Category: Blogging

my dumb blog

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Dear 5 faithful readers of my blog… or perhaps I should re-phrase… Dear mom,

I have had this dumb blog for a few years now. We’re going on 2.5 years of blog blissfulness, actually. Wow time really flies when you’re writing a dumb blog. I have changed the blog appearance, theme, pictures, layout and design several times. I grow bored quite easily. I started blogging on WordPress… then had a little blog affair over at google on blogger, and now I’m back. Fully committed to my marriage with WordPress. Although, I must be honest with you, I am not fully committed to the blog title – thebabsfam – but that will be another dumb blog for another time.

Now, for clarification purposes, let me clarify I do not think my blog is really dumb, just sorta dumb. Much of the time – okay ALL of the time – I second guess what I am writing / have written, therefore leading me to the conclusion that what I have written is mostly dumb. Although…, the fact that I typically write between the hours of 1 and 2am -after several rounds of coffee and sugary cinnamon coated monkey bread- could perhaps, possibly, maybe just maaaaybe, have a slight impact on my second guessing what I’ve written. Here is what typically happens: I write something amazing at 1am, publish at 2am, and wake up at 7am with a double minded hazy hangover, feeling like everything I wrote was dumb…or at least sorta dumb.  If I sound like I’m upset about my dumb blog – the big elephant on the internet would be … why do I keep writing?

I have over 125 drafted blogs in my ‘draft box’. And within those drafted… yet to be published blogs… I have drafts within the drafts… all Half written. Stories that constantly swirl inside my brain just waiting for a chance to explode on paper, or rather, onto the internet. Stories that taunt me from the deep desire within me to write. them. out. Stories God placed within my heart soul and mind from the time I was born… I learned how to write around age 4.5, right mom? I’m pretty certain I have been writing for 32 years… but the internet can be a dark, scary place to publish your stories… why do I keep writing?

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a few of my journals…

I am a writer. It is a truth nestled deep within my bones. And although I will still second guess my dumb blog, I can not help but write. I am a writer. It is a truth nestled deep within many pages. I have volumes of journals filled with stories to tell. Stories you 5 faithful readers, need to know! Stories my mom already knows! Stories of God -me- and God. Everything I write begins -and ends- with Him. My life and all of my stories, published, drafted and half written, begin and end with Him. Thankfully, God still uses me, even when I write dumb blogs.

So this dumb blog is full. honest. disclosure. Much of the time, I will second guess what I publish, but I have been trying to live a #NoRegretNewYear …That sounds dumb. What does that even mean? It means, I don’t care if it’s already halfway thru the month of April, I am living the rest of this year with #NoRegrets. God has written the stories of my life I desire to write. He is in charge of my life… therefore, He should be in charge of my blog, even when I feel like it’s dumb… I know my dumb blog has a purpose.

I am grateful to live my life with minimal regrets. I am grateful to have the opportunity to write a dumb blog. I am grateful for the physical ability to type, for the computer I type on, WordPress and the internet I publish on… and most importantly – I am grateful to God for the stories He gives me.  It is never too late to be grateful. And, It is never to late to start writing and publishing a blog… even if you feel like it is a dumb blog.

Thanks for reading my dumb blog! In Him ~ Leslie

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Preach. Push. Stop. Diffuse. Deliver.

