The Month Of April...In Pictures

I'm wondering how I'm even keeping up...and I'm also wondering how loved ones, in the height of busy schedules, communicated before text messaging???

I've had two weeks of traveling and two weeks of so. much. change. at. work. that. I. just. can't. handle. much. more.  

How's that for enunciation?  

Or maybe I can...I'll let you know once I've had time to chill a bit.  It was all good until I was butt dialed by a boss and let's just say, a lesson needs to be learned: make sure your phone is off before talking trash about others.  And also, thanks for talking loud and clear because I heard EVERYTHING.

Yikes.

I spray painted the heck out everything I could get my hands on, including my bare feet and let me tell you, that stuff is rather permanent...that's good for the stuff I painted but not for my toes.

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This was a rather precarious situation and one that most likely won't be repeated for quite awhile.

But they sure are cute!

I ran and ran and ran and BOOM....the flu caught me like a fast moving freight train.  It hung on for 3 days and then left just as fast as it came, but I've gotta say that the older I get, the longer it takes to bounce back.  

No fun.  No fun at all.

Turkish olives...which were the only thing that tasted good for 2 of the 3 days I was laid low with the flu.  I seriously think I have some turkish blood flowing through my veins...except for the yogurt liking part.  Not sure I can ever join that team.

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And along with the flu, a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease that had me both relieved to finally have answers and scared for how my life was going to look from here on out.  Along came my own personal health guru who arrived on a jet plane and talked and talked and talked me through my new life.  

And that whole thing where your best friends become best friends is just way way cool.

Girls need girlfriends....it's just a fact of life.

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Lots of hiking at the beginning of the month...the mustard grew well over my head and while it looks so pretty, lots of creepy crawly slithering things like to live underneath.  My trails are beautiful and I found some great podcasts (S-Town...wow!) to listen to, but seriously, I spent a lot of time looking down for snakes.  

None yet.  Whew.

These two babies, born to parents who went to college together, are now going to college together.

WHAT????

Found myself a few Sundays having church at my lake.  I'm not one to ever miss but found myself slipping down a slippery slope...a slope that the devil himself was smiling and watching with glee.  I just was feeling...well, alone.  And that's the other thing...I'm used to being alone in church, so this whole lonely, feeling sorry for myself thing was just not groovy at all.

But church at the lake?  It was beautiful and quiet and....good.  It was just super good.

I had dinner with all three of my boys....something that just hardly never happens at this stage of the game due to where they all live, but we laughed and laughed and laughed.  Their relationships with each other are so hilarious and for that I am thankful.

They're a fun bunch, my houseful of boys.  Exhausting, but fun.

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The oldest of our trio has been down this way quite a bit for gigs and I'm just soaking it all in every time he comes home.

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UGH.

We're hoarders...and here's the proof.

1-800-please-come-help.

That guy that I like so much has had the most exhausting semester ever and it's just one major thing followed by another major thing and he never, ever complains.  But then I watch him catch moments in the garden...just him (and usually one or two of the older boys, if they are home) and he looks so relaxed and peaceful with a pipe in one hand and a single malt in the other.

This middle of life stage, while exhausting, is also quite fun.

The garden has woken up from it's long, rainy winter slumber and we've been filling it here and there with friends and family.  Garden party season won't officially begin until June...and I'm so very, very ready.

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Easter - He is risen!  

And the bunny cake was yummy.

Trip one for me...Texas.

Lots of work and lots of rain.

We almost left one of the bosses asleep in the airport but in the end, decided it best to wake him up.  Someone needs to sign the paychecks.

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Home for a weekend and there was a black tie gala at the university where that guy that I like so much works.  I grumbled about going but it was super fun.

And the next night, there was the dinner party at Ruths Chris...those hot plates with the sizzling butter are the stuff dreams are made of.

And then - back to work!  Florida this time!

