Day 17

Happy Birthday to my Dad! He would be 66 today! I sure do miss him.

Day 16

Today I am thankful for the program my kids attend on tuesday nights called AWANAS. The boys are both growing tremendously in their knowledge of the bible. Of course one day I would hope and love to see them as complete followers of Jesus in every aspect of their live's but alas I know they will need to make that decision for themselves. For now I will do my job as their parent to give them experiences that foster what our family values most. For more information about what AWANS is,

go here
http://awana.org/on/demandware.store/Sites-Awana-Site/default/Default-Start

Day 15

I am so thankful for my family. Jeff and I have been married over 8 years now and have been together for 9. We have three beautiful, and healthy children. We live in a beautiful town surrounded by many friends and family. We live a simple life really. We rarely travel or vacation, we don't have expensive things, we live in a small (sometimes it feels too small) but comfortable apt in a great area of town, our children go to decent schools. Neither one of us are working which has it's pros and cons. We will only discuss the pro's here today. The fact is my husband has been unemployed since May 2009 thats quite awhile. During this time our family has grown very close together. We are constantly together and supporting each other in each of our own adventures. Not many dads can say they get to take their children to and from school and after school activities on a daily basis. Of course jeff could have gotten a job anytime over the last year and a half but his job of being a dad in this season of our life was way more important. Don't get me wrong he was still working very hard going to school full time during this time. His schedule allowed him the time to be with his family more often then not. After working in ministry for a certain amount of time things can tend to slip with the nature of ministry outside the home. We are very grateful for this time our family has had together and as it is coming to a close we are mourning the loss of this season. Yes I did say close...details on changes coming soon. Today we are just thankful to be together.

Day 14

Lady and Lady's man Derby Prom 2010

I am thankful for my Derby Widow! Again I am guessing you are wondering what a Derby Widow is right?

I borrowed this for your reading enjoyment :)

A Roller Derby Widow’s Guide to the Grief Process

So, fellas, and some lucky ladies, your partner has joined the derby. You thought it would be fun for your woman to pick up a new sport, and now you sit in a house full of sexy hosiery wondering when you will see your partner again. This is a challenging time fraught with confusion and loneliness. Know that you are not alone. The mourning process is real. Every widow’s experience is unique, but you may recognise the following:

Denial – Many of us are ashamed to admit that early in the derby widow experience, it is actually exciting. Suddenly, it’s ok to watch a mass of women in short skirts plow into each other without turning off the internet browser filter. Your home is often filled with your wife’s hot, hilarious teammates. Your lover’s fitness is advancing at an astonishing rate, she’s taken over changing tyres, and she seems to have found an inexplicable comfort with firearms. When she drags you to the local all-night roller disco, you beam with pride at her skating skills.

Anger- It’s 9:30 p.m. and you haven’t seen Madamoiselle de Derby since yesterday. The house is littered with skates or wristguards that smell like week-old roadkill that previously subsisted on a diet of limburger. She’s spending all her time doing ‘tracking stats’, writing ‘line-ups’ or glued to some message board discussing the merits of taping make-up sponges to her blisters. Then, when you slump off to the pub to drown your sorrows with your mates, she rolls in two hours after you, red-faced and laughing about the ‘after party’.

Bargaining – You are a product of the modern age, no? You can handle this if she’ll just give in a bit. But your attempts to keep Wednesdays for ‘us’ time and coax her to take the summer hols somewhere where she can’t visit a local league just aren’t making it go away.

Sadness - You miss her. It’s common to experience ‘What if’ questions at this stage, like ‘What if I had just encouraged her to join something more delicate, like street fighting or kendo instead?’

Acceptance – Hard as it may be to understand this, you will eventually learn to embrace your roller derby girl. You may start to realise that your mates crowd around with anticipation to hear about the latest pile-up at practice, that when you finally watch a bout it feels like your first rock concert, or that you’ve tried on the referee stripes and have developed a taste of your own for the track. The women of the roller derby are a rare breed who will find the derby with or without you. All you can do is thank the derby goddesses above, and start on that sign for the next bout.

Day 13

Lady Dodga + Emma S. Enforcer = Lady Enforcers? you never know...

I am so thankful for my new "derby wife" don't freak out it's not totally legal. I knew from almost the very beginning that we were meant to be. We have very similar lives. She rocks my socks! For those that want to really get an under standing what a Derby wife is read below, I borrowed this from another blog, very well written.

