He answers to many names, among them are: Honey, Daddy, TiVo King and (the coveted) Happy Fun Dad. Once when Rachel was about 18 months old, she called him, "Honey-Daddy."

Daddy wears several hats: Bread-winner, Lawn-mower, Thingy figure-outer, Chief dishwasher,  Leader of adventures, and (reluctantly) Substitute duck-feeder.

He takes our daughters to classes and lessons; he attends recitals and performances.

Happy Fun Dad has taught our children to high-five, 'clink' glasses for a toast, and tie their shoes.

He lets them 'drive' his truck in the driveway and he is showing them the proper use of power tools.

When the girls find a dead bird, snake, or rodent, guess who helps them to bury it and even conducts a service for the dearly departed! That's right: Daddy.

He is also the best loose-tooth-puller in the house.

When our cat died, my dear husband stood in the rain, breaking frozen ground to dig her grave.

If a child has occasion to cry over a disappointment, he cries with them (but tries to hide it).

Daddy takes the girls with him when he votes.

He takes them to Memorial Day and Veteran's Day services.

Daddy teaches the children to honor our community's first responders and our nation's soldiers.

He's a great dad!

And I love him.

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I want to tell you about two things. Some of you may be embarrassed that I even mention this stuff. My apologies to you. To the rest of you...please realize that there may be an easier way for you.

First topic: the "Diva Cup" (made from silicone) and the "Keeper" (made from latex). You can google them to find out all about them. Stays in place during all bathroom activities. It does take a couple of months to get the hang of seating it properly. I've had mine for two years and will never go back! The Diva cup offers a 90 day money back guarantee.

Second topic: Waxing away unwanted hair. I did this for the first time last summer. The only downside is the cost, so I limit it to summertime. It does hurt, but only for about 2 or 3 seconds. Then you have nice looking skin for a month. Try it!

Okay, end of discussion. :)

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Yes, this is still me. I've just changed the look of my blog. I was finding the black letters on orange background hard to read. So, I chose a different template. :) Hope this is easier on your eyes as well.

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Oh, what a dirty word! We all do it though, don't we?

I recently learned a very good lesson about procrastination. I learned that when I avoided a small problem, in my mind, that problem became much larger than it truly was.

The problem was a sundress that needed a small patch. Last summer, I'd sewn matching dresses for the girls, but on one, the piece of the bodice had folded over and gotten caught in the stitching that connected the bodice to the skirt. It was slightly creased, and frankly, Rachel's long hair covered the flaw, but I tend toward perfectionism.

So I removed the errant stitching and replaced it correctly. Unfortunately, this left a hole in the bodice (after doing the original sewing, I had trimmed the seam allowance). I wasn't sure how to patch this hole and have it look perfect, so the dress was guiltily stuffed in my pile of things to do later.

Fast forward ten months...I've been off my feet all month and working on a lot of sewing jobs. I decided to tackle that sundress patch. After all, if I ruined it, that wouldn't be any worse than it sitting in a box unused. I was debating matching the pattern of the print fabric, because, as I recalled, that patch needed to be large enough to cover a hole about 3 inches wide by 1 inch tall.

When imagine my pleasant surprize when I looked at the dress and realized that the hole and discovered it was only about 1.5 inches wide and less than a 1/2 inch tall!

I had it fixed in less than an hour. Rachel has worn her dress twice since then.

More importantly I learned a valuable lesson about myself: the more I stew about a problem and the more time that passes, the bigger that problem becomes in my mind.

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Wow! What a crazy month! My apologies to those of you who check in regularly for updates.

Randy's construction company had a bit of a slow down in February and March. My job, on the other hand, got crazy-busy! We've had three sets of triplets so far this year, countless twins and plenty of sick or early singleton babies. So, when Randy didn't have much work, I was able to step up and work lots of extra hours. My contribution to our finances kept things from getting painful last month. But it also left barely enough time for household management, and no extra time for blogging.

But I'm back now! :)

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I awoke this morning to a rare inch of snowfall. Fortunately, my present hadn't suffered. Randy and Rebecca had filled my dining room window box with mini-daffodils and a couple of annuals (primrose & pansy). Very pretty! Later I will move the mini-daffodils to my 'bulb bed' in the front yard. Flower gardening is fairly new to me.

Even more fortunately, I had left Randy's present in my van - it's a palm tree - fresh from the nursery and has never before spent a night outside. He's always wanted one. Tonight it resides on the front porch close to the door.

This afternoon, we went to the local bowling alley with a "One hour free" coupon, and threw three games each, plus Randy threw one more by himself (my arm was getting tired). Since we were "on-the-clock" so to speak, with this coupon, the children did not bowl. We will go together this Sunday when games are discounted. The kids are usually only good for one game before they get bored or tired.

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I pray that out of [God's] glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19.

Wow.

Whom do you love the most? Who are you head-over-heels in love with? That person that you love to listen to, look at, to touch, even to smell...would you die to save him or her from danger?

Would you die to save him or her from his or her own wrong-doing?

Christ's love for us is so much bigger than we can imagine, but Paul's prayer for us in - in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus - gives me hope that I will someday be able to grasp my Lord's love.

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