Tuesday, August 18, 2009

had to laugh

So David and I recently moved to a new house which we are really enjoying. Although the house is older, A/C a little figety we like having the privacy of a home. We've both always lived in townhouses or apartments so its been so fun cranking the tv up louder and letting our dogs bark a little longer because hey- we're in a house! Anyways, one drawback to our house is that while we have a great yard- its not fenced in on all sides. Plus, our neighbors next to us don't have their yard gated either.We back up to an elementary school so the back is gated but open on the other two sides. Luckily we live on a lazy little culdasac (sp?) so we thought it would be fine to forgo a fenced yard. Let me say something first about our pit bull Roman. If you've ever owned any breed with pitbull in them you know that they have the sweetest disposition, and most loyal character. Roman melts our hearts daily. But that being said- you also know that any dog with pit in them also has a TON of energy. Hence the backyard for him to romp and play and spend all his energy. But not in the way that he chooses. The past few weeks we've been letting the dogs outside in the backyard without leashes as long as one of us is supervising them. But recently Roman has gotten this new itch or shall I say, primal instinct, to run like a wild stallion around our house and neighborhood. We did not know this about him until the other day...David was telling me how he was taking the dogs outside on Sunday while he was in the backyard watching them. He tells me all of the sudden Roman's terrier craziness kicks on. And he said Roman ran around our house in circles twice and then disappeared into our neighbor's (unfenced) yard. David, thinking, "it probably doesn't look good to have a wild looking pit bull running in our neighbor's yard where they have kids and a few cats." Even though we know the worse Roman could do is shower the kids with licks and kisses....but other people don't know that. So David runs after him, a glass of water in his hand, into the yard after Roman. Roman thinks this is a game because David is running after him trying to grab him. So Roman is ducking and weaving, happily escaping his master in this fun game of tag. So David lunges after Roman, full force to catch him but slips and falls into our neighbor's tall grass, throwing the glass in the air and hitting face first into the ground. Roman still escapes...and runs back to our yard. As David gets up he looks over and sees our neighbors through the back window- the whole family- sitting down at a peaceful dinner all looking at him like he's psycho, chasing his wild pitbull . David said he mouthed "I'm sorry" and smiled sheepishly while creeping back into our yard. Needless to say we've learned our lesson- we're going to either fence in the yard or get electric collers. Even though it makes me sad to do it, its obvious that Roman can't handle the wide open spaces!

Friday, August 14, 2009

these are a few of my favorite things....

Like the song goes from my mother's favorite movie, Sound of Music- when those darn dogs bite and freaking bee's sting, when I'm feeling sad from a long week, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad:
1. That God is available
2. My husband laughs at my jokes
3. My cat Patches loves me more than anyone (though sometimes that can be annoying)
4. Hot fresh coffee in the morning with a bit of hazelnut creamer
5. Rain in the afternoon to cool down a hot Florida summer
6. Summit's smile
7. Old friends
8. Inside jokes
9. The sand at Siesta Key that never gets hot and feels like snow at night
10. Thinking of my loving, hilarious family living in one house
11. Obama is president :)
12. Mango sorbet
13. Two happy dogs that slobber me with kisses when I get home from work
14. Outback's 8 ounce prime rib seasoned and seared, cooked mid rare
15. Being an Arkansan at heart
16. God is there

