I don't have anything really substantial to say, but I want to say something anyway. So here it goes.

School is in it's 4th week of full force for my kids. They are all doing great. I have to say I am a little jealous of their lives. They get the normal routine of getting up, going to school, coming home, doing homework, doing their individual extra curriculum activities, and then going to bed. How funny is it that when you are child all you can do is wait for the day when no one is telling you what to do, and when you are an adult you wish you had the simplicity of childhood?


At this time, I would like to point out that my oldest daughter has the best self management skills I have ever seen! Truly, she is a wonder to me. She has since the time she was a little girl put herself to bed long before the bed time bell rings and it just astounds me. My daughter Chloe and I on the other hand will be burning the midnight oil until the day I die. Total opposites those girls are. It just makes me giggle to think of them. Same DNA, Same Parents, Even Same birthday month... yet so completely opposite!

Anyway where was I, oh yeah back to my kids back to school routine. SO they are back doing great and I am jealous of their simple lives. When we went shopping for school supplies I of course bought some for myself just to feel apart of the busy. Every time I do back to school shopping I think about the movie You've got Mail where Tom Hanks says, "I would like to buy you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils". That movie is an all time favorite for me because I can so relate to Meg and Tom's characters love of school supplies.

Moving on... SO fall is my favorite. I have told you that before. There is just something about this season that makes my heart go pitter patter. The leaves on all the trees around here are showing little signs of the change that is coming. One of my favorite children's stories of all time is a story called "Frederick". I am sure I have blogged about this book before, but it's about a field mouse who when all the other mice are scurrying about to get ready for winter, collecting nuts, preparing their homes for hibernation, Frederick is just sitting there. Seeming to do nothing the other mice get frustrated with him, but later they realize he was taking it ALL in. When it gets dark and there is no longer any color left in nature Frederick starts sharing about the colors he was storing in his mind so that he could tell stories about it later. IN the dead of winter he paints the pictures of summer and shares his poetry. That's what I feel like sometimes when I catch myself just soaking it all up before the leaves fall off and the trees go barren.

I just realized that Fall is nature way of saying that things are dying. It makes me awe in wonder at the God I serve that right before death we get such beauty! Isn't that true in life. Right before the elderly pass, we get such beauty if only we have eyes wide open to see it. This Fall my eyes are wide open to see the beauty. My ears are wide open to hear the beauty. And my heart is full of gratitude for the changing of seasons.

Ciao Bella Summer 2011

Although my favorite season is right around the corner, I am sad to say goodbye to this summer.

Here in Seattle it feels as if the summer is just getting started because the weather has finally got the memo that summer generally means warm and sunny.

Maybe I am so nostalgic about this summer coming to an end because the very special event of my sisters wedding took place June 25, 2011.

Or maybe I am sad to see it go because it means that now a new school year has begun for my kids, and that means they are getting older, and that therefore means I am getting older.

What ever the reason this was an amazing summer and I am so grateful for all the fantastic memories that were made.


I am looking forward to the year ahead. I hope as you are saying goodbye to summer you are feeling the same way, grateful for the summers memories and excited about the new year.

Remembering a Day

Remembering a day we all have said we would "never forget" is harder than it looks. We all want to honor the thousands of lives that were lost on that tragic day, and how we choose to do that doesn't really matter as long as we do remember. As Americans, I don't think we like to remember that bad things really do happen. In our culture I don't feel we grieve well, but that's a topic for another day. This week I have been hearing and reading a lot of conversations as to how we as a Nation should go about remembering, and really I personally think that we should all feel free to remember and honor the heroes of that day however we choose. So that's what I am doing here, remembering.... because;

I will never forget.

For me it's easy to remember how many years have passed since that tragic day because I was still pregnant with my third child, Solomon. He turns 10 this October 4th, and so that's how I know 10 years have passed since 9/11. During his pregnancy I remember being so full of hope. I was excited to find out we were having our first son. I was excited for his future, little did I know that the year he would be born would make history for a tragic reason. Forever, that will be a part of his story. That he was born a month after 9/11.

I will never forget.

I am sure most of us can remember exactly where we were when we saw or heard the news that morning. I was at home with my girls who were only 3 and 1 and a half. We were watching PBS Sesame Street which was the normal morning routine after daddy had left for work. My friend Alyse, who also happened to be my neighbor at the time, called to share the news with me. I thought something had happened to her or one of her kids and was shocked to hear otherwise.

I will never forget.

It's hard for me to imagine raising Solomon without his dad being there to help him, but that is exactly what so many have had to do because they lost their soul mates, and parent partners that day. For Solomon there have been countless first days of school, boy scout mtgs, baseball games, birthday parties, and bedtime prayers said with his dad by his side all these years. For thousands of other children this 9/11 marks how many things they didn't get to do with their loved ones. That's a lot of candles that didn't get blown out. A lot of wishes that didn't get made. A lot of prayers that never got spoken.

I will never forget.

Recently, tragedy struck again in the little town where Solomon was born, Carson City NV. A random gunman shot and killed 4 people yesterday, and now this week before 9/11, will never be forgotten for all those families. That was only 4 people, and I am sure the town of Carson City will be forever changed because of yesterday. I called my hometown of Carson City to make sure that none of my loved ones who still live there were at I HOP that tragic morning. They were not. My mom however taught one of the boys who lost his dad this week. He will never be the same. On 9/11 we lost nearly 3000 people. That's a lot of stories cut short. That's a lot of teachers who had students who lost parents.....

I will never forget.

After 9/11 I remember how many flags went up, how many bumper stickers were posted "Never Forget", and how many lives and their stories were being played over and over on television. I remember being somewhat glued to the television. I remember being so thankful that I lived on the west coast far away from what had happened. I remember feeling safer because I didn't live by a big city or any national monuments. I know that seems selfish, but I was glad my little family was far from the appearance of danger. We were far away from what happened. But, I also remember not feeling safe for quite some time. I was not directly affected by that day. All my loved ones came home that night. I lived on the west coast. It happened on the east coast. I felt I had no real reason to panic, but I remember starting to have panic attacks shortly after that event for the first time in my life.

I will never forget.


What will I do this year, 10 years later?
I thought this was a great way to remember;

http://blog.sojo.net/2011/08/22/jesus-bombs-and-ice-cream/

Check out this creative way to remember.
If only I lived in Philly :)

Well, I don't live in Philly, but I do live in Washington now, and that means I live close to the wonderful Mike Farina family.
I will be at the Beautiful Amoure Farina's birthday party. That's right she was born on 9/11, and if we aren't celebrating her newest grandbaby, we will be celebrating that life goes on and that the most precious thing we can do to remember is to LIVE!

I Will Never Forget.