April 18: Catching up!

It seems like I'm always in a perpetual state of "catch up". There are days when I much more ahead than behind, but for the most part, I'm comfortably parked in the wide seat of my extensive "to-do" list, and that is alright with me.

There are days I feel overwhelmed, completely unmotivated to do anything (but of course I still do!) and days that I feel such an enormous sense of accomplishment that feel as if I could float on that wave forever. Don't read more into this than there is - I'm definitely not suffering at the hands of any malicious mental roller-coaster ride....I just think there is a lot of people who feel this way, but can't seem to find their way out of the "fog" of life and never get to "float" on waves of accomplishment. If you're reading this and nodding, read on and let some of my favorite life verses encourage you:

1. This life is short.
We need to keep this in the forefront of our every thought. This life is so short, your health is a gift, each breath of each day is a GIFT. An undeserved gift, in fact. What would it look like if we were to start our days in the humble acknowledgement that even our waking from sleep is not guaranteed? A healthy dose of this realization is the perfect prescription for professional procrastinators (like me!)....what if you didn't have tomorrow? What would you do TODAY? I know that I would spend less time worrying about cleaning my floors or the way I look and invest more time enjoying my children while they are small and I'm graciously able to stay home with them.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." - James 4:14

2. People are more important than TASKS or THINGS.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. -John 13:34-35

Tasks are important. But when things (like the computer) or tasks (cleaning, etc.) are put before your family, you need to re-evaluate your priorities. I think most people understand this, but without reminding, we can quickly allow the pleasures of this world (and there are MANY!) to lead us astray.

3. Appreciate your place in life - and the beauty of the things around you -
Contentment with WHERE God has placed you RIGHT NOW is probably one of the biggest things that people struggle with. "My life would be so much better if__________________." I would be so much happier if _____________________." Don't let the "ifs" of life rob you of your present joy. Your life could change drastically in an instant and tomorrow you may be wishing for the reality of today - so enjoy it.

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet. - Psalm 8:3-6

4. Celebrate the small victories, and don't measure your progress against anyone else's.
There is NO ONE on earth like you, your journey is yours. Your path is yours. Don't get lost on someone's else's!

5. Don't fret over tomorrow.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own - Matthew 6:34

Seriously, here. Does worry change anything? Do you often find yourself on the other side of the "mountain" you were stressing over only to realize it was really a molehill? Yep, thought so.

6. Train your thoughts.
Let's say your bent towards the "glass half empty" type of thinking. So, when you put your foot directly into a poop-filled baby diaper that you just took off your squirming 1-year-old (who you are trying to wrestle into the bath)...IF your immediate thought is - "uuuugggggghhhhhh, why me???? This is SOOOOO gross! How am I going to clean THIS up while trying to hold the baby at the same time? This is TERRIBLE! I HATE POOP!" INSTEAD, Train yourself to think: "Wow, it's a good thing that I didn't slip on that diaper, drop the baby, or smear it into the carpet." It will probably distract your negative-thinking gnome long enough for you to bypass the anger you might have felt originally. Just try it, trust me, it works. Think of what COULD have happened, and you will be thankful that it didn't!

That's all I can think of right now....I hope it encouraged or inspired you in some way!

April 1, 2011: Woogie is 5!

I just love that picture. It's so 80's, an instant classic. Well, Luke is now 5, much to his delight, and dismay, because he CAN'T play baseball or go to school yet. He fails to grasp that concept completely, my fault, for I kept telling him that he could play and go to school "when he is 5". [Parents of 3 and under, heed my warning: they will listen to everything you say, and then use it against you later. You may *think* they don't hear you, but it's just a clever trick, don't fall for it.]

