Short Hair

Short hair is the way to go... especially when it is easier, looks great, etc.

A Tribute to NeeNee

(Written Feb 2007 ~ Revised in 2008)

How do you put into words how much someone means to you? How can you condense the love & humility of someone like NeeNee into a “short” reading…

Approximately 8 years ago an unexpected joy came into our life... Brittney was almost 2 months old and I was preparing to return to work, when the daycare we had selected called to say they no longer could take Brittney. As we scrambled for an option, my mom volunteered to stay a little longer; MeeMee Duffy retired from her job & came to stay for awhile; and then... a neighbor called to ask about all of the out-of-town license plates. She said she had an offer for us... She had a nanny that was needing more hours. You see their daughter was starting kindergarten so they just needed someone to put Randee on the bus every morning & pick her up every afternoon until her mom came home from school as well. So we were a perfect match. We talked on the phone that night with NeeNee for the first time. She offered to come over the next morning to meet us in person and to spend a day with Brittney. It was love at first sight (at least on our end).

The next morning she picked up a crying 3 month old, put her in a car seat & took off to take Randee to the school bus and she never slowed down. NeeNee was a life saver to us then and many more times. She taught the girls how to express themselves in art, in music, in dance – you name it, she taught them. But to us, NeeNee showed unconditional love. She loved our girls whether they were tired or sick, and whether she was tired or sick… she showed them patience and tolerance. NeeNee taught them to see each person as an individual with value and to treat everyone with respect.

For Brittney, NeeNee was the constant. We have moved 3 times in Brittney’s short life, changed schools 4 times, and travelled on annual mission trips – but NeeNee was always there for Brittney. She would help Brittney to remember the good times and to anticipate the new good times. Brittney shared NeeNee’s passion for garage sales and this past summer was difficult for them – we told them NO MORE GARAGE SALES. You know, those two can find a garage sale while on vacation in the middle of no-where.

Sophie tested NeeNee’s patience and stamina. Sophie has lots of energy and lots of spunk – to some degree Sophie is a lot like NeeNee. She didn’t (and still doesn’t) like rules or quiet time or sitting still. She loves to sing, play Barbies or Poly-Pockets, and she LOVES art-time. Sophie asked me yesterday, “how will NeeNee always be in my heart? My heart is so small and NeeNee is so great.” I’m not sure that I have or had the best of answers for Sophie, but I told her that NeeNee will always be in our heart because NeeNee had so much love and our heart is the home for love…

Two years ago NeeNee went on a mission trip with us and the Willow Hill Youth Group, and she became the NeeNee of 20 more people… she never stopped showing her love. NeeNee loved that group of kids as if she had known them all their life. She calmed their fears as we entered a “different” world and she was able to educate all of us on the history of the Lakota Indians. She was able to embody the experience we were trying to share with these youth. She shared Christ with those 20 youth & with everyone she came into contact with on that mission trip.

Friends and co-workers were always asking if they could hire NeeNee. I would tell them, no NeeNee isn’t for hire – NeeNee is love. A friend of mine once said do you know I pass NeeNee every day as she is coming to your house in the morning and she always has a smile on her face. That is the NeeNee we will always remember – her laugh, her smile, her sense of humor (though we didn’t always get it), and her unselfish way of life. She never asked for a thing, she gave all she could, and she loved more than she should.

NeeNee was a prayer warrior; we always knew that our family was covered from a prayer perspective. A few years ago when I was going through a mini-life crisis, NeeNee gave me a rock. She wanted me to remember that God is my rock; He is never changing and never moving. I still keep it in my coat pocket and every time I feel it, I remember.

Another thing about NeeNee, she loved to take pictures. You know, if it wasn’t for NeeNee I don’t think we would have any pictures of Sophie’s first few years.

NeeNee has always taken care of us and we have always felt the need to take care of her in whatever ways possible. When we were contemplating a move to California a few years ago, she was ready to pick up and go with us without hesitation. How many people would do that for you? When we learned that we were moving to England, again she enthusiastically agreed to come with us. As hard as we thought the move might be for the girls, we knew it would be ok since NeeNee was coming. Then when the time came to leave for England and she became ill we were saddened and confused. "Why, God?" we asked, would you bring us all this far and then not allow her to come with us? I think in a strange way He was protecting all of us from what He knew would eventually happen so quickly. As hard as it has been to not be there with NeeNee and you all for this past month, it would have been harder on our girls to see their NeeNee in that way. Sometimes we just have to trust that God knows what He is doing.

