Only Two Days

...until we leave again. How did that happen??? This week has simply flown by.

Our first adventure of the day was when Joe discovered a baby bird that had fallen from it's nest in the eave of the shed down into the wheelbarrow below. My heart just sank when Joe ran into the house to tell me about it, knowing how devastated he would be if the bird died. I hate things like that, too, and am usually close to tears myself (!), but it's so much worse when your little kid is heartbroken over some little, helpless animal and struggling to understand the why of it all! By the time I got outside tenderhearted Joe was already choking back the tears. "Oh, Mom... Is he going to be okay?????" I was relieved to find that the baby wasn't as new as I'd feared he would be. He had lots of feathers and could flutter from one end of the wheelbarrow to the other, just wasn't quite big and strong enough to actually fly. Nothing appeared to be damaged or broken, and he certainly could make plenty of noise when touched! I used a cloth to pick him up and return him to his nest. NOTE: There will be no comments left on this post about the mother rejecting him and how he's going to die and all of that nonsense--or you are permanantly banned from ever commenting again. And I may come to your blog and spit on you. Okay, so I probably would do that... but you get the point! ;-) The mother was present for the entire episode and was quite vocal herself, watching all of the action. I'm hoping (and have actually prayed several times throughout the day!) that she was just relieved to have her little one back home, as any good mother should be. :-)

RATS. I lost my list. I actually took notes today about all of the hilarious or interesting things that happened around here, but I've lost them. (Are you sooooo shocked, Mom?! Ha!) It's pitiful to have to take notes. But I know me well enough to know that if I don't write it down then by the end of the day I won't have a clue what happened. Hhmmm. Let's see what I can remember...

School was... long, today! It's longer because I have to be sitting next to Katie as she does her work (part of the Cheater's Recovery Therapy she's now going through) and because I am going through all of the work she cheated on and personally taking her through each and every question, problem, and assignment, making sure she's doing it properly. Quite time consuming, but hopefully it will help get us back on track. Kate is hating having to "re"-do so much work and it's taking her twice as long to finish her daily school as before. So now she and Joe get done at about the same time! Ha! Joe... that kid. He'll sit there and daydream or play with his pencil or sing to himself or any number of things, never realizing there's a schoolbook in front of him awaiting his attention. He is sooooo easily distracted. On top of the fact that he "highly dislikes" school and has no motivation (except the negative kind he gets from me and James!) to want to do it. I helped Sam with a few pages today, but never found time to sit down with him and work on his letters and reading.

Sam, however, took it upon himself to clean out and organize the school cabinet. That kid amazes me sometimes. He's just 5, but he can tackle jobs like that so much better than the others! I was surprised at how neat and clean and well thought out everything was--the things we use most often in the easiest places to access and so on. What a great little helper! He started sharpening the 50 or so new pencils he found, but wore out after 6 or 8. Who could blame him?!

Once we finished school I spent an hour or two going through all of the kids' spelling tests and math drills and science sheets and stuff from the past few weeks, making sure everything was graded and then put in the proper places in the proper binders. I wish I could make myself do that once a week like I used to--it's so much easier than having to play catch-up later on!

We had a request today for Tostada Casserole for dinner. (The very "Smith-ish" one, Emilee!) I had planned on pork chops, but the casserole is so much faster, easier, and less messy. So we went with it! We had to gather around the chuchwagon table to eat because the dining table was half covered with the very last of James' stuff, waiting to make its final trek to his office.

Ah, yes! James' office!!! He's got it pretty well under control out there now, though he's totally PACK OUT in every possible place. There is much less space than he had in his last office and he's struggled to find places for everything, but in the end it's probably going to be a good thing. You know how it is: if you have a small office, you'll fill it up; if you have a big office, you'll fill it up. This just means he'll have to do without some of those "unnecessaries." (He becomes offended at that word, however, because everything of his is necessary! Ha!) Anyway, here is a picture from each corner of the room:

My favorite part is the ceiling. :-) It's so pretty... and clutterless! Ha!
And he moved the flag pole from out in front of the house (where you could never see it, strangely enough) and planted it in front of the office. Cute, hu?! It makes him so very happy. And I'm sure Brother VanDeventer will be thrilled to see all of the progress! Seems like this office was a pretty quick and painless process once we got into it. Oh wait... that was just for me. I'm sure James would beg to differ! Ha!

After dinner tonight the kids cleaned their bedrooms up while I cleaned the wood floors, then the whole family went outside and played Bocce Ball. I read some library books to the kids before devotions tonight, then watched 4 sessions (2 hours worth) of Ken Ham's creation seminar while I got all caught up on the ironing. (Yes, Ma, I went a-puzzling last night which meant I had to to a-ironing tonight!) It feels like it's been a good and productive day around here.

