36 years ago today

(I wasn't born)

However, my cute husband was born. I have to say that unlike Michelle Obama, my husband is a different man than the one that I fell in love with. I just think that we are both so different. I guess it's true that if you are married to someone long enough you will start to look like them. Does that mean that I will have a goatee soon?

He is a wonderful, Godly man. I'm glad that I am married to him. We are very different, but have a lot in common. There's no one that I would rather discuss something with besides him. He makes me laugh like nobody else.

I love watching him with Maggie. Tonight, they were playing "football" which is basically Maggie trying to tackle Steven. She has a great example of what a husband is supposed to be because of him and I love him for that.

He is so compassionate and caring. It takes a lot to annoy him and he is willing to listen and take time with people.

I love him and I love how he challenges me. He is the person who made me want to grow deeper in my relationship with Christ. I hope he has a wonderful birthday!

First day of school

 
 
 
 

Remember last year? I would drop off Maggie at school every day and every day she would cry when I left her. She would be so sad.

Today, she woke up at 7 a.m. I was in the bathroom and Steven was walking out the door. Maggie yelled, "GOOD MORNING! IT'S PRESCHOOL TODAY!" She was up and dressed in about 2.5 seconds (quote for Laura Hallford) and begging to go to school. I walked her outside and showed her that her teacher's cars weren't in the parking lot yet. While we outside, I took pictures. I asked her to smile, but she couldn't. She had to make only silly faces.

I took her to school. No crying. Just walked right in and said "hi" to everyone. Then, all the other moms and dads were standing around and kissing screaming kids. Maggie said "give me a kiss and go, mommy". I told her that I could wait with her for a minute, she said "no, just give me a kiss and go". So, I followed her instructions and left. What a difference in one year.

So, umm...

1. Today was pretty bad. We were supposed to meet with our social worker. I spent all night on Saturday working on a scrapbook that was due at our meeting on Monday. Guess what? She was sick and not in the building. Guess when they told us? 45 minutes after we waited in the waiting room. We watched a little bitty bitty baby (like days old) being dropped off in the lobby by a guy. He had to go get someone else so he just left the baby with the scattered secretary. She didn't know what to do. I told her that I would watch the baby for her. So, Maggie and I awwed over the tiny baby. We watched a foster mom drop off a baby with her daddy. It was so awkward. The kid was hysterically upset about being left. It was an uncomfortable scene.

2. Tomorrow is Maggie's first day of school. She is so excited. I will post pictures of her new back to school outfit. While she is in school, our new MOPS group is meeting at our newly renovated church to discuss last minute details before our first meeting on Wednesday.

3. Then, I have to work! So, my MOPS friends will be at my house without me! They are going to price stuff for the garage sale that is at our house on Friday.

4. I'm waiting for Jon Stewart to come on. I can't wait to get his reaction to the DNC tonight.

5. One more thing. I have the hardest time with links, but this is a good one. Sarah posted it first! http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2008/08/donald_miller_t.html

My husband = awesome

Be sure to check out his blog. He's giving away a book.

www.stevencole.org


He also described our stinking, bad day. However, he saved the day. On the way home, I noticed that were passing a sign for Lodi. I thought that was weird. I thought that Lodi was on the way to Sacramento, which is the opposite way from our house. Then, I saw a sign for the Elk Grove Auto Mall. I was confused. Then, it hit me. He was taking me to CHICK FIL A. It made up for a very bad day.

Lands' End survey

If you know me, you know that I love to enter surveys, especially if there is an incentive. I got this in my email and thought that I would share the love!






Lands' End is one of those companies that really value moms' opinions. Here's a way to have your voice heard and really make a difference when it comes to preparing for the upcoming winter months.

Please take a few minutes to complete the 2008 Lands' End Outerwear Survey. The survey consists of 19 multiple-choice questions. Upon completing the survey, your name will be entered to win one of five $100 Lands' End Gift Cards. To be eligible to win, you must complete the survey by midnight (CST) on Thursday, August 28th.

Take the Survey Now!copy and paste this link into a new broswer.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DG9KwbHEjhrksqANVd2F3Q_3d_3d

Scrapbooking

If you know me,you know that I love to scrapbook. One of the things that we have to do before our meeting with the adoption caseworker is to put together a family scrapbook. This is to present our family to the caseworkers who decide where to place a child. I want it to be good! The supervisor is a scrapbooker, so I want to impress.

The only problem is that the pictures have to represent our family, but not be identifying in any way. This is to protect our family and keep our location confidential. It's going to be hard to do.

Any suggestions on pictures to take or include that don't let people know where we live?

Pregnancy Center

Last spring, I was asked to apply to be on the Pregnancy Center board. I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to commit to, but I decided to put in my resume. I was accepted and the first board meeting is next month. I'm a little nervous, I've never been on a formal board before, I'm usually a volunteer.

Today, I met with the director. It was such a great thing to see. They are all volunteers and working so hard to serve the women in our community. And trying to show them the love of Jesus at the same time. It was amazing.

I am so excited about serving with them. Our ladies' group is trying to find a way to serve with them, so I went and got some great ideas and ways to serve at the center.

It's just not an organization that I knew a lot about, but I'm proud that it's in Manteca. These ladies are an inspiration. They are using their time and energy and money to provide for women in bad situations.

