Missing Babar

This is a picture of my grandmother, I called her Babar, at her 90th birthday party. You may wonder why a classy southern belle would be blowing a party favor while having brunch at the club. The answer seems clear enough to me--her great-granddaugther asked her to! I have spoken to many friends about how much I loved my grandmother. She lived down the street from me almost my entire life. I spent probably as many nights at her house as my own--and so did my friends. My friends knew to call me at her house if I wasn't at home. We'd all come to her house sometimes for lunch, sometimes after a football game. Sometimes we had the courtesy to call. But probably most often we didn't. She loved listening to our stories. She passed away peacefully a couple of years ago. It has surprised me how sad I have been at losing her. You're supposed to lose your grandparents. But this really hurts. I think about her almost every day. Especially now with another baby on the way--the only baby that she will never meet. I had a dream the other night that she walked by me and touched my cheek as if to say, "it's alright, I'm here." I hope she looks down on us and meets her last great-grandchild. I miss her. She epitomized Southern hospitality. She was Christian. She was gracious. She was welcoming. She was beautiful. She loved family. She loved fried chicken. She was my Babar.

And Baby Makes Three...

Wow. My husband and I just kept repeating this three-letter very insightful word. Wow. We're going to have another baby. Wow. With a 10 year old and a 6 year old, we weren't expecting to find ourselves here again. But wow. What an incredible and wonderful surprise. My mind wanders ahead 5 or so years as it did with the birth of each of my children. I imagine their relationships with each other and smile. I fast forward 10 years and imagine our house full of friends and girlfriends and boyfriends and laughter. A big, loud, chaotic, fun house. That's what I've always wanted. We are thrilled, surprised, shocked, excited, and scared. Because mothers do worry about everything that can go wrong, I worry we've tempted fate too many times with two beautiful healthy children. Are we too greedy to expect a third? Am I really too old to do this a third time? Is a third c-section healthy? I have been praying and I hope you will join me in praying for a healthy pregnancy and delivery and a third beautiful healthy baby to join the Dippel clan. For those keeping count, that's five grandchildren on my side and ten on David's. I love being this baby's mom already as much as I love being it's brother and sister's mom. Wow.

Team Dippel takes it to Germany

We have just returned from a family vacation to Munich Germany. It was our first trip to Europe and we took the kids--whew! We were visiting David's brother and his family who are living and working there for a couple of years with his company's Munich office. It was the trip of a lifetime and I see how people get the "travel bug!" David and I both want to go back just as soon as we can. What struck me the most is how young America seemed in comparison. Every building there seemed to date back hundreds of years (at least). Most had been re-built after being demolished in the war. The churches were amazing--there is no other word. I thought of what I might show folks visiting here as "must-sees." There are many of course, Barton Creek, Antones, the Capitol.....but none with the rich historical history of Southern Germany. Another thing that struck me is that I thought many times about David's brother, Daniel, whom we lost too soon to cancer in 2005. I thought about how much fun he would have had on that trip hanging out with his younger and older brother seeing parts of Germany they hadn't seen before. What a blessing to spend that time with David's brother and his beautiful family, and to expose the kids to Europe at such a young age. What a privilege! We can't wait to do it again.

Why I Chose to Become a Lawyer

I wish there were an inspiring answer to the question, "why did you become a lawyer?" The truth is, I don't remember the exact moment. I wish it were something altruistic, like an uncontrollable desire to help those in need. Yes, I have volunteered many hours for Volunteer Legal Services and it does feel amazing to help someone get disability benefits or to leave an abusive marriage. I went to Girl's State in 1987 and that was my first introduction to the world of politics. I felt exhilarated learning I won the race for DA of my dorm. But I don't think either of those experiences was the true motivation. The hard truth is that, as an immature teeanger, I probably just thought being a lawyer would be glamorous and I would earn alot of money. The reality is that it is far from glamorous. It's plain hard work that never--never--stops. You're never "finished." It's dealing with alot of jerks and knowing that to be professional means not to reciprocate. Looking back now, with hopefully a little persepctive and a touch of wisdom, what I really think led me to the law is that I have a favorite uncle who is a lawyer. I think the world of him, and he makes me feel like I mean the world to him. He is what I imagine a big brother would be like. He is a good person -- a person who tells it like it is, enjoys life, and is smart, funny, and clever. He has a way of distilling what I think are huge problems to manageable decisions. And usually with a joke. I love him dearly, I think I wanted to be more like him and I wanted him to be proud of me. I guess that's not such a bad inspiration after all. And the money's not bad.

A Religious Experience

This may be a little out there, and it's definitely personal, so sounds like the perfect thing to blog about right? ;-) We have recently switched churches. We were members of a methodist church downtown mostly because that's where my dad was a member. We made friends, felt at home, and liked it alot. However, many of our neighbors attend our neighborhood methodist church and we decided to give it a try. We've been hooked ever since. I've attended church all my life. Growing up in a small town, it was also a real community of people, not just somewhere you went on Sundays. My happiest memories are of sunday school, sitting in service with my grandmother while my parents sang in the choir, fried chicken and the cowboys game at my grandmother's, and then youth group in the evening. Our new neighborhood church feels exactly like that. The kids have friends from school there, and we have friends from everywhere there. My husband, who I used to have to convince to go to church, I now overhear inviting people to come with us. Our sunday school class is made up of friends and we talk about everything. It feels like a community and I honestly want to tell people about it. I'm happy to raise our children with our church community as their foundation. I know that same little voice that I heard as a teen will speak to them too and I hope they will make better decisions by following it. We all have lots of questions about religion, I know I do too. But I feel good there, I feel the presence of God there, and it makes our family happy. While I miss seeing my dad on Sunday, and I miss watching the kids go back and forth in the pews to sit with him for awhile, I know this was the right thing to do. God is working and speaking and we are listening.

Glory Days

I had the chance to meet some college friends for a drink this week. Yes, I'm a sorority girl. Shocker, I know. I miss those gals!! So fun to meet up with all of them again and see where their lives are now. So many have done so many interesting things. I love that it makes feel twenty years old again. We laughed and giggled about all of the fun times at the Adpi house, all the times at the KA house, all of the times at El Arroyo, Grin's, Peppers, and (gulp) Herbert's Taco Hut. We laughed like a bunch of teenagers. A friend once told me that the friends you make in college are the ones that stay in your life forever because they are the ones that YOU picked for no other reason than you had something unique in common. That's so true. It's hard to find the time for meeting up with old friends but it is so important. It keeps me young. When we get together it's as if not one single day has gone by. We just drink in more expensive places!

Suggestion box is open!

Life is hectic. No doubt. But, when is it too hectic? When does trying to create so many experiences for our kids begin to detract from the experience for which it was intended? I want to do it all. Not a surprise for those who know me. I want to be a successful lawyer to teach my kids you can be successful in your career AND successful at home. In fact, maybe more successful at home because of your outside career. But man it gets hard. As the kids get older I feel like there is so much I need to teach them! I want to introduce and help foster (but not control) their relationshp with God. I want them to learn to be charitable. I want them to be compassionate. I want to teach them how to make good choices when they're faced with tough decisions. I want to teach them that sometimes you just have to CHOOSE to be happy. The older they get I realize just how quickly those tough decisions are going to be thrust upon them. It is overwhelming isn't it? I'm taking suggestions! How do YOU juggle?