Back again...maybe...

Well, lest I get any more comments from people that I haven't posted, I'm posting. We are back home in body and unpacked, mostly, therefore- life is just as crazy as it always is! The convention began last evening here so this week will be kind of hectic. Don't expect too much from this site until it's over. THat goes for you too, Diane! :-)

Ok, that's all for now...perhaps life will be back to normal and I can write soon.

Home Sweet Home..sort of

I pride myself on having a place for everything. I don’t generally get everything IN its place these days, but at least it does have a home. However, lately, the children have been relocating things and I’m not sure if they think that their “new” locations are a better place or what, but I thought people might find their spots interesting. Here are a few examples:

Coathanger: Belongs in the closet…no the toilet bowl.
Mama’s Purse: Stays on the counter…or in Jonathon’s closet.
Buzz Lightyear: Lives in the toy box…and sometimes the garbage can.
Three blocks, a puzzle piece, and a K’Nex piece (along with a host of misc. Adams’ boys toys live in the air conditioning vent.
Pinestraw has moved from the flower beds to the trunks of their toy cars.
The cookie belongs on the windowsill now instead of the ktichen.
The play money now is housed in the refrigerator.
The bath toys go in the dishwasher.


So there you have it…based on these ideas, don’t you think they would make great professional organizers!!? No? Well…maybe in a couple of years!

Insanity Rules!

Well, the ambitious bug has bit again! In all fairness, I will say at the beginning that really things haven't gone too bad considering...

But I've decided that 6 children under the age of four is a bit much for long term. I invited my two nephews to stay with us for two nights so their mother could get some rest...she's a week away from her due date of #3. We've had a jolly time of playing outside, going to the park, eatting cookies, having a pizza picnic, showers with "Uncle Brandon", movies, laundry, and plenty of late night ups and downs. They really are good kids, and quite happy most of the time as well. Both are pretty obedient and a couple of times have been good examples to my children as to what a good attitude should look like. They are 3 and 1 1/2- both boys, and so my boys think it's one big party.

Night time seems to be the only negative time...I got up 7 times last night. Twice with Rachel, Once with Jonathon, Once with James, three times with Malachi. Considering ages, it's not really unexpected for any of them...but put it all together and yikes! Fortunately, four were all between 1:30 and 2:30, and the rest were after 5am, so I did get some sleep in there...but I'm praying for a good night tonight...we'll see.

I think what makes it doable is just throwing almost everything else to the wind and saying, "How can I make sure they have a good time?" Once I have the attitude of focusing on them almost totally, then the job is ok...it's when I'm trying to get all sorts of housework and stuff done that it becomes stressful...so praise the Lord for Mama's who teach their children to obey- it's a blessing to the rest of us who have to be around them!
Now I'm off to bed...cause who knows how long it will last!?!

You Can't Win Them All

At least, I haven't this week. Wednesday, I came home with the children from going to church with my mom and James immediately went to scrub out the toilet...with my hairbrush! Arg! Children: 1, Mom: 0. Then Thursday since we had been doing a lot of things during the week I needed to do some housework...so I told the kids I wanted them to help and made a little list of things to do- with pictures and we tackled the stuff. Jonathon vacuumed the living room, sort of, James got to scrub his toilets- with a toilet brush, they took the sheets off the beds, threw the launry down the stairs (great fun and actually helpful), wiped off the table, loaded the dishwasher, and picked up the toys. This evened the score to: Children:1, Mom:1...almost. I actually bribed them to do it with a movie as pay at the end...so Children:2, Mom:1.

Today, I decided to take a nap when they did and I fell asleep only to wake up 5 min. later to James coming out of his room. I went and "took care" of the problem, then went back to lay down...4 times. In James defense, he only got up three times, Jonathon got up once. After #4, I decided that they probably were just going to do this for the rest of nap time, so I resigned myself to being awake, drank an ice coffee, and then went to tell them they could go play outside. Jonathon was quiet and on his bed and was happy to get up and go outside, but James...was asleep! Children:3 Mom:1

Now I'm looking forward to an afternoon of cooking SOMETHING for dinner and then on to whatever kind of Sabbath I can get...relaxing or not..it does come every week and I'll take it!

Splitting Hairs

I have been the recipient of plenty of splinters in my life, but lately, I seem to be attracting a different “thorn in the flesh”. How it happens, why it happens to me, and why no one else seems to have this problem is beyond me, but nevertheless, it is quite agrivating. This particular thing happened several months ago when I was home and I thought it was merely an off the wall, accident. Now, I’m beginning to think that maybe I just have some personal problem.

I get HAIR stuck in my feet! This is not a joke. Has anyone else had this problem, because Brandon thinks it’s worthy of a good laugh and snicker at the ridiculous. Actually, I think he has decided that it’s just my way of getting attention and creating something to do instead of housework, but HE’S WRONG!!!! Hahahaha!

Anyway, the point is, that twice today I have gotten a hair splinter. I cut the boys’ hair yesterday evening and swept up, but as anyone might know who sweeps up hair, you can NEVER get all of it. So, this morning I found a tiny little speck of it in my foot. I didn’t find it because of my over zealous desire to caress my foot mind you, I found it because I took a step and it felt like there was a needle poking into the bottom of my foot. Then, this evening, I had yet another one. ARG! HARRUMPH!

