Not now, I'm Tweeting for Bobbleheads

I recently opened a Twitter account. Not sure yet if  it was good decision, so far it's revealed several things about myself that I did not realize were running rampant.

First off, I'm not as funny as I think I am. Reading through popular tweets and following groups that I'm interested in I have discovered that most of the tweets that are "favorited" are humorous. That being said I have one of two problems- either I can't think of something funny enough to tweet or I can't be funny in the limited amount of characters that a Twitter account allows.

Secondly, I am more concerned with popularity than I'd like to admit. who knew that something as insignificant as a follower counter at the top of my "me" screen could illicit insecurity. But as I awoke today to find my count still read less than 10, I felt as though all the lunch tables were full and I was awkwardly carrying my tray looking for someone to accept me.

Third, I care way more about what my favorite 'stars' are doing than I should. Just because I don't have a subscription to Entertainment weekly or US magazine doesn't mean I'm not up to date on what's going on in the personal lives of my favorite public personalities. When the first 3 people I thought to follow were people I would most likely never even meet in real life, I had to take a long hard look at my priorities and whether or not I should even have the mind space set aside for such things as who recently divorced whom in Hollywood.

Lastly (and the only good to come of this recent media endeavor) I spent extra time in the Word this morning as felt that the phrase "in the world, but not of the world" needed to be readdressed in my life today. Reading in Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." I find myself thinking that maybe opening the account was a good move after all. It revealed my sinful nature in a convicting way that caused me to dive into God's word. It led me back to my creator and showed me my value in Christ. That there is nothing in this world that can satisfy me like His love- not even a growing tally of followers.

I wrap up this insight into my Twitter experience with a small peek into our everyday lives. This morning I ask Luke if he has tweeted to win free Rockies Tickets. His response to me in all seriousness , "Not now, I've been tweeting for Bobbleheads." I turned to him and suggested the strangeness of the world we live in where Tweeting and Bobbleheads are in the same sentence.

@MaryBakerCO
:)

Back to the Home-front

We are back to reality here at Casa Baker after a week long Vacation. I don't know how everyone else feels about summer vacations, but once I'm back from ours I always feel like it can just hurry up and be September already! I'm ready to swap out all of my summer Scentsy-s for fall ones and ready for the cool mornings and evenings. I'm ready to not run the air conditioning all day long and ready to crack a few windows.

I am really hoping to be able to open a few windows soon with the allergy season finally waning (I hope) and Joshua's allergies finally in check. Josh's surgery seems to have gone well-he has a check up for it scheduled next week, and his re-occurring cough has yet to re-occur so that seems good. His speech however took a major fallout from the adenoids, which we knew was a possibility, but hoped would be minor. His speech developed so much during the period where his adenoids were super enlarged that it is now quite different for him to form words without them pushing down on his pallet like he was use to. He's trying his hardest to reform those words, and will begin seeing a specialized speech therapist who works with these kinds of cases. It's been discouraging for him and all of us, but as you know he's a kid who's spirit cannot be broken. It constantly amazes me the strength & courage he has to overcome any obstacle that gets thrown in the mix. God made him one tough cookie with a heart of gold.

It was so much fun for Luke and I to spend a whole week with our kiddos (even though I do it everyday, there is something different about bonding as an entire family.) Seeing how their minds work & watching their personalities develop even more never ceases to amaze me. Jonas has really become his own person with a really funny/sweet personality. He is always quick to say something unexpected and have us all laughing. We visited the "North Pole" here in Colorado as part of our trip and Joe LOVED every second of it. As a very tall  two-year old he was able to ride all of the rides and he could not have been more thrilled. His favorites, were in my opinion, the most dangerous of the rides. Here is a quick break down of favorite parts of our vacation.

Luke- The North Pole Ferris Wheel ride with the Kids/Sky Sox game

Joshua- The North Pole & Ride

Jonas- The North Pole/Baseball game

Me- Garden of the Gods

Summer is winding down here and we have a few things we are still anticipating. I have a high School Girls Bible Study that I'm ready to get back to, we are reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love" and it's been amazing hearing the things the girls are learning from it and the ways God is using it to shape their lives in a more Christ-like way. We've already got tickets to a few more Rockies Games including one against the CUBS that I am eagerly anticipating. Also we're planning a little trip to Telluride in September for some sight seeing and a Jazz fest. Our little guys are super excited for VBS to start up in a few weeks, and Luke and I are excited for the Maroon 5/Kelly Clarkson tour that is heading this way! One thing about living in Colorado is that there is never a shortage of things to do. 

