God is good.

God is good, all the time. :) I just finished reading the annual girls letter ... ladies, I miss you and love you all! Every year, our beloved Debbers gathers information from the girl gang and sends it out. I can't tell you how much I look forward to the letter each year. This year there are two new babies and THREE more on the way! Wow! And, of all things, Debbie is due the same day I was this past year with Katrina. I hope she has a girl so we can send her some of Katrina's stuff.

God is moving in the children of our church and in me, too. One little girl who visits with her grandma had a very special prayer time during children's church today. I am so blessed by these kids, even the ones who are a little hyper. :) And I've been able to attend Sunday School the last two Sundays! I think this is the first time in ... probaby seven or so years. Ype. That's what happens when you like kids. You end up teaching Sunday School. :) Anyway, Kurt has been walking his class through Proverbs and it's been good. I'll write more soon. It's midnight!

*cough, cough*

I'm sick. So is Katrina. And Cayden. And Reagan. And Laura. We like to pass around our germs.

In other news, not much is new. That's good, though! Here is the ever-so-exciting rundown of the last few days:

- had a Children's Talent Night at church tonight. It was cute and went okay. Not too many kids participated. Karaoke was a flop. Stupid me for thinking it would work - most of the kids can't read (they are too young)!
- we took pictures of Katrina yesterday and posted them in our gallery. Her first Halloween costume and Cayden's birthday at the pumpkin patch for your visual enjoyment. Isn't she a cutie? The picture above is my favorite. (I had a link, but then I figured out from Leah's how to add pictures. Yay for Leah!)
- I took Friday off work and got sick with this stupid cold.
- Thursday we delivered a HUGE proposal for work. Praise the Lord it's done. Now we wait until February to hear anything. Stupid government. (Nothing like getting lost in D.C., by the way.)
- Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday are all a blur because I worked late to get the proposal done. I vaguely remember snapping at my boss once. Or maybe twice.

We found a kitten on our steps this morning! It's tiny, too ... maybe seven or eight weeks old. I'm trying to convice Laura and Simon to take it. They have a mouse that pooped in their pumpkin. So they need a kitty.

Speaking of poop, please remember to pray for Seth Garrett! He is doing well, but still needs some help/healing. Leah and Mark recently learned how to prevent scar tissue from building up at Seth's surgery site. I tell you, those two are some of the greatest parents I know. And great ministers, too. (No offense Pastor Paul and Danette, et al.) Seriously, those two have been an amazing example of faith these last weeks and months since Seth was born and needed surgery.

And please pray for another friend of mine, whom I'll call Amanda. She went into the hospital just about two weeks ago because her water broke ten weeks early. She is to stay in the hospital on strict bedrest for at least three more weeks until her baby is at 35 weeks gestation. I talked to her last week but not this week, so I'll update again when I know more. Specifically pray for the baby's lungs. Because all of this happened so early, his lungs are underdeveloped.

Okay, that's all. I'm off to finish a library book and wait for Ryan to call. (He had to travel up to PA tonight for work.) Good night!

A-Zs of Me

A ~ Age you got your first kiss - Second grade. Travis Gash. (His brother Greg just died!)

B ~ Band listening to right now - some song on Key 103.1. I don't know who it is.

C ~ Crush - John Travolta

D ~ Dad's name - Steve

E ~ Easiest person to talk to - My April came to mind first. She and I can pick up where we left off like no time has passed.

F ~ Favorite TV show - Wheel of Fortune

G ~ Gummy worms or bears - neither, thanks. I like chocolate. Dark chocolate.

H ~ Happiest memory - When Ryan held Katrina in the hospital.

I ~ Instrument - I used to play the flute. I doubt I still can.

J ~ Jr. High Crush - I think Ron Reinagle (sp?), but that might have been freshman year. Brendan Hurrle was high school, too.

K ~ Katrina

L ~ Longest car ride ever - Heading to Illinois last year for Christmas when it took nine extra hours because of snow.

