Pray for Kari...

Please pray for my fellow MOPS mom, Kari. She has cancer. If you click on her name, it should link you to her website. I just found out at our MOPS meeting the other day about Kari. She's my age...it really hits home when someone you know who is your age is dealing with something so serious...

and whenever I hear of someone who has cancer, I immediately have a radar that goes off and my attention is drawn to that person because my mom had cancer 8 years ago. She had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Large B Cell Type. And God miraculously healed her body! It truly was a miracle, and we do not take it for granted. She was immediately diagnosed stage four and the cancer had spread throughout her body, with tumors in various places and with her lymphoma it was throughout her lymphatic system...so the prognosis for her was not good. She had chemotherapy, and after just a few sessions she had some tests done to see if the cancer was still in her body or if it was gone...and it was GONE!!! The Dr. said that he still wanted to treat her as though the cancer was there, just in case it was still there...and in a few more months when they checked again it was STILL GONE! And every time she has been checked since then, it has remained absent from her body. PRAISE THE LORD! My mom has had many opportunities to share her faith with people through this experience, and so have I been able to share my faith with people I don't even know...on airplanes, buses, random other places...

Thank you Lord for sparing my mom of her cancer. We praise you that she is here with us still. And now we bring before you Kari, and we ask for you to heal her body Lord! Please please heal this dear, young mama of three. Please remove her cancer from her body. And please encourage her and her husband and children through this time. May they know your peace and your presence in such an incredible way...as that is something that no human can ever provide on their own. Thank you Lord, Amen.

I need a vacation!

Whenever it gets cold in Minnesota, we Minnesotans get a little antsy in our pantsy and we feel the need to take vacations to WARMER PLACES!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Minnesota...it is a wonderful place to live. And I actually really enjoy winter, most of the time. Erik and I really like to get out and enjoy winter sports - broomball, hockey, ice skating, sledding, skiing, etc...but with two little kids in the house, we don't always get to do all that stuff. I think that next winter will be a little bit better when my Little Buzz is walking around and probably interested in going outside. Then Big Sister Bug and Little Buzz can both be out there. That will be great fun! We did find a really nice plastic rain/snow cover for our double jogging stroller, and we tried that out on a "warmer" kind of day. (25 degrees or so) Our kids loved being out in the stroller even though it was cold. Oh, so back to the vacation idea...I would love to take a warm weather vacation, but I don't know that we'll be doing that this year. With the economy being the way it is, we're really trying to scrimp and save. So, we're trying to come up with fun things to do around the area that are either free or cheap! Tonight Erik has Big Bug at an indoor water park! I'm SO excited and also jealous. :) I look forward to being there with both kids sometime. I'm hoping to go to some of the art museums and childrens museum in the area sometime too. Do you have any fun ideas? Feel free to share! One more thing that I've been trying to do is to keep a bunch of fun activities around for my little girl. I have a whole bunch of craft items for doing projects, and coloring books, and STICKERS!!!!! My daughter loves loves loves her stickers, so I'm always getting those for her. She's not lacking for fun things to do, that's for sure. And one other thing that she loves to do is to help me cook and bake! She likes to put in the spices and stir things. And she always tells me, "garlic is my favorite spice!" Crazy girl! I like garlic too, but I'm surprised that a two year old would think it so fine.

This is my random collection of thoughts for the day...hope your day is blessed!

Going Green

One way that I have just decided to go "green" is to "opt out" of receiving the yellow and white pages here in our home. I just read about this through a really neat organizing newsletter that I receive. Here's the link if you want to opt out...

http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/

Note: After I told my honey that we were not going to be receiving phone books at home, he told me that he really wanted to still have them as they are handy to have at times. :) So, I guess we'll probably still get them.

Unbelievable - the CPSC!!!!!!

**Okay, I just re-read the information that I have linked here, and saw that the CPSC has actually said that resale shops and thrift stores will still be able to sell used childrens things...but there is still a problem - no garage sales, no online used product sales...***

I think that I have heard quite possibly the most UNBELIEVABLE thing ever...that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has come out with a ridiculous law that will ban anyone from selling used children's clothing and gear. I can hardly believe what I'm writing. Socialism, here we come. I mean, come on, this is just crazy!!!!! Yes, we all know that there are high amounts of lead in many children's toys, but if parents are really worried about it, then it is THEIR responsibility to not let their kids play with those toys. Our landfills are going to get even more full if this new law continues. And it is supposed to go into effect on February 10th of this year! I can't believe it. I'm furious. Probably at LEAST half of the clothing and gear that we have is used - some of it given to us, and some of it purchased through a resale shop. And it is perfectly fine and good! How on earth is everyone going to be able to afford brand new things for their children? I know people who exclusively shop at resale stores or through an online used source, and this will now not be an option if our government continues to push their way through with this ridiculous law. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help this law to not go through!!!!! Please call your representatives and write letters and sign this petition! Here are some links for you:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

http://www.rallycongress.com/make-second-hand-kids-clothes-legal-/1471/save-kid-s-clothing-resale-consignment-thrift-stores-from-closing/

Classic Two Year Old Moment...

He fell for it...Daddy fell for the classic two year old line..."Daddy, I'm SO hungry!" Mind you, this is being said at 10:50 PM!!!!!!!!! And, please note that we fed her a GOOD bedtime snack at 7:50 PM - yogurt, crackers and orange. I put her to bed at 8:50 PM. At 9:15 PM she came and sat on the stairs. When asked what she was doing, she says in a whisper, "I'm sitting very quietly! I just can't sleep." Then I put her back to bed. At 9:45 PM I go in to nurse Baby Brudder and I hear her talking in the next room. I figure she'll fall asleep for SURE by the time I'm done nursing...NOT SO! At 10:15 PM when I'm done nursing, she is jabbering away...so I go in and cover her up again, and kiss her goodnight for the THIRD time. Then, just a few minutes later, her daddy comes home from his broomball game...and surely, she heard him coming...and you have to understand when I say that they are TIGHT! :) The girl and her daddy are so close. And as the saying goes, she has him wrapped around her finger. So, she knows that she can get just about anything to come true if she asks daddy...and sure enough, she pleads the hunger cry and WINS!!!!!!! For crying out loud people! I say to him, "Honey, she's totally pulling the two year old hunger card. You can't fall for it. You just have to put her to bed!" He says, "Haven't you ever had night hunger? Come on, let's just give her a snack. " (giggling as I type...) Oh, he's just so nice ya'all...

It's January!!!

"Mommy, it's January! How exciting!" This was just stated by my 2.5 year old girl. :) I'm glad that somebody likes January and it's way below freezing MN cold temperatures! We had been talking about how Christmas was over and then I told her that it was January now. Well, soon it will be Valentines Day, so I guess that is something fun to look forward to!