Ringing in the New Year...

...with wailing and ear piercing screams - shrieky enough to make your hair stand on end, solidify, and fall out.

Our lovely, angelic daughter, Katie, has found herself a good rhythm as of late. She's gloriously pleasant and almost eerily nice to her brothers and myself until the moment we walk out of her room at night. She pulls out the "I'm scared" card and blows the evening o' solitude to hell. It goes a little something like this:

1. "Goodnight guys!"
2. Katie whimpers sheepishly, "I'm scared..."
3. We calmly smile and say "goodnight bug, there's nothing to be afraid of..."
4. We leave and she lets out the most horrific scream - waking up the neighborhood.
5. We take her down off of her bunkbed and she is walked into another room.
6. She gets disciplined for screaming and keeping her brothers awake - she owns it and apologizes.
7. We forgive her and reiterate why we have to discipline her - because we love her.
8. We place her back in her bed.
9. The ENTIRE process is repeated.

William goes to sleep in Mom and Dad's bed for the first while because the poor kid can't sleep through the battle. I don't blame him.

Oh! We have a bedtime routine. Oh! We have the bathroom light on across the hall. Oh! We have sympathy for the fear that little kids go through when they're young. We've walked through the prayer time and the trusting God... trusting Mom and Dad... she even wakes up in the mornings singing God's praises because she didn't have the scary dream she was afraid she'd have! This is not me, in any way, minimizing the fear that she may be going through. This is simply me reiterating to her that in the midst of her fear she can't become unruly and disobedient but instead she needs to trust Mom and Dad when they show her an effective way of dealing with her fear. Talking... praying... trusting... being FREAKING rational...

My mother-in-law had a wonderful idea of playing music before bedtime for the kids as they drift off into slumber... I took her up on it thinking that was a novel idea! I chose a classical CD... maybe Katie would begin thinking about princesses dancing across a ballroom while William envisioned knights dancing with swords as they, in slow motion, battled to the death...

But no. Of course not. The music "scared" her. And don't empathize with her while you sit there envisioning intense murder scenes with classical music playing in the background - she hasn't seen such things... and if you're thinking, 'oh, on the contrary' than know that your intense reaction to her BSing is about the same as mine! Its ridiculous.

We put her to bed at 8pm tonight and she is still screaming upstairs. Some of you may think... 'its not working! Try another approach!' But I can guarantee you one thing, the consistently being inconsistent approach is what kills you in the end. I will take a week of horrible nights if it means I am teaching my children the art of self-control and proper behavior. She knows what is expected of her and she knows the repercussions if she doesn't meet those expectations... this approach has brought Katie and William to a place where they are actually making the comments, "Mom, I've changed my heart and it feels good" or "Mom, I'm so sorry for disappointing you today. I've changed my heart and I can tell that I'm learning to be nicer" or "Mom, will you teach me how to pray so I can change my heart easier" ... all the experience thus far has given Kyle and I the strength and endurance to keep our "way of doing things" consistent even when the short-term looks so daunting and insurmountable.

HAPPY FREAKIN' NEW YEAR! Pray for me...

My little napper...

Some children at this age are ready to go without a nap during the afternoon. I've tested the waters a few times... William's not ready. This is him at 4pm this afternoon - an hour after he wrapped up his 1.5 hour quiet time with Katie in their room.

Battles of the War

The pursuit of having Godly children is not easily won. I don't expect it to be. Its a culmination of battle after battle after battle - not all of which are won in favor of the parent. The battles are exhausting and often leave me feeling barely able to walk or keep my eyes open for that matter. Many have offered their opinions as to better ways of fighting the battles... their intentions are often pure but with less than clear vision as to the War at hand. The War I'm fighting is for my children to know and understand the character of God NOT to go to bed without kicking and screaming - that's simply a battle. The War I'm fighting is often threaded through the day to day battles - the child has their human nature fighting at all cost while I'm trying to cultivate in those moments the Godly way of doing things.

