Awwww....

Go ahead, oooh and awww, because you cannot help it! I know we did! This picture brought tears to my eyes...

Ouch - UPDATE!

Well, the baby didn't wait 5 weeks...Jesse Clay Wright was born yesterday at 3:03 pm weighing a whopping 10lbs and 8 ounces. Jesse is healthy and according to dad, very adept at all things baby! I was hoping I would have pictures by now...but will post as soon as I do.

Thank you for your prayers!


10 lbs, big bones and 5 weeks to go. That's what my brother said. Have I told you? He is close enough to 50 years old and about to have his first bouncing baby boy...yes, yes, his WIFE is about to have their first... They had a Dr. visit today and he called to update me with the news. So I tactfully say to him "I know she is NOT going to deliver that child the old fashioned way is she?" and being the eloquent communicative man that he is, he replied "Nope." "Oh thank God!" So, Dr. Baby is going to test and see that the big-boneded bundle of joy has lungs that are mature enough before he is surgically removed. To that I say, Doc, the child is developed enough to wear Huskies to middle-school already, bring him out!

(Baby Jesse 34 weeks.)

Weekend Hodgepodge

Take a variety of items, put them together and that is a hodgepodge. As a child we called it goulash or one dish meal for dinner. Officially, goulash is a Hungarian stew, but you get the idea. You took what you had and put in a pot and voila! dinner. It wasn't a special meal or a gourmet dish or even something you would serve to your regular guests. It was what it was and it filled the empty spot. This is my hodgepodge, goulash, one dish weekend post.

Saturday morning I got up early had coffee and read. This is one of my all time favorite things to do. When the house is still cool from the evening, it's still dark & not yet dawn, still quiet with my family sleeping, I make my coffee and grab a book...sometimes my bible, sometimes not. But it's just me and the sweetness of the words and the wonderful flavor of good coffee. This morning however it was not a book or the bible I was reading. For my legalistic readers, the Word was read later on, and it was very good. I sat at my desk searched the web, catching up on blogs and finding new ones. Found a new favorite called "You Grow Girl". In my recent not so successful trials to grow fresh vegetables and herbs I've found myself reading more and more about diy home gardening. After reading her blog I had the overwhelming urge to go out and grow something, anything! My mother loved to garden. We had so many different plants and vegetables and herbs growing in the yard. We would even have all vegetable dinners which I hated as a kid, but now I know it was the way a single mother in the 70's provided for her child when she couldn't afford anything else. I remember her coming home from work and every day she would go straight outside to the garden. She loved it out there and I hated it! It was hot, there were bugs and I was bored. I remember I asked her once what in the world she liked about it. She told me that there was pleasure in being a part of things coming to life and helping them grow. I rolled my 13 year old eyes and walked away mumbling something about her being crazy. But moms wasn't crazy, she was cool. Took till now for me to see it of course. I think that her reasoning is exactly what draws me to attempt to garden now. I want to have a hand in helping things grow, seeing the fruit of my labor and enjoying the goodness of the Lord's provision. And so it is with my children, whether in their walk with Christ or their journey towards adulthood, I take pleasure in being a part of it.

Later that day we piled in the car and took care of odds and ends. Paid some bills, shopped for plants :), stuff like that. We even test drove a truck that Jesse has been lusting after and I'm glad we did. This proved to him that the good ol' reliable Camry we have isn't that bad. Then we went and ate at my favorite Chinese place. Yummy Sesame Chicken and Lo Mien. Had some great conversation and laughs with my family. I also enjoyed some people watching while we ate...2 people particularly stuck out as memorable. One of the persons was with a friend and before they sat down, he took a call on his cell. He continued to talk through the ordering, through the won ton soup and on through until almost the end of the entree. I could tell the other person was annoyed and I don't blame them. That has to be one of the top ten of cell phone etiquette no-no's. The other would be talking on the cell in a public bathroom. I HATE that. I was at one place where the lady answered her cell in the stall next to me and she kept right on talking and well, you know. She laughed really loud and said "Yes I am in the bathroom! Isn't that funny?" I said rather loudly back over the stall, "So am I and no, it's not!" she didn't get the subtle hint, but oh well. Back to the Chinese food place...the other person was a post-person or a mail lady (pc?) and when she walked in the gentleman went to her to seat her and rather than follow him she took the lead and began to go to each table checking them out. After a few confused moments he made a futile attempt to herd her back to where he wanted her...the whole time she was on her cell completely ignoring him wandering around the restaraunt as if she were shopping. The scene was quite amusing. I am actually thinking about trying that next time I go out to eat. Sitting at each of the empty tables and trying them on for size and view and comfort of the chair and so on. After she made her seating selection she sat down, continued to talk on her cell and ignored him. We were done and it was time for us to go. We gathered our check and fortunes and started walking to the front to pay when the waiter noticed my purse on the chair. I told my daughter "Hey, you were supposed to remind me!" And the postal-table-shopping lady looked straight at me and said, "not me honey, call the pastor!" I stared at her confused and tried to understand what a pastor could do to help me remember my purse. Perhaps I need to call Reverend Nancy? She winked at me, grinned, turned her head and kept talking. Oh. I realized she was still on her phone. Geesh. I don't really have a spiritual application or analogy for this, I'm sure if I thought for a while I could come up with one. Hey, I know, YOU come up with one. Tell me the spiritual lesson that this teaches in your comment...if you comment...if you even read all this rambling on...okay.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much a blur. We went to Hobby Lobby which had great sale. Not to be compared to the Nord, but still I saved 50 to 90% on everything I bought. Later on we did yard work and watched movies and grilled and I made a muy good pasta salad. All in all, I would say the weekend was good. We had no special plans for it, random moments were just thrown together, but it filled the empty spot...just like this post.

