Tubes for Camden

Sweet little 2-year old Camden is headed to the hospital on Wednesday to get tubes put in his ears. Our pediatrician strongly recommended it due to the number of ear infections he's had over the past year and a half. Plus, he's had several this summer, which is the "off-season" of sorts for ear infections.

I had one of the nurses at the pediatrician's office tell us just how many medications we've given him for ear infections in his short lifetime. It was WAY more than I remembered!

So - tubes are going in, and I really, really hope this will do the trick. Poor little dude has been in pain for most of his life!

Dreaming up a life

Maybe one of the "perks" of approaching 40 is that my husband and I are very serious about determining exactly what we want from the rest of our lives. We know for sure that we desire to do the Lord's will and follow His principles for our lives. But we both firmly believe that the exact what/where/why/how is left up to US. God is not a puppet master, telling us to "live here, do that, be this", etc. (And yes, you can find instances in the Bible where God did in fact tell one of His children to do something specific, but there are many more guiding principles that would indicate that He is ultimately more interested in our hearts than our location/vocation.) Perhaps you disagree, and that's okay. Jeremy and I are carving out a life for ourselves that we believe will honor God while bringing us joy on earth, and we feel pretty good about that.

So... what do we want for our lives, other than to honor God and to raise our children to do the same?

- Live in an area of beauty, where we can look at God's creation and be filled with awe.

- Play in said creation, whether it's walking, hiking, biking, climbing, sitting, eating, drinking etc.

- Be a part of a Christ-centered church where we can grow, learn, serve, and find friends that want the same.

- Live in a community of people that love the outdoors, and where bike trails, parks, etc. are a norm.

- Have friends that share the same values as we do (God, outdoors, etc.) and want to band together and "do life".

- Have men invest in our boys that love God and share our values, so that when our influence wanes, theirs is steady.

- Weather that is cold but not miserable in the winters, and warm but not unbearably hot in the summers. Light snow is good; humidity and heat are bad.

- A city that is large enough to have all the amenities that we desire, but small enough that it still feels like a "town".

- An area where music, culture, food, outdoors, and God can all be welcome and appreciated.

- Relative accessibility to our families, so that they can visit us and we can visit them without excessive cost (this is a TOUGH one).

Does that list sound unrealistic? Who knows. I do think that we've identified an area that fits our general criteria, though it shall remain nameless for now. And trust me, we've researched/discussed/dreamed of MANY places in the past few years. To potentially be narrowing it down is pretty exciting. We are praying and talking LOTS about our future. 

What is this thing called blogging?

Hi.... my name is Joey and I used to blog.

Somewhere along the way I just stopped doing it. Maybe having two little boys that consume so much of my time did it to me. Maybe trying to cram a full time job into part time hours did it to me. Maybe the "pressure" of trying to run a household, keep a job, be a wife, and raise some boys did it to me. Maybe some discontent in my heart caused my "want to" to quit on me. Not sure. 

But a year and a half later, I feel a change coming on. Which is funny, because I think that blogging isn't really "fashionable" anymore. It seems to have been largely replaced by Facebook, Twitter, etc.  And I'm guilty of using Facebook to pseudo-blog. But now....  change is coming. My mother is dying of lung cancer. My boys are now 2 and 3 and growing and talking and going tee-tee and poopie on the potty (at least part of the time!) My husband is still his awesome self but we have gone through a very weary and rough season. And we are both longing for mountains, and feel pulled there. For now, we're still in small town Texas and are trying to appreciate and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us, but I feel a greater and greater longing for higher elevations, cooler weather, and fresh air.

I'm also approaching my 40th birthday. I've still got nearly 7 months until the big milestone, but I'm feeling more reflective lately, and something about saying that I'm almost FORTY has got me really pondering my life. Maybe I'll post my ponderings. Maybe not. We'll see.

Here are my sweet little monkeys. They bring more love, joy, frustration, anger, and happiness to my life than I ever thought possible!