Ever have one of those days?

My day started off really bad... this was after having a really nice day yesterday... sorta like the calm before the storm, or somethin' like that...

When I was getting cleaned up this morning... brushed teeth, washed face, etc., there was irritation with both... it's time to see the dentist and the dermatologist, it seems. Having both hit at once was a bit startling and something I wasn't too happy about, obviously. Then when I went to take Caitie to summer camp this morning, I realized I didn't have my key to the SUV, Michael had it... and he was at work. Then I couldn't find my baseball hat I usually wear to not only block the sun, but to hide my hair on most days I don't have time, or just don't feel like washing my hair, and I needed it when taking Caitie to summer camp this morning, which I couldn't get to because I didn't have the key to the SUV. When trying to soothe my tattered self I got a big bowl of ice cream and covered it in chocolate syrup, of which Bailey wanted some, of course, and after taking a bite, she started spitting it out due to it being too cold... I rushed to get her new top off, along with new matching shorts, I did okay with the top, getting it past her chocolate covered mouth, but I wasn't in time for her shorts... she drooled chocolote syrup all over 'em. Not too long ago I was taking the trash out to the big garbage can for pick-up tomorrow, and while wearing new sandals I hoped to keep in good shape for an extended period of time, I tried going around an outside garbage can near some mud and tried my best to keep my balance while going around it so I wouldn't step in the mud... my right foot did okay, but my left foot didn't do so well, it slipped in the mud... all this and it's only around 2pm. There's a lot left to do and quite a few hours left in the day yet... I'm thinking of locking myself in my room, sitting on the bed with the covers over my head and waving a white flag.

How has your day been?

It sounds like I'm complaining, and to be honest, I did and still do feel like complaining to some degree, but at the same time, I'm sitting here able to type this post, I got past all the bad stuff, even if some of them still need to be taken care of soon (teeth and face). I was able to get Caitie to summer camp, I can see a beautiful green tree through a nearby window while typing this, and I did enjoy some really good ice cream with yummy chocolate syrup which made my taste buds sing, so not all is bad. Am I still feeling stressed out? Yes! Do I need to be feeling that way? NO! What have I learned from this? Yes, I'm having a bad day, and there will be other bad days with much bigger problems to deal with than what I had to deal with today, but I know there is peace to be found in knowing I'm not going through any of it alone, God is with me, and always will be... through the good and the bad... I'll never be alone. Isn't that how it is sometimes though... when we're going through a really hard time, and see no light at the end of the tunnel, we feel so alone at that moment... but in reality, we never are alone. I take comfort in knowing that... and I will make it through this tough day... with God's help. :)

Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 41:10
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

James 1:2-8
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

No ordinary cat

Our dear, sweet Molly Mae passed away last Friday. We knew it could happen at any time, but even so, it was heartbreaking. There is no preparing for a special cat's passing. And Molly was special. We thought of her more as a person than a cat; she had that kind of personality. She was very smart, so very sweet, caring, and playful. She had maternal instinct and was especially good with Caitie and Bailey; she watched over them when they were babies, as if they were her own. It was so sweet. Besides being motherly, she was also quite the escape artist (she had a wide range of traits :) ) When we had to block off a certain area in the house, which was usually due to one of the other cats having caused a problem in that area, Molly would always find a way to get over, under, or through the blockade; the other cats were never able to get through. It was quite amazing. Amazing is a great word to describe her. :)

She was an integral part of our family, starting from the day we found her, or more like the night she found us. Let me go back a bit... We lived in Michael's grandmother's house from February '98 until the end of October of '98, while the house we're living in now was being built. After moving in the house we're in now, we still went to Michael's grandmother's house to take care of some dogs that were living there. Sometime during the late fall/early winter of '99 (could have been '98, but i'm pretty sure it was '99), three kittens (molly, her sister holly, and their brother) showed up one night when we stopped by to feed the dogs; we think they were from a litter born next door. Over time we realized that they weren't being cared for properly, so we started feeding them when we went over to feed the dogs. One night we just decided to bring them home with us; the two girls, that is, the boy was nowhere to be found. We already had two cats, which were male, but they all ended up getting along... as well as could be expected anyway. We no longer have the two male cats, they passed on a few years ago, but we still have her sister Holly and my dad's cat Sassy. I love all our cats, but as I mentioned above, Molly was a special cat that will always hold a special place in my heart.