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This week as “Mom”… I Preached a sermonette, Pushed 100 lbs for 5 miles, Stopped a wreck from happening, Diffused several bombs and Delivered a baby.
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On Mother’s Day Sunday, I preached a sermonette.  I had the honor of giving the sermon at our church.  This is something I said I would never do.  But guess what I’ve learned?  Never. Say. Never.  I spoke about hearing God.  This is a subject I am passionate about.  It was an exhilarating experience.  You can listen to it online by visiting our church website here.
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This week I stopped myself from getting into a wreck.  I was driving to a conference and the whole time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something might happen.  I knew God was preparing me to be aware.  I was waiting at a red light, and after it turned green I waited before taking my turn to go.  It’s unusual for me to hesitate at a green light.  I’m typically a very aggressive driver.  As I began to drive, I took a moment and looked to my left, thankfully seeing another vehicle barreling thru their red light and crossing into my lane.  I was able to stop in time before being t-boned.  I didn’t have time to honk and yell at the idiot who almost hit me, but after I felt the anger bubble up inside of me, I was filled with thankfulness.  For God’s protection and preparation. For hearing His voice, with an awareness to heed His warning.  
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This week I pushed two sleeping souls for 5 miles…
After playing at the park with some friends, I pushed Salem (40 lbs) & Selah (30 lbs) in the stroller (30 lbs) on a run / walk for 5 miles on one of my favorite trails.  It was a beautiful day and a peaceful time.  I got a work out.  They got a nap.  Good Times.

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This week I diffused several bombs…

Wee bab bombs.  This was a difficult week.  Emotions were high.  We went to bed late every night.  We were away from home four nights this week and P.A. was gone an additional night. We were all out of sorts.  Our family functions best when we have a lot of quality time together.  Quality time is our family love language.  

Warning: Minimal fam time + tired / busy Babs = kid bombs and explosions may will occur

Thankfully, I am good at diffusing bombs.  I’ve been a mom now for 8 years.  I’ve had a temper for 35 years.  I have gifted that wonderful trait to my children.  I’ve surrendered my temper to God over the years and learned a lot from my mistakes.  God has helped me to diffuse the bombs our wee babs can make.  He really helps me to see situations with their behavior before they explode everywhere.

There are times when they do explode.  Thankfully, we are good at practicing forgiveness in our family.  and, on those days when bombs are going off all around me and I just can’t get to them in time to diffuse, I always feel better after I clean my sink.

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This week I delivered a baby…                                                                        
                                                                                                  

Adah Joy Droz
Well, not really.  My friends, the Droz’s, had their baby and I was honored to be their doula as they welcomed Adah Joy Droz into the world.  Labor began at 1:30am, so I stayed up all night as a support and encouragement to Natalie as she labored to bring Adah into the world at 6:25am.  Since I love sleep, I’ve been taking lots of short naps the past few days to recover from staying up all night, in between diffusing bombs and being Mom.  I’m not 21 anymore. I need my sleep.  
Snoozing doula 🙂

The word “doula” comes from the ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves” who provides physical, emotional and informational support to the mother / family before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.

In 2006, I took my doula training courses and have attended 6 births as a doula over the past 5 years.  Since I took time off to have my own wee babs, I am not certified with a doula organization… yet.  It’s kind of like I went to school and did all of the work to graduate, but don’t have my diploma.  This is due to my special skill of procrastination… and “some day” I’ll finish that.  My passion stems from my own intensive birth research and personal birth experiences.  I’ve had three wee babs with no medicine and have a passion to support and encourage women who desire a natural labor experience.  

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It was a very busy week as “Mom”…  Even though I procrastinate some things, I am not procrastinating anymore on other things…

Like this blog.  I’ve had a passion to write for a long time.  And now I am.

What are you passionate about?  Are you procrastinating your passions?

Don’t live in regret or the “some day”.  Just do something.

It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to…

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Today (or yesterday, depending on how long it takes me to write / post this blog) was my birthday…

It is / was also Cinco de Mayo… but since I am not Mexican, my birthday being shared with the day of Mexico’s unlikely victory over the French at the battle of Puebla in 1862, doesn’t have that much significance… except that we had Mexican food for dinner.  But since I love eating mexican food, making mexican food, and smelling mexican food, this is a regular, at least bi-weekly occurrence. P.A. made our amazing mexican food for my birthday dinner and I contributed with a kick-ass handmade mango pico de gallo.  Yum.  And, you can check out some of our favorite recipes here.

btw, did you know that Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day?  Nope, that would be celebrated on September 16th.  Now you know.

