Medicine of Immortality "It's a cold, and it's a broken, 'Hallelujah!'"

Our landlord is GreekPosted by Rachel on November 20th, 2008

And he has a super sweet Greek accent. He lives in Bellevue, but his mother is only a few blocks away from us. The home we’re renting is the same one that she raised her kids in. I like to know a bit of the history behind the house we’re living in, so it’s fun to know her and imagine her keeping house here so long ago. Anyway, Evan (our landlord)’s mom came by today, first to express disappointment in the fact that the handyman had not come by to finish the trim on the back door (I hadn’t even noticed), and also to make sure we were all getting along. She hardly speaks English, so we had a hard time communicating at times, but she pointed to Kyrie and said, “Girl?” and to Antonio, saying, “Boy?” which I nodded to. Then she asked what their names were, and her face lit up when I told her Kyrie’s name. “Kyrie Eleison! Greek!” And then she asked about Antonio, and asked if he was baptized, to which I replied yes, of course, and she said, “Bravo!” Hehe. She is very sweet. I wonder if she goes to the Greek Orthodox church downtown. It kind of makes me happy to know that a Christian family was raised here so many years ago — I mean, I’m not sure where all her kids are at spiritually, but she seemed devoted. Oh, and she also said that Antonio was “beautiful” like me. So she’s on my good side.

Six Random ThingsPosted by Rachel on November 13th, 2008

Tagged by Courtney.

(The Rules
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry has been posted.)

Six Random Facts about me:

1. I straighten picture frames habitually. I also straighten area rugs, furniture, papers, pencils, etc.

2. When I’m thinking about something, I play with my earrings by pushing the earring back in and out over and over. Sometimes I end up losing an earring because of this habit.

3. I find stargazing to be comforting and haunting at the same time. It is comforting to me because when I look at the stars, I know God exists and I know that He loves me (might sound hokey to you, but there it is), and it’s haunting because I feel so small and vulnerable in this giant universe.

4. If I could be anything other than a stay-at-home mother (which I love), and if I had the talent, I’d be a performing musician.

5. I have had recurring dreams about church buildings for several years. When I was much younger, I would always be in a large sanctuary with tall stained-glass windows. The more recent dreams have taken me to staircases leading nowhere (or sometimes leading to areas where illegal or suspicious operations were going on) within a giant cathedral.

6. I always have a hard time coming up with a sixth fact on things like this.

I’m breaking the rules and not tagging anyone because I can’t think of six people and if I can’t tag six I might as well not tag anyone.

Six Things I’m happy aboutPosted by Rachel on October 21st, 2008

1. The fall leaves are all beautiful. I love driving around in town through the older neighborhoods. It looks radiant. And the bright colors are surrounding me right now at my parents’ home in the country. This is the first fall that I’ve spent in Washington since Rick proposed to me (and our 5 year anniversary for that is coming up!). Sigh. Autumn is a romantical season.

2. The election season will be over soon! This makes me happy. I’d really like to just know who our president will be (I already have a sneaking suspicion) and then move on with life, and I’m happy that this time is approaching quickly.

3. Taneisha will have her baby boy very soon! It makes me want to squeal with delight when I think of it. And the arrival of her little man will soon be followed by a new niece! These are indeed joyous times.

4. The chunk of hair that Kyrie cut is starting to grow and look more like bangs. I’m not a big fan of bangs, but they are better than a terribly short chunk that was quite obviously an accident.

5. The day that we move into our own house is approaching. We may not know the exact date, but we do know that every day brings us closer to it! (I feel like we’re waiting for a baby.)

6. It’s still legal to purchase and consume chocolate. I’m so thankful for this. I think I’ll have to take advantage of my freedom and maybe buy a candy bar.

Oh Where is my License?Posted by Rachel on October 2nd, 2008

I’ve lost my driver’s license. I’m pretty sure a child of mine decided to play with my purse and took my license somewhere…and I haven’t the slightest clue where I should look. Of course, I need to get a WA license anyway, but if I were to have my LA one still, I could skip out on the written test. Now, I think I will have to take it if I can’t find my license. I just took the practice one online and I missed like…5…out of…20. There are fun facts that I just don’t tend to remember (like how much is a fine for parking in a handicapped space? How would I know? I’ve never done that and never will, until I’m a handicapped driver, that is). Gaah. Oh well. I’m sure I could just read the dinky little WA state driver’s guide and then take the test and pass it just fine. Just seems like a waste of money & time. And there’s there’s the little problem of us not actually having an address yet. But I don’t necessarily want to wait until we move into our own place before I can start driving again.

My trivial to-do listPosted by Rachel on August 13th, 2008

* Finish Kyrie’s scrapbook of the first two years
* Catch up with Antonio’s scrapbook and babybook
* Get started on a scrapbook of me and Rick
* Get some prints of the zillions of photos I take; frame some, put some in a photo album
* Make something like a mei tei or sling for Kyrie’s baby dolls (for her birthday)
* Make diapers and/or outfits for Kyrie’s baby dolls (another birthday gift)
* Try my hand at making fleece soakers/skirties/shorties
* Re-learn to knit, learn to crochet

So, let’s see…Posted by Rachel on July 27th, 2008

Things here have been just lovely. Lots of little things going on.

