Welcome to Mommyhood

*this was written, and intended to be posted, the morning of 5-27, so it is dated then*


(Let me preface this by saying, for the sake of someone who might be visiting my blog for the first time, that at the moment I am not married, nor will I be [probably] for at least a couple more years; at the moment I am an unmarried virgin (who will remain such until her wedding day), who longs for a husband, children, a home...in short, a family of her own. That said, I believe that these are the years in which our Good Lord is preparing me for marriage and motherhood. And last night He did quite a bit of preparing.)

I don't remember what it was exactly that I was dreaming about, but somebody was talking, and they were making some very strange noises. They kept making a sort of 'bleh, bleeeh' kind of noise. Repeatedly.

By the time the noise got to the 'blwaaaakk' part, I was awake.

Now, I have been perfecting a skill lately. It's called the 'how-fast-you-can-jump-out-of-bed,-grab-your-glasses,-turn-on-the-light,-and-become-awake-enough-to-deal-with-the-situation'. I've gotten pretty good at it, usually because Skeeter was playing with something noisy.

It's too bad we didn't clock it last night. I guarantee it was record time.

Anyway, to make a long story just a bit shorter, poor Casey had thrown up twice. Once right outside our hallway, the other time right in front of my parents' bedroom door. Lovely.

I grabbed her collar and hustled her outside. I'm not sure whether she threw up more outside or not, but I wasn't going to take any chances. Then I came back and surveyed the damage. It was immediately apparent to me that we can no longer allow Casey Baby to chew on plastic water bottles. You know, the cloudy kind that you buy bottled water in? She loves to chase and chew them...and, up till now, has had no problems in digesting the pieces that she has eaten.

I hope she enjoyed that bottle -- it's the last one she'll get for a long........long.........time.........

So I cleaned it up, and placed wet rags on the carpet, and boxes on top of the rags, so that neither Casey nor Skeeter could get to those places again during the night. I also used our dining room chairs to block off the part of the living room that I am currently sleeping in.

(Oh, did I mention that? I'm sleeping in a sleeping bag in the living room right now because my aunt from Phoenix is visiting, and she's sleeping in my bed. Skeeter's bowls and box were moved to the front bathroom, so all three of us spend our night in the living room.)

So then I went back to my sleeping bag, intending to leave Casey outside for about 20 minutes to make sure she was finished with her...eh...unpleasantness. But on the way from the bathroom back to my bag, I noticed that Skeeter had gotten hold of a pincushion, and had littered the floor with pins...exactly where I had been stepping while cleaning up Casey's mess. I praise the Lord that I didn't get one of those pins in my bare feet! By the way, did I mention that all this was going on at 2:21 AM????

So I gathered up the pins and put away the pincushion, went to the bathroom (because by this time, I *really* had to go), and got back into my sleeping bag. But I can't seem to doze off again. So my half-asleep/mostly-awake brain is running the gamet of topics, most notably the plan of salvation (don't ask -- I already said it was 2:21 AM, which was after I had already finished everything -- Casey originally threw up at 2:13 AM), and Skeeter is running the gamet of mischief. She's jumping and playing and frolicking, all in the unusually mischievious way that she does only when she's out of food. Food. I got up again, went into the bathroom, and sure enough, she's down to crumbs. (She has ways of letting you know that she's hungry and out of food, usually by unusual, very mischievious behavior -- the other night it was by biting my rear end under the sheet.)

So by this time, it's 2:33 AM. I give Skeet a half-scoop (1/4 cup) of food and come back to the living room. I look over, and Casey's standing at the back door hoping to come back in -- I don't blame her, it's cold and dark out there, but I'm not sure whether she's finished with her stuff or if she's just going to do it again. So I make sure there is no way she can get past the dining room chairs circled around the living room couch, and I let her back in...and she and I fall into bed.

