When Momma's in charge of costumes.....

 

Todd makes summit!

Todd sent me this photo via his phone. He's not allowed to call but I guess he snuck this one off. It got a bit squashed in transit, but it still looks like a spectacular view! 

O.K.

I think I'm recovering now. Everything is falling into place as the week progresses. I promise you I knew it would, it was just that mean time.

Anyway. Josiah is much better this week (no "ticks").
Hunter has 2.25 of his 4 scripts down pat.
All costumes but 2 are complete and laying out neatly in a room at church.
I looked online and found out how to "treat" the bees living in my garden. (It looks like it snowed in my yard. Hopefully they won't be around tomorrow.)
Jr. High class went relatively smoothly Sunday morning.
I asked the children's minister for Wednesday night off so I can finish up costumes.
Bruce and Chris came over tonight and fixed my van!!!...and Ginger even came and visited with me while they did it!
I'm making real and steady progress on the book edit.
I actually did some laundry and picked up my living room today after a completely useless but rejuvinating "lazy day" yesterday.

The "car repair shop" didn't shut down in my drive way until almost 11 tonight so I've decided to forgo the movie night I kept promising myself as I slogged through my chores today. I'm rather proud of myself for that.......for knowing that I should sleep instead of watching Alias episodes until 3am.

Now if I can just quit blogging........

Isn't it ironic?

The irony of my cousin Richard's death struck me today. He spent a year in Iraq. His dad is in Iraq right now and so is his brother.

Richard's truck fell on him in his own drive way.

I've never believed that life is supposed to make sense. Somehow this just proves it.

Lord, please comfort our family. I pray your peace.

Amen.

Therapy

I am feeling seriously overwhelmed right now. I know that journaling is therapeutic so I'm gonna just write everything down that has added up to make this feeling of anxiousness that I can not seem to shake.

I don't need answers or advice and there's really nothing to be done about most of it. I don't want anyone to fix anything. I just need to put it all down and take a good look at it all so I understand myself a little better.

1. My van's not running.
2. My husband's leaving town tomorrow for a 7 day trek.
3. Some bees have made a hive by my front door.
4. Hunter has 8 days left to finish memorizing 4 seperate plays, 3 acts each (he only had 2 weeks to do it in the first place.)
5. I have to make costumes for VBS in that same amount of time and I have no clue what I'm doing.
6. I have 7 more chapters to re-read and check for a book edit that should have been finished about a year ago.
7. Josiah has picked up a new "tick". Besides making noises constantly because of sinus drainage, he is also shaking his head and blinking hard, like he's trying to clear his head, continuously....i.e. every 10-20 seconds or so.....I have no idea who to even ask about it.
8. My cousin was killed yesterday when the truck he was working on fell on him.
9. I can not go to the funeral in Southern Louisiana next week unless I somehow find a way to finish everything I'm supposed to have done and leave all three of my kids with someone for a few days.....not likely.....on either count.
10. I am teaching Jr. High on Sunday mornings (30 of them) by myself and I'm teaching 2-3 year olds on Wednesday nights (thankfully, not by myself).
11. I am suppposed to read 3 chapters a week out of Love and Respect for a Friday morning Bible study.
12. My house is, once again, an abyss of laundry and toys and trash (though my sink is clean).



Any one or two of these things, or even 5 or 6, would be perfectly fine, especially since most of them are no big deal in and of themselves. It's just those few majors thrown into it all that I think are making it harder for me to deal.

Quite honestly, without VBS this would all be o.k. I guess that's my straw. I also realize that it's too late to do anything about that. I'll just have to limp my broken camel back on through it all.

Maybe the key now that I've figured that out is to just get those costumes out of the way this weekend and be done with that part of it. We'll have to stick it out on Hunter's lines for the plays, but he's amazed me at how fast he's learned it so far.......I just have to trust him to keep on amazing me.

And pray for peace that passes understanding...........and boundless energy........and loving patience............and miraculous sewing skills.

What do you get......

.....when you remember at 3:30 that your child must be a frog by 5?


















You get a real sense of appreciation for your pack-rat tendencies.

You get really, really creative.






















And, most obviously, you get a kid with sewn up pants on his head. 

You learn something new every day....

Today it's meme. I was hitting Next Blog a couple of times and ran across a blog that was fun. It suggested that you grab the nearest book, turn to page.........anyway, I'll be doing that in a minute. First, though, it was headed as "...a meme for all you meme lovers out there." So I looked it up at www.wikipedia.com. Fascinating. Check it out. It's too big to cut and paste here.

Here's the book thingy:

1. Grab the nearest book (not the coolest you can find, the one actually nearest to you).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post that sentence in your journal (blog) along with these instructions.

So, due to my past posting, Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts is what's nearest me right now. The fifth sentence (if you start with the first full sentence) reads:

"You were right about the cereal, Paul."

I think it's supposed to be fun, not earth-shattering. :-)

Josiah tried to copy his aunt and push his daddy in.

