A Happy and Sad Dream

Do you ever have those kinds of dreams that are so vivid and clear that when you wake up it takes you a few minutes to decide if the dream was real or not?  Sometimes I have woken up from those types of dreams thinking, "Where am I?" I had a dream like that two nights ago.  It was so real to me that I've been thinking about it ever since.  It was a both a happy and sad dream all at once.  Here, let me just tell you about it.

In my dream, I was walking through my old house in Bluff Creek.  I lived in that house from 1987 to 1999, when I got married.  My parents still lived there until 2004 when they moved into the current home where my dad still lives today.  I was alone, and the house seemed empty, but I wasn't afraid.  I carefully walked through each room opening every cabinet door and kitchen drawer looking to see that everything was still in the right place.  I remember opening a door in the kitchen to see the bright yellow bowls we used for cereal still stacked right where they always were.  I opened the kitchen "junk drawer" and saw the orange handled scissors sitting in their place as usual.  I noticed every picture hanging on the wall and thought, "That's right where it is supposed to be."  Then something dawned on me, "Everything is still in its place, so I wonder if my mom is here too?"

Now at this point I want to stop with the dream and give you some background information that I promise is relevant.  Whenever I was a teenager and would be out with friends, my mom would always wait up for me. At least she tried to wait up for me.  More often than not, I would come home to find her sitting up in her bed asleep with a book open on her lap, surrounded by sleeping cats (we had four at the time).  A lot of times the television would be on, and the lamp on her nightstand would be on too.  I would come in and whisper, "Mom, I'm home!"  She would wake up and smile, then she would want to know all about my evening.  I remember so many nights sitting on the bed beside her chatting on and on about who was with me and what we did.  Sometimes my dad would wake up and join in, but mostly he would sleep through the whole thing.  It was a special time for my mom and me.

So back to the dream.  I decided to see if in fact, my mom was in the house in the same spot I had found her so many nights while growing up.  My heart started pounding as I walked down the hall to her room, and as I turned the corner, I saw the familiar glow of the lamp on her nightstand.  Then I saw her.  She was sitting up in bed asleep.  I gently touched her shoulder, and she woke up.  She looked right at me and smiled and said, "I'm so glad you're home!"

That was it.  I woke up and had to really think whether she was still here or not.  Of course I quickly figured out that she is gone.  I wanted so badly to go back to sleep and try to revisit that dream.  To sit beside her in bed and talk.  I want to fill her in on all that she has missed these past thirteen months.  Oh how I wish I could.

Giraffes

My dad had the day off yesterday, so we took the kids to the zoo for the first time this summer.  The day started off cool and overcast which is perfect zoo weather.  The animals seem to be out and about more when the weather is cooler.  A new addition to the zoo here is a feeding station for the giraffes.  I love giraffes.  At first glance, they look a bit awkward, but when they move, I think they look graceful.  They are gentle giants, and have noble, kind faces.  And their spot pattern is quite beautiful too.  With the new feeding station in place, we set out right away to check it out.  The girls were excited and Lucas was tentative, but eager to see what was involved.  We arrived and were handed a handful of "brows" or branches with plenty of large, green leaves just right for a giraffe's diet.  We were then introduced to three of our giraffes:  Ellie (the mom), Bogie (the dad) and Sergeant Peppers (the baby, born in January of this year).  We also learned a few interesting giraffe facts.

1. A giraffe's spot pattern is unique, like a fingerprint.  No two giraffes have the same pattern.

2. A giraffe's spots darken with age, so obviously the darker the spots, the older the giraffe.

3. A single kick from a giraffe is powerful enough to kill a lion or cheetah.

4. Their tongues are black to prevent sunburn.

We were only able to feed Ellie and Bogie since their baby is still drinking his mother's milk.  I thought little Sergeant Peppers was adorable, and he stuck pretty close to his mom.  The kids held up their leaves and the giraffes came right over.  Their eyes were big and doelike, with eyelashes to the moon.  Their noses were so soft, I had to use a lot of self control not to reach out and touch them.  Their tongues were super long and a bit freaky.  Gene Simmons would appreciate their tongues to be sure.  

 Mom and Baby

 "Leaves, my favorite."

 Hannah feeding Ellie

 "Uhhh, could you move that a little closer, please?"

Lucas feeding Bogie.  His dark spots showed his older age.

Overall it was a great experience and all three kids enjoyed it!

The Park Tour

Today turned out to be one of those days where we slept late, ate a leisurely breakfast, and then asked the question, "What should we do today?"  The world was our oyster. Sort of.  I wanted to keep in mind cost and time, so I suggested a few ideas, and we settled on simply playing at a park.  But which one to visit?  Decisions, Decisions.  Then I remembered driving through a large nearby neighborhood that had not one, not two, but three different playgrounds in it! Thus a park tour was schemed up.  We decided to start with the biggest one, play for awhile, head to the next one, play, then visit the last.  At the end, we would each vote for whichever was our favorite.

