Lazy Summer Days

It seems that the season of summer in the Inland Northwest is a bit of a misnomer.  Usually we see all four seasons, which I absolutely love.  This summer, and I use the term lightly, is very wet, very cold and I'm pretty sure if we blink we will miss it.

The beginning of this week was really nice.  Temperatures in the 80's, sun and dinners on the patio.  We decided to take advantage of the weather and play outside.

Zoe was fortunate enough to be spoiled by grandma and she got a dress that twirled.  She put on her princess goggles and we got to twirling.

Then we laid in the grass and found shapes in the clouds.

It was the perfect summer night.  There were too many giggles to count, so many times of being dizzy and even a few animals in the clouds.  Even though it was just a normal night for us, something tells me it will stay in my memory.  There's just something about seeing your daughter giggle that imprints itself on your heart.

Mamma is Finally Getting Some Sleep

We are into week 2 of our new normal.  Last week was N's first week back at work.  That means he works out of town for four nights.  He leaves on Sunday afternoon and returns on Thursday evening.  Last summer when we started this routine, it wasn't a huge transition for us.  He was working nights and going to school during the day.  I got to see him only on the weekends, except for the occasional grunt in passing in the mornings.  Zoe and I were used to doing things on our own.

That all changed last fall when N just did school.  He didn't have to work and just focused on finishing his last year of college well.  As a bonus, he was home every evening.  He joined the worship team and became a leader in AWANA.  We had an amazing nine months of growing as a family.  Our marriage is better than it's ever been.  His relationship with the girls is better than it's ever been.  God greatly blessed our time together.

Enter the new normal.  We've been here before, but this time is different.  I forgot how much I ran around in the evenings taking care of things.  I forgot how little I actually sat before.  I'm not complaining, I'm blessed to have a family to take care of.  It's just taking some getting used to.

Last week was rough.  Zoe missed her daddy and had a hard time sleeping because of her emotions.  Toby was completely thrown for a loop and was very upset with N.  One morning he even pooped on N's side of the bed.  Yeah, you read that right, he pooped ON.OUR.BED!  I can't even tell you how quickly that comforter was in the washing machine with bleach!

I was working on little sleep, lots of emotion and none of us really had a great week.  Then N came home, loved on all of us and things seemed to be right in the world.  Sunday afternoon I was bracing myself for the rough week ahead.  In our experience it takes about 6 weeks before the new normal because just normal.  During this time there is worry, lost sleep, stupid fights and many prayers.

I'm very happy to report, week 2 is so far a 180 degree turn of week 1.  Toby hasn't taken care of his business on our bed or in our house at all.  He's playful with me, sleeps through the night and is back to his Toby-self.  I can't even tell you how wonderful that is because N's the dog whisperer in our house and I just buy the dog food.

Zoe's going to bed all by herself without much wailing and gnashing of teeth!  She's sleeping through the nightm, which hasn't happened for at least 8 weeks.  She usually calls for me at least once a night.

Between Toby's adjustment and Zoe's sleeping, this mamma is getting some sleep.  It's amazing, but I'm not as teary or cranky.  Who knew!  Praise God for week 2, it's just what this mamma needed.

Sidelined

It would seem that my personal highlight of the year is the 1/2 marathon I did in May.  It was so much fun accomplishing something like that.  As you may recall, during the 1/2 my knee literally screamed at me.  It was so loud I was sure other people heard it.

I took a couple weeks off to rest the knee, rest my body and just take some time to sleep!  During StomachGate 2011 I decided to hit the road and start doing some running.  I thought I would do a light 4 mile run, get the old legs and lungs workin' again and do some training for the next 1/2 marathon, probably in September or October.

