I'm So Glad I'm a Part....

In Sunday School the other day, our class was looking at a list of major life happenings and discussing how we would categorize them....world events, family, or personal. The list was extensive, including everything from war to the death of a loved one to financial pressure. There were good things, like an addition to the family or a graduation. And there were many, many stressful things.

Our teacher asked if anyone wanted to share personal experience of anything on the list that had affected them over the last year. It was pretty much crickets at that point. No one really jumping in to say, "Ooooh, me! I've got a major life catastrophe I want to share!"

Let me pause here to say that I do think we have a fairly close-knit Sunday School class. We are friends outside of church, we generally know what is going on in each other's life. We pray for each other. I can definitely vouch that they have shown my family great love through many things over the last few years.

One girl in our class answered (I guess she was the only brave one) and told about her parents going through a divorce and how it is affecting her and all of her siblings. And I admit...I had no idea.

I pointed out another thing on the list to my friend sitting next to me and quietly said, "I dealt with that last year." She touched my arm and with surprise in her voice said, "I didn't know that! I wish you had said something!"

And then it hit me....this is my church family. These are my friends....truly, my dear friends. And the rest of the class, possibly for embarrassment, or guilt, or sadness, or maybe just not wanting to "get into it" for lack of class time, stayed quiet about the list. Yet I know that the list was long, and I know that we all had faced at least one thing on it, if not many more. But how many of us knew? How many had known what our friends, our brothers and sisters, had gone through over the last year? Financial trouble? Job changes? Family members with sickness? Marriage issues? Babies, teenagers, and everything in between?

I realized I did not know what my friend was going through, and I was sorry. I realized I had not shared my struggles last summer as I faced life changes of having a baby and losing Paul's mom. I could not expect my friends to help pray for me and carry my burdens when I had not shared them. I just wondered how many of us are walking this walk relatively alone. Maybe we have shared with a spouse or a parent or one trusted friend. Maybe we don't want to lay all of our struggles out on the line for everyone to know about.

But how would that change us as a church? How could that transform our friendships, even those outside of our church? How much better could it be to link arms with people who love us and face those winds and storms of life together? Or even just to sit down in the dirt with them, to grieve or cry or pray? Or to truly, openly rejoice at life's celebrations?

It just opened my eyes a little bit, knowing that as a pastor's family, we are not void of our own struggles and sadnesses, but how often I hold myself back from sharing them with people who truly care. I really hope that this helped me see how I can trust my church family more, and I hope that they will do the same....because this life is hard, and God never meant for us to face it alone.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
⁹Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

¹⁰For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

¹¹Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but ^A)">(A)how can one be warm alone?

¹²And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

Milestones

Hello, my friends. It has been a month since I have blogged. I wish I had more bloggable moments, but February was....ICE, then SNOW, then RECORD HIGH TEMPS. It was just about all I could do to keep up on a daily basis.

I do feel like the last week has had some big moments in the Cooper home, though, so it definitely is worth sharing. If nothing else, for the posterity.

Sadie Grace had her first birthday on the 24th. It was a fairly normal, uneventful day around the house, but I'm not sure she knew or cared anyway. I think she kept looking at us like we were crazy that we kept busting out in song around her. We went out that night as a family, and pretty much just bought bedding for Abigail's new big girl bed, so you know, Abigail made out GREAT on Sadie's birthday.

Speaking of big girl beds, we now have one. A big girl...and her bed. I found a twin headboard and footboard at a yard sale last fall for ten bucks, and then was just waiting on tax time to buy all of the accompaniments....mattress, boxspring, new bedding, etc. All that to say, the lustre of a ten dollar yard sale purchase starts to dull when you add up all of the other things. She slept in it the first time on Friday, and has made a seamless transition. Which means she really IS a big girl.

Sadie has taken her first steps over the last week. We've done a poor job documenting it (2nd child syndrome, I guess). It's just, with Abigail, it was such a definite "sit on the floor with the camera and take your first steps" moment. With Sadie, it has been a little step here, two little steps there, and everyone seeing them at different times. But for sure, she is taking steps. I give her one week until she's a pro.

Sadie had her birthday party on Sunday with both sides of our family. We had a great time and she tried her first heavenly taste of chocolate. She was a pretty dainty eater, and only got "slightly" messy. Not the all out, cra-zazy messy we were hoping for. She also tried her first whole milk yesterday. She did not seem overly impressed.

Abigail came running out of her room last night, tooth in hand. She said "My tooth laid back on my tongue and I didn't like how it felt so I moved it. Then it was laying ON my tongue. And I took it out." Well, that was easy. She was SUPER excited that the tooth fairy would be visiting her that night. She did come, and she left a card and a dollar. Of course, Paul had to point out that he never got that much for a tooth. We are thinking first tooth is a dollar, and maybe 50 cents after that. I mean, the tooth fairy mentioned that. Is she cheap, or is that keeping up?

Now comes the question on whether it is time to wind down on nursing. With Abigail, I nursed for a year, and then slowly took about two months to wean. I figured I would do the same with Sadie. But Sadie seems so much more like a baby still to me. Abigail was one big chunk of girl at this age (and usually off the charts on weight and height) while Sadie has stayed just about average in the 50th percentile. She is totally healthy, just more "petite". She just "feels" like a baby still. I don't know....I will probably start to slow down soon. But then again, nursing gives me a chance to sit down for 15 minutes and watch tv. And how in the world would I know what a crazy hot mess Charlie Sheen is without those special nursing moments?

Wow, those sure are some milestones. It has been a busy, special week around our house! I'm sure there will be lots of pictures once Paul gets them on the computer. Oh yeah, he had his second hand surgery in the midst of all of this, so he's having some special moments of his own. Ah, these are the moments.

