Grace notes...

Jonathan and I were able to get a babysitter last night and see some live music at our church. Our pastor is a really talented song writer and musician. He opened for Bill Mallonee, who was the lead singer for Vigilantes of Love until 2003. We had such a great time! It's been a LONG time since we have been able to hear live music like that. And it was AWESOME!! Bill and his wife Muriah-Rose, tour together. She sang a song last night called "Grace Notes". You can listen to it here. The song inspired me to try to take my own Grace Notes. I thought if I was able to blog from my phone that I might be more consistent. So here's to trying! Ha! I don't what the format will look like, but here's the first one.

Last night as we were leaving, I put my leather jacket on. I haven't worn it since we moved to Columbus. As we are walking out the door, Emma asks, "Is that your date coat?" I love that girl!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

CONTEST!!!!!!

I'm ready to give you a $10 gift card to Starbucks!! Wanna know how you can win it?! It's easy! All you have to do is go to my FB profile and click on the Make Juvenile Myositis a Memory link. Then log in and vote for Juvenile Myositis. After you've done that, you need to share it on FB so all your FB friends can vote, too. Then post to my related status update that day that you voted. The person who votes and shares it on FB the most until the end of the month will get a $10 Starbucks gift card from me. I promise!

If Juvenile Myositis stays #1 or #2, it will win $250K from Pepsi to go towards research to help find a cure for this disease. Our pastor's son, Sam, has this horrible disease. Today Sam is at the hospital for his weekly infusion. Yes, you read that right...his WEEKLY infusion. Below is something his mom, Charity, wrote to help people know more about their journey:

Brief JDM Timeline + Request for help

by Charity Blosser on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 2:38pm

Several of you have walked through this JDM journey with Sam and us, but some of you are more recent friends.

For those of you that are unaware:

July 18, 2004- Sam was born a healthy, happy baby.

He was also a particularly healthy toddler.

October, 2006-Sam develops a slight rash on his face and knuckles.

2007- he stops growing, starts falling a lot, the rash persists. (The doctor thinks it eczema.) We're also told Sam's hips are shaped funny.

May, 2008- Sam can hardly walk. He asks to be carried constantly, is lethargic, fever everyday, can no longer bend down and pick up toys, can't get up from the ground on his own, can't stay sitting up with feet straight out in front of him, cannot jump, run or climb stairs. I remember he spent most of his time bent over the couch sucking his finger because he couldn't climb up or sit down.

The doctor sends us to children's hospital to test for Muscular Dystrophy.

Negative.

His knuckles swell and his joints hardly work.

He is in a lot of pain.

The doctor sends us to the Pediatric Rheumatologist to check for arthritis.

August 7, 2008- Dr. Higgins diagnoses Sam with Juvenile Dermatomyositis.

In time, we learn there's no cure, it's rare and life-threatening, and they don't know much about it. They HOPE it will go into remission in two years, but there's no guarantee of anything.

Here we are almost two years later. A few months ago, it looked like Sam might be heading into remission, but he had a flare up and we're back to weekly infusions and upping his medication.

He's been in lot of pain lately. He wakes up at night in excruciating leg pain, he tires quickly, he has to ALWAYS protect himself from the sun with long sleeves, pants and wide-brimmed hats. His arms hurt, his back hurts, and he started developing ulcers. He's very emotional due to the steroids as well. The Medications he's on are not without their risks, but I'm not up to listing all that right now.

************************************************

Edited to add:

(Written by a friend)

CureJM, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization, was founded in October 2003 to raise awareness of Juvenile Myositis (JM), a rare, painful and potentially deadly autoimmune disease that's expected to strike 1000 next year. CureJM is dedicated to finding a cure so that no child suffers another day with JM.

In the Pepsi Refresh Project (good ideas competition), vote daily. PLEASE, for the sake of sweet Sam and every other child who suffers with this awful disease!

Spread the word! VOTE 3 WAYS DAILY --

(1) Pepsi Refresh website -- http://www.refresheverything.com/makejmamemory

(2) Pepsi Refresh FB App -- http://bit.ly/CureJMonFB

(3) Text to Vote -- Text* Pepsi (73774) & put 100850 in the msg box -- (*stnd txt msg rts apl)

Now - go to FB and my profile to get started! You can vote directly through FB, text and/or sign up at the website.

**I guess I should add here, too that my Grace Central peeps don't get to play, because you're already voting!! :-)

Daddy's birthday...

