So, today is my son's 2nd birthday. If you're a parent you understand that feeling of "I can't believe how fast the past ___ years have gone by". Before becoming a parent, I always thought that was silly, but now I understand what it means. So much happens at the beginning of life. You learn so much so quickly and the growth rate is incredible. It's hard to believe my 7 lb 12 ounce, 21 inches long baby is now pushing 30 lbs and who knows how tall (we haven't been to the doctor in a while, but we go next week, so I'll update you:) in only 2 short years! He went from screaming about everything and never sleeping, to... well, still screaming alot and not always sleeping great, but atleast now his head doesn't flop around and he can feed himself! I know, not too encouraging for those soon-to-someday-be parents, but such is life.
I'm sure only mothers do this, but I have caught myself all day today looking at the clock and thinking back to what was going on at this particular time 2 years ago. I'm sure I'll still be doing this when he turns 30. It's like every minute of that day is ingrained in your mind. Well, the bad stuff is kind of a blur, which is a good thing because otherwise families would only consist of one child. :) But I'm sure I'll always remember that my doctor broke my water at 8am (I was induced), they started pitocin at 10am (my own contractions weren't doing much), I got my epidural at noon (praise the Lord!), I started pushing at 5:30pm and he was born at 6:30. By the way for those of you not real familiar with labor and delivery "stuff", pushing for an hour may seem like an eternity, but trust me, you take breaks in there so it really wasn't that bad and didn't seem like an hour.
Now, I have to be honest here (hey, if you can't be honest with your bloggy friends, who can you be honest with?) :). I was not one of those moms who instantly fell in love with her child and felt this overwhelming bond. I did cry (mostly because I was glad it was over with and also because I couldn't believe this little alien was actually my child), but the bonding part takes awhile, atleast it did for me. Of course I loved him, I mean he is my first baby, but it wasn't as if some light shone down from heaven on him and God spoke to me. (Although some moms want you to think that happens.) It was just a very overwhelming experience. To go from being a wife and having a good time, to being a mom and having responsibilities is a pretty big deal, so it took awhile for it to set in.
I can honestly say that overall my labor and delivery experience was relatively easy. I'm sure my husband has a different perspective, but this was his first time in a hospital room with a pregnant woman in labor, so he would have been horrified regardless. He occasionally reminds me about the time I threw up, almost passed out, Garrett's heart rate dropping, me needing an oxygen mask, etc, etc, in order to prevent me from wanting another baby. Which, I'm not ready for another one yet, but he can't talk me out of wanting 2 kids. That's something we've already agreed on, so it's a done deal. I just need some more time for Garrett to grow up a little before visiting "newborn land" again. Garrett hit "terrible 2's" a few months early, but I can honestly say that it's better than the first 3 months of his life. Newborn babies are sooo tough. Atleast mine was. They cry a lot and you have no idea what they're crying about because they can't express themselves AT ALL. Just think, what if you had a headache or gas pains, or hunger, or whatever and you weren't able to take care of yourself or express these needs to someone else. It's tough trying to figure this stuff out as a parent. Mix in raging hormones, no sleep, and minimal help from other people and you've got yourself some exciting days in our household when a newborn is around. Now, I do want to say that our church was awesome about bringing meals that first week we were home, my mom, dad, and sister did a great job getting our house ready for us (my mom even organized my kitchen cabinets!) and groceries bought, and my inlaws were here for a week as well. But eventually all of that stops and you're still here at home with a new baby still pretty much clueless as to what's going on. Now, I may be painting a somewhat bleak picture here, but I do want to share the fact that I was also dealing with post partum depression. Unfortunately, I didn't get help because I wasn't really sure what was wrong with me. I just knew I didn't really want to mess with Garrett much, I cried all the time for no reason, and I desperately needed to get out of the house every chance I could so I could see that the world was still "out there". Sometimes you just feel so isolated when you're in this kind of situation. I remember a conversation I had with a girl from my SS class (Kristi!). I think Garrett was maybe 10 days old and I remember her helping me to put it in perspective and knowing that she had felt a lot of the same things I was feeling, it really helped.
Honestly, looking back, I think I had a relatively good baby (he's a very active 2 year old now...) but he started sleeping through the night around 8 weeks old and he didn't fuss a whole lot (though from 6-8 in the evenings he would just cry non stop and there wasn't anything we could do about it).
Now Garrett is 2. He runs and jumps all over the house. He just recently learned how to do a somersault (I have no idea where, he didn't learn from me!), he climbs on EVERYTHING and gets into everything as well. But he's a lot of fun and very funny. He already shows to have a great imagination and is going to be pretty mechanical, like Daddy. He loves to sing and dance too. He really wants to sing along with songs, but only picks up a word here and there. He loves to try to spell his name (a, e, t, i... Garrett!!-that's basically what he says) and points out a few letters that he does know. He also loves animal sounds and would rather tell you what the animals says than what the animal is called. I'm very thankful that he doesn't seem to be the bully type (I'll find out for sure in the next few weeks because he is starting Mother's Day Out at church next Tuesday), so far he's never bitten or hit another child with the intention of being mean. He seems to be more the type that will allow himself to get beat up on even though he's plenty big enough to stand up for himself. Something else that's also like Keith, you have to push him a lot before he'll react. He loves cars (and the movie Cars), blocks, balls, the sandbox, outside, Curious George, Veggie Tales, giving kisses, and a whole lot of other things.
