A day in the life of Lor

Planning ahead...what's for dinner.

2011-06-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

So my deep freezer downstairs was starting to look bare and we were having questionable storms so I decided to gather all of my meat from my upstairs freezer and put it in the downstairs freezer. If you all remember the summer Lydia came home there was that massive storm that knocked out power for the whole county for a week. We lost our entire contents of our fridge/freezer combo.

Taking a count

Anyways, as I was moving it, I tallied up all of our meat and made a list. then I made a calendar in Excel and started plugging them in. So yes, I have a menu, but I did not plan out every side or component of the meal, just the main course. Then ideally, every Monday, I can go to the store and buy the salad or fresh corn or what have you for the whole week. So far, I haven't had to go to the store yet, we have been living off our our pantry and garden. Dear Jesus, please keep the squash and zucchini coming!

Saving time and saving costs

Tonight's menu reads Poppy's Hamburgers. Tomorrow it reads frozen pizza. LMNOP needed milk so I ran to the store and bought buns and corn for the hamburger meal and a bagged salad to go with the frozen pizza we already have. Minus the cost of the milk and juice I bought, I probably spent around $9 for the buns, salad, onions, corn to throw on the grill and the secret ingredient for his famous hamburgers. How many times have you planned what you were making for the week as you were going up and down the store's isles? This has taken the guess work out for me and is a much welcomed change.

Wow, it will last a while.

By just plugging in the meat, frozen entrees we have and things like frozen pizza into my calendar, our menu takes us through the end of July. Then you all know of my famous turkey ground turkey deal...ahhh, you don't that was on Facebook. Ok, soon I will post my story of the turkey. Anyways, and amazing deal and 14 lbs of ground turkey later, I rearranged the menu and was able to take us through the middle of August.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

So to make my pastor's wife, mom of two, sunday school chick, business owner, crazy lady life easier, I made some days of the week the same meal every week. I think you might remember my tuesday taco nights. Sometimes I can find the food comforting and familiar and it just resets the tone of your week. Our current repeats are every Sunday (you know our Sundays are not predictable) we will be having noodles, pasta sauce with ground beef stirred in. For sides, we will just use whatever is left over from the week before. Aren't Sundays a great clean out the fridge day anyways. Its cheap, its super easy and I am currently debating wether I will ground 5 weeks worth of meat at a time and freeze it individually. I think I might try it.

Our other repeat meal this summer is wednesday night hot dogs. Wednesday night is our bowling night. It takes what a whole 5 minutes to grill a hotdog? At the end of the meal you are left with a plate to wash that you carried the hot dogs in from the grill. This past Wednesday we had grilled hotdogs, re-grilled pineapple, a can of baked beans, leftover coleslaw and finished off our leftover potato salad. By the way Lydia Grace can kill some potato salad.

Code Blue. Code Blue

I did color in the days I am not cooking blue. Of course you know we have our church's Leadership and Logistics meeting at my house on the second and forth Mondays and everyone takes turns cooking. We were just in Cumberland for a 2 day getaway. In the month of June we will be celebrating a very special Poppy. Also in the month of July, somebody special has a birthday and we will take her to whatever restaurant she wants.

Code Red....well more of a pink.

These are days that will require a special menu of its own...not just the entree planned out, but every component and will require a special budget. We have company staying at our house in June, AB's bday party and Lyd's party.

Going out to eat

I have feeling we will not be going out to eat as much. There really is not a need to. It is so tempting to. Man, last night was one of them. I can see my old habits. A long day, a long week, the last thing you want to do is cook. But because fish sticks were already on the menu, I forced myself to turn the oven on. Once the oven was on, I put frozen broccoli in the microwave, boiled water for our mac and cheese and opened a can of peas for lyds. Not the most glorious cooking, not the healthiest but this is how my family eats. Take it or leave it. Dinner was done in 14 minutes. It would have taken me 14 minutes to look up and decide on a pizza place that delivers and then to place the call. Then they say it takes 45 minutes to deliver. To celebrate the fact that we stuck to the plan and probably saved $35 in pizza delivery costs, I gave everyone an ice cream sandwich...that is if they ate all their fish sticks. (I see now how I can afford more treats like ice cream sandwiches if I am saving money by not going out to eat and by using what we already have in our pantry/freezer.)

Hug trees and go paperless.

I have not printed it yet. If you know me, you know the hug tree part was a joke, however if I did print it, it would be a waste. I would have to keep reprinting it. Like the time when I added 14 pounds of ground turkey. You know my family would kill me if we had ground turkey 14 days in a row, I had to reshuffle everything, throw in a pork chop here and there and mix it up. Also, the other night we were slated to have fish sticks, one of Dustin's favorites. That morning he informed me he was fasting. No point in me making them and tempting him. So I made my favorite meal, scrambled eggs and french toast. We moved the fish sticks to last night and moved whatever was on the menu for last night to two weeks from now. (and bonus, the eggs and french toast didn't use up a meat so it just prolonged the number of days we have groceries planned out) and breakfast for dinner isn't one of Dustin's favorites.

Here is what is slated for next week:

Tonight

Poppy's Hamburgers

Saturday

Frozen Pizza

(however we will probably do it for lunch and join America a day early

by taking our amazing Poppy to dinner and celebrating him)

Sunday

of course noodles, pasta sauce and ground turkey

Monday

a frozen entree in a bag

of sweet and sour chicken with rice

I have a small group I go to the 3rd monday of each month.

Just for moms.

Tuesday

NY Strip steak...to make up for the gross dinner

I left my family with the night before

Wednesday

Chicken n Dumplings

What?!? no hotdogs? you contradicted yourself. Well here is the deal. the other day i was craving (no I am not pregnant) my mom's chicken and dumplings. I bought the chicken and the biscuits for the dumplings but I forgot to buy the frozen peas and carrots. (my mom never added veggies that is my twist). Well, Dustin is NEVER a fan of chicken on the bone, even though I am going to remove it, and I know my family will welcome a hotdog break, and if I slip this meal in unexpectedly on him (pretty sure he does not read my blog) he will have no choice but to eat it and move on because we have to leave the house by 6:30 to get to bowling in time. I figured I would bite the bullet and try my hand at it. And I chose sooner than later because the biscuits are gonna expire if I don't.

Thursday

Lobster Ravoili

Its the frozen bertoli kind. My family loves it. It is usually $8 or $9 a box however the store had it on sale for $5 and I had a $1.5 coupon so woo hoo to fancy Lobster ravoili for only $3.5 a box. You will see it on our menu in the future. I have like 4 boxes of it.

Friday

the day our company arrives.

I have not yet planned out that menu.

Water x 8

2011-06-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know I do not drink near enough water...or any liquid for that fact. If I have come to your house for dinner and you ask me what I want to drink, I will often pass until after I have had my meal. I have gotten majorly dehydrated before and had heat exhaustion issues.

We are going on our first family vacation since we have become a family. Our last one (just Dustin and I) was September 2006. Well, I tried on a sun dress at Banana Republic (outlet of course) and it did not look pretty. I still have not gotten to my pre-Lyds weight, not to even mention my pre-AB weight. My vacation is 79 days away from today. Starting on Monday, I wrote on my closet door (mirrored) with a dry erase marker a little chart.

Current Weight

Goal Weight

Need to Lose

Days till Vacation

Each day I fill in the columns with my numbers. Its not like I am doing a strict diet. Any by no means am I starting a stenuious execrise plan. You can see in my previous entry, my plate is full with all those other dreams and ambitions. Exercise is not on my heart. Maybe if I can go a few weeks knocking out the other stuff, I could imagine it...anyways, my goal is to conscious of what I am eating, try to eat less and drink 8 glasses of water a day.

Yesterday till today, I did not lose any weight but I didn't gain. I wonder if I did not eat the 330 calorie Chocolate Sundae from McDonalds at 10pm last night, maybe I would have lost a few ounces.

Anyways, in the last 4 days, I have found the best way for me to get my 8 glasses in. My perfect glass of water is room temp, with a slice of lemon (a huge slice) and a straw. I am too cheap to buy the real lemons, so I have been exchanging the lemon slice for lemon juice.

Every morning, I make 2 bottles and 6 sippy cups of milk for LMNOP. Why not make my drink too. I set out 4 tall glasses. They measure 2 cups of water. I fill them up, squirt my lemon, and stick a straw in one of them. I leave them on the counter and drink them throughout the day.

Here is what I have found:

I do not have to keep track of how many I have had and how much more I have to go

I do not have to make a glass every time

A straw makes it go faster

I do not like things out on the counter so it motivates me to drink it quicker

If I finish it all by noon, I do not have to get up at all hours of the night to pee

I do not know the science behind why we need it, I just know everyone says we do. It helps with weight loss somehow. Oh well, I do not think it can hurt.

By the way, I bought one of the dresses that did not look so good. Monday, I started with 16.9 lbs to lose to get to pre-Lyds. Today I only have 13.3. Can I do it in 79 days by eating less and drinking more...only time will tell. Jesus, please help me have self-discipline.

Why so long since I wrote?

2011-06-16T08:15:00.001-07:00

I have no idea. I am so hard on myself. I need everything to be perfect. Who cares if it is perfect? My ideal day would include the following:

a blog entry into adayinthelifeoflor
a blog entry into livinglighteronethingatatime
organizing coupons
entering my reward points (coke, pampers, huggies, etc.)
straightening my house
getting my inbox to zero
knocking out projects for tapestry
work diligently on getting my house completely organized and cleaned so it looks like a pottery barn magazine...yeah right.
sending correspondence to friends and family on fancy stationary
reading chapters and chapters of the Bible
spending hours in prayer and worship
read a novel
read a non-fiction book
write my book
prepare for Sunday School lessons
cooking fancy dinners that impress everyone
pop over at someones house in our church and surprise them with a loaf of fresh made bread

I know it is silly but I feel defeated everyday and get to a dark place. I was thinking about this blog in particular today...a day in the life of Lor is nothing more than me blogging about my day. I do not need a fancy idea or concept before I can write. I am going to start just doing more snippets of my day...not for you, not for me, but for my girls...this is for them. For them to treasure, for them to laugh at, for them to devour when they are 31 with 2 kids wondering what the heck to do. I love you Anna Beth. I love you Lydia! Please know this, all my insanity and striving and searching...its for you. I want to be the best Mom you can have. Dear Jesus, please keep teaching me.

I do this every year: my pre-Birthday post

2011-02-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Two years ago it was a quest to have the most perfect day all to myself

Last year was a strive to have better relationships

This year.....fingers tapping....hmmm, off the top of my head, I just want to be better.

I want to be a better cook.

I want to be a better housekeeper.

I want to be a better homemaker.

I want to be a better mom.

I want to be a better wife.

I want to be a better friend.

I want to be a better pastor's wife. (Lord help us all, we know I am not good at that.)

I want to be a better LMNOP person.

I want to be a better listener.

I want to be a better encourager.

I want to be a better corresponder.

I want to be a better keeping the car cleaned out person.

I want to be a better organizer.

I want to be a better reader.

I want to be a better writer.

Am I horrible in all these areas? Heck no!

Am I great in all these areas? Heck no!

Will I ever meet my own standards? Heck no!

Will I write a post like this next year a few weeks before my birthday? Heck yes!

This is who I am. No sense in denying it!

Not bragging, just making a mark so I can come back to this moment

2011-02-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

In no way am I bragging or boasting or anything close...I just have to mark this day so that I can come back here and be encouraged.

This Saturday I will have been married for 11 years to a pretty amazing guy.

I no longer have to work at my past job that was filled with such negativity and at times was hostile.

I am about to have a birthday this month and do not mind getting older.

I am a business owner.

I get to stay home with my 2 daughters.

I have 2 daughters.

We have a nice home.

My husband has a nice job.

We have a great church that is only getting greater.

I live in a place where we get snow.

I can wear pre-pregnancy jeans.

My husband loves me.

I do not need anything.

God hears my prayers and knows my heart.

I have 2 arms and 2 legs.

I have good friendships.

I know Jesus.

We get a family vacation in September and it is almost completely paid for.

My husband trusts me.

today I sit here humbled by thankfulness.

A great beginning to a life long journey

2011-02-01T07:45:00.001-08:00

Dustin and I have always openly talked about what it means to have Jesus in your heart and she has always made comments like He can be in our hearts but she doesn't want Him in hers yet or she will tell me that Jesus is in my heart but the color green is in hers. Obviously she is young and we do not want to push it, we just continue to make it part of our conversations.

One thing that we do is pray over our children each day and one of the main things we pray is that "one day she will choose you (Jesus)".

Imagine my excitement when this Sunday, before church started, AB hollered across the sanctuary to me that Jesus was in her heart. I asked her how he got there and she said all by himself. I said, wow that is great, let's tell Poppy!

I sat back as she walked up to him. Of course he was busy setting up the sound system and making sure everything was all set for the service that was to start in 30 minutes. "Poppy, Jesus is in my heart". You could see the exact moment it registered in his brain. He dropped everything and took her behind stage. I of course made my way back there with them. He grilled her with a million questions and explained to her what it means to have Jesus in her heart. The coolest part was when she interrupted him and she explained parts of it to him. He explained that when Jesus is in her heart, he is her Lord and Savior and he protects her...she said and Poppy it also means that he is my friend.

We closed the little time with a precious prayer that she repeated. Was this real? Does this count? She is 3. Can a 3 year old really know what they are doing? Everyone will ask these questions, but you know what, who cares? What a precious precious day in our family! What a precious moment that Anna Elizabeth had. She wanted to connect with Jesus.

I will never forget Sunday, January 30th, 2011 at 10:30am. What a great beginning to a life long journey of knowing him! Congratulations Anna Beth!

Lyds is all grown up

2011-02-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

During our big storm this last week, Lydia decided to grow up. Within a 2 day span, she grew 2 teeth, fed herself little puffs, sat all by herself and crawled/scooted backwards. I am happy for my children to progress, but oh I miss the baby baby phase.

Time for another one I guess!

1/23/11 turned 6 months

1/28/11 2 bottom teeth popped thru

1/29/11 feed self, sit up, crawl backwards

Where does this stuff come from? Should I be proud or sad that she is so grown?

2011-01-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

So a couple weeks ago, our dear darling 3 year old Anna Beth PROUDLY announced to us that she can burp her ABCs and the proceeded to show us so. Holy Cow! Where did she get this from? None of her little friends do this. She does not watch TV. The movies she watches are of course preview by us. Where in the world did she learn this?

Yesterday, my dad had to fly to TX for work. We said good bye to him and looked at the map to see where he was flying. I then said we should call MeMaw cause she will be sad that she is all alone. What does she say on the voice mail? "Memaw, do not be afraid...Jesus is with you".

Then, just today, just 30 minutes ago, as I am getting her ready for her afternoon nap she had an owwie on her finger. "Mommy, look, I can kiss my own owwies now. I do not need you to. " And then as if she were rubbing in in my face, she kissed and kissed and kissed her finger. Of course I told her that her kisses were for my owwies and mine for hers and mine were better. She laughed and continued to kiss her own finger again. The conversation ended with me tickling her all the way to her bed. I think deep down she loves my kisses but is loving the discovery of independence too.

This is such a fun stage, I want to say most fun yet, however I have said that about all the others too. All I want to do is squeeze her so tight and never let her go. There is not a day goes by that we do not smother each other with kisses!

Things heard while getting ready for Christmas

2011-01-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

Dustin: (in a stern warning voice) Anna Beth, Santa Clause is watching you.

AB: (in her very excited voice) I KNOW! AND JESUS IS TOO!

AB: Does Santa have a car?

Mommy: Nope, remember he has a sleigh

AB: Well I am going to pray that he has a car. Dear Jesus, please give Santa a car. In Jesus name Amen.

My One thing for 2011: Good bye perfectionism

2010-12-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

That seems to be the theme of my week. I recently selected the photos for our Christmas cards. I really struggled. Dustin switched our family over from PC's to Mac (I don't even know if it is the right terminology) and I am struggling to adapt. Our whole photo organization is out the window (he says its better) and my laptop doesn't have a slot for an SD card. Mostly out of convenience and partly for being stubborn and not wanting to learn, I just take photos on my phone and throw them up on facebook. its a great solution for in the now but it makes it hard to upload photos from a cell phone to snapfish and have a high resolution. After spending an hour, scanning through hundreds and hundreds of photos realizing we didn't have a good shot of the 4 of us, I let go of the idea in my head that it needs to be perfect and settled for a photo where AB was holding a long piece of grass and successfully dividing Dustin's face in half and Lyds was on a baby carrier on my back and just as the photo was taken she arched her back and her face can barely be seen!

My day was too busy to worry about a snap shot and make the perfect Christmas card. Heck, I had to get the girls ready to get their photo taken with Santa that night.

AB took a bath. Lydia took a bath. AB's clothes were on. Lydia's clothes were on. Their clothes complimented each others so nicely. We were all ready to go when Poppy came home and then the unthinkable happened. Lydia scratched her face. It was bright red and was going to look awful on the photos. I called Dustin and told him that we had to go tomorrow instead of that evening. He laughed and dismissed my outrageous request. That night was the only night we had open and gosh golly we were going. I swallowed my anxiety and figured I would have the angle of the camera opposite from where this red mark on her face was.

Dustin came home. Dinner was on the table. AB was shadowing me in the kitchen. I kept tripping on her and asked her to please leave the kitchen. I was speeding around. We had to eat so that we could get out the door and see Santa before he had to feed his reindeer. I was not a very pleasant person (as I look back, I can easily see it). All I had to do was get AB's milk. I asked her one more time to leave the kitchen and swung the refrigerator door wide open to grab the milk and my poor 3 year old was in its path. She was leaving the kitchen but not fast enough. My hand and the fridge handle and the fridge door clocked her face so hard it pushed her into the dining room door frame. She got a goose egg on her cheek and the back of her head.

