Let it be

I am a huge American Idol fan, but I never vote. Eli & I are pretty good at picking the top 12. My favorite from the initial auditions was Brooke White and I am happy to see her still in it. Eli was not a huge fan, but is slowly converting. This past week, she sang Let it Be. I am not a huge Beatles fan, but WOW. I had chills and yes I even shed a tear or two.

Booogers

Makenna: As she grabs my finger and puts it toward her nose...

"Momma pick my booooooggers, it sucky"

I guess I should just be happy that she isn't picking them and eating them.

Proverbs 31 Ministries

The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands" Proverbs 14:1

My cousin from Tennessee had sent me a link to a womans daily devotional to subscribe to about a year ago. I get a daily devotional sent to me every morning Monday through Friday. At first I read them and tried to reflect on them the best I could. After a little while I just read them and deleted them, then I stopped reading them all together. The past couple of weeks, I've really been trying to read them again. Todays devotional really home for me, not only in regards to my marriage, but in the way I am with the girls as well.
There have been many instances that I blamed Eli or the girls for my behavior and for the reasons I reacted to a situation or the way I felt. I expected them to change. Stomped my foot and acted like that little girl I once was and say "Well he/she did it first" or "I did this because they did that".
I have really been trying to go about my marriage and my parenting skills a different way. I tell myself to take a deep breath and bite my tongue before some horrible damaging words flow out of my mouth. I pray for patience, understanding, and strength everyday, sometimes 100 times a day. It is frustrating and so hard to change, even when I am well aware of how capable I am of hurting someone I love. Self control is a huge struggle for me and is probably the first characteristic I would change about myself. I can be self absorbed at times and so often I look back at how I have acted and an enormous amount of guilt takes over. I go to bed saying tomorrow will be different, and first thing in the morning I find myself getting pissed off when the girls aren't listening. Instead of letting it go, I dwell on it, and I let it set my mood.
I am a work in progress.

Norma Schultz

Eli received a call from his Dad yesterday that his grandma is not doing well. I have only met her once when we were in Utah in 2002 and exchanged letters when she was still able to write them, she always enjoyed getting pictures of the girls and never did meet Makenna. She is a huge part of Eli's younger years. If you could please keep Eli and his family in your prayers. She is a great woman, from all the stories that I have been told from Bill and Eli.

Moments like this is when I feel sad for Eli, his family, and the girls. Eli being so far away and unable to be there......I feel so often that we miss out so much, even on the everyday.

Man and Wife

Congrats to Mr and Mrs William Brown

Mr and Mrs Dave Kurt

Eli and I were honored to attend the wedding of the year on Friday. We both met Will and Monaca a couple of years ago though Brad, Dave, and Cathie. The wedding was perfect and beautiful and reception was a blast! I am so happy for them and they are truly blessed to have each other.
I was honored enough to finally meet the rest of the Kurt family and am relieved to find out that I am not Diane (not that being Diane would be bad) and I am not as frumpy as I look in pictures. I do like playing dress up once in a while with Eli, but mostly I can be found in sweats or scrubs and my hair thrown in a pony. Eli only wears a suit for weddings and funerals and always sports it well!
After the wedding we had a post party at the Marriott that lasted till the wee hours and am still catching up two days later.

You can see all the pictures here, including a few pictures that I borrowed (well....stole) from Susan and Dan.

Wilaca Wedding