THE BATTLES
Don't worry about what's "fair"; don't be concerned with yourself and what is owed to you - think of others before thinking of yourself; do not argue with those in authority over you; speak with confidence and do not be timid; exercise self-control when speaking with confidence and do not speak out of turn but instead in humility; humility is different than being timid!; love your enemy and pray for them; fear is not of the Lord; exercise faith in God even though you cannot see Him because He is real; cherish opportunities to exercise faith in God; be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry; ...

THE WAR

HOPE because they know who God says He is.
Isaiah 26:8 - 'yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts'

FREEDOM because they know what God says He did.
Romans 8:1-4 - ' Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.'

COMPASSION FOR OTHERS because they know for the unbeliever eternal separation from God will be their end and God desires for all to be saved.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 - 'This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth'
Jude - '...they are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord'... 'but you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy'

For those of you with children who are reading this, my prayer for you would be that you remember in the moments of the battle at hand that its not the short-term solution you're worried about but instead the long-term solution of faith in Jesus Christ. The battles are exhausting, as I mentioned before, but they all need to exist for the War to be won in their little hearts. Satan is not getting exhausted, he's becoming more and more persistent with each battle's victory.

Keep your eyes on the prize! In 1 Corinthians it says, 'Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.' Parent in such a way that you can cultivate this in your children - and in yourself! The hard is not bad!

Decide how you want to parent -- what is God calling YOU to as a Mom or a Dad? Do that no matter how hard it gets and let not yourself be persuaded by the perversity of ease and short-term goals. God is eternal and His strength is never ending...

God be with you.

photography

Moments arise when the exhaustion of having three kids, cooking, cleaning and being border-line OCD leaves me with little energy to invest in photography and the understanding of it.

But I can't squelch the rush that comes when I capture something intriguing...

This was simply a shot I took while experimenting with the shutter speed on my camera during a "down time" tonight with Kyle and his brother, Erik. The fun thing is that I've got all the metadata so that I can further study why the shot captured what it captured... one look at something like this and I can't help but love photography.

Berges Family Christmas 2008

There's nothing like being around your own family -- whether good or bad it definitely adds its own unique dimension to all of our lives. In my world, being around my family is a privilege that comes around only twice a year. That is our Berges Family Reunion to the Oregon Coast every summer and our Berges Family Christmas during a weekend in either December or January. David and Les drive over from Yakima (this year with new baby Emma Nicole!), Geoff and Jennifer fly in from Cleveland, OH and we all rendezvous at my parents' home in Kennewick, WA. My younger, but much better, sister still lives with my parents. No, not like "back living with my parents" but instead quite legitimately living with my parents. She's only 15... did I say "only"?! I meant, oh crap! She's 15 and soon to be getting her license! Aaah... the sweet sound of Aunt Hannah comes to nanny for a weekend next summer is drowning the sound of screeching tires and smashed mailboxes... yes, I hear now only children laughing in the distance while I slowly sink into the abyss of a fantastic massage...

Oh, my family. That's right.

We start the week off with nothing but relaxation... everyone but Jen is usually still lounging in sweats and sweatshirts until Mom tells us we're doing something important that demands we look like we took a shower within the last 24 hours. Jen's usually the catalyst for me though -- undoubtedly, she looks adorable (if not hot) in her fantastic jeans, thoughtful layering of tops, flawless make-up, great hair and some adornment of necklaces or earrings. Its at that moment my fuzzy teeth and stretched out yoga pants feel a little more trashy and less relaxed. To her credit, she usually stays in her "lounge wear" until mid-morning... Lesley and I have made an art of lounging all day, I'm afraid. And Hannah's not in the running. She leaves cute in whatever she's wearing at o' dark thirty in the morning when Mom takes her to school. She usually arrives back home sticky and sweaty from practice right about the time I've made room in my appetite for dinner... nope, doesn't ruin my appetite. It actually reminds me of all the nights I did exactly the same thing.

