Greg's 32nd Birthday

Greg's party was so much fun! We had a small crowd and lots of kids. Greg had to cook our food, but he's the best at that, so he wouldn't have enjoyed his steak nearly as much if he hadn't cooked it.

And I have to say, I have the best friends and family. I could NOT have done it without their help. Everyone helped out so much, from Heather decorating, and basically taking charge of the cake and brownies, to Peter cutting the watermelon without being asked, to Alli watching Jonas and helping with other little things. I really enjoyed myself.

I did make a total mess out of the brownies when I tried to use the mixer. I sprayed egg and brownie mix everywhere. And then, the candles were put into the brownies before they were cool and it was hilarious! They melted and fell over, and then once they were lit, dripped all over the brownies. We had to pick out pieces of wax as we ate.

Prayer request to be missionaries to the Mormon missionaries.

We're having Mormon missionaries for dinner on Wednesday night. Pray for us to be filled with the Spirit and bold in sharing our faith. Greg has to work, but Peter and Janet will be here.

So, the croup is still hanging out at our house. It's supposed to last 3-4 days, but poor Ben is still sick, a week later. The worst and most stressful part is that we're not supposed to let him cry. Normally, when I put him to bed, he cries for a few minutes before he goes to sleep. It's just about impossible to get him to stay asleep any other way! I've tried everything I can think of, but as soon as I move him, he wakes back up. And, he doesn't sleep as well, or as long anywhere else besides a bed.

At night too, he's been waking up and I've been laying with him in bed on my chest and he just cries and cries. Last night, we may have had some sort of a breakthrough. I didn't try to hold him, when he cried, I just had him in the bassinet and pulled it right up close to my bed, so I could hold his pacifier in his mouth. That worked last night. We'll see if it works again.

Pray for us. We're all exhausted, except Luke, thank goodness.

Why NOT to go by yourself to the emergency room

Cat's out of the bag with that title. We went the emergency room at the children's hospital last night. Ben has croup. It really wasn't too bad a visit -- about three hours from my front door back to my front door. Hopefully, we won't have to go back, but they said croup is common with babies who were intubated.

Really the worst part was being there alone, and the ONLY reason that was so bad was that I had the taste of garlic in my mouth from Alli's Tastefully Simple part that I went to and I wanted a drink SOOOOO bad, but there was no one to help me get one. I couldn't leave Ben in the room, but I couldn't take him and have no one be there when the doctor came. Plus, I only had a 20, or I would've gotten a drink on the way in.

Anyway, that was our exciting night. Got home at 2am. Am now appropriately tired.

To be [honest] or not to be [a savvy shopper], that is the question.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous store return policies or to return items without full disclosure and get back more than you paid for them.

1) I returned an item to Wal-mart which I had originally bought on clearance at Target. Target has very stringent return policies and I did not have a receipt, so I thought I'd try Wal-mart. Before I knew what was happening, the Wal-mart customer service clerk had given me double the amount I paid for the item at Target.

2) I bought some shirts at JCPenney with a coupon for $10 off, but had to exchange one of them. On my way in, the clerk checked the price on the shirt and told me I could pick out something for the same price as the price tag on the shirt I was returning. When I got back up to the counter with my exchange, she asked if I had a receipt, which I first lied and said no and then said I did (acting, of course, like I'd forgotten). After looking at my receipt she informed me that I could only exchange for an item half the cost of the price tag on the original item, because of my coupon, which in effect meant I lost the coupon discount when I exchanged for the new shirt.

This frustrates me: I want to get the most for my money, but I also want to please the Lord. I'm thankful that he convicted me while I was at the counter at JCPenney, so I didn't have to go back to the store and show them my receipt at a later date, because I knew I'd done wrong.

What would you do?

Greg is off.

Greg is off today and tomorrow. It's so nice because we get to spend some time together. Tonight, we actually ate dinner at the table, and then, once the kids were asleep we had a little time without TV, just went outside. That was nice.

Next Monday is Greg's birthday. He will be off! We are either going to Atlanta, or having people over to our house here for dinner. I'm trying to decide what to do. Any suggestions?

I love my kids. They're cute!

"It"

Vanilla Coke is back! Alli guessed correctly. I bought her one, but since she didn't want it, I was forced to drink it myself =).

"It"

This is a piece of "it". Another hint: it's not something personal. Anyone could get it.

A Friend's Birthday Party

We went to Elias' birthday party today. His mom is a good friend of mine (and Peter too). He was turning one. It was really fun to watch Luke run around and play with all the other kids. He had a ball, chasing the ball. And there was a little puppy in the yard behind which would come up to the fence wagging his tail wildly and then run away when Luke got close. Luke thought it was hilarious. He said "sunny!" which is how he says "funny." I think it's so cute when he says that, I guess just because he's being more abstract than simply pointing out and naming an object. Another funny thing he says: every time I say something about "Uncle Peter," Luke says "Janet." I guess we know who HE thinks is worth mentioning.

