Yeah, we’re adorable. 😉
All the Way From Madison
September 30, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Tonight I’m writing you from our downtown Madison (WI) hotel room.
It’s a very cool room, at least I think so.
Tobin’s cousin is getting married tomorrow at the Capitol, so that’s the occasion.
And since this is a home football weekend AND the Farmer’s Market is going on, I am not regretting for a single second the fact that we splurged on a hotel room a block from the Capitol building.
The festivities kicked off early this morning with Mel squeezing in more than is humanly possible before we left.
From the time I rolled out of bed at 7:15 I managed to go for a run, shower and get ready, do three loads of laundry, pack for myself and Maelie, run to Target, Starbucks, and church, come home with time to feed lunch to Maelie, grab some for myself, and get out the door by 12:05.
Yeah, I’m good.
I know you’re all extremely impressed.
And, yeah, my Super Woman cape is in the mail.
Anyway, we’ve already had a fun and crazy afternoon/ evening with family.
Tomorrow is mostly wedding with a little a.m. Farmer’ s Market thrown in there, and
some more family time on Sunday.
It’ll be a good (but busy) weekend. So if I don’t write much, that’s why.
Tomorrow there just might be a picture of Maelie in her Uh-Dorable dress, though, and that’ s worth coming back for!
G’nite!
Sick Day
September 8, 2011 by · 3 Comments
This isn’t Mel. Mel is sick, so I’m mandating a blogging-free day for her.
Instead you get a gimpy typer who keeps putting extra spaces in things because my thumb doesn’t move.
A few happenings from the last few days:
- Yep, I broke my wrist on Saturday. It was a Scaphoid fracture, to be specific. As the linked page points out, it’s apparently a bone that often doesn’t heal correctly, hence the cast I get to make part of my life for the next 6 weeks.
- We’ve known for awhile that we have pretty awesome neighbors. I’ m pretty sure Mel has
mentioned that before.
But having people come every night this week to work on finishing the fence goes ab0ve and beyond the duty of any neighbor or friend.
We feel so very blessed and thankful.
There are really no words to express how much it means to us.
- Tomorrow is my last day in the office until September 20th. I’m quite excited for time off – besides needing a break, I’m looking forward to the friends we’ re going to see during the week.
- Mel, as usual, caught the cold I had a couple weeks ago.
Also as usual, she got it worse than I had it.
Please pray she gets better soon so that traveling isn’t completely miserable for her.
I think that’s the most typing I’m up for tonight.
Maybe tomorrow we’ll have the video of Maelie going down her slide all by herself. Have a good night, and thanks for reading the best post ever.
Just Mae…and the Cool That She Is
August 18, 2011 by · 1 Comment
I love my girl…and I blog about her often.
I do spend the majority of my time with her, so I guess this is forgivable, right? 😉
The past few days I have j ust
fallen in love with her even more.
I’m not sure if it’s because she’s becoming more independent and more able to reciprocate love…or maybe it’s just because she keeps getting cuter!
The things she says (or tries to say), the things she does, the way she’s becoming this cool, little person…it’s just amazing to watch.
On Sunday and Monday we had several good walks and lots of time outside, and watching her move and explore was just fun…the few steps turned into many, many more.
She adds new words (or at least things that sound like words!) to her vocabulary every day.
She barks at our dogs, which totally cracks me up.
She sees certain neighbors outside and crawls (or toddles) toward them while shouting at them in her Maelie-talk.
Tuesday we had a date with a friend to get Starbucks and walk to Grafelman Park (our favorite!). It’s an outing we take at least every couple of
weeks, and as I sat there and chatted with my friend, I loved watching Mae explore even more.
She’s not afraid of anything, including eating wood chips…can’t say I’m too thrilled with that one! I noticed it again today outside in the yard as she was reaching for a not-very-small bug… total curiosity, zero fear.
I stopped for a moment and thought, My daughter is so COOL!
I love how the qualities she displays mirror exactly what Christ meant when he talked about having the faith of a child…innocent, pure, curious, accepting, willing-to-take-risks.
It’s amazing what children can teach us.