So, since I am a victim in this situation, in order to avoid any more hair balls and to escape being accused of hair brained ideas, I will go on a hair cutting strike…for at least 5 weeks…except for maybe W. C.- if he’s desprate. J

Hence, my tale ends.

And Ye Shall Know Them...

...by the quality of their communion bread.

Did you ever have communion and have the most delicious stuff ever. You know the kind that you secretly hope that they pass the plate down your row a second time, but at the same time, you wonder if there is something sinful about wanting more communion bread? Ok, maybe that's just me. Anyway, I've had some good stuff before and now I've been deligated the task of making it for church.

I made it last month, but I got into trouble because I used "Southern" flour. Now, before all you northerners start cackling away, there is a such thing as Southern flour, it has more starch and less proteins and thus, dilutes with less water. Last time I made communion soup and had to add quite a bit of flour to make up for it! This time, I had regular flour and it seems to be ok so far. Right now I am waiting for it to come out of the oven.

Anyway, the point of this blog is that I am ready to acknowledge that I am not cut out to be a "pastor's wife". Or at least, my impression of that role. I yell at may kids- even when I am living in a "parsonage". (Isn't there something sacred about that??) I also had major problems today- the Sabbath- the day of rest- no buying or selling. Ok, so we went to the grocery store THREE times today! Arg! Partly because I didn't plan ahead, partly because I ran out of a couple of key ingredients and partly because when at the store we forgot said key ingredient and had to go back!

I also didn't rest very much. I let my ambitious monster that lurks in the back corners of my brain get out and run wild. I have been gearing up for a baby shower for my SIL tomorrow and I needed cake, decor, and my contribution to pot luck dinner. I decided that I should to a cake, but also make little petit fours (minature cakes for each individual), and get flowers, and decorations, and fix it all up, and then there is the communion bread on top of all that. So, most of my Sabbath has been rather busy. I enjoyed much of it, but busy...

The cake turned out alright. After the grocery store trips, the fruit tray for pot luck was ok. I got the flowers and the balloons and set up decorations, but after quite a few hours of effort throughout the day, the stupid little cakes met the garbage can with a huge sigh of relief and no guilt! It was silly really- an untried recipe that didn't work as it should have. Alas, people really should TRY what they write down to make sure it works! I should give the writer the benefit of the doubt and mention that I could have misread the directions all seven times I read them, but I'm not in the mood to do so. So it's all done now, though I will happliy put the overly ambitious monster back to rest as soon as I get out of this kitchen!

And I'll leave the gourmet communion bread to more qualified pastor's wives who are "Practically Perfect In Every Way" (Ahem, dust off your halos now you wonderful saints!)

How ya'll doin?

Since we dun had ire fam'le reunion, I thawt I'd share a bit o' sumpum about it in the language we spoke while thar.

Ya see, ma mamma's fam'lae wuz thar thu hole day visitin and carrin own like we'd jist seen em not too long afore that. We allz had us a pritty gud time talkin, lafin, and sum swimmin too. We got thar a leetle afore lunch and sat diyawn to steak, taters, sum fancy kind o salad, and lots o dzerts. It wuz pritty good stuff if I do say so myself, and o corse I do!

After we had sum o that grub, sum people wint ayowt ta go swimmin. I tell ya that lake's pritty nasty these days cause tha pump pulls tha water awf tha bottom an takes tha cold withit, so all's left is that nasty warm stuff an ya fill like ya swimmin in a steamy pot o muk. Well, I din't swim then, but them folks tell me it twernt so bad as all that an sumhows it got sum cold in thar agin. Most tha kids played all afternoon, but we aaadults sat in the shade and shot tha breeze. One o them kids that wuz thar sided ta sleep on thars uncle while he wuza sittin thar an yood a thawt she wuz dayed cauze she'uz so still and all.

Brayondin stayed on up at tha house most a tha day and did his vistin in tha air conDItionin. All in all we had a mitey nice time. We even got ta stay long enough sos they fed us sum suppa to! We got that steak for the second time round an wernt very sad bout that neither. It wuz good stuff an I thank we coud eat liek that everday- ifin weeze rich folks and all.

Weyl, that's bout it. Ituz a fun time and my folks did a good job a puttin on tha dog an all. Thangs look reel nice and itus grate seein everbady! I'z only wish weeze were ariyownd when theys all do thar Chrimas thang, cauze then they go on over to Jan's an ride them fo-wer wheelers and them thangs is fun!

Naw, rilly I like ever one of um and wish I coud see um moe offen.

That's all.

Ok, now that's out of my system and I can move on to other things, like the children being sick on Sunday and the great weather we're having, and Brandon's obsession with tornadoes, and the rain outside- no wait now it isn't raining- oh, nevermind, it is agai- nope....we'll you get the picture. It only rains out there today when I am out there trying to do something. So... now that I've mentioned all the other things, I'll leave you with the last comment I heard James say for the evening:

"This is my spaceship. I will TAKE it!... Hello! Talk!... What!? This is a plastic! I am a airplane. I can fly up in the air...I can walk on my wheels, YES SIR! This IS a plastic...."

Ok, so he's not stopping anytime soon, but I am!

Saturday morning bliss! For the first time since we've been down here, all the children slept through the night on a Friday night! And this morning they are enjoying Robin Hood on our little DVD player (happy birthday to me). Praise the Lord for sleep! 