1. My parents and some of my siblings painted the house in which we are staying (the house where my sister and brother-in-law reside, with their lovely children). The colors are only slightly different from before, but an improvement nonetheless.

2. We went cherry picking yesterday and I ate far too many cherries. We didn’t buy any. Is that cheating?

3. We don’t have enough space for all our stuff. I currently have clothes in an overflowing suitcase, two plastic bags, and two laundry baskets. I would put it all away but there really isn’t enough dresser room.

4. One of my dear friends found out she is pregnant! I’m so excited for her. Pray that her little one will stick! She suffered a loss at 12 weeks gestation last December (a couple days before Antonio was born) and had a possible chemical pregnancy a few months ago, so she’s feeling a bit nervous. I know your prayers would mean a lot to her. Her name is Lora.

5. I really had a good time with Ryan & Taneisha & co. yesterday. I love having great fellowship with friends. And I love pizza.

6. Sometimes I wish that disposable diapers were a) cuter and b) good for the environment. But mostly I enjoy cloth diapering.

7. Kyrie has been asking to have braids put in her hair every day. This makes her hair look very cute while in braids, but exceedingly crazy when the braids are taken out. She also insists that her hair is blonde.

8. Antonio’s favorite foods are watermelon and sweet potato puffs. He’s quite the little eater.

9. There are several things I’d like to get good at, such as photography, sewing, scrapbooking, and playing my violin. I used to be pretty good at violin, but I rarely play it anymore. I wish I had more chances to practice.

10. If anyone can think of a way for me to make thousands of dollars in a matter of days, please let me know. No, I’m not in any sort of trouble. I don’t owe any bad guys any money. I think it might just come in handy.

I hate messy housesPosted by Rachel on April 11th, 2008

Nio has gotten very fussy as of late. He’s currently kicking and flailing his arms about as he sits on my lap, babbling very loudly. If I were to put him down, he would instantly turn into a pile of tears and would likely feel betrayed. So, here he sits, and the house shall stay messy until he decides to drift off to sleep.

I did manage to load the dishwasher, clean the living room floor, and tidy up a few things here and there. But I go nuts if my house isn’t clean. It makes me depressed. I just want to pack up the whole house so there will be nothing which with to mess up the house. But seeing as how we still have to live in it a few weeks longer, I can’t pack up EVERYTHING. Dishes, clothing & furniture need to stay put for a little while, still.

I need a babysitter.

Random ThingsPosted by Rachel on April 7th, 2008

We’ll only be here for a few more weeks and most of the packing has yet to be done.

Allergies are still bugging me. I’m sneezing and sniffing as I type this.

Antonio loves rolling onto his tummy. Every time I put him on his back, he immediately rolls over.

Kyrie keeps saying, “I see Esther in a few weeks.” She’s been saying this every few minutes. I don’t think she understands the concept of a few weeks, though, because when she woke up she asked if we were going to Esther’s house. She also said, a few nights ago, “I miss Esther and Grandma Lisa. I LOVE them…SO much!” Last night, it was, “I see Uncle Forrest in a few weeks? I see Auntie Bekah in a few weeks? I see Noelle in a few weeks? I see the puppy in a few weeks? I see David in a few weeks? I see Timothy in a few weeks?” AHHH! She doesn’t. stop. talking.

She also said to Rick last night, “I need to go.” He asked her where, and she replied, “I go to work. No…I too little to go to work. Papa go to work. Papa’s big.”

It’s a miracle!Posted by Rachel on March 6th, 2008

Both kids are sleeping in the middle of the day! Woohoo!

In other news, Kyrie tried to trick me earlier. It was so funny. I’ve been having allergy issues or something — I’m not sure what it is — I’ve been congested for months now. But anyway, I asked Kyrie to get me some tissue, and she runs off to get it, then comes back, hiding it behind her back and pretending to look all sad and disappointed with her head hung low. Then she “surprises” me with the tissue and gets a giggle out of it. I love that her sense of humor is that complex! It really was the cutest thing.

This dog chose us…Posted by Rachel on February 18th, 2008

When we got home from church on Sunday afternoon, this is what we found sitting at our front steps.

We’re not sure what we’re going to do about it. She is the sweetest and most mild-mannered dog I’ve ever come across. She’s also a new mommy from what I can tell, though I haven’t seen her puppies anywhere (which concerns me a little — my current theory is that she had them under our house, and they’re still too little to find their way out). She is very skinny, so being the compassionate people that we are, we got her some food and water. She’s still sticking around our house and I really think she genuinely wants us to adopt her. I feel so torn! She needs a good home, but I don’t know if we’re ready for a dog.