SUMMER DAY 29, Sat June 27

First, an update on Larry's dad.

The hospital released him at about 5:30 tonight. There's really not anything that can be done other than giving him a transfusion, wait for the bleeding to stop & sending him on his way. It'll happen again, but thankfully he survived it this time. Unfortunately, this is his life now. He will go back & forth between the bleeding issue & heart issues for the rest of his life. Sadly, one day, one of these 2 things will take his life. We are not giving up hope for him to seek Jesus and place his faith in Him. At this point, the damage is already done to his body and there is no turning back the clock, so to speak. Thank you for the prayers. Please continue to lift them up for him.

Larry got up & was out the door by 9:30 this morning. He had to run an errand, then he went to my dad's house to fix a squeaky belt on his truck, then went to the town where his dad was hospitalized & stayed there with him the rest of the day til he was released. He drove him home & got him settled before driving back home tonight. So it's really just been the kids & I all day.

Today has blessedly uneventful. It was a great day of balance between quiet, restful, relaxing time and getting things accomplished and spending time with the kids. I love days like that!

Savannah is out of town with her girlfriends this week. We'll go pick her up on Wednesday. She calls to check in every night & seems to be having a lot of fun. They've had a lot of late evening swimming, yummy foods, trips to stores & places that are foreign to her....but she loves it! We're crossing our fingers that we can convince her friends to come to our house before the summer is over & stay a couple days!

I'm headed to the shower now but I'll leave you with this sweet picture. (Mom--you'll recognize these!) The kids stayed with my parents last week on the day that I took Larry to play golf. Mom is an avid crafter/sewer. While he was there, Samuel created 2 sleeping bags for this stuffed bunnies (that he sleeps with every night). Last night, I went in to turn out lamps & make sure everyone was covered up & found this laying beside him. Sweet!

Book Review: The Wackiest Wildest Weirdest Animals in the World by Jack Hanna

Yesterday the UPS man dropped off a package on my front porch. I was excited to tear into it & find this book. The shiny, colorful hardback was well received by my whole family. We were all anxious to read through the book and watch the DVD of bloopers from Jack Hanna's wildlife TV show. Neither the book or the DVD left us disappointed!

Each double page spread includes vivid, crisp pictures of a different animal and all sorts of interesting information about it. Did you know that a sloth only poops once a week? Did you know that a baboon's bright red bottom is actually a thick callous (read: seat-cushion!) and not bare skin? Did you know that a hyena "laughs" when it's afraid...and that is a warning signal to RUN! I bet you didn't know that a platypus is venomous! These were some of my kids' favorite details.

The DVD was about 20 minutes long and included vintage clips from the show's early years as well as more recent ones. It was very funny to watch.

All in all, I was quite pleased with this book! I am a Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger. You can find out more about that here: http://brb.thomasnelson.com/

Follow-up on Larry's dad

I sent this update to a few friends last night when we got home, so keep in mind all the "todays" & "tomorrows" used refer to yesterday & today.

We went to see Larry's dad this evening. When we got there, he was being transfused w/ his 2nd bag of plasma & I think they were going to bring in a 3rd when that one emptied. His BP was 144/100! Larry told me in the car on the way back that your BP can rise like that when you have a very low blood volume b/c your heart's having to work really hard to move that little bit of blood around. That's why they were giving him the plasma to boost the blood volume til his body remakes it. His pulse was also way up for the same reason.

Apparently he woke up at 5-something this morning & bled a ton when he went to the bathroom. He was feeling rough & he said he'd thrown up last night, so he called Larry's mom (who lives down the road--they're divorced but still really good friends). She was a nurse for a long time so she knows her stuff medically speaking. She came to check on him & he asked to be taken to the hospital. She took him in & stayed with him til she had to go to work. His mother (Larry's grandmother) came up & stayed w/ him after that.

Anyway, there are no big changes. They're doing a scope (upper GI) test in the morning to see if they can locate the bleed site. If they can't (and I doubt they will--sounds like it's a lower GI tract bleed) they may do a colonoscopy to see if they can find it that way. I suspect it'll be the same issue as last time. They will locate all sorts of bleeding areas, but all too high up for them to do anything about, they'll send him home & take him off the blood thinner for a while until he starts having other problems w/ his heart & then they'll put him back on the med and the whole cycle will start again.

Frustrating....but I'm glad that he appears to be OK this time.

Urgent Prayer Request

If you follow me on facebook, you may already know this, but I'm posting it in several locations to make sure that we get lots of prayers!

