Smile surgery in the news...

Click on the link to watch the incredible video:

http://fox2now.com/2014/02/26/child-gets-life-changing-smile-surgery/

This made me tear up!

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Last week we went to Goodwill, a huge second-hand store, and I saw a nice winter coat for Emma.  She has one but the zip always catches on the fabric and she gets frustrated.  For $5, I grabbed it.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of one who does not shop there much, and did not check the zip which was totally broken!

I mentioned it on Facebook and the mom of one of Toby's school friends said that her daughter has 9 and she would be happy to hand some down.

The offer was so kind and I'm not proud, so I said "yes please!"

They dropped off 3 coats yesterday, and they were all awesome.  One with faux fur still had tags!  They're also 7/8yr so they may even last into next year.

I really wanted to give her a few bucks but she refused!  

Anyway, Emma picked this one to wear today because it is similar to mine!

It took me a long time to accept such help, but when I do I'm blessed!  And I know when I am able to help others it also blesses me, so who am I to deny what could well be a blessing from God!

I am very thankful that our friends and family have a great heart for sharing and paying forward.  It's changed my heart a lot!

Toby refers to Benjamin as a "little angel"!  Here he laid down next to him and sang "I Have A Maker" to him - the song we sing to him at bedtime. Such a big heart!!

Family fun at Nanna's!  

No help!

Toby ended up in our bed this morning, and was fast asleep!

When it came to waking him up I had enough time to go with tickling (instead of yelling), which was fun but not very successful!

Emma came in and said "I can help!"  Climbing up on the bed she says "I can punch him in the back!"

Lovely!!

Sentimental

We went to a wedding today, and Emma was asking lots of questions.  We ended up agreeing that she could try on my dress when we got home!

I love to take it out of the box and reminisce, so I actually kept my word!!

I had to try it on too (never too old to play dress up!), and it still fits!

It'll be 8 years of marriage this May, and I wish I could marry Scott all over again!  Such great memories.

Emma wanted to keep the dress on, but I'd like to keep it in decent shape!  Instead I let her wear the underskirt!

Bunny town!

Heres the new bunny pen!

Keeping it upstairs for now until we know he's used to it.

We used Toby's car rug as it's rubber backed, and he doesn't really play with it!

The kids like playing in there too - this could have double benefits!!

Funny!

Just had to share this great video, it made me smile so much on the train today!

Little things

I had the kids making some birthday cards for my Grandad in England.  Based on past experience I went with a picture on one side of a piece of card, writing on the other.

When they were done Emma said "they're not really cards.  Maybe they'll just think that's what we call cards, like they call fries "chips"!!

She cracks me up with her observations!

Emma met a hamster this weekend and it was "soooo cute!"

Great movie quote!

"Greater love hath no one than he who lays down his life for his friend."

~ Bagheera, Jungle Book (when he think Baloo was slain by Sheer Khan.)

AND THE BIBLE...

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13 (when Jesus tried to clue in his disciples to the great sacrifice he was going to make.)

There's lots of ways to show love on Valentines.  Emma's wearing her heart in her hair!!

Pet peeves

Benjamin is in the dog house as he has developed an unhealthy baseboard-chewing habit!

We're going to make a pen for him in the basement, as originally planned.  I felt bad that he would be down there by himself, but it would be mainly when we aren't here!

I guess having a pet is so easy in theory!!

Round two

We got 8-10" of wet snow (not the light powdery stuff!) by about noon on Thursday.  I tried to clear it with the snowblower, but I only managed a narrow path around the sidewalk.

Scott and our neighbor teamed up to clear the shared driveway and the rest of the sidewalks before dinner.

Then came the rain, thundersnow(!) and more wet snow!  3-6" apparently by 7am.  I'm hoping Emma's school is sticking to a two-hour delay instead of closing again.  To make up for Thursdays closing the kids have school Monday - which is a national holiday, even my office is closed!

No one wants to sacrifice any of their summer holidays.

Oh, and more snow due on Friday night!!

But in less than a week we'll be up to 57f. 

Toby couldn't wait for me to get the balloon down!

How deep!

For perspective 

Red alert winds and weather in the UK, Nor'easter storm hitting the North East US - it's going to be an interesting night all around!

Although we only lost power for 8 hours last week, when the freezing rain brought down trees and power lines, some of our friends were out until Saturday!  The heavy wet snow we are expecting tonight (6-10" on top of the still frozen snow from Sunday, and the weeks before) is likely to do the same to already weakened trees.

