Such a rarity....

Today was a good day!  We celebrated the union of marriage between our friend/babysitter Heather Miller and her (now) hubby Lonnie Schmidt and we saw a precious new life...my new niece, Kimberly Grace Morris.  I think A LOT of Heather...I loved her as a middle schooler in my Middle School Bible Studies..I loved her when she started babysitting for us when Emily was a baby and I love her and wish her worlds of happiness in her new venture as a wife.  She has been babysitting for us now for 8 years!  She is the type of babysitter that I leave my children with and have no worries.  Its like having a younger sister that just knows you..knows when you would want to be called...knows when you don't mind letting the baby cry, etc.  She knew my house, knew my kids, and knew what to do....And I actually think she really loved my kids.  She seemed to always enjoy them.  She seemed to really like being around them.  Heather is quiet...doesn't say much.  She is poised, graceful, gifted, sweet, and polite.  Maybe she was being nice, but she told me once that if she had not have had a niece of her own, Emily would have been her flower girl.  She loved the things that J.D. would say to her when babysitting and it made me feel good today when her husband, whom I've never met (because he lives in Montana), said "Oh, your baby Molly's mom."  Anyways, Heather is a very beautiful young woman on the inside as well as on the outside (I must say she was rockin it in that mermaid gown today...she has the perfect figure for such a gown!).  It has taken me quite some time to get to know her even though I have known her for a very long time.  She is kind of like a flower that buds very slowly...there is a sense of honesty, confidence, elegance, and dignity about her.  Can you tell I really respect her?  There is a book that a good friend of mine gave Emily called (I think)..The Princess Kiss.  It tells about a treasure...a kiss...that the parents give the princess when she is born and she is not to give it to anyone unless they are worthy...you get the picture...Well today, I saw Heather as that Princess...it seemed as if she could be in that book. 

I have to admit that when I was younger and an early twenty something myself, I thought the Miller family was a little strange....they homeschooled, Mrs. Miller was a spunky lady and not afraid to speak and they just seemed different....but they produced a wonderful young lady in my opinion.  I know Heather has a great relationship with her Dad.  I would often see them out having lunch together...just the two of them..I didn't understand that then but now I do.  She has lived with her parents until now except when she went away to school for a semester or so.  Tomorrow she leaves on her honeymoon and then moves to Montana with the love of her life.  I got to speak with her candidly about some personal things...she was asking my opinion because I was a nurse/friend/etc...although she did not come out and say it in so many words...I got from our conversation that she and her future husband were virgins...such a rarity in this day (yes, I sound like an old woman) and I believe that it is also such a rarity in the "christian" cirlces as well.

O.K....so the next part of my post is a little PG rated...not for the weak in the stomach type or those that don't want to hear/read me talk about sex...ie my dad :)

Yes, John and I were virgins when we got married.  We dated for 5 long years before we tied the knot and we had plenty of time to "get busy" but didn't...We came home from school together to empty houses...I lived by myself for over a year an half...we went on trips together...I lived in our first home by myself for 4 months before our wedding.. so no one can say it was because our watchful parents were looking over us 24/7.  I have had MANY people ask me how and why we waited...I had a crowd of four nurses at work one day standing around me in disbelief after I mentioned that I had never been with anyone else...after they sat there bashing their husbands and their sex life for 30 minutes.  I know, I know...even marriages where people waited and have been faithful fail but I will attest to this....I have never been so proud, grateful, and thankful for waiting until my wedding night.  I am so thankful that my Mom told me that God said in the Bible to wait and that is what you should do....I am a rule follower so I guess the fear of my parents, fear of failure and fear of God is what made me NOT cross that line....not saying that I didn't want to.  We were two young teenagers in love, full of passion, and very attracted to each other...but we just didn't go there for whatever reason.  I have no idea what it would be like to be with another man and I am so happy about that.  Now...I guess it seems like I am bragging a bit...but I will without a doubt tell my daughters about my relationship with their Daddy and show them in the Bible what it says...
I truly believe that God has blessed John and I and our sex life because we waited.  I cannot tell you how special that gift was...without going into the details...it is something I treasure (and could cry about at the drop of a hat) to this day....John and I do not fight about sex..we love to have each others company...I still look at my husband with love and passion...and still want to be with him.  I believe God blessed us with three easy conceptions even though we were not suppose to be able to get pregnant easily because we waited.  We learned about each other together, we learned about sex together, we have a bond and something that we have shared that no one else on this earth knows about either of us.  I can't really put into words what I mean but that book "The princess Kiss" captures it....it is a gift!  And can you tell I am slightly the romantic, fairytale type?!?!?!

