Our Summer So Far.......

There is this great Mediterranean restaurant in Temecula that has the BEST grape leaves and hummice YUMMY! My brother and I took our dad there for father's day. Dan had to work. Below is my brother getting Ryanne wound up so she can get in trouble. Sigh.....

We got to have BBQ and catch up with some long time friends who by the way now know how to find my blog so I will be the bigger person and NOT bag on you here in public Ralph just on the off chance you are reading this today. Ha! Mindy trains dogs for the blind. We call her the dog whisperer. Don't you feel more complete knowing that? :)

Our friends invited us to the beach and even though the sun never did appear we had a really fun time.

Why is it kids can have a house full of toys but give then a pile of endless sand to dig in and a mere hole can keep them entertained for hours. And I do mean hours! See Morgan to the lower right corner? See Morgan's lower back? Yes that is the one spot I missed with the sun screen and she knelt like this for hours. Ummmmm....just a little sun burned. Ouch!

Ryanne caught this little guy below. Lunch anyone?

Morgan's long time friend Jesse. I think between the 3 moms we had 10 or 11 kids. Yup everyone survived and made it back in one piece.

I was going to come on here and tell you all about my crappy blood work and how my Lupus test came back positive again; my hormones, thyroid and cholesterol were all dangerously low (who has dangerously low cholesterol anyways?) and how now I am rubbing all natural hormone cream on the "girls" and they are growing like I am eating Miracle Grow.
But then that all seemed silly and irrelevant after this last week.
Our friend Tony who works with Dan was rushed to the hospital and we found out later he has 40 swollen spots on his brain. They are not sure what exactly caused it and he is very sick.
Then a couple days later another friend from the department passed away. Our department is hurting right now.
Please pray for Tony and his wife as they navigate this illness.
Also pray for Dave's wife and family as they grieve. And for the department family as the funeral is Tuesday.

Ya' my blood worked sucked but the blessing in it and I know this will sound crazy to some, but God woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to get my blood drawn so I did. If I had not The Dr. said there could have been a hospital stay in my near future. I was really whacked out. Now everything seems to be getting back to normal. Well, normal for my body anyway.
Blogger freaked out so the photos below go with this post as well. :)

Ryanne loves to help cook. We made a yummy fish dish the other night.

Went to Target and cleaned out their squirt gun section. Then had some friends over to beat the heat.

Did a little hiking in Oak Glen and then had a picnic at the park up there.

I love living where we do because there is endless things to do.

Just Stuff...............

Our life since school has gotten out has been pretty random and so none of these pictures are in order or anything. Just little snippets of our lives.
Lillie & Ryanne found the face paints the other day. Cute although together these two are T-R-O-U-B-L-E! But then I don't think it's possible to be this cute and not get into mischief.

Wait is that a Halo over Ryanne's head? Ha! Guess that was wishful thinking.
She tapped on the sliding door the other night while Dan & I were making dinner and when I looked over she just started cracking up. As I looked closer I discovered she had a lizard climbing up her chest out of her sun dress. Ewwwwww!!!!!!

On the days when I get tired of buying dog food bags that are so big I have to have the store load them into my SUV with a Bobcat tractor, or walking across the tile barefoot only to discover one of the cats has lovingly played in the cat litter only to leave a trail for my tender feet to step on. Or the birds (that our oldest would die without if we left them at the pet store) freak out and spray feathers all over AFTER I vacuum. Or the cat has gotten into the fish tank AGAIN. I stop short of screaming,"ENOUGH! IF YOU HAVE 4 LEGS, A TAIL, FEATHERS HAVE TO BE UNDER WATER TO LIVE, GET OUT!!!" Because look how sweet they all are.....

In case you were wondering yes it's Macy's world here.
She is closing the gap to 8 months and weighs about 90 lbs. give or take. Just a babe really.

Then there's Tiger. His favorite hobby is hiding amongst the stuffed animals on Morgan's bed. That is when he's not licking himself, teasing the dog or stealing my hair ties and dropping them in his water bowel.

Milo is well, just Milo. No photos of the birds or the fish because as Ryanne likes to say,"Their habitats are dirty at the moment!"

We took the girls down to the beach last week to run some errands for an upcoming married life event. We took them to this restaurant we love in Laguna Beach. It's actually called Tommy Bahama's. If you ever get a chance to eat there try the veggie burgers. Best I have EVER had!!! The girls loved it. Amazing weather. amazing food and good company. Love days like those.

Oh my future post should keep you coming back:
I will give you a hint: It has to do with me having to eat egg yolks, peanut butter, rubbing cream under the ahem "girls" every morning and blood work. No I'm not pregnant! I will fill you in though as I am sure I have peaked your curiosity. Ha!

