I don't share links to other blogs often, or if I do, it's usually on my Facebook wall. But this one deserved more - and someday I'll need to find it again. And I'll come here to look for it.
This blog post has gone viral on Facebook, or at least on my Facebook wall. It's a great reminder that it's about Christ and what He did for us, not about what we do, who we pretend to be, or anything else.
I hope you enjoy as much as I did: Mom vs. Mom
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Scarlet Hare and the Gift
Some of you may know that from time to time Chase and I write little books for Lily and self-publish them on Shutterfly.com. It started when we got some pictures taken of her when she was about 5 months old. She was in a bunny costume, and the pictures were so cute that I had to do something with them. So I wrote a little book about Scarlet Hare (definitely a spin off of Scarlet O'Hara, lead in one of the most fantastic books of all time - Gone with the Wind!). This is my 3rd installment. To read the other two books, you can visit Scarlet Hare and Scarlet Hare and Daddy's Hands.
Without further ado, I give you...
Without further ado, I give you...
Scarlet Hare and the Gift
by Chase and Stephani Francl
Sunlight shone through Scarlet's window
as she opened up her eyes;
although she didn't know it yet,
she'd soon learn of a surprise.
Scarlet sat up and stretched her arms,
reaching high into the sky.
"Mommy! Daddy!" she called from her crib,
never one to be shy.
Mommy and Daddy rushed right in
with smiles from ear to ear.
They came to tell their precious girl
about a change so near.
"What change is coming?" Scarlet asked,
as she plopped in Daddy's lap.
Her eyes lit up, "When will it come?"
she wondered as she clapped.
"The change, it is a special gift
that will sweeten how we live,
a tiny little bundle that only
Daddy and I can give.
This gift will be so special
bringing our family lots of joy.
The love you'll feel about it
will long outlast any toy."
"There will be only one just like this,
it is a gift so rare.
It is the most beloved gift
that ever we could share.
This gift will be a mystery,
hidden for a while.
In Mommy's tummy it will hide
its secret little smile."
"Then when it's time, me and your Dad
just for a night or two
will slip away and come back home
with a bundle sweet and new.
The gift will be a tiny babe
to hold and love and kiss,
and what our baby now will need
is the greatest great big sis."
"This baby will be family
belonging just to us,
another special little one;
just remember - babies fuss!
This baby is a gift for us
sent straight from God above.
God chose this baby just for us
our little one to love."
"Don't fear dear daughter, Scarlet,
our love burns for you the same.
This new baby will simply grow our love
and add to our family's flame."
It took a moment for Scarlet
to take in what her parents said,
then she hopped down from Daddy's lap,
turning to look at them instead.
"Mommy, Daddy," Scarlet said
with a little grin of glee,
"I will be the best big sister ever -
just wait and you will see!"
"I love you Mommy and Daddy and the new baby too."
"We love you, Scarlet."
Baby Bit Francl - Due April 7, 2014
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Sick Day
What do you do with a toddler on a sick day?
Lily woke up this morning with a fever of 101.9. Fortunately, it seems to be just a fever and not anything more. Still, she's been a hot little cuddle bug, and I took the day off of work to try to nurse her back to health.
So, what, exactly, does one do with an almost-2-year-old for a day when said almost-2-year-old doesn't have the energy to do anything? I'm not as creative as some of the mom-bloggers I follow. But here's how we spent our day...
It started with snuggling in Mommy's bed. This is one of Lily's favorite first-thing-in-the-morning activities even when she's not sick. Today we got extended Mommy's bed snuggle time.
Then we snuggled while I ate breakfast. She took over the last 1/8th of my bowl of cereal. It was actually really encouraging and terrifying at the same time. I was encouraged because at least her appetite wasn't totally gone. On the other hand, I was terrified I might see the cereal again at some point during the day...
Next, we took on the disaster that was Mommy and Daddy's room. She snuggled on the bed while I gathered up mounds of laundry and drug them to the laundry room. She snuggled on my lap while we sat in the laundry room and sorted.
Once I got the first load going, we settled on the couch for her first movie of the day - a 30-minute Baby Genius DVD. She only likes Baby Genius DVD's. I've tried to convince her to watch things that I like more, like Disney movies, Veggie Tales, Garfield and Friends, all to no avail. Baby Genius it is.
I showered rather than sit through that DVD for the 438,527th time. (Ok, so we don't let her watch TV that often, but these are seriously the only DVD's she watches...)
We kept laundry going all day and spent time snuggling in every room of the house including the kitchen, den, bedrooms, living room, and hallway.
She napped, I cleaned the kitchen and laid down to nap too, at which point she woke up (of course).
Since her nap, we've snuggled, watched more Baby Genius, ate some yogurt, and snuggled some more.
I don't have a lot of good advice for Moms of sick toddlers other than to snuggle. That's pretty much what we've done all day and it does seem to make her feel better. Snuggle.
What do you/did you do when you toddler was sick?
