The January Project

It is funny how there are times in your life when a cliche really is an appropriate method to describe a feeling. This past May I was filled with sadness, hurt and even a little bit of despair. I had to question everything I thought I knew, learned that people I thought I could count on I really couldn't once there was nothing left for them to gain from me. Forced to realize that more often than not the word "friendship" held no value to people I would have laid down my life for. That period of my life was a dark, dark space that I wasn't sure I would ever be able to crawl out of.



During that period someone reminded me that God never closes a door without opening a window. At the time of that little reminder I wasn't so ready to really believe that. In fact, I am pretty sure I might have even said a few bad words to the person that gave me that gentle reminder if I am not mistaken. But it is true. So. True.



Out of all of the evil and darkness, a transformation began to take place. My relationship with McGyver was strengthened. When I couldn't pick my head up off of my pillow, he was there. When I couldn't string two coherent sentences together without bursting into tears he was there. When I was hurt by the silence and distance of others my husband was there. Through it all he reminded me of who I was. He forced me to look ahead. He challenged me to grow. Through that whole process I fell in love with my man all over again. The relationship we have because of what we endured is worth the pain we had to go through to get where we are now. That gift alone is priceless. But the Lord was not done with just giving us the gift of a renewed relationship and belief in each other.



He had additional plans for us. We started our new company in July. Still wobbly and shaken, I was forced to put myself out there to push for our vision to create a company that valued its employees, brought jobs to our local economy and allowed me the opportunity to truly be present in Dreamsicle's life. We were blessed with a tiny little account to whom I will forever be grateful. When they agreed to sign with us our company started. Soon after that we were blessed with a much larger client. We were able to hire employees, lease office space, really start working towards fulfilling our dreams. From July until now we have seen steady growth-now on the cusp of 2009 we are growing again.



Today at 2:00 we acquired another company. A company that is quadruple the size of what we were this morning. A company that has incredible employees, shares a vision much like our own and gives us the ability to bring more jobs to our local area, allowing us to employ more people who so desperately need work. The opportunity presented itself a little over a month ago so we have been working day and night to make this happen. The odds were against us, the timeline so tight that we know that the Lord cleared the way in order for us to make this happen.



We have been blessed. And because of His blessings we hope to be able to bless others-with a job close to home, a good wage and a great place to work.



So the next time someone tells you the old "the Lord doesn't close a door without opening a window" cliche, be still and wait to feel the wind from the open window.

I used to laugh at my Grandma

My mom came from a large family. Growing up we would visit my Grandma's house and she would always have something yummy she could pull out of the freezer to warm up for us to eat. I cannot remember the number of times she would tell us that she had trouble learning how to cook for just her and my Grandpa after the kids grew up. I would always giggle to myself wondering just how hard could it be to reduce your serving sizes.

Grandma is now up in Heaven but I owe her an apology. Apparently I have more of her in me than I even realized. This is what I prepared for our Christmas dinner last night:

Appetizers
Cold Shrimp
Water Chestnuts wrapped in bacon
Beef Roll Ups

Main Course
Potato/Squash Soup
Prime Rib
Rice Pilaf
Garlic Bread

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream

Guess who I made all of that for...McGyver, me, X*Boy and Dreamsicle.

We will be eating leftovers for a very, very long time.

The absence of Chester and U*Haul was felt by everyone. Little Pea and Pixie were home for the opening of gifts in the morning but then headed out on the road for more celebrating with her family so it was a quiet afternoon.

The morning on the other hand was a flurry of happiness and toddler giggles as Dreamsicle opened her gifts. She totally got the whole go to bed on Christmas Eve wake up to gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. So much so that when she went to bed last night she asked if Santa was going to come again. Heh, smart kid.

