Spring, a wedding, and our Sovereign God

Well, I have been stuck at home for just over a week now keeping the germs of my three little ones from spreading far and wide. Joseph is on the mend as he got an antibiotic last Friday for his ear infection, and his cough seems to be dissipating too. William still had a nasty cough, but hasn't run a fever in a few days. He still has a busted front lip and scratches on his face from falling face first off of his bike yesterday. Poor David is the worst. We went back to the dr. for him again today and after 2 and 1/2 hours(!) of waiting and 10 minutes with the dr., we left with a diagnosis of double ear infections and some unidentifiable stomach bug. As for the long wait, I got to be that mom in the waiting room holding the screaming toddler while everyone else looks on. I had brought snacks, toys, books, and even our portable DVD player, but none of it worked on David after that first hour.

ANYWAY, that is my life right now. Sick boys and learning patience and peace in the middle of long days and fussy sick children. God is giving me rest in Him in these days and I am thankful for the discipline of hard times. I have been convicted that my Sovereign Lord has ordained each inconvenience and hindrance as part of His plan for my good and His glory. This has been fresh and real to me as I have served my little ones in these days of illness.

Let me challenge you, dear 360 girls, to remember that anything that happens to you comes from His hand. Some of you have already learned this in bigger and harder ways, but we can always use a reminder, can't we? I have faced the petty difficulties of this past week with a busy husband and 3 sick children (and being almost 7 months preggers too :) ) with such a different perspective since being convicted of the realness of what believing in a sovereign God means. However, I'd better stop waxing eloquent about it now lest my tongue get ahead of my heart. I haven't learned the lesson completely (as I still react so often with anger or fighting for my "rights"), but I have a Gracious Teacher.

What I had originally started to post about was wanting an engagement update from Megan!!!!! Did anyone else read her last post!?!?!? And, ummm, after an announcement like that, no details! For shame!!! Megan, I want the whole story and now!!! :)

new blogger

apologies for the delay in getting switched over to the 'new' version of blogger- but as far as i can tell we are succesfully set up and running. if anyone has any trouble posting, email me at nursewoodruff@gmail.com and let me know!

and on a much more exciting note, matt and i are engaged! :) more on that news soon since i'm covertly blogging from work at the moment!!

xo,
megs

An Encouraging Word...

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." Psalm 84:5-7

Not Cold Enough

Though I know people with non-public school relate jobs have no sympathy but how is it that last week when it was just a smidge over 0 degrees we had bright blue sky and not a drop of precipitation but then today when we've got all the precip we need for a solid two days out of school it is ONE flipping degree too warm. I mean honestly I bought all the supplies to make chocolate almond biscotti and sit at home watching the Devil Wears Prada...who does that? Who makes their own biscotti?! I was going to be such the Mistress of My Domain! Bitter Bitter Bitter. I'm still holding out for an "ice day" tomorrow...biscotti ingredients are non-perishable after all.

**UPDATE - 2 HOUR EARLY DISMISSAL! HURRAY I LOVE WORKING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS! :)**

**UPDATE #2 - I take it all back...half day Tuesday and no school Wednesday - Friday...crazy!**

COLD!

It was 1.9 degrees when I walked out of my house this morning - that is just offensively cold! What happened to 75 degree January?!

Day Off

I won't make this long, because Leah's post is obviously more interesting and exciting than mine. Although it is pretty exciting to take a personal day! I don't have any witty topics about which to write. One might wonder, though, what Martha does on her day off...It is pretty exciting: drop my husband off at school, get coffee, go to Michael's, make birthday cards, take the dog to get groomed, shop at Target, pick up the dog, and I will leave in a few minutes to pick up my husband, go for a run, go to the market and then make Lasagne for dinner. My life is pretty thrilling these days! All kidding aside, I am so appreciative to have a day off as I have been working my buns off lately at work and at play. Work has been consuming lately and we are training for a marathon in March. I will close with pictures of Mattie (our dog), now groomed, and the view from our place toward the Blue Ridge mountains that you can't see today, but what you can see is ice and snow as it melts. Love to you all!

