Goodbye Summer

For teachers, like us, the unofficial end of summer is signaled by the first day of school. So, I am using this post to say goodbye to summer. Summer has always been my favorite season and this year has been no different. I love the hot weather and I love to be outside, especially when swimming is involved. A perfect summer involves as many sunny swimming days as possible!

I will say that this summer was a little bit different. We did a lot of projects but we still had time for fun. Here is a little run down of our summer:

1. Ryan went on a couple of day trips. First to Cleveland to watch the Indians play with his good friend Greg. Then another quick trip with his sister, Shannon, and her son, Cade to see their grandfather in northern IN.

2. My parents pool had some major issues at the beginning of the summer. I will just say that it involved a drain replacement, new paint on the sides with a new liner and my dad taking the filter apart no less than 10 times. Ryan and I volunteered to help paint the inside. It was a terrible job! We wanted to be in the pool with cool water, but instead we were painting the inside of a very hot empty pool. The first coat of paint was very stinky but the next two coats were much better. Once everything was fixed we could fill the pool. This step is my favorite and for a few short hours we have a slide from the shallow end to the deep end. I really enjoyed this as a kid and Elyse got experience the slide too. (I will post pictures of this soon)

3. We have had lots of visitors. Raphael (exchange student from 2001-2002) came for a visit with his parents. They are from Germany. We did many fun things while they were here including the Newport Aquarium and the Duck Boat Tours in Cincinnati. This tour is when we first learned that Elyse can not stay awake on boats. Seriously, she passed out!

3b. We also had a visit from Christoph (exchange student from 2006-2007, also from Germany). He stayed for three weeks and we got to do many fun things with him too. We went to the Beach Waterpark, and a few Red's Games.

4. Elyse and I went to the Zoo with all three of her cousins, both aunts and some other friends. It was such a fun day!

5. We had family/18 month pictures taken by Linzi Becki Photography. (Awesome!)

6. Ryan and I took a 5 day trip to Cancun, Mexico. It was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed some down time together.

7. I have really debated about how to write about our house project that we tackled. Lets just say that it was never-ending, and I am amazed that my husband still loves me.

It all started because our carpet in the living room needed to be replaced. (white carpet + Elyse= NOT GOOD) We talked about it and decided that we would just try to refinish the wood floors under the carpet. This led to lets just do the entry way and dining room too. THEN, I said we should do the kitchen too to make the whole downstairs uniform. Needless to say the project got huge fast! We are so thankful for our WONDERFUL friends, Lonnie and Mandy Nolt. They gave up THREE days of their vacation to help us!!!

We had to remove everything in the downstairs and take it upstairs or to the front porch. The kitchen cabinets had to come out. The radiators had to come out (we had to use refrigerator dollies to move them outside). Then the linoleum and the sub floor had to come up in the kitchen. The stove and refrigerator had to be put in the back hallway, but not before the doors of the fridge were removed to get it through the doorway. The sink, dishwasher....EVERYTHING had to be taken out!

Then the real work started, we sanded the floors for over 10 hours (using three sanders). After cleaning the dust we stained the floor. Lastly, we wanted to protect the floors with polyurethane. Because of the heat and humidity, this step took 10 days to finish. We lived with my parents for three full weeks! Just last week the kitchen was finally put back together. We lived with out a kitchen sink for 6 weeks. I cooked quick things in the microwave or most of the time I just made dinner at my parents house.

I will post pictures of this whole project. I want to wait until the kitchen is completely finished before I show you all of it!

8. Lastly, we went on a wonderful vacation to Drummond Island, MI with Andrew, Heather, Corinne, and Cooper. We had a great time boating (yes, Elyse was passed out again), enjoying the water and playing games.

Over all it was a wonderful summer and VERY productive! To God Be the Glory!

Marginal Mom's Club

After Elyse was born I quickly realized that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be a perfect mother. In the months leading up to her birth I thought that I had everything figured out about motherhood. I had great plans and dreams about what I thought it would be like to bring a baby home and then we would have a perfect little family. I read many books and perfect examples of motherhood seemed to be on TV and in movies. I thought if those people can do it, then I can too.

Needless to say my thoughts about being a perfect mother changed quickly. I realized that perfection, while I still aim for it, is not realistic. It is easy to go to bed every night feeling terrible about all the things that have gone wrong that day.