It took me a few days to settle in this time around...I was just plain ole tired.  But this was such a sweet trip in so many ways...and might be my last one there.  It just makes more sense to have someone running the show from that side of the country rather than flying me back and forth, and I get that, but I have a great team there who work so hard.  

So I was able to see all of them...from Key Biscayne to West Palm Beach to Kissimmee to Ocoee to Tampa and wow, that was a lot of driving in four days.

Key Biscayne has the best cuban pastries in the world...filled with guava and cheese and served with shots of cuban coffee.  I could eat that same thing every day of my life and never get tired of it.  

So yummy!

By the time I arrived in Orlando, I was exhausted and when I walked up to room 1802, I noticed the sign 'presidential suite' and kind of laughed...until I realized they had given me a little upgrade.  All 2,000 sq feet of penthouse were mine for 2 whole nights...complete with an atrium with floor to ceiling windows.

Oh yes yes yes yes yes.

I almost called in sick...but didn't.

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A first for me...called in this litlle 4 foot alligator to wildlife control because he was too close to where children were.

He was all freaked out...oh wait, that was me.  He just stared.

Flight delays - seems to be the story of my trips, but they're always a bit sweeter when I'm still on the company's dollar and can have a fancy cocktail....or two.

Bonus if you can snag an outlet, too!

And today, the last day of April...church at our home church this morning.  Thai food for lunch.  A meeting at school (for him) and laundry and meatball making (for me), followed by a few hours in the garden.  He's off to yet another recital tonight and I'm off to bed...I need to be up and out early tomorrow morning.

Tis the season...but thankful for the moments.

Tomorrow is May and while the month will be busy, summer is coming.  I can see it...and I'm ready.  

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Hey March!

And just like that, another month has gone by.  I blinked and it was over!

I've logged almost 100 miles on the trails in the last month...I'm finding that a long hike late morning helps clear my brain and makes me feel like my work life isn't winning.  I'm still struggling with things that are happening at my place of work and trying to find my new normal...and laced up shoes and fresh air are a big help.

That guy that I like so much came down with a horrible case of the flu, as did a few of my boys.  I became a mad woman, disinfecting everything that was in front of me.  Finally....FINALLY, everyone turned a corner just as this quarters shipment of bubbly arrived.  Perfect timing.

Lunch, while working.

Dinner, while not.

We had a strange, severe storm blow through and had so many broken trees and flooding all over these parts.  It was crazy....we hunkered down but it felt like the big bad wolf was huffing and puffing and trying to blow our house down.

So. Much. Rain.

But So. Much. Green.

A Saturday morning coffee with a girlfriend in Laguna.  The beach in the winter is so perfect...empty and quiet.  But then again, the beach in the summer features warm sand and my toes love that so much more.

I'm in love with rae dunn mugs...love, love, love them.  Cute sayings, a funky (I guess some would say organic?) shape that hold a lot and are easy to drink from.  I'm on a constant hunt for them because they are so cute!

The ultimate, wad them up and throw them in your suitcase tuxedo shirts for that guy that I like so much...as well as one of our boys who also lives in a penguin suit.   These are really only for travel and aren't cheap...but I like anything that can be thrown in the washing machine.

I wish our dog could be...he's pretty smelly right now.

I dropped my work phone and thought that meant I could take the day off.  No such luck.  Good news?  I got a new one.  Bad news?  Lost everything.

Such a bummer.

The youngest of our houseful of boys is home for Spring Break and I'll be honest, his hours of operation are doing me in.  His 'day' literally starts at 10:00pm and because I am a mother, I hear everything.  

But he's cute and I like him a lot and can't believe he's almost done with his first year of college.  Still on the pre-med track and doing well!

Sunday after church in a town 30 miles away and who do we run into but our neighbors.  It's a small world, friends....also known as 'you can run but you can't hide'.

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That guy that I like so much has also been on Spring Break and so we lunched at Disneyland.  Mr Toad's is still one of my very favorite rides.

