Like Mother, Like Daughter

Growing up my mother had what I thought at the time was a ridiculous rule: No air conditioning until June 1st and no heat until November 1st. I HATED this rule growing up! Everyone knows it gets insanely hot before June. The whole family would sit in the living room wearing as few articles of clothing as possible with fans going all around us, trying our hardest not to move. It didn't matter how hot it was before June, but when the first arrived it was this magical day where we could finally turn on the air. I didn't understand it at all. What's so special about June 1st? Does it really matter if it's May 25th? Come on, Mom!

I think you can guess what I'm about to say. It happens to the best of us.
I've turned into my mother!

When I graduated college and moved out on my own, I adopted the same rule that plagued my life as a child. The first year I made it to June 1st without air conditioning and I was so proud of myself that I called my mom right away. "Oh...I turned mine on a week or two ago," she said. "WHAT?!? You don't do that anymore?" "Well, I try to, but if it gets too hot..."
I felt duped. That never once happened when I was little.

Regardless, I still try to achieve this goal every year. I can usually make it longer than Matt, but sometimes, like my mother, I tend to cave in if the temperature gets too high.
So this year, we pretty much made it. Matt caved earlier in the spring and turned it on for a day or two, but that didn't last long. And I have to be honest that I turned in on for an hour or two this morning to get the house to a cooler temperature, then turned it off, so that hopefully it won't be 80 degrees in the house by the end of the day. I'm pretty proud for making it this long, but really it hasn't been very hot this spring.

I love the house all open and the breeze flowing through, so as long as the temperature is nice outside there still won't be any air conditioning.

I have definitely become more like my mother than I ever imagined I would....and I love it! My mom's great and I absolutely love that I catch pieces of who she is in myself every day.

24 Weeks

Some of you have been asking to see prego-pics. So...here they are. The first ones are from January 18, when I was only 6 weeks along. You can't really see much. We took the other ones yesterday (May 22), I'm 24 weeks pregnant. Sometimes I still wonder if people can tell I'm pregnant or just fat.

Sunshine makes me happy!

Have I mentioned that I love spring?! I LOVE spring weather! This past week has been really rainy and gross, but luckily it cleared up for the weekend and we've had the perfect weather!

Matt is doing an internship at the Zoo and has to work from 8am-5pm on Saturdays. It totally stinks to have him gone all day, but I go up and eat lunch with him for an hour. Today we had a picnic! I picked him up at the entrance to the zoo and we fought our way through the INSANE traffic at the zoo for about 20 minutes before we could find a place to park. We sat under a nice shade tree and enjoyed a little lunch together...with Rudy, too, of course!

After I dropped Matt back off, Rudy and I headed home to give him a bath. It's so funny, because he sees me walk into the backyard with towels, his scrub brush, and the soap and he literally runs the other direction. He absolutely abhors being bathed; it is a struggle the whole time. He does, however, love the drying off process, which I think it hilarious. He just loves towels. Then we took a little walk in the sun to make sure he was totally dry before coming back into the house.

Tonight, Matt and I grilled some burgers and ate outside. It was lovely. I just can't get enough of being out in the gorgeous weather, opening up the house and letting the breeze come through, and nothing tops it off like a delicious meal outside!

In other news...we're finally taking Rudy to the vet this week. In one of my earlier posts, I talked about my concerns about the spot on Rudy's nose. Well, it just keeps getting bigger and he's started messing with it more and more. We've been putting off the vet for a couple of reasons, the main one being that neither of us have had time to take off school or work to take him in. Now that Matt's done with school, he's going to take him into the vet this week. I know it's taken us too long, but I promise we're good parents to him in other ways!

Graduation

Congratulations, Matt!!

Matt graduated today from UMSL, and I couldn't be prouder of him! His hard work and dedication has paid off! He really worked diligently, especially this past year, and the day as finally come to see it all come to fruition!Matt is to the left-bottom of the picture above walking into the auditorium.

Now...the job hunt!! Let the search begin!

Stress levels are high!

