laundry today. I was thinking that we'd get home with time enough for me to throw it in the dryer.

Unfortunately both our flights were delayed. What a travel day! We didn't get home until 9:45pm and we should've gotten home around 8:00 at the latest. I wont bore you more with the tedious travel details, but it was bad.

We're home now and getting back into the swing of things. Malachi's excited to be back at school, and I'm now back at work. John's heading to work and is expecting a crazy week. This is the last week of his school semester and he's really excited. He's going to be so busy this week though, so if anyone in town wants to hang out this week, let me know!

I found some work to do (yay!) so I'm off to do that. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Now the countdown to Christmas begins!

owie!!!

Yesterday Bethany and I ran the 5k!!! It took us quite a while to get across the starting line because of the hundreds of people in front of us, but we rand across the finish line at 39 minutes. We figure it may have taken us about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes to get across the starting line, so we think it took us about 37 minutes to do the 5k. We are so happy with ourselves. There were multiple times I had to stop running and do a fast walk. But I was always keeping up with Bethany.

We had a very fun day yesterday with Josh, Bethany, Belle (their dog), Donald, Sandra, and Cheryl (a family from Singapore). There was an awesome turkey dinner with a bit of Chicken Curry thrown in :) We played games together and then Donald, Sandra and Cheryl left at about 10:30 and we all headed to bed. I was so tired it took me about 2 minutes to fall asleep once I layed down.

Still to do on our trip is a trip to the National Zoo and to D.C. to see the sights. I'm very excited for that and I can't wait until Malachi sees some of D.C. I think that with the help of picutres and reminders he may remember this trip for a long time.

Today's going to be the nicest day weather wise so I think we'll visit the zoo today and then the memorials/museums tomorrow.

Malachi's currently opening his birthday presents from Josh and Bethany. He's getting baloon toys and he's really liking them.

Anywho...back to the family and friends!

Love to all!

laundry, laundry, and more laundry

Yesterday I was up until after mid-night folding laundry. Today after work I'm going to feed Malachi and put him down early for his nap. Normally he goes down at 1:30 today, hopefully he'll go down before 12:30. He usually falls asleep pretty fast for his nap, so that's good.

During Malachi's nap I'll pack our stuff into the suitcases and then into the car. I'll get Malachi up at about 2:45 and then pack him up in the car and head to John's office. We're leaving the car there during our vacation. One of his friends that used to work there is going to pick us up and drive us to the airport.

John checked us in for our flights online and chose our seats. I'm so happy we're all sitting together. This will be the first time that John has flown with Malachi (Malachi has been on more than a handful of plane trips) so I'm very excited to be there during that time. Malachi's such a good flyer and that helps, but it is still a lot to fly with him.

We have a layover in Atlanta and we don't leave there until after 9:00pm so I'm hoping that he'll sleep most of that flight. That would really help us out. Plus I'd like to sleep too.

I'm so, so, so excited to see Josh and Bethany. I'm a little nervous about the run. Mostly I'm nervous about staying warm, I'm not really nervous that I'll make it.

Bethany - I'll see you in 14 short hours! The wait is FINALLY over!!!

Last Run Before The Race

Today I ran a mile in 12 minutes. Then I did 40 sit ups on the exercise ball. I really like doing that. I read something in an article that said that post-natal women shouldn't do regular sit ups because it only tears the stomach muscles apart more. So I'm doing them on the exer ball. Plus it's fun!

Today I'm going to do the remainder of my laundry and then pack. Tomorrow night we leave, yay!

I'm so, so excited.

Three Years

Today marks the birth of our (now) three year old son.

Dear Malachi,

You make my life worth living. Every day I look forward to hearing something new come out of your mouth. You're so smart and every day I'm amazed by the progress you make in growth, both physically and mentally. Since you were born premature the statistics said that you wouldn't develop as well as your peers in those areas but you are proving them wrong!

I have such great hopes for your life but I want you to know that what ever you do, no matter who you grow to be I'll always love you. You couldn't do anything to make me stop loving you. Sometimes I may seem angry or sad with you, but even in those times I'll love you.

Right now we live in Dallas, TX in a two bedroom apartment at Christ For The Nations (CFNI). You go to pre-school at CFNI and you LOVE it, your teachers are Ms. Veronica and Ms. Didi. You would go every day if it was open and we let you. We attend church at Fellowship of Joy and today you moved up to the 3's & 4's class. You transitioned very well. I think it was harder for me than for you.

Your daddy and I pray with you every night. We ask God to protect your dreams to make sure they're sweet. We also pray that as soon as you feel a tug on your heart from the Holy Spirit that you would seek Jesus as your savior and follow him forever. Malachi means "My Messenger" we pray that your life would reflect the meaning of your name.

I really can't express how much I love you. You're such a joy to me and I pray that you'll have many enjoyable years of life.

Happy Birthday Love!

silence

I realize that compared to my activity on the blog recently I've been awefully silent the last week. I did have a pretty nasty stomach bug that Malachi handed over to me. I also had a cold that I just recovered from. But then last night I started up with more stomach issues. It's been quite a week!

Because of all these things happening my training has taken a serious hit. I went to the gym yesterday and I only walked half a mile. Today I decided to sleep in because of the stuff that started up last night. Good thing I did because they continued this morning, running and walking would've been very difficult.

I'm signed up for the 5k so I am doing it. Just probably not as fast as I would've if I'd been able to train fully.

John is nearing the end of his semester. He only has three weeks left. Thank God! I'm so glad that he's doing well and enjoying his time. I really miss him though, so I'm thankful that he's almost done. He's considering doing only one class next semester, a decision I would whole heartedly stand behind.

We have so much going on in the next week I get tired thinking about it. Malachi's birthday party is on Saturday, his birthday is on Sunday and then we leave for D.C. on Tuesday afternoon. Crazy!

We're doing the party on a budget (my desire, not a necessity) so I'm trying to think of activities for the kids that involves very little monies. John is taking charge of the cake - yay! That makes me very happy. I'm handling the rest of the party, but it's such a relief to have him doing that. He found a very cute design that will be awesome.

I'm so excited for Malachi's present. He is going to be so happy about it he wont want to go to church. John and I are going to design the train table tonight and then Saturday night when we get him up for his mid-night potty break we'll put him in our bed instead of his. We'll then put his table together in his room we haven't exactly decided what to do after that. We may sleep with him and show him the present in the morning, or we may put him back in bed so he can wake up to his present. Either way sounds fun.

The heat still isn't on in our house but if the 10 day forcast is chilly enough they'll turn it on tomorrow. I really hope so because it's so cold in our house. This morning it was 47 degrees but the sun was already coming up so who knows how cold it was outside before that. I don't know why we haven't bought a space heater yet.

stomach bug, cold, and training?

My training has been really bad this week. Tuesday I didn't get to go to the gym because it's closed on Tuesday nights. Both of us forgot about that until it was too late.

