On this day...

...five years ago...at 10:10 a.m. (and much to our surprise), this tiny little boy emerged into the world. He was silent initially, but has since learned to make a little noise. With no name picked out yet, we simply called him "baby." We marveled at his large hands, monkey-like toes, face that looked just like his dad and his ability to sleep with his mouth wide open like Grandma Jan.

He's changed a bit since then and now amazes us with his not-so-funny jokes, his ability to debate ANYONE and his gigantic heart that always leads him to say "I love you." We are very blessed God has given us such a marvelous little boy to raise.

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Here she is!!!

Mommy Erin managed to get a few minutes and sent us some pictures of Madyson McKenzie. We think she's precious. You can see more pictures of her if you check my link to "Martins". She resembles her big sister, but doesn't look exactly like her (or so I think).

Our new niece

I have been putting off making the post to announce our new niece because I was hoping to have pictures to put with it. As it turns out, the clan surrounding our newest family member is a bit in awe of the little papoose and haven't yet sent us a glimpse of what she looks like. However, here are her stats:

Madyson Martin
Dec. 15, 2008
1:10 p.m.
8 pounds, 10 ounces
20 inches long

She was scheduled to arrive the morning of the 16th, but decided to change her Mommy's plans for her "last day before baby arrives" and came a little early. Everyone's happy, healthy and overwhelmed (BOY, do I remember how I felt when baby #2 came along...). We hope to have pictures to share soon...

If you can read this, give thanks.

So excited to be on Santa's lap...until....

We discovered he gave us a SMALL, RED candy cane (we wanted a BIG, GREEN one!) Notice how long we tried to convince Carter to smile again...Logan's phony smile is wearing off...

Well, I managed to let an entire month go by without updating the ol' blog. I think I have pretty good excuses, but I guess I'll let you readers be the judge of that.

The boys and I flew out of Anchorage in the wee hours of Nov. 3rd for almost 3 weeks in the midwest. We rented a car and put over 1500 miles on it, visiting lots of people in Minnesota and North Dakota. It still seemed to be not nearly enough time. It definitely was NOT restful for me. I spent most nights staying up until 2:00 in the morning, visiting with people I hadn't seen in 10 years...and I wouldn't trade that for any amount of sleep! I hope it's not another 10 years before I see them again.

The boys traveled well. I purposely scheduled our flights with a layover in Seattle because there's a great play area for kids there. In fact, on our way back, our layover was such that we stayed in a hotel. We had the pool to ourselves and "Happy Feet" was playing when we got back to the room. Good times.

Eating chicken fingers on the bed with a movie...it doesn't get much better!



WEARY TRAVELERS

On top of seeing EVERYONE, I got to show the boys were my brother was buried. It took a little explaining for them to understand that Chad was buried in the ground, not the stone itself! Once they got that concept under control, my emotional first-born began to cry because he never got to meet Chad. Ah, blessings DO come in small packages...

We got back to Alaska just a few days before Thanksgiving. I was scheduled to work the 3 days before the holiday, but there were a few glitches so I only worked a few hours on Wednesday before we all went home for the day. Today was my first day back at the hospital since the shooting last week. And although there's no physical damage present anymore, there's a sadness still. Just walking through the halls brought up a lot of emotion all over again...both for the lives lost and also for the rest of us that continue to live on. As I was heading out the door, our CEO stopped me in the hallway and gave a hug. Funny how something like this makes us see our administrators as human beings rather than our bosses.

I have a course in Anchorage tomorrow, so tonight I sit alone in a bed & breakfast with nothing but time to reflect on all of the blessings in my life. Of course, there are the obvious things like family and friends, but I especially think about the little things that are so easy to forget:

1. How my kids continue to need me...even when I'm tired of being needed.

2. The amazing ability my children and husband have to tell me they love me...when I deserve it the least.

3. The three compliments I got on my haircut when I thought I was having the worst hair day in months.

4. Baby wipes...the multi purpose tool.

5. Wireless internet connection while away from home

6. the fact that my sewing machine could be fixed!!

7. clearance racks ( I LOOOVE a bargain!)

8. Hershey's Bliss (raspberry flavor)

So if you find yourself reading this, walk away from the computer and go squeeze someone you love...we never know how much time we have with them.