SUMMER LOVIN'

The Adventures of Darth Vader the Farmer and Baby Leia

2012-02-12T12:15:00.006-06:00

Did you know that Darth Vader was actually really into agriculture? We didn't either. But we discovered this the other night when Colton came out of his room and introduced himself as "Darth Vader the Farmer" while wearing a Vader mask and Yellowstone park ranger's hat. Apparently, Darth also enjoys wearing his pants backwards.

Here Colton is ensuring that Elise succeeds in her first attempt at eating spaghetti. Judging by her messy face, I think his tutelage was taken to heart!

When Colton's not cracking us up, he's teaching his sister the wisdom of the ages. He imparts such nuggets as "No, baby! Don't touch my toys!" and "Elise, eat your food!" Or when she tried to escape from his wrestling moves, he proclaimed, "Go back to Canada, Elise!" I'm sure he meant that in the most loving way. He must just know how much Elise would enjoy mounties, hockey and maple syrup.

But seriously, they really do love one another and are able to interact more and more now that Elise is getting around pretty well. She's always babbling "Bubba, bubba, bubba" and crawling after Colton as quickly as her little legs will let her. And they are little. Like her brother, she has officially dropped off the weight charts by coming in at less than 3rd percentile.

All that crawling, cruising, and knocking over brother's LEGO towers is exhausting!

Baby's First GFA Christmas Party

2011-12-17T20:53:00.002-06:00

Look at these sweet kiddos! I love them so much!

It's the gingerbread, tinsel, and egg nog time of year!

2011-12-07T13:44:00.007-06:00

Recently, Colton and I have been enjoying decorating, baking, and doing Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts. My nieces Samri and Elizabeth came to stay with me for a few days while Casey was out of town. We got our craft on and made Christmas ornaments with Modge Podge, baked and decorated gingerbread men, and made nativities.

Colton is very excited about Christmas. I think this will be the first year he really understands what it's all about. He likes to play with his little nativity people and seems especially interested in the wise men who followed the star. Today I overheard him telling his friend that Jesus died on the cross and came back to life three days later. It's cool to see the Bible stories starting to stick.

Elise is now crawling and babbling. She's says "mama," "baba," and "gaga." I'm not sure she knows what any of it means but we like to think she does. She's almost 8 months old and is a baby food fiend. She loves all the purees and eats about 3 jars a day.

Oh Fall, How I Love Thee!

2011-10-20T15:46:00.007-05:00

What a difference a couple of months makes! Now that the temperatures have cooled, we've been having so much fun enjoying fall. Which by the way is my favorite season. My mother-in-law and I always say it's "hearty beef stew weather."

Casey was on vacation last week, and we did lots of fun things while he was home. His parents came for a visit for the first part of the week. On Monday, Casey's mom and I made cupcakes and took Colton for a visit to The Colony Fire Station.

Then when Casey's parents went home, our family went to the Texas State Fair on Dr. Pepper Tuesday, then visited a Pumpkin Patch on Wednesday, Downtown Mckinney on Thursday, and the Frisco Farmer's Market on Saturday.

October is a great month to enjoy Texas!
These pictures aren't in quite the right order, but here's a sampling of what we've been up to.

Bright-eyed and diaper-bottomed

2011-09-27T18:10:00.005-05:00

Elise was ready to pose for some photos today, even if her brother wasn't. We've been enjoying the cooler weather with frequent visits to local parks. I'm looking forward to visiting pumpkin patches soon and getting some cute pictures of the kids.

Elise is getting more active. As soon as she's put on the floor she starts rolling all around to get where she wants. She's been rolling for quite awhile, but now she seems more purposeful about wanting to get somewhere.
Colton keeps us on our toes. Like most three year olds, he is very curious. The other day he asked why God lived in the sky. I tried to explain that God was all around us and can hear us and listens when we pray.

In response, Colton got on top of his train table and started shouting in a deep, goofy sounding voice, "He can hear us! He can hear us!" Then he proceeded to smash toys loudly together and grunt and squeal with gusto.

I then told him God could see him too, thinking maybe he wouldn't feel the need to shout so loudly. He then responded, "No, he can't see us!" He sounded dumbfounded that I could be so ignorant. That's a three year old for ya!

This last photo is from a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd include it since it shows him sitting on his train table like in the story above.

What We're Up To

2011-09-07T17:27:00.008-05:00

Elise is now almost 5 months. Recently, we let her have her first taste of solids. We're not starting solids yet, but I just wanted to see the cute look of surprise when she tasted "real" food for the first time. I mashed a tiny bit of banana and gave her a few spoonfuls. She really liked it and would've eaten more if I'd offered it.

About a week ago, she starting using her rolling skills to get across a room. She's also getting a little traction with an army crawl where she pushes off the ground with her feet and knees. So adorable!

She's been giggling more too which is so fun. Mostly, she just likes to watch everything going on around her.

Colton is such fun - he loves Elise and tries to play with her whenever he can.

He done great with potty training. He hasn't had any accidents in a long time and he often "takes care of business" without my prompting.

He loves learning and can talk in detail about topics ranging from combines cutting wheat to the cochlea sending messages to the brain. One of his favorite subjects - like many other 3 year old boys - is human digestion... He could go on and on. And often does. He frequently has us in stitches.

Casey is doing well. He just finished the latest Forgotten Christmas video. This has been a major project of his at Gospel for Asia. He created the storyboard, found the voice talent and worked with the graphics people to create a really cool video. I'm proud of him! The 2011 video will be up on the site soon.

A Video's Worth a Thousand Pictures?

2011-07-19T16:20:00.003-05:00

Life with two kids has been really busy. I'm challenged by the task each day. It often seems that there isn't enough of me to go around. Colton wants all my attention, but the baby still needs some, so does the house, and Casey, and a list of other things.

I've heard that it takes six months to adjust to adding a child to the family. Maybe that's true. We're hanging in there, but I can relate to Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings when he said, "I feel...thin. Sort of stretched, like...butter scraped over too much bread."

Although I do not feel literally thin. I think second baby weight likes to hang on a bit longer than first baby weight. At least that is becoming my experience. But enough about my vanity. :)

So in summary if you haven't heard much from me lately, it's not that I don't like you anymore, it's just I'm still figuring out how to juggle things around here.

Here's a little day in the life excerpt.

This afternoon, I took the kids to McDonald's so Colton could burn some energy in the play area. He had to use the restroom while we there, so I packed up the diaper bag, put Elise back in her stroller, put his shoes back on and rolled into the restroom.

We went to the handicap restroom first because our stroller could fit in there. He struggled on that toilet, and he almost fell in. So we decided to try the other toilet. At that time, another mom with an older girl came in the bathroom. I had Elise in the walkway squirming her way nearly out of the stroller since she wasn't fastened into her car seat (doh!).

Then Colton made an appearance outside the stall with his underwear and shorts down around his ankles. The other mom looked at me and said, "It gets easier."

After Colton used the restroom, I discovered he'd peed all over his underwear and that I didn't have another pair of his underwear in my diaper bag. So I had to put him in a diaper which sort of defeated the purpose of the potty run.

A well-meaning grandma at McDonald's gave Colton one of her older grandson's Happy Meal toys. It's a mini lightsaber. When we got home, he tried to stick it in the light socket because he was "fixing it." Then he said it was for poking me and gave me several pokes in the leg with it. After I talked to him about how we aren't suppossed to hurt people, he looked at me sweetly and said he wasn't going to poke me anymore and then, "I love you, mommy."

And that's a day in the life. Or at least a couple hours.

In lieu of more words, I'll leave you with a video of Colton shaking his money maker. There was a "dance-off" video competition at our church to try and promote a new service time. We recorded this video but never actually submitted it, so you are seeing exclusive footage!

My Babies Keep Getting Bigger

2011-06-20T15:23:00.007-05:00

Today Colton had his 3 year well-child visit and Elise had her two-month visit.

I didn't realize Colton had to get shots today too and wasn't really prepared for having both kids shrieking and in need of comforting.

To help make up for being such a mean mom, I bribed Colton with a lollipop, sticker and a post-shot trip to Mcdonald's.

Colton's finally on the growth charts again with his weight. When he was around a year old, he pretty much fell off the chart with his weight. Today he was in the 5th percentile at 24.8 pounds. He's 36 inches tall which puts him in the 20th percentile for height.

Elise weighed 11.10 pounds and is in the 50th percentile for weight and was 23 1/4 inches long and in the 60th percentile for height.

Elise started smiling at 6 weeks and within the last week and a half has been doing lots of cooing. It's so adorable.

Her colic is getting better, and she's a pretty good sleeper.

We're getting adjusted to life with two and looking forward to Colton and Elise being lifelong buddies.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

2011-05-19T14:22:00.006-05:00

Three years ago today, we welcomed our first-born into the world!

It's been such a blessing to watch him grow and learn. He cracks us up everyday.

Just today, we were making a card for his Grandma Effie and he said he wanted to tell her about fish and water. So I drew a picture of a fish in water. Next to the fish was a hook with a worm on it. Colton quickly informed of the error of my drawing.

"Fish don't eat worms. Birds eat worms. Fish eat flies," he said.

That's what comes from having a fly fisherman as your dad, I suppose.

Then at his birthday lunch at Grandma's he showed fine manners by telling us all that he couldn't eat his lunch because the rice was too "grimy." We couldn't help but laugh.

We love you, buddy!

Elise Arrives!

2011-04-27T11:58:00.014-05:00

I enjoy reading other people's birth stories and want to have a written record of how our little girl arrived. If you'd rather skip the details, and just see pics, you can scroll to the bottom of this post.

So here goes:

On April 13th, the day my induction was scheduled, my mom came over at 6 a.m. to watch Colton, and Casey and I headed to the hospital.

At 7 a.m., we met our nurse, Brenda, who'd recently helped one of my friends have a successful V-BAC (natural birth after having a c-section). Not all doctors will let their patients try for a V-BAC, but luckily Dr. Farrow does.

Around 8:30 a.m., Brenda checked me - I was at just 1 cm - and started me on pitocin. The next couple hours went pretty smoothly. We moved around a few times to help Elise get in the right position for birth. The rocking chair was my favorite as it was the most comfortable.

At that point, I wasn't experiencing much pain - less than I'd felt with the contractions over the weekend. Then around 10:30 a.m., Brenda said she'd be getting me my epidural soon. I honestly didn't feel like I needed it at that point but didn't object because I figure she knew more about the process than me. And let me just say, she was right on! A couple minutes later, I got up to go to the restroom.

In just that amount of time, my contractions became excruciating! I was in a lot of pain and couldn't wait to get that epidural. Thankfully, the anesthesiology nurse was arriving just then. They tried to get me in position to administer the epidural, but I was hurting so much that I suddenly needed to vomit. They got me some medicine to help with the nausea and had me lay down on my side with a little tub by my head in case I got sick.

Once the nausea subsided, they were able to get the epidural in. Within 10 minutes, the contractions were MUCH better. But the pain further down wasn't improved. I later found out there was a kink in the epidural that made it less effective.

Around noon, my water broke, and I was dilated to a 5 or 6. Everything seemed to go really fast after this point. About an hour later, I was an 8 and then around 2 p.m. I was a 10 and ready to push.

I pushed for about 45 minutes. It was such a different experience than having a scheduled c-section, like I did with Colton (who was breech). Since the epidural didn't really numb down low, it was pretty painful, but I think the lack of numbness helped me be able to push since I could really feel the pressure.

Then at 2:38 p.m. Elise Noelle Short arrived weighing 7 lbs 9.5 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches. Unlike with my c-section, I was able to hold her immediately, and she never left the room I was in.

I'm so thankful that I was able to have a V-BAC and experience a more natural birth. Although, there was more pain up front, I was able to leave the hospital after only one night and have felt much stronger than I did after my c-section.

I'm still getting back to my old self, but many aspects have been easier than they were the first time around. Elise loves to be held, but still lets us sleep every now and then. :)

This morning at her two week appointment, she weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. Her weight was in the 50th percentile and her length in the 75th percentile.

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

2011-04-12T17:30:00.003-05:00

Well, my due date has come and gone, and I'm still pregnant! Like so many mamas before me, I've just been playing the 'waiting for baby game' the last few days.

On Saturday, I really thought we were going to meet our sweet girl. I had contractions for about 6 hours that were 4-6 minutes apart. Eventually, I called my doctor and she said I should come in.

When we arrived at the hospital, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and the monitor that checks contractions. Sure enough, I was having contractions around every 5 minutes. But, I wasn't dilated, so they recommended I head home and wait it out. She said she thought I was in early labor and would probably be back in the next 24 hours.

That night I continued to have some contractions and lots of cramping, but by by mid-afternoon Sunday, they'd tapered off substantially.

So, tomorrow I will go to the hospital at 7 a.m. to be induced. Since I've had a previous c-section my doctor wants me to deliver sometime between 40 and 41 weeks. Tomorrow, I will be 40 weeks and 5 days.

My prayer is that my body will respond well to the induction, and that I'll be able to avoid a c-section. But, if I do end up with a c-section, I'll still be thrilled to meet our little girl.

Please keep us all in your prayers!

Sugar and Spice and ...

2011-03-14T15:13:00.009-05:00

... lots of darling pink bows and onesies ... that's what little girls are made of!

I was blessed to have two showers celebrating the upcoming arrival of our baby girl.

The first was thrown by some girlfriends and the second by the ladies at GFA. Both were wonderful and so much fun!

Here are a few photos from the showers.

Pregnant mommies showing off our tummies!

