In Addition to My Earlier Post...

Posted by cokelady

I thought Joe had overcome his fear of cap guns--I know I've seen him shooting them in the past few weeks. Apparently he's not as "over" them as I assumed. He just came and asked if I'd put a new roll of caps in his gun for him. When I got it all loaded for him and tried to give it to him, he told me to go ahead and shoot it first. And he took off running. "I'll be in the pantry if you need me!" he shouted. I shot it a couple of times and then handed it over to Katie. She shot once, then I noticed an eyeball peeking through the pantry door, which was cracked open ever so slightly. "You're doing good, Katie!," said the eyeball. "Shoot it again!" Ha! He's such a coward!!! I finally shoved him out the back door with his gun and have heard a few shots out there, so he must be working up some courage. Still, that's just pitiful!!!

Katie has been doing well lately. Except for that day a couple of weeks ago that she took the scissors to her bangs. I had Stacey even them up about a week ago, but she still looks dumb. They're just to short, you know? Kate is doing great in school (although we haven't done much lately!) and really seems to be enjoying her 2nd Grade book. Still reading up a storm. And writing. Yesterday one of the swings on the swingset had been thrown over the top rail again and again until it was way up high and the chains too short to be able to swing on. There was a sign taped to it that said, "Out Of Order!" Ha! Katie's handywork.

And Sam. He's still straining our childrearing abilities (!), but bringing lots of laughs, as always. We're working hard to do away with tattle-tales around here, but we've got a way to go yet. He came running inside the other day and said, "Mom!!! Katie's not doing good unto others!!!" Goofy kid. He was eating ants again yesterday and my uncle was appalled. I think he was mostly amazed that I wasn't appalled. I told him that I just have to pick my battles with Sam and in the big scheme of things there are lots of things I'm a lot more concerned about than eating ants. Like electricity. Knives. Power tools. Arsenic. Ants just aren't that big a deal to me anymore, you know?! I tell Sam not to eat other people's ants--it's rude--and that he'll be sorry if he eats the red ones. Other than that, I let it go.

Okay, gotta get back to work. I never have done the laundry since Convention last weekend (I finally started it last night!) and we're out of clothes. Not good.

~Becki~

12 comments

My Son Joe

Posted by cokelady

Okay, so I’ve got to tell you about that kid of mine. Joe (although still struggling with some attitude issues here and there) is so great! He’s growing up so fast and has been learning so many things here lately. For starters…

He can read!!! I’ve worked with him off and on for the past few months and he’s been coming along, but it’s just been here lately that I feel confident in saying it that plainly: HE CAN READ. And I owe all the thanks to Jim Davis and Bill Watterson. I’d been having Joe work through little beginner books and read them to me and he was starting to get the hang of it a little bit, but still really struggling. But then Joe discovered an old Calvin and Hobbs comic book of mine and several old Garfield books (the works of Watterson and Davis). He loves them. Spends hours poring over them and now is doing great with his reading! He enjoyed the pictures, but it just wasn’t good enough—he had to know what was being said. He’s come to me several times in the past few weeks, giggling, and saying “Hey, Mom, listen to this…” Then he’ll proceed to read to me whichever strip has caught him as funny. It’s great! Mr. Mardel got him his very own Bible this past week and Joe is sooooooo excited. He asked if he could help read during devotions the other day, so I looked up the chapter we were starting in and he read the first verse for us—almost without a hitch. I had to help him with “Philistines” and one other word, but otherwise he just spit everything out almost as quickly as his eyes hit the words. Wow!!! I’m so proud of him!!!

And then there’s his math. Math is Katie’s weak spot. She can read better than most 10 year olds probably (!) and is great with words and stories, but has a lot harder time with numbers. I quiz them a lot at lunch time, asking what 12 plus 5 equals and stuff like that. Joe almost always beats Katie to the answer and is almost always right. A few days ago I told him about something that was going to happen in three weeks. He was quiet for a few seconds, then said, “Hey, Mom—that’s 21 days!” I don’t know if most 5 year olds can figure such things or not, but I was blown away! (There’s no way Katie could’ve done it.) Again, I was sooooooo excited!!! “Joe!!!” I said. “You just multiplied—did you know that?!” He just got that doofy, awkward grin of his. He always gets it when he’s done something good and is glad—but embarrassed—over the attention. It’s great!