Jonathan subtly let us know this morning that he'd like a cake for his birthday. :-) I was planning to make him one...his favorite - a boxed chocolate cake with white icing. The girls were more than excited to help me make it. Emma was really worried I would make it without her, since she had a playdate planned this afternoon. I assured her I would wait! :-) I was trying to get my make-up on and finish getting ready for the day while the girls were coloring. It got quiet, as it does sometimes, and I began to look for the girls. They were in the corner of the family room just looking up at me. Emma was sitting with her hands behind her back and Kate was standing there just looking at me. I asked Emma what she had behind her back and she finally pulled out the icing. The foil was peeled off and it looked like I had gotten there just in time. It was all I could do to not laugh out loud. I asked her what they were doing. Her response was, "We were getting everything ready for you." LOL! They had taken the cake powder bag out of the box and the foil off the icing. I'm fairly certain had I not got there when I did, we would have been making a trip to the store to get more icing. But as it were, the icing was totally intact! :-)

Emma decided Jane should try the cake batter! LOL!


And Jane liked it! :-) She kept licking her lips! (Don't worry - she didn't get much...just a little taste)

The girls liked licking their beaters!

And here is the finished product! Emma helped me with the icing.

I really need to learn to let go when the girls are helping me in the kitchen! I tend to want it to look pretty, but it's not always going to when they help. I did let Emma help me a little with the icing, but I had to finish it so it would look somewhat decent. I probably should have just let her do it. Jonathan would have loved it no matter what. :-) I'm gonna try to let it go next time!!

Yes, I'm still committed....

I've not forgotten that I said I was re-joining the blogging world. :-) If I could find the camera, I'd take a picture of all the boxes that I'm currently surrounded by. This past weekend we moved into a new house. We had only been in the other house for a year, but we were renting and we are now home owners in Ohio! (Yes, for those of you keeping tabs, we are now home owners in 2 states. But we'd prefer to just own the one in Ohio. So if you're interested in buying a house in Charlotte, NC, let me know!)

Moving with 3 small children, with one of them being an infant, was as difficult as I thought it would be. Or maybe I should say it IS as hard as I thought it would be. Until we are mostly unpacked, I'd say we are still moving. It wouldn't have been my first choice to move right now, but it is what it is. And the Lord knows what He's doing. As hard as it's been, I really feel like the house we got is going to be great! And we wouldn't have gotten it if things had been different.

It seems like the whole house situation has been consuming me since about March. But other things have been going on that I don't want to forget.

Emma finished her first year of pre-school in May. She will be old enough to go to kindergarten this year, but we are holding her back one year. With a September birthday, she would be the youngest in her class. I think she would be fine going to kindergarten, but I want her to be better than fine. :-) She also just finished her first set of real swim lessons. And I have to say that I was really impressed!! She went from not wanting to put her face in the water to swimming underwater in just 6 short weeks! In 3 weeks she goes back to pre-school. She will be going 4 days a week this year. I have this picture in my head of my body standing in the middle of a field. Time is whisking by me so fast that I have a difficult time just standing there, but my body can't move to catch up. It goes by so fast, doesn't it?!

Kate has turned into quite the 2 year old. :-) Everyday, I keep asking myself what happened to my sweet Kate. LOL! She is still pretty sweet, but she is definitely showing her independence. She patiently sat on the side of the pool with me while Emma had her lessons. I tried to let her swim a couple time a week. I think she loves the water more than Emma. She'll stay home with me another year and start pre-school when Emma starts kindergarten. I'm looking forward to some time with just her and Jane.

Jane. What to say about that sweet girl?! She is 10 weeks old today. Again - the image of me standing in the field... She had her 2 month check up yesterday. She weighed 10 pounds 1 oz and is in the 45th percentile. WHAT?! I've never had a child in the 25th percentile, much less 45th for weight!! :-) She's started to smile and coo and even laugh a little. She loves the swing and just looks up at the seat and just smiles and even kind of laughs. Out of the last 7 nights, she has slept all night 5. Last night there was a HUGE storm with lots of lightening and some of the loudest thunder I've heard in a long time. It woke her up and she couldn't get herself back to sleep, so really last night doesn't count in the number of nights she's slept all night! ;-)

Well, this post is much longer than I intended it to be! I should get back to unpacking..........

Making Memories...

