Maggie Gets "Fixed"

It seems Maggie the kitten was of age to "get fixed." So, to start our Christmas break, we shuttled her over to Stephenville to see Pawpaw, a.k.a. Dr. White. Not only did the kids get to take her in, they got to watch the whole surgery. Jenna's most common comment was "disgusting." She might make a vet, though, if we can figure out a way around all her animal allergies. Hudson was definitely intrigued. They even each got to give Maggie a shot. Maggie was asleep, of course. Pawpaw says not everyone gets to go back and watch, but it was good for the kids to see such a real science project!

Christmas Eve

I just had to post a few random thoughts as I wait for my opportunity to play Santa. I figure one day this will be one of the journals that I give the kids, so they need to know of the cute stuff they did, and so do you.

Today, of course, was Christmas Eve. I had not wrapped the kids' gifts until last night, and placed them under the tree. You may think I'm a procrastinator or Scrooge, but our kids really haven't wanted anything this year. So, I knew the minute it was under the tree, they would figure it out. They each asked for two things: Jen = a BB gun (yes, you read correctly; she was coached by her dad) and a stuffed animal, H = an electric guitar (help us all) and a stuffed animal. I haven't decided if we a) have provided them a very content life so all their desires are met b) have coached them on the materialism and "tricks" of commercials on Saturday morning so that they're scared for life to want anything or Mom and Dad will say "they're tricking you into wanting it" or c) they heinously spoiled already. I think it's a combo of a & b, personally. Hope they don't need therapy over b.

Anyway, they immediately honed in on the new presents under the tree. This is remarkable considering I arranged them to blend in with the ones already there. Jenna immediately picked up a box, found a J on it, and said, "Here's my BB gun." Hudson dug, held one up, "Here's my guitar." Stinkers. Then, we moved to Hudson eager to open his one gift. We started that tradition last year - and they chose their gift. Some how they instinctively chose the "big" gift last year. So, this year Jeremy & I chose the gift. We chose their boots so that they could wear them to church. I'd love to say I took a picture of us all dressed up - Jen & I coordinating and Jer & H matching, but I just realized I didn't as I typed this. Bad photographer mom. Shame on me.

We went to church, and then we had both sides of the family over for hamburgers. It was terrific (thank you all for coming, we LOVED it). Then, we did our annual Christmas light tour. We've been tracking Santa all night, and since he was in the US, we had kids eager to get into bed. (We really don't do the Santa thing much, but the web site was pretty cool.) As we tucked the kids into bed, we told them that we needed to shut their doors so Santa didn't wake them. As I told Jenna, "If you hear any noises, you need to stay in your room because you don't want to scare Santa." Very seriously she said, "But what if Santa scares me?" I had to laugh - it was so cute.

I think they're already both asleep. We've not had a nap all week, and that is VERY unlike the White family. Santa and Mrs. Clause are ready for a long winter's nap! We also emphasized how important it was to stay in bed until the sun was up, and up bright, before they got out of bed. After all, if it's still dark, it might be night, and they might scare Santa away! We'll see if it works, but I predict a 6:00 rising. :)

In other news, Jeremy had the best gift last night. His friend, Curtis, who had an accident a few months ago and was not expected to live, called him and left a message on our answering machine. Jeremy returned the call and was able to talk to Curtis for about 20 minutes. Curtis has moved back to Texas, and Jer will get to visit with him on Friday. Curtis is a walking miracle. There is a link to his story on the right of the page - Curtis News - check it out.

Merry Christmas!

Jeremy is AMAZING

Yesterday, Dec. 20, was our wedding anniversary. Eleven years of bliss, and I really mean bliss. Yes, we've had our share of arguments, unhappy times, and frustration, but I can easily say that bliss is the best word to describe our 11 years together so far.

So, Friday we dropped off the kids at my parents and went to spend the night in Fort Worth. We had a great drive from Stephenville to Fort Worth. I don't know if you're like us, but we really like road trips together, just the two of us - no kids in the back. We can talk unlike any other time. I'm not distracted by tasks around me; I'm just focused on him and the conversation. We got to Fort Worth and made a quick trip to the mall. Really quick trip, and we spent a whole $16. (I've been looking for this bag that one of my students have. Cute, practical, anyway, no luck & same story at other stores; but the man was a SPORT to look with me.) Then, we went to P.F. Chang's for dinner. Delightful, as always. We decided to check into our hotel and get settled and then go out for dessert. He gave me my present, and we don't do anniversary presents (or Christmas for that matter), so it was a surprise.