We took Brian to dinner at Nick's and splurged on dessert...they have the best spumoni.  And the best food.  And the best servers.  And the best everything.

Yum.

The garden has been planted and we had our first supper outside last night and tonight, we will again. It's a bit chilly but it's coming friends....garden party season is coming.  I can feel it...and I'm ready.

And those yellow poppies?  Dreamy.

The oldest of our houseful of boys makes the BEST bread...plus, he's super cute.  Still teaching music, still playing trumpet and now he's a master baker.  

And not to be left out...but boy #2 is around too but I just haven't taken a recent picture of him.  Still working as an apprentice electrician for a construction company,  going to school,  dating his high school sweetheart. 

I blinked and they all grew up on me!

And that is that...all the pictures from my phone.  I'm still cooking (and cleaning) and walking the dog and parenting grown boys, working my way (slowly) through the book of Ruth and trying to work a normal work day.  I love that it is Lent and I'm trying to be more intentional about praying because sadly, my prayer life hasn't been all that great.  Hiking helps...it's usually quiet and still.  I am calmed by the faithfulness of God and that he never wanders or waivers, unlike me...how comforting is that?

Hello Again...Hello!

I have no excuse for not being here except to say that the words were too many and the time was too short.  Life...in this stage where my home responsibilities should be lessening but I'm finding they aren't.  And that's all ok because it means we are still living life to it's fullest.

Kinda.

So a brief, brief time of catch up.

1. My brood.  All are good.  But this youngest of mine has suddenly grown-up so much, so quickly.  This whole college thing, and the fact that he's barely 18, just came at a time when he was ready but my mama heart wasn't.  He's soaring though...immersed in a super tough program and I'm thankful for his occasional visits home for 'real' food.

2. A planned girls weekend to Napa was rained (flooded) out and another, with my high school girlfriends almost was, too...but they were great sports and came here for a long weekend.  There is just something about being with people who knew you back when...there is a bond that I can't explain  and one I am so thnakful for.  

3. Did you know you can fit an 8 foot ladder in a tiny Kia?  Where there's a will, there's a way.

It currently holds all my afghans and is super, duper splintery...but cute!

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4. My boys all flew home to Colorado for a weekend with our great friends.  I was jealous...but loved that they were making memories.  But next time?  I'm going, too.

5. Rain.  Mother Nature has dumped buckets of it and quite frankly, I'm ready for it to end.  Everything is so lush and green and...muddy.  

6. We took a short overnight trip to NorCal...flew up and then drove home.  We were driving along, singing to the Beatles when that guy that I like so much looked at me and said 'I never knew I would like our kids so much'...and I got all teary eyed.  Two minutes later they were all annoying me like crazy...but for that brief moment I totally embraced that warm, fuzzy feeling.    

7. Rae Dunn mugs.  I'm obsessed.  I had a few and then my girlfriend found me the motherlode...and I love them sooooo much.  

8. I logged many, many miles on my trail last month and I'm struggling with blisters and aches and pains and grumbling and an overall bad attitude.  I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease in December and am getting used to my new normal...and hiking helps.  Or so I keep telling myself.  I do everything I can to prolong going but once I'm there I am so glad that I chose to go.

One step, two steps, three steps, four.

9. College tuition payments,  an exploded water heater and a car that lost its transmission.  January...you decided to keep us on our toes and our credit cards working overtime.  Yet another reason I hike...to laugh.  And cry.  And pray.

10. A quick work trip to Florida.   I'm at a crossroads with my work and for now, I'm trusting and praying and letting God lead.   It could be that I'm just tired?

And rain.  Rain in my business just makes everything so much more complicated. 

11.  Missed connections in Houston mean margaritas and 10,000 steps on my fitbit while walking from one terminal to another and then back again a whole bunch of times.

Silver lining.  

