Fatcation 2012.

Most people dream of going on big elaborate vacations. Maybe some place like Paris. Or Spain. Me? My only request was to go to Branson, MO during the holidays. I wanted to see the lights and the pretties. This year, I was pleasantly surprised when Lee suggested we go this year! Along with me, Lee, and Hadley came my grandparents, my aunt, uncle, and cousin, Lee's parents, and his brother.

We left on a Friday morning and headed that way. We stopped in Springfield, MO at Bass Pro. We were hoping to see the aquarium that has been under construction for years. Well, of course, it was still under construction. That was disappointing, but since it was Christmas time there was tons of Hadley to do. She rode the carousal 3 times. She wasn't too sure about it at first, but after the first go 'round - she loved it. 
  

When we left Bass Pro we went to lunch at Lambert's Cafe. This is where we met up with my family. Usually the wait to get into Lambert's is about 1 or even 2 hours. We were fully expecting a long wait. Somehow we got in in less than 10 minutes. Lucky! We all ate lots of rolls and lots of food. Hadley was so funny. Every time the man throwing the rolls would come out, she would throw her hands in the air. But he never saw her. We finally caught his attention and he came over and "tossed" her her own roll. She was so excited. Sweet baby!

 

My mother-in-law, Tracey, and her ridiculously large salad. I couldn't stop starring at it!

 

 Hadley "catching" her roll. 

Lambert's is only about 30 minutes outside of Branson, so we got there shortly after lunch. We checked into our hotel and got settled in our rooms. Then we decided to hit up the Tanger Outlit Mall. We weren't too impressed overall. I've been there before and have found much better deals. I'm not really sure if I wasn't looking in the right spots or if it was just bad timing. Oh, and for once, I didn't buy anything at the COACH outlit. I didn't see anything I just couldn't live without. 

That night we had reservations for the Dixie Stampede. I love love love the "regular" Dixie Stampede. I was very impressed with the Christmas show. It was the best live Nativity I've ever seen. The only bad thing about it was, we were stuffed. We were stuffed from lunch. It was a terrible decision to eat Lambert's and the Dixie Stampede in 1 day! Hence why the renamed this vacation to "fat"cation.

Saturday we spent the morning shopping at The Landing. Saturday afternoon we went to Silver Dollar City. I normally love SDC. I've dreamed of going during the holidays. BUT it will never happen again. It was so busy. So crazy. So packed! That it wasn't even really enjoyable. Plus, it was pretty cold. It took 1 hour just to get to the parking spot then another 30 minutes waiting to get into the park. Madness, I tell you! We stayed long enough to see all the lights "officially" light up for the night, but left shortly after. We didn't even stay for the parade. Oh well, Hadley loved it for the few hours we were there. Hopefully, we can take her back another time so she can enjoy the rides without it being so busy. 

 

Hadley and Daddy at SDC after going through the fun house. 

 

Hadley and Mommy in SDC.

 

Daddy and Hadley looking at the lights.

An Ordinary Woman

I was recently contacted by The Aegis Element to write a little bit of my experience, thus far, with motherhood. The Aegis Element is a non-profit organization that provides care to women who have escaped and survived human trafficking. They aid in helping women recover, restore, and find their perfect skill set in order to reengage in society.

I'm particularly proud of and support The Aegis Element because it was co-founded by one of my nearest and dearest friends, Sarah.  Sarah is one of my very best friends from college. We had a rough start, but it developed into one of my most cherished friendships. I'm proud to call her my friend. But more importantly, I'm proud of her for following her passion and the plans God has laid on her life.

When Sarah contacted me, she asked me to talk about the relationship a mother has with their child. The feelings that come up when you know you are about to bring life into the world. This was the article: {You can also read it here on The Aegis Element's blog.}

***********

Before having a child of my own, I'm going to be honest, I never thought that much about the relationship between Jesus and his mother, Mary. To be really honest, I never thought about it. At all. She was a virgin. Immaculate conception occurred. She birthed the Savior of the world. It sounds crazy! Not be "belittle" the power of God, but don't all Bible stories sound a little crazy? Jesus healed the blind man. Jesus walked on water. Jesus, even, raised a man from the dead. So, of course (!!!) He was born of a virgin. It only makes sense.

But the more I think about it the more obsessed (if you will..) with the story I become. I mean, my pregnancy was planned. Of course, it was also part of God's bigger plan, but it was also a conscious decision to bring a child into this world. We prepared for this baby (girl). We painted her room. We bought her things to ensure that she had the best life we could offer her. We were excited. I cannot imagine how Mary, a soon-to-be-wed-but-nonetheless-virgin, must have felt. This was not in her plans! She must have been terrified. Even with the words, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God" {Luke 1:30, NIV}I would have still freaked out.