Some of you remember the message a few weeks ago when he shared a tiff we had over affection. Basically, I wanted more while he thought he was doing great. That night, he made a commitment to himself to deliberately show me affection for the next 40 days. Very "Love Dare" except that we hadn't seen the movie or heard of that yet - it was all on his own. He kept a journal of what he was doing and my reaction. Then, he decided to keep going all the way to our anniversary. He gave me the journal as my anniversary gift. It is the most thoughtful thing. Amazing.

Somewhere in here my back went KAPUT. I've had some problems for the last month. Like, when I bend over to put on socks, shoes, pants, so forth, the muscles on the right side of my back knot up, and I can't do anything. I can't sit in the bathtub :(. It hurts to sit at the computer - big :(. It hurts to bend down and take pictures...you get the idea. But, something happened where it was no longer just when I bent over. My back was SCREAMING no matter what I did.

If you know me, you know that not doing anything doesn't really work for me. Like, at all. I've often told Jer that if I'm in an accident and odds are I'll be paralyzed, just let me go. It's selfish, I know that, but I can't imagine being immobilized. I tried to shake it off, and we went to dessert. I'm also not very good at lying, so for every "how are you?" he could tell I was lying. I made it through the night with very little sleep, and I can sleep through almost anything. I've had very, very few sleepless nights in my life.

Dec. 20 - our official anniversary, and other than child birth, I've never hurt so badly in my life. I was literally using my child birth class breathing to move around, lay still, NOTHING helped. We went to lunch at Pappasitos, our other favorite, and then to a movie. The whole time I'm in so much pain that I am becoming physically sick to my stomach. I was defeated after the movie, and on the way home I admitted it. So, we got home around 3:00, and I went straight to bed - ice pack on my back, downed more ibuprofen than I should have. Not only was I physically miserable, I was an emotional wreck because THIS IS OUR ANNIVERSARY!

I woke up at 5:00. I felt better. My dear, amazing husband had been working for me the whole time. The house was clean - really cleaned: dishwasher unloaded & reloaded, counter tops clean, kitchen swept, living room vacuumed; he went to get movies (our another favorite past time). Talk about self sacrifice & knowing my love language. We cuddled up on the couch and watched two movies (did I mention the kids were at his parents' for Saturday night?). He offered to rub my back, but it really hurts so badly that I don't even want anyone to touch it. (Although, tomorrow I'll be seeing a massage therapist and a chiropractor.)

Poor guy - I'm sure he had many other ideas for our anniversary than cleaning house and waiting on me hand and foot (the guy had to put my pants, socks, and shoes on for me), but he did it with such love and affection that you would never know he was disappointed. And, really, he has to be. I have the most amazing husband in the world! I love you, Jer.

Pondering

I ponder, lots. Some stuff that is serious, some that's frivilous, some that isn't worth pondering. One of my ponderings lately has been "what is my role at StoneWater?" When we started the church I was whatever I needed to be. That included: financial secretary, children's co-director, seamstress, secretary to the pastor, children's worker for whatever area needed it, and some other stuff. Not that I was bothered by any of those things, but none of them felt like "my role" if you know what I mean.

So, once the church grew and I was able to hand off some of my "roles," I did. But, now, I often feel that I'm not "pulling my weight" around the ministry. But, I don't know where I feel called to be. In the past I've wanted to teach something, but I don't at the same time. I don't know what - maybe something on being a wife or mothering - though I feel far from adequate enough to do either of those. I could lead a book study, but I've tried that in the past and was far from stellar. I get too many things going, and one always falls by the wayside. I don't want to do that, but, simply, it's tough to keep up with Jeremy, kids, work, house, etc. Isn't hard for everyone though?