I've been watching the girls differently lately. I've been watching them in slow motion and in memories. What does that mean, exactly? I've been watching them in a way that I don't want to forget. Like this evening - We walked to dinner and then to get ice-cream. On the way home Emma was chasing a flower that sheds off of a cottonwood tree. They are pretty light and kind of float like butterflies. She was looking up, chasing it with her hands in the air. Her eyes were lit up and she looked like a little girl should in the summer. I don't want to forget, but I fear I will. This is why I think I have to start blogging again...so I don't forget.

To resurrect or not?

So...I've been thinking lately that maybe I'll start blogging again. But there are so many things to consider and the first is are you still reading or am I still in your Google Reader??? :-) And the second is where to start. I suppose I just start from today. It's been so long since I blogged that it would take too long to catch you up. Besides, you're probably also on Facebook and you're probably mostly caught up anyway! ;-) So...here's to blogging again!

Labor Day Meme...

Since Emma was born on Labor Day 4 years ago, I thought this meme might be something fun to post on this Labor Day. :-) If you want to join in, please leave a comment and tell us where to find yours!

How long were your labors?
Emma - 0 Hours. My water broke and we went straight to the hospital for a C-section since she was breech. I never felt one real contraction.
Kate - 0 Hours. My water broke and we went straight to the hospital for a repeat C-section.

I'm somewhat sad I've never felt real labor, but then again...not really! :-)

How did you know you were in labor?
My water broke with both pregnancies. The first time it happened I called two friends to see if that is what it was. Neither of them knew for sure. :-) With the second pregnancy, I knew it was about to happen (weird, I know) and I ran to the kitchen so it wouldn't make a wet mess on the carpet.

Where did you deliver?
Both were born at Carolina's Medical Center-University. Emma was born in the old wing and Kate in the new wonderful wing.

Drugs?
Umm, yep! The spinal they gave me with Emma didn't work the first time and they had to do it again. I still had a little feeling. More then weird... No problems with the spinal with Kate.

C-section?
2

Who delivered?
Dr. Dickerson did both C-sections. Prior to the C-section with Emma, I had never seen her at the practice. Everytime I had a scheduled appointment with her, she was called away for emergency C-sections or deliveries. When I called the after hours number to talk to the doctor on call when I thought my water had broken, she didn't believe me. I decided I wasn't going to like her. I was wrong! I LOVE her. Losing her as my doctor when we moved to Ohio was one of the hard things about leaving.

Can't wait to read yours!

Funnies...

Friday evening we went to Big Spring to be with Reg, Tera and their kids. We were eating dinner and as usual it was a battle to get Emma to eat. Reg was trying to get Abby (their 3 year old) to eat, too.

Reg: Abby, you better sit at this table and eat your dinner. Do you want to go to your bedroom and talk about it? (which translates into discipline)
Abby: No.

A few minutes later Emma was up from the table and Reg found her in Abby's room.

Reg: Emma why aren't you eating your dinner?
Emma: I wanna talk about it.
Reg: With who?
Emma: With Kate.
Reg: I don't think Kate wants to talk about it.
Emma: Yes her does.

Then an explanation of "talking about it" ensued. Emma didn't want to talk about it anymore.


Last night my parents were keeping the kids so Reg, Tera, Jay and I could go meet up with some old friends. The older girls (Emma and Abby) had been in the bedroom for a little while and things were really quiet (never good). Both girls come out and just looked at my mom and dad.

Gigi: What have you girls been doing?
Emma: Coloring on the door.

Gigi goes to the bedroom and sees the coloring on the door. The girls are scolded and Gigi cleans up the mess. A few minutes later...

Gigi: What were you girls thinking coloring on the door?
Emma: I was thinking about Jesus.
Trent (6 year old nephew): They were thinking about Jesus?!?
Gigi: They weren't thinking about Jesus. (To Emma) Jesus wouldn't like that.
Emma: Yes he would.

She's a hot mess, I tell ya!!

Relationships...

Jonathan and I have been talking about this for more than a year and it's just heavy on my heart. We've been talking about friendships. It seems over the last year or two we've had a difficult time building strong relationships with other Christians. I feel like we were just beginning to build those relationships again in Charlotte before we moved, but it took A LONG time. It took less time to build strong, real relationships with people we didn't go to church with. Those friends were more willing to be honest with us about their lives. They were quick to tell us when things were not good, quick to tell us when they were fighting with their spouse, quick to tell us when their mother was sick, quick to tell us...well, everything. Why is this? Here's my theory: I think Christians are less willing to "lay it all out there". I think we are afraid of being judged by our peers, other Christians. Shouldn't this be the group we feel most safe with, not the most reserved? How do we change this? Or has this not been your experience? Thoughts?

