i didn’t mean to break the law…

2 Comments

Today I broke the law…
I didn’t mean to, but it happened.  

Even as I write, my stomach is turning, and I. feel. sick.

I hate breaking the law!  

Now wait a minute, Leslie… Let’s just stop the story right there. Rewind.

law the breaking hate I!

Okay, what I really mean is that I hate getting into trouble with the law.  This is true. I’ve never been in “trouble” with the law. My first and only speeding ticket was at the age of 16.  I had only been driving for a few weeks and was speeding thru a neighborhood to get to my high school musical rehearsal.  Really important stuff worth speeding for.  I got a ticket.  I had the same sick-to-my-stomach feeling. Lesson Learned.

When we lived in New York City, we were pulled over once with no idea why… Sure, during our years of driving in NYC, we paid our fair share in parking tickets. But that was by choice. To avoid parking garage fees of $450 a month, we took chances, drove around for hours, sat in our car during street cleaning and paid an average of $100 a month in parking tickets instead.  Brilliant.  But on this particular day, the Officer approached our car so that he could test the window tint on our awesome 2001 Ford Focus.  He had some gadget that tested the tint, to ensure it was not over 25%. Ours was at 19%.  Whew!  We passed.  Can we go now?  Not. So. fast.  The Officer still kept us pulled over while he took his sweet time “testing” all of our windows, reminding us the tint could not be over 25% – which it wasn’t – while we both grew extremely agitated as we waited in the car knowing we were well under the limit, until finally he came over to my window.  I rolled it down and… BOOM!  All of sudden the Officers perspective changed.  He could see that I was 9 months pregnant and in no mood to mess around, so he “quickly tested” my window and let us go on our merry way.

I have never been in any accidents where I was at fault.  In 19 years of driving, I’ve done a 360 when my wheels slipped in the pouring rain, crossing 4 lanes of traffic and miraculously landing in the median, without hurting myself or causing a wreck for anyone else. I’ve been sideswiped by a truck which was being chased by the police for robbery. I’ve been crashed into at a stop sign and rear ended at a stop light by negligent drivers. And once… I was pulled over on Long Rd. after coming to Adam’s rescue when his truck ran out of gas.  The first Officer who arrived at the “scene” was someone we know from our church.  Leaving Adam in his capable care, I pulled out from behind his truck.  After I pulled in front of Adam’s truck to head home, the second officer approaching the scene passes me, and then whips around to pull me over. As I was driving away, I realized Adam had possibly left his wallet in my car, which he needed for the tow truck.  So, I pulled into the entrance of a neighborhood up the road from Adam’s stranded truck, began to rummage thru his bag looking for his wallet, and look up to see the 2nd Officers lights blaring in my rear view mirror. He then approached my car and asked me for my license and registration. I’m thinking – What the…?!? Your pulling me over???

“Sir I just left my husband, he’s just a few hundred yards behind us. He was stranded without gas and now I’m heading back home.”
“I just need your license and registration.”

He didn’t “care” about my story, or the fact that our wee Babs were sleeping in the back seat, even though I had woken them up to come and “rescue daddy” at 11pm on a Tuesday night.

In the meantime, as he is checking my pristine license and registration record, he must’ve also communicated with the first Officer at the scene – who we know – who must’ve talked him into “letting me go”.

But first, He came back to my car and listed the reasons he had pulled me over:
1. I pulled out into oncoming traffic (which was his car, btw) and there was PLENTY of space for me to pull out from behind Adam’s truck, and get in front of his truck before the Officer passed me. Apparently, it was supposed to be at least 500 feet… well, I didn’t have my measuring tape handy, but from the distance of his headlights, I had plenty of space… maybe it was 450 feet?
2. I pulled into a neighborhood entrance with the intention to complete an illegal u-turn. What the…???  At this point, I was becoming extremely angry. But I held my tongue. Nope, Officer. I pulled over to check and see if my husband left his wallet in my car.

At this point, he didn’t have any further evidence, so he “let me go”.  How Nice.

For the most part, I’ve been a law abider. 

But today was different.  I didn’t mean to.  I didn’t set out to.  But today I broke the law.

I pulled into a handicapped parking spot to wait with the wee Babs in the van, while Adam ran into a store “real quick”.  I knew it was wrong when I did it.  There’s no excuse.

