Meet the newest member of our family, Brick.

He's a golden retriever that we found at the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (which I would highly recommend working with if you are in the area. They are so sweet!!). He's two years old and his previous owners had to give him up b/c they were moving and couldn't take him with them. We've been thinking about getting a dog for a while and knew that we didn't want a puppy. I loved the idea of a rescue dog and found the perfect one for our family online. Unfortunately he was adopted before we could go see him. Brandon went back to PAWS and found Brick and fell in love. I went by yesterday and saw why. I picked the kids up from MDO and took them over to meet him and see what they thought and Christopher wanted to take him home, after giving him tons of treats. He's been wanting a dog for over a year and name him Pluto, so Brick will most likely have a new name in a couple months. Sophie never cried, so we knew this had to be the one for us. We talked about it some more over dinner. We called some friends who have one and a baby and she only had great things to say about him. We talked some more when we crawled in bed and after sleeping on it we definitely can't pass him up! We know he'll love all of his cousins and the kids will have a new best friend. We can't wait to bring him home with us!

Yesterday the sky was turning black as I picked the kids up from MDO and knew we'd be in for an interesting nap time. Christopher does NOT like thunder and last time we had a storm neither child slept great. Sophie was up and down, but Christopher was out! Once he finally woke up I asked him if he heard the thunder, to which he replied, "Yeah, it woke me up once." I think he was just saying that b/c if it had he would have come running! Then he tells me, "The thunder is good for my back." I just looked at him and laughed!

I was putting the beef tenderloin in a dish to bake and Christopher got very excited. He calls it steak and he couldn't wait to eat it. He tells me, "I like steak. It's comfortable." I lost it! He cracks me up with what he says these days, but I haven't put them on here in a while. I can't wait until Sophie is this age and hear the funny things she says too!

I hope you all have a great and safe 4th of July weekend! I'm so grateful to live in this great country and have the freedoms we do. I'll post photos at the end of the weekend. We have company on the way down here, so I'm going to try to be nice and stay off the blog.

I need to. I feel I have so many things that need to change about me. For the better. Not that I think I'm a bad or terrible person (my kids might disagree at times... if they knew what that meant), but I feel I could improve in so many areas. And of course, I feel the need to share these thoughts with you.

I think my idea for writing this post came from the fact my daughter pulled my bookmark out of my daily Bible and I couldn't remember where I'd left off. So, I started scrolling through the topics and came across "self-image" and had this gut feeling it was where I needed to start. It was good. Very good. I know we all have things about our bodies that we don't like and would love to change, but I've really felt this way after having children. It doesn't help when your child runs up, grabs your belly in both hands and wiggles it around laughing and telling you it's funny. Now, before you jump on me, I know I don't have a big belly. I didn't say it was big, I said it was wiggly. It will never look the same again. I have see worse, but they also had multiples or 10 lb babies. I think you get my point. I'd love to be more confident about my body and not feel I need to hide it all the time. I want to be ok with the fact that I have to order my bras online b/c they don't sell them that small in the store. I want to accept that I have dark spots all over my face from sun damage. I want to love the wrinkles I have around my mouth and eyes when I smile and not think there's surely some cream out there to soften them a little.

The thing I want to improve on the most is my spiritual life. I used to be really good at having quiet times on a daily basis and made it to church every time it was open. I may be one of the rare ones, but I actually loved being in the youth group. I had fun on the trips and the Bible studies and helping with the childrens' activities. I even did ok at keeping up with this stuff in college. Don't get me wrong, I'm not perfect by any means and I made my share of mistakes, but I tried really hard. And I'm starting to wonder, did I do those because I felt I had to or because I wanted to? Ok, that doesn't sound good either. I DID want to, but was I really doing it for the right reason? Did I think that by doing the act that I was going to have a better day? I'm such a habit person that so often I do certain things because I'm so used to doing them, but forget why I'm really doing them.

Let me get to the point. Since having children my daily time with God has been nearly non-existent. And it kills me. The whole first year I'm just walking around in a daze and if I sat to read anything I'd fall asleep or space out or think about all the things that I keep forgetting to do and never take in anything I was reading. Moving every two years and having a newborn once getting to that new city, makes it very difficult to get out and find a church home. Especially if your husband isn't always able to join you and you know you are leaving again in two years and have to start the process all over again. I joined a few Bible studies, and they were good, but I just missed doing those things with my husband. (He misses these things too.) These are not excuses by any means. I know that. So, for Christmas I asked for a daily study Bible to help me get motivated again and it was great! At first. I am strange and love following directions for anything and everything, so I started with the first daily study and just kept going to the next one it suggested. Then the bookmark was pulled and I didn't know where to go. (Never was much of a free bird!) and actually skimmed through them to get to one I hadn't read yet. I was getting bored b/c I wasn't dealing with the topics it was discussing. Until today. The bookmark was removed again and I don't think I've ever been happier to lose my place. At the end of the study it had another verse to read and it was James 2 26, "If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless." Now it may be talking about something completely different than what I took it as, but it was just the kick I needed to get back in the game. Thank you God for curious children!!

