life comes at you fast

it feels really good to be feeling healthy again after so much sickness the last two weeks. i worked at Classical Conversations on Tuesday. the day seemed to go by pretty quick. i rode my bike there, and over lunch i rode over to HEB to pick up a few things, then back to the church. i think i'm getting a little better on those hills, but gosh, they really take it out of ya!

i made a king cake on Tuesday night. it was fabulous! i made one last year, but this recipe was way better.







i rode across town on Wednesday to run some errands. being out on a bike on a beautiful morning is some kind of wonderful. i did a little thrifting at a store on Burnet, and scored one great buy: a brand new pair of dark wash jeans from the Gap for $10.

i did Meals on Wheels that day also. to my surprise and delight, my friend Esther was back on my route! she had gone away for a month or more and i ussumed she was never coming back. she told me all about how "they" put her in rehab because they said she fell too often. and from there, "they" tried to put her in a nursing home, but she was gonna have none of that! anyways, she's back at her apartment in her look hover-round scooter, and i'm glad. i had missed her. i have just fallen in love with those old folks! i think i feel most comfortable dealing with the very young and the very old.

i had lunchtime recess duty Wednesday, and enjoyed visiting with another mom, as well as Grandma Green. she's a wealth of information when it comes to anything garden related, and heads up the gardening program at the school. she and i are often on recess duty at the same time.

Karen, Keegan's mom, came by to visit in the afternoon while the kids played. it was nice to have so many social opportunities in one day. i think i talked a lot that day.

we went to the Ash Wednesday service at Redeemer that night. it was a beautiful way to start the season of lent.

i worked at Redeemer on Thursday morning and that went well. the day seemed to go by quickly. i came home and pulled out my sewing machine and did a little sewing. i altered the shower curtain for our little bathroom and worked on a few other small projects. i love my little house and i love that every room has a personal touch. because of this, i know that it would be extremely hard to move.

oh, i forgot to mention that on Wednesday i found out i was pregnant. yes! i'm 5 weeks a long. one of the best things about the timing is that i can now blame my less-than-stellar performance in the marathon on the fact that i was carrying a wee one inside me. =) i hard my first OB appointment the week after spring break. it's weird doing this again after almost 7 years. wonderful actually. i cherish everything about being pregnant now. oh, and over the past 2 weeks i think i took a total of 8 pregnancy tests. i told you that i'm kind of obsessive.

i'm determined to stay in shape this whole pregnancy. i've never really got out of shape while pregnant, but i'm in the best shpe of my life now and it feels so good. i want to stay on the active wagon. i've been biking, running, or walking every day. yesterday Brian and i did our 5 miles in the morning. for the last 2 weeks i have felt a blanket of weariness covering me, but it seems that if i push through and exercise i feel better overall throughout the day. no nausea yet. i never had it with the others, so maybe i won't with this one either.

nothing to show yet (if you can see through the splattered toothpaste on the mirror~

i can't tell you how happy this baby makes me! now that Brian and i have shared 13 and a half of married years together and can read each other like the backs of our hands and madly love each other despite our imperfections, well, it makes making a baby together just all the more wonderful.

and yet, in the midst of my thrill and rejoicing, i think of my sweet friends who would love to have another and my heart cries out to God for them. please hear my prayer and theirs and open wombs, Jesus! it's not complete public knoledge yet, as we've yet  to tell Brian's parents, but already word is getting around.

monday morning and i have just a second before i need to be fixing breakfasts and lunches.

it was a nice weekend. after the kids got out of school on friday, and after we'd dropped off Keegan, the kids and i came home and grabbed our cloth bags and walked to the Windsor Park library. we've been going to this library even before we moved to this neighborhood 8 years ago. back then the library was a stressful place to be, but i wanted my kids to love books and learn to appreciate the library at an early age, so we wen. now it's just about the most relaxing place around for me. for all of us.

before we were even home they'd pulled out their books and were starting to indulge.

