Computer troubles...

We own two laptops and both of them have issues.

Marcus dropped his ipod on his computer (I think this is a first world problem) and the screen cracked on the inside. Does that even make sense. Anyways, so you can only see the very top right hand corner and it makes trying to do anything maddening.

My computer screen won't stay on and I can't open it all the way or the screen just goes black. I also have no "l" key or question mark key because Eli or Emmy dumped water on that portion of the computer.

So I just haven't had the energy to try and make a blog post of any kind. Using our computers requires a lot of effort. Writing my sermon is super fun.  How did we exist before computers.

I've seen Jonathan Edwards (he's a preacher and theologian from the 1700s), anyways Yale owns some of his original stuff and I saw one of his sermons. It was handwritten in teeny tiny little writing on a card that fit inside of his had. It had various sides that he could then turn and read off of.

I think mostly he made it up as he went along, maybe I should try that this week and see what happens. His most famous sermons is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" I don't think I really want to emulate him.

This has gotten way off topic. I should go to bed.

However, since I"m off topic, I should mention that Eli and Emmy are beyond excited for their birthday.

They keep saying, "I want cake, presents, balloons, ice cream and blueberries"

Emmy today told me she wants a pink present and bubba would like a green one. We're going to celebrate their bithday on sunday. I'm going to try and make a monkey cake, it might end up being one of the ugliest cakes ever but it can't really be worse than the cakes I've made them for their other two birhdays. haha at least the cakes are made with love even if they're not pretty.

What I read in March & April...

I read such a random assortment of books these past couple of months. Some of there were awful, Ice T for example. Horrible he writes just like he talks on law and order only worse.

Fifty Shades of Grey... the entire universe is talking about it so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. It's horrible, the writing, the content, the relationship dynamics. Not good at all.

The Stand was good though, my eyes were tired when I was done with the 1152 pages but it was worth it.


March
1. Ice: A Memoir of Gangster life & redemption by Ice T
2. lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
3. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson
4. The Rivals by Daisy Whitney
5. The Matter of Marriage by Debbie Macomber
6. Run by Ann Pachett
7. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.l. James
8. In the land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Quanta Ahmed

April
1. We need to Talk About Keven by lionel Shriver
2. Home Front by Kristin Hannah
3. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
4. Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller
5. The last Child by John Hart
6. The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau
7. Save Me by lisa Scottoline
8. Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
9. My Own Country by Abraham Verghese
10. The Stand by Stephen King

Total for the Year: 41

Recent cute things my kids say...

~Whenever Eli finds any thing resembling a debit or credit card he says, "I have eighty dollars" I have no idea where that came from.

~I had the following conversation with Emerson on more than on occasion.

Emmy: Bubba I a girl
Me: Emerson am I girl
Emmy: No mama is mama
Me: What about Eli is he a girl
Emmy: No bubba is bubba
Me: What about daddy
Emmy: No daddy is daddy
Me: So what about you, is Emmy, Emmy.
Emmy: No I a girl

I find this hysterical.

~When the imagination doesn't quite translate. Today Eli had a tennis ball inside of a fake ice cream cone and he was feeding everyone his "ice cream" I had some, Marcus had some, we did the appropriate fake eating, exclaiming it was delicious.

Then he said, "Here sissy. ice cream."

Emerson looked at him and said, "That a ball bubba"

~ They played frisbee today for a long time. They call the frisbee "bee" where the "bee go" it took me a little bit to figure out what they were talking about.

~ Our prayers at dinner keep getting longer and longer. We don't stop praying until they name everyone they can think of. Then often we have to go back to praying if they remember someone or something else latter.

"That"...

One of the things I love about Eli and Emerson is how their speech patterns mimic each other.

Their newest thing is to add a "that" in front of names.

For example, "Where that daddy"

"Where that Emmy is"

"Where that grammy go" (Said after we saw them last week for Marcus' grandma's funeral. We came home and it was asked over and over).

or the most common one shrieked by Emerson whenever Eli stands in front of the T.V. "THAT BUBBA!!" Which is her way of saying, "Please move Eli you're blocking the T.V."

It's very effective. As soon as she yells he runs back to the couch.

World Book Night 2012...

Today was the first U.S. World Book Night. 25,000 people across the country gave away half a million books for free to promote love of reading.

The idea was to find people who were light readers or non-readers and give them a free copy of a book. It was great fun. I wish I could give away books everyday.

I picked the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. The books were specially printed for world book night.

With a special letter on the inside addressed "Dear Reader"

Some of my favorite parts in the letter are

"It's been said a million times before, but it is still true: no one finishes a book the same person as when they started, whether filled with a new understanding of life or just happier for the hours lost in a good story.

"There are few gifts more precious than sharing the love of a good story with someone else."

Good stuff.

We did some painting this morning (Eli and Emmy were a great help. Eli mostly wanted to paint his stomach I don't know what to do with that boy sometimes). 

Then we loaded up our wagon...

and hit the road. 

Eli and Emerson were my helpers. (They brought a bunch of their books and threw them in the wagon, haha silly kids). 

