Sweet Vacation...

So this past week was family vacation. We all packed up the least we thought we could live with for a week and headed down to invade my parent's house in Florida.

It was so very nice of my parents to accept four adults and a baby into their home for an entire week. It can be a lot having one house guest never mind five of them!

Florida delivered everything we could have wanted!

Sunshine every day, a wonderful Sunday Service right down the street, family, relaxing, fun, plenty of time in the book store and the wal-mart (regrettably). As you can see, the baby did fine on the boat ~ here he's doing his best pirate impression!

We learned the baby is not a fan of water and it took a full week of auntie Nikki coaxing him gently for him to get used to the pool at all. Let's not discuss how he tried to stop the tide at the ocean! This week he learned several new words: on the list were Meme, Pepe, house, and 'no no no no no no' all in one quick, syncronous plea! Despite his fervent fear of the water, Florida is full of it so we continued to help him through his worst moments and he survived quite neatly as it would happen. He also spent quite a bit of time hunting down 'vroom vrooms' and was seen about town in big boats, small boats, mall motorcycles, antique cars, rental cars, one plastic green four-wheeler and a not so thrilling ride on a helicopter that lasted about 1.5 seconds.

We ate like kings and queens thanks to Mom and Dad's German butcher who knows nothing of the term small or moderation. We had spare ribs that looked like they came from 7,000 pound pigs! We also made sure we had plenty of our own junk food to last the week! I'm sure right now everyone (except the baby who didn't change his eating to accomodate a vacation) are all in food detox!

In addition to fun in the pool and fun on the boat and fun at Auntie and Uncle's house, we also (Jason and I) stole away for our anniversary and had a very nice dinner and movie date. Our overall rating of this vacation was that while we really have enjoyed our many previous vacations that are filled with plans and outings and parks and rides, this vacation had its own special allure, being a week of actually relaxing and just enjoying family and a few rousing games of Scrabble.

As for travelling with baby, that was actually a real success! He did very well on the first few flights with a little wiggling and a bit of drama. The final leg of the flight home was a nightmare for the first ten minutes but no one blames him. When you're 18 months old and being dragged here and there and asked to climb this, ride in that, hit that ball (putt putt), walk over here, ride over there, he really did an amazing job of adjusting and putting up with what must have seemed like a load of adult craziness! We did eventually wear him out (see photo below) and he did have to take a nap or two, but he didn't waste too much time sleeping - that is for sure!

All in all, an A+ of a time and we look forward to doing it all again some day hopefully soon!

9-11

On this solomn 8th anniversary of 9-11 I want to take a minute to recognize all of the fallen from that terrible event as well as the thousands of individuals who had to 'survive' 9-11 and the tragic, terrible loss of a friend or loved one.

Tragedy unites and thankfully in the United States we are very good about coming together and girding each other up during the worst of times. All things happen for a reason and in due time we will come to know the many purposes of that day. In the mean time I offer my solace and prayer to those families who live in the wake of that awful day.

Like many I am touched by the loss while not being immediately affected by personal loss but I still cry to think about the loss of life and the terrible events of that day. I am also lifted up by the reaction that people had and are still having in showing an outpouring of love and support to everyone who was personally touched that awful day.

9-11 will forever be a day of infamy for our country but it did not make us weaker. Terrorism is not going to win, it is not going to take our faith. In fact, quite the opposite. If you listen closely, you will hear so many miraculous stories born out of that day that you can't help but be uplifted and just ignore whatever terrible purpose instigated those events.

Terrorists want us to live in fear and time and time again America proves she refuses to be dragged down, she refuses to live in the pit of despair. It is NO coincidence that this country was founded on Christian principals and will continue to live those principals despite any effort to make us anthing other than what we are.

We are America. We are proud. We are brave. We love God.

Anything short of that, anything that tries to tear that appart will be met with brute force and we will not back down. We will not succumb. We have the greatest Father a nation can have and we know we are protected by Him.

Tastefully Simple! (and it's TRUE)

So this week I have undertaken a new adventure. This is one of those illustrious roads mentioned in my favorite poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

This road is the road of independent consultant-ship. I've actually taken this very road before with a different company - some of you may remember my days with Pampered Chef. True to my nature my first and second attempts at this sort of thing revolve around FOOD!

