7.30.2010

a few full weeks in a few words

because someone in paris is getting some good out of our camera {hopefully!  the least they could do is take some great pictures!}, this will be a "word picture" post.

the last few weeks have included...

silver dollar city {or hundred dollar city if you ask silas} adventure with my parents, tim, silas and myself {including silas riding his first "rides" ever, and me and tim riding roller coasters like kids {and then getting back in line immediately to do it again}}

splash park.

surprising a dear friend for his birthday{the surprise also included a bunch of marine buddies reunited...truly priceless, high unpredictable} {we love you brian!}

great time with friends...

seattle.  wonderful trip.  for tim's work conference but i got to tag along. seafood while literally sitting on the dock {could have just jumped out of the water, sprinkled some seasoning on itself and landed on my plate}...pike place market. fish throwing. fresh flowers. honey sticks. just-picked raspberries. finding a fun tiny little town nearby and walking in each little shop. finding a great resource on how to home-make dog food.

more great time with friends...

new wood floor {thank you warranty dept}.

splash park.

new carpet in one room {again, thank you warranty}. 

friends...have i mentioned that?

splash park.

i am so thankful that i have gotten to travel the world as much as i have so far in 31 years.  but i love tulsa, and i'm always glad to come home to you.

7.08.2010

31 was a good birthday...

monday july 5 was my birthday and it was a great one.  tim and i took silas to his first movie ever {toy story 3} and was a sweet several moments there sitting in the dark, sticky-floor-popcorn-smelling room.  did you know they have booster seats for the theater seats so little ones don't get sucked into the crack in the chair as it threatens to swallow them?  so cool.  silas' arm stayed shoulder-deep in a bucket of popcorn for the whole movie as he peered barely over the top edge of the bucket.  a sip of coke every now and then.  i don't think he blinked the whole time.  and i love movies, and i think movies are overpriced, but this one was priceless, truly.


7.02.2010

when they steal your camera, buy a disposable and keep having fun

this probably should be a post about the amazing trip that tim and i just had the opportunity to take to france, and we were beyond words blessed to get to experience. 


and it will be about that some...

but mostly it should be about my amazing husband and best friend.

if ever you are looking for tips on the right perspective and attitude and heart to maintain when on the first day of your international trip your bag, including all your clothes and camera, your only suit and tie, your four favorite pairs of shoes, favorite running shoes and shorts, favorite undershirt {you know, the things you can't replace easily} and everything else that is your favorite that you take on a special trip...is stolen...talk to my husband. exemplary. model. jesus-like. he is amazing.

for the rest of the eight days he wore what he left our house in bixby wearing.  he did get to borrow a pair of jeans for a few days from a friend we had there.  {and he honestly did smell great}.  otherwise, he rinsed his clothes in the sink and hung them to dry. he borrow a suit from someone we know for the wedding he was officiating in the french countryside. he wore a pink dress shirt for a fancy dinner {because that was all our friend had} and i think i've convinced him to buy a pink one for himself - he never would have done that otherwise, but even he agreed...he wears it well.

we bought a disposable camera and took pictures we couldn't look at right away.  that was an adventure.  we did it like we used to in high school...got our pictures developed at walgreens when we got back to the US and being impatient we flipped through the stack sitting in the car in the parking lot.

i see how amazing and selfless tim is on a daily basis, but in situations like the ones we walked through in france, its hard to take my eyes off him, the peace and patience he holds onto when its tough. it was even fun and adventurous filing a police report in the little office in the train station in lyon. the police officer practiced his english on us, and we all laughed as he told us a few stories about when he was a kid. priceless moments.

oh, and france was amazing. 

train ride to lyon. preparing for a wedding. making new french friends who {thanks to facebook} we've already re-connected with from our internet connection to theirs. kissing once on each cheek. picking flowers in the fields in the french countryside for the wedding later that day. a wedding at a castle. a party at a castle. learning the customs. train ride to paris. celebrating. melding french and american ways and people. paris. montmartre. french art. sacre coeur. eiffel tower at night, watching the city wake up for the evening. iced coffee outside a cafe in the art district, reading our books. 

our hearts did break to miss silas.  that was hard. but he was blowing bubbles and building with clay, and at the jenks aquarium, and taking walks, and making art from the leaves he picked up while on his walks, and watching thomas the tank engine, and being loved on so much by his noni and pop and bono and daddad, no kid could ever want for more.  but the reunion was truly reuniting and like letting a breath you'd been holding out...

so an amazing time had by all...even the guy who is wearing tim's favorite clothes now, somewhere in france....

