joy to everyone

so many blog posts swishing around here in my head, so it's gonna be another one of these.

as i mentioned in my previous post (last week) i was off to meet my new nephews, and let me say they are darling! with in moments of meeting them i wanted to scoop them up and bring them home with me. my sister is enjoying her job as mommy. i admire that she has a sense of humor, and doesn't sweat the small stuff. i admire how calm, cool, and collected she is in her new mommy role. i began to wonder why i wasn't this way when motherhood began, and then it occurred to me i was 23 when i began this journey, she is 33. her boys really enjoyed their new "tousins." We LOVED being with them, and hope to see them again soon.

while we were visiting family, we stayed with my mom. my mom's husband steve (a.k.a "papa steve") asked if noah could join him at work for a day. steve drives truck, delivering feed to dairies. noah's eyes lit up when he knew he would get to ride in the big diesel truck and have man time with papa steve. i can tell you that for me the way to this mother's heart is through my children. steve wanting to spend time with noah was such a gift to me. while visiting family, i also went to a memorial service for a woman whose daughters i went to high school with. i didn't know pam johnson well, but God used her to change the whole course of my life. when i was 19, pam invited me to be a counselor for her 6th grade class at camp oakhurst. during that week i had the priveledge of leading one of those girls to Christ, by the end of the week i was offered a summer job at the camp. the rest is history! i met michael that summer, we married, have 3 terrific kids, and i have lived a life here in oakhurst for 15 years now that is better than my wildest dreams. at her memorial service, they sang "Thank you for giving to the Lord," and i am so thankful that pam gave to our God, because "i am a life that was changed."
at the end of that week pam discovered that i had never been to yosemite (i had lived 2 hours from yosemite my entire life and had never gone). she decided we would take the long way home, so that i could see yosemite. it makes me smile just thinking about it. if you haven't been to yosemite, you must go! coming through the tunnel and seeing half dome, el capitan, and the valley floor is breathtaking. it is majestic.

and now onto pants. when my sister was in jr. high and i was in high school we were sucked into the trend of puffy painting. looking back i think puffy paint was hideous (along with permanents, m.c. hammer pants, wet & wild lip stick, and big bangs)! my mom pulled out a pair of calvin kleins my sister and i had collaborated on and painted for her. of course i had to try them on. yikes! it all came rushing back, the tight, high wasted pants,how i would lay down on my bed to zip them up. squeezing my high school self into a pair of these cut off your circulation, who needs to breath calvin kleins. i will share with you the view from the front, but i will not even let you see what is going on on my backside...scary!! and finally onto chairs. my mother has had this chair with ottoman i have been asking her for since the day she bought it, 5 years ago, for $50 at a yard sale. once again, i asked for the chair, and this time she said yes (i am like the persistent widow ). she also said i better take it now before she changed her mind. my mom decided that a good time to move the chair from the house to my van was friday evening at 11:40 p.m. the chair was in the office, which sits at a caddy corner in her hallway . getting the chair out was going to be tricky... apparently getting it in was tricky, but she didn't tell me that till 12:20 a.m. when the chair was stuck between the doorway and the caddy corner portion of the hallway and wouldn't budge. at this point i found myself trapped in the bedroom. there was no way over, under, or around that chair. since desperate times call for desperate measures, i removed the screen from the window, found my way out of that room and back around and into the house. once in the house i contemplated what our next step would be to get the chair out of it's predicament. the next step was chocolate. look people, it was 12 something in the a.m., chair is stuck, and i needed some chocolate inspiration/motivation. as i munched on chocolate i found a screw driver, which i used to remove the door from the hinges (we should've done this in the first place. i honestly didn't think my mom had a screwdriver. growing up i only recall her using a butter knife when we needed a tool), and eventually after a bit more lifting, and maneuvering, and a little door frame dinging and wall scratching the chair was out! but then it wouldn't fit in my van. more chocolate, a lot of laughter, and a bit later the chair and ottoman were in the van. now it is home, in my room. i really wish i had a before and after picture. i have wanted a chair in my room for some time. i have selfishly desired a place just for me, to curl up with a blanket, read, drink a hot cup of tea, disappear from the house and it's demands, and find solitude. after shuffling the furniture around to make room for the chair i worked to get the room back together. knowing that when everything was in it's place i could find my way home to it's over- stuffed pillow back, wide arms, footstool, and warm throw blanket. but when i was done the chair was occupied! emilie was nestled in reading a book. here is the rearranged room. next i need some curtains (hmmm, wonder if my mom has curtains?).