What a Long Strange Trip

Ode to the thumb

2011-04-05T13:46:00.003-05:00

Adi is no longer a thumb sucker. This is a huge milestone for our big girl. She sucked her thumb from 4 months old until nearly six years. We tried so many different contraptions, bribing, scare tactics (not recommended!) and nothing worked. I finally tried a product that is painted on the nail and tastes like bitter yuck if it gets in the mouth and guess what? It WORKED!

February is almost over!

2011-02-28T21:55:00.000-06:00

It's the last day of February already. I've completed my homework that was due tonight and baby girl is sleeping so I'm taking a few minutes to update the blog!

I don't remember when this took place but Adi won a ride in this Hummer stretch limo for her efforts selling cookie dough and such during a fund raiser in the fall. The kids you see in the picture are the only ones in the entire school that got to go for the ride so it was really quite a big deal!

Adilyn and her classmate C (just his first initial to protect his identity) were the only Kindergarteners in the limo. They were both a little nervous about riding with the big kids at first but once they got in there they had nothing but fun. The kids even got to enjoy some candy while they were out and about.

So Adi and C. It's funny, really, that these two got to go on this ride together. It's pretty cool, really, that they are even friends. You see, for the first couple of months of school Adi and C did NOT get along. Not one bit. As a matter of fact Adi begged me to home school her because of this little guy! But instead of pulling her out of school and taking her away from her conflict I chose to do something else. We prayed together. For C. We prayed that he and his family would be blessed. That love and joy would fill their home. And after some time I started hearing more stories about her fun times with C than I did about her "best friend" B! Praise God! Enemies became friends and I give all the credit to our magnificent God and His wonderful ways.

So we couldn't resist some playtime in the snow. This is one of the two times Chloe has worn her cute pink winter suit. She didn't really know what to thing about the snow...

Adi insisted on making a snow woman this time. Hey, why not?

We got to celebrate Papa's birthday in January together with one of Nana's amazing red velvet cakes. The BEST red velvet cake recipe ever.

So the excitement for this month is that we have begun church shopping. It has been an extremely emotional process. I'm finding it very challenging. Being without a physical church over the past year and a half I've been able to enjoy the most anointed teachings and powerful worship online watching www.ibethel.tv and feeling like my life is changed a little bit each time. But without a church community we've begun to feel a bit lonely, wanting to share in worship and fellowship with other believers that are searching for the heart of God.

We thought we had found the church we were supposed to be at but several things happened that felt like doors closing. The first time we visited as a family I walked just outside the doors with Chloe to get her to sleep but I could still hear the message until one of the church members closed the doors. I couldn't hear anymore and I felt like the door had in some way been prophetically shut on me. I walked around outside the "sanctuary" in tears. I had been so excited to visit this church and the door was shut on me. (Just for reference sake, they did not shut the door the following week when we went back to visit again.) The next week we tried again. The words of many of the worship songs point at humanity and our imperfections rather than lifting up God and that bothers us. The pastor announced their new "building fund" and my heart sank. We'd been through this before with our previous church and didn't want to do it again.

The final straw was when Adi wanted me to come with her to Sunday school so I agreed to hang out for a few minutes until she adjusted. I watched the teacher toss a ball from one child to another in a random fashion asking each one what their favorite thing was about their week. Adi waited patiently for her turn but the teacher never tossed the ball to her. She turned to me and shrugged her shoulders and took the disappointment like a champ. I wanted to holler, "You forgot about Adi!!" but I kept my mouth shut while my heart was breaking for my little girl. Ugh. This was why I needed to be in that room with her that morning. Maybe I'm hyper-sensitive but I believe that all those things happened for a reason.

So we visited another church. One that we had heard was being influenced by the church we've been watching online. And it shows in the teaching. I'm struggling with the worship because I have very high standards but the teaching is awesome. This past Sunday we prayed for people in the church and 10 people were healed from various ailments. God is moving in this church and we are excited about that. We may have found a home but really only time will tell.

Four Months = Solid Food for Chloe

2011-01-07T13:32:00.001-06:00

Chloe's first attempt at solid food! We chose avocado based on a lot of information we learned from a really helpful website: www.wholesomebabyfoods.com I didn't make Adi's baby food because I didn't realize how easy it was to do. I'm excited to try out recipes and learn more from the website. For now, Chloe is only having about 1/2 tsp of mashed avocado once per day.

These matching sweater dresses were a gift to the girls from Cam and I for Christmas. I got the 6-9 month size for Chloe and I'm almost wishing I would have gotten 9-12! She's only going to be able to wear this thing a few times before she outgrows it. These two girls are just adorable!!

At her four month well child visit Chloe was 15 pounds (75th percentile) and 26.25" (95th percentile) and her head circumference is in the 50th percentile. My little tiny baby is growing up so fast and I love that I don't have to miss any of it by working outside the home. What a blessing.

I currently only have two daycare kiddos which is enough for me! More money would be nice but we're moving on to a new chapter: I'm going back to school full-time! Crazy as it is, there's no better time than now to finish up that degree I started so fewer daytime responsibilities feels safer to start until I get used to being a full-time wife, mother, child care provider and student all at the same time. I won't be the first woman in history to accomplish all of these things so I know it is doable. The learning curve will likely be steep and I'll have to get better at time management but I am ready for the challenge. So if the blog once again falls by the wayside, don't be surprised. It's a small miracle that I've been able to bring it back up to date but I'll do my best to at least post photos once a month or so.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T12:28:00.000-06:00

Santa visited our house this year and left several golden packages for our family. Adi even said, "how many presents is Santa giving me?" as the unwrapping seemed to go on and on... Santa went a bit overboard, as usual. Hopefully he can tone it down a bit next year but he just gets so darn excited!!

I think the one thing that got the biggest response from Adi was the Rapunzel hair from Uncle Shane and Aunt Kris.

Wow, that's a lot of hair to keep from getting "tangled"!

One final modeling shot of the hair.

Chloe is enjoying her new infant to toddler rocker.

And the famous Sophie the giraffe teething toy.

Christmas isn't quite over for our family yet - we have two more Driscoll Christmas celebrations mid-January and then our holiday season will officially be over. And then on to a busy and exciting new year :)

December

2011-01-03T22:08:00.001-06:00

Look how big I'm getting!

Puppy lives on... encouraging Adi to suck her thumb. Booo!

Look how strong I am, too! And I roll over both ways and I'm not even four months old yet.

Adi is painting the sun catcher Christmas ornaments that were part of Grandma Marsha's 12 days of Christmas.

It's a common sight these days: a finger, thumb or entire hand in the mouth. Chomp chomp, it's teething time.

Chloe is holding her daycare friend's hand. How cute :)

I'm gonna get you! She loves to roll over on the poor guy but it's so darn funny.

Adi's getting better and better at holding her baby sister.

And welcome to my new nephew Gavin Thomas Harney born at 32 weeks gestation. He was only 4 pounds and 17". But what a handsome little guy, and he's doing so well. Should be home very soon but is hanging out in the NICU until he's strong and ready.

Thanksgiving Plus

2011-01-03T21:46:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving was spent with the Harney family this year. Adilyn is way into Avatar (though she's never seen the whole film) so as you can see she is sporting blue Avatar "stripes" on her neck as she poses with her Great Grandma Harney.

It's always fun to play with the cousins.

Nana was pooped!

I love this photo of Little Little and me.

My little brother Travee.

We ended up having Sarah McElligot do the family shots for us while Shane, Kris and Maddi were in town. I'm glad we chose her rather than a typical studio because she will be able to photo shop Travis, Krista and family into the compilation photo after baby boy is born. Here's the Oregon Harney family.

This is a cute shot of the Driscoll's... cute, though I don't like the reality of my extra chin and extra weight. Ugh, New Year resolution in the making?

A beautiful shot of Nana & Papa.

And I love this picture of the grandkids with Nana & Papa.

Having all of these photos is such a treat. I can't wait until we get the full compilation photo with everyone in it. That will be COOL!

November

2011-01-03T21:32:00.001-06:00

Chloe tried on Adi's hair extension headband from Halloween and she looks oh so cute!

She's just as cute as a natural baldy :)

Adi was such a great big sister at Chloe's first well child visit. She wanted desperately to protect Chloe from the vaccinations and even cried when Chloe cried. It was sad, sweet, and stressful to have not just one crying girl but two.

I love all the smiles from this little girl. The Bumbo seat is a pretty cool tool for helping baby girl develop the muscles she needs to sit on her own.

My niece and nephew spent a week with us while my little brother and his wife made arrangements for them to go to a preschool while sis-in-law hangs out on bed rest waiting for baby boy (child #3) to arrive safely. The kids did a lot of dress up - they're all super heros here - because we all know that firefighters are real life super heros!

Adilyn is getting braver about holding her sister, but Chloe prefers for Adi to talk to her face to face. She just laughs and giggles, she loves her sissy!

This baby is growing so fast. I'm not sad about it yet because what it means for me is that she is sleeping better, smiling more and requiring a tad less than constant attention from me which is a relief to have a break now and again.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

2011-01-03T21:10:00.001-06:00

On October 31st, 2010 my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! What an amazing accomplishment, to stay together literally through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse. I'm am honored to have parents who have been able to overcome obstacles and hurdles and have kept their marriage going for 40 years. Wow. This is the card I made for them, the photo on the front is a copy of their actual wedding photo.

The forty years God tried and tested the people of His choosing to the end that they should bring forth fruit ere He brought them into the promised land...

My brother's families and mine honored my parents by sending them to Iowa River Power Restaurant for an anniversary dinner on us. We also blessed them with the promise of a family portrait to be done in November when Shane and his family are coming home for Thanksgiving and to help celebrate the anniversary of the two people who brought the three of us into this world.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad. We love you so much!

Halloween 2010

2011-01-03T20:55:00.001-06:00

Adi decided to be a vampire for Halloween this year, which was quite a surprise to me. Once I arrived to her classroom for the Halloween parade I understood why.

Two of her classmates had also chosen to be vampires, ah the power of peer influence!

Adi had a cute spider web mask that she was going to wear but it felt too itchy so she ended up choosing to go sans mask.

Here's a group shot of Adi's friends at school. Her best friend is the yellow Pokemon character on the left. The girl on the right is supposed to be Lady Gaga. I had to do a google search to find out who Lady Gaga was and apparently I shocked my facebook friends and family by admitting that I had no idea who the celeb was.

On the left you can see one of the finest teachers on the planet, Mrs. Smith. We adore her. I don't think this year could have been as successful as it has been so far without her investment in Adilyn and her adjustment not only to Kindergarten but to sisterhood as well.

It is our tradition to trick-or-treat with our dear friends the McCoy's. The clan is all together and posing for this shot on a neighbor's doorstep.

Miss Chloe was true to her namesake this year and went as a flower blossom. I just adore this costume!

In lieu of the mask I painted some pretty cool spider webs on for trick-or-treating and we used a dollar store hair extension headband for dramatic affect.

One last shot of my baby flower.

Halloween is much easier with just one kiddo but more fun with two!!

October

2011-01-03T20:26:00.000-06:00

It's been way too long since I've posted on the blog. I have a tiny bit of time this evening and want to spend it attempting to catch up on the blog. It will be mostly photos and not much writing, but the photos are the best part anyway so, I'll start with October.

Chloe doesn't like to be swaddled. Well, not with the arms in, that is. She liked to have a swaddle around her middle but wriggled like little Houdini whenever her arms were put in.

After the first couple of days in the hospital she wouldn't take a pacifier either. This was really weird for us since Adi was so dependent on her pacifier until she ultimately found her thumb at four months and hasn't stopped sucking it since. Here is a cute little outfit that Aunt Leah gave to Chloe.

Fall wouldn't be complete without a trip out to Wilson's Apple Orchard. This year Adi took her friend (our neighbor) John along. They had a good time and painted pumpkins, too.

Adi, Daddy and Chloe. So cute!

This is my 34th birthday cake. The Co-op baked this one. I had to steer clear of my favorite birthday sweet treat: Rapspberry Cheesecake (also from the Co-op) because Chloe doesn't like it when I eat dairy. Most people think it's normal for babies to spit up - I believe most babies are lactose intolerant and nursing mama's can avoid much of those spit ups by cutting dairy out of their diet. Really, it's true! If it wasn't I wouldn't have quit eating one of the staples of my diet. I LOVE cheese!! But my sacrifice means Chloe rarely spits up - unless I've snuck some dairy in. Happens every time :(

Papa and Chloe are playing.

This is probably my favorite outfit ever. Thank you Aunt Carisa! I'm a huge fan of the precious little owl on it - Chloe seems to like it too ;)

There's my pretty little baby. I just love her!

Now I realize that Halloween is in October as well, but I think it deserves a post of its own, so coming up next... Halloween 2010.

Photos by Sarah McElligot

2010-10-17T16:40:00.001-05:00

These are the beautiful photos my friend Sarah took for us.

We were long over due for family photos.

Driscoll girls

Miss Chloe Shalom

All wrapped up

Toes

Sleep smile

Mama's kiss

Wide eyed

Sweet

Cutie in a basket

Love the basket shots

We loved Sarah's work so much we're trying to convince her to do more but she's a busy woman. Hopefully we'll have a chance to hire her to do photos in the future (she did these for free so she could put them in her portfolio to get her business of newborn photography going.)

Introducing: Chloe Shalom

2010-09-19T19:04:00.002-05:00

Chloe Shalom Driscoll was born 9/3/10 at 12:14 am. She was 11 days past her due date but came on her own (we didn't have to induce labor). We arrived at the hospital at 8:15 pm and our little girl was born less than four hours later. We were surprised that she weighed only 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

The name Chloe means blossom. We liked that because it ties in with Adi's middle name Rose. Shalom, as most people know, means peace. But it means more than that. It's not like the hippy saying, "peace brother" kind of peace. It's a heavenly, Godly, perfect peace. As one friend wrote it means "nothing missing, nothing broken". After the long rough road we traveled to get here with a second child we couldn't think of a better middle name for our little girl. She's perfect. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Made perfectly by our heavenly Father, so gratefully received and loved by our family and friends. We adore her. Our friend Sarah came by today to take some photos of our family and especially newborn pictures of Chloe. Adilyn loves to have her photo taken so we got plenty of her as well. I'm posting a few pictures that we took and I'll post some of Sarah's (which will be markedly better) in the near future.Adi is thanking God for her baby sister and watching over her much like a guardian angel.Cam liked the artistic shot of Adi and the crown of flowers I wore in my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Steve's wedding as a little girl.I snuck a shot of Chloe as Sarah was taking photos and this is one of my favorites.

We are all adjusting so well to being a family of four. Adi is such a wonderful big sister to Chloe and Cam has been a wonderful husband to me, father to Chloe and Adilyn and I feel so blessed. Thank you Lord for trusting us to be parents to these two precious girls. Thank you, thank you, Lord!

41 Weeks and Counting

2010-08-31T11:54:00.000-05:00

Here it is. Belly at 41 weeks and a couple of days. This pregnancy has been such a ride. A long long ride. I could even call it a long strange trip! I never expected to be pregnant past my due date, it just doesn't seem like anyone should ever have to go past 40 weeks. I think 40 weeks is plenty long enough. I just learned that my mother-in-law went 3 weeks past her due date with brother-in-law Larry! I have a whole new respect for her as a mother, I don't know how she endured such a long pregnancy! At most I will have to wait until Friday 9/3 to be induced which is 11 days past my due date. I already feel like the time couldn't possibly go any slower and though I'm physically comfortable (thanks to my chiropractor I think) I'm totally mentally and emotionally unstable! I cry at very unpredictable times and am having a hard time dealing with the wait. Maybe part of that is that I'm home alone all day - except for all of the appointments I've been going to. I probably have too much time to think and that feels miserable.