Mmmmmm

How did the McGyver family spend this weekend? Watching the snow accumulate on the deck (yep, just inches to go before it is higher than the deck railing, better get X*boy busy shoveling) and making our annual Gingerbread House! Each candy was lovingly test-tasted by Dreamsicle before being allowed to be added to the house. After that we moved on to making 4 different types of Christmas cookies. Many tastes of icing and sprinkles later, the day had turned into night and the joy of trying to get Dreamsicle calmed down from all of the sugar enough to go to bed began. We had a great day and I am still so thankful that we are able to be the parents to this little girl.

Happy!

We are in the middle of a terrible snowstorm, and yet I am filled with happiness today. Chester was able to call this morning (3:45 am) to be exact. He is doing well and our first 5 packages have finally caught up with him. He said that it was kind of fun opening up a package that had Halloween candy and decorations in it right now, who knows when he will finally receive his Christmas packages but he is taking it all in stride.

I am counting down the days until U*Haul comes home-he won't be home for Christmas but will be here shortly thereafter.

Dreamsicle is experiencing another language explosion. That girl has a HUGE vocabulary but now she is stringing together really long sentences. And talks non-stop. McGyver and I laugh so hard sometimes. She wakes up talking and goes to bed talking. We are so in awe of her.

X*Boy is working mad hours snowplowing so he doesn't have much time to himself right now but he is smiling as he is taking his checks to the bank!

The January Project is gearing up to launch

Life is good!

Why?

Why are all of the mirrors in my house so far away that I cannot tell that my eyebrows are in serious need of waxing until I look in the mirror at the office and scare myself thinking I have caterpillars crossing my brows?

Why did I have to slip and fall in the parking lot of the local supermarket this morning due to ice while I was wearing a dress? And the snow plow dude was just finishing up plowing, thus being treated to a show.

Why did my purse get caught on the door handle while trying to exit a swanky restaurant last week, thus pulling me backwards allowing for a not so graceful exit from said establishment?

Why do I not have heated seats in my car since I live in the Frozen Tundra?

Why did I just receive notice that the suh-weet dress I ordered for New Years Eve online is on back order and scheduled to ship on January 5?

I have no idea...

Holy Cow-It's Almost Christmas

I just looked at the date. I mean really, really looked at the date. People! Christmas is next week! When did that happen? I am all of a sudden having hot -flashy, sweaty non-perimenopausal related anxiety attacks! I am not ready. I thought I was ready. I swear I did. But then Dreamsicle informed us that she KNOWS what Santa is bringing her. Guess what~ the only thing that Santa is bringing her (currently) that she listed is books. Must rush to find puzzles, candy, and a BIG PINK BEAR. In less than a week. Watch out for the crazy woman at the mall this weekend. You have been warned.

A Big Day In A Little Girl's Life

Last Friday Dreamsicle had her first "real" haircut. We started the morning off with a Mommy and Me playdate at the local Gardens. The building was filled with Christmas Trees From Around The World. Each tree decorated with the theme for a different country. As you can see, Dreamsicle started her morning with a picture in the sleigh at the entrance to the building, notice her long, straggly hair? After spending the morning with the other girls I realized we had a hair emergency on our hands and stopped at a children's salon to get her a real big girl hair cut. She was a little shy, but sat there like a trooper. Her bangs are a little short, not the stylist's fault though. Dreamsicle was so caught up with where the stylist was going with those dang scissors near her eyes that she kept looking up to keep a close eye on the sharp pointy things. This caused her eyebrows to be raised during the haircut, thus making the stylist cut them shorter than "just above her brows". After the outing and the haircut we ended our day with a stop at a restaurant for a "treat"! The picture of Dreamsicle with her friends K and M is a picture of three little girls who all came home from China at the same time. K is from Dreamsicle's same orphanage (the little girl in all red)

Dreamsicle

Dreamsicle is slowly beginning to feel better. She doesn't get sick often and has only had the need for an antibiotic one other time in her life. I think this is perhaps why she keeps insisting that she is still sick and needs medicine. All. of. the. time.

She will follow McGyver and I around the house and say in her most pathetic little voice "Mama (or Daddy) Dreamsicle still sick. Need more medicine." Insert 4-5 fake coughs, puppy dog eyes looking up at us and then saying Pweeeeeaaaassseee.