Just where I am with mommyhood…loving it even more and loving my Maelie-girl more than ever, too.
Blessed.
Total Cuteness
August 13, 2011 by · 2 Comments
We finally got our family pics/Mae’ s 1st year pics back.
This one is too cute
to not share.
Just love it.
Happy 4th!
July 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Happy 4th of July!
Instead of blogging, I spent the day with my awesome husband, adorable daughter, and wonderful friends.
It was a great day.
I hope you all had a memorable 4th!
Guest Post: This Day in History
June 6, 2011 by · 4 Comments
One year ago today, I arrived at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, looking to greet my wife who I hadn’t seen for 43 days.
A year ago, I got to be amazed at how much bigger her pregnant belly had gotten in 6 weeks.
A year ago, we continued the most hectic period in our life to date, looking forward to facing coming transition, finally together.
Those of you who have read this blog for awhile know the story by now.
With Mel in the late stages of her pregnancy, she left Indonesia on April 24 to return to the US, while I stayed through June 5 to finish the school year and my responsibilities in Indonesia.
After she left, I packed up the house, sorting through what would go with me on the plane, what would be shipped home, and what would be sold (most of it). I remember being completely shocked at how quickly my days left “in the office” dwindled, and how much time I didn’t have as I w
as attempting to get things in order for those who would have my responsibilities after I was gone.
I took a day off during the last week of May to drive the dogs to Jakarta and ship them home ahead of time.
I helped the senior class organize their senior trip, chaperoned it over my last week in the country, then spoke at their graduation the day before I left.
Somewhere in there, I tried to say goodbyes, and pretty much failed miserably.
I specifically remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to get on the plane to leave the country, so that I’d be able to finally breathe.
And yet, I think between the two of us, I had it easier – those 6 weeks flew by for me. I don’t think I’ve really ever been able to express how proud I am of her, for doing what had to be done both in the process of leaving Indonesia, and dealing with the final stages of pregnancy on her own.
Or for doing what had to be done after that, because my arrival in the US was by no means the end of a crazy period of transition – it was only the end of going through it while separate.
Because while we were in the same situation, facing the same transition and some of the same questions, at least I had one thing that would be something I knew – a job. Neither one of us knew where we’d end up living, what church we’d end up attending – or if we’d find friends.
But just like my last weeks in Indonesia, at least I’d be busy – and a job provides built-in social interaction with other adults. For Mel, all of that was changing, and it wasn’t easy to leave behind the expectations we had of rebuilding a life in the Twin Cities.
I bring all that up for a couple reasons. One – it all happened a year ago today, and remembering all that happened then is something we’ve been doing quite a lot over the last few weeks. Two – because like so many other times in our life, we can look back at this time and be encouraged with what and how it all happened. It sounds trite, and I almost don’t even like bringing it up. But it’s a f
act of life that there will always be uncertainties, and things to worry about.
Remembering situations like the one we were going through a year ago affirms to me that it makes no sense to worry about anything coming up. God’s promises are true – He has proved them over and over to us, and it would be silly not to continue to rest easy, knowing He already has it all figured out.
Cross-posted at our personal site, TobinandMelinda.com.
Rejected…Again
May 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
😉
Tonight after I picked him
up from work, Tobin and I headed to church for the blood drive being held there.
We have both donated blood quite a bit in the past, minus the five years we spent in Indo.
Really, neither of us have a reason NOT to donate.
We can handle the needle stuff, we’re both healthy, and we
both have good veins. (In fact, nurses used to comment on how quickly I could fill up that bag with blood. True.) And strangely, I find watching them put
the needle in my arm fascinating.
(I know, I know.)
We went through the initial Q & A, and I met the requirements, but Tobin almost didn’t. He hasn’t been back from Indonesia for quite a year, but in the end because of where in Indo we were, he got to give.
But I didn’t.
You know the dreaded finger prick
? (Yeah, that’s the worst part!) Both times they tried, my iron was too low.
So I was rejected.
Bummer.
Truthfully, I tried to laugh it off, but I was frustrated.
Mostly frustrated that I hadn’ t ea
ten a steak before I tried to give.