Lily woke up this morning with a fever of 101.9. Fortunately, it seems to be just a fever and not anything more. Still, she's been a hot little cuddle bug, and I took the day off of work to try to nurse her back to health.
So, what, exactly, does one do with an almost-2-year-old for a day when said almost-2-year-old doesn't have the energy to do anything? I'm not as creative as some of the mom-bloggers I follow. But here's how we spent our day...
It started with snuggling in Mommy's bed. This is one of Lily's favorite first-thing-in-the-morning activities even when she's not sick. Today we got extended Mommy's bed snuggle time.
Then we snuggled while I ate breakfast. She took over the last 1/8th of my bowl of cereal. It was actually really encouraging and terrifying at the same time. I was encouraged because at least her appetite wasn't totally gone. On the other hand, I was terrified I might see the cereal again at some point during the day...
Next, we took on the disaster that was Mommy and Daddy's room. She snuggled on the bed while I gathered up mounds of laundry and drug them to the laundry room. She snuggled on my lap while we sat in the laundry room and sorted.
Once I got the first load going, we settled on the couch for her first movie of the day - a 30-minute Baby Genius DVD. She only likes Baby Genius DVD's. I've tried to convince her to watch things that I like more, like Disney movies, Veggie Tales, Garfield and Friends, all to no avail. Baby Genius it is.
I showered rather than sit through that DVD for the 438,527th time. (Ok, so we don't let her watch TV that often, but these are seriously the only DVD's she watches...)
We kept laundry going all day and spent time snuggling in every room of the house including the kitchen, den, bedrooms, living room, and hallway.
She napped, I cleaned the kitchen and laid down to nap too, at which point she woke up (of course).
Since her nap, we've snuggled, watched more Baby Genius, ate some yogurt, and snuggled some more.
I don't have a lot of good advice for Moms of sick toddlers other than to snuggle. That's pretty much what we've done all day and it does seem to make her feel better. Snuggle.
What do you/did you do when you toddler was sick?
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Bigger and Better
Have you ever played the game Bigger and Better? Our youth group played once when I was in high school. Here's how it works: you split into teams of a few people, and each team gets a penny. You go around the neighborhood or town knocking on doors and asking people if they have anything "bigger and better" that they would trade you for.
It's an amazing game - we started with a penny. I remember the next thing we got was a quarter (some guy thought it was worth 24 cents just to get us off of his front porch). Eventually we figured out a better marketing strategy. We'd ask for something "bigger and better" perhaps something they'd been meaning to get rid of, or were tired of having around the house. This eventually yielded us old exercise equipment and a canoe with holes in it. Definitely bigger and better than a penny!
Yesterday Lily and I were at home. It was about 12:30 and we were finishing up lunch. Through the kitchen windows, I saw 3 middle to high school age boys bound onto my porch and ring the doorbell. I thought they were probably boy scouts (sans uniforms) trying to sell popcorn or something. So I trudged to the door.
When I opened it, the eldest smiled and said, "We're playing a game called Bigger and Better, boys against girls." I nodded my understanding and he held out a can of Chef Boyarde. "Do you have anything bigger and better than this you'd like to trade us for?" I told them I was sure I did, and to hang on a minute.
I walked to the pantry trying to think of what larger can of something I had that I would never use. Then it caught my eye - that thing that had been sitting around collecting dust for months, that thing that I was tired of looking at:
.jpg)
It was a fully functional PS3 Guitar Hero game, game and working guitar with batteries included. Chase's PS3 bit the dust a few months back and despite our best efforts to fix it, we ended up getting rid of it. So this game and guitar are now useless to us. I tried posting it on a buy/sell/trade network I'm on, but hadn't gotten much response, and every time I thought about reposting it I got a headache. So I grabbed the dusty box and trotted back to the front porch.
I handed it over to the boys and explained, "My husband's PS3 broke, so we don't have a use for this any more. It's all here, game, guitar, everything - it works perfectly. You may not want to trade up from this, I don't know. But good luck."
They looked at me with wide eyes, handed over my can of Chef Boyarde, and took off. Through my kitchen window, I watched them consult one another as they walked away. I wondered what they'd do with the thing. In any case, I was glad it was no longer collecting dust in my house.
Later that day, around supper time, I hadn't yet had the heart to tell Chase I'd just given away the PS3 Guitar Hero without even a chance of getting any $ out of it. I wasn't regretting my trade with those boys, I was just unsure Chase's response. About that time, the eldest of the three boys came trotting up the walk. I met him at the door. He said that they had sold the game and that he'd come to give me this:
It was my turn to look at him wide eyed. I asked how much they made off of it. He said they sold it for $60, and that he was there to give me $20. I was floored! I asked what group he was with, a youth group or a school or something? He said it was just a group of cousins playing a game. I asked if he lived in town, and he told me which neighborhood. I congratulated him, took the $20, thanked him and sent him on his way.
I returned to the kitchen and Chased asked, "Who was that?" I relayed the story, handed over the $20, and we sat in happy disbelieving silence for a minute.
