Fifteen years ago today...

...I gave birth to this.

Well, he didn't look like this then. He was a tiny little baby that had been desparately wanted and tried for (for a very long time!). He was doted on by his sisters and brother. He has been the beneficiary of all my maternal guilt for many years. We always had a very close bond, Nick and I. I find it sad that as he's grown up, he has felt the need to break away from that bond. Maybe someday - it is my prayer - that we get that bond back.

Never too late to be thankful!

Reading Drea's "What I'm thankful for" post reminded me that I did no blogging last week either!

There really are lots of things to be thankful for. They're usually the things that I take for granted, though.

Such as:

...when I gripe about my work. I'm thankful that I have a job and that it's pretty secure. There are so many folks in this area whose jobs are not secure. Or they don't have a job. Or their job doesn't pay enough.

...when I am not happy about washing dishes. I'm thankful that we have enough food to eat.

...when I don't want to clean my house. I'm thankful that I have a home.

I'm so grateful that God has placed good friends in my life. I'm grateful that He's given me fun hobbies to enjoy and friends to enjoy them with. I am thankful for a relatively healthy family. I'm thankful for people to love and people who love me.

A high compliment

My daughter came over last night and asked me "How do you love a child that's not yours?"

Maybe I should clarify that. My step-daughter, who I raised from the age of 4, came over last night and asked "How do you love a child that's not yours."

To be honest, I'd taken my melatonin already and I was on the fast track to la-la land. When I woke up, that was the thought on my mind and it's stayed with me for a while now.

I gave her advice that I think is sound. I told her to do the things she knows to do to parent a child. Eventually, the feelings would come.

What I didn't share was this: I loved her because she was part of Mike. And Mike was part of me. The other half of my soul. How could I not have feelings for those two little girls that came with him?It wasn't easy. I didn't have the experience of carrying them in my own body and birthing them. I didn't have the history of their infancies.

It was hard. At first. But one day, I realized that God was not going to cut me any slack because "step" was part of my title. In God's eyes, I was "mother." I had a responsibility before God to these two girls. I couldn't tell you the day I stopped thinking of them as my step-daughters and started just seeing my daughters. But I suppose it was around the time I started staying up all night with them when they were sick. When I baked their birthday cakes. When I noticed my personality characteristics coming out in their lives.

I don't think Alex realizes what it meant to me for her to ask that question last night. I don't think she realizes that was the highest compliment she's ever paid me.

My younguns

Recently, I had the pleasure of having all of my kids at the house at once. Doesn't happen often! I took full advantage of it and made them all stand around and get their picture taken. I haven't processed these images, but I wanted to show them off.


My four:



add in the husband/fiance:


add in the grandkids:

This was a little surprising

Well, as you may know from reading this blog, I tend to believe that men and women are created fully equal and that there is no job or calling or ministry that should be decided based on gender alone. I suspect that hearing "You were supposed to be a boy" all my life from my mom has something to do with why I'm a little sensitive on the gender issue, but I digress.

I ran across a website, a church's website that shows videos of past sermons. But it's from a church whose pastor, Mark Driscoll, that believes differently than I do on the gender issue. I've always held him in some contempt. But when I listened to one sermon on birth control, I liked it. Then I listened to more in that particular series. I really liked them. I've started on another series and I can safely say that I have enjoyed every sermon I've heard from him. And I've enjoyed his messages as I've rarely enjoyed sermons before.

This is going to be one of my resources when I feel I need a little extra. I'm happy to provide you all with a link to the first series of sermons I heard "Religion Saved and Nine Other Misconceptions." It's a wonderful series that might really help you like it helped me.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/religionsaves

When it rains...

...it pours.


Mike had a particularly hard day at work this week. He came home exhausted and worn out. And with a nice souvenier: an umbillical hernia. Surgery with two to four weeks of recovery time is NOT what we need right before Christmas. At least it's a work-related injury so I don't have to fret over the medical bills. I have to worry about the "workman's comp doctor" sending him back to work to soon, but I'll just trust God there.

So, I've been following this gender debate on the blogosphere. There seems to be this rising force in American christianity that would have us go back to the first century for women's rights. In the extreme right we have folks who believe that men are the head not only of the home and church but all of life. Women shouldn't vote. Daughters should be the "helpmeet" of their fathers until they get married. Women should not use birth control at all and have as many babies as possible. Children should be homeschooled and daughters should never be exposed to such terrible influences such as found on college campuses.

