Thursday 13

Thirteen Things on My Mind Today...

1. World Hunger - I know this is an old story. How do we turn our backs on it and go on with our trivial lives? After Kim's blog and then Oprah's show yesterday, I can't help but feel ashamed of myself for ever having a thought of wanting more. Wanting more stuff or more vacations or more time with my husband. How can I ever possibly complain about anything in my life? I have so much to be thankful for. As I watched Oprah yesterday with tears streaming down my face, Patrick wanted to know why I was so sad. "Why can't we just feed those people in Africa, Mommy? How about this...how about we take all of the money from my piggy bank and we send it to them. Will that help?" If only we could all have the simple wisdom of a 5 year old. I told Patrick that is why the first thing mommy and daddy always say in our prayers is "Dear God...Thank you for our food...".

2. World Peace - Another old story. I feel like this is the end of days. Maybe not in my lifetime, but probably for our children.

3. Breast Cancer - Probably looking at another biopsy. The doctor who did the ultrasound yesterday was "pretty sure" what he saw was a hardened cyst. My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer at 36. I am pretty sure I am pretty scared.

4. My Grandmother - After 66 years in the same house, she is moving to a retirement center due to recent problems with short term memory loss. I love my grandmother. It has been hard to watch her deteriorate so quickly. I always assumed she would live forever. I love that house. It is my childhood home of warm feelings, good food and fond memories. While the house will remain, the times are gone. I know this is just one of the many seasons of life, but still sad.

5. Pregnancy - Two special people I know that are trying to get pregnant. May God bless you with the miracle of life.

6. Widows - How do you go on without your spouse of 30+ years? Time may make it easier, but not any less lonely.

7. My Brother - He has graduated college, has a good job and is in love! It is amazing what happens when you let God in your life.

8. Kindergarten - I am nervous. The school supply list brought on tears. Will have to wait until the last minute to go shopping.

9. Weight Loss/Exercise - The starving people in the world worry about having too little to eat and I worry about having too much to eat.

10. Chuck's Job - May God provide the answers he is looking for.

11. Budget - Can we ever get one? Will I have to go back to work all of a sudden?

12. Service - How can I be of service to others and take care of my family, too?

13. OK - one silly one- FOOTBALL! Two and a half more weeks until pre-season starts!

BABY SMILES!!!!

Lunar Golf, Stroller Moms & Questions, Questions, Questions

This past Friday Patrick, Nicholas & I met up with friends and played Lunar Golf at the mall. This is basically putt-putt in an air conditioned, black light, glow in the dark setting. This was the first time Patrick has ever played miniature golf and he did a great job. He is extremely patient with the whole process and wants to make sure he is doing everything right (such as holding his putter the right way, standing in the right position, etc.) Anyways, he enjoyed it so much that he decided Daddy needed to check this out as well. So we went today, and after I got the pictures of him putting, Daddy's hole in one and the glowing baby (Nicholas was in all white for the occasion), Nicholas and I headed out into the mall for my first attempt at exercise in many, many months. The mall we go to is so large that once around is a mile. I planned on making three laps in the amount of time that they were playing psychedelic golf. I headed out at a good pace and noticed people actually getting out of my way and saying "oh..excuse me" or mom's telling their children "watch out". One of the funnier moments was when I rounded a corner and a lady working at a kioske said "the baby's head is leaning!". As if they haven't just spent 9 months crumpled into a ball! I did stop and reposition his head with a blanket, but seriously, he was sleeping just fine. By the time my 45 minutes was up, I recieved a call from my other 2 guys only to inform me that they were at Cold Stone Creamery! That is totally not fair I told them, but they just said, "sorry, we will try and finish before you get here". I arrived safely only to tell Chuck of my travels and he just shook his head & I said "Yes, I was one of those crazy mall stroller moms".

Questions...

Patrick is growing up so fast. He amazes me with his vocabulary and his wisdom, but his questions are about to drive us nuts. For instance, today a few of them were "Do dolphins have teeth? Do whales eat sharks? Do sharks eat whales? How do angels fly? How did God make angels? How did they get the space station up there? Where does gum come from?" and my absolute favorite of today was "When I was little and NaNa used to keep me, did she take me outside and we would sit in a chair and watch the sunset and talk about our day?"

???

This month in review....

