Mid October (an update)

picture of my hand. I was walking, holding the camera. I looked down and thought, "That looks kinda cool," so I took a picture. Not that there's anything great about it. But I like it (I'm not submitting it for a photo class, for heaven's sake!).

Well, since my last real update, I've written about other things that have happened, most notably Elijah's popcorn in the ear and Teancom being sick (fantastically on the same day!). I'll fill in the rest, even though there's not much else that's happened.

General Conference

On the first weekend in October, we joined Rob's family up North for General Conference. It was really nice to be together as a family, to be in the open middle-of-nowhere country air, and to hear from the leaders of our church. The kids loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa again and getting to see their cousins.

While we were there we went to Bert's candy store, which is a candy store you've never heard of and likely never to visit. It is also in middle-of-nowhere, Ohio, but it has some GOOD candy. They sell the world's best candy corn (seriously, it's won awards). This doesn't make the candy corn GOOD, per se. But if it was possible to have candy corn that tastes good, this would be it. (We told a friend about this candy corn and he said, "Yes. But is it so good you would eat it by the spoonful?")

We also picked up the world's best apple cider (which is the world's best AND delicious, unlike the candy corn mentioned above) at Tangeman's Orchard right near Chiara's house. We drank the first gallon in a week and saved 2 more in our freezer to have later in the year. I've decided that next year we'll buy 4 gallons so we can have 1 gallon every quarter of the year. It's SO good. Once you have it, you can't go back to the stuff they sell at the grocery store.

Miciah and the Beast

The next weekend we were supposed to go to an orchard place and pick out pumpkins and apples, but Miciah's behavior was so bad on Friday night that we bowed out of Saturday's activities. Instead we spent the day going over her behavior with her. We made lists of things that she does that will be punished in the future, ways she will receive that punishment (she gets to pick from a list of about 6 things), and what she can expect from us. Also we'll start paying her for a new job: going to bed well. And then we thoroughly defined what "going to bed well" means. We made a chart for both jobs: No Whining and Going to Bed Good. We've already been paying her for No Whining, but we haven't had a daily chart for a while. The girl seems to really jive on charts! And heck, if all it takes is a chart, we can do a chart until she's grown!

Miciah is a logical person. I thought she'd pitch a fit about these lists, since it's more than she's been expected to do in the past. But she just took everything in and nodded. ... By the end of our discussion (which was over a half hour long. Maybe an hour?) she was getting wiggly and I had to remember that she's just a 6-year-old. Sometimes it's hard to remember because she can be so adult.

Oh. The discussion started with us asking if things were going okay for her. Was she having trouble at school, etc.? She said that school had been hard because she's missed a few problems on her math tests. ... Over the course of the 4 tests she's taken, she's missed MAYBE 3 questions. ... So we had a talk with her about how people make mistakes. All of us do. All the time. And as we were talking to her, Rob thought out loud, "You know, I struggle with the same things." I had to laugh about that. Worrying about mistakes is NOT a problem I have. Rob worries a lot about other people's expectations and how he should do things better. I, on the other hand, ... While I would like to improve and be better, I have no crushing feeling that if I don't perform perfectly RIGHT NOW, I'm not a good person. I make mistakes, and honestly, I hope I always do! Mistakes make us human and that's comforting to me. Imperfect things are so much better than perfect things.

... The talk was productive. She was so much better behaved almost immediately! We're now on day 6 since that talk and things have calmed down around here. I'm sure in a few weeks we'll have to come up with something different, but for now, it's working.

Not that every day's been perfect. It's hard for her when she doesn't get to put that little check mark on her chart. :) ... Yesterday she was having a hard time and I've started being a little more sympathetic towards her. I'm trying to remember that she's still a very little person just trying to figure out her emotions. I pulled her aside and said, "Is everything okay? Did you have a hard day?" She said, "I just keep doing everything wrong!" I asked what she'd done wrong. She said, "I didn't stand up this morning when the bus was coming and so my bus driver forgot to pick me up." ... True enough, that's what happened. The bus driver, with me watching, just passed her by. Didn't even slow down. Rob had to take her to school. I made a casual comment after the bus went by that she should stand up in the future, and maybe then the bus driver would see her. It's a new bus driver (as of Monday), and Rob's car was still in the driveway, so there's still some getting used to the route, I'm sure. Anyways, I didn't even DREAM that she would take my comment to mean that the bus passing her by was her fault! I hugged her tight and told her it wasn't her fault.