Our Joshua prays the sweetest, most heart melting prayers. The other night Luke tucked him and when he came out of Josh's bedroom he said "wow, that was some prayer! He went on and on forever, thanking God for everything- for Colorado Springs, for swimming in the pool, for the baseball game, he went on and on forever!" I laughed about it for a minute and then thought how amazingly blessed we are that Joshua can pray for that long just thanking God for everything that he's given us. It almost brings me to tears (tears of joy) knowing that God is at work in the heart of my son already teaching him James 1:17 "every good and perfect thing comes from above."

Here are just a few more from the vacation:

  

Joshua got "Sox the Fox" to autograph his stuffed fox. It was one of the greatest thrills of his life :)

Laptop Broke, Hearts Full, & His plan not ours

It has been FOREVER since I have written!! Our laptop has been out of commission for quite sometime now and I do love our Ipad, but not for things like blogging. Today however I have made the exception and am going to attempt to write this from the ipad since I'm thinking we may never get the laptop back to its old self.

Our lives and hearts have been so full for the last too many months to count that I am not even sure sure I could give a full recap of what's been going on with us. So this will be aimed toward just a summer update for now :)

Joshua finished up Preschool at the end of May and is now enrolled in a Summer Learning program at his school. He goes most Wednesdays from 9-3 which honestly has been a huge reality to me-Joshua is growing up (sob sob). I miss him so much when he's gone and so does Jonas, we mostly mope around and just snuggle until Joshua gets home at 3....who knew Joshua was the life of our party!?!?! He has been loving the summer school activities however, and doesn't miss us at all. He loves eating his lunch with his friends and they play and do tons of cool stuff. Last week he got to walk to a huge park with them, slip and slide, read stories inside of tents, and pretend to roast marshmallows by a fire.

We were planning on being on vacation this week but as is usually the case - plans had to change. Most everyone who has ever spent any time with us knows that Joshua has always had a reoccurring cough and cold that seems to pop up about once a month. We've known for a while that his adenoids were the main cause of this issue but had been told that he was not a candidate for the surgery to remove them because he had a previous cleft pallet surgery that could be compromised during the procedure. The Lord really answered our prayers and provided us with a Doctor here that is on the cleft pallet team and can do the surgery that Joshua needs!!!! We did however need to cancel our vacation plans, and have sadly decided that the fun Trip to Utah/Idaho that we'd been planning we need to wait until the fall for us to afford it.

Lucky for us though, living in Colorado we live like we are permanently on vacation. We have been to at least a half dozen Rockies games recently and just Sunday took the boys with us for a Fathers Day adventure. Josh & Joe LOVED the game and have been pretending to play Rockies baseball in the backyard ever since. It is so exciting to find something that your whole family likes and can enjoy together. We have decided to take a much shorter and closer-to-home vacation in a few weeks once Joshua has recovered from his surgery, but stay close to home incase he needs any unexpected followup. Colorado Springs is home to a Minor League team that is one of the Rockies Farm teams and is conveniently located just over an hour from home :) the Boys are already excited to go that game, which is good because they weren't thrilled to be missing seeing Uncle Rich and Aunt Sue when I told them about the change in plans.

                                      

I can honestly say that God has blessed us SOOO abundantly that it's hard to realistically be to rattled over a change in plans that are ultimately a part of His plan.

Post-Traumatic-Pinterest-Disorder

I had read several status updates/rants/blogs written by disgruntled mothers who are feeling the "Pinterest Pressure" to do it all. It's kind of interesting to me as a Stay-at-Home mom and avid Pinterest user to see what all these ladies are saying. Bottom lining it for you, they are women who feel like they have to be a : Breastfeeding, clothdiapering, organic babyfood feeding, homeschooling, crafting, diy-ing, health nut, workout obsessed woman in order to be thought of as "worthwhile".

I am very few of the above mentioned list. I have never enjoyed exercise (gasp). Even when I use to work out everyday I never truly enjoyed it. I suffered a terrible abdominal wall injury from actually working out too strenuously and even after years of physical therapy the pain flares up unbearably when I begin exercising regularly other than yoga, walking and other mild & barely strenuous activities.

The one thing that I can say I have "worked out" in my life is finding my identity in Christ and what he values and deems worthwhile. I have worked very hard in my life to be completely satisfied with what God thinks of me and not the world, and it is hard work. Not that long ago I had to "unfriend" a friend on facebook because her obsession with her own body was invading my life. She was constantly (and probably still is for all I know) posting pictures of her half naked, completely toned, post baby body. I just don't need to see all of that, or feel like I need to measure up to it. I have never been or will be a size 0 (or 2, or 3, or 4.....the list could go on :)

My oldest son is turning 5 in a few weeks and the part of his party that I am the most excited for is NOT making the cake. That's right, contrary to what all the pictures on Pinterest tell me about making his birthday party perfect, I am not making him a homemade Spider-man cake. It has nearly killed me in the past to come up with some extravagant cake idea and this year I have already decided to buy one instead. When I told Luke he actually put his hands on my shoulders and said, "I am so relieved." He knows how seriously moms take these parties and he was thrilled that instead of putting my worth into how the cake turns out, I will this year be enjoying my sons birthday that much more. I am only doing the things that I want to do and love to do. I am making him a present, I put together hero capes for the party goody bags and I'm sure I'll decorate the house crazily, but because I want to.

