An hour with Andrew Peterson!

(I wrote this yesterday but didn't have time to post it!)


My heart is full, my soul is soaring. Today I got a true gift from above. Tailor made for me and just a reminder that God loves me. Andrew Peterson did a free concert on campus (where I work) for the students and James and I went. It was so perfect for us because it was during the day, at my office, James’s big deadline was over and it was free. Any other time I hear about concerts they are on the weekends or evenings when I don’t want to impose on my parents to watch the boys more than they already have. So we have passed on several great concerts over the years.

So today I rushed over at 11:30 to get a good seat and wait for James who arrived just in time! I chose second row center because I didn’t want to sit too close. :-) I wondered if the room would be packed since it was free. It was a nice crowd but not too full so the front row remained mostly empty.

My friend and co-worker Jim was on the sound board and I talked with him for a while. He didn’t know about Andrew Peterson so I had the pleasure of bragging on just how good he is! Jim said that Andrew flew in on Southwest airlines with just a carryon that morning and they borrowed guitars for him to play! He would fly back home after the concert. I love that.

I don’t know exactly why, but I LOVE music. I always have. It does amazing things to me. A good song can change my mood, energize me and make my heart soar. A song I don’t like can make me crazy. (I shop better in stores with good music!) For me live music is just the very best. There is something about music performed live, surrounding me and seeping into my pores. And I particularly like Christian concerts because you get the best stories.

I absolutely love Andrew Peterson from the first note I heard when Tim and Marilyn introduced us to his music. His music style is so much like Rich Mullins and his lyrics are just amazing. The words he puts together and the way he does it is just magical. You can see the mountains in the ocean and feel the wind in the trees. It ministers to my heart in a way nothing else can.

I wish I could remember all my thoughts during that hour, all his stories and could share here how and why I laughed and held back tears. It’s just such an experience and I soaked it up to last me another life time until we can get out to a concert again.

This was my all time favorite kind of concert - one I wonder if most people ever experience. Laid back and casual, just Andrew Peterson on a small “stage” in jeans a t-shirt and dusty old boots that you know he loves. Just him and a guitar. What amazes me is how a song I have heard millions of time on CD, mixeds with other instruments and vocals can sound so sweet and and crisp and clean and just fill the room when it’s one voice and a guitar standing in front of me. The sound surrounds me and I feel my heart swell - I feel my soul pushing to soar out of my body but my ribs hold it back. Does anyone else feel that? The song almost takes on life and lyrics like his resound in the truth and love of God.

Early on he did one of my all time favorite songs that I loved when I first heard it but particularly love to listen to with Nathan in the car. It’s called the Chasing Song and has wonderful lyrics like:
‘Cause Job, he chased and answer
The wise men chased the Child
Jacob chased her 14 years and he
Captured Rachel’s smile
Moses chased the Promised Land
Joseph chased a dream
David, he chased God’s own heart
All I ever seem to chase is me

He started the second verse and stumbled a little on the words, started to stop, glanced around and down at me — I was enthusisatically nodding, “yes, yes that’s it, keep going!” and sang the rest of the song with him. He had been right on track and I knew it because I was singing along in my head. Well, when the song was done I got a smile and a nod from Andrew Peterson! Too fun.

After the concert was over I got to speak to him and get his signature on the kids cd that the boys enjoy. When I walked up he said “hey thanks for the assist on that song!” I told him it has been an all time favorite song for me since I first heard it, but now I drive home with my boys and that song is an opportunity to tell them Bible stories because Nathan is always asking me to tell him about the people. I also got to tell him James’s comment that hearing Andrew’s music makes us miss Rich Mullins less. And that is so true.

Thank you Andrew Peterson for spending a few hours with us, for sharing your stories and music and for just filling that room with the love, truth and grace of God.

If you don’t know Andrew Peterson’s music, get it! It is truly amazing, uplifting and just plain fun.


Check out his website for more info: http://andrew-peterson.com/

Go under promote and videos to see fun videos of him. I also just found this blog that has videos of him in concert! http://andrew-peterson.blogspot.com/
(photos to come I hope! I didn’t take my camera but a friend was sitting next to us and she said she would send me her photos. She snapped one of me with Andrew Peterson too! He was kind enough to stay for photos and signatures until they were dragging him away for his plane.)

