Blog Biography number 2- preschool and kinder years

Preschool/Kindergarden years

Preschool seems to be defined as "3 and 4 year olds." When I was almost three my litle brother was born. He was born on Easter. I have no recollection of visiting them in the hospital but my mom says that I ate her mint chocolate chip ice cream.

When I was four I went to a "Special 4's class". The only thing I remember doing there was making an alphabet book and that when the teacher asked what "O" stood for I proudly said, "Oprah!" and she laughed.

I made an, "About Me" book in that class and it's pretty fun to look at still. We all laughed when we looked at the picture I had drawn of my family because first of all everyone was an "x" body with a floating head. Everyone was smiling except my mom, who was without a doubt frowning.Being a teacher's aide now I would definatly wonder why any of my kids would draw their mom that way. My dog, cocoa, also looked like a flying tooth. I sucked at drawing, still do. According to my book my favorite color was red, yet the cover of my book was purple and it was tied together with pink yarn, colors I remember being absoulte favorites. My favorite food was ice cream, I was 3 feet 8 inches tall, and weighed thirty nine pounds.

I spent lots of time with my grandparents, who lived a mere 5 minutes away. They were a big part of my life growing up and I had/have a very special relationship with them.

My mom and dad decided to homschool us so I never went to a traditional pre-school. However, my kept me busy and by the end of preschool I was learning to read. I don't remember much else but I do have vague memories of learning what each letter said and how many different sounds they had.

I know that our family wen to church every week but again, I don't have any specific memories. My real memories start when I am around 6 and after my youngest brother was born.

I have some silly memories of things like my parents declaring that it was time to, "put us away" and having my dad hang me in the coat closed by the back of my shirt. I'm not quite sure how he did it without it choking me but I do remember being terrified as the door closed and it got very dark and I also remember my parents laughing.

I also remember my dad tossing me into bed and then "tucking me in." He would lift the entire mattress and tuck the sheets in real tight and I remember not being able to move and loving it.

I remember my mom letting us make "magic pudding" on Saint Patrick's Day. She got pistachio pudding and put the powder in a tuperware bowl. Without the milk the powder looks white. She then added the milk and had us shake the bowl and it "magically" turned green. That is a very vivid memory.

I know I was a chatter bug, my parents said I never shut up. My mom says that every though that passed through my head came out of my mouth and that I drove them nuts often times. Other than that I don't have very many memories of being that age.

Next week: Age six/first grade

WFMW: microwaveable bakers chocolate

I love chocolate. I also love things dipped in chocolate. With strawberries in season chocolate covered strawberries are a must.

For those people that are real cooks, or have the time to do it, you buy baking chocolate and use a double boiler to melt your chocolate.

For the rest of us who want fast, no-burn, easy clean up you can use Baker's Dipping chocolate.

This stuff is awesome. I buy mine at Albertson's in the baking aisle. You heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, usually another 15 seconds and the chocolate is ready to go. I put my dipped stuff on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, throw it in the fridge for a couple of minutes and it's ready. SO easy. And TASTY. I've used other microwaveable dipping chocolate but none of them taste as good as this. This works for me!

Check out Works for Me Wednesday for more tips!

Blog biography number 1

Janna published a post on Works For Me Wednesday a while ago stating that she wanted to do an autobiography of sorts for the next 15 weeks starting today. I love this idea because I am big into history and recording and fun little facts and stuff.

Today's first topic is: Details about my birth/how I got my name.

SO...

I was born on a rainy Wednesday evening in April. The firstborn of my parents three kids. My mom is a tough cookie and didn't want any unnecassray medicine used while I was being born. The nurse on duty wanted to put an internal fetal moniter on me (a little device they screw into baby's head to moniter the heart rate). My mom asked the nurse if I was in distress and when she responded that no, I wasn't, my mom told her she wasn't going to stick anything into my head. The nurse then wrote "Uncooperative" in large letters across the top of my mom's chart. :)

As my mom was being defiant my dad was fighting the flu. He didn't want to tell the doctors he was sick because he was afraid they wouldn't let him be in the room for my birth. So, in between the doctors and nurses comings and goings my dad took swigs of pepto bismol out of the bottle he had in the pocket of his shirt.

My mom gave birth to me after over 24 hours of labor (sorry mom!). I was born not breathing so they rushed me out of the room and didn't allow my mom or dad to hold me. The staff must not have been very good because they didn't tell my parents where they had taken me and no one ever came back to reassure them that I was ok. So I guess about an hour later my mom informed my dad the he needed to go find her baby.

I turned out to be ok (obviously!) and I was named Elizabeth. My mom said that she knew I would be a girl, although the doctors never told them what I was. My parents really liked the name Sarah but my last name has s's in it and it just didn't flow very smoothly. Elizabeth is my maternal great grandmother's middle name. My mom really wanted me to be called Beth but that never ended up happening.


June 17th: pre-school/kindergarden years

WFMW: sun tea

It's just not summer for me unless we've made some sun tea. This is something that I remember my Grandpa doing ALL the time when I was little. There's just something about putting out water and tea bags and bringing in a hot glass jar full of lots of tea!