Park One

Here's playground number one.  We named it the Pirate Park because of the boats.  The kids immediately loved this one, but after only a few minutes I spotted something disturbing.  Someone had drawn a large male body part on one of the slides. Ugh. Then as I walked around some more I noticed that the idiot who had drawn the body part had added several choice words too (f-bombs included).  Lucas was oblivious, but my girls can read now, so I quickly told them we had to leave.  They were disappointed and asked for an explanation.  I thought carefully how to discuss it, so I told them that someone had written inappropriate words on the playground equipment and I didn't want them to know what it said.  We ended up having a good discussion about the choices we make.  Hannah actually said, "Mom, I think Jesus loves those people who wrote those bad things.  I think he is just really sad that they made such bad choices."

Park Two

On to park two!  We named this one Animal Park.  Lucas loved it, but the girls complained that it was a little too "babyish" for them.  Still, they played for awhile.  The bonus of this park was the pond that surrounded it.  We got to watch ducks, geese, and egrets as they swam and waddled around.

Park Three

We ended with the smallest park. The kids all liked it better than Animal Park, but less than Pirate Park.  We named it Spider Web Park.  We spent the most time here because there seemed to be something for each child to do that fit his/her age.  We even ran into some friends that live in the neighborhood while we were playing.  By the time we were done, the kids were ready for lunch and Lucas went down for a nap as soon as his head hit his pillow.  Minus the obscene words and pictures, the park tour was a pretty good way to spend a summer morning.

Thunder Up!

Y'all know I love our NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder by now, right?  Up until now, we have not had a professional sports team.  College football was (and still is) huge in our state, and that means that most people are either an OU or OSU fan.  You either wear crimson and cream or orange and black.  And most people are extremely passionate about which team they follow.  So you could say there has always been a bit of a sports divide here (I'm an OU fan, by the way.  Just had to throw that in there).  But now we have a team that everyone likes.  Gone are the days of division, and hello to unification under the new colors of blue and white and orange. There is something sort of cool about seeing an entire city come together to cheer on their home team.

Since having the Thunder in our city, Mike and I had attended a grand total of 1 game.  The first year the franchise was here we saw the Thunder play the Houston Rockets and our team lost miserably (like they did most games that first year).  Still it was fun.  I had never been to a professional sporting event ever, so I really enjoyed it and hoped to go back soon.  Well between ticket prices and a busy schedule, we just never got there.  In the mean time, though, our team got good.  Real good.  So good in fact that they made it to the NBA finals.  That's the Super Bowl of the basketball world.  Tickets for these games are off the charts expensive (for decent seats anyway).  So when Mike called me yesterday to say that his boss had given him two tickets for us to attend last night's first finals game, I was shocked!  I immediately called my dad to see if he could babysit, and thankfully he could.  It was on!

We arrived about an hour before the game was to start and found our seats.  They were not too far up, definitely not the nosebleeds.  In fact, as we sat down, we noticed the ESPN booth set up right behind us and who should we see there?  None other than Magic Johnson!  He was getting ready to do the pregame show and his cell phone slipped out of his pocket and down below Mike's chair.  Of course Mike picked it up and handed it back to him where their conversation consisted of Magic saying "thanks" and Mike just saying "no problem!"  Of course Mike and Magic are instantly BFFs now.  At least in Mike's mind they are.....

Anyway, the game was a lot of fun.  Extremely loud (the place is called Loud City for a reason, folks) and the best part of the night was that we beat the Heat.  Literally!  One win down, three more to go.  We ended up getting home at 11:30 and by the time we crashed into bed around midnight we were exhausted.  Even though it was pretty physically tiring, I am kind of hoping his boss hands us two more tickets for tomorrow's Game 2.  We'll see. :)

Me before the game started

Here you can see how close we were to Magic.  It was cool that when he wasn't on camera, he would turn around, take his jacket off and watch the game.  

An Adventure

Leah (in the yellow life jacket) going on a canoe adventure at VBS last week

The other day my kids and I watched Finding Nemo for what was probably the 20th time. Pixar has their storytelling down pat, because I never seem to get tired of watching their movies. I am also a big softie and tend to cry at all of them.  Especially anytime a parent and child are reunited.  It's sad really, but true. Anyway, this time in particular, it was the very last line in the whole movie that got to me.  For some reason, it made my heart twist around tightly and I could feel the telltale lump forming in my throat.  In the last scene, Nemo is about to head off to school when he stops his teacher and runs back to give his dad one last hug.  The dialog is as follows:

Nemo (hugging his dad): I love you, Dad.
Marlin: I love you too, son.
Nemo (after being embraced a little too long): Uh, dad, you can let go now.
Marlin: Sorry! Now go have an adventure....

