Moments of greatness

I don't know about you guys but I find that there are moments of greatness that go unnoticed in my home that must be shared with others. I wanted to share a few with you now.

Great scenario #1:
This first scenario is reenacted in our home about once every 2-3 months. It is entirely avoidable, but instead we reenact it because of stubbornness and a need for coffee. It goes like this. Matt is sitting at his computer in the morning. He is perusing over the email, daily news, or whatever computer related business he is working on at the moment. I am somewhere in the house doing my own thing in peace and tranquility....when out of nowhere I hear Matt screaming, "OH NO! HURRY, HURRY, HURRY! GET A TOWELLLLLL!!!" Yes, the delicious black coffee has inevitably spilled on one of his many expensive computer parts. What is even greater in this scenario is my dropping everything I am doing in a split second, dashing towards any region of the house that might have a towel, tripping over 1-2 pieces of furniture, and stumbling into his office to help clean up the mess. With a couple of keyboards, mouse(s), and other parts in the graveyard due to this coffee stubbornness, you would think we would give up this moment of greatness.

Great scenario #2
We have a mouse problem. We live near a huge field and during the cold months, our home is the obvious place for these critters to cozy up. Not cool!...but it has provided some hilarious moments of greatness in our house. Recently Matt awoke from a dead sleep in the middle of the night because he heard something. In good 'Matt the protector' fashion, he rushed out of the room to investigate. He approached the kitchen and realized that the noise was strikingly similar to someone rattling open the door leading to the laundry room, and thus he began yelling obscenities to scare the intruder. It turned out my husband was awakened in the middle of the night, stumbling half-awake into the kitchen, and yelling obscenities....at a mouse stuck in a trap trying to escape behind the stove. Moment of greatness!

Great scenario #3
This is also a mouse related tale, but it pays respect to a mouse, oddly enough. In our effort to catch these critters the last few months we have grown to respect one dearly departed mouse. Most of the mice go down in shame in either a glue trap or traditional snap trap. One mouse received death by snap trap but was a hero going down. We heard a trap go off one night right before bed. Gross as it sounds, we were both exhausted and decided to discard of the little guy in the morning. When we awoke in the morning, the mouse was no where to be found. Even more mysteriously, the trap was missing. Thus began my hunt for the missing mouse. No where in the kitchen. No where in the laundry room next door...until I moved some storage boxes and found the creature. The little guy had dragged himself and the trap nearly 10 feet, squeezing around large objects. He fought all night long. He was a hero.

Great scenario #4
Ok, one more mouse tale. (Like I said, we have a mouse problem!) This one occurred this evening. As I was doing the laundry yesterday, I noticed 'evidence' that a mouse had sneaked into the dirty laundry basket. Using a healthy dosage of bleach, I feverishly began that load of laundry hoping to disinfect the mouse germs. When I went to put the load in the dryer this evening, I found the load wasn't the only thing put through the wash. Just inches away from my fingers was a washed up and drowned mouse. (Note: add drowning to the list of possible ways to get rid of mice!) Needless to say, what brought Matt (and Keller) running into the laundry room on this night was my shrill scream. Ah....Even I have moments of greatness.

Refreshment

Matt and I were really blessed to be able to take the last few days and explore the San Jose area. Last Thursday Matt officially started his vacation and was faithful to "vacate" his responsibilities at the church in search of some much needed rest, relaxation, and unchecked free time to do as he wished. On Sunday we left our area for the trip up north to the San Jose area. Now, our vacation wasn't anything extraordinary, but I have to say it was beautiful in its ordinariness. We spent one night at a beautiful hotel and another night at a stripped down, rustic, freezing-cold lodge. Both of these nights away, while different in the extent of luxury they afforded, granted us 3 whole days of time together without deadlines, work calls, endless hours in front of the computer, and a twelve hour work days. It was awesome. We laughed and each of us realized once again how much we not only love each other but also thoroughly enjoy each other's company.

We spent one night in a cabin at a retreat center just outside of Santa Cruz. It was really wonderful to be surrounded by the beauty of the forest. We went on a hike and saw waterfalls, gigantic pine trees, and incredible views of a mountain creek. What was more amazing was that we were just 10 miles from the Pacific ocean. That is one thing about California that amazes and astounds me. Mountains and forests backing right up to the ocean equal incredible beauty in my mind. I wish you all could experience it some time in your life.


