Happy thing for today...

My happy thing for today is the Southwest DING special that was posted this morning. I just booked myself a flight home this weekend for $34. All along I have been planning to go home for Labor Day weekend. I was planning on taking the www.Megabus.com which is a really inexpensive bus to Chicago and other Midwest cities. It's a five hour ride. After our trip home the other day, I was dreading the trip on the bus. But wanted to go home so I was going to do it anyway. I purchased my bus ticket yesterday for $30. So when I saw the $34 flight it didn't take much to change my mind and decide to fly! :) The bus ticket is non-refundable, but can be used as a credit toward another trip in the future. There will eventually be a time that I will be able to use it, so I'm not too worried about it. The one-hour plane ride is totally worth it. Kaiya's first plane ride -- it could be interesting! :)

Tough Week

Just wanted to post an update for everyone. We drove home on Monday and arrived in Indiana around 7. We freshened up and headed over to the hospital. It was great to see Nan's face light up when she saw Kaiya. Tony's mom and brothers were already there and so we all just enjoyed watching Kaiya and Nan interact. Tony's mom says that this was the most responsive Nan had been since being admitted in the hospital. She was able to lift her arm and wiggle her fingers at Kaiya. Kaiya has been very attached to this teether that vibrates when she bites down on it. So we had Nan hold the teether and Kaiya reached out to play with her. Nan fell asleep shortly after that and we decided to go home for the night. She passed away Tuesday morning. We spent the day with Tony's mom and brothers... just kind of a quiet day, and then we left around 5 for home. So despite the toughness of losing Nan, we are thanking the Lord that we were able to have a chance to be with her Friday night. A pastor from Tony's church was able to spend some time talking with Nan on Monday, and was able to go through the plan of salvation with her. We are also thankful for the safety He gave us on the way home -- after about 2 1/2 hours on the road we stopped and noticed one of our back tires going flat. It was really low. We filled it up with air and stopped every 45 minutes to check it. Thankfully we made it home on the tire! It has been a long couple of days -- and we both feel just physically and emotionally exhausted. Tony starts board reviews today at school. These sessions prepare him for the second part of boards that he has to take in September. Starts at 8 a.m. and goes until 4:30 the rest of the week and Monday. We definitely appreciate your prayers as we continue this grieving process.

Something that I've been thinking about over the past day or so is the unique and beautiful relationship that Tony had with these grandparents. His --and their-- lives were enriched by the closeness that they had. They played a huge role in raising Tony. I was telling him it even seems strange to refer to them as grandma & grandpa because it's rare that people in our generation have such close ties to grandparents. The words grandpa & grandma don't suffice for this type of closeness. The names "Nan" & "Papa" hold so much more meaning. Does this make sense? So... now I wrestle with what this means for my family. I want that for Kaiya and our other children. And then -- can this happen when we live states away? And how did God design the role of a grandparent? And taking it even further -- what do I need to be doing in my life today (eating well, exercising, etc.) so that I can be around for my grandchildren. Obviously there are no guarantees; I should be doing these things anyway...

These thoughts come at the perfect time as we wrestle with where God wants us to go after Tony finishes school. (Note to our Parents: Don't start getting excited yet.) And no matter where we end up... there are ways that we can build relationships w/ grandparents from a distance. But these are good thoughts.

Trip to Indiana

Last weekend we went to Indiana for a wedding and to visit family. It was a great weekend and we were able to see grandparents, go to Andy's soccer game, see some friends, meet with a dr about the possibility of Tony practicing in the area (please pray for this w/ us -- we have an open door, but are awaiting complete peace and conformation from God about it). It was rushed, as usual, but here are a couple pics we took along the way.

I just love the expression and those big blue eyes in this picture.

This is a picture of Kaiya with her Nan (Tony's grandma). This is the first chance that Nan had to hold Kaiya because during our last visit she had shingles. She only got to look at Kaiya through the car window. Once again, Kaiya was a doll -- so well-behaved.

Kaiya and Great Grandma Haun We had a good visit with her at Grace Village. She was very "with it" and kept saying "so sweet" over and over to Kaiya. Kaiya gave lots of kisses when we left -- I was glad she was such a good baby for the visit.
A rare family picture! :) Usually one of us is behind the camera. This is a picture from the wedding. It was a 3-hour ordeal and Kaiya was an angel!

Here's Kaiya in a cute little cherry outfit. Thanks Mari! :)


Breakfast out with Tony's Dad's family. It was great to visit and have the extra hands to hold Kaiya so both Tony and I could finish eating at the same time (and while the food was still hot!).

Highlights from Multi-Cultural Counseling

I just started a new 8-week class as part of my quest to complete this Master's Degree. The class is on multicultural counseling and has a pretty good mix of black and white students. We were asked to write a cultural biography to share with the class. Basically -- where do you come from and what have your cultural experiences been? We were going around the room sharing our cultural biographies and this guy across the room begins talking -- only he didn't share anything about his cultural biography. He starts ranting about how black people change what they want to be called all the time. One day it's black, one day it's african american, who knows what it will be tomorrow... etc. Then he starts talking about how Chapter 9 (remember -- this is the first class -- we don't study or talk about Chap. 9 until 3 weeks down the road) in the book is all about white hate and how white people get accused of racism etc. You can imagine the reactions of the black people in the room. I start hearing mutterings about egging his car...

