We’ve had some MAJOR blog backup going on over here! MAJOR!! I’ve just been a total neglector of this here blog, and lazy about uploading pictures, and really, really busy with life. Raising two boys, working part time, leading Bible study and Momtourage… sorry blog, you’re at the bottom of my priority list. It’s just the way it has to be. (If you’ve watched Monster Inc. one hundred thousand times, like me, you realize I just quoted a major character. Pop quiz… who? I like games.) But after finally uploading some pictures, I realize I have 11 posts that need posting! So, I’m gonna do one a day for the next 11 days, and hopefully get all caught up. So, consider this your laxative, Blog, and let’s get movin’! WARNING: I’m about two months behind so you will be seeing Halloween pictures. :)
The Bubble Burst May 7, 2009
I’m going back and forth about writing this post. Most likely, I’ll type it all out, proofread it a gazillion times, and let it sit in my drafts until I decide whether or not to publish it. But if you’re reading it, I suppose I published it.
A few months ago I was sitting with Geric in our living room and we were talking about how it felt like a lot of people around us were really getting put through the wringer. We knew people with illnesses, major financial problems, sick children, and other heart breaking tragedies. My exact words to him at that time were, “Doesn’t it just feel like we’re in this bubble and we’re so blessed?”
Well, the bubble burst.
I’m not going to give too much detail, and please don’t ask, but we’re getting to spend our own time in the wringer. And it sucks.
One thing I can share is that Geric lost his job at Water of Life. Once again, I’m not giving any details… if you know what’s going on it’s because I want you to know. If you don’t, then I know I can’t stop you from speculating or gossiping or whatever else people do when something big like this happens, but perhaps, instead, you could just pray for us. It happens. We’ll get through it.
Another thing I can share is that we are so blessed to be surrounded by so many caring people that truly, truly love us in ways that I didn’t even know. So many people inside and outside of Water of Life have rallied around us and held us close when we needed it the most. I feel like I have seen God’s face so clearly through this experience, so when it starts to feel too sad and too scary, the love that I feel from my Father consumes me and reassures me that we’re going to be okay. Yes, He’s stretching us. Yes, He’s growing us. But through this, we will become stronger.
Anyway, all this to say, I’m going to be taking a hiatus from this here blog. It just feels kinda weird to be going through so much and posting things like “Family Night” or my cute kids. (Even though they are so stinkin’ cute.) I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I guess when it feels right. I’m still going to check all your blogs and email to keep in touch so I’m not falling off the planet or anything, just stepping back for a minute.
Keep us in your prayers.
I’m coming back in this lifetime, I swear. April 4, 2009
If you’re my friend on facebook, you know that we’ve been computer-less (thus internet-less) for almost three weeks. Honestly, the first week was pure torture, but now I’m kinda used to it… although I’ve thought about a hundred times “I should blog this” and I can’t. Anyway, we got a new computer this week (A MAC!!!) and some people at Geric’s work need to put some applications on it and then it can come to it’s rightful place (my home) to be used for it’s rightful purpose (blogging and facebook.) So, hang in there, my friends. I’ll be back soon. 
What Have I DONE???? February 28, 2009
Jacob’s hair has been getting kinda funky for awhile now. The top was nice and long and cute, but the back… my word, the BACK! It was frizzy and mullety and just all wrong. So, I had this brilliant idea of using the clippers on the back to make it short and keeping the top long, because I like that look and I thought he could totally pull it off. Well, that was a really bad idea.
The clipper guard I used on the back made it way too short so leaving the top long just looked weird so I thought I HAD to trim the top, so I thought I’d use the largest clipper guard, which even though it is the largest one, makes one’s hair extremely short. So, I totally gave my kid a terrible buzz cut. It’s awful and makes my stomach hurt when I look at him because I remember the cute hair he had less than 24 hours ago. I know, it’s just hair, it’ll grow back, but still…
So I went out and bought him a new pair of shoes. That always makes me feel better.