Well, I would continue my ranting about the ins and outs of my family but I'm being summoned by my husband to enjoy some quality time with him... which I'm happy to do. I think I'll pick this up in a day or so and share with you some of the finer points of the Berges home at Christmas time... such as:

Annual Balderdash game with the Luehrs
My Mom's around-the-house plaid shirt (this follows the death of her denim button up shirt)
My Mom's many WONDERFUL - and always much anticipated - list of hors de ouvres
Red wine and Doritos late into the evening
Risk - the board game
Geoff's Buffalo wings... best EVER
... and much much more.

Until then. Mom, Dad, Geoff, Jen, Dave, Les, Emma, Hannah, Kyle, Katie, Will and Ben... I LOVE being with all of you together. You make for wonderful memories. Thank you and I love you.

Merry Christmas!! Its only 7 days away!! I LOVE this time of year.

Introduction to the Christmas Season

Its been weeks since I've mentioned Chad Lusk - a dear friend of my Dad's who has been wrestling with brain cancer and has been a testimony to many as God's continued to heal and begin to restore health as only He can.

I thought it appropriate to share this video with you. Not only is it sung by Chad's son, Matt Lusk, who I'm sure gives glory to God daily with regards to his earthly father's health... but it also serves as a reminder to us of the Son of God and the wonder that He brought the moment He was born and throughout His life. Enjoy.

Hannah-Banana

Hannah Catherine Berges - born January 21st, 1993 @ 11:31am - 6 weeks early and weighing in at 5lbs. 13oz. and 18" long.

This is my little sister. At the time she was born I had turned 14 years old 3 months prior... and I was in heaven having a baby sister to bring home and "mommy".

Now she stands about 5'11"/6'0". She kicks a@! at basketball and volleyball and has a spirit that I can only dream to have when I grow up...

I love you Hannah Banana... thank you for our time in Downtown Seattle. Oh, by the way, UW just called and they're wondering when you're going to sign a contract.

Note:

Against my better judgment, I let Katie pick out the most recent purchase for her wardrobe. If you look carefully at the last two family pictures on our blog you will see that she's wearing a "beautiful", glittery, light blue CINDERELLA turtle neck.

Gross.

Yes, I wash her clothes. Sometimes. But its hard when she wears it from the moment she jumps out of bed to the moment she crawls back in... and no, I don't fight the battle of choosing Katie's daily wardrobe.

Until it wreaks. Really bad.

The Schei Family

Erik A., Krista E., Daryle A., Kyle M., Catherine L.M., Benjamin B., Catherine (Katie) E. and William W. ...

Last name: Schei

This is the wonderful family that I married into eight years ago and I love each of them very much. Not only have they put up with my idiosyncrasies, they've even WELCOMED me and all my idiosyncrasies! My brother in law, Erik, is great and one of the most gentle people I've ever been around. When the rubber meets the road he'd choose right relationship over anything else in his world... he deeply cares and I love that I know that. I know that he adores me and I him... it makes for such a unique relationship and some wonderful memories, for sure.

My father and mother in law, Daryle and Kathy, live on Bainbridge Island. They can be seen sippin' a short drip of Starbucks coffee while crossing the ferry for their weekly visit to our home in Everett, WA. Their hearts are to create experiences with their grandchildren that are timeless. Daryle and William will spend hours laughing over the physics of things (hitting, falling, bouncing, etc.) while Kathy and Katie spend time creating things such as silk nighties, and well, creating style - hair brushes and hair pins, lovely fabrics and fantastic patterns. Although the aforementioned activities suggest differently, Daryle and Kathy have been intentional about creating moments that are not "gender biased" or shallow in any way. The latest creations: homemade bread, Rice Krispie treats, Thanksgiving place mats and pine cone bird feeders... these moments will be burned in the kids' memories forever. Oh... don't fret for Ben. He's not far behind -- Grandpa's already talked to him about who knows what and taught him how to do who knows what! :)

Thank you to all of you for taking time out and spending the last four days here with Kyle, myself and the kids... we are grateful to you and are anxiously awaiting the wonderful week of Christmas...

