thoughts from the deep recesses

Wow - what fun! I love "Getting to Know You Wednesdays!" Love hearing from you all... and love pulling lurkers out of their caves. (Hi Jeanne!) The winner of my random drawing is Katy. (Sorry Rod - you got two entries, but I didn't grab your name...) Yay for Katy! Katy's line, "Have fun storming the castle" is near and dear to my heart, - Asia and I always yell it to people as they get into their cars when leaving our house! That made it extra fun for me to see her name on the slip of paper! (Would you email me your address, dear? I'm sure I have it here somewhere, but it's so much easier if I can just get it in my inbox...) See you next Wednesday, friends!

It's been months since I've had a "Getting to Know You Wednesday." Life's been a little crazy. So today, when life is a little bit calm and I've got the least chaotic week I've had for ages, I thought I'd jump back in. So today, if you leave me a comment telling me your most favorite-ist movie line ever, I'll enter you in a drawing for your very own copy of Josh Groban's new Christmas CD - Noel . It's a good one, folks. Classic holiday music from such a wonderful vocalist... you'll like it, I promise. I just want one movie line. Not your three favorite... not a paragraph. Just one line. The one you find yourself repeating. The one that makes you laugh every time. Your very favorite movie line of all time. And if you're the first person to name the movie my title is from, you'll get an extra entry in the drawing. Now, let's hear it.

Making the stuffing... Tejan made the gravy... thank goodness! I almost always do buffet style... it's my thing, I guess. Seriously the best sweet potatoes I've ever eaten. Seriously. See that whipped green jello? My grandma always served that on Thanksgiving... it's just not Thanksgiving without green jello ... One of the biggest treats for Tejan is to go to the grocery store to buy chicken drumsticks... imagine his delight when he saw the turkey drumstick! Digging in! After dinner we had a visit from this strange man. If you look closely, you'll see that he brought along his pet eagle, who swooped around the living room until we made them both leave.

Coffee and donuts on Thanksgiving morning. A wonderful husband. The opportunity to know Tejan and care for him. Three healthy, funny, intelligent, amazing kids. My warm home on this 20 degree morning. Extended family that I actually LONG to spend time with. Jesus Christ. My job. Good health. The sweetest dog. Naps in my comfy bed. Dear old friends. New friends. The beauty of creation. Wonderful parents. A happy childhood. My church. Blessed, I am.

I know. It's horrible quality. But it sure makes me laugh. Love. These. Kids. CLICK HERE

When Tejan was a young boy, (too young for him to remember) he fell from a mango tree and broke his right leg, as well as his jaw. He received no medical treatment at that time, and his leg healed in the position it broke into - with the knee dislocated. His jaw also healed poorly, and in a way that caused the bones to fuse with his skull, making opening his mouth impossible. Four years ago, in Sierra Leone, an organization called Mercy Ships performed surgery on his jaw, separating the bones and freeing up his mouth so he could open it once again. Two years ago, an intern at the children's home where Tejan lives saw the deformed state of Tejan's leg and wanted to do something to help. She came home to Montana, where she told her parents of Tejan's condition and set in motion the plan to bring him here for the surgery he had in September. However, after his arrival, it became clear that Tejan's jaw was locked again. Unfortunately, he did not do the exercises necessary

Kyler brought home his first junior high report card yesterday. All A's and one B. Good for him! He doesn't seem to have to work very hard for those grades - he hardly ever has homework. Makes me worry that he won't learn good study habits, since it always comes so easily to him. So far he's managed pretty well, so I guess we'll see. He's proud of himself - and of course, we're proud too. I'm going today to get Josh Groban's Christmas CD. I can't wait. Josh Groban and Ave Maria? Be still my heart... Maple Oat Rolls rising on my counter as we speak... yum! Seems like almost all my friends are struggling with insomnia lately... like we're all awake half the night. I think it must be some hormonal phase we're all going through... like peri-peri-menopause. 'Cause heaven knows we're all WAY too young to be dealing with menopause... right? Oh my grief. I keep getting bills for Tejan's last hospital stay... the whole thing was donat

