"Are you ONE?"

My sweet baby has learned a trick. When I ask, "Are you ONE?" he raises one finger. We've been practicing for a few weeks and I think it is absolutely adorable! Below is a cute clip of him trying out this new trick:

I sit here looking back at the past year, amazed at the blessings God has poured on us. Parker has completed our family and made us feel whole and content in a way I didn't know was possible. I never knew what it was like for older siblings to adore younger ones, because each older brother was still a baby when a younger one was born. With the gap between the first three and Parker I am seeing a whole different side of "big brother-ness" and I love it.

Hayden is an absolutely adorable big brother who enjoys showing off his baby. He ALWAYS asks if he can hold him in public, wants to make sure that others see him with Parker. Carson, I can tell, already misses the infant stage of Parker's life, as he wants to hold Parker in that snuggly position while Parker wants to be on the go! Bailey loves to tickle and generally mess with Parker, and it rarely bothers the little guy. These three brothers have definitely helped Parker to have the easy-going personality we so enjoy.

Here are some of the things I love about Parker:

his wild and crazy hair that I plan to have tamed (i.e. cut) by his actual birthday;

his infectious laugh that starts small but grows until it envelopes the entire room;

the way he still can't get from belly to bottom while roaming around the house;

the fact that he's content to lie on his belly and play since he can't get to his bottom;

how he will not swallow those stinking little legos we have everywhere, but will just gnaw on them until one of us digs it out of his mouth;

that he will eat anything I make for him, except spaghetti (which just so happens to be his big brothers' favorite meal), or plain yogurt, but who can blame him;

his blue eyes that both captivate me and melt me simultaneously;

that he sleeps 12 hours at night, 2 hour morning nap, 3 hour afternoon nap, and sometimes an hour evening nap;

how he about jumps off the changing table if he hears his big brothers in the hallway;

that no matter how I tried to prevent it, he still sucks his left thumb (and only his left);

how he can eat more than I do;

that he no longer throws up after each meal due to his acid reflux getting so much better;

how he has a crush on my friend, Jessica, and has since he was itty-bitty;

that he will sit quietly and enjoy his stroller while I run (even if I'm not really enjoying the run);

how his mouth gapes open in wonder as he explores his surroundings;

how he looks so much like his oldest brother, Hayden, with whom he has an extra close relationship;

how he will say "NANA" instead of "MAMA" much to my mom's delight;

that he's learning the meaning of "no" and will actually listen to me, sometimes;

how he loves his walker and can RUN through the house;

that I have to wear slippers or he get up to top speed and run into my heels, excited to see mama...

and I will continue to find things about Parker that I love with all of my heart.

What a blessed woman I am!

(And wait a bit and I'll post a blog about his absolutely wonderful first birthday party!)

Taking a break...

So, week 1 of my first online class is almost over. I've learned a lot, and some of it has nothing to do with photography. One very clear thing I've learned is that my life was pretty well scheduled before I added the class. I was able to fit in homeschooling, exercising, house-keeping, and some playtime on email/FB. But when I added the class, I dropped the exercising and housekeeping, keeping only what was of the most importance... homeschooling and email/FB. :)

After 5 days of that I'm discovering that's really not the best plan and am going to swap my priorities around a bit. If you email me and I don't reply, rest assured that I'm not ignoring you personally, but doing my best to keep up with my main priorities and my super-fun and amazingly-informative class.

I find it oh-so-fitting that one of the subjects I used in my practicing with slow shutter speeds was my wall clock. If you look closely you can see the passing of time in the second hand. The minutes I spent taking pictures this past week have not been in vain. I've learned a great deal and really do recommend this class to anyone who has a DSLR and only uses Auto mode. It's great!

But looking at at my house at this very moment, it's bordering on the C.H.A.O.S. that Flylady talks about. I need to take a break from email and Facebook so that I can do what is of most importance to me, and all of that revolves around my family. Feel free to keep emailing and such, but I'm thinking that, until March is over, I will be taking a break. (This next two weeks also happen to include Bailey's and Parker's birthdayS and a trip to London... I have a lot going on and really need to prioritize.)

Not sure how this will work, as I want to post pictures of birthday parties for friends and family in the states, and I will be OH SO tempted to reply back to the comments... maybe I'll find a way to be balanced. Probably not. :)

So, ta-ta for now! See you in APRIL!

(Okay, you know me better than that. I will post on Parker's 1st Birthday WHICH IS IN 9 DAYS, and then again, when I get back from London, but I will be MOSTLY quiet until April...)

