Temper Tantrums and Joy

I was watching Julia as she threw herself on the floor and started whining and crying last night. And I was thinking, gee, kid, I have better reasons to throw a tantrum right now than you do. From not one but two cars misbehaving (one is completely dead in our driveway) to being sick with a flu-like virus since last Thursday and missing work and two nights of class. And to top it off, they are predicting 6+ inches of snow later this week-and the car that handles snow well is the one that is dead.

Then today, feeling a little better but puny, I went to pick up Julia from daycare. Her teacher asked if I had been sick. I said that I had. She explained that every time some new came in the room, she told them that her mommy was sick and she wanted her to feel better. That got me thinking about the joys in our lives right now. I thought I would list some of them-for my own benefit more than anything else. It's sometimes helpful to see in writing how God inserts smiles into the chaos.

1. Julia has been trying to care for me-playing quietly, and even sharing her woawie blanket and Dora cereal with me.

2. God has blessed us with extra in the checking account-without dipping into our savings.

3. We have a savings account.

4. I have only had to miss two half-days and one full day of work.

5. I have a boss who truly cares about my wellbeing and isn't docking me for days missed.

6. I have a husband who, even though he has had a couple extremely late nights, has been taking very good care of me and our daughter.

7. He gave me a really sweet get-well card.

8. Julia's temper tantrums have been much less in frequency and severity since I got sick.

9. We have an incredibly warm and snug little house.

10. I had the windows open this afternoon, enjoying the warm, sweet, rainy air-before the temperature plummeted 54 degrees and the sleet/snow started falling.

11. I have a little girl to remind me how exciting snow can be.

12. My professors have been very understanding.

13. We have some really great friends who were willing to tow our car back to our house the night before a big test.

14. The Protege broke down a couple of blocks from our house and not on the highway when Justin was driving home from work.

15. The Alero is getting us from place to place.

16. I have a smart husband who is doing his best to fix the Alero and save us money.

17. Justin and Julia are still healthy and my fever has finally broken.

18. And most importantly, I have a God who has never, ever let me down. We have never gone hungry, we have never been homeless, we have never gone without clothes, we have always had our bills paid, we have always had a car to drive.

Wow, what a God we serve.

Growing like a weed!

Julia has been in heaven the past couple of weekends as we have been trying to hit the major sales. We have been retiring a number of the 3T outfits as they are showing off her belly and her socks. I can't believe how tall she is getting! She annouced Friday on the way home from day care that she was tall like Daddy. Boy is she! She is one of the youngest and tallest in her class. She is even an inch or two taller than her cousin, who is 4-1/2. Usually I am stocking up on clothes for next winter, but this year I am hesitant because who knows if she will be wearing size 4 or 5? Fortunately, God always provides and my daughter has never gone naked-except when she wanted to.

I have also been amazed at what she is learning in her new daycare class. They are working on writing numbers and their names and drawing shapes. She has even learned how to write the first initials of all of her classmates. And her squares and diamonds are really starting to look the way they are supposed to look. It's exciting to see how quickly she is absorbing new things.

Julia says, "Candy and hamburger. And fries. I was being Cinderella. I was being the dragon. I was playing with Camden and Lexi at my daycare. Happy birthday to Gracie!" And now she is completely absorbed in changing her baby's diaper.

Candy, hamburger and fries are not typically on our dinner menus. It's funny to see what she comes up with!

We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon!

Holidays: Part 3 and Good-bye, Uncle Tim

The part of the holidays I usually would rather skip over is December 29th. It often feels like it gets lost in the shuffle of holiday mayhem. This year was different. I celebrated my 29th birthday on the 29th. The girls at work made sure my birthday wasn't forgotten with a great card. And they had fun decorating my birthday cake (which I had the fun of baking and leveling). Justin had flowers delivered to the house while he was at work. And then we went to dinner at Zia's, an amazing Italian restaurant on The Hill. We waited for about an hour, but it was worth it. And Julia had fun entertaining people in the extremely crowded bar/lobby area. I was very glad to have my mom, my brother and his wife join us. It was nice to have the extra time with them.

New Year's Eve we had a few couples over and we played Uno Attack! until it was almost midnight. It was a lot of fun. I was a little bummed that we couldn't make it to Springfield, but we had an early morning on New Year's Day. One of my coworkers brought her two-year-old son, Ben, and Julia had an absolute blast. The next morning, she crawled into bed with us and asked "Where's Ben?"

New Year's day, my parents picked us up at 8:30AM and we drove to Terre Haute, Indiana. We spent the rest of the day with Tim and Abbey. It was a really nice time. Julia enjoyed sleeping in the "hohel". Wednesday morning, we drove to Indianapolis for Tim's deployment ceremony. The Indiana National Guard is sending approximately 3,400 to Iraq, part of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Julia was given a flag on the way into the ceremony. She was waving it while my sister-in-law was talking to Tim on the cell phone. He said he could see Julia waving her flag, even though we were on the upper deck of the RCA Dome. Julia was so proud. She took the flag for show-and-tell at daycare that week.

Right now, Tim is training in Georgia. In February he will be going to Kuwait for two weeks and then on to Iraq, north of Baghdad. He will be there for nine months. We are looking forward to next Christmas when we can celebrate his return and the end of his service in the national guard. Please pray for his wife, Abbey, who is alone in Terre Haute. And please pray that God will protect my brother and all of our service men and women while overseas.

Holidays: Part 2

Round 4 was at our house. We opened one gift Christmas Eve and the rest in the morning. This year the first time Julia really "got" Christmas. She loves reading the Christmas Story and she had fun with the Advent calendar-once Mommy finished it. She also discovered Santa-something we weren't quite prepared for. That's kind of a delicate issue since so many of her friends believe in Santa. I would hate for my kid to be the one to spoil the fun for them!

Anyway, round 5 was mid-morning on Christmas with my brother, my nephews, and my parents at their house. Julia had fun with her cousins and helping Grandma Carol make the traditional holiday cinnamon rolls. Her big gift from my parents was a dress-up box, complete with a crushed velvet cape. She declared that she was a princess. After naps, my nephews left and Uncle Tim and Aunt Abbey arrived. Julia was so excited to see them! We had Christmas dinner and round 6 of presents. Usually holiday dinners include family friends, which is always nice, but it was especially nice to have Christmas dinner with just my family.

Holidays: Part 1

We survived! And fortunately, so did our GPA's. Now we are nearly recovered from the whirlwind that was the holidays. I've broken this post into several because I'm not sure how much time I will have at the computer. Before everything started, Justin and Julia and I spent some time playing in the snow.


December 21 & 22 was round 1 in Kansas City with Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Bill (Justin's mom and step-dad). Uncle Brian was able to join us there, too. We were glad we arrived Friday evening because all day Saturday we were pelted with freezing rain and then snow.

Luckily by Sunday morning, the roads were clear and we drove to Joplin for round 2 & 3. Round 2 was Justin's mom's extended family.

Round 3 was with Justin's dad, Mike, Mike's friend Pat, Uncle Brian and his girlfriend, Emmy. Then it was back to Kansas City. On Christmas Eve we drove back to St. Louis, arriving just in time to change clothes and go to church with my parents. More in Part 2.