A couple of the GFA shower hostesses, Summur B. and Teressa

I can't remember if I've posted this before, but we are naming our little girl Elise Noelle. One meaning of the name Elise is "God's Promise," and Noelle means Christmas. So her name is a reminder of God keeping his promise and sending his son for us.

I think most of the baby-prep stuff, besides nitty-gritty cleaning, is complete. I've packed our hospital bag, washed and put away all her clothes and blankets, set up the pack and play in our room and pre-registered at the hospital.

Her room is pretty much ready too. We moved Colton into a "big boy" room a few months ago and then added some girly touches to his old room.

I also recently made some hair bows for Elise. If you know anything about me and my propensity to burn myself, then you can probably guess that me and the hot glue gun are not besties. But the blisters (four to be exact!) are healing, and I've got some fun bows to show for it.

Now all I need is the baby! At my ultrasound last week, I saw that Elise is head down (unlike her brother was) and weighs about 5 pounds 13 ounces.

I'm hoping to avoid another c-section this time around. Please pray I'll go into labor on my own and that everything will progress smoothly so that can happen.

Our "Babymoon" Down South

2011-02-17T14:51:00.004-06:00

Since we're going to be adding to our family in a couple of months and likely won't have an opportunity for a couples getaway for quite sometime, Casey and I decided to take a babymoon.

At the beginning of this month (right when the ice blizzard hit our area) we were scheduled to fly out of Dallas. Unfortunately, the bad weather canceled our flights that day and delayed them the next day.

But, we persevered and arrived in South Carolina in one piece. We spent the next few days relaxing, eating seafood, and enjoying the sites around coastal Beaufort, SC and Savannah, GA.

Casey posing in front of a cannon at Old Fort Jackson, an important battle post in the Civil War.

These next few shots are at the ruins of a church outside of Beaufort. It was built in the 1700s and was burned once during the Revolutionary War and then again during the Civil War.

While we were in Savannah, we visited Wormsloe Plantation. This was one of the out buildings on the property.

A fire is going inside the out building because it was a historical reenactment day at the plantation. History buffs were out in colonial costumes, and we even got to see some old cannons fired.

Enjoying the (rare) January Sunshine

2011-01-31T11:28:00.004-06:00

This past week, we enjoyed some beautiful weather in our area. On Friday, I took Colton to the park where he got to play outside for almost three hours. Then on Saturday, it was gorgeous again so our family headed to the Dallas Zoo. It was busy, but not terribly crowded.

I'm so glad we got some fresh air and Vitamin D this weekend. A winter blizzard is scheduled to roll into town tonight!

Casey's parents were in town on Wednesday as they drove from Brownsville, Texas back to Oklahoma. Here Colton is with his "gram" and his valentine bear, Val.
Colton tackling the climbing wall at a nearby park.

Don't let these birds' peaceful appearance fool you. Those geese are aggressive!

At the zoo, hanging with the gorillas.

Walking around for a couple hours started to wear me out. Here I am catching some rest on a bench while the guys climbed on the rocks.

After all his fun at the zoo, Colton passed out in the car.

What We've Been Up To...

2011-01-14T21:08:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years . . . gone, gone and gone. I didn't chronicle much this holiday season or get many photos, but here's a couple my dad took the night my side of the family celebrated Christmas.

This photo was taken in my mom's backyard while Casey and his assistant attempted to photograph the December alien landing (they are of peace, always) . . . I mean of the lunar eclipse.
Colton, like all toddlers, loved getting presents. He's still enjoying playing with his gifts. Some of his favorites being several magnetic trains from the show Thomas the Tank Engine and his "Christmas monkey" a stuffed animal from my mom.

In pregnancy news, I'm now in my 3rd trimester! Woo Hoo for the home stretch! I'm still hoping to avoid having a c-section again this time around, and my doctor is willing to let try as long as I go into labor on my own. So pray that this little girl will be head down and ready to go before 41 weeks.

Here's a shot of me at 28 weeks.
And here's one of me looking somewhat smaller as I hide my big belly in black.
And one of the little guy with a fat lip from falling on one of his trucks today. Poor guy.
Speaking of the little fella . . . we just tucked him into bed, and every night he does the same thing after we leave his room. He yells, "Hey mom, hey mom!" And when I say, "Yes, Colton?" He says, "I need to go home."

Each time I respond by telling him that he is at home, but for some reason he keeps saying it. I think now he just says it to be funny because he laughed the last couple nights after he said it.

He's been in his "big boy" toddler bed for a few months now and has done a pretty good job adjusting. He does have a tendency to get out of bed several times after he's been put to bed though. He never actually leaves his room, but we can hear him in there playing with toys, so we go back in and lay him down again.

So far, he's had his nightlight, table lamp and monitor taken out of his room - all sources of light that he was using to see his toys and keep playing after bedtime. Sometimes now he'll just hunker down in front of his bedroom door to see the crack of light coming from down the hall. It's pretty funny what kids come up with to try and stay up late.

Other exciting news is that my BFF Erin is getting married in May, and I'm her matron of honor! Yay! Another good reason I'm hoping to avoid a repeat c-section.

How You Know You're All Grown Up...

2010-11-29T16:09:00.004-06:00

This year was my first time to host Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I'm pretty sure that's some sort of major adult milestone. With the fam in from Oklahoma, we had a group of 12 sharing in the festivities.

My brother-in-law told me he thought I'd never looked more like a mom (he meant it as a compliment). Since I was wearing an apron, cooking and pregnant. The fact that my hair was in a bun might also have added to the "not a kid anymore look." I should have busted out some schoolmarm spectacles for the full effect.

My culinary offerings included all things buttery and sugary. (Broccoli rice casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, dinner rolls, and a spinach salad with feta and candied walnuts.)

I also hunted the turkey (at the grocery aisles of Target) but let my dear mother-in-law handle the final phases of his demise. For some reason, I'm just not real interested in sticking my hands inside a slimy bird for its giblets and headless neck. Ew. I just popped him in the oven the morning of our great feast.

Other dishes included glazed carrots, roasted asparagus, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, olives, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce and several desserts.

Sadly, we had no green bean casserole at our meal. But I'm pretty sure everyone got plenty to eat even without it.

Colton helped me make the dinner rolls. He enjoyed using the "steam roller" to flatten the dough. He also enjoyed trying to pop balls of dough in his mouth every couple minutes. Due to this tendency, his time as a pastry chef was short lived.

Here we are the next day playing Scrabble. Some of the more strategic of the bunch learned the challenging board game Puerto Rico. If you're wondering which group I fell into, just think "Preggo Brain" and you'll have the answer.

Here I am at 21 weeks. And if you haven't heard, we're having a GIRL! :)

Visit to Oklahoma and India Newsletter

2010-11-08T08:53:00.005-06:00

I figured out how to post our newsletters as JPEGs so now I can post them on my blog too. Just click on the images and they'll pull up big enough to read.

For you Okies out there, we're going to be visiting the Sooner State next week - November 11-14. We’d love to be able to share with you how God is using GFA to change lives in Asia. Let us know if you have time to get together!

We'll also be sharing about our India trip at Edmond Christian Church at 10 a.m., on Sunday, November 14 and at Westside Christian Church at 6 p.m., that same Sunday.

If you’d like to attend either of these services, here are the addresses: Edmond Christian Church 2800 NE Danforth Road, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034 & Westside Christian Church 10145 NW Expressway, Yukon, OK 73099

"Where's My Power?"

2010-11-02T10:31:00.009-05:00

The other day I was singing "More love, more power, more of you in my life." And a funny conversation with Colton ensued.

Colton: Where's my power?

Me: I don't know. I was singing about God's power.

Colton: I need my power. Where is it?

Pause...

Colton: It's in my room. I'm gonna go get it.

Running down the hall to his bedroom, he flung open his closet door revealing his space heater in the corner of his closet.

Colton: There's my power! (Pointing to his space heater)

Me: Your space heater?

Colton: Yeah. I need it.

Me: It's too hot to turn on your heater.

Not one to give up on "his power" he grabs the next best thing: a toothbrush.

Colton: (thrusting out his toothbrush like a light saber and exclaiming victouriously) This is my power!!!

Conversations with toddlers are hilarious.

A couple shots of our "powerful" little dragon in action! Photos stolen from my homegirl Summur B.

A Glimpse of India

2010-10-09T14:51:00.014-05:00

After being back from India for two weeks, I'm finally fully-recovered from jetlag. India is 10 and a half hours ahead of U.S. central time, so for about a week after we arrived we'd wake up around 2 or 3 a.m. ready to start the day and then be exhausted by 5 p.m. The same thing happened when we returned to our own time zone.

I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to go to India, and that I didn't chicken out on going once we found out I was pregnant. (I think most people know from Facebook, but if you don't...we're expecting Baby #2 in early April).

A couple market shots from our time in Delhi.

It was challenging being away from Colton for two weeks and being in my first trimester with all the travel, strange smells and lack of familiar food. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going on this type of trip pregnant if you have some other options. But for me, if I didn't go during this window, I may not have ever gotten to go, since by April I'll have a new little person to take care of.

Fortunately, I didn't get any food poisoning (several on our team got sick a couple times from airline food on our domestic flights in India). I just had regular morning sickness to contend with.

Even though it was a somewhat difficult trip for me, I think God used those hard times to teach me to depend on him. When I was sure I was going to throw up, I would pray for his help in that moment. When I was so tired during our visits to bible colleges or Bridge of Hope Centers that I didn't know how I could keep my eyes open, I prayed for God to give me strength. And he was always there helping me.

My inner mantra on the trip was often, "Suck it up," or when I felt tempted to grumble on the inside, "Stop whining," (this last one was said in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.) And since I was imitating Arnold only in my own mind, it was pretty much the best impersonation ever.

Being in a country like India, with so much poverty, human suffering and spiritual darkness, made me feel so incredibly blessed and even spoiled that I live in the United States. Our country has so much to be thankful for and yet it's so easy for us to be discontent.

As we traveled throughout India, we got to see the amazing work God is doing through people who love him.

One of my favorite places we visited was a boy's home in Delhi. The night we were there, we met three little boys who'd just been rescued out of slave labor. When the government officials found them, they were tied together in a shoe factory. The officials brought them to the boy's home where GFA missionaries are caring for them and others like them. The boys were so happy to be there and were already learning about Jesus and finding new hope in him.The two boys in the top right and the one on the far top left are the boys who were just freed from slavery. A total of 8 were rescued from a company that was illegally using bonded children as workers.

Another place we visited that made an impact on me was a remote village church in Udaipur, Rajasthan. To get there, we had to travel over rocky mountains in a jeep for about an hour and a half. At times we had to get out and walk because the terrain was so rough.

The area where the church was planted is known for witch doctors and spiritual darkness. As we listened to the believers' testimonies through a translator, it's was incredible to hear how God had changed each of their lives in a radical way.

While we were at the village church, we met a woman holding a tiny baby in her arms. I assumed the child was a very sickly newborn because it probably weighed 5 pounds. His skin hung from his limbs, and his eyes and tongue protruded from his face. Then, I found out the child was actually 1 year old, and I was shocked. Like most others in her remote mountain village, this mother had no access to medical care for her child. She brought her child to the church that day for prayer. I have remembered that child since and continue to ask for the Lord to heal and restore him.
This is the 1 year old baby from the village church. Please pray for his healing.

Rajasthan means "Land of the Kings." Now that India is a democracy, these long-tailed aristocrats are the reigning royalty. This picture was taken outside our hotel in Rajasthan. On our last day there, we visited the former king's palace, and while we were eating some snacks, a monkey like these charged us to get some chips. It was a little scary!

Cows (as well as goats, dogs, people, and rickshaws) are all over the road in India. Cows are considered sacred by the Hindus, and I guess that gives them the clout to do as they please. We even saw cows laying down sleeping in the middle of busy highways.
Of course, in India the cows on the road are a small concern to American passengers when compared to the constant game of "Chicken" that all the Indian drivers play. You know those silly little lines on the road that we call lanes? Meaningless. Stop signs? Traffic lights? Pointless. Why would you bother when you can just as easily honk and swerve?

At one of the Bridge of Hope centers we visited, we got to serve the children a meal of rice with veggies. They were able to eat us much as they wanted. It felt good to see these little ones getting filled up physically and spiritually.

Toward the end of our trip, we visited the GFA seminary in Kerala. The campus is very large, and Casey and I got lost a couple times walking to the dining hall for dinner. Kerala is tropical and is the land of bananas and coconuts. It is very humid there, and it was often raining.
At the seminary, we toured the Administration building and met some of the people who are our counterparts back in the United States. The women in this picture work on tasks like translating reports they receive from the mission field so they can send it to the U.S. office where we edit it and share the information here.
I hope to have a couple of future posts with more pictures. Casey took a couple thousand pictures and I only had a few minutes to look through them on his computer this afternoon.

Thanks for praying for us while we were in India. God really used the time to show us the tremendous needs in Asia and how blessed we are to get to be a part of what he's doing to reach the lost and hurting.

If you'd like more information on the work we do at Gospel for Asia, or are interested in becoming financial supporters, you can email me at sum_short at hotmail dot com.

The Price of Productivity

2010-09-04T18:28:00.004-05:00

Behold, the awesome organization of my suitcase! (Yes, those are one gallon zipbags that each of my outfits and travel snacks are packed in) Bask in its neatness and efficiency! All of India will be enthralled with my supreme packing skills!

Pay no attention to the missing laundry basket commandeered by a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed boy and the wreckage of clothes left in its stead.

