The Stay-cation Draws to a Close...

The past 12 days have been a wonderfully restful and fun time!!

I always laugh when one of these little adventures wraps up because I look back and realize I did NONE of the things that I fervently planned for weeks to do! "We're going to go here and there and do this and that....." Yes, we had a few road trips, but at the end of the day (or usually it was towards the beginning!) I would think, "What do I REALLY want to spend my time doing??"

Instead of playing the "local tourist", the answer more often entailed reading (I devoured several great books!), going to the gym, riding bikes, going to the park, getting ice cream, hitting the library, and a little retail therapy! All of these things were randomly peppered with those moments when we just had some good quality hanging out time together, and in the midst of those were the occasional "funny things my kids say"...

YA'SHAR:
This child has been a bit more spoiled than the rest, what with having me all to himself most of the day when the others are in school. Each day he would hop out of bed and say "What are we going to do today, Mommy?!" Everything's an adventure when you're 4... I would say, "We're just going to the post office, that's all," and he'd say, "Awesome! I'll go get my back pack!!" One morning I told him that we were going to see Barbara and Bella. Barbara is my friend from work who has an adorable black lab named Bella. The kids LOVE to go play out in the backyard with Bella, and I guess it'd been a little while, because Ya'shar said, "Oh good! Barbara and Bella!" And then he was quiet for a minute, thinking I guess, and then he said, "So which one is the dog and which one is the woman? I forgot."

MA-LAK:
One evening Ma-lak asked if I'd read him yet another one of his crocodile books that he got from the library. All four of the kids were cuddled close to me as I read about the differing characteristics of crocodilians versus alligators. Ma-lak kept interjecting all these fascinating little tidbits of wisdom about alligators and the different species and all this stuff that he'd learned from other books and probably the the Discovery channel. Finally Rea said, "Ma-lak, you know a lot about alligators, maybe you should be an animal scientist!" Ma-lak looked reeeeeally sad and just shook his head and said, "No, I can't. I have to cut their stomachs open to study what they eat, and I don't think Daddy will let me use his knife."

REA:
Today was Parent-Teacher conferences at the kids' school today, so I was able to meet with all their teachers and see how they're doing so far. (All is going well for the most part....) Rea's teacher gave me Rea's daily journal to see the kind of entries she'd written. It's sorta their first opportunity to be creative and write anything they want to, and then they were supposed to color a picture to go along with what they wrote about. My favorite entry was one that clearly verbalized her feelings about an event that had happened a couple weeks ago.... She'd drawn a picture of Daryle holding a gigantic Michelin-sized do-nut in one hand, and she'd written, "My daddy told me we were going to go Krispy Kreme for do-nuts and then I couldn't go because I was naughty and when he got home there were none left."

NI'KE:
This week since I was home (and this made it easier) I agreed to a "trial run" of packing the kids lunches for school instead of them eating school lunch. After calculating multiple times the cost versus the headache of it all, I figured it was about the same either way, and told them we'd pack lunches this week to see how it goes. The first morning, I came down stairs and they were all feverishly throwing all kinds of stuff in their lunch boxes. When I looked into Ni'ke's, she had packed pringles, cookies, a candy bar, a can of soda (yes, we did some nutritional education that morning) and then for good measure, ONE grape. Only one. I asked her what the grape was for, and she shrugged and said, "Daddy says I need meat on my bones." :)

Thanks, Lord for the blessing that this precious time off with my children has been! I am so grateful!!

Howarth Park

Today I took the kids to this really beautiful park over on the east side of Santa Rosa. It was a little overcast but did NOT rain!! So it was perfect weather to go on some outdoor adventures!

The last time I was at this park, my mom had come out to visit and I was VERY pregnant and OVERDUE with Ya'shar. The "plan" was that I would have already had him 3 weeks earlier (God must've got a kick out of that one) and then when my mom came out then together she and I and the new baby would then fly to San Diego for my cousin's wedding.

So, long story short, that didn't happen! Mom came out anyway and went to the wedding herself. But the day after she came, on a Sunday, we took the three other kids, who were 1, 2, and 3, and we went to this park. We thought maybe if we walked around alot we could "hurry things along", and I guess it worked! We had an awesome day with the kids, all of us were worn out, and that night I woke up about midnight with contractions, ready to go to the hospital! It was super cool that God worked it the way He did, because my mom was able to be there with me.