Here are some pics of her... the first few are from the end of 2004 through 2005, when when we got our first DSLR camera, the Canon 300. I had just gotten pregnant with Caitie and we wanted a good camera to document my pregnancy, birth, and after with. When we first got the camera, we took quite a few pics of the cats... some for practice for when our sweet baby was born, and some just because our kitties were so cute. :).

Here Molly looks like a kitten, but she was around five years old.



Here she is with her sister Holly.



She was a beautiful cat.



At the beginning of my pregnancy with Caitie I was on bedrest for a while; this pic was taken during that time.



So cute.



The kitchen table area is a good place to get pics... the lighting is wonderful at certain times of the day...



Pretty kitty. (this is the same pic that's at the top of the post)



I took this pic for Caitie's first birthday party invitation. Molly was an inside cat, but I did let her out to get this pic. She was let out at other times as well, as long as we were outside with her, and only in the backyard.



She loved it when I took these kind of pics... it was another time she got to be out back.



The pics below are more current pics.

As I said above... Molly loved the girls. She loved to lay in Bailey's lap.



Bailey had been playing out back, that's why she's a bit dirty in this pic. This pic was taken at a different time than the above pic... that's why the lighting is different.



I put this pic in another blog post a few months ago. I took this pic in the loft not too long after we found out that Molly was sick.



She became more Caitie's cat over the years. She loved to sleep in Caitie's bed at night; she loved being around Caitie... and Caitie loved her. I took this pic a couple of months ago.



Caitie was gentle with her... as was Bailey. You would think a toddler wouldn't understand about being gentle, but Bailey did, and she hugged Molly lightly and petted her gently too. It was so sweet.



The girls were playing with Molly in the kitchen. Molly was still pretty playful considering her condition.



A girl and her cat.



We love and miss you, Molly Mae.



Just in case you're wondering... we chose October 21, 1999 as Molly and Holly's birthdate; we figured they were born in the fall sometime and we chose October, and we picked the 21st to match Michael's birthday the 21st, (of course, his is in december).

So Far To Find You

I love this song by Casting Crowns. I have several of their songs on my playlist on the sidebar; I wanted to add this song to it, but it's not available on that site yet. But you can still listen to it, just click on the 'play' button below...



I wanted to know where the lyrics came from for this song and this is what I found:

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Casting Crowns frontman Mark Hall wrote this song for his little girl, Meeka Hope, whom he and his wife Melanie adopted from China in 2010. Mark Hall told New Release Tuesday that his introduction to Meeka Hope inspired this song: "We took all our kids and they got to play with their new sister, which was great. But Meeka Hope didn't want me to hold her. Most white men that Chinese orphans see are doctors coming to do surgery on them. She was petrified of me.

Only after a tearful session of pouring out my heart to God about Meeka Hope's refusal to come to me did I realize that I often had done the same thing to my Lord. It took several weeks before Meeka Hope warmed up to me, and in the process I came to the realization that I need Jesus way more than his blessings. We are so quick to run to him for what he can do for us. We're so slow just to sit with him and enjoy in his presence, and my crying out to him in China was really a God moment for me."

Hall wrote the song with Steven Curtis Chapman. He told New Release Tuesday: "The lyrics speak toward Meeka Hope, but the parallels of God reaching out to bring us home to him are evident throughout the song. We enjoy our relationship with God only because of how far Jesus was willing to go for us. To him be the glory."

Source: songfacts.com

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From a touching story comes a beautiful and meaningful song. I love how that happens. :)

She made it special

I'm sitting here eating chocolate and gaining a few pounds as I type this... what are you up to? um, yeah...

The chocolate I'm devouring is from Mother's Day. Caitie knows what her mama likes... LOTS of chocolate! Caitie also got me a Hallmark red rose in a vase; when you press the button it opens and says "I Love You" inside, when you press the button again, it closes. When she saw this in a commercial, she said she was going to get it for me for Mother's Day, and she did. She's such a sweetie. She also got me a recordable book, which I love. She made me all sorts of things in her Kindergarten class. I love everything she made/got me, but my two favorite things are the bracelet she made and the 'book' she made in class. I hit the jackpot this Mother's Day!

