The Rogowski Family

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Biker Chick

Olivia loved it when Stan was riding the scooter regularly! Especially when he would put a huge helment on her head and ride her down our dead-end-road and back. Oh yeah, she was in heaven! :)

Miss Claus & Mr. Candy Cane

Before church on Sunday I had to stop and take pictures of these two cutie pies. They were looking pretty festive, thanks to lots of fun hand-me-downs from sweet friends and family. :)

Creative Kettle Worker

At this time of year, I love seeing the Salvation Army Kettle workers--especially now that it makes me think of my dear sister, Abby and her husband Andy working so hard for Kingdom purposes out in Texas for the Salvation Army. This guy that my mom saw at the Kroger in Perry, GA was pretty cute. He sounded as if he was playing a trumpet, but he wasn't playing a trumpet! :)

Thanksgiving '08

Boy do we have much to be thankful for this year! What a great time of thanksgiving we shared with family and friends over the last week or so. We drove over to Valdosta for a night, then to Macon on Wednesday to have a meal with my Dad's father, then to Perry for the evening, then to Dublin for Thanksgiving day with the Key extended family at Evergreen UMC, and then back to Valdosta for the night, and then to Brunswick to pick up something, and finally home. Lots of driving, but it was great fun. We just severely missed my younger sister, Abby and the two Andys. They were holding down the fort over in Texas, serving a meal to their shelter folks at their SA Corp and getting their kettle season off to a blazing start! :) Anyway, it was a fun and full week. I'll be adding an entry soon about that thing we picked up in Brunswick. Amazing! Incredible!

Halloween '08

Boy am I behind on updating my blog! Yikes, it's already December 2nd and I'm just now adding my Halloween pictures?? Well, that's just life, folks. Wild and wooly! Here are some pictures from our Halloween festivities. I was actually sick on the day of Halloween which was a little crazy since I was the party mom at the preschool and Stan was taking his Motorcycle Training Course that weekend, too. As usual, we persevered and the Lord carried us through. Don't you just love dressing up? Sometimes I want to get a costume, too!

Pumpkins and Races

We went to the RipOff Patch, I mean the Pumpkin Patch and bought a couple of tiny pumpkins (because that was all we could afford without refinancing our home), and then on Saturday we had a fun time supporting Daddy as he ran in his first BIG race in Jax--the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure 5K. It was a lot of fun, minus the majorly big blowout Benjamin had at one point, bless his heart. We were really proud of Stan. He had a good race time of 28:05! His best yet! I look forward to being able to do a race with him sometime, but since they aren't free, for now we'll take turns. Good times. This fall weather is glorious!!

Puddle Fun

This past Monday, Mom came for a quick visit, and we had a lot of fun with her here. We went up to the waterfront in St. Marys, and it had been raining, so the kids were loving jumping in the puddles. The only drawback--they smelled like fish! :( Not so nice.
I love to hear Benjamin giggle like this.

Scarecrow Fun and Dirt Piles!

Today we took a walk around downtown St.Mary's to see the wonderful displays of scarecrows! We're hoping to make some of our own at church tomorrow night.
This afternoon Stan went to his parents' house to get some dirt for a spot in our backyard that is needing to be filled. Who knew this would bring such supreme entertainment to the family? Fun times. :)

What a wonderful day I had yesterday! The 5K race in the morning was awesome! I came in 3rd in my age bracket! Then we went to the beach, and it was perfect!

XXXII

If I remember correctly, I believe that is the Roman Numeral for 32.  Today is a special day.  It's my 32nd birthday which in some ways feels fairly insignificant and in other ways feels closer and closer to 35 which feels farther and farther away from "young-adulthood".  I'm not one to get hung up on a number, though (don't hold me to that on my 40th or 50th or 60th, OK?), so I don't really feel like "Whoa, I'm a geezer today!"  Rather than birthdays reminding me of how much older I'm becoming I seem to have always looked at birthdays as days of fun and little surprises.  Yesterday my Mom and Dad and brother dropped in for the afternoon, had lunch with us to celebrate, and headed on down the road late in the afternoon.  What a wonderfully sweet surprise.  This morning my husband and kiddos brought breakfast to me in bed.  Awesome and humbling. :) I went and got my license renewed this morning, and I was in and out of the DMV in less than 20 minutes and got a darn good new license photo, if I do say so myself--miraculous!  Benjamin is napping now, so I should go be productive in some way.  I haven't blogged as much as of late.  There are a variety of reasons for that, but the primary one is that there seem to be fewer minutes in my day than there used to be.  I will likely use this blog more for posting photos now mostly because of that.  I also have struggled with missing writing in my journal terribly!  Ever since Olivia was born I've been an avid journaler, but after Benjamin was born I began blogging.  Blogging is nice, but I really miss putting the pen to paper and just writing.  I also miss filling pages of memories.  I feel like I've missed out writing down some memories of Benjamin, so I believe that I'm heading back to my journal.  My Uncle Jack Key has journalled nearly every day of his adult life.  What an amazing thing to have and pass along.  Well, anyway, here are some pictures of my morning.  Stan got me an amazing new digital camera.  It feels like an indulgence because we have a working digital camera, but it doesn't record video, so this will be a wonderful new convenience for us.  You'll be seeing some pics soon from my exciting day tomorrow as I race in my first 5K, the Rock Shrimp Festival in St. Marys.  I'm praying Stan won't need a forklift to pick me up when I'm done.  :)

Dad's New Book

My Dad just had his first book published this summer, and I am SO excited about it. I have read it and it's marvelous, and I'm enjoying studying it within a small group too! Today I just sent a message to all of my Asbury friends on facebook, but I thought I'd post the letter on my blog, too. So here's what I wrote to them:

