Mother

Rather than rehash all my issues with Mother's Day, I thought I'd take another approach:

First the funny definition:

Now onto the more heartfelt stuff:

Mother is that person who mends your wounds whether on your knee on in your heart.
She seeks to protect her young from the world's dangers,
but all at the same time she knows that in time the birds will leave the nest,
so she teaches her young to fly hoping someday that they will learn to soar.

Mother is that person who you can talk to about pretty much anything,
and you don't have to fear that she will love you any less.

She smiles with you. She cries with you.

She sometimes does things that drive you a bit crazy


but you still kind of want to be like her
because in your heart you know she means well.

Mother doesn't mean always the person who birthed you or raised you.
It could be an aunt. A friend. A teacher. A babysitter.
They all can mother you, even if you don't call them mother.


Because they still loved you.
They still taught you.
They still wanted to see you live out your wildest dreams.


So thank you, Mother's.

This was my 2012

This was a good year for us. We started the year in Florida. Lots of playdates at sunny parks and hanging out on the beaches. I miss the smell of the salt on the air. I miss our friends. I miss Shalimar United Methodist Church. It became our church home where we had so many dear friends. We healed, learned and grew so much there.

 I got to see my family in June. Which was awesome. And meet my nephew Jonny. He's so much fun!

I was in my first play in who knows how long:

 Me playing a ditzy daughter of a mobster...

... who falls in love with this guy [who keeps running away from me]

It was lots of fun. We raised money for underprivileged kids who needed school supplies. I would totally do it again! 

We moved back to Ohio, and got to meet my sweet niece Lydia. Such a doll. So glad to be back by family again. 

We bought our first home! 

The girls are back in Beavercreek schools. Anya & Bridgette are in 2nd grade and both doing fantastically. Anya likes math, social studies, and reading. Her teacher is SUPER fun. Bridgette loves math, reading, and astronomy. She's really into yoga this year. Leilani is in Kindergarten. She loves her teacher and says she loves being with her best friend Grace at school.

Sam started his PhD at AFIT in physics. He'll be doing a teaching follow on after word, which means we'll be here nice and long [especially for the military]- six to seven years!

Dete is 2. He enjoys throwing things and talks A LOT. He loves to run around and be active, so he keeps me pretty busy. Leilani is happy to help entertain him though when she's home from Kindergarten. [Beavercreek does a funny schedule, but I'm happy to have her home some days because Dete was a pretty sad to see everyone go off, but him and me].

I'm learning something new everyday. Whether about some new therapy, child rearing thing, religion-wise, psychology, yoga, zumba, nutrition. I've been singing in the choir, but thinking of  trying out for the praise team to step out of the boat a bit more. I love singing and performing so much.

It's been a great 2012. I'm sure 2013 will at least be as great!

You're in a special category

Really. You're in a special category of FRIEND if the follow apply (the more that apply, the awesomer you are):

* You know some rather interesting facts and perhaps even funny stories about me growing up. As a side effect you know and appreciate my rather twisted sense of humor.

* I can openly talk to you about faith/ religion stuff. I mean really TALK. If you're afraid to hear it or if I'm afraid that you can't handle it that doesn't mean I don't love you, it just means there is at least a partial wall up there.

* I've talked to you while "fuzzy"

* I feel comfortable enough to have a beverage of my choosing around you.

* I'm willing to advocate for you for some cause

* I've offered you my uterus (okay so that's only one person out there).

*You've seen me naked.

* I've made a flirty pass at you. (I promise it's all talk. I'm a one guy gal.) You're in a very special group if I made a pass at you WHILE I was naked (it's okay kids. That latter one only applies to my husband.)

* I've spanked your butt. Or you've spanked me.

* I've hugged you. I have circles of comfort. If I've hugged you, feel special. Extra points for if I initiated.

* I would almost be down with polygamy with you... if it didn't mean I didn't have to share my husband with you... You know who you are.

* I've held your hand.

And the last way... you're laughing and/ or smiling at this post because you realize that I love you!!! *mwah!*

Big Girls' Baptism

My big girls, Bridgette & Anya, got baptized last month.

I'm proud of them. They chose for themselves to be baptized- to say that they wanted to live for God.

They understand it means they are going to love God with all they have and to love others as they love themselves. I'm fairly confident that they will try their best to do both of those things.

Methodists believe in baptism at any age and will even baptize infants. Which is fine. I wanted my children to chose for themselves. I wanted them to understand what baptism meant, what it symbolized, what they were promising before they were baptized. I have to say for 8 and 7 year olds, they have a pretty good grasp on it. I'm sure that they'll understand better as they get older what it means to be a believer.