I do know, that this baby will be born by Friday. After a second try at stripping my membranes today (first try was on Friday 8/27 but had virtually no effect) I went on to have a non-stress test which showed that baby is happily thriving in my womb. And three cervix checks over the past week have shown almost no change in dilation or effacement. Not only is baby not ready but apparently my body is not ready either. Cam thinks it's because I'm too comfortable. Interestingly, my chiropractor mentioned that the majority of his pregnant clients have carried their babies past their due dates which leads me to wonder if Cam is on to something. Maybe there is something to the mother's discomfort that aids in babies timely arrivals. I couldn't find any studies on it online, it's just an observation and has me wondering.

So now the wait continues. Not much is keeping me sane at this point, though Bethel teachings online have been good medicine for my soul and knowing that there is a specific date that we will not go past is helpful as well. I'm so very very ready for this baby to be born. So very ready.

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the first day of school while shopping for socks and undies, Adilyn found a new pair of pajamas at Target that I could not resist. I love the little owls all over the pants and had to get them for her. Not something I would have anticipated getting but she just loves them and I do, too.

At the teacher meet & greet Adi received her first homework assignment. She was to decorate a yellow star with a family photo in the center and whatever she wanted all around it. I forgot to get a picture of the completed star but I can at least include the photo she chose. We didn't actually have a family photo so we took several with the fun camera on our macbook.

This morning Adi was all set and ready to put on her first day outfit but insisted on posing with her beloved friend Golden Star, aka Puppy.

Here's a shot of the whole outfit in front of our little pond. She's so grown up!

Of course I had to get a shot of the backpack she picked out. It has hummingbirds on it - very appropriate for my bird loving girl. The water bottle she got has butterflies, another favorite.

In front of Robert Lucas Elementary School where I attended school as did Papa (my dad). Three generations at the same school is kind of fun. We took Adi to the before school program and she was very timid at first but by the time we came back to take her to her Kindergarten classroom she was very happily learning how to sign her name with real sign language. She's been into making up her own signs to communicate lately which is great, though I don't know anything more than "baby signs" so I'm going to have to learn some real sign language to keep up with her.

When it was time to go to her classroom Adi went straight to a table to color with some other girls. It was fun to meet a girl in her class named Madelyn who was also wearing a peace sign on her shirt. I think Adi felt like she fit right in and she did awesome.

So that's my girl. All grown up and ready to learn all she needs to know in Kindergarten. I'm so proud of her. She's such an amazing kiddo.

And I didn't even cry when we left her there. She was so content and happy to say good-bye because she was comfortable there that I had no emotion at all other than pride and joy that our girl is so awesome. I can't wait to hear all about her day when I pick her up. And after that, her baby sibling can be born at any time as far as I'm concerned ;)

My Little Model

2010-08-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

Adilyn loves to have her picture taken. Multiple times a day. Yesterday she dressed up, made her hair fancy, came downstairs and said, "take a picture of me!" So I took several.

She comes up with all of these poses. I'm not really sure where she gets it from, it's not like she's ever seen a model posing that I know of. I'm sure she's seen photos in the check out line at the grocery store but... I guess it just runs in the family.

I wanted to be a model when I was her age. My mom wanted to be a model when she was a youngster too. In fact my mom and I did a little modeling once upon a moon.

Adi doesn't know that, though. For whatever reason it's just in her to want to pose for beautiful photos. Interesting.

She is a beautiful girl, at home we emphasize that beauty comes from within. When I asked her where beauty comes from her response was, "your heart". It's true, I'm so glad she knows it.

Baby Shower!

2010-08-02T22:38:00.000-05:00

I was so blessed to have the perfect baby shower this past weekend. My closest friends and family came together to help celebrate the coming of our little one. It was so much fun to spend time with the ladies who have so loyally prayed over the years for healing after miscarriages and for the conception and safe and healthy development of this precious baby.

My friend Amy, who happens to make some of the coolest cakes on the planet created the perfect cake. I love how she puts so much thought into her cakes and creates something completely personalized and amazing. It was tasty too!

There were lots of little girls around Adilyn's age who came to the shower as well. Lucky for them, the Boelk's have a beautiful property which the girls were able to explore - catching butterflies, visiting the pond and even going for a wagon ride pulled by Brian and one of the twins (Kinnick or Carver, can't tell which ;)

Gifts are always a fun part of baby showers but the greatest gift for me was spending time with my favorite women. All of the kind and encouraging words, the written blessings, the love poured out on me was joy to my soul.

Adi was right there with me for the gift opening and I realized once again what a precious part of my life she is and always will be. I absolutely adore her and sometimes wonder how I can love another child as much as I do her? I know in my head that God makes room in the heart for every child but I won't know the depth of that love until I meet our newest family member.

Here is my dear friend Rachelle, one of the hostesses of the party. I love Rachelle and her family and am so grateful to her and all she's done for us.

And of course, Amy who hosted the event at her home. We had so much fun, I think I need to hang out at Amy's house more often ;)

These two women put together such a wonderful celebration and I felt physically, emotionally and mentally blessed far beyond what I had anticipated. I love that these friendships have transcended the divide of not seeing each other every Sunday. These are true friends, and they are hard to find. Thank you, friends!!

Day Trip: Blank Park Zoo

2010-07-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

Our second day trip was to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. This time we went with Nana and Papa, and there was some concern that it was going to be another roasting hot day like Adventureland but it turned out to be beautiful and perfect for visiting a zoo. Must have been because I told the weather to stay cool and the clouds to stay near ;)

The first thing we got to do was feed parakeets. I didn't expect this to be so much fun. An entire room was dedicated to free flying parakeets and sticks with bird seed could be purchased for $1 each to feed the birds. The birds certainly knew what to do, they instantly hopped right onto our sticks and started pecking away.

Next was a bird show (Adi was in bird heaven) called Birds Down Under. Here is the bird trainer and one of the many stars of the show.

Feeding the giraffes was a fun thing to do, too. I had no idea how long their tongues were, this one was pretty shy and stood back but it had rained the night before so the ground was muddy and they apparently don't like standing in mud. Can't blame them.

We saw several kids with very cool face paintings so it was easy to say yes to Adilyn having hers done. She, of course, became a beautiful butterfly. Amazing how much it changed her facial features.

We were so proud that Adi chose to ride the camel by herself. There was, of course, a zoo employee leading the camel but she went without an adult. She's growing up!

Feeding the koi lasted far longer than we expected. Adi was giving them one piece of fish food at a time. She really enjoyed it, crazy and weird as it is to see so many fish flopping all over each other!

One of Adi's favorite creatures was this guy. I can't remember what it's called but it was very cool looking.

We also love frogs and this blue guy was very cool. We really enjoyed our time at the zoo and I'm so grateful that we went when we did. It was a fun and blessed day indeed.

Day Trip: Adventureland

2010-07-28T09:50:00.001-05:00

We've been planning our short day trips for July so that we don't have to be too far from home in August in case baby decides to come early. Instead of a vacation we're doing day trips, really only a couple but getaways just the same.

We started with a sleepover on Friday evening at Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike's in Newton. A familiar love of Adilyn's is Bunny the bird. How can she resist, it's so beautiful any kind of animal should be held as far as Adi is concerned.

On Saturday we rode off to Adventureland with our threesome, Grandma and Grandpa, Keelan, Larry's family, Carisa and her sister in-law with her 3 year old twins. Bless that woman for having the strength and endurance to raise twin boys on her own! We had quite a crew and needless to say, keeping track of everyone was quite a challenge.

Adi enjoyed some rides while we were there. Daddy is particularly proud of Adi the pilot.

Adilyn's favorite was the Frog Hopper. It's the kids version of the space shot which was Cam's favorite. I think Adi went on this thing 4 or 5 times, and watching her face and the huge smile each time was so much fun for me, I didn't even mind not being able to go on any of the rides.

It felt like it could have been one of the hottest days of the year so we spent a good amount of time at the new water park which was jam packed full of people. Afterward, Adi and Keely rode the Chuck Wagon. I think the guy running the ride was named Chuck which made it all the more interesting.

The Puff Dragons were a cute ride that Adi and Elleh went on together. It was fun for Adi to have her cousins there to go on the kiddy rides with her.

After Adventureland we got to hang out at Carisa and Jeff's place for a while and Adi especially loved the above ground pool. She's done so great in her swim lessons over the past several weeks and I know swimming in the pool with the brave and rambunctious twins definitely gave her more confidence to try new things and have fun at her lessons. It's been fun to see the progress.

Birthmarks and Tattoos

2010-07-11T10:23:00.003-05:00

Adilyn got a new Barbie movie called Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. In the movie, the princess has a royal birthmark which looks like a crown on her shoulder. Adi decided that she should have a birthmark too. Convinced that she must also be royalty, she found a marker (luckily washable) and drew a crown on her shoulder. But it didn't stop there.

Somewhere along the line she shifted from birthmarks to tattoos. She put fruit on her other shoulder and on her chest was something that looked like a little lamb to me. I asked what it was and she said it was Jesus' hand.

I was surprised that she did this all on her own, proud and so impressed that she would even think of having Jesus' hand on her heart. She then drew a little dude next to the hand and said that was Jesus.

Her final tattoo was one that I see often. The cross. The symbol of what Jesus did for us. I used to wear a cross necklace when I was a teen and knew it was special, that it meant something but I honestly didn't know the depth of it all. I'm not sure how much Adi knows or understands but I do know that she thinks about God and Jesus on her own, without as much of a mention of their names from me and I know she's on a path to knowing them well.

That makes my heart happy.

28 weeks 4 days

2010-06-04T13:22:00.000-05:00

That's just how pregnant I am. 28 weeks and 4 days. I'm feeling pretty good for the most part though 3rd trimester tiredness is already creeping in. Doc says I'm slightly anemic so that is probably a contributing factor, guess I'll have to be more diligent about taking my prenatal vitamins and making sure I don't have calcium at the same time (calcium inhibits iron absorption).

So here it is: the baby belly. I can already tell that this kiddo is noticeably growing at a crazy rate, which is normal in the last few months. I'm finally getting to the point where people are saying, "you're really starting to show, aren't you?"

I'm enjoying this phase of pregnancy. My emotional stability has leveled out for the most part, I get to feel the baby kicking and moving but it doesn't hurt yet (no jabs to the ribs) and I mostly have enough energy to get what I need done in the day. We've been really productive as a family and summer is almost here. It's growing season - both in my womb and in our garden :)

Preschool Graduation and Kindergarten Roundup

2010-05-26T14:24:00.000-05:00

Oh my, where did the time go? It wasn't long ago that Adilyn was heading off to her first day of preschool and now she's already had her last. Our girl has grown so much and in so many ways. We're very proud of her.

Here is the class performing a song at the graduation ceremony.

Miss Adilyn looking so grown up.

A little family picture - looks like all of us are growing. At least I have an excuse... for now ;)

Preschool graduation was on Monday this week and Kindergarten Roundup was on Tuesday. Adi and I went together and it only took a few moments before she was comfortable enough for me to leave her in the classroom to have some fun with some of the other students. She's grown so much emotionally, I appreciate that she still needs me but also that she's OK without me for reasonable periods of time. I think things will go just fine this fall when Adilyn attends school full-time.

The only photos I got at K roundup were in the courtyard where a family of ducks live. They have a swimming pool set up for them to swim in and we got to see the ducklings as well. What a cool thing to have at elementary school.

Now in just a few short months our little girl will be attending elementary school and we'll have a new addition to the family. We're so blessed to be where we are, right now. So blessed.

Boy or Girl?

2010-04-06T10:12:00.001-05:00

My first response when the ultrasound tech told us that she thought we were having a girl was a thought that I didn't openly share, "Ha, I should have seen that coming. God certainly has a sense of humor and it's not the same as mine." I've been so sure from the beginning that this baby was a boy that I never really gave much thought to it being a girl. All of the dreams I'd had pre-conception and all those that I'd had since learning I was pregnant were of me giving birth to a boy. Everything about this pregnancy has been different than with Adilyn, so how could this be anything but a boy?

I'd seen an ad somewhere for a gender prediction test called Intelligender and had been tempted to get one long ago. The test is about $35 which felt like a lot considering I would be having an ultrasound that would likely be much more reliable and I didn't have to pay for that (well, I did but my it's included in the $100 co-pay for the entire pregnancy including delivery). So I decided to wait for the ultrasound.

In the wake of disappointment at what I was told at the ultrasound about having another girl (not that I don't want another girl, I just always felt like I was having a boy) I decided to go to Walgreens and get myself an Intelligender test. With luck, it was on sale for $27 and I didn't hesitate to give it a try - even though it's accuracy is only about 90%.

The results made me laugh:

Sage green is supposed to be boy. Orange is supposed to be girl. I kind of got both. The urine was mostly orangish while the sediments that fell to the bottom turned dark sage green. I really couldn't help but laugh. I had to make a choice. I could be frustrated and freak out or I could laugh and enjoy the mystery of not knowing if we are having a boy or a girl. I decided I was going to have fun with not knowing, trusting in the Lord that this baby was exactly as He designed it to be and take joy in the blessing of being pregnant with a healthy baby. What a blessing indeed.

So now we are thinking of girl names which we hadn't done until now because we were so sure it was a boy. Seeking baby names is such a fun thing for me and I love it! I love how unique everyone's taste is when I ask for suggestions. Even if I never use any of the names I'm searching through "just in case it really is a girl" I'm having fun with it and truly cherishing this pregnancy and the little one growing inside me.

Ultrasound!

2010-03-31T18:22:00.002-05:00

Introducing, baby Driscoll - 19 weeks.

The ultrasound went pretty well. I was a bit disappointed in the photos we got, they seem blurry and it's hard to really see the baby but I'm grateful that we have some photos to look at. The baby kept moving and it was hard to get a good shot. During the 3D part we could see that the baby was covering it's eyes with the little hands as if to say, "quit looking at me!"

Baby wasn't cooperating for position to tell if it was a boy or a girl so the tech had me empty my bladder and we tried again. The position was better the second time and the tech believes that due to a lack of visible boy parts the baby is a girl.

I've had a sense that this baby was a boy from the beginning so hearing that it's a girl isn't sinking in for me. I don't really believe it to be true. I've had multiple boy dreams and I trust my dreams - unfortunately more than I trust an ultrasound. I'm stubborn, I know ;) So for the next 21 weeks we are saying that it's going to be a surprise. I've heard of ultrasound predictions being wrong on many occasions so it would be no big surprise if this one was wrong. And if our baby is a girl it won't be a big surprise either. We have a boy name picked out already so now we just need to find the perfect girl name and when baby Driscoll comes he or she will be welcomed and loved and adored regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl. Praise God for a healthy baby!!

A lot to write about

2010-03-09T20:24:00.001-06:00

Things have been super busy around the Driscoll household. Cam started a new job working for the Florida project at Pearson. He's finally working days after 7 years of 2nd shift. And the project he's working on is the 2nd largest in the company which means high pressure compared to anything he's ever done there before. It will surely take some adjusting but I know he'll be awesome at his new position.