Mommy Daughter Night

I already sent posted lots of pictures from that night. It was fun to be out, just me and her. It's harder for me to connect to Miciah than to my boys. The boys are very warm and cuddly and Miciah is fast-paced and logical, and in general Miciah can be my most trying child. She's not a BAD kid. She's a GREAT kid. Anyways, it was fun to have a night out just the two of us. Here's one of my favorite pictures from the night:

I thought it was hilarious that she'd put her pumpkin in a seat belt for the ride home!

Teancom Can't Do it Himself

Teancom is almost 2 1/2 years old and he STILL insists that I do everything for him. This amuses me somewhat, but drives me crazy! Why in the world does he still need help eating dinner? He doesn't. Why does he need me to carry him everywhere? Can't he walk? Apparently he can't walk and he has an eating handicap.

I have come up with a theory revolving around Teancom and Miciah. Miciah was independent from the day she was born, with opinions oozing out her ears (much like me--I'm sure you already realized that). From the minute she could walk she DEMANDED to walk. It was frustrating sometimes and it often made her very difficult. Teancom, on the other hand, is the exact opposite on both counts: ultra non-dependent and super easy. I think there's a correlation. Apparently he would not be so easy going, cute, and cuddly if he was also independent. ... So I'll take the non-independence. But come on! It's turning into him just being spoiled and that I can't do.

Take today. We went to the museum and he wanted me to carry him. I asked him repeatedly if he wanted to walk. He said, "No. Carry you." It warms my heart that he says "carry you" when he wants me to carry him. Anyways. I was unmoved by the cuteness when my arm started to fall off. I started to put him down. He did the monkey-cling routine. I pried him off me and went to set him on the ground. He moved his legs out from under him so he couldn't stand. Finally I got him on his feet and on the ground. He ran around in a circle, stomping his feet and crying, and plopped down on the ground, belly-down, to throw a fit. I just looked at him. I tried to coax him into walking. No go. Finally I said, "Look, you can walk! You are 2! So I'll see you later, Teancom," and I started walking on. Thankfully he came to his senses, got up, and ran after me. He walked the rest of the way--even down the escalator! Very brave of him.

So here's me on my quest to make Teancom a non-spoiled kid. I think my efforts will, on the whole, be ineffective, because he really is so stinkin' cute and he totally has me wrapped around his little finger! ... I used to worry about having a favorite child. Good parents don't do that, right? But now I look at people and say, "But he's your favorite, too, right?!!" And he is. He's just likable and cute.

And I brag about him shamelessly.

Tree Pictures

I saw the coolest tree the other week! It is the most impressive-looking fallen tree from Ike that I've seen yet. I don't know how I didn't see it until last week. I've passed it several times.

And the wide shot:

It's right across from Miciah's school. I took the boys with me and they stayed in the van, with the van running, while I got out to take these pictures (I would so NOT have tried this trick with Miciah in the car). ... And even better about the tree: It fell in a graveyard! Awesome. I wanted to walk up and get a closer picture of it, but I felt bad walking through a graveyard to do it. No, I wasn't afraid.

I also went to take a picture of another tree that I've thought of taking a picture of before, cause it intrigues me. They cut a huge chunk out of it so they could save their power lines. So it's got this one tiny limb on one side of it. Anyways, the whole one side of the tree is red with fall and the other limb is still green. I thought it was fun, but the picture didn't turn out like I hoped. Oh well. ... And then I saw another tree, obviously the same kind, that did the same kind of thing: the whole tree was green except one stripe of purple right down the middle! It must be that type of tree. Very fun.

Elijah

Elijah is a delight. He can be so sweet and soft that it amazes me. He often will ask if he can marry me and if I say yes (after hesitating, since I'm already married, and he's my son, and and and, ... I decided what did it matter if I said yes? But just for pretend, I told him) he steals a cute little kiss. Very cute and romantic. He warms me up when he's so soft like that.

