Like Rolling off a Blog

A parenthetical part of life between the births of Adam and Ingrid was the loss of a baby through miscarriage at 10 weeks gestation. I still don't know the cause, but it was very sad. On the other hand, it was God's good pleasure to instead give us Ingrid! My OB thought he could control the size of my babies by putting me on the diabetic exchange diet -- or perhaps get me to take up smoking, but I wouldn't go for it. Consequently, I had a very healthy diet during my pregnancy, but still gained 42 pounds. Still no ill effects of blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. Just the normal achies, nausea, and sciatica. This was the first of the three births where my own mother was going to be visiting us and helping with the boys. They had been out of the state and the country for the other births, and Mom came back from Germany this time; in fact, a week early, since no one exactly can predict a birth date. This baby was due January 20, which came ... and went. My OB was convi...

Between the birth of Marshall and Adam, there was a TV show referencing police work. The constant throughout the show was the line "one-adam-twelve." Not being in police work myself, I couldn't tell you what this code means, but it came to mean something quite personal to our family! When Marshall was about 18 months old, I started having baby hunger again. Within two cycles, my desire was granted ... We had moved to a small community and I was getting to know my OB. Home pregnancy tests were not as sensitive as they are today, and I had to wait for two weeks "late" before getting an accurate reading. As I was waiting, I went to get my hair cut, and the hairdresser asked if I was pregnant. I looked at her incredulously because I knew I hadn't said anything about our intentions. I said, "Well, I'm waiting to find out" to which she replied, "Don't bother; you are!" She could tell just by the way the hormones had changed my hai...

The early months of pregnancy are somewhat of a blur, but I did have "morning" sickness. Funny -- it was actually in the evening. I struggled with indigestion frequently. Even water caused me queasiness. But as I've learned, that is a good thing. It means my HcG had kicked in and was doing its job. Just so you know -- and I'm taking a risk here -- I did have some alcohol during those first three months. In retrospect, I'm wondering whether that has caused any type of metabolic problem. It certainly didn't impair Marshall's brain! I remember lying in bed one time, in our lovely townhome in Sacramento, and staring at my 8-month-gestational girth. Lo and behold, my entire abdomen shifted from top to bottom (or perhaps the other way around). I had just witnessed the turning head-down of my little one. How exciting! Because I just loved getting kicks and prods, and thought it was so fun to poke my side and get a response. I never had any sonograms, as the...

Please don't read this if you a) think "birth stories" are sappy or b) have dastardly intentions of where to post it. A few short weeks ago, our youngest-born, Ingrid (known to the family as Pee-Wee), called me. This is not unusual. She and I enjoy chatting. As a matter of fact, we come from a long line of mother-daughter chatters. But I digress. She was concerned because she was "late" and this was not an expected event. I asked her about symptoms, and sure enough they sounded like an early pregnancy. She left for the local discount store to stock up on twin-pink-stripe tests and upon her return called me again. Nebulous. Okay, try again. Tears, sobbing. I was a bit concerned, not knowing where her emotions were headed, so I asked (duh!) "What's wrong?" Her reply was heard between the sobs and deserves to be "inked" for the baby: I'm just so happy! I, the now beaming grandma (oh, wow!)-to-be, became an instant research m...

Can anyone tell me when I'll quit worrying about my children? Okay, I know that "worry" is not what Christians are about. It is to be "concern" followed by prayer; but it may just be semantics. So, to make myself and you, Dear Reader, feel better, I'll use the word "concern." I'm concerned about my children's marriages, their health, their spiritual discipline(s), and their futures. I try to remind myself that all of these things are in the hands of God, Who loves them infinitely more than I ever could, and also has the power to do something about it. But then I'm reminded of the quotable quote of a little boy in Sunday School: I need someone with skin on. And yes, I know that Jesus is that person, but frankly, He doesn't visit me in the flesh (not that I know of). When Mark (hubby) and I took spiritual gift inventories years ago, Mark scored way HIGH on faith, and I scored abysmally LOW. That was helpful to me, because I thin...

