Hey! Remember Me!?

So. Facebook has captured my attention. Actually, it's the interaction with friends and family on Facebook that has drawn me in. However, I won't abandon The Blog completely. I feel badly about those of you, my faithful readers, who have been checking in here over the past 6 weeks or so and found that I've not updated anything! Sorry. Facebook is a great way to be in touch with others but it doesn't provide the opportunity for me to share what's on my mind in quite the same way as the blog. They are similar but different and I need to treat them that way. One can't replace the other. Perhaps this mindset will help me to be more faithful to this blog...

Summer. It's whizzing by at lightning speed! I love summer. I love lazy days and pjs til noon. I love lounging by the pool with a good book and listening to the squeals of laughter coming from happy children swimming and splashing. I love little girls with tan skin and blond streaks in their hair from the sun. I love cruising on the lake in the boat and enjoying the beautiful creation that is all around us. Mostly I love spending this extra time with my children. I have great kids. I love them alot. One day they'll be grown and live away from me. I'll miss them. But, won't it be nice to use the bathroom without someone yelling, "MOM! Where are you!?"

This fall will mark the first time in NINE years that no one in my house will play soccer. Katie has played since she was five. She's giving up soccer for cross country running. Becky hasn't played since first grade, and Allison wants to swim instead of soccer. She doesn't like getting sweaty at soccer. Her exact words were, "Soccer is hot. Swimming is not!" I think she's reading too much Dr. Suess! So, I think I'm a little sad about it. I think. I'm not sure. It's hard to know how I'll feel on Saturdays this fall when we don't sit and cheer on our girls as they run for the ball, shoot, and score. We'll cheer them on in different things for sure, but no soccer. Hmmm. Of course, we could let them play soccer AND do cross country and swimming. Plus piano lessons, homework, practices, and possibly chorus. SURE - we can do it all!! NOT.

Ed is taking two consecutive weeks off starting Monday. He's never done that before. I'm nervous about what we'll do with him here for two weeks. Every day. All day. It'll be a different routine, that's for sure. He likes to go, go, go. And he brings that out in my girls too. Mostly, I'm a homebody. The girls are too but when Daddy's home we like to ram. Where will we ram to? What will we do all day? It will be super nice to have him home, don't get me wrong. I'm looking forward to it! I'll keep you posted!

I think I'm taking the girls to see that new Disney movie G-Force today. Looks so cute! And funny! May take Allison's friend too. She spent the night last night. She lives with two older brothers and she's a tough little cookie. Last night we saw her softer side. She was a little sad to be away from home - she's 6 remember - and there were a few tears. She tried to hide them and brush it off as no big deal. Bless her little heart. Allison was a good friend to her and held her hand and told her it was okay. Then Allie asked me to pray that Jesus would help them to fall asleep. I did, then I kissed two little heads, said good night and left. Never heard another peep. Sweet.

I've agreed to teach the pre-school Sunday school class for the next two weeks. EEEK! Do you suppose it'll be anything like coaching pre-school soccer? ...

Happy Thursday!!

Through The Eyes of Others

I love to hear about my children from other people. It's wonderful to see my child through other people's eyes. What is it about them that others find cute or interesting or funny? How do they relate to the world when I'm not with them? What do others see when they watch my girls? It (usually) does a mother's heart good to hear other people answer these questions. One thing that never really crossed my mind was about how my husband looks through other people's eyes. I only ever thought about him in terms of how I see him. But, the other morning Ed took Allison out for breakfast before school and our school librarian saw them. When I spoke to her yesterday she couldn't wait to tell me all about their meeting. She said things like, "I got to meet Dad, what a nice man." or "Allison was so cute sitting there with her little feet dangling from the chair talking up a storm to her dad. He was so sweet as he listened so attentively to her." She said she heard their conversation about getting to school. Ed had planned to take her to school after breakfast but Allison really wanted to ride the bus with her friends. The librarian said she couldn't believe how sweet Ed was about accommodating this request. She kept gushing like that and clearly was quite taken with the whole scene between my daughter and her daddy. I take him for granted. He is truly the best dad ever and stops time and space to be there for his girls. This breakfast scene was one of many just like it, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have seen it through some else's eyes.

