Reflecting on the year…

This year has been an eventful one for us. Some of the high (and low) lights include:

Welcoming a new niece into the world.

Working shoulder to shoulder and traveling across the country with one of my favorite people, Alicia Britt Chole.

Enduring the disillusionment of career hopes deferred.

Waiting nearly two months with blind faith for employment meanwhile watching God work financial miracles on our behalf.

Successfully growing one tomato plant and one bell pepper plant in pots on the deck. Yeah!!

Spending many summer hours at the pool doing nothing other than catching my kids as they gleefully jumped in from the side.

Landscaping the front of our house.

Joining the church orchestra.

Carson beginning Kindergarten.

Richard landing in job #3 for the year….and it's a great one!

Selling the house on Vine Street in Poplar Bluff in one day after suffering months with a bad renter.

Me sadly leaving Alicia to happily return to software engineering.

Beginning, finally, to make a few new friends in the area.

Richie is potty trained!

Celebrating Grandpa's graduation to Heaven.

When I think about all that has happened this year, I'm so grateful that there is a living God who offers hope. Not just hope in the hereafter, but hope NOW…for abundant life today. Even through some of our hard times this year, I know that God has been directing our path, has been with us, has provided for us and has made a way out for us. I'm looking forward to what He has in store for 2008. So, here's to a great New Year ahead with many blessings, opportunities and great memories….and, how about no job changes!? J

A Holiday Tradition since 2007....

There's nothing like a good old fashioned Christmas dinner. You know, the ones with family and friends gathered around the table joyously partaking of savory ham and casseroles, homemade bread and pies. And I should know because this year's Christmas evening dinner the total opposite of that delightful picture and most definitely the most bizarre of my lifetime. Due to the circumstances surrounding my Grandpa's funeral services, Christmas night found our family scattered about and in quite abnormal circumstances. Richard was at our home in Springfield alone. Mom, Dad and Lil Sis were at their home in Poplar Bluff playing board games and who knows what else. Lil Bro and his wife were across the sea in Scotland I was in a foreign-to-me town in Illinois with the three kids and my aunt.

It was only after driving into IL on Tuesday that we realized, oh yes, it's 6pm and we should eat. It was only after attempting to coordinate a meal with my uncle who was in nearby St. Louis with his family in a hotel that we discovered, oh yes, it's CHRISTMAS DAY and NOTHING IS OPEN. Aunt and kids and I decided to go it alone and ventured out to find something...anything...that might provide sustenance. Wal-Mart, closed. Culver's, closed. Steak-and-Shake, closed. St. Louis Bread Company (allow me to pause here and give thanks that they still call it that somewhere on the planet...Panera is such a lame name...), closed. That left us with Denny's...which didn't sound too bad, so we piled out of the van and eagerly filed in. And we waited. And waited. To be seated. Meanwhile the stench of cigarette smoke was seeping into our pores and I was wishing I had brought some masks for the kids. While there appeared to be plenty of seating, we were told it was a 45-minute wait on food. So, we moseyed back out to the van and spent 8 (hundred) minutes buckling the kids into their seats while the young childless couple who had been BEHIND us in the Denny's line raced out of the parking lot hoping to BEAT US to the only other lighted building in the area...the Waffle House. They did beat us. Congratulations and best Christmas wishes to them. But, we were still given a little booth right away. Joy.

Thankfully, the greasy pit where they make the food was in full view. Avery was enamored. She stood up in the booth for the first 15 minutes watching the cook's every move. We ordered off of the greasy menus and I was quick to pass around the Germ X. When I dared to ask the grumpy waitress if there was any fruit available she quickly responded with a jolly "It's not a health food store." Yes, clearly, and thanks for the confirmation as I wipe this grease out of my eye. Have I mentioned the grease yet? I just want to make sure that point was clear. It was greasy in there.

Midway through the meal, Richie had to go potty. Not wanting to add any bodily fluid to the greasy situation, I hopped up quickly toward the ladies room just as two women beat us to the door. When potty training, time is of the essence, so I decided to go where no ME has ever gone before. Into the men's bathroom. If all men's bathrooms are as delightful as the one in this IL Waffle House, dear heavenly help me as I vow to NEVER EVER go in one again. I will spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that it was nasty in there.....and I've never seen such in a public toilet IN MY LIFE. Richie finished his biz and we washed hands thoroughly and I’m pretty sure I RAN out of the bathroom, dodging the confused eyes of the small boy who greeted me on my way out no doubt wondering what in the world a grown woman was doing in the men’s room.