It didn't work out the way he planned.

















.........or did it?

I promised photos of Todd's dunk....

Todd in the water (I missed the push).

















Todd attempting to get out of the water.....with some "help".
























Who's this so innocently eating ice cream? Could it be the culprit?

There is, after all, no photographic evidence........

Here she is.

I haven't been able to catch Todd on it for a photo shoot.

It's supposed to get 125 miles to the gallon but it's only
been getting 80........is that a bad thing? It sure beats
the snot out of 17 mpg, which is what the other two
vehicles get.

We all love it!!!

Hair Cut

I cut my hair this morning.

I just thought I should tell you since no one else will notice.

I cut about 5 inches off the length and layered the rest. It looks so much healthier. You'd like it.

:-D

How did you spend your Memorial Weekend?

Here's mine.

Friday: Bob Smiley does Comedy at Coffee House

Saturday: Hangin' out at Grandma's

Sunday: Todd preaches and then fixes van (with Jimmy and Bruce)

No picture available. :-(





Monday: Making waves at Alicia's house in Ennis





So here's the detailed report:
The kids were set free on Thursday and Hunter had a friend spend the night. Friday afternoon Ike and Josiah went to Grandma's to spend the night while Todd, Hunter and I went to the first Coffee House of the summer at the teen house at church. The "opening act" for the summer was Bob Smiley, christian comedian/Todd's roomate from our freshman year at ACU. He was awesome!!! Too bad only 10 people showed up. So many missed out on a great show! (It was good to see Bob anyway, regardless of lack of crowds)
Saturday Hunter and I headed to Grandma's to pick up the brothers and we hung out there for the afternoon so Dad could prepare his sermon. Saturday night we had dinner with one of our elders and his family....which was really enjoyable (seriously, it really was fun).
Sunday morning Todd preached both services again....I don't even have to mention how I feel about that :-D. My Mom and Sister and nephews came again and this time Todd's Mom and Step-Dad came too. After church we went out to eat with Todd's family and then headed to the house. Todd and Jimmy (the aforementioned step-dad) went and towed our van home from the parking lot in which it had refused to start Thursday and then we hung out for hours and hours just visiting.....until they decided to start work on the van.
Todd and Jimmy worked on the van for hours and hours until Bruce Painter (another one of our elders) came to help. A while after that Jimmy had to leave (it was late and they live an hour and a half away!). They took Isaac with them. Todd and Bruce finished up in the dark......which was a bad idea. I'll tell you why later.
Monday morning is a blur in my memory but I know that we headed out around 11 for Todd's sister's in Ennis for a backyard barbeque/swim/party extravaganza. It was fun......even though we counted 12 kids at one point. Alicia even managed to push Todd into the pool (photos later).We left Ennis and headed back to my Mom's for a bit, left Hunter to spend the night, then came home and crashed.
Yesterday is also a bit of a blur but I know Todd bought a scooter yesterday (again, photos later). I am very glad he did. Firstly because it will save us quite a bit of gas money and secondly because my van was blowing gas out the bottom today (see: do not re-attach gas tank in dark) and I could drive Todd's truck without any inconvenience to anyone.
Today was Wednesday. I dread Wednesdays. It just all adds up on Wednesdays. But it's over now and I survived and Hunter is spending the night with a friend and Todd's home and I even got to blog.

Anyway, it was a really fun weekend. I hope yours was too.

Because I'm a Mom

This blog is for me. It probably won't mean much to you, but I wanted to remember.....

Josiah's thing lately has been to climb into my lap (he's 9, so he has a definite presence in my lap), to curl up all sweetly and say,

"Kiss me, I'm not Irish. I'm so sweeeeet."
Then I, of course, am supposed to kiss him on the cheek. I was laughing about it while he was in my lap at the computer this morning and he said,
"Don't laugh at me."
I said, "I'm laughing because you're so cute."
"O.K." He said.
Then I told him he was a "Silly Booger-Toot"
and he said, "Don't call me a burger-toot."
"Burger toot?"I asked.
"Booger-toot," he corrected.
"Can I call you burger-toot then?"
"No. You can call me great."

I laughed pretty hard....mostly from the joy of the moment.

Todd's routine with Josiah in the mornings has been to ask him on his way to the bus,
"Are you gonna have a great day?"
Josiah replies, "Yes,"
and Todd asks, "Do you know why?"
Josiah seldom answers that one because he knows what's coming.
"Because you're a great kid!"
Then Josiah gets on the bus.

Apparently he's been listening.

Can you spell?

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

If enough people ask for a translation, I'll write one but I don't think you'll need it. I've heard people talking about this post but hadn't seen it until Heather posted it at MySpace. It made me smile and think of Instant Messaging. :-) Hi Gerliadne!

