The times they are a'changin

I don't know about most of you but I kind of felt like we American's had it coming when it comes to the economic downturn. Most of us have little or no savings and plenty of debt - it's just shaky ground. This is a really telling video from a couple years ago - almost prophetic. Check it out.

It's time to hope that American's don't hurry and get back to spending but instead start making and saving. The Knorpp family included.

A super human's secrets

My husband Mike is one of those people that never gets sick. Truly he can go more than a year without a cough, a tummy ache, anything. Once on PBS we watched a special about these people who are rumored to exist that have superhuman immune systems. People who during the black plague were able to live all around the virus without contracting it. That night I really believed that Mike must be one of these people but a few weeks later I asked his mom about it and she said her memory was that he got sick a lot when he was young. Ok, so no super human immune system but still - there had to be something special going on. Our entire family can come down with something - sick as dogs - with Mike as our nurse, and yet he never gets sick. Sometimes I even wish he would get sick - it's tiring to see someone who never takes a sick day. I want to see him say, "I need some sleep - a break - something." But admirabley, he never does. And you'd think, "Who cares? That's great!" but it bothers me. When I think about those people who are sickly - always complaining about some new ailment I am not too impressed to say the least. I really do not want to be one of those people. I want to be healthy, robust, always ready to go - full of energy. But instead I find that I'm getting colds that he never gets - making me seem like some sickly old Mr. Burns.

Then a few weeks ago there was a breakthrough. I happened to be watching him wash his hands when I noticed something. When Mike washes his hands it's like a surgeon preparing for surgery. He gest his hands and lower wrists wet and then sudds them up all the way. He scrubs under his nails and around his fingers. Followed by rinsing and toweling so thoroughly. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed because I knew then and there that I am a lazy hands washer. I get the lower two thirds of my hands wet, a little sudsy, rinse and hurriedly dry. And Mike, though not weird about it, is a faithful hands washer. He washes before eating - even if we've just been hanging around them house. He washes all the time - but not in some OCD kind of way - just the kind of way that bugs me because I'm always in a hurry and he wants to wash his hands. He is one clean guy. So I tucked that away - not thinking much about it other than vowing that I would wash better until today Mike said, "You know, I think the difference between someone who gets sick a lot and one who doesn't is hand washing." I wouldn't have thought it really mattered except I had witnessed his proficient washing and now it all made sense to me. So I looked it up and it appears that hand washing may truly be the best way to keep from getting sick! So, maybe the difference between Mike and I isn't superhuman immunity or coolness for that matter - it's just laziness! Wait, I already knew that. I'm lazy and he's not. Oh well, at least maybe I can assert some more effort in my washing so I don't have to get sick way more often.

One more thing - though I am an admitted lazy hand washer - I am a commited after bathroom hand washer. The idea that some people use the restroom and don't wash their hands not only digusts me - it makes me mad! Maybe all of those poo germs don't bother them but they are bringing them out and spreading their nasty germs all over the place. In fact, this is my biggest pet peeve. Mike says he sees it all the time. Men come out of stalls, stalls mind you, and then walk right on out of the restroom!!!!!!!!!!! What!!!? How!!!? It almost makes me want to stop people and say, "You can't leave - you didn't wash your hands!" GROSS! Then I saw this statistic and wash truly grossed out - but I guess we're all still alive so while their poo germs may be utterly disgusting they aren't killing us. You better not be the one in three!!! Let's start a coalition fighting against people who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. You in!?

I am an American.

I don't care who you voted for - today you should be proud to be an American. In a country where a little over 40 years ago African American men and women could not use the same drinking fountains as white men and women, a country that once enslaved human beings treating them as property - that that same country has elected an African American man to hold the highest office in the nation. No matter your politics, this is a day to be proud to be an American.

Today, I am an American and hope that I am not alone in that feeling. And that perhaps remembering that we are united not by parties, religions, or races but by our pursuit of, and protection of freedom. Let's unite behind our president. Let's try an make this country better than it's been in a long time!

Andrew, the problem solver...

When I was trying to get Andrew to get his socks on today instead of playing he threatened me with this:

A: If you don't play with me I won't let you be my mom anymore."

M: Who will be your mom then?

A: Umm...I'll just get Daddy to marry another lady and she'll be my mommy.

M: Won't you miss me?

A: Ya, then I'll just bring you back.

M: What about Daddy's new wife?

A: I'll just break him out of that - I'll tell her he already has a wife.

M: But she'll be sad and she'll cry...

A: I'll just give her a baby then.

M: Who'll be the Daddy of that baby?

A: I'll just tell Jesus to that she needs a wife...

M: You mean husband?

A: Ya, but sometimes you can call it a wife.

It seems a lot of lives will be ruined if I don't play with him so I guess I better do it!


p.s. This is Andrew's hair most of the time since he spends half his day in a head stand - gathering tons of static electricity...

None of my business...

This totally is none of my business but is anyone else worried about Joaquin Phoenix?






My hope is that this is all a big experiment or a prank...but my fear is that he is totally gone crazy...

Ok, I just watched one more and realized he's not kidding and he's not crazy - he's just high...

Mid-January

Here are some updates on our life lately:

He claps


He sucks


He crawls!


School has been going really well. It's really enjoyable for both of us and I really like seeing his progress.


And at regular school they make you wear two shoes!