He'll often come and tell me he loves me and he'll give me a hug and kiss. Which brings me to a kissing point. I don't know when it happened, but he went from "Kisses are yucky!" to "I want to give you a kiss." :) I like it. I get an Elijah kiss at least once a day, and (like any Mom) I eat it up.

For all his gentleness and softness, he's also expert at bugging his sister. It's funny when she comes home. He changes from the gentle, soft, quiet Elijah he's been all day, into monster, hyper, loud Elijah who bugs his sister relentlessly!

Rob

We are figuring out Rob's work and his calling for church still (will we ever have it "figured out"?). We're learning a lot along the way. I feel like we are stronger as a couple, as individuals, and as a family. We struggle still, and it can be HARD. ... But it's been worth it. I am amazed at the strength the Lord has given us. I feel like I rely a lot on my own strength, but when I let go and ask for my Heavenly Father's help, he always comes through, and I'm stronger than I was on my own. Sometimes I don't know how we ever made it before we needed Him so much! I feel like He blesses us and will continue to stand beside us, and I'm grateful for that.

Tamra

I am writing articles for Rob's sisters' company. They have a magazine type thing and I write articles about family and motherhood. Nothing expert-like, cause that's not my style. A lot of personal experiences. Silly little things that make up motherhood and family. It's fun. I feel like that's finally underway (after almost a year of it being almost underway). I still don't feel like a "writer" yet, but I get paid for what I write and submit, so I guess this is the start of my writing "career." Though this could be the start and the end, all at once. :) I love what I write about and perhaps more will come of it.

Butterflies

Yesterday Elijah was downstairs with me. I was folding clothes. He wanted to help me fold. What impressed me was that he came up to me, grabbed a shirt from the pile and said, "Mom, I want to help. Show me how." I smiled and showed him how to fold. I never realized before that folding clothes involves, basically, one principle: fold in half. So he'd fold things in half, then in half again, and carefully place them in his basket. He folded his whole basket and did so quite well, I thought, for a 4-year-old.

Then I was folding other things and he was walking around and roaring. We walked up behind me and bit my jacket! I was a little annoyed, but realized he had no malicious intent, so I turned around and asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm a dragon!" I asked if he was a good or a bad dragon. He said he was a good dragon. I asked, "Then why did you bite my jacket?" "Cause I want to play!" I laughed. It was cute. I said, "Alright, what does the playful dragon want to do?" He thought for a minute and said, "Go outside!"

I thought that was a pretty good deal, since he'd probably let me read a book while I sat outside watching him play. So we went outside and I watched him as he demonstrated his new trick: swinging all by himself. He did that for a while and then came and sat down beside me. Suddenly, all super-excited, he said, "Look, Mom! It's a butterfly!" I looked and there it was, a cute little white butterfly fluttering around the swing set. I said, "Oh, yeah. A little white butterfly." He said, "That's cause it's a beautiful day, huh?" I smiled and said, "A beautiful day?" He further explained, "Yeah. When you see a butterfly, that means it's a beautiful day."

I hugged my little man and thought about how simple and beautiful the world is to him. I thought that it was indeed a beautiful day.

The Last Month (an update)

Things have been eventful since my last update! Only a month's gone by but things feel drastically different. Miciah's in school, Hurricane Ike hit Cincinnati full-force, Dave Ramsey has taken over our lives, and Rob's calling is under control. Life is Different here. Here's the month in a highlight reel (though a LONG highlight reel, like usual).

Coney Island

Children's pays for all their employees and their families to go to Coney Island once a year. We've gone in the past because people have provided us with tickets, so this year we returned the favor and invited the Bs to go with us. There were many other families that we know and like that were there, too, so the day was a blast. I have a lot of pictures from the day.