Caitie and her daddy went shopping and bought lots of other things not mentioned above... such as chocolate (i did already mention this one, but they got me so much chocolate i thought i would mention it again. ha), a huge mylar balloon, flowers, DVDs, and even breakfast. Pics below...

Caitie did for me as I (aka: st. patrick's day leprechaun and the Easter bunny) did for her recently... she put a plastic egg out with a clue inside to tell me where to go to find my Mother's Day gifts, she then did a chocolate candy bar path for me to follow to find them all. She had so much fun those two holidays that she wanted me to experience the same kind of fun; she's quite a gal. And it was fun! :) Here we are at the piano, which is where I found the bracelet she made for me... circling a piece of chocolate, of course. :)



I LOVE this bracelet. She wanted my whole name on it, and this is what she put... 'mama lynn hawk'. How cute is that? :) (she put 'O's to separate the names). I think it's cool that she remembered my middle name.



Here's my gift bag. Lots of goodies were inside...



Such as... the Hallmark flower I mentioned above. Love it!



Here's all the stuff she got me... well, most of it... I was wearing the bracelet when I took this pic. There's the stuff I already mentioned, along with more homemade/school crafts, cards with cute stickers, iced lemonade cookies, etc... And oh yes... here's where Michael comes in... he got me the next two seasons that are out of Perry Mason. I LOVE that show, so that meant a lot to me. I've been watching the previous seasons over and over again at bedtime and am so looking forward to watching some new ones. :)



I took pics of the book Caitie made me in her Kindergarten class. It's so cute. She wrote and drew it all herself... the teacher just gave the children the start of a sentence and they finished the rest on each page. It's hard to read some of it on here, especially the parts in yellow. (there are six pages to the book, so there are six pics of it below, then below the book pics are more pics from mother's day)













Caitie remembered that sunflowers are my favorite flower. Love 'em! So cheery. :)



Michael and Caitie got breakfast at Jack in the Box. We love their pancakes. Yum! It was a nice treat. She wanted to give me breakfast in bed, but I was already up when they got back with breakfast.



Caitie picked out these festive, chocolate cupcakes for me. The frosting melted a bit due to Caitie and her daddy having to keep the cupcakes in the SUV for a few minutes due to my not being upstairs when they arrived home with them; the breakfast and the flowers were in the SUV as well (they waited to get these on mother's day morning so they would be fresh). If I had known they had edible items that could melt in the SUV, I would have hurried upstairs. I felt bad when I saw the icing had melted, but they tasted great! :)



Michael picked up a fish floatie for Caitie while they were out. The girls love it!



After I opened my gifts and after breakfast, we headed over to Michael's parent's house. We delivered his mom's Mother's Day gifts and visited for a while.



We went over in style... the ol' Caddy. We're really lovin' that car. It still needs some work, and new tires, but it's fun to drive around the neighborhood, and to go on Sunday evening drives in, and we occasionally drive it to a nearby store. It takes you back in time.



After leaving the grandparent's house, we headed home to play around in the pool. Caitie's lovin' her fish floatie...



And so is Bailey.



Michael got a barbecue goin' while we were in the pool. We had steak, the kids had hot dogs... it was wonderful! Yum! Here's Bailey in her swimmin' suit and vest.



After eatin' dinner I called my mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day; she was on her way home from her place up north in Flagstaff. Caitie and I left my mom two voice mails, and then my mom called us back and we talked for a bit. A little later we headed to Dairy Queen. Michael's dad gave us some DQ coupons and we couldn't wait to use 'em. We got Blizzards; they were yummy!



I want to thank both my girls for a wonderful Mother's Day, and Michael too... I love all three, they're so good to me... But I must give a special thanks to my dear, sweet Caitie... she went all out for me, and I really appreciate it! Thanks, Sweetie, I Love You! :)

What is a Mother?

What is a Mother?

