My Ebenezer

(looking for a lizard) Four years in Florida have really thinned out our blood! The past two days we've had a cold snap here. Nights in the upper 30's and 40's, and days in the very low 60's with cool breezes. In New Hampshire we would have counted these as some of the warmer days and gone without coats! :) I'm noticing though that my sissified self is pulling out the electric blanket, sweaters, and mittens with temperatures in the 60's. How far I've come! The photos are from today when Noah was playing outside. He doesn't seem to mind the "cold", except he really doesn't like long sleeves and pants restricting his movement. After months and months of shorts and tee shirts, I doubt he remembers ever wearing pants and sweatshirts before!

It's raining today. All day. Long day. No possibility of going outside. And outside is our relief from inside. When he's ransacked all he can ransack, I let Noah outside to play in the backyard while I pick up the pieces. But today? My house looks like a tornado went through here. Noah just went down for his nap, and I'm claiming a couple minutes of rest before I get up and make sense of the debris... In desperation for Something Productive To Do, I brought out the fingerpaints, which I had been saving for just such a rainy day as this (only I had hoped to wait until he was a little older, but oh well). After wondering for 15 seconds what would make a good smock, I just decided bare skin was the easiest to clean, so I took Noah's shirt off, set us up, and got ready to paint! Only he didn't like it! Not one bit. He went from sheer fear of the fingerpaint bottles (what is that about???) to confusion over the paints (am I supposed to eat them, mom?). He then progressed

Sometime over the course of the last few years, strangers have quit calling me "Miss" and have moved straight to "Ma'am". I realized this today, after my third "Ma'am" of the day. All of a sudden I thought to myself, "HEY! I'm getting OLD!!!" My Sunday School class of 6-8 year-olds reiterated this fact to me as they were discussing the fact that they were all young. And I chimed in with, "and don't forget about me; I'm young too!" They stared at me. Stared. Any minute I thought one of them would twirl their finger in the air around their ear in the classic "crazy" sign. They thought their 28-year-old Sunday School teacher was nuts for thinking she was young too! Tell me I'm not nuts. 28 is still young...RIGHT? Not that being old is bad , it's the way it sneaks up on you that's unsettling. :)

As tired as I am, I'm sorry to say the text is going to be a little wimpy on this post. Just posting the couple pics I took at the park yesterday, and a video as well. For the video: I had been intending to film Noah throwing dirt in the air, which was what he was doing until I showed up with the camera. I decided to post it anyway, since Noah ends up stepping on something, and says "OW" very clearly. Thought you might like to see and hear that! :)

Holly, this one's for you! I was talking to my childhood best friend, Holly, the other night on the phone. After we caught up on our kids' lives, she said to me, "So what's new with you ?" And I tell you, my mind went blank. Blank . What's new with me? Hmmm..... I'll have to get back to you on that one! I spend so much of my time and energy on Josh and Noah that....well....what IS new with me anyway? So I decided to blog about that for a change. For starters, I'm really enjoying the Sunday School class I teach. It's first through third grade, and I now have 5 students (we've had 2 new families come recently and they seem like they'll be pretty faithful); Molly, Aria, AnnaMarie, Bryan, and Alex. They're a spirited group of kids and fun to learn with. This Fall quarter's theme has been Finding God Trustworthy, and we've been seeing in the lives of Bible characters how they trusted God even when it didn't necessarily make sense

With more waking hours in the day for Noah, I was desperate for ideas of things to do with toddlers... (I should point out here that Noah actually sleeps as many hours in the day as he did before he dropped the morning nap, but he sleeps them all at once. This is a slightly mixed blessing! Sleeping them all in one chunk gives me time to do get all my "stuff" done in one fell swoop, and allows for more lengthy projects and tasks to be done~for example, I can now get all my laundry folded AND put away AND get the floor mopped, etc etc. BUT there are now fewer breaks in the day, which makes it harder to keep Noah occupied in those long stretches of time. I found myself going slightly batty those first couple days with no structure to the day.) SO without much delay, I came up with a new schedule to make allowance for one longer nap, and got to work brainstorming ideas of fun stuff to do with Noah. And it's funny, I think I'm having just as much fun as he is! Here is a sa

Noah learned how to climb (or fall rather) out of his crib!!! Not even 15 months old yet! Anyway, thought you might like to know. :) The photo is of Noah and his friend Dinah in the church nursery yesterday.