The idea has been expressed that the women of StoneWater would like to "see" and "know" me more. I'm okay with that, I think. I guess it's really part of my struggle and pondering. First, I totally love to be the center of attention in my classroom. I LOVE to entertain my students as I teach them. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I can be funny, entertaining, and teach them all at the same time (at least I think so, anyway). I even like to be the center of attention among my co-workers: recognition for a job well done, recognition as a leader, so forth. I don't feel there is anything wrong with any of that. However, when it comes to church...well, I feel like I'm being prideful if I am the center of attention. I mean, I went to school - undergrad & grad - for education, and I know what I'm doing (mostly). But "church stuff" and "spiritual matters," I'm not really trained for. I am TERRIBLE at remembering names and even faces out of context. I definitely want to remain humble because we've all seen what happens to the proud and all the warnings about pride in the Bible. Am I hiding behind that?

Is that it? If so, is my humility really an act of pride? Am I hiding in my insecurity and calling it humility when it's not? How do I step up my role and WHAT is that exactly?

Gingerbread Houses - Failure & Success

In the spirit of the season, I decided to make gingerbread houses Sunday. Well, if you've ever read the ingredients on one of those packages (and why would you?), you'll notice milk and egg ingredients. Sure, we weren't going to eat them, but we just don't take chances with our food allergies. So, I made sugar cookie dough (Jenna didn't like gingerbread) and my own template. It all went together pretty well, though it looked a little weak structurally...

Sure enough...it fell. But, then they got to eat it!

Never one to give up, yesterday I made another attempt. This time I made the house(s) smaller and walls thicker. So, since I scaled it down and made two. I also cooked the walls until they were hard as a rock.

And, two happy kids

PS: Jenna is quite upset about pictures of her in a spiderman costume being on my web site. But, I tried to get her to take it off (and to get H to put clothes on - do you remember how cold it was?), and she didn't want to. Tough.

All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth

We took a fantastic trip to Old Glory, Texas, over Thanksgiving.

Jenna's other front tooth had been wiggling since before she lost the other one, and at this point it was just hanging on by a thread. She kept wiggling, twisting, and playing with it. Finally, it came out! So, now we're singing the song all around the house!

Our trip was amazingly relaxing. Jeremy did a lot of hunting; he killed 5 hogs, a bobcat, a doe, and scared a coyote. He saw a great 8 point the first night, but didn't take it since it was the first night and he was holding out for something bigger.

We had lots of time to relax, watch old cartoons like Popeye, Smurfs, Jetsons, and Tom and Jerry; we took a great drive through the country and the kids got to pick some cotton; we stopped and skipped rocks; we slept in!

And, there was a Mi Familia (same original family as the one in Granbury) in a neighboring town, so I got some chicken enchiladas and guacamole chalupa! Delightful!

And on the way home, there was this strange creation...

"All Hail the Queen"

I tell you, I have FINALLY gotten my AP classes trained. AP students, in case you don't know, are Advanced Placement students who will take a test at the end of the course to try to receive college credit. Well, they are usually quite intelligent, somewhat lazy, and very full of themselves.

Many times when I have given a quiz, half the class will want to "debate" a.k.a. whine about why we shouldn't have the quiz or why another answer should also be correct. "But I didn't know about it," or "If you really think about it, C works, too," and the "didn't know" one always gets me bristled up because I give them a calendar with a FULL SIX weeks of plans with quizzes indicated AND write it on the board everyday for a week before the quiz. I mean, really, if you're old enough to be responsible enough to drive, look at your calendar. As a friend says, "Those who can read, should."

A few weeks ago, tired of the situation, I made an announcement that just came to me in a flash of brilliance. "Listen ladies and gentlemen. This is not a democracy. It is a monarchy, and I am the queen." This was especially clever considering our stems for the week included stems in democracy and monarchy.

Today a "debate" was beginning to break out when one of the students told another, "it's not a democracy, so shut up." (Kid #1 is ALWAYS whining/debating, and Kid #2 and most of the class are sick of it.). I corrected the "shut up," and smiled. Until, another couple of students said, "Why don't we just call it a dictatorship?" Then, I launched into a lecture of denotation vs. connotation for dictator and monarch or "queen" as I prefer.

Now, I'm trying to get them to bow and say, "All Hail Queen White!" I'll let you know when that happens, but be watching for pigs to fly...