Jumping Daisy

>Sometimes I will flip on a football or basketball game, even though the Hawkeyes aren’t competing, just to watch a game (especially in tourney/bowl season!). I will watch the game, and as time ticks away on the game clock, I inevitably pick a team to root for. My heart generally does the picking, and I am sucker for the underdog. I love to see hard work pay off over prestige, it’s in my nature.

I try to look at politics from this light as well. I don’t want to be a narrow minded party line voter, and I am disgusted by divisive and misleading techniques used by both political parties. I used to enjoy politics. Not anymore. So I guess it is more like being forced to watch a hockey game than choosing to watch football or basketball, but anyway, you get the point.

The hotly contested health care bill was signed by President Obama today, and I have been doing a lot of reading. Reading to help me understand what the bill means, and mostly to calm some of my fears. The uncertainty and inevitable change that it will bring to all Americans is definitely unsettling, but I couldn’t help but root for the underdog, and I was happy to see it pass, and the more I read about the bill, the less I worry about the future, and the the happier I am for those who are immediately and positively effected. Like the 5 year old cancer survivor who has now beat cancer twice, and no longer will have to worry about not qualifying for health insurance because at 5, she has already nearly exhausted her lifetime limit imposed by the insurance company, not to mention that ugly diagnosis that works against her as a pre-existing condition.

Everything comes at a cost, and some things are just worth it, in my mind. I am praying for America now, because I know there are a lot of scared and unhappy people here now, but I am hopeful that good things are to come, and I have to believe that we are doing God’s work by taking care of each other. It isn’t perfect, but it is a start.

>Andrea and I took Thea with us today while the big kids went to daycare.  From the moment that I loaded her into Sawyer’s big kid, forward facing car seat, you could see in her face that she felt like hot stuff!  Every time I looked back at her in the back seat she would give me a big grin and a giggle, and I loved that she felt special. After a morning of shopping we went to lunch at the Olive Garden, just the three of us.  I watched my big girl sitting in her high chair and I realized how much this day meant to me.  I now know that I need to take more time with Thea alone, and not let her position as second child mean that she is just an add on to what we have already built, but also a really special little girl who needs attention all on her own too.  Or maybe it is Mommy that needs to focus more on my individual children, but either way, I had a great day with my little girl, and I look forward to more days like this, and some big girls days as well! 🙂  Life is good and I am going to pretend it isn’t snowing tonight and my bank account isn’t empty. 

>I look weird, but Thea is so cute…She loves that toy too!
A left over gift bag filled with one of my top two gifts of all time! 🙂
She looks so grown up here sitting with Stewart at the mall
Dancing!
Cuties!

>The favorite gift of the day! A wagon from Grandma Lori and Papa Carey!
Thea likes getting presents!
Thea does not like birthday cake.

>There is something about the melting snow, longer days and boxes of girl scout cookies that makes it really hard to stay unhappy. Spring is in the air, and I am anxiously awaiting the day when I can take the girls out without jackets. I can tell it is coming!

I still can’t find my card reader, and that is a real bummer. Thea is growing up so much and doing many cute things that I have caught on film, but have no way of sharing. The girl loves to dance and she loves her maracas. It is very sweet to see her holding them and doing a little dance.

She is standing on her own for a few seconds at a time, but she promptly sits down as soon as she realizes that the toys in her hands aren’t supporting her. She just seems so grown up, the last couple of weeks have seemed to age her tremendously. She is such a joy, I can’t imagine our family without her.

Leila is her same super sassy and sweet self. She got to go bowling with her dad for Bowl for Kids Sake a couple of weeks ago and she loved it. She has asked to go again several times since then. She was the only little kid around, but that didn’t bother her a bit. She loves people, and she loves parties. She followed that up with attendance at a retirement party for one of my teammates, and a graduation party for another work friend of ours. Quite the socialite she is turning into. One common theme…the fit she throws when she has to leave.

Thea’s party is next Saturday, and I am really hoping to find that card reader before then!

