Say It Enough, You'll Start to Believe It
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The pictures above are older as evidence by the cast on Landon’s arm and the fact that Lee and I are standing stop the Duomo in Sienna, Italy. But they depict the people for whom I am most thankful during this season.
I’m a blessed woman.
Oh…and everyone slept all night last night. Well, that’s not entirely true. Landon got up at 2:00 but he went straight back to sleep and so did I. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do for your perspective!
I hereby officially love Tuesday.
– My children are systematically trying to ensure that I never sleep a full night again. This is the part of the mom blog where I’m supposed to say that it’s Thanksgiving and I’m thankful for the sound of their little feet pitter pattering through the house no matter how early it is…
I’m not gonna say that. I want to sleep. I want to sleep all night long without someone coming into my room for this, that and the other. I’m tired today. And a little crabby.
– In Landon’s defense, he has been dealing with winter illnesses for a couple of weeks now. He’s had a cold, that’s morphed into upper respiratory issues on top of which he’s developed pink eye and has so far this morning puked twice. Good times. In the midst of that, we’ve moved him out of the crib into a big bed allowing him the freedom to traipse into our room at all hours of the night. Because we’re brilliant like that.
– Yesterday we attended our church’s annual Family Christmas Workshop. I love this event. There are almost 100 rooms set up with different homemade crafts for the kids to make. There are Christmas carols and cookies (so many cookies!) and it’s a great way to kick off the holiday season. It also gives us several handmade gifts to give to teachers and grandparents. Score!
– Speaking of our church, we are putting on a Broadway style musical in a couple of weeks and, if I do say so myself, it’s going to be amazing. Wanna come? Purchase tickets here. Most of the front tables have already been sold, but there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. And in addition to a great show, you’ll also get dessert! All for ten dollars. Please come!
– I have a fantastic giveaway up on STL Family Life today. Seriously – you don’t want to miss it. The bracelet I’m giving away is gorgeous. I so wish I could keep it for myself.
– Landon is watching Toy Story 3 Monster’s Inc. right now. I am letting him watch all the TV he wants today. It keeps him still and near the puke bowl in case he needs it. And it keeps me from having to follow him around the house hoping to catch his upchuck because, as we all know, toddlers give no warning before spewing.
– I’m grateful to my husband. He’s been amazing this weekend. He helped me out so much in a variety of different ways and this morning before leaving he told me he knew today was going to be sucky and he was sorry. I so needed to hear that. I didn’t need a pep talk about how I could do this and how I would survive this day and how I just needed to power through. I just needed to hear some acknowledgment that today, indeed, will be a sucky day. What a guy…
– I’m going to sit down and take a nap on the couch fold laundry while Landon watches his movie. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t yak on me while I sleep work.
– Go Monday – FTW!
No, I’m not going to bust out in a radical version of Don’t Stop Believin’. Although if I still had make up on, it wasn’t 11:10 at night and my FlipCam was close by, I might have considered it.
Nope…I’m talking about a different kind of journey. On Friday I shared with you the struggles and insecurities I’m feeling as my career climbs ever so slightly and the inner battles that wage within. I received great, wonderful, supportive comments from many of you. I also received a couple of phone calls and a few emails filled with encouragement.
All of this encouragement began squeezing at my heart, which then overflowed in prayer. How am I to feel about all of this? How do I respond to the obvious passions and desires of my heart when opportunity presents itself? And how do I balance those with the obligations and love I have for my family?
A conversation I had on Sunday solidified in my heart my need for serious reflection on this matter. I found myself encouraging a new friend to pursue her own passions. I heard myself tell her that God doesn’t want us to live in fear. He has given this girl obvious talents and passions and she yearns to pursue them, but there is that nagging little thing called practicality. It is telling her that pursuing her passions, even to the glory of God, means giving up a tiny bit of security and safety. Not that I think I know what’s best for her life, by any means, but I do know that when I see someone who longs and desires to pursue a passion I’m going to do everything in my power to encourage her to do it without shame and or fear.
I need to have a talk with the girl who stares back at me from the mirror…
Practicality is a good thing. Practicality keeps food on the table and money in the bank. Practicality makes sure that should your two year old topple off his stool in the middle of dinner, you can walk into an ER and get his broken arm plastered up without fear of losing your home to medical bills.