The call...

Being a Dave Ramsey fan and a loyal listener to his daily radio show (via 3-hour, commercial free podcasts) I could not wait until we got to call and do our "debt free scream" live.

I've been in contact with someone there for the past couple of weeks, and she put me in contact with Lara, Dave's assistant producer. On Thursday, Lara emailed me and asked me a few questions and offered a few dates to choose from. The next day, 25 FEB, was one of the available dates. I jumped at the chance!

Friday afternoon I got the house set up just right. I wanted to video this for our own memories, as well as a way to let the boys realize just how important this moment is. This is a moment I pray they never have on their own, as we are teaching them to follow this lifestyle forever, never getting into debt. I set up my laptop so mom, dad, and Josh could watch via Skype, and turned the table on an angle so the video would show each person. I printed out some coloring sheets from Twistynoodle with debt free sayings on them. These were used during the call to keep the boys entertained and they worked surprisingly well.

2 hours beforehand I as working on dinner, excited but nervous, and listening to podcasts. 40 minutes before, while the boys were watching a movie, I jotted down some notes just in case I went blank.

At 8:00 pm (2:00 pm EST) my internet went out. I about had a mini-freak-out, because I was really hoping my parents could watch. A quick restart of our modem fixed the problem, but, as it turned out, Skype froze up on them a few times during the call anyway. At least they were listening LIVE on Dave's website so they didn't miss anything important.

At 8:1o I dialed the number and within a minute, I was talking to Lara! I felt like we were on hold for a hour, but that was just because my heart was beating so fast. All in all, I believe we were on the phone less than 25 minutes, including wait time. Not bad.

During the waiting I remember worrying that Parker was going to get loud, so I had Matt feed him a jar of baby food. That worked, but he ate too fast, so had him feed him a 2nd jar. Then I remembered I had purchased Ritz crackers. That boy loves Ritz and we only give them to him occasionally... perfect bribery.

In the end, all 4 boys were quiet and we rewarded them a couple of times during the call with chocolate chips. And finally, we got to scream as loudly as we could. It was amazing and I hope many of our friends will be calling to do the same within the next couple of years. What a peace there is on this side of our journey.

Here's the video of our call, plus a little bonus video of us burning our statement from Sallie Mae that shows a zero balance.

WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrating Carson!

8 years ago right now we were at home watching an ice storm make its way into NC. My parents encouraged us to go to Gastonia (an hour away) to make sure I'd be near the hospital in case Carson decided to come overnight. They met us there and we all crashed in the same hotel room: Mom, Dad, me, Matt and Hayden. I remember Matt was studying for a seminary exam... (random memory)

Sure enough, my water broke during the night and we were right beside GMH. Sweet Carson joined our family at a whopping 9 lbs 11 oz and with the sweetest cheeks you've ever seen.

He is the easiest kid to get along with, rarely complainingabout anything. He reads so fast I have a hard time keeping up with him even when we reserve books from other Army libraries. His giggle is so cute, even if he tries to hide it from us. He looks too cute in his Army hat and we are thankful that Ms. Jennifer had a replacement for the one he lost.

Carson doesn't like fruit, but will eat veggies, so it's a trade-off. His favorite food is his mom's spaghetti but looks forward to any chance to eat pizza, especially when it is for his own birthday celebration!! :)

He's decided to be in the Army when he grows up... he wants to fire at targets like on the AFN commercials. (He likes the "pop-up" targets.)

He just told me thanks for a Christmas gift we gave him 2 months ago, yet another example of his appreciation for what he has.

Carson doesn't get a lot of the limelight in our family... Parker's the baby, Bailey's a ham, and Hayden's the first to accomplish each next step. But that doesn't mean he's any less special to our family. His quiet nature is part of who he is and yet another positive attribute that he gets from his dad. From me, he gets his love of surprises, not wanting to know what his presents are until it's the right time! He even wants his gift from us on Saturday, the day of his small party, instead of tomorrow, his actual birthday.

I enjoy this opportunity to celebrate the young man who is Carson.

WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

So, after quite a few years of "living like no one else," we have accomplished our first major goal. We have paid off all of our debt! Quite a bit of debt, I must admit. We spent years living beyond our means, ignoring our bad habits and making excuses for why we "needed" to use the credit card yet again for groceries, diapers, or a meal out. Soon after we moved to Columbia we discovered our debt; a chunk of ice that was only sticking out enough to stub our big toe. Once we felt the sting of that, we found out we were moving to Colorado and the iceberg came pushing forcefully out of the ground, revealing the monstrosity we had unintentionally created.

