NOLA

We started a fun little tradition with Isaac in the form of a Kindergarten celebration trip. The summer after he finished kindergarten, Eric and I took him (just him, Ethan and Jaylie stayed with my parents) camping. We went to a state park here in MS and stayed in a cabin and fished and played poker and monopoly and all that stuff for 2 days. We thought this was a good way to celebrate Isaac's completion of his first year in school. So a few weeks ago, we carried on the tradition with Ethan.

Now that we've been here for a while, I kinda know about a lot more things to do than when we were planning this trip for Isaac. Ethan is not as content to play poker or monopoly or fish so I thought we should go for a different sort of trip. We settled on an Amtrak ride down to New Orleans and back. I booked our hotel on hotels.com and got a fabulous rate for our 2 nights there. We stayed at the Ambassador hotel and this is what our room looked like:


The hotel was actually a coffee warehouse during the Civil War (or the 'War of Northern Aggression' if you're from around here!) It was converted into this cool hotel and you can see that the original brick walls and some exposed beams are visible. It's definitely not like a chain hotel, although I doubt there's a right angle in the place. It was fun.

The train ride was quite an experience as well. I traveled on trains a lot when I was little and we lived in Europe but haven't been on one since then. Eric had never been on one and neither had Ethan. It was fun. There is lots more leg room than on an airplane. There is a dining car that you can walk to and have a sit down meal at which was fun. My favorite place on the train was the lounge car which was full of windows so you could see the landscape rush by.




There were, of course, frequent blowings of the train whistle, and several stops between here and NOLA but all in all, it was a relaxed way to travel and it cost about the same as what we would have spent in gasoline.

Traveling to a place by train, however, means you don't have a car when you get there. So we walked...a lot. It was all good though. We had a map and Eric's phone for GPS purposes and I really don't think we walked more than a mile in any one spell. Ethan wasn't a fan of the walking. Once we were into the French Quarter, though, this wasn't really a problem because whenever he began whining too much, we'd stop and have an icee or duck into a fudge shop. Problem solved :)

We got there Monday evening, got checked in and settled. Then we headed out to look for supper. We wound up walking a lot and then settling on a super good restaurant called Gordon Biersch Brewery. Very nice, very yummy, very expensive. On Tuesday the plan was to walk over to the Audubon park where the Aquarium is located and see an IMAX movie about dinosaurs. This was OK. Not great. We had brought our umbrella which was fortunate because after the movie was over, it was raining, only a little. We wanted to walk over to St. Louis Cathedral and take a look at that. As we walked, the rain got stronger and stronger. We sheltered in a gazebo on the Riverwalk with some friendly homeless people. When it let up a bit, we ran a little way further to a big pavilion where folks were boarding a steamboat cruise. WE were there about 30 minutes. Here's what that was like:

notice the icee


We braved the rain again to head to a mall just to get out of the weather and maybe get a snack or something. We wound up browsing a bit and having some fries while the storm made it's way through. We came out of the mall and could see the cathedral.



Our actual destination was the Louisiana Children's Museum and this was probably our longest hike. But the rain had cooled things off and there was a small breeze. Walking through the French Quarter is really interesting. The architecture is so different than anything around here.

After a stop at a candy shop to get a chocolate alligator (of all things) we completed our hike to the museum. This was the highlight for Ethan. He had a ball.

Here he is raising himself on a pulley And making a giant bubble
And seeing through a bug's eyes
We had supper after the museum and headed back to the hotel to relax. It was a full day. The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then relaxed and watched soccer until it was time to go to the train station. We walked there. Had lunch then Eric and Ethan played in the station (it's nice to have a bouncy ball from time to time. You never know when you'll need one.)

We arrived home, met Mom, Dad and the kids at the Jackson Station. We went to church then home to BED! Who knows where we'll take Jaylie. Isaac is already asking if he'll get a 4th grade trip next year...I said maybe a 'finishing Middle School trip'!

Hope everyone is having a good summer!

