Just Because Todd did it.....

Your Dominant Intelligence is Interpersonal Intelligence

You shine in your ability to realate to and understand others. Good at seeing others' points of view, you get how people think and feel. You have an uncanny ability to sense true feelings, intentions, and motivations. A natural born leader, you are great at teaching and mediating conflict. You would make a good counselor, salesperson, politician, or business person.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

And, yes, I have tried to post this before but it didn't work right. Sorry Heather. I think it's right now though. If you wanna see Todd's you need to check out his new blog....linked here over on the right.

The Zoo

So my friend Ali calls me up this morning and says, "Hey, we're goin' to the zoo, wanna come?" Well, yeah. Partly because I've been meaning to go to the zoo but mostly because it was Ali....and Andrew, who is also starting Kindergarden next year. It was a blast! My personal favorite, as you can see, was the parakeet cage. How fun! I think Ike's favorite part was taunting the animatronic dinasaurs.

After a full day at the zoo, Ali and I swapped kids (Andrew for Hunter) until church. Somehow that just feels right...swapping kids with a friend on a Wednesday night. Maybe we're really settling in here.

Church was.....what's the word?.....mayhem? Maybe not that bad. I teach 2's and 3's and tonight I had 11 of them without an official helper. I say "official" because halfway through class two Jr. High girls were wandering the halls and I snagged them and pressed them into service.They were great! and they saved my bacon.

So now my feet hurt and I'm a bit weary. My dog does not understand this, he wants to play, but I'm bigger than him and I'm pretty sure he won't be permanently scarred emotionally if I ignore him this once. Despite the trauma to my dog, it has been a really nice day. I will sleep well, with a smile in my dreams.

Right Now

Right now, at 9:15am and 70 degrees, my back yard is glorious! The air is the perfect temperature, the sun is shining on about 1/3 of the yard and the trees are positively glowing that bright, young green of early spring. My four little sunflowers/weeds are smiling at the sun and the crickets are singing in the deep, lush central plain Todd left as a nature preserve there around the tree.

A really great book and a comfy hammock would make it perfection, but I'll settle for glorious.
Life is good!
Glory to the Creator of it all!

Forwards

I just forwarded an e-mail to a large group of people and I thought it was a good opportunity to explain a little about my forwarding philosophy.

There are basically three types of e-mails I will NOT forward. They are:
1. e-mails that would get my husband fired from his ministry job.
2. e-mails that make me cry.
3. e-mails that contain blackmail statements like, "If you are a true friend/real american/human being, etc. you will forward this to as many people as possible/30 people/anyone you actually care about, etc." Those make me mad.

The one type of e-mail I will almost always forward is the type that makes me laugh out loud (unless they are the type that'll get my husband fired).

So. If you've sent me an e-mail that required some type of response if I truly love you, please don't feel rejected because I didn't reply....I do love you! I just refuse to be blackmailed by an e-mail. Please also note that I am aware that most of you already know that (Jenny, Becky, Heather, Aunt Rita, etc) but I just felt the need to cover my bases....

.....and explain that "politicians in drag" e-mail I just sent out.
;-P

Josiah's field trip.

Josiah's trip today was to a therapeutic riding center here in Keller. It was a lot of fun and I've got the paperwork to get him signed up. They have a six month waiting period for their scholarships so we'll have to see....

 

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

I bet I know who Josiah wants to be....and, no, I don't mean Mario.



 

Flimp

I promised I'd write more later about our trip. It really was fun. We got to spend time with people we've been missing and the art festival was a blast. I had 3 volunteers at my booth helping folks participate in the art work so I got to paint all day (which was the original idea, it just didn't work out that way last year). The boys and Todd hung out together all day and then we had a family picnic with the Coyles and the Herzogs there at Shakespeare park after Flimp was over. We were all exhausted by the end of the day!
I only sold one painting but I really wasn't expecting to sell there. People come to Flimp to have fun, not to buy art. It was o.k., mostly because I was expecting it but also because the museum pays an "honorarium" to all the participating artists.....which almost covered gas there and back.
The trip home was painfully long but we made it early in the evening Monday and had plenty of time to gear up for the rest of the week....a week I'm looking forward to ending here soon. I think this time of year may be even busier than Christmas with all the end of school field trips and activities. It's nuts!

Did I mention that I've started a secondary blog? It's where I plan to post my paintings as they progress. The address is over there in the side bar. I just posted a Picasso I've finished. I'm exploring other art styles. Impressionism is getting old and even though my Dad's tulip painting drew the most interest at Flimp, I don't think pointelism is for me. Maybe I'll go cubist next, who knows?

The temperature

I would just like to point out that in Montgomery, Alabama, where we just came from, it is 76 degrees. In fact, weather.com says not only is it 76 degrees but it also feels like 76 degrees.

In Keller, however, weather.com says it is 96 degrees and it feels like 106 degrees. Not that I expect fairness from the weather or anything but......

Our Trip.

Flimp was fun!
I am exhausted.
We are home.
Sleep now.
More writing later. 

Like the wind?

Let me just point out that this whole "paint like the wind" thing isn't working for me. Maybe a gentle breeze but I've got one more day.......and a gift to finish. arg. It's not because I've been putting it off either. It's all just taking longer than it seems it should. I guess that's the nature of art...oui?













We leave Thursday. I may need you to pray us through this.
I will not stress.....I will not stress............I will not............ 

Peek-a-boo

 

My sick baby.