As you may remember from earlier posts on my blog, Larry's dad (Jim, 58) has a longgggg list of health problems. They are all related to his alcoholism. Pretty much all the major organ systems of his body are dangling by a fine thread. About a year ago, he found out that he has an abnormal heart rhythm. They attempted to shock his heart back into normal rhythm but it didn't work. Having an abnormal rhythm like his puts him at high risk for a stroke because blood pools in his heart & clots and then is pumped out to other parts of the body. To prevent a stroke, he was put on blood thinning medicine but they quickly learned that he was bleeding internally while taking it. Without locating the source of the bleeding pretty rapidly, he could bleed to death. So one way or the other, on the blood thinning medicine or not, he's in a very dangerous situation that could end his life.

Jim is not a believer, so even more serious than the health issues is the condition of his soul.

Today, Jim began bleeding internally. He's been hospitalized. Larry & I and our younger 2 kids are going to the hospital to see him tonight and try to see how serious of a situation he's facing. Please pray for Jim.

SUMMER DAY 27, Thur June 25

When I came home from work this afternoon, a friend of mine on Facebook had posted something about how celebrity deaths usually come in threes. He mentioned Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett & asked the question "will Michael Jackson be the 3rd?". I had no idea what he was talking about.

A quick google search answered my questions.

A few minutes later, that same friend posted that Michael Jackson had been declared dead.

Wow. I haven't enjoyed anything about MJ's life or music in years, but I have loads of memories of him before he became a weirdo. To that end, enjoy these videos of MJ's early days.



(NOTE: The little boy in the commercial above is the same kid who played Carlton Banks on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Kinda funny since Carlton's character couldn't dance worth a flip in the show.)

I can't embed this one, but if you'd like to see Beat It, go here.

Same thing with Billie Jean.

Here's Smooth Criminal:


And of course, the most iconic of all the MJ videos, Thriller! All of the ones I could find on youtube have had the embedding disabled, but this is a portion of the video....the best part, the big dance scene!

Just for fun.....

My friend Amber posted this on her blog & asked for her friends to do so as well, so here we go...........

1) What is your salad dressing of choice? light Ranch, just about any sort of vinagrette, actually just about anything BUT Thousand Island...gag!

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Olive Garden or Red Lobster...it's a toss up.

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it? I don't think I could eat ANYTHING for 2 solid weeks without growing tired of it. I say that assuming this question means eating nothing but that 1 food for 2 weeks....but I do have foods that I eat almost daily & don't get sick of (yogurt, fruit, etc).

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice? veggie

5) What do you like to put on your toast? butter & jelly

6) How many televisions are in your house? 1 that everyone watches all the time and 1 that only works for DVDs that goes back & forth between the 2 kids' rooms.

7) What color cell phone do you have? black...but does anyone REALLY care?

8) Are you right-handed or left-handed? right

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Tonsils & adenoids, wisdom teeth, my children, splinters........I think that's it.

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted? the lawn mower (NOT by myself---I was helping Larry)

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious? only by anesthesia

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No thanks.

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to? As a little girl, I always wanted to be a Melissa....but I'm totally OK with my own name now.

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? No. Add another zero & I might think about it, though.

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own? 2

16) What are your goals for the year? Wow. It's already 1/2 over & I can't think of anything in particular...but I hope that I'm 1/2 way there whatever it is!

17) Last person you talked to? my sweet husband

18) Last person you hugged? Samuel, when I tucked him in

19) Favorite Season? Winter

20) Favorite Holiday? Thanksgiving--it's the only one that society hasn't totally commercialized yet. I mean, how do you screw up being THANKFUL!?

21) Favorite day of the week? Sunday

22) Favorite Month? everything from late Nov to late Dec :)

23) First place you went this morning? the bathroom....just like everyone else! ha ha

24) What's the last movie you saw? I watched Yes Man last night (at home, on DVD). I watched Revolutionary Road a couple nights before. Liked Yes Man (although there is cussing/sexual stuff & some crude stuff....) but hated Revolutionary Road.

25) Do you smile often? I think so.

26) Do you always answer your phone? no

27) It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? It better be an emergency!

28) If you could change your eye color what would it be? I wouldn't change them. I got my daddy's pretty blue eyes.

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic? I assume this means other than your basic sodas. In which case, I love Ocean Water!

30) Have you ever had a pet fish? Yes, many.

31) Favorite Christmas song? - Oh Holy Night

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday? That's a long ways off......but maybe a date night w/ my hubby. We always love those!

