Never Fear

Posted by cokelady

...all is well here, in spite of my failure to blog. I actually received a phone call a little while ago: "You haven't been blogging... Are you okay?!?!?" Ha! Strange, isn't it? A year and a half ago I didn't even know what a blog was. I recall when I first started my blog and I intended to write something maybe once a week. Mom jumped in and went whole hog--every day without fail, The Mad Blogger. I thought it was pitiful and mocked her mercilessly. Of course, since that time I have found myself blogging much more than the one time a week I initially intended. But I've maintained a sporadicity sufficient to keep me from being accused of being addicted to blog. Or so I thought. Apparently I've earned a reputation as being more of a blogger than I thought I wanted to be. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's in place nonetheless. So here I am, blogging. :-)

I actually intended to blog last night, but I just didn't feel like it. I just felt incredibly lethargic. Usually when I feel like not being incredibly productive it seems like the prime time to sit and blog. But I was even too lazy to blog last night. It requires some degree of thought to blog and I didn't feel like thinking at all. Instead I asked James if he would spend the evening with me. And Alfred Hitchcock. ;-) Of course, I ended up having to use my brain to try to solve the mystery, but it still seemed less strenuous than blogging. Turned out to be a great decision. The episode was entitled "I Killed the Count" and ended up being a 3-parter, with more and more people confessing to the same murder and the detective going batty trying to sort it all out and figure out who the real killer was. In the end, the way the evidence was laid out, there was no way he could rightly charge any of them for the murder, so they all got off scotch free! Ha! It was so great! Alfred Hitchcock is hilarious and his introductions to the episodes are usually the best part of the entire show. It is, however, a little embarrassing that I've been too busy watching TV to blog. Tsk, tsk, tsk. For shame!!! I'll try to not let it happen again, but I can't make any promises since James bought the entire 2nd season and I'm becoming increasingly fond of good ole' Alfred! Ha!

I really had no idea it had been a full 5 days since I last posted anything. I was thinking it had been just 3. I haven't just been watching TV all this time. I was actually a very good, hard working, productive girl for the first three days! I've been amazing myself at how well I've been staying on top of things around here. The laundry and ironing and kitchen floor and bathrooms--all of the things that usually sneak up on me before I know it. I've actually been able to maintain them instead of the usual frantic efforts to recover once I've lost all control! Ha! It feels pretty good this way. Wonder how long it will last...

I've been doing real good in the meal department, too (just so you know, Jay Doran!!!), and have managed to pull off pork chops, roast, tuna casserole, sloppy joe's, and some other homemade something-or-another in the past week. So I quit. Ha! We're going to scrounge tonight. That'll be nice.

We had Sam & Tammy over for dinner on Sunday and they ended up spending most of the day here. It was great! We used to do that just about every week, but it's been ages since we've had a day like that. Then Tammy brought Archie to the park to meet up with the kids and me yesterday. That was fun. Afterwards she came over to play Eternal Rummy for an hour or two. I increased my lead and am now about 4,500 points up on her. ~sigh~ Life is Grand. :-)

Ah yes! The other reason I haven't been blogging! When I haven't been watching Alfred or doing housework, I've been making cards!!! Wow! A whole 4 of them!!! (I'll never understand how Emilee can sit down and whip out dozens at a time--she's my hero!!!) I'm almost ashamed to show them, but as infrequently as I do this sort of thing who knows when the next ones will be?! I was really excited about the first card--it looked great in my head--but I was disappointed in the finished product... until the next two cards came along, then the first one suddenly looked much better! Ha! They're not terrible, but I'm not real thrilled with any of them--they all seem to have that "beginner" look to them, you know?! Like I just tried my hand at this homemade card thing for the very first time. ~sigh~ Oh well.

Although the picture is a little blurry, this last card is the obvious favorite simply because you can't go wrong when you've got such great papers and color combo's! Ha! Now you know what I've been doing with all of my usual blog time.

Sammy has been standing next to me in his cowboy hat and boots, guitar strapped on, singing "Back in the Saddle Again" for quite some time. That kid is just toooooooo cute. Oh yeah! I've been meaning to tell you! Remember some time back when I mentioned the little "warts" on his face that seemed to be spreading? We tried the duct tape thing, but only a few times. He couldn't get the tape to stay on his face and, of course, James wouldn't allow him to be seen in public like that. (Some people are just no fun at all! Ha!) We've been rubbing some vitamin A on him every night before bed--we'd read that it is supposed to help do away with warts. It never seemed to do much good and just a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the bumps were spreading even more--several new ones above his lip and even one up on his nose. So I got online and started searching some more. From what I can tell, I think it's either molluscum contagiosum or milia, neither of which I had ever heard of before (!) and neither of which are considered serious at all. They usually clear up on their own in time. They are both caused by a virus and are prone to spread. Anyway, after researching a little bit I decided to just wash the kid's face with a gentle exfoliant several times a day. Guess what?! It's working!!! The bumps are flattening out and flaking off! Which, of course, makes me look like the worst Mom in the world. All this time, all I had to do was wash the kid's nasty face!!! That's terrible!!! Makes me feel like I'm raising a bunch of filthy little rats or something--he's had these bumps for months and months and months!!! I did wash his face before, but usually only when there was something visible: smears of peanut butter or blobs of ketchup or streaks of dirt... I've been taking him into the bathroom and scrubbing on him several times a day this past week and he's looking great! It's great to see his adorable little face clearing up, even though it's been an unpleasant revelation of my failures in the Mom department! Ha!

Well, I'm hearing big thunder outside, so I'd best sling this into cyberspace and shut things down. Until next time!

~Becki~

11 comments

Clean, Clean, Clean!

Posted by cokelady

It's been a very busy and productive couple of days around here. Yesterday was supposed to be laundry and ironing day, but ended up being recaulk the bathroom day instead. When we remodled the bathroom a couple of years ago we used an adhesive trim that never did work the way it was supposed to and James finally had all he could take and ripped it up yesterday. So I scrubbed all of the gooey residue off of the tub and floor, then used regular caulk to finish it out. It's so hard to get caulk to look nice and smooth and not smear beyond where it's supposed to be! I'm thankful for those two log homes I caulked in Colorado--I'm sure the experience I gained there helped my bathroom job to be much better than it otherwise would have been! Still, you'd think somebody would come up with a product that wouldn't be so prone to look tacky.

After the bathroom job I headed to the toy room. The kids had started in on "the big job" in there, emptying the bins and bookshelves to begin sorting everything and trying to get things in their proper place. It's a nice thought, but they are still 3, 5 and 6 years old and can't do the cleaning job of a 12 year old. They worked hard, but fizzled out just as the room reached the beyond-recognition stage. So I dove in. I was up to my elbows in toys when James pops his head in the door and says, "You ready to go?" Go? Go where??? Why, nursing home service, of course! Yipes! I had TOTALLY forgotten. I pulled Katie's hair into a fresh pony tail, then my own, changed my shirt and slid on some shoes on my way out the door. ~whew!~ We made it just in time. Just in time for a crazy night, that is. There was some sort of malfunction at the home and all of the fire alarms were flashing the whole time we were there, giving a bit of a strobe light effect. All we needed was some smoke and an electric guitar and we'd have been all set! HA! The lady who gives gifts to the kids all the time had chosen squirt guns for the boys this time. Great. It's impossible to give guns to little boys and expect them to refrain from taking aim at somebody, especially when the building is full of mobility challenged targets. The entire evening was quite informal, I assure you. I looked down at some point and noticed that both of my boys had their shoes on the wrong feet and one of them had his shirt on backwards. (Such things happen when you throw everybody into the car at the last minute, you know!) One lady had a sneezing fit during one of the songs and the more she sneezed the more cockeyed her glasses got until they were sitting somehow at a 45 degree angle or more on her face, one lens resting on her forehead, leaving her left eye squinting in an effort to make us out. She's a sweet little lady and I am in no way mocking her, but there was also no way to keep from giggling when we looked at her. We sang one song that none of us could remember the first stanza to. We had the words in front of us, but we just couldn't seem to remember the way the melody went on the first line of the verses. All four verses. We'd all be real quiet, trying to remember it and everybody singing it a little bit different (and each trying it differently on each verse), then we'd burst in good and loud on the second stanza when we actually knew what we were supposed to be singing! Ha! It was such a mess. In spite of the strobe lights, target practice, wardrobe issues, sneezing fit, and musical handicap, we had a good service. That may be hard to believe, but it's true--I really felt the Lord in a couple of the songs. A good night. A little strange, perhaps, but good. :-)

