If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

You know what makes you feel old? When your 5-yr-old hears a song that you grew up with & says, "Hey, that's from Shrek!" I'm talking about YMCA, & yes, I know that it was before even my time. But when you're sitting at a baseball game & the song is played, & he says, "I know that song!" it just makes you laugh that he thinks it was original to his time. Tonight we were walking to our car in the rain after being at a friend's house & Nathan said, "I'm melting!" I laughed, wondering where he heard that because I don't think he's seen The Wizard of Oz, & in the car he was talking to Jeremy about the time Donkey said, "I'm melting!" Oh dear. The way my kids age me. I guess I did it to my folks, & they to their folks. It's a song for the ages.

We had a lovely housewarming party tonight, which was planned by Angela, a good friend from church. Many of our friends, along with our minister & an elder & his wife, were here. It was so great! It was fun to show off the house we've worked so hard for, & I just love entertaining! After having finger foods at our house, we all drove over to another friend's house to continue our "progressive" housewarming party with dessert and more visiting. It was fun to enjoy being at someone else's house too.

To get ready for the party, I cleaned for the better part of the day. And I had If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in mind because of the sporadic way I tend to go about cleaning when it's a big project (rather than just one chore I have to complete). So here's my little spin on the series of books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. If you've never heard of these books, you ought to find a copy at your local library. Kids love 'em! They start with "If you give a mouse a cookie," or "if you give a pig a pancake," & the story continues with various cause & effect relationships. For instance, "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want some milk to go with it. When he gets the milk out of the refrigerator, he's going to want to draw a picture for your refrigerator." I don't think that's how it goes exactly, but it's something like that. So here goes...

If you start a load of laundry, on the way to the basement with your basket of clothes you will pass by the kitchen & realize you need to put away the dishes in the dish drainer so your husband can wash the next load of dishes.
So you'll stop & put some dishes away.
While you're putting the cups in the cabinet, on the counter you will see a piece from a boardgame that was left out the last time you & the kids were playing that game.
So you take the game piece down to the playroom to put it away.
On the way to the basement you'll find the basket of laundry you were going to take down to put in the washer.
So you'll take both of them down to the basement, where you will discover LOTS of toys left out in the playroom.
So you'll gather all the kids to help you clean up the toys.
While you're cleaning up the toys you'll find a pair of socks & shoes tucked under the loveseat that need to be taken up to your youngest child's room.
So you'll leave the kids to finish the cleaning & take the shoes & socks upstairs. When you put the shoes & socks in the closet, you'll notice the bin that you stuck in there that has the winter clothes in them.
You know you need to get the winter clothes out of the bin & into the kids' dressers, so you'll get the clothes out & sort them.
When you're sorting the clothes, you'll come across several items that no longer fit anyone, so you'll fill the bin-previously-labeled-"Winter Clothes" with "Too-Small" clothes & take it down to the basement.
When you pass through the play room to get to the storage part of the basement, you'll notice the kids have not made any progress cleaning since you left.
So you stop & help them finish cleaning.
You'll notice a stack of pictures on the desk that need to be sorted & put away, so you'll sort through them while the kids finish cleaning the last of the toys.
When you finish with the pictures you take them to the storage part of the basement where you notice you left both the bin of too-small clothes & the basket of dirty laundry.
So you'll put the bin away, start a load of laundry, then walk into the playroom where the kids STILL haven't finished cleaning!
You finish putting away toys with the kids, & feel like you are finally making progress with your list of chores.
You walk up the stairs to sit down & take a break.
But when you get to the top of the stairs . . .
you look into the kitchen & see that there is still a stack of dishes to be put away.

So much for that break!!

Friday Night Lights (well, almost)

  It doesn't get dark enough to need any lights, but we sure have been having a lot of family fun on Friday nights. As there are only 5 kids on the team to begin with, when one or two aren't there, it's difficult for the team to do much in practice. So this week Jeremy was recruited to help out (Derek tried too, but found it a bit tempting to knock down the goal, take other kids' balls, or completely disregard the coach's directions--go figure).
 
 Nathan & Tyler run off the field for their water break.
 Nathan cheers for his teammates during his break on the sidelines. 