I took him out yesterday with the bow and worked on his form. He’s getting much better at that, too, and I can tell it makes him feel sooooooo good to be able to do something athletic. He’s getting better at throwing and catching the football and hitting the baseball, too.

It’s exciting to see Joe learning and doing so many great things. He’s still sweet and tenderhearted though and I hope he always stays that way—to an extent, anyway. He’s the most naturally kind and thoughtful of my three kids and he’s the one more likely to find pleasure in others having fun instead of being selfish. He’s always asking Kate and Sam if they want to take a turn with his bow and arrow and such. He’s a nice kid. Usually. ;-)

And along with all of that, he’s still goofy. Sometime back he was telling me about a dream he’d had the night before about somebody stealing his ears and he wanted to know if he’d still be able to hear if it really did happen and somebody swiped them one day.

Our whole family has been out of whack ever since Youth Convention last weekend. Our sleep schedules (such as they were!) have been lost entirely and we can’t seem to get back into the groove of things at all! I put the kids to bed at the usual time—8:30—a few nights ago. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 I hear, “Mom…Mom…” coming from the boys’ room. I went in to see what was going on and Joe started in, slowly, “Well… Sam’s knees are hurting… and my fingers feel weird… and we’re thirsty… and… well… things are just not going very well in here.” Ha! They were both wide awake two and a half hours after having been sent to bed! I pulled them both into one bed and laid down with them for a few minutes and we just talked and sang a couple of songs, then I told them a story about “Joe and Sam” and put them back to bed. They were asleep in no time after that, but I was still cracking up over “things just not going very well in there.”

Well, that’s enough for one night, don’t you think?! I didn’t have a whole lot to talk about otherwise (except the Brooks being around—that’s been fun!) and I’ve just really been enjoying my Joe lately, so I thought I’d write down (or type up, rather) all of the things I’ll likely forget far too soon. Talk to you all soon!

A Happy Mom

5 comments

Just for Fun

Posted by cokelady

I can't really think of anything grand to blog about, so I thought I'd throw a few old pictures on here just for fun. I had scanned these into the computer months ago for a project Haley was working on--a gift for Emilee. I don't have any recent pictures that are any good, but when you have nothing to blog about you're still considered a great blogger if you post good pictures. So here are a few of my favorites...

The bow tie boys! This is what "our guys" looked like back in the good ole' days. The four J's: Johnny, Jon, Jay, and Jeremiah. I always loved this picture because it captures each of their personalities so perfectly. And it makes me think of the great youth group we had and all the fun and crazy things we did when we were teenagers. And how good God was to us and what I time of growth and learning it was... Ah yes, good times. :-)

Princess Emilee and Princess Rebekah. This was taken at BTI one year.
Fun, fun, fun!

Ha! What a great day! All of us girls (Amanda Newman, Tammy Lewis, Becki Smith, Emilee Brock, Cathy Lewis, Libby Brock, and Mandie Otterbacher--whoa, just listen to all those maiden names that sound so weird now! Ha!) went to lunch at my favorite restaurant in Colorado Springs, East Side Mario's. Manda thought our waiter was cute and commenced flirting. The rest of us were much more reserved, but how could you not be amused by Manda's crazy antics?! Before we left she asked Freddy (the waiter) if we could take our picture with him. So we all filed outside and the manager came along to work the camera. Nothing like a day on the town with the girls!

"We look cool!!!" Unless you're a fan of The Tick, that won't make any sense to you at all, but that's what this picture is all about. Right, Em??? ~sigh~ I wish Libby was a blogger. It would be such fun to have her "around" again with the rest of us!

Uummm... Sister Marcia and Sara and Aaron came to town yesterday. Sara is looking into Midland College and they came to check things out over there. They're staying with Sam & Tammy this time, but they all came over here last night (along with Aunt Sue and Uncle Jerry) for a cookout. James grills a mean burger, so we had lots of those and hot dogs and chips and homemade ice cream and strawberry shortcake. Wow, what a night! It was GREAT. We had a great time visiting with everybody, too. The fellowship was almost as good as the food. ;-)

Well, I'd best get going. Ya'll have a great day! Later.

~Bec~

11 comments

How Could I Forget???

Posted by cokelady

The best pictures of all!!! Abbie and Katie in their Easter dresses from Grandma Vicki! Aren't they great???