All I could do is stop and hold her and tell her I was so sorry. What a wake up call. I couldn't find a card good enough for our Christmas card. Lyds scratched her face and it was going to show up on the Santa picture. I threw together a nasty quick meal so we could rush out the door. In my haste, I clocked my 3 year old who wouldn't move fast enough and we rode to the mall in an awkward silence. It was my fault. I cared too much to make everything perfect and didn't take time to just enjoy being with my family. Do I really want them to remember that? No way. I had to change! And I was going to do it right now.

Isn't God so funny. You know he tested me right off the bat. We get to the mall and what do you know...it was take your pet to see Santa day. AB in her black velvet pants was bound to get dog hair all over it. Lydia had fallen asleep and as soon as I pulled her out to take her hat off, she had a red line across her forehead. The line moved ever so slow. AB's hair was flying like the wind with all the static electricity. Lord, I give up. I cannot be gripped by the care and anxiety I was having. My chest was starting to hurt.

The photographer took like 10 shots and only 1 looked good. I didn't care anymore. AB got to see Santa. She screamed/whispered his name in such belief when she saw him. It was magical. We redeemed the evening when we went to the food court and turned in 3 coupons for a free chickfila kids meal. It was so great to have a late night snack together. 2 dinners in one night! I felt good to break the rules.

On the way home, you will not guess what I saw...a shooting star; just for me! I know God arranged it special. He was telling me I was right on track!

Here is to a 2011 filled with carefree living! My husband and kids deserve it!

(P.S. Do you notice? You can't even see their owies)

Things heard while playing and using imaginations

2010-12-14T09:43:00.001-08:00

AB and a friend were playing with dolls and being the voices.

AB's doll: Hi, what is your name?

Her friend's doll: My name is Canisa

AB's doll: Hi Canisa

Her friend's doll: What is your name?

AB's doll: My name is Mommy. Mommy Lori Hedrick!

That did my heart so good!

Things Heard

2010-12-14T08:43:00.001-08:00

Anna Beth was hiding and playing behind the Christmas tree with a friend. I asked them both to leave the sunroom and move into the living room because they broke the rule. AB was pouting and asking for her Poppy. I told her she could not be upset with me, I didn't break any rules. If she wanted to be upset, she should be upset with herself. She didn't agree. I started my conversation again. When we got to the rule breaking part, I said, "Did Mommy break any rules?" She nodded her little head yes. I asked with a surprise in my voice, "What rule did Mommy break?" She replied, "You broke my heart."

Where have I been and what is next?

2010-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

I am here. I completed my scheduled round of blogging for the fall: Monday's making it a home, Tuesday Taco Salad Family Night, Wednesday's Something Never done before, Thursday's things heard and Friday's thankful treasures. I will not start a new round until 2011 but until then, please just enjoy the bits and pieces I put up. Any suggestions for the next round?

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-11-19T06:26:00.000-08:00

Lydia: Her new skill of rolling over!

Me: Fall, Family, Dustin's birthday and all of our friends

Dustin: his birthday was this past Wednesday. click on this link to see what he is most thankful for: http://holyworldwide.com/dustinhedrick/?p=1531

AB: Her Poppy's coat. Last night cold water was poured on hers and she got to wear his to the car and of course he offered for her to wear it all the way home. The look on her face shows her thankfulness and her love for her Poppy

(sorry it is so dark, her car seat is navy blue, the coat is black and it was dark outside)

Thursday's things Heard...when talking about Jesus

2010-11-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

AB: Mommy look (a Christmas decoration), I remember that from last year. Its for Christmas.

Me: Yes, I see that. Do you remember what Christmas is all about?

AB: Santa Clause and presents!!!

Me: Do you remember what else Christmas is about?

AB: Nope

Me: Remember it is about Jesus and him being born and God sending him to earth to be with us?

AB: Oh, yes, I remember that! That is so special. This year at Christmas, I want Jesus to be with Christmas and presents and be in my heart.

Although I know we have been talking a lot about what it means to have Jesus in our hearts, I knew she was not really getting it, we arrived at our location shortly after that and I let the conversation rest. Later that evening we were on the road again, this time Poppy was in the car. We dove past another Christmas decoration.

AB: Poppy, do you remember that (a Christmas decoration)?

Poppy: I do

AB: Its for Christmas

Me: Do you remember what Christmas is all about?

Yes, Santa, presents and Jesus

Me: Hey Poppy, did you know what AB said? She said this Christmas she wants Jesus to be in her heart!

Poppy: (hopeful but still sensing it was too early, heck it was just the other month she said she didn't want Jesus in her heart even though he was in poppy's and mommy's) Really? Wow, that's great? Why do you want Jesus in your heart?

AB: cause he is very nice

Poppy: well thats not the reason we ask Jesus to be in our heart. We ask him to be in our heart because he loves us and we love him and he is our friend and we can talk to him and he died on the cross for us and...

Me: and he keeps us safe

AB: just like the firetrucks keep us safe

Me: yes, firetrucks keep us safe. Who is better than fire trucks?

AB: Jesus

Me: who is better than ambulances?

AB: Jesus

Me: who is better than police officers?

AB: Jesus

Me: who is better than mommy?

AB: Jesus

Me: who is better than poppy?

AB: Jesus

Me: who is better than moose?

AB: Jesus

Me: who is the best in the whole world?

AB: (with much thought and consideration she was quiet for a second and then shouted) .... Anna!!!

Wednesday's Something I have never done before...pumpkins and wine

2010-11-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

I made an incredible Pumpkin Sausage Pasta dish. It has been a long time since I followed a recipe and created a nice meal. Encouraged and inspired by my Uncle David, I finally agreed to do it. I printed the recipe, read it over and over and over. Made a shopping list and went to the store. $26 dollars later I had all the ingredients for the pasta dish and the accompanying spinach salad. I had hoped to spend a little less but if you think about it, the cost of going to a nice restaurant and getting 2 entrees, 2 salads, a kids meal, a drink (i usually get water but Dustin always gets a diet coke) and a milk for AB plus tax, plus tip - I think $26 was a good deal!

Dustin had to work late which was great, there wasn't a lot of pressure for me to get it done quickly. I read the recipe over and over again. Had it really been that long since I followed a recipe; shamefully I think it has. 1 cup of dry white wine. Ok so how in the heck am I to know if the wine I got was dry? I don't drink, everyone knows that. I bought a cheap bottle for $7. Looks like I can make this recipe many more times seeing that I only used a cup. How long does wine last in the fridge after it has been opened? Speaking of opening, how in the heck am I supposed to open it? I have never opened wine. I called my dad, he walked me through it. It was kinda cool. AB was upset that I made her leave the room while I did it. (I didn't know if it was going to fly off and hit her in the eye or something.)

The pasta dish came together very nicely and the spinach salad was perfect; even the dressing was homemade!

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pasta-with-pumpkin-and-sausage-recipe/index.html

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...Dustin's birthday eve

2010-11-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

No Taco Salad again...but it was a special occasion. Poppy's birthday was tomorrow and we had to go shopping without him. In our house we celebrate birthdays for a week and today was day 3 of the birthday week. I made a quick mashed potatoes and a steak cooked inside. The rain would not let up long enough for me to grill.

We scarfed our dinner down, AB wore her rain boots and off to the store we went. AB was on a mission. She wanted to buy Poppy a dog. Lord help us, its all about dogs. I was going to try to steer her in a different direction but then AB announced to Poppy that she was going to buy him a birthday present and it would be a surprise, a dog! He looked at me as I shook my head no and said, at least make it a good one...not some cheap something other, make it something she will like.

My intentions were to go to Bed Bath and Beyond to get him a facial hair trimmer...well let's face it, he's getting old :) and then we would go to the dollar store and let her go wild and pick out whatever she wanted. I didn't think the dollar store would have an appropriate dog we could get plus the rain was a lot and it was late AND it was me vs. 2 girls! Once in BBB I tried to make it a one stop shop. We were on a hunt for a dog. We went straight to the check out isle. I found one for $2.99...you know those family stickers on the back of minivans? You know, the mom, the dad, the princess daughter, the skateboarder son...they have dogs too. We got a dog and it can go on his car and not clutter my house! SCORE!

The evening ended with a stop at AB's favorite place, Old McDonalds. Cheeseburger for her, and ice creams for Poppy and Mommy!

Monday's Making it a Home...10 minutes the night before

2010-11-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

So the daycare, LMNOP opens every morning at 7am. This particular weekend, my house looks very "lived in". (i can't be perfect all the time) and I had planned on waking up early to tidy up a bit before my client arrived instead of doing it on Sunday night. All I can assume is that my last thought before bed was of my intentions and last night my only dream was that I was cleaning all night. So my sleep wasn't restful and I woke up only to still have to scramble to clean up before 7am! The best part is is that it only took me 10 minutes to pick up the whole house.

How restful would my sleep have been last night if I had taken 10 minutes and knocked it out then? Its a goal I can strive for.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-11-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

AB: Green, Poppy, Cheetos, Moose and Crackers (maybe one day I will make it to her list)

Lydia: learning how to sleep longer

Dustin: a break in the clouds (nothing to do on Saturday)

Lori: my husband and his upcoming birthday week

11.12.10

Thursday's things Heard...What do you want for dinner?

2010-11-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

Things heard in response to the daily question...what do you want for dinner?

Me: Ab what do u want for dinner?
AB: Mayonnaise and blueberries!
Me: No way!

Things heard while trying to get a boogie from AB's nose

Very mature and mater-of-factly AB said to me: "Mommy my boogie is way far away and you just cannot reach it"

Wednesday's Something I have never done before...chicken wings

2010-11-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

So I have only been using chopsticks for a little over 8 years. I got embarrassed continually going out to restaurants with friends and them having to ask the waitress for a fork for me and me being the only one at the table using one. I picked up the skill pretty quickly, although it isn't always pretty.

This Tuesday, I ate a chicken wing with a very messy, very yummy spicy glaze with chopsticks. Not a huge deal to you I am sure, but I am actually impressed with myself.

So there, that is something I have never done before.

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...cheese and crackers in bed

2010-11-09T15:27:00.001-08:00

Dustin had the day off today because we have a special guest with us. Noah Gitau is the National Director of Vineyard Churches in Kenya. We have had a great time with him being here. We are getting ready to walk out the door for our last meal with him. A bunch of us from the Tapesty are getting together.

BUT none of the above changes the fact that it is FAMILY NIGHT. We just improvised and made it FAMILY LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. Lydia got a bath first, then AB. She shocked us all with laying down in the tub and letting me support her neck! Praise the Lord, she finally trusts me. We have been doing the cup over the head thing and it was getting really old. This was so much easier. I gave her one green spree as a reward! It was so nice to have Dustin home so early in the day (5pm) haha. We usually do not see him till 6:30. Dinner isn't till 7:30 which means we won't eat till 8:00 so we had cheese and crackers in bed. The cheese was some that we bought from Butler's orchard's Market the day we went to the pumpkin festival. It was fancy cheese and we saved it for a special occasion. I think that Tuesday Family Night was special enough!

Now on to dinner and saying goodbye to a new friend!

Monday's Making it a Home...every room in my house has a kitchen sink.

2010-11-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

So, I have read a book, visited a website, subscribed to a newsletter and received daily emails. Have you every heard of the Fly Lady? I heard of her a few years ago. I have been very busy with 2 kiddos, church stuff, a full time job and LIFE...but I never fully abandon her principles. You can do anything in 15 minutes. Your house didn't get this way overnight and it won't be fixed overnight either. Its ok to vacuum just the middle of the floor sometimes and not all the way to the corners. House work not done perfectly still blesses your family. Shine your sink everyday.

What? Shine your sink everyday? The creator of flylady.net started it all with the principle of shining her kitchen sink every day. If she could at least do that, her kitchen looked cleaner and felt cleaner and it inspired her not to leave dirty dishes in it and then it inspired her not to leave clutter on the counter, etc. Her theory does work.

This week, I decided to jump back in on the flylady bandwagon. But I need to do it at a different pace this time. I think I can fully do it, but I need to start at a very do-able pace. Once she got the kitchen sink down she moved into this master plan for the whole house. Its amazing and Lord bless me, I will be there soon. But I have decided that every room in my house has a kitchen sink. Do you see where I am going? If I can keep the kitchen sink clean in each room then at least my house will "feel" clean. You know that I am talking about...why do you think your mom always said MAKE YOUR BED. Your bed was the kitchen sink of your bedroom. If your bed was made, the rest of the room didn't seem so bad.

So, my goal is to clean the "kitchen sink" of every room before I go to bed. Here is my list of kitchen sinks. What are yours?

Kitchen = obviously the sink

Sunroom = everything off the rug

Dining room = nothing left on the table, not even the salt shaker (not that it is wrong to leave a salt shaker on it, but in my mind, that is how it looks clean to me)

Living room = nothing on the sofa or chairs and the pillows nicely placed

Front entry way = nothing left on the sofa table

Family Room = everything off the carpet

Laundry Room = everything off the top of the washer and dryer

Bathroom = counters cleared off

My room = the bed made

Lyd's Room = nothing in her yellow chair

AB's room = everything off the floor

How long does each sink take...my goodness, it shouldn't take more than 90 seconds per "sink". Does it really take more that 90 seconds to empty the kitchen sink or put away a blanket left on Lydia's yellow chair? So with that time estimate, that means it should take me no longer than 16.5 minutes and I think I could shave that down some. It takes 21 days to form a habit! Here is to making my house a home, one "kitchen sink" at a time!

The name of the book this concept came from is Sink Reflections and the website is www.flylady.net. Enjoy! (and tell me if after checking any of this out you are inspired. I would love a FlyLady buddy)

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-11-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

Lydia: The Tablespoon of rice cereal in her bottle each night starting on Halloween

Dustin: "my friends and family that are working so hard to help complete my vision"

Me: I am so thankful for my life, just as it is, good and bad, highs and lows. Today I am just very thankful and I do not want to miss out on now because I am looking so far ahead.

AB: Anna, what are you most thankful for today. "Hmmm, lets see....my bicycle, my jump rope, my scooter and skateboard." Anna, you do not have a scooter or skateboard (she asks for those daily). Can you just be thankful for your bicycle and jump rope? "Yes, I am."

Thursday's things Heard..."both team"

2010-11-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday around 5:30pm we had a couple things going on at once:

a friend stopped by to pick up VeggieTales Sing Yourself Silly tickets for this weekend (and brought me Dunkin Donuts Coffee), we were walking out the door to go to the store to get snacks for small group, the FedEx Truck blocked us both in as he delivered my *Diapers.Com order, I had to get Lydia in her side of the car, I had to get AB in her carseat, I had to remember to get my coffee off the top of the car, AND I brought my neighbors trash cans in from the curb (because her husband is out of town)

As we were pulling out of the driveway and onto the street, AB said, "Mommy, you didn't buckle this one! Mommy, you didn't buckle this one!" I looked back and sure enough, I had only buckled half of the buckle. I quickly stopped my car, in mid-reverse, leaned back and buckled the other half. "Anna Beth, thank you SO much for letting Mommy know. Please always let me know if that happens." To which she replied, "It's ok mommy, we are on the both team, the both team." I asked, "Do you mean the same team?" "Yes, the same team Mommy."

That did my heart so good. Our little family has been through a lot recently, a new baby, a job change, a business starting, a loan refinanced, just to name a few. One thing I said to my family over and over was guys, lets remember we are all on the same team. We have the same heart, the same goal and we are on each other's side. If I said it once in a day, I said it 30 times...we are on the same team! We are a family! To hear AB say, Mommy, its ok, we are on the both team...was just a huge WOW moment for me. She listens to me and she gets it. She really gets it!

*Diapers.Com is AMAZING! - Diapers to your door, the next day with free shipping! When we get down to the last 2 or 3 diapers I place the order and its like magic, it shows up the next day. It beats having to sit in traffic. It beats having to go to more than one store looking for size 5 pull-ups. It is always having sales. It beats having bulk diaper and wipes take up the whole cart leaving little room for other groceries and hello, have you been shopping with a 3 year old and a 3 month old by yourself! Man!

Anyways, they have a referral program. 15% off your first order, that is of course if you put my code in. Here are the details below:

Thought you might be interested in this website I discovered, www.diapers.com. They deliver diapers, wipes, formula and other baby necessities at really low prices with fast free shipping. They carry all the big brands and hard-to-find products too.

If you enter my email address or Share the Savings Code on the shopping cart screen, you'll get 15% off your first order!* It's their best offer for new customers.

My Email Address: lorihedrick@tapestrychurch.org
Savings Code: 123LMNOP

Check it out at www.diapers.com.

* Please note: $100 max discount. Other restrictions may apply.

Wednesday's Something I have never done before...leaving her alone!

2010-11-03T05:40:00.001-07:00

I think I hit a milestone. I did one of the hardest things I have ever done as a mom. I left Anna Beth alone at a birthday party all by herself. The birthday girl lived on our street, just 2 doors down. I went with Lydia and Anna and I stayed for about 15 minutes to make sure she was going to be ok. I helped her find her nameplate "Princess Anna Beth" and put the straw in her juice box. This was the first time she had been in their home. I don't know that much about the family, but we see them at every outreach that our church does in this community and they are super friendly. Their daughter is just 9 months older than AB.

Once they were eating, the mom started telling all the girls what they were going to be doing. She said, "When you finish eating, we will go downstairs and play a game with a donkey and tails." Anna Beth, excitedly yelled into the living room where I was, "Mommy, we get to play a game with donkey and tails!!!." Then the birthday girl's mom said, and then we have a donut game we will play." Anna Beth, more excited then she was about the donkey, yelled into the living room again, "Mommy we get donuts!!"

