Luis and I attended a two day marriage seminar this weekend. It's not often that we get to be kid-less, and just fill up our "tanks". It's so easy to get so busy, doing good things, even things for God...and lose sight of those things that are so important, like each other, and those closest to us. We both took so much away from this seminar...so many nuggets of truth that we can apply to our lives, and help other learn to apply as well. The seminar finished with the Fireproof movie, which was completely fabulous.

D-Day

Well, today's the day. The day we get our dog. At Luis's work, they found a dog in one of the plantations, and after a month or so of trying to find the owner, no one has claimed it. They even brought the dog to check to see if it had a homing chip implant, but they found nothing. So...he's going to be ours. The kids are out of their minds with excitement at the thought of their very own dog. I, on the other hand, am just out of my mind. I really don't like dogs. To me it's like having another child, but one that destroys everything in it's path. I have already decided that he will have a wire run way out in the back of our yard...where I won't break my ankle on the many holes I am sure he will dig. I have also informed Luis and the boys that it is "their" dog, which means all the responsibilities that comes with him. This should be interesting, to say the least. Bear with me...I'm sure there will be a number of posts this week coming...I can just feel it!

Josh just turned 7 in January, and he finally has his first loose tooth. I thought his teeth were never going to start falling out! This tooth, one of the lower center teeth, he been loose for 2 weeks. Every morning, he wakes up, and gives it a wiggle, only to find it just the same as the day before. At this rate, he may be 8 when it atually falls out! Jonathan, our "monkey see monkey do" child, is suffering from loose tooth envy. He's convinced that he has 3 loose teeth that are about to come out at any minute!

Sports fanatic!

Tonight we spent a chilly evening at Josh's soccer practice. I would have loved to skip out, as it was SO cold, but I would have had to listen to Josh cry about not going. He simply loves his sports! Luis asked him today if he liked soccer or baseball better, and to both of our surprise, he said baseball. He must absolutely LOVE baseball, because he adores soccer, too! I was talking to Josh the other day, and being that our baby is due in September, I was afraid that baseball would coincide with the last month, and the delivery. So I asked Josh how he would feel if he didn't play baseball this year, and just played fall soccer again in October. When the tears welled up in his eyes, I knew I was in trouble! Luckily Coach Robbie (Uncle Robbie) assured me that baseball will be done way before the baby is due. Anyway, here's a few pics from practice tonight. Jonathan informed me that he doesn't want to play soccer anymore. We have been waiting anxiously for him to finally turn 4 (this July) so he could start, but after he watched two girls on Josh's opposing team get hit in the face, and WAIL, he decided that it's not for him. He's no fool, but I do hope he'll change his mind.

So Jonathan walked into the room a few minutes ago, and I noticed that he had chocolate on his lips, nose and face. So I asked him, "Jonathan, have you been eating chocolate?" to which he immediately answered "No". When I asked him how the chocolate got on his face, he said it just "jumped up there". I had him open his mouth...just as I suspected...chocolate remnants in the molars...when I asked about it, he finally admitted to eating four Hershey's kisses from his Valentine goody bag. Then he added, "But I only ate four....that's better than five!"

Sleepy

I have found myself so very far behind in everything lately. The laundry is piling up...the kids rooms are a mess...I just remembered that I was supposed to pay our property taxes...that were due in January :( Let's not even discuss the state of the bathrooms!! I don't know where my head is lately...all I can say is that I am so extremely tired. Maybe it's because I am pregnant at 37, and my energy level is just not the same as it was a few years ago. Maybe it's because we are doing a gazillion things that we all love, but I am not getting enough rest. When I was pregnant with Josh and Jonathan, I was working in Arizona, putting in ten hour days. I think I was so busy back then, and had no way of slowing down, that I couldn't allow myself to admit that I was tired. That is, until the eighth month, when I was carrying Josh. It all came to a crashing halt. I was the administrative coordinator for an endoscopy center. My front desk girl had just quit, and I was left alone to run it all by myself. I was literally running around the clinic a good portion of most days. No wonder my blood pressure went through the roof! I was put on total bed rest for the last month by my MD. With Jonathan, we were staffed much better, and I was able to do most of my work sitting down. Those were long days of making sure everything was in order, so that I could take 2 months off with my new little one without feeling like I dumped all my work on everyone else. I actually worked up until 2 days before Jonathan was born. This time around, I am at home. My mornings are all school, school, school...because around 2pm, I get so sleepy that I start to fall asleep sitting up. We are very busy with church, soccer, gardening, and running errands that seem to pop up almost daily! Sometimes I think that I am more busy at home than I ever was at work. One thing I can say for sure, I am much more peaceful this time around. My stress level is no where close to the stress that I felt when I was working. I just hope that once I pass this first trimester, I will start to feel like myself again. For now, it's 9:42pm...and I am off to bed!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

Well, we don't have silver bells or cockle shells, but we do have pea plants that have poked their little heads out of the dirt in our vegetable garden. The temperatures have hovered around 75 degrees all week, and our little plants are happy! We are also seeing some of our herbs, (cilantro and oregano) coming up as well. Now we just have to keep the rabbits away!

