The Good Life

Ahh, we are back at home in KC. I love my home. I love my friends and I have missed them. Lots of updates..First of all, Joel is sleeping in his new big boy bed (pictures will follow) and second, we bought a new camera to replace our broken one. Thirdly, I go back to work next week. While I love teaching and I am so excited to teach with my good friend Liz this year, I am sad to not be spending every minute with Joel. He has been so much fun this summer. The time just went so fast. Here are my favorite things about this summer with Joel:
1. "Mommy, I poopy"
2. Eating "snak" with Joel at the table with both of us in "big char"
3. Watching Joel climb up the big slide at the park
4. Cuddling on the couch watching Blues Clues in the early morning, learning our shapes and colors
5. Coloring with markers and watching Joel color on his "niples" (he just discovered them one day)
6. Swimming...so cute..Joel actually lays down in the shallow water and pushes himself around with his hands and screams "I swimming"
7. Taking walks and having Joel point out birdies (by the way, he no longer calls them "boobies')
8. Impressing people at restauraunts with his knowledge of his alphabet
9. singing and swinging
10. Hearing Joel say "Jesus loves me" for the first time

Ah, Life is Good.

Be Patient

Joel doesn't like to wait, so I will say "be" and then he'll say "patient" when I am trying to get him his food or when we are checking out at the grocery store and he is wailing that he "needs it", whatever it may be a chip, a toy, etc. The thing that hit me today is that I am not much more patient than Joel is when it comes to what I want.

We are ending our time here in Hays in a few days. Our time here has been great, but I really miss home. It is weird to think that we won't have cause to come back here for a while. I definitely won't miss the greenish brown carpet or sharing a room with Joel, but I have been so grateful for this opportunity. We have met such wonderful people and we have grown to truly love them. I can't express how much I feel that God was totally in this process of Justin getting his masters. The way that it worked out to be able to live in the old parsonage for the cost of utilities for not one, but two summers is amazing. They have been trying to sell the old parsonage, but it hasn't sold yet. My conclusion has been this: God's timing is at work. He planned this, knowing how hard it would have been for either Justin and I to be apart or for us to financially afford to live here in Campus housing (about $750 a month) on top of our morgage. This whole two summer experience has helped me to see even more how God will provide....in his time. So I'm going to try to "beeeee patient" with all of the things that I feel like I "need".

Colossians 1:10-12: " And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

Naptime Nightmare

About the time we arrived in Hays, Joel learned how to climb out of his pack-n-play. Lovely. Since that day, naptime has been a nightmare. He pops out of there as soon as I close the door and comes padding down the hallway saying "need milk" or "I hungry" or anything else that he sees as a way to keep from the inevitable, me putting him back in bed. I need a nap by the time I get him down for one! Bedtime is not quite as bad....he usually gets up a time or 2 and then he's happy to at least read in his bed until he falls asleep. My plan is to move him into a big boy bed when we get back to KC, but since he will still probably nap in a play pen at daycare, I still want him to understand that he needs to nap. Kids don't give up their naps until much older, right? He used to be such a good napper! I miss those days! Ah, well. Anyway, I found this great bedroom set from Target for his new "big boy room". I'm moving him downstairs too (this will prevent my nightmares). Here it is, perfect for my little monkey:

Subsisting on the alms of Others

This was part of what I read yesterday in Beth Moore's Jesus, the One and Only:
"God created us to need something or someone else. Sooner or later, any healthy individual discovers that autonomy doesn't cut it. Once we confront our need for someone or something beyond ourselves, we will subsist on the alms of others if we don't discover Christ. Like beggars we go from person to person with our empty cup, crying "Can't you add anything to my life". They might throw in a coin or two...but when we shake the cup, the tinny echo reminds us how empty we remain. Until we allow Jesus to fill our cups daily, we simply subsist. The good news Christ may want to preach to you today is that you don't have to subsist. You were meant to thrive. Sooner or later, God will make sure we confront the poverty of living on the alms of others so that we may learn to feast on Him."
I loved it...and I feel like it was a great reminder for me, here in Hays, away from all my beloved friends....that I can use the time to feast on Him. Autonomy does not cut it for me...I need people. I fill up on interaction...the story of an extrovert. I have made a few new friends here this year along with the few that we made last year from church. Most of them are moms of kids around Joel's age that we meet at the at the park or the pool. I always feel bad when I tell them that I'm only here for the summer. I feel like its a "sorry, we can only be friends for a little while". But yesterday in reading Beth's book, I was reminded that even if it was only for a short while, if I can show them Christ in the time we have together, then maybe their cup will be a little fuller.

Bragging Rights

Today Joel sang parts of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Row, Row Your Boat, and the alphabet song for me. It was so cute. I love how many things he is learning right now and I can't help but tell everyone around. I don't mean to brag...I'm just excited!
Here are a few of the other things Joel is doing now along with working on his singing: Can say his full name (Joel Swain Williams) and tell you how old he is (and says 1 now despite the fact that he used to tell you he was 2), Knows 14 letters of the alphabet, knows numbers 1-10 and can count things, says sentences (some of his favorites are "Swing with friends" and "Help me please" and "I need cookie"), can climb out of his bed (which makes bedtime and naptime a game of popcorn), can swing on the big kid swing and my personal favorite thing he can do now is that he can not only go down the tunnel slide at the park but he can climb up it as well (thanks to the 4 year old friends we met at the park). There are lots more things but those are the ones that he does that impress me the most! I have to say that 19 months is a great age! Oh, I will be sad when school starts...I will really miss our fun times this summer.