July 1 2004

We had, at long last, come home to TX after 6 years of enlistment in the Air Force. Ethan was born May 9th and we headed back to San Antonio about 6 weeks later, at the end of June. The plan was to move in with Mom and Dad until Eric found a job in the private sector. Eric's parents lived in Missouri at the time and wanted us to come to a 4th of July family get together. We hadn't yet committed because we had just driven from GA to TX and Ethan cried the whole way. (I'm not really exaggerating about that either) Anyway, we decided not to go and told the family up there. They totally understood. But after a day or two, we changed our minds and decided to surprise everyone instead.

So, on July 1st Daddy and Eric began loading our van to head to Missouri. As they headed up the steps in the garage, Dad suddenly lost his balance and had to hang on to the wall to keep from falling. Eric helped him to the couch in the living room and Daddy shut his eyes. He kept them closed for the next 24 hours or so. He said the room was spinning. His head hurt terribly. Mom got him a bucket in case he was sick and just kept trying to talk to him and get him to give her some more information. All he said, mostly, was that the room was spinning and he felt sick and his head hurt. I told Eric, after 30 minutes of this or so, that I didn't think we should leave right then. "If mom needs to take him to the hospital, she can't get him to the car by herself.", I said. Eric said,"If he can't help us, the 3 of us couldn't get him to the car." Dad is a big man and his balance was so far gone that he couldn't help support his weight and move at the same time. So a little while later, Mom and Eric tried to get him up and to the car. He made it about 10 feet before getting sick. We laid him on the floor and Mother told me to call 911.

The EMT guys got there really quickly. They hooked him up to oxygen and a heart monitor. His heart was doing something crazy. Daddy was never unconscious and could answer questions but he wouldn't open his eyes. They took him to the hospital and there he stayed for about 3 weeks. It was determined through testing that he had suffered a stroke right in the back of his head, where balance lives, apparently. He had no memory loss, no gross motor skill loss, really. He was just terribly dizzy. Once the blood flow to his head was normalized, the headache went away. He had to do therapy to get his sense of balance back. After he was home, he would get dizzy if he was at church and lots of people were moving past him. He would kinda lean against a wall to keep steady.

Now, most people here don't even know he's had a stroke. Mother still doesn't want him up on ladders or on the roof, which makes it nice that we live close and Eric can do that stuff, but for the most part, he is absolutely fine. It could have been another story entirely and we are so, so glad that he recovered so well. Obviously, we didn't go to Missouri for the 4th of July picnic, we waited til much later to go. It was such a provision of God that we were there. If the stroke had struck just an hour or 2 later, Mother would have been on her own to get him to the hospital. If we had been far away, Eric wouldn't have been there to take care of the house while Daddy was in the hospital.

God does know what He is doing...all the time. And He is good...all the time.

The Duck Song(s)

These 3 videos are my kids' latest youtube obsession








Not sure why it's so addictive but they think it is hilarious and the tune is kinda catchy...

have fun

Pictures would be nice

Thought I'd start adding some pictures. If you have read my previous 2 posts, you'll know what you're looking at. See what I mean about context? (the first picture of the rainbow is just for fun...it was so neat)

Enjoy

May

Well my last post told about Lent and Easter which I think brought us to the first weekend in April. The rest of April was pretty routine. Routine as in busy with school and church and Eric frantically trying to complete research papers and reading assignments; you know, that kind of routine. Well May was a complete blur...particularly the first 2 weeks of May. Let me sum up:

* At long last, Eric graduated with his Masters of Arts degree in Theology on May 8. We all (the 5 of us and my parents) went to Nashville to watch him walk. Mom and Dad stayed with Eric's folks and we stayed at Dawn and Brad's so the kids could play. My oldest niece, Audra, had just had her 10th birthday the day before we got there and Ethan's 6th birthday was on Sunday the 9th AND Mother's Day was also that Sunday. It was quite the weekend of celebrations. We got to leave all 5 kids with a babysitter that Sat. of graduation to have a wonderful meal at a nice restaurant and some sweet friends from here (who now live in the Nashville area) were able to join us. I left that weekend feeling very blessed and thankful.