And I won't forget the Pumpkin Pie. Again.

Black Friday.

I've never been one to shop on Black Friday. It makes me feel nauseous to be quite honest with you because it seems to me that for the majority it goes something like this:

Thanksgiving Day we are feasting and giving thanks; we are serving those in need and finding ourselves grateful for the abundance that we have; we are teaching our children the art of family and manners at the table and how to not "want" for things.

All the while, unbeknownst to us, the "spirit of Black Friday" is laughing and looking down from upstairs where stashed in your underwear drawer is a tall stack. It will be spent tomorrow morning at the drop of a hat. And from Thanksgiving on, Spirit Black Friday will walk beside you pointing out all the ways to bring someone happiness through material things. Your child wants this and your child loves that. We pride ourselves on the joy we see in their faces as they open their gifts - we fan our egos and create for our children and ourselves a disgustingly materialistic version of Christmas. I'll be the first to say that its tempting.

I have pictured below the gifts we have purchased for our kids this year. Last year we started the tradition of giving each child three presents... we explained to them that Santa Claus brings them each three gifts to symbolize the gold, frankincense and myrrh baby Jesus received from the wise men following his birth. I have included these simply because I'm wanting, for one, to hold myself accountable to all reading this post -- Katie is receiving a sticker book, a wagon (shared with Will & Ben), and a Swedish-style vintage dollhouse (purchased from a consignment store); William is receiving a sticker book, a wagon (shared with Katie and Ben), and a Bozo Bop Bag; Ben is receiving the wagon and possibly a couple balls to chew on - yes, just about the same price as we may have spent on our late dogs, Tucker and Annie. Please close your mouth and think for a moment why I would purchase something for him at 8 months old when I could just as easily wrap up a puzzle piece and he would find joy for hours gnawing on it until his gums bleed!








Ok, so you're thinking that maybe I'm a little arrogant and full of myself. I would argue 'no'. That's not the case. I WOULD say though that I have thought long and hard about what I want our kids to take away from their experiences. Kyle and I expend a lot of energy trying to create a clear course of action as we approach Christ's birth... His life... His death and His resurrection.

Not only do I not want to create in our kids an overexcited chaotic behavior surrounding the holidays where they feel its all about them and the gifts under the tree... I don't want to pick up after all those toys! Not only on Christmas morning but for the remainder of this year and all of the next... until we reach another Christmas season.

Here's to you and finding out what's best for your family...

Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday began the Thanksgiving festivities as the kids and I (more me than the kids) decided that we needed to go purchase something fun for the days ahead... and what better purchase than a couple of Nerf guns! I had in mind that I would buy one for each of the kids to keep them expending energy while the adults prepared for the feasting festivities. While explaining this to the kids, they both exclaimed with a look that made me feel as though they were probably thinking I couldn't have come up with as good an idea were I given the chance and offered the idea that not only should we buy a little gun for each of them but we needed to buy a BIG gun for Uncle Erik so that he could annihilate things too... so we did. Uncle Erik's comes complete with a laser shooter intended for increasing accuracy... late into the evening Uncle Erik, Kyle and Grandpa Schei sipped scotch and shot darts across the dining room. No joke. It was nothing short of wonderful... and Thanksgiving Day hadn't even arrived yet!

The day arrived and my wonderful husband let me sleep in... aaahhhh... heavenly.

Heaven.

I awoke to a living room full of folks in pajamas sipping coffee and shooting Nerf guns... watching the television as the country prepped for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, football games and local news highlights on the charities happening all around the Seattle area. Grandma and the kids took a walk to the park to gather leaves of all shapes and sizes -- they came home and began creating individual place mats for each family member. Following nap time, the three kids and I braved the brisk weather and went to the park while the others took their turn at napping.