And isn't this Abbie smile just the greatest! Ha! Ha! Ha! That kid cracks me up!!! She is SUCH a mess!!! I think I took 6 pictures trying to get a smile out of her. I finally asked if she was smiling her best and she said she was. I called her over and showed her the most recent picture of her (with no smile) and asked if she called that a good smile. I told her I wanted a good one, so this is what she came up with! Ha! She's so great!!!

12 comments

2007 Youth Convention

Posted by cokelady

It was great! We left on Friday morning, had a nice little drive over to Hatch, New Mexico (about 6 hours from here) and were able to get some rest before Convention started that night. I think we had 93 in attendance this year--which is terrific! Sister Erika did a great job preparing for and moderating the Convention and it was all soooooo good. Brother Jimmie Brooks was our guest speaker and although we didn't seem to get even one picture of him (?!), he did a good job. One of the illustrations he used on Saturday night was especially good, I thought, and really spoke to my heart. There was a good spirit throughout the weekend and, as always, good food and good fellowship--LOTS of it! Here are a few pictures.

This is a picture of part of the VLB's who were present, up front singing the VLB fight song. We have young people in abundance out here and I'm pretty sure we outnumbered those who were left seated!

This is Luis Banuelos who--although he is nothing but trouble outside of church service!--is a wonderful blessing to us in our Region. He preached a very, very good message on Saturday and I was just so touched by his sincerity and deep love for The Church of God. You could feel it in his words and his spirit. He and his wife, Kaila, are always a special blessing to us.

Here's a picture of those Shuler men. Did I just say that?! YES, I DID. I can't believe how grown up they're getting. Is it possible that they've aged that much in the past two months since we saw them last?! It's amazing. I just hope they'll always be as great as they are right now. I love those boys! I'm trusting that Philip doesn't read my blog faithfully and therefore won't be embarrassed by me proclaiming publicly that he is to-die-for cute!!! That kid. Emilee and I were both wanting to take him home, so it was only fair that neither of us get him and he just return home with his family. ;-) And Jacob. He is one in a million. I told him that he'd better always behave himself because he seems to have a lot more influence over a certain young man in my household than I do! Ha!

This, however unspiritual it may be (!), is what Katie was working on during Brother Jimmie's message last night. (At least, I think that's when it was.) It's a picture of Uncle Colin with the words "THIS IS YOU"... all on an Etch-a-Sketch! Can you imagine?! There is no way I could make a picture like that at age 29, much less age 6. CRAZY.

Although Kate didn't seem to get a whole lot out of it (ha!), the service last night was especially good and we had a wonderful prayer service that lasted quite some time. Everybody seemed to come away blessed and I know that I personally felt such a sweetness and freedom in prayer--like I haven't felt in a long, long time. I really needed it and I'm still rejoicing in what God did in my heart through it. I just love those "times of refreshing" that the Bible promises will come!

After service last night we all stayed up way too late doing a whole lot of nothing. There's only one motel in Hatch, New Mexico and we fill it up. You'll never believe this, but James actually invited the crowd to come to our room to hang out last night! WHOA!!! James is not exactly a crowd person and he certainly doesn't want them invading his personal space, so we were all a little shocked at his invitation (me, probably more than most!), but we took him up on it! I think I counted 36 people in there at one point, and that doesn't include however many children were running wild in the other room. (It was a "suite"--ha! If only you could see this motel, you would laugh at the thought of it having a "suite!"--with two bedrooms and the kids were turned loose in one of them...until things got too violent and I had to go break it up and send everybody to their mothers--including one of my own kids!) We just hung out and talked and did, like I said earlier, a whole lot of nothing. Although, I'm sure it was a loud lot of nothing. I was so excited about James being so friendly and welcoming and actually inviting all of the chaos into our room... until I remembered that Jon & Emilee were in the room right next to us and they were already in bed since they were the only ones in the whole group who intended to actually get up and leave early in the morning! (I'm so sorry, Emilee!!!) I think it queited down there toward the end. Until James talked Jake and Phil into doing some of their crazy acts, including "My Little Buttercup" which was new to Hector and Jesus and Sophia. Jesus laughed so hard! He's so cute!!! Ha! I just keep wondering what it's going to be like when the guys are 29 and 30 years old doing their "My Little Buttercup" routine... They've grown up sooooo much since they first did it for us at Camp a couple of years ago. They were just kids then but they're half men now and it just has a whole different look and feel to it. And it's a little disturbing! Ha!

