Thursday, November 29, 2007

bothering

Something's been floating around in my head bothering me lately, so I think I'll get it off my chest and feel better. I know you understand.

I am not a good picture taker. I have not taken nearly enough pictures of my children. Then I think 'what's enough'? I went back to work not long after Steven was born and had suffered post-partum depression mess, so I just didn't care for awhile. Another part of me doesn't consider myself a good photographer, and it's an insecurity--therefore an excuse to not take pictures. Also, every time I go to use the digital camera, I've used it so infrequently that I can't remember how to get the pics onto the computer once I've taken the pictures, can't remember how to charge the stupid thing when it's going dead, and can barely remember how to turn the dang thing on.

But something got me thinking the other day. I've finally got our home in order and pulled out all the pictures we had stored while away and put them back out. Steven went around to see all of them and kept asking me: "mama, is that one me? is that one me?" over and over. And I saw that most of them are of Frankie! Agh! A terrible sense of guilt washed over me as I realized that I have slighted Steven by not taking any pictures (or as many) of him. What's bad is his babyhood is a little blurry to me as we were trying to get enough money to go to school and I was working sometimes 50 or 60 hours a week. Frank pretty much was raising the boys during that time. (Thank God that time is over!)

So I went into the cedar chest and pulled out every picture of Steven I could find and framed about 4 pictures and set them out. Even the newborn picture. When they get home from grandparents on Saturday I plan to take him around and show him all his pictures.

Anyway, I have a renewed sense of duty to my youngest to make sure he knows that he is loved as much as his brother. Even if I have to resort to good 'ol archaic film camera. I know how to use those! Anyway, y'all gotta help keep me accountable.
thanks.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

movie quotes

Since we've been sick, there have been many movies watched over the past couple of weeks. here are some of my favorite quotes; see if you can guess which movies they came from:

(whoever guesses them all will receive a hearty congrats comment from me to their blog.)

"But I don't want to go among mad people..."

"Hey! Now those were alphabetized!"

"You gots to puckah up yo lips like dis..."

"Virtually indestructable, yet breathes like Egyptian cotton."

"I think it would help, if you'd sort of open your umbrella and say, 'tut, tut, it looks like rain'."

"If he were here right now, I'd kiss'im--right in front of everybody!"

"Some children just don't know when to stop pretending."

"Are they gone yet? My cheeks are killing me! I think it's time for a little break..mm-hmmm...time for a little break..."

"Let's go meet the Pansies!"

"Are we THERE yet?"
"We get there when we GET THERE!"

"Hey fellas....we got ourselves a nodder..."

"You must pull yourself together! Go! Fight! Win! and call me in the morning, dahling--you know I love our little talks..."

"I'm just thinking about the first time I laid eye on you."

"She just loves me for my body."

News

We have been sick for almost 2 weeks now. This is the second Sunday in a row that we've missed church. I hate that. Paige M. and I had a conversation that even when you miss one Sunday, you are completely out of the loop. It started on halloween with Steven coughing and throwing up. ( I knew they must have called it the devil's holiday for some reason). Then Frankie got a fever, then it spread to Frank and then to me. I guess I could be thankful that we weren't all sick at the same time and I was at least able to take care of my boys. My sickness is the tail end of it I think, with a bad cough, sore throat and post-nasal drippy mess.

On another note, the Church Christmas Bazaar was yesterday. I had a jewelry booth and did pretty well--so for the past couple of months, my life has not been my own. It has belonged to this crazed woman who is up at all hours of the night trying to put together jewelry sets to sell at the bazaar. I haven't added up my costs, but I came home with $140 more than what I started with. Yippee! I notice that more of the less expensive necklace/earring sets sold, and lots of the earrings sold. Which doesn't surprise me: most people are like me--they like to spend 10 dollars or less at a booth at a craft show. That's totally fine with me. I am good with bringing home 140 bucks. I will just use the sets I didn't sell as gifts. Oh, I also got about $50 worth of orders; that helps too.

Sometimes I am missing California. My friend Deannah had given me a bunch of cute clothes before we left, and most of them were winter clothes, so I've been wearing them every day. It makes me miss her so much. Thanks Deannah! I think of you every day when I put on your clothes.
The other day I got an email from Sandra, Alison, and Amy. They were goofing off in the office and were dressed in halloween clothes. It looked like so much fun! I miss you guys! I remember Dave loves to play practical jokes and last halloween, I got to work that morning and there was a huge (fake) tarantula on my cup of pens. I did do a double take (Dave I know you are laughing right now!). Then it took us all day to try to figure out who left the tarantula. For the longest time I thought it was Martin, who is notorious for having a laugh on other co-workers...then I though it was Albert, James, or Dan, who are all deceptively quiet but have evil senses of humor. I knew it couldn't have been Robert, who is just too nice with his Texas charm. But, eventually someone (I think it was Karin) spilled the beans that it was really Dave. Haha. Thanks for the laugh!
The other day I was making one of my necklaces and I thought of Jackie too, as I made one very similar for her right before we left. Jackie, hope you and Marc and Max and Noelle are doing ok--keep in touch!

A little birdie told me Alison is on a trip to Hawaii with her husband for their 30th anniversary...Congratulations Alison and Mike!!! Hope you have had a blast!

Abraham is back in India. Sangeetha should be giving birth any day now...Frank talks to him about once a month. I think Abraham is glad to have put school on hold for awhile and be back in India with his wife. I will let you know about the baby as soon as we hear anything.

Frank is immersed in his job as a Biology/Science/Bible teacher at a Christian school. The stories he comes home to tell me!! Nothing like a first year of teaching. Makes me so glad to be teaching music lessons where I get ONE kid at a time, for ONLY 30 minutes at a time! Whew! I couldn't have any of this 50 minutes at a time with 30 kids cooped up in one room! And he does this all day. I pray for him daily: that he won't get burned out, and that he won't fall asleep in the car driving to or from work. It is a 1.25 hour drive, as the school is 55 miles away. He generally drives 55-60 mph only, as you can get up to 50 miles more to a tank of gas. Pretty cool. But he is learning a lot about teaching, kids, and himself. Needless to say, he may be looking for something a little closer to home next year.
Frank's class at BTS is going really great though, from what he's told me. I think he's even ok with it being from 6-8am on Mondays, because his students actually WANT to be there. (Not so with the high school kids). And he has a lot of fun teaching something he truly loves: Apologetics. His students are all adults and like to make him think.

My parents are planning to go see my brother for Christmas in Monterey, CA (northern). I don't know if I'd told you already, but Jacob is in the Air Force, learning Chinese at a language school out there. He will either get a job in Intelligence, or go on for Officer Training School. He and Tansy and Ashlyn will be out there for another year and then will be deployed to Maryland, Hawaii, or Japan. Their wish is Hawaii of course! I wish we could go back out there for a visit, but it will be a while, as it is expeeeeeeensive! Email and phone will have to suffice.

Steven tells me every day: "Mama, I need to tell you something." And I'll say, "What?" His reply: "I love you!". Now we all say it to each other. Each child has his own way of showing affection, it is so funny to see their personalities come out.

ok, I think that's mostly everything....