I've been working on preparing our home to start an in-home daycare for the past few months now and I finally started yesterday with one infant. The going is a bit rough to start out but I know it will get easier as Adi and I adjust to someone else in the house requiring time and attention. It will be a big transition for us but it's kind of cool that we get to "practice" having a baby around before Adi's sibling arrives in the fall. At least we get to send this one home at the end of the day ;)

My grandma had her 80th birthday over the weekend and the family threw a wonderful party for her. We got a four-generations photo with my dad, grandma, me and Miss Adilyn.

Last Tuesday was kindergarten registration day. We've struggled with the fact that our school (Robert Lucas Elementary) is one of those labeled "in need of assistance" by the "no child left behind" initiative. The parent in me is concerned about how Adi would respond to potential behavior issues that could potentially occur more frequently in a school with a greater population of children from low-income families. As a Christian, I believe that all of these children are special and have a purpose in God's kingdom, that each one is destined for great things and should be given the chance to make the right choices and given the tools to overcome the odds.

We visited another school in Iowa City that we had decided would be an excellent choice for our family. Adilyn had a friend that would be going there and it is a considerably smaller school. The principle gave us a tour of the school and introduced us to the kindergarten teacher and we felt very welcome there. But to be honest we didn't feel as welcome as we did at our home school, Lucas. There are many elements of our visits to the two schools that influenced our decision, but in the end we're going to give Robert Lucas Elementary a chance. My dad went there, I went there, and now Adilyn is going to go there. That's kinda cool.

Dreams of Encouragement

2010-02-08T20:00:00.003-06:00

This is a story about faith. About love, honor, persistence and triumph. I've learned so much about God and His nature through the experiences of multiple miscarriages, secondary infertility, and finally the blessing of a healthy pregnancy. I've learned that God is good, no matter what my circumstances. I've learned that God wastes nothing, every experience in life can be used to bring good. I've learned that God does not seek to punish (for this was satisfied on the cross) but He wants us to learn, to love, and to follow the example of His son Jesus Christ.

There are many parts of my story that might be hard to understand, maybe even hard for some people to believe. That's OK, because it's my story. It happened to me and is as real as the baby growing in my womb. I can't write it all in one post so I'll break it up into several, and I'm sure the story will continue until this baby is born and the promise is fulfilled. I'll do my best to share the journey thus far in easy to read segments.

After our last miscarriage in October of 2007 we went through some medical tests to try and find an answer to why I was able to become pregnant but not stay that way. I hadn't wanted the tests originally but gave in once it felt as though one more loss would kill me. I was looking for answers from man. Was there something physically wrong with me? I just wanted to be told that a doctor could "fix" me and everything would be OK. That's not what I got. The answer instead was something like, "you have a slightly increased chance of miscarriage because of thickening at the end of your fallopian tubes but it's not worth the risks of surgery to try and fix anything because it wouldn't really make a difference." Not what I wanted to hear.

So we had some options. We could do IVF or take fertility drugs to increase our chances. We wanted to give it some time. We set a one year time limit. A year came and went and no new pregnancies. I did, however, have a dream.

In my dream, a co-worker was pregnant. She said to me, "Isn't it so exciting that nine new women are pregnant?" I felt a twinge of bitterness and resentment and responded, "Yeah, great." Then she said, "Don't worry, you'll be next. It will be soon." I knew this was a dream from the Lord and that He was encouraging me. So my response was to seek out all the women I could find who were pregnant, counting along the way. Anxious to get to number nine. Then nine came and went and I had to figure out what the significance of nine really was. The Lord doesn't give us numbers in dreams for no reason. They are always significant.

About then I had an annual exam with my OB/Gyn and we discussed more options. At that point, the only non-invasive option was a fertility drug to increase my chances of getting pregnant sooner. Like most drugs, there was a list of side effects a mile long and I couldn't bring myself to do it. God promised I would be pregnant again soon, it's just hard for us to know what "soon" actually means in God's terms ;) So we went on, month after month with nothing. Until I had another dream.

In this dream I gave birth to a baby boy. Cam and I had picked out the name Sage for a boy before Adi was born. We even struggled with whether or not to use the name for her by making it more feminine with the spelling: Saige. In the end, Adilyn Rose felt so special to us and perfect for her and we saved the name Sage for our first born boy. The significance of the name is that in this dream there were two men who told me I could not name my baby boy Sage. That God had chosen a different name. When I woke up from the dream in the middle of the night I thought, "Oh, I can remember that name. It's a longer version of my name, I won't forget it, I don't need to write it down..." When I woke up in the morning I had forgotten the name completely, but did remember that I could not use the name Sage.

I believe that God speaks to me through dreams. He's spoken to my friends through my dreams and I pray He will always continue to do so. Without these dreams I would not have had the encouragement to continue to trust God's timing. As much as I wanted to take matters into my own hands throughout the years of waiting, I always knew that God was up to something and if I did things my way I might screw up something really amazing that He has in store. The more I know the Lord, the more I want what He intends for me above what I desire for myself. Abundant blessing comes in yielding to the Father. It might take longer than we think it should, but the reward will be great.

Praise God We're Pregnant!

2010-02-04T10:54:00.004-06:00

On December 17th I decided to take a pregnancy test. I didn't feel pregnant. My period wasn't late yet. But we were getting ready to go to Grandma Marsha's for Christmas in two days and though I had given up drinking beer and wine (part of the story I'll tell later) we'd had a couple of very stressful weeks and I was ready for some wine, I was already planning it. But I had a strong sense that I needed to use the pregnancy test I had sitting in the cupboard, leftover from the last time I took a hopeful test - they're cheaper in two packs. I knew somehow that I was pregnant even though I felt nothing. Even still, the test results actually surprised me!

Because we've had so many miscarriages (four total - one before Adi then: Sept '06, May '07, and Oct '07) it's standard to start out with all sorts of tests, taking blood samples to check HCG and progesterone levels but we didn't want to go through all of that this time. We were just going to trust God and wait for the first OB appointment at just under 7 weeks to see an ultrasound. The doc was cool with that so we just had to wait.

The decision to trust was easy, but the process was long and difficult. I told very few very close friends who I knew would be able to pray with power and authority over this pregnancy and I had to do some serious prayer to keep myself from sinking into fear. I did some declarations - biblical statements declaring why I would fear no evil and declaring that this was God's creation and this baby would be born. We hadn't even tried to get pregnant in December, after all (we were too busy trying to keep our dog Ihry alive - and she is, miraculously alive and well). This was all God, His will, His timing, His creation.

So here is the first ultrasound at 7 weeks. It's hard to see but you can see in the photo a dark egg-like area. That is the yolk sac. You can see two plus signs on the left side of of the yolk sac and the blurry thing between those plus signs is the embryo :) Once I saw the heartbeat on the monitor I couldn't even speak. I was too busy crying to even remember to ask for the official due date (I now know that it is 8/25/10). As soon as the doctor left the room I got on the floor and praised God. I didn't even have my clothes on and the floor could have been filthy but I didn't really care. This was the most amazing blessing, to know that my pregnancy was viable.

Cam and Adi came with me to my 11 week appointment because we were supposed to listen to the heart beat and I thought it would be fun for them to be there. My doctor surprised us by doing an ultrasound instead. Again you can see a dark egg-shaped area and the light colored stuff is the baby. Oh my how our babe has grown!

This one is my favorite. The head is on the left side of the oval and you can see a little arm sticking up. Then all the way to the right you can see the little a little leg sticking up too.

The baby was bouncing around in there during the ultrasound. It was so cool to see the baby so active. How wonderful. Adi thought it was weird, I'm sure it was totally weird for her. It barely looks like a baby yet, but she's been bonding with her little sibling already by talking to, hugging and singing songs to my belly. So sweet, she'll be an amazing big sister.

So yes, there's much more to this story but I wanted to get the news out first. We're finally expecting our 2nd child after trying for four years! Yes, it's been that long. We started trying when Adi was only 9 months old because we wanted our kids close in age. It didn't work out that way but I know God's way is the best way.

Some Adi Pics for Grandma Marsha

2010-02-04T10:14:00.002-06:00

I've been working on a lot of projects around the house lately getting ready to launch an in-home daycare! That's been quite a process and I'll post about that later. There are too many other fun things to talk about first. So we had to buy a new computer because our PC crashed (for the 2nd time) and I lost some photos. Not too many, but we lost other files too and I'm not so good at doing backup, etc. So we chose to get a Mac. Macs are much more reliable and fun, to be honest. One of Adi's favorite pass times is to take photos on the macbook. Here is one of Adi and I and her blanky.

Speaking of blanky, I am please to announce that Adi decided it was time to put blanky away and it is now sharing a home with my blanky from when I was a kiddo :) Another favorite pass time is having her picture taken with the cats. Here she is with Bella.
Of course dress-up is always a favorite way to spend the many long indoor hours of winter. Here is a beautiful gown creation by Miss Adilyn. She used an old dress of mine and fancied it up a bit, she did a great job!
Mojo and Adi and chillin on the bed. We had to medicate him recently for a urinary infection, poor guy. He's also on kitty prozac in hopes that he will quite peeing on what would be the floor (he uses a puppy training pad instead of the litter box).
Is this the coolest froggy fairy you've ever seen or what?
OK, so I had to get some pics out there because I have some other stuff to write about that will include some photos but maybe not as many as our very photogenic Adilyn Rose.

Winter in Iowa = Snow

2010-01-25T20:01:00.003-06:00

We enjoyed one day sledding so far this year - well, only once other than sledding in our own yard that is. It was quite an occasion. We went with our friend Rachelle who had all four of her kids plus her lively boxer Enid in tow. Poor Rachelle. It was craziness!! By the time we got there I think 3 of the 4 were crying and Enid was running wild (which was actually good for her to burn off some energy). Once Cam, Adi and I got there to help things went much better.

This year we waited until after Christmas to do the gingerbread house. Mostly because I didn't feel like buying a conventional kit and had my eyes on a kit at the Co-op that I fooled myself into believing would be better than the one we got at Walgreens last year. When it went on sale, Cam bought one and I was all set to put some natural, pre-baked walls together to form a house. I was beyond disappointed when I opened the kit up to find natural mix for me to prepare and bake on my own. Are you kidding me? I wanted natural and convenient. Not this at all!

But for my little Adilyn Rose, I did it. I mixed up that dough, let it chill overnight, rolled it out, cut wall and roof shapes out and baked them and mixed the frosting for what felt like an hour until we had stiff peaks.
Then when we were all ready we realized we didn't have any candy. Or at least very little candy. See, those handy little kits you get at Walgreens include candy. So we made due with some cake decorating supplies, raisins and other randoms we found around the house. When I wasn't looking Adi decided to use some of the edible pink shimmer dust as eye makeup for herself and all of her Barbies :) Very cute.
Snow, snow, snow. I've seen enough snow for one season but I think we'll be seeing plenty more. It's snowing even now as I type. Adi started out in the fall praying for snow, now she's praying for it to go away!
At least we've been able to have some fun in it. If you can't have fun with the snow, what's it good for anyway? I love the snow and I love winter but I'm getting really close to being ready for spring!

Love & Nature

2009-12-25T12:55:00.004-06:00

Santa and his elves went all out this year and redecorated Adi's room while she slept. Actually, they worked on it over the course of a couple of weeks (Adi's old room which was originally her nursery and most recently used as a play room).

One gift led her on a treasure hunt which was great fun until she finally ended up here. Her new bedroom.

Her first peek at the room left her speechless. I don't know what I expected but I think she was in complete shock! She noticed the pink canopy right away. She's been asking for one for months now.
When we saw the Love & Nature collection by Circo at Target we fell in love and knew that it was perfect for Adi.
The new art is made of photos of dear friends and family mounted scrapbook style and framed.
I love the idea of Adi seeing her loved ones every day and think it will be fun for her to share with visitors about her friends and family.
The cute hedgehog is chillin' above the closet door.
This is Adilyn's extensive fairy collection. I love to see them properly displayed, they're really special to her.

The ceiling includes shimmery glory clouds. The fan has new theme stickers and the globes are now pink lilies. One of the elves was creative enough to come up with a butterfly chain pull. Very cute.

A family photo sits next to the new owl bank and mushroom night light. I told Adi I might just stick her in my room and I'll sleep in her room from now on. It's peaceful, beautiful and warm.

Another shot of the fairies, the canopy and the super cute tree next to Adi's bed. She LOVES it.

How cute is this owl sitting on a mushroom? Two of my favorite things, so adorable.

I'm so happy to be able to display this piece of art. My mom did this piece over 30 years ago and now it's hanging in Adi's room with a cute little birdie perched on top.

New pink curtains with crystal pull-backs and curtain rod. Adi loves the LED butterfly lights. We'll keep them on at night to help serve as night light.

This is how she spent hours this morning. Tucked in her new bedding set in her new room. Everything is perfect. She must have just been taking it all in.
This project took so much time and energy and I'm excited that we'll get to enjoy it for months and maybe even years to come!

A White Christmas

2009-12-23T14:46:00.002-06:00

Our Christmas celebration with Grandma and Grandpa White was indeed, white. Snow all around us, I love white Christmas'. Adi put on a Christmas reenactment of Baby Jesus' birth, including the angel sent out to tell the Shepard's that the new king had been born. With help from her cousins, Adi was wrapped in a sheet as she played the part of baby Jesus. I was really moved by her attention to the true meaning of our celebration. The birth of our King Jesus!
This year we got lots of really great family photos. The process is usually pretty painful but it went so well this year! I'm pleased to have so many great shots to choose from. Thanks to Aunt Carisa for helping us get organized and coordinated and making sure we got these great pics. The first one is Grandma Marsha and her girls. Cousins Keely, Elleh and Victoria with Miss Adi in the front.
One of the rare photos where everyone was looking at the same camera. Unfortunately it wasn't mine!! Still a beautiful photo of Grandma Marsha, Grandpa Mike and the girls.Here's a shot of the kids and grandkids. Back Row: Keelan, Larry, Carisa, Cameron Middle: Tori, Adi, Elleh Front: KeelyAnd finally the whole family together. Back row: Jeff, Carisa, Leah, Larry, Stacey, Cameron Middle: Keelan, Adilyn, Grandma Marsha, Grandpa Mike, Keely, Tori Front: EllehWe're so blessed to have this loving family to call our own. Merry Christmas!

Dear Santa

2009-12-20T21:16:00.002-06:00

Dear Santa,

I would like a Princess and the Frog doll and a squirting dinosaur for Christmas. I will give you healthy snacks like broccoli, carrots and milk instead of cookies. Your reindeer can eat some veggies too, they'll need energy to fly. I've seen your squirrels watching me to make sure I'm being good, there's a lot of them at my Nana and Papa's house, and I even saw them at Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike's house! I don't worry because I am a good girl. I love you very much but I love God and my mommy and daddy the best.

I can't wait for Christmas! Every day we tear off a ring from our "days to Christmas chain" and it's only 4 days away.

Love,
Adilyn Rose

*paraphrased by the Mama :)

Getting Ready for Christmas

2009-12-17T14:08:00.002-06:00

It's been busy at the Driscoll's for sure! Decorating the tree, painting ornaments, baking and decorating cookies keeping us busy. I have too much to write to be able to break it down in this post, so for now a collage will have to do :)

Fall Leaves and Family

2009-11-08T18:59:00.005-06:00

We went to Williamsburg recently to see Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike at Great-Grandma Rita and Great-Grandpa George's house. Adi's 2nd cousin Kaden was there, which was a fun surprise. Kaden is a few years older than Adi and I wasn't sure how well they'd play together but they had so much fun together.