I kid you not.

Look up Vision Forum, Doug Phillips' blog and other very google-able keywords that are in the above narrative.

On the other extreme you will find folks who believe in complete equality. No leadership happens based soley on gender. All men do not have authority over all women. Women can and should be ordained as elders/pastors. They also don't believe that husbands are in authority over wives.

Somewhere in the middle is the truth. That's what I believe. I think that honest, God-fearing, God-loving believers who self-identify with both sides (complimentarian and egalitarian) can have happy marriages. And, frankly, those believers on boths sides of the fence who are living their marriages out are indistinguishable from the other. You just can't always tell unless one of them tells you.

I say all that to say this: there are a few on the egalitarian side (my side, for what it's worth) that I follow. I enjoy reading the Complegalitarian blog. I read the Christians for Biblical Equality blog. I read Wade Burelson's blog. (I read the "other side" too, btw, just to see what's being said). But there are some on that "other side" that I tend to stay away from and demonize. Marc Driscoll is one of those.

He's the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. He's known for wearing jeans and t-shirts and hoodies instead of three-piece suits when he preaches. He's known for his killer wit and mocking of just about every sort of group. He's unapologetic on his beliefs and has no trouble going toe-to-toe with anyone. He's been labeled as a mysoginist by Christian Feminists.

During a discussion on abortion, the topic of birth control came up. Someone on a blog linked this sermon:
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/religionsaves/birth-control

I listened to it.

I changed my mind.

In another sermon in that series, he talks about doctrines that should divide us (such as the trinity or salvation through Jesus Christ alone). But other doctrines are not as important and we can agree to disagree. I've decided that it's a good thing to call Marc Driscoll my brother in Christ.

If you get a chance, and have no beverages in front of you (spew danger), check out this sermon:
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/religionsaves/humor

My sides still hurt from this one!

Cute as buttons

I'm still trying to get a new pic of Lynn but here's the latest of my grandkids:

Other recent cards

Transparency used for the card then stamped. I think I'll try this again with rubons - less drying time!
True friends...I enjoyed using the close-to-the-same colors for this card

40! My brother-in-law turned 40 this past week and I had fun teasing him. The inner black cs is inked and embossed around the edges
I used Versamark on the bottom brown paper with a flourish stamp Instead of digging out the sewing machine, I used a stamp of stitches...much easier. I also embossed the stamped stitches.
I saw this design using pretty colors for an Easter card. I liked the design but for this time of the year I thought I'd try the coffee cup from my Beyond Birthdays Cricut cartridge.

This is a tri-fold card. I think next time I'll use satin ribbon. The rik rak doesn't tie as prettily.

cards made with new Cricut cartridge

Wedding card - the frame is from a different object on the cartridge and so I had to experiment to find one that would fit around the wedding cake. Also, it would be SOOOOO easy to customize the colors to the particular wedding. I just used black/red/yellow/white as generic colors.

baby boy card also made with border punch
baby girl card - I used a small strip of blue cardstock behind the eye holes to give the impression of blue eyes
halloween card - the "boo" is part of the card frame from another pumpkin design on this cartridge
this card frame is HARD to glue - I really need to get a bigger Xyron sticker maker!

birthday card - the flames on the candles are embossed with UTEE

Fun with Cricut!

I really shouldn't have, but I got a new cartridge for my Cricut this weekend. I bought the Cricut about a year or so ago with the intention of using it to make fabulous titles for my scrapbook layouts. I seldom use it for that. Then I got the Beyond Birthdays cartridge and started using it for cards.

I spent Friday afternoon/evening (while I was home with a killer headache) making cards. This cartridge is so much fun! The most notable aspect are the seasonal themed pictures. Also are the card making applications. You can cut a foundation, a card shape and a card frame in nothing flat and just glue them altogether for a cute card. I'll be uploading the pictures of the cards I made today.

I'm jazzed now to make some cards for my grandkids' birthdays coming up (starting in January through to May, I've got them turning 3, 2 and 1). Then plenty of nieces and a nephew for other fun cards.