After waiting for a few minutes, perusing the latest news on Facebook and handing out snacks to the kids, a police car drives up and slows down as it passes the spot where I was parked.

I quickly jumped into gear, put the car in reverse and start backing up – just in time for the policeman to complete his circle around the parking lot and catch me trying to flee the scene.

Too late. I was caught.  Illegally parked. 


“Miss, do you have a Handicapped sticker for your vehicle?”
“No sir. I was just getting ready to leave.” (mmm hmm, he’s thinking – yea right lady, likely story)
“Are you aware there is a $287 fine for parking here illegally?”
“Yes sir, I know. I was giving my kids some snacks (and I conveniently left out the waiting on my hubby part) and was getting ready to leave.” (yes, I was sticking by that story)
“Okay, you could’ve done that over there.”
“Yes sir, I know. I’m sorry.”

At this point he nodded and “let me go” with a warning. Whew!  

Here’s the point when I start to freak out. I reverse out of the illegal spot and drive down the lot into another – legal – spot, and immediately text Adam “Come On!!!”

A few moments later, Adam emerges from the store and begins walking toward our van.  I start driving toward him to pick him up.  At the same time, I notice the Policeman circling around our way again (he totally wasn’t letting this go).  As we start driving again, he stops in the parking lot next to us and rolls down his window;  I stop driving and roll down mine.

Officer: “So you weren’t really giving your kids snacks, you were waiting on him to get out of a store.”
Me: “No, I really was giving them snacks and was getting ready to move my car (as soon as I saw you coming), while we were waiting on him.”
“We’ve had a lot of problems with people parking illegally in these spots and the Sheriff has us cracking down on this.”
“I understand. I know it was wrong.”
“If it was the Sheriff, he would’ve given you a ticket for sure.”
“Yes, I understand. I know it was wrong to park there. I understand.”
“Okay, I will let you go with a warning. You folks have a nice day.”
“Thank you.”

I rolled up my window and started breathing again. As soon as I caught my breath, I was able to explain the whole story to Adam.  I felt sick to my stomach for the next half hour.  As I was getting over my nausea, Adam chimed in, “Doesn’t that Officer have anything better to do?”

The Truth Is – I broke the law. No excuses. I was caught in the act. I was Guilty.

But I wasn’t charged. 
Sure, there have been times in the past 35 years, when I have experienced that “Life is not Fair”.

But as I walk with Jesus, even when I am in the wrong ~ I am not charged. Everyday, I experience His extension of Grace and Mercy, the Holy Spirit’s sweet conviction in my sin, and the Lord as my Shepherd ~ forever leading me back to walk His path ~ not my own.

I broke the law today… And, I learned about more of God’s unfailing love for me in the process.  It was totally worth it.

Maybe, I overreacted…

1 Comment
On Saturday, we flew back to Ohio after spending time in the beautiful state of Oregon visiting P.A.’s family.  
We were supposed to fly back on Friday, but our first flight was delayed, causing us to miss the connection to our next flight home. 
Shocker. 
Thankfully, we were able to find out about our delayed flight well before we got to the airport, and re-book to fly out the next day.
Airline travel for adults can be stressful.  