There were leaves galore, everyone else was trying to clean them up but we were more interested in playing with them :)

Who can resist a big pile of leaves on a windy day? Kaden had a blast throwing the leaves in the air and watching them fly.

Here is Miss Adi under the weeping cherry tree.

Adi was a good helper, raking up leaves for our jumping pile.

A face framed in leaves.

I love Heidi Baker

2009-10-28T21:04:00.004-05:00

OK, so when I took the temporary child care gig I just assumed I wasn't going to be able to go see Heidi Baker (my favorite Christian woman on the planet) in Chicago on Monday night. Very early on Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. When this happens I chose to believe that God wants to say something and He won't let me sleep until I get it.

So I felt an urge to get up and check my email but I really didn't want to get out of bed. It was 2:00 in the morning, I was tired and didn't want to ruin my chances of sleeping by stimulating my brain with the light of the computer. But as I lay there trying to sleep the urge got stronger until I finally gave in.

Since I had lost my job and money got tighter I applied for a scholarship to go to the conference that Heidi was speaking at. I hadn't heard anything back, until I finally got up and checked my email. The message included key words such as, "your registration has been accepted, print this email for admission to the conference" and "we have been praying for you by name since receiving your registration" and "you are attending this conference by divine appointment". I know it was a form letter but it got me, it felt like it was all speaking to my heart and actually ripping it in two! How was I supposed to go to the conference when God had provided an answer to my prayer for Kingdom economy? I had to honor the family I had an agreement with.

But God woke me up to read that email so the only thing left to do was pray like a mad woman! I prayed for what seemed like an hour, maybe two, that Monday and Tuesday would be cleared up so I could go to the conference.

Well, long story short, Cam agreed to watch the little one on Tuesday and I compromised on my travel by leaving after she went home on Monday at 12:30. Adi and I did the road trip to Chicago to meet the McCoy's and stay at the Frauenholtz's (I hope I spelled that right).

The trip up was good. Maybe even excellent. My favorite part was when a white owl swooped in from the median, it came right at me and lifted it's feet as though it was going to just pick me up and then it flew right over me. It was incredible! The significance of the owl is way bigger than I can do justice and I'll have to dedicate an entire post to the owl later but just know that this is extremely spiritual and extremely exciting!

Here is a short video of Heidi preaching. She spoke on courage which is the same thing that Christy Wimber spoke on a week ago at the Vineyard in Cedar Rapids (where Cam prayed for my foot with tendinitis and it was HEALED, by the way! :) and I haven't heard it yet but Cam says that Bill Johnson also spoke on courage in his sermon on Sunday. God wants us to have courage, I know I need courage right now so I'll take it!!

There was a prayer tunnel at the end of the evening after Heidi spoke. Basically there are two lines of ministry leaders and the conference goers walk down the middle and are blessed by the folks who make up the lines. It can be very powerful. The guy at the beginning of the line asked me what I wanted prayer for and I said, "courage". He said it took courage just to say that. I chuckled because I didn't think so but whether I agreed with him didn't matter. I didn't sense anything specific happen when I went through the tunnel but thought maybe I got what I asked for.

Today we went to Kohl's to get a new outfit for me for a TV appearance I'm going to have next week (again, another post) and in the parking lot was a man walking with a cane. I asked Cam if he wanted to go pray for the guy and Cam said no. I walked a few more steps with Cam and Adi and then found myself just changing direction and walking toward the man. Adi followed and therefore Cam did too. In the end the guy didn't let me pray for him, but I told him that God loves him and blessed him and respectfully left him alone. It's OK that he said no, the most important thing is that I had the courage to say yes!

Latest Adventure

2009-10-28T20:48:00.002-05:00

Here are some shots from Cam and Adi's latest adventure in the woods.

Fall is such a fun time to be outside. The colors, the leaves, the migrating birds, the cute little Adi's sitting by streams... the list goes on and on.

I love that smile!
I saved the best for last. I love this photo.

Apologies and Answers to Prayer

2009-10-19T20:48:00.008-05:00

So since my last post I've learned that many people are offended by the use of the term, "fired". It feels too strong. And because I'm getting severance I couldn't have been "fired". Maybe so, maybe not. I don't really know. I do know that I was terminated from my position along with 3 of my co-workers and I think we all felt like we were fired in light of the circumstances. But, from here on out, I am committed to use new terminology. I was "laid off". I guess that is probably closer to the truth since I am eligible to apply for open positions at Pearson and I supposed had I been fired that would not be the case. So here's my official apology for using harsh language. I guess I was more irked than I wanted to admit. I still contend that I'm blessed indeed, though I was operating under such grace from God that I didn't acknowledge some of the underlying hurt of being let go from the company I've spent the last 11 years at.

I think I promised more pictures of last monarch we let go. I don't know how many there were in all over the course of the monarch season but they were so much fun to take care of and my 4 year old knows the word "metamorphosis" and has working knowledge of it's true meaning. That's pretty cool!

So I had mentioned that I was getting full pay as severance for 24 weeks. That's only partially true. I get full severance, but apparently the tax rate on hours not actually worked (severance) is astronomical! When I saw my first pay check I had a few moments of panic. It was a lot short. A lot. So I started praying. "Kingdom economy, God. Kingdom economy!" I think I said the same thing over and over again a few thousand times before going to bed that night and pray it every day since.

Cam and I talked it over and decided it would be a good idea to post an ad on craigslist for in-home child care. I could care for just one additional child for a while and hopefully that could make up the difference of insane taxes on my income and I'm strongly considering doing in-home childcare for a living ongoing so it would be nice to ease into it.

I wasn't expecting to get a response so quickly from someone in need of help so soon! I mulled it over a bit and finally said, "OK, God, if this is you I can't say no." The couple who responded is lovely. They have an adorable 18 month old daughter. The job is only temporary, which at first felt discouraging but now feels like just what I need. And of course it is. I prayed for kingdom economy and God sent people to us that need us as much as we need them. God is so beautiful in His ways, it brings tears to my eyes. I'm in awe of His glory, His majesty, and the way He answers prayers. God is good. He is so good!

FIRED!

2009-09-26T22:08:00.004-05:00

Yep, it's true. Yesterday, I got fired from my job of 11 years at Pearson. And this is my 200th post on this blog which must be cause for celebration!

Everyone wants to know what happened, and to be honest, I'm really not quite sure. Seven online designers were merged with the paper design department a little over a year ago. Three moved on to better things. My 9-month position was taken away (which meant I had to work the full year like most humans), I was put through a 6 week intensive training starting a few months ago and then I was given practice training samples to work on. I chose to work on live work with real deadlines instead. Bad idea, according to management, I guess.

We had our "test" on Wednesday, got feedback on Thursday saying that they would get back to us in a few days time. Even though the live work I was doing actually utilized many of the skills in the training samples the mistakes I made on the 3 1/2 hour high pressure test that paper designers (legal resource) were not able to easily help me with, management found that I was not meeting the expectations of a designer in the department. I read: "You do not subordinate to authority as you should and therefore you must be eliminated because you are otherwise a threat to our authority". Not a new theme for me. If I'm gonna go down, it's gonna be me standing up for myself, my friends.

The official story is that I was let go because of performance which was actually a blessing because it means that I get severance pay and am elligible to apply for any open position at pearson as a result. So I have 2 weeks full pay for every year of service plus 2 weeks in lieu of notice for a total of 24 weeks or almost 6 months of full pay. I was already covered under Cam for insurance so nothing really had to change in that respect.

I felt really sad for about 15 minutes, knowing that I was going to miss my friends and the familiarity that I had grown accustomed to. Then I drove home. And in the privacy of my car I shouted, "I trust you God, I trust you God, I trust you God!!!" and I gave over every emotion I had. You know what? God took it all and in return poured love and grace over me. I can not even fully comprehend the totality of God's goodness in all of this.

Cam and I knew that when we left our church to seek God in new ways that our lives were going to change drastically. We really thought that was going to look different, but the promise is being fulfilled. I have been set free of something I thought I liked and I thought I wanted but in the end God says this door is closed. Stay tuned to learn which new doors open as a result. I don't know what the heck I'm doing but that's OK because God knows and that's all that matters :)

So we move forward with anticipation of what is to come. I'm so thankful for God's provision and I struggle to find rest because I want to know what's next but I know the only way to understand what is next is to be still and listen. Crazy how God works, but fun and wonderful at the same time. We are blessed indeed. Blessed indeed.

09/09/09

2009-09-20T17:38:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago Adi approached me and said, "Mama, I made up my mind. I want to go to school." Wow. OK. We've been choosing to follow her lead on the preschool thing and up until then we had always heard the same answer from her when asked about going to school, "I'll go to school when I grow up."
Adi's friend Avra is attending Kinder Farm, which we thought sounded like a really fun place. However, when we called, they only had afternoon openings left and that wasn't really going to work well with our schedule. Then Nana suggested Our Redeemer Lutheran Preschool, she has co-workers that attend that church and she felt really good about it. We checked it out and after visiting a couple of times felt like it was going to be a good fit for our family (the preschool - not the church ;)
Adi was so excited to go to her new preschool and make some new friends. We love the open space, and there's lots of it. I like the "Montessori" type approach to learning that Our Redeemer uses in its preschool and they include Bible story time and prayer. Most public preschools don't do that and I really appreciate that she will be learning preschool level Bible material. Of course we do a ton of talking about and to God and Jesus at home so she's getting the full package.
So here she is on her first day of preschool which just happened to be 09/09/09. What a special day. Adi has her adorable rainbow name tag and she was such a big girl - no crying at drop off time!
And here she is, so proud of her cute Tinker Bell back pack. She gets to bring projects and other info home in it every day that she goes to school (Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings).
The free time is so needed and much deserved for Cam. He moved the elliptical trainer into the living room so neither of us have an excuse not to use it. Well, I do currently with extensor tendinitis, but it's only a matter of time before I get to work out on the machine and watch Bethel or other teachings at the same time. So excited to get back into a work out routine!

Omaha Zoo

2009-09-15T20:52:00.002-05:00

Our last chance vacation for the summer was a trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska over Labor Day weekend. Adi, Cam and I went with Nana.

Highlights:

We got saw some really cool wind farms on the way there, it was almost surreal, the windmills are just gigantic and incredible
We listened to a Christian artist that was new to us on the way. Her name is Misty Edwards. During one of the songs in particular we really felt God's presence with us in the van. I was crying, Cam was crying, Nana was laughing and so was Adi. It was intense, powerful and seriously amazing.
We were blessed by Cam's Uncle Dan who treated us to lunch at his restaurant in Council Bluffs. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura stopped by too and we had a nice visit. It was an honor to pray for Laura, again, God's presence was strong as we reached out to pray in a situation that we'd normally shy away from.
We prayed for good parking spots at the zoo (if you've ever been there you know what a blessing this can truly be) and God answered our prayers both days we went!
When we checked into the hotel they had made a mistake so we ended up with two rooms for the price of one. A nice treat for Cam and I.
We saw the IMAX movie Under the Sea which was 3D - and I've decided I'd rather watch 2D movies but it was cool just the same.
The butterfly and insect building was bliss. I loved walking through that indoor rain forest atmosphere with butterflies swooping around me everywhere I looked. They're so cool to watch and Adi was in heaven.

We had a fun and exhausting two days at the zoo and were happy to get home to a freshly hatched monarch butterfly which we let go the next day. Photos of that wonder to come!

August

2009-09-11T20:54:00.003-05:00

Just a few photos from the beautiful month of August.

Including a trip to Grandma Marsha's - photos with cousins Keely and Elleh; a very special egg from a happy hen and an adventure in Hickory Hill with Daddy.

No, we're not starting a house church

2009-08-27T20:35:00.005-05:00

When we decided to leave the Vineyard we had acquired a taste for the house church movement. There seemed to be so many benefits of following a New Testament model for church life.

Small house church = intimate relationships

Tithes go directly to community needs rather than paying for church expenses

No more burn out on over serving in a big church

Fewer deeper relationships with no place to hide...

No politics of a church "organization" to deal with

Shared responsibility = empowerment AND accountability

Those are among some of the enticements that were on the surface of house church mentality. We did a little research, felt like it would be a natural step once leaving a church to start again with something small and intimate. We tried worshipping a couple of times with some friends and felt overwhelmed by all the decisions that had to go into creating something as simple and little as a house church. What was the meeting going to look like? When would we meet? What about worship? What about the kids? Do we do a teaching or just talk and pray? The list went on and on. And then we realized that we were looking to each other to make the decisions. Big No-No when the whole point is to seek God.

So we began to pray. As Cam and I prayed we were surprised by the answers we got. Everything we were trying was the opposite of what we were hearing God say. It was really obvious that we had missed the boat. Thank goodness it only took two weeks to figure this out, and that was even before we officially left the Vineyard!

Because of what we hear God saying, where He is leading us and what we are learning through iBethel.tv we just know that a house church isn't going to work for us right now. Maybe not ever. Heidi Baker was preaching one night on the people who are saved and she said, "this is why we need buildings... where else would these people go?" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Only a short while before Cam had a dream in which he saw our church being built from the ground up. It was just foundation and studs. He knew it wasn't the Vineyard, and he knew it was a church (the church we would be a part of building someday). When he told me about it he said, "I think we're supposed to plant a Bethel church" and I responded, "I think you're right."

That's about all I've got folks. I don't know how to plant a church. I don't know how to build a church from ground up. I have a feeling it doesn't really matter as long as I'm willing to say, "tell me what to do God, and I'll do it".

2009-08-22T21:26:00.008-05:00

2009 has been a powerful year for our family so far. Cam and I have been on a path of radical transformation over the past several months. Our hunger for God has been amplified as we seek and find blessings of hope and revelation through a variety of ministries, especially that of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. This process of renewal is both exciting and bewildering at times. We've found intense personal healing and spiritual growth as individuals and in our marriage and family life.

We continue to seek and grow. We feel that we're being led down a new path, one that is less familiar and may require sacrifices but we're willing to take the risk knowing that God is with us. I recently heard a teaching that pinpointed exactly where we are right now. The speaker taught on Abraham (Abram) , and how his first prophecy from God did not tell him where he was to go but where he could not stay.

Genesis 12

The Call of Abram

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

God had promises for Abraham that could not be fulfilled if he stayed where he was. When God called Abraham to leave, Abraham obeyed and trusted that the Lord would guide him. This is exactly how our experience feels right now. We don't really know where we are going or how we will get there, but we do know where we can not stay.

We love and bless the Vineyard. We will miss our church family, but know that God will reward us for our faithfulness and willingness to give up the comfort of the first church we called home in pursuit of His Kingdom. We wanted to communicate that we will no longer be attending the Vineyard Community Church. I was going to send out an email much like what I've written here but that felt weird and expectant. We've spoken with those closest to us and our official last day with the Vineyard was August 2nd.

We've been praying and pressing into the Lord searching for answers to our questions of "what now" but the truth is we only have inklings of what's to come. Sometimes we receive dreams or visions, sometimes we feel ministered to through sermons we watch online but the most impact comes from choosing to keep Jesus in sight, every day. We don't have any definitive answers yet, but trust that God is right beside us every step of the way. One day Adi said to me, "Mama, Jesus touched you." I said, "He did? Why?" She responded, "He touched you because He's giving you courage." She didn't know how much I needed courage that day but God sure did.

