I hope I am a good mother

We had this hanging in our house when I was growing up and since I came across it again a few months I have thought on it several times.  What am I teaching my children?  What are the little things that I do unintentionally, or intentionally, that will shape the person they become.  I think being a mother takes practice, reminders, and sometimes learning things the hard way, but I know they harder I try the better it will turn out, the better they will turn out.

If a child lives with criticism,

he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,

he learns to fight.

If a child lives with fear,

he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with pity,

he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule,

he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy,

he learns to feel guilt.

BUT

If a child lives with tolerance,

he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement,

he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with praise,

he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance,

he learns to love.

If a child lives with honesty,

he learns what truth is.

If a child lives with fairness,

he learns justice.

If a child lives with security,

he learns to have faith in himself and those about him.

If a child lives with friendliness,

he learns the world is a nice place in which to live.

Dorothy L. Law, 1959

Happy Mother's Day to all those out there who have been and continue to be an example to me.  Yes, that means you - whether you are a mom or not.

Vamos a celebrar Cinco de Mayo!

Hooray for Mexico!  Thanks for giving us an excuse to get together and party!

It's really all about the food.  Everyone brought some really yummy Mexican dishes. Too bad I was getting over the stomach flu and couldn't eat much, but I'm sure it was all delicious!

Cody: "I can't look at the camera or my food will blow away!" (Notice the food on the table, that was from his neighbor's plate - it was a little windy)

Despite being slightly chilly (yes, on May 5), a good time was had by all.

And you can't have a Mexican party without a piñata!

Thanks Jessica and Stan for hosting and getting us all together for good food and good fun!

One month from today

I will be on a plane to here:

That's Central America, in case you couldn't tell.  El Salvador is roughly the size of Massachusetts and has beautiful beaches.  But I won't be going there for a vacation.  Remember when I went to Uganda last year?  Well, I just found out a couple weeks ago that I will get to do the same thing this summer in El Salvador.  So you're saying, "What is the 'same thing'?  What do you actually do?"  I think I often assume that people know what I do and what I love, but just in case you've been left out of the loop...

I am on the Board of a non-profit called HELP International, which trains volunteers to do community development and humanitarian service in less developed countries.  This year, in addition to El Salvador and Uganda, we are also working in Thailand, India, Fiji and Belize.  Volunteers will be there May thru August and my job is to visit their projects, support the Country Directors, give them advice (if I have any), and make sure things are running smoothly.  I also get to meet with our in-country partners, as all our projects are done in conjunction with a local organization, making what we do more sustainable.  For an idea of some of the projects, you can click here, but it really varies every year depending on the abilities of our volunteers and the need of our partner organizations.

The last time I was in El Salvador was in 2005, a memorable trip for two reasons:

One, I got to take my brother Mark with me.

eating conejo (I'll let you figure that one out.)

starting the ground for a pig pen

door-to door mosquito abatement program

us with the other volunteers

And two, I was the absolute sickest I have ever been in a foreign country or maybe ever, and it was all thanks to this baby, pineapple strawberry liquado froma street vendor.  Yes, I broke the rules one time and it was really good, but I paid dearly.

We'll see how the trip goes this time.  But I am very, very excited.

Meet the Robinsons

Didn't you always wonder how they got hair to stick straight up? 

Forget the gel. 

We've figured it out. 

Hopefully all of our experiments will turn into something useful one day.

My Brave Little Ninja

They were huge.  And since our doctor, the specialist and our dentist were concerned, we decided to go ahead and get those puppies out.  So last Friday, our little Cody had to go in for surgery to have his tonsils and adenoids removed.  He was such a good little guy!  He was actually looking forward to it.  Every time he would cough or something, he would say it was because of his "fat tonsils".  And he confessed to me one night that his tonsils got so big because he ate his boogers.  Yeah, he's a boy.  On a more accurate medical note, they were causing sleep problems, sickness, and the dentist said it would start to affect the movement and growth of his jaw.  So the decision was made and now it's done.  Lucky for Cody, and us, everything went very smoothly.

Waiting at the hospital at 7 in the morning.

Cody showing me his bandaid after he got some blood drawn.  He didn't even flinch, he just watched with great interest, as I'm in the background wincing for him - definitely his father's son.  All of the nurses thought he was so sweet and two of them commented on his beautiful, long eyelashes - those are from his dad too.

"Show me your brave face."

Cody decided that he was a ninja, because they were very brave.  This was his bracelet that gave him special powers.

Cody preparing by putting on his "ninja jammies".

Waiting for them to take him back.  He loved that he had his own TV and that the sound came out of the "controller".

He also loved the bag of goodies they gave him.  The yo-yo koosh ball was especially cool after the Versed kicked in. (Think of a mildly drunk 4 yr old.)  It was actually kind of funny.

The little ninja wanted his daddy when he came out.  Because of his asthma, his O2 levels were a little low, so they gave him a breathing treatment and we had to stay a little longer with him on oxygen.  But he was such a sweetie and hardly cried at all.  One of the nurses commented that he was the best tonsil patient she'd had!

Awake, drinking juice, breathing good, and ready to go home.  You did it, Cody!

He spent the next couple days playing video games and watching movies and I think we've had enough smoothies to last us a year, and hopefully it was all worth it.  But he did so good and we were so proud of him!  We love our brave little ninja!

Earth Day 2010

Just so you all know, I am a normal, everyday person and I am definitely NOT an environmental freak.  But I do think some things are important - and easy - like recycling.  So for Earth Day this year, I really wanted to dress me and my kids in paper bags and show people how many bags they waste every year.  And do something productive like make people in our community aware of how easy our curbside recycling is.  It's only $6 a month and you don't have to sort it at all!  Anyway, but that didn't work out, so here's what we did do.

They were such good little trash picker-uppers.  And we got ALOT in just over a block of road next to our subdivision.

Then we came home, ate pizza, and watched Disney's Earth movie.  It was actually pretty good. The kids were enthralled and we learned alot.  Corbin wasn't quite so sure about all the animals that have to hunt other animals, but it was a good learning experience. And it definitely made us appreciate our Earth and all of God's creations.  What a magnificent place we have been entrusted with!

What did you do for Earth Day?