Not that we know anything about that, of course…
As we drove home from church Sunday afternoon, I relayed the discussion to Lee and I could almost hear his brain explode inside his skull. Because he’s been telling me this for years.
I am trapped in practicality. But the problem with my practicality is that it isn’t the good kind. It’s not the kind that is really truly doing my family any good. It’s really just my excuse to not try too hard. If I don’t try too hard to succeed, I sure as heck don’t have to worry about failing.
Nice, huh?
Except it’s not.
The thing that baffles me about all this is the fact that I didn’t use to be this way. This fear based practicality was birthed the second I became a mother. Suddenly I found myself afraid to dream anymore for fear I might shove them all toward costly psychiatrist bills when they’re older. Because we all know that it’s always the mom’s fault, right?
Here’s the thing: this is not the place we were designed to live. This is not where I was designed to live. None of us were meant to hide behind practicality – to use it as a shield to hide us from the world. Sometimes practicality is entirely impractical. It’s not always wise to be practical. God didn’t design us to live in fear, insecurity and guilt. He designed us to walk freely, unashamed and with passion. And passion is rarely ever practical. Think of the greatest leaders and innovators in history – very few of them operated in passive practicality. Most of them threw caution to the wind and surrendered to their dreams.
Think of Christopher Columbus. Sailing around the world was not practical, especially when the prevailing thought was that the world was flat. But he tossed practicality over the side of his ship and sailed forth, driven by passion and a good deal of gumption. Or what about a group of five men who, in 1956, risked everything to minister to a group of people known as the Woadani deep in the Amazon only to end up being brutally murdered by the people they so desperately wanted to help? Was it practical to transplant their families to that region? It could even be argued that that was unwise…unless you know the end of the story when Jim Elliot’s son returned and forever altered the future of the people who slayed his father.
Of course, wisdom must play a role. But wisdom and practicality are different aren’t they? Practicality is a dross around the neck of passion. Wisdom is the wings which give passion flight. Wisdom allows us to pursue passions with the knowledge that even if we don’t succeed (as the world sees success), we certainly can’t call ourselves failures. Because how can we fail? Hasn’t the battle already been won on our behalf?
Sometimes, of course, wisdom and practicality must go hand in hand. It would be both unwise and impractical for me to pursue a career as a professional surfer. There are a number of reasons for this, one of the more prevalent ones being I live in Missouri…not a lot of ocean to be found. I also have to be sure that the things I pursue are supported by Lee. It is not wise or practical to chase a dream without my husband’s full support. I will never succeed that way.
If, however, I do have the full support of my husband and I step out in faith, wisely seeking direction along the way, then haven’t I already experienced success, even if I don’t accomplish that which I set out to accomplish? What about the journey I took? What about the things I learned on the path? If the journey leads to deeper faith, new experiences and greater wisdom, then tell me where exactly the failure lies?
The truth that has taken root inside my heart these last few days is so simple, yet also a bit complex: If I am willing to embrace my dreams, without guilt or fear, perhaps that alone is the success I am to find. And what a journey that would be…
Don’t stop. Believin’. Hold on to that feeeeeeelin’.
Huh…look at that – the song fits after all.
Righteous.
My sister-in-law (who is all kinds of awesome) is doing a month long series in which she details that which she is thankful for. Imagine that! Giving thanks in the month of Novemeber…who ever heard of such a thing?
I, personally, love the idea of focusing on that for which I am thankful. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the negative, in the business and craziness and OMGI’MNOTGONNASURVIVETHIS moments of life that sometimes I have to stop myself and remember the happy.
In general I’m not much of an Eyeore type person. I’m thankful for that because with some of the heartaches that I have faced in the past, it would be very easy to be an Eyeore. But then again, it’s that way for all of us, isn’t it? We’ve all faced pain, heartache, trial, hurt. We all have the choice to dwell in the pain, live in the past and simmer in the hurt.
Or…
We can move on, step forward and let the past fade in the distance. For some, that’s easy to do. For others, it’s much harder due to deeper wounds, harsher trials or simply because they are hardwired from conception to stew, analyze and think.
So today I’m focusing on the thankful. I have been so bogged down lately that I really haven’t had time to stop and think and…thank.
