Burning the midnight oil.

Is it still "burning the midnight oil" if you went to bed but then got up again shortly after midnight?

Why is it that if something wakes me up in the middle of the night, it is impossible for me to get back to sleep? Thankfully it doesn't happen frequently, but it does happen occasionally and it's really annoying! Tonight it was just Acadia coming in because she was thirsty. Why she felt like she needed to come to our room to get a drink of water is beyond me, she usually is the queen of having umpteen glasses of water in her room when she goes to bed at night (okay, "umpteen" is an exaggeration... but at least a couple), and last I checked it is usually easier to get water from the bathroom or kitchen. But for whatever reason, it was our door that opened at 1:30 this morning, and so here I sit, two hours later, not able to get back to sleep.

I usually toss and turn for about an hour, then finally get up because what good is it doing me to lay in bed not sleeping? Usually at that point, I'm thinking to myself about all of the things I "need" to do the next day and "Great, now I'll be too tired to do anything." So, I get up thinking I might as well get started on some of them so I can just take it easy and maybe even nap during normal daylight hours. (Yeah right, like that would actually happen.... Uh, the nap part, actually the "taking it easy" part is probably accurate.) But then, when I'm up I'm not in the mood to clean the kitchen or sweep the floor... and that brings me here. Not sleeping, not working... great. :S

According to Cadi (Daddy Version)...

1. What is something Dad always says to you?

"No"



2. What makes Dad happy?

"Mom."



3. What makes Dad sad?

"When he 'barks' at me."



4. How does your Dad make you laugh?

"Tickle me and do funny jokes and make funny sounds and faces."



5. What was your Dad like as a child?

"Smart"



6. How old is your Dad?

"35"



7. How tall is your Dad?

"Tall"



8. What is his favorite thing to do?

"Stay home and play Halo and Wii with us"



9. What does your Dad do when you're not around?

"Goes to work and stays for a long time. And also he gets read to by you."



10. If your Dad becomes famous, what will it be for?

"For storytelling"



11. What is your Dad really good at?

"Math"



12. What is your Dad not very good at?

"Dancing"



13. What does your Dad do for his job?

"Works with Kokusai at Intel and makes computer chips"



14. What is your Dad's favorite food?

"Pizza"



15. What makes you proud of your Dad?

"He's a smart, intelligent man and knows a lot of spelling."



16. If your Dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?

"I don't know. Skip it."



17. What do you and your Dad do together?

"We play video games"



18. How are you and your Dad the same?

"We both love Halo"



19. How are you and your Dad different?

"My dad is a man and I am a girl."



20. How do you know your Dad loves you?

"Because he always tries to be nice to me."



21. Where is your Dad's favorite place to go?

"I'm going to guess DisneyWorld"



22. What was your Dad's response to most of these questions?

"Nothing"

Something I haven't seen in a year...

That would be an empty driveway!!!

For the last year, this has been sitting in it...



This is the Chick Magnet.  A long time ago, it was Ryan's car.  Then we got a new one and gave this one to his friend, James.  After a few months, it died on him and he had it towed here because we have a garage where they can work on it.  It sat here for almost a year.  Yeah, that's a long time.  They replaced the engine in it and finally today, got it running! 

Here are the guys:



I do still have an ugly old engine sitting in front of the garage... but hopefully it won't be there for long.  And I'm just so glad to have that "Chick Magnet" out of here! lol

I'm a happy girl. :)

According to Cadi...

1. What is something Mom always says to you?

"Clean your room."



2. What makes Mom happy?

"When Dad gives you foot rubs. Or, when you go to nailux and get pampered by them."



3. What makes Mom sad?

"When you and Dad get in fights." (I told her she wasn't supposed to tell people that, she said, "So." lol)



4. How does your Mom make you laugh?

"I don't know, she just does it!" (laughing)



5. What was your Mom like as a child?

"She was a smart young lady and very pretty from her high school picture from the prom... yeah, I saw that!" (laughing)



6. How old is your Mom?

"(Giggle) Well, in July you'll be 34."



7. How tall is your Mom?

"Oooh... can I measure you? Um, then I'm going to guess... 5 feet."



8. What is her favorite thing to do?

"Read to Dad. Especially that new Twilight book... Midnight Sun. And Eldest."



9. What does your Mom do when you're not around?

"Go to the gym. And go to the store and not buy me anything."



10. If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

"Her piano work. Definitely. Or singing. But I'm going more with piano work."



11. What is your Mom really good at?

"Playing the piano. And eating... (LAUGHING) No! I mean, (more laughing)... you're going to kill me... What I mean is, you're really good at cooking!!!"



12. What is your Mom not very good at?

"Um... I don't know, let me think... Don't write down everything I say! Stop!... You're not very good at... I don't know...um, when you plant flowers, you're not good at keeping them alive."



13. What does your Mom do for her job?

"Stay home and try not to kill Rori."



14. What is your Mom's favorite food?

"Samoas!"