So, I'm thinking ahead a little!  Tonight, before the storm, I'll give the kids a bath, get all the laundry done.  I'll turn the freezer and fridge to the coldest settings (to increase their longevity in a power outage), prepare some food to be eaten cold, or that can be heated on the gas stove.  Interestingly, in a power outage, we can store food outside to stay fresh!  That is if we didn't have a fox prowling round, apparently got wind of Benjamin!

We're anticipating school will be closed again on Thursday, so I worked Tuesday so I would be off anyway on Thursday!  It's a shame because the snow days they've had are made up with days from spring break, so instead of 6 days, they'll have two before Easter weekend.  Any more, like tomorrow will mean they lose the equivalent time off their summer holidays!

This is the worst winter for snowfall on record I believe, and certainly the most snow I've ever seen!  It's very pretty, but everyone has had enough.

Roll on Spring!

Scott had the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games on TV tonight.  The kids weren't really interested, but Toby asked "what is Olympic Games?"

Scott replied "our country competes against all the other countries of the world.  Including Mommy's country."

What? Huh?  I was quick to remind him that the kids are British too!!

It was all very funny, but does highlight the almost impossibility of giving them a sense of British identity.  Not that it seems to matter here, where everyone claims a heritage other than American, regardless of if they lived there or not.

One day we'll be able to spend more time there, probably learn more about it than I know now!

Emma went back to school this morning, and we did our best to prepare her for what may happen.

I spoke to her on Facetime (like Skype on an iPhone), while she was out at lunch with Aunt Kim.  (Kimberly is having a girl date with Emma today to help her realize how loved she is and has friends!  So thankful to her for that.) 

She told me all about what they did at school and then said "D didn't say anything mean to me today!  She came up to me and said "Emma, Adam is absent!"  I was so surprised!!"

I'm backing down off high alert and going to assume it was a poor choice of words on her friends part, or simply a strange way to get attention.  It's tough to know when it's "nothing" or when a pattern is emerging.  However, it has always been, and will continue to be, a priority of ours to help the kids develop friends in different circles, like school, church, sports or just family friends, so that should the unthinkable happen with one friend or group, they have other friends to turn to.

It's not easy!  Time is always in short supply in our home.  With work, and our privilege in serving at the church, finding time to relax with our grown-up friends requires great planning.  I try to arrange playdates on my weekdays off, or when Scott is working, so we don't miss out on the times when we are all home. 

But we consciously chose that, as a family, we would value people and relationships, not the almighty $$ or upgrading our stuff.  It can make life challenging, when you are faced with direct choices, but we're learning as we go, and hope that our legacy will not be what we leave behind in our will, but who we loved well and impacted with our lives.

Happy to report our power came back on at 4:30pm, before we got home from work.

Still plenty of people in the state without power, including friends of ours.  Thankfully they have a wood burning fireplace for warmth if nothing else.

It can be scary to realize how dependent we are on electricity and technology.  I'm thinking we need to get ourselves a survival kit together.

On my toes

Last night I would normally have been going to my women's bible study, but I have been increasingly coming down with a virus attacking my throat and ears.  With talking and swallowing being very uncomfortable I decided to find someone else to lead this week.  So I was home to put Emma to bed and I'm very glad I was.

99% of the time, after the kids get dressed for bed and have brushed their teeth, Scott and I will each go and lay with one of the kids to settle them down for sleep.  That consists of praying with them and singing a song to/with them (currently "I have a maker"), but maybe includes a book or chat depending on the time.  More often than not, Scott will go with Toby and I Emma, and usually swap as they milk more one on one time before sleep.  If one of us is out the parent will do that with both kids in turn! 

Last night I sought to have Emma determine our prayer focus and asked if there was anything she wanted to thank God for today.  She said "not missing school!" which shows her love of school.  Then I asked if there is anything she wanted his help with, or that made her sad today.

She told me that in library, her "best friend" (let's call her "D") told her she hates her.  I gently questioned as to the scenario and context.  She said D was sitting next to another girl when she had leaned over while Emma was reading and whispered "I hate you" to her.  Emma claims she had not said anything before that and Emma ignored her after because she forgot what I told her to say in response to such comments (which was "I'm sad you feel that way. I don't hate you").  She wiped away a few tears and I could tell this was a deep wound.  She is such a friendly girl and rarely displays a cruel side (away from Toby!), so to hear that would be crushing.

This was not a total shock as Emma told me a couple weeks ago that D told her she didn't like her, or she wasn't her best friend or something.  Emma was really sad because she considered D to be her best friend at school.  They did ballet in the same class for two years before starting kindergarten, but didn't really connect because her mom and I didn't connect until I realized they were in kindergarten class together.

Anyway, I had contacted her mom to see if "D had said anything about them not being friends" and she said she asked and D said nothing was wrong.  So they came over for a playdate this past Friday and the girls were great.