I cannot imagine carrying a child that I didn't plan, that was the Son of God, AND knowing that one day I would have to give Him away. She knew that Jesus was sent with a greater purpose. We are all were born with a purpose, but no purpose held such a great weight as Jesus' did. Jesus felt the weight of his responsibility. As it was recorded {Matthew 26: 38 - 39, NIV}, 38]"Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' 39]Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." He then asks again {Matthew 26: 42, NIV}, "He went away a second time and prayed, 'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

As a parent, you never want your child to feel as if the "weight of the world is on their shoulders." Jesus did. He felt it. Mary felt it for Him. That's not recorded, but as a mother myself I feel that it's true. You stress when you your child stresses. You hurt when they hurt. You mourn when they mourn. And in that sense (also not recorded) I wonder if Mary and Jesus were ever mourning the loss of each other. They both knew what was to come. They both knew it had to be done. But with Jesus being just as human as you and me, I have to wonder if he mourned for his mother and having to leave her so soon. He obviously was concerned about her being alone when He said, {John 19:26-27, NIV} 26]"...'Woman, here is your son,' 27] and to the disciple (John) 'Here is your mother.' From that time on this disciple took her into his home."

As we go into the Christmas season, I find myself trying to put myself in Mary's shoes. As different as our situations were -- as mother's I know we have the same heart. She was just an ordinary woman who carried, birthed, and raised an extraordinary man.

IT'S A WHAT?????

There was this one time, when my car was making a mysterious noise. I hadn't heard it consistently enough to say anything to Lee.

Once, I continued to hear it for about a week or so I decided to mention it to him. I insisted,

"It's weird. If I turn to the right, I can hear it rolling to the left. If I turn to the left, I can hear it rolling to the right. But the strange thing is: If I turn to the right, it will roll to the left. If I turn to the right again -- nothing happens. It's like a rock or can is rolling around, back and forth, in the trunk."

I don't know anything much about cars, but I know that's not normal. The funny thing is is that the car was driving perfectly fine. Nothing was happening any different. 

I am OCD about certain things. Specifically, I am more "O" than "C." By that I mean: clinically, OCD is obsessive thoughts with compulsive behavior. I don't have compulsive behaviors that often. However, I do have obsessive thoughts. Or as Lee so lovingly puts it -- I "fixate." Once, I have my mind set on something I obsessive about it. I think about it, easily, five to eight times an hour. I will think about it. I will question it. I will talk about it. And I will continue until it's settled. What's bad is, once it's settled, I usually will find something else to obsess about later. 

{Small example: The other night I went to bed with dishes in the sink. I do this often, but for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about it this time. The reason they stayed in the sink was because I didn't feel like unloading the dishwasher. Well, I dreamed about those dishes all night long. Then I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm went off -- thinking about those blasted dishes. So I got up at 5:45 am to do dishes. Give me a break. Now back to my car...}

I obsessed about this noise for three weeks. Non-stop. Lee striped the trunk of my car. He took everything out, all the way down to the frame of the car. He did this four or five times. The noise was coming from the back of the car. We thought for sure we were just missing something. It had to be in the trunk.

Well, after about four weeks going on five I called someone to look at it. This is a man that I went to church with growing up. He used to be a mechanic before his current job. We took him my car on a Sunday afternoon. He wanted us to drive him around so he could hear it. We made our first right hand turn and he heard it. He made the strangest face and said "Wow. That is weird." I just remember thinking "Oh, great!! This isn't going to be good." 

We went back to his house. He, also, thought it was coming from the trunk. He and Lee dug in that car for an hour and a half. And nothing -- they, again, found nothing. 

I was inside the house, but Lee said after so long they had given up. As Dennis was closing the hatch he started shaking the door. Lee said that he was trying to see if maybe the noise was from the door and not necessarily in the car. But, of course, nothing. He closed the hatch. Then he started pushing/shaking the entire car. Lee said he looked up with a strange face. He reached on top of the car and there it was! Dennis pulled down a WALNUT! There was a WALNUT rolling around on the roof of my car. I have a rack on the top of my car. Apparently, the walnut had gotten stuck up there and couldn't roll completely off. 

I can't make this stuff up, people.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is such a busy time. People are traveling. People are cleaning and preparing houses for visitors. Someone(s) is cooking the meal. And the crazies are scoping out the sales ads for Black Friday.

For us, we do the same thing every year for the holidays. We spend Thanksgiving with my family. We will spend Christmas with Lee's family. This is just what works best for us because each of our families has a more consistent holiday than the other. 

