That's what I just heard--very enthusiastically, I might add--from a little bouncy girl in a green nightgown. She woke up and came darting from her bedroom and flung her arms around my neck, squeezing with all of her might. That kid is so excitable. It's a great way to start the day! Then there's Sam. He just came stumbling into the room with a blanket over his head and most of his face, wearing that "don't mess with me" scowl. Not a morning person. Actually, Katie usually isn't either, unless she wakes up to a happy day of some sort--such as a holiday of any kind. Joe always wakes up happy, ready to start moseying through the day. Steady Joe, that's him.

Let's see... what's been going on. Right now the only thing I can remember is the Sno-Cone Sale yesterday. We're trying to raise funds to pay for everybody's tuition to Camp this year (our Andrews members, that is), and it's wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay too hot for bake sales, so we've switched over to sno-cones for the summer months. It's a lot less work than a bake sale, but it's also less money. It cost us $42, I think, to have the sale ($30 to rent the machine, then about $12 on ice and syrup) and in the end we had only gained about $37 above that. But it's a start! And we're planning on going out again today after church (the machine has to be back tomorrow) and everything we make today will be profit.

We met a very interesting guy at the sale yesterday. I had made a sign that said "The Church of God" real small at the top, then "SNO-CONES" real big, along with the prices. Sometime in the first hour, this man approached our table and said, "The Church of God?" Tammy and I smiled and said yes. He said, "How can you get by putting that on your sign?" I said, "Because... we're The Church of God." The man said, "I'm the pastor of the Church of God here." Tammy smiled and said, "My husband is the pastor of The Church of God here." The man said, "I pastor the Church of God." The man was being so bizarre that I never thought for a moment that he might actually be serious--I thought he was just teasing and giving us a hard time. So I said, "Oh! Well, if you're the pastor then you'll want to support us--how many do you want?!" At that, the man's voice was suddenly a little louder than he was before as he said, "No, I'm serious! I'm the pastor of the Church of God in this town and I want to know how you get by putting that on your sign!" Whoa! This guy's for real--he really means it! "Well... because we are The Church of God." Then he went into the whole, "No, I pastor the Church of God" thing again and Tammy says he said something about it being illegal for us to use that name on our sign. I said, no, that's who we really are. I explained that "The" was actually a part of our legal name--that they are legally known as "Church of God" and we, "The Church of God." He wasn't too happy about that and seemed to indicate that we were making it up or something. He said--none too kindly, I assure you--"You must be a splinter off of somebody--what did you guys come out of?" Knowing that he was the pastor of the "elders" church, I said, "Actually, you and I have the same roots--back to A.J. Tomlinson in 1903." That made him good and mad, too. "No," he said, "You're a splinter off of somebody--who were you with a couple of years ago?" I told him that several years ago we were part of the Church of God of Prophecy. Ha! You should have seen his reaction! He suddenly turned from fiesty and cantankerous to downright mean and ugly. "Ohhhhhhh!!!! Right! So you're 'exclusive' then" he said, with extra mockery on the word "exclusive." "That's right," I said. "You're 'the only true Church,' right?!" "Yes, sir!" I replied. I don't remember what he said after that, but within moments he had stomped off and there was a girl looking rather shaken muttering, "Um... I'll have a small blue coconut." Ha! Can you imagine a person--a Christian--a pastor!!!--acting like that?! It was crazy!!! I only wish I could choose a font that would help portray the tone and spirit he was in. I told Tammy once he was gone that now I get it. Every time we run into somebody in town and tell them what Church we're members of they always ask the same thing: "Are you associated with that Church of God out on Big Spring Highway?" (That's the elders church where this guy apparently pastors.) We say no and then the person gives a big sigh of relief and tells some story of how he used to attend out there but he'll never go back, blah, blah, blah. How sad. It made me all the more thankful to be a member of God's Church. And after it was all said and done, I realized how natural all of my responses had been--how fully convinced I am that I am in God's Church and not the least bit intimidated by the mockery we received. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free!!! Aren't you sooooooo thankful for that?!

Well, I'd best get going. It would be so nice to be able to get the kitchen floor scrubbed before church today--it's so nasty. Just so you know, I've already kind of had Mother's Day, so it wouldn't bother me at all to scrub the floor--the bathroom, too, if I have time. A day or two ago James got up early and kept all of the kids away from the bedroom so I could sleep in! WOW!!! What could a mom possibly ask for beyond that?! It was sooooooooo nice. And he brought a whole bunch of beautiful roses and carnations and lilies of some kind--a huge arrangement--home the other day. And I already got my Mother's Day greeting from my cheery little girl, so what more could I ask for?! Where's my mop... :-)

Oh, and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!!! Think of that crazy guy at Sam's Club all those years ago and say this with the proper emphasis: "Mother, I lo-o-o-o-ove you!!!" ;-)

~Becki~

Oh yeah--here are some pictures of what the kids were doing while I was helping Tammy for 5 hours or so at the sale. I pitched a tent for them because I knew we were going to be out in the hot, hot, hot sun for way too long--it worked out pretty well, I think!

This is the we've-been-too-wild-and-sent-back-to-confinement look


Play Time

Nap Time!