The State of the Family

Technically I'm not the CEO of the family -- that title belongs to Luke. But I think it's a safe move to assume the title of Chief Operations Officer. So here it is...the state of the Pearson family -- a glimpse behind to 2008 and a hopeful stare into the future for what 2009 has in store.

The Old
I quit my job a very short 6 months ago and have enjoyed almost every moment. It would be an outright lie to claim every moment -- ask Luke how many times I've called waving my white flag of surrender. Jack potty-trained at a break-neck pace leaving those toddler diapers a distant memory for mom! Jack also began official pre-school and has taken to it like a champ. Sam grew from a wee-one to a WALKER -- you should see him go! He also became the proud owner of 14 teeth. Luke led us to teach kindergarten Bible study which has been a blessing in both our lives. He also worked his way up the corporate ladder which while not his goal is a nice thing to achieve nonetheless.

The New
I am slowly getting plugged into various ministries at church now that work doesn't fill my time. I'm also trying on different hats to find my hobby -- what a novelty that is. Hopefully this new year will be filled with new experiences on both fronts. Jack has little league basketball and baseball to look forward to this year as well as the culmination of his first year of pre-school and the beginning of his second (and last) year. May this next year hold much success and enjoyment as he explores his interests in both sports and music. Sam has a whole new world open to him now that he can walk. We expect this next year to be full of firsts for him now that he can explore more fully the world around him. We also hope to hear more from him as he matures and learns to add to conversations more completely. Luke is setting his sights at more pre-school service as well the welcome team for the church. He is also preparing to sit for his PE (professional engineer) exam sometime this year (probably October). While not a requirement for his current position, it will certainly be an asset to his career. As far as family numbers are concerned, we anticipate beginning the journey to adding another to our numbers this year. No another baby is not in the works yet but sometime in 2009 we hope to experience the joy of announcing another's arrival.

We've wished you all a Merry Christmas so now our wish is for a Happy New Year!!

Musings on royalty

At the end of the day, the sun having long ago pulled in its last rays of light, the children silently exploring in their dreams, I squat sweeping up the remnants of our day -- bits of waffles, peanut butter sandwiches, chili for dinner, a few Christmas cake crumbs, some ribbon scraps from packages, pine needles from the sought after tree. I try to remember the last real shower I had, one that lasted longer than two minutes, one that allowed time to linger, to cleanse and feel pretty. A hard stare at hands and the realization hits that a manicure was not long passed, a day of pampering was just a few weeks ago but like everything temporal the paint chipped and the time to renew, to correct is a luxury unknown. And I sigh -- a deep heavy sigh, the kind of sigh that hopes to heave off heavy burdens, at least for the briefest of moments. Thoughts enter; dangerous self-talk fills space that I know should rightly be filled with holy words because to hide His word, to hide Him in that space shores up the walls against what is surely evil prowling beyond. These thoughts -- if only, I wish I could, I wonder if I should have or perhaps I shouldn't have -- act as foder for a fire that with every lap of flaming tongue shouts out in arrogance I'm better than this! And then the words, the tiniest bit of knowledge eeks out. From the Psalm of a man much wiser, more eloquent than I could ever be the knowledge that the King is enthralled by your beauty. Breath of fresh air reaches deep and splashes water droplets at the raging fire within, which though dampened only surges more fiercely on as thoughts of entitlement lumber in. Oh how naive am I to think the King would stop before work is done; barreling down on the fire comes the next line of this Holy word army: honor him, for he is your Lord. Instant death to fire. In that moment clarity dawns for, daughters of Zion, is that not what we long to do? To honor our King -- the one who is enthralled with our beauty? And how exactly do we honor him? We emulate. He became flesh, lowly and humble to serve. So then must we. And now as I finish the final sweep of the kitchen floor the thoughts no longer run of jobs more suitable for my stature but rather the mind is filled, overrun with praise for a Mighty King -- one that calls me daughter, one that is enthralled with my beauty, one that allows me to serve Him in the daily doings of life. He asks for nothing less than all of me (including the messy, tired mommy-facet) to worship -- to honor -- all of Him.

Jack loves bas-ket-ball.

Yay for little league basketball!! Jack is signed up at the local YMCA and is playing for the Mavericks! He has added basketball to his list of favorite things to play. Of course while he's playing mom has to be his cheerleader -- "He has giant feet, he's over 3 feet tall, he can dribble, he can shoot but that ain't all. Jack loves bas-ket-ball. Jack loves bas-ket-ball." -- a slight adaption from a cheer we used to teach the little girls during clinic.

Thursday was the team's first practice. I stayed home with Sam while the big boys trekked out for some good b-ball fun. According to Luke, Jack plays good defense but needs to work on his dribbling. Just the thought of my 38" tall little man attempting to dribble down court sends me into stitches. Also reported by Luke was that Jack wasn't there just for the basketball -- he was also there for the ladies. He made friends with some high school girls and after talking with him after practice it seems he was deliberately flirting. I asked if he made a girlfriend while he was there and his response was affirmative only to then continue by describing in detail the clothing worn by each young lady (there were two apparently). Here are some pictures of the night's activities. Jack is the one in the maroon jersery. Enjoy!