Oh, I found some more stories that Joe had written... I'll post them tomorrow if I get a chance. :-)

10 Comments?!

Wowzers!!! How fun to get 10 comments all in one day on one post! That's what blogging used to be like back in the good old days. In this instance, "the good old days" is all of about 3 years ago. Ha!

I woke up yesterday feeling GREAT. I've been struggling with some things for a while now and praying and seeking the Lord for deliverance, but it's like I just couldn't seem to break through. I kept expecting some glorious "wow" moment in prayer. You know, when you finally reach that place and you know that God has just set you free and you can feel the victory flooding your soul. I never could really seem to get there, no matter how many good and rich prayer times I had. And I went into Youth Convention hoping and praying that perhaps it would happen there. God really blessed me there and I had some wonderful times of prayer, but never that zinger thing that I was waiting for. But I was able to talk to my brother (ever so briefly!) on the last night and somehow I think God used that to help me. Confession is good for the soul, right? Just to let somebody else know that you're struggling is such a help. And it's like the victory seems to be coming for me through that, and through simple obedience rather than a moment of prayer like I had been expecting. God knows how to answer our prayers, meet our needs, and realign our lives. Crazy how we always expect it to happen a certain way... as if He has only one method of working. He's GOD! He can do it any way He likes! And I'm sooooo thankful. God is so good and so loving and so patient--all of the things I don't deserve. I'm just sooooo grateful for His help in my life.

Anyway, I woke up yesterday feeling a peace and joy that I've been struggling to find for weeks now. It felt sooooo good! I felt free and happy and... kind of like partying! ;-) So the kids and I spent the morning just doing some light work (laundry and minor cleaning), then goofing off. I put the last puzzle away and got out a new 1,000 piece-er. 1,000 piece puzzles are GREAT now that I have a puzzle table to leave them out on where they won't be in the way. They don't seem overwhelming because there's no rush to finish them and put them away so you can have your table back. Still have no intention of doing any of those crazy scenery ones with 400 pieces of blue sky 530 pieces of blue water and 70 of a lighthouse. Sooooo not fun. ANYWAY... we had a nice, relaxing morning.

In the afternoon we sat down to do school. Last week Katie had sat down with her schoolbooks and done a bunch of extra work--and actually finished two of her books. Well, when I started grading them yesterday I got to a certain page where the directions were a little confusing and the assignment itself was no easy task. I had to think real hard to figure it out. But Katie had completed it and everything was correct and she had never even asked for help with it. Wa-a-a-a-a-ay too suspicious. "Katie... did you cheat on this page?" I am truly thankful that she didn't even try to lie about it this time. (She has had a bad habit in the past of lying to cover up something she knows she'll be in trouble for.) "Yes, Mom. I did!!!" And then she burst into tears. ~sigh~ I questioned her further and discovered that she's been cheating for quite some time... possibly weeks now. There is an answer key in the back of the books and I knew that at some point I should probaby remove them, but since I'm there almost all the time when they're doing school I really didn't think it would be a problem. But apparently the kid has been cheating right under my nose and I never suspected a thing! She wasn't cheating on all of her work, but she's got two or three books that we have to go back through and re-do. Although it's not really RE-doing it since she cheated and didn't actually DO it the first time! I was quite disappointed in her, of course, but also so very, very relieved that she came clean and told us the TRUTH and went through each book and showed everything she had cheated on. And she was sooooo devastated over it... but I could tell she was relieved to have it out in the open, too. I really think and hope and pray (!) that it will be a memorable learning experience for her; something that will always stick with her and remind her of how terrible it feels inside to be dishonest like that and to cover things up... and how much better you feel when you make it right. Maybe it'll keep her on track a little better in the future! (By the way, she would die if she knew I blogged this--so don't mention it to her!) ;-)

James went to town yesterday and managed to find some truly fantastic deals on office furniture. He had sold his desk before we left Andrews and needed one NOW so he could continue moving in to his newly completed office out back. He had been shopping for one for several days, but just wasn't finding what he needed or what he was willing to pay. But yesterday he went to just one more store and found two desks, a large one and a small one, and a matching drawer unit that had all been display pieces and they were on sale for nearly 1/4 their regular price. Praise the Lord!!! And they work just right in the office. AND they didn't have to be assembled--that's the BEST! :-) So we got those moved into his office last night and he stayed out until about 11:00 working on moving in out there. This also means that the very last of his office stuff that has been in my house is on its way out very, very soon. Wa-Hoo!!!

We had chicken pot pie for dinner last night (it was quite good this time; worlds better than my last flop) and had time to get two of the smelly kids showered before bed. The third had to wait until tonight.

