Perspective

here is a quote from a book I am reading right now (In praise of Stay at Home Moms by Dr. Laura Schlessinger):

"The key of perspective is that what you feel is put second to what you've lived. You can feel severely tired after a long day and gripe about the aches, pains, and pure exhaustion, or you can say to yourself, "You know, at the end of the day, it's kind of great to feel this worn out--it means I've experienced a lot today." Share the experiences as a blessing, instead of the cursing the aches."

This was a great quote for me to read yesterday when I was feeling worn out so I started to think about what life I experienced in the past week and a half since I have been home from Florida. Here are a few highlights:

Eating a really good vegetable curry stew made by our friend Matt who invited our community over to his grandparent's house for Shabbat

Finding out that our friend Allison is going to move in with us at the end of May! I am so looking forward to getting to spending more time with her.

Going to Nordstrom's Cafe to celebrate mother's day for DeAnn. Mother's day is such a wonderful day because it causes me to thank God for not only the best mother in the world but for two of the best mother-in-laws, Art's mom and Paul's mom. All of these woman I admire and treasure.

On mother's day, Noah was laying in bed with me and gently rubbing my check with his hand, looked me in the eyes and just said "ma, ma" in the sweetest voice. He wasn't wanting anything he was just saying it like 'I so glad you are my MaMa'

Going to the coffee shop playground with Leah and Maeret and the kids. It was so great just to hang out again and talk about the Lord, Life and of course our kids. Noah also climbed a huge rock wall thing on the playground all by himself. I was so proud of him. His new phrase he has been saying is "I did it" and then he claps. He is getting so big.

We had some friends who were in town stay with us from Wed- to Sunday night and they have a little boy named Noah who is only about 6 weeks younger than him. It was so much fun watching the boys play together. At dinner their little boy said from across the table "I love you" to Paul in Spanish.


It was a joy to see my brother in law Tom be so excited about the possibility of opening a coffee shop with the mutual friend who was staying at our house. During the day they would check out places and then at night Paul, Tom, Jim, Claudia and I would talk about names for the shop and for the drinks. Paul was being so funny one night Jim said he could be a stand up comedian. Paul's recommendation for the shop name was "Gas, Goodies, and Goys" and his drink was "Average Joe". I'll let him explain why in the comments if he wants to.

Going to JCC and putting Noah in play area but instead of working out, I brought my computer and worked on my family scrapbook and didn't feel guilty one bit okay maybe I did a little but not enough to stop working on pictures. It felt so good to get my North Carolina pictures done.

Noah also went pee pee twice and poopie once in his toilet and has been enjoying his treat of a butterscotch chip for a reward. Keep it up, little man.

It was able to enjoy special time with my friend Jacklyn and she introduced me to a grilled veggie wrap at whole foods yummy!

Art's pastor, Dave Short, who lead Art to the Lord when he was in college and who Art met with almost weekly when we lived in Chicago was visiting Kansas city for work so he called me. We meet at Panera, and Paul and Noah came too. It was refreshing to be around someone who knew Art rather than me trying to describe him. We both teared up at one point, but overall it was good to reconnect. It also made me fall in love with Paul more because of how supportive he always is to me esp. concerning Art.

Celebrating with friends in our community for graduating. Congrats go out to Cassie, Sam, and Jessica.

On the way home from a graduation party, I turned behind me and looked at Noah in his green polo shirt and his big smile and I said "I love you". There was a pause and then he said for the first time all by himself "I love you, too." I was so touched. I started to cry.

Sunday night was a powerful time for our community; many people encountered the Lord in a special way. It was one of those nights that makes realize what you are doing is really worth it. God is so good.

I was able to pray with my dad on the phone before his big heart test and eye examine and then praise God with him the next day on how both of them went well and no operation was needed with either one. Thank you again Lord. I love my dad so much please continue to keep him healthy.

We started our first once a month girl's day in at DeAnn's and it was such a blessing to just sit on the rocking chairs on the sun porch and hang out together esp. while the kids were sleeping.

We enjoyed a family movie "The last flight of Noah's Ark" with Harrison and the Simon's. Eric made it extra special with the movie projected on the wall for a big screen and hooked up the computer to the keyboard speakers.

I have been enjoying the nice weather outside and getting into gardening. My father-in-law has been helping us with our lawn and we are so thankful. Today I went out and bought a raspberry bush to plant.

Since the weather has been nice, people in the neighborhood have been outside. It has been great to get to know better two of the neighborhood moms as we sit outside and chat while the kids play. I am so blessed to have other Moms that love the Lord and live so close who have kids around Noah's age. Here is a picture of the neighborhood kids.




Since Harrison was with his mom on Mother's Day and our schedule has been busy, Paul and Harrison made today Mother's Day for me. Paul got up with Noah. Then the boys went and got me breakfast from Panera (a chai, bagel with cream cheese) and brought it to me in bed. They also got some Krispy Kreme donuts. Yum. Paul did a great job helping out around the house and with the kids today. He grilled out for dinner and they gave me a yummy chocolate bar for dessert and a super cute card with notes from all three of them. I love those boys! It is a privilege to be their mom and wife.

Finally, tonight I put Noah down without his bottle and he only cried for 30 minutes before falling asleep. Thank you Lord. Now I just pray that he will sleep through the night and not wake up really early wanting a bottle.

Thanks for letting me share a little of my life with you, it was good to refocus my perspective.