Monday, July 26, 2010
One Special Moment After Another... Reflections-- July 26, 2010
First and foremost, happy two and a half year birthday, Ellie-Kate!! In just over a week, we have celebrated so many milestones... Chelsea Meagan reached her "sweet 16;" Roger and I marked 11 years together, and, today, Ellie-Kate turned two and a half. Additionally, "life," as we experience it every summer, continues to press on in the form of 4-H "stuff," various camps, and home renovations.
Emmy dug deep and charmed 4-H judges in food and photography. In the next few weeks, we'll be headed for the state fair in skit (Chelsea), food (Emmy), and dog (Emmy) as well as pretty much living at our county fair. Chelsea will show her rabbits and work the swine shows as a member of the Junior Fair Board. I'm a 4-H advisor so I'll be helping our club members as well as running the poultry show as a team leader for the Junior Fair Committee. Ellie-Kate is already talking about showing a pig in the future, and Britti's bumming because she won't be home for the fair for the first time in forever... Although stressful at times, 4-H is just part of our summer...
After two weeks at Wooster tennis camp, Chelsea is eagerly gearing up for another tennis season. Of course, try-outs coincide with our county fair, but we're still hoping for the best. Emmy just finished one week of soccer camp, and she was named Player of the Week! She will attend the British Soccer camp (held here in Athens) in August, just before rec league soccer starts. Emmy also attended two weeks of art camp this summer, and one of her pieces was selected for a special show at the Athens Public Library in August.
Other than 4-H and camps, our big project for the summer involved renovating our house. Blessedly, our flooring is now done, and, yes, it's beautiful. We're very grateful that we were able to do the extra summer teaching, and, even though the girls complain that I'm now too overprotective of it, we all just love how it changed the look of our home. As one last move, we're pricing used ping pong tables for our basement. Roger and I went to Burr Oak for our anniversary and played hours of ping pong, discovering that we're quite good at it :) Thus, we're going to move things around downstairs and create space for a ping pong table. All of the girls love ping pong too, and I'm sure that their friends will enjoy the addition too.
As all of these "special" moments take place, I find myself yearning to savor the mundane as well. I love to play Barbies with Emmy and to go out in the yard and play ball with the little girls too. I adore reading to Ellie-Kate and playing baby dolls with her or building various versions of Mister Potato Head with both of the younger girls. (Britti and I purchased three Disney-themed Mister Potato Heads with all kinds of fun accessories, and we can just spend hours on creating different incarnations of these toys.) During the very cold months as well as now the very hot ones, we have so much fun as we relax in the mall playground or the indoor playground at Burger King. Although we're not into video games at all, when we're not playing inside or out, we love Hannah Montana, Sweet Life on Deck, and "The Show about Us"-- a video of our 2003 and 2006 trips to Disney World.
I love that our home constitutes the "fun" place to be on the block. We're well stocked with sports equipment, popsickles, and props for creative adventure. Ellie-Kate has so much fun interacting with all of Emmy's neighborhood friends, and they adore her too. For Ellie-Kate, our neighbor kids as well as babysitters have become extended members of our family. She asks about them, wondering when they're coming again and what they do when they're not in our house. Yet, she clearly knows which people belong "here at home" as opposed to "there in their home." I'm still in awe that she makes that distinction and how easily that she has bonded with us as her mommy and daddy.
At two and a half, we're still working on potty training, but Ellie-Kate is well ahead of target in so many other areas... She's quite a conversationalist, and she easily speaks in complete sentences and asks smart questions. She "gets it," in terms of understanding how things work and how she contributes to interactions. I am a big fan of how she responds to requests-- "of course!" she replies :) One of her few remaining "baby things" is that she will readily assert "Yeah am" when she insists that she is able to do something (likely something that she really doesn't have permission to do!) She loves to play pretend games, and she is a huge fan of playing pretend cooking (like her big sister!) and loving her baby dolls and stuffed animals, especially Pei Wei, her panda. She sings her ABC song (a lot!), and she'll sit and count-- just for kicks! Her favorite Disney princess is Snow White, and she's eager to give Mickey and his friends a "high five" when we go to visit Britti in October.