Quoting eMiLy

Living with a mother-in-law can be a challenge to put it kindly. I've lived with mine for 3 years now
*EDIT* Actually, she has lived with us (and that is an important difference!)
~and with medication and intense counseling I feel I have dealt with it somewhat reasonably.

I know there are those who love their mil's, and then there are those who would murder them if there was even the slightest possibility of getting away with it. I reside somewhere between love and murder depending on the phase of the moon and day of the week. Most times it's well balanced diet of tolerance, you just have to know how to keep it to a healthy loathing.

Lately I've taken to calling her eMiLy, it's much easier to type and safer to discuss, especially in mixed company. And so she will be referred to as thus from here on out.

eMiLy and I haven't always shared this delicate dance of mil vs. dil. In the very beginning - the first 3o minutes or so - before she took off her mask and revealed she was s...well, never mind. Back then, it was pretty good. But somewhere the romance took a downhill turn and it's never been the same.

Some moments stay with you making you long for back then. Like when I would go outside to work in the flowerbed, she would come out and watch over me and I would feel her presence like a big itchy blanket in the summer heat. We would have such deeply bonding moments back then. Moments when she would share her heart. Once while looking at one of my plants she said, "My friend has one of those like that, you know, except it's pretty."
Those are precious moments you can't buy anywhere.

I know it's hard to believe but before I married her son she wasn't too happy that I was to become the next Mrs. Moya. Most mothers aren't happy about the prospect of losing their son to another woman and she was no exception to the rule. But with time, coffee and a few empanadas her heart was won over. I eventually became good enough to bear his children. Good thing, since I had already given him two. And I know that she knows the pretty genes were grown on my side of the family tree. I know this because she is forever telling me "No matter how big you are you still look so pretty." When she loves on me like that, it makes me question why it's not the same between us. I know that she truly thinks of me as a vital member of the family. Once while sharing a prayer request about a family situation, she shared this bit of wisdom with us us "You can't replace family, you can get new a wife anytime." Yep, she hearts me. She really, really hearts me. Why just the other day my husband bought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers, she asked where they came from and when I told her that Jesse bought them for me you know what she said to me? She said "Well. That's o.k.." She was probably dancing on the inside!

She says that a lot. "That's o.k." As if at 50 and 41 years of age, 6 children and 15 years of marriage we somehow need to have a mother's blessing. Or a mother for that matter.

"Mijo, do you want me to make your coffee?"
No mom, I think I can get that.
"That's o.k."

"Mija, take your sweater with you, it's cold in your office."
eMiLy, I am a grown woman.
"Well, that's o.k."

There is a definitive difference between a mother and a mom. I will always need my mom, I have not - since an age I can't remember - needed a mother. I don't get the battle that rages on between us. It's strange and normal all at once. All it takes is the slightest comment from her and I gather my battle gear. A mere straightening of my couch pillows and my childish insecurities come back to haunt me. One word, one look, one silly hmmph, is all it takes and off I go into the age old war of women past. But my eMiLy and me, we will keep on going. And to quote her that's o.k.