We put the kids to bed and I sat down with James to watch a couple episodes of his new collection: the 2nd season of Alred Hitchcock Presents. Ha! Those are so great!!! It was 11:15 when we turned it off and I felt the surge hit me--had to clean!!! I headed back to the toy room and went nuts. Got the bookshelf, bins, dresser and toy closet all cleaned out, everything cleaned, sorted and put back in it's proper place (and discarded enough junk to fill one of those big black trash bags), and then vacuumed. It felt great!!! I didn't make it to bed until 2:45, but it felt great! It didn't feel great when I was still awake at 3:15. Why can you not fall asleep when you most want to and need to?! Oh well.

I spent most of the day today cleaning up my office. All of the mess that didn't belong in the toy room had been transferred to the office, of course. So I got it all cleaned up and scrubbed down and vacuumed today and then managed to get the kitchen cleaned up, floor swiffered (I love that contraption!) and had a nice dinner ready for the family to boot! Jumped in the shower and then off to church it was. Good service tonight. Aunt Sue taught about trusting in God--having genuine faith that He will answer our prayers and that He'll truly do what He's promised in His Word to do.

And now here I am. I was going to go to bed early tonight, but now it's 11:40 and I'm still up. James has been talking to me while I've been trying to type. And he's done The Bad Thing. The really really Bad Thing. He pulled out the calendar and started trying to figure out what the next couple of months look like. I thought about doing that the other day, but I resisted the urge and determined to spend the rest of July in a state of blissful ignorance. I didn't want to think about the trips we'll be making and all of the time away from home. But alas, my bliss has ended. James is still sorting through the dates and locations, but it looks like we're going to be gone for about 25 days in all--that's between time in Pennsylvania with his family, Tennessee with mine, the General Assembly, and all of the travel time from one place to the next and back again. UGH. I look forward to the Assembly and the rare family time, of course. But I just dread being gone for so long! It seems like we've been gone an awful lot lately and I'm so ready to just be home. I like my home. ~sigh~ I miss it already just thinking about being gone for so long! And there are more trips to come after this big one, but I am refusing to think about them and I won't let James talk to me about them. One thing at a time--there's only so much I can take!!!

Okay, I'm going to shoot for bed by midnight. Maybe I'll dream about being at my very own home for a good, long while. My dreams are probably the only place that can happen for the next few months, at least!

Homesick Already,

~ Becki ~

6 comments

The Bestest Birthday!

Posted by cokelady

I was awakened yesterday just after 7:00 by three very excited and boisterous children bursting into our bedroom screaming “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!” They brought me a present, too: a gift bag full of pictures they had drawn for me. They stayed in the room chattering incessantly for several minutes and finally started hollering, “Come on, Mom! Get up! It’s your birthday!!! Come make us breakfast!” I told them that’s not really the way it’s supposed to work! Ha! Oh well. Cereal isn’t too much work, so I can’t complain. ;-) It was great to have such a cheerful wake-up call.

I had a nice, relaxing morning. James took off to Odessa for the day, so the kids and I just kind of hung out. I did some light cleaning and then called Tammy to see if she wanted to come join us for Totino’s pizzas for my birthday. Too late! She was calling me to see if she could bring me a Frito Wrap and a Cherry-limeade with extra cherry flavoring. :-) Perfect! I made Totino’s for the kids and let them sit in the den and watch Davy Crockett again (!) while Tammy and I enjoyed our Sonic feast over a friendly game of Eternal Rummy in the kitchen. Fun! And I increased my lead considerably. ;-)

When she left after a couple of hours I put the kids down for a nap, then grabbed a crossword puzzle book and got to work on it. I can’t even remember the last time I did that! When I was pregnant with Katie, James got me a monthly subscription to Dell or whoever it is that makes all of those crossword books. I used to breeze through them pretty quickly, but once the kids arrived that all ended! In fact, I just looked and found that I still have two untouched books (plus the one I’m working on now) from that same subscription 7 years ago! Ha! So anyway, it was great to be able to loaf around and enjoy something I love to do but rarely take the time for anymore! :-)

The kids got up from their nap… well, two of them did. Sam was such a crab he had to be sent back to bed two or three times before he was happy enough to join the rest of the family. In the meantime, I played a couple rounds of Memory with Katie and Joe. I love that game. Wiped up on ‘em good this time. ;-)

It had been a grand and glorious day—just sooooo nice and relaxing. The perfect birthday! Then James came home and it all ended. Ha! Doesn’t that sound terrible?! It’s true! He came home and was just kind of creepy—enough to get me good and mad and I just couldn’t figure out why on earth he was being so insensitive and careless on my birthday. My 30th birthday, no less! (My mother has since informed me that it’s impossible to have a 30th birthday without an emotional crash of some sort. She should know!) James had told me early in the day that he was going to be taking me out for dinner. After being jerky, he told me that we’d go out at 6:00 and then promptly left the building. He went and hid in is office for the next couple of hours and I didn’t see him again until it was time to leave. Very strange, indeed. Why would he pick a fight with me on my birthday, be all creepy, walk away with no real attempt to make things better, then show up at 6:00 and act as if everything is okay?! We loaded up and headed out. We drove past Western Grill, the only steakhouse in town. “Hhmmm. They’re busier than I thought they’d be tonight,” James said. I glanced at the parking lot. Practically empty. Then he looked down the road to my favorite sandwich shop, Cassidy’s. “They’re really busy tonight, too.” It all started falling into place then. He was trying to act as if we were going no place in particular, but it was becoming increasingly evident that he was making a bee line. Somewhere. We pulled into the parking lot of Mi Pueblo and I scanned the parking lot. (Consequently, this restaurant was busier than the other two mentioned.) Sure enough, I saw Sam & Tammy’s car. By this time I was hoping it was just a coincidence, but was afeared (yes, I meant to say that) otherwise! Tammy is not the kind of friend to let a “big” birthday pass unnoticed. But what terrible timing! Now I was even more mad at James than before!!! What a creep to get me all worked up before taking me to a birthday party where I would have to act happy in front of other people!!! Ha!

I didn’t have to act for long. It was so fun!!! I can’t even remember the last time I had a real birthday party. Probably when I was a teenager and lived near Tammy!!! (I finally figured out that James had been in on the plot all along, of course, and figured it would be easiest to keep the secret if he was gone for most of the day, then had me mad at him for the rest of it. After we left the restaurant he apologized profusely, but was chuckling the whole time. Creep. But I couldn’t help but forgive him—it had turned into such a great day after all!) Aunt Sue and Uncle Jerry were at the restaurant, too, and there were a bunch of balloons tied to the chair at the head of the table—and a huge gift basket stuffed with all kinds of great things! Wow!!!