When we stopped on our way home and I went to get Luke out of the car, he had a little rubber snake on his chest, which freaked me out, because I didn't know he had one! When I first saw it I thought immediately it was a toy, but then I thought, "where did he get a toy snake?!?! Is it real!?!?!? OHhhh, it came out of his goody bag from the party.

Also, today Luke figured out how to put all the pieces into one of those wooden puzzles with the animal cutouts all by himself. Then he wanted to try another one when we were picking one out for Elias and he did that one all by himself too. He wanted to carry it around all day, but kept dropping the pieces out and getting upset. He was later able to put all the pieces in the correct place in the shape sorter at another friend's house and kept emptying it out and putting them back in again and again. It was almost like something "clicked" in his brain today, which was fun to see.

In reference to "It"

In reference to "it," which I posted the other day -- I am not pregnant! It's not nearly that serious! It'something really little that I'm excited about because it was gone and now it's back. Seriously, would I give you a baby if that was it and you guessed it right? No! (I said I'd give one to whoever guessed it right.) Another hint, I'm cheap, so if I'm giving one away, it can't be something expensive. So, guess again.

Luke at P&J's wedding

"It"

It's back! I'm so excited! If you can guess what I'm talking about, I'll give you one (except Greg -- I already told him.)

Tough week, but the Lord is good.

Last week was kind of a tough week. We got back from my grandfather's funeral in South Carolina to find out that the baby of Greg's good friend had died from SIDS. It was very sad for us -- Benson was born Feb. 13, just 5 days before Ben was actually due. The parents, Eddie and Sarah were so amazing in their response. At the funeral, they both spoke, which in itself was amazing. But, even more than that, Sarah talked about how God had given her a peace that she wasn't missing out on anything in Benson's life, but that God had given him exactly the number of days he was supposed to have. Eddie talked about how he would give up anything to have his son back, highlighting God's amazing love for us, to CHOOSE to give up his son, for US! When I went to greet Sarah after the service, I could not help but cry, and it was like she was comforting me, telling me how we needed to get together and they had been thinking about us. I pray that the Lord would continue to uphold them, and use us to do that if he should see fit.

The contrast between Benson's and Kuka's funerals was interesting as well. Both were the funerals of believers and believers' families, so the Lord was honored throughout, but the mood was so different. Kuka's funeral was bittersweet, sadness in missing him, but joy that he went home to be with Jesus and lived such a long and full life -- he was going to be 90 this December! Benson's funeral had a certain sweetness, but sorrow was also evident throughout -- an appropriate response, of course. The sweetness was in knowing God's love and comfort, and the sorrow . . . well, that's obvious.

Kuka's Funeral

Kuka's funeral was really wonderful. He really wanted God to be honored rather than himself, and that was truly what happened. They even succeeded in focusing my attention on the Lord and what he's done for me and my family, which is pretty amazing, because I have a pretty hard heart. Uncle Dave read a eulogy about Kuka, which was basically the main events of his life, and Aunt Ruth read a letter from Kuka's sister, Betty Van Wechel, who could be there, but said that she knew Kuka must have faults, she just didn't know what any of them were. It really came out that he was a man who desired to please God more than anything else in his life.

It was also a very formal service. The church Kuka went to and loved, where they also loved him, is a small PCA church that uses an organ, piano, and hymns. It was different than what we're used to at this point, but the Lord was definitely lifted up. At one point I thought it would have been nice if they had asked Peter to sing, but then I realized that the type of music they would be doing would not be the type that he would normally sing and may not suit his voice all that well.

One of Tot's granddaughters really loved Kuka and she had a hard time with losing him. She may not have gotten to see him after his stroke either, which probably made it harder for her in certain ways as she didn't see him suffering as much as others of us that had seen him since the stroke. Another thing I appreciated was that Joel Belz and his wife came down from Asheville. The reactions of all of these people to his death was very heartfelt and special to me -- made me feel like he was loved and will be remembered.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
Okay, so I know I am going to be a terrible blogger and forget to post anything for long periods of time, BUT I want one! Everybody else has one! I want a place to put my thoughts, feelings, and family events and milestones too. So, I will try. I'm not telling anyone else about it yet, however!

On a sadder note, my grandfather died yesterday morning. We are sad not to have him around anymore, but so happy for his "promotion." He gets to be with Jesus, my mom, Nyanya, and Tot, plus countless other friends from around the world. We'll be going to South Carolina this weekend for the funeral events.