People started dropping off one at a time, beginning with the oldest and working it's way down. I think the last of the party left at 1:45am and we crashed. Slept in until 9:00 this morning (!), then went to Sister Banuelos' restaurant for breakfast. Dustin and Jamey showed up, then Keven and Michele, so we were able to get in some extra fellowship before leaving. Can't have too much of that, you know. ;-) We hit the road and made it home at 6:30 tonight. That made us 30 minutes late for church and we looked pretty rough, but at least we were there! It was good. Then we came home, unloaded, put the kids to bed, and I went out and vacuumed out the van. It needed it sooooooo bad. It felt great to get that done! Of course, I've done nothing with the mountain of luggage and junk we brought in from the van, but that'll give me something to do tomorrow, right? Ha. For now, I'm going to call it a night. It's been a great weekend, but I'm bushed. Zzzzzzzz...

12 comments

Adieu!

Posted by cokelady

We'll be leaving tomorrow morning for Youth Convention in Hatch, New Mexico! We're excited about it and will be sure to give you all a great report when we get back. :-)

I think I should find something else to talk about, don't you? Hey, look at this great table James found for the booth!

"For the booth," I say. Last time I saw it it had a little tag on it that said, "For display only." It's an old soda fountain table that somebody had repainted and added the Coke logo to--James found it in an antique mall over in Hobbs, New Mexico last week sometime and just couldn't pass it up. He said it was a great deal and he was going to almost double the price on it when he put it up for sale in his booth. And if it doesn't sale, I think he's okay with that, too! It is a great little table, but those chairs are about the most uncomfortable things I've ever sat in! Who's idea was it to use twisted wire for the back of a chair, anyway?!

We've had some serious work going on in the back yard this week. Here's a picture of the crew...

We've got a bunch of white rocks that used to be part of the landscaping out there that have just got to go, so we set the kids to it. I was amazed at how hard they worked, how long they stuck with it, and how many rocks they picked up. James had to empty the wheelbarrow two or three times within about a half an hour or so! Here's a picture of one of the fine looking young men out on the job...

And here's a picture of our resident goofball, doing his part. He always wears that hat with the elastic coming down instead of up inside the hat where it belongs. The greatest is when he pulls it down real hard so it makes his ears flop down--I love it! Ha! Ha!

James paid each kid 50 cents for their hard work and they were soooooo excited. I'm just waiting for it to occur to Katie that she made 50 cents for an hour or two of hard labor, and she made $11.25 for two and a half hours of sitting behind a table selling lemonade! It's going to hit her one of these days and James is probably going to have a hard time getting her motivated unless he ups her wages considerably! Ha!

The other day I looked in the back yard and saw the boys playing and decided to watch for a few minutes to figure out what they were doing. We have a bale of hay out there for Joe to aim at when we get his bow and arrows out. Well, the bale was laying down on it's side and they had a baseball bat laying across it. There was a belt tied to the small end of the bat and Sam was holding onto it while Joe stood nearby with a ball in his hands. They had lots of crazy discussion, then Joe hollers, "FIRE THE CANNON!!!" Sam yanked on the belt attached to the "cannon" bat, Joe threw the "cannon" ball, and they both started shouting, "BOOM! BOOM! KA-BOOM!!!" It was great. It must be a fun life when you're creative. I don't remember ever being that way. To me a bat was a bat and a ball was a ball. I must've missed out on so much.

It's been an eventful couple of days and I think I'm all ready for our little trip. I've got all of the laundry and ironing caught up, the house vacuumed and the kitchen floor scrubbed. You know what that means, of course. I actually get to come home to a clean house!!! Wa-Hoo! There's no greater feeling in all the world--and it happens so rarely around here! Anyway, it's past midnight now and I need to get some rest. We're going to be proof reading some church stuff while we drive to Hatch tomorrow and it will help greatly if I can manage to be halfway coherent! Until next week...

~Becki~

3 comments

Guess What!!!

