Thea’s Counting

Thea’s Counting

March 9, 2024

“Listen mom!”  Yells Thea, “listen Christina!”  She excitedly counts down from 20.  She’s been doing that for a while, but today had both of us in the living room when she was showing off.  She had just read a picture book to Laud and spelled four or five words from memory. 

“Wow, Thea! High five!” Christina smiles, “how many sisters do you have?”

“Wait!”

*excited little giggles and a hopping Thea bounds toward the barracks*

“Wait?” Christina laughs and looks at me, “there’s no one down there.” 

True.  Becky is at Pensacola.  Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, and Lucas are at gym.  I smile and laugh.  “She’s counting.”

Christina laughs harder, “she’s counting the beds!”

*Thea races in, jumps over Christina on the couch, and ends up standing in the corner of the couch* “Five!  I have five sisters because we have six beds!”

Christina is still laughing.  She pauses enough to give Thea a high five and comments to me, “she even subtracted herself from the total.”

“How many brothers do you have?” Christina challenges.  Thea smirks, “two but if you don’t count Laud, only one.”

“Why wouldn’t you count Laud?”

I’m hiding my face because Thea is conniving.  Little cheeky child looks pauses her bouncing to look straight at Christina and reply, “because he doesn’t have a bed yet, just a bassinet.”  Leaving us smiling and chuckling, my just-turned-five year old skips back to the playroom. 

I am so thankful for the joy God gives us through the smiles and laughter children bring to our home!

What cute funny antic made you smile today?

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Don’t Wait Until “Later”

Life is an adventure: Life it to the fullest everyday!

Don’t Wait Until “Later”

Time Warp Story from – September 13, 2023

Have you ever heard (or maybe even said) “I’ll just wait until later.” 

I heard it often from a couple I knew when I was younger.  They said it about getting married.  I loved them dearly and wanted them to go to heaven.  I asked him once about Jesus and he laughed and said he’d think about it later.  I saw his life of serving others and prayed he loved Jesus.  She said she loved Jesus, so I knew I would see her in heaven.  Once, (probably very tired of a child’s repeated question) he said they would get married when I did.  He died a month to the day before I was to get married.  No, they never got married.  “Later” never came for that. 

I’ve heard friends say “later, when we have enough money,” or “later, when I’m settled in my career,” or “later, when life slows down,” etc.  But those “laters” never come and “enough” is never “enough.”  Life speeds by without seeming to care.  Road bumps happen.  Sadly, I watch as life unfold, oftentimes things or experiences people want get lost and turn into regrets. 

I heard so many regrets from elders as I was growing up that I determined I would consider future regrets whenever making any decision. 

Start a flock of chickens with my babysitting money when we finally had land?  Yes! (Learned I loved farming – didn’t regret that choice)

Stay in Kissimmee on my own or move with my family?  After praying about it and feeling a “nudge” to “move just one more time,” I chose to move “just one more time.” (To Saint Augustine, 22 years ago – I met Louis here and started my family and yes we have lived in the vicinity of Saint Augustine for those whole 22 years.) Regrets? No!

Decide to marry the first guy I dated three days after our first date?  Yes!  (I said “decide to marry” not “get married to” – we were engaged 15 days after our first date and married 4 months later.) November makes 21 years.  Regrets? No!

Start our family on Christmas Eve a month into marriage?  Yes! (Even though everyone thought we were crazy) Regrets?  No!  Our little amazing first married Christmas gift will graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in less than 3 months. 

So many decisions we’ve made; some good, some bad.  There are only three I can think of that I seriously “regret” happening and one was back when I was 12. 

We can’t go backward, only forward in life.  This is why I always ask the girls when they are making a big decision (job, college, sports, life) – will you regret not doing this?  Will you regret taking that path?  Those are the questions I want them to think on. 

I challenge you to ask yourself: if you are being led to do something and you tell yourself and God, “later” for whatever reason, ask this: “Will I regret not doing/trying this later?”

If you are telling yourself you’ll do something “later” or “when you have enough” of something: ask yourself if you will regret not doing or trying whatever that is. 

