Testing, testing

if I am able to post to this blog again

In Loving Memory

I just found out that the world lost one of its most lovely people yesterday, Mrs. Frieda Haas.

I've known Frieda since I was about four. Some of my most fond childhood summer memories involve Frieda, her house, or her garden. Frieda would laugh and laugh at me and my friends and our antics; she had as much energy as any of us did (and that is saying quite a bit!). When I was six or seven, she was in her basement doing some chore, and she laughed as I swung from her pipes like a monkey. Whenever I would visit her as an adult, she would always say, "Ooh, I probably shouldn't have let you do that, you swinging from the pipes!" and she would laugh great, whole-body laughs. The neighbor girls and I loved to play house in a small screened in shed near her garden as she worked her magic amongst the flowers and vegetables, and at the end of the day she would share her wares with us to bring home to our mothers.

Frieda seemed to hold an unchanging quality about her; she was always happy, always energetic, always glad to see us, always old (especially to our young eyes), never seeming to change appearance-wise. She would talk lovingly of her past and her husband, dead some twenty years before we were twinkles in our parent's eyes.

When I hit Jr. High and High School I was much too wrapped up in my own life and activities and friends to think much about Frieda. But she was always there, and I know now that she was always praying for me and my friends, always thanking God for us.

When I went to tell her that I was getting married at the ripe old age of twenty, she cried tears of joy. She loved Tiger from the get-go (some people took some warming-up ;-p) and was so proud of us. Every time she saw me she would tell me she loved me, tell me she thanked God for me and for bringing me a wonderful husband. I am so thankful for her prayers.

The one time I went to my hometown since Lily's birth, I brought Lily to meet her. Frieda was lost for words. She just wept tears of joy and kept saying, "I love you. I love you." I am so glad she met my daughter.

Frieda was a loving, caring, compassionate woman, someone I hope to emulate someday. She died in her 90s, living in the same home that she and her husband bought as a young couple and raised their children in, still gardening, still visiting friends, still laughing. I sent out picture cards with our new address recently. I don't know if Frieda saw hers or not, but I do know that it would have made her smile and made her eyes mist up happy tears. She truly was a living saint.

I'll miss you, Frieda.

Only $29.99!

While picking up toner or address labels for the office, and for only $29.99 you can go to your nearest Office Supply Mega Store and pick up a kit that has all the paperwork you need for a divorce! It's that simple & easy!

Ugh.

Yellow Rectangle

One of the first things I bought for Lily was a set of blocks. What (other than Lego, of which she is too young) are better for playing with than blocks? These particular blocks come in red, blue, green, and yellow. They also come in sundry shapes (cylinders, arches, squares, rectangles, etc.). At a very early age she showed a particular preference for the yellow rectangles, and now that Lily is very mobile, I find yellow rectangles in all sorts of places. My personal favorite was in the shower. Somehow a green one got out in the garden (I think she might have thrown it out an open window), and green does seem more appropriate for that setting. Or maybe she was just letting us know what she thinks of the green ones.

Anyway, so now she is totally through with crawling (it's for babies, you know) which she only did for 5 months total, and says "Hi!" especially when she wakes us up in the morning with a big grin on her face and those smiley eyes. Then we just try to roll over and pretend we are still asleep.

Birthday Pics

I promised some pics of the Birthday and the Birthday girl! Her party turned out very well; we had a showing of 10 people, which is pretty good for only having lived here for four weeks, I think.

Big Girl!!

Lily used her first week of being one well; she went from taking a step or two, to five or six at a time, and, last night, she traversed the living room three times on her own two feet.

I knew she was able to walk and that she herself just didn't know it. Well, now she knows, and it is all about practice :-)

One Year Ago Today...

I was kissing my baby's face for the first time. Lily hit the big Oh-One today. We're going to celebrate by eating home-made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting with the few people we have met in our three weeks here in North Carolina. 10 people are invited; we'll see how the turnout is. It will certainly be VERY different than the family and friends filled blow-out that would have happened had we not made the move.