33) Can you do push ups? There's a big difference between "can you" & "do you want to".

34) Can you do a chin up? probably not.

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited? a little of both

36) Do you have any saved texts? no

37) Ever been in a car wreck? a couple, actually.

38) Do you have an accent? I don't hear it in myself, but I'm sure I do!

39) What is the last song to make you cry? Are you kidding me? I tear up every day!!

40) Plans tonight? sleeping is good

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? yes & no

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday. nothing...but tonight I had to get tea bags @ the store.

43) Have you ever been given roses? Yes.

44) Current hate right now? I don't hate anyone.

45) Met someone who changed your life? I've met a lot of someones who've changed different pieces of my life....and I'm so grateful for each one of them!

46) How did you bring in the New Year? I think you're looking at it RIGHT NOW.

47) What song represents you? It varies by the day.

48) Name three people who might complete this? I have no idea, but if you do leave me a comment w/ a link to your blog so I can go read it!

49) What were you doing 12am last night? sleeping

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? How annoying the alarm clock's beep is.

SUMMER DAY 25-26, Tues/Wed June 23 & 24

Before I forget...check out this site. We've been really impressed with the Virtue Pack that we picked up at church a couple of weeks ago. It's a new 'pack' every month that includes a CD to listen to while driving. The story on it is similar to an Adventures in Odyssey story....a real story with Scripture & morals woven throughout. The kids have been quoting storylines frequently. There are also mealtime cards with ideas for mealtime conversations relating to the story & virtue of the month, as well as bedtime story cards and little cards you can write to your kids to encourage them. Although you could feasibly be done with the pack in 1 week's time, they only create a new one once a month.

Ok........now onto the rest of my post!

Above you will find the Bible verse that the kids & I are working on this week. You may notice a recurrent theme in these verses. Love your neighbor....a gentle word turns away wrath....do everything without arguing & complaining. My precious little *angels* have only been out of school for a few weeks & they already need these gentle reminders for their attitudes & behavior toward one another. Boy oh boy.....late August ought to be grand. (groan) But then again...maybe some of the verses they're learning will have sunk in by then. (Why yes....the Bible tells us that His word doesn't come back void.....it accomplishes its purpose......so I'm going to trust God to do His work & move these little hearts. If He doesn't, I may have to move some other part of their bodies!) ha ha!

Yesterday we went to work like we normally do on Tues/Thurs. No big news there...just the usual stuff.

Today the kids and I travelled out of town to visit my mother & father in law and Larry's grandmother (does that make her my grandmother in law?). Afterward, we met Savannah's best girlfriends in a nearby town. These are the same girlfriends I've mentioned before that moved away several years ago. They've kept in touch all these years and they still visit several times a year. It's been nearly 6 years since they left. The girls were 7 when they moved....and now they're all 13 (or nearly 13 in Savannah's case). I find it remarkable that even after all these years, they all still love each other! So cool! Anyway, Savannah went home with them & will stay for a week. Samuel, Sarah & I will go back to pick her up next Wednesday. It was late afternoon by the time we got home, so we came in & had some quiet reading time before it was time to cook dinner.

Tomorrow ought to be fun at work. If you didn't get it the first time, re-read that last sentence with a huge amount of sarcasm. It's our school-wide picnic day. In 100+ degree weather. With small children who have a hard time sitting still inside the classroom. Oh yeah. Gotta love that. Are you blowing your party noisemakers with me yet?

Oh yeah, we live a wild & crazy life over here.

SUMMER DAY 24, Mon June 22

Very relaxing day!

After not being able to fall asleep last night, I was able to sleep a little later this morning than usual. That was sooo nice!

I fed the kids breakfast & we all did our chores before getting dressed to run a couple errands. We went to the store for milk & jelly and then to the library to get some new books & movies.

We had intended to go to some friends' house tonight for dinner but Larry had a last minute thing to handle at work & didn't get home til after 8:00, so we had to reschedule. We'll go there tomorrow night instead. Thankfully they were understanding.

The kids watched a couple of the movies they rented from the library tonight & then went to have a slumber party in the girls' room.

Aside from the spring that popped out through the top of Sarah's mattress tonight (ouch!) and the bickering that went back & forth all day with the kids, it was a pretty uneventful day. Tomorrow it's back to work, though! There is joy in monotony!

SUMMER DAY 23, Father's Day

Today I interviewed the kids for Father's Day. Here's what they had to say about Larry.

