Quite a Scare

About a week ago, Dan was playing with Mya on the floor. He was laying on the floor on his back and she was jumping on him. He turned his head to talk to me and without realizing it, Mya took a running leap and jumped on his stomach. Now those of you who know my husband would think, "How could a 25 pound little girl hurt such a muscle man?" After she jumped on him, he started complaining about a pain in his side. This pain continued on throughout the week and he thought it was just a strained muscle on the abdominal wall. On Thursday of this week he came home from work early because he had a fever. He stayed in bed all afternoon and slept a lot. He seemed to be feeling better by the evening so he went to work on Friday. Friday afternoon he sneezed at work and had excruciating pain. So he called me to tell me that he was driving himself to the emergency room. I met him there and we were in the ER for 7 hours while they were diagnosing him. While he was in the ER his fever shot up and he was shaking uncontrollably. It was very scary to see him so sick. The surgeon is pretty certain that he ruptured his appendix, but they can't do surgery on it right now because there is too much inflamation around the appendix. As of right now he is on antibiotics and pain meds for at least the next 48 hours. He is doing well and his pain is under control. He probably will be in the hospital most of the week.

This has been quite a wake up call for me. I already knew how lucky I was to have him as a husband, but to have him gone from the house makes me realize just how much of a key player he is in our lives. Like I said, he is an amazing husband and father, but I miss all the little things that he does. I miss that he puts a new trashbag in the garbage can because I always forget to do that. I miss that he rocks Sara to sleep every night so I can do dishes and laundry. I miss that he says night time prayers with Mya. I miss that he turns the sheets down every night before bed. I miss that he double checks the locks on the doors before we go to bed at night. And I actually miss his snoring. It is kind of endearing. Okay.....so enough of the missing him stuff. Can you tell that I don't like to be home alone?

The kids and I are doing just fine. All of our family and friends have been wonderful to us. There have been so many offers to babysit so I can visit Dan at the hospital. I have taken many of you up on those offers and I am so grateful. I was able to have an hour alone with him tonight and help him get a shower. I was thankful for that time spent with just him. Tonight as I was driving to pick up the girls from Dan's brother's house, I stumbled upon a song on a christian radio station. It was so uplifting to hear the words and sing the song while praising God. Only my sister knows what that singing might have sounded like. Poor thing had to listen to me sing while we were growing up and it wasn't pretty. Anyhow, the song talked about strength rising and waiting upon the Lord. It was a special time in the car by myself tonight thanking God for being with Dan, me and the girls through all of this.

True Hunger and Thirst

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Matt.5:6


I had bible study at my house last night and it was a very convicting topic for me. The title of the chapter is "Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness." It talked about having an intense hunger and thirst for God. Having hunger or thirst that has to be fulfilled or you die. Because we live in America, we don't often experience hunger or thirst like that. We think we feel hungry, but we don't really know what that means. Even though Dan and I live on a strict budget, we always have a little wiggle room if we need some extra groceries here or there. We don't know what it is like to be truly hungry. But I want to know what this is like in a spiritual sense. I get a taste of it when I have my quiet times and my heart is focused on communicating with God and on gaining knowledge of the scriptures. I know what it feels like to want more. I don't like when I have to stop having my quiet time because I am out of time. I know what it feels like to crave that time with the Lord. But, in my busy world, do I feel that all the time.......no. Do I take the time to get into the word so I can feel that craving.....not always. I need the word of the living God and a relationship with God to live. This needs to be a habit throughout my life.

Gary Thomas wrote, "Christian health is not defined by how happy we are, how prosperous or healthy we are, or even by how many people we have led to the Lord in the past year. Christian health is ultimately defined by how sincerely we wave our flag of surrender." The chapter that we studied also talked about ways to make sure that we increase our hunger and thirst for righteousness. One idea that really sparked an interest for me is watching out for idols. If I have idols in my life then I am not pursuing Christ. I can relate to this because of a few things that I like A LOT. I have a few T.V. shows that I follow (well......maybe more than a few). I really really like my reality T.V. During the day I watch television when the kids are napping and when they go to sleep at night I like to relax in front of the T.V. This is not a good thing because it is quite the time robber. My other idol would be clothes. Although since we have had children and have gone on a budget, I don't get to pursue this idol much. I can clearly see how having idols can rob us of our life with Christ. Removing idols would allow me to focus solely on God.