Tyler & Hannah Weekend

 Well, we enjoyed being with other members of our family (including some strange relatives from NJ), but it seemed to be a Tyler & Hannah kind of weekend. We had fun with them at the soccer game Friday night, then they spent the night with us (so their Mommy & Daddy could hopefully enjoy an evening to themselves for their anniversary), then we spent the whole day Saturday with them as Oma & Pop-Pop (our strange relatives from NJ, otherwise known as "Elmo" & "Poop-Poop") were here.
 We love you, Tyler & Hannah! (And we love you too, Elmo & Poop-Poop!)

All kidding aside (which Pop-Pop will have a hard time believing), we are really glad that Dan's parents came down to see us. It's always great to be with family! 

Fun with Derek

What's Derek's idea of a good time (beside finding things around the house to destroy)?
 






Sliding down a slide at least a dozen times in a row, going backwards, of course! 







This boy just had a ball yesterday doing the same thing over & over again. 







And can you tell who else enjoyed his sliding adventures?

(me!) 

Poison Ivy 101

 
I've always had the hardest time knowing for sure when I see poison ivy. Well, not anymore! I received lessons on poison ivy over the weekend, & I will carry these pictures with me everywhere. 

Caution: some of you might get poison ivy just from looking at these pictures...Oops, too late! 

At first glance you might think these three are the best of buds . . .

 
 

At second glance they still are!

 
 
  

Updates

Thanks y'all for praying for my job situation--I found out Tuesday that we've been approved for the 20 hours!! YAY!! I am so excited. Even when you go down into a valley for a little while, God leads you back up again before too long. God has provided for me and our family in so many ways in the past few months, and I know that is because of how many prayers are being said on our behalf; though it's also by the grace of God that we have so many wonderful friends and family members who continually pray for us. Thank you so much.

Other updates...

*(See my post from Sept. 19) I haven't tried getting the ink out again yet, but I did cook green beans in water on the stove top with a few seasonings for probably half an hour or more (is that steaming?) & they turned out really well! We took them to church & shared them for Wednesday night supper & they seemed to go over well (then again, I didn't check the bathroom to see who was throwing them up). Thanks for all your helpful ideas!

*My dad recently met Jody (Knight) King, who many of my ChiO friends will remember (isn't her last name-change really funny?). She's in Florida! Has anybody heard from her? I'll try to get more updates from my Dad about her, although I'm sure she'd appreciate it if I didn't publicly announce a whole lot of information about her!

*Dan's job is getting better & better. He did have a weird day today (it seemed to be the day for fights), but for the most part he is getting his routine down & figuring out the ins & outs of the job.

*Nathan is doing really well in school. So far he hasn't come home with anything but smiley faces on his calendar each day. He was the Class Star this past week (have I mentioned that already?), so he got to take in pictures to put on a bulletin board in the classroom, and he also took in a show-&-tell item each day. I tried really hard to think of clever & fun show-&-tell objects, but Nathan had his own ideas about what to take. I finally decided that his classmates will not likely remember a few weeks from now what he took in, no matter how cheesy or amazingly clever the object, but there is a REALLY good chance that Nathan will remember, even a year from now, what he got to take in (my mother-in-law will back me up on that one). The kid's got a memory like an elephant! Not that I've ever personally witnessed the memory of an elephant, nor would I want to.

*Wanna hear about the rest of the family? Snickers ran away the other day, but the boys & I got in the car to get her & knew exactly where to find her (Nathan guessed which street she went down & he was right!). When I stopped the car & opened the door, Snickers ran right into the car (she used to continue to run away from us when we went to get her). For some reason, the kiddos think that is the funniest thing, her being in the car. We really don't take her with us to many places, so I guess it's the fact that she seems out-of-place to them in the car. (Ha, one time when Nathan was in school, we had to go get her, & when she got into the car, she jumped into the back & sat in the middle seat that's normally Nathan's, like she belonged there! J & D laughed the whole way home!) Jeremy & Derek are bonding more without Nathan around. Previously Jeremy followed his big brother around everywhere & wanted to do everything he did. It seems to me that he is doing that a little less (he still idolizes him, but just a little less), & he seems to sincerely enjoy playing with Derek & making him laugh. I love it. They were chasing each other around the house this afternoon & Derek's giggle was just delightful.