A line from a movie I like says “a train won’t wait” and I’ve always translated that to be, “life doesn’t wait.”  My Daddy said we should live life with no regrets.  God gave us only a certain amount of trips around the sun and only He knows how many.  We should use those trips to serve God in everything we can without waiting for “later” and “enough.”  Have fun in your experience!  Enjoy this amazing life God has given you!  Don’t get stuck in any ruts waiting for “later.”  Pray.  Jump out of your comfort zone and see where life takes you!  One young woman I met as a missionary said she felt God calling her to be a missionary but thought, “later, after I finish college,” but her father advised her to just go!  She went!  She said it was the best decision of her life and continued to bring her boundless joy and she met so many interesting people and shared Jesus’ love with dozens of children at each place she was sent (she was part of a missionary team who traveled and her job was to put on hand-puppet shows for the children).  She discovered that she had a gift for learning languages and spoke more than 20 after three years in the field!

Love with everything you have.  Be joyful and thankful! Live life with no regrets! 

Thank you for reading.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Thanksgiving Week 2022

Much to be thankful for!!

December 6, 2022

Thanksgiving Week 2022

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for those who could come.  It lasted from November 22 (our 20th anniversary) to November 27 (Sunday).  This was our “vacation” from gym/work.  It included lots of traveling (for me, Becky, Christina, Jaquline, Lucas, and Thea), lots of fun, and lots of food!

For my anniversary, we still had to work (thank you, Hurricane Whatever in September – I don’t commit names to memory) because we had school and a make-up day at gymnastics.  This started our Thanksgiving Break because I started out just before midnight on 11/22 with Christina to go pick Becky up from college.  

This car trip was super fun!  Christina and I drove.  Lucas and Thea went with us as Kimberly had early practice (Xcel Platinum) on the 23rd (a friend played taxi), Louis still had work like regular, and Jaquline & Jillian were cleaning and cooking with Grandma Tina.  

We got home to take naps, help finish cooking, cleaning, and such.   The table was set so pretty! (Yes, that is a marble chessboard that we use as a hot plate to set the turkey on!Louis had it when we were dating and after some “accidents” happened to the pieces over the years, it was just too pretty to toss so was repurposed.)

Uncle Buddy came.  Anastasia came.  Gavin came.  Aunt Becca sent yummy desserts! We had so much fun!  Louis brought in new chairs.  (our table was used when we bought it and was missing chairs – we originally used the piano bench, but since the piano & bench are in storage for lack of room…) We played games.  Okay, yes, most were group video games or Frogger Challenge (two players, winner takes on next player…), but there were a few Boggle games and it seems we can’t have Thanksgiving fun without a campfire!

Uncle Buddy wanted to play Age of Empires with Lucas & Becky; even Louis and I joined in on a 5-person hot-seat Heroes 3 game that lasted all day (and we didn’t finish).  The kiddos (will leave anonymous which adults joined in as well) did a super-multi-player Minecraft / Imposter with phones and computers.  The shouted directions in the living and dining room had everyone else laughing! 

My Angel Eggs were a different story.  I made two platters.  I love making food look beautiful but most of the time we are short on time so I can’t.  (I used to even make everyone’s birthday cakes from scratch & even made two wedding cakes!)  Today I made beautiful piped eggs. 

One platter was gone in T-5 minutes!  Jaquline did warn us she was going to eat more than the eggs she shelled!  I love making food people enjoy.  

Being around my family when we aren’t rushed always reminds me to be thankful for them!  Uncle Buddy had prepped his head for military service (more on that next time) and Lucas thoroughly enjoyed playing video games with and snuggling with his uncle.  I am super thankful for this life God has given me and I pray my home becomes the gathering point for family and friends always on any Sunday we have family day or any holiday.  Food and good company is always a reason to gather together!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Shifting Time, Adapting Traditions

November 15, 2022

Shifting Time, Adapting Traditions


Yesterday a notification from my calendar app popped up on my phone.  It read, “Pearson Family Thanksgiving at Mom & Daddy’s.”  It was an old recurring appointment I’d just never deleted.  I guess I hoped we’d restart it someday.  The recurring day was always the 15th of November and time was set as 4pm to 7pm just because my app in 2010 with my first smartphone didn’t allow “all day” appointments to give me day-before notifications.

