A few Christmas videos

Isn't it amazing how social media has changed the way we live? Facebook, Twitter, blogs, texting, Foursquare, and the smart phone have definitely changed the way we communicate with each other. What if all of these things were around when Jesus was born? Wouldn't that make for some interesting stories? Well, the folks at ExcentricPT and Igniter Media thought it would!

The first video called "The Digital Story of the Nativity"




The second video is called "A Social Network Christmas" and is a little more serious than the first, but still very entertaining.

We've been robbed.....almost

Ya know what you DON'T want to hear at 5:00 in the morning? Your husband saying "Honey, someone tried to steal both of our cars last night."
That's exactly how I was woken up this morning. I should have immediately gotten out of bed and taken action. Instead, I said "Was anything stolen?" When I heard him say "no," I said "Great. I'll call the cops when I wake up." And then I went back to sleep. About 10 minutes later I sat up and said "Did he just say someone tried to steal BOTH our cars?!" I was shocked. We live in the country. Things like that aren't suppose to happen out here. That's why we moved OUT of the city. But, things like that can happen anywhere!
It turns out our cars were almost stolen by a few juveniles that were on a car stealing spree. They had also escaped from police custody. The fugitives actually had the nerve to knock on our neighbors door and ask if the neighbors could take them to a nearby town. Luckily, the neighbors are smarter than me and told them no and called the police.
A few deputies came out and combed our yard looking for the kids. This was at about 2:00 AM. Guess what I was doing while punks were trying to steal my car and cops were combing my yard with flashlights.
Sleeping. Yeah, I was sleeping. I slept through the whole darn thing. I've always considered myself a light sleeper. Guess I'm going to have to rethink that. I can't help but wonder why the dog never barked. It's quite obvious by his actions today that he's very spooked. I know for a fact if he was barking, I would have heard him. At least I'm pretty sure. I mean, he barks LOUD. I can only assume that he didn't see any immediate danger since the would be thieves were outside and not trying to break into our house.
It's still scary though. I can't help but feel like a little bit of my illusion of safety has been shattered. I can't help but think "What if." What if they had tried to break in to the house? What if they neighbors had let them in? What if they had knocked on my door? What if I had let them in (and I probably would have...I'm not so smart like that)? What if they had succeeded in stealing one of our cars? What if someone had gotten hurt?
It's all scary. This is the first time this has ever happened to me. When we lived in the apartment I never had the illusion of safety. I knew that place was dangerous. Here, I thought we were safe. Part of me knows that we're still safe, but I'm definitely re-thinking where we keep the gun.

The screwdriver they used to try to start the car. It was one of ours that was left in the car for one reason or another.


Contents of the glove box. I'm assuming they were looking for an extra key.


Tip of the screwdriver. You can't tell, but the tip is broken off.


Tip of the screwdriver in the ignition. I'm guessing the broken screwdriver is what kept them from stealing the car.


All in all, I'd say we got off pretty easy. Things could have been a lot worse. The kids have been arrested and will be charged for attempting to steal our cars. I'm so thankful that nobody was hurt.

The dreaded pink eye

Adelae's been in school since September and up until now, we've managed to avoid one of the joys that comes with school....illness. The flu has (knock on wood) missed us so far. There haven't been any reports of lice (knock on wood again). Other than a cold or two, it hasn't been anything we can't deal with. Until yesterday. Adelae woke up with gunky eyes. I looked at Ben and said "Oh crap. She has pink eye." I put in a call to the pediatrician, since Adelae's eyes weren't pink or itching her, the nurse said it was probably a cold that had settled in her eye and not to be to worried. So, we continued about our day. A day that included several errands.
While we were out to lunch Adelae said the phrase I was dreading "Mommy, my eyes hurt." I asked her if they itched and she said no and they still weren't pink. So, we continued our errands. We were in the middle of Meijer, I took one look at her and said to Ben, "We need to get out of here. Her eyes are horrible." And they were. They were fire engine red, swollen and just nasty looking.
I whipped out my phone and started frantically looking up doctors hoping I'd be able to find a walk in clinic that was still open. Luckily, the doctor that Ben and I see has a walk in clinic. Even luckier, they were still open and had open times. Unfortunately, we only had about 30 minutes to get there. Have you ever tried to check out at Meijer the weekend before Christmas? Well, it's not fun. Or fast. Somehow we managed to find the only open check out lane. We were out of there in lightening speed.
The Nurse Practioner that looked at Adelae was really nice. She said that she was pretty sure it was pink eye and she would just go ahead and prescribe us some eye drops.
I am so glad that we were able to get her some medicine. I just feel really bad for making her wait. I knew I should have taken her to the doctor that morning, but I went against my gut. Had we gone that morning, her eyes wouldn't have gotten so bad.

