Recently

It's been a while since I last posted.  I wonder if anyone even reads anymore, but then I am reminded of why I started this blog in the first place and I keep coming back to it.

Recently, we've been hit with a lot of trials.  You would think I would be used to it by now.  Facing trials is something that I have grown accustomed to dealing with and hopefully learning from each one.  Many times I fail miserably and have to start all over learning some lessons the hard way, and many times I just have to keep pressing on.  I think of James, where he says, "Blessed is the man  who perseveres under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life God promises to those who love Him."  What a great thought to know that God has a plan for my trials and that He delights in me when I persevere through the tough times.  It reminds me daily that this earth is not our forever home, and I should not get too comfortable here.

So, I thought I would take some time to share some things that have been heavy on my heart.  I don't know why so many challenging things happen in life, but I do know that God has it in His control and there is a plan.  I wonder A LOT what that plan is and have come to the conclusion that I will probably not know some of those plans this side of heaven, but I hold onto the hope that God will lead me and guide my family.

2015 did not start out too well or us.  Right before Christmas, my grandma had a massive stroke.  I've seen people that have had strokes before, and I realize how debilitating it is to recover from one, but in my experience I've seen them recover.  However, that was not the plan for my grandma.  Her stroke hit a part of her brain that was inoperable.  We watched her quickly slip into a state where she was no longer coherent.  My husband, kids, and I were able to see her a couple days before Christmas on a day that she was doing really good.  After that things went down hill really fast.  She ended up passing away a couple of days after Christmas.

I wasn't really close to my grandma, but we always went to her house ever since I was really little.  She lived on a farm and it was one of those places where you could run free and not get into too much trouble.  Eventually when I began to have kids, my own kids would just run free too.  It's very different than city living.  I'm really going to miss some of the things I didn't get to do yet with her.  She always talked about teaching me how to crochet and knit.  She was amazing at it.  I regret that I never really learned that from her.  I also have been really cherishing the quilts and blankets she's made for our family.

That has weighed heavy on my heart and I think is a little of how grief is working in me right now.  I have a hard time sleeping and just want to watch movies late into the night to mask my sorrow and regrets.  I haven't really shared that with too many people, but there it is I said it. 

After all the trips back and forth and the funeral, my husband got really sick.  I won't go into too many details, but he missed almost a week of work.  He rarely even misses a day let alone a whole week.  So I was trying real hard to keep the kids quiet while he slept and rested to get better.  I did eventually take him to the doctor where we found out that he had the flu, and on the verge of having pneumonia, along with an enlarged liver.  So we have had to make some changes in our habits.  I can share more on that in another post.

We have some awesome friends who saw how busy I was working taking care of everything in our house that they took our kids for an evening and allowed me some time to myself.  I got a pedicure, which I haven't had since I think last June.  It was a nice treat for me, and definitely met a need in our lives.

A short time later, I found out that a couple that we've gotten to know briefly at church delivered a stillborn son.  I'm so SAD for them.  I remember how heartbroken and overwhelmed I was and it pains me to hear that someone else has to go through that.  I've prayerfully sought out how God would have us reach out to this couple.  I know what was helpful for us, but I also know people need different things at different times.  I eventually called the wife and offered my support and encouragement.  I know the journey will be tough for them.  This has got me thinking a lot about how to serve doing the Lord's work.  I don't know what He has planned for me in that area, but it warms my heart that my painful circumstances can encourage someone else.  I don't like that it has to be that way, but it is.

Now we are having some house issues.  Being home has allowed me some great time to spend with my kids, but I also see how much need there is in our house.  So our garage door opener broke, which would have been ok, except that my car was stuck inside the garage and I needed to pick up Jaycee from school. Luckily, I have met a couple of great parents with kids at Jaycee's school and one of the moms was able to pick her up and bring her home.  Such a God thing if you ask me.  Then we had a broken garbage disposal, which can be fixed, but Tom hasn't had the time, and then my vacuum cleaner won't pick up anything.  It's hard to keep a house clean with two kids, a dog, and a husband when you don't have a properly working vacuum cleaner.  When it rains it pours.  Most of those things will get taken care of probably by the time I'm done writing this, but it was just one thing after another. 


I keep asking myself what does God want me to learn from all of this?  Right now, I think it is a great time for reflection.  I had almost two days where I couldn't go anywhere unless I walked.  So, I worked on trying to memorize James again,  I considered what my fitness goals are, and I worked on our budget and savings plan.  Nothing too exceptional, but just some down time that I wasn't expecting.

I am healing from the regrets I have after losing my grandma, and realize that while I know she is in a better place, it has affected me more than I realized.  I'm also seeing that God is changing me in ways that I don't quite understand.  I have also been wondering if maybe God is calling me to something more.  I just don't have any clear answers or direction, and so I will wait patiently for Him to guide my steps and show me what He wants me to do.


Mira

Construction Birthday

Miles turned one a couple weeks ago, but we've had some other things happen that left this post being a little late getting out. 