Yesterday I did go to they gym but I was too tired to do more than 1 mile. Today I didn't go because yesterday I knew I was getting sick. So I slept in. I'm not going to work because I need to rest up for the women's retreat this weekend. I think Satan is really scared about the women's retreat because he's attacking a lot of women at our church with sickness, car accident (and subsequent stiff neck, headaches, random numbness in left arm, etc. please pray for Mary Shafer, that she would get well), stomach bugs, etc. We're really being attacked.

Thank God that He is Good and that what ever the enemy brings against us, The Lord can remove from us and we can have a successfull retreat.

Please pray that I get rest today.

new blog

Check out a new blog on my blogroll. It's titled Susan Bozarth. She's one of the smartest and funniest Christian women I know. She's an adjunct teacher at CFNI and she's an active member at our church. Her and her husband have been in ministry for over 20 years.

I know if you read her blog you'll be filled with wisdom.

Happy 7th Anniversary and the honeymoon's over

Yesterday was my 7th wedding anniversary. Wow...7 years. It's a crazy thing to think that it's been that long. It's gone by so fast. John and I are doing well. We're very happy and we love where we're at in life.

We celebrated our anniversary on Saturday night with dinner at an Indian Restaurant and tickets to a play called Noises Off. It was a great date! Malachi spent the night at a couple's house and they brought him to church the next morning.

Yesterday we worked, but John came home an hour early. When he got home he and Malachi woke me up from my nap (Malachi had woken up shortly before John got home and hadn't woken me up yet). Afte I woke up we exchanged anniversary gifts. I gave John a leather laptop carry case. Funnily enough he also got me a bag. But my present is a gorgeous red oversized purse. Inside the purse was a halloween sized candy bag of Tootsie Rolls (opened up and inside every pocket and the rest of them inside the main pocket), a clutch purse, a wallet, a small notebook, 4 pens, 9 packs of gum, Aleve, an Umbrella, and rubberized hair bands that will actually stay in place! I also got a coupon with all my smaller presents, in my card, and in each pocket in the purse. I'm so excited to use them, here's a list of them:

One (1) Dinner at Antares Restaurant (good after February 2009(because Wolfgang Puck is opening it and we have been looking forward to eating there))

$50 for spa or salon services x2

One (1) dinner at a restaurant of your choice

One (1) trip to the shooting range

$50 clothes shopping spree x3

One (1) girls night out or in (my treat for the girls)

Dinner, a Movie, and a night at a Hotel

$50 for makeup and accessories x2

There are 12 coupons so I get to use one a month for the next 12 months! I'm so excited for all of them.

I have to say that my husband is so great at presents. He always knows how to make me happy. We had an ok dinner (I messed up the Shepherd's Pie), and after that our friends came over because we wanted to challenge them to a rematch of Spades because they kicked our butts big time on Sunday night. It didn't really change much last night. They still kicked our butts.

This morning at 5:00 AM we woke up to hear Malachi coughing and burping big. It turns out that he puked. Since he puked three weeks ago and was fine, I thought he'd be fine again. So I gave him some crackers. Shortly thereafter he puked again. I haven't gotten to go to the gym yet this morning so I hope I get to go later.

Malachi may have a stomach bug. Please pray for him today.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday I did two miles on the treadmill and 60 sit ups on the exercise ball. Today I did three miles (no walking at all, solid running!!!) on the treadmill in exactly 40 minutes and 20 sit ups on the exercise ball. I was talking to Bethany yesterday and told her that it's become obvious to me that it's too hard for me to run three miles six days a week yet, so I'm going to do a pattern for the next two weeks which is:

Day 1: Weights
Day 2: two miles
Day 3: Three miles

Then the week after that I'll do three miles as many days as I can because the week after that I start tapering off because the race is in less than four weeks! Woohoo!

Light Day

Per the advice of a track coach via one of his former students I took it light today to give my muscles a bit of rest after my hard day yesterday.

I did run a bit, about half a mile, but then I went to the weights. I love the weights. I hope to do mostly weights when I'm done with the 5K. I did do a bit more running at the end, but I just wasn't feeling it. I was up late last night with election news, so that might explain that.

With all this exercise and the no eating sweets that I've been doing, I'm looking a lot healthier than I used to. It's been a great encouragement to keep going. I feel lighter even though I've only lost about two pound because of all the muscle I'm gaining. Even so, I feel lighter. It's like a weight has been lifted off my back - pun intended. :)

My friend Mary came running with me yesterday and I know that that is how I made it the full three miles. She couldn't make it today but promises to be there tomorrow. I hope she is, she's so great to have there because she too is a runner.

Running and Historic Moments

Today I ran the 3 miles in under 40 minutes. That was such a good feeling this morning.

Tonight I watched on live TV one of the biggest things that has ever happened in the United States. Senator Barrack Obama is now the President Elect Obama. The first time that we've ever voted in an African American. Even if you don't like Obama, you have to admit that this is huge.

Updates

Saturday I ran the full three miles in about 42 minutes. Sunday was a break day - yay! I got to sleep in!

This morning I went to the gym with the intention of running the full three again, but at about 1.8 miles something happened in my left hip. Every time I was putting my left leg down it felt like my hip muscle was tearing. It was really painful, so I started my cooldown then. I've been pretty depressed about that today. Luckily I'm not eating sweets right now because I know if I was I'd be stuffing my face with halloween candy today to fill some void.

Weights

When I got to the gym this morning and started my warm up I noticed that even at 2 1/2 mph I was pretty tired. So I decided to do a four minute warm up and then weights today.

I think that was a good decision. I did about five or six minutes of running in the middle, but I couldn't go further. I also did 40 "sit ups" on an exercise ball - that's an all time record for me.

I don't feel completely exhausted now, and that makes me happy.

Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be able to run the full three miles well. Sunday will be a break day.

For You Wives Out There

Check out the Girl Talk Blog on my blogroll. The series that they're doing right now is great!

Walking Tall

Finally after four days of running I'm walking tall again. No more hunching over from pain in my back and legs. I'm not completely pain free, but I'm getting pretty close. Currently my biggest annoyances are the blisters on my feet. For some reason I didn't expect that - should have.

Today's run didn't go that well actually. I only made it to two miles today. I don't know if I'm exhausted from not sleeping well last night or if it's because I upped my speed from the beginning (although I only went from 4.0 to 4.2 so I didn't think it would be that big a deal). Anyway, I figured that instead of burning myself out I'd do my cooldown at two miles instead of three today. I think I made the right decision.

So...the two miles took approximately 26 minutes. It's definitely not my best day, but I didn't expect that I'd only have great days.

My mom is in town now. She and John should be in the car together by now. I get to see her after work today, yay!

3 down a gazillion to go

I don't really have a gazillion miles left, but maybe if I think about it that way I'll work harder to reach my goal. I do tend to work harder if I can't see the end of something. When I know what the goal is and how to get there, sometimes I pace myself too slowly.

Anyway...

Today I ran another 3 at the gym. I had a few different intervals of an incline at 1.0 or 1.5. I forgot to stop my watch when I was done with the three miles, but I'm pretty sure it was about 40 or 41 minutes for the three miles. Whoohoo! That's a great time for me and is so encouraging.