Oh no! February 23, 2009
I lost the cord to download pictures from my camera to the computer. Scratch that. My kids lost the cord to download pictures from my camera to the computer. (My motto is: When in doubt, blame the kids.) I have a few things to post, but they will have to wait until I go to Walmart and hopefully find a cheap replacement. And I’m totally expecting to find the darned cord in some random spot as soon as I get home and take the new one out of it’s package. It’s inevitable. That’s how we find things around here. Go buy a new one and make it unrreturnable, and then the old one will pop up out of nowhere.
Earthquakes are scary January 23, 2009
We had an Earthquake a couple of weeks ago and it really rocked us. I don’t know if it’s because we live in a raised foundation or because we live closer to the epicenter than almost everyone else I know, but it felt like a big one. Not THE big one, but definitely a big one.
During the earthquake Caden was watching Backyardigans with Geric, like he does every night while I put Jacob to bed. Well, all the shaking scared the socks off him. Geric jumped up and ran to the doorway I ran out of my room and I’m sure I looked scared and he screamed and looked really frightened. WE calmed him down and after a lot of coaxing he was able to go to bed.
The last couple of weeks have been a completely different story. He gets really scared of any strange sound he hears in his room, especially trucks that drive on the street outside. He literally screams at the top of his lungs if we leave him in his bed before he goes to sleep. Jacob is in there so it’s not like he’s completely alone, but he screams so loud that he’s going to wake him up. We’ve gotten a night light, a flash light to sleep with, we pray a lot a lot a lot and make sure Jesus is standing guard is his angels are watching over him, he has his special toy (Woody) and his blanket. I even made a new reward chart that if he fills up with stickers for going to bed quietly he gets to go to the movies with me. NOTHING works. Last night I sat in there until 9:30 and we put him to bed at 8. I’ve tried sitting in there for a little bit and then telling him I had to go put on my jammies, I’ll be right back, and hoping he’ll fall asleep, but he climbs out of bed and finds me. Oh, and to make matters worse, he won’t take Geric. It has to be mommy.
Honestly, between this and Jacob waking up at 6:15 lately, I feel like I never get a break and I’m going crazy. Any suggestions for getting a scared little boy to fall alseep?
Whoopsy Daisies December 12, 2008
The other day I was backing my car out of the garage a little too quickly, and I accidentally got a little too close to Geric’s car and I accidentally knocked off his side view mirror. Whoopsy daisies!
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I went and go him to pose for a picture, but he didn’t find the humor in it. Not at all. Not even a teensy tiny itsy bitsy little bit. Not funny at all.
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Gin! October 8, 2008
I’ve been a lazy blogger. I have two family nights, my birthday weekend, and beach trip to blog, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I will, soon, I promise.
Tonight I went out to dinner with a bunch of girls for one last “Girl’s Night” before Stef leaves for Georgia. She’s moving there, not vacationing. And since I drank way too much iced tea (caffinated) I’m going to actually write a post.
A couple of people were sharing Stef memories and I was trying to think of a good story to share, but I didn’t. Honestly, there are too many. For close to ten years through jr. high, high school, and college, we were pretty much inseperable. Seriously. People would introduce us as “Stef & Erin” like “LaVerne & Shirley.” It was so bad that when we wanted to hold each other accountable for doing quiet times, we said we wouldn’t call each other until we’d done our quiet time for the day. That’s how much we couldn’t stand to be apart. Sickening, really.
So, i didn’t share a story. I gave her a really tight squeeze before I left becuase I probably won’t make it to her goodbye party (same day and time as Caden’s birthday party… thanks for checking my schedule, Carrie!) And I left. And I wasn’t really too sad. I mean, I love you Stef, but we have blogs and we have email and it’s not like you died! (Well, at least not on the outside.)