So as hard as it feels to be doing faith "on our own" so to speak, we have many like-minded friends that love to talk about the the ways our hearts and minds are being changed and the impact that Jesus has on our every breath. We're truly blessed.

1st Annual Driscoll Reunion

2009-08-17T09:25:00.002-05:00

This year Cam's Uncle Terry and Aunt Julie hosted the 1st Annual Driscoll Family Reunion at their beautiful home in Amana. This is something that they've wanted to put together for years but for one reason or another it never worked out. This year we met in honor of our beloved Grandma Max. It was bitter sweet, and we felt the sting of missing her but the reunion was such fun and we really enjoyed gathering with the family on a nice summer day when we were able to spread out both inside and out, not constrained by the freezing cold weather of our January Christmas celebration. I have too many photos to share so I had to do a slideshow in lieu of the individual photos I usually post.

Summer Flies By

2009-08-03T20:57:00.002-05:00

Summer always flies by with so much to do. This year has been really different for me since my partial-year position was taken away and my position requires me to work 12 months out of the year like the rest of the non-teachers in the country. I really liked having my summers off to spend with Adi but with the state of the economy it is encouraging to know that Pearson in insourcing a bunch of artwork that used to be outsourced which means that people like me are in higher demand, not lower. That's good news.
Our garden is producing a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes and they are as always amazingly delicious. We're getting close to needing to start dehydrating and may even can a few this year if our CSA delivers any... now that I think of it I'm not sure if I saw tomatoes on the list. Hmmm.

The flower garden is amazing this year. The flowers we planted two years ago are really filling out now and complement the originals so well. I love the range of flowers in our garden.

The stargazer lilies are the sweetest, most wonderful smelling flowers of all in our garden. I just love them. The color is amazing and catching a wiff of sweet air makes me oh so happy! Adi has really developed a wonderful friendship with her friend John who lives directly behind us. He's 3 almost 3 years older than Adi but is the youngest in his family which means that when he hangs out with Adi he gets to be the oldest and he takes the responsibility quite seriously. He really strives to protect her and is an amazing friend to her. Adi says John is her best best best best best best best best friend. So sweet.

John told Adi about the tooth fairy and they found something that slightly resembled a tooth to put under Adi's pillow yesterday. She was pretty excited to see that it was gone (of course it was - I changed the sheets before she went to bed and had no idea that John had taught her about the tooth fairy). She asked, "what do you think the Tooth Fairy will bring me, Mommy?" I had a thought that perhaps she would bring Adi something golden, like a golden dollar coin. Adi quickly looked under the pillow to see if anything was there (I hadn't had time to think any of this out or act on something golden) and when she saw that there wasn't anything under her pillow she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! The Tooth Fairy gave me the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is under there!!" Wow. That came from her mouth, I had nothing to do with it. Wow. She kept putting the pillow down and lifting it again and with delight would yell, "More Holy Spirit!" It was so much fun. I am one blessed Mommy. Holy holy.

Here's the princess with little cheebie Belly-bell. We love our Bella kitty. Miss Adilyn just got done with swim lessons. She need some work on going all the way under water but she's more interested right now in taking gymnastics or dance classes. Since we're going to do home pre-school we like the idea of enrolling her in low-pressure, fun classes at the Rec Center to get her exposed to social interaction as well as paying attention and being led by a teacher in general. We have a whole other year before we have to decide yea or nay on public kindergarten - she knows for sure that she isn't quite ready for preschool and we are respecting that.

4th of July

2009-07-07T12:47:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately it rained pretty much all day on the fourth this year. It turned out OK, though. The Driscoll's were feeling a little under the weather so it was good to stay home instead of going to Williamsburg like we usually do. Even though we weren't feeling our best, we did stay somewhat active. We went to a picnic on Sunday at our friends the Lauer's home. Adi always loves hanging out with her friend Avra.
The kids kept cool with cold ice treats. Jonas made sure we knew that they had to be put in the freezer first. He's such a cutie.
The kids must have been in the pool for almost 2 hours. Maybe that's an exaggeration but it really did feel like they were in there forever. Adi did not get a burn even though I completely forgot sunblock.
Erika is lighting a giant sparkler for Miss Adi. She was really cautious with them but had fun.
Here are the girls running around in the yard and the smoke kept the skeeters away too :)

Through the Lense of My Talented Niece

2009-06-29T22:10:00.002-05:00

My very talented niece, Miss Elleh Driscoll, took several photos of our Father's Day celebration in Williamsburg yesterday using our camera. Here are several of my favorite pics. I just love this first one. I love how everything is completely washed out except Adi and the grass. Just beautiful.
This next one is a self portrait that Elleh did. I think it is completely gorgeous.

I like the composition of this photo of Cam. I find it really interesting.

I think this is one of my all time favorite photos of my brother-in-law (Elleh's daddy) Larry. I especially like the light.

And how could I resist a silly photo of Miss Adi. Too funny.

Keep it up Elleh. Your artistic photography can truly tell a story through images. I'm quite impressed :)

Kolache Festival

2009-06-17T11:04:00.003-05:00

On our way to the Kolache Festival in Cedar Rapids last weekend with Nana and Papa we saw a beautiful doe feeding near a barn. It looked like the owners actually had a feed box attached to the side of the barn for deer to eat from.Once we arrived we learned that they ran out of kolaches (for sale in large quantities) and wouldn't have more available until 3:00 (it was around noon when we got there). Papa was pretty PO'd so he boycotted the 2 kolaches per person limit they had enforced and chose not to get any. Silly Papa. We got our two each and they were goooooood.

Adi has become a big fan of temporary tatoos. She was pretty happy to find this butterfly tat.
Next she went on all the fun blow up carnival attractions. This was a train maze.Adi was tickled to get a chance to ride a rainbow pony. It was her first pony ride, so sweet!
And here is the beautiful pot of flowers that Papa bought Adi at the Iowa City Farmer's Market. She was so excited, just like her Mama - Adi LOVES flowers :)

Why Do We Need a CSA?

2009-06-13T20:43:00.004-05:00

How can I resist a rockin pic of Miss Sweet Lavender Leaf Orange Blossom Rose? The super name has been upgraded from just Sweet Lavender Leaf.
So CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Our biggest complaint about our CSA last year was the fact that we had to go to the farmer's market on Wedn evenings to pick it up. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but we split our share with three other families and we planned to take turns picking up our share. Somehow the organization of that wasn't as easy as I thought it might be and we missed out on our share several times (I think we all dropped the ball at least once), disappointing when you've already paid for the food and if you miss, you miss. At least our share went to Table to Table, a local organization that feeds those in need.

We didn't intend to join a CSA this year because we grow so much of our own food. But when our friends Seth and Alicia happened upon Gooseberry Hill CSA we couldn't resist joining, too. They grow several foods that we don't, including many fruits which our CSA last year did not have. The price was extremely reasonable and they use organic farming practices. And the coolest part is that they deliver the food to my door in a basket! Totally adorable and wonderful :)

Our first delivery was wonderfully bountiful, including a dozen farm fresh eggs. Hopefully by next year we'll be able to raise our own hens to provide our family with fresh eggs but until then I'm grateful to know where my eggs are coming from.

2009-06-04T14:28:00.002-05:00

Cam and I recently went on an 8 hour road trip to Dayton, OH with our friend Amy Boelk to attend the New Millennium Conference at the Dayton Vineyard. We loved the churches motto: "A pretty good church". It was true. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton. Here is the view from our room.
I can state with ease that the conference was life changing for all three of us. The teachings were full of wisdom and I felt like I was in God's living presence the entire time we were there. We really couldn't have asked for a more incredible experience.

On Friday morning we were pulling out of the parking ramp downtown and heard what sounded like a cat meowing. We thought at first that the sound was coming from the radio and next that there must have been a cat in the ticket booth at the ramp exit. When the meowing continued I made Amy stop driving even though Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding, CA was teaching that day and we had intentionally left an hour early to get front row seats.

We pooped the hood and looked inside to find a little black kitten on the engine. As soon as I said one word, it jumped back in and hid inside, out of reach! Just then a truck pulled up behind us and ran over to ask for help (more like beg for help, I was so desperate and pathetic they had no choice).
Scott and Kyle did everything they could to help us and truth be told, they were the heroes of the day. They had to jack up the car to get the kitty out, which took about 45 minutes and some prayer out loud - Scott looked at me like I was crazy but within a couple of minutes of telling God He had to do it because we couldn't do it on our own the kitten repositioned so Kyle could get a hold of it. Yay praying out loud shamelessly and yay God for answering that prayer!It very much felt like Satan had thrown a wrench in our plans, we didn't get our front row seats but we did get faith, in both God and humanity. And the cute little black kitty went home with Kyle (the guy above on the right) who lives on a farm :)

So after what we deemed a victorious morning we got to hear Bill Johnson teach twice on Friday. I was even nerdy enough to go up front, dragging Cam with me to get a photo with Bill. It's not the best photo we've ever taken but we were grateful to get one.
An experience like the one we had with incredibly affirming ministry time and amazing teaching after amazing teaching results in a heart for God that just won't ever be the same. We know that our lives have to change too, because we've changed inside and the only thing we are capable of is changing for the better on the outside through our actions.
As we drove home from the conference we laughed and talked about the things stirring in us. We have lots of ideas. Lots of renewed hope in our renewed minds. The work is just beginning, to know how to discern God's presence and His will for us. To be so full of the Holy Spirit that it spills out into our lives over the people surrounding us. That's what a life of faith can look like, and so much more. All of God using all of me. What would that look like?

To Grandma Marsha's We Go

2009-06-04T14:16:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Newton to work in Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike's garden. It was what Grandma Marsha wanted for Mother's Day. Adi was anxious for her grandparents to see her as a beautiful mermaid, which actually was a precursor for a waterful day.
It was a beautiful day and I was glad that I brought along Adi's swim suit. Adi learned how to use the spray hose to fill up a swimming...
Pot! She put water in a stock pot which she was supposed to just stand and splash around in. Adi had much more entertaining ideas than that.
And here's a photo of all the hard work we did in the back yard. Carisa and I also planted lots of annuals in the front garden but I forgot to take pics of those.
Cam tilled the area to the right and left of the white arch that he and Grandpa Mike installed. Not much planting got done while we were there but it was a really great start to a garden transformation.

Piggy Hutch

2009-05-22T08:32:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we helped out our dear friends Seth and Alicia with a building project. What was the project? A piggy hutch! They have four adorable guinea pigs and as a special treat for the piggies our friends are building a little house for them to live in during the summer months.
When Adi got bored she colored rocks with chalk. I like the way her chalky hands frame her little face.
A visit to Seth and Alicia's is never complete without some cozy time with Mononoke "Momo", Adi's favorite of the guinea pigs.This is Luna in her little igloo, she felt safe in there when the saw was running.Adi rested on the hammock with "Momo". They're so sweet.We get to go to Grandma Marsha's this weekend to help in the garden for her Mother's Day gift. I'm really excited to dig in the dirt and plant things. I knew that I love gardening and planting but just this year I realized just how much I enjoy getting my hands in the dirt and lovingly placing a plant there. So fulfilling.

OR Harney's In Iowa

2009-05-11T21:15:00.003-05:00

I really love how a collage can bring together so much in such little space. We were so blessed to have Shane, Kris and Maddi visiting us in Iowa from Aurora, OR a couple of weeks ago. I've been slow to post as I've been pretty busy with chicken stuff but here's a collage for your viewing pleasure:

Trying to Catch Up

2009-04-27T09:51:00.006-05:00

Wow, the past several weeks have been a wild ride. Here are some photos of just a few of the things Adi has been up to.

First, of course we did Easter eggs. Adi had a lot of fun coloring them, and that same night Adi ate 3 hard boiled eggs! That's a lot of eggs for a little Adi!!
We celebrated Easter early this year with Grandma Harney and family because Aunt Janet was in town. Of course I forgot to take the camera but I did get a cute picture of Ad before we went over, all sweet like a princess.
The following weekend was birthday number 4. Wow, my baby is four. Totally amazing. So she was pretty excited to celebrate her special day with friends and family. Here you can see her little disco jig in front of her princess house that she keeps calling her bedroom (she's trying to convince me to clean out our junk room so the "babies" can sleep in there. When I ask her how many babies she consistently tells me, "three". Whoa. That's a lot of babies!)Here's my berry lover's blackberry topped angel food birthday cake. We kept it pretty simple this year with so much else going on.
Here's silly Adi with Caed and cousin Kayla. Getting ready to open some birthday presents. Thank you so much everyone! She was and is so blessed.
And the hand made book given to Adi is such a treasure. It's a book of ABC's with various photos of the McCoy kids and Adi throughout. We totally love it. It's amazing!Finally, Easter day. Adi wanted to be an Easter princess. I love the veil with the crown. So cute.
Hopefully I'll be able to follow up with more photos soon. Shane, Kris and Maddi are in town from Oregon this week so I do hope to get lots of pictures of the family being the silly people we are.

I Wanna Be a Rock Star

2009-04-21T10:04:00.002-05:00

I love music. There's nothing better than live music, well maybe there is: live worship music. When I found out that Cam was going to see several bands at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids with the Vineyard youth group Wildfire, I was pretty jealous because of course I wanted to go too. But Nana and Papa were going to be out of town and Cam forgot to call Grandma Marsha so I was on my own with Miss Adi.

So, when our friend Kari decided that she wanted to go, we said, "hey, how about Kari rides with Adi and I and we all go!" So that's what we did :) I didn't get any photos but our friends the Boelk's did: http://boelk5.blogspot.com/2009/04/wild-fire.html The second photo has Amy Boelk, Kari, Adi and I worshipping (I think Adi is giving me a kiss) during Mercy Me's set which was phenomenal.

Now I have a 4 year old rock star wanna be. So fun!

All This Chicken Talk

2009-04-17T09:31:00.005-05:00

Photo by Matthew Holst of the Iowa City Press-Citizen printed in the Des Moines Register
So cute, Adi kept popping up with chicks that she wanted to show the photographer, too. I'm so glad they chose one of the pics that had her in it too :) Last week I learned that the chicken ordinance I thought had already passed in fact had not... yet. According to Misha Goodman, the director of Iowa City Animal Control, the entire animal control ordinance is under revision, and part of that revision includes urban chickens. Unfortunately she doesn't expect the revisions to go before City Council until mid-summer. So to my dismay, I submitted to the fact that we can not raise chickens in our backyard - yet. As Cam and I prayed together that night I felt an urge to ask God for His favor. "It's silly, I know. But God, please bless our chicken endeavor with your favor".

The online petition was born last Tuesday. The same day I got a call from reporter Gregg Hennigan with the Gazette who randomly came across the petition on twitter and thought it was interesting. His article caught the attention of Jennifer Delgado, reporting for the Daily Iowan. Her article cleverly titled What the Cluck? led to an opinion article also in the Daily Iowan.

I talked to three papers in three days. The third reporter was Gunner Olson for the Des Moines Register. That article just ran today. I really appreciated the amount of research Gunner did regarding ordinances in other Iowa towns and he was a lot of fun to work with.