Dear Friends,
I am writing you to tell you about some exciting news in my family. My dad, Dr. Don Adams, recently had his first book published through Bristol House Publishing Company. It is entitled With Hands Outstretched: Actively Seeking the Mind of Christ. It is a study of the book of Philippians. I am writing to you, because I’m eager to get the word out about it since Dad doesn’t have anyone who is helping him market the book. My dad has been a Methodist minister in Kentucky, Indiana and South Georgia for more than 30 years, and he is a graduate of Asbury College, Asbury Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Louisville Theological Presbyterian Seminary (D.Min.) Presently he’s serving as District Superintendent of the Valdosta District in the SG Conference when he’s not playing with his five grandchildren (as it says on the back of the book) :) . It took Dad many years to finish this book since he hasn’t had tons of free time as a dad of four kids (all of whom are now graduates of AC, one of whom is also a graduate of ATS) and he’s been pastoring full time all these years, but fortunately he was able to finally finish it.
Dad felt such a keen awareness of the Lord helping him with this immense project, and because of that he felt compelled to not keep the profits of this book for himself. He’s praying the book will profit enough to enable him to create a scholarship that Asbury can offer to incoming students. The college requires, though, that he have at least $20,000 before they’ll consider it. I personally believe that if we can get this book into the right hands, it will succeed and surpass that goal. There are several churches throughout South Georgia who have already selected it for use in their Sunday School curriculum or as a supplementary Bible study for the fall. Stan and I are presently in a small group studying the book together with three other couples, and while we’ve only finished week four this week, I am feeling so richly blessed by the discussion we’ve had together. You can truly enjoy reading this book independently, but the discussion questions at the close of each chapter have proven to greatly enrich the study experience when shared within a group.
So, while this might seem extremely presumptuous of me, I am asking you to prayerfully consider purchasing my dad’s book. Dad has deemed me his “East Coast Distributor”, and if you would like one, here are some ways you can get it into your hands:
1. Just reply to this message with your address, and I’ll send it out to you with no shipping fees for you. The book is a $15 paperback, and you can pay by check--make it out to Don Adams. I’ll include a stamped and addressed envelope in which you can return the payment.
2. Go to amazon.com or bristolhouse.com and you’ll find his book there for sale and of course you can pay by card there, but you will have shipping fees, of course. It just came onto amazon last week, and we’re glad to see it’s made it there finally.

Dad receives nearly three times the amount of profit when we sell them directly for him as opposed to if someone purchases it at the bristolhouse.com site or at amazon.com. Since his goal is significant in achieving enough profit to create a scholarship, he is trying to work on selling a good many directly from us.
I am praying that you will help us network, and that this will spread all around the country. I believe that the Lord desires to use this book for a mighty purpose. It has already been transforming in my life and in Stan’s life also. If you would like more information, jot me a message, and I’ll be quick to get back with you. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’m looking forward to hearing back from many of you.
In His Grace,
Adrienne (Adams) Rogowski

Olivia's Back to School and more

I've not been very good about blogging lately. This little boy is running me wild! Not as much time any more for this sort of thing, but here are some pictures I've taken in the last couple weeks. We spent Labor Day weekend with my family and we welcomed Uncle Will home from China, but I don't have those pictures yet (I forgot to take my camera to their house, so I'll get them from Nonny soon). Hard to believe the summer is over (especially when it still feels like 95 degrees most days!)

Walk down memory lane

I've had so much fun scanning in old college pics this week. Asbury was such a special place and we had an awesome four years there.

Fun week with the family!

We are still flying high after an awesome week with the Adams family. What a wonderful time together! Nonny & Cocky were such loving servants and we came in like a swarm of locusts devouring everything they cooked for us! :) I had a great time, and I only wish it could've been two weeks instead of one. Here's my ridiculously long slideshow. Enjoy.

Fun Beach Trip

We popped down to the beach this morning and had such a nice time. The weather was gorgeous, and all that was missing was the rest of my precious family. Abby, Andy & Andy IV, Brad, Will, Nonny & Cocky--we wish we could've magically zapped you there with us! We hope to go back some more in July. We're working hard to soak up every second of this summer! :)

