The Adventures of.... CATAWACK!

Once upon a time, a long long time ago.. There was a little girl named Alissa. Alissa loved all things creepy and vowed to some day be a bug scientist. Alissa was a dreamer... always thinking up new ways to play and new adventures to embark on. But Alissa wasn't content to just be Alissa.. you see, in her mind she was capable of so much more. So on that day long long ago (about a month ago, but who's counting) Alissa had an "AH-HA!" moment when she created her very own superhero identity... that's right.. that's the day that CATAWACK was born. Catawack runs as fast as lightning, and she can jump over big rivers (this is a quote from Alissa standing beside me).

STORY CONTINUED IN QUOTES FROM ALISSA WHO HAS DECIDED TO DICTATE:

"There's 101 and one cats (for the record there was 72 forever, guess this is growing). And she can break metal. And she's strong enough to break some wood. She's as fast as lighting and faster than lighting. She's fatser than anybody else. If anybody is in a race she'll always win.

ME: Tell me a story about Catawack and one of her adventures.

ALISSA: "Ok, but it's a long story. Ok. Catawack and her 72 cats were walking along and a skeleton bad guy saw them and he chased after them and a cat was biting on his buns. And then Catawack jumped over the lake and her 72 cats did and that skeleton stopped because he was trying to get the cat off his buns and he got a poky vine and he tried to whack the cat but the cat jumped off and he whacked himself on the buns with the pokey vine. And then the cat jumped over the lake with Catawack. And then there was just 1 bad guy that was bigger than them and the cats all jumped over the lake and the bad guy jumped over the lake and then ran out of oil. Mhm. Ready for the next story - It's Catawack on a safari and a great big monster and also all the cats bit his buns and then a cat was..some cats were nibbling on his feet and he said "AHHHHHH" and then he got a great great great big pokey pokey vine and he tried to whack the cats and he whacked his buns and then the cats on his feet jumped off of his feet and he whacked his feet. And then everything was saved.

The end."

"Ok Catawack was walking and her 72 cats. And also there was this GREAT big bad guy and some cats were in his hair and he didn't notice and so one bit him and he whacked his head with a pokey vine and pokey himself 101 times. And then everything was saved again. And then another bad guy showed up and then Catawack's cats bit him all over himself and he wacked himself with a lot of vines and then everything was saved."

TRASH MAN

Every week Jonathan listens intently for his favorite person - the TRASH MAN! If you ask Jonathan when the trash man comes he will quickly respond, "The trash man comes on Friiiiiday's." In fact if you ask him when Grandma Davis' trash man comes he responds, "Gramma Davis' trash man comes on Tursday's". Jonathan recently turned 3 years old and wanted a "Trash man and Digger Party"... and that is exactly what he got. So today, I brought out the camera to capture his weekly meeting with the Trash man and got a gem. Jonathan likes to show his trash man his newest trash trucks, and this week was no exception. This week the trash man stopped and told Jonathan that when he started working for the trash company 13 years ago the truck Jonathan was holding was the exact one he drove! In the end he thanked me for letting Jonathan say hi to him every week...said it made his day. I can't explain exactly why that was so touching to me.. but here I see one of the simple beauties of life - a three year old little boy who eagerly awaits seeing "his" trash man round the corner so he can smile and wave... and a grown man, a trash man, who eagerly awaits rounding that same corner to smile and wave at "his" special three year old boy. Just magical.

Leaf bugs and spiders..

I vowed to revive this thing. Shame on me. I shall revive it yet. See the problem is Facebook is evil. I find myself putting pics up on their and neglecting this poor blog.

So updates -

Matt first.. he is doing great. Excelling at the jail. There is much talk of promotion in his immediate future. This is good and bad. The bad is that he is FINALLY on day shift and a promotion would mean rotating shift about every 3 months I think. So graveyard AGAIN. Sigh. We will see where that goes.

