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I10lbs2hvy
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Interests: Reading, exercising (not often enough-note my username), shopping (probably too often-note my credit card statement), napping, spending time with my wonderful family.
Expertise: Don't you think the word "expertise" is a little strong?
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
11/19/2003
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| Ah, Florida...We are LOVING vacation. We've done all the Disney parks and a TON of swimming. We still have Bippity Boppity Boo makeovers for the girls, Arabian Nights, Kennedy Space Center, another day at the Magic Kingdom, a lot MORE swimming and then a day at the Georgia Aquarium on our way home. We have had a great time as a family. I love just being with the kids and not having any other responsibilities. It feels so weird to just go to the playground and do nothing but watch them play, or sit by the pool and just enjoy their hilarity. I read a couple books on the trip down, but haven't done any reading since we've been here. I take care of work emails or stuff at night. So in the day, it is just the family and I love it.
One thing that has really stood out at me is how blessed my kids are to have each other. They each have a built in best friend. I can't imagine the girls without each other or the boys without each other. They are just the best little pairs. Who doesn't want their best friend with them all the time. All four of my kids have that. God was really good to our family when he gave us our kids.
For the first week of vacation, they had cousins too, which they loved. The girls would take Mia home in a minute and the boys and Carson are just three peas in a pod. My kids were very sorry to see them go yesterday. But boy am I glad we still have a week. It is going to be SO hard to go back to winter. This feels normal...I like 80 degrees, tank tops and shorts, tan shoulders, etc. The idea of going home and bundling everyone up every time we leave the house STINKS! I am thankful for the break, but I think it will make the rest of winter that much more painful.
I also realized that I am dreaming if I think I will have time to do major picture posts when we get home, so I'm doing the smart thing and doing them now. Enjoy!!!
Thanks to facebook, we've recently reconnected with some of our old family friends from WAY back in the day. When I was a little girl, Nicole and Merry Hancock were two of my friends. We were able to stop and meet their families in Tennessee on our way down. It was truly great.
They were sweet enough to throw Brady a mini party for his birthday. He played shy, but he loved it.
The trip down was LONG. Here are Nicole and Brady playing follow the leader in Subway to burn some energy.
This is Brady doing his new pouty posture when he was being too loud and told to sit down. Cute, yet totally unacceptable.
The sweet boy sleeping on big sis's shoulder.
If we're at the house, they're in the pool!
The girls got their faces painted at the Magic Kingdom. Beautiful...
Jason was tall enough to ride a lot of rides...Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Dinosaur, etc...He absolutely loved them all and was proud as punch that he could go with Mommy and Daddy.
Brady missed the cut-off by about an inch and a half and was pretty sad...
The kids at Nemo
Last time we were here, Renee was too short for the water slide. She has loved it this time.
Let me just answer both your questions...First, yes. Nicole is becoming quite a lovely young lady and we know what's coming as she gets older...and second, yes. I am aware that I really need to get my haircut so I have bangs again. Can you say freakishly large forehead?
I LOVE this shot!
The boys got their faces done at Hollywood Studios...it took Jason a few hours to decide he liked it.
No kid should be this cute!
Even superheroes need their rest.
I love my boys.
After a long day, Renee needed a rest and a foot rub from Daddy while waiting for fireworks.
I am so glad she's still a little girl in a lot of ways. You wouldn't believe how happy these ears made her.
Brady loves the splash pad.
There was no way I was buying him this ridiculous hat that he loved, so we compromised by just getting a picture of him in it.
Jason has developed a deep love for "Fluto" so this was his toy choice.
Character greetings...
My bugs.
Brady's glasses were evidently too tight on his nose.
The cousins had a ball.
But they didn't have any fun at the dinosaur playground.
Renee loved the parades.
Brady was awed.
But I think Jason was the most impressed. :)
My valentine and I had a WONDERFUL evening on the Boardwalk.
And that's only the first half of vacation. Much more wonderful pictures to come...
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| Let's bring xanga back, people!I'll admit it, it's hard to give time for a real post on xanga when you can just flip through facebook and post a status quickly. But we need more than that! I'll post and comment more if you will!
