Room full of women

I've been a women's conference the last four days (thank you Tom!!). It was in town so I didn't have to stay overnight anywhere which made this all possible! The topic was on coaching and it was SOOO interesting. I wasn't totally into it at first, but our company was offering me a spot and I didn't want to miss out. There were about 50 women, I was probably one of 5 under 40.

I'm still processing, but the concept of coaching is to develop skills that allow you to help OTHERS think through what they are wanting to accomplish or an area where they want to gain some momentum. It really does work, but the difficult thing is that it has nothing to do with YOU. No giving advice, no sharing stories, no "telling". Yikes.

The speaker said we need to listen for "the Gap" meaning when you hear people say they'd like things to be different in a certain area, that is the clue for the role of coaching. Helping people get from where they are to where they want to be whether it is about choosing a grad school, organizing the house or working on a relationship. Very interesting paradigm to think in.

So I'm thinking about who I can practise on....

Garlic? Really??

Yesterday I was "cooking" with Layla and gave her two garlic cloves to stir around in her bowl. She stands on a step stool that is sort of safe and sort of a death trap. Anyway, she just popped the cloves in her mouth and chewed on them. Several times. Mom and I tried to not have a reaction so she wouldn't freak out. I mean, if your kid will chew garlic cloves, that's pretty good, right?????

Lo, those many years ago

Eight Valentine's Days ago, Tom gave me these flowers. We had a big laugh about it because when he gave them to me we had just started dating and he told me that he wasn't sure whether he should give flowers to me so early in our relationship. He was worried about what it might say. I remember laughing so HARD because I just KNEW he was debating about whether to give me flowers for that reason. I told him not to worry, the way you kiss me says way more than flowers ever could. (=
Anyway, these are finally going in the trash. I can't believe that I kept them and furthermore, that my mom kept them at her house!!

I don't think you can see the snow outside, but we've been having it off and on this week. It has been COLD in the mornings and at night. It was 18 degrees this morning!

Loving Clothes!

This is Layla in part of cute outfit her Tutu Lisa sent her for Valentine's Day. When she saw this shirt she started to frantically sign "please" and kept holding it. I've never seen her ask to put anything on before! It was quite a surprise.
The hat is an old one of mine that she loves to wear (= She's turning into a TOTAL girl!!

and more photos.....

In our kitchen again. We went back and forth between this room and the one with the blue couches (= Tom, Mike and Jen did an great job of staying out of the way and letting us just take over.

This is all of us at the end of the night - we had chocolate fondue, cookie dough and all sorts of stuff (= Angie is the second from the left and she joined us for dinner on Tuesday night (= What a great time. Wish I could say something more, but scroll down a few posts to the link to Jess's description of the reunion.

Photos of the Reunion!

Here we all are with little Ethan - Stacy's little man!

Terri, Jess and Stacy - so beautiful!!

Layla wanted to touch all the little parts of Ethan - she is very into pointing to fingers, tummies, noses, hair, ears, etc etc

Another Season

So we've been in a strange and temporary season. We've been in the US since September staying at my parent's house. They've been wonderful and it's been great overall. We've had some trips here and there but for the most part it has been a wonderful season for Layla. Since December my sister and her husband have been here and they've also just loved on Layla. I often wonder what is going to happen in Layla's life that God felt she needed all this love and attention during these year (= I know it is building things into her life that Tom and I couldn't do alone.

We were home for two weeks before Mom and Dad came back from their trip. It was SO fun to see Layla get excited about seeing mom! For the next two days every time she saw mom it was like she had forgotten they had returned. So sweet. Tonight I was doing dinner so mom came to take Layla for her bath and she was so excited and just launched herself into mom's arm. How sweet.

She said it better than I did.....

http://jessdager.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/recognized/#comment-1072

This is a MUCH better description of our time. One of the many reasons I enjoyed our weekend. Please read.

Old Friends....

I had a very very sweet treat this weekend. Some old roommates of mine all got together for the first time in seven years. I don't really count that last reunion because it was at my wedding, and who really talks to anyone during one's wedding?? (=

Two of them flew into town, one drove and two of us are living in town. The hubbies are to be REALLY thanked for looking after the seven children left in their respective homes.

We just talked and talked and ate chocolate fondue, cookie dough and had yummy drinks from our "bar master".

There is something priceless in old friendships who know you and love from way way back (10 years ago) and can still be relevant and key to current discussions about life. I wish my life had been a better place so I had all sorts of happy things to say, but we're not exactly at a high point here. Good things are around the corner, but not quite here.

Anyway, it was a precious time and left me wanting to encourage all my other friends to STAY in touch. Old friends are a wonderful gift. Wish I could say more, but I don't even know how to process it all!!

Photos to come......