We are looking at 17 weeks with Mattalina, and I have to say I hit a milestone today in the pregnancy. I was sitting at dinner and felt a little gas bubble in the front lower part of my stomach. For those of you who have been pregnant you know this is not gas but the beginning of many movements to come from Mattalina in my belly. It was awesome and I took a moment to sit back in my seat and enjoyed the beauty of a life moving around in me.

I thought I would satisfy the curiosity of some of you out there by posting a pregnancy shot of me at 17 weeks. (I know others of you would rather I didn't :-) ) What can I say...the body becomes rather lumpy during pregnancy and it certainly looks odd during the first 4-5 months. I got some stares at the belly when I first went back to school but I could tell no one felt comfortable saying anything lest the growth be due to gross holiday overeating. Anyhow, here is a shot for you guys. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe a whole month has gone by! It is pretty typical to get uber busy during the holidays, so I will hide behind that tired excuse for why it has been a month since my last update! The first half of the month flew by in the business of working. My job keeps me busy and on my toes as I am faced with new challenges every week. Yet I must say it is nice because I feel as if I know more of what I am doing. I am getting into that routine in a job where I can begin to relax in the routine, but I also want to remain eager and ready to learn new things. I find my job very fulfilling, working with kids as a school counselor. But I also am very aware now of how it is just my job. I worked hard in school and got all this way to land a career in order to realize it is merely that...just a career. My life is more than my career and for that I am thankful. As my baby belly grows, I am reminded of how life is really bigger than any one aspect of our lives. I am a child of God first, before: wife, daughter, mother, counselor, housekeeper, friend.

The second half of the month was many things: ironic, disappointing, fun, trying, fulfilling. I finished up my last day of school on the Thursday before Christmas. Ahh...what bliss I felt having finished up the first half of the school year, and I was so looking forward to relaxing and enjoying my family's arrival on Saturday evening. Friday came and I had some youth girls over to bake cookies. I purposefully put off cleaning our home for Saturday, knowing a day would be plenty of time to make the house ready. Friday night rolled around, and so did a fever...and chills...and a headache. A midnight call to the on call physician lead to an after midnight run to 5 stores looking for a thermometer and tylenol. Matt had not slept well that whole week and was swamped with work because of the Sunday church festivities. Yet, there we were at 1 am searching for an open store. A rough night's sleep and a few hours later, I am throwing up in a trash can and completely miserable. For those of you who know me well you know of the drama of Christmas 2004. It began with throwing up and ended up with a 5 day hospital visit and 30 hours unconscious on Christmas day. So as I sat there unable to keep anything down and pregnant to boot, Matt and I decided to go to the ER for fluids and anti-nausea meds. I sat on the hospital bed angry and bitter that life was repeating itself 2 years later (family coming, Christmastime, me in the ER). It turns out I had strep throat (undoubtedly contracted from one of my students). Well, good friends and an understanding family helped us during this frustrating time. Brooke stayed with me at the hospital while Matt went home and sped cleaned the house. Our other friend Linda took me home and got prescriptions filled. My family doctored me back to health over the next week without showing too much disappointment over my condition. Really my family was so gracious, and it sure helps that they can be entertained by sitting around and talking for hours!

Around Wednesday I began to get some energy back. Thursday I took my family on a tour of Morro Bay. We saw the elephant seals, ate at an awesome outdoor fish market, and rode up the coast to the mountains. They loved the scenery, and I loved feeling alive again. On Friday we took them on a whirlwind tour of San Fransisco. It's always fun to take people to see the city sites. I am really thankful for the time I had with them, and I have even been a little depressed since they left. It is always hard to see family go. I am not good with transitions.

In baby news, I am 15 weeks now. My belly is beginning to pop and feel a little heavier every day. I am so grateful that the baby has seemed to survive my recent illnesses like a champ...it just speaks to me of God's sovereignty. He will grow this baby regardless of my condition or fears. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. It is probably still too early to tell the sex but hopefully we will hear the heartbeat. I hope in another month we'll get to know if Mattalina will be wearing pink or blue. We have some names picked out, and I am pretty excited about them. They have significance to me. For a boy we are liking Asher Michael and for a girl we are keen on Karis Alina. Karis is Greek for grace (of which I feel it is only by God's abundant grace we will raise this human life) and Asher is Hebrew for happy or fortunate (of which I feel describes Mattalina's father, God's gift to me). So we shall see...these names are still in the works.

Well, that is all for now, folks. I just have to say the picture up at top was taken on Sunday. Matt and I came home from Church and realized we matched, even with our doggie. We don't normally walk around matching each other. Happy New Year!