Humble UMC School's Hope for Children Choir

This morning we had a remarkable experience as our church hosted Humble UMC School's Hope for Children's Choir. The South Georgia Conference has partnered with the East African UM Conference and has helped to tremendously support this school and choir. The children who attend this school are mostly orphans who have lost one or both parents to HIV AIDS, extreme poverty, or the war that has raged on their country in Uganada for more than 20 years. Many of these children were found in refugee camps and were carrying women's babies trying to earn money for food or were carrying large jugs of water to earn money for food. They were homeless and without hope, but this school has brought them a new life. They sing and dance with such passion and gratitude and love. The love of Christ just radiates from their sinewy little bodies. I was so moved by the performance and spent the majority of the service trying to keep myself from going into the "ugly cry". Stan and I were both so struck by the needs of these children and when Stan discovered that none of the leaders or children read any music, he said, "I would love to come and spend some time teaching music at your school." Winston, one of the leaders, told him, "I will begin praying that you will be able to come."
I spoke with Lydia, the choir director, after our lunch, and had such an interesting conversation with her. I told her what Stan had said about us wanting to come, and she said, "Oh, I would love for you to come, because there is no way for you to understand these children's gratitude until you see where they've come from." She said that when they were on the plane coming to America that she was seated next to a little boy in the choir who said to her, "I do not deserve this. I do not deserve this. I cannot believe I am on an airplane to America. None of my people have ever seen an airplane. They will never believe that I flew on a plane to America. Never!" Lydia said to the little boy, "I'm going to write this down in my journal, and I will read this back to you some day when you become a Methodist Bishop as you've said you will, and we will laugh with joy over this!" Lydia herself grew up an orphan and was saved by a similar organization as a child in a refugee camp. She became a member of a school choir and was eventually chosen to be a member of the African Children's Choir which granted her remarkable life opportunities. She eventually became the director of the African Children's Choir and sang with Sandi Patti, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Michael W. Smith on albums of theirs. I believe she is such a huge gift from the Lord to the Humble UMC School's Choir. She brings such talent and abilities. She is also a social worker, and I don't know what her full role is at the school, but I'm sure she is a great asset. She understands where these children have come from and knows the extreme things they have seen and experienced at tender ages. That is why she expressed gratitude over and over again to us for having them come. She said, "This is life changing for these children." Our church's foundation paid for their travel expenses to come for this lengthy tour, and so when she told them that they were to be singing for the congregation that helped them come to America, they all said, "We must sing our best performance for them!"
I know there is no way to fully explain how powerful of a performance it was. Towards the end of the concert, they sang a song that said something like, "If we believe in God, the Holy Spirit will come and Africa will be saved!" They sang this whole song through several times and the last time through they sang, "...the Holy Spirit will come and America will be saved!" Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord, for the faith of these children. Hear their prayers, Lord! Hear their prayers!
The video I'm including is when they sang Josh Groben's popular song "You Raise Me Up". Yeah, this one was a tear-jerker.

Poolside at The Estate D'Rogowski

This is where we spend a lot of our time lately. It is very reminiscent of our backyard when we were kids.
One funny thing that happened this morning that is unrelated to these pictures is that when I went to clear the table after breakfast, I noticed that the peanut butter jar lid was missing. Olivia and I tried to find it without any success. A few minutes later Olivia yells, "Benjamin has it, Momma!" I look over and he was trotting through the family room trying to escape with the lid, and as I ran to catch him, Olivia said, "He did that very sneakretly, didn't he Momma!" I love these contrived words that children make up. I told her I loved that word--Sneakretly! Priceless!

Anniversary lunch

This is a picture that Olivia took of us when we returned from our date. We forgot to take our camera with us, so she sweetly agreed to help us out by photographing us! :)

Yesterday I enjoyed a splendid little get-away lunch date with my marvelous husby! May 23rd marked our 10 year wedding anniversary, but we hadn't had an opportunity to celebrate yet. Stan worked it out to take me to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for lunch while having his sweet mom babysit. By the way, kuddos to Mary for babysitting so much for us lately with this Crown Financial study we've been taking! What a lifesaver! Anyway, we ate at the Crane Cottage there on the Hotel grounds and enjoyed a delicious meal. I had lobster salad (which had bacon, onions, celery, and avocado in it) on a croissant with onion rings and key lime pie for dessert, and Stan had a dish called Pesto Alfredo (which had sundried tomatoes and olivies in it) with grilled shrimp. He also had a seafood bisque and he had creme brulle for dessert. Yummo! We walked around the hotel grounds a while after lunch, enjoyed the marsh views, saw a wedding in progress, and then we just found a shaded bench and sat and talked and talked. Talk about luxury! Adult conversation during daylight hours without any interruptions! I was a sophomore in highschool, just 16 years old, when Stan first took me to dinner at the Jekyll Island Club's Grand Dining Room for our prom dinner, and ever since then, it has been such a special spot for us. On our way home, we had an interesting mix on our iPod's playlist--Here were the tunes we swayed to in our seats or boogied to (depending on the tune). :)

1. Chet Baker's "Time After Time" (we call this one our song--the first line is "Time after time, I tell myself that I'm, so lucky to be lovin' you) (We actually have another song we call our song, too, but it is from "back in the day" and it's embarassing to admit it used to be our song, so this is our song since we became married.)
   
2. Chet Baker's "Funny Valentine"
   
3. James Brown's "Get Up" 
   
4. Chicago's "What Kind of Man Would I Be?"
   
5. Terry Gibbs' Dream Band "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"
   
6. Marvin Gay's "Let's Get it On" (As Stan said, "End it on a high note." :)

It was truly a fun day, and to top it all off, we cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer last night--what could be more romantic?! :)

Fun with iPhoto

I was just playing around with some features on iPhoto and came up with these today. The last one was just a picture of Benjamin getting a lesson in remote usage from his Daddy. :) Train 'em young, huh? ugh.
Thanks to Aunt Carrie Beth and cousin David, Olivia has this wonderful Radio Flyer tricycle on loan, and she loves riding it around as you can see. Fun stuff!

Olivia's Dance Photo

We had this picture taken before her dance recital, and I thought it turned out so cute. We had to exceed the legal amount of hair gel in order to achieve this bun, but by golly, we did it! :) What's cuter than a 4 year old in a tutu? Come on!

The Family Photo

Back in March, our church had church directory pictures taken, so we went and had this photo taken of the family. It was a relatively painless process, except for the fact that the air conditioner wasn't on in the room where we were being photographed. And we all happened to be in long sleeves. Yikes! But, the photographer was great, and as you can see, he got a really fun smile out of Olivia. Benjamin was not quite as sold on the guy, but at least he wasn't screaming! :)

Benjamin at almost 14 mos./Summer Begins!

Here are some pics of Benjamin as he's almost reached 14 months old and just some other pics of us enjoying the beginning of summer.

Our Muzzy

A week from yesterday we had the funeral for our dear Muzzy, my dad's mother, Beverly. I have been caught off guard by how deeply her passing has hurt me. That doesn't sound very nice, because I don't mean to say I didn't expect to be saddened by her death. I knew I would be very sad, but I didn't know about some of the other feelings it would bring about. But before I talk about those other feelings, I thought I would just write down some thoughts about Muzzy.