Goodbye Dear Friend

Wednesday was a very sad day. We had to say goodbye to Niles.

Niles died Wednesday afternoon. I noticed he wasn’t feeling well last week. He started sleeping in the closet which isn’t like him and he was eating less and less. That wasn’t terribly unusual for him. He has had some pretty monster sized hairballs that took a few days to come up. So I had passed it off as a big hairball and we watched and waited for it to pass. Thursday and Friday he didn’t eat or poop at all so I started worrying it might be an intestinal blockage. Saturday morning when he hadn’t changed, I called our vet who usually has Saturday hours. They were closed for Easter. We waited out the day, hoping he would throw up a hairball and feel better. But after the boys went to bed, James and I knew this was more serious. We decided to take him to an emergency vet to find out what we were dealing with.

I’ve always taken care of the cats and taken them to the vet. I felt lost staying home with Daphne and our sleeping boys as James took my sick buddy to the vet. I didn’t hear anything until about 1 am when James called to say Niles was in kidney failure. They didn’t know how bad it was and there was a chance he could come out of it with enough kidney function to have 10 more good years. But he would have to stay the night (which ended up being the weekend) with an IV. They took really good care of him but we had to take him to our vet on Monday morning because they are only open when normal vets are closed.

There are three numbers that show kidney function and his were very high, one of them even higher than the machines would read. We waited through Wednesday hoping the numbers would go down. Niles still would not eat. Wednesday around 1:15 I got the call that Niles was having trouble breathing and wouldn’t be able to make it much longer. I rushed to be with him and was so grateful to get to hold his head (they were giving him oxygen to keep him comfortable), pet and kiss him, scratch him and tell him how dearly I loved him. Our vet said Niles’s kidneys had stopped functioning - he knew this because that morning he had given Niles a shot that should have made him pee a lot and he had not peed at all. Soon after James arrived, we knew we should put Niles to sleep so he would not have to continue to struggle to breath or suffer. With the IV port in his arm, he didn’t have to get poked with any needles and he passed quietly and quickly.

I am sad, I miss my friend, and I was really caught off guard. I fully expected him to live 20+ years like the other cats I have had. In July Niles would have turned 10.

His sister Daphne is doing alright, but we will have to watch and wait. She meowed a lot the first few days Niles was at the vet. She still seems a bit lost and I think she might know he isn’t going to be around. Niles was such a good cat for Nathan and Evan - very tolerant and nice to them. We will miss that. I’m not sure yet if we will try to find another cat that would be good with the boys and Daphne. Or if we will just wait a while to see if Daphne mellows out. I just doubt she will ever let the boys come near her.

We will never know what happened to cause Niles to die so soon. Our vet said it could have been genetic, something he ate or some toxin that damaged his kidneys recently or years ago. So, who knows if it will happen to Daphne too. He said it was just like people who have heart attacks and die at 30. It shouldn’t happen and doesn’t make sense, but maybe that’s just all the time he had here. A hard reminder to love well and generously in the moment you are with your friends and loved ones because you never know if you will have that chance tomorrow.

So, we are left with a void in our home. We got Niles and Daphne about 6 months after they were born, from a PetSmart adoption day in 1999, a little over two years after we were married. They have been such a part of our lives it seems strange to not have him around.



Niles was a crazy, high maintenance cat who could be annoying and sweet. He did stupid things like pulling a string from a throw blanket and swollowing it, only to have to go to the vet when he couldn’t pass the string! A long haired cat who hated to be combed, he would shed puffs of hair that he often ate! He was so fat. With all that hair, he looked huge and had so much beautiful puffy hair. He would scarf down his food and chase Daphne from her bowl so he could eat her’s too. Then when she meowed and cried because she was hungry, he was always near by to eat up any food I would put down for Daphne. One year we bought feeders that would rotate and open with a timer when we were going on vacation - Niles figured out how to pry the lid off and eat all the food!