As you can see, the baskets had a higher calling than merely containing clean laundry.

Besides, he and Winnie the Pooh are doing laundry on their own. Who needs laundry soap or a rinse cycle? Not Pooh and the Kid.

And this, friends, is the cost of multitasking...a few clothes on the floor, a few more wet clothes in the bathtub and a soggy Pooh bear. Not too bad, considering how magnificent my suitcase looks...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2010-08-16T21:33:00.006-05:00

Two is such a fun age because kids are always saying such funny things.

Here are some memorable things Colton's said recently.

After getting a "boo-boo", we ask "Where did you get hurt?" He responds, "Right there, right there, right there, right there," while pointing at a bunch of different place on his body.

When told he needed to be patient and wait for something: "I don't want to be patient right now."

When asked what his stuffed puppy's name is "Mr. Puppy." Very distinguished for a rather ratty looking lovie.

After going through the drive-thru at Braums, "I want french fries." I say, "I don't have any french fries." He says, "Ask man more french fries."

On seeing shadows anywhere, "Shadows too scary."

We're going to India!

2010-08-02T15:42:00.006-05:00

In the middle of September, Casey and I are going on a vision tour of India for two weeks!

While we're there, we'll visit our Bridge of Hope children's schools, village churches, bible schools, GFA national missionaries and possibly a leprosy colony. We fly into Delhi and spend time with various ministries there, then we head to Calcutta, then a few days later, Udaipur, then Kochi and then we fly out of Delhi.

We're both really excited to get to see first-hand the work on the mission field and for what God's going to teach us through this experience. One of the main purposes of this trip is to give us a better understanding of the tremendous needs overseas and help us better communicate them in our roles at Gospel for Asia.

Casey's nervous about flying over the ocean and also feeling a bit OCD about some of the places we may visit. I'm mostly just nervous about living Colton for two weeks. I've only ever been away from him for one night and that was just this summer. So, you can pray for God to help us with those concerns.

The cost of the trip will be about $6,000. We were really blessed when we spoke to a Sunday school class at a church back home last weekend and raised $2,300 for the trip. Now we're more than a third of the way to our support raising need - Yay!

It's really humbling to have people give you money, but it's also a blessing to know that they're partnering with us because they want to be a part of what God's doing in Asia.

If you have an interest in giving toward our trip to India, you can give online by going here: http://www.gfa.org/tour/cshort/

When we get back, I look forward to sharing what we've experienced and posting some cool pictures.

The Many Faces of Colton Short

2010-06-24T13:23:00.003-05:00

Borrowed Photos

2010-06-16T10:18:00.005-05:00

Well, I haven't been very good about taking pictures recently (that Colton and his buddy broke my little camera, doesn't help) So, I'm borrowing some photos from our friend Tony who always takes great pictures. The one with Colton in the glasses is a picture my sister-in-law took while the kids picked apricots during Colton's Oklahoma visit this weekend.

In other news, please pray for my mom. She is having her heart looked at tomorrow and the doctors will determine then whether she needs a stint put in. She is scheduled to have a hysterectomy due to cancer concerns but getting a stint would delay the procedure by a couple months. Please pray she won't need a stint and that there will be no cancer.

Retro Photos

2010-06-15T15:05:00.003-05:00

Casey's been using the Hipstamatic application on his phone to take some retro looking photos.

Here are a few recent pics.

Milestones

2010-06-11T14:00:00.003-05:00

This weekend marks a milestone for me as a mom. It will be my first time to leave Colton overnight. Casey and I are making a trip down to Austin to celebrate my 30th birthday. We hope to see the millions of winged vampires flying out at us at the bat bridge, eat some tasty food at non-kid-friendly restaurants, sleep in, and have fun staying out during naptime!

Tonight we're driving up to Ardmore to meet Casey's parents who will keep Colton over the weekend. I'm sure he'll have a great time. He loves going to Gram and Granddad's. I just hope I don't miss him too much.

Colton has he own little language for things. If he doesn't like something he says "ike it!" If he comes into a room and wonders what I'm up to he says "Doing Mommy?" If he wants to know where someone is it's "Daddy is?" "Grandma is?"

The other day he was playing and fell on his little toy bottle of ketchup that goes with his play kitchen. He cried and said "Bad Ketchup, bad ketchup!"

Earlier this week. He tried to tell a story. It didn't make a lot of sense to me but he said it all together and seemed to know what he meant. "Grandma Pratt House. Shovel. Daddy's truck. Hold you."

Sometimes when he wakes up from his afternoon nap, he'll be saying new words all of sudden and I think, "He's learning new things even when he sleeps."

My Baby is Two!

2010-05-19T22:18:00.007-05:00

Time passes so quickly with kids. It's hard to believe I have a two year old. A bona fide toddler. I know this age is sometimes called the terrible twos but I'm going to look forward to them as the "terrific twos." So far I've found Colton to be more and more fun as he gets older.

Colton really likes trains, so this year I made him a Thomas the Train cake. Once he saw the cake, it was really hard for him to wait to have the Thomas on top. My mom had to take him on a walk while I hid the cake in the microwave!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

The Rewards of Parenting- Lots of "Ove"

2010-05-07T21:12:00.005-05:00

Casey's was out of town for three days for a business trip this week. When he's gone, the days always seem to drag a bit. Probably because there's no one to hang with after little man goes to bed. Right before Casey left he injured his back again, so since he's been home he's needed my help and has been in a lot of pain. We went to the doctor today and got some meds that we're hoping will help alleviate some pain.

Colton's able to say short sentences now and can usually let us know what he wants. Recently, I've really been trying to work on teaching him to say please when he wants something. He's still hit or miss on it but hopefully will be the poster child for Miss Manners soon. ;)-

Today we had a really sweet vocalization from our boy that makes up for a few missed "pleas's" or "thank yous". After Casey told Colton he loved him, Colton said it back, then he said it to me too. That was the first time he's said "I Love You." (sounds like "Ove You" - L's are hard for little kids. Probably why Colton calls his friend "Lincoln" "Binkin" instead.)

Colton will be 2 in less than 2 weeks. I know everyone says it all the time, but time really does go by fast with kids! I think this age is really fun. It's got it's trying moments but I think the precious moments outweigh everything else. Toddlers are so excited by the world around them, and it's just so fun to watch them experience new things. Also, Colton's been more affection lately - giving hugs whenever the mood strikes him.

Colton's not the only one getting older. . . I'm going to be 30 in about a month. That one sneaks up on you too. I'm thinking I should do something fun since it's kind of a biggie. I won't be as cool as my homegirl Tara Rehrig though and run the number of miles equal to my age. Pretty sure I would die if I did that, or at the very least want to! Ha.

The Great (Hopefully Ending Soon) Plague of 2010

2010-04-18T17:25:00.002-05:00

So I haven't been blogging lately, and I feel I have good excuses. We've been off and on (mostly on) sick for the last few weeks. Casey got bronchitis, I had some upper respiratory funk and a terrible sore throat, and Colton's had pink eye and an ear infection twice!
But, we are eagerly looking forward to putting all illness behind us for quite sometime.

We'd planned to go to Oklahoma this past weekend to see the newest arrival to the family - Pierce Witcher. But, since Colton's ear infection caused him to have a fever of 104.4 on Friday afternoon, we stayed home.
Hopefully, next weekend we'll all be healthy again and can go see the precious new dude.

Back from the Sunshine State

2010-03-29T21:45:00.007-05:00

We had a nice trip to Florida last week with Casey's parents. Colton loved the beach and spent lots of time playing in the water and knocking over the sand castles I laboriously built him.

He did so well on the plane ride that I can't even recall receiving any icy glares or spitwads to the back of the head during any of our flights. He also slept quite well in the pack n' play - except for the night that he woke up three times but I think that was just because he got too cold.

We all ate a lot of seafood, especially the local specialty: conch fritters. They're like spicy hushpuppies with little pieces of chewy conch inside.

A couple times we saw some sharks (nurse and bonnet) and a variety of other smaller sea creatures. Colton even petted some starfish, mollusks and crabs at a nearby nature center.

One evening we tried to go to a dolphin research center but arrived to late to tour, but instead we made friends with the resident rooster. Or, I should say everyone but me made friends with the rooster. I just ran away from him. (He was viciously chasing me!) He was very aggressive, and I'm pretty sure he wanted to bite me. Don't let the pictures of him looking gentle as Colton pets him and Casey holds him fool you. He was a killer.

Today I knocked out the dreaded post-trip task of unpacking the family suitcases and doing laundry. Ahhh, it feels good to have the house all tidy and be back in the daily routine. Vacations are fun but I'm always glad to be back home.

Look Out American Airlines Passengers...

2010-03-19T21:29:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow, we set out on our mission to terrify and annoy childless AA passengers headed for Florida. Okay... so that's not my actual mission but it may be an unintended byproduct of presence on the flight.

I've packed my carry on with items I hope will keep us from being the most hated family on the plane. Fun snacks, a coloring book, stories, and a couple dollar bin toys. I can't make any promises though - our flight time does coincide with nap time so we'll just have to hope that the novelty of flying is worth a premium to an almost 2 year old boy.

I'm sure it will all work out and hopefully be a relaxing trip (not the actual plane ride, but the vacation itself), I'm just a tad apprehensive about the actual "getting there" portion.

We're staying in a condo with Casey's parents next week and are looking forward to getting to do some fun family stuff plus taking some dates sans toddler.

Colton's never been to the beach, so that should be really fun. I'm looking forward to shelling with him and building sand castles. We should have some nice pictures to share when we get back.

If you read this and think of it, pray that we'll have smooth travels and that Colton will sleep well in an unfamiliar bed.

Oh, Glorious Spring!

2010-03-14T18:34:00.005-05:00

The Joys and Trials of an Ordinary Life

2010-03-03T09:15:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Casey and I made plans to meet a couple of our friends at Chik fil-a for lunch. Colton had been being a little fussy before we left and had pulled on his ear and said ear hurt. I asked him which ear to see if he said the same one or if he switched it up and was just looking for attention. He pulled on his other ear this time so I didn't take it very seriously. Plus, he's never had an ear infection and the doctor had said last month that he wasn't likely too since he had a clean track record.

I got us ready to go and hoped some chicken nuggets and fun in the Chick fil-a play area would cure his blues. We arrived at the restaurant and he seemed pretty content. Things were looking up.

Then right after I ordered our meal, the cashier informed me that I was the 100th customer and it was all free! Awesome!

All was going well the first 5 minutes of lunch, then Colton started to get really upset. He didn't want to stay in his high chair and wanted me to hold him. I thought he might just be trying to get down so he could play. So we decided to move closer to the play area so we could watch him through the glass.

Normally, Colton loves the play area but not yesterday. He immediately got hysterical. I noticed he was pulling on his ear more. That's when I whipped out my cell phone and called the doctor. I got an appointment for him within an hour. We quickly packed up our remaining food and lugged our sick guy out to the car.

By the time I got him home, he was starting to feel hot. He then fell asleep on the couch only to have to be woken up 10 minutes later to go the doctor. At his pediatrician's office she confirmed that he had an infection in his left ear and prescribed amoxicillin.

He spent the rest of the day snuggled up to me falling in and out of sleep. The only time he will cuddle for more than a couple seconds is when he feels sick. I hate for him to be sick but it is nice to get the affection.

Today he seems to be feeling a lot better. He's had three doses of antibiotics so far and some Tylenol too to ward off the fever and pain.

To sum up the day: free food=good, sick child= kind of bad, unexpected cuddles=quite nice.

Fussy

2010-02-25T13:55:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I was folding laundry while watching a little bit of The Deep End of The Ocean while Colton napped. When he got up, I kept playing the movie for just a couple minutes. But then Michelle Piefer's character started crying hysterically, so I turned it off because I didn't want it to scare Colton.

After I turned it off Colton said, "crying." Then a second later "fussy." I said "Yeah she was being fussy, wasn't she?" It was funny to hear him use that word to describe an adult's behavior. But I guess to him his tears over something that upsets him is the same as a grown woman sobbing. They're both just being fussy. :)

This weekend our family will make a quick trip to Oklahoma to attend Edmond Christian Church's annual mission's day. The church is one of our sending churches, and we will have a booth at the event. I'm looking forward to seeing family over the weekend and visiting with people at church.

Since it's such a quick visit we probably won't see very many people expect family and those who are at ECC on Sunday. Colton hasn't seen his Gram and Grandad since our visit at Christmas, so I'm looking forward to them getting to hang out. I also can't wait for Colton to see his cousin "Fifi" again. He is always pretending to call her on the phone. "Hello, Fifi?" They're so cute playing together!

Snow Days

2010-02-16T15:08:00.005-06:00

We don't get snow much in our neck of the woods, but this past week we sure did! I think the Dallas metro got about 10 inches of snow - setting a record for the city! Colton's been around snow a few times but this was his first time to really go out and play in it. We all bundled up on Thursday and went out into the yard to enjoy the big fluffy flakes. Colton enjoyed going down his slide and walking back and forth across our little yard. I had to hold his hand though because the snow was so deep he'd fall down on his own.

Handsome daddy and cold baby.

Helping Colton walk through the snow.

Pretending to throw a snowball at Casey. He had the camera so I had to be nice. :)

Blowing on the little guys fingers to warm them up. (He didn't want to wear gloves.)

Look at all those snowflakes!

Making tiny snowballs.

Burr! This stuff is cold!

Feelings, wo-o-o feelings...