Outside of the obvious (my husband and kids…what kind of wife and mom would I be if I didn’t mention them, right?) I’m thankful for where we are in our lives right now. We’ve walked a bit of a tightrope in the last few months and it had every potential end in a stomach dropping plunge. But, instead, the tightrope has slwoly widened and we are once again feeling a bit more secure. Not comfortable, of course, as we are ever on our guard, but we have definately seen blessing in the last month.
I’m thankful for that.
I’m thankful for the memories I made travelling Europe with my husband where he snapped the above picture on our last day in Italy as I lounged in a park in Bellagio. I was looking at the mountains across Lake Como and marvelling at God’s majesty, totally in awe of creation. I’m thankful for that day, for that moment and for the many pictures that are seared into my brain from across the seas.
I’m thankful for the career I’m slowly but surely beginning to develop in writing, editing and social media. I wasn’t looking for this and it kind of fell in my lap and I just have to say – I’m having the time of my life. I’m still navigating the waters of what is feasible for me to pursue and what needs to be sacrificed as I also tend to my young brood. But I’m thankful for opportunity, whatever it might be, that comes my way and I’m totally enjoying the ride.
I’m thankful for Nutella. It’s just so very, very good. On everything. Including pizza crust, on which we slathered an entire can a couple of weeks ago and presented it to the kids as dinner. Which leads me to the next thing:
I’m thankful that I can still please my kids with a Boboli Pizza crust and a can of Nutella. I’m thankful that my seven year old still thinks it’s cool when I accompany him on field trips. I’m thankful that my four year old still wants to hold my hand and sit in my lap. I’m thankful that my two year old tells me I’m beautiful almost every day and then squints his eyes in a mischevious grin because he knows it melts my heart.
I’m thankful for my soft bed and thick pillows even though I don’t get to enjoy those as much as I would like to.
I’m thankful.
I’m also now craving Nutella.
I’m thankful that Target is only a couple of minutes away and they faithfully stock Nutella on their shelves.
What are you thankful for?
Post edit: This post is not meant to condemn anyone who has given their child a Nintendo DS or DSi. I do not oppose gaming devices in general, however, at this point in time they are not right for our family. My intent in posting this is not to make anyone feel bad but to get feedback on what the heck to buy my children for Christmas!!!
Carry on…
Hey guys. So Christmas is around the corner. I’m not sure if you were aware of that fact. I mean, you know, if you’ve been hiding under a rock you might not have realized, but for the rest of us who are already being bombarded with decorations and music it’s pretty dang hard to ignore.
Christmas is coming and somewhere someone’s goose is getting fat. Poor Thanksgiving…it is the forgotten holiday.
So here’s my yuletide dilemma. My seven year old is at the age where gift buying is becoming a bit difficult. He still likes toys (praise God), but he’s not as easy to please as he once was. I believe we have one more year before buying gifts to satisfy his maturing tastes will become harder…and more expensive.
This year, he has his sweet little heart set on a Nintendo Dsi. He talks about it incessantly. He wants to check them out every time we enter The Holy Land Target and he tells everyone he sees that he’s getting one for Christmas. Here’s the thing, though.
He’s not.
Lee and I have decided that right now we are not ready to introduce hand held gaming devices into our children’s lives. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1.) I just don’t think it’s necessary at seven to have a Nintendo Dsi. I’m not opposed to them, but I find it to be an awfully expensive gift for such a young child.
2.) I think there are better things to do with one’s time than play video games. We have a Wii and it gets played some, but repeated and extended periods of play are off limits.
3.) I am not ready for the battles that will inevitably come with a NDsi (don’t want to type it all out again). Sloan is actually very responsible when it comes to TV and video games. He does not have much of an addictive personality and he is not one to sit for hours with his eyes glued to the tube. He gets bored and loses interest quickly and can go months without playing the Wii at all. Landon, however, is already showing addictive tendencies in that he wants to watch TV or play the Wii all the flippin’ time. It’s already a daily battle with him resulting in many tears shed. A NDsi would inevitably become a battle zone between Sloan and his siblings and, quite honestly, I can’t handle one more battle.
