Remembering Grandma

One evening during AWANA's, I spent the entire time visiting with Nita in the nursery. Nita is quite an amazing woman. I just love talking with her - such a Godly woman of prayer. I'm always encouraged after I see her.

Somehow our conversation made it's way into her life and the jobs she'd had (that's an amazing list). Her last place of employment was at the Veteran's Home here in St. James, and that sparked my interest. "What years were you there?" I asked her. And don't quote me, but I think it was something like 1984 to 2002 (or close). She also told me that Shirley (another wonderful woman I know!) worked there during some of those years as well. This was intriguing to me because my grandma worked there during that time, too.

My thoughts sort of drifted off to my childhood. Since we lived in Rolla, and since St. James is only 8 miles from there, occasionally mom would take me to see Grandma at work during lunch time. Sometimes we would get a McChicken at McDonalds (my favorite at the time) and take it with us, also picking up something for Grandma! We'd visit, but probably for only 30 minutes or so.

I told Nita about this, and I wanted to remind myself to ask Shirley about it, too. I wondered if either of them would remember her.

Last night, I drove Shirley home after our church service. We started talking, and I mentioned my grandma working at the Veteran's Home. "What was her name?" she asked me.

"Gladys Lehnhoff" I responded.

"Yes, I remember her. She was a daytime aide. I have a sugar cookie recipe from her."

If you're reading this Shirley, I want you to know that I had a few tears in my eyes after you told me that (thankfully, it was dark). What's amazing is that my grandma has been gone for 15 years in May, and I still think of her quite often. I wonder what she would think of my kids, of my husband, of the life I have. I wonder if she'd still live in that little apartment in Belle...the one where I spent so much time, the one that I'd go to when I pretended to be sick at school just so I could watch The Price is Right with Grandma. I wonder if she'd make Wacky Cake with my kids, let Sarah play with her hair and paint her nails, let Caleb build her a big house out of those lego blocks she had. Or...my favorite memory...would my kids help her decorate her Christmas tree each year like I did with my sister?

I miss her...and this is probably why I'm so willing to make every attempt to let my kids see their grandparents and spend fun time with them as often as I can. I know they're creating memories that will last forever.














Grandma with her kids: Uncle Jim, my mom, & Uncle Roger.

A Lesson From My Dishwasher

Here's a bit of a confession for my readers. I'm the type of person who usually (okay, almost always) thinks that the way I do something is the best way to do it. (This is where my husband and sister - when they read this - will sarcastically say to themselves HOW SHOCKING!) :o) I rationally know that it doesn't really matter which direction Josh vacuums, but if I'm there watching him do it, I have to work very hard not to say, "Why didn't you start over here first?" And it's not just that, it's other little things like how to give the kids a bath, how to do laundry, how to drive (how close to follow someone in front of us, etc). Even something as little as how to take a Tylenol (Josh drinks the water first, puts the Tylenol in his mouth, then swallows) I think my way works better. I know, so silly.

And of course, there's how to load a dishwasher.

I have always been one who rinses the dishes quite thoroughly first, just to make sure nothing is stuck on. I had never even tried to see if my dishwasher was good enough to get off that stuck on food before (oatmeal is the worst). Until two weeks ago...

My mom was here watching the kids for me as I went and watched Josh's last basketball game. She is always so sweet to do dishes when she's here. I usually try really hard to get them done before she comes because I don't want her to think she has to do that! But I know she just likes helping me out. When I got home, I noticed the kitchen was all picked up, but there were no dishes in the draining rack. She usually doesn't load the dishwasher, so I asked, "Did you put all those dishes in the dishwasher this time?" She told me she did, and then I couldn't help myself...I had to ask, "Did you rinse them off first?" But she didn't. I came VERY close to taking them all out and rinsing them off. Yet, I made myself NOT do it. That afternoon, I ran the dishwasher just knowing I'd have to pick off food.

Would you believe...no food was left on those dishes.

As I put all of the dishes away, closely looking at each one, I learned a lesson:

There are other ways to do things! :o)

Make Daddy Feel Better

Yesterday Josh called in sick. This happens quite rarely...in fact, I can't remember if he's ever been sick since he's started teaching, and as far as all the years we've been together, I could probably count on one hand the times he's been under the weather. He slept literally all day yesterday and did not emerge from our room today until 2:30 pm!! I've tried to get fluids in him, and he did end up eating half a bowl of soup when he got up. He was diagnosed with strep last night (at the Rolla Urgent Care - yeah, it got that bad) and I'm thankful my mom was able to help us out with taking him to see a doctor.

