Life and Times of the Sharp Family

At my bridal shower for Dharia, my pastor's wife and good friend gave me a very wise piece of advice that I will never forget.  She told me to pray with my children, not just for them.  In the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to do this with both of the older two kids.  Before bed, I have been asking Breslin what he is thankful for.  When he gives me his answer, he prays a short, simple prayer thanking Jesus for whatever it is that he has decided to be thankful for that day.  Then, I pray with him, re-thanking my Father for this as well, thanking him for my Breslin, and whatever else is on my heart at the moment.  It's really a lovely way to end the day with my son.  Actually, it would be a lot lovelier if he actually went to bed after this.  Lately, he seems to think this means he is entitled to get up and walk downstairs about five times before it's really bed time.  Very predictable, mildly annoying. Anyway, tonight, Breslin was thankful for the story "Ja

I hate being sick.  And I am sick, let me tell you.  I have a fever and the chills, among other unpleasant symptoms I won't burden you/gross you out with.  I have been in bed all day, with the exception of two half- hour stints to the downstairs.  The highlight of the day for me was during one of those periods when I got to take a scalding hot shower.  The hot water felt miraculous on my sore body and the chills momentarily subsided.  Since I have been awake less than two hours total today, this short period of bliss definitely made me feel blessed. Thank God for a hot shower! Lord, thank you for giving me a chance to feel better today during my shower.  Thank you for the opportunity my body had today to rest and heal.  Thank you for my husband, who took care of the kids so that I could sleep.  I pray that you would help me to feel better very soon.  In your name I pray, Amen.

Being gone for a large chunk of a Saturday really stinks, for the most part, as Saturdays tend to be our chance to reconnect with one another as a family.  But, today, I'm thankful that because I was gone judging for the better part of the day in Tecumseh, I got to experience that feeling of being missed. When I walked through the door at about 3:00 pm I was greeted by each of my family members in such a sweet and sincere way that I knew they had been thinking about me while I was gone, wishing that I had been there with them.  Colby grabbed me and gave me a huge hug and a delicate kiss on the forehead.  Dharia sprinted from across the room and proceeded to inundate me with questions, only a few of which I understood enough to answer.  Breslin gave me a big hug, crawled on my lap, and told me all about the game he had been playing throughout the morning.  AJ army-crawled to me and then used my leg to stand up and wave her arms about, as if saying "Pick me up!  Pick me up!&qu

I am so thankful for Burt's Bees lip balm today.  It is smooth and tastes delicious.  Most importantly, it feels great on my sore, dry lips, which I always have a bit of a problem with in these cold winter months.  I have a couple of different tubes laying around the house in strategic locations, some at school, and some in my purse.  I honestly get anxious if I'm out and about and don't have any on me (which is why I now have one on my key chain).  I'm not really proud of that.  I even share some with Dharia Lou sometimes.  She seems to be a fan as well.  It's weird, but smearing some of Burt's Bees lip balm on always manages to give me a little lift.  I love lip balm in general, but Burt's Bees is definitely the best, in my expert opinion.  Plus, it's all natural and the company is "good people" -- that is, committed to the environment, their workforce, and philanthropy.  What's not to love about that?  So, I suppose I should be grateful

Tonight, my son kept me amused and amazed by the things he said. At dinner, he was shovelling down forkful after forkful of rotini noodles when he must have bit his tongue, because he stopped eating and with a teary voice said, "Mom, teeth are not for biting tongues!"  I tried not to laugh as I consoled him and his hurt tongue.  After a few minutes, I asked him, "Teeth aren't for biting tongues, huh?"  His response: "No.  Just for smiling." Later in the evening while we were relaxing in the living room, he sprinted around the corner, leapt into my lap and said, "Mom, you're my hero!"  Tell me that's not enough to make your heart melt.  Then, right before bedtime, we were talking about letters (what else), when he started making the sign for a letter with his fingers and then giving it a voice and saying lines that started with the same letter.  He made the sign for the letter q and then made it wag up and down like it was talkin

I really, really, really, really, really, really , REALLY hate grocery shopping. Really. Okay, I'm done now. But, it's true.  I don't do the grocery shopping at our house.  I leave that to my husband, who does so without complaint on a weekly basis.  But between the snow and ice storms and my intense hatred for grocery shopping we have had next to nothing for food in our house the past few days. That is, I refuse to ruin a perfectly good day off by one of us having to go grocery shopping even if it means we are a little lean on our food selection (i.e. croutons become a snack food and we eat lots of Cheese Thingys -- see day 52 ).  Can AJ wear Dharia's diapers?  Sure!  They are a little big, but they still do their job.  Can Breslin eat a PB and J even if we have no peanut butter?  Absolutely!  In fact, I think he's starting to like them better that way. The older kids had their first gymnastics class after school, so it was somewhat of a long day.  But, whe