Today I've been working on cleaning the house up, but it seems like I'm having a hard time accomplishing a whole lot! James had gone back to town for a few things this morning and he was able to find a really great little desk for me! We're desk happy this week. ;-) I was hoping to find a little desk to go under the window in our bedroom. There was enough space and I could really use a desk. Especially since my computer has just been sitting on the floor in there! Ha! Anyway, James found a desk and chair at the flea market super cheap--and it's really cute and rustic and just the perfect size. Wa-Hoo! I'm always amazed at how God provides for us.

The kids had horse lessons today and they both did really good. Katie was all excited about being able to canter for the first time, but that only lasted for about 5 seconds before she was losing her balance and freaking out! Ha! It's probably what everybody does the first time they canter, but she was just expecting to immediately be a pro at it and took it rather hard that it wasn't as easy as she thought. Joe's been dying that the teacher was going to let KATIE canter but not him yet, so he worked super hard today at showing her that he's ready, too! He did some great trotting with no stirrups (just holding on with his legs) and it was like he had been superglued to the saddle--he stayed in perfect form and did fantastic! The teacher and the Mom were both quite impressed. :-) Both of the kids are doing really, really good. And Katie will probably do much better trying to canter next time now that she knows what to expect.

As for me, I should be ironing right now. There's a pile of clothes on the chair next to me. I hate them. I look at them and just hate them. Or should I say, "I highly dislike them." The kids aren't allowed to say they HATE things, so now they all say that they "highly dislike" whatever it is. Either way, I know I'll like the clothes much better once they're nice and crisply ironed, and folded in a drawer or hanging in a closet. ~sigh~ I hate laundry and ironing after Conventions! There's sooooo much more work to be done than usual. Especially when some kid sitting behind you pukes all over your sleeve!!! BLEAGH!!! Ooooooh, it gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it again! I didn't get a whole lot out of whatever happened to be going on in service that night, I assure you! Ha! ANYWAY... I go a-ironing. Or a-puzzling. I can't decide. ;-)

Catching Up

I seem to have fallen into the ranks of the unfaithful bloggers who abound nowadays. Still not sure how that happened! I'll never remember everything that's gone on, but I'll try. :-)

Wednesday was a big, ugly, messy, smelly, productive day around here. The kind you love and hate all at once. We moved all of James' stuff out of the shed and into his office... FOR THE LAST TIME, I hope! We got the bookshelves and file cabinets and stuff like that moved in, while piling all the boxes of stuff all over the deck James built during the first part of the week.

As always, the kids were a great help. ;-)

Here's James starting the "moving in" process at long last: his beloved White Wing bound editions. :-)

We didn't do any school that day. We did devotions in the morning, then worked solid until about 6:00 that night. While James was unloading boxes and trying to get settled, I spent the day out on the shed, cleaning it out and trying to put things in order out there. Again. Oooooh, I hate that job! It's so nasty and dusty and buggy and just plain gross. But it needed to be done now that James' junk is out of there and, if organized, we can function and be able to FIND what we need. That will be nice. Until the first time James uses a bunch of tools and then throws them in there with no rhyme or reason instead of putting them in their designated places and it turns into chaos again. I've already told him that if it happens he'd better be prepared for marriage counselling because we'll be needing it! Ha! I am sooooo tired of cleaning out the shed and organizing tools and yard stuff and boxes and whatever else belongs in a shed! But for now, it looks great! For a shed. ;-)

I took this picture a few days ago. Joe has been writing books quite a bit lately. He'll write one or two chapters at a time and just keep building. I'm not sure they ever really end. Anyway, I thought at least Grandma Vicki would enjoy this. :-)

He also had a red letter day on Thursday. He caught his very first lizard and was sooooooo excited!!! He just giggled and pranced around and giggled and then giggled some more. Ha! I was pretty proud of him. Katie caught a lizard with one unusable leg (I had to wash the sap out of it's toes, remember?!) and Joe caught one a while back, but it was obviously sick. So this is his first healthy lizard catch and he was ecstatic. He was a crazy looking little thing. He was normal from the top, but had these metalic blue markings on his underside. Weird!

Thursday was the big prep day before leaving for Youth Convention. It was just a little itty-bitty trip for us (only about 3 hours to Hatch), but I always take the opportunity to accomplish a lot as if it was a big trip. Lots of house cleaning and laundry. I stayed up late and got all the ironing done as well. Friday morning we got up and packed and headed out at about noon.

I'm sorry to say I didn't get take very many pictures at Youth Convention. The building didn't have the greatest lighting and we were sitting near the back of the very full building (a great problem to have!) and it just wasn't a very good set up for taking pictures. In fact, here's my one and only! These are some of the Colorado folk... doing something! Leading songs, perhaps???