• She had a very gentle spirit. There was such a delicateness about her, and you felt like she treated everything and everyone about you with that same delicate nature.
• She loved giving to us. When we became teenagers we knew that when they began giving us cash for our birthday that she missed shopping for us. She enjoyed picking out something special for each of us kids--the real, plush Cabbage Patch dolls that she gave us girls that she and Papaw got from the Cabbage Patch General Hospital up in north Georgia--with Xavier Roberts' signature on the bottom, the Coca-Cola brand long-sleeve polos she gave us one year that catapulted us into the upper social stratosphere (or so we thought), the gigantic cookie cakes from The Great American Cookie Co. that they gave each of us that we savored and nibbled on for weeks (I mentioned these crazy, humongous cookies to Muzzy when she was in Hospice, and she smiled, and said, "We knew what a health nut your mom was and we felt a little mischevious giving those to you kids. I think Papaw kind of enjoyed it!")
• She was an amazing letter writer. She wrote us dozens of times throughout college and on into our first years of marriage. It was a loving gesture, and we always appreciated it and looked forward to her letters. Although I did sometimes write back, I now wish I'd done it a lot more often.
  
• She liked to dance. I think that if Papaw had taken her, she would've gone dancing with him every weekend. She used to boogie around a little bit if we had music on at the house when they were visiting. I love imagining her cutting a rug years ago!
• Her domestic abilities were remarkable. She vacuumed everyday, so if you ever came, you'd always see the vacuum tracks in their spotless, often white, carpet. Her entire house was always spotless. It always looked like it could be shown to a potential buyer at a moment's notice--like a showroom--which I guess was what she was accustomed to since they kind of made a habit of moving in retirement. She was a great cook--potato salad and carrot cake were her specialties, but she made lots of other great meals, too. Her chili was great, but what she loved to eat most was peanut butter toast. Papaw would also tease her about how many crackers she would go through every week. Her favorites were those Club crackers. When she bought them, she'd immediately take them out of the sleeves and put them into this special size container that held them perfectly. Papaw would joke about her being a beever going through that cracker tin so quickly.
  
• She was an artist, and I really wish she had sought ways to develop her ability even more, because you could tell she had such ability. She painted wooden ducks, and they are beautiful--great precision and detail. I'm glad I have one of them in our home. She knitted beautifully. She made an Easter dress and bonnet for Abby one year when she was just a toddler I believe. It was so pretty--cream with navy trim--such care and thought had gone into making it. She always made us beautiful afghans when we graduated from highschool--each one of us has a Muzzy original that we'll always treasure. And since the babies have arrived, she was busy making each of them their own baby blankets. With each additional blanket, we valued them more and more, because of how painful her hands were because of arthritis. She was quite a seamstriss, and I believe she helped make some halloween costumes for us sometime, and I know she made all of Dad's costumes that he wears when doing his dramatic monologues.
  
• She never learned to drive, so she was always dependent upon Papaw to get her around. Dad says that he remembers as a kid waiting in the bank parking lot with Papaw to pick her up after work, and sometimes they'd have to wait extra long if they were having a hard time balancing all of the end of the day numbers.
  
• She was beautiful. She had a classiness about her--always dressed sharply with lovely jewelry, usually with Etienne Aigner shoes and bag. And she always kept Papaw looking good, too.
  
• Muzzy smoked, but I didn't know that until I was in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade, and I never once saw her smoke, never ever smelled smoke on her (and I have a sensitive nose) never saw a picture of her with a cigarette in her hand--ever. I remember we were visiting them when they lived in Conyers, GA, and I was being the typical nosey child. While she and Mom worked on getting dinner prepared, I was walking around her large, pristine kitchen opening the droors and peeking inside. I pulled open one droor and saw a packet of cigarettes alongside a phonebook. I quickly slid the droor closed and turned around to see if she'd seen me. I don't think she did, but the rest of that visit I was so dismayed to realize that one of them or both of them smoked, because we were taught, of course, that smoking was bad for your health. When we left, I asked Mom about it, and she said that it was Muzzy who smoked, but that she didn't think she wanted us kids to know about it, because she knew it was an awful habit and she didn't want to set a bad example. I don't think she must've smoked much, because she was able to go with out smoking for long stretches, and like I said, I never smelled it on her. But ever since that day I had a strange appreciation for her desire to hide it from us, and never once did we talk with her about it.
  
• She had a witty humor--very similar to Dad's, maybe just not quite as weird. :) And she and Dad and Papaw could joke around so easily, and it was always fun to hear Muzzy getting in an occasional funny moment when Dad was being especially corny or something.
  
• She had a quiet voice. Sometimes we would joke saying that she was like the Seinfeld "Low Talker"--especially on the telephone. If you had screaming kids in the background, forget it! She just had this little gentle, silky voice and she didn't raise it very much at all.
  