Rachel's Dedication last Sunday, take 2. 

Rachel's Dedication last Sunday. 

Stories of Yesteryear

In honor of some of the childish stunts my little ones have pulled recently, (pouring gasoline/oil mix all over the garage, waking me up 4 times a night for the last week, walking on top of the piano, pulling Jeff out of his crib and dumping the whole thing over, hammering animal crackers into the carpet…etc…) I’ve decided to write a post about some things I remember doing as a child that probably didn’t thrill my parents- if they ever knew about them. So sit back, relax and enjoy some “stupid” ideas.

TRANSPORTATION
When I was about 5, I remember living at our house on Lake Dow Road- a brown split-level house that had an asphalt driveway on one side and a gravel turn-around going through the front yard. I also remember when it changed from dirt to gravel. Anyway, the driveway went straight back to the left side of the house and then curved right and went down a little hill to the carport where the house actually was. Because of this hill, we had to get our toys up to the level driveway if we wanted to play for any length of time.

One day Jeff and I were playing on the driveway with a wagon and a high chair. I’m not sure whose bright idea it was, but somehow we ended up with the high chair in the wagon and me sitting high and mighty on top. Jeff was pulling as hard as he could and down the driveway we went - about 5 or 6 feet and then I fell out and scraped up my knee pretty bad. In fact, I had a scar there for years after from that stunt.

ART WORK

When Roy was about 18 mos. he broke his leg falling off a slide about the same height as the one at Fairwood. It was that big thick bone that’s hardest to break, but forgive my ignorance in bone names - that thigh bone. So there he was with a cast from his waist all the way down one leg and halfway down the other with a hole in the middle for changing diapers (ewwww!) So there he was one day, laying in his special chair in the carport, I suppose getting some fresh air, when I noticed a great neglect - no one had signed his cast!!! Well, I took quick steps to remedy this. (I was 7) I went and grabbed a couple of markers and went back to Roy to sign his cast. I should mention at this point that I am confident that my father was standing less that 6 feet away from me grilling something, but of course, he had his back turned to me. Sign away, that’s what I did. When I had accomplished my name I stepped back to admire my work and realized that it looked silly with just one name on there. So, I fixed that problem too. I wrote some other names on that cast. Daddy, Mother, Jeff, Frank, Molly (dog), Danger (dog), Roscoe (cat)…on and on. I wrote my friends names from church, and many others that I could think of. As I remember, I had just about covered the top of the entire cast with names when my Dad turned around and saw what I was doing. I don’t think he was happy because he took my markers away and said something about people writing their own names. I was a little disappointed - mostly because I wanted him to have names there and all those other people weren’t there to write their names. I was being helpful! *Ahem*

TRUTH

The next one is about my creativity. First, the time that I “won twenty dollars”! You see school had just begun and I was in the third or fourth grade - I’m not sure which, but as usual, Jeff and I ended the summer with our birthdays and then we were off to school for the fall. It was sometime during the fall quarter that the school had a lady come and present a program to the kids called, “Bet You Can’t Do That” In her show, she had all sorts of tricks that “couldn’t be done." I’ll explain more in a minute.

When I came home, my mother found twenty dollars in my back pack and asked me where it came from. I told her about the thing at school and how the lady asked for a volunteer to come up and stand next to a wall. She put a twenty dollar bill on the floor and said, “Bet you can’t pick that up without bending your knees or falling over.” The idea was that if the kid could pick it up, he could keep the money. Looked easy to me, so I told my mom that was what happened. At the time I was very flexible and limber and could put my limbs into a number of weird shapes. (Ok, an example - lay on your stomach, with most of your weight on your neck and raise your feet up behind you, curling them so that you place your feet in front of your shoulders on the floor. Sort of like a backwards circle.) Anyway, I figured that standing next to the wall was easy enough, so that’s what I said. My mom called the school to see if anyone won the money and the receptionist blew my cover and said that it was an impossible trick and that no one could do it.

Mom came back and said I was lying. Where’d you get the money? Well, I found it on the playground in a tire. Why didn’t someone else find it, she wanted to know. Well, because no one else was playing on that, of course…

To make a long story short, I finally confessed that I had stolen the money out of Jeff’s dresser drawer because for my birthday I had gotten a new wallet and I wanted to show it off at school with some money in it. Needless to say, I got a spanking and worst of all, I had to give the money back. I think about that lie now and realize just how stupid I sounded.

But, just in case you think I learned my lesson, in sixth grade I had another battle with truth. (Of course all in between too, but this one was dumb.) I always rode the bus from my school across town to the Elementary School and then walked across the street to my Grandma’s house where my mom would come and pick me up. One day, I stopped to visit a friend’s mom in the Elementary School and then ran as fast as I could over to Grandma’s house to make up for lost time. I should mention that it was OK for me to visit with this person and I had done so in the past and would not have gotten in trouble for it.

