There's a New Sheriff in Town!

And his name is Sheriff Brody!
Reese dressed up for the Halloween parade at school today. He wore his Sheriff costume, complete with a leather vest that his daddy once wore as a child. Too cute!

This little sheriff has more than just a quick draw and a fast punch. He also has learned to read this week! Last night, while he was at the table practicing writing the letter 'j' he surprised us all when he began to sound out words on his own! "J-A-M....jam!" "J-U-G...jug!" We were so thrilled at this little guy's accomplishment! Now he's ready to take on the world, and has the sheriff badge to prove it.

Newlywed shopping...

I was doing my weekly grocery shopping last night. And as I was browsing the paper products, a very young looking couple passed by. They looked so young that the wedding rings on their fingers must have hardly been legal. They seemed to be struggling to figure out just what to purchase. As they passed, the girl stopped short, touched a package of paper plates, and asked her young counterpart, "should we get plates?"

He quickly replied with a laugh, "we have plates. I mean, PLATES plates."

She shot back with a creative line that almost made me bust out laughing, "Yeah, but if we use paper plates we'll save on our water bill."

Oh my word! That's a new one.
Girlfriend! Just stick your hands in that dishwater and wash your plates!

Celebrating Reese's birthday

Friday night, we celebrated Reese's birthday with the Brody family and the Grove's. Miss Kristi helped Mommy make the Thomas the Train cake! I think it turned out well & Reese was certainly thrilled!

Reese had that shy little smile on his face while we sang happy birthday to him. I know he was loving every single moment of it!

At bedtime, I snuggled in bed with Reese and showed him the photos on my camera from that evening. The cake. The candles. The birthday boy. But, before I could kiss him goodnight, he asked in the sweetest little voice, "Mommy, can you sing 'Happy Birfday' to me one more time?" So, we sang it together. It was so precious. Well...it was precious until about halfway thru when he let one rip! Aye! Such a Brody!

Reese Turns Six!

My sweet little Reese turns 6 today! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown! There was a time I thought we'd never get through those terrible two's (and three's). LOL. But since he has developed in his vocabulary and has grown in his temperment, he has become such a fun, sweet kid. He has hit milestones so quickly that it feels time has just flown by!

Now he is in kindergarten. He is acceling beyond our expectations. And he is an awesome big brother to Marina, while looking up greatly to his big brother, Mark.

He was thrilled, this morning, to bring treat bags to share with his kindergarten class. And he is anxious to get home after school to play with his gift from Mommy and Daddy...the Thomas the Train table (which I have to quickly assemble before he gets home!)

Kids these days!

Friday night we were treated to a special surprise visit by one of our fave babysitters (and our good friend!) Francesca, who was home from college on fall break. We have missed her so much since she left for school right after Kid's Camp in August. In fact, Kid's Camp is one of the last memories my kids have of her. So, it was extra funny to hear Marina's greeting to Francesca Friday night:

Rina: "Hey, do you remember YOU from camp?"

A couple weeks ago, Ryan was speaking to the 2nd and 3rd graders in the Jungle Room. He was telling a story of King David:

Ryan: "Who can raise their hand and tell me who King David was?"
Kid in the 3rd row: "He's the guy who defeated the Giant Pickle!"
(Those of you who are familiar with Veggie Tales will understand why that is hilarious!)

O-Town Smackdown

High hopes. Preparation. Dedication. Perseverance. These adjectives describe the Panther White Lightweights today as they entered round 2 of the playoffs vs. Frankfurt. It was their chance to beat this undefeated team after such a close call earlier in the season.

But, yet again, Frankfurt pulled off a win. The final score was 6-0. And thus ends our 2008 season. But what a great season it has been! As parents, we have literally watched this team grow and develop at a rapid pace right before our eyes. And it has been an amazing thing to witness.

Can't wait til next year.
Meantime, we get a couple weeks off. Then wrestling season begins! Which equals more cheering from the bleachers!

Hide and Seek

Yeah, they are cute alright. But they are also little stinkers! Partners in crime! Their newest antic: hiding silently from Mommy until she goes into panic mode, searching every floor of the house.

It's happened twice now. I'll come downstairs to a silent family room. No kids in sight. The back sliding door is cracked open to allow a breeze. And I'll call for Reese and Marina, receiving no answer. I'll call louder. Nothing. I'll peek outside, check the basement, look back upstairs, EVERYWHERE. And just when I'm ready to call the cops, I hear little giggles behind he couch. In a spot that only little munchkins like them could actually fit into. Relief! Then anger! Then laughs, because they are so adorable, crouching into that small spot. Like two little peas in a pod. Luckily, they haven't figured out any other spots to hide. So now I know to always check there first. Stinkers!