6.21.2010

noyvecheremyshkinskaya at 3am one year ago today

one year ago today, in the darkness of the early morning, we said a bittersweet goodbye to our russian neighborhood and all the little details that had become our home for a few years...
...the first home silas had known...
...a home that grew us in more ways than we know even now...
we said goodbye to some dear friends, and see you later to some others...and hello to others...

i love that season of our lives and i am forever grateful for it.

often the view from our kitchen window, looking down on our greenbelt, watching moscow go by...

...thank you moscow...

6.09.2010

so long pack n play, you've been a good friend to us...

twin mattress on the floor. check.
fun new striped sheets. check.
new thomas the tank engine blanket. check. check.

one night down, a lifetime to go {in a big boy bed}.

today silas is 2 years and 8 months old and last night was his first night in a big boy bed {aka twin mattress on the floor}.
he had only ever gotten out of his pack n play twice: {once right after we got back to the states - he dropped his blanket out so used the nearby couch to get out - scared him when he couldn't figure out how to get back in}
{and the second time was monday night - a few minutes after we put him down we hear a knocking coming from his door and "mommy daddy i got out!"}

so when we asked him if he wanted to get a big boy bed and talked all about what that entailed, he was in. i figured we'd get one and leave it in his room for a few weeks so he could see it and get used to the idea. but last night at bedtime, as clear as anything he told us he was ready to sleep in his big boy bed. so he did. 

it was a little emotional {for me}. he's been sleeping in his pack n play since day 1 so this was a big step for all of us. 

but you are growing up, silas!  ready or not, here we go...

5.24.2010

beautiful weekend

lots of sunshine. greek food. kayaking. projects in the garage. splash park. rest. sitting still. baby shower to celebrate a friend. eating clean. playing hard. vitamin d. meeting new people. driving. good music. dear dear dear friends. tzatziki. sweet times. and...
finishing the kayak racks...

{my beautiful boy...i just had to interject}...

posing with the new racks, take 1...

take 2 {i am so blessed with my guys!}

the carpenter and his kayak racks!!!  good job baby!

cruisin'.....
thanks, pop, for letting us borrow your cool truck!

enjoying these days....

5.21.2010

get outside!

get some vitamin d.  stay hydrated.  play.
we're looking forward to reuniting with our kayaks this weekend...

silas is ready too!

and speaking of our kayaks, construction on the kayak racks is underway!  progress as promised...
 "how do you make this thing go?"

thank you mom for my beautiful bronzed leaf begonias and the rest of my new color outside!!!  

{happy weekend!}


 


5.15.2010

i am grateful for a tree with the green on top...



since we moved in we've had a poor tree in the front yard that was diseased and was bare on top but had lots of green sprouts growing from the trunk...
we just got a new beautiful october glory maple...its just a baby tree but at least the green is on top...

{good rainy morning kai and silas!}


{mmmm....oatmeal!}



we are also so thankful and grateful that the doctors have discovered that tim's back pain {probably mostly because of the usmc} is because of three bulged discs in his back and he is being treated now!  on the road to recovery!

4.09.2010

happy weekend!

{apologies for being absent from the blogging world for so long...we're outside away from the computer most of the time these days...thanks for checking back in!} 

{hello first strawberry of the season....}

and a few funnies for the weekend....

sweet silas' latest version of sharing with kai...

...and kai indulging in her space...apparently she thinks she has a lot of stretching to do to make up for her years in our russian apartment...

and last but certainly certainly not least, today is my baby's 2 and a half year birthday!  my how the time does fly.....
with all our hearts, we love you silas!!!



1.20.2010

kadence faith



{cathey, me, charlene, kristen {and kadence!}}

kadence faith is the miracle who came into our lives and our family on december 27.  my niece, {tim's sister's daughter}kristen, gave birth to kadence the day before her own birthday...

i want to write this post not only in celebration of kadence's life, but in honor of kristen, the amazing woman that she is, the mom she is becoming and the child of God who is being molded and shaped by her daughter on a moment to moment basis.

on october 2 when kristen went to her doctor for a standard check up to find out her baby's gender, they discovered that kadence has spina bifida and hydrocephalus.  kristen had the opportunity to join a research group out in california so her and her mom {cathey}moved their life out to san fran for a little while for kadence.  in this research group, she was placed into a sub group where an inutero surgery was done on kadence to fix the place on her spine where her spinal cord was coming out...

weeks passed...cathey took care of kristen, i know they laughed a lot, they decorated her hospital room with christmas, monitored kadence, had good days and bad days...

and kadence took her first breath on december 27th, just in time for her momma's birthday on december 28th.

and everyday since has been a unique day, i know.  kadence has had good days and bad days but she is progressively getting stronger and healthier, like we all are hopefully...

they will be home from san fran soon hopefully, and i can't wait to hug them and love on them and get to know kadence, and get to know the "mom" side of kristen.

kristen, i am so proud of you and the way you are walking through this life change as you fall deeper in love with your daughter and your God.  i know there is joy and pain and questions and laughter and awe-struck-ness and tears and exhaustion and good things and hard things.  you are never alone!

love you!