Fast-forward 4 years, one cross-country move, a 15-month deployment, one overseas move, a new baby, and many lessons learned and here we are!

I still listen to the Dave Ramsey Show every day. I am SO excited to be in contact with his assistant who is going to schedule OUR opportunity to scream on-air! I am getting a little nervous and find myself wanting to write down all the questions he asks his callers and answer them ahead of time so that I'll be ready no matter what he asks! I get butterflies every time I lear a new caller say, "I'm calling to tell you that we're debt free!"

The reality hasn't set in just yet. Nothing has changed so far. We haven't yet had our first check that is 100% ours.

"Think about that. Let it sink in," I tell myself. Every single cent of Matt's paycheck is ours. There is no one who has claim to our money anymore! :) We choose to tithe and we choose to have internet/cell phones. Beyond that... AHHH!! NOTHING!

Tuesday I go to get my "out-of-debt" prize: A gorgeous Nikon d300s and a 50mm fixed lens. My beautiful d50 has lasted 5 years and has earned my respect, and Nikon has earned a loyal customer. Matt will inherit my d50. He's more excited, however, about HIS "out-of-debt" prize! You'll never guess what it is... yep. A guitar! To be specific, it's a Taylor T-5 C2 Koa top.

And even after we get our prizes, we won't change much because we have to hit Baby Step 3 hard for the rest of 2011. 2012 will be dedicated to boosting the "replace Matt's car" fund so that when we go back to the US Matt will have the cash to buy a replacement. He won't be able to buy the Defender he really wants but we're both okay with that. One day, maybe!

This is our personal journal of our lives. We share it as a way to share what we are going through. My hopes are that I can encourage anyone reading who has debt to work their way out of it. The simplest, fastest way to do so is through Dave Ramsey's plan, Financial Peace University. I would love to become one of his Financial Counselors someday!

The above picture is of the 'Debtometer' I made as a visual countdown of the last $9700 in our debt. I wanted a way to mark off every last dime we paid off, for myself, but also for the boys. They are SO excited about this and I believe we have changed our family tree for the better as a result of our being transparent with them. Here is a note Hayden wrote in his Math book this week:

Cooking By The Month

This type of menu planning and food preparation is a way of life. Once you've done it right one time, you become hooked. The couple of days you spend planning, shopping and cooking are not so fun and may result in sore feet (the authors of "Once A Month Cooking"*) highly recommend you wear good tennis shoes while cooking). You may wonder what in the world made you think this was a good idea. The first night or two you eat out of your freezer you won't notice much of a difference. It's a couple of weeks later when you are STILL eating out of your freezer, meals YOU like, that you know are healthful and better for you than what you would have been feeding your family that you sit back and think, "Yep.. it was worth it." The second and third months, you feel that relief much earlier because you have already spent a month (40 days in most cases for my family) seeing how valuable this new way of life is.

The purpose of this blog is to link you to my previous notes about this topic. I have someone ask me at least once a week to share with them what I do. I eventually wrote a Facebook note about it, and have two others that I usually share with them as well, because those two additional recipes are included each time I cook. I am going to link to those notes below but first I want to give a few other tips for newbies:

1. Remember that you will wonder why you decided to try this during the first cooking session. It is overwhelming at first but it gets MUCH easier each time you cook.

2. Use (borrow if you need to) a couple 10-12 quart stock pots to make your favorite soups sauces to make in bulk. I make 12 quarts of spaghetti sauce, chili, and chicken tortilla soup, the freeze each of these in quart size zip lock freezer bags. That's 30 meals right there! (Because we often open two bags of chili to feed the whole family.) The spaghetti sauce is used for more than just the traditional meal: French Bread Pizza and Calzones.

3. You can open up a lap top and watch movies during the day or listen to music or, like I do, Dave Ramsey for motivation! You save so much money cooking this way!

4. Start your day with a clean dishwasher, a sink with one side of hot soapy water, and two empty trash cans (one recycling here in Europe). And if you have an infant, a bassinet comes in handy!

Here are the links. If they don't work, please let me know and I'll combine the text from those notes into this blog.

Cooking By The Month

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken

This note may be a work in progress as I add to it recipes I find work well, and update other tips. Best wishes on your journey!