For about a half an hour today, AJ and I found ourselves the only ones who were awake in the Sharp household.  It was strangely quiet, and almost unsettling.  I realized that it is very rare for me to be alone with just one child, especially the baby.  It took me back to the days of my maternity leave, when the older two went to daycare and all AJ and I had planned for the day was to relax and stare at one another.  I didn't realize how much I missed that quality time with my daughter until this afternoon. Of course, our time was much more eventful today than it was during maternity leave.  Back then, she was just kind of a lump.  Today, she babbled continuously as she crawled around the living room, pulled herself up on anything that she could, and managed to pull everything off of the shelves her level and below.  But, it was really nice to focus just on her, watch just her, be with just her.  There was nothing and no one else vying for my attention.  I could concentrate on her

Today I made a decision that I would start training for a half-Ironman triathlon.  I was super excited to begin.  I picked an event in Benton Harbor (the Whirlpool Ironman 70.3 Steelhead ) and mapped out a training program for the next 26 weeks.   I even headed down to the Dean Aquatic Center on Albion College's campus to purchase a 4 month swimming pass.  Today was to be Day 1 of my training. It's good for me to have an end goal for my exercise.  I am the type of person who needs to be on a program to stay focused and to be consistent.  I haven't had an exercise regimen since I finished the Cleveland Triathlon (a shorter, "sprint" triathlon) in August, so I have been running only sporadically throughout the winter.  Because my mental health seems to be intimately tied to physical activity, I knew that I had to make a change here.  Not focused and consistent physically was definitely resulting in being unfocused and inconsistent mentally. It seemed from the ge

It's silly, but my whole outlook on life today hinged on one small, seemingly insignificant event.  My iPod, which had been missing since last week Tuesday, was found. I know it sounds dumb, but the fact that I couldn't find the iPod had been really bothering me the last couple of days.  You know how there can be that one thing that is there in the back of your brain, incessantly reminding you of something unpleasant?  This morning the fact that my iPod was MIA was just gnawing at me.  I renewed my search efforts and looked all over the house for it.  I even enlisted the help of my husband.   Either I was going to find this iPod or drive myself batty in the process.  Yes, I even prayed in earnest that I would find it.  Because, if I had in fact lost the iPod for good, it meant a couple of things: 1) I no longer had my playlists for running or working out ( see Day 54 -- Music ) 2a) I was so unbelievably careless that I dropped it or left it somewhere.  Cue the self-loathi

There is this girl I know.  Actually, I've known her for pretty much my entire life.  I believe we "met" as infants in the nursery at Ganson Street Baptist Church. Since then, we have gone to the same daycare, attended elementary school together, dominated AWANA as a team, been in the same youth group, attended summer camp together, worked at summer camp together, and done a million and a half other things together.  When my brother had leukemia and spent long stretches at a time in the hospital, it was always her house that I stayed at for the duration.  There aren't many memories of my childhood that do not contain her in some way, shape, or form. Anyway, I think she is amazing.   I could not express to you in words what this girl means to me.  I could never catalogue all of the qualities that make her such a wonderful friend without falling pitifully short.  Nor could I fully explain to you why I admire her so much and why she is someone I strive so hard to be

Do you ever get into your can and begin to go your merry way only to suddenly look at your gas gauge and remember that you don't have ANY gas? Of course you don't.  You  are a responsible, mature adult.  Who has a gas gauge.  And a little reminder light thingy. I also have a gas gauge, and a reminder light as well.  But I have run out of gas or have cut it dangerously close more times than I care to remember.  My first close-call was back in high school driving the Volkswagen.  Okay, to be fair, the VW had no reminder light, and the fuel gauge was backwards.  But I vividly remember coasting down a hill into the gas station parking lot, arriving with a smooth, engine-less stop at pump #6.  I had exactly one 5 dollar bill to put into the tank (which was accessed by pulling on a chain underneath the front driver's side of the car), but when I was 16 this was enough to get a significant amount of gas in my car. There was the time when I was 8 months pregnant and driving