I know some of you reading this are soon to be married. To that I say: Dear Lord, bless these women with a mom-in-law, not a mother-in law, or, a mother-of-all, or a mother-is-law, or worse, D. all of the above. One day I might even be one myself and I hope to be a good mil, one that doesn't provoke her dil/sil to hire a hit-man for $10,000 and then at the trial the jury will empathize with the sob story of hell she/he has lived and will find them innocent letting them go on an insanity plea and then, then my grandchildren will be raised by a hate-filled murderer who would never tell them of their most beloved grandmother - or something like that. That's what always happens in those Lifetime movies.

That Was The Week That Was

This week has been one to go in the history books. There was the good, the bad, and the downright uuuugly! Yes, of course I will start with the good...

My bff Court is preggers!!!!! YES!!!!!! With twins! YES, YES!!!!! And that's way good! Pregnant, no big deal you say? What the que, you say? Women get pregnant all the time. Yes, yes they do, but did you read her blog? Did you see the roller coaster ride she took? The painful, exciting, happy, sad, all in one journey that it was? And she gave you the abridged version. When the news hit, there were screams of joy, laughter, jumping up and down and much crying. And that was just me!!! I'm sure the rest of her family and friends felt the same. I know they did...we heard a lot of it! But, I must say that this news affected, wait, effected...no, affected (do you not always pause with those two?) in such a way as to make me sob so hard off and on all day. Soul crying I call it. Emotions that well up from so deep in your soul the only way it can come out is through deep racking sobs. Tears of joy, yes. You see while Court went through the first leg of her journey, I was on a similar journey of my own. NO I wasn't trying to get pregnant. I won't go into details, I don't want to take away from her story. Suffice it to say, we walked similar paths, were on similar emotional upheavals and both had hopes dashed to the rocks. I would often tell her that we were on different journeys, similar paths...sometimes our paths were so similar we would see each other through the trees and wave, urging one another on through the unknown. I prayed so fervently for my sweet sister. I cried over her loss, cried over her joys, wept to the Lord for her to have the strength to hold on to Him and keep going. I begged the Father to show her His hand in this, to be light to her in the darkness and to be a safe haven in the storms. So for me, when this news hit, it was very, very personal. It was affirmation of the Father answering prayers and revealing part of His plan for her. I am praising God with you Court! I am weeping tears of awe and thankfulness at the goodness of our God.

Sweet Becky told us of her engagement! Yes, there were more tears! If you don't know the story, you should ask her to tell it to you! She has such a beautiful heart and I swear you can see Jesus in her eyes. And I am so very excited to see what the Lord will do when they become one instrument in His hands. I am also praising God with you Becky! And yes, I am weeping tears of thankfulness as well. Not because you are engaged - (I mean that is great, but I am not saying thank GOD she is engaged, whew, we thought it would never happen!) - but because of the joy you and your fiance' share. It is a visible example of the love Christ has for the church and the love the bride has for Christ. Your eyes were so beautiful as you told your story! Barukh attah Adonai m'sameach chatan v'khalla! That is a Jewish wedding blessing that means "Blessed art thou, LORD, who gladdens groom and bride." Mazal Tov!

and...eMiLy was gone for a whole week!!!

That was the very good...and now for the bad.
I miss my two older children a lot. They are both serving our country and it keeps them far from home. On Wednesday night I texted both of them and told them I was thinking of them. My son called back and it was so good to hear his voice. After we talked for a while, he told me he is being deployed in March. Seems far away enough, but it will be here far too soon. He isn't allowed to say where, but hinted at Iraq. When they can't tell you it's usually something like that. It doesn't matter where, it's not American soil and it's not safe times, even on American soil. My oldest daughter leaves for Afghanistan in September. This along with the rest of my life as it is, keeps the knees bent and my heart ever talking to our Father in heaven.

Not that I believe in anything as silly as bad luck on Friday the 13th. But I must say, Friday was not a fun day in the least. My bbf1 (best boss forever) is leaving for 3 weeks and indeed filled my 'in box' with extra work. (Perhaps he doesn't trust me to stay busy enough while he is gone...not really, we have SO much to do...) 95 % of my work relies on my computer. On Friday, the same amount relies on my printer and my copier. For 1/2 the day my computer was broken - no really broken. Nothing I did would convince it to work. Finally I hunted down our computer guy and made him fix it. 1/2 before lunch. With half the day shot, I got to work (after lunch of course!) and lo and behold the printer decided it would have a turn at a little fun. Shut. Up. I was not amused. After a few pounds on the buttons, the sides and the on/off switch I convinced it that now was NOT the time and it conceded. NEXT, oh yes, there is a next, came my copier. Well, after much the same treatment as the printer it cooperated. There were tears, there were words and there was definitely some attitude. I was so ready for the day to end, I couldn't take it anymore. There was more, way more, added to the aggravation. But for now, this will do to give you the idea. Yep, the 14th couldn't come fast enough for me!

