This - N - That

Whew! Friday's here! Thank goodness!

What a week. Where to start?! How about first with thanksgiving and gratitude for answered prayers for my Grandma! She had a stress Echo on Wednesday which confirmed that she has a "leaky valve" in her heart. While this is by no means GOOD news, we are so grateful that no surgery is needed at this time and that the findings weren't anything worse. She feels a little tired now and then, but as she says, "Hey I'm almost 83! I think I deserve to feel a little tired!!" :) Grandma, I love you and hope to see you in 2 weeks!! Can't wait!

So after everyone finally was getting well and feeling good and NOT having fevers last week, Rea came down with a fever AGAIN on Tuesday, lost her voice, has an owie red runny nose, and has slept more than I've ever seen her sleep. NOOOOOO!!!!! My heart is breaking... Thankfully they have a 4-day weekend this weekend and lots of rest and prayers will do the trick!

I have to share an "essay" that Ma-lak wrote for me last week. I've been giving him extra homework at home from time to time, especially when he was home sick last week, and one day I asked him to write about his favorite Bible character. This is what he wrote:

"My favorite Bible character is God because he is strong. He makes us all strong and he is a mighty God and a good God. He takes care of me and makes me strong, and that is why God is my favorite character in the Bible."

I smiled all day after reading that! Thanks, God for making me strong and making my children strong, because our strength is in You!!

Prayers for Grandma

Remember I told you about my countdown to March 5, exactly three weeks from today? My mom, and grandma, and aunt, and cousin are coming for a visit! This will no doubt be one of the hightlights of our whole year, to be blessed with a visit from family!

I talked to my grandma yesterday, and due to her having high blood pressure and some abnormal readings on her EKG, she's having some tests run on Wednesday next week. She's tired, but feels well, and is HOPEFUL that all will be well and she will still be able to come. Of course there will be a lot of disappointment for all of us if that doesn't happen, so will you pray with us??!! For health and healing, freedom from fear, and FAITH!!!!

Thank you!

Another Installment of Funny Things My Kids Say

It's been awhile since I've written about the delightful and not-so-delightful things that come out of my childrens' mouths - and indeed it's NOT for lack of material! I thought I'd catch up a bit, so please allow me to "journal" for the sake of posterity. Here's a few snippets from our ever-entertaining boys.

Ma-lak: For three days in a row, the lunch lady at school reminded Ma-lak to "PLEASE tell your mom you're out of lunch ticket punches." He apparently kept forgetting, prompting a phone call from her to us. She couldn't stop laughing when she told me that on the third day of reminding him, he said to her, "You know, with all the stuff my mom and dad ask me to remember, I just don't have any memory left."

A week or so ago, Ma-lak was taking a VEERRRRY long time to finish his breakfast. They were running late for school, so I kept hurrying him along. He just sat there and barely touched his food - very strange for him if you know how this boy loves to eat!! I tried to wait patiently... Finally he looked up at me and sighed and said, "I feel like I'm wasting my time. I'm not going to eat this stuff." Um, WHOSE time were you wasting??!!

Ya'shar: Ya'shar has trouble remembering his slang expressions and tends to get them a little mixed up at times. And whenever he DOES use slang expressions, it reminds me that he probably picks up a lot of those expressions from us. (Daryle and I are constantly asking each other, "Do I say that a lot??") So the other day, Daryle and the kids picked me up after a meeting. As soon as I got in the car, Ya'shar was excited to tell me something. "Hey, Mommy! Guess WHAT?! You're never gonna believe what happened today! It's going to freak. you. UP." Could NOT stop laughing over that one.

Monday night I was getting ready to leave for work. It was about 10:00 pm, and Daddy had told Ya'shar he could stay up a little longer than usual. (He really loves that.) I gave them a kiss good-bye, and Ya'shar says, "Bye, Mommy. Are you going to Wal-mart now?" "No!" I said. "I'm going to work! Why would you think I'm going to Wal-mart NOW??" "Well, I thought you WORKED at Wal-mart, you go there all the time." Oh boy.....

NORCAL Jiu Jitsu Tournament!

A very eventful day!!

Daryle and the little Smiths have been going to Jiu Jitsu for a few months now and they absolutely love it. Don't ask me how it's different from Tae Kwan Do, other than being equally difficult to spell, but they seem to be learning more and getting more out of it than their last experience. (Lots of grappling and wrestling and holds and tapping out.) They are quite competitive, too it appears, especially when they're in an actual tournament with people watching! (We have no idea where they got that from.)

