Almost Forgot...

I almost forgot to add....

I've joined the world of the gainfully employed!! I'm still a stay at home mom about 99% of the time, but I'm working from home doing miscellaneous things for dh's company. It's extremely part time, but still income for the family. It's oddly validating to know that my brain cells still work after 7+ years of dishes, laundry and diapers! 

It's Been Too Long

I didn't realize just HOW long it's been since I blogged last. WOOPS!!! So here goes for a run down of what's been happening in the last 3 1/2 months....

• Thing 1 graduated from Kindergarten and is officially a first grader. Bigger words. Bigger numbers!
  
• Thing 2 continues to be prolific with her artwork. Not too shabby for a kid her age.
• Thing 3 has sprouted 6 teeth with 2 more on the way. He's crawling and thiiiiiis close to pulling up on things. Walking can't be too far away. We've also discovered that he is allergic to wheat, eggs and possibly corn. We're also avoiding peanuts just in case. His allergies make cooking for the family slightly more interesting, but we are overcoming.
• We had a great family reunion with Dh's side of the family. Little did we know that about 2 weeks after our fun, we would have to say good bye to the patriarch of the clan. He was 90 years old and died very unexpectedly. We miss him, but we have no doubts that he is in heaven right now.
• Unfortunately...dh's mom's cancer has come back with a vengeance. We are praying for healing in whatever way God sees fit. 
• We are still struggling to sell our home that we no longer live in due to our move last year. The market stinks right now, so we are praying for a small miracle.
• I got to go on a MOST needed scrapbook retreat. Basically it was about a dozen of the people I love to spend time with most (outside of my family) for a weekend of food, laughs, tears and scrapbooking. I had a wonderful time, got around 28 pages done and squeezed in some much needed relaxation. 

So that's where I've been in the last 3 months. Hopefully I'll post more in the next 3 1/2 months, although looking at my calendar, I think it will be a busy one too. 

Explanation: Part 2

I figured I would knock out a couple of the subheadings on my word of the year in this post. My subheadings are the areas that I want to regroup in. They aren't listed in order of importance or how I'm making them a priority, it's just a list.


Creatively -

If you know anything about my personal life, you know that I am a scrapbooker. It is my creative outlet. I'd like to think I've always had a flair for the creative and that I might even be a "natural" at scrapbooking. I'm not into trends and I've never been published, but I think I make a decent looking page that I'm happy with. Last year, I didn't scrap very much at all. My creativity shrinks to an all time low when I am pregnant. Add in some stress, a relocation and a newborn and you have a recipe for no time and no creative juices for pretty much the whole year.

Philippians 4:8 challenges me to regroup creatively. It directs me toward what should inspire my creativity and what I should dwell on in the creative process--thinking about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.

Physically-

This one...is a little embarrassing, but I believe I can be blunt because I know there are MANY women in my position. I am 32. I have given birth to 3 beautiful children. I do not have my 20 year old body any more, nor do I feel any compulsion to have that body. However, for the first time in my life, I find myself battling with my weight.

I am heavier than I have ever been (185 lb. to be honest.) Most of clothing no longer fits and I cannot afford (and don't want) to buy a whole lot more in bigger sizes. I don't like what I see in the mirror. I'm not happy with my appearance which affects my confidence. I don't need a supermodel body, but there are a whole lot more rolls and lumps than I wish were there. I freely admit that I have gotten myself to this point by overeating and a very sedentary lifestyle and personality. I won't make excuses...I know where I'm at and how I got here. I no longer have the "baby weight" excuse, since the baby is now 8 months old. To remain in this condition and either continue to gain weight or do nothing about the weight I have, would be to dishonor the "temple" God has made in me.

And so...I am making small, but long term changes. Nothing I am doing is ground breaking. I am simply seeking to make better choices about what I put into my body and how I treat it. I now drink skim milk rather than 2%. I buy whole grain items whenever possible. I am beginning to exercise regularly. This week I am attempting to cut back on my Pepsi consumption and curb the snacking I seem to do in the evening. I will update the blog when there is some progress to report.

Thanks for reading along. I promise that there will only be one more section to this explanation!

Explanation: Part 1

Before I get too far...Thing 3 is recovering from his allergic reaction nicely. However, it looks like he might be allergic to some foods. We are going to try to solve that issue by rearranging his diet. Not hard to do when there aren't many solids in the menu!

And now for the official post.

Looking at my blog, you might notice a list that mentions something about a "word for the year." One of my online groups made a challenge to come up with a word for the year. Something that sums up what we desire for the year no matter what position we find ourselves in. After thinking about it briefly I decided that "regroup" would be the perfect choice for me.  Why that word, you ask? Let me tell you...

Last year...2007, was a year full of tremendous changes and a roller coaster of ups and downs. Many of them affected me personally, while some affected me, but not as strongly. Some were good and some weren't so good. In random order of importance and time here are a few of the events of 2007: our third child was born, my husband lost his job, my husband found a new job, a cross country relocation, our house put up for sale in a slow housing market, our oldest child starting kindergarten, a new church, a new rental home, and my mother in law's cancer diagnosis. I think that's more than enough for one person or family to go through!

After all those changes and events, I think I need to regroup. To regain my footing and get back to a sense of "normalcy" and a rhythm of my life. Yes, things will always happen that disrupt my plan, but I think God desires that I live consistently and within a sense of order no matter what comes up. 

I will further explain my word in future blogs, but here's part one for you!

Not so much

In my last post I said things were on the mend. I spoke too soon. Thing 3 had an allergic reaction to his medicine--a standard antibiotic. Thankfully it was "just" a rash, but enough to make him miserable and me feel like the most clueless mother ever. You think you know something by the time you get to your third child, but kids have a way of turning everything you thought you knew upside down.

The doctor has been called. A new medicine is in his system, so hopefully he (and I) will sleep tonight.

On the mend

The washing machine is now functioning. The desktop computer remains in the shop. Thing 2 is perking back up after a cold. Thing 3 will be on antibiotics to fight his first ear infection.

Things are looking up.

These things happen in 3's

We've all heard that "things" happen in 3's. Good things happen in 3's. I have 3 kids...that's good. Unfortunately bad things seem to be happening in 3's lately.

First, there was the unfortunate laptop and pepsi incident. I spilled a nice cold pepsi on my laptop and conveniently fried the motherboard. Then there was the unfortunate desktop power supply incident. This time neither I nor my pepsi was involved. The power supply just happened to stop working. Thankfully the computer is/was under warranty, we are just waiting for the repair parts to come in.

Last, but not least, today my washing machine decided to overflow. My guess is that the sensor to turn off the water has died. So...this afternoon I have been sucking up gallons of water from my carpet.

I hope this is the last of the 3's. I could use some more good 3's.

Something Profound

After much ado, I FINALLY figured out how to log back into my blog.  My husband told me to write something profound on my blog. Here's my attempt....

Tina Wentworth, wherever you are, whoever you are, I'm terribly sorry that I logged in as you and changed your password. I guess that qualifies me as a hacker, but it was truly the innnocent actions of a misguided semi-technologically literate wanna be blogger. 

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me...after you pull your hair out trying to figure out why you can't get into your gmail account. 

Hope that is profound enough for you, sweetie. That's about as profound as it gets on a Tuesday before lunch.

So I'm a late adopter...

Can't say that having a blog was my original idea. My husband has one. Most of my online friends have one. I guess, as the Borg say... "resistance is futile".

So here I am, ready to blog. Watch out world, I'm on the scene!