Training on the treadmill is so much easier. I just hope that when I get outside in the cold wet weather of D.C. it will be easy enough for me to cross the finish line in a decent amount of time. On that note, Bethany and I are praying for a warm sunny day of at least 55 degrees. Please, please Lord let it be!

I'm also looking great! John said to me this morning: "You're looking skinny." I can't remember the last time I looked skinny. yay! I'm not losing too much weight because I'm gaining muscle. The weird thing is I'm gaining muscle in places I didn't know muscle existed, it's a weird, but fun sensation.

My mom is coming to town tomorrow and I'm so excited. Unfortunately since I haven't been too mobile with the running this week I haven't been up to cleaning much. But I made a detailed list of all the things I want to accomplish. John has his job of cleaning off the desk that he'll do tonight, otherwise my whole day is cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I'll probably sleep very well tonight. And wake up nice and early for another good run!

Another 3 miles

Today I attempted 3 miles again. I didn't quite make it. I stopped at 2.8 miles, partly because I pushed myself too hard and partly because I'm still learning how to use a treadmill. We have nice ones in the gym here at CFNI and I'm thankful for them, I just wish they were a bit easier to use. I can set a time limit, I really wish I could set a distance.

Anywho, I was done at 40 minutes today. That includes a walk break in the middle and my cool down because I decided to stop fighting the treadmill.

Bethany wants us to do the 5K in 36 minutes. That shouldn't be too hard the way I'm going. I might even be able to challenge her to go faster than that :)

oowwwwiiiiieeeeee!

3 miles 0:46:53

Work is still going well

This week started out with a bang because there is a commercial sized shredder coming to campus and all old documents needed to be in the loading dock by 5:00 yesterday, which meant I had to be done with it by 12:00 yesterday.

Monday and yesterday I emptied at least 3 file cabinets worth of hanging folders of old papers. I saw something from as far back as 1985. I was four, FOUR! My boss said that when he took over it was much, much worse. I believe him after seeing that.

He hasn't been in yet today and hasn't called even, so I don't really know what to do with my time. I did start taking inventory of the equipment in this office, but I'm scared to go into the video control room and touch anything and there's only so much on my desk on the one next to me. I don't have access to my bosses office or any of the closets. Oh well. I'm blogging now!


In other parts of life, I'm trying to get my sleeping on a better schedule. A couple of nights this last week I've gotten either very little or no sleep. I think I need to calm down a lot at night. Get all my work done before Malachi goes to bed so that I can rest for a while and then sleep. I think I'd like to be asleep by 9:30 to get a good nights rest. I always thought my brother-in-law's wife was crazy to go to bed so early, but now I'm thinking she's been very smart all these years.

Malachi's doing great. I know I suck at updating with photos and stuff, but I really suck at taking them too, so I guess they go hand in hand.

I should go find some work to do.

note to self...

Malachi is still too young for chutes and ladders.

Good Week

Last weekend I was nervous about switching jobs. I loved my boss so much that I didn't want to switch. I was concerned that I wouldn't have as easy a time at work.

My week has been great though. The Media Department has been very welcoming. My boss Mike is very nice. It must just be something about working for a Christian that makes work great. I was his oldest son's teacher over the summer so Monday afternoon he gave me an update on Duncan. It was good to hear about him. There are only three people in the office during the morning including me. The guy I share a cubicle wall with is Matt, he's also from Minnesota. We're from very different Minnesotas though. He's from the North West part of MN, practically North Dakota. It's fun to have that connection with him though. His wife is from Saudi Arabia, her name is Symbol (I don't know if that's how it's spelled, but that's how it's said). She's sweet.

This week it took a while to get into the swing of things, but today I finally had my own account on the computer, my own email to set up and I really felt like it was becoming my job. The last couple of days I've been doing things that are really my job like running to get paper for the office, getting the mail, sending interoffice mail, data entry for the scholarship students, etc.

I really think I'm going to like my job. That makes me happy.

favorite things

I remember when I was a kid I would love to crunch things under my feet. Crunchy snow was one of my favorite things. I don't have that here, but every fall I do really have something that's great. Right outside our apartment is a huge oak tree and in the fall acorns fall. These are baby acorns that I'm sure would be going into the ground and planting new trees but they're falling on hard dirt/rocks and concrete; as well as cars, roofs, and random items on peoples decks. I LOVE to crunch the acorns that have fallen on the ground. I do feel like a kid again and with an almost three year old sometimes that's ok.

Couldn't wait, toddlers, new jobs, and more

I just couldn't wait for the clot to come out on it's own. I coaxed it out last night. It caused me a considerable amount of pain but by this morning the hole was much smaller and the pain has decreased so much I haven't used any kind of pain reliever today.

Today I got to work with the Toddlers, they're so much fun! One more week in the pre-school as a floater and then on the 29th I start as the admin asst. to the head of media on campus. I'm looking forward to my new job, but I will miss the kids.

Malachi's been doing well lately. He's learning his numbers, alphabet, days of the week and all kinds of other things at school. We're surprised everyday by how smart he is and how much he retains. I guess we shouldn't be, but we just are.

John got a laptop with his school loans this semester. It's really nice and it's so great to have. I'm so happy for him that he'll have this so he can take it to the library or Starbucks or somewhere when he needs to get out of the house to study.

The weather here is finally cooling down yay! Today's high was supposed to be about 85 and that's warmer than the other days this week. It's been so nice. I think that in TX my favorite time of the year is fall.

Welp, I'm off to eat lunch.

third molar extractions

For us lay people that means wisom teeth extractions.

The blood clot never came out of the one socket, but it's quite loose and bothers me to no end. I can't wait until it just naturally comes out.

Today I've used no pain medication and have eaten some solid foods, yay! I've had pizza and cereal. Using just my front teeth to chew proves to be quite a challenge. Also I try to keep the food out from the extraction sites. Overall eating is much more difficult than it's ever been for me. I'll be really happy to be back to normal in a week.

I took today off again to get more rest, and I did take a 45 minute nap before Malachi came home and then I'll take another one during his nap time. Thank God he still takes naps :)

Well, I'm off to eat more pizza :)

Dry Socket

Yesterday I had my wisdom teeth removed and today one of the blood clots is having a hard time staying in place. I have to go back to the office today at 3:15 to have them look at it. I feel really icky too. The pain killers really do help with most of the pain, but they make me nausious and loopy. Oh well, I guess it's a small price to pay because the pain does get pretty bad.

Oh btw molars are huge! I had no idea they were so big. And the tooth fairy visited our house for the first time! I got FRIENDS season 9 yay!

You know you're a mom when...

...you're nightmares consist of your child pooping in his pants.

Seriously...it was a nightmare. I woke up disoriented and upset, really upset actually. Malachi's doing really well up north with his grandparents, and I'm afraid when he gets back here, he's going to have lots of messes.

They're teaching him to use the big boy bed. We got him a little one to use when he gets home, until we get the one we really want. This is such a great blessing on John and I that they're teaching him this. Of course, they're not in his room with the temptation of his toys all around. :)

Well, I woke up for work late today...guess I should get going.

