No Difibrillators Here!

So, I have been on a bit of a church quest here lately. Trying to find a church that really, really feels like home...without a doubt, where we are supposed to be. It has been a rather interesting journey so far. Last week I visited a church and they were preaching about having a disaster plan and what that meant for their church. I really expected to hear about getting right with God and making sure that we are ready to go when He calls us home. However...what I heard was how the church needed to budget money to buy defibrillators for the congregation there. Yes...that was the sermon. Not surprising, seeing as how the entire congregation was about 75 years old. Not surprising, but a bit disappointing! So this week we visited another church. My prayer was that I would hear (and recall) the Word of God in a way that really stuck with me and that the congregation would be somewhat younger than 75. God truly does have a sense of humor! In case you were wondering...He certainly does and I witnessed it first hand this morning. When we arrived there were several large screens up front and very quickly the service got underway. I noticed right off the bat that the music was a bit fast. Well...not so much the music...but more, the words. Like...there were just way too many words crammed into each score of music. WAY too many. So we only caught about every 15th word or so. Frustrating...but oh well. Then, on the third song, low and behold, the disco light came on and started spinning. That's right. The disco light. Chris and I exchanged quite a look at this point...we are hearing this music (it's like music on speed!) and taking this all in and now the lights are spinning for a totally like 70's, sort of Stayin Alive moment. It was so absurd that I just burst out laughing. Taking in the whole scene...the pastor also doubles as the lead drummer...who happens to have a very strong resemblance to a porcupine. He talks VERY fast by the way (which explains the music...which is ALL written by him personally!). One of the guitarist looks like the Dooby Brothers with his black hat and dark sunglasses. The other looks like Cowboy Bob with his hat and gigantic belt buckle. And everyone is rocking out to this totally fast worded music under the spinning disco light. Praise Jesus...what a scene it was! I really, really was chuckling at it all by this point. This was definitely NOT the defibrillator crowd! The message was fine. NOt overly deep. Scripturally rich, yes. But in the words of our Gigi (who went with us), we all got it the first time! The message was a bit simplistic to say the least. But thanks to the disco lights and the doobie brothers I am certain I will remember it for many moons to come. Needless to say...we will not be calling this one home. But we all shared a good chuckle and a more than a little bit interesting adventure today! WOW. Like...who knew? I have grown up in the Presbyterian church my whole life and never once...not one time have I encountered a disco light in the Sunday worship service. I might get one for my kitchen...kind of...you know...groove it up a bit. Thank you Lord for your wonderful sense of humor and leading me to this service that helps to put all the other many churches and services into perspective for me!

And Just a few More (aren't smiles just great?!)

And More Smiles

Playground Smiles

Snapped these while we were between races at Max's cross country meet today. I just LOVE their sweet, bright smiles! These days are moving so fast for us now. I want to remember these laughs and smiles forever!

Cross Country Draws to a Close

This afternoon was the final Cross Country meet for Max's school. The race was held at Columbus Park...the route was 1.85 miles long. Max ran it in 16:48! The boys team placed second overall and earned a great big trophy for the school! This was a fun season for Max and I know the running did him a lot of good! Here are some pictures from his big day!