This blog has been a blessing to me, as it gives me a way to remember my life as I know it. The challenges I face, the joys I experience, and being able to see in hindsight the Lord's leading hand. As I type this Noah is wailing in his bedroom, hopefully going to sleep soon. I've done everything I know to do for him and he just won't settle. So I left him. Sigh. I hate nights like this. This whole week has actually been rough at bedtime. The only thing I can figure is he's throwing a fit because he doesn't want to go to bed? Like I said, I do everything I know to do and (for the last 5 nights) he still screams as soon as I put him in there. This week Noah acquired two new words in his little vocabulary: "Juice" and "No". This brings the total to seven. He can now say the following words: hot no juice ow! uh-oh! motorcycle ball (There, he stopped crying. WHEW!! My blood pressure just went back down to normal.) :) Along with the newly

When I was 5 years old, my mom and I lived with my brother and his family on Cape Cod. My memories from that time are fuzzy, but there are some things I remember with perfect clarity. Sledding with my nieces, building a snowman, riding our bikes down the hill on the way to the lake, playing in the basement, watching The Cosby Show, Play-dough. My brother's wife Cheryl used to make our play dough (and take us sledding, and play with us, and make us lunch, and settle our arguments, and and and....). For some reason I remember her making green play dough one time, and how it left a salty feel on our fingers. I could smell it too. This memory had been stuffed down in the basement of my memories until today, when for the first time, I made play dough. I had been compiling a list of things to do with Noah, and one suggestion was to play with play dough, and suddenly my childhood memories came bobbing back up to the surface of my mind. I suddenly needed to show Noah the joys of hom

Josh and I have recently been discussing the role that heredity plays in our lives and Noah's... For instance, is my lifelong dislike of all drinks carbonated because my father didn't like them (he didn't, by the way) or because my mom didn't give me a whole lot of soda growing up? I mean, sure, you can point to various physical traits such as blue eyes or blonde hair and try to find the origin in your family tree, but what about personal preferences and dispositions? Hmmm... What brought this up was that we have discovered that Noah LOVES tomatoes, just like Josh does, but unlike me (I can take them or leave them). He also holds his mouth The Exact Same Way as Josh when he's concentrating on a fine motor skill. Add to that his love of anything with an engine, and you start to see that Noah is his daddy's son! How much of this is the Boy in him, how much is inherited from Josh (and me), and how much is just Noah's personality? Don't know, but it sure is

Noah's Morning Nap died today, October 7, 2008, after 14 months of faithful service. Cause of death: being no longer needed by Noah. It will be most missed by Noah's mother, who is deeply saddened by its loss and will hereafter have to find ways to squeeze in her housework some other time. Morning Nap is survived by its partner, Afternoon Nap, whom we all hope has a long and prosperous life ahead of it. Helpful hints and words of advice may be sent to the mother in lieu of flowers. Wait, what am I saying? Flowers are always appreciated too. :)

Last night we were invited to a fall party at the home of Scott and Rachel Guiel (Remember? The party I made mini bagel pizzas for!). What a blast! We had a great time. Several of the young couples from church were able to attend, so we had fun talking and laughing with everyone. The guys all watched football on tv while the ladies chatted and scrap-booked (or made cards). There were several kids there too, so even Noah had something to do! Josh played outside with the kids for most of the time, which was HEAVENLY for me (Thanks, Josh!) because it meant that I was able to have several uninterrupted conversations with the ladies. I must have needed it, because I left in such high spirits and just feeling good. I've missed being able to talk with friends! I also got to hold little Abe Bennett for most of the party, which was really nice. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the party, not because I forgot the camera, but because I forgot to use it. Typical Joanna mist

Please please don't tell me that morning naps are coming to an end!! Gasp!! Over the last week, there have been 3 times where a nap was not taken by Mr. Smiley Pants, today being one of them. I laid him down at 10am, and listened to him babble for an hour (an HOUR!!!) and then he started fussing. So, being that it was already after 11am (and pointless even should he fall asleep then because it would mess with the afternoon nap), I got him up. Groan. But who could resist this face?: Good news is that I just put him down about 10-15 mins ago and I haven't heard Peep #1 from him since. (I made sure to take him to the park to wear him out good!) And now I must go make appetizers for a party we are attending tonight. Mini Bagel Pizzas, anyone?