So, on May 5th, 1977 I entered the world and it’s never been the same… well, at least for those who know me… 

If you know me, you know this is how I look 95% of the time…

well… maybe that’s an exaggeration, but if you know, me you know I like to make silly faces and I can be… dramatic.


If you know me, you know that my hubby (P.A.) is my best friend and his birthday was 6 days before mine!  And… it’s no coincidence that we celebrated at a Mexican restaurant.  Some of our awesome friends took us out for lunch, after church last Sunday to celebrate.

P.A. with his face covered in ice cream and the Kelly’s ~ our awesome friends who took us to eat to celebrate P.A.’s b-day, which was on April 29th.

                                                  Our awesome kids sporting the mexican hats!

P.A. and I prepping for our awesome pic together 🙂

If you know me, you know our wee Babs (Soleil, Salem, Selah) are super. duper. important to us.  Here they are in a little “photo shoot” from last fall.  They mean the world to us. I could go on and on about them, but if you know me, you know I will save that for another blog… 

If you know me, you know that I love to be silly and I think I am the funniest person. on. the. planet.  I boisterously laugh at myself and my own jokes, even if no one else “gets them” or thinks that they are funny.  I am thankful that most of the time, my family thinks I am as hilarious as I think I am.

If you know me, you know that friendship is important to me… 
Over the last 35 years, I have had the honor of meeting so many people from across the world.  I have had the privilege to call many of them friends… or at the very least, Facebook friends…  My life has been enriched by my amazing friends.  They are truly a gift from God.  I was blessed the other night when some of my friends took me out to dinner and coffee for my b-day.  Some of my friends live just down the road, some live on the east coast, some live on the west coast, some live in the north, some live in the south, and some live in flippin’ India.  Wherever they are, they know who they are... and I am thankful for them.
Here’s a pic of us camping with our friends the Zeuch’s – the ones that live in flippin’ India
If you know me, you know that even though it’s my birthday, I can cry if I want to.  Today I cried on my birthday.  I also cried on P.A.’s birthday.  Because even though they were great days, something was missing… our families. They are in Oklahoma and Oregon… and we miss them terribly, especially on our birthdays.
(Sorry, no pictures to show of me crying… don’t be disappointed.  I’m a sniffly, red-faced mess.) 

But truly, my hope is that even if you don’t know me… I mean really know me, like hang out with me, talk to me in person, or on the phone… you will still know that my most important relationship is with Jesus.  

My deepest hope and prayer ~ that goes against all of my human nature ~ is that I will be *known* because of Christ…which really means that I will be ~ Unknown.    

That HIS beauty will outshine my flesh.  That HIS mercy will overwhelm my insensitivity.  That HIS grace will subdue my unforgiveness.  That HIS presence will saturate my sinful soul. That HIS love will replace my anger.  That HIS glory will overcome my humanity and invade my entire life. 


And that HE will be evident in all that I do, think, say, or blog… 

These are the days…

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Ugh.  I’ve had writers block.

I didn’t think it could happen to me.  I always have something to say… or in this case… write.

but i got distracted – which is nothing new — but more on that later.

and then I got it – the writers block.

So… I’m back

with a whole new blogging purpose, I might add 😉

and I’m reflective… about smells… like bacon.  As I smelled the bacon I was cooking last Saturday morning, I had this whole blog planned out in my mind to write.  So I sat down for some time with God. and to eat my waffles and bacon.  I wrote a little in my journal.  I read my Bible.  But I never wrote the blog.

This week followed suite.  the half written ideas came, but no writing happened.

Then the song “These are the Days” by Natalie Merchant / 10000 Maniacs came to mind.  Remember that song?  It takes me back… to my college years. And the Soap Operas “Days of our Lives”…. and “One Life to Live”… in junior high, I used to watch”Days” avidly.  and so did my Grandma (the one who’s been married 65 years – the one I wrote about here). She and I would catch up on our “soaps” together after school sometimes… oh yes, we did.