M ~ Mom's name - Sheila

N ~ Nicknames - Lexer, Dax

O ~ One animal you like - kitties

P ~ Phobias - Mimes

Q ~ Quirks - I don't think there is enough room to list them all. :)

R ~ Reason to smile - daisies, kids' laughter, smiling babies

S ~ Song you sang last - I sing 'Happy Birthday' when I wash my hands.

T ~ Time you woke up today - 5:00 a.m. I had to be in Fairfax, VA by 8:00 a.m.

U ~ Unknown fact about me - If I tell you, then it wouldn't be unknown, would it?

V ~ Vegetable you hate - The green stuff my mom thinks I like. It's leafy ... not spinach ... kind of sour.

W ~ Worst habits - no motivation in the morning. I'm late to everything!

X ~ X-rays you've had - Do sonograms count? I had a bunch of those. And teeth. And my cheekbone when Andy Foster punched me in teh face.

Y ~ Yummy food - Pepsi.

Z ~ Zodiac sign - Leo

Okay, another new look. I got one negative and one neutral vote on the orange Herbert look. Ah, well. :) Check out Vangie and Mabel!

Good news on Baby Seth! He just got out of surgery and it went well. God is so good!

New look

I decided to change the background and I had to use this one ... it's called Herbert!

The town with a space ship ...

http://stellecommunity.com/

http://www.thestellegroup.org/

This mentions Kempton and Cabery!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelle,_Illinois

New pictures!

We finally updated the gallery.

And for those of you (Trish!) who don't know, Jennifer Wilbanks. (It's the wide-eyed look.)

I have to say ...

... I think I definitely prefer anything to 'something moist.' (See below.)

the Prankster (33% dark, 34% spontaneous, 21% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | LIGHT Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You're not pretentious, but you're not into what some would call 'low humor' either. You'll laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer something clever to something moist. You probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it's highly likely you've tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways, yours is the most entertaining type of humor because it's smart without being mean-spirited. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Conan O'Brian - Ashton Kutcher The 3-Variable Funny Test! - it rules - If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 9% on darkness You scored higher than 18% on spontaneity You scored higher than 12% on vulgarity

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

*sigh*

Our baby is about to outgrow her baby car seat. You know, the carrier kind with the hand. It goes up to 20 lbs. (which she is nowhere close) and 26". She is just under 25". They grow so fast!

Happy birthday to me!

Check this out ... this is a webcomic by our friend Jen. :)

http://catharsiscomic.com/archive.php?strip=050818-184679.jpg

At least the band name is funny ...

Lexa Shelton Herbert's Aliases

Your movie star name: Pepsi Lloyd

Your fashion designer name is Lexa France

Your socialite name is Sexy Lexy New Orleans

Your fly girl / guy name is L Her

Your detective name is Cat Tri-Point

Your barfly name is Chocolate Chip Cookie None

Your soap opera name is Shelton 3300 E Road

Your rock star name is Peach Jaguar

Your star wars name is Lexdav Herjoh

Your punk rock band name is The Sleepy Rhinoceros

The Amazing Meganame Generator

Davis the hero kitty

Davis is a hero kitty, I've decided. She jumped in Katrina's Pack-n-Play earlier today (I was holding the baby) and that made me suspicious. You see, one of our cats peed in that very place a week ago; we thought it was Avery, but seeing Davis get in there made me think perhaps it was her. (Yes, we cleaned the Pack-n-Play.) Anyway, I looked to see what she was doing and a HUGE black spider ran across the playpen. I quickly smashed it with my sandal and threw it away with a tissue. I would have put the baby in her playpen with a big scary spider if it were not for Davis and her obsession with bugs/spiders/etc.! She's my hero. :)