2010-02-09T14:13:00.007-06:00

Recently, Colton's been expressing his feeling using his newly-acquired emotion words.
For example, the other night Colton was having a difficult time falling asleep. So after he'd been fussing a little while I went to his room to check on him. When I came in the room, he stopped crying and said, "Crying." I said sympathetically, "I know you were crying."

Then I took him out to the study, set him on my lap and put on a Mickey Mouse cartoon on youtube. He responded to this friendly gesture with a big smile and a heart-felt, "Happy." I replied with my own heart-felt, "I'm glad you're happy."

I love it when he tells me he's happy. It's always over really simple things. Of course all of his pleasures at this point in life are pretty simple - like the joy one feels in wearing a swim diaper as a hat while brushing their pearly whites. Ah, sweet bliss.

Colton also knows the word mad although he doesn't use it as much as happy or crying yet. He does get mad though, he just doesn't remember there's a word for it in the "heat of the moment."

Oh the Joy of a Box and a Crayon

2010-02-02T15:19:00.001-06:00

Third Time's the Charm

2010-01-26T22:33:00.005-06:00

I've started two different blog posts tonight, but gave up on both before hitting publish. So now you're left with a tired me who really just needs to go to bed and be reconciled to a having nothing to say.

Perhaps I'll provide you with a riveting synopsis of my two earlier posts which never came to fruition:

Lobotomies are weird. Don't get one.

Lost comes back Feb. 2! Woo Hoo!

Now, I must go and get some sleep or else I'll have dreams of trying to escape a weird time-traveling island before being lobotomized.

The Hunt for Raleigh

2010-01-20T14:25:00.007-06:00

Looking out my sliding glass door this morning, my mom and I spotted a loose dog sitting across the street under some trees. After watching the white and tan whippet for a minute, I called Animal Control to report the lost dog.

As soon as I gave the woman on the other end of the phone the dog's description, she told me that the dog's name was Raleigh and that it was from Frisco (a nearby city.) She took my number and said she was going to call the owner and might call me back if they needed more information.

In the meantime, my mom had gotten in her car to try and coax the dog in to coming to her. But it got scared and ran away into a field behind my neighborhood. Colton and I stood looking through the wrought iron fence in the backyard yelling "Raleigh! Raleigh!" trying to get the dog to come back. Colton got in to it too and kept yelling "Rawie! Rawie!"

About 15 minutes later a middle-aged woman in a Toyota Yaris pulled up at the dead end behind my house. Seconds later, the animal control van zipped in after her. My mom went to meet them and told them where we'd last seen the dog. Then, I heard the woman sobbing and yelling "Raleigh!" Raleigh!"

The woman's husband had just died and Raleigh was his dog. She was desperate to find this living reminder of her loved one. I felt so bad for her. Not necessarily because of a lost dog, although that is sad, but more because I could just imagine how awful it would be if Casey had just died and then his long-time dog Tippet, (if she was still alive) had just run away.

So, I threw Colton in his stroller and headed to the field to help the woman look for her dog. My wheels couldn't go too far in the muddy field though, so I had to go back to the street. A few minutes later, the woman joined my mom and me on the street. She was really upset and asked if I could stay and help her look more. I said I would and walked around the neighborhood and alleys looking for Raleigh.

After about an hour, I had to give up to go put a fussy Colton down for a nap. I don't know if the woman has found Raleigh yet but I hope she will. But if she doesn't, I hope she will find comfort in the One who never stops looking for us, no matter how far we run or how lost we get. I'm so thankful that he doesn't give up after an hour, get blisters from walking or worry about a little mud. He'll keep calling our names as long as we live, seeking to bring us home.

Count down till 2!

2010-01-19T14:54:00.007-06:00

Today Colton is 20 months old! I have to say, it kind of caught me by surprise. He's out of his "teens" now and well on his way to the terrific twos. :)

I think this age is so much fun! He's talking more and more and is starting to say short sentences like "Here you go" "Got it" "What is it?" or "Daddy Eat." I tried to count how many words he could say the other day. I got up to about 150 but then he just kept saying more words, and I stopped adding them to the list.

This weekend we purchased a sofa and chair on craigslist for our den. Colton is in love with them! The cushion on the chair is pretty light so he is constantly pulling it off to use it as a step and get on the couch. He's always saying "Chair" or "Couch" and flashing a big smile for someone to lift him up on the big people furniture.

Colton is a very spirited little boy. He loves to climb, kick, throw, hide and play chase. Typical "dude" stuff. I love that he is so full of energy and curiosity. He constantly cracks me and Casey up! Since he is so busy though he is prone to accidents. He frequently takes tumbles or falls off things he's trying to climb on. I pray for his safety everyday and try to keep him out of as much trouble as I possibly can!

Colton likes to give bumps (fist pounds), buzzes (index finger to index finger with a buzzing sound) and high fives.

Here's a picture of him giving his uncle buzzes while his grandma waits her turn.

Cleaning up with his cousin.

Driving grandad's boat. :)

Musings on Curlers, Naps and Tulsa

2010-01-11T13:05:00.008-06:00

Here's a few random thoughts for you this afternoon.

Yesterday I saw a woman out and about with curlers in her hair. This sight always gives me pause to wonder. I wonder where she's going later that is important enough to look silly now. She can't be someone who doesn't care what people think about her appearance or else she wouldn't be bothering with rollers in the first place. So, I figure she must just not think much of us (the people who are currently seeing her in curlers) or that she just really, really wants to impress the people she'll see later and is willing to make this sacrifice. This is one of life's great mysteries. Perhaps, if you are a woman who wears curlers in public you can shed some light on the matter for us.

Second random thought, why does a 1.5 second nap in the car negate a would-be two hour nap at home? Anytime Colton's eyes slip shut for a millisecond it completely obliterates any hope of his afternoon nap. I still lay him in his bed, and he usually complies and lies down for a moment or two. But then like clockwork he's up less than 15 minutes later squealing, kicking on his crib walls and then crying to be released.

I try everything to keep him awake in the car, rolling down the windows, tickling his face, talking loud, but to no avail. Asleep he falls, and the afternoon nap flies out the window.

Finally on an equally important note, I'd like us to ponder Hollywood's frequent references to Tulsa, Oklahoma. A few years ago, Casey and I started noticing that when Hollywood writers are looking for an obscure place to say someone is from or traveling to, Tulsa frequently fits the bill. I heard it the other day in Sleepless in Seattle and someone told me that Chandler from Friends was doing something in Tulsa for a while. I can't think of all the other times but if you start listening for it, you'll hear it pretty often.

It's probably an alien conspiracy. I hear a lot of martians live in Tulsa. And that they also control Hollywood. Fact.

Last Night I Dreamed I Went To...

2010-01-07T14:26:00.009-06:00

No, not Manderley for any Rebecca fans out there. Russia.

I have this reoccurring dream of going to Russia completely unprepared. In fact, I hardly ever get off the plane. I'm usually just at the airport shortly before my flight is suppossed to take off desperately trying to get things together before we depart.

Last night, my friend Erin and I were making the journey together. We both managed to have our tickets and passports with us, (this doesn't always happen in the dream) and we we're even admitted on the flight. But there was a problem, neither of us had packed a coat. I was really stressed about this because it was suppossed to be frigidly cold when we arrived...hello, it's Russia! Who doesn't pack a coat for Russia? Apparently me and Erin.

In a past Russia dream, I'd been all set to go and for some reason forgot to communicate my plans with Casey.

I think to me traveling to Russia must just seem like a daunting journey that one needs a lot of preparation for.

Yesterday, I was trying to get a lot done and felt a little behind so I think that's why I had my Russia dream.

Maybe if I ever get to go to Russia in real life, I'll actually manage to pack a coat and have a passport handy.

Dern Whippersnappers

2010-01-05T23:34:00.006-06:00

I'm must be looking older. Today I got the ol' "yes ma'am" from a sophomore in college. Not a half joking, letting-you-know-you're-being-bossy "yes ma'am" from a buddy, but a you-appear-to-be-of-a-certain-age "yes ma'am" from a new acquaintance.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for politeness and good manners, but I would really still like to believe that I'm too young for college students to think of me as a ma'am. I was just in college...sort of. Not exactly, but close enough. Okay, I'm probably ten years older than the girl who ma'amed me. I suppose that probably does make me a bit of ma'am. But please don't call me ma'am if you're old enough to vote and aren't selling me something or serving me something. Otherwise, I might have to beat you with my cane and spit my dentures at you.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T15:52:00.003-06:00

I hope you all had a great holiday season. Mine was good, and now I'm ready to get back into the swing of regular life.

We spent the week following Christmas in OKC with family. Colton loves seeing all his cousins. His cousin Phoebe is just a few months older than him, and they always have so much fun playing together.

On New Years Eve, I got to go out to lunch with some of my friends from my old job at Express. I hadn't gotten to hang out with them in a while, so I was really happy to get to catch up with them. I don't usually miss my old career too much because I feel what I'm doing now is what I'm suppossed to be doing. But I do miss the friends I made during my years at Express. We spent a lot of time in close quarters brainstorming, laughing, occasionally arguing and generally providing each other with a lot of mental stimulation. I'm glad that I'm still able to get together with them every now and then.

Later that night, we celebrated Casey's birthday and rung in the new year with a party at Casey's parents' house. It was a bit of a reunion with a number of old friends gathered together. I think we had about 30 people there. We played several rounds of mafia (By the way, we have a good idea for a way to spice up this game. It involves a resuscitation card that will bring a "deceased" player back to life.) We also played a game of modified charades. (Two teams write down about 100 words to be guessed. The first round the teams can say as many words as they want to get their team to guess the word on the card - like Taboo - the second round the teams can say two words, and the last round the teams do charades.)

Now that I'm back home I've been thinking about New Years resolutions. I don't usually make a big deal about these, and I'm still not planning to this year. But, I am reviewing the year and thinking about ways I want to tweak things I'm doing. I may post more on that later.

Cute, Messy Face

2009-12-17T15:59:00.003-06:00

A friend took these pictures of Colton at the Christmas party last Friday. Colton had been eating some sweet potatoes, hence the orange face. :)

Choosing Him

2009-12-17T15:20:00.005-06:00

I've been doing some work on GFA DVD transcriptions that are going to be translated into Spanish. Right now, I'm editing the transcription of a DVD called To Live is Christ. It's a talk that our founder K.P. Yohannan, gave to a church a few years ago.

I just read this quote from his closing remarks and thought it was really meaningful.

"Tonight as you go home, I say to you: All the Bible knowledge, all the studies, all the knowledge in the world will not help you unless you choose Him above knowledge. And do what you were asked to do, the way He asks you to do it, and that’s all I ask."

Help Poor in Asia with a Few Clicks of Your Mouse

2009-12-14T15:52:00.008-06:00

Want an easy and free way to help some people on the other side of the world? Add some GFA "bling" to your blog! Wanna help but not sure how to do it? Well have no fear, help is here!

If you look on the right-hand side of my blog you can see the two GFA banners I currently have posted.

The first is the link to give to the Christmas Campaign. This is where people can choose to donate for things like sewing machines, goats, chickens, warm clothes and more.

The second is a link to receive a free copy of Revolution in World Missions. This is the book that explains the work of national missionaries in places unreached with the Gospel and how people can get involved to help them. This is the book that I received a copy of nearly 10 years ago that first introduced our family to Gospel for Asia!

To add either of these banners to your page, just right click or if you're using an awesome Mac (such as myself) control click, and select "Save Image As" and save it somewhere handy.

If you're using Blogger, log in to your account and go to Layout. Then select "Add a Gadget" on the top right-hand side. A pop up menu will appear and from there select "Picture." Another pop up will appear with the header "Configure Image." It will ask you to upload a photo from your computer (or the web). Browse to where you saved the image and upload it.

Now all you have to do is add the link. You can just copy and paste it in to the link field. Here's the link for the Christmas Gift Campaign: http://www.gfa.org/gift/?cm_mmc_o=ezybBAl%20PkBTl%20C%20WB%202Blf%20-plCjC8w_C-pMwyfblbETCjCPkBTlCjC7buf%202zfzkBT

And here's the link for the Free Book: https://www.gfa.org/offer/freebook/?cm_mmc_o=ezybBAl%25201bELl%2520C%2520WB%25202Blf%2520-plCjC8w_C-pMwyfblbETCjCPzEEwylCjCPv

Here's another GFA Christmas campaign banner I like, but it was too wide for my margins. You can save it the same way as the others and link it with the first link.

Another Fun Blogging Tool

2009-12-13T20:34:00.004-06:00

This weekend one of my friends told me about how she uses Stat Counter to keep track of the number of visits she receives to her blog. I've known about Stat Counter for a while but use Google Analytics myself and have never felt the need to try anything else. But when she described some of the fun features Stat Counter has -specifically tracking exit links- that as far as I've been able to tell, Google Analytics doesn't, I thought I'd give it a try.

With exit link tracking, you can find out if your visitors go to the external sites you have linked on your blog. All I was ever able to see with Analytics was clicks on links that went to pages on my own site.

Since Gospel for Asia is linked several times on my blog, I was curious to find out how many times the link gets clicked. Since I just put Stat Counter on my blog I don't have much data yet, but it was fun to check out another tool.

From what I remember, Stat Counter's free version only stores information on 500 visits at a time. So you can't compare information over a very long period of time like you can with Google Analytics.

Stat Counter (like Analytics) is super easy to install on Blogger sites. I saw that they even have a tutorial that will walk you through the process if you want. Or, you can just get the HTML and post it.

