| "hep me" |
| Eva fell backwards off her car. Screamed. I encouraged her to use her words. She said, "pay, pay, pay", "You want to play?" I clarified. "No, pay" she said. "Pray?" I questioned. "Yeah" she said. I encouraged her to pray and she said through tears, "Hep me....hep me....better" "did you ask Jesus to help you feel better", "Yeah". Then she vigorously wiped the tears off her face and said, "Happy now". |
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| New Day, New Year and a Song for My Life |
I'm 28 today and reflecting a little before the kids get up. The house is quiet and the sun streaming in the windows. A theme that has been striking me lately, particularly one Sunday at church, is that I must recognize that the ins and outs of my daily life, my mothering and loving my husband, my cleaning (not that there's much of that), cooking, playing, laughing, singing, dancing, intervening, teaching...that this is my offering to God. I have nothing else. My days are full. And I am coming to believe, to remember that this, my life, is it, it really is what He wants. Two songs one Sunday re-illuminated this, one by Paul Baloche with the lines:
What can I do but thank you
What can I do but give
My life to you
Hallelujah, hallelujah
What can I do but praise you
Every day make everything I do
A hallelujah, a hallelujah
Hallelujah
And then from the song, "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns:
May the words I say
And the things I do
Make my lifesong sing
Bring a smile to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
I want to sign Your name to the end of this day
Knowing that my heart was true
Let my lifesong sing to You
So embarking on this 28th year of my life I am hoping that the Spirit will keep teaching me this, keep bringing this idea to the front of my mind and heart. Here is one last song - which you really need to hear to appreciate, maybe find it on itunes, or hear a sample on amazon, the whole cd is worth buying too. It's by Caedmon's Call, off their album, Overdressed. Lance excitedly came home from work one day and shared it with me - it's a song just for you! Yes, I think so.
"Sacred"
Words and Music by Randall Goodgame and Andrew Osenga
(c) 2007 House of Mirrors Music (ASCAP) admin. by Simpleville Music, Inc. / 2007 Mighty Molecule Music. (ASCAP) admin by Music Services
this house is a good mess
it’s the proof of life
no way would I trade jobs
but it don’t pay overtime
I’ll get to the laundry
I don’t know when
I’m saying a prayer tonight
cause tomorrow it starts again
could it be that everything is sacred?
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes
the children are sleeping
but they’re running through my mind
the sun makes them happy
and the music makes them unwind
my cup runneth over
and I worry about the stain
teach me to run to You
like they run to me for every little thing
when I forget to drink from you
I can feel the banks harden
Lord, make me like a stream
to feed the garden
wake up, little sleeper
the Lord, God Almighty
made your Mama keeper
so rise and shine
rise and shine cause
everything is sacred
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes
be blessed today my friends.
aimee |
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| snippets and photos |
Here are some photos from our trip to Tofino - which was lovely. Besides the getting there. We missed our flight on Thursday night, we were cutting it a little close, but they (the airline people) weren't helping. Details aren't important (I can't believe I said that, I guess what I mean is, I don't want to type it all out!), but Lance was mad and I was crying thinking we wouldn't get to go at all. Well Friday morning we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare - of course! Get on the plane... and wait on the tarmac for about an hour and a half as they try to remedy an engine warning that keeps coming up on the computer. Finally (after three tries, and a lot of cookies) they fix the problem and we're up in the air. By this time we've missed our ferry reservation and mom and dad have been waiting for us. But we made it to Vancouver and arrived to lush and humid air. Ahhh. Made it on the next ferry with no trouble. Elijah loved being outside. Eva hated the wind.
On our drive to Tofino - in a jam-packed minivan, my folks in front, kids in the middle and Lance and I in the back - we stopped at Cathedral grove. Incredible trees. Really fun to take the kids there. They loved running around.
that's all for today.
crying children. |
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| Multi-Family Garage Sale |
Our garage sale is this weekend. Come on down. If you don't know where we live, email me and I'll send you our address aimeeodegard (at) gmail (dot) com
Friday 3-8
Saturday 9-2
toys, clothes, housewares, furniture
"something for everyone"
Proceeds go to support relief efforts in Darfur, Sudan. |
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| car coming |
the current scene in my kitchen.