>The other day I was sitting in the car with my two girls while we waited for Cory. Thea was cranky and tired in her car seat. Leila reached down into the space between the two car seats and grabbed a toy. She flipped the switch on and the maraca began to play music as Leila held it out across the back seat and handed it to Thea, “our baby.” Just one small example of what a wonderful sweetheart of a big sister Leila is.

Thank you Leila for making our family of four such a loving place to be.

>About 6 years ago when I was newly graduated from college I started my first “real job” as a telephone customer service representative. For my job I interacted with elderly people on the phone, who were generally having a hardship that caused them to need help. One day I took a call from a woman who was at the end of her rope. I can not remember what her issue was, I just remember spending a lot of time trying to convince her that things would be ok. The most memorable part of the call was the very end. I had defused her anxiety enough that she was calm, and had a plan. She thanked me for helping her and then she asked me what my name was. I told her my first name and she reacted in shock. She told me that her daughter, who had been a powerful supporter for her but had passed away was named Tricia. She said that our conversation, and my care for her was a sign from her daughter, and she was happy.

“I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me” Philippians 4:13

I was reminded in church this last week of this verse, and of the importance of remembering that in everything I do, I am representing my faith. All my accomplishments are a testament to God, and all of my hardships represent an opportunity to show the strength and resilience that I possess because of my faith. And sometimes, through no choice of my own, I am doing God’s work, so it is important to do it well and to realize that the lord is at work in all of us if we allow him.

>Cory did take Thea’s 11 month picture, and I will post it as soon as I can get up the ambition.  Right now I am just reminding myself of my new shoes post and keeping my mouth shut.  I have had an upsetting couple of weeks and I am just trying to grow a thicker skin and some extra patience.

>Last Thursday I was sitting at my desk when one of the frequent Hancher emails popped into my inbox.  On this day I decided to scan it before sending to my trash can, and the name Roseanne Cash caught my eye.  I am not really “in to” music of any kind myself.  I listen to lots of different things, but I haven’t been to a concert in years and it generally isn’t something that appeals to me enough to be worth the cost, but…my mom LOVES Roseanne Cash.  So we bought 5 of the very last tickets available to a show that was held last night, and my mom, my sisters and I had dinner and an evening with Roseanne Cash’s list.

When the lights went down and Roseanne Cash graced the stage with her presence and then her strong and beautiful voice, I was swept back in time.  I felt myself sitting on the gold carpet of the house in Tabor in front of mom’s prized stereo.  Roseanne started right in with songs from her latest album, “The list” which consists of 12 of the 100 essential country songs that her father had mandated that she learn, in order to know her musical genealogy.  The songs weren’t familiar, but the sound of her voice felt like a warm memory of a time when my own mom was teaching us the love of music.

The entire evening felt like a reunion with my childhood, a reunion with my family as I sat in line with the women who most influence me, and the love between Roseanne and her father permeated the air in the small theater.  After several songs from “The List”  Roseanne stopped to talk about her own daughter, and wondered if she were ever to make a list for her future child, would she include any of her mother’s songs?  With that, the familiar tune to “Seven Year Ache” began to play and once again, the overwhelming memories of singing and dancing to that very song with my mom in our little farm house in Tabor came over me.

There is something so surreal about sitting at a concert with your grown sisters and mother, who is now a grandmother; listening to a performer pour out her heart and soul into a performance inspired by her own father.  The memories, the love, the legacy.  An amazing night.

 

If I had his money I would do things my way
But little they know that it’s so hard to find
One rich man in ten with a satisfied mind

Once I was winning in fortune and fame
Everything that I dreamed for to get a start in life’s game
Then suddenly it happened I lost every dime
But I’m richer by far with a satisfied mind

Money can’t buy back your youth when you’re old
Or a friend when you’re lonely or a love that’s grown cold
The wealthiest person is a pauper at times
Compared to a man with a satisfied mind

When life has ended my time has run out
My friends and my loved ones I’ll leave there’s no doubt
But there’s one thing for certain when it comes my time
I’ll leave this old world with a satisfied mind.