Happy Blogging! :)

Dumb Burglar from ZZZland...Jumps into Real Life!!!

2009-12-12T15:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I posted about my dream about the lost burglar who was trying to find his way home. I failed to mention it, but in my dream the reason the burglar was lost was because he was drunk. I was trying to keep the post G rated I guess.

I'm divulging this information now because of a crazy story my mom just told me this morning.

My mom is working on remodeling a home in the area so that she can move in at the end of the month. She works evenings as a nurse and last night when she got off work she decided to go over to her house to do a little painting.

At about midnight, she heard someone knocking on the door. She was startled and went to the door and asked, "Who's there?" No one answered. Then a minute later the knocking started again. She asked the same question, and this time the answer was "It's William. I'm working on your door." She told this William person that no one was suppossed to be working on her door (certainly not at midnight!) and that she wasn't going to open the door.

She was understandably scared and called the police who said they were sending a patrol car over (much more helpful than the police in my dream.)

When the police arrived, and my mom explained to them the details, they told her that they'd received several reports about William. Apparently, he had too much to drink, got lost walking around a few blocks away and was trying to find his way home.

I think it's really weird that I had a dream about a bumbling intruder who couldn't find his way home the night before my mom had a similar real life experience! This time I'm even more thankful that the bogeyman was seemingly harmless and just trying to get home.

Dumb Burglar from ZZZland

2009-12-11T15:13:00.003-06:00

Last night I had a very real seeming dream that someone broke into our house. In my dream, I tried calling 911 but the operator told me that no one would be able to help for that sort of problem. I reiterated that I currently had an intruder in my home and she begrudgingly offered to possibly send someone out.

For some reason, my brother was there too, and he and I went to go see what was going on in the rest of the house. That's when we saw that the burglar had turned on the hallway light (not very sneaky) and was sitting down in our office playing on the computer (not very profitable).

My brother went to talk to the burglar at that point, and it turned out it was some skinny teenager who'd gotten confused about where he lived. My brother then escorted him to the door. Apparently I don't dream of very clever or dangerous bad guys.

I remember thinking during the dream: "I'm going to have to post on my blog that someone broke into the house!" Thankfully, it was real and even it had been, our burglar was clearly more interested in surfing Facebook than actually taking stuff. Lucky me.

Joining in on the Christmas Fun!

2009-12-10T17:26:00.005-06:00

This year Colton is old enough to do more things at Christmas. Last night at Gospel for Asia's Tuesday night prayer meeting all the children received little gifts. Unlike last Christmas, Colton was old enough to open his present and to be excited about the candy inside! The gift also included a little Christmas craft. This afternoon, I set up a protected area on the table and let Colton color his wise men. He had fun and only ate the markers intermittently.

On the back of the craft I wrote the date and a little description of what we did to help me remember later.

Here's pictures of the completed masterpiece, the artist and his muse, puppy.

What to Read?

2009-12-09T15:21:00.006-06:00

I really enjoy reading fiction when I find the time, but I'm a bit picky about what I like to read. I prefer a thought-provoking book - like Les Miserables or The Giver. I also really want to care about the characters like Anne in the L.M. Montgomery series or Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird.

While some may not see the value of reading fiction and only stick with more serious titles, I'm not one of those people. I'm much more touched by a beautifully-written story. Jesus taught in parables for a good reason. Stories speak to people. I feel like I've definitely learned things about the world and people that I wouldn't have learned apart from reading fiction.

It's usually hard for me to pick books though. I tend to stick with classics or young adult fiction because in the past I've had several unpleasant experiences with just picking up a title at the library or bookstore and getting home to find that the content was not what I'd bargained for.

During the last few years, I've also read some Christian fiction. I've liked some of those too and am up for additional recommendations. (I've read Redeeming Love, a few Beverly Lewis and River Rising.)

My favorite book in general is probably Jane Eyre. I think Jane is an admirable heroine because she gives up personal pleasure to follow her moral convictions. The story also deals with real human issues: loneliness, charity in poverty, faith and loyalty. Other favorites are the Screwtape Letters, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Persuasion. I also like collections of short stories. One of my favorite short stories is A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner.

I recently found a couple of sites that offer book recommendations. One is Book Army and the other is Which Book. I haven't played with either much at all but they look like they could be good tools.

Read any good books that I should read too?

Have Yourself A Scary Little Christmas...

2009-12-05T14:37:00.005-06:00

It's only the first week of December, and I've already checked off the following items from my uber-serious "to do" list. I'm particularly proud of the last item.

My Christmas Checklist

Purchase Christmas gifts on Amazon and get free super saver shipping and no tax!
Decorate tree with (hopefully) indestructible ornaments. No glass balls for us, thank you.
Save by not buying Christmas CDs and instead make Christmas music station on Pandora.
Drink homemade eggnog lattes. (As you can imagine this was one of the more difficult tasks. Lifting those mugs, can be very exhausting!)
Take classic "horrified child" picture with Santa. Perfect!

Doubt

2009-12-03T14:27:00.004-06:00

I'm sharing an excerpt from an email I recently sent to someone who was questioning God's existence because it may be of some benefit to others.

"It's normal to have doubts. I have them at times too.

When I doubt, I ask myself a few questions. If there is no God, how did the world come into existence? If there is no God, how is that I have a body that is perfectly made for the planet I live on (I have lungs to breath air, eyes to see, legs to walk, there's gravity that keeps me from flying off the planet).

These things all remind me that this world and humanity is too complex to have just appeared by itself. I think it takes more faith to believe that the world, the galaxies, people, animals and everything else in all existence is here on it own than it does to believe in God.

Other things that convince me that there is a God are that I can think, love, and feel. How could these have come on their own? I believe that the world's complexity and our ability to think, feel and choose right and wrong are solid evidence that there is a God.

I believe in Jesus because historical evidence backs the Bible and because the story rings true. In all other religions that I know, it is all about people achieving something. Examples of this are: trying to make "gods" happy or trying to get "gods" to do something for you.

Christianity is the only religion that isn't about us. It's about God. His glory and how he made a way for us to know him. In other religions, the people have to try and save themselves by being good, smart, peaceful, etc.

In Christianity, God saved us by having his son die for our sins. I believe Christianity is the one and only true religion because through experience, I know that I can not be good enough. I've tried and I always fail. Apart from Jesus, I know that I can't be right with God. He is the only way to God.

Doubts are a part of faith. They come and go. Tell God you're having a hard time believing and ask him for more faith. He's good and faithful. If you seek him, you will find him. Take some quiet time to pray and be reminded of why you first believed - I recommend reading the Gospel of John.

Let me know if you have some questions about God or Christianity. I certainly don't have all the answers, but I will try to answer you the best I can from the Bible."

Judge Not ... at the Grocery Store

2009-12-02T21:14:00.007-06:00

Have you ever been at the grocery store and seen a woman with one or more children, looking frazzled - nay, downright zombified - with her runny-nosed, scruffy-looking child eating groceries from their cart?

Cast ye not the first stone.

Today I was that woman. I desperately needed to go to the grocery store. It could not be put off until another day. By the time I'd printed out my online coupons and clipped some from Sunday circulars, it was getting dangerously close to lunch time. But, I was low on munchies to feed Colton (i.e. the urgent need for the grocery trip). I gave him a snack before we left, packed another and hoped for the best.

Within about 5 minutes of entering the store, I could see that we were going to have to break out the big guns. The unpopular packed snack (which is why it was still uneaten at home) wasn't going to cut it.

1st attempt: Rip open a box of Ritz crackers and hand a couple over to the hungry, hungry hippo. Hmmm, he's still needing something else. 2nd try: Hit the produce aisle, peel a banana and hand him a chunk ... take back slimy, spit out banana and wrap it in a baby wipe. 3rd time's the charm: We have a winner with a little box of raisins.

I'm sure there is some lesson here about not bringing a hungry child to the store and also some other lessons about not giving in to screaming children who don't like the first two foods they're offered. But, I really needed groceries! Please have mercy on me! I promise... well, I really can't make any promises but ... I'm trying here.

All for the sake of soothing a hungry, grumpy 18-month-old.

Colton repeatedly tried to convince me that leaving a Hansel- and Gretel-esque raisin trail would be appreciated by Kroger management. My pocketful of retrieved raisins at the end of the trip was testimony to my belief in the contrary.

Down several aisles, I passed a well-dressed woman who didn't seem to want to smile at me. I can't say as I blame her. She probably sensed that me and my overloaded cart and my adorable combination raisin-launcher/noisemaker were going to be a threat come check out time. Her intuition proved correct. I did, in fact, end up in front of her in the one and only open check out line. Well-dressed woman did not look amused.

Fortunately for us all, Kroger management sensed the imminent threat of a meltdown of galactic proportions and opened another check out line.

Groceries were loaded and unloaded to and from the car, little Hansel was put down for a nap and mommy survived to shop another day.

Good Medicine: Riboflavin, Blue's Clues and Excedrin

2009-11-30T13:24:00.004-06:00

Last night, I went to bed with a migraine just itching to explode. This morning I woke up with a full-blown nausea-inducing, light-fearing, head-pounding migraine.

I used to get migraines about once a week but since I started talking riboflavin (about 200 mg a day) I rarely get them. However, when I go out of town I often slack greatly on taking my vitamins and then, next thing you know, my migraines are back and ready to make up for all the 'quality time' we've missed.

I think the worst thing about migraines is the nausea. I can't hardly move without feeling like I'm going to puke. I need quiet, darkness, and total stillness to feel better. Having a active 18 month old makes creating these conditions elusive.

These are the times I'm thankful for streaming Netflix. At the touch of a button I have instant access to dozens of toddler-mesmerizing cartoons, like Blues Clues.

While I was waiting for the Excedrin Migraine to kick in, Colton was entertained by Steve, Blue and whatever other characters are on Season 1 of Blues Clues.

Not long after taking those magical little capsules, I started to feel my nausea lifting and my headache slipping away.

I'm back to my old self, Blues Clues is off and Colton is napping. All is right in the world once more. Or at least in the Short household ... as long as I can remember to take my Riboflavin that is.

5 Signs You're a Klutz

2009-11-25T13:43:00.009-06:00

5. You say "Ow!" at least ten times a day.

4. You were not blessed with spatial reasoning. Trying to judge the distance between your body and all other objects is like trying to plot the course of a spaceship to the Moon without the aid of computers or scientific equations.

3. Your appendages are frequently speckled with unexplained bruises and scrapes. Scars from running into an ill-placed coffee table, bookcase or office chair are also a frequent symptom.

2. Your significant other tells you, "You're like me when I was a kid. You can't enter a room without getting hurt."

1. You have one of these on your arms because you can't seem to cook, pick up a hot glue gun or flat iron without suffering at least 2nd degree burns.

Oh, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day tomorrow! I'm going to try not to set myself on fire, break a leg or otherwise do bodily harm to myself or others. You do the same now, ya hear?

Pumpkin Muffin Variation

2009-11-22T17:52:00.003-06:00

Last week, I posted the recipe for Apple Pumpkin Muffins. Today, I'm sharing a variation of those muffins that I made this morning.

I was trying to get the muffins made before church so I didn't want to spend the time to finely chop an apple. I had a can of pineapple and decided to dice that instead. Also, I added some wheat flour and reduced the fat by substituting half of the oil with apple sauce.

The muffins turned out really good and I think I actually prefer the pineapple over the apples. Their texture is really good and the added moisture was a plus.

Pineapple Pumpkin Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (I actually just use a hodgepodge of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 apple sauce
1 cup (or more if you've got it) diced pineapple
STREUSEL:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cold butter or margarine
In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in pineapple.
I read a tip that recommends not using muffin papers for best taste just spray tin with oil.
I fill my muffin tins almost to the top to produce plenty of "top o' the muffin."
In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Our Future Chef

2009-11-22T17:30:00.005-06:00

Today at Ross, I found this play kitchen for about half of what the brand normally sells for.

It's so cute, and Colton loves it. It's wooden and painted in primary colors. It's only about a foot tall and a couple feet wide, so it doesn't take up much space.

I got a few plastic pots and some fake food to go with it, and Colton's been having a ball putting things in the oven, dropping dishes in the sink and hanging spatulas on the rack.

Sure, a pretend kitchen may not be the manliest toy but this is the 21st century, right? Besides, there's a greater likelihood of him needing to learn to cook a few meals than fight a big hairy monster. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for big hairy monster fighting too. But not until the boy's earned his keep by making me a zesty lasagna and a slice of cheesecake. :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2009-11-14T10:14:00.003-06:00

Colton's been talking so much more lately. It's so much fun to watch him pick up more and more words and use them to communicate.

This morning I heard Colton saying "baby" in his room and when I went to get him he was saying "puppy" and holding his ratty stuffed puppy dog. Then he said "nigh, nigh" (for night, night) and threw his puppy back in his crib. I guess puppy needed to go night night.

When we went to the living room he said "TV" (sounds like Vee) and pointed to the TV. I said "No TV." Then he went and grabbed the DVD controller and handed it to me with a big smile and I replied, "No TV." He then grabbed the TV controller and brought it to me with another big smile, to which I responded, "No TV." Then he said "Burdie." He's watched a penguin show a couple times and says "Burdie" about the birds on the show. It was really cute. He's already trying to charm me.

Then right after that we went into the kitchen and he pointed to my cake plate where the Apple Pumpkin Muffins had been and said "Mushin." But they were all gone.