The other girls were not yelling back into the room at their moms. The party was from 12:00-3:00. I could not let her do this for 3 hours. She needed to experience this on her own, share her excitement with the little girls her age, not just me. I needed her to be independent. This was her first party without her church friends or her LMNOP friends. This was her big moment and I couldn't have her not experience it fully. So, I told the mom I was going to go home and would be back later to pick her up. I am not sure what the etiquette is, I am not sure she knew either. I told AB I would be right back and she could have cared less.

I went home, set Lydia down and sat on the couch and teared up. Should I have stayed? I did see a crucifix in their living room. They are good people. She is only 3. What if she has to go potty? She can do it all by herself, but she still relies on me to wipe. Who would wipe her? Oh, goodness, I should go back. But I can't go back, I told them I had to go home. Dustin, working from home that day, assured me she would be fine and I could go back early and he even said he would watch Lydia for me so I could have both hands.

I went back around 2:00. The party officially had another hour. She was fine. When I walked in the door, she was helping the birthday girl open her presents. I looked in the pile of opened gifts. Ours was there. Did they like it? Was the birthday girl gracious and make AB feel good for giving it to her or was it dismissed and set down quickly? Did AB notice either way? I realized there, I cannot project my insecurities of what people think onto my innocent 3 year old. She was so happy to be there. I caught myself telling her to back up a little and let the other girls help open the presents but then I realized, I can't be so hard on her. SHE IS 3!!! I had a cup of tea and cupcakes with the other moms and finally felt myself relax!

I am learning. Learning to let go. Wow this is so hard! God please give me wisdom. I don't want to screw this all up. Man, it is hard!

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night ... invaded by Pirates

2010-11-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

So, my client picked their kiddo up early for a Dr. Appt. We had a couple hours till Poppy was due home...we sure did take advantage of that time. First we went to vote. It was fun explaining voting on a 3 year old level. Then it was to the cleaners to pick up Poppy's shirts. Then, the day was too nice to just go home. We met a friend at Yogiberry. The fall air is still so crisp. I am wanting the leaves to stay in the trees just a bit longer.

Once home, I started to make dinner. Yep you guessed it, Taco Salad. Dustin came home from work late. He declared we were going out! We have a lot going on in the month of November and tonight was one of the last nights (this month) that we would get to have time, just the 4 of us!

Chuck E Cheese, here we come! What a blast. We played games, saw Chuck, AB got the jackpot 3 times on one machine, and we ended the night with mommy chasing her up the slide as she was coming down. I know, you aren't supposed to go up the down part, but man I had fun meeting her 1/2 way, tickling her and sliding down together as our hair stood straight up due to static.

We got home again and it was bed time. I got her ready and it was Poppy't turn to read books. As we were using the "spicy" toothpaste and learning to spit properly, a big ugly pirate climbed up the stairs and gave AB a huge fright! Oh she shrieked like a little girl so loud! He whisked her away to her bedroom and read books, sang songs, read the Bible and prayed over her. She loved it. What an awesome way to end the day (for both of them). Dustin had a really stressful day and its so cool how a $5 pirate hat can make a lot of that go away. I don't think either of them will ever forget this night. I know I won't!

Monday's Making it a Home...her own space

2010-11-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

One way to make a house a home is to give each member of the family their own space so they can feel like they are a part. How many times do we tell our little ones to put their toys away. Get your toys off the living room floor. Please put your legos away. You have to put that away if you want to play with the other toy.

My poor child has to clean all the time since we have meetings, dinner appts, etc. weekly. I didn't realize how much it would mean for AB to have her own space but a long time ago, I taped some of her art masterpieces to our kitchen cabinets. (Our cabinets were the nastiest thing about our house and will be replaced in the next year or so, unless they all fall off sooner!). The sun faded them and I pulled them all down. That was like a year ago. This past weekend, AB came to me and asked me why there were not any more up there.

So the tape runner came out and the art went up! Her toys might be put away, but AB has a spot...its right in the heart of my kitchen, above the coffee maker, above the microwave and right next to the fridge. You can't miss it.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-10-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

AB: "Just my Poppy and Moose"

Lydia: Her new toy. (AB's old activity center with buttons, rattles, mirrors, lights and music!!!)

Dustin: New iPads for all of the employees at his company

Me: Getting my church email inbox below 100. It has been a long time! Actually, I am not sure if it ever has been that low. Excited nonetheless and hope to get it even lower.

Thursday's things Heard...pockets

2010-10-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

Things heard while playing...

Each week I wonder if I will have something worthy of posting and then she does it, she goes and says something so precious as if she is right on queue.

Coming down the stairs with her most favorite treasured toys. It is fall now and she is wearing clothes for the first time since she is a size bigger than last fall. She had on a pair of black leggings and as she came down the last stair with both hands overflowing with her little treasures, she asked, "Mommy, do my pants have pockets?"

I replied, "Nope, babe. Not those."

To which she replied quietly to herself as she set down her toys so she could go back for more, "Jesus, please let my pants have pockets. In Jesus name, AMEN!"

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

2010-10-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

My poor husband. He deserves so much better than me. This Wednesday's post is not one I am proud of but it is in fact something I have never done before. I have been married for over 10 years. This past Tuesday, mark it as a first. It is the first time in 10 and a half years of marriage I sent my husband to work with dirty sock. Not only were they dirty, they were handed to him nicely folded together as if they were clean. I just couldn't admit defeat to him. I had fallen behind on the laundry and had completely forgotten to do a load of darks. He asked me at the last minute as he was walking out the door and I panicked. I am sorry, Dustin. I vow to always have clean socks for you.

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night

2010-10-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

We had TACO SALAD again tonight on a TUESDAY! Life is as it should be! It really is like an automatic reset button for our family.

What did we do for family night tonight? It was simple...I loaded her up with lots of sugar and sent her straight to bed! Isn't that what every mom does? Actually I gave her a lolly pop that someone gave her over 3 weeks ago. We just don't do sugar in our house so this was a REAL treat.

She will be going to bed VERY soon. It was a long day for her with a shorter nap. She has been having to adjust to having another kiddo in the house because of our daycare. The weather has been changing and today was a little gloomy...perfectly matching her mood. Bless her heart, she needs sleep. 2 nights ago it was 8:30, last night it was 9:30...tonight our goal is 7:45.

It is just a reset kinda night for our family. We have been through a lot and life is starting to settle. I can't wait to do a little resetting myself tonight at 7:46!

Monday's Making it a Home...smells

2010-10-26T12:06:00.001-07:00

Did you ever come home from school to the smell of fresh baked chocolate cookies? What about the smell of fresh clean sheets on your bed? I am convinced part of what will make my house more of a home is if I can create a "smell memory".

I have one friend that gives AB hand-me-down clothes and I keep thinking to ask her each time what laundry detergent she uses and then the last batch she gave me had fresh, unused dryer sheets in each bag hidden nicely between layers of perfectly folded clothes. That was it. That was the smell. It was just what I was looking for.

They can only be purchased at Costco. Another friend I have just did a Costco run and she picked some up for me. Now, in my house, there are fresh unused dryer sheets, in my closet, Lydia's closet, AB's closet, the shoe closet, all of our dressers and a place that you wouldn't think to put one, my car. I will replace them every few weeks, maybe the car every week. I also plan to put one in each bin of clothes we have stored in the shed.

Seems silly, but I think that if years down the road my girls get a quick whiff of that smell, it will take their minds back to home immediately and my hope is that they will want to sit there a moment and treasure all their home memories. If it doesn't work and my theory is all wrong, at least we will smell nice. Its a win win.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-10-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Dustin: "the loan being finished"

AB: "my Poppy"

Me: Uploading hundreds and hundreds of photos to Flickr

Lydia: She is thankful for her fist, she discovered it and can practically cram the whole thing in her mouth

Thursday's Things Heard...keeping Lydia

2010-10-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

As we were getting ready for bowling, I was changing Lydia's diaper and started to put her in her car seat, AB asked: Mommy, are we going to keep her for never?

Instead of answering her question, I did what any good mom would do, I asked her a question: Do you want to keep her or do you want me to send her back?

Frightened and upset at the very thought of my question, she quickly replied: No mommy, don't send her back, I want to keep her forever!

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

2010-10-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

So this week it was store bought sugar cookies rolled out and cookie cutters and sprinkles and the whole nine yards!

Last Wednesday was my first attempt at it. Here are my thoughts on it.

It was super easy.

It tasted nasty.

I rolled it too thin.

I cooked it too long.

It was just gross.

I was gonna serve them at small group that night but I just couldn't bring myself to put them on the table.

Anna and our LMNOP friend really enjoyed making them, so I guess over all it was a success but man they were gross.

I think in the future, I will use my own dough that I pre-make and freeze.

Catch Up - Sorry

2010-10-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

I am a few post behind but I will catch up now!

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night - I married an amazing man!

2010-10-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight was not a taco salad night again BUT I have a very good reason! Dustin has done so much for our family lately! He made so many things happen and fall into place so that we can start our daycare that we took the chance to celebrate him last night. He wanted to go out, so out we went. At dinner, we listed all the many things he did for us so that the daycare could start. I wanted to share the list with you, but first I must say, I do not deserve the wonderful man that I am married to. I have never seen someone so determined and someone so in love with their family. Dustin Hedrick, you are amazing. Now please take a break and rest, PLEASE!

had the back yard fenced in

painted every room in our house

had new windows put in the sunroom

put a fence around the HVAC unit

made a little fenced area for moose's potty area

put railing up on the deck

had an electrician come out and instal smoke detectors

did a lot of electrical work himself

installed a latch on the front door so kiddos cannot escape

hooked up the alarm system when we first moved in

made a "pirate ship" for AB (also known as a swing set)

helped me pick out and install baby gates

ordered car magnets for his car

reordered them when one flew off

got business card printed

got me listed with vista print listings

google local

yahoo local

all search engines

built a KICK BU*T website

logo and image graphic design

listed in all child care registries, directories, and associations for the county, city and state

listed in the Gazette

registered my company as an LLC

Got an EIN number

registered LMNOP with the state

opened a checking account

opened a paypal account

linked my checking and paypal account together

got a Twitter account (which I do not know how to use)

got a Flicker account

got a Facebook account

Thank you Dustin! I honestly could not have done this without you! Thank you for letting me stay home with our girls!

Monday's Making it a Home...LIFE CHANGING DECISION

2010-10-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

I have put this announcement off for about 13 weeks but I needed to make sure that I ended things well and had loose ends all taken care of. Here is one of the major things I have done to make my house a home:

I am a stay at home mom! I went through hours of training and certifications and Dustin helped me get a daycare started in our home. I am a licensed daycare provider! I currently just have one kiddo and am looking for a couple more, but I get to stay home with Lydia and Anna!!!

I am looking forward to investing my life into children!

Check out our website: www.lmnopdaycare.com

Here is a little from the site. Enjoy!

Have you ever wished you what you did during your ‘nine to five’ part of the day made more of a difference or had a lasting effect on others? That exact thought has been my driving force for the last three years. I have a long resume listing various administrative jobs with my last job being an Office Manager for a commercial real estate company. I did a great job making sure that the office set others up for success so that they could in turn be successful and bring more money into our company. I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life. Who am I having a lasting impression on?

I want to make a difference. I want to impact lives and what better way than to spend my ‘nine to five’ hours with kiddos. I can teach them, love on them, care for them and in turn be a resource for parents and families. It might not bring world peace or stop hunger but it sure has great potential.

Thank you to all of our friends who prayed for this to happen!

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-10-18T06:57:00.001-07:00

Me: Hands down UNCLE DAVID being in town! It is always so great to have family visit!

Lydia: Uncle david would have to be at the top of her list to. He did a lot of holding!

AB: The usual (the color green, Poppy, dogs, and the special crackers we share with our friends AKA Matzo bread for communion)

Dustin: Things continuing to fall in place

Thursday's Things Heard...

2010-10-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Things heard when talking about Jesus...

AB: Mommy does Jesus have wings?

Me: No baby, Jesus does not have wings.

AB: But angels have wings and I love you, Mommy.

Me: I love you too.

AB: And Mommy, I love all kinds of dogs.

The other day we were listening to a worship video on YouTube and I told her they were singing to Jesus and with as much excitement as her little body could contain she asked, "Our Jesus?!?!?!"

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

2010-10-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

Many of my friends have tried my Monkey Bread but this time I took it a step up and made Gorilla Bread. Same concept as the Monkey Bread but the balls were bigger and filled with cream cheese. Yum! I will say this Paula Deen is a very clever lady. I will also say this, this recipe is ONLY good fresh out of the oven. If you wait too late to serve it, it is just ok, not GREAT!

10/13/10

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...minus the taco salad AGAIN

2010-10-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

SHOCKING! (huge gasp of air) Two Tuesdays in a row without Taco Salad! My Uncle David is in town and we decided to go out for a nice dinner. He wanted seafood. We went to Black's Bar and Kitchen. It is some of the fanciest food around. I got to get my absolute favorite dish in the world, Addie's Mussels. I do not know of anyone else in the world that can have their favorite dish at 4 restaurants (soon to be 6 restaurants). Addies, Black Market Bistro, Black's bar and Kitchen, Black Salt. Found out last night it is the Addie's Mussels is his grandmother's recipe and he has it at all of his restaurants. They are opening 2 more soon! I can't wait. Any ways, it was so good to have my favorite dish AND have dinner with Uncle David. Our evening was cut short by a diaper situation with Lydia.

When we got home it was bath time for both the girls. Lydia's was first of course due to our little situation and AB's followed shortly after. After bath time both were placed in their new PJ's that Auntie Vienna, Uncle Joseph and Rhiannon sent up. Fall is here and Halloween is soon! My girls are ready!

Monday's Making it a Home...refinance

2010-10-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord we were able to refinance our mortgage. The rates are at a historic low and we were able to drop our PMI insurance and our monthly mortgage payment is a couple hundred less a month and since we have been a one income family for the duration of my maternity leave it will help tremendously.

I need to take a moment to brag on my husband! He did it all. All the paper work, the research, the applications! No thanks to Bank of America though. They had issue after issue after issue including losing our house note and not having my SSN on file!

Monday the 11th of October was the finish of months of working on this! It will be nice to take a deep breath! Aaahhhhh!

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-10-08T12:54:00.001-07:00

Here is what the Hedrick Family Treasures this week

AB: a visit from Uncle David (starting tomorrow) She has asked everyday if it is today. It has actually been a great tool for teaching days of the week and length of time and patience! Thanks Uncle David!

Lydia: I am sure you guys loved AB's version of what Lydia treasured last week. I will give it a go this week. I would have to say it is her lady bug night light. There was a night last week, she struggled with falling asleep. She was warm, fed, diapered and clothed so I wasn't in my jurisdiction! Dustin gave it a try and realized her room was too light. He put a bulb in the old nightlight and ba-da-bing she was a sleep in no time!

Me: Dustin's ripped pants last night while bowling! We really needed a good laugh and boy did we ever get one! Laughter does your soul so good and it has been a long time since we laughed.

Dustin: "finishing business stuff"

Thursday's Things Heard...

2010-10-08T12:42:00.001-07:00

So if you read my Monday's post you will know that I have this question I am struggling with. How do you teach your child about strangers, yet at the same time, reach out to your community and share the love of Jesus with complete strangers?!?!?!

For those of you who have met my 3 year old, you know she is fearless and very well could be our church greeter if her attention span was long enough. As our church was growing, she was helping me learn everyone's name. She has a great memory and LOVES people!

I am not sure if it was too many episodes of 20/20 or Dateline that did it, but I started feeling like she needed to learn about strangers and how to react, etc.

Here is what one of our beginning conversations looked like:

Mommy: AB, what do you do if a stranger asks you to come in his car for a ride?

AB: I say no!

Mommy: that is right, say no but then say MOMMY!!!! and run away!

Mommy: What do you do if a stranger says do you want to see my puppy?

AB: I say no!

Mommy: that is right, say no but then say MOMMY!!!! and run away!

Mommy: What do you do if a stranger gives you a piece of yummy candy, what do you say?

AB: I say thank you!

Mommy: NO! You say stranger danger! and say MOMMY!!!! and run away!

She sure did make me smile. She is a little polite, miss manners fearless child! I really am working on her!

We tried different combinations and at the end she had the right answer to each scenario!

Pheww!

Now I am just dealing with her pointing to random people and hearing her say "Mommy, she is a stranger I DO NOT LIKE HER" Man that was embarrassing when she said it to the little girl a the library. I am now telling her that if Mommy is there and Mommy talks to the stranger it is ok and she can too, it is when she is alone that she needs to watch out"

URGH!!! Why is this world so messed up that I need to teach my child about all this!!!!!!!

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

2010-10-08T12:33:00.001-07:00

I did it. I signed up to receive a kit to be tested to be part of the National Marrow Donor Program. The test is easy. They will send me a kit, I will swab the inside of my cheek, secure it in its container and send it back. It took 5 minutes to register online and will take less than that to use the kit when I get it next week.

This is something Dustin and I debated for a while (him more than me, I was already convinced it was something I was going to do). If someone's life could be SAVED because we donated bone marrow, isn't it silly not to give. When Dustin and I are talking about evangelism and the lost, he often asks me, 'what is the cost of one man's soul? Where do you draw the line?' My thoughts are exactly the same when it comes to donating bone marrow. 'What is the cost of one man's life? Are you going to be selfish?' ( I am not asking you if you are being selfish, it is the question I ask myself...but now that I went there, I think I will ask you....are YOU going to be selfish?)

