A Birthday Haiku

this mom loves sweet gifts

all the thoughtful ones are best

my heart filled by you

Thanks for the smile girls.

Turning 35 was sweetened with this.

Love, mom

Easter Egg Hunt (Finally!)

This is my Egg Hunt post.  I know. It's about two weeks late.  Sigh......Also, to add icing on my pity-party cake, this post is so un-JenHatmaker- Easter conundrum-I'm not buying my kids new outfits.  (Actually, I didn't buy my children their dresses...my MIL did...does that count?)  This post is shamelessly just about my kiddos. And their egg hunt. And my ability to put together an entire outfit out of my sister's hand me down donations....(God bless her!). ; )

Sophie, at 3, was fun interesting to watch.  She only wanted the plastic ones with candy, natch. She would walk past eggs right in front of her and pick up the ones that were hidden "tough" for the older girls.

 Grace, in her usual seriousness, got down to business. It wasn't a game. It was ON like Donkey Kong. She pretty much had this look on her face the entire time.....she'll be a Congresswoman someday. Or a principal.

 My girls loved hunting with their cousin Ella. Sweetness personified. I wonder when they'll be too old to hunt eggs?  Too soon, that's for sure. Hope you enjoyed these pictures because it took ten tries to get Sophie to smile in this one below. 

10 Years of "Maw-wej" (Almost)

This weekend, I was surprised. I'm never surprised. Take that back, when I was 16, my parents threw me a surprise birthday party, of which I knew nothing about, and as I blindly walked up to door of my own party, I asked fellow party goers, "Hey! What are YOU doing here??" Lots of weird looks that night.

Anyway, this weekend, my hubs whisked me away "pack your bags, no questions asked" for a two night, kids free weekend, celebrating our 10 year anniversary a little early. We'd been talking about our 10 year anniversary for about 9 years. We both knew that since we hadn't taken any "couples" vacation since our honeymoon, that we'd do just that on our 10 year. Somewhere breezy. Oceany. Where the salty air hits your nostrils the moment you wake up. Nice.

Then came Africa. Since all our extra funds are headed that way these days, we decided we'd just go out to eat or something whenever that 10 year day rolled around. That was cool. No biggee......but nope. My hubs is my hubs. He will not just leave it at that.

We had a wonderful weekend in Dallas. We decided to try new restaurants - like Parigi's and Breadwinners (a new fave) and made sure to stop at the old regulars like Eatzi's and Cheesecake Factory. We went for a 3 mile run around the Turtle Creek mansions - oogling and oohing at the gi-normous homes of the lawyers, doctors, and hedgefund managers. And yes, my hubs even set me up with a morning at a spa.....heaven.

With Africa so heavily on our minds, alot of this weekend was spent in thought - the kinds of thought that burden you once you've had your eyes opened by that kind of poverty. It is truly hard to enjoy, really enjoy those moments without having to stuff back the ugly truth that our self-indulgences are just that ....self.....indulgences.

The main thing I focused on this weekend was knowing that in 10 years, many things have changed in our marriage. And many things have stayed the same. We both still love each other dearly. We hold our marriage high - a proud accomplishment each day. We both are still each other's favorite person to spend time with, and our children are our heartbeat. But we've changed, too. 10 years ago, we were living in Dallas chasing after that Turtle Creek life. The McMansions, the fancy cars, the great job.

Our heartbeat has changed, and we continue to try to make our life resemble that heartbeat each day - failing more often that succeeding, but trying nonetheless. One weekend celebrating our marriage was wonderful - but getting back to our 'real' life is even better.

Love you, babe. Thanks for being mine.

Things are Progressing!

Lately, it seems I can't keep my mind off of the 'to do' lists that taking my family to Africa for a summer has created. All these things are good....actually, wonderful.....burdens to have, but can I just take a moment here and freak out on ya'll a bit? ( I lack a better way to say it.)

Thanks. I will. Let's see....getting my girls' passports this week. Working on what all shots my littles will need, as well. Trying to track down old Vacation Bible School material. Figuring out how in the world we'll pay for all this. Getting emails that have the subject line "Bank account info needed" and not deleting them because I actually DO have to wire money to a foreign bank account. Oh...and my regular daytime superwoman job of teaching. And raising kiddos. And feeding my hubs. And doing laundry. (Which one of these can I slack on? .....l.a.u.n.d.r.y)

If it weren't for this heavenly couple below, then I would be 10, no 100, no 1,000,000 times more crazified than I am now. Colleen's family (hubs and their four children) will be our roommates for part of the time we are in Uganda. Can you imagine four adults and six kids all under the age of 10? We are in for it!...in a good way.

Thanks to her nimble skills, she has located a wonderful home, advised on many-a-flight info, settled my fears, and well - she's just been aawweeesome. I can't thank her enough. Ok, I can. If God has burdened you to help someone this month, find your way over to her blog. They are fundraising, as well, for their trip and every dollar counts. It does.

And if you've donated to our trip already, thank you - thank you - thank you. It means the world to us.