This year, all of my side of the family was at my grandparents house. Of course we all pigged out. I remembered that this time last year Hadley was just five months old. I had made her sweet potatoes puree' to try for her first Thanksgiving. That is where she developed her love of sweet potatoes. This year Lee carried Hadley through the lunch line. He filled her plate with everything. Literally, everything. And she pigged out, too. She even had pumpkin pie for dessert. Well, actually, she took the pie off her plate and placed it on her tray. She opted to just eat Cool Whip... by itself. Go figure.

I, personally, am not a big fan of turkey. Luckily, my grandma fixes both turkey and ham. But my absolute favorite holiday food is homemade noodles. I, recently, learned that my grandma got this recipe from my great grandma {my grandpa's mother}.

After lunch my aunt mentioned that she wanted to take a family picture. Then I got the not so genius idea for all of us to go to the park and take pictures. I had my camera and my uncle Ricky had his even nicer camera too.  I have no idea why I suggested this. Well -- back up -- I suggested it because I also wanted some family pictures. But I cannot help my personality and I'm easily irritated in large groups. Naturally, it became a joke as to "hurry up before Heather gets any more mad!" ...At least they understand I'm crazy :) We ended up with a hand full of good shots of all families! It was worth it.

Granny Pope's Homemade Noodles

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 small or medium sized eggs

1 egg shell of water

NOTE: If you are using large eggs then use 1 1/2 cup flour instead

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. While in the bowl make a well in the flour for the egg and water mixture to sit. Stir the egg mixture in with the flour until soft. Knead until the dough is formed. (It may not take all the flour). Roll out very thin on a well floured board. Let dry for several hours. Cut noodles very thin with a knife. These can be prepared and stored in the freezer until needed.

To cook the noodles use a large pot of boiling chicken broth. Drop the noodles in the boiling broth until the noodles are tender. Adjust your salt seasoning to taste.

NOTE: If you cook them frozen, it usually takes 40 minutes. Remember, there is no need to thaw them out before cooking. Just drop them in the pan!

Monday Madness.

It's 4:27 pm and:

• I just now remembered that Hadley possibly had a check up today at the doctor.

• I just now realized that I forgot to boil some chicken for dinner tonight.

•  I literally have not done a single thing today expect take pictures of Hadley outside.

• ...Oh yeah, and I watched the re-run of Food Network: Thanksgiving Live.

•  Now it's 4:30 pm. I need to do something with my life. 

HELLOOOOOOOOO MONDAY!! 

hello, world.

Hello, blog-o-sphere! It's me, Heather...Hadley's mom.

No, I have not forgot that I have a blog.
Yes, life is still going 'round and 'round. Ya know, the norm.
But unfortunately, I've felt like I have nothing to talk about.

I couldn't even do a "weekly wrap up" because it would literally consist of "went to work, came home, made dinner, went to bed." REPEAT. Every-single-day. Really....I'm not lying.

I'm a creature of habit :)

Anyway -- I realized a few days ago that I haven't posted an update about Hadley since she turned one. Hadley's little love letters faded away. I decided to update with pictures {and with words, if I chose} because she obviously didn't stop growing!

In July we: played at the Splash Pad for the first time!

In August we: started working in the Kids Club. Hadley has made lots a new friends and has learned how much self control it takes to sit at the table and eat lunch, without being strapped into a high chair.

In September we: experience our first time out. Hadley is still working on "listening and obeying the first time." I repeat this phrase to her frequently. So much so that when she is about to do something she knows she is not supposed to do, she will look at me and say "OBEY!"

It October we: went to the pumpkin patch! Hadley enjoyed the people watching more than the pumpkins. 

Thanksgiving is coming up. Hopefully I will post more pictures soon :)

SO WHAT! Wednesday

www.lifeafteridew.com

I'm linking up with Shannon {at Life After I "Dew"} for a much overdue SO WHAT! Wednesday post.

This week I'm saying SO WHAT! if...

• I have no desire to do any house work. As in the dishes in the dishwasher have been clean, for days...
• I let my child roll around, play, and talk in bed because she was supposed to be napping and I knew she would eventually fall asleep. 4:15 pm - success!
• I never plan what I'm cooking for dinner until at least 3 pm, every day.  
• I think a "30 Day Blog Challenge" will be the death of my blogging career.
• I've literally sat on the computer all afternoon working on this ol' blog. Oy!
• I ate lunch at 1:30 and I'm already hungry. 
• I bought the ingredients for pumpkin spice cake about 1 month ago and still haven't made it. 

What are you saying SO WHAT! to today?