He's my baby but now he's 2. I'm so thankful that I have him and I'm able to stay at home with him. We are just so blessed.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Harry Potter
Yesterday I finished reading the 7th and final Harry Potter book, the Deathly Hallows. Let me start by saying, it was a very good book. I know that's pretty simplistic, but it was. Sometimes when you see or read the final "chapter" of a show or book or whatever, they can be a real disappointment. The season finale of Seinfeld? Not good. They could have done many different things to have make that show end on a better note. Whereas Friends had a good, satisfying ending, in my opinion. This is how I feel about the final Harry Potter book. Is it stupendous, the best book every written, a must-read? Probably not, but it's definitely on par with all the other Harry Potter books, which makes it a very satisfactory ending to a good series.
As a teacher, I want to tip my hat to J.K. Rowling. In a video game world, where kids are losing interest in reading anything longer than a comic book, it's so nice to have options out there that will pull kids in and make them want to read. Especially boys. I think Harry Potter is a great series for younger boys to get involved in. Harry is a good role model for boys today in a world full of female dominated role models in books and TV shows. I'm so excited for my son to get a little older (and be willing to sit still for longer than 60 seconds) where we can begin to read the Harry Potter series together. I want to instill in him the love of reading and Harry Potter may just be the catalyst to start this process.
Now on to the Harry Potter controversy. As I'm sure most of you have heard or read (or maybe even believe), since the Harry Potter series first came out, there have been multiple groups of people speaking out against this series. They want these books banned from school libraries, teachers banned from being allowed to read them to their classes or requiring students to read them for their classes. My understanding of their argument is that it boils down to the fact that Harry is a wizard and there are many witches and wizards in this book and magic is involved. My question to the vast majority of these people who are all up in arms over these books is this, have you read them? I don't mean watching the movies, I mean actually sitting down with one of these books (I would suggest the first for continuity purposes) and reading it from start to finish. I think you would find that while the premise is that the main characters are considered to be witches and wizards, they aren't, in fact, bad people. They are actually good people, fighting the bad. The stories are very exciting and uplifting and you end up wishing you had one of those wands to change a few things. How is it that the people who are outspoken against these books, are generally for reading "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"? Hello, the title of the book blatantly tells you that there's a witch involved and yet, it's ok to read it? I personally also love The Chronicles of Narnia, but I just feel that there are some inconsistencies with these people's beliefs. These are probably also people who encourage their children to watch Disney movies. Have any of you actually sat down and watched "The Little Mermaid"? That witch mermaid is pretty scary and very evil, yet it's ok for your small children to watch these movies? I hope I'm making a point here. Basically, "don't knock it, till you've tried it". If you haven't read one chapter of the Harry Potter books and you are one of the people out there demanding that it be banned from your child's school library, maybe you need to open your eyes to other things in your life that may be "just as bad" if not worse than Harry Potter. If you've read the books and you still feel strongly that they are too evil for your young adult/children to read, then atleast you gave them a fair shake. I don't honestly see how anyone who has read the books with an open mind would feel this way, but I would still be understanding since you did read them.
For those of you out there who are Harry Potter fans but haven't read this last book for fear that it's not going to end the way you think it should, I'll just say this. I thought the ending was almost exactly how it should be. So I would encourage you to take off a week or so (depending on your speed of reading) and read this book. You'll be glad you did. If you haven't ever read any of the series, you definitely need to start at the beginning, reading book 7 would probably be very confusing to you without having read the first 6. If you have read this book, let me know what you think. Just be sure not to give any of the big details away in a comment. I don't want to spoil the book for any future readers out there.
As a teacher, I want to tip my hat to J.K. Rowling. In a video game world, where kids are losing interest in reading anything longer than a comic book, it's so nice to have options out there that will pull kids in and make them want to read. Especially boys. I think Harry Potter is a great series for younger boys to get involved in. Harry is a good role model for boys today in a world full of female dominated role models in books and TV shows. I'm so excited for my son to get a little older (and be willing to sit still for longer than 60 seconds) where we can begin to read the Harry Potter series together. I want to instill in him the love of reading and Harry Potter may just be the catalyst to start this process.
Now on to the Harry Potter controversy. As I'm sure most of you have heard or read (or maybe even believe), since the Harry Potter series first came out, there have been multiple groups of people speaking out against this series. They want these books banned from school libraries, teachers banned from being allowed to read them to their classes or requiring students to read them for their classes. My understanding of their argument is that it boils down to the fact that Harry is a wizard and there are many witches and wizards in this book and magic is involved. My question to the vast majority of these people who are all up in arms over these books is this, have you read them? I don't mean watching the movies, I mean actually sitting down with one of these books (I would suggest the first for continuity purposes) and reading it from start to finish. I think you would find that while the premise is that the main characters are considered to be witches and wizards, they aren't, in fact, bad people. They are actually good people, fighting the bad. The stories are very exciting and uplifting and you end up wishing you had one of those wands to change a few things. How is it that the people who are outspoken against these books, are generally for reading "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"? Hello, the title of the book blatantly tells you that there's a witch involved and yet, it's ok to read it? I personally also love The Chronicles of Narnia, but I just feel that there are some inconsistencies with these people's beliefs. These are probably also people who encourage their children to watch Disney movies. Have any of you actually sat down and watched "The Little Mermaid"? That witch mermaid is pretty scary and very evil, yet it's ok for your small children to watch these movies? I hope I'm making a point here. Basically, "don't knock it, till you've tried it". If you haven't read one chapter of the Harry Potter books and you are one of the people out there demanding that it be banned from your child's school library, maybe you need to open your eyes to other things in your life that may be "just as bad" if not worse than Harry Potter. If you've read the books and you still feel strongly that they are too evil for your young adult/children to read, then atleast you gave them a fair shake. I don't honestly see how anyone who has read the books with an open mind would feel this way, but I would still be understanding since you did read them.
