Monday, June 25, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANDLER!

Today my lil' guy turns 4! I'm not sure how the years keep passing me by so quickly, but it's been a great ride. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful son. Without Chandler in my life I sure wouldn't been the woman I am today. The impact of his little life on mine has been monumental. He has grown me in ways that no one else in my life could have, and for that I am eternally grateful. I look at his sweet face and I know that God must really love me to have blessed me with the gift of "Channy-Man" :-).



And now........

"4 Years With Chandler"





They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come...


Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade...

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up...

I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you...


How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough...

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up...


As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful...

You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade...


How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough...

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough...

Cause I'm never, never giving you up...

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough...

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up...




Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
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*Click on video to hear this song :-)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Swing Sets, Swimming Pools, and Sonic!

Going along with this "Season Of Change" we are currently experiencing, the time had come for the backyard to experience some "change" as well :-). This past Sunday marked 6 years in the old "White Manor", and I'm proud to say we finally have something for the kids to play on in the backyard. Yes, it took us 6 years to buy a swing set!

After nearly going INSANE last year because the kids were climbing the walls 24/7, I swore that would be the last summer we went without a swing set (and we all know how I am about those promises-LOL!). SO.....I had a garage sale a few weeks ago & I let go of nearly every baby item I own!!! Yep, I sold about 95% of my baby gear, and ALL of the baby clothes. It was bittersweet letting go of it all, but it was the only way I could make enough $$$ for my kids to get that new swing set. If I was having a hard time letting go of something I just told myself it was all for a good cause (and my future sanity).

In the end we made a good chunk of change, and I was able to find a really nice set that we could finally afford. Of course, Jonathan had to "assemble" (aka: "build") the fort/swing set, which turned out to be quite an adventure in and of itself. Let's just say that swing set is staying here should we ever move!

*I think my sanity should be in tact by the end of this summer....don't you?

Jonathan had lots of "help" putting the swing set together :-)

After two weeks at summer school (on the BIG playground), McKenna has become a pro at swinging all by herself.

My one criteria for the new swing set was that it HAD to have a big slide (and a fort)! For this reason :-)


Maya LOVES to swing....ALL. THE. TIME!

Channy is just trying to figure out how to swing straight-LOL!

*I guess I don't have any pictures of the WHOLE swing set...I'll have to take one :-)


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To celebrate getting our new backyard "ornament", I took the kids to Sonic for our first "taste of the summer" experience. It was a blast watching them look over the ENTIRE menu before ordering. Of course we had to eat some of our ice cream IN the car (because that's just what you do at Sonic) before we took it home. I had so much fun watching them that night. They would go from eating their ice cream as fast as they could, to taking turns doing silly things down the slide, and then running back to the porch for a quick dip in the kiddie pool before they would repeat the whole process over and over again. By the end of the night the slide had sticky ice cream steaks all up and down it, and the kiddie pool was half grass/half water,...it was a hoot! As I cleaned up the ice cream cups, hosed off the slide, and drained the little pool, I laughed as I said to myself "this is what summertime is all about...swimming pools, swing sets and SONIC!".




Monday, June 11, 2007

The haircut.

Ok, so this s NOT the best picture, but I knew I had to post something before I got in trouble with all my faithful blog readers-LOL! So, here is a picture Tricia took of me after we had been laying out for two hours. I'm sweaty, and the shadows make me look like I have a "root" problem (which I don't....just paid good $$$ to get that fixed!)...but here it is :-)


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*Jodi- notice I'm not posting this after midnight ;-) Tell me you're so proud-hehe!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

A Season Of Change!

After watching my husband work a crazy 24/7, 365, INSANE work schedule for the past 3 years....it's finally OVER! Jonathan GOT A NEW JOB!

For those of you who have been close to our family over the past couple of years, you know how HUGE this news is to our family. Jonathan has always worked over 40 hours at his job, but he never got paid any over-time. He managed an entire hotel (the IT stuff) by himself, and never had anyone who could help him out. It made our life SO stressful, because we felt like life was always on hold. He could hardly work a second job, because he was always on call at his first job. He worked holidays, weekends, and in the middle of the night! Whenever that cell phone rang...he was back to work! There was no such thing as a vacation either! He was even called into work the day our third child was born....nothing was sacred. Not to mention the two trips to the ER for health-related stress problems. I was beginning to think this job was going to kill my husband.

I tried to be patient and supportive through all of this, because I really didn't have any other choice. It was awful to see the kind of stress that he was under, and even worse when I saw that he was never really appreciated. It's so hard to see someone you love make huge sacrifices & then not get anything in return. It's heartbreaking!

However, God did see! How quickly I forget that God sees everything! Back when I wrote about "El Roi" (the God Who Sees), you can bet I was also thinking of my husband & his work situation. However, it's amazing to me, even stunning, how quickly I FORGET! It's seems like we had prayed SO LONG for Jonathan to find new work, that we started to forget that God's timing is not always our timing. We had several ups & downs in the job search, and I began to "not get my hopes up"...not even when things looked good. I have to admit that I stayed quite "numb" through this recent job inquiry, even when it looked "good", because I didn't want to feel any more disappointment.

Now, for the good news...

Jonathan will be working for a bank! A BANK (*although THE bank will remain nameless for now)! 10 Federal Holiday's a year...PLUS 15 vacation days (what are those?). Since the beginning of our marriage Jonathan has never, I repeat, NEVER had this sort of luxury! It's almost too much to process. I wanted to cry tonight when my neighbor said "now you can be a family!". He's right!! Jon will only be on call once every 5 weeks, and the kicker...HE WILL BE PAID OVERTIME when he is on-call! We haven't been familiar with that term since the good old SPRINT era ;-).

There are some things I will miss about the Hotel though. Jonathan did work with some great people, and I will miss getting to see them & be connected with their lives. There is always a bit of sadness when you have to move on, and I will always remember the good things about his Sheraton job. Like the $49 hotel rooms anywhere in the US, our awesome $420 King-size Sheraton "Sweet Sleeper" bed, and the free food :-)

I'm positive that God placed Jonathan at the hotel for a reason. I'm also certain that He has a plan to use that time in our lives to learn and grow us for bigger and better things ahead. So as not to sound "unthankful", I want to praise God for sustaining us over the last few years. I am thankful that my husband had a job, and worked so hard to support our family. God really is good...all the time.

If you read all of this, give yourself a pat on the back. This was really cathartic to be able to "vent" and let go of this tension I've had bottled up. I think I'm just now letting myself believe that I may get to have my husband back in my life now. I'm still in some state of disbelief, but I'll get there....I'll get there.

Praise be to God!

Sometimes I don't get dressed for the day until 5:00...pm, and on the weekend I let my kids eat cookies for breakfast. I drank coffee (and sometimes diet coke) when I was pregnant. I use under eye concealer to cover up my zits & I bake when I'm stressed. If you can deal with all that....then welcome to our family blog!