Here we go again...

thank God I'm not on my own. School starts today which means we have kids today. Say a prayer for me and Michelle. Some days 10 kids was too many this summer, and we could have up to 16 this fall and spring.

Galveston

We had such an awesome time in Galveston. Our first ever family vacation was a complete success. We learned that having a 2.5 year old with us really extends a drive. We had two potty stops in the first 40 miles, but after that we did pretty well. The trip was about six hours. We stopped at McDonald's for Malachi's lunch and then at a Dumpling house for John and I to eat. It was pretty good, but probably not worth the extra drive and the five toll booths we had to go through to get there.



When we got to the hotel we found out that they didn't have our reservation. We spent an hour waiting for everything to happen. Here's John on the phone with Priceline.



It ended up being great though because we got upgraded to a suite. The suite was awesome and throughout the whole trip we felt it really was worth the hour wait.













Our vacation was full of sun and rain, but we got to do many things. I think Malachi's favorite thing to do though was go to the beach.



We went to the railroad museum, Moody Gardens where we went to the Aquarium and Rain Forest. We went to the Rainforest Cafe where we rode the River Adventure Ride and Malachi made a tiger at the Build a Bear. We drove down the Sea Wall and saw some gorgeous houses (all on stilts).







Our last day may have been the best of all. We went back to Moody Gardens and spent a couple of hours at Palm Beach.

Vacation

We had a great time! We weren't affected too badly by Tropical Storm Edouardo and we have some great pics and vids. I'll update more later when Malachi's sleeping. Just wanted to say hey to whoever.

Time Off

I've had some time off he sometimes I wonder what I did with myself or my son before I had my job.

We're leaving for Galveston on Sunday. The forcast calls for storms and rain the whole time we're down there. That makes me really sad.

My girlfriend recently blogged about how she's had to release a desire for the American Dream into God's hands. For a long time I've known that John's desire is for the opposite of the American Dream and I've had to deal with that. But I have so many friends and family in houses and some in brand new houses and it makes it so difficult to sit idly by and watch them enjoy that. I know that some day when we retire we might by a place to settle but before that, it's just not what life has in store for us.

On the other hand I'll be able to raise my children in countries other than their own, and I'll be able to take them places some children will never be able to see. They'll have a life stuffed full of cultures from around the world. My husband will be so happily serving his country while getting to see the world and his wife will love walking to the market to buy fresh vegetables for that day's dinner.

That sounds like a great life!

New Favorite Song

Few and Far Between

I realize that my blog updates have seriously gone downhill in frequency. Most of the people that read my blog get updated on the phone or through email. Maybe that's one of the reasons I don't do it much any more. Another reason might be that I used to blog in the morning and now I work in the morning.

Life has been good. Summer school at CFNI is over so this week is just clean up week. Michelle and I have done most of the work in our room, so I don't know how much we'll have to do this week. Malachi has to come with me and he wont have his class and I don't know how that's going to go. Pray for us.

A week from today we're going to sleep in and head off for Galveston. We're going to go to Houston first for a trip to a dumplings restaurant. Our favorite in Dallas is supposed to pale in comparison so we're excited.

We'll spend four days down there including some time at the beach and Moody Gardens and some historical sites. We're staying at The Tremont House in Galveston and it looks really nice.

Today at church I was a part of a cardboard testimony. If you don't know what that is, check out this video. WARNING you may cry.

good weekend

We've had a pretty good weekend so far. Friday was mostly a relax day with a haircut for Malachi that morning. Our friends had a party so when Malachi woke up from his nap we went over to their house and didn't get home until 12:30 yesterday afternoon. They let us have the extra bed in their house. It was nice to not have to wake Malachi up, take down his bed and drag him home in the middle of the night.

Yesterday after Malachi's nap we went to the Zoo to have pictures taken. It was supposed to be a family photo session, but I think most of the pictures were just of Malachi. I think we did get some good family shots though. We've never done this the three of us, so I'm excited.

This morning we're off to church and tonight three of the youth from our church are coming to our place for dinner because they're staying on campus for YFN (Youth for the Nations) and KFN (Kids for the Nations) the two summer camps going on right now. I know that two out of those three aren't getting home cooked meals so they're happy to come over. I promised them a nice home cooked meal, but I think I might get a pizza from Papa Murphy's. We'll see.

1 Cup Cold Water

All I need to make Jello is 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup cold water. The boiling water is no problem of course. The cold water seems to be an issue in a hot Texas summer though. The water was running for well over two minutes and all I got was tepid water.

I think it will be ok though because it seems to be jelling. I meant to add banana slices and I forgot. Sorry babe.

Thank you!

After reading this in the Girl Talk Blog (check side bar for link) I was so encouraged about my life.

Some days I wondered: if I do all I do, only to have it undone, am I really doing anything?

Today, as I pack up my home in June of 2008, I can see the answer more clearly than I did in February 1986. Each of my daughters is married to a wonderful, godly man, Chad will be a sophomore in high school this fall, and we’ll welcome our seventh grandchild at the end of August.

I realize that all of the mundane, repetitive days were actually full of significant, enduring work. A home was being built. A family was being knit together. Four souls were being shaped for eternity.

This home has spawned three more homes where the same tedious yet momentous work goes on day in and day out. And God willing, many more homes will one day be built, day by day, so “that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:9).

Thank you Mrs. Mahaney for those very, very encouraging words!

The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives. They've come up with this list of the top 100 books, using criteria they don't explain, and they estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of these. So, we are encouraged to:

1) Look at the list and bold those we have read.
2) Italicize those we intend to read.
3) Underline the books we LOVE
4) Reprint this list in our own blogs


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -- well, some…
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery – My goal is to read it in French
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I'm proud to say I've read 21 on the list instead of the average six. Thank you to Brenda Gill who showed me this on her blog. Oh btw, I couldn't figure out a way to underline. I tried doing this first in Microsoft Word and it didn't copy over correctly. The Bible should be underlined as well as Chronicles of Narnia, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Anne of Green Gables and Little Women.

prayer requests

Please lift up my family in prayer. My son is sick with a 101.4 temp and a runny/stuffy nose. He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms. He can't go to school again until 24 hours after his fever goes away. Please, please pray that the fever goes away and that he's fully well by tomorrow morning.

Also since I got my job I've been getting head aches almost every work day. They get pretty bad, but most of them couldn't be considered a migrane I'm sure. I have some dental work that desparately needs to be done, and I need glasses. These things could be causing the headaches. Please pray that the headaches will go away and that I'll be able to save the money for the work needed.

movie

We went and saw Kung Fu Panda today. Malachi did really well. He got a bit antsy at the end, but over all we were very proud of him.

I went to a baby shower for a friend who is due in 5 weeks, and who I haven't seen in over a year because her and her husband have been serving on the mission field in Austria. It was so great to see her, and we had a good time catching up.

Off to dinner. I just wanted to let y'all know he did a great job at the movie. Oh and Kung Fu Panda was really funny.

