The one that is actually PACKED and READY TO GO, with a CLEAN HOUSE and even BLOGGING the night before a big trip! Wow!!! I'm usually up until at least 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning the night before we leave, still rushing around trying to get it all done. There are still a few minor things to be done, but I can do them pretty quickly in the morning. ~sigh~ Feels great! Now I should go to bed. But, of course, I'm wired. I was exhausted today and laid down for a "20 minute nap." An hour and 20 minutes later I woke up! Thus begins the great downward spiral of a screwed up schedule. Nap in the afternoon, wide awake at night, up way too late, tired the next day, nap in the afternoon, wide awake at night... and on it goes.

Anyway, it's been a very, very busy couple of days, but there are so many terrific stories to tell! In fact, I may have to skip over the "what we've been up to" stuff and get right to the good stuff.

Katie came to me the other day and said, "A person who collects coins is called a numismatist. I had 83 cents, but I found a penny so now I've got 84..." I'm assuming that she is now considering herself a numismatist. :-)

Sam came and told that he had finished his juice then he said, "I drinked it for a reason. Because I love liquid!" Tonight I gave him a slice of cheese and he said that Hershey wanted some. I said, "Alright, you can give him one bite." The kid held the cheese out and let the dog take a bite out of it!!! I couldn't believe it! Both hands flew up and grabbed my head and I screamed, "Sam!!!!! You tear a piece off and give it to him--you don't let him eat a chunk off of your piece!!! GROSS!!!!!" He, of course, just grinned.

I think James is experiencing some mounting fears concerning Joe. He's showing more evidence of the Smith blood that courses through his veins. Tonight after dinner he went to clear his dishes. He grabbed his dirty plate and fork, walked to the refrigerator, opened the door, and set them on the shelf! When I yelled his name he suddenly came back to us (if you know what I mean!) and said, "Oh!!! Ha! Ha! Ha! I thought that was the sink!" Then left the room chuckling at himself. You should have seen the look on James' face! Ha! Joe is such a nut. I love that kid! He's had such a rough day today. It started out this morning with another weapons ban -- just a one day one this time. A few hours later he was also banned from all of his cowboy stuff. Then his guitar (and he got a brand new "real" one yesterday!). And then at devotion time tonight he walked up to James and said, "You know what I think bedtime is?" Then he help up a notebook on which he had scribbled in his little boy script, "STUPID AND BAD." He gave that "gotcha" grin of his and said, "I can't say it, but I can write it!" (They can't say "stupid"--they way over-use it if we give them the liberty!) Ha! Ha! Ha! I cracked up!!!! James was pretty much teasing, but told Joe that he was now banned from notebooks and pens for the rest of the night, too. He then rehearsed to Joe how in this one day he had had weapons, cowboy stuff, his guitar and notebooks taken away from him. Joe looked rather concerned and said, "Dad, how could I be that bad???" Then the other night...

It was nearing bedtime and the boys' room was trashed. They had taken a bath and I wrapped a towel around them, then instructed, "I want you to go to your room, get your pj's on, and clean up that mess--you've got 10 minutes 'or else'." In a few minutes I went to check on their progress. The room was perfectly clean... and both boys were running around buck naked!!! I couldn't believe it!!! "What are you doing?!?!?" Their sensible reply was, "We wanted to get it clean fast so we wouldn't get in trouble!" So they went in there, dropped their towels, and cleaned there room completely buck!!! Can you believe that?! My children have no decency whatsoever--no shame! NONE! I'm so ashamed!!! I just can't figure out where they came from. ?!?!?

Sam and Tammy have had some terrific stories to tell this week as well. Sam was at a restaraunt the other day and the lady standing next to him grabbed his arm, dropped to the floor and started flopping around--pretending to have a seizure! Ha! Can you believe that?! It was sooooo fake--no chance it was the real thing, and Sam was just mortified! Ha! Ha!

And then (Ha! I LOVE this one!!!) Sam got a call at work from a guy the other day. Somebody had told him to call the newspaper and ask for Sam Kaufman because he is a pastor. Turns out it was a homeless man and he was needing help. So Sam took him to get something to eat, then drove him down to the proper facility and dropped him off. The next day Tammy called down there about an entirely different issue. She was talking to the lady and mentioned her husband's name. She went on and the lady interrupted, "Wait a minute--did you say your husband is Sam Kaufman?" Yes. "Did he come down here yesterday?" Yes. "Was he wearing jeans and a checkered shirt?" Yes. "You be sure and tell him thank you for bringing that guy down here--he was a wanted man and now he's in prison!!!" Tammy was shocked, of course, but still coherent enough to say, "Really??? Is there a reward, 'cuz we could really use it right now!!!" Ha! Unfortunately there wasn't. Then the lady said, "And next time your husband decides to help somebody out, tell him to check his record first!" Ha! Isn't that great?!?!? We have had sooooooo many great laughs from Sam & Tammy's lives and experiences the past week or two--it's been crazy over there!!!

Okay, that should do it for one night. We're hoping to leave by 9:00, at the latest, in the morning. We'll have the laptop with us, so if I can I'll try to post along the way and let you know what we're up to. The first two days isn't going to be much--drive, drive, drive! I'll try to touch base every few days, anyway. Take care!!! I'll see most of you very soon!!! :-)

~Rebekah~