Moving and Politics

Well, we are down to crunch time with our move. We take possession of our new apartment on August 1st and we can not wait to be out from under our current realty company. It has been an interesting experience trying to pack with a curious 2 year old. Caleb wants to see everything that I put in a box and I have discovered that he is strong enough to pick up most of the small and medium size boxes to make sure I haven't packed one he hasn't looked at yet. :P I'm sure he will be a big help when we are in our duplex. The biggest problem I have had is that I developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my left wrist and arm and it's really painful. Unfortunately I'm left-handed making it really hard to rest it the way I should. Toteing my 35+ pound child around doesn't help either.

Has anyone heard about the child rapist that got released because the court could not find a translator who spoke his obscure dialect? What do you think of it? He apparently graduated from both high-school and college here in the US, so I think that the judge was extremely stupid to allow the dismissal because he "couldn't understand English well enough to defend himself." Things of this nature really scare me when we are looking at an election year coming up. I'm afraid that Hiliary Clinton has a chance to win and what our poor country will suffer for at least 4 years while hse is president. I don't think our country is ready for a female president especially when we are dealing with so many Muslim countries. A female president would just hurt us even more right now. I also am not sure that a liberal woman, but especially Clinton, can win right now. It might take a conservative woman because some liberal women would vote for her because she was a woman, but must conservative women abhor Hiliary Clinton and will never vote for her. If we get a Liberal president period, I'm afraid that terrorist attacks on American soil will happen again. I think the terrorists will feel pretty secure in the belief that the liberals will talk, but never actually fight back. The only reason I believe that we should stay in Iraq, and my military friends say this too, is because we are fighting all the jihadists over there instead of in New York or Atlanta. I do not believe that Andy and I will be living in a major city for the next several years.

Thank you for listening to my rant, off to pack more boxes...

Birthday

Today was wonderful. I spent all day playing with the boys, laying on the couch and smocking. As much as I can't wait to move, I couldn't stand the idea of packing on my birthday. lol Andy had told me yesterday that he was planning something and that I was to get rid of the boys for a couple of hours. Some of our friends took them and had a blast playing with Caleb and getting Stephen to giggle at them. Andy walked in the door carrying a single red rose and a CD I really wanted and took me to dinner. It was so nice just having some time with my husband. We were able to talk and hold hands without worrying about Caleb trying to fall out of the high chair, or Stephen deciding he was bored and fussing. (They aren't normally bad, just nice to be alone for once. :) He also sent me the meaning of roses while he was at work and I thought they were interesting. Hope you like them too. :D

Red
Red roses are the traditional symbol for love and romance, and a time-honored way to say "I love you." The red rose has long symbolized beauty and perfection. A bouquet of red roses is the perfect way to express your deep feelings for someone special.

Pink
As a symbol of grace and elegance, the pink rose is often given as an expression of admiration. Pink roses can also convey appreciation as well as joyfulness. Pink rose bouquets often impart a gentler meaning than their red counterparts.

Yellow
The bright, sunny color of yellow roses evokes a feeling of warmth and happiness. The warm feelings associated with the yellow rose are often akin to those shared with a true friend. As such, the yellow rose is an ideal symbol for joy and friendship.

White
White roses represent innocence and purity and are traditionally associated with marriages and new beginnings. The white rose is also a symbol of honor and reverence, and white rose arrangements are often used as an expression of remembrance.

Orange
With their blazing energy, orange roses are the embodiment of desire and enthusiasm. Orange roses often symbolize passion and excitement and are an expression of fervent romance. A bouquet of orange roses will send a meaningful message.

Lavender
The unique beauty of the lavender rose has captured many hearts and imaginations. With their fantastical appearance, lavender roses are a perfect symbol of enchantment. The lavender rose is also traditionally used to express feelings of love at first sight.

Lotion

I just had to tell everyone that when I got out of the shower this morning I discovered another new thing Caleb can do. He was sitting on the toilet with a bottle of baby lotion, a can of vasoline and my natural bath salts. (Caleb has very dry skin, so I'm always putting special moisturizing creams on his face.) He looked up at me and there were big globs of lotion on his nose and forehead and vasoline all over his face and in his hair. The bath salts were mixed into this mess. Thankfully the salts were just sea salt with a little bit of mint mixed in. I have spent the last little bit cleaning this little stinker up and I don't think I'll have to worry about his face being dry today. lol

Uncle David

My brother David is going to Mexico on a mission trip and found out that his passport expired this summer because it was a youth passport. He ended up having to drive down to New Orleans in order to get it renewed and stopped on his way through to see us. Caleb adores his uncles and Stephen is just such a people person. While he was here David took these pictures.

Uncle David playing with Stephen

My cutie pie standing on my lap. He has very intense eyes in pictures. :)

Stephen thinks that dangling in the air is the best thing ever, here he is giggling at me.

Caleb is a little camera ham. He has also learned to say cheese. lol

I love the intense look and the drool. :) Caleb is telling David something...

