Nothing. No sound, hum, or whisper. It can be haunting. Silence can create a feeling of peace or the feeling of being so utterly alone. When silence is welcomed & embraced, it can cause a person to calm down, be renewed, cleansing the mind & surroundings from all distraction.
When silence is unexpected, it can create panic, fear, a sense that hope may be lost.
Silence in a relationship can feel pretty hopeless. You ask a question and get no response. You expect a question but it never comes. A lull in the conversation, thoughts with no words, feelings without expression. Silence - it is a word that God has made very familiar to me lately. It has resulted in much loneliness and self-inflicted isolation. It's not that I am holed in my home refusing to go anywhere. Quite the opposite. I know that God's timing is not my own. I know that there have been other dry times in my spiritual journey - I just haven't figured out what He is saying through His silence. I will continue to stand at my post - listening, watching, waiting. He is never far, He hears our prayers and He knows our hearts. I have not lost hope.
Be still and know that I am God; Those who wait on Him will renew their strength; Wait for the Lord, Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Our first & last family road trip
I am writing this blog to retell the experience and to remind myself (when I get far enough away from it and can't remember) why I know it's not a good idea to take a family road trip...
I took the girls on a road trip to Indiana last September with my parents. No snafus - Mattie was still taking 2 naps a day, the DVD player worked and we took lots of fun stops (oh yeah, and my dad drove through the night!) They had a great time.
Our Thanksgiving road trip ended up being anything but what we expected. Mattie got sick 36 hours before we left on our first family road trip out of Colorado. We left home around dinner time on the Friday before Thanksgiving. We soon discovered the DVD player wasn't working and the girls weren't at all interested in coloring or reading books. Mattie got worse as the night went on. I ended having to pull her out of her seat about 11:00pm and let her sleep on my chest in my seat belt since her high fever was causing her to scream incessantly and keeping the other girls awake.
Tracy didn't last as long driving as he thought, so we had to stop for the night (oh yeah, after Mattie threw up all over me!) The girls complained more than I thought they knew how but we finally made it to La Center, Washington on Saturday night.
I decided to go up to Seattle so we could see Dave & Ingrid's new home. Tracy stayed in La Center to work so I was going solo. 45 minutes into our 2 1/4 hour trip, Ellie threw up her breakfast. I was able to find a gas station at the next exit just in time for Kiki to throw up (what I thought was a sympathetic move - since the smell was pretty bad). Well, after buying Gatorade for everyone, I made the decision to continue North. By the time we arrived, Kiki had a full blown fever (& one more up-chuck just for icing on the day). I found out I had work due to my boss about an hour too late and was scrambling to get some work done while still attending to my sick daughter and my well daughters! In spite of it all, we had a fun day and we all headed out to Saba & G'ma's house after dinner. My check engine light came on 10 minutes down the road! There was 1 day to find someone to look at the van before Thanksgiving (and we were leaving Friday for home). Did I miss anything, Tracy? Oh yeah, did I mention he was working the week we were there?
We had a sweet time seeing family, the van checked out, and the DVD player had power for the ride home. Ellie ended up getting sick as well while we were there - each child had it for 5 days with not too many days of overlap so it was almost 2 full weeks.
We were exhausted when we finally arrived home after 1 more hotel night's stay. Adding up our expenses, we saved about $300and lost 2 extra days to road travel rather than flying. SOOO not worth the savings : > ) We are a flying family and that is that. We look forward to being in the air in July when we visit the fam again. A little less money in the bank but a whole more sanity in the brain!
I took the girls on a road trip to Indiana last September with my parents. No snafus - Mattie was still taking 2 naps a day, the DVD player worked and we took lots of fun stops (oh yeah, and my dad drove through the night!) They had a great time.
Our Thanksgiving road trip ended up being anything but what we expected. Mattie got sick 36 hours before we left on our first family road trip out of Colorado. We left home around dinner time on the Friday before Thanksgiving. We soon discovered the DVD player wasn't working and the girls weren't at all interested in coloring or reading books. Mattie got worse as the night went on. I ended having to pull her out of her seat about 11:00pm and let her sleep on my chest in my seat belt since her high fever was causing her to scream incessantly and keeping the other girls awake.
Tracy didn't last as long driving as he thought, so we had to stop for the night (oh yeah, after Mattie threw up all over me!) The girls complained more than I thought they knew how but we finally made it to La Center, Washington on Saturday night.
I decided to go up to Seattle so we could see Dave & Ingrid's new home. Tracy stayed in La Center to work so I was going solo. 45 minutes into our 2 1/4 hour trip, Ellie threw up her breakfast. I was able to find a gas station at the next exit just in time for Kiki to throw up (what I thought was a sympathetic move - since the smell was pretty bad). Well, after buying Gatorade for everyone, I made the decision to continue North. By the time we arrived, Kiki had a full blown fever (& one more up-chuck just for icing on the day). I found out I had work due to my boss about an hour too late and was scrambling to get some work done while still attending to my sick daughter and my well daughters! In spite of it all, we had a fun day and we all headed out to Saba & G'ma's house after dinner. My check engine light came on 10 minutes down the road! There was 1 day to find someone to look at the van before Thanksgiving (and we were leaving Friday for home). Did I miss anything, Tracy? Oh yeah, did I mention he was working the week we were there?
We had a sweet time seeing family, the van checked out, and the DVD player had power for the ride home. Ellie ended up getting sick as well while we were there - each child had it for 5 days with not too many days of overlap so it was almost 2 full weeks.
We were exhausted when we finally arrived home after 1 more hotel night's stay. Adding up our expenses, we saved about $300and lost 2 extra days to road travel rather than flying. SOOO not worth the savings : > ) We are a flying family and that is that. We look forward to being in the air in July when we visit the fam again. A little less money in the bank but a whole more sanity in the brain!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Potty, Mommy!
Whether she is just the strong silent type or she's got government secrets locked inside her little head that she can't tell us - Mattie never ceases to surprise with her actions (there are very few words)!
Tracy and I were gone for the weekend and got back late Sunday evening. With the time change, we figured we wouldn't get much time with Mattie (thought she'd pass out early), but she was a trooper and wanted to stay up celebrating her parent's return. I was getting her into her jammies, and we went into the bathroom to sit on the potty like every night. I'm pretty sure she was waiting until we got home to demonstrate her new found talent...She sat down and peed!
My cheers that came out of the bathroom are to be compared to a football game touchdown cheer. Everyone came running upstairs and started cheering for Mattie! She was so very proud of herself and gave everyone high-5s.
Looking back today with a clear head, I'm pretty sure it was all coincidence since she hasn't been at all interested in sitting on her little potty today, but it sure was a nice welcome home present. Maybe it won't be hard the 3rd time around! There's light at the end of the stinky diaper tunnel!
Tracy and I were gone for the weekend and got back late Sunday evening. With the time change, we figured we wouldn't get much time with Mattie (thought she'd pass out early), but she was a trooper and wanted to stay up celebrating her parent's return. I was getting her into her jammies, and we went into the bathroom to sit on the potty like every night. I'm pretty sure she was waiting until we got home to demonstrate her new found talent...She sat down and peed!
My cheers that came out of the bathroom are to be compared to a football game touchdown cheer. Everyone came running upstairs and started cheering for Mattie! She was so very proud of herself and gave everyone high-5s.
Looking back today with a clear head, I'm pretty sure it was all coincidence since she hasn't been at all interested in sitting on her little potty today, but it sure was a nice welcome home present. Maybe it won't be hard the 3rd time around! There's light at the end of the stinky diaper tunnel!
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