As many of you know, NeeNee was quite a talented writer and artist. To entertain the girls (and herself) she would spend hours drawing literally hundreds of pictures on our computer of cats and frogs and other things little girls find fascinating. They really are quite amazing pictures. We encouraged NeeNee to try to get her work published and even sent her to North Carolina to a publisher’s conference. She was unable to get her work published that time, but we have not given up yet. We plan to write a letter to the American Cancer Society and tell them about what a truly amazing person she was and send a few samples of her work. Hopefully we can get her work published as a children’s book in her memory with every dime of profit going to cancer research to try to defeat this horrible disease.

When Kevin & I came to England in November 2006 to pick our new house I asked NeeNee what she was going to do with her week off… she said – “well, I guess WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO, DO WHAT YOU KNOW TO DO.” In these last few weeks and days, I found these words to be even more true… when I am overcome with sadness and don’t know what to do, I do what I know – I cry a little, I remember a little, I laugh a little, and I just keep living one moment at a time. That is what NeeNee would want!

We miss you dearly and will always love you.
-Your Family in England. Kevin, Cathy, Brittney and Sophie

UPDATE: As I was just reading this to the girls, Sophie said "when we get to heaven we will see NeeNee again. I am going to run & give her a big hug" - wow, what a love & understanding at 4.

More memories to expand on...

Summers at the Farm Park
Art Time
Brittney's ornament eating - first birthday
Story Princess
Pool side on the driveway
Sophie
Lake vacation with NaNa Krueger and girls
Toys in the backseat of the cars
Staying at the house for Sundance & then Butch
Bananas in Pajamas and many other stuffed animals
Reading ~ books ~ Junie-B
Pictures - photo albums - Mother's Day gift
NeeNee to me & Kevin

I'm a believer

For over 13 months I have been determined to make do with my 2 vacuum cleaners that we purchased when we first got here. The Eureka was a second hand purchase but is actually the better of the two. I keep it upstairs to clean the bedrooms. The one we purchased our first week is a piece of junk (I mean that in the nicest way of course). The belt breaks after just a few vacuums and the suction is almost non existent...

So in a fit, I went to Currys today and purchased a Dyson. Of course I had to take out a second mortgage on our house back in Illinois to buy this but let me tell you, it can suck up the dirt. Some say you can feel the carpet lifting as you vacuum. I'm not sure about that, but I can tell you when I would go through a path of dog hair it was obvious where I had vacuumed and where I had not - it created that line that I remember seeing on old vacuum commercials back in the states. I even found myself enjoying vacuuming. I think that is because it actually was working. You could tell I had vacuumed when I finished - what an amazing thought.

I cannot believe I have blogged about this, but hey, it is a chance to brag about Dyson (do I get a kick back for this...). Happy Cleaning!

What to do...

What do you do when you are bored? Brittney has played with her Barbies, her Polly Pockets, her playdoh, and she has played school, played the piano a little bit, played with her sister, played with her Nintendo DS, has colored in her new coloring books... she can't go outside because it is raining (of course), mom won't let her have a friend over because then Sophie would be left out...

She doesn't want to read, her room is cleaned up, no more movies to watch, and mom won't take her to Activity World (only because her birthday party is there next weekend).

So, what is a bored 8 year old to do - just pester her mom I guess :-)

School here I come

Back in October/November I learned that I had been accepted into a parternship program between Trinity Bible College and the University of Wales. I have been accepted to a long distance learning program that will allow me to receive my Masters in Theology. They are graciously accepting by BA in Accounting and my many years of youth work as a substitute for a BA in Theology. There will be some basic Theology classes that I will need to take but otherwise I should be well on my way. I start in April and am getting pretty anxious about it. You know I wasn't very good at school the first time around; I joke that UWF gave me my accounting degree out of pity & to get me out of there. I know this time will be different, but that doesn't keep the butterflys from coming around.

For my birthday Kevin bought me a new desk (as a way of showing support & encouragement). The landlord of the house has agreed to put a wall between the living room and the dining room since I will be using the dining room as my office. It is amazing how things keep coming together...

Tonight I shared with my UK youth group what my future plans held. They were amazed. I have to admit I am amazed at times that God would trust me enough to place this calling on my life. I want to learn more & more about Him, about the Bible (His Love Letter to us), and how to work in ministry. I am not sure what all of the future holds, but I do know I am going in the right direction.

