The Pearsons Four are in St. Louis! Matthew and Peter unloaded our belongings in Princeton and flew back to St. Louis, where the kids and I met them (and Melanie and Grayson and Lillian) the following day. The Pearson-Maynor reunion has been a great one. Our (collective) four children are playing hard and the grown ups are making plans for our next reunion.
We're encouraged and we're enjoying our vacation. If I don't blog for a week or so, it is because we're busy making memories to share. Next stop (in about 5 days) is Memphis.
By the way, the picture posted here is from our last trip to the Lou in 2007. We took the kids to the St. Louis City Museum, which is the BEST (and most wild) kiddo museum I know of. This pic shows Matthew, Abby (then 5) and Lillian (4) traversing a steel mesh tunnel suspended MANY stories above the ground. Not your average museum activity, hey?
June 25, 2009
June 24, 2009
Southern California Fun
I'll let the pictures do the talking! Click on this pic to get to my flickr photos
June 17, 2009
Nine Years and counting
Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! I do wish I could spend it with Matthew, but he is busy driving everything we own across the country. Nine years SOUNDS like a long time to me. That's not a boast; it's a testimony to what having a firm foundation can do for two very fallible, broken people. We are not the same people we were nine years ago, and I can say with confidence that we love who we are becoming together. We also love each other more now than we did nine years ago. More than ever, I feel like I have a real partner in this life. We have lots to figure out about how to love, forgive, encourage, and challenge each other; but we've also figured a lot out along the way these past 9 years. I love that when things are strained between us, we can't go for long without having to sit on the couch and work it out--or at least identify it and begin the process of making it right. That gives me hope--not that things will always be happy and lovely (one needs no more than a few months of marriage to figure that out), but that no matter what we face or who is being selfish or mean or resentful or ridiculous, we have ways of getting at the roots not just the symptoms.
Nine years of an intact marriage does not happen in a bubble nor does it just happen. It is celebrated and fostered and mended over and over with the help of faithful friends who keep pointing us back to the grace we need and the grace we need to give. We're learning how to be FOR the other, when things are going swimmingly and when we're mad as hornets at each other.
I just got to talk to Matty, who crossed the state line into Missouri while on the phone! Boy, I miss him. I am so excited about our new life and adventure in Princeton! Happy Anniversary, baby! Love you!!!!
By the way, if you ask Noah where he is moving, he will grin and say: Jersey!
Nine years of an intact marriage does not happen in a bubble nor does it just happen. It is celebrated and fostered and mended over and over with the help of faithful friends who keep pointing us back to the grace we need and the grace we need to give. We're learning how to be FOR the other, when things are going swimmingly and when we're mad as hornets at each other.
I just got to talk to Matty, who crossed the state line into Missouri while on the phone! Boy, I miss him. I am so excited about our new life and adventure in Princeton! Happy Anniversary, baby! Love you!!!!
By the way, if you ask Noah where he is moving, he will grin and say: Jersey!
June 15, 2009
off we go
This is where our stories take a bit of a split path. The kiddos and I are in San Diego at my mom's house, while Matthew finishes up the dirty, heavy, yucky work of packing a moving truck and cleaning the apartment before driving cross country.
The kids and I arrived safely in SoCal and we've been playing with cousin Alec (and his fun toys) since. We have plans to go to Disneyland on Thursday, visit Mimi and Mia, hold puppies, clobber Aunt Andi, and go to the beach.
Matthew, on the other hand, has a far less vacation-like plan: yesterday he loaded the truck with help from Sean, Alison, Bron, Jeremy, Matt C., and Stan G. (there may have been others too?). Bron and Jeremy provided a delicious meal, a bed, and ibuprofen. Today Matthew is cleaning and planning to hit the road with my dad. I'll let y'all know of his progress as I get reports.
The kids and I arrived safely in SoCal and we've been playing with cousin Alec (and his fun toys) since. We have plans to go to Disneyland on Thursday, visit Mimi and Mia, hold puppies, clobber Aunt Andi, and go to the beach.
Matthew, on the other hand, has a far less vacation-like plan: yesterday he loaded the truck with help from Sean, Alison, Bron, Jeremy, Matt C., and Stan G. (there may have been others too?). Bron and Jeremy provided a delicious meal, a bed, and ibuprofen. Today Matthew is cleaning and planning to hit the road with my dad. I'll let y'all know of his progress as I get reports.
Dr. Matthew
It's official! Matthew graduated with his PhD on June 11th! Hearing his name called and seeing the degree of PhD conferred upon him was a life highlight for me, and I think for his Meemo too! hen we walked out of the pavilion to meet him, Matthew was standing at the top of a deep well of stairs. He looked like he was 100 feet tall, with his long blue gown, but the best part was his GIGANTIC grin and his white shades. I've never seen anyone look cooler. It was an awesome day!
We had a great BBQ party afterward with friends and family. This party would NOT have been possible without the efforts of Meemo, Bronwyn &Jeremy, and Kate& Mark. THANK YOU for your help!! I don't think I've seen Matthew as relaxed as he was after the ceremony, and he deserves to take a break! Boy this has been a busy season. More updates to come, but for now, three (thousand) cheers for Dr. Matthew Pearson! Hip hip Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!......