We had a nice visit over dinner, then Tammy whipped out The Poky Little Puppy, my favorite book from childhood, and read it to me. I had a hard time seeing the pictures though because of my snoopy kids. The little twerps. ;-) (My Dad had me sit on his lap while he read it to me on my 16th birthday, too. I think I see a pattern developing!) Then it was present time!

The card said that they wanted to give me some of my favorite things from years gone by. The contents of the gift basket were: a box of Apple Jacks, a packet of tuna (Tammy and I usually eat that when we get together), a can of tuna (a reminder of the time I tried to open a can of it with the kitchen faucet instead of with the can opener), pictures of John Elway and Ed McCaffrey and even some homemade “stationary” with them on it (ah, what glorious years those were!), a cherry coke (always a favorite of mine), a glass bottle of Coke (never better than straight from the bottle!), a Garfield coloring book (loved Garfield; loved to color), a puzzle of the United States (loved learning about the states; loved puzzles—still do!), some western scrapbooking accents (I’ve always loved western stuff; love to collect scrapbooking supplies, although I seldom use them! Ha!), a picture of me when I was 11 with my springer spaniel, Champion (“the dog you loved to hate”), strawberry Cream Savers candies, a packet of gourmet hot cocoa from Sue’s store, a box of Nerds, a box a fruit roll-ups (what Karen Otterbacher used to get for us for a pounding because everybody else got “practical” things and she knew my Mom never bought junk like that!), and a little photo album filled with pictures of great memories from the past 15 years or so. Wow!!! It was sooooooooo amazing!!! Tammy declares it’s not the case, but I know her well enough to know that the entire event was about 95% her doing. She is soooooooooo thoughtful. She called several people to ask for help remembering some of my favorites from way back when and I know she worked hard to put everything together. Thank you, Tammy—you’re the best friend anybody could ever ask for and I love you!!! Aunt Sue helped out a lot, too, I’m sure. I recognized her handiwork in the wrap-job--balloons, ribbons and basket from Willow Creek. Oh! Willow Creek! I also got a $25 gift certificate from Aunt Sue’s store, Willow Creek! Of course, I noticed that the expiration date said “24 hours” so I think I’m out of luck. Ha!

Anyway, #30 was one of the very best birthdays I’ve ever had. In actuality, I can recall very few of my birthdays through the years, but this one I will never forget! Oh, after the gift basket there was another bag to be opened: denture cleanser and muscle rub cream. Again, Tammy is so thoughtful. ;-) Sam was asking if I would share it with him—he’s “Mr. 4-0” (that’s what Katie calls him), you know, and needs it even worse than I do. :-)

Hhmmm… what am I forgetting??? Sister Patsy and her son and daughter showed up for the party, too, so that was nice! Tammy had also made a chocolate cake, so we had that after our meal. (I had made a chocolate cake of my own earlier, so the kids and I had some of that for breakfast today!) When we left the restaurant Sam and Tammy came over to the house to play games for a while. The perfect ending to the perfect day. (Perfect all except for a creepy husband intentionally getting me mad so I wouldn’t suspect anything!) They brought a poem from my Dad that Mom had e-mailed to them earlier in the day. I can’t explain it, so I’ll just share it:

Bucky, My Aging Daughter

One score and ten years ago
My wife gave birth to an Eskimo
Or so by our daughter’s looks it appeared
With her black hair, round face, and dark eyes--weird!

We wondered how a Texan and Bohemian conceived
Such a contradiction, but were at last relieved,
When her features changed to a more expected view,
(Except for her double-extra large shoe).

There was one other thing that knocked us flat,
After having such a good little boy – our girl was a brat!
Never had we seen such a temper in a child,
She would kick and scream, as her fury went wild.

Her spirit was stubborn and impossible to control,
Our sanctification was challenged by this little troll!
No wonder they make cribs with bars like a jail,
It’s the only hope for parents to prevail!

I’m telling this story all on the level,
That little girl was just a little ---(hard to get along with)

If “terrible two’s” are what children go through,
This little terror went through ten times two.

We worried and fretted, wondering what we should do,
The rod of chastisement simply could not subdue.
Then at last we thought of a wonderful plan,
We asked God to help (duh), then a change began.

Let no one tell you God doesn’t answer prayer,
For as we prayed, we came out of despair.
God changed her spirit and this little “hood”
Turned into a new girl, she actually became “good”!

(Not perfect mind you, but certainly much better.
God cast most of the brat out of her, but not all.)

This daughter grew up and became our pride and joy,
And about the time she was near perfect, along came a boy.
He was a prince of a man, perhaps you’ve heard of his name,
And may have read his Bible, It’s called the King ____ (just kidding).

So married they were and off they went,
Leaving her mother and I to sit and lament.

(Rotten, good for nothing children! They are not worth the trouble--years spent in training them up and all at once they abandon you, just when they finally learn to do the dishes!)

But then they brought a real treat into our lives
The kind that brings great joy to husbands and wives
Along came Katie, and Joe and Sambo
Miss prissy, and mosey, and a little Rambo.

Now that changes everything and we now have new light,
Children aren’t really so bad, they’re really alright.
So long as they bring the grandkids along
They can visit us often and stay all day long.

Now Bucky is older, yes much older indeed,
Yes Bucky is older, yes much older indeed!

(O, I already said that. But who would have thought she would turn thirty years old, 'cause thirty is old and I mean really, really old! I mean that’s like one year old, thirty times, or 3 years old ten times. Old, old, Old. Any body got a dime? More grapes please.) (--I realize he lost most of you with the dime and grapes, but for those who know, it's hilarious!

Ok Becky, it’s like this. Mom asked me to write this poem today. It takes me weeks to finish a good poem. That’s why I have now resorted to rambling. I will try one last stanza.

But really I’m thankful and this is no joke,
Cause she likes Twilight Zone and Gunsmoke!

(Hey, it rhymes, and anyhow I’m tired). Let me start again.
Becky, you are the greatest daughter any parent could ever ask for. Your love, prayers, and counsel have been God sent. I do not know what I would have done without you, James, and the kids since mom and dad went to heaven. I love you more than words can say. Thanks for always being there, for the love, and prayers, and hugs, and support. I hope I can be as good a dad as you are a good and godly daughter. Have a great 30th.

Dear O’ Dad

Personally, I think he spent way too much time on the “troll” years of my life and then skipped too quickly to when I got married. From what I’ve heard, I was only a monster child for the first two or three years. From that point on I was very nearly perfect. Or something like that. ;-) Anyway, this poem was the bestest gift of all. Dad has always had a special hold on my heart, and always will. He still has the distinct ability to make me laugh—or cry—like no one else can do. All my life it has felt like he held my heart in his hands. I’ve always liked it that way. It feels like such a safe place to be. :-) I trust and pray that my own little girl will grow up with the same adoration and trust and respect for her own Dad. There is no relationship like that of a father and daughter. Such an amazing thing. Even (and maybe especially) if he calls you a troll. ;-)

Sam and Tammy and I enjoyed one of the best game nights we’ve ever had—we were all neck and neck (and neck?) at the very end and Tammy finally managed to squeeze into the lead by 100 points in the last round. Sam had been winning throughout the entire game, but came in dead last when it was all said and done. What could be better than that?! And I could truly rejoice in Tammy’s victory, too—she deserved it after all of her hard work to give me such a terrific birthday! ~sigh~ Bestest birthday of all time??? Very likely! Add those fantastic cards from Emilee from the day before and I feel plumb spoiled. ;-)

That’s it for now. It’s back to normal life today. With lots of fond remembrances of a really fantastic 30th birthday! I am soooooo blessed.

