In the news...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Amid tight security and a sea of green and yellow flags, Palestinians cast ballots in their first parliamentary election in a decade Wednesday — a historic vote that could shape the future of the peace process with Israel. I think this photo is so telling, so powerful, so remindful of our own precious right to vote here in the US.


A false-color composite shows the Cartwheel galaxy. A new planet-hunting technique has detected the most Earth-like planet yet around a star other than our sun, raising hopes of finding a space rock that might support life, astronomers reported on Wednesday. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Reuters) How can you look at our universe and NOT wonder what the plan is? What the origin was? WHO put it all in motion? I can think of only one who could imagine it and then make it so. God.


Is it possible to live without it?




TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Bill Cowher's news conference had nothing to do with the Seattle Seahawks' devastating offensive line or the running of league MVP Shaun Alexander or the tactics of Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Holmgren.
No, the theme Tuesday centered on fabrics and hues, as in "What color jerseys will your team wear for Super Bowl XL, Coach?"
This is what happens when the big game is 11 days away and storylines are coming from every angle.
For the record, the Steelers will wear white for Super Bowl XL in Detroit, even though they are the home team and always wear black at Heinz Field.
GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been tagged

Kristen sent me this, and I answered her questions and sent it back to her along with a few others. Here's what I had to say today.

1. What is your full name?
Wendi Leighann Gibson Richert
2. What color pants are you wearing?
red PJs from Target with cute little black dogs and a sprinkling of polka dots on them
3. What are you listening to right now?
Sponge Bob's Christmas movie - Benjy's favorite
4. What was the last thing you ate?
salad and stuffed shells
5. Do you wish on stars?
Nope, but I have to recite the little rhyme for Camden so he can.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
yellow or periwinkle
7. How is the weather right now?
dark and cold, somewhere in the 30s, I suspect, but I'm too lazy to check on it.
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My sister last night. Unless you count answering the phone a couple of times at work today.
9. Do you like the person who sent you this?
Yes - she ROCKS! And she's just so darn sweet. :)
10. How old are you today?
37
11. Favorite drink?
black coffee and cosmopolitans (not together)
12. Favorite sport?
Huh????
13. Hair Color?
brown with a few streaks of Sun-In brassy tones
14. Do you wear contacts?
yup
15. Siblings?
A younger sister
16. Favorite Month?
September - my birth month and the weather starts to change
17. Favorite Food ?
Eat & Park's smiley cookies. This week, anyhow.
18. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
19. Favorite Day of the Year -
Christmas morning with my kids.
20. What do you do to vent anger?
Take a nap, cry, sit in the dark. Then get over it.
21. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Barbies - my barbies were always better than my sister's.
22. Summer or winter?
Winter!!!!!!!!!
23. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs
24. Chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla
25. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
Sure!
26. Who is most likely to respond?
Kristin better!!!!!!
27. Who is least likely to respond?
My sister. She never responds to any of my emails. (What's she trying to tell me, anyway???)
28. When was the last time you cried?
Last week.
29. What is under your bed?
Emma and some suitcases
30. Who is the friend you've had the longest?
Jodie in Roanoke
31. What did you do last night?
Watch the Steelers win the playoffs for the super bowl!!Wooohooooo - go Steelers!
32. What are you afraid of?
People I know dying
33. Plain, buttered or salted popcorn?
oooo, yuck. chocolate covered raisins for me
34. Favorite car?
don't care
35. Favorite flower?
Daisies
36. Number of keys on your key ring?
2
37. Type of job?
preschool specialist at KinderCare
38. Favorite day of the week ?
Friday, or sometimes Thursdays because you ahve teh entire weekend to look forward to
39. What did you do for your last birthday?
Opened presents from my boys, ate a lot of cake, and uploaded some tunes on my new iPod Shuffle
40. How many states have you lived in?
three!
41. How many cities have you lived in?
5
42. What do you collect?
Ws - the letter W, that is. And Willow Tree angels
43. Who do you LOVE most in life?
God, Family, Friends

This is the tree

The tree that Camden loves. He climbs it nearly to the top. He shakes the whole thing while up there, the branches swaying wildly as he climbs higher and higher. It's as if he thinks he can reach the sky. Today he brought me a "flower" from a branch of his tree. It was dead, dead like the winter, but it was a flower from Camden, nonetheless. He even put it in a glass of water and brought it up to me in my bathroom. He was so proud. I hugged him, wrapped my arms around him and told him how thankful I was. Now, isn't that just the sweetest thing? My son climbed a tree on a drizzly cool January day to pick a flower just for me? He's so freakin' cool. :)

The Dark Side

It's everywhere.

