Author Archives:
big news deserves a party
i’ve been working on a little project lately, one that’s kept me busy — inside and out — for the past five months.
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WE’RE HAVING A BABY!! (the obvious has to be stated shouted.)
through nearly six years of marriage, God has brought lee & i through ups and downs and developed our relationship into a “us” that gets better all the time. we worked through our initial parental hesitations and i faced my personal struggles, and we left the rest up to Him. His timing is perfect, as usual.
it’s been fun to share the news with family and friends personally, and enjoy each individual reaction and celebration periodically over the last few months. the first trimester was a breeze, with little to no morning sickness and normal energy levels. lee and i have spent the first half of the second trimester waiting eagerly for the emergence of a real pregnant belly. finally, this week, it feels like my baby bulge became a bona fide baby bump!
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we’ve been so anxious to find out if we are having a boy or girl, because referring to our unborn child as “the baby” was getting old, and “it’ was banned from discussions about our little bean. (lee coined “himher” as our preferred pronoun). i was hoping for a boy, but completely happy with the thought of a little girl to grow up alongside her cousin caris.
when it came time to discover the gender of our offspring, we wanted to share the news with our family and closest friends in person, just as we had with revealing the existence of the new life. because gender reveal parties are so popular right now, i had no shortage of adorable inspiration via the internet and pinterest. it was fun to piece together bits i liked with my own ideas.
i went with a black & white theme to highlight the Big Question, and served snacks to satisfy a variety of food cravings (one symptom of pregnancy i have definitely experienced).
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“salty” popcorn, black & white candy, and “chewy” chocolate marshmallows
“sour” pickle olive cheese rolls, “crunchy” chips & black bean dip, and “sweet” oreos
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i love any excuse to gather with my favorite people, but this occasion felt extra-special. i’m so grateful that we have supportive family and friends who love to celebrate life’s milestones with us.
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although only one of us likes surprises ( 
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my dad came with us to view the sonogram and collect the pertinent intel, and then prepped the party reveal. waiting was hard, but totally worth it, in my opinion.
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after reading aloud the creative variety of name suggestions and taking the old wives tales survey to determine the “likely” gender, the party decorations became the revealing apparatus. everyone had a string to pull and their own shower of confetti!
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IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY! — IT’S A BOY!
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our little man is due to arrive in late october, and we can’t wait to meet him.
saturday summary – the full week
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this saturday has been so full that my weekly summary is bit late – after working in my hometown all week, my whole family rolled in for the weekend (17 of us from 3 different states) for a way-too-short visit (it always is). this evening i had a blast at megan’s book release party. it was wonderful to be among old friends and celebrate our new oklahoma author. i loved when she read a short passage – it was fun to hear an excerpt of the book in megan’s own voice.
i finally got around to trying this savory, veggie-filled egg muffins recipe. it was so simple and tasty, but they didn’t reheat as well as i’d hoped. kinda eliminated the idea of making them as an easy take-a-long breakfast option.
we celebrated my titu‘s 92nd birthday this week with almost all of her kids and grandkids present. she was thrilled with her birthday present: an new iPad! now she can skype with her family and browse our facebook pages and look photos we email to her and play sudoku… “ooh, everyone’s going to be jealous of me!” you have no idea, titu.
this thursday an event focused on foster care, the 8308 Conference, will be held at journey church in norman. 8308 is the number of children who were in OKDHS custody on january 1st of this year. the event is designed to help connect Oklahoma faith communities with resources and information to help members become involved with and aid children in the state’s foster care program. the conference is free and not just for church leaders — anyone interested in providing support to the foster care program in oklahoma can read more details here and register for the event here.
i love words, even the nonsense ones. the history of the longest nonsensical word was a pretty entertaining read.
this video of cain’s arcade has been making the rounds online, and i have to say, i think it is worth the 10 minutes to watch. what a clever little boy!
i can imagine it would be difficult to come up with creative ways to photograph your children after awhile. one dad is thinking way outside the frame with an assortment of imaginative photos of his daughters (with a little editing trickery, granted).
i have lots of goals for this coming week. wish me luck! i hope you have a productive week as well.
bookworm wednesday – spirit-led parenting
if you don’t already know megan, you may remember her from when i guest-posted at her blog, sorta crunchy. well, her wisdom and talent are finally available in a published book! today’s bookworm review is of a title i am so happy to promote and am looking forward to applying to my life in the future: Spirit-Led Parenting: From Fear to Freedom in Baby’s First Year by Megan Tietz & Laura Oyer (5 of 5 stars).