I don't remember exactly how I came up with the idea or when it happened, but I needed something to make me realize that it is okay if I am not 100% perfect. I may have invented the club when I forgot the whole diaper bag when I was going to be away from home for 8+ hours. This is something that I have done two times. (FYI- larger diapers borrowed from someone else will work in a pinch and SAMS club has diapers in a little dispenser in the women's restroom for $1 and it includes a few wipes) Or I could have thought of the idea when we went on vacation to New England and I didn't take anything with long sleeves for Elyse. Needless to say she is wrapped in a blanket in many of the pictures. Or many other times that I haven't been the perfect mother.

There is something very freeing in being able to say, "It's okay because I am the president of the Marginal Mom's Club." Don't get me wrong, I still feel bad for situations, but it is impossible to be 100% perfect all the time.

If you have a story of something you have done to be in the 'club', please let me know. I will be electing officers soon, so get your stories to me! haha

This and That

Wow, it has been way too long! I always think, "I should put that on my blog." Then, that is as far as I get. Recently, I have started a list. I love a good list, and now that I have a blogging list. So, maybe I will get better. There are a few things that I want to write about today, so forgive me if I am rambling.

First, Elyse (18 months) has learned how to pray. Even though she has a vocabulary of about 20-30 words, she does a lot of talking. Most of the time it is jibber-jabber, but her prayers are wonderful. If we ask her to pray she will close her eyes and fold her hands. Then, my favorite part, she whispers her jibber-jabber. Then she yells her form of the word, "Amen". It is just too cute!

Next, on to a topic that could probably be a very large post of its own. Since I was about 15 years old, there is a line that I hear on a weekly basis from complete strangers. I hear it in the grocery store. I hear it at the mall. I hear it at restaurants. I hear it EVERYWHERE, at least once a week, for 15 years. (yes, you do the math...I am 30! That is a topic for another post too!) Okay, so the line is....

"You look just like..."

Now here is where it gets a little tricky. The ... could be, "Bill Smith's third cousin twice removed." Or, "Are you Samantha Ford, from Lancaster, PA?" Sometimes it is really specific, like a persons name and location. Other times the question is more vague, like, "Did you used to cut hair in Hillsboro, Ohio?" Or "Are you related to the Garrisons of Detroit, MI?" I am serious, at least once a week for the last 15 years. 52 weeks a year x 15 years = 780 times that I have heard some form of this question.

My answer is always about the same and it is something like, "No, but I get that a lot; I must have a familiar face."

It is really quite hilarious!

So, if you know someone that looks like me, please introduce me to all my twins out there. I have heard that many people have a non-biological twin somewhere in the world, but I must have more than one or two!

Surreal

Think back to the surreal moments you have experienced in your life.

I have had a few of these moments. First, the two most obvious were our wedding and the birth of Elyse.

The moment with Elyse was a few days after she was born and we were already at home. I am not sure why it didn't hit me right away after she was born. I think it was because of the lack of medicine that I had in my body and my brain really couldn't think of much else.

I remember at our wedding I felt the surreal moment when we were walking into the reception to U2's "It's a Beautiful Day."

I also remember having this feeling when we woke up in the middle of the night to go see Air Force One land in Wilmington, Ohio. President Bush was giving a campaign speech. There was something about seeing and being about 20 feet from one of the most powerful men in the whole world.

Surreal moments are moments in time that feel like a dream.

In life we also have moments that feel so terrible that we think that they have to be a dream. We think that there is no way that this situation or problem could be real. I think to the deaths of family members, terrible news, and tough situations.

I was thinking about all of this today because a good friend of our family passed away this week. She was only in her 40's and was the mother of three young children. I was thinking about what her kids were thinking today. I was thinking about her husband and the overwhelming feeling he must be experiencing today. I am sure he must have asked the man that came to his door to deliver the news, "Are you sure?" I am sure he wants proof and details. These are things he may never get. His wife was one of the CIA agents killed in Afghanistan this past Wednesday in what is being called the second-largest single-day loss for the spy agency in its history.

So today, I ask you to pray for the Anderson Family.

When these surreal moments happen in my life I think of this passage in the Bible. These are great surreal moments that God chose to mention in His word to remind us that he is here. He is here during these moments. He isn't far away.

Hebrews 11 (The Message)

Faith in What We Don't See

1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
3By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.

4By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

5-6By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. "They looked all over and couldn't find him because God had taken him." We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken "he pleased God." It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

7By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.

8-10By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

11-12By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.

13-16Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

17-19By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.

20By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.

21By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.

22By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

23By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child's beauty, and they braved the king's decree.

24-28By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them.

29By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.

30By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.

31By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.

32-38I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more— Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets....Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn't deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

39-40Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.



May the Anderson's FAITH see them through this surreal time in their lives.

Farm

So this is a post that I started a while ago, that I thought I would finish.