You pay an exorbitant amount of money to be scanned, questioned and stand in long lines for check-in and security, run thru large buildings, carrying several pounds of luggage, shuffling thru crowds of people, in and out of public restrooms, over-paying for any food you might need to purchase, only to most likely also have to deal with flight delays and cancellations, and end up squished into a seat like a sardine next to someone you do not know, who might even smell like a sardine or have some other weird habit you now have to deal with for the next three hours, while needing to use the bathroom within the first 30 minutes of the flight, but being denied access to the tiny port-o-potty because the seat belt sign is “still on” and you didn’t “plan” for the delay and drank too much water, so next time you “plan” to wear a diaper.
It can be even more stressful when you add three wee Bab’s. 
For our flight out to Portland a few weeks ago, our seats from ORD-PDX were all mixed up and the five of us were spread around the plane.  We purchased our tickets and chose our seats a few months ago, but the seats for our Chicago to Portland flight could not be chosen ahead of time online. I spoke with a customer service rep on the phone who told me we would need to take care of it at the airport.  When we arrived at the airport, after rushing thru check-in and security, we got to the gate to find out the flight from CMH-ORD had been grounded. All the flights were delayed, so whew, we still made our connection.  
In Chicago, the customer service rep was very helpful to try and find us seats together, while also dealing with other problems caused by the delays and other travelers on stand-by, who needed to be re-routed because of the delays.  She was able to find us 3 seats and 2 seats together, barring on the fact that we had to ask 1 of the passengers next to us if they would be willing to switch seats. It was confusing but she was very helpful and understanding. We were met with more help on the plane when the flight attendants gave us some *free* food to compensate for Adam having to wait on the plane for over 30 minutes carrying Selah in the backpack, while the rest of the passengers boarded, before he could ask if the passenger next to him would switch seats to his original seat, so he and Selah could sit together.  In the end, it worked out fine with Adam and Selah in the back of the plane, while Soleil and Salem and I were about 10 rows ahead. 
Usually I can keep it together when I’m traveling in stressful situations.  Flying out to Portland, we were patient thru all of the travel issues and thankful to be met with helpful desk agents and flight attendants… 
but flying back to Ohio was a different story…

Maybe, I overreacted. 
After our flight was changed from Friday to Saturday, we were even more anxious to get on the plane and come home.  We arrived early Saturday morning at PDX and were met with extra long lines, but made our flight with just enough time to grab our coffee and scones.  The flight was smooth and the 3 1/2 hours we spent squished in the very back row of the plane flew by. 
Whew.
After arriving in Chicago, we ate our over-priced but very tasty lunch, then made our way to the gate to discover that 4 of our seats on this flight were together, with 1 seat 6 rows behind the others.  *side note* I still don’t understand why when we pay over $500 a ticket for 2 adults and 3 small children to sit together (previously declared on the passenger information and seats selected together online) we then find our seats to be apart. 
So, I went up to the gate and waited on the agent while chatting with another passenger who was on stand-by. Because of delays and flight problems on Friday, the Saturday flights were over-booked and people were at an all-time stress level.  
Including the gate agent.
I approached the counter to ask if the 1 seat could be changed to be closer to the other 4 seats.
“No, the flight is full” he responded in a robotic tone.
That still didn’t answer my question, so I politely asked again.
“No, you will have to change seats with someone on the plane.”
“Okay…” and I just walked away, feeling agitated with his short tone and unhelpful attitude; compared the other agent who shifted our seats around on our flight into Portland on that over-booked, delayed, messed up flying day.
As we waited to board, P.A. and I discussed how it would be fine to sit apart, in case no one wanted to change seats with him. I would sit with Selah and the older 2 kids would be right in front of us, with P.A. 6 rows back…
A few minutes later, the gate agent started boarding groups 1 & 2.  We walked up and without thinking of our “group number” handed him our boarding passes.  Again I was met with a robotic tone, “I’ve only called groups 1 & 2. You’re in group 5.” 
“Oh, I’m sorry I thought it was okay to board early since we have small children.”
“No, you’ll have to wait until I call group 5.”
So I backed out of the line, pulling Salem and Soleil out of the way and moving our luggage to make way for groups 3 & 4. Then I said to the agent, calmly but firmly. 
“You know, you don’t have to be so rude.”
Okay now I’m willing to admit that maybe… perhaps… possibly, I overreacted. 
I didn’t have to say anything, but I was thinking, every other flight we’ve taken this time and in previous years, the agent would call for those with small children or those who need additional time boarding to board with the earlier groups, even if your group number was later.
The gate agent proceeded to ignore my comment and checked in 2 people from groups 3 & 4 and then called group 5. So I moved all our crap and 2 of our kids out of the way so that within a matter of 60 seconds 2 more people could board before us. Wow.
I was so irritated at this point, and we were losing our patience.  We just wanted to get on the plane, get home and be done with it.  P.A. was behind me with Selah in the backpack and his luggage. As he handed the gate agent his boarding pass to check in, he asked “Sir, what’s your name?”  The agent would not give his name and proceeded to check a few more people in.  After I started walking down the ramp with Soleil and Salem to board, I turned back to find P.A. still calmly, but firmly persisting on asking the agent his name.  The agent still refused. 
*side note here* 
Both P.A. and I have spent our adult lives working with people and several years in Customer Service positions.  We realize that everyone has a bad day and stress levels can be at the max. Regardless, we always had to give our name when a customer would ask.
Regardless, Maybe… P.A. overreacted in persisting to ask for the agents name.  
After a few more times of asking, he would not give his name and P.A. proceeded to board and headed for the ramp. The agent then said, “You need to stay here, you can not board until I call group 7.” 
P.A. responded, “You’re saying I can’t board now with my family?”
The agent responded, “No, you’ll board in group 7 or I will call the TSA.”
All of this went down in less than 2 minutes, and when I turned back to see P.A. still at the entrance I said, “What’s going on?”
P.A. explained the situation and told us to go ahead.
Are you kidding me???  The TSA???  The Transportation Security Administration???
Really?? Is a man, asking for a name, while carrying a 2 1/2 year old on his back, really a security threat?
I continued down the ramp to go ahead board with Soleil and Salem (who were worried about leaving daddy behind), feeling extremely flustered and angry.  About 5 minutes later, P.A. and Selah boarded the plane. Everyone got settled in and I noticed and empty seat across the row from Soleil and Salem. I asked the flight attendant if my husband could move up, once everyone had boarded, if the seat was still available. He said “No.” I could feel myself getting upset again, not understanding, so I just asked, “So, there’s just gonna be an empty seat here?”. He replied and explained that the flight attendant he was training would be sitting there part of the time. AND, that it would be considered an “upgrade” to move anyone from the back to this seat, since these seats had up to 5 extra inches of leg room and people paid extra to sit in them. I thought to myself, really?? I didn’t pay any extra to be less of a sardine.  These seats were just randomly assigned to us after we were re-booked from our flight delay yesterday. So, lucky us, I guess.  
At least the kids got to enjoy some extra leg room.