Got 5 minutes? Go to www.bethematch.org

Bone marrow transplant is a life-saving treatment for people with leukemia, lymphoma and many other diseases. First, patients undergo chemotherapy and sometimes radiation to destroy their diseased marrow. Then a donor's healthy blood-forming cells are given directly into the patient's bloodstream, where they can begin to function and multiply.

For a patient's body to accept these healthy cells, the patient needs a donor who is a close match. Seventy percent of patients do not have a donor in their family and depend on the Be The Match Registry to find an unrelated bone marrow donor or umbilical cord blood.

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...minus the taco salad!

2010-10-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight we did not have taco salad! (Big Gasp of AIR)!!!

I spent a good part of the afternoon at a friends house watching her kiddos and Dustin was in DC for most of the day! Our Family night started off differently and we just decided to "go with it". Chicka told us that Ledo's Pizza was celebrating its 55th anniversary with $.55 personal cheese pizzas. Lydia had been fed and put down for a nap. Dustin was chillin on the couch! It looked like a perfect time for AB and I to hit the road.

We have been pinching pennies the past few weeks. I have been without income during my maternity leave and we are in the process of refinancing our home because we cannot refuse the amazing low interest rate. I think we can splurge $1.10 for dinner for the 2 of us. Once in the car, I started chatting it up to AB and building it up and making her really excited. Its a date!!! Almost there, we got a text from Dustin. Chicka just let him know that its not worth it. The line is OUT THE DOOR! Of course everyone is there. With Dustin's urging we quickly came up with a Plan B.

Chipoltle! We split a steak burrito bowl and each got a water with lemon and salsa on the side. AB mostly ate the salsa. We sat at a bar stool. I had a blast! It was soo good to reconnect with her! I ran into a co-worker and said hello. Then 2 grandpa type dudes had to mention to me that she was gorgeous and that they loved her shoes. Then, because she was such a good eater, I treated her to a muchkin from Dunkin Donuts. While standing in line, one person asked if we were just next door and after saying yes, they said that it really blessed them when AB and I prayed for our meal. Then AB started singing Take me out to the ball game and got another customer to chime in with her. After we each got a muchkin and headed back to our car, another lady asked how old she was, said she was precious and said she reminded her of her daughter when she was that age.

Dinner was not $1.10 for sure but we did manage to keep it under $8. We had a blast!!! I didn't realize how much we both needed that. No Poppy, No Moose, No Lydia Grace! Just Mommy and Anna!

And a side note...how do you teach a fearless child how to reach out to a community and share the love of Jesus but at the same time teach them about strangers and "Stranger Danger!! Stranger Danger!!" ?

Monday's Making it a home

2010-10-05T10:40:00.001-07:00

This time I put 1/2 her toys away! I did it for 2 reasons...partly because I am so stinking tired of picking up toys that have a million pieces and partly so she doesn't have to share her special toys (i.e. scooby, her 23 year old barbie toys and stuff like that).

Our house is full of kiddos all the time. Friends from church and soon to be daycare kiddos. This child has to share all the time, day and night 24/7 bless her heart. She needs a break.

So here is what I did. All those broken, cheap happy meal toys, broken and/or missing parts toys were trashed!!! Her "special toys" went up to her room and are not to leave there and we just dont have kiddos upstairs to play. The family room has our "core toys", toys that are easy to clean up when the time comes. (ABC Blocks, doll house, Lincoln Logs, Play food, legos and blocks for towers). The rest of the toys (batteries required, exciting toys, dress up, baby toys, million pieces toys, flash cards, puzzles and games) are in the daycare closet. Those will be rotated in a week at a time and made more special because she doesn't see them all the time.

We have had it this way for a week and let me tell you...it ROCKS! Clean up is super easy. No sharing wars with friends. And it sure does make the one toy at a time rule a lot easier. I have seen her play longer and more independently because the area is organized and spacious and she can really focus on her task at hand! It might not work for everyone but our life is just a bit more crazy and we had to find something that works!

Happy toy playing!

Happy Birthday to a very special friend

2010-10-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my Mom, Barbara Chapman!

I love you and hope you have a wonderful weekend and a blessed new year!

Enjoy the video AB made for you.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-10-01T10:12:00.001-07:00

Dustin treasures very much his 171 bowling score from last night.

Anna, what do you treasure? "my dad, Cheetos and crackers." Did you say dad or dog? "Dad, I mean my Poppy. Not my puppy, but my Poppy"

Anna, what do you think Lydia treasures? "She is thankful for treasures and the picture of the ladybug on top of the ice cream on the computer and toilet paper and tomatoes and mickey mouse with potatoes and a hat with the leaves and a hat on a flower with a baby and it was on top of the ice cream plate with a blankie and it was all wet and then it falled down and the baby cries. Was that a great story about Lydia mommy?" Maybe next week we will go back to my speculations for what Lydia treasures.

And what do I treasure? Puzzle pieces falling into place.

Thursday's Things Heard...

2010-09-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

Things heard while watching Finding Nemo...

Yesterday was a rainy snuggle up under a fuzzy blanket kinda day. We started the day watching Finding Nemo in Mommy’s bed. Isn’t that the best part of anything as a little kiddo when you do it in mommy’s bed. I thought of adding popcorn but we hadn’t had breakfast yet.

Dustin always fast forwards through the part where Nemo loses his mom and siblings but when we got to the part where Nemo gets taken from his dad, I mentioned to Dustin I thought it might be too intense. He said she was fine so I used it as a learning point.

You know the part at the beginning when they are going off to the drop off and

Nemo says: What's that?

Tad: I know what that is. Sandy Plankton saw one. He called it... uh... he said it was called a "butt".

Pearl: That's a pretty big butt.

And Sheldon says: Oh, look at me. I'm gonna touch the butt.

And then Nemo swims all the way out, touches the “butt” and gets captured by a diver on his way back. His dad screams and cries out for Nemo but is unable to save him?!?!

I looked at Anna Beth as serious as I could be and says that is why it is so very important to listen to your Mommy and Poppy. If Nemo listened to his Daddy, he would be safe right now but now he is in danger.

To which she replied...I will always listen to Poppy. I will never touch the butt.

I love this little girl!

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

2010-09-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

So what did I do this time, that I have never done before? Glad you asked...

I spoke "southern" on the phone with the bank to be more endearing to the representative at the same time being conferenced in on the phone with someone from the church who was helping with account information I didn't know and had never heard me speak that way.

Recently the discussion has been brought up as to why I do not have a southern accent and am from the south. I told my friends that I dropped it but could pull it out whenever it is needed or if I hang around my family for any length of time. Then of course they asked why I dropped it and here is my story....

I told them about the time I heard my dad's voice on a recorded tape. I questioned him and said it sounded nothing like him and how did he change his voice. He said that he had a business trip to take up in NY and he knew he would not be taken as serious of his accent was as strong as it was. I liked the way he sounded then and much preferred it over the recorded voice from years earlier. If he could drop it so could I. It wasn't then that I decided to drop it. That decision came a few years later.

As I was exiting high school, there were some close friends of mine that picked on certain words I said. Certain words sounded very 'southern'. I lived in Georgia, hello!?!?! After meeting Dustin and knowing deep down we would be married one day, I decided I didn't want my children to have a super thick southern accent. Lord help them if we both sounded like Dustin! So somewhere as we were courting, I slowly dropped it.

This last Friday, Dustin had pulled out our wedding video from over 10 years ago. When I heard my voice, it took my breath away. Look what I had done! My heart sank a little. Why was I so set on dropping it? There was one clip from when I was saying my vows that we played over and over..."to be my husband" Dustin said then that he wished I never dropped it. Man!

So, this morning someone from the church needed me to call BB&T and get our login reset. (for those of you who do not know, BB&T is based in North Carolina) For some reason we had been locked out. I was one of the original people on the account 6 years ago but of course, I haven't had anything to do with the finances once the church grew long enough to have volunteers do it. It doesn't look great to see the pastor's wife in the corner counting money and preparing deposit slips. For some reason the person who called this morning wasn't able to get past all of the automated steps to reset the password and was on the phone for 20 minutes with a rep and still wasn't able to make progress. I called and turned my accent on in a jiffy. The lady was very nice and I talked very slow and sweet. She needed to know some account info that I hadn't messed with in over 4 years so I conferenced in my friend who had asked me to call them in the first place. I talked as southern as I could get. Turns out, my friend had just as many rights with that account as I do but when he called they didn't give him any info. I called, answered the same questions and our account was unlocked AND we didn't even need the password reset.

I attribute it to my southern accent. Maybe she would have given it to me if I talked as a Marylander, maybe not BUT boy did I have fun chatting with her today and now my friend can tell my other friends that I do speak Southern.

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night

2010-09-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Family night tonight started the moment Dustin walked in the door with "just because" flowers. I have a very supportive, giving and encouraging husband. After our taco salad and recap of the day, we went downstairs and watched some DVDs we got from the library earlier that day.

Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Video Ever

Science Clips for Children Characteristics of Animals

and

Berenstain Bears Mind their Manners

I am using AB as a guinea pig and testing out things for the daycare. I don't think she minds the DVDs so much! She really like the Science one. I had no idea that the library had SO much to offer.

After videos we pottied, got pjs on, brushed teeth, and read some of our new library books. After I tucked her in and sang our songs. Next was Lydia's turn and she was diapered, placed in pjs and kissed on, I looked at the clock! WooHoo it was only 8:45! What a blessing! She had a very full day and by no means felt cheated! This is the first time since Lydia was born that Dustin and I got so much time alone in the evening.

Tonight might be a very boring night to read about but man it was just what I needed! Good night!

Monday's Making it a Home...lovings with lotion

2010-09-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this blog is coming a day late. PEPCO left us without power yesterday for over 11 hours! NO power means no internet and no laptop. But here is my Monday's post of how I am trying to make my house more of a home.

I could share with you how I organized the office nook in the corner of my sunroom all day yesterday (the only room with sufficient light since we didn't have power). That definitely made our house more homey but I really feel that God is showing me the importance of making my daughters feel "at home" instead of just running through a daily routine or having orders barked at them. Put your shoes on, stand here, drink your milk, go potty, pick up your toys, do not hug Moose, come here!

Sunday night's bedtime routine was no exception. God really put it on my heart to take a few moments to bless her instead of picking the short books for her bedtime story and rushing though her bedtime songs. We had a craZy weekend!!! It started with a 7AM prayer meeting Saturday AM, out of town guests, community block party, a shortened nap time, dinner with friends, a craZy Sunday AM with me pawning her off someone in the church so I can set up Sunday School, a lunch with 30+ friends, no nap, ice cream with our friends before they headed home and then her Poppy leaving her to go to a Sunday Night small group. Poor thing was spent. I was spent. She was spent. We all were spent. All I wanted to do was rush through her bedtime routine so I could take a HOT bubble bath. But I heard God whisper to me to spend extra time with her.

I put Lydia to bed and grabbed the baby lotion. I went into AB's room, read a new book I had never read her, then I read a classic 'Mommy-Anna Book'. As we put on PJs we said her prayers. She sat in my lap as I read her her bible story. And then I put lotion on her legs and arms. She was very unsure of it and thought it tickled. But then she loved the way it felt on her skin. I continued to lather it on her and silently pray over her. She continued to giggle. Then, I picked her up and put her into bed and rubbed the lotion on her feet. She loved it. We sang her 2 songs and then I turned off her lights.

All I could think is I myself would love for someone to pick me up, rub lotion on my feet and tuck me in. If I felt as spent as I did, surely she picked up on my stress and had stress of her own. What an honor it was to love on her with lotion and lather her in silent prayers.

Thank you Jesus. Please keep teaching me.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-09-24T09:03:00.001-07:00

Here is what we treasure this week...

Dustin said "My workout time in the morning along with learning to live in the moments I have with my family."

As for myself, this week I treasure Dustin's surprising me with finding our wedding video and making a digital copy of it. We will be watching it tonight. We have one photo from our wedding on a shelf and every time AB sees it she says, 'That is when Mommy was a princess and Poppy got her. It was before I was born.' This morning I told her that when Poppy comes home she gets to watch a special Princess movie with us. I hope she isn't disappointed that Disney didn't make the movie.

Anna Beth is asleep right now but I can tell you without a doubt what she treasures today! Ice Cream. She has been looking forward to it for 3 days now. She is getting a flu shot at the Dr. today. She knows that she is going to get a "little owwie, a big sticker, and some ice cream with sprinkles and a cone!!!" She has been begging to go to the doctor's office all day!

And again, since Lydia cannot talk, I would have to say that she treasured the moment that I finally quit messing with her this morning and just let her be. She has a 2 month check up today and we had to take a bath and get all nice and dressed up of course and I had to clean behind her ears and extra stuff we do not do everyday! Lotion and the whole nine yards; doesn't every

mom do that? Needless to say, she treasured the moment I was able to mark her off my to do list and move on to breakfast, dishes and laundry.

Thursday's Things Heard...

2010-09-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

Things Heard at the dinner table...

Last night as AB sat down for dinner she sang a line from a song and then continued to repeat it: "Twink, twink, twinkle, twinkle lovely little star...Twink, twink, twinkle, twinkle stupid little star."

It stopped me right in my tracks. Did my precious little three year old just say stupid? I got Dustin's attention and said, "I think she just said twink twink S-T-U-P-I-D little star!!!" Before he could even respond she said, "no mommy, I said twink twink STUPID little star!" To which Dustin replied, "well there ya go!"

Of course we had a little chat about why stupid is not the best choice of words and we don't say it in our house! BUT then the search for where in the world she heard it from started. We purposefully do not have TV and we are very selective as to which DVDs she watches. Well, remember my post from last Tuesday...the part where I let her watch the Dr. Seuss movie Green Eggs and ham? There were 2 other short cartoons on the DVD...The Sneetches and The Zax! And apparently there is a song on The Sneetches that has a duck singing a song and in that song they sing Twink, twink, twinkle, twinkle stupid little star.

Dr. Seuss was the last one I thought I would have to preview before I showed it to her. Oh well, now she knows what a bad word is and that we don't say bad words in our house. I was hoping we could have waited a while before we got to this point!

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

2010-09-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

This week I got to attach flyers to telephone poles with a strong staple gun. Our church is doing a Community Block Party at the local Elementary School. We went door to door passing out flyers to all of the neighbors and putting the flyers on the telephone poles too!

It is exciting to be able to do this each year for our neighbors and our community. I have always been working full time and not able to help with the prep work. I took the girls with me and we went with some other ladies from the church. As we were going from house to house, I got to pray with one elderly lady and get the mail for another one. AB got some ice cream from the "broccoli truck" and we even gave a lot of flyers to the ice cream man and he will do some advertising for us too. It was nice to get out of the house. It was nice to get some exercise. And it was fun using the staple gun. Now I get to retrace all of our steps next week and take them down.

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night

2010-09-21T16:28:00.001-07:00

Taco Salad is something we get to depend on each week. Everything else might be crazy or different each week but Tuesday night is something that just brings peace and wholeness to our family. Maybe wholeness is not the right word but I can't think of a better one. It just sets us in the right mood, the right frame of mind, and just does the soul good!

Tonight our family night has an unexpected guest. Anna's friend had to come over because his mommy is at the hospital! We are happy to have him and he is fitting right into our fun night. We had Taco Salad (of course) and they both got clean plate high fives!!!

Then we opened a goodie bag from AB's birthday party. Yes her birthday was at the beginning of July, but in my defense, someone gave me the advice to hold some presents back. A lot of attention would be give to Lydia once she arrived and if we staggered AB's gifts, then she would feel special and important too and an unintended benefit was that she would appreciate each toy more than normal because she could get to choose one at a time. We let her choose one a week. I think I might do it every year, new baby on the way or not because it really helped her to be thankful. Well, to get you back to tonight where we currently are, she was digging in my closet and found the goodie bag that had fallen out of the large bag of all of her gifts. It was from chuck e cheese. Her and her friend got to dig through it, split one piece of candy (come on, i don't like giving plain sugar to children). They then played with some spinning top like toy and split a deck of mini cards.

Because they did so well at dinner they are watching a movie. What movie? Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham.

What is better than Taco Salad, one half a piece of candy, a goodie bag and a classic Dr. Seuss cartoon? I don't think there is anything better than that!

Monday's Making it a Home...37 minutes

2010-09-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

What does making it a home look like? Today it looked like waking up at 6:09am. Today is the first day of a routine that Dustin and I started. Hoping it turns into a lifestyle for the 2 of us. We both set our alarm for 6:09 (we carefully calculated how much time we would need and went backwards and landed at that odd time. If we had calculated we needed one more minute we would have set the alarm for 6:08 but no point in doing it if we didn't need that time, huh?

We woke up and each had a few minutes of prayer time by ourselves. We then joined together for a time of prayer together, out loud, pouring our hearts to God for us, our marriage, our family, our church and our jobs. Then it was on to the family room. We did a 20 minute work out! Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred. We both need to get fit and this is the first time we did something like this together. Then it was on to showering, getting ready for the day and feeding a little baby.

After Dustin left, I was able to make some coffee and sit down and go over the bible study for this Wednesday's night small group. By the time Anna Beth was up and about, I was in a great place mentally to bring on the day. I felt confident that I could take today on and all that it brought. I think a huge part of that came from my prayers this morning asking God to order my steps and to PLEASE PLEASE guide me. Give me wisdom ad show me how to be the mom Anna Beth needs!