We decided that since Miles is always knocking things over in a destructive way we would have a construction birthday theme for his first birthday.  I found some awesome decorations from Hobby Lobby, and along with the help of Pinterest, we had a theme on our hands.  Tom also helped too.  Most of the time he just lets me plan it out, since it's kind of my thing, but this time since it was more of boy thing, he felt like he had some great ideas to contribute.  I was glad for the help.

I got a lot of ideas from the internet, and chose to do a simplified form of them.  I wanted to do more, but this was his first birthday and I really didn't have the time to go all out this year.  His first birthday kind of snuck up on me without me realizing it.


This was the dresser and decorations that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I chose to do cupcakes this time and made a small cake for him to dig into.  I found some black buckets at the Dollar Tree and kept the drinks with ice in them.  I used a solid color plastic tablecloth and stapled it to the top of the wall as a background.  Most of the decorations I found at Hobby Lobby and used solid color plates, napkins, and spoons.  It was a lot of fun.

 

 

Tom had a sawhorse in the garage, so we used black posterboard and put a caution sign from the construction pack I got and the added some old tools from Tom's dad.  It was kind of bittersweet that we had Miles' birthday party on what would have been his dad's birthday.  So Tom wanted to incorporate some of his things into the party.  They made a nice addition.

We had another sawhorse on the driveway so that people would know to go in through the front door, along with a balloon bouquet.

My favorite thing to do for birthdays it to make my kids' cakes.  My dad did it for us, and I guess I want to continue the tradition.  I chose to make cupcakes for everyone else and a baby truck cake for Miles to save myself some time.  I cut a regular sheet cake into the shape of a truck and used cupcakes for the tires. 

We decided to strip Miles' down and take off his shirt for the big event.  He has never had cake before, so it was quite the treat for him.

He's got a look as if he's wondering what we are going to do with that thing.

YUMMMMMM!!!

Jaycee had to join in the fun too.  She loves cupcakes.
 

Sticky fingers

This was what was left of the cake after Miles was done with it.
 

Tom threw him in the tub, high chair and all.
 

Opening gifts.  Not sure he was really into this part of the party, I think he was still in a cake coma.
 

Our family
 

Playing with his new toy.
 

There's a smile.

We went outside for a bit to let the kids run off the sugar from the cupcakes.  Miles decided that sitting in our crunchy grass was good enough.  So we started singing and clapping with him.  Gotta love this guy.

After his birthday, we decided to take a quick trip to see some of Tom's family and friends near Joplin.  We ended up having to cut our trip short b/c Miles has some problems with high fevers.  But I'm so thankful for this little guy and the added blessings he has brought to our family. It has been fun to watch him grow, learn, share, and play with his sister.  I love watching his face when he is trying to figure out how things work and roaming around the room looking for the next tower, building, or blocks that he can knock down.  We call him Destructor around here, but we love him.  It was a lot of fun celebrating his first birthday.


the Ehrlich's

Summer Fun



This summer has turned out to be quite busy.  I couldn't for sure tell you what all has been occupying our time, but we've had a lot of family time and fun hanging out in our simple home. 

 

Earlier this summer, we took to the tradition of making our summer list again.  Summer has always been a time when we work on those projects that we don't get to during the school year because of lack of time or just not a time of year to work outside.  This has become a fun family event, and now that Jaycee is old enough to be able to include some thoughts and ideas, she had joined right along with us.  It is fun to hear what she thinks we should get done over the summer.  We started this tradition so that we would be more intentional with our time and not waste it away.  I must say that with me being a list person and Tom being very task oriented, this plan has been awesome for us!!!  There is something so great about checking off those things you plan to get done, and seeing what still needs to be done and planning our time to include those things.  Ahhhh!!!

 

So, here are a few things that we really wanted to accomplish this summer:

 

- Join YMCA                                                                          

- Garage organization

- Frisbee golf                                                                           

- Deep clean the house

- Dropzone area                                                                       

- Eat more fruit

- Attend kid's summer movies                                                 

- Visit friends

- Visit area water parks                                                            

 - Miles' birthday party

- Exercise (hence joining the YMCA)                                     

- Thrift stores

- Swimming lessons                                                                 

- Women's Bible study

- Library story times                                                                  

- Photo projects

- Parks and playgrounds                                                           

- Sewing projects

- Bake new recipes                                                                    

- Walk with friends

- Date Nights                                                                             

- Nature center

- Grandma's house                                                                    

- Softball

 

These are just a few of the things we have wanted to do this summer.  I would have loved to have gotten pictures of them all, but sometimes you just get to live life and the camera stays in the car/ purse.  That's just how it goes sometimes.  But I hope that my kids will remember the great times we spent this summer chillin' together.  We've had a lot of family together time.

 



 

 My little boy is really fast!!!!  He has just been growing like a weed, and I knew that walking would be next on the baby agenda.  Jaycee absolutely loves Miles (a little too much for his liking sometimes), and she has been wanting to help him learn to walk.  Maybe she thinks that he will have more interest playing with her if he starts to walk.

