Lost

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I believe it's true. Share your memory pictures pop up on Facebook and I remember things I have forgotten...however, life has become busy, the camera has been replaced by the phone, I have a love/hate relationship with sharing photos on Social Media, printed photos have become a rarity....and I am afraid my blog will go the way of VHS and my kids are not going to have any photos of their teenage years.

Every photo is getting stored to cyberspace but nothing is getting printed to put in their hands. I have enough time to plug my phone in the computer, upload, and then it is off to other things. I sit here with my hair wet, sheets that need to be washed, errands to be run, and I realize that I still have not put the annual photo album for the Grandmas...from last year. This year's annual photo album will be due and I haven't completed...it sits there on Shutterfly half completed.

I hope my children will give me grace when they wonder what happened to their teen years on film or should I say pixel? I hope they remember I was driving them from here to there putting thousands of miles on my car...in one year...or my blog will not be put in the tombs with Kodak and Polaroid.

Memories

A few hockey pictures stolen from parents who can actually take pictures. (You know the ones who aren't using their phone, have an actual camera that captures the image before it moves out of the screen losing the moment? Yeah, those ones.)

Henry

Meet my walking friend, Henry. He's a little skittish and tends to fly off whenever I get close...but he is beautiful. I always look forward to finding him waiting for me when I walk. He makes the day just a wee bit brighter and reminds me of the Creator.

Life Lessons

Ever read something that just spoke to your heart, your soul, down to the marrow of your bone? I just had that happen. It started with Romans 12:9-12, I was doing my daily writing of the Word...the verses captured me. I read on through verse 21 and realized this is how I want to live, this is how I want my kids to live, if I could teach them anything, this would be it:

9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection,[e] and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.[f] 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
    I will pay them back,”[g]
    says the Lord.

20 Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
    If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
    burning coals of shame on their heads.”[h]

21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

My "Aha" Moment

Snoring. The hardest part to marriage besides finances is snoring. My husband could snore like crazy...and the more stressed he was the louder he snored. We went on a trip and in a hotel room, there aren't a lot of escape routes so I put a pillow over my ears and held it there making sure my arm laid over my head as a final line of defense. (And before you suggest ear plugs, I had those in too.)

 By the time we returned home, my right shoulder was in a lot of pain. My doctor suggested a massage and a chiropractor. Done. Hasn't helped. It's been 3 or 4 years since this happened and now Greg has a CPAP, lost a LOT of weight and doesn't really snore (humility lesson here, the kids say I am now the snoring one...in my defense, they have snored since the day they were born).  I digress...My shoulder really hurts now. (Another humility lesson, I used to scoff at the suggestions made to modify yoga poses if you have shoulder pain...I am the Queen of modification these days).

I went Sports Med, saw a specialist and ended up with a cortisone shot for my tendinitis, bursitis, and arthritis. Arthritis? Moi? Can't be! I'm not old. (I also was prescribed with an anti-inflammatory and my shoulder feels great, thank you!)

Walking through the kitchen yesterday and my ankles clicked with each step. And then I had it, the "Aha" moment...THIS is what getting old feels like.

Forgotten

Searching through my drawers yesterday I found a really pretty date book for 2010. "Huh, what's this?" Flipped through it and found the front half empty and the back with random quotes and things I wrote about what was going on in our life..It took me a few minutes but "OH YEAH!!!" popped in my head. I had remembered the forgotten book.

An acquaintance told me I should publish my Facebook entries because she thought them terribly amusing. Huh. Who knew? Someone who wasn't that close to me actually appreciated my wit. I didn't think they were THAT amusing.

However, my kids might like them or maybe not. I pondered whether they would be interested in my ramblings on their early life or my thoughts as their parent or a person who actually had a personality unrelated to a parent.

My conclusion? Probably not until they are parents or past middle age will they be interested in anything I wrote. After pondering whether the internet would even be around by that point or become something archaic like Word Processors and typewriters, I started a date book entering my posts working backwards for the year...I never finished. The best laid plans go awry in my hands.

So kids, if you ever look at this (my blog aka the next best thing to a scrapbook) and you're going though my things and find an empty looking date book, dig through it a little deeper. It might amuse you. Oh! And I never did find what I was looking for!

The Weekend

Yellow is finding its way into the leaves making for a beautiful drive as I do my 3-4 times a week drive to Nashville and hockey is kicking into high gear. Matthew was in St Louis this weekend and Hannah was in Nashville. Matthew's team is being introduced to the high speed of AAA and Hannah's team for the most part is making the transition from House League to Travel League. Hannah's team fared better this weekend of the two.

Hannah also seems to have her own little fan club, another team from Huntsville was playing after her game and the players were all standing by the glass cheering her on. It was sweet. One of the hard decisions about leaving figure skating was not being around the girls she skated with...The hockey director pitched she would lose 10 friends but have 100 new friends and he was right. Of course, being a cute girl among a throng of boys doesn't hurt.


Other side notes, Hannah was asked for her phone number by one of the players on the other team. He asked in front of his friends putting her in the position of being kind or humiliating the poor little guy. First thing she did after the game was let the boyfriend know before he heard it from one of her teammates.


I tried to watch Matthew on livestream.com, the first game the wifi kept disconnecting on their end and the second game had terrible audio but I know a good a whooping when I see it, audio or no audio. The Coach has his work cut out for him before the HUGE CCM Tournament in Nashville. Sadly, I will miss this Tournament.

I have a picture of my little darlin' making her first trip to the Sin Bin. It was a bad call more of a stick getting entangled not tripping...but funny none the less...

Benefits of livestream for the oldest sister is watching in bed with her best friend