Nevertheless, once I settled into my meal it occurred to me with poignant clarity that THIS was my Christmas dinner for 2007. Ah, memories. I couldn’t help but notice the sign above the register acknowledging and thanking me for my choice. No, Waffle House, Thank YOU. Even though you were certainly not my first choice (or second, or hundredth), you did have the courtesy to be OPEN on Christmas night so that poor souls like Aunt, kids and me could at least have a bite to eat. And, little did I know that this has been a holiday tradition since 1955; your golden lights beaming into the Christmas night sky beckoning all who hunger into your greasy halls. And, I suppose the tradition will continue. I will just prefer to opt out….forever, henceforth.

Oh, and I would be remiss not to mention that Uncle D., Aunt L., their teenagers and Aunt L.’s parents ended up at a Hooters somewhere near us in St. Louis. Yes, my Christian Iowa relatives apparently donned blindfolds and read the Braille on the menus…oh no…wait…that’s not right. They partied it up like it was 2008! In fact, I’ve seen a picture of Aunt’s Dad, we’ll call him Grandpa D.M. snuggled up to three of the Hooter girls. I’ve been delaying on this post until I had that picture in my hot little hands, but it would appear that his kids are having mercy on him because I haven't received it yet....once that picture gets on the WORLD WIDE WEB, there’s no telling what all conservative Iowa heck might break loose!

Here’s hoping your Christmas dinner was all that you hoped it would be. And if it wasn’t, that you’re at least able to get a few good laughs out of it! Cheers!

Update for Facebook-ers

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Tribute for Grandpa....

Below is the tribute on which my siblings and cousins and I collaborated and I delivered at Grandpa Seawel's funeral today, Christmas Eve 2007. I've posted it here at the request of the family.
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You have been known by many with many endearing names: Son, Brother, Uncle and Dad. But there are 12 of us (7 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren) with the high privilege of calling you by what we hope is one of your favorite names....Grandpa. And you bore the name as well as any grandpa ever could. Now today, we your grandchildren want to say Thank You.

Thank you, Grandpa, for the long walks in the woods down to the creek behind your house.

Thank you for dragging the mattress out to your deck so we could watch for shooting stars and sleep outside together.

Thank you for piling us into the king cab of your little blue Datsun truck and driving us over for swims and shell collecting in the creek at the end of BB Highway.

Thank you for not growing impatient with Carrie and me all those times we had the rumba drumbeat going on Grandma's organ a bit too loudly and probably 20 minutes too long.

Thank you for setting up the satellite television so we could watch Disney Channel cartoons in your living room on Saturday mornings.

Thank you for taking us on John Deere rides around your yard and pushing us in the big swings outside your house.

Thank you for letting Sarah nickname you Crap-paw when she was two years old. We all still get a big kick out of that...

Thank you for the numerous pancake breakfasts with your specialty maple syrup and for the wonderful food from your garden including chestnuts, cherries, blackberries and pears and your homemade peanut brittle that showed up every year at Christmastime.

Thank you for loving and caring for Grandma, especially when she was sick. Your example of love and commitment to her is a testament to your character and faithfulness to us all.

Thank you for just loving us all so much.

But mostly, Grandpa, thank you for choosing faith in Jesus - because in that one choice, you opened the door for your children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren to the most treasured inheritance of all and that is life eternal in Heaven.


How fitting that you should go at the time we celebrate the birth of our Lord. And rather than choosing to mark the Christmas season with sadness each year, we will now celebrate with even greater joy because it was the birth of our Savior, his death and resurrection that give us the hope and promise in knowing we will all be together again one day.

Please tell Grandma that we love her and miss her. And tell Uncle Stan and Uncle Jimmy that your grandkids can't wait to meet them.

And now, since we are surrounded by our own personal great cloud of witnesses, including you and Grandma who have been heroes to us in the faith, we your grandchildren will run with perseverance the races marked out for each of us knowing that you are watching, cheering us on in our faith. (Hebrews 12:1)

Grandpa, save a place for us at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. And, if possible, please put in a special request for pancakes. We'll miss you, remember you with much love and we will see you soon.

Love,
Christie, Carrie, Dan, Sarah, Brandon, Jessi and Taylor
Emmaleigh, Carson, Avery, Richie and Ailee

Cute things my kids have said this weekend...

"Mommy, I think that must be God talking to us."
--Avery on the ride to Nana and Poppy's house when she discovered the sun rays streaming down out of the clouds. We later decided that what God must have been saying was that he had Grandpa up there with him and they were having a really fun time together.

"Oooh. I LOVE these! They're like shoes a PRINCE would wear."
--Carson upon my showing him the new black dress shoes I bought for him to wear to Grandpa Carson's funeral.

"Aunt Karen, did you know your dog is named after the capital city of North Carolina?"
--Carson after being introduced to the new puppy, "Riley"...which of course, sounds a lot like Raleigh.

I Can't HEAR You!

Today after church, we had our traditional Sunday afternoon meal….well…not really. We went to Back Yard Burgers. That can be a tradition too, right?

