moments in time

...sigh...

Praise God!

So, I did it. I have given my notice at Borgess. As of May 15, I am DONE!

I am taking on an Occupational Therapy position with Community Caregivers, a home health agency in Grandville, MI. I will drop a couple of hours of scheduled work a week, but I will be devoting that time to Infant Massage. However, this will be MUCH more flexible and some of the work can be done from home. The people in the office have been SUPER SWEET and I'm looking forward to the switch.

Thanks Mom, for giving me the heads up on this job. I may even see you some at Heather Hills! And Alison, thanks for verifying that this is a GOOD place to work at/with. It means a lot to me!

For those of you who know me, this is a GreAt answer to prayer. I don't know how much longer I would've been able to handle driving to Borgess each day and dealing with stupid management and HR problems. Waking up early, then getting home cranky...it wasn't good for any of us in the Masselink household (if Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy, right?). But, God gives us strength to get through what he knows we NEED to get through. He's shown it to me more than once. Thank You, God.

Something New...

So I didn't work today, but what did I do? I made this...com'on, click on the picture and see where it takes you...(it's just a start, i hope to add more when i can figure out how to.)
And I made a ton (k, not really, just 15 copies, but it SEEMED like alot)) of brochures, and fliers, and business cards, and phone calls, and...well, I won't bore you anymore, but I had a good time doing it.
It looks like we might actually launch this thing so I can teach some classes. I'm super excited...I don't know if anyone else will be, but I hope so!

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To the Commentators...

Sara (with an 'h'?) - awesome website on those dipes! I'm lovin' 'em! (for those of you who aren't cool and don't read the comments, Sara (without the 'h') mentioned gdiapers.com, and the website rocks. so do the diapers.) Thanks!!! And it is so good to hear from you. Wasn't the wedding fun? I think they should get married again just for the party. Ahhhh.

Happy Birthday Keagan!

Pretty soon y'all will probably be wondering if we have any other family members who have birthdays besides the other Masselinks. The answer: yes. But, I don't have pictures of them because we aren't invited to their birthday parties. (totally kidding, they just haven't had birthdays yet or we haven't been able to make it)
...anyway, without further ado, here's a loud and proud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Princess Dora-loo.

I'm 5 Months Old!!!

Technically, that's 5 months and 4 days. This past month has been ExCiTiNg! My most recent stats:

I'm eating everything in sight...got to to keep this physic in tip-top shape! Organic Peas, Green Beans, Carrots, Sweet 'Taters, Avocados, Apples, Pears, and Cereal. You name it, I like it.

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Just last week I went to the playground for the FIRST TIME EVER with Aunt Amy, cousins Megan and Henry John!

(notice the theme? my teethies hurt and i was getting tired. it felt *good* to have my hands in my mouth!)

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This month I learned to RoLL. My specialty is rolling from my back to tummy. Once on my tummy I chill for a while and bring my legs up under me, scooting forward. But I don't really like to roll to my back again, so when I'm done I yell and Mom and Dad for a little help.

In these pictures I'm modeling how easy my new cloth diapers are to move in. And aren't they cute?!? (and i think they really make my abs look good. check them out! whaddya think about them Uncle Ry?)

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I got to ride on our tractor for the first time last week. It was grand.

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I don't really have anything else to say, except that this month (well, actually this past Saturday) dad was working on the house quite a bit. And Mom, my brothers, and I LOVE this new screen door he put on! (and the laundry and bedroom doors downstairs are quite nice too).

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Peanuts: Thanks for naming the flowers, I'll have to save that for next year so I remember. I've got another to show you soon when/if they flower. So far it's an impressive green thing with pretty leafs. Hope everyone is doing good! :) (hey ryan, where were you at on that one?)

Thank God it's SPRING!!!

Finally, it seems, that Spring has decided to grace us with it's presence. Warm weather and sunshine...our lawn is loving it, and is blessing us with the arrival of mysterious green stuff.


Last summer/fall I faintly remember planting bulbs and flowers through my preggo haze. Darned if I remember what they are though, so this spring I feel like I'm recieving multiple presents. I'm pretty sure I flapped when I saw the first flower. (this, for those of you who don't know, is a symbol of excitement, resembling a bird flapping it's wings. it's not necessarily pretty, but when you're flapping you don't always know what you're doing. and you're so happy, that you really just don't care.)


To make life easier for me, please play the "Name the Flowers" game with the pictures below. BUT - you HAVE to know what you're talking about, or you're not being nice. I am easily confused.

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1. The PURPLE Flower

2. The YELLOW Flower

3. The GREEN Flower

(k, I'm not really THIS stupid. these are Tulips in the making.)

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Post a comment if you know what they are. I'd love to have a prize for the person who gets them right first, but really, I don't know the answers so I don't think it would be fair for me to judge. Help a poor wanna-be gardener out, wouldya?