In October we had a Fall Party out at the farm. This farm has been in our family for 42 years. My grandparents lived on this farm for about 38 years together and then Granny lived there for another 3 1/2 years. Then when Granny moved to town, my parents bought the farm.

Since they have owned the farm, they have really just cleared a lot of brush and some 'junk' trees as my dad calls them. They rent the farm land and the farm house. However, the farm provides us with so much fun. Some people have been camping at the farm. Some people have been fishing. Some people have been hunting. Ryan and I just like to go out and walk around to enjoy each other and God's beautiful creation.

Thinking of how much I enjoy the farm, I am reminded that all of my farm experiences have not been so great. I am going to share two farm stories with you. When I tell you these stories we are going to be forever closer and you may think that I am not the farm gal that I think that I am. You also may think that I am not very smart.

When I was in elementary school I had a good friend that lived on a farm. I loved going to their house where we would ride 4-wheelers, play in the barn and care for pigs and sheep. Late spring, when I was in the 4th grade I went to her house on a Saturday. Jenny and her brother Justin had to walk their 4-H sheep before we could do anything else. I was fascinated by anything that was happening on their farm and the walking of sheep wasn't any different. I had seen people walk dogs, but not sheep.

I followed them to the barn to harness the sheep. They were walking three sheep each, so I said I could take one or two. They gave me one rope that was attached to a sheep and we headed out of the barn and down the driveway. The first few minutes were spent trying to get all six sheep to move. I don't think that God created sheep to be harnessed and walked, or to be shown a county fairs. They just don't like it in my opinion and here is why:

My little lamb that I was trying to walk, simply did not want to walk. Jenny and Justin seemed to be doing just fine. If one of their sheep would stop they would touch the tail quickly and the sheep would start walking again. I kept pulling on the rope and the sheep was just fighting the walk. By this point, there was no walking going on, I was pulling the sheep.

So I asked what they were doing with the sheep's tail to get them to move. Justin said, "Oh, well it is kind of gross, you probably will want to just keep pulling the rope." I said, "No, just tell me what to do so that the sheep will walk." He said, "Well, you just lift the tail up and then stick about a inch of your finger into their butt hole really fast and that gets them to move." Being the city girl that I was, this was soooooo gross and I couldn't believe anyone would do this!

After asking a few questions about this process and seeing the very believable demonstration, I turned back to my little sheep determined to get him to walk, and determined to prove myself as a farm girl.

Lets just say, the lamb did move, and he moved very fast! Jenny and Justin laughed until they cried. I went and washed my finger.

In case you ever need to walk a sheep you just pull up on their tail. No prodding is necessary.

Second story:
My grandparents did not have many animals on the farm, but they would have a few here and there. My grandfather had talked about getting a few cows but hadn't really contacted anyone about buying some. My great uncle, who raised cows, called one day and said that he had a calf that he needed to find a home for. The mother didn't want the calf and the calf was going to need to be bottle fed for a while. Well, having three grand kids that would love this process, he said he would take the calf. I was probably 12 years old.

We quickly named her, "Daisy." However, she was not as cheerful as her name suggests. She was nice at first, but she turned rather feisty. One weekend, my grandparents were going away and my mom and I had to take care of Daisy. As I recall the first day or so went fine. We were keeping Daisy in the barn, because she had been known to get out of the field from time to time.

This particular day we went out to feed and water her after my mom got off work. (She was still in high heels and dressed up, that is a important part of this story) When we pulled in the driveway, there was Daisy standing in the middle of the yard looking like, "Oh, no, I've been caught!"

We stopped in the middle and that is when the fun began. Basically, we spent about a hour 'chasing' her. It must have looked like a circus act. A business woman and a little girl chasing a cow. Daisy would run really fast one direction and wait for us to catch up and then she should sprint to another area of the yard. I am guessing that this went on for about an hour. Finally Daisy stopped and walked into the barn. She was thirsty. We shut the barn door. After all of that, she stopped when she was ready to 'stop playing.' After that we all decided that Daisy was a little too smart to stay at our farm. She was big enough to go back with the rest of the cows!

Thankful

I know it really isn't thanksgiving time yet, but I have just been thinking about how thankful I am for what God has been up to in our lives. Here are just a few things that I am thankful for:

My wonderful, amazing husband! God has given me everything I need in a mate through Ryan. He is my perfect match in so many ways.

Our healthy, beautiful daughter. I am amazed at her growth and development in just 8 months.

Our family and extended family that continually provides love, support and humor to our lives.

Incredible friends!

Two great jobs.

Shelter and clothing.

