keepin' kuhl

New Blog...

2009-03-02T15:59:00.002-05:00

I've had a hard time keeping up with updating both mine and Reagan's blog, so I've created a family blog. So, for future posts, visit www.kuhlandthegang.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Jim!

2009-02-17T14:46:00.006-05:00

Last week, we had our good friends, Jim and Charis over along with DJ and Kat to celebrate Jim's birthday, which was on Groundhog's Day (hence the cake). Charis made homemade pizzas for us and she surprised him with a birthday cake. We had a lot of fun hanging out and eating!

Christmas Pix '08

2009-02-04T20:33:00.010-05:00

I know these are late, but I thought I'd share some of the Christmas pictures we got taken back in November. Our friend in Louisville, Tyler, took them for us two years in a row for our Christmas card and we think he did a great job!

Great Friends...

2009-02-02T13:22:00.004-05:00

Though we've only lived here for a year, we have made some great friends here. Our friend, Lauren, organized a schedule of meals for us after Quint was born and we've gotten some great stuff! Plus, it's given me a break from cooking. Here are a couple of our friends that dropped meals by last week....Chris and Erin and DJ and Kat! Thanks to all of you who have made adjusting to life with 2 a little bit easier! We love you!

Timeline...

2009-01-24T15:15:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to give everyone a timeline of Quint's birth, since our lives have changed quite a bit...

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009

3:00 am-6:00am contractions 10 minutes apart
6:00-6:30am- tried to take a bath, but contractions getting closer and more painful
6:45- called hospital, doc told me to come into the hospital
6:45-8- finished getting ready, got things lined up for Reagan, in the meantime, having contractions 5 minutes apart that lasted 30-45 seconds and they did not feel good!
7:45 Lauren arrived to take care of Reagan...Reagan didn't know what to think when I was in the middle of a contraction...it scared her to death!
8-left for hospital
8:30 got checked in...contractions 3 minutes apart and I was NOT a happy camper! 6 cm
9:45 epidural ordered, and they said they'd be in within 20 minutes...
10:45 still no epidural!!!!!!!
11:00 epidural guy finally gets there...with "a student" (should have known that was a bad sign)
11:30 had to "make adjustments" with the epidural (basically, the student messed up the epidural...nicked the dura, so they had to stick me again)...ironically, the exact same thing happened to my sister 3 months ago
11:45 finally comfortable...ahhhhh!
12:00 doc comes into break my water, but I talked her into waiting on my mom...7 cm.
12:30 BP dropped to 88/28...not good, so they had to give me ephedrine.
1:30 Mom took off from Columbus to try to get here for the birth...7 cm
2:40 Mom landed at BWI...8cm
3:15 9cm, still waiting on Mom...cutting it close
3:20 Mom walks in, they break my water
3:30 start pushing
3:40 I yelled at Mom (funny story)
3:50 Carl Herman Kuhl V was born weighing 8 lb, 12 oz, 21 inches long, cute as can be!

Not much happened the rest of this night...Quint got his first bath and I got moved to another room. Angela (aka Nana) got there and was an unbelievable help! Jim and Charis came to visit us at the hospital. Carl went home to relieve Lauren and take care of Reagan and Mom stayed with me at the hospital.

Thursday, Jan. 22
Reagan came in to meet her baby brother for the first time. She got there at about 9:30 and didn't know what to think. She kept pointing at him, but other than that was disinterested. She was more fascinated by the different things in the room (Mommy's hospital bed, the phone, etc). I was feeling pretty good most of the day because they had me downing a TON of caffeine in order to produce spinal fluid so that my spinal headache from the whacked epidural would go away. Oh, little Carl got circumcised too. Poor baby!

Friday, Jan. 23
Today we get to go home! Most of the morning, we just got ready and tried to organize all of the stuff we had accumulated over the past 2 days. I was feeling really lousy all day though. I had all kinds of neck and shoulder pain and couldn't figure out what the deal was. The nurses just kept telling me it was from tensing up so much when I was pushing, but it was so unbearable. At one point, the pain made me nauseous and I got really sick. At that point, they were concerned about discharging me...ugh. I just wanted to come home and see Reagan! Finally they decided to send me home and we got home between 2-3. I was pretty miserable all afternoon and was only comfortable lying flat on my back, so I called my doctor back and she said I needed to go back into the ER for a blood patch. Basically, they take blood out of my arm (20 cc's) and put it into the hole in my back where they messed up the epidural to "fill the space". This allows the spinal fluid to be redistributed back throughout the spinal column and takes away the headache. So, once we got Reagan down for the night, we headed back to the hospital where they did this procedure on me. Though it hurt, the pain of the 3rd epidural was nothing in comparison to the headache! By 11:30 we were headed home and I was back to my happy self again!