Then, he pointed to the freezer where I'd been keeping some cookies, and said, "Cookie." He got wheat bread instead. Poor child. You can see Colton's making his preference known - TV, muffins and cookies!

Apple Pumpkin Muffins

2009-11-13T16:43:00.004-06:00

I made this recipe for some friends and everyone really liked it, so I thought I'd pass it on. It's a great fall breakfast. (The recipe is from allrecipes.com.)

I used Granny Smith Apples in mine and the only change I made was to make 12 big muffins with the batter instead of 18. By overfilling the muffin tins it gives you more of the "top o' the muffin" that everyone loves.

To make the recipe healthier you could use wheat flour and replace the oil with applesauce.

For light muffins, make sure you don't over-stir the batter or you'll get gummy, hard results.

Alright, here's the recipe. Happy Baking!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups finely chopped peeled apples
STREUSEL:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons cold butter or margarine

Directions

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks

Turkey Talk

2009-11-13T16:30:00.005-06:00

It always this time of year when I realize that it's almost over and that it's gone incredibly quickly. This year seems like it's gone by even faster. I guess that's what happens when you are as ancient as me. (Hardy, har, har)

This year one of my big plans for Thanksgiving includes not getting food poisoning/a stomach bug and actually being able to eat. That's right, last year a nasty stomach funk denied me the delight of overeating and Friday afternoon leftovers! This year I'm coming at Thanksgiving with a doggie bag attached to my shirt!

...Okay so maybe I'm not really out for a huge glutton fest, but I am looking forward to eating all sorts of good fixings. In my opinion the food at Thanksgiving is always a little better than at Christmas. At Christmas, people tend to feel like, "Hey, we just cooked all that stuff at Thanksgiving. Let's just take it easy." Now, you see the reason for the doggie bag affixed to the shirt.

What a Day for a ... Picnic!

2009-11-08T20:07:00.003-06:00

November might not be a traditional month for a picnic but here in North Dallas the weather this weekend was perfect for a picnic at the park.

Here are some pictures Casey took while we were there.

Grannie Fannie and the Happy Little Lion

2009-11-05T14:05:00.007-06:00

This past weekend, Casey's parents and a long-time family friend, Grannie Fannie, came down to Texas for a visit. Grannie Fannie is 97 years old and is such a sweetheart. I want to be just like her when I'm her age. She thinks the best of everyone, is full of joy, gives out praise like nobody's business and bakes a mean chocolate pudding pie! She is definitely overflowing with the fruit of the spirit!

It was so fun to have her over - she loves Colton and is always complimenting his good looks or charm! That's a sure-fire way to make a mama smile!

Here are a few pictures from this weekend's fun. On Saturday we went to a fall festival at a large church in the area. Colton was too little for most of the activities but he had fun running around and seeing other kids in costume.

What Sleeping With The Enemy Is Really Like

2009-11-03T15:21:00.003-06:00

No, this isn't a post about how my husband is really a horrible person and I'm crying out for help. Nope. Casey is great. Our marriage is great.

This post is about the real enemy I have to sleep with every night. Me.

I like myself plenty, so don't worry that I've got a self esteem problem or conflicting multiple personalities. What I'm talking about is the struggle that goes on inside myself as a person who wants to do good but doesn't always live up to it.

What Paul talks about in Romans 7:21-23: "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members."

Years ago when I read C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, I remember a passage about man's struggle with morality as evidence of a supreme being or ultimate giver of moral standards. The idea is something like, if there is no God and humanity is simply a cosmic accident, then why do people so often feel a pull toward a moral decision yet are incapable of following through with it?

For example, if the root cause of morality is just a mix of societal norms, family upbringing and desire for self preservation, then why do people wrestle with doing the right thing? If a person wants to do good, shouldn't it be easy? Why should there be a struggle? If a person feels like doing something selfish or cruel and gets away with it, why should they feel guilty afterward?

It's because we're not just minds living in bodies. We have spirits. Morality is not just cultural or subjective. There is good and evil. There is a war between the two. And the battle is raged inside of the person you and I go to bed with every night. Yourself. Myself. Us.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12

A Very Merry Conspiracy

2009-11-01T17:13:00.009-06:00

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Of course, the malls and Wal-Mart will be very disappointed if you say no.

This year at our church here in Texas we've started talking about Christmas early too. But it's a good thing because this season our church is participating in the Advent Conspiracy. Have you heard of it? It's basically a challenge to Christians to spend less on buying gifts for people who already have everything and give the money they saved to people who have nothing. Very sneaky. Wal-Mart and our urges to buy, buy, buy may frown upon the idea. But, such is the nature of conspiracies!

Our church is challenging us all to cut our Christmas spending in half and give the other half to bless the world's hungry, hurting and neglected.

One way the church is helping the needy is by building several Jesus Wells through Gospel for Asia. There is a huge need for fresh drinking water in many parts of the world.

Another cool program Gospel for Asia has is its Christmas Gift Catalog. With the catalog, we can give gifts that will actually produce an income for some of the poorest of the world's poor - the Dalits in India.

The Dalits are an impoverished people group who are frequently denied any education, have few rights and are often treated as worthless by higher castes. You can imagine the impact the gift of a pair of chickens, a dairy cow or a sewing machine would be for a destitute family in Asia.

Casey and I have enjoyed picking out gifts from the GFA Christmas catalog the last couple years and knowing that somebody on the other side of the world is going to be able to make a living for their family from it!

Here's a little video on Gospel for Asia's Christmas Gift program.

I'm Number One... For Now

2009-10-28T19:24:00.005-05:00

Google "How to find out who's reading my blog" and my lil' ol' blog pops up as the first site (at least as of 7:30 on 10/28/09). I'd been noticing for quite awhile in my Google Analytics account that a bunch of my page views come from people Googling some variation of the above phrase. Interesting, isn't it?

It's funny to think that what a person blogs on casually one time could be seen by a number of different people over a long period of time.

I'd rather this post or maybe this post were the ones bringing more traffic but maybe they will after they've been out there longer. It does motivate me to want to write things that might have some positive impact on the people who'll find them.

Do you have Google Analytics - if so, what search terms bring people to your blog? Oh and if you don't have
Google Analytics, I know someone who's written a very popular article about how to install it on your blogger account. :)

(Oh and another top search term for my blog is Dwight Schrute quotes.) Ha ha.

Why I Am A Christian

2009-10-23T13:13:00.005-05:00

Why am I a Christian? What does it even mean to be a Christian? When some people think about Christians, all they picture are a bunch of hypocrites who condemn them. Others idea of being a Christian is working hard to follow a list of rules, living in fear of the wrath of an angry God.

But, the Bible says perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

If fear and “working hard to get it right” describe your idea of Christianity, I’d like to present another view.

I'm a Christian because I believe the Gospel is the truth. I believe it is true for a number of reasons, one being it's the only religion I've found that isn't about what I can do. It's not about how holy and good I can be. It's not about Karma - a tally of the good and bad I've done and a scale to see which one's heaviest. I'm not counting on my "niceness" or "helpfulness" to save my soul.

I believe that no one can attain salvation - heaven - by being a good person.

The Pharisees (religious teachers around during the time of Christ) were notoriously 'good' people. They had all sorts of rules and traditions about how things should be done to best serve God. But Jesus told them that they were a bunch of whitewashed tombs. Meaning they looked great on the outside but inside them was a bunch of dead men’s bones.

Shouldn't a bunch of people who are working really hard to do the right thing and be holy be Jesus' favorite people? The Pharisees knew the scriptures; they knew and kept the law. These guys would be the preachers, missionaries and bible scholars of our day. But Jesus continually called them out. He could see their hearts and knew that what was inside them was poison. Hence, calling them a brood of vipers.

If the Pharisees were rejected by Jesus as hypocrites who were missing the point, what does that say about earning our way into God's favor?

It means that if I can fathom all the world’s mysteries and have faith that can move mountains, but don’t have love as my motive, it’s all for nothing. It means that if I give all I possess to the poor and willingly walk through fire in God’s name but don’t have love, I’ve gained nothing.

Humanity’s complete list of dos and don’ts is summed up in a single sentence: Love your neighbor as yourself.

When we try to earn our salvation through anything in ourselves, we have been separated from Christ and have turned away from the message of the gospel – salvation by grace through faith in Jesus’ death for our sins. If holiness could be achieved by human effort, Christ died for nothing.

Human effort results in pride, bitterness, and ultimately discouragement when we can’t live up to perfection.

But God’s spirit working in us produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

I am a Christian because the Gospel is good news: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Colorado Pictures

2009-10-13T14:47:00.004-05:00

The Plague Strikes Again!

2009-10-12T21:48:00.002-05:00

We're back from Colorado and managed to enjoy the week there without any illness. But, lo and behold as soon as we return to the fine state of Texas, the sickies find us again!

So far, Colton is the only ill family member. We took the poor little guy to the doctor today and he tested positive for the H1N1. Earlier in the day he had a 104 degree fever. He's definitely not a happy camper. Pray he recovers quickly and that the rest of us don't catch it!

On a more cheerful note, we had a great time on our family vacation to Colorado. Colton saw the mountains and rode in a plane for the first time. He also got to spend lots of time getting loved on by his cousins. He and his near-in-age cousin, Phoebe, had a blast throwing dominoes on the ground, sharing a broom and dust pan and running around being cute.

The weather was really nice - it even snowed a couple days for us! One of the highlights of the trip for me was visiting an outdoor museum in South Park City. The museum is made up of the largest collection of buildings from the 1800s. It had an old mine, pharmacy, railroad cars, homes, saloon and a whole bunch more!

I've got some good pictures to post, but I'll have to wait until Casey uploads them to the computer. Instead, I'm posting a couple pictures from Labor Day weekend with my brother and Dad.

Sick of the Sickies

2009-10-02T10:19:00.003-05:00

Like a bunch of other people, our family has been fighting fevers, headaches, and general funk for the last week. Isn't getting sick so inconvenient? I mean, I've got stuff to do! I don't have the time to be feeling yucky.

Our family along with Casey's parents, his sisters and their kids are going on a family vacation to Colorado this coming week. There's 15 of us (counting the one in my SIL's tummy). It's suppossed to be really pretty this time of year. I love fall leaves and this is prime time for it there!

I'm really hoping to feel completely better by the time I get on the plane Sunday. I could also really use a boost of energy to finish up packing before we leave.

Here's a cute picture I took of Colton this morning. I think he looks like a 'big boy' sipping his juice box in a regular chair. I think he felt like one too.

Friday Night Fun

2009-09-26T17:31:00.004-05:00

Last night, Casey and I got together with some friends. The boys played a video game and the girls went to Barnes and Noble.

I actually managed to whip out my camera and get a few pictures. It seems like I never remember to get pictures with friends anymore! I need to do that more often or else when I'm 70 and I look back at pictures, I'll wonder if I had any friends!

Home again, home again

2009-09-24T08:00:00.003-05:00

Last week, we made a whirlwind tour of Oklahoma for our first trip to meet with our GFA supporters. We'd planned to drive out Tuesday night, had the car all packed up and everyone in their seat but then turned back around while still in our town and decided to just start out fresh Wednesday morning. Colton was tired, we were hungry and our own beds were calling us for one more night. I guess that's one of the nice things about living a little closer to your home state.

On Wednesday morning we hit the road and made it to Oklahoma in time for our first lunch meeting. That night we stayed out in Blanchard (a small town southwest of the metro) and got to meet with some people in Norman. The rest of the week, we stayed in OKC with Casey's parents. Each day, we met with several supporters and shared about what's been going on with Gospel for Asia since we've joined staff.

Casey even got to speak to college missions class at his alma mater Southern Nazarene University. They must have liked him because they asked him to come back and speak every semester!

On Sunday, the timing worked out well for us to get to speak with the missions team at one of our supporting churches. Then we enjoyed an Oklahoma favorite: Hideaway Pizza! Yum.

On our last day, we met up with a friend from Tulsa, received a replacement phone for Casey's on-the-fritz phone (thanks Pastor Tommy), visited a woman who's held three generations of Short babies in her arms and hit the road for Texas.

It was really fun to get to reconnect with friends we hadn't seen recently and share about the ministry. After it was all over though, the whole family was really tired! I guess traveling is always a little bit tiring, but doing so many meetings in a short period of time can take it out of you! Even Colton was whooped! He dropped his morning nap several months ago but the last few days he's been wanting it again.

Unfortunately, we hardly took out our camera the whole time we were there. We did get a few picture of Colton and Grannie Fannie (the family friend who's held the Short babies). So, maybe I'll get those posted soon.

Puffy Pancakes and a Little Storm Watcher

2009-09-10T18:27:00.009-05:00

I recently got a new cookbook that I like a lot. It's from Taste of Home - it's the Busy Family Cookbook. Almost all of the recipes can be completed in 30 minutes or less and use ingredients I usually have at home. Also, I really like that it has pictures of almost every recipe. I like knowing what a recipe is supposed to look like before I try to make it.

In the last couple of weeks, I've gotten ideas for several meals from the book. I haven't actually followed the recipes too closely. Mostly it's just helped me think of new things I can cook.

One of the new recipes was lasagna roll-ups. It was really simple, and Casey LOVED it. You just cook your lasagna noodles, pour some sauce in your casserole dish. Put your ricotta cheese mixture on the noodles, roll them up and pour your sauce on top. Easy, breezy, and so good! It tastes more like manicotti because of all the cheese, but it's easier to make because you don't have to stuff the tubes.