Coney Island has lots of rides for little kids, so the kids were happy. The first ride Rob, Miciah, and Elijah went on was that spinny tea cup ride. I'm not a fan of the tea cup myself, so I sat it out with Teancom. Right next to the tea cup ride, though, was this like 50 foot slide. I thought Teancom would love it, so we hiked to the top. He was excited and excited until we got to the very top, when he started clinging to me and saying, "No, no, no, no, no." :) We went down anyway (how else do you get down?), and the whole time he tightened every muscle in his little body. I don't like the feeling of my stomach jumping, either--he must be my kid. We got to the bottom and I asked him, "Was that fun?" and he said, "Uh-huh." Funny kid.

After that, Teancom would go on no rides. Not even the train going around in a circle ride. The so-not-scary-it's-ridiculous rides. He wouldn't do the airplanes. He wouldn't do the rockets. He wouldn't do the trains and tugboats. (How do kids miss the fact, by the way, that all these rides are EXACTLY THE SAME RIDE. Pick an object, and make it go around in a slow-going circle.) We got to a ride that I thought for SURE he'd go on, though. It was turtles. How non-scary are cute turtles?! We put him on and he did the monkey-cling don't-put-me-down thing. So RB held him while everyone else went on the ride.I thought I'd take a picture of the ride, since I thought it was hilarious he was scared of a TURTLE ride. So I'm taking pictures of Miciah and Elijah and their friends, A and L, when the ride starts, and this was A's reaction:Apparently A is also afraid of turtles. Who knew they were such fearsome creatures, eh? ... A thought the trains and tugboats were much less scary, and went on that ride, at least. He had nothing to do with airplanes and rockets, though. His little sister, L, however, is fearless and wanted to go on every ride. This is her and Miciah on the turtles:
I imagine they're thinking something like, "Umm, can we get a little more action here, please? Come on!"

Elijah on the rocket:
Elijah and Miciah on the airplanes:

Miciah was only slightly fooled into thinking that all the rides were different. She's definitely growing up. She still had a good time at the park, especially with her friends there, but I think pretty soon she'll be thinking, "Do we HAVE to go to Coney Island? It's so LAME." :)

Coney Island has a little play town area for the kids. They love it and it's a nice place to rest a little. While we were playing there I found this chair and fell in love with the beat up green against the red and white background. Something about it caught my interest, so I took a picture of it.
And then I took pictures of the kids sitting in it.I dunno. Something about that green chair, red wall.

I didn't get a picture of Elijah in the chair, but I got these pictures of him and Miciah instead. Miciah in a loft area in the play town:

Miciah on the carousel:

The best part of Coney Island is the free paddle boat rides! I recommend going right when everyone else wants to eat lunch. It's been a good strategy for us. Of course, right when we're about at the front of the line, Elijah says he has to go potty. And when little boys have to go potty, I've discovered, it's not a wait for 5 minutes type of thing. So Rob took him to the restroom as quickly as possible. A few people got to jump ahead of us in line, but we got on the paddle boats eventually.

Elijah in his quality lifejacket. The top of it was riped, so if he'd fallen in the water, those floaty things would have just come right out.
We like to pretend like we're going to ram other boats, and we actually did ram the B's boat a little. At slow, slow speeds. Our other friends, the H's, were there, too, and we tried to ram their boat, too. Here's them narrowly escaping our ramming efforts:
And the B's, trying to ram us after we rammed them a little:

They got caught in the ropes for their efforts and sprayed by the nearby fountain. Ha, ha! We won!

Our kids now know how to say, "Ramming speed!"

At the very end of the day the kids were exhausted. Teancom and Elijah both fell asleep on the way home, and Miciah threw a 20-minute fit because she wanted to go on the ferris wheel and we forgot about that.

Stricker's Grove

One of the funniest parts about Teancom not going on any rides at Coney Island, is that about 3 weeks before that we were invited to Stricker's Grove, which is a smaller park with rides almost identical to the rides at Coney Island. And Teancom went on all of those. Whatever.

We also played miniature golf and I beat everyone handily. We found a toad while we were playing and saved him from some 9-year-old boys. I think that's a ticket straight to heaven just for that act alone.

