We had a total blast this morning going to college game day. Since we live so close we just put Joie in the stroller at 5:45 and walked down to the football stadium parking lot to wait in line. It rained until about 6:30 and was kind of freezing out but the masses of people made it much warmer. We got past the barricades at about 7:30 and unfortunately Joie was already not very happy at this point. We stayed until about 8:45. Once the show started, Joie just sat on Andrew's shoulders dancing the whole time...she also had a brief cameo on ESPN! We also made a sign for Renie that said #70 Mammoth that also made a few appearances on screen! It was really fun despite the rain and cold!
I had an experience at the grocery store the other day that serious cracked me up!
So Im sure you have all been to those grocery stores where they have those machines that print out in store coupons that are applicable for the things you are purchasing. Example; if you buy diapers they may print out coupons for formula. If you buy spaghetti they might print out a coupon for marinara sauce or french bread or something. I think they have these machines at Albertsons and Smiths. So I was at Albertsons the other day buying ice cream with my dad who was in town for like a day in a half. We had eaten a huge dinner and weren't ready for desert right after but after a half an hour to digest we were ready. After much deliberation we decided on Loaded Chocolate Fudge Brownie. So I went to go check out and I used the self check out machine. The ice cream was the only thing we was buying and after I scanned it the crazy little machine printed out a coupon for me. I grabbed it with my receipt as I was leaving and I looked at it while I was walking out the door....I seriously laughed out loud in the middle of store. The coupon machine printed off a coupon for Always Infiniti Maxi Pads. After looking at it for a moment I realized that coupon machine, or whoever programed it, thought that whoever was buying Loaded Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream must be a menstruating woman. I have thought about this many times now and just thought it was so funny and had to share it with all of my lovely friends who did go buy crazy ice cream during that time of the month and inspired Albertsons to just go ahead and give us all a deal!
It has been far to long since my last blog post (besides the one I posted like ten minutes ago). Joie is asleep and Andy is at the library so I figured this would be a good way to wind down before I head off to bed. My little Joie is 13 months now! I remember when I was younger and it really annoyed me when babies turned 1 and the parents wouldn't say they were 1 they would say, "oh he is 15 months" because before you have your own children that means nothing to you! But it seems that ever since Joie was about 8 or 9 months she literally growns and learns all kinds of new things every single day....so now I understand why people continued to count in months after the first birthday because there is a huge difference between 12 months and 13! When Andrew and I first started dating I always would joke with my mom that since we both have so much energy that if we every had kids they would be OUT OF CONTROL....and I was right. Joie literally runs all day long. She gets into EVERYTHING! She also learns like 5 new words a day and has full on conversations with herself (but she uses her fake phone and she thinks she is actually talking to someone) She just cracks me up! After I had Joie I seriously thought it would be years and years before I wanted another baby. Pregnancy is so hard, delivery is so hard, nursing is so hard, and i thought those first 3 or 4 months were so hard because that little baby can't do anything for its self. Now I keep thinking that if I could just pop out another kid thats about Joie's age, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute!
Joie has found a new favorite activity....sneaking! She waits until Im not looking and gets into everything she knows is a "no-no". I know I should probably be a little more firm with her but it just makes me laugh so much!! I swear I dont give my child diet coke, but she just loves to drink anything from a straw
I have spend a bit of time thinking about charity and service. I think of what it is to truly serve someone with no selfish motive what so ever. Mother Teresa said "The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love". This reminded me of a story that my mother told me, that she had heard from someone else. I can't recall the name of the woman in the story but for now we will refer to her as "Debbie". Debbie ran a humanitarian mission in India for many years and she was inspired to do so by the amazing work done in that area by Mother Teresa. In the beginning, Debbie's mission dealt mostly with lepers. They had a few doctors who came and volunteered to help and basically remove all the infected areas on the lepers body. This is an extremely time consuming task and so they had most of their volunteers cleaning out the wounds and prepping them for surgery. The first time I heard this story, Debbie seemed as much of a saint to me as Mother Teresa. I didn't think I could imagine a more Christ like way to serve somebody...but I was so mistaken. After Debbie had been running this mission for a few years she decided it was time for her to meet the woman who inspired her to do all of this, Mother Teresa. She had heard she was going to be in the town for something on one specific day and so Debbie set out to meet her. There was a hoard of people around her and she left before Debbie got to see her. She asked a woman there if she knew where Mother Teresa was going. The woman said their was an orphanage close by where Mother Teresa spent much of her time and there would be a good chance of catching her there. The woman headed off to the orphanage and when she walked in she saw tons of extremely sick children laying all over the floor. All the workers were standing around and Mother Teresa was in the middle. As Mother Teresa walked through the masses of sick children she would occasionally stop and point to one and one of the orphanage workers would go over and pick up that child and sit and a rocking chair and rock them. All the sudden, before Debbie could even process what was happening, she herself was sitting in a rocking chair rocking a sick child and watching Mother Teresa leave out the door before she ever got the chance to meet her. She leaned over to the woman next to her rocking a child as well and asked, "If you don't mind my asking, why are we rocking these children." The woman responded, "Mother Teresa will come in as often as she can and walk though all the children. She will find the ones who she can tell are about to pass away. She points to those children and we go pick them up and rock them until they die because Mother Teresa feels that every child deserves to leave this world feeling loved." Although Debbie never got to meet Mother Teresa she gained more from this experience then she ever would have by shaking her hand and saying hello. This story has truly been the best example to me of pure charity and service.
Well it is official...my baby is 1! Her birthday was on thursday the 10th but we celebrated it on saturday the 12th with a party for her at our house with some friends and family. It was so much fun! I also would like to take a moment to boast and tell everyone that I didnt shed a single tear! I definately ADORE my little girl but I love her so much as she is right now that I dont miss the baby stage!
Well I know that every parent on this earth feels this way but I just feel so incredibly blessed. I am humbled and honored that the Lord intrusted us with such a sweet and amazing little spirit. She teaches me so much daily. She teaches me how to be patient when she cant move quickly because she is barely learning to walk, or when she wants something but doesnt know how to ask for it. She teaches me how to enjoy simple things like a cute puppy walking by in the park, or just sitting in the grass eating a chicken nugget. Most importaintly she has taught me how to love unconditionally.
I remember when I was little I would always ask my mom which one of us she loved the most and she always said she loved us all the same, of course. But I would ask her about that all the time because it didnt make sense to me. One day she told me that when she married my dad she thought her love capacity was full. Then when she had my brother Jared she realized she felt double the way she had felt before. When she was pregnant with me she found herself wondering, "can I possibly love this baby as much as I love my first". Of course I came out and she realized it was possible to love all of us the same. She expressed this to me in a way that I have always loved and it is exactly how I feel right now. She told me that since her heart was full of love for my dad that every time she had a baby she grew a new heart that was filled to the top with love for that child. That is how I feel right now with my joie, and interesting enough my love for Andrew grows as my love for Joie grows because I see so much of him in her every day and I see how much he adores us both! I just want the Lord to know how grateful I am for the AMAZING family that he has intrusted me with.
So I found this picture today and thought it was fun to see how different our lives are now than they were last year! I was literally ready to give birth last year at swiss days when we went and now our little girl is about to turn 1!.....you may also notice Andrews gradual clothing improvement....ive been working on it for years now and finally we have polos instead of just t-shirts!!
