Twirls 'n Curls

 Ten years ago, we thought we knew everything about each other, about parenting, about the world. About 2 weeks later, we realized we didn't have a clue - but we were together, and that made everything all right. As soon as we got the routine of "us" down pat, Baby #1 came along and threw us into a tailspin again. Diapers, midnight feedings, and laundry abounded. But we were together, and that made everything all right. Baby #2 made us wonder why we thought having one was so hard...  And by the third we were just plain exhausted. But we were together, and that made everything all right. For better for worse,  for cheesy, for poor...  You light up our home, you bring laughter into so many situations - And I know that no matter what, everything is going to be all right when we're together. Because no matter where we are, no matter what we're eating doing... You never fail to make me feel like the luckiest gi...

Cruising on the Yellow River I am a talkative person. And I used to think I was fairly good at getting around language barriers - I speak Spanish, so I can get by in most Latin-based language situations if I have to. I also know a bit of sign language and I took shorthand in college, which really has no relevance in the 21st century. Plus, we had a Korean exchange student stay with us for a year. All that to say, I had many frustrating - and humorous - attempts at expressing myself in a language where we don't even share the same alphabet. On our first night, we took a boat tour of the city on the Huangpu River. I noticed the locals pointing and staring at us, but being a group of 34 white tourists on an otherwise all Chinese boat tour, that was no shock. (Much of our vacation locals either asked us to pose for pics with them or just took pictures of us being tourists, like this guy filming Tom hacky sack..) You film my husband, I film you... :) As a 6'2"...

Eating scorpion on Snack Street, a famous tourist spot in Beijing   (To catch up on the other posts in this series, click here ) The food in China was amazing! We ate each breakfast at our hotel, which had everything from traditional bacon and eggs to a noodle bar and sushi. Lunches and dinners were eaten mostly at restaurants like the above pics, with 8-10 of us sharing a round table and eating family-style. There was usually an egg dish, several noodle dishes, plenty of rice, and lots of veggies. I took pics of our last full day's meals in China, just to give you an idea of what it was like:    Breakfast: Omelet bar, fried rice, dumplings, dragon fruit, bacon, muesli, and a noodle bar. (That would normally feed us for the whole day!) For lunch, we were on our own because it was a shopping day in the local flea markets. There were several American chains in the city - Starbucks, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway, but KFC is the biggest American ...

  (For other posts in this series, click here ) Shortly after our arrival in China, I discovered, much to my naive American snobbishness, that not everyone uses the restroom the same way. It seems I had been using a Western toilet for my entire life, or a "sitter." In China, sitters are not as common as a Westerner might hope. (Neither is soap or toilet paper, our tour guide informed us the next day, but he always let us know when and where Western toilets could be found!) Hence, I opened the bathroom door at the very urban airport to find this: No instructions. No toilet paper. Just a recessed urinal-type device. Had I gone into the men's room? Doubtful. Should I sit on top of it? Probably not. Putting my college education to good use, I surmised that I should engage in some sort of hovering maneuver. I cast a look back at the kind cleaning lady, who smiled wanly and urged me into the stall with the handle of her mop. She was obviously not going to be a help....

My husband and I just took the most amazing trip to China on a 9-day tour with SNA Tours . (highly recommended!!)  Being a stay-at-homeschooling-mom of 3, I rarely get out for an afternoon, much less 9 days!! By the end of the 13-hour plane ride, I was already in heaven. We had been served 3 meals I didn't have to cook, and each seat had its own TV and headphones with hundreds of shows to choose from. I could have spent the remainder of vacation in the plane and done just fine! But there was so much more... this first post is an overview of our tour, then I'll write a few more about our experiences. Admittedly, I was a little skeptical of the accommodations for our trip - after all, we had bought it on Groupon ! But the entire time we stayed at Radisson hotels, which were much more elaborate than most any hotel we've been to in the States (but remember, we do have 3 kids...) Lobby of our hotel - gorgeous!   We spent the first few days in ...