Its only 10:30 right now and we have had a wonderful morning. I made us banana waffles and we did an arts and crafts project she has been begging me to do. Its an annoying little craft that has 5,000,000 pieces and is for ages 5 and up. It is the kind where you put beads on a peg board and iron it so they fuse together. Her YaYa bought it for her and I was going to save it for a later day but she found it and has been begging to do it ever since. Today I surprised her with it. Poor thing probably thought she would never be able to do it based on the number of times I told her no last week. She was so very excited. Even though she wasn't able to do the craft all on her own because of the difficulty level, we used it as a chance to learn to sort colors and to count by actually touching objects instead of just pointing to pictures in a book.

I timed our bead project. Start to finish was 37 minutes. I probably spent 37 minutes last week saying no. Now we have an owl made of beads on our fridge. When she sees it she will probably remember being so excited to make it and remember how fun it was to sort all the beads. When I see it, I will be reminded not to say no all the time and that 37 minutes spent with my daughter making memories is priceless and when she is grown up and married I would give anything to have just another 37 minutes with her.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

2010-09-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

What do we treasure?

I asked Dustin what he treasured today via text and here was his reply: "Seriously, you and my girls. I really do. The busier I am the more I love you guys. Strange isn't it?" I asked him if he was sure he wanted to use this one so early in the game and I would be posting it each Friday. He stuck with his answer.

My treasure this week is a bible verse I read again. It's so cool to re-read one and it speaks to you differently. Lamentations 3:22-24 ²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. ²³ Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

Anna Beth, what are you most thankful for this week? "My green blankie!" (thanks Aunt Donna...3 years and counting! Still the most favorite thing)

Lydia, since she can't speak, I am just going to speculate. I will have to say she treasured me this morning at 6am when I went into her room. She smiled so big at me and I got a coo!

Thursday's Something I have never done before

2010-09-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy, but I have never used those recyclable grocery bags. I don't know what they are really called but I thought they were silly. Just another save-the-world-and-make-the-store-a-lot-of-money kinda things. I took 6 with me that I had collected over the year. I didn't buy them, they were either left at my house after a church pot luck, a meal was brought in them when Lydia was born, or a freebie from a vendor at work. I take that back, I did buy one, well it came with a meal. I ordered a LOT of food from Crisp and Juicy one time and that is what they put my food in.

Anyways, the lady kindly took my bags. I still couldn't figure out her thoughts on them. I am not sure if she is annoyed by having to use the customers own bags. Isn't it easier to just use the plastic bags that are right in front of her.

I must tell you my motivation for bringing my own bags was two fold. First, I knew I would be needing to write something I have never done before. Secondly, I got so stinkin tired of the million plastic bags that would collect in my kitchen. I tried all the special holders that you can get for them. I even made one of my own; a empty kleenex box is perfect. You can cram about 15 or so bags in there and it doesn't take up that much space. Our problem was that we had like 1,500 bags. I tried the paper bag route as well until I saw a tiny baby roach in the last paper bag I brought home. I had my breaking point and I do not think I will ever turn back.

I think the thing I enjoyed most was how easy it was to carry the heaver items such as 2 liter bottles. I like they way it fits back into the cart. You can see what is in each bag. As you put them into your car you can see which bag has your bread and eggs and be sure not to crush them.

I did buy a reusable bag that day, but not for myself. As I had all the groceries on the belt, I had a little separate pile. I had dinner for a friend that just had a baby. Yes, I just had a baby myself, I know that. Hence me buying the refrigerated pasta, sauce, a bagged salad, and a fresh pie from the bakery. The could make it that night in like 4 minutes or they could throw it in the fridge and eat it later after they ate all the yummy leftovers from people that brought them real food. Anyways, I asked the cashier to put theirs in a separate bag. It felt nice to put their meal in one of those bags. It was nice than putting it in a plastic bag or worse a paper bag with a baby roach!!!

Wednesday's Things Heard

2010-09-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

Things Heard When Poppy Comes Home from work...

9/10/10 "Hey Poppy, this is Lor (Pointing to me). You can hug her all you want."

Things Heard at the Dinner Table

9/9/10 (this conversation happened after AB had repeatedly dug her toe nails into Dustin's leg at the dinner table) Dinner was almost over and out of the blue she said, "Poppy, I am very sorry to scratch you." To which he replied "Thank you Anna, that is very nice." Poppy I will never scratch you like this again" "OUCH ANNA!" Hahahaha.

Things Heard on the Swing Set

9/14/10 We were talking about what we learned at the library that day...fall weather. She saw the wind blowing her two flags and she said, "Mommy, my America flag is winding. My pirate flag is winding too".

Tuesday's Taco Salad and Family Night

2010-09-14T18:24:00.001-07:00

Tuesday Night Taco Salad and Family Night...it's my favorite night of the week. Its super easy for AB to help me prepare it and she eats everything on the table minus the lettuce. It only takes like 5 minutes to prepare because I make the taco meat batches at a time and freeze it so I just pull a bag out that afternoon and everything else is just pouring it into bowls.

Our family time consisted of show-and-telling her craft project with Poppy that we made at the library, sand box time, helping Mommy clear the table and load the dishwasher, reading books from the library, and AB's favorite part, "cycling" or as we adults call it ... recycling.

Memories made...in the sand box tonight, I showed her how I made sand castles when I was a little girl. The rest of the evening she would make a castle and then say, "look mommy, when I was a little girl I made one like this", over and over and over. She wanted to be just like me. It was so precious. I hope I am always someone she wants to be like. But Lord have mercy, please let her far surpass me and be much greater.

The sun was quickly sinking and the wonderful fall weather was a little too cold for Lydia so I told Anna Beth that she had 5 more minutes. During those 5 minutes, she proceeded to make me a sand-meatball-bean-and-milk-sand-cake. She stuck a stick in it and sang happy birthday to me. I even got to blow the candle out.

Why can't every night be Taco Salad and Family Night?

Here is a picture of our salad and here is one of her helping me do the "cycling". She said it is her favorite thing to do.

Monday's Making it a Home...Flash Cards and puzzle pieces

2010-09-13T14:14:00.001-07:00

So on Saturday I put the girls down for their naps and wrote up my plan for the blog for this fall. You can see the breakdown that I will try to do each week. In that post I shared how God was teaching me it is not about keeping house but making it a home. Well no later than an hour after I wrote that, Anna Beth got up and put me to the test. I had told her when she woke up we would play with her puzzle. Where did she plop down and spread the million pieces and 2 sets of flash cards? Of course right in the middle of our home...10 steps from the front door, 2 steps from the kitchen, 1 step from the living room, 2 steps from the stairs leading up to the bedrooms and 2 steps from the stairs leading down to the family room.

Oh how I cringed inside. What a mess, people will trip. Puzzle pieces will be lost forever. I think God might be teaching me more than just how to make my house a home, he is showing me an ugly side of myself, the side that prefers order and perfection over silliness with a 3 year old. I chose silliness and survived!! I think AB had fun too.

ACCOMPLISHMENT: Birth Announcements

2010-09-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Birth Announcements and Thank you notes are done and sitting by the door. I am hoping my dear husband will take them to the post office for me. Can you imagine me with my 2 kiddos standing at the counter at the post office putting stamps on all of them? Lord have mercy!

Not sure why people send them but then again at the same time I am not sure why people do not. I guess it is a southern thing! I feel compelled that I MUST do this. Regardless, they are out, a little late but here they come.

Does one know the time limit on a thank you note? I am finding that thank you notes are a southern thing as well but again I feel compelled that I MUST do them even if my child is 7 and a half weeks old now. In my mind, I just couldn't let it go till she was 8 weeks old.

SO there you go! I get to cross 2 things off my list today and am ready to move on! Phew!

Coming this Fall!!!

2010-09-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

A lot has been stirring in my heart lately. As I transition out of the corporate world and into a life of homemaking and running a daycare out of my home, my mind is spinning. I feel like I have been given a huge gift; an opportunity to pour into my daughter’s lives, an opportunity to reach others, to give myself fully to God, my family, my business, my church, and lastly, give myself fully to myself.

We have been experiencing some very wonderful weather. Fall is quickly approaching. Soon we will be crunching leaves under our feet as we take our walks. You can smell the apple cider, well you can almost smell it. A new season is a new beginning. Summer is over. Peoples minds are transitioning from play to work, a time of rest to a time of busyness. School is back in. At the Tapestry, small groups are starting back up. Dustin just started the bowling league. I am staying home from my corporate job. Lydia is 7 weeks old (yesterday) and is growing out of her newborn clothes. Anna Beth is a little over 3 and we are starting pre-school (homeschool style). Everyone is in the middle of some sort of physical, emotional or spiritual transition.

Please join me as I give you a glimpse into my life, a life that is constantly in transition...my life as a wife, a mommy, a homemaker, a teacher, an at-home daycare provider, a Pastor’s wife, a children’s Pastor, a friend, an ordinary girl learning to become a lady, and last but not least, a blogger. Below is my proposed blog schedule for the fall. I will change these topics up every quarter.

Mondays

‘A simple reminder that it is not about keeping house but making a home’

This is something that God whispered in my ear as I was driving down the interstate yesterday afternoon. We had just finished a photo session. Lydia turned 7 weeks old that day. We had a great (and successful) morning. We were showered, fed, pottied and diapered, got out the door and made it to our appointment on time. But as we were turning around to go home, all I could think about was that it was time to get everyone fed, pottied, diapered and in bed for naps and how I had to empty the dishwasher from the night before, do laundry, pick up the house before the exterminator came to give an estimate, and the list ran on. I felt like the last 7 weeks that I have been on maternity leave I had missed the point. I thought homemaking was all about the laundry being put away, dishes washed, and dinner on the table when my husband came home. God revealed to me I have been just merely a house keeper. Sure, my house has been kept (somewhat...it’s hard with a newborn and a three year old) but I wasn’t making it a home. Who wants to live in a tidy home with a stressed mommy who keeps answering her three year old’s daily question “mommy do you want to play with me” by saying sure baby but first, mommy has to pick up the house, or mommy has to clean first. Duh, I should be focusing on reading fairy tales, building towers with blocks, putting masterpieces on the sidewalk with tiny bits of chalk. The laundry will be put away but I need to build memories and give lovings and huggings first. Isn’t that where memories are made and how a home is built. Anyways, I say all that to say this, each Monday I will write about ways I was reminded to make a home instead of keep a house.

Tuesdays

Tuesday Nights are Taco Salad and Family Night

One meal that Dustin and I each remember from our childhoods was Taco Salad. Yes, both of our moms did it because it was quick and a no-brainer. If they did it, why can’t I. Of course I combine both of our versions to make it our own. We add avocado and olives. Dustin grew up topping his with ranch dressing and I grew up with sour cream and salsa. Who knows which way the girls will prefer theirs.

The ‘family night’ part of the night looks like bubble baths, candy land or a family friendly movie. It always is at our house. Our life of full time ministry and 2 full time jobs makes us on the go and on the run all the time. We must provide some since of normalcy for our girls and Tuesday Night Taco Salad and Family Night is something we ALL can depend on. And on Tuesday nights you can read of our adventures.

Wednesday

Something I have never done before

2010 has been filled with things I have never done before. Leaving my family and going to India to play with orphans, grilling pineapple, grilling cantaloupe, having 11 different couples over for dinner a couple at a time, gave birth to my second child, evacuated my house because of a storm. Some of these are monumental, some are not so much, but saying that every Wednesday I will post something new seems that I will live my life purposefully (at least for the next quarter).

Thursday

Things Heard...

I have not been the best at keeping track of the little things that AB has shared with us. The funny, the wise, the crazy and just plain silly. There are times that God uses her to bring our focus back to what is important and there are times that God uses her to teach us. Thursday’s blog entries will be short and sweet, but one day I will collect them all and make a book for my daughters to keep forever.

Friday

Thankful Treasures

I will list one thing that each of my family members treasure. We are currently teaching our daughter the difference between wants and needs and being thankful for what we have. She knows that we do not buy everything we want. She knows that there are some times we will walk into a store and leave empty handed. She knows that just because someone else has something, doesn't mean we need to have it too. What do we treasure? Come back each Friday and see.

I also will try to include Accomplishments, Milestones and “A Penny Saved” Moments. And of course there is always the bonus little moments that aren’t scheduled! Those are the best, right?

I hope that this glimpse into my life is a blessing to whoever may read it. See you this Monday!

September 3, 2010: Today Compassion Begins

2010-09-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

This morning I opened the fridge to find that Dustin had left his lunch at home again! AB and Lydia and I already had one errand to run and it was close to Dustin's work. I decided we could swing it! (we are getting much better at outings). Lydia turned 6 weeks old today and was in a super happy mood, smiling and the whole 9 yards, so yes, we would take Dustin's lunch to him.

Here is a photo of Lydia Grace in her super happy mood:

Once we got to Dustin's work he brought AB some pretzels and a banana. We went on to run our errand and headed home. Here is AB eating the yummy pretzels:

On the way home we drove past a homeless man lying on the grass. I saw him but wasnt sure if Anna Beth saw him to. Yep, she saw him.

Here is what our conversation went like:

AB: Mommy, that man is sleeping on the grass. Did you see him?

Mommy: I did see him. He is sleeping on the grass because he doesnt have a house.

AB: He has a house, his house is in, he has a house...his house is just in Georgia.

Mommy: Nope, he does not have a house at all. Some people have houses and some people do not.

(we drove through another intersection and this time she saw a homeless lady)

AB: Mommy, do you see her. She is sad.

Mommy: I do see her. She is sad. She doesn't have a house either. See the sign she is holding up? That sign says I do not have a house, please help me.

I then explained how she doesn't have a house, food or money. As we were turning into our neighborhood I asked her what we could do for the lady.

AB: She can come to our kitchen and eat.

Mommy: That is a good idea. Maybe one day she can come to our kitchen and eat. How bout today we go give her something to eat now. Do you think she will like a banana?

AB: (with much excitement!!!) Yes! She will love it.

Mommy: OK I will turn around.

Trying to reiterate the lesson that was being learned I continued the conversation.

Mommy: Ok, here we go. We are almost there. Do you know why we are giving her your banana?

AB: (I was hoping she would say because she doesn't have a kitchen or money or something along those lines, but nope...my 3 year old blew me away) Because we LOVE HER!

Mommy: Do you know why we are giving her a dollar?

AB: (I was hoping she would say something like so she can buy a house or something but again, my 3 year old blew me away) Because we LOVE HER.

Mommy: You are right. We do love her. We will give her a dollar and a banana so she can eat and maybe buy a house one day. And we will pray for her that she will know Jesus. Let's pray. Jesus, please let the lady know you, have a house and a happy heart (she's 3, that is as simple as I could put it). In Jesus name, AMEN.

AB: Mommy, what is her name?

mommy: We can ask her. Oh, there she is.

We missed the red light but decided to just turn our hazard lights on and have a chat with her. I gave her the dollar and then proceeded to explain to her that AB wanted to share her banana and we wanted to pray for her and wanted to know her name. She took the banana and started eating it before she said a word. After she ate a couple bites she said her name was Jenny and explained her situation. Her husband gets work here and there and only gets about 500 a month and was trying to get her off the streets. We said we would pray for her and AB got to say hi to Mrs. Jenny. The light turned green and off we went, but not before I snapped one last photo. Mrs. Jenny had moved on the car behind ours but AB wanted to see her eat her banana. Here is the last photo I snapped.

This is Mrs. Jenny eating the banana:

Today some innocence was lost. AB knows that some people do not have food and they do not have a house and have to sleep outside during the heat or the cold. That is a lot to stomach for such a small child but today, my daughter got to see Jesus in a different way.

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Matthew 25:34-35

I love my Job!

It's 1PM?!?! How did that happen?

2010-08-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

My hat goes off to the ladies who do this STAY-AT-HOME-MOM thing everyday. My blog is titled a day in the life of Lor but I think it should be retitled to A DAY IN THE LIFE OF LOR AS A STAY AT HOME.

I take back everything I have ever said about a stay at home. “You are at home all day, how can you NOT do _____.” Let me tell you how:

Lydia woke up at 2AM for food, and again at 5:00AM and of course 7AM. To give Dustin a chance to still sleep, I fed her by the light of my iPhone. Once 7AM came, the lights came on. Dustin started to get ready for work, I was feeding Lydia and checking all of my church emails on my phone. I have 400 in my inbox right now. I am trying hard to get that number down to 50. They accumulated so quickly over the 3 weeks I was out on maternity leave that the church graciously gave me.

7:30AM rolls around and usually I am out the door on my way to a corporate job in a high rise office building. Well its only 11 floors but still it is higher than my humble home. I remind myself I am blessed with this great opportunity to stay home with my 2 daughters. Lydia falls asleep, I turn my iphone off and decide to join her. Those middle of the night feedings are starting to take a toll on me. Around 8AM I mumble good bye to Dustin as he finishes praying over us and walks out the door. Anna decided to grace us with her presence around 9AM.

Anna had to go potty and then we rushed downstairs to fix breakfast before Lydia woke up. She requested waffles, strawberries, tomatoes and snow cheese (also known as cottage cheese). Seemed easy enough and balanced enough so that was what I fixed. Our toaster is broken so I baked the waffle at 350 for 5 minutes. She ate the snow cheese and maybe one piece of cut up strawberry and didn’t eat another bite.

Then Moose, our dog, felt like it was his turn so we did the whole go outside and potty thing. As I let him out through our laundry room door, I stood next to the deep freezer we have and looked at the pile of unfolded clean laundry sitting on top of it. It was probably 3 loads worth. Lets see how many shirts I can fold before Moose finishes going potty. Only 4.

As I come back to the family room from letting Moose out, AB is so content, emptying the contents of her baby doll house into her little sister’s “Moses basket/bassinet” she just got the night before as a present. Trying to choose my battles wisely, I allowed her to continue playing with it however I did give her a clear reminder that when Lydia woke up, she gets to “play” with it because it is hers.