Why would our family Thanksgiving be on the 15th instead of the fourth Thursday of each November?

Good question: here’s the historical answer…

It started after the first year Louis and I got married.  We had just tried to do Thanksgiving at his family’s (Grandma Jeanette’s house) and then Thanksgiving at my family’s – and were exhausted and Louis complained he was too full from one place to eat half of what he wanted to taste at my parent’s house.  Same happened at Christmas!  At least the food part wasn’t a big issue at Christmas.  His family always did presents and stuff at the crack of dawn (not really, but early) and my family usually had a big breakfast, tried all the kids’ patience, setup everything, made sure all the service workers had gotten a good nights’ sleep so it was later and lasted longer.  Christmas was easy.  Morning with his family, afternoon with mine.  

Plus, as the second year holidays approached, we realized that three of us (Louis, Katy, and Becca) worked service industry and didn’t have the actual Thanksgiving Day off.  Hmm… That made the decision even easier!  I approached my Daddy with an idea: what if, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Mom’s birthday each year instead of actual Thanksgiving Day – of course, they could still do the actual Thanksgiving, but the Travel Thanksgiving Day celebration when we all got together would be Mom’s birthday.  Daddy said, “two feast days for Thanksgiving?  Great idea.”  (or something very similar to that, I don’t remember the exact words)

We started celebrating Thanksgiving with my family on November 15th, my Mother’s birthday!  It was perfect, service industry workers could easily ask and get a random day a week and a half before the start of the holiday rush (pre-Nights-of-Lights for us Saint Augustinians), and we’d always make or buy a cake for Mom!  It was perfect!  (Then we could go to our own thing or for us, go to Louis’ family celebration on Thanksgiving Day, if we were off – Louis usually tried to make an appearance; even it is was briefly.)

Lots of stuff has happened to my birth family and we’ve tried to keep that tradition alive, but it isn’t happening this year.  Instead, we are hosting Thanksgiving for anyone able from 11/23 to 11/27.  A few of our family will be in town and able to visit.  Maybe some friends might pop in over those off-days (we are off work and the girls on break from college, Louis is on call, but he’s always on call) – family and friends make for fun days full of memories!  

I smiled at the notification because it today would mark four full years since we’d gone over to Mom and Daddy’s for “Pearson Thanksgiving on Mom’s Birthday” and all my older girls remember “two Thanksgiving parties” every year!  Lucas attended some, but doesn’t remember them.  Thea hadn’t ever been.  

So many things shifted in our family that now, getting days off before Thanksgiving, when most of us are on vacation is like “really?” and two of our children are grown (okay, Becky’s not legally an adult yet, but I consider her one) so I want our home to be the gathering place.  I want to be like Grandma Jeanette, the “glue” that holds the family together.  I want everyone to feel welcome and this year we’ve officially started opening our home to anyone during holidays (it feels like we have more space even though we don’t).  Not that we didn’t say it before “oh, you can just come by” no, this year we sent out timelines to family and have offered verbal invitations to friends of our kids and their families.  I want to be the fun memory-making place – and it won’t matter that we won’t be in this house next year for any of the fall holidays, our new place will be the new gathering place.  I want to build memories so my younglings keep coming back – even if one day they show up and say, “Dad, Mom, can we do Thanksgiving at your house on your anniversary instead of actual Thanksgiving Day?” – and yes, we’ll shift with the time to accommodate what our youngsters and their growing families need… but that’s WAY in the future, right?  

(Who am I kidding?  It seems like yesterday I proposed the question to my Daddy…)

Thank you for Reading!