Almost a month

So I really haven't felt like blogging in the last month. I don't know what it was about the thought of blogging, but I just didn't want to do it. So much has happened to. Here's a synopsis.

Malachi went to MN for a week. We missed him terribly and he had a great time.

The day after he left John and I had a great day to ourselves.
- We both played WoW at the same time at 9:00 in the morning
- We had brunch
- We saw a movie (Indiana Jones) in the best theatre ever (Inwood Cinema) Where we had the best surprise of the day with the Living Room Theatre. Click on the link and then scroll down to the Living Room Theatre and click on the link for pictures. It's the best theatre ever!
- Checked into hotel
- Went to dinner at Melting Pot
- Went to Latin Jazz contert
- Back to hotel where I kicked his butt at King's in the Corner

It was a great day/night it was like we didn't have a child. Sometimes it's nice to have a break.

The week that Malachi was gone I started my job. I had orientation on Monday then Tuesday and Wednesday me and Michelle (the head teacher in the room), set up the room, Thursday I worked the Pre-School table at registration for the summer semester, I got an extra 4 hours that day which was great because the next day I worked it only until 10:30 because my baby was home and I couldn't stand the thought of him being a short walk away and me sitting at that stupid registration table reading my book because we got so few students to come to our table.

We had a great reunion that day. It was so much easier then the one we had last September after a 17 day separation.

We've had students in our room for two full weeks now. At first they didn't know what to do with me because they expected their old teacher. I think they've gotten used to me now, and we're all starting to get a long a little better. Who knew that four year olds had so much attitude and charatcer? I didn't! It certainly has been a challenge, but I like my job.

I got my first pay check yesterday. I haven't been paid for working in over 2.5 years, it felt great. It was more than expected too, that's always awesome.

Life is really busy. My house is a wreck because I don't feel like cleaning anymore. I do the laundry when I need to, and I do the dishes about every other day instead of every, and don't get me started on my shower/tub. But I think I'm happier. It's great to get out of the house every day. I feel like I'm contributing to the family. Malachi LOVES going to school. He'd be in school every day if we'd let him. Last Saturday he was so sad that we weren't going to school. His liking it so much has made it an easier transition on all of us. And he comes home singing cute Bible songs.

Tomorrow we're going to see a movie all of us together for the first time. I hope he sits through it, and I think he will. He's really excited to go see the movie on the really big screen :)


I was supposed to be going to bed now, so I'll leave with that. We'll see how often I blog now.

Not much to report

I haven't blogged much lately. I really don't feel like there's too much to report.

I did get the job that I applied for. I'm going to work in the Pre-School at Christ For The Nations. I'll be either in the 3's or the 4's class. Malachi will be at the pre-school with me. One thing that's always been hard for me is to teach Malachi. I feel illequiped and not smart enough. Having him in pre-school will help me out in this area because he'll be learning as well as playing. Not that I'm going to stop teaching him, but that he's going to get it at school too will be really good too. He'll also have Bible lessons every day. I start on June 9th and then the students start coming on the 16th.

Malachi's going to be in MN the 6th-13th of June. He's really excited about that. He often talks about what he's going to get to do.

Last night we went to the horse racing park to see a friend sing the national anthem. Unfortunately we got there half an hour after she sang. Malachi and I went with a friend and she and I were under the impression Cassi was singing at 6:30 and they had her sing at 6:00. We were very sad that we missed it. John saw it because he went straight from work.

This morning John and I woke up together with out anything to provoke us. No alarm, no child, just us waking up. I do think that something like that hasn't happend in a very, very long time. It was fun.

What a weekend!

I realize that it's almost the weekend, but I haven't posted about last weekend yet.

It started a week ago. My in-laws were in town Thursday morning and spent the day with Malachi and me. That afternoon his co-workers kicked him out after his graduation party with cookie cake and told him to have a good weekend. Friday morning my dad and sister took off from Minneapolis and they made it to our house a little before 1:00. I was so excited to have them at our house!

Graudation started at 3:00 and it was only 75 minutes long. This ceremony was only for the Adult Education students, so there weren't that many. I was so proud to see my husband get his degree. I'm sure I cried like five times throughout the ceremony.

My father-in-law had to leave right after John walked, but his wife and my dad and sister and I went to dinner after the ceremony. We had a really nice time. Shortly after we got home dad, Steph, John and I went to Trinity Hall, an Irish Pub we love going to. Some of our friends joined us there and we ate, drank and were merry in celebration of John graduating.

Saturday we went to the zoo! Malachi loves the zoo and we haven't been but once in the last couple of months. I'm sure he was having withdrawls :)

My mother-in-law had to leave Saturday afternoon, but my sister and dad stayed until Sunday afternoon. We had a good time with them Saturday night and they got to visit our church on Sunday morning.

It was a great weekend, and I was really tired after all of it!

Monday was Malachi's appointment at the Pediatrician about the no weight gain. As it turns out he'd gained three pounds in the six months. Either our scale is off, or he gained it all in the last couple of weeks because so many people have been praying for him. Either one of those choices would make sense and be as likely as the other :)

He'd also grown 1/2 an inch. That I expected, I'd seen it happen.

We're gearing up for an awesome weekend here are our plans:
Saturday:




Sunday: Church, graduation party for John thrown by leaders of our bible study at church


I think Saturday looks great!

Happy Mother's Day

What a great mother's day I had! Malachi let me sleep until 7:15 when the alarm got me up and told me to get ready for breakfast at 8:00. After I was washed, dressed, mostly makeuped and mostly done with hair, I went out to see a wonderful breakfast of fruit with yogurt dip, cinnamon twists and orange rolls (the house favorite and at most big occasions) and I got the only glass of milk. I got to open my presents before breakfast.

Malachi got me stuff that he thought I would like because he liked them. I got Cars Stickers, and Gummy Bugs. Malachi wanted to get me real bugs, but John nixed that, thank you John ;)

John also got me a present - a memory foam pillow! My neck hasn't hurt once in the last day, I think that took care of my neck problems! I still had a sore back when I woke up this morning, we'll see what to do about that.

After breakfast we all got ready for church. Church was awesome yesterday and the gift from the church to the women at the service yesterday was a booklet titled You Are Captivating by Stasi Eldredge. It was only 50some pages long, but it was powerful! Our pastor's wife challenged us to read it yesterday so after church John took us to the park and played with Malachi while I read. I was so blessed by this book and by John's idea.

We went to Simply Asia for lunch where I got a meal that was OK but wasn't what I thought it was going to be so I wont get that one anymore.

The rest of the day was full of naps, book shopping for Malachi and World of Warcraft. Unfortuantely I napped for like two hours so I wasn't tired last night and I ended up staying up until after 1:30am. When Malachi got up today at 6:20 I had a rough time of it, but I'm better now :) I might nap today.

I'm so blessed and happy to be the wife and mother of my husband and child. God really honored me by letting me have these two. I'm so excited to expand our family some day.

1st Scraped kneed of the summer, 2 graduations, and We're all done!