Stricker's Grove also had two rollercoasters for the kids. Miciah was tall enough to go on both of them if Rob went with her, and Elijah was big enough to do one of them. They loved it. Teancom and I went and rode the train again. The train was his favorite part, and mine, too. It takes you all the way around the park, through a tunnel and over about a 2-foot bridge. It goes right by a little creek too, and it's just a fun little train ride.

I did take Teancom on a Dumbo ride where Dumbo goes in the air and down at relatively high speeds for a kid who's scared of a 50-foot slide. He clung to me for dear life the whole time. The kid is a scaredy cat, no doubt about it. I am, too, but he's worse. :)

First Grade

We are now into the groove of 1st Grade. Miciah had a hard time for the first week or so. After her second day of school she came to me and asked if she could have something or other. I hesitated for a minute and then said sure. She gave a sigh of relief and said, "Thanks, Mom. It's been a long day." :)

A few fun stories about her and school. She's doing well in school, as we were sure she would. Miciah isn't a genius, but school isn't a struggle for her, either. She came home one day and told me about a little test they took. Something about knowing all the numbers 1 - 20. Something really basic for her. I said, "Did you know them all, Miciah?" She gave me this look like, "Are you CRAZY?" and said, "Of COURSE I knew them all!" I am confident that she isn't cocky at school, but she knows what she knows and she knows that we know it, too.

She got back her first paper that had been graded. It was a math test. It was her first paper EVER that got sent home with a less than perfect grade: 19 out of 20. I was looking over it and she pointed to the grade and said, "What's that?" I told her it was 19 out of 20. She looked at me blankly. I said, "You missed one." Again she looked at me like, "I don't get it." She doesn't miss things often, and when she does it really bothers her. She's a perfectionist and doesn't like to make mistakes. I showed her where she missed the point: She forgot to write down the 9 in 19. A silly, sloppy mistake. I didn't even explain it to her yet and she said, "Oh. I forgot to write down the 9. I knew it was 19." ... It was just interesting to watch her react to her first not-perfect paper. We don't have to say much to her in terms of schooling--we know that she's going to try her hardest because any less than that is just not acceptable to her. And it's not that we're pushing her--we're not. She just wants to do it and do it right. And she can (and she knows it).

Often while waiting for the bus, Miciah will ask the boys to come out and sit with her, and to further entice them, she offers to read a book to them:

Elijah in particular loves for Miciah to read to him. He's just starting to follow plot lines and things like that. He's grown up a lot, too.

Miciah thought this page was particularly funny and so she wanted me to take a picture of it.

A few weeks ago Rob and I went to the temple with Rob's family. It was really nice to get away from the kids for the day, and to spend the day with Rob's family. Super nice. Anyways, the woman who babysat for us, Lynn, used to be a professional clown and is one of the best kid persons I've ever met. She just loves kids and is always prepared to have a good time with them. The kids had a BLAST with her. Anyways, the point is that when she first showed up, she asked Miciah, "Are you about as smart as your mom?" Miciah thought for a moment and then replied, "Well. Maybe a little smarter." :) That's probably true.

I hope no one things I'm bragging about my daughter. We're just happy that she does well in school and that she enjoys it so much.

Elijah

Elijah has started taking an interest in books and reading. He will now tell me which letter things are and even sometimes what sound they say. He will also count with me sometimes (when I catch him off-guard).

He has also started coloring a lot. A few funny things about that.

First is this:

It's a bag of crayons that he took outside and left out there for a day or two. The crayons melted in the sun and then melted TOGETHER. I thought it was awesome and I had to take pictures of it:

The other day he was coloring on a piece of paper with a dry-erase marker. I came in and gently said, "Oh, Elijah. That marker isn't meant for paper. Let me get you another one that is." I immediately got out another marker meant for paper, same color, and gave it to him. He scowled at me and was so mad. He is the most EMOTIONAL child. I don't even have to tell him no for him to be upset. Just a qualified no that actually is a yes. Like this situation. You can't use that marker but you can use this one. This technique is SUPPOSED to work with kids. Anyways, I walked into the other room and pretty soon he came to me with a fully colored-in piece of paper. He said, gruffly, "Look, Mom!" I looked at it and said, "Elijah, it's beautiful!" He said, "No! It's ruined!" and crumbled up the piece of paper and threw it away, scowling the whole time. I don't get it. His emotions are a mystery to me.