For those of you out there who are Harry Potter fans but haven't read this last book for fear that it's not going to end the way you think it should, I'll just say this. I thought the ending was almost exactly how it should be. So I would encourage you to take off a week or so (depending on your speed of reading) and read this book. You'll be glad you did. If you haven't ever read any of the series, you definitely need to start at the beginning, reading book 7 would probably be very confusing to you without having read the first 6. If you have read this book, let me know what you think. Just be sure not to give any of the big details away in a comment. I don't want to spoil the book for any future readers out there.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Summer TV
I just want to complain for a second about the TV show options during the summer. They stink, plain and simple! Why are we forced to endure a minimum of 3 months worth of reruns and stupid reality TV shows that someone made up (some of them were probably made up by a child)? If we have to watch reruns, why are we watching ones from the season that just ended? Why not catch everyone up on prior seasons of the show? Or, better yet, why not reruns from old shows no longer on? I would enjoy a good Brady Bunch marathon once in a while. Or how about the shows Charles in Charge or Who's the Boss? That was decent TV back in the day. I realize there are cable channels that show some of these, but first off, I don't have cable or satellite so not an option for me, and secondly even some of the cable channels show the exact same episode of Full House every day for a week. So they're not cutting it for showing good quality reruns.
Now I realize that people typically go on vacation during the summer, maybe there's more sporting events going on in the evenings that I don't know about. But, come on, in Texas even at 8:00 in the evening, no one wants to be outside, it's still too hot! So we have a bunch of people stuck inside watching useless TV. And what about those of us whose summer is exactly the same as the rest of their year? I would like some good show options on at night after I've put my son to bed and have nothing else to do. (Most of the time my husband works late.)
Whatever happened to the movie of the week? They hardly even show those on the weekends, but it would be nice if they would show a decent movie during the week as well. And I don't mean a Disney movie. I love those, but how many kids are really up until 9:00 or 10:00 at night watching a movie on TV that they probably already own? Let's bring on the Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey movies! What about old movies from like the 50's? Some of those are better options than the reruns they try to push off on us. I think they should show some old musicals. Kids today need culture. Let's watch Singing in the Rain or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Talk about the good stuff!
Now, I will say that there is one show currently on this summer that I am enjoying. It's called "Traveler" and it's very fast paced and intriguing. I typically watch it off of ABC's website on Thursdays because it comes on Wednesday nights when we have church groups. Of course now that I've said it, the show will be cancelled tomorrow, which is typical. But this is a show that I would recommend, if you're sick of all the reruns. Other than that, there's absolutely nothing else out there. I would love for ABC to rerun Lost episodes from the beginning to get us all caught up since the new Lost won't start until February of 08. But I'm sure I'm in the minority there.
All I'm saying is that we shouldn't tolerate "crappy" summer TV any longer. What are we going to do about it? Absolutely nothing because what good would it do? I guess I'll be renting movies between now and the new fall season. If you have any good ones to recommend, let me know.
Now I realize that people typically go on vacation during the summer, maybe there's more sporting events going on in the evenings that I don't know about. But, come on, in Texas even at 8:00 in the evening, no one wants to be outside, it's still too hot! So we have a bunch of people stuck inside watching useless TV. And what about those of us whose summer is exactly the same as the rest of their year? I would like some good show options on at night after I've put my son to bed and have nothing else to do. (Most of the time my husband works late.)
Whatever happened to the movie of the week? They hardly even show those on the weekends, but it would be nice if they would show a decent movie during the week as well. And I don't mean a Disney movie. I love those, but how many kids are really up until 9:00 or 10:00 at night watching a movie on TV that they probably already own? Let's bring on the Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey movies! What about old movies from like the 50's? Some of those are better options than the reruns they try to push off on us. I think they should show some old musicals. Kids today need culture. Let's watch Singing in the Rain or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Talk about the good stuff!
Now, I will say that there is one show currently on this summer that I am enjoying. It's called "Traveler" and it's very fast paced and intriguing. I typically watch it off of ABC's website on Thursdays because it comes on Wednesday nights when we have church groups. Of course now that I've said it, the show will be cancelled tomorrow, which is typical. But this is a show that I would recommend, if you're sick of all the reruns. Other than that, there's absolutely nothing else out there. I would love for ABC to rerun Lost episodes from the beginning to get us all caught up since the new Lost won't start until February of 08. But I'm sure I'm in the minority there.
All I'm saying is that we shouldn't tolerate "crappy" summer TV any longer. What are we going to do about it? Absolutely nothing because what good would it do? I guess I'll be renting movies between now and the new fall season. If you have any good ones to recommend, let me know.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Tag
The rules are: Once you have been tagged, you write a blog about 10 random facts, things, or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose 5 people to be tagged to do the same... Don't forget to leave them a comment saying "You're TAGGED!!" and to read your blog... Oh and reply to this with your list so I can see your answers!! Here we go:
1. I was a teacher for 4 years before becoming a stay at home mom.
2. I hate to throw up and only did it one time when I was pregnant.
3. I have a problem with my thyroid and have to get it checked a couple of times per year plus I take medicine for it and will probably have to for the rest of my life.