What a whirlwind! Angela stayed until Saturday night and did a ton...took care of Reagan, ran to Target, Wal-Mart, and random other places for us, cooked, etc! Lauren was a huge help too for keeping Reagan all day while I was in labor, and I can't imagine adjusting to all of this without my mom here! She's been doing laundry, vacuuming, changing Reagan and Quint (I'm not supposed to be lifting Reagan yet), and helping me in the middle of the night when the boy's up! It's been crazy around here, but worth every second!

Weepy...

2009-01-06T13:53:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been really emotional and I couldn't put my finger on why until last night when I was putting Reagan to bed. I went through our typical nighttime routine of changing her diaper and changing her into her pjs, giving her some medicine (this isn't typical, but she has an ear infection right now), rocking her while singing a couple of songs, praying with her, and then just snuggling her for a little bit before I laid her down in her crib. As I was doing all of this I was so, so emotional and Reagan just kept looking at me like "what is wrong mommy?" I realized that I've been this way because there are only about 3 weeks left until the baby comes which means I only have 3 weeks left to focus most of my attention on Reagan. I know that she'll be fine and I'll be fine, but I guess the closer I get to the due date, the more I wonder if I'm ready for 2 or not. It doesn't help that Reagan's been sick, so she's been really needy lately, plus I haven't been sleeping very well....which adds to me being emotional. I took this picture of Reagan relaxing with Daddy one day when he got home from work...so sweet!

Thanksgiving '08

2008-12-02T13:43:00.004-05:00

This year for Thanksgiving, my parents and Carl's parents came for the weekend. It was so much fun. We ate, shopped, and I even put them to work. Carl fixed a really good breakfast Thursday morning because we were having Thanksgiving dinner that night. He made a sausage and egg casserole, bacon, and banana smoothies. Then, the women got to work on Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, of course, dressing, green beans, baked mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, glazed carrots, rolls, gravy, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cobbler, and Italian cream cake. Mmmmmm! We had so much food and are still eating turkey and dressing! Mom, Dad, and I got up early for the sales on Friday and made it out to Target and Best Buy and later we all went to the mall and Reagan got to see Santa. Saturday, I put them to work...Dad and Carl built a huge shelf in our garage for storage and organization. I can finally pull the car in the garage for the first time since we've lived here. It's so nice in the cold weather. Mom and I started in Reagan's new room by moving a book shelf (and a ton of books) downstairs to the first level. We finished late Saturday night by re-organizing the first level...it looks sooooo much better! Reagan was spoiled by all of her grandparents and it was so much fun having both sets of parents here. Hope you all had a great holiday too!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-30T21:58:00.004-04:00

Our original plan was to have 2 pumpkins...one representing each of our babies. We spent about an hour and a half carving and when I went upstairs to get the camera, Carl turned his back and our big pumpkin that represented Reagan fell off the island and smashed. So sad. It was a big heart with "LOVE" carved out of the middle for Reagan. The little one, obviously was supposed to represent the baby. So, since it smashed, we decided that this little one would represent both babies since technically, Reagan still takes a paci for bedtime. We had fun nonetheless!

Who is more pregnant???

2008-10-29T13:01:00.002-04:00

New Kitchen...

2008-10-07T13:32:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago, our friends from Virginia Beach, Angela and Jimmy, came up to celebrate my birthday. We had so much fun decorating my kitchen. Angela recovered my chairs, made a valence and napkins and spruced up the entire look. I love it! Here are some pictures of the finished product and the one at the bottom is what it used to look like!

Launch Video

2008-09-15T10:34:00.001-04:00

The Family Reunion...

2008-09-10T16:24:00.009-04:00

We had a family reunion on my dad's side of the family over Labor Day weekend in St. Louis (Sparta) and here are some pictures...I wish I would have taken more of my cousins, but at least I got some good ones of my grandparents. This was the first time they had met Reagan since they live so far away in Spokane, WA. There are pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Rauch, Mom and Dad, my Aunt Paulette (dad's older sister), and my cousin Amanda. Also, note that my cousin Art, collects ducks!

Prayer...

2008-09-09T08:47:00.002-04:00

Please go to http://mosaicchristian.org/signup/ and sign up to pray for Mosaic's launch this Sunday. Thanks!

Great Commercial...