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

God Knows You

This week in Sunday School, our children are focusing on “God Speaks.” One of the wonder truths in our curriculum is basically that God knows you! God knows every person, He knit them together (No one is an accident!), He knows everything about their hearts, minds, and souls (Every single hair is numbered!), and He loves each of us just as we are (All of God’s Creation is beautiful!). …and enter a favorite story that taught me about that truth…

November 7, 2022

God Knows You


This week in Sunday School, our children are focusing on “God Speaks.”  One of the wonder truths in our curriculum is basically that God knows you!  God knows every person, He knit them together (No one is an accident!), He knows everything about their hearts, minds, and souls (Every single hair is numbered!), and He loves each of us just as we are (All of God’s Creation is beautiful!).  

This love is perfect and unconditional.  

One of the stories that hit my heart as a child was that of a little Irish girl who prayed every day for blue eyes.  Her family had blue eyes and she wanted lovely blue eyes!  She considered her brown eyes dull and plain.  This story caught my 5-year-old heart because I had blue eyes and loved the way God made me, but I thought the most beautiful eyes in the world were those that looked like warm chocolate drops – honey brown.  Though I’d never prayed for different eyes, hair, or other features, I understood thinking that a feature of my body was plain and thinking someone else had the most beautiful.

Every night she would pray for blue eyes and when she looked in the mirror she would be sad because she still had brown eyes.  Her mother told her that God had a plan for her lovely brown eyes.  One day the girl grew up.  She decided to be a missionary and was sent to India.  

The people of India distrusted the white-skinned, blue-and-green eyed people who spoke of only one God who loved.  The unknowns often scare people.  The young woman’s missionary group wanted to enter a temple in India to find out if the horrible stories of little girls being sold to the temples was true.  But they were never allowed in; even when they tried to disguise themselves – always their bright blue or green eyes gave them away as strangers.  

But this young missionary had brown eyes!  She dyed her skin with coffee, dyed her hair to be dark brown, and dressed as the local people.  They let her into the temple!  Her brown eyes did the trick!  There she prayed “thank you, God, for making my beautiful brown eyes!” 

This young woman was Amy Carmichael, later known by the temple slave girls as “Amma” or Mother.  Her lifelong ministry, the rescue of thousands of young girls, would never have been possible had she had blue eyes!  God knew what plans he had for her.  

Just as God knew Amy and the plans He had for her, He knows the plans He has for you, for me.  

I am a planner; I always have a range of plans for the day, the week, the year, twenty years, etc, but I’ve learned that God knows me better than I know myself and though I may make and try to follow my plans, I always have to leave room for God to change them!  

Just a wonderful thought to think upon this week ~ God knows you.  God loves you!  What does it take from you?  You just have to choose to follow Him.  (My Daddy used to say, “and that’s the simple to confound the wise.”

Thank you for Reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Encouragers: The Chaos Of Joy Mother

Encouragers: The Chaos Of Joy Mother

October 9, 2022

I’m sitting at the desk at gym, taking payments and checking liability waivers for our open gym one Friday at noon (every Friday noon to 1pm is Open Gym – basically, allow your kiddos to expend all their energy just before naptime!).  She pulls up into the handicapped parking space.  I smile. 

This woman is such an amazing encourager to me!  She has overcome more physical and medical challenges in her life than I could ever understand.  She has five little ones all five or younger and normally is accompanied by at least one nephew in the same general range.  She is such a blanket of calm mothering in a sea of chaos – and her smile!  Such joy!  She chooses joy!

I call her the “Chaos of Joy Mother” because you’d think her life with five littles zero to five years old would be chaos.  (I see some of her posts on Facebook and yes, it’s laughable, amazing, lovable chaos!) Add in farm animals, countless stunt-double-training apparatuses in their kid-ninja-warrior yard, kids turning the house into ninja training course, and homeschooling… I love her beautiful chaos!  She’s the type of calm mother I hope I am.  Minus the goat and stretching births out a bit, one of my girls pointed out that there were some family tales we turned into “The Funny Sisters” stories that are probably relatable. 

She encourages me by her love of life!  She is always doing something new or allowing her daughter to try something new.  They grow in love, life, and faith by expounding on the adventures life hands them.  This is such an encouragement to me.  I pray for them and thank God that I see her.  She probably doesn’t see herself as an encourager, but she totally is by the joy she shares!