And I'd have my Christmas shopping done.

I'm tired

I've always been a night owl. It's very rare that I go to bed before midnight. I use the time to work on my cross stitch projects, read, watch TV or just hang out with Ben. I love my quiet time. Lately, the late nights have not been loving me though. I'm so tired all the time. As I sit here typing this (at 3:00 in the afternoon), I'm fighting to stay awake. Ben keeps hinting that it's because I'm getting older and can't function on 6 hours of sleep. I'm not ready to believe that! My body can't be betraying me right? Maybe I just need more coffee.

Refocusing: My Faith

In addition to refocusing my marriage, I've spend the last year refocusing my faith. When my marriage was in trouble, my faith was also in trouble. I'm fairly certain the two go hand in hand.
It was hard for me to keep the faith when I felt like things were slowly falling apart around me. I did a lot of praying in that time. I just wanted answers. I wanted to know that everything was going to be ok. During those hard times, I found that praying really calmed me down. When things were particularly difficult, I'd say "Ok God, I can't handle this. I need a little help here." More often than not, I would feel immediately comforted. It was like a calm would just wash over me. I could take a second (or a minute) and refocus. I would think that what I was enduring was nothing compared to what Jesus endured for me. Suddenly, my problems weren't so bad. I could refocus.
Earlier this fall I felt this call. I knew that I was suppose to be doing more. Somewhere, I was suppose to be doing more. So, I volunteered to help with Children's Church on Sundays. Making the lesson plans, while time consuming, is so much fun. Teaching the children about the Bible has fulfilled a need I didn't even know I had. It's wonderful to see their eager faces each and every Sunday morning.
I can honestly say that if you had told me at the beginning of the year that I'd be such a large part of our tiny church, I wouldn't have believed you. I never though my faith was strong enough.
Turns out, all I needed to do was to refocus.

Refocusing

2010 has been a equally horrible and wonderful year. This past year has tested my marriage in so many ways. For a really long time Ben and I were just existing. We weren't interacting with each other hardly at all. I think it was a combo of depression (on both our parts), lack of communication, living with two young children, and money problems. We fought a lot, about everything. I would say "It's a nice day" and Ben would say "No, it's not." That might be exaggerating a little bit, but not by much. As a result, neither of us were happy. The kids weren't happy. It was awful. I felt like I was living in a powder keg.
Then the inevitable happened. The powder keg exploded. We had one of those knock down drag out fights. You know the one where you say all those horrible and nasty things that you think, but don't really mean. Or maybe you do mean them in way way way back of your mind. There was shouting and cussing, belittling and just general nastiness. I can't say what the fight started over. I can't even remember all of the things that were said. I know it was ugly. I know that the phrase "Let's just get divorced" was said by both of us. I know that if we weren't married with little kids, that would have been the end of us. I know that we both admitted that we were fastly falling out of love with each other. It sucked. A lot.
The next morning after we were calm, we talked. We talked and talked and talked. The bottom line was that we love each other. I know deep in my heart that we are meant to be together. We are soul mates. So, we chose to get some help. It wasn't something that we told a lot of people about. It was a very private matter. We went faithfully for what seemed like forever. It was hard. It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We faced a lot of our demons and refocused.
We focused on what our marriage could be and should be, not what it had become. Each week I felt us growing closer. Slowly, the fighting stopped. We kissed more, we hugged all the time. We remembered the wonderful things about each other that we loved so much. The passion was back. We fell in love all over again.
Yes, we still have our issues and demons. We still argue. We still annoy each other. But, at the end of the day, there is no place we'd rather be. I'm so grateful to Ben for wanting to save our marriage. I'm so grateful that he helps me through my hard times and lets me help him through his. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing man in my life. He is my soul mate and my one true love.
I am happier now than I think I've ever been. It just took a little refocusing.

We had a first today!

Today was the first time I had to call poison control.

Brinna got ahold of the toothpaste while I was in the shower. I had it on the back of the sink, where I thought she couldn't reach. She either grew a few inches, has Go Go Gadjet arms, or she scaled the sink. Either way, she got it.

When i got out of the shower she proudly held the tube up and said "Mamma teef!" Or at least that's what i think she said.

I went into panic mode. Did she eat it? Did she fingerpaint the couch with it? How much did she eat? I smelled her breath......minty fresh. Crap.

So, I called the pediatrician. The told me to call poison control. After an obnoxiously long time on hold, the woman (nurse?)  assured me that Brinna would be fine. I was told to give her some milk and keep an eye on her. Thankfully she's fine.

I'm still not sure how she got that toothpaste, but I'll find a new place to keep it, that's for sure!

Wordless Wednesday

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