My alarm goes off, as usual, on the dot of 5:05 (actually, it's 5:04 by the mantel clock -- either my alarm and the stove clock are fast, or the mantel clock is slow, I'm not sure which). I let the nice preacher (it's set to a Christian radio station because the beeping is loud enough to wake the living all across the house!) go on nearly until the 5:07 reminder alarm. I know I should get up...this is the time that the Lord and I agreed on earlier, because my parents get up at 5:30 and my mom needs me to help with breakfast and the whole day just gets busier from there, so I really don't have time for my personal devotions any other time of the day. So He and I agreed that I would get up half an hour earlier than the other occupants of the house, to talk, and read His Word, and just to fellowship together in the early morning. But after that night...boy, I didn't want to get up. So I asked the One with whom I had made the agreement: "Lord, do You want me to get up early this morning? I'm tired, and I don't want to, but if You want me to, I will..." I waited. The answer came back, like I knew it would, but the actual answer surprised me: No. I asked again, just to make sure, and the same answer came back the same. I thanked Him, flipped the second alarm off, rolled over, and went right back to sleep until 5:30.

Now, I know this isn't exactly like motherhood. For one thing, you can't just stick your kid outside when they're throwing up and leave them there until they're done...you simply can't do that. That's certainly one thing nicer about having a dog as your baby. Also, I know that when you're a mommy, the day goes on whether you want it to or not -- you can't just sleep in an extra 20 minutes just because you feel like it. A husband depends on you, the other kids depend on you...you can't just decide you want to sleep in. On the other hand, it was still a good experience in my mommy-training. To rise in the wee hours of the morning to care for my sick child, alone, and clean up after her, and miss sleep...well, sounds to me an awful lot like the stories I've heard from mommies of babies. So, I end this lengthy narrarative with the conclusion:

I SURE AM LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING A REAL MOMMY!!!!!

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, I want us all to reflect on exactly what it is that we are remembering. Memorial Day isn't just a day to eat hotdogs and corn-on-the-cob, it's a day to honor those who have fought, particularly those who have died. So I present the poems, In Flanders Fields, and America's Answer:

In Flanders Fields
By John Mcrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.



America’s Answer
R.W. Lilliard

Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead.
The fight that ye so bravely led
We’ve taken up. And now we will keep
True faith with you who lie asleep
With each a cross to mark his bed
In Flanders fields.

Fear not that ye have died for naught.
The torch ye threw to us we caught.
Ten million hands will hold it high,
And Freedom’s light shall never die!
We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders fields.

Another Political Post

I know, I don't usually do this kind of thing...as a matter of fact, up till now, the only political post I had ever done was still mainly humorous, even in its serious message. But this time it's not. We need to know what it is we're heading into. And even though it's hard to watch this video, it's stuff we need to know. The URL is http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036 if you want to send it to somebody else. Here's the video:

Answers to Game #2

Well, I'm thinking I may just do this every month. So that's why I'm making sure that the titles have the number in them, because [Lord willing] I will be doing this again, and again, and again...

Thanks to my Mom, A Heart of Praise, Mrs. Theresa, Mrs. Connie, and Kryssy of The Girls for playing the game!

So, here are the answers to Game #2:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

And the winner is Krystle, because she got all but #4 exactly correct! And no, I didn't give her any hints! So, Kryssy, here is your prize -- the award for winning Game #2:

Tune in next month for another edition of Rebekah's Picturesque Guessing Game!

George Strait's Birthday

Well, all country-and-western fans will be pleased to know that George Strait turns 56 today, May 18, 2008. Not that I'm necessarily condoning George Strait -- personally I don't listen to him. He has a voice that flows like a river (best country voice I ever heard), but not all his lyrics are good, at least not good by Christian standards. Now, I already said I'm not condoning George Strait, but I'm also not condemning George Strait. He does have some good songs, like pretty much any country artist out there, and if you listen to him or to anybody else, that's between you and God and none of my business. All the same, while I do love country music, I think for the most part you can find better music than Strait. At any rate, however you feel about him...



Happy Birthday, George Strait.