I thought I'd give a little update before we leave on vacation. We leave soon for a two and a half week vacation. It won't all be play because Eric is going to work remotely for one of the weeks and we are doing at least one week of school while we are gone. But it is going to be in nice, warm, snow-free Florida. We can't wait. We'll do the Disney thing, the Kennedy thing, etc. I'm just looking forward to a break from winter and a chance to watch my kids have a ball. Not that they don't have plenty of fun even when locked up inside, as you'll see from some of my pics.
Not much new going on here. Our biggest excitement is that we are finishing our basement. This is the "hang drywall week." My poor boys hardly ever get solid naps anymore since there is constant banging and sawing going on downstairs, but they are hanging in there.
We are still loving homeschool and are 99.9% sure we will homeschool the girls again next year. We loved school and it seemed fine when we were in it. However, now that we've been out of it for a while, it seems absurd how much of our life had to be scheduled around it and how much time our kids spent there versus how much time they had with the family. We LOVE home education. We may still send Jason for some morning preschool next year, but that is to be determined.
I'll leave you with some pics from the last month and I will try to give you some updates from vacation while we're gone. Pray that we stay safe and healthy!
Nicole felt Brady behind her holding something to her head, saying, "I'm gonna fix you." She THOUGHT it was a play screwdriver until she heard a snip and pulled down a small handful of hair. Thankfully, she has such a mass of hair, you can't really tell unless you pull out the short part. Brothers!
I never posted pics of Renee's haircut. This is after a month of growth. She looks so cute with short hair.
We went with the slight stack in the back for some variety.
The kids have had several opportunities to see little miss Mercy (our youth pastor's new daughter) and they love her dearly. They are hoping her mommy goes back to work so we can babysit for them again. :)
The kids spent over an hour creating a playdough picnic one day. It took forever to clean up, but they had a blast.
I came out from showering one day and the boys had dragged a large part of their animal collection down and made an audience for themselves.
Their adoring fans.
A close-up of the performers and their microphones.
I love my family!
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| I couldn't do it...Yesterday was the eleven year anniversary of my dad's death. It floors me to say and acknowledge that. I tried so hard to ignore the day. I thought about it several times, but I just couldn't bring myself to mention it. I didn't talk about it with Eric, I didn't call my mom...nothing. But my body must KNOW. It must need the release. Because after trying so hard to ignore it all day, at 1:00 a.m. last night, I couldn't put it aside anymore. And I just laid in my bed and cried. And I BEGGED God to please tell my dad how much I miss and love him. There is a lot I could say, but I think I said it all last year, so I'm just going to repost what I wrote last year.
**As I sit here with tears pouring down my face, Brady came in to ask me to help him go potty. He looked at my face and said, "Mommy, why do you have doze sad fings on your face?" and proceeded to clumsily wipe them off with his little toddler hands. Thanks, Lord. I needed that.**
Originally posted on Jan. 6, 2008-
January 6, 1998 is a day that changed my life forever. On that day, the Lord took my dad, Stephen Forrest Hatfield, home to heaven. Today makes ten years. On one hand, it almost seems longer, because so much has happened since that day. One the other hand, sometimes the pain is so fresh it feels like it just happened. I remember when I first heard the news, the first thought that flew through my head was, "Life will never be good again." I remember the next day, sitting in my mom's living room with the rest of my family and thinking, "People must be praying for me, because I am doing okay...how on earth am I doing okay?" And at his funeral thinking, "So this is what the peace that passes understanding is...I don't know how God is getting us through this, but He is"...I couldn't understand how, but I was okay...and then a few months later, realizing that there were still good times, and life was still going to be good...just not how I thought it was going to be. Today, I have a WONDERFUL life. A truly wonderful, blessed life. Ten years ago tonight, I honestly didn't feel like that would be possible, but here I sit, blessed by God, but aching for my dad.