Sometimes chaos is where you find your joy.  I know some of the craziest moments in my life are where I felt I couldn’t do anything else BUT find joy in Jesus and look up. 

While I’m driving to my first school on our afterschool pickup route, I happen to hear “Season, a Joy Bringer” and I smile at her anecdotes.  She is always focusing on how to share joy.  I feel the Chaos of Joy Mother is always sharing something she finds joyful with us – some see it as joy (like me) and some as craziness (are you kidding, you did/allowed what?!).   In our journey of life, I am super thankful for those who encourage me.  I pray I am an encouragement to others. 

I’m super thankful for the Chaos of Joy Mother because she and her little angels always make me smile with their love, wildness, and crazy adventures! 

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Thankfulness 2022

This year it may be a little premature, but I’m super excited about the amazing things. #Thankful #Gratitude #PensacolaChristianCollege #EmbryRiddleAeronauticalUniversity #LifeJourney #Children #GoodNewsChurch #WGVGymnastics #Education #Thankfulness

Thankfulness 2022

September 27, 2022

Each year I try to reflect on what God has done in our lives this past year. 

This year it may be a little premature, but I’m super excited about the amazing things.  I love to brag on what God has done!

I’ve been working for WGV Gymnastics (dream job I wanted my whole life but didn’t know it).  Louis is coming up on two years of working for Heritage Funeral Home.  I am super thankful for our Christian work environments and Christian bosses. 

Christina is happily pursuing her dream with passion, determination, and enthusiasm.  She is still at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University full time, working at WGV Gymnastics part-time, and babysitting, dogsitting, and housesitting on the side.  She is an amazing big sister!  Her little gymnasts love her!  She serves in the nursery at Good News Church at least three times a month and loves “her babies” – yes, they become hers for an hour or so.  I am so thankful for Christina!

Becky has thrown some shocking curveballs at us and is away at Pensacola Christian College.  Same state, yes, but an hour earlier in time than we are.  (Different time zone, as she’s under Alabama on the panhandle – Lucas and Thea point out on the big map on the wall at church every morning when we get their lemon tea “there’s Becky!”) I am so proud of her!  She’s exploring and learning and growing – such an amazing young lady I am so blessed to be her mom!  Thank you, Jesus, for Becky!

Kimberly can legally drive… (REALLY???  I can’t believe she’s 15!)  She’s learning so much in schoolwork academically, in gymnastics physically, and in life with maturity as she grows and takes on so much responsibility!  Kimberly’s plans are impressive.  Her determination is a trait so many people comment on to me – as a youngling, it was labeled stubbornness, but now that she knows how to focus, it’s determination.  Kimberly is a competitive gymnast at WGV Gymnastics, a gymnastics coach part-time at WGV Gymnastics, serves in kid’s ministry at Good News Church at least twice a month, and dogsits occasionally.  (She is working toward her claimed goals of saving for a computer for college this spring and a car next fall.)  I am so thankful for Kimberly!

Jaquline is Christina’s twin.  Sometimes Christina’s gymnasts see Jaquline and give her hugs saying “hi! Coach!” which makes Jaquline smile proudly and Christina jealous.  “You’re stealing my hugs!” Christina has been known to say later.  Jaquline has grown in her relationship with Jesus so much in the last year.  She serves in the church nursery at least twice a month.  She occasionally volunteers at WGV – or works cleaning to “get Christina out faster.”  Jaquline continues to work toward her goal of team gymnast someday – she loves Beam and said she wished there was a Beam only competition.  Thank you, Jesus, for Jaquline!

Jillian is facing the challenges that come with entering double digits.  The want of being treated as an adult yet the want of continuing childish foolishness.  She’s maneuvering that with the cornerstone of knowing that Jesus can lead her through anything.  She loves her kid’s ministry leaders at Good News Church.  She loves her coaches at WGV Gymnastics (she’s a competitive gymnast).  She loves her friends and I see her making some lifelong friendships, if she can hold them.  She is leaping forward in academics!  I am so thankful for Jillian!

