X-Rays for the Little One

Thanksgiving morning, I plop Bristol down on the counter at Children's Urgent Care and tell them that I think she may have eaten a staple. "You said that so calmly," the receptionist tells me. I reply: "Well, she's child number three and this is our first possibly swallowed item, so I think we may be due for one. And she seems totally fine."

Flash back to 8:30 am, when Brayden runs in from his room announcing "Bristol just ate some paper and it had a staple on it!" A chunk of paper is missing from her Pilgrim hat. We cannot tell if it contained a staple or not. She is fine- no coughing, no choking, she is grinning.

I decide to see what I can find on the internet. 

Yep, better call the pediatrician on call. He recommends we get it checked out because it is a sharp object. A marble- no big deal, but this could cut her insides up. Refer to above photo.

In the car, the first song I hear is Building 429's We Won't Be Shaken.

The doctor checks her out and all seems fine. We went for some x-rays which showed...wait for it...no staple! 

Well, that was fun!

Operation Christmas Child

For the last few years our family has enjoyed packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. It is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse and is a fun project for the whole family. The concept is simple: pack a shoe box with toys, candy, toiletries, school supplies and $7 to cover shipping. Samaritan's Purse delivers the boxes to children all over the world, along with the Gospel of Jesus in the language of the kids who are receiving the boxes. We usually pack one box per child, but this year we were excited to be able to pack 31 boxes without spending a ton of money!

Many items came from Dollar Tree. I try to buy multi-packs of items that can be split between several boxes.

I also stocked up on school supplies when they were on sale and got a bunch of cups, water bottles and utensils 70-90% off at Dollar General.

I saw a simple sewing kit on Pinterest and made these for around $.20 each. I bought buttons, thread, safety pins and needles and split them up into small ziplock bags. I put the needles through a small square of felt. Next year I want to find tiny sewing scissors to include.

Dollar General also had shoes 90% off, so I got all of these for less than $1 each, including some nice tennis shoes and some cool light up sandals. I bought all they had and hit up the other Dollar General in our area as well. I wanted to include shoes in every box and had already purchased some flip flops for $1 at Dollar Tree, and was so excited to find these!

We found some no-sew hat and scarf kits that I picked up a while back at Jo-Ann's Fabric on clearance and we had never used. Brayden and Brinley were so excited to make these for their boxes! We could easily re-create these for next year.

The kids enjoyed sorting and bagging candy, and then we included some of their leftover Halloween candy, too.

Our Sunday School class was having a packing party, but I knew it wasn't reasonable to think I could pack boxes with three kids running around (and turns out Kenny got called into work and couldn't make it to the party), so we pre-packed ours. We used some of the green and red OCC boxes, some plastic shoe boxes and some regular shoe boxes that we wrapped. For this picture, we didn't have all of our boxes yet, so we were improvising with some other sized boxes and bags.

We ended up with 26 boxes, which I thought was significant because I want to run a marathon at some point, and am planning on a half marathon in June. But then we received some extra money and decided to pack five more boxes, bringing our total to 31. Another significant number for me because I am a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts. The name comes from Proverbs 31, which talks about the virtuous woman.

We had a packing party with our Sunday School class. Everyone brought their goodies and we pooled them all and packed boxes together. First, we prayed for the children who would be receiving our boxes. We prayed that they would know God's love and want to learn more about Him. 

I made this cake for dessert. 

We had lots of little helpers- around 50 people in all! 

Our goal was 100 boxes and we hit 102!

I love this quote that came from a blog called Muthering Heights: 
          Who will tell these girls, living in such poverty, that they're beautiful? Who will tell them they are precious, unique, irreplaceable? Who will tell them they matter....that God knows their name and the number of hairs on their darling little heads? YOU WILL. You will tell them with hairbows and pencils and strawberry candies. You will tell them with notebook paper and silly bandz and a a toothbrush and socks. With a little box of gifts that says "I see you. Jesus sees you too, and he calls you beautiful."

National collection week starts now! You can return boxes to participating churches, Chick-Fil-A restaurants and LifeWay Christian stores. Click here for details. 

Life is Precious

The recent news about the church bus crash in Indiana hit close to home. My heart is breaking for the kids on the bus and trip, the family of the mom that was killed, the little boy of the pastor & his wife who were killed, the bus driver and everyone in that church family.

Almost twenty years ago, a church youth group van crash changed my life. I was on a middle school church ski trip in Pennsylvania. The 15-passenger van I was riding in hit a patch of ice, skidded and rolled. Some people were thrown from the van, some were pinned inside, and the rest of us climbed out the broken window.