Isaac is sick today. He started complaining yesterday about his throat hurting and his head hurting and his tummy hurting. Because we all have the snuffles, I explained all about allergies and how they make you feel bad. I gave him some Benedryl and he fell asleep in the chair. As I moved him to bed, however, I noticed his temp. He was on fire! Bless his baby heart. 103.2
We sent Daddy for medicine but it was a rough night. He threw up for the first time since he was a baby and he DID NOT like it. "Mommy, why is this happening to me?" Sick babies break my heart. He is, however, very compliant and sweet. He may be my easiest "sicky" of them all. He isn't even whining.....which for Isaac means he really doesn't feel well.
We'll be missing both of our social appointments today and heading in for a doctor's appointment instead. I'm guessing strep. I'll let you know.

addendum: Yes, it is strep....really bad strep. A few days of amoxicillin and lots of motrin should have him feeling all better.

Africa

Todd received a letter in the mail the other day.

http://amahoro-eastafrica.info/

It's an "Emergent Conversation" between post-modern and post-colonial culutres. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, check out the site. I'm not good at explaining, especially when I'm all giddy. He was personally invited to the conversation and is going. When he was trying to decide whether to accept or not I was flabbergasted. "Are you kidding? Say yes! We'll work out the details later."

I am so amazingly proud of him. He was one of the first 60 to be invited from the states. I keep telling you how great he is. You think I'm just biased. ;-D

Yes,

I do live in Texas. I live in what they call "Old Town Keller", which is the original town center. 4 blocks from my house is the field where this fella and some of his buddies occasionally reside. How fun is that? 

As weekends go.....

this one was fairly insane, but in a good way.

First.....














was the youth group retreat just outside of Tyler. The half we stayed for was really fun. The boys and I (and Todd when he actually slept that first night) were in one of the "cabin" rooms that had bunks built in all round the walls. It was just us so the boys got to play monkey quite a bit. We went to the sessions with the "big kids" and played pickle ball and tether ball ,blew bubbles and played with our dog...who wasn't nearly as thrilled about being there as we were. My kids had a blast and I'm pretty sure the Jr. and Sr. High kids were lovin' it too.

Next...



















was our nephew's birthday party in Ennis. We drove from camp to Ennis (I don't even remember how long it took but it was more than an hour, that's for sure) for the best 4 year old birthday party I have ever witnessed. My Sister-in-Law is a party genius, let me just tell you that much. What you see in the photo is Dora, Boots and Swiper....the stars of the party (also friends and relatives of the birthday boy-the one in the middle is his sister). We went on an adventure through the park that was just a hoot. Ike had a blast and Josiah was in Dora heaven. Even Hunter had fun.
By the time it was over, however, we all felt like we'd been beat with a stick. Everyone had a long weekend for various reasons and the kids were all starting to break down and poor Granny was on the verge of falling over. Needless to say, the boys and I opted out of staying in Ennis for the night.
We headed home and finally made it to bed after 10...well, 11 for some of us. This morning as we were getting ready for church Josiah announced that he was sick. I made sympathetic noises and continued ironing my dress until he said it again. Sure enough, he had a fever. I should have known when he didn't eat his pancakes. He hasn't eaten much all day and still had a low fever before his last dose of Ibuprophen a few hours ago. We'll see how it is in the morning. Now Hunter says he feels sick too but that's a harder one to call, since he always feels sick on school nights. Poor baby :-( Isaac also has a weird mark on his neck that he's really complaining about. It looks like a long, thin burn but he hasn't been around anything hot. It may be just a good scrape from all the "brotherly love" that goes on around here. We'll be watching that as well.
Todd made it home this evening but is in pretty rough shape. Those long weekend retreats start hitting harder and harder as we age, eh? Of course, the sinus migrain doesn't help one bit.
I, myself, however feel great!!! Lots of energy all day, no aches or pains (not counting my kids). I'm starting to feel out of place here. Maybe I should go drop something on my foot. O.K. Maybe not.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and we should all be recovered by Wednesday or so. 

Riding Thomas the Tank Engine train.....

WAS FUN !!!

What we did for Ike's birthday.

 

Karyn's Blog

I read Karyn's blog today and it was beautiful. Sometimes her blogs inspire me like that, sometimes they confuse me, they always make me think....which is why I like reading Karyn's blog.
Karyn is the daughter of a dear friend and I think of her as a friend too. I wonder sometimes if that's just weird for her. I remember my mom's friends when I was growing up. They knew all about me, my boyfriends' names, my achievements, my failures, but I hardly knew them. So occasionally a near stranger would ask me questions about my life and I would be taken aback. Is it like that for Karyn? or Ellen for that matter? Regardless....
I like Karyn's blog (and Ellen's too. She's in France.) This morning she (Karyn) wrote about how we are all just bits of the people around us and in the midst of it wondered what it was like when there was only one person. That's what made me think. If we are made up of the people we experience life with, and God was Adam's only companion, what was he like? Did everything he see remind him of God? And, if so, how did he manage to screw it up so badly? For that matter, how does a nation that stares at the glory of God all day and night, with nothing around them but wilderness and God, manage to screw it up so badly? And, knowing we're all like that, why is it that God likes us that way?
I think it's pretty cool. I like that my kids aren't perfect too. Maybe that's because I'm made in His image. Maybe.

Into the Swing

Looks like Todd's getting back into the swing of ministry, eh?

Ministers' retreat . . . . yeah right! :-) Actually they got a lot done and had a good time too.

Todd's loving his new job. He may even have totally ended his bad fishing streak. Only time will tell.

Happy Birthday Isaac!!