2008-09-04T20:58:00.001-04:00

Mosaic's First 'Preview' Service

2008-08-12T16:49:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday, we had our first "preview service" at Mosaic. Carl compares it to what Coldstone does when they open a store. They set their grand opening for a certain date and advertise that date, but they actually open a week prior to that and still serve customers as normal, but it's more for them to "practice" and work out kinks before the big day.

So Sunday, this is what we did. We hadn't advertised, except through our launch team and on the website, so we were only expecting 30-40 people, but never underestimate God...58 people showed up...many people we had never met before! It was really exciting. I was working in the kids ministry and I thought we'd have a couple or three babies and maybe a few toddlers....we had 11! It was crazy! We were all three (Reagan included) exhausted by the end of Sunday since we had been at the movie theater all morning Saturday learning how to set up the equipment and of course all morning Sunday. I guess we need to get used to the weekends being a bit tiring!

We have one more "preview service" on Aug. 24th before the big launch, September 14th. Pray that we continue to attract people that want to meet God!

Baby #2

2008-06-12T15:57:00.002-04:00

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat today and we got one picture. It's the size of a grain of rice right now and I'm due Jan. 28th officially.

#2

2008-06-02T10:35:00.002-04:00

#2 is on her/his way. We found out a couple of weeks ago and are really excited. It's hard to believe that Reagan will be a big sister. She still seems so little. I know she'll be great at it! Pray for a healthy pregnancy and baby again! Thanks!

NYC Part 3

2008-05-18T22:28:00.004-04:00

Sunday, we woke up and went to a church on the Upper West Side of the City called Redeemer Presbyterian where Tim Keller is the pastor. Carl loves him and has read is book, so he wanted to go there and hear him live. It was very different, but a solid sermon on forgiveness. After church, we walked over to Tavern on the Green for brunch. Ooo, it was so good too. None of the places we ate let us down. We even bought a knish from a street vendor Saturday and it was yummy! After Tavern, we went back to the apt, packed up, and headed home to see our baby who we missed terribly. It was a much needed trip and it was nice to spend some quality time together. 5 years flies by when you're having fun!

NYC Part 2

2008-05-18T22:15:00.003-04:00

Saturday, we woke up and went running in Central Park. It was a much nicer day and made for a beautiful run. After we got cleaned up, we had a reservation at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Mmmm, it was delicious. I got a chopped salad as an appetizer and Carl got a smoked salmon quesadilla and we both got the Spicy Chicken and Sweet Potato Hash for our entre. It was amazing. We both loved it.

After lunch, we headed straight to Yankee Stadium. It was a blast because the fans were so passionate since they were all New Yorkers! The Mets ended up winning 7-4. Then, from the game, we went to the Empire State Building and stood in line forever even though we already had tix. It was worth it though, it was really cool to be up that high and see the city.

From there, we met up with our friend Becka and had dinner with her at Follow Me Caffe, another local suggestion (Becka chose it). We were exhausted from the day, and decided to head back to the apartment and hang out with Bec for a while before calling it a day.

NYC Part 1

2008-05-18T21:55:00.010-04:00

We decided to do something fun this year for our 5 year anniversary, so we planned a trip to New York City. Our actual anniversary isn't until June 14, but the summer starts to get a bit crazy for us, so we went a month early. We had a blast! My mom came over for the weekend to watch Reagan for us. She got there Thursday night and we left first thing Friday morning. We got to NYC a little after lunchtime, and it was pouring down rain. We had tickets for the Subway Series (Yankees vs. Mets) game that night, which of course got canceled, but we ended up still getting to go to the day game on Saturday. Friday, we ate at this great European place for lunch called Le Pain Quotidien (the daily bread). It was soooo good. It seemed like something the Food Network would feature. Since it was still pouring down rain when we got done, we decided we needed to do something inside, so we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I had never been to a cathedral before, so it was pretty impressive. After that, we took the Long Island Railroad out to meet up with our friends Kevin and Liz who live in Forrest Hills (Queens). At that point, the Yanks game hadn't officially been canceled yet, so we had an appetizer with them (crackers with 3 different types of cheese, pistachios, and sun dried tomatoes). Kevin is such a good host. Then, Carl found out the game was still on, so we headed back into the city. As soon as we got back in town, the game got called, so we found this place called Serafina that Kevin had recommended and ate there for dinner. Rachel Ray would be so proud of me...we found out where the locals eat and went there! After Serafina, we went to see Baby Mama, since it had been months since we'd seen a movie.

If I Were...