15. What makes you proud of your Mom?

"A lot of stuff, but I can't narrow it down. Maybe playing the piano and your excellent singing, and your cooking - I love your cooking. Yep, definitely all that stuff."



16. If your Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

"I don't know. That one's really getting me stuck. Do I have to answer it?"



17. What do you and your Mom do together?

"We go to Barnes and Nobles together, and the mall and all that other fun shopping stuff! Woot, woot, woot!"



18. How are you and your Mom the same?

"We love to play the piano."



19. How are you and your Mom different?

"I always want to get away with as little as possible and you want to make me to do more than I'm supposed to do."



20. How do you know your Mom loves you?

"Because she cares for me and gives me a lot of stuff like clothing and toys... and she's the best mom in the world. And she cooks steak for me!"



21. Where is your Mom's favorite place to go?

"Mongolian Grill"



22. What was your mom's response to most of these questions?

"Laughing, of course."

It's the little things that count.

I've been blessed to be in a position to have unique opportunities to serve. And many times the experiences are challenging. I was faced with another difficult one today. A few friends were aware of what I was going to be doing and I have been so touched by their love, concern and friendship. From phone calls, to e-mails, to knocks on my back door to see how I was doing, I have been blessed with good friends that show me how to serve better. I am grateful for their frienships and I'm grateful for their examples. I hope I'm taking notes so that the next time I know of someone going through something difficult, I will be sure to give them a call to let them know I'm thinking of them - I know exactly how much it means and uplifts a person.

I feel extremely blessed by my Heavenly Father; I have felt His spirit with me this week. Something that terrified me last week, was beautiful, peaceful, and a blessing to participate in this morning. I know it's because the Lord's hand has been involved with everything that has been going on. I know that when He asks us to do something, no matter how hard or scary it may be, He will bless us with what we need to do it - and do it well.

I'm grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord; for friends with their acts of friendship, for the beautiful sunshine we've experienced the last few days (it seems so appropriate as we remember a friend who always had a big smile and positive thing to say, like the sun is trying to make up for her absence somehow), for the spirit that has been with us this week, and for the opportunity to serve others in a completely selfless way.

Blessings, both seen and unseen.

Do you ever wonder how many blessings/miracles/times you are protected there are around you that you're just not aware of? I imagine that we're constantly being blessed/protected without us actually realizing it.
(Sometimes I think the Holy Ghost works overtime just protecting Aurora; with all her crazy ideas, we have yet to find ourselves in an ER... knock on wood. Maybe he's enlisted some Guardian Angels to help him. She could surely use a few! lol)

Some blessings may be big. Perhaps you would have been involved in an accident if you hadn't gotten that phone call just as you were leaving which caused you to be running late? And some may be really small. Could it be that if you hadn't dropped your spoon, you wouldn't have noticed that a picture of your kids had fallen between the fridge and the counter.

Most times, I don't think we'll ever know. Sometimes we do though. And just like with the many we won't ever know about, sometimes the blessings are big and sometimes they are small.

•A couple of weeks ago, I was about to toss a bunch of papers in the recycling and had the thought, "I should double check to make sure I'm not throwing away something important." I have never had that thought when putting out recycling before. And I really didn't think anything had accidentally been shuffled into the papers I was carrying. I almost ignored the thought because it seemed so unlikely, but thankfully I realized that it would definitely be better to be safe than sorry. Expecting to find nothing, I ruffled through the papers and found some replacement credit cards that had just been sent to us. *Whew* And a big "Thank you!" to the source of that prompting!

•On Saturday night, some kids (I assume they were kids) randomly tossed eggs at cars all up and down our street. We didn't really figure it all out until we saw the other cars that had been hit, because at our house, even though there were broken egg shells on all four sides of my car, some with egg yolk still in them, there wasn't a single drop of anything on any of our cars, the house, or even the ground! Tell me how that is possible? Not a single drop! But at least two or three broken eggs were surrounding my car. It seems silly to think that it would be "that important", but I believe our car was shielded some how. I don't understand it, but I'm so grateful for it! And Ryan and I were both offering thanks for that protection as we said our prayers that night.

I just feel so grateful for the many blessings I have around me. I'm grateful for the miracles, protections, promtings, etc, whether I see them or not. Lately I have felt more aware of it than usual. I just feel protected/guided. And it makes me want to live more worthy of it.

The Jesus Song

Rori was dancing around, singing a song. I couldn't understand what she was singing and I don't know if it was supposed to be a real song or one she just made up, so I asked her what she was singing. She said, "The Jesus Song!" I wasn't sure if I heard her right, so I repeated, "The Jesus Song?" "Yes! The Jesus Song!" And then she kept singing, I still couldn't understand most of it, except for the occasional "Jesus".

Eventually it evolved into a song about horses because she looked at a poster of ponies, and at that point, it began to include the letters she was seeing on the poster, too. (The poster said, "Dream Ponies", so she was singing "O", "R", "E", etc.)

Anyhow, it made me smile and I wanted to post it before I forgot the moment. :)