puzzle pieces

Austin to me: "Am I God's puzzle?"
um what?

Austin again: "Am I God's puzzle?"

Me: "Why do you ask that?"

Austin: "Well, He put me together. I must be His puzzle. Did he do a good job mom?"


"Yea kiddo, I think he did a good job of putting you together."

Big Austin Boy Smile."That's because I am His puzzle"

:)

Slightly Insane...

Ok, so - a runner I am not. In my head, its a great idea, in my knees- eh not so much. However, I relented and embraced the new Insanity work out by Beach Body. I had done P90x and I probably will again, BUT check out the link. I only post this so you know I am doing it. Then you'll say to me... "hey how's that work out going" and I will have to answer you...and hopefully my response will be..."good, doing it every day!" or something close.

It should be here by the end of the week...so next week...the journey begins! yikes!

Octopus...Octopi? and all its glory

Ok, so this may be the most random thought process ever, you may just want to stop reading now if you mind random ramblings :)

Anyway - last Friday we visited the battleship Wisconsin and Nauticus in Virginia. As the kids got tired we went in to watch this IMax movie on the Octopus. It was fascinating...not as fascinating as the shark one (but that is a whole other post...still looking for people to go diving with me!) There are over 300 kinds of Octopus(octopi?) and really - I had never paid much attention to them before, I mean, I loved Pearl in Finding Nemo - but this was a whole new level of ocean floor viewing. The fascination is that God made 300!!!! kinds and my favorite one ( can't remember the name) is one that can transform to look like a number of other sea creatures to protect itself. It made itself to look like sand, an owl!, a nest of snakes, coral...seriously I am not doing it justice...I am just saying wow- very creative. But really, why? In just one species there are 300 variables and if not for a select few scientists who would even know about it!? There so many ways to go on that, but it leads me to at least express this thought. Many people I love and care about are hurting, barely putting one foot in front of the other every morning and just trying to come up for enough air to take their next breath. I understand that feeling..all too well. But, as I watched the Octopus - the stupid, random (very cool sea creature)...God thought enough about that creature to give it the coolest forms of protection, hunting mechanisms, and even good looks ;) ok, maybe not - but since God managed to care enough to be creative and savvy with the octopus and He cared enough to make 300 kinds and give them all a unique way to survive life, well then I know God cared enough about each person in my life (including myself and every human being ever made) to protect us, give us the breath we need to survive, face the day ahead, and even - if we need to - a way to hide from danger...a respite if you will. If He designed a way for the octopus to survive its daily struggles ( I mean life can't be easy with so many tentacles all the time), then each day we are given enough to make it through - cuz...YOU are SLIGHTLY more important than the octopus :) just sayin.

What if I were a twin?

I have known several sets of twins and for every dynamic duo I can say that they may look an awful lot alike, but have always been as opposite as two people can be. We saw these two lovely ladies several times a couple of times walking on the boulevard and they were ALWAYS dressed exactly alike. I wanted to take their picture so badly without seeming like a stalker of some sort. Our last day at the beach- guess who we sat down next to..... :)



Seriously? Are they not the most endearing? I kept wondering... did they ever argue about what they were going to wear? Who got to pick the color of their beach bags? Does one think stripes make her look fat, but goes with the flow anyway? Which one is assertive? Which one is more easy-going? Shy or out going? Cheeseburger or vegetarian? Coffee or wine? I wonder if I were a twin...haha...I will just leave it at that....


oh and a two people asked... the picture on my previous post with austin running in the water...no the water wasn't THAT blue. I have a filter on my lens. The water was pretty for sure, but the filter accents the blues :)

Ps. I Like it here too (part two)

Ok, so my last post conjured up all the nostalgia of my home-land..but...maybe just maybe...I could like it here too......

I think so.

I like it here...

I love visiting New York City. The key word being "visiting". I enjoy the thrill of going there and seeing all there is to see. I must have sat in Central Park for an hour just watching people of every walk of life pass ( or skate, run, ride horseback, bike) me by. It's amazing such completely different world is only a couple of hours away not to mention one of the most influential cities in the world. I embrace the huge scale of it all and I really could just sit and watch people all day long ( from a Starbucks window seat of course!)

However, I like it here. I like where I am and where I live. I like my space ( and those who visit my mountain know I have a lot of it). I enjoy sending my kids outside to play and not having to chase them step for step worried I would lose them in a sea of people. (Though we came close last year with Austin at Washington Park..ugh).

I enjoy the quietness of my backyard and the sweet breeze that lulls life to sleep at night. I like the giant pond that reflect the sun...which sets behind the mountains and not behind the skyscrapers. Yup, at times its inconvenient (i.e. seven foot high snowbanks.), but overall I guess I'm a country girl. I like being barefoot in the grass, I like the quietness of my road and I enjoy the slow pace of my mornings (people know how important that is to me).

So, I am always thrilled to go to NYC and immerse myself in a culture that is as unique as each person that walks its streets, but I am glad when I leave and I start seeing rivers and hills replacing streets and buildings. That's just me. It's funny how two worlds can be so close, yet so far apart.