And now for the uuuugly.
I really don't have anything for this...except maybe I can't stop crying. I don't know what it is. I think I am going through peri-menopause. Geesh. Hmm, I guess that's ugly. I cry over everything. I don't mean nice little girlie sniff-sniff tears. I mean snot dripping, nose blowing, mess up your make-up, can't understand what I'm saying, won't stop for nothing tears. And they are ever present ready to spring forth at the most inappropriate moments. Like in the middle of HOME DEPOT for heaven's sake. Yeah, that is ugly. Over the stupidest thing. It has nothing to do with anything that has happened this week. Although that adds to it. The crying was going on a month or so before. It's not depression, the only black cloud I see is in our Houston sky...again. Some of the tears are called for, like with Court's news, the computer and so on...but most of them have no excuse to be here (like Home Depot). Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said " Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." Yeah maybe not. But whatever the case may be...they are here and I am looking forward to heaven when He shall wipe away every tear.

So there you have it. Momentous news all around.
That was the week that was. Or as Walter Cronkite used to say "That's the way it is."

Mother did it need to be so high?

All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.
Pink Floyd

mmm....YUMMY!! Follow-up...

Just to let you know, the almond filled cookie crusts weren't the best, although it wasn't anything a little vanilla ice cream couldn't fix!

I am thinking either the added coconut altered the texture and made it dry or I will have to roll the crust thinner...cook and learn.

mmm...YUMMY!

I've been on a cooking spree...I say spree because there is the day to day cooking that must be done (or not, depending on the mood and if you are Nancy!). And then there is the I've-got-a-craving-o-why-not-let's-try-this-just-for-the-heck-of-it-recipe kind of cooking...and that is what I've been doing a lot of lately. It's not even the season for this kind of cooking...that usually happens to me in the winter. Perhaps it's the rain...whatever the case, it's been fun. Like for Elena's b-day we made the German chocolate cake that took all day and was so worth it...and then on the fourth I wanted cherries, and Not the Nord had them for cheap AND blueberries...hmm, what can I do with these??? So I made fresh cherry-blueberry pie. The dish was delish! Top that with some vanilla ice cream and bam baby, patriotic de-zert!....yeah, I know novice stuff for you big timers out there...but it was way easier than the gcc and in my opinion much tastier. The only complaint I had was my cherry-pitter didn't work worth a darn so it was the old-fashionied push the pit out with my fingers way...they are still blue! The next thing I tried making was baba ghanoush....more yum! If you don't know what it is, it's roasted eggplant with tahini and olive oil and so on...mmm, I love that stuff with fresh warm pita bread...however, it wasn't the best recipe...I think my tahini needed more olive oil or something, but I'm going to play with the ingredients a little and see what happens there. Today I am making a cookie crust with filling. It's a recipe I found and altered a little by adding some coconut and almond extract to the crust and the filling is chopped almonds so I added some ingredients to that as well. I will let you know! Besides the crazy cooking I've also been trying (forever now!) to get those herbs to grow. I love fresh herbs! But I gotta tell you, it has been not so successful...I brought them in because of the squirrel's affinity for them. In my kitchen there isn't a good window where they can get enough sun so I have them on a shelf with some make-shift grow lights. But it is so not happening...they either die off or just sit there with no growth. I think I want to get a for reals grow light shelf system so that I can get them going better. So what's the whole point of this post? Nothing, just wanted to share. I wish I had a digital camera I would add my actual pictures to my post. Since I am a visual person there is nothing like a picture of a delicious recipe to make you want it all the more. If you have any suggestions for the baba ghanoush or herbs be my guest. Or, if you would just like to share a favorite recipe or what you've been cooking lately, comment away...

The Art of Communication

For just a moment imagine with me a world without communication. Don't just take away words, there are many ways to make a statement. Of course the most obvious being words, but a few others would be art, music, material things and so on. Remove the ability to express your desires and needs and we would not be able to function as a society. And as an American I would say we have such a unique grasp on all things vernacular. Hey, we all know the Brits envy our command of the English language, what with our ability to articulate coupled with our style of elocution and tada - horribly jealous Limeys. The French and the Italians feel the same. Okay, that's not true.
Communication is my love language. I love to talk. Oh, and I guess I like for people to talk to me as well...In fact I've chronicled some of my favorite conversations and would like to share them with you here. Please note the depth of these conversations not only via words, but the multiple layers of emotions expressed within those words all combined to show us the beautiful art of communication...