What I love about Luke is that he is so determined. He knows exactly what he wants, and proceeds to work until he gets it...take for instance, our birthday "outing" to the BX - we went to the donut shop first, he got a chocolate chip muffin and some lemonade (lemonade?!??), and then when we went shopping (me with Isaac in the backpack carrier, trying to keep Josh contained to the small confines of the shopping cart), he chose a 1.) harmonica, 2.) A "Fur Real" Cat that purrs, and 3.) Baseball bases and new batting gloves (I told you he really thinks he is playing this season....he tells me ALL.THE.TIME. "I'm going to be late for practice, mom, and my coach will be mad!!")
I let him pick out his gifts, because his REAL gift is a new B-I-K-E, which he still hasn't seen yet, because Jeff needs to put it together and we haven't actually had any time at all...besides sleeping time, and we can't afford to cut any of that! I'll put up some pics when we do finally give him his new bike!

It does seem like just yesterday that we were at David Grant with our precious little Lukie...who was so quiet, so soft and cuddly...so happy and content. Things were so different then, so much easier, but we didn't think so at the time! We were living in a brand new house in Dixon, I was homeschooling Dylan, and we had only been married a year...and we didn't know what we were doing, really. It's neat how you grow so much when you have children, your priorities change, your selfish desires wane and are replaced by a desire to serve your family. Of course, my Christian path is more heavily trodden, too...and in my spiritual growth, confronted by spiritual truths, you are able to see how far you've come, while at the same time realizing how far you still have to go. That was a rabbit trail...sorry about that!

Happy Birthday, Luke. Soon you will be playing baseball, in 5 months you will be starting Kindergarten....so many exciting journeys for you still undiscovered! We love you!

March 27, 2011: Isaac turns 1!

God-willing, this day was going to come...but I just can't believe it's here already. Amazing how time passes so much faster the more little feet you have you, propelling it forward! In true Cascio-style, we celebrated in a procrastinate-to-the-last-minute kind of way....but it was still wonderful. Since I was working all weekend (Reserves), I didn't get an opportunity to "get crazy" with everything and relied heavily upon Jeff to pull it off. And he did, as usual!

His dinosaur-cake before him, he daintily pushed his little fingers into the frosting and poked them back into his mouth, we are talking complete composure, here, folks! It was so cute. I guess he thought he had an entire sheet cake, so what's the rush? He didn't dive in head-first, grab gobs of it in his hands, or anything. Quite an impressive show of control. When we took it away to cut it, he did his pidgy-cooing thing, but that's about it! Daddy had been giving him the good stuff pretty early, though - all this week: Oreos, ice cream, cookies...and I wonder why they always like Daddy better!! :)

He got a zebra-scooter-push toy, a learning tool-bench, some cute clothes from Grammy and Grampy in NH, a zhu-zhu pet from Luke & Josh, and lots of kisses!!

Jeff and I capped off the night by watching the "birth video"- all 15 minutes of it! It was surreal, watching myself in full labor - I really should have been a bit more dramatic about it, it was rather uneventful, of course, until I swept I cheese-covered Isaac up into my arms from the warm water! I wish you could actually see into the water - that was where the action was! How beautifully sweet he was in that moment, how calm - cozy...it was such an AMAZING (proper use of that word!) experience.

A Public Profession of Love for my Beloved

So it's Valentine's Day again, and I can think back with sweet, fond memories the 5 (or 6?) Valentine's Days that we have spent together...sniffle. Since you aren't here this year, and overdone-sappy-emotional is not my strong-suit, I figured I would pen (or key) my deep and sincere appreciation of our love together.

It's trite, and said many a time over, but it bears repeating: I love you more today than the day I first realized I couldn't spend one second without you (the day at the pool, date 2?). How awesome is His Love for us, that would give us such a beautiful gift in marriage, giving us the completion of our souls here on earth!

I'm so thankful for such a Godly husband, whose journey I get to share - from the depths of our sin to where we are now, and God only knows where we are going! You absence for this long has shown me that without you I am only half - a half that is deeply, irrefutably, and painfully linked by a bond greater than ourselves!

How I long after your presence - and how much have I taken advantage of your time beside me! I'm sorry for ever letting a day go by that I don't tell you how much I need you! What a silly girl I was to think that the design for our lives had anything to do with our choosing!