Look at these faces. So sweet. So excited.

Chaste- A book review

Chaste by Angela Felsted
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic YA book. Bad girl meets good boy. Will bad boy give into the pressure of the bad girl or will the bad girl turn out to be not such a bad girl after all? Great read for any young lady or young adult books enthusiast. Loved the main characters and their parallels, but yet differences all the same time [in how they see things/ approach things]. Themes of different forms of relationships, grief/loss, repentance, love, trust, betrayal, facades... so many themes so deeply hit in such an easy read. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

View all my reviews

Truth or scary?

I don't know if I should say applaud the partial truth here or be scared of the potential sentiment that could fester here...

Truth: Kids do imitate what they see, and they often will go back to their roots in times of transition, hardship, or other kinds of need. I know I often think about good examples I had and think of how they would react to x circumstance. Or I wish I could talk to my Grandma about y because she would obviously have the answer (okay not really, but my Grandma was the awesomest lady to talk to about ANYTHING). They also learn from friends and other trusted adults (school teachers, friends' parents, etc). At the end of the day all of these examples could be stellar and the kid could still decide that he wants to be a rapist, murderer, thief, etc. I realize that those are more rare cases, but it CAN happen.More likely if you're a decent human being then your kid will learn to be a decent human being.

The scary: Read between the lines. "Your children will become what you are; so be what you want them to be." Not seeing it? What if you took this literally? That you taught your kid the only way for them to be an acceptable human being was if they literally followed what you did/ wanted them to do. This may at first glance [to some] sound like not such a bad thing: they do their homework, chores, don't talk back, etc. But what if the only way they could get your approval was to be a Stay-at-home mom like mom when really she would have been an awesome brain surgeon? What if he thought he could only please Dad if he was a doctor when really he would make a stellar rocket scientist? You're either thinking right now "wow you're right!" or you're thinking "what's your point" or "that doesn't happen?" To the latter two, I say It does happen! This guy I know [we'll call him Steve] had 4 brothers. When it came time for him and his brothers came to his dad, they each were shot down:
Alex: "I want to be an astronomer"
Dad: "Oh I don't think that'd be good.. that'd lead you away from our religion"
Alex: "Okay, I want to be a psychologist"
Dad: "I'm not so sure that's so good either" (fortunately Alex had the good sense to ignore his father)
Steve: "I'm going into the military"
Dad: "Oh are you sure? That'll take you away from our family"
Steve: [after serving in the military] "I got this opportunity to be an scientist in the military where they pay for it..."
Dad: "I don't think that's a good idea"
Adam: "I think I'm going to be an engineer."
Dad: "I don't think that's a good idea."
Ryan: "I think I want to be a history teacher."
Montee: "I want to be a singer."
Yep you get the drill... all the same responses. There wasn't anything dishonorable about any of these professions and I can tell you that this dad shooting down his sons was scaring for each of them.

For me, this quote is more scary than truthful. Maybe it's from seeing this type of situation in Steve's case [and a few others as well]. Where they thought the only way they could get their parents' approval was to follow in their footsteps... when in reality if that's the only way that MAYBE you can get it, it's probably just better to be your own person. Because at least you'll have your own approval.

Hello

Have you missed me? Have you missed these One Word posts? Yes, I'm finally restarting them.

So today topic: Hello. or greetings. I was thinking about this today. How in different cultures you say hello (and manifest respect) in different countries and cultures.

I got to think about bowing (think of Asian cultures here). Now it's more of a slight bow or a handshake usually there, but we don't bow in America. Well, unless you are in a dojo or something. I took tae kwon do in high school, and remember bowing to my teacher upon entering and formally saying hello in Korean to show him respect. He would always respond in kind with a slightly higher bow then the one we would render him. It meant something to him and to us. We respected him as our teacher, and he respected us as his students.

I thought about the French and how they kiss both cheeks upon greeting [and leaving]. That would make me slightly uncomfortable. I know they're not the only country that does that. That was just the one that came to mind.

It's just interesting to me. The greetings personally I would exchange would depend on how well I knew you. I would just say hello and shake hands for the first time (unless not a formal setting and then no handshake). For those I know a little better it's more informal, but I have to know you at least a little well to be willing to give you a hug (or be sucking up my personal space bubble). If I willingly and warmly give you a hug then you can bet I REALLY am comfortable with you.