For Blake

Isaiah and Sam were in the bath the other day. We're still doing the thing where Sam is in the baby tub inside the big tub, and Isaiah's just in the big tub. Anyway, I was about to get them out of the bath on Saturday night, after I had scrubbed all the camp dirt off them, when I saw what I thought was some dirt from a bath toy or something in Sam's tub. Not that the bath toys are dirty, but who knows, right? Then I saw another, and another. You can guess what happened. Sam pooed in the bath. EWWWWWWWWWW! This was the first time either kid had pooed in the bath for me. Isaiah and Sam each did it once for my mom before. Ha!

So of course I started freaking out, promptly removed Isaiah from the bath, and rinsed Sam in the water in the big tub. I cleaned it up as best as I could while still holding Sam. After the boys were in bed I poured straight bleach into both tubs, scrubbed and rinsed them, then sprayed Clorox clean-up all over them just to be safe.

So there's your good poo story for the day. (Blake said he likes a good poo story.)

Haircut adventures

#1 I got my hair trimmed a few weeks ago at Supercuts. Nothing drastic this time, because I'm trying to grow it out a little. Anyway, as the stylist wet my hair and combed it, she commented (somewhat rudely), "What is going on with your haircut?" I didn't say anything (what can you say to that?) but I was thinking that I got it cut here last, so if you don't think it looks good, then what does that say about this store. Have you ever had a stylist make comments about your hair? It's like, I know it looks bad, that's why I'm here so it can look better! You don't have to make me feel bad about it. Then I got to thinking about how sometimes we treat people at church like that. We look down on them because they aren't perfect when they're just there to find wholeness and healing through Christ. Anyway...

#2 I took the boys to get their hair cut today. As I mentioned yesterday, we're going to a college mini reunion this weekend, and I want them to look decent. That way my friends will think I am a mom who has it all together. Ha! When I walked into Great Clips, there was a sign saying that the manager, Ann, was on duty. As I looked at the two stylists, I assumed that the older woman with the long gray hair styled into a curly, Victorian updo was the manager. She was wearing a silky, lacy white blouse that no one under 60 would wear. She was also wearing glasses, and I could only assume that she had been a librarian in previous years. As she came over to check the boys in, I noticed that she had a nose ring and several tatoos on her hands, arms, legs, and ankles. I have nothing against nose rings or tatoos, but it just seemed really odd on her. I kept looking at her, unable to reconcile the prim older woman look with the piercing and tattoos.

#3 Isaiah got his hair cut first. He usually sits pretty still, he just doesn't like getting the water sprayed on his hair.

#4 Sam got his first haircut! He is so young to need his hair cut, but he was just starting to look too scruffy. I held him on my lap and tried to hold him still enough for the stylist to cut his hair. He was very wiggly, and I think the stylist almost poked him in the head with her scissors about 17 times. Isaiah kept trying to spin the chair I was sitting on, too! Somehow Ann managed to cut around Sam's ears and thin out the bush that was growing on the back of his head!

Enough hair adventures for now.

Mahaffey Camp 2008

We are so glad to be home from camp. We were there last week from Monday to Saturday. It's always fun to see, generally, the same people year after year. Since Dan and I have been working with the kids for the past eight years, we get to see them grow up. It seems to happen so fast! We also got to see a friend of ours who has a 3 1/2-year-old daughter and 11-week-old twin girls. They DROVE from Florida. She said she just couldn't miss a year of Mahaffey! I'm officially declaring her Mom of the Year.

We were surprised to find out that two couples close to our age are going through some difficult times. One couple's divorce will be final in a few months. The other couple is separated as of about a month ago. I got to spend a lot of time with their daughter who's going into 8th grade (yes, they had her very young which I'm sure created some complications in their relationship). Their daughter is so sweet and smart. Anyway, we had a lot of time to talk about the situation.

Probably the biggest challenge of the week was our family's sleeping arrangements. We borrowed Vern and Lorrie's rv because it is air conditioned! (at least it was, until the air conditioner broke on Friday). The best part about the rv was having our OWN BATHROOM! (If you've ever been to Mahaffey, you know this is a very big deal).