I guess the point of my story (I did have one...) is that going to the park today brought back special memories!! Ya'shar told me, "Mommy I really like this park! I'm having so much fun!" I told him he had been there before, but it was when he was in my tummy. And he said, "Yeah, this time is more funner." :)

It's hard to believe there's so much to do at this place because I wouldn't call it huge, but it's spread out and the kids bop from one place to the next. In the summer time, they even have a miniature animal farm/zoo as well as a water feature/sprinkler area for the kids to play in.

We'll definitely be going back and make some new memories again!!

Top 10 Things I've Learned on my "Stay-cation"

10. I sleep MUCH better when it's dark outside...

9. I really really really like to bake. I love pastries.

8. A freshly mopped kitchen floor can only stay clean for so long.

7. Ya'shar talks a LOT. No, you don't understand. I mean A LOT!!!!! (Stay tuned for a future post on this topic.)

6. I keep a very tidy house when I'm not working.

5. I'M NOT WORKING!!!! YAHOOO!!!!!

4. I'm dreading the end of the stay-cation.

3. My kids are an absolute hoot to explore Northern California with!

2. If I weren't a nurse, I would definitely be an interior designer. Or run my own coffee shop/shoe boutique. (What, those two things TOTALLY go together.)

1. I really miss my husband.....

Daddy Update!

It's been a disappointingly sloooow process for my dad to get out of the hospital...

What was supposed to be an outpatient procedure turned into a nearly one week hospital stay with some complications. He is currently still in Toledo at UTMC, and hopefully if all goes well he'll be discharged late tomorrow evening or Tuesday morning.

Immediately after his heart cath last Wednesday, during which the doctor had to place a new stent inside his old stent, he started having severe chest pain, which has been an off and on problem these past few days.

Because of the amount of scar tissue and plaque build up around his old stent, it took a lot of "blasting and scraping" to get the artery clear, and as a result there was either a heart attack, or enough damage to his heart from the procedure itself to CREATE a heart attack. Regardless of which it actually was, it feels the same, the results are the same, and his doctors have been treating it the same - as if he just had a heart attack. He's been on a number of drips and medications to dissolve the clot/debris that was knocked loose during the stenting, and it's rather "tricky" to get the right amounts and dosages of everything just right for his blood pressure to be ok and for his lab work to be within normal limits so that they can manage things well at home.

The most discouraging thing for him has been that just when he starts to feel better and progress, he'll start to have chest pain again, so it feels like a set back that keeps interfering with him being free to go home. (I keep picturing him like one of those cartoon characters on the front of a Hallmark card, running out of the hospital with his gown flapping in the wind, full moon shining, and not looking back!)

And if you know anything at all about the havoc narcotics can wreak on the digestive system of a person who's not moving around too much, well, that's all I'm going to say about that!!! It's been a very SLOW MOVING process in a lot of ways!! :) (Aaah, poor Dad!)

He, as well as our whole family, are so grateful for your thoughts and continued prayers as he recovers and continues to trust God for complete healing. And a special thank you to Susan, my favorite UTMC nurse for taking such awesome care of my dad! I love you!

If anyone would like to participate, we'd like to have a "card shower" for Dad this week when he gets home from the hospital. Who doesn't love to get mail, especially the uplifting kind??!! :)

His address is:

Sherman Hathaway
11650 County Road 17
West Unity, OH 43570

Thanks again, and we'll keep you posted!

Much Love,
Sheila Smith and the Hathaway Family!!

Hot Chocolate Fridays

For the past couple years, well, since my kids have gone to school there - so at least THREE, the PTA has had a hot chocolate stand in the common room/cafeteria at the kids' school for sale before the start of morning classes. For $1 you can have a cup of delicious rich cocoa to start your day! They've raised alot of money for parties and projects throughout the years, and it's VERY popular with the kids, even when it's 92 degrees before breakfast. They don't care.

And my kids are NO exception! It has truly become the highlight of the entire WEEK, and when I've talked to other moms, they all say the same thing - "It's a very big deal at our house!" They save their quarters and get up early and talk NON stop over breakfast about getting to school so they can enjoy the hot chocolate with their friends. It's really a pediatric version of what will transpire 20 years down the road - "going out for a cup of coffee with the girls"....

