September 11, 2001

I know you remember what you were doing the morning of September 11, 2001. Everyone does.

It was my freshman year of college and I had just started classes at HVCC in the Early Childhood Education department. The college I attended was in Troy, only 10 minutes from, Albany, NY- the capital of the great state...needless to say people were freaking out. My professor released us from class, and told us to call anyone we knew who lived in the city to make sure they were okay. I made sure to call my dad who travels to NYC a few times a month for meetings- thankfully he wasn't in the city on that day.

My heart breaks for the victims, families, and survivors of 9/11. My heart breaks for people left without answers. My heart breaks for our nation.

But then I'm reminded that even during our darkest hours, God never leaves us. He is faithful, protective, and loving.

Mother's Guilt

Mother's guilt...it's a term I didn't fully understand before I had Avery, but completely understand it now that I have her! I'd say most, if not all, mothers experience it at some point while raising their children. A woman could feel mother's guilt because she wasn't able to breastfeed, and had her heart set on doing it. A woman could have mother's guilt because she is returning to work sooner than she had expected. A woman could have mother's guilt because she cannot provide certain things for her children, but desperately wants to. The list could go on...

I have been battling mother's guilt for the past few weeks when a great opportunity came to me. I was called with the opportunity to take a new job as a full time Reading Interventionist (a teacher who works with students performing below grade level on different reading skills and works with students in small groups) for this school year. At first I thought, 'No way! I want to stay home with Avery, and try to work part time' The person who called me explained that it's all the great things about teaching, without all the annoying stuff that gets in the way (report cards, grading, parent conferences...), said a few more things and then told me to think it over. John and I talked a lot about it, I called my family for advice, and spoke with my close friends about it too. I was very careful to not share the information with certain people b/c I didn't want word to get out and make the decision even harder. I was a nervous wreck applying and even interviewing for it because I didn't know if this was something I was ready to do...work full-time and leave Avery with someone else!! (Unless you are a mom, you don't fully understand this feeling.) This decision comes easy for some, and harder for others- it was hard for me to decide to go back to work b/c it's something I saw myself doing down the road when our kids were in school- not this young.

I accepted the job a few weeks ago, and John and I agreed from day one that my salary would go into a 529 account (a college fund that grows over 17 yrs) for Avery! We both feel strongly that we want to (as best we can) pay for college for each of our children and not burden them with financial baggage.

Although leaving her all day is really hard, I feel good about my decision. It's a great job, working at a GREAT school, and the end result will be a huge blessing to Avery! I know that a lot of people feel differently about moms working outside the home, so please do not leave a comment with words that will discourage me- everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I can tell you one thing for sure- I cherish every moment with her after work and on the weekends now that I don't get to spend as much time with her. She is right next door- our neighbor Megan is watching her and it's going great!

There's a book I want to read called, Guilt Free Motherhood: Parenting with Godly Wisdom...sounds pretty awesome to me!

Phew!

Trying to stay upbeat and have fun

Katey with Piper and Rae, me and Avery

Friday night: me, Claire, Katey and Lindsay

The boys keeping us safe Friday night :)

John giving Rae and Avery pony rides when we had no power..

Thankfully the weekend is over (never thought I'd say that...) and Irene is past us!

A bunch of friends came over Friday night for a few hours and Katey and the girls spent both Friday and Saturday night at our house since Va Beach was being evacuated. We lost power for two hours on Saturday (not bad!), and then had no power from 1am-7pm yesterday, but has the generator running to power the fridge for about 10 hrs. We spent the day with Stew and Claire, David and Angela, and Katey and the girls.

The hurricane hit really hard Saturday night, and the wind was scary! I am so glad we took it seriously and prepared the way we did, because I would have been so mad at myself if I had blown it off, and not had a plan.

God is good, and we didn't end up having any damage to the house, and very little to the property! The back and side fence got knocked down by two trees from our yard that fell. Can you imagine?! We have cut down 25 trees in the two years we've lived in this house, and two still managed to peace out...it's like pay back or something!

