P.S. I suck

I'm sorry that I couldn't for the LIFE of me figure out how to get that link to post as a link!! I could post links 'til I'm blue in the face at work every day..but apparently not on here! Maybe it's just that by this time of the day, my brain has already shut off. :) So..sorry that you'll have to copy and paste my link (unlike Scanders, who is apparently WWWAAYYY smarter than me! ;) Love you.

Day by Day

Hi girls. I absolutely LOVE being able to jump on here and read everyone else's stories..it makes me jealous that I don't really have any to tell! :) My days are much the same..go to work (where at least I enjoy my job now - so THAT's a good thing!), come home, and try to find something to do with my "alone" time. I am in such a different place in my life than I was before..and sometimes that just brings me down. Not that things are bad..not at all..in all actuality, they're just fine...I just know that I can also tell you girls how I am TRULY feeling, and that even if that isn't always good, it's still ok because you all love me no matter what. That is a very nice feeling. I find myself trying to put on the strong face most of the time (and for the most part succeeding)..sometimes I just get tired of it and I just want to be sad. Not that I have any more right to be sad than anyone else..it is sometimes just therapeutic for me. Wow..this is turning out to be a really depressing post and I didn't mean for it to be that way at all!! Please know that I really am doing ok..I'm just lonely sometimes.

Work itself is going well..if you check out this link, you can find an interview that the Argus Leader (Sioux Falls' newspaper) did with me recently..for some reason they picked ME of all people to feature on the front page of their Business section. Crazy!
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090119/BUSINESS/901190304/1003/business
It was also very nerve-racking because I had to be prepped and coached before the interview about things I could say, things I couldn't talk about, etc. Ahh..corporate America. :)


Anywho...
EDam - I am so damn proud of you for changing your and Micaela's last name...and you know what? It's ok that you didn't do it during the divorce settlement - if you weren't ready, you weren't ready. And that's OK. Now you know for sure that you are and you won't have any regrets about it or wonder how things might have been if you'd kept his last name. Mandola - goodness gracious, you ARE a crazy lady..but such a WONDERFUL crazy lady..I admire you soo much for what you're doing with those girls. Thanks for making me laugh with your pee/puke stories! :) Breanna - I'm totally up for margaritas with you whenever you are!! Or, Elizabeth and I can babysit while YOU drink enough margaritas for all of us! And Scanders, I am expecting you to join in on the margarita drinking, even if you aren't using affect and effect correctly. lol Seriously that cracked me up.

Does anyone feel like heading to Sioux Falls anytime soon? Or having a visitor? I have a couple of busy weekends coming up, but would LOVE to be able to make some visits in the next few weekends following..let me know if you are available!!

I will talk to you all soon. Thanks so much for letting me vent on here and for letting me be honest about the way I am feeling. I love you all very much.

SS

activities

It's fun to hear about people's different activities...growing bellies, growing smells, growing ideas, etc. The last couple of days I've spent thinking about the choices we make in our lives and how that effects not only our lives but the lives of others. At this point I'm not ready to give you the particulars on what has made me be a bit more introspective in this manner, but it's been food for thought. On a generic level, how does my tone of voice affect my niece's response, how do my food choices affect my global neighbors, how does my vote in an election matter, how does sharing part of myself affect someone else, and the list could go on and on. Clearly Hollywood directors have capitalized on this similar notion and made it into best-selling movies like "Pay It Forward." However, I think Hollywood has some of the same downfalls as the Bible. People go to movies in order to enjoy themselves, escape reality, or something of the like but frequently leave knowing that the couple doesn't live happily ever after and that what they just saw on the screen is not applicable to their lives. Unfortunately people think of the Bible the same way. For instance, tomorrow's assigned reading for my class is 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul is speaking about the necessity of women being veiled and all these other rules which don't seem to apply today. In looking at the social context in the first century (when the letter was written) it makes more sense, but does it translate to 21st United States? I clarify by saying the United States because there are two students in my class from different countries in Africa and they add invaluable stories from their home countries which simply don't translate to the lives most of us experience. For instance, Barson works in several churches in Madagascar which are at least 25 miles apart and his mode of transportation are his legs. He doesn't have a car or a bike; he walks. If he were to expect a United States person to do the same thing, he would simply be met with strange looks. How do his choices affect him and the people around him?