*Let's see, did I miss anything? We're going to be having a housewarming party at our house next weekend, & my house is nowhere near being ready for that! We got so much done over the summer, but there was still plenty left when school started. However, with the new busy-ness in our lives, VERY LITTLE has been done in the 4-5 weeks since school started. Most everything is unpacked, but there isn't much at all up on the walls as far as decorations. Don't you ever look at pictures of homes in magazines & wish you had time & money to decorate however you wanted?!

I keep staring at the word "publicly" because it looks wrong, but I checked & it's okay. Do you ever stare at a word that you use daily & suddenly it looks completely weird?! Something like "floor" just doesn't look right even though you know it is.

Well, if you'll excuse me, tomorrow is Nathan's last day as Class Star and we want to end his show-&-tell experience with a bang. (Just kidding, I really am going to let him take in the cheesy toy of his choice)

{My parents-in-law will be traveling down here this weekend, so please keep their safe travels in your prayers!}
[By the way, "y'all" is just a joke, I don't really say that]

Autumn Stinks!

(And I do not mean my friend Autumn!!)

All right, so the trees look really pretty when the leaves start to change. And yeah, Halloween is pretty fun. But you can have Halloween without autumn, and the pretty leaves will just fall and clog up gutters & make a big mess in your yard and then you have to clean them and then trees look U-G-L-Y without any leaves on them.

So I'm posting a list of why Autumn Stinks.
And reason number one is -- Leaves make a big mess for you to clean up and then the trees look Ugly (that's right, with a capital U!).
2--COLD! I hate cold weather! I'm starting to think that my family that moved to Florida has the right idea: find some warmth!
3--Snow. Oh yeah? You like Snow? Great! Move to Alaska! I can handle it, I like the way it looks. But could I live without it? You bet!
4--COLD!
5--.....

Hmmm...I know I had some more reasons. I mean, sure the weather is decent right now. It was pretty chilly this morning & I didn't want to be out in it, but I guess it warmed up enough to play outside this afternoon. And the sky was so clear and BEAUTIFUL!! And, well, I do enjoy the routine our family has gotten into now that we're a school family. I like having the college students back, because it means I get to be a part of our Adopt-A-Family program--yeah! [[We have some really great students in our family group. I will post more on them later, I wanted to get a picture of all of us to show you.]] And this fall has been the start of babysitting Chelsea, Hannah & possibly Melody which brings more beneficial routine to our life and, of course, lots of femininity to our house! And, well, kindergarten soccer sure has been a lot of fun so far, & it's more time for us to spend with the in-laws.

Well, shoot. I guess you guys are right. I was so annoyed this morning that it was cold in the house and cold outside and that I had to get out in it. And I'm dreading it getting even colder. But I am really looking forward to Halloween and school stuff and all the other "good" reasons I listed above. So I guess Fall really is all right.

But I'd rather have it in warmer weather.

Happy Anniversary, Brian & Terri!

Wow, nine years!! You go, guys!

Some memories I have of the two of you over the years...

1--Meeting you, at your apartment in NJ; hanging out with you & Dan ... & Spanky, who didn't like Dan (& still doesn't!). :)
2--Driving home from Dan's Harding graduation in a caravan with you & Dan's parents, stopping in Virginia to check it out, not grasping the fact that I'd be married & living there in a few years. All I can really remember from that trip is the long drive from the interstate to the property you were looking at in the Floyd area & that there was a lot of construction on the interstate near Blacksburg & Christiansburg--some things change, some things don't!
3--Stopping at your house in Virginia a few years later to meet our new nephew, Tyler.
4--Thinking 5 months later that I was a complete dimwit to let Terri cook for us when she had a newborn! (it wasn't until after having my firstborn that I realized how ignorant it was of me to let Terri cook for us, when I should have been cooking for her!)
5--The night we moved to Radford with my dad & grandfather along to help, you guys were at the house when we arrived. And you stayed late into the night to make sure we had enough unpacked to be comfortable. The next day Brian took us around town to show us where important things in the area were--that tour definitely included Wal-Mart!
6--The start of our "Wednesday night dinners" a few months later!
7--Babysitting Tyler for a little while, until we both discovered being pregnant with our second children.
8--Being pregnant at the same time, having a joint shower hosted by friends from church, due a month apart yet having Hannah & Jeremy two days apart!
9--Spring trips to Gatlinburg with the Leichner clan, summer trips to the houseboat.
10--Now I get to enjoy babysitting Hannah on Tuesday & Thursday afternoons, & we get to hang out with the whole gang for kindergarten soccer on Friday nights. So much fun!

