Conversations

Richard: You look good today.
Erin [washing dishes]: Mmhm.
R: Your shirt looks good.
E: Mmhm.
R: Your hair looks good.
E: Mmhm.
R: Your armpits stink.
E [checks]: Mmhm.

I am a work in progress.

When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life
through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristic of being maimed. There are a hundred and one things that you dare not do— things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, "What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!" There has never yet been a saint who has not lived a maimed life initially. Yet it is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in
God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s.

-Oswald Chambers

Dear Husband,

Thank you for taking me shopping tonight and convincing me to buy "cool tones" like blues and greens, by telling me you've never seen me look so good.
You have no idea how good that made me feel.
I will wear sapphire blue forever. : )
I love you so much,
Wife

A couple things.

How does it work that I have run out of soap in EVERY room all at once? Currently on my shopping list: dish soap, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, hand soap refill, Johnson's soap.

Operation Clean Out the Freezer in '08 has begun.
Today for lunch I ate a personal pan pizza from 1999.
OK, not that old, but close.
For dinner we are having stuffed shells that Lauren made when the baby was born.

SJ and I are about to head to WalMart to buy SOAP in many different forms, and some new shorts for Mommy, since I currently own ONE pair that I bought my sophomore year in college.
Exactly.

We have taken to taking morning naps. SJ and I lay down every morning around 11 and sleep until 1. I don't know why I am ashamed of this, but I am. I'm hoping that by admitting it publically, I won't feel bad about it anymore.

What's the deal with baby capri pants? What a joke!

I think that's everything I wanted to say for today.

Oh, how about an haiku for old time's sake?

Staying at home and
caring for my hus and girl;
all my dreams are true.

A Walk to Remember

We just tried to go for a walk, because I suspect that Little Miss is getting a little stir crazy...or maybe it's just me.
I thought she might need a little more action--some fresh air--something new to look at. Alas.
After the sixty minutes it took me to dress myself and the baby, change the baby after the poop-splosion, find the dog's leash, and locate my sunglasses, SOMEBODY screamed all the way down the driveway and halfway up the hill, and then SOMEBODY didn't want to go home already and got out of his collar and tried to make a break for it and all the while SOMEBODY ELSE was sweating profusely and cursing the brilliant idea of going for a walk.
I came inside holding a screaming someone, and told Richard what happened. I said, "We've been gone a half hour and only made it about 100 yards."
Richard said, "Half hour? You've been gone ten minutes."

I may never have to blog again...

As long as Ellen keeps doing stuff like this.

Have you guys seen this yet?

No? Why NOT?!

Baby Gavin

My first-ever nephew, Gavin Jeffrey Desvousges-Nelson was born today to Jeff Desvousges and Stacy Nelson at 12:35pm, weighing 8lbs, 9oz and measures 22 inches long.

Welcome to our family, little boy. You were created in God's image and belong solely to Him. We love you already and can't wait to watch you grow. I pray you will be strong and corageous; gentle in spirit and bold in faith and love.

Blessings on you Gavin Jeffrey.

I love you dearly.

oink

Dear Richard,

When comparing our baby to a hungry piglet, please keep in mind that this hilarious scenario makes me a sow.

I love you forever and always,

Erin

p.s. When we are mere minutes away from meeting your co-workers, please keep your opinions about my "just ok" hair to yourself.

Stir Fry Threat

Tonight Richard made dinner for us.
Nervously, he said, "Do you like it? You can tell me if you don't like it."
I said, "I love it."
He said, "Don't lie to me--I'll make it again."

Emory Estella Tharp

She's here!! She's finally here!

After a tense couple of weeks, Emory Estella was born into our family today at 1:35pm, weighing a surprising (in my opinion) 5lbs 13oz.

Miranda, her proud mama, was hypertensive and on bedrest for a while. Not an easy thing with an almost two-year-old running around! God is so good to give us another healthy and beautiful baby.

Welcome, sweet little girl! God's many abounding blessings on your curly brown little head. I pray that you will be a gracious and kind woman with your mother's gentle spirit. God is doing a good work in you already, baby, as well as in your future husband, for whom I also pray. I look forward to many, many years of telling you not to hit your brother and to chew with your mouth closed.

I love you dearly--you are a miracle baby.

Love,

Cousin Erin

p.s. If you learn to put your head on my shoulder and pat my back like your brother does, I will do ANYTHING for you. A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

p.p.s. I can't wait to love you up!

p.p.p.s. I can't believe I missed your arrival by mere days!! It's killing me!

Milwaukee, here we come!!

We took our first family trip this week to the great city of MILWAUKEE. Wahoo.
Richard's company was hosting an employee appreciation event at Miller Park (which cost us nearly $100. "Let us show you we appreciate you...but it'll cost ya!"). Regardless of the cost or nutso co-workers, we had a really great time on our first-ever family getaway.
Warning: MANY photos to follow. : )


New theory: the bodily fluids that show up on a hotel bedspread in a black light MIGHT be spit-up.
















Gracie Jo teaching Shirley Jean to suck her thumb.

















Pondering baseball.
















The belle of the ballgame.
















Daddy-time.














Mommy-time. (Notice the guy in the background.)






My mother is wearing a Brewers hat!!




If Richard looks thrilled to be sitting in a giant baseball glove, it's because he is.
























This is what I saw ALL WEEKEND. It's impossible to get anywhere easily in Milwaukee.
















Telling secrets over Mexican food.


Hands down, the highlight of our weekend was taking the baby swimming for the first time. Check out my baby blog for video!

