6,7,8,9,10

We are busily preparing our home for our new arrival. I'm not sure why we feel we must deep clean every nook and cranny of our homes and organize like crazy people to bring a baby home, but for some reason we must. Now I have brought home a lot of new babies and never once has one of those babies said, "boy this place could use a good cleaning." However, I can't help myself, I can't stop cleaning. I am having so much fun in my head with the thought that my 6th son will be born at 7 AM on 8/9/10, I giggle every time I think of it and I think about it a lot! For those of you not counting down the seconds like I am that is exactly 8 1/4 days from this minute....I told Lyndon that I think I would even endure my c-section sans meds just to have it done with! In the mean time we are all getting a kick out of just exactly how large a persons ankles and belly can get. People have been really nice to pretend like I am so tiny and they can't believe that I am due already, but my honest friend (thanks Nic) cannot believe a human being can get this huge. She delivers babies for a living so she has seen her share of pregnant women! Anywho, I will probably be off the air for awhile, but just wanted to share a little of our excitement.

The picture is Lyndon with our baby Micah.

Why Do We Do This?

I am in a tither (is that a word?) Today on the day that we celebrate our freedom I am thinking about our freedom of speech. The thought that is on my mind is, Just because you are free to say something, does that mean that you should? My opinion on this is a resounding NO! In the last two days I have been confronted by several examples that remind me just how thoughtless we can all be when we speak to each other. Yesterday I came home in a stew about natural childbirth, obviously just weeks away from my fourth c-section I don't participate in that. However after a talk with a well meaning friend I could only assume that the reason I needed (or chose drugs and/or c-section) was because of my own lack of knowledge about the beauty that is natural child birth. Today I came home looking at my kids and checking to see if they chew their toe nails because of a lady telling me that is exactly what homeschooled kids do. I then took a look at my home, checking for filth because also in her opinion homeschool families live in filth, not just filth but we are talking feces type filth. Shortly after I receieved a call from one of my dearest friends who was having a rough day that I think very much stemmed from others judgement of how she does or does not do things at her house.
Let it be said. I am certain I am as guilty of this as anyone in the world! I get so excited about the things that mean a lot to me that I know I sometimes present my enthusiasm in a way that makes it seem like the world's in the wrong and I am right. But, what the last 11 years has taught me is that there is no one right way to do things. I do believe there are a list of absolute imperatives that apply to everyone (moral character being key), but when it comes to day-to- day living, raising kids and being a family that is between God, you & your spouse and your kids.
I am tired of coming home after speaking to another person (usually a woman) and questioning every single thing I ever felt good about. In the last couple of years I am doing less questioning myself and more just wishing that we could be a little more gentle with each other, a little less judgemental. One thing I have confronted over and over is when you get zealous about something people seem to automatically think that you think something is wrong with them because they don't do it too, when that happens they get defensive and then things get ugly. For example, after my third son I started running because I needed something that was all me. I loved it so much that I decided to run a marathon that year. One friend pointed out that was all well and good for me, but that she loved her kids to much to do that to them. Up until that moment I couldn't see a single reason why this wasn't good for me and my family, but then I started worrying that maybe she was right. In hind sight I see that what really happened is that she felt bad about something I was doing and couldn't let it go past until she made me feel bad about it too. I am challenging all of us to be a little more gentle with each other. Something that may work wonders for you may be a disaster for someone else. For me, for now: the majority of my kids do not leave home to be educated, one of my sons is black as black can be, I happily take myself to the hospital with all the drugs I can get and have a baby c-section, I think that reading & organizing is more fun than most any type of entertainment there is, running (preferably alone) is in my opinion, the ultimate high, and I love heavy metal (although I rarely listen to it because I am wise enough to know that isn't a great influence for any of us). As for those of you who do things completely opposite from me, you are welcome to my world. I look forward to hearing about the things you are excited about and won't ever feel like you have to do it my way to be right. I will have a tendency to get enthusiastic, maybe to a fault, about the above mentioned things, but this is not because I think you have to do it that way, this is just because I love these things. I hope we can be friends...

The Pot of Gold

If mushy makes you nervous step away from the blog post. Today I have been married for 14 years. In July I will have been in love with this guy for 19 years. Let us step back in history a bit shall we....We met when he was driving the motorcycle with his best friend on it and the said friend started chasing my friend who was driving the car that I was in. Because we thought they were someone else we stopped and met them both. I guess they got in with us, but I was in the front seat and had a boyfriend at the time so I don't really remember even talking to him. Our friends started dating, then they stopped dating and his other friend started dating the same friend and somewhere in there we became friends (and I broke up with my boyfriend, which is really key now isn't it?) I really managed to capture his heart with three things. 1. He was wearing a Motley Crue necklace type thing (this is the 90's people) and I said, "I love Dr. Feelgood". 2. A pair of purple shorts that I think were probably a little too short. 3. I tore a string off of a baja I was wearing and tied it around his arm and told him to never take it off (I was kidding, but weeks later there it was). This led up to the first call and the official date. I won't blabber forever, but I will say pretty much by the end of the night I knew we would be together for awhile, I don't think I knew about forever, but awhile. After a blissful year together he went off on a mission and I waited at home for him semi-faithfully until he came home. When he stepped off the plane, to nervous to really know what to say all he could think of was, "hey blondie" (I had been flagging all summer and my hair bleached out a bit) I knew then that I would love him forever no matter what. We have moved 12 times together, filled our house with almost 6 gorgeous sons, laughed, cried, fought like lunatics and loved each other every day since June 21, 1994. I know there are other men out there, but there is no other Lyndon and I thank God every day that he sent me the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I love you baby. Happy Anniversary.