It's no mystery that I love food. It's sinful how weak I am with food. This company though is food made easy for people who don't have an easy time with food.

Offering a variety (but not too huge a variety so as to overwhelm) of different spice mixtures, food preparations and oils, preserves and the like which help people who have a hard time being naturally 'food creative' climb to the top of the culinary heap!

Not only does the company produce and sell great seasonings and the like but they have tons of suggestions on cards and online that help you use them in many different ways!

I am looking forward to my first show in just over a week. I'm starting (of course) with family and friends. A big thank you to eveyrone who is opening up their home and time to me to help me launch this endeavor.

If I don't succeed, that's okay too because this company is not at all expensive to get started with. Right now there's a special consultant start up fee of only $99! that includes everything you need to get started! TONS of food, samples for parties, dishes, cups, spoons and the like for the tasting parties... it's so easy ANYONE could do it!

I do hope that I am successful at this endeavor because, after all, who couldn't use some extra cash these days?! At any rate, it's a good company that I can be proud to associate myself with so I'm all in and excited to get started!

Please feel free to visit my personal Tastefully Simple Website at:

www.tastefullysimple.com/web/mpetraitis

You can place orders, look around, take receipes or sign up to have a party! Also, feel free to call me if you have any questions or interest in having a party of your own!

Fun with family

So this past weekend I spent in PA with Jason and my brother and his family and we had a wonderful time! It was Jacob's christening and the weeekend was amazing weather-wise and we had a fabulous time!

The drive down was right on target Saturday morning and we arrived, got Jay a hair cut and went right to Fran's house. The boys booked a tee time and the girls plotted some serious shopping!

The boys scores were 94 & 136 (I won't give away who won).

The girls scored much good stuff at the outlets including some groovy new bags from French Connection (quote from Kim upon seeing the bag: It looks like Chubaka threw up all over that thing!). Sid and Fran were not all too impressed by the bags but that's okay, to each her own as they say!

Saturday evening we had a wonderful dinner with Thea, Sid, Fran, Mark, Liz and Jake. It was just beautiful. We ate out on the porch and listened to the locusts talk to each other in their own magical language. We watched as Petey and Trudi tried to avoid Ted the wonder cat. A good time was had by all!

Sunday morning was great, we went to church around ten. There were two kids being baptized. The church was beautiful, the ceremony was very special and the boys did very well despite the dunking (not real dunking, just sprinkling really).

After the ceremony we went back to Fran's for a fabulous brunch (thank you Fran for all that great cooking!) and we hung out for a little while after (clean up, packing, etc.). We hit the road around 2PM and OF COURSE traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike was at a standstill. Things didn't really get better until after the George Washington Bridge in NY! UGH. Ugly drive. And it wasn't really that fun being in the car either (to be honest and frank) not one of our more friendly marriage encounters.

Everyone survived the trip and we got home around 9PM and pretty much just flopped out!

The weekend was a SMASHING success and despite having a stinking standard on the GW, I survived and was made better by the entire experience!

A HUGE thank you to Fran for putting us up in her lovely home, we always enjoy visiting there and are so grateful for your loving kindness!

Friends

A topic so popular it became a hit TV show for several years - FRIENDS.

This morning on my drive into work I got to thinking pretty in depth about my friends. I have many friends and they span as far back as elementary school. My friends are as various and unique as can be and I wonder if they were all put into one room together what they might think of each other.

I have male friends and female friends, old friends and new friends, family friends, unrelated friends, religious friends and secular friends, tall ones, short ones, skinny ones and chubby ones and (at the risk of sounding too much like Dr. Seuss) they're all very special to me.

So this particular blog is a THANK YOU to all of my friends! Each of you has touched me in one way or another over the years. You've been through marriages, divorce, heartache, heartbreak (literally), pain, love, anxiety, stress, joy, growth, loss, gain and the rest of it.

Some years ago I created a family 'yearbook' for Christmas and gave a copy to everyone in my family and my favorite part of that book was that I sent out questionnaires to everyone and asked them all to say something nice about each member of the family. The purpose of this was to let everyone know the things that people might not regularly say to each other but really did mean. It was a very enlightening experience and I hope that it was meaningful to everyone who received it.