We did have a really great Youth Convention and were so very blessed. We had an attendance of over 140, which is our best ever. Praise the Lord! There were lots of visitors there, 3 saved, and 8 baptized--some who had been wanting to for nearly 2 years! How exciting!!! I did get pictures from the baptismal service, so here we go!

The Banuelos boys used their guitars as much for sun screens as they did for instruments. ;-) That Hatch sun was really beating down on us and it didn't take long to make you start looking for shade! There was a wonderful spirit there, though, and those being baptized were so blessed. That, of course, was a blessing to the rest of us!

Daniel Doerfler

I never did learn this guy's name!
This is one of the Olivarez boys... Moises? Is that right??? He's so shy, but God is really doing a work in his life.

Belen had to be triple dunked (didn't get her all the way under the first two tries!), but I think that just means she was triple blessed. :-)

Sophia has been needing to be baptized for ages now. She had some physical issues that could have hindered her this time, but she wanted to be obedient to the Lord and she was soooooo blessed. And, of course, she didn't have any negative side effects--God touched her physically as well. :-)

About half way through the service I felt somebody tapping me and turned around to find Joe behind be with tears just streaming down his face. He said he felt like maybe God was wanting him to be baptized. Joe has a hard time saying conclusively that he's saved most of the time. "But Mom, how do I know that I'm saved?" "But I'm still bad sometimes--I can't be saved." Stuff like that. Only God knows when the "age of accountability" comes for each person and when true salvation occurs, so I just encourage Joe to keep seeking God and that at some point God will help him know that he is saved. Anyway, with the baptismal thing, I just felt like he should follow through and DO it since he felt like God was prompting him to do so. So I encouraged him to go ahead. I want him to learn to be sensitive to the Lord and quick to obey. I know what it's like to go through those "What if it's not really God telling me to do this?" feelings. Anyway, Joe was near backing out (was scared to death to be baptized--even asked James and Brother Tanny, "Do you have to put me all the way under???" And then, "Don't hold me down too long, Dad!" Ha!) and wasn't at all thrilled about getting into that ole' muddy Rio Grande! But he felt like that's what God wanted him to do, so in he went. We didn't have any extra clothes for him, but that's a silly reason to not be baptized if you feel like God is telling you to!



As always, we had some late nights and good fellowship at Convention. Though I shocked most of the crowd by actually missing out on some of the craziness this time. It was weird from my end, too, I assure you! Ha! I feel confident it was a one-time thing and I'll be back in full party mode by next time. Which is... oh, about a week from now! :-)

We couldn't talk the Fiend into stopping by our house on his way back to Colorado, even though his wife was all for it and it would have added only 20 miles to his trip... Jerk. We ate at Panda Express after church tonight and this is what my fortune cookie said:

I was sure to call the Fiend and tell him that he BLEW it. It was written in the stars that they were supposed to stop by and he has now thrown everything out of whack. He wasn't impressed. The welcome visitor, of course, would have been his wife. Oh well, maybe next time. :-)

We made it home at about 2:00 today, I think. Unloaded the van, then crashed for a while. I slept so hard and had a terrible time waking up for church! But I felt great by the time we got there and Sister Galaviz had a really terrific ABM service, as always. Sooooo many good thoughts--and I even felt some inspiration here and there concerning our Camp theme, although her service was on a different theme. How does that work?! Anyway, it was very, very good.

The kids are in bed now, the laundry is started, and I go a-blogging. Not sure what to do with the rest of the night now though. I'm sure I'll think of something! Hope everybody had a GREAT weekend. :-)

IN TOKYO!!!

My parents, that is. They are in Tokyo right now!!! Is that not the most bizarre thing in the world?!?!? If you would have told me that my folks would ever be in such a place I would have laughed myself silly. We are just NOT the kind of people who up and go to Tokyo. Canada would be pretty exotic in our book. Ha! And Dad, especially, is ANYTHING but a world traveller. He hates flying and used to always get airsick. He's never had any sense of adventure that would cause him to desire to go anywhere he couldn't reach by car in a day or two! But he's always sooooo blessed when he makes these trips and is able to be with the Church people from all around the world. And he hates sitting behind a desk, so even though he has to travel to GET there I know he enjoys preaching and being with the people far more than he enjoys being in the office for another 8-5 day. Anyway, Mom and Dad are on their way to the Philippines for Convention. They had a 14 hour flight from Atlanta to Japan (weird!!!) and now they've got a 6 hour lay-over before going on to Manilla. It's just sooooo crazy. I told Dad to bring me a Godzilla souvenir from Tokyo. :-)

It's been a good, full day around here. Can't remember much about yesterday. School and laundry is all that comes to mind. James built a deck for his office yesterday, then finished up the stairs for it today.