meet my man!!!

some of you have undoubtedly heard through the 360 grapevine that i am in love... liz and ben cleverly set us up at the end of the summer, and we will forever be indebted to them!! liz may benefit by gaining a girlfriend in montana soon (did i just say that?!) and i have already benefited from her wisdom on a variety of topics from married life to clothing layering strategies to stay warm in winter. matt is everything i have always dreamed of and more... we both love playing outdoors, and spending time at his cabin in the north fork. he is employed as a civil engineer and has a yellow lab named sage who loves to join in our adventures. he has introduced me to many things i likely would never have experienced otherwise- most notably, hunting, and eating antelope and deer (i am now a recovering vegetarian).



a visual to help you imagine little megs on the prairie... :)

Random and Assorted Happenings

Okay, so it has been so ridiculously long since I last posted I couldn't remember how to do it when I sat down, so I had to call a friend for a tutorial. Little embarrassing. But not quite as embarrassing as this morning, when I was at the endodontist's office, and, after being told that my husband could not come back to the room with me for the root canal, I promptly broke down in tears. Yes, seriously. For those of you who know me well, I do not do this sort of thing. Just a few months back one of my best friends sent around one of those little email surveys for friends to do with each other to just reveal things about yourself that you think your friends know but they probably don't, like what your favorite movie is or your best childhood memory or whatever. I am sure you have all seen them. Anyway, one of the questions was when was the last time you cried, and all of my friends' answers (it was sent to 5 of us or so) were like "Last week" or "Last weekend" or "Yesterday." I was like, "Umm, last year? I think." Anyway, needless to say I was feeling so silly just sitting there crying when nothing had even happened yet, and it isn't as if JD had been in there he could have changed one little thing. But I was clearly so anxious about the whole deal that the one wrench thrown in was enough to make me break down.
But the dentist was awesome! He told me he has people come in all the time and sit down in the chair and just lose it. And then just for good measure he added "And it isn't just petite women-it is big, burly cops and everything." Petite? I like you! And he was super gentle, asking me the whole time if I was okay, constantly telling me how great I was doing. I think I have a crush on him. He was so good at snow jobbing me, he reminded me of my L&D nurses (e.g. "you are the best pusher we have ever seen! or "That is the cutest baby we have ever seen-she doesn't even look like a newborn!" etc etc.)
Anyway, for anyone who may need a root canal, it seriously is not bad. Not painful, in and out in an hour, no big deal. Don't put it off for over 5 years like I did. Only down side: most of my Tall White Chocolate Mocha I got as a consolation prize for myself afterwards is dribbling down my numb chin, and I don't even know it!
Not having anything earth shattering to write about is a little dangerous for me; I could probably write about nothing all day. So I will wrap up in this paragraph filled with things that don't relate: First, this Christmas has to have been the best one EVER since I was at least 8 years old and got a lavendar 10-speed. Kharis made it SO FUN!! I wish I could attach a pic of it, but they are all on JD's camera at work. So I attached old pics from this summer at my parent's lake house. They just bought a boat! So we are SO excited about this summer with that. I just turned 29, which was so fun; I had a great party JD threw for me and he bought us private dance lessons! Which is unbelievable bc he knows how much I love to dance, but he is the WORST dancer I have ever seen, and I know he is DREADING it, but he did it all for me. True Love. In other news, where are all the other preggies? Don't we have at least 2 360 babies due in January?! I want some pics!! Speaking of, isn't Alethia so cute you could just thump her in the one I attached? Okay, peace out!