Au Natural

In the Grand Rapids Press today this chick announced that she is eating only $30 worth of food for the next 30 days. Interesting....so she's mainly eating rice, beans, and bartering for food. The rest of the $250 she normally spends on food in a 30day period she will donate to the Blanford Nature Center and Mixed Beans. You can check out her blog here.

I do have a point to telling you this....in this article, she happens to mention that her boyfriend thinks she's "a little nuts". To this, I answer, do all guys think this?

Here's the connection to our household.

I have slowly introduced more natural and organic items into our lives. My thought: there are so many harmful things in this world that we Don'T know about. If I can limit some of the things we KNOW are bad, and some of the MayBe's, then I feel better, like I'm doing my job as a wife, mother, and steward of this earth that God has given us to play in.

My Wonderful Husband (really, he is the BesT) is a guy who thinks anything fat-free or diet is bad and tasteless. And that *organic* = dirty (even though he likes green peppers straight from the garden) and overpriced. He thinks that the BPA scare is just that, a scare. Seriously, this guy could live off of iceberg lettuce, Western dressing, and Beef (with a couple pizza rolls and bagel bites every now and then)...

And we love eachother? (the answer is yes... :) Because, really, we are both *very* similar. I just happen to question EVERYTHING, whereas he is much more comfortable tackling what he needs to without bringing on additional stress that comes with asking "why?". And this is how we balance eachother out....but, I digress. Here's the rest of the story.

Adalynn: Raising Adalynn is a constant balance between my "Why do we do it this way?" and Travis' answer "It's FINE". We've done our research and issues that we feel passionate about we tweak to work for us. We are doing a delayed vaccination schedule. Not so much because of we're scared of Autism, but mainly it seems like alot of nasties to be introducing to a baby at once. On the BPA issue - we're still using her old, BPA contaminated bottles. We don't heat her milk, so it's not AS big of a deal. When she graduates from bottles we'll make sure her sippies are BPA-free. We buy organic clothes for her when we find them reasonable. I make her baby food from organic veggies and fruits. And we love the heck out of her (the most important, of course).

But, I may have crossed the line as I just bought some cloth diapers to use when we're at home.

And this had Travis thinking that I'm now one of the CRAZY ones...

I agree with Travis - that most of the hype out there is overexaggerated and DEFINATELY overpriced. But, I can't help but think that God didn't create plastic and pesticides and all that jazz for a reason. And, God gave us responsibility over our earth that we need to model for our children. So in the meantime we'll keep doing the best we can. And, WHY NOT?

So to Travis, *thanks* for supporting my insanity.

(Adalynn's giving everyone the bump you've recently taught her. :)

We Love You!

Highlights and Lowlights

To every story theres a good and bad, right? Here's ours from Tennessee:

1. Vanderbilt Bookstore...I wanted soooo badly to get Adalynn a real-life Vanderbilt shirt. But, in true Masselink fashion, it didn't go smoothly.

The Good: We got Adalynn a shirt, it's fairly cute, and it will fit her for a while (at least the summer. it's got to, it's a 2T!)

The bad: I forgot where the bookstore is located on Vandy's campus. So we drove around looking for it, and when we couldn't find it we parked illegally. So, worried about the truck getting towed (really though, it would be like towing a bus. i don't think it's possible), we walked around campus, finally found a map, and located the store. Just trying to open the door to get in, a girl arrives to lock up. It's 4 o'clock! I NeVer thought they would be closing! Travis used some quick negotiating and butt-kissing (something along the lines of, "We're from MI, and we drove ALL the way HeRe to buy our daughter a Vanderbilt shirt. Please? We'll be quick!") to get us in and *speedily* find a shirt to buy her. That was a close call.

2. My Old House

The Good: it's still standing. And the woman who lives there now (?) did not shoot me when she came out onto the porch and finds me in her driveway, snapping pictures with the fam waiting in the truck. Oops. I wasn't supposed to get caught.

The Bad:

This was my first house. White with Lots of Potential. 3 acres in the Country.

I knew I was in for a fixer-upper when I bought this house, and my family and I put aLot of work into it making it liveable. I blindly pushed ahead with projects to make this house into a home. I painted the whole house, since the family before chain-smoked...the walls were so horrid that when they took down their decorations I was still able to see where they hung. We tore down half a wall and created a larger opening between the kitchen and dining room, unearthing 5 layers of wallpaper and paneling on the way. Evidently the people who owned it prior to me didn't believe in tearing ugly out, just covering the ugly up. So we worked and worked and improved.

But, Here's the house now. They have placed a fence in the front yard for their horses - it extends up to the house. Nothing like a horse knocking on your front door. They have 3 satellite dishes staked. They nailed chicken wire under the deck for their dogs.

And the garage. They put a portable garage up behind it that they are using for their horses. They have round pens set up to the side. (why, when there is another 2 acres to the left of this picture that they could set a nice, permanent fence up on? especially eliminating the need for a fence up to the house?)

