Wordless Wednesday

Just a Bunch....

Just a bunch of little buddies

                                                                      on the steps

                                                                    at the splash pad

                                                                    sharing snacks.
                                                       

Diary of a {pre} Med Student{'s wife}

     Adam sat on my folks' couch this past Friday, the afternoon after he arrived here in smoky Colorado. We'd spent the morning swimming with the kiddos, and now I sat feeding the baby as the big kids played outside. As he scanned his emails on the Ipad, Adam began to read one aloud....


We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited for an interview....

      It was one day after his second round of applications to PA (and Physical Therapy, this time) school went out officially through CASPA. One day. And he's already had an invitation to interview. Holy Happy Dances, Batman!! Last time around, we heard...well...nothing. At least, not without multiple emails from Adam to the programs asking them what his status was. I am so proud of my husband-and he hasn't even gotten accepted to a program yet! I'm proud of the work he's put in thus far; for his determination, persistence, and most of all his choice to have a positive attitude during the first application cycle. Even as it became more and more clear it he wasn't going to get in-or even get an interview- the first time.
He continued to work on his application throughout the year. Padding it. Improving what he could. And, prayerfully making the decision to apply to not three but fourteen different programs all over the country.

Which brings me to the next part.......
....his first interview is for a school in Philadelphia. As in Pennsylvania. As in all the way across the country.

    I so appreciated my sister-in-law's reaction when she heard where the school is. After congratulating Adam on getting an interview and hearing that it's in Pennsylvania, she laughingly shook her head and exclaimed,
"The adventures you guys have-and will have!!"

     I loved it because she nailed it. It is an adventure. All of life is, no matter if you're moving all over the world with the military, working as a missionary in a foreign country, or living and working in the same town that you've grown up in. Sometimes it's hard to see it that way, though-because it's a matter or your perspective. And, although I don't love the actual packing and logistics of moving (again), dealing with the changes and the ways our kids react to change, new town, new state, new everything-I know that if we do happen to end up across the country-there's a reason for it. Because this life adventure we're on isn't the choose-your-own kind, but an adventure lived together with our mighty God directing our steps. We've met so many incredible people during our time in various cities and states, including our new digs in Phoenix; good friends who have become an extension of our family. Because of them and the way they've impacted our lives, I don't regret a single move. And I know if more moves are coming I will embrace that, too, because of the people I will meet next.
     
     The coolest part? Well, one of them, anyway. In May, when Adam sent his application into CASPA again (they verify everything before sending all the applications out via email on the same date), we prayed earnestly and specifically for an early interview and early acceptance. Waiting so long last time to hear anything, feeling like we were sort of in limbo the whole time; it wasn't the easiest thing. Especially for a man who is trying hard to balance providing for his family with pursuing this dream God birthed in him 10 years ago. That email? It wasn't just an invitation to interview. It was a beautiful answer to prayer...a breath of fresh air for both of us and a huge sense of relief for my husband. Proof that Adam is a desirable candidate; but more importantly that we're headed in the direction God has shown us.

     It's exciting and crazy and I so wish the baby and I could hop on that plane with him to Philly in August! Plane tickets being what they are right now, though, that's probably not going to happen. And this interview doesn't mean we're headed to the east coast yet-hopefully, there will be more interview invitations coming and we will have a bit of a choice; ideally even stay where we are right now. We are continuing to pray for favor in his interviews, and quick acceptance to one or several programs. At least one :) It was a landmark in this process, though, that first invitation-to-interview email-and I'm excited to see what it will lead us to next!

30 days of Pinterest: Day 6

      Day 6...finally! This day, we made our own sidewalk paint. So fun! Again, a super easy to make with things I had on hand in the kitchen...cornstarch, water, and food coloring. Love. Easy prep=my favorite part (hey, I had a 5 week old-going to the grocery store with all three kiddos was still a production!) Stirring in the food coloring = my kids' favorite part! I let them take turns choosing what colors they wanted; another little science experiment as we mixed our food coloring to make orange, purple, brown, teal...super fun.

 The actual painting didn't go quite like I thought it would. The paint was pretty light on the concrete...maybe we needed brighter colors? But the kids had a great time with it! It was fun to watch the painting evolve from the sidewalk to painting cars and  themselves...Fairly true to their attention spans, Blythe painted for..oh...maybe 5 minutes. Pax, on the other hand, was out there for at least 30 minutes. I think my most favorite part of all was watching their play evolve together...more and more frequently these days, our older two actually play together; sometimes Pax is the leader, sometimes it's B. Watching their relationship evolve is just so much fun!  

Wordless Wednesday: Smoke and Sunshine

As seen from my parents' driveway Sunday afternoon...this fire is crazy. Praying for rain, praying for the firefighters, praying for all those affected by the High Park Fire.

And then it was gone...

...the little sister's plug, that is. Her paci. Binky. Whatever you call it-we call it a plug. Like Pax, I weaned her off of it except in bed (and occasionally in the car, like on long trips) when she was 14 months old. And I knew that, like Pax, I'd probably wean her completely  about 2 1/2. I wasn't about to take to take it away during the craziness of moving 3 times in 5 months, tons of road trips (she's already a not-so-great car sleeper!), a loooong flight to and from Paris, and the advent of a new baby. A kid needs a little comfort sometimes. (and, let's face it, a Mama needs to know there's something that will absolutlywithoutadoubt work sometimes.) So-she kept the plug. Well, except one got thrown away because she kept getting out of bed at night.
      Anyways, she was down to 2. Then, 2 Fridays ago, she brought me a plug to be washed that had fallen on my (maybe not spotless) kitchen floor...upon closer inspection, I realized she'd chewed holes in it (just like Pax did); so I explained to her I had to throw it away because it would get nasty inside and make her sick. Smart cookie that she is, she understood, and I chucked it. I told Adam about the incident later that day, saying that I'd probably do the same thing with the last plug eventually, too, and then she'd be all done with it. I figured we've have her off the plug in a month or so.
     Enter Sunday after naps. She handed me her plug, I looked at it and- Yup. Holes! Adam said I'd better talk to her about it-she has a certain way she likes things to go, and goodnight the girl can flip out if it doesn't go her way! She's 2, after all. So we had a little chat, about how there were holes in this plug too, and it needed to be thrown away or it would get all yucky and make her sick. I told her she could have it for 2 more nights, then it was going in the trash and we'd go to the store and she could pick out a "big girl" present. (Yes, I do bribe my children. It works very well, too!) She looked a tad worried, but agreed. For the next few days, she told us constantly how her plug had holes in it and in 2 more nights she'd throw it in the trash and go get a present. Great! Maybe this will be easy!

