Our Reflection

Today had a few noteworthy events, and I'd like to share them with you.
As you can see by the empty palmolive bottle, we ran out of dish soap today. Big deal right? Ah my friends that's where you are wrong! It is sorta a big deal. You see this specific palmolive bottle holds great significance to my life. This bottle was purchased nearly FOUR years ago by my gracious parents who wanted to help Kenton and I get our soon-to-be "newlywed home" clean. It was a Saturday in May and we had just gained the keys to our very first home away from home. As you can see it was a charming LITTLE place. Even though we didn't officially live there until after the wedding in July.
Now maybe this bottle symbolism is a stretch but it was a special moment for Kenton and I as we stepped back and realized just how much has happened since this soap (and other supplies, they didn't just give us a small bottle of soap, and wish us the best) was purchased. Yes, this bottle has seen alot, heard alot, and just been here for alot. (But obviously not been used alot.... come on! one little bottle lasting four years! So I guess you can see who eats out alot and "lets" the dishwasher give it's best shot.)

So, it's a little corny but it definitely set the tone for the day. It was a day where most of my family was reflecting. Today marks the one year anniversary of my Dad's dad's death. It's been said that it takes a year to mourn and then the healing can begin. Is it true? I don't know. I don't know that you can put time frames on these sort of things. But I could tell from the tone in my Grandma's voice that today was a day to mourn and I can only hope that healing comes in the morning. I do miss my Grandpa. I regret all the time I didn't get with him, and mostly I regret that I didn't know him more. But as God is always faithful to bring beauty from tragedy, that regret of not knowing my grandfather more has inspired me to know my own father more. I've been fortunate to learn more about him as of late and encouraged that we will only become closer as time goes by.

I know today was not easy for him. And I know that this event has had life changing impact on him. And once again, God was faithful to do his thing in the midst of it all and allow my Dad to hear his call, and welcomed my father back home.

I'm blessed to know that my Dad is seeking the Lord's face. I'm thankful that my years of prayers for us to get closer are now bearing fruit. I'm also so thankful that Judah will never know what it's like to not know his grandfather. Judah's "Mr. Randy" has been sure to be there for every event in his life.
As we ended a wonderful trip to Lowe's , where my parents took pitty on us and our storm damaged grill by purchasing us a sweet new one, Judah convinced his Mr. Randy to take him for multiple rides around the parking lot while he was laughing his head off.
It was an excellent way to wrap up this day. This day of reflection. This event gave us something good to replace the bad that has completely overshadowed it for the whole year.

Goodnight dear friends. Thank you for giving us a place to share how we feel. It's quite healing.

TGIF!

Ahhh... TGIF! When I was much younger and the weekends promised little more than hanging out with my parents (which nerdy me enjoyed, better than having to make new friends), I had one little jingle running through my head all Friday afternoon. The exact words have escaped me but the tune clearly rings out to this day. This jingle was a promise that one of my most beloved of events was rapidly approaching.
"Come along, we're gonna have some fun, T G I F!"
Meant that yes! It was time for ABC's Friday night line up. Which included my favorite, "Full House", and the classic, "Family Matters" (Or "Urkle" as it became known as for the faithful).
I would sit and watch all two hours of shows every week and welcome the official start of the weekend!
As I sit and reflect on what that silly little jingle did for me, I'm sad that I don't have some sort of replacement to fill the seemingly long stretch of this gloomy, rainy, and cold afternoon. I can't sit and wonder if Uncle Jesse really will convince Becky to marry him, or if that crazy Danny will clean the cleaning supplies again, or if Urkle will ask once again, "Got any Cheese?"
But times have changed, and So must I. Afterall, Jon Stamos is divorced, Bob Saget has an incredibly dirty stand-up act, and with the flood of fad diets, NO ONE is eating cheese these days.
But, Nevertheless, Friday is here and that alone is way more exciting than it being Sunday night. However, it would be nice to know that every now and then I could KNOW what to expect from this so sacred of nights. But in these strange days the unexpected is the norm. When you make a vow to live forever with Kenton, and furthermore bear his son, life is everchanging. Not necessarily exciting, but in constant motion.
Here's a brief rundown of our day so far.
After waking to our alarm (who must have it out for us) an hour later than planned, we all rushed to get clean and presentable.
With a quick kiss and a "see you later" we we're parted for the morning.
The sun quickly disappeared and the rain began to fall, but Judah and I decided, playing with friends was worth the promised bad hair day.
We went to play with Mrs. Jan's playgroup. She had a great tub of grass grown for us to dig for bugs in.
After a few verses of "The Elephant Song," Itsy Bitsy Spider," and finally, "Teddy Bear," we were back out into the rain.
Watched The Wizard of Oz, played with dump trucks, and down for a nap. Regretably, I did not get to take part in the latter.