It wasn't long before the table was filled with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, yams, sauteed green beans with bleu cheese, bread and corn. We sipped wine and laughed together...

The dinner was a delight as the kids began to ask everyone around the table what they were thankful for. We were thankful for things like family and friends... for the wonderful life that we get to be a part of... for NOT being a turkey - and the such. We were thankful for Benjamin as this was his first Thanksgiving with our family and for the absolute joy that he is -- in fact, he was squealing most of the mealtime! Of course, that was probably because I wasn't giving him food fast enough and he was LOVING everything that came his way -- he devoured the dressing and yams; the corn and mashed potatoes... and by the looks of the plates following dinner, we all did.

Now the kids are asleep and I'm letting my dinner and dessert settle -- I may raid the refrigerator at 2am. Please don't tell anyone.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! God bless you.

The "moment" came just yesterday...

From Rainy Day Out

That desire to be "done" having kids started waning yesterday... I haven't prayed about it. I haven't thought much more about it than the cold sweat I felt when I realized that it wasn't such a "crazy idea". My hope was that that moment would not come around again after having Benjamin.

Do not begin to assume anything and before shouting out any advice my way (right now its a little too raw for me to consider another's perspective), know that this is simply a thought. My assumption is that we will be a wonderful family o' five... but wow, my heart loves the process so much.

I doubt it'll ever completely go away...

Our Rainy Day

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

From Rainy Day Out

Gloy-ee-howee-loo-LA!

Cheap cheap cheap...

I've been open to feeding my third child, Benjamin, whatever's on the family menu that night -- of course, I stay away from the big 'no no's such as nuts and honey -- but even cow's milk has been an ingredient in a number of dinners as of late and I have felt little to none concern about it... don't know if its clearly something that I don't need to worry about with him or if its simply that I've gotten more and more laid back as the time has progressed from first child to third child. Its the CHEAPEST way to feed him...

I take his dinner portion of corn and pasta and chicken, etc. and throw it into the food mill! I pour it out into a little bowl and he gobbles it down... okay, he devours it! Its cheap and easy and its whatever I've got on hand. Yesterday he had chicken nuggets and carrots mashed together and he WREAKED of big people food with flavors of garlic and salt when I went in to retrieve him out of his crib for his 12am feeding; consequently, I've decided not to give him that combination again for a long time.

I've also taken to buying up 10s of cans of vegetables when they go on sale (20/$10) and grind those in the food mill as well...

Just a thought for those of you trying to pinch some pennies.

4 going on...

I've had many conversations lately revolving around Katie's maturity... even the shots I take of her remind me that she's growing up rather quick.

And her wit! She gets me laughing...

William's Memory Verse - Jeremiah 1:8

Benjamin's Physics Lesson

What the...

Moments have come when a word flies out of either of my toddlers' mouths and I have to make a decision - do I make it an "issue" and say something or do I make it a "non-issue" and let it fly in hopes that the word wasn't much fun to say in the first place...

Just now was an AWESOME moment. Katie was flinging the word "bird-ch" around trying to be silly when it turned into the not so nice word. I let it go for about 30 seconds and couldn't hold myself back any longer when I explained to her with enough alarm that I think it sank in... the non-word that she was saying was actually a bad word and we are not allowed to say it.

Not more than 10 seconds later William was standing atop the rocking chair (totally not allowed!) when he was waving his arms around and saying in a silly voice "is fook a bad word?! We can say 'fook' though Katie! ... 'fook! fook!' which quickly turned into the bad version as well! Again I acted in astonishment and couldn't believe that they had just so happened upon these two non-words of their's within a matter of seconds!

