The Quotable Madisen

Occasionally, Miss Maddie confuses her words; this is a trait that she has inherited from her father. It's quite cute at age 6, however. Maddie announced as we were driving home from gymnastics a couple of nights ago that she wanted baked potatos for dinner. I told her that dinner was already prepared and baked potatos were not on the menu. "Well, when are we going to have mashed potatos?" "Probably at Thanksgiving, Maddie." (It's a once a year tradition in our house--too much work.) Maddie then whined, "Well, I like that syrup that goes on them." Yep, me too, Maddie, me too!

Yesterday Maddie informed me that her friend, Hannah, received an ipod for her birthday. Just as thoughts began to assail me that someone would actually give their 6-year-old an ipod for her birthday, Maddie clarified that it was her big friend Hannah on the bus. "You know, Mom, she was 12 and she just turned 11." Now, there's a trend I'd like to begin at age 43...going back in age each birthday!

On Growth and Maturity

Something of great magnitude in the Kingdom of God occurred this past Sunday. My 13 year old daughter, Alix, was baptized. I'm sure there was great rejoicing in heaven as there was on the second pew where we were sitting. Several weeks ago, Alix called me from her week long camp at Kentucky Christian College and told me that she had made the decision to be baptized. I was ecstatic and told her that following Jesus was the most important decision she would ever make in her life. Realizing that this girl, my middle child, is not comfortable expressing her feelings, it meant a great deal to me that she called me to share this news. While I've always attempted to make it easy and comfortable for her to talk with me about her feelings and concerns, she just doesn't. This has caused me to trust God more with our relationship. I've had to realize that just because she's not like me, spilling my guts to anyone who cares, doesn't mean there is something wrong with her! As a matter of fact, maybe she's a little smarter than I am.

Over the last few years, I've watched this sweet girl mature into a beautiful, young teen. Deep down, I believe she has a great love for God and wants to do the right things, but she is more quiet about it. Isn't it so wonderful that God loves us all, as different as we are? Alix is extremely social with her friends, well-liked...yet private about many things. She is not one to volunteer information, but if I ask her a question, she has learned to willingly answer. This has been a process for her because she at one time felt that she didn't have to tell me certain things. However, through a series of events, she learned that in order to have trust, you can't have secrets or hide the truth. She's learned that she gains more freedom when she is open and doesn't hide things from her parents.

On a purely physical matter, she has made great strides in her choice of clothing. Last night, she and I had an "aha" moment. On the way home from cheerleading practice, Alix was complaining about the shirt the cheerleaders were required to wear to school the next day. "Mom, I don't want to wear that shirt. It's not fitted; it's a baggy t-shirt." "Oh, really? Hmmm...Alix, do you remember two years ago when you were in 6th grade? You would only wear baggy t-shirts! We bought you all these cute shirts, and you'd come out of your room with these ugly sports t-shirts you got for free from gymnastic's meets." She grinned sheepishly as I jarred her memory of those hideous shirts. I remember how I finally gave up the battle of the clothes, resigned to let her look like a slob. At least that's how I viewed it; she was comfortable with her choices. I made a choice that this battle of the wills was not worth it. As she entered junior high, she began to make different decisions about her clothes, deciding that she cared about how she looked and discarded the old t-shirts for bedtime pajamas! My, how she has grown over these past few years.

Yes, she is growing up. I continue to pray that she makes wise choices in the future about how she lives her life and that she roots herself deep in Christ so that she can stand firm no matter what comes her way!

Space Cadet-itis

"A condition in which one momentarily spaces out and does something stupid due to not paying attention. Occurs most of the time with blondes but may also happen with those of different hair color."

It appears that I have not only inherited this condition from one of my ancestors, but I have also unfortunately passed this trait to one of my daughters. I'm afraid, however, that my 13-year-old has a more severe case than I had at her age, unless my 43-year-old mind has blocked out all the bad memories of my airheadedness during my teen years. I do believe that this condition improves with maturity. Occasionally, I do have relapses, though.

For example, just last week at the Target Starbuck's counter, I ordered a grande light Cafe Vanilla Frappacino, while at the same time fumbling in my wallet to give Maddie two quarters to buy a cookie at the other counter. Directly after ordering and giving the coins to her, I left the register to wait for my drink at the other counter. When I glanced over at the girl standing behind the register, she said, "Uh, it's $4.62." I apparently completely spaced out about paying for my drink in the confusion over the quarters. I apologized profusely siting my "space cadet-itis" condition to her as the reason for my negligence in paying. She seemed to know exactly what I was talking about.

Just yesterday morning while I was preparing to apply my make up, I was deep in thought...as deep as a blonde can be. I reached for my toner and a cotton ball and began smoothing it across my face when I realized I had inadvertently grabbed the nail polish remover. Did you know that they have about the same smell? "What a space cadet!" I said to the face in the mirror.

While this airhead condition I have seems to have diminished over the years, it's quite clear that I will be cursed with episodes and relapses that occur out of the blue, when I least expect it. It creeps up on me at unsuspecting times; you know, the times when I am frantically searching for my keys when I suddenly realize that I am holding them.

Age of Exploration Part II

Portugal's newest explorers are pictured here! Vasco de Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator have absolutely nothing on us! Ok, so they made Portugal famous way back in the 15th and 16th centuries with explorations to India and Africa and their discovery of the spices that made Portugal rich, but what about us? We made our own discoveries in our journey. I'm seriously thinking that a nice statue of us would go well here in the Jeronimos Monastery built with the so-called "pepper" tax.

I discovered a new very important word in Portuguese...the word "saldos" means "sale". It didn't take this blonde very long to learn what that word meant that was blanketed across every store front! My only disappointment was that Tony decided to control all the euros and doled them out very sparingly.



