High Hopes

Well, I had high hopes of writing a profound blog post this evening... BUT I ended up writing a long email to a friend instead. And you know, that was exactly what I needed to do, so I don't actually feel guilty about it. I will, however, try to share something on the more profound side of things here soon, I hope.

The most pressing thing I need to share at the moment is that my calves are absolutely killing me. In light of my poor husband's recent awful back pain that came upon him for no apparent reason, my terrible calf pain is the direct result of my own stupidity. AND the result of a HORRIBLE MACHINE called the "elliptical".

I'm used to: easy to moderate outdoor jogs of about 2 miles. I paid for this clever "workout while you wait" option while Grace took her very first round of swimming lessons over the past two weeks that was really a very good deal. The idea is to watch them swim through the big window while you're using the exercise equipment, and I am all about killing two or more birds with one time slot (actually I was ALSO learning wonderful decorating techniques while I watched HGTV and Grace, of course).

I thought to myself, "Why don't you change up your routine a little, Kelly? You always get to run outside; you could get a little cross training in, instead of just running on the treadmill." So because I am so brilliant, I acted upon my good idea and used the elliptical machine for about the same amount of time I usually run.

Now, I cannot even shave my legs without wincing. I'm never doing that again.

Long Overdue

Summer has come in with a flurry of FUN, so here is my long overdue Texas vacation recap in pictures:

Feeding the ducks in Boerne

The girls and Grandma and Papa

Mama Ann and Pampa (my mom's parents) the wonderful woman who gave me my red hair!! My color will be joining yours in no time, Mama Ann!

The infamous first BEST TALENTS EVER show including the Clayworths, Holmes, and Stevensons. We have the whole thing on DVD; only VERY close family (the kind who have to love you no matter what) will ever get to see it.

SEA WORLD!!

Paddle-boating on the Guadalupe

and fishing

and catching geckos with cousin Melanie

Not to mention the amazing barbecue and fried catfish we devoured throughout the trip. And our anniversary gift to each other of a one night's stay in Austin (the capitol city of fun and culture and cuisine) was wonderful! We took the girls on their first tour of the U.T. Austin campus and then sent them away with Grandma and Papa. Pretty fun to be on our old stompin' ground, where we met, dated, and spent our first year and a half of marriage.

We don't feel old enough for fifteen years... Maybe we'll still be saying that at 30.

Really There

Somewhere around 3:00 a.m. last night, I heard Grace calling me. I stumbled into her room as I once again heard a panicky "MOMMY!?" She was sitting straight up in bed looking scared. I put my arm around her back and said, "Here I am, Sweetie. What's the matter?"

She looked at me and reached out her hand to touch my arm. She ran her hand down my arm, sleepily smiled, and laid down again, eyes closed, contented expression on her face. She fell right back to sleep.

I went back to bed and laid there for awhile thinking about what a privilege it is to "be there." With all of our wacky vacation sleeping for two weeks, Grace was disoriented and just needed to know I was there. My heart was full as I contemplated how often I long for that exact fulfillment from my Heavenly Father. I have His promises, but sometimes I don't know where I am or where He is, sometimes I'm scared and confused and disoriented, sometimes I just need to reach my hand out and feel His Presence, just know He's REALLY there, that's all.

temporary blog post flunkie

So I've been a temporary blog post flunkie; I've been on vacation. We are home; we had a fabulous time; I'm currently doing laundry and trying to find myself again. More to come...

The Saturday Before Vacation

Today was a good Saturday... the kind of Saturday that makes you bone tired at the end of it because of fully living within it. We are in pre-vacation mode which means laundry, cleaning, shopping for snacks, shopping for a few summer wardrobe necessities (going to Texas after all), paying bills, finding a temporary home for Rosie our bad dog, washing and vacuuming the van, getting the oil changed, mowing the lawn, etc. We did get a good bit of that accomplished already which is nice. My sister and Baby Lucy will be coming in tomorrow night to caravan with us to Texas while Darin is there on business; I can't wait!

Dance recital went beautifully. The theme was heaven, and Emma's ballet class danced to the song Wish You Were Here by Mark Harris. It was a tear-jerker, actually. I did a fine job backstage, no nervous breakdown, I even had to open the curtain once (which was a terrifying surprise, but I did it!). I'm still a little fuzzy on which is upstage and which is downstage, but I've got stage left down pat.

Abby made it through having her TAD put in by her orthodontist. This stands for temporary anchoring device, but Abby has affectionately dubbed it the "torture afflicting device." It was put right into her gum to help anchor her braces between the roots of her teeth. Once the sensitivity subsided, Abby is fully appreciating the response she gets from showing it to people; it looks pretty wicked.

I just had to pay our local library $30 for the VHS version of Anne of Green Gables. That's the movie we watched way back when we all had pink eye. I know I took it back, but I just can't remember where. That part is the problem; it seems that libraries want you to actually return what you check out to them. Bummer. Maybe they can get the DVD now.

