I am

it's funny because i was going to start this post with:  
"I am as sick as a dog.  but not my dog, because this crazy dog of mine will probably out live us all.  So basically i am as sick as other people's dogs.  but really, where did that expression come from anyway?  maybe the person who said it had a big Newfoundland that drooled all the time and that is how they were feeling when they said that, but then forgot to put that in the phrase.  So here it is:  i am as sick as a Newfoundland looks when he is drooling all over the place."

i said "that's funny"  at the beginning because i started with saying, "I am..."  and this morning, frank was drawing a picture of Moses talking to the burning bush while i worked on BSF homework.  then I read in Exodus where Moses says, "what should i tell the Israelites is your name when they ask who sent me?" (paraphrase) and of course, God says,
"I AM WHO I AM."

all day long this has been in mind of just how amazing of an answer this is.  He is God, He does not answer with a name like Jim or Steve or anything at all that we are comfortable with.  He says, I AM. 

He is not the same as us, He is so far above us that we can't even fathom Him or his name, yet - whenever I read, "I AM" i get such a chill, like a little glimpse in my heart of his power and authority, of how eternal he is and how temporal I am.  I love "I AM," not that it matters, i certainly am in no position to decide whether or not God's answer was a good one,  but I definitely am thankful that he gave me the ability to appreciate His coolness, because really, that is one cool answer.   

that said, here is a bit of life lately,

1.  me sick with a cold for about 5 days.  no big deal, until today when i am pretty sure that the snot is going to start coming out my ears because it has nowhere else to go.

2.  life back home after a 12 day holiday in Kansas feels so quiet... hard to get used to for frank and I.  when we used to go home to houston after the holidays, we were always so excited to get back into the swing of things.  now the swing of things is calling my two friends and going to the park and the library.  again...not bad, just really different.

3.  frank works continuously on his legos.  i confessed to him yesterday that i just don't always know how to "play" legos.  I know how to build things, but that is about it.  he somewhat understood, but not really.  As maybe i have mentioned before, I am not skilled in creating "worlds" and "star wars fighting scenes" in my mind.  Even when i had Barbies, they never did anything, they just changed clothes a lot and kissed Ken.  with legos, i build something, change some lego men body parts around and then i am pretty much done.  Besides, frank has more than enough imagination for both of us. 

4.  i need to make some cookies for our neighbors.  they always watch our house and get our mail when we are gone with without us even asking.  an advantage or disadvantage to our living on this hill is that they see all that we do, all the time.  when michael came home, she delivered some mail to him, and he said that we had been in kansas and that erin and the boys were still there and that he would go back and get us at the end of the week, she said that she already guessed that...

5.  here is this years photo of the boys and the nativity scene.  this year, we didn't even have to go looking for one in town, because it is ours!
here is another, so you can see Ford's face:

and here is one of the house, though it isn't a very good photo.  we have yet to master taking pictures at night, and have been too lazy to try to take another one.

6.  you must seriously consider putting sparkle nail polish on your fingers or toes, before you do so.  it is impossible to remove, except of course the tips of my nails, because i can't keep polish on them to save my life.  when i try to remove the polish, the cotton just sticks to the glitter and yesterday i walked around with little shards of cotton all stuck to my fingers.  i am classy.

7.  i have also spent much too much time these past two days reading the life in grace blog.  i had mostly stopped looking for new blogs and things unless they were written by people i know...until i ran across this woman who is amazing.  perhaps the rest of you have already known about Edie and her site, but i had never heard of her.  her family's home burned to the ground before Christmas.  tragic.  She has been blogging for years about remodeling, renovations, homeschooling, cooking, crafting, books, etc.  After seeing so many years of the hard work and love that went into her house, it made it all the more tragic to read about.  I am not sure why i share my crazy obsession with you, but, that is what i have been up to between meals, diapers and errands.  and if i one day steal some of her decorating ideas, well then you already know where they came from.