* If the link for the book doesn't work, search for the title of the book along with "Mimi Wilson," one of the authors.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

I write this note with a very heavy heart. If I had written this letter a week ago, I would have started with a totally different tone. My 2010 was fabulous. One of my favorite years ever. And ultimately, this letter is to be a review of twenty-ten but at this moment, I can barely get past the thought that is on the forefront of my mind. As I sit here trying to reminisce over how great my last year was, my dear friends have to say good-bye to their baby girl. People allover the world are praying for the family of this blue-eyed beauty. China, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Argentina, Japan, and of course, the US, are filled with people approaching His throne on behalf of Brynnley's family.

How does one transition from such a heavy heart into remembering the joys of a past year? How do I write about how great a time I had, knowing that Kjersten is in such pain? I have no idea.

So, as awkward as this is, I’m going to review my year and share the joys of 2010 with you… awkward definitely describes it and I sort of just want to say, “Sorry, Kjersten, for even writing this, while you are in such severe pain. Honestly, you and your family are more on my heart and mind than this update.”

January – We welcomed this year at the hotel in Ramstein, as friends who were traveling through Europe on Space-A were also there, with the flu. I felt so bad for my friend who had to fly overseas while feeling horrible. On the 1^st we went from Ramstein to Stuttgart to visit with our friends, the Baileys. Quick Memories: driving in that red piece of junk BMW that reminds us of why we buy American; giving myself insulin shots 6 times a day and checking my sugars even more often than that; the boys all sledding down the Bailey’s fun hill; seeing the Black Forest and tasting real, Black Forest cake… yuck.

February – We celebrated Carson’s 7^th birthday. We didn’t know a lot of people here just yet, so we met the Bailey’s again for celebrations at an indoor jump house. How blessed we are that they moved here 6 months before us and so we started off our time in Germany with at least one set of friends! It was about this time, as well, that we started going to WAAF Contemporary Service. A family invited us to eat lunch with them at the Food Court after service one Sunday. Since then, we haven’t missed many Sunday lunches as the PX, as it is a time we get to sit and chat for an hour or so. This was the beginning of us making such great friends here in Weisbaden. Quick Memories: craving cake yet not being allowed much due to gestational diabetes; watching Carson crawl on that huge bubble in the middle of the jump house.

March – We welcomed Parker into this world, having our first kid on foreign soil… our first kid not born at Gaston memorial with Sage being the delivering midwife. We were so glad Nana and Papa made it to Germany in time for Parker’s arrival, but really wished Grammy and Anna could have been here as well. They were a part of the other boys’ fantastic entrances when we lived close enough. We also celebrated Bailey’s 6^th birthday at an indoor play place. The ages of our boys on that day were 8, 7, 6, and 5 days old. Quick Memories: my first Dr. Pepper after having Parker; showing my parents around Germany (okay, they saw much of it while I was in the hospital or at home resting, so I didn’t do much “showing” them around…)

April – We celebrated Matt’s 33^rd birthday. We went to Mexico Lindo, the closest thing to the kind of Mexican food we’re used to, which, I’m told, is not “real” Mexican food. We also had our family pictures taken by a fabulous photographer. I loved our shoot and look forward to having another one around Parker’s first birthday. Quick Memories: The first day my parents left, Matt was back at work and I was alone with all 4. I took a treat to my friend, Jessica, who had just had her son, Connor. Then I took all of my boys on our first outing with no other adults to the Neroberg train. I felt accomplished.

May – We celebrated Hayden’s 9^th birthday with a cook-out in our neighborhood. Finally, we knew enough people to have a party! We also enjoyed a trip to Edelweiss, in Garmisch, Germany. While there we noticed an ad for a used Durango… THAT COULD SEAT 6 PEOPLE!!! A month later we owned that Durango and had happily said good-bye to the BMW! Quick Memories: Trying to tour the monastery in Bavaria in the rain. The boys were wearing shoes with well-worn soles, and their feet got wet very quickly. No tour. Grumpy kids.

June – Our older three boys were baptized and Matt was so happy to be able to baptize them. Each of them had previously made individual decisions to accept Christ but it wasn’t until this moment that they were ready to be baptized. What a beautiful thing to watch! Parker slept right through it. Quick Memories: World Cup Games; Picking strawberries in the field across from the Hainerberg neighborhood. Made some great milkshakes and homemade yogurt.