We are so blessed that God chose to bring Ellie-Kate into our lives. She's such a cool person-- beautiful, smart, athletic, curious, and eager to learn and experience life. Life Emmy, she loves sports... Like Chelsea, she loves to embrace learning-- while looking very cute, of course! Like Britti, she cares about animals and others, and, well, she always asks if she should go to the doctor and check out a scrape or scratch :) (Let's just say that Britti's a bit of a hypochondriac!) Like her mommy, Ellie-Kate is a bit OCD, and, like Daddy, she loves to build things and to watch sports on tv. How cool how God planned this perfect addition to our family!!!
As we continue our summer, I plan to scrapbook our trip to China and start Ellie-Kate's baby album. I yearn to preserve our memories while taking time to cherish events as they happen now... With a large and active family, that's quite a quest, but it's one that I continue to pursue because "now" seems so fleeting... I can't believe that one of my babies is already almost done with her master's... that another is 16 already... that our "youngest"-- at least for years is now nine, and that "the baby" is already two and a half and over three feet tall! Each of them does cool new things every day, and I pray daily for God to give me wisdom about how to invest my time so that I balance responsibilities with opportunities to savor all of the richness that abounds in my life. He's truly been good to us, to me, and I pray for His guidance as I strive to be a good steward of these precious gifts.
Enjoy the new pictures! I hope that you're having a blessed summer as well :)
Christie
Emmy dug deep and charmed 4-H judges in food and photography. In the next few weeks, we'll be headed for the state fair in skit (Chelsea), food (Emmy), and dog (Emmy) as well as pretty much living at our county fair. Chelsea will show her rabbits and work the swine shows as a member of the Junior Fair Board. I'm a 4-H advisor so I'll be helping our club members as well as running the poultry show as a team leader for the Junior Fair Committee. Ellie-Kate is already talking about showing a pig in the future, and Britti's bumming because she won't be home for the fair for the first time in forever... Although stressful at times, 4-H is just part of our summer...
After two weeks at Wooster tennis camp, Chelsea is eagerly gearing up for another tennis season. Of course, try-outs coincide with our county fair, but we're still hoping for the best. Emmy just finished one week of soccer camp, and she was named Player of the Week! She will attend the British Soccer camp (held here in Athens) in August, just before rec league soccer starts. Emmy also attended two weeks of art camp this summer, and one of her pieces was selected for a special show at the Athens Public Library in August.
Other than 4-H and camps, our big project for the summer involved renovating our house. Blessedly, our flooring is now done, and, yes, it's beautiful. We're very grateful that we were able to do the extra summer teaching, and, even though the girls complain that I'm now too overprotective of it, we all just love how it changed the look of our home. As one last move, we're pricing used ping pong tables for our basement. Roger and I went to Burr Oak for our anniversary and played hours of ping pong, discovering that we're quite good at it :) Thus, we're going to move things around downstairs and create space for a ping pong table. All of the girls love ping pong too, and I'm sure that their friends will enjoy the addition too.
As all of these "special" moments take place, I find myself yearning to savor the mundane as well. I love to play Barbies with Emmy and to go out in the yard and play ball with the little girls too. I adore reading to Ellie-Kate and playing baby dolls with her or building various versions of Mister Potato Head with both of the younger girls. (Britti and I purchased three Disney-themed Mister Potato Heads with all kinds of fun accessories, and we can just spend hours on creating different incarnations of these toys.) During the very cold months as well as now the very hot ones, we have so much fun as we relax in the mall playground or the indoor playground at Burger King. Although we're not into video games at all, when we're not playing inside or out, we love Hannah Montana, Sweet Life on Deck, and "The Show about Us"-- a video of our 2003 and 2006 trips to Disney World.
