The Power Of Four

I love technology. I'm a gadget junkie and I love electronics. But today, I am extremely thankful for one in particular phone addition that we have in this age; the ability to conference call.

Back in Reno, myself and 3 of my closest friends decided that we needed to meet a couple of times a month for the purpose of prayer. It was nothing for us to sit for hours on end and fellowship and pray for one another. And I believe that my prayer life grew stronger than ever during that time. I saw many many answered prayers...but what's more, I developed a deeper relationship with each of these women than I ever thought possible. There is something about praying with another person that allows you to see deep into who they are. I don't know why I was chosen for this privilege, but I do not take it for granted.

When our family moved to Texas, I was taken out of that foursome and have missed the time that was spent together immensely. Over the months, the three of them continued to meet...often lifting me up during their prayer time knowing full well how much I was struggling to adapt to our new life here.

Recently, another member of our foursome moved to Wisconsin. Yet she had the idea to four-way call a couple of times a month...and that's just what we did today, minus one who is attending a funeral. Anyway, I can't put into words just how powerful our time together is, even over the phone separated by thousands of miles. Just getting to hear all of our voices on the same line is so filling. We cry and laugh together and share an intimacy with one another that I have never experienced outside of my marriage.

As we filled each other in on what is happening with our lives today, I found myself crying. Two of my dear sisters are experiencing the same pains that myself and the third sister in my group experienced when I moved to Texas. Having been down that road, it was all I could do to pray and cry in sympathy at the knowledge that their journey was just beginning.

I don't know why God separated our little foursome, but I know that He is sovereign and I trust that He works all things for His purpose...and His purpose is ALWAYS good. Even when it brings tears to our eyes that can't be contained, He is always good and I will forever praise His name and serve Him.

I am so thankful for these women and the time that we share together in prayer. I often thank God for placing them in my life and I sincerely look forward to the day when we are in our King's presence, praising Him for all of eternity. I just know that in Heaven, we will be neighbors and won't have to burden the pain of separation anymore. I so very much look forward to that day!

Shopping Cart Safety

Having more than one child is such a strange phenomenon. When Jason was born, Kenny and I did everything by the book. Any first time parent would probably see themselves in us. The car seats were professionally inspected for proper installation. Diapers were changed every hour on the hour whether needed or not. And if Jason even coughed suspiciously, we were at the doctor's office.

Then came Dallas, and we loosened up a little. We felt more comfortable in our parenting skin and knew that every time that he cried, it was not the end of the world. We were still cautious parents, but not as crazy as we were with Jason.

Now that Keegan is almost 2 and a half, we are practically pros. In fact, we could probably partner up and write a parenting book. However.....

You'd think that common sense would override parenting confidence when it comes to the most common faux pas. For example: shopping cart safety.

We all know the importance of keeping our little ones strapped in their proper seat. Oh, did I mention that I'm a parenting pro? Those strict shopping cart rules are for newbies! So...Keegan wants to hang out in the larger area of the cart....Keegan gets to hang out in the larger area of the cart. Hey, he's child number 3 and all I care about now is silence....not safety. Besides, like I said, I'm a parenting pro and can certainly manage my son in a shopping cart.

Well, as much as I'd like to claim that protecting him was just what I was able to do yesterday during our afternoon run to Wal-Mart, I just couldn't overcome the law of physics. Those laws would indicate that when child is standing in a movable object, and the object moves without the child prepared to move with it....said child will stay in place while object moves from under him. Translation: When I pull a shopping cart backward while Keegan is standing in it, chances are he is going to fall forward out of the basket and land directly on his head. Low and behold, that's just what happened. Right there in lane #12 in front of security cameras (I'm expecting CPS to knock on the front door any day now), customers, workers and other mothers shooting me their glares of disapproval.

I fully expected him to vomit in response to such a violent strike to the head. I was sure that he would have at the least, a concussion. However, he actually turned out fine. Just a small lump on the corner of his forehead. It sounded and looked much worse than what it was. That didn't stop the Wal-Mart manager from asking me to fill out an incident report. (Gotta protect themselves...completely understandable.) But on the flip side, Keegan did get a free bag of M&M's out of the ordeal. Once again, I suspect that the majority of the scarring will be taken on by my emotional state. The guilt kept me awake last night. If I said, "I know better than that." once, I said it a million times.

I guess I'm just grateful that God made children so pliable. I realized early on that Keegan would take full advantage of that fact. We are talking about the same child who snapped off the tip of his finger earlier this year, remember?

I now fully understand why my parents always said that it hurt them more than it hurt me. If I could have taken the fall for Keegan yesterday, I would have done it a thousand times just to keep the tears from rolling down his face. The sad fact is that I could have prevented it. But the basket seat was wet and rather than ask for a towel to dry it off, I let Keegan have his way and ride where I knew he wasn't the safest.

Was the lesson learned? I'd say so. I just wish for my children's sake that I didn't always have to learn things the hard way.

Insomnia Gone

Finally...FINALLY....my insomnia seems to have subsided. I'm sure that fact is in direct relation to the amount of stress that has been reduced over the last week. The two major things, that I believe have put me back into slumber mode, are our housing future and Christmas.

I'd say that 90% of our Christmas shopping is done. I knocked out most of it on Thursday via Amazon.com. On Friday, Kenny and I handled the rest by spending the majority of the day at the Grapevine Mills Mall.

Like I said, I've still got a few things to pick up. But most of our shopping is done. We've gone a little over budget, but I'm ok with that considering that a handful of gifts are well worth the money spent. They have the power to change peoples lives and you just can't tie a dollar amount to a gift like that.

As mentioned in my previous post, we put an offer in on a house last Sunday night. By Monday evening, we got the call from our realtor letting us know that our offer was accepted. As a family, we immediately dropped to our knees and thanked God for this blessing. The offer we submitted was only 75% of the property's value. It is a near perfect fit for our family. The only thing that I would change would be the backyard's size....or lack thereof. It's a bit small. But the deal we got makes the size tolerable....at least temporarily.

So now, we are waiting for the final purchase agreement so that we can get the inspection done and the loan processed. Once we have possession, we'll go in and do a little bit of drywall work/alterations. We'll also be putting in new floors and counter tops in the kitchen. Once all those things are done, I'll probably paint and then we'll move in. We should be in by the end of January. I think once everything is said and done, I'll post the before and after pictures of the house.

On today's agenda: I need to put the Christmas tree up, do a little more shopping, and then get behind my camera to take the boys' portrait. I imagine after this full day, I won't have a problem falling asleep tonight. Ohhhh, how wonderful it feels to easily fall asleep again.