1.18.2010

extreme makeover home edition in tulsa, again!

and simmons is building, again!  simmons are the ones who are building our house {almost done!} and we are pretty big fans of theirs.  and next week, for the third time, simmons is building a house on extreme makeover home edition!

and if you are around, you can be a part because they are looking for volunteers to help.  anytime between january 28 and february 3 you can do anything from handing out snacks and drinks to electrical to plumbing to carpentry to loading and unloading to miscellaneous {do you think they would let me do ty's make-up?}... if you are interested you can click here to get more info and fill out a volunteer form.

our walk-through was moved up to this afternoon {yay!} so we got the scoop...they need volunteers and from what they were saying, {and from what i can imagine} it would be a really fun and meaningful thing to be a part of for a family here in tulsa who needs it.  what a cool way to be the body of Christ in action.

tomorrow {jan 19} at university of tulsa at 930am is the community pep rally...

maybe we'll see you there...

1.16.2010

you've come a long way baby!


 september 17, 2009

 
 october 28, 2009

 
 november 12, 2009

 
 december 18, 2009

 
 january 16, 2010

final walk through: january 19
closing/start moving: january 27

{dear house, we can't wait to live in you!}

 

{oh and of course we had to document our first meal in the house...taco bueno tacos...yum}


1.15.2010

haiti

my heart just breaks for what happened and is happening in haiti. some ways you can help from wherever you are include...

jesus in haiti

worldvision

samaritans purse

or text HAITI to 90999 and $10 will go the red cross for earthquake relief. {that will show up on your next bill} every bit helps.

1.07.2010

everyday things

sometimes i think that i love my life too much...

its the little things. and the big things.

a few mornings ago silas and i were in walmart and an older man who worked there was stocking shelves. he had a big belly and a long white beard. silas is 2. you know what is coming. silas shouts in a booming voice, tiny finger pointing at the man...

"santa claus!!!"

i'm trying to not laugh too loud as i try to push the cart on and tell silas that that is not santa claus, but just a man who works at walmart.

he's sure about what he sees.

"no, that santa claus!"

a few minutes later "santa claus" was stocking shelves on the isle we were on. silas leans around me and says in the voice most filled with wonderment....

"hi santa claus. hi santa claus. hi santa claus..." {on repeat}

"santa claus" never acknowledged silas, but another customer stopped as asked me if that was indeed what he was saying, and she walked away laughing. i heard her laughing several isles over, too.

only minutes later on the cereal isle, an unsuspecting customer walks by us to grab his grape nuts off the shelf...and we would have just gone on, but it was early in the morning and this guy was still wearing his bright blue pajama pants covered in bright yellow smiling faced moons...

"mama, he in pajamas!!!"

silas yells this, perfectly clear, not just in that tongue that only parents could understand.

the man looks at me, obviously embarrassed and i can only laugh and explain that 2 year olds call it like they see it. fortunately this guy had a good sense of humor.


{the jokester himself pretending to sleep in the laundry basket as i write this....}

11.25.2009

i am thankful for...

: my God
: tim
: my marriage
: silas
: my whole family
: health
: tims job
: the fact that my parents are still in love
: my siblings {by blood and marriage}
: sun
: rain
: getting to watch silas learn new things everyday
: plenty of food
: deep relationships
: developing relationships
: a home
: warm water
: electricity
: pumpkin pudding
: a car
: good soil
: imagination
: inspiration
: my favorite sweatshirt
: world perspective
: good conversation
: laughter
: tears
: clean drinking water

and so much more...

what are you thankful for?

{happy thanksgiving day!}

11.16.2009

what a difference 17 months makes...


{summer 2008}



{fall 2009}


time keeps passing...trying to be present in these moments...they go by so fast!

{both photos taken by an amazing artist, erin conrad - thank you erin for these sweet moments captured!}

11.07.2009

easy like saturday morning

oh the joy that comes from....

playing with plastic numbers...

eating lunch outside...

and playing in leaves...





simple is sweet.

the many faces of silas jack


sad

mad

pensive

surprised

happy