Following our brief but matter-of-fact conversation about both of those words I walked out of their room into the bathroom and Katie yelled after me,

"We can say 'shirt' though, right?! Because its a piece of clothing! Shirt! Shirt! Shirt!"... as she and William chanted every version you can think of whilst playing dress up in their room.

You've got to be joking.

Just more Deck the Halls...

The kids and my garland... yep, I love it. Love everything about Christmas... did I mention we're putting our Christmas lights up on the house next week?

Good stuff.

Deck the halls...

Katie has been walking around the house aimlessly singing songs like,

(to the tune of "The more we get together")

"I'm glad I'm not a turkey, a turkey, a turkey... I'm glad I'm not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
We'll stuff you and cook you and eat you for dinner... I'm glad I'm not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day."

... and to be quite honest with you, I'm not even in the Thanksgiving mood yet. Its still a few weeks away!

On the contrary, this afternoon I was beyond excited - and ready - to buy my pre-lit garland at Costco, come home, put the kids down for naps and begin unraveling it and hanging it... I still have the tedious task ahead of me of spreading each and every twig from the crammed state that it was in for efficient packaging but that can wait... for today I'm simply enjoying the festiveness of the lights as I walk in the door.

Good Ol' Fashion Halloween

Kyle just left the house with Katie and William. In about 5 minutes they will be in our friends' neighborhood doing Halloween the good ol' fashion way...

Going door to door and using pillowcases as their loot bags.

Good luck my children... come home and show me your treasures. We'll spill it on the floor in the living room and ooh and aah over the "best ones" and talk about Ms. O'Reilly's home that nobody dared approach lest you be gone forever - never to see your parents again.

Happy Halloween.

the Prize

After discussing with you all last night my predicament with the Halloween costume drama, I spoke with Kyle. We were both beginning to weigh the ease and excitement it would bring versus the cost to just go to Costco and pay 19.99 for a Barbie in the Diamond Castle dress... we had just about come to a decision that that's what we would do when I realized I didn't want to. As small as it may seem to the observing eye, I knew that God could - and would - show Himself if I just gave the controls over to him and let him drive the Schei Train on its way to Halloween... of all holidays to give over to Him.

Following Bible Study this morning Katie and I held hands on our way out to the car. It even FELT like Halloween - the leaves were vibrant reds, oranges and yellows and the air was cold and brisk. I smiled to myself as I realized what was about to be revealed to her. She skipped and hopped assuming nothing more (and understandably so) than a wonderful play date with her friend, Ava. She was going to be spending the afternoon there enjoying hours full of laughter and dress up. She couldn't wait! (*Please see picture of she and Ava - usually seen dressed up like this...)

I looked down at her and said, 'so Daddy and I talked last night...' and immediately her big eyes shot up at me with expectation on her face. But it wasn't an expectation that she would get what she wants but instead it was an excitement that there was SOME sort of resolve and she was anxious to hear what it was... she grinned and raised her eyebrows, silently leading me to continue... I do believe she was also holding her breath.

'... well, you and I are going to go pick up Ben at April's. Then we will go to Other Mothers and see if they have a beautiful dress that you'd want to buy and you could wear it for Halloween. IF they don't have something that you like than we will go to Costco and buy the Barbie in the Diamond Castle dress. Oh, and we need to look for Spiderman stuff for William!' Katie had more questions to ask as to how expensive things were at Other Mothers and if Daddy and I had talked about things being expensive and if God said it was okay to buy something expensive... she was very curious. I discussed with her that Daddy and I had talked and told each other that we just want she and William to be excited about the 'pretend' part of Halloween WHATEVER it is they choose to be! She smiled and said 'okay Mom...' as she skipped the rest of the way to the car. I prayed that God would work over the next 45 minutes.

We were not more than 3 minutes out of the parking lot when Katie regurgitated the plan of action back to me so that she could make sure she understood. After a minute or so of looking out the window she looked back at me and caught my eye in the rear view mirror...

