Settling...

My soul seems to be settling a bit. It might sound strange, but I feel like my volume is turning down a little, and I'm listening more intently. Is this what happens when you turn 31? I don't know.

The girls are wonderful, and Kayden is almost 5! She is in private kindergarten at her school, and she is learning the most amazing things... like choo choos blow STEAM! This is how that conversation went...

Kayden: "Mommy, Mommy, listen!"

Me: "What, what..?"

Kayden: "This is important."

Me: "Ok." (Staring at her, as she was moving closer to my face.)

- She stops about an inch from my nose, wide-eyed and very serious.

Kayden: "CHOO-CHOOSSSS!" (Punctuated by a hand gesture of the "aha!" variety"

-pause-

...longer pause....

Kayden: "...blow steam..." in an almost inaudible whisper.

I cracked up. I'm not sure where she got it, but I'm thinking she was feeling pretty goofy, because the three of us girls (Kayden, Kylee and me) shared about a minute of belly-laughs. We then proceeded to name all the things that blow steam; not the least of which was Daddy that ended up being the most humorous of all.

Every moment with those two is becoming more and more hilarious. Lord knows we need the laughs. The past couple of months have been fraught with "ups and downs". I lost someone very important to me. She was instrumental in allowing me to have a normal and happy childhood. She died suddenly two years ago, and I just found out. I have had to grieve quietly. My girls are so in tune with my emotions, so I didn't want them to feel how awfully painful it is for me. It think that grief has been the catalyst for my increased introspection, as of late.

I am really focusing on our little family. Not that I wasn't before the past few months, but it is more pronounced as a priority for me. Sometimes we take the rhythm of life as a "given".... We don't realize that every breath is a gift. I am trying to focus on not missing any of it. It could be gone tomorrow, and I am so thankful for today.

My parents pulled an RV up to the lake this summer, so that they would have a nice place to relax when they visited. Not that out house wasn't relaxing or welcoming, but it's nice to not have kiddos attached to your every move. The four of us went out to the lake one weekend, and we made friends with the locals ;-)








That little white blurb in Kayden's arms is our new Maltese, Stella. She's awesome. The breeder was running a mill, I surmised later, because her ears were pretty dirty and she had urine stains on her paws and face. She has since been pampered and groomed. I had to have her shaved down to the skin, but her new coat is going to be gorgeous. She is sportin' a pink cable-knit sweater right now, but I'll take it off when her coat grows out a little more. It's actually coming in pretty fast. I'll have to post a recent picture, soon. She is about 6 months old now, (still waiting on papers - takes FOREVER), and she will be no bigger than about four or five pounds. Hardy tolerates her between accidentally stepping on her and being chased and nipped all over the place, so we at least are sure he won't eat her haha

Aside from all the family awesomeness, I am running more than I ever have in my life. My longest run is 16 miles, to date. I will be running 18 this weekend, so I need super prayers. I ran around the TAMU campus last weekend, and it was tough. The cool thing was that it was raining and somewhat cool... PERFECT running weather. The marathon is on December 13th, and I am just praying that it all goes well and injury-free. I have started a donation site for Ronald McDonald House Charities. The thought was that I would donate a dollar for every mile that I run, and then I figured why not allow others to donate, as well? So, before the marathon, I am going to try and donate as much as I can, and pray that it helps at least one family a little.

I am REALLY going to try and get back in the swing of blogging.... I want to be sure to remember every moment of this wonderful life ;-)