But, then I got home and I laid down to go to sleep, and I got REALLY sad. (My emotions are weird like that… delayed, I guess.) So, I thought, “I know! I’m going to post my favorite memory of Stef on my blog!” I looked through old photo albums for inspiration, and I’ve found more than one memory. I found 28. (If you’re bored, you can stop reading now.) I’m not going to elaborate too much, but here are some of our good times, and not so good times, that made us the friends that we are today.
- Meeting you at summer camp, while I was wearing a foam visor from ACE softball.
- Being youth leaders for light n power and having a very stinky cabin from hell when we were camp counselors.
- Wearing our raingear in the field to “test it out” and talk smack about boys and your mom doing her best impression of a blowhorn to call us back into the house.
- Spending 4th of July on your roof… watching your mom be scared of heights was way better than the fireworks.
- Triangle Sisters Forever!!!
- Smoking in the garage after we encountered a wheel chair bound homeless man.
- Being roomies at 10295B for a month. Good times.
- Lip syncing to “My Guy” and the Brady Bunch song.
- Going to Newport and pretending we were tourists from Alaska when people asked (now we should pretend like we are from Georgia!)
- Spending 4th period of our senior year hanging with Maples, because you won ASB and I didn’t, and God forbid we spent that time apart!
- Stef and Erin in the cupboard.
- Kidnapping you before your wedding for oreos and soda at the top of Haven.
- Wearing dorky outfits to Disneyland and taking way too many dorky pictures!
- Triple dancing at homecoming… and prom… and king’s ball. (Do you realize that I went to dances with your husband and Megan’s husband? Weird.)
- Eating dinner before our senior prom at an old folks home. Our dates really knew how to show a girl a good time! (Jimmy, you know it’s true!)
- Our crappy senior year where we literally would have died if we didn’t have each other.
- Graduation from high school (thank God!) and grad night (not all it’s cracked up to be.)
- Our “senior trip” to Honduras… big bugs (and I don’t mean Dan and Jason), humidity, hard work… now that’s a senior trip!
- The girls Bible study and watching 90210 afterwards. I was the 90210 nazi… no talking except during the commercials… not even a whisper!
- Our Flipside softball team AKA standing in the outfield getting a tan.
- Being in each others wedding.
- Dealing with rotten boyfriends… we dodged some major bullets… major. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
- When we both liked Sam and he told us that he liked your personality and my body… what a winner.
- Riding around in the crap mobile singing “Passionate Kisses” at the top of our lungs.
- My videographer skills at your birthday party. “Stephanie Joy, you’re such a joy!”
- “You know what I mean, God” prayers.
- Your dress rehearsal at San Antonio with Haley… I hope I wasn’t too noisy.
- Playing gin for hours and hours in your room while we listened to oldies and hardly spoke, except to say, “Gin!”
Okay, so that’s all of it. Well, it’s not all of it, but it’s all I’m going to force ya’ll to read. (Ya’ll! Ha! Don’t they say that in Georgia?)
So, Stef, I love you! I know we’re not nearly as close as we were growing up (which is actually probably very healthy) but I feel like whenever we get together, we don’t skip a beat. It’s like we’re back to where we were. You really don’t find too many friends like that, you know? So, even though we still have blogs and emails, I’m gonna miss ya. I know, it’s silly, but it’s true.
God has an awesome adventure waiting for you in Georgia, and I can’t wait to come and visit you. We can sit on your porch and sip lemonade and watch fireflies, and play gin.
You know what’s not fun? September 19, 2008
Going shopping for clothes as a family with two kids that haven’t napped. What were we thinking???
Geric needed some new clothes and he had some birthday money left so he said he wanted to go shopping today. Shopping? My favorite pastime (before we were broke and I discovered blogging)? I’m in! We got the kids ready and headed out. I thought he’d want to go to South Coast Plaza like he always does, so I figured the boys would sleep in the car, like they always do.