On my semi-long commute in to downtown Chicago, I listen to the morning show without fail. This morning I heard the song by Greg Long, entitled " Fifteen ." I found myself weeping. It caused me to consider what types of things move me to tears. As I think of more, I'll add them ... perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds an underdog crossing the finish line a child's "ah-ha" moment of learning the mental picture of me crawling into the lap of the Father to tell Him my cares the brokenness of one who realizes his/her sin praying for the crushing needs of another love prevailing the grace and mercy of God's forgiveness compared to the weight of my sin a handmade gift the birth of a baby the legacy of a loved one When a piano string resonates with a note, it is a wonderful thing to hear. When tears resonate with the heart, it is a wonderful thing to bear.

There is really nothing new under the sun . When my family was getting set to leave the country in 1967 (no, we weren't escaping the Viet Nam era. My dad was assigned to Japan .), we stopped in San Francisco to visit my uncle. He was attending Berkeley for his doctoral program. Yes, the heyday of Berkeley. While we were in San Francisco, we took a side tour through Haight-Ashbury . During a stop, I picked up a free Haight-Ashbury newspaper. Well, "newspaper" in a loose sense. Very loose. Stream of consciousness, anything goes, question everything, don't tell me what to do or what not to do. And so went the sixties. What goes around comes around, and the children of the children of the sixties are now reliving our experiences -- in the blogging world. The main difference is that now anyone with a computer can choose to read the stream of consciousness, anything goes, question everything, don't tell me ... So my dilemma is this: do I put brakes on or not when ...

A cloud hangs over this day. Just say the date and certain feelings begin to rumble around inside. Like knowing where I was when JFK was shot; like the feeling one gets on the first day of school as an elementary student; like smells that automatically trigger nausea; that is what this day is like. I was sitting at my computer in my previous office. Alternately staring out the window and paying attention to my work on the screen. Listening to WMBI online (funny how we can only hear a Chicago station on our computers in downtown Chicago). I heard Dave (news) punctuate the air with the news that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. "What a horrible accident," I thought. Tuned to the online news service at the same time for any updates, when Dave came back on saying a second plane had hit. This was no accident. The office was buzzing by now. The TV in the conference room was pushed into service as several of us took turns watching the news. Then when one went into th...

I'm a bit fuzzy around the edges, but there's a solid core. 

Even the pain of a frap brain freeze won't stop some addicts! 

It is my contention that, as members of the human race, we are ALL addicted to something. We long for connectedness, and addiction is a modified form of connection. So ... I'm "connected" to coffee ! It must flow through my veins. Complete with steamed nonfat milk, of course. I do enjoy it a "latte." You may have already noticed that I am also "connected" to puns. It is my creative outlet, that part of my brain that just loves to use items (or words) for purposes other than their original intention. So if you have any wonderful creations -- words or crafts or foods -- that extend beyond their blase borders, let me know! Just got back from my morning coffee and I'm now ready for the rest of the day -- connected to it, in fact.

Horsetail Falls with a Rhonda "sign" in front.

GORGEous scenery, don't you think? 

Okay, so I just read Britany's post regarding the fact that she can't finish anything. Well, I start things, finish them, and then let them lie there forever, never to be renewed. Therefore, I have a family webpage that rarely gets updated, pictures that sit in their original cardboard frames (no lovely matting or framing), etc. Is this just another something that I will begin and not return to? No, please (or is it, no, thank you). Maybe this will fulfill my need to empty my brain at the end of the day. But someone will have to "blog" my memory, or it won't get done. Some people have memories like steel traps. I have a memory like a steel sieve, give or take a few facts. I'm looking forward to this, especially since my kids seem to be enjoying theirs. Ssssh, don't tell them that the parental units are actually technologically savvy. Until the next time I remember to jump off a blog ...