Another new recipe (not actually from the Busy Family cookbook but another Taste of Home cookbook) was salmon patties. These were also really easy and a big hit with everyone, including Colton! You just get a large can of salmon, add 1/2 a cup of breadcrumbs, two eggs, some chopped fresh parsley, a dash of spices and 3 tablespoons of mayo, then make patties and cook them in a bit of oil in the skillet.

And lastly, this morning I made puffy oven pancakes with fruit. The recipe called for blueberries and bananas but I was out of blueberries, so I used raisins. I served Colton and my mom the pancakes and they were gobbled up. I think next time I'll try strawberries with some blueberries or bananas.

For this recipe you just put a tablespoon of butter in a pie pan and stick it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes. While it's heating up, mix 3 lightly beaten eggs and 1/2 cup milk, with 1/3 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Then pour the batter in the hot pie pan and cook for 10-12 minutes. Mix a 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon with 1 tablespoon sugar and sprinkle over fruit and spoon into puff pancake.

Also, I caught some pictures of Colton enjoying the thunderstorm we had this afternoon. He sat in front of the sliding glass door for a long time just watching the rain come down. I guess he is an Oklahoma storm lover at heart.

It's Almost My Favorite Time of Year

2009-09-04T13:42:00.003-05:00

I love fall. It always makes me feel nostalgic. Maybe because it's brings back memories of the first week of school, county fairs, pumpkin carving and the beginning of baking season.

I love the colors of fall, the coziness of fall and the general reflective feelings of fall.

I know it's still summer and that particularly here in the Dallas area we still have many warm days ahead. But the coming of fall is in the air. This last week I took several walks with Colton, and I could feel the change. Blazing heat had given way (even if only temporarily) to cooler breezes and a dash of crispness in the air.

My mother in law and I say the cooler months are "time for hearty stew." I love crock pot cooking, and as the weather cools down I know I'll be able to start making chilis, soups and stews again. Mmmm. Oh and baking, fall also ushers in the first pumpkin muffins, banana breads and gingersnaps of the season.

Yep, I'm excited for fall. I think this year I may even put out some fall decorations. Even though the leaves here may not change colors until December, come September 22, I'm busting out a few pumpkins, a bag of fake leaves and maybe even a scarecrow. Oooh, that just makes me wanna turn down the A/C, grab a scarf and drink a cup of cider.

What's your favorite season?

Livin' La Vida Loca...

2009-08-30T22:59:00.006-05:00

Remember that song? What ever happened to Ricky Martin anyway? Hmmm. I'm not quite intrigued enough to Google it. Moving on...

Well, I totally skipped out on an update last week. The week got away from me. I feel like I was busy, but of course now that it's over I can't remember with what.

I do recall that I took Colton to his first story time at the public library. The local library has a toddler story time with singing, reading, dancing and a bit of sign language. It's only 20 minutes and full of activities to keep the little guy's attention engaged. Oh, and it's free so that's a plus of course.

Colton was really cute this morning. He slept in really late for some reason, (maybe it was because he'd woken up in the middle of the night the three previous nights) so I went in to check on him to make sure he was okay. He was just laying in his bed quietly awake. He was in the best mood and snuggled with Casey in our bed for a while as I finished getting ready for church.

He's becoming so expressive and learning more and more words. He can't say too many himself but he understands a lot. He also tries to imitate words after I say them and is interested in knowing what everything is.

He's becoming more mechanically inclined as well. He can turn his floor fan on and off, climb stairs by himself, turn faucets on and off and disassemble coffee makers! That last one isn't encouraged.

I usually let Colton play with the plastic Tupperware and a few other items in the bottom kitchen cabinets. I guess I wasn't watching what he was doing closely enough yesterday because once he was done touching the coffee maker it actually took me a couple minutes to figure out how to put it back together again!

Ow Sigh! Ow Sigh!

2009-08-20T10:10:00.006-05:00

Colton has discovered a new passion: "Ow Sigh!" Translation: "Outside!"

From morning till bedtime, this is the cry of his heart... and his mouth.
Our backyard isn't much, but to Colton it's paradise. Baby slide. Water faucet. Grass. And a view to the outside world.

Ah, sweet bliss.

"I want an Oompa Loompa now, Daddy!"

2009-08-13T13:50:00.003-05:00

When I was in elementary school, I had a knack for doing voice imitations (or at least my mom thought so). In 5th and 6th grade, I even performed a comedy routine in our school's talent show doing imitations of the likes of Steve Urkel, Sylvester the Cat, Katharine Hepburn, Elmyra Duff (Tiny Toons) and Veruca Salt (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
(By the way, if you ask me to perform these now, I will not. Sorry. Just not gonna do it.)

This post's title is a quote from Veruca. Veruca Salt was the spoiled little girl who craved instant gratification. She saw an Oompa Loompa and wanted it. NOW. Golden-egg-laying Goose? NOW!

Sometimes, I'm like Veruca. No, I'm not desirous of possessing a little orange man or even one of those fancy geese. But, I do want what I want. And too often I want it NOW.

Maybe I don't stand up and sing a song about it in a room full of people, but I'm all too prone to thinking about my will, my way and my wants.

God's been revealing to me some of my Veruca ways recently. Including my propensity for wanting things on my time. Mostly for me, it's not about wanting 'stuff' but instead wanting things done.

Like in our recent move, there are a hundred (maybe not quite that many) different things I want done. Blinds up, curtains hung, dryer fixed... blah, blah, blah. And of course I don't want to wait. I don't want to have to be patient. I just want everything finished, and a nice shiny red bow on top wouldn't be too much to ask either.

But, God's teaching me that it's okay to wait. It's okay if things are a bit chaotic, flawed or unfinished. They'll get done eventually. Or maybe they won't. It's not the end of the world. There's bigger things to focus on than getting my next Oompa Loompa... or dryer working.

Thoughts on Moving

2009-08-04T15:20:00.004-05:00

Last Wednesday, our family moved out of our rent house and into a house we bought. Moving is always a little bit crazy. You pack your stuff, assume you'll halfway remember that you put your baby's sheets in with some blown-glass fish, and you're off. Then, you arrive at your new place and unload boxes. Come baby's bedtime you're desperatley searching for that missing pair of sheets. The fishies ain't saying a word.

Same with the shower curtain rings, except I still haven't found the elusive box that houses them. Maybe I should summon my inner blown-glass fish or better yet, a ceramic turtle.

I've been up late the last few night trying to get the place in order. It's not there yet, but we're making progress.

We haven't gotten internet set up at the house yet (I'm at my mom's), but AT&T is suppossed to be coming tomorrow to hook us up.

The house closing went well, and Colton only sort of freaked out as we signed our one-millionth document, promised all our organs, a gallon of plasma and our second-born child in exchange for a set of keys.

Casey and I also got to meet several of our neighbors this weekend. There's a number of Asian/Indian families near us which I'm excited about. We had some really cool Pakistani neighbors in Edmond. Shout out to Lubna and Mahmood!

Well, I'm off to Home Depot to buy some nails to hang pictures. The ones I bought last week must be hiding with my shower curtain rings . . .

What's All That Beef For?

2009-07-23T14:28:00.005-05:00

As I was running errands with Colton this afternoon, for some reason, I started wondering about body builders. Not just regular gym folks. I mean those possessing the sort of muscles that call for an extreme double take.

Like this fellow here on the left.

And it got me wondering what do these body builders do with biceps that are as big as a studio apartment, quads as thick as tree trunks and abs with infinite ripples? Do they help friends move and carry everything themselves? Do they look for toppled school buses to turn them over, rescue kids and become heros?

Or do they just spend a lot of time in the gym. Lifting REALLY heavy weights.

Do we, as believers, ever build up huge "muscles" but not fully use them? I imagine most of us don't feel like spiritual Hulks. More like the puny, pale kid at the gym. Using all the weight machines wrong, worn out and embarrassed after our first couple attempts. But even as meager and slight as we feel, in Christ, we do have strength.

His power in us. Like the song says: "Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong."

"...We ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves."
2 Corinthians 4:7

Tickle Time with Daddy

2009-07-16T17:06:00.002-05:00

Chick fil-A Cow Appreciation Day Pictures

2009-07-10T16:33:00.007-05:00

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick fil-A - which meant if you dressed up like a cow, you got a free combo meal!

My nieces are staying with us this week so we thought it'd be fun to get dressed up and enjoy some free chicken nuggets.

Even Colton got in on the action. Normally, he pulls off anything I put on his head in a jiff, but for some reason he didn't mind having his
"ears" on. Maybe he knew how dang cute he'd look. :)

Finish Dancing and Grace Under Fire

2009-07-06T22:53:00.012-05:00

I feel like posting something a bit more serious than some of my usual fare. But, all I've got in my head right now is the lyrics from this weird Finnish music video.

That and the sound of Casey's hysterical laughter as he watches funny videos on youtube.

I guess I could segue that into something on how there's a time for everything. A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

In life, we need the changes of the seasons. (Boy Howdy, my senior English teacher wasn't joking about the value of a transition!) The unexpected and uninvited keep us from getting too comfortable in our own skin and shifting into autopilot.

But just because change is good for us, doesn't mean we enjoy it. Recently, I've been challenged to keep a good attitude during the unexpected. Nothing earth-shattering or particularly noteworthy, just those minor happenings that pop up in life and create a few ripples.

When these hiccups occur, my first and most natural response is to want them over with quickly and to get back to my routine. But lately I've been trying to view life's twists and turns as opportunities for personal growth.

I believe that nothing comes into my life except what God allows. There are a number of scriptures that persuade me of this: Jeremiah 29:11, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Romans 8:28.

When God brings something into my life - a person, a new responsibility, a messy diaper when I'm all out of wipes - whatever it is, it can serve a purpose, but I have to be willing to receive it.

I'm reminded of a guy named Joseph. Joseph had a lot of hotheaded brothers who got really ticked off at him and decided to sell him into slavery. (Now that's some serious family dysfunction.) After being sold into slavery, Joseph's life doesn't get easier. He was falsely accused of trying to seduce his boss's wife and then thrown into an Egyptian prison. Eventually, God provided an opportunity for Joseph to show his true character, and he rose to the occasion, becoming one of the most powerful men in the country.

By this time, things weren't going quite so well for the fiery brothers. Broke, hungry and feeling kind of desperate, they went to Eygpt looking for help and ended up face to face with the brother they'd betrayed. Understandably, the brothers were terrified that Joseph would use his power to take revenge on them. But instead Joseph said to them, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good..." Joseph forgave his brothers and put his love into action by providing for them in their poverty and hunger.

Joseph suffered a lot more hardships than I ever have. But in the midst of his suffering, he chose to honor God, show mercy to those who hurt him and find ways to express kindness and love.

As my seasons shift back and forth from weeping to laughing and dancing to mourning, I want to do the same. Life's never going to be just what I expect it to be. God will continue to shape me and refine me to be the woman he wants me to be. And that's a good thing.

The Return of Summer

2009-06-29T12:55:00.004-05:00

No, this post isn't about how I'm returning from some exciting adventure or philosophical sabbatical. It's about how after a number of years, I'm experiencing summertime again.

Once I finished school and joined the full-time workforce, summertime became a rather overlooked period of time falling between my front yard gardening weeks and the Oklahoma State Fair.

For those of you who work in an office, you know how easy it is to forget what time of year it is. Especially, if you have a strict dress code (which I did) that requires wearing a skirt suit, pantyhose and heels rain, shine or smoldering heat.

I often remember sitting at my desk in a climate-controlled building and having no idea what the outside weather was like and even struggling to remember what month it was.

All that to say, since having Colton, the seasons have returned! Part of that is because I actually go outside during daylight hours. The other reason is my "office building" is not nearly as climate-controlled as my previous jobs. When it's hot outside my house lets me know. When it's cold, I'm busting out the space heater trying to warm my frozen toes.

Having a toddler, (What! Did I just say toddler? Oh, that is crazy that he's a toddler now.) has also got me into or at least dangerously close to water more often this summer than in probably 10 years. Not that Colton can actually swim yet, but he just looks so darn cute in his swim trunks that I can't resist any opportunity to bring him to the pool.

Check out a couple of adorable pictures our friend Tony recently took of Colton in his swim trunk cuteness.

Ouch!

2009-06-22T11:52:00.003-05:00

I recently starting working out to Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I wanted something challenging that I could do at home that wouldn't take all day.

I've tried quite a few workout videos in the past and this one's my favorite so far. It's under 30 minutes, and she's really motivational. That said, it's not easy. At least not for me. Lots of push ups, jumping jacks, squats, lunges and lifting weights.

For the first few weeks, I started out on Level 1 (there are 3 different workouts on the DVD) and then got gutsy and moved up to Level 2 last Wednesday.

It was all right the first day. I was tired and my shoulder was sore, but I decided to be a trooper and do Level 2 again on Thursday. Well, that was the last time my body was pain-free for the next few days.

I must have pinched something in my neck and by Saturday was having horrible spasms behind my ear. It was so painful I couldn't talk during them or even eat a really delicious meal that some friends had invited us to that night.

I don't know if this is related, but all weekend I also had a fever and was really weak. I took some pain/fever reducer but my temperature was still about 101.

Weird.

So, I think I'll return to Level 1 for now (that is once Casey permits me to put in my workout DVD again) and quit trying to be so macho.

Colton Took His First Steps!

2009-06-08T18:10:00.003-05:00

Colton took his first steps this afternoon, and we caught it on camera! Please forgive his consumption of a paper envelope. Typically, I would have taken the offending item away sooner, but we didn't want to disrupt his precious first steps.