2008-04-30T20:01:00.006-04:00

(Topic courtesy of Kim)

If I were a kind of cereal, I'd be Cracklin' Oat Bran or Grapenuts. Though I realize both of these cereals are typically for senior citizens, I love them both. Plus, some of my earliest memories are of me sitting on my dad's lap and him feeding me Grapenuts! Mmmmm!

If I were a painting, I'd be Vincent Van Gogh's Church at Auvers. My husband is the art buff, and his favorite is Caravaggio, but I like Van Gogh's use of color. I chose his church painting because so much of my life has been influenced by church/God.

If I were a country, I'd be the Bahamas. I've only been in the Bahamas for 2 days, but would love to go back. Of course, the only parts of the Bahamas I've seen have been the touristy areas, but it was so beautiful, and the beaches are so relaxing! Oh, and I love the bartering in the marketplace!

If I were an animal, I'd be a horse...in honor of the Kentucky Derby. I'm not a huge animal lover, though I grew up having lots of outdoor cats, and a St. Bernard dog. I went horse-back riding with a friend in college on her farm in Indiana, and it was a lot of fun, plus, you gotta love the "fastest two minutes in sports!"

If I were a grocery store, I'd be either The Fresh Market, Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's. I wish they were cheaper, but I guess you get what you pay for when it comes to good food! I love their produce, meat, and cheese. Unfortunately, I can't afford to shop at any of these for all of my groceries, but every now and then for special occasions, we'll treat ourselves! When we lived in Virginia Beach, my favorites were Harris Teeter (aka. Teets) and Farm Fresh (still on the pricey side, I'm afraid)!

If I were a food, I'd be home grown tomatoes. If I were a beverage, I'd be a Zinger (fresh squeezed oj, fresh squeezed lemon juice, lime juice, club soda and sugar, with lots of ice) in the middle of summer.

If I were a cartoon character, I'd be Sully from Monster's Inc. I just think he's really funny and has so much compassion...I'm not that funny, but strive to have more compassion for people every day.

How about you?

Cherry Blossom Festival

2008-04-10T18:04:00.006-04:00

For those of you who don't know why Washington D.C. is so famous for it's cherry blossom trees, here's a tidbit of info...in 1912, Japan gave D.C. 3000 cherry blossom trees as an act of friendship. President Taft's wife decided to plant the majority of them around the tidal basin which is between the Jefferson Memorial and the National Mall (with the other monuments). We went down Sunday and had a lot of fun even though it was freezing. We had been to all of the big monuments before, but we had never walked over to see T.J, so we did that and we also saw the National Cathedral while we were driving down. It took something like 100 years to build...it was just completed in 2007. For more pix, you can look at Reagan's blog.

The Butterfly Pavilion...

2008-03-19T23:02:00.002-04:00

So I'm in this mom's group through meetup.com and I get several emails a day announcing different events (the group is for MD, DC, and northern VA so there are tons of events). I started cracking up tonight when I got an e-mail announcing an event at a Butterfly Pavilion. The event didn't apply to me because it is for parents with toddlers, but it was announcing a meeting at this local butterfly pavilion where the kids could "make their own butterfly garden" by coloring, painting, stenciling, etc. The reason I cracked up was because I was reminded of this bit from my favorite comedian, Brian Regan. Check it out below.

Mourning March Madness...

2008-03-16T17:22:00.002-04:00

My favorite month of the year is March for several reasons...we start to taste Spring (which leads to Summer!), but more than that, I love March because of March Madness. Today is Selection Sunday, and though it's an exciting day, it's bittersweet, because my favorite team, the Fighting Illini just lost to Wisconsin in the Big 10 tourney. They have no hope of making it to the big dance. They made an impressive trek through the Big 10 tourney, but just ran out of steam. So, I'll have to resort to cheering for my second favorite team the Louisville Cards.

Mosaic Christian Church

2008-02-28T23:01:00.002-05:00

We finally got our website up and going this week. We're really proud of it and think Irene (our friend in VA Beach) did a great job! Thanks Irene!

MeetUp

2008-02-25T17:49:00.003-05:00

So I went to a mom's group last week through BaltimoreMommies, but I had also joined another mom's group through meetup.com. We met at a place called Air Mania in Columbia (about 10 minutes from me). The toddlers could play, and the moms with babies just talked and got to know each other. It was great! I met some really nice moms and I even met one mom that has a gym membership where I go, so we're going to try to get together at the gym soon. It's always a bit awkward showing up at events where I know no one, but this one was a lot of fun today because there were so many new moms there...I think 14 of us. Continue to pray that I make friends here!