I love that our home constitutes the "fun" place to be on the block. We're well stocked with sports equipment, popsickles, and props for creative adventure. Ellie-Kate has so much fun interacting with all of Emmy's neighborhood friends, and they adore her too. For Ellie-Kate, our neighbor kids as well as babysitters have become extended members of our family. She asks about them, wondering when they're coming again and what they do when they're not in our house. Yet, she clearly knows which people belong "here at home" as opposed to "there in their home." I'm still in awe that she makes that distinction and how easily that she has bonded with us as her mommy and daddy.
At two and a half, we're still working on potty training, but Ellie-Kate is well ahead of target in so many other areas... She's quite a conversationalist, and she easily speaks in complete sentences and asks smart questions. She "gets it," in terms of understanding how things work and how she contributes to interactions. I am a big fan of how she responds to requests-- "of course!" she replies :) One of her few remaining "baby things" is that she will readily assert "Yeah am" when she insists that she is able to do something (likely something that she really doesn't have permission to do!) She loves to play pretend games, and she is a huge fan of playing pretend cooking (like her big sister!) and loving her baby dolls and stuffed animals, especially Pei Wei, her panda. She sings her ABC song (a lot!), and she'll sit and count-- just for kicks! Her favorite Disney princess is Snow White, and she's eager to give Mickey and his friends a "high five" when we go to visit Britti in October.
We are so blessed that God chose to bring Ellie-Kate into our lives. She's such a cool person-- beautiful, smart, athletic, curious, and eager to learn and experience life. Life Emmy, she loves sports... Like Chelsea, she loves to embrace learning-- while looking very cute, of course! Like Britti, she cares about animals and others, and, well, she always asks if she should go to the doctor and check out a scrape or scratch :) (Let's just say that Britti's a bit of a hypochondriac!) Like her mommy, Ellie-Kate is a bit OCD, and, like Daddy, she loves to build things and to watch sports on tv. How cool how God planned this perfect addition to our family!!!
As we continue our summer, I plan to scrapbook our trip to China and start Ellie-Kate's baby album. I yearn to preserve our memories while taking time to cherish events as they happen now... With a large and active family, that's quite a quest, but it's one that I continue to pursue because "now" seems so fleeting... I can't believe that one of my babies is already almost done with her master's... that another is 16 already... that our "youngest"-- at least for years is now nine, and that "the baby" is already two and a half and over three feet tall! Each of them does cool new things every day, and I pray daily for God to give me wisdom about how to invest my time so that I balance responsibilities with opportunities to savor all of the richness that abounds in my life. He's truly been good to us, to me, and I pray for His guidance as I strive to be a good steward of these precious gifts.
Enjoy the new pictures! I hope that you're having a blessed summer as well :)
Christie
Friday, July 23, 2010
Happy 16 Month Anniversary, Ellie-Kate!!!
Eleven years ago today, Roger and I were eagerly anticipating our wedding at Burr Oak State Park. (We'll head out to Burr Oak tomorrow for our annual anniversary celebration.) Sixteen months ago, we held Ellie-Kate in our arms for the first time... I cherish the memories of both of those occasions...
It's hard to imagine a time when Roger and I weren't married, and, if anything, it's even more difficult to remember a time when we didn't have Ellie-Kate. She has brought so much joy to our lives, and she's truly one of us. We are "Mommy" and "Daddy, and I love the way that she reaches for us as we walk. She definitely wants some independence now, but she slips her little hand into our's just as soon as she reaches a street or encounters someone else on a sidewalk. When we're in public, she seeks my eye if she questions whether or not that someone else is "okay" or if a behavior would be appropriate or not. (I wish that she would check with us before she shuts doors quickly at home, but, well, she is two :) !)