Our New Diggs

Here's a pic of our new house in North Carolina. We will be moving around February 28th. It seems a bit yuppie, but we like it anyway ;-)

It's 99% Official...

It looks like we are moving south of the Mason/Dixon line. Tiger's been offered a promotion to go to the North Carolina office. We spent four days in NC last week, and we are very excited about what the company is doing there. NC itself is beautiful, and seems to be vibrant and growing. But far more important that a fantastic career opportunity for TIger or some adventure for us all, is the fact that since we first heard about the potential move back on December 6th, we've both felt with everything in us that this is the next step that God has for us. Visiting to North Carolina last week simply confirmed what we already knew in our hearts. I have no idea on earth why we would be sent there; I suppose that's why it is called faith. I don't need to know--the adventure is in the finding out.

While we were in NC I realized that all this started when, instead of praying, "Lord, get us to France," I began to pray, "Make us into the type of people that you can use in France." I have no idea what NC has to do with France. Perhaps I will be able to tell you in five or ten years; perhaps it has nothing to do with France at all and this is just the next step in the crazy journey Tiger and I began seven-and-a-half years ago.

We put a bid on a house our last day in NC; when the bid comes through for sure I will post pictures.

I'll tell you something that I keep telling my mom, who is beside herself at the prospect of us taking Lily far away: Unless there were depression-like conditions, we would never leave our family and friends "just" for a job. The job is only the vehicle for us going to where we feel strongly God is sending us--we're going for that reason, not simply a career move.

ANYway, we are a riot of emotions right now: excited at the impending adventure, unknown, and change, mourning the impending distance between us and our family and our dear, dear friends who have become as family to us. WE ARE ALL GETTING WEB CAMS! I feel our cell phone bill will soon be outrageous....

Bearing Gifts We Travel Afar

After a Christmas/Birthday lunch with Tiger's mom, brother, and sister-in-law at a well-loved local place (quite lovely and very Christmas-y), Tiger, Lily and I headed to my old home town despite the terrible weather. It took us five hours to make the 2.25 hour drive(!). It was like we were on Hoth. Seriously, we might have done better on Taun-Tauns. I've heard of "blowing snow" and "whiteout" conditions my whole life, but now I feel that I have personally experienced them.
Everyone is sick except my dad. Tiger and I both ended up going to the local Hospital this morning. Fortunately it's just a little virus; I thought I'd best be careful with my compromised immune system.

I've been off pain-killers for two days now. Yay! I wanted to as soon as possible for Lily's sake. She's still a bit jumpy still when I leave the room, poor kid. My absence seems to have strengthened her relationship to Tiger, which is beautiful to see. Thank you to everyone who telephoned, emailed, or visited while I was out of commission. I felt the love!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night ;-)

Today it happened...

Lilly climbed the 13 stairs from our first floor to our second, unassisted. * snif *

They get so big so durn fast.

Yesterday, Katie taught her both "high five" and the fist pound.

It Was the Gall-darn Gallbladder

Saturday I had what I thought was heartburn-from-hell, but five hours later on in the ER it was revealed to be a gallbladder attack. Apparently passing a gallstone (not to be confused with passing a kidney stone--two very different things) feels similarly to trying to birth a bowling ball from your stomach up into your esophagus. After some fine IV drugs I was doing much better. Sunday I had fun with an MRI--luckily I am not claustrophobic; it is a bit like hanging out in a well-lit coffin. Ah, yes, the rogue gallstones were found and it was decided that my gallbladder must be removed. I guess this is not an uncommon thing for women who have recently had babies to suffer. Is that fair? So on Monday morning I had laproscopic surgery to remove the offending organ (good thing it is expendable, no?). My sister flew in from Mexico for Christmas and, being a dutiful sister as she is, spent the night in the hospital with me, God bless her. It was like a painful pajama party full of vicadan and hospital gowns. Katie is thinking of having her her gallbladder out just so we can have a repeat fete.

