One Big Day!

This was a momentous day: K turned 30, and Moses had his first Pre-School Open House!

Moses and I started out the morning decorating a card for Daddy, and wrapping presents:

K loves chocolate, so I make a chocolate chip "cake" and then added 50% more chocolate than the recipe called for, in the form of springy blue M&Ms:

Moses enjoyed it (he even has chocolate on his shoulder...):

Later in the day, Dean dropped off this pie from Marge (the coffee is on right now, and I can't wait for a piece!):

This evening, we visited Moses' school for the first time. Doesn't he look like a big boy?!

He had a lot of fun, particularly playing with a stroller with a baby doll in it. (I hadn't thought about THAT type of present for his upcoming birthday...).

So what did Moses think of his new school? This was his face upon leaving/returning home:

For 45 minutes, all he did was cry "baby" and point in the direction of the church where the preschool is located (as well as where the baby and stroller are located...). It was sweet and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Apparently he will adjust just fine to preschool life!

Here are my boys on their big day:

Thanks, Cyber-Friends!

Thanks to all who left comments on the cake! Between you and our small group, the right side won the overwhelming majority of the votes. The party is two weeks from today-- stay tuned for birthday pics!

This week-- er, this month-- is shaping up to be a very busy one. We have Pre-School Open House tomorrow (my baby is going to PRE-SCHOOL in the fall!), out to dinner with friends Tuesday, worship practice Wendesday, leave friday for Indiana, where I am lecturing at a university on Saturday. The next weekend we have small group and Moses' party. The next weekend we are traveling to see my sister-in-law's fashion show. The next weekend I leave on Sunday for an bi-annual work retreat... and I am tired just looking at that paragraph.

So I will cut this whining short and leave you with a picture-- the real reason you visit this blog, right?

Sneak peeks!

It's almost that time again... Moses' birthday is the 16th! I can't believe an entire year has gone by already...

So, I am taking a poll: Do you like the left side of the cake better, or the right side?

This was my practice cake. Our small group got the benefit of my practice tonight. :) The left side is a variation on the "star" pattern in cake decorating. But on the right side, I frosted it with a knife and then added texture to look life fur. I'm not pleased with the pupils, so I will be trying something else with them...

And at long last, a peek at the dining room re-do. I finally ordered the curtain rod and new shades last night, so hopefully I can get some "after" shots soon.

The shade is a little darker than it looks here-- it's more of a coffee color. The prints are Courier & Ives farm prints that I've had for years. There are two more in other areas of the dining room. I love them!

Don't forget to register your opinion on the cake! Take into consideration what Elmo looks like in "real life." :)

Just For Fun

And because I know "MaMa" would love to watch this over and over... :)

More Tidbits

The last couple of weeks have been full of random events, too short for separate posts, but important to our family just the same:


Moses
Moses now knows all of his upper AND lower case letters! He can also say them all in order. We've also been working with numbers lately, and he can identify the numbers 1 through 9, and he can recite the numbers 1 through 13. He loves yelling "thar-teen!!!"


He is also chattering like crazy. No full sentences yet, but he says several new words every day. On Easter alone, he said chair, eat, Moses, MaMa, PaPa, egg, quack, and several more that I need to write down when I remember, or else his baby book is going to look pretty pathetic...


Weight Loss Challenge
I won! I ended up losing 11 pounds. The money I won is being applied to a hefty custom framing job at Hobby Lobby... And pictures of our dining-room re-do will be forthcoming, when we hang all of the prints from my first order... Oh wait, I still haven't ordered the new curtain rod. Well, those pictures might come some day...


Spring
Spring has come to the river valley! We went for a drive on the river road last week, and saw the geese leaving, and the pelicans arriving (next to the ibises in South Florida, the white pelicans here-- and their giant orange beaks-- are by far my favorite bird). The tuips even popped up today! But I am wondering if we still have some winter left. On a drive yesterday (we've gone on several drives lately-- I love driving the the Mountaineer!), there was a bald eagle perched on a branch in the river, very close to shore. So apparently the eagles haven't left yet... as much as I love them, I hope they migrate away soon!

Now that we are recuperated...