Pretty slow this afternoon.
Here's to hoping that something great is still to happen. Here's to believing that fun is just around the corner. Yet, as I sit here and see that the clock is quickly approaching that glorious 5:00 hour, I do feel that excitement rising up in me. What is this? It's the magical power of this wonderful week ending day. It's the hope of staying up late, the expectance of sleeping in, the mystery of the answer to: "What do you wannna do tonight?" Oh yes... it's what I thought I had lost, but no, it's still here, just in a new form. So what!, if there's no sitcom line-up to welcome the change, or a catchy little jingle to overplay in my head, I know what today is! AND I will gladly exclaim, "THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!"

A few days in the life

So, (Have you noticed that I almost always start these things with "So"?) It's been business as usual the last few days. As the storm passed the whole city was left with insurance claims awaiting adjustments. But in the meantime life goes on.
Wednesday night is Arise night. It has been Arise night since I was Lacy Carlile and will continue to be Arise night until Jesus comes (I can only assume). So in keeping with routine, we were at Arise from 6:30-9 ish. Nothing monumental. James introduced the students to who God is. It was fun, we got to open our feeble little brains to the amazing concepts of how God has just always been here, and that he can be here or there or anyway at all times, and that he doesn't operate on a clock like we can imagine. It's so amazing to know how vast God is, yet he's so personal that the creator of all things wants to just hang out with us and help us through life..... Okay, just try and take it in..... Let it sink in good.
But as the night ended we said our quick, late night Goodbye to friends, and Judah gave sweet baby Annie Marshall a goodnight kiss before we whisked off for home.
As the sun rose this morning and Kenton and I realized that we only had 30 minutes to get the whole family ready for the day, we were refreshed by the fact that the sun was indeed out and that meant one thing! We could both sport our sweet new sunglasses. (Thanks MOM!) We are complete dorks (as if you didn't know, but your reading a dork's blog, so what does that make you?) and we were wearing them until the sun was nearly down and it was probably too dark to be safely driving with them, but they are so choice, we couldn't resist.
Okay, so Travis gets a new car and we get glasses, but at least we LOOK cooler, right?

Okay, just another look at Annie...... Is she not so cute? She is the newest of the crop of Arise babies. She comes from a long line of little angels who have so graciously tagged along while their parents try to serve the students. One of the veteran babies is Mr. Taite Ross. The trooper had to endure a ton of teenage girls (myself included) fighting to get the next turn in line for holding priviledges. But thanks to Taite for paving the way. Because of all his hard work and cheek pinching tolerance, Arise has full time childcare. Okay...... back to today.

Our night ended with a Pajama Party at the library. Ms. Tracie, our beloved storyteller, taught our goofball a loud song that sings, "I'm not gonna go to sleep tonight!" But thankfully his memory is short lived and he is fast asleep right now.

Well, there you have it. Our unfasinating days. I was thoroughly depressed when I was trying to think of what to write. I was sad to know that I either had nothing to write about or that I had blogger's block. Maybe I'm just tired and I'll find something better for tomorrow. But nevertheless, I'm having so much fun putting words to our daily story. It's so amazing to see how much is simply forgotten in a days time, or a week's, or before you know it your child's whole year. So, even if our posts are lame I will write on. Hopefully you will keep reading. We love sharing our lives with you, and we'd love to share in yours!

Goodnight friends.

CARNAGE for Travis

You're right Travis.....












I could put these pictures into photoshop so all can enjoy the destruction. I know they aren't too impressive at this size, but a girl can only do so much. Sure to talk more soon!
-Lacy

One Hail of a Day

So one of the beauties of this state is the broad spectrum of weather conditions one "gets" to experience. Today the city was greeted with an early morning hail storm. It was so loud in our house during the brief but damaging storm. The hail at our house was golfball size. I quickly ran outside and took pictures of it, and I wish I was sharing those with you. I left my camera set to take pictures at 12 megapixels and this site won't except pictures that large. Therefore you all are left with aftermath pictures and images of the second round of storms that hit in the early evening. Kenton's windshield was cracked, the body of the Rodeo was pounded to a Swiss cheesy likeness, our wind damaged siding had now become hail damaged and smashed on the ground, and the neighborhood is a mess. Many car windows were smashed out and the whole block is adorned with makeshift covers for these mutilated cars. But other than that our day was normal.... Oh yeah that picture of me and Judah is him pointing to where, "the doctor stick you mommy," or I had blood taken. (not too relevant but funny pic)

One last thought on today. I love the changing power of God. Even a few years ago, a day like today would have sent me into a panic. I was terrified of storms my whole life. So much so that I used to make myself sick in grade school everytime the skies would turn gray. I managed to miss a ton a school during tornado season. It got so bad that one season I had to go to the hospital because I'd screwed my insides up so badly as a result of the worry. What was I really afraid of? I'm not sure. Just terrified that a tornado was coming to get me, I guess.