Are we being unfair? I don’t feel like it, but it really does break my heart not to give Sloan what he wants because he’s such a good kid. I tried to break it to him gently the other day that this year would likely not be the year he received an NDsi. His reponse?
“That’s okay. I’ll ask Santa to bring it to me!”
Crap! Am I going to crush his dreams and destroy Santa all in one year? Hey…welcome to the Stuart home where we take your dreams and roll them inthumb tacks then light them on fire.
Thanks for stopping by!
When I told Lee of Sloan’s reponse he came up with the brilliant solution of telling Sloan that Santa doesn’t bring such expensive gifts – he lets the parents buy those presents. I have tasked Lee with preparing Sloan to not find a NDsi under the tree this Christmas while still preserving the magic of Santa for one more year. I’m counting on my man to come through on this one!
My question is, though, what should we get the poor boy for Christmas? Yes, he will receive clothes, a few books and probably some new art supplies. But what do we get him for that one special toy that’s going to light up his face when he walks around the corner Christmas morning?!
I need your advice! What are you getting your kids for Christmas? I have a few ideas, but nothing seems to take the place of his beloved NDsi, which he will likely receive at some point, but just not now.
I do hereby open the comments up for suggestions. This is my sad attempt to see if I can break the ten comment barrier I seem to have on my posts. Come on, folks, don’t let me down. I am officially begging for your comments! My motherly angst has reduced me to this…a comment whore mooch.
…
Okay, I can’t let the last word of a post be whore mooch so I’m going to share a picture that has nothing to do with this post but I just want to share it. It’s Tia, in her Little Miss Matched tights, which I told you about here and her glasses which make her look way too old.
Merry Christmas.
No! Happy Thanksgiving.
Saturday night found Lee and I in the minivan, kids in tow, heading out to the mattress store to purchase two new mattresses. Never mind that the kids desperately needed them. Never mind that Tia’s mattress was so cheap that is was literally falling apart and becoming a potential hazard. Never mind that both mattresses had been peed on so many times they could be deemed a health code violation. Never mind any of those things. The fact is simply this:
I went out on Saturday evening to buy mattresses and thought it was fun.
Hi, my name is Kelli and I am a bona fide minivan mom.
Ah, but we haven’t even got to the best part of the story. What? Surely you know there would be more to this story than the fact that I had a hoot buying twin mattresses on a Saturday night, right? A hoot!
It was the incident that occurred when we returned home that sent my world aspinnin’. It started simple. We came home so Lee could drop the kids and I off and return to the mattress store to pick up our most exciting purchases. We had to remove the car seats and fold down the back seats and clean up a bit. And it was during this event that I began to question my entire identity.
The title of my blog is Minivans Are Hot. With the operative word being Hot. I know, I know…Minivan and Hot together in a sentence is an oxymoron. And most days I would beg to differ and would launch into a diatribe about how it’s sexy to be a mom and how minivan moms have it goin’ on and I would work my hardest to convince you that I was right. Until Saturday night…
What I found in the back seat of my minivan was anything but Hot. Let’s start with what I found under the seat, shall we? It was sticky…it was brown…it had flecks of leaves and dirt stuck to it. What was that?!
From there I removed the kids car seats to find enough dried, crumbled food to feed a small pack of wild baboons. It was sealed into the lining of the seat fabric and had to be scraped out with my fingernail. *heave* Don’t even get me started on what I found in their seats.
But the piece de resitance came when I crawled into the way back and looked inside the cup holder. It is here that I gasped, looked at my husband and exclaimed, “Gross! This is why minivans are NOT. HOT.” Then I clutched my chest with the gravity of my statement and fell in dramatic Disney Princess fashion onto the seat, the back of my hand against my forehead…
No I didn’t. That last part didn’t happen – mostly because I wouldn’t want to lay on those seats for $100. Maybe for $1000, though.
In the cup holder sat dried, crusted, molded bread. It appears my children are stock piling food in the back seat of our minivan in the event that a giant meteor should come crashing down to earth and we need to seek shelter inside the car for a significant amount of time. It also appears that they have eaten portions of a sandwich and then shoved the remaining portion in the cup holder and have, every day for who knows how long, been looking at this rotting sandwich and ignoring it.
It’s like I’m raising little cave people!