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

When it rains it pours

I'm sorry if all of my recent blog posts are depressing...ok maybe not all of them are but I have to be honest about this time in my life. I am exhausted emotionally. Its been a whirlwind of a month. So much has happened and I feel like I can't even keep up. I feel that if I can get out an ounce of what I'm feeling, even into the void, then thats one less ounce weighing on my heart. You know when your chest feels heavy? Like you feel you could cry for a week straight and it would keep coming? That's how I feel, weary, angry, confused and blaaaaaah. First, last week at work the family that I had to call DCF on informed me that my services would no longer be needed because their child had died. My heart stopped when I heard her voicemail. A mother and child that I had met with since I first started working with Healthy Families. A child we struggled so hard to keep him healthy, to inform the family of various safety risks in the home. I had seen him weekly since his birth. As far as we know the child died of SIDS, unexplained at this point. He was a sweet child with a beautiful smile. And I can't get that smile out of my head. I struggled with comforting the mother, telling her she did all she could. Trying to find words that I didn't have. Today I am attending the child's funeral with the family and my heart feels like it weighs a ton. Also, my former coworkers I had known since I've lived in Florida, a married couple with a 2 year old are now going through a custody battle and divorce. My friend informed me that her husband had been abusing her for the past year and she has just mustered the courage to leave. But the law is not on her side, even though she's the victim. She was accused of leaving with the child abruptly, which can be grounds for temporary custody for the father. Even though the reason she left abruptly was because she feared for her and her child's safety!You don't leave a burning building slowly!! My heart aches for her and her child. I could see the weariness in her eyes from all the hearings and court appearances she's had to endure. He's relentless in breaking her down mentally, sending her nasty emails and discouraging her every step. I couldn't believe the guy sitting in front of me in the court room, an intelligent, seemingly caring friend of mine, abused his wife secretly. I felt disgusted. I was called as a witness to testify about his drug use, which I had seen both at work and at their home. The lawyers attempted to chastise my story, to try to find any loopholes. But I told the truth, nothing less and nothing more. So my story was concise, no matter how condesending the lawyers were. They were malicious in their pursuit to discount my testimony for my abused friend. I cannot understand why any lawyer would prosecute an abused wife. Times like that I know why God says- "Vengence is mine," because he is the only one who can serve an accurate punishment for people like that. My husband's grandfather is also not doing well. His health is failing quickly. We want David to go visit his namesake but don't have the money to fly him back. I can see David is trying to put on a happy face for me, but he's struggling himself. We both are just trying to survive this week. I feel the statement is true though, that "when we are weak, He is strong." To me that means we just give it all up to Him. We give our thoughts, actions, everything to God to guide. Like letting a friend carry you on their back when you can't take another step. I keep wondering if I can do this job or not. If I have the guts, or backbone or whatever it takes for this profession. I'm struggling just to keep from crying at work. But I take God's guidance each day. And at this point I'm totally ok with releasing control.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

I found my style: East meets West!


Since I'm fairly new to this married lifestyle and living in a home for more than six months like college I've been trying to find out my design style for our home. I strongly believe that the home should reflect both couple's style. I know everyone has their preference (or perhaps they have none) on the styling of their houses. I just don't think its fair for a man to live in a shabby chic pink doll house and then have the basement to himself. (On a side note we've been watching this show called "Man Cave" where men have taken over the basement or backyard and turned it into a men's only area complete with a full bar or pirate style theme because their wives have decorated the rest of the house, haha) Plus, not like many women's husband's, mine actually has a pretty strong opinion of what style he would like our home to be. David likes the more contemporary, architectural simplicity. And any of you who know me know that aint my style baby! But he also has pictures and souviners from his travels to Europe. So its more like East meets West! Mine is a mixture of many things. I was an International Relations major in college so you have to know that I'd have a global or exotic style. My dad is also a missions pastor and travels all around the world and will bring back little trinkets from where he's visited, so, nonetheless my house has a mixture of everything...which I love. But then my house started looking a little junky, a little too eclectic and borderline eccentric! So I've starting honing in my style and found a cool book on Amazon called Exotic Style (suprise) and have found its tips very helpful. From colors, to patterns, to placement of worldly treasures, its beginning to put my house together into one thought. I have to say, I'm so glad to have finally found a style for both David and I!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Is positive news an oxymoron?

David and I constantly talk about news & politics...mostly about our distain for how popular media portrays those subjects. We laugh about how when you watch the news there's 3 negative news peices for every 1 positive news peice. I know the world isn't perfect, that there is suffering everywhere. But there is also good everywhere! There are wonderful things going on in the world daily, real people improving our world in various ways. So David then found several news sites to read on positive news:
www.happynews.com/
www.positivenews.org.uk/
Not that we are burying our heads in the sand, ignoring the problems of the world, but wouldn't we be more positive people ourselves if we weren't constantly barraged by negative news and advertisements? In Sao Paulo they have actually banned public advertisements because they think it not only makes their city ugly with all the banners and posters, but also because it bombards people with constant negative messages! Way to go Brazil!