An Unlikely Window...

...into my heart.

I don't like to talk much about my health, but I know lots of my friends are struggling with health issues, too. It helps sometimes for us "sickies" to lean on each other. I am sure I have mentioned before that I have Crohn's Disease. That has been a long journey, but I have prevailed through lots of ups and downs. God has given me something to talk about. My illness has shaped who I am, how I handle hard times and how I use those times to help me grow in my faith and as a person. The opportunities I have had to help others have been endless and I know God will give me plenty more chances to use my illness to relate to others in His time. I look forward to that. When you are really sick, you get a new and very mature perspective on life. I consider myself very lucky to have received this perspective at such a young age.

On that beautiful and courageous-sounding note, I got a double whammie in the last two days. I have not been feeling well since Christmas, so while I was home last week, I got to see my favorite doctor. I love him because he knows when I complain I am at my wits end and he knows if I am complaining to him that I need help. So, he ran some tests, drained me of my blood and determined that not only do I have issues with my thyroid (easily solved, I think), he thinks he has discovered that I am beginning to have Gluten Sensitivity (easy to solve if you don't like food!) This, of course, is on top of Crohn's Disease and a recently acquired fructose intolerance.

Hmmphf. Well, at least this provides an explanation to my complete and utter exhaustion. So, I should be grateful for this discovery and chance to improve my quality of life. I am. I know these things might seem small, but all added up, it is just frustrating for a girl who LOVES food. Our lives revolve around food...dinner with friends, making cookies with the kids, Christmas, Valentine's, and Easter candy. Fourth of July cookouts, Girl Scout Cookies, big thick succulent steaks...can you tell what I miss? I will deal with these cards as I have before...prayerfully and with faith that God can heal me. I can't remember exactly how she said it, but my dear friend, Casey, said something like this about another friend of hers. God provides healing for us when we ask...it can be earthly healing or heavenly healing. God heals on His terms...for His purposes.

These days, I find myself praying to make it thru a day. One day at a time...and I am still here! I worry when it starts to affect me and how I deal with the boys or when I am just too tired to lift another finger and its only 3pm. Unfortunately, of late, those days have been far too prevalent. So, like a recession. You don't know it was recession, until you are out of it. I am hoping I am trudging up the backside of that little graph as I write.

I have life. I have a beautiful and healthy family. God has given me and my children the ability to talk, walk, see and hear. We all have so much to be grateful for. Don't take for granted even one day of your life. We all have our roads to hoe, but we are only here on Earth for a very short time. Make the most of every opportunity.

Here!

We are so VERY here. "Here" is The Woodlands and so happy to be here...with a yard and a garage and neighbors. Oh, how sweet it is. The boys play in the yard and ride their bikes in the street while I sit and read my magazines in the 70 degree weather. We go on walks and hopefully tomorrow, Toley will be joining us on our walks. I am not sure whether it is The Woodlands, or a house, but I am in heaven...for the first time in a long time.

I can't even describe the events of last week without getting exhausted all over again. Babe and I drove back and forth between Tulsa and Houston twice, loaded and unloaded a U-Haul and a suburban twice and have since been unpacking and setting up camp in our new, yet temporary, home. While it feels so good to be here, I feel like I am in college all over again. We rented furniture, just for the ease of it, and we are in a world of laminate. Laminated furniture, however, may be the secret to keeping scratches off furniture with boys.

Thanks to my ever-loving mom and dad, JBS and JLS were well taken care of (and more) for 7 days of complete chaos in our lives. It was great to spend time at home in B-ville, but also nice to finally be getting started on life in The Woodlands.

Yesterday, Today and the Tomorrow's

Yesterday, we once again, made the hike to The Woodlands. We made it to the boys' doctor appointments that lasted 2 hours, received 3 shots in JBS's thighs (not happy). While JLS was the fit-thrower last time, out of the blue this time, JBS was completely non-compliant. I only survived that visit with the promise of a sprinkled donut. (that's how low I had to go to make it out of there) I am sure this office just LOVES their 2 new patients.

From the donut shop, we headed to make a "quick" meeting with our builder to finalized the structural changes on our future house, God willing. I was there with both boys from 12pm until 3:02pm. Yes, it's true for all you mothers of crazy boys. I went prepared with sack lunches and a bag of Hot Wheels. That lasted approximately 15 minutes. Fortunately for me, the woman I was working with raised 3 boys. They are grown, so I think she had forgotten some of the hard times, but she mostly understood. You know, the boys crawling under the table and driving Hot Wheels over her feet (with hose), doing summersaults on the floor of the model home, yelling and screaming, having to go to the potty once, twice, three times. You know, the usual vices. Misson Accomplished, despite it all.