New York City Pictures.....

We weren't in NYC for five minutes when Katie and Michayla had to get these sweatshirts...

Katie and Michayla on the Staten Island Ferry...

Firefighters memorial at the World Trade Center Site...

This was very sad... It was set up at the WTC site...

Our room...

Times Square at night....

Katie and Michayla at the NBC store...

The view from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center...

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral...

We had a great time....

Back From The Big City...

Inside Trinity church...

We're back from the big city. What a place! We blew into Manhattan on Wednesday at lunch time and checked into our hotel. We were at the Crowne Plaza in Times Square! Gorgeous hotel. The entrance was next door to the Hershey's store and right across the street from M&M World!! Our rooms were on the 37th floor overlooking Broadway. At night, from our window we could see the Mama Mimi marquis all lit up with about 8 limousines parked and waiting for the show to end. I wonder who they were waiting for. The staff was awesome, friendly, helpful, accommodating - perfect! Two thumbs up.

After dropping off our luggage we hit the streets in search of lunch. We were determined to avoid chain restaurants. We opted instead for side street delis. There was one a block from our hotel and they served everything from wraps and hot entrees to pastries and burgers. YUM! We found a couple of different delis for breakfast and lunch the next day also! It's amazing how good the food is there! Sometimes we'd pass by a cart selling food on the sidewalk and the aroma would practically pull us over to check it out! We didn't buy anything from the carts though - I like my food servers to have access to running water - calling me crazy. For dinner Wednesday night we did go to a chain restaurant - Planet Hollywood. So yummy.

After lunch we boarded the subway headed to the Staten Island Ferry and the World Trade Center site. The subway was incredibly easy to use and the trip there and back was uneventful. The ferry ride was a bit chilly and it did start to rain on the way back but the Statue of Liberty is beautiful no matter what the weather. Finding the WTC site was a bit tricky but with the help of a few kind New Yorkers we got there. It was intense. To think of what happened there - to pass the fire house located directly across the street from the site - to watch other visitors' faces as they process it all too -- it was powerful. Some day there may be a memorial called the Freedom Tower built on the site - maybe. I guess it wasn't about what we saw so much as what we thought about as we stood there and looked around imagining the horror of that day. Wow.

From there we headed back uptown for some Times Square shopping, dinner, more shopping and finally BED!

Thursday we went to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. Very cool! I have some really cool pictures of the view from there. We also sat in on a Catholic Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. What an amazing building - the architecture is so beautiful, the stained glass windows so ornate. I don't think Katie and Michayla really knew what to make of it all. After that we made our way to Herald Square and browsed around Macy's for a bit. More shopping, more walking, and then finally back to Times Square to get ready to come home.

Thursday also included meeting some very interesting, very kind New Yorkers. First there was Marco - a veteran who sells sunglasses on Fifth Avenue. He turned 40 yesterday and we sang to him. He's been to combat three times and is hoping to reenlist again. Nice man. So dedicated to serving our country. Then there was Rich - an aspiring Hip Hop artist. He's been to college, loves basketball, and follows politics. He's also very charismatic. It was neat how just chatting with these guys was fun and interesting.

I also realized how blessed I am to have the mother and mother in law that I do. They are so different from each other. But one area they are very much the same is in their desire to tell others about Jesus. My mother is a strong witness for Christ wherever she goes and is ready when an opportunity to share what Jesus did for us comes up. My mother in law is bold and unafraid to talk to strangers about how they can go to heaven one day. Yesterday she handed out tracts to Marco, and Rich, and a man named Chevrus. Rich said he knew all about being saved but Marco and Chevrus were so open and ready to have Jesus in their lives. It was really cool. God is good.