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i don’t really feel qualified to offer a bona fide review of this book, because i have no personal experiences in parenting to reflect from. but i can speak to the quality of the writing, the wonderful conversational ease of the style, and the soundness of the scriptural foundation.
megan and laura have shared openly their own struggles as first-time moms, and the road that led them into joyful and enriching motherhood. they have created a parenting book that is the opposite of a detailed how-to manual. rather than listing every do and don’t, the authors outline the attitudes of raising a child as you seek God’s guidance in every step.
this book gives me hope for the time when i walk through the first year of mommyhood, and i already feel the release of the subconscious apprehension i’ve always felt when thinking about getting motherhood right. the principles and lessons they share have already begun to work on the maturity of my character and the stubbornly self-centered parts of my spirit.
speaking from my own place in life, i highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever thought of becoming a parent and been paralyzed by the overwhelming feeling of wanting to do everything “the right way.”
don’t forget to stop by the book release party in honor of megan this saturday at studio midtown in okc from 5-7 pm. hope to see you there!
time capsule
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behind this bookcase in an upstairs bedroom of my parents’ house lies a secret time capsule of the first twenty years of my life. it’s home to cherished mementos from milestones of my youth, dating back to the cross-stitched announcement of my birth.
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memories here stretch from tutus to muddy caves, from pacifiers to awkward dates.
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my family lived in the same house from the time i was born until my senior year of high school. during my freshman year of college, my parents finally finished building a gorgeous dream house on 20 acres at the edge of town.
my younger brother and sister were still living at home, and each had their own room in the new house. while it seemed silly to build a room for me, i still wanted a space to call my own when i came “home” during breaks from college. (and a place to put all my stuff, let’s be honest.)
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so they decided to finish out a small, oddly-shaped storage area behind my sister’s bedroom, and designated it my “cubby.” i was thrilled. i requested the hidden door, and was so pleased when the builder created one just like i imagined.
i immediately determined there was no need for tasteful decoration in a secret cubby, and set about plastering the walls with all the pictures, plaques, and keepsakes that had been stashed in drawers and memory boxes in my old room. i nestled all the belongings i couldn’t part with into the wedged corner created by the angle of the roof, and set up my random trinkets on a small bookshelf.
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the map & calendar of my european travels hangs just as it did in my netherlands flat.
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the itty bitty foam couch unfolds into a pad just long enough for my short body, and i used to lie there staring at all my memories and grinning.
the cubby is not really secret, since almost everyone who has been been to the house has seen it, but it remains mostly untouched since i moved my stuff in, with the exception of adding souvenirs from my college years after i moved out of the sorority house. i love that all these things are on display where i can enjoy them any time i visit my family.
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but i know the cubby can’t remain this way forever. eventually i’ll have to claim my stuff and it will all go into boxes where it will take much more effort to browse and reminisce. as i look around at the tokens, big and small, that i’ve collected over the years, i can’t imagine parting with any of it, but know i will have to choose.
the photos here are the beginning of my digital documentation of these keepsakes, so i can store the memories on my computer instead of the attic. the hardest part will be giving up any of the numerous handmade and mod-podged (hello, 90s!) gifts from precious friends.
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prints from a photography class sit wedged behind a row of decoupaged crafts.