Please pray for me that I will keep the faith, I will trust God, and I will stay focused on the prize. Pray for my family, that I don't become too overwhelmed to be the mom & wife I am called to be first and foremost. I just keep reminding myself that with God, all things are possible. You know I preached that on a weekly basis to the youth back at Willow Hill, now I get to actually put it into practice.

I promise to keep you informed of my progress. Right now all the paperwork is complete, scholarships funded, remaining payment made, office setup - just waiting for the final green light (April).

Ready, set, wait...

Nintendo DS

How come a 4 year old and an 8 year old can figure out how to work this little machine, when I couldn't even figure out how to turn it on. I have finally mastered turning it on, inserting a game, communicating with the 2nd DS in the house, and playing some games (at a very low level of course)... but my kids, there is no stopping them. Kevin & I will walk by their bedrooms at night to see this funny glow under the covers... you guessed it, is the DS they are playing. I have even resorted to buying extra games for them from ebay. Wow, this was a pretty amazing Christmas present. Thanks Granny & Popper!

Switzerland 2007

You know, Kevin & I have been asked many times what our dream vacation would be and we always said skiing in Switzerland. Well, now we have lived the dream and can only hope we can live it many more times. Switzerland was awesome. The views were breath taking, the weather was cold but great, the snow was awesome, and no one got hurt - yeah!

Since we were not going home to the US for Christmas we decided to live our dream & along the way were able to invite some wonderful new friends we have - the Hunters (Paul, Claire, Hannah, and Emily). Kevin found a great apartment in Interlaken owned by the Schwizi's. It was a 4 bedroom, 2-1/2 bath apartment with a fully stocked kitchen and a washing machine. There was a fireplace and a beautiful view out of all the windows. Did I mention breath-taking...

Since we had a stocked kitchen, Claire & I had decided we would try to cook as many meals as possible. With that in mind, I needed to buy lots of food before we left. So on travel day, I left for Tesco's at 4:30 in the morning. Hardly any traffic I made it in record time, got a fabulous parking spot, and decided to start the day off right - with a Diet Coke. That is when I realized to my horror, I did not have my wallet. So I had to drive all the way back home to get my wallet, only to find Kevin up watching a football game on tv (grrrr), I drive back to Tesco, make the necessary purchases, and head home to finish packing.

We get the families divided between the 2 cars, get all items necessary packed, and head off on our adventure. What Kevin did not take into account when planning the needed travel time, was this is a major holiday week/weekend. It seemed everyone in the UK was on the roads. But finally, we made it to the car ferry, loaded the cars, and found our seat for the 1+ hour tour. Cathy got a little sea sick but was able to drive once her feet were back on solid ground. We spent the night in a quaint hotel, got up bright & early, took an extra tour of the village before finding the McDonald's for breakfast, and then were off to Switzerland. Many hours later we arrived at our apartment & it seemed like heaven. It was dark, we were all tired, so we did as little as possible before sending everyone off to bed. The surprise would be in the morning...

Once day light hit we were able to see just how beautiful our surroundings were. WOW, what an amazing sight. But no time to enjoy that, we have to get off to skiing. But before we can go skiing we need skis... Once that was finally done, we were off to go skiing - but not until we ate some lunch (priorities you know). The place we had planned to ski had many options for eating, but we decided to enjoy the views and eat outside. Now I know that sounds crazy when you consider the weather was -10C, but it was actually quite warm ~ the sun was shinning, your dressed in plenty of layers, and you just want to enjoy it.

See next posting for more...

Switzlerand 2007 and Night Sledging

We decided we would like to go night sledging as a group - 4 adults and 4 kids. Now Sophie was with Kevin and the rest of us went on our own. There is NO light other than the moon and the little glow stick on the back of the person in front of you. The guide kept saying that your eyes will adjust to the moon light & you will be able to see just fine, well my eyes never adjusted. The sledge run is about 8 feet wide which isn't very wide in the night time. On one side you have the mountain and on the other side you have the straight drop down to the bottom plus some trees (to slow down your drop). If I had known what it was to be like before we went, I would not have allowed my girls to go. It was very nerve racking. We had a guide in front and about 12 of us following behind in single file. The only problem is when you can't get going and the people in front are taking off without you. There comes a point when you can no longer see the little green light - it can be a little unnerving. Even more unnerving is when Brittney & I got seperated from the pack and then she got going too fast for me to see her little green light. I found myself praying the entire way down (if I hadn't been praying I would have been cursing).