Ryan's my hero, too. He's a good daddy! I was super-tired Friday night and wanted to go to bed early, so he changed Katrina into her nightgown and put her down for the night. Of course, then I stayed awake for another two hours, but that was really his fault. He made me sign up for Jungle. Yes, old Olivetians, Jungle still exists, and it's new and improved! Same great taste, new look! Er, wait, that's my peanut butter. Check it out (Jungle, not the peanut butter at jungle.xar.us I'm lexerdax, any surprise there? :)

VBS was the 11th - 15th and it was great! We did "Kingdom of the Son: A Prayer Safari" by Gospel Light this year - I highly recommend it. We averaged 20 children each night, which is great when we usually have 5 - 7 kids in our Sunday morning program. One little boy Lucas is an outright evangelist! His mom told me that he called every child in his preschool class and invited them to VBS, then followed up with a visit to some friends' houses! Must be because his mom is an Olivetian ... or maybe because the child who brought the most friends won a Toys 'R' Us gift card. :)

Hmm. I'm having some issues with Blogger. I hope this post works.

In other news, Marte and Erika are both alive!!! I'll restrain from publicly chastising them for not posting and making me worry. :)

I uses smiley faces a lot, don't I? Trish uses a lot of parentheses. It's contagious.

Please pray for me! I am preaching on August 7th ... what I call 'preaching upstairs' ... to the whole congregation. I give children's sermons regularly but this is, well, different. I'm preaching on the beatitude "blessed are the pure in heart." Any suggestions?

And finally (yes, I know this is a long post, hang on!), Sara Taylor got me with this:

I am supposed to take the five blogs listed on her page, move everyone up a notch, and put myself at the bottom.

1. Ringmaster Lily
2. Bored housewife
3. Sara
4. *sara*
5. Lexerdax

Ok, Now I am supposed to pick 5 people to do the same. (Do I even know five people who read this blog??!)

Ummm ...
Erika (now that you are alive again!)
Trisha Rae
Alicia Marie (are you still reading, dear one?)
Gina Marie
... and ...
Leah (now you have a reason to start a blog!)

Now I (and everyone I tagged if they choose to participate) am supposed to write 5 things I enjoyed about being a kid.

Heh. This is tougher than I thought. It's hard to come up with five good things when you lived with alcoholic parents.

1. The climbing tree. We had this cool tree near my grandparents' house that we called the climbing tree. It was wide and open and fairly low to the ground. I loved to climb up there and read. Which leads me to my second thought ...

2. Reading. I loved to read as a kid and still do! It was an escape for me, really. We had a little room under the stairs that I would go in and read or I would read upstairs in my room.

3. Watching cartoons after school with my dad. Even into high school. It was 'our thing.'

4. Visiting my grandpa at the retirement home. My Grandma Peterson passed away when I was in fourth grade and my Grandpa Peterson moved to Pontiac the next year. I loved visiting him every day in the summer (except for the time he made me eat liver and onions!). It was there I first felt the tug of God on my heart, I think. I remember helping with daily devotions over on the nursing side and hearing the elderly women sing "In the Garden" and I felt the still small voice of God calling me to Him. It was several years later before I was saved, but I remember those days well. Ask Marte, I still love "In the Garden" and always request it at hymn sings!

5. Hrm. Number five. What I enjoyed about being a kid. I can think of a number of things I didn't like as a kid (glasses, funny teeth, etc.). How about I revisit this one in my next post? Maybe I'll think of something by then.

Until then, thanks for reading!

Must ... have ... caffeine ...

The coffee pot is empty here at the office. And I have 36 cents in my wallet. (Sodas cost 60 cents in the machine.) I need caffeine and I don't know if I can wait for a new pot of coffee.

Seven-plus weeks of little sleep

Yawn. We're a bit sleepy at our house. The baby does well at waking up at regular times, leading one to think we should be sleeping fairly well. Instead we've been staying up reading (me) and watching t.v. (Ryan). I woke up with a horrendous headache, sore throat and earache yesterday - Sunday - morning. We stayed home from church and I basically spent the whole day in bed. Ryan stayed home with the baby while I worked today and he "caught" my headache, so he spent the day resting on the futon. Or as much resting as one can do when home with a newborn. I'm very proud of him! He survived his first full day home alone with the baby.