If you have to- turn off the computer, unsubscribe from pinterest or unfriend the friend who is not doing your self confidence any favors, do it. God does not care how many homemade DIY items appear at my sons birthday party, or in my day to day life. He came so that I can have life and have it to the fullest, not to chain me to what the world deems valuable. I am very thankful that when I get to heaven God will not ask me how many cloth diapers I changed :) because the answer is 0. God didn't create us all to be the same and I am thankful for that.

I love Pinterest, but I don't find my self-worth in it, that belongs to Christ.

Party like it's 1999

My husband loves the '90's. If he could still do, say and wear everything that he did in the 90's and be found socially acceptable, he would. He still listens to 90's Christian rock music...on Cd. He still references 90's pop-culture, he says things like 'Word' (he has a 90's catch phrase for anything) and it was just last year that I finally convinced him to throw out his Doc Marten sandals circa 1995 :)

So it should really come as no surprise to anyone that knows him that for his birthday he really wanted to go to a video store. We hadn't been to a video store since 2008 when we moved from Rapid City. Of course Rapid still has our favorite Mr. Movies up and running and I cry a little everytime I'm home for a visit because nothing says your home like 99 cent movie Monday, but most video stores are obsolete these days. We've been with Netflix since 2009 and we of course order a few things OnDemand from our cable provider, in a pinch I've also frequented the Redbox, but no where have I really seen a good old fashioned video store.

A little google-ing from a guy that just can't let go of the 90's resulted in Luke finding a real Blockbuster just a couple miles from us. The best part of the day however was listening to Luke explain to Joshua (who has no idea what a 'video' even is) what a video store is. I of course stepped in with "It's a movie store, they let you check out movies there." Lucky for us Joshua can get excited about anything so he went with it jumping up and down saying let's go!

The drive there was filled with Luke making comments like, "I can't wait to see all the movies lined up on the walls, oh and the snacks, they always have lots of snacks." I mostly just nodded :) It was everything he'd hopped that it would be and more! The smell was the same as he'd remembered it, they were playing a movie in the background, and the best part was he could share it with his sons.

That night after the kids were in bed Luke thanked me for humoring him and going along with the "video store" birthday adventure. Honestly it's turned out to be kinda great! The boys love going there and I've been able to use it as a reward for them already so it's kinda been a little gift for me too. It's so crazy when something so small can bring you a smile and some joy. It's also pretty great when your 4 year old says, "I really enjoyed that video."

An un-tainted love for Valentines Day

I have always loved Valentines Day. It's just so beautiful with red and pink little hearts everywhere. Glue and glitter and of course CANDY!

I'm Valentines Day survivor. I survived YEARS of never receiving a valentine from a boy other than my father. I survived crowded high school hallways packed with girls carrying giant bouquets, teddy bears, and balloons.I survived never once being asked to a Valentine's day dance, and believe it or not the first time I ever had a date for Valentines Day was the year I got married 4 days before our wedding day. I survived it all and came out still loving Valentines day like a kid.

Of course I kept my head down in the halls those high school years. I pretended I didn't see everyone holding hands. I sat at home reading my Valentines from my parents and going out to eat with good 'ol mom and dad instead of going out for a romantic meal and to the school dance. At thirty years old I can honestly say "Who Cares!"

I have one of those great moms who says all the "mom lines" and of course she use to say to me, "that boy not liking you just means that the boy you're going to end up with is even better." Man, did I ever hate it when she'd say that, and of course I'd always say something back like, "but I don't want someone better, I want that boy." :) Mature huh? Of course my mother who is always right....was right.

I have a TON of young facebook friends and always around Valentines Day I see these super sad status updates that read something like - "Happy National Singles awareness Day." or the classics, " I didn't get a Valentine" and "I wish I had a boyfriend (or girlfriend whichever the case may be)." If I had one piece of advice to those people it's this: Don't let it ruin Valentines Day for you, Someday you'll have exactly what you always wanted, or maybe even something that you never knew you wanted, but don't let it get you down. Read those valentines from your parents and cherish them. Trust that Love is something greater than one day a year and when it finds you you'll have it all year and Valentine's day will just be cherry on top of the sundae you already have.