4. I need to lose weight, but I just can't get motivated enough to start a weight loss program.
5. I love to watch "Lost"!
6. I will turn 30 next year, which I can't believe, but I'm ok with it. (I'm only 28 now, but my b'day is in Dec, so that means 30 next year for those who are confused)
7. I am not ready to have another baby. I want to have 2 kids, but I discovered after having my first that I am not a "baby" person. If I could have a 2 or 3 year old, that would be nice. :-) But we will have one more, just not anytime soon.
8. My favorite food is pizza. My favorite food that my mom makes is rice with meat sauce, yummy!! My favorite food that I make is grilled steaks.
9. I don't love to shop, but when I do shop, I love buying clothes for my son. He has more than he really needs, but it's so much fun buying little clothes.
10. When I was in college I had a horrible car that broke down on me all the time. I still sometimes worry that it will happen to me again even though I drive a newer SUV.
I am tagging: Kari, Laura, Melissa, Kristi, and Alicia
1. I was a teacher for 4 years before becoming a stay at home mom.
2. I hate to throw up and only did it one time when I was pregnant.
3. I have a problem with my thyroid and have to get it checked a couple of times per year plus I take medicine for it and will probably have to for the rest of my life.
4. I need to lose weight, but I just can't get motivated enough to start a weight loss program.
5. I love to watch "Lost"!
6. I will turn 30 next year, which I can't believe, but I'm ok with it. (I'm only 28 now, but my b'day is in Dec, so that means 30 next year for those who are confused)
7. I am not ready to have another baby. I want to have 2 kids, but I discovered after having my first that I am not a "baby" person. If I could have a 2 or 3 year old, that would be nice. :-) But we will have one more, just not anytime soon.
8. My favorite food is pizza. My favorite food that my mom makes is rice with meat sauce, yummy!! My favorite food that I make is grilled steaks.
9. I don't love to shop, but when I do shop, I love buying clothes for my son. He has more than he really needs, but it's so much fun buying little clothes.
10. When I was in college I had a horrible car that broke down on me all the time. I still sometimes worry that it will happen to me again even though I drive a newer SUV.
I am tagging: Kari, Laura, Melissa, Kristi, and Alicia
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Beth Moore
This is for my mom who asked me to write a blog about the Bible study I just completed.
Since I began my job as a stay at home mom, I've been wanting to join a women's Bible study. My church has one that meets on Tuesday mornings (they also have some that meet on Wednesday nights, but I was looking for something during the day) and at the time that this Bible study was beginning, I was babysitting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was disappointed to know that I wouldn't be able to participate, but within the same week I received a phone call from a good friend. She is a member of a different church in our area and her's was having a Beth Moore Bible study on Monday mornings. She had already registered herself and a friend, but the other friend decided she didn't want to come, so my friend wanted to know if I wanted to join her. Initially I hesitated. The thought that ran through my head? "I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, if I go to Bible study then, I will have to change the day I shop." I know, ridiculous. But that just shows you how easily that Satan can try to keep you from getting involved in God's word. Once that thought dawned on me, I realized how petty I was being and that this was in fact an answer to my prayer. So I agreed. I had never participated in a Beth Moore Bible study before but I had heard a lot about her so I was excited to see what she was all about.
I promise I won't do a play by play of the 10 weeks that I attended this Bible study, but there are a few things about it that I wanted to share. First of all, the title of the study that I participated in is "Breaking Free". I'm sure those of you out there who know about Beth Moore, would want to know which one I'm talking about. The group that I was assigned to was led by a really awesome woman. This was my first time to meet her, but by the end I felt as if I knew her. She was very open about everything that she was dealing with throughout this study and it was very refreshing.
Back to the study, this one is a very personal, very intense Bible study. Beth Moore presents various strongholds that everyone has in their lives and how we need to break free from these. It was very powerful. I think the main thing that she said that will stick with me forever was this: she was speaking about the various women in our history who have been prayer warriors and are known for this (ie Corrie ten Boom) and she asked a very poignant question "Who are the prayer warriors for this generation?" Where are the women now who will spend a "Sweet Hour of Prayer" on their knees praying for their families, their churches, their communities, etc. This really hit home with me, and still brings tears to my eyes to think about. I can honestly say that I am certainly not one of these women. What is holding me back? It is so easy to get caught up in life and just let it pass you by without doing anything of meaning. Maybe you don't feel like you have anything to give, but you know what? Everyone can pray. To quote Beth Moore "Christ isn't asking us to believe in our ability to exercise unwavering faith. He is asking us to believe that HE is able."
"Between every unfaithful generation and faithful generation is one person determined to change." I feel as if I am definitely one of the lucky ones here. I have multiple generations before me (behind me?) who have been faithful, but I have to remember that the opposite of this statement can also be true so I need to be sure that I am striving to be another faithful generation so that my son (and any other children I may have) will be "a man after God's own heart". Another quote "So many people yearn to be part of something significant. Something important. We want to make useful contributions to society. We look at people who do and we're envious, yet do we realize what kind of contribution we could make to our own family lines? I can't think of anyone to whom I'd want my life to be a blessing more than my children's children and their children's children."
