Life

It has been a very busy couple of weeks in our house. A lot of "life" happening. Both boys have science fair projects due. Oh joy and jubilation over those assignments. I hate the science fair. I hate the projects. I hate the time and tediousness that have to go into it. I hate the display boards and every single thing that surrounds it. Plain and simple. And so, it's been a taxing couple of weeks. I should be thankful that Maxwell decided to investigate something simple this go round, instead of all manner of impossible, like he usually does. I am pleased to announce that the CIA and FBI have no cause to be alarmed over his choice of subject matter this time. He's not researching the feasability of launching a biological terrorism attack on the world. Or any other terrorist like activities either! Nope. He's trying to see if video games are an effective way of distracting people from pain. Poor Max...had to sit around with his friends and play video games all day long with them. The rigors of research, I tell ya! He has all of his results...yet getting them all typed up and in presentation form seems to be a hump he just can't get motivated to get over. Thus, I get to live in uncompleted project purgatory for a while! Fun, fun, fun. That boy loves messing with my peace! Ben is working on his own project. He's all about killing some plants. Like mother, like son! He's trying to determine which of 4 different detergents is most harmful to vegetation. Honestly...the fact that the plants are sitting in MY backyard pretty much is about as harmful as it gets! But he's faithfully watering them with his soapy concoction and it's just a matter of time now before death takes them over.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. I had two babies in two days last week. One I was expecting, and one I was not. But it turned out that moms knew each other and lost their angels just hours apart. I have been so blessed by both of these families. They have been so sweet and wonderful to work with. I have been scrambling to get images ready for them so that they will have them for services this week. One family asked me to also come and photograph their graveside service. So I am going to do that tomorrow. I spoke with one of the moms yesterday. As we talked I could hear it in her voice how desperate she was to see any images of her baby girl. She told me the ones they took at the hospital just weren't very good. I only had a few of them ready for her. But I went ahead and e-mailed them to her as I talked with her. And just hearing her voice when she received them...It reminded me why I do this. She broke down in tears and cried and kept saying over and over again how beautiful they were and how beautiful her little girl looked. She was so relieved to know that there were beautiful images of her from that preciously sweet time she had gotten to hold her. I know that those pictures will mean the world to her and her family. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all right now, with so many pictures on my desk to deal with and nearly all of them needing a good deal of tedious touching. Add in the services tomorrow....along with just the business of all of our Mondays....and I almost want to stick my head in a hole until it goes away! But I know what these images will mean to the families...and so I push on!

Chris and I have been doing the P90X workout. I made it through the entire first week. It is definitely the hardest workout I have ever taken on in my entire life. The first day I did it, I didn't think I would be able to raise my arms over my head ever again! And the next day that I did it, I thought I might never walk normally again. I was THAT sore. And I rarely get sore from a workout. My arms hurt. And my back and my chest. And my BUTT! OH my butt! And my abs. Ouch! But it's been a week and the workouts are cycling through again now. The legs workout was tough...but not as tough as the first time I did it. And I added weight this time also. The first time I did it with none! I'm sore this evening...but nearly like I was the first time through. And I KNOW I am getting stronger. When I started, I could only do about 25 of one of the ab exercises. Yesterday I did 47! Nearly double! I was SO excited! And I feel like my legs must be getting stronger too. And my cardio. I did my 4 1/2 mile run to Stone Canyon this morning. Usually I am having to really fight for it about the half way mark as the whole first half of the run is slightly uphill. But today I wasn't fighting for it at all. It was so much easier than normal! And I really didn't even feel the first waves of fatigue until I was just outside our neighborhood again. I even ran some extra distance on the end! I was definitely feeling it by the time I got back home...but by then I had run a fantastic run and at a really great pace too! I think it's working. I'm still not skinny. No real change at all there. Damnit! But I'll get there. I am feeling very encouraged tonight with it!

I guess that is about all that is happening, Just business and what not. We're moving at the speed of life around here! Catch us if you can!