Just yesterday the Press-Citizen published an Opinion article which favored urban chickens. Eric Johnson of Iowa City also wrote a guest opinion in favor of urban chickens in our city. Yay Eric! I don't know you but I'm totally greatful.

This process has been really amazing. I'm excited about all of the support the effort is receiving. I'm especially grateful to my good friend Alicia Koch who is working right along side me as we are carried forward in this endeavor. I honestly do feel carried, I couldn't do this on my own. I often think, "I don't even know what I'm doing, why do people want to talk to me about it?" but then I'm reminded that I do know what I'm doing and God's got my back (and my front, my top and bottom).

Yay Urban Chickens. And onward we move.

2009-04-09T08:22:00.003-05:00

Today we are saying good-bye to Grandma Maxine Driscoll. She passed away Monday morning surrounded by family. I'll always remember her warm smile, generous heart and love of the saxophone. What a dearly loved woman. Cam and I lived in her backyard in a mobile home when we first started dating. It was really wonderful to get to know her and help out while we were there. Max was such a blessing to Cam and I, especially early in our relationship. We will miss her terribly but know that she is with Jesus in heaven, and there's no better place to be.

Praying for Grandma Max

2009-04-03T08:42:00.002-05:00

Last week Grandma Max took a tumble. She broke her right wrist, her left shoulder and being a saxophone player this was pretty devastating. She had a rough time during surgery yesterday, I don't know exactly what happened but everyone was called to come to the hospital as Maxine's heart was only working at 20% and her other organs weren't doing so well. I'm not a medical person, but I know that the ICU doctors were doing everything they could.

We first struggled with whether or not to take Adi to the hospital but in the end we just brought her along. Sweet Lavender Leaf (Adi's alter-ego) seems to be really great and lightening the mood in a room full of anxious people. Not that we expect that from her, she's just good at turning frowns upside down. She chose not to go into the room to see Grandma and we didn't press the issue.

Cam and I went in and were just quiet after announcing our presence. And then we prayed. It was difficult at first, we were so emotional. But God's spirit was present with us and we prayed for more. Max hadn't been very responsive before but she did respond to prayer. We told her we loved her and saw her moving her lips in a way that looked like, "I love you too". We prayed more. We lifted her up to God. We assured her that she was never alone, that Jesus was with her. Her eyes were wide open by the time we had to go, there were so many family members there to see her. We don't have a medical update yet. We don't know if God is going to keep her here on earth with us or if He's going to take her home. Either way it is well with our souls. We celebrate Maxine and all that she has done for us. And we continue to pray.

Busy Spring

2009-03-30T10:24:00.003-05:00

Spring has proven to be pretty busy in the Driscoll household. Cam got back from his truly amazing trip to Georgia and our whole family is reaping the rewards of moving in the direction of a God centered life. So much is being opened up to us and we're really excited to see how we grow and hopefully multiply as a result.
We continue with seed starting every couple of weeks to be sure that the harvest times are a bit spread out. Keeping up with all of the plants is pretty demanding but it's so cool to walk into my kitchen every morning and see big beautiful tomato plants, herbs and other veggies getting an early start in our home. Wow.
While the adults are planting seeds, kids are playing dress up and whatever else strikes their fancy. Above, Zoe and Logan (Scout) are beautiful princesses and Sweet Lavender Leaf Super Hero is all set to save them when they wind up in distress ;)
We're super busy getting ready for planting season and other fun projects so if you haven't stopped by the homestead blog for a while give it a peek.

Lenten Fasting and More

2009-03-16T13:40:00.002-05:00

My original Lenten fast had to be modified and I'm now managing a fast that is proving to be challenging and rewarding. I've given up breakfast - so liquids only until lunch. The last hour or so before lunch is understandably the biggest challenge. But it's also my daily hour in which I lean in a bit deeper toward Christ. I draw from His strength and I talk to Him a bit more, because I need to. As a result, I'm seeing prayers answered. I asked for God to provide a way for Cam to attend a conference in GA, and God provided. I'm praying for other financial provisions and it appears that God is answering those prayers and I trust that He will continue to do so.

Now, as I pray for Cam and his encounter with God at this conference I feel prompted to take my fasting a step further, on Cam's behalf. I'm giving up the internet until the conference is over. This is pretty significant for me, a pretty huge sacrifice. I'm not even really sure I can do it, but there again, I will be forced to lean into God and spend more time with Him because I won't be able to do it on my own. Cam always kids me about being addicted to the internet. He doesn't even know that I'm giving it up for him ;)

So if you feel so moved, please pray with me that God will speak into Cameron's heart in a way that he never knew was possible. Pray that God will bring Cam healing, mercy, power and grace, in Jesus' name. And that God will all the while, hold Adi and I in His sovereign hands with love and strength, and that our family will be blessed.

Thanks friends.

Good-Bye Great-Grandma Costello

2009-03-07T19:03:00.004-06:00

In this photo I had just found out that I was pregnant with Adi when we attended a birthday party for Great Grandma Costello and the news was on the down-low, but we were sure to let her know that she had a Great-Great-Grandchild on the way. Blanche was always such a bright and shining woman. Her amazing health always fooled me into believing that she was much younger than her years. Cam says she would have turned 100 this summer. This morning, she went home to be with the Lord.

Blanche gave us a beautiful Christmas cactus when she moved from her house in Williamsburg to "the castle" - the assisted living center where she had an apartment, if you've been to Williamsburg, IA you know what I'm talking about. My understanding was that the plant was about 30 years old, this could have been an exaggeration but it really is huge, just for the record. She said it hadn't bloomed for many years but that didn't stop us from giving it a new home. The first year we had the cactus it bloomed prolifically. It was stunning. We were shocked and were sure to take plenty of photos for Blanche to see. I think it made her happy to see her old plant decided to show off for its new caretakers. Now, more than ever I feel completely honored to be the owners of this plant and I'm grateful that I've managed to care for it this long and it has bloomed every year since we've had it (about 6 or 7 years).

We'll miss Blanche and her sweetness. Her kind smile and warm eyes. Adi is trying to understand what it all means and we're trying to tread lightly while answering her questions honestly. It's hard, I know. As an adult, I don't really understand death so to explain it to my little girl is quite a challenge. But it's a tender thing and we're treating it as such. We're choosing to mourn, but celebrate as well. Just as we trust the angels in heaven are celebrating the arrival of beloved Blanche Costello.

Good-bye, Great-Grandma Costello

Lent - Or 40 Days of Faith

2009-02-24T07:58:00.007-06:00

Last year Lent snuck up on me. Before I knew it, Lent was upon us and I hadn't thought even for a moment about it. I was pretty irritated about that, you can read all of my ranting about last years Lent here.

But this year, I'm in a very different place. I'm very much ready to engage in something special if it means that in the process I will be engaging with Jesus. My walk with Jesus has been changing dramatically over the last couple of months (in a very good way) and I'll write more about that later once I manage to get my brain wrapped around it a bit more. For now, I want to talk about this year's Lenten season and 40 Days of Faith.

So as Cam and I started considering how we would participate this year, we heard a short talk at church about a couple different categories of participation. In my words, the first is abstention and the other is engagement. You can either chose to abstain from something that is "important" to you or something that occupies a lot of your time or thought and replace that thing with prayer or meditation with Jesus. Or, you can chose to add something to your routine that would also enhance your walk with Jesus - add a devotional, read a particular book, a Bible study or engage in a specifically planned prayer time regularly.

We're chosing to do both. Cam isn't comfortable with me writing about how we have chosen to observe this year through both abstaining (fasting) and engaging (worship). So, we'll just kick off Lent tomorrow and see what God has in store.

Playdate Fun

2009-02-17T07:44:00.002-06:00

I love Adi's weekly play dates with Caedon. They've literally grown up together and he's the closest thing she has to a brother. Caed is always so sweet and excited to come over and play. The instant we walk in the door I hear, "Stacey, I'm hungry" which is most likely code for, "Stacey, I'm not really hungry but I know you have different snacks at your house than I have at mine and I like to try whatever you have here" and I love the predictability of that. Since Adi doesn't have any siblings, Cam and I are her play mates. This is great fun most of the time, but it is so rewarding to see her interact with children her own age.After several months of attending preschool we opted to take Adi out and keep her home. There were many reasons, financial, separation issues Adi was having and problems with one of the other students that had Adi pretty upset about going to school were just some. I know she'll have to deal with that stuff at some point in her life, but she's three years old and I don't believe it's beneficial for her to have to cope with it right now. So she's been home with Cam for the last several weeks and the number of tantrums have reduced pretty dramatically. She's happier and sweeter than she's been in a while. I know we made the right choice.

A Fun Weekend

2009-02-02T19:51:00.004-06:00

My new hairdresser, Miss Adilyn Rose, gave me this rockin' new do. Colorful, funky, sparkly, wild and creative. Just the way I like it.

Cameron, the romantic husband with excellent taste in flowers adorned us once again with gorgeous roses (twice in one month! I'm a lucky lady.) Adi can't resist inhaling the amazing aroma which is her namesake. Only after checking for fairies, of course!

On Saturday we went ice skating at Coral Ridge Mall. Here we are lacing up.

Here you witness the face of desperation. Can you see the pain in my expression? Cam only made it around twice before he had to quit. Something about those skates squished our feet and the pain was horrible! What I won't endure for my daughter! She was really bummed when we had to leave but my feet felt like they were in mini coffins and I was on the brink of freaking out if I didn't get those skates off!

Here is a pic of Adi and her friend Avra. Ad is being silly and sticking her tongue out which makes her mouth look like it takes up half her face!

We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends, the Lauer's. It was fun and refreshing to talk about the environmental ministry we are working on together and brainstorming ways that we can expand the current ministry and turn it into active service. We have a lot of ideas and can't wait to see what develops.

Over a Year Now

2009-01-29T13:21:00.005-06:00

About a year ago Cam and I got the go-ahead from the docs to resume our attempts at procreating. Sounds romantic, huh? My body didn't react so well to all the drugs I had to take for the last ectopic (Oct '07) so it took quite a bit longer to get back to feeling somewhat normal again. So for the past year we've been trying without any luck to get pregnant and it leaves me to wonder... I never had trouble with infertility before. We were getting pregnant within 3-6 months of trying but just couldn't manage to stay that way. I kept telling myself, "we'll give it a year and see what happens, then we can look at our options."

So here we are, a year plus a month later. But what are our options? What are we doing? Well, surprisingly or not we aren't really looking too far or wide for our options. But we aren't idle, either. I prefer to keep treatments involving drugs as a very last resort so that slims down our options quite a bit. While I was online I ran into some random tabloid type headline saying something about someone doing something to increase chances of having twins. This caught my attention, I read, researched, and one thing led to the next and I landed at an article about chiropractic care aiding conception. When I was in massage school I had an instructor for A&P who was a chiropractor, and now Adi attends preschool with his daughter (where his wife Dana also teaches) so he immediately came to mind. I was quickly convinced to give it a try.

So I've been seeing Dr. Ron Robinson for the past couple of months. Naturally I had high hopes for immediate conception, which obviously didn't happen. Though what I have experienced is immediate improvement. I used to feel ovulation, to the point that I would have painful cramps for at least 2 days each month and then quite painful menstrual cycles two weeks later. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. When I say that I can't feel ovulation anymore, it's 99% true. I can feel it, distinctly on one side or the other. But it doesn't hurt. I don't have cramps. It's not painful anymore. Wow. When you endure pain for so many years you forget that it doesn't actually have to be that way. And menstrual cramps? Minimal. Hardly noticeable. I'm beside myself.

Happy Birthday Papa!

2009-01-18T16:03:00.002-06:00

On Friday we celebrated Papa's birthday with dinner at Midtown Restaurant and an amazing new favorite, the raspberry cheese cake from the Co-op. Totally, completely out of this world good.

It doesn't take much to get Miss Adi acting crazy these days, visits with Nana and Papa are certainly no exception!

I'm Posting This on All Three of My Blogs

2009-01-08T08:29:00.003-06:00

John McCabe from Sunfood Living
sent out an email last week about his new book.

Here is what he wrote:

Hello everybody,

After years of work, I have decided to pass over the traditional book
publishing fiasco and to publish my newest book on an
advertiser-supported Web site:
http://www.hempnowbook.com.

People told me, “Oh, you can't do that!”

Yes, I can!

Yes, I did!

Various publishing companies that looked at the manuscript
wanted the book to be shorter, to be focused only on hemp,
and to not contain the “controversial chapters” about the drug war,
political corruption, the prison industry, and corporate greed.

To their proposals to cut my book in half, I say: No, thanks!
That would truly be a book to nowhere.

By publishing the book for free on the Web,
people all over the planet can educate themselves on the topic.
People all over the planet have already been looking at
my other Web sites (http://www.sunfoodliving.com,
and http://www.sunfoodtraveler.com - which is going to be overhauled).
This new site will give them more of my writing to read.

I didn't write the book for money. I wrote it for the environment,
for wildlife, for family farmers, for the health of humanity,
and for a more sustainable world.

According to the authorities and industry leaders who
read through the manuscript as I was writing it,
it is the most up-to-date and complete book on the history,
laws, and uses of hemp, the world's most useful plant.

Even though the U.S. is the world's number one
importer of hemp products, U.S. farmers are not
allowed to grow it, but Canadian farmers are growing
many thousands of acres of it, and they are doing so
largely to supply hemp products for the U.S. market.
Read my book and understand why the U.S. government
refuses to allow family farmers to grow hemp.

My new book has been endorsed by
The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance;
The Hemp Lobby;
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML);
Oregon NORML;
and The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform.

Also, the people at http://www.VoteHemp.com read
through the manuscript, provided me with information for the book,
and connected me with people to interview.

After years of writing, rewriting, researching, toiling,
interviewing, editing, and more researching and writing and rewriting…

As of today, December 30, 2008…

The complete manuscript of
HEMP: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW
can be read for free by accessing:
http://www.hempnowbook.com

"Hemp: What The World Needs Now" is the first book to be formulated for this strain of Web delivery by a new company. If you know of any other authors who want to publish their books in the same advertiser-supported format, feel free to contact Sam Estrin: Sam@Odinmetatech.com.

Meanwhile, spread the word about http://www.hempnowbook.com.
Link it to your Web sites.

Educate yourself about hemp and what it can do
to create a more sustainable culture.

Add raw hemp seed powder and raw hemp oil to your
daily diet, and feel your health improve.

And, have a great New Year!

Rock on!

John McCabe

Christmas in a Collage

2009-01-05T19:36:00.003-06:00

I hate to sum Christmas up in a collage, but I'm so zapped from the social aspect of Christmas that my resources feel pretty low and, well, this is the best I can do. Overall the holidays went well. A bit overwhelming for both Adi and I. It's pretty safe to generally say that we can handle large groups of people in small doses. The holidays usually mean large groups of people and social interaction in large doses and it takes a while to recover from that. My introvert friends know what I'm talking about. For everyone else, I just seem anit-social. Whatever. It is what it is. I'm grateful that we have five down and there is only one gathering left to go.

It's Official

2009-01-05T15:58:00.003-06:00

I'm now a licensed massage therapist. The certificate I got in the mail today says so. Hmmmm. What do I do with that, other than hang it on the wall? I haven't had time to think about it with the holidays so, well, I'm still working on it...

Riding Nana/Papa Horses

2008-12-31T21:06:00.004-06:00

This is pretty typical of our family. Acting silly and laughing our heads off. This is the stuff I want to remember about Christmas (strange puns and all...)