Well, this morning my mom called to see how things were going. After talking with her for a bit, Caleb asked if he could talk to Mama. I heard their conversation on Caleb's end, and this caught my attention..."Well, she will help, but Jesus will make Daddy feel better." :o) I asked her what she said, and she told me, "I was asking him how Daddy was doing and said that Mommy could make Daddy feel better. Then he let me know who would really make Daddy feel better!"

It made me smile :o)

We Love Dave Ramsey

"...the borrower is slave to the lender." Proverbs 22:7

In October of 2007, I had a defining moment. I'm sure my sweet friend, Sarah C, did not know the impact of her book suggestion at the time - or maybe she did! I remember quite clearly the Wednesday we were at a playgroup together. As we stood next to the snack table, watching our little ones run around and be silly, I mentioned to her that I was frustrated with our budget. I shared with her how things felt so tight all the time since we lived on one income, a teacher's salary of all things!

And being the walking library that she is (always having just the right book for me at any given moment) she asked, "Would you like to borrow a book that Chris and I have found to be helpful?"

Well, I'm not exactly a reader...I sure love to start books that intrigue me, but I always end up putting them down and forgetting to finish them. But I told her, "Sure, I'd love some help!" and the next time she saw me, she handed over The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. It looked interesting, and I told Josh that maybe this is something we should read together. Boy, I never imagined how gung-ho he would be about it! :o) We read that book from cover to cover together. I would read a few chapters, then he would read a few chapters, then we would discuss it. This is something we had never, ever done before!

In the spring of 2008, when we received our tax refund, we paid off our van. This left us with ZERO car payments (the Malibu was already paid off), and that's an awesome feeling! We were committed to NEVER using our credit card again, even though we had a balance on it (small compared to the other people we read about, maybe not so small to us - $1800) we knew that we would put more towards the card, and put our next tax refund towards it to pay it off.

I'm happy to report that I'm writing a check today to pay off DISCOVER!

We also have money left to put a small chunk towards paying off the down of our house - something Dave Ramsey frowns upon (borrowing the down) but we didn't know him back when we bought our home! :o)

Did I mention that we took the class Financial Peace University? This is an amazing 12-week study that goes into more detail than the book. We completed it last fall (Sept - Nov 08), and it was nice having a couple that we knew there with us (Chris and Sarah). I'm hoping to have them over for dinner sometime soon for the ceremonial cutting of the credit card!

This has been an interesting journey for us. Though I wish I would have known Dave Ramsey about 8 years ago (when we first got married) I'm glad we didn't wait any longer to revise our thinking. I just love listening to Dave on the radio, and I can quote him word-for-word:

"This is the Dave Ramsey Show...where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice!"

What Does Your Bible Say About You?

Today's Christian Women Online - Internet Cafe was particularly thought provoking to me. I'd encourage you to check it out by clicking here, and be sure to visit that site as often as you can...badge on the right side of my blog.

Memory Monday

On April 8th, 2008, I found out I was pregnant with our third child. It came as a bit of a surprise, but we knew we want another child anyway...it just happened a little sooner than we thought it would! April 8th was the night before I left for Dayton, OH with my mom to watch my sister perform for the WGI Championships. I did not tell my sister or my mom about the pregnancy during the week we were together. I wanted that week to be completely about my sister and her last year to perform with The Pride of Missouri State. I was sick the entire week, and I just tried to pretend like I must have had some sort of bug. Sure wish I could have enjoyed the trip more!

So this Memory Monday is sort of a "two for one" post. :o) When I arrived back home from Dayton, Josh and I started discussing how to tell our family about the pregnancy. I personally like to tell them face to face, and so does Josh. So we called his parents one day and asked them if they wanted to meet us at our house and then travel with us to Matt's Steakhouse for dinner. We decided we would tell them while we were eating...we didn't know how we would bring it up, but that was the plan!

When they arrived at our house, we all loaded up in the van. The seating arrangements were always the same: Josh and his mom in the front, me and Sarah in the middle, and Caleb and Josh's dad in the back. Caleb loves sitting next to Papa! What we failed to realize is that an almost 4-year-old is not so good at keeping secrets! We had already told Caleb that "Mommy has a baby in her belly!" and I think he was more excited about that than we expected! So...without prompting whatsoever...I could hear a little voice say to Papa, "Guess what, Papa! Mommy has a baby in her belly!"

