Think about your single friends that are still looking for prince charming. I didn’t get married until I was 28 and every church service where the moms were recognized reminded me that I still hadn’t found Mr. Right yet and wasn’t any closer to starting a family of my own.

Consider those around you that have had miscarriages and/or lost a child. How about the moms who decided to abort?  This holiday is one more reminder of what could have been.

What about the families that are not able to have children and are mourning that loss? Please give them an extra hug.

Also, on a personal note, I ask that you consider your friends and family members that are on the adoption path. The stress of a “paper pregnancy” and always wondering when you’ll get that call is a lot to bear. Mother’s Day was one of those holidays during that time in my life that I would rather have stayed home “sick”. I knew my time would come, but it hadn’t yet… and my heart ached because of the unknown.

Along those same lines… I wouldn’t be a mom if it weren’t for our daughter’s birth mom.  I say a special prayer for her several times a year and am so thankful that we have been blessed by her.  There are so many emotions a birth mother could be feeling on this day.  Anxiety? Wonder? Confidence? Fear? Loss? Pride? Love.

And on a final note, please love on those whose moms have either passed away or have maybe never even been a part of their lives. A child (no matter how old they may be) without a mother close by needs your love as well.

So with all that being said… enjoy your day tomorrow and please be sensitive to those around you. Be a blessing and be blessed!

Well, usually it’s a gentle breeze but, sometimes I wake up in the arctic tundra.  The weather has been very sporadic this winter and it hasn’t changed its personality for spring.

We just returned last week from a spring break trip to a pastor’s conference in Tennessee.  What a much needed retreat for our entire family!

There was time to check out the picnic area at Cades Cove.

There was time to pause along the route to enjoy the scenery.

We took time to pause for a picture,

to learn to skip (plop) stones,

check water temperatures,

and pose for a second picture.

We went for a nice long hike!

We even had some more time to pose for another picture in front of our cabin at the Tuckaleechee Retreat Center while I played with the settings on my camera.

We took time to visit the aquarium and checked out the itty bitty jellyfish.

had a few shark sightings,

and held our breath for a cheesy picture.

We also sat for a bit outside to enjoy the weather while I played with my camera settings a little more.

Then, we rode the glass elevator to the top of the 400 foot high Space Needle in Gatlinburg, and enjoyed a beautiful rain shower that turned into thunder and lightning show before we decided it was time to head back down and visit Bubba Gump’s for lunch.

Then, we dressed up like tourists and enjoyed our final days on vacation before we took a long 12 hour drive home… yeah, we got stuck in traffic for a REALLY long time on the way home.

When we came home tonight, she was quick to watch the thermostat and read off each temperature change. Earlier this evening, it was “almost 80!” (79*). A short while later, I heard her announce that it was 73.

The best weather report though happened as she kissed her daddy goodnight on her way to bed. She leaned into his ear and rather than saying, “Goodnight, I love you,” she very lightly whispered, “It’s 71.”  And off to bed she went.

We still haven’t had a Snow Day this school year.

Yesterday, I even spent a good portion of the day attempting to kill the dandelions in our yard.  Yes.  We have yellow dandelions in our yard… in the middle of March… Probably because we haven’t had a snow day yet.

We’ve also been getting a lot of rain.

Like today.

The Hubs has been dying for hamburgers since he’s been eating healthier.  Sundays are his days to be a little more relaxed.

He was very dedicated to his task… despite the thunder and lightning that rolled in.

(But we won’t tell his mom that!) 

]]> http://snickerdoodledoo.com/2012/03/18/the-dedicated-grillmaster/feed/ 0 tjhypes raingrill1 raingrill2 http://snickerdoodledoo.com/2012/02/28/storm-warning/ http://snickerdoodledoo.com/2012/02/28/storm-warning/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:43:10 +0000 -jenni http://snickerdoodledoo.com/?p=2138 ]]> Emily is consistently interested in the weather forecasts when she sees them on TV and checks our home weather station daily. Over the weekend, she noticed that Tuesday night (tonight) we were supposed to get some “stormy weather”. Her immediate thought was to tell me that she would probably have to sleep in our room on Tuesday night because it was going to storm. I reassured her she would be fine and she would be sleeping in her room.

On the way to her kindergarten program tonight, the first glimpse of a slightly gray cloud prompted her to remind me that it’s supposed to storm tonight… and she might have to sleep in our room.

She tried one more time tonight to bring the conversation up and added, “Pleeeease? I promise not to laugh when Mommy toots or snores! I’ll be real quiet!”

Secret’s out!  I’m a classy broad!

Oh really?!?  You laugh as though you never do either one of those things.   Oh Puh-leeeease!  <grin>

When I picked her up at the end of school day, she informed me that it still hurt.

“Well, you probably bruised it,” I stated.

“Oh no! Does that mean I have to go see the TOOTHODONTIST?”

Earlier this week it was “Five Little Junkies Bumpin’ on the Bed”.

Tonight’s music was courtesy of the jingle on a TV Commercial.  ”I’m Sixty And I Know It”.  (We didn’t bother to correct the lyrics.  ”Sixty” sounds better than “sexy” when it’s coming from a 5 year old.)

She’s five.

She can belch the alphabet and giggle all the way through it.

Last night she had her words mixed up and serenaded us in the car on the way home.  She sang “Five Little Junkies Bumping On The Bed” (at the top of her lungs).  She had no idea what she was saying but she finally got the words right on the last verse and sang “Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed”.

She was bummed out last night because when we told her “We have an appointment tomorrow night to get our taxes done.”  She really wanted to get them done right then.  This is a consistent theme with our daughter.  One year, she actually had a pretty major meltdown because there was a really big snow storm on the night we had scheduled for taxes and everything was closing early.  Through sobs and tears that night she whimpered, “But I want to get my taxes done….”

Tonight Em was cuddling on her Daddy’s lap and leaned within 5 inches of his eyeballs and very matter-of-factly stated, “Wow!  You look tired!”  She then proceeded to point out the dark circles under his eyes and the fine lines on his face.  Glad it was his lap she was sitting on.  I have a lot more dark circles, lines, and my gray hair count is catching up with The Hubs.

This girl also has a very keen sense of smell. She stuck her nose almost IN her Daddy’s mouth and asked what the smell was on his breath.  (Let me just say that someone’s nose that close to my mouth makes me very uncomfortable but apparently sniffing each other’s breath is something they do fairly often.)  He told her it might be the smell of a drink he was drinking.  ”No.  It smells like food.”  And then the investigation and inquisition began.  I’m not sure if she ever closed the case or if she chalked it up to daddy being a lunatic.

Just another 24 hours of life in our family.

Created at 5:30pm one day. Melted away by 5:30pm the next.

One of the many joys of living in Ohio:  You never know what the weather is going to do from one day to the next.  Thankfully, I had informed our daughter early on that Snow Momma might not last very long.  In true form, Snow Momma was gone in 24 hours and still looks like just a snow turd in our yard just 3 days later.