California Girl at Heart

Northern California was my home from the time I was eight years old until I got married at 21 and moved to Canada.  We are back visiting my homeland for a few weeks… and I remember why I loved living here: green trees, mild temperatures, grass, the beach within an hour, flowers galore, and most importantly… friends.

Guilt permeates my soul each time I visit the Bay Area because there is never enough time to see all of my high school friends who still live here.  I try not to post our location on facebook.  I lay low on MSJ.  The only reason I write about it today is that we are leaving… and driving to higher ground, where I don’t know anyone.  Safety in aloneness. 

The other part of this particular vacation that we are all relishing is the Olympic coverage.  Without TV at home, this trip was timed perfectly for our viewing pleasure!  This is our first Olympics where we have three countries that we are cheering for… USA, Canada and Colombia!  I was SOOO ticked off when the Colombian’s entrance into the opening ceremonies were squished into a commercial break.  We never even saw the athletes, only the gal in the “faces dress” holding the COLOMBIA sign and the flag bearer.  NOT nearly enough…. I heard they wore the traditional woven hats… but I still don’t know what they wore!!!!  Google, here I come.

The four hour road trip is commencing immediately.  Peace out.

It’s TRUE!

That ago old adage that I’ve heard since birth uttered from parents, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you” IS TRUE!  Be warned.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  Parenting is not easy, but it is worth it 27 gazillion times more than the pain it brings.  Yesterday was the first time I lived through “this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you” from the parenting side of the equation.  Details need to be kept to a minimum, but a HUGE decision was made by my husband and myself that not only affects one of our children, but is one of those examples to all of our children who will remember forever, “When mom and dad ask you to do something… they mean it.”

I think I cried more than the child did.  My husband called a couple of times throughout the day and asked, “How are you doing?” not how is the child doing.  The child will be fine… and stronger for it, we hope.  I was a mess.  I always want to be known as the dream builder, not the dream crusher…. but sometimes when we see discrepancies between what we have taught and how the child is behaving…. dreams have to be put on hold.  We have to go in reverse for a bit and re-learn a few character issues that were obviously taken too lightly.  Delay is not denial… I learned that from my baby sister.  It applies here.  Delay is also dumb when we are not getting our own way… which leads us back to character issues AGAIN.

This reminds me of when my mother, in a flustered and frustrated situation, would tell us, “Go to your room and holds hands with yourself.”  When I became a mother, I completely understood the meaning of that.  I changed it up a bit for the next generation and have been known to relay loudly, “Go to your room and pray to Jesus that He makes you nice.  And don’t come out until He does.”  It’s all good.

It’s all about character.  How you behave when no one is watching is KEY.  Priorities are KEY. Being obedient is KEY.  Not just for our kids, but for all of us.  Blessing follows obedience…. every stinkin’ time.  God is so good.

 

Our Girl’s 2nd Birthday with her Forever Family

As mentioned in the last blog, our little girl turned nine last week.  A bit of information I found interesting this year, her second year with us, was Nora’s diatribe of her birthdays before she came to our family.  As I was whipping up white and pink Fun-Da-Middles (cupcakes with pink pudding in the center), Nora stood next to me and explained for the twenty-seventh time that she never had a birthday party in Colombia.  She never got a birthday gift before.  She never had a cake, nor candles, nor a celebration.  They did sing Feliz Cumpleanos, but that was all.  The day of her birth was not a special day in her homeland and she needed to explain that …. again.  I obviously needed to know this…. again.

I listened and reassured her, “Don’t worry, it will be like THIS for the rest of your life!”  I’m not certain if she was making sure THIS was going to continue, or just reaffirming that she liked THIS and didn’t want to go back to that?  Maybe it is therapeutic for her to talk out her history?  She knows that we have heard the story before, but every detail needed to be explained …. again.  Maybe she is still in awe that we love her so much, that she matters in this house, that her life is to be celebrated with JOY and lots of friends and little pink waxy candles and family.

What is commonplace to us North American suburbanites is NOT normal in most of the world.  Often, we forget.  When we are wrapped up in the here and now of two-story blow-up jumpies, and petting zoos that come to our house, and $700 parties at an indoor playland, sometimes I feel we forget we are celebrating THIS SPECIAL CHILD  just for being who they are!  Their life is a blessing!  We are blessed to have each of these children!  And celebrating is a beautiful part of life!

All I Want For My Birthday Is……..

Our Colombiana princessa turned nine this week.  Here she is with her new Mermaid beach towel.