     Fast forward 2 nights. After having me carry her out to the big trash so she could chuck the last plug in herself, I piled the kiddos in the car and headed to the closest super Target. She had told me she wanted a bracelet, so we were on a mission. Except she picked out a Hello Kitty watch instead. We looked down every toy isle, at lots of jewelery...she saw lots of pretty things she thought she wanted "and the watch". But every time,  I reminded her she could pick out one thing-and she returned to her bright pink Hello Kitty watch. (I got Adam a super nice watch for his birthday-may have something to do with it. She's totally a Daddy's Girl.) After lunch, she was all set for naps-until she asked me for her plug. When I reminded her it was gone-not so happy. I put her down with snuggles and hugs, but she still cried and screamed for the first 45 minutes, and then didn't nap. Okay, so maybe not so good after all. But that night, she slept like a champ. And she napped beautifully the next day. In fact, other than skipping a couple of naps the past 2 weeks and getting up a little earlier than usual (which means she's up reallllly early...good thing we've trained the kids to stay in their room and read quietly until 6:45. And mostly it works beautifully, too...Mama doesn't handle it so well if the kiddos are up and running before I've had a chance to brush my teeth. Or, you know, drink coffee.) she hasn't looked back or asked for it at all. So fantastic! She just wants her pink Hello Kitty watch at bedtime now. Apparently a bright pink watch is just as comforting as a plug. Go figure...and please pardon the food on my daughter's face. Sometimes, it's fun to remember things as they really were, and not photoshop it all away.

Diary of a (pre) Med Student('s wife). (a bit of a ramble.)

I'm sitting at the kitchen table, doin' what we do...which means Adam is studying (Physics 2 this time, in case you were wondering), and I'm blogging, doing laundry, looking on Pinterest, organizing tommorow in my head, jumping up every little bit to do some little thing I'd forgotten...at least, this time around that's what our evenings look like. Now that I can keep my eyes open past 8pm and I'm in the stage of baby-hood where you ask yourself, do I go to bed now or wait until after I feed the baby at 10?? Ahhh, the 10pm feeding. Gotta love it! At least it gives me a little extra face time with my hubs these days, even if we aren't actually talking to each other. I mean, we are talking to each other-just not right now. Pax pooped outside a couple of weeks ago. Yes, my 4 1/2 year old. Who has been potty trained for 2 years. And whom I had JUST told NOT to poop outside, because I saw him doing the "potty dance" in our tiny blow-up pool. Guess I should've thought something other than "oh, how sweet!" when I saw him sitting in the middle of a mud puddle. How did I find out? "Mama, I pooped." Well...at least he admitted it. Although I would've figured it out pretty quickly when I stepped out onto the porch and saw flies massed around the poop HE HAD SCOOPED OUT of the puddle and smeared on the pourch. AND crammed into the spray nozzle. Why?? I have no idea. Ew.Ew.Ew.Ew.Ew Along with some serious youtakehiminsidebecauseifIdoitwon'tbepretty! And then the next night he pooped in the tub and shoved it down the drain. WHY?!? Well, that time it was because he saw Adam rinse one of little brother's diapers out in the tub. Big difference between breastfeeding newborn poop and 4 1/2 year old poop, buddy, if you didn't know.... So I made him scrub the tub. Why yes, I do believe in natural consequenses! And I'm really really over poop for awhile. My laptop's ac addaptor died, and I have about 6 days of Pinterest pictures uploaded onto it. So until the new cord gets here, our fun little summer project is on hold; and no posts with pictures...not a bad thing, just different. The kids and I are headed to my folks' next week for 2 weeks while Adam finishes his class-it's truly the best solution for all of us when he has finals. He's so incredibly good at being present when he's home,that husband of mine- but sometimes he just needs to buckle down and study and this gives him the freedom to do that. Plus we have fun seeing family and friends and being somewhere that's not 100 degrees...my kids may freeze, actually. I know for sure they're both REALLY excited that they might get to wear snuggly pants (sweats) and hoodies. We've learned a lot throught this whole process...you might think it's just his thing, being in school; and maybe if we didn't have a family it would be-but the way it is now, it HAS to be a team effort. All of it. Or it just doesn't work well. And we HAVE to depend on God'd grace every day, or it really isn't pretty. The beautiful part is discovering again, every day, the holiness of the mundane and the grace that infuses it-we just have to step into it, accept it. That doesn't mean it's always EASY, but it is always good, somehow, someway, as God weaves it all together. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the underside of the blanket or cross stitch or whatever it is that's being woven-it just looks (and feels) like a tangled mess some days. Not to my Lord, though. He's on the upside looking down as he weaves-He can see the beauty of the pattern and knows exactly what it will look like when it's done. We, Adam and I both, are so very thankful that He's got the end in sight and we just have to listen and live in His plan for us... Because sometimes, I really really can't see how the poop on the pourch fits into it all.