Her two and a half year birthday is on Monday, and I'll write more about her then. (I'll also try and get caught up about 4-H competitions and Chelsea Meagan's birthday between now and then too.) However, I just wanted to give a quick "shout out" on our blog to these very special anniversaries. Happy anniversary, Roger!! Happy anniversary, Ellie-Kate!!
Love--
Christie/Mommy
It's hard to imagine a time when Roger and I weren't married, and, if anything, it's even more difficult to remember a time when we didn't have Ellie-Kate. She has brought so much joy to our lives, and she's truly one of us. We are "Mommy" and "Daddy, and I love the way that she reaches for us as we walk. She definitely wants some independence now, but she slips her little hand into our's just as soon as she reaches a street or encounters someone else on a sidewalk. When we're in public, she seeks my eye if she questions whether or not that someone else is "okay" or if a behavior would be appropriate or not. (I wish that she would check with us before she shuts doors quickly at home, but, well, she is two :) !)
Her two and a half year birthday is on Monday, and I'll write more about her then. (I'll also try and get caught up about 4-H competitions and Chelsea Meagan's birthday between now and then too.) However, I just wanted to give a quick "shout out" on our blog to these very special anniversaries. Happy anniversary, Roger!! Happy anniversary, Ellie-Kate!!
Love--
Christie/Mommy
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Chelsea Meagan's Sweet 16 b-day party-- July 20, 2010
Chelsea and Elena
Jessie, Sierra, Elena, Chelsea, Elena, and Danielle
Fun with Coco-- July 19, 2010
Ellie-Kate cuddles with Coco!
Emmy and Coco at 4-H dog obedience practice
Saturday, July 17, 2010
July 17, 2010-- Fun at home
Emmy finishes up her "I Spy in the Kitchen" 4-H project!
Ellie-Kate plays in the yard :)
Emmy takes a break and joins us on the playground.
House in Transition-- Week of July 12, 2010
Hi Everyone--
This week was more than a bit stressful, as we uprooted all of our belongings in the foyer, living room, Roger's office, kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room to install new flooring in the foyer, living room, and Roger's office. (We did the breakfast nook and kitchen last week so everything from the other rooms moved to that area.) As that saga unfolded in our house throughout the week, Emmy went to art camp every afternoon and then spent every other spare minute on her 4-H projects. Chelsea was at the College of Wooster for tennis camp until Thursday, requiring me to drive up there (for the fifth time in two and a half weeks!) and fetch her. As of 10 p.m. on Friday evening, though, all of the girls (except for Britti) were home, and the floors were finally finished. Today, we spent the bulk of the day on putting all of the pictures and furnitures back where they had been.
As we look ahead to next week, Emmy has 4-H food judging on Monday and photography judging on Tuesday, plus soccer camp on the mornings when she's not at a competition. Chelsea will celebrate her 16th birthday with friends at Burr Oak State Park on Tuesday thru Wednesday, and, when we're home, we'll all continue working on the deep cleaning of our house that has been our big summer project. (Roger and I are both teaching online courses, and, fortunately, they have been going very smoothly.)
We hope that you have a great week! I'll post pics from judging and birthday stuff next week-end, if not before.
Christie
This week was more than a bit stressful, as we uprooted all of our belongings in the foyer, living room, Roger's office, kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room to install new flooring in the foyer, living room, and Roger's office. (We did the breakfast nook and kitchen last week so everything from the other rooms moved to that area.) As that saga unfolded in our house throughout the week, Emmy went to art camp every afternoon and then spent every other spare minute on her 4-H projects. Chelsea was at the College of Wooster for tennis camp until Thursday, requiring me to drive up there (for the fifth time in two and a half weeks!) and fetch her. As of 10 p.m. on Friday evening, though, all of the girls (except for Britti) were home, and the floors were finally finished. Today, we spent the bulk of the day on putting all of the pictures and furnitures back where they had been.
