My sweet friends surprised me with a little party and a dim sum dinner! When I got home I had this wonderful surprise waiting for from my hubby and kids. Isn’t is great? And yes, those are Starbucks cards in the heart!
Category Archives: life
Where is the NerdMom
Sorry I have been so absent lately. I went back up to Stanford last week for another procedure. That makes 4 since April. So in the wake of that chaos and all the things I have to do to prep for the fall, specifically for MOPs, the blogs have suffered. Between the pain meds and the feeling icky, sometimes my thought process isn’t conducive to actually writing anything but I am slowly getting back so stay tuned for more postings. NerdDad has marked over 250 things in the Google Reader and I am sure some of them will rock and make it to the blog;).
First Tooth!
We are so excited when our kids get their first tooth. Who would have thought after we waited for it to arrive we would be so excited to see it leave? NerdPie lost her first tooth last night eating pizza. She was so funny because she gave a shriek, said she lost her tooth, handed it to me and then took another bite of pizza. Kids are funny;). Now we are waiting for the one right next to it to fall out. It is just barely hanging in there.
Magic Marker Monday: VBS Art
One of the big events for the NerdFamily kids in the summer is always VBS. The kids get to go and be loud for a week. They hear about God, play until they drop, sing and dance. Also they get to do lots and lots of crafts. These are but a few of the many crafts that were brought home VBS week.
Wordless Wednesday: Home Away From Home
So this is where I have been taking all my vacations lately;).
Magic Marker Monday: Custom Art
Aren’t these great? My 3 older children (8, 6, 4) did these while I was out of town last week. My friend Bethany is a preschool teacher and has no fear of messy crafts. She went and got canvases and let them loose. I am so impressed with how great they turned out! I am thinking about putting them up in the playroom. So the breakdown by artist..Far left is NerdPie (6), middle is NerdBug (8) and far right is Nerdling (almost 4).
Go check out other masterpieces!
Fingerprint Friday: I Am Not an Only
I am blessed by having some wonderful friends but, even in the midst of that love you can still feel alone. I’m not the girliest girl and I don’t always express emotions the way others think I should. So some assume that I don’t have emotions or get frustrated with me. I was reminded by a good friend (thanks Katie) that I am not an only. I never thought I was alone because God is always with me but I felt like I was the only. The only person who responds to challenge this way. The only who can be mournful of a situation at home but completely ok with it out because I feel I must be. The only one who feels that to dwell in sadness is the mistake, but it isn’t a denial of the problems or issues just becaue I can funtion happily. I forgot that the Lord has blessed me with some friends who not only accept supressed, uptight me but also are like me. It is very comforting in the chaos we are going through right now. It is great to see yet another Fingerprint of God when we need it so much!
Me and my babbling self are off to bed. Go check out some other fingerprints at Pampering Beki.
Fingerprint Friday: My Girls
My Girls. They just had birthdays last week, yes both of them. NerdPie turned 6 and NerdPud turned 2. I started thinking about having girls. See, I always wanted 4 kids but I thought it would be safer to have 4 boys. I mean I am a tomboy (still) and well, moms and daughters. Need I really say more? My mom did quite a job on me and I was petrified how I would screw up my girls. My mom and I always had this weird co-dependent relationship where she defined all I was and all I was worth. I remember when I was pregnant with NerdPie going to the Women’s Retreat. Donna Partow was talking about the difference between first and second generation Christians and just over all being a Christian woman. I had a good cry but then this piece came over me about having my first girl.
Then NerdPie was born. Both my girls have been absolutely beautiful since birth. They both have joy but NerdPie has always had this lightness and joy about her. My first stepfather (mom’s 2nd husband) has always said how much she reminds him of me when I was little. Well, that really hit me one day.