Note:
Savannah (almost 13): S1
Samuel (9): S2
Sarah (8): S3

What is your dad's full name?
All three kids got this right, but I'm going to leave it off for privacy sake. Only Samuel referred to him as "Daddy ". Too cute!

How old is your dad?
S1: 35
S2: 36, he'll be 37 this year.
S3: 36?

What does your dad do for a living?
I have to edit this one, too. We can't really talk about it publicly online....but they all got it right!

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
S1: watch Spongebob
S2: hunting
S3: I like it when he tells us funny stories.

What is something cool that dad has taught you about?
S1: How to use my pocketknife.
S2: How to hold a gun without it falling over.
S3: I don't know.

How do you know that your dad loves you?
S1: He tells me.
S2: He's always there for me & kind all the time.
S3: He says "Do you know how much I love you?".

When you grow up, do you want to be like your dad? Why?
S1: Yes, he's funny & nice & sweet.
S2: Yes because he's done cool jobs & he's really cool.
S3: Maybe not.

What makes your dad happy?
S1: Me! and diet coke!
S2: Diet Coke & snuggling with me!
S3: Diet Coke...and when we obey him!

What's Daddy's favorite thing to eat?
S1: Mexican food
S2: pizza
S3: steak

What is dad's favorite drink:
They all got it right........Diet Coke!

What is something dad always says to you?
S1: I love you! You look beautiful! The dishes are calling you!
S2: Close the door!
S3: Shut the door!

What is daddy's hobby?
S1: building stuff
S2: sleep
S3: getting a coke & making us do our chores

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that last one!

SUMMER DAY 22, Sat June 20

Warning: This is gonna be a picture-heavy post. If you're on dial-up internet or have a slow service, you may want to go make a sandwich, pour a drink, start a load of laundry & come back. :)

A few weeks ago, I asked Larry what he wanted for Father's Day. As per his usual ways, he said something like "nothing....I don't need anything". I had to point out that I didn't ask what he NEEDED, but what he'd LIKE to have...something he WANTED. Larry works so hard to take care of us, our home, our vehicles, our yard, etc....he deserves something just for him now & then. He thought for a while & came back with an answer.

Years ago, he took up a golfing hobby. He's got a mismatched set of clubs bought one at a time at garage sales & picked from friend's clubs who were "upgrading". He doesn't have official "golf clothes" and while he does have a pair of real golf shoes, he doesn't get to wear them but once or twice a year. He enjoys it none the less.

After nearly a decade of playing around with a golfing hobby & mentioning it numerous times, today he got his wish: a game of golf with me in the cart driving, watching him play his game. I've always wanted to go just to see what the fascination is. While I'm sure you'll likely never catch me on the course hitting ball after ball after ball myself, I really enjoyed going with him & driving him around the course...even if I did get fussed at by some old geezer when I drove across in front of him as he tried to hit. (oops!!! My bad!)

This morning, my mom picked up our kids about 10:00 & took them to her house for the day. Larry & I left by 10:30 and headed to a local course. We got our cart, loaded it up with clubs, a cooler of drinks (Gatorade, water, Dr. Pepper & Diet Coke) and my camera. Off we went. I was intrigued by all the things I saw & learned today. For example, this is a neat little book.

If you're a golf novice like me, this is a book attached to the dash of the golf cart that shows each hole, one page at a time, with all the fairways/greens/water & sand traps & whatever else you might need to know about that particular hole. I still don't completely understand what all those things are, but apparently it's very important information for the serious golfer.

These are Larry's clubs. If you really want to see waht all he has, click the picture to enlarge it. I can't tell a nine iron from a pitching wedge from a putter, but if you're into golf, you'll know what you're looking at. All I know is that you hit a ball with all of them & each one does a different sort of job. I asked if he had a little short plastic red one like they have at Putt-Putt. He didn't. Bummer.

This is the course where we were playing. Look at the sunshine & blue sky! Aside from the fact that it was hotter than all get out (think 95+ degrees), it was a gorgeous day. I kept cool in the cart while my sweetie sweated bullets (it's a tongue twister...try saying that 3 times fast). He doesn't mind sweating though, so it wasn't a big deal.



As you can see, sitting on a vinyl seat in the cart only makes one part of your body sweat. ha ha!!!! (and trust me, you don't want to click on this one to make it any larger!)


Here are a few random shots of my sweetheart playing golf.




Today, I learned that THIS is what you're aiming for.....


........and this is what you're trying to avoid!

As we finished out the day, Larry expressed his pleasure in this way:


At the end of the day, we were both hot & sweaty & stinky, but happy that we got to do this together! I love you baby! Happy Father's Day!