I was wrong. Geric wanted to go to Ontario Mills (which I rediscovered today… and I love!) and the boys did fall asleep in the car… for the whole twenty minutes it took for us to get there. Nice nap.
We stopped in Banana Republic first and we did pretty well in there. (By the way, it’s the outlet store so EVERYTHING was on sale. I was practically drooling.) Caden decided to try on all the high heels while I was yapping away on the phone and Geric was in the dressing room. He looked very nice in the purple ones with the gold buckle.
We stopped at Cinnabon to split a… cinnabon (duh.) It started going downhill here. Caden grabbed Geric’s coke and spilled it all over the table. I asked him if he wanted a juice. He wanted apple juice, no orange juice, no apple juice, no orange juice… why am I giving him a choice??? Chocolate milk it is. The lady at the counter was the cup nazi and wouldn’t give me a cup with a lid unless I bought a soda. “But I bought a chocolate milk.” “Sorry.” Thanks a lot. We managed to survive with minimal spillage and only one straw flick on his brother.
Then we went to Nordstrom Rack, and for a lack of a better term, all hell broke loose. By now, Geric was pushing the double stroller, so I politely told him I was going to check out the girl section and meet up with him in the guy section. As I was browsing through tops, I could hear both my kids crying in the back of the store. (It’s a very large store, mind you.) But I figured that as long as Geric didn’t come and find me, he was okay. So I browsed, and I tried on, and I browsed some more, oh, and then I browsed through the kids section… and then I went to find Geric.
If looks could kill, I would be sittin’ with Jesus right now. I took the stroller and let Caden out (he was antsy) and he quickly made a beeline for the nearest rack of clothes to hide in. He did this repeatedly until I started telling him that I was going to have to call the police because he was breaking the law. Jacob was flopping around in the stroller, so I let him out, too, now that Caden was under control. But Jacob let out the stench cloud of poop that he had been sitting on, so we made our way to the bathroom. Caden crawled on the disgusting floor while I changed Jacob who was yelling because he likes to hear his voice echo in the bathroom. I decided to take them for a walk.
They each got to ride on one of those rides that you see in front of the grocery stores and neither were very impressed. We were Disneyland Annual Passholders, people. Those rides are peanuts compared to Peter Pan! Then we went and looked at all the “animals” at Rainforest Cafe. Caden screamed when we left (after 20 minutes) because he wasn’t done looking at the “endafent.” (Thats elephant.)
I decided it was time to go home. Both kids cried at the top of their lungs on the walk back to Nordstrom Rack and out of the mall to the car. After they were buckled I reached back to give Jacob his binky and Caden kicked me! I pinched his leg and told him to cut it out. He told me he wanted me to go away. I told him that I wished that I could. Go ahead, judge me.
We survived. We made it home. We have some cute clothes to show for it. And we are NEVER going to do that again.
Not how I thought it would be September 8, 2008
Yesterday was our last day at Church on the Hill (COTH.) It’s really no secret that I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be there when Geric got the job, and honestly, I don’t know if I ever found my place. So, you would think that on our last day there, I would be ecstatic. That I would be doing cartwheels as I left the sanctuary. That I would be sticking my head out the window of the car blowing kisses as I told Geric to “punch it!” and then screech off into the sunset to our new church. But that just wasn’t the case.
I was actually a little sad yesterday. I was thinking about the first time we went there are how different things were and it’s just sad to see what has happened to the church. I told Geric that it kind of feels like we’re leaving a sick friend to die alone. It’s really sad. I said goodbye to the pastor’s wife, Mary, and I got all teary eyed. It’s hard to be in her shoes right now. It just looks like everything is falling apart and it’s really sad.
So, after I said goodbye to the ugly green carpet in the sanctuary, the donuts that greet us every Sunday after church, and the weird smell in the gym, the sweet people at COTH had a goodbye potluck for us. They prayed for us and said a lot of kind things. Here’s some of the faces that have been in our lives for the past two years.