Our friend Ann Marie, who had already struggled with childhood illnesses like a hole in her heart and a stroke, didn't survive. Her parents were chaperones in our van and her dad was driving.

My injuries were minor, but my world was changed. When you're 12, you think you are invincible and can do anything you want without fear of consequences. As my friends and I prayed by the side of the road that morning, things got real.

In that moment, I decided that I wanted to be a doctor or a nurse, and in high school I became an EMT.

In that moment, death became real.

In that moment, my faith was made strong.

In that moment, life became more precious.

I think about that accident and Ann Marie often. I think of all of the things that she never got to do because her life was cut short. Prom, high school graduation, college, marriage, babies. It's always a reminder to be thankful for this live that I'm living and all of the blessings that I have.

Why? Why do bad things happen to good people? Sometimes it doesn't make any sense. But I know that it's all part of the bigger picture and that God has a perfect plan.

My life verse, which came out of my accident, is Romans 8:28 "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes."

There is hope. I'm looking for the good!

A Running Tribute to Melanie

Last July I signed up for a 5K and started running with Hannah Dunn at Camp Horizons in the early mornings. In September, I joined a group of ladies from my church to run the 5K- the first for several of us. Katie Welborn was my encourager and dropped back to run with me. I ran the whole thing and was so proud of myself! I did another 5K a few weeks later and improved my time slightly. I was hooked.

The winter months were consumed with our move to Denver and I didn't run much at all. I heard great things about the BolderBoulder10K in May, but wasn't sure I'd be up to it this year with very little training and running at higher elevation.

Then, my friend and former camp counselor Melanie's health took a turn for the worse. She had been fighting a rare liver cancer for almost two years and was also a runner. She passed away in April and I signed up to run in her memory and started training. All of a sudden I was going for hour-long runs when I used to get stressed at the thought of having to run one mile. Who was this girl?!

I quickly discovered that running is more mental than physical. I set goals, pinned inspirational quotes on Pinterest and didn't stop a run until I was finished. It was not easy!

I asked friends to sponsor me as a ran my first 10K and all of the money raised went to support Melanie's family. I was blown away by the amount of support I received. Thank you, thank you to all who supported me!

Two weeks before the race, I ran 5 miles and then my knee started bothering me. No pain, just kind of an achiness. Ugggh- what to do?! I did not want to miss the race, but also wanted to make smart decisions for my body. I took a complete break from running and wore a brace. 

May 27 came quickly and I was ready to go! My family dropped me off at the start and I joined the 47,000+ other runners.

 My first race with a shoe timing tag- real deal!

 Ready to run!

 Course summit: 5,391 feet elevation.

 Finish!

 The finish was at Folsom Field at CU and it was pretty incredible to run into this packed stadium.

 I did it! I ran the whole way! 6.2 miles.

The race atmosphere was really amazing! It winds through neighborhoods where people are out on their front lawns having a party. There were people spraying us with sprinklers, offering Doritos and cupcakes (I had both!), hula hoopers, people running in costumes, lots of live music and people of all ages running. My knee didn't bother me at all- yeay! When I was getting tired, I would think about Mel and how she endured chemo and lots of other unpleasant things. If she could deal with that, I could certainly run 6.2 little miles.

My official time was 1:25:26, which was ahead of my goal time of 1:30. I placed 411 out of 562 in my division (that's not last!) and 14,260 out of 23,308 women. I'm so proud that I finished and ran in Melanie's honor. I'm sure that she was watching and cheering me on every step of the way!

Melanie wrote a children's book about cancer, based largely on her experiences with her two young children, Autumn and Reid. You can learn more about her project here.

Squinkies

Obession.

 Do you know about Squinkies?

My kids received some of these tiny, rubbery toys for their birthdays last year and they have been a hit at our house! There are animals, cars, babies, princesses, etc. Literally hours of playtime at our house with these.

 Don't forget the accessories! Vehicles, campfires and more.

Greater Love Than Mom's?

Tonight we took our middle child, Brinley, to Kindergarten orientation. She is going to rock at Kindergarten. She knows a lot more than Brayden did when he started Kindergarten (because she's the second child? A girl? Both?) and she is so excited!

When I really stop to think about it, I could go crazy with worry. I can't be with my kids at every moment of their life, nor do I think that is healthy. I'm glad that they are independent and well-adjusted enough to go to school and daycare happily each day. But what if...

What if one falls off the swing set on the playground and breaks an arm?
What if some crazy person walks into their school and starts shooting people for no reason?
What if there is an earthquake, fire, tornado, etc.?
What if __ (fill in the blank with the current crazy news story)?