Other fun Elijah stories (he's at the right age for them):

He likes to say his own prayers now, and he'll say long, long, long, ... long prayers that seem to take forever. :) We'll try to help him close it up by feeding him the next-to-last line: In the name of Jesus Christ. If he's not done, though, he'll say, "No!" and go on. He used to say, "I need to say grateful for red Spider-Man." Now every prayer ends with, "In the name of red Spider-Man, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." So he has 2 dieties: red Spider-Man and Christ. :) I'm assuming this is a phase and that soon enough he'll grow out of it, so we're trying to chuckle about it and not turn it into a big deal. Plus, it's kind of funny.

We were at a stop light the other day and when the red light turned to green Elijah informed me that the lights changing colors was "amazing magic." That's a phrase I'm trying to incorporate into my everyday speech: amazing magic.

Rob and I are again doing our health and fitness challenge, and with Miciah being gone at school, I've been exercising during the day. I often do Tae Bo cause I love it. I turn it on and the first thing Elijah comments on is that Billy Blanks is chocolate (he's black). And he'll ask, "Do you want to look just like him?" No. Not just like him.

He also asks me if I'm exercising so I can be "big like daddy." The thought of me being as big as Rob makes me chuckle. Man, would I look weird! But for Elijah, every move he makes is so he can be as big as daddy. That's why he eats dinner (especially vegetables). That's why he runs and plays and exercises. So that someday he can be big like daddy. So I thought that the only appropriate response was the response I gave him: "Yes. Yes, I am."

He's also in the fun age of cute grammar. My latest favorite incorrect phrase of his: "I didn't did it."

Teancom

What can I say, the kid is a gem. Spoiled as all get out, I've realized, but cute as can be.

A couple funny Teancom stories:

I was sitting at the table reading a book when Teancom walked up to me very casually (he often will come up and just lean against me--like he wants to know I'm there--and then go back to normal. It's very endearing). For no apparent reason, this time he had both fingers in the sides of his mouth, like he was making that face where you stick your tongue out. Except he wasn't making a face, he just had his fingers like that. And he was trying to talk to me. By the end of a minute with him trying unsuccessfully to talk with his fingers in the sides of his mouth like that, I was dying laughing. He abruptly took his fingers out of his mouth, looks at me sweetly and asks, "That funny, Mommy?" :) Yes. Yes, that's funny.

Duing one of our lovely No Power Days (a very brief sum-up to follow), the kids made a blanket tent in the living room. They were playing in there and I heard Elijah tell Teancom to shut up. Now, Rob's very against the word shut up, and I don't like it much, so in general it's a rule that we don't say that word in our house (I use it more than anyone, hands down). I said, "Hey. Elijah, we don't say shut up to our brother. That's not nice." Teancom turns to me, points his finger at me and says, repeatedly, "Shub up!" I almost cracked up laughing right there, but I stayed composed and even managed a, "That's not very nice and I might just get you in trouble for that if you're not careful" scrunched up face at him. But I've started saying "shub up" to Rob when no one else is around, just cause I think it's stinkin' hilarious.

No Power For You!

Hurricane Ike came through Cincinnati and left us without power from Sunday - Wednesday evening, which seems like a long time until you consider people who had their power off until Sunday morning. Miciah (and the rest of Cincinnati) was off school for 3 days. Those were a LONG 3 days. I've written up a Catalog of events (which I told you not to read, so hopefully you didn't) and I intend to write up more of it soon. The whole thing was fascinating and I'm grateful we were a part of it.