In everything from my kids' undies to their dinner plates. It's ubiquitous, entrancing, and all over my living room. The Dark Side and I live a not-so-quiet co-existence as my children have fallen prey to its force. I trip over light sabers, hang up Darth Vader capes, and gather chess pieces and tri fighters and action figures more often than daily, if that's possible. I hear the sounds of Star Wars theme music in the car as Benjy and Camden hum it, from my study as Camden and Curt struggle to win against the Playstation, and from Benjy's little mouth as he teams up R2D2 against Darth Vader and General Grievous. I don't even want to know who wins that one.

Such is life with boys. For years we got away without hearing the slightest gun noise from Camden. Then, suddenly, Star Wars entered our home and the BOY in my husband and two children was awakened. PACHOOO PACHOOO PACHOOO. It's the sound of boys. Of the force. I hope I've taught them that the force is not to be used on real people. It's a pretend thing. Yes, Camden tries hard to use the force to move a straw across then kitchen table. And he blames "the force" on his difficulty with listening to directions. But, overall, I think The Dark Side lives in their active and vibrant imaginations. I don't see it when Camden hugs his "babies" - stuffed animals. I don't see it when Benjy runs up to me and plants a big ol' kiss on my cheek. I don't see it when they both snuggle in bed with Curt and me first thing in the morning. Truly, that's when the Dark Side has been overcome by my good Jedi masters. I guess I really don't need to worry. Deep down inside, the power of the good force is there, ready to shoot out of their Yoda light sabers and save the day.

Beautiful Things

These are a few things that I have found beautiful lately:
* The pinkish white Christmas cactus that has recently bloomed in my bathroom
* Benjamin's cheeks - they are so kissable
* The sunshine today - temp in the mid-50s, perfect spring-like weather. Driving with the windows down, feeling the cool breeze that wasn't hot but wasn't cold either. The blue skies with streaky white clouds. Beautiful.
* Camden on his birthday perched on the porch rail out back. (Yesterdays' blog picture) He is a beautiful being.
* Krystal fried apple pies Curt brought me from the Atlanta airport - the best! (Who needs to be healthy when these are in the house?!)
* Ellie. This old dog is the most loyal, beautiful black lab. I love her.
* The sounds of kids playing outdoors - at KinderCare today, at home with the neighborhood kids running about. Ah, almost like spring.
* Snowfall. Nope, none yet, but an inch or two on the way. I'll take what I can get.
* The smell of ground coffee in the coffee maker waiting for tomorrow morning when we hit the ON button.

Happy Birthday, Camden!

All day I've thought about the wonderful delivery of Camden 6 years ago in Virginia. Epidural - check. Husband by my side - check. Mom there, too - check. A perfect birth - check. Camden came into this world without a hitch. The perfect birth. The perfect baby. Just too sweet. Yes, he's had his moments of The Dark Side, but he's still my Baby Camden. He still loves to snuggle, listen to stories, share raspberries, and sneak sweets. He's still my first one. He's still a slight little fellow, my bean pole who's shooting up like a weed. He's still loud and silly and a drama king. He's still my sweet, sweet Camden Neil. I love you, Camden, to the moon and back and then back again to infinity and beyond.

Six years ago

It really does seem like just last week that I gave birth to Camden. And yet tomorrow he'll turn six at nearly 1:30 in the afternoon. I cannot believe my little punkin head is growing up so fast - reading, combing his hair "like a man!", asking for privacy when he uses the bathroom. Geez, where has the time gone?! In these pictures, he's eagerly chopping away at a "rock" that housed a tiny dinosaur. He was so excited to chisel away at it, just like a scientist. I did squash a bit of his excitement, though, by asking him not to spread rock bits all over the kitchen. "You mean scientists don't get rocks and dirt in their houses?" he asked. "No, scientists don't get rock and dirt in their mommys' kitchens," I replied. Something makes me wonder if he'll be a scientist when he grows up: so curious, eager to learn and explore, and find the answers out for himself. How cool is that?!