A new perspective

Well, it didnt' hurt.

It didn't feel all that good, mind you, but it didn't hurt.

I'm referring to turning 40.

Over the last ten years, I think I've grown more than the thirty before that. I've cleared out some dust on some old dreams and - maybe - breathed some new life into them. I've cleared off some of the dust gathering on a hobby that I love and have thrown myself back into it. I've come to accept some of the things that aren't changing and am looking at what I CAN change right now. I'll deal with that other stuff later.

I've set myself a line in the sand for work that I'm happy with. I'm going to start putting my family in a place of priority.

I'm going to start putting my house in order. If it takes the next three months, so be it! First order of business is to get some large garbage bags and start hauling!

This year has been good for Nick. Not that he's perfect. He's still a 14 year old who wants to act like and be treated like he's 17 or 18. But school is going better. He's eating better and sleeping a little better. He's even done dishes for me a couple of times in the last few weeks. Definitely a work in progress!

I'm going to start focusing on my scrapping in this blog. I want to start doing more of that and having a goal might be a good place to start. But it's got to be a do-able goal!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........now that the sun is shining, life is looking a little better!

A moment of clarity

Here, on the eve of my 40th birthday, I've finally put my finger on what's been bothering me. I'm not where I wanted to be by this time in my life.

We all have dreams when we're young. I had many. Most involved performing in some way, shape or form. Singing or acting or some-such. I think there's still a flavor of that in my life, but not in my job.

I'm not in the career I wanted. I'm not in TV journalism. I'm not in print journalism anymore. I'm not a clinical psychologist. I'm not even a LMSW. I think I have the skills to be a therapist. I just need to get the degree and get the license. But to do that would require time away from my family that the last excursion to college showed me I can't afford. So I'm in a low-pay, dead end job. Just a job. Not a career. Little respect. Difficult work. Not something I want to still be doing in 10 years.

My kids, while the joy of my life, have had struggles that have made me question my ability to parent. Oldest son is great. But he has to go into great debt to get through college. I hesitate to even think of how much $$ he will have to pay. He HAS to get a good job when he graduates so he can pay back his loans. And that would be because I couldn't afford to foot the bill.

Oldest daughter is in a diploma completion program. But she's 20 years old and has two children. Not the order I had in mind. I'm thankful she's married and is on her way to a happy life, but she's overcome incredible hurdles and has many more in her path.

Younger daughter is also a parent. In fact, she became one at 16. Again...not exactly what I wanted for her. I have to wonder what part I played in that scenario. If I'd been home more... If'd I had been more strict... More lenient... She's got a long way to go before she gets to that place her sister is at. She has a lot of hurdles behind her and in front of her. And she doesn't want to take advice of those who've been there before her. Especially her mom.

Youngest son is a drama-magnet like no other. He's also been depressed and deals with learning difficulties. I can't remember the last time he was really happy. He's not on a good path. He won't go to church with us. He seldom likes to spend time with us.

And my marriage is definitely not what I dreamed about, either as a little girl or as a grown woman. Hubby is financially irresponsible. But instead of learning and doing better, he seems to be going the opposite direction. And physically, I don't know what's the matter with him, but he does not seem interested in me anymore. Instead of seeing this time of my life as my prime, it seems that my best years are long past and there's nothing good to look forward to. I have enormous fears about Hubby's health and he seems determined to undermine it. I've asked him to up his life insurance policy because I can feel in my bones that he is going to die suddenly and sooner rather than later. We have wonderful friendship. Great companionship. But there are other areas that I feel are important in a marriage that are simply not there anymore.

At church, while I have a semi-leadership role(s) in that I teach most of the adults and lead the worship service, I'm just a puppet. I hate it that I feel this way, but I feel patronized more than supported and appreciated. I am hoping to quit both roles this year. Even though I know it will be difficult to give up things I love (teaching) or used to love (singing), I feel it's the only way to save my sanity.

I have several good friends, but whether it's a lack of my own character or that I just didn't get the "have friends" gene, it's not what I want. I have one friend my own age. One person in my same place in life. The rest of my friends are much younger or quite a bit older. And I can't seem to spend enough time with any of them. I'm usually so exhausted from trying to keep house after a family that only thinks of messing it up, working at a difficult job and trying to keep up with demands of church and family...it's wonderful when I get the chance to spend time with friends but they're usually with their other friends.