As we look ahead to next week, Emmy has 4-H food judging on Monday and photography judging on Tuesday, plus soccer camp on the mornings when she's not at a competition. Chelsea will celebrate her 16th birthday with friends at Burr Oak State Park on Tuesday thru Wednesday, and, when we're home, we'll all continue working on the deep cleaning of our house that has been our big summer project. (Roger and I are both teaching online courses, and, fortunately, they have been going very smoothly.)
We hope that you have a great week! I'll post pics from judging and birthday stuff next week-end, if not before.
Christie
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Quick Praise! July 13, 2010
After 16 months with us, Ellie-Kate now has a completely clean bill of health in terms of her heart. We had a follow-up visit with the pediatric cardiologist today, and Ellie-Kate was good as gold. Unlike last year (when she screamed for the entire visit), Ellie-Kate was poised and sweet. The doctor tried to shake my hand, but Ellie-Kate was sitting on my lap, and she reached out and shook his hand instead :) After an EKG and physical exam, the doctor looked at me and said, "She's perfect. Her heart is perfect." We are so grateful that she has been given such a great report, without any intervention from us at all. We know that we are truly blessed. Thank you, God, for blessing us with such an amazing little girl and for allowing her body to heal. We give You all of the praise and glory!!
More soon--
Christie
More soon--
Christie
Reunion reflections...
After my 30th high school reunion, I drove from Warsaw, Indiana, to Wooster, Ohio, and I dropped Chelsea Meagan off at tennis camp. With over eight hours on the road, I had lots of time to think... The reunion was awesome because it brought Corinne, Carolyn, Michelle, Shari, and I back together for the first time since my wedding at Burr Oak in 1999. Beyond that small group, though, I was so happy to reconnect with others from our class, and I was struck by the unique opportunity that reunions afford us to share each others' life journeys, not just during our school years but beyond.
In some ways, the reunion seemed like "Brigadoon" (a play in which the characters of a small town come to life for one day every 100 years). For most of us (especially those who have long since departed from Warsaw), our high school peers come to life only during reunions. We drop in on their lives once every five years, reconnect, and then allow the memories and people to drift asleep until we drive into town for another reunion.
Unlike Brigadoon, though, classmates don't collectively fall asleep for those five years between reunions. Over the years, we have earned degrees, experienced marriage (and sometimes divorce), suffered loss of loved ones, pursued careers, raised children, and, well, changed beyond the wrinkles that now crease our faces. In that way, perhaps, a platonic version of the play, "Same Time Next Year," compares more adequately. Even though we leave reunions only to return five years later, our peers don't stay static, and our quest during the short week-end involves revealing the highlights of our own lives and getting "current" with the most important details about our peers.
As in "Same Time," I think that most of us feel grateful for the moments that we get to have together. No, most of us don't live in the same place, and, no, our lives no longer intertwine directly. Yes, we celebrate our special connection that, some 30 years ago, we grew up together. We performed in plays, sang in the choir, played in the band, competed in sports, danced, drank, and, overall, experienced the drama of high school that many of our own children confront now. Those events so long ago served as a foundation for what we've done since. As such, even if we haven't been together much in the past 30 years, we still understand each other much more easily than people who haven't been with us "since the start." We know the "backstory;" we "get it."
My 15 year old is addicted to the movie, "Now and Then," and she insisted on watching it as we drove to Warsaw for the reunion. Ah, the perfect precursor for a reunion... If you haven't seen it, check it out before your own next reunion. Now, as we did then, we still get to share bits of each others' lives. If you're reading this post as part of the WCHS Class of 1980 and you attended part of the reunion week-end, thank you for allowing us to reconnect with you, to continue being part of your life's journey. If you're part of our class but you didn't come back, please let us know what's up on facebook or send messages to the reunion committee. Even if you weren't there, you were missed AND discussed. We remembered you, thought about you, wondered about you, because you are inexplicably part of us. We can't remove you from our future any more than we can dismiss you from our past.
To the WCHS Class of 1980, thanks for the memories. I'm grateful for being part of your life story, and I appreciate your role in my own.