SUMMER DAY 21, Fri June 19

Today's the day! Samuel's been pulling links off a paper chain he created 2 weeks ago & getting excited about it. Tonight was his birthday slumber party!

Ok...yes....his birthday was actually 3 months ago, but tonight was the first time we could coordinate our schedule with his guest's schedule. We're both crazy busy like that. Anyway...today was the day for the long-awaited birthday sleepover!

Our little friend arrived at 5:00 & we proceeded to party hard....til about 8:30! :) There was a (foam) dart gun war in the yard, pizza, cake & icecream, present opening. The whole sha-bang! We went to the video store & checked out a couple of movies & came home to make popcorn. Oh yeah...we're wild over here!

Samuel lovessssss the junior detective kit he got from his friend! They are SUCH sweet boys!

SUMMER DAY 20, Thur June 18

Oops....I just realized that I never posted this week's verse earlier this week. This one is what I chose for my not-always-kind-mouthed-children this week. They don't speak in foul language or anything like that, but they sure know how to snip at each other & talk with attitudes!! Holy Spirit come....nip that in the bud!!

Just one quick picture for today:

Yes, that's Savannah...in the dress up clothes from my classroom. So cute! She is such a great helper in my classroom during the summer!

SUMMER DAY 19, Wed June 17

What a day....

At 7:45 this morning, I was rushing to get Samuel out the door to his basketball camp. Like I mentioned yesterday, I knew I'd have to walk him to the camp this morning. Our neighborhood is only 4 streets wide & the school where his camp is held is right next door to our neighborhood, so it's not a big deal to walk him over there. We left the house a couple minutes later than I'd hoped, but I still felt like there was plenty of time to get there. Now, here's where it gets tricky.

On the street that is closest to the school, there is an open area to walk through between our neighborhood & the school property. During the school year, teens walk to school through this route EVERY DAY. Larry has taken the kids for bike rides around the school property & has taken this route each time. However, when we reached the cut-through area this morning there was a chain link gate across it with a big "private property" sign on it! yikes! Realizing that we wouldn't be able to cut through that way like I had planned, I kinda panicked. We could walk all the way out to the highway & down the school's driveway but it would take more time than we had if I wanted to get him to the camp on time! By that time it was 7:55 & the camp was due to start in 5 minutes. Thankfully, my sweet girlfriend Kelly (who is a teacher at my school) lives in our neighborhood. I called her & she came to the rescue! THANK YOU KELLY! She picked us up, drove us over to the school & brought us back home in less time than it would've taken us to walk over there & back. I'm so glad she was willing!!

Not long after we got home, my mom arrived with a bag of peaches for us (from their garden). I told her of our dilemma. She called me a few minutes later from her hair dresser's shop (in my neighborhood). The lady who was cutting her hair told her of a way through the fence that I had not seen. She drove over & looked at it when she left the haircut place & sure enough....the other cut-through place was there. And it had been there when we called Kelly to rescue us this morning, we just didn't see it! Argh! I was grateful that it was there, but embarassed that I'd totally missed it the first time & had to bother a friend to come get me when I could've gotten through after all! Oh well........

During the time that Samuel was at camp, I checked my email & played a DVD interactive Hannah Montana game with the girls. All too quickly 10:30 arrived & it was time to head back over to the school to pick up Samuel. I got there with about 10 minutes to spare so I got to watch him play in a shirts vs skins game. Can you guess which team my silly boy volunteered to be on? (Hint: it wasn't the shirts team!)

We walked back home afterward & had lunch & quiet reading time and then it was time to rest. I was sooo sleepy. I'm not sure why. I got enough sleep last night, but hey, it's summertime & there was a chance to take a nap so I went for it. I'm so glad I did, too. It sure was nice!

The rest of the day, I was afraid to get started on any projects because I figured that just about the time I did, Larry would call to tell me that the van was ready & I would need to figure out who I could bum a ride from to go pick it up. I hate it when there are times like that because at the end of the day, I feel like I was just lazy all day & didn't accomplish anything.

We got to pick up the van last this evening. They got it fixed & it's fine now but it made for a very long day!

SUMMER DAY 18, Tues June 16

Samuel went to day 2 of his basketball day camp today at 8:00 this morning. I dropped him off & then ran back home to quickly finish getting ready for work before the girls & I left about 8:35. Tomorrow morning will be a little different, however. You'll see...keep reading.

