We interrupt this program...

I want to finish blogging about NYC and I need to give you some updates on my boys, but right now there is only one story on my mind. It is an amazing story of Faith and Hope and a testimony to the healing power of our loving Jesus. I'm a little late pointing you to it, and I'm sorry. They could still use your prayers, though, so please join me.

About 2 and 1/2 years ago, I was sitting at my desk at work in a blubbering mess. I had just received an email from Rick C. about the daughter that he and his wife, Amy were expecting. The prognosis did not look good, but the faith of this couple was compelling to say the least. As I felt KJ moving inside of me, I was especially touched by their story and their ability to witness to so many people in the middle of their pain. Even in the middle of the work day, I sat in my chair, crying, talking to my baby boy about his friend, and praying. "Oh, God, please please please, save their baby". Amazingly, it was Rick and Amy who brought me to the place where I could pray those words and know they were heard. They said, and TRULY BELIEVED, that they knew the God they loved could heal the baby they loved. While their journey was rough, their faith was strong. And against all medical odds, they were RIGHT. Precious Eva Faith is 2 now and such an amazing little lady.

But that wasn't the end of the story for this family. Next came precious Ella. Please go over to their blog and read more about Ella Hope and her family. And when you do, be prepared to be amazed and inspired. Inspired by the Hope and Faith in this family and AMAZED at what a mighty God we serve.

Also, Sweet Mindy, has been doing a great job of putting up scriptures each day that I'm sure are such an encouragement to those that are close to this story and will bless you, too. Stop by her blog and thank her for her tender heart.

ABL

I want to be apart of it... NEW YORK, NEW YORK

What do you get when you mix turning 30 with the craziness of two small boys, a marriage that you want to keep as a priority, a small window between changing jobs, and a certain husband's dream of attending the U.S. Open? A MUCH NEEDED WEEK AWAY IN NEW YORK CITY WITH NO CHILDREN!

RRL and I were so blessed to get a week of just enjoying each other away from the responsibilities of home. While we certainly missed our boys, this break was much needed at this time in our lives and we were so thankful that we could make it happen (with special assistance from Nonna on the homefront)! Everything about the trip just fell in place. We were able to fly on miles, stay with some VERY generous friends in Manhattan, and score free tickets to the Open. We spent the week in a nice balance of seeing the sights, eating some amazing food, and getting some much needed R&R. There were a few mornings when I slept later than I have in YEARS. Here is a quick *haha* day-by-day recap (it might take more than one post):

THURSDAY

the day to learn a few lessons

On our first day in the City we had tickets to the Yankees v Red Sox game- the last time these two rivals will meet in the Old Yankees Stadium. It was so cool to be part of this historic occasion. We did learn, though, that just because it is much cooler in the City than it is for us at home, the sun is still shining. Despite one application of sunscreen, I got FRIED. I'm usually a little OC about sunscreen so this was a big blow to me and I learned to carry sunscreen with me everywhere I went for the rest of the week.

After the game we headed to Brooklyn for some amazing pizza at Grimaldi's and ice cream at The Brooklyn Ice cream Factory. Both were recommended in our Frommer's book (don't leave home without one) and both certainly lived up to the hype! Our original plan had been to get our pizza, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge for sunset and come back for ice cream. Sounds romantic, right? Well, after over an hour of looking for Grimaldi's, RRL found a hotspot to connect on his iPod Touch and we realized that restaurant was indeed right between Front and Water St (as we had been told) but there were Front and Water St on both sides of the bridge. NICE! From that point forward we learned to rely heavily on the iPod and never think that we could just wander until we found something.

What follows a delicious dinner and dessert better than a movie? A MOVIE UNDER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE! Again, sounds very romantic and the scenery certainly did not disappoint (looking up at the lights on the Bridge, sailboats on the water, sitting in the park with a perfect view of the skyline, snuggled up with my husband). The movie, however, was The Shining. Watching a man try to kill his family while I am far away from my boys was not my idea of fun, so we left early.

A most unfortunate event occurred as we were leaving Brooklyn. Thinking that after a whole day of subway hopping we were experts, we accidently "hopped" onto a train going to Queens...and rode it about 30 minutes the wrong way. We arrived home 1 and 1/2 hours after leaving the movie. Good thing we didn't stay until the end of the movie and that we learned from then on to read the signs before anyone hopped anywhere.

