Return to OZ

We returned to the visit the Wizard again this year. Somehow we always miss him though. Here is the scarecrow.













and munchkins. This is Goldie's "Dorthoy dress"




















Does this witch look too evil?















Here we all are together.














And a little sacred piece of the yellow brick road.

We had lots of fun.

Mike is in School

Mike is back in school after almost two decades of being out! His first classes are PE classes and so we are walking together as a family. He is keeping a blog on our progress for the class.

He has pictures and everything!

Click here to see more: http://mdr1568.blogspot.com/

The three big "stinks" I experience

Stinky diapers, stinky uneaten kid leftovers, and stinky eggs in the morning for the kids. I used to eat those eggs. Everyday during my pregnancies with Josiah and Goldie. Now I can barely stomach them once a week. I usually only eat them the one breakfast a week at Mom-maw’s house

But stinky poopies are a way of life around here. Goldie went three days (I think) without an accident and we were so proud of her. Josiah gets off scot-free. We are letting him test out the waters. He takes a turn sitting on the potty after Goldie. This happens three or four times a day and guess what we’ve gotten three or four poopies in the potty so far. Sometimes he even tells me he has to go. Maybe if I keep up his experimentation potty training him will not be so bad.

As far as the stinky uneaten kid leftovers, sometimes I wish I had a dog and that way I could give it to him instead of the garbage can. But I’m not ready to take on that responsibility yet. Maybe someday…

My five hour baby trip

I drove five hours on Friday to attend a pretnatal appointment. But its worth it. I love talking with Angie (the midwife)

I once talked to a woman who said she didn't want to be fussed over, she just wanted to get in and get out and didn't want the personal attention. I suppose she'd be a perfect candidate for the majority of doctors, etc. in this country.

I really like getting there, getting hugs, being asked about anything and everything. I love being able to talk to Angie about things the kids are doing and she fusses over them like aunt or grandma...at least as one who knows and loves my kids.

I don't really even want to compare this to the experiences I have in the doctor's office and yet its hard not to.

I love being loved and welcomed as a good friend and equal. My ideas and knowledge are just as important as Angie's even though she trained for years to do what she does. I even feel a huge responsiblity to make sure that I do everything that I've been assigned at each visit. I probably report back more than I should because I feel responsible to Angie. I do believe that being pregnant in Angie's care is the best care I personally could recieve.

I know everyone has to do things there way. I don't begrudge anyone their choices. It's good we have a range of possiblities and I'm grateful that I can choose the type of healthchare I desire.

Empower

3 : to promote the self-actualization or influence of


This definition is from http://www.m-w.com/. I like the word empower. I have a friend who recently used it most aptly and got me to thinking. She said that she made a trip from North Carolina to Louisiana without her husband, but with her four children. She said it was empowering.


My first thought was my own experience back a year ago when Mike and I took Goldie and Josiah to Idaho/Utah and then he went home to work for a couple of weeks while I stayed on to visit friends and family. By the end of those two weeks I was going nuts. I had been trying to potty train Goldie and gave up. I had a six month old baby who I was breastfeeding.


Then when I got back we had a few very short weeks in our home until it was sold. Then we spent a few weeks in Roan Mountain and few weeks at my Mother-in-law's house before purchasing and moving into the home where we are now.


The way I looked at that experience most of the time is, "Boy I don't ever want to go through that again." But after hearing my friend Christie's comment I started wondering, What has been empowering about my experience? I realized if I choose to let be, there was empowerment. But it was all in how I chose to view each of the experiences.

Anyway, I do like the word and hope I can have empowering experience often!

What makes me a mother?

What does it mean to be a mother? I remember being a youth and all my teachers would say that one day I would wake up and realize that I was my mother. I vigourously denied that. I love my mother, I just wanted to be Rishi not Marcia.

But many years later as I sometimes question why I do certain things, I realize or learn that my mother did the same thing. My reasoning was along logical lines, but then I learn she had already made the same desicion. So am I a duplicate Marcia?

Maybe, but isn't that what we have children for? So they can become like us? So that some of our good habits, good thoughts, and and good deeds can live on through the generations?

I don't have all the answers. I do believe my mother is a noble and good woman, one worthy of emulation. There are so many parts to a mother. But I suppose a good portion of my mothering capabilities were handed down to me from my mother's example and I thank her for that.

From Emmeline to Emma

I know, I know two old women. Am I crazy? Well, I think that I am beginning to recover from five plus years of writing a thesis.

Not actually writing a thesis, but I'm beginning to recover from five plus years of feeling guilty and then working and then feeling gulity, and well, you've got the picture. In the meantime I married, had two pregancies and children and moved a couple of states away.

Now I'm reasearching another story. That of Emma Smith. I named my daughter Goldie Emma after her. She was the wife of the first President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was about a year and half older than her husband and very well educated for her day and time. Her husband on the other hand, was not.

Anyway, I hope to create a fifteen minute story in the next couple of months. I have a possible performance set for November 8th. I've been wanting to devour the book that I've been reading about Emma. I read the first chapter and dutifully took notes. Then its been hard because I can open to any page and fine out amazing things about this woman. I just want to skip around.

But I'm going to discipline myself and over the next few months I can report my progress on this interesting new character I've developed an interest in.