Just RK

May 25, 6:40 pm May 25, 7:00 pm    (Pardon the au naturale face and hair…except for lip gloss.  Never leave home without properly placed lip gloss…even for a haircut in somebody’s basement shop.) It was SO long overdue. When you get to the point of wearing “I gave up long ago” hair every day, it’s time for a change.  Tomorrow I’ll play with it officially and actually “do” it.  Maybe I’ll take another pic then.  Maybe you’re sick of seeing me staring at you already! Thanks to Julie for the excellent photography and Kinlee-wrangling!!

Today M started his new job. Its kind of the same job in a different place. But better money, and better environment hopefully. Its a bit of a commute to adjust to, since we had been spoiled by the 3 mile distance for the last two years, but he made it this morning in about 22 minutes. He wanted to start off right, so I ran out this morning at 6:20 am to fetch a selection of donuts for him to take, per his request. He should be home in about an hour. We shall see how they were received... But man, did I want one for myself!

I'm watching the funeral for little Chrissie ( allarepreciousinhissight.Blogspot.Com ). Humbling. But though they miss her, they celebrate.

Today has been a full day, and the girls are snoozing very peacefully.  They were late to nap because we picked M up from work after lunch… he got to leave early because it’s his last day! New job starts on Monday! (More about that later…if I remember.)  I went in to check on Braska a bit ago, since it’d been almost 2 hours since she went to sleep—much longer than her usual 1-hour nap.  She was still zonked.  And cute as a bug.  She often sleeps all tucked in under herself, but today she’s relaxed and sprawled out. Pure peace. And Daddy, who loves any reason to nap, especially with his little downsie, couldn’t resist crawling in by her for a little rest himself.

Ok, so maybe “borrow” isn’t the right word.  Can I sell it for you?  The only catch is that you don’t get the moolah. Say what? By now, you’ve heard more than once from me about Dashlyn , Julie’s newest daughter, who we hope to get to meet in person this fall (or even late summer…if I’m hoping bravely!).  Julie and Allan are adopting her from Eastern Europe, and this is an expensive venture to undertake.  They have done a good job of tightening the budget and getting creative in order to make it happen.  But we’re putting together a garage sale on June 5 with all of the proceeds going toward the adoption, to help them be sure to have all that’s required for travel and fees.  If you’re anywhere around the St. Louis Metro area, and you’ve got stuff you’d like to clear out of your closet or playroom or garage…let me know! I’ll even come pick it up if you’re not too far away! If you’re not close by geographically, but you’d like to contribute to the adoption and cash is not your be

After she wakes up from her nap, Braska hangs out for a while in my bed--where she naps while KiKi sleeps in B's bed due to better light and sound situations during the day--and she finds all kinds of comfy positions to relax. What? You can't kiss the bottom of your foot ?

I’ve posted a few times about little Chrissie , adopted 6 months ago from Serbia, who had very dangerous heart surgery a month ago today.  She has had a very difficult 30 days, and overnight last night she finally got relief for her pain and struggles.  She is now “dancing with Jesus,”  as her mom posted this morning. I pray comfort for her family, and yet I am so happy that Chrissie is no longer fighting and hurting as she has been for these last weeks.  She was a very tough little girl, and she fought as hard as she could.  Now she gets to relax and enjoy the energy she always wanted to have…dancing and laughing and playing.  Here’s a clip from Lorraine’s blog from the moments before she went to surgery on 4/19/10.  Cherished pictures, no doubt.  She was a beautiful little girl and SO very loved since coming home to Texas.  And her family knows that they will see her again…and the dancing will go on forever! Please pray for this family as they miss their princess desperately.

Sweet snoozing Braska. When everything else makes me want to throw in the towel and head for the hills, rocking her and singing her to sleep calms me down. This girl is no accident.

Kinlee again. Friday she slept all covered up. It was more chilly and she loves her blanket. Karen K--She is rough on it but it is starting to travel around the house with her. Braska has never had a special doll or blanket that she wanted beyond the bed. Its kind of fun to see KiKi toddle around dragging her blanket just like Linus, over the shoulder.

Whatta ya think of my state of the art drying rack? You just wash the dishes in the sink and the place them in all the nice slots for perfect drying position. There are two levels to accommodate all the dirty dishes toddlers and men who eat like teenagers can generate. It even closes right up in the cabinet and disappears! For the children's entertainment, there is a spinning toy hanging from the top rack to keep them busy while Mommy works. When it is in its hidden position, there are fun clickety dials and buttons on the front to enjoy as well. The only negative I have seen so far is that when not latched properly, the door will fall open unhindered by springs to keep it safe for little heads below. Jealous aren't ya? Now if only they would make something that WASHED the dishes too. That would be great!! This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit

Naptime 5-13-10 I'm thinking this will be a new feature. "Naptime" Pictures of the girls sleeping. Really for my amusement alone, but that is ok with me. Someday I might want to look back and see them. Kinlee is the one with the most interesting sleeping habits lately. So we will start with her.

