hallelujah!

A few updates....

1. The preschool year has begun! Ethan is in 3 day mornings. We've been at it for 3 days now and have even been on time each day! He loves it and takes off running for his classroom as soon as I set his feet on the ground. It gives me and my little man some much needed space and it gives him a new outlet for learning and new people to ask questions of. I get a break! I still have Olivia with me and unfortunately her behavior is going downhill as Ethan's is going uphill. Oh well, can't have them both in good spirits at the same time I guess.

2. MOPS starts tomorrow! I am starting my 4th year of being a discussion group leader. I love my group and this year looks to be fantastic! It is such a blessing to have these women to hang out with, rejoice with and commiserate with. I remember how lonely I was that first year of motherhood--wishing that I had some good friends that lived close by that I could really connect with. Thanks to MOPS I have more friends like that than I ever hoped for! If you are a mom that wants to know more about MOPS, just email me! I will hook you up right. :)

3. I am officially a small business owner! I have kept mostly quiet about this because I wanted to wait until it was official. Myself and two other women (Terri Miller and Sally Reed) have started a small coaching business called more coaching. We provide strengths-based coaching to individuals, couples and families. This has been a dream of mine for some time. My passion lies in helping couples strengthen their relationships by figuring how to best use their strengths in the marriage. I just didn't have the strengths needed to take it to the next step. Thankfully Jimbo hooked me up with Terri and the rest is history! You'll be getting an email from me once we get all our stuff together. But be thinking about giving a gift certificate from more coaching to someone for Christmas or for a wedding/engagement present. It is the gift that keeps on giving! :)

4. Jay and I leave for the Grand Canyon in one week! I will not be partaking in the hike this year--I learned my lesson last year. And my toenails have never quite recovered. :( Jay and a group of 22 other victims will be hiking from the North Rim to the South Rim--in one day! That is about a 25 mile hike and highly discouraged by the park rangers. But who cares about them, right? :) I have a muy importante job--driving a car full of everyone's gear so they don't have to haul it across the canyon. I will have a 5 hour drive all alone with my ipod--I can't wait. For those of you that know me well, you know I love to road trip. I don't get to do it much now that we have kids. So the idea of just driving without Olivia screaming bloody murder is delightful! We are already anticipating numerous stops at In n' Out and have budgeted accordingly. Our kids will go stay with the grandparents--many thanks go out to them for making this happen!

5. I just read a completely enthralling book: King Leopold's Ghost. Jimbo is super involved in a non-profit in Africa called AfricaWorks. I saw him reading this book at Crow Wing and hijacked it from him whenever I could. I finished it last week and would highly recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in Africa. It is about the colonization of the Congo by Belgium and basically what a disaster they turned it into. Gives some interesting insight into why Africa is the way it is. Now I am reading Scramble for Africa which Jimbo says will give me an even greater picture of why it is such a mess. I will say this--what was done to the Africans was horrifying. There is no other way to put it. They were set up for failure from day one. I give major praise to people like my dad that still decide to go there and try to make a difference even though it seems like a mere drop in the ocean.


I know there was more stuff I was going to write about but Olivia just pooped so I have to go deal with that. Later!