He would often leave the room we were in or go downstairs if we were watching a movie upstairs and meow his loud and moanful meow until one of us would come find him. Then he would either sit there and stare at you or run to the perch and lay down. He kept my feet warm at night and weighed down the covers. His purr could shake the walls and he would headbutt me in the back when I cleaned the pan. When he was younger he could jump as high as my head! He loved catnip and treats. He loved lunch meat even more and would be meowing at my feet if I just thought of making a turkey sandwich. He didn’t have to hear the package to know there was meat around. He would run in front of my feet and almost trip me when I was going to feed him.

He would sleep on his back with his legs all to the side, like a person, big belly up and begging to be rubbed! He looked so funny, like a big slipper. Head upside down he would turn to look at you with this expression that just said “WHAT?!?” He was funny!








James did something hilarious with him called the Niles Gun. He would hold Niles like a rifle but down at his side - Niles paws draping down, bored look on his face. Then with sound effects, James would “cock” Niles and pretend to shoot him, little paws dangling, eyes rolling in annoyance. We would laugh and laugh.

But Niles could stink up a litter pan and he would come out howling at us about it too. He would scratch the wall or door frame when he was bored or mad at us. He got hairballs often and his hair matted up so I would have to cut off clumps of it.

He could drive you crazy meowing at you and Nathan came up with a game called Meowin’ Fight. If Niles kept meowing, Nathan would run after him yelling “meowin’ fight” until Niles jumped on a chair or the perch. Then Nathan would go back to his playing, satisfied that Niles would be quiet for a while. Nathan also loved to pile every cat toy we had on Niles’s back and head while Niles laid still and let him - annoyed look on his face.



We love you buddy and will always miss you. I wish we had be given more time to love on you. But I am so glad you were ours!

Party time with Evan

Here are the photos of Evan's presents. I am not on the computer as much as I need to be at home now, so I am months behind in my photos. But because I need to keep up with something! Here are a few to show how much fun we had on Saturday.


While Evan napped, Nathan got a few small gifts:


Grandma Vandever gave him three fun Pezz holders and lots of refills!


Grandma & Grandpa Beebe gave Nathan a set of dinosaurs!


and a cool convertible car!


We gave him a Mac Truck from the movie Cars that Lightening will fit inside.


When Evan woke from his nap, we started the presents but he wasn't too interested. Mostly he was just thrilled to get a hold of a piece of paper and he kept running away with it! When it was all done, he got:

A birthday candle from Grandma & Grandpa Beebe. A family tradition of mine, you light the candle each year on your birthday until you turn 21!


Grandma & Grandpa Beebe also gave him a Little Einsteins bath toy that he loves:


Grandma & Grandpa Vandever gave him some new books:


And a Baby Einsteins electronic book reader:


And a hobby horse that plays music and the head moves:


And Texas Rangers pjs!


James's sister Kim couldn't come but sent a great gift! It's an airplane that Evan can pull behind him but also has balls that you can put inside and it plays music and talks.


My sister Melissa also couldn't make it but she sent a great baseball game! You hit the ball with the bat and it swings around, cheers and says fun stuff like "You got a single" or "Home run!"


And James, Nathan and I got him:

A soft, stuffed Rocket from Little Einsteins. The top unzips and all 4 characters can fit inside.


A really cool space rocket that came with 2 astronauts, an astropup, moon rover and an alien.

And finally, a ride-on train like Nathan's. We wanted to get him a different ride-on but found that this one really is the best made and most fun. When Evan is a little older, he and Nathan can race each other though the house, it should be loads of fun and lots of noise!


It was a great first birthday for Evan and now both boys are enjoying lots of fun new toys! Thanks to everyone!!

FREEDOM!

Well, life without pumping is nice, relaxing, and well, what the world takes for granted every day!

Here are the things I DON'T miss (in no specific order because they all would be first):

The Pump - both the rental and my portable one

Carrying the pumps with me where ever I went, including to work

Pumping every 3 hours for 45 minutes!