~Rebekah~

P.S.—I didn’t know there was to be a party, so I didn’t have my camera with me. Sam had his with him and took a couple of shots, but hasn’t sent them to me yet. I had him take this one of me with the basket-o-stuff…and my happy socks that make my happy shirt even happier than it already was. :-)

10 comments

Home Again!

Posted by cokelady

I last blogged on Friday, I think. Time flies! I worked on the laundry throughout the day, then I started in on the ironing when I put the kids to bed that night. I watched Sense and Sensibility while I worked. It had been a long, long time since I'd watched that one, so it was extra enjoyable. I still had quite a pile to be ironed when that movie ended, so I threw in Emma and watched it, too! Whoa! Can't remember the last time I pulled a double movie night! I could have put in Pride and Prejudice after that for the full Jane Austen experience, but three is just way too many for one night! Besides, I was able to finish up on ALL of the ironing during Emma. Makes me happy, happy, happy. :-)

I got up Saturday morning and started packing for our impromptu trip to Abilene. We left at about noon and had a nice little drive over there, just over 2 hours, I think. We always stop at the K-Mart in Sweetwater because they've got such great deals. This time was no exception. I made out with two new skirts, one denim and one khaki, a t-shirt and a pair of shoes. We decided to call it my early birthday present. :-) We got to Abilene and checked into our motel at 4 or 5:00, I think. James had put in a bid on Priceline and we ended up at the Mariott (whoa!) for the same price that Motel 6 in Carlsbad charges. CRAZY. My folks had gotten a Red Lobster gift card for James for his birthday last month, so that's where we went for dinner! YUM. Fiesta lobster rolls and clam chowder--with those terrific garlic cheese bisquits. Just nothing like it. :-) Afterward we stopped by Target and I bought some happy, happy, happy socks to go with one of my new happy, happy, happy shirts!!! I LOVE THEM! I'm wearing them right now, in fact, and they make me very... you guessed it--HAPPY! :-) I'll have to post a picture of them one of these days. Anyway, we went back to the room and tried to get everybody to bed early because we knew we had a full day ahead of us on Sunday.

We loaded up on Sunday morning and drove the 15 miles or so to Merkel to be in church with the Lunas there. We had a good service--we always do there. There always seems to be such a spirit of worship with the Lunas. They are good people. After service we went back to their house for the usual feast: tamales, enchiladas, tacos, fajitas, beans, rice, brisket and all of the other things I forgot to mention--all fresh and completely homemade. There's always enough to feed a small army and even though we eat ourselves sick we barely make a dent in it! Sister Luna just loves to cook. We had a really nice visit with them, as always.

By the time we had finished gorging ourselves we were sooooooooo ready for a nap! We drove back to our nice room in Abilene and crashed for a couple of hours. We drug ourselves out of bed to get ready for church again, this time at the Church of God of Prophecy there in Abilene. Some of my family attends there and we were going to go join them in service. We got to the church just a few minutes before 6:00 and there was already a guy in a pick-up sitting there, waiting. The sign said they had Sunday evening service at 6:00, so we waited until about 6:05 and then called Uncle Hobert. (We hadn't told anybody we were coming--we were just going to show up there.) He felt soooooooooo bad, but said that the pastor had decided to cancel the Sunday night services until the end of August--something about everybody taking vacations and not having the money to pay for the utilities on the church building. Crazy, hu?! Anyway, I explained the situation to the other "visitor" who had showed up for church, then we drove over to Uncle Hobert's house to visit for a little while. It wasn't the evening we had planned, but it was really nice to be able to sit and visit for a while--we might not have had that opportunity otherwise. God knows.

We got up this morning and roamed the mall a little bit. I bought another skirt (!!!)--it was from Christopher & Banks and it was $9.99, so I couldn't pass it up! I also got a shirt for $2.95. I love it when I can find a shirt there for that price! :-) We also stumbled upon Davy Crockett, so we bought that, too. I've been looking for that movie since before our trip to San Antonio in the Spring--you know, the one from the 50's starring Fess Parker. The kids were sooooo excited!

We got home at about 3:00 this afternoon and unloaded the car, then unpacked and got things cleaned up. I wasn't feeling very good today and didn't feel up to doing anything just real productive, so I sat down with the kids and watched our new Davy Crockett movie! I bought it for the kids, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I hadn't seen it since I was a little kid and although I remember liking it then, I really didn't have very high expectations. Definitely a keeper, though! I kept telling the kids to be quiet so I could hear what was going on! Ha!

The kids were soooooooooo wound up tonight and we had a terrible time getting them settled down for devotions and bedtime. In fact, this is what Sam looked like prior to and even during devotions...

Trying to get it adjusted just right...

There we go--perfect!!!

Seems like it would be rather difficult to get the drop on somebody if your guns were strapped to your head, but Sam always seems to live life by his own rules!

Oh! Oh! Oh! One more picture--I couldn't NOT share this! When we got the mail there was a package from Emilee for me. I ripped it open and was totally wowed by what fell into my lap!!! Just look!!!--

21 handmade cards! 21 handmade Coca-Cola cards! 21 adorable handmade Coca-Cola cards!!! Could you die?! WOW!!!! We usually don't do birthday gifts for each other anymore (we've got too many kids to buy for these days!), but I'm sooooooooooo glad she made an exception this year! These are sooooooooooooo great!!! I LOVE YOU, EMILEE!!!!!!! (You guys have got to click on the picture so you can see it enlarged--the one on the bottom left is the one to me from Emilee, the rest are blank and ready to be used at my leisure! WOW!) ~sigh~ What a friend!!!

Then there are other kinds of friends. I got a phone call from one of them a little while ago saying, "Just think, you've only got 3 hours left in your 20's and then it'll all be over!!! You'll never be 20-something again... isn't that so sad?!" Yeppers, Tammy is a real pal. I think I'm going to show up at her house at midnight and show her just how much spunk this 30 year old still has! Ha! The thought of being 30 really doesn't bother me at all. (Of course, if Tammy keeps it up it might start getting to me! Ha!) I always wondered if getting old would bother me. Not yet. I think I've learned that you can have a whole lot of fun at any age, so it really doesn't matter! As a teen-ager I thought I was having more fun than anybody should be allowed--and I probably was! I loved those years and I wouldn't trade them in for anything in the world. But there is absolutely no way I would go back to them if given the chance! And at that point in time I never would've imagined myself having so much fun being a mom. This is even more fun than being a carefree teen-ager! My kids are such a blast!!! Who knew?! I'm rambling--I'll spare you. Life is Grand. It's just that simple. ;-)

~Bec~

13 comments

BIG Report About the Little Trip!

