Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there! Thanks for all you do, for all you teach your sons and daughters.

And to all you ladies who are reading this blog today-call your dad or hug your dad - go do it. Set aside your differences, and tell your dad that you love him, that you are glad he's YOUR dad.

And to my Daddy in heaven - I love you, I miss you... thanks for being a WONDERFUL father.

What's Your Sleep Number???

My sweetest friend on the planet, On Fire for Him, posted about her AWESOME score of a freebie. Well, I must admit, that I am most impressed. I love that the Lord not only provides our needs, but He also goes above and beyond - many times providing us with things we haven't even asked for!


Well, I have definitely been known to say, "If it's free, it's for me". And Stretch and I have been extraordinarily blessed with awesome things. So, after two of my dear blogger friends have suggested, I thought I would share my newest blessing with you:

That's right baby! I was blessed with a BRAND NEW - ORDERED IT MYSELF - Sleep Number, Select Comfort 5000 Queen Size bed. Ahhh - it feels so good.

If you haven't tried one of these beds, and you are in the market for a new bed - you've gotta go to one of their stores and try it. You may THINK you know what kind of bed you like - soft, hard, somewhere in the middle. But I honestly think you don't know what you like until you've got it in your room and you've slept on it a few nights. And chances are that if you like a soft bed, then your husband likes a hard bed. This bed has airchambers that you adjust by a remote control until you are comfortable. And when you are sick and want a bit of a softer bed, you just adjust the number down. When you are pregnant and need a firmer bed you just adjust the number up. It's amazing.

Our bed was old. Older than old - the last time Stretch and I flipped it, we noticed the date of purchase tag read 1989. Hello!?! I was 13 when this bed was purchased!!! (quick, I know you are doing the math) We were blessed with this bed from my grandmother when we got married (which truly was a blessing, because we were three weeks out of college and broke). She said the bed was just a few years old and she didn't need such a big bed anymore. Just a few years old??? When she gave it to us it was already 9 years old - and we've slept on it for 9 more years. In the last year or so, I've been in alot of pain, sleeping horribly, and waking up feeling like I hadn't slept.

Until now. It took a few nights to figure out that I didn't like a soft bed like I thought. But now that I've found where I'm most comfortable, I'm not tossing and turning. I'm not waking up with a headache (which happened on a regular basis in my old bed). And I feel rested. Really rested.

So, go to your nearest store and check one out. Find out your Sleep Number. I'm a 75. How about you?

Miracle on Dickinson Ave

Dickinson Avenue is always a bustling place - with 24 kids on our block (that is NOT a typo) there is always action. Nothing unusally exciting or out of the ordinary - just 24 kids running from house to house: a popsicle at one house, badmitton at another, wiffle ball across the street, then over to the trampoline, then back over to our side of the street to the slip 'n slide to get unsticky from the popsicle, and then to our backyard to the play fort. Like I said, exciting, but nothing unusual.


Until Monday. While talking on the phone about who knows what with Mom In Action I saw an ambulance with its lights on pull up in front of my house. And since there was no emergency in my house I ran outside to see which one of my neighbors called for an ambulance. As I walked outside, I saw a woman I did not know laying flat out in my next door neighbors lawn. As I watched the woman's friend give her chest compressions and then the paramedics use the paddles, the kids came outside to see what the commotion was, and I knew I had to take them inside and explain what was happening. And then we prayed.

(God is really stretching me in this area - praying for healing. Why does He heal some people and then choose to not heal others, even though I prayed so intently, and for so long? What if the kids and I pray and He lets her die - what then do I tell my kids? It's been a constant battle in my brain and spirit).

So, I thought to myself, "here goes nothin' " and went for it. The kids and I prayed fervently for God to breathe His breath of life back into her body (because by this time, she had no pulse). When we went back outside and sat on the stoop, I just began to sing a quiet prayer to the Lord. I questioned the Lord, "is it her time to go"? Should I be praying that you heal her? Everyone is saying that she's dead. Did she have family? Did she know Jesus? So, still in a singing kinda prayer I prayed for those things. Ella sat with me and listened. And watched.

The paramedics seemed to be moving slower. Two men opened the ambulance doors and they slowly lifted her body onto a stretcher and loaded back up into the ambulance. They left for the hospital, no lights, no sirens, no nothing. I went back into the house and said to the kids that I thought she had died. I tried my best to explain the very thing I struggle with - "why". And what I love about my kids is that they seemed unshaken by the news and said, "now she's with Jesus... and Pop Pop". Yep, it's seems so easy when you're 6 and 4.

An hour later our neighbor came over to our house and relayed to us the most wonderful news - the woman made it. She's alive! After four minutes, FOUR MINUTES, having no pulse, NO PULSE! SHE - IS - ALIVE! The paramedics said that if her friend hadn't done chest compressions on her before the ambulance arrived, she would have never made it.

Thank you Lord for doing a miracle on Dickinson Avenue - and allowing me and my children to be a part of it.

And The "Mother of the Year" Award Goes To...

Not me. Maybe not even you. Who would actually get one of these awards anyway? Now, don't get me wrong, I have wonderful mommy moments with my kids that get me a nomination... but I always lose my chance in the running for the "Mother of the Year" Award.

I say this phrase more often than I'd like to admit. It helps me to lighten up the fact that I've just done something or didn't do something that will land my kids in therapy as adults. The laughter helps... helps mask the tears that I've totally screwed up.

So, here's how I lost my chance in the running for the "Mother of the Year" Award:

I was on the phone with a "mommy friend". If you don't know what a mommy friend, it is someone you most likely wouldn't be friends with except that your kids are in the same class at school and so you rely on each other through the year. You don't necessarily call them to hang out (unless of course you have the kids with you).

Anyhoo - I was on the phone and in a fairly deep conversation that shouldn't be interrupted - and I kept hearing Pumpkin Pie's muffled voice yelling my name and pounding. I thought she was upstairs with the kids and her door was shut and she was unable to get the door open. (ok, now I'm lying - actually I thought one of the other kids had shut her into a closet and she couldn't get out, but really - does that detail matter? maybe a little). And since I was talking to a friend about her marriage, I thought it was inappropriate to interrupt her and therefore felt it was appropriate to ignore my screaming two year old for just a few more minutes - after all she wasn't crying.

About ten minutes later (even as I write that, I realize I ignored Pumpkin Pie WAY to long), I see my "neighbor friend" (similar to a "mommy friend" just met in different circumstances) walking across the street. Thinking she was just coming for a visit, I run over to the door and stretch to open it, still clutching my corded kitchen phone (trying not to interrupt my conversation) to welcome her in. And there I find her, Pumpkin Pie -standing on the front steps ALONE, in a diaper and high heels. That's right ladies, my two year old had been outside by herself on the front steps banging on the door to let her in for at least ten minutes. My neighbor friend saw her and heard her from across the street and thought she'd rescue her. Thanks Pam.

If only Pumpkin Pie knew how important the phone call was, she would have tried opening the stinkin' door herself. ha ha

Ah, so much for the Mom of the Year Award - I guess I'll have to relinquish it to someone far more worthy. Any of you have a great mommy moment that get you a nomination? Anyone lose the nomination before it was announced?