How often do we hunger for more and not feel satisfied in this world? As a testimony to what the Lord can do in our lives, let me share how he taught me how to replace jealousy with hungering and thirsting for Him. I used to feel jealous of other's lives. A LOT! I used to feel like we could always do more or have more. I wanted a bigger house or a better car. But God took those icky feelings, forgave me for having them, healed me of them, and gave me a peace that only comes from Him. I learned to fall in love with the things that I do have. I love my house more then ever before. I don't just love my house, I love every room in my house. I love that I have a roof over my head and a heater that keeps my children warm at night. Let me tell you....this is the kind of peace and healing that only comes from hungering and thirsting for God.

I want to continue to grow towards Him in a way that allows my life to be transparent to all around me. I want people to see my heart first and know that only God has been the one to transform me. This topic makes me question how much I do because of what it looks like to others versus how much I just do for the Lord. I am guilty of putting on a good show for others rather than letting the Lord's light shine and showing my good and ugly side. But the more the I pursue Christ, the more transparent I will become.

Party At My House

I will be hosting a Silpada jewelry/Mary Kay make-up party at my house on March 23rd at 6:30 pm. Anyone interested? Please come join the fun!

Teachable Moments

I learned a new way to get the girls to practice their counting. In addition to running, I am trying a new interval training program. I have to do certain exercises like jumping jacks, front kicks, squats and sit ups for 30 seconds. Then I do this cycle four times. Well, if I don't have Dan around to tell me when the 30 seconds is up then why not have the kids count to 30 with me. They thought it was such a fun game. The funniest part was watching the girls try to do sit ups with me. Ha ha! They tried one or two of them and decided that they were too hard. So they resorted to running in circles around me while they counted. This was a great way to teach them a counting lesson and show them that exercise is important. They thought my squatting technique was pretty funny, though. I got a little self conscious when they stood there laughing and pointing at me. So I decided to teach them how to say, "You go girl!" to me.

Dan and I are going through a teachable moment ourselves. We got some bad news yesterday about our taxes. We owe double what we thought we were going to owe. Yikes! I understand what the book of James means when it talks about the testing of our faith during trials. Dan handled all of this very well, but I have had a hard time with it. Our savings is going to go way way down and we basically have to start over with building it up again. I don't like losing that security, but it sure forces me to rely on God's will for our lives. Faith is given a new meaning when times are tough. I praise God for Dan's confidence and faith and want to embrace the refining process that God allows us to go through. Instead of asking, "Why me?" I need to ask, "How can I become more like you, Lord?"

We need some extra prayers for Sara. At the end of March, Dan and I are going on a marriage retreat with our church. We will be gone for two nights. Sara doesn't take a bottle. See any problems with that? Ah.....anxiety! I don't know how we are going to leave her for two nights, but I am not backing down on that. We will go to the retreat! It is so so important for us to have alone time together and focus on our marraige. Please pray that Sara learns to drink her milk some way before the end of March.

Dinner Conversation

Dan came home after work tonight and Mya was so excited to see him. She sat on his lap while he ate his dinner and this is how the conversation went.

Dan: "Mya, do you support the Democrats or the Republicans (this is Dan's sense of humor coming out)?"

Mya: "I just putzed (which means fart in the Donatini household)."

"See My Underwear?"

I took the girls to the outlet mall tonight to do some shopping. I needed to get undershirts for Mya. She was so excited that I bought them for her and called them her underwear. I also got her sunglasses. She couldn't wait to get home tonight and show them to her daddy. When we got home she insisted that we put everything on her so she could show him. The line of the night was, "See my underwear?" She was so excited!