Sitting up straight until my back screamed

Getting milk on me from the pumps either leaking or when cleaning them

Cleaning and drying pump parts

Telling people I had to pump

Driving, eating, talking on the phone etc while pumping

Thinking about it, drinking enough and eating enough every moment of the day

Making everyone and everything wait while I pumped

All the details that I won't go in to because, well, that just crosses into Over Sharing! Let's just say...It Sucked!


It does feel good to go to the freezer and see a shelf full of frozen milk, defrosting a bag and mixing it with whole milk to give to Evan. Finally the feeling of plenty. Although it is kind of nice to be reminded every 3 hours of everyday that God provides. And usually it was exactly what I needed at that moment or exactly what Evan had just consumed. But, I guess because I am human and always wanting more and God is generous and always giving much more than we could ever expect, there were also those times when I got more than an 8 oz bottle would hold. Then I got the thrill of freezing a bag for another day. Each bag bringing me closer to the day I could stop. And now, by the grace and provision of God, who alone could get me through this I have more than I ever needed. There is plenty of milk to slowly transition Evan to cow's milk so that he might not even notice the change!

God is good, all the time! Especially in the details.

Happy Birthday Evan!

Ahhh!

It's 10:30 pm, both boys are finally asleep, I am relaxing with a large cup of Stash Tea (one of about 50 flavors I got for my birthday in anticipation of no longer pumping) and the house is quiet at last!

Yep, you heard me right - I am no longer pumping. In fact, Monday night will make a week. It is so wonderful to be back to normal. And all my concern and freezing milk has left us with plenty to start transitioning Evan to Whole Cow's milk. Life is good!

Even better, our little man has turned one year old today. With it comes all those memories of how a year ago today we arrived at the hospital for our scheduled c-section, my sister and her kids were in town and we were all looking forward to meeting the little baby that would join our family. A lot has happened since that day and Evan is growing up fast. He's almost running now!

We had a super fun day today! It was a Little Einstein's Rocket themed party. Grandma and Grandpa Beebe, Grandma and Grandpa Vandever, Nathan, James and I had so much fun celebrating with Evan!


Our decorations for the party


With my Mom's help, I made a Rocket cake for Evan!


Good enough to eat!

He woke at 7 am, and although he didn't really understand what today was all about, he was anxious to get it started. We had fun playing with Nathan and getting the last minute things in place for a party. The grandparents arrived and James started grilling burgers, brats and Nathan's Famous hotdogs! Just as all the food was getting ready, I slipped upstairs with Evan to see if he just might take a much needed nap. I was surprised and pleased that he relaxed into my arms, slurped down his milk and fell quickly asleep! His 2 and 1/2 hour nap gave us a chance to eat lunch, socialize, give Nathan some special attention and let Evan wake up ready for presents!


Grandma Beebe and my new Rocket!


Considering some long distance calls with Grandpa Beebe!


Stories with Grandma and Grandpa Vandever!


A surprise phone call from Grandpa Palmer!


He had a ton to open and almost didn't make it through them all, but he enjoyed it. There were gifts from all of us and my sister Melissa and James's sister Kim sent great gifts. James's Dad sent a savings bond and sweet card and James's Aunt Barbara also sent a very thoughtful bond! There were plenty of new toys for Evan and Nathan to share and a few surprises for Nathan too. All in all a very busy, exciting and fun day.

I'm going to load as many photos as I can here, but then it's off to bed! I'm exhausted after taking Friday off to clean the house and all the excitement of today. And since I'm not pumping any more I am anxious to get to that good nights sleep. So I will finish my tea, choose some photos from today and get them loaded here!

Sweet dreams to my two little boys who are growing up so fast!


Getting ready to sing to Evan:


"Happy Birthday to you!"


Make a wish...


Dig in!


Evan wasn't interested in eating cake or icing, but he had lots of fun playing with it!


All done!


Sorry everyone, but I'm pooped out! Time for bed. I'll post photos of presents soon!

Our Rockin' Weekend

Nathan got to go to his first concert on Saturday. Yes, that's right, our 3 1/2 year old is already going to concerts! Hard to believe, they grow up so fast.