These are the newest arrivals here at the Luray Gardens...

Facing our giants

We all have to face giants in our life. This boy (center, in the the blue...Josh is to the left in white) is Cameron. He's Josh's giant. Cameron has played soccer against Josh now for the third season in a row. Although he is the same age as Josh, Cameron is at least a head, and in some cases a head and a half taller than every player on Joshua's soccer team. They are all afraid of him. He's huge, kicks really hard, and plays nasty at times. Today, at Josh's first game of the spring season, Cameron kicked the snot out of the ball, directly into the face of one of his own teammates. I have to admit, I was relieved it was not one of ours, but I felt bad for the other boy...poor thing. When Cameron takes possession of the ball, our team parts like the red sea, to make way for him to dribble the ball down field and score. When Josh plays against Cameron, he runs slower, and is not aggressive like he usually is when he plays. It's amazing what fear can do to someone. Josh's team lost their game today, 7-5. Josh still scored 3 goals, and played pretty well, all things considered. I was talking to josh about Cameron today, and I told him that he needs to remember the story of David and Goliath...that even though David was young and much smaller in comparison to Goliath, he had God on his side because his heart was right, and he defeated the giant, much to everyone's surprise. Josh listened, and asked if he could bring a rock to the next game (jokingly, of course, but with a hint of reality). He's glad that he won't face Cameron's team again for another 4 weeks!

The Name Game

Coming up with a name for our children has always been a daunting task because there are so many factors to take into consideration. First of all, being the second youngest out of eight children, all the "good" names have already been taken by my older siblings when they brought their bundles of joy into the world, so I am left with names like Wilma or Clifford. Another problem of sorts is that while we might really adore a name in English, being a multicultural family, we always need to test out the name in Spanish, just to see if it's acceptable. You might say, well, just teach people the English way to say it. Trust me, there's always someone out there who is going to want to know what the Spanish translation is for Ruphardt, and they are going to want to use it. We really liked Isaac, both Luis and I (which was a miracle in and of itself)...but in Spanish it sounds like EE-sock....no thanks. Another thing we have to consider is Luis's accent. It's still pretty thick for being in this country since 1985, so we have to be careful. I don't want the poor kid to have his or her name mispronounced by his or her own Dad! My poor niece was called Weeny by most Spanish speakers (instead of Whitney) for years, much to her chagrin. One of my all time favorite names is Sarah, after one of the little (not so little anymore) girls that I cared for at the daycare in high school. Being Luis's grandmother was also named Sara, I thought, fate had officially knocked on our door! Unfortunately, most English speakers pronounce our last name wrong, and say Pear-a. Consequently, Sara Pear-a, would cause our child to be the brunt of much taunting, no doubt...and no matter how much you like a name, you just can't do that to a kid! Every once in a while, Luis and I will be sitting on the couch and I'll throw out a name...usually only to have it rejected. Then he'll counter with another name, (usually one of his old girlfriends from grade school) and I'll just roll my eyes. So, the search continues. My friends Phillip and Sarah used to live in Austin, and it got me thinking...hey Austin! Then I said "Austin Parra"out loud...too close to Austin Powers...as funny as Mike Myers is, I don't think so. We could always go redneck with Billy Joe, Anna Sue, or Jim Bob...but we would never be able to travel outside of Hampton County. I really like the name Ashley, but it will forever remind me of our neighbor's child in Arizona who whined at an unusually high pitch and volume. Other names like Kelly, and even Leslie, for that matter which are typically girls names up north, suddenly become boys names down here. I wonder if other families have as hard of a time picking out a name for their children as we do. Maybe we are just making it too hard, and should just pick a name out of a hat or something...

Jonathan has a new found passion...talking on the telephone. I guess it's not new found...it probably started back in Arizona when he placed his first call all by himself...to 911!! You can imagine my surprise when the police showed up at the door, and wanted to search the house, to make sure everything was OK. Anyway, he loves to talk on the phone. He'll talk to whoever calls...Nani and Papa are his regulars. Uncle David brought home a box of toys that his boss's wife gave him that her children had outgrown. Many of the toys were for girls, but Jonathan selected a pink and blue Cinderella cell phone, and uses it daily. The other day, while I was reading at the kitchen table, he took my hairbrush, hopped onto a chair next to me, and proceeded to brush my hair, while holding a very interesting conversation with someone on his Cindy cell phone...he went on for a few minutes, and was completely serious as he was talking. I had all I could do to hold back the laughter! He really has a good imagination. Today, I asked him why he wasn't talking on his phone. He informed me that it hadn't rang yet. Silly me...

Yesterday was Josh's first soccer practice of the season. Jonathan BEGGED me to go...not because he loves to watch his brother practice, or can't bear the thought of an hour without Mama...no, it's because the school where Josh practices has a cool playground!