Now, why would I go and say something stupid like that? I know better than that! But I did say it. And she blogged. So here I am, at 10:00, blogging. When I should be cleaning the house and doing the laundry! I've spend most of my life outside this past week and although the yard is looking better and better all the time, the house has suffered tremendously. I just can't seem to get back on top of things in here! That's okay though--I'll just BLOG my night away instead of working. I'm sure James will appreciate it. It's all your fault, Mom! How could I have known that you'd really blog tonight?! You sounded so tired, I was just sure you'd drop off before you had a chance. Thanks a lot, Ma. ~sigh~ I lose.

But my loss is Blogland's gain, right?! HA! I know you've all been anxiously awaiting pictures of my red "barn" and The Blob, as we affectionately call our swimming pool. There have been lots of exciting happenings to report, too. If only I could remember them!

Let's see, Monday was spent spraying the fence and barn. Tuesday was spent doing all of the trim work for the barn and James' office and everything else. Wednesday... I don't remember Wednesday. I know we spent a few more hours outside, planting more flowers--in the same bed as the rose bushes this time. It filled things in rather nicely and will look really good if these flowers do as well as the first ones we planted. Thursday... Hhmmm. I can't remember Thursday either. Seems like something happened Thursday... Ah yes! We decided to forego regular school that day to devote our time to learning to tie shoes!!! Okay, okay, go ahead. Let it all out. "What?! You mean to tell me that your kids didn't know how to tie their shoes yet?! And how old are they?! What kind of a rotten Mom are you, anyway?!" It's the same conversation I've been having with myself for a year or two now. But somehow I never thought of tying shoes until it was time to load up and go somewhere and in such instances there isn't time to teach them to do it themselves. So we actually scheduled it. Is that pitiful, or what?! But it was well worth it, as Katie is now an expert tie-er and Joe is honing his skills as well. Sam wasn't invited to class, which was okay with him. "I don't wanna learn," he kept saying. "No worries," I kept saying, "I have no intention of putting myself through that today!" ;-) I know it's nothing to be proud of (they are 5 and 6 years old!), but one of these days I'm going to teach them to ride their bikes, too, and then I can pass the Worst Mom in the World award on to some other procrastinating dope of a Mom.

We had a good ABM service that night (2 visitors), then stayed and discussed our building situation for a while afterward. We had a good discussion and a really good prayer and are going to take the next week or two really exploring our options and praying for God to open the right doors for us. That little Church of Christ building I mentioned (the one that has always felt like it should be ours!) doesn't seem like a possiblity, but we're really praying about it. Tammy talked to the owner about letting us rent it; something she's never been willing to consider before. She didn't seem too thrilled with the idea this time either, but at least she agreed to pray about it for a few days before saying no. ;-) So we're trusting that the God who holds the king's heart in His hands and turns the rivers of water withersoever He will, will work HIS WILL in this situation, whatever that may be. Thank you all for the prayers--I know that lots of our churches are in the same situation right now. It feels so good to pray for one another and help take each other's needs to the Lord in prayer!

Yesterday we drove to Odessa to have Stacey cut the boys' hair. They were starting to look like a couple of hippies. Gross. I was trying to hold off until just before Camp and Convention, but they just couldn't wait another two weeks! After the haircuts we always go to lunch with Stacey. This time it was McAllister's Deli. Yum. We got home in the evening and I sent the kids out to play in the backyard for a little while before bedtime. It wasn't too long before I heard a Sam scream--a real one. (You can always tell the difference between a "Hey, I've been mistreated and I don't like it" scream and a "Hey, I've got a serious injury here!" scream.) I headed out back and was not prepared for what I saw. Sam was walking toward me, still screaming and crying, and all I could see was blood coming from the area of his left eye. It wasn't gushing--thank the Lord!--but even just a slow drip from a kid's eye is pretty scary! I was on the phone with Mom and told her to pray and I'd call her back, and I started praying--hard! He had a cut just above his eyeball and another below it, and the area below was dark, dark purple and already swelling up pretty big. I took him inside and got a wet rag to wipe away the blood and assess the injury. We prayed hard and kept the cold rag and some ice on him for a little while. I was amazed at how much better it looked in just a few minutes!!! I'm still amazed. I know that God touched him--and that He protected him from a much worse injury! Those dumb boys had been playing outside and started throwing chunks of wood at each other!!!! That's how this happened. You know what that means. Big, big punishments--including another week-long weapons ban for poor Joe. I tell ya', that kid just barely makes it through one probation period before another one begins! Anyway, I'm soooooooo thankful that Sam's eye is okay--God is good to us!!!

Today was a good, fun day. There is a ventriloquist lady who comes to Andrews once a year and puts on a great show for the kids at the library. She is soooooo good and the kids laugh as hard or harder as I've ever seen them. This was our third year to see her and we wouldn't miss it for the world! The lady's name is Nancy and she's got four "kids": Charlotte, a monkey girl; Waco and Lily, both weasels; and Larry the crocodile--always the kids' favorite.