Now, I know that I didn't keep the *perfect* house, everyone does things differenty, blah blah blah. And I know I can't do anything about what these people have done. The word I got when I sold it was that some out-of-towners were interested and I *thought* it was for a vacation type home. I guess I assumed that the people would see the improvements and would want to continue the course, but I guess that's where I was wrong. It was a sad, sad moment.

(as I'm typing this I feel like I'm in an episode of "Moving Up". Ever seen it? the people move into someone else's house, put their touch on it, then the original owners return to look at what they've done. normally I talk to the tv, telling the people "seriously, how can you be so upset? you SOLD the house, it's not yours to be upset about anymore!". but now I know...)

3. Other Highlights:

Seeing Jim and Alicia (Alicia, send me the pics!) and Colin and Tiffany. Not kidding you, Travis and Colin stayed up until 2:30am playing Wii Tanks and Baseball. They are nuts.

And how did Grandpa find us in the morning? With a diaper on the doorstep. Not the prettiest object to arrive to, but it worked.

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So that was our trip. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

TeNNeSee

Slideshow's finished!

Enjoy

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Happy Friday!

Half a Lifetime Ago...

I was tagged. Thanks, Jean. :)

Here I find myself digging through my old pictures and memorabilia from Junior High. At about this time I would have been on my way home from a long day studying 8th grade material at Creston Mayfield Christian School. Or maybe I would have been at softball practice, playing in a game, or running track.

Oh Al, we were so speedy! You should show Jessie these...

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My homeroom teacher was Mrs. Knol. She taught fun classes, infusing art and creativity into our veins at every chance. We wrote in our journals, defining great words like "Love" and "Hope" and "Faith", and then debating "What is a thing?" and "How much is too much?".

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In 8th grade I took the intro course of placing issues in God's hands. When going through a difficult time I found a blue marble painted with the continents in green, mysteriously, in my possession. With it was a note of encouragement and an article that in summary stated, "Sometimes I forget my blue marble, but God never forgets the world." I still have that blue marble, and it's still a strong reminder.

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I have to confess though, most of my thoughts were centered around a boy named John (THE CRUSH, but don't tell Travis! plus, Travis is MuCh cuter...) and leaving 8th grade behind to move up to GRCHS next year.

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While 8th grade was grand, I have to say I wouldn't want to revisit. My goodness, all the awkwardness of being a new teen, cliques, and puberty...I'm glad I made it through! And sooo glad that I've outgrown being the "Kleenex Queen".

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And I think now it's MY turn to *TaG* someone else. So, Tiffany and Laura, what were YOU doing half a lifetime ago?!?

Tennessee #1

We arrived safely home from TN last night. It was such a wonderful trip. I am tired beyond belief, but it was definately worth it to see Jim and Alicia, Colin and Tiffany, and hang with Dad/Grandpa and Linda for the weekend. I'm making a slideshow, but in the meantime here's some snippets of how the weekend went.

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The drive took about 10ish hours. It wasn't too bad, Dad/Grandpa drove most of the way and we chatted, or slept. Adalynn was a *champ*, a poster baby for how all babies should travel. Perfect behavior, it was crazy. We aren't sure where she got her tolerance from (this may suprise you, but her dad and I aren't the most tolerant people in the world). We are very blessed with our baby girl.

I didn't have much else to do while riding in the car except finish the book "Eat, Pray, Love" (good and interesting book, for anybody looking for one.) and take pictures. Don't her cheeks just look so incredibly delicious in this picture?

Saturday morning Travis, Adalynn and I cheered on Dad and Linda as they ran the Mule Day Kick 5K road race. It was the largest road race EVER in Maury County. That's right, we were part of history in the making. Adalynn and I ran the 1mile Family Trot. Or, I ran while she watched from my arms, then fell asleep halfway through. Thanks, child!

Adalynn was handstamped for admission into the Mule Day Festival. She slept through most of it, but we got some pics with the mules before the day was done.

Here's the Masselink Christmas Card for next year. Oh, da mules. They are one of the craziest looking animals. It ain't right.

The infamous Papa Kayjoes in Centerville, TN. Best pulled pork (or beef or turkey) around. Mmmm.....

How cute are Colin and Adalynn? It was great to see Tiffany and Colin. Adalynn was especially excited to meet Danza, their pooch. Thanks, Tiff and Colin for such a *cute* outfit for Adalynn, and thanks to Gwen too for the cute dress and awesome blanket that her mother made.

Poor Tiff, she got 4th in the Wii tournament of bowling. What a booger.

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It's back to work for me tomorrow, so I've got to head to bed. Just wanted to post quick! Missed everybody. It was a great trip, but it's good to be home. :)

We're back!

So...I know I've been tagged Jean, I'll get to that. We've been busy this week. I've actually worked (wow!) and some other stuff is going on that you can pray for us about. (yes, random, but you can pray about randomness!) We're headed off to the great out-yonder tonight, but I'm going to try to get back on and keep in touch while we're gone. If not, we'll have some *fab* stories to tell when we get back I'm sure!
The baby girl is calling, and I need to finish packing! Love y'all. :)