Brain Dead Mondays

I have to tell ya...Mondays are just not really my day! I just can't seem to get my neurons firing quite fast enough to be high functioning on those days! It's just too hard to get back into the crazy swing that we call life after having a weekend of brain chill. And I have to say that this weekend was unusually generous in the area of brain chill! Thus, this particular Monday seemed SO much tougher! I managed okay...for the most part. Got lots of little piddly stuff done. Lots of catch up. Still not in the mood to work on that baby from Friday night...not sure why I just can't get myself fired up on that one...but anyway. Day went fairly okay...until I looked up and it was five minutes past the time I needed to walk out the door to drop off the kids to get to a surprise party for a friend. So we hightailed it on out of here. I dropped off the kids, picked up the husband (whom I had passed in all of his Evil Kinevil glory on the way home)...and headed out to where the party was. Only...where the party was was NOT where I was. It was at the OTHER location, clear across town. Now...I SHOULD have known that. I SHOULD have noticed on the invitation which location it was...but I missed that. And so...here we were at the totally wrong place on the totally wrong side of town. But hey...that's cool. But that was right when and where my total aversion to the other side of town TOTALLY kicked in and I made the split second decision that we simply were NOT going to go any further. Just like that. Chris looked at me...knew immediately that it was wise not to argue...and suggested that we just make it a date instead. So after some debate...we decided to head over to La Encantada and eat at Blanco, about which we have heard SO much. So that's what we did. My thoughts on Blanco? It's loud...the food is just so so...their outfits are just stupid that they wear...did I mention that it was LOUD?!!! All in all...I can't say that I recommend the place. I have no desire to go back...ever. I'm just going to wait till Mary gets back and then we're going to Mi Nidito. And I mean...LOTS! October is SUCH a nice month for coming back, no?! Anyway...nice night with hubby...even though it was totally not what it started out to be. Back home. As I tuck kids into bed Max produces one very, VERY gross set of p.e. uniform....I think it's been two weeks since it was washed since he kept on forgetting to bring it home! And so now...I get to stay up extra late tonight doing laundry so that he can have his uniform clean for class tomorrow. I think that sums up my Monday. Tuesday is a new and better day...I hope!

Another Week Gone By

I have been 36 for exactly one week now. So far, so good. It's been a busy week, but then...aren't they all?! I already blogged about my Monday last week...my birthday! Tuesday brought pump class, body flow class, orchestra practice for Ben and parent conferences at Painted Sky for both Ben and Clara. The news was all good! No surprises. I have bright kids...they don't always apply themselves (mostly Ben)...but it's all there and they are doing rather well this school year. Wednesday, brought more Orchestra practice for Ben, my first run since I broke my toe, and a trip to the eye doctor for me. As for my run...it was awesome. I managed five miles right out of the chute. No pain in the toe...no problems! Then I headed to the eye doctor for a little check up. Sure enough, my prescription had changed a bit (I suspected that it had!) and so I have new glasses in the works as I type this! There was one little disturbing side note to that visit...the doctor informed me that in the next 3 or 4 years I will probably need BIFOCALS! And I'm like..."Um...excuse me? WHAT did you say?" Followed by immediate thoughts of "We'll just see about that!". So...I think that was like...my first old lady hit. My parents have bifocals...at least my mom does. I think she was pretty old before she got them. I'm quite certain it wasn't when she was in her 30's! Oh well. Aging is such joy. Moving on to Thursday...Thursday is my pump class, immediately followed by my flow class. Then after a super quick shower and lunch it was time to pick up Ben and Clara. They had early release ALL week due to parent conferences. Then...the best part of the week...my new DESK was delivered! HALLELUJAH! I have work space now! I have been using the world's teeniest and most disfunctional desk ever for quite some time. My small flat monitor sat on it, along with my keyboard, a tiny skinny lamp and a picture frame. And the entire surface was covered. No room for a sheet of paper or anything left over. Working at it was quite a challenge. I always ended up having to pull a chair over to me to put papers on...or to drop papers all around me on the floor..or make little balancing stacks on the arm of the couch right behind me. But now...I have a BIG, beautiful computer armoire...so I can close the doors on my creative disaster! And I have PLENTY of workspace and a keyboard at an awesome height now. It's lovlier than I can even tell you! Friday was just Friday. I had a picture appointment. It was early release again...Max had a meet at Los Mesquites and did not get back until 7:30 that night. Ben slept over at a friends house. I ran again...just 4 miles on Friday as my butt was screaming sore and not really appreciating every step I trudged forward! Oh...and I got a call from Northwest hosptal Women's center to come and do a session...so I headed out at 10:15 Friday night to do that. This session was for a 16 year old couple, baby was 31 weeks with Trisomy 18. I'm not sure if baby survived delivery, but she was no longer living when I arrived. The young parents seemed pretty shell shocked. I now have a couple hundred pictures to edit and photoshop and then assemble into a slideshow. So that's a task for this week for sure. Saturday was my Bodyjam class and then Bodyflow (have I mentioned that I just LOVE that Bodyflow class?!!). Then we hit the house hard...me cleaning...Chris with outside projects. It was a VERY productive day for sure! After all of that...we didn't know what to do with ourselves. So we ended up picking up sandwches at Quizno's and heading over to the park for a picnic and playing. The kids just loved it and had a fantastic time. Then we made a quick home depot and target stop and scootled on home. And then...it was Sunday. Sundays are the ONLY day I ever have even the slightest twinge of homesickness for Florida. And it isn't for Florida so much...not the state...not the people...but our church there. Oh, I miss it more than words can say. We have been in the desert now for almost three years and still really feel that element missing in our lives. We found a nice enough church. The people are amazing and so kind and so nice and just altogether awesome. But the preaching is just not doing it for me. Iam looking for something in it that I just don't find here. I want a sermon with strong scriptural backing. I want to know where that scripture came from, who it was written to...what it means. And THEN...I want to know what that means for my own self today. How can I take that information into today with me? I guess what I really want is something to chew on through the week. Not just a general message. Sometimes it seems like pastors here are afraid to really dig deep and get to the meat of the matters in scripture. I just want a sermon that will prick at my brain over the next few days following that sermmon...one that makes me look at my life and my heart and my walk with the Lord and pushes me to get myself back on track. I want to LEARN something I didn't know. See things differently. I don't want to just hear a scripture and someone's general thoughts on it. I still remember sermons from 3 and 4 years ago from Olive...and I have trouble recalling sermons from the past two weeks here...let alone years. I thought we might move along to a little plant church that is starting out this way...but I don't know that that is the answer for us either. I am just going to keep praying about it...but as my friend pointed out...this might be my wilderness time as far as my church and spiritual life is concerned. Maybe so. Maybe not. I visited yet another church yesterday. It sucked. That's all I have to say about that. And so...my Sunday saga will continue I guess. More than ever, yesterday I was missing our church back at home. Oh to have just one more Sunday there! But oh well.