12.  Cooking.  Lots and lots of cooking for lots and lots of boys.  And a girl or two or three.

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That's about it.  I'd like to find my way back here more...it seems that Instagram is my quick go-to lately, though I'm often told I'm too wordy for that platform.   But I just can't help myself...I mean, how do you only write a single sentence?  Short and sweet...not my gift.

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And A Very Merry Christmas To You!

I used to choose a word of the year and focus on learning more, growing more, settling more on that word and what it means to me...but this year I chose to not do that and to just live life the way it was supposed to be lived.

This was a big year for me...and for my whole houseful of boys.

But this year I didn't choose a word...though if I had, I'd say it would have been 'change'.  Or maybe 'adapt'?  Or maybe  'roll my eyes at every little annoying thing that happens'?

I turned a half century.  That guy that I like so much and I celebrated our pearl anniversary.  Our nest emptied as the youngest shrub went to college and moved into the dorm.

Change seemed to be the theme around here.

And now,  as I sit at my kitchen counter while I wait for the cookies to bake, I can't help but think back on what this year was like for me.  It was a happy year....a fun year.  But quite frankly, I was a mess.

I was quick to anger.  I felt anxious at things I shouldn't have felt anxious about.  I was tired and grumpy and not the best friend or wife or mother.  I just wasn't.  I'm not even sure that others noticed...but I felt it.

But the biggest thing?

I pushed God away.

I stopped making a priority out of my spiritual life.  Everything else took precedence....everything.  I had time to work.  I had time to play.  I had time to cook and clean and watch movies and spend time with my people.  I had time for so many, many things...except Jesus.

I blamed it on sitting alone in church.  Of falling in to that 'no one notices if I'm here anyway' mentality...one that is easy to have if you have a loved one in church work.  I blamed it on being too busy or too tired or too something or other.

Last night I was awake in the middle of the night and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I kept focusing on the things that didn't happen and then, while the rain poured down from the sky and the thunder rumbled in the background and I knew...I just knew.  Jesus...He was never far.  I pushed and pushed and pushed Him back and He just stayed put.  Watching and waiting as if to say 'ok, Michele...are you done yet?'

So as I finish out this year,  as I try and end things higher rather than lower...as I focus on what a gift a faith in God is and that even when I fall short there are others who are there to hold me up - well, I've decided to once again have a word to focus on for 2017.

My word?

Move.

It kind of seems like a strange choice and that's ok.  I'm going to move this year.  Not as in a move houses sort of thing...that's not even on our radar AT ALL unless the Holy Spirit chooses to shove us out of where we're happily at.  But move as in move my body...whether it be out of bed early to spend some quiet time with God or getting myself back out on my hiking trails so that I can center myself and just chill out, or move as in move closer to Jesus.

Move closer to Jesus.

I want to pray more.  Read more.  Write scripture more.  

I want to give Him my best.  My first fruit gift of time and energy.

But first there is Christmas.  The gifts have been wrapped and under the tree for some time now.  The meals are all planned and shopped for and are waiting to be cooked.  The cookies are baking today with the help of my mother-in-law and Emily and our little house smells SO good right now...all cinnamony and chocolatey and sugary.  It rained last night and outside it is green and lush and fresh.

We're only missing one boy, who as a professional trumpet player is in high demand at this time of year...so he'll be arriving home after playing late tonight.  He's playing for a church tomorrow morning, too...and Michael has responsibilities as well, so we'll settle in for Christmas at some point after noon.

But the true gift has already arrived.  He's here, walking among us and as much as we push back, He's not going anywhere.

Merry Christmas, my friends.  Thank you all for playing such an important role in the lives of my family...from your emails and comments to just reading along and praying for us.  It means a lot to me.

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I'm ready to sit and enjoy the next few days with all my boys, my houseful of boys, all here under one roof for the next night or two.   There won't be quiet, but there will be life...and right now I'm ready for that.  I might hide out now and then in my bathroom just to grab a bit of peace from football (hello...the Broncos have to play on Christmas Day?  At dinner time???)...but hey,  all moms do better if they grab a few moments of quiet amidst the chaos.  

