My Personal Trainer

OK, I really don’t have a personal trainer. But if I did have one, I would hire this guy. I’m fortunate enough to have him and his beautiful wife as good friends, so when I do have questions, he is just a text away. Even better now though, he has started a blog (probably so I will stop texting him)! He has great information on working out, metabolism, carb myths, as well as practical exercise moves that you can even do from home. He’s really good, and when he tells me something, I do it! He is also one of the kindest, most humble, hard working guys I know.

I think everyone needs to hear what he has to say about exercise, especially women. He has been really helpful to me in making my workouts better and more effective. If you take his advice to heart (and to the gym!), he will kick your butt! So bloggy friends, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to my friend, Buck Buhler. Make sure to read through his archives too, good stuff! Now get to exercising!

Picture Post

Here are some pics of fun summer life-the 4th at the parade, at home hanging out, and the Chick Fil A cow appreciation day (free meals when you dress like a cow!)-very fitting since Audrey’s latest kick is that she is a cow named Suzy. We had fun making the costumes and yes, she did moo at the cashier.

You can also see Lily sporting her cast, which I’m really thankful to say has not interrupted our summer swimming because of this fine contraption we bought on ebay. Then one of my new brown hair, which I’m converting to because 1) it’s MUCH cheaper than blonde highlights, especially when you have a friend that has a license to buy nice product for cheap, 2) I like change, and 3) it’s fun to look like Lily and Lucy’s mom for once. I love it!

I love summer, I’m sad to think that school is just around the corner, but we are definitely making the most of it.

This is Lucy training for Motocross someday, she has a serious love for standing on things that she shouldn’t. Why would you ride it when you can stand on it? It’s fun to stress mom out!

Long Time, No Post

For the past week or so I have been trying to muster up some desire or energy to blog. And as you can see…I haven’t been able to. But I think I’m back. I hate that I’m so back and forth with blogging. I really do like to write. I think that sometimes I just get bogged down by the pressure to do it when I’m already feeling tired with just “regular” life stuff. I get full of ideas, and then run out of time or energy to sit down and get them all out.

I’m coming up with a better system though, so hopefully you’ll see more happening around here. I’d like to think I’m on summer blogging schedule just like I’m on summer cleaning schedule. You can see how much I’ve been blogging, so you can imagine how much I’ve been cleaning too…

In the last couple of weeks I have:

• Been through 2 close friends having 3 babies total within 2 days…please keep praying for these precious girls. And also welcome to the world baby Evan, who I got to just hold uninterrupted for an hour today. I soaked every minute of it up, I could just eat him-yes, he’s that sweet!
• Seen Lily’s arm in a form that no mother should ever see their child’s body. She took a spill and entirely broke both bones in her forearm. Praise God for a body of people around who respond well in emergency! Seriously, an Orthopedic Specialist P.A. was 10 feet from Lily when it happened. Thanks George for helping us avoid the ER, and making a new special friend in Lily. We are so thankful! Lily is sporting her new full-arm Carolina blue cast…for another 5 weeks! But it is healing well and fast, so that is good news. I’ll post some new pics soon.
• Not gone to bed before midnight I don’t think. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I get to bed at a decent hour?
• Gotten rid of the bunny, getting her was a mistake. The girls liked her, but not that much, and I wasn’t going to care for it anymore. Glad we know now, but I’m really thankful for Craigslist. Enough said.
• Spent some time laughing with my friend Jess. Hopefully this shout out will warrant a Haiku comment from her. If I’m lucky.
• Not blogged much. Hopefully that will be changing.

Miracle

Last week our good friends, Wade and Ferris, brought 2 beautiful girls into the world 3 months early. They are just precious-tiny and perfect, such a testimony to the amazing gifts that children are.

There have been some complications with the smaller of the two, Liana Hope. You can see pictures here on Ferris’ blog and read more about the situation with the girls here on Wade’s blog. We believe, despite any report, that these girls are going to grow into healthy, strong little girls. Please take a minute to pray and stand in agreement with the Joye’s and us for God’s healing. We are going to witness an amazing miracle! Thank you!

When I Grow Up…

The other morning the girls and I were talking, and randomly Audrey throws her hand up in the air and yells,

“When I grow up, I’m going to be a WHALE!!”

We all giggled, and she was so happy with herself. I then realized she was serious. She thinks she’s capable of being ANYTHING she wants…even a whale, dolphin, or kitty named Sugar (her latest). How’s that for confidence? Oh well, since she’s going to be a whale, I’m sure Elijah will like her!

He Hovers

Sorry for back to back posts, I guess I have some catching up to do now that vacation mode is over. Last night the girls were playing while I was getting dinner ready, and Audrey ran into Lucy on accident and knocked her over. She fell and hit the back of her head on our hardwood floors. I ran to her immediately and picked her up, she was screaming of course. After I picked her up, she kind of threw herself back, her body stiffened up and her eyes rolled back into her head (an image that I’m praying God will remove from my memory, it was so scary, I can still cry thinking about it). I freaked out because I thought she was having a seizure, but I learned later she most likely was passing out from the pain. I was already calling 911, and then she woke up, cried and threw up everywhere. The paramedics were there in 3 minutes, literally! She was then fine, acting normal, just a little fussy.