Um, other than that, not much is new here. Happy 4th o' July! If my Grandpa Peterson were still living, he would have turned 100 yesterday. And my Grandma Peterson would be 98 this year. Ype. My mom's parents were much older when they had her.

A time for mourning

Please continue to pray for Sheila and Jeff. Their precious newborn is with Jesus. She didn't make it through the night Friday.

Ryan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ... and other news

My poor husband has had a rough couple of weeks now. He's been super-tired since the baby arrived, plus we've had family visiting for the last three weeks. The bad "day" started when his parents were here. Er, not because they were here, but because he ran into a curb and damaged one of our cars. That set us back about $1200. Then this past Monday he hit the neighbor's mailbox and fence on his way to work and shattered his windshield. That only cost a $50 deductible, but still. And he's worked 10 - 12 hours a day the last three days. He has to go up to Pennsylvania tonight for work, making for two more long days. I told him he should go to the hotel early tonight and get a good night's sleep. :)

Please pray for our friends Sheila and Jeff! Sheila was due with their first baby on September 11, but Naomi Joy arrived June 14, weighing only 1 lb. 4 oz. She is a miracle baby! Already nine days old ... God is good. You can read more about Naomi at
http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=NaomiJoyRice

Our little peanut is doing great. I think Katrina laughed for the first time the other day. She had been sleeping in her Pack 'n' Play in the living room for a few nights while we painted her room, and she got very excited when I put her back in her crib for the first time. Her crib bumper is barnyard animals (made by her Grandma Herbert) and she looked at them, smiled, and laughed! I told Ryan it was like she found her long-lost friends. She's a good baby. :)

I'm heading back to work next week. Not sure if I'm ready for it. These past few weeks have passed too quickly!

She's here!!

Okay, so my due date was actually pretty close ... I was due on Thursday the 12th and little Katrina Pala Herbert arrived Friday morning, May 13th. :) I'm not sure how to post pictures here but I do have a link to our gallery. Not too many pictures yet - late nights and early mornings make for sleepy mommies and daddies. We'll add more soon, I promise. Until then: http://xar.us/gallery/2005-baby

Oh, yeah, the details! Her name is Katrina Pala. The middle name is a Hebrew word meaning "wonderful" - it's from Psalm 139:14 that says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." She arrived at 11:13 on May 13th, weighing 6 lbs, 10.5 ounces and 20.5" long. She is such a good baby! We're all doing well, except for lack of sleep, but I think that is to be expected.

Time for me to go take a shower while she's still sleeping. More later!

Due date.

Well, today is the day. My due date. Like I told our families in an e-mail today, nothing is happening (yet). I worked a full day today and I feel fine...good/great, even. Let's hope that's a good sign that the baby is coming soon. :)

Funny thing happened in the restroom today. We had this big teaming agreement meeting with tons of people, and I ran into a woman from the meeting in the restroom. She had asked earlier when I was due and was quite surprised when I responded, "Today." Anyway, as we were washing hands she asked, "You're having a boy, right?" I said no, that the ultrasounds have said the baby is a girl. She exclaimed, "No way! I thought for sure you were carrying a boy from the way you look." Uhhhh.......

Yay for daisies!

I got flowers at work today! :) That makes me happy. Today is the day our company embarks on a three-day Disney Cruise and I can't go. Not too much of a big deal, since there are many others who aren't going, but I did a lot of the planning of the trip. I don't mind, really - it has been similar to planning conferences and not taking part in them.

Anyway, the flowers are from Kurt and Hal (company presidents) and fellow cruisers. And they are daisies! My husband is good at keeping secrets/surprises. I had no idea!