Sleepy

Staying up til midnight and getting up with a toddler in the morning do not mix. I just took a 2 hour nap while Justin took Joel to the playground. Seriously, I'm old. Just exactly what age is it that your body just shuts down and says "we're sorry, no more staying up late and functioning"? Don't get me wrong, I love sleep and I love my life....I just wish I had energy to do more. Sometimes I feel like every time some one asks me "how are you" I respond with a "tired".
On another note, my camera is now broken. Somewhere between the 1 1/2 year old who wants to play with it and the abuse over 3 years of daily use, it has died and gone to camera heaven. So I'll post more pictures when we get a new one. Since I have no new pictures, here's one to remind me of the "Sleepless Year" of my life.......Joel at 1 month. I really should appreciate that I can now sleep through the night!

Lost and Found Lucy

Yesterday Lucy (our beagle) got out of the fence 3 times. The fence here in Hays has had a hole in in and the pastor of the Nazarene church fixed it. (For those of you who don't know, we are living in the old church parsonage here in Hays while they try to sell it....we are so blessed to be able to do this the 2nd summer in a row!!). So Lucy had been having to be tied up with a stake and rope cord, but since the fence was fixed, she was out free that morning. I took Joel to the park to play, like we do every morning and when we got back, Lucy was gone.
About 5 minutes later though, there she was scratching at the door. I told her she was a bad dog and bopped her on the nose....and of course, Joel did the same. Then that afternoon when Lucy wanted to go out, I put her on the cord in the fence. Well, I came out a little later to find her gone...again. Somehow her collar had come off and she was again free. But she still wasn't far...so again we had her back. Third times a charm right? Justin, Joel, and I went to the free family pool night after dinner and so Lucy went back on the cord. I figured surely she had learned her lesson. I had scolded her pretty hard after the last time. But nope, she was gone. Some neighbor (we live next to some pretty run down apartments that are lived in my some college students...or at least mostly that age) had been "nice" enough to leave us a note (written in handwriting worse than most of my students) that said "get a better collar for your dog". Well, thank you...I would but I don't know where she is............lovely. A little side note of "she went east" would have been nice. Anyway, I put Joel to bed and Justin had to go to a study group for his classes. I didn't know what else to do so finally at around 9, I called animal control. And guess what? Lucy was there at the police department!! The policeman brought her home and didn't give me a citation since I explained that we were city folks just here for a month. He also told me that it was really funny because Lucy had showed up at the animal control officer's house. Yup, his house. So, Lucy was home. I gave her lots of love this time...no scolding. Even though she has eaten 4 pairs of my shoes and now has run away, we still love our dog. This morning, I felt like God was reminding me that I am not all that far from Lucy's story....
"I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands."
Psalm 119:175-176
"My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.Jeremiah 50:5-7
And this is God's promise to me...despite my wanderings and chewings:
"I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
Ezekiel 34:15-17

Thank goodness that no matter how many times I get out of the fence, He loves me... and gives me extra loving when I return.

Happy Fourth!

Kiss my Cellulite

Justin, Joel and I are here in the land of Hays for the month of July. Justin is finishing his masters and Joel and I play all day. Hays doesn't have much in comparison to KC, but they do have one really awesome pool. So that brings me to my topic. Cellulite. I hate it, but I can't get rid of it. And I've had it forever. I remember being in Jr. High and being self-conscious of my dimpled marshmallow thighs. My mom has told me forever...that it wasn't until I was born that she realized that there was really nothing she could ever do about her thighs....and I inherited them. But one thing I never want to be is that mom who refuses to go to the pool and play with her kids because of "how I look in my suit".
I usually try to find a pair of cute shorts to go over my swim suit bottoms but this year I bought a new suit and have not found the shorts yet. I decided "what the heck" and took my son to have fun at the pool and thought "who cares, everyone has cellulite". But the truth is, not everyone does. As I was at the pool playing with Joel, I noticed that there were women twice my size with not a dimple on them...and ones even skinnier than me with more cellulite than myself. At 120 pounds, I am completely happy with my size...but would love to get rid of the cottage cheese.

Wikipedia says this: Cellulite is not related to being overweight; average and underweight people also get cellulite.^[1] However, diet factors (see below) that contribute to cellulite can also contribute to becoming overweight. Several genetic factors have been shown to be necessary for cellulite to develop. Gender, race, biotype,^[3] a hormone receptor allele that determines the receptor number and sensitivity, distribution of subcutaneous fat, and predisposition to circulatory insufficiency have all been shown to contribute to cellulite.^[1]Diet has been shown to affect the development and amount of cellulite. Excessive amounts of fat, carbohydrates, salt, or too little fiber can all contribute to an increased cellulite.^[1] Smoking, lack of exercise, fatty/starchy foods, and sitting or standing in a single position for long periods have all been correlated with an increase in cellulite. A high stress lifestyle will cause an increase in the catecholamine hormones. ^[1]

So there you have it......I have to stop eating, sitting, and standing, and worrying...and then I will have the perfect backside.

I also found this: http://skinnycelebnews.blogspot.com
/2007/06/celebs-who-beat-cellulite-i-dont-think.
html and if I had a million dollars, I might be able to beat cellulite. But in the meantime, you may have to see my dimpled backside a time or two.
Well, I guess I'll have to go look for some new shorts......