Posted by cokelady

It’s been a busy couple of days for us. On Monday I loaded up the kids, went and picked Tammy up and headed to Odessa for the day. It actually wasn’t supposed to be “for the day,” but we got a little carried away. I can’t think of a time when we’ve been able to go to town and just go wherever we wanted to go and do whatever we wanted to do. The kids were with us so that prevented it from being a true-blue Girl Day, but it was the closest we’ve had since that great trip to Ladies’ Retreat last year, so we lived it up. We shopped all over the place and we actually shopped! I mean, like, bought things! Whoa!!! I never do that unless James is there to force me up to the register and order me to let loose of the dough. I don’t remember what all Tammy got, but I started out by buying a robe. I’ve been looking for a nice, cool summer robe that I can wear over my pj’s when we have company around, but they are so hard to find! I’ve actually been looking for 4 years now (!), but it is sooooooo hard to find one that comes up to here and goes down to yonder and has sleeves of reasonable length—and that’s still cool enough to wear in the summer in Texas and not give yourself heatstroke. So I was thrilled to finally find one. On sale for 50% off, no less! And I bought two very, very happy shirts. Can you see me smiling?! I mean, they are happy shirts! Oh, how I love happy shirts! One has lots of colors, all in vertical stripes. The other is that really bright orangish kind of color with yellow and pink plaid over the top of it. ~sigh~ It just makes a girl feel that all is well with the world when she can wear a truly happy shirt. Now, of course, I’m in the market for some truly happy socks to go with them! :-)

Uncle David’s funeral was on Tuesday. There were lots of people there and it was so good to see some of the family that I hadn’t seen in years. It’s a shame it takes a death in the family to bring us all together. It was really nice to see my Great-Uncle Hobert—he’s always been a favorite of mine. He and his branch of the family live in Abiline, about 2½ hours from here. James enjoyed visiting with him for a few minutes and told me later that we’re going to go over to see Uncle Hobert sometime in the near future. That will be nice.

We left the funeral and drove over to Carlsbad to spend the night. We decided to take the car instead of the van since this was just a little trip.

The kids love going in the car for some reason. Gives ‘em lots more opportunity to pull the “He’s on my side!” thing, and we all know how much kids enjoy that little game.

Check out these pictures I took on the way…

Is that bizarre, or what?! Regardless of what it looks like, that is not snow and ice on the lake. It’s salt. Crazy, hu?! It was the most amazing sight—it looks just like a frozen lake and your mind has a really tough time comprehending it. Your eyes are telling you one thing: ice and snow. And your mind and body are telling you another: it’s got to be 100 degrees out there—it can’t be ice and snow! It’s weird.

James had been planning this mini-trip for about a week and was all settled that we would eat at the Golden Corral that first night. He even ate a light lunch that day in preparation. Lo and behold, when we got to Carlsbad we discovered that what used to be the Golden Corral is now the Dragon China Buffet! Poor James! He loves Chinese food, but he’d had his heart set on a steak for days! Ha! We ended up at Chili’s and he got a much better steak than he would have gotten at Golden Corral, I’m sure. (This Chili’s was terrific—the bar was completely closed off from the rest of the restaurant, like with real walls and doors!) We all had strawberry lemonade to drink—it’s the best!

We decided to have dessert ala Wal-Mart: Whoppers and Milk Duds! Ha! We ended up doing some shopping and finding some much needed articles of clothing for some of us. A red shirt for me (I’ve had these terrific cherry socks for a couple of months, but no red shirt to wear them with—what a dilemma!!!), a couple of dress shirts for Joe, two little boy ties and dress shoes all the way around for the kid-o’s. Everything was super cheap and they were in need, so it worked out great. James was tired of looking at my grungy tennis shoes, so he made me get a new pair, too. It always feels so great to have fresh, white shoes. Especially when you have really fun socks to wear with them! ;-)

We had a nice, relaxing evening at the motel after our dinner and shopping outing. I called Mom to tell her about our day and all of the family that we’d seen. We watched great stuff on TV. By that I mean really dumb stuff. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, to be exact. They did a story about some dummy who was “buried alive” for 5 full months. Lived in a little box (much larger than a coffin, but still way too cramped for me!) all that time with just a pipe leading up to the real world to be able to breath and transport things up and down as needed. People like that are just nuts. I mean, what do you get from throwing away 5 full months with your wife and kids and normal life?! You get your name written down with a “world record” title next to it, but nobody even remembers what your name is. (I sure don’t!) They just call you “the dummy who was buried alive for 5 months” and talk about you on their equally meaningless blog. ;-) And it only lasts until some other dope decides he can out-do you and take your title. Dumb!!! D-U-M, dumb. The other part of the show was terrific, though—it was about the guy from Montana (can’t recall his name either) who is the fastest gun in the world. His quick draw was amazing!!! Joe was in heaven. The guy does lots of trick shooting, but his speed is just baffling. Very, very cool.

We slept terrible on an awful bed. I usually don’t have any problem in motels, but this one was the pits. The bed was too small for us to start with (although we can usually cope with that much better than we did this time!) and it was hard and the comforter was slick and kept sliding off onto the floor and the sheets kept coming untucked and rolling themselves up under us. And Sam kept losing his blanket and hollering for it throughout the night. I was ready for a nap by the time we got up! Ha!

We headed all the way to the other end of town so James could get his Egg McMuffin for breakfast. Weird-o. Then we headed on out to the caverns. We were there for about two hours and really, really enjoyed it. We took the elevator 750’ down into the cave, then took the miles of trail that take you through “The Big Room.” What an amazing cave! You want to know the best part of all??? The weather!!! ~Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh~ It was glorious down there!!! I was ready to move in, right there. If only there was a way to have the great cave temperature along with the cheeriness of some sunshine, I’d be all set. :-) Anyway, here are some pictures… (Notice the happy shirt!)

Great cave, hu?! I couldn't resist. They're doing loads of remodleing to the facilities there.

Unless you've been there, these pictures mean nothing. You cannot imagine the immensity of this cave. It just blows your mind how HUGE it is--and how HUGE all of the structures and formations are. It's impossible to get good pictures of it all, but we took over 100 of them so we'd be sure to get some good ones! This is what I came up with...

This one is called the Sword of something-or-another. Or was it a dagger?

This is the Lion's Tail. Cool, hu?!

This is a picture of the stalagtites directly above us. Or are they stalagmites? Tites come down and mites go up, right?! Anyway, isn't that cool?!

Same thing, taken from a slight angle...

I knew that a picture of the pit itself wouldn't turn out, so I took a picture of the diagram so you could get some sort of perspective on the size of this place. Can you see the size of the tiny little figure where the sign says "You are here"?!

A couple more nifty shots. Look at the swirly things in the second one! Neat-o, hu?!

The elevater ride 750' back up to the surface.

This is what the kids looked like after our miles of spelunking.

We finished up at the caverns at about lunchtime, so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed on home. It’s only about a two hour drive and the kids and I slept for most of it. It was so great!!! I loved the whole thing. It’s such a blast to pack for just one night and then when your vacation is over to just be home in two hours! Amazing. We ought to take these mini-trips more often! It’s all the fun with none of the exhaustion! :-)

I got unpacked and everything cleaned up that night—another perk to a mini-trip vs. a big one. Then yesterday I loaded up the kids and headed down to Midland. Mardel was having a big 20% off sale on their entire kid’s section, as well as the educational department. So I got a couple of Veggie CD’s that we’ve been missing, a craft book for use in school with the kids, and a math book for Katie. With James’ discount on top of the sale price, we basically paid for the craft book and got the math book and the CD’s for free! Happy shopping!!! (Yes, I was wearing a happy shirt, in case you’re wondering!)