I have tried really hard to help Emma connect with kids whose parents I trust and seem to hold the same values, but there is never a guarantee on what will happen between the girls! 

I have told Emma that not everyone will like you and that's ok, but it's not ok for them to say mean things, and that she should tell her teacher if anything like this happens again.  I emailed the teacher last night, but since school is closed again today I won't hear back from her.  I don't think I'm going to say anything to the mom, and Emma is going to stay away from D, which should not be too hard as they are at different tables and the time is very structured for the 2 1/2 hrs they are at school.

Emma did go on to ask "what if someone in first grade says it to me."  And this morning "what if someone else says it today?"  I do not want her to feel the kind of fear that comes with this.  The idea if one person doesn't like me I must not be good enough. 

I struggled my entire school career with "friends" that beat me down emotionally, to where I felt worthless and no one else would want to be my friend.  Sure enough as a teenager it seemed easier to build relationships with boys, they are a lot less catty, but of course they have a different agenda, and soon I figured that they would only stick around if I was passive and let them treat me like an after thought. 

I'm thankful I didn't go as far down that rabbit hole as many a woman has, and when I met Jesus he showed me that God loves me just as I am, just as he made me, he has no agenda other than to see me reach the potential he put inside me.  And to do that, I have to focus on his opinion of me, his sacrificial love for me, even when I showed him no love.

I still struggle deeply with feelings of unworthiness and rejection, but they are fleeting; when I take my eyes of God, and the incredible family he has blessed me with, and look around at all the demands others would place on me to fit their agenda for my life. 

It might seem quite a leap to go from one "I hate you" to a life lived in shame, but it only takes one step at a time to head down the wrong path.  We still may fail to guide Emma to a place of freedom and self-worth, but it will not be through the lack of trying, or praying!  I assured her last night that if someone is mean to you, it shows that they have a bit of "ugly" in their heart.  It does not mean that you are any less than we have lead you to believe you are, which is awesome, loved, beautiful, smart and kind. 

I am thankful for all the people that have built me up to where I can hold my head up and feel like my life has purpose.  I am thankful that I know they will do the same for Emma and Toby.

The kids love playing cards, and this is a really simple game - highest card wins.  

We discovered that despite Moebius, Emma's poker face is terrible!

Yes, she had an ace!!

Here's Toby trying so hard to play with the bunny!

You have rain?

Try freezing rain!!

Our house has no power, in fact most of our town is without power due to the ice bringing trees down on power lines.

School is closed again, probably due to the power.

Roll on Spring.  This has been the worst winter in years, even if it does look pretty.

Bunny Tales

I know you must love the cute posts about the bunny, so here are some tales...

He loves to chew on hair, especially Emma's hair when wet!

Even when I'm trying to braid it for bed!!

Emma and the bunny have a very functional relationship, she likes to carry him around like a teddy!  He's pretty cooperative with her.

Toby on the other hand prefers to pick him up by the ears to make him "dance".  We have yet to catch this happen, but there have been reported incidents and time-outs awarded!

 We followed the trend on the House Rabbit Society Facebook page and introduced him to snow!  He was not fussed either way.

He loves to walk along the back of the sofas like a cat!  However, we are trying to keep him off the sofas until we can afford to get him neutered (it's over $200 here because rabbits are not common pets and considered "exotic"!), because he likes to mark it as his territory!

Here he was laying at the bottom of the stairs waiting until I left the room so he could dart upstairs - seriously.  He is quite the rascal.  One evening he must've gone up there and visited Emma in bed as we found some deposits!

His latest trick is he jumped up on his cage, to get access to the basket I was keeping there (once for our blankets, he likes to eat it, so it was "away")...

Later on I didn't even hear him as he got into the basket!!

 

As he's getting bigger, we know we need a real hutch for him.  Ideally we would do that now, but the "de-sexing" seems more important, as then he can be out more and won't need such a big space.  That said, we have big plans for his hutch!  

Rabbits are kept inside here - too many predators outside, which is fine, so we are planning to modify a piece of furniture, like these...

Both relatively cheap cabinets from IKEA, modified for bunnies!  May as well have something stylish if it's going to be in the living room.  Yes, I changed my mind about the basement because, a) the kids hardly use it (!) and when they do it involves Scott dragging them around the floor at high speeds (ie. not safe for bunny)

and b) he is most active and really only wants to be out in the morning and evening.  He's pretty much my bunny, and I'm fine with that!  As the kids get older and don't chase and scare him he might be more interested in them.  For now though, he follows me around, jumps up onto my lap or licks my legs when I'm working out!