Really, I appreciated the flight attendant explaining to me the *reason* why Adam couldn’t move up and talking to me slightly above a robotic tone of voice.  
The flight was fine, and I had time to check myself and pray about my attitude toward the gate agent. Selah and Salem took naps, so I also had time to analyze why flying first class, business first, regular business class and now the *new* extra leg room class is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of.  You can pay way more money to be slightly less of a sardine and get served your juice first, or pay an additional $49 and get 5 extra inches of leg room.  That equals just about $10 per extra inch. wow.
Aside from the cast system in India, I’ve really never heard of anything so ridiculous. 
I am no longer a “frequent flyer” or on a “gold program” like I used to be when I worked for Women of Faith and traveled to their conferences…  I am just a mom, with 3 wee Babs trying to visit their Grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins once a year who wants to sit squished like a sardine next to her husband, instead of 6 rows away from him.
Maybe I overreacted… but perhaps not?
And maybe next time, we will just forgot the stress of airports, airplanes and gate agents and trade that stress for the family-fun of driving the 40 hours and 2,500 miles to travel to Oregon. 
Sure, there will still be stress… but we will enjoy the journey and try not to overreact.

What stressful situations have you overreacted in?  
And if you’re perfect and never overreact, no worries, you don’t have to answer the question.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words…

2 Comments
June has gone by way. too. quickly.
If it was the wonderful winter months of January, February or March, I wouldn’t mind the pace.
But slow down, June.

So much happened in June. 
Soleil finished the second grade and performed in her first ballet recital. Salem finished pre-school and Selah stopped sleeping well. 
P.A.’s car broke down. We spent $500 on that good time.
We had a garage sale, got rid of some crap and made some money to pay off P.A.’s car.
We also raised money for our church’s upcoming mission trip to Haiti. 
We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the sunshine.
We experienced God in amazing ways with our church peeps and during our services.
And last but not least, my amazing parents (The Grand Rowley’s) came to visit us from Oklahoma.
I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it all.
I am thankful I took a lot of pictures. 

Sometimes P.A. teases me for taking so many pictures. 
Sure. I want my computer to run slow. So I take lots of pictures and then download all of them without sorting thru them and deleting the not-as-great pics. 
Sure. I’ll do that one day. Never.
Now I take all my pics on my phone because I want my phone to run slow. 
And, I take lots of different shots of the same picture to capture the memory perfectly.
I have to keep them all because, after all, there is really no such thing as bad pics of the wee babs. in my humble opinion.
After all, A Picture really is Worth a Thousand Words.