Health.

Our relationship with God.

The simple things in life.

God's beauty through His creation.

Music.

There is so much more. I take so many things for granted. I want to appreciate each stage in our lives and thank God for bringing us here.

It is so easy to complain in life. We want more things. We want the weather to be nice. We want money. We want new jobs. We want different cars. We want new and better homes. We want to look better. We can get to a place where nothing is good enough. Instead, look around at what you have been given, and be thankful.

I guess there were two main things that made me start thinking about thankfulness. First, I do not make it a habit to watch Oprah everyday. However, I do catch it from time to time. Yesterday, a family was on that has had a major life change in the last year. The family consisted of a dad, mom, and 4 kids. On August 16, 2008, Stephanie and her husband, Christian, were flying across Arizona when the small plane they were on crashed into the desert. It exploded on impact.

Christian and Stephanie made it out alive…but just barely.

When the plane hit the ground, Christian broke his back and ankle, yet he still managed to wrench the door open and help Stephanie escape the burning wreckage. Christian saved Stephanie's life that day, but for the next three months, no one knew what sort of life she'd be able to lead.

When flames engulfed the plane, Christian was burned on his face and neck, while Stephanie suffered severe burns on more than 80 percent of her body. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and for the next 10 weeks, doctors kept her in a medically induced coma while they treated her burns.

While Stephanie was in the hospital, there was always someone at her side. Siblings slept on the floor, her mother spoke words of encouragement, and they all prayed for her recovery.

Then, in November 2008, Stephanie woke up.

Stephanie says she had a vision while she was unconscious, and she was given a choice. "[I was] with somebody who told me that I could choose to live and have a hard life, you know, embarrassing at times and painful. Or, I could just stay there, and there's lots of work I could do there too," she says. "But I thought of my children and my husband, and it was easy. An easy choice."

Since Stephanie returned to her Utah home, very little has been easy. For the first few months she was home, she says her children didn't want to look at her or touch her. (Ages 8,6,4,and 2)

Her scars may never heal, but Stephanie says it gets a little easier every day. Despite constant physical pain, she still manages to make lunches, bathe her children and celebrate life and love.

Her story made me just stop and thank God for the life he has given me.

Secondly, the new David Crowder Band song has also made me think about thankfulness. Here are the lyrics:

He Loves Us

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

just a few thoughts on numbers

First, some have asked when I will know anything about the Real Simple essay contest. It says, "The winner will be notified by phone on or around January 3, 2010." So, I guess they have a lot of reading to do and I have to wait.

I am a big numbers person. Not so much numbers with math problems, but numbers with other things. I like to count down the days until something is going to happen. I had our wedding count down started from the day we got engaged. I tried to do a count down when I was pregnant with Elyse, but she was 11 days late, so that didn't work out so well. I do count downs until Christmas starting in sometime in October. I am always counting the days until vacation or the number of days we have left on vacation. The same is true with money and other random things. For instance when I was teaching in the brick and mortar school I would count the number of class periods in the week. At Miami Trace I would teach 35 periods a week and I would have 10 free periods a week for planning and lunch.

However, I tend to take it to the next level. I will count the Hours and Minutes too! I really take the whole counting thing a little too far.

The day Ryan left for Europe I knew that he would be gone 10 days or about 240 hours which is 14,400 minutes. And throughout the time he was gone, I would recalculate the new totals.

This weird counting of things does not relate to a love for math necessarily, but rather an odd fascination of amounts, time, and percentages. For instance I am fascinated at the number of hours we spend doing things in our life. IE: sitting at traffic lights-12-15 hours depending on how much you drive, sleeping- 227,912 hours etc.

When I am trying to occupy my time with something I will count things. Counting ceiling tiles. (Yes, I know I could just count the length and the width and multiply) Counting lights in a room. Counting certain cars, trucks or SUVs. Counting the stairs that I am climbing. Number of steps it takes to get somewhere.

I also enjoy the USA Today's snapshot which is in the left corner of the front page and also on the front of the life section. This includes percentages based on research or responses gathered in surveys.

Research studies with numbers are equally as intriguing. (Sometimes the Dateline, 60 minutes, or 20/20)

Well, here are some of my most recent figures.

I have save us about $1800 this year by breast feeding and making my own baby food.

By the end of one year of Elyse's life we will have used about 2,788 diapers. (Just imagine the diapers for twins for one year, 5,576) I will have spent about 456 hours feeding her. (which is about 3 months of 40 hour work weeks)

I will save you from all of my other crazy calculations, but lets just say that there are many, many more! Does this make me a math geek?