Let Worship Begin!

Dear Family and Friends,

The 4 Ladies

                I have been meaning to write this blog all weekend, but alas…who has the time to sit down and write with four girls always under toe!  Right now, in fact, I am doing my best to ignore the crying and whimpering coming from the downstairs bedroom (Claire, you’re tired…go to sleep), the little voice floating down the stairs saying, “Mom? Mom? I stinky! I stinky!”…wait…I might actually want to pay attention to that one or I might find poo smeared all over the wall again…but maybe Daniel will take care of it…I’ll just wait a few more minutes. Oh, and there is also a kitty named “Morgan” asking if she can just lay on top of the desk I am working at like real cats do…um..no.  J So with all the adorable “things” pulling and begging for my attention I am still taking time to write you, don’t you feel special! 

                I give greetings from a snow and ice covered winter wonderland that is the Midwest!  To be honest, I still love it…though my toes for the most part stay cold as ice around the clock, I am loving all the beautiful opportunities to enjoy the white beauty and even snag a few pictures here and there!

                We have had a lot going on since my last blog.  We went to CO for a week at the beginning of January.  We spent lots of time driving from Arvada to Denver to Westminster and back again seeing and connecting with friends and supporters. Daniel preached at Rocky Mountain Presbyterian Church and it was nice to be a part of their service again.  All and all, it was so good to get back to CO, but boy were we drained when we stumbled off the plane a week later WI.  I realized as the girls and I waited, surrounded with luggage, for Daniel to get the car that I felt like I had come home – again, confirming God’s plan for us here. 

We were also blessed to spend a few days with my uncle and his family up in the Wisconsin Dells.  There was an indoor water park there!  The girls had a blast with their cousins and Daniel and I enjoyed hanging out and talking with my Uncle Doug and Alicia.

Caroline and Claire Laughing

              I am finding as the date approaches for our church services to start that I am excited and nervous.  I know I have a role in all this, yet I feel so immersed and to be honest drowning in my role as “mom” that I’m not sure if I can take on much more.  I feel no pressure from anyone including my husband to “do” anything or “be” something I’m not, but it is hard to be constantly bouncing off the walls of my own limits as a person.  This is probably the first time in my life that every aspect of “my life” has felt this out of control.  Here is how I process each start of a new day. I wake up usually recharged (now that Claire is sleeping through the night) and positive – I am one of those annoying morning people.  After I have gotten the first round of girls off to school the second round wakes up.  As I am getting their breakfast I think to myself, “What will I get done today?”  The key word being done.  I think out my “dream to do list” in my head, the list I could have managed just fine three years ago. Then I shave it down to only two things…yes, two.  These are usually on top of working out such as folding the laundry or making Gluten Free bread.  Then I give myself a pep talk, “Erin, it will be ok if you don’t get either done.  You are just in that stage of life right now.” Then I pray for peace as my day slips away and I maybe get half the laundry done, but not the bread.  I pray that I know my value is found in Christ and not what I have accomplished.  I know that might sound strange, but I like to have control over my life…don’t we all? So, as I think about our church starting and all the plans and expectations, which most are fine and totally reasonable, but in the end Daniel and I cannot hang our value on whether we get this off the ground without a hitch or if we get enough people or if the communion cups are to everyone’s liking.   It is so easy to get sucked up into it all. So please, please pray for us.  Pray that we can see clearly during the next few weeks and that our expectations and those of other’s don’t blind us to the excitement and joy of what God is doing here…and if pray isn’t working I’ll just go down to the basement and go a few rounds on my new punching bad…no, seriously!  After a particularly stressful few weeks I decided to stop wishing I could punch something and actually went out and got a punching bag!  I think every pastor’s wife should get one…it’s quite therapeutic next to praying of course! J

Beautiful foggy day at park near our house

Ahh, my girls!  Always so many stories I could tell!

                Ellie is busy planning her 9^th birthday party next month.  We have had many discussions on whether to invite all the girls in her class which would include the one “mean girl” that all the girls try to avoid or just invite two of the girls. This is a rule we have put in place, too invite all or we invite only a few, but we don’t exclude just one or two girls. Ellie has decided to invite all the girls. I am curious to see if the “mean girl” is the same as I remember when I was young.  I will let you know how it all goes! 

               Morgan still likes to pretend to be a kitty.  Her costume has gotten more elaborate now and she has special “eye lashes” she wears (purple stickers) on top of the stocking tail that hangs out the back of her pants.  Morgan is very proud of her perfect “smile” chart at school (good behavior = smile sticker, bad behavior = loss of a smile sticker).  Every night at dinner she tells us very seriously who lost smiles today and why.  Morgan mentioned a few times how scared she is of losing a smile and that she just wouldn’t know what to do.  Daniel and I are debating talking to her teacher and basically making her loss a smile so she can see that it’s ok and she’s still loved…it might backfire though…we’ll see.

Caroline showed a little interest in potty training a few weeks ago so we gave it a shot…yeah…too early still.  After several accidents I decided maybe I wasn’t ready yet.  I think I’ll give it till the summer then try again. Caroline really loves her “baby” as she calls Claire, BUT doesn’t want to share her toys with her.  We have had many tearful moments and lots of time outs already…sigh.

Working on my new punching bag!

                   Claire is 7 months old!  She is super cute and pushing 18 pounds already (Caroline is 23 pounds even though she is super small for her age it still shocks me a little)!  After her 6 month visit to the doctor I was told that she was big enough now that she didn’t need that 3am feeding anymore.  I was so relieved, because the lack of sleep for the last 6 plus months was really getting to me.  So, we set up the pack-n-play in the downstairs bedroom and let her cry it out.  After a few nights and many tears on both of our parts she now sleeps through the night and we are both so much more happy.

                   Well, I need to go!  Caroline is climbing on my back and Morgan is coming in asking, “Are you done yet? When are you going to be done?  I want to see turtles on the internet!”  I hope this has been informative…I will have to read this over because I have forgot already what I wrote ! J

Love to all!