Gingerbread Houses!

2008-12-27T19:47:00.005-06:00

For the first time ever we made gingerbread houses. And better yet, we did so with our dear friends, the McCoy's. Rachelle and Jason made real gingerbread, totally impressive. I cheated and bought a $10 gingerbread house kit. No regrets! Here are Caedon, Adi and Djuna celebrating the completed sweet treats.

Front view:

Rear view:

I couldn't resist a sweet pic of little Piran (peer-en). I'm totally in love with this little guy, he's so amazing, sweet, and content. And when you make eye contact with him it's like the whole world lights up.And finally, a self-portrait of me and Finn. We used to joke around that I was Finn's mommy #2 because when he wouldn't let anyone else but mommy hold him, he would let me, which provided a much needed break for Rachelle and some cozy baby time for me. I kinda like the title.

Happy Friday?

2008-12-19T09:05:00.005-06:00

Today has been quite a day already. First thing this morning after my shower, which is really the first thing so I suppose it would be more appropriate to say second thing this morning Cam calls me into the bedroom. What could follow might be fun and interesting, but instead I hear him say, "Ihry puked on the bed". Nice. I flipped on the light to find dog puke on the bed with two whole chunks of baby corn from last nights curry and rice dinner. Adi surely snuck Ihry a couple of "treats" and Ihry was now returning the favor. This pretty much set the tone for the morning.

After cleaning up dog puke, and inevitably cat pee and poop in the litter area (this is a broad term since lately Mojo does his thing wherever he feels like it, mostly within a few feet of the litter boxes but rarely in them - we're working with the vet on that) I finally got out the door. I needed to stop at Walgreens on the way to pick up our Christmas photos and some Cold-Eeze & Ricola for my weird slight chest congestion.

I drove the van because the tires are better and it's bigger so if I crash or some moron who doesn't know how to drive in the snow plows into me I'll have a better chance of survival than if I'm in the teeny Ford Escort. This choice meant that I accidentally left my badge in the car and couldn't get into the building without going to the guard station where they issued me a bright orange "loser" badge.

When I finally got inside and to my desk I opened my drawer to get my shoes, forgetting that I had taken them home with me the day before. Great, now I get to wear my big honkin snow boots all day long. Dragh. Then Cam called to make sure I got here OK and to remind me that I forgot my cell phone at home (if ever there is a time you should have your cell phone with you, it's while traveling in a snow storm!)

Finally I opened my envelope of photos and all 50 of them were chopped off! Only half of Cam's face showed and it said Merry Christma and Adilyn was cut off to Ad - we do occasionally call her that but that's not the point! Anyway, here's what it's supposed to look like:

I'm relieved to report that I'm not the only one having a crappy morning. My boss spent half an hour trying to figure out how to get logged onto one of the lab computers. A co-worker got stuck 3 times on her commute from Coralville and it took her 2 hours to get here. Yet another co-worker dropped her cell phone in the pee water in her toilet this morning. Another almost got run over by the crazy janitor lady who vacuums like a psycho near the main entrance at 8 am when most people are arriving to work and then scowls at people when they try to get by. Finally, another spilled her entire mug of coffee all over the passenger seat on her way to work. Those are just the stories I've heard. Surely there are more. Happy Friday!

Victoria's Sweet 16

2008-12-16T12:52:00.001-06:00

Some photos of my niece's sweet 16 birthday party. We had lots of fun, and lots of sugar.

Saying Yes

2008-12-16T11:53:00.009-06:00

It has been almost 2 years since I completed classes at Eastwind School of Holistic Healing. The "plan" was that I would quit my job at Pearson (which I had already done but continued working there as a temp in a different department to help pay the bills) and I would work from home doing therapeutic massage.

In the midst of the six month program I had my second miscarriage. Coping with the loss made it nearly impossible for me to do any more than the bare minimum. My studies were compromised and my desire to do anything career related fizzled. I put on the "I'm OK" face and plowed through, somehow (by the grace of God) managed to pass my board exams eight months after I completed my course work. That was one year ago.

Not long after I finished school I was offered a new permanent position at Pearson; between benefits and a considerable pay raise I simply could not turn it down. So the "plan" was adjusted so that I could work full-time and do massage therapy part-time. Within weeks of accepting the new position life's waves crashed over me once again and four months later another blast. Four lost pregnancies and the mere idea of giving anyone at all a massage felt exhausting, constricting. People don't just get over stuff like that. I'm still coming out of my "grief coma" - sometimes in leaps sometimes in creeps.

A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night. I didn't want to be awake. Not a surprise. But what was a surprise was what felt like God asking me to do something. It felt nagging, irritating, and I tried to brush it off. But I couldn't sleep. Finally I said, "Fine. If I can sleep now, I'll do it." Seconds later I was fast asleep. So now I have to do what I was told: the application for my Iowa Bodywork and Massage license is in the mail.

The bible is full of stories of God asking his people to do things they don't want to do. Again and again, those who say yes are blessed abundantly. I hope I heard right. I hope for God's blessing. I often ask God to bless me, "just because he loves me". It's time to return the favor.

Making Christmas Cookies

2008-12-15T12:40:00.003-06:00

A family tradition we share with my parents (Nana & Papa) is to make Christmas cookies together. It's been a fun, messy tradition and this year my brother, Travis and his family joined us. So Adi had great fun playing with her cousins, Kayley and Myles spent surprisingly little time making and decorating cookies, as you can tell by the lack of photos of Adi in action. We still have some gingerbread cookies that I baked last week in the freezer so I can pull those out to decorate soon and get pics of that.

There were way too many great photos to choose only a few to post so I decided to do a slideshow instead (place your mouse over the photo below and click on the play button in the bottom left hand corner):

Oh, Christmas Tree

2008-12-15T07:41:00.003-06:00

This year, decorating the Christmas tree for Adi meant that she had to dress up and be beautiful first. She has learned well from friend Djuna how to use what's around you to make an extraordinarily lovely gown.
When she heard that the tree had a skirt, she decided that the tree shouldn't wear it, but she should. So she found a ribbon in the decorations box, wrapped the tree skirt around her little body and asked for help tying her ribbon belt. I think it turned out beautifully.Now that Adi was well dressed for decorating a tree, she decided the tree could use a few pretty things too.
Under the tree is one of the cats favorite places to hang out, though that might change with Adi operating in "capture and hold" mode. Bella and Mojo aren't too excited about that so when Adi comes running, they go running ;)
This tree looks so much better in sepia! A couple of years ago I decided to buy plastic ornaments so Adi could play with them and I wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt on broken glass. We're still using the plastic ornaments, but after seeing blogs from a couple friends and realizing that broken ornaments are part of the "tradition" I think I might pull out my real ornaments after all.
So now the tree has been relocated to the family room downstairs because I realized that on Christmas morning I can't think of anything more sweet than a new tradition of opening gifts next to a cozy fire in our new insert, which we totally love. So stayed tuned for new pictures of our tree with upgraded ornamentation.

Hillside Fellowship Church

2008-12-12T07:18:00.004-06:00

When we were in Oregon I really wanted to visit a Vineyard Church while we were there. I did find one in Portland, but it would have been a 30-45 minute drive to get there from Aurora and after all the other driving we had already done we were feeling like another drive would suck and we wanted to go some where closer.

Shane's neighbors across the street have been doing a non-denominational church thing for a little while and they meet at the American Legion on Main Street in Aurora. I was reluctant because I knew it would be pretty small, we hadn't met his neighbors and we wouldn't be able to blend in. Everyone would know we were visiting. I know it's funny that I mention that, but as an introvert I really prefer that attention not be directed to me. In the end we decided we were both desperate for Jesus (not because the trip was bad but more because we hadn't been able to listen to Christian music or really talk about Jesus or faith, except with Adi when she brought him up, which was always a welcomed conversation from my perspective. I love talking about Jesus with Adi, and trust me, she likes to ask lots of questions about him. It's marvelous!

So off we go on our 3 block jaunt to church Sunday morning. When we got to Hillside Fellowship Church we were about 8 minutes early and no one else was there except Brian the worship leader, Zach the pastor (and neighbor) and a woman setting up who didn't tell us her name (shame on me for not asking --- I was nervous). We were so grateful that Zach greeted us as soon as he realized we were there. We chatted, met Brian and before long several others had arrived. I didn't do a head count but I'd say including children there were about 3o people there, give or take a few. It was teeny. But very homey.

They did things a bit different. We didn't worship until after the teaching which felt strange at first but it was totally amazing and well worth the wait. The teaching felt more like a bible study (which is how the church got it's roots) and it was fabulous. Zach acknowledged Cam and I during his teaching (and it felt OK - we were honored), he was animated, anointed and full of life. At the end while we were praying for the community they prayed for a safe return trip for us back to Iowa, again we were honored. We learned so much in such a short time. We took the super long way home so we could talk more about how God was stirring in us. Cam calls it the highlight of the trip. It was that good.

This experience gave me hope and inspired me. It showed me that a church doesn't have to be big to be alive (not that my church is that big at around 200). As I've gotten bits and pieces of feeling like I will one day be involved in a church plant, I felt like attending Hillside Fellowship was very much a part of God's plan to show me what a church in it's early phases can look like and I feel a lot less nervous about being a part of something like that some day when the time is right.

So I thank God for my trip to Oregon. I thank God for my family and for positioning Shane and his family exactly where they are. For connecting a few dots and leading Cam and I into an experience well worth telling about. I pray for God's favor on Hillside Fellowship Church, for more people to experience Jesus through them and blessing on their ministry, in Jesus' name.

Portland

2008-12-09T21:20:00.003-06:00

Oregon Coast

2008-12-05T12:01:00.005-06:00

When my brother Shane was making plans for us to come out for the holiday he asked what we wanted to do. The only thing I cared about was making sure Adi got her first chance to visit the ocean. So, the day after Thanksgiving we all piled into a vehicle and drove and hour and a half to the coastal town of Lincoln City, OR.
The weather was perfect for strolling about on the coast, taking in the enormity of the great Pacific Ocean.Surprisingly, Adi wasn't really interested in the seashells. The tide was super high when we first arrived so there weren't many to be found, aside from the occasional broken clam shell. Even though they were pretty and shiny inside, she preferred the smooth round pebbles instead.
Here's Papa and Adi. Nana and Papa took turns taking walks with her. Adi and I could have stayed forever, not everyone else was so convinced. Especially after...Nana and Papa were walking together with Adi when a huge wave came in above their knees before they could get out of it. Luckily Adi was held high and didn't get wet, unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me when it happened or I would have had a very funny video to post ;) Below you can see Nana and Papa have wet jeans. From left to right: Cam, Shane (my brother), Nana (my mom), Adi, Kris (Shane's wife), Papa (my dad).After the tidal incident, we all went to Bi-Mart so Nana and Papa could get some dry clothes. Adi and Nana also picked up some rain boots so they could wade in the water together. Adi was pretty excited about that!The ocean is such a fun subject to photograph. I love taking photos with sepia.A pretty picture of my little girl.On our walk back to the car Adi was a bit chilly so she climbed into my really large fleece jacket like a little papoose. It was very cozy.
And we couldn't resist taking photos of some of the flowers that were blooming at the coast. This splash of color was so wonderful!

First of Many Oregon Posts

2008-12-04T10:49:00.004-06:00

First I have to say Happy Birthday to Grandma Marsha (12/1) and Uncle Travis. We thought of you on your birthday but completely failed to call... please forgive us!

So here Adi is on her first plane ride on our way to Oregon to visit my brother Shane and his family (wife Kris and step-daughter Maddy). We knew my parents were planning on being there for Thanksgiving and we didn't tell them we were coming... complete surprise for them! And woo hoo, somehow we pulled it off. They had no idea we were coming. It was hard to keep the secret so long!!

Adi's response to take off was, "wow, this is fun!" The trip on the airplane was so much more fun with Adi's excitement and enthusiasm.She didn't sleep on the first flight to Minneapolis but she finally gave up her fight against exhaustion on the 3 hour flight to Portland. We had all been up since 1:30 am Thanksgiving morning so we could get on the road to Des Moines where our flight left at 5:00 am. Sheesh, that was rough.
Adi spent a lot of time just watching the clouds and the view from her window seat. She's a big fan of flying, though she'll tell you that she didn't like the pressure part, gum didn't always help.
Boomer and Adi got along really well, it took a while for Adi to realize that not all dogs are crazy like our Ihry and she could actually pet and cuddle with Uncle Shane's dogs. Poor kid, it really made me wish we had done a better job training Ihry to behave better, especially with Adi. Maybe there's still time...Cousin Maddy's dad was in town so we only got to spend one day with her, but Adi really enjoyed the time she did have. She told me, "mommy, I really love Maddy". So sweet.

Advent Conspiracy

2008-11-26T13:14:00.003-06:00

I saw this video on a friend's blog and couldn't resist posting it here as well. This really is an animated explanation of what is in my heart this year.

If you decide to spend less and give more but don't know where or how, here are a couple of my favorite organizations:

World Vision
Samaritans Purse

Giving and Ressurection

2008-11-25T07:00:00.007-06:00

On Friday night Adi and I went out to dinner with my parents to a local restaurant. We traditionally have dinner with them on Friday nights, pretty much ever since Adi was a new born. As we left the restaurant, they had one of those cardboard boxes with lollipops sticking out and a quarter slot to donate to whatever cause it's representing. There was a couple there with an adorable little boy who so badly wanted one of those lollipops but his parents didn't have a quarter. If you are a parent or can recall being a child desiring candy you know what a big deal this can be. I wished I had a quarter to give them but I had no change, but my dad did. And he didn't even hesitate to give the child's mother the quarter just as his father went back into the restaurant to get change.

When I talk about the feeling I get when I have been so blessed that I have an opportunity to give, I don't even think about what that might look like from the outside. But Friday night I got to see it in my father. He absolutely glowed as he handed that quarter to this family, a small gift but so deeply appreciated. And my dad instantly became joyful! And as we left the entryway he looked back in time to see the father come out and wave to him in thanks. My dad glowed, and I felt proud to have him as my father, and to have him as Adi's Papa, leading by example. It was such a small event but it somehow felt like it was much bigger than it seemed. I saw this smile on my dads face, and witnessed a genuine connection between him and these strangers as he reached out to them in kindness. It was beautiful.

OK, so I was completely inspired and had Saturday all planned out to be a great family day full of giving cheer as we prepared the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes together... as a family. Here's what really went down:

Cam was irritated that I didn't wrap the shoe boxes ahead of time, because to be honest wrapping the box and lid separately is kind of challenging and time consuming. Something a 3 1/2 year old doesn't readily engage in, unless you count bonking mommy on the head repeatedly with a wrapping paper roll while mommy wraps the boxes as engagement. It kept her from steeling the gifts that were divided into individual bags according to age group and hiding them under chairs while giggling hysterically. Kinda cute and funny but not when I'm trying to also keep scissors and tape away from her so she doesn't stab someone (Mojo) or waste what little tape we have on taping the boxes shut (not exactly the idea behind wrapping lids separately!)

So where was Cam during all of this? I told him to go away after acting grumpy which threatened to ruin my holiday cheer. His tolerance level was low and I can handle either grumpy hubby or wild and crazy child but not both at the same time.