Malachi scraped his knee yesterday. He was really upset about it and he really tried to milk it. It was so hard for me to not let him. Good thing his daddy came home to help me out.

We have a friend graduating tomorrow and John graduates next Friday! I'm so excited for them both.

John has three more things to do for school tonight and then he's all done. ALL DONE! I'm so proud of him. He's been an amazing rock when it's gotten hard for me. I know you think why has it been hard for you when he's been the one in school. But it was hard for me to have him away from us 1-3 nights a week for most of the last three years (he had one semester completely online). I'm so excited to have him home at night! Plus no more wondering how much homework he has when he gets home. No more scheduling time with friends around classes or homework. What a relief this is!

Course, in the fall he's starting a Masters program ;)

Interview and update

Malachi seems to only be stuffy when he's laying down. He's had no other symptoms. His appetite has gone down a bit, but I think that just means he's done with his growth spurt.

Yesterday I was thinking about what kind of job I want to get. I really wanted to get the perfect job. Then all of a sudden it occurred to me that CFNI has a pre-school. I knew that I could bring Malachi with me, and it's on campus, so I knew it would be a perfect job! So I called the school of Children and Family (a one year program after you finish the first two years) to ask about the job. They said they most likely would be hiring for the next semester which starts the 26th of May. I'd be there from 7:15am to about 12:15 or 12:30pm whenever the kids are gone. So we'd get home at lunch time and he could go straight to bed when I could clean (or rest).

Another great thing about it, because it's a pre-school is that he'd be learning throughout the day. During the summer semester they'd just be learning Bible. But during the fall and spring semester, he'd be learning things like numbers, letters, colors and shapes. I'm so excited for this, and I pray that I get it. Please pray with me!

Urgent Prayer Request

Our family has so much going on the next couple of days. I really need you to lift Malachi in prayer. Even if you read this after this weekend, I believe prayer transcends time (who are we to say God can't answer a prayer on Wednesday that is said on Friday).

Malachi woke up three times in the night and had a very stuffy nose. It does seem to be a bit better now that he's awake, but he was very clingy this morning (a very toddler like symptom of being sick). I'm babysitting today and tomorrow for parents who really need it, we have church tonight, I have to work at the church tomorrow and I have a meeting afterwards, and John has school tonight and tomorrow night with finals, and papers and all kinds of good stuff still due.

Please please pray that Malachi will be well. I need him to be at the top of his game the next few days.

Thanks.

New Photos

Check out my flicker link on the right side of the blog to see new photos. They're all from the wedding a couple of weeks ago. They're all completely out of order, but you can see how cute Malachi was in a tux!

funny show!

I was the star of a funny clip this weekend! Last night some friends took us out to dinner for my birthday (yes I realize that it's been a couple of weeks already but we've all been very busy). As I was sitting down on my chair I realized that I kept going. My butt landed on the floor! I wasn't hurt (I was wearing very high heels, and a knee length dress, I could've been hurt) thank God and I wish I could've seen it from the outside because that was probably funny. I'm very happy that my dress stayed down because in order to avoid unsightly panty lines, I just skipped that part of the outfit.

My girlfriends got me very cute/practical gifts. I got a starbucks mug and gift certficate and some beauty products that should help skin issues. Thank you Sarah and Ruth!

I realize that I haven't put any pictures up in a long time, and that I've promised I would do so, so...I'll start the process. I don't know how long Malachi's going to sleep so I don't know how long I'll be able to devote to the process, but at least I'll start!

no weight gain

Malachi has had no weight gain for a long time. He's the exact same weight that he was at his two year check up in November. We have to go into see the Dr. next week to make sure there isn't an underlying issue here. Please pray that there's nothing wrong with him.

thunder, lightning and research papers, oh my!

Not much has been going on. John had a big research project due last night so Malachi and I went to stay with one of our Pastors (Guy) and his wife (Mary). They were very gracious hosts and we had a good time. Their 18 year old daughter has a Pomeranian who doesn't like little people. Poor Ginger was getting chased around by Malachi and she just didn't like it. She tried nipping Malachi but he would just laugh (she doesn't nip very hard).

We've had a couple of bad storms down here. I believe there was at least one tornado touch down. Mary was driving Malachi, me and herself home during one of the storms. They live out in the country and it was a very scary drive for me. At that time, according to the news, we were getting 10,000 lightning strikes/hour. I can believe it too because there was no break in the lightning. We even saw some really large bolts of lightning. One of them apparently hit a transformer in the city where they live, and the power went out shortly after we got home. I hate the dark, but after some candles were lit, it was quite nice in the house. I think it was only out for about half an hour, maybe forty five minutes.

My in-laws are coming in tomorrow morning. John and his dad are going to go shooting, and Mickey and I are going to clean out a closet! Then the boy is going to go to the hotel with them and spend the night there. Mom and dad are going to have a nice romantic candle lit dinner for two and a night to themselves. It's going to be awesome!

Weekend

We had a great weekend. My sister came in at 1:40pm on Friday and took off at 10:00am Sunday. Unfortunately the whole weekend was consumed with stuff for the wedding that Malachi was in on Saturday night. She'll be here again next month - in less than four weeks! Our dad is bringing her down with him when he comes for John's graduation. I was so excited when I found that out.

The wedding was gorgeous. I didn't get to see most of it because I had to take Malachi out. John taped it though so I'll get to watch it. I may do just that when I'm done blogging.

The reception was pretty, fun, and short. The wedding didn't start until 6:45 so the reception started close to 8:00 I'm sure. Pictures were taken in between. My sister got a really cute one of Malachi during that. The dancing was fun, John and I hadn't danced in a very, very long time. I love dancing, feeling close to your loved one. I wish we did it more.

Sunday morning we slept in half an hour, so I took Steph to the airport by myself and we had a good drive. I was sad to let her go. We didn't do anything that I wanted to (mainly take her downtown and do the JFK stuff). I'm so happy she's coming back.

Overall the weekend was good, but I really don't feel like I had a birthday. I certainly don't feel a year older.

Happy Birthday

My hubby was going to wake up with Malachi today because it's my birthday. But my hubby didn't get home until 4:30 this morning and God woke me up to spend my first moments of the day with him. It's been a nice morning so far. I'm really glad I did that.

Malachi's still not up, so it's been real relaxing. Gonna go play WoW. :)

Not as young as I used to be.

Last night I went to a bachlorette party and I realized that I've grown up a bit and matured in the last couple/few years. Most of the night was fun, but there were times were I wanted to go under a rock.

My girlfriend is getting married on Saturday night. I'm so excited for her, but please pray for her. Their honeymoon is in Mexico and they can't find her passport.

I promise to post pics of Malachi all dressed up, I just know he's going to be so cute.

bruises, prayers, quiche, a wedding, and 4 days to go

John and I are waiting for the babysitter to come over so we can go to the gym. Today has been a very good day with some tears toward the end.

I was sitting on the floor with my back against the couch and Malachi was jumping on the couch. Suddenly I heard a thump and crying. He hit the tile floor pretty hard. After he calmed down, I started crying. I think I took it harder then he did. I realize that he's a boy and he'll have his bumps and bruises, it's just not very easy to go through.

