getaway

Dave and I went on an overnight-er this week, courtesy of Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, Vermont. Dave has always had an interest in rural medicine and we thought it was a good opportunity to find out a little more about rural family practice. We traveled to Townshend, toured the hospital, had dinner with one of the physicians, stayed the night, explored the area and then headed home. It was just what we needed!

We stayed at a little Inn in Newfane, Vermont called the Four Columns Inn. It was awesome! For a few hours Dave was at the hospital shadowing and I got to sit and relax (read: sleep) in our room.

Later that evening we went to dinner with one of the doctors at Grace Cottage. The restaurant was just down the block from our Inn, and was established in 1787! The food was great, the company even better. We talked a lot of medicine, but mostly about life and the doctor and his wife were so nice and easy to talk to. We were there for 3 full hours.

The village green that our Inn and the restaurant were on was really cool. This is the actual county courthouse. (The Inn was right behind it.)



(I love all the history that surrounds where we live. It is so neat to see such old stuff still in use!)

When we left, we headed to the town of Battleboro for lunch, and for a stop at the Grafton Cheese Factory to sample some Vermont cheese and buy some really cool bottles of syrup.

The getaway was awesome and we are so glad we did it.

family skating

Our family went skating today. Erin and I had never gone before but it was a lot of fun. Both Erin and Jack are asleep on the couch right now as a result.

Here is Jack with his skates on. He didn't seem very impressed at times but was the last one to take off his skates when time was up. I had to balance him at the waist so he would actually try to put some weight on his feet. He says he liked it and wants to do it again.


Ana had a little trainer that helped her say up. She had so much fun. I think she would do it all day with forced eating and bathroom breaks.




She got going pretty well before we were done!


Ana has a private lesson tomorrow at a different skating place as part of her Christmas present. She can't wait. She says she wants to wake up and go to the ice skating place early in the morning. And stay all day. I kind of agree with her. It was a lot of fun.

good gifts

Christmas was happy.

Christmas Eve, we ate turkey with the neighbor by lantern since the power went out. We went to friends' for the nativity story. The kids opened jammies, and slept soundly.


Christmas morning: Ana got ice skates.

Jack got Dave's old train set.

They were happy.
We went to a local park where they had a small snow-covered ice pond and let Ana skate around. It was cold, but she liked it. We played Mario Party, ate turkey sandwiches, and had a nice ham dinner with some friends.

Happy day.

The emotional let down after Christmas has always been hard for me to deal with. It came and went so quickly, with a million things on my to do list that didn't get done. I sat down last night and thought about the day. And cried.

I thought about Jack and how excited he is about his train and his bulldozers.

Mostly, I thought about Ana and what a wonderful girl she is. Giving and social and energetic. And how I hope she knows that I love her so very much.

Then this came to mind:

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

(Matthew 7:11)

May 2011 be full of good things for all of us. Merry Christmas!

after all, there's only one more sleep til Christmas*

Last week I was sick. It hit me about Thursday and it took until Tuesday to finally get feeling better. Dave got done with school on Friday and he came home and good took care of us.

Then I felt better, but had fallen very far behind. The last few days we have been scrambling to get everything ready for tomorrow. Besides cleaning the kitchen, cooking a lot, and wrapping all of the presents, I think we're finally caught (mostly) up!


There is a thick blanket of snow outside. Happy Christmas Eve!



*I have yet to see The Muppet's Christmas Carol this year. Can Christmas truly come without it? Best. Christmas. Movie. Ever.

snowman

I hadn't made a snowman in a long time. It was fun.


After we made the snowman Jack stayed outside with me for a long time "playing snow fight" and also thoroughly enjoying himself while he ran around hitting various bits of snow with a stick. It was a great day.

things that prove kids are awesome.

Awesome things that happened this afternoon:

*Jack said about a thousand times "Take a picture of this" and then made silly faces while I snapped photos:


*Ana took over the camera:

*Then made me a get well card:

" ANA
ERiNN
iM SORRY
YOU R SicK"

"ANA FROM" (from Ana)

*During dinner at Wendy's: Ana ordered a salad (and ate it) and a hamburger. She took a bite of her jr. bacon then opened it up and declared, "Holy Cow! There is bacon and cheese on mine!"

in our house

The kids hadn't been out of the house since Monday night. On Wednesday Dave stayed home studying so I ran some Christmas-related errands without the kids. Other than that, I hadn't left the house either. Yesterday I was sick. I stayed on the couch all day. And I let the kids watch a lot of TV. But behavior-wise they were doing just fine. They even left me alone for a few minutes so I could soak in the tub.

Either way, I knew that today we needed to get out. So after lunch I bundled up the kids and we went outside to play in the snow. We had a great time.

And then suddenly, when we came back inside, 4 days of being-stuck-inside-with-mom unleashed its power and the kids went nuts. And now I'm feeling a little under the weather again. So I think I'll curl up on the couch with the kiddos and read them stories while I wait for Dave to finish his test and come home for 2 whole weeks.

