My Encounter with a Homeless Man

Yesterday I was sitting at a red light at a busy intersection and saw a man with a sign that said "Homeless and Hungry."  I always feel bad when I see homeless people.  I looked down in a little compartment where I keep extra change and random dollar bills and rolled down my window.  He came over and thanked me profusely for the money I handed over (which wasn't much-I gave Ethan the rest of the cash I had in the morning for lunch money).  He walked back to his "spot," and as I drove by when the light turned green, he gave me a huge smile and waved-like I had just given him $100 or something.  Throughout the rest of the day, I couldn't stop thinking about this man.  Where is he from?  Where did he grow up?  What school did he go to?  Does he have any kids?  What occupation did he have before he found himself in his current situation?  Where was he during the thunderstorm we had last night?  Maybe it is my hormones and emotions that are all over the place, or the fact that I'm not constantly running around trying to get a million things done anymore, but I often wonder these things when I see people who find themselves in these situations.

Ironically enough, as I was reading Ethan his bedtime story (Whose the GREATEST Hero: Jesus Christ - an awesome book for kids!), it starting raining really hard with thunder and lightning.  Ethan stopped me and said, "I wonder what the homeless people are doing right now?"  I was completely caught off guard - he was at school when I had my small encounter with the homeless man and I hadn't said anything to him about it.  I told him that they probably found a safe place to stay warm and dry and that we should pray for them.  He immediately crossed his arms, bowed his head, and said the sweetest prayer for the homeless people!

I am so incredibly grateful for all of our blessings.  No, we do not live in a mansion, nor do we drive cars that are thousands and thousands of dollars, but we have a wonderful home that is perfect for us, cars that get us where we need to go, food on the table, and good health.  Yes, I am so grateful for ALL Heavenly Father has blessed us with.

Anyway, I hope that I can be a good example to Ethan (and our baby on-the-way - and any other kids we may have) to always help those who are less fortunate-to give what we can, even if it means we have to sacrifice for them.

Josie vs. Cactus

Last night, Josie's curiosity got the best of her... she was walking along and sniffed a cactus and got pricked by lots of catus needles right below her nose!  Poor dog-she was clearly uncomfortable and kept pawing at her face.  Sean held her while I tried to pull them out with my tweezers - we were able to get some out, but not all of them.  Today I called the vet and told them the situation.  The receptionist was totally stupped - she hadn't heard of that happening so she asked a tech, who said I should bring her in, as the needles could lodge themselves in deeper.  They asked if I could make it in 10 minutes and did comment that I might have to leave her as they were very busy.  So off we went, being totally prepared to sit there for 2+ hours.  Much to my surprise, they brought her back out in less than 15 minutes!  Now Josie girl is back to her happy go-lucky self (albiet, maybe a little less curious).  ;)

Doctor Ethan

One of Ethan's and my conversations yesterday afternoon....

[setting: in our living room, Ethan is sitting on the couch and I'm laying on the couch]

Ethan: I'm sorry you don't feel good, Mom, but I'll take good care of you.

Me:  Thanks, babe!  So you will be my nurse?

Ethan:  No!  That's for girls!

Me:  Oh, right.  Ok, so you will be my doctor then.

Ethan:  Yup!

[2 minutes later...]

Me:  Ethan, can you please get my purse so I can get my doctors phone number?

Ethan:  I'm your DOCTOR, NOT your SERVANT!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  Well, he had a point:)  But he did bring me my purse like I asked!

Our Family By: Ethan

Today Ethan was complaining that he was bored, so I suggested that he draw me a picture.  He went running off and came back with this shortly after:

At the top it says Masterpeice, my shirt says Peace, Ethan's says Love, and Sean's says Joy

He even included our Baby Boy in the picture:)  And he made me look really skinny!



Recipes

Ok, so I have decided that this blog is getting too many recipes posted onto it, so I made a separate blog dedicated for just my recipes (as I am still trying to make at least 3 new ones each month).  I have copied and pasted all of the ones - at least I tried - that are on this blog, onto my new Recipes blog, so that they are all in one place.  Also, they are labeled depending on what the recipe is for.  From now on, the recipes that I try will be on the new blog, and not on this one.  So, if you want to see what's been cookin' at our house, check out the new blog just for recipes at http://www.bresrecipes.blogspot.com/ :) 

Meet the Newest Member of our Family... Josie!!