Almost every week, this study brought tears to my eyes at some point. It was very powerful and heartbreaking at the same time. But it was so good to be reminded of what's important in life and how we need to be striving towards a closer relationship with God. If you think you're there, you're not. Everyone should be pursuing daily an audience with God, a close friendship. He should be the one you turn to for everything and if you do, He'll be there. Last Monday was my last Bible study, however this week my group is meeting at our leader's house for one final activity. In the final video lesson from Beth, she challenges everyone to write a binding agreement with God. You are to seal it closed and keep it as a reminder of this agreement. If you break it, then you are to break the seal, re-read the agreement and once you're ready to re-commit, then you re-seal it. She said don't worry about how many seals you have on that envelope the day the Lord calls you home. Just worry about the fact that you have re-committed and are back on track with God when that day comes. The sooner you commit (or re-commit) the sooner you will be back to the close relationship with God that we should all have and be striving towards.
And to wrap up this blog I thought I would end with one more quote from Beth Moore. "When my daughter Amanda was in the second grade she illustrated a truth about the centrality of God. She was telling me something she had prayed over at school that day while standing in the lunch line. I said to her, Oh Amanda, do you know how much it means to me for you to make God a part of your day? And she responded, You're so silly, Mommy. You know God made the day. I'm just glad He made me part of His."
Since I began my job as a stay at home mom, I've been wanting to join a women's Bible study. My church has one that meets on Tuesday mornings (they also have some that meet on Wednesday nights, but I was looking for something during the day) and at the time that this Bible study was beginning, I was babysitting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was disappointed to know that I wouldn't be able to participate, but within the same week I received a phone call from a good friend. She is a member of a different church in our area and her's was having a Beth Moore Bible study on Monday mornings. She had already registered herself and a friend, but the other friend decided she didn't want to come, so my friend wanted to know if I wanted to join her. Initially I hesitated. The thought that ran through my head? "I do my grocery shopping on Mondays, if I go to Bible study then, I will have to change the day I shop." I know, ridiculous. But that just shows you how easily that Satan can try to keep you from getting involved in God's word. Once that thought dawned on me, I realized how petty I was being and that this was in fact an answer to my prayer. So I agreed. I had never participated in a Beth Moore Bible study before but I had heard a lot about her so I was excited to see what she was all about.
I promise I won't do a play by play of the 10 weeks that I attended this Bible study, but there are a few things about it that I wanted to share. First of all, the title of the study that I participated in is "Breaking Free". I'm sure those of you out there who know about Beth Moore, would want to know which one I'm talking about. The group that I was assigned to was led by a really awesome woman. This was my first time to meet her, but by the end I felt as if I knew her. She was very open about everything that she was dealing with throughout this study and it was very refreshing.
Back to the study, this one is a very personal, very intense Bible study. Beth Moore presents various strongholds that everyone has in their lives and how we need to break free from these. It was very powerful. I think the main thing that she said that will stick with me forever was this: she was speaking about the various women in our history who have been prayer warriors and are known for this (ie Corrie ten Boom) and she asked a very poignant question "Who are the prayer warriors for this generation?" Where are the women now who will spend a "Sweet Hour of Prayer" on their knees praying for their families, their churches, their communities, etc. This really hit home with me, and still brings tears to my eyes to think about. I can honestly say that I am certainly not one of these women. What is holding me back? It is so easy to get caught up in life and just let it pass you by without doing anything of meaning. Maybe you don't feel like you have anything to give, but you know what? Everyone can pray. To quote Beth Moore "Christ isn't asking us to believe in our ability to exercise unwavering faith. He is asking us to believe that HE is able."
"Between every unfaithful generation and faithful generation is one person determined to change." I feel as if I am definitely one of the lucky ones here. I have multiple generations before me (behind me?) who have been faithful, but I have to remember that the opposite of this statement can also be true so I need to be sure that I am striving to be another faithful generation so that my son (and any other children I may have) will be "a man after God's own heart". Another quote "So many people yearn to be part of something significant. Something important. We want to make useful contributions to society. We look at people who do and we're envious, yet do we realize what kind of contribution we could make to our own family lines? I can't think of anyone to whom I'd want my life to be a blessing more than my children's children and their children's children."
Almost every week, this study brought tears to my eyes at some point. It was very powerful and heartbreaking at the same time. But it was so good to be reminded of what's important in life and how we need to be striving towards a closer relationship with God. If you think you're there, you're not. Everyone should be pursuing daily an audience with God, a close friendship. He should be the one you turn to for everything and if you do, He'll be there. Last Monday was my last Bible study, however this week my group is meeting at our leader's house for one final activity. In the final video lesson from Beth, she challenges everyone to write a binding agreement with God. You are to seal it closed and keep it as a reminder of this agreement. If you break it, then you are to break the seal, re-read the agreement and once you're ready to re-commit, then you re-seal it. She said don't worry about how many seals you have on that envelope the day the Lord calls you home. Just worry about the fact that you have re-committed and are back on track with God when that day comes. The sooner you commit (or re-commit) the sooner you will be back to the close relationship with God that we should all have and be striving towards.
And to wrap up this blog I thought I would end with one more quote from Beth Moore. "When my daughter Amanda was in the second grade she illustrated a truth about the centrality of God. She was telling me something she had prayed over at school that day while standing in the lunch line. I said to her, Oh Amanda, do you know how much it means to me for you to make God a part of your day? And she responded, You're so silly, Mommy. You know God made the day. I'm just glad He made me part of His."