Our Dr. Xavier

First, to be quite clear, I don't do comic books -- at all. My knowledge of this very foreign genre is limited to what Hollywood has produced for the big screen. Within my miniscule library exists brief knowledge of X-Men. As I'm sure most know the head-hero, the good-guy-in-charge is Dr. Xavier with his special power of mind power -- moving things, finding things, seeing thoughts all with the brain.

Jack, very recently, has shown a desire to pull away from little kid cartoons in favor of big boy movies. Granted he has always been a fan of Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters but he was and is way too young to fill his day with these images so exposure was rightly limited. One day we stumbled upon X-Men 2 and Jack became enthralled. I decided to let it play out -- more for my information than his enjoyment. Jack was hooked; in my humble mom-opinion it was the fight scenes that did it, he is a boy after all. Later that evening Luke and Jack were discussing X-Men, going over each character and his/her power while also discussing that it's pretend not real. Jack stopped Luke at one point and asked, "Dad can you teach me to move things with my brain?" Luke's immediate answer, "NO."

Why no? Let's all be honest -- Jack has a big head and I'm not talking arrogance here folks. He is also really smart -- scary smart sometimes. You know and I know that mind control can't happen -- but what if we're wrong?? Luke didn't want Jack to spend all his time attempting to tap into the other 90% of his brain that we don't use. We're barely keeping up with him as it is. In all seriousness -- we are not so arrogant of parents to assume that our child is such supreme intelligence that he will be able to read minds, he talks about flatulence WAY TOO much for that to be true. We did think, however, it was interesting that of all the X-Men and all the powers, Jack chose the one with his brain.

Tagged...and a little something for Misty

Thanks to Misty for the tag. My instructions were as follows:

1. Open the 4th folder on my computer (I chose the 4th folder in the my pictures folder because nothing intesting happens in some random comp files).

2. Choose the 4th picture in that folder and post it on your blog.

3. Describe the picture

4. Tag 4 people

First let me say that I'm not tagging people...if you want to do it awesome -- I'd love to see the pictures. If you don't want to -- well there's one in every crowd (no pressure!)...

Here's my picture

The desription of this picture: It was taken 9/5/2005, making Jack not quite 3 months old. He was on the bed being CUTE. Obviously this picture missed the cute. But in true Valerie fashion I didn't delete it and yes Misty I printed. (For those who don't know, I take THOUSANDS of pictures -- no exaggeration -- I delete NONE of them and I print ALL of them.) Now it's your turn -- dig through those comp files and SHOW ME SOME PICS!!!

And for Misty -- I offer a slideshow for your amusement. These are all the pics from this particular photo session. As you can see I was having trouble getting the camera to look through the same cute lens I was seeing through. That and Jack just quit cooperating...and I was a VERY new mom. Why I offer foder for more teasing is beyond comprehension...at least we'll have more to laugh at for January's scrapbook night!!

O Christmas Tree...

Remember college nostalgia? Think back... Remember that feeling that your college town was the best place for (insert everyday item)? We all have them. College Station has this little Italian restaurant with THE best cannelloni; it has Layne's with THE best chicken strips and it has Mr. G's with awesome pizza (the best title goes to Gino's East in Chicago). For Luke and me it also has great Christmas trees. Our first Christmas with Jack we ventured to the Farm Patch and picked out an awesome tree -- it had a citrus smell, was a deep green, had hearty and sturdy branches -- it was the PERFECT tree. We have talked about the tree since that Christmas and like any good fish story the tree's legend grew with each telling. After our tree debacle last year (did you know they can be infested with mosquitos??? well they can and ours was) we decided this year we would go in search of a repeat perfect tree. We loaded the boys up and headed to College Station.

Now before you freak about the trip from our house Aggieland is an easy one hour trip. Our goal was to pick out a tree, have a little lunch (can you say Frittela??) and head home. The trip was scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving and we hoped was the start of a new Pearson tradition. We arrived at the Farm Patch only to discover that the sought after tree type had not arrived from it's home in Oregon and was not scheduled to arrive for another 9 days. After toying with the idea of making a return trip we decided that four hours in the car was ridiculous for a tree and purchased one that was available.

Now, December 17th -- we hope the tree makes it to Christmas Day. With the amount of needles dropping daily it appears that things will go down to the wire. Two thumbs up for us!! What did we learn from all this? Surely you don't expect me to tell you that we will buy a fake tree or that we'll pick a tree from a closer tree lot?? No, no, no. We're going to call the Farm Patch before we drive to make sure their shipment of Grand Firs has arrived...then we'll drive.

Jack update

No news is good news right??!! We haven't heard anything from Monday's tests. I called the pediatrician this afternoon and they are still waiting on the EKG. Thanks folks for praying. Luke and I are at peace...I've moved away from the edge and have smoothed the ruffled feathers. Have I mentioned I don't handle change well?? Too much change in one day for me I suppose. But as always God was faithful and walked me through the changes! Anyway, I'll keep folks updated as I hear news.