Happy Birthday My Sweet Zach!

Today is Zachary's 8th birthday!  He is such a big boy, independent and has life under control that I forget that he is only turning 8!  I always think of him as a little older.

He was born sometime this evening... he was a very painful labour.  OUCH!  He was a fast labour yet a excruciating one!  I was so angry at him when he was born.  I remember looking at him as he lay in bed realizing the ridiculousness of my anger and yet feeling justified.

I have blogged many a time of this wonderful child of mine.  Zachary is zany and zestful!
He is zilly and zappy!  He is zenergetic and full of zeans!

My Zach is a very hard worker.  He does not give up.  He is a great friend.  He is thoughtful and kind and very loving.

He never lets his size or age stop him.  He is my go getter!

I love this kid of mine!!!  I love him zoodles and zoodles!

Thank You Jesus, for blessing me with the gift of being this beautiful child's mom.
May he have a wonderful year of lots of love and happiness!

Happy Birthday Zachary Thomas!!!

Stuff

Today I spent some time at the boys school helping clean out the kitchen.

Here's the thing, I wouldn't have done have that stuff even at home!

How come it is so much easier cleaning outside my home?

Do you ever wonder where stuff comes from?

I have baskets of stuff that I never use... yet can't seem to throw away either.

Have you ever walked into someone's house that has just the furniture out?

Where is their piles?  How do you not have piles?

I have piles... piles of bills that I feel if I don't open then they can't scream at me...

I have piles of laundry.  Some clean and folded.  Some dirty and waiting.

I have piles of stuff that need to be sorted into give away or garbage.

I have piles of shoes... waiting for someone to use them... or really needing to be tossed.

I have piles of cords... do you know what I mean?  Cords for this and that yet we need seem to use them.

I have piles of dog doo doo that needs to be cleaned up.  Anyone?

So when I walk into someone's house and their are no piles... I can't help but almost hate them.

That's bad, right?  Yeah, I know.

The problem is that kind of person that has no piles is so organized and has self control.  So usually, they are skinny because they don't pile their food to ridiculous portions.  They are neat.  Their cars are perfect inside.  They grocery shop probably one a week... they are people that drive me crazy.

I want to be that person... sigh.  I am a work in progress, I suppose.

Thank You, Jesus for not giving up on me!

The Boogie Man

It is 9:19 p.m.  I was happily relaxing in my bed snuggled up with Max, watching American Idol.  The two younger ones have been down for a bit.  Sanj and the older 3 are at hockey.

My peacefulness is disturbed by sounds downstairs.  At first I think it is just a pot resettling in the cupboard.  Yet I continue to hear sounds.  My heart is racing... my head is pounding.  I am scared.  I am the world's biggest chicken.  My jaws are hurting from tension.

What if someone is in the house?  I call Sanj.  He is not too helpful.  He thinks that one of the dogs are loose out of their crate and making a mess.  (Did I mention he is a bit OCD?)  He told me to go check it out.

Is he crazy?  He knows I am not going down till he gets home.  He calls me again.  "Are you OK?" he asks.  Um... NOOOOOO!   He says, "Dial 911 and go down the stairs."  Um... NOOOOOOOOO!

I tell him to just hurry up and get home.

Here's the thing... I am a chicken.  I don't even really listen to the news because it will likely cause me stress.  We live out in the boonies... Where is the nearest police?

I remember on the news (when I was young) a story about the bad guy breaking into people's homes, hiding under the bed and waiting till the climbed up, dangling their feet.  Then whack... he would cut their Achilles tendon.

Sick, eh?  To this day, my feet never dangle off my bed.  Just a rule.

I never get into my vehicle with out checking the back seat at night.  Crazy, eh?


I never sleep with the closet door open.  

I know.  I just fear things, rational and irrational.  Maybe I should get a gun and learn how to use it.  My dogs are quiet.  Maybe the bad guy gave them a piece of meat with a sleeping pill.  Yes, I know, I watched to many movies.  Turner and Hooch comes to mind.

Sigh.  I hear Sanj pulling up in the drive way.  My hero.  Now I'll just wait for him to open the door... and yell at the mess the dogs made... or the bad guy.  If you don't see a blog soon, you'll know it was the bad guy.  If you see a blog post, you can send Sanj a sympathy card!


I am OK!  Apparently it was no one!  Sigh.  Good Night!

A Long Way Gone... by Ishmael Beah

I just finished a book called "A Long Way Gone."

I have to admit that it was a hard read.  From the back of the book you know right off the start it isn't a happy story.  Yet I was captivated.  I would pass it on and say read it.

This is what Amazon.com said:

"This absorbing account by a young man who, as a boy of 12, gets swept up in Sierra Leone's civil war goes beyond even the best journalistic efforts in revealing the life and mind of a child abducted into the horrors of warfare. Beah's harrowing journey transforms him overnight from a child enthralled by American hip-hop music and dance to an internal refugee bereft of family, wandering from village to village in a country grown deeply divided by the indiscriminate atrocities of unruly, sociopathic rebel and army forces. Beah then finds himself in the army—in a drug-filled life of casual mass slaughter that lasts until he is 15, when he's brought to a rehabilitation center sponsored by UNICEF and partnering NGOs. The process marks out Beah as a gifted spokesman for the center's work after his "repatriation" to civilian life in the capital, where he lives with his family and a distant uncle. When the war finally engulfs the capital, it sends 17-year-old Beah fleeing again, this time to the U.S., where he now lives. (Beah graduated from Oberlin College in 2004.)"