Friday

Something is brewing and 'bout to begin

We each had one main thing we were especially looking forward to and Friday was mine. I was like a kid waiting for Christmas all day. Just a few weeks before, after much on-line research, I had finally found affordable tickets to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. This has been high on my "list" since it opened. RRL was very gracious to make it a really special time for me and did not complain at all as we sat down in the middle of a bunch of families with little girls (none of whom were nearly as squirmy with anticipation as I was)! The musical did not disappoint. IT WAS AMAZING and left you just believing that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the magic of Mary Poppins has a little truth to it.

Before the show we went to eat at a super yummy restaurant in Little Italy. We had been told to meet Antoine at the door and he ushered us to our seats with kisses and Italian hospitality. It was great (not to mention some of the best food I've ever tasted).

Saturday

A dream come true

RRL's "big day" was Saturday...a whole day of Tennis at the U.S. Open. We saw an amazing line-up of players all day, including Venus, Serena, #1 ranked Nadal, Mike and Bob Bryan, and the fun upset match between Mardy Fish and James Blake. It was a LONG and very hot day of tennis that didn't end until after mid-night, but it was a lot of fun. It was so special to get to watch RRL enjoy it so much after waiting so long to be there.

We also had the fun surprise of having the Brackeens join us for the weekend, including the Open. She does a great job on their blog of talking about the amazing day and also accurately described the only downer of the day as "the expensive/horrible food...more expensive than an airport, worse than a school cafeteria!" Because of that, we asked around and were excited to find out that there was a "Spanish Restaurant" not far from the tournament that we could walk to between the day and night sessions. Unfortunately, this is what we found:

It smelled as bad as it looks (I think that poor dog might be next). We went back to the $10 hamburgers.

Can you believe it? All of that in just 3 day! And there is still more to come. Stay Tuned for:

Sunday

Sometimes you pay for the experience

Monday

Our favorite NYC attraction

Tuesday

Just a walk in the park

Wednesday

Homecoming

Countdown to 30...A bit about me

If you missed the first segment of my countdown to 30 (or really count up since I started with 1), go here first.

Now for a bit about me...

9) RRL sometimes jokes that I do not have a sense of humor because I really do not like "funny" movies. I'm not a fan of slap-stick jokes and would much rather cry in a movie. I also do not like cartoons much.

10) I could eat breakfast for 3 meals a day. I love almost any kind of breakfast food which is why a certain restaurant with the breakfast menu available all day is my favorite. I LOVE CRACKER BARREL!

11) Occasionally, I like to "accidentally" leave my pearls on after I change into my t-shirt and sweats from my work or church clothes. I think it says a lot about who I really am.

12) I hate shoes. I actually kind of liked the fact that my feet swelled during pregnancy so that I could have an excuse to wear tevas or reefs to work (my favorites). This did result in the famous "I went to work without shoes" incident, though.

13) I love mini-vans and have a dream to own one. I've wanted one since I was 16. They are just so practical and you can fit so many people! Really, if you ask me about my dream car...it would be a mini-van.

14) My favorite book of the Bible is James. One of the first verses that I really memorized was from James (1:5) and one of the first times I spoke in public was on James. It is like an old familiar friend.

15) I'm pretty consistently running about 15 minutes late. This is one of the characteristics I least like about myself, but since I've been about 15 minutes behind for YEARS, I'm not sure how to catch up with myself. As a result of this bad habit, I am frequently saying quick prayers of thanks for things like green lights, convenient parking places and light traffic. (Funny thing is I wrote this before we had a recent debate in our small group about whether God really is interested in such things)

16) I occasionally like to drink milk or juice straight out of the container. For some reason it makes me feel like a sneaky kid (I know, I need to get out more). Don't worry, I only do this at my own home and usually only at the end of the jug. Just to be safe, though, you might want to ask before you pour yourself a glass at our house.

Next 29th, I'll share some embarrassing moments (as if admitting that I drink out of the jug is not embarrassing enough)! Sorry, you'll just have to wait a WHOLE month.

Quick updates

The 29th is right around the corner so my "countdown to 30" installment for August will be here soon...be excited!