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men

2009-06-07T18:30:00.007-05:00

Wow, this was a crazy week! For those of you who don't know, Casey was suppossed to leave to go to India this past Friday (June 6th). One of our supporters heads up the international recruiting department at the University of Central Oklahoma and makes regular trips to India to seek out new students. He invited Casey to join him on this trip and was really eager to have Casey see the country with him.

All the plans were laid, the tickets bought, vaccines injected, visa purchased . . . and then two nights before he was to head out of town, something unexpected happened.

On Tuesday, Casey started to experience pain in his back and stomach. The pain persisted off and on throughout the day until about 6:30 p.m. when it suddenly became excruciating. We thought about going up to the emergency room right then but a few minutes later the pain had subsided. But, it didn't stay gone for long. By about 10 p.m. the pain was back in full force. We decided we'd better head to the emergency room and figure out what was going on.

A CAT scan revealed Casey had a 4mm kidney stone that was in the early stages of its trip out of his body. After treating Casey's pain and getting him hydrated through an IV, the ER doctor sent us home with several prescriptions and a warning that attempting to go to India in a few days would be "tricky."

The next day was really bad. After about 8 hours of horrible pain at home, we finally headed back to the ER to get stronger pain relief. The prospects for the trip to India weren't looking promising.

Thursday morning Casey was still struggling with nausea, exhaustion and intervals of pain, so he decided to forgo joining his friend on the trip to India.

He was a bummed to miss out on the opportunity, but we trust that God had a reason for the way things happened and are thankful that the kidney stone didn't appear a few days later while he was already in India.

Today Casey has still been battling pain but not as severe as before. We're hoping that he's almost at the end of this thing.

Please keep him in your prayers.

Learning How to Fly

2009-05-31T19:27:00.012-05:00

This weekend, the family traveled to Huntsville, Texas for GFA's staff retreat. We really had a good time. It was fun to get to spend time with other staff members in a more relaxed environment. We swam, did a ropes course, played board games and Casey fished (and even caught about 30 fish in the lake!)
Sleeping the first night was a bit rough. We're not used to being in the same room with the little guy, and we accidently woke him up on Friday night. He cried for at least an hour solid and then was up with the chickens at 5:45 a.m. But the next night, I think he was so exhausted that he conked right out and stayed asleep. Yay!

I'm sharing the pictures of me at the ropes course. I can't remember the exact name of this obstacle, but it requires climbing to the top of a tall (TALL!) wooden pole and then standing at the top. You then summon up what wee bit of courage you have left and jump off in an attempt to grab a swinging bar a few miles above you.

Casey and I both did the pole climbing event - he was able to grab the bar though. I missed it but I was still proud of myself for getting up there.

Extreme Makeover: Chair Edition

2009-05-27T12:45:00.018-05:00

Last week, my mom and I gave my dining room chairs a new look. It was a surprisingly (to me at least) easy project. I got the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby, borrowed a couple staple guns from friends at GFA, and we went to work reupholstering the chairs. While we were re-covering the chairs we noticed several were missing nuts and bolts so we replaced those too. Now, I've got sturdier chairs with a new look.
Yay for DITY projects that work out!

If you're interested in doing something like this for your own chairs, here are a few more details. If you have 6 chairs, you'll probably need a little less than three yards of fabric. Like I said, I got mine from Hobby Lobby. They have a really good upholstery selection. I also checked out Joanne's Fabric, but they were more expensive.

Once you have your material, cut it to fit each of the seats. Make sure you leave enough room to pull the fabric under on the bottom of the seat cushion.
Then, unscrew the seat cushion from the frame of the chair.

Begin pulling the fabric taut on the cushion and place your first staple. Continue placing staples about an inch apart.

When you get to the corners, make sure the fabric is smooth before stapling. When you're finished stapling, trim the excess fabric and put the chair together again.

Wah-la! You're done with your first chair!

Happy Birthday, Colton!

2009-05-19T11:17:00.005-05:00

Colton is one year old today! This weekend we celebrated with a small party at our house. I made a cake that looked like the little stuffed puppy dog he sleeps with at night.
Colton had a great time devouring blue frosting, playing with his friends and trying out his new toys.
As you can see in a few of the pictures below, one of his gifts was a Radio Flyer red wagon. Colton demonstrated he is a true southern gentlemen by pushing his gal pal, Ava, around in the wagon.
It's been a precious, life-altering year! I'm so thankful for our little boy.

Woof Woof (in Colton speak) Looking For Lodging

2009-05-12T17:35:00.003-05:00

As some of you may know, my mom is moving to Texas and will be staying at our place for about a month. She has a one and a half year old lab/boxer/miscellaneous mix but our lease won't let us have pets so we’re looking for a place to keep Gus for about a month, preferably in the North Dallas area.
She will pay $100/month to board him and will pay for all of his food (Purina Dog Chow, once a day). Let me know if interested. ☺

From my mom: Gus likes other dogs, is neutered, and is up-to-date on his vaccines. He has a certificate of health from his veterinarian. He's an outdoor dog.
He loves to have his belly or behind scratched. He says "awwwwrrrrrwwww" as a greeting. Other pet tricks include knowing how to sit and giving hugs. He knows not to jump up on people.

Of Ants, Caffeine and Taxes or: The Tale of The Caffeineted Formicidae Publican

2009-05-06T16:17:00.006-05:00

I'm hoping this is one of my longest titles yet. Blogspot is currently giving away 3 million Twinkies to the blogger with the longest title this month. Hmmm, no not really. But . . . I am giving away lots of laughs for long, goofy titles, particulary those pertaining to government-employed insects. No expiration date on that offer, ladies and gentlemen.

Now, on to the very serious and not at all humorous matters my title highlights.

1. There are ants in my kitchen. I am spending 99.9% of my waking hours in one of these tasks:
a. squishing ants
b. squirting ants with bleach
c. pouring vinegar on the kitchen counters to deter ants from their party-like-it's-1999 invasion
d. giving ants dirty looks in hopes of discouraging them from wanting to hang out with me

2. I'm temporarily on a coffee hiatus. I get migraines (although taking riboflavin has reduced their frequency - thanks for the tip, dad!). My dependence on coffee to start the day seems to be a trigger. On Friday night, I had a real brain splitter. It even involved puking (this detail included for all of you who relish TMI). So I haven't had any coffee since Saturday morning. I must say I'm feeling less cotton-eyed upon waking up in the morning. But I do miss it already. Tea is only a so-so substitute for rich, creamy coffee. We'll see how long I can hold out.

3. I'm filing our taxes. What's that you say? They were due in April? Uh Ohhhhh. Just kidding. We filed our extension like good law-abiding citizens. This is my first year to work on our taxes since I married Casey. (When he owned his business, the taxes were more complicated and an accountant did them.) I'm using H&R Block's online tax program. It's free and actually really easy and even a little fun. Especially, the part where they tell you how much of a refund you'll get. :)

Busy, Busy Bee

2009-05-01T14:13:00.004-05:00

This week has been jam-packed for me! My mom was in town on Tuesday and Wednesday and I spent the days looking at houses with her. (She's moving down to Texas in a couple weeks).

Also, our family has had an event/meeting nearly every evening this week. Then, I've also been trying to finish up my assigned reading that's part of the new staff training program at GFA. And of course, Colton is just getting more and more active. So, I'm feeling pretty wiped out!

I guess life is kind of feast or famine like that. Sometimes, things are really slow-paced for a while and then other times are busier.

Since this weekend is set to be busy as well, I'm signing off to go to the grocery store and tend to the little man.

Reflections of ... The Way Life Used to Be . . .

2009-04-24T12:37:00.005-05:00

Sing it now!

This morning I was thinking about the days shortly after Colton was born. I think having a baby is such a surreal experience. Life is never the same. Sleep is never the same. When you leave the hospital with that little bundle, it's all hits home (literally and figuratively).

It's funny that it wasn't all that long ago but in some ways it feels like ages ago. I'm thankful to be getting more sleep these nights and to see Colton's personality develop more every day.

Some days, I feel sad that he's growing up so fast though. The baby stage seems to be slipping away so quickly, but at the same time it's so fun to watch him grow. He loves to play with us, he gives hugs and giggles when he knows he's being funny. He's attached to his little stuffed puppy dog and says "woof," when holding it.

I hope I can remember these days so that I can reflect on them when they're gone. I know the memory is faulty though, so I guess it's good that I'm writing things down.

My Little Sherpa

2009-04-17T16:11:00.006-05:00

This picture is illustrative of my life these days! Colton has discovered climbing and I'm in trouble!

Every time I open the fridge, Colton scurries over and tries to rummage around in there.

Today, he discovered he could use one of his wicker toy baskets flipped upside down as a step to help him climb up his rather unstable bookcase. In lieu of bolting it to the wall since we're in a rental, I think we're just going to remove the hazardous shelf to the garage.

Yesterday, my mountain climbing baby tried to hike out of the bathtub and instead slipped and fell face first in the water (no harm done, don't worry grandmas - mom was close at hand).

I've also now realized the foolishness of having china in one of my bottom kitchen cabinets. A couple of hours ago, Colton had crawled completely inside this cabinet. Fortunately, I was on my toes and removed anything before it got broken. Oh yes, and my two-foot tall brick hearth is now Mt. Everest for Sherpa boy. It also doubles at a chew toy. Talk about nails on a chalkboard, the sound of teeth grinding on brick is far worse! (Note to all amateur/real deal dentists: I do intervene and put a stop to this grinding away of precious enamel as quickly as possible.)

Yowzers. I know this is just the beginning!! I better get READY for some serious action.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-09T10:57:00.002-05:00

New Look, Same Old Me

2009-04-08T14:52:00.002-05:00

Last night I downloaded a blog template from btemplates.com. I hope you're not too terribly startled. I know change can be scary. Just take deep breaths. Good, good, that's real good.

You'll see my sidebar now has the labels widget - making it easier to sort through old posts. Very exciting, I know.

Casey and I are looking forward to Easter. GFA is closed on Good Friday, so we'll have a longer weekend. If you live in Oklahoma, maybe we'll bump into to you!

Some cool stuff has been going on for me - my mom is moving down here soon! Yay! She just got a contract on her house in Oklahoma City after only a few weeks on the market. Woo hoo! It will be really nice to have her so close.

No More Paint Chip Sandwiches!

2009-04-03T10:24:00.014-05:00

This week, I learned about an invention that I didn't even know there was a need for until very recently.

Flash back a few weeks: Colton begins standing in his crib and strange white flecks mysteriously appear around his mouth.

At first, I thought these white dots were dried spit up. Then, I noticed he'd been chewing on his stuffed puppy dog's nose and thought it might be from that.

Meanwhile, there's a flake in his hair, one behind his ear and a couple on his cheek, etc.

Yes, Colton's crib is white and yes, I know he bites it and everything else in his reach. But I didn't put it together that the flecks were coming from his crib.

Just so you don't think I'm completely obtuse, I have to say it was hard to see any bite marks without looking very closely. But upon close inspection this weekend, I did indeed find a row of teeth marks up and down the inside of Colton's crib rail.

Now what? How could I stop him from eating paint and ruining his crib rail at the same time? This is where other mommy friends come in handy. As I explained my dilemma to my friend Teressa, she informed me of a wonderful invention called crib rail protectors!

Apparently, Colton is not the first baby in the world to have teeth or a crib!

After learning of this very practical invention, I ordered Colton one of his own - set to arrive any day now. Poor Lil' Colton will be so disappointed that he doesn't get to snack on delicious latex paint after each of his naps. :)

This picture is obviously not of Colton in his crib - but it does picture the connoisseur of fine dining in his ready-to-eat-paint-chips pose!

Maintaining Center

2009-03-24T11:52:00.007-05:00

Legalism. Freedom in Christ. Rebellion.

Do you ever find it difficult to maintain center? I know I do.

For Christians eager to please God, the path of legalism can be a tempting road.

This reminds me of a line from "Fellowship of the Ring." (Of course, I must always have my LOTR reference) This scene is set when Boromir tries to persuade Frodo to give him the ring and Frodo responds with: "I know what you would say, and it would seem like wisdom, but for the warning in my heart."

Working hard to attain my own righteousness (legalism) is often alluring. But legalism's bitterness is revealed in fruit it produces. Pride. Fear. Weariness.

I think one important difference between actual godliness and man-made righteousness is its origin.

Good fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) is a product of close fellowship with the Lord. Reflecting his image.

Legalism comes from trying to create my own righteousness.

"How hard can I try?"
"How much can I sacrifice?"
"How much do I love the Lord?"

It's all about me and my strength. This is a hard and heavy road. It's not the road I want to travel.

This is the way I want to go:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Swingin' in the Park

2009-03-22T22:38:00.003-05:00

Casey's Aunt Ozzie and his Cousin Kathy and her 1-year-old daughter are visiting Casey's family in Oklahoma this week. So this weekend we drove up to Ardmore to meet up with the rest of the fam for a visit. Ardmore is about halfway between Oklahoma City and The Colony. We've met Casey's parents there for lunch a couple of times. There's not a whole lot to do in Ardmore, but there is a Starbucks, a few restaurants and a Walls - all of which we've made good use of in the past.

There were 3 babies, 4 little kids, and 9 adults - we really struggled to tell the hostess at the restaurant how many were in our party. We kept starting our count then losing track. Math must not be our strong suit.

After our group ate lunch, we headed over to a park where the kids played. As you can see in these pictures, Colton enjoyed swinging at the park and even shared the seat with his sweet red-haired cousin.

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