Lil' Video for Mommas

Mother's Day from Dexter Evans on Vimeo.

I hope it's okay that I'm putting this on here. My friend Alli helped create this video for her church's Mother's Day celebration and I think she did a pretty amazing job (she & Dexter)! You will see Miss Davy along with Andrea's Ella & Will. Also, the scene with multiple generations? Those are my friends, The Gaspards.

Enjoy!

Momma's Got Some Stress

Well, I've been offline most of this week. I'm sure I've been missed by tens of...well, ten readers.

I'm dealing with an old nemesis: stress & anxiety. I didn't realize this was an issue for me until December of 2004. Since then I've been able to manage it without medication by using techniques like relaxation, meditation, deep breathing, exercise & nutrition. But for the past two weeks I've been struggling with waking up in the middle of the night with my heart racing. Not knowing where the anxiety is coming from has been difficult too - though there are certainly some red-handed culprits (mostly the nonhuman variety) in my life.

Anyway, pulling back from technology is part of my strategy. Do you guys know how much technology (email, cell phones, television, traffic, etc) contributes to mental illness?* Big time, yo. So if you'll excuse me I'll just be over here with the laptop turned off and ignoring my cell phone while I deep breathe.

In closing, Katy accused me of allegedly judging her for crying during Miley Cyrus' "The Climb". The irony there is that a few weeks ago I was all ready to call her and confess, I'm bawling while driving around and belting out, "ain't about how fast I get there, ain't about what's waiting on the other siiiiiide - It's the cliiiiiimb!" (Sidebar: due to my stress levels, it only takes a Top 40 Hit to get Momma crying...much to Daddy's chagrin.)

Like my mom always says, "Oh honey...(sensitive pause) where are you in your cycle?"

*What I mean is that stress can induce certain mental illnesses. Please don't hear me say that if you Twitter and drive in traffic that you will get diagnosed with Bipolar.

Things I Swear By: Tanning Lotion - ADDENDUM

Wow. The response to the post on tanning lotion has surprised me just a bit. I'm still getting texts and emails about it today. Ladies, you are some tannin' fools...and I love ya for it.

To all of you who went right out, bought the lotion, and immediately bathed in it, then let me apologize for not giving a proper tutorial. I didn't realize how many of you were that anxious to turn your pale, wintry skin into lovely, bronze skin...I am now drunk with power knowing that if I suggest rubbing yourself with squirrel feces to rid yourself of cellulite, some of you will immediately run out your backdoors with your bebe guns.

First of all, I'm sorry to those of you whose husbands mocked you, whether for your scent or for the tinges of orange you received.

Second, I should have warned you more clearly: USE SPARINGLY until you see how it looks on you. This lotion is meant to intensify after 3 days. Give it time! Also, because you cannot see the immediate results, make sure you rub it in evenly.

Oh and p.s.: I learned the hard way that if you use this on your feet and you have either pale or no nail polish on, you will turn your toenails a shade of brown. And you will be stuck at a luxury resort looking like white trash, right Katy?

And So It Begins...

From this..


To this...


Last night at church I got a phone call to come to the nursery: "Umm, Momma...can you come down and feed Miss Davy for us?"

You can always tell when your child has been "challenging" to the nursery workers if when you show up she is in the stroller getting pushed around. That means that she's been so fussy that they chauffeured her away from the other children in an attempts to quiet her down.

Upon arrival, I saw Davy sitting in a double stroller with another distraught baby boy. Davy began grinning ear to ear the moment she saw me. But the nursery lady wasn't smiling. She told me, with no small amount of awe in her voice, that Davy had torn the crying boy's bottle out of his little paws not once, or twice, but three times and shoved it into her gaping maw. I suppressed a belly laugh upon hearing this but Davy began kicking her feet and smiling at me as I said, "Uh oh. We don't take other people's food!" Pretty sure that fell on deaf ears.

I've noticed that she gets anxious about nursing now. She begins hollering and pawing at me the minute I get her from her crib. When I am bringing her baby food, she kicks and reaches for the spoon like "must. have. that." So I'm not really surprised about her shenanigans in the nursery. I mean, HELLO? I think I know where she gets this from...

ACK! People, while I was writing this Davy ate off the corner of a baby shower invitation that was sitting next to my laptop!! There isn't a trace of it in her mouth!!!

My mom noted that the story reminded her of Chris Farley in this skit.

"Dude, I Just Twoted!"

This is so true...me included. I don't even understand why I Twitter.

Thanks to Amber...

This One's For You, Michael Paul

My husband and his brother have an uncanny talent of meeting someone and immediately ascribing a celebrity look-alike to them. For example, when Russ and I first began dating, Michael shared with me that I looked like the character Stands With a Fist from the movie "Dances With Wolves."


I tried not to hate Michael in that moment.

So I guess Mary McDonnell, aka Stands With a Fist, is my celebrity look-alike, or as I like to call her, "Ugly Becky." (no offense to Mary McDonnell but she looks pretty haggard in that movie and I choose not to believe that I resemble a 52 year old, talented actress)

This morning I saw a D-list celebrity on tv and told Russ, that girl looks like an ugly (name of a friend we have). Then I asked him if he could think of an Ugly Russ. Here's who he came up with:


Listen, my husband is MUCH more handsome than Mark Chesnutt, the country singer. But I love that he had this guy in mind when I asked him the question!

So, I'll ask you: is there a celebrity that might be an ugly version of you? (Again, let's just assume that we all have great self-esteem and we mean no offense to any celebrities!)

In closing, we have never been able to watch Lost without calling Hurley the "fat Michael Page." So Michael, I'll answer the above question for you here:


Just so you don't think I'm needlessly cruel - here's a photo from our wedding of the two boys...see? They're very handsome.

Little Ella Girl

One of my besties, Andrea, is needing your prayers for her daughter, Ella. Most of you who read my blog will know immediately who Andrea & Ella are but just in case you don't, please go to Andrea's blog to read about her little girl:

The Mitchells Blog

When Ella was born she suffered from seizures that hurt her brain...which led to a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. (that's my very non-medical explanation) She has been such a light and a joy to her family and so many others. But this morning Andrea's babysitter/caretaker discovered Ella in her bed, seizing. They called 911 and EMTs rushed her to the hospital. This is the same hospital that Ella was born in, the same one that she first went into seizures just after her birth. It's where she spent weeks before being released to come home with her Mom and Dad. As you can imagine, just being there brings about hard memories for Andrea and Joe, her Daddy.

The timing, as if it could be anything else, is terrible. Ella is weeks from her 3rd birthday. She has been accepted into a program that uses a special kind of therapy/education to work with children with disabilities. You can read here how Andrea was processing through Ella's comprehension issues. I know she is really scared about how the seizures this morning have effected Ella's brain now.

Please pray with me: I'm asking the Lord to supernaturally protect and heal Ella's brain. I'm praying for Joe and Andrea, that they would take comfort in the only One Who has the power to heal and Who understands Ella's condition better than anyone. Pray for renewed strength, as both of them are worn out emotionally and physically. Pray for optimism from the doctors and wisdom as they look at the CT scans and possible EEGs. And I know that my friends desire above all things to be a light to others, to allow their struggles to shine light on Jesus and His goodness.

Thank you, friends. If anything, it is such a comfort to know that you will read and pray - even for people you've never met.