Could anyone love my children more than I do? I'm their mom and I will go to the ends of the earth to protect them from harm. I heard on the radio recently a great reminder- that God loves my children more than I do. That takes a while to sink in. But it also gives me great peace. I can't protect my children from everything. Bad things happen to good people all the time. But I know that whatever situation or outcome they face, they have someone much more powerful than their mom watching out for them.

Full of Good Things

On Sunday after a church breakfast where my children were well-behaved (thank-you-very-much!), an older gentleman commented on our way out the door "I can see you have your hands full!" Can I just say that comments like that drive me completely crazy?!

Especially after a morning when my kids were enjoying donuts and coloring relatively quietly. If you're going to comment, at least choose a time when things are really nuts. Like when we're trying to grocery shop and one kid is trying to climb out of the Ergo and the other two are whining and fighting with each other while completely ignoring the fun kid-friendly grocery lists I had prepared for them.

I saw this posted on a friend's facebook page and it's from an article at Desiring God Ministries. Here is an excerpt:

Motherhood is not a hobby, it's a calling. It is not something that you do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.

Lately, I've been a little overwhelmed with appointments for my kids. Here's the rundown on the past few months and the next few weeks:

* 3 well visits
* 3 dental appointments
* 2 orthodontist appointments
* 5 hearing tests
* 2 vision tests for baby girl, including 1 at a pediatric eye doctor
* 1 Early Intervention assessment
* 3 speech therapy home visits
* Twice weekly speech therapy visits at school
* 2 busted lips

It seems like someone is always needing something pretty out of the ordinary. But somehow we've made it all work. We've been able to schedule most appointments for the Friday afternoons when I leave work early,  we have had some great providers to work with, and things are falling into place.

When it gets a little crazy, I try to remind myself that motherhood is a calling. Those little moments that I share with my kids each day are meaningful and impactful. God chose me to be the mama of these three children, of all the zillions of kids out there, for a specific purpose. There may not be a lot of "me" time in the midst of packing lunches and wiping noses, but this is what God gave me time for. Right now it's morning snuggles, dance parties, nail painting, board games and getting cozy on the couch while reading bedtime books. I am savoring these good things each day.

As she closes her article, Rachael Jankovic responds to that comment of "You have your hands full!" with "Yes, full of good things!"

Today

Monday. 

Today would have been Buddy and Barbara's 41st wedding anniversary. Buddy always used to joke that they were married on Tax Day and he always paid all of his dues on the same day. 

Today my friend Melanie lost her battle with liver cancer, leaving behind her husband Tim and their two young children.

Today explosions rocked Boston during the Boston Marathon, killing some and injuring others. 

Today I tried to enjoy time with my kids in light of all of this, and they challenged my patience more than usual with homework and bedtime.

Today has been hard.

I'm encouraged by this quote from C.S. Lewis today: "There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." 

My family, my friends, the runners and their families, and the people of Boston are all in my prayers tonight.

Something Bold

I'm doing something bold.

I've just signed up to run my first 10K. The Bolder Boulder on May 27 in Boulder, Colorado.

But I'm not just doing it for me.

One of my camp counselors at Camp Horizons, Melanie (Rotz) Hartman has been fighting Poorly Differentiated Neuroendocrine Carcinoma- a rare liver cancer- for more than a year and a half.

Camp Horizons friends at my wedding in 2003: Francie Iliff Van Ostenbridge, Mel, me, Julie Laffey Szerenyi.

She and her husband Tim live in Minnesota with their two kids- Reid (6) and Autumn (4).

Would you consider sponsoring my run as a fundraiser for the Hartman family? Mel is a runner and she is not able to run right now. You can send a donation of any amount via Paypal (kimberlysbetts at yahoo.com) or email me for my mailing address.

I'm taking Mel's lead and living for the moment, stepping outside the box and challenging myself!

Christmas!

Catching up with Christmas photos! We moved to Colorado the week before Christmas, so we didn't really do a tree this year- just our mini pink tree that is usually in the girls' room. We celebrated with Nana & Grandpa, Aunt Barbara, Jim and Leea in early December.

 It's very difficult to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time AND to smile! 

 The Betts Family

Just for Fun: Bristol

Some sweet pics of little Bristol:

Wedding Recap

One of our dear old camp friends, Ashlee, married Ryan at a beautiful farm in Virginia on a windy day in November. I just discovered these photos in my camera and they are so cute!

 Another old camp friend, Wendy, was the photographer and she had a little photo booth set up with props for guests to take their own photos. Brayden LOVED this, especially the remote control to snap the pics. We stayed here a long time!

 Love, love, love this photo!

 These people know how to have a fun, family-friendly wedding! Party games:

 Another old camp friend, Tara, came from England for the wedding.

 Loved catching up with this group of Camp Horizons friends!