Thanks for the memories!!
I love you.

Can you help me?

How do you cook fresh green beans (not of the canned variety)? And what's a good recipe for them?
How do you get the skin off chicken?
How do you get ink out of clothing?

A Tribute to Quirky Dogs Everywhere

Just a little disclaimer to begin with...You know the reasons most people blog: to document what's going on in their lives, or with their kids' growth & development, or maybe to share their intellectually stimulating opinions on the health benefits of using Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. I know most people enjoy reading about what's going on in my kids' lives or with Dan's new job or what I'm doing during the day between soap operas & bonbons (not). I know it's highly unlikely, though, that in 7 years I'll look back and think, "Hmmm, I wish I could remember what our dog was like when she was 47 & 1/2 dog-years-old." Don't get me wrong: I love my dog--despite her hair being EVERYWHERE in our house, and despite the fact that I don't know how many dog-years she actually is. But normal people probably don't blog about their dogs much. Occasionally, though, I just don't have anything crazy-exciting to document & I don't care about sharing the moral of a story. I just want to share a laugh with you. And I would have included a picture of Snickers here so I would know what she looked like when she was 47 & 1/2 dog-years-old, but I don't have one on my computer at the moment. I will try to update this soon with a recent picture of her, so you too will be able to remember our precious Snickers-girl when she was 47 & 1/2 dog-years-old.

I was talking on the phone with my mother-in-law recently & she mentions her dog, Sunny, and how Sunny is cowering under the table or wherever because there is a thunderstorm outside. This just makes me laugh. (I'm sorry, Mom & Dad...& Sunny) Dogs can be so quirky sometimes. Sunny has medication to take when there is a storm. I wondered about my own dog, Snickers, and how she does with storms, because she seems to me to be a quirky dog as well, & I would have thought if Sunny was afraid of storms, Snickers would be too. But a month or two ago, Snickers & I were actually outside (finishing up our favorite chore of mowing) when it started thundering, & I noticed no sign of recognition in her cute little puppy dog eyes. She didn't seem the least bit scared.

Now, take her outside when it's raining, then you have a problem. She'll walk into the rain, & walk right back out again. I don't know if it's fear or just strong dislike. But she wants nothing to do with rain on her back. Ah, I'm sensing a connection here (she doesn't like getting bathed either). She doesn't like water! What kind of dog doesn't like water?? Sunny goes canoeing every Saturday! She obviously doesn't have a problem with water! Snickers is so anti-water that one day recently she had to go #2 so bad, but absolutely refused to stay out in the rain long enough to do her doo-ty (get it?) that she ended up going downstairs in the basement . . . twice! No, not twice--two series of #2's, meaning there were about a dozen pieces that yours truly had to clean up. No one else in our family ever has to clean up the dog's messes. Now what is up with that?!

Snickers would probably help me clean up, but for some reason she won't touch the water I'm cleaning with.

But then, just when you think you know everything there is to know about your quirky dog, you wonder...how in the world did Snickers know to go on the nasty cement floor in the basement rather than on the soft, squishy carpet that's everywhere else in the house? Do you think she might be smarter than she's letting on?

I am still getting the hang of the blogging thing, & figuring out all the little features. So I just discovered that I can put some of your blogs as links on my blog! Hope that's all right--if you'd prefer not to have yours over there on the right, let me know & I'll take it right off!

Do we have mutual friends that blog that I don't have represented over there? ----> I love to check out what other people post, so please let me know!