Several weeks ago, Nora and I were eating lunch and I mentioned that she should make a list of ideas for birthday gifts that she may like to receive.  At first she replied, “I can’t really think of anything,”  but I got a pad of paper and a pen and sat ready to transcribe her hopes for her upcoming ninth birthday.  I knew the family members would ask what she would like… and the kids always seem to come up with gift ideas that I never would dream of… so I sat…. ready.  It seems with a bit of prodding and suggesting, she actually DID have some ideas that I found amusing and HIGHLY particular.  Here is a short list from the long list:

• Pink girl Lego’s
• The DVD of Parent Trap
• Dive sticks for the swimming pool FOR GIRLS
• Purple piggy bank
• Sleeping bag for a girl
• Liquid paint: gold, light green, light pink, lavender, turquoise and black
• Ruffly socks for her dolly
• Turquoise church dress with sparkles that is tight on the top and goes big on the bottom, size 7
• Mermaid beach towel
• White high heels with 1 flower or 1 bow on each shoe, size 1
• “N” necklace with blue sparkles

See?!?  She knows what she likes!  So cute!  And my sister-in-law FOUND the exact dress that Nora explained from her visions of beautifulness!

Puttin’ on a Pondering Party

A few jots and tittles that I have pondered lately are worthy of blog space here and now.

The term “Know-It-All” is a falsehood.  If a Know-It-All truly knew it ALL then they would be aware of all that they do not know.  They usually need to know social graces, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and the fine art of sitting at someone’s feet where learning is had…. but then they would have to admit that they don’t really know it all in the first place. See?

Women usually can’t have 99 babies.  I was asked about this today by my 8-year-old, who is turning 9 tomorrow.  I did some quick calculations of years of possible childbirth x multiple births = not usually more than 99 babies.  But it could be possible.  But not usually.  99 is a lot.

We are all shades of brown.  It’s true.  Shades are made by adding white or black to a color.  You can pretty well mix any skin tone with brown and white or black.  Except newborn babies… they are red (and sometimes look like monkeys…. like my little sister did.)

Skinny jeans almost always make you look skinny if you were skinny to start with.  If you are not skinny to start with, skinny jeans do not make you appear skinny.  That’s the gospel truth, right there.

No people were killed in the making of the movie Gladiator.  Just wanted to throw that out there.  I hope it’s true.

If you’re so smart, then why are you still _____________(late, fat, at that job, mean, getting angry, making excuses, etc.)  Fill in the blank with whatever inadequacy you are facing in life.  We can all learn in some area where improvements can be made.  Find something about yourself to improve each day.  Start with smiling more.  Smiling is my favorite.

You WILL make time for what is most important to you in your life.  Wow!  Reality check time!

Love me some USA!

Happy Birthday, America!

Hello Blog World!

Yes, I haven’t been around MSJ for a bit.  Here are the recent headlines of the summer life of the Crosby clan.

46 Year Old Housewife Drops 80 Pounds:  Wise choices for health over the last year have produced remarkable results for this average housewife, who is now above average in weight loss success. (Yes, that’s me, but didn’t that sound headliney?)

Water Shortage in Desert Leaves Dying Remains:  This simply means that Rick isn’t watering the backyard grass this summer and it’s all dead.  Why is that headline news, you ask?  Because the wiener dog likes to roll in the dead grass and then come in and roll on the used-to-be-clean carpet.  This is a new cleaning issue this summer that we have never faced before.  It is a constant source of time and energy expended on STUPID stuff. 2012 will go down in the Crosby History Book as the summer of the dead grass. (Hopefully not of the dead dog!)

Summer Movie Fun is Proving Successful:  Yes, I bought the summer fun pack of $7 movie tickets again.  So far, I haven’t seen any of the theatrical selections!  So it’s ALL fun for me!  This week is Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  If you have been an MSJ reader for several years, you will recall how we tortured our children with a sound recording of Mr Popper…. so I’m looking forward to finding out all the information we missed from the skipping CD… IF they followed the book.

Full Time Work is Stressful:   Hahahahaha!  This one makes me laugh.  Our 18-year-old, soon to be college-bound daughter, is working “full time”….. HARDLY!  I think in her first two weeks of “full time” she put in one, maybe two 8 hour days.  This is exhausting!  Never has she been asked to do unpleasant tasks for EIGHT straight hours!  Well, except for school and chores!  She has never taken so many naps.  She came home after a grueling six hours of scanning and filing files to exclaim, “I cannot imagine working eight hours a day, doing something you don’t like FOR FORTY YEARS!?!”  hahahah… real life, baby.  This is it!  See why we have tried to steer you to a career that suits your interests and talents????

Unpaid Worker Scores Big:  This is the story of my life.  I finally found a part-time opportunity that allows me to help others and make cash at the same time.  It is the exact antithesis of my daughter’s job.  In ten hours per week, I’m helping people lose weight and get healthy, get off their meds and live longer!  And they pay me!  It reminds me of when my husband started his initial job as a pilot and he couldn’t believe he got paid to fly a plane!  I handed my first check to my husband, who has been the primary bread earner in this household for 16 years, and he spat out in astonishment, “This is the most money you’ve made in …..   Y E A R S !”   haha!  God provides!

Lagging Teacher Delivers for Hopeful Students:  This simply means that I finally got my American History grades done and sent to my high school students whom I haven’t seen in 6 weeks!  Better late than never.  My child was the only who needed the grade for a transcript, so it’s all good.

Enjoy the Fourth of July, America’s birthday!  God bless America!  Land of the brave and FREE!  yah, baby.