Myself.. lovin life! Really getting into photography. Did my first maternity photo shoot end of June and it was a BLAST! Ended up making a leather bound book for the family. Going to go on a photo excursion August 14th for 3 days and two nights in Bend. The kiddos get to stay with Matt's mom. They are thrilled to say the least. Three days spoiled rotten? Sweeeeeeet. :)

Alissa.. big as ever! Alissa finally found her appetite. The girl can EAT! Making up for the last 5 years of self starvation I suppose. Yesterday Alissa got new pets.. leaf bugs. Four to be exact. They are the coolest things ever. Get to be up to 6 inches long and they sort of have personality..for a bug anyway. She is one happy kid with new creepy crawlies.. and I am a happy mommy because they are very low maintenance. Alissa is eager to start kindergarten at Rosedale Elementary (YAYAYAYA) September 9th... and I'm of course caught somewhere between excited and terrified. Alissa can read simple words and phrases.. knows all her letters and numbers to 100... she tends to learn things better if I don't push the issue so I try and let her ask the questions instead of forcing things on her. She is the most creative and imaginative kid I have ever met. Amazing.

Jonathan.. Mr. Bigshot as GG calls him. Jonathan is talking better than most 4 year olds. Very clear speech and an unreal vocabulary. He is still signing often and loves that too. He will be three years old Monday (IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?) and Sunday we are going to have a "Digger and Trashman" birthday party. Jonathan loves pink. Anything pink. I have to write this down or some day he may not believe me hehe. In toddler time class he fought with a little girl for the pink shakers. The boy is seriously obsessed with pink. It's cute. He knows his ABC's and know some letter sounds already. He can count to 20 and ride a tricycle. Last month Jonathan got his own room all to himself. We moved the computer out to the living room and got rid of the guest bed and VWALLA.. a bedroom. Soon to be transformed into a digger room.

Zena.. Getting very old. Seven years old and with her chronic allergies she is slowing down fast. Still a happy wonderful amazing dog.

Triton.. 16 months old and 160 pounds of snoring, farting, drooling, otherwise just foul and disgusting dog. And a big dork to top it off. Still trying to figure out why I like him so much. :)

Kisses.. Still scared of the dogs.. still sweet and adorable.

Sea Monkeys... still there. Still alive. Not sure how. Survived since Christmas so far.

Leaf bugs.. Just too cool. I'll take pics soon.

Giant spider.. can't forget Alissa's pet spider. It is my job to feed him every night. Joy.

Think that covers the whole family.

Until next time.

Boca..or Bokeh..or..Blog!!

I just realized something funny... I HAVE A BLOG!! haha.. ok seriously.. Facebook is evil. Thats the only place I put pics and updates.. until now!! :) I vow to re-discover my poor abused blog.

Starting with a story --

Ok, I lied.. some background first.. So I recently discovered a love of photography. I mean, I can't get enough of it!! I am learning all I can and having a blast. Recently my obsession has been to get BOCA! Or bokeh... not sure how that is spelled but seen it both ways. Boca is just a blurred background. Ok.. now on the the story..

So yesterday the kids and I were playing outside and I was armed with my camera and some new knowledge from my mom. I started snapping away. Now keep in mind I never once (on this day) mentioned I was looking for boca.. just taking pics of the kids is all. Well, I was sitting there flipping through my pics I had taken and found my money shot - I proceeded to exclaim "YES!!!!!" and then Jonathan looks at me.. grins real big.. and says proudly "Momma got some BOCA!!" .. I looked at him.. mouth agape.. and said.. "Yes, Jonny..momma got some boca!!" And he gave me a high five. Talk about a kid who pays attention!!! Sheesh.. I SWEAR the word boca did not leave my lips yesterday.. it was hilarious.

After that Jonathan watched me take photos and every time I got a good one and exclaimed happily he insisted on screaming "BOCA" and giving me a high five. It was fun.

Then put the camera away, made some lunch.. and we ate a picnic lunch on a blanket in the front yard. Fun times.

In other news, we have decided to wait to sell our house and are refinancing instead. We went in yesterday to sign papers. I am super nervous about the economy and the direction it is going so getting all of our ducks in a row now.

I'm sure I have a million more things to write about..hmmm.. oh yes Alissa got into Rosedale Elementary - the best (and smallest) school in town! I am so very excited for her.

Ok I'm off, I will try to remember that I have a blog now.. really.

Matt the pilot.

So we finally got to go on our plane trip. We were told it was going to be a "scenic flight over Salem" what we were not told was that one of US would fly the plane! Imagine our surprise when the owner of the Cessna looked at us and popped the question, "So, who's flying today?"..umm...is that a trick question?? So of course I pointed at Matt and he pointed at me, but we both know who the future pilot in the family is and it is CERTAINLY not me. So, I won the pointing contest and Matt sat down for his half hour pre-flight lesson. After the lesson we went out to the plane for a pre-flight check (a very thorough one at that, I wasn't complaining).