Eva is screaming
Elijah keeps saying, "Car coming, car coming" as he drives his car towards Eva.
She whines, "Car coming, no, no" and then, "Vera, watch out, Vera, car coming!" she sits protectively in the corner shielding her doll Vera from the car that is coming.
"Watch out, watch out, get hurt"
more screams.
I think we need roads and sidewalks in our kitchen, that would help the cars and people know their places. |
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| hungry? |
the whole loaf of bread spread out on the floor with two kids circling round, one holding the open peanut butter jar, confirmed it, they're hungry.
the girl informed me, "I licked it off, yummy". Hmmm, little fingers dipping into the peanut butter.
They're now securely fastened into their chairs, eating sandwiches that their mama, who was gone only for a second, now made for them.
Well, I better go sweep up the crumbs before we track them everywhere!
Aimee
ps. we got home yesterday. stay tuned for photos and details from our adventurous journeys. |
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| home again home again |
| we shouldn't be here, but we are. Didn't make our flight. Going to fly tomorrow morning instead. frustrating. Lots of unneeded driving with cranky kids and a worn out mama - the head ache from the night never left. Hoping for a good rest tonight. It's an early morning tomorrow. |
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| hopefully the morning isn't indicative of the rest of the day... |
It's not a good thing to wake-up with a headache you didn't have when you went to bed (but had all night). It's not a good thing to shake the Cheerio box and find it empty. It's not a good thing to discover all the bread you have is frozen... and the toaster is broken. And when you turn to oatmeal as a standby you realize all the pots are dirty from supper last night. The triscuits are gone. So you end up eating strawberries, cheese and tortilla chips for breakfast, along with a glass of whole milk, since you finished the 1% yesterday.
BUT
it is a good thing to be freshly showered and shaved (I strongly dislike taking the time for both). It is a good thing to have ample food to eat, even if it wasn't any of you top three choices. It is a a good thing the toilet, though plugged, didn't overflow. The sun is shining. The strawberries are organic and only cost .50 more than regular. I like chips anytime of the day. It is a good thing to hear that the baby is doing great according to our ultrasound this week.
I think the day will be okay afterall.
Hmm. But it's not a good thing to let your daughter whine...scream in her crib while you finish your blog. better go.
aimee |
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| This and that |
So obviously Lance and I are back. We had a marvelous time. I can't believe it was only two days and one night, it seemed longer. It wasn't hard for me to be away from the kids at all, so that was nice. We saw a rock musical type show at the Citadel and, even though we were probably the only ones under 55, we enjoyed it a lot. It was called, "Fire". Dealt with themes of Love, Faith, and Rock 'n Roll - lots of 60s rock songs and traditional bluegrass gospel songs.
Here are two pictures from our Saturday picnic of "squirrel" food. This is what Lance calls my typical snacks and lunches - cheese, crackers, nuts, fruit... but this picnic was upscale squirrel food. Delicious!
The kids had a great time with Grammy and Gramps - who were tired, but still standing, and still smiling when we got back.
This week we have been continuing to enjoy the lovely weather. I've been gardening, sometimes with the kids. It sure is slow going turning over your garden if your 2 year old boy wants to help you. One slow shovelful at a time, with each of us with a foot on a shovel. I realized that there really was no hurry to get the job done, and actually, this is what life is made of, shared moments together. Elijah absolutely loved it.
Got the "Raising Your Spirited Child" book on the weekend. We were at Chapters and decided to just buy it. I'm in chapter 4 and so far so great. Looking forward to reading more.
Eva got bangs tonight. We were trying to avoid them cause she's got this potentially unruly cowlick, but she was just getting so shaggy. Lance did a good job. Photos to come.
Got some great deals at the thrift store yesterday - two pairs of like new Thyme Maternity pants for $4.50 each!!! Hooray. I borrow a lot of maternity clothes and the shirts are great... but the pants are rather painted on. Those hips... Well the new pants are great. Also got a whole bag of oldschool fisherprice (?) people and trucks. Probably 10 people. Eva is crazy about them. We've been giving them names of friends and family. The guy that is Papa has a moustache and a combover - oh, and Heidi, you shouldn't believe Lance, he is not growing a moustache, the photo on facebook is an old (and creepy) one from a party where he mascaraed his whiskers to enhance the creep factor.