While there, Richie had to go potty. He’s been doing quite well with #1! We’re still working on #2 and that’s a whole different story. But, at BYB, it was #1. This may border on “too much information” but we teach our boys to use the toilet sitting down. Once they master the sitting, they may graduate to the standing. But, oh no, you may not BEGIN your potty training in an upright stance. Standing may be easier seeing as how all you have to do is…..AIM. But, the aim is usually off and that just creates all sorts of mess that neither Mommy nor Daddy want to deal with. So, sitting it is and that requires a few things: 1) that the britches be pulled ALL THE WAY DOWN otherwise you end up with pee on the outside of your pants 2) that a 2-foot something child hoist their little bottoms up onto the seat 3) that the little bottom manages to stay on the seat and not fall into the icy cavernous pool below and 4) that the “parts” are pointed in the right direction. Quite a lot to master!

My children have never enjoyed flushing the toilet….anywhere. They think it’s a cacophonous event lasting 5 terrifying seconds in which they are darn sure that noise is powerful enough to suck their little bodies right down with all the water. I find un-flushed toilets around here all the time. So, it was no surprise to me that Richie didn’t want to flush the gigantic BYB toilet. The part that cracked me up was that somewhere between undressing and hoisting and balancing and pointing he also managed to plug two fingers into both ears where he managed some sort of Zen-like balancing pose in which he remained upright, peed in the bowl, jumped down and waited for me to pull up his pants—all with his fingers in his ears. I asked if he wanted to flush and he said NO! and he stood facing the stall door until I opened it and he could dart to the far corner of the restroom while I flushed.

And I have to say…that toilet was AWFULLY loud!

Snow?

It didn't snow much here today, but these two certainly made the most of it! When it first started to flurry, Avery was sitting coloring a picture in the kitchen. I told her to look out the window. She took in a big surprised gulp of air and ran to look outside. About two seconds later, she sprinted downstairs to tell her daddy and brothers the big news!

I get excited about snow too. There's something about it that I find very calming - the softness of the flakes, the quiet hush outside. I just prefer to enjoy it from in front of the fireplace (with a warm blanket, cup of hot tea and a good book) instead of frolicking about outside like the kiddos! I hope we get at least one big snow this year. If we do, I may have to get out there with them and have some snowball fun!

Ballet...

Tonight was Avery’s ballet performance. She’s been working toward this with her little friends for weeks. Richard has been driving her into “town” every Tuesday night and she has worked so hard. The performance was part of The Messiah Project’s Christmas program and it was in a large performance hall. I was so proud of her for being so big and doing this on her own. However….

…Before you get any Grand visions of what something called “The Messiah Project” might entail, or start daydreaming about dancing fairies and sugar plums and the like, let me begin by telling you how our evening began.

Getting Avery’s hair and makeup just right and according to direct and exact specifications was something of trial. For one thing, she had to wear eyeliner. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of putting eyeliner on a four-year-old, but she may as well have been a greased pig with all the wiggling and squealing that was going on. At one point, I actually was holding her down on the bathroom floor while she was kicking and crying (with tiny tears smearing the eyeliner) with me standing over her saying all manner of sweet motherly things like “If you don’t HUSH right NOW this is going to be a DISASTER!” It’s a wonder she didn’t come out looking like a raccoon. And, please don’t even get me started on the whole hair in a bun thing. She cries when I brush her hair, so getting it up into a proper bun with bobby pins…geesh!

Then, of course, came the actual performance. She participated in two numbers during which most of her time was to be spent running with her hands outstretched in front of her follow-the-leader style with the other little ones and sitting with her hands folded in her lap. That doesn’t sound too difficult, does it? Well it isn’t…for most adults….and for the majority of her little ballet companions. However, it seemed a bit much for Avery. At one point during one of the sitting moments, she took it upon her nurturing self to reach over to her pint-sized neighbor, tap her on the shoulder and very demonstratively tell her to SCOOT BACK…YOU’RE NOT ON THE LINE. Ah well.

All in all, however, I was SO proud of her. She looked so beautiful in her little dress. She received high praises from her teachers. They’re very gracious souls. J If there are more ballet performances in our future, we have a few things to work on. But, we’ll get there. For our amateur shot, I’d say we did pretty well!

Utensil confusion...

So today, I was in the kitchen utensil aisle at Target a little harried and trying to keep the kids somewhat NEAR THE CART. Please don't ask me how many times I've said "get back here," "sit down," "please keep your hands to yourself," "hold on to the cart," etc. while shopping. There's not a number large enough for that answer. But, I digress....

Today I had great need of measuring spoons, cups and the like for all of the holiday baking I plan on doing. I was mid-thought, trying to decide between buying three individual items or buying 5 that were packaged together when Richie shouted, "Hey, MOM! I know what this is for!"

