A Grandma Visit

When Grandma Dory comes to visit--

there is one thing you can always count on doing.

Playing games...

board games,

card games,

she is "game" to play any game.

(although cards are her personal favorite)

My kids think it is WONDERFUL to watch movies and play games so much.

(Although you can't tell from the look on his face, Zach was having a great time. I think we had to rescue some cards from his death grip and he wasn't too happy about it.)

These past two weeks have been a good reminder that we need to take more time--to just do nothing--

to play games together and watch movies and just be silly.

(Sitting to watch a movie or play a game without simultaneously cleaning or folding laundry is not a personal strength.)

We thought we would take Grandma to do one of our favorite things while she was here to visit.

Call us crazy, but we Michiganders love to get Slurpees at 7-eleven.

even in the winter--even when it isn't even 20 degrees outside.

Brrrr....

Our favorite part isn't eating the Slurpees, it's watching Zach tear through 7-Eleven towards the Slurpee machine screaming "SLURPEE! SLURPEE!" at the top of his lungs.

The cashier usually gets a huge smile on her face as she watches Zach round the corner.

More than once --Zach has not been charged for his Slurpee.

At the machine, we ask him what color he wants. He usually selects a wide variety of flavors and the final concoction is a painful experience for anyone else to taste. But Zach, he loves his Slurpees.

This child would do almost anything for a trip to the 7-eleven.

Washcloth Anyone?

On the left side of my face--there is a mole. It has been there for as long as I can remember.

My Mom always called it a "beautymark".

Whatever you call it--it just bugs Zach.

He always asks:

"What's that?" and then he tries to pick it off.

But today--when he was trying to remove it he simply said--

"Mom--you need a washcloth."

not feeling so beautiful about that.

Nine Thirty...

I went to bed last night at nine thirty.

For anyone who knows me--you will know what an anomoly that is.

It made the 6 times Zach was up in the night almost easy.

It made getting up for the day with Zach before 7 am easier too.

I am even blogging at 8:00 in the morning.

Wow.

I am speaking in church tomorrow on

"Enduring Our Trials Well".

(I got asked to speak back in January, so I have had lots of time to think about it.)

I wanted to share one of my favorite thoughts on trials:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently, He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is the He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You though you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace."

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity"

I just love this imagery...

A First...

Zach has his first play group tommorow.

He is so excited!

He thinks that he needs a backpack.

He thinks that he will need to ride a bus to go to playgroup.

(I hope he won't be disappointed.)

He calls it "play goop" which totally cracks me up.

Too cute...
I hope that having a play group will keep him a bit more busy--

maybe it will keep him from pulling stunts like this...

Hope you enjoyed your "Balentine's" Day

We hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day as much as we did.

Zach had a great time doing his Dora and Diego "Balantines".
He knew right where to scribble and told me who he was sending each of his valentines to.
Rachel made a cool mailbox to hold her valentines---turquoise blue of course.

(not an ounce of pinkness to it.)

This year was probably Meghan's last school Valentine's Party.

She is headed to middle school nest year.

and here is Zach-o hard at work.

Celebrating Love

I think I really like Valentine's Day.

I am happy there is a holiday to celebrate all of the people you love on one special day.

My grandparents are one of the best examples of enduring love.

There was no question they were in love.

They fished together--

camped together.

They really liked to take long walks together.

Somedays--you would find them just hanging out at Sams Club together.

They had tough times, happy times, very silly times and very sad times.

But everytime I was with them,

I could feel their love.

It was contagious-

It was enduring-

It was comforting.

I truly miss them and I am thinking about them on this day celebrating love.

____________________________________

How lucky am I that my parents are another great example of love.

They build houses together--

go hiking and cross country skiing together--

watch O'Reilly together while they eat their rice and salad.

They roast hotdogs in the snow with their grandchildren and truly put their family first.

They are continuing a great legacy of love for my children--

How lucky am I?

Be Mine....Valentine

A little Valentine love from Rachel....

February Funk

Here in Michigan--we need some decent "get outside and play" weather.

What we don't need is a bigger reason to

stay indoors--

wearing our jammies all day--

playing The Sims.

That is just NOT what we need right now.

Our Angel

This art is by Greg Olson and is the cover for a beautiful CD about Adoption. Click here to listen to a sample...

Angel

in Greek and Hebrew the word angel means messenger.

Our family has a very special Angel.

Her name is Megan and she is Zach's birthmom.

She was a messenger of joy--

a messenger of healing,

a messenger of happiness,

a messenger of a precious son.

Time has only increased the love we feel for her.

When Zach smiles--we can see her smile.

When he cheers for sports, or hits a baseball, I think "Megan would be so proud!"

We know he is a gift.

We are so grateful to our angel.

Thanks Megan for commenting on the blog.

I have been thinking about you so often lately and have not known how to contact you.

Send me an email (mslorenc@sbcglobal.net) with your address--it wasn't on your comment.

I would SO love to chat.

Love you.....

Blog Books

This is the coolest thing I have ever seen!

For a reasonable price, this site claims that it will "slurp your blog right into a book."

It makes me feel like all the time I have spent blogging is completely worth it.

An old friend and roommate of mine posted her slurped book on her blog.

I am so in love with technology--

Superbowl Sugar Cookies

Our Rachel would love to grow up someday to be "Rachael Ray". At the very least, she would love to have her job--you see, she adores cooking.

This weekend, at the library used book sale, she bought herself a cookbook.

(And if you buy a Rachel a cookbook, she is going to want to bake.)

So--she enlisted the help of her brother, and sister, and mother to make a special treat for Superbowl Sunday.

(Dad helped a bit too--he is a really creative cookie froster!) There was a lot of licking going on, which is why we cannot in good conscience share any cookies with friends or neighbors.
A LOT OF LICKING!

We made a great big mess--that took two days to clean up.
But we had so much fun.
and we made so many cookies...
and it was a wonderful memory...
and Shae got to watch the game in relative peace.

(although Zach was very excited to have a "football party" with his Daddy and he really wanted the "big huge giants" to win.)

We are getting closer...

Driving home from church today, Rachel exclaims:

"Are those buds I see on the trees?"

Upon closer examination we determined that the trees were starting to bud.

I was thinking--"Spring, you are coming!"

Spring wasn't what Rachel was thinking about though.

"Buds mean it is almost my birthday Mom! Can we plan my party?"

Her birthday is March 24th. That gives us PLENTY of time.