Speaking of Lydia waking up, she woke up right on time, 10AM, for her next scheduled feeding. 45 minutes later, after Lydia is fed and diapered and loved on, it’s time for the next step. Getting everyone dressed. Anna, do you want to wear your purple dress or pink dress? I want to wear the green dress, pointing to the one she wore yesterday that made it next to the hamper, sadly, not in the hamper. No Anna, you can’t wear the green one, you must choose pink or purple. She points to pink, so pink it is. As I am buttoning the pink dress you will never guess what she told me, yes, she changed her mind and wanted purple. I didn't cave. Should I have, I am not sure. I am still learning at all of this. I said Anna, you can wear purple tomorrow but today you chose pink so that is what Mommy is putting on you.

Now it was time for shoes. Shoes are another battle I do not fight. Ever since Lydia came home from the hospital, or maybe a few days before, she started wearing 2 different shoes. One purple croc and one brown scooby doo croc. Today, she came downstairs wearing one red sock and her purple croc and on the other foot, just the scooby croc, no sock. She said she just wanted to wear one red sock. I then explained to her that we only wear socks with tennis shoes or when it is cold outside. She tried to convince me she was cold. I assured her she was not and we took the sock off.

I had 2 “office” things to do today but without access to a printer or scanner it makes it more challenging. I had to sign settlement papers with the insurance company from the accident that I had when I was 14 weeks pregnant with Lydia. Looks like a small check will be coming my way soon. Anyways, I signed it but Dustin had to scan it for me. The other “office” item was I needed an AC Moore 50% off coupon printed off. Thankfully, Dustin is just 4 miles away from the house and 1/4 a mile from AC Moore. Off to Dustin’s work we go.

Here goes the whole out the door routine. Moose has to go potty but before I can go let him out, I have to make sure Lydia is secure and Anna is occupied with something other than Lydia. Moose go potty. Moose, come here, go potty. MOOSE!!! Get back here. Moose, come inside! MOOSE!!! Urgh! Moose, go to your crate. Moose, I SAID CRATE! Moose is done! Now Anna’s turn. Anna, go potty please! I don't want to go potty. Anna you must go potty before we leave. She gives in and goes. Lydia gets a fresh diaper and goes into her car seat. She doesn't care for that part too much. Anna lets go. No you cannot wear the red sock. Take it off please. No Anna, Lydia does not want you to put the red sock in her car seat, please take it out.

Now the 2 girls are out of the house and the getting into the car routine starts. I hold the insanely heavy car seat and the glass door as I pull the main door closed and lock it from the outside with a key. Anna proceeds to stand there and block my way. Mommy, look a dog. Mommy, look at that rock. Anna please go. Anna, please walk to the car. Anna, MOVE. Then because of the incredible heat, I open Anna’s door, Lydia’s door and then my door. I set Lydia down and turn the car on and blast the air. Then Lydia goes in. Then Anna. Anna, please do not bring that leaf into mommy’s car. Leaves stay outside. Anna, come here. ANNA. Once Anna is in, I go in too. As I pull my door shut, I check my mirrors before pulling out of the driveway. I saw a strange person attempting to enter my neighbor’s house. I stop and watch. He struggles, but then pulls out a key. He has a key, I am good to go, no need to spy. Off we go. Lydia starts crying. Anna starts asking for “Old McDonalds” also known as McDonalds. Am I a bad mom that all my kid wants now is McDonalds? I cant help it that all I wanted to eat the last month of my pregnancy with Lydia was chicken McNuggets. No anna, we are not having old McDonalds today. We are going to Poppy’s work to give him special papers, then AC Moore to get glue for our art project and then the grocery store for milk and blueberries. As we pull up to Dustin’s work we have to wait a while for him to wrap up whatever he was working on. Lydia, bless her heart is screaming. Anna is crying, I want out of here, I want out of here! Poppy finally makes it to our car. We start to leave and Anna is not happy about leaving her Poppy. Its heart wrenching.

When we pull up to AC Moore, I get Lydia out of the car and its a miracle, she stops crying. The reason for us going to AC Moore was 2 fold. First it was to get glue because, yes, I am the parent of a 3 year old and we do not own glue. I am really starting to rack up the bad mom points. The second reason was because I had a $10 gift certificate to the store and I thought I could get a pre-school work book for her as well as glue and a pair of scissors because, yes again, I am the parent of a 3 year old that does not have glue OR scissors.

I ran into a church member while at the store. Poor guy, I am sure he never saw me like this before. I was as unkempt as unkempt can get. I was wearing the jeans from the day before. I did not brush my hair. From reading above, you can gather that I did NOT have a shower and yes, I had a mascara ring around my eyes. The makeup from the day before did not fully make it off my face. While shopping, I carefully calculated the cost of each item and tried to get as close to $10 as possible....remember I do not have any income now. I am a mom of 2 on maternity leave and my husband is the only bread winner. Right as we were getting in line to the check out counter, Lydia started crying again. Anna kept bringing me items from a nearby display. That is nice Anna, can you please put it back. Thank you. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia Grace, in the most soothing motherly voice I could come up with, don't cry baby. That is nice Anna, can you please put it back. Thank you. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia Grace, don't cry baby. People were starting to stare. That is nice Anna, can you please put it back. Thank you. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia Grace don't cry baby. The stares were quickly turning into glares. When I got to the counter, the most un-compassionate lady of the face of the earth checked me out. She obviously was in the crowd of glare-ers. The total came up to a whopping $10.66! I did it. I got 2 preschool books, a writing tablet, green paint, glue and a pair of green scissors all for a whopping $.66. Too bad I couldn’t find the certificate. It was no where to be found. That got expensive real quick. But at that moment as my darling baby’s scream was reaching the 4 corners of the store, I gladly would have paid $20.66 to just get out of there. So when the transaction was complete, we bolted out of the store. Miraculously again, Lydia stopped crying the moment the automatic sliding doors of AC Moore closed and we were on the sidewalk headed to the car. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!

Milk and blueberries were out of the question. We were going straight home! As I again am cautious of the heat, I open Anna’s door, Lydia’s door and then my door. I set Lydia down and turn the car on and blast the air. Then Lydia goes in. Then the stroller. Then Anna. Anna Elizabeth, come back here. She bolted to the empty parking space next to us, she saw a treasure, a small piece of rock/asphalt. She didn't care that it was just a dumb old rock, it was her treasure. Anna gets the rock and is buckled in. Of course Lydia started crying again. When I got in the front seat, guess what was next to me, the $10 certificate I misplaced. Yes, I am a pastors wife and yes, I know that we are as Christians to obey man’s laws but as I passed the speed camera close to the house, I was tempted to floor it. A screaming baby just does something to your nerves!!! We passed Old McDonalds again. Yes she asked for it. No I didn't cave. I still have my pregnancy weight to lose and again, I have no income.

As we pull into the drive, I pull Lydia out and come around to Anna’s door. There is no way I can get Anna out without setting Lydia’s car seat in the grass. As I open Anna’s door, I see that silly rock still clutched in her hand. As I set her down and turn around to close the door and grab our bag of goodies from the store, I see something out of the corner of my eye, Anna Elizabeth Hedrick placed not so gently her treasured rock in her sister’s car seat, right next to her head. Pheww, that was a close one!

As we got in the door, I glanced at the clock, it was 1:00. Where did the time go? Lydia’s next scheduled feeding was 12:30. I started lunch immediately. Lydia could just cry. What was for lunch? I did what any stressed to the max mom would do, it was tomatoes and strawberries left over from breakfast with piece of bologna. We have a tradition that we take a cookie cutter and turn the bologna into a piece of art, sometimes it is a star, sometimes its a bear but most of the time it is a dog. Before I could get the dog cookie cutter to the table she was impatiently protesting she didn't want to eat it because it was not a dog yet. She was smearing the bologna all across the dining room table. I patiently and calmly reminder her that food goes in our mouth or stays on our plate and does not go on the table. Once she was all set and ready to eat her lunch, I sat down and started to feed Lydia. Not even 5 minutes later, Anna informed me that she needed another piece of bologna. I asked her if she ate just the dog part or the circle part too. She told me she didn't eat any of it but instead gave it ALL to Moose. I put Lydia down and got her another piece of bologna, uncut, just the circle. I told her that we could try again tomorrow but if she wants to eat dog bologna, she can’t give it to Moose. After telling her that if she wants to cry about it she can cry in her room, she decided to stop crying and just finished her lunch. I finished feeding Lydia and I sent Anna off for a nap, then it was Lydia’s turn for a nap. Both girls were in their beds, now what should I do? There were so many options: laundry that has been waiting over a week, load the dishwasher, tidy the house, look at the emails that have been filling up my inbox, the 50 million thank you notes waiting on me, eat lunch, take a shower......I took a nap. Today is just my second week at this. The help from out of town family has stopped. Meals from the church have stopped as well as visitors. Life is going on and it’s just me and the girls now. As crazy as my morning sounded, I am starting to get the hang of this. We will see as time progresses if my skills progress too.

Anna Beth turns 3!

2010-07-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Anna’s turning 3 is not only a huge milestone in her life but in mine too. I have been a mom for three years now! According to all of the studies and such, I only have a good three more years of her developmental stage. Only three more years to get good habits started and values instilled. Of course I have the rest of her childhood but if you don’t get it right during those first few years, you have a long road ahead!Birthdays for some reason are very important to both Dustin and I. VERY IMPORTANT! We want our children to feel special beyond normal circumstances! Yesterday was a start! We tried hard and I think it paid off!Her celebration began the night before her birthday, July 4th! We got home around 10:15 from the water bottle give away that the Tapestry did at our local fire works 4th of July celebration. (we passed out over 900 bottles of water!!!! For FREE; just because!) Anyways, I had to add that part. Sorry, back to the birthday celebration. Dustin had promised her that she could stay up very late and watch her favorite movie on the TV (it’s really a computer – we do not watch television) in Mommy’s room. The 3 of us snuggled in bed, ate cookies and drank milk and watched Coraline. I was the first to fall asleep, she hung in there till the last 5 minutes and Dustin carried her to her bed.

The next morning, she called for me saying, “Mommy, I ‘waked’ up, come get me”. You don’t know this, but I have been waiting for YEARS for that exact moment. Even before she was born, I have always wanted to go in the morning of my children’s birthdays and have a cupcake with a candle ontop, sing Happy Birthday and just celebrate for a few moments alone, just the 2 of us. No Poppy, No siblings! Just us! This year was the first year she is old enough to have some sort of concept as to what was going on. Friday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Friday. Saturday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Saturday. Sunday she asked me, is today my birthday?!? No baby, your birthday is on Monday, today is Sunday. So as I walked in to her room, I started singing Happy Birthday! Her whole face lit up and she said, “my birthday is today?!?!” Yes, baby, your birthday is TODAY! It brought so much joy to me to see how happy she was. She then told me that she didn’t want to eat the cupcake (really a muffin – I’m not going to give a 3 year old that much sugar at 8 in the AM) and that I could eat it for her. I told her no, it was her birthday and her cupcake. She opted not to eat it. We then left her room and went to snuggle with Poppy!

The next tradition I explained to her while the 3 of us were snuggling was that the birthday person got to choose what the whole house ate for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. I had already warned Dustin if she said broccoli and apples, we were going to eat broccoli and apples! Fortunately for us, she LOVES breakfast! In fact, she requested bacon, eggs, sausage, grits and blueberries. So, bacon, eggs, sausage, grits and blueberries it was! I told her to stay in bed and keep snuggling with Poppy and I would have breakfast done real quick. Dustin said he couldn’t keep her in bed even if I paid him to, she wanted to help me cook so downstairs she went! I had the dishwasher open and was emptying it and she was drawn to it like a magnet. “I help you Mommy”. “No baby, its your birthday, you don’t need to help me do dishes. Go snuggle.” “No, Mommy, I help you!” Breakfast was ready 2 minutes later. Our next conversation was over who said the blessing. She always says it but I wanted to say a special blessing over her on her birthday! We compromised and both said the blessing.

With breakfast out of the way, we wanted to get the birthday adventures under way! It was supposed to reach 100 degrees here in the lovely Washington DC metro area and we didn’t want to get caught up in that. We headed over to Brookside Gardens! An amazing, incomparable, award-winning 50-acre public display garden. Included in the gardens are several distinct areas: Aquatic Garden, Azalea Garden, Butterfly Garden, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Style Garden, Trial Garden, Rain Garden and the Woodland Walk. The Formal Gardens areas include a Perennial Garden, Yew Garden, the Maple Terrace, and Fragrance Garden. With it being so hot, we decided to hit the Children’s Garden and then head on over to the Wings of Fancy Live Butterfly Exhibit! The children’s garden has a tree house to climb in, a hallowed out tree to hide in and lots of fun stuff. AB and Dustin even had a tea party. She loved the butterflies! We had never seen that many before. She was a little freaked out when one landed on her head and then when the employees insisted on checking her clothes and hair before exiting to make sure there were no escapees. By the time we got back on the trail and felt the heat and stared at the uphill challenge, my wonderful husband and AB’s amazing Poppy found a nice spot in the shade for us and sprinted the 10-minute walk back to the car and picked us up at the butterfly entrance! Once in the car, AB said she wanted to go home. The birthday girl wants to go home, home it is. Little did she know, there was another adventure there waiting for her.

When we pulled into the driveway, Dustin hopped out and ran inside. He brought up a huge box that had been sitting in our laundry room for over a week. She walked in and saw it in the middle of the living room. MeMaw and BopBaw sent her a sand box. She told Dustin she could open it herself. He let her try and when there were no objections to his help, he dug right in and started pulling it out of the box! There in the middle of my living room floor, my daughter was so happy! It looked as if she were doing a rain dance or something. She jumped right in the empty sand box and ran in circles. Dustin asked her if she thought we should put something in it and her choice was dirt! “poppy, we need some dirt!” Lucky for her, we had bought some sand (200 lbs) a couple days before, and in less than 5 minutes, she was set up on the deck with sand and buckets and shovels and whatever else you need for sand box fun! Keeping in mind that it was 100 degrees outside, we made sure she was in the sun and had many sips of water! Dustin got the canopy out and set that over her as well. I have never seen a kiddo take such pride in the simple act of scooping sand and placing it in a bucket. She seriously was out there over 45 minutes.

Trying to get her mind geared towards our next part of the day, we asked her what she wanted for lunch and reminded her that what she chose the whole family would eat. She requested fish and sticks and blueberries. So we had fish sticks, blueberries and Dustin added oranges and these (nasty) breaded creamed corn bites. Again, we had a compromise with the prayer, she said the first half and Dustin prayed a blessing over her as well. Her favorite part of the meal was the mayonnaise that she put with her fish. Dustin likes it straight up with just plain mayo and I prefer my mayo mixed with horseradish and pickle cubes. AB took it anyway she could get it. We only objected it when she ate the mayo plain without fish.

It was noon and she had already had such a full day. We knew there were many more adventures so we encouraged her to go take a nap. I was so proud of her. She willing let Dustin shower her off real quick to get the sand off and then it was off to bed, no objections! I think she enjoyed the shower so much, she thought it was part of her birthday adventure!

Over 3 hours later, my birthday princess awoke! Let the adventure continue! We found a park nearby that has a carousal and a miniature train.
God’s timing was perfect! We went straight to the ticket booth, bought 2 carousal tickets and 3 train tickets! Per Dustin’s request AB and I got on the carousal and she picked out her horse. I asked her what its name was and for the first time, she chose a real name. She has named all of her stuffed animals after what they really are, so puppy or bear. I was fully expecting the horse to be “horsie”. She declared that her horse was Suzie. Round and round we started to go. She waved at Poppy almost every time we went around and he just took picture after picture. I looked at her, put my arm around her and she told me I could hold on to Suzie so I didn’t fall. We tried to kiss but it was when the horse was on its way up. She thought that was so funny. When she finally returned down closer to my level she gave me a quick kiss. It quickly turned into a game and she kept escaping my kisses! She put her arm around me and squeezed me tight and said, “Mommy, I love you, you are my best friend” Many my heart melted. Being 8 months pregnant and standing on a spinning carousal did a number on me but hearing her say those words made it all ok. I was there with my best friend! By the time we got off the carousal, we headed over to the train. We got the second to last ride of the day. We were first in line and the birthday girl got to sit in the front seat (of course right behind the driver). The whistle blew and we were off. The train took us through fields and a thick forest. Some of the trees had to be over 150 years old, they were huge! The speed of the train caused a light breeze and it was perfect. When we arrived back at the station, we looked over and saw that the carousal was closed for the day! We hit it just right. If we had reversed our order, we would have not been able to do both.

As we got in the car and were headed home, we asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner, reminding her that whatever she wanted, the whole family would eat. We have her three options: Taco Bell, Chinese Soup (she loved egg drop soup) or pizza. The birthday girl chose Taco Bell and Chinese Soup with crunchies; so Taco Bell and Chinese Soup with crunchies it was! At Taco Bell, she got a cheesy roll-up (which she ate before we got home) and nachos. Poppy got a caramel apple empanada and I got a bean burrito. At our favorite Chinese restaurant, we got egg rolls, egg drop soup, rice, crunchies and Mongolian beef. I have to say that is a first in the Hedrick Household (2 restaurants for 1 dinner).