 





 One of the things we wanted to do this summer was to visit our local nature center.  Luckily for us, Great Plains Nature is close by.  I had been saving the heels of our bread.  You know the end pieces that we don't ever eat for just a time to feed the fish and any other animal that should happen to come along.

We ended up seeing more turtles than anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also decided to take this time to let Miles get out of the stroller and practice his walking, with a little help.  He has been doing awesome at this whole walking thing.  I'm not in a big hurry for him to walk, b/c I will be chasing him that much more, but it is fun to see him learn and grow.  

 

 

This duck jumped right up on top of the railing and was not scared at all. 

 

It was so cute to see how this Mama duck took care of her babies.

 

Another huge turtle.

 

What a cheesy grin!!!

 

 

There is still more summer fun to be had, and this is just a little snippet of what we do all day. 

 

The internet and digital photos have not been friendly to me very much and as I become frustrated, I tend to give up for a while until I get the nerve to figure out the problems.  Mainly, I use nap times to do these things, and when that time is very precious, I usually find other things that are more pressing of my time.  Keep reading an following us and I will really try to be more consistent about the updates.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's



Thirteen

Yep, that's how long we've been married.  Monday marked the big day.  I am so amazed at how God put us in each other's paths at such a perfect moment. 


We first crossed each other's path sixteen years ago, when I was home for the summer after my sophomore year of college.  Tom had just finished his first year of teaching, and I was home to make some money for the upcoming school year.  It was then that we started hanging out in the same group with other college kids from our church.  If you didn't know already, Tom and I grew up in the same church and went to the same high school, but never were part of the same crowds with Tom being older than me and all :) 

Tom played softball for as long as I could remember, and my dad was the manager/coach of our church's softball team.  It was after a game that Tom invited me and some of my friends to go eat afterwards.  After another ball game, Tom decided that he wanted my company only.  So he asked me to go to the races with him that weekend.  I said that I'd like that, not really knowing that the races were not going to be my thing, but I really wanted to get to know him better, so I said "yes".  Unfortunately, there was a conflict, and we couldn't go to the races, so we ended up coming to Wichita and playing mini golf and eating at Old Chicago.  We came here never knowing that one day we'd be living here. 

Little did we know what life had planned for us.  We've been through our share of ups and downs.  Being a newly married couple, in a new city, with a new job, in a new apartment was how we first started out.  We were completely at the mercy of what God was going to make of our lives. 

Our marriage vows said in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, in good times and in bad.  Boy were we tested with the bad.  Losing a child really took a toll on our marriage and family.  There were times that I didn't think I was strong enough to even get out of bed let alone return to my life.  Being a teacher was hard then.  But with God's help, both Tom and I were able to get through that very hard period in our lives.  Don't get me wrong, we still have moments where that pain and sadness creep into our beings, but God has truly blessed us with more than what we lost.

 

 

 Like our two beautiful kids, that we have the special privilege of parenting.  No one tells you how hard this parenting thing is.  I was not prepared for the loss of sleep, late nights, complete lack of privacy, and constant picking up toys.  Not to mention, the things that we weren't told about a two and three year old.  Those years were hard, and now we are starting all over again.  But our kids are a lot of fun and have blessed us tremendously. 

Our little family has grown and we've learned a lot in the past 13 years, but I know God still has a lot to teach us and we are growing in our faith daily.  We don't always do things perfectly,  our kids are not well behaved, we love the Lord and don't always make the time we should for Him, and we do most things on the cheap, but it's the life we've been given and we are doing what we can to make the most of everything we're entrusted with.

 So, this leaves me wondering what's in store for the next 13 years.  I can hardly believe that I have almost been with Tom longer than I've been without him.  He is my best friend and we sometimes communicate without even saying anything at all.  We are proof that God knew what He was doing by putting us together. 

Here's to many more years!!!! 

Remembering Caden

Every year, we try to come up with a way to remember Caden.  Sometimes it isn't anything really significant, but just to see what we've been blessed with since that day.  As Jaycee gets older, she has begun to ask questions about Caden.  I pray for wisdom as I try to share his story with her and eventually Miles. 

So we decided to go downtown to The Keeper of the Plains.  It was a beautiful morning and we said a little prayer and wrote a note about our thoughts and then released a balloon.  Jaycee was very excited to see that balloon go "up to Heaven, with Jesus, and Caden" as she put it.  It was a time for us to reflect back on those times, and to see the many ways God has provided for our family and how He has changed us in ways we never would have been without Caden's memory in our lives.  I also loved seeing God's creation and the beauty of the weather outside.  I can't imagine going through hard things without believing that God has a plan and what happens is all for His glory and I pray everyday that He helps me trust in His plan especially when it doesn't make sense to me. 


 We released a balloon and said a prayer for Caden.  Then we watched until it disappeared.

This is my favorite picture.  Hard to believe that it is from my little hand held camera.
 

 Later on in the day, we found this really fun park.  I call it the Castle Park.  We stayed there until it got dark.