My Version of a Monday

My yesterday (Tuesday) was just like a Monday. All three girls are fighting colds so they weren't quite themselves. Sara was fussy and Mya and Hannah weren't exactly in the mood to get along with each other. Crazy! I felt like I was putting out fires all day and holding Sara to keep her calm. I needed one more arm to help me out. Sometimes I wonder why God didn't design us with more than two arms, especially for mothers. Other than looking silly with three or four arms, I think it would be really helpful. I could hold Sara, cook dinner, hand a snack to the girls, and wipe a runny nose. Imagine what I would accomplish in a day. Anyway, I learned the hard way that I do not do a good job with putting tasks on the back burner so I can just play with the girls. Our preschool days go so much smoother because there is structure and they have my full attention. I find that it is hard to look past the things that I need to get done around the house and wait to do them later. I often feel like they need to get done right now. I think a lot of behaviors could have been squelched yesterday if I would have spent more time playing with the girls. It is all about balance. I spent the afternoon fighting with Mya to take a nap. And then at dinner time, Sara grabbed her baby spoon and splattered baby food all over my shirt and pants. It was a perfect end to a perfect day (tee hee). I am so grateful that the Lord gave me another day (today) to start over and learn from my mistakes. I love the girls so much and that is why I feel frustrated when we have a tough day. I want them to always know how much I love and care for them. When I am disciplining it is hard to feel like I am communicating that to them. However, I also know that I discipline out of love and someday they will know that too. I just read the coolest thing on another blog and I love this perspective for tough days. It is so true and I hope that experiences like yesterday only help me to become more christ-like.

Our purpose should really not be in trying to avoid life's challenging moments, but rather in learning to become more Christ-like as we weather those hard times, for they will come.

No Longer A Baby

My little baby is growing up way too fast. Tonight, she pulled herself up on the side of the bathtub all by herself. I didn't know she could do this. When we hold her hands she loves to walk across the room. It boggles my mind that an 8 month old can do these things already. I don't remember Mya wanting to walk so early. I can't wait to see when Sara actually walks. She sure has mastered crawling.

Tonight I took the girls to the grocery store while Dan went to a movie with his friend. Everything was going really smooth when I noticed that my shoe was slipping on the floor. I looked down and saw some green liquid on the floor. I didn't think much of it while I continued to walk down the aisle of the store. But then I noticed that my foot continued to slip on more liquid. I looked down to the floor and saw the stream of green liquid fall from the bottom of my grocery cart as I pushed the cart. Something in my cart was leaking and it was making a mess on the floor. I looked behind me and there was a trail of this liquid all the way down the aisle. I noticed that Mya was saying something about her leg. She was sitting in the front of the cart in the toy car. I looked in the car and saw that she had a green bottle of Mr. Bubble. Aparently she lifted the bottle from the shelf at some point in the shopping trip, opened the bottle, and was dumping it on the floor as we went up and down the aisles. OH MY GOSH! She had soap all over her legs, hands, and shoes. I grabbed the bottle from her, went to find a store clerk, and apologized profusely about the mess. Luckily the clerk was compassionate and made light of the situation. Ugh!

Band-Aids.....the Duct Tape for People on Budgets

This weekend, my friend Jaimi and I had plans to drive to Fairborn, Ohio to visit our friend Jenny who lives there and works at Cedarville University. Late Thursday night Jaimi called and said that her daughter had the flu and was throwing up every 10 minutes. How scary! Sadly, Jaimi was not able to drive to Fairborn on Friday with me so Sara and I drove down by ourselves. We missed having Jaimi with us, but we were grateful that she was able to give her daugther the TLC that she needed while she was sick.