I supposed it could be worse. I mean, there are much more horrible things than not being able to give blood, right?
But to me, donating blood is a small way to be Christlike.
Maybe that pint of blood I give every once in awhile will play a part in saving someone’s life.
Just like the blood he shed saved me.
Life will go on today even though they wouldn’t take my blood.
But without the blood of my Savior, life wouldn’t go on.
Today I was rejected. (In a small, insignificant, almost silly way.)
But please don’t reject him. Because the blood he gave was the most precious gift in history.
My Favorites
March 23, 2011 by · 3 Comments
In the interest of getting my blog post done BEFORE ton
ight AND so I can go to the Lent service tonight and not sit there thinking about what I should blog about…I bring you a post that doesn’t require too
much thinking…and is a teeny bit indulgent. 😀 But at least you get to find out some quirky stuff about me.)
If you’re bored you’ve got the time, leave me a comment with your favorites.
Happy Wednesday! (Is it really only Wednesday?)
- Ice Cream Flavor: pistachio
- Sport: volleyball
- Season: fall…I love the colors and crunchy leaves. But right now, I am sooooooo ready for spring!
- Hobby: Oooh, lately, I haven’ t had much
time for one of those. Does drinking coffee coun
t?
I guess playing my guitar/singing and writing. - Song: This changes often. Right now it’s “Blessings” by Laura Story.
- Band: I have a lot…mostly CCM. I re ally like C
asting Crowns, and I also like the Parachute Band, a pretty obscure praise and worship band from New Zealand. Best concert I’ve ever been to.
- Female artist: Bethany Dillon, Nichole Nordeman
- Male artist: Chris Tomlin, Mark Schultz
- Place to Hang Out: any coffee shop with a good friend
- Musical: WICKED! Although, The Sound of Music is up there, too.
- Book: Three Cups of Tea for intelligent reading; The Shopaholic Series for fun.
- Color: turquoise/brown
- Animal: golden retrievers…although I would looooove to hold a koala someday.
- Food: pizza
- Drink: it’s a tie…coffee and Diet Pepsi
- Subject in School: Well, it was English…forever ago. I’m also a geography rock star.
😉
- Flower: daisy
- Veggie: eggplant (yeah, I know I’m weird)
- Fruit: jeruk bali (from Indonesia…kind of like a grapefruit)
- Music: praise and worship
- Store: depends on the day…Target or Maurices
- Day of the Week: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday…all of them?
- Number: um, who cares
? I guess 19. Or 3. Or 12,997.
- Movie: Steel Magnolias, The Sound of Music, Anne of Green Gables Trilogy
- Pizza Topping: pineapple
- Fast Food Restaurant: Chipotle
- Vacation: South Africa or Bali…loved them both for different reasons.
- Dessert: cheesecake…mmm, cheesecake.
- TV Show: I love American Idol for sentimental reasons. The Amazing Race is my favorite, though.
I would love,
love, love, to be on it.
- Place: I love a lot of pl
aces. Right now, I love where I am…so I guess that’s C’ville.
St. Patty’s Day
March 17, 2011 by · 1 Comment
I kind of forgot about this holiday.
I mean, when I was a kid, I wore green to avoid being pinched.
But I think that sums up the celebration
of the holiday for me.
Then we went to Indo and…well, I honestly can’t even remember if we even celebrated it there. Most likely not.
But we celebrated a little
this year.
Just a little.
I started early…on Monday. And made those awesome brownies. (Hey, it counts cause they had green frosting.) They were gone by Tuesday night.
True story. But I did give some to the neighbors, so we didn’t eat all of them. 😉
And today I realized I had no green in my closet. So I wore a sarong over my jeans.
I put it back on just so
I could take a picture.
Cute? Sure.
Then tonight I met some friends at Chili’s. I am now wired on more caffeine than I’ve had in a year and a half thanks to the Diet Coke binge I went on t
onight.
Oh, Diet Coke, how I have missed you.
Yep, that was my St.
Patrick’s Day celebration.
I think I’ll continue it tomorrow and make some more brownies. 😀