A mother is someone to shelter and guide us,
To love us, whatever we do,
With a warm understanding and infinite patience.
And wonderful gentleness, too.
How often a mother means swift reassurance
In soothing our small, childish fears,
How tenderly mothers watch over their children
And treasure them all through the years!
The heart of a mother is full of forgiveness
For any mistake, big or small,
And generous always in helping her family,
Whose needs she has placed above all.
A mother can utter a word of compassion
And make all our cares fall away,
She can brighten a home with the sound of her laughter
And make life delightful and gay.
A mother possesses incredible wisdom
And wonderful insight and skill
In each human heart is that one special corner
Which only a mother can fill!

- Katherine Nelson Davis
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Where's the poem about how a mother can lose her cool and throw her own little tantrum when life gets a bit overwhelming? Let's get real here, people. ha :)

Even though no mother is perfect, there are two mothers I know of who come pretty darn close... Happy Mother's Day, Mom and Lynda! Love you! :)

Fun in the Sun

Can you guess what's happening here?

You're looking down into our backyard... just as my two girls are. (we were on the upper deck)



Someone is excited about what she saw goin' on in the backyard...







And this is why...



We put an above-the-ground pool up in our backyard on Saturday. Michael and his dad have been working on leveling the backyard for over a week, and finally this last Saturday they got it all prepared for the pool to go up. It was quite a job since the landscapers who did our backyard several years ago didn't level the yard correctly; the yard has been on an incline up until now... some of it still is, but it's pretty level where the pool is. Caitie got in while the pool was being filled with water. It took several hours to get it to the level we wanted.



These guys are amazing... especially Michael's dad. He has been so much help to us in so many ways and never expects anything in return. It's hard to find people like that nowadays. We hope he knows how much we appreciate everything he does for us. Thank you, Dad/Grandpa! :) They look so much alike, don't they? You can sure tell they're father and son. :)



He sure made his grandgirls happy. They're lovin' the pool. :)



Grandma kinda likes the pool too; ain't she cute wearin' Grandpa's hat? :)



As you can see, everyone in this pic is a little to the right... I was Flip recording and taking this pic at the same time. See part of the ol' Flip recorder and my finger on the left there? I'm a great multitasker... Not! ha I took this pic while I was in the pool. Caitie and Bailey kept getting in and out of the pool, so I stayed in to make sure they were supervised the whole time.



Bailey was wanting me to put her back in the pool.



Caitie's a pro at climbing the ladder in and out of the pool. We take the ladder away from the pool when we're done swimmin'.



The pics below are from the next day, which was yesterday. We couldn't wait to get back into the nice, cool pool. But boy was it cold! I couldn't believe I was shivering and not sure I could handle bein' in the cold water on an Arizona May day... crazy! Both girls were cold, but wanted to stay in the pool. Caitie kept getting out and drying off and then would get back in again. I kept telling her it was going to be really cold each time she re-entered the pool, but she kept doing it anyway. We had to drag her out of the pool... she didn't want to leave. Michael and I were wanting to take the ol' Caddy for a Sunday evening drive before it got dark, so we finally  made her get out before the sun went down. It was a really nice day. Here's Bailey in her cute little bumble bee floatie. She's wearing a cute two-piece swimsuit... it came with a protective vest (kinda like a life jacket), which she is wearing also. I was in a floatie chair holding on to Bailey in her bee. It was a tricky pic to get; I had to do it one-handed hoping I wouldn't drop the camera. Which reminds me of what happened on Saturday... Michael was reaching over the side of the pool to put Bailey back in when the Flip recorder and his phone that were in his shirt pocket fell to the bottom of the pool. I grabbed them real quick. I wasn't too happy about my Flip having been covered in water. I was afraid it would no longer work and I had lost what I recorded on it, but it seems to be fine now... thank goodness. Michael's cell phone is okay too, just in case you were wondering.



Caitie the snorkeler (is that a word?).



Here they are with their daddy. He didn't get wet above his waist; smart guy. I ended up getting all wet... I swam a bit, as best you can in this size pool, and floated along, etc. It was really nice, and it was quite a work-out for me as well. Boy oh boy do I need to start exercising! ha


I actually got more pics than what is seen here, but my cf card filled up on my Canon 40D camera, so I switched to my point and shoot camera to get more pics. I'll try to remember to post those pics sometime soon.