I enjoyed the "pink" discussion we had on Jen Gorham's blog the other day. For those of you who don't know, I was a member of the Chi Omega Pi social club at Harding...at least until I got married! My mom teased me about my choice of social club because the colors were pink, green & white--the green & white I could handle, but I had rebelled against pink since the time I was able to dress myself. Okay, starting in high school, I guess. Maybe middle school. I guess I didn't really want to be a girl. Most of my friends were guys, I dressed in baggy, ugly clothes that came from the men's side of the department store, & I didn't do much dating (that wasn't by choice, though!). But ChiOs were the gals for me, so I was hooked! And pink soon became one of my favorite colors. You'll notice a few posts back (Aug. 29)that I am wearing a pink shirt--a pink shirt that was chosen by my boys for Mother's Day, because they know pink is my favorite! Pink is now my way to find femininity in an increasingly male world that is my own. I love my pink rose bush, my pink doodads around the house, and I have more pink clothing than any other color in my closet. What do I tell Dan when he isn't sure what would be a good gift for my birthday? Why, I tell him anything pink will do the trick! Of course!

And why am I obsessing about pink today? Well, as I mentioned, some of us old ChiOs were having a discussion about pink on Jen Gorham's blog the other day. It was funny that all the people responding to her post about getting a pink phone were from ChiOs. I'm sure she has other friends & family of the non-ChiO persuasion that read her blog, but pink meant something to us, so we were the ones that commented.

Let me tell you a little about what the ChiOs meant & still mean to me (by the way, ChiOs is a registered copyrighted whatever sorority, & we have no official association with them--we always had to say that, because we weren't really supposed to call ourselves "ChiOs"!). The ChiOs represented a mix of people, we weren't the athletic club like our red friends, we weren't the pretty, upperclass (red & black) club, we weren't the fun-loving (although some of us were), pretty purple club. We were looking for more of a spiritual group of women. Not that there weren't spiritual girls in the other clubs, so please don't get offended. That was just the bond we had, as opposed to being bonded by sports or whatever. I hope I'm explaining this okay! Anyway, from my first club retreat, to the service projects with the Sunshine School, to the fantastic devotionals and functions we had together, it was such a great, growing, learning experience for me.

Molly was my Impact group leader. She was the very first upperclassman I met, & the very first ChiO I met. And I thought, "whatever club she's in, that's what I want to be in!"
Laura was the second ChiO I met, & I thought, "whatever club she's in, that's what I want to be in!"
At the club openhouse, I spent the most time with the ChiOs. I met Mandy, who was dating (or engaged to) a guy from my home congregation. She introduced me to several others. Probably including Jen (my "big sister") & Deidre (her roommate, I think, who became my other unofficial "big sister"). I probably also met Leslie & Anna, who later became close friends of mine. Rachel, Martha, Marie, Becky, & so many others later were in my pledge class. After visiting other clubs & feeling like I didn't quite fit in with them, I went back to ChiOs. And the rest is history! My pledge class bonded quickly & tightly after making it through induction week together. And the club was like a big family for me.

I have a horrible memory, so I don't remember a whole lot of specific memories. Maybe some of you ChiOs can share some with me? I do know one thing: every time I think about Chi Omega Pi, I have a warm, pleasant feeling in my heart (& I sing what I can remember of our club song). My parents provided me with a safe place to find my wings, & ChiOs really encouraged me to take flight.

What is something special from a past event or phase in your life? What color means something to you? What is a fragrance that evokes memories of a loved one? Do you have a favorite movie because it was what you saw on your very first date? Do you have a favorite restaurant because you used to go there with your family for everyone's birthday? Make memories with your college friends, with your young church group, with your growing family!

And go make a special memory today.

:)

Happy Birthday, Bonnie!

What BONNIE means to me...

*a cozy, friendly hug
*an honorary grandma to my kids
*a confidante
*someone who’s “been there, done that” and doesn’t judge me for my sorrier moments
*a friend who’s comfortable stopping by anytime, even if my house is a huge mess (which it ALWAYS is)
*a safe place to go
*always has a word of advice that comes straight from the Word and is exactly what I need to hear

Happy Birthday, Bonnie! I love you!

We Remember . . .

I was sitting on the floor in my living room, surrounded by toys and the couch cushions I used at the time to keep my son Nathan (then 7 mos.) and his cousin Tyler (then 11 mos.) away from things like the TV and VCR.