Hurray for my Birthday!...a dissertation on the issue of birthDAY vs. birthWEEK

Thanks for the shout out Court! For those of you who don't know my birthday is my second favorite holiday of the year behind 4th of July (something about warm weather, picnics and fireworks that I LOVE) so Court's shout out MADE my day! :) Speaking of making my day I took off of school for my big day, woke up late, went to the gym (yes on my birthday - I'm so fit don't you know), went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch with my mom (the real reason I felt obligated to go to the gym) and then putzed around the mall looking for winter coats and cute underwear. All in all a very good time of doing very little of anything productive. I just feel like there is no good reason to work on your birthday. It's a day all about you therefore you should do exactly what you want and for me that involved eating key lime cheesecake and searching for scandelous undergarmets...and really it shouldn't just be one day that is celebrated for one's birth. Growing up we had birthweek, it started three days before your birthday (or whenever the first birthday card showed up - which in my case came from my denist on January 1st though maybe that doesn't count) and ended three days after your birthday (or if day three happened to fall on a weekend birthweek could be extended to accomodate additional celebrations on non school/work nights). And frankly birthweek makes way more sense because you get cards and presents and stuff from family and friends for that whole week as they come in the mail and you end up doing the cake thing on a day that is more convinient (in my case today because not having a washer and dryer in my little backyard playhouse of an abode means Wednesday is laundry day at my parents and what better way to spice up laundry day than to have a little ginger orange carrot cake birthday cake). Hence birthweek - embrace it 360 girls you know you deserve more than just one day.

In other news I went to starbucks today to buy this cute set of two cup and saucers for a friend as a surprise in the mail sort of fun present and when i saw them yesterday for the first time they were on sale for $12.99. Not the best price but not the worst and it was worth it b/c i knew this friend would be excited to get them. So i go into starbucks today and get up to the register and at some point between yesterday and today the price dropped to $5.99! Amazing. On top of that the Starbucks I go to has a little trivia question that if you answer correctly you get 50 cents off your drink. Well i wasn't planning on getting a drink (since I'd already gone to Starbucks for a beverage this morning - Megan Woodruff would be proud.) but I looked up and the trivia question was "How many times did John Glenn orbit the Earth?" UMMMM THREE!! I totally just taught a lesson on major achievements in the space race just before Christmas and he was totally supposed to orbit more times but his heat shield somehow got damaged so they cut his flight short and brought him back - and who says science isn't applicable to everyday life! People who don't get 50 cents off their drink that's who! Needless to say I caved and got a Chai - I mean really 50 cents.

Finally I would like to point out that this post includes very little if any meaningful content yet you, faithful blogger, have read all the way through to the end which means that we really just like reading about the silly and mundane things we all do everyday and that we don't have to have a deep and meaningful post EVERY time (though they are fabulous when they present themselves) so please save me from the population pyramid and sedimentary rock formation monotany of high school earth and environmental science and POST!
with much 360 love,
nik

Anyone out there?

Hello 360. Just want to see if anyone out there is doing anything interesting. I'm not. Today is Nikki's birthday so I'll send a little Birthday song shout out her way. Got through the holidays okay. Hope everyone else's where good. Chelse moves in with me this weekend, so I'm totally excited and I now have a non-sexual crush on my walls. I painted them this past weekend and love them. Come see me anytime you want! Just wanted to say hi.

2nd best blog (behind ours)

www.unsortedmail.blogspot.com

Hi-larious!

From the Hollands

Merry Christmas, 360!

Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."


And for your viewing pleasure, I give you a Christmas picture of my two oldest this morning while they were playing with their new toys. (Don't worry, thankfully William's mask has a clear plastic shield over the eyes.)

It's a girl!

Just wanted to let everyone (including the eavesdroppers) that Mary Sophia Vaught (Sophie) was born yesterday morning. She weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20.5" long. Megan is doing really well and so is Sophie.

Here are some pics. The family (sorry Megan for the no makeup pic...you looked great!). Aunt Courtney and Sophie; and Matt holding his newest little girl.

ANDREA CAROTHERS!

This is a formal demand for Andrea to stop evesdropping on this blog and make a post about life in NC. Your parting comments to me regarding the wedding night were far too funny to leave a girl hanging this long for an update. love love love, nik

My little men

So after endless hours of unsuccessfully trying to get my boys posed for a Christmas picture, I finally snapped a cute one of all three today just randomly. Granted, they weren't wearing coordinating outfits (we do live in the deep South, y'all, where standard dress for young boys is a smocked john-john, knee high socks, and white leather shoes) or even nice clothes, but they are all looking at the camera and smilling! I call that a success!!!