We're going to be enjoying the May Long Weekend with family in BC. It's going to be a lot of fun. But, as I said to Lance a while back, I'm not looking forward to flying with Eva Grace. No matter how prepared we are with snacks and stickers and crayons, there will inevitably something that happens that is outside of her expectations/plans and there will be some wailing. I am sure of it - and I would call this realism, not pessimism. Also, we stopped nursing in January, so this will be our first flight without the magic milk. We'll let you know how it goes.
Okay, I better go, I've got some graphic design projects that I really should wrap up, and a little girl who has been chattering too long, and might need to be helped along to sleep.
Hope you are well.
Aimee |
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| From the matrix |
that's right folks, I am blogging on my anniversary getaway. Is that dedication or what? Actually it's more of a joke to me. I'm sitting in the "Business Centre" at our hotel - Lance wanted to check about the location of a store we want to go to, and there are two computers. I jokingly said, "Hey should I blog?". So here I am.
The Matrix is great. We just enjoyed the deluxe continental breakfast and it did meet up to it's name. I am full and ready for another lovely day. The theme of yesterday was me saying - over and over - how much of a good time I was having. Good time shopping, good time eating, good time walking in the sunshine, good time holding Lance's hand, good time not worrying about the kids, good time talking with my husband (covering topics ranging from China's government to raising our kids), good time sleeping, good time eating, good time showering (rain-type shower head, it was amazing, and I don't even like showers). I am having a good time.
I will post more when I return. A few photos too.
But before I go, I will wish the mothers in my life a happy mother's day. Mother's day notoriously gets overlooked by Lance and I since we're so busy thinking about our anniversary.
So Mom, thanks for loving us kids so well and for loving Lance and thinking he is the best man for me. Thank-you for being so actively involved in our lives growing up and continuing to be interested and supportive of us now that we are adults. I love that you are just crazy about our kids. I appreciate your creativity and deep care for people - especially me!!
And Linda, thank-you for raising such a marvelous man for me to marry. Your love for him and prayers on his behalf have done more than you could know. Thank-you for making me feel so at home in the Odegard family, and of course for being such an enthusiastic Grammy.
See you later folks.
Aimee |
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| Frugal Friday |
Heidi is starting to do "Frugal Friday" posts and I thought I'd join in. Heading off to bed soon, but here are a few frugal things we do/have done around here. Thoughts tonight will be about being frugal with kids. Point form...
-breastfeeding
-cloth diapering
-home made baby food
-hand-me-downs!!!
-borrow (and lend) baby/kid equipment between friends, this has been a huge blessing to us
-rethink wants and needs and priorities, does what we have work? could we make it work? where could we find what we need - garage sale, thrift store, borrowing, sale? is it really a need? how long will it last?
Okay, future "Frugal Friday" posts will be more fun, but I've got to head to bed. Tomorrow we leave on a not so frugal saturday and sunday - though we are packing a lunch and some snacks for tomorrow and have a gift card from some friends for milestones. So that will help with food costs. I'm so excited.
See you later.
Aimee |
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| Frugality thwarted in favor of atmosphere |
There were no queen bed rooms available at the u of a. And even if there were I'm pretty sure Lance wouldn't gone for it. He said last night, "We haven't done anything really nice since our honeymoon" (six years ago). So we will be paying considerably more than the $50 a night for a two single bed room at u of a. But, in trade off, we will get a free deluxe breakfast, wine and cheese tasting, and hopefully tonnes of atmosphere! Here are some photos contrasting the two options:
The luxurious and inexpensive Lister Hall at the U of A, located near popular nightlife and shopping spot, Whyte Ave. Nestled in the picturesque University campus.
And, the winning choice, The Matrix Hotel. A boutique (whatever that means) style hotel featuring decor inspired by stone, fire and water, located in downtown Edmonton. Complete with an inhouse Starbucks.