My knee had different ideas.  At mile 2 it screamed again.  This time louder than during the 1/2 marathon.  Pain shot through my leg and I couldn't put any weight on it.  I limped the 2 miles back home, at least getting in my 4 miles that I wanted.  I hobbled over to my brother-in-law who knows a thing or two about medical stuff.  He confirmed that pain is coming from my lateral collateral ligament.  I laughed because, seriously, the lateral collateral ligament.  That sounded so fake.  He just smiled and told me to look it up.  Of course I did what you're warned not to and Googled it.  I learned some things:

1.  Sometimes you eat crow.  My brother-in-law is super smart about ligaments and stuff.
2.  It keeps your knee in place, so it won't bend out to the side. 
3.  It's a ligament = not much blood flow = long time to heal.
4.  An LCL sprain or tear is very hard to prevent.

After two weeks of constant tenderness I went to the doctor.  He confirmed all the things that I had learned on the world wide webs.  He sidelined me for a month.  Not just from running, but all forms of exercise except cycling. 

If it's not better in a month, I get to do physical therapy and wear a brace.

My summer training is on hold.  My summer ice cream eating hasn't slowed.  I best be getting on that stationary bike at the gym if I have any hope of fitting into my shorts.

We Are In This Together...But Apart

This weekend marked the beginning of the next chapter.  Now that N is a college graduate, he's has to go back to work.  This last year was the first time in our marriage that we've had a normal, consistent routine.  It was one that included N being home in the evenings.  I can't tell you what a blessing this past year was.  We've grown as a couple and as a family in ways we never dreamed we would. 

Yet, we always knew this was temporary.  We knew when N graduated, that would mean going back to our old normal:  not having him home in the evenings. 

Yesterday we made the three hour drive to the dam, dropped N off and then Zoe and I made the long trip back home.  It was bittersweet.  Both N and I know this is just a stepping stone to getting us to where God wants us to be.  At the end of this 24 month period is the vision of the life we've always had.  Over the next 2 years we'll each be doing our part to get us to that place.  In many ways this is an exciting chapter.  Each week that we are apart, puts us one week closer to having a permanent place that is our home.  Each week brings us closer to having N home every evening!

The irony is that to get there, we have to be apart for the next 2 years during the week.  Essentially we have to both be independent and yet together.  We will, in many ways, live separate lives for the next 2 years.  If I'm being completely honest with myself, I've grown rather fond of not being independent.  I loved having N home in the evenings, to have him with us.

This is what we have to do.  I know with it will come hardships and blessings beyond our understanding.  I know it's not us that is guiding these next 2 years, but Him who has opened these doors.  God wouldn't have brought us this far to not have a plan going forward. 

If we look closely, we can see God's hand in this already.  Through this apprenticeship, N has to learn all sections of a dam (electrical, operations, maintenance, etc).  At the end of each section, he has to pass testing.  The only real area of concern that he has is the electrical.  It's not his strong suit.  Typically they each get 3 months per section and then they HAVE to take the test.  Of course, N's first section upon returning is electrical.

Here's the God thing:  The first month of your return doesn't count toward your three month window.  It's like a free month of training.  Because N starts today, he gets the whole month of July to train, but he doesn't have to take his test until the end of October.  It's a free month of training on the one area he's worried about. 

All this time he's been dreading this and God has opened the door for extended training. 

Sometimes it's signs like those that give both N and me a moment to breathe.  It's a moment to know we aren't guiding this course, it's coming from a much higher place.  It's Him that holds us together during this time apart.

The Summer Hum-Drums

Apparently Zoe didn't get the memo about summer break.  She likes to watch Phinneas and Ferb and knows all about summer vacations, but since she can't make HUGE rollercoasters in the backyard, they leave something to be desired. 

We were sitting on the couch and she looks at me, with a total look of disgust on her face:

When is school, AWANA AND dance classes going to start again?  Because this is boring!

When I mentioned VBS and swimming lessons, she said, "I guess that will be okay." 

I wondered if she'd have the same feelings when she was 13, but since she'll be 4 forever, that's a mute point.

We're Cancelling Christmas Too!

Yesterday Zoe made this announcement at dinner:

I'm so glad that my dentist disappointment [appointment] was cancelled.  I'm also cancelling all future birthday parties because I don't want to get any older.

Just in case you needed to know, we will not be turning 5 in this house.  Nor will we be turning 34.  Apparently all birthdays are off, I'm trying to convince her to let a couple of us actually go backwards.  25 was a really great age for me.

