five years ago...

It was 5 years ago that Stephen and I tied the knot. We've had so much fun together. Everyone says how hard marriage is the first couple of years and for us, that wasn't relevant at all. It was all natural for us. I truly love Stephen more now than ever before and I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with him.

Praise the Lord!

enjoying the heat...

I thought we were done potty training!

So, this again is mainly for my records so that when I come back to this time with future kids I can look back and say, "oh, it happened with her and we got over it." At least, that's what I'm hoping I'll be able to say.

Pear was potty trained and doing great. Sure, I needed to remind her every once in a while or we'd have an accident but for the most part, she would come and tell me when she had to go potty.

About three weeks ago, we went to the park with our good friends/cousins Brook and Joseph. They have three little girls and the youngest two are about the same ages as Pear and Jovie. Brook and I were talking about our girls and potty training. I was bragging about how well Pear was doing with the matter and wouldn't you know, she had an accident at the park not even thirty minutes after the said discussion! Ever since then, she seems to have completely lost interest in going on the potty. If I tell her "let's go potty first" or "come on, you need to go potty" sure, she'll go on the potty. But that is ONLY if I remind her or make her. If I forget to remind her for more than an hour and a half, you'll be sure to find a puddle.

As much as I feel like putting her in diapers, I'm not going to. What good would that do? But here is where I'm stumped- what should I do? I guess I could go on watching her like a hawk and just putting her on the potty like clockwork but should I have to? I know she can do it. She knows when she has to go. She knows how to hold it until she gets to the potty. She did it for a couple of months!

Ugh. The ups and downs of potty training. In my case, there are a whole lot more downs than ups.

Camping

Last week, Stephen and I thought it would be fun to go camping. Eastern Washington, a refreshing lake, sitting around a campfire, waking up and making breakfast outside; yes, camping sounded terrific! The Corrigan family wanted to go as well so we decided on Lake Wenatchee as it was about the only campground that had some first-come first-serve sites. We borrowed Stephen's parents' camping trailer which made things even more appealing. Upon arrival, all was good. We set up camp, walked around, went down to the lake, played on the playground, ate some snacks, took potty breaks, etc. Now this about sums up the trip. Stephen and I hardly had a minute to sit down because Jovie of course is right at the age where she can get anywhere and she wants to eat EVERYTHING. Everything includes dirt, rocks and garbage. So, either Stephen or myself were constantly holding Jovie while the other prepared food or took Pear to the potty. I shouldn't say that we were constantly busy because Trevor (Pear's favorite person next to my sisters) was there to hold Pear, take her to the playground or sympathize with her when she got hurt. All in all, Pear had a blast, Stephen and I were worn out and we discovered that it's probably not worth trying to go camping with an 8 month old. We are however looking forward to camping next year as Jovie will be at a much better age!

Julie & Julia

I am very rarely excited about a movie. I thoroughly enjoy movies but usually they are black and white (meaning they were made prior to color television)! For the most part, new movies are (in my mind) dull, repetitive and trash. I am, however, excited about this one!

Follow the Rabbi

Stephen and I have been listening to and enjoying the "Follow the Rabbi" lectures by Ray Vanderlaan. They are encouraging, inspiring and very thought provoking. My eyes have been opened to the thinking of an eastern mind and to the very core of the culture which the scripture was written in. I am still trying to break the mold of my western thinking mind which assumes that a+b=c or that when the bible speaks of numbers, it means quantity where in fact, the numbers often spoken of are symbolic to an eastern mind and convey an entirely different meaning.

I highly encourage you check out this link. Take some time and listen to these lectures. I plan on listening to these a couple of times over as I am still processing a lot of the things I've heard. Also, these are great to download to a CD and take on your next road trip. Just an idea!

Be encouraged.

Unnatural

I'm not a big Michael Jackson fan for a couple of reasons: For one, I have always found it slightly disturbing to fill my head with music coming from a weird, twisted and perverted person and two, his style is simply not my favorite. I will not deny that he had talent. And I actually do enjoy some tunes from Jackson 5. I will also not deny that his death is extremely sad. However, my reasoning is not because he will be missed but because of the fact that his lifestyle did not exemplify one that was following Christ. I am baffled and disturbed by the transformation of a healthy looking fun kid to a scary, unnatural man. What would bring someone to this transformation?
I feel silly to even post about Michael Jackson, but at the same time, I wonder what he could have done with the talent he was blessed with if only he used it for God's glory. And it makes me think about life and how I am supposed to be living in order to change this world and the people in it to be more like Christ.

Black and White and a little color

Friends

This is me and my friend Disney. We were best of friends for the longest time. Disney was the sweetest thing and she would do anything for me. I loved her to pieces! We raised our baby dolls together, would chat it up after church service and if we were lucky, our moms would let us get together for the afternoon! We had slumber parties and play dates. I will never forget how many hours we would spend playing barbie dolls at my house! Or how much fun we had playing downstairs in that big house next to the Church of Christ in Central Park. After Disney's family moved FAR away I remember being so excited to receive a letter from Disney.

I remember the day we found out about each other having babies. I was in Target with Pear who was only 2 or 3 months old and Disney called me. She didn't know that I had a baby and I didn't know she was expecting. She told me her good news (she was due within a few weeks) and I told her that I had a sweet baby girl. I was so excited that we both had baby girls within a couple of months of each other, secretly hoping that they would get to be best friends too someday.

I am blessed to know you Disney. Happy Birthday sweet friend!

Me and Disney at my wedding reception

Our daughters on a shopping trip