Walk for Life

This is me when I was a baby.  I wasn't exactly planned.  My parents have always told me how extremely happy they were that I came along.

This is Libby.  This is from my first doctor's appointment.  Jimmy and I tried for nearly a year to get pregnant before Libby came along.  God taught me that his timing is perfect.

Here she is at almost six months.  Precious is the only word.

This is back when we had two kids.  Only not really.  Because whenever I see this picture I always think about Cash.  I was pregnant with him.  Cash wasn't planned.  But as soon as I took the pregnancy test I knew I would have another son.  He was already part of our family.

Here is Cash about six weeks before he was born.  I will never forget how excited Jackson was!  He loved him before he was born.

This Saturday our family is going to walk in A Women's Pregnancy Center's 18th Annual Walk for Life.  They are a local organization who counsels women and men in crisis pregnancy situations.  Their services are free so they need fund raisers to keep the center going.

Here at the J Train we are obviously pro-life.  God does not make mistakes and He values life at all stages.  We will be asking for friends and family to pledge any amount in support of A Women's Pregnancy Center.

To all my faithful blog readers, I promise photos and a blog about the walk.  We're bringing the whole family so it should be crazy and fun!

If you would like to sponsor our family as we walk, all you have to do is e mail me your mailing address and how much you can contribute (as little as $5...every bit helps) and I will do the rest.  The center will send you a bill later.

You can also visit their website and/or donate online at:  lifeline-awpc.org

Thank you for loving our family and treating the unborn as precious life created by God.

Use your brain. Make a mess.

It has rained all day today.  We have a bit of a lake in our yard.  I was using my nifty weather channel app to check tomorrow's forecast.  I discovered that there are some (well, many) people out there in Tallahassee who tweet about the weather via this app. 

There were some funny ones...
"this weather fool"
"Its raining so bad.."
"I Wanna Leave This House But The Rain Won't Let Me"
"Y'all this rain is real live in the way"
"Why is it raining so much?"
"the rain got me in the house! LOL"
"I'm so mad at this rain.  The devil tryna hold me back!"

Anyway, the whole thing is weird.  Who are these people?  I understand that some use it as advertisement.  But not all.  Why do some feel the need to inform the internet how you feel about the weather?  It is just a little disturbing.  Write something worthwhile.  With correct grammar.  Use your brain a little!

Because of this rain I didn't exercise today.  I have started running again.  I was like Forrest Gump.  One day I just felt like running and so I did.  Only he ran for a super long time and I only make it about a mile.  And I'm not sure if what I do is running, or if it's just the absolute lowest form of jogging possible that you can do and still call it jogging.

I used to hate it.  I don't hate it anymore. 

Except after about a mile.  Then I start to hate it a little.

 I have found that music helps.   I have a pretty regular rotation between Relient K, U2, and Coldplay.  And Coldplay.  How can you not run to this stuff?  It gives my hot lungs and crampy muscles a soundtrack.  And Coldplay.

Speaking of music, there has been some shifting of furniture around here, most importantly our desk with a keyboard on top has been replaced by a piano!  A real one!  With 88 keys!  It is a huge blessing to have this form of music in the house.

We also moved out Libby's huge desk (from which we unearthed like a thousand drawings/writings) and placed our not quite complete drum set in that corner.  So I went from quiet writing space and a keyboard (with volume control) to drums and a piano.  I feel if I were to tweet about the house climate it might be something like "this piano and drums up in my face!"  But I played a little Heart and Soul with Jackson today and it made us both feel good inside.

Yesterday Jimmy enlisted some guys to help get the piano here and I had quite a bit of work to do to finish up Libby's desk mess and clear the space.  But instead of using the hour after dinner to do so, we ended up making a You Tube video.  And even though it already went out on Jimmy's Facebook page I feel I would be remiss if I didn't link to it here. 

The J Train Harlem Shake

Sometimes you just have to make a mess!  Sometimes it's the right thing to do.

Sunday Afternoon in the Kitchen

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte  Georges Seurat  1884

Just as Seurat painted a pointillist image of a Sunday afternoon in France, here I go with our Sunday activities.

This afternoon after church and lunch everyone headed outside and I kept a close eye on Juliet through the window while I was cleaning up.  She likes to push her shopping cart.

Jimmy and I were talking while Jimmy fooled around on the guitar.  Jackson came inside and asked Jimmy if he would toss the football outside.   Jimmy said no, he didn't feel like it and then we all began to belt out the chorus of "Cats in the Cradle" as we usually do whenever Jimmy puts off Jackson when he wants to hang out.   "And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoons..." Jackson just rolls his eyes.

Then somehow everyone was back inside and I went out to retrieve Juliet.  I came in to a dance party.  Cash amazed us all with the move where you put your hand behind your head and grab your knee with the other, jumping around in a circle.

Jackson had been asking me to teach him how to do the Roger Rabbit.  (I taught him the running man some years back.)  So I agreed and worked up a bit of a sweat demonstrating one of the many useful things I learned in the 90's.

And with that the children know all the dance moves I know.  Now what will I teach them??

Then we listened to Rob Base and DJ E Z Rock...as in "It takes two to make a thing go right...it takes two to make it outta sight" and I realized there are many gems from the 90's we have not yet unearthed.

Then I declared quiet time, put Juliet down for nap, and everyone found a book to read while I dozed on the couch.   I kept shushing people periodically but all in all it was restful.  Juliet never slept though and I tried to push from my mind the day when I have no baby napping to use as an excuse to achieve a small window of silence.

Just as Seurat painted a masterpiece in tiny dots, we are putting together these days to make a bigger picture, and today was a good one.   I feel thankful.  And in researching for this blog I have come up with a new mantra...

My name is MOM, I gotta real funky concept
Listen up, 'cause I'm gonna keep you in step
I got an idea
That I wanna share
You don't like it? 

So what, I don't care

Just kidding.

 

Sort of. 

Maybe I should stick to the art history references.