And so ...we are back to Monday again. Back to the grind, back to the schedules, back to the errands...back to life as we know it! Time sure flies when you are so completely overscheduled that you don't know which end is up! Thus is life! On a VERY bright note...our Beth Moore bible study starts this week! 9 ladies this go round! Many of them brand new to our little group. God is so good and has blessed this little study of ours. We are all so excited and ready to dig into the word with Beth! We are doing Believing God this time around! Have a great week!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 36 years old today! And a wonderful day it has been for sure! For starters, I got a bright and early phone call at 6:00 a.m. from my dearest friend Mary in London! It was wonderful to hear her bright and cheery voice on the other end of the line and to share a few minutes of much needed catch up and conversation! THEN, I got treated to pumpkin lattes and pumpkin cream cheese muffins by my dear friend Angelica at Starbucks this morning! Thank you SO much for that yummy treat! THEN I went and bought.... dah tah da...RUNNING SHOES!!!! Yep...it has FINALLY been six weeks since the whole nasty little toe meets up with the hitch incident...and so I finally get to run again. HALLELUJAH!!!!!! Really...HALLELUJAH! THEN...(the treats just go on and on, don't they?!)...THEN Jim and Jackie called and took me out for a birthday lunch of yummy Mexican food (my favorite!). And now...well, now I am sitting here blogging about all of this with a great big smile on my face and a very full tummy and just a sense of total and complete satisfaction with my life. I mean...how awesome can a life be? God has been so amazingly good to me. I have been reflecting on my last 36 years and thought about all the paths my life COULD have taken and all the pits I COULD have fallen into and all the different ways my life COULD have turned out....but for the grace of God. It is awesome how He has just held my hand and walked me through these paths of life and kept my feet where they needed to be. He has blessed me again and again and again. I am living EXACTLY the life I wished for growing up and being EXACTLY who I wanted to be when I grew up. How AWESOME IS that? I never dreamed of being a corporate big shot or wildly succesful or rich or anything remotely like that. I dreamed of being a wife and a mom...a mom who got to stay home with her babies and raise them up...and I have been able to do just that. I prayed for that and was given EXACTLY that. What more could a person hope for. Never in a million years did I imagine a talent like photography...never! Yet...here it has been given to me and I am awed at how that has developed over this past year. It is just mind boggling. God is so, so, SO good to me and to my family. I am just blessed to bits this morning! And so...even though I am another year older...a few hairs grayer...a good six pounds heavier (and a very stubborn six pounds they are!)...I have never been happier in my life. I have a husband who makes me feel like the most special person in the world. I never doubt for a second how much he loves me. I have three beautiful and healthy children who are just awesome and smart and showing new and neat talents each and every day! I have a job that is so totally fun and awesome (I mean...really...what other job do you know of where precious babies just smile at you for an hour at a time?!). And I am just reveling in the countless blessings of my life on this...the first day of my 36th year on this earth. So Happy Birthday to Me! What more could a girl ask for?! Life is so, so good here in the desert!