How to do it:

Step 1: Get a clear, glass, drink dispenser (or jar)

step 2: fill it with water

step 3: place 4-5 tea bags in the jar, screw on the lid

step 4: leave it in the hot sun for a couple of hours to steep (usually 2 hours is the min.)

step 5: bring it in, remove the teabags and dispense in a glass full of ice. For those of you who like to ruin your tea, you can always add sugar!

step 6: ENJOY!

What about you? What drink screams "SUMMER!" for you and your family?

Storytime by Nathan Greene

I work in a school. I love it. So when I saw this picture it touched my heart.
 Nathan Greene is the fantastic artist.

You hold me

 This is the song I want played at my memorial service.

WILMM: constant reassurance

Why I love my man reason number #17

He joined my dad and left me for our annual Memorial Day weekend camping trip. I joined them on Friday once I g0t out of work.

When I got home from work on Wednesday I found a note on top of my laptop.

"I love you so much. I couldn't forget about you my love. I cannot wait to see you!"

I smile when I read his note, he knows me so well. "I couldn't forget about you my love." It is this phrase above all others, this simple seven word sentence, that causes me to smile.

I constantly wonder why he loves me. Why, out of all the people there are to choose from, he chose me. I have this ridicules fear that someday he is going to be walking about his normal daily routine and it's going to hit him. I'm not that great. I look at the other girls who are smarter, wittier, more charming, prettier, more carefree and I worry. Worry that one of them will steal his heart away and I will be forgotten.

While this is my first "official" boyfriend my heart has been hurt and wounded and it has taken time, lots of it, to begin to seal the cracks that were formed. This fear of the unknown, of being left without warning, is a repercussion of that. And sweet boyfriend, who knows my story of hurt and sorrow, is gently teaching me to trust again. Sweet, innocent, pure, trust. Without it a relationship is nothing.

Most days my head and my heart communicate brilliantly and I know that what I have found is true love, the kind that is a conscious decision. But sometimes, on those rare days, my heart betrays what my head knows and what three years of dating has  been proven and I become anxious and worry about all of the horrible possibilities that are out there. Somehow he always seems to know when I am experiencing those days.

And so, on a day where I come home to an empty house and shed a tear because I miss his company and I know that it will be another two days before I truly get to spend quality time with him, that simple note stuck to my laptop makes me smile and gives me that extra reassurance I need.

I wonder if he will ever know how great of an impact that simple note had on me. I put the note in my drawer and smile. My head and my heart are again in agreement.

1,000 Gifts list 377-387

Memorial Day is gone, and with that my vacation. Each year my family and a large number of people from our church go camping. It's a tradition that is more than 20 years old and that my family has been graciously allowed to join in on.

Carpinteria is a quaint little beach town near Santa Barbara. It has a main street with small shops on either side. Without fail there is a Farmer's Market on Thursday and a Flea Market on Saturday. It's the type of place that hardly changes, save maybe a store or two differing. It's a soul soothing place. We may only go once a year but things don't differ much from one year to the next. Carpinteria is something that we all count down to and eagerly await. Days of bike riding, beach lounging, game playing, and fellowship are what we look forward to.

On Sunday we are led from our campsite's to the little campground amphitheatre by Johannah playing Amazing Grace on the bag pipes. She plays and we file out of our campsites, the pied piper leading the rats, although unlike the rats we are led to the truth of everlasting life, not death. We all meet in the amphitheatre where we have Sunday Morning worship, the best kind, where it is simply a guitar and voices praising together. Then different families get up and do a short skit that either acts out a Bible story or conveys a Biblical truth. They read the verse or verses that pertain to their skit, (which are often hilarious) and then sit down. We end in a song of praise and more often than not we walk down to the beach where someone gets baptized. Indeed, my own little brother got baptized a couple of years ago. This year we did a baby dedication (the first one!) and prayed over members of our mission teams going to Zimbabwe and Peru (also a first!).

It was not a matter of finding the gifts tucked into the days, but having the time to jot them down one by one as they flowed in a continuous, endless, stream.

377) hills bathed in golden sunlight
378) listening to sweet boyfriend chatter away
379) warm bowls of pea soup
380) full moon rising over water
381) falling asleep to boyfriend's voice drifting from his tent
382) the way Carpinteria never changes drastically one year to the next
383) waiting for the grunion to run
384) Sunday morning church skits
385) Foster's Freeze tradition with old friends
386) church family gathered around campfire
387) listening to the waves in the dark

"Gratitude is a living reality. A seeker has to know that his most powerful capacity is gratitude. What God has is infinite Compassion and what we have is gratitude. God's gift to man is infinite Compassion and our gift to God is an iota of gratitude to be placed at His Feet. Gratitude-power can never be surpassed. It is the only satisfaction we can offer God. This is not because God needs our gratitude but because He needs ample opportunity to enter into us in a more effective way, and gratitude increases our heart's receptivity." -A God-Lover's Earth-Heaven Life