• When she was in Hospice, I went to visit her, and I had such a nice visit with her. I got there on a Friday evening just before seven, and I didn't leave until 8:30, and we just talked the whole time. Muzzy had a quiet faith, so I didn't know a lot about her walk with the Lord, but I knew she was a Christian and she had faith, but I felt a burden to ask her about it, so I said to her, "I guess you talk to Jesus a lot these days, huh?" And she nodded, and I said, "You know how much that means to us, don't you? To know that you know Him and that you know He loves you and cares for you--especially through all of this--that means so much to us; it is such a comfort to us." She nodded and smiled, and there was a silence for a bit. Then she said, "I would've liked to have been there when he got his start." At first I wasn't sure to whom she was referring, but she continued, "I would've loved to have been there when Jesus first started his ministry--to have been one of his disciples." I understood what she meant, and I said, "Oh I know!" She continued, "to have seen him back then and been in the exciting first days..." I said, "I've often wondered how I would've responded to Jesus--would I have believed him or would I have been skeptical?" She said, "I know. Me too. I'd like to think I'd have followed him, but I guess I don't know if I would've doubted, but I still would've like to have been there." It was a wonderful conversation, and I just praise the Lord that he allowed us to know of her passion in her final weeks of life--her passion to have known Jesus so intimately. I know she's up there with him now, knowing him fully, seeing him fully, worshipping him fully.
  

On the evening of May 14th, Olivia's 4th birthday, Dad and Papaw held her hands and watched as the Lord took her Home. They both have said it was an incredible moment. Papaw told me that when the Hospice nurses cleaned her and prepared her to be taken out by the undertaker, they gave them a little more time with her alone, and Papaw said, "That's how I want to remember her, because she looked like an angel." I imagine she did.
Her funeral was very special. Bob Moon was the pastor, and Uncle D.Joe played the piano. Carrie Beth and Abby and I sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and it was such a privilege to have a part in the service. Will read scripture from Romans. Uncle D. Joe's piano playing was tremendous and just brought such a beauty to the time. Bob's words were so thoughtfully prepared. We all appreciated his memories and message.
And now, even a week since her funeral, I find myself randomly moved to tears over it all. And on top of the grief I feel over losing our dear Muzzy, I believe there is something additional that has weighed heavily on me--the growing awareness that I'm not a kid anymore, and with the first death of one of my grandparents comes the end of an era and the beginning of another. The awareness that the other three remaining are certainly closer to their ends than I would ever like to admit--it's difficult to have to face that. I know it is just simply life, but it is still painful considering losing these giants in my life. But as the song says, "...strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me." Amen and amen.

Noah's Ark Program

Olivia's end of the year program at Noah's Ark was great. We were so proud of her because her teacher, Miss Sue, awarded her with the "Good Friend" award. It said on it, "Olivia is friends with everyone and can play with anyone." What a wonderful affirmation. There are also some pictures from a little b-day celebration at Grammy and Papa's afterwards.

Chuck E. Cheese B-day

Sunday night we enjoyed a fun birthday celebration with just the family plus Carrie Beth and her two boys. We had a really good time, and the pizza was not as bad as I remembered it being the last time I ate there. :) Here are some pics from that night.<

Olivia's Dance Recital

Well, it has been an incredibly difficult week, but there have been mountain tops along with the valley moments, and for that we give the Lord praise and thanks. Here are some pictures from one of the definite mountain tops! What a fun day we had!

We had an awesome weekend in Wilmore with the whole family celebrating Will, JD, and Karen's graduation! The highlight had to be the baccalaureate service because Dad preached the sermon, and Will and JD helped lead the worship time. It was truly like a little piece of heaven. Dad's sermon was amazing. I was so proud of him and grateful that I can call him my father. I can't believe my little brother has graduated from college! Life moves at an increasingly rapid pace, doesn't it? I miss Wilmore and sometimes wish I could move our entire family there. It is such a gorgeous part of the country. Green rolling hills, nice weather, exceptional community. It was a tiring trip, but we had a lot of fun!