Faking Fall

I played with a new fall set in my studio tonight. Clara was very cooperative and so sweet to help me out a bit. I DO so love that girl of mine! While I was out Thursday, I gathered up hay bales and pumpkins and sunflowers and lots of fall leaves. (Note to self...those hay bales are MESSSSSSSYYYYY!) Not that you'd find fall leaves around here! Anyway. I put together a nice little fall set. Or I liked it at least! And my favorite part? The leaves. I basically created a connecticut or vermont feel with my leaves...I just HAD to bring in some fall. I think these 103 degree days are getting to me and I am now urging fall to arrive! And there is no real "fall" here. The leaves don't change colors. Hardly anything even has leaves! And there is no real drastic drop in temperature...though I am fully aware that it WILL indeed cool off here soon! So I just created fall for myself in there tonight...and I have to say...I liked it! Isn't that girl of mine just the cutest thing ever?!

Chris' Adventures in the land of Gobble

I just got this e-mail from my dear husband who is off on, yet another work adventure. This time, to Istanbul, Turkey. Now...when I traveled abroad with him last year, he tended to make me nervous in his adventursomeness (is that a word?). Believe me...there were a few tense moments traveling with him in France and Italy with our three small children. At one point, I swore I would NEVER travel anywhere with him again...EVER! Anyway. I got this from him this morning...and it was just too funny not to share...and just so much like my Chris! So...on his behalf...I am posting his entry here with Chris as my guest blogger! Enjoy!

Got taken for a ride.

I was picked up at the Grand Bazaar at eleven in the morning and the driver offerred to drive me to the airport after checking out of the hotel. He asked me the flight time and since it was 4 hours until taking off he suggested a "slightly" longer but more scenic route. Though a tingling sensation told me otherwise, I agreed to his proposal.

The driver's name was Umit which rhymes with Zoom It and he quickly decided that he and I are very good friends. At one point he stopped the car and asked me to sit in the front seat so we could talk more freely. He told me that Ramadan had started on Wednesday and it means that he cannot eat or smoke in daylight hours. I asked him if he could drink and he replied that he is Islamic and he is not allowed to drink alcohol but can drink water. He asked me if I drink and I told him that yes I drink and my favorite is red wine. He said that he likes white wine better but that his favorite is Raki (90 proof local stuff). I raised my eyebrow and he put his finger to his lips and said "shhh". Then he rolled down the window and lit up a cigarette. Umit informed me that there are 3000 mosques in Istanbul. Each time we passed one he averted his eyes and lowered his cigarette below the windowsill. Umit also repeatedly asked me to recall his name which I could not decide was because he wanted to be sure to that I permanently imprint our friendship in my mind or if "Umit" is Turkish for something completely hilarious but totally inappropriate.