This morning the kids and I cleaned all of the tools and trash out of the office while James went to town for more supplies. (He got the carpet installed tonight! Wa-Hoo!!!) Then we headed to the library where we came away with 40+ books (!) and went directly to horse lessons. Katie and Joe are both trotting very well--with no stirrups. Staci wants them to be able to balance and hold on to the horse with their legs (without being able to stand in the stirrups) while they're trotting before they learn to canter. They're doing great! I got to ride Daisy for a few minutes again today. :-) IT'S JUST SO FUN!!! Staci lets me try to canter and gives lots of instructions on everything I'm doing wrong. "Keep your heels down... feet back... sit up--don't lean forward... hold your legs still, don't let them flop around..." Ha! I apparently have lots of problems, but it doesn't matter--it's such a blast! And I did much, much better today. I've been trying to really concentrate on "rolling" with the horse and all that, but it seemed like I was just working against her or something. So I decided that I wasn't going to THINK about it today, I was just going to try to ride it out and see if I would naturally (instead of consciously) fall into her rhythm. It actually felt much better and smoother than when I THINK about it. And Staci said it was better, so apparently I've been thinking to much. So from now on I officially stop. No more thinking from me! :-)

We came home and I did some housework while the kids played outside. Katie, our self-motivator, came in and pulled her school books out. Joe managed to skip school entirely today, what, with our office project this morning. I never found time to sit down with him to do it. He'll be sorry when we have to make up for it tomorrow!

James mentioned tonight that we should drive up to the National Park and have a picnic for dinner. But we only had a tiny bit of ham and are completely out of peanutbutter, so I fried up the chicken I had planned on cooking anyway, cooked some mac-n-cheese, grabbed the little bit of Sister Galaviz's potato salad that was left from Sunday, mixed up some lemonade and threw it all in a basket and we were off! We stopped by Charlie's and picked up some cookies for dessert. I remember my Mom telling me how her Mom used to fry up a whole bunch of chicken and they'd go for a picnic. I've never had anything but a sandwhich kind of picnic before, so it was fun! But it was COLD. My blood never has thickened up to its original state since thinning out in west Texas for 5 years, I guess. The sun had just dropped behind the mountain and I was freezing! We ate fast, then the kids climbed up and down the mountain for a while. I went and sat in the van (is that wimpy, or what?!) while James arranged some races for them. But even from the van it was a great night! Ha!

Came home and had all of the smelly kids take showers (they stink so much sooner than they used to when they were younger--they're going to need showers every day come summertime!) and just got them put to bed. For some reason, I'm feeling pretty sleepy myself. That never happens! I am SUCH a night owl. I usually MAKE myself go to bed at midnight, otherwise I'd be up until 2:00 easily and then regret it the next day. Not tonight. I think I'm going to try to be asleep by 10:00. We'll see!

Being a Bad Blogger

It's easy, really. Either ramble aimlessly until people totally lose interest, or throw yourself toward the other extreme and don't write anything at all for days and days and days... It's much easier to succeed at being a bad blogger than it is at being a good blogger. And sometimes one just feels the need to succeed at something, you know? ;-) I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately. Sometimes it just doesn't feel as fun as it used to be, you know???

Anyway, I'll make up for it now. Then you'll be sorry. Well, the handful of you who last through the post, that is. :-) Let's see, what's been going on here... The big and exciting news of the week is...

SAM READ! It would be incorrect to declare that "Sam is reading" because that would indicate he could do it with some regularity and I really don't think we're to that point yet. But "Sam read" (past tense) is completely accurate. This learning to read thing is a real struggle for him and for his Mom (!), but it's so exciting for both of us when he takes those little baby steps and shows some improvement. His brain is just so... undisciplined is the only work I can think of to describe it. Even letters that he KNOWS he sometimes draws a complete blank on. So I'm trying to start with similar words. The other day we used the "A" card and the "T" card, then placed a whole bunch of other letters in front of them for him to try to sound out. (Bat, cat, fat, hat...) He was able to get a few of them ALL BY HIMSELF!!! If I called him right now and pulled out the same letters he would struggle to remember what they say, but he is making progress and he has technically begun READING. Wa-Hoo!!! Yeah, Sam!!! I'm very proud of him because I know he's having to WORK to learn this. And it's actually more rewarding for me, too, because it feels like this is the first time I've taught somebody to read. Katie and Joe pretty much taught themselves (with the help of a Leap Frog toy) and I had very little to do with it. It's so rewarding to know that I'm teaching my son to read! Another year or two and we'll have it down. Ha!