Pediatric Waiting Room

Yesterday I waited for an hour and a half in our pediatric doctor's waiting room only to be shuffled to the examining room for another 15 minute wait before being seen. It's hard not to begin making interesting observations when you're in a small room with a group of people for that long. What I have found that most pediatric waiting rooms have what are called stock characters. Here are a few of some of the reocurring ones I seem to see time and again. Feel free to add some of your own.
1. Naive Naomi. Naive Naomi just had a baby 2 weeks ago. She looks a little tired, but she is easily identified because of the pristine shape of all of her baby gear--the diaper bag looks as if she just pulled the tags off of it this morning before she came, the child is dressed as if she's taking him to a magazine shoot--hat, shoes, the whole nine yards. She tends to want to ask everyone in the room how old their child is, how much they weighed when they were in born, and somehow, without a bit of inhibition she tells her entire labor and delivery story to the whole room before we escape to an examination room. When asked how her baby is doing, Naive Naomi says, "He's sleeping pretty good right now. I think he'll be sleeping through the night very soon." When Naive Naomi hears a baby screaming from the examining room areas, she looks disturbed and says, "Oh my. Someone's upset." One of the moms with three of her four children there with her says, "Probably got a vaccination shot." Naive Naomi loses the color in her face and clutches the child to her chest.
2. Burn-out Betty. Burn-out Betty hasn't had a warm meal in over a decade (as my brother-in-law Brad always jokes). She sits in a corner chair rocking her infant (number 4) in the carseat on the floor with her right foot while attempting to steal a moment for herself in the waiting room. She has somehow managed to completely zone out the chaos around her as she voraciously reads a two year old Reader's Digest. She wipes noses of her two and four year old toddlers without looking up from the pages of the magazine. Her toddlers have found the waiting room to be a place of great freedom. They climb up on top of chairs and tables and innocently make the rounds of all the infant carrier seats in the room, poking their little germie fingers into the face of the other-wise healthy infants. Burn-out Betty might occassionally yell their names out, but she's obviously decided she's worn out with chasing them around. Too bad Burn-out Betty's oldest child is in school today, because we begin to get the feeling that Burn-out Betty depends upon her help in these kinds of situations regularly. Burn-out Betty will always be a story-topper. You know the type? So when Naive Naomi tells her labor and delivery story, she was really in for it when Burn-out Betty started in with, "You think that was a tough labor and delivery?....." We all begin to understand and pitty Burn-out Betty by the end of her her M.A.S.H.-like delivery story.
3.Perplexed Papa. Perplexed Papa has that deer-in-the-headlights kind of look. This is his first visit to the pediatric doctor's office alone with this 8 month old son, but he had to bring him in by himself, because his dear wife is sick in bed at home. He brought the diaper bag, but because he feels so strange holding a purse-like object, he carries it around like it is a bag of trash containing something unpleasantly odiferous, and after he signs in, he gets called back to the sliding glass window 5 times because he didn't fill out some paperwork properly. When asked what his co-pay is, Perplexed Papa looks particularly perplexed, and says, "My wife didn't tell me about a co-pay." He holds his sick 8 month old on his hip all the while unaware that the child's nose is running like a faucet. He wiggles in his seat uncomfortably through the labor and delivery stories, and when he finally gets called back to see the doctor, he dashes for the open door like a prisoner being set free.
4.Christian Krishanni. I love Christian Krishanni. She has a contagious smile, and she's wearing a shirt that looks like it has the Arm and Hammer logo on it, but instead of saying "Arm and Hammer" it says "Armed and Ready" and the arm pictured in the center of the logo is clutching a Bible. Underneath the logo there is a scripture and on the back of her shirt it says, "Come worship with me at New Hope Revival Holy Ghost Ebenezer Church!" Christian Krishanni is very warm and patient with all of the children in the waiting room...for the first 45 minutes of so. She's there with her pre-teen daughter who languishes on her lap asking periodically, "When is it going to be our turn, Mom?" Christian Krishanni responds graciously to her daughter for the first leg of the wait by saying things like, "I guess the doctor must've had an emergency and got behind this morning...Maybe they're just especially busy this morning...I'm sure they'll see us soon..." But even Christian Krishanni begins to lose her patience after she's waited patiently for close to an hour in that chaotic waiting room. I begin to envision the bulging bicep from Christian Krishanni's Arm and Hammer-like t-shirt logo K.O.ing the receptionist and then Christian Krishanni is surrounded by Kirk Franklin's back-up singers and they're all singing and dancing to his song "Stomp". We hear Christian Krishanni's voice trailing down the hallway singing the lyrics, "Lately, I been goin' through somethin' that's really got me down....." We all wish we were leaving with her.
5.Doormat Donna. Doormat Donna is a working mom who really doesn't regularly spend much time with her child, but her kindergartener is sick today, and so she's spending her morning in the pediatric office. She looks a little out of place in her power-suit and high, pointy heels, and regularly you wouldn't ever think she would be Doormat Donna--not in the professional world anyway, but when it comes to her little 5 year old sweetie-pie, Doormat Donna truly earns her name. Doormat Donna, bless her heart, is still trying to run her office from the pediatric waiting room with the help of her blackberry. Meanwhile 5 year old sweetie-pie is whining and fussing, and everyone in the room knows just how hungry 5 year old sweetie-pie is within a matter of minutes. "I'm hungry, Momma!! I'm realllllly hungry! Why didn't you feed me breakfast? I'm starving! When are we leaving? Moooooommmmmmmmmaaaaaa!!!!" Doormat Donna, meanwhile, leaves several people confused for a few moments because it seems as if she might be trying to engage us in conversation, and just as I begin to stupidly respond to her, she turns her head a little to show me her blue-tooth contraption stuck in her ear. I turn a little red and feel foolish. The drama continues, and Donna begins digging in her enormous purse for something to distract little sweetie-pie. Out tumbles a box of Dexatrim, a case of Altoids, her Gucci sunglasses and finally at the bottom, what she thinks is going to be her saving grace....tadahhh...the Nintendo gameboy thing! She gets a huge look of relief, tosses it in the lap of sweetie pie, and continues like a steamroller sealing the deal with this client on the phone. Doormat Donna hasn't been listening to 5 year-old sweetie pie, though, and she doesn't know she's not interested in the Nintendo! She is hungry! Finally the child takes the mother's chin in her hands and says, "I want something to eat, NOW!" She tosses the gameboy back into the large, hobo style, gold lame bag, scoops 5 year-old sweetie pie onto her hip, continuing the conversation, heads to the hallway, and returns moments later with sweetie pie nursing a large Mountain Dew and a jumbo bag of M&M's purchased from a vending machine down the hall. Just what the room needed. A dose of extreme caffeine and sugar!

Well, there are more I could describe, but I'd better end here. I'd love for you to add some of your favorite waiting room stock characters.

Potty talk

OK, this is an Adrienne original that I created while potty training Olivia. Even though she has long since been potty trained, praise ye the Lord, it is still a Rogowski household standard that we enjoy periodically. Somehow Olivia and I got to singing it this morning, and I just adore the way she sings back-up vocals for me, and I talked her into recording this with me. Hope it brings a chuckle your way, or maybe for you moms with little ones out there, it will become a household standard as you potty train your toddlers. Obviously, you can insert other words as other bathroom needs arise.

A Day in the Life part VII

I couldn't end the picture diary experience without one more picture of my wonderful handsome husband. Here he is after a very long day--finally home after the Admin. Council meeting at 9:22 PM. Join in song everyone! "He works hard for his money (duh-duh, duh-duh) So hard for it honey (duh-duh, duh-duh)! He works hard for his money, so you'd better treat him right..." :) Oh come on, you know you know that Tina Turner song! :)
Well, this has been a fun day. Maybe next time I do this I'll choose a summer day so that Stan can participate a little more. Bless you all for reading all of this. I know it's not earth-shattering news. It's just family life. And before any of you think life is ideal around here--just know that as editor of this project, I've edited out the time-out sentences of which there were two--just didn't think it would be fair to the accused to have their less-than-stellar moments included in this project. Hope you all have a wonderfully full day!

