I didn't do it!!!

My husband decided to take the girls for a short little hike this morning before lunch. It was a bit misty but still on the warm side so I suggested that they wear their water sandals (Teva's or Keen's) just in case they ended up walking thru some water. Keith said, "Oh no, we won't be walking close to the water. We won't be getting wet." I decided to let him do as he wished since he was the one taking them. Of course the first thing I heard the minute the girls walked in the door was, "Anah fell in twice". And sure enough the wet tennis shoes, socks and pants on the laundry room floor prove it. I can't say I was too surprised by this. But I was a little shocked when my husband walked in and said, "I hit a rock that put a huge gouge down the side of the Durango and then had to put it in 4-Low to get it unstuck." WOW!!! Wasn't expecting that, but boy am I glad I wasn't the first one to "injure" the Rang, Rang!!!

It's hard letting go!

We took a short little "mini-vacation" this week. For the past two years, Savanah has asked to go to the beach for her birthday. Since her birthday falls right smack dab in the middle of July (the 18th to be exact), it isn't that hard of a request to grant. I mean, it is summer time after all. But her birthday hasn't been on the weekend for awhile and won't be for at least two more years. So this year, Keith decided to take the day off. Now, Savanah has the privilege of sharing her birthday with her Aunt Janeen (my sister), who has always had a "thing" for birthdays. She pays close attention to them, hers even more so. She commented to Anah this week that she should keep track of the number of birthdays she celebrates where it is raining on her birthday. Odd comment, you might be thinking. But the last time it rained on my sisters birthday (besides for this past Wednesday) was 11 years ago. We spent the evening watching Point of Grace perform at the King County Fair in the pouring down rain. It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time. But mostly it was memorable! So memorable in fact, that even though July 18th is not my birthday I reminded my mom of the fact that that was the last time it rained on Janeen's birthday, before Janeen herself commented on it. Now I'm sure by now you all are wondering, what does this have to do with letting go? Not a gosh darn thing. I just wanted to get my point across about how disappointing it was to have rain on our "mini-vacation", when the chances were so unlikely that it would happen. So on with my story . . .

For our "mini-vacation", we decided to go crabbing. This was something that Keith did many times as a kid and teenager but I myself had never done. He was so excited to take the girls and I was so excited to take pictures of the girls and him. Because of the handy weather channel we were as prepared as possible for the rain. And the girls were troopers. They toughed it out for 2 1/2 hours in the pouring down rain. They had a blast. They helped Keith put the bait in the bait cage and throw the crab pots into the water and then pull them back up again. They had no fear when it came to picking up the crabs with their snapping little claws and throwing them back into the water or holding them for pictures or to be measured to see if they were keepers. But they also had no fear of the water. And this scared me TO DEATH.

We were crabbing off a dock, which meant they could walk right off the dock and fall straight into the cold, deep, black water. I'm not a good judge of distance and measurements but I know that dock couldn't have been over five feet wide. And I'm telling you, five feet is not a whole lot of space when you've got crab nets and buckets and a dad with two little girls with ants in their pants who want to see every thing and be a part of every thing. Seriously, they would walk right up to the edge of dock and lean as far over it as possible to try and see the crab pot that was sitting on the bottom of the ocean, who knows how far down. The water was black. They couldn't see anything past 12 inches from the surface. Or they would be helping with something and would turn their backs to the water and the edge of the dock and then take steps backward without every looking to see how far they could go without falling in. After about 45 minutes of continuously telling them to stop running, get away from the edge and quit doing that, I had to leave. I couldn't handle it anymore. I knew without a shadow of a doubt one of them was going to go over the edge. So I left to get more bait and air! When I got back, I remembered that we had their life vests with us and that I could have them put them on underneath their rain jackets. The minute they were on, it was like a huge boulder had been lifted off my lungs and I was finally able to breath again and relax. The whole time before putting on their vests, Keith kept telling me, "baby, you gotta let them go", "they are gonna be okay", "I did this all the time as a kid". But I couldn't let them go. To me it was dangerous and honestly I didn't want to have to go in the water after them.

Now that it is all said and done, and we had no mishaps and no one went "overboard", I still have a hard time "letting go". They are my babies. How do I let go?

triskaidekaphobia

I subscribe to the "word of the day". Why? Not quite sure. Thought I might learn something new. Increase my vocabulary. So far, I haven't been that impressed. Either the words are already IN my vocabulary or they are so weird I would never in a million years use them. But today the word is triskaidekaphobia, which is a morbid fear of the number 13 or the date Friday the 13th. I'm sorry but I think that this has got to be the silliest "phobia". I can't imagine anyone actually being afraid of a number or a date. It seems ridiculous. I realize that phobia in and of itself is, or can be, an irrational fear. It just boggles my mind though that anyone could have A MORBID FEAR of the number 13. So help me out, what other silly phobias do you know about? I'd love to find one that tops triskaidekaphobia!

THANK YOU!

We just want to take the opportunity to tell all those who left comments on our last post, how much we appreciate their care and concern. I don't have email addresses for many of you or blogspots to be able to send you a personal thank you. So for now this will have to do. THANK YOU! Your prayers and words of encouragement have been a blessing to our family. We are doing okay. I will selfishly ask if you think of us to keep praying so we will continue to praise God through all of this.
In His care,
The McCoy gang

We don't always know the reasons why.

We don't always know the reasons why God allows certain things to happen but I'm so happy to say that at this point I am trusting His will and decision for our family. This weekend, we "lost" our baby. It was so hard after waiting for over three years for this little one. But as of today, I can say how thankful I am that my first two pregnancies were so easy and trauma free and that we have two beautiful girls. I'm trusting that this won't be my last pregnancy and praying that the next one will also be "easy and trauma free". Until then, we rejoice that our future lies with the One who can see the "whole picture" and one day we will meet our baby in heaven.

#1 Pet Peeve

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm late. Always. I AM ALWAYS LATE. Now of course over the past couple of years, I've really tried to work on that. I know that it is a very unbecoming trait. Rude of me, annoying for everyone else. But I can honestly say that as I've been working on it, I've actually gotten better. Matter of fact, I would say that I'm more on time now than late. But this morning on my way to our first doctors appointment to "see" the new baby, we were late. Which brings me to my #1, numero uno, most infuriating pet peeve. Slow drivers. They drive me insane!!!! How hard is it to drive the speed limit, I want to know? Seriously, if you can't go out there and drive the speed limit you DO NOT NEED TO BE DRIVING. I'd love to drive a vehicle that had this huge extenda-arm and giant claw that could just reach out in front of me and pick the slow poke up and move them out of the way so that I could move on at the speed limit. So to all those out there who like to drive along at a leisurely pace not thinking about the speed your driving or what the speed limit is, next time think about the car behind you. They would like to make it thru the light also.