Ever since I moved out of my parents house years ago, I have wanted to get a dog, but the timing was never right... I didn't think it was fair to get a dog when I lived in an apartment and wasn't home 10 hours a day.  So, as soon as we moved in, I started mentioning the idea of getting a dog to Sean.  He didn't want to get one yet, especially with the baby coming.  However, I somehow convinced him (I have NO idea how! I guess he just got tired of me talking about it all of the time!).  So, two weeks ago we went to Friends of Homeless Animals (a no-kill animal shelter - you can check out the animals they have at http://www.foha.org/) to see the dogs - one named Nugget, in particular.  We walked him, but he just didn't seem right for our family.  We walked another dog, Ludus, who pulled really hard on the leash and freaked out whenever he saw another dog.  As we were walking through one of the kennel rooms, I looked over and Sean was looking at Aretha - who was sitting there quietly (keep in mind all of the other dogs were barking and acting crazy!).  We took her for a walk and completely fell in love with her! 

Since Sean's mom was in town the following weekend and then we had my grandpa's funeral, I picked her up on Thursday.  We changed her name to Josie, and she has fit into our family perfectly!  She has not had a single accident in the house and loves to be wherever we are.  She is only about a year and a half old, but is very well-behaved.  We love her and it's already hard to imagine life without her in our family!

Grandpa 2/28/1927-2/25/2011

Last Friday our loving Heavenly Father called my grandpa home. He was an amazing and humble man. In his 83 years, he accomplished so much - joined the Navy as soon as he graduated high school (he was there during Okinawa, and was a Gunner - his ship was hit by a kamikaze), played professional baseball for the Chicago Cardinals, joined the Marines and played baseball for the Marines team, and retired as a U.S. Park Police Officer. His nickname (I think it was in the Marines) was "Buttons" because his last name was so hard to pronounce. As someone put it yesterday, 'he was a man of few words' but I could always tell how proud he was of his family.

Yesterday we celebrated his life, and I know that he was watching from Heaven. The funeral was so crowded that there were people standing in the back - he truly effected so many people! The Chief of the U.S. Park Police even came!!! Afterwards, the family was taken in two limos and Grandpa and everyone else were escorted by 2 police cars and 7 police motorcycles - who stopped traffic everywere for the procession (including COMPLETELY shutting down I-95 and all of the exit ramps!!!). At the entrance of Quantico, there were 5 mounted Park Police Officers on their horses who soluted my grandpa and our family. It was so touching. Marines did their honors to him and presented the American Flag to my grandma, and then they did their Marine Taps, where they fire their guns. All of this for my grandpa!

As humble as he was, he would probably have been upset that everyone made such a fuss over him, but I hope that he knows how proud we are of him.

We are definitely going to miss him, but we are comforted in knowing that he is free from pain and is always watching over us.

 Giving his favorite horse some water... this picture was in the Washington Post

Grandpa as Park Police Officer in front of the White House

We are having a baby.... BOY!!!

Today Joni, Mom, Sean and I went in for my 20 week ultrasound.  We found out that we are having a little baby boy!  We are so very, very excited! :)  It was so fun watching our baby move around and seeing him again - last time we saw him he just looked like a little gummy bear (hence his nickname "Gummy"), but now he looks like a real baby!  According to the tech, he weighs 14 ounces.

The doctor did come in and told us that one of the baby's kidney's is holding more urine than they like, so we have to go back in 8 weeks.  The urine retention is a very small indication that the baby has Downes Syndrome.  The doctor did say we could do an amniocentesis, but we do not want to do that.  So hopefully, in 8 weeks, the kidney will be normal.  In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy feeling our little boy move and grow, and look forward to seeing him again in a couple of weeks.

I love this little boy so much already!!!!  <3

This is what we came up with to show Ethan

that he is going to have a baby brother

Ethan's reaction to finding out that it is a boy...  (he wanted a sister so bad!)