For some reason, when I got to Grandma’s and she asked me why I was out of breath, I said, “The bus driver kicked me off the bus down at the chiropractor’s office and I had to run the whole way here so I wouldn’t be late.” (Oh WHY, WHY, WHY?) This began quite the ordeal in our house, because Grandma was horrified that I had been kicked off the bus “for no reason” and then my parents got involved. I remember being up late that night, sitting on my white canopy double bed, crying my heart out, begging my parents to believe me that I did get kicked off the bus. I think the scariest moment and also the moment of confession came when my Dad stormed into my room with the school handbook opened to the page about bus drivers and regulations. He told me that the bus driver would be fired for doing such a thing and that I had better tell the truth because that driver was going to loose his job if what I was saying was true. I broke. I told them everything as accurately as possible. The only trouble was, they didn’t really believe me because the truth had no motive for a lie. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Oh, the agony of that day! What a stupid thing to do. The truth wasn’t even believable. I got a spanking for that one and for a long time afterwards my parents didn’t know what to belive. So much for creative stories…they can get you in pretty big trouble.

There you have it: stories from my childhood to show that I guess my children come by their silly ideas honestly. And what ever doesn’t match up with me, they get fom Brandon. He’s got some good ones too, only he was more sinister in his ideas.

Yesterday's Top Quote

Jonathon shoved James into the bench at the fireplace. James cried and Jonathon said, “I’m sorry James.” James, wailing, replied, “I just want you to let me die!”

Jeff has a slight obsession with having his picture taken! 

Grandmother and Rachel 

Fun at Grandmother's house: Jonathon, Aunt Ruth, & James 

Jonathon's Art Work 

TGIF!

This has been a fun week. We had lots of time visiting. Pari and Joshua came over for the day on Wed. Dan came for dinner. Bruce and Jeff Lyman saw us in the evening and spent the night on the way to FL. They took us out for a yummy breakfast the next morning- all of us. ( I got one of those “proud parent” comments, “You have very well behaved children!” Whoooo Hoooo, that just makes all this work worth something. It’s nice to know that even though I’m in the middle and can’t see them being good for all the wrong things I continually correct, someone else can see it. Ahhh, what a blessing!) Ok, anyway, we also spent an evening with my family. My Dad taught me how to cook on a charcoal grill. Yes….that’s right- I’ve been spoiled all my life with a gas grill (one that was on the house gas, not a can, so I just turned it on, and lit it. Wala- a hot grill. So he taught me how to do it so I could cook out more often. It rained- I mean poured the whole time we were cooking the hamburgers and then as soon as we were done, it stopped raining. Today, we went to see good ole Aunt Bertha. She’s 102 yrs. Tomorrow. We celebrated with cupcakes and ice cream. The boys climbed the magnolia tree like I used to when I was little, and they picked figs from her tree in the back yard. We sat on the back porch in the old rockers and I felt like I was taking a step back in time about 50 years to when people sat on their porches a lot more oftern around here.

Then, for lunch we visited the McDonald’s on the corner- which has a great Playland and the boys got tons of energy out and left it there. (James got McDonalds and Aunt Bertha confused and kept calling her Aunt Donald. She thought that was hilarious.) So, then naps, a bit of preSabbath cleaning and now I’m looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow of…hmmmm…..kids, dishes, toys, and uhh…waking up early. Doesn’t that sound relaxing. It does to me, Brandon will be off to help! Yipee!

Happy Sabbath! Oh, and Happy 25th Birthday Ye Olde Twitterpated One!

Blog Spam!?!

Ok, I had no idea just how abnoxious people could be! Who could possibly sink to this level of BLOG SPAM! I'm so frustrated.

And while writing this I discovered that Jonathon made some lovely murals on the walls in the basement apartment here. He found a black permanent marker under the couch down there. How wonderful. Actually he hit eight different locations with his weapon. I took pictures, so I'll post them soon. Thankfully, those are about the only walls that haven't been freshly repainted. I hope we can get it off... Argh!

Another week down the...twirly slide.

Caution, this is long.

OK, I should really post more often because when I do get around to posting, I feel as though I have a book to write about all the things that have happened to us since the last time I wrote. (Let that be a lesson to all you slackers out there- it gets harder the longer you wait.) Now that I have successfully given myself a little lecture, I will proceed with more interesting information. Let’s see, I’ll start back with Monday…I should mention that this process involves getting out my calendar. Frankly, I can’t remember that far back in my life these days…anyone know why??

Ok, Monday- Jeff went to the chiropractor. I’m happy to report that he is doing much better since he has been. He was doing this weird crook-the-body-to-the-side thing everytime we picked him up, so that’s why we went in the first place. The dr. said his atlas was way out of line, so he used some little thing that looks like a steel syringe with a rubber ball on the end to punch his neck lightly. It worked like a charm. Jeff no longer curls over to the side and whines every time he’s lifted. Yeah. Of course, this was his second trip and we were just having it slightly adjusted. We also attempted to cut grass on Monday. I mowed some with the push mower- trimming stuff, and Brandon attempted with the lawn tractor, but the belt on the mower deck broke and we had to order one to be picked up the next day. The only other thing on my calendar from Monday is a note to take out the trash. This has to be a calendar event here otherwise, I would never remember that we have to haul it to the street. Since that has no story to it, we’ll move on to Tuesday.