We did some more running around, then came home and I started in on the laundry and other house stuff. We had communion and feetwashing service last night and it was really good. It came at the perfect time for me. Some things came up yesterday that were a little difficult for me and I’m so thankful! The Bible says that a scorner heareth not rebuke and that some people are “wiser in their own conceit” than seven men that can render a reason. On the other hand, if you rebuke a wise man, he will love you. “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning.” And how ‘bout this one, “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.” Don’t you just love the Proverbs?! I want so much to be wise and not foolish! Sometimes it’s so hard when somebody “rebukes” you—brings something to your attention that perhaps you need to change. But I don’t want to “rage” and “be confident” that I’m right and everybody else is wrong. I don’t want to come up with more explanations for myself than seven men who can render genuine reasons! I want to be like the wise man who will hear those hard things—the rebukes and reproofs—and be thankful for them. How much better to learn from your mistakes than to try to defend them! I say that as if I’m an old pro at it. I wish! It’s so not natural for me—I find myself bristling against accusations to begin with. It’s always sooooooo hard to just swallow your pride and do what’s right. But only at first—once you get started it gets so much easier and it’s just soooooooooo peaceful! It feels soooooooooo good to know that God is working in your heart through His Word and through friends and loved ones who care enough to help you see your weaknesses. It’s a great thing to not have to stay the same person you are today with all of the same failures and weaknesses—we can be changed “from glory to glory” and keep on getting closer to God and more and more Christlike along the way! How exciting is that?! But we have to make up our minds to be the humble wise man instead of the self-confident fool.

That’s my sermon for the week. If Katie was around she’d sing a special song for you, then take up an offering. ;-)

Sister Marcia and Sara and Aaron have been in Andrews this week, but we hadn’t been able to see them because of all of the other things we’ve been up to. It was nice to have them in church with us last night though. Afterwards everybody came over to our house and visited and played games. It was great! We always enjoy having them with us. They are a blessing to us and always lots of fun.

And that gets us all caught up to today. Aren't you glad?! I actually wrote most of this last night, but didn't feel like taking the time to post the pictures until now. I'm going to do some school with the kids, then get back to the laundry. The pile keeps growing and is going to start crawling across the room if I don't take control of things. Wish me luck!

~The Long-Winded One~

6 comments

Too Tired

Posted by cokelady

...to do any serious blogging tonight, although it's been a great day. Spent the day running around Odessa with Tammy and the three kid-0's. It was lots of fun. Maybe I'll have the energy to share more about it another time!

I did want to take the time to mention that my Great-Uncle David passed away and we'll be going to the funeral tomorrow. He's been in horrible pain, suffering from numerous ailments for a couple of years now. We believe he had made things right with the Lord and therefore rejoice that he is free from his suffering, but it will be very difficult for my Aunt Bernice without him. Please keep her and the rest of the family in your prayers.

The funeral will be in Kermit, where Uncle David and Aunt Bernice lived. Afterwards, we're going to drive over to Carlsbad, New Mexico and get a motel for the night. We'll go see the caverns the next day before coming home. We've always wanted to do that, so James decided that now is the time!

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and will post them... if they turn out! I really have no idea what to expect. I'll take some video, too, but I'm not very good about getting that posted on the blog. It's a lot of work!!! I filmed something just this morning that I would love to put on the blog (nothing nearly as grand as Mom dumping a rubber snake in her lap, so don't get too excited!), but I'll have to wait until I've got some major time I can devote to the project!

It's been a great, but very long day. I think I'm actually going to make it to bed before 11:00 tonight. WHOA!!!

G'night!

~Bec~

3 comments

Where's My Cape?

Posted by cokelady

Ah, yes! I've been wearing it! I've been doing my best Emilee impersonation the past few days. That means I have been a great over-achiever. (It's not a complete Emilee impersonation though because I haven't done anything fantastically creative and adorable in the midst accomplishing everything else.) There's just one hitch. Whenever I actually pull it off and manage to be Superhousewife for a few days, it's like the Mom part of me falls short. And on the days when I feel like I'm being a really great Mom, the house falls apart! It's like I can't seem to successfully pull off both of them at the same time! Come on, Em--what's your secret???

Friday was The Big Kitchen Scrub. I spent hours scrubbing the table (the underneath part that gets all cruddy when you have kids) and all of the chairs, then the floor itself, which took forever. We've got great white and black linoleum in there, but as linoleum is prone to get pits in it that start to get stained dirt color (!), it takes a lot of tough scrubbing to get it looking bright and white and shiny again. But if feels soooooooo good when it actually happens!

It feels good, that is, until the next day when a little kid appears in the den where you're sorting laundry, hands and cowboy boots caked in thick mud saying with great pride, "We're digging a big hole, Mom!" I was thrilled with the news (all little boys ought to be able to dig holes--they were made for such things) until I glanced up at him. My smile quickly faded as I traced his muddy boot marks across the living room floor, across my brand new, freshly scrubbed kitchen floor, across my office floor, and finally leading out the dog door, of all places. (He thought he was being a good little boy by crawling through the dog door and thereby not touching the back door with his grubby little hands. How thoughtful of him.) I screamed. I couldn't help it. I had worked sooooooooooo hard! "Sa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-am!!!!! Get out of my house! Out! Out! Out!!! Go dig your hole and don't step foot in this house again until I tell you to!!!" I assisted him out the door and took time to try to admire his handywork, but it was hard to appreciate the hole when I knew that it's former contents were strewn throughout my house. ~sigh~ That kid wears me out!!! If he weren't so stinkin' cute I'd disown him. ;-)

After the mud incident the day went much more smoothly and I stood astonished and amazed (little inside joke there) at how much I was able to get done. I scrubbed James' bathroom, which is the most dreaded household chore of all. Stopped for lunch, then I called swim time for Katie and Joe so I could get the main bathroom cleaned. Sam decided he wanted to help me clean (he had been cleaned himself, just in case you're wondering) and he really is a great little helper. He scrubbed the tub with fury, ranting the whole time in his best and meanest superhero voice about all of the germs he was killing. "You see that one, Mom? I killed it! It's dead!!! No more germs in here!..." As I was nearing the end of that project Sam disappeared, then reappeared with his trunks saying "It's swim time!!!" and off he ran.

I was then able to get all of the bedrooms cleaned up and the sheets changed and the house was well on it's way to being really and truly clean all over, so I picked up the phone real quick and invited Uncle Jerry over for dinner so I'd be forced to see it through to it's shining end. :-) I hate it when I get real close to getting everything done, then fizzle out right at the end. So it's great to put the pressure on--company!--and insure the project's completion. I was able to get some major dusting done. By that I simply mean that I dusted the major surfaces! Ha! There are way too many knick-knacks sitting around here to get everything dusted in the limited amount of time I had. But I was able to get the entire house vacuumed and the muddy kitchen floor cleaned up again and I was even able to get my office totally clean! Wa-Hoo!!! That office has been taunting me for days. I would almost get it all cleaned up, then it would get trashed. Then the next day I'd almost get it done again, then it would pile up again. It's the meanest, most obstinant room in the whole house. But I finally got it conquered yesterday. ~aaaahhhhhh~ It feels great to win. :-)

Made fried chicken, potatoes and gravy, corn, and peas for dinner, with pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. Yum! It was great. Almost made up for the week and a half I didn't cook at all. (Ha! I wish!) We had a nice visit with Uncle Jerry, but by the time he left my nearly 30 year old body was starting to complain about all the work it had been doing the past few days. You know, 30 really isn't that old. Why would I be so sore after a couple of days of good housework?! That's just pitiful.