We had a great BBQ party afterward with friends and family. This party would NOT have been possible without the efforts of Meemo, Bronwyn &Jeremy, and Kate& Mark. THANK YOU for your help!! I don't think I've seen Matthew as relaxed as he was after the ceremony, and he deserves to take a break! Boy this has been a busy season. More updates to come, but for now, three (thousand) cheers for Dr. Matthew Pearson! Hip hip Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!......
June 8, 2009
the glad game (a rant and a resolution)
Any Pollyanna fans out there? Well, I do like that movie, and I'm thinking about the glad game: when you're unhappy, try to think of things that make you glad and be amazed at how it helps to cheer you up.
I need to play that game today. This morning Matty and I discovered that my (locked) bike-- along with the baby trailer connected to it and Noah's helmet to boot-- was stolen last night. I BOO HOOED BIG over this. These are my wheels! My way to get around with Bean head and to ride with Abby. I'm angry and hurt and SO frustrated at having this last week (so full of errands on campus and around town to be done) made much more challenging. I want to kick someone in the shin REALLY hard. And then kick the other one harder on Bean's behalf. He LOVES riding in the bike. What a huge bummer. Just yesterday Abby and I were talking about where we would ride in New Jersey. And really, what kind of jerk steals a bike clearly set up as a mommy bike and baby trailer and helmet?????????????? I don't get it!
Sigh. But I am still glad. I'm glad that my kiddos are safe and sound; that we're making good progress on packing; that Bronwyn is bringing me fresh cherries, picked by her own hands; that we're loved and will be missed by our friends in Davis; that this coming week brings family and friends together to celebrate big accomplishments. And I am VERY glad that Abby's bike was not stolen. Even though the combination of stolen bikes (Matthew's two months ago and mine last night) and other items (the baby trailer last night and several boxes of books last year) would add up to 6+ times the cost of her bike, I am glad she does not have to experience the feeling of violation so personally right now. I am GLAD GLAD GLAD for that!
OK. I am feeling a little better. It is just stuff after all, and it's not even that sentimental--just super practical and a symbol of what makes me feel most free and happy as a mom: bouncing around town with the kids and feeling the wind in our hair and hearing Bean giggle and say "weee. big!" when we go around big turns or down big hills. I am glad that the essential ingredients are still here for times like these--the kiddos are joyful, healthy and happy; the wind is still blowing, the sun still shining--There is SO much to be thankful for, and maybe the bike and the trailer will end up serving a purpose I can't anticipate. I hope, by some means, it ends up being used for good. Call me Pollyanna, if you like; I don't care anymore how foolish or naive I seem. I am happier if I can let these disappointments go. Acknowledge them, feel the anger (kick some inanimate objects around, cry, and talk it out with friends who can listen and not think I'm nuts for crying about a bike), then let it go and be glad and grateful to God for the countless blessings I have, which dwarf the inconveniences and injustices.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
I need to play that game today. This morning Matty and I discovered that my (locked) bike-- along with the baby trailer connected to it and Noah's helmet to boot-- was stolen last night. I BOO HOOED BIG over this. These are my wheels! My way to get around with Bean head and to ride with Abby. I'm angry and hurt and SO frustrated at having this last week (so full of errands on campus and around town to be done) made much more challenging. I want to kick someone in the shin REALLY hard. And then kick the other one harder on Bean's behalf. He LOVES riding in the bike. What a huge bummer. Just yesterday Abby and I were talking about where we would ride in New Jersey. And really, what kind of jerk steals a bike clearly set up as a mommy bike and baby trailer and helmet?????????????? I don't get it!
Sigh. But I am still glad. I'm glad that my kiddos are safe and sound; that we're making good progress on packing; that Bronwyn is bringing me fresh cherries, picked by her own hands; that we're loved and will be missed by our friends in Davis; that this coming week brings family and friends together to celebrate big accomplishments. And I am VERY glad that Abby's bike was not stolen. Even though the combination of stolen bikes (Matthew's two months ago and mine last night) and other items (the baby trailer last night and several boxes of books last year) would add up to 6+ times the cost of her bike, I am glad she does not have to experience the feeling of violation so personally right now. I am GLAD GLAD GLAD for that!
OK. I am feeling a little better. It is just stuff after all, and it's not even that sentimental--just super practical and a symbol of what makes me feel most free and happy as a mom: bouncing around town with the kids and feeling the wind in our hair and hearing Bean giggle and say "weee. big!" when we go around big turns or down big hills. I am glad that the essential ingredients are still here for times like these--the kiddos are joyful, healthy and happy; the wind is still blowing, the sun still shining--There is SO much to be thankful for, and maybe the bike and the trailer will end up serving a purpose I can't anticipate. I hope, by some means, it ends up being used for good. Call me Pollyanna, if you like; I don't care anymore how foolish or naive I seem. I am happier if I can let these disappointments go. Acknowledge them, feel the anger (kick some inanimate objects around, cry, and talk it out with friends who can listen and not think I'm nuts for crying about a bike), then let it go and be glad and grateful to God for the countless blessings I have, which dwarf the inconveniences and injustices.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
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