Tuesday, my Grandmother came over and we had a nice time visiting with her. She watched the kids play for a while and then insisted on doing some work around here. I grudgingly handed over all my ironing (haha- no grudges to be found) and she did it all! Hooray, all the church clothes ironed BEFORE Sunday morning- what an idea! She also stayed and had lunch with us. That was a fun time and we hope to repeat it in the future! Tuesday afternoon was grass cutting. I think you can actually get out there and watch the grass get taller it’s growing so fast right now. Ok, before we cut, we got to put the mower together. That was fun (ahem…). Both of us spent quite a while crawling around on the garage floor trying to figure out how the belt went on, getting the tension right, putting the bolts and pins in, taking things apart again and then putting them on correctly, and then we cut some grass. Brandon decided he should use the lawn tractor and I should do the trimming. I’m starting to understand what those first year Bible School guys feel like when someone says, “Ok, why don’t you start there.” (Pointing to the bank-of-death) In Brandon’s defense, I should say that most of what I did was on level, or almost level ground- and I quite enjoyed it.

Wednesday, we had the whole world here. Diane R. stopped over for the night on her little road trip, Bryan and Sarah came for a little visit around lunch, Julia and Paula Y. came over with a neighborly hello and fresh homemade bread (yummy), and Roy dropped in for something, though I don’t remember what now. Diane later treated our family to Chick-fil-a for dinner. We ordered it and brought it home- and a good thing too, cause it was raining cats and dogs out there and you could almost here them barking! Well, it was really heavy rain (in fact, today is the first day that I remember it not raining at all since we’ve been here!) and I couldn’t hardly see the cars in front of me for the pounding of droplets. Brandon said that while we were out, lightning hit across the road and that and the thunder were so loud that the entire house shook! Pretty impressive stuff if you ask me! I’m convinced that there is a God just by watching the weather!
So dinner was great and we had a lovely visit with Diane. Brandon had mid-week meeting and then we went right on to Thursday.

Thursday I did some boring household stuff and then the boys and I had lunch at the park with a friend of mine and her two children. Jeff refused to play or sit, or eat, so he went home (the park is across the street from the house- very nice) Jonathon and James stayed and had pb&j sandwiches and cold green beans. For all those that think I tortue my kids by “making” them eat cold green beans, I’ll just say that this is a coveted snack at our house and you should try it sometime. It has to be “Del Monte Whole Blue Lake Green Beans” from the can. You rinse them off, put them in a pot, cover with water, add some chicken boullion, and cook them until their good and dead. Then they are yummy little things and it’s very much like chips- no nutritional value whatsoever! So there- green beans it is. My Grandma also made dinner for us that day and I went to a visitation for a funeral. (A Sunday School teacher of mine from way back when passed away.)

Friday was another day to cut grass. You see, the grass was again tall enough to lay out neat rows of hay. Of course, the mower wasn’t cutting right, so we investigated and Brandon discovered that the bolt was on upside down. After that little problem was solved, it worked like a charm. Of course, working on it took just long enough for me to do all the trimming and the banks with the push mower J. I rested that afternoon and Brandon did the rest of the lawn. That evening Grandma and Aunt Claudia came for a visit and we had ice cream. Then the Sabbath was upon us and we collapsed in to little heaps in the middle of the room. (Not really, but rest was looking mighty nice)

In honor of the Sabbath, James decided to begin the day at 3:45am. We put him back to bed and Jonathon as well after James woke him up. Actually we put James back to bed about 4 or five times before I gave up and just stuck them in front of a movie. Brandon and I ignored them until about 8:30 when playing progressed to a noise level that was prohibitive to sleeping. We then, in our sleep deprived state, immediately deciced that it was the perfect day to take our children- all four of them- to the Atlanta Zoo! We cleaned and prepared and around 11am, we finally headed out for the animal kingdom. I think it was a good trick actually. It wore them out so that by the time they got in bed that night, they were “plum tuckered out”. They really enjoyed the animals and paticularly the turtles, snakes, and elephants. We got to see the elephants being weighed and doing tricks and that was pretty impressive.

Sunday we died. Not really. Brandon had a sermon, which he preached to a small audience and we ate a quick lunch of chips and cheese, all “God’s chillin’” took a nap. Brandon and I got a little nap also! Whoooo hoooo! After naps, we headed to Dan and Pari’s for dinner. Dinner was yummy lasagna. We also watched the boys (ours and Joshua- almost 3) bash and try to drown each other in the pool. Since the fathers were watching this and not saying anything, Pari and I just decided we better not pay attention. They actually swam before dinner, so were all cleaned up and dressed to eat. After dinner we relaxed for a bit and James found himself standing in the pool again, fully dressed. Later he told me, “I’m all wet. I stepped in a puddle.” Huh! A puddle. Really!?! We took a walk down the street together and that was the most interesting part. While we were walking, there were a couple of black guys doing stunts on their bicycles going the other way. James commented on them, but did he say, “Hey, look at those cool guys doing stunts on their bicycles. I wish I could do that.” NO. He says in his QUIET VOICE, “HEY LOOK AT THOSE MONKEYS!” Ahhhhh……children…….are so embarrasing! I actually don’t think the guys heard him and I’m thankful, because otherwise, we all might be murdered tonight. James and I had a nice little argument about whether they were really monkeys or people. Just in case you wonder, I was for them being people and I finally won James over to my side. After our walk, we had some delicious dirt cake and then headed home. Children went to bed. Phone calls were made. Last minute things taken care of. Blogs updated. And now I’m looking forward to feeding Rachel and going to sleep. Perhaps this week will be equally interesting! And maybe I can tell you in shorter write ups than this one.



*Whew*
PS- Happy Birthday Gretchen!