"Mom... I don't think I want to be Barbie in the Diamond Castle actually..." Okay... God what are you doing here... "I want to be a ballerina..." that's easy and inexpensive... "Yeah, they have those down-sleeve (long sleeved) ballerina outfits at Other Mothers and there soooo soft and sooo beautiful and I think I can just wear one of those for Halloween..." this is absolutely fantastic... "Mom... could I get one of those things that goes around and goes up and down when I bounce?"

"Oh... a tutu?!"

"Yeah! A tutu..."

"Yes, lets see what they have, ok?!"

"Okay, Mom."

Well, to make a long story short... not only did she find the perfect ballerina outfit (with a tutu attached), she also found real ballerina tights for under her outfit AND Sam had Spiderman gloves that made the "web shooting noise" and a Spiderman mask... she also pulled out size 3T Spiderman pajamas that were perfect for the ensemble.

I spent $20.55 when the original, and not so wonderful, outcome would have been twice that.

God is so good. Even in the small things. Katie learned a valuable lesson that so many children in our culture don't learn anymore -- we are not "entitled" to anything... and yet she got to experience the joy of receiving a gift, that she and I have discussed with great detail is, from God Himself.

Halloreally?!

You bought what costume? And it cost you how much? For your child who is how old?

Where have the days gone of Mom sewing my brothers' and my California Raisin costumes from purple waterproof material at Joanne's?! What about the AWESOME green martian costume I wore one year in elementary school -- my parents couldn't even get me into the front seat of their '86 gold Ford Escort! I was made of a LARGE, odd-shaped box and vacuum-type tubing painted green covering my arms and legs... my face was painted green and my hair was molded to my head with green guck. I was a witch one year and in 5th grade I was Cinderella -- oh, there was no Disney store. Yeah, Cinderella manifested herself from my FAVORITE pink and white party dress (Stephanie Sanders and I begged for party dresses - hers was purple). Mom (once again) pinned up the outer layer of the gown every 10 inches, or so, creating a somewhat "ballroom affect" and ordained it with bows! I felt GORGEOUS! I roller skated like a beauty queen that night in hopes that Cory Richards would notice me. He had a beautiful dark brown mullet and was really good at soccer... I always watched him during recess.

Katie wants to be "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" Barbie this year. She's spoken of it for weeks now and it has been quite the process. First it was so matter of fact as to what she was going to be and I had never even heard of it before! Then as we discussed it she was aware of the possibility that that may not happen. I wasn't trying to teach her a lesson at this point in the game as much as I was appalled at the fact that Costco wanted me to pay 29.99 for dress-up dress! Do kids not know how to play with sashes and heels and make up anymore?! I NEVER had dress up clothes except what Mom handed down to me... we have pictures of those days.

Just this evening as I drove our babysitter home, she explained to me Katie and hers discussion regarding Halloween. Katie mentioned to Emily that she is going to be "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" Barbie but Mom and Dad have to talk about it first because its really 'spensive' (expensive)... she gets it. At least in her elementary terms she gets it. Now Kyle and I are at a crossroads. The last two weeks of not letting her buy the costume even at sale price has become a wonderful lesson for her and she gets that things come at a price -- a price that is sometimes "too high" for Mom and Dad.

If I take her to Costco tomorrow to buy the dress at sale price will it be the best thing? I don't know... Moms around the world are saying, 'oh go for it!' but there are such detriments to these moments with our children when there could be such wonderful reward when it comes to their hearts and understanding what it means to bring GLORY TO GOD on a daily basis! I don't want to forget the joys and imaginations of childhood but I DO want to remember the importance of saying no to the world's way of finding those "joys" and instead rooting my children's excitement in the character of Christ!

We'll see what the evening brings as I sit on all I have discussed with you... I'm sure clarity will come. He always brings it when I ask Him to.