So, there. I've said it. I want to be better at both of these. I want to be a better wife and mother too, but Sophie just woke up and I wouldn't be a very good mom if I just let her sit there and cry while I'm writing about being a better mom now would I? I'll leave you with my thoughts, however random they may seem, in hopes it will keep me more accountable.

Here's some photos from yesterday. They finished the new playground by our house and last night it was not as hot (notice I can't say "cooler") so we took the kids to go try it out. And a few from our dip in the pool too.

I see it!!!! Christopher is back to normal! Well, I'd say 90%. Everything is staying in. Sophie's still loose as can be, but I'm just glad he recovered within a week. I was starting to get worried. We missed church this morning b/c yesterday they both were not well and I want to make very sure they are over this before we go anywhere. Christopher and I did have a little date this morning. He has to take a bucket to school with his clothes and lunch in it now and we had to go buy one. He picked out a blue bucket at Walmart and Tiffany told me that A.C. Moore had construction stencils and so we went and got those too. Then he wanted to go to "Make-on-Donald's" to get an ice cream. I told him he had to eat some french fries too. (Not concerned about healthy now, just keeping it in) He ended up just eating fries and I had his ice cream. We actually ran into the mother of a friend of ours who was taking their son to lunch and we ended up visiting with them. They are moving to VA this week and she was pulling grandparents duties by keeping him out of the way and the house.

When we got home Brandon told us that he and Sophie had filled up the pool, so we all put our suits on and heaed out back. I swapped some plants around and then jumped in (the best you can with a baby pool) and "cooled" off. I'm not completely happy with my plants in the back, but they are bought and I have to use them. It's just to sunny back there that some of them aren't working as well as I'd hoped. I dug up my $1 wildflowers b/c they looked more like weeds and planted some of the flowers that were wilting. I bought some new one yesterday that need lots of sun and put them right smack in the middle of it. Hopefully they will do ok in the ground b/c they look like the type that should be hanging over the side of a pot. I don't care. There are flowers out there.

And an update on yesterday's party. Apparently it went off perfectly! Brandon sounded so excited when I talked to him and said everyone had a great time! Brandon said that as people showed up they started helping out and 2 of the guys just stood there and grilled food for hours. (thanks everyone for helping out!) They actually stayed longer than planned, ate tons of food, rode in the boats, played volleyball, demolished the ice cream sundaes and finally went home. We were both very tired from our day and had the kids and ourselves in the bed by 8:30. It was fabulous! I'm off to relax some more while the kids nap and Brandon is off to a going away party.

I keep wondering when the sickness in our house will end. It has been almost a week now for Christopher, but he seemed well for 2 days in the middle. then he started up again. Now Sophie has diarrhea. And you can hear it from across the house when it happens. I am so thankful I got a heated steam cleaner for Christmas b/c I have used it more this week than ever! I'm not mad or complaining, just wondering how long can it really last? It's not like they are lying around miserable, they play like normal part of the day, but every now and then Christopher lies on the floor with no energy. I drug the kids to the garden center on base to get more dirt, but that wiped them out completely. At least they are staying hydrated. Not eating much, but you almost don't want to force food in their little tummies. Brandon got some medicine, but we aren't sure how we are going to get them to take it b/c it tastes absolutely horrible!

Speaking of Brandon, poor guy has had to deal with this silly party and the only available person in his class to help him got paged by labor and delivery right as they were walking out the door to take everything! The rest of the class is post call, on call, sick or has company in town (and she's helping as much as she can). The guy just can't catch a break. I think this party doesn't need to happen anyway. You already have one party for the new residents, plus they spend a month just learning about what they are going to be doing the next few years, they have families that are trying to get settled in and then we decide to throw 2 parties at them on top of everything else! This one is supposed to include all the techs, etc. who the doctors work with and Brandon didn't realize that HE was supposed to send out and email to invite them. They have enough food for 150 people and only about 50-60 showing up. Did I mention that he didn't ask to be in charge of this party? He was told he was in charge a month after it was decided. Who did the deciding I don't know, but they need to learn how to ask people of favors instead of telling them later. And by the way, when you put someone in charge of something they've never done before, make sure you give them all the details of what the job requires, don't assume they'll just figure it out. (I will stop here b/c I could go on and on about the bad luck my sweet husband has had.)

I want to end on a good note and tell you that he "graduated" from being an intern and is now a second year resident. I am so proud of him and hate that I had to miss the little ceremony that they had yesterday, but mommy duties were calling and unfortunately they take top priority. I'm so proud of him and can't believe we got one year down! It wasn't nearly as bad as they said it would be. That's not to say we didn't have our bad days, he did more than us, but we survived and they say it only gets better. I love you and I'm so proud of you doc!

Here's what we've been up to at our house this week:

Last night the residents had their annual banquet honoring the 3rd years who are moving on and give awards out to those in the residency who stood out. I'd heard about how great this banquet was, but you don't go until you finish your first year. With Christopher being sick, I wasn't sure if I'd be going, but thankfully he was well enough for school, so I was in the clear. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up and not have to worry about watching our children. It was also great b/c we found a babysitter and she was wonderful! The kids loved her and she said she'd love to come back, so now we may have the chance to go out with other couples instead of swapping nights with them. Yippeeee!!!!