During the check there was lots of waving on my part to the kiddos who were there a ways away behind a fence with GG, Grandma Davis, and Bethany. We got situated in the plane.. belted in, headsets on, engine started... I'm stuck in the backseat..and THEN she informs me that Matt will be handling take off all by himself...umm..

Yep..that was my reaction. But no worries, he did a fantastic job getting us off the ground. It was a bit bumpy and his turns were a bit rough.. but overall I was very proud of my pilot hubby. Here was the view out my window --

Not too bad eh? Directly after the flight I snapped this picture of Matt with his "I just flew a plane how cool is that" permagrin. Priceless.

Safely aground and with engine off the kids got to come check out the plane. Alissa was a natural.

Course this picture is a bit funny.. when Jonathan sees it he keeps asking what Ali has in her nose. Hehe.

So in summary it was a terrific flight.. we flew northeast over Silverton and then finally Silver Falls state park.. which was great except from above all you see is trees. Just beautiful either way.

The pebble.

There is a window in your heart through which you can see God. Once upon a time that window was clear. Your view of God was crisp. You could see God as vividly as you could see a gentle valley or hillside. The glass was clean, the pane unbroken.

You knew God. You knew how he worked. You knew what he wanted you to do. No surprises. Nothing unexpected. You knew God had a will, and you continually discovered what it was.

Then suddenly, the window cracked. A pebble broke the window. A pebble of pain.

Perhaps the stone struck when you were a child and a parent left home - forever. Maybe the rock hit in adolescence when your heart was broken. Maybe you made it into adulthood before the window cracked. But then the pebble came.

Was it a phone call? "We have your daughter at the station. You'd better come down."

Was it a letter on the kitchen table? "I've left. Don't try to reach me. Don't try to call me. It's over. I just don't love you anymore."

Was it a diagnosis from the doctor? "I'm afraid our news is not very good."

Was it a telegram? "We regret to inform you that your son is missing in action."

Whatever the pebbles form, the result was the same - a shattered window. The pebble missiled into the pane and shattered it. The crash echoed down the halls of your heart. Cracks shot out from the point of impact, creating a spider web of fragmented pieces.

And suddenly God was not so easy to see. The view that had been so crisp had changed. You turned to see God, and his figure was distorted. It was hard to see him through the pain. It was hard to see him through the fragments of hurt.

You were puzzled. God wouldn't allow something like this to happen, would he? Tragedy and travesty weren't on the agenda of the One you had seen, were they? Had you been fooled? Had you been blind?

The moment the pebble struck, the glass became a reference point for you. From then on, there was life before the pain and life after the pain. Before your pain, the view was clear; God seemed so near. After your pain, well, he was harder to see. He seemed a bit distant...harder to perceive. Your pain distorted the view - not eclipsed it, but distorted it.

Maybe these words don't describe your situation. There are some people who never have to redefine or refocus their view of God. Most of us do.

Most of us know what it means to feel disappointed by God.

Most of us have a way of completing this sentence: "If God is God, then..." Call it an agenda, a divine job description. Each of us has an unspoken, yet definitive, expectation of what God should do. "If God is God, then..."

* There will be no financial collapse in my family
* My children will never be buried before me.
* People will treat me fairly
* This church will never divide
* My prayer will be answered

There are not articulated criteria. They are not written down or notarized. But they are real. They define the expectations we have of God. And when pain comes into our world - when the careening pebble splinters the window of our hearts - these expectations go unmet and doubts may begin to surface.We look for God, but can't find him. Fragmented glass hinders our vision. He is enlarged through this piece and reduced through that one. Lines jigsaw their way across his face. Large sections of shattered glass opaque the view.And now you aren't quite sure what you see.
~ Max Lucado

What will that pebble be for my kids? And how long can I shield them from it? I find myself on my knees begging the God that I know through my own fragmented glass.. the God that I love and trust.. begging the wisdom, courage, and strength to block those pebbles for as long as I can.

ZOO

So my fabulous sister in law called my this morning to invite us to the zoo!! What a treat!! The kids had sooo much fun seeing all the animals and hanging out.. and I slacked a bit on pictures. Here was a highlight from out trip -- feeding the birds!!

The kids had a blast with the birds climbing all over them to drink nectar from their cups. Toooo fun.

Overall it was COLD.. it was windy.. it was WET.. but it was ooohhh so fun!!