Blog Catch Up #3 - Pennsylvania

In mid-July 2010 we moved to Pittsburgh. The following pictures were taken at the New River Gorge Bridge visitor's center near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The pictures do not do justice to the place. If you're ever near there, it is worth your while to stop and stretch your legs while enjoying the incredible view.

The Altar Church in Pittsburgh. We loved the exterior of the doors and stairs. Wicked!

Just Naomi -- documenting her cuteness (July 2010).

A sisterly friendship begins (August 2010). To me it felt like forever for them to get to this point. Having seven sisters of my own, I really want my girls to know what it is like to have a fun, best sister friend.

Blog Catch Up #2

This is from last summer. The socks were an attempt to wean Naomi from sucking on her fingers. She was pretty frustrated at not being able to suck her fingers. She learned how to take the socks off of her hands by using her teeth. I think it goes without saying that she still sucks her fingers.

For his 30th birthday, Jon went skydiving. First time jumpers were required to go tandem. If I hadn't been pregnant at the time, I still would likely not have done this with him.

Adara on the 4th of July (2010). Her friend is Nathan, and they are sitting on Nathan's grandma's lap. Adara's dad and Nathan's dad get along really well, and they hope their kids continue that tradition. Of course they are half-joking, but it's kinda weird to see how complementary Adara and Nathan are. For example, at the hot dog lunch that day, Adara only wanted a hot dog and Nathan only wanted a bun (this is normal eating behavior for both of them). And they play together remarkably well.

We visited Nathan, his mom, and his little brother Blake recently. His smile was pretty kooky, and when I commented on it, his mom said that Blake only had his canine teeth -- none of the others have come in yet. I thought that was fairly significant because Naomi has all over her teeth except her canines. Just coincidence? We will wait and see.

Speaking of Naomi and teeth -- I think the intent of this next picture was to capture Naomi's kooky teeth when she was one year old.

Characterization

Yesterday I was in Asheville, North Carolina. Nearly everyone you meet there is a character, and I once again wish that I knew more about writing. I was there to meet the staff of the regional arts and culture magazine, with which I volunteer. Everyone on the magazine's staff is a volunteer. And I am the proofreader.

Please, if anyone reads this, please forgive my clumsiness and blatant observations. If anyone can tell me somewhere where I can learn how to "write" a character, I'd really be grateful.

Ok, enough apologizing. Here's the story.

The party was at the hippie-dominated Mellow Mushroom, a pizza place whose most popular menu items included the words "organic" and "vegetarian". The "back room" looked to me like a fire hazard, though it was probably only me. The room was probably perfectly navigable before I entered, one baby strapped to a pack on my chest, and another in a stroller in front of me.

Can you imagine a more uncomfortable situation? The picture of conservative, traditional American family life in a hippie establishment. A mother encumbered with babies in a crowded room full of breakable glasses and drippy food. A proofreader in a room full of non-professional writers.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time there. The first person I met was the writer of the beer article. He was very sociable, seemed to know everyone else, and was willing to help out the newbie (me). It's probably stereotyping to say that I should have expected the beer guy to be like that. And I'm okay with stereotyping people, to some extent, and especially when the stereotype is a pleasant one. But when the stereotype is unpleasant . . .

The wine guy was not aware that the magazine had a proofreader. Until he met me. From reading his articles, it seems to me that he believes that not many people are very well educated on the subject of wine. He may be quite right about that. He put a fine point on the idea that his article did not need to be corrected by anyone other than himself. I found myself going to unnecessary lengths to assure him that I rarely found mistakes in his articles. He quickly began to ignore me. *Sigh*

The two writers that were the friendliest to me were reviewers. One was the music reviewer (who, I discovered, was an elementary school teacher by profession) and the other was one of the movie reviewers. Perhaps their friendliness to me was because they can sympathize with the sometimes unpleasant task of providing critiques on others' work. Or, perhaps it is because neither of them seems overly concerned with making mistakes. (You can read that as, their articles frequently have a lot of mistakes in them.)