While I am not going to write something to each of my individual friends in this blog (because that would be more like writing a book than a blog) I do intend to let all of my friends know why they are special to me and if I fail at that, shame on me!

Oh Friday!

Have you ever noticed how you emulate people sometimes without even realizing it? For some reason we 'pick up' sayings and mannerisims that we are not even aware of and it's really quite inexplicable to me how that happens. I'm sure it has something to do with a fondness for either the person we are emulating or the saying or manner which we are repeating.

I've known people (including me) who can't go down south for more than few days without picking up a drawl and y'all and 'hon'. It's not that we're trying to grasp these changes but we do!

The saying is that "imitation is the most sincere form of flattery" and I suppose when its intended that is true but if it's just that strange 'falling into' speaking like one another then I'm not positive it's a form of flattery as much as a form of repetition.

At any rate, I always catch myself when I'm speaking in a manner that is distinctly someone else's and it reminds me of that person (whoever it may be at that moment) so it's not really a bother so much as a 'tickle' that we can, and do, without thinking, mirror, repeat or emulate those around us. Something to think about.

Be still

Psalm 46:10 reads: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

As humans, down here, so far from Grace, it is so hard just to be still. I struggle, athough less and less each day as I strive to be more obedient, with exactly how to be still and trust God to take care of me.

I have always been fiercly independent and that is not God's plan for me. That is not what he wants and honestly, I would love to just consistently be able to trust on Him and not worry. He hates worry and therefor my worry is sin.

In truth there is nothing here that can hurt me. There is nothing on this earth that matters even one small percentage as compared to what lies ahead so spending time worrying about anything here is fruitless and useless. I will continue to try to be obedient and struggle against my own humanity and just be still and know that He is all powerful, He is all knowing and He loves me despite my deep iniquity.

So why publish such private thoughts? Because I think we ALL worry about something, great or small at some time or another and many of us spend a lot of time worrying over things that are of no consequence. If I share my honest feelings and admit that I struggle with these things then those people who may read this may also find a kindred spirit and realize that:

A. it's okay to admit we're wrong;
B. we're not alone in our 'wrongness' and
C. the correct path is to follow God.

If my words cause offense to anyone I offer only this, if God offends you perhaps it's time to ask yourself why your creator (the only reason you exist) would offend you? That, to me, seems like fear or anger or some other human emotion being seriously misplaced. Many people cling to their own beliefs without ever really giving thought to why they believe what they believe and most of the time those beliefs are human constructs built to protect us from our own pain.

If you believe God doesn't exist, ask yourself why. Even Darwin, the "father" of evolution recanted in his lifetime. If he can come to know the truth then so should we all be able to. We certainly are all afforded the option to know the Truth and I think people who refuse the truth do so out of fear. Fear of changing, fear of challenge, fear of responsibility, take your pick but most people who avoid God do so for a very human reason. Think about it for a minute. If you're avoiding God, WHY?

I am going to send my blog link out into the world today and I hope these words find the heart they are meant for. They come from a heart that loves God and wants to do what is right inlcuding sharing Him with others. If you find this blog to be helpful in any way, please share it with others.

Wednesday

So this morning my friend Jillian woke up thinking it was Thursday. Don't we all just hate that? You wake up and for a moment, you've gotten rid of a pesky work day and then you realize your sleepy mind was just playing tricks on you! UGH. The worst is when you wake up thinking it's Saturday and you realize it's Friday and you have one work day left! what despair!

In general my days are broken into two halves, the work half and the rest. I think most people live this way (cramming two days into every one) whether they realize it or not. So Wednesday is just the middle, it's nothing too exciting except for the fact that we made it through dreaded Monday and (in my house) Selectman Tuesday - which means the second half of my day is devoid of my husband due to his civic duties.

I find it funny how we build these 'clocks' into our lives. On Wednesday my mind knows that tomorrow I have to gear up to look at my finances again because Jay gets paid on Thursday so I have to allocate funds to different accounts for different bill paying activities. The same is true on Thursday for Friday because that's the day I get paid. By the time I'm done with my many weekday chores I've had no time at all to dream about the possibilities of what I could do with my two free days off. Is it any wonder our days and weeks and months and years fly by when we're so consumed with everything it is we have to DO? I'm not sure how I'm supposed to cultivate who I really AM while I'm busy with life's chores. I'm sure that if I don't do that then I'll end up like my garden, full of weeds trying to seek out and nurture the barely visible edible fruits of my labors.