Perfectly matched by a Creator who knew our deepest desires - How incredibly humbling and not worthy are we!

Ok, nearly crying now, time to go, I can't wait to hold you in my arms just 4 short days from now! Love you


Of course, said best by Song of Solomon 1-2:
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you! ←[ my personal favorite! ]
4 Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.

16 How handsome you are, my beloved!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant. ← verdant:green, leafy, grassy; lush, rich; literary verdurous.
Sol 2:

3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest
is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall,
and let his banner over me be love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
6 His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.

8 Listen! My beloved!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”

Is it November already? Really?

Time sure does fly....or in biblical terms, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." - James 4:14 (one of my favorites!)

I was reminded of this during a visit from my parents - in a sermon given by a pastor that I thank God for bringing into our church - Joe Allio. I could talk about the Allio family's influence in our Christian walk, but I'll save that for another time...So much has happened this past month! It's been hard to just sit back and appreciate everything that has transpired - I am so thankful that God has provided for our family again - a new home, in a cul-de-sac, right near the school, a ONE STORY...it's amazing. Really, in July I was praying for just that...and poof, here I am typing away in my nice, new, home. What did I do to deserve this? The beauty of it is, nothing. I did nothing, and I can't DO anything to earn God's grace, either. It was just given to an undeserving sinner like me. More on this to come...but for now, a couple pictures to prove how fast time has gone, the first is from 2008, the second from this year:

The Casual Sewer, Part 1.

Sewing. One of the greatest lost arts of the proverbial "Domestic Goddess." Those that bind a seam, applique with ease, and know which way the bias is on any given fabric are slowly being replaced by the ease and cheapness of low-quality fabrics of a faded glory. You know what I'm talking about here.

In our efforts to "Go Green", I have taken it upon myself to invest a considerable amount of time that would be otherwise dedicated to my favorite online pastime of bejeweled and donate it to the careful, deliberate researching for the perfect cloth diaper. The do-it-yourself kind. Haven't found it yet, but tried to make my own template from a huggies diaper - didn't come out too bad, but not quite right. There was some debate about whether to sew the elastic in or make a casing and just sew the ends. The latter works better for me, in case you are wondering. It's a little more work, but well worth it in the end.

I have sewed 3 diapers so far - and only spent around $2 for the Velcro! That is a deal! I'm using old t-shirts and sweatshirts for the main diaper and a McCall's pattern I found at JoAnn's that was on sale for - $1.99!!! Woo-hoo. Do you know that patterns now cost around $15??? How crazy is that? The pattern works great, with some tweaking. The directions are lacking guidance, so I found some great sewing tutorials on youtube.

We are using gDiapers right now - and I love it - I just need to make some cloth inserts. We are using the flushable insert right now (which is much better for the environment, but not as friendly to your wallet!). I also picked up some cute fabric and elastic and I'm going to attempt to make my first "mock gdiaper", but I'm having some difficulty finding the snaps for the inserts. They only carry metal snap tape at JoAnn's...grrrr....

Anyway, I'll post some pics once I have some time...but, in the meantime, consider going cloth!!

May 12, 2010: Rain is wet and other astonishing revelations

I frequently fly on the wings of my husband's self-assured statements, he is after all, hard to resist with his deep, sexy voice and cute smile. Monday was no different. We've been on a mission to get fit around here - and eat healthy. Always the extremists, "we" are eating organic, whole foods, and "we" have made the decision that running is the best form of exercise "we" can get and is a necessary means to the end...fitness and a half-marathon. (Saying "we" is like when my husband says "WE" should do a homebirth, and "WE" should have like 10 kids, which of course we ladies know, doesn't have so much to do with them.) Soooo, on that note, I've been running for the past 2 weeks, motivated by my eager husband (whose hands are poised over the keyboard waiting to hit send on the registration for a marathon next month) and what I see in the mirror. I've lost nearly 30 of the cough....forty....coughsixcough....pounds I gained with this last little go-round. I'm not sure what happened there, but I only gained 11 pounds by 20 weeks, and when they told me their might be something wrong with the little bean, I stopped running and exercising altogether so I wouldn't be depriving him of oxygen. That and the fact that Sonic moved to Vacaville. Anyway, no turning back now, all this flubber is perfect fodder for my aggressive exercise campaign.