Tonight, for a delicious snack, I whipped up this concoction of orange jello, white chocolate pudding, and Cool-Whip.  It's delightful!  I referred to it by a new name that I chose -- Fluffy Puffy. Saying "Fluffy Puffy" reminded me of these cartoons I used to watch online when I was in college (you know, during study breaks and all), centered around a character named Homestar Runner .  He's this delightfully weird animated guy with a terrible speech impediment.  I don't exactly know why but I find his antics hysterical.  Several years ago, one of my very dear friends even bought me a messenger bag with Homestar embroidered onto it. I use it as my school bag even today. Anyway, it has been years since giving any real thought or serious consideration to my buddy Homestar, so tonight I spent a few minutes farting around on the Homestar website, laughing myself silly over a few of the old toons I remembered the best.  It was great to turn my brain off and take a t

I've loved Francesca Battistelli since the moment I heard her sing "Free to Be Me". Tonight I heard her new single, "This is the Stuff" and  felt as though God was speaking directly to me through the lyrics. I had been worrying and obsessing over trivial things that were out of my control.  I was frustrated about things of little or no consequence.  I was letting things get to me that shouldn't have been. When I heard her sing, I laughed out loud because I knew I was being gently reprimanded. Thank God for "This is the Stuff"! Lord, thank you for reminding me that you are in control.  Help me to remember how big I am blessed in the middle of my little mess.  Thank you for speaking to me through the lyrics of this amazing song today.  In your name I pray, Amen.

On the way home today, my son asked me to spell all kinds of words.  It was a spelling bee of sorts, except for I was the only contestant, and I was drilled on word after word after word with no break from the moment we pulled out of the daycare parking lot to when we unloaded at home. Breslin: "Mom, how do you spell bounce?" Me: "Bounce. B-O-U-N-C-E.  Bounce." Breslin: "Mom, how do you spell kick?" Me: "Kick. K-I-C-K. Kick." Breslin: "Mom, first you take the K (makes K sound), then you take the -ick (makes "ick" sound).  Put them both together, now you've got kick!" Me: "Yes, that's true." Breslin: "How do you spell angry?" Me: "Angry?  Why do you want to spell angry?  Oops!  (drops something onto the floor)" Breslin: "Oops.  O-O-P-S." Me: "Great job, buddy!" Breslin: "Mommy, how do you spell angry?" AJ: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I was bound and determined that my post today was NOT going to be Valentine's Day related.  It was too predictable, unoriginal. But, then my husband had to be so unbelievable wonderful, that I had to be thankful for this man who is without a doubt both the love of my life and my best friend.  I know, life is rough, right? Just over 8 years ago, my husband proposed to me.  I was sitting on the couch, and he got down on one knee and and in a small, shaky voice asked me to marry him.  After I said "yes", we danced to what we now thing of as "our song" with tears streaming down our faces, and throats too tight to talk.  All we could do was hold each other tight and listen to the words of Tim McGraw: I never had no one I could count on I've been let down so many times I was tired of hurtin' So tired of searchin' 'Til you walked into my life It was a feelin' I'd never known And for the first time I didn't feel alone You

Today I went for a run.  As I normally do, I donned my headphones and chose one of my favorite playlists before heading out.  It's funny how music can sometimes elicit such an emotional response from me.  Today, the first song to play was Fort Minor's "Remember the Name".  This song brought out my inner warrior princess.  All of a sudden, I was more beautiful and more powerful than I had ever been.  I flew down the streets of Albion, each step hitting the concrete in sync with the rhythm of Mike Shinodah. My mental and emotional reliance on music can be a good or a bad thing, at least in running.  I can never seem to come up with a playlist where every song evokes that same inspired reaction.  It's bizarre.  Some songs seem like they would, but when they come on, they have just the opposite effect.  Then I have to mess with my iPod to get rid of it before I go crazy.  I have to be cautious not to get too pumped up, either.  Today, I floated through my first mi

Colby and I went out on a bona fide date tonight.  For lack of a better word (and because it's after 11 pm and I'm exhausted), it was awesome. We dined in the Tap Room at Dusty's Cellar in Okemos.  I had the biggest and best chili dog I've ever eaten, onion rings, and a frosty brew. Colby took me to one of my favorite stores, Mad Eagle , to get me a thumb ring.  A couple of weeks ago, mine literally broke in half while on my finger.  I was devastated.  So, since then he's been having to listen to me whine and cry about my missing thumb ring.  Tonight he dropped me off at the store and instructed me to pick a new one out for myself.  He's such a sweet guy.  Finally, we went to a real movie at a theatre!  It's been ages since we've done that.  We paid for our tickets but forgot to grab them.  The surly looking girl begin the glass said to me, "Don't forget your tickets." I smiled and replied, "Thanks.  It's been like 5 year