Lucas is an unstoppable force of limitless energy!  He is always running a one-man football game where he is the quarterback, receiver, kicker, lineman, and fullback all at the same time.  When he catches his own forward pass, I’ll have seen everything.  He begs me for a brother almost every day.  He is super thankful for his “gym brothers” and his “best friends.”  I am super thankful for these young boys and young men God has set around Lucas to help him enjoy being a little boy and slowly teach him how to be a young man.  Lucas gives 110% to everything he touches.  His passion and enthusiasm will help fuel his discovery stages as he grows.  He loves gymnastics.  He loves being strong.  He loves mud and football and big trucks and being like dad.  Thank you, Jesus, for Lucas!

Theadora is no longer the baby.  She is a “big girl” or a “young lady” all the time.  Though she loves snuggling (I’m so glad she hasn’t grown out of that yet), she is quick to say “I’ll do it myself!” and proceed to do just that.  Theadora has a bold confidence that comes from running the gym at the age of two.  She doesn’t care to keep up pretences, what you see is what you get – at times like that I think of her as “Becky junior.”  This confidence and determination will carry her far.  She “signs her name” as TTT and says, “see, I’m triple T,” they are left all over Coach Heather’s desk as “swips” for Coach Heather along with who-knows-what-it-should be doodles.  I am so thankful for Theadora!

I love the stage God has us in!  I’m so thankful to be here and alive and enjoying every minute of our time together and apart.  I love our family.  I’m so grateful to see our younglings grow and become young women (and eventually, a young man)!  Thank you, Jesus, for the honor of giving life and raising children!  I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude to you, Jesus, for my totally amazing family!

Thank you for reading.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

A Writer’s Character Secret

Writing is an outlet for emotional and logical discussions for me.  When no one wants to talk about what I want to work out in my mind, I write.  I write for relaxation. 

A Writer’s Character Secret

September 21, 2022

Writing is an outlet for emotional and logical discussions for me.  When no one wants to talk about what I want to work out in my mind, I write.  I write for relaxation.  It feels fun, challenging, and often makes me happy to be in my ”book worlds” I have made up. 

For me, my “book worlds” allow me to explore things I can’t in this life.  It’s like dreaming with my eyes open.  I switch from book in progress to book in progress – I am currently working on about 18 titles actively.  My mood in real life decides whom I want to step into in my brain.  I know where each of my characters are in the stories – I know where I left them.  Thus, I reread the last few paragraphs and dive in with whatever comes next. 

Like my teenage self – lots of writing done then.  I started when my father noticed I was “wasting” my school notebooks for stories, and he suggested I type them.  I had a shoebox filled with 3.5”disks containing three or four stories each! 

Imagine:

Her frustrations, emotions, dreams, adventurous spirit, and everything hidden deep within her as she worked her way through these books were laid out in her own stories tapped at a furiously increasing pace in MS Works on her father’s computer saved on a 3.5” disk.  Her first completed story was her take on a true abortion survivor story.  She became her characters.  Her characters acted out and solved the problems she was facing.  She talked and acted her characters and plotlines out while raking, mowing, or gardening in various locations.  She was Erakk.  Fighting to keep his character sound when faced with odd decisions he’d rather avoid.  She was Jordan.  Her desperate heart cry to be understood and learn how to teach bloomed from his soul in what was to become “Web of Deception.”  She was Kelly.  She was the girl struggling to lead and keep everyone together as their tiny band of outcast survivors developed a whole new world of peace and love.  She became Kelly.  The woman who mothers with an understanding she has gained from life and full dependence on Jesus.  She was Kalina.  She boiled with anger and frustration at not being allowed to do the things she desired with every fiber of her being and ended up learning that what she really wanted was only a small step in a journey back to what her elders had advised her to reach for in the first place.  She was Ethan.  An outcast in his own mind searching quietly for a sense of belonging he thinks he can make on his own despite the true reality that those close to him care deeply for him.  She was Jamie.  Facing challenges that feel too far above his age and making choices that defy the expectations of those above him; always choosing the answer of integrity and honor.  She became Philip.  Overcoming challenges in life that happened beyond his control yet bringing everyone along and pushing his family through to success in the end.  She was Jo.  Fiercely defending her sister from evils that trick the heart and destroy those close to her – blinding everyone except her.  She was Jason.  Defending his family from evils that weaseled their way into his family from years of incorrect choices by three generations behind him that build to forcing his father into being possessed into something he isn’t – now he has to choose to believe that the threads he holds onto are his father’s true self and force the evil away. 