A McDonald's Day

Following breakfast this morning I swept my floor. This may come as no surprise to you all as I do have a 7 month old, 2 year old and 4 year old partying in this crib the better part of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

But it does come as a surprise to me. Beads getting strewn across the floor while Katie and William wolf down a couple bowls of Mac N Cheese is an ordinary event in our house -- yet the logic just isn't there. Somehow what happens is that William, while eating his Mac N Cheese, reaches into his dirty jeans pocket, pulls out Katie's broken beaded necklace, holds it by the tail and in slow motion watches as every bead falls clattering to the floor with no limits as to how far they will bounce...

See? What I don't understand is that the mere presence of my children is not unlike a scene going from black and white to colorful in a smooth rolling fashion from left to right... they appear and somehow create their own capitol of crap in whatever state their in!

Today, as I told my dear friend Rachel on the phone, was a day that I didn't want to sweep twice. Most days I will sweep twice... but not today. So today we made a couple of stops before rounding the drive thru at McDonalds and headed on to school almost 30 minutes early. I took my camera as I knew I'd have some time to capture a few wonderful moments on this sunny, Fall, McDonalds Day.

More new camera tricks...

Here are some more shots that I took this morning using my new knowledge of (1)"depth of field" and (2) manipulating exposure... The first photo was an aperature of f/22 with the camera automatically adjusting the correct exposure.








The second photo I increased my aperature to f/4 and achieved this blurried background with the camera automatically adjusting to its recommended exposure.









The third photo I kept the aperature set to f/4 but dropped the exposure to achieve more of an "early evening light" to the kitchen...


The fourth photo I kept the aperature set to f/4 and again dropped the exposure even more so to create a more dramatic "evening light" - if it weren't for the daylight glare on the china cups I may have sold you...

I LOVE this stuff... thanks for reading. Or maybe you skimmed - fair enough.

Cool new camera tricks...

Please excuse the fact that the focal point of this picture was my fungis foot (currently being treated - ok, lazily being treated, but none the less, its been diagnosed and the prognosis is good) but its the background that has been my evening's homework. I was reading and learning about "depth of field" in my pictures.

For this exercise my camera was set in Manual mode so that I could manipulate the aperature/f-stop/diaphragm as I took the picture. My intent was to create a greater focus on my subject and blur the background to the extent that I wanted. With a smaller aperature - diaphragm set at 1/22, or f/22, in the top photo the depth of field was greater - meaning that the background had greater detail and detracted from my fungis foot. In the lower photo I opened up my aperature to 1/4, or f/4, and the background was much more blurred!

I know its exciting to you.

Joys with my kids...

Yesterday evening as I prepped for a friend of mine's baby shower I allowed the kids to take part in the festivities by pulling apart all the cloves of garlic and throw them in the roasting dish... the clean up seemed so small in comparison to the fun they had figuring out what garlic was and how it "works", for lack of better words.






































This afternoon I quickly put Katie and William to bed following the baby shower here at our house. Come to find out that instead of playing blocks - which I allowed them to do instead of napping - they set up a store -- not unlike Other Mothers here in Everett. For those of you unfamiliar, Other Mothers is a consignment store that we frequent and there was nothing sweeter than buying clothes at Katie's store, and in turn, discovering Katie's understanding of what happens during a transaction.

Favorite Birthday Card...

Yesterday was my 30th birthday and I received so many wonderful cards and gifts from people - thank you everyone for making me feel so cherished!

My favorite birthday card was from my friend, Christelle:

With an adorable little frog on the front...
On the inside it read: "We may not be tadpoles anymore but at least we haven't croaked."

I smiled and laughed... loved it.

Capturing William

In an attempt to play with one's senses I thought it'd be cute to capture my children looking "body-less"... thank you, Katie, for your cooperation... can't say much for Will's ability to not be a nut, let alone comprehend what I was trying to do. He has much more of a "simba/pouncing" look to him. The first picture was his face as I was desperately trying to explain to him what I wanted him to do... but obviously he was much more interested in making everybody laugh.