Sushi

Wow!!! Last night Paul and I got Sushi. Noah had already eaten dinner. But, he loved the chopsticks so we got him a set of his own to play with. Well, he stuck one right through a piece of sushi and started eating it!!! He ate an entire Philadelphia Roll (which is fully cooked) and he gnawed on some other ones. When the sushi was all gone, he kept sticking his chopsticks in Paul's soy sauce which was loaded with Wasabi and just eating that! Noah is surely our son....


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CHEEEEEESE

ok, so we taught Noah to say "cheese" when he smiles but he takes it so overboard that he looks RIDICULOUS. He squints and pushes his teeth out so he looks like a chipmunk. He looked adorable this morning before school so I tried to get him to smile but it was a pathetic attempt. any suggestions?

An "ordinary" night out...

Paul and I headed to my cousin Justin's 30th birthday party in Trappe last Saturday night and we really had a nice time. Paul and I really enjoyed feeling like we were going "out" like the old days. My parents watched Noah and let him eat pizza and stay up late -- what are grandparents for!? It was so nice though... it felt sort of normal or ordinary... i have the best husband in the world.

CHRISTMAS!

Oh we had such a great day! Ina stayed over Christmas Eve and we stayed up til 2:30 working on last minute gifts and wrapping. When Noah woke up at 4 and 7 we were zombies! But, after the family showed up and our house was BOMBARDED by presents, we had so much fun! We let Noah go first and just kept piling presents on him. Poor guy got upset because every thing he saw had to be surgically removed from its package and took forever. He must have opened 40 presents! But then we saved our tricycle for last and he loved it so much. He just kept sitting on it and saying "ride it ride it" and we would push him around the house. sooo sweet!!! Then Noah took a nap and the adults exchanged gifts which was also so much fun! Paul got his banjo! I am so excited for him -- what a cool gift!! Eric got an infrared cooker and then we made our steak for dinner in it! Everyone was so happy and just glad to be together. I was still a little under the weather and tired but I enjoyed it all so much I didn't mind!

After everyone left, Eric and Crissy stayed and played the Wii and just relaxed with us. We feel so lucky to have them as friends as well as relatives!

sick

ugh. i am so sick. i had my bausman kids over for lunch friday and i was FINE. then i was just sitting here at about dinner time and my throat just swelled shut and it was awful! i spent the whole night crying and writhing. I went to the doctor saturday morning and laid on the floor in the waiting room because I couldn't sit upright. The nurse yelled at me because i couldn't open my mouth for the strep test, but it turns out that is what it was. a "severe case" -- 3 days before christmas! i had to cancel my super fun dinner with my camp friends and i didn't even make it to church on sunday. i held a steady 103 fever for a while but finally it broke last night. i'm praying i can go tonight but there are no promises. thank god paul is so awesome... he's spending his break cleaning and baking and watching noah. poor guy.

Taylor

Well, years ago when I was working at Bausman in Reading, I had a girl in my confirmation calass named Taylor Swift. She was 13 and had just started playing the guitar. It was about this time of year and she was writing stuff down during a sermon of mine about Christmas. Later that day her dad called me to tell me she wrote a song about my sermon. Then, on Christmas Eve she brought her guitar and rocked our pre-Christmas eve recital! I was so touched and held on to that song since then.

Then when she made the big time, I thought there was no way a s ong so clearly about Jesus would make it. But here it is! It is her most requested song right now.

A few weeks ago her dad called me and said "I didn't know if you heard, but Taylor is doing well." haa haa, how could I not hear! I'm so proud of her!!!

Praying

 

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

 

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

 

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

 

(Thirst)

 

hmmm.. i could say i have been reading poetry, but this one came from an oprah magazine i snagged from the gym.  oddly enough i have had the oddest conversations about oprah recently.  some people really hate her, but i have to admit that the magazine was awesome.  from very healthy looking models to oprah's letter about her inability to keep up with her own life, to the 20 page pull out about how to have a green christmas and recycle everything you give and get, not to mention some good coupons.  enjoy.