Pregnancy, Mom Guilt, and the Mini Vacation

Mom Guilt. I've got it today. 
I really try to protect myself when I'm pregnant. Not take on too many extra things as I am all ready overwhelmed with the day to day work load. But I worry that my children are suffering. I am extra hard to please and always grouchy about their messy bedrooms.
Lighten up! I tell myself.

This is a good time in life to do some purging. We have decided that there are two more flower beds that have got to go.

There are dirt piles, and stone piles, and swing set piles all over the place. Building project has the place looking all torn apart.

We found out yesterday that we are expecting a girl this fall. Well, the technician did say, "I think it's a girl" and I did not question her on her predictability, but we are going to plan with that in mind. Pink burp cloths it is.

Then when I went to pay for my ultrasound the kind and sophisticated receptionist asked, "You don't know of anyone who would like to milk cows in the Wernersville are do you?" and I laughed and thought to myself, "I must look like a farmer."

Mini vacation. One Friday morning Nate told me that we could not go on vacation until the shed is finished. Then that evening when I got home he said that we should leave for the weekend. 

 

There is something about little or no planning for a trip that takes a lot of the prep stress off. Because there was no prep. Ha ha.

We packed up and left in 1 1/2 hrs. I was slightly paranoid we were forgetting some prior engagement of some kind.

We swam in the motel pool, and ate the free breakfast. Saturday we headed out to some "farm" where there was a free shuttle tour. Perfect. It was so hot! We got off the shuttle at the orchid barn. Beautiful! When done with that we waited for the next tram. After waiting a while Nate told Mia to read the schedule that was posted. So she was reading,  9:15, 9:45, 10:15, break... 

Nate and I hollered "No!" And laughed at our misfortune. So we started to walk back to the main building.  Stuart was crying because he wanted another tram ride. Ellie soon yelled, there is the tram! So we quickly headed back to it. Thankful they were running late or something.

 

Around 5 we left for the beach. It was a one hour drive. It was nice to be there at the end of the day. The van's outdoor thermometer said it was 106 outside. 

 

Mia loved the waves. They were pretty rough. Ellie was scared of them but warmed up a little and Stuart he just sat on the bank and once and awhile almost got washed out to sea. He thought that was pretty great. That is best way to get sand everywhere while you are at the beach.

June 2013 Almost Over

 Father's Day

We are building over here. I left Monday morning and didn't get back until last evening and look what happened! 

 

We spent last weekend in NYC with the youth group. Good times. We were hosted by Desti Nations Mission Training Center in NYC.  It really could not have gone any better.

 Not sure what happened to Henry but he was standing right there in the middle playing guitar while we sang. This was my favorite part. 

The youth each had a scavenger hunt style paper to fill out. It required a lot of interaction with people. Such as: Ask someone how to say hello in a different language. Ask 3 people what country they were born in. Ask 3 people what religion they are. Find the price of live eels. Find the high and low price of persimmons. Find a samosa, buy it and taste it. Find the price of a sari. They had to find particular locations and have their picture taken in front of it. Each group of 4 had a map and they were not allowed to use their phones. They were in charge of getting their own lunch while they were out and also buying a ticket for the train which we used later. We met at a particular location and then did street ministry and singing.

Passion fruit smoothie with tapioca on the bottom. 

 

This is Andrew, he had tofu for the first time ever, this was served to his group after they attended a Taiwanese church Sunday morning. 

Investments

I love to hang out with families who have taken the time to train their children. It's not easy and I fail at it miserably.
I know that just writing that is asking for it. I am bound to have a humbling experience today yet! Although after one day this week I'm not sure it could get much worse. Humbling that is.

I messed up pretty badly. I sent my daughter to a birthday party with a gift that was wrapped in "Happy Holidays" paper. She never saw what was inside until the birthday boy opened it and it was a birdhouse kit that was hers and she had been waiting for almost a year now for someone to help her put it together.
I thought it was Stuart's and he would have forgotten and never known. Not my 5 year old almost 6. Oh man... I cried, she cried. Some sucker was selling the kits on ebay for $19.99. But hey it was worth twenty bucks to me, I felt so bad. Ellie, she forgave me in a flash, bless her heart but every time I picture her at that birthday party watching the gifts get opened I get tears in my eyes.

Anyhow... back to the families who have taken the time to train their kids, my brother Tristan and his wife come to mind.

They are so quick to jump up and check on the children. Have you experienced this? It is so fun and relaxing to hang out with them thanks to the investment they put in.

They're going to hate me for this. Ha ha.

Just read a great blog post by Jasmine Star.

The 25 Rules to My Life

my favorite one is the first one:
It's more important to be kind than it is to be right.