My husband, who is a pastor, occasionally asks me to do a skit with him as an introduction to his message. Not too long ago, he was teaching on communication in marriage, and our skit went something like this:     (Tom walks through door)     Me: Hi, Sweetheart! (kiss) How was work today?     Tom: Ok.     Me: Did anything exciting happen?     Tom: No.     Me: Oh, ok. Well, what do you want for dinner?     Tom: (Man grunt).     Me: Your mom wants us to come over for dinner next week, do you think Tuesday sounds good?     Tom: I dunno.     Me: She really wanted to set a day. Please can we go Tuesday? I checked and our calendar is wide open.     Tom: Sure. Whatever.      Me: Oh, thank you, Sweetheart! (big kiss on cheek) For the record - HE wrote this. Not me. I hadn't read it until we starte...

 As I set my alarm and slid into bed, I realized I had done it again. When I woke up that morning, I had every intention of reading my Bible. But somehow...life happened. The kids got up early. One wet the bed. Laundry. Cooking. Cleaning. Time had gotten away from me, and I found myself in bed praying pitifully, "God, I'm sorry...I'll try to do better tomorrow."  For just a minute, I couldn't help thinking God was angry at me. That He would take revenge by not answering my prayers, or I'd fall and break my arm the next day. Then it was as if God whispered, "You know me better than that. I love you. Yes, it hurts when you don't spend time with me, but I'm not mad at you. I'll always be here for you." Then, my thoughts oddly turned to my husband, who had not yet come to bed. To be honest, I'm sometimes grumpy when he doesn't do things on my timetable, and I let him know it. Like fixing the sink that won't drain. Or wrapping...

That's the name for Southwest's lowfare tickets. And it's appealing - who doesn 't need a break from the busyness of life? There are non-negotiables, like work and school. And the great things, like family activities and church. But too much of anything, even something good, is still too much . And many times, our marriages get put on the back burner because those seemingly urgent matters crowd it out. The good news - you don't have to have loads of time (or money!) to make your marriage a priority, just a little creativity. Here are a few habits we've developed over the years that may be a good place to start:   1. Stolen Moments Tom and I rarely pass each other without touching. A friend came over the other day and was amazed that in a short conversation, he had called me 5 different pet names! We flirt while we do the dishes, and we kiss whenever we leave. We set the kids' bedtime and stick to it, ensuring we have a couple hours of (almost) alone ti...

  Lately I've caught myself watching my husband interact with our girls. I know I should be spending time on my own activities, but I just can't seem to tear myself away. How blessed they are , I think to myself, to have a daddy who loves spending time with them. How blessed I am to have a husband who comes home every night to a slightly messy, often chaotic household with 4 women vying for his attention! If you grew up in a home like ours, (and especially if you didn't!) you understand the importance of a healthy father/daughter relationship, and you know they are hard to come by. So here are a few principles I've committed to, as a wife/mother, to help their relationship grow: 1. Never speak negatively to or about my husband in front of our children. I've always tried not to speak negatively about Tom in public, and I am becoming more aware of how I talk to him in front of my girls as well. Kids hear hurtful comments and don't understand that we were j...

  Happy Monday!!  Link up with Miscellany Monday above, too fun! I probably spend more time than I should thinking up random things to say, but I guess that’s part of the fun of it for me, so here goes: 1)    1) My mommy philosophy:  Why get mad at a mess when I can laugh and take a picture of it?  A seasoned mom (don’t you love those?) once advised me:  “Never get mad at your kids for acting like kids or because they inconvenience you.”  That has stuck with me over the years, and I try to laugh and make the most out of accidents and messes, rather than being frustrated.  I don’t want my kids to remember me yelling all the time!  Here’s my youngest last night, she crawled outside after dinner (we had company) and amused herself in the pool (it only had an inch or so of water), church clothes and all!!   2)    2) This morning, a friend of mine and I took our friendship to a new level – we worked out to...

 My husband and I had been plotting our getaway to "Big People-ville" for several months, and the time finally finally arrived.  Last week, we went to Las Vegas (about 3 hours from us) to see the Lion King Broadway musical.  My husband skateboards and plays video games - I love music, cooking, and crafts, so there are few activities we actually enjoy doing together, but we both really like going to see Broadway shows.  Kind of an expensive hobby, so we only hit one every year or two.  It was AMAZING!  The music was superb, the costumes outrageous, I'd highly recommend it if you're into that stuff.  Tom's summary:  "A white man's way to enjoy ethnic culture."  We loved it! The girlies stayed at our house with a wonderful mom friend of mine who has raised 5 kids - I figured she was more than qualified for my 3 little ankle-biters.  Plus she had my 5-year old, who's pretty sure she knows everything about running our home.  The only ...