To make matters worse, my 'daily' clock has all of the ambition built into the top of the day so by the time I get to my own personal time (after work)I have zero ambition so I get very little done. Of course this means more chores on my two free days of the week! How FRUSTRATING! The thing that perplexes me about it all is that I'm a very organized person so I don't know why I'm so challenged with using my time (in the evenings in particular) better than I do. Recently I turned off my cable service in an attempt to make better use of my time and so far all it's done is heat up my DVD player. UGH. Maybe my evening laziness is my way of rebelling against the necessity of having to go to work every day, who knows? What I do know is that something magical happens when I sleep and every morning when I wake up I'm spiritually and mentally energized and ready to take on all of the challenges today that I failed to fulfill yesterday. Someday maybe I'll fall out of this silly loop but then I'll probably just fall into another silly loop!

First post!

So, I'm not sure why I'm blogging exactly and I'm not sure who I'm blogging to. I like to follow my friend Kim's blog fairly regularly and I'm curious to see if this is something I keep up with or if it just falls to the wayside. Kim is faithful to hers of course but that's because she's very Kim. We (being her co-workers and friends from work) all love the uniqueness of Kim. I doubt very much if she knows how well she is received and perceived at work. She's fun and funny and quirky (in a great way) and energized and energizing. She's got us ALL thinking about what we say (because it will be put on the list) and all enjoying remembering some of the finer quotes from the past. She loves unabashedly and is not afraid to admire out loud. I've spent time traveling with Kim and working with Kim and on a lucky occasion or two having fun outside of work with Kim and I must say she is definitely one of a kind in my life. Okay, I'll get off of my blogging inspiration for a little while (I'm sure she's had enough anyway) and move on to a little bit about me.

A little bit about me. I grew up in a town of 4,500 people and still live there. I loved and hated my town growing up. I have four siblings, three sisters and a brother. We grew up in a nice house on a nice street. There was no tragedy in my life, there were ordinary sad stories to tell as everyone has but nothing really unique as I later found out in my life. I also later found out that being unique can be highly overrated when you hate being in the spot light. If you don't mind being in the spot light then I suppose it's fine. I am not adverse to leading or taking charge, I am adverse to having a light shone upon me in order to high light some characteristic of me or some action I may or may not have taken. I find myself to be quite ordinary and very much like most people. For this reason I relate well to all kinds of people and tend to understand people pretty well. I also tend to try to blend into the carpet but I usually fail miserably at that. The reason I fail at that is because there are certain aspects of my personality do stand out. I wear my heart on my sleeve (working on that), I am honest (although I try to be kind while remaining honest), and I have an outgoing personality which I frequently wish I could control a bit more or curtail.

I will also add, and most importantly, that I work daily, hourly, by the minute really on being a better person, a better Christian, a better wife, sister, mother, grandmother and daughter each and every day. I don't mean to bury Christian in the middle there, that is the most important part of who I am. My salvation, my future life, my treasures in heaven are really the main elements of my life that matter. Being a good person and all of those other things is very important to me and to God as well, but not as important as being a good disciple. This walk is difficult. The world is a very tricky place to navigate and not fall in the cracks. Only other Christians will understand what I mean by that but hopefully I will make my Father proud.

I sit here multitasking (as I almost always am) with my son and my husband around me just living life and being and it's as close to paradise as we can get down here. My life is simple and I frequently realize how different from others that can be but I cherish my life as it is and as I know it will be. I know that growing in my faith, growing in Christ will bring me such joy here and in the afterlife (which I am guaranteed).

Strictly from a 'facts' standpoint here are some interesting tidbits about me and mine. We live in that previously mentioned small town on seven acres of land in a beautiful log home. We have 24 chickens, 10 turkeys, 1 cat, and 1 dog. As rural and hick as that may sound, my husband and I are very intelligent and involved in government, education and other interests we just happen to live far away from the din of cities. We love our animals, our gardens, our families and our life. :)