Purpose

The other day I was listening to the news and I heard about Lindsay Lohan and it just made me sad. She is so messed up with drugs and alcohol that the judge ordered her to wear a bracelet that will make sure she isn't abusing herself. She is only 23 years old. She seems so lost and confused. It just makes me sad that she is willing to throw her life away so easily. Her life totally lacks purpose. I feel like we see this alot with mega rich people, whether it be Hollywood stars, famous sports players, or big time CEO's...if they lack purpose or directions then they just get lost.


I think that it's because if you are poor, your purpose is simple - make some money so you don't starve and freeze. But if you have money (or lots and lots of money) you need to find a different purpose. I feel like you hear about a lot of movie stars and sport stars that are searching for purpose in the most unsuccessful places. For those of us that are Christians our purpose is simple (well, simple in theory, but not so easy to practice): to love others as Jesus loved others, to trust Him completely, to stand up for what is true, right, and just, and to know that He has given us grace and forgiveness for all the times that we fail on the previously mentioned. This purpose transcends social class, race, gender, and any other division that are set up among people. And it is the only purpose where people can find joy that will never fade. Some people find purpose in helping others. And although this is great, you must always be doing more to feel satisfied. Others find purpose in saving the planet. And again that's great, but you always have to/can do more. There is no end. But when we can find our purpose in a relationship with Jesus, we are never stuck in this "you have to do more" mentality: who we are (if we are following where His leads) is enough. And even if we lose our way, we just simply ask for forgiveness and we can get back on track. If Lindsay only knew this...

But since I don't know her I guess the only thing that I can do is pray for her. So pray I will...

A Brick

Tonight I did a "brick" workout. A brick is a multi-sport workout - say a swim and a bike, or a bike and a run. Tonight I biked 6.5 miles and then went straight into a 2 mile run. It's different feeling to run straight off the bike because your legs kinda feel like jello. This was my first brick workout and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Not only did I transition well, I also ran the whole 2 miles. This is maybe the second or third time ever that I've run 2 miles straight, so yay me! The triathlon is in 9 days. It has totally crept up on me; especially since the weather around here has been a little drizzly so I haven't been very motivated to exercise. Hopefully sometime this weekend I'll make it over to Lake Sammamish so I can bike the actual course.

Popcorn

How do you say no to such enthusiasm?

Play dough

Hannah loves to make things with her play dough. Here she's made a bunch of animals (she's slightly obsessed with animals). There is an elephant, a lion, a goat, a hippo, and then a bunch of blue birds. I bet you can't tell which is which... :-D

Hannah's Creativity & Imagination

Over the past couple of months Hannah has gotten more and more of an imagination. This is great because she now can play by herself (aka she doesn't always HAVE to play with me). Most of what she does are some of our normal day activities.

Here she is serving me some tea.

Here's her teapot.

Here's the orange in the bathtub.

Hannah and Peter enjoying her new crib. Normally it is full of stuffed animals and blankets.

Here's Hannah with her popcorn popper. And when it was "done", she put it in the refrigerator. :)

More fun in the new crib. Hannah will be playing in the box and Peter will crawl over. At which point Hannah will inform me that Peter wants to join her. I say, "Did you ask him?" Then she'll ask Peter, "you play in my new crib with me?" She'll pause and then say to me, "Peter says yeah." It's great that she knows exactly what Peter wants. :-D

Here's Hannah going grocery shopping (that's our pantry). And wouldn't cha know, she always come "home" with the same food I buy. She comes and shows me the food and then I remind her that she needs to put her groceries away (just like mom). So she goes back to the pantry and puts the food away. One time she went shoe shopping (in the shoe closet).

Here's Peter playing with "the box."

The arrival of the box.

The Swim

This morning I did my first test swim in my wet suit. The wet suit works great, the only problem is the area that the wet suit does not cover...mainly my face. Lake Washington is about 57 F. Bbrrr, it was cold. I was only able to swim for about 5 minutes because my face got so cold. Luckily my first Triathlon is in Lake Sammamish which is quite a bit smaller than Lake Washington, and thus should be quite a bit warmer. We'll see

Mother's Day weekend

Last weekend we went to Alderbrook Resort on Hood Canal. Caleb's work had an offsite retreat and then we came and joined him for an extra night. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time. We also got to ride the ferry...a highlight for Hannah (and me too...I love ferries).

Here's a picture of the resort from a hike/walk we took.

Here are some pictures Caleb took Friday night. The Olympic Mountains were out all day Friday and Saturday. Like I said, it was gorgeous!











Another highlight for Hannah was the swimming pool. She loves to "swim" (aka play in the water)


Here's the cute little cottage that we stayed in. It was 2 bedrooms, which was nice b/c we didn't have to sleep in the same room as the kids. That's always a plus. :-D

Here are the mountains during the day.

On Saturday morning we went for a hike in Twanoh state park. Hannah got her pants wet walking through some mud so she rolled them up. She walked most of the way, about 2.3 miles.

Here's Peter and I enjoying the hike.

Here's the view of the Olympics from the ferry.

A different ferry passing us by.

The Seattle skyline with the Cascade mountains behind. Like I said, it was a beautiful day. I love it when you can see both the Olympics and the Cascades!

I'm like a Zebra

Here's our conversation from about 5 minutes ago that displays the randomness that occurs everyday in this house. (I guess it's more of a monologue).

H: Mommy's shirt has lots and lots of stripes...like a Zebra. Mommy looks like a zebra.

Note: my shirt has no black or white in it.

My newest hobby

For Christmas Caleb gave me a mat cutter, and just recently I've been getting some mats and pictures to experiment with. It's been fun to add something to my day besides changing diapers, going to the park, and exercising. :-D

I finally matted and framed this photo from Christmas time. And now that it's almost summer, it's probably time to get a new picture of the kids. Peter has already changed so much in the last 5 months.

Here's a frame that I put together for my mom for mothers day.

And these are the two family pictures I just re-matted and framed.

Life with a 3 year old

Here's our conversation from about 5 minutes ago (1pm).

K: Mommy needs to change out of her PJ's
H: We going to City Kids? (that's church)
K: No
H: Where are we going?
K: We're not going anywhere today.
H: Why mommy need to change?
K: (Pause) Good question
H: I go change too. Baby Pete change too. (I forget exactly how Hannah stated it, but she also said that because we aren't going anywhere she didn't need to wear matching clothes. So she picked out her white pants with pink and red flowers and her white shirt with blue snowflakes).

So I guess the big accomplishment for today (since we obviously didn't accomplish getting dressed before noon) is that I beat my daughter in a battle of wills. She asked for some food last night and then didn't eat any of it. So I told her if she didn't eat it at night, she could eat it for breakfast in the morning. Well, she didn't break down and eat her food until after 11:30. That's 16 hours without food. That's a world record for Hannah. Normally she's asking for food every 30 minutes - I mean, it's healthy food, like oranges, bananas, bread, raisens - but still, it's like she's a bottomless pit when it comes to food. I guess since she super active it makes sense. So 16 hours is a long time for her. Which I guess just goes to show that we have one stubborn daughter on our hands (as if we already didn't know that). "Lucky" for us we have 2 parents that are even more stubborn. At least we know where she gets it from.

****

Every once in a while I'm overcome by how cute and cuddly Peter is. So I'll hold him and tell him how much I love him. Today is no different. I was holding him and I said, "Peter, I love you so much." Hannah heard me and said, "I love Peter so much too." How cute is that!