"We are here, we are here, we are here"

We arrive safely in Georiga this past Wednesday. I’m happy to report that except for some crankiness on behalf of the wife, everyone was pleasant and the trip went very well. On Wednesday we left the hotel a little after 7am and drove until around 10:45 at which time we stopped at a McDonald’s we discovered on a previous trip with a great playland. We didn’t’ stop for long though because it was being hosed down and washed, so we jumped back in the car and kept on going until it was closer to lunch time. We finally stopped for lunch at a rest area and had leftover cold pizza from the dinner the night before. I was quite proud of myself for eatting cold pizza and saving all those pennies. (I hate cold pizza- so somewhere in heaven there must be an extra treasure for that effort right?) Ok, so we ate pizza and then stopped in the late afternoon at a Burger King that had a playground. We each got a shake and the boys played. They had an especially good time because the found a puddle inside the tunnels and decided to wallow in it, so we changed some clothes before we left. That day was also James’ birthday and I continually told him “Happy Birthday” the whole day. Most times he would reply something like, “NO! Don’t say that! It’s NOT my birthday!” And then I would laugh at him.

We arrived at the parsonage around 6 pm to find that we couldn’t get in because some wonderful family members had taken the key, but thankfully we found a way. After that it was all about settling in and the family memebers came and repented of their errors and paid for their transgressions by staying and helping us unpack. Actually, they cleaned out the van, unloaded the last of the stuff, played with the children, fixed dinner, unpacked the kid’s suitcases, and cleaned up from supper. So, I’d say they more than made up for the key issue and all in all it was a pleasant transition into our temporary home.

Thursday, I finished unpacking the suitcases and we also had a small party for James. My sisters made a cute cake with a train going around the edge of the top and balloons and people on top that sort of looked like a circus theme. We had sandwiches and cake and ice cream and then James opened his presents. He got a soccer ball and foot ball, some Kid K’nex, and a huge Buzz Lightyear. Several people were very generous with their gifts and he’s been having a blast with his stuff every since. That day, my sisters were over later in the afternoon and helped me label all the clothes I brought to put into a clothing sale. They were all done really quickly and then they loaded them up and took them, so I didn’t have to think about them anymore. That was marvelous!

Friday, I took the boys to “Grandmother’s” house. That would be my parents house. We planned to go swimming, but when we arrived, the boys were so interested in all the toys they had in the den that we were there for about and hour before we could coax them into getting into their suits to swim. Well, swim we did. Jonathon especially had a good time paddling around in the water. James mostly just wanted to play on the steps and Jeff liked being carried around in the water everywhere. I went under water with Jeff once and was pleased that he didn’t come up screaming. All of my boys seem to be a little timid around the water, but I think that’s just because it’s not familiar.

Today, we are planning to go to the park across the street. They have already been once, but were going again and having lunch there.

Tomorrow should be a pretty busy day, but I’m looking forward to it. Brandon will be preaching, there is a pot luck, then I go with mom to shop at the clothing sale, and I’m sure we’ll come up with something else for the evening- like I think they still have sports in the yard here. So, that’s been our activities thus far. I’m not too overwhelmed yet and so far the children have been pretty well entertained with the newness of things. There are the little learning curves- Jeff isn’t in a crib here, and the boys don’t know what’s off limits, but it’s all coming along nicely.

One nice thing that has made the transition smooth is all the work my family put into making it comfortable for us when we arrived. My Grandmama brought over groceries and other necessities for laundry and kitchen so we wouldn’t have to do a major groceries trip for a while, and my mom sent over toys, books, extra dishes, some kid friendly things like a plastic tablecloth, and plastic cups, a crib for Rachel, and many little misc. things that just make living with a preschool club easier.

Well, that’s about all I have time for right now- but you get the idea. There are some hurdles, but things are going reasonably well and for that I thank many people and give God the glory for smooth sailing thus far.

Trip Update

Since we have internet at the hotel, I wanted to say, we arrived in VA safely at our hotel around 6pm. We had Pizza Hut deliver and that took care of dinner needs. Later we took a walk so the boys would expend some energy and then we came back for bedtime. I tried to pack light for the overnight stay...I also got to wash some clothes at the hotel. I packed ONLY 4 outfits for Rachel for these two days and she went through three of them today :-( I had to wash so she would have something to wear tomorrow if she messed up the outfit she's currently wearing. Of course, since I went to the trouble to wash everything she probably won't get a spot on her for next three days! Oh well. It's done, just in case. To bed, to bed...and then back in the car.

On our way

Tomorrow we head out into the wild blue yonder for the land south of the Mason Dixon. We're looking forward to fresh peaches, warm weather, and central air conditioning. Of course, there are people there we want to see as well. We'll be there for about 7 weeks. So, while I may not blog for the next few days of travel, I'll be filling you in on our events down there as I can.

For now, the job is pack, pack, pack....oh, wait- that's not how it goes here. Here, it goes like this:

"Jonathon, go get your blanket. (pack) James quit throwing boxes down the stairs (go get boxes back) Jeff don't close that door again (open the door) Jeff please don't dump out the laundry basket, all those clothes were folded already (get said basket and reinsert clothes) (pack) (feed Rachel) Boys, I need you to quit playing Captian Hook and Peter Pan with coat hangers- it's too violent for me right now. (Take hangers away, then pack) Ok, time for lunch!"

At this point, packing consists of Rachels clothes pulled out on the bed- some of them anyway and the last loads of laundry in the washing machine. You may wonder what I'm doing typing on the computer if I have all this stuff to do.

