Not so Thankful?

Dang it...I knew if I tried to start some sort of routine on my blog I'd just fail miserably. Oh well - all I can do is focus on what I HAVE done, right?

I am currently thankful for:

• Grocery shopping without my kids {thanks Greg}
• A king-size bed
• Being a doula
• My savior, Jesus Christ
• My super-smart {albeit ill-behaved} kids
• Broadened horizons

The Meanest Giveaway

I LOVE this blog and now she's giving away the coolest stuff for March Madness! Go check it out - all you have to do is leave a comment on the post to be entered for one of eight prizes. And if you link to the post {like I am} then you can enter again. I must warn you, however, that you may end up hooked on her blog like I am.

Happy Birthday C.J.

My little man turned six today. I can't believe it's been six years. His party will be next week because unlike the girls, who pestered me daily for weeks about their birthday, he couldn't care less. When I asked him yesterday, "What's tomorrow, C.J.?" he responded with {lengthy pause}..."Ummm....Wednesday?" Yes, C.J. - Wednesday. "And what else?" I prodded. {Another lengthy pause}..."My birthday!" He's definitely his father's son. Without the constant reminders, I failed to get invitations out in time for a party today. Oh, well - there are no accidents. :O)

In honor of my awesome kid, here's an awesome picture:

{This is what happens when you leave your camera unattended.}

And finally, six reasons I love C.J.:

1. He has a very tender heart and is genuinely caring and kind.
2. He gives me amazing hugs and kisses.
3. He is a good big brother and so helpful around the house.
4. He is very smart and loves to read.
5. He is hilariously funny.
6. He is a miniature Greg.

Thankful Thursday

Lucky you - you get a twofer today. :O) I thought about my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday and then just got caught up in other things and didn't remember until after midnight.

Today I'm thankful for:

• Flylady. It's seriously changed my life.
• A hubby who works hard to support his rather large family
• Chiropractors {especially John Sorenson}
• A brand new chore chart for the kids - wish me luck!
• Fun memories made over the weekend with extended family
• Water - my favorite drink
• Blood suckers who know how to not bruise you when you're kind enough to donate blood!

Wordless Wednesday...{a little late}

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for...

• Kids who are old enough to get their own cereal
• Greg having not one, but two jobs
• Contacts so I don't have to wear my glasses all the time
• Good friends who will spend HOURS stripping diapers for me to borrow them and try cloth diapering
• An amazing family
• America

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful...Monday

So I wanted to follow Janet's example and make a "thankful" post.

I am humbled, and EXTREMELY grateful that English is my native language! I have had the opportunity to study languages ranging from Pig-Latin all the way to Mandarin Chinese...and I can't imagine trying to learn some of the stupid rules that we have.

When I was learning Chinese, there were set rules...and if there were exceptions to those rules then you could COUNT on a consistent following of said exception, not just on Tuesdays or holidays. The "i before e" rule comes to mind, and a skit by Brian Regan (Check it out on You Tube).

A couple of weeks ago I had an experience with spelling names different ways...which led to why words like "should" and "shoulder" sound so drastically different while looking so similar.
While teasing our brains on how to change things up a bit and spell our names with crazy variation, one of our friends held up a card with these five letters:

GHOTI

She said this is how we should spell fish from now on.

I was as baffled as you probably are right now, so here is her reasoning:

The “F” sound in laugh
The “I” sound in women
The “SH” sound in nation.

FISH=GHOTI

English sucks.

Thankful Thursday

I've seen a few people have a day for thanks on their blog and I think it's a great idea so I'm totally stealing it! I know it's not technically Thursday anymore, but it's still the same day for me until I go to bed and wake up. Unless, of course, I stay up all night in which case the day changes just after 4:30 am. Because 4:00 am is still being up really late, but 4:30 is getting up really early. I know, you're amazed by my reasoning. Feel free to steal that reasoning for future reference.

On with the thanks:

I'm thankful for...