Posted by cokelady

My Mom is on an airplane right now with Scott Lee!!! Now that I think about it, that probably means absolutely nothing to anybody who's reading this... Hhmmm. Well, I was really excited about it! Scott Lee is a kid (ha--he's got to be in his mid-30's by now) who was our Camp evangelist in Colorado when he was about 19 years old--he held a revival for us in Colorado Springs about that time, too. Such a nice guy and he had such a wonderful, sweet spirit. He's still in the Church of God of Prophecy, pastoring in Sheridan, Wyoming. Mom and Sister Bishop are on a plane from Minneapolis (I think) to Nashville right now and Scott just happens to be on the same flight! WHOA! We haven't seen him in at least 15 years. I only wish I were on the plane, too! :-)

Uummm... I can't think of anything else so say, so here's a picture!

Cute, hu? It was time for a new picture. Mom was about 50 lbs. heavier in the last one they had taken a few years back--and she had bangs. This is a better picture anyway. All except that crazy crooked smile. ;-)

Sorry I've not been keeping up with this blog thing. I don't know what happened to me. Things have been pretty active around here, but they always are so it shouldn't really make much difference.

The birthday party for Brother Ellis last Monday was great. He seemed to really enjoy himself and was just so appreciative of the gifts he received. We all had a really hard time figuring out what to buy. I mean, what are you supposed to get for a 95 year old man?! He's surely acquired everything that he really wants or needs by now, right?! So...

Insoles for his shoes! Ha! Cool, hu? And get this...

A boom box!!! Is that great, or what?! Can't you just see him marching around the park with it propped up on his shoulder, blasting out rap or raggae or something?! Ha! Ha! Ha! The very thought! They actually got a Gaither CD to go along with it and seem to really be enjoying it--have asked where they can find some more of those disk thingies. ;-)

And here's a picture of Sam and Sam enjoying the party. They sure do get along well. My Sammy is crazy about Brother Sam, but then, I don't think I've ever known a kid who didn't like Brother Sam!

I noticed that we missed National Twinkie Day earlier this month (how could you overlook a holiday like that?!) and I mentioned it to the kids. Get this...none of my children even knew what a Twinkie was!!! I'm so ashamed!!! What kind of a mother am I, anyway?! I sent James straight to the store to remedy that situation. ;-) He came home with two boxes of them (what a guy!) and I mashed up some strawberries and we used them to make "shortcakes"--and James whipped us up some strawberry milkshakes, too. What a great day! I think we ought to celebrate Twinkie Day at least twice a month. I'm sure the kids would agree to it. :-)

There has been lots of cooking and cleaning going on around here lately and it feels soooooooo good! I love it when I'm caught up on all of those things and can do some fun stuff--and just spend more time with the kids. I went and threw the football around with Katie and Joe for a while this afternoon, then Joe wanted to switch to baseball. He actually hit 4 or 5 really good ones! Wow!

Guess what I found when I cleaned out my desk a few days ago? A nice little slip of paper from the Texas Department of Public Safety from about two years ago. It states my name and vehicle info, the county and mile marker, then says: violation (1) speeding (MR OVER 70); violation (2) Fail to present drivers license. HA! Can you believe that?! I was speeding (8 or 10 over the limit, as I recall) AND I had no drivers license with me--and they guy only gave me a warning!!! ~sigh~ I love Texas cops.

I can't remember anything else that has happened this week. We had good church yesterday, then Sam and Tammy piled in with us and we took off for Merkel to have service there at 5:00. Sister Marcia and Sara and Aaron met us there and we had a good communion and feet washing service with the Lunas, then enjoyed a good meal at their house, as always. It was great--and so nice to have the Brooks there with us this time! We stopped at K-Mart in Sweetwater on the way home like we always to. Sooooooo many incredible deals there--always. Got some shirts and jeans for the boys for $2.50 apiece. The drive home was fun, of course. We always enjoy traveling with Sam and Tammy. The best part of this trip was when the conversation veared toward the works of C.S. Lewis and we were discussing his many books and what we thought of them. Brother Sam, in all seriousness, said, "Is he the guy that wrote the Screwball Files?" There was a long pause before James finally ventured, "Do you mean the Screwtape Letters???" Ha! Ha! Ha! We laughed sooooooo hard! Only Sam could come up with the Screwball Files! He laughed as hard as the rest of us, just so you know. ;-)

Well, I'd best be going. Have a great night!!!