 

margaret had her last bball game friday evening. it was an exciting one. the last two were a bit of a letdown because after being ahead, they ended up losing in overtime. it looked like this one was going the same way, but they pulled out a win.

 playing sports at the East Communities Y is such fun. those mommas really get into cheering their babies on. and it feel good to be called sugar and honey and patted by big, padded hands. i really think i must be a little black inside. the truth is that i feel more comfortable with those people than with the upwardly mobile whites.

well, time is up. hopefully i'll get a chance to write some more last today.

so tired.

i was sick for about a week and am finally seeing the end of the various manifestations: sinus infection, pink eye, laryngitis. but it's left me completely worn out. last night i took Margaret to the Y for her basketball practice. while there i tried to run on the treadmill because the ellipticals were all taken. i hate treadmill running. it's nothing like the real thing. i lasted about 3 minutes on the dreadmill, as my MIL calls it. i ended up walking for the rest of the time. i felt like a doofus there in my Livestrong marathon finisher shirt not able to last even a half a mile.

i didn't go in to work for Classical Conversations on tuesday. it was nice to have some time to myself. i cleaned and sewed and cooked and just felt so peacefully domestic.

i brought Jose home with the rest of my bunch. he had dinner with us - pot roast, rosemary biscuits, mixed field green salad with homemade dressing, steamed broccoli with lemon butter, and a homemade lemon meringe pie. he didn't seem accustomed to sitting down to dinner or praying before eating. after dinner, Brian took the boys to cub scouts, picking up Ricky on the way. both Ricky and Jose are going to join the pack.

speaking of Ricky, things aren't looking so good for him. the local doctors have done all they can. every time they try to fight the leukemia, his heart rate drops dramatically. he's a candidate for St. Jude's, so over spring break Gracie will take him up there. hoping and praying that they can figure out how to treat him. that kiddo is a fighter.

this post was never finished, but i'm posting anyways.

some pics~

these are from last Thursday at my job at Redeemer. we girls decided to do each others' hair.







inner-city playground. this was from lunch recess duty on Wednesday. those are 6th graders.

i didn't work on tuesday since i was still battling pink eye and other things. Brian caught it. then Margaret. she stayed home from school today, or actually went to work with Brian because i was working at the church today. i was exhausted today. after i had picked up M's prescription and then picked her up at B's work, i came home, watered the garden and went to bed.
we're all home now except for Brian who has a town meeting to attend in McDade. something to do with that project he's been working on out there for as long as he's been with MWM. so he won't be home till real late.

another post that went unfinished, but that i'm posting anyways.

i've been in bed all day. i have pink eye and the worst sore throat ever. and what feels like double ear infections. i haven't been this sick in a very long time. Brian took the kids to church and i lay buried in pillows and blankets in our bed. i really hope i get better soon. i have been sick of one form or another since Monday, and i hate lying around when there is always so much to do, things that either need to be done or that i want to do.

we went to Margaret's basketball game on friday night and afterwards went to the neighborhood Chipotle for dinner. we lingered over our dinner, Margaret and Samuel sitting together at a high pub table, and the other four of us at another table. everyone talked and enjoyed each other and there wasn't any squabbling. it was a pleasant evening and just a bit chilly, so Brian made a fire in the fireplace when we got home.

Saturday morning Brian took William and went out to the country to Organics by Gosh, owned by a former neighbor, Phil Gosh, to get us a load of dirt for the garden. Margaret and i worked on unloading it while Brian and the boys were at their basketball games. when they got back, William and i planted the garden, most of it at least. i ran out of steam about 3/4 of the way through. we planted spinach, chard, lettuce, carrots, onions, and peas. so excited about this garden!

last night we got the kids situated with the wii and Brian and i went out for a walk. it was our date for the week. we walked and talked and then ended up back on the front porch, each with a glass of wine. we were just sharing our hearts with each other, our dreams and hopes for the future, when he reached in his pocket and pulled something out. he got down on one knee and proposed to me again, giving me the ring he had made for me. it's so pretty, so simple and so Brian. it's my original diamond set in a platinum bezel setting on my original band. that he could get down on one knee and look up at me with such love when i had two blood red eyes that were swollen and crusty is beyond me, but he did and i love him.

i took this pic on Friday when only one eye was swollen, - not sure if you can tell behind the hair. the next day both were bloody red.

inbetween gardening yesterday and lying around, i threw together these little cushions for the front porch chairs. i was kind of pleased with them. they have a little bit of a 1950's look to them to match the house.

lastnight Brian and i talked about what it would be like to move out of the city. not like to the suburbs or anything like that, but to a small town. there are a few that are independent of Austin that Brian could still commute from. so i began this home search. for starters, it must be an old house. we're just old house people. i found a few gems in Taylor, a town about half an hour from Austin, if you take the toll road. you can get so much more house out there for the money than you can in Austin!

this, this, this. but the one i really want to buy and fix up is this one.