Then there's my faith. I desire more than anything to be close to God. But I have experienced a level of doubt in the last five years that I've never experienced in my entire life as a believer. I have seen more of the crap that usually turns people away from religion altogether recently! I'm still hanging in there, but it's increasingly difficult. Again with the patronizing. I have some fundamental differences of belief from the denomination I attend (but am not a member of). It would seem that my pastor believes this is just because I don't understand. Not that I might possibly disagree.

Add in the guilt that I can't be there enough for my nieces and nephew or my sisters and brothers-in-law or parents and it seems that this is a recipe for complete discontent with life stew.

On one hand, it feels good to recognize all this. Diagnosis is half the problem. Now maybe I can address each issue and find some resolution.

The strange world we live in

Well, my dad keeps telling me that the best cure for some of these frustrations in my life is to avoid them. True enough. I need to stay away from some things to keep me sane. But there are some that, like the Sirens, are too compelling to resist.

Many years ago, I was drawn into the gender debate. It has always interested me in every format I've encountered it. Some history: I was supposed to be a boy. Not to sound confused about my gender as it is. Not at all! But I grew up hearing from my parents that they wanted a boy and expected me to be a boy (I kicked hard, apparently) but got me instead. For the record, I wouldn't want to be male. I like being a woman and most all that it entails.

But I'm not the kind of woman who fits stereotypes. In fact, if you were to take an inventory of my personality traits, you'd think I was a man if you didn't know otherwise. Here lately, I've been watching and occasionally adding my voice to the debate over women in ministry and the role of women in the home, church and community at large.

On one side are the complimentarians. They are usually represented by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. They are usually characterized as evangelical, fundamentalist, traditional and so on. They are usually the ones who are concerned about order and tradition and hierarchy and who's in charge.

On the other side are the egalitarians. They are usually represented by the Council for Biblical Equality. They are usually characterized as seeking mutuality and equality and free opportunity for women to be pastors and elders.

But I've been noticing that some on both sides are really mean. Some of the comps seem to be convinced that admitting that a woman might be able to teach a man or lead in anything other than a nursery is the swift path to downright anarchy and, let's just say it: hell. I've heard some say that allowing a woman to preach on a Sunday morning (not be a pastor, mind you, just preach) is a "grave moral concern."

On the egal size, it seems that they see abuse around every corner. If you're not for the free expression of gifts by all, you're an abuser yourself. Harsh words are often flung by both sides. Usually, if you don't agree with one side or the other, your ability to study scripture, your dedication to biblical authority and even your salvation are called into question.

My usual response has been to close the browser windows and get back to my real world where my gender doesn't matter. But is that exactly right?

I'm coming to see that it does matter. Areas that I thought were free of this gender prejudice are not. It's caused me to stop and re-evaluate where I'm at and what I'm doing and really seek to see if I'm doing what I need to be doing right now.

Or, maybe it's just that I'm staring down a milestone birthday and I'm evaluating where I am, where I've been and where I'm going.

Couldn't it be both?

Moving forward

I've gotten through the month of July. I miss my niece and nephew but we're moving forward. I'll always miss them. There will always be a hole in my heart. But I've learned some very valuable lessons and I'm doing my best to honor their memories.

I've also been addressing some spiritual issues that have troubled me. I talked with my husband about them and have gotten the wide and wonderful shoulder that only he can provide for me to lay my troubles on and feel safe. It's amazing how that works.

I have lots of photography projects coming up. A friend at church and I will be doing pictures of families for a photo directory. I'm looking forward to it. Maybe we can use my backdrop. I'm also doing some photography for work. Just some basic pictures of the building and the department heads and the various teams. It might be fun!

More and more I'm dying to take pictures and improve my craft, but less and less do I find time for it! When life gets really stressful, I tend to find an escape and bury myself in it. Right now, I'm playing a pc game called Oblivion. It's a role playing fantasy game that David introduced me to and I've gotten my 50 hours of playing time out of it several times over. Whenever I do all the quests for one character, I create another. But it's an escape. Playing it means I'm not interacting with others. I'm not doing the other things I should do, but don't want to! I'm going to try this week to cut down on the escape time and increase the "other stuff" time!

rambling thoughts

Work sucks. Can I say that loud enough?