I promptly dug out the rot and marched to the trash can. My husband, sensing my impending melt down went dashing for the Shop Vac in the basement. Being the super hero that he is, he spent the next half hour sucking the muck out of our minivan while I went inside and lectured my children on the importance of throwing away rotten food. I also tried to talk myself out of changing my blog title from Minivans Are Hot to Minivans Are A Place Where Horrors grow Beneathe the Seats and in the Cupholders While You Yourself Obliviously Drive From Here to There Thinking You Are Looking Fine When Really You Are Controlling a Moving Science Experiment.
But in typical Hero fashion, my man came inside just as I was certain that my entire online identity was going to have to be realtered and yelled “Ta-Da!” I walked outside to see the seats clean (hey look! The fabric’s grey…) The cup holders clean…er. They still have a sticky substance that I can only assume will need to be chisled out at some point (probably just before we decide to sell the car). And it smelled much more pleasant too. It was actually quite nice in there.
I smiled at him and jumped into his arms. Small birds flitted about our heads as he spun me around and when we kissed little animated hearts floated up into the dusky sky.
Alright…that last part didn’t happen either. Sometimes I wish I lived in a cartoon.
Despite the cleanliness of my car, however, I couldn’t shake the fact that I had outwardly acknowledged the un-hotness of my minivan. And so I’m here to retrain my mind. And if any of you are having a hard time believeing that Minivans Are Hot like I am, then why don’t you join in with me as we repeat the mantra over and over.
Minivans are hot, minivans are hot, minivans are hot, minivans are not, minivans are not…
NONONONONO!!!!
Let’s try again.
Minivans are hot, minivans are hot, minivans are hot…
Do you believe it?
*You should be forewarned…this post is as random as they get. It couldn’t be MORE random. I’d like to think of it as a mash up post. You can mash up songs so why can’t you mash up a post. Let’s see how it goes…
This first section will find me fulfilling my mom blogger duty in which I talk about my hair. Every mom blogger is required to talk about her hair in at least two posts every year. It’s in the contract…
Shortly after we got married, I returned home from work one evening to find Lee sitting on the floor in our tiny apartment bedroom. He had our hair dryer in his hands, pieces of it scattered about the floor around him. He had a Q-Tip and was gently swabbing the inside of the hair dryer, his tonge sticking out of his mouth just slightly.
“Um…what are you doing?” I asked.
“This hair dryer is a fire hazard! Have you seen all the crap inside here?” And back he went to picking the dust out of the disassembled hair dryer. It was then that I knew I had married someone slightly OCD. And if you think I’m kidding, you should see the way he tackles projects. I’ve come home to see him in a suit and tie painting a wall because it just needed to be done.
After he finished his hair dryer deep cleanse, he put it back together…and it never really worked properly again. So a few days later I headed out and bought a new and improved (and clean!) hair dryer. And she’s been with us ever since. She’s seen me through a lot of hair tragedies over the past decade, with the worst being this one. And she stood by me, never failing.
Fast forward ten years and you’ll see us in present day still using our trusty old hair dryer. She’s like 842 in hair dryer years now, but she’s still kicking. Of course, she doesn’t have as much punch as she once upon a time did. And she makes a weird clickety click sound when you use her. And it takes roughly 23.7 minutes to dry my hair. But she’s so comfortable. Still…it was time.
I bought a new hair dryer this weekend. I felt like a traitor. But this one has a turbo button. I push it and BAM! My hair’s dry. It’s dry and actually looks good. And when I flip my head, my hair swings to the side in slow motion…
I gingerly laid old faithful in the trash can yesterday. And when I flipped my hair over to dry it with the turbo charged new girl I could swear I saw a tear of resentment trickle down the side of her scratched and beaten nozzle. I tried to tell her it was me and not her…
I don’t think she believed me.
Switching gears. Now I will transition into another mom blogger must – talking about my child’s weird and random rash. Mash up, folks…it’s a mash up.
Last weekend I posted this photo of Landon’s leg on Facebook with the caption: Landon’s had this random rash for a couple of weeks now. Should I be worried?”
Across the board the concensus was that this looked like ringworm, which was what I was already concerned about but I’ve never seen ringworm so I wasn’t sure. So thanks Facebook. Once again you have confirmed that the world needs you to keep on spinnin’.