There is much more I could say about this subject...In my profession I see some very sad things.  I see girls giving their gift away to so many loosers when they haven't waited for their prince.  I use to live in a fairytale and believed that God made each of us a special person that we are suppose to marry but I know that there are probably many people on this earth that we can be compatible with....but saving yourself until marriage...well it really is a rarity that not many people seem to care about anymore.  I am serious when I say that I will talk to my daughters...I will tell them about their Daddy and me and tell them about special people like Miss. Heather and I will also show them pictures of genital warts and tell them about the green frothy smelly discharge I've seen coming from women with STDs and how a man/boy doesn't want to get to know you, love you, or put time into anything that he can get at the drop of a hat...I aint playing....I think it is so important and something that I want my girls to take very seriously! 

As I watched Heather walk down the aisle today....I was sooooo excited for her!  The anticipation and love in her groom's eyes...the realization that they get to finally be with one another.  I was excited that she will get to share her gift with an amazing man and have that special bond with him and only him!  I was so excited that she got to be the princess and she truly looked like she could have been in a fairlytale story book!  My friend (who has three girls) and I sat at the reception and watched as Heather and Lonnie had their first dance....we were both thinking and then said to one another..."How do you raise a daughter like that?"  Well hopefully we can and will....by the Grace of God!

cooking party

We had a fabulous cooking party with some of Emily's best friends!  It was a blast!  They made their very own pizzas with a variety of toppings, fruit and marshmallow kabobs, decorated aprons to take home and decorated cupcakes.  They ate and made a mess the whole time.  Emily decided this year to have her friends bring food pantry items for our church's food pantry intead of presents.  She collected over 60 items to the food pantry because of the generosity of her friends and grandmothers.  Thank goodness for her grandmothers.  I could not have done this party without them!  They were awesome!

Lesson learned and eyebrows waxed

On Valentines weekend I was out with Emily doing a little shopping and decided to go get my eyebrows waxed.  Yes, I am one of those...I like nice manicured eyebrows...don't like the catepillar look and I'm a hairy person!  So the lady was working hard and once she was done, she said with agony, "this has never happen to me before, I messed your brow up." And she had indeed!!...she took lots of hair off one of my eyebrows leaving it looking rather strange, like it had two naked lines in it.  She was mortified!  She kept apoligizing and saying it must have been because I have such light hair mixed in with the red and she put to much wax on...etc. etc.  Emily saw how upset she was and agreed once we got in the car, "Mommy, your eyebrow looks weird."  The lady didn't make me pay full price and I told her it was o.k.  She said she thought I was going to yell at her.  I thought that was funny b/c I cannot imagine yelling at someone in public like that...  I was going on a hot date that night with my hubby so I wondered how I was going to fix it.  I pulled my bangs over in front of the brow and that worked and then I worked on it with an eyebrow pencil which did the trick.  And the hair grew back in a matter of three days.  What a teachable moment for my little girl though.  She asked me in the car why I didn't get mad or if I was mad with the lady.  I honestly was not...  I told her it wasn't worth getting upset about.  I told her it was a mistake and an accident and I know Jesus would not have wanted me to yell.  I told her my eyebrow is not that important and the way I look or how funny I look wasn't worth a yelling match or making someone feel terrible.  It was a great moment and I am glad Emily was there to witness it.  Now I just need to remember these same principles when my loved ones accidently mess up......

