My Beautiful Days

We planned it on Monday.  Or maybe it was Tuesday.  Regardless, we planned this trip earlier in the week and somehow managed to keep it a secret from most of our family and friends.  We lined up a babysitter.  We lined up a flight.  We finally found what we've been slowly searching for and made the decision to pursue. Saturday morning my alarm went off at 3:30am.  Considering the fact that the prior night was a night of interrupted sleep for me (due to my sweet baby deciding that the middle of the night was a good time to want to eat and play!), I was not too thrilled with the timing of my waking. I dragged my tired butt out of bed and got ready for the day.  At 4:30am, completely ready to go, I went and woke baby (since he had already been "complaining" a little bit for the past hour).  Changed his diaper.  Fed him a bottle.  Cuddled him back to sleep.  I was still holding him when Holly (our babysitter) arrived at our house at...

I just tried to log into Blogger, as I haven’t posted an update to my blog in awhile.   Upon clicking the link, I received a message stating “Blogger is currently unavailable.   We apologize for this interruption in service.” So, here I am, writing out this blog post in Word with the intent to post it when Blogger becomes available again.   The irony of Blogger's unavailability is the fact that I feel like that could be MY status message lately. “Kami is currently unavailable.   She apologizes for the interruption in one-on-one time.” Life has been BUSY.   In a home with five children, this is never a new thing.   In the spring, however, our normal busy takes on a whole new level.   This spring Claire has been in softball, Iain has been in baseball and soccer, and Ellis has been in soccer.   To say that keeping up with our sports schedule can be overwhelming is a huge UNDERstatement.   Getting our kids to and from practices and games, arra...

Pink eye has attacked my little guy ... ... and he's not happy about it one bit!

... Monte and I are probably there! It all started in December of 2008, on our honeymoon.  We were on the island of Kaua'i, in Hawaii.  We were to spend eight or nine (I honestly don't remember) glorious days in our oceanfront cottage, enjoying the sunshine, catching the tourist sites and enjoying the beginning of our married life.  Day one was beautiful and we spent it on Poipu beach, catching those beautiful rays.  Days two through the end of our trip we experienced torrential rainfall and the island of Kaua'i began flooding.  We had to leave our beachside cottage and fly to the island of Oahu, Hawaii in hopes of leaving the rain and finding the sun (and in hopes of not being stranded on Kaua'i!).  The flooding truly was that bad!  However, upon arrival in Oahu, we realized that we had not yet escaped the rain.  We spent many days of our honeymoon going out and visiting the tourist sites that Oahu has to offer, and we enjoyed them all in the c...

First and foremost, let me warn you that this is going to be a brutally open and honest post, so if you can't handle some intimate details about my life, please leave now, as your negative comments are not wanted. Can I be honest with you?  Looking around our sex-driven society, I have a hard time knowing what direction to turn in raising my beautiful teenage daughter.  I want to encourage her so much to dive deep into her relationship with God and to let Him be the one who fills her soul and fulfills her every desire.  I want to teach her to truly guard her heart, her body and her purity.  Yet I look back over my own life and wonder if the ways that I have screwed up will cause me to not be credible enough to her, or if they will really help her to see how much I desire for her to wait. Let me explain. There are days when I wish I could rewind time.  If I could, I would go back and truly listen to the advice that my mom gave me, as it likely would have he...

There are many promises I make that I don't keep.  Most of them are promises that I make to myself.  Like my current promise I'm avoiding: get the laundry done today. There are promises I make to my husband, too, that I shirk around doing, like putting away the pack-n-play that is still folded up on the floor in our bedroom (and has been there since Friday). However, there is one kind of promise that I make that I always keep.  It's the promise to pray for people.  So often when I'm at the computer I read blogs or Facebook updates of people who need prayer.  If I respond to them saying that I will pray for them I do it immediately.   Right there in that very moment I take time out to pray.  I think it's incredibly important to honor that promise. I know when I ask people to pray it's because I truly have a need that I want lifted before God, and I love to know that I have friends and family who are lifting that need up with me.  I can't...

This past Sunday, April 3rd, we formally dedicated our sweet Ethan to God in a service at our church.  For those who are unaware, we believe (and our church believes) that baptism is a decision that you make when you're old enough to really comprehend it, as opposed to doing infant baptisms.  Instead of a baptism, we do a dedication.  This is where we, as his family, promise to raise him in a house that honors God and teaches of a true love relationship with our Creator.  It was a beautiful dedication and it brings tears to this mama's eyes when I recall the promise we made for our sweet baby boy. This is our family standing in front of the church as Pastor Dave was explaining the dedication to the congregation. Passing my sweet little Ethan to Pastor Dave (who is looking at Ethan on the big screen above us)! Praying over Ethan's life.  I really like this picture - I think it's cool how my sister captured us on stage and on the big screen.  After the ...

Thanks to uncle Tory and aunt Lisa and their generous decision to let us borrow their walker, Ethan has been working his leg muscles a lot! And while he's working those leg muscles, he's thoroughly distracted by Cookie Monster and Big Bird, too! He is almost too distracted by the TV behind me to look at the camera, too! Maybe he will notice me if I direct his attention to the side! Rodney Dangerfield, anyone?! :) My precious babe scratched his forehead all up!  We promptly clipped his nails after this. Okay mom, you're not interesting anymore ... Thank you Tory and Lisa for our new and fun toy!  I'm certain that we will get lots of use out of it while we have it! P.S. For those of you who may have noticed - the baby in these pictures is NOT a sick baby because his RSV has finally  broken free and left!!  Praise the Lord!! :)

It's no joke that I've been walking around my house singing the chorus to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It".  That's how I feel.  I'm done with this and I'm not taking it anymore.  Yesterday morning I was feeling incredibly defeated.  I was congested, I could feel the fluid in my lungs, my cough was awful and I hardly had a voice.  I was certain that this was going to take over my life for the rest of the week.  It already has consumed Ethan, Colin, Monte and myself, and I was allowing it to do so.   The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't even like my attitude!  I'm a fighter and I don't have to take this sickness trying to consume me.  So, I have prayed about it and in faith am believing God is healing our family.  You know what?  I truly do feel MUCH better today and I believe that a lot of it is because of my choice to change my perspective.  Yes, I'm still coughing and have the occasion...

After our third trip to the doctor this week, it seems that we have been given a good report!  While Ethan still seems to be extremely  congested and uncomfortable, the doctor told me that his lungs sound like they're clearing out.  Praise the Lord!  This mama's heart needed the relief of hearing those words, it truly was rest for my weary soul.   Our plan of attack is to continue with the Nebulizer every four hours and to continue praying for our sweet little blessing.  One thing that blesses my heart is that, no matter how sick he feels, Ethan is still his smiley happy little self! Please keep him in your prayers as we are on the uphill climb out of RSV.  Please keep our family in your prayers as well, as I will be leaving Monte behind this Saturday as I go to my aunt's funeral and he will be staying home to take care of Ethan.  Pray for strength for all of us on that most difficult day. My sweet little baby sleeping through his late-night...