In the past few days, I've had a little bit of a struggle with the key fitting into the ignition in my van. It's the same key as always but when I go to start the car, it's like the ignition is stopped up or something. I can't get the key in but about 1/2 way. I've had to pull it in & out over and over and wiggle it back & forth to get it all the way in. And then everything's fine. It kind of feels the same way as the door locks on some of the older cars we've had where the lock gets "sticky" and you have to squirt some graphite powder into the lock to loosen things up again. I had forgotten to tell Larry about it until this morning. After getting the key to go into the ignition (finally!), I called him while I drove to work. He promised that he'd look at it this afternoon when he got home.

However, my van had other plans. When I got into the van after work, I had to do the key gymnastics to get the key into the ignition again, but this time the key wouldn't turn at all. It was like I had put the wrong key into the ignition & was trying to use it to start the car. I twisted & turned the key but was getting scared that I'd break the key off if I twisted any harder on it! I called my dad (our favorite mechanic!) to see if he had any idea of what to do. He gave me a few suggestions but nothing worked. We decided that I'd just have to call a tow truck. Before calling them, I tried to call Larry but got his voice mail. I called the lady who was babysitting Samuel & she offered to come get us & take us home. Considering that it was about 100 degrees outside, I took her up on the offer!

After I got home, Larry called me back. He was in town today so he would be free about an hour later so he said not to do anything until he could go look at the van himself. He got done about 4:30 & went to my school to check it out. After some serious jiggling & banging on the key (& probably a little praying, too!), he was able to get it cranked. He drove it home, picked me up & we went back so we could bring his truck home. During his drive to pick me up, he went ahead & called the dealership to see if they could replace the ignition switch/key part thingy tomorrow. They agreed to do it at 12:00. When we got back to the school, I asked him to turn off the key & take it out and show me what he'd done to make it work. Mr. Magic's trick didn't work the 2nd time around. Apparently he just got lucky the first go-round. And so, we finally gave up & called the dealership back, reported what had happened & asked for a tow truck recommendation.

We came home & Larry went back an hour or so later when the tow truck could come get the van. Joy oh joy. The tow truck folks gave us a reduced price b/c they contract w/ the dealership and they discount anyone who tows a vehicle to them to fix. Hopefully they'll get it fixed tomorrow & I'll have my van back!

But until then...we'll be hoofing it to Samuel's basketball camp. Thankfully our neighbhorhood is RIGHT BESIDE the parking lot to the school where the camp is held. It's less than a mile to the school so I'll just walk him over in the morning & then go back and get him a few hours later.

Silver lining? Built in exercise tomorrow!

SUMMER DAY 16 & 17 -- Sun & Mon June 14 & 15

The past 2 days have flown by with very swift timing.

At about 2am on Sunday morning, Larry got a phone call from work. He had to leave & go take care of some clients in the middle of the night. We knew when he took this job that the chance was always there, but boy did it mess with my sleep. I couldn't doze back off after he left for nearly an hour. About 3am I got back to sleep & then the alarm went off to get ready for church. I ended up deciding to sleep a little longer & just get to church in time for service. I was working in the nursery, so I took Savannah in with me. With Larry having just arrived home as we were putting on our shoes to head out the door, I knew he wasn't going to be awake enough for Sunday AM church and Savannah isn't comfortable with sitting in church alone just yet, so she got to help me instead.

We came home & made a carrot cake (for small group last night) & then rested a bit before getting up & going again. I'm so glad we did get up & go. We began a marriage discussion study last night. While Larry & I tend to groan and roll our eyes when a new marriage study is suggested, the truth is that it never hurts to be reminded of the basics now & then. With our group being small, it's easy to become close to the people in the group & share very personal stories to help the others (or to ask for help!). Larry and I are remarkably compatible so we very rarely have big issues to conquer these days. (ha ha...we handled all that in the early days of our marriage!) That's not to say that our marriage is perfect, but if I had to rate our relationship on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give us a 9. It's always fun for me to see these studies & recognize areas that we've dealt with in the past. It's encouraging to see how far we've come and it gives me another reason to praise God!