News...

I know I haven't been posting on here much and those that were checking our blog probably aren't anymore, but just in case I wanted to share some news with you. I posted this on Facebook yesterday, but I know there are some family and friends who either aren't on Facebook or don't check it often. So here is the note I wrote yesterday...



There are many times that Jonathan gets tapped on the shoulder about possible job opportunities. He usually tells them thanks, but he's happy where he is. The tap he received this time was too hard to ignore. We decided he should pursue this one and see what happened. Well, what happened was that he interviewed last Friday, was offered the position the following Thursday and starts his new job on April 13!



He will be the Director of Finance over the physician network practices for a hopsital system. What does that mean exactly? He will be overseeing financials for all the physician practices the system owns. A Charlotte example would be practices like Mid-Carolina Cardiology. Ohio Health has 60+ practices right now and hopes to double that in two years.



Our house, you might be wondering... We have only lived in our current house for a little less than a year and with the market not being prime to sell a house right now, we are looking to rent it. We have some serious possibilities that we are hoping to finalize this week. You can be praying about that! Our specific prayer is that the Lord would put people in the house who have the same passion for this neighborhood that we do. When we get to Columbus, we will be in an apartment short term while we look for a house. Our desire is to be in a neighborhood similar to the neighborhood where we are now.



We are hopeful and encouraged about a church we found and were able to visit the weekend of Jonathan's job! They seem to have a similar vision as the church we attend now.We are hoping to have the movers here 2 weeks from today and then drive up to Ohio on Good Friday. We'd like to have Saturday to settle as much as we can and then attend Easter services Sunday morning.



I would be completely overwhelmed if the company weren't completely moving us (packing our house and everything)! Don't get me wrong! There is still plenty to do!! I have 9 different to do lists!



This is an exciting time for our family! We are DEEPLY saddened to leave Charlotte and everything and everyone that we love here, but we are confident that Columbus is where God would have us for the next chapter in our life. His mercies are new every morning and He has already been preparing hearts and minds for our arrival there!


A little bit of a bomb shell...I know!!



Anyway, there's the scoop!!

"It hurt my heart"...

Right after lunch, I was busy doing something I couldn't stop. I heard loud noises and knew toys were most likely being dumped. When I was able to get to the living room, Emma had pulled every one of her books off the bookshelf. It was obvious I was not happy with her. She was disciplined and we put the books back on the shelf. Not long after that happened, it was time for naps. Emma took a really good nap which means she wakes up happy (this is not an everyday occurance so I'm ALWAYS so thankful when it does happen). She was getting her snack and she said, "I'm sorry I made you sad." I told her I forgave her and asked how she made me sad. Then she said, "It hurt my heart to make you sad." Again, I asked her how she had made me sad. I had forgotten about the book incident. She told me she made me sad when she threw all the books on the floor and it hurt her heart to sin. Of course I told her again that I forgave her. We talked about sin and how God forgives us when we ask Him to. Then she told me that everyone sins. She may have made me sad earlier in the day, but she certainly made my heart smile this afternoon! As hard as it is sometimes around here, it's nice that the Lord gives me some glimpses of Grace through my sweet daughter.

247 emails and 'Kelly Girls'

As of 7 minutes ago, I've received 247 work-related emails this week. The sheer volume of information that comes to me by desk, phone, conversation, email, and text can be staggering at times. This has been one of those weeks.

In addition to all of this, I had an evening meeting on Tuesday, I went to work early on Wednesday, I stayed at work late on Thursday, and as of 5 minutes ago will be working late tonight.

Most weeks aren't like this one, but when I have a week like this, I miss my girls. Belive it or not, I even miss the crying, whining, and misbehavior. I just want to hold them, squeeze them, and kiss them lots. However, I do have something that helps me to keep sane. I have a playlist on my iPod named 'Kelly Girls'. It is a playlist of music that reminds me of my girls. The music is whimsical, alive, happy, and full of joy and love.

247 emails.....but I have the 'Kelly Girls' to help me through. Ooops...248.

Quantities like 'So Much'

Recently, we've been working with Emma to learn about quantities and size. We talk about little things, big things, too much, a lot, and she is learning her numbers from 1-12. She has even begun negotiating how many M&M's we should dole out. I'll say, "I'll give you 2 M&M's". She will then reply with "I want 5 Mns" (she can't quite say M&M's).