We were almost to the bottom and I could hear Sophie screaming at the top of her lungs - and make no mistake about it, this was not a scream of delight. She & Kevin had been running along at a pretty good pace when he hit an ice patch & flipped the sledge. She & Kevin went flying. She got up telling her dad off in a big way - she told him that he was FIRED and she would find another way down. Mom to the rescue, I walked her the rest of the way down (which wasn't much more).

The end to the evening was cheese fondue. It was so good. The kids weren't too impressed with the fondue so it left even more for us starving adults. The kids (& adults) were hoping for some chocolate fondue, but no such luck.

At the end of it all, I can say I have been night sledging and I will probably never do it again.

Switzerland 2007 and the Ice Castle

For Christmas we took an hour train ride to the top of Europe called Jungfrau. The girls and I got to enjoy the side affects of altitude sickness - not all of the side affects like upset stomach but irritability, lethargic, very short of breath, you name it. Brittney started to adjust after a short nap (see picture below) but Sophie didn't enjoy the experience much. It was pretty amazing to realize altitude sickness is for real, but the minute we got down to the bottom of the mountain we were all back to "normal"...

The girls weren't too impressed with all of the outside views ~ they were pretty amazing from the top of this mountain, but the Ice Palace was pretty awesome. It was like an igloo on steroids. The entire place is made out of ice. There are tunnels, ice sculptures, you name it. Kevin enjoyed sliding on the floor like he was ice skating. It was pretty amazing but VERY cold inside the Ice Palace.

To end the day we came back to the apartment and had Christmas dinner all together. Then we played UK Monopoly, Battleship, and watched a Scooby Doo movie. It was a pretty awesome day! Great memories

Switzerland 2007 and Sophie

Sophie wasn't too much into the skiing - too cold she says - but she enjoyed the snow otherwise... Between the 4 adults and 3 other kids, we took turns playing in the snow with her and sitting in a warm restaurant. We brought some coloring, but she was also known to sleep in her long johns in the restaurant. She always was a good sport though. She wanted to make sure everyone else was having a good time. She made some snow angels, lots of snow balls (for throwing at Hannah), and enjoyed tasting the fresh snow. She would play for awhile outside, but the call of hot chocolate, fresh french fries, and inside warmth became too strong to resist at times...

You know, even now Sophie still talks about skiing as if she actually did enjoy it and based on the smiles above (and in many more pictures) I am confident she had a good time. But that shouldn't surprise me, she is my little bundle of happy energy. She wakes up smiling, goes to bed smiling, and smiles most every moment of the day. I think within a few years she & her sister will be skiing down the slopes together, but until then, she is content playing in the snow.

Switzerland 2007 and Brittney

Now Brittney was a natural when it comes to skiing. She is her dad's little girl so I'm not sure why I was so surprised. After the first 2 days of reviewing the skiing basics with her dad and playing in the snow a little more than skiing, she was ready to hit the slopes full force. My fondest memory is of skiing all day Thursday with her. We would take turns leading the way down the slopes - she would follow me sometimes and I would follow her other times. Now make no bones about it, she was very comfortable on those skis and fear was just NOT a factor. She mastered stopping on command and soon was a force to be recognized on the slopes. It became a game to see who could get down the slope the fastest and with the fewest falls (she usually won). By the end of the week she was even doing jumps on the slopes ~ mom wasn't as impressed with that idea as dad was.

On Thursday we were skiing as a family (minus Sophie) down a slope multiple times. We had gotten very familiar with it, so we weren't staying as close together and stopping as much on it as earlier in the day. Well my heart stopped at one point when Brittney goes zooming by me and I realize she is going too fast to make the turn to stay on our slope and is about to enter the "intermediate" slope (in Switzerland, the beginner slopes are like the intermediate slopes in the states and the intermediate slopes in Switzerland are even more advanced...). I turned to Kevin to say you better get her! Once Kevin catches up with her, they take a mini rest, and I continued down on the easier slope to watch them from the bottom of the huge drop. I was very glad to see Dad came to his senses & made her take off her skis and slide down to me. Brittney, was NOT very fond of this idea. She gave us both an ear full, even after looking back up the vertical drop she would have had to ski. She was convinced she could have done it and if the truth be told, she might could have (but remember we are just coming off of 2 broken arms). She quickly told us that did NOT count as a fall and she would see us at the bottom of the slope. She put her skis on, pointed her skis down the slope, and never looked back. You know, I think we might have created a monster.