Praising God for keeping our house and the 6 people in it at the time, keeping tension low and spirits high, and minimal yard work :)

No thank you

So if you live on the East Coast, or have Facebook you've probably heard about hurricane Irene coming our way this weekend. When I first heard about it, I thought everyone was probably overreacting (as people tend to do around here when it comes to weather), but then after seeing people boarding up their windows and talk of closing the Hampton Roads bridge Tunnel on Saturday, I quickly decided to take it seriously.

I went to a few different stores yesterday and today to stock up our pantry. I've probably mentioned this before- I am a hyper minimalist and it stresses the mess out of me to have so much stuff in our house...especially since it's just sitting around waiting to be used. I'm sure an end of summer hurricane (which I've been through before) would have stressed me out prior to having Avery, but now that I'm a mom- this storm has my panties all in a knot!

Our friends Matt and Katey have a house right on the water in Virginia Beach. Katey called me last night, and asked if she and the girls could stay here for the weekend. Of course, silly!! Matt is going to stay at their house, and keep an eye on the rental properties they manage through their family business. We'll have 3 adults, 3 kids under three, and 2 dogs in the house!

We've gassed up both my car, and Gordy and are going to move the grill into the garage so we can use it to make food if/when the power goes out. Tomorrow I'm going to move all the deck chairs into the garage too, so they won't levitate and crash into any windows or doors.

Please pray for our safety, and please pray that John and I (way more me than him...he's as cool as a cucumber) stay relaxed. When we get stressed, and tensions rise- it's really easy for us to argue and be short with each other. We need none of that nonsense.

No thank you, Irene. You can see yourself to the door!

Double digits

Avery has hit the second floor...the double digits...she is 10 months old! She's all sorts of active and verbal, and just a joy to be around! The poor sign didn't stand a chance! It took two of us this time around to take her picture- one of us to take the picture, and the other to distract her from eating/destroying the sign. I cannot believe she's so close to 1 year!

A new friend

Landon Daniel Reeves

was born yesterday and boy is he adorable! Of course, Angela did great and when I went to visit at the hospital last night, she didn't even look like she had just delivered a baby! I have always felt so blessed to be friends with Angela, but even more so now that we share the bond of motherhood! Avery has a new friend now- another blonde haired, blue eyed cutie!

You never know

A few weeks ago I was feeling dry...spiritually. After some evaluation, I've decided I'm to blame. I have not done a daily devotional or quiet time in a while and although my prayer life is healthy, I wasn't spending time in God's word. It needed to change- fast!

I looked on-line for some women's devotionals and found a highly recommended and highly rated one named The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional by Stormie Omartian. I had read her book The Power of a Praying Wife when John and I first got married, but this book is different- it's a devotional. I liked the idea of a devotional because it's more structured in the format (which is what I need) verses a book that you can fly through in a matter of days. I wanted the purpose behind this to be a steady, and consistent time with God...not a race to get to the end.

I got it in the mail two weeks ago, and after completing the first devotional, I thought to myself, 'This would be awesome with a bunch of ladies!' I knew it would be powerful to do on my own, but even more so with a group of women!

I threw the idea out there on Facebook, figuring a few people would be interested, and the response was overwhelming!!! The study has 19 women (and totally open for more) all from different stages of life, across the country...even across the world (there is a friend living in Italy doing the devotional with us) who I know will have an awesome impact on one another! I have created a group on Facebook (meaning it's a closed group to those who responded to wanting to do the devotional) where we will discuss the devotionals each week. We'll be doing five a week, which will make it a 20 wk/5 month devotional. In the Facebook group, people can post questions, comments, and post additional scripture verses that may pertain to what we're discussing. I don't think it'll be overwhelming or too much to fit into a busy schedule since they are very short devotions and we're only doing five a week.

I seriously cannot wait for God to reveal Himself to me and all the other women during the next 20 weeks! I am confident I will learn so much from the different ladies in the study. And who knows...this has the potential to be life and marriage changing! Who wouldn't want that?!