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Sorry to anyone out there who actually reads my blog. Life at the Schaefer household has been a little hectic lately. School is winding down for both Matt and myself, and that means a little stress (okay, a LOT of stress) on both our parts. For me, there is a lot of grading to be done, tests to be written, recommendation letters to be completed, and finals to be printed off before the end of the year and I am MAJORLY behind in all of that! For Matt, well he's in the midst of writing 3 papers and studying for finals...all of which needs to be done by the end of this week! AHH! On top of that, he has started an internship at the zoo, so he works 20 hours a week. I'd be lying if I said we haven't had any melt downs in our household in the past couple of weeks.

But soon it will all be coming to an end. Matt graduates on Saturday after this crazy week is over, and I only have about a week and a half left of teaching before finals begin. We will both be able to exhale soon enough. For now, however...it's back to work.

A Holy Wrestling

A dear friend of mine, Marilyn, shared this poem with me yesterday. It has been her favorite "find" throughout NPM, and I agree that it is a winner. I love L'Engle's honesty and that she wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions, knowing that the answers may come only in heavenly times. I think these are questions and concerns we all have, but are afraid to speak of, and I appreciate that she presents them to God in a respectful and loving way, without accusing or grumbling with Him. This is a challenging poem, but my hope is that it will lead you to the feet of Jesus to start up your own conversation with Him. Ask Him the tough questions; He'll be there.

Pharaoh's Cross

It would be easier to be an atheist; it is the simple way out.
But each time I turn toward that wide and welcoming door
it slams in my face, and I- like my forbears- Adam, Eve--
am left outside the garden of reason and limited, chill science
and the arguments of intellect.
Who is this wild cherubim who whirls the flaming sword
'twixt the door to the house of atheism and me?

Sometime in the groping dark of my not knowing
I am exhausted with the struggle to believe in you, O God.
Your ways are not our ways. Your ways are extraordinary.
You sent evil angels to the Egyptians and killed;
you killed countless babes in order that Pharaoh,
whose heart was hardened by you (that worries me, Lord)
might be slow to let the Hebrew children go.
You turned back the waters of the Red Sea
and your Chosen People went through on dry land
and the Egyptians were drowned, men with wives and children,
young men with mothers and fathers (your ways are not our ways)
and there was much rejoicing at all this death,
and the angels laughed and sang, and you stopped then, saying,
"How can you sing when my children are drowning?"

When your people reached Mount Sinai you warned Moses
not to let any of them near you lest you break forth
on them with death in your hand.

You are Love, and you command us to love,
and yet you yourself turn men's hearts to evil,
and you wipe out nations with one sweep of the hand-
the Amorites and the Hittities and the Peruzzites-
gone, all gone. It seems that any means will do, and yet-
all these things are but stories told about you by fallen man,
part of the story (for your ways are not our ways)
but not the whole story. You are our author,
and we try to listen and set down what you say,
but we suffer from faulty hearing and loss of language
and we get the words wrong.
Listen: you came as one of us
and lived with us and died for us and descended into hell for us
and burst out into life for us:

Do you now hold Pharaoh in your arms?

- by Madeleine L'Engle (from 'A Cry Like a Bell', a collection of her poems)

Annabel Lee

We're getting into the final days of April, so I figure that I'd better start hitting some of the major poems in my life to continue the celebration of National Poetry Month. I teach English for a living, so I happen to teach a few poems throughout the year. Surprise, surprise! I have learned to fall in love with some of the "classics." Edgar Allan Poe is possibly my favorite American author, and this is my favorite poem of his. Among many other reasons I love this poem, I love how he arranged it and created a meter that reminds me of the ocean waves lapping up on the shore of the "kingdom by the sea." See if you agree...

Annabel Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,

 In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

 By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

 Than to love and be loved by me.



I was a child and she was a child,

 In this kingdom by the sea:

But we loved with a love that was more than love--

 I and my Annabel Lee;

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven

 Coveted her and me.



And this was the reason that, long ago,

 In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

 My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsman came

 And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

 In this kingdom by the sea.



The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

 Went envying her and me--

Yes!--that was the reason (as all men know,

 In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

 Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.



But our love it was stronger by far than the love

 Of those who were older than we--

 Of many far wiser than we--

And neither the angels in heaven above,

 Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:



For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

 Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,

 In her sepulchre there by the sea,

 In her tomb by the sounding sea.