Overall my month of January has been the least eventful of the latest posts. I've been to several movies (highly unusual for me), read some good and not-so-good books, hung out with Katherine, gone cross-country skiing, enjoyed some beer with a professor, started rehearsing with my new favorite choir (www.globalharmonychorus.org), and have enjoyed taking one class focusing on the apostle Paul.

Hopefully some of my ramblings have made sense - like the rest of the posts, it's a glimpse of what's going in our lives. And Breanna (or anyone else) if I have misused the word affect/effect, too bad! There was a string of days I was sick in the 5th grade and that probably when I missed that grammatical lesson, just like in the 8th grade when I missed the first day on clouds in science class and was confused since that day forward.

One more thing: I have a musical recommendation for all of you, it's MPR's Radio Heartland. Here's the website in order to listen online (free!)http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/radio_heartland/ Or if you have a digital radio you can go that route too, but I absolutely love this mix of music!

sorry Breanna, my pictures are not a true representation of the trip since we were only allowed to use our cameras during personal times (so to not exploit the people we were visiting). That was really the only fun drink I consumed on the trip, although there were a few cervezas fria had en la noche.

We did have an appointed photographer at each site, so I hope to get those pics soon to share with you. And then yes, I will hold your baby and tell you all about Mexico while you have a yummy drink! :) Hang in there dear!

Yummy margarita...

Why must you post pictures of such delicious, alcoholic beverages? That looks too tasty.
Maybe in a couple months we can talk more about Mexico over margaritas.

January...

We're back home! And so happy about that! When I signed up for the trip I thought 2 weeks was so short, but add to it travelling to a different country, 12 strangers, intense learning topics, 1 Mexico roommate that I would have like to leave in Mexico and 2 weeks begins to feel like a VERY long time! Micaela had a great time with Grandma Andrea and Grandpa Greggie in EGF. She refused to talk to me on the phone, which I understand, it maybe made it easier to just not even hear her voice. And Andrea emailed me lots of pictures and updates with what they were doing each day. Micaela even got to go to an UND Hockey game, and as you know, hockey isn't my favorite sport in the world (especially UND hockey) so I've endured listening to all sorts of stories about the game like, "Souix that don't listen go to the penalty box." We've had a lovely long weekend to get re-aquainted and do our favorite things at home like cook, read, play "I'm the mama and you're the honey (she means baby, but its too cute to correct).

I'm not totally ready to process what I learned and took from the time in Mexico-how its shaped the way I think about my personal path of ministry, how I view the role of the church, the role of government, how change is brought about....so I won't just yet :)

So, 3 weeks until school starts up again! I have a few projects to complete
1) Change mine and Micaela's last name to Damico. I've been thinking about it for awhile and took the first big step today. Its really $$, but I think its worth it. I'm such an idiot for not doing it in the divorce settlement, I just wasn't ready yet.
2) I'm looking into becoming a car-less household. Since the accident I haven't felt any peace about getting this new car. The seminary is on a bunch of great bus lines so I'm thinking of no car for the next year and a half. We'll see...
3) Setting up CPE (the pastoral care practical piece of seminary) to hopefully be done this summer.
And other random things like working out, planning ahead for church, maybe finding ways to spend more time with a very kind guitarist....:)

Today at Micaela's daycare they watched the swearing in of Obama and Biden (what a GREAT day!) and Micaela's interpretation was that Barack Obama is going to give us a present (then I explained he is going to BE President...she didn't like that translation as much).

I agree with Breanna-Mandy you must demand a break for coffee, shopping, pedicure...whatever! I often wonder how people with more than one do it, you are strong and amazing, even when you smell like puke and pee!

Much love to you all!

Elizabeth and Micaela

Big Belly...

Hello ladies!
Mandy...your post makes me nervous. But, I am glad to hear that things are starting to settle into normal life again. If I lived by you, I would bring you over a cup of hot chocolate (that is what I am drinking instead of coffee these days) and give you a little break. Or, I would ask David to let me steal you away for an hour or two to just hang out. You deserve a break.
Did the rest of you know how nice Mandy is??? She mailed me some maternity shirts that made my day, because now I don't have to wear the same outfits each week. I started to feel like Monday was always the black shirt with the wool-looking pants, Tuesday was the green shirt with black pants, you get the picture. So, I was VERY thankful!
School has been fine. Last week we did not have one normal day of school...one snow day, one too cold to survive day, and three late starts! Woo Hoo! That made me happy. However, this week it has been very hard to get up and get back to normal.
Happy Inauguration Day!
Love you all!
Breanna
p.s. Mandy wanted to see these pics...the rest of you have probably already seen them, but I suppose I can add them to the blog for posterity.

