The Week After-It's Always Hard

Whenever my parents leave, we have to transition back to normal...whatever that means around here!  I'm a little sad, and the kids are a little weird, since we have all had constant companionship and entertainment. 

My parents are quite entertaining, you know.

I miss these moments so...

(If you can see the left side, it says,"Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's Day"...Michaela had high expectations for the week!)

Stealing smooches...from willing victims...

putting together new furniture...

doing laundry...wait!  How'd that get in here.  I don't miss that. 

Reading...(please...her toes...I can't stand it)

stealing smooches...from scared victims?

Making memories...saving memories...

puzzles...

There are so many things that I love about having my parents here.  And the way my kids love them is probably the number one thing.  The feeling seems to be mutual.

I miss you, Mom and Dad!  Come back soon!

Everyone's "Having Fun!"

A sweet couple from our church took our kids out to dinner tonight.  I got to load the dishwasher early without worrying if I was making too much noise, or without hearing an incessant,"I want to hold you!"  That might not sound like a big deal, but it truly was a great thing.

Maybe I need to get out more.

Mike forwarded me an email from them that had this picture attached, along with the message,"Having fun!"

Well, of course they're having fun...if you stick the kids in a cage you are free to have as much fun as you can stand!

I'll have to remember that trick...

Haiti Seems So Far Away, But Is It?

My heart and my head are always left in such a wild state of confusion when something like the earthquake in Haiti happens.  It is a true thing that I am not meant to be in charge of some disaster relief organization...I would be useless, a mess.  I find myself thinking things like,"What in the world can I do?"  I question God, the good, big God of the world in which we find so many horrible things happening every day, really.  But then I see so many people who are gifted with wisdom and resources, who guide the folks who are more like me (or maybe just me?) in a direction that is purposeful.  

There are bloggers/crafters who are donating a part of their sales to help in Haiti...

     like Beki, and others that you can find here.

There are bloggers who are giving away money to charities on behalf of those who read their personal blogs...

     like Ree, and Alice.

There are bloggers who have connections with people, or know people who grew up there or live there now...

     like Susan Wise Bauer, and Debbie.

There are people who are willing to go there themselves in order to lend aid and there are missionaries that were already living there and are dealing with and helping the native people to deal with this horrific event...

     like the Livesays, the Mangines,  and the Blesh family.  I'm sure there are many others, and I don't even know these people, but I have read a little about what their lives are like right now.

And I think,"There is the hand of God.  There are the feet of God.  There is the voice of God.  There is the heart of God."  I may not be able to be in a particular place to offer someone what they might need, whether it's food, clothes, a drink, or a listening ear...but I can pray from here.  And give in ways that make sense for our family.  Earlier today Christian wanted to give some of his Christmas gift money to the relief effort.  And somewhere in Haiti there is a little boy his age who will be very grateful for the gift.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Michaela is a pretty cheerful girl.  She wakes up fairly early, and with a smile on her face.  But on the day of her special birthday get-together with two friends...

She was beyond cheerful.  She was exuberant!  And the smile on her face that day?  It was priceless to me.

I don't know if I would call this priceless, but it would be hard to put a price tag on, as well...

These are two of her friends from church and soccer.  And all she wanted to do for her birthday, when asked about a party, was go ice-skating with these girls and then get ice cream.  I was surprised because she's never really had a birthday party, other than the family thing we do especially when we are in Florida; she and Mike's mom share a birthday.  Isn't that fun?

But as far as getting friends together, we've never done that.  But, this is what she wanted, so it's what she got!

We had to wait until after the New Year's weekend, but we figured out a time later in the week and then headed to the Galleria ice skating rink after school.

Of course, once we got there, they put their skates on, and started towards the rink, the ice skating lady in charge sent everyone off of the ice so that they could smooth it out!  The girls were so patient; they even said,"At least we hadn't just gotten on the ice!"

Finally they were able to get out there...

And Michaela immediately left her friends behind.  Oh, dear.

I think she realized soon after that that they were not right there with her, and then they all made an effort to stick together for most of the rest of the time. 

They had so much fun!

Sweet friends holding hands.  I just love moments like that.

Our next stop was Baskin-Robbins.  Do you know that they all had lemon ice cream?  But no one was sour...

Only sweet and happy!

A little sidenote-when we arrived at the rink the song Dancing Queen was playing.  And I just had to dance.  Could there be a more fun song?   (I feel like Chandler-from Friends-when I say things like that) (From Friends!  Is there another Chandler?!)

Not in Your Mouth or in Your Hand...

This is what happens when you try to sneak a handful of M&M's in the middle of the day by tipping the bag that is in the cabinet so that the candies fall into your hand, but instead a couple fall to the counter and you quickly move to grab them, but by moving your hands to grab the two M&M's that are rolling away the bag falls forward and the M&M's pour out all over the place, making an unmerciful amount of noise as they hit the counter, just because your baby (a two-year-old can still be called a baby, right?) is sleeping in the other room, and also making a colorful mess that you now have to clean up. 

And by "you", I mean "me".  (Or "I".  Whatever.)

The splash of color amidst all the white is nice, no?

I really am that smart.  I amaze even myself.