Hubby: I was having a weird dream.
Me: Oh?
Hubby: Yeah, I was at the Garden Bookstore and they were selling cheese cake.
Me: Oh?
Hubby: Yeah, it cost $70 a slice.
Me: What?!
Hubby: I know! I walked away and she was all "sir, sir!" and I said "you're crazy, $70 a slice!"
Me: hmm.
some time passes...
Hubby: I think I've got it figured out.
(I'm thinking how he must have come up with how to do something pretty amazing like buy paint, some curtains and a new cabinet all within our budget...oh, I am so shallow...)
Hubby: That cheesecake would cost like $600 for the whole thing.

Here's a favorite:

Hubby: *very quiet for some time*
Me:(deep in thought about how to save the world I look at him and wonder...) What'cha thinkin'?
Hubby: Nothin'
Me: No really, what are you thinking about?
Hubby: No really, nothing at all. *smiles*
Me: (a little annoyed at his disregard of my need for attention and my attempt at being loved and adored) You cannot seriously just sit there for over an hour and not think about anything. You have to be thinking something!
Hubby: (sensing my annoyance and wanting to appease his loving and patient wife) Well, I'm not.
Me: *minor cuss word* Seriously! Your brain has to have SOMETHING going on in there, no matter how shallow or random, there has to be some sort of thought process going on! It is physically, no wait, mentally impossible to have NOTHING in your brain.
Hubby: *sighs* Well, okay. I was thinking, if our knees bent the other way, how would we sit?
Me: *very quiet for some time*
Me: No wonder men always say nothing.

And yet another gem from the conversation treasure chest:

Me: So who was it that said that?
Hubby: One of the ladies that works with the kids.
Me: The kids where?
Hubby: You know, the little ones.
Me: Oh. So the First Kids? I mean FBA Primary Kids? So, which lady?
Hubby: I don't know her name, but she's black.
Me: 95% of them are black hon.
Hubby: I know.
Me: (knowing he wants to be able to tell me exactly who, I try to help...) So was she tall/short, thin/fat, old/young?
Hubby: Not too old. She has big teeth.
Me: Dark skinned/light skinned?
Hubby: Not too big. She knows Renee.
Me: They all know Renee, she worked with them.
Hubby: Well, Renee was talking to her.
Me: *sigh* Was I there when Renee was talking to her?
Hubby: No, but I was. So you know who I'm talking about?
Me: Exactly.

And apparently the acorn lands really close to the verbiage tree.

MiL: I saw someone you know today.
Me: Really? Who?
MiL: I don't know his name, but he was white.
Me: Oh. *smiles*
MiL: *annoyed* He goes to your church and he knows you.
Me: (Thinking, our church has 3000 members and most of them are white.)
MiL: He was kind of you know, your age and he says he knows you.
Me: Did he say where he knows me from?
MiL: He did some sort of something with you and Jesse. He knows Jesse too, but he mentioned you.
Me: But he knows Jesse and me....you didn't get his name?
MiL: He said it but you know me with names. *excited at the memory of a helpful detail* He's kind of tall!
Me: Oh him.

Get the tree and the acorn together and it's even more fun:

MiL: I saw T.W. today, he's back.
Hubby: You did, where was he?
MiL: He was gone, remember?
Hubby: No I didn't know that...where was he?
MiL: We thought he was on a mission trip, don't you remember?
Hubby: So how did his mission trip go?
MiL: He wasn't on a mission trip. I told you that.
Hubby: When did you see him?
Me: *silent screaming*
MiL: He was on some sort of trip, you know what I'm talking about?
Me: (a pilgrimage? a honeymoon? an acid trip? WHAT?)
Hubby: How is he?
MiL: He said "tell Jesse that I love him and he is one amazing man."
Hubby: Someone must be doing things in my name.
MiL: That's what he said, he loves you.
Hubby: So where was his mission trip to?
MiL: Not a mission trip...One of those trips where they do that training thing...you know?
Hubby: He said that about me?
Me: *walking out*

Oh, there are so many more. The memories are endless, but that is all I have time for now. Go communicate with your loved ones, and use words if you have to!