In the rv there are three double beds in the rv and nowhere to put the Sam's pack-n-play. Dan and I slept on separate beds because Dan calls me a bed hog even when we're sleeping in out king bed at home. We really don't like sharing beds with our kids because we just don't sleep well when we do that, so we divided the one bed in half with the creative use of a bed rail, and put Sam on one half and Isaiah on the other. It seemed like a good idea, but Sam could easily crawl over the bed rail, so getting him to sleep was almost impossible. Friday night was the first night they both slept a normal amount (8:15 or so until 7:00 a.m.) Every night before that, one of them was up til 10 or so. On Thursday night Samuel woke up at 1am, 5am, and 6am. That morning I almost packed it all up and came home.

I overheard a supervisor in the dining hall saying the one of her workers was leaving because her kids had become "unmanageable." I could relate to that woman, because with the lack of sleep, Isaiah and Sam's manageability went WAY down, as did my ability to manage them. Ha!

By Friday, we would be walking to the dining hall or somewhere else at camp, and Isaiah would just sit down on the sidewalk and suck his thumb. He was just plain exhausted!

We survived and have only one more episode of traveling planned. A college friend near Harrisburg, PA is having a mini-reunion, so we're headed out there this Friday and Saturday. Last night I figured out that we have been away 4 out of the last 8 weeks. After this weekend, we're ready to stay put for a while.
Dan and Sam on the bridge

Sam wearing Isaiah's nametag

Me and Eden

Isaiah playing at kids' corner

Isaiah totally zonked out!

Roses, bubbles, and butterflies

I got to sleep in til 9:06 this morning. I was awake when the boys first got up, around 7:30 or so. But then Dan (so wonderfully!!!) took them downstairs so I could sleep some more. When I finally woke up, I told Dan that if I could sleep in til 9:00 every morning, my life would be all roses, bubbles, and butterflies. It's true. =)

Off we go...

Well, we are packed and ready to go to Mahaffey Camp. We'll be home Saturday evening!

Eventful trip

You wouldn't think that driving up to Greenville, PA would yield any great stories. You would be wrong.

On Thursday, the boys and I, Katherine, and Abbie drove up to see my dad, aunt, cousin, etc. in Greenville. On the way up 79, as we were nearing a rest area, I asked Isaiah if he needed to go to the bathroom. He said he did. We stopped and I took him to the bathroom without incident. Apparently while we were in there, Katherine, who was waiting in the car with Sam and Abbie, looked back and thought Sam had dirt on his face. It wasn't dirt. Yeah. You're getting the idea. IT WAS POO.

She's such a champ. While I was still in the bathroom with Isaiah, she started cleaning Sam in the car! The poor kid had poo up to his armpits. No kidding. It was definitely bath worthy, had we been home. To make a long story short, I ended up giving him a bath in the sink in the bathroom. Poor kid was completely nudie in the rest area! I was getting very sympathetic looks from other travellers, who were careful to keep their distance and stay out of the way. =)

Cleaning his carseat was another adventure involving many, many baby wipes.

I thought the whole incident was a really bad diaper malfunction, but my aunt later told me that it is a common side effect of the type of antibiotics that he's on (augmentin) for his ear infection.

Oh well. After a 20 minute stop, we were on our way again.

As soon as we arrived at my aunt's house, I made use of her laundry facility. =)

I survived today

By now you all know that I'm a binge blogger, so two posts in one day after a week of not posting shouldn't surprise anyone.

Let me tell you the story of my day.

My hands smell like bleach. In fact, the whole house smells like bleach. Why you ask? Because I sanitized and de-germified every last toy in the house today. I also sanitized every door knob and lightswitch and every handle on anything anyone's ever touched.

That's awfully ambitions, you say.

Why yes, yes it was, considering I had a back spasm yesterday and have been walking around half hunched over in a really pathetic way. In my opinion, based on today's events, not cleaning all the toys and the house wasn't an option.

Today I also held Sam while giving him a breathing treatment, which took about ten minutes of me trying to hold on to him while keeping the baby breathing mask over his nose and mouth. All the while, he was wiggling out of my arms, screaming, and crying with tears streaming down his little face. (At moments like that, you really question whether, as a parent, you are doing the best thing for your child. Is it really worth it?)