Today me the kiddos worked on making Valentines to send out to our family and friends. We sprinkled glitter, the boys painted, and we laughed. I'm so glad that I never let anything ruin Valentines Day for me. I can honestly say the only regret I have is that I didn't always appreciate the corny Valentines from my Dad. My mom of course still sends me one every year, but after all those years that I thought gee thanks the only one I'll get from a boy, my dad's card is now the only card missing.

Ending up with my Husband - totally worth never having a Valentines date :)

Another Cold & Flu Season

I haven't blogged in what seems like ages! Right after a huge break due to my camera break down, our laptop also had several issues arise. Now up and running again (thanks to a miracle working friend) I think I'm ready to be once again committed to writing at least monthly.

It seems the last month and a half has had someone in our family sick about every other week. Whether it has been a stomach bug that hit everyone but Luke, Influenza that knocked everyone down but me, or the Pneumonia that had Joshua in the hospital. It's been a rough go around here. My least favorite part about sickness is missing church. We have such an awesome church family, one where you feel like everyone is really is family and you miss them when you don't get to see them. As the wife of a Pastor I always end up with stay home from church duty :(  I stay at home no matter who gets sick and sometimes it feels like it goes on forever!

I cannot wait for the cold & flu season to end. Joshua catches everything it seems! Understandable due to his medical past, his immune system will always be weaker than what it could be because his body is giving all it has to making blood, and I can't complain about that.

A few days ago we had an unfortunate inaccurate blood draw that aged me about 10 years in a day. The doctor sent Joshua to the Children's hospital immediately and we thought for sure he'd be getting a transfusion and who knows what else. His trip to the hospital proved the blood reading to be inaccurate , but was surely a blessing because it was there that the ER doc sent for chest x-rays and they discovered that the reason he wasn't recovering from the last virus he had was because he'd developed pneumonia. I'm pretty sure he thought that I was going to squeeze him to death when he finally got home that night after a day at the hospital.

Joshua's Medicine Chart...he's taking just a few things right now :)

Of course the hemoglobin had all of those terrible memories flooding back to me. And I'm not sure I've ever cried as hard as I did last Friday. A couple of thoughts though, that went through my mind that day I think are worth sharing.

At the terrifying thought that there could have been something seriously wrong with Joshua's blood again there were a few places where I found peace. The first was in knowing that I am not Sovereign, but God is. Jonas and I were sitting at home most of the day waiting for the phone to ring with any news while Joshua and Luke were having a myriad of medical staff tend to them. I spent alot of that time worrying, then praying, then beginning to worry again, counteracting it with prayer again and a couple of times just really bullying myself. "I should have known something was wrong." & "I'm not a good enough mother." Are just a couple of the things I told myself. Nevermind that the previous day Joshua had been racing around at the park and acting completely not sick. I still punched myself in the stomach with the accusation that I should have known something was wrong. It wasn't until I was at a stoplight sitting and silently praying for God to give me the strength to hear whatever the news would be, good or bad, that it hit me like some kind of spiritual semi-truck. God knew this was going to happen, I didn't. God knows what the outcome will be, I don't have to. I love Joshua, God loves him even more. God is sovereign over all things, I'm not....and that's a good thing.  It was then I was finally able to quit beating myself up and realize that whatever happened, God was in control and I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

Joshua playing at the park the day before his hospital trip-clearly acting like he wasn't sick at all!

The other peaceful moment I had was in thinking about the almost 5 years of Joshua's life so far. I remembered when he went through a phase and every morning he'd wake up singing a song. I remembered the first time he met Lambie, how he cuddled him that first naptime like he'd never cuddled any other stuffed animal and I knew that Lambie would be "the one". I remembered the time that my dad took Joshua to Runnings and asked him what toy he wanted, Joshua told him all of them. I thought of our family vacations to Omaha and all the fun little trips we take together. I remembered everything. I thought how blessed am I to have gotten to spend almost every minute of Joshua's entire life with him. If something awful were to happen to our family I know that I wouldn't have any regrets about how we've spent our time. If you've ever seen my facebook I'm sure you know that we do almost everything together. Some families may not have the same opportunities that we do, but I am surely thankful for the way we are able to spend our time.

I won't forget the relief I felt when Luke called later that night and said they re-drew a blood sample ran it and Joshua could come home without a transfusion. Praise God! On a side note: a transfusion can be a tricky thing for a person that doesn't make blood in a normal amount or process because that person's body will use transfused blood quicker than their own and their body will stop making their own blood after a transfusion because it feels like it has the blood it already needs. This can help an anemic person but also cause a chain of other events to occur, so it can become complicated. All I know is God answered our prayers.

My last thought is that I hope the next time I blog I can start with the sentence "None of us have been sick for weeks." Here's hoping!