After dinner was cake and presents. As I came down the stairs with the store bought cherry cream cake with 3 purple candles in it, her face lit up once again! As I knelt down to her level, she put her arm around my neck as Dustin and I continued to sing to her. She looked at me, held her hand up as if she were giving me a warning and proceeded to tell me “you don’t blow it out, I will!” After the candles were blown out, the cake was cut and served. She didn’t touch hers. Not one bite. She didn’t eat the cupcake (muffin) that morning and would not eat even one bite of her cake! She could care less for sweets! I am not going to complain about that! I do not know who had a better time as the gifts were opened, her or us! We got her a Scooby and Mystery Machine pins to go on her crocs right next to her fire truck and police car from last year, a soccer ball, a Scooby back pack, a book to go in it, a Scooby lunch box and a Scooby Haunted Mansion. Her favorite was the Scooby lunch box! She slept with it last night and brought it to my room this AM.

After an exhausting day, she requested, as she always does, to watch Scooby Doo. The only difference is this time, we gave in and let her watch 4 episodes. Lydia wanted to get in on the action and I started having contractions and was extremely nauseated. Dustin grounded me and made me stay in bed the rest of the evening and he did dishes, laundry, picked up the house and put AB to bed. He said he could not afford to have a baby come 4 weeks early. I agreed. I want as many days in between AB’s and Lydia’s birthday as possible. I heard the parties and gifts get more expensive the older they get and I would like to have as many paychecks in-between the 2 of them as possible.

Dustin sent Anna to wish me a good night and let me give her one more birthday hug. That child was non-stop chatty. You would have thought she ate the whole cake; but we know the truth, it was not a sugar high, it was a ‘I am a loved three year old and have great parents high’!

God, I hope I am doing this right! Please continue to lead me and show me your heart for Anna and help me be the mom I am called to be. Dustin and I cannot do this alone!

The birthday adventure is still going. We have a party planned for her at Chuck E Cheese with 4 or 5 of her little friends from Sunday School. I want to do nothing more than to pay the cashier at the end of the night. No mess to clean up at my house, no dishes to wash, no entertaining to do. I never thought a mouse could be a pregnant lady’s best friend!

Now how to make that Scooby Doo cake I promised her…!

Inspired to write again!

2010-07-06T06:45:00.001-07:00

I have a cousin who is married to an amazing Chaplin in the Army. She has been keeping up with her journey and adventures through an inspiring Blog and after reading it this weekend, I feel like its time to step up and get this blog rolling again! I have a lot ahead of me and for my own sanity, I need to share it with others and Facebook just won't cut it any more!

Jessica, I don't know if you will ever even read this but thank you for hearing God and being obedient to what he has called you to do! Love to you, John and Angie!

Here is her blog: http://myheartforhome.blogspot.com/

Pigs ARE flying all around and I am going halfway across the world without my husband and baby!

2009-10-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

October 26, 2009
Watch out guys, pigs ARE flying all around and I am going halfway across the world without my husband and baby! Can you believe it? God has put this incredible and unexplainable burden in my heart to go love and hug on orphans. Su Cheng and I will be making this journey to New Delhi, INDIA together. We will be going sometime during the second half of January 2010 depending on ticket prices, work schedules, God’s timing and such.

We will be staying at one of the 90 HOPEGIVERS International orphanages in India. The particular one we will be staying in is in Rahasthan and is one of the largest homes in India with approximately 4,000 boys and girls ages 4 to 14. Hopegivers International, a faith-based, non-profit organization that is both non-governmental (NGO) and 501(c) 3 tax-exempt, exists to provide "help for today and hope for eternity." They rescue abandoned and orphaned children from lives of poverty and suffering in India, Malawi, and Haiti and then give them a chance to grow up as boys and girls who have the JOY and hope that comes from knowing Christ!

While we are there we PLAN on possibly teaching some of the young ladies of the bible college, painting the living quarters and showers of the orphanage, painting 2,000 little girls fingernails, teaching them a couple of dramas, songs and games, maybe some arts and crafts, but most of all, we plan on giving all of who we are to these boys and girls, whether it be serving meals, braiding hair, swinging them in circles, piggy back rides or great big bear HUGS, we will give our ALL.

Our GOAL is to raise as much money for the orphans of India as we can. We have a few ideas of how we will do it. I have designed (with the help of my little artists from kiddos church) some stationary we are trying to sell in time for the holidays as well as a 2010 calendar. All of the profit will be going directly to the orphans. We also will be holding a “salt wash” car wash in December pending there is a snowfall before then and again, all of the profit will be going directly to the orphans.

The money that we are going to send over can go so FAR….
$2 per kid for good flip-flops
$5 per kid for shoes
$10 per kid for clothes
$250 for washing machines
$250 for a bunk bed, mat, pillow and sheets
$300 for a love feast for the kids, that includes chicken and sweets etc
$600 for simple pump well
$2,000 for a drilled well and good water (which is much needed)
$17,500 can build a small children’s home for about 15 kids

We also would like to take some items over with us i.e. TOOTHBRUSHES, crayons, stickers, candy, or whatever we can take over for all of the kids.

I know you are dying to know how can you help? I am GLAD you asked. There are so MANY ways. Here are a few:

· Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
· Donations of the above mentioned supplies.
· Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
· Let the #1 item on your Christmas shopping list be the stationary we are selling or the 2010 calendar. (All of the profit goes to the orpahns.)
· Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
· Let us wash the salt off your car in December.
· Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
· Donate money toward the cost of our tickets, train rides, and other misc. travel cost.
· Come to India with us! It’s not too late.
· Oh yes, and there is more prayer!

I will be updating my blog regularly with updates on our JOURNEY preparations. If you are not already following it, please check it out. http://adayinthelifeoflor.blogspot.com/ . I am sure our access to internet will be limited once we get there but we will be sure to update it again when we get back.

If you do feel COMPELLED to give, (notice I did not say pressured), you may send your donations to the Tapestry Church and just put how you would like the money distributed in the memo line. Of course the Tapestry is a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization.

THANKS for reading this!
THANKS for praying for India!
THANKS for considering helping!

LORI Hedrick
lorihedrick@tapestrychurch.org

I cannot not GO.
I cannot not LOVE.
I cannot not GIVE.
I HAVE to go.

Father of the FATHERLESS and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
Psalm 68:5

Tapestry Church PO BOX 2394 Kensington, MD 20891

An invitation to Dinner

2009-10-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Dustin entered a contest with 95.1 SHINE FM. The name of the contest was "Love at first sight, second date night". He invited me to dinner and I got a call from Tracy from the morning show and she told me Dustin had entered this contest and invited me to dinner. She then read me his invitation and told me that we were having a Private Chef come out to our house and fix us a meal. I am so proud to be married to my wonderful husband!

Here is his letter to me....

Lor,

You really need to know something that I literally say every day right after we pray. I want to take a moment to be loud and proud of the fact that I LOVE YOU!!!!

I love you deeply with my whole life. When I said "I do," I meant it. Not only did I, but I still DO!

Nine years have made everything so much more exciting and such an amazing journey. I mean, it's not just one thing you have done, but every single small thing that you do. It's the way you remember the little things in life, the way you look at our baby, the way you leave the door cracked, the way you call just to see how I am, the way you love our baby church plant, the way you care for others, the way you serve, the way you live, the way you give to anyone, the way you want to love on orphans, the way you smile at me when we are across a room. You know, my heart still jumps. Funny huh?

It's every little thing you do that reminds me the love I have for you! I see Jesus' love in you. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without you. Every breath, every step, every move, every motion, you make it all magic. You amaze me in so many ways.

Lor, I do. I do again and again and again. I still remember the way my heart lept as I saw your face, the very face that Poppa had placed in my dreams. I could not believe you said I do. And yet it all started with a "Hey, I'm Dustin..." And then the rest was history.

I was supposed to write this letter to simply ask you out on a date, but I could not pass up the chance to sing your praises for just a moment. I mean, you need to know that I am your biggest fan. So, with that said, I want to once more say, my love for you today is greater than when we first met, than when we first dated, than when I asked you to marry me and I would never trade any of those moments for the world. I would never want to go back for anything in the world, but I just wondered if you would like to have a "first date," "first moment," kind of night. I mean, I think these days are my favorite so far, but I think it would be fun to take a night and go on a special romantic date remembering how it was.

I would. I love you so much. It's is so amazing to get the chance to live my every day with my best friend, partner in ministry and most of all, my one true love. I am so VERY BLESSED! I love seeing you every night and every morning. And I want to celebrate you for a night.

So, whatta ya say? You wanna go out or something?

I have a story!

2009-09-17T13:45:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday, during Dustin’s sermon, he was sharing some amazing stories of how God came through in impossible situations and after church, I told Dustin that I would like it if God could give us some amazing stories today and he said that God does, every time he goes to Kenya. I said that I was meaning, here in our everyday lives, more specifically, in MY LIFE! He said to just pray.

Earlier that morning, we had discussed my grocery list. I asked him how much I could spend at the store that afternoon. He told me $45. $45 did not sound like enough to get everything in my list and I had asked him if there was any other money I could use. He said no, that was all we had and that I should just figure out what basics I could get and everything else on the list would have to wait till he got paid later. In my heart I knew he was right, we have given a lot of money away to different causes, countries and our calling and I knew we were tight but my head was telling me their had to be just a little more. $45 was not going to allow me to get any meat. I pressed the issue one more time with Dustin with no luck. $45 was all I had and it was cash at that, so I couldn’t even go over a little bit on a card or anything.

God was going to have to help me with this shopping trip. Not only was he going to have to help me with the shopping trip, he was going to have to help me cook this week. With only having $45 to spend, meat was out of the questions. What was I going to cook this week for dinner? And I was going to have to submit in my heart to my husband and trust him. Wow, trust my husband and trust God and not rely on my own understanding?!? Well let me tell you how it went.

I had a coupon that was $10 if you spend $50. Mind you I only had $45 cash so I was carefully sticking to my list. Diced tomatoes were on sale for $.67. That is a fantastic deal. I was going to buy 10 and save a dollar on top of that. As I pulled the cart up to the canned tomato section, there was a large empty spot on the shelf. All of the diced tomatoes were gone. #1 I really needed the tomatoes. #2 I really needed the tomatoes at that price. #3 Now my calculations were going to be off by $6.70 and I had to find something that would cost roughly $6.70 to replace it. I am sitting there staring at the shelf, as if my staring would make them appear and it was as if God spoke to me and said “Lori, hun, look. You can get a rain check and get as many tomatoes as you wish next time you go to the store for the same price.” What a blessing. I was able to get AB fresh grapes and tomatoes and if you know AB you know how much she loves that.

I ended the shopping trip very successfully. The trip cost $43 and some odd change. I was feeling very confident and its strange, but I felt as if God had gone shopping with me. I put the groceries in the back of the car and when I opened AB’s door, there on the floor board was something that Dustin and I had been searching for. You see someone had given him a $100 bill for gas and groceries and he lost it. It fell out of his pocket/wallet and his heart was crushed. Loosing the $100 was huge. Well, he thought it fell out while he was driving and we both searched the car top to bottom several time and just could not find it. I know that God made that $100 bill appear there. It was almost teasing me like “ha ha here I am”! I know that God hid it on purpose. He wanted me to feel stretched and submit to my husband and to trust and rely on HIM! It was the coolest feeling. It totally boosted my faith.

That was Sunday. On Monday, right before leadership, my neighbor Franz knocked on the door. He said they were having hoity toity snooty company over dinner on Wednesday and they always buy fancy salmon from Chile when they come over. Well they he had bought 4 sides of Salmon and but only were going to need 3 and because they were going out of town at the end of the week he wondered if we would like the 4th. I said of course we would love it. Thank you so much.

Well, it didn’t click till Tuesday morning, but when it did, it got all over me. I ran up to Dustin’s prayer room, knocked on his door, didn’t even wait for a response, busted in and blurted out…..”God brought meat to our door. I submitted to you, I trusted in him. I didn’t go over the $45 limit. I couldn’t afford to get meat and God brought meat to our door!”

Isn’t that awesome? God’s provision is amazing. I totally have a story. One thing we discussed at small group last night was that it is ok to want to have stories like that, but we must realize to be in a place where God will blow your socks off and will make the impossible happen, you have to be in a place where you are facing the impossible!

I say bring it on! Thank you Lord Jesus for your amazing provision!

Took My Breath Away

2009-09-17T12:54:00.001-07:00

This past Monday, I was feeling blue. I didn't want to be at work. I wanted to be home with AB and snuggle wuggle buggle. Zuzana was online and offered to send a photo. I amlost wish she hadn't. The photo she took and sent was just a quick candid snapshot that AB happened to smile right as she clicked. I can't put an exact age on this, but she just looks so much older in this photo and it gave me a quick "flashforward" of what she would look like when she is older. You might not see it, but I do / did and it makes me sad. She is so grown!

AB and her rain gear!

2009-09-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

ALL DONE!

2009-06-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Funds were tight, but we were determined to make the best of the time that we had off from work. Chicka got to go home for her sisters wedding, so we got to stay home and watch AB. Here is what we had planned.

Wednesday
Get off of work! Go to dinner with the Chapman family at Ziki’s and celebrate my nephew Zach turning 8. Put the kids to bed early and hang out with my parents.

Thursday
Eat breakfast with the Chapman family
Go to gravelly Point and watch the airplanes take off
Say good bye to the Chapman family house guests and kick off the first day of our “stay-cation” by taking AB to the Zoo for the first time.

Friday
We were going to do a few projects around the house. Things that we never have time to do through out our regular week. Things like paint the kitchen, clean out the shed, etc. Then we had babysitters lined up to watch AB so that we could have a real date night with dinner and a movie. Something we have never done since AB was born. We have been to dinner many times but never dinner and a movie. This was going to be spectacular. I even had 2 free movie tickets and a $25 gift certificate to a sushi restaurant.

Saturday
We were going to wake up early and hit some yard sales. Something that I love doing. It is just relaxing. Then maybe grab brunch somewhere. Then off to Brookside gardens and explore nature. And then the grand finale for the day was going to the Orioles Vs. the Braves game at Camden yards.

Sunday
Chesapeake Bay here we come. AB had a sand pail, shovel, and sand sifter ready to go.

Monday
We were going to go to Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania. An amusement park just for kids!

Tuesday
It was going to be an at home stay local day. Get AB a passport, go paddle boating, feed the ducks, play on the playground, get our first ever family photo, go to the library and play in the water fountain at the town square.

What we got instead was:

Wednesday night we were at Ziki’s and all was going according to plan! We were getting ready to leave the restaurant and then all of the sudden….AB threw up all over my dad in the lobby of the restaurant. We rushed home, only so that she could throw up 8 more times. Once in the car! I could see Thursday’s trip to the Zoo fading and my heart began to crush.

Thursday Dustin had to go into work that morning. AB continued to throw up and have a fever. I could see my date night on Friday start to fade. We ordered take out and had a candle lit picnic on the kitchen floor.

Friday brought us more vomit plus some diarrhea!. and a trip to CVS totaling $85 dollars. I think that is the most I have ever spent there. Dustin decided AB shouldn’t be the only one sick. He joined in too! I knew that the Orioles game was out of the question. But hey we got to watch Bolt 5 times and Elmo 10 times.

Saturday was Moose’s turn to join in. No he did not want to be left out! More vomit. More diarrhea! At one point AB said “ouch, Mommy, tummy hurts!” (thank goodness she can talk) We rushed to the sink. She did what she had to do and then looked at me and said, “Excuse me Mommy, sorry Mommy”. So sad. I came to accept that none of the great things we had planned would happen. Very heart crushing!

Sunday was my turn! Man I hate throwing up! This was the day we were supposed to be at the bay! More vomit. More diarrhea! Still have fevers!

Monday was rough cause AB was better but we were not. She kept asking for hummus, sausage and pizza. No sir re! I am not feeding that to her with the chance that she will vomit it everywhere! Poor thing.

Tuesday was bitter sweet. We started feeling better but then were depressed thinking of what we went through and that we would have to go back to work the next day. This was the day that we were going to stay local. Get AB a passport, go paddle boating, feed the ducks, play on the playground, get our first ever family photo, go to the library and play in the water fountain at the town square. We knew we did not have the energy for that or the time. I started doing laundry and disinfecting things! We did go on a little shopping spree since we didn’t spend hardly any money that week. We went to Ikea for some baskets! Target for some blinds! Container store for…well, containers, Duh! While at Target we decided to risk it and get a family photo done. AB will be 2 in a couple of weeks and we never had a family photo! We both had time off of work! Sick or not, Target Portrait Studio, HERE WE COME. Well, lets just say it didn’t go that well. A few shots into it and even after one time out session and a stern talking to, a smile and her cooperation just was not going to happen. I will leave you with the picture below that sums up our vacation. In case you are wondering, she is screaming ALL DONE! I couldn’t have summed it up any better. Yes baby, we are all done!

(In total she threw up 21 times and had a fever at one point of 103. Dusitn and I tied for second with 102) We are all well now and feel fine. We just need a vacation!

The 5 Million things I love about AB.

2009-06-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

AB is turning 2 soon. Actually it is less than a month away. Holy cow! Am I doing everything right? Am I scaring her for life? Is she happy? What am I doing wrong? Should I not be so strict and let her eat more junk food? Should I make her go to bed sooner? Is 3 links of sausage, 1 piece of bacon, eggs, pancakes and strawberries, oj and milk TOO much for one breakfast?