So here are a Thousand Pictures (actually only 29) – with a few descriptive words and a sweet story at the end – to catch you up on our life in June… Enjoy 🙂

P.A. has been working hard in our backyard, updating the play set, fixing the pond and planting our first berry bushes.

Salem showing off a “berry smoothie mustache”. Smoothies are a summer fav!

The girls dipping the baby doll in our pond

A rare moment of stillness and cuddles, captured

Selah enjoying the water slide
Our home-made water slide – they love it!

Selah and mommy swinging 
Selah asleep mid-lunch after outdoor fun
Two squirts on a turtle…nuff said 🙂

Soleil’s last day of second grade

milk bubbles

Soleil and Daddy – chess face off

My dad and I making a home-made pizza

Adam and my dad discussing the blood type diet

Selah pretending she is asleep with Grammy

Our attempt to get a picture of the seven of us after Soleil’s recital. Failed.  

the girls 🙂

Papa and Salem

Papa and Selah

We celebrated my dad’s 60th Birthday during their visit. Salem painted his shirt – it is a picture of Grandpa

A great pic of the Grand Rowley’s with the wee Bab’s 🙂

Swinging with Grammy

bird watcher

more swinging ~ at Chestnut Ridge

Not sure how much they could see with their old fashion binoculars, lol 🙂

little monkey’s 

teaching 🙂

Salem saying good bye ~ he calls my dad “Silly Grandpa”
Last, but certainly not least, my favorite picture.  
This picture was a miracle. 
One shot. Everyone looking at the camera. Everyone smiling. A miracle people.
This was taken at Five bean~our favorite local coffee shop~just before my parents were preparing to get on the road again and drive back to Oklahoma. We snagged Tracy, the owner to snap a quick pic after we had our coffee and bagels.  During my parents visit, we kept hoping and trying to get a picture taken of all of us.  We tried different times, then at the last moment, it happened. Click!
Then another unexpected miracle.
Another regular Five Bean customer was there, an older man, wearing an OU hat (University of Oklahoma-Sooners). Turns out his kids live in Oklahoma. What a small world. 
He runs outside and grabs his super nice camera, comes back in and click. click. click. He snaps a few more shots of the seven of us. 
Miracle.
The next day, P.A. goes into Five Bean for his daily visit and Tracy gives him 3 copies of the beautiful photo our friend took with his super nice camera.  
WOW.
Not only did we have an amazing picture taken of all of us, but we now had THREE printed copies.  We kept one, gave one to the Grand Rowley’s and one to the Great-Grand Rowley’s in Oklahoma. 
I was so touched by this priceless gift. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. We rarely print out photos anymore. We keep them on our computer, so our computer will run slowly. Printing photos seems so “two years ago”.
This picture says more than a Thousand Words… 
I am so thankful for it.

Sooo… click. click. click. and document your own half written records with priceless pictures…


Bedtime Battles

1 Comment
This is Selah.

Sure. She’s cute enough…

This is Selah on drugs no sleep.

This is Selah sleeping. the ONE night she fell asleep without mommy holding her (or screaming/crying herself to sleep) in the last two months.

This is Selah sleeping with her sibs for a sleep over. in her own room. we were hoping the other two wee babs sleeping beside her would minimize the screaming.  it helped a little.
This is Selah sleeping at nap time. this is after she would not stay in her bed and go to sleep. so i put her in the pack-n-play. she screamed for over 30 minutes and finally passed out. she now knows how to climb out of the pack-n-play.  

This is Selah sleeping at bedtime. on the floor. in her room. in the living room. in the hallway. 
anywhere but her bed.

She is a stubborn child. 
so… the last two months have been slightly very difficult with Selah…
there have been many tears, screaming, yelling, and not sleeping… from me.
It all began when we got rid of her plug.

Nope. she doesn’t ask for her binky anymore.  She screams for me instead.

A few weeks ago, we had an exceptionally eventful day…  it all went down at nap time. she would not go to sleep. then she and her brother started playing together. i knew she had a stinky diaper and i was getting ready to change it when she took out all of the crayons and started dumping them all. over. the. kitchen. floor. so we mostly mommy began picking them up and in the meantime, she and her brother start play fighting. she is now lying on the floor of the kitchen. and so is her poop.

ugh. clean up on the kitchen floor. 