The Meathead Chihuahua

So in an attempt to perpetuate meaningless, yet comical blog entries, here's my next effort.

So for all you married folk out there be glad you are not in the dating scene because it's tough out here in my world. Somehow I've become a favorite target for setting up which I don't really mind because, hey, a girl's gotta eat, right? :) Well, some of you know that my doubles partner was trying to set me up with her trainer. The day I'm supposed to go out with him she tells me to go have a good meal because I probably won't be seeing him again...he's 38. She thought he was in his early 30's. So I go meet him for a late lunch despite her warnings. I had previously asked her if he was good looking (being the shallow person that I am), and she kept saying he was a good looking guy...kind of suspiciously. Well, let me describe him to you, and now I really will be shallow. He has a huge upper body where his arms can't lay flat on his side because he's a trainer. His hair is high and tight like a marine and there are a few scars on his head. I think he was missing part of his ear, but I didn't really want to stare to confirm that fact. He had some other scarring on his face as well. I will say he had gorgeous eyes, so that was a plus. On the phone he had had a ton of energy, so I thought that it would be easy to talk over the meal instead of the cursory awkward silence. Well, it would have been easy if I could have finished a thought or he stopped barking (more like yipping) questions at me. I quickly realize this is going nowhere despite the fact that he told me he was "like the freaking mayor of Georgetown" and I had to go out with him there because he knew the best places...blah, blah, blah. I've affectionately dubbed him the title of this blog and will forever remember him that way. I do a great impression of a Chihuahua by the way. Please don't let him call me! I haven't seen my doubles partner yet to "thank" her for this opportunity, but I will give this as a word of advice to friends setting up friends.... Pretend you actually know your friends and set them up with people they might actually like!!! :) My next set up is from the guy's mother. Guess that's a vote of confidence for you and could bypass the whole meeting his family awkwardness. I'll keep you posted.

NEW MATERIAL AHEAD...KEEP READING!
I have a meathead Chihuahua update.... apparently he told Peggy (doubles partner) that he thinks he's too wild for me. I think that was in response to me pulling the "I'm a high school girls Bible study leader" card. It works every time!!! :)

GO HOOS GO!

Brian and I just returned from the UVA v. Arizona basketball game. It was one of the most exciting games to which I have been. We were down by 19 at one point in the first half, down by 13 at the half and came back to win 93-90. How exciting. Let's hope this is a forecast for things to come. GO WAHOOS!

I'm a dork I know!

So most of you post pictures of your kids or husbands/significant others... well, I don't have any of those, but I do have this... It's my new house. I know I really am a dork, but I'm just so excited! And on a side note, everyone is invited on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving for a 360 hangout/housewarming/Megan pamper for baby party!

Confessions

I confess! I've been blog eavesdropping since August and I haven't contributed. Its been great hearing about each of you and how you all are doing (even the ones I've never met.) The interesting thing is I found out about this blog from Megan who I met while serving on summer staff at Rockbridge while her husband was leading program. She and I had never met before and it turns out we not only lived in the same house while at UVA but lived in the same room! Crazy. Anyway Scott and I are living in Miami Florida and anytime you want to visit we would love to have you. I'm not sure what else to update you on so if you want to find out more visit our blog http://teamlong.blogspot.com for the full experience. Love to you all!

God Bless,
Kristin Long '97-'98

Calling the lurkers

Okay, girls. As one of the administrators on this blog, I am hereby wielding my great and magnificent powers to try to coerce those of you who have not yet posted into posting. We can see your names listed in the sidebar and so you cannot plead blog ignorance because we know that you are reading the blog at least sporadically. So, I'm going to put this out there that whomever posts first gets to “tag” someone to post next. So, Julia, Kristin, or Christin, one of you start!! And Jori, Krystal, Catherine, JC, Laurie, Shellie, and Jamie, we're still waiting to hear from you!