Ode to my mama!

My mom is an amazing woman! She's my best friend, and my role model for motherhood. Now that I've been a mom myself for awhile, I have a new appreciation for all she's done, and all she continues to do. Here are a few things I've learned from her.


Be a good listener! My mom is a great listener. She engages people, asks them questions, and truly cares about what they're saying. She doesn't feel the need to always talk about herself. This can be a quality that is hard to find in people, so I am thankful that I had such a great role model in this area.

Frugality! I inherited my love of garage sales from my mom. But not only that, she's taught be how to be frugal in most areas of life. Because we were pretty poor growing up, we rarely ate out, went to movies or took fancy vacations (usually we traveled from Michigan to Illinois to visit my dad's dysfunctional family, if you want to call that a vacation). However, I don't feel like I missed out on anything! We have great memories of the times we had as a family. We didn't need McDonald's to make us happy!

Cleanliness does not equal Godliness! No, we didn't grow up in a pig stye. My mom was a great housekeeper, she just didn't get overwhelmed by a bit of clutter and dust. My sister and I had are usual chores and such, but i don't ever remember my mom getting too bent out of shape if our rooms weren't spotless or there were a few dirty socks sitting around the house. It may be from her that I first heard the saying "a clean house is a sign of a wasted life" (at least when you have kids!) I try to keep that in perspective when the house looks like it exploded an hour after I've tried to clean everything!

Don't spoil your kids, save it for the grandkids! We were by no means spoiled. We were provided for and rewarded with special gifts on occasion, but my mom did a great job of teaching us that we aren't entitled to anything. Now that she's a grandma, I see her do things with and for Ian that she never would have with us! I guess she's earned it :)

If you're going to be a nut, be a health nut! My mom has always loved nutrition! Had it not been for a terrible experience in a chemistry class during college, she says she would have become a dietician. Instead, she majored in home economics. I'd say she's utilized that degree to the fullest. We all know that moms really are dieticians anyways! When we were really young, nary a smidge of processed food made it into our house...except maybe King Vitamin cereal. My mom is always coming up with new recipes, ideas, and theories that may sound crazy to me at first, but then I do a little more reading and research, and I end up doing the same thing myself! She's the queen of sprouting beans, roasting her own coffee, mixing up concoctions of salad dressings, and making healthy things from scratch! She's a great role model for healthy living and eating.

Exercise is important! Like most women, my mom has struggled with her weight most of her life. BUT, she never made weight a huge issue for me or my sister. She encouraged us to be healthy and to live active lifestyles and she modeled this herself. I used to throw in her Jane Fonda VHS while my sister sat on the couch and laughed at me (sorry, Heidi, you know it's true!) Plus, she took me to my first Zumba class almost three years ago! Who would have thought I'd get the crazy idea to start my own class?!

Be faithful to the Lord, even when times are tough! My mom didn't grow up in a Christian home. In a way, I think this has forced her to really think through and seek guidance on issues of sprituality and raising a family. When she was 19, she and my dad began their marriage as house parents to deliquent teenage boys. She cooked, cleaned, and attempted to keep them in line, all for $8,000 a year for both of them. Sounds like torture to me! Since then she and my dad have had their share of ups and downs, especially with my dad losing his job twice in the past ten years. She has graciously supported him while being honest about her struggles and questions. I admire her faith, and her honest look at the world around her.

Self sacrifice! We were pretty poor when I was growing up. My dad was a social worker who was also trying to earn his masters degree, but my mom felt called to stay at home with me and my sister. To do so she did daycare in her home for a while, cleaned other people's houses, and worked as a school aid where she had recess duty, to name a few of the jobs that make me cringe a little. I'm so thankful she chose to work these crappy jobs so she could make enough extra money to stay home and raise us. And even though I got a little embarrassed in sixth grade when the most popular girl found out I got my outfit at a garage sale, I wouldn't have traded my mom staying at home with us for all of the Guess jeans or Keds sneakers in the world!

This is a bit lengthy, but it barely scratches the surface in trying to explain what a great God has blessed me with. Love you mom!!

After a long delay...

Geesh. How did four months go by? A friend was asking about our blog, and I realized that I'm a slacker. I don't know if anyone bothers to keep up with us any more, but here's the latest update from us.

Ian turned two at the end of March. I often look at him and wish he'd stay this age forever! We have our fair share of mini tantrums and stressful moments, but overall he's a really happy and fun loving little guy. I tell people he's making up for how hard he was as a baby (I think I'm still slightly traumatized!) At his two year appointment he was off the chart in height and weight and the doctor said he's the size of an average three year old. Big surprise there. I'm glad he's a boy because the first things people say when they see him is, "Wow! He's big!" I hope he doesn't develop a complex.

He's recently developed quite a love for Thomas the Train. All it took was getting one train for Christmas from aunt Traci, and the rest is history. I'd heard about this strange obsession from other moms, but never thought my child would be interested in such a thing. But now our play room is filled with a train table, trains and tracks, and all sorts of paraphenalia that are a big foreign to this mom. I'm learning slowly, and figure there are worse things to be obsessed with! My parents took Ian to Thomas and Friend Live over Easter, and Ian was in heaven!


















Of course now that we have a two year old people keep wondering when we're going to have another one. The answer is, we're trying! I was blessed to get pregnant immediately with Ian, but this time around the road has been a bit bumpier. After six months of trying, we found out on Valentine's Day that I was pregnant. To add to the excitement, my sister found out she was pregnant too, and we had the exact same due date! I'm no statistician, but I'm pretty sure the chances of that are like 1 to 3.000,000. After my eight week ultrasound the doctor had some concerns about the way the baby was growing and I went on to have a miscarriage about two weeks later. Needless to say we were very disappointed.

During the two weeks between the ultrasound and miscarriage we were able to pray and have others pray for us and the health of the baby. We were also able to somewhat mentally prepare for the worse. We don't knwo why God chose not to have me carry the baby to full term, but wew trust in his perfect plan, even though it's not easy. Figuring out how to grieve this kind of thing is tricky, especially when not many people knew about the pregnancy in the frist place. And maybe it's weird to share about this on a blog, but I figure if you're readin this you care about us. Or maybe you're a stalker. Either way, it's life, and it's a fairly common occurence, and though I don't feel the need to shout it from a rooftop, it is therapeutic to share with those you love.

All of this to say I'm in a good place right now. I have really felt the Lord telling me to enjoy the time I have with just Ian. I can continue to give him as much love and attention (and play with Thomas Train) as I can until, Lord willing, we have another child. I can rest in knowing that God's timing is perfect, even though I sometimes think otherwise.