Sara and I had a great time with Jenny. Sara enjoyed Jenny's dog a great deal. She didn't nurse very much while we were in her apartment because the dog took priority. Sara would crawl after the dog and giggle at him. The highlight of the weekend, which explains the title of this blog, was our sleeping experience on Friday night. Jenny inflated the air mattress for Sara and me to sleep on, which was quite a luxury. The air mattress was VERY tall. Once we were all settled with sheets and blankets and the television remote, we all said good night for the evening and Jenny went to her bedroom. About 10 minutes later, with a sleeping Sara by my side, I noticed that I was having difficulty seeing the television. For some reason the bottom of the television wasn't as visible anymore. Then I realized that I was sinking. Aparently the air mattress had a leak. Before I knew it, Sara and I were totally sunken in with our bodies laying on the floor. Now I mentioned that the air mattress was very tall because while we lay on it deflated, I quickly realized that we were stuck in the middle. The sides of the mattress still had air in it and we were caved in. So there I lay with a sleeping baby that I was trying not to wake up, but I couldn't get us out of the bed. Quietly I called for Jenny to come rescue us. It went kind of like this:

Me: Jen.....
Jen: Yes Julie
Me: Um....I'm on the floor
Jen: Ok
Me: (laying there wondering how I am going to get up)
Jen: (comes out of her bedroom and looks at us laying there.......starts hysterically laughing)
Me: I need some help
Jen: (continues to laugh hysterically)
Me: I think the mattress has a leak
Jen: (continues to laugh hysterically)

So after we both were done laughing, Jen finds the leak in the mattress. She decides that we need to fix it somehow, but she doesn't have any duct tape in her apartment. I suggest that maybe she should try a band-aid. Aparently I didn't think that one through. After the band-aid was strategically put in place, Jen blows the mattress back up again and Sara and I settle in for a good night's sleep. Well, about three in the morning I wake up and find that we are laying on the floor again. I guess the band-aid didn't work, but if you are on a budget and you don't have duct tape, what else is there to use???? Needless to say it was a very fun weekend.

God Created Heaven and Earth

"God Created Heaven and Earth".......this is the monthly bible verse that the four little kids pictured below have memorized. I never thought it would be possible at such a young age, but they do so well with the verses. The preschool class that I teach three times a week at my house continues to inspire me. It is made up of a group of young children who want to learn about God and His word. Not only that but they can't wait to learn their numbers, letters, and colors. They get so excited when it is time to learn new concepts during class. I am amazed at how fast they learn and how they adjust to a structured routine. They let me know if I forget to sing a certain song or if snack is late. Often times during free play I catch them playing teacher. It is pretty cute. Each child in the class has such an amazing personality. I gave each of them a name to describe what I love about who they are. Luke, my main man, is the oldest and does a fantastic job as a peer model to the younger kids. He is a natural leader and shows enthusiasm during class. Reid, my smiley man, is always happy and giggly. He has beautiful blue eyes that melt my heart and has a great spirit about him. Mya, my energetic girl, has tons of energy! She likes to do activities that are hands on and busy. She keeps all of us moving, but she also takes time to give me lots and lots of hugs. Hannah, my sweet girl, is just plain sweet. She has a quiet spirit about her, but she also can be assertive and involved with the group. She loves to play with the other children and just has fun every day.

Luke "My Main Man"

Reid "My Smiley Man"

Mya "My Energetic Girl"


Hannah "My Sweet Girl"

"Can you help me?"

Recently Mya's verbal skills have really improved and she is much clearer to understand. She says more words and experiments with new sentences. It is pretty fun to listen to. As I am typing this, I hear her say, "Can you help me?" to Hannah. She is asking Hannah to help her take her shoes off. Her words are so clear and appropriate. Precious Hannah sits down in front of Mya and takes her shoes off for her. Moments like this remind me that our life is so special and I am grateful for the blessings that God has given us. At times I get frustrated with motherhood because I am needed A LOT, but then I remember that I have a loving, faithful husband, a house with heat, two beautiful children, and my health. What more could a mother want?

When Dan got home from work today he wanted to go on a walk because the weather was so nice. I was so excited that he suggested a walk and that I had a chance to get out of the house. So we dressed all three girls, put on their socks and shoes, and buckled them in the wagon. Just as we were ready to step outside we noticed that it was raining. Uh oh. Not only was it raining, but we quickly found out that we were under a flood watch. We decided it probably wasn't going to stop raining anytime soon. Now it is two hours later and it is still raining. Bummer! But we did get cute pictures of the girls waiting to go on their walk.