Now, really, the job itself is pretty good. It's stressful right now for various reasons but none of those reasons is the actual job. Just the crap that goes WITH it.

What I miss is being a stay at home mom. I made our home. I've been a "working mom" for seven years now and since that time, no one has made our house into a home. There's a perpetual mess that embarrasses me. I can't keep up with it. Even if all I did after coming home from work was clean house, it would be the same every day. I am occasionally jealous of those friends of mine who get to stay home and who have clean houses. Who are not embarrassed when someone comes over.

I really do pray for a day when I can quit working. Don't know when that might be. And maybe not just quite my job entirely, but do something else. Like work at the school. Be a para. Be a substitute teacher. I could probably sub for almost as much as I make right now.

The anniversary of Kat and TJ's deaths is approaching. I find myself very moody and out of sorts. And while Mike is very sympathetic and understanding, I don't think anyone else is. I'm going to stay home from work that day but I'll probably be spending time with my mom. Which I'm not really looking forward to. Not that I don't love my mom. But she tends to drive me crazy. She's miffed (not really angry) that Mike and Vena and their girls as well as DeDe and Eddie and their girls are all going out of the state for the anniversary. It's going to be a very hard time for them. But mom has said to me more than once that she was in the accident too and they're leaving her all alone. Like being in an accident together is the same as losing a child. There are days I just don't get my mom. Love her, yeah. Get her? Lord no!

So, somehow I'm going to deal with my own grief. I think I'll get up at the usual time and go to the cemetery(s) and do some early morning pictures. THEN I'll find mom and keep her company.

The other great news is that Derrick and Nina have decided that they can't afford to stay in a motel forever (it's costing them $600 a month, apparently). Derrick is staying with his grandparents and Nina and Lynn are staying with us. Derrick has to be at his grandparent's house before 10:30 pm because they lock the doors then whether he's there or not. We have a similar rule. It's for two weeks and we're trying to have some firmly set rules.

I'm not interested in making my daughter "pay" for anything, but I'm expecting her to help out. I guess it might be worth it to get Lynn into a real home. I'm surprised they agreed to have separate living arrangements for the two weeks. Any way you slice it, though, it's going to be tough.

So anyhow...life is chaotic and I can't seem to get a handle on it right now. Work is stressing me out and so is my health. I think I'm a hypochondriac! Since my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I worry about that. Every gurgle in my tummy has me convinced I'm going to die a wasting death before my time! Yes. I know. I should just go in to the doctor's and get checked out! Pretty simple solution. I guess I could try that.

Thanking God

I like to surf the blogosphere. That means "read other blogs" for those of you who don't engage in this past-time! Anyways, I often find myself reading post after post and comment after comment on the gender debate going on in many christian circles. Reading those blogs often leads me to some interesting new blogs...but I digress.

I recently read about a preacher in a Southern Baptist church who said that one of the responses men have for women who try to usurp their authority is abuse. Many have said that he doesn't mean that women cause their own abuse, but it's kinda hard to read anything ELSE into that.

When I first read about that (and later, when I was reading through the 814 responses to one bloggers post about it), I just sat with my mouth open in that "is this for real?" way some of us have.

My physical response was also common: I could feel my blood pressure rise. I could feel my heart speed up. My teeth clenched. I leaned in until my breath was fogging up my monitor.

And then, God blessed me with a memory: I attend a church that is outside this dogfight. I attend a church that has been ordaining women since they begain 100 years ago. Maybe there aren't many women pastors, but they do exist. In my church, I am able to exercise my gifts and talents without regard to my gender. I'm able to teach adults (women AND men, often more of the latter). I lead worship. And occasionally, when things get mucked up as sometimes they do, I have had the responsibility of handling the service. All that matters is my ability to do so, not my plumbing.

So I was able to push back from the screen and excersize my ability to click on that little red "X" in the upper right corner of the screen and remove all that stress from my mind.

me

I really don't like having my picture taken, but I needed one. Mike and I soldiered through it and there were a couple I ended up not hating.




This, however, was me at the end of the picture taking: "NO MORE!!"