I went to the doc the day after I posted the picture and he was completely baffled by this bizarre rash. So he brought in another physician who was also baffled. This was a Saturday so it wasn’t our own pediatrician we were seeing. Because the circles resembled ringworm he decided to treat it as such with instructions to call if it didn’t change in a week. I walked unsure for a few reasons.
A.) The doctor couldn’t tell if it was ringworm. This isn’t how ringworm presents itself. Ringworm is usually one circle that spreads larger and larger. All four of these circles appeard over night and none of them got bigger.
And,
B.) Ringworm is apparently contagious but Landon sported these lovely marks for a solid two weeks and no one else was showing odd crop circles on their limbs so it didn’t appear to be spreading. I’m not sure if ringworm spreads like chicken pox, though, where it takes a couple of weeks to show up.
Speaking of chicken pox, I kind of wish I could get my kids exposed to it so they could build up a natural immunity…
This is the part where I remind myself to stay on topic.
So I called our personal pediatrician back on Thursday and wished I would have just waited to see her in the first place because she pretty much diagnosed him over the phone without the co-pay. And that is why I love her. I’ve been putting Tinactin on his leg for a week. No go. It’s still there. Ah…but that’s because he probably has Nummular Eczema, which can present itself in small circles but is really an irritation of the skin.
Hydrocortisone cream has become our new best friend. And it doesn’t sting when I put it on his skin…poor kid.
Insert pithy transition here.
On any given night you can find our family piled up on the couch listening to this cacophony of…I guess we could call it music. It is a family musical mash up and I think it’s the perfect way to end my mash up post.
Sloan is singing a song he made up. He likes to write music. I find it terribly adorable. Tia was fresh from her bath and not yet dressed so she’s wrapped up in a blanket strumming her guitar. Naturally. And Landon is just so adorable you’ll want to cry. I give you: My children.
Boogie Woogie Woogie!
Alternately titled: I hope all the women in our lives like to smell good because you’re getting soap for Christmas…
We were in Hallstatt, Austria. It was our second day there and the weather was spectacular. Before heading up the mountain, we decided to walk through town and shop in the local shops. The night before we had walked by a shop filled with the most beautiful soap I had ever seen. It was all different colors and flavors and it smelled amazing.
“Let’s get some soap tomorrow to give our moms for Christmas,” I suggested. I don’t know why I suggested this. Who wants soap for Christmas?
*pause for flashback scene*
When I was in first grade, we had our annual Christmas party. As is tradition in every single elementary school since the very beginning of time itself, we drew names and had a Secret Santa giveaway in which we bought a small, inexpnsive present for someone in the class.
My name was drawn by a boy named Troy. Apparently his mom did not have girls and did not know what to get a little girl…so while everyone else got cute little Hello Kitty trinkets and bracelet, I got a bar of soap. The class played with their toys and I held my…soap.
Second grade, Christmas rolls around again. My name is, yet again, drawn by a boy. I don’t remember his name. What’s another good ’80’s name we could give him? How about Brandon. Let’s go with that.
“Brandon” got me soap. It was shaped like a Hippopotomos and it was pink. I tried not to cry because dangit! I didn’t want soap. My friend Leslie got Poochie stickers. I got soap.
Third grade. Mr. Stephens class. My name drawn yet again by a boy. I think it was David, but I’m not entirely sure. And I’ll give you a second to guess what I got.
I know. It’s almost unbelievable, but my mom will vouch for me. I got soap. SOAP! It was a little red, Christmasy roller thing of soap. Like a bar of deoderant…but soap.
I didn’t even try to hide my disappointment that year. I burst into tears and my mom had to usher me out of the room.
I never received soap again at a class party after that, thankfully. But my faithful parents, being the loving, supportive people they are – they give me soap in my stocking every year. Hardy har har.
So now you know my background with soap and Christmas.
* End flashback. *
Which is why it is odd that I would choose to buy someone soap for Christmas. But these little bars were so pretty and they were made in the most beautiful town on earth so it seemed like a good idea.
When we walked by the store, the overwhelming aroma took over us. It was like drugs. And the prices seemed so…inviting.