~Bec~

5 comments

Easter Weekend

Posted by cokelady

Well, well, well. Where to start?! First of all, let me say that the weather has been GREAT!!! We were even able to have two or three fires in the past few days. WOW, who would've thunk it?! And get this--it even snowed a little bit on Saturday!!! ~long, contended sigh~ Life is so grand.

The cold weather hit on Thursday. There is no greater combination than cold weather and fast day to make you sit down and think about food, so I sat down with my recipe box and cook books and started planning. I spent Friday making corn chowder, hot rolls and cinnamon rolls for James to take to his boss, Brian, on Saturday. Brian's wife just had their 3rd baby (their first home birth--they were so excited!), so I wanted to send a little something to make life easier on her for at least one evening!

On Saturday I did all of my cooking and baking for the Easter pot-luck at Church. I tried a few new things, which is so unlike me. (I never trust myself to experiment with a new recipe when other people will be having to eat it!), but everything turned out great! I made the traditional hot rolls and that really fantastic punch we all make around here, an mandarin orange jell-o salad thing, and the new stuff: meatballs (delicious!) and Hummingbird Cake. Never fear--no birds were injured in the making of this cake. ;-) It actually had mashed bananas in it and crushed pineapple and lots of great things. It was very, very good, but very, very rich! Whoa!

Sunday morning we got up and got everybody dolled up for Easter services! Here's the crowd, looking only slightly disshelved! Ha! I don't know why Katie's collar is sitting so crooked in that picture, and the boys' ...well, you know! Still, they looked better than Jon & Emilee's bunch of sick-o's! Those poor Smith kids!!!

Usually we line everybody up outside in front of some flowers or trees or something for the Easter picture, but I was thrilled to be able to take their picture in front of the fire this year! Ha! In Texas!!! How crazy is that?! I'm loving it!!!

We have had a man and his 15 year old son, Kenneth and Clovis, attending our services quite regularly for a few months now (praise the Lord!) and yesterday Kenneth's wife and other son, Todd, came with them! We were so excited!!! We had good Sunday School, good worship, and a good message from our pastor. We pray that they were all touched and will continue to come!

After service we had our big meal: ham, cornish hens, deviled eggs, potato salad, corn, beans, and whatever else I'm forgetting, along with the stuff I mentioned earlier that I made. It was great and I think Kenneth's family really enjoyed themselves and seemed to love the fellowship. It was just such a nice time.

Then we came home and crashed for a couple of hours!!! I was soooooooooo tired!!! But then you know what that means. We were SO not tired last night and ended up staying up way too late. Actually, James and I stayed up until 1:00am watching Star Trek, of all things! Ha! I can't even remember the last time I watched Star Trek. And I don't mean any of the new versions--I mean the good, old Captain Kirk and Spock show. There's just nothing like it! We laughed so hard at what is supposed to be so technical. Old fashioned sci-fi is so much better than the stuff they do nowadays. They try to make everything so "realisitic" and "believable" now. Back in the good old days they didn't have to make anything believable, it was just pure, simple fiction and nothing freaky or gory. Kirk got stuck in "the vortex" and they had to achieve "innerspace" before they could retrieve him... and never explained where or why or anything else, it's just the way it was! ~sigh~ It was great. :-)

I've been doing pretty good getting the house put back together today after our weekend, but there are still some things I'd like to accomplish before we go to the party tonight. That's right--we're going to a party! A birthday party, actually. Today is Brother Ellis' 95th birthday, so we're all meeting at a restaurant to celebrate! Should be a great time--I'll try to take a few pictures! :-)

Things seem to be improving with the kids--thank you all for any prayers and advice that you offered! I've had some really good talks and prayers with Katie and she's having a much "nicer" day today. After her early morning issues, that is! The boys, too, seem to be getting along better and everybody has been nicer to each other and helping out around the house and just much more cheerful today. I am sooooo thankful!