See by the time I was 6 I was on my 3rd dad and he wasn’t all that keen on me. I didn’t grow up knowing my birth father and by the time I was in 3rd grade my first stepfather was out of my life. So I always wondered what was wrong with me that not one of my fathers either loved me or loved me enough to be around. Add to that my mother has choosen to be out of my life since I have become an adult. I always have had this cloud weigh over me wondering how bad of a person I must be that my own mother doesn’t even love/like me. I figured I walked out of my childhood, teen years and even college without parental love because that must be my punishment becuase I was bad and not worthy of love. Logically I knew that the chaos in my life wasn’t all about me but that didn’t heal my heart. I knew God loved me but I didn’t emotionally understand why or how other than because He said. And that God keeps His end of the bargain. So I felt loved by God as almost an obligation.
So one day when she was probably 2(ish) I was looking at my sweet NerdPie dancing around a room. I saw all her innocence and beauty. What I saw most was her joy. A carefree joy I don’t ever remember having. I saw her giggling and reaching for me. And it hit me. God (in my heart) asked what she could do to make me turn my back and heart on her. Of course we say no but then I really thought about it. Is there anything she could ever do that would make me turn away? How about when she is an adult and crying for me? Could I walk away? My answer was of course no, never. So what ever has gone on in these other adults that enable them to walk away from me couldn’t have had anything to do with that joyful little girl that I was. Then God took it a step further, that is how He still sees me. As a sweet child who is headstrong at times but His, so of course He loves me. No matter how I stomp my foot at Him or no matter how many times He has to discipline me.
And my girls? They have given me a huge piece of myself that I lost so young due to life. The joy to dance, the joy to both want to paint my toenails and dig my toes in the dirt. They also have given me a value. The value of how God sees me, a child who is loved. A child who was treated poorly but didn’t deserve it.
A footnote: My first stepfather and I reunited after my first child was born. He had been kicked out of my life when I was a kid but now we have a relationship of sorts. When NerdPie was about 6 months old my birth father found me. And then right before NerdPud’s birth we finally saw each other for the first time since I was 2. We now talk once every week or 2 and are well on our way to a pretty decent relationship. My mother still doesn’t want into my life because I bring her to much pain. Only time will tell what God will choose to do in that relationship. But my heart still misses her but I don’t need her in order to feel whole. God meets that need.
Go over to Pampering Beki to see some more Fingerprints.
Wordless Wednesday: First Comic
It probably isn’t surprising that NerdPie got her first good comic book for her birthday!
Fingerprint Friday
My life is crazy right now. I just had a crazy surgical procedure to kill some blood veins and I am having issues (I am fine just hurting and bleeding a little) but that makes for a difficult time. Most of that difficulty is the fact that I am a homeschooling mother of 4 kids all under 8 years old. The reason I mention homeschooling is that they are always home;). So now you are wondering where I am seeing God’s Fingerprint since all I am doing is complaining, right?
Well, I don’t just see God’s Fingerprints right now but also His grace and spirit through my husband. Not only did he take me to this procedure at Stanford (3 hours away), he also was willing to pay for a hotel both the night before and the night of so I didn’t have to travel right after. But all that was the easy part because then we came home;). Due to my procedure I can’t stay on my feet very long without being in quite a bit of pain. So that means I am not a lot of help around the house. He has stepped in and takes care of everyone including me, the kids and the house. He has cooked every meal, washed laundry, chased kids, done dishes and even takes care of my wounds. He even has paid for childcare 2 morings this week. Did I mention that this is only 1 of a series? His care and spirit through it all has made me love and admire him even more.
But he is getting annoyed. There is 1 issue in particular that is driving him a bit nuts. He feels that I don’t take care of myself enough. I try to do more than I should and ignore all the pain clues and common sense I should have. All I need to do is keep an eye on the kids during the few times I am alone with them and not try to get “things” done. He said that he takes better care of me that I do. It hit me today how much that in and of itself represents God’s attitude toward us. NerdDad just wants me to accept the gift of care that he is giving me and to believe that he means it. He tells me to rest and not worry about the house but I find it hard to accept. It overwhelms me that he can care for me so deeply to the point that the rest falls away to him. I am truly blessed.
That is how God cares for us. We have been offered salvation and all we have to do is accept it. Salvation that will take care of our every eternal need. We can’t earn it, we can’t deserve it. The Father offered it to us soley based upon the fact that He loves us and wants to care for us. We just have to accept and let Him!
(This is part of Fingerprint Friday)