A Day in the LIfe part VI

Bath time is one of Benjamin's favorite times of the day. He's very good at doing the baby sign language for bath time, and often he'll do it to me all throughout the day, so I'm always glad when I can finally do the sign to him at night and see him get so genuinely excited. After bath and getting jammied-up and lotioned-up, Olivia wanted to read Benjamin a book or two. She gave him a sweet goodnight kiss before he hit the hay. Olivia and I read a few more books together before she went to bed. Stan is at an Administrative Council meeting at the church tonight, so we only saw him before and during dinner, and then he had to zip right back out the door again. Hopefully he'll be home before 9:30. These meetings are notoriously long. I'll try to get another shot of him in before the end of the night. It's been a nice day. Full, but good. And now with both bambinos bedded down, I've got to work on completing my Crown Financial Study homework--a little behind on that since we went to Mom and Dad's Thursday-Saturday. Time to get caught up!

A Day in the Life part V

So before Benjamin woke up, I got Olivia all dressed up in her dance attire, and while I got Benjamin up from his nap and changed his diaper, she watched her favorite parts of Mary Poppins--spoon full of sugar, jolly holiday & supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Then Benjamin and I dropped Olivia off at dance and did a quick Wal-Mart run--not exactly Benjamin's favorite thing, but we always seem to survive it. We came home to our wonderful Daddy who helped me unload the groceries and keep Benjamin from falling off of the picnic table while dinner was being prepared. Olivia helped me tonight--homemade pizza with mushrooms (or mashed potatoes as she calls them??? who knows why?) and now it's on to the bedtime preparations. I just got a call from wonderful Aunt Abby on her commute home out in Arlington, and she was telling me that Carrie Beth wouldn't want to know how people drive out near Dallas. Ich. Thank you Lord for keeping her safe. Olivia also has been telling me tonight that she has a "bad case of the wedgies". I tried to tell her that she must have on a pair of Indian drawers--'cause they keep creepin' up on her. :) Alright, on to bath time! We're coming to the finish line.

A Day in the Life part IV

So after lunch we needed a little time outside to burn off some energy before nap time! :) Benjamin and I swept the garage while Olivia rode her tricyle, played with the beach ball, and flew the kite. It is a gorgeous day here today. Not too hot, not too cool. We enjoyed playing a while. Olivia did let me fly her kite, and while she wanted to photograph me flying it, it's tricky taking action shots like that, so I don't have evidence of my kite flying ventures, but I did enjoy flying it a little myself. :) Olivia is a pro, though! Finally I got them both down for a nap, and I came into my office to work on an inventory order. I've just finished that up, and now I'm done updating our picture diary. Olivia just walked in to notify me that she's not feeling like a nap today. Oh well, worth a shot, right? :)

A Day in the Life part III

So after rushing to get showered and shined (as Kristin used to always say), I had to go wake Benjamin up in order to go get Olivia from school. I love this picture of him when he's just woken up. He looks mildly perturbed with me. Then there's a picture of us waiting in the carpool line, and then finally a pic with Olivia back in the truck with us after a great morning at preschool. She got to plant a seed today, so she was thrilled. She said, "It's gonna grow taller than Daddy!" We'll see. Hope it does grow! :) Then on home. My usual mode of operation is to turn on Dobson while getting lunch ready, and today we had sandwiches, cheese and crackers, apples and strawberries. Benjamin had a left over pancake instead of a sandwich. :) Yummy!

A Day in the Life part II

I've been working hard to keep up with Stan and his jogging regimen. I don't usually run quite as far as he does every day, but I am trying to jog between 1 and 2 miles each day. The great injustice, however, is that when Stan began jogging that much each day, the pounds just rolled off. Not exactly the story for me. I'm certain that a little additional discipline in my eating wouldn't hurt either, though. :) So here is a before and after. I actually did 2 miles today. Yeah! Go Adrienne, Go Adrienne, Go Adrienne! :) And yes, I do ask Olivia to cheer for me when she's home on Tues/Thurs and I'm treadmilling. Can you tell what my main love language is (those of you who have read the 5 love languages)?
ps--And yes, that book shelf behind the treadmill is out of control. It is a spring cleaning project that has needed attention for quite some time. :)

A Day in the Life...

A while back my dear friend, Kristin, did a wonderful picture diary for her friends to be able to see what a day in the life of the Pattison family looked like. I really enjoyed it--especially as a very far away friend, so I thought I'd do the same thing today. Here you'll see us gathered around the breakfast table at about 7:30. Olivia shows me her bowl to show me she's done with her bran flakes--great job, Liv! Benjamin fiishes his yogurt and apples with a smile, and then we get dressed for the day. After getting Benjamin and Olivia dressed, Olivia watches a little Clifford cartoon while I wrangle Benjamin and attempt to make myself look presentable for the preschool drop-off. You'll see Benjamin in our closet and on the treadmill--two of his favorite hang-outs. He's got a fettish for any and all hairbrushes right now, and I'm often catching him gagging on a hair because he's always trying to eat the brush. Yuck. Eventually we all get ready by about 8:40 and we're out the door to preschool. We had to take The Beast, the name I've given Stan's truck, since Stan took the blazer in for an oil change and to have someone look at that tire that keeps on losing air. Now I'm home, I've gotten B-man down for a nap, and I'm soon to hit the treadmill after responding to a few e-mails. Thrilling, right? ;)

Tappin' the Night Away

I think the Lord knew I needed a laugh, because I woke up laughing this morning after having a hysterical dream. I dreamed that me and a group of girlfriends were all dancing to the Terry Gibbs and the Dream Band vol. 5 CD. I don't remember the faces of most of the girls who danced, but I do remember seeing Monica dance. I don't know if you're reading this, Monica, but girl, you were one mean tap dancer in my dream--I'm talkin' Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers--OK, maybe not quite as polished, but it was truly wonderful. And at one point Monica said to me, "Why don't you take a turn, Adrienne?" I said, "I'm afraid I'll wet my pants from laughing!" Truly hysterical, because the music was extremely fast, and all the girls who danced were looking like they were on speed or something. Why in the world did I dream that??? Bizarre.