• 6 amazing, beautiful, healthy kids
• an equally amazing and healthy {yet not so beautiful} husband :O)
• breastfeeding - I love it!
• Costco - I finally remembered to use the big orange cart this time.
• Dean Nixon, Turning Leaf and the life-changing seminars {http://www.turningleafseminars.com/}

Shell Shocked

I feel that I owe an apology to everyone for not having made any kind of post on here since NOVEMBER!!! It seems as though Life has somewhat thrown itself at me...with vigor! We had an entire week taken out of our lives when Chuck was in the hospital for his surgery. Then came the holiday season along with the activities and parties that come along with that. I had my MBA class, work, and trying to get Christmas under control all at the same time. Then on Christmas day I was laying on the floor with Jena and looking at the sore she had on her leg, and found that she had another growth on her face. Merry Christmas! Your dog has Cancer, and you get to choose when she dies!
I want to take a few minutes here, and talk to all of my friends and family about a VERY special dog. Those of you who know me well, have met Jena, and know that she is from the streets of Taiwan. I am not sure that she has ever met a person that she did not win over, from my Mom (who has had her fill of dogs in the family) to our friend Stefanie who would get the Heeby-Jeebies if Jena would touch her with her nose. Cousin Shauna realized that Jena was slowly trying to get on her good side. She would sit on the other side of the room, then at the opposite end of the couch, then on the couch, then 3 feet away, then 2 feet away...This process was over a matter of months, and finally she would lay next to Shauna but not touch her. Then Shauna would pet her, and even let Jena rest her head in her lap! By the time we let her go, Jena was as excited as the other kids to see Shauna walk through the door.

Jena is one of the smartest dogs I have ever had the pleasure to meet. The above picture looks almost like she is trying to understand exactly what it was I said. You can almost hear her thinking "Did he just say Walk?".

Speaking of smart...Does she think she is going to drive? She may be the oldest girl in the family (9+), but she can't reach the pedals! This is where Jena would sit and wait for us to get back to the van, she knew that in order to leave we had to sit where she was!
The kids loved her so much, every time I would start wrestling with the kids and Jena would be in the middle of the heap within the first minute! She wanted to get me just as badly as C.J. did! The best part about it is when I would play rough with Jena...rough enough to almost break skin...and one of the kids or even Janet would reach in to play, Jena would just lick their hand and play soft!

There are years worth of memories, and pages worth of "Jena Quirks" that I could talk about but I will let everyone remember their own thoughts. The day came just a couple of weeks ago, when I came home from work and Jena just looked tired. She was bleeding from her leg, and I knew she couldn't keep pretending forever. The hardest part about deciding when a good time to let Jena go, is that she was trying so hard (up to the very last day) to prove to me that everything was OK and I had nothing to be sad about. A couple of days before she left us, I would look at her and be flooded with thoughts about what life would be like without her and start crying. She would get up, come over to me, and try to snuggle with me as if to tell me it would be OK and there was nothing to cry about. This of course would only make things worse!

This is one of my favorite pictures. It shows my two best friends, and how much love they had for each other. My Wife has been so wonderful in helping me move through the grieving process.
We took Jena in to see Dr. Brinkerhof, who was compassionate enough to cut his date short and meet us after hours. We took her in the office, the Doc gave her an anesthetic that made her sleepy. She fell asleep in my arms, and in just over a minute after he gave the second shot she was gone.

Despite the fact that we have 6 kids...our house seems so empty. There are many reminders that creep up as cruel taunts that she will never step foot in our home again. There is no bark after the doorbell, she doesn't run and hide behind the chair if I raise my voice, she isn't around to eat the end of the chicken breast, we actually have to CLEAN the floor after dinner now, she isn't curled up outside the shower or in the dirty clothes pile, and she doesn't push her nose under our hands anymore as we sit at the computer.

We love you girl, and know you are running with The Big Man now. See you later.

Greg, Janet, Hannah, Hailey, C.J., Anthony, Jamie, and Chuck.

Thanks to Deb from Funny Face Photography for the amazing "goodbye" pictures of our Asian Girl.