Sunday, March 4, 2007
My First (and maybe last?) Blog
Beware, this is going to be really long, it's just a way for me to share what I'm feeling about today. I never really thought that I would write a blog, but a few thoughts have been running through my head today that I thought I would share with the few of you who might actually read this. 3 years ago today our house was hit by a tornado. I can't believe it's actually been 3 years, it seems like yesterday in some ways. I can vividly remember so many details about that day, even before coming home to find my house in shambles from the tornado.
I'm a teacher and I was at school that day like I would be any Thursday (yes, it happened on a Thursday and I can remember that without looking it up). I remember looking on a weather website and seeing a line of strong storms moving through the Fort Worth area early that afternoon. By the time school was letting out, those storms began to pound our area. The principal made an announcement that we were dismissing a little early and teachers who did not have afternoon duties were allowed to leave. Most of the teachers decided to stick it out there, but I just couldn't bring myself to voluntarily stay in the school when I could be heading home. Looking back, that was a dumb idea, but what did I know? I remember it was raining and blowing so hard I could barely get my truck door open and there was absolutely no using an umbrella because it would have been demolished in a matter of seconds. I got out on the road and could barely see in front of me. I ended up behind a long line of traffic virtually stopped, about a mile from my school. We inched along and I eventually came upon the reason for our slow travel, an old barn-type building had blown into the road and everyone was having to make their way around it. After driving another mile, I came upon the interstate and found a spot to park underneath it along with a school bus and a few other vehicles until the storm finally passed. It actually didn't take that long, maybe 15 minutes of sitting, and we were able to move. From there until I came to my neighborhood, I saw relatively minor damage from the storm, a few limbs blown down, maybe the occasional sign, nothing to be concerned about.
I remember driving down the road leading to our housing addition and catching a glimpse of our neighbor's house. Our neighbors have a house that appears to be a 2 story, but in reality is only a one story, and the 2nd "story" on their house was completely gone, roof and everything. I was in total shock, for a moment I couldn't even see our house and just knew that it was completely gone. Finally there was a break in the trees and I was able to see our house for a moment and saw it still standing and looking to be in one piece. I pulled onto our road and had a good view of the side of our house closest to the neighbor's destroyed house. Our bedroom windows appeared to be broken and there was debris all over and around our house. I pulled into the driveway and of course we had no electricity so I couldn't park in the garage, I came in through the front door instead. At the time, Keith and I had only lived here for a year so we were very picky about taking our shoes off before walking on the carpet. I took mine off out of habit and made my way to our bedroom, before I even walked into the door, I could already see glass all over the carpet in the hallway. (Remember, I'm only wearing socks on my feet!) I walked into our bedroom and it was completely destroyed. Both of our windows were broken, glass was everywhere, embedded in the sheetrock, all over the carpet, our bed, etc. Our blinds were completely ruined, the glass on our TV screen was actually chipped from something hitting it. We also had shingles and 2x4's from our neighbor's house, all over our bedroom. Upon seeing our bedroom in such chaos, I called Keith immediately. Of course he didn't answer his cell phone, so I left him a message. At the time I didn't know it, but later that evening when we actually listened to this voice mail, I sounded out of control and very frantic. I called him a second time and he answered and I remember telling him to come home immediately, our house had been hit by a tornado. I told him the state of our neighbor's house and what I had seen so far of our's and he said he was on his way. I then made my way around the rest of the house to check for any more damage. The master bathroom actually had a 2x4 that came through the roof and then through the wall of the bathroom, leaving a hole atleast 18 inches big. Our guest bathroom had about 2 inches of water standing in the floor. Other than glass being everywhere, there wasn't any other damage to the inside of the house. I went to put my shoes on to go outside and check things out and realized the bottoms of my socks were covered in glass and of course soaking wet. Thankfully I wasn't cut. Our neighbors from across the street were standing in my yard when I went outside and they asked if everything was ok and had I been home when it hit. She had been home, but thankfully had made it to a closet with her son before the storm hit. Plus, their house only suffered very minor damage, thank goodness. Her husband went to the neighbor's house to see if anyone there was home because obviously their house was in very bad shape and if someone had been in there, they could have been seriously hurt. Thankfully, they were both still at work. We then examined my house and discovered several spots on the roof where 2x4's and other boards had "stabbed" through the roof leaving holes. There was a 10 foot long board "stabbed" into the ground about 20 feet from our house. Who knows what kind of damage that would have done had it actually hit the house.
The emergency crews began arriving at this point. They broke down the neighbor's door to check and see if anyone was home and needed assistance (no one was), they checked with me to see how we were, and then made their rounds to the other houses with damage. By this time, Keith had made it home, but it took him awhile to actually get to our house because of all the traffic beginning to accumulate from gawkers along with emergency workers. He took the tour of the damage to the house and then climbed on to the roof with a friend of our's who had come to help. They assessed the damage, were given some makeshift materials, and started covering up the holes in the roof to keep out any future rain. Our home builder came by after I called to see what he could do to help us get our house back in order. Not that it was his responsibility at all, but he is such a nice man, that I knew he would help where he could. He brought plywood and with that and some tarps from our neighbor we were able to board up our bedroom windows. He also gave us a list of the people who originally built our house for us to call and get them to come out and fix things. He even pulled some strings and had the window guy out to our house the very next day to replace our broken windows. That was totally awesome and so helpful. He's a wonderful guy.