By 3 pm I was famished and ordered from Jason's Deli. My trusty GPS drove me right into half an hour of traffic. When I discovered where Jason's Deli actually was, I had gone at least 5 miles out of my way just to see the traffic, I guess. Or, the purpose could have been to rock my babies to sleep, as their eyes slammed shut before we even left the neighborhood. My builder and his co-workers have never, and will probably never witness that one.

So, TODAY, I will be loading my car with the first load of boxes to MOVE into a house with a yard in THE WOODLANDS. Praise the Lord. No more full day exhausting and chaotic trips to the doctors.

Tomorrow, we will load both cars and drop another load in The Woodlands before we head to O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A. We will deposit my kids at my parents house and go to Tulsa to pack up some more things from our house. Babe and I will blaze back to Houston with our U-Haul on Monday. We will go straight to finalize our decorating choices on our future house the minute we arrive in town, assuming we depart Tulsa by 6am.

Tuesday, I will accept furniture and wait for utilities to be set up at our rent house and drive BACK to Oklahoma to spend a few days with my family. I will drive back to Houston with the boys at some point that weekend.I am exhausted already. Time to go back to bed. I need prayer.

Warm's a Mother's Heart

I have joined an awesome gym here in Katy. The child care center is so phenomenal that my kids beg to go to the gym. (ugh!) It has an infant-only area, a toddler play area, a computer center, a full-sized gym and a climbing gym that puts the McDonald's playland to shame. The care is great, the cost is minimal and for 2 hours my kids play their little apartment-life hearts out. I work out for an hour and relax for another hour alone, in my peaceful place using the Wi-Fi, making phone calls, or reading a book. All the while the kids use up their 2 hour maximum stay. Before you think I am terrible for taking advantage of the 2 hours of child care, I am not the only mother who has figured this out and the boys cry when they have to leave. It 's beautiful for everyone involved.

On a typical day, I check the boys in, they get their ID tags and they are off like lightening. No, "See ya, Mom" or anything. The girls used to ask where JLS was allowed to go, but have learned that JLS does what JBS does. And, JBS always watches out for JLS. When I go to pick up the boys, I always try to sneak in without being seen, just to see what they do when I am not around. Yesterday, they were riding big wheels together in the gym. One of the girls came over to me and said, "You know, JBS is a really good big brother." Of course, I think so and smiled with pride, but asked what she meant. She said that the "big kids" (max age of 5), including JBS were playing a game of ball that JLS didn't understand or was too little to play. This made JLS break into tears (he is OBSESSED with balls). So, JBS promptly removed himself from the game and found the Big Wheels so JLS could do something with JBS.

aaaahhhh. How precious of a friend and big brother JBS can be (most of the time). At age 4, this is really not something that is taught, but really just a beautiful quality that is innate in JBS. I thank the Lord for his compassion and desire to watch out for his little brother. This is something I have always prayed for, but pray for that relationship to grow even more as those precious little toots get older.

A Valuable Lesson

Since we have moved to Texas, JLS has learned to speak Spanish and JBS has learned another very valuable lesson.

JBS LOVES to line up his cars in perfect order. They say it is a pre-reading skill, but JBS has been doing this since he could crawl. I think it has a little bit to do with being obsessive-compulsive... just enough, anyway, to be obsessed with lining things up. As a crawler, he started with his Hot Wheels. When he started walking, he took things from my pantry and lined them up on my bay window. Now, its whatever he can get his hands on...blocks, Lincoln Logs, cars, food, shoes. He will say "Look, Mommy! A line!" with a prideful glow on his face.

The other day, while playing with his perfectly lined up cars, I heard a clashing of metal. I looked over at him and he said, "Look, Mommy! Traffic!!"

The big city has taught us so much.

Hard Rock Cafe and Elmo

This weekend we went to see Elmo at the Reliant Stadium. Before the show, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for lack of a better kid-friendly choice in downtown Houston. It was really amazing how Hard Rock Cafe was nothing compared to the hype and excitement of the 80's. I remember standing in line for HOURS at the Dallas Hard Rock just to eat an OK meal, but to say, "I went to the Hard Rock Cafe." We were seated immediately and evidently, every other parent in town thinks a loud bar-type atmosphere is a good choice for young children. I am not sure there was anyone there WITHOUT kids.