“Hey,” Lee said. “This stuff is cheap. Let’s get some for everyone.” At a Euro or two a bar, this felt like a steal so we grabbed a basket and started filling it. Lemon Verbena, Chocolate, Lavendar, Honey Suckle….so many enticing flavors. We grabbed something for everyone and danced to the register, our basket overflowing.
I handed the woman our basket and credit card. I was adding up the soap in my head and figured we had about 35 Euros worth of soap. Still a little much, but I figured it would cover several people for Christmas so no big deal.
She handed back my credit card and the receipt and pointed at my total.
96 Euro.
Let me say that again.
96 Euro.
That equals 127 dollars. On soap. SOAP!
And then it hit me. We weren’t paying a Euro a bar…we were paying by the gram. Sweet Mother of God! We spent 127 dollars on soap. I don’t even like soap. And I certainly don’t like to give it for Christmas.
To the women in our lives…I hope you like soap. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, right?! Don’t take it personally. We don’t think you stink. We just can’t afford to buy you anything else. Because we spent 127 dollars on soap.
Soap!
Merry Christmas…er…
Ahem.
Roughly a week ago, I stood on the most beautiful mountaintop in Austria and for over an hour I took in God’s creation from the vantage point of a bird. It was breathtaking. I didn’t want the moment to end. As Lee and I hiked to various points of Krippenstein Peak, we commented more than once how we wished the kids were there. They would have loved it. I probably would have enjoyed it slightly less, of course, because I would have been too busy envisioning one of them tumbling over the side…
Our vacation was absolutely perfect. It was relaxing and adventurous. We had ten days to talk and we didn’t spend all of our time talking about the kids, although we spent a good deal of time talking about them. It was just the right amount of time. Not too long, not too short. It was wonderful in every way and I will forever be grateful that we had the opportunity to do that.
But I was ready to come home.
Lee is my family. But he isn’t my complete family. And walking in our back door to the three little faces that make up our complete family was equally as thrilling as climbing Krippenstein Peak (or…you know…riding up the cable car. I don’t climb mountains.)
They had wet hair and jammies on. They smelled better than any flower from any part of the world. They jumped up and down and yelled “Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!” It sounded better than any mountaintop bird. They leapt in our arms and squeezed tight…more than once. It was better than any view from any peak of the world.
After a bit of play time and wrestle time we sat on the couch. Sloan, my sweet, tender hearted seven year old looked around quietly, then burst into tears. “I’m sad that you were gone so long,” he cried, big alligater tears glimmering in the corners of his eyes.
And then my heart tore in two.
“We’re home now,” we assured him as he crawled into Lee’s lap.
“I just missed you really a lot,” he said, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. And we got to explain to him about how God has blessed our marriage and about how Mommy and Daddy took some time to just celebrate God’s blessings in our life.
“But you know what?” we told them. “The biggest blessings of our marriage are you guys. Sometimes Mommy and Daddy need to get away and be together just the two of us. But we know that God gave us the greatest gifts of all when he gave you you guys and we are so thrilled to be back with you.”
After we got everyone calmed down and settled into bed, I dragged my weary, jet lagged body around the house and cleaned up a bit. As I walked back to my bedroom and passed Landon’s open door I heard a tiny voice.
“Mommy? Tan you tome hewe pwease?”
There is no amount of fatigue that could have stopped me from walking into that bedroom. I scooped him up and we sat in the yellow rocking chair beside his bed. He put his head on my shoulder, his little nose nestled into the fold of my neck. And as I rocked, his tiny hands patted me on the back.
It was a different kind of mountaintop…and I think I liked it best of all.
Well we have had a whirlwind few days here in Italy. It’s been a lot of fun and good with a bit of frustration sprinkled in. It’s definately harder to be spontaneous in Italy and we’ve found it difficult to find nice, affordable places to stay. Minus our hotel in Florence, which was a bit of a dump, we have managed to stumble upon some nice places. We are now in Genova for the next two nights. The hotel is beautiful – we’ll see about the city. It’s a little too bustling for my taste, but we’re going to give it a try tonight. We may head over to San Margharita for the day tomorrow to enjoy the beach and the beauty.