New Post

I forgot to mention yesterday that there are some new pictures up on my other blog: www.meltedcrayons.blogspot.com


My van wouldn't start again today. This is two times in one week and both times have been after grocery shopping. Is my van allergic to groceries? Two different stores. Two different towns. We think it's the fuel pump going out. The mechanic couldn't find anyting wrong (of course) but said that Chevy fuel pumps will just do that as they near the end of their lives. We're hoping it's just the filter. Whatever it is, I'm sticking closer to home until we get it figured out.

This should be easier now that school's out!!!!!!!!! Hooray for summer! This is the first summer I've actually been excited about it. Maybe it's because Josiah is doing so well that I can actually imagine us having fun all together at least part of the time. Can't wait!

Quote of the Day

This is a quote from Donald Miller's book Through Painted Deserts. It's a great book and the quote is just a tiny part of a larger discussion that helped change the way I think about buying things. I don't seem to struggle as much lately with the desire to go buy something just to buy something and this may be part of why.

It makes sense, if you think about it. I mean we stood out in the desert this morning, and the chemicals in my brain poured soothingly through the gray matter, as if to massage with fingers the most tender part of my mind, as if to say, this is what a human is supposed to feel. This is what we were made for, to watch the beauty of light fill up earth's canvas, to make dirt come alive; like fairy dust, making trees and cacti and humans from the magic of its propulsion. It makes me wonder, now, how easily the brain can be tricked out of what it was supposed to feel, how easily the brain can be tricked by somebody who has a used car to sell, a new perfume, whatever. You will feel what you were made to feel if you buy this thing I am selling. But could the thing you and I were supposed to feel, the thing you and I were supposed to be, cost nothing?.......And maybe when a person doesn't buy the lies anymore, when a human stops long enough to realize the stuff people say to get us to part with our money often isn't true, we can finally see the sunrise..........and know......that life is being given to me as a gift, that light is a metaphor, and God is doing these things to dazzle us.

It was, of course, longer and the idea is alluded to many times in ways that make it clearer and clearer through the book, but you get the idea. It's a good book. You should read it.

Weekend Report

Not as in "a report made during the weekend" but as in "a report about the weekend". I know you were worried.

My weekend was fantastic all around. Every male in my household (that's everybody but me!) left town at about 4pm Friday. The silence was glorious. I made a date with my parents and ran to Blockbuster. After a decadent dinner with my Mom and Dad at Buca di Beppo I returned home and watched a French film that turned out to be really great (Amelie). I went to bed and slept like a rock until 6am when my dog began jumping up and down because he needed to "go". I took him out and returned to bed until 8 when the jumping was repeated. Note to self: find a sitter for the dog when having a "relaxing" weekend. Well, 8 was pretty good for around here so I got on up and enjoyed some more silence. Then I talked to my Mother-in-law for an hour. Then I surfed the web for an hour. Then I watched another movie......all the while cleaning here and there as the mood struck.

The boys didn't return until about 3 on Saturday and I've decided that 20-24 hours of peace is the perfect amount of time for refreshment. Any less and you feel cheated. Any more and you get so used to it that your children just annoy you when they get home. As it was, I was glad when everyone got back.

Todd got to preach Sunday morning, which I always love. He did a great job and the worship minister had even written a song. I don't know if it's appropriate to say "he wrote it to go with the sermon" but he was inspired by their conversations about what Todd was going to say and how communion was going to be approached and the song was really amazing. We sang it twice during worship. I won't transcribe the sermon here or anything but it was about "speaking words of life" instead of "speaking words of death" to one another. He spoke some out of Isaiah 6 when Isaiah was mortified when he realized how unclean his lips were. We approached communion as our way of participating in the sacrifice.....instead of the hot coals we take in the sacrifice.....it cleans our lips and now we can say "send me" and can speak the "words of life" to each other.

O.K. Maybe I transcribed it some, but it was pretty great.

My parents and sis and nephews had come to church so we all went to eat Mexican. On our way home, the boys and I went by the Elliots' and swapped kids again. This time Ike stayed there and David came home with us.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. The kind I like.

One more week of school! They get out early Thursday so we're down to 2.5 days!!!!!

Father/Son Campout

And all the mothers say, "YeeeeHaaww!"

Now the question is: What's a great chick-flick to rent?

And NO, I will not meet anyone for breakfast tomorrow. This is a real-live Saturday without kids. tee-hee

I'll spare you the video of me dancing the jig.

Another useless diddy for ya':

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?

There's also a fun quiz on that site about your sins. It asks questions and gives your percentage on each of the deadly sins then averages them into what your percent chance of going to hell is. It made me laugh out loud. I won't be posting those results, however. :-P

It's getting close to time to google myself again. I haven't done that in awhile.

I love blogging, don't you?

Long long ago in a town far far away.....

100_0608
Video sent by motherteresa

Isaac's first slide at the indoor pool.
Long, long ago we took this video. Now, thanks to the Emersons, I know how to post it. Someday we may even graduate to sound, but that'll take a different camera.
We were just doing this same thing tonight....without the camera. We love swimming!