Texas Judge Bans Prayer.....

If you go to www.foxnews.com you can read this very sad article. A Texas judge has threatened jail time to any student who prays at graduation or even uses the word prayer, benediction etc.
Another student and his parents filed a suit against the school. So the judge decided it would cause and I quote,"irreparable harm" if someone prayed at the graduation ceremony.

Irreparable harm? Are you serious? I can think of a LOT of things that will cause someone irreparable harm but having someone pray over a ceremony is NOT one of them.
Well..............as a person who values her freedom and has many family members who have served in the armed forces to ensure her safety and freedom I have an idea about this law suit and about the kind of judge who would attempt to stifle Gods people and some of the values our country was founded on. If you don't like where you live, move. If you are unhappy with your freedom of speech you can go. I mean that's what this family is saying right? You don't value your freedom; because if you did value this aspect of our country you would see the importance of letting others have the same luxury correct? Irreparable damage? Grow up. I mean have we become that big of a wussy that the minute someone steps on our toes we go crying to a judge to sort it all out. People pleeeaassse have a spine and stop hiding behind a lame judges attempt at protecting you. It wont happen. Someone who truly values their relationship with God will stand up and speak from the heart at that graduation regardless of the threat of jail time. And good luck with that Texas judge. You really think we are going to let that happen. I pray our country is willing to fight for that, its a battle worth fighting for. Stop telling us to accept everyone and allow everything, every life style, every opinion and then try to silence those who have a relationship with God.
Irreparable damage? I think I have freakin' heard everything now. I only pray my girls are strong enough to "cause" enough irreparable damage to impact the world.
I'm done now.
God Bless America. (We're gonna need it!)

Iron Kids San Diego 2011

I want to start off by saying that if you really don't enjoy sports/racing etc. then my blog is probably the one to avoid reading every year from the months of April-October. That is triathlon season and so that is what my posts are about. Exciting for us but maybe not so much for others. LOL!

Our girls did their first ever Iron Kids event this past weekend. We loaded up and headed to San Diego for the weekend. These pictures are not in good order so I thought I would show you what putting your kids in races does.........these photos below are our drive home late Sunday after the race.

Those of you with super high energy kids are seeing our master plan in all this aren't you? Ha!!

The girls had lots of family support as some drove in and stayed the night while my dad lives right by where the race was.

The girls were filling up on water and snacks after the race.

Ryanne sprinting towards the finish line.

Ryanne was SO fast in the bike transition. We barely had enough time to run up from the water and catch her taking off. She did great!

Here is Ryanne coming out of the swim. I have to hand it to all the kids that did the race because it was COLD out that day and to get in that ocean water.....BRRRRRR!!!

Can't have a race without a little blood now can we? Morgan caught her leg on her gear and was bleeding down into her shoes. The volunteers were great and such a huge help. Especially since the parents were not allowed to help in any way.

Morgan running toward the finish line. Ha, ha I caught my brothers thumbs up to her in the shot.

We prayed for the girls on the card ride over that they would have fun, be safe and have good attitudes. They were all smiles.

Morgan coming off the swim.

Caught them right before Morgan headed off to the start of the race. It was crazy having both girls in a race for the first time. We were running everywhere trying to keep up with where they were and where they were supposed to be. We met this girls Winter at the race. Her dad died of prostate cancer and so she started a race foundation to help fight cancer since her dad used to race. She races now too. Morgan had been looking for a race outfit she liked and decided she wanted to represent and help Team Winter. On the back of her jersey it says,"Who do you race for? MY DAD!" Morgan was very proud to wear that logo and Winter was a really neat 13 year old kid! Sweetheart!

Almost show time.

Getting inked up!

Waiting to get into transition to rack bikes.

See all the people!!! These kids were amazing!!

I don't know, think she might want to follow in dad's footsteps? :)
We were laying in bed last night and Dan said,"I got all choked up watching the girls race today. I got all teary when Ryanne accomplished the swim. I was so proud of them."

Early morning exit from the hotel heading over to the bay. The girls didn't want to get up at first but they were all smiles once we got going.

It's funny how quiet how hotels are at 6am in the morning. You can tell all the crazy people cause they are the ones pushing bikes out of the lobby.

Of course we couldn't be in San Diego and not hit up our favorite coffee house. If your ever down there look up Ryan Brothers Coffee. Best tea and coffee ever!!!

We are so proud of you girls! Thanks for a really fun weekend! And thanks for everyone who came out for the early morning cheering.
Ryanne we know how hard that ocean swim was for you because you just learned to swim and are fearful of not being able to see the bottom. You were scared to death but didn't quit. You pushed through and did it with a great attitude.