Baltimore Mommies

2008-02-18T16:05:00.002-05:00

I joined a few "mommies" groups to try and meet some other women around here and I have my first "event" this Wednesday. I'm meeting up with some other moms at Barnes & Noble for some coffee while the kids "play" in the children's section...though Reagan is talking in complete sentences and can count to 100, she still can't read, so she'll probably just hang out in her stroller while the moms chit-chat. Pray that I begin to cultivate some meaningful relationships through these groups!

"Lifetime Snob..."

2008-02-18T15:51:00.002-05:00

Now that my baby is 7 months old, I decided to do something about the weight that I still have lurking around since she was born. I joined a gym a week and a half ago and am really enjoying it. It's called Lifetime Fitness and it's really nice...so nice that people often become "Lifetime Snobs". One of my sister's friends admitted that she had become one not long after joining. I hope this isn't the case for me. I'm hoping to not only lose "baby weight", but meet some more people in the meantime. Since I joined, I've just been running on the treadmill, but I'm going to try some Group Fitness classes this week.

Happy 2008!

2008-01-08T23:25:00.000-05:00

We went to our friends' Chad and Gina's house for New Year's Eve this year and had a blast! There were 9 of us there partying it up! Every year, Carl talks about how NYE is over-rated, but he admitted this year that it was quite fun. We ate, played Cranium, watched the ball drop (and Dick Clark...yikes!), lit sparklers and cracked up all night. Here are some pix...oh, the drink is SPARKLING CIDER by the way! Happy New Year!

Can't Sleep...

2007-12-12T01:35:00.001-05:00

I can't sleep! I went to bed tonight at about 10:45 and nothing...I kept looking at the clock...10:53, 11:14(Carl snoring), 11:51, 12:07, 12:15 (went in and looked at Reagan...still cute as ever), 12:38(Carl STILL snoring), 1:07...and at this point, I decided to get up. As I laid there in bed, for some reason, my mind was racing with all kind of things, so I got up and wrote everything down that was on my mind...well, I typed everything that was on my mind on "stickies" (a great mac feature for those of you with pcs...they're desktop Post-it Notes). Here are some of the topics of my stickies: People to send Christmas Cards to, Family Christmas Ideas, Friend Christmas Ideas, Areas of Discipline to Improve, Prayer List for this week, Personal Prayer List, Possible Weekly Schedule (for when we move), and House Stuff to Save Money For. I've completed all of these lists, blogged about this problem, and it is 1:45 and still don't feel sleepy. I'm soooo tired, but not sleepy. I wish I had some Tylenol P.M. on my hands!

Our New Home...

2007-12-05T17:17:00.000-05:00

We got back from Baltimore today after spending all day yesterday looking for a place to live. We found a place and signed a lease this morning! I love it and we can't wait to move in. It is a townhouse that we are renting and it is 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. It's the biggest place we've had since we've been married. The first level is the garage, laundry room, half bath, and a great room (we don't know what it will be used for yet). The second level is the kitchen and family room. I love the kitchen...it even has a pantry (we haven't had a pantry since we've been married). The upstairs is three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Here are some pictures...

Michael Miller Madness...

2007-11-14T14:34:00.001-05:00

So I'm at a consignment shop with my sister this weekend and found the cutest little thing while I was there...a "taggie"...it's a small square security blanket for babies/toddlers with tags (ribbon material) all around the edges. There was one that was a really cute brown and teal pattern that I wanted sooo bad, but since it was $16.99, I decided against it. When I got home, I decided to look around on ebay and I found out the pattern I loved was by Michael Miller. Since I never go to fabric stores, I had no idea who this guy was, but the more I researched, the more I found of his stuff that I love! It's turned into a bit of an ebay obsession. There are so many cute patterns and I found a taggie that was $7.99! I realized that I'm watching all of these auctions of cute patterns by MM for a yard or two of fabric, but the problem is, I don't even know how to sew! Maybe I can get my mother-in-law to sew me something cute with this pattern for Reagan!

Only One Left...

2007-11-07T16:57:00.000-05:00

For the past 9 weeks, I've been going to a Bible Study at church on Wednesday mornings for Moms. We meet from 9:30-10:30 in a large group and from 10:30-11:30 in a smaller group of about 15 moms. I've really enjoyed being challenged in my walk with God not only as a mom, but as a wife, sister, daughter, and friend. Next Wednesday is our last study before Christmas break and it starts back up on Jan. 16 for another 10 weeks. We are moving to Baltimore the week of Jan. 11, so this upcoming Wednesday will be my last study with this group of moms. I'm really going to miss it. I have met some strong, encouraging, Christian women that have really taught me a lot about life. I pray that I'll find a group of moms/women in Baltimore that will be as open to sharing life as the women in my group have been here at Southeast.