Oh, the life

If I could be Emma for just a day.... Emma, the naughty, naughty bad dog. The one who is so submissive to everybody, and yet will snap at me at the drop of a pin when I try to brush her. She HATES to be brushed, loves to curl up on the bed, HATES to be cold, loves to lick your hands, HATES to eat dog food, loves to beg for table scraps. You may recall that I had a picture of her on the KITCHEN TABLE a few days ago. That's my Emma. This digi kit by Carrie Stephens came from a freebie at Scrapbook Bytes. Check it out!

On other notes...

* I'm 8 days into SUCCESS on my intention to NOT GO TO WALMART IN 2006.
* I can't wait for ANDERSON COOPER to come on CNN tomorrow at 10 p.m. Funny what you look forward to when you've spent nearly 60 nights alone.
* My 3-2-1 DVD from PREVENTION will be here any day now. It's the coolest exercise video - 3 minutes of cardio, 2 minutes of strength, and 1 minute of abs - 6 of these sessions all together. I figure I'll do 2 at a time and have the full workout in by days' end. Woohoooo! I can do that...12 minutes per session. I can SO DO that!
* Thanks to my friend Laurie, I'm feeling the push toward healthy eating - I'm adding ground flax seed to our morning smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, anything that my kids and I will eat! And I've ordered an Omega 3 supplement for Benjamin. Some studies have shown that the boost in Omega 3s can help strengthen speech issues. Read this in my Late Talkerbook, awesome book.
* Having Curt home has been such a blessing. We've had no trouble getting back to normal. And I must admit, it was nice to see him put the boys to bed tonight while I caught up on emails. :) But, truly, just having him here, WITH ME, is enough.
* That Emma makes me want to sleep all day and all night....

With each day this week, I'm amazed at Benjamin's speech. He's TRYING so hard! Saying so many new sounds. They may not sound like the words we know, but he's saying them just the same. He's so proud of himself. And I'm so proud of him.

Curt's home!!!!!!!! Probably should have led with that, but the pic of Benjy playing with the crayons when we went to lunch the other day was just too cute. He drove from Jacksonville, Fla., to here today. What a wonderful surprise and blessing to have him back with us. I spent the day rearranging the living room after taking the Christmas tree down and reorganizing the study. I'm one of those freaky people who find cleaning and purging cathartic. I dread it till I do it, then once I'm into it, there's no turning back. Every corner will be cleaned, every box emptied, every drawer searched. It's all going to be in its place when I'm done, and then the rest is HISTORY.

Setting: After dinner and baths, comfy time for the boys to watch Polar Express before bedtime. I've just sat down to do some scrapbooking.

Emma: Woooooowooooooowoooooooooooof
Me: Camden, will you let Emma out, please?
Camden: You always want me to do stuff for you. You always just want to sit down and relax and I have to do your stuff. I'm so tired of having to do stuff while you relax. You have to start doing things for me and let me have a break.

That Camden has no idea. I'm going out on a limb here by saying this: I hope he has one just like him one day. :)

So sad...

My heart goes out to all the West Virginia families who lost loved ones in the Sago mine explosion this week. Prayers for coping, hope and peace go out to the entire community.

I am a coal miner's grandaughter. Born and raised in the coal country of southwest Virginia, I grew up knowing next to nothing of the mines and their influence on my family and community. One grandfather was retired from the mines with black lung. The other had died from a heart attack before I was even born. He, too, had lived with black lung. The mines didn't affect me directly, so I just didn't really care to understand them. It was not until after college when I moved away from the area that I became interested in learning more about the place I'd always called home.