I was just following the doctor's orders. After an hour and a half doctor's appointment today, the doctor determined that Isaiah has one infected ear and Sam has two infected ears. Sam was also wheezing, which she said could be a sign of asthma.

This is the fourth antibiotic that Isaiah has been on in the last five months. It's the second or third antibiotic Sam's been on in the same amount of time. (Forgive me for losing track). Of course, every antibiotic is stronger and stronger.

I can only take so much of my kids constantly being sick. So I went ballistic (just ask Dan) cleaning everything possible. Dan even cleaned some mold/mildew we had on the bathroom ceiling in case that was making the boys sick.

Out of desperation, I emailed Kate. Kate who? Kate from John and Kate plus 8. I figured that, on the show, she's always answering emails, so why not? She used to be a nurse and has 8 kids. She must have some great ways to cut down on sickness at home.

So, that was my day, and I'm glad it's over.

How to choose a college

Choosing a college is one of the first big decisions a young person makes in his/her life. I remember when I was in high school, preparing to choose a college, and feeling so clueless and stressed about it.
I went to a secular private high school, and the guidance counseling I got there was questionable at best. The guidance counselor assumed that you wanted to get into the best school you possibly could, ideally, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or UPenn. We were supposed to make three lists of colleges: likely, possibly, and reach. I can guarantee that one of those top schools was on everyone's reach list, including mine. I made my lists, but I felt like I was just going through the motions. God hadn't given me an interest in those schools.
Another complication was that I didn't know what I wanted to major in. I had it narrowed down to biology or music. In the back of my mind, I thought I wanted to attend a Christian college. However, I didn't know of many Christian colleges, and the ones I knew of didn't have a biology major.
Then a close friend of mine from summer camp who planned to be a biology major told me that she was going to Houghton College. Of course, I had never heard of it. With a little research on Houghton, I knew it was the place for me. A Christian college with great programs in biology and music seemed like the perfect fit for me. From the moment I stepped foot on the campus, I knew God was calling me to go there. (The guidance counselor thought I was crazy and misguided when I informed her I was going to Houghton, by the way! )
So how should you choose a college? Hopefully you have an idea of what majors you are interested in. So first of all, talk to people you respect in those fields. They may be able to recommend some great schools. Also, check out the mission statement for the school. That mission statement will be the foundation of everything taught in the classroom and the way the whole school is run. Here's the mission statement for Houghton College: "Houghton College provides an academically challenging, Christ-centered education in the liberal arts and sciences to students from diverse traditions and economic backgrounds and equips them to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world." Here are links to the mission statements of Harvard University and Princeton University. They are wonderfully written mission statements, but they are lacking the Christ-centered education I was looking for. Third, talk to alumni. By talking to someone who attended that school, you will get a feel for the culture of the school, the pulse of the school, and what it's really like to be a student there.
The college you attend will greatly shape your worldview, and it's a decision you shouldn't take lightly. Houghton served as the foundation for me to discover who I am. Also, it was awfully hard to find trouble (which just discracts you from learning) at Houghton. Drugs, alcohol, and co-ed sleepovers just weren't present. I'll admit that if I looked hard enough, I could have found those things, but those situations certainly weren't presented to me. I appreciate the friends I made there who share the same values I do.
I encourage you to do some deep soul-searching and praying to see where God would have you go.
If anyone has any advice on how they chose a college, feel free to comment. It may just help someone else make that decision.

ThoughtStream

At the risk of being labeled a bad blogger, I figured I'd better come up with something to write tonight. =) I like bullet points, so here goes.