"What a great story." Indeed. And what a great place to live.
It's an amazing game - we started with a penny. I remember the next thing we got was a quarter (some guy thought it was worth 24 cents just to get us off of his front porch). Eventually we figured out a better marketing strategy. We'd ask for something "bigger and better" perhaps something they'd been meaning to get rid of, or were tired of having around the house. This eventually yielded us old exercise equipment and a canoe with holes in it. Definitely bigger and better than a penny!
Yesterday Lily and I were at home. It was about 12:30 and we were finishing up lunch. Through the kitchen windows, I saw 3 middle to high school age boys bound onto my porch and ring the doorbell. I thought they were probably boy scouts (sans uniforms) trying to sell popcorn or something. So I trudged to the door.
When I opened it, the eldest smiled and said, "We're playing a game called Bigger and Better, boys against girls." I nodded my understanding and he held out a can of Chef Boyarde. "Do you have anything bigger and better than this you'd like to trade us for?" I told them I was sure I did, and to hang on a minute.
I walked to the pantry trying to think of what larger can of something I had that I would never use. Then it caught my eye - that thing that had been sitting around collecting dust for months, that thing that I was tired of looking at:
It was a fully functional PS3 Guitar Hero game, game and working guitar with batteries included. Chase's PS3 bit the dust a few months back and despite our best efforts to fix it, we ended up getting rid of it. So this game and guitar are now useless to us. I tried posting it on a buy/sell/trade network I'm on, but hadn't gotten much response, and every time I thought about reposting it I got a headache. So I grabbed the dusty box and trotted back to the front porch.
I handed it over to the boys and explained, "My husband's PS3 broke, so we don't have a use for this any more. It's all here, game, guitar, everything - it works perfectly. You may not want to trade up from this, I don't know. But good luck."
They looked at me with wide eyes, handed over my can of Chef Boyarde, and took off. Through my kitchen window, I watched them consult one another as they walked away. I wondered what they'd do with the thing. In any case, I was glad it was no longer collecting dust in my house.
Later that day, around supper time, I hadn't yet had the heart to tell Chase I'd just given away the PS3 Guitar Hero without even a chance of getting any $ out of it. I wasn't regretting my trade with those boys, I was just unsure Chase's response. About that time, the eldest of the three boys came trotting up the walk. I met him at the door. He said that they had sold the game and that he'd come to give me this:
It was my turn to look at him wide eyed. I asked how much they made off of it. He said they sold it for $60, and that he was there to give me $20. I was floored! I asked what group he was with, a youth group or a school or something? He said it was just a group of cousins playing a game. I asked if he lived in town, and he told me which neighborhood. I congratulated him, took the $20, thanked him and sent him on his way.
I returned to the kitchen and Chased asked, "Who was that?" I relayed the story, handed over the $20, and we sat in happy disbelieving silence for a minute.
"What a great story." Indeed. And what a great place to live.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Summertime in Pictures
Some of these may be repeats, but it captures our summer in pictures...
The Princess Jeep with a girlfriend.
Lily with my lilies.
Baking deliciousness with the very best kind of help.
"Swimming pool after nap?" Yes. Swimming pool after nap.
Celebrating 8 years together - there's nothing I'd rather have spent the last 8 years doing!
My parents-in-law suffered random and troublesome injuries. Glad we were close by and so thankful this time of foot-propping-up is past and everyone is healthy and well!
County Fair success! My sister Kim earned Reserve Champion Showman with her rabbit, and her good friend Whitney got Grand Champion. So proud of Kim!
County Fair fun with kiddos! Lily's friend Roman was a great fair pal.
I took Roman on the Carousel because his mommy is very pregnant right now and didn't think the movement would be good for her. We had a great time!
Lily and Roman's mom watched Roman and I on the carousel and Lily cried the whole time - she would have hated riding it, but she also hated that I rode it. Thankfully we had her plug along...
And our favorite place in town to visit: the Library.
What a great summer! I'm sad it's almost over - the pool will close soon, Kim will go off to college, and the State Fair is just around the corner. But fall is a wonderful time of year. Maybe I'll just look forward to all that it will bring!...
Monday, August 5, 2013
Camera dump... or not
I was going to do a great camera dump with a bunch of pictures from this summer, pictures I hadn't yet taken time to get off of my camera and onto my computer. So tonight I finally sit down to do it aaaaaaaand my memory card is in my computer at work because I used it for some work things. Boo.
I'll just record what a wonderful day it was. I was highly productive - made at least 8 freezer meals, inventoried everything that's in my big freezer, went to town and helped my sister get a laptop for college and a back for a quilt she is going to have quilted to take to college, and I got a board.
What could be better? :)
I'll just record what a wonderful day it was. I was highly productive - made at least 8 freezer meals, inventoried everything that's in my big freezer, went to town and helped my sister get a laptop for college and a back for a quilt she is going to have quilted to take to college, and I got a board.
What could be better? :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)