I want to live on that street...

Today, as we drove out of our neighborhood, Sam said, "I want to live on that street" (pointing to another street in our neighborhood). At first I thought he was saying he wanted to move there, but I asked him when he wanted to live there. He replied, "When I'm big. When I get married." I told him I would love to have him live down the street from us when he was big and married. Then I asked him who he was going to marry. He said he didn't know yet. I said, "what about Paige", referring to a little girl in his Sunday School class. He said, "Yeah, Paige would be fine." I then suggested another little girl and he said, "No, Paige is OK". I got a hoot out of the conversation and wanted to write it down, so here it is. Ben said something really funny on the way home, but now I can't remember it. I need to start pulling over to the side of the road and writing these things down when they happen!

Cruisin'

Joe and I had a fabulous time on our cruise to the Bahamas. It was our first "real" vacation since our honeymoon 6-1/2 years ago. It was relaxing and we tried some new things. We participated in karokee night and learned to Salsa. Joe had the most incredible SCUBA dive of his life and got to swim with some sharks. We took a kayak trip from one island to another and then fell asleep on the beach.

Key West, however, is not a place we will visit again. We happened to be there during Fantasy Fest. I'm still not sure what the actual purpose of this festival is, but we saw several painted, naked, 60-year-old women and plenty of other weird costumes.

We would like to go on a cruise again some day. Maybe you can join us next time!

Where are the lines?

The other day I was driving along a stretch of road that had just been re-paved. The lane was wide because there is normally a shoulder to the road, but the lines weren't painted yet. There were little markers along where the yellow line would be, but the white line on the right was completely missing. I realized that I was having a hard time driving. I really had to focus on what I was doing and found myself thinking, "Am I too far to the right? to the left? I don't want to have an accident." It amazed me how much more effort it took to drive where there weren't any lines. And then I thought about what a good example this was of why my children need "lines" or boundaries that are clearly defined. They function so much better when and can move forward so much more easily when they don't have to wonder where the lines are...just like me in our van. If they don't have to spend time thinking about the lines and testing the boundaries, they can just focus on the task at hand, whether it's doing something for Mama or just playing well together. Of course, that also made me realize that God has given us some very clear lines to follow as well. It can hurt when we cross the line and He has to push us back in bounds, but I'm thankful that He does. The lines help me move forward each day when I don't have to wonder where they are.

How many times...

The other day Ben sat on Abby (again) and I said, "Stop! How many times do I have to tell you not to sit on your sister!?!" He became very thoughtful and paused for about 4 seconds and then said, quite seriously, "Seven". I couldn't really be mad at him. I mean, you ask a silly question, you'll get a silly answer! I wonder if the Lord ever wants to say something similar to us, and what kind of answer do we have for Him? I mean, is He up there saying, "Stop! How many times do I have to tell you to be patient!?" And am I saying, "512". How exasperating we must be to Him! Thank you Lord for loving us even when we exasperate you!

Why start a blog?

I was updating baby books a few days ago and realized it's been a YEAR since I'd updated Sam's. I know I missed a lot of funny comments and crazy things that he's done, so I thought a blog might encourage me to write some of them down. I honestly don't expect anyone to read my blog, but we'll see!