Tonight I'm thankful for the Cheese Thingy. In case you don't know, a Cheese Thingy is a tortilla topped with your choice of salsa, taco sauce, or pizza sauce (alternatively called a pizza thingy) and then covered with cheese.  They whole concoction is then baked at 350 for about 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly. My mom invented the Cheese Thingy in my early childhood (or before).  We used to eat them all the time when I was a kid.  They were fast, delicious, and required very little effort to make.  In short, they were and continue to be the perfect solution when you need something to eat, but you're not sure what. At tonight's gymnastics meet, I was starving .  In fact, I unabashedly asked the athletic director if I could, as an official, be entitled to a bag of popcorn from the concession stand (a new low for me).  On the way home, I received a very sweet text from my husband asking if I'd like for him to start making something for me so it would be re

My great friend L is married to a cool Yooper who owns the Casualties Skate and Snow Shop in Marquette, Michigan.  I have been to the store a couple of times.  It is clean, friendly, and just plain cool.  I almost bought one of these "Snowbama" t-shirts last time I was there (I didn't because I wasn't sure I could pull it off.  I got Colby a shirt with the store's logo instead).  Now these shirts and the store are enjoying some well-deserved accolades from the Detroit Free Press due to our President's visit to the UP this week.  Here's the article.   Tonight, I'm thankful to know such an awesome couple and I'm grateful on their behalf for the advertising (and hopefully business) the President's trip is bringing to them in Marquette. Thank God for Snowbama (and Casualties, and the President's trip to the UP)! Lord, thank you for L and her friendship to me over these many years.  Thank you for her husband's creativity and business sen

At Western High School, there are 2 different lunches.  Half of our student body attends "first lunch" which comes after third hour.  The rest of us eat after fourth hour. Today, I am happy to be a member of the "second lunch" crew.  It is part of the day I look forward to always .  No matter how badly the day might be going, I can get a boost from my friends who I eat with during this brief respite.  This may sound trite or lame (or both), but I truly love the other teachers who eat in the lounge on second lunch.  It's nothing against those who eat first lunch (we don't promote lunch-on-lunch hating), but in second lunch we're a sort of weird, dysfunctional little family.  We share, we laugh, and we forget the need to do and say everything correctly.  I often feel as though I am putting on a show at school.  It can be utterly exhausting.  This is a chance to drop the act and just be myself.  Thank God for 2nd Lunch! Lord, thank you for a part of t

There is a little baby out there who is being taken off of life support tonight.  Her mom died in a car accident on Saturday on I-94.  She was taken by Cesarean section, but had no heart beat and has been on life support since then.  She has had little or no brain activity, according to various news sites and her daddy's blog. This story has so obviously touched many in our area, and it has affected me both physically and emotionally.  I feel like a wreck just hearing it.  I don't know this family, and I can't even imagine the pain and suffering that they must be experiencing.  I am thankful tonight that God is the Great Physician.  I lift up this little baby in prayer to my dear Heavenly Father asking for a miracle.  Please heal this tiny angel and allow her to remain with her Earthly father, who has already lost so much . I am also thankful that He is the God of the broken-hearted.  He is near those who are are suffering.  “He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hear

Tonight, I had to judge a meet at Sturgis, which meant leaving straight from school.  Whenever I have to do this, it's difficult to eat an actual dinner (the timing just never seems to really work out), so usually I just grab a granola bar, some Cheez-Its, or something equally lame and dissatisfying.  When we walked into the meet tonight, the hosts presented us with a box.  Inside was a deli turkey sandwich and a bowl of tomato basil soup from the restaurant Trio's in Sturgis, Michigan. It was delicious.  The soup was hot and perfectly creamy.  The bread was soft and rich.  I savored every bite. Now, you have to understand that I am a person who truly loves food.  I mean, I love food.  So to me, this seemingly small gesture really meant a lot.  How wonderfully kind and thoughtful of the Sturgis gymnastics team to provide dinner for us tonight!  In all sincerity, it made my day! Thank God for Trio's! Lord, thank you for the delicious food you provided for me tonig

