Surprise Party, Saving Species, Tom Ashbrook, and the Travails of Motherhood

Well, Josh threw me a surprise party for my 26th birthday, which was on the 19th. It was such a blast!! I don't think I've ever had a surprise party, and I don't know if another one could ever top this one. It was pretty amazing! Josh isn't that great at surprises usually- I think I've known about every other one he's ever tried to do. I remember a time before we were married that he was going to come up to Peoria for a surprise visit. Being the intuitive person I am, I quickly figured out that he seemed to be hiding something during our phone conversations. Then I turned on my expert manipulation abilities, which have been carefully honed, and I told him that I was probably going to have to work on the weekend that I was suspecting he was going to come. Then I carefully evaluated his response. The panic in his voice let me know that my suspicions were indeed correct. Thus when I walked into my apartment on that weekend to see him sitting on my couch, my reaction was nothing short of skillful. This time around Josh must have learned a thing or two, because I was genuinely surprised! My friends Elissa and April did their part to keep me guessing, and everything was wonderful. Josh decided to throw a cooking party since I love to cook, and all of our friends brought food to share. Everything was really tasty! I'm so grateful for the friends that God has blessed us with here! It was so much fun.

If you knew Josh in college, you knew that he had a tendency to power-trip. That whole vice-president of the student body was a handy outlet for power-tripping. (I too was a member of student government- this was before we were actually dating- and there were many meetings full of I-like-you tension.) Anyway, this party saw a resurrection of Josh's power-tripping past in his borrowing of a megaphone for ordering our guests around. He also inducted Howie into the ways of talking into a megaphone, which is below for your viewing enjoyment.

Yesterday Howie and I took a trip to the Galleria in search of some winter shoes for me, which we didn't end up finding, but we had a good time anyway. I started out pushing him in his stroller, and after a while he wanted to walk so I turned him loose. We walked around, ate a pretzel (which he loves), and then stumbled upon Build a Bear Workshop. I am personally not fond of this store, but when Howie saw it, he stopped in his tracks, almost getting plowed over by 2 business men who weren't looking down to see if any toddlers were in the way, and crossed traffic with reckless abandon to get into that store. He stopped in wonder in front of a huge display of already built teddy bears and other stuffed animals. Then he started doing this happy feet dance he does when he's really excited- stepping back and forth. He looked over all of the animals (pronouncing them all "dogs" since he can say that word) and then turned around to find a display of smaller stuffed animals. There were these little dogs that he really seemed to like, and he kept picking a few up at a time. This was OK but then I realized how close he was standing to the door. Sure enough, in his toddler mind he thought those toys were there for him to take, and he made a break for the doorway with a dog in hand. I was so glad that there weren't those things that buzz when you walk through with something you haven't paid for, because Howie would have been caught red-handed. He quite reluctantly put the dog back, and we went on our way.

I love Tom Ashbrook's show On Point on NPR. I was recently on the show's website for some reason and saw a picture of Tom- he definitely didn't look like what I thought he would from what he sounds like. Anyway, I love his show because he always brings up interesting topics. The other week he had Stuart Pimm on his show, a professor from Duke who is a specialist in bringing species of animals back from the brink of extinction. His organization is called Saving Species and their website is www.savingspecies.org. Every time Howie and I go to the zoo I am amazed at how many of the animals are endangered, at least at some level. But it makes sense as you think about what how much the face of our planet has changed over the last several hundred years with all sorts of development and building... animals just don't have as much room to roam anymore with so many changes. It was fascinating to hear how this organization tries to buy up land and rebuild animal habitats. As I was thinking about the huge diversity of animal life, I was amazed again at God's creativity in creating such a beautiful world that we live in. I am reminded of that from time to time as Howie pulls out his animal books (and calls most things dogs)- it's fun to see something like an ostrich and think about how it displays God's creativity as a creator. I think that's why I was happy to hear that this dude is working to preserve diversity in the animal world, because animals give us a rich reminder of how God has made a beautiful world for us to live in.

I put Howie in his crib for a nap before starting this post and he's still horsing around, so I better go see what he needs. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Howie, the Halloween Horse

Howie eating a cupcake for breakfast, left over from a neighborhood birthday party that my precious neighbors threw the night before! What a wonderful way to start the day for Howie!

Howie's office these days... he loves playing with anything and everything in the fridge.

Howie enjoyed his first Halloween. He actually did let me put the horse costume on him, much to my surprise. In fact, he seemed to like it as time went on. He had a trick or treating learning curve... at the first house we rang the doorbell, and the man came outside holding a bowl of candy. He bent down to bring the bowl to Howie's eye level and prompted him to pick something, at which point Howie surveyed the candy, decisively turned around, and walked the other way without picking anything. It was sooo funny!! I guess he didn't realize that candy is the point of Halloween, but by the second house he was already wising up. This time he actually reached in the bowl for something. All in all, it was a smashing success. Howie got to prance around my parents' neighborhood in a horse costume, and I ate his candy. What's not to like???

Though we were all still entrenched in disease over the weekend, I think we've turned the corner. Even though Howie is not great at sharing things, he's willingly shared his sickness with me first, and then Josh. Then we were all hacking. I think it's next to impossible to avoid getting sick when everyone is in such close proximity and Howie usually uses my clothing for kleenex. I have washed more snotty clothes in the last week than the previous several months combined. Yuck.

There is much more to say but not enough time so say it, so I will let this and the pictures do the talking for now and catch up in the next couple of days!