A Grandmother's Advice

A week or so ago, my sister-in-law sent me this article written by a grandmother yearning to be a young mom again. Sometimes as young moms and dads it is so easy to get so caught up in the inconveniences- the snotty noses, the wet pants, or the dirty laundry. We forget that this is a VERY short phase of life and that more than anything we should treasure each precious moment with our little ones.

It doesn't take long to go from this...


to this...


to this.

When You Pray

Yesterday my sister sent me this article on prayer. I found it very thought provoking. I hope you are blessed by it like I was.

And Counting

Today is the half way point. From now on I can start counting down to d-day, delivery day that is. I am 20 weeks pregnant and am watching my belly grow and my brain cells decrease. My list of dumb stunts increases daily. Last week I needed to go downtown to the bank and post office. I had been to both before. I decided to go to the post office first.

After driving around aimlessly for 10 minutes trying desperately to remember where the darn place was, I finally remembered the street name. When I got there, I couldn't remember which direction it was. I turned the wrong way of course. Dumb. Today I had to go back to the post office. I was sure I had learned my lesson and headed confidently to Ringling Blvd. When I got to the beach, it became painfully obvious that I once again had turned the wrong direction. Dumb and dumber.

If that's not bad enough, I can't even remember what I said 2 seconds before. Yesterday I was making a pb&j for Josh. "Do you want pretzels or a cheese stick with your sandwich?" I asked. He didn't and I finished making the sandwich. By the time I put it on the plate I couldn't remember if I had asked him or if I did what he said. Mercy! This is not good. Hopefully some of my mental faculties return 20 weeks from now when little Miss Harper Perrault arrives.

Guests

We have set a new family record- living in a hotel for 18 consecutive days. A little over two weeks, you say. People go on vacation longer than that. True, very true. But this is not vacation, this is life: work, swim lessons, nap time, bath time, story time, play time, etc. Imagine your life right now. Now imagine all that emanating from a hotel room. Interesting, isn't it?

Actually, the most interesting part are the people we encounter. Life is life- hotel room, apartment, or house- it is the people that are amusing. The first weekend we were here a high school rowing team arrived. There were a boat load of kids, a handful of parents, and tons of sunburned legs. They were a pleasant crowd. All the rowing must have worn them out. We hardly heard a noise all weekend.

A few days later another large group descended upon the place. They were much louder than the teenagers. They were up laughing and loudly talking in the breakfast room before 7 AM. They stayed up late telling stories and chewing the political fat around the pool in the evening. It was a partying crowd of grandpas, freed from their wives and houses, ready to play some golf and have a few laughs.

The next weekend participants in some sort of Bass Pro Shop fishing tournament were here. I didn't see much of them. They must have been out on the water 'til late hours. There were quite a few boats in the parking lot though.

This weekend it's a little girls' All-Star softball team so there are lots of 9 and 10-year-olds in blue shorts and white tee shirts without sleeves. They all have cute bows and ribbons in their pony tails and braids. Definitely the cutest crowd so far, though probably the rowdiest. Pairs of little feet thunder down the halls at night.

Hotel life is interesting. Life itself is a gift. The difficulty is to treasure it.