Some time later, maybe around box three of six --- there's no magic in the number 6, there were 3 age groups to choose from and both boys and girls so I chose to bless all six --- so Cam comes upstairs to inform me that there's cat puke and poop on the rug downstairs. Great, thanks for telling me.

When I finally get done, all boxes wrapped and packed (this took at least a couple of hours) I decided I'd go clean up the rug. Wrong! Cam had thrown the area rug, poop and puke and all outside in our breezeway. I had no idea of knowing where poop was originally or puke for that matter so essentially the entire rug is ruined because I don't have a carpet steamer/cleaner to clean the entire thing. By now, I'm furious because Cam didn't just either clean the crap up himself and use spot cleaner to save our rug or just wait for me to take care of it. Instead, he spazzed out and virtually throws our rug away.I was so pissed I told Cam to call our friends whom we had plans with later that evening to tell them not to come. On top of that, I realized that part of the reason I was so upset and now bawling was because I had PMS, which meant that once again for yet another month I am not pregnant. This sets me off every month and often causes a downward spiral in my mind. Sheer crappiness.

So after Adi went to bed and I was downstairs enjoying a much deserved beer, I kept eying Adi's easel which we had set up earlier in the day for her to paint (she chose to paint a burning bush, yep, the Moses kind - ha ha). I'd take a look at the easel and then look back at the t.v. that I wasn't really paying attention to because I was too irritated to do much of anything. Finally I decided I would paint. A few days ago I found photographs of the last two pieces of art I did and I realized a lot of things about my 12 year artistic quiet period... then decided it was time to break the artistic silence.

I just started painting. On regular paper. Using washable acrylic red, orange, green and blue. I had nothing in mind, just started painting freely and it was like therapy that kept getting better and better as I went. Finally Cam says, "it looks like a peacock" and of course that irritated me and I snapped, "it's not a peacock!" because it wasn't anything. But as I stopped and looked at it I realized that we were both right in a way. It wasn't a peacock but it was a bird... in the end I had painted a phoenix. I couldn't believe it.

The phoenix is a mythical bird that represents rebirth and resurrection. After living hundreds of years it engulfs itself in flames and rises again from its ashes. It is immortal. For me, it is connected to who I am in so many ways. I'm sure I've mentioned before that my name Stacey comes from Anastasia which means "resurrection". Once I saw what I had painted, not setting out to paint anything in particular I realized how close God is right now. That He sees me and is guiding me and He knows me. God took my crappy day and redeemed it.

Good Stuff

2008-11-24T11:13:00.002-06:00

Operation Christmas Child

2008-11-20T07:30:00.006-06:00

A couple of years ago part of our Christmas celebration with Cam's family was to each choose a paper angel - I think it was for Salvation Army. Each angel represented a child in need in that community. We had so much fun wandering through the store searching for the right gift(s) for our 'angel'. It was so exciting, so invigorating, and so fun! For me, it was way better than receiving any gift. I felt so full of love and joy. I don't fully understand how giving can be such a blessing, but amazing life and light shines through this simple act. This is my favorite adult Christmas memory.

So this year I've been hearing about Operation Christmas Child on the radio and have longed to pack a shoe box to donate to the cause but have been held back by the incorrect belief that I would have to take the box to another city where the radio station is located! I don't know why I thought that. So this morning I had a eureka moment when the dj announced that by simply going to the website I could type in my zip code and find a convenient drop off location near me! Wooo hoooo! First thing I got online and found out that the drop off place is about 4 blocks from my house!! I can't believe it and I'm so freakin excited I can hardly stand it. I want to have a shoe box party or something :)

So the deadline to drop off shoe boxes is Monday and my plan is to spend some time on Saturday doing this as a family and teaching Adi about giving. We've already sent our sponsor child Nomsa a Christmas package and now we get to make shoe boxes full of love and gifts that a child somewhere would not have had otherwise! I can't think of a better way to teach Adi about giving. If you want more info about doing the same you can click on one of the links above or visit Samaritan's Purse website. May this be a season full of giving, life and love.

Thanks to Facebook

2008-11-18T22:08:00.008-06:00

Thanks to Facebook I talked to my dear friend and Miami Beach roommate, Adela on the phone tonight. It's been about 10 years since we last saw or spoke with one another. Amazing! I'm so happy to have my spunky, wild, fun and artistic friend back in my life. So much has changed, but her captivating spirit remains. This post is a flashback from the past:

OK, first up is Halloween. Heather is Pocahontas, I'm a vampire and Adela is Snow White. Adela had to work at the pool hall that night so Heather and I went and hung out with her for a while. Other than that, we just wandered around the beach and probably partied at some point.
I'm holding my beloved kitty Abu with Adela's friend Dave (who looked just like John Lenon with his glasses on) and Adela. Most of our photos are self portraits much like this one!
Pre-party photo. We loved taking pics of our fun evenings as single women in South Beach.

You can barely see my Thing One and Thing Two Dr. Seuss t-shirt that I wore on a regular basis. Can you believe they let me into clubs wearing that? It was nice to be a local, unfortunately tourists wouldn't have gotten away with that.

Here we are with little Abu-bu again. Such a sweet kitty. I miss him!

So there you have it. A small flash into my history, before I met Cam. Here you witness a wild wild child!

All of Us are Stinkers

2008-11-13T07:12:00.004-06:00

Adi had a fun play date with her friend Caedon... I never quite know what to expect. Sometimes one or the other will be grumpy and they won't play much and others they amaze me at how well they get along and how easily they share and respect one another. This time I was well entertained as they spent a good 30 minutes spinning, laughing and saying silly things. Hope you don't get too dizzy watching them ;)

Dancing

2008-11-11T13:44:00.002-06:00

I can't resist posting Miss Adi dancing. She does some of the funniest things, but I know that this is her expression. This is her art. This is Adi.

Praise the Lord!

2008-11-07T07:39:00.004-06:00

I get email forwards all the time but this is one that I received recently and I loved it so much that I'm posting it here:

There was a little old lady, who every morning stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD!” One day an atheist moved into the house next door. He became irritated at the little old lady. Every morning he'd step onto his front porch after her and yell, “THERE IS NO LORD!”

Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day. One morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD! Please Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, oh Lord!”

The next morning she stepped out onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there. “PRAISE THE LORD!” she cried out. “HE HAS PROVIDED GROCERIES FOR ME!” The atheist neighbor jumped out of the hedges and shouted: “THERE IS NO LORD; I BOUGHT THOSE GROCERIES!!” The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted: “PRAISE THE LORD! HE HAS PROVIDED ME WITH GROCERIES AND MADE THE DEVIL PAY FOR THEM!”

I love this for a few reasons. First, I love the sweetness and openness of the little old lady shouting praise to the Lord from her porch every morning. It makes me wish I had the kind of unabashed faith to do the same thing. At the very least I can praise the Lord from my shower each morning as I silently pray.

Second, I love the way the little old lady doesn't let the atheist shouting back at her deter her from praising God. I find that when I am questioned or challenged I often "shut up" and as a follower of Christ, I want to respond like the old lady does, while remaining respectful of others, of course.

Third, I love the main lesson of this story. I love that it shows how God provides for us through other human beings!! And the other people aren't always Christians!!! Totally eye opening and wonderful. God uses all of us to do his work whether we know it and acknowledge it or not.

Last, how can I resist the defeat of the enemy in this story. The atheist thinks he's proving there is no Lord to the lady by buying her groceries and serving as the provider but she is showing him that by the same reasoning there actually is a Lord and the Lord used the atheist to bless her. I'm sure the atheist could go one of two ways, walking off thinking the little old lady has a couple screws loose or walking off thinking twice about whether or not there is a God.

We don't really know what happens to the atheist in the end of this story but how lovely to show that God is in the ordinary. God is in the every day and sometimes we just need a forwarded email to point that out again.

Fall Photos for Gramdma Marsha

2008-11-05T14:09:00.003-06:00

These photos are especially for you Grandma Marsha (our most loyal blog follower :)
The weather has been so wonderful (thanks surely to global warming) and we've been doing our best to enjoy the warm temps while we can before the blustery winter descends upon us.
I love this next picture of Adi. She looks so contemplative. I think she was trying to figure out how to climb over the pile of branches Bella our kitty was snooping through so she could capture her. We let the cats out in the fenced yard with us on nice days so they can eat grass and cough up hairballs outside ;)

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T19:58:00.008-05:00

So what does Super Woman do anyway? Fly, of course!

Here's Nana, Adi and I at the "dress rehearsal" of Halloween. We went to the Sycamore Mall Halloween event on Thursday night and though the hay rack ride was fun, I seriously doubt we will brave the massive crowd and slow moving lines. I don't think anyone really had much fun, it was too crazy to enjoy it.

The redeeming moment was finding Super Man and convincing him to have his photo taken with Super Woman. He wasn't too sure but his mommy was optimistic that the two Supers would "hook-up" in the future. Parents are funny.

On Halloween night we continued with our annual tradition of trick-or-treating with our beloved friends and neighbors, the McCoy's. It wouldn't have been the same without them.

As you can see Miss Adi was Super Woman for Halloween this year. We originally got an Ariel (The Little Mermaid) costume but once Adi laid eyes on this gem there was no turning back! Super Woman it is - officially Super Girl but you try as you might, Adi will have none of the "girl" stuff. She was Super "Woman"! I couldn't resist taking a picture of the loot. Ridiculous. The photo doesn't do it justice. If Cam and I don't eat it all first (big IF) Adi will have candy for months!

Carving Pumpkins!

2008-10-29T08:42:00.005-05:00

Sunday evening was a perfect night for carving pumpkins! Adi, Cam and I went to Nana and Papa's house for dinner followed by a fun evening of messy pumpkin carving. Adi got to work straight away.
And this year she wasn't afraid to get dirty... or gooey.
And what's better than getting gooey on you-ey? Getting goop on Papa of course!
And thanks to Mama clearing up the myth that pumpkin can't be eaten raw (right in line with my raw food eating ways of late) Adi decided everyone should try some raw pumpkin. Maybe not exactly by will, but everyone must try some!
Here are the three ladies of the house, working away.And what would pumpkin carving be if we didn't have a pumpkin headed monster show up?
And for the grand finale, here is the fruit of our labor. Aren't they great?
The pumpkins were carved, from left to right, by Stacey, Papa and Nana. If you'd like to see the glowing version and the tasty roasted pumpkin seeds head on over to our Urban Homestead blog :)

Happy Birthday to Stacey

2008-10-29T08:24:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, October 18th I turned 32. Cam and I spent the day with our friends Seth and Alicia at Fireside Winery in Williamsburg, IA. The scenery was beautiful, the day was beautiful, the wine was wonderful and I had a very happy birthday.

After wine tasting we enjoyed a bottle of wine and some spinach artichoke dip. Seth willingly took this photo, actually posed for it, and therefore I am posting it!Here we are. Cheers! Thanks for celebrating a very happy birthday with me, friends :)

Fall Colors

2008-10-26T12:36:00.003-05:00

Adi and Cam went out on a fall color adventure. Their first stop was the "waterfall". Adi found some beautiful purple flowers and is showing one of them off here:

The seagulls were flying free and Adi is such a lover of animals, particularly birds, that Cam really can't resist getting photos of the birds for her.

Here's Adi with a feather she found. I love the way the wind is blowing her hair...

And finally, fall colors, in all their glory. Gorgeous!!

I'm Not Stupid, I Was Just Grieving!

2008-10-24T12:27:00.003-05:00

So now that I've been back to work for a few weeks and things are starting to get busier, I'm feeling hyper-sensitive to things going on around me. For instance, the project manager of my main project has been giving work that I could be doing to a co-worker on a different project. I assume this is because he doesn't think I've been trained on the "new" process using the Mac instead of the PC. This isn't true, I learned the process early this week. So I wonder how many hours I've spent dinking around and waiting for work the past few days when I could be working on my assigned project?

I'm also noticing that as tasks are assigned and shared, I tend to get the mindless ones. If I were to, for example, build a book (sorry for the publishing references, I don't know how else to explain what's going on...) the people giving me the work sort of hesitate, like their thinking, "are you sure you can handle this?" The normal healthy me would be offended by this, and I was. But what is coming to light is my state of mental and emotional health over the last couple of years that I've worked in this department.

During that time I've had two miscarriages, finished massage school and accepted a full-time position in this department that I'm not really qualified to work in (no college degree). While in the process of grieving the losses of two pregnancies (and the build-up of having lost 4 total) I most certainly have NOT been functioning at full capacity over the past couple of years. Why this just hit me today, I don't know. But it feels like I need to somehow communicate this to my team. I doubt it's appropriate, though. I want to shout, "I'm not stupid, I was just grieving! I feel better now, Jesus is healing me more every day and I can think and I can learn and I am a valuable team member!" Surely I will never say these things, only exemplify them.

So now for my own sake, I just say thank you Jesus for the work you've done in me. To heal me and to help me move on, past the shadow of the valley of death, past grieving, and on to many things new.

Bloomsbury Farm

2008-10-19T21:06:00.006-05:00

Last weekend we went to Bloomsbury Farm in Atkins. It has a huge pumpkin patch and several other attractions, such as the barrel train pulled by a tractor.

They also had this huge jumping pillow which was a huge hit for the kids. On the left is Adi's cousin Kayley and Uncle Travis.
Papa braved holding 3 grand kids in one lap. Myles, Kayley and Adi :)
I totally want to put one of these tube slides in my backyard.

Who could resist the goats? There was also a llama or two. Funny animals.

So overall the place was a lot of fun for the kids. I found myself struggling to keep up. I felt like it was a bit expensive, but I suppose it's the owners livelihood. If you feel like making the trip, be prepared to do a lot of running around and take my word for it, do NOT go in the corn maze!!

Raptor Center Adventure

2008-10-11T20:08:00.004-05:00

This was my first week back to work from my 13 week leave. When I returned I learned that I will no longer have a partial year position, so this was the last year to have my summer off as far as I can tell :( The transition is going well for everyone. I'm getting used to my new 24" Mac - the biggest available. The sucker is bigger than my t.v. I guess there's one benefit to doing my current job and learning another one on top of it (I currently do electronic form design and will be learning the paper form design process as well).

So, Cam and Adi have some quality Daddy/Adi time on Mondays and Fridays since the peanut isn't in preschool on those days. This week they went to the Raptor Center.
One of the owls in captivity at the Raptor Center.
Adi outside one of the large cage structures which house the birds and a cool photo of one of the raptors (maybe a falcon?)
Chasing shadows - Adi and Daddy's shadows on the path.

Baby Myles' Baptism

2008-10-11T19:53:00.003-05:00

Our nephew Myles Travis Harney was baptized last weekend and I'm just now getting around to posting a few photos of his special day. Here the little man is:

I was careful to include Jesus in this photo of the Harney family (Travis is my little brother). Krista, Travis and Myles are here together with Jesus.
After the ceremony Adi had a little time to run around and have some fun!
Here's the little piggie bank I sort of made for Myles' gift. The bank was store bought and I used stickers to customize it for the occasion.
And there will never be any confusion over who this little piggie belongs to :)

Our nephew Myles was baptized last weekend and I'm just now getting around to posting some photos of his special day.

Mazatlan Video

2008-10-10T12:41:00.003-05:00

Flickr Photostream

2008-09-29T11:44:00.004-05:00

We posted all of the photos of Cam's trip (and a few of Adi opening her "surprises" from Daddy upon his return). You can click here to see them.