I was thinking the other day about how God is already answering my prayers concerning my kids. From the time they were very, very little I've prayed different things for them. I don't know why, but it's always been on my heart to pray that God would make Joe into "a mighty man of prayer" and I pray it regularly. It just occured to me a few days ago that God is already answering that. Joe is by far our most faithful pray-er around here and he continually prays for things that I've already forgotten about. Last night during devotions I heard him praying for Sister Vicki's eye and whatever's wrong with Wendy and that Granddad would be a good General Overseer (first time I remember hearing that one!) and that God would help him and Katie and Sam to be good and not fight and to sleep good and not have bad dreams, and to help the Church of God, and that Uncle Jerry, and Albert and Brianna will get saved, and on and on and on. That reminds me--a few nights ago we sat down to the dinner table and James asked Joe if he would pray over our meal. After a lengthy prayer for "the people at the nursing home and sick people in other countries" and who knows what all, he finally concluded. James sat there for a few seconds then said, "Wow, that was a really good prayer, Joe... But now we need to pray over our food--Katie, would you do that for us please?!" Ha!

As I was saying, I've always prayed different things for the kids. I've always felt like praying that Joe would grow up to be mighty in prayer, and I've always prayed that God would help Katie to be humble and to focus her life on other people and on being a servant. Well...at least God's answering my prayers for Joe! Ha! Then there's Sam. I usually just pray that Sam won't end up in jail!!! I never have honed in on anything particular to pray for him, exept that he'll find his place in serving God and being a blessing, somehow.

Well, I'd best get back to work. I think I can have the whole house pretty much whipped into shape if I try real hard. Well...on the surface, anyway! I'll see what I can get done before Brother Ellis' party in a little while.

Later!

~Becki

8 comments

Ta-Da!!! (Again)

Posted by cokelady

Okay, here are a few shots of James' booth now that he got the $22 floor in (!) and some product displayed. Isn't it terrific??? I love it!!! Of course, it looks a whole lot like my kitchen. ;-) It's just so bright and cheery!!! James wants everybody to know that "it's not done yet!!!" There are lots of duplicates in there (you have to order in bulk to get the great price from the wholesalers) and we've got to find a good use of all that empty floor space in the middle. We're still brainstorming. But I think it's a terrific start!!!

And here is my very first try at a bundt (is that spelled right?!) cake. WOW!!! I'm so excited! I've had the pan for years, but have always been too scared to use it. I remember the bundt cakes my Mom used to make when I was a kid. The top half would stay in the pan and she'd try to piece it together on top of the rest and it was just a big crumbly mess. I was going to have the same trouble with mine (it was not coming out of that pan!), so I decided to freeze it. Worked like a charm! Got it just stiff enough to hold together while I pried it out of there. ;-) You can see minor wounds, but nothing too serious. Nothing that can hold a candle to the scars on my Mom's poor cakes, anyway. Right, Mom??? :-)

The cake tastes good, too. Chiffon Spice Cake, I think is it's name. Yum!

Let's see... News, news, news. I can't seem to think of any. The most consuming thing in my life right now is trying to figure out what to do with a mean, selfish child that is developing severe character flaws and is going to grow up lonely and miserable because of it. Lectures don't do much at this age and the spankings don't seem to be getting through. I've tried everything I can think of, which is probably a good thing. When you're out of options and feeling desperate you begin to pray hard--like you should have been praying all along! I'm realizing that I can't make my kids be good and nice and kind and thoughtful... There are some things that happen way deep down in the heart where only God can reach. I've done all I know to do and more, so now I'm begging God to do what I can't do!

Guess what?! Mom had weeds for dinner tonight!!! Is that cool, or what?! It wouldn't have been cool if I would've been there and had to eat them, but from 1500 miles away, it's great! "Poke," I think they said. Sister Bishop found it out in Mom's yard and went out to pick some and cooked it up. Weird. Makes me think of Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies! Ha!

I'm trying to think of something grand that the kids have been up to lately. We don't have any bees or slugs around like their Colorado cousins (thank goodness!), but they've been having fun with the worms in the back yard. And Emilee, Katie loves the worms as much as the boys do. You'd never suspect Katie and Abbie of being interested in such gross things (especially Abbie!!!), but they seem to get a real bang out of it. A few weeks ago all three of my kids were sneaking around the house with strange, pieced together "costumes" of some sort, fly swatters, and magnifying glasses. I couldn't figure out what they were up to until I heard one of them say, "Look! I see some Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula tracks--come on! This way!!!" Spider hunting, of course.