Fear (and a little Loathing)

It's pretty well known that Satan will attack us where he knows we are weakest, right?
For some reason, my weakenesses are almost always fear-based.
If I get really angry, sad, let myself be overcome with worry, or fall down in general, I can usually trace my failure back to some root fear that I cannot EVER seem to escape.
Well, without going into the gory details, I have been having some very serious issues with emotionally paralyzing fear. You know the kind? The kind that stops you mid-breath and makes you question whether or not you can continue INHALING?
Well, until about an hour ago, Satan had me so confused by fear that once I got over one particular fear (or so I thought), he had another one waiting for me on the other side of the bathroom door. Literally.
I prayed and cried with Richard about it, and then came upstairs to check the blogs and read My Utmost for His Highest.
Once again, Chambers (http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php) proves to be proufound. (Thank you, God for using this man's writing so eloquently in my life.)
Chambers writes,
"I [...] have to build my thinking patiently to bring it into perfect harmony with my Lord. God will not make me think like Jesus— I have to do it myself. I have to bring 'every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ' (2 Corinthians 10:5). 'Abide in Me'— in intellectual matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life what it is."
Oh, there is so much to talk about here!
The most important part to me, tonight at 1:36am?
I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN FEARFUL THOUGHTS!!
I can ask God to help me remove specific images from my mind, but it's MY responsibility, not HIS, to focus on Godly things. This, to me, means that I need to trust God in the areas that I worry about (hel-LO! Aren't fear and WORRY essentially one in the same??)
Is focusing on my fear Godly?
2 Chorinthians 10:5 in its entirety says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (ebible.com)
Now look at the way I've been thinking about it:
"We demolish arguments [posed by Satan against our ultimate goal of glorifying God IN. ALL. THINGS.] and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of [thoughts, focus on] God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ [ERIN!!! GOD DOESN'T WANT YOUR THOUGHTS TO BE TAKEN UP BY FEAR. THAT IS NOT 'OBEDIENT TO CHRIST.']
God is so faithful to us when we cry out to Him.
I just had to share.

I love when Christians have a sense of humor!

Torn

Mom, SJ and I are leaving tomorrow morning after the first feeding (not to be confused with the first light. Although, I suppose from SJ's point of view, one could make the argument...).
In preparation, I borrowed two books on CD from the library, which I am, at this moment, loading on to my iPod.
Is this bad?
I mean, I'm doing it for the convenience of not having to take 18 cd's on the road with us. Not because I want to steal anything.
I just don't know if this is right or wrong.
I'm doing it either way.

Creative Cooking

In the same vein as my friend Kara Jo, I have been trying to be wise with our money and plan our meals ahead of time. (Thankfully, Shirley Jean is easy to please, as you can tell by the photo.) I've been praying that God would help me be creative and thrifty. He has honored my prayer requests...and we've eaten some pretty weird things lately, that all turned out delicious.
Tonight? Grilled chicken breasts and caesar salad along with stale hamburger buns grilled with EVOO and garlic salt. (I know, right?!) Not that weird, I know, but it gets better.
Last week? Homemade hasbrowns: two Russett potatoes, one sweet potato, one parsnip (again, I KNOW!!), grated and fried with sausage and eggs.
The next night? Stromboli made from packaged pizza dough, salami and cheese.
I know none of this proves I'm a genius or even a fantastic cook, but it's a small victory for me as a new SAHM.

Dear Richard,

Let's face it. I have some pretty good ideas.
Before I came along, you didn't even eat sweet 'n' sour sauce on your McNuggets or French Fries.
I still maintain that Nebraska needs a professional football team.
Imagine it!
Nebraska! Home of the Fighting Tornadoes!
The Mighty Corn Rows!
The Rumbling Runzas!
The ROLLING WHEAT FIELDS!
I love you.
Sincerely yours (forever),
Erin

Dr. Phil

Do you think Dr. Phil ever gets sick of dealing with people's ridiculously stupid problems?

I sure hope he makes a lot of money. It would take a lot to deal with these idiots.

I'm just saying.

Why Women Need Catalogs

Dear Swampy,

When can we have another blogger brunch?
Sincerely yours,
Erin

p.s. Please note, I said brunch.

p.p.s. We could even consider a blogger DINNER. Thoughts?

p.p.p.s. When I was looking for this photo of me and Kristi, I found this:

A 'Ton of Fun

During our Tornado / Guitar Hero / Richard and His Co-Workers Hate Their Lives Party tonight, it was decided that we needed to make cream cheese wontons, or 'tons as they shall henceforth be called. (Pronounced "tahn.")
McClain and Mike made up a simple recipe for Crab Rangoon (along with lots of interesting shapes for our 'tons), and from there we went through the cupboards looking for other goodies to put in our 'tons.
Here's what we came up with:
-Brat-ton
-Reeses-ton
-Fudge-ton
-HighLife-ton
-Nutella-ton
-PeanutButter-ton
-Smucker-ton
-Oreo-ton
-DogTreat-ton
-Tea-ton
-S'More-ton
-SweetPotato-ton
-TaterSalad-ton
-Broccoli-ton
-Guac-ton
-Tuna-ton (a group favorite)
-Crouton-ton (my personal favorite)
We fought over the 'tons as the came out of the fryer, and stood outside barefoot on the deck burning the insides of our mouths on our 'tons.
Sadly, we didn't get to actually try any of our new flavors due to the inclement weather. We spent the next hour inside watching the news and arguing about whether or not to move the party to tbe basement. Guitar Hero (upstairs) won out.
I realize this might be the kind of story that is only funny if you were there, but...I don't care. We laughed and laughed.

An Uphill Battle

In Lincoln, my grandma's house is at the bottom of a hill.
Every time I am visiting, I see the same gentleman in a wheelchair working his way to the top of the hill.
Kills me every time.
Oh, the irony.