And with all that hype, it pains me to say that not ONCE in the past 3 Fridays we've had this year have they made it to school in time to get some!! Something always comes up at work and I don't get home early enough to get them there, or maybe the snooze button gets hit a few times more than normal by my very sorry, but very tired husband.

So today I rushed home from work, and it was just such a day. They had over-slept and they were in a hurry, and by the time we got in the car I had a bad feeling that history was about to repeat itself. And then the conversation in the car took an interesting turn and went something like this:

Ma-lak: "Oh man! We're going to be LATE!!! No hot chocolate AGAIN!"

Rea: "That's not true, Ma-lak! You have to stop saying that! You have to believe in God! He will help us get there in time - I asked Him!!"

Ma-lak: "But it's 8:05 already and look at all those cars ahead of us! We'll never make it!!"

Rea: "Stop it, Ma-lak!! You have to believe Him! You HAVE to!!"

I was practically in tears at this point, b/c after hundreds of trips to school, I knew it WOULD take a miracle in the face of a mathematical impossibility!

We pulled up to the curb by the playground, just outside the cafeteria, and as soon as they opened the car door, we heard the dreaded school bell ring!!

Ma-lak flounced out the door with an outrageous, "SEE!!!! I TOLD you so!!!!"

And Rea turned around to look at me with a face so sad and shocked that it reduced me to a puddle right in my seat. She was absolutely horrified!!

Not wanting to see her crushed, I told her to take Ni'ke and hurry, and maybe they would still let her get some hot chocolate.

I watched them race up to the table, hand in hand, and my heart shattered into a thousand pieces as I watched the lady shake her head "no" after Rea emphatically pleaded her case. They both turned around to me again with tears streaming down their faces, and I couldn't stop myself from sobbing right along with them!!

I motioned Rea over to try to comfort her, and what she said next absolutely undid me.

"But Mommy, I asked God to help us get the hot chocolate!! Why didn't He help us??!!"

Oh child.... To have a faith like that!

What could I say? She did everything right!! She persevered in her faith, even when it seemed completely impossible that she'd get the outcome she prayed for, and yet her answer didn't come....

I was immediately catapaulted 5-10 years into the future. If I can't explain how God sometimes says "no" to hot chocolate, how will she ever understand a break up with a first love, a tragedy, a war, a death?? Was this how MY mother felt all those times I flung myself into her arms sobbing over "the unfairness of it all"? Probably yes...

But I got it. And she will too.

So I said the only thing that I could say. "I'm so sorry, Baby. This time God said, 'No'"

She nodded her head and walked Ni'ke to her class, wiping away her tears all the way. I just sat there and watched them till they disappeared around the corner, and then I did the only thing that a mother who'd already been awake for 28 hours could possibly do after coming home from work and then leaving her children at school like that. I went home and made hot chocolate and drove BACK to the school and surprised them at their recess!

Because, really, wouldn't we do just about ANYthing to see the joy inside them transform itself into a smile bright enough to light up a thousand tomorrows??!!

YES!!

And then you think how much MORE our heavenly Father loves US... It's just too much to comprehend, but it's so real!!

Today was one of those "precious moments", and I thank God for each and every one of them. I pray that whatever lessons He would choose to teach me through my children will never fade away into a lost memory, but only be instilled deeper into me with each passing day.

Matthew 7: 7-11
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread (or hot chocolate!) will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

Prayer for Dad!!

Today my had a heart cath, and subsequently needed a stent as well. He hasn't felt well for the past several weeks, and despite a negative Echo and stress test, it was decided to go ahead and "take a look" because of his extensive heart history. So in they went this morning for the cath. Apparently there was some scar tissue in or around the last bypass graft that was done 5 years ago. This is the second time that the bypass has had to be stented!!

There was a lot of waiting... The doctor who performed the cath couldn't do the stent, so they had to wait for another doctor who was tied up in another emergency. After the the procedure was completed, Dad then developed some chest pain, which Mom was told is not uncommon, but he will be staying the night at UTMC in Toledo and hopefully be home tomorrow.