Did you do a double take at the title?  Did you jump right into the post to get the “big news”?  It’s funny what a couple words and an exclamation point can do to some people. We’re not having twins. Or babies of any kind.  Just to be clear. I get asked a lot about how the girls are doing in terms of development and size, relative to each other .  Only a few times have I been asked when we are out if they are twins.  I think the difference in hair length is the big giveaway for most, at least that’s been the “tip-off” for a couple people who mentioned it.  But we do get a lot of comments about how similarly sized they are. There have been many times in the last few months when I’ve thought that this must be a little peek into what it’s like to have twins.  At least for this little period we’re in right now.  Developmentally, they are so close in age in many ways.  Not all.  Braska still has Kinlee beat with speech and language, that’s for sure.  But Kinlee is picking up word

I decided that I would begin a new tradition—though it’s not all that creative an idea—and take a picture of me and the girls each year on Mother’s Day.  I’m usually behind the camera, so I don’t have many with us together. Our first year to document was a little tricky. Kinlee was crying (surprise!), and to get her to grin a little, I had to wiggle them around and be silly and ended up looking distorted and goofy.  But it’s really about the girls anyway… so it’s ok.

First, to my mom, Happy Mother’s Day. Once again, I send no card and buy no gift.  It’s getting to be a habit. I hope you have a day you consider enjoyable… To the rest of the mothers, I truly hope you have a marvelous day of relaxation, praise from your husband for the awesome job you’re doing at raising little humans, very well behaved children, and I wish you all the satisfaction that a wonderful Mother’s Day can bring.   Anyone get a really great gift? Brag a little…tell us about it!

Just bought a car...Need arose. 2 days and $1700 later need was met. And we were able to pay cash. Dave Ramsey will be so proud. It is a 1998 Volvo V70 AWD. Tons of bells and whistles and leather and all--all just icing. Not necessity. But the deal was great and that sold it. Seriously $1700. That's it. Now M has a car to drive...and we're still debt free! Woo hoo! God continues to bless us beyond our hopes, and we are so very thankful!

Not 30 minutes ago, I was just composing an email to a bloggy friend who has been on my mind this afternoon.  I just jotted a quick note to let her know I was praying for her, thinking of her and her family.  She’s working through some issues, none of which I know the first detail about. But that’s ok. HE knows. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11, below.   From the NIV “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” From The Message “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” I shared this with my friend in the email, and I’m quite sure she knows this passage well.  It may be one of her favorites as well.  But when I looked at it in The Message—not usually one of my preferred versions—I saw something in a new way.  Simply stated. “I know what I’m doing.”  At that

First--Braska did great! We're home and all is well. Now onto more exciting things... I do love taking pictures, but I don't have a digital SLR camera. I hope to one day before it's old news. But for now, I'm relying on what I've got. And if you've seen my camera lately you know that a paper clip is literally what makes it go...sad, but true. (And, frankly, my some of my best pics lately didn't even garner a single comment... and I was so darn proud of them! Ah well, the fickleness of blogland.) But if YOU have a DSLR and you live in or near St. Louis, my friends Jodie and Kim are doing a great class each month this summer for moms who would like to get tips and tricks from the pros! You can check out the info here . I'm SO going to do this someday...when I get the cool kids camera. But I'd love to see someone go and really enjoy these super sassy photographers and their excellent talent.

I’m all hyper and talking a million miles a minute.  I got a coffee at QT on the way in this morning and I now realize how long it’s been since I had caffeine! It’s making me very awake, and I’m typing extra fast.  And I think my husband—who wants to nap—is about to lock me in a closet.  But if you’re going to have an up day, why not pick a day when you have to spend time at a children’s hospital and just sit and wait… it’s a good day to be perky! Woo hoo! Oh, and by the way, even my praying has been hyper.  Good thing God knows about my caffeine issues.  He’s good with it.  He can still understand me when I’m jabbering on.  It’s the National Day of Prayer , ya know… so whether you’re praying for Braska or praying for Chrissie or one of our other sweet friends, OR if you’re praying thankful prayers that we live in this great country where our kids can have QUICK and high-quality healthcare…be sure to pray for our nation and it’s continued blessings.

To hold you over... A phone shot of my little shopping buddies yesterday. This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Tomorrow is Braska’s surgery for ear tube placement.  Updates will be mostly on her blog , so FYI… if you want to keep up with all the action. (That may be profoundly over-exaggerating the situation.)  Since the tonsils and adenoids have not been excluded from tomorrow’s party, it’ll be much less involved.  There’s good and bad to that…but that’s for another time. I’ve got my mobile setup ready, though, so I can post random things here if I just get bored and fell like it.  We’ll see how it goes.  We have to be there at 645 am.  It’s a 30 minute drive.  I should probably take a shower before we go, in fairness to others in the waiting area.  Do the math—that’s going to be an early morning. Who knows what kind of gobblety-gook my mind will come up with… I mentioned on Braska’s blog and I’ll ask here… anyone got a story or joke they wanna share to give me something to laugh at, shake my head in amazement (or dismay) at, or just roll my eyes at while I wait tomorrow??  Just make it

MMS testing...will it or wont it?

First, yes, I’m still on the wagon . Haven’t fallen off yet, though I’ve dragged my toe over the edge here and there… it’s been about 3 1/2 months since I started. This last month has really looked more like a barely sloping plateau, but even after eating way too many yummy things this past weekend, I still dropped to a new little milestone of 35 pounds gone! Woo Hoo! (And let me tell you, I did not feel well eating all those “unapproved” items like carbs and a sweet niblet here and there…my body was not happy with me. But MAN were they yummy!) And can I just say how silly it is, how addicted I must be to digiscrapping habits, that I can’t just type in “35 pounds,” I have to go and create a new cute little graphic… funny. I’m back in the jeans I wore right after Braska when I stepped out of about 40 pounds in just a few weeks. This is a big thing for me. I missed these jeans, 3 pair of Levis that I love. (If you weren’t around then…it was not healthy, and I gained no weigh