In our home, we decorate Easter eggs on the evening of good Friday, and the Easter Bunny comes that night. That way, Moses can take time to hunt for the eggs and go through his basket, and we can have a good breakfast together (Kurt made biscuits & gravy this year... yum!). Also, it means that Easter Sunday is what it is supposed to be about: Jesus.

So, here is some video footage of Moses dying eggs. In my "motherly wisdom," as K referred to it this weekend, I started by bringing out just ONE color to the dining room, and I started with the lightest color. I have entitled this video, "Perhaps we should have waited until next year..."

After the I stopped laughing and the mess was cleaned up, we went back to the kitchen, where we let Moses drop one egg into each color, and then he was taken back to the living room. I fished the eggs out a little later and let him play with them. By the way, not one of the 6 eggs was left unscathed that night, and one was so badly beaten (no pun intended) that it had to be thrown out.

The next video is Saturday morning. I have entitled this one "egg toss" (very original, I know). You'll have to pardon the smudge on the lens. It had just been touched my m&m fingers...

But our little monkey was such a good boy. He loved going through his basket. And we loved watching him go through his basket.

And finally, a few Easter morning pictures. Doesn't he look like such a little man in his wife-beater?! :)

Stress Relief at the End of a Long Weekend

More to come tomorrow. Including video footage of a yellow dye river and an egg-toss egg hunt. Oh-- and sleepy pictures of a poor little boy who was taken from his bed, thrown into his Easter clothes, and whisked to the sunrise service. But he received a doughnut payoff later.


Right now, I am too tired to post anything substantive, so the previous teaser will have to suffice. Besides, I still need to get next Sunday's music ready....


By the way, our stress relief tonight: two hours of Hawaii Five-0 after Moses went to bed. Best quote of the evening: "Greed, Mr. McGarrett. Greed and money. That's what ecology is all about." Oh to live in the day when you didn't have to be politically correct. Of course, you had to fear "the syndicate" and the "red communist agents," but at least you could speak your mind...


Here's one picture of K and me. Moses was too busy playing with MaMa and Papa (his new names for Grandma and Grandpa) to stay put for the picture.

Up from the grave He arose!

And the darkness was rolled away like the stone from the tomb, and the Light shone forth from the empty grave.

Thank you, Jesus!

A "rural woman" rhetoric rant

Working in the p-l movement, I have the "privilege" of hearing p-c arguments on a daily basis. One of my "favorites" (insert sarcasm here) is that we can't regulate abortion, and we must force pharmacists to supply abortifacients against their will, because rural woman need abortion/abortifacients and can't get them anywhere else.

As a rural woman, this patronizing, condescending attitude is totally offensive.

And lately, the other side has had a new argument. We must force pharmacists to fill abortifacient prescriptions because rural women don't have access to the internet. Really. I just read that this week in a Ninth Circuit court filing.

Newsflash: We do have the internet. And we even-- BLOG! [gasp!]

Now, I understand that poorer women in rural areas may not have access to the internet. They may not have access to healthcare. But that is not any different than poor women in the city. Poor women in the city don't necessarily have the internet or health insurance, either.

This singling out of the rural community by big city hotshot attorneys who have probably never been outside of a coastal-state city is so irritating to me.

So here is one more newsflash: we rural hicks actually know how to take care of ourselves-- we are likely more self-sufficient than the city folk. We know how to grow/raise our own food [In fact-- that cheeseburger you're eating right now? Raised in Illinois. I knew her sister]. We make pies from scratch. We know home remedies you've never dreamed of.

We even have Walmart.

And we don't drive our tractors to get there.

Awaiting Easter

I LOVE Easter. I have always loved Easter. But Easter of 2006 made the day even more special-- because that was the day our precious baby boy came into the world. Weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz, he was born at 8:42 PM on April 16. So in a way, Moses gets two birthdays: one on Easter every year, and one on his actual birthdate. (Won't his siblings be jealous in later years?!)

Here is a portion of a letter I wrote in to a Christian radio station last year. It won a contest on "What Easter Means to Me":

...So why is Easter special to me? Two words: NEW LIFE. But “new life” on so many levels. Of course, it is the most important day of the year to me, because it is the day my Lord and Savior conquered death, rose from the grave, and saved us from our sins. Halleluiah—the Lord lives!