It was a great read.  I can't stop thinking of the life this child lead.  I can't help thinking of my Jordan, Tyler, or Sammy wondering thorough the woods, dealing with the grief of a lost family, suffering from lack of food, water and shelter.  I can't image my babies lives without us there to guide, nurture and love them.  Then I have to add the horror of being a child solider.  Unbelievable and yet I thank God for giving each of us the strength we need to cope with each of our challenges.

It is a book worth reading.

Practicing What I Preach...

I just read my blog about loving the ones that are hard to love.

My dad called my mom  and was going on about his loneliness.  He wants to live with each of his children a month.  YIKES!  My mom said,  "call and ask them."

His reply was, "I thought you could ask."

My mom said no.  (Good for her!)

He was at my brother's  over Christmas almost a month and chose not to call me at all. 

I left that ball in his court.  

How I struggle with this!  He made his bed and sleeping in it is not pleasant.  I feel bad for his loneliness. Yet no matter what, his life is all a creation of his own choices.

Sucks, eh?  

I think of that often, especially being at Sanj's office, I see two kinds of people.  There are the seniors that choose happy and life.  Then there are those that choice to be miserable.  I want so bad to be a happy person... my whole life.  Getting old sucks.  But really, it doesn't have too.  If you choose to live and make each day count... you can find happiness along the way.

Back to my dad... I called Sanj and said that my dad wants to come for a month.

There was silence on the other end.  lol

Have I told you I love this man?

Sanj replied, "maybe a week."  lol

A month would be a long time too... for all of us.
A week would be stressful...

I know my dad wouldn't stay a month anyway.

So... I am pray and about (and pray please God, don't let him call), I have decided that if he calls... I'll extend the invite.

I wonder in this kind of situtation what Jesus would do?

Oye.  I wonder what it would be like to live a boring life?

I guess being kind to the odd, weird and annoying is a category my dad falls into.  Talk about practicing what I preach.

This picture is random.  Jordan had to make a model of ones' ribs.

Obviously I didn't help him... thus the great job!

Ice, Friends, A Long Weekend...

I had a great weekend once with my men.  Saturday afternoon after hockey,  we had friends over.  They were on the rink all day.  Literally!  Zach (my 7 year old) had to be at hockey at 9 a.m.  then he and his buddies were on the ice from 2-7 p.m. with maybe a half an  hour for supper.  Crazy, eh?

*** Just a side bar about Zach's hockey game... he played goalie that morning.  Wow.  I hope none of my boys ever want to play that position.  Take about stress!!!

They had such a good time.  Sanj and the dad of the kiddies had a  great game with the older boys.  On the ice, age is obviously not taken into account. lol

Tyler had a friend over from his younger days.  It was so neat to see these two just pick up where they left off.  I could hear them laughing making prank calls about ordering Chinese food.

So, it was a good weekend.  It is topped off with no school today!  The house is quiet.  Everyone is off doing their thing.  

Last night it rained and rained.  So no rink for a bit but it was perfect sleeping weather.

Josh does not understand the meaning of sleeping in.  As soon as he sees a hint of daylight he is up, "Mommy, it isn't night time anymore!"

I have been thinking so much about all the babes out there... not just in Haiti but around the world.  I asked Sanj if we win the lotto (I found a ticket on the ground the other day... ) could we adopt 6 little boys?

He said he would divorce me.  lol

So I am pretty sure I can adopt 2!!!   I love this man!

A Challenge...

Here's the thing... as parents we want the best for our kids.  We want them to be happy,well rounded, and carefree.  We want their childhoods to be simple, safe and special.  We want them to have friends.  We want them to have memories of secrets with their buddies, sleepovers and share great times.

What about the child that does not have this?  I have heard this week alone, of parents that told their child not to be friends with so and so.  Not of any reason then what is made up in their heads.

Josh has already come home saying that this kid doesn't like so and so... and this is from the parents.

In JK they are learning already to be exclusive and intolerant.

What happens to a child that suffers this loneliness all throughout school?  That sucks!

In 8th grade, when they graduate, do you think that they are leaving their childhood behind with warm fuzzy feelings?

It makes me sad.  I wonder how adults can live with that.  It is something that we know is wrong.

I try so hard to teach my children that  when someone is odd, different, hard to understand, many times, it isn't their fault.  We live in an age where there are some many diagnosis', where many can fall under a wide spectrum of various issues.  This is a child that needs to be included... even if it is hard.

Do you really think that someone wants to be different, difficult and friendless?

I hate when parents instruct the child to not play with someone.  I hate when someone puts themselves better than another.

I am really struggling with this.  I struggle with this as an adult.  Just because there are hard people, needy people, that may annoy or suffocate... these are folks that Jesus would love.  These are people that Jesus would choose to hang out with.  To share a cup of tea with someone, to give a half an hour of your time... you'd be amazed how good you feel not to mention what a gift you just gave someone else.

I realize that maybe I am rambling... and I am sorry.  I just have this thought and am not sure how to express it.  I think that if we each just loved those that are hard to love... it may be  surprising what comes out of that.

Here's my challenge.... This week,  include one person, that we may not normally chose to hang out with... spend a half an hour...  and then share that experience... let's see what happens.

Thoughts... don't worry about what to chat about, they usually will talk... just ask a couple of questions...

"How was your weekend?"  or  "How was your day off with the kiddies?"

Are you in?