And then we'll finish our Christmas cards and finish shopping and get the house all cleaned up for Christmas.

snow is falling

And I love it! Dave and I were talking last night about how some of his class mates will be traveling to warmer weather this holiday season and how lucky they think they are. Just for the record, we love the cold, snowy, December-y weather. Let it keep coming! This is what Christmas is supposed to be like.

I know that come March I'll be tired of it. But that's nothing I haven't been dealing with for the last 7 years. Besides, this year I have a car all day, so I'm not stuck inside like I was for the first 4 years after we were married.

So thanks, Idaho, for preparing me for Vermont winters.

saying yes

This picture was taken from our living room window. That's Dave waiting for the bus. The bus comes every 15 ( 7:25, 7:40) minutes each morning and again in the evening. Its about a 20 minute bus ride to school.

When we first moved here, Dave planned on taking the earlier bus. Then if he missed the bus, he could take the next one and would still be on time for class. Now he plans on taking the later bus. That means if he misses it, the next bus comes too late for him to get to class on time. Those mornings he asks me to drive him to class. (It takes about 12 minutes to drive up there.) This usually happens about once a week. Though, some weeks he has missed the bus 2 or 3 times. I admit, I've been known to whine about it.

It was one of those weeks when I was talking to my sister on the phone. She was on her way to her husband's work (20 minutes away) to take him a soda because he wasn't feeling well. I was pretty amazed that my sister would do that. It wasn't a big deal for her, but I know that I wouldn't have done it.

Since then, I've noticed how often I don't do things for Dave and the kids. Or I complain while I do it. And then I've wondered how much better things would be if I said "yes" instead. If Dave asks me to make Grape Nut bars for him, even though I think they taste like peanut butter concrete, it is easy to say yes and we're both happier.

I'm not saying that my kids should get to do whatever they want. I am talking about being willing to serve them. When we are focused on doing things for others, we are happier. I always want to be available to help people in need, but often I forget that sometimes those people are my family. And their needs may be simple. Like laying down next to Jack at bedtime, finding Ana's favorite bear for her, or making Dave a salad.

Try it out. Say yes (without complaining) to your husband or kids. Serve them a little more. Be available for them. I know that the days that I do it, we are all a happier, including me.

let it snow

once upon a december

*Dave took me to a dance on Friday. For reals. Do you know how momentous this is? And he even fast-danced with me. I know. I can hardly believe it myself. And though the dance was mostly a drinking party for the med students, I met some of Dave's awesome classmates and, as I said before, I got Dave to dance. And I bought a cute new dress and earrings for it. So it was totally worth it.

Afterward we went to Applebee's for dessert and ended up getting the spinach and artichoke dip appetizer too. You can't beat 1/2 price appetizers. I didn't take any pictures, but other people did. I'll have to round one up.

*Its snowing. Yay! It just wouldn't be right for Vermont to not be snowy in December. We watched "White Christmas" last night. I think that's what did it. Ana said it looks like sugar and flour.

*We drink chocolate milk out of champagne flutes around here. Don't you?

and be glad.

Life is meant to be hard.

Some hard things we choose - becoming a parent, going to school, moving far from family. Some hard things we do not choose - kids with disabilities, health problems, job loss.

Generally speaking, I believe in choosing to do hard things. Those who take the path of least resistance usually will find resistance somewhere along their life. A person who doesn't take care of their body (because its hard to exercise and eat right) will encounter health problems later in life. Similarly, those who don't master themselves while young will most definitely have problems later as a result.

An illustration: C was known for his sense of humor and happy-go-lucky attitude. He didn't really like school, so he didn't finish. He got married, but couldn't hold a job, so his wife worked, even though she didn't want to. She felt guilty for not being home with the kids, so she never took time away to build her relationship with C. After 10 years of marriage, they were divorced. Perhaps if he had chosen to do something hard early in life (i.e. go to school so he could have a steady job) he could have avoided the much harder experience of a broken family.

Either way, life is going to be hard. Avoiding hard things isn't the answer. Of course, sometimes we don't get to choose. I often think that I complain too much. My life is pretty chushy, and I know a lot of people who have it much harder than I do. But life is still hard. It is for all of us.

Motherhood is one of those hard things. The more I look at other people's lives the more I believe that children are hand-picked for certain families. Sometimes I think, "I must not be a good mother because my children are so crazy." But when I take a closer look, I realize that some people have angel children, but they also have uninvolved husbands, health problems, children with disabilities, accidents, job loss, and or a million other trials to deal with. Then suddenly I realize, "this is my 'hard thing' and I picked it."

I am learning so much by mothering these little children. I am learning patience. I am learning compassion. I am learning joy. I don't really understand why some women don't want this wonderful, hard experience of motherhood. Life is going to be hard anyway. Though sometimes I want to run screaming down the street. Or lock myself in my sewing room. Or send the kids to the neighbor's for the afternoon. This is my "hard thing" and I picked it.

Eve chose motherhood too. It was a hard choice. And she didn't have parenting manuals or a mother to call when she had trouble children or wanted to potty train her 2 year old or needed to vent her frustrations or get a recipe. It must have been a hard thing to choose. But she was glad. (See Moses 5:11)

I can do hard things. We all can. In the strength of the Lord, we can do ALL things.

Even hard things.