I gave the kids their baths this morning, since I ran out of time last night. That's one of the perks of having service from 12:00-2:00 on Sundays--you've got time for such things in the morning before you go! We had 6 visitors at church today (5 brand new ones with 1 who had been once before) along with the two ladies, Sister Patsy and Sister Virginia, who have become "regulars" the past few months. Praise the Lord!!! It is soooooo exciting to see all of these visitors coming through our doors! The Bible speaks of giving honor to whom honor is due and it would be wrong for me to not acknowledge Sam & Tammy Kaufman as the primary reason for all of the visitors. God has used them sooooooo much to reach out to sooooooooooo many people. They just take everybody in and love them to death and witness to them and pray, pray, pray, pray, pray for them--and God is blessing. Our whole church is part of it--and feel blessed to be so!--but I am just so very thankful to have a pastor and pastor's wife who do the amazing work that they do. We love them so much!

After church today we went to Pizza Hut with Sam & Tammy, then came home and had family nap time--everbody was out cold from 4:00-6:00!!! That's so bad! That's way too long and way too late to be napping. We had eaten enough at lunchtime that nobody was truly hungry, so I suggested a new alternative for dinner: Blizzards!!! I had my usual Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard and James and the kids tried the Kit Kat one. What a great night! Afterwards I played Hide~N~Seek with the kids. It was great, except the dumb dog kept interfering. I was hiding at the head of Katie's bed underneath all of the pillows and such, but Hershey knew it and wouldn't leave me alone. It's a bit of a give-away when whoever "It" is walks into the room and sees the dog on the bed, wagging his tail furiously, and digging in the pile of pillows. It's probably even more of a giveaway when an arm emerges from the pillows and slugs the dog. Oh well, it was fun anyway. It's always the best to play when it's dark. My kids don't even really know how to play Hide~N~Seek. They only hide until "It" gets within scare range. The object of the game isn't to not be found; it's to scare the bejeebers out of whoever is looking for you. :-) It's so much more fun that way!

Rats. I had notes of all of the crazy stuff the kids have been doing lately, but I seemed to have misplaced them. I can't ever remember the really great stuff unless I write it down. Oh well, I'll do my best.

Katie made herself a paper watch this morning and was sooooooo proud of herself. She taped it to her wrist, then came to show me. "Look, Mom! I even made it say the same time as the clock up there. 9:43.... Aaaaarrrrggggg!!! It changed already!!!" She spent a lot more time making the watch than it actually held the accurate time for her! Ha!

Sam told me yesterday, "Mom... You're a good woman." I think it was when I served him his lunch or something equally endearing. Every Mom ought to hear that from their 3 year old--there is nothing better in all the world! :-)

The kids were playing yesterday and Katie was wallowing around on the floor, waiting for the "knights" to come and rescue her. Mosey Joe (not the knight I would be hoping for if I was a maiden in distress!) was on his way, but taking his sweet time, as usual. I asked Katie what her problem was and she said that she was a princess and she had a broken leg and needed help. I told her that it wasn't very graceful-like for a princess to have a broken leg. She rolled her eyes and said, "Mo-om, I fell off my throne!" Coming from Klutz-o Katie it was just sooooo fitting! Ha!

Well, I'd best call it a night. Not that I'm tired. I slept for two hours this afternoon, you know! Maybe I'll be able to get some reading in tonight. That would be great!!! G'night!

~Rebekah~

--Hey, did you guys notice that we smoked out another lurker with that last post about Mom and the pit bulls?! How exciting!!! Welcome, Brother Ryan!!!

Okay, so I'm not done--here are some pictures...

My flowers are about to outgrow their space!

Our garden! The large plants on the right side are pumpkin and the smaller ones on the left are watermelon.

This is, of course, the sweet corn--and carrots in front.

Cowgirl Kate

I'm guessing Joe was pretending to be William Travis, drawing his line in the dirt at the Alamo.

This idiot child was wearing a sweatsuit and boots!!! In West Texas! In July!!! As if that's not enough, he was wearing it OVER his blue jeans and t-shirt! He lasted all of about 3 minutes before he was yanking at the sweatshirt and whining for help to get it off. He just had to wear it so he could be a super hero. (We've never seen The Incredibles, but somebody gave us this outfit and the boys love the "hero" picture on the front of it!)

In pursuit of a decent family picture...

Why bother?! When you've got a humorless husband (doesn't he look like the mortician he's always wanted to be?! Ha!) and three dopey kids, it's just a waste of time to even try for a decent picture. You end up thumping your kids in the back of the head and hollering, "Cut it out!!! Now smile and look happy--but normal! No, not dorky--just normal! You bunch of goons!!!!" Or something like that. :-)

Okay, that's really all for tonight. Hope you all had a great weekend. I look forward to hearing lots of great things about the Conventions that have been going on. I don't even know how many there were in all. Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas... Any others? Anyway, have a good night!

~Bec~

8 comments

Family Wake-Up Call

Posted by cokelady

...came at 8:07 yesterday morning. James hadn't emerged from the bedroom yet, Katie was still fast asleep, Joe was sitting on the couch reading a book, I was reading some smart remark about the way I spell "hu" (more on that later), and Sam was just playing with some toys on the floor. Or so I thought. Next thing I knew, Sam was screaming, holding his face and running full speed through the house. I had seen him out of the corner of my eye and knew that he had been by my sewing table. I glanced at the table and saw a pair of scissors lying there, but they were still neatly closed and there was no blood in sight. My brain was going a thousand miles a minute trying to figure out what had happened. Joe was now screaming and crying from the couch and saying something like, "The can--Sam had the can!!!" I glanced back at the table and saw a can of white spray paint at the same moment that my brain registered hearing a short "fsst" sound just before Sam took off. All of the above took place in the space of about 2 seconds, while I was already chasing after Sam. I immediately began praying fervently and scooped Sam up to check him out. He was still screaming and holding his eye, of all things, so I rushed him to the kitchen sink and began flushing his eye out with water. Joe was still screaming and James and Katie were now standing wide-eyed in the kitchen asking what had happened. I sat Sam up and examined his eyes as best I could (like I really know what I'm looking for!) and he said he could see me good with both eyes, so we just thanked Jesus and sat down to get our heartrates back to normal. As short as the "fsst" was--and from a can that hadn't been shaken at all--I really think very little, if any, paint reached him. I think he got a blast of air and it probably hurt, but mostly scared him really bad. And the rest of us, too! This is the same eye that was injured by a chunk of flying wood last month. ~sigh~ That kid wears me out!!! (And yes, the spray paint has been removed from his reach. Although I honestly don't think he'll ever touch another can of it of his own free will!)

What a way to start the day! The rest of the day ended up being rather dull, really. But that was fine. We had enough excitement right off the bat to last us all day. I do remember the kids playing "church" yesterday afternoon. It was hilarious. Katie and Sam were both perched up on pillows on the couch with their Bibles open in front of them. There were five chairs lined up in a row facing them. Joe was the only occupant and he explained that he was the only one who came to church today, so they were just pretending the other chairs were filled. The best part was the dueling preachers. Katie was preaching in "Spanish" and she really does have the ability to sound like she's saying Spanish words--she can do the accent pretty well for a 6 year old. And Sam... HA! Sam said he was preaching in French. It was soooooooooo great! He would get his best preacher's face on (all scrunched up and mean looking), then start hollering for all he was worth in some rather violent sounding lingo--he really sounded more like Atilla the Hun than a Frenchman, but I didn't want to give him any ideas so I didn't mention it. Either way, it was great! Joe, of course, preferred the French sermon. :-)

I sat down to play Memory with the kids last night. Katie is soooooooooo good at that game. She remembers exactly where the fish was that somebody turned over 8 minutes ago and can pick it out any time she needs it. It's great! The part that's not great is her attitude. She's such a snob! She brags and rubs it in and is otherwise just a terrible person to have to lose to. So I figured it was my duty to teach her a lesson. I ended up wiping her out pretty good and it humbled her, but only slightly. Joe is so opposite from Katie. When the game was over and we counted up the cards to see who won, he was thrilled for me. "Wow, Mom! You won the game! You did great!!!" And there were no sideways glances at Katie, so I know it to be sincere instead of a jab at her losing, too. We played another game and Katie was cleaning up! She is soooooooo good! Joe had some good luck, too, though and I do mean luck. Just plain, simple, dumb luck. I can't tell you how many matches he stumbled into. He was always so shocked and that made it all the more exciting. I worked my very hardest and finally managed to take the lead from Katie just before the game ended. She has got to learn to lose gracefully! (I know what you're thinking! Don't even start--I know how to lose gracefully, there are just certain people I refuse to lose gracefully to! Ha!)