We walked around our little town and handed out books. The first world book night was a success. And people seemed really excited by the concept and the gift a free book. I even gave away a copy to a woman who only spoke Spanish. I used my spanish skills to explain the concept and she wanted a book. I hope she will find a way to read and love the book. 

Sleep Study update...

I'm so proud of my Emerson and how well she did at the sleep study. Emerson is afraid of all things doctor. Terrified... at her ENT appointment we literally couldn't get her to step on the scale.

Given all of this I figured the sleep study would be a disaster, but in an effort to lesson the blow we've been talking about the sleep study since it was first mentioned. We talked about how mama and Emmy would go sleep in a room. When we were there they would put things in her hair and on her face but it wouldn't hurt.

Then we looked at pictures and even watched a youtube video of a little boy doing a sleep study. I hoped that this preparation would help. Unfortunately since we didn't get much notice on the actual day of the sleep study I didn't do all the prep I would have liked.

She was so cute though when I told her we were putting on special pajamas and she could put her "stuff" in her backpack and just me and Emmy were going to a sleep study.

She kept telling Eli, "You stay here, me and mommy bubba."

Then she put her backpack on and said, "I'm ready to go."

Poor Eli on the other hand was so sad that he wasn't able to bye-bye in the car. Poor baby was sobbing as he watched us pull out of the driveway. Marcus said he cried for about 30 minutes.

As we drove to the children's hospital Emerson did ask about Eli and they talked to each other on the phone. "Hi sissy...hi Bubba, I yuv you, yuv you too."

So adorable.

When we got to the hospital we were early so we spent some time walking around the the grounds.

She loved the statues (Excuse the very bad cell phone pictures)

And the bushes shaped like giraffes. She wanted to take a picture to show daddy.

Then she was so sweet. She bravely got on the scale all by herself, she allowed the bracelet to be put on her wrist (Which she wouldn't allow last time). In the room she was in such a good mood. Happily laying her bed, and then we watched the lion King. 

The one thing about having twins is it's very rare to have one on one time with them. Even those these circumstances were not ideal I adored spending the time with her. 

She was so taken with my bed and kept saying, "Mama your bed"

Then it was time to get hooked up to all the wires. You could tell she was terrified by was trying to be brave and she was doing so good until they taped a microphone onto her next and put the tape on in a way that pulled when she moved. 

Then she lost it and started crying. Poor baby. I felt so bad because she was trying so hard.

(Yes she gets one bottle of water a day) But in this case it was a huge comfort to her. She calmed down and we both settled down to watch the rest of the movie. But first in a tiny little voice she said, "I call daddy". And when she started talking to Marcus her eyes welled up with tears as once again she was trying so hard not to cry, "Hi daddy, I come home."

I rubbed her back for a bit and she fell asleep and only woke up once the entire night. They kicked us out of the hospital at 5am and my tired brave girl and I stumbled to the parking lot, only to discover I could not remember where I parked the car.

Once again my sweet girl tried to hep, "hmmmm... where are car go" she was adorable. Then she would look at a car and say, "This not our car"

We arrived home around 6am. Emerson passed out in my bed for several hours. Eli was awake, Marcus went to work, I was incredibly sleep deprived and despite my best efforts could not stay awake. The best I can figure out Eli was having a fabulous time hanging out in the house pretty much unsupervised. Occasionally, I'd wake up and make sure he was okay and then fall asleep.

He managed to weave dental floss through the entire house while I was sleeping because he was "flossing his teef like daddy". I told Marcus to come ASAP from work, and I went and taught a Bible study feeling as though I was walking around in a fog.

We don't have the results yet, hopefully we'll find out soon if anything came from the study. 

Review: The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau

"...how quickly everything changes, whether because of a decision you make or the decisions made by others, or just because of chance, and in a moment the entire path of your life, everything you knew and everything you will ever know, is altered" (102"

The Book of Jonas is Stephen Dau's debut novel a powerful story of a young boy who survives an American military attack on his village in an unnamed Muslim country.

The man character Jonas, is rescued and eventually comes to the United States as a refuge. The beautifully written narrative takes us back and forth through the events of Jonas' life.

Moments with his family in his village, times during and after attacks, the early years in America, college, counseling. Jonas struggles to deal with his past, and is hesitate to speak of the events that leave him scarred both physically and emotionally.

In the United States his path crosses with Rose Henderson the mother of the American solider who was there during the attack on his village.

The book is a powerful testimony about the realities of war and the realities of those on all sides of military. It takes a little bit of time to get used to the style of writing used by Stephen Dau.

The movement of the book is jumpy. Moving perspectives, years, times, and places. However, if you allow yourself to go with it, you'll be transported into the lives and the pain of the characters of this story as they all try to find peace within themselves for the war which intermingled the lives of 3 strangers.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's powerful, beautifully and uniquely written, a book and a story that will stay with you days after finishing the book.

I look forward to future works by Stephen Dau, an amazing first novel.

Read this book immediately and then join the conversation at blogher here

Notice: This is a paid review. I was gifted a copy of the book and receive monetary compensation. However the opinions expressed above are my own.