A lady in the room speaks up and says.. so back to the cultural biography, what is your nationality and background? He says, "I'm adopted so I don't really know or care where I came from. What matters is that I am a spiritualist and I'm very close with God. I have come to realize that I posses special psychic powers." (At which point the professor looked like he was going to pass out.) I couldn't help it... I started giggling. And then doing that muffled giggling like when you start laughing in church and are terrified that you are truly going to bust out in laughter... pretty soon you are laughing about laughing and it never ends. Then the next part is the best... He tells us that he lives his life according to the religion of Star Trek. He believes that if we would operate like Star Trek there would be no hunger, etc. I couldn't even listen anymore because I was laughing so hard, and trying to stay quiet. Tears were streaming down my face and my friend behind me was telling me to get a grip because she was trying not to laugh -- she was right in line w/ where he was sitting and he kept staring over at us.

It was great. I felt like I was sitting in a jr. high class, rather than a Master's course. This guy was so creepy strange... I have a feeling that he and Tom Cruise would get along real well. Tune in next week for more Trekky updates. :) Because I have a feeling that's not the last we'll here from him. Oh! And his name is Dirk -- strange similarity to Captain Kirk... Hmmm...

American Idol

On Sunday Tony, Ruthie & I went to the American Idols Live concert here in St. Louis. Tony managed to find us 8th row floor seats at this sold out concert on eBay. So we found a babysitter and went! We've watched Idol for several seasons now and have never gone to one of these concerts. It was really so much fun. The seats were awesome -- never sat that close before. And once the security guards made the obnoxious 10 year old boy (spoiled brat, wearing pimp daddy sunglasses on top of his gelled head in the dark stadium) in front of us get off his chair we could see everything great. He proceeded to sit down and pout for about 10 minutes before his parents traded seats with him and let him run in the aisle. Never say never... but... Kaiya is definitly never going to get away with acting like that w/ us! :) Back to Idol. Here are pictures from the concert. The only Idol not able to perform was Bucky (oh darn). :)

Ace (who thinks he's so hot) charming the ladies.

Our favorite performance of the night.
Chris and Elliott teamed up for Nickelback's Saving Me.
It was SO good.

Chris performing solo.

Taylor Hicks

Money Bags & his new toy

This is a picture of Money Bags and his lovely new cat scratcher. I recently saw this in Trader Joe's and spent several minutes debating over whether to get it. Would he really like it? Does he really need a cat scratcher when he doesn't have front claws? What will Tony say when I bring home a cat scratcher for the cat he pretends not to like? After roleplaying different scenarios in my mind I decided to spring for the cat scratcher. After all, Money Bags is just starting to get back to his normal self after the traumatic events of earlier this summer. He deserves a cat luxury -- and Trader Joe's (our favorite grocery) takes anything back, recent or not, opened or not. And to my surprise... the cat scratcher was a hit! He smelled the cat nip a mile away and attacked me before I could even get it out of the box. I tried going in a different room to set it up but he was right on my heels. I set it on the floor and he went bonkers! Drool was literally dripping out of his mouth, he was purring, and he was rubbing his face all over the scratcher. Now... nothing about this scratcher looks comfortable. It is made out of cardboard and then catnip is sprinkled in the bottom of the box. But Money Bags has decided that this is his new nap spot. When Kaiya is screaming or crying, Money Bags runs over to his cat scratcher and rolls around on it. I still haven't figured that one out. He's either using it to get high and go to a happy place while Kaiya screams, or somehow he's secretly afraid that Kaiya is going to steal the cat scratcher from him. Who knows... But we know for sure that if it is up to Money Bags, our house will always have a Trader Joe's Cat Scratcher.

Who needs toys when you have toes!!

The latest development in Kaiya's life has been the finding of her feet! We had no idea they could be such cheap entertainment! And they even taste good. :)

Penney's Pictures

I picked up the pictures that we had taken at JC Penney at the end of July.

So excited -- they turned out great.

Kaiya & AJ

Here's what Kaiya is up to while I'm at work... comfy chair while getting a foot massage. What a life...

Rachel's English Test...

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

0% Dixie

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Kaiya and Ziggy

Another picture taken during our weekend. How cute is this? Ziggy is such a fun dog.

More weekend pictures

Earlier in the weekend, before the float, we visited a state park near Bekah's home. All of her patients have been telling her she to visit it. So we met Bekah on our way down to Rolla and spent a couple hours walking around. Here's pictures a couple pictures. The park is called Meramec Spring and you hike back to this huge spring that flows into a trout sanctuary and it also flows into a river that people fish from. Bekah's dog Ziggy had fun watching the trout swim around and he was just dying to take a huge leap into the spring.