At the time I liked to watch the Early Show on CBS, I think because of the Survivor updates they had. And I remember watching the "breaking news" as it unfolded, and Bryant Gumbel's commentary on it. And I remember thinking, "wow, that is really wacky, I can't believe something like that could happen." A plane crashing into a huge building in the middle of NYC. And I immediately started praying, grateful that I couldn't think of anyone in my family being on an airplane at that moment, yet so sad for all the families that were scared to death about their own loved one being on a plane that moment. I imagined the frantic phone search so many wives and moms and husbands and brothers and sisters and friends were doing at that moment, to try to make sure their loved one wasn't on the plane that crashed into one of the towers. And I remember the fear that welled up in my middle when the second plane crashed, and I almost immediately worried that something was really wrong, two planes having crashed into two buildings right next to each other.
And I looked at my precious two little boys (one of them borrowed) and thought, literally with tears in my eyes, "What kind of world have I brought my kids into?"

Even though I knew my husband wasn't in danger, I remember calling him just to check in. "Have you heard what's going on?" "Yes." "I can't believe this, this is so scary. And now another plane into the Pentagon. What's going on?" (I don't think I knew about the last plane at that time)

In the days to follow, I remember hearing from my folks in NJ of a few people we knew that were touched by this tragedy. And I remember the almost-guilt I felt that I wasn't directly affected, that my sadness wasn't real, that so many people were truly suffering loss and I was closed off in my safe little world.

I remember looking back to when my family had visited one of the towers and had climbed to the top several years before. How scary it was to stand there, behind the glass windows and look down to the ground. And I remember that Tuesday morning, being so scared for those people whose desperation was so great they were willing to jump out a window to escape the torturous heat and flames.

And I remember the pride I felt that so many Americans reached out to the hurting. I remember the strong desire I had to fly my american flag. To show I supported the country, that we were going to stand together. I remember wishing that I lived in NY, so I could drive over and help out.

I'm still proud of America. I'm proud that we remember and that we don't seem to want to stand down from people who would hurt us and try to destroy us. I'm sorry that it takes tragedy to form a bond among people sometimes, but I'm hopeful that it will continue to bond us into a strong, united country again. Our only hope is in Christ, and I pray that His Spirit will help me reach the lost--forming the only bond that will hold us together for eternity.

It's Chocolate Milk Saturday!

Sorry, I get just as excited as my kids do!! I love chocolate milk!

For some reason, I can't get Nathan's first bus picture posted again--now I'm kicking myself for deleting it in the first place! This is the best I can do: a picture taken about 1 minute before Nathan got on the bus to be whisked off to his very first day of school!! Okay, hand me the Kleenex!
That day, when Nathan was at school and his brothers were taking a nap, I got online to check email & add a post to my blog. I read a post by my recently rediscovered friend Malia about sending her daughter off to first grade. She made the point that she was sending her daughter off on a bus driven by a stranger, & I thought, "YIKES! I didn't even think of that!" So thanks, Malia, for helping my peace of mind on that crazy, confusing, emotional day!

However, I have gotten to know "Miss Rita" a few seconds at a time each day, & she is a very nice lady, despite the fact that she's got to be annoyed about having to talk to Nathan EVERY day about staying in his seat until she comes to a complete stop. I sorta like it when people other than myself or Dan correct one of our kids. It makes me feel like the village-raising-kids idea is still alive & well. I don't really understand when parents get upset about that sort of thing. When we're at church services, we like to let our kids run off with their friends (well, "walk-don't-run!"). Sometimes to other corners of the building. It may seem irresponsible of us to let our 22-month-old go too, even the 3 & 1/2 yr-old, but sometimes you really want to get a chance to talk to your church family & staying 2 feet behind your children at all times does not allow for much in-depth conversation.

"Hey, how are you-- Sorry, gotta go!"
"Hi, how's your moth-- no, Derek, don't touch that!"
"Great serm-- Jeremy, NOOOOOOO!"