But as I sit here and yet another round is beginning to pound our house, I'm not phased. My heart's not racing, my stomach's not churning, and I'm not ready to race for shelter.

I think the closer I get to God, the further fears go away from me. Are violent storms still something to warrant fear in one's heart? Sure. But the thought of a life without the undeserving love of a gracious father, leaves me shaking in my boots.

May his sweet rain fall on you today.

Goodnight.

Walked to the Marshall's

So Have you met the Marshall's? Or how about the Berryman's? Well, if you haven't, you need to. Duane and Maria Marshall graciously opened their home to us on Friday for a BBQ with friends and family. Since their move here from Ohio about three years ago they have infiltrated the whole church and made everyone love them. The Berryman's have been in this city longer, but have just as rapidly won over everyone at church and forced Kenton and I further down the cool totem pole. But to continue about our evening........................
Thanks to Duane, and his Coleman grill (Which he may have designed? Did I mention he is an Industrial Designer for the Coleman Company) we were treated to a sweet buffet of grilled meats and lots of other good stuff care of Maria.(The chicken was incredible!) So I'm sure it's incredibly stimulating hearing about out menu, but I'm a little hungry as I write this and I wish I had some of that chicken.
I got the opportunity to meet Duane's sister, Leah, who is visiting from Ohio. She came to meet her niece, Annie for the first time. Who by the way might be the best baby ever. Seriously Maria, does she ever cry? How do you get her to be so quiet? All in all it was great time. I love these friends, and Kenton and I both are so thankful to have made them. Duane immediately swooped in and became Kenton's brother when he needed a swift kick in the pants (or when he still does for that matter). Maria is the softest and most considerate friend I can recall, who at the drop of a hat has been there for us time and time again. While we are still getting to know Paul and Jamie, it's been so refreshing to be around Jamie's honesty. I never have to wonder what she thinks, because she's brave enough just to tell me, and I love it! Plus, I know she won't judge me when I open my fifth Diet Dr. Pepper in a row. (THANKS!) And then there comes Paul. We both love that he always seems so genuinely interested in what we have to say. Now maybe it's all an act, but it works either way. So to you all who haven't met the Marshall's or the Berryman's, there's my brief intro. So just as quickly as I felt cool to know them, I'm sure you all will jump ahead of us in line to be their friends, and once again, we will reside at the bottom of the cool totem pole.
As the night ended, we borrowed the Duane Marshall Original Coleman Lantern, and trucked on home. As you can see by the above picture, Judah was a little cranky. He had a big night of trying to convince all the girls to play like a boy, poor little man, he wasn't too successful. He was outnumbered 5 to 1. (Jena, Paige, and Annie Marshall & Payge and Katelyn Berryman) Hopefully those odds will work for him one day.

Seeing as this blog adventure was started because we wanted to keep up with the Ross', it feels wrong not mention them in our list of friends whom we love. So just to be sure they know it, we include them in out list of people you should get to know too. You can catch up with them at http://rossfamilyinco.blogspot.com

My life has been overpowered by children's movies and books, but I always manage to pull out great lessons that cross all age limits. One that comes to mind as I sit here and think about some of our great friends is the wisdom Buckwheat passes on to Alfalfa, when He and Spanky were at odds.

"All I know is you only make a once in a lifetime friend, once in a lifetime."

So to all our once in a lifetime friends (those not mentioned as well), Goodnight and thank you for your friendship!

From Webs to Palm Branches

I'm blown away time and time again by just how awesome the internet can be.
So, granted, I have about a good hour a day where Judah is asleep and the whole house is quiet. For several weeks this time was used to catch a rerun of Friends or some other brainless activity. Until now. Through reading the Ross' blog and then linking to others I have found so many people I haven't even heard a word about in (some cases) years. So thank you to all who have contributed to making this world wide web what is is today. Stay at home moms everywhere thank you for the window to rest of the world.
Judah and I went to a play group this morning and he played the best I have ever seen him. I've had such an impact on him as I watched him in the home living center cooking for a baby (feeding it pizza by the way), shaking spices on his food (or sprinkles as he calls it), and then the best part: "I clean up my mess mommy!" He was mopping the floor with the Judah sized mop. So, Kenton, I'm sorry for domesticating our little boy.
Judah painted three amazing paintings while we were there and I was blown away by his "rainbow." He actually curved three bows of color together to create a real rainbow.
His day was continued by walking down to Douglas Avenue and watching the construction site. He sat on the side walk and watched the "scoop" clean up a huge pile of rocks. (There Kenton, that was a "boy" activity) Never in a million years would I guess that I would enjoy such an activity, but to see him content and not testing my last nerve, is priceless.
But the best part of the day was on our way home. He picked a leaf off our fence and started waving it in the air saying "Hosanna!"
My beautiful child does amazing things and I thank God everyday that I get to be a part of it. However, to see my two year old grasp a small concept of the Great Story and make it a part of his everyday life is beyond gratifying. As I sit here now, I'm nearly in tears wondering why God would be so kind to such miserable people as us. I can't pray enough that my son is learning at his tender age the way to go so that when his is old he will not depart from it.
So in keeping with Judah's enthusiasm and to describe the joy in my heart:
"Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the Highest."