so anyways, we've been doing a little dreaming lately. we are open to the idea of more kids, if the Lord blesses, and we know that we would eventually outgrow this house. most would say we already have, with 6 people in 1700 square feet, but i guess we're not most people. we see this year as a crucial year for us. if we hope to move, we should do it now since Margaret is about to start jr. high.

well, i'm feeling a smidgen better, praise God, so i'm going to get up and move about.

in pictures

marathon pics. i especially love the ones with Margaret and Samuel who jumped in with me as i approached the turn in toward the finish on Congress Ave. mixed in with the marathoners are the half marathoners and 5K runners. here are Brian's pics. his number must've been similar to some of the half marathoners and 5K walkers/runners, because he has a lot of runners' pics mixed in with his. i especially like the ones of the woman with her purse who looks like she's out shopping. =)

my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

i'm not gonna lie, this has been a hard, hard week. marathons take a toll on your body and emotions. physically i feel good. i've ran once, biked once, gone to the gym three times, done lots and lots of stretching and all stiffness is gone. but the rest of me, the part inside is spent. i fell apart many times this week and talked too much, nagged too much, was embarrassingly irrational. but i believe all things happen for a reason, even failures. i know that i would not know the Lord's mercy and love as i do if i had not struggled and fallen on my face over and over and over.

the school has been doing this Walk to School/Bike to School campaign this month. every Wednesday they've had two boxes in the front of school. if you biked or walked, you got to enter your name in a drawing for a girl's bike and a boy's bike. the first 2 WOW (Walk on Wednesday) were canceled because everyone knows that Texas kids will freeze to death if they have to walk when it's sleeting. but the last two Wednesdays the kids and i drove halfway to Maplewood, to the approved starting point for those of us who live too far to walk the entire way on a school morning, and we trekked to school, crossing busy Airport Blvd., through Patterson Park, and up the oh-so-steep Maplewood Avenue along with lots of other students.
this morning Ms. Jacobson drew the names for the prizes, and lo and behold Margaret was the winner of the girl's bike! everything happens for a reason >>> Margaret's bike was stole a few months ago, along with Samuel's. Samuel just got one from Brian's parents for his birthday, so Margaret was the only one in the family to not have one. i think God allowed that to happen then so He could show Margaret that He is the great Provider. Oh how He loves you and me!

the outpouring of friends and family to help out the Zamora family has far exceeded our expectations. i really hope the family is blessed and God is glorified by these gifts of love. i don't know what plans God has for Ricky, whether he'll be here with us for a short time or long, but already his life has drawn people to pray and to step out in faith and give.

i indulged a guilty pleasure....again, the other day. i picked up a stack of books at the thrift store. when the paperbacks are 3 for $1 it's really better than the library since we always seem to be owning the library money, and since i hardly use any gas when i go to the thrift store (if i drive at all) since it's just a few blocks over. some of my finds~

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
101 Ways To Be A Great Mom by ?
a book about Kierkegaard that i can't remember the title
Thomas Jefferson's autobiography

i'm still working my way through some of the books i last listed as reading. i do everything in spurts, it's that weird quality about my personality that some would probably label as mental illness. i seem to be all or nothing and struggle to find balance. in all areas of my life.

this has been a difficult week for Samuel. all three of his special area teachers have come to us saying that he was uncooperative. he seems to be going through a difficult stage and struggle inside himself. socially he's doing much better than he was just a few months ago. he had been bullied a bit a few months ago by a couple of boys in his class that are "problem kids" that spend a majority of their time in the office or away at the school that Samuel tells us is called ACES, but none of us are sure what ACES stands for.
but something happened over the past couple of months and now Samuel is friends with these big, burly black boys. i'm not sure how it happened, but now those guys think Samuel is pretty cool. not that Samuel exhibits any behavior that is generally deemed as cool. he's kind of awkward, he still sometimes cries what he feels overwhelmed, and he talks about his cat Lucy all the time.

William continues to progress in interacting with peers. we never thought this day would come.

John is doing so much better in his behavior. whether it is that the class recently got a new students who is a real discipline problem, or that John has actually made that much progress, i'm not sure. but he's had perfect behavior charts for about a week and a half now.

i rode my bike over to the school this morning and volunteered in the library for about an hour. i love listening in on the pre-school story hour. it inspires me to read to the kids more. it seems there is never time for that these days.

gonna plant my garden this weekend. i'm so excited. second year gardens are always so much better!