Yankees

So yesterday was Scott's 32nd birthday. His brother, Tim, is out visiting, and treated us (Tim, Scott, Max and me) to a Yankees vs. Orioles baseball game in Baltimore last night. I love Camden Yards- it's a great stadium, where all seats are great!

Tim went down earlier than we did, so we drove alone. We were looking for a parking spot (garage, lot, whatever) and everything was $20-$25! Unbelievable! We spotted a lot for $10 and as we turned around, I saw some spots on the street, and even though during the day they are metered, after 6pm they are FREE- it was 6:15. God blessed us!

The game was so exciting! Not only did I get to see 5 homeruns, 4 of them were by the Yanks. And, not only that, but the first two were back to back...and so were the second two. I have never seen that once, let alone twice! It was great.

The thing that was so shocking to me was the amount of Yankees fans. I would say the majority of people there were rooting for the Yanks. That was fine by me...because I just joined right in. Anyway, all this to say that I think I enjoyed this game as much as the guys did. I could go watch baseball every night. I just love it. Football, no. But Baseball, yes! There's my post for the day! :)

A lot going on

This last week and a half has surely been a crazy one. There have been some really good times and some stressful ones as well. Let's start with the positives...

Last Friday I was able to spend my birthday at Hersheypark with my husband- just the two of us. We have not been there alone in 10 years. The thing I found so fun that day was getting pictures of us on rides that I had gotten 10 years ago (our first date as a matter of fact), and now comparing them. I am going to get a frame and put them in it. I think it will be fun. We did have a blast and I was so thankful for my friend, Daphne, (the next on my list to write about) for sending me FREE tickets for the day.

Then, on Monday, I had my sister come over again to babysit for me all day. What a good girl. I headed up to a mall in Lancaster to meet two of my college friends, Daphne and Becca. We had an absolute BLAST shopping from about 11 am until 9 pm. I spent all my birthday money and got tons of stuff. Sales were awesome, and that is the way to go. God blessed my day!

Yesterday was Paige's birthday. I got up and cleaned the house until my sister came over and we all headed off to Chuck E Cheese's. (Yeah, I say it's for the kids, but it's always for me because it's my favorite place!) Then we got food at Costco, came home, and set up the food for a party. All my family (except my brother, Adam's family) came. It was such a great party. It felt like Christmas!

Today I am cleaning up the mess and getting ready for Scott's brother and friend to come stay with us for a few days. They will be here a couple days this week, then a few more next week, and then some days in Sept. I haven't seen Tim since we've moved so it will be good to hang out again.

Last week we officially started school, and that has been so so so great! It is wonderful teaching all my kids and doing it individually with all of them. I love homeschooling! I find myself sitting there smiling as I watch them doing their work. I laugh to myself when I notice the differences between each kid. It's so obvious, and I am thankful to God for giving me the ability to do this. I would be missing out on so much. (Like when the kids come home from Sunday School and I just trash their papers right away so we don't have junk lying around- I had no idea what they were doing. I'm sure it was good, but I wasn't part of it, so I don't have that excitement that I would have if I were teaching.) I love knowing each day exactly what they are doing- and making it fit for them and their learning styles. It's so fun...and much easier than I ever would have expected.

Those are the highlights of my week. The negative is that my sister-in-law, Kristy, has decided to "run away from home." She just up and left with the two kids and we don't know where she is. We think she's in Nevada. She talks to her mom every once in a while, and we know everyone's fine, but she is just not thinking clearly. Apparently, she finally talked to her husband, Chris, yesterday and said she doesn't love him and doesn't want to be his wife anymore. It's so sad, and although Kristy has done many crazy things that the family would not approve of, we are usually not so shocked as we are now. I can't believe she has done this, and I am praying that somehow God will grab her heart and "knock some sense into her." It is going to take an act of God. I know He can do it, but have no idea if that is part of His plan. I say all this to ask if you would pray with us. Hopefully one day soon I can add this situation to the "good things that happened this week" section of my blog!!!

Jen

Perfect timing...I just received an award, which I will blog about next, from my friend, Jen, and I was just about to write this new post about her...another friend in Oregon.

For those of you who have been to my house, you will know Jen by the picture that is sitting next to my coffee maker. It's of me with four of my close friends in Oregon. We all signed it, which I think was a fun idea (not my own). This is the Jen I am writing about today...Jen Rouse.