And this is pretty much Andrew most of the time...

My New Year's Resolution and books that have changed my life...

I like to read and I'm usually flipping through some book - especially non-fiction. I don't know why I've ended up reading so much non-fiction. I guess I need a lot of help from all those self-help books. Anyhow, there are times I pick up a book and within a few chapters realize my life will never be the same again.

I feel that way about Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning", Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover", and Jeffrey R. Holland's "Trusting Jesus" and I am now adding another book to that list. I love it when I find books like that - I get excited, wondering, "What if I'd never read this book?" or "Was I meant to read this?" I think for all of those other books I was meant to read them and I think the same for this one.

Before I tell you what it is - I've got to keep the suspense going - I want to tell you why I picked it up in the first place. I only made one resolution this year and I am totally excited about it. My New Year's resolution is to overcome fear. That this year would be a year without fear - and that I'd be leaving it behind forever.

What do I mean by fear? I mean things like worrying that my husband will get in an accident in the snow on the way home from work. Or that my kids will get kidnapped or molested. Or that when I'm walking in a dark parking lot that someone will assault me. I also don't want to worry about the future - wondering if we'll ever "make" it. I don't want to worry if people like me or if the thing I said earlier that day was stupid. I don't want to worry about anything anymore. I will still be concerned about the future but I won't worry. Worry only gives you ulcers and wrinkles. Like when I am walking across a busy street I am concerned to make sure I wait until there are no cars - I show regard to reality - but I don't give it any worry. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you are either consumed by worry or are one of those strange beings who has the gift not to worry. I think the rest of us have to overcome it.

When I made the goal I knew it would take a multi-pronged approach. I knew I'd have to have more faith in God. He told us not to worry in Matthew 6 when he said,

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

So my first approach would be an increase in faith. I'd trust that the Lord knows that I have need of all those things and I'd let him take care of the morrow.

My second approach would be good old fashioned mind control. Though I knew I needed help on this one. I have the scriptures to help me with the first approach - I needed some guidance for this second one. So I turned to the local library and searched everything from fear to anxiety to worry. Most of the books looked silly and I wasn't sure if I could wade through them all to find one that would really be true. I saw "The Secret" and thought that might fit and also saw another right before I ended my search.

It caught my eye because it is written by Dale Carnegie. I love him and think he really knows his stuff. He also wrote back in the first part of the twentieth century before a lot of hogwash entered the scene in the form of psychiatry trying to load you up with drugs so they can load up their wallets with cash. Anyhow, it is called, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." Silly title, eh? It's one of those books you'd feel silly reading in a public place. Probably because you worry what other will think of you!

So, I won't go into it too much because every line in that book is essential and moving. But it is really really good. It's like the cooler, smarter, older brother of "The Secret". It takes you through all the different kinds of worry with tons of people talking about how they overcame worry against serious odds and how it changed them. And then tells you real world application and "how to" steps. Something most books don't do. And it is that kind of stuff that keeps making me have epiphany's, you know? It should be required reading. But you don't have to take my word for it... (reading rainbow, anyone?)

Take no thought for tomorrow, or yesterday, because they aren't today. Live JUST FOR TODAY. Click here to see what I just read and to see what that means.

What lies dimly at a distance...

Two years ago next week I found out I was pregnant and pretty much ever since then I've been in that same state. I've moved four times, lived in two different states, and Mike has changed jobs three times. Yet all that time I've been the same - pregnant. It's strange to me to realize that and I often wonder if I really even remember what it's like to not be pregnant anymore.
This is THE last photo taken of me before this whole thing started. It's amazing, isn't it? Look at that intelligent face...she doesn't realize that in a couple weeks time she will find out she's pregnant and that two years later she still will be. And that for four months after that she will still be. And she also doesn't realize how much she should enjoy her smaller body - her single chin, her slimmer arms and her small chest size. She feels fat but doesn't even really know the meaning of the word yet.
This is the very next photo taken of me. It's five months later on my wedding anniversary. It's also five days after the miscarriage. Look at her now, all she wants it to be pregnant - be careful what you wish for! This girl is devastated wondering if she will ever have another baby. How absurd a thought that seems when two years almost to the date after this photo she'll be having a baby - her second since this time.
And this is the last photo in our series. I took this of myself three days before the first day of my last period. Sorry to be so open but I've told so many strangers, nurses, and doctors the date of August 2nd that it doesn't really seem that personal any more. Now look at THAT face. I'd bet that within ten minutes of this photo being taken she's thinking about when her baby weight will be gone. I know she's thinking it would be her worst nightmare to find out she's pregnant again. That's a direct quote of something I said around this time. For a while I wished I could have warned her so she could prevent something in a couple weeks but now I think I'm glad it turned out the way it did. I don't know if I could say I would go back and get pregnant on purpose but I am excited to get another one of my children.


In the end, I often find myself telling complete strangers - usually thin women - that I haven't not been pregnant since 2006. I tell them so they'll give me a break for how chubby I am but I also tell them because even I can't believe it's been that long. I never ever would have planned it this way but I wouldn't change it. It's yet another lesson in my life that you NEVER EVER EVER know where you'll be in the future. And that's a good thing - God is always taking you somewhere better than you would have gone alone...

I read this GREAT quote last week and I already having it hanging on my wall:

"Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."

Happy New Year, Ya'll!