A derby wife is quite simply this -

She is the one person in this whole sport of roller derby that the very instant you looked at her, you felt like you'd known her since you were a fetus. She looked just like your best friend from fifth grade, or something she did reminded you of all the things you ever liked in anyone else.
She is the first person you'd call if you ever need to get bailed out of jail. (Or in my case, ever need to have an entire legal crusade started in your name.)
She's the one who will be holding back your hair when you puke after drinking too much, and she won't let anyone take your picture while doing it.
She'll ride in the ambulance with you when you lose a tooth, break your wrist, or tear your ACL.She'll make you laugh the whole way to the hospital, try to steal your pain medication (lovingly), and sneak your favorite food and a beer into recovery.
She'll make her actual husband understand that if he loves her, he's gonna have to put up with you, too, no matter how many times you come over forcing him to revisit all the derby-related shows on his Tivo that you missed.
She may not even be your best friend in the league or the sport, but she'd be the one you know will be the first one to back you up, even if you're dead wrong. She'll just tell you you've lost your f#$king mind later in private, possibly kick your ass a little bit, and then be the only one who could ever talk your hotheaded ass into some reason.
If you can find more than one derby wife who can meet those needs, then you are lucky indeed, but myself? I'm a one derby wife gal.

Day 12

We took the kids the Air 1 Freedom concert tonight at Santa Cruz Bible Church, in which I forgot to bring my camera to. Four bands played for almost three hours while all three of our kids danced around with such joy and delight. It wasn't just the music that was sweet it was the message behind the music that could not help but reach one's heart.

Human Trafficking is an epidemic not just in other countries but our very own...San Francisco is well known for it's sex slave underground industry. Even Santa Cruz is on the map when it comes to human trafficking.



Check out this website to see how you to can get involved to end modern day slavery.

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

Day 11

Thank you to all who have given their lives and those who are still fighting for our freedom today. We are forever grateful.

Day 10

We are so very thankful for our wonderful friends and their two lovely daughters. This past summer while Myles was away at camp, and Zoey was at school, RIley got to have a special one on one time play date with his friend Ryan. The two had so much fun together bouncing up and down and every which direction on the trampoline, hours of fun for sure! Today is Ryan's 4th birthday. We are so thankful that Riley and Ryan are becoming such great friends.

Day 9

Today was a very busy day...Kids up before 6:00am. Started 4 loads of laundry. Made a homemade breakfast, plus made daddy's lunch and Myles snack. Each kiddo that needed meds got their on and on time! Backpacks, extra clothes bags and book bags packed and ready to go. 3 kids and one daddy dressed and ready to go...All this by 7:45am! I so wish I could have crawled back into bed at this time. If you know me then you know it is extremely rare for me to just sit in my quiet empty house for the 3 hours of piece I could have at least three days a week. No silly me has to fill in every bit of empty time to the fullest, I really have no idea why I do this to myself. Anyhow lately our home has become quite the disaster, granted we live in a small space with no real storage and their are 5 of us...Well on this particular morning the FSW (Family Service Worker) from Riley's preschool was going to be coming by for a visit at 9:00am. So I finished my breakfast and checked my e-mails. Started dishes, swept the floor, cleaned all cluttered surfaces, cleaned kids table, vacuumed, cleaned windows/doors. Made sure all toys had a home even if for only a few hours! Finally at ten to nine I was able to jump in the shower, not much time to spare thats for sure. Well as 9 O Clock on the dot the FSW calls and said she is running late. This was great news as it allowed me time to somewhat relax...Well she got here about 9:25 and stayed until about 10:15am. It went well as it usually does, basically her job is to make sure we know about every resource there is in this community. Can i just say she has the best job!! I would love to do her job, in fact while living in CO I sorta did and even now I feel compelled to share resources with those I know. Dream job, is for another post...After she left I booked it to the post office, then to Costco where I stood in line behind 11 people to return BAD bacon! You know bacon is bad a) when kids wont eat it and b) when the grease does not harden but stays liquified and bubbly...ick!! Of course being at Costco made me shop...Then i stopped over at the Boardwalk bowl to drop off fliers for a fundraiser I am in charge of called the Turkey Bowl!! After that I rushed by the Milk "store". Then hopped on the freeway to the preschool where I needed to pick up the babies (there not babies 2 and 4 years, but they are my babies) While picking up R one of his teachers approached me to tell me that he really did not have a great day in fact she called him challenging...ugh! Okay well that to can be a hole other post...After walking outside the preschool we hung out on the awn with another preschool buddy for a good 30 minutes, just catching up. Then we rushed to trader joe's for a few snacks (the ones we can only afford to get monthly) then on to Myles school for his early release day. After picking up Myles and his sweet little friend our neighbor Bailey we rushed home to meet Zoey's FSW. As I was breaking all child labor laws by the kids carrying in my groceries Teacher Arlae arrived. By the time we were in the house i was starving..The kids seemed to need something every second of our mtg...such is life. Thankfully Arlae loves kids Once the mtg was over I took M and B down to the boys and girls club so that m can go to his karate class. After dropping them off we rushed to M's school for his parent/teacher conference, unfortunately tues is Jeff's late day so me and the two littles came along. By the time we got to the school Z was fast asleep. She slept on me for nearly the entire conference, which had gone better then I thought. Myles' teacher this year is less than stellar...again another blog topic...After leaving the school we went home to relax for about an hour before having to pick up M from Karate! As we were pulling in one of M's friends needed a place to hang out while his mom attended their parent teacher conference. Of course being the mom.family/home we are he came right in. We watched tv gasp...for a good 45 minutes before having to leave to get Myles. After we got Myles we went home for dinner. By now jeff had arrived home and so did our beloved friend/sister Tessa. After i got together 3 meals of left overs, everyone wanted something different of course, we left for AWANAS. Usually Jeff and I have a mini fro yo date while the kids are at church but on this night we had more errands to run. First up pharmacy for multiple prescriptions, oh how I loather the pharmacy at night...After that we ran to yet another Safeway to return our block buster one night rental, then we browsed best buy's video game selection, jeff eyes DJ Hero 2! Why the heck does the price of the Nintendo DS never go down? Santa are you out there? Year three Myles would like a DS....After leaving best buy we picked up the kids and headed home. We had a fairly uneventful bedtime routine which at this point was muchly needed. After the kids went to bed we sat on the couch and spaced out to 16 and pregnant, one of my favorite shows, I know I know...it's truly sad yet reality that this is the world we live in...Well 10:00 rolls around and I am passed out on the couch missing my new favorite show parenthood...sigh...loooon busy hectic day...such was my life today...All this to say I am so thankful this day is OVER!!!

