Fall

Oh MY Gracious, Goodness me. Its fall and there are no words to describe my joy over this fact. I love, love, love, love, love, love FALL!!!!!!!!!!! Its just by far the very best time of the whole year. The weather is so beautiful. Those chilly mornings and evenings that just make the bed even more wonderful and inviting. The smell of burning leaves, the drop dead gorgeous trees here in this part of Tennessee as they explode in color. The excitement of Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. Pumpkin spice lattes that just make you feel so good from head to toe. Pulling out jeans and sweaters and my wonderful Dansko clogs that I do love so very much.

Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party at Honeysuckle Hill Farm. It was such a fantastic place to have a party and it just celebrated everything that is so wonderful about this season. And to my incredibly delight they had the most gorgeous selections of heirloom pumpkins. I toted this poor 14 year old kid around with me forever as I hemmed and hawed over choosing which ones for him to load into his wheelbarrow. This one! No! That one! Wait, over there is another one! Oh me, oh my. And when I got home I created a tower of my pumpkins that makes me grin each time I see it. Isn't it so very Martha Stewart?

We were out enjoying the beautiful weather on Tuesday with a stroll around the little lake in our neighborhood. I looked down into a drainage ditch and saw a snake skin. Well, motherhood has clearly changed me because instead of running home screaming I climbed down into the ditch (with Reid strapped to me I might add) and retrieved the skin. I carried it home (in my BARE hands) and we carefully pulled it on and laid it to dry. Jake is going to take it to school tomorrow to show to his class.

Where Have I Been?

If you see me let me know because lately I feel like I can't find me. My thoughts are all over the place, I'm desiring to really set out some new goals and plans for myself and I just can't seem to get focused. And that is partly what has kept me from blogging lately because I feel like I don't even know where to begin. But I'm just going to jump off the ledge and ramble for a bit. If I seem to be drowning and you can't bear to watch feel free to come back another day and maybe I'll be more coherent.
A few years ago we went to a church in DC called Covenant Life. There were so many things about this body of believers that really inspired me but the most profound was their stance on family and the role of women in the home. It was so encouraging and affirming of exactly what I feel like I'm called to and I met many women there who I would desire to emulate both as a wife and a mom. I had dinner with some girlfriends recently and this church came up and as I talked about it I felt transported back to those feelings of inspiration and hope that I got whenever I walked through those doors. I came home and pulled out the folder I kept during my time there and I look forward to reading back through those notes and rediscovering some of those truths again.
While Ryan was gone on his latest adventure I was surfing the Internet one night and stumbled upon a story that continues to hold my attention weeks later. A young, beautiful woman who is deeply in love with her husband and with being mother to her four children was in a serious plane crash on August 16th. She received burns over 83% of her body and her husband was also badly burned. Her sisters, who are caring for her children while she remains in a medically induced coma in Arizona, are keeping her blog going as a means of fundraising, information sharing and to continue the inspiration that this woman, Stephanie Nielson, gave to so many. Whenever I have a few minutes to myself that I can indulge I slip into the world of Nie and let her love of her family and her domestic life sweep over me. She is a woman of deep faith and although our beliefs are not the same I know that she trusts Jesus Christ as her Savior and I pray for her deliverance.
All these things at a time when I was already feeling called to introspection and examining my motives and actions and wanting to sit down and figure out what is the legacy I want to leave. What do I want this family to stand for? What will be the memories my children have of this sweet time in our lives?
So, stay tuned if you care to. I'm sure this will be a slow and evolutionary process but its one I'm excited about. My start has been to drastically reduce TV time and the reward has been sweet. Even times like this morning which started at 5:30 I was able to withstand the temptation of flipping on the tube and was rewarded with a rousing game of hide and seek as I gulped my coffee. Also whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes are becoming a new speciality. I'm not sure how exactly they fit into the master plan, but I'm sure somehow they do.
http://girltalk.blogs.com/
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/
http://blog.cjanerun.com/

Time with my boy

Last Sunday I got some really special one on one time with Jake. It was so fun to just spend some time focusing on him and enjoying the little boy that he is. I took him to see Disney on Ice and it was really magical. When the charachters from the movie CARS sped out onto the ice his face lit up in excitement and disbelief. I don't think he blinked once while watching that portion of the show. They did lose his attention a little bit during the extended Tinkerbell portion of the show (to which a friend commented "I wish the CARS would come back out and run over tinkerbell) but all in all it was a fantastic afternoon.

My Power

Let me set the scene. A few weeks ago my friend Nicki informed me that when she had googled Jump Zone Clarksville that my blog was the very first hit returned. I was a little in awe of myself and the number of people who I potentially reached with my message about our less than pleasant experience at JZ. Also a little scared lest the big bad JZ giant come after me . . .
Well, yesterday I received a hand addressed envelope in my mailbox with a Jump Zone return stamp. I opened it to find three passes for a free open play session - with our last name written very small in the corner of each pass. And that was the only thing in the envelope - no letter, no promotion, no catch.
What freaked me out a bit was when I looked even more closely at the envelope and realized it didn't have any postage on it. Which means either the post office just sent this letter along for free (not likely) or someone hand delivered it into my mailbox.
The only thing that makes sense to me is that someone from JZ found my blog, used the scant information about us on the blog to locate the release form I filled out on our first visit and so was able to determine who was woman behind Maybe Tomorrow. Maybe JZ hand delivers free passes to everyone in Clarksville and my imagination is just running away with me but I doubt it.
Oh the power of a blog!!!!!!!!

Random Rambling

I am totally stealing the word rambling from my fav roommate of all time's blog. She'll forgive me because she loves me like that. She also forgives when in my comments on her blog I correct her grammar. Why on earth would I be jackass enough to do that I don't know but I do. And she loves me anyway. Heaven help me if someone were to whip out English 101 on this bad boy. I never proofread and that always gets me in trouble. Amber - I love you! I read a piece of flair the other day that said "God made us friends because no parents could handle us as sisters" or something along those lines and I thought of you. I thought of a few of you other girls too so nobody go get your panties in a wad but Amber has not so subtly hinted that my blog should have more to do with her and so this was it.

Randomness #1 - Hot and Ready Pizza from Little Caesars.
Never something that has played a big role in my life until today . . . and it was a lifesaver. I seriously wanted to hug the girl at the drive thru. I'm chugging home from a late appointment stressed about feeding the kids dinner and getting bedtimes moving when I drive past a crazy guy waving a sign in front of Little Caesars. In about 2 seconds I made the decision to whip into the parking lot. I drive up (no line) ask for my pepperoni pizza, for over $5.48 and the pizza is immediately handed out to me and off I go. Seriously from the time I saw the sign until I was on the road again was less than 2 minutes. Throw some applesauce into bowls once we get home and voila - dinner is served. It was fantastic. It was cheap. It was EASY.

Randomness #2 - Snow Cream "Frozen Dairy Dessert" from Purity.
Yum. Let me say it again, YUM. Its supposed to be reminiscent of when you'd take freshly fallen snow as a good and add vanilla and sugar and milk . . . and it is every bit as yummy as you could imagine. I can't stop eating it. Even though the scale says I should I still don't care. A couple pounds is totally worth the yummy goodness of this delectable dessert. Its icier than real ice cream but it also has a LOT less fat and calories. But mostly its just fun and yummy and a nice change of pace. I love it.

I know I had another one but that is just how random I am - I can't remember. Well, 3 minutes until Project Runway starts and that is a priority so off I go! Toodles.