"The Oak Tree"

2007-10-19T12:15:00.000-04:00

A mighty storm blew night and day.

It stole the oak tree’s leaves away.

Then snapped it’s boughs and pulled it’s bark

Until the oak was tired and stark.

But still the oak tree held it’s ground

While other trees fell all around.

The weary storm gave up and spoke,

“How can you still be standing, Oak?

The oak tree said, “I know that you

Can break each branch of mine in two,

Carry every leaf away, shake my limbs

And make me sway, But I have roots

Stretched in the earth,

Growing stronger since my birth.

“You’ll never touch them, for you see,

They are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn’t sure

Of just how much I could endure,

But now I’ve found, with thanks to you,

I’m stronger than I ever knew!

Road Trip...

2007-09-27T23:55:00.000-04:00

Well, we are in the middle of our 12 day road trip to raise money for Mosaic and it's been a blast...we started the trip on Sunday when we drove from Louisville to Cincinnati to have a fund raiser there. At 6:01, Monday morning, we pulled out of Mason headed to Virginia Beach and arrived at 3:32 that afternoon. Reagan did really well and slept most of the way. Of course it kind of jacked up her schedule, but she did great for her first road trip. Being here since Monday has been a bit of a whirlwind...we've had 3 fund raisers in 4 nights and have been trying to see friends and eat at restaurants that we don't have in KY. I love being back here to visit. I guess I take for granted the close friendships I made in the short 3 and half years that we lived here. Tomorrow is our last day here and we'll try to fit the beach in as well as a big dinner with our "family" the Jenkins before we head up to Baltimore to "house/apt hunt" on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, we'll head up to NYC to hang out with our good friends Kevin, Liz, and Over, and of course do Manhattan things with Reagan like Central Park, eating Kinishes (sp?) from the street vendors and ride the subway. Sunday night, we will head out to a Young Life camp about 2 hours outside of NYC for a retreat with the Orchard Group (the church planting group that is sponsoring us) until Tuesday morning when we'll venture back home a crazy 13 hours! Though it has been exhausting, it has been so much fun to catch up with friends and for Reagan to see a bit of the east/northeast! Happy trails...!

Manoah's Prayer

2007-09-15T11:50:00.000-04:00

I read a verse in the Bible this week that I had never really noticed before (a section of verses actually) that I found interesting...

Judges 13 (the birth of Samson-an angel appeared to Samson's Mom telling her that she would conceive)

6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.' "

8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."

Before Samson was born, his dad, Manoah, prayed for help on how to raise him. Maybe the verse never stuck out to me before because it didn't apply since I wasn't a parent, but now that I am a parent, I can appreciate this prayer. God shows me something new every day!

Tag

2007-08-25T09:51:00.001-04:00

Ok, Over tagged me so I'm supposed to list 8 random/weird facts about myself....

1. My two favorite cereals are Cracklin' Oat Bran and Grape Nuts (most people that eat these besides me are over 75 years old).

2. My dream job (besides a mom) is a high school gym teacher/basketball coach.

3. When leaving a tip at a restaraunt, I always make the total even...for example:

Bill: $21.80
Tip: $5.20
Total:$27 EVEN (only if I pay with check card...if it's cash, I don't care!)

4. I go through phases where I obsess with selling things on eBay...now is one of those phases!

5. I ALWAYS run out of conditioner before I run out of shampoo...so annoying!

6. My favorite pizza is green olives (most people know this already).

7. I'm a sucker for fitness infomercials...although, I've never bought anything off of one...I can just watch them forever.

8. I'm not very creative because I can't think of an 8th random fact about myself!

I'm also supposed to tag 3 people, but I'm pretty sure that the only people that read this have already been tagged (except Eeeso), so if you are reading this and haven't been tagged, consider yourself tagged!

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same...

2007-08-20T11:22:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday night was my 10 year high school reunion. I had mixed feelings about going at first, but decided it may be fun. Thankfully, I still keep in touch with my best friend from high school, so we went together and our husbands kept each other company while we mingled. It was so strange walking in at first...looking around the crowded room of people from high school...some I recognized, some I didn't. It was fun to hear about where people were living, what they were doing, how many kids they had...the typical reunion discussions. Besides Becca, I haven't kept in touch with anyone from my graduating class, so it was really fun to talk and laugh with other friends I had in high school that were there.

As I was talking to my friends Libby and Emily, we all noticed that not much had changed with people. Most people still looked the same (some of the guys had gained weight, but that's about it), still talked the same, still drank the same amount, etc.