Anyway, there were only 5 in their age group (meaning our children and one other little boy!) Rea ended up getting 1st place and Ni'ke got 2nd. Hooray!! Everyone was starving by the time they got done, so they swung by the house to rescue me from my day of domestic slavery and off we went to eat lunch at Hank's Creekside Cafe, Santa Rosa's best kept secret. (Crab Cakes Benedict! Who new??!!)

So we are now recovering at home with a wonderful lazy evening of popcorn, hot chocolate, and a yet-to-be-determined movie!

I love love LOVE my weekends off!!!

Blessings to ya!

After Tournament Posin'

Oysters, Anyone??

"Um, no thank you," said Ya'shar. :) So very polite! You haven't seen anything till you've seen a 4 year old try to gag down an oyster. Let's just say that while he can put some sushi away with the best of them, he did NOT however inherit his dad's mysteriously weird palate for raw crustaceans.

Sorry, Honey! Gotta side with Ya'shar on this one...

No More Medication Station!!!

It's been a looooong past few weeks! But we're so grateful to FINALLY be feeling better all around! After taking the boys to Urgent Care this past Wednesday, I was trying to remember the last time we were ALL healthy, all at once.... Couldn't remember, but it was some time in 2010. (sigh) Anyway, viral bronchitis stinks. Not that any other kind is a walk in the park, but at least you're given antibiotics and FEEL like you're doing something for them.

Yesterday was the first time they've ALL been to school at once. Needless to say, they slept good last night! They're over their fevers and feeling stir crazy, so Daryle took them to their Jiu Jitsu tournament this morning! Hopefully he took some pictures since I threw the camera at him and begged, "Pleeeeease!" as they ran out of the house this morning!

Did I mention that it's in the low 70's here all weekend??!! Absolutely lovely weather for early February, wouldn't you say?! And my countdown is getting closer to arrival - 4 weeks from today some of my favorite people are coming to see me! Mom, Grandma, Aunt Lori, and McKayla will be here and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Won't be long now!!

Sick of Being Sick!!

The sniffles, the snotty noses, the fevers, the hacking coughs, the blahs, the crud.... You name it, we've had it, are having it, are trying to get rid of it!!! Been making it's rounds in our house for about 3 weeks now and we're declaring we've had enough!!! Do I hear an "amen" resounding in the heavens?!?! Lord, let it be so!

Rea has been home from school all week, hopefully can go back today as long as her temp didn't creep back up. I've been bringing work home from school for her, giving her homework from books I have at the house, too, and even got her some library books! Can you stay "stir crazy"??!! She's been up in her "new room" (that would be David's room in the loft that she confiscated upon his departure) for the past 2 days, sitting in bed with the computer on her lap playing games, her box of tissues and cup of Sprite on her night stand beside her, looking way too grown up to be a sick kid....

The other kids are doing great, and swim lessons are continuing on! Ya'shar has done soooo great - big improvements! It's amazing what a new pair of goggles will do for a kid who hates water in his eyes.... I felt so bad! Didn't realize they were leaking so bad, so he'd freak out and cry everytime they'd try to get him to put his head under the water! Daryle took him to Big 5 Sporting Goods and let him pick out his very own cool pair, and now he's got confidence galore!! Last night after swim lessons he came home and told me, "Mommy, I was swimming up a storm!" :) Too cute!!

Looking forward to a day off at home this Thursday! This is my looooong week at work and I'm feeling it more than usual.... (Lord, I'm so grateful for my job and all you've blessed my with! Just wanted to be clear!)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Pterodactyl Invasion!

David found this awesome blow up pterodactyl in a box of stuff when he was cleaning/packing/sorting last week getting ready to move. (And yes, I had to ask my 7 year old son how exactly to spell "pterodactyl".) So while Daryle had the kids out at swim lessons, we blew it up and hung it in the boys' room as a surprise when they came home. I sent them up on some random errand as an excuse to get them in their room, and then we waited.... They went upstairs, it was reeeeeaaallly quiet, and then.... pounding elephants charging down the stairs!!!

"Mom, Mom!!! Guess what!!! You'll NEVER believe this!!! There's a DINOSAUR in our room! You gotta see it!!! Come quick!!"

Priceless. :-)

David

David's been in Baltimore for a week and is all settled in! He started classes this past Tuesday after registering on Monday and really likes EVERYTHING about his new school. What a blessing for him to feel completely at ease that this is exactly where God wants him to be! He moved one floor up to a different apartment with 2 other fellow law students as his room-mates. Looks like he's off to a roaring start to this new adventure!!

He was gone less than 30 minutes when Daryle took him down to the airport last week, and Rea called him on his cell phone to ask if she could move into his old room... :) Not wasting any time!!

We miss you, David!