Precious

These pictures don't do it justice, but we did a lot of laughing yesterday at Mya. She was just so funny with her dress up clothes. She has become much more verbal so the things that she says are hysterical too. I was in the basement doing laundry and she found her princess helmet. She asked me if I would put it on her and then she proceeded to take all of her clothes off so she just had her helmet on and a diaper. It was a precious moment.

This morning we stayed home from church because Sara was up most of the night with a fever. Her fever finally broke around 4 AM, but she was fussy and couldn't sleep. I felt so bad for her. She is still feverish today and fussy. Anyway, we had our own version of church this morning. Dan read a chapter from Proverbs and then we prayed with the kids. This is the best part of it all......Mya's prayer! It goes like this: "Dear Jesus........(pause) thank you for God.......(pause) Amen. That was her first ever prayer all by herself.

Top 5 Mary Kay Products

I love Mary Kay! Not just because my sister sells it, although that is one reason why I love it, but because I really believe in the products. So here are my top 5 product picks:

1. Lip Primer-this product fills in all the lines on your lips so when you put on lipstick it goes on really smooth. And your lipstick will stay on a lot longer. Amazing!
2. Ultimate Mascara-makes your lashes look long and doesn't clump.

3. Satin Hands-this lotion is amazing! It lasts all day and it doesn't feel oily on your skin.

4. Mineral Eye Color-long lasting and very cool colors!

5. Lip Balm-makes your lips feel soft and look shiny.

Cosi Trip

We took the girls to Cosi today because Dan had the day off. We planned on leaving around 9:00 so we could get there at 10:00 when it opened. We didn't get out of the door until around 10:00. We tried, but it was a crazy morning. Both girls were up through the night so we all slept in until 7:40! We haven't done that in a very long time. Mya was up through the night wanting to sleep in "Daddy's bed." We let her join us and then I tried to put her back in her bed once she fell asleep. Big mistake. She cried and cried so I slept with her in the reclining chair in the living room for about an hour. Then she finally went to her bed to sleep. Around 5:30 in the morning she came to our room with her pillow and joined us in bed again. Dan and I were too tired to fight with her about it. Plus if she cries she wakes the baby up. Ugh! In the meantime Sara got up a couple times to eat. So by morning we had four people in our queen bed. Craziness. The funny part is that Mya doesn't just sleep in between us, she insists that one of us put our arm around her so she can sleep in the crook of our arm. Comfortable for her, but not so comfortable for us. Needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep. Anyway, we did make it to Cosi and the girls had so much fun. There is an early childhood section on the second floor designed just for infants and toddlers. The slides and the water area were a hit for both girls. After Cosi we stopped at Easton and ate at P.F. Changs. That is our favorite place to eat! Yum! Once we arrived back in Ashland we stopped by the nursing home to visit Grandpa Brindle (Dan's grandpa). Last week he fell and fractured his hip so he is recovering from this injury. All in all, it was a great family day. Oh..I forgot to mention the best part of the day. Sara crawled across the room and Dan was there to see it. What a sweet moment!

Husband Challenge

Well...I am on day 11 of the 30 day challenge for husbands. So far so good. It is amazing how God works in both of our hearts when a commitment like this is made. As a reminder, the challenge involves not saying anything negative to my husband or to anyone else about my husband. Also, I need to replace negative comments with positive affirmation to my husband. Yesterday I sent him a text that said, "I married you because you are gentle and because you have cute legs." He called me back right away and thanked me. He said that he didn't know that I liked his legs. It made me realize how much I hold back with sharing positive comments with him. I need to tell him things like this every day. He goes to work a happier person and comes home a happier husband and daddy. Please pray that I continue to commit my time to this challenge and that God continues to mold my heart. Today I am challenged to buy him something little to show appreciation of one of his hobbies. I think I will get a muscle magazine and put a bow on it. He will love that!
But shhhhhh.....don't tell him about this challenge. He is not supposed to know about it=)