Busy Bag Party!

Our children's ministry hosted a busy bag party on Monday. It was targeted for kids under four and we each made a busy bag (Busy bags have homemade activities that keep little minds or hands busy) that we duplicated to have enough for each family and then we swapped bags. Since I don't sew, my crafting medium that I have found success with is simple shapes that involve hot glue or modge podge. So I came across this No-Sew Felt Fish busy bag activity that I felt (pun intended) was within my crafting capabilities and what do you know multiple trips to the store, a few burnt fingers and hours of work later we completed our bags to bring to the swap. I really am glad we did it despite it being a bit more involved then I first thought and even more glad they turned out how I wanted them. The best part was while we had a small group of us, we had two visitors from the community attend the get together and they seemed to have a good time.

 

 

All our supplies

Our finished product!

Ava was pretty concerned about giving away our fish that we worked so hard on to our friends but pretty sure she will be happy with the stash we got to take home. I plan to keep most of them put up till our road trip to Houston next month to keep them new and novel. 



 

Lake Hefner was on our way home so we stopped of there for a picnic lunch and flower pickin'. Have I mentioned yet that I heart summer! I love that my maternity will last through most of it so I can soak up these days with them. Summer 2013 will always have a special place in my heart.

 



A little newborn comparison

Courtney Waugh has done both the kids newborn pics. I love her work, thought it would be fun to do a little comparison. These were taken when during their first week each:

 

 

Ava

Rhett



Ava

Rhett

 

 

Think they might be related?

 



Summer Fun - Oklahoma Style

 

We enjoyed our first real summer weekend, no severe weather, lots of sunshine and lots of fun. We headed to Broken Arrow for part of the weekend and made a side trip to Bartlesville Oklahoma to the Kiddie Park there. Ava had so much fun on her first carnival rides. This is a third generation tradition. Ryan's mom went when they were a dime a ride, They were a quarter a ride when we were kids and now they are 50 cents to a dollar a ride. Several I wondered if she'd be fearful of them once they got going but she loved every one we tried, so her father's girl on this front.

 

 

We really went home to hear Rich preach Sunday since he and Ronda are stateside. We had fun showing off Rhett at church to our friends and family there and getting to see them.

 

 After Church we headed over to Bass Pro where they were having some free kids activities, including fishing. Ava caught her first fish! 

Sunday night we met up with our Second Sunday dinner crew at twilight summer concert series downtown OKC. Its always fun to get together with these forever friends. I kind of love this picture,  both our kids being loved on, good conversation, a summer setting, its pretty perfect. This series features different local artists all summer long. There was talk of the recent storms and song dedications to the survivors, my favorite was the final song was a rendition of "I will survive" which prompted a large gathering of a group doing the electric slide and the rest of us clapping and bobbing our heads. It was comical but it was also community - a great summer night.

 



 

 

We packed alot in but glad to welcome back this most wonderful of time of the year!

A good time.

Last weekend Uncle Matt and Aunt Lori came to visit and meet Rhett. We enjoyed just hanging out with family and taking it easy at the house. It was a good time!

Bonding time with Uncle Matt

Ava-age 3  Adley- almost 1!

Aunt Lori snuggles

The hair cut heard around the world...

Okay the title may be a little dramatic and I am in a different place with it all now then when it first went down but for sure want to document this event in our little world this spring.

Ava's main adjustment with the addition of baby brother has been in the form of mischievous shenanigans. When I'm feeding brother Ava used this time of new found freedom to get into all sorts of things. These have included "cleaning her furniture" by pouring cups of water over the top of them, sharpie marker on her play room furniture, an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet and the biggest of all, her first hair cut(s).

Ava was playing in her play room upstairs, which had not yet been a problem, she came down to show me something else, I saw her coming down the stairs and it took me a minute to realize what was off, I immediately become tearful, I could not stop crying, I end up calling Ryan and of course my first words since this was the first he had ever received a sobbing phone call from me was "we are okay but Ava cut her hair a lot and I can't quit crying".  Ryan of course was the soft voice of calm assurance and sanity. We texted him a picture and planned to met at the kids hair cut place that afternoon. Their expertise in handling these situations was much appreciated, the final product of course is cute on her and I think we've all recovered since then.

I've reflected a lot on this uncharacteristic response from myself, as I feel I am usually calm, level headed and it takes a lot to work me up into that kind of emotional response. I've decided one part of this equation I am sure was hormones/sleep deprivation but they other was change overload. I have a love/hate relationship with change. Even good change brings loss of different kinds and adjusting to new challenges. This was a culminating moment for me of feeling like I can't be there and juggle it all in the way I could before. Some days with two seem so very manageable and then there are moments when it is so very overwhelming. I am still finding my footing and learning this new role in mom of two. A technique I love to use with clients is the best friend approach. What would you tell your best friend about this situation and find ways to embrace that message to yourself. This is especially helpful in the motherhood department as we can be so hard on ourselves for ways we feel we are falling short.