The many faces of Lynn

I know someday Lynn is going to be a model. She has her many "moods" down pat!

This is her "Pretty Girl" face:

Here is her "Pouty" face:

Here's her "Crazy!" face:

And her "Oh no!" face:
She cracks me up!! Here's a shot of Lynn and my niece Abby. They're just a couple of years apart in age and play together in the nursery at church. I'd love it if they could play together more and grow up as friends, but they don't get to see each other as much. Lynn's mom tends to focus her time on her own friends and her dad's family . If I want my family to see Lynn, I have to be the one to facilitate that.

new baby tootsies

I love pictures of baby feet! I may have to make a little album of feet pictures....hey! There's an idea :) Here are Hunter's 8 day old feet:

And Hunter sleeping, which he does always when around Grandma:

More sleeping:

Hunter and Abby:

Hunter and Lynn:

Lynn says that Hunter is a "cute baby"

Scrapping fun

Well, I got a chance to go to one of my lss yesterday. I spent more than I intended to...but I can't help myself!

To be honest, there is one person I would really like to scrap like - even though our styles are not overly similar -- my best friend Drea. I just love her style! But mine is different and she has one thing that I don't. Well, she has lots of stuff I don't, but one of the main ones is patience. She takes her time with each layout. You can see it in the resulting works of art. Mine tend to be whirlwind creations! But she's the one I have to thank for introducing me to my favorite hobby and sanity saver which lead to my other two hobbies and sanity savers!

Here are a couple of recent creations:

Newest addition

My oldest daughter gave birth last week to her second child, another son. Hunter Gene weighed 6 lbs 14 ozs and was 20 inches long. His big brother Chris is okay with the interloper as long as he doesn't have to share mom or dad's attention too much! Big cousin Lynn thinks the new baby is "cute."

I'm really proud of my daughter. She screamed pretty much the entire pregnancy the first time, culminating in a scream-fest while she gave birth to Chris from the moment she walked into the hospital. This time - with the addition of a timely epidural - there was NO screaming and barely any noise at all. She was around and walking - very well, I might add! - within a few hours. She's become such a great mom!

I'm hoping to get more pics of Hunter before the week is out!

While I was sleeping...

Apparently, life has been zooming along and instead of blogging about it, I have been sleeping through it.


I closed my eyes to sleep and my kids grew up and became parents. Well, two of them.

I closed my eyes and my youth zoomed by. Now only those folks who can rightly be called senior citizens can consider me young.

I closed my eyes and the world went right on without me. And for once, I'm not stressed about it!

I'm scrapping more and I love it! I have several projects that I'm working on in one stage or another.

These are just a few of the more recent layouts. I'm starting to enjoy scrapping more. I quit worrying about being published. I quit worrying about being on some design team or another and just started enjoying myself. I scraplift when I want to. I use old techniques when I want to. I try new stuff when I want to. And I enjoy the heck out of it!! Now, maybe someday, I'll want to try for a design team or be published. Who knows. For now, I'm just going to have fun and learn.

The photography thing is also a lot of fun. But I've discovered a problem: I don't seem to want to charge people to take their pictures. I think the problem is this: when I'm just a friend, taking your picture for fun, that's all it is. But add money to the mix and suddenly I'm all anxious that it won't be good enough. My equipment is not enough, my talent is not enough, my whatever is just not enough. grrrrrrrrrrr!!! I'm going to take some time off in the next month or so and just take some pictures. I have a nephew who is a HAM who might just model for me so I can practice. I might have to bribe him with pizza, but I am his favorite aunt so maybe not! And I think I can get one of my sister's in law to model for me so I can practice boudoir shots, but her I might have to bribe with liquor.

A funny thing...I love the feeling of taking a picture of someone and helping them to see their own beauty. There's just nothing like it. My best friend doesn't say "I don't look good in pictures" very often anymore. If you look at pictures of her taken in the last year, her smiles are genuine and you can see the confidence in her eyes. I like to think I helped her find that. But I can't get those pics of myself like that! I'm going to have to get creative for that. Mike is usually pretty good about helping snap the shutter, but I have to get it all set up and only one shot out of a hundred are what I'm looking for. And while I would love a boudoir shot of myself, getting one is no easy feat. But it might just be worth the effort!