Emily's Birth Day

February 19, 2002!  I won't go into the whole story because I have done that before but I remember it like it was yesterday....she got to come three weeks early because I was having some swelling and high blood pressure.  We stayed in triage all night long and then finally got a room on the 19th to start the real induction.  It took about 7 hours and she was born at about 4:20 in the afternoon.  All of our friends and family were there to greet her.  Daddy got to deliver her (forced by the midwife...I'm not sure he was so sure about it at first) and it was pretty much a wonderful, very easy delivery.  I had THE BEST doctor and nurses!  My Emily was beautful and perfect.  She really was a really pretty baby!  She has been a joy ever since!!  Yesterday, on Emily's actual birthday...at breakfast, I was telling her birth story (very G-rated of course) and telling how I sat on a big bouncy ball when it started to hurt really bad...John Daniel said shaking his head, "Oh my goodness, I cannot hear this!"  We all died laughing...he says the funniest things sometimes!  Emily had a great 8th birthday day ...complete with cookie cake at school, chick-fil-a delivered by her whole family, cheerleading game in the evening, and then she picked Firehouse for dinner...and today was her big COOKING party with her friends...what a big weekend!!!  I love my big girl so much and thank God for such a beautiful young lady!

Emily's 1st birthday party!

You all probably know by now that I love throwing parties...Emily's first of four was Monday night!  My Dad has been making fun of us all week...."What!  FOUR parties!!!"  We had grandparents over for dinner on Monday night, I am taking a treat to her class on Friday for lunch, we are having a few girls spend the night on Friday night and then having a Cooking party with more friends on Saturday...!!!!  Fun Fun!!  Our special Grandparent dinner was super nice.  It was nice just having Emily's special Grandparents over for some personal time.  She felt very honored!  Emily decided a while back that she would have a food pantry drive at her birthday party instead of having her friends bring presents.  She wanted to collect food for our food pantry at church that serves over 200 people every other week.  I thought it was a fabulous idea!  I assured her that her mommy and daddy and grandparents would not forget about it being her birthday.  We all "hooked" her up so to speak.  I made her favorite foods.  She requested lasagna, poppy seed chicken and noodles.  I added green beans and a grilled romaine salad to it.  We had strawberry shortcake as dessert and then she got to open up all of her presents.  She got some really pretty clothes, a diamond cross necklace, jewelry box, zhu zhu pet boat attachment for the zhu zhu house, some art supplies, a webkinz, and an IPOD shuffle.  She was so excited and very grateful.  I love me big girl!  She is so precious to me!

Our Hike

I have said before, John and I love to take the kids outdoors.  I cannot imagine a life without running, playing, and exploring the outdoors.  One of our favorite things has become hiking...it doesn't matter where really, we just love it!  One of my favorite memories over the past 6 months has been hiking in the mountains with the family....down to see some beautiful waterfalls and beautiful scenery.  Well, right down the road from us we have some beautiful scenery as well!  A totally pristeen lake sits inside Maclay Gardens.  No boats, no fishing, no dogs, no people...Pristeen.  It is lake overstreet.  On Monday, we took a 5.4 mile hike around lake Overstreet.  It was a rainy, overcast day but we headed out after lunch and had a great time.  Both big kids packed some snacks, rain gear, and a drink in their own backpack.  I did the same for John, Molly, and I.  John carried Molly in our 8 year old backpack carrier and I carried our gear bag.  We saw lots of trees, birds, a dead bobcat (about scared me to death), the lake, horse and bike tracks, vegetation, etc.  The kids did awesome and walked the entire time without complaining.  We talked about plateaus, what pristeen means, fungi, poison ivy, hollow trees, woodpeckers, berries, trailheads, clay, horse poop, what horses eat, and much much more.  You know when you are out in the woods, with no distractions, it is amazing what comes up in conversation....I love it!!!

P.S.

I forgot to post a funny on the Race blog.....John had made pancakes for the kids and during our 5K...Molly, tucked snuggly behind the weather barrier in the stroller, munched on pancakes the whole time as the rest of us ran/jogged/walked!  What a life!