Hmmm, may have to watch this one as she gets older. She is liking her drugs a little too much.

Snow!

Wow! The snow is coming down so hard that we are going to close the office. He! How fun is that? Seriously, this type of snowfall reminds me of when we were kids. It just keeps coming. As much as I question why I live in the Frozen Tundra most of the winter, when the snow is coming down this hard and everything looks so pristine I am actually glad that I live here. It is beyond awesome that I no longer have to worry about driving an hour to and from work in this type of weather.

Dreamsicle has been a very sick little girl these past three days so I am looking forward to having McGyver build us a crackling fire in the fireplace, opening a bottle of wine later this afternoon and just relaxing in the warmth of my home while I drown my daughter in cuddles and snoodles.

I think I feel the need to engage in some serious baking this afternoon. Nothing like filling the house with good smells today too!

The January Project

First I want to give a shout out to my home girl S-I know that you and YW are going through a difficult time right now. I cannot imagine the emotions that you both are dealing with right now. Please know that I am a phone call away (okay a phone call away unless I am driving and my cell phone drops the call like last time we spoke-sorry about that). I have never walked in the shoes you are currently being forced to wear but I can certainly listen. Prayers for you both. Every night.

Speaking of prayers-thanks for your prayers regarding the January Project! I would ask that you continue to keep sending them up on our behalf but it looks like things are back on track. I simply cannot wait to be able to fill you all in.

I just realized that this whole post is all cryptic and vague-sorry about that. The first piece will just stay that way unless you know who my home girl S is, the second one will be revealed in three weeks! Woot!

Reading

One of the things that I love to do is read to Dreamsicle. We have never had the typical read a book at bedtime routine though. We read all of the time except bedtime. Dreamsicle's books started out neatly placed on her bookshelf in her room. During the course of the day the books would seem to migrate on their own out to the living room, thus causing 10 minutes of the "clean up" song each night as we picked the books up and took them back into her room to be placed back on the bookshelf. After a year of doing that (yes, I am a slow learner) I finally decided that since we never read in her room, I needed to change the location of where the books were kept. They are now living in two rubbermaid containers in my living room. When I look at her collection of books, I am pretty proud of the variety that she has accumulated. She is graduating from simple board books to actual paper page books. We talk alot about how we love our books so we must always treat them gently. She gets it-she may throw around a kitty purse or two but never does she mishandle one of her books. It makes me so happy to hear her "read" to me or to her babies, she is doing very well.
Thus the reason for this post (see there really was a reason)-I have most of Dreamsicle's Christmas shopping done-still need to get the stocking stuffers and the Christmas Eve pajama's but other than that she is done. When I looked at the items I purchased for her, I spent just as much money on books for her as I did on toys. I am very pleased with myself over that.
So Christmas morning will be filled with ooh's and aah's as she opens up her laptop and digital camera but the time that I am anticipating the most is when she opens her books. That is the time when my teeny tiny big girl will curl up into my lap, snuggle in close and listen intently as her mama takes her to a land where her imagination will soar as I read to her.

Another Birthday

Today is Chester's 22nd birthday. He is somewhere deep in the sandbox today, I'm hoping that he hears my rendition of happy birthday playing somewhere in his head since I have sung it in my head to him about a million times. I am happy that even though it will be late, he will receive a birthday cake-a little slice of home. I have been staring at a photo of him all day today from when he was a wee lad. His face is covered in chocolate cake, brown eyes shining bright-my wish is that the joy he felt on that birthday oh so long ago is the same joy that he feels in his heart today.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy.

And happy birthday to my angel baby. May your grandpa C and grandma M be holding you close today in Heaven.

-project U*Haul cake was successful-his triple chocolate layer cake arrived in VA two days after his birthday but still in time to be enjoyed-

Random pics

Dreamsicle thinks she needs "glasses" so she borrows McGyver's sunglasses to read, helping fold laundry and trying to get the "money shot" for our Christmas cards