Back to our lovely Saturday... Greg and I went for a run this morning and then sat out back on the porch swing. I had to share my view from the swing, I love it!

We had homemade oatmeal cream pies today, because I was needing them (turns out we all were):

And, our baby robins grew up already. They're gone. I'm feeling rather nostalgic and a little sad about the whole thing. I felt a kinship with this Mama robin. She was so faithful to her role to protect and care for those little helpless babies. On Mother's Day, I woke up, walked out to our big window, and told her Happy Mother's Day!

We all shared in the experience of watching her feed those little ones. In no time at all, we were amazed at how big the babies were getting - they barely fit in the nest, and we waited in anticipation of watching them learn to fly. The next morning when we checked on them, only one was left. She had three babies, and two of them were gone. We missed it; all three were there the day before.

Throughout day the mama came back to this one remaining baby bird, bringing her worms until Abby looked out and said, "Mom, the robins are gone."

And sure enough, I looked at the nest, and it was empty... completely abandoned. All I could think was, "They weren't ready! How can they be gone already? They never learned to fly; we never saw it." Obviously they were ready, perfectly prepared, the whole thing went off without a hitch.

I just wasn't ready. I miss them.

Catch up

Grace turning her lunch into an airplane with wheels:

I haven't been terribly good about posting lately mostly because I haven't felt terribly eloquent or profound (not that I ever really am, but sometimes it bothers me more than others).

Life has kind of taken over also, so I find that I am less apt to make good post-worthy observations about life around me. Here's what is coming up in the next week and a half:

• finishing up our school year
• physical therapy for Abby (a knee issue due to sprouting up within the last several months)
• physical therapy for me (see last post)
• Abby starting to attend YOUTH GROUP!
• working at the coffee shop a couple of times
• Emma's ballet recital this Saturday (she has four dances with three costume changes) and again on Sunday

Taken at dress rehearsal from stage left right before they went on


• my first experience as a backstage mom. I have stage left, wing duty which means I must make sure the right girls go onstage at the right time in the right order from stage left (my first question at dress rehearsal was, "Which is stage left?")
• Abby's tour of the middle school in preparation for starting 7th grade at Hesston Middle School in the fall - Go Swathers! (that would be a piece of farm machinery)
• a sewing lesson with Jenny
• Abby babysitting for some neighbors
• a few graduation open houses to attend
• Emma's 5th grade middle school orientation; yes, middle school starts with 5th grade here - but they have their own hallway
• A parent meeting for new middle school students starting in the fall
• Emma's violin program at McPherson College
• one last ballet class for Emma before recital this weekend
• Emma's violin lesson
• A trip to Wichita to pick up I.T.B.S. results for Abby and Emma during a 3-hour time slot
• Mother's Day
• an orthodontics appointment for Abby

After the above week and a half, WE GO TO TEXAS FOR VACATION!!!!!!!

While in Texas, Greg and I will spend one night, just the two of us in Austin to celebrate our 15th anniversary! I am so excited. The nice thing is that after vacation, summer break will bring an open schedule.

One thing, in the midst of the end of the school year chaos, that I have been able to observe and has been a great source of joy and blessing to me is a robin family nesting in our pergola. I am thankful that God hasn't allowed me to miss this one; He brought it right to us outside our window. We all get up on the dining room chairs to watch the mama robin and her mate take turns bringing worms to this eager nest full of humongously wide little yellow baby beaks. We've seen the whole process from the mama building her nest, to the endless sitting on her eggs, to the endless flying back and forth finding worms. Emma got out our Handbook of Nature Study to read about robins and found that each of these little teeny guys will consume up to sixty-something worms a day. We watch this mama sit there in the pouring rain covering her babies with her fluffed up self. I love it. I am thankful for this invasion into my busy-ness that lifts my eyes again to my Creator and His amazing creation.

WHY I HATE P.E...

I'm attending my second physical therapy appointment tomorrow, because I've had tingly pinkie and ring fingers on both hands up to my elbows and loss of sensation. The culprit has been identified as, to put it non-medically, my neck being all out of whack. Apparently my neck muscles are so terribly tight that my cervical spine is leaning it the WRONG direction.

The physical therapist is wonderful, and she asked as she was exclaiming over my way too tight muscles, "So, do you have some significant stress in your life right now?"

No, I really don't. But I did have P.E. in high school. She asked about injuries, yes, even back to high school, and was particularly interested in the incident that involved teenage boys AND girls being told to go out on the soccer field and play soccer for P.E. I happened to be a not quite extremely athletic type who found myself standing right where a large and hyperactive boy was running extremely fast for no apparent reason (he didn't even have the ball), and right about the moment I thought he was going way too fast to change his course, he hit me head on and I fell right down on my back really hard. He didn't help me up.

After that little bit of exercise, I could not move my neck for several days. I had to get some kind of medicine that I remember made me feel better and was told my neck had terrible muscle spasms.

My nice physical therapist wonders if this is related in some way to my current condition. Probably, P.E. and stress have pretty much the same effect on me, I think.