Find Him

Among all of the wonderful things I am thankful for this Holiday season...the list is endless. At the top of it, however, is my appreciation for those who serve and protect and my sincere and profound relief that if my husband has a bad day at work, he's not likely to be shot.

With that in mind, let's find this guy. He left 4 spouses to mourn their soulmates and 9 children without Mommy or Daddy to tuck them in tonight.

Bastard.

Walkin Gal

Welll, she's done it.  She's started walking.  Tentatively, for sure, but she's definately taking steps.

I've had a hard time capturing it on video, because everytime I go for the camera, she stops.  Add on top of it, I don't know how to get the videos off our camcorder and there's been a serious lack of footage.

This morning I was going to take her picture and thought I'd try to get her walking on my little camera video recorder...and I got it!

I can't believe she's big enough to start walking!

American Child

So....I'm sitting here working away (no, really, I was), listening to my Ipod, thinking about the ramifications of site limits and upload protocols and SharePoint when a Phil Vassar song came on.

And maybe because it was Vetran's Day yesterday.  Or maybe because that now that I'm a mom, I'm such a sap it makes the "Very Independent Heather" want to puke, the words made me mist up.

It doesn't matter if you like Obama or if you don't (and for the record for my extremely conservative friends or my husband, I had high hopes and I'm increasingly becoming very, very disappointed so knock it with the "what do you think of him now" comments I can't seem to get away from).

It doesn't matter if you think that our economy is going to continue a nose dive or not.

It doesn't matter what your politics, what your religion, what your hobbies, hopes or dreams are...

Things are still better for us here in the U.S. than they are in Kabul or Baghdad or Mogadishu.

And I am sincerely thankful that my child was born an American one.

American Child
Lyrics by Phil Vassar and Craig Wiseman

I was ten,
I was thin,
I was playing first base
with a secondhand glove and dirt on my face
In nowhere, Virginia
Who'd ever figure that kid in the yard would go very far
It was 419 Lakewood , had no silverspoons
Just an old beat up upright that played out of tune
Now I'm singin' and living the life that I love
And when I count my blessings I thank God I was
An American child

An American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild
Born inside an American child




Seven pounds, three ounces, she's got my nose
And she's into my heart as deep as it goes
With a promise that's more than just someone's last name
Anyone's equal, in late August came
An American child

An American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild
Born inside an American child

My grandfather would have been eighty today
But in '45 he fell down beside an American child

An American child
Oh, an American child
'Cause dreams can grow wild born inside an American child
An American child 

Funny Girl

From the day they're born, our children are interacting with us.

Madelyn has been no different. However for the first time, Madelyn tried to make me laugh.

On Monday, I was fixing dinner for she and I and she started making these growling noises from her high chair. I look over, and she's growling at me like a little dog.

Then she grins.

So I laugh.

When she realized what she did made me laugh, she started giggling, then she growled again.

And I laughed again.

And we did this for a good 20 minutes.

How cool is that? My kid was trying to make laugh.

I love being a Mom.

Our Pun'kin

Holidays are so much more fun now that we have a little one.  They're WAY more work when you're the Mama, too....but it's so worth it.

This Halloween, Missy was a little young to really understand what was going on...and obviously we didn't go door to door, just to her various Grandmas and Grandpas...but it was so much fun just because Maddy is Maddy - and an adorable doll.

Knock, Knock, It's Me...Miss Ladybug!

Who needs candy, when they have a bink!?!?

Or grandma's walker?!?  That's much tastier than candy!

On one of our last sunny weekends, before the Great Flood Prep '09 began, Jim and I took our little Miss to the local pumpkin patch.  It was so much fun to watch her experience new things - she was quite taken with all of the pumpkins.  She liked banging her fists on them...or putting them in her mouth.   We decided to wait another year or two for the hay ride and the corn maze...but we had a fun afternoon nonetheless.

Idaho Girl

Phones In Church


A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and started working East from there.

Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and making notes. He spotted a golden telephone with a sign, which read "Calls: $10,000 a minute.." on the vestibule wall and was intrigued.

Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The Pastor answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he pays the price he can talk directly to GOD. The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way.

As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Reno, Denver, Oklahoma City, and around the United States, he found more phones with the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.

Finally, he arrived in Idaho, upon entering a a church, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read "Calls: 35 cents." Fascinated, he asked to talk to the pastor, "Reverend, I have been in cities & towns all across the country and in each church I have found this Golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to GOD, but in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute.. Your sign reads only 35 cents a call. Why?"

( I love this part...I love Idaho ............)

The pastor, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in Idaho now ...You're in God's Country, It's a local call."

American by Birth - A Idahoan (even a displaced one) by the Grace of God!

Who Knew

Who knew that in three short little years

This little family

Would include this little miracle?

Happy Anniverary to Us

Our World