I am so glad God designed the process of life the way he did.  Because if we had to let go of our children right off the bat, no one would sign up for such emotional torture.  But instead, babies are born needy and helpless.  And parents are there to hold and feed and take care of all their needs.  Slowly, though, the letting go process begins.  Perhaps it starts off with Grandma watching the baby for a few hours while Mom and Dad go out on a much needed date.  Then maybe a babysitter watches the baby all day while Mom goes off to work. As the baby turns into a toddler, he may have an occasional sleepover at his grandparents' house. Or maybe even a multiple night stay if Mom and Dad are going on a vacation.  The process of letting go is done in small, manageable increments.

Later, as I am finding out, the letting go process gets harder.  Because instead of releasing your sweet baby into the loving and familiar arms of grandparents or other family members, you instead release them into the arms of a teacher, or daycare worker, or Sunday School teacher, or dance instructor.  That's when your heart seems to want to burst open and your eyes well up with tears.  In those moments you want to run back into the classroom and say, "Uh...we'll just try kindergarten next year when she's six.  Or eight.  Or never."  But then you take a deep breath, say a prayer for God to watch over her, and move on.  In all of my experiences like these, I have come back to happy children who are bursting at the seams to tell me all about their day.  Their adventure.

All of these experiences are just practice for when your baby is one day a grown young man or woman.  I can't imagine how much my heart will want to explode when I have to leave one of my kids at college.  But I hope I can look them in the eye and truly say, with confidence, "Hannah, Leah, Lucas.....it's time to go have an adventure."  

Thankfully, we still have lots more years to practice.

A Friday Night and a GIVEAWAY!

The wind was cool for an Oklahoma June night.  So cool in fact that I grabbed a nearby beach towel and wrapped it around my shoulders.  One by one the kids came out of the pool, shivering and tired from hours of non stop play.  A plate of fresh from the oven oatmeal cookies with craisins and white chocolate chips sat cooling on the table only to be gobbled up within minutes by both the kids and adults alike. Soon the children were warm and dry enough to head over to the outdoor playset and start an imaginary game called "royal castle."  Their singsong voices could be heard talking and laughing as they played.  Soon after, two big dogs came bounding out of the house wiggling with pure joy.  They ran a few laps around the yard, then settled down long enough to let the kids pet them and give them kisses.  A few of them started throwing the tennis ball for the chocolate lab to run and retrieve over and over and over.  The adults sat in lounge chairs eating a second round of cookies and chatting about the events of our weeks.  As evening set in, lighting bugs blinked and twinkled off and on as if to announce the end of the day.  I glanced behind me and saw the sky fading from aqua to baby blue to orange to feisty pink.  I grabbed my phone and snapped a quick picture to remember the calm feeling of the night.  The others turned to notice the sunset as well and for a moment we all sat quietly taking it in, breathing deep.  Then as quickly as it began, the colors slipped below the treeline and it was dark.  We gathered our tired brood and drove home in quiet contentment.  And that's how our Friday evening went.

Now...on to the giveaway!  Well, it's not my giveaway, but instead I want you to go to my sister in law, Rachel's blog to check out her awesome giveaway.  She is giving away a beautiful, handmade beaded necklace that has a story behind it even more beautiful than the jewelry itself!  Go check it out, read the story, and enter for a chance to win.  You have until tomorrow night to enter and she will announce the winner on Monday morning.  So go visit the Green Door Project and see for yourself!

Taking Off

This little boy of mine is only two for a few more weeks.  Two still sounds like a baby, but three sounds like a toddler.  An independent toddler.  He is really taking off in many ways lately.  His vocabulary is multiplying by the minute.  He is more thoughtful in his questions and answers, and he uses lots of cute inflections and funny facial expressions.  He is a hoot!

He is starting to play more independently and for longer periods of time.  This is helpful when I need to get some work done.  Right now we have his train table set up in the open space between our living room and kitchen areas.  While I am cooking dinner or cleaning up the breakfast dishes, he is usually right there puttering around with his trains.  Today he was holding a train in each hand, and I could hear them having a conversation with each other.  It went something like this:

Red Train, "Hi Train!  Are you stinky?"
Blue Train, "Yes, I poo pooed in my diaper."
Red Train, "You are stinky!"
Blue Train, "I need to poo poo in the potty."

It was pretty funny.  And speaking of bathroom words, we are so very close to potty training.  I have had to be patient with this boy because my girls were potty trained by this age.  I know it is something you can't force upon a child, but I am really getting tired of buying diapers and wiping a poopy bottom!  We're still not there yet, but in the past week he has told me every single time he "is stinky" and wants his diaper changed immediately.  And twice he has come running up to me half naked, holding a wet diaper, saying, "It was too soggy, Momma!"  He is starting to recognize that having a dirty diaper is not comfortable! Up until now, it didn't bother him one bit.  Progress!

Overall, I can see great strides being taken in all areas of his life.  He is such a smart, sweet little boy.  I find myself staring at him so I can capture this phase in his life in my mind.  Because I know all too well how fast the time flies.