Before we put him down to bed each night, we say a prayer over him. Tonight John led him in prayer (John said something and Malachi repeated). It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

I made quiche for dinner. Malachi ate it so fast, as if he thought I wouldn't feed him. It was great to have my boys like their dinner so much!

I got some cleaning projects done today. I have a few more to do. My sister is coming into town on Friday for my birthday (Saturday). I'm so excited to have her here. She's been down twice before. Once for my graduation from CFNI and when I was in the hospital during my pregnancy. Both those times we've had other family in town also. This time it'll be just her. Unfortunately Malachi's in a wedding this weekend. Oh well. We'll still have a good time.

Oh yeah! Malachi's the ring bearer in a wedding this weekend. He's going to be so stinking cute in his tux with his black shiny shoes and his hair all styled. I can't wait to see him when we pick up the tux on Thursday night.

The babysitter's not here, but I'm going to continue getting ready for the gym. Have a great night everyone.

Bittersweet change

Yesterday Malachi and I went to Wal Mart and purchased our first package of Pull Ups. They're not nearly as comfortable as his underwear and he didn't like putting them on. He didn't cry really but he did seem sad that he had to wear them. He kept on saying "no more diapers." We told him that they were his special sleep time underwear. John and I tried telling him that when he was done going potty in the bed he can wear his underwear at night.

He didn't go to sleep for a while last night. He got out of bed two times to pee. One time to not pee. He was really unhappy with the situation.

This morning though, his bed was dry! His pull up was full of pee, but his bed was dry! It was the first time in a long time that I didn't need to strip his bed. This is going to be nice. We'll save so much laundry money. I really wish that I didn't need to do the pull ups though. It makes me sad that we couldn't train him at night.

5K update

I wont be doing the 5K. I talked to my friend today and she said that it's on the 3rd of May, which not only is in three weeks, but I have plans. That's too bad.

2 lbs.

It's been two weeks and I've lost 2 lbs. I'm right on track.

My friends are training for a 5K in May. I think I'm going to join them. It's a bit scary, but I think I can do it.

Weekend

We had a good weekend. It went by way too fast. In no particular order:

Yesterday we went to a Dallas Stars (hockey) game. Our friend's friend had box seats and people kept cancelling so we got invited! Malachi went to a friend's house after church and we had an awesome time. We did leave after the second period because our friends had to be somewhere, but we didn't pay so it was ok. :) When we left the score was 3-2 Dallas, apparently in the third period Dallas scored again ending the game at 4-2. Everyone in the stadium got coupons to Chili's for free chips and salsa with a purchase of an entree because Dallas scored three goals. We were happy to recieve those on the way out.

After coming home we just hung out until bed time.

Saturday we went to our friend's new house. It's not moved into yet, but it's finally theirs! They had problems closing the first day they tried, so they were so happy to close on the house last Thursday. Their movers are bringing furniture and boxes on Saturday. I'm so happy for them. It's a nice house too.

It was a pretty relaxing weekend with just the right amount of things to do to occupy us.

Potty Training Update

Malachi's been having more and more accidents during his sleep (day and night). It's been stressful for us and for him. I'm sure it's uncomfortable to wake up in a wet bed. We did a little bit of reading online and I've realized maybe it's because he's a really heavy sleeper. If he starts going it doesn't wake him up. Honestly, I'm getting really sick of changing his bed.

We might consider doing special "sleeping underwear" a.k.a. Pull-Ups. I'm hoping that if we do that, waking up will be a lot less stressful for him and us. This will also make it easier to leave him over night at a friends house (we're doing that on May 2nd for my birthday party).

Please pray that what ever we decide ends up going well. I really want to start having less stress because of this. We're also creating a ton of laundry because of it.

Busy Weekend!

I'm tired from the weekend, just thinking about it. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we were busy from sun up to well past sun down. There was barely any rest. In a nut shell it involved: car shopping*, eating out (with just us and with friends), going to three different homes to spend time with friends, and church.

It was a fun weekend but I'm glad that it's over.

* For those that don't know, John's car died. We're going to see if we can go down to just one car to save on insurance, gas, and car payment. We'll see if I go crazy.

Pregnant?

No. But I'm working on it. Sort of. John and I want to have a healthy pregnancy next time and one way we're working toward that is me losing weight. Hopefully if I'm smaller before we get pregnant it'll be easier for me to carry the baby.

So. If I lose about a pound a week (the healthy rate of weight loss), then we will start trying by the end of the summer. My OB/GYN is concerned for my future pregnancies and wants to have a consultation with John and I before we start trying.

I'm believing that I'm healed by the stripes on Christ's back and that our future pregnancies will be completely healthy and normal. Pray for my weight loss, that will not be too much of a challenge.

Wireless

According to an article I just read in the Wall Street Journal, Google is trying to get the FCC to allow wireless internet usage from unused unlicensed TV airwaves. Google's aim is to allow the whole USA to have the wireless internet access.

My husband and I discussed this very topic on our road trip home last weekend. We wondered when wireless would be available for everyone. It may be sooner than we thought.

Easter

What a strange Easter we had yesterday.

The morning was pretty standard really. After looking for eggs and baskets from the Easter Bunny we went to church and had a really good service for Resurrection Sunday. During the second service, John went to the Marriage Enrichment bible fellowship that we volunteer in, and I helped in the Children's Ministry. I wasn't going to, but when I re-dropped Malachi off after a potty and snack break there was one person in there with 9 or 10 kids and there ended up being 14 kids in that class with me, Mary (the awesome teacher) and Lavonne, the teacher from first service who was gracious enough to stay and help after she came to drop off her grandson.

After church we went to Italy for lunch. It's this great little family owned restaurant by our old apartment which is now by our church. So, we went there, and I'm thankful they were open on Easter.

We came home, Malachi napped, I played World of Warcraft for a bit, John read, and then a friend came over. After some sitting and talking we saw his new Honda Accord. It's a brand new car, and it's pretty nice. They didn't get leather though...silly people.

After that I went to the hospital to see Eliana Elise Perry. This is Zoe's (one of Malachi's friends) little sister who was born on Saturday evening at 5:33. They were going to go home last night because they didn't get much rest at the hospital. Eliana is so cute and she was so sweet. I loved holding her and it was amazing to hold a 24 hour old baby.

After that I went to Starbucks and Baker's Brothers (a great American Deli) with Cassie because we were waiting for Cassi to get home. When Cassi did get home we went over to her house, and Cassie and I got our hair trimmed and we spent like two hours or more doing that because we were having a good time talking about our marriages and our husbands. Then we watched Enchanted. I was really excited to see this movie because so many people said it's so good. I was surprised by a few scenes in the movie. I really liked it thought, and it's one I would own.

I ended up not coming home until after midnight, but it was worth the lack of sleep. I really enjoyed myself. All the girls think it was the best time we've had together. Thank you to John for taking care of Malachi and letting me have some time with the ladies!

I hope everyone else had good Easters.