On Friday of that No Power Week we went to eat dinner at a friend's house. We got home around 9 pm to find that our power was back off again!!! This was very distressing. Apparently, a squirrel got fried on the powerlines and that wigged out the lines and left our street without power. What?! I had a soccer game that night. After getting dressed by lantern light I drove to the game. I was livid. In my head I was cussing at the squirrel, grateful he'd already gone down in a ball of flames (literally, he went down in a ball of flames! They had to put him out. There was a scorch mark on the grass), or else I'd have hunted him down and killed him. ... A guy at my soccer game, as we're starting, says to me, "You look tired. Are you okay?" I said, "No, I'm not okay," and proceeded to tell him all about power being off until Wednesday and then tonight, TWO DAYS LATER, a STUPID SQUIRREL took out my power AGAIN! I seriously yelled. I bet everyone in the building knew all about the squirrel. I was mad. Consequently, I played my best game yet. I scored once and assisted once, and I was all over the place. My team played a lousy game (we lost 6 - 2, or maybe worse--the ref might have stopped counting), but I was on fire. The next day my body finally was feeling it, but that night I ran myself into the ground getting out my aggression towards that cursed squirrel. :)

The next morning, miraculously, Duke Energy had the power back on. That saved our day, because we were just about to take our food BACK OVER to the B's house. :) Instead, our power came back on, we could do all the stuff we needed to do that day, and we got to go to the park and play as a family, too. Yea for power.

Not that I couldn't live without power. I could. We all could. But it's nice to have power, and we're used to it now. If it was going to be a permanent arrangement, we'd have to make adjustments to our lives, for sure.

A picture of Miciah from Monday, the day after Ike:And the cursed squirrel:

Rob's Calling

Happily, we are figuring out Rob's calling. For a while things were pretty stressful around here. It took us a while to figure out which stresses were coming from where. Some stresses were legitimately from his calling. Others from his work. And still others from financial changes. But the changes we've made in our lives lately to try to help make his calling run smoothly have made a HUGE difference. Still Sunday mornings can be a struggle, but we are light years ahead of where we were just a month ago. The worst part now is that Teancom is spoiled and he won't allow Elijah to sit on my lap at church. And Elijah will for some unknown reason start throwing one of his emotional tantrums on the church floor (they're not disruptive, they just need to be dealt with). So I have to hand Teancom off to someone else (and he doesn't like that) so I can deal with Elijah. I don't know why Elijah is throwing the fits in the first place! But it's getting better.

I've realized that I must look exhausted every week. People will ask me repeatedly how I'm doing and if I tell them fine they look at me like, "Right. Now tell me the truth." :) I saw someone on a Saturday and she said, "You look very relaxed today." I realized about a week later that really that comment meant that normally when I see her (on Sunday mornings) I DON'T look relaxed. :) So I'll have to work on that. ... However, this is somewhat my fault, I realize. A while ago I was praying that Heavenly Father would show me that I was noticed. Me, Tamra Thacker, who gets no special attention because I'm not NEEDY. :) I didn't tell anyone this desire--not even Rob. But suddenly there are people noticing me left and right. I am grateful that the Lord answered my prayers and that I'm no longer able to say, "No one notices me anyways." People do notice. And, truly, they probably always have.

Dave Ramsey

Last, but certainly not least, is Dave Ramsey. Rob and I are now 7 weeks into Financial Peace University, which is a Dave Ramsey financial class. It has changed our view on finances completely--and for the better! The principles we are learning and applying have already given us focus and direction and determination to DO IT RIGHT! We're excited about all that. And it's finally starting to not be all-consuming like it was when we first started out on this. Like most change, changing our finances has been about changing behaviors. And that's always difficult. But doable.

It seems like we've changed a lot of behaviors lately. We're getting our finances under control. Rob's calling is under control. Our household is almost always clean and under control, too (and this has NEVER really happened). And most importantly, I am finally feeling like I am IN control. Not that I haven't always been in control of myself and my life, but finally I feel like I'm embracing what it is that my life is about. This has been a process for me and it's been a fabulous ride. And the older I get, the more I think, "Man. If 27 can be this much better than 26, then bring on getting older!" Each year I'm more of who I want to be and I'm less apologetic for it. :) Yea for the starts of maturity!

2007 was the year the pine trees died.

We love you all. Thanks for reading this far. I think my brain died about halfway through this update, so I hope this was all still read-able. But maybe I'll re-read it tomorrow and go, "Ah. THAT'S when it happened." :) Time to bed for me!

A picture of Miciah from today. Love the no front teeth smile:

Tamra and family