So, yes, it gives me warm fuzzies to know that other people in the congregation are stopping my children when they get a puppet out of the Children's Worship room, or when they're climbing over pews, or trying to swim in the baptistry. And I hope & pray that they aren't annoyed by having to do that, knowing I would do it for their kids too (or would have done it had I been alive when their kids were that age). When I see another kid at church doing something they shouldn't be, I'll let them know they should stop. I'm not trying to be meddling, I'm just doing what I would want others to do for my kids. It does take a village!!

If you're in an older generation, or even if you're not, please help us parents raise our children. Some of us really like the community endeavor it takes when we're part of a church family. Don't think that we don't do our part in discipline too. When Nathan came home on Thursday and let me know he got in trouble on the playground for hitting a girl with a stick (a girl!), don't think he didn't get in trouble AGAIN when he got home! And then got another lecture when his daddy got home! ( A GIRL!! )

I still remember being a kid in our small congregation. I was close to a lot of older members ("older" being anyone over 20, I'm sure), & I know it was because of the love & support they had for my family--which had nothing to do with my dad being the preacher, and everything to do with the fact that my parents loved everyone else as well & helped in any way they could. When one of my parents' friends corrected my ill-advised behavior, it was embarrassing to be caught by someone other than family. But I was more embarrassed by the thought that my parents would be very disappointed in me!

So my feel-good thought of the day is...Let's all do our part to reinforce the idea of church Family because there's nothing more inviting than a warm, loving, and open Christian family environment.

Love you all!

Cute, cute, cute

Okay, I blog WAY too often. Can't help it! I get excited about a funny story I want to share (or a sermon), you guys keep telling me you're reading, & I want to keep showing off my excellent writing talents...it's a never-ending cycle! Seriously, though, I tell everyone about my blog, I wait for comments or to hear someone's been reading it, & then someone tells me they read it & what do I do?? I get all embarrassed. I mean, was I expecting you to read this or not?!

Here is the long-anticipated cowboy picture from the yard sale (no, it's not Halloween)...I just wish you could get a better view of Jeremy's boots (yeah, shorts and boots).


Furthermore, are these kids cute or what?
That was two years ago (before Derek was born) when Jeremy was in the "Cheese" phase that Derek recently passed through.

And this is Derek. Most of the time I don't see the resemblance between my kids as easily as the rest of you do, but this is hard to miss!

Can you believe this: in November, our youngest child will turn 2. This is the first time we've had a youngest child turn 2. Yeah, you figure that out!

Happy Wednesday

I saw such a beautiful sky last night! We have had rainy weather for several days, but last night was a little clearer, though still really cloudy. The clear sky that was peeking through was so pretty, though! There were shades of pinks & lavenders, & a really neat blue-ish/green-ish/yellow-ish color too. It reminded me of how wonderfully our Father has colored this earth, how many big and small things He gives us to enjoy.

Here's wishing you a day to enjoy and treasure!!

If only I could be half as productive . . .

Wow, Derek is a busy little bugger! This is what he got accomplished over our long weekend:
1. Spilling an almost-full (I had just poured 3 kiddo-sized glasses) pitcher of pink lemonade on the floor.
2. Spilling an almost-full (again, minus about 3 kiddo-sized portions) container of strawberry syrup on the floor.
3. Dragging a stool from Nathan & Jeremy's room to the kitchen over a dozen times.
4. Using said stool to climb up high enough to reach the markers & write all over the countertop & trash can lid.
5. Soaking the latest Reader's Digest in the bathroom sink (hey, I wasn't done reading that!).
6. Soaking a pair of Nathan's socks & a washcloth in the bathroom sink.
7. Taking down all the books from his shelves (& reading them too--imagine that!).
8. Taking down all the stuffed animals from his shelves (just for the fun it, I think).
9. Talking his brothers into putting all the books from his room in a laundry basket & pushing them around the house.
10. Finding 44 of the 60+ Hokie Birds that are posed around Blacksburg (thanks, Tanya, for that great idea!).

I know, you're wondering where I was when he was accomplishing all of this? Well, someone had to take pictures! Just kidding. I was doing laundry or washing dishes or cleaning up the house. See, I got stuff done this weekend too!! (just not nearly as much as Derek)

Ephesians 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we ask or IMAGINE. According to His power, that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, forever and ever, AMEN!!