If I want to describe her, I just have to tell you that as I was all worked up about some crazy story I heard (via email) of a little boy who was killed while going into a men's restroom alone, Jen, my most sensible friend, just encouraged me to look on Snopes. How simple was that? But I don't think like she does, obviously. I get all crazy and emotional and weird :) and Jen is there to calmly say, "Amy, let's give this a little more thought." Now I certainly don't want to portray Jen as being boring or too intellegent- she is a lot of fun. I have laughed hard many times with Jen and appreciate so much that she has both sides. She is probably the most well-rounded person I know. It's like she can laugh with you, cry with you, be crazy with you, but also bring you down to reality quickly when you need it. In a world full of many unstable people, it sure is nice to have someone like Jen around! :)

I would say that I love our differences. Jen helps me see a different side to things, but at the same time, is so fun and has the same real life struggles that I have. It makes it easy to sit and have a conversation with her because you never feel judged, you don't have to be fake, and you know you've been heard and understood. One of my favorite memories with Jen was maybe a month or so before we were going to move and I was babysitting her girls for a couple hours. When she came to pick them up, we got to talking and the subject of our move came up. She got teary and so did I. If you know me, I absolutely hate to cry in front of people, but I was amazed that I did not feel uncomfortable with Jen in that situation. We both knew how sad it would be to not see each other as often as we would have if we didn't move (especially now that we lived in the same town), and most of all to not be able to watch our kids grow up together in the same way.

Yes, I miss Jen. I wish she could come over for dinner tonight. I wish I could watch her girls tomorrow (including Evie, whom I still haven't met! Sad!) and see my kids' faces when they got to see each other again. But, I appreciate that we are still friends via email, blogging, and the sweet letters Beth sends in the mail.

Jen, I do appreciate who you are. You are one of a kind, really! That is awesome because you are the one person everyone can count on. You are reliable, trustworthy, and mature. At the same time you have a great sense of humor (anyone knows that if you know who she's married to! :) Eric is just crazy!). I'm thankful that we had a chance to get close, even if it was just in time for us to move out here. We struggled with things at church, and I feel that brought us close in a way that will be an eternal bond. As hard as those times were, I'm thankful for them. I think all of our friendships are stronger because of that! I love you, Jen!

Oregon Friends- Heather

I decided to write about my Oregon friends for those of you from Maryland who read my blog. How about that?

Let me start with Heather. Do you ever have one of those friends you just feel really connected with? It seems like you can talk and just completely understand what the other person is saying. The interesting thing about mine and Heather's relationship is that we aren't exactly alike. We have different interests in many ways. I would actually like to be more like Heather and have the priorities in life that she has. She is probably the friend I admire the most. I just think she has it all together! And, no, I am not putting her up on some kind of unreachable petastal. I just mean that she is a very balanced person and her emotions don't guide the decisions she makes for her family. I really appreciate that because it's an area I know I could stand to work on.

Heather really inspires me. She is the one who encourages me the most in my spiritual life as well. I love her because she challenges me in ways that are very non-threatening. We have some kind of awesome connection, and usually it's not about the superficial things in life. We have a deeper friendship than that.

I also think it's awesome that even though I have been away from OR for 8 months now, and both of us have taken different roads than we were leading before I left, we still really understand each other and still have some of the same struggles and frustrations. It lends itself to great conversations.

I would say that Heather is the one who I have grown up the most with in my adult life. I am so thankful that she pursued our friendship almost immediately after I moved to Oregon. She is the one who kept me sane, but also gave me a great time, all the years I lived out there. We started out just newly married, then we have enjoyed being pregnant together, and now we are both homeschooling and sharing similar experiences all along the way. I love that.

Heather, you are like a sister to me, and I love you so very much. I think it's rare to meet someone later in life (after school days) and still be able to develop a friendship that is like one you've had your whole life. I think you are great, and I miss you!

Tammy

Tammy is another one of those friends I've had for many, many years. Unlike my relationship with Melissa, though, Tammy and I did fight a lot. She and I spent so much time together, we were very much like sisters. We used to make up contracts (and have her parents sign them) that we would not fight anymore! :)

Tammy was the one in high school who I felt went through so much together with. Her parents split up and I was with her through that. And when she was dating her now husband, Keith, I was dating his best friend, Dave. That was a cool thing because the four of us spent a lot of time together at youth group and then at places like the mall and the movies (when we finally turned 16 and were old enough to date!). Those relationships lasted over two years, so it was a large chunk of our high school years.

Then, when I broke things off with Dave, mine and Tammy's relationship changed drastically. It was sad, although I didn't realize it so much at the time (because I started spending more time with Melissa at that point). Dave started dating another one of our friends and she and Tammy became close while Tammy and I drifted farther apart. It was just a normal high school thing I guess.

After high school, Tammy and I did not keep in touch. I got involved in college and with my friends there and didn't think much about her I guess. But one day I got an invitation to her bridal shower. I was shocked and really excited to go. I hadn't seen her in a couple years. So I did go and we have been in touch ever since.

Once I got married and moved to Oregon, we emailed. But now that I am back in Maryland, it is fun to see how our relationship has blossomed again. It just so happens that we live just 3.3 miles away from her and so we try and get together as much as we can. We usually get together as couples. She and Scott are both accountants, who work about a mile away from each other. Tammy's husband, Keith, works in the same parking lot as Scott does. They have two boys who get along great with my kids.