My interest was piqued by a novel by West Virginia author Denise Giardina. "Storming Heaven" is a powerfully and beautifully written novel about the unionizing of the coal mines of Kentucky and West Virginia in the early 20th century. I fell in love with the people in this book, with their love of the family and land and their fight for justice against the coal companies who forced them to work, cheated them out of their pay, and held them virtually hostage on their own land. This novel fed a fire in me that I never knew burned. After reading it, I couldn't learn enough about my heritage.

I followed up this novel with Giardina's sequel, "The Unquiet Earth" and then the movie "Matewan" about labor wars among West Virginia coal miners during the 1920's. I went on to write a feature story for my regional newspaper's Lifestyle section about a retired Virginia miner's dream to turn a tiny defunct Virginia coal town into a tourist attraction. To this day, his dream hasn't come true, but the time I spent with him touring his town, meeting the wonderful people, and soaking up my history has changed me forever. I will never let go of my roots. I will forever be a mountain girl with a proud history that has helped weave the fabric of workers' rights across this country.

And so, while I know nobody from this small West Virginia town where 11 families are grieving after an unforgettable tragedy, my heart is breaking for them. Truly, we are all brothers and sisters to some extent. I feel close to them tonight, and I will keep them in my prayers.

A Wanna Be Hokie

The Virginia Tech Hokies won today's Gator Bowl in Florida against the University of Louisville - woohoooo! I was scrapbooking when Mom called to tell me they were playing. She and Dad were shocked that I wasn't watching it, but I'd totally forgotten. Camden was gracious enough to let me pause his Star Wars Playstation game to watch the last quarter. He, Benjy, and I curled up on the floor and cheered the Hokies on to victory. Bless their hearts. They have no idea what they're cheering for, but cheer they did! We did the victory dance (made up by Camden) and shouted loudly enough to disturb neighbors, although nobody came knocking to check on us. ;) I called Curt to tell him the Hokies had won. He didn't even know yet. So much for being in Florida, closer to the action than us.

People often ask if I went to Tech. No, I say. But my college didn't have a football team while I was there. Curt's didn't, either. So, when we lived in Roanoke, we adopted the Hokies as our own. And we've rooted for them since then. (When I was a kid, I used to tell people I was "voting" for a particular team to win.) Everywhere we go, we cheer on the Hokies. In Ohio, where people are INSANE over their precious OSU Bucks, we stood out like sore thumbs. "Hokies??? Who are they???" Here, well, people are a bit more sensible about their choices - it's the Steelers for pro football and either Penn State or UPitt for college. We're still Hokies all the way. :)

Let's Play Show!

This is Camden and Benjamin's favorite new game. We call it, aptly, "Show". Here's the jist of it - one person is the star. They turn their back to the audience, then turn around slowly and make a silly face. Then they turn their backs to the audience again before turning around with a new silly face. It goes on and on and on and on. They could play it all night if their raucous laughter is any indication. When they take turns being the star, it's a hoot. Camden has no trouble coming up with one crazy face after another. Benjamin has more fun with his back turned to us, waiting and waiting and waiting before he turns around ever so slowly and strikes a pose. These two are just so darn cute!

New Year's was a quiet night for all of us. Curt said he turned in at 11:30 in Fla. I made it till 11:45, dropping off to a sound sleep after watching "You've Got Mail" (love that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks). I had every intention to read my new Nelson Demille book, but I got so hooked on the movie that I completely lost my resolve. As for the boys, they were tucked into bed and sleeping like angels till about 7:30 this morning when I was awakened by Camden and Benjamin playing with their new aircraft carriers. I love to wake up and hear them playing together. :)


I worked on my Christmas art journal last night, adding my resolutions page. My resolutions, which I'm calling "intentions" this year, are:
* to play ~ play with my children, play at my art, play with my whole family more and not put it off till I "finish" whatever I'm doing.
* to be healthy ~ exercise more regularly and eat more healthy foods. This goes for the whole family.
* to be more faithful to God ~ go to church more regularly, get involved in our church, Christ Episcopal, and make sure the boys are included in my growing spirituality. Also, read my Bible and pray daily and with purpose.
* to let go ~ let the magic of Christmas and even just ordinary days just happen. It's there, I just need to relax, let go, and let it happen. Then I'll find it.