For the first half hour we hugged the shoreline of the Bosphorous in what I am pretty sure is the opposite direction from the airport. I pointed this out to him but he did not think it was a big problem since we are great friends and all that and commented that I had "plenty time - no problem". I remember reading somewhere that the Mediterranean translation of "no problem" means the complete opposite. I asked him to stop at an ATM because I was concerned I did have enough cash to cover the fare. After completing the transaction he asked me how much money I took out. Then he good-heartedly slapped my leg and told me that since it is Ramadan I should give him a good tip.

An hour and a half after leaving the hotel we arrived at the airport.
The fare on the meter was 116YTL ($90) which is about twice what it should have been if not for the detour around the Bosphorous to the Black Sea. But then he pushed a button and the fare changed to 180YTL ($130). I called BS on that and he told me that since I was given a city tour that a flat fee was applied to the total. We argued about this for a minute but of course I got nowhere.

To make things worse he had convienently pulled the taxi past the terminal drop-off zone so that I could not flag the police. Finally, he asked for his good tip. I told him that the best tip I have is to take the bus when in Istanbul. Then I grabbed my stuff and dodged all the incoming traffic back to the terminal.

By the way the taxi number was 34 TBU 16. I wonder if it was the same as Trevor's magician buddy (who turned a 100YTL bill into a 1YTL bill in front of his eyes) or if all of the drivers in Istanbul are so friendly.

At least I got a receipt for my experience.

Chris Roberts

Back to School

Here are some fun pictures I did of Clara celebrating back to school. I think she is just SO cute!

My Love Language

Today is Labor Day. And so far it has been wonderful! Of course, it is only 9:30 a.m...but still, it's been great to this point. It started nice and early at 5:30 a.m. when we had to get up and take Max to cross country practice. They run at 6:30. I had planned to take him and walk behind his group (since I still have two weeks and 3 days before I can run again!)...But when the alarm went off at 5:30, Chris announced that he wanted to take him and run with his group. So he headed off with Max and I got up and got moving a bit. I decided to seize the cooler morning temperatures and as soon as Clara was stirring I grabbed her up and headed out the door with her in the jog stroller (breakfast onboard) and little Oscar in tow. We struck out on one of my most favorite routes...and were off to Stone Canyon. We kept a pretty decent pace, considering it was my very first exercise like that in over three weeks since the toe-meets-the-hitch-in-a-most-unfortunate-way incident. Once we reached Stone Canyon, we stopped for a brief couple of minutes so Oscar could have a drink of water, me too, and then we headed back out the way we came. Now. Oscar was doing pretty well, considering this was his first walk of any length. He was starting to slow down, but was still holding his own. Well, before we knew it we were making the turn onto Vistoso Highlands Dr. Almost the home stretch. As we headed down the road, suddenly, there was a car pulling over to the side of the road...and lo and behold...it was my Chris and Max...just heading back from cross country practice. And they had...Pumpkin Spice Latte for me!!!! Yes. The ultimate treat. This time of year is absolutely, HANDS DOWN, my favorite time of year. Why? Not because it is any bit cooler. Not because the leaves are changing. Not because there is any rain. No...it's my favorite time of year because it is the start of Pumpkin season. Pumpkin lattes and pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin muffins and pumpkin yogurt. Yum! And so pulls up my dashingly wonderful husband with none other than my favorite drink ever in his hand. And my heart just melted (the rest of me was pretty much already melted from the heat and my walk)...that man SO knows my love language. And pumpkin lattes are my love language all the way! At this point, I threw poor little tired Oscar into the car with Chris. Clara also declared that she was hot and headed home with Dad...so that left me...alone...hot, steaming Starbucks in hand, empty jog stroller, Jesus just a blasting in my iPod. I can't tell you the strange looks I got the rest of the walk home. Everyone seemed to have a "Hey...you forgot your baby." look on their faces! I didn't care. I looked like an idiot in 100 degree weather with hot Starbucks and that empty stroller...but it was just fantastic and I felt so utterly loved and special all the way home!