potty training, throw up, and bummed out presentations

Sickness has been the order of the day at the mccormack household. We are all trying to get over a nasty little cough we've had for a week and a half. On top of that, we are potty training. YIKES! Somehow, I didn't think it would be like this. So hard! Some funny things that have happened are yesterday, to get Jack to tee tee, I let him tee tee on the tree in our yard. I know this is embarassing, and most moms wouldn't admit to doing it, if they even did it at all. Anyway, while jackson was tee teeing, he said, shoe fly, i've got to give the tree a drink. And then, he said, here is a drink for your tree! That still makes me laugh! I will always picture his bare bottom and hearing him shoe a fly to give a tree a drink. I know it is a little trashy, but it is so funny. Then, while we were trying to go again, he said to my mom, SHHH Don't say another Word! Where does he get this stuff?
When Molly went down for her nap, I heard a gagging, and she threw up big time! For like Five minutes. I know she doesn't feel good at all. It is no fun to see her so helpless, but not so sick that she doens't have time to steal Jack's trains and then get chased down by him, all the while sporting a wry smile on her face.
So Sickness and potty training, and on top of that, a bummer presentation for my class. First of all, I am regreting taking a hermeneutics class and am thinking that it is only for people who are smart, not for people who are trying to do sixty million things at once and who feel like they threw away half their brain with the last diaper they changed. I am glad I got to take it, but it is reckoning time now, and my presentation was a bust. My professor disagreed with everything, forcing me to admit in front of the class that number one: I was not going to change my opinion while defending my paper, and Number two: that I would only change it before I turned it in to him. I won't go into the details, you might go to sleep, but it wasn't fun. The last words of my presentation were "Am I off the hook, yet?" Not very articulate, either. And, now we have a take home exam for this week. YIKES. All of our grade comes from the paper the presentation was based on and the take home exam, which means I have no idea (except a feeling of dread) about how I did in the class. I know that I need more theory for my thesis for the MA, but I am thinking I'll stick to literature classes in the future.

mike's first day

hey mike!
as i am typing this, you are watching a baseball game talking to your brother (too loud, i might add). Good luck tomorrow! i know you will do awesome. it is scary and no doubt the next few months will require a lot of adjustments. but, i have a lot of faith that things will go swimmingly. when i look back at the providence assigned to your career, i can see clearly how God's had has been with you. it's nice not to need luck, but i'll say it again anyway. good luck. break a leg. you're off to great places. i love you!

pics from molly's birthday

Here is Molly in her chair her aunt nicole painted, with a sonnett on the bottom of the chair. We had a great day; thanks to everyone who came and shared it with us. 

Fun Pictures

Here are some fun pics of molly from a year ago, and some of jack, too. also, although i hated to have my picture made when i was pregnant, i am glad i have the last picture now.
My class is going well, we still don't have any way to tell how we are doing, grade wise. but, even though i am tired of reading, i still enjoy it!








this picture is of jackson during turtle release day! he had a few pet turtles which we set free in the pond in our neighborhood.
This is of me napping with Jack while I was on bed rest b/c I had preterm labor with molly. 

Molly Ann is turning 1 this week!

This time a year ago, I was huge, nervous, and very, very pregnant. I had to leave my son, Jack, for the first time in a long time to go to the hospital to have Molly. Molly's actual birthday is the 15th! Around the 9th month of my pregnancies, I always spent time thinking of Mary, Jesus's mother. I thought of her journey (it must have been terribly uncomfortable). I thought of her new husband, Joseph, who married her knowing she was pregnant. I always wonder what was he thinking through all this. I think of Mary, giving birth in a barn, surrounded by animals. There was no more room for her in the inn. My own experience was so far from this. It went something like, give me drugs and more drugs! I also remember laboring, if you can call being in a clean airconditioned room almost void of discomfort laboring. I think of this time, I spent in prayer for my daugther, Molly, that she would arrive safely and healthy, which she did. I know it might sound weird, but I actually felt more close to God that day than I ever have. I was in a helpless situation. In childbirth, a women either gives birth eventually or dies. As Americans who have access to good health care, I think we forget the danger childbirth has always presented. I also spent a lot of time thanking God that I had access to a healthy, comfortable, relatively easy birth. I think of Mary's birth. No where in the Bible does it say she had a midwife. She was laboring alone. Except for one thing. Perhaps the biggest one thing a human can ever have. God was with her. There was never a doubt in her mind that she was safe. She was carrying the most precious cargo the world has ever known. She was carrying the saviour of the world! And, all of the scriptures point to the fact that she was a girl of extraordinary faith. So, she labored and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Thank God she did. And, in a much smaller world view, thank you God for Molly and my healthy delivery. My prayer for the next year is that God will be with Molly as he has been this year. 

Spam Haikus

While Mike and I were surfing blogs (dorky? yes, especially if you don't know the person...), I found a link to a spam haiku site. After reading the haikus and laughing out loud several times, Mike left me in dismay. I used the silence to write my own spam haiku:

Memories of Childhood

Spam fried in Crisco
Mayonaise as a garnish
Embraced by white bread

Here is the link so you can read some funny haikus, if you are so inclined. http://www.kbeamer.com/spam_haiku.html
If you feel up to it, please leave some haikus about spam or whatever your favorite childhood food was! (Okay, spam wasn't my favorite, but it was good!) A haiku is three umrhymed lines whose syllables count 5-7-5 (just in case you aren't an english nerd, like me!)

New Job for Hubby

We got some exciting news on Friday. Mike received a job offer to work in Fort Worth, and he accepted it! YEAH! I think his commute will be much shorter, and it is a job he is excited about. He has been unhappy in his current position, and he frequently works very late nights and weekends. We have even had people call us at 10 p.m. at night, and on the day I delivered Molly in the delivery room! That's life when you work for a cell phone company, I guess. He is changing industries, which is exciting. Now, he'll be working for a natural gas company in downtown Fort Worth. This job is an answer to our prayers. Mike and I have both been in prayer about this job, and we just feel like it is the right thing to do. You can check out Mike's blog where he writes about it. I'll put the link here:http://butthesegoto11.blogspot.com/. We both feel grateful that God has continued to bless his career, and we full sure that no matter what happens, God's hand is with us.