CAKE, the band

Last night Wendy and I went to see Cake. They are a great band. Lot's of fun - great show!

A hero

It's one of those moments that leaves you thinking about life and how quickly it can change. Javier has been in our children's ministry class before and we have known the Andrade family through church here in the Bay Area.

The full story here: San Mateo Daily Journal

Yosemite is.....AWESOME.

We have wanted to go to Yosemite for a long time, and never seemed to get it together to make a trip. We decided last week to go for Presidents' Weekend. We got a place at Tenaya Lodge which I HIGHLY recommend! There is so much to do right there and winter is a great time to go. Sledding, skiing (next year maybe), snowshoeing, cross country skiing (snore), really anything you want. We even had a couple of "incidents" which really made it exciting....sort of...a car accident behind us and the driver yelling at us to place blame, and a sledding mishap which sent another person's kid to the hospital...snow falling off the roof of the hotel and landing on a woman just a few feet away from us...you may want to check before you go to make sure we are not there, we may be bad luck! haha. At any rate, it was great just to get away with the family for a few days and enjoy being together. The boys are getting to a less labor-intensive stage and it made for a lot of fun.

Anyway...the real highlight...the pictures!

Back again if there is anyone left reading...

Oh my, what a sorry blog we have here. Almost two months to the day since the last entry!

It has been an eventful two months. On Dec. 20th I got "a cold" which turned into "the stomach flu" which by Christmas was "the worst stomach flu of my life"...which, by Jan. 2nd, put me in the ER with pneumonia. I spent four lovely days at Sequoia Hospital learning how to breathe through a little peace pipe and getting all kinds of strange shots and stuff in my IV. It was actually one of those defining experiences that change your whole perspective. It was a strange way to end 2008 and begin 2009, but there is so much good I have taken away from it.

~ Our bodies are not as strong as we like to think they are. You can be fine and then JUST like that, everything can go wrong and you can be completely overtaken. Shortly after I was released from the hospital I found out one of my old roommates had passed away of literally the same thing, leaving behind a 4 month old baby. It completely broke my heart and instantly gave me the conviction to never let an illness go unchecked again. Rest in peace, Debi. You were a great friend.

~ I have amazing friends and family. My parents drove 12 hours to be with our family and worked their butts off taking care of the kids, preparing meals, taking down our poor sad Christmas tree and making sure I recovered fully. My husband took care of the boys all by himself for almost two weeks. I think they ordered pizza for Christmas and had Taco Bell for New Years while I was completely out of it. I could name 20 people who watched our kids, brought us meals, did our dishes, visited me, and helped us in a million other ways.

~ I knew this, but it really reminded me...people are so much more important than stuff. I spent so much of 2008 ticked off about what I didn't have...my own house, a "nice neighborhood", a solid size 6...none of that matters when you're in a hospital bed. I came home so happy to have people who care about me and children who love me and yell "MOMMY" at me...who cares about the rest. Really it doesn't matter at all. I can be happy right here in my rented duplex on the expressway if I have deep spirited friends.

So, I am back. I no longer have fluid in my lungs. I took 7 weeks off from running and now I am paying for it. I know it will take time but I am humbled again at my own weakness, and thankful that I am alive to be able to go run...that my legs work and my lungs breathe. I hope 2009 is being equally good to you. I will do better at updating...I promise! We are off to Yosemite this weekend for Presidents' Day, so maybe I will even get some good pictures!

December thoughts

I'm sitting down for what seems like the first time all day...I know it's not, but it's been one of those breakneck weeks where I seem to be running until 10pm every night. I hear Wesley and Nathan talking in the bedroom, Thomas is already asleep, I wonder how long those two will go at it. I've already been in there several times. I'm not at all sure that putting all of them in one bedroom was a good idea.

I dumped one of my dresser drawers out on the bed because I can never find anything. I was supposed to organize it today, but I never got around to it. What should I do at bedtime? Stick it back in the drawer? Put it on the floor?

What do you get your THIRD son for Christmas? He's truly the man who has everything!

Sometimes I feel like a completely ineffective parent. Even during the writing of this post I have separated them and still Nathan continues to goof around. I can't begin to tell you how different he has been from the other two. He really has a will of steel. I feel so worn out sometimes.

I wasn't intending to come here to complain. Oh well. I suppose these days will pass.

The picture is of Thomas, helping Jason put lights on the roof last weekend. I can't believe I didn't have a heart attack watching. It must be the third time mom in me. I just thought it was adorable.