So when Emma began to use the quantity 'so much' I was puzzled. Her typical usage is to say 'Tickle me soooo much'. This morning I finally realized why she was using this usage.

Nicole's favorite book to read to Emma is 'Guess How Much I Love You'. It is about Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare and they talk about how much they love one another. To reinforce this, Nicole and I always hug her and tell her 'I love you so much'. Emma now thinks that 'So Much' is a quantity, and it is the maximum possible quantity known to mankind. After all, mommy and daddy tell me that they love me 'So Much' and that is more than anything.....

S L O W . . .

Dear Blog,

I know it's been pretty slow around here lately. Not many posts, hardly any pictures and virtually no comments. It's partly my fault. I'd like to say I am not neglecting you for another, but that would be a lie. The truth is there is another. It's name is Facebook. It's faster and easier to download pictures to, there are more people there I know and there are other fun things besides writing and pictures there. So, I'm not quitting you all together, but most pictures and family updates will be there. So if you are reading this and you haven't jumped on the Facebook band wagon...jump on! It's easy!

Always yours,

Nicole McConnell Kelly (this is how you can find me on Facebook)

One Word Answers

Try using one word to answer each question....here are mine.

1. Where is your cell phone? HOLSTER
2. Where is your significant other? FACEBOOK
3. Your hair? SHORT
4. Your mother? LL BEAN
5. Your father? GOLFER
6. Your favorite thing? FRIENDS
7. Your dream last night? WORK
8. Your dream/goal? WISDOM
9. The room you're in? OFFICE
10. Your hobby? INCENSE
11. Your fear? SPIDERS
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? VACATION
13. Where were you last night? SMALLGROUP
14. What you're not? PASSIVE
16. One of your wish list items? GUITAR
17. Where you grew up? MAINE
18. The last thing you did? SPREADSHEET
19. What are you wearing? SUIT
20. Your TV? VIRUS
21. Your pet? NOPE
22. Your computer? TORTOISE
24. Your mood? ANTSY
25. Missing someone? STEVO
26. Your car? BULLETPROOF
27. Something you're not wearing? MITTENS
28. Favorite store? BARNES & NOBLE
29. Your summer? OVER
30. Love someone? FOREVER
31. Your favorite color? VAN DYKE BROWN
32. When is the last time you laughed? NOW
33. Last time you cried? NOT ENOUGH

Timeout...

Can you guess what Fox in Socks might be doing here? Emma set the timer and told him he could not get up until it went off. Any ideas of who else might be spending a lot of time in timeout?!

Naptime...

This is what Emma did during her nap the other day...I guess my flower wall stickers weren't decorative enough for her... (can you see the line of small pink happy face stickers?)

Halloween...

We took the girls out on Halloween to a few houses in the neighborhood for trick or treating. I think they had a good time, although I'm not sure Emma really "gets it" yet! :-) I had made a skirt for Emma's fairy princess costume, but decided at the last minute that the overall costume looked a little too homemade, if you know what I mean! I went out the morning of halloween and found these two costumes 50% off! I think they turned out great!!

Trip to VA...

My friend Amy, the Queen Blogger, posted on this trip the week after it happened. I'm a little behind - as usual!

About three weeks ago, we went to VA to visit Grammie and Grampie and also got to see our good friends Marc, Amy and Caroline while we were there. Marc was the RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) minister at Texas Tech when we were finishing up graduate school. They also attended the church we helped plant, Providence Presbyterian Church. They recently moved to Lynchburg to do RUF with Liberty University students.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Emma helping Grammie make waffles...

Emma licking the bowl after helping make Stained Glass Windows...

Grammie pushing Emma on the tree swing...
Kate in the tree wing for the first time (she LOVED it)...

Emma pushing Kate...

Amy and Caroline...

Kate and Caroline watching their parents go crazy after Texas Tech scored...

All three girls playing together...

Kate and Caroline...

Emma before church...

Reading "The Paper"...

Have you seen "So I Married an Axe Murderer" with Mike Myers? There's a scene where his mother is referring to a tabloid as "The Paper"...Jonathan refers to the Wall Street Journal as "the paper"...Anyway, here is Emma "reading" "the paper". (OK lots of misused quatation marks in this post!)

"The paper" scene from "So I married an Axe Murderer"