Just call me Adrienne Melodrama Rogowski

OK, sorry for the melodramatic poetry. I just had one of those encounters that left me feeling significantly frustrated, and sometimes it just feels good to write a dramatic poem expressing how I felt at the time. We all know these kind of people--people who feel their calling is to speak the truth with little grace, mercy or wisdom, and you find yourself walking away feeling like your heart was just put through a cheese grater. I've probably been the offender sometimes myself, but I hope and pray that I will allow the Lord to guide my tongue--that I will, when it is necessary and beneficial, speak the truth graciously, thoughtfully, carefully.

Heartache

After encountering her
my heart has been
forcefully,
thoughtlessly
roughed up
by a pumice stone of
harsh words.
My heart is left
Mangled
by her tell-it-like-it-is personality
Pummeled
by her hold-no-punches
philosophy of friendship
Bruised
and left with jagged edges
stunned.

Running to Win

Well, it's hump day. That middle of the week day that sometimes makes you feel as if Friday is lightyears away. I'm not regularly inspired all that greatly by Wednesdays. I enjoy fellowshipping with friends over Wednesday night supper at church and then choir rehearsal, but the rest of the day is not, in and of itself, all that inspiring. You know how you feel some Monday mornings when you realize you have a new, fresh week ahead of you. OK, I know what some of you are saying--um, no. Mondays are just that much farther from Fridays! True. There are some Mondays that feel that way to me, too, but many times I look forward to that starting over feeling you get on Monday morning--jumping back into the weekly routine. Well, for whatever reason, I kind of have that sense this morning. Indulge me as I explain how I got to this feeling. You know me, short story-long. :)
I am often frustrated with myself by the untidiness of my house--you know, the unsanitary state of my bathrooms (and oddly this morning, both happen to be clean), the crumbiness of my kitchen/dining room floor, the piles of laundry waiting to be attacked, the burner eyes on the stove that have needed to be cleaned for several weeks ever since that pot boiled over, and the ongoing growth of clutter that I battle daily on my kitchen counter, the kitchen table, and my dresser. I've mentioned before on my blog that my domestic strengths have always seemed to lie more in the deep-cleaning rather than the day-to-day maintenance. You want your bathroom scoured ceiling to floor, honey? I'm your gal, but it's those days and sometimes weeks in between scouring that leave me frustrated. I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be in the day-to-day pick-up, tidy-up, etc, and so I tend to dread the jobs that begin to grow bigger around me. I've gone through stages when I've tried to create and maintain some sort of schedule, and somehow I seem to abandon the schedule eventually, even though I find a sense of peace and stability through it. So why am I talking about this? Well, I've been trying to get my guts up to restart my MK biz, and as I've talked with the Lord about it, I've confessed to him that I know I've got to do this, but that in some ways I dread it because I know I'm really going to have to live by my day-planner--hour by hour each day, in order to get everything done--house chores, being mommy, being wife, having devos, exercising, and now MK responsibilities. I know there are some of you who adore living by a day-planner. I had never seen anyone so completely committed to her day-planner until I met Kristin. Her freshman year in college, she was the most disciplined person I'd probably ever met. I mean, if that girl had written that she was going to spend two hours studying in the basement cubicles in the library, she did not deviate from the planner--ever! She would likely tell you now that it was her obsession to distract herself from her terrible homesickness, but regardless, it was impressive. So this morning, I was thinking about Kristin and her dog-earred day-planner, filled, hour-to-hour in her less-than-lovely handwriting (you know I love it, Kace), and I suddenly felt like this was my Monday-morning-starting-fresh-day. Time to step into that yoke with the Lord, submit to the day-planner, and run this race as if to win! Did I write this appointment with my blog in the day-planner, you ask? No, not yet. Give me a running start, OK? :)

Easter Egg Hunts

Yes, I did say HuntS with an S! We attended the Noah's Ark egg hunt and then on Saturday we enjoyed the St. Mary's UMC hunt as well. If you'd like to increase your child's chance of getting cavities, please pop by for a visit and allow us to fill your pockets. Was it like this when I was a kid, Mom? I don't remember viewing Easter like a second Halloween experience. The candy overflow is out of control around here! We keep saying, "We've got to get rid of this stuff," but I'm afraid the only exit the candy seems to be finding is our mouths! We must do a purging pronto! We had fun days at both events, and Olivia really enjoyed the spirit of the "hunt" this year, more than before. She loved searching and finding which was really fun to see. Benjamin was very patient until the sand gnats got vicious on Saturday during the church egg hunt. These sand gnats truly test your patience! We were mentioning to my grandparents, Mimi and Poppy who were ministers at SMUMC years ago, that Stan attended the sunrise service down on the riverfront and Stan was telling them how horrible the gnats were. Mimi said that they just didn't have a sunrise service when they were here--they just said that everybody knew the gnats were too awful to contend with. Hallelujah! Come on folks! Jesus knows we love him whether we sit outside or inside at 6:45 in the morning. Right? :)