I looked at Josh's dad...I then turned and saw Josh's mom looking at me. Their faces were lit up with excitement! "Really?!!" Mary said with joy! I nodded and said, "Yep! We were going to tell you at dinner, but I guess Caleb beat us to it!"

I don't think I'll ever forget Caleb's sweet little voice saying, "Mommy has a baby in her belly!" The evening turned out even better than we planned. It made for a great memory.

(Picture taken three days before I had Gabriel)

Spiritual Gifts

"Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7

I have taken three different "Spiritual Gifts" tests in my life, at different times in my life (ages 18, 23, & 29), all of which gave me the same result. I can then conclude that God must be confirming what my Spiritual Gifts are! :o)

It is very helpful and beneficial to discover what your Spiritual Gifts are. To take the test I took recently, click here. When I read my results, I then began to pray that God would help me to understand how best to use them for His glory...in my daily walk with Him, in my fellowship with other believers, and in my service to our church.

My top two are EXHORTATION and DISCERNMENT.

Have you discovered your Spiritual Gifts?

Who's at the door?

My mom often stops by on her way home if she's in the area for some reason. Sometimes it's a trip to Rolla to go shopping, sometimes it's when she's on her way back from visiting Sonja in Springfield. Even if it's just for a quick hello, she'll come by and give the kids a hug and be on her way.

So one afternoon, she gave me a call like she usually does if she's on her way. "I'm on the overpass, I'll be there shortly," she said. This means a person will be at my house within two minutes or less, so I unlocked the door and got ready for the kids to be excited to see Mama. Then, within a minute, I heard a knock at the door.

"Boy, she was sure quick this time!" I thought to myself. When she called, I was nursing Gabriel, and I have sort of mastered the art of walking around and nursing. I'll admit, it's not something I could do at Wal-Mart or anything, but around family, it works out just fine. I had my shirt completely pulled up, Gabriel on the left breast, and I opened the door. But instead of seeing my mom, I saw a sweet little girl and BOTH of her parents. She was going door-to-door selling girlscout cookies. All three of them got a full view of at least my chubby side, and I quickly pulled Gabriel off and pulled down my shirt.

I felt rather obligated to buy cookies at that point; however, the girl and her parents have not returend to collect the $4 or give me what I ordered. I'm not sure if I should expect them! ;o)

Tans and Tattoos

It seems that about this time every year, I start to feel very unhappy with my skin tone. I just don't like how pasty-white I look, and I recall the days of my youth when I always had a bit of a tan that lasted all year due to all the time I spent outside during the summer. My sister tries to encourage me to embrace my pale self, but I just can't do it! So a couple weeks ago I bought a tanning package at one of the tanning salons here in town. It's been two years since I've done this actually, and usually I only go once or twice a week - stretching out those 15 tans to last as long as I can! Yes, I think about premature aging, but I don't need a lecture...that's not why I'm writing this blog! :o)

For Valentine's Day, Caleb picked out "Cars" cards. With them came some cute little stick-on tattoos. Evidently, my kids had never put them on before, so in an effort to show them they were fun and ok, I lifted up my shirt and put Lightening McQueen on my tummy. Caleb thought it was pretty neat, so he decided to use Sally and Mater!

That afternoon, I went to go tan, and as I was putting my lotion on, I realized what I had done: I had put on this silly kids tattoo without thinking! I knew as I looked at it what this meant. There would be a Lightening McQueen outline on me for quite some time! And so...even after a week, I still have Lightening McQueen on my tummy. Thought he's in outline form, he's still there.

It's just a daily reminder that I'm willing to do about anything for my kiddos! :o)

Caleb's Drawings

When Caleb became old enough to hold a crayon and sit at a table, I assumed that's what he would do - he would sit and color many pages and draw many pictures for me. This was not the case, however, not even close! I remember feeling frustrated that he didn't like to color or draw, and I wasn't frustrated at him, I was frustrated at myself thinking I must be doing something wrong.

I have learned, though, that it was just something he wasn't interested in doing at that time. Since he turned 4 and began preschool, I have seen his coloring and writing abilities improve. I also attribute his development to his participation in his Sunday school class.

Monday morning he drew a picture for Papa (Josh's dad).














They are next to water and are holding fishing poles! I'm not sure why the tree is on top of the water, but he drew the tree before the water. :o) He wrote his name down the middle for some reason, but that's ok. I try to encourage him to write his name as often as possible!

I know his writing and drawing will continue to get better. I've learned not to push the issue, and I let him color and write when he wants or when I know he's in a good frame of mind to try it.

He may not be Picasso, but I'm proud of him just the same!