Ready for the OFFICE

Skinny dipping

Maggie has been playing in the blow up pool in the backyard. She went inside to potty and came out naked. She asked if she could swim naked in the pool. We have a high fence, why not? NO pictures to illustrate this post.

The Family Tree

I want to type this out. What if I forget about this extended family?

First, there was Johnny. He is Maggie's imaginary friend. He is from "oka-homa".
Then, Logan. This is Johnny's brother. He was born in Texas.
Then, Sleeping Beauter. This is Johnny's sister. She is not Logan's sister.

Maggie alternately marries Johnny or Logan. It just depends.

Then, Maggie had Shanna. This is Maggie's baby, but we are unsure of who the father is. Shanna does some crazy things. One night, she ran around the living room without her diaper on. This cracked Maggie up. She was screaming and screeching at her to put on her diaper.

Ariel is Maggie's imaginary dog.

Someday (hopefully) they will all disappear. In the meantime, they are a fun addition to our household.

Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up?

Mr. Jesse and Miss Tiffany

 
 
 
 
















The aforementioned subjects who will not be named "MAY" have been created as paperdolls by Maggie this week. I saw this great idea in Family Fun magazine that had ways to make paperdolls. I cut out paperdolls out of grocery sacks and then we picked out clothes from patterns that we saw in advertisements in magazines. She had so much fun coloring them and their faces and named them Mr. Jesse and Miss Tiffany. An entire bottle of glue was used in this production.

 
I thought that our days of youth ministry were over. However, I think we are still in youth ministry, but a slightly older youth ministry. Wait, the suspects who did this could have been our youth. They are the same age as Christi Daniel and Stephen Watts. Not that I have any idea who did this to our yard and Steven's truck. But, payback will happen!

mickey and maggie go to the olympics...be ware of mickey's booty. it's disturbing!

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Maggie doesn't feel good

She is such a healthy girl. She is rarely sick. Last night, I noticed that she was sniffing a lot and sneezing, too.

This morning, she slept in really late and asked me for her "booger medicine" aka mucinex. We didn't have any and she begged me to take her to walmart to buy some medicine. That was my sign that she really didn't feel good. I have to sit on top of her if I need to give her some medicine, so if she was asking for medicine, she must not feel good.

We came home and she happily took the medicine and got in bed. She is watching a movie we rented from Red Box.

Playing with pictures

 
I have been playing with Maggie's pictures tonight. I did this on Picasa pictures.

TiVo

Jesse introduced me to a true love. He gave us his TiVo when we moved into the parsonage. Thank you, Jesse.

Now, we can TiVo Maggie's favorite shows. She can "fast forward" through the commercials. She wants us to "pause" when she runs to the bathroom. Steven can record hours and hours of golf.

We also TiVo "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report". I TiVo "Jon and Kate plus Eight". Sometimes I get annoyed by Kate, but I kind of enjoy watching the train wreck and I'm grateful that I don't have 8 children!

What do you TiVo? If you don't TiVo (mom), what is the show that you look forward to each week/each day?

smells

What are some of your favorite smells?

Steven is baking whole wheat bread right now. The smell of it is amazing.

There's a powerful connection between smells and emotions. This smells like home and warmth to me.

What are some of your favorite smells and what emotions does it bring up in you?

Maggie's prayers

Last night, I put Maggie to sleep. We read a book and said our prayers. I've been trying something new with Maggie. I ask her to tell God who she is thankful for. Last night, she listed Memaw, NahNah, Scrappy(her cat, Nana and Papa, and Miss Judi.

Miss Judi just left for Japan (aka China) to be a missionary. She will be working in a school. I'm so proud of her for taking this leap of faith.

Then, I asked Maggie to tell God if she was sorry for anything. This is a touchy question for Maggie. She wants to tell God that she is sorry, but needs to explain why she did whatever she did and why it's not really her fault!

Cutie pie

 

I'm supposed to be working, but this pictures is so cute. I have to share! Maggie and I went to the mall today and took advantage of Picture People's free picture. Isn't this adorable?! Not that I'm biased.

Veggies

My friend, Stacie, just brought some vegetables from her garden. They are gorgeous and huge. We got some cilantro, rosemary, zucchini and tomatoes.

I'm excited.

Waiting

We are in the process of adopting a child through the foster care system in California. Our only stipulations are that the child is younger than Maggie.

We started the process here in October. We went to a meeting and submitted our application. We completed our homestudy in January and completed our foster care classes in February of this year. It took us a while to get our paperwork completed after that. We thought that we didn't have to complete the medical paperwork and CPR classes to get approval for adoption. We thought that it could come later, however, we found out in June that this wasn't true, so we got it all turned in last week.

So, now we wait. It's so strange, but I feel worse now that we have it all turned in. It's like I have absolutely no control over when the child could be placed with us. It's totally out of our hands now.

I know that God is in control. This is just one of those low moments where I wish I knew what was going to happen. I want some peace about this. I want to know that the child is coming soon.

3.99

It's a great price! I bought gas today for 3.99 and I was happy about it. Around 4th of July, gas was around 4.40. Thank goodness I don't drive very much.

Maggie's artwork

This is me
Maggie goes to Miss Brynn's house during the week so that I can get some work done. They do a lot of art projects. One day they made pictures on the computer and Brynn sent them to me. Here are a few of them.