I know some things we are doing must be right. Here is my unfinished list of the 5 million things I love about AB:

1. the way she says "i youve you"
2. the way she says "mo--o--se, whe--re A-RE you!?"
3. that she asks to go outside 100 times a day wether it be at 7:30 in the morning or 9:00 at night or pouring rain
4. that she says her bedtime prayers with me every night
5. that she adds people to her bedtime prayers sometimes
6. if she sees a heart she calls it an "i youve you"
7. that she can clearly distinguish between a circle, square and triangle
8. that she calls a rectangle cheese cause it looks like string cheese
9. that she is guinely concerned if someone is ok or not
10. that she loves to kiss
11. the way she eats a bannana
12. that she calls her milk juice
13. the time she got jealous that her baby had her balnket and she snatched it from her and said, no, that's anna's blanket
14. that she can put on her own shoes
15. that she tries to wear my shoes
16. the way she helps me sort laundry
17. the way she helps me unload the groceries. I honestly am so thankful for her helping me do that. it saves so much time.
18. the way that she asks for more. and if you aren't paying attention, adds sign language to the mix.
19. that she loves the Bible (aka Bobble)
20. that she has no fear
21. the way she loves bubble wrap
22. that she says hey bobbaw anytime she hears the phone ring
23. the way she melts my heart when she snuggles
24. the way that she says her abc's "LMNOP = elmo go pee"
25. the way that she counts to 12...I start it and she only says the even numbers
26. the way she calls the vacuum cleaner an "almost" cause when she used to be afraid of it she would say all done mommy all done and I would say almost. so now she calls it an almost
27. that she can say 4 sylybol words "ca-bi-pil-ler, ab-a-cob-bo, hed-i-cop-ter, mo-ter-cy-cle"

AB Blooming in the Spring

2009-04-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

2009-04-10T13:55:00.001-07:00

We are not huge fans of the Easter Bunny and Easter Egg Hunts but somethings change when you have kids. We were at Target getting her photo taken in her Easter dress and they dude gave her a bunny to hold. I knew I wasn't going to buy it, but didn't want to get into the whole conversation that Easter is not about bunnies so I let him snap the shot.

Oh my goodness, look how precious it turned out!

the cost of a one night get away

2009-02-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

my birthday is in 2 days and this is how i am celebrating it.....

my dad travels 5 and 1/2 days a week and gets tons of points for a free hotel night so i asked him for one night not too far from home so i don't have to drive all night so i ended up getting a night in Baltimore with a room overlooking the inner harbor

her paid an additional $25 for an upgraded room, a guaranteed water view and concierge lounge access. Thanks dad!

our only cost for the room....$25 parking

I told dustin all i wanted to do was get an overnight sitter for AB (thanks Zuzka) go to the hotel, put on my pjs, crawl up into the bed, get under the fancy luxurious sheets and down comfortor and watch cable TV. (for those of you who know me well, you know that is a real treat since we do not have a TV)

I also went as far to say that I didn't even want dinner because it would waste any hotel / tv time i had so i just got back from the store feeling a little guilty for the expense incured but trying to justify it to myself and make me feel better about it...thus this post

i have never walked away from a grocery store and spent what i spent and only had to carry 2 bags away. Now mind you the bags were full but still. So here it goes

gatorade because of the long time tradition dustin and i have with gatorade and hotels 3.20
a fancy intuition razor that i always feel guilty for buying 8.99
Beef Jerky which dustin recently got me hooked on 4.99
Chocolate covered almond raspberry M&Ms 4.69
strawberries 3.49
blueberries 3.49
blackberries because I miss my PaPaw 3.49
spinach quiche so we dont have to feel bad for just eating junk 5.99
brie cheese 6.99
hummus 3.79
blue organic tortillia chips 2.50
flatbread 2.29
Melba toast 3.19

total with tax and all that 58.44 yieks!!!! but if you figure a fancy steak dinner might cost the same...i would rather be in bed in my pjs!

So here is to my 29th Birthday! Happy Birthday Me!

50 things I love about Dustin....

2009-02-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today is my 9th wedding anniversary! Here are 50 things I love about Dustin.

He tolerates my quirkiness.

He knows all my stories and doesn’t get tired of hearing them over and over.

He bought the house I picked out, no questions asked.

He is the best secret keeper.

He cleans up vomit very well.

He honors me by not watching shows on TV or movies that feature scantily clad/seductive women.

He is the world’s best Poppy and coached our baby into saying Bible, Jesus, Amen and Church before she was 18 months old.

He doesn’t love football and does not have to watch every game!

He lets me change my mind at the last minute.

He is terrific around the house and only uses duct tape as a very last resort! I do not think there is anything that he cannot fix.

He will not talk to me in the morning until he has had his prayer time and talked to God first.

He always reminds me of our conversations that we have at 1AM when I am asleep (and he knows that) but he is too excited about something to wait until I wake up the next day.

He lets me take care of his calendar and meetings!

He pushes me to be who I need to be.

He is always supportive of my desires.

He drives late into the night on road trips. (Even if his reasoning is because I fell asleep while driving over 6 years ago and he is still scared!)

He decorates the outside of the house at Christmas time….EVERY YEAR! (we won’t mention that it is the redneck blow up stuff)

He is not high maintenance when it comes to dinner. His only request is that there is meat and that the entire meal is not in one pot.

He lets me vent when I am stressed and tells me when to stop.

He doesn’t care that my body has changed after the birth of a baby. If it does bother him he doesn’t say anything.

He has so much drive and passion.

He has so much vision.

He protects me from things I do not need to hear.

He insists on worship music being played in our house 24/7.

He will not let Anna Beth and I leave the house in the mornings until he prays over us and he prays for AB every night before she goes to bed too!

He takes care of any IT/nerdy computer related issues I have.

He sends me just because flowers.

He carries the diaper bag.

He lets me get Taco Bell even though we would much prefer somewhere else.

He once sent me flowers and chocolate 3 days into his first international trip without me because he was sure I would be missing him by then. I was missing him before he even made it through security.

He has an obedient heart towards God. He chooses obedience over sacrifice EVERYtime.

He will not compromise his morals, standards and integrity….even if it takes longer, cost more, and isn’t exactly what he wanted to do.

He still gets my door for me.

He can make me feel so small and safe and protected, just by putting his hand on my back right in-between my shoulder blades.

The way he leads me into a room or event with his hand on the small of my back.

His big crooked front tooth!

When he makes me laugh.

When he sends me a random text message to encourage my day.

The way he straightens my engagement ring if it is not directly centered when he is holding my hand.

The way he gets excited about going on a big vacation.

The way he will take the fortune out of his cookie and then let me eat it when no one is looking.

The way he helps me make memories and reminds me to slow down and enjoy the little things.

The way he can be a little girly when it comes to candles and decorating.

When he doesn’t judge me if I eat a late night snack.

He lets me get my nails done if I wanted to and lets me get my house cleaned but we just can’t find someone who can do it as well as I can.

The way he celebrates small things with me and gets excited too (i.e. clean sheet day, Anna saying Poo Poo)

When he plays with Anna he gets down on the floor at her level.

When he gives me a massage (few and far between but well worth the wait)

When he goes to the grocery store with me. The trips are shorter and more expensive but I always welcome the company.

That he does the bills and money stuff so I do not have to worry with it. I did the first 5 years of our marriage and will probably offer to do it starting next year. I also love that he taught me how to do bills.

I love you Dustin!

Who am I?

2009-02-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

I do not know who I am. I mean...I know who I am but I do not know WHO I AM. I start having these thoughts every year around my birthday when people ask what I want to do for that day. I think that how you celebrate your birthday says a lot about who you are. And for the past gazillion birthdays, I always feel a little let down and unhappy with the way I chose to celebrate it. Last year, all I wanted for my birthday was the perfect day. I took the day off of work, had my house cleaned, got my nails and hair done, had a massage, and then wanted to go out for dinner. The cleaners did a crappy job, I smudged my nails, the hair lady had a bad attitude and I was cold during the whole massage. By the time I was ready to go to dinner, the baby was already ready for bed...so we just ordered in and went to bed.

This year I know that I want to focus relationships. Last year a day by myself was far from perfect.

I need to know who I am. This year I want to explore and find out more about myself. I hate museums. I hate poetry. I love getting messy. I love to go barefoot. My goal is that in a year and 20 days (my 30th birthday) I will know who I am. There will be a lot of experimenting and trials and list making but I will know who I am. And the sooner I know who I am, the sooner I will be able to relax and be who I am. (not sure if that makes sense or not but it totally makes sense to me)

Another thing that has come up since I am a year away from 30 is if I should be working on a list of things I want to do before I turn 30 and my dear BFF Su was so wise to point out to me that I really should make a list of things that I have already done before I turn 30. That was very encouraging. I am a very successful person and have accomplished many things. I do not need to live in regret or in fear of not living a good enough life. I think I will make both lists.

Just some ramblings that I need to get out of my head before I start my week at a j0b that I no longer like....maybe that is something to add to the list.

Happy Monday!

just because flowers are the best kind of flowers ever

2009-01-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

Dustin sent me flowers last Friday. Just because. No anniversary. No birthday. No special event. No make ups to be done (worst reason for flowers and it must be known that Dustin has never sent make up flowers...I don't think there has ever been a reason to make up)

The note said this...."You AMAZE me! You just bought your first house, got your biggest bonus, been successful at Everything you touch and are still head over heels in love with me? That's AMAZING!"

I am still head over heels in love with him. In a couple of weeks we will have been married 9 years.

Sweet Suds

2009-01-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Today is a monumental day...I, Lori Hedrick, can retire my portable dishwasher (my 2 hands) and use a real deal dishwasher! Hip Hip Hooray!

In my 9 years of marriage, the only place that we lived that had a dishwasher was Fireside apartments and that was just for one year. Now I own a house that has a dishwasher. I actually own a dishwasher that has a house!

Bring on the dirty dishes!

the cost of humility....$100 in cash

2009-01-13T08:17:00.000-08:00

So this morning I learned a valuable lesson at the expense of everyone in my house...sorry AB, Dustin and Zuzka.

A few months ago, Dustin and I were given $200 cash by someone because they said that God told them to give it to us. That money could not have come at a better time. We were trying to save up the earnest money for our house and Dustin had put us on a spending freeze. It was a couple of days before we were going to be paid and we just needed something to hold us over for the 3 basics…diapers, wipes and milk. That money was a true God-send. On the outside of the envelope I wrote two things. “God will provide” and “He makes a way.” I want those two truths to be remembered always by anyone who opens the envelope! It always makes me pause and thank Him for coming through.

From that day forward, we decided to make a rule…we will always keep $200 cash on hand and if we need to use something…for a necessity…NOT for bagel money or something else frivolous…we will replace it the next payday so that we will always have the $200 base.

Fast forward to yesterday….we are trying to pay the tuition for Zuzka and other new homeowner expenses that just pop up and Dustin put us on a spending freeze again and we would just rely on the emergency fund till Friday. He had to use about $100 for new locks and keys for the new house and some caulk to seal up some air leaks. He told me that there was $100 left and I could use it for groceries.

This is where my lesson begins…He said that he handed me the envelope. I remember him not handing it to me but rather placing it on top of the yellow dresser. So this morning, on my way out the door, I went to grab the cash so that I could stop on the way home. Grocery shopping is so much easier with out a baby. I looked everywhere and I couldn’t find the envelope. I asked Dustin and he insisted that he handed it to me and I insisted that he didn’t. I looked on top of the yellow dresser, in his coat pockets, his jeans pockets, my pants pockets, my purse and the diaper bag. The envelope was NO WHERE to be found.

Poor Zuzka sat on the couch as I made snide remarks like, “Anna we will get you some more milk as soon as mommy finds the grocery money” and Dustin calmly told me I need to work on my memory which made me say more snide remarks like, “IF I find the money, I will admit I am wrong and apologize for this…implying that if HE found the money he had better do the same”! It was way too much conversation for 7:45 in the morning, even if the words weren’t stressed or tense words, it was just way too much.

I was really stressed. If I didn’t get that $100 back then there wouldn’t be any groceries until Friday and Anna only had one and a half sippy cups worth of milk left.

As I got in the car, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would show me where the envelope was.

Immediately, my mind went to last night’s leadership and logistics meeting. Usually they are at our house but due to the move, this one was at Fidelis’ house. Anna was way out of character and was just being busy and cranky. She had emptied her diaper bag and I put everything back in, but maybe I missed something, so I text Fidelis and asked him when he got home from work if he could just look under his couch for a small white envelope with some writing on the outside and $100 cash inside. He called me back within 5 minutes. I thought he was already at work so was thrilled when he told me he was at home. I was on the phone with him as he began looking for the envelope. The next thing that happened was he leaned down and said he had found something and on the outside of it there was writing that said “God will provide” and “He makes a way.” Just to hear someone say those two truths out loud made my heart sink. #1 God will provide and make a way but #2 how could I be so stress and so ugly about such a small issue that DUH! God will provide and make away! I quickly thanked him for finding it and arranged the time I would pick it up and called Dustin to apologize. Of course he didn’t answer. I wouldn’t have answered me either. I called Zuzka and she answered. I apologized to her and then asked if she could give the phone to Dustin. I apologized to him as well.

I really need to find a way to deal with this stress that I am experiencing. I really need to find a way to channel my frustrations. Tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start. I just hope I can still salvage today.

40 minutes looking for socks and the joys of owning a home

2009-01-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and a fresh start...at least that is what my pastor keeps saying. I am ready for a fresh start. We bought a house on January 5th and moved in on the 10th. My life has been nonstop high speed crazy since then.

Thursday I had the cleaners out to give the empty house a good scrub. We also had the exterminator come out that afternoon as well. Dustin and I have a rule about bugs...whoever finds it kills it unless we can convince the dog to take a shot at it. He hates bugs more than I and I don't like them too much myself. Might as well have a fresh start for $125 and avoid bugs all together. Friday was the next round of service people. We had the air ducts cleared for the sake of Dustin's allergies and because I made the mistake of watching the TV show How Clean is Your House, we got the carpet cleaned too.

While we were moving (HUGE thanks to the almost 20 Terrific Tapestry people that came out to help in the rain and hail) Dustin fell and cracked his rib...during the first part of the morning.

I am beginning to learn a lot about home-ownership. We paid $195 for the cleaners to clean an empty house...they left old lipstick kisses on windows untouched, cob webs in the bed room, grease on the stove, dead bugs on the window seal...and so on. The bug guy tried to get us locked into a quarterly agreement. The air duct person didn't put the HVAC unit back together properly and now it won't cut off and and our bedroom is 85 degrees and the carpet people broke the valve on our outside faucet and left the water running and we did not discover it until last night.

On top of that....AB hates the new house. She hates her new room. She screams if we put her on the floor to walk around. I tried to unpack a couple of boxes into a closet and she kept closing the door every time I would walk away to grab the next box. Last night when we pulled into the driveway, AB recognized the house and screamed NOOOOoooooooo! and started crying. We then called BopBaw who sang Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes which seemed to calm her down.

Moose doesn't know which way is up and yesterday when I put him in his crate he was hesitant and when I got home from church I found out why...he had gotten sick all in his crate. Poor dog.

This morning I was 40 minutes late for work looking for a pair of socks. Needless to say, I ended up at work late with no socks. I am trying to stay positive and trying to find a way to channel my frustrations...for AB it is screaming, moose is choosing diarrhea, I might just choose blogging. I will let you know how that works...you will just have to keep checking back!

This is a photo of us the day we closed on the house. it's not my favortie photo but life is too short to worry about what you look like. This is what it looked like and that is that.

A day in the life of Lor

Planning ahead...what's for dinner.

Water x 8

Why so long since I wrote?

I do this every year: my pre-Birthday post

Not bragging, just making a mark so I can come back to this moment

A great beginning to a life long journey

Lyds is all grown up

Where does this stuff come from? Should I be proud or sad that she is so grown?

Things heard while getting ready for Christmas

My One thing for 2011: Good bye perfectionism

Things heard while playing and using imaginations

Things Heard

Where have I been and what is next?

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's things Heard...when talking about Jesus

Wednesday's Something I have never done before...pumpkins and wine

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...Dustin's birthday eve

Monday's Making it a Home...10 minutes the night before

How restful would my sleep have been last night if I had taken 10 minutes and knocked it out then? Its a goal I can strive for.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's things Heard...What do you want for dinner?

Me: Ab what do u want for dinner?AB: Mayonnaise and blueberries!Me: No way!

Wednesday's Something I have never done before...chicken wings

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...cheese and crackers in bed

Monday's Making it a Home...every room in my house has a kitchen sink.

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's things Heard..."both team"

Wednesday's Something I have never done before...leaving her alone!

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night ... invaded by Pirates

Monday's Making it a Home...her own space

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's things Heard...pockets

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night

Monday's Making it a Home...smells

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's Things Heard...keeping Lydia

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

Catch Up - Sorry

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night - I married an amazing man!

Monday's Making it a Home...LIFE CHANGING DECISION

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's Things Heard...

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...minus the taco salad AGAIN

Monday's Making it a Home...refinance

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's Things Heard...

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night...minus the taco salad!

Monday's Making it a home

Happy Birthday to a very special friend

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's Things Heard...

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night

Monday's Making it a Home...lovings with lotion

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's Things Heard...

Wednesday's Something I have never done before

Tuesday's Taco Salad Family Night

Monday's Making it a Home...37 minutes

Friday's Thankful Treasures

Thursday's Something I have never done before

Wednesday's Things Heard

Tuesday's Taco Salad and Family Night

Monday's Making it a Home...Flash Cards and puzzle pieces

ACCOMPLISHMENT: Birth Announcements

Coming this Fall!!!

September 3, 2010: Today Compassion Begins

It's 1PM?!?! How did that happen?

Anna Beth turns 3!

Inspired to write again!

Pigs ARE flying all around and I am going halfway across the world without my husband and baby!

An invitation to Dinner

I have a story!

Took My Breath Away

AB and her rain gear!

ALL DONE!

Me: Ab what do u want for dinner?
AB: Mayonnaise and blueberries!
Me: No way!