In the meantime here are a couple of quick snippets-

1) We went to a family reunion this weekend. The reunion part was so much fun and you should definitely check out pictures on Aimee's blog. The roadtrip part was not so fun. We made the 6 hour trip down on Friday and back on Saturday. Wouldn't have been so bad except for an oil spill and a bad wreck delaying us on the way there and the sub-par biscuits and one-star waiter at Cracker Barrel on the way back (no road trip is complete without a Cracker Barrell stop, but this one was one of my least favorites).

2) Thanks to Remotely Relevant Ramblings, I have a new and more efficient way of blog-reading. I know I'm probably WAY behind on this, but it is so cool to be able to read all of the blog updates on my favorite blogs in just one click. Be sure to follow her lead, though, on a resolution to still click over and comment.

3) As an addendum to my post about having little boys...
"Having boys means near death experiences that will scare the living day lights out of you (to quote my Grandmomma)." We were at a restaurant last night with friends and KJ was playing as we were about to leave. I looked over at him just in time to see him literally strangled by the rope he had been playing with. His face was turning red and he was not screaming for help, just staring at us wide eyed. I stood up and screamed while Ricky ran to rescue him. When they got back to the table, we were all in a shocked silence until KJ said "that hurt my neck" and I burst into tears. Praise the Lord that this story had a happy ending. We pretty much felt like parents of the year and are just so incredibly grateful that this will be a story we can laugh about later (much later). We STILL have a lot to learn about raising boys!

Boys will be boys!

**Updated to add pictures

Yesterday, KJ came running saying "Cbug is eating paper". I have a feeling that KJ actually fed Cbug the cute little scripture cards that we use as bookmarks. Don't worry, I think I recovered most of the wad before it did any damage. Oh, boys will be boys.

Two of my favorite people are expecting their first boys in just a few short months. I get so excited when I find out that one of my friends is having a boy because they are just so much fun! There is no way to possibly prepare them for all that is headed their way, but it has made me think about all that having boys means. I know some of these could probably be applied to girls, too, but I wouldn’t know about that! Also, pretty much everything I’m going to list could probably be found on some sappy poster at Hobby Lobby, but I had fun just thinking about all I have learned and enjoyed about having boys. There are several of my readers who have WAY more experience on this whole raising-boys thing. I’d love to hear from all of you about what having a boy means at your house.

Here’s my wealth of knowledge (from a whopping 2 years of little boys) on what having a boy means…

-You are sure to find rocks in your dryer. This happened to me for the first time last week and SHOCKINGLY…I cried. It was such a milestone (no pun intended) for KJ. The first time he brings home rocks in his pockets.

- Crying at weddings every time the groom walks his momma to her seat.

- Endless games of every kind of ball, frisbee, chase or hide and seek

- Praying that sweat suits will come back in style for teenage girls (Becky told me this at a youth event just after her oldest son was born. I didn’t understand it at the time but boy do I now! Thanks, B!!)

- Building tall towers out of blocks, just to watch them crash...then doing it again.

- Bandaging lots of scraped knees, bonked heads, and smashed fingers (Here is KJ's first black eye a few months ago)

- Being asked, in the sweetest voice, “Please kiss it for me” right before he runs off to try the same trick again.

- Getting funny looks in the nursery or bible class each week for the previously mentioned injuries.

- Feeling like you need to bolt down everything that should not be thrown

- Learning that sitting on the floor is an open invitation to be tackled or wrestled.

- Fine tuning your skills at stain removal

- Laughing until you cry, at least once a day

- Conquering your fear of bugs, and actually LOOKING for them!

- Acquiring important knowledge like whether the truck you just passed was a bulldozer or a backhoe

- Not being ashamed of making random animal noises or singing silly songs in public just to make him laugh

- Learning to pray in new way. (I remember a mom of a teenage boy once telling me that she often stood at her kitchen window where she could see her boys playing in the backyard so that she could watch and pray for their safety. I loved this because her boys were so tough and fearless.)

- Trying to learn when to rescue him and when to let him figure it out for himself.

- Debating each night whether you should wear a poncho for bathtime.

- Being so proud of his “big” accomplishments like going down the big slide, going under the water in the pool, or doing a flip.

- Actually loving the smell of a sweaty little boy because it means he’s played so hard and had so much fun! (And then there are the times when they decide to go swimming with their good clothes on)

- Getting a precious glimpse of what your husband might have been like as a boy

- Growing in love for your husband as you watch him play like a kid again!