So, these song and soap opera titles scanned across my mind and reminded me…  just do it.  


Just write…

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what are you gonna do with the days you have?

the moments you have to love, grow, share, give… blog?

God is challenging me to Love more.  Grow more.  Share more.  Give more.

To love the one(s) in front of me.  P.A., the wee Babs, family, friends, peeps in our church… strangers God leads me to… 


So, I’m gonna continue writing about it… in this blog.


these are the days… day by day here’s what we do… here is our half written story…

Tonight we were playing guitar with the wee babs… it was such a blessing.


Soleil really wants to learn and so we’ve started teaching her a few chords.



They bless us constantly…day by day.  We are overwhelmed with love for them, and then we get overwhelmed by God’s great love for us.


So… the writers block is over… and our half written story continues.

the truth is…

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i didn’t know what a blog was until this past summer.  in fact, i didn’t even know they existed.  and now i’m all about blogs.  bloggin’.  lovin’ the blog life.  blah, blah, blah. blog, blog, blog.
it can be hard to write blogs, but i am lovin’ it.  the truth is… i was planning to write a blog with P.A. (in honor of v-day) about having a marvelous marriage; in all areas-friendship, communication, trust, selflessness, respect, intimacy, sex, etc… but i changed my mind.  as usual.  but look for it soon. 
so the truth is… 
i have coffee breath 90% of the time, and if i don’t… i will check to see if I have a fever, because there is probably something wrong with me.  i don’t typically chew gum or suck on mints, so if you talk to me, most likely you will also be talking to my coffee breath.  hope that won’t affect our relationship.
i carry a cup of coffee with me 90% of the places that i go, and if i don’t… it’s because i am on my way to buy a coffee… OR, i might have a fever, because there is something wrong with me.  if it’s the latter, i will probably not go anywhere and just stay at home, where i have access to a coffee maker as soon as i’m feeling better.
i LOVE driving fast.  contrary to what we are taught in drivers ed, i like to drive aggressively, not defensively.  we live in central ohio where most of my life consists of driving up and down a 2 lane road, that turns into a 4 lane road with tons of traffic lights along the way.  the truth is… it takes me longer to get out of town than it does to drive down the highway into downtown.  i love the challenge of getting from my house to the highway as fast as i can, speeding up to coast thru the yellow lights, and weaving in and out of the slower drivers around me.  which are basically all the other drivers. 
i miss driving in new york city.  for the 3+ years we lived there, we were those crazy people who wanted to live like suburbanites in the city; and also keep our car and deal with all of the parking tickets, lack of parking places, and all of the stress that comes with driving in nyc.  i loved the challenge of finding and fighting for parking places, cutting people off and weaving in and out of lanes.  never too fast in the city though, because you can’t drive much over 20 mph due to traffic.  
our house is medium sized (about 1,800 square feet), but i wish it were a little bit smaller. our fam of five loves being together.  with the exception of school and work, we spend most of our time in the same room.  or within a few hundred feet of each other.  i rarely go to the bathroom without the pitter patter of little feet nearby.  and i really don’t mind. wasted space makes me cringe.  
if you come over to visit and my house IS clean, it’s most likely because i transferred the piles of papers and moved the dirt from one part of the house to another.  out of sight, out of mind, ya know?
i wish my fam didn’t have to work or go to school.  i love and long for the days when the wee babs are out of school and P.A. is not working.  i wish we could just be together all the time.  the truth is... i would love that!
i think way.  too.  much.  about.  clothes.  and shoes.  and wish i didn’t.  it takes up to much brain space in my head.
i waver between insecurity and confidence.  shocking.  i know you probably thought i had it all together.  just keep reading my blogs, you’ll see the ‘real me’ 😉
i trust GOD, but i also worry about all of the things i can’t control.  which is a lot of things.
and this is the truth about me.  what are some truths about you? 
with love, happy valentines day.