For my Mother-in-law, who says I've obviously been busy lately. :)

You know the problem with getting out of synch with regular blogging? Writing that next post. I have lots of ideas, but not all of them want to come out just yet. I know that the next post is not usually my favorite, so I don't want to "waste" any good ideas if I'm not going to write them well. But I just need to get going again. I thought about giving a theme to certain days. I have a friend who does Mundane Mondays, and another who does the Tuesday Ten, and yet another who does Friday Flibbertijibbits. I thought, "Weirded-Out Wednesdays? Thesaurus Thursdays? Sappy Saturdays?" Yeah. I thought it was ridiculous, too.

So here it is. My regular ol', one time "Getting back into the Groove" post.



There have been a few things I've enjoyed lately that I wanted to share.

1. My Monday night life group. We're watching DVDs based on the book "Culture of Honor" by Danny Silk. And they are changing my life. The first night I pulled one point out of his message and chewed, and chewed, and chewed it to bits. I will never be the same after realizing I had this lie buried inside me. Maybe that will be in a future post. :)

2. Heaven is for Real. You've probably seen this book in Wal-Mart. My friend, Lisa, loaned me her copy. She did this because a.) she is a giver, and b.) she knows I have a need to read good books, and she helps me out with that whenever she can. It's a quality I love about her!
I think this book is lovely. I don't want to give anything away, because I want you to read it for yourself. All I will say, is that after reading this book I think, "Why on earth do we hold onto life so hard? Shouldn't we all have a death wish so we can hurry up and get to heaven?" Ok, that's a little exaggerated. A little. I know why I love my life, and I'm sure you love yours. Truly. But heaven sounds so, so good to me now. And this book left me walking around the house singing to my girls, "Heaven is a wonderful place! (I wanna go there!)"

3. Sandra Boynton and Mo Willems. Have I ever mentioned how much I love children's books? These are two of my favorite kids' authors. She writes board books like this one and this one, and he writes the Elephant & Piggie books which I love and tell EVERYONE about. We have several books in our homes with these two names on the front.

4. This cd. (Oh, come on! You know I had to go there!)

What have you been enjoying lately?

Day Three

If you know me at all, you may have seen this coming . . . a praise song for kids! This idea was inspired by Elsie, who actually sang/shout out, "Turn around, turn around, jump, jump, jump!" a few days ago. Here it is:

Turn Around (Jump Jump Jump For You)

I believe that You are good all the time
I can count on Your love
I've heard You say your dreams for me are so, so big
I'm not afraid, You live in me

When I think about my God it
Makes me want to

Turn around, turn around and jump, jump, jump for joy
Wanna clap, clap, clap and shout Your name out loud
Wave my hands in the air and do a crazy dance
Turn around, turn around and jump, jump, jump for You

When I think about my God
When I think of who You are
When I think about my God it
Makes me want to

Reasons I love having little girls.

1. They can sing "Sisters" from White Christmas.

2. Friends for life. A sales clerk saw me in the store with the girls the other day and she said that she has three daughters and she tells them, "I've given you automatic friends." Indeed.

3. Ponytails and braids.

4. Mermaids and fairies.

5. Tiaras and make-up.

6. Unicorns and glitter (!)

7. Watching small girls carry your purse around is too fun.

8. Playing house with babies.

9. Tea parties.

10. Every Sunday is like playing dress up with my three favorite dolls.

If you have girls, what are some of your favorite things? If you have boys, I'd love to hear the list you're keeping, too!

In which, we meet Maureen.

Well. I've taken a very long break from posting, but allow me to make my way back into blogging by introducing you to someone.


For those of you who love the stats, Maureen Nicole was born October 16, at 3:04pm and was 7 lbs 11.5 oz, and 20.5 inches long. Maureen means "wished-for child" or "great", and Nicole means "victory of the people" or "victorious people," all of which seem appropriate.

I love this pic. Maureen in her "Little Sister" shirt, between her two sisters whose shirts say, "Big Sister."

Maureen is sweet and kissable. She brings something special to our family already.