I'm terribly frugal so spending money on luxurious things is really hard for me. BUT, Lance recently played as part of a coffeehouse show in a nearby town and ended up selling a surprising amount of CDs - we were expecting that everyone who'd be there already had his CD, but turned out that half the crowd were first time listeners, and (of course!) they loved his music - and he got an honorarium too. So that unexpected influx of cash covers the hotel and the show we're seeing at the Citadel. What a blessing. Especially for me, a real gift to help me more fully enjoy the weekend and not think about the money (as much).
Well, I was going to nap, but it sounds like Eva isn't going to. So I guess we'll play instead.
Thanks for all the recent comments. I guess it's not so boring here afterall! Though to be honest, I didn't think it was all that boring.
Aimee |
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| This might be a record |
Three posts in one day might be a personal record. This'll keep you guessing. I might not blog for two weeks, but maybe I'll blog multiple times in a day.
I just got back from my prenatal appointment and it was hilarious so I had to post about it. My doctor - who I've seen once prior to this appointment - cracks me up. Not because he is particularly funny, but because he seems lost in his own examining room and frustrated navigating his way through the prenatal check-up forms. He also has pretty much no bedside manor. At my first appointment he didn't introduce himself, ask me how I was feeling, congratulate me on my pregnancy... nothing. I had never met him before, and officially - and this after some pretty personal examinations - I still haven't.
So today, everything looked good. He asked if I'd been feeling the baby and I answered that I have for a couple of weeks now. He measured me - I'm measuring spot on, and that's new for me. So we're 19 weeks, by dates, ultrasound and measurement. Next it was time to listen for a heartbeat. He put the gel on the doppler and rubbed it on my belly, "What am I supposed to do with this" he says, commenting about the strange sound it's making. It starts cutting in and out. Then he says the line that is potentially so ridiculously insensitive that I could barely contain my laughter. While rubbing my belly with the machine he says, "Something's wrong with this one, I think it's dying". I couldn't believe he'd said it. Did he realize what a nervous mom could've thought he'd meant. Then, walking out the door to find a new machine, he says, "Yeah, this one's dead". I could hardly get control of my giggles by the time he returned. I have not been worried about this pregnancy at all. Things are going so well and I am confident about it. But what if I was a nervous first time mom with a lot of concerns, what an emotional roller coaster those words would've sent me on! The nurses finally round up a working machine and the little one does indeed have a heartbeat, which I had assumed since it kicks like crazy. We've got another wiggler on our hands.
I'll have one more prenatal appointment in Camrose before we move, then I'll be seeing a midwife in Burnaby. I am sooo excited about the difference in care I will be receiving. I look forward to personal wholistic (sp) care and am quite certain, that even though we've been in touch via email that my midwife Tracy will introduce herself to me when we meet in person. She's already congratulated me about the pregnancy.
Okay better go figure out supper.
Aimee |
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| Myanmar |
Just watched a global national report on the devastation caused by a cyclone in Myanmar. I'm embarassingly out of touch with world events and want to change that - but that's a different story. Anyways this is a quick post to encourage/remind readers and myself to pray and get involved in any way you can to help with needs around the world - today particularly in Myanmar. From the one report I watched it seemed that there is some difficulty getting aid to the people of Myanmar because of their government. One hopeful thing was that world vision who has offices in Myanmar and has been working there for 40 years is working with government organizations to provide aid like metal for roofing, tents, and most importantly clean water. The death toll is over 22, 000 people (more than the population of Camrose) and rising exponentially daily more than 40,000 are missing. Those who survived face possible death due to extreme water and food shortage.
Here's a link to World Vision where you can donate to help the millions of homeless in Myanmar: World Vision |
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| Not for shortage of ideas |
I have tonnes of blog ideas floating around in my mind, but no spare moments to post them. Spring has truly arrived here in Alberta, at least my area. We have been outside all day for many days. mama has a sunburn - but made her kids wear hats constantly so they're okay. silly mama, now she wears a hat too.
i've been gardening a lot and am absolutely invigorated by it. My perennial bed is all tidied up and all the plants are peaking their heads through the dirt. I have lots of sunflowers that have reseeded from last year, but if you remember my wild sunflowers last summer you'll know I'll need to get rid of some and not let every seedling grow. Though I don't like pulling them out. I'm planning on planting vegetables this summer again. Even though we're moving at the end of June so won't get to harvest them.