Can I hear an Amen?

And if you leave your computer unattended while switiching cookie sheets around, you just might find a little note from one boy, who shall remain nameless.

Haha.

Alex and his two sisters Brian and Matthew would like to wish every a merry christmas. So..........merry christmas!

And On Earth, Peace

That guy that I like so much asked me to do the devotional before his first big concert...the theme is And On Earth, Peace.   No pictures today...just words.

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I was looking through my work emails yesterday, searching out a problem that needed to be dealt with.  My computer was running super slow...probably as a result of xboxes and playstations and cell phones and the dishwasher and the wind and that cotton pickin' cloud that looms overhead and stores every detail of every move I make.

I don't pretend to understand that cloud.

Yet the sun was shining.  All three of my boys are doing well in this moment in their respective areas of life.  The dog has finally stopped barking at every dog that walks by his precious tree outside and only barks at the little ones now...a vast improvement.  A big pot of meatballs and 'gravy' was simmering on the stove and the whole house smelled like heaven.

But the internet was slow and that's all I could focus on.

Peace?

No.

There wasn't peace at the beginning of his life.  He was conceived in a way that is so hard to understand.    His mother and father had to endure a lot, face a lot of questions, hold their heads high, stick together.  And then people needed to be counted and everyone was in a rush to return to where they'd come from and this girl...this young, very pregnant girl had to travel far.

Peace?

No.

And then to arrive....to arrive and have no place to sleep.  To labor in the darkness of a barn to deliver a baby on prickly hay.

Peace?

No.

We delivered a baby who came too early...his due date was Christmas Day and yet it was only November.  It was snowing and he came fast and with a whole lot of excitement...and not necessarliy the good kind.  You'd never know by looking at him now but he was the kid who stumped doctors and kept the surprises coming.

Peace?

No.

There were times in our young married life where there seemed to always be choices that needed to be made.  Electricity...or food.  College tuition (for ourselves)...or cable tv.  Gas for the car...or quarters for the laundry.  We were so poor in the beginning...but rich in love or whatever that saying is which makes it sound a whole lot better than what it was because really, it was just hard.  There were times when God felt far.

Peace?

No.

Fast forward to now.  A washing machine that caused a flood this week.  A friendship that feels not as close and confusion as to how to fix it.  Parents who are struggling with their health,  a car with a check engine light that won't go off,  an election that has caused more divide that anything any of us have seen.

Peace?

No.

There wasn't peace at the end of his life either.  He was alone, hurt, burdened.  He had a purpose and there was only one way to fulfill it.  It involved nails and a cross and a crown of thorns...a parade through town where he was spit on.  His friends just watched.  His mother just watched.  His fathers, both the earthly and the heavenly,  just watched.

Peace?

No.

 In Isaiah 57,  God says 'that I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit crushed, and what I do is put a new spirit in them.'   Peace...it's a promise to us.  A promise that we are not alone.  A promise of an eternal life so pure and simple and beautiful...one free from dollars and cents and from pain and from check engine lights.  A place where the internet is never, ever slow.

But first, we need to live here.  On earth.  We need to search for the peace, for the common ground and for me,  that peace comes when I sit in a pew and listen to a choir sing.  You all know what it's like to work hard to put this whole concert together but for us in the audience, it just feels easy.  The music quiets us and for a few short hours, there is nothing but peace.  To close my eyes and truly listen...to hear the words that remind me of what is to come empower me to go out and spread joy, share love, stop complaining about the 'no's' and to focus on the good.  When I watch and listen to a group of people...all of different backgrounds and church denominations and skin colors and political beliefs - that's when it becomes real to me.  To listen to all your voices...all your different voices from all different walks of life become one in glorious song?

On earth, that's peace.

(Ok...just one photo.  Our fig tree, which only blooms in the summer, is blooming right now...in December.)

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