July – Who said it doesn’t get hot in Germany!?!? They were crazy and, as Matt said, should be beaten swiftly. I don’t have many pleasant things to say about July or August, as I just remember being miserably hot. We had fans going, the windows working to our advantage (open/closed/blinds shut blocking light… depending on what time of day it was). The only saving grace was the lake, which we found one week before the heat ended, so we only got to go twice. We’ll get a pass next summer. Quick Memories: feeling grumpy all the time; feeding Parker his first bit of oatmeal cereal; finding the Rhine River “beach” at a local restaurant… made me feel like I was at the beach even if I was just putting my feet in a river; tasting Spundekäs for the first time… Oh.my.word…

August – I have enmity in my heart for July and August. Though I think that by the latter half of August we were back into bearable temperatures, I just don’t remember liking those two months very much. Quick Memories: Hayden starting 4^th grade, the grade I used to teach! Carson starting 2^nd grade, and Bailey starting 1^st. Time is flying!

September – We had to say good-bye to some sweet friends asthey moved across the pond back to the land of Chick-fil-a and really low speed limits. We spent much of September getting into a good routine with school, figuring out how to do this with an infant in the house. I am thankful Parker’s such a good sleeper! Quick Memories: Receiving two Flat Stanleys… well, one Flat Cierra and one Flat Cole; Carson getting stung by a bee near the eye; having a real scientist in a real lab coat come and lead a science experiment. (Thanks, Tara!); Carson wearing his Army BDU Chaplain hat everywhere, until he lost it.

October – WE got to visit the land of Chick-fil-a and really low speed limits! We took a Space-A flight and spent just over 2 weeks visiting family, celebrating as Matt’s brother married a beautiful bride, Erin. Quick Memories: bringing home two containers of Chick-fil-a sauce to enjoy with my chicken over the next few months; riding on a C-17 over the ocean; introducing Parker to Grammy and our NC family/friends.

November – My birthday! I’ve always enjoyed my birthday. I remember sleep-overs, horseback riding, family parties and friend parties. Up until this year my 18^th was my best ever. My parents had worked out a surprise party for me and, let me tell ya, I was surprised! That was the last time I saw Mike, Matt’s dad, before he passed away a week later. The only picture of me taken with him was taken that night. It is a night that I will never forget, as Matt’s dad kissed me on the cheek before he and the family drove off. I later remember thinking that it was as if he were welcoming me into the family. This year, Matt was in the States on my actual birthday but Jessica took care of me that night. She had a whole fun night planned and we went to dinner and then back to my house where the boys had decorated a cake. We danced, laughed, talked, and had a blast, and I almost didn’t notice Matt was missing. Almost. The day he got back from the States he was supposed to go to a guy’s night at a friend’s house. The girls were all going to get together with the kids at the bowling alley just to hang out. When I got there, all our friends, INCLUDING THE GUYS, were there! They got me! And, to top it all off, Matt had remembered something I had said months before. “All I want for my birthday is a cake, like a wedding cake, all girl.” He actually had someone who makes incredible cakes make the perfect cake for me! Quick Memories: finally feeling totally at home here in Germany, surrounded by such great people and having such an amazing Chapel to belong to.

December – I love Christmas. I love the trees, lights, music, snow, atmosphere, getting dark early… it’s just snuggly. And Germany really does Christmas right. NO fighting over “Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays.” No complaining that there was a manger scene at the Commissary. It felt like Christmases used to feel, before it became a soap box for both sides of the argument. The Christmas markets were fun to visit, and the food there was fun to eat. We found some of our favorite treats and went back for them on more than one occasion. I enjoyed having any possible excuse to make it downtown to our city’s Market. I think it was my favorite of all the markets I visited.Next year I want to make it to Heidelberg’s.Quick Memories: watching the mail for my Christmas cards to arrive… they finally did. January 3^rd!!); a perfect Christmas Eve; Singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus; seeing Parker in his Santa suit that fit him perfectly; hearing the boys read the story of Christ’s birth from Luke; enjoying Christmas day at home with our family of six.

Overall 2011 Quick Memories: Having friends here in Germany who absolutely don’t replace our family and friends in the states but we would add them to our list of family and friends and friends-who-are-like-family even if were living normal-people lives in the States. This Army life has its ups and downs. Meeting such amazing people is its best UP!

What are we most looking forward to in 2011? BEING DEBT FREE! We will be calling Dave Ramsey in a month or two with our Debt Free scream! We will have been working on this for a total of 4 years when we are done. Oh, and as a celebration, we're going to take a trip to LONDON! I've always wanted to go there!

(Wednesday, January 5, 2011)