I love those friendships that, even after a few years and a lot of life changes, picks up where it left off and you are the same people you were, even in the 5th grade when you first met. Tammy is definitely one of those people. I would still say that she is the one friend who is most like a sister to me. We have tons of memories, most of which consisted of trying out new and dumb things- the things that help you to grow up. She and I definitely learned to grow up together, and I will always have a special bond with her because of that.

There must have been an angel

It worked out perfectly. My uncle's birthday party was Tuesday night, and since he lives about 1 1/2 hours away (closer to the beach), and we were heading to the ocean that night anyway, we stopped and enjoyed visiting with family for the celebration. My aunt told me that the pool would be open, but I planned on not having the kids swim, so I wouldn't have to take wet clothes with us. I just thought it would be easier. Plus, they were going to be playing in the ocean the next day anyway, so I figured it would be fine.

When we got there, we pointed out the pool, which is not fenced in, to all the kids (including Riley) and told them to stay away from it. And, all night they did great. Scott and my brother, Adam, were outside most of the evening anyway, so if they did try to get close, they would be there to see what was going on. There were no problems during the party at all, which was great.

We decided to leave a little before it got dark. I had to run out to the car with Jillian, and I asked my mom to kind of heard the kids in the house and help me get them ready to go. They all came in and all was fine. My mom had to use the bathroom, so she went in there. I was out front helping my dad move some of his luggage into our van. When my mom came out of the bathroom, she heard some people talking, saying, "something's going on at the pool." Then she heard some screaming, looked out, and saw Riley (who will be 2 in Sept.) in the middle of the pool on his back flailing around. She immediately darted out the back door, ran down the steps of the deck (which was a miracle in and of itself because of her bad knees), and jumped in the pool to save him...literally. The kids were all on the side of the pool screaming, and he had somehow managed to get himself in the middle of the pool. How he stayed above water for as long as he did amazes me. Honestly, there MUST have been an angel holding his little body up and his head out of the water. He was crying, but as soon as my mom got there, that's when he started to go under. She got to him just in time.

Meanwhile, I came casually walking around the side of the house with Jillian and saw her in the pool. My thought was, "Mom, this is not the time to swim- we are leaving. What is she doing in the pool???" Then, when I saw my aunt standing there crying, I knew what had happened. To my surprise, I was really calm, and wasn't even shaken up at all. I guess it's because by the time I got there, Riley was calmed down and everything was already fine.

But, the part that made me want to cry was after we were thanking and praising my mom for saving him, Max walked by me, and I felt that he was wet from the waist down. I asked him why he was so wet and he said, "I tried to go in after him and save him, but then I thought, what am I doing? I don't know how to swim!" Now that's something for a 7 year old.

Man we were fortunate that night! God saved Riley for a reason. My cousin said I need to sing the song "I am a promise" to him. That is his song now!

Aunt Lucy

The next friend I will write about is the one I've had the longest. Melissa and I have pictures of us on a 1st grade field trip together, as well as our high school graduation. We went to the same (Christian) school together from Kingergarten through 12th grade. We've always had a really good relationship. We did not fight much. We were more the type to laugh and giggle too much- and get in trouble in class for it (even in high school).

Because of our relationship, we would joke and call each other Lucy and Ethel (she was Lucy and I was Ethel). Well, two years ago, when we were in MD visiting, Melissa invited me out for breakfast. She was bringing her son, Kyle (who is now 3), and so I brought Paige with me. Then after we ate, we decided to go to the mall (which is something we very much have in common!). Before we left, she had to stop by her house for something. Well, all day, I had been calling her Liss, because that is what I call her. But, when she went inside, Paige asked, "What is Lucy doing?" I guess she thought I was saying Lucy, and I about died. The awesome thing is that it somehow stuck, and now all my kids actually call her Aunt Lucy! We think that is great!

Now, Melissa has two kids, Kyle and Brooke (who just turned a year the other day). Our favorite thing to do together, and probably this is ALL we do together because we love it, is to take the kids to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I would say that out of all my friends, Liss and I are most alike. We just think the same way, and everything comes out funny, no matter what you're talking about. I often find her laughing when telling me some horrible story that is really actually sad- she says she can't help it. For some reason, I just make her laugh! :) It's mutual that way. We are still like kids when we're together and it makes our relationship so fun.

The thing I love and appreciate most about Melissa is how she teaches me to always have fun with my kids and how to really make light of things that don't need to be big issues (especially when frustrated with the kids). She is extremely nurturing and is always attentive to her childrens' needs. Then she will be creative and think of a fun way to make them happy or snap out of a mood, if necessary. I feel like when we are together, I am very much encouraged and just feel so uplifted. I never feel discouraged or insecure when I am with her. She is (like me) a words person and is quick to compliment. I just appreciate how I feel when I'm with her. It is really nice having a friend that is predictable- you know that you will have a great time, have "real" conversations with, and leave encouraged when you are together. I thank God for keeping us close- after ALL (27) these years!