Can't think of much new with Katie. She keeps wanting to knit, but I really think we're going to have to have a real, live person teach us because the pictures in the book just ain't cuttin' it! I need somebody to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Oh, Auntie Em...??? :-)

Joe has a bruised ear. Yeppers, true story. I didn't know it was possible to bruise your ear, but it is. His left ear is just one giant purple bruise. He fell again (on his head, of course--he feels it his weekly duty, apparently) and slammed his head against the wood floor. His ear served as a cushion, but has paid the price dearly. I really should have taken a picture of it a couple of days ago when it was REALLY purple. It's an amazing thing. What a freak! Ha!

Thursday night we had our quarterly conference and Communion & Feetwashing service here at our house. We had a really good service, I thought, and then enjoyed some good fellowship afterwards. I was able to use up the last of the strawberries that had been left over after I made jam last week and made them into a really scrumptious strawberry cake with strawberry icing. Yum! Love that recipe. :-)

When we got up Friday morning it was snowing. And it snowed all day long!!!! Is that great, or what??? Mid-April. Gotta love it. It never stopped snowing, but it never did stick either. Just melted as soon as it hit the ground. Then at about 4:00 the flakes turned HUGE, coming down in giant custers. James says they weren't snowflakes, they were snowclumps, and he declares he saw one the size of a baseball. (Not a basketball like I originally told you, Tammy! HA!) Within about 30 minutes we had 2 inches or more on the ground!

We had 3" or 4" by morning. How cool!!! I started a puzzle, of course. I figure I've earned a few puzzles after all of the house stuff we've been doing. :-) I made potato soup and garlic cheese biscuits for dinner.

I got up yesterday...



...took a shower and had devotions with the kids, then sat down and finished that 1,000 piece puzzle. :-) What a grand day!!! In the afternoon I got started on preparations for today. The room at the motel where we usually have church was already booked for this Sunday, so we had service here at our house again today and followed it up with a cookout. :-) We really enjoyed the Sunday School lesson and spent quite a bit of time on it. Had good worship, then James preached on how NOT to be born again. Interesting! Then we grilled burgers and hot dogs and James mixed up some sodas for everybody. Ha! So fun!!! Raspberry cream seemed to be the soda of choice today. :-) Sister Galaviz brought potato salad since I don't know how to make it (thanks, lady!!!) and I made pea salad since I forgot to make it on Easter. (Nobody in my family likes it but me, so I always make it on holidays and then enjoy it for the next several days!) I made lemon bars and Millionaire pie for dessert. It's sooooo nice to have people over! It just makes me so happy to be able to cook and bake for them and open my home and enjoy the fellowship. I think it's my calling. It's much better than standing up front and trying to speak! Ha! Of course, that followed the fellowship today. Tonight was to be our VLB service, but because of having to reschedule everything at our house we decided to have service, then a cookout, then immediately go into VLB service. Although I'd say we had a VLB "thought" rather than a VLB service! It was extra short, even for me. We sang several songs and just enjoyed having a PIANO to sing with for a change (we miss that sooooo much!), then I shared my "thought" and *voila* we were done. In the end, I think it was just right. Anything longer would have felt too long after everything else, you know? We talked Sister Galaviz into staying and playing one glorious game of I Buy. I ended with 60 points (25 up until the final hand) and James and Sister Galaviz ended with 275 and 290 points or something great like that. ~Aaaaahhhh~ That's my kind of game! :-)

Now all of our company is gone, the kids are alternating playing outside and coming in and whacking balloons areound the house, James has run to town to get some supplies for his next project on the office, and I'm sitting here wondering what in the world to do with the rest of my Sunday! Maybe another puzzle??? It's so strange to not have anything going on tonight! Maybe we'll play a game.

AH, YES! Now THERE'S something blog worthy!!! James has been trying real hard to fill some "void" and "lonely" patches in his poor wife's life and has played games with me TWICE this week!!! Whoa!!! He plays games when we have company, of course (he never used to do even that), but never does otherwise. In fact, we put the kids to bed one night and grabbed Rummicub out of the closet and Katie asked what we were doing. I told her that Dad was going to play a game with me. The shock in her voice told it all: "WHAT?!?!? He never does that!!!" Ha! We played three hands of Rummicub that night and I won them all. James told me to go pick another game. I stared at the huge stack of games in the closet and realized that we don't HAVE any two player games because two people never play games here--they're all group games! Ha! So I pulled out Memory and made him play that with me. :-) It would've been fine, but I set up the cards... and set up the cards... and set up the cards... ! They were spread out in a HUGE square on the floor when it finally occurred to me that this must be TWO sets of Memory mixed together! Ha! I insisted that we go ahead and play anyway after having spent all the time to set it up. Instead of 72 cards there were 135, which meant there were 9 missing. In the end, James had 19 matches, I had 46 matches and we had 5 "extra" cards. It's incredibly difficult to play with two sets of Memory! You find a fish, find it's match, then pretty soon there's another fish--and then another... and you've got to remember where the new ones are, not the ones you've already found. Crazy! Fun, nonetheless. The next night we played 2 more rounds of Rummicub. I won those, too. Mom says I'm not going to be able to keep James playing games with me if I keep beating him. So, what am I to do?! LOSE??? I don't think so!!!!! ;-)