After the show the library gives out free hot dogs and bottles of water, so we took ours and went to Aunt Sue's store to sit down and enjoy them as well as a nice visit with Aunt Sue! Afterwards we came home and I put the kids down for nap time. James got home from Odessa after a little while and we all headed out to the back yard again! The kids swam while I added mulch to all of the flower beds and James conquered dozens of miscellanious chores including building a "box" around the air conditioner out back (it's quite an eyesore) and building a miniature split rail fence around what will be our garden area and getting a tarp strapped down over the swamp cooler on the roof and I don't even know what else. I just know he was out there for a long, long time working very, very hard. What a guy!

That's about it from here. Not really, but I'm sure I've posted enough now to make you wish I'd stop, so I'll do just that! Just remind me to tell you about the punk teenagers next time. It was the most exciting thing to happen around here in a long, long time. Well, next to having a Blob for a pool and a kid almost lose an eyeball and... well, you know. ;-) Have a great Sunday!

Ah yes, and here are a whole slew of pictures. I've been uploading them while I've been typing and I really don't want to take the time to organize them and put them in place, so I'll just slap them up here and try to explain along the way. Here we go!

This is, of course, Nancy and Larry

And this is Joe enjoying Nancy and Larry!

Here are the kids in the Blob for the very first time. The pictures don't do justice here, either. It looks so much worse in person! (I wish I could get an aerial view of it! Ha!)

Following is a series of before and after pictures of the backyard. James didn't really want me to put any of these up yet because we're not finished yet, but I just couldn't help it! Sure, there's more to do (like one more coat of paint on the fence to rid ourselves of the streaks that we weren't aware of until the next day! Ha!), but I'm already so proud of us!!! Just look...

Ah yes, did I mention that we moved the pool??? We drained the thing and relocated it several feet hoping to convince it to take on the nicely rounded shape that the picture on the box indicates it should be. But it really didn't improve things very much. I think it had been stretched out into it's amoeba shape so long that it just doesn't know what else to do now!

And one more of "the barn"! Dontcha' love it?! :-)

This is a little diagram on the side of the pool indicating that you really shouldn't set it up on a slanted surface. We, of course, didn't notice this little illustration until after the pool was set up--and when we did notice it, the picture was half hidden "under" the pool because it was so warped! Ha! I took this picture after we relocated the pool and it's actually much better than it used to be. :-)

Oh! I've got to share! When we set the pool up the second time (thinking it would be level and perfectly circular--ha!) we began filling it, then left the house. When the kids and I got home and went to check on it, it had already filled up a litle bit too far. It's only supposed to come up to the very bottom of the inflatable ring at the top, but on the slant side of the pool (!) it was already up a couple of inches onto the ring. (The other side of the pool had several inches to go before the water would even reach it!) No biggie, I thought. Then I had the great idea of setting the swing set up really close to the pool (I'm sure you noticed in the pictures) so the kids would be able to swing and jump off into the pool. Would that be fun, or what?! Great idea!!! But I seemed to overlook the fact that my kids are a bunch of chickens. No way are they jumping into the pool. (I can't even get them to go down the slide I put in for them without a floaty on!) After a while I saw Katie on the swing and I got real excited thinking this was going to be a lot of fun--so I ran outside to watch her. I made a special point of telling her, "DO NOT land on the side of the pool--make sure you land out in the water." Incidently, I happened to set the swing set up on the side of the pool that was on the downward slope, thus the side where the water was already halfway up the inflatable ring. Katie worked up her courage, then promptly lost it when the time came to jump. She pretty much dropped straight down off the swing and directly onto the inflatable ring, pushing it down. The water began overflowing. And I don't mean dripping--we're talkin' pair 'em up, Noah, one more time!!! That whole half of the pool dropped down and began a torrential river threatening to wash away the eastern half of our yard. I had no shoes on and happened to be wearing my favorite pair of summer socks and wasn't about to take a chance of ruining them in the mud (I'm banking on you to back me up on this one, Em!), so I turned and ran into the house to fetch the shoes that were just inside the door--leaving Katie standing in the middle of the collapsing pool screaming bloody murder--

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!,"

...over and over again. By the time I got back outside (less than 10 seconds since Katie's fateful drop from the swing) the pool was beginning to right itself and all was well. Except for a still trembling and screaming child in the middle of the Blob. At that point it all suddenly became hilariously funny and I have enjoyed playing the entire scene over and over in my head since then. James didn't find it quite so amusing as I did (Cholerics miss out on so much!) and has since moved the swingset to a new and very distant location in relation to the pool. But it was a truly great memory that I intend to cherish always. :-)

Okay, that's really it! G'night again!!!

~Bec~