But “new life” on another level as well. Last Easter—April 16, 2006—Moses Obadyeah Smith, my firstborn, came into this world. For months, our prayer warriors had been praying that our baby boy would be born on Easter. My husband, who at the time was a worship minister at a church in [omitted], assured the worship team that they better be ready to lead without him, because we were confident that our baby boy would be born that day.

So I should not have been surprised when, at 4:00 Easter morning, I awoke in heavy labor. Afraid that I might be wrong and later humiliate myself when my husband didn’t show up for church on EASTER, we waited until 6:00 am until we went to the hospital. By then my contractions were very intense and very close together, and the nurses assured me that it wouldn’t be long.

Unfortunately, both the nurses and the doctor made a number of miscalculations (including his size—I started at 112 lbs, and he was alost 9.5 lbs!), and after 13 hours of incredibly intense labor, my precious baby boy became lodged in the birth canal for three hours. I am so thankful that this was my first child, because I had no clue that things weren’t going as they should!

But my prayer warriors—who by this time had dodged TORNADOES in order to be at the hospital—were praying fervently outside my door. And God did not let us down! Moses Obadyeah was born that night.

So I obviously cannot think of Easter without thinking of new life. It is the day God’s firstborn came back to life, and the day my firstborn was, by the grace of God, given life.

Easter sunrise (before the tornadoes!):

One proud papa:

Moses Obadyeah:

Moses the monster baby :) (my brother entitled this one "large and in charge" on his blog):

Easter-y Moses M&Ms (I had these baggied and in a cute basket in the hospital, and then forgot to hand them out-- so on the blog they go!):

One week later (on his actual due-date-- I still look 8 months pregnant! yikes!):

The things I ALMOST say...

As I mentioned earlier, we went to look at a Pathfinder this weekend. It was a 2007, so it was used-- and located at a Ford dealership.

When we got there and it had been sold, they did the age-old car salesman stunt of trying to get us to look at a different SUV. Here's how it went down:

Business manager: Have you thought about an Explorer? They seat 7.

K: We're not really interested in an Explorer.

Me: No, I don't really like the way they have reported by Consumer Reports. I'm kind of a Consumer Reports junkie. I mean, I don't have anything against American cars. We-- [I cut myself off here]

What I started to say to the Ford business manager: I mean, I don't have anything against American cars. We really like Chevy.

My guess is I could have kissed my free gas away had it actually come out.

Free Stuff

I have a very good friend named Esther, who has taught me much in life. One of the greatest lessons she taught me is how to get free stuff. Specifically, she taught me how to get free stuff out of businesses when they haven't handled my service/purchase correctly. She is a great negotiator. Law school only taught me so much; Esther allowed me to see hardcore negotiation in practice.

I've also seen my dad in action. We call it "Caterpillar mode" (while he would humbly deny it, he is a higher-up in the company). I still remember being in junior high and watching him operate in Caterpillar mode with a Ford dealership who sold us a lemon. I believe the result was a brand new car (we had had ours for a couple years by that point) for very little cost. But I remember being a little scared of him while I watched him in the process. lol

One of his lines is "So how are you going to compensate me for this?" It really throws them. I've adapted that with a few of my own. For example, throw in a firm "This is unacceptable. I WILL NOT accept this." Or "What are you going to do to restore my faith in your business?" Or "I am a regular customer here, and this is very disappointing. How are you going to make it up to me?"

So here's one of my examples. Williams Sonoma sent me a monogramed item one time, on which the monogram was slightly off center. Not enough to really affect the product, but you expect more than that from a company like Williams Sonoma. It was a Christmas gift, and I had ordered well before Thanksgiving. But by the time the item arrived, it was backordered-- meaning they couldn't send a corrected item until late January. I negotiated, got to keep the slightly off-center monogramed item, and also received in the mail a gift certificate for the amount of the item (which I in turn passed on to the family member who had received the monogramed item-- he got a double present that year!).

Anyway, you will find that if a business is run correctly, they will do these things to make up for mistakes. We've gotten a free Dell printer, coupons for extra-percentages off items, etc.

This weekend we experienced another situation. We are SUV-shopping (I know, I know; we aren't "green" in this household). I had set up an appointment to see a 2007 Pathfinder at a dealer 2 hours from here. When we arrived, they had sold the vehicle-- but failed to call me.