Figuring out family names for our kids has been fun. We finally decided that David, John and James would get to be Uncle David, Uncle John and Uncle James, but the girls are so close in age to my kids, especially Ruth, that they are just Becky and Ruth. Caleb calls them Beh Beh and Roo. :)

Pictures

Caleb finally stopped bruising his face so I was able to get the boys pictures made at Olan Mills today. :) They behaved and were so cute. Caleb is such a camera ham that the photographer could get him to do whatever she wanted, except let her take pictures of Stephen alone. I realized why people end up paying so much at a good studio as well. I was there to only get a group picture, but some of the singles were SOOO tempting. Only the fact that I knew we couldn't afford them right now, and that Andy would kill me, kept me from succumbing. There is also a good chance I sold 2 smocked outfits while I was at it because the photographer and on woman with the next appointment couldn't believe I made their outfits and got my name because they were interested in having me make something. I'll post some of the proofs when they are uploaded to the internet in a few days.

It has also been a relaxing day because Andy took the day off from work so that we could have a mini vacation. We haven't had a break to ourselves since our honeymoon since every holiday has been spent with family. His boss was extremely kind and gave him some money and told us to enjoy our vacation. We went out to eat for lunch and have spent the afternoon "camping" in the living room with Caleb. Tomorrow we are going to the Infantry Museum at Fort Benning and having dinner with friends posted there. It'll be a lot of fun.

Children's Prayers

Andy and I recently decided that Caleb was old enough to understand bedtime prayers. We probably could have started earlier because he watches and imitates everything. He is not ready to eat until he has held both Mommy's and Daddy's hands, bowed his head and Daddy prayed for our meal. Andy's family has always held heads while praying so we do to and after watching us do it, Caleb started holding his hands out for us to take as well. It's so cute because he'll wave them and say da da da until we take them. :)

Anyway, we started bedtime prayers with him last week and he already goes to find Andy when I say it's bedtime. We go in, kneel on his bed with Caleb in between us and he folds his hands while his Daddy prays. It is so precious to see, and brings joy to our hearts, that even if he doesn't fully understand why we pray, it is still something that he has to do at certain times of the day.

Boys

For the last 2 weeks I have been trying to schedule an appointment to have Caleb and Stephen's picture made at Olan Mills. In typical boyish fashion, as soon as I decided to do this, Caleb started bumping up his head. First, he fell into an end table and had a HUGE green egg on his forehead for a week, then he scratched his nose up and most recently scraped up his cheek chasing a ball on the 4th. I have given up on having the perfect picture and will keep my next appointment unless there is something wrong with his whole face. :) These normal little boy bumps and bruises have caused me to think about all I have to look forward to for the next 18 years with 2 little boys first. (I loved to play outside, but never got as scraped up as my brothers.) With mine and Andy's abilities to think of things to get ourselves in trouble as children, we know what to expect. A friend sent me something with a story I can clearly see being my own in a few years. lol

Today I sent my two boys (3 and 4) outside to play with little sister (1). After awhile I noticed that they were awfully quiet and I went to investigate. I went out the back door and found them each with a paint brush and an open can of raspberry fizz (bright pink) paint! They had painted themselves, their sister, the carport, the rocks in the path, the shingles that were laying next to the house, the solid white cat, and a stray chicken that had the misfortune of wandering by at the wrong moment. They both dropped the brushes and just looked at me. I had to just walk off. I didn't know what to do with them. I called my husband (who is supposed to know what to do in situations like this) and he just laughed and laughed and laughed! I still don't know what to do with them. They are in their room now (after a bath) playing. The cat got a VERY unwanted bath, she is now light pink. Just thought I'd share...

I died laughing when I read this and started thinking of all the stuff my brothers and I did. Such as, David and I setting a whole roll of toilet paper on fire while Mom was is the shower. I was 5 and we burnt it in the sink so there would be water right where we needed. There was a burn spot on the ceiling and the sink was cracked, but the house did not burn down. These 2 stories make me think I shouldn't keep bright paint or matches around the house, amoung other things... :)

Gifts and Empathy

A long conversation I had last night has gotten me thinking about people's gifts. One of Andy's is leadership, he is very good and figuring out what needs to be done and getting the people for it. My friend Stephanie is an organizer and is very empathic. My main one seems to be empathy. I have the ability to sit down with a complete stranger and have their entire life's story and problems they are having in 5 minutes. Friends come to me with problems and ask for advice I often feel unqualified to give, but they want it anyway. (I'm not trying to brag just explain. :P) For a long time it could drive me to tears trying to help someone and feeling like they through it back in my face. One person did so many times before I realized that it was not good for me and that I needed to stop talking to them for my mental health. Andy says that it is because people recognize that I am genuinely interested in them and will listen to what they have to say, instead of everything being all about me. I just don't know. This was all brought to mind by a friend I really like, but don't know all that well yet, who called me for help last night. I hope I was able to offer comfort and help with the depression that was there, but just found it interesting that they would call me instead of someone they were closer to. I love talking to people and helping them, I just have to be careful that I do not hurt myself be taking their problems on my own shoulders. Empathy is a wonderful, but dangerous gift. And this post is not meant to ask people to stop calling me. PLEASE do call. :) It's just a way to organize my thoughts and try to straighten things out in my head.