At this point, you would not believe the traffic winding through our small neighborhood. The police eventually had to block off the roads because people were clogging up our streets terribly. Our neighbors whose house was demolished had made it home by now and you could see the devastation on their faces. They had moved into their house more recently than we had and now it was unliveable. A news crew showed up and interviewed them and later that night a moving/restoration company had also showed up and were salvaging what they could and taking it for storage. By this time, we had the holes in our roof temporarily covered and tarps covering our windows, so we were doing ok. Our neighbors from across the street went out and picked us all up some pizza and we sat around our kitchen eating in the candlelight. Once everyone was home for the evening, Keith and I spent several hours calling our family to let them know what happened. Our mattress was soaked and cut with glass from our windows, so we had to sleep on the full sized guest bed. 2 people sleeping on a full sized bed isn't all that comfortable to begin with, but when one of those people is 6'5", it is pretty much impossible. We ended up putting the mattress on the floor in the living room and slept half on the bed, half on the floor. At about 5 am, the electricity came back on, we weren't sleeping much anyway, so we got up and turned on the news. We saw the funniest thing that morning, we still talk about this to this day. A Fox 4 News reporter was in our neighborhood talking about the tornado and the damage it had done. He was standing next to a pile of bricks that was once a mailbox and talking about how this tornado had even taken down this brick mailbox. Keith and I died laughing, that mailbox had been a pile of bricks since before we had moved out there, so it definitely wasn't caused by the tornado. Too funny! Once it was daylight, we drove around our neighborhood surveying the damage. One house had their chimney completely broken off and it was laying in their yard, another's front porch columns had been blown down, several small storage buildings were completely destroyed, multiple houses had been stripped of their shingles, one house had 2 RVs and they had both blown over and into each other, and there was countless debris everywhere. We learned that day that a man had falled off the roof of a neighbor's house and broken his back the night before. He had to be airlifted to a Dallas hospital. One neighbor just trying to help an elderly neighbor out by patching his roof. Another neighbor told us about their back porch grill being blown into their son's bedroom window and totally destroyed his room due to all the glass and water damage. Thankfully no one was in there at the time.
It took the entire day on Friday to just pick up the debris in our yard. We still to this day find the occasional shingle or scrap of wood in the yard. The insurance adjuster along with the window man also came that day. I know a lot of people have a lot of problems with their insurance companies and we definitely have some gripes about the process it took to eventually get the check to cover all of the damage, and we were thankful we had enough in savings to cover alot of this upfront before finally getting the check. Our insurance adjustor was very nice and helpful. He was very thorough and more than fair with everything. We ended up having a claim for close to $20,000 in damages. We had to get an entire new roof, a new central heating and air conditioner unit, a new bed, new carpet in our bedroom, new blinds for the new windows, new sheetrock in the bedroom and bathroom, of course everything had to be repainted. We were not completely moved back in to our bedroom until June, 3 months later! I am so thankful that we did not have a baby during that time. It was very challenging and frustrating. I am so thankful that God helped us through it and keeps us from constantly worrying that something like this will happen again. And if it does, I know that He will still be there for us. Thanks for letting me get this "out there".
I'm a teacher and I was at school that day like I would be any Thursday (yes, it happened on a Thursday and I can remember that without looking it up). I remember looking on a weather website and seeing a line of strong storms moving through the Fort Worth area early that afternoon. By the time school was letting out, those storms began to pound our area. The principal made an announcement that we were dismissing a little early and teachers who did not have afternoon duties were allowed to leave. Most of the teachers decided to stick it out there, but I just couldn't bring myself to voluntarily stay in the school when I could be heading home. Looking back, that was a dumb idea, but what did I know? I remember it was raining and blowing so hard I could barely get my truck door open and there was absolutely no using an umbrella because it would have been demolished in a matter of seconds. I got out on the road and could barely see in front of me. I ended up behind a long line of traffic virtually stopped, about a mile from my school. We inched along and I eventually came upon the reason for our slow travel, an old barn-type building had blown into the road and everyone was having to make their way around it. After driving another mile, I came upon the interstate and found a spot to park underneath it along with a school bus and a few other vehicles until the storm finally passed. It actually didn't take that long, maybe 15 minutes of sitting, and we were able to move. From there until I came to my neighborhood, I saw relatively minor damage from the storm, a few limbs blown down, maybe the occasional sign, nothing to be concerned about.