Just to share one little piece of our study. This is for the ladies! We were given this list at the end of our night's study. It is 25 Ways to Show Respect (to your husband), from the book Becoming the Woman of His Dreams. I hope you see something in the list that you didn't already know. We were challenged to pick out 1 or 2 things that we could work on in the coming weeks (until our next meeting) and then we'll report back on how it went. And so, here is the list:

1. Do not talk down to him.
2. Do not talk badly about him to others.
*3. Do not check behind him to make sure he did something to your standards.
4. Do not disregard his wishes.
5. Do not ignore his requests.
6. Do not laugh at his mistakes.
7. Do not make him the brunt of your jokes.
8. Do not compare him to other men.
9. Do not complain about your finances or his ability as a provider.
10. Do not speak sarcastically or with verbal jabs.
11. Do not roll your eyes when he makes a comment you don't agree with.
12. Do not continually "have a better idea".
13. Do talk to him in a pleasant tone.
14. Do speak highly or compliment him in front of others.
*15. Do allow him to do tasks his own way & then thank him when he is finished.
16. Do value his opinions.
17. Do try to fulfill his requests.
18. Do support his decisions.
19. Do thank him for providing for your family.
20. Do allow him to make final decisions.
21. Do support him in his decisions, regardless of the outcome.
22. Do avoid the words "I told you so".
23. Do take care of your appearance.
24. Do ask his opinion about your clothes or hairstyle.
25. Do tell him you are proud of him.

You'll see where the *s are.....those are the 2 I selected to work on. I think he & I both do pretty well at all the others, but I know I need to work on those! (and yes, I showed him this list when we got home last night & he knows that I'm going to work on those 2!!)

Today, Samuel attended his first day of basketball day camp at the high school. Yes, this is the 2nd week in a row that he's gone to a day camp of some kind. And yes, I have a very short & tiny child....but he loves basketball! It's only 3 hours in the morning for 4 days. He had so much fun today!!

When he got home, we had lunch & hung out at the house til some friends of mine called. We were expecting the call! You see, we met online through a mutual friend & have hit it off well. They live a couple hours from here and went on vacation this past week. In coming home from their trip, they passed through town & called to meet us at McDonald's. You may remember them from pictures that I posted last year about this time when they did the same thing. It was fun to spend some time with Mark & Terry Finley and their kids Carl & April. What a sweet family!

Last June:

Today:

SUMMER DAY 14 & 15 (Fri June 12 & Sat June 13)

Friday June 12:
What a fabulous morning!! I woke up bright & early (about 7:00) to get Samuel & Larry out the door to work & Cub Scout day camp and then I crawled back into bed to read my book. I've been working on this book for a week or so. I was "this close" to the end, so I had to finish it!! I know I've mentioned it before, but I loveeeeeeee Karen Kingsbury!! Her books are SO good. As soon as I finished this one, I got on Barnes & Noble's website & found a used (cheap!) copy of the last book in this series. Gotta finish it!!


When I finally got up & moving, Savannah made this.

Really, I just supervised. It was her first time to attempt to make something like this completely on her own & she did great! She needed a little instruction here & there, but she did really well.






Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of it before a piece got cut....but you get the idea! Way to go, Savannah! :)

It's my goal to teach each of my kids how to do the laundry at age 10 & how to cook a meal (even a very simple one!) at age 13. Savannah is well-versed in using the microwave to heat up things, but she hasn't cooked a full meal just yet. I must say, however, that there have been a few times when I was sick as a dog & she took care of the house for most of the day so I could rest, including simple meals like frozen chicken nuggets (microwave!) and cereal. She is well on her way to being a good wife & mommy!

We had a quiet family evening at a friend's pool before I went to the grocery store. It was a nice way to relax & end our week.

Saturday June 13:
This morning, we went to my sister's house for my brand-new niece & nephew's adoption party! We had a lot of fun. They had a bounce house, pony rides, cake & pizza and lots of friends & family there to celebrate their "Gotcha Day". On Thursday, they went to court & made it all official & final so today we had a party!!

This is my mom holding my new niece, Kate. She is 16 months old.


And my nephew, Jake, who led me by the hand to the bounce house. We were in it by ourselves, just he & I, so of course I had to snap a picture or two. I realize this isn't the best picture...sorry! He's not a big fan of the camera. Jake is 2 1/2.

And their big cake! It said "Twice the blessings, twice the love". Sorry...the lens on my camera fogged up from all the humidity outside!!

We're so excited to have Jake & Kate as part of our family now!!!!! I love you sweet boy & girl! It's my honor to be your aunt!

And last but not least, this is me & my 2 sisters. That's me on the far left, Jennifer (Jake & Kate's mom) in the center, and Cindy on the right. Check out how DARK their hair is compared to mine.

SUMMER DAY 13, Thurs June 11

First off....correction: I messed up this weekend & numbered 2 days in a row as "day 9". So, now I've figured that out & today is truly day 13, not day 12!