Morgan, so proud of your smiles and kindness on the race. You are a great example of a good sport.

150 yard swim, 4 mile bike and 1 mile run............
Morgan & Ryanne YOU ARE AN IRON KID!!!!!

Embrace

Embrace n: an encircling of the arms. To take up readily or gladly

I have been wanting to write this post for weeks but wrapping my brain and heart around the concept or should I say truth has taken some time. Also, I didn't want to ramble. My hearts desire is to make sense of it all. Suffering and pain that is. Seeing that we are only human and not whole until heaven that may be an unreachable feat. I guess I should be happy if I am even able to wrap my heart around it right?

I have shared with you in the past and been mostly open about the fact that I have suffered with RA (rheumatoid arthritis) since I was in my 20's, roughly 10 years give or take. The thing with RA is and most people don't realize this is that it's not your average arthritis. It's not just waking up feeling a little stiff or achy and so you pop a Tylenol and go on with your golf game or head off to the gym and work out. It's crippling. It causes inflammation in not just your joints but your organs. It causes you to often loose function of major things like your arm or leg or hand. Sometimes this can last only for a few hours or for days. Your circulation is bad so you don't have the feeling in your fingers and toes like before. It can affect your hearing, your vision.
The craziest part is you look healthy to most people. I think in some ways this makes it that much harder to be open with the average person. If your sick with it though you can spot it a mile away. Weird really.
Everyone's diagnosis is different and complex. Mine just happens to be very aggressive.

A couple weeks ago I was driving home from somewhere and I was having a rough day. I was in a lot of pain, didn't feel good and having a hard time getting around. I decided to let myself go "there" and be sad. Feel sorry for myself and be angry. I was mad about my health, mad that I can't do a lot of things I want to do or even the daily things that are easy for most. I was in tears. I turned on the radio and wouldn't you know there was a pastor talking about suffering. Except he was asking when the last time was that I had embraced my suffering. I turned it up thinking surely I had heard wrong. Embrace your suffering? Why?
I got home and checked my email to find someone had found me through my blog post review I did of Carolyn's Chocolates here in town. I love Carolyn by the way. I almost didn't open the unknown sender but felt like it was safe. This mom who emailed me had "accidentally" found my blog while looking up Carolyn's Chocolates. Embrace your suffering. And read a post about me having RA. Embrace your suffering. Her daughter is young, 15 and has tested positive for this disease. She was reaching out to me for help. Embrace your suffering. I shared my testimony with her and the road I have been down. Embrace your suffering. I then sent her to Dr. Wellhausen for the proper medical support. A month or so later we still have not met but email daily. Embrace your suffering. She is a daughter of the King. Embrace your suffering.

I started in that very first email to feel Gods presence. Who finds someone on the internet through a chocolate place and gets to build a relationship helping one another? God works like that. On the very day I needed it most God reminded me why I am sick and why I don't have to be happy about it but to be joyful in this time is entirely different. To embrace my suffering is to help other people. To let my pride go about being sick and needing help and shout it out from the mountain top that in all the suffering and all the chaos this disease causes me and my house God is in control and has a purpose. I can go kicking and screaming or I can go willingly and be used. To embrace my suffering means I am telling God that I am willing to hold on to what he would have be go through and learn from it. Our first instinct when something is painful is to throw it back, get rid of it, run, flee. Nobody in their own strength wants to be in pain. And it's different for all of us. Some of us struggle with physical pain, others emotional pain. Loss, depression, loneliness etc. But are we getting everything from the "storm" God is allowing us to go through? Or are we taking cover and avoiding the obvious growth he wants in us. I personally am learning to be more patient, to be still, to give over control. To be more compassionate of others weaknesses. To wait on the Lord and to accept no as an answer. Sometimes the answer to our questions about the storm is because God asked us to. Obedience.

I decided last night to finally break down and write this post. My mom called me; she has had RA since she was in her 20's as well. She had just gotten back from her hearing appointment and it did not go well. She has been loosing her hearing for a couple years now and is legally deaf. They told her yesterday they could not help her anymore and to prepare to loose the hearing that is left. She told me she melted down and cried and got mad and indignant and then she said what convinced me to write this. She said,"It's OK now cause God has a plan in me being deaf. I will miss hearing your girls voices and Morgan play the piano, but God knows."
I was torn between crying and feeling excited about how God will use my mom and our family in this. She is embracing her suffering. She's going along for the ride to see where it takes her. Not only is she going she is rolling down the windows, cracking open the sunroof and attempting to take in the scenery.

Suffer: verb to experience something unpleasant. To bear loss or damage. A cause of distress.