Float trip

This past weekend we had our daughter/dad float trip. The first of it's kind... It was great weather! We took 2 canoes and went on a 7.5 mile float (took us about 3.5 hours). We can't wait to do it again. Hopefully we can get my mom to join us on the next one. My dad says he thinks the only way we will get her out on the water is if Greg and Anita come out and we all convince her to do it. :) So... we'll have to work on that one. We think next time we might opt for a 6 man raft so we don't have to do so much work and have more room to move around. The river we floated on is called the Big Piney River and it is about 45 minutes southwest of where Bekah lives in Rolla. Here's the link to it: www.richslastresort.com

A Rose is a Rose

Tony brought home roses Tuesday and they completely captivated Kaiya. She wanted to spend a few minutes just taking them in. She is definitely a girly girl.... at least for now. We have had fun catching little glimpses of personality from Kaiya. She is very social -- will give a smile to almost anyone who smiles at her (or makes farting noises at her). She also loves to be talked to. And she has started a lot of baby gibberish as well. We had lots of storms last night and were without power for several hours. Got home to a dark house and decided to join Ruthie at her apartment because of the heat. It was sweltering in our house and we knew we wouldn't sleep well at all if we stuck it out. This week has had several extreme heat warnings -- yesterday we hit 102. The heat index is 115. Same is scheduled today. So we are all feeling a bit tired from a restless night of sleep. About 400,000 people are still without power. We are counting our blessings that ours is back on. Tony got out of classes today because of it -- I'm at work though. And very jealous of him. He insists that he is working today though... :) Yeah... barely believable.

Pictures

Here's a cute picture of Kaiya. And then the other picture is of her hair yesterday. :) Sticking straight up... thought it was picture worthy! :)

Dinner with Friends

Here are pictures from a couple weeks ago. Kaiya and I went to the Bread Co. w/ friends from school. We had a great time catching up and playing with Kaiya.

Our weekend

We spent Friday night enjoying the Cardinals baseball game at Busch Stadium. Here's the view from our seats! It was a great game -- Cardinals shut the Dodgers out and it didn't get over too late, either. Kaiya had a great time with the babysitter, and of course, didn't miss us a bit! :) The rest of the weekend was good too. Went to a few garage sales on Saturday, enjoyed the sun on our back deck with the kiddie pool I found at a garage sale, & helped Ruthie get her apartment ready for a roommate. Sunday was a relaxing day. We went to church, out to lunch, grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and then home to get ready for small group.

Take me out to the Ball Game!

FYI -- Tony & I will be at the Cardinals game tonight (Friday). Esther says it is going to be broadcast on Fox Sports Midwest... so... if you get it, and have nothing better to do, look for us. We will be seated on the second row just slightly left of home plate. Our first date without Kaiya. :) It should be fun. Gametime is at 7:10 Central time.

Meow

My weekend came to quite an end, spending all of Sunday night dealing with Money Bags. It was something out of a movie scene! I'll give you the play-by-play. It all started with the nasty fruit flies that have been living in my kitchen. I thought it was just b/c of the summer and leaving the windows open. Yesterday I finally got fed up with them and went to Wal-Mart and bought several of those nasty sticky strips to catch the boogers. After I got home and hung them, Tony called me and mentioned that he was pretty sure that the flies were coming from a basket on top of the fridge. I check and sure enough there is an entire bunch of bananas from like 10 years ago. Gross. Tony must not have realized I bought them and I can't stand bananas, so they just began decomposing on top of our fridge. I have no idea why we didn't smell them... I'm trying not to think about it.


So... back to the flies. Ruthie goes into the kitchen and finds Money Bags on the counter (naughty cat). She hollers at him to get down and in the process he manages to get one of the fly strips stuck to his tail. All of a sudden I hear Ruthie screaming and Money Bags screaming. Like the cat screams on cartoons... He was racing all over the house getting the nasty fly strip stuck to other parts of his body. Pretty soon he couldn't even walk because it had stuck to his back legs. I finally got to him and was able (with Ruthie's help) to get the strip off of him. I read on the box that the only way to get the glue out is to use vegetable oil. Gross. I had to douse him in canola oil. So the glue came out, but how do you get vegetable oil out of cat fur? You don't... Three baths later he is still a grease ball. By the end of the third bath he started getting patches of skin showing through his hair. Talk about traumatic. :)

These pictures were taken between the 2nd and 3rd bath. I had to do most of it myself because Ruthie had to hold Kaiya (who also decided to scream for about an hour straight during the whole episode). :) So much fun. My mom suggested using cornstarch as a degreaser -- her remedy book came up with that one. That's a great idea for clothing... personally, I wouldn't suggest it on a cat. I tested that out on a section of his fur on his back. Not so helpful... that's when his hair started falling out. :) I decided to call it quits around 10 p.m. After Money Bags realized we were done dousing him with shampoo and water he spent the rest of the night under our bed, licking himself. This morning wasn't much of an improvement... I may do another bath in a few days if he's still oily. It's pretty funny now. Not so funny Sunday night. I think Tony was secretly delighted. One more thing to add to his list of why we need to get rid of Money Bags... :) And... Money Bags has been on a diet for like 2 years... He may knock 5 years off his life and die of a heart attack from licking all of the vegetable oil off his fur.