The stories continue.  Some are finished.  Some may never be…

A writer puts himself into the shoes of his characters and wriggles his toes around.  We walk lifetimes in their shoes.  We put ourselves in each character we create. 

I always have a character in a book or series that I consider my shadow; sometimes it is the protagonist like Jordan in Web of Deception.  Sometimes it is a supporting character like Philip Duggar in Brantley Station Saga or Kelly in The Devonians. 

Oftentimes there are bits of me in each character.  Strange thoughts…

I know, crazy writer’s brain, but that’s what I feel.  That’s what it’s like to write for me. 

If you stuck through this one, thank you ever so much for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Mama Bear Baby Wear

Mama Bear Baby Wear

Throwback Story from (October 30, 2021)

I rarely do shout-outs that are unrequested; but this one?  Oh my goodness! 

About thirteen years ago, I was looking for a handmade option to the discontinued Gerber squares I had been using for cloth diapers and found the story of the shop (discovered it online while researching PUL fabric) called “Mama Bear Baby Wear.”  The story made me cry.  The products were really neat.  I was researched PUL fabric because we had been using four washable chux from my work (a nursing home, at that time) for nighttime bedwetter pads – they worked amazing and though my work had thrown them out, we got years more life out of them!

The research on PUL fabric led to super expensive designer washable diapers made with PUL fabric, with lots of reviews about how looooong it took to dry them.  Mama Bear Baby Wear sold “washable training pants” with mixed reviews, mostly good for what I was looking for.  I wanted a washable “oh no mom!” because we don’t do disposable, she was super independent and waiting for us to get to her and remove diaper pins was just “too much,” and I didn’t like cleaning up the baby seat.  Washable training pants that held a small amount of “oops” yet were NOT “comfortable” (aka, whisked the pee away so the toddler never learns that wet is uncomfortable!) were exactly what I was looking for. 

I ordered a four pack of “odds” – bargain training pants in assorted colors that were a dollar and a half less each than the pick-a-color training pants.  See the yellow, red, and one green in that picture?  Yes, those are three of the four original pack!  I loved them and ordered the green and blues (three not pictured were washing) as part of a six pack four years later. 

 Just so you know, these weren’t “occasionally” used.  I literally used all four of them every other day for almost three months, washed with my cloth diapers (I had a toddler potty training and watched a toddler who used my cloth diapers) on hot water with regular detergent (NO softener) and line dried in the Florida sun. 

Skip to next potty-trainer.

Washed and line dried every other day again for about eight months.

Skip to next potty-trainer.  My husband started using them like diapers because we had a magician who escaped from pins but loved the training pants.  I purchased the additional six so we now had ten working pairs of Mama Bear Baby Wear washable training pants. 

Now we had a dryer!  They were washed and dried on high heat every other day or every third day with the diaper squares that we now used as spit rags.  This bout lasted almost a year and a half because we moved twice and toddler reset her potty training every time we moved.

Skip to next potty-trainer.  A friend gave me thirty washable cloth diapers with the snaps (or I would have purchased them from Mama Bear) when our son was born.  I used those until he was potty training and I switched him up to the same training pants his sisters had all used.  No dryer.  They were washed and line dried every other day for almost six months. 

Skip to current potty-trainer.  We again have a dryer!  She started potty training early and we used the same batch of washable diapers (minus a few retired ones, stash started for her with twenty-three) and nine of the ten Mama Bear Baby Wear training pants.  We wash on hot and dry on high with regular detergent (NO fabric softener or dryer sheets) every other to every third day for about eight months.  We are using them now only for gym school because I work at gym and don’t want any “mom, I forgot to quit playing and go potty” accidents to mess up the floor… she’s been potty trained for almost a year.