"What?" I said, not looking up from the neatly packaged box of Calphalon tools in my hands.

"Spankin'!" he said so that everyone in a 100 foot radius could hear. Nearby adults gasped.

I snapped my head in his direction and, sure enough, he was pointing right at a WOODEN SPOON. He's not yet three and I think I've already scarred him. He'll never look at spoons the same again.

Amazing things can happen in 4 months...

....especially when you're an incredibly intelligent 5-year-old with....ummm....yes....the world's BEST Kindergarten teacher! Carson is blowing my mind these days with all that he has learned. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in his classroom for a day. Here are some of the things he's learning:

• He can recite all 50 states in alphabetical order.
• He knows all the capitals of all the states.
• He can recite Psalm 100.
• He can recite one verse beginning with every letter of the alphabet.
• He can play in a bell choir.
• He can recite poetry and songs that I've never heard.
• He can READ, people! ...books, signs on the side of road, his restaurant menu!
• He can dress himself completely in clothes that match (although I do still have to tie the shoes).
• He can spell pretty much any three or four letter word you ask of him.
• He can count money.
• He can tell time.
• He is learning to play the piano.
• Of all his paperwork that he's brought home from school (about 200 pieces), only 2 (TWO!) have been less than 100% correct.

All of this and more in just 4 months of Kindergarten! We are blessed with the best school and best teacher we could have imagined! On top of all that he is learning, I have to say that he is so polite, respectful and loving. A complete JOY to his mommy's heart.

Emergency extraction and mythical beings...

It came in at 4 months. At 18 months, it was chipped in a traumatic incident involving high velocity and a metal high chair leg. Since then, it's just been there....waiting....to fall out. Or, to be emergently extracted which is exactly what happened to Avery's front tooth on Thursday morning. We had the privilege of taking her to a wonderful pediatric dentist's office where the whole procedure was about as fun as an extraction ever could be. She had a tv with the Disney Channel on overhead the entire time. She was numbed a bit. Whimpered a bit. And then it was over. Following was about and hour of crying, but all in all, she was SO brave! She proudly carried her prize tooth in a giant tooth necklace and plastered free stickers on her shirt. She now sports about the cutest toothless grin I've ever seen. I think she'll be singing "All I Want For Christmas Is My 2 Front Teeth" for about 4 more Christmases, bless her little heart. It's the first tooth loss in our little family. She did great!

Interestingly, in the days prior to this landmark event, the kids had been asking about Santa and why we don't believe in him. I've explained to them that Santa is not real. He's just a fairy tale story about a man who lived a long time ago. I told them that some parents pretend that Santa leaves gifts for their children but really, it's the mom and dad leaving the gifts. "So.....their parents LIE????" my children gasp in horror. Well.......in short.....yes.

But, I'm guilty just as well. Because for whatever reason that I have yet to identify, as quickly as I proclaim the "ruse of Santa," I announced that the Tooth Fairy in all of her glory would be paying a visit to Avery on Thursday night. We talked all about what the Tooth Fairy might bring and how she would get into Avery's room in the middle of the night. Friday morning, when Avery bounded into the kitchen, she proudly displayed her Disney princess fingernail kit and 5 crisp dollar bills that were left for her.....by the Tooth Fairy. Because SHE'S REAL. And.....by george, Avery earned it!! (Even if I fibbed just a tad.)

Spanking gone awry....

We spank the children. Yep, I'll just put it right out there like that. Please don't send any child psychologists over. (I was spanked as a child...I turned out fine. I never felt unloved or abused nor am I scarred in any way....in case you were wondering.) We save the spankings for only the most severe of infractions and the boldest acts of defiance. It is rare, but it does happen. And when it happens, it always happens with the wooden spoon from the kitchen.

Tonight while I was whipping up a quick batch of tacos, Richie came in and saw that I was making rice....with the wooden spoon. He gingerly picked it up from the stove. He gave it a good look over and then asked me in a hushed tone that whispered of that wistful combination of two-year-old curiosity and mischief...."Can I spank myself?"

I nearly lost it right there. Seeing as how this was all so funny to Mommy, the rest of the children joined in and we had a bit of a play spanking free for all which finally ended when Mommy got spanked a little too hard with the spoon and the rule was laid down right then and there that the only people ever allowed to spank Mommy are Nana and Poppy and that just doesn't happen anymore!!

Fun crowd!

I just overheard Avery and Richie playing. She was "reading" to Richie out of one of their books a story in which Dora, Boots, Nana and Almighty God are packing for a trip to California. (Yes, she did use the exact phrase "Almighty God"...and very respectfully, I might add.)

I have to say that if I were going to California and I could choose any four people to take with me, these four would definitely be in the running!