The Game -- Installment #2 *updated*

Back by popular demand, here is this month's guessing game. In a few days I will post the bigger pictures that these were taken from. Happy guessing!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

P.S. If somebody gets all 5 correct, I might just have to do something special! :)

UPDATE: I changed picture #4, to make it a little easier, after I realized that neither I nor anybody else could guess the big picture from that part. Happy guessing!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I only have a moment, but I wanted to make a quick tribute to mothers everywhere, particularly my own *wonderful* mother...



And the lyrics are here: http://www.squidoo.com/anitarenfroelyrics

This is hilarious! Although I admit I have never heard my mom say half the things that are in there! Still, it's pretty funny.

Happy Mothers' Day!!!

Lesson from the Bouganvilla

"Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The name comes from Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who encountered the plant in Brazil in 1768 and first described it to Europeans.

They are thorny, woody, vines growing anywhere from 1-12 meters tall, scrambling over other plants with their hooked thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance that is easily left in the flesh of an unsuspecting victim. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4-13 cm long and 2-6 cm broad. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene." Thank you, Wikipedia.

Anyway, I was thinking the other day about bouganvilla. Now, I don't know how much you know about bouganvilla, but here in southern California, as well as in some parts of Arizona where I grew up, bouganvilla is quite common.

When watered frequently, bouganvilla plants are a mass of lush green foliage, with tiny white flowers in some places. They grow happily and are very lovely. But they're pretty much all green.

But when you withhold water from them, only watering rarely, they become stressed a little. And from this stress, they produce beautiful, stunning, colored foliage. Most common is pink or purple, but there is also orange, red, and white.

Now, I don't know what you're thinking right now, but when I heard that, the first thing I thought of was the spiritual lesson from that. Sure, we can turn into lush, lovely green plants when everything's going great...but it's when we're stressed a little, when we have problems and we turn to the Lord and trust Him for everything, that we become more beautiful than we could ever have imagined. And the world sees our beauty, and they wonder how we became so gorgeous. Which gives us an opportunity to share how the Master Gardener tested us and tried us and stressed us to bring out the beauty that comes only from dependence and trust in Him.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!News Flash!!!!!!!!!!!!! (updated)

We interrupt this program to tell you that....

Two of my 3 best friends in the whole wide world...

My cousins...

My more-than-sisters...

(and their mom!)...

have a blog!!!!!!

Yellow Rose Yearnings

I've been hoping for a long time that they would become bloggers, but I didn't really think it would be happening anytime soon :)

Please join me in welcoming my Aunt Missy and her daughters Laurie and Krystle into the blogosphere! By the way, their dad's mustang training blog is Two Ponies Training Center you might swing by there and leave him a comment too. :)

That's all for now. I'm working on a devotional post that I hope to put up within a few days, but tomorrow is my final test for ASL2, so I'm kinda busy right now.

Before I sign off, I want to mention quick -- we surprised our amazing sign language teacher, Mrs. Rita T., with a special gift last night. After class three of my classmates (Cassandra and I planned the whole thing, we let Miss Laura in on it a few weeks ago, and then we just told Cindy last Wednesday) delayed her while I ran down to where my Mom was holding the stuff. Cassandra's gift was a box of cookies from Mrs. T's favorite bakery; Miss Laura gave her a card and a certificate for the Olive Garden restaurant, one of Mrs. T's favorite places; Cindy contributed a gift card for It's A Grind coffee shop. I gave her 4 balloons (light blue, light pink, yellow, and one with a birdhouse and Thanks on it) and a card; I had the card passed around the class before class started and during the break, and I think pretty much everybody signed it.

Mrs. T. was really, really surprised -- as I walked into the classroom with all the stuff, she asked me what I was doing, who that was for. I just walked up to her and handed her the balloons and spread everything else out on her desk. I thought she was going to cry! She gave us all hugs, read the cards, ooohed and aaahed. She was so tickled... And it was perfect timing, because yesterday was kind of a rough day for her, and that made her day. :p

UPDATE: It's 5-7-08, at about 7:30 PM. I just had my test -- I missed 1! 1! 97% correct! Wooohoooooo!!!!!!!