Maddie was very pleased to learn that Cinderella's coach resides in the Coach Museum in Lisbon which contains the largest collection of royal coaches in the world. It turns out that her coach did not change back into a pumpkin after all. Please notify all your little princesses of this important news. I definitely would have wanted to be royalty during this time period. Peasants travelled by foot, and in the city of Lisbon with all of its steep cobblestone sidewalks and streets, this can get very tiring and causes soreness in one's calves.



Another discovery! A Moorish castle built in the 8th and 9th centuries. How does one exactly build something of this magnitude this far up into the hills and with what tools? A chisel and hammer? Some of the cathedrals and castles we explored took over 100 years to build. Imagine working on a building you'd never see completed. I didn't realize that the Muslims had quite an influence in Portugal early in their history. Much of the architecture is Islamic. The Christians conquered and took over this castle in the 1100's.


This amazing castle, the Pena Palace, was built in the mid-1800's by King Ferdinand who was strongly influenced by his cousin, King Ludwig of Bavaria who built the Disneylike castle Neuschwanstein. Ferdinand hired an architect who combined several styles of architecture, Gothic towers, Renaissance domes, Moorish minarets and Manueline carving. Of course, it has the characteristic Arabic tiles as well. Tony came up with his own unmentionable name for this palace...hmmm, wonder what that could be?




The bidet happened to be my husband's favorite new toy! He's quite convinced we need to install one in our bathroom. Is it men that just use these objects? For some reason, I'm not quite figuring it out and don't see the necessity for such a fixture in our bathroom. Enlighten me if you view these objects differently.

Our final day in Lisbon, we meandered through the streets of the Alfama, the oldest section of the city. The Sao Jorge castle was built here by the Moors in the 9th century and was used for several hundred years as the King's palace after the Christians conquered the city. We counted 6 churches in this area of the city! The Alfama begins high above the city, as you see in this picture, and contains all the buildings below as well. We walked down via cobblestone stairs and narrow alleys in the midst of hanging laundry, Portuguese gossip across rod iron balconies and the occasional small restaurant or village market (with pig's feet displayed in the windows) to arrive at the bottom nearest the Tagus River. This is where the old-timers live while the younger folks are venturing out into areas of the city where more of the modern conveniences are. I think it's the public baths that are causing this phenomenon; I don't blame them. All in favor of indoor plumbing, say "aye".

This is just a snapshot of our Portugal adventures. We absolutely loved this country and its people. I fell in love with the language and seriously considered coming back to the states to learn it. Don't ask me why except it's very beautiful, very French-like in some ways. However, more than one person has told me that it's a very difficult language to learn. Perhaps I'll save it for another day. Someday, I hope to get the opportunity to explore more in the other villages of Portugal. However, for all the excitement that Portugal provided, it could not compare to the precious time together that Tony and I had. Many times during this trip, I fought back tears as I thought, "I am blessed beyond measure, Lord!" Yes, I am truly a sap. Still, I know how blessed I am in so many ways and I must express my gratefulness to God continually.

A New Chapter

This morning one school bus arrived at 7:20 to transport two children to junior high and high school for the first day of school, a normal occurance for many years now. The major change this year, however, is that one hour later, another school bus came to take my youngest to her first ALL day experience as a 1st grader. Why is this so difficult? I should be jumping for joy, ecstatic at having entire days at my disposal to eat chocolate, watch daytime television and generally do nothing. No more interruptions during the day while I'm attempting to do my Bible study, blog or bake. No more whining for snacks, watching tv or playing on the computer. No more two hour grocery trips begging my little one to stay with me, asking her to stop touching everything or telling her to put the candy or gum back. No more "not now", "later", or "in a minute". No more noise.

Ahhhh, I hate it already. In all my longing for peace and quiet, I love hearing that little, not so quiet voice. I love hearing her playing mommy to her dolls. I love listening to her voice read to me, sounding out difficult words. I love having her ask me to close my eyes so she can show me how she made her bed or cleaned the bathroom (everything lined up neatly across the counter). I love her cuddling up next to me to tell me she loves me. I love the spontaneous notes she writes to her daddy and me.

Yes, I shed some tears this morning. It's too quiet here. This is such a surprise to me, these emotions. I'm grieving the loss of what was and will never be again. I spent some time asking God for direction in this new phase of life I'm in. I realize there are new doors He will open, opportunities for ministry and work. But, I still don't like this right now. I want that little girl back with all her spunk and love, her "life's a party" mentality and humor and yes, even her disobedience and destructiveness. It's just way too quiet!

Two Days From Now

It hasn't quite registered to me that in 48 hours, Tony and I will be flying over the Atlantic to Lisbon, Portugal. No kids. No cooking. No cleaning. No normal life. For 8 days we'll pretend that we haven't a care in the world except which cathedral or castle to behold. No bickering except between us! No worries except what to order off the menu. I will even bask in the entire 9 hour flight since I can read with no interruptions until I doze off.

My three children will be in the most excellent care of their grandparents who make us look like complete bores. Besides their awesome responsibility of playing taxi driver and the general feeding and care of the grandkids, it'll be a week of playing games, eating ice cream and considerable other junk items and quite possibly little, if any chores. It makes it a little tricky when the bores return and crack the whip of daily chores, are too busy for games and allow no ice cream if a good meal has not been consumed. Who cares about these great luxuries afforded them during this week? Not me because for one week I have absolutely no worries about the well-being of my precious gifts from above.

While I won't be blogging for a few days, stay tuned for some pictures from Portugal as well as reflections about our visit. Bon voyage, hasta la vista...