The last few weeks God has blessed us with more opportunities than usual to pray for many friends and family members who have been ill or going through trials. And I really do mean that it IS and has been a blessing and a privilege to pray!! For SO many reasons!! Answered prayer would pop to mind as the best result of praying for someone else, but what if during some intimate moments with God when our hearts are open He shows us more than we asked for, and not all of it is pleasant. It seems that when you get serious about asking God to reveal to you the desires of HIS heart that the first thing He does is show you the condition of your own.

About a month ago I started going through a study on Acts by Terry Tekyl. This particular study focuses on prayer to invite the Holy Spirit and pray effectively, both corporately as a church body but also in our own personal prayer life. Wouldn't you know that starting a study like that would open mass opportunities!? :) Thank you, Jesus....

I have to share this one excerpt that really made me think about what "compassion" is and how true compassion for those around us motivates us to pray, especially for those who don't know Him and are hurting:

"For God so loved the world He gave His only son" (John 3:16) To have a passion for evangelism is to care enough about the souls of those we meet that we will go to any length to see that they are secured for eternity. We reach out to people because we love, and we love because He first loved us. Love is the driving force. The first thing the Spirit does in us when we begin to pray is to put the compassion of Jesus in our hearts for those outside the church who are hurting, confused and unlovable.

As the disciples watched Jesus be whipped and crucified, I am sure that the unjust brutality to the one they loved did not inspire in them warm thought of friendship or compassion for His executioners. But think about this: days later in the Upper Room, something was shed abroad in their hearts that enabled and even motivated them to go out in love and share the good news of the Gospel in enemy territory. Based on their own feelings, they probably would rather have retaliated! But as God poured out His Spirit on them, His divine COMPASSION superceded their own desires, and they responded as Christ would."

I'm so grateful for opportunities to pray for you! If you have a need for prayer, if you are hurting or lost or despairing or ill or have a friend or family member in need, please let me know and I will pray for you. For those of you on Facebook, you can send me a message with your prayer requests, or you can email me at :

sheila_911@hotmail.com

Blessings!!


Sheila

The Smith Kids Go Mobile!!

Yep, that's right! And before I know it they'll be zipping around in FOUR wheels instead of two!!!

We hadn't really been working with the kids that much on riding without training wheels, or even getting out and riding bikes at all period. We don't live on a particularly busy street, but we do live close to a high school and some of those kids fly by like Indy drivers!!! And people seem to back out of their driveways without being too careful for kids or joggers or dog-walkers, etc... We do have a few parks close by, but to get everyone over there with their bikes and ride seemed a chore, too. So there was always an excuse or two, or an answer like, "Not right now, maybe this weekend..." I'm ashamed to say.

So last weekend I was home with just the girls and we headed over to the park. Rea had never ridden without her training wheels before, but would you believe that the second we got over there, she put on her helmut and pads, and off she went like she'd been riding all her life! It was hilarious!! She kept going and going and never even fell once, and hardly wobbled!! I thought I was gonna be chasing her all afternoon, picking her up over and over again - I even had stuck some band-aids in my back jeans pocket, just in case. How faithless could I be????!!!!

So, Rea had a great first bike lesson, and I learned a few lessons of my own...

Since then we are all about bikes! Ma-lak and Rea are enjoying their new found independence, and Ni'ke won't be in training wheels for long. Today was a gorgeous and sunny day, and after a lazy Saturday morning of McDonald's for breakfast and playing computer games, I took the kids over to a local bike shop for a few tune ups. (For their BIKES.) Right now we only have 3 bikes, which is obviously a mathematical dilemma, but Ya'shar seems content to hang out on his trike for now, but I doubt that'll last long! It was fun to look around and see all the different kinds to choose from and learn a little more about bikes in general, because I know nothing. I'm thinking I really need a bike for ME! :) I haven't been on one in years, but it would probably solve 1/3 of the problem I'm having with training for a Triathlon...)

After airing up some tires, replacing a tube, adjusting the seats and tightening some handle bars, we were ready for business! As soon as we got home they were racing each other up and down the street, gaining confidence - and speed.... (sigh) Lord, protect them!!

Blessings to you all, and happy biking from the newly formed Smith Family Biker Gang!

P.S. For those of you looking at my pictures and frowning, yes, I know we need some more bike helmuts.... Don't worry!!!