- And most of all, having a boy means enjoying the special bond between a momma and her son. It just does not get much better!

I can’t wait to hear what some of you will add…

ABL

I'm on a roll!

I know that you probably do not even recognize my blog these days, with the flurry of posting activity. Don't worry, I'm sure it won't last and the blog slacker you know and love will return.




Here's a little bit of this and that...



- KJ is starting to really get the whole concept of telling us with words that he loves us. I love to hear him say "I love you so much" or to say "I want to hug you, momma". But sometimes he gets a little creative. Here are a couple of conversations with him...
Momma: I love you, KJ.
KJ: Yeah, I love me, too.


(PREFACE: We frequently tell KJ that he cannot play with Mommy's wedding ring because it is a special ring from Daddy that means he loves Mommy very much).
KJ: I love you, Daddy.
Daddy: I love you very much, KJ.
KJ: Where's KJ's special ring go?


- After this post, things have really improved when I go to worship services. I appreciate your prayers and encouragement. I think it is about 50/50 Cbug improving and my heart towards the situation being softened. It is also largely thanks to sweet friends who offer to help. Thanks, HC.


- KJ's imagination is really starting to come alive. He used to just call his stuffed dog, "Dog", his monkey was "monkey" etc. For the first time, though, he has given a name to one of his toys. The little man who sits in his helicopter is named "Friendly". At first I thought he was saying "Freddy", but he corrected me several times and we have established that his name is indeed "Friendly". Friendly sometimes gets in trouble for disobeying his Mommy. I have to work hard to keep a straight face for that one.


- RRL and I have been talking about doing a better job of getting to know our neighbors. Anyone had success with block parties?


- When I got in my car this afternoon the dashboard registered 125 degrees. Once I got the AC cranked up it made it all the way down to 109. YUCK.


- I think it is so cute that KJ has started adding "I think so" to the end of responses when we ask him questions. It makes me think I probably ask him "do you think so?" a little too frequently and he's just anticipating it. For example...
Momma: "KJ, where are your shoes?"
KJ: "In KJ's room, I think so."


-The only thing worse than baby spit-up is the spit-up from a baby who is eating solids...green and orange and all kinds of fun colors. I remember this with KJ, too, so I know it will pass but oh it is so gross.


- I know we are not alone in this struggle, but the price of gas is going to kill me...literally. Last week I filled up for the first time in a very long time (thanks to being out of town and RRL taking the cars frequently for fill-ups) and I just about had a heart-attack. Between that and the fact that our family easily buys between 2 and 4 gallons of milk a week...YIKES STRIPES.

- I am a self-proclaimed sap. The terrible thing is that I seem to always hear a sappy, make-me-cry song right as I am pulling into work. Nothing like showing up for the day with your mascara dripping. Check out these two songs (but grab a box of kleenex first). The first one especially is super cheesy, but you should expect no less from a sap.
1) Crystal Shawanda's "You can let go"
2) Dixie Chicks, "Lullaby"
(I just like the song, this is not an invitation for a political discussion)


- RRL and I are moving towards a time of big transition with his job. Please be praying for our family, for those involved in the transition and for peace. RRL has done (and continues to do) an amazing job of leading us out in faith, but admittedly it is a little scary.


I know this has been random. That's just how my mind works these days.
ABL

Pictures from Ruidoso Trip

As promised, here are a few pictures from our first mission trip (Ruidoso) with the 10th graders.

The family...before KJ's mullet got trimmed!

(And by the looks of it, before the boys had naps that day)

KJ and Mr. C have the funniest little game that they have played together since KJ was very little. No one really seems to know the rules except for the two of them and that makes it so special. Something to the effect of "Is it up there?" I'm glad to finally have a picture of it!

What a great friend!

Oh, precious HB played and played and played with KJ that week. What a God-send!

KJ's sweet friend J0-Jo!

I know this picture is blurry, but it was the best one we got of KJ singing at VBS. He loved to play with the microphone. Here he is singing "fuzzy caterpillar."

Beautiful NM sunset.

This may be one of my all-time favorite pictures. I love to watch KJ with his Daddy!

Cbug really did love VBS (sometimes).

Say CHEESE!

A sleepy little cowboy!

What an awesome group!

Great memories!

ABL