More Memes

You know, it seems like, all those times when I have a wonderful post all planned out in my head, I just don't have time or opportunity to get on here? And yet, when I do have time and opportunity, all those deep, meaningful thoughts just blank out and I can't think of anything better to post than memes?

Well, you guessed it. Here we go again. Another wave of memes.We'll start off with one that my mom was tagged for through email, but I am doing on my blog instead (because we don't do things like that on email...that's why). So, Miss Mona, here goes:

1. Four places I go to over and over:
The community college where I take American Sign Language, and, hopefully starting the next semester or two, more classes. Church, currently meeting in the cafeteria/auditorium of an elementary school. The local library, both to check out books and to meet in study groups. Several local parks, where I go to collect bottles and cans to recycle (for the money, that is).

2. Four people who read/comment on my blog regularly:
Hmmm... Mrs. Theresa, Kate, Mrs. Connie, and (I think) Lynz

3. Four of my favorite places to eat:

HOME definitely tops the list! I think Del Taco is the best Mexican fast food around, and Subway is the greatest sandwich shop hereabouts. But of course, I would rather eat at Lonestar (or any other steak house, for that matter) than just about anywhere :)

4. Four places I would rather be at right now:

On any horse, anywhere...that's a given. Spending time with any/all of my three best friends, anywhere. Out somewhere where there's wide open spaces...this urban city stuff drives me nuts if I let myself think about it. Spending time with any of my family, or good friends, or even making new friends. And I'm going to add a fifth, because I want to go to Knott's Berry Farm again this year!

Four people I tag:

I'm just going to tag the 4 people I mentioned back up at Question #2!

There was actually supposed to be another question, but that was 'Four TV shows I watch all the time', and I don't watch TV. The next meme is one that again, my mom got tagged for through email, this is a 1 Word meme, meaning that you have to answer all the questions in [preferably] one word, or as few words as possible

1. Where is your cell phone? don't have one

2. Your significant other? don't have one

3. Your hair? blonde

4. Your mother? Kitchen

5. Your father? Garage

6. Your favorite thing? don't have just one

7. Your dream last night? don't remember

8. Your favorite drink? Water

9. Your dream/goal? Ranch

10. The room you're in? Living room

11. Your hobby? have lots

12. Your fear? That the Lord will tarry for many more years! (I don't want to see the way this world is in 20 years, much less 50 or 100! Sorry, that's a lot more than one word, but I just had to blurt that out)

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Heaven, or my own ranch (pref. Arizona)

14. Where were you last night? Home

15. What you're not? Old! :)

16. Muffins? Blueberry...mmmmmmm

17. One of your wish list items? More books by Stephen Bly

18. Where you grew up? Arizona

19. The last thing you did? Read everybody else's blogs! lol :)

20. What are you wearing? In one word??!!! Impossible to describe a woman's attire in one word! I am currently dressed in light blue capris and a purple T-shirt with Ironwood and a picture written on it

21. Your TV? off

22. Your pets? Casey, the hounddog, and Skeeter, the tabby kitten

23. Your computer? A Biostar running Windows XP Home Edition, with a total of 163 GB memory on the hard drives...sweet!

24. Your life? Interesting...very interesting

25. Your mood? Does 'hungry' count?! Happy, lighthearted, cheerful, expectant, and chatty (hey, they're all one-word answers!)

26. Missing someone? Grandma

27. Your car? Not yet, but hoping for a 70's pickup truck!

28. Something you're not wearing? Shoes

29. Favorite store? Hmmm, Boot Barn? I'll just say, any feed, tack, and/or western wear store

30. Your summer? I'll cross that bridge when I get there

31. Like someone? Depends on what you mean by 'like'. If you mean 'like' as in 'liking a friend', then yes, but if you mean 'like' as in 'liking a guy for a husband', no.

32. Your favorite color? Purple...definitely purple

33. The last time you laughed? A few minutes ago...reading this post by Mrs. Theresa

34. Last time you cried? I don't know...maybe a month ago?

35. Who will also do this? You will! Yes you will! You are tagged!!! whoever you happen to be

So, there it is, folks. Another wave of memes.