* The very next weekend was Ethan's birthday party here at our house and also Jaylie's first ever ballet recital. Jerry and Joyce came down here for that weekend of more celebrations. We had a lot of fun. Ethan enjoyed his friends and his party. Jaylie's recital was beautiful. It was just another wonderful weekend.

* The rest of the month consisted of state testing at Isaac's school, end of the year Fun Days, Field Days and parties. The day school let out, my parents took the kids on to Galveston. We followed them on Sunday after church. So Eric and I had a couple of days of eating out and seeing a movie and just doing whatever we wanted, which is always nice. Unfortunately, mom and dad wound up having to handle the first-ever Livingston kid stitches. Ethan busted his head on my Pawpaw's dresser and gashed it open. 3 stitches, some tears and a couple of hours later, they finished their trip and got to Galveston with no more incidents.

So look, we're up to June! Now I'm just a couple of weeks off. I do have more to say than just a rehashing of our daily activities. I do think deep thoughts, but thought that I needed to get this thing up to speed, for context purposes.

Hope everyone is well and happy and managing to stay cool. Currently I'm sweating; I hate sweating. Off to the pool!

Much love
D

Been a while

So I guess I should quit feeling bad about my bogging irregularity and just accept that I may only blog once a quarter. Lots has happened since my last post, of course, and I think that it would take waaaay too long to do a thorough update so, here's my plan: I'm just going to take the next few posts to try to hit the highest points.


This year, I participated in Lent for the first time ever. I have never observed Lent, ever. I decided that I would give up coffee. Now, this may be small potatoes to some people but coffee (and flavored creamer) are a special treat to me; a special daily indulgence. I don't HAVE to have it, as in I don't have to have my daily dose of caffeine, but I really enjoy having coffee. As I was thinking about doing this, I didn't really think I'd have the nerve, so I didn't tell anyone. But I got up on Ash Wednesday and didn't make any coffee. Same thing on Thursday. Anyway, it went on and I got a bit more comfortable with the idea that I was giving it up. I felt really good about it because I don't think I've ever given anything up ever. That seems pretty selfish even just to write. Basically, what this says about me is that I do what I want all the time because I want to. How narcissistic is that? Every time I really wanted to have some coffee, I just thought about what Jesus gave up in the desert while being tempted; what he gave up in the day to day walk on this planet compared with the glories of heaven; what he endured during his trial and crucifixion...coffee seemed kinda trite.

Anyway, for 40 days, despite some stressful definite coffee drinking moments, I didn't have a sip. All this thinking about Jesus and his sacrifice all the time really got me into the most excited mood for Easter that I have ever had. I really think this is the point of Lent, after all. But the night before Easter I set my coffee maker to start at 6 the next morning. I woke up Easter Sunday with this thought,"The tomb is empty. He has risen!" I thought about that while I showered. After I was done, I wrapped up my hair, put on my robe and went to make sure Eric was awake. "He is risen!" I said to him. "He has risen indeed.", Eric said back. I was so excited. I told him,"Wouldn't it be incredible if we were the only people on Earth who knew that? Like the ladies at the tomb that morning?" I was just giddy. I went out and made my first cup of coffee, I grabbed my bible, and went to enjoy my first cup in 40 days while I read all of the Empty Tomb accounts in each gospel. Worship was wonderful that morning. The rest of the day was restful and peaceful...it was the best Easter I've ever had.

That's pretty much all I have to say about that but what I've been processing since then is, "Why could I give up some very special thing to me for 40 days for Lent, but not give up other things in my life." These things would be: Eating things that aren't good for me, choosing to not exercise, choosing to not spend regular time in prayer and scripture reading...you know the drill. Having never been successful giving things up makes me wonder why I was this time. Then I think,"Because it was for Him. And those other things are just for me." Well, maybe they are and maybe they're not. I'm still processing...yes, I know I'm slow.

Hope all is well for each of you. Enjoy summer

D

I might as well

I have a bit of time (shocker!) and so I might as well update my silly excuse for a blog. I have had so many things that I ought to write about, but I just haven't. Not sure quite why but nevertheless, the cyber-masses (all 3 of you who read my blog) will just have to do without knowing some of the minutia of my life.