Ok, now back to today---

Today was "swaps day" at Cub Scout day camp. The boys are invited to safety pin items to their hat & swap with other boys at camp. It's always humorous to see what kind of things come to camp pinned to those little boys' heads! This was Samuel on the way out the door...and yes, that's a small stuffed animal on the back of his head! He actually had a poster, too, but had not pinned it on yet when we took this pic!!



Family Camp was a blast again tonight. It was 50's night! The sanctuary was cleared out & the floor was set up with a bunch of little "records" for everyone to sit at with their family for a picnic-style dinner of Sonic burgers & tots with lemonade.

Our senior pastor led a skit with a whole bunch of other people that is a little hard to describe...it's more of a visual thing. I'm sure it'll end up on Youtube. When it does, I'll share the link. That's our pastor at the far left end. Our youth pastor is the 2nd one from the far right.


After the skit, one of our members who teaches dance at a local studio came up on stage & taught the whole crowd the Jitterbug. Interestingly enough, she is in a cast at the moment (from the knee down) so she had her husband and another couple and some kids on stage to help demonstrate. The whole crowd was given the chance to Jitterbug. My sweet girls had a blast dancing their little feet off!

While we all danced like a bunch of crazy folks (I don't think most of us ever really got the Jitterbug down), some ladies walked around & picked the best dancers from the crowd. Everyone cleared the "dance floor" & allowed the 2 best couples room to have a little dance off! I had to giggle as I watched that. How many churches teach a dance & then have a dance competition in the middle of the sanctuary? I wonder if this conflicts with my Baptist roots? ha ha!

After the dance competition, we all moved outside for icecream. Yum!


The most precious time of the night came at the very end. The children's church team put on a performance for us, showing us what the kids do every Sunday morning. My eyes welled up as I watched the crowd of children praising God with their hands lifted high. (That's my own little sweetie whose hand you see in the center of the pic!) Precious little hearts lifted to God....yep, that's all it takes to make this mama melt. Thank you, Jesus, for giving my sweet Sarah a heart for worship. She loves you sooo much & loves to praise you!


And last but not least, how do you like Larry's new truck? (not NEW, but new to us!) With his new job causing him to do a lot more driving, we were eager to find something with better gas mileage. On top of that, his old truck had 190K miles on it & was beginning to have some problems. It was paid off, so it was time to trade it in! Today was the day he brought this little beauty home.

We've decided that we're going to skip Family Camp tomorrow night. As much as we've enjoyed it, it's really hard for Samuel to stay awake & not become Oscar the Grouch before it's all over. After day camp all day & then Family Camp at night, he is one exhausted little boy! And besides, I need to go to the grocery store!

(continued) SUMMER DAY 11, Wed June 10

Our church has a super-fun "family camp" this week that we're attending. It's not actually CAMPING. No one sleeps in a tent or cooks something over a fire, so I'm not sure how it earned the title "camp" but whatever it is, it was so much fun!!!

Tonight was Medieval Night. People were invited to dress as princesses, knights, kings & queens, etc. The night began with a medieval-style meal. No utensils, just a big pile of food on the table & we were told to dig in!


While we ate, our senior pastor & worship pastor did a funny skit.

We had lots of yummy food before breaking up into groups (teams) to play some medieval themed games. First we went to Scarborough Faire where we painted the kids' faces & made leather bracelets. Larry was umm.... well, being Larry.

Next, we went to the Ye Olde Boats in a Moat station where we sailed little boats down a raingutter. The kids had to blow the boats (with a straw) to race & see who could be done first.

The next station was a firing range of sorts where the kids used a (Nerf --soft darts!) crossbow to shoot an apple off the head of 2 volunteers. I was surprised that Savannah volunteered!!

We moved onto another station where our team had to dress one of the members up as a knight using only foil. Larry volunteered to serve as our knight...and what a nice one he was. :)

We went to a jousting station where the kids were given noodles (those long thin swimming floats) to try to knock the other off the "log". Umm...I think our kids got out a little sibling aggression in this one. ha ha!! Larry & I tried to do it, too, but couldn't knock each other off the logs. I think if you weigh more than about 90 pounds, a foam swim noodle isn't gonna do a lot toward knocking you down!


There was a tug-of-war contest and a castle building station as well.


The night ended with a Bible story & songs time for everyone who came to Family Camp. It was a really cute program put on by our children's department, but geared toward the entire family.

One last picture, though. I can always count on my husband to be mature & well-mannered when it comes to taking a family picture. (snicker...the knucklehead!)

Tonight is 50s night! I can't wait to see how it goes!!