It's so cute to see my husband giddily excited about something.  He's passionate about a lot of sports-related things, sure.  But the Super Bowl brings on a whole new level of excitement.  For days now, I have been listening to him weigh the pros and cons of cheering for either the Packers or the Steelers. Pros of Cheering for the Packers (according to Colby): 1) I hate Ben Roethlisberger. 2) I love their uniforms. 3) I have to cheer for Bob's team. (Bob is Alaina's stepdad...he lived in the UP and is a huge Packer's fan). 4) Jennings is from Kalamazoo, MI. Pros of Cheering for the Steelers (quoted by Colby at some point in the days before the Super Bowl): 1) I like the owners. 2) I love their uniforms. 3) They have an amazing history. 4) They have a great coach. Of course, there are many more, but these are the ones that stick out in my mind.  When he couldn't come up with a defnitive choice, he decided to ask Dharia to pick a team.  Her choice

I have two things that I'd like to write about today. It's funny that there are days that I have done this before where I was sure that I would find nothing to write about.  And then there are days like today, where it almost seems impossible to pick just one thing that I am thankful for. Well, I figure that this is my thing and I can do whatever I want.  So instead of writing about one thing and passing the other one up, I am going to write about them both. The first thing I am thankful for tonight is Sandwich the Snowman.  Sandwich is Breslin's first official snowman.  It's a bit strange, seeing as he is four years old.  But, for some reason or another, in all of the times we have gone out to play in the snow, we haven't made a snowman.  Today, I took him out for about an hour and, dang, if we didn't try our hardest to make the non-packing snow into a snowball or two.  Then, we somehow had the idea to take the huge pile that the snowplows had left in th

This is what I read in my devotional today, centered around Psalm 34:18 (which says: " The Lord is near the broken-hearted" ): "God is the God of those who fail — not that He loves those who stumble and fall better than those who walk without stumbling — but He helps them more. The weak believers get more of His grace than those who are strong believers. " I had never heard God called the God of Those Who Fail.  Who wants to be that God?  What if that was a title of a coach?  The Coach of those who Fail.  Certainly not a title I'd be eager to get.  Maybe Tom Izzo is feeling like this right now.  Either way, "The God of Those Who Fail" doesn't exactly have that ring to it that "The King of Kings and Lord of Lords" has. I don't particularly like the feeling of being a failure. But today, I was, without a doubt.  My work and my personal relationships all came up short because of me today.  As my students would say, everything I to

I have said for a while now that Breslin and Dharia have their very own smells. (For those of you who are English and/or grammar snobs out there, I do know that smell is not used correctly here and throughout the rest of this post, but I didn't have it in me to say that my children have odors .) And, no, I don't mean the nasty smells that are often associated with small children, although they are responsible for those smells too. I'm talking about that smell that is an essential part of who they are.  It's that smell that would allow me to correctly identify them -- blindfolded with a gun pointed to my head -- out of thousands of children, if the need ever arose.  All I'd have to do is take a big long whiff.  Sounds crazy, right? If you say yes, you're not alone.  Every time I talk about "the smell" with my husband he looks at me with these blank, bewildered eyes as if I've just offered him confirmation that, yes, I am totally crazy. I can

WE ARE GOING ON A TRIP! Gatlinburg, Tennesse. June. I CAN'T WAIT! Colby and I on our first trip to Gatlinburg, July 2009 I am so thankful to have this to look forward to.  I am so grateful to have some quality time in a beautiful place with my husband.  We are going to hike in the Great Smokies, shop in Gatlinburg, have dinner on the banks of the Pigeon Forge river, play mini-golf on the side of a mountain, and relax.  I am most appreciative that I have a fantastic mom who is willing to watch all three of my kids while we are gone. WE ARE GOING ON A TRIP! Thank God for Gatlinburg! Lord, THANK YOU for giving us the financial ability to take a trip.  Thank you for providing loving people who will take care of our kids while we are gone.  Thank you for the ability to look forward to something.  In your name I pray, Amen.

I tried and tried to find something other than the snow to write about today, but everything I am so giddy about tonight directly related to it.  So, forget it.  I am  thankful for the blizzard, dang it!  I am -- it's so utterly and completely true and I'm not going to deny it anymore! It means no school tomorrow, so that's an obvious reason to be thankful.  Sleeping in, not having to wake up and dress three sleeping children at 6:15 am, lounging in pajamas -- these are all good things.  Plus, I get the most entertaining voicemail from our director of transportation announcing the closure.  (ex; To the tune of "This Old Man": There's more snow/There's more ice/You should stay in where it's nice/I hope you have fun and in the snow you'll play/Western Schools are closed today) It means that I got a good chuckle out of the storm being called "Snowpocalypse 2011" and from getting a Facebook invite to attend the event. It means that toni