• Watching two kids by myself is really tough. There really is no such thing as taking a break. Today Isaiah and Sam's naps overlapped by 35 minutes. It was nice to have that little break though.
• I've rediscovered some fun old friends on Facebook lately. Just today I found a friend of mine who grew up two houses down from me. Good times.
• My laptop really is breaking. I'm not talking about viruses. The screen is literally breaking off from the keyboard. I always keep it open, because opening and closing it too many times is making it crack at the hinges. One of these days it's going to go. I am not looking forward to that day.
• Yesterday I took Isaiah and Sam to a fun place to do a project for some certain family members' upcoming birthdays. We had a great time and, after the gift giving, I will reveal the details.
• I've only been able to talk to Dan for about 10 mintues twice a day or so. I know he's really busy at camp, but it still stinks.
• My sister and Abbie are coming up on Saturday and staying for a few days, so that will be a blast.
• Today was one of those days that my brain felt like it was turning into mushy goo for lack of intellectual stimulation. Maybe it was the lack of adult conversation... I actually pulled out an old college textbook and started reading it out of sheer desperation. Not kidding. (I am about to reveal some of my nerdiness...) The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters was my after dinner reading material. I read an article about Abraham (it was the first one). I kept that book because my college Bible professor was a contributing author and I really admired him and learned so much from him. I really like learning things. Anything. Need to learn more.
• Samuel is a speed crawler. He can go from 0-60 in 0.2 sec. Let the baby gate usage begin.
• I have some sort of eye problem going on, and I haven't been able to wear my contacts in about a week. I'm just not used to wearing glasses. I feel like I'm hiding behind them. And of course, Sam keeps grabbing at them. =) I hope this clears up soon.
• Tomorrow I'll be packing for Isaiah, Sam and I to spend two nights up at camp. I don't need much, but those little people sure need a lot!

I guess that's all for now. Good night all.

Miracles

While we were on vacation, I read a book called "70 Years of Miracles" by Richard Harvey. Rev. Harvey lived and worked in Pittsburgh, along with other areas of the country, which peaked my interest in the book. My grandparents actually knew him as their district superintendent in the Southwest District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

The book is filled with remarkable stories of God's protection and provision for the Harvey family. In one story, some of the Harvey children were saving up to go on a ferry boat ride. They put all their spare change in a jar and agreed that, if they had enough money, it was God's will for them to go on the trip. The day came to purchase the tickets, and they realized that they were $1.77 short. Instead of buying tickets, they stood on the dock and somewhat sadly watched passengers load onto the boat. Within a few moments of setting sail, the boat sunk right in front of them! Richard Harvey reflected on that day, saying that $1.77 saved his life!

In another story, Rev. Harvey's pregnant wife was craving watermelon. They barely had enough money to put food on the table, so splurging on a watermelon was out of the question. Later that night, Rev. Harvey was taking a walk with a fellow church member. They walked by a fruit stand, and, without Rev. Harvey saying anything about his wife's cravings, the man offered to buy his wife a watermelon. Wow!

In another story, Rev. Harvey was a young boy, going visiting church members with his father, who was also a minister. They didn't have a car and had to ride public transportation. As they stepped on the bus, the person in front of them said, "I just paid for myself and the two behind me." Young Rev. Harvey later learned that his father hadn't had any money for the bus fare. He just stepped aboard in complete faith. Wow!

This book helped me realize a few things. First of all, pastors used to have it a lot worse financially than pastors do today. It makes me so thankful that churches try to pay pastors a fair wage today.

Second, I need to have more faith in God. I don't know why I doubt sometimes. I don't know why I wonder if everything's going to turn out ok in some situations. I'm realizing that life is a whole lot better (less stressful, more peaceful) when I just completely trust God with everything.

On our way back from vacation, our van started making a really funny noise in the front end suspension. We called Vern, the car guru, who said it was probably a cv joint on the fritz, and that we should be able to make it home if we took it easy. The sound and shaking got progressively worse until something gave way... just at the Wexford exit. We had to get the car towed. Anyway, when we got home, we found a $100 bill in a card from a church in Ohio, from total strangers. I was convinced (after reading the miracles book) that the mechanic's bill was going to be exactly $100. It turned out that the driver's side wheel was missing two lug nuts. That could have been really bad! The wheel could have just flown off in the middle of the highway! God really protected us! Then the mechanic didn't charge us anything! We're guessing that it was an inspection mishap, since we the van had just been inspected a few weeks before. They take a wheel off to check whatever, and when they put it back on, they must not have put all the lug nuts back on.

So the miracle book has me looking for and noticing more miracles in my own life. What miracles have you seen in your own life?