They checked her out and she was fine. She acted normal the rest of the night, ate, laughed, sassed, and slept, even though we had to wake her up every few hours to make sure she was OK. But I still followed up with the Dr. this morning because this is the 2nd time this has happened (minus the passing out, but still with the vomiting) within the last month. It was a great copay spent just to reassure me that my little girl’s head is going to be OK, and that I did do the right thing.

Babies her age are so top heavy, it’s scary! I’m still recovering, I’m taking much longer than Lucy did, but I’m going to be OK! It’s so hard with Lucy because she is so little, yet wants so badly to keep up and be in her big sisters business. Even though it was an accident that I couldn’t have prevented, I still feel bad, she’s so little! I will be relieved when her body catches up to her head!

The awesome thing is that we had just listened to a CD with the other lead staff wives by Jill Briscoe about the Holy Spirit. It was really good and timely for me, I’ve listened to it twice already. One of the things that stood out for me was that she talked about how the Holy Spirit hovers…he hovered over the water and the chaos of the world before it was formed, bringing order to things over time. He also hovers over the chaos in our lives. And in the times that I can’t hover over my children as their mom, I can rest assured knowing that He is hovering over them. If He can hover over the waters or over an entire city, surely He can hover over my children, right? I can trust Him. Thank God that He watches over our children, loves them more than we could imagine, and that He made Lucy strong and tough!

Back to Real Life

My parents left yesterday morning. It was a wonderful two weeks, it went by really fast. It gets harder and harder for them and us to say good bye, especially when we don’t know how long it will be until we see them again. The girls change so much each time, we are thankful to have had 2 whole weeks this time around.

We went to the beach this past weekend with them, it was the girls first time to the Atlantic! We had a great time. Here are some highlights and pics:

• We stayed at our good friends, the Millers, condo in Ocean Isle, what a lovely little town! It is so quaint and not very crowded. Their condo is beautiful and the front door opens up to the Intracoastal Waterway-it was a peaceful place to have coffee in the morning!
• The community has a pool, but there was also a pool exclusively for the condo community at the beach! We would play in the pool, walk down and play on the beach, then walk back up, rinse off, and play in the pool. ALL DAY! The girls loved it.
• It might have been the hottest weekend ever, 100 degrees in Charlotte, which meant about 95 at the beach-great weather to be in the water for!
• Putting sunscreen on 4 kids several times a day is a lot of work!
• Lucy loved the sand. Eating it, and sitting in holes Larry would dig (see below)
• It was so fun to see the girls play in the ocean, they were so excited!

Piggy is Hungry

Let me start by saying we had a WONDERFUL trip away. It was so great to relax, be alone, and be in a hotel with no diapers, sippy cups, or whining. We rarely get to do that! We stayed at the Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando where the conference was held.

Here are some highlights:

• It was a beautiful place, all the pools (yes there were several!) were connected by caves that you could swim through.
• It just happened to be the same weekend that the NBA pre-draft was taking place, so the hotel was also swarming with agents and giant basketball players, some I imagine worth millions of dollars. I got to laugh a lot at Larry’s commentary about how he could take any of them in a one-on-one.
• The Space Shuttle took off Saturday…and we could see it from our hotel.
• We had some great take-aways from the conference itself that lead to great conversation. I’m so thankful for a fun, healthy marriage.
• The drive was long, but fun. We enjoyed great music (wherever Larry is, there will always be music, lots of it), great conversation, and lots of laughter. It’s fun to stop and actually have it be “real quick” when you are not with 4 kids!
• I jotted down several thoughtful posts that I want to write, but that will take more than a few minutes to get out, so this will NOT be one of them.

Now, on to the title of my post. Our girls were well taken care of by my parents (spoiled would probably be a better word)! My mom, being the ultra-generous person she is, decided to take the girls to Target and let them each pick a toy out. The older two girls both picked out things that made sense (one being an Easy Bake Oven…I can’t believe those things are still around, is it weird to anyone else that they are cooking with a light bulb??). But Audrey, my little crazy one, really wanted a Piggy Bank. She has wanted one for a long time, I think because her sisters have small ones that they put their change into. I laughed that out of ALL the toys she could pick from, she chose a Piggy Bank. So, Piggy, is now part of our family.