TODAY is really Wednesday

So Kenton has Michael over around nine last night to do business stuff and I go to our room to watch the new episode of Scrubs on TiVo. I'm watching it, eating Pop Weavers Butter light popcorn (only 75 calories for a whole bag!) and the next thing I know I wake up and Kenton's getting into his PJ's, blocking the view of the TV. But instead of the episode of Scrubs shining through behind him, it's an infomercial about how to make lots of money fast or lose weight really fast or how to do something FAST. I look at the clock and it's 3am. Kenton has just finished fixing his baby, His computer. I swear he's going to go insane from lack of sleep. But either way his post gives off the illusion that we went to the park today WHEN IN FACT it was yesterday.
Yes, ladies and gents, lets be sure to clear up that life changing and spellbounding event. Because it's so crazy around the Hansen's house these days! We wouldn't want you readers to think we were at the park when we weren't!
But either way... I woke up at three and finished the episode with Kenton and enjoyed yet another bag of Pop Weavers Butter Light Popcorn (only 75 calories per bag, did I mention that?)

But on to real news..... Oh wait there is none. Not yet at least.
Some great things about this little adventure as a blogger is that I have caught up with at least three people I haven't seen or heard from in a long time. And the crazier thing is that they all know each other and even crazier, we all (Kenton and I included) went on a vacation together once.
So for my long lost friends Ty, Jessica, and Linette: Remember when we went to Grand Lake and stayed at Kenton's grandparent's house? I'll choose to remember the good stuff and not the fact that there was so much dramatic tension we could cut it with a knife :)
I really miss you all and I'm so glad to hear from you guys.

Well, there are no pics from this day so I'll leave one that has one of my new favorite people in it. I'd like to officially introduce you to my nephew. His name is Landon Scott Grattopp. He was born on November 22, 2005. He is one of the best things to have ever happened, EVER. He's got a beautiful bald head, a great smile, he smells like cologne all the time, and he has grunted like a little piggy since the day he was born. I Love him soooo much and I'm so happy to know him.
This pic is from the Museum of Natural History in OKC (his current hometown). My sister Kari treated Kenton, Judah and I to a day of exploring dinosaur fossils and lots of other cool things.

Okay all, forgive our boring stories, and thanks for letting us have our fun.
Love to all!

The Nerdyness

So Lacy says to me, "We have a blog." And I thought, how do WE have a blog and I do not know about it?" So I stayed up too late and am re-installing windows on my sweet computer (thanks to Bill Gates and crappy drivers) and thinking, "man, I could be blogging right now." So here I am. Literally tens of people scanning random, borred, tired thoughts.

My day:

I think Michael and I came up with a logo for Thrive. Allyson and Lacy (and Judah, too, for that matter) sent us back to the drawing board.

Michael and I discovered just how much work we have to get the Thrive website the way we want it.

Judah and I flew his new easter kite in the park this evening. That was fun. He had a blast, then decided to run away in the park. Then I decided that I should chase him.

I realized that I need to get some sun on my legs.

I will try to come up with some more entertaining things to talk about at some time.

Here's one for starters:
http://wiki.ehow.com/Choose-a-Good-Office-Plant

Today is Tuesday

Ever have Tuesday that seemed like a Friday? Or at least a Thursday? Well today is too tiring to be only Tuesday, but here it is nonetheless. Kenton is stoked that we have a blog now, I'm a little embarrassed. I always try to be a non-conformists if at all possible, and especially when it seems like I'm just jumping on the bandwagon of the Ross' and Ty's blog, but I really didn't mean for it to happen this way, it just did, I swear! I know that I couldn't come close to touching their coolness.
I unfortunately better not divulge too much about my day or any shred of hip-ness anyone may have thought I had will be destroyed when I tell you the highlight of my day consisted of taking Judah to see the huge boat outside the Wichita Boathouse. But there I went, I told you, so there you have it. I'm a total stay at home mom.

Actually it was fun, he loved it and I love seeing him happy. It makes all the other crud seem to disappear. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that he refuses to aim at the toilet and peed all over the floor earlier!

Here we are on Easter Sunday.... looking as best we could after running through the entire city ALL DAY LONG!

Had to get a blog

Well, I had to sign up for one so that I could comment on my friend's blog and so now I have one... we'll see what happens