Day 8

This picture is from one of our past park play dates, a much warmer one in deed.

I am thankful for a day off from school, for almost everyone in the house :) Today we joined are friends Caitlin and Sean at the park for a much needed lazy, mellow, non stress play date. So lazy I forgot the camera. The sun was out but that does not mean it was warm, in fact it was very cold and crisp. The wind was often out off control bone chillin, but the alomost 2 hours we spent outside on this beautiful fall day was very well worth it.

Day 7

This morning when I woke up Jeff told me how VFC (Vintage Faith Church) was going to be speaking on homosexuality. Jeff knows me well, he knows I love to hear and learn about "hot topics" This one in particular has become close to my heart this past year. Since I've joined Derby I have met some really wonderful people in which have become my really great friends. Never before could I say some of my closet friends are Gay. I am sure some/most of them wonder why the heck would "some christian" want to be their friend?!?!? I am guessing by now they realize that I am a genuine friend and I don't care about what they do or don't do about their sexual orientation. Anyhow the speaker at church was amazing, all though I am left with many more questions then what I came in with but I also left with new resources that will hopefully help me articulate to my friends my personal belief as well as what some church's may be trying to say in regard to God, the Bible, the Church and the way we as believers in Christ should treat each person regardless of the sexual orientation. One of my favorite things the speaker said today was how the church has done an injustice to the Gay community and how we can no longer let this happen. I am thankful for the church recognizing it's faults and so stoked to see at least one local community openly discussing this topic.

Day 6

With only one game left in the season Riley Man scored his first goooooal!!!!! We are so excited for him. We are thankful that he has such a neat bond with his coach whom is always very encouraging, even when Riley is a bit all over the place and wanting to take a break every 5 minutes!! At this particular game my boy did not stop running, he followed that ball every where it went, he never gave up!! Which is why he got his first goal!! We are so very proud of him and how far he has come during his first soccer season!! So very sad to see it ending next week.

Day 5

Friends are friends forever, or at least we can hope. Arranged marriages should still be legal today...if it were there is no doubt in my mind that these two could make an awesome pair. They have been friends for going on 3 years! There is still no such thing as girl/boy cuddies yet, well at least not between these two. I hope as the years go on that they can still be such great friends.

Day 4!

I'm Back!!!!

So extremely thankful for Roller Derby and what it has brought to my life this past year, yes it was a year on October 27th, can you believe that?!?! Since my surgery in July I have only skated 7 times, yes 7 times. Tonight I was given chance to re asses with the freshies. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty bummed about having to re asses again. I had passed the first time around last April but when I got hurt in June I had to take time (too much time) off to recover which unfortunately changed my skater status. I wasn't feeling like I was ready to pass tonight but I felt like at the very least I needed to try without expectation of passing. Well I did it I passed!I am so relived that my journey has once again started and I with no doubt know there are many and I mean many things I need to work on before team try outs in Jan. Baby steps right. I am just thankful that my hubby and kiddos allow me this time away 3 plus times a week to be involved with such an amazing group of woman as well as such a physically empowering sport which I have grown to love!!

PS, I'm also stoked to just have received my awesome letters for my helmet, making this one fantastic night to remember!

Day 3!

I love my family.

This was the best family vacation we have ever gone on (not that we vacation much) but when we do I think camping is the way to go! This was fun for so many reasons. It was a much needed breath of fresh air for all of us. We are making this trip to Pinecrest an annual vacation! From August til Nov the the kids still talk about this trip almost daily!

Day 2

Genuine love!

30 Days of Thankfulness!

Day 1: Summer in November!

Sundresses, park play time and the warm shining sun, what else could you wish for, for the first day of November!