The Family Vacation That Shall Now Be Known As StomachGate 2011

We had grand plans this month to spend a week of quality time with our people.  N was graduating and that was going to be the headlining event of the week.  In addition, Zoe had a dance recital, D graduated from elementary school, E turned 10, D got baptised and N's parents celebrated 35 years of wedded bliss.  All within 7 days!  Everyone from N's mom's side of the family would be in the same place at the same time.  It was also a family reunion.  I was totally stoked about all the picture possibilities!

When I got home two Mondays ago, this was waiting for me:

This is H-J and she's my only niece.  I love her beyond all possible reality.  She's got a personality that's bigger than she can contain.  She also totally loves Zoe, which is great because Zoe had a countdown to the minute H-J would arrive.  Her parents also stayed with us, which was fabulous.  I got to spend time with my sister Amanda and N got some XBox time in with Brian!

In honor of all the festitivies, we decided to have an open house for N in honor of his graduation.  Because I'm all about planning ahead, I decided to cook up the meat for the taco bar ahead of time.  We had about 70 people who could attend.  If you figure 1/4 pound of meat per person, that's 17.5 pounds of hamburger.  I did it in batches of 6 lbs in my wok.

It was really quite the sight.

As our people arrived, we started the whole eating out bit.  We are scattered all over town, so it was easiest to meet at restaurants.  Here are Aunt Dee Dee (from Texas), N's mom (from California), Grammy (from Texas), Bev and Micah (both live here).  We are waiting to get our grub on at Red Robin!

If you've never eaten out with us, you're totally missing out.  N has all kinds of restaurant tricks that he likes to pull out for big company.  His hand will wind up and flop around the table.  Or, if you're lucky to also have props, he can do this:

and this:

Please note that he only does this to other people's children, not his own.  Come dine with us at your own risk!

Once everyone was in town and we had satisfied our hunger, we met at the mall because they wanted to spoil our children a bit.  We went to a favorite store of the girl's and they tried on no less than 727 articles of clothing.  After about 45 minutes, this is all you saw of N.

This is his signature shopping pose.  Although it only applies to female clothing stores and NOT, I repeat NOT gaming stores.

After all this time visiting, eating, shopping, we didn't see too much of anyone else the remainder of the time.  Exactly 30 hours after arriving in the cold north, everyone contracted a gnarly, stomach virus.  I won't go into details, but I'm positive they only saw the inside of a toilet for the better part of 12 hours.

Hence StomachGate 2011 was born. 

Instead of visiting and being concerned, we stayed away.  We still had a recital, baptism and graduation to get through.  Not to mention the celebration of these two, beautiful people:

We decided to make them a scrapbook of our family and tell them how loved and appreciated they are.  35 years is a long time, actually longer than I've been on this earth.  See how happy?  Not only are they celebrating their marriage, but they are virus free at this point.  If those two things aren't something smile about, then I'm not sure what is.

On Sunday Grandpa got to baptize D at church.  Everyone except Grammy made it because she was still weak post StomachGate.  D did a great job!  It was a beautiful time and I'm so proud of her.  Exactly 5 minutes after the service was over, she ran through the church and was out of commission the remainder of the time.  StomachGate shows no prejudice.

Monday, minus everyone except Grammy, Aunt Mer, N's parents, my mom, Zoe and I, we made it to graduation.  The entire time Zoe kept asking me where daddy's name in the program was.  When I showed her, it also listed his middle initial.  The entire time, "when is Daddy A. going to come on stage?" 

Afterward she ran to him, gave him a BIG hug and told him she was so proud of him.  Daddy A. has a BIG piece of her heart.

We spent a total of 12 hours with the people who traveled 2,500+ miles to see us.  I'm sure it was a lovely trip for them!

Tuesday night Zoe had a slumber party with Grandma Kathy so N and I could have a night to just sleep.  That's when a funny thing happened.  StomachGate 2011 hit our house!  Looks like the family left a little something for us.

As N says, "never again will we celebrate anything!"