8 Mile

No, folks, I'm not talking about the Eminem movie that was terrible and came out in 2003. I'm talking about how many miles I ran today. Yes, I ain't kiddin'. I ran 8 miles today with Michelle P. I felt AWESOME. I AM awesome for doing 8 miles. Although now that it's evening, and one of my muscles is definitely pulled, and the rest of me feels weak, sore, stiff, and like jello all at the same time; I'm not feeling so awesome.

Hurry, respond now!!!!

My friend Maia is doing this on her blog, and it's such a fun idea. The first 5 people who respond to this post will get something made by me (my choice) for you. Don't you feel super special already?
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. What I make will be just for you (it could be a craft project; it could be something to eat; it could be anything...)
2. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
3. It will be done sometime before September.
4. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first however many people (I chose 5) who do the same on their blogs.
And you have to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Why I'm Pensive

Thank you, dear readers, for the compliments on my photo. And it was even a self-portrait! :) (How junior high am I, taking pictures of myself?)

Anyway, some of you are wondering why I've been pensive and what it is that I've been pondering. There are two things. The first one has been solved, and it's good news.

1. For a loooooong time, I've been anxious about the Verano housing assistant position. I have applied for this position 4 times, and we had to wait a long time for the hiring committee to make a decision. Meanwhile, we heard rumors and strange things, and we (Bridge, Michelle, and me mainly) came up with radical theories and conjectures about what the heck was going on. Anyway, long story short, after many moons of restless nights, I received the glorious news yesterday that I GOT A POSITION! Yes, it's true, I am the next housing assistant extraordinaire. I have a lot to live up to though...

2. Secondly, I have a good friend from college named Alicia. Her husband John has been fighting cancer for over a year. Last September, they didn't expect him to live more than 4-6 months. (He was only 31, mind you). Then in December, they said that after 4 weeks of radiation, he'd be cancer-free. Then, in early March, they said the cancer was back and was growing. He also had pneumonia and because his white blood cell count was so low from the chemo, he couldn't fight the pneumonia. We were told by Alicia to pray for a miracle. Last Saturday, we heard the news that he was given a matter of hours to live. He held for another 40 hours before he died early Monday morning. Alicia, aged 28, is  now a widow and single mother of a 3-yr old girl.

The worst part of it is that she's already lost 2 children as well. This woman has been through more tragedy and attack than most of us will experience in a life-time. Imagine two children and a husband dying! I can't help but question God in these days. Why give Alicia false hope in December that John would be well again? Why take him at all? Why "Job" her like that by taking so many loved ones?

Somewhere in the back of my head, I know that God knows what he's doing, that he's in control, that he "works all things together for the good of those who love him," (Romans 8:28). But in my heart, which is broken for my friend who is suffering such tragedy, I can't help but wonder. Don't worry, I'm not losing my faith; I 'm not angry at God. I'm simply shaking my head thinking "Why? I just don't get it."

John is in a better place, in Heaven with God and with Jack and Rainee, his two lost children. I imagined him arriving in Heaven on Monday morning, in no more pain, his body perfect, seeing Rainee and Jack and running to them, picking them up, and embracing them, holding them for an eternity because time means nothing to him now. He can look back over his shoulder, see Alicia weeping, and says to her, "Don't cry for me. I'm happy now. I'm with Jesus."

Great, I'm crying now.

Funny things about Ethan and Benji

Conversation between Chad and Ethan as Chad was putting Ethan to bed. Bumblebee is Ethan’s transformer, and Ethan sleeps with it in his crib.
Chad: There’s Bumblebee. Hi, Bumblebee.
Ethan: No! Bumblebee doesn’t talk.
Chad: Yes, he does, if you push his button.
Ethan: I talk without a button. I talk by myself.

Conversation between me and Benji.
Me: Benji, can you say ma-ma? Ma-ma. Say ma-ma.
Benji (with a devious smile): Da-da

Knife in the heart why don't ya?

Benji is crawling now! Or, well, scooting is more like it. He’s been doing it about 3 days now. He gets his arms in the right place and one leg in the right place. The other leg is still kind of under his body, and he scoots around that way. He can go pretty fast and pretty far.

Ethan likes to play gardener lately. He’s seen the gardeners around here in Verano who cut pretty much everything green down. No, seriously, for two days, they were over here in our courtyard weed-whacking all the plants, grass, and weeds. It had looked really green and pretty; now it’s completely brown. I’m not kidding. Completely brown. I just don’t get it. Anyway, the other day, Ethan got a little pair of kid scissors and said “I want to play gardener.” And off he went to snip off leaves and branches of the bushes. Pretty cute if you ask me.

Ethan is really into Bible stories lately. (At last, a sign I’m doing SOMETHING right!) We have a book with Bible stories, written for children with big pictures. Our goal is to read one at night after dinner. That’s happened about 10 times. No, just kidding, we’re a little bit better than that. But it doesn’t happen every night like it’s supposed to. For a long time, Ethan’s liked the story of David killing Goliath. He’d say “Read the giant one!” Lately, Ethan’s been asking me at random times during the day, “Let’s read Bible stories!” He likes Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, and yesterday, we read a couple of Moses stories. When we read the one where he asks “the bad king” to let his people go, Ethan said, “I don’t like this one. He’s scary.” ☺

Ethan has been interested in growing. He asks if things will make him grow. “This chocolate milk makes me grow?” “This hotdog makes me grow?” And sometimes, he’ll say with a delighted smile, “Mommy, these noodles go in my mouth and in my tummy and make me grow!”

Ethan recognizes “the Target sign.” You know, that Target symbol that’s on all the Target-brand things I buy? There are things all over the house, like the baby shampoo, the desitin, the baby Tylenol, his vitamins, etc. Whenever he sees something around the house with the symbol on it, he says, “Mommy, is this from Target?” It’s hilarious.

And, finally, for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of the boys in the bathtub.




And one of me looking pensive, because I've had a lot to ponder lately (that's another whole post for another day!)