After the reunion, my husband asked me if I was glad that I went, and my answer was yes. I was glad to be able to reconnect with some of my old friends, however, the reunion made me reflect on change. As we looked around and noticed that not much had changed, it made me wonder how much I have changed. It made me compare my priorities from high school to my priorities now. I could walk away from the reunion and have the "see ya in 10 years attitude," but I am challenged to change over the next 10 years...to be bolder, more ambitious, and more loving, so that at my 20 year reunion, someone would notice a change for the better.

"Tighter than a Boar's Rear at Fly Time!"

2007-06-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

When my dad was growing up, he had a grandmother (Grandma Telly) that would have sayings for different situations in life that were usually pretty funny, yet useful. He grew up on a farm, so some of the sayings could be a little gross.

I went to the doctor today for my weekly check-up and was reminded of one...

Two weeks ago when I went to the doctor, I got excited because she said I was one cm dilated. I thought this was good considering at the time I had one month left to go until my due date. However, last week when I went to the doctor, I got the same report...one cm (still 9 to go)! When I went to the doctor today, she said I had made some progress, but was still between a 1 and a 2. As I was leaving the office, I laughed to myself because I knew if Grandma Telly were here she would say that I am "tighter than a boar's rear at fly time." Kind of gross, I know, but true! Here are some more of her fun sayings...

"Busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kickin' contest."
"Suckin' on a hind one." (you'll only understand this if you grew up on a farm)
"Funnier than a rubber crutch in a polio-ward on a hot summer day."
"Busier than a one-armed paper hanger."
"Slicker than snot on a door knob."
"All I can see is the front of her back."

Vegas Baby

2007-05-25T11:15:00.000-04:00

I had created a post on Wednesday about leaving for Vegas, but I must have done something weird because it didn't work out too well...

So, we are now in Vegas (got here late Wed. night) and it's been a blast. We are staying at the Paris (except tonight me and Carl are staying at the Bellagio). The first night, when we got here it was about 1am eastern time, but we didn't want to call it a night on our first night, so we checked the place out a little, ate at a small cafe, and finally made it to bed at 6am eastern time! Rough. But we got to sleep in and sleep at the pool so it didn't really matter. We spent about 4 hours at the pool and then went over to the Forum Shops at Caesar's and looked around there. Last night, while everyone else went to Phantom of the Opera, Carl and I saw "Ka" which is one of the Cirque du Soleil shows. It was so much fun.

Then, we met up with the rest of the fam for dinner.

Today we are spending more time at the pool, shopping, going to the "O" Show (another Cirque) and eating at Bobby Flay's restaraunt. I'm not sure what's on the docket for tomorrow.

Though most people think Vegas is sin city and all there is to do here is gamble...but come and experience the food, shows, shopping and sun and you'll see that there's way more to Vegas than gambling!!!

Support Hose!

2007-04-29T16:47:00.000-04:00

I must say that so far (29 weeks), my pregnancy has been great...of course I have been more tired than usual, but I never had to go through morning sickness, which I am VERY grateful for! In the last few days, however, I have had the pleasure of experiencing fat feet. The doctors call it edema, but I think that is just a more fancy way to say that the feet are just plain FAT!

Carl and I went to Orlando this past week for the National New Church Conference, and this is when they really began to blow up. I don't know if it was because of the hotter weather, but they got huge! It didn't help much that the one day that I was out in the sun, I got sun burned which made my feet look even more desirable.

I had to call and change an appt. at my drs. office and while I was doing that, I just asked the nurse if there was anything I could do to reduce the swelling besides elevate, stop eating salt, and drink more water. I wasn't very excited about her response...."the only other thing I can suggest is support hose."

Support hose! I instantly had this image of me wearing sweet nude colored hose around my fat feet throughout the rest of the summer...very attractive. The best feeling about being pregnant is the anticipation of meeting our baby and seeing what he/she is going to look like, but I must say, I'm also looking forward to getting my feet back...at least I've been told they go back to normal after the baby is here!!!

Seven Degrees of Moweaqua...

2007-01-17T09:48:00.000-05:00

I'm sure everyone has either heard of the game or once played the game "Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon." Well, this weekend I determined there was a new version...

