Hey, ya'll. Sorry to get behind on the family updates. Here's the scoop -
Aaron is currently recovering from orthoscopic (sp?) knee surgery. I think it started with an injury playing college basketball years ago, and just got worse over time. Turns out he had a ripped meniscus (sp?) - that fleshy part behind the knee cap? Plus, his knee cap had moved out of place a bit, so it was grinding into other joints. He's had some rough days of pain, but getting better all the time. He thinks it's kind of cool that he's on the pain medication, Vicadin, which is the same drug Brett Favre became addicted to a few years back. (He's clean now, people, come on!) We're cheeseheads, I know.
Jonathan continues to grow into a beefy 4 month old boy. He loves his brothers and friendly faces. I wish he'd sleep a little better at night, but maybe once he gets better at eating cereal and solids, we'll be good to go. I'm still nursing, but he also gets about 2 bottles a day, just to keep him hip to the idea.
Daniel is off the charts! At 2 1/2 years old, he is 40 lbs, wears a solid 4T in shirts and pants and has a size 12 shoe!! And then there's his voice....it's about as low as a grown man's! He likes to try to make it even lower to sound like a big guy. It's hilarious! He still loves cuddling and rocking in the rocking chair, but he's so big, it feels like I'm rocking a small crocodile. But I love to cuddle him as much as he'll let me. You're only 2 once! (Thank the Lord...)
Gregory continues to be the classic first born. Independent, bossy, verbal, and too smart for his own good. He really likes trying to tell knock-knock jokes that of course make no sense whatsoever. Preschool has been great for him; he loves his class and teacher. He is exactly 4 1/2, but would like to be much older. He got angry with my carpool friend when she wouldn't drop him off after preschool at the corner of our street and let him walk to the house. (He has seen the kids do this when they get off the bus.) I tried to explain how that was only for big kids and he cried, "I want to be 12!!" Uhh, no. I need to pray a lot more before you hit your pre-teens, son.
Jeannie is hanging in there. Lord, I'm tired. I missed having my sweet husband's help during his recovery time. But I kept reminding myself that this would be a good week - Thanksgiving and all. I love holidays. I love getting Daddy during the week!! Our friends, Patrick and Ashley McBride will be coming over and Ashley and I will split the cooking for the meal.
Since August, I've been a Creative Memories Consultant and have been enjoying that so much. It's a company that sells albums, papers, and other supplies for scrapbooking. I have had crops at my house and baby showers where we put together baby albums for the moms -- it's been fun to help people preserve their memories and stories, plus I get my own scrapbooking fix!
In December, we will be traveling to Ohio for the big wedding! My brother Doug gets hitched on Dec. 17th - I'm a bridesmaid/singing, Aaron is best man, Greggie is ring bearer, Daniel is bible bearer...good times!
Are these bold words bothering you? I had to do it in honor of my friend Ashley who believes they keep the reader interested - hope it worked!
We are so thankful for all of you - we love you and miss you. Now go eat some turkey!
Love, Aaron, Jeannie, Gregory, Daniel, Jonathan
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Chick Fest
Stay with me, men. You'll be glad you read this.
My husband recently went to Dude Fest - the Crossbridge men's retreat. He was gone Friday night, so I invited 3 other women (who were also husband-less) to stay the night at my house to help the time go by a little faster (and help me keep track of my own little dudes). We put all the kiddos to bed and then watched "The Village" - one of my favorite movies and a guaranteed good conversation starter.
Well, you know women - we talked till about 3:30 AM. It started with talk about the movie, how this "village" was supposedly set up to protect the children and families from heartache and violence, but how it follows us no matter where we are...and that led to parenting issues. Two of my friends that night were newly married with no children, but had lots of questions for my friend and I who do have children.
That led to questions about men and our individual marriages. I had come out of a blue funk a few days earlier where I had "shut down" - meaning, I pouted, clammed up. Aaron did his best to draw me out, but I couldn't even put my finger on what was making me blue. When he finally persisted enough, what came out of me was, "I feel unlovely, tired and sad." And he did his best to help, but I continued to pout and felt he didn't help enough somehow.