Thoughts on being a mom of two kids

Well, I have been spending the past 7 weeks at home with my newly expanded family.  These weeks have by far been the most challenging and interesting of my life.  In some ways, the weeks have gone by rather quickly; sleep deprivation makes things go by in a fog. :)  In other ways, the weeks have gone very slowly.  I feel as if I am starting to come out of the abyss, however, which feels good!  Lauren is starting to have a sort of schedule, and finally is getting up only one and sometimes two times a night.  Just two weeks ago, she was greeting me and my boobs three times a night!  This makes for a crabby wife and mom, which made me feel sad!  :(

So, it turns out life is pretty easy with only one child, especially when they can feed themself, pee and poop on their own, and sleep through the night.  Adding a new child into this mix certainly makes things a lot more CRAZY!!!  Things that were previously easy, like bedtime, making meals, going to the grocery store, and dealing with tantrums are now 10 times more complicated.   For example, last week, I attempted to bring both girls on a shopping trip to Target and Joann Fabrics.  As we are getting ready to leave, Julia is mysteriously quiet, and as I find her, she is standing on the stairs, looking guilty, and standing in a puddle of pee.  (so, ignore previously stated claim that my child could pee on her own).  So, we head up the stairs to get cleaned up and changed.  Then, the carpet needs to be sprayed and cleaned up.  All while Lauren is hysterically crying because she is HUNGRY!  FEED ME!  After that mess, Lauren was fed, and I started the car (because it of course, is not going to get above zero on this day, but I NEED to get out of the house, so we're dealing).  As I am getting Lauren in her carseat, she decides to projectile spit-up all over me and herself and the carpet and her carseat.  Car is on, gas is wasting away... Okay.  I'm getting the hint that we should not leave the house.  After cleaning all of THAT up, and resigning myself to that fact that, yes, I will go out in public smelling like rotten milk and pee, without make-up and in the same sweats I wore yesterday because my jeans don't fit yet, we made it in the car.  After arriving at Target, I learn that it is not easy to have a toddler and a baby in an infant seat and a cart to push.  Fun little riding places hooked to carts for toddlers are great, but do not accommodate an infant seat.  So, we navigated Target with Julia where she usually sits, and Lauren in the cart, with the things we needed stuffed in every little cranny we could find.  At Joann Fabrics, the seating order is switched, with Julia in the cart, of course digging through and exploring every thing that is put into the cart, so that when we check out, some things are missing.  As in, they must have fallen out of the cart various places around the store.  At this point I don't care.  I'll go back another day BY MYSELF to get this job done.  Holy cow.

Today I attempted the grocery store with both kids, and got well designed cart with a car in the front, and the place for the infant seat my me.  Perfect.  EXCEPT ITS LIKE DRIVING A FREAKING SEMI!  It does not turn well, and I feel like I have to turn every corner extremely carefully as to not knock down the wonderfully placed wine displays the Piggly Wiggly seems to have all over.  

Okay, granted that these are the first trips of both kind that I've made, and things are bound to get better, but wow.  This is a bit more complex than I imagined.

On the fun side of things, Lauren is starting to smile!  If you go to our blog (severtsons.blogspot.com), you can watch a little video of her smiling.  It might not seem that great to you, but man, once that smile hits, this thing that has been taking up all of your sleep and making you feel like a greasy, saggy lady suddenly seems like a person that loves you!  It is miraculous and comes at a much needed time. :)  Julia is doing a great job being a big sister, but has unfortunately entered a very unattractive and extremely annoying whining phase.  It is really making us crazy.  Any ideas?  :)

I hope that all of you are doing well!!  I can't believe this is the first post of the new year on this wonderful little blog.  Where is everyone?  :)  Elizabeth, are you back??  We need to hear about your trip!!  How is Sioux Falls, Sarah?  Breanna, how is the belly?  Everyone else--how are you? 

Thanks for letting me vent my craziness to you all.  I do feel like I'm coming out of a funk, which I think is due to getting more sleep.  Thank God for that.  Literally. :)

I love you guys!!

If you get to see the Inagural Parade tomorrow, look for Scott K.'s band!  Yeah! :)

Love,

  The crazy lady Mandy