The most unusual trip to Wal-Mart

Those poor secret service men are thinking, "This wasn't part of our job description."

My Confession

I just gotta let something spill here. There's something I need to confess. And it requires that I put down my pride and just say it: I am domestically challenged.

There! Phew! I feel better. I hate to cook. I hate to bake. I hate laundry. But I do them because I have to. Altho I don't do them very well. I cannot seem to make a pancake without burning it. I cannot make a batch of cookies without setting off the smoke alarm. It's to the point where my kids and my husband immediately respond to the beeping smoke alarm with, "Mom's cooking again!"

I cannot keep my house clean, no matter how hard I try! No, I don't wash my kitchen floor once a week. Or even once every 2 weeks, when life is really busy. There's always a load of laundry waiting in the hallway to be folded and put away. And my poor hubby often has to pick thru the dishwasher to find a clean spoon, because I just can't seem to keep up with the repeating circle of using dishes, putting them in the dishwasher, running the wash cycle, and returning the dishes to the drawers. Can't do it.

Maybe when I'm not working full time I will be able to stay on top of things. Maybe. But until then, I'm so grateful for a hubby that understands and never complains. As long as he has something to wear to work and a lunch packed before he heads out and dinner ready when he returns, he's satisfied. Phew! I am just so amazed by women who seem to stay on top of it all. And still have time to bake cookies. ;)

Layer by Layer

God is really working on me.
In other times in my life, He has forgiven, encouraged and inspired me. But this season in my life is one in which He is literally peeling back layers of my heart and bringing me through the uncomfortable task of facing inner frustration and anger that has resulted from day to day scars and hurts.

Anger toward people that have been unfair and hurtful. And even anger toward God, for letting those things happen. And for not always doing things the way I thought He should. I find that I have withheld my heart from Him, after witnessing some of the uglier parts of life. As if I need to protect my innermost from an untamed God.

Yes, He is untamed. In fact, He is wild to the core. Unconventional. And beyond mere human comprehension. Yet, He CAN be trusted. Even when it hurts. Or life doesn't seem fair. Even when my purest of intentions seem to be ignored, as God chooses to implement His own plan in my life. He is still faithful. And He has always been beckoning me to open those last stubborn layers that I've rebelliously locked in place. I've felt that tug. Almost daily. And I've tried to appease it by faithfully attending church, by engrossing our schedule with ministry (which I truly love to be involved in!) and by sending up prayers to God like, "Lord, change me. Make me right with You." But, I haven't actually allowed Him to come closer than arm's length. Until now. No wonder my walk with the Lord has been so frustrating! Until we give Him our all we cannot receive HIS ALL!

I plan to more accurately explain what I mean in the following posts, because there are some amazing snippets of scripture that have hit me hard, like driving a wedge between those layers to reveal the mess beneath. And I want to share them with...well, whoever reads this. (Thank you, Dad, for being my faithful reader!) But, even more important, I want to document my journey. So I never forget what God has done. Meantime, here are a few phrases from my bible study that stand out to me:

"Trust God to bring about His best outcome in life's circumstances."

"Our esteem is wrapped up in our faith that we are established by an Almighty God to accomplish His purposes."

"The anointed life engages daily and normal activities in a supernatural way."

"The Enemy is already defeated and your victory is already guaranteed."

"Faith means we act in accordance with what we know [scripture]."

"One of the most incredible benefits of having God's Spirit is access to the ear of God."

"God can bless our lives profoundly for our pure-hearted plans even when He can't, for kindom reasons, bless our idea."

"Every inch of ground we refuse to take with God, we surrender to the Enemy. Satan has no greater agenda than to talk you and me into believing that God is not good after all."

"We are safe both to bring the heights of our ecstatic joys to God and find company and to bring Him the depths of our ugliest emotions and find healing."

All of these phrases are taken from my current bible study, "Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed: A study of David," by Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Kay Arthur.

What a relief!

"My confidence rests not in MY faithfulness but in HIS."

Phew! What a relief! I've lived too much of my life feeling beaten down. How the Enemy loves to remind me of my failures. And my lack of faithfulness. And how he loves to play on that discouragement to convince me that it's not worth trying to live holy before my God...after all, I'll only fail again.