Well, I'm preserving my sanity. A couple of minutes of down time and then I'll get back to the race...right about...now. (Don't worry- it's not quite that bad, just almost. :-)

Jonathon "popping" the flowers. 

James putting his marshmellow gun together. 

Jeff entertaining himself. 

Rachel-2months & smiling 

The Squirrel and stuff

For those of you who were attempting to hold me to my word on a post yesterday regarding this squirrel, my apologies. But I'll give you the details today.

Toria actually found the thing, but I think she was hesitant to remove it herself. When I saw the poor creature, he was about twice his normal size, very wet, and was stinking up the hallway! I will comfort Diane R. by saying that this squirrel was not found in her apartment, though perhaps it was the culprit who stole her candy last week and thus has reached an end it fully deserved!

Ok, so the squirrel was found....drowned in the toilet! UGG!!! That would be bathroom three of the women's quarters in the main house. He was as stiff as concrete when Brandon removed him to a more appropriate location and oozing stuff into the toilet water. It was gross! Of course, the boys really enjoyed seeing the sight. While Brandon was trying to figure out how to remove it from the water, he mentioned using my hot dog tongs. For those of you who occasionally dine at our house, I am happy to report that my hotdog tongs stayed safely hidden in the drawer and he used some pliers instead. The squirrel is now buried ( in the most liberal way possible) in the woods somewhere nearby and stinking up some other creatures abode no doubt. I'm thankful it's out of the house though!

This squirrel reminded me of another we found when we had been here for about a year. We have a stash of stuff in the attic that I occasionally dig through to find some long lost item that I want. One day, I was moving some things around and discovered that some staple goods we had moved from GA had been stuck in the attic, only all that was left was the box and the plastic bags. Later we found the contents stuffed into various items for storage- like split peas in the ice skates...haha.

Ok, so anyway, another time I actually found the squirrel- dead for some time. You see we had this plastic that goes over a table to protect the surface. It's clear plastic and it was in the attic, rolled up and standing up next to our stuff. One day Brandon went up there to look for something and lo and behold, a squirrel had gotten into the middle of the plastic roll, but alas, it was too slick for the creature to clumb back out, so there he was- dead as a dodo- inside the roll, about halfway up, with is paws and legs spread out and plastered to the sides as if he had been holding on to that spot for his life hoping he could inch up a bit more after he got his breath- only I guess he never did.

Ah well, if those rodents would just find their own house and leave ours alone, they wouldn't get into these predicaments!


Also for today's blog- our family went to Adam's playground for the morning. It was a great excursion and I'm happy to report that it was much more successful that our last attempt to go to the playground. The last time was a couple of months ago and when we arrived the playground was missing. I am not making this up- the entire playground was just a big parking lot! Well, they relocated the playground and got new equipment for it. Now it's next to the pool (where there was a swim meet happening for youngsters- quite fascinating) and there are tons of slides and climbing things as well as some shady areas and picnic tables for the old folks. There are also some great swings. So, we had a jolly time there, at an early lunch and came home in time for naps. Whooo hooo!

Naps....ahhhh....Happy Sabbath to me!

Funny Stories and Amusing Situations

Jonathon fixed me "breakfast" in the sand box this morning. What looked like a leaf with sand on it was actually "bacon with gum and baking powder"!? And then he pulled up a bucket of sand and asked me if I wanted "chocolate eggs"? I'm encouraged to know he will have some creativity in the kitchen, but I hope I can stomach his creations!

Anybody need a door shut? Let me send Jeff to your home. Recently, he has had a major obsession for closing doors. There is one door that he particularly loves- Jonathon's bedroom door. That's because he can slam it and it bounces back open. So, much to his delight, he slams it over and over and over and over. Ahhhh....I'm praying for all the little fingers nearby.

Ok, so anyone know what to do first when...at one moment you have two children fighting in the sand box, one child in the living room fussing because he's sick, and one child nursing up in the office?

or how about: one child half way through changing a dirty diaper, one child sitting waiting for his turn, one little girl screaming because it's time to eat, one cheesecake dripping in the oven, and one very loud fire alarm going off?

Or another: one stinky pants, one child needs to wake up from a 4 hour nap or he won't sleep, one child standing at the stove eatting the cooked carrots out of the dish with his hands because he's too hungry to wait for dinner, one phone call in which the phone dies in the middle of the conversation, and one ring of the doorbell, oh, and one child being held who needs to be put down for a nap?

These are just a few actual examples of predicaments of late. Being a mom is fun, but it sure is busy.

of course, there are the happy relaxed moments too...like: Jonathon teaching Jeff how to jump in puddles and the two of them having a blast for a good long while, James going to get the mail with Daddy and coming back standing just a little taller because he was "helpful", Jeff eatting zucchini by the handful just because he likes it, Rachel smiling everytime Brandon talks about oil prices (don't ask me why it's oil...but other subjects do not get the same reaction), and many other things.