Wow! What a wild and wonderful past four weeks we have had. It started out with the birth of our 2nd beautiful son, Nicholas, and ended with Patrick's birthday party yesterday. Two weeks ago, we traveled to OKC for Chuck's cousin, Jeff's wedding. Erin, his new bride, is a beautiful girl inside and out. The wedding was really lovely, however, the Roberts' family had quite a scare when on the way to the wedding, Jeff's parents and the two grandmothers were in a car accident. Ironically, we had seen an accident on the way to the ceremony but did not recognize anyone or the car, forgetting that Chuck's aunt Linda got a new car last year. Anyways, Chuck's mom, Aunt June & Uncle Donnie went to the hospital to be with Charlece (Chuck's grandmother) who ended up with a cracked sternum. In the meantime, Henry, Linda and Linda's mom, Billie, were able to make it to the wedding, and the ceremony and reception went on as planned. We were so thankful that no one was injured any more than they were. It could have been so much worse, especially considering that both grandmothers did not have on seatbelts. The next day we were off to Throckmorton for my niece Chloe's 4th birthday party. Chloe is growing up so fast and such a sweet girl. I love having a little girl in the family to give lip gloss and other "girly" things to.

For the 2nd of July, we had a family b-day celebration for Patrick here at the house. My brother, Russell, gave Patrick this really cool glider that you can launch 500 feet in the air. Well, the grown men were so excited they raced out to our backyard (barely remembering to bring Patrick) and they shot it up into the air directly under one of our enomorous Silver Leaf Maple trees. Well, you can guess what happened next...it was stuck. Chuck than had to climb on the roof and throw every dodgeball, football and soccer ball we own at the glider until he knocked it down. So then, the guys proceeded to make plans to go to the park and launch the glider. The funniest part was when Patrick said, "Uh, guys... I think we should just wait and do it tomorrow." But the guys convinced him and they ended up going to the park. It was lots of fun for the big boys as well as Patrick, too. For the 3rd of July, Patrick, Nicholas and I were able to join Chuck at the Four Seasons and eat fabulous BBQ and watch an awesome fireworks display over the golf course. Patrick was so cute when he decided to wear his Jr. Chef outfit so he could match his daddy. The 4th of July was spent with Chuck's mom, Mel. We had a relaxing day with dinner and then fireworks over the lake. The best part of that day for Patrick was the brand new electric guitar Grandma Mel gave him. He was so thrilled and has been so excited to tell everyone about it. When she arrived to our house that day, she told him that she had a big present in her trunk but he had to wait until daddy got home to get it out. He pleaded to go look and so finally, they went to look. The guitar box was wrapped in a big black trash bag, and Patrick saw the outline and said "Hey, that looks like a guitar!". Grandma said, "No, that's not a guitar, just a box that looks like a guitar." So later after he opened it, he was like "Why did Grandma lie?" We explained that Grandma was just trying to keep his present a surprise. He decided that when it is Grandma's birthday that he will put a candle in the guitar box and then when she asks "Did you get me a guitar?", Patrick will say "Yes, it is a guitar for your birthday" but really he plans that there will be a candle inside and we will trick Grandma!

So, if that wasn't enough traveling and activites, this past weekend, we went to Lake Texoma for Chuck's annual family reunion. This has been a yearly tradition in the Roberts family for over 30 years. I am so happy that all of the cousins still come now that we are all in our late 20's & 30's. There are 25 of us now and we all have such a good time together. Patrick got to help dig up the time capsule this year and had the best time playing in the lake and going fishing and golfing with the guys. The guys made a game out of ball retrieval for Patrick and he thought that was a lot of fun. We were happy to have Chuck's mom's friend Bill with us this year as well as Erin and of course Nicholas. He had his first boat ride and had a wonderful time being held 24/7 by everyone.

After arriving home on Sunday afternoon, we headed over to VBS. Great job, PP & JB. Patrick is having a great time. And then yesterday, we had Patrick's birthday party complete with his new play set, the giant inflatable water slide, the slip n' slide, water guns & water ballons. It was wild, but I think all of the kids enjoyed it, especially Patrick. He has a great group of friends from church and from Pre-School. Thanks to everyone for their help to make it such a special and memorable day. And then last, but not least, we celebrated my dear grandmother's birthday last night. Guinea turned 88 on Sunday, July 9th. Happy Birthday, Guinea! We love you!

Happy 5th Birthday Patrick!

Five years ago, today, at 4:23 am, you made your daddy and I happier than we ever knew we could be. As I looked into your eyes that morning, I made you a promise to always love and protect you. You have been the best blessing of our lives and we never knew such joy and laughter until you came along. Thank you, God, for Patrick!

Happy 11th Anniversary!
How time flies...
July 01, 1995



January 08, 2006

Happy 11th Anniversary, Chuck

II years ago today, you made my heart complete when you said two famous little words "I do". Thank you, Chuck, for being the best husband and daddy ever. Over the years you have brought me kindness, understanding, patience, joy, laughter, hope, confidence, peace and most of all love. I celebrate us today and our commitment to each other every day of our lives.

Chuck gave this poem to me on our 9th wedding anniversary. The picture in the background is a mausoleum where we had our first kiss on November 2, 1990. Those that have known us awhile understand why we were in the graveyard for our first date. Oh, the stories we will have to modify to tell the boys!