Here's my happy list: I have a whole week without any classes. I love my job, but it's nice to not have to worry about teaching this week. I got all my shopping for Thanksgiving dinner done yesterday. Today I'll be chopping bread up for stuffing and maybe making a pie... I'm getting the Christmas music out today. It snowed last night! I'm cleaning my house today... love a clean house. Tejan is feeling good. And doing good. Holiday preparations make me so happy. The smells and the decorations... the fridge piling up with yummy food. It's a happy week. I feel like I've got Thanksgiving cooking down to a pretty easy routine. I've cooked every year since we moved to Spokane nine years ago - with the exception of one year when we went out to eat. I've managed to find quite a few recipes that make the whole thing pretty manageable. The only thing that really stresses me out is the gravy. And I think that's just because I always perceived that my mom fe

Not only is this a great way to waste time when you're wide awake in the middle of the night, it makes you smarter - and helps feed hungry people. I got as high as level 39 before I quit to come here and tell you all about it. How high did you get? How much rice did you donate? Happy Friday before Thanksgiving, friends!

So. There has been this running theme throughout my fall. A tendency to feel this time as a season of chaos. And I find myself pushing hard against it. To not allow it residence in my heart. But it's hard. It seems as though just when I think I can settle in a bit... relax... go with the flow... another thing comes along that makes me sigh heavily and wonder where I'll find the strength... And so I go along. Day to day. There is very little rest. Except in teeny tiny moments. Like a quiet morning. Or a short nap on a hospital room couch. Or an afternoon when all is well and the kids are playing happily together outside. Here and there -I can take solace. But it's nothing like what it used to take for me to feel rested. Heck - I can be refreshed in 10 minutes now. And then something else comes along. Today it was a visit to the dentist and the not-so-good results of Tejan's exam. More surgery, believe it or not. Believe.it.or.not... So I take a deep breath. And I try

We're off to our little cabin in the woods. Sleeping in. Hot tub by the river. Board games. Wii tournaments. Ping-pong in the basement. Good food. Coffee on the deck in the morning. Long walks through the woods. Fires in the fireplace. Maybe some snow! A birthday party. Snuggling on the couches. PJs all day long if we want. Good company. Some great cheese and a bottle of wine. Big breakfasts. Catching up on magazine reading. Card games after the kids go to sleep. Ahhh.... Happy weekend, friends.

Ethan and Tejan were sitting on the floor, looking through the newspaper for the comics, when Ethan tooted. Nobody said anything for a moment. Then Tejan said "Sorry." Ethan looked up perplexed. "For what?" "For you." Ethan tried the social ignorance route - "Why?" But Tejan didn't buy it... "Because you were vibrating."

I was wide awake at 2:30 in the morning and composed 7 of my Tuesday 10... unfortunately, I can't remember any of it now. I am officially completely done with all my class samples through the end of the year. It's a good feeling. Except that now it's time to start thinking about my January - April classes. It never ends... but I'm not complaining. I love my job. We haven't quite adjusted to the time change around here. The dog wanted to go to bed at 9:00 last night and Kyler was up at 6:15. We're off this weekend to our annual weekend in Leavenworth... it's Savannah's birthday weekend and we've spent the last four years celebrating it in a beautiful vacation home owned by some dear friends. It's one of the most relaxing places on earth. We're really hoping for some snow... it usually snows while we're there and we're dying to show Tejan the cold, white, fluffy stuff! I don't think I mentioned that Savannah got baptized a couple o

Really? Somehow this fall has been racing by. I just cannot believe it's November. The weather isn't helping - it's been much warmer than I remember this time of year being ever before... not hot like that crazy heat wave on the east coast, but not freezing either. Heck, my flower beds are still okay. And it's November 5th. I've begun my Christmas shopping... that feels good. I'm slowly adding to the piles of hidden presents. With the three kids' birthdays in the six weeks before Christmas, there's a lot of buying to do. So pretty much if I see something I think one of them will like, I buy it. I can use it somewhere - either as a birthday or a Christmas present. We had a quiet weekend, with Tejan gone to hang out with his Daddy Chris and Mom Debbie - the founders of Children of the Nations. It was good timing for all of us. I think T. was beginning to feel a little homesick - and I was pretty worn out after that last surgery. He'll come home Tuesday

I need to leave in two minutes. But I wanted a new post on my blog. So here it is in all it's spanky new-ness. Loved all your ringtone suggestions. Of course less than an hour after I posted that, I heard "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees on the radio. And that's my new ringtone. Gotta love the Bee Gees. I especially loved Andy Gibb, who was not a Bee Gee. But dang, was he ever cute. I recently bought a 'best of' CD of Andy's songs. He still makes me melt. (Remember, Corey?) Okay. So that was random. And now I'm going. Happy weekend, dear friends! Smooches!