That's about it from here. Oh, here's a picture of the boys with the Museum of Natural History. :-) They watched Night at the Museum a few weeks ago, so they tried to replicate it. They had Rexy and Theodore Roosevelt on his horse and the soldiers and who knows what all. They put little papers in front of everything to say what they were. Ha! It was great!

Hhmmm. Wish I could remember what all has gone on the past few days. It would be nice to post something new, for my mother's sake if nothing else. ;-)

Uummm... I'm so blank. The only thing I know we've done is work on James' office. We installed a tongue-and-groove pine ceiling (have I already said this?) in there and we've spent the last few days working on getting the beadboard walls installed. Would have been much, much easier if the Fiend hadn't put 42 electrical outlets in there to cut around. Good grief!!! I only had one disastrously wrong measurement, but even that piece was able to be salvaged and in the end (which was about an hour ago, in the dark of night with neighbors no doubt ready to call the cops about all of the saws and compressors and other noise coming from our property) we had just barely enough to finish up. Wa-Hoo! Next step is trim. I'm hoping James can do that without any assistance. I asked him tonight how come I've been spending so much time in his spot. Ha! I'm a better measurer than he is and he needed the help. It's all good. I don't get out of the house much, so it's good for me. Even if it's only 20' out the back door! :-)

Let's see. What have the kids been up to... I know we had our first kid's bee sting the other day. Sam kept capturing bees and putting them into a container. I told him that it was only a matter of time--if he didn't leave the bees alone he would get stung. Sam, of course, is the kind of kid who has to learn everything the hard way. Not that he learned anything. He'll probably be out looking for more bees tomorrow.

Katie picked up some books on knitting at the library this week. I sat down with her tonight and tried to figure it out. It might take some time! I can do the first row, but I get sort of lost after that. That girl is so much more ambitious than I've ever been. I occasionally think, "Oh, it would be nice to learn how to..." And that's usually as far as I get. Katie is impulsive and as soon as she sees something she likes she wants to dive right in, even if her focus changes to a new venture in the next hour. Then we must dive in to that. Wears me out a little bit! I really wonder why God gave me to my Mom and Katie to me. Mom would have LOVED to have had a little girl like Katie and would know exactly what to do with all of that ambition and girliness. I'm at a loss most of the time and just trying to keep up with her!

The kids are in the other room watching Hawmps right now. I just heard hysterical laughter coming from that direction and I occasionally hear them repeat one of the really great parts. "I'm ready! I'm loose! I'm walkin' death and destruction!!!" Or, "It ain't fair! It just ain't fair! Why do the good guys always wi-i-i-i-i-i-i-in?!?!?" They love Jack Elam. :-) I can tell the show is almost over with though and then it's time for bed. James put the show on for them so we could stay out in the dark and finish up on the office walls, so now it's nearly an hour past bedtime. Spoiled brats. ;-)

Easter Kids

Here's your picture, Mom. :-)

And a picture of Katie's curls. I had a terrible time with her hair! My original plan just wouldn't work, so I ended up just tying her hair in a knot (literally) and letting the curly ends hang out through the middle. It was great--I love it! :-)

We had good services today and a particularly great Sunday School lesson. Sister Galaviz always brings out so many things that are so... fresh. I always feel like I learn something, you know? Love that.

We had a nice ham dinner today and everything turned out great. The kids went and hunted their eggs and had a blast doing it. Joe hit the jackpot. He found both of the eggs that had coins in them AND the one "special" egg that had a coupon for one free soda from Dad's soda fountain. Ha! Joe was most excited about that and he bragged about it and waved the coupon around all day long showing everybody until he finally lost it. So "JOE," you know?! Ha! James let him redeem the invisible coupon tonight anyway. Joe found it afterwards and said he's going to keep it to remember this really great Easter. Riiiiiiiight. It will be lost again by breakfast time!

Well, that's about it from here. Hope everybody had a GREAT Easter!

Happy Easter Eve!