We've been shenanigan free for a couple weeks now. Ava asks me many days when will her hair be long again? Her little bob makes hair washing and brushing a breeze and is of course cool for summer. I said goodbye literally to a little more to the baby part of my little girl as those baby hairs fell to the the floor. It wasn't the most graceful goodbye on my part but hey we mom's are people too.The last few weeks of storms and continued trauma in communities in our area gave renewed perspective on many things for me and one of those in even this smallest of ways was to reinforce what I was trying embrace but hadn't fully yet... it is just hair. What a blessing it is to get to say many hellos and goodbyes as we reach new stages on this parenthood journey. How easy it is to take that for granted.  I've been so thankful many times in the past two weeks to kiss the top of that little bobed head thats safely by my side. I pray I can live with a grateful heart for the daily blessing of getting to be their mom - shenanigans and all.

A balm for the spirit

It's still hard to believe its only been days.  We've now heard the most tragic and gut wrenching of the stories from this week. We've heard our friends, or co-workers or fellow church members recount their direct experiences of those terrifying hours on Monday. Especially in this area, our hearts have been heavy and aching as we learn more of the full range of human experiences that happened on Monday and we've been saturated in those stories. While I feel its just as important to connect to the most tragic of stories to lay a portion of that sorrow on all our hearts, I know we also long for healing stories, of life, of goodness, of restoration, of healing.

This story was a balm to my spirit and if you need to hear one of those right now this is a great one:

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-tornadoes-the-big-dog-the-little-boy-and-the-hug-that-triumphs-over-tragedy/article/3833468

Its not a perfect story. I know for this little boy and his parents the perfect after story would of been to run out the rubble to his parents arms but they weren't close enough to get to him immediately. His neighbor came running to the scene of his school, a neighbor that he already had a deep connection with. I love the beauty in this little boy's healing journey starting immediately. That this little boy was able to find a familiar and comforting face and could run quickly into the burliest and strongest of arms he knew. I can only speculate that the feelings of shock and fear were washed over if even for a moment with a flood of some sense comfort and security. I am thankful that this is not the only story like this, its one of many. I love that this hug not only provided healing in that moment its also providing healing now to so many others.

A time to mourn

I've lived in Oklahoma my whole life. I've taken cover many times from tornadoes "headed our way". I actually have fond memories of our different shelters we spent time in with neighbors and church family growing up when there was severe weather in our area, I've been at school and work places where we huddled in hallways together. There's many times its come close but I've never been personally devastated by one. To be honest you become use to taking cover and then relief that everything is okay. Over time you start to take that safety and the relief for granted.

My laid back, I'm-use-to-this attitude changed when I had Ava. I thought more about where we should go to be safe. When Ava was about a year old and I was racing home to be with her as the sirens were blaring and there was a tornado projected towards our area. It changed course slightly and  I watched with horror on the live news coverage at the community just adjacent to ours was hit by a tornado. I watched as they pulled a child close to Ava's age from the rubble, only to find out later that child died at the hospital and his 3 year old brother was missing for days before the found his body. That mother was in their safe place, a bathroom as she covered her three children with her body. I still recall the first and last names of each of those kids and family members. I can still close my eyes and see that footage of that limp little body and his bruised and battered mother being pulled out. I've lifted them up in prayer many times since then. I've never met them but I will never forget them.

Then there was Monday. Monday I had the weather on as it was another severe weather day, we had three in a row. We watched to see if or when we needed to get in our shelter. As so many friends and family of mine we watched it all unfold live on our local news. We heard the term "tornado emergency" for one of the first times. We watched the live shot as the massive tornado, was on the ground and staying on the ground as it moved through Moore. Thankful my little ones were both sound asleep for naps because as soon as the tornado was over, the local helicopter news camera showed the immediate impact. Its the first time in watching tornado coverage that my mouth flew open with shock, I couldn't close it - just had to put my hand over it and the tears flowed immediately, how could it be that bad, how is anyone alive? Then they quickly came upon what was left of a school. I know like so many other locals, our stomachs were churning, we knew right then, before the rest of the world would find out soon that horrors were unfolding right at that moment for our neighbors. We watched local familar faced news men on the scene, in tears as they reported on what they were seeing. Our collective thoughts swirling, How many parents and kids were separated? It was during the work day, kids would be in school and day cares. How many parents would get the news their children wouldn't come home from school that day or vise versa, would kids make it out and not have someone to come get them when its all over.

I have mixed feelings about being on leave from work at the moment. I know members of my team will be invovled in the mental health response to this disastor. I know even when I return I am sure we will be treating children and assisting families for some time to come that were impacted by this trauma. May prayers continue to abound for all those hurting, for all those helping - for at many times they will be one in the same.

I want to delicately put this - the loss of life and the amount of those that are children is devastating. Each of those numbers are someones world falling off a cliff of lives forever changed and the pain is searing and will dull with time but never truly go away - but the fact that there was not a much higher death toll continues to stun and amaze me. There's lots of unknown in a situation like this but there are few things I know for sure. As God always is - he was there in this storm, he is there now. I know He has a special place in His heart for the broken hearted and those that mourn as His scripture tells us so. I know He will use His people to bring help and comfort in the days to come. I know that this is too big and in those times its most aparent that nothing can bring healing to what is broken like He can.