I don't think we had the typical father/daughter relationship. I think we had what I wish WAS the typical father/daughter relationship. He was so good to me. Because of my life as a softball pitcher, he and I spent a lot of time one on one through hours of practice. He was my catcher. Even after he had his pacemaker put in and couldn't bruise because of the blood-thinners, he just went out and bought full catcher's gear so he could still be my pitching partner. He loved my softball career. I remember the night I was invited to come to Grace College to try out for a scholarship for my college years. I had just gotten off the phone with the coach and worked out my flight to visit Indiana. My dad was SO excited he literally couldn't stand still. He was pacing around, making fists, and couldn't stop laughing, and smiling, and squealing with joy. He told me that even if I didn't get the scholarship and nothing came of pitching in college, this exciting visit made all the work (and all the money) over the years worth it. It was such a big moment for us. Fortunately, it did work out and I pitched for Grace College. My freshman year, my parents and little sister flew out and surprised me so they could watch a few games. (It was a REALLY big surprise, because the weekend right before, I had flown out and surprised THEM at my brother's wedding. I think poor Eric was the only one that knew both things were happening, but he couldn't tell anyone!) Having my dad there to cheer at those games was awesome. Especially since I had one of my best pitching sequences ever to a batter...struck her out so humiliatingly that she swore and chucked her helmet over the dugout...My dad's joy over that radiated for miles, I promise.
He was a talker and I am a talker, so we were a great match. Throughout high school, I can't remember ever coming home, no matter how late, where he wasn't waiting up, playing solitaire on the computer, ready to talk about my night. I would lay on the dining room floor, he would sit in the chair and keep playing and we would just talk. When I was twenty years old, I would have listed my two best friends as my husband and my dad. Most of who I am today is because of my relationship with my dad. He loved me. He invested in me. He believed in me. And he made me believe in myself.
He was a man of God. He was retiring from his civilian job with the police department to become a pastor at our church when he died. He loved God's Word more than anyone I've ever known or known of. He read it all the time. When we'd go to amusement parks, he would always wait on the bench for us with his New Testament, reading away. I think he went through the Old Testament twice a year and the New Testament four times a year...EVERY year. ***EDIT...my mom corrected me...it was the O.T. once a quarter (4X per year!) and the N.T. once a month (12 X per year!...told you loved the Word of God!)*** I once knew the count of how many times he'd read through the Bible, but I've forgotten. But it was a lot. He loved the church, he loved serving in the church, he loved teaching in the church. He was so gifted in those areas. His impact is still felt by those that were blessed enough to sit under his teaching. None were more blessed by his love for God and his teaching than our family. We got to grow up seeing it every day and I only pray I can glorify God and serve my local church half the way he did.
I can see how much of who I am is from him...and sometimes I just ache to have him see me as I am now. He loved me as a kid and a teenager, and a newlywed, but I just wish he could see who I am today. There is so much to miss about him. He was so much fun to have around. His jokes were legendary (some in a good way, some in a not so good way...his office officially retired some of his frequent one liners for him...). I wish my mom still had his love and companionship. I wish he would have been there to see my sisters get married. I desperately wish he could meet his grandchildren. He was amazing with kids and I can't think about the joy he would get from my four without physically hurting. There are times I've had troubles with people or church issues and I have longed to be able to call him for advice. There are times I've had bible questions and wished that he was only a phone call away (he saved me a few times in Old Testament in college) Every time we are going to visit family or they are coming here, we wish he was going to be a part of it also. But of all the things I wish he was here for, the big events and the small...I think I miss just having him in my corner all the time...knowing that somewhere across the country, is someone who is crazy about me...and is proud of me...and thinks I'm one of the most special people he knows. Everybody needs that. I have supportive people in my life, of course, but there's nothing like having a dad who's nuts about you. I want to hear what he thinks about my life. I want to have him see me as a wife and mom, and I want him to see how much of what I do with my kids is because of how great a dad he was to me. I want to be able to thank him for what an amazing parent he was, now that I have traveled that road myself.
I said several times during the week of his death that I would have rather had him for a dad for 21 years than any other dad for 60. And that is still true today. I am thankful God gave me him, even if that meant I had to lose him when I was just 21. And now that it's been ten years, he's been gone for a third of my life. I know that before I blink, I will have lived longer without his presence than I did with. But I also know that I will still be who I am largely because of his influence on me. And I will still talk about him with my kids and then lord-willing, my grandkids. We will still sing along to his music. And I will still listen to his CD's just to hear his voice. I will still think of him as I strive to be like God and be so proud of the way he lived his life and the scores of people he impacted. And in every area of my life, there will still be traces of him. Because he was one of a kind. And while I am so achingly sad he is gone, I am a million times more grateful that God allowed me the blessing to be his daughter. I miss you, Dad.
Stephen Forrest Hatfield
December 2, 1942-January 6, 1998
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