40 Reasons I Love Freefi!

1. Amy is a great listener!

2. She lived in Hawaii, so I'm pretty sure we could go visit on the cheap.  :)

3. She is a wonderful mother to her 2 kidlets.

4. She is selfless... almost to a fault.

5. Amy is an amazing artist, but she'd never say so.

6. She inspires me to be better.

7. Amy puts up with my nonsense.

8. She loves Pride & Prejudice, too!

9. She allows me to live vicariously if she has anything fun to report.

10. She returns the favor, and savors all the juicy details if I have anything fun to report.

11. She doesn't judge me.

12. She loves her family.

13. She forgives sincerely.

14. She works hard.

15. She plays with her kids. Even when her everything hurts and she's running on no sleep.

16. Amy is finally starting to take time for herself now and then.

17. She made me read Twilight even though I didn't want to (and then I loved it... until the movies came out).

18. She'll meet me for a late movie when we just need to get away for a minute!

19. She laughs with me about the craziness in our lives.

20. She plays Your Team, My Team with me.

21. She introduced me to the joy of Strawberry Days and the rodeo.

22. She reminded me to claim Team-members quickly when there are cowboys involved.

23. She got me to see past the "voodoo medicine" stigma surrounding essential oils. "There's probably an oil for that."

24. She likes to see comic book and action movies, too.

25. Amy likes talking in accents.

26. She's been known to talk in a British accent for a whole day at a time.

27. She is a beautiful and strong woman.

28. She has a rebellious side, too.

29. Amy loves music and sings beautifully.

30. Amy has fictional boyfriends, too. 

(You can have Adam Levine on your team! But only because it's your birthday!)

31. She laughs at my constant, obnoxious, snide commentaries.

32. Amy smiles through her pain.

33. Amy hugs like she means it.

34. She pushes through every obstacle that gets thrown at her with grace and confidence.

35. She teaches me how much I still have to learn, just by being around her.

36. Amy is a wonderful example of what kind of woman I want to be when I grow up.

37. Amy makes hilarious snarky comments, too!

38. Amy serves others selflessly.

39. Her humility and humor add to her beauty and charm.

40. Amy is a true friend. I only hope that I can be such a friend to her.

Love you, Ames! I hope you had a wonderful birthday! And may the next 40 years be filled to the brim with love, laughter, and more blissful happiness than you've ever experienced. You deserve every happiness life has to offer!

Growing pains?

Lately, Hannah has been getting injured way more than normal. Earlier today, she was enumerating her many injuries and illnesses so far this year, and there have been quite a few.

Yesterday, she got another. Some boys stopped by to prank her by showing up with trash bags on their heads. I'm still unclear about what that accomplished, but they seemed impressed with themselves. As she was dismissing them and closing the door, something happened. And since I didn't see it, I'm not a useful witness. She's not sure whether one of the boys pushed the door closed or whether the wind did it, but it slammed her fingers in the door. She came crying and I saw that her fingers just below the bottom of the nail were going to be bruised. What we didn't see until I told her to go wash off her hands so we could bandage it all properly (though unnecessarily... we thought), was that the underside of her middle finger was really hurt. I have to assume it got pinched against the metal bit in the door frame. At any rate, it was cut but looked otherwise okay.

We cleaned and bandaged the wound, applied Mommy Kisses - a requirement for proper healing, and then prepared a bag of ice. I got her comfy on the couch and turned on some tv to distract her from reality. I even brought out Mr. Snugglebug to help ward off the pain. A few minutes later, she came in looking like this:

She told me that she needed Jesus, so she went ahead and got Him. I just LOVE her!

Hannah Hates Cats

I came home from class on Monday and Hannah showed me her newest drawing:

Then she showed me why she felt that way:

I think I hate her friend's cat, too!

No furry spawn of Satan gets to hurt my baby!!

Growing Up

Is it bad to tell your child to quit growing up? Because I do that all the time.

Hannah is 10 now, and it's creeping me out. At the same time, I am completely thrilled at watching her grow and mature and become a young lady. I just wish it weren't happening so fast...

I missed the actual date by a few weeks, but here are TEN things I LOVE about my little girl:

1. She is HILARIOUS without trying!
2. She is inherently spiritual and wants to be good.
3. She makes me want to be better.
4. She is wise beyond her years.
5. She is a much better child than I ever deserved, but the Lord new I couldn't have survived with anyone less wonderful!
6. She still believes in Santa and I LOVE it!
7. She loves to snuggle up and watch NCIS and Castle with me.
8. She knows that Santa and Jesus are best friends - so they can work out any gifting conundrums.
9. She writes me letters and love notes! (sample to be posted soon)
10. She's the bright spot in my every day.