Not to worry, it wasn't anything too grown up! In fact, going to a kid's concert was really nice. It was the most pleasant concert experience I think I've ever had. I've been to a lot of big concerts - Elton John, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, U2 - and Christian concerts - Rich Mullins, Big Daddy Weave, Charlie Peacock... And at all concerts up until this Saturday I have always experiences frustrating to dangerous parking experiences, people pushing and shoving to get in, rude people and a sense of anxiety even though we all had tickets and most of the time reserved seats. I thought it was just part of the event.

I don't know if all kids concerts are like this one, but what a difference!

We went to see the Imagination Movers at the Bass Hall. This was our first experience at Bass Hall, and what a gorgeous venue! The building is lovely, the staff was very nice, helpful and friendly. James's boss gave us a great tip on a parking garage across the street that had free parking and we got one of the closest spots. We arrived about 45 minutes early and the building was pretty empty. They said we could look all around but not enter the concert because they were still setting up. There was one merchandise table and we were the second ones in line to get Nathan a t-shirt. Then we found out that for this event they were allowing cameras in and we could even take photos during the concert! I had brought ours just in case I could get some photos of Nathan in the lobby for the scrap book, I had no idea they would allow photos during the show!

Everyone was laid back, polite and just all about letting their kids have fun. No one was rude or pushy!


The Imagination Movers are a really cool band we found out about on the Disney Channel. It's 4 guys who do 80's style rock with kid lyrics that are really good and clever. (it's nice to have some music for Nathan that doesn't make me want to scream) They just finished their first season of a really cute TV show too. The premise is that they have a business to help people solve problems. They work in a big warehouse and each episode someone comes to them with a problem and they brainstorm and test ideas until they solve the problem. There are always 3-4 songs, their neighbors (a cute girl and her super boring uncle) always come over at some point to help and it's pretty funny. I would say its a modern day version of The Monkey's for kids. (www.imaginationmovers.com)

We bought one of their CDs and really enjoy listening to it with Nathan. And their concert was awesome! We had excellent box seats which was really nice.



We had one other family with us who was very nice, we were up where we could see everything and didn't have to interact with the crowd much. But next time I will get us isle seats on the floor because all of the movers came out into the audience at different times and were great with the kids!



It was a super fun time and Nathan had a blast!



I highly recommend the Imagination Movers if you have kids, their music is great and don't miss their concert!!




Here are the Movers:

Mover Rich



Mover Scott



Mover Dave




and Mover Smitty

Walking Tall

Evan is now 11 months old and really on his way to walking. He does a really cute stumbling, sidways walk that will take him halfway across a room. He's so excited about it that he often pulls up to a stand on various objects in a room and takes off, feet going every which way, until he plops down on his bottom.





He's getting a little bit better about eating some days and seems to be chewing on less toys. So we are making some progress. We will be glad when he is not crawling as much because every little spec on the floor goes into his tight little fist and eventually into his mouth if we don't catch him. His favorite snacks are carpet, cat litter (we use a recycled newspaper pellet kind)and paper. But an occasional old dropped cheerio isn't bad either.

We will be going to the doctor's on Monday afternoon to check his iron levels again and see what the next step in that will be.

Nathan is having lots of fun and enjoying all his toys.



Grandma Beebe moved an old computer downstairs so he can play computer games now which has been a big hit. Nathan is very good at moving the mouse around and he is enjoying being in the computer more. His favorite games are mazes and matching photo puzzles.

This coming weekend should be pretty exciting. We have Nathan's first concert to see The Imagination Movers on Saturday at Bass Hall. We are all pretty excited and got good box seat tickets (Evan will spend the morning with Grandma). Then on Sunday we will be doing Evan's baby dedication at church! This is our way of saying Thank You to God for giving us our son and giving him back to God since He is really in control of our lives and everything around us. It's a time to commit to raising him in a Christian home and ask the church to partner with us in teaching our children about God. This has nothing to do with his personal salvation, as we believe he will have to make that choice for himself when he is old enough to understand about God and why Jesus died to save us. We are looking forward to a special day of praising God!

Well, time to march into a new week and see what kind of adventures it will provide.