Here are a few pics. We have definately seen all of the beauty of Italy. One observation – Italy is truly a beautiful country, but it’s been tainted and marred by a lot of grit and grime as well. We’ve found that you have to be willing to either drive through the ugly to get to the beautiful or else drive a long way out of your way to see the beautiful alone.
Places we’ve visited are:
Northern Italy. The drive from the mountains of Austria into Northern Italy was nothing short of spectacular. We were sad to see that part of the trip end and, knowing what we know now, we probably would have spent one more day in Austria…
San Gimignano was one of our favorite places in Tuscany. We made it from Hallstatt to S. Gimignano in one long day of driving. We took back roads through the mountains and through the Tuscan Hills which made it longer but much more fun and scenic. Our Agriturismo in S. Gimignano was my favorite place. It overlooked the city and was just a beautiful place to stay.
Tuscany is absolutely gorgeous. The hills are so green and it’s just such a fun place to drive and explore. Of course, driving in Italy has been a fun experience. If you see Lee, ask him about driving the streets of Florence. Let’s just say God’s mercies were upon us!
After S. Gimignano we headed to Sienna. We LOVED it! We totally regret not spending the night there instead of heading over to Montepulciano, which was a beautiful city, but very boring. Anyway, here are a few pics:
The Tuscan Hills. So beautiful. This was at a winery where we did an impromptu wine tasting. Now we have to figure out how to get the three bottles of wine we bought back home...
The sun setting over the hills from Montepulciano.
From Montepulciano we headed to Florence. This was our stressful day. We couldn’t find a hotel we liked got totally stressed and finally paid too much for a hotel we really didn’t like. Despite the crazy of the morning, however, we got into the city by 3:00 and stayed until midnight. It was amazing to watch the sun set over the Duomo knowing that for centuries that building has graced the horizen. I was fascinated by the history in Florence. It’s so beautiful, but again, I find it sad that the history is buried between so much nonsense and commercialization. It’s unfortunate.
The only thing we made it a point to see in Florence was the statue of The David. Neither of us are huge art lovers and while it would have been nice to see some of the great masterpieces, we didn’t care to wait hours in line. So we kept it simple.
There’s no other way to put it, other than to say seeing that statue of The David was awe inspiring. Knowing it was carved out of a single piece of marble by one of the greatest sculptors in all of history 506 years ago makes it jaw dropping. But when you see the statue up close and see the precision and detail that went into it, it takes your breath away. I’m really glad we took the time to visit the museum, and I’m glad we persevered and stayed in Florence – we ended up having a great time.
I hope you appreciate this picture because I totally broke the rules by taking it. Yes, I know he's naked...
The painting inside the Duomo was fascinating. There was so much thought, depth, spiritualism and talent that went into creating these masterpieces.
The sun setting over Florence from the Piazzale Michaelangelo
Gettin' a kiss from my favorite guy as we onerlook the city. I do eventually plan to crop out the poor girl's legs behind us.
We spoke to a couple of local girls at a restaurant earlier in the afternoon and asked them to tell us a good hot spot for after dark. They directed us to a very swanky cliff top restaurant called Flo where we enjoyed an all you can eat buffet, excellent wine and views of the entire city. It was us and all the Italians…and we were under dressed. Stupid Americans…
This morning we got up and took our time driving through Pisa where we dashed to the Leaning Tower, took a picture to prove we were there, then hit the road again. We stopped Lerici for lunch – a beautiful spot right on the water, then drove down through Portofino to Genova where we actually reserved a hotel room for the next two nights. The hotel is very nice and relaxing. I’m not sure we’re going to love Genova, though. It’s kind of crazy. So we may drive up the coast a bit further to spend the day tomorrow. Today is Lee’s birthday so I’m letting him take an afternoon nap then we’ll head out for a late dinner, hopefully with a view!
Pisa - We came, we saw, we conquered. Pardon the dreadful sunglasses. Mine broke after we arrived and these were the only ones I could afford without paying too much. Yikes...
We've seen all there is to see on this trip - Mountains, Countryside, City and Beach. Yeah!!
The view of Lerici from our lunch table. Not too shabby.
So here’s to hoping we have fun in Genova tomorrow and can enjoy the next couple of days before heading home. We’re having fun and have loved our time, but we’re looking forward to seeing our kiddos in a few days! Ciao!
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