Praise God that He is faithful to me even when I am not. Or should I say especially when I am not! No longer will my confidence (or lack thereof) rest in my own level of faithfulness. I will choose to remember that it rests in HIS undying faithfulness.

Wow! How a perspective like that will change a life! Change an outlook! Change every decision, every circumstance, and every moment I spend with Him. This small phrase, taken straight from my current bible study, has impacted me in ways I hadn't prepared for. I'm so glad it did.

Columbus Day Weekend

We have had a really fun weekend!
Lots of family time, which we've really needed after weeks of busy, busy school and work days.

Friday night, my big sis came down from Rockford and joined me at Girlfriend's Night, which is a comedy/dinner. We had so much fun! Great girly time. And great food...catered in from Carabbas. She spent the night and we stayed up late, watching chick shows. Super fun sista time!

Saturday, I took Reese to a classmate's birthday party. It's the first he's been invited to. So cute! We had to cut out early, tho, to make it to Mark's football game. It was round one of the playoffs. Mark's team took on the Joliet Raiders, who (in my opinion) play awfully dirty. We beat them, tho! Yay! And Ryan did another awesome job announcing the game over the stadium speakers. He makes the game so fun and comical with his comments and sound effects. lol. So, yes! Joliet was beat and are done for the season while Mark's team moves on to round two of the playoffs. They will have a chance to redeem themselves against Frankfurt! The team that just barely squeezed out a touchdown in the final 28 seconds of the game a few weeks ago! This will be quite a showdown! Go Panthers! The winner of this game will go to the semi-finals! So exciting!

Saturday night, we ate at our favorite restaurant. Okay, not our total favorite....but the only one that feeds our family on exactly $13. The one-and-only Taco Bell! Gotta love dining on a budget! lol! Then we came home and watched a movie as a family.

Sunday was church. Ryan and I helped lead Kid's Connection for both morning services, since Pastor Michael was out of town. It went really well. I sang with the worship team, and Ryan did an awesome job speaking to the 4th and 5th graders. I'm so proud of him! After church, we came home for some lunch and a string of NFL games, which included our very own Chicago Bears! What an upset! We were screaming our heads off when they scored and took the lead with 11 seconds remaining in the game. Then, with literally 1 second on the clock, the Falcons kicked a field goal, winning the game. Holy smokes! Who knew?? After we regained a normal breathing pattern, we phoned Ryan's parents, who invited us out for dinner. Dinner at Kiku's which is a really posh sushi house. The kids love watching the cooks fire up the grill on our table and toss up eggs and utensils and catch them in their shirt pockets and stuff. Fun tricks. Then we headed back to their place to sit around their firepit in the backyard while the kids jumped on the trampoline and played with the puppy. I love it! Watching the kids create fun memories at Grandma and Papa's house. Then we headed home to put the kids to bed and watch one more flick with Mark (we're really trying to take advantage of every moment!) But not before stopping at Meijer on the way home and picking up a copy of Sleeping Beauty on dvd for Marina. Which was a good deal, because it came with a free Princess doll. She was thrilled!

Monday (Columbus Day) the kiddies had no school. I had no daycare kids. So Rye took the day off as well. We got to sleep in. So nice! After breakfast, Ryan took Mark out to a jogging path in Naperville. They jogged 3 miles together! I'm so proud of them! We had fun playing all day (altho, I did make Mark do some reading throughout the day). And Ryan and I had some really good conversation over coffee, which we NEVER have time to do! What an awesome day! Right now, the boys are outside playing catch while I update the blog. We are going to have dinner soon...and, you guessed it, watch another flick! We are trying to get thru our list of "gotta-see-that-someday" movies.

Round 2 of the Debates

My mind is soooo swimming.
The more I watch and listen, the more frustrated I become.
I think Obama was a much better speaker in last night's debate.
Much more persuasive and succint. Yet, I don't agree with his policies.
Then there's McCain, who I feel has much more experience and has more ideas that I do agree with. Yet, I think he did a terrible job conveying his message last night. Arrggg!!! I've had it. I think I'll take a break from this nonsense.

Focus on other things. Like Bible Study! We're going thru a great one!
I've got some awesome quotes I will post later today. When I can think clearly.

This Week in Media...

...and what a busy week this has been in the media!
From sports to politics to economic news...aye!