Christie
In some ways, the reunion seemed like "Brigadoon" (a play in which the characters of a small town come to life for one day every 100 years). For most of us (especially those who have long since departed from Warsaw), our high school peers come to life only during reunions. We drop in on their lives once every five years, reconnect, and then allow the memories and people to drift asleep until we drive into town for another reunion.
Unlike Brigadoon, though, classmates don't collectively fall asleep for those five years between reunions. Over the years, we have earned degrees, experienced marriage (and sometimes divorce), suffered loss of loved ones, pursued careers, raised children, and, well, changed beyond the wrinkles that now crease our faces. In that way, perhaps, a platonic version of the play, "Same Time Next Year," compares more adequately. Even though we leave reunions only to return five years later, our peers don't stay static, and our quest during the short week-end involves revealing the highlights of our own lives and getting "current" with the most important details about our peers.
As in "Same Time," I think that most of us feel grateful for the moments that we get to have together. No, most of us don't live in the same place, and, no, our lives no longer intertwine directly. Yes, we celebrate our special connection that, some 30 years ago, we grew up together. We performed in plays, sang in the choir, played in the band, competed in sports, danced, drank, and, overall, experienced the drama of high school that many of our own children confront now. Those events so long ago served as a foundation for what we've done since. As such, even if we haven't been together much in the past 30 years, we still understand each other much more easily than people who haven't been with us "since the start." We know the "backstory;" we "get it."
My 15 year old is addicted to the movie, "Now and Then," and she insisted on watching it as we drove to Warsaw for the reunion. Ah, the perfect precursor for a reunion... If you haven't seen it, check it out before your own next reunion. Now, as we did then, we still get to share bits of each others' lives. If you're reading this post as part of the WCHS Class of 1980 and you attended part of the reunion week-end, thank you for allowing us to reconnect with you, to continue being part of your life's journey. If you're part of our class but you didn't come back, please let us know what's up on facebook or send messages to the reunion committee. Even if you weren't there, you were missed AND discussed. We remembered you, thought about you, wondered about you, because you are inexplicably part of us. We can't remove you from our future any more than we can dismiss you from our past.
To the WCHS Class of 1980, thanks for the memories. I'm grateful for being part of your life story, and I appreciate your role in my own.
Christie
More Reunion pics-- July 10, 2010
Vondria Andrews Bergen and Christie Beck-- old drama buddies!
Jaymee Hanson Disbro, Maureen McElroy Goodman, Christie Beck, Corinne Maheu Houghton, Michelle Boxell, and Carolyn Daghlian Stec
WCHS Class of 1980 Reunion Party-- July 10, 2010
Lynn Sanders Banks, Christie Beck, Corinne Maheu Houghton, and Carolyn Daghlian Stec
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Michelle Boxell, Sally Olinger, Shari Bibler Skaggs, Corinne Maheu Houghton, and Christie Beck
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Christie Beck, Corinne Maheu Houghton, Sabrina Handgen, Sara Coon Martin, and Michelle Boxell
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Jeff Franks, Shari Bibler Skaggs, Michelle Boxell, Corinne Maheu Houghton, Christie Beck, and Kirk Wyman
Carolyn Daghlian Stec, Shari Bibler Skaggs, Michelle Boxell, Corinne Maheu Houghton, and Christie Beck
*We held our 30th class reunion at Spikes, a fun bar with an outdoor stage and sand volleyball courts. No one got on the volleyball courts, but a few of our classmates certainly managed to get on stage by the end of the night! What a great time of catching up!! Over one-third of our nearly 400 person class attended the reunion. We took lots of pictures, encouraged peers to sign up for facebook, and caught up on new events in our lives. I think that I have the youngest child, but several of my classmates now enjoy young grandchildren. As Corinne noted, many of us are entering a new phase of our lives as our children head off to college, get married, and start families of their own. How cool that we get to catch up in such a fun and touching way!!
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