Somehow, I really thought we would have a girl again, even before we saw the gender through ultrasound. After the ultrasound, strangers would see my pregnant belly while I pushed my other two daughters in a cart through the store and ask if we knew what we were having. And when I said that the doctor thought it was another girl (with a big smile on my face), they would say things like, "Oh no! Maybe next time," or even apologize. They always walked away quickly after that, which is probably good because I was annoyed. I was very much NOT sorry to be having another daughter.

Jason bought this shirt in Jericho for Maureen when she was about 9 weeks gestation. It says, "God did a great work here."

I think it would be great if we had a boy someday, but I am so glad we have Maureen. She is perfect for our family. I don't know how to explain it, but when I look at her, I know I could have all girls and be completely satisfied.

It helps that she's adorable and has a great smile.

And so, Maureen has completely stolen our hearts. People look at her and say that they don't know who she looks like, but she definitely belongs to us. And I love that. I love that she's with us, that she's part of us. I can't wait to find out more of who she is.


I love you Baby Girl!

Well. I've taken a very long break from posting, but I'll give you lots of pictures to try to make up. For those of you who love the stats, Maureen Nicole was born October 16, at 3:04pm and was 7 lbs 11.5 oz, and 20.5 inches long. Maureen means "wished-for child" or "great", and Nicole means "victory of the people" or "victorious people," all of which seemed appropriate. And now I would like to present, for your reading enjoyment: Why I Love Being the Mommy of Three Girls - I've always liked pink and purple - Every Sunday is like playing dress up with my three favorite dolls - They can sing "Sisters" from <span style="font-style: italic;">White Christmas</span> - Giggling and squealing - Female trios sound awesome - Rainbows, glitter, hearts, unicorns, sparkles, jewelry, princesses, fairies! - Headbands and piggy tails - Playing with make-up

Veil blog

Hey, everybody! It's that time of year again -- Easter, which for our church means "The Veil", our original musical production. This year some of the characters (including yours truly) are blogging on our church website, so if you're interested you can go here to check it out!

Do You have a Situation that Needs Imagination?

Dear Friends,

I would like to introduce you (if you have not previously met) to Rich, Scott, Dave, and Smitty -- also known as the Imagination Movers.

Now, if Jason reads this, he is going to say, "I can't believe it (or maybe, I knew it! ) She is blogging about the Imagination Movers! She is obsessed!"

Well, maybe just a little bit. But I have good reason. Let me give you a few:

1. This is THE best kids show out there, if we're talking about a show that is also parent-friendly. The Imagination Movers go around solving (mostly humorous) problems. They do this through an amusing series of trial and error. And they don't quit until the problem is solved. Don't we all want our children to come up with creative ways to solve problems, and to never give up?

2. They SING! And not "Mary Had a Little Lamb" kind of songs. These four guys actually write all the songs for the show themselves. They groove. I dance to them. They are fun. And they are kid-relevant. If you want to hear for yourself (and you do) click here. My favorite is "Clean My Room," but "Farm," and "Shakable You" are also quite enjoyable. Seriously, go watch one of those last two.

3. "Mover Rich" has five children. I just love that.

4. I love their story. These guys are four friends from New Orleans who all sat down in "Mover Scott's"

living room one evening and decided that they wanted to make a great children's show, with music that they would enjoy themselves. They got a show together, learned what was the best way to get and keep a child's attention, explored the best ways to make themselves known, and started touring. Somewhere in the middle of this, Hurricane Katrina hit, and three of them lost their homes. The fourth was pretty much unreachable for two weeks because he was on duty as a fireman.

5. This show inspires me. It's so fun; it's exactly the kind of things kids eat up and ask for seconds. And when I watch it, I remember that I want to do something fun for kids, that they love, that is entertaining and teaches them more about God in a way they understand. And I think I can do it.

6."Mover Scott" says one of his main reasons for doing the show is because he wanted to see male role models for kids on television. They wanted it so much that they decided to go do something about it themselves. I love that. And I'm so glad they did.