Before bedtime, I called Grammy (my mom) to chat while the kids were watching a cartoon. don’t worry. i’m not one of “those” moms who let their kids watch t.v. all day long. well, maybe somedays.  as soon as i got on the phone, Selah decided to begin “potty training”. she went into the bathroom, sat on the “big one” and said “pee pee”, got off the toilet, flushed the toilet and washed her hands. she did this four times in a row.  before she could waste water flushing the toilet for a fifth time, i locked the bathroom door to keep her out.  she screamed and cried.

I said, “Hold on, Mom” about 50 times to deal with selah’s potty antics during our conversation. then i had a bright idea. “Selah, do you want to put on underwear?”  She was so excited and ran into the living room to show her sibs her undies.

this was the result…

“Mom, Selah just took a sh*t on the floor, I gotta go.”  
Ugh. clean up on living room rug.
At bedtime, I nanny 911-d her.  i put her back in bed 20 times in a matter of 20 minutes, then P.A. came home from his meeting. it was impecable timing, let. me. tell. ya.
She heard the garage door go up, and became a ball of energy.  I sat at the edge of her bed and cried, until finally ~ she fell asleep.
Selah is stubborn. but Mom is creative. I will resort to lulling her to sleep with jogs in the stroller and “nap drives” – when we drive around – usually for about 10 minutes, until she falls asleep then I transfer her to her bed and she takes her nap. sound complicated? it is. but it’s worth it.
So, when the bedtime battles begin… I remind myself that in the end, Mom will Win.

Sure, there are days when i feel like i’m going to lose my mind… again. there are days i wish P.A. and I didn’t produce such stubborn children who fight sleep and poop on the floor. but we are not poop snobs.

There is peace amidst the poop.

When I am weak ~ like every single day of my life ~ God is strong.

I can’t do this anymore crossed my mind several times that day a few weeks ago, and still crosses my mind when the bedtime battles begin. some might think it’s no big deal, you’re just a mom. can’t you just take a nap the next day? your not the CEO of a large company, the head chef of a posh NYC restaurant or a General fighting in a war.

Nope. I’m not. But I AM the CEO of our household. The head CHEF of our kitchen. And a General in the spiritual war that wages around our family. 

As mom, often I set the spiritual temperature in our home.  Much of the time, the peace in our home depends on me.  I must be connected to the Peace-Giver, or the stress levels at home can sky rocket.

Stress levels and the stress triggers for human beings depends on who you are and your circumstances.  These past few months I have come to the end of myself several times. my “handling things well”. my “having it all together” went out the window.  but that’s okay. Regardless of our circumstances or who we are. Peace is Possible.


My job is to stay close to Him. Matthew 11:28-30.


How is the Spiritual Temperature in your home? What can you do to change it?

Backyardigan’s

Leave a comment
We are known to many as “The Babs Fam”… 
We are known to ourselves as “The Backyardigan’s” 🙂
Like those five animated cartoon characters who create and sing their way thru imaginative adventures…
We love our backyard.  
Our backyard plays host to many Babs Fam Adventures…

Today we had a ‘hey, let’s throw Elmo in the tree and then try crazy ways to get him down’ adventure in our backyard.  It was so. much. fun.
Selah reaching for her “Melmo”

The first attempt to getting him out of the tree ~ Adam & Salem swinging up to it (on our homemade tree swing) ~ Salem was planning to reach it 🙂

The second attempt ~ Daddy lifting up Salem to kick Elmo out of the tree 

Third attempt ~ Soleil lifted up, gave a kick ass HI-YA! but still. no. elmo

Fourth attempt ~ Selah hurled into the air by Daddy…

YES!  Elmo was finally out of the tree…

No fifth attempt of Daddy trying to lift up Mommy up to the tree and throwing his back out was needed.

But only temporarily… we just had to have the adventure again 🙂

After all, the story is still only Half Written… 

Yes, the Five Fab Babs, just like the five Backyardigans ~ love creating fun family adventures to have right in our own backyard.

What adventures have you created lately?