Ah yes, as for my spelling of the word "hu," let it be known that this is my blog and I can spell "hu" however I want to. Hu? Actually, it's a word that I have always chosen to spell that way because "huh" always looks so stupid to me. When I see it I end up pronouncing the "h" at both ends of the word and it sounds like a snide "heh" (you know, like the devious laugh you do when you're about to scare somebody really good or something equally grand) and it colors the sentence entirely different than intended. Besides, there are so many rules of the English language that whoever wrote the language choose to break over and over again. I figure if the people who made it up can't even play by the rules, I should be able to pick one little rule to break for myself. Makes sense, hu, Rachel???? :-)

Hhmmm. Today, today, today. What did I do today? I spent most of the morning with the boys in their room, cleaning like crazy. I made the little pigs crawl under their beds and pull out all of the toys and trash and clothes and whatever else had been crammed under there. Boys are so gross. Joe cleaned out the closet while I sorted through clothes and such and Sam hauled toys to the play room at the other end of the house. Yuck. It felt great to get it done, but you'd never know we did any cleaning at all in there now. When I went to put them to bed the place was trashed. How do they do that so quickly?! The little creeps! It will be clean again before either of them get any breakfast tomorrow, I can tell you that much. And I am not helping this time! I've got enough of my own messes to try to stay on top of without having to take care of theirs over and over again.

James took Katie to Odessa with him for the afternoon, so that left me with the boys. We did a few things together, then I put them down for nap time and had a chance to work on my WMB service for tonight. God really blessed me and it all seemed to fall into place in record time--it was great! About that time I realized that I was really, really tired, so I crashed on the couch. I let the boys get up after a while, on the condition that they stay semi-quiet and leave me alone so I could continue my nap! I slept long and hard, like I hadn't had any sleep in a month! It was GREAT, but I still feel tired. In fact, I sat down to teach my lesson in church tonight! We were in the back room (a more informal setting) anyway, so it was nice to have that luxury.

For those of you who've been wondering what Mom's been up to the last couple of days... Let's see, I've been taking notes so I'd not forget anything important. :-) The biggest thing yesterday is that she had the Zimmermans over for dinner. Smothered elk steaks (although she never lets the company in on that little secret until after they've eaten it--so many people are scared to try anything "exotic" like elk! Ha!) and hot rolls and really great pineapple upside-down cake. Wish I could've been there!

Tonight Dad drove down to Atlanta to have dinner with Aunt Sue and Stacey. They're at market right now buying merchandise to stock the store with. Oh! Megan asked about Aunt Sue's store. It's a country gift shop kind of a place filled with great signs and pictures and candles and tablecloths and knick-knacks and non-essentials of all sorts. :-) She's got a really simple website with some pictures, although none of them are very recent, I'm afraid: willowcreekstore.blogspot.com. Oh, and... Megan, I hereby officially challenge you to a game of Ricky Ticky Bear at your earliest convenience. I take great offense to your statement: "no one beats me at RTB :) okay, maybe a few, but they are all safe down south." We westerners can hold our own and I would love the opportunity to dethrone you. Perhaps during the Annual Address at the Assembly we can find a nice little place in the hallway to duke it out. KIDDING, I'M JUST KIDDING!!!

Mom had Shanna Weekes (is that spelled right?!) over for dinner tonight and it sounds like the two of them had a really nice visit. I'm glad. I don't really know Shanna, but I really, really like her. And she's got to be the best phone-answerer at Headquarters! Ha! She's always so friendly and so efficient. Mom went out and bought some red food coloring so she could make a red velvet cake for dessert tonight, but I forgot to ask how it turned out.

The most exciting news in Mom's life is that she was almost attacked and mauled by a couple of pit bulls. Is that cool, or what?! Mom kept telling me they were bulldogs, but I told James that she probably doesn't know the difference between a bulldog and a pit bull. I was right. Mom had gone out to get the mail and it sounds like her mailbox is out away from the house a decent space. When she turned around to come back these two dogs were just going bazerk and they actually charged her! She knew that she'd never be able to outrun them and make it back to the house so--get this!--she charged them! Ha! Okay, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. She started yelling and screaming at them and she did take a few steps toward them and was stomping and doing everything she could to scare them off. I don't know if you're getting the same picture in your mind that I got in mind, but if it hadn't been for the real, true danger this would've been just hysterical!!! Mom out there in a denim jumper and her tennis shoes, white hair tied up in a bun, screaming and stomping her foot at a couple of charging pit bulls! HA! All she had with her was the mail, so when they got up to her she started swinging and whopped one of them in the nose with our regional paper (The Western Skies, a thousand and one uses!) and the things actually left!!! Crazy, hu?!

Later on once Dad was home (she'd already told him about the first encounter) she was outside and the dogs showed up and started after her again! This time she went running into the garage screaming "Here they come again!" Dad grabbed a 2x4 and went yelling and swinging after them. He came back inside and asked Mom to give him her meanest scare-the-dogs-away scream. He must not have been too impressed because he took her out back and taught her how to shoot the shotgun! Ha! Now THIS is even better than the previous picture. Bun-n-Jumper Lady marching out to the mailbox every day with a shotgun under her arm! Ha! Ha! Ha! I'm dying!!!

The good news is that the owners of the dogs have been given notice to vacate the property (they were renters and somebody just bought the land) in the next 30 days. That makes Mama a pistol packin' woman for the next month, then she won't have to worry about it anymore. Crazy, hu?!

Well, that's about it from here. And there. :-) Until next time!

~Rebekah~

P.S. -- Oh, I almost forgot two things. For your information, Jay, James was NOT sick of Ramen noodles. That was, indeed, the only thing I had cooked since our trip, but I only cooked 'em once so there's no way could get tired of them! :-) And I'll have you know that I made a ham and cheese stromboli with garlic-cheddar-pepperoni bisquits for dinner last night. So there.

AND... I almost forgot to post this picture of Archie! Yes, it's Archie, not Molly. They finally solved that mystery. (Weird-o's!)

Is he to-die-for cute, or what?! I went over to meet him tonight. He is really, really sweet. The vet said he's only about 4 months old and you can tell that he's been severely neglected. He's very, very skinny and seems to have some kind of nerve problem that the vet thinks will clear up now that he'll have a good home, good food, and lots of love. I know Sam will be praying fervently for him and God usually answers Sam's prayers, so this cute little pooch should be in tip-top shape before you know it! And for the record, Tammy seems to be handling the adjustment very well so far. :-) She "likes" Archie. If she can ever get to the point where she can state "I love that dog," then there are a whole host of us who would just keel over! But I hope for Sam's sake (and Archie's!) that the day arrives! He's a sweet dog. :-)

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