But we know the people we sold our house to ---
which reminds me I never told you WE SOLD OUR HOUSE! To make a long story short here it is in point form (actually it probably won't make it shorter knowing me, just a little quicker to type)
-I had assumed we would try to do a private sale
-Lance had assumed we'd go with a realtor
-talked and I came around to his way of thinking, we didn't have the time/energy to do a private sale and the market is slow so we'd really benefit from having a realtor
-we make a list of the improvements we need to do before putting it on the market
-Lance is wildly busy getting ready for the spring tour
-Lance leaves on tour
-Aimee arranges for our good (and very talented and handy) friends Pete, Stephen and Brent to come and do some work as a gift for their super busy and not as handy friend Lance
-on the day when the whole basement seemed to be torn apart Avey phones to see about showing our house to some relatives
- thankfully they're in town for one more day so we arrange for the next day
-I call Lance and tell him I'm showing the house tomorrow!
- they came, they liked it, a week later they bought it!!!!
Just a quick list of our blessings related to this story:
-friends blessing us with a full days work on our house!
-Avey acting as our realtor!
-Having a great saleable house
-getting to sell to people we know and like (alumni from the school)
-not having a long and drawn out "on the market" time where I'd have to keep the house looking awesome, I just don't operate that way, so stressful
-not having to pay a realtor
-clearly being able to see God's hand of blessing in this. The whole house sale/finances thing was occupying a lot of my mind space, I was trying to trust, but also wanting to take things into my own hands too, turns out God's plans were better than I could've imagined.
Anyways, I'm hopefully planting a garden, and our friends can eat the carrots in the fall. I just love gardening so much, it doesn't even matter that I won't get to taste the end result.
I made blueberry muffins today, I will post the recipe sometime. Delicious. The kids are currently chowing down, so I'm getting a semi-uninterrupted minute to finish this post.
Stay tuned for a future post about a mama who hoards food and "deprives" her unknowing children. And another post about where we'll be staying for our getaway.
hope you are well.
Aimee |
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| Eva Grace and getting away |
Today Eva woke up from her nap cranky, this is not usual. I laid on the couch in her room and she snuggled on my chest. I made up some stories for her. Papa appeared in one of the stories. At the mention of his name she haltingly said, "Papa at school. Come back at supper"
She has been giving us a run for our money (what money) in terms of needing to get creative to head off her gigantic explosions which can be caused by not getting the right cup for her milk, to her brother accidentally knocking over a toy cup she was playing with.
Today I came across the book, "Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, Energetic" by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. The title grabbed my attention, and the subtitle had me hooked. I emailed it to Lance with the caption, "sound like anyone you know?" I have it on order at the library. It looked very good from the views I've read. Sounded balanced -as in, your kid is not going to rule the roost, and you are not going to crush her will into submission. Really seems to emphasize the positves of the spirited temperament. Have you read it? What did you think?
Lance is playing at a coffeehouse tonight and I am at home researching lodging and event ideas for our upcoming anniversary getaway. Yes, that's right, we will be leaving our children overnight for the first time ever. I should correct that, it will be my first time away from the kids overnight and consequently Grammy and Gramps' first time having a sleepover with Eva and Elijah. I am very excited, but trying to temper my I-hope-this-will-be-the-best-weekend-ever feelings, so as not to put undue pressure on our time away.
So I know you'll laugh at me (in the most kind way I'm sure) but I actually am looking into the U of A for accommodations. Do you have any idea how cheap those rooms are? I mean, are two twin beds really so bad... on an anniversary getaway? No, they do have rooms with doubles, unfortunately the queen rooms are all taken. Okay, but here's my pitch for the dorms, if we cheap out on accomodations (and really, they'll probably be clean and that's what you really need) then we can use the money we would've spent on a hotel and use it for fun stuff like eating out at cool places and seeing a show. I'll have to let you know how Lance responds to my crazy idea.
Alright I better go.
Aimee |
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posted by Aimee at 