Let's start with sports...those poor, poor Cubbies.
Even I (a non-baseball fan) sat and watched the playoff games. And sadly we watched them end their season in the 1st round of playoffs. I am truly becoming a believer of the Cubby curse. They play so darn well all season long, just to be defeated post-season. If you looked into the players' eyes during this last game, they had the look of defeat in their stare even before they entered the 3rd inning. Why?? A friend of mine, who is a huge baseball fan, has taken the time to try to explain all that goes into pro baseball. She has described to me how difficult it is to become an MLB player as well as all the hoops those guys have to jump through just to make it onto the field. So, I really appreciate the sport (even though I think the season is waaaaay too long, and way too boring). And I appreciate what a big deal it is for the Cubbies to have played so stinkin' well these past few years. And that makes it so sad (even for me) to see their season abruptly ended so close to the World Series....That brings us to the Sox. Yes, I can mention the 2 teams in the same paragragh, b/c I am not necessarily a fan of either. (Altho, Ryan is much more a Cubs fan than Sox, so I tend to follow his lead). And here, they are still in the game. Interesting. Then there's football. Ahh yeah! Where it's do-or-die out on the field. Both of our fave teams, Indy Colts and Chicago Bears played amazing games this weekend. That puts a smile on our faces.

Next comes politics...and can I just say, following these events has been almost as exciting as watching sporting events?? As far as the debates go, I think it is so interesting to view. It's fun to see the candidates spar and attack. But, it truly has not made me any less confused as to 'who voted for what' and 'who stands for what'. As they argue about menial points, I'm left to wonder who in the world is telling the truth!?! Apparently, making up one's mind about candidates requires a whole lot of personal research and digging down into each of the candidates' voting records and past accomplishments (or lack thereof). So, as I try to sift through websites and forums and nitty gritty info, it has been fun to watch the SNL paradies of these recent interviews and debates. Can I also just mention, I am a new huge fan of Tina Fey??? Oh my word! She is a perfect Sarah Palin. Too too funny!

And the econimic crisis...whatever. It makes my head spin. I'm grateful for the home we own, as modest as it may be. And the cars we drive, as boring as they are. And the fact that we have food on our table, heated rooms in the morning, and jobs to clock into on Monday mornings. All we can do is watch and listen, as those who are 'in charge' make decisions to try to clean up this mess. And in the meantime...why is it that gas prices are tremendously low??? I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. Just wondering.

Lastly, as I reflect on this past week, I gotta mention the Missions Conference at church. It is a semi-anual event, and this time we focused on the ministries of Dr. Beta Mengistu, from Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. We were able to hear both him and his son speak throughout the week about their church that brings in a wide array of people, from homeless families off the street all the way up to international dignitaries. And God is totally at work! They also explained the amazing programs they have created to aid the mountainside-residing, HIV infested communities that have distanced themselves from the city as outcasts. They are severely poverished and face dire physical, emotional, and spiritual destitution. It is so sad. So, this weekend in service, we as a congregation were called to participate in the "One Day Challenge" which is an opportunity for each family to give one day's salary to these efforts in Ethiopia. Ryan and I are so excited to take part in this project! We feel strongly that our own blessings and opportunity for career and lifestyle in the US can be used as a tool in God's hand to reach all the way around the world. Starting with giving up just one day's pay. That's pretty neat.

So, that's our week. The only other thing I would mention is that on Friday night, Ryan and I enjoyed a great date-nite. Dinner and movie, with a late night Starbux visit with our best friends. Thanks Danielle for being the best babysitter and watching the kiddies so we could have a fun night out! xoxo

Dirty Television

Is it me?? Or has television gotten out of control??
I admit, I have been out of the "TV-loop" for some time now. We purposely located our big screen (the only tv connected to cable) in our basement so that we won't be tempted to watch the tube all day long. And that's a good thing! I am finally free of my 10yr long soap opera addiction (blush), and my kids rarely flip on cartoons. They are busy doing other things. So, our plan is successful.

But, now that it is football season, we are spending our Sunday and Monday evenings watching NFL, which of course includes a multitude of commercials and previews to weekly shows. And I am appalled at some of the content! I'm uncomfortable watching the commercials! I cannot imagine sitting through entire filthy shows!

I know I was pretty desensitized in past years, when the TV was on more frequently and we would plan our schedules around specific shows. But now that our television viewing is scarce, I guess it's pretty shocking to see the things that people allow into their minds every night. Even on kid's channels. I've been offended by some of the shows that show kids kissing on each other, being disrespectful to parents, and just being punks! Not what I want my kids digesting!

So, I don't know if I am just getting old, or out of touch, or if it truly took us taking some time away from the tube to really set our senses straight and realize the garbage that fills the line-up. Yuck!