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i’ll rescue the personalized boxes because they have the important job of containing other important keepsakes, and i can save the huge mickey mouse i won when i was eight for my (eventual) children. the same goes for my favorite comfort snuggies from way back: benny the bear and pink blankie.
but what about the box of playbills (nearly 50) from every musical i’ve seen in nyc, london, and dallas? what about the stack of trail maps (about 25) from every ski resort i’ve visited? and the large box of letters received over a cumulative eight months at summer kamp? will i really be able to justify making space for these things? there certainly won’t be room for the (shh, don’t tell my husband) boxes of sweet tokens from old boyfriends, homemade rockets from working at flight camp, knickknacks from high school musicals, micky ears from disney world…can you tell i’m a bit of a sentimental packrat?
i’m just going to savor my tiny time machine while it lasts.
saturday summary – the weather week
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i was so hoping that this week would bring sunny skies so that i could take advantage of the mild spring temps to get in some good time tending to my garden while i’m in town (and before the intensity of the summer heat).
instead it has been overcast and rainy most of the week. (not that i don’t welcome the much-needed rain.) when the sun did peek out briefly, i instated a mandatory work-break and hurried outside to soak up the warm rays and work the softened soil in my veggie patch.
thankfully it was beautiful on the date set aside for the one day without shoes campaign – a challenge sponsored by TOMS shoes to raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child’s life. i saw lots of people in okc participating!
spring hasn’t officially arrived in oklahoma until you get the first slew of tornadoes. severe weather descended upon my neck of the woods for real as the weekend approached, and we’re under all kinds of warnings and watches for several days. twister season, commence! (stormy skies photo by joel limpic)
i’m extremely proud and excited for my good friend megan and the release of the book she co-authored: Spirit-Led Parenting: From Fear to Freedom in Baby’s First Year. next saturday there will be a book release party in her honor at studio midtown from 5-7 pm. even if you are not a parent or a Christian, i think you’ll love megan’s sincere approach to faith-based living and parenting. you are all invited to come meet megan, support an okie blogger and author, and buy an autographed book.
a few days ago i posted a blurb on the OLIOsnippits page about photographer joel robison’s series of images portraying the reading experience. book lovers, feast your eyes and imaginations.
i was thrilled when netflix’s streaming service started offering TED talks grouped by subject. now instead of playing old friends or seinfeld episodes in the background when i cook or clean, i soak these inspiring, fascinating, and ingenious short talks back to back. this video of from yves rossy, the “jetman” was particularly exciting to me, because i have always dreamed of flying high and free like a bird.
as someone who loves words precisely because each one is unique in it’s exact meaning and subtle connotations, this article on the thesauraus from lapham’s quarterly was an interesting read. i love the proposition that “there is no such thing as a synonym” while at the same time recognizing the value in an inventory of relationships between the senses of words.
next week i’ll be working in my hometown all week and my titu is thrilled to have me occupy “my chair” beside her for several evenings in a row. at the end of the week more family will be coming to town and we’ll get a chance to celebrate her 92nd birthday! i hope you all get some good family time this week, as well!
bookworm wednesday – the invention of hugo cabret
usually i like to read the book before i see the movie it inspired, but in the case of scorsese’s epic film Hugo, i didn’t know i was dying to read the book until i was captivated by the story through the magic of 3D and other cinematic technical feats. this week’s bookworm review will inevitably be more of a comparison of the written and filmed versions than a true book review since i’ve seen the movie, but there is no doubt that the story is a gem: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (4 of 5 stars).
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reading the book was a sort of deja-vu of watching it on screen, because the script stuck so closely to the novel. the biggest delight was drinking in the author’s drawings, or “mini-movies,” throughout the pages. it’s obvious that these illustrated scenes are not used just to supplement the story, but to actually drive the action forward without words. and the super-detailed hand-drawn pictures had a clear influence (gladly) on the movie adaptation.
i thought reading the book might give me more of the story that could not fit into the film, but what i got instead was a deeper look into hugo’s world. the book is focused more on hugo’s journey and point-of-view, with all the other characters playing a supporting role. the movie placed several characters in the spotlight, investing the viewer more in the feelings and struggles of isabelle and papa georges as well.
selznick’s drawings truly enhanced the book for me. they gave the extra-thick volume an enchanting effect that made me want to read the book lying on the floor on my stomach with my legs kicking up behind me like a kid engrossed in a treasure map. sitting in a chair or in bed with a side lamp seemed to grown-up.
do you like to read books that have inspired movies before or after you’ve seen the film? do you enjoy it when authors include illustrations in novels, or does it distract you?