I'm fine, but poor Lily had a very hard go at it without me (Tiger was always very appreciative of what I did at home, but now he REALLY admires my work). I've been home for a day and a half, but the poor little thing is still distressed whenever I leave a room. Until this weekend, she and I had never been apart from each other for more than four hours, then suddenly, 48. I would have seen her, but I thought it would be nothing but cruel to have her see me but not be able to nurse due to the drugs they were pumping into me. Tuesday when I came home was one big laugh/cuddle/nurse/nap fest for the two of us. Unfortunately in the absence of the nursing antibodies, she came down with a cold, so we are working on getting her back to her bubbly self.

Many thanks go out to the three Grandmas who did their best (two at a time) to keep Lily distracted from the fact the world she knew and loved was in a complete state of baby-hell (no mom? no milk? no!!). Extra special thanks to my friend Marlene, who even came to nurse and comfort Lily while I was unable to.

In case anyone is interested, here is a link to a YouTube video of my surgery.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ycvwAfx3yF0

Other New Projects

Just as I gleefully began my sweater of joy, I realized that Christmas is coming, and, perhaps, I should think of some gifts. Over the last two years I knit all my kid cousins (most of my cousins are significantly younger than I) stuffed animals for Christmas and birthdays. This year I've decided to go for socks for my aunts (If you know any of my aunts, ssssh!). It's a good thing I have a relatively small family. Here are pics of my progress of the first sock.

My sister had a request for a "burnt orange beanie with a brim." Here is my offering. The top has a kind of swirly starfish shape in it. The hat is my own design, the footies come from "One Skein" by Leigh Radford (many jems in this one, I recommend it).

Projects, Old and New

Here is the picture of the sweater I've been working on this summer. As you can see, it is almost finished, but not quite. If I were a good and diligent little knitter, I would finish it straight away and never look back. But I am not. And I just found gorgeous soysilk/wool yarn for an absolute steal, perfect for a sweater in a really great book I just bought, Knitting Nature. This book is fascinating, even if one were to only appreciate the concepts or photography. It is now cold. Who wants to knit in cotton, versus wool, when it is cold? Sorry, cotton sweater. I'll finish you when the temps start to rise and I'm yearning for something springy. Until then, there is this beauty:
The extravagant yarn and exotic pentagon yoke pattern is calling to me now! (And, of course, this too shall be green.)

Health Club

I gave in and joined a health club. The last two winters I was able to find alternative fitness venues, but now that Lily is here, I didn't think it was good or fair for me to say, "Ok, honey, you sit in your playpen while mommy exercises and showers! see you in an hour!" We were able to play outside enough this summer for me to make my goal of getting back into my jeans before cold weather hit, but I knew I would need more to stay healthy this winter--I fear it is going to be a long one. Our gym provides two hours of childcare per day, and while I was a bit nervous about leaving her with strangers at first, my friend and neighbor goes there, as well as a lot of friends of hers, so that makes me feel better, plus the little sweetheart seems to take to it well, and she smiles and laughs when she sees the workers now. The nice ladies working there couldn't believe that Lily had never been in daycare before--no crying or separation anxiety--she's never even had a non-family baby sitter before. The two-hour time limit is perfect; enough time for an hour long class and a soak in the whirl pool and a shower, and that is Lily's limit for time without me, too. I'm only going to go about twice a week--I don't want to take advantage of Lily's good graces too much. She's only going to be my baby girl for a very, very short time. I can't believe how quickly it's gone, and how much she's grown (she's already in 12-18 month clothing!)

When I went to pick her up yesterday she was playing with her back to the door, and was obviously having a good time. I hope I never in my life forget the look on her face when she heard me say, "Hi, Bug!" and turned around. Pure blissful love is the best way to describe it. Gorgeous.