Starbucks!

Esh's family asked me to pick up a couple gifts for their family here in town. One thing on the list was a Starbucks gift card. That was easy! I was in there anyway and got it. Problem was, they were out of the gift card holders. I didn't know what I was going to put it in at first and then it came to me! I made the following specialized gift card holder! My mom helped my decopage the box too! It was a lot of fun. I'd never decopaged before and was surprised how easy it really was!

Goodbye

Have you ever had a goodbye that just seemed too easy? Today Esh left to go back home to Israel. Esh's Aunt, Uncle, and I all went to the airport with her and sat and chatted and laughed for about an hour. No tears were shed, though I think Esh and I came pretty close during the goodbye hug. I came home, at lunch, read the Bible with my family and napped. I missed her all day long and kept thinking of things I wanted to tell her "tonight when we hung out." More than once I had to remind myself that that night we'll hang out together won't be for a while. She called me from Houston for about 3 minutes, she texted from New Jersey and then she was gone. Thankfully we had dinner at some friend's house tonight and were still there when departure for Tel Aviv took place. On the way home I made a bad decision. I listened to her Israeli CD that we often listened to together. Ouch! I got home and the big cry came. I don't wish she was still here. More than anything I wish I was on that plane to Tel Aviv with her. I miss her, I miss her family and I miss Israel. I miss everything about that place. The hard things that grow you stronger, the yummy things that make your tummy smile, the view that make you smile, and the people that make you laugh and cry. It's such a wonderful blend. I guess I'll have to just agree with the card I gave Esh for the plane: Out of sight out of mind really is a big lie. Someday, someday, someday. . .

Motivation

Lately I've been lacking motivation to study. I had a unit that I thought would be really easy and go really quickly and I've gotten bogged down and it's taking much longer to get done. Then discouragement sets in and then it's easy for me to lose motivation. I've been reading through Proverbs for a while which says things like "Go to the ant you sluggard," "A little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands at rest and so comes poverty like a theif in the night," "He becometh poor that dealeth [with] a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. . ."

Today I decided it was time to move on to another of my favorite books, Ecclesiastes. After reading the first couple of chapters this morning I'm not sure that was a great motivational choice. "What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?" "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun." "
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool. Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit."

This last verse is the most tempting one:

"There is nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God."

So much for starting the day off with some good motivation to study. . .

Trailmix Waterfall

Last night Esh was sad about something so she flopped down on my bed. When she did I heard a strange noise and looked to see a waterfall of trailmix cascading to my floor. I started laughing so hard I couldn't move to stop the fall. The following is the series of emotions Esh went through when she realized what happened.

The mess

Crying

Laughing
Picking up the mess
5 second rule! Benefits of trail mix waterfalls

The new dog in my backyard

We inherited a dog from my great-grandmother who was tired of having a hyper poemeranian puppy. She wouldn't have been my choice if I'd been given the option of several breeds but she's growing on all of us and is rather sweet. She's been great for Larry Boy and has caused him to be greatly revitalized. The pictures are really blurry but they're all I have and I figure it's about time I introduce her to the world.

Shawna (she came with the name)

Larry boy and Shawna

More snow!

Saturday night some friends came over and we played in the new snow! They have some younger kids and we had fun building a snow family on my car, having a huge long snowball fight, eating snow, and the youngest even built us a snow man.

Thankful for Snow!

I'm so thankful for a lot of things this year.

1. Dad is healthy and home and not recovering from triple bypass surgery like he was last year. 2. Lots of family came and we also had a guest from South Africa.
3. It SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a blast having a snowball fight too.
Here are the pictures of the fun.

Mercedes (my 5 year old cousin) and my Aunt Kim

Mercedes and David and I'm in the background.

Mom and Mercedes

Kim taking pictures

When it stops falling on it's own we can make it continue!

Big gloves keep little hands warm too!

Earlier in the day. This is about half or less of all that we got.

Catching snow! This was also earlier in the day.

Granny Ann

David, Dad, Grandpa (3 generation picture)

Lloyd the South African guest.

Too bad you can't hear his accent in the picture.

Haircut and baby pics.

Here are pics of my hair cut and some from visiting Alicia and some from a recent birth I went to. Yep, life's been busy.

The birth pics are mostly ones that I took. I took some other great ones but you guys wouldn't want to see them. Also, the placenta was awesome! It was huge for one thing and for another the cord was really long. Normally a umbilical cord is about 17-18 inches long. This one was 35 1/2! I have pics of the cord and placenta for those who don't mind some blood. Just e-mail me or leave me a comment saying you want to see them and I'll send them to you!

As far as the Alicia visit goes we had a blast and it was great to have a weekend away.

Alicia and I at the football game
All three of us!


Alicia, Esh, Me.

Esh and I trying on hats.
The whole crew with hats on. Back row: Becca, me, Alica Front Row: Kayla, Rachel, Esh.
The world's largest chimes with wonderful tones!
Esh feeding the ducks on the river.
Esh and Alicia at the football game.

Me, Alicia, Esh
The hair!
Back of the Hair
Front view again.



He's less than a minute old here so he's still kinda blue
Looking at his mommy!
Midwife # weighing him. He was, oy, I forgot, just over 9 or 10 lbs.
Me and midwife #1 doing the foot prints. The dad took about 10 pics of the process. LOL!
Trimming the cord. Look at all that hair!!!



Isn't he adoreable!

Recent pictures

Due to Amy's prodding I'm updating my blog. I've been waiting for people to send me Sukkot pics and it hasn't happened.

Well, I've highlighted my hair and so you can see pics of that, and there are a few of Esh and I joking around.