The "running" has been going pretty good...considering the only form of exercise I got for the past 6 months was walking up and down the stairs of my 2-story house. I was surprised that I could run for 20 minutes straight without barfing or needing resuscitation. Score. That motivated me to keep running, because, as Jeff reminded me, I've never seen an out-of-shape runner. (Not quite the phrase he used, but I don't want to offend anyone). In our running zeal, we also got a Garmin Forerunner - a handy little navigation thingy that you wear like a watch and it shows you how long you ran, where you ran, and what your average pace, heartrate, and elevation was...all that good stuff. Since we like gadgets so much, that has been one of the best motivational investments ever. As soon as I finish the run, I plug it into the computer, upload the info and then see how fast I ran. I've been adding sprints just to see what I'm capable of, too. Right now I'm running pretty slow, but I blame the saddlebags. The longest distance I've gone is 4 miles, and the fastest pace I've run is 6:44/mile. Of course that was only for like 30 seconds, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. (Or was it Paris? Oh no. Time to go back to school!)

Which brings me back to my original story. Jeff has Mondays off, and went for his little 5-mile run, then came back to assault my comfortable morning routine of coffee and facebook..."Your turn!" He said, totally serious. Then I started blurting out all the excuses I could muster up - I'm really tired, I'm starting to get sick, I don't know where the heart rate monitor is, I think all my sports bras are dirty, I can't find my spandex (that I wear UNDER everything, to hold all the jiggly together!)....finally I mumbled, "Just let me finish my coffee and one more bejeweled game and I'll go." There. I committed, and Jesus said He would rather us not make commitments at all if we aren't going to keep them, so I was kind of stuck now. Not that I didn't want to go, but I just didn't want to go at that moment. He volunteered to take the kids (all of them) with him to recycle the cans (we are collecting cans - send them our way!) and that way I could go for a run and come back and have like 20 minutes to myself. He really said that last part. 20 minutes. To myself. The bribery is getting thick around here these days. That may not seem like a lot to those of you lucky ones out there, but 20 minutes all by yourself is a big deal to someone who leaps at the opportunity to go grocery shopping solo. I got my gear together and stepped outside...it was a little rainy, but only off and on. This is where my husband utters the comment that I will circulate in my brain for the next 46 minutes or so - "It's not going to REALLY rain, just GO." So, I thought, he's right! Rain is just wet, anyway, it's not going to kill me or my brand new nike lunar trainers. Stop being such a sissy. And I was off, planning on one of my longest runs yet - 4 miles.

It didn't rain much. Until I hit the 1.6 mile mark, which is about as far away from the house (or any house for that matter) I could get. I started pouring!!! Jeff later recalled it was like a monsoon. I would venture to make a more direct relation and say it WAS a monsoon. I was soaked to the bones - the wind was whipping the needle-like rain against my cheek for a half-mile, my capris were beginning to sag with the weight of the water clinging to the fabric and my beautiful new, white, sneaks were beginning to get sloppily sodden....taking my "joyful heart" with it. The snarky voice in my head beginning recounting Jeff's last prophetic words and the fury propelled me faster (okay that is a bit dramatic, I was only running because walking would keep me out there longer!) towards home. Then he called me, because he was home now (and thereby eliminating my 20-minute "me" time) and wanted to see if I was okay. What he really wanted to know was my location, so he could drive by and laugh at me. And he did. It was pretty humorous, I must say. It's a good thing I'm so stubborn, because it really pays off in times like these. I could have stopped, gone back to my cozy computer, and half-heartedly committed to run later when it was nice out - which it was, ALL day. But, like 2 Timothy 4:7 affirms: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith..." and my reward was a 4-mile run under my belt and -486 calories. Now that isn't a crown of righteousness or anything, but it isn't bad!