I told my 3 friends that looking back on that episode, I was really asking too much of Aaron.
Let me back up first: this past summer I read a book called Captivating. It was written by Mr. Wild-At-Heart, John Eldredge and his wife, Stasi. In Wild At Heart, Eldredge says how the man's question is, "Do I have what it takes?" and that the man MUST take this question to God, not a woman or any other person for that matter. In Captivating, it talks about the woman's question being, "Am I lovely?" and how we, too, must take that question to God and not a man.
This was such a huge lightbulb for me. I could see how many times in my life I had taken that question to my Dad, boys, audiences, just trying to fill that question with an affirmative answer. And even if the answer was "yes", it did not fill the hole. It had to be answered over and over again, "YES!" but only by God alone.
Men, I'm not saying to stop telling your girl she is beautiful and lovely. Say this at least once a day! But you can help your girl take her question to God by praying for her when she is in her own "blue funk" -- You can fight for her on your knees and say, "I want to pray for you right now - is that okay?" And then go to battle for her.
Aaron and I have to remind each other to go to the only One who can really answer our heart's deepest questions.
Getting back to Chick Fest, we also polished off some leftover Halloween candy, which goes well with chick talk. I wondered if when Aaron got home, there would be a pink haze in the air from all the women, but he didn't seem to notice since he was surrounded with a blue haze from his Dude Fest. Or was that just because he hadn't showered yet...
My husband recently went to Dude Fest - the Crossbridge men's retreat. He was gone Friday night, so I invited 3 other women (who were also husband-less) to stay the night at my house to help the time go by a little faster (and help me keep track of my own little dudes). We put all the kiddos to bed and then watched "The Village" - one of my favorite movies and a guaranteed good conversation starter.
Well, you know women - we talked till about 3:30 AM. It started with talk about the movie, how this "village" was supposedly set up to protect the children and families from heartache and violence, but how it follows us no matter where we are...and that led to parenting issues. Two of my friends that night were newly married with no children, but had lots of questions for my friend and I who do have children.
That led to questions about men and our individual marriages. I had come out of a blue funk a few days earlier where I had "shut down" - meaning, I pouted, clammed up. Aaron did his best to draw me out, but I couldn't even put my finger on what was making me blue. When he finally persisted enough, what came out of me was, "I feel unlovely, tired and sad." And he did his best to help, but I continued to pout and felt he didn't help enough somehow.
I told my 3 friends that looking back on that episode, I was really asking too much of Aaron.
Let me back up first: this past summer I read a book called Captivating. It was written by Mr. Wild-At-Heart, John Eldredge and his wife, Stasi. In Wild At Heart, Eldredge says how the man's question is, "Do I have what it takes?" and that the man MUST take this question to God, not a woman or any other person for that matter. In Captivating, it talks about the woman's question being, "Am I lovely?" and how we, too, must take that question to God and not a man.
This was such a huge lightbulb for me. I could see how many times in my life I had taken that question to my Dad, boys, audiences, just trying to fill that question with an affirmative answer. And even if the answer was "yes", it did not fill the hole. It had to be answered over and over again, "YES!" but only by God alone.
Men, I'm not saying to stop telling your girl she is beautiful and lovely. Say this at least once a day! But you can help your girl take her question to God by praying for her when she is in her own "blue funk" -- You can fight for her on your knees and say, "I want to pray for you right now - is that okay?" And then go to battle for her.
Aaron and I have to remind each other to go to the only One who can really answer our heart's deepest questions.
Getting back to Chick Fest, we also polished off some leftover Halloween candy, which goes well with chick talk. I wondered if when Aaron got home, there would be a pink haze in the air from all the women, but he didn't seem to notice since he was surrounded with a blue haze from his Dude Fest. Or was that just because he hadn't showered yet...
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