The most exciting part of the day today was when a package arrived from Grandma Vicki. Katie was thrilled to discover that Grandma had, indeed, made her an Easter dress and she just squeeled and jumped and clapped and hugged it and on and on. Mom had also sent some Easter candy for everybody and some little toys for the boys--balsam wood airplanes and those little plastic guys with a parachute that you toss up into the air. The boys were thrilled and ran outside immediately to try them out. Within 10 minutes both planes had been smashed to smithereens and one parachuter was stuck on the roof. But it sure was fun while it lasted!

Well, I'd best get off of here and try to get the house put together a little bit. It always helps the day go better when you can wake up to a clean house. Doesn't happen as often as I'd like for it to, but I always try! :-)

G'night!
~Bec~

10 comments

Ta-Da!!!

Posted by cokelady

Yesterday was a long a tiring day (my whole body aches today--I think I must be a lot older than I think I am!), but we accomplished our goal! Well... almost! Here are some before and after pictures...

Before...

After!

Before...

After!!

Before...

After!!!

It's always amazing to me the difference a little paint and wallpaper can make, and for very minimal expense. Actually, there was practically no expense in this project since all of the paint and wallpaper we used were left over from my kitchen! James bought to bookshelves at Target for $29.00 and he spent about $10 for the metal stripping and screws we used as a border. Not bad! As I'm sure you've guessed by now, this new booth will contain lots of Coca-Cola products and some other "diner" type things. I told him he needs a juke box to put right in the center! ;-) Wouldn't that be fun?!

When we got home last night we priced a whole bunch of his merchandise that he'll be putting in this booth. It's going to look so great! Oh yeah, the booth isn't done yet. He needs to get a panel of some sort to put between the two bookshelves to finish out the "wall" on that side. (Most of the booths in this joint contain primarily junk, scattered all over the place. We don't want you to be able to see any of it from our booth!) He'll probably get it all finished up today and "move in" tomorrow. Pretty exciting! I'll try to make him take the camera with him to take pictures of the finished product. Still, for one day, I think we got a lot accomplished and it's looking great!

James loves his booths and the whole buying-and-selling thing. To find a great deal on something, then sell it for a profit gives him some kind of strange rush. Well, I think Katie has some of his blood! James walked past her room one night after we'd put everybody to bed. Katie was wide awake just staring out into space. James asked what she was thinking about and she replied, "Well, Dad, I was just thinking... If I had $100 I could buy a whole bunch of Girl Scout cookies. Then I could set up a table and sell them and make a whole bunch of money!!!" James told her that she'd probably have to do something other than Girl Scout cookies and that a lot of kids start out with a lemonade stand. A few days later she saw an illustration of kids with a lemonade stand and just went nuts. "Mom!!!! This is what I want to do!!!!!" So yesterday I went down to the store and bought her a can of frozen lemonade and one of pink lemonade. We took some pitchers and cups and her table and chairs over to Sister Tammy's house. (Tammy kept the kids for us while we were working on the booth yesterday). I had drawn the letters on the sign with a pencil, then Katie traced them with a marker and decorated it. Tammy said she sat out with her stand for two and a half hours!!! The grand total was $11.25. Can you believe that?! What a racket! When we got back to Andrews and went to pick the kids up I could see that same light in Katie's eyes that James gets when his ventures are successful. She'll probably have a booth of her own right next to her Dad's by the time she's 12! Ha! Here's a picture of the little entrepreneur.

That's about all the news from here. Today it's back to normal house stuff. Laundry, irnong, maybe even a little school for the kids. ;-) Have a great one!

~Becki~

8 comments

Quick One!

Posted by cokelady

Let me explain... no, there is too much. Let me sum up. ;-)

We met Sister Marcia, Sara, Adam, Jennifer and children (who are adorable--that newborn baby of theirs is to die for) for breakfast on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

We enjoyed a nice drive home, but were too tired after our very eventful week to do as much shopping as we did on the way down. I insisted that we take some more pictures of the bluebonnets, though. I just couldn't get enough of them!

I'd write more, but James and I are headed to Odessa to paint and wallpaper his new booth. That's right, he's rented a second space in that antique/junk store. We're using all left-over materials from our projects here at home so it will cost us nothing, but it's going to totally transform the booth to put a little work into it before filling it up. We hope. ;-) Gotta go get the kids ready. Tammy (who, by the way, is THE BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! You hear me, Tammy?! YOU'RE WONDERFUL!!!!!) is going to watch the kid-o's for us. We've got a lot of work to do and need to get down there, so I'm going to get going. Have a great day!