The result? A free tank of gas for the Smith household.

I'd love to hear other situations where this kind of negotiation has worked. I'm always up for new ways of getting free stuff. :)

Big Brother

I'm back! After an almost-week-long hiatus from blogging, I decided I had enough energy to do so this morning. I've been saving most of my energy this week for Moses, but I have a little to spare this morning!

Plus, something happened yesterday (and in a few previous months) that I feel warrants discussion.

I want to know if anyone else out there lives in a town with a loud speaker that broadcasts a male voice all over town.

Yes, you read that right.

We moved to our quaint little midwestern town one year ago. You can read more about this modern-day Mayberry here and here. (By the way, I've never reported that our mayor is named Woody and owns the old-fashioned barber shop downtown. How Mayberry is THAT?)

But I think this aspect of our town is truly unique: when the town is testing out the emergency sirens (tornado sirens, for those of you not living in tornado alley), a voice first comes over a loud speaker and states several times, "This is a test of the emergency warning system. This is only a test." It is much like the voice that takes over the television or radio during testing.

Except this voice plays all over our town, and shakes my windows.

I had never heard anything like it before moving here. And what's worse, there is apparently no schedule for these tests. In other towns I've lived in, tornado sirens are tested on a certain day, at a certain time, each month.

Not here. They seem to test willy-nilly, whenever they feel like it.

Perhaps that is why they need the voice. To assure me, on sunny days like yesterday, that it is only a test.

After all, it would be disconcerting to hear SIRENS blasting. A male voice is much better.

Once again, I "overachieved"

Sleeping as late as I want. Breakfast in bed. Not having to answer the telephone. Sounds good, right?

Not really. Not when I am in bed all day. And not when breakfast, lunch, AND dinner are in bed. And not when I don't have anyone to talk to all day.

SO, yesterday I tried to "speed up" the healing process a little bit. I thought if I was up and around, eating with my family, checking my work email, etc., I would feek better sooner.

And then I got so sick to my stomach that I threw up. NOT GOOD when you've just had abdominal surgery.

So my husband banished me once again to the bedroom. I can hear poor little Moses on the other side of the door banging to get in (he only gets to come in when Daddy supervises, since he likes to jump on Mommy). The poor little guy doesn't understand what is going on. We've shown him "Mommy's ouchies," hoping that he would understand that he needs to be gentle. I think he got the picture, but now whenever he comes in to see Mommy he wants to see my ouchies. :)

Not so bad...

Less than 24 hours after gall bladder surgery, and here I am sitting up in bed, checking email, blogging, etc.! I am very impressed with my surgeon and the nurses. The entire process wasn't really too bad. And once I found a comfortable position and was able to sleep yesterday, things got much better.

PLUS, it helps that I am being waited on hand and foot. :) K is one amazing husband.

And, Grandma and Grandpa came and took Moses to a hotel yesterday, so Kurt can focus on me. In the meantime, Moses is having a blast. They went and saw the new baby chicks at the farm store (once I figure out how to get the video from my phone to the computer, I will have to post it-- Moses went from gently petting the baby chick to smacking it on its head... it hurts when I laugh that hard!). They went to the mall and the coffee shop. They attemped to go swimming, but Moses was having too much fun making silly faces in the full-length mirror in the hotel room.

And the pain isn't too bad after all.

And here is the best part: the surgeon was able to identify some problems with my gall bladder that were causing it to not function. That means I WILL feel better after this!

All in all, I am feeling very thankful to God for his provision for our family!

Okay, that's enough sitting up time now... back to bed...

The Introduction to the Opposites

I was a big fan of “You Can’t Do That on Television” when I was growing up (does that date me?). In each episode, the actors introduced “The Opposites” segment by saying completely off the wall things. Then they would say, “This must be the introduction to the opposites!” I feel like that today.

Why? Because I am GLAD that Hilary Clinton WON Texas and Ohio yesterday. If I had lived in one of those states, I would have voted for her yesterday.

(I’m also glad that I am definitely having surgery tomorrow… but that is another topic).

Don’t get me wrong. I am most definitely NOT a Hilary fan. I think she is a very dangerous woman. But, put simply, she is not AS dangerous to Christians, babies, the elderly, and the incapacitated as Obama is. He makes my skin crawl.