Oh, one last story before I go back to mom duty. The other day I took Jonathon and Rachel for a walk and Jonathon said he wanted to "go up the hill and see those people" (visit Fairview residents- several elderly individuals). On the way up he aske about Mrs. Hansen who is recovering from surgery due to cancer she is fighting. I told him that she was sick and then had to elaborate by saying that she had "a bug inside her that made her feel icky" Well, apparently Jonathon latched on to that idea because when we arrived at Fairview and visited Mrs. Jewell, Jonathon looked at her and asked, "Do you have a bug that makes you look yucky?" Hehe, she laughed and laughed and thought it was so funny. Of course I laughed too. Then we had a nice little talk about older people and how they have wrinkles and it's ok. He had been pointing to her forehead when he asked the question.

Ok, that's all for today. I hope to have some pictures soon- If I get on the ball, perhaps they will be here before we head to GA next week.

Oh, oh, oh, I forgot to tell you...Brandon got to remove a dead squirell from the house today. Guess where it was and what happened to it???? Hahaha, I'll tell you tomorrow.

Yellow Jackets as Landscape Architects

Earlier today Jonathon got stung by a yellow jacket. It was his first insect sting and he responded as he does to most other tragic moments- he wailed “MAAAAAAMA!” I calmly waited at the door for him to arrive. He showed me the sting- just below his thumbnail and then I asked him what happened…

“I got stung.”, he said.
“yes, but where were you?”
“I was by the tree that the bug flew out of a hole in the ground and stung me!”

Well, I put some medicine on it and covered it with a band-aid, hoping that would distract him from the sting. Of course, periodically throughout the rest of the morning, he would tell me it hurt.

Later in the day Brandon was outside and having heard about Jonathon’s sting, he asked him to show where he got stung. Jonathon took him over to a tree in the front yard and from there it was obvious to Brandon where the yellow jackets were coming from…they OBVIOUSLY had placed several sticks sticking straight up in the opening to their home as decoration….those smart things! Of course…perhaps someone else put them there….

Ha! Jonathon deserved it!

A Grateful Heart

So I finally got some of those pictures up for you to see- from our vacation. We did have a great time. However that is not the main subject of this post.

This is one of those serious posts that I feel obligated to write, lest- as my kids say, "That man died, because he didn't say 'thank you' to Jesus". So here's a list of things I'm thankful for in the week past.

A great homecoming from our trip.-- We got back in on Sunday and had enough time to unpack a little before going to bed. It made for a great start to the week. The boys also had a severely needed bath that night and I prepared for my first week with noone here to call on for help.

A speedy repair on our van. -- While in Maine, we had some car trouble, only a little bit- a squealing noise, but got it checked out while there and the man said we would need a new air compressor and a new idler pulley. Well, that was more bucks than we really wanted to dish out, but when we took it in this past Thursday, the mechanic said the compressor was fine and that the squealing noise was the fan belt and that was because the tensioner needed replacing. So we spent half the money expected and got the van back in the same day!

A fun outing at Burger King. --Our family went out to eat for dinner after picking up the van from the shop and we had a great time. Jonathon and James really enjoyed the little play area and Jeff really enjoyed his food. Rachel did ok between being held and sitting in her car seat and I didn't have to make dinner. It was a winning situation all the way around.

Jeff's feeling better. --Of course, most of you probably didn't know he was feeling bad, but he was. Early this week, he was really fussy. It was an odd sort of thing, he didn't really have a fever, wasn't congested, not vomiting or anything, just really lethargic and wanted to be held all the time. He wasn't pulling at his ears, so I didn't suspect an ear infection and even though he is cutting some teeth, none of my kids have had problems with that so far and this went on for several days. I finally narrowed the problem down to a couple of things. Maybe it was teeth (I doubted it), maybe he had a headache for some reason (but then again, the several days thing made me doubtful), or maybe his neck was out of line and sore and needed adjusting. Well, the last was the one I acted on and Brandon took him to the chiropractor. I'm not sure if that was the problem, since Jeff really can't tell me what hurts yet, but he's been a different little boy ever since. He's back to playing and running around instead of spending the whole day laying on the couch and whining. The doctor didn't charge us for him either! So Praise the Lord for healing!

Week One is closing and I successfully made it the entire way. --This being the first time I've been totally "on duty" as mom, I was a little apprehensive about how things would go, but I'm happy to report that the week was great! I got unpacked, cleaned up the house, played with the kids, remembered Rachel- most of the time, and didn't die from exhaustion. One trick I'm learning is to involve the children in what I'm doing and make it fun for them. So, three times this week Jonathon (and James a couple) fixed dinner with me, once we made a dessert together. We took two nice walks together, they helped me with several "5 minute Room Rescues" (a FLYlady technique that works wonders) and I felt like I connected with them and got things done at the same time.

I'm relatively content and happy. --I can always find something to complain about, but things recently in that category seem to be minimal, so I'm very grateful. The weather is pleasant, my family is happy, I'm not dead from lack of sleep yet, and God has been merciful once again to give me the grace I need for the situation I'm in. My Mother continually reminds me (and I need it) that God doesn't give us grace for tomorrow's work, he gives it for what we're doing today. That has been so true. Before I had Rachel (and each child for that matter) I've wondered how in the world I would be able to manage the next one, but when the next one is here- there's grace to go with it. Of course, it's my responsibility to not weigh myself down with extra obligations so I can tap into that grace and use it effectively, but it's there- just for me and when I use it and don't jump on several other band wagons, I find myself happy, content, and fulfilled in life. That is a treasure!

Well, that's all I'll mention for now. I'm so thankful that God is watching over me and meeting my needs in such practical ways. Hope you all have a blessed Sabbath.