Finally, the graphic designer. I do not proofread her work. She sends me the unpublished work to proofread, and I return the corrections to her. She has an androgynous name, so I was quite interested in meeting her, just to know her gender. She was a very calm person. I don't have many other words to describe her personality. Her physical appearance could help give an idea of the feeling you get when you're around her. She is black, though she gave no signs of being part of the black culture. Her most striking feature was her hair: full and long (extensions?), giving a sense that she was royalty, or a medicine woman with connections. She was relaxed and polite in a deliberate, dignified, and calm way.

I also briefly met the publisher. He was the only other person there who had brought children with him. He had two boys, one seemed to be older-elementary school, and the other might have been kindergarten age or so. And the publisher himself? I was surprised at how unassuming he was. The other people in the room were definitely characters, but he was not obviously such. I did not spend much time talking to him, but, since publishing is my career of choice, I have a lot of questions for him. I realize he volunteers as the publisher, so perhaps it's different than being a professional publisher. But still, I would like to know what he knows about publishing.

Has anyone read all the way here? How would you characterize me in the story? My own view: I'm the one trying to make everyone feel valuable, like their work is acceptable and good. I don't want them to think I am overly critical.

Prayers

I've been thinking that I need to write in my journal about answers to prayers, but I never seem to have time. Since I've been studying scriptures online lately, this is the most convenient place to record my thoughts.

On Sunday after church, my little Naomi was playing with her brother's pacifier. She is fascinated with it, even though she has never used one (well, not for its intended purpose, anyway). I became distracted and she left the pacifier who knows where. I made some effort to find it, looking repeatedly in the places that I normally put it. Somewhere in my mind I had a thought to look in the box of toy dishes that Naomi often plays with, but I never recognized that thought as being an important one. And since Keenan only occasionally takes a pacifier, the need to find it was not too urgent.

Then, yesterday, Adara was playing in the toy dishes and she raised up Keenan's pacifier triumphantly, with a shout that she had found it.

A contrast to that story is last week when Jon couldn't find his car keys before work. He looked in all the normal places and then he asked me if I knew where they were. The very first thought that came to me was to look in his truck. As is normal for me, I first looked in his normal places (even though he had already done that -- silly creature of habit that I am). But, the need being urgent, I paid more attention when the thought to look in his truck came again. Going straight out to the truck with my own keys, I did indeed find his keys there.

How are these two stories related to prayer? No prayers were offered specifically to help me find the lost items. But I do frequently include a request in my prayers that I will be able to recognize the promptings of the Holy Spirit when they come. And, knowing the Lord requires us to obey His commandments if we want to receive the blessings we desire, I have rededicated myself to regular, sincere scripture study. I am not perfect at it, but I am pleased to find that my efforts to know the Lord better have been rewarded.

My Sister and Inside Jokes

This is my youngest sister. Some of my junior high friends might remember the joke.

Old Pics, Volume I

I haven't posted many pictures here since we started moving around in June of last year. I have taken a lot, as you are about to witness. Though you must realize this is the modern equivalent of boring family slide shows. You have been warned.

The following were all taken in June, our last full month in Pinehurst.

Pirate Princess Naomi

Filling Papa's shoes

An actual, untampered with view of Adara's bedroom floor. The diversity of toys gives me hope that the princess theme will not dominate her playtime. (As some items may not be readily identifiable, there is a Princess Aurora Ballerina doll, a miniature ambulance, and I believe the yellow thing is an upside down plastic killer bee.)

One last offering for tonight -- I chose it because it documents Naomi's hair really well. The video is probably not terribly interesting to anyone except for me. In my mind, Naomi is an adorable, charming, beautiful child. Obviously my view of her has been, *ahem* enhanced, *ahem*.

P.S. I recently called my mother to discover where Naomi's red hair comes from. My paternal grandfather apparently had auburn hair that could pass for dark brown in certain situations. My mother's father's father, I am told, was a carrot top. Why the red hair genes have skipped several generations, and trumped the supposedly "dominant" brown hair gene, remains a mystery.

Christmas

Nope -- still no holiday blog post for me. Have a ton of pictures, but taking a picture of the 3 babies is much, much easier than sitting down at a computer with 3 babies trying to play on the computer with you.