It isn’t necessarily something Obama is doing. It’s more of something Obama is creating: worship of himself. Read these SCARY quotes:

• "He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians. . . . [He is] the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century." – Gary Hart
  
• "Barack Obama is our collective representation of our purest hopes, our highest visions and our deepest knowings . . . . He's our product out of the all-knowing quantum field of intelligence." – Eve Konstantine
  
• "This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament." "I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event." -- Chris Matthews
  
• "[Obama is] creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom . . . . [He is] the man for this time." – Toni Morrison
  
• "Obama's finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don't even really inspire. They elevate. . . . He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh . . . . Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves." – Ezra Klein
  
• "Obama has the capacity to summon heroic forces from the spiritual depths of ordinary citizens and to unleash therefrom a symphonic chorus of unique creative acts whose common purpose is to tame the soul and alleviate the great challenges facing mankind." – Gerald Campbell
  
• "We're here to evolve to a higher plane . . . . He is an evolved leader . . . . . [He] has an ear for eloquence and a Tongue dipped in the Unvarnished Truth." – Oprah Winfrey
  
• "I would characterize the Senate race as being a race where Obama was, let's say, blessed and highly favored. That's not routine. There's something else going on. I think that Obama, his election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. . . . I know that that was God's plan." – Bill Rush

What is really scary is that he has fooled many-a-Christian into thinking he is some kind of a savior for the American people. In his charisma he has convinced thousands of American Christians that it is okay to overlook moral issues (abortion, bioethics, end of life care, homosexuality) and elect someone based upon strategic issues (war, poverty, environment).

But there is no substance behind that charisma.

If the above quotes aren’t scary enough, take a look at this video (which my friend, Daniel, termed “hero worship” on his blog). Warning: it is a very catchy song. Have another song ready to listen to right away, or you will be singing it all afternoon (Another scary aspect, isn't it? You could be chanting "Obama, Obama" in your mind, without even realizing it...)

The worship of this man, the messianic comparisons, and his misuse of the Bible should cause Christians to run.

And it is because they are not that he is even more dangerous than Hilary.

Oh, Moses

Moses loves Sesame Street. He calls all of the characters by name. All that is, except Ernie. Ernie he calls "khee-hee-hee" (that's Ernie's laugh. I have NO idea how to spell it).

Last night Moses insisted on having his Ernie puppet during his bedtime routine. When K got ready to pray with him, Moses dropped his milk and grabbed Ernie's hands and clasped them together. It was precious innocence.

More Tidbits

My husband

I don't talk about K much on here-- partly because I tend to focus mostly on Moses, and partly because K wasn't so thrilled about a "family blog" in the first place. But I just have to take a moment and write about how wonderful he is. He is so helpful around the house (I think he does more "housework" than I do most weeks), he is a wonderful pastor, and I love him more than anything. Of course, part of the reason I like him so much as my pastor is because he looks so darn good in his suits. :)

Anyway, I need to brag just a little. He is currently working on his M.Div., and this year he is taking 4 semesters of Greek in just 2 semesters. He aced last semester (or, two semesters...), and my guess is he is well on his way to acing this semester. But I am looking forward to June-- because he is taking 6 months off from class! What will we do with all that time...?

Work

After a few crazy weeks, things are finally starting to slow down to a pace I can keep up with. Which is good, since I might be out for a week due to...

Surgery

Thank you Daniel, Erin, Sara, and Crystal (and anyone else) for the prayers! This weekend was a good weekend-- with the exception of morning nausea (and NO, I am NOT pregnant-- I am getting tired of that question... as if I would be so stupid as to miss THAT! Besides, after 6 months, I think I would be showing my now...), I really wasn't very sick at all. Perhaps that is because the fattiest thing I ate was lunch meat...

No word yet on whether the surgery will actually happen on Thursday....

Moses

Moses is just becoming such a little gentleman. We had such a good weekend. It is a joy to spend time with him, and every day he makes us laugh-- or melt. In the last week, he has started singing "holy, holy" when he hears "God of Wonders" on our worship mix CD. I don't think there is anything more precious than hearing a not-yet-two-year-old sing at the top of his lungs, "Ooooo-eeee! Oooooo--eeeee!"

Just for fun