We found our way to the Reliant Stadium, which was truly awesome to see. However, Elmo was actually in the Arena....the small one-story building across the parking lot. At least we got to drive by. And, of course, we got to see the Astrodome right next door. Unbelieveable how small it looked next to the monstrosity of a new stadium.

Elmo was exciting for the boys for about 30 minutes. The most exciting part was buying the $15 toys, of course. JBS was fascinated by his Elmo light and JLS had Babe throwing the "Ba-Ba-Ba" up until the minute the lights went out for the performance. JLS even got a few cheers from fans in the stands just above him. Babe's chest puffed up a little when the men in the stands were commenting on his ball-throwing abilities.

All in all, it was a nice family day with another Houston landmark checked off our list.

The Rodeo--The Final Report

Clearly, we have jumped right in to all the Houston activities pertaining to the rodeo. As much as I would love to go to one of the competitions in the arena, I am thinking we are done with the rodeo this year after this past Friday. Going to the Houston Rodeo is like none other. It's like going to the State Fair, as there is so much to do! After all, it does last 3 weeks. Three weeks full of concerts, events and activities.

We had a great time Friday, but my camera only lasted for the first half of the fun. We visited the petting zoo where we saw every animal on the farm, watched a chick hatching that minute, saw baby piggies that were a day old, baby sheep, brahman bulls, horses, tractors, bee hives....we saw it all. The most impressive event of the night for the boys was, fortunately, caught on camera....getting to ride on the tractors!
I took this picture of this Angora beauty because her name was Hanna. Coincidentally, Hanna was one of our favorite babysitters in Tulsa. So, Hanna, if you are out there, she upheld your name with grace and beauty.

And since I was taking pictures of animals based on their names, this bull's name was Penny. I would much rather be a beautiful Angora goat, but I wouldn't want to mess with this bull on a dark night. Beauty vs intimidation factor.....I'll take what I can get.

A Refresher

So, I mentioned previously that JBS was big. I just thought for those of us who know the little toot, it might be a fun refresher to see how big he actually was in his first months of life. If you didn't know him then, this gives you good perspective on his size.
This picture was taken with two of my best friends' babies. The oldest handsome dude was around three, Casey's son. The dainty little princess on the left was maybe one or two months old, Lori's little girl. And the wide load on the right is none other than JBS. He was four months old. I will never forget how Casey's Dad laughed when he saw that picture. Our children don't even look like the same species.

I'll leave you with this. My little toad that was all of 20 pounds by 4 months (and had already outgrown his baby carrier) was only 5 pounds 13 ounces when he was born. He had a lot of catching up to do and he certainly did it. I miss those cheeks...oh, how I miss those cheeks!

He said, "Bible!"

JLS just grabbed his favorite book and said, "Bible!" (He's a saint, you know.) Changes are already evident even in his first day home. Up to this point JLS's vocabulary has mostly consisted of grunting and yelling ....quite loudly.

Thank you for all your wonderful prayers. We were truly blessed. I hate to admit it, but I wasn't worried so much about the actual surgery as I was my little spitfire's behavior. We only encountered one point of contention and that was that JLS did NOT want to relinquish his jammies. The nice nurses and doctors were OK with that and we moved on. The funniest part was when his "Loosey Goosey" juice hit. They gave him some medicine to take the edge off. All edges were definitely removed when Mr. Bigstuff's eyes rolled in the back of his head and his head laid back and he laughed in slow motion. I could equate the humor to when our stud cat, Lancelot, tried to walk while he was still under anesthesia. Both wild hairs aren't bridled too often, but when it happens to a hot shot it is quite entertaining. There were, actually, several moments "under the juice" I wish I had had my camera there. He modeled the blue hairnet hat quite well and thought it was great to pull it over his face and growl as loud as he could. Where was that camera when I needed it?

JLS was a trooper. The surgery and recovery have been painless (for us, but him, too, I think). He did end up getting both adenoids out and ear tubes. Babe and I don't want to say it too loudly, yet, but we think he isn't grunting/yelling as loud as usual already...and he said the word, "Bible"...add that to "Hola" and we are rockin'!