Fun Day

What a fun day we had today (Saturday, I haven't gone to sleep yet, so I'm still counting right now as part of Saturday).


The morning was quite relaxed with waffles and a movie (Malachi's favorite, The Incredibles) and just some good ol' fashioned hanging out. Then after our glorious nap we headed over to the Zoo with a packed lunch. They've built a sting ray exhibit and you pay $2.00 to go in and touch the rays. Malachi was free, thank God, because his arms were too short to reach. John and I got to touch them twice. It was quite different than I thought it would be. Their wings are a lot slimier than expected.

After that we had our lunch (John and I had snacks really, and Malachi was too excited to eat much)and then saw a few animals, and made it over to the Children's Zoo to see a few things before the Zoo closed.

After the zoo we headed over to Chan Thai for dinner. It was different than I remembered from a year ago and the food was only so so. Not only that, but we didn't see one Asian person there, it was all Latinos. So, I left mostly unimpressed.

We headed home to let John do homework and I would hang out with Malachi until he went to bed. I ended up doing some dishes, doing some laundry, giving the boy a bath, playing with the boy, and then getting him ready for bed. It was quite a productive couple of hours.

John and I went to the gym after Malachi was asleep. Our neighbors have three children, the oldest, Donovan, being 14. He came over and watched a movie of ours while we did that. John needs to go to the gym three or four times a week because of his class, so we might have Donovan over a few times a week. Usually I turn him down when he wants to sell me something for school or what ever, but I might start buying stuff from him if he's going to babysit a lot.

John and I had a relaxing time in World of Warcraft after that. As I'm about to log out someone says they're waiting up to play Easter Bunny. I then start to freak out because I forgot all about Easter and didn't buy anything.

Luckily I had some stuff left over from last year, but it was all in Malachi's closet. Thankfully John and I started getting him up at night to go potty to lessen the chances of accidents. So while John was helping him do that, I was scurrying to get into the closet and get the stuff. The baskets, grass, and eggs were in plain sight and easy to get down, yay!

I put some stuff in the baskets and eggs that we had lying around. Hid them and then we went to bed. But I'm way to energized from the workout to sleep, so I'm going to stay up a bit longer. My alarm is set for 6:30 so hopefully I can go to sleep soon.

Well...this is way too long for one day, I hope you didn't get bored.

Not sick!

Thank God I'm not actually sick. I'm feeling so much better today and was even yesterday after my nap that I know I was just exhausted. I'm sure with another nap today and some good rest tonight I should be all back to normal by tomorrow.

Today is rainy so it's a good day to catch up on some house work. I wont be over doing it since I'm trying to rest up, but our place is a wreck.

accidents, long rides, and flu

We had a great time with my mom and sister on Friday night. We introduced Steph to the wonder that is Scrubs. I think they may start watching it.

Saturday we had a fun time with my side of the family on my mom's side, plus my dad's mom. Also, my friend Angie came and I got to meet her boyfriend. He's cool, she seems to be doing well. I can't believe I've known her for 15 years and we're still friends. Of course there were times when we weren't keeping up with each other, but we've never completely lost contact.

After dinner and a nap at mom's we took off for the long drive to Dallas. We planned on driving through, but Malachi had an accident in the car about an hour out of the cities and he wasn't sleeping very well. We had to drop off a jacket in Des Moines and asked if we could just crash there. So we did.

Sunday there were no accidents in the car. He went in his potty in the car or a public restroom every time. It was a long 12 hours of driving, but I'm so happy to be home.

On the drive yesterday I started feeling sick. Today I know it's official. I'm hoping it doesn't get bad, but I really don't feel good.

Sorry for such a down post, it's hard to post all happy when I feel this crappy.

6 1/2 down 1 1/2 to go

We leave for Texas tomorrow night. I've loved spending time with family, but I'm ready to go home. It's amazing how much easier it is to have a toddler in your own home. We're very blessed that Rick and Mickey (my in-laws) have a pack 'n play (and all bedding) and booster seat for the kitchen table already up here so we don't have to bring them from Texas. They've been a big help. But I am ready to stop taking Malachi's bed down every two to three days.

We've been having a good time with Ben and Sarah (John's brother and his wife, yes we have the same name, yes we even have the same middle name. We are Sara(h) Jean Roy). Malachi loves their dog, but unfortunately the feelings aren't returned. Malachi can be a bit overwhelming for Zoey. John and Ben have had a lot of fun developing something I'm not sure I'm supposed to share about it, so lets just leave it at that. Sarah and I have had fun being the guinnea pigs.

Last night Ben and Sarah hosted a get together with John's Uncles and their wives. Unfortunately John's cousins couldn't make it. It's the first time we haven't seen them in years. But I suppose they're getting old enough to have their own lives now. They're 16 and 21. It's so crazy that they're that old. I've known them for probably eight years and I still remember them being 8 and 13, and in my head the younger one is still that size and age when in reality he's taller than me.

Tonight we're going to have an awesome dinner at my mom's house. Then tomorrow a family/friend get together on my side and then we're off! I probably wont blog again until some time next week.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Doing good

We're at my brother-in-law's house now. I'm excited to hang out with them for a few days. Tomorrow we're going to coffee with Jon and Brenda Gill, yay! They made me and Malachi a delicious brunch during my last trip here, and the company was great. I'm so excited to be able to hang out with them with John.

The potty training has been a bit better today. He did wake up wet, but we didn't make him pee before bed and he had fluids close to bed time. We're going to work on that again. Maybe because we'll be at Ben and Sarah's house for three nights instead of just one (at Charlie and Michelle's) or two (at Rick and Mickey's) there'll be some added consistancy and stability. In the first hour of being here he peed and pooped in the potty. That's a very good sign.

Snow, snow, snow!

Malachi loves snow!

Today we played outside, actually not in the snow. We played in the driveway with his car (you know..the one with the yellow top that kids can sit in and "drive" around). All of us were out there in the 20 degree weather and we had a pretty good time. Some cute pictures were taken.

Today Malachi has had a pretty hard time with the potty training. I think we're going to have to start training him again. I'm going to be the one getting him up from a nap to make sure we don't wet the bed again today. Unfortunately we forgot his monitor at home. It might be worth it to go buy a cheap monitor, but if John doesn't want to do that, we might just move Malachi into our room to avoid more wet beds. Keep that in your prayers.

Drive

The drive went pretty well. Malachi didn't sleep through the night but he was a champ. He didn't really need us to do much for him.

It went quite fast for me until we got to Kansas City. Since the goal was in sight the drive seemed to take much longer. The sun was also rising at that time, so I wonder if the drive felt longer because I could actually see what was going on and get distracted by things like billboards and farms.

We did take a 3 1/2 hour nap and I feel much more refreshed. We're having a good time with Charlie and Michelle and baby Liam is really cute and sweet. We're going out to Granite City tonight for dinner. This is an awesome brewery and restaurant that we don't have in TX so we try to make it every time we're up here.

Tomorrow we'll be driving into the cities picking up all the baby gear at my moms and heading to my mother-in-law's.