So this is what's up: Spring Break is here! It really is. The Bradford Pear trees are in full bloom and look like fluffy clouds have been caught on them. They are really pretty. Things are starting to poke up in my garden; the rose bushes all have new leaves. In short, the earth is waking up around here and I am thrilled to see it. Of course, the yellow pollen is starting to shake loose and I'm not all that thrilled about that but after the winter we've had, I'll take Spring anyday, yellow dust and all!

The kids and I are headed to Nashville tomorrow to hang out with Dawn and the girls while Brad is writing. My nieces are the only cousins my kids have and so when they get to missing each other pretty fiercely, we try to get them together.

Just about all my friends are taking their kids and going somewhere. I've decided that Spring Break is the time when moms and kids go off on a little trip while the dads stay here and work. It doesn't sound all that great for the dads EXCEPT that they'll have peace and quiet here in which to enjoy lots and lots of basketball. Not a bad deal for them.

We have had some home improvement projects going on. A couple of weeks ago Eric and my Dad tore out our old kitchen countertops to make ready for our new granite ones. They are soooo pretty and cleaning these smooth counters is so sooo soooo much easier than my ceramic tile ones with grout grooves and all that. As with most home improvement projects, once you start updating one thing, lots of other things begin to appear dated. So, with the new counters we 'had' to replace the sink (after all, who wants an old white ceramic sink when you could have a new stainless undermount one?) which meant we had to also get a new faucet for the sink. Then, all of the brass and white ceramic door/drawer handles suddenly didn't match so those had to be replaced with new stainless ones, and then the light fixture (which is also brass and ceramic) seems to stick out so we bought a new one of those to match all the stainless touches. It's not installed yet but it will be at some point when Eric has time. We also replaced our old dishwasher, because it didn't work anymore, not because it didn't match anything. It was a legitimate replacement.

In addition to all of that, Eric has been building us a new--custom--shower for our master bathroom. Why a builder goes to all the trouble and expense to build a beautiful master bathroom complete with a huge jacuzzi tub and then puts a tiny 2.5 by 3 foot stand up shower stall in there is just beyond me. Of course, when you're only 5'3" you don't really notice things like how short the whole thing is or that you can look out over the shower door but that was the case for Eric. So, a while ago, he and Dad tore out the fiberglass shower and gutted the space down to the studs. Eric has done the rest pretty much on his own. There is a LOT of prep that has to be done in ensuring that the space will be waterproof and all that before any tile could be laid. I have been able to help some with the tiling but since it is still a relatively small space, it's not like we can both be in there spreading thinset and laying tile. I'm mostly the assistant. But he's given us a LOT more space. The tile goes up 9 feet so we won't have to worry about the water pinging off of his head and damaging the drywall. He's built me a little ledge to put my foot on whilst shaving my legs and also built 2 cubbies into the wall for shampoo and things like that. All that's left now is to grout, seal the grout, install the faucet and install the door. Then there'll be some touch up painting and things like that bus as soon as that door is on, it'll be fully functional!

Eric graduates in May and it couldn't come soon enough. He's been super stressed with all these house things in addition to midterm tests and research paper writing and sermon planning (he preached last week) and planning the talent show at church and Easter is coming up...It will be a happy, happy day when he is done with school. We're just hanging on til then.

The kids are all healthy as of 1:54 on Monday. Jaylie and Ethan were both sick last week. We've broken the nebulizer out for Ethan and will keep him on his preventative treatments through pollen season at least. Poor little fella. Isaac had a great time in basketball again this season and has improved quite a bit since last year. Jaylie continues to love ballet. Her first recital is in May. She may dance at the Meadowbrook talent show. Last night at our fellowship supper, Lan (a sweet 15 year old who is super talented) performed a song and so Jaylie decided to accompany him with her interpretive dance. Of course, it was sweet and he was gracious about it. She just loves to dance.

I think that just about catches you up to now. I will try (without promising) to blog again before too long. Hope you all enjoy spring in all its glory. Whatever allergy meds you have to be on to get out there and play---take them! It's worth it.

Much love
D