I remember driving down the road leading to our housing addition and catching a glimpse of our neighbor's house. Our neighbors have a house that appears to be a 2 story, but in reality is only a one story, and the 2nd "story" on their house was completely gone, roof and everything. I was in total shock, for a moment I couldn't even see our house and just knew that it was completely gone. Finally there was a break in the trees and I was able to see our house for a moment and saw it still standing and looking to be in one piece. I pulled onto our road and had a good view of the side of our house closest to the neighbor's destroyed house. Our bedroom windows appeared to be broken and there was debris all over and around our house. I pulled into the driveway and of course we had no electricity so I couldn't park in the garage, I came in through the front door instead. At the time, Keith and I had only lived here for a year so we were very picky about taking our shoes off before walking on the carpet. I took mine off out of habit and made my way to our bedroom, before I even walked into the door, I could already see glass all over the carpet in the hallway. (Remember, I'm only wearing socks on my feet!) I walked into our bedroom and it was completely destroyed. Both of our windows were broken, glass was everywhere, embedded in the sheetrock, all over the carpet, our bed, etc. Our blinds were completely ruined, the glass on our TV screen was actually chipped from something hitting it. We also had shingles and 2x4's from our neighbor's house, all over our bedroom. Upon seeing our bedroom in such chaos, I called Keith immediately. Of course he didn't answer his cell phone, so I left him a message. At the time I didn't know it, but later that evening when we actually listened to this voice mail, I sounded out of control and very frantic. I called him a second time and he answered and I remember telling him to come home immediately, our house had been hit by a tornado. I told him the state of our neighbor's house and what I had seen so far of our's and he said he was on his way. I then made my way around the rest of the house to check for any more damage. The master bathroom actually had a 2x4 that came through the roof and then through the wall of the bathroom, leaving a hole atleast 18 inches big. Our guest bathroom had about 2 inches of water standing in the floor. Other than glass being everywhere, there wasn't any other damage to the inside of the house. I went to put my shoes on to go outside and check things out and realized the bottoms of my socks were covered in glass and of course soaking wet. Thankfully I wasn't cut. Our neighbors from across the street were standing in my yard when I went outside and they asked if everything was ok and had I been home when it hit. She had been home, but thankfully had made it to a closet with her son before the storm hit. Plus, their house only suffered very minor damage, thank goodness. Her husband went to the neighbor's house to see if anyone there was home because obviously their house was in very bad shape and if someone had been in there, they could have been seriously hurt. Thankfully, they were both still at work. We then examined my house and discovered several spots on the roof where 2x4's and other boards had "stabbed" through the roof leaving holes. There was a 10 foot long board "stabbed" into the ground about 20 feet from our house. Who knows what kind of damage that would have done had it actually hit the house.
The emergency crews began arriving at this point. They broke down the neighbor's door to check and see if anyone was home and needed assistance (no one was), they checked with me to see how we were, and then made their rounds to the other houses with damage. By this time, Keith had made it home, but it took him awhile to actually get to our house because of all the traffic beginning to accumulate from gawkers along with emergency workers. He took the tour of the damage to the house and then climbed on to the roof with a friend of our's who had come to help. They assessed the damage, were given some makeshift materials, and started covering up the holes in the roof to keep out any future rain. Our home builder came by after I called to see what he could do to help us get our house back in order. Not that it was his responsibility at all, but he is such a nice man, that I knew he would help where he could. He brought plywood and with that and some tarps from our neighbor we were able to board up our bedroom windows. He also gave us a list of the people who originally built our house for us to call and get them to come out and fix things. He even pulled some strings and had the window guy out to our house the very next day to replace our broken windows. That was totally awesome and so helpful. He's a wonderful guy.
At this point, you would not believe the traffic winding through our small neighborhood. The police eventually had to block off the roads because people were clogging up our streets terribly. Our neighbors whose house was demolished had made it home by now and you could see the devastation on their faces. They had moved into their house more recently than we had and now it was unliveable. A news crew showed up and interviewed them and later that night a moving/restoration company had also showed up and were salvaging what they could and taking it for storage. By this time, we had the holes in our roof temporarily covered and tarps covering our windows, so we were doing ok. Our neighbors from across the street went out and picked us all up some pizza and we sat around our kitchen eating in the candlelight. Once everyone was home for the evening, Keith and I spent several hours calling our family to let them know what happened. Our mattress was soaked and cut with glass from our windows, so we had to sleep on the full sized guest bed. 2 people sleeping on a full sized bed isn't all that comfortable to begin with, but when one of those people is 6'5", it is pretty much impossible. We ended up putting the mattress on the floor in the living room and slept half on the bed, half on the floor. At about 5 am, the electricity came back on, we weren't sleeping much anyway, so we got up and turned on the news. We saw the funniest thing that morning, we still talk about this to this day. A Fox 4 News reporter was in our neighborhood talking about the tornado and the damage it had done. He was standing next to a pile of bricks that was once a mailbox and talking about how this tornado had even taken down this brick mailbox. Keith and I died laughing, that mailbox had been a pile of bricks since before we had moved out there, so it definitely wasn't caused by the tornado. Too funny! Once it was daylight, we drove around our neighborhood surveying the damage. One house had their chimney completely broken off and it was laying in their yard, another's front porch columns had been blown down, several small storage buildings were completely destroyed, multiple houses had been stripped of their shingles, one house had 2 RVs and they had both blown over and into each other, and there was countless debris everywhere. We learned that day that a man had falled off the roof of a neighbor's house and broken his back the night before. He had to be airlifted to a Dallas hospital. One neighbor just trying to help an elderly neighbor out by patching his roof. Another neighbor told us about their back porch grill being blown into their son's bedroom window and totally destroyed his room due to all the glass and water damage. Thankfully no one was in there at the time.
It took the entire day on Friday to just pick up the debris in our yard. We still to this day find the occasional shingle or scrap of wood in the yard. The insurance adjuster along with the window man also came that day. I know a lot of people have a lot of problems with their insurance companies and we definitely have some gripes about the process it took to eventually get the check to cover all of the damage, and we were thankful we had enough in savings to cover alot of this upfront before finally getting the check. Our insurance adjustor was very nice and helpful. He was very thorough and more than fair with everything. We ended up having a claim for close to $20,000 in damages. We had to get an entire new roof, a new central heating and air conditioner unit, a new bed, new carpet in our bedroom, new blinds for the new windows, new sheetrock in the bedroom and bathroom, of course everything had to be repainted. We were not completely moved back in to our bedroom until June, 3 months later! I am so thankful that we did not have a baby during that time. It was very challenging and frustrating. I am so thankful that God helped us through it and keeps us from constantly worrying that something like this will happen again. And if it does, I know that He will still be there for us. Thanks for letting me get this "out there".
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