But it doesn’t end there. She is a creative genius, and let me tell you why. She is the master at getting me to give her change. She doesn’t say, “mom, can I have some money to put in my piggy bank?” No, that wouldn’t be effective. Piglet is a toy, probably a real animal in her mind, not just a bank. So probably about twice a day, she comes up to me with those eyes, and says “mom, Piggy’s hungry, he needs something to eat.” (note: all her animals have real personalities and emotions in our house, so this does not phase me, it’s normal conversation). So, without thinking, I usually go to the spare change jar and give her a few coins. Why? I’m not sure, but there is just something about her that is irresistible. So either she really thinks that Piggy is satisfied after getting a few coins, or she is really smart and works me over good. Hmm…could be a combination of both.

Good Times

So, my parents are in town for 2 WEEKS (and yes that’s a good thing)! Let me tell you why…

1. We only see my family twice, maybe 3 times a year. It’s not easy living across the country from family, so we have to take advantage of the time we get.

2. My kids love being with them, they are super fun (”uper uper fun” as Audrey would say) grandparents.

3. Larry and I really like hanging out with them…which is saying a lot considering the way it was 3+ years ago. God’s done a lot in our family, I’m so grateful.

4. My mom cooks. A lot. Really good food. It’s nice to get new recipes and not have to worry about balancing cooking/kids.

5. They love to take me to Costco and fill up my freezer. That is better than just about anything they could do for me.

6. My Dad works in the yard. Which is nice because the only time yard work gets done is when they are here. Let’s just say yard work is not Larry’s forte.

7. They are staying with 4 kids over the weekend so we can get away, go to a marriage conference and have some alone time (Thanks Pastor Steven!).

8. They actually use their vacation time to come here and “relax”-yeah, right! We definitely put them to work. But the best part is that I know they love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, when you see them at church on Sunday with all our girls in tow by themselves, please someone give them a hand and point them in the right direction to Ekidz check-in. I know they would really appreciate it.

Also, no promises on blogging in the near future. I will update when we get back from our weekend away! Yay for us!!

Words of Wisdom

*For those of you who are interested in my crazy encounter with the snake in my house yesterday, Larry has the whole story documented over 2 posts here. There are pictures too! Yes, I’m recovering still. The image of that snake on the floor in my kitchen is one burned into my brain. But a good sweat in a cycle class this morning helped me work out the stress, so I’m feeling much better today…OK, on to the real post!

There are only a couple of blogs I read regularly that are not people I know in real life. Mainly because I feel that since I don’t know them, it is difficult for me to be interested in what they are writing, unless it is a devotional or informational. BUT, one of the blogs I do read is my blog-world friend Cindy…not only does she passionately love Jesus, is super fun, creative and a good writer, but she has 4 daughters (youngest just turned 7, so a bit ahead of me), her husband is a Pastor, and she loves chocolate! I love her blog. She inspires and encourages me, makes me laugh, and gives me hope that I’m going to make it out of the season somewhat sane.

The best part about her is that despite her busy life, she takes time to encourage women like me, who just have days (lots of ‘em!) where I feel like I’m failing. Some days I feel like it is impossible for me to manage all that’s on my plate, raise godly kids, and cook and fold laundry too, oh yeah, and shower and sleep, not to mention be a supportive, loving wife and friend. I had emailed her seeking her wisdom, and she returned an email to me full of encouragement, grace, and truth. Here are some snippets I thought it would be good for every mom to hear.

In regards to feeling overwhelmed with the huge responsibility of parenting:

“Try to come back to the basics… do your children know they are loved? Are they healthy? Do they laugh? Do they explore and learn? Do they know God created them and loves them? That’s all they need…”

In regards to practical things to help in this season with toddlers and babies at home…
“I would really encourage you to:

*Find friends to do freezer cooking. It truly was SUCH a gift to me, and made such a difference in my days. It is a lot of work on those couple of cooking days, but for the rest of the month, life is so much easier.
*Take naps whenever you can. And don’t feel guilty about it.
*Remind yourself that one day, you will be caught up on laundry and your house will be spotless. And your babies won’t fit in your lap anymore.
*Give yourself the same grace you would give to anyone else. Try to see yourself the way God does.
*Recognize that satan is going to be up in your face a LOT… He wants to destroy ministry families. He wants you to doubt yourself. He wants you to try to do it all on your own.
*Spoil yourself. With anything– a trip alone to Target, a cappucino, a date night, a girls’ night out, a trip to Indiana to see ME!
*Pray. I was also VERY hard on myself about spiritual disciplines, feeling like a total failure when I didn’t pray AND memorize AND journal AND read my Bible. And there are days when none of that gets done. When I became aware of how often I prayed during the day, keeping up a constant dialogue, I realized I wasn’t so far off the mark. Sometimes that was all I could get in.”

There was so much more, but I felt every mom could benefit from hearing those things. You can read about the freezer cooking she referred to here. Cindy and 4 friends do this together…and they take away 30 meals each time! This time she blogged about, she posted the menu they cooked, how they do it, and each of them only spent $145!! For 30 good meals. That’s really good. If anyone is interested (seriously interested), let me know. This would be huge for me, I would love to do it. Go read Cindy’s blog. You will fall in love with her.