A Mother's Thoughts

These are random thoughts that cross a Mom's mind at any given point during the day. Trust me, I bet any mom who reads this has thought these things, too.....

If I have to wipe her nose one more time....trust me, sweetie, it's no picnic for me, either. (as she screams bloody murder)

That's weird. I don't remember feeding her corn. (guess what I was doing when I had this thought)

I guess them being sick isn't too bad. At least they cuddle more.

If I could nap....or be by myself....for 45 minutes....

I totally overreacted on that one. I wonder if she will remember that when she's 40.

Why is it that her dad and I have taught her everything she knows for the first four and a half years, but school gets all the credit?

Why is it when I ask specific questions about her morning at school, I get vague, general answers, but when her Papa asks her what she learned, he gets a five-minute dissertation on how ladybugs hibernate during the winter?

How is is possible that she hated that food two days ago, and now loves it? Or that she loved that food two days ago, and now won't take a bite of it?

How do you get through motherhood and still refrain from becoming addicted to caffeine?

Will my living room ever look the same again?

How can I stop time? I'm not sure I can take one more birthday.

There are some things I would never buy my daughters, but I know they will receive them anyway....Polly Pockets, Barbie accessories (namely, shoes and earrings), Littlest Pet Shop, anything that makes noise.

Whoever thought up a nasal aspirator had a good heart and intentions, but was pretty brainless when it comes to an 11-month-old.

Thank you, God, for fresh starts. Because sometimes Mama needs them as much as a five-year-old.

Blogless in Seattle

Oh, hey. I just remembered I have a blog. I guess I should be like most bloggers and tell you all about our holidays, but....meh. They were good.

Hey, how about a list of things lately?

1. My husband broke his hand playing football. Now, you can imagine the reason I'm so sad about this is because HE WON'T BE PLAYING FOOTBALL. Yes, I'm heartbroken. He's been playing with a group of guys on Saturday mornings for years. I guess it was just a matter of time. Oh, he will try to act all bummed and put out over it, but don't think he didn't get that cd of x-rays in his hot little bandaged hand and post those pictures on facebook STAT. Priorities, people.

Honestly, I just like to picture him pounding the pulpit with a cast.

2. I've been babysitting two kids in addition to my two, so yes, your math is correct, I am caring for four. Only twice a week, so it's definitely doable. The boy is Abigail's age, and the girl is also named Sadie and born one week before my Sadie. So I basically have twins with the same name. Except my Sadie is still bald as an eagle, and the other Sadie has thick, black pigtails. PIGTAILS. I do think I've seen my Sadie trying to touch them longingly.

3. I began organizing our tax things last night. Just began to, so don't praise me or anything. It is annually my job to do all of the organizing ahead and Paul's job to actually do the taxes. I think my job is harder. In some strange way, though, I kind of like the organizing part. It feels good. But every year, I think I am going to stay on top of it all year through and not put it off until January. But then I do. Put it off til January, that is.

4. Sadie is learning all sorts of things lately. She is SO close to standing on her own without hanging on to anything. She cruises everywhere around the room. She points to her tongue, nose, eyes, hair, and ears (though her favorite is definitely her tongue). She tries to say "Abigail" but it usually sounds like "A-gah" or "A-bi". She makes me melt all the time....except for last night when she decided midnight to 2:30 a.m. was party time. The only thing melting then were my dreams of getting a full night of sleep.

5. We have a chili cook-off coming up at my church, which I am super excited about. I love chili cook-offs because NO ONE makes chili the same. Which leads me to ask, how do you make yours? Beany? Soupy? Thick? Spicy? Sweet? With spaghetti?

That is all. Hugs.

Guest Post

I had the opportunity to write a guest post for my sweet friend Lindsay's blog. I love reading Lindsay's blog regularly...it challenges me and encourages me and gives me a good laugh now and then. Oh, and she sings really purty, too. So check out my blog over there, and read some of her posts while you're at it!

They Say It's My Birthday...

.....and I'm 32, yeah.

I love birthdays. I love them for other people. I love mine. I love being a December baby. When I was in college, my birthday was always during finals week, and everyone would stay up all night studying, and then do fun things like make pancakes in the lounge at 3:00 a.m. And I pretended it was a week-long celebration with my friends. I loved it.

Now I have a husband and two little girls. Sadie has no clue yet what a birthday is. Abigail totally does, and she even managed to pause the countdown to hers (in six more days) to celebrate mine a bit.

I don't know what all this day will have in store. But it will be a good one, because I am with three of my favorite people in the world.

Oh my GaGa

Last night, I was holding a feverish Sadie in my lap and Abigail and I were watching "The Sing-Off" on tv. If you have not seen this show (and this was my first time), you have got to watch this Wednesday. It showcases acapella groups from around the country performing all kinds of amazing hits. I'm in love.

One of the groups was a group of fifteen guys called On the Rocks from Oregon. They performed the tightest, sassiest version of "Bad Romance" by Lady GaGa, and it rocked. We've been humming the song since then, and had said several times that those guys did a great job singing Lady GaGa.

So today, Abigail told me that her teacher Miss Karmen asked her what her favorite song was. Her reply? "I told her Lady GaGa." Awesome. Lady GaGa is quite a performer, but I kind of lean toward the thinking that my almost-five-year-old is better off listening to Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies.

Paul and I explained (after a good laugh) to Abigail that Lady GaGa is not a song, but a singer. A singer who has fun songs, but is pretty weird. And likes to wear dresses made of raw meat.
After showing her pictures of Miss GaGa and her outlandish clothes, including the meat dress, Abigail said, "Gross. She needs to take a shower."

I told her to stick with the music she knows when her teacher asks her next time.