We went to Providence, Rhode Island to check out the area for church planting along with Boston (only about 45 minutes north of Providence). While we were there, we went to a church plant that is 6 weeks old in downtown Boston. After church, we took the pastor and his wife out to lunch. Before we got our seats for lunch, Carl spent the time talking to Hank while I talked to his wife, Julie, the whole time. We hit it off and had really good conversations. During one of our conversations, it came up that I knew Brian and Allison Moll. She said "Oh, I know Allison...I grew up with her." I said, "I grew up with her too...where did you grow up?" She said, "Decatur...so you know Allison's uncle, Terry Maurer." I was so excited because Terry was my youth minister when I was a kid growing up in the small town of good ol' Moweaqua, Illinois! We got called to our seats and the subject got changed back to the challenges of church planting.

On our way out, we offered to take them home so they wouldn't have to ride the T (the subway system in Boston) and got back on the subject. Julie said, "So Lindsay, did you go to Little Galilee?" (the Christian camp in Illinois we always attended in the summer). "Of course," I said...after talking more about Little Galilee, we figured out that I went to one maybe two weeks of camp with her youngest sister and my brother and sister went to camp with her other sister! Crazy! It was so much fun to reminise about the midwest classics like Monical's Pizza.

When we dropped them off and headed back to our hotel, the more excited and baffled I became at the small world. My friend Erin and I like to joke, that though Moweaqua is your typical small town with only one blinking flashlight and not even a fast food joint...everywhere you go, you meet someone that knows someone that once lived in Moweaqua. So, when you meet someone new and find out they lived in Illinios somewhere, just ask them...Mowequa? (if you can figure out how to pronounce it!)

on the move

2006-09-15T10:05:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, Carl and I are moving to Louisville, KY for one year where he will be on staff at Southeast as a Church Planting Pastor. After that year, we are planting a church somewhere in the northeast...(Boston, DC, NYC)...not sure exactly where yet. It's exciting and scary all at once.

I started packing boxes this week...ugh...I have a lot of work ahead of me. We are moving on Sept. 27 and he starts work on Oct. 2. I don't have a job yet, but am sending my resumes out and am hoping to find one quickly. Keep us in your prayers as it will be a big transition...not really the move to Louisville since we will both be closer to family and good friends, but the move to the ne in a year will be big. I'll keep you posted!

2006-07-29T11:08:00.000-04:00

Just felt like doing a list...of my favorite preachers...but I'm doing 11 because I wanted it to be better than a Top 10...

1. Carl Kuhl...(I may be bias on this one)
2. Billiam (aka. Bill Hybels..The Creek)
3. Ed Young Jr. (Fellowship Church)
4.Mike Breaux (The Creek)
5. Jon Weece (Southland)
6. Dave Stone (Southeast)
7. Bob Russell (retired Southeast)
8. Erwin McManus (Mosaic)
9. Rob Bell (Mars Hill)
10. Kyle Idleman (Southeast)
11. Dick Alexander (Clovernook)

"Ignore the lie, not the child..."

2006-07-25T14:04:00.000-04:00

So I’ve recently been introduced to this clinician named Brian Post (www.post institute.com) through my work who has done a ton of research on parenting and also the human brain. I have listened to some of his seminars on cd and read some of his materials, but yesterday in supervision, I was exposed to him on DVD. He introduced a concept that was fascinating to me in working with kids (as a professional or a parent)…the concept was, “ignore the lie, not the child”. He explained that children, and adults as well, only lie when they feel scared or when they feel like there is no way out. So, instead of scolding the child and punishing them for lying, he suggests that the parent should do everything in their power to make sure the child knows you love them and that the child is in a safe place. The result is that the child automatically stops lying. He claims that if parents do this consistently for 2 weeks, that they will see huge results and he has research to back this up. So, the scenario goes like this…
Traditionally, parents respond this way…
Dad: “Did you eat all the cookies out of the jar?”
Child: “No, I haven’t touched it.”
Dad: “Well, you are the only one home and there were cookies in there 2 hours ago, and I didn’t eat them.”
Child: “I don’t know what happened to them, but I didn’t eat them.”
Dad: (yelling) “I don’t know why you are lying to me about this, but go to your room and think about what type of punishment you think you should have.”

Post claims it should occur like this…
Dad: “Did you eat all the cookies out of the jar?”
Child: “No, I haven’t touched it.”
Dad: “Honey, you know I love you right? You know that no matter what happened, I will always love you and nothing can change that.” (Dad leaves it at that and comes back a few hours later).
Dad: “Honey, you know that when you lie to me, it really scares me and hurts my feelings because it makes me think that you don’t trust me and that you feel like I am going to hurt you in some way? I just want you to know that I love you, but when you lie, it really hurts me.”
Post says after 2 weeks of responding gently this way to the child, the lies reduce by at least 50%.
Interesting huh?