Still using the same nine of ten!!  Only seven of the ten are in “giveaway” condition (see the worn areas near the snaps?  Those three I consider unacceptable hand-me-down material as I only give away great condition stuff) but all of them are still fully intact and waterproof!  Five of the ten are in what I consider excellent condition! Thank you, Mama Bear Baby Wear for a dependable, perfect potty-training “pull-up” alternative that has served us for nine and thirteen years, respectively – and if we have another potty-trainer or another to hand them down to, will continue!

Thank you for reading! (Check out Mama Bear Baby Wear’s shop!)

~Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

The Day of Coincidences

The Day of Coincidences

March 18, 2022

It’s 4am, I’m jumping out of bed to the not alarm because one of the youngers turned the phone (aka alarm) on silent, and racing to start a cup of coffee. Ran the water through yesterday’s grounds to get slightly colored water – oops. Christina had to catch a flight out of JAX at 6am (Actually, 6:15, but you know) for her Women-In-Aviation conference in Nashville. Louis goes, “it’s only a 45 minute drive, you only need 30 minutes at the airport, not an hour.”

All my ECO-Ride experience and I’ve never left less than an hour of time from airport drop-off to plane departure, but you know, he drives now, not me.

New, real, coffee to make my shakeology.

Grandma, Christina, and I load up, ride to JAX, and she’s there before 5:10am. Sweet.

Not.

TSA stopped her for a box of business cards. Released from that line five minutes after her flight left.

She’s now on standby for the next flight to Baltimore because there she could possibly catch a standby for Nashville (the next direct to Nashville was at 9pm). Next possible to Baltimore is after 10am.

I go to leave for gym and Grandma sees Christina’s CAP cover in the yard. I start check-in, tell my boss we have to go back to JAX, wait til Grandma cleans said cover and loads the youngest two passengers, transfer everyone to the 4Runner, and we drive the CAP cover up to Christina with Thea singing in the backseat, “no job too big, no Thea too small.”

Two adults in the car allows for Grandma to race the cap to Christina and I’m not leaving the car unattended for a few seconds in the departing lane… Christina gets back into the airport.

Flight time comes, TSA says “we don’t like your lotion.” (It passed through inspection 4 hours ago??)

She misses this standby by 12 minutes.

Third standby… oops, we forgot to deep check your foot powder that passed inspection at 6am and at 10am… so TSA pulls her out of line again!… but for this one, she makes the plane with 1 minute to spare.

Thank you, Jesus!

She’s in Baltimore, next possible to Nashville leaves at 1645. Take a breath. A nice lady there helps her, upgrades her from standby to boarding and makes sure she gets on the plane.

Finally, I get a text at 1917. She’s in Nashville and has to find her luggage that arrived at her original arrival time of 0635.

Delays and coincidences? I don’t believe in coincidences. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was just to make sure that my CAP pilot had her cover so she was in full regs… maybe it was to teach her patience… to teach us not to worry… to show my fully independent young woman how capable she is… for whatever reason, through more than a long workday at Jacksonville International Airport and a short shift at Baltimore, she made it to her destination intact.

Originally, I was very upset with myself because, even with the TSA delays, she would have made the first plane if I hadn’t taken the extra time to brew a real cup of coffee… but then how would we have gotten her cover to her?

First passenger I’d ever driven to the airport who had missed their flight – I’d even had a woman who had to have a potty break every exit and we got turned around in GA headed for the JAX airport and she still made her flight. My brain screamed at me about that…

God’s timing. He knew the cover didn’t make it in her carry-on. He knew it was important. He knew who would be watching, who would be encouraged, by this story both as it unfolded and as you read it now.

I take a breath, remind myself to always move forward and never beat myself up for the past – If we can trust God to keep the world spinning what is hard about trusting for tiny things like airport timing and CAP covers? (oh, and my books showed up in person while we were out!)

Thank you, Jesus, for little adventures like this that remind me how everything always works out just as it should when we keep calm, move forward, and trust.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

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