Surgery Tomorrow

JLS has registered at least 5 ear infections since the Fall. I have honestly lost count. Between the Urgent Care and pediatrician in Tulsa, the Urgent care here in Katy, and his new pediatrician in The Woodlands we have had TOO many visits. So, his new pediatrician, who I really like, recommended we see an ENT to get tubes in his ears. This was the whole saga of driving back and forth between Katy and The Woodlands that made JBS's birthday such a painful day for me.

His pre-op appointment yesterday reassured me that the surgery was necessary, as even after completing antibiotics, he still had fluid in his ears. So, tomorrow morning is his surgery. I have heard what a cinch ear tubes are, but I am still a big baby because who wants to see their baby unconscious and having to go thru all this? Also, the doctor said if his adenoids look bad, they will come out, too. THAT will be the bad part.

We have to be at the hospital in The Woodlands at 6:30am. I will not be crazed anymore, so we got a hotel up there for tonight to make the screaming drive with no milk or food as short as possible in the early morning. God help us.

Please pray for little JLS during his surgery and for his doctors. I just know his recovery is going to be rough, as they warned us he might be cranky. They don't know JLS. He WILL be cranky, so prayers for a smooth recovery are greatly appreciated....by every member of our family and possibly our neighbors in the apartment next door.

Linebacker Moments

I don't mind telling you this story. For the same reason I can tell you that JBS wears pink, I can tell you JBS likes to play with my hair. I can tell you these things because, if you haven't seen him in person, he can take any kid his age and even a year or two older out in a split second. JBS is a linebacker. He is a gentle giant, but he does not know his own strength. When he was 18 months old, he sent a child in his Sunday school class sailing when the child got between JBS and the door (where Babe and I were standing to pick him up). Babe, of course, was in total awe (and admiration) of the air that got under the child's feet. I was just standing in disbelief wondering if MY child was the bully. I can tell you these things. JBS can take care of himself.

After JBS and I say his prayers and sing our songs at night, he likes to play with my hair. Really, he likes to run his 2 choice cars thru my hair and make tunnels and bridges. Either way, he is gentle, I love it, and it gives us some real quality time for conversation. I learn almost everything I know about school, friends, worries, and happy thoughts after the lights are turned out.

Tonight, as he was playing with my hair...he did request the brush this time...he asked if I liked his hair. I told him it was very handsome and I asked about mine. He said, "Your hair is going to look great, Mommy! When other people see you...(he leaned in to my ear for a whisper) They will want to give you a hug!!"

I love that baby. Today was filled with angelic moments every time I turned around. Today was a beautiful day.

Monday Night Football

Grammy and Big Daddy are here! We are all sitting here in our little corporate apartment crowded around a 19 inch TV watching the Super Bowl. The funniest part about it is that Dad and Babe both have 55 plus inch (only the men know the exact dimensions) TV's at home purchased for these moments in sports that are sitting in the dark.

As I sit here watching the Super Bowl with my Dad, I can't help but to reminesce a bit on Monday Night Football from days of yore. When I was growing up, Monday Night football was Dad's thing. We all knew it was coming, we all knew when it was (Monday nights, of course) and we all knew what to expect...a little bit of hollering, nothing but football, and popcorn and Tang. Yes, I said Tang.

First, I must clarify, this wasn't just any popcorn. This was the real deal. This was before microwaves or air poppers. Dad had an electric popcorn popper that I will never forget. I would stand with my nose barely tall enough to look over the counter to see thru the holes in the bottom where the "feet" connected. I could see the burning red color as it heated the oil and popped the popcorn. I can still hear the sound of it in that old green popper as it pop, pop, popped into white fluffy little pieces to fill THE designated popcorn bowl. While it popped, Dad was busily preparing a glass of Tang for each of us to swig between bites. When the popcorn was done, he covered it in melted butter (melted over the stove) and salt and it was DELICIOUS... Tang and all.

Big Daddy still makes the best popcorn there is and he still has a huge popcorn bowl that is used JUST for popcorn. The poor old green popper eventually died, as it just didn't have the stamina to pop another batch of popcorn. It was a sad death, as that old popper provided us with many batches of popcorn and many fun memories. It has since been replaced with multiple over-the-stove crank handle poppers. None have lasted as long as that green popper.

It didn't matter that our TV was probably 12 inches or that it didn't have remote control. In fact, that TV had a channel "U" on it with a big old knob for turning the 12 or so channels. It was the quality time we had as a family and the lasting memories that came out of Monday Night Football.