That's how Joe greeted me first thing this morning. My kids are always soooooo excited about holidays! And this, of course, is probably the most important of all. Naturally, the kids have a hard time balancing out the TRUE glory of Easter... and the fun and yummy glory of it all! Ha! James always has a little bowl of Peeps (those things are terrible--don't know how the kids eat 'em!) and other candies sitting out for each kid when they wake up Easter morning, along with a Bible coloring page or something like that. And after church he hides eggs outside and they lo-o-o-o-o-ove to hunt them. I remember when Katie and Joe were 3 and 4 years old. They enjoyed the Easter egg hunt so much that they spent the next several weeks hiding the eggs themselves, then going to find them over and over again. (Only the plastic ones, of course!)

James has been working on his office the past few days. I needed him the other day and walked out to the office and found him installing insulation. I was so thrilled that's where he was! I said, "James!!! This is so cool!!! You're here--in your office--where you belong! Isn't it so great now that the house is done and everything finally has its proper place?! A spot where it goes. Here you are--in your spot! This is where you belong! In your office!!!!" :-) I hesitate to post things like that because I never know who all might be reading my blog and people who don't really know me might be offended when I say things like that. So for clarification purposes only: I LOVE MY HUSBAND. But I'm really glad he has a spot now. :-) A place to put him to get him out of the way. You know: a closet is to shoes as James is to the office. The cupboard is to dishes as James is to the office. The hamper is to smelly socks as James is to the office. HA! I'm KIDDING--JUST KIDDING. But I'm still glad he's got a spot. ;-) (Aren't you glad I went on to clarify things... my explanation really made things better, hu?! HA!)

Anyway, James got the insulation up and installed the air conditioner that Brother Daryl donated, then yesterday we started putting the ceiling in. James decided that since the office is so small the extra cost would be minimal to do a tongue-and-groove wood ceiling instead of sheetrock. Besides, this way he won't have to mess with taping and mudding and sanding and texturing and painting and all the other messiness that goes along with sheetrock, not to mention renting the lift to hold the peices up to the ceiling. With the tongue-and-groove all he needed was assistance from his wife. :-) Not that I was much help. I had a terrible time banging my side of the wood into the groove and most of the time James would have to get down from his ladder and come over to mine and do what I couldn't do. What's that all about?! I've always prided myself (mistake #1! Ha!) in being a pretty tough girl and able to handle most jobs pretty well. But I just couldn't get this one down! Of course, we were working with a defective rubber mallet who's head kept twisting with each blow and would occassionally leave the handle entirely and make a frighteningly speedy trip across the room to who knows where. Crazy. Anyway, James needs to pick up a few more peices of wood (and a new mallet, Dear!) and we'll be able to get it finished up. Probably Monday, I would guess. I'm all for it. Gotta get that little building finished up so James can have a nice spot and might spend more time there. ;-)

Back to Easter Eve... When we woke up this morning it was snowing again! Wa-Hoo! The kids were a mite restless during devotions, anxious to go out and play before things started melting. It snowed steadily until after noon, I think, but we never got more than about an inch and a half. It never seems to deter the kids, however. They can make snowmen out of the measliest snowfalls!

I was thrilled with the weather and it just felt like one of those wonderful days to sit around and sip hot chocolate and put together a puzzle or curl up with a good book. I started with the hot chocolate for breakfast, but that's as far as my plans got. I had too many other plans that superceeded the Snow Day plans!

The kids helped me to make strawberry jam today; our annual 5 batches of it.

Hardly a Snow Day activity, but we had found the strawberries on sale a few days ago and needed to do it before they started to go bad. It takes a while to make the jam and it is SUCH a mess. But it's sooooo worth it! Yum!!!

James was affected by the weather as well and decided to make some truly scrumptious oatmeal raisin cookies. I was glad at the moment that he was in the kitchen instead of his spot. ;-) I can't remember what all I did today, but I know I spent 90% of the day in the kitchen! After I finally got the jam and all of it's mess cleaned up I started baking. I made hot rolls and cinnamon rolls and then, since we had a whole lot more strawberries left over than I thought we would (!), I made a strawberry cream roll (like a pumpkin roll sort of a thing) for tomorrow's dessert and... Hhmmm. Can't remember what else. We had poppyseed chicken casserole for dinner and scraped the pan clean--no left-overs this time!

I had Katie take a bath early this afternoon so I could get her hair in some little foam rollers. Hopefully by morning she'll have some really great curls. That's what she was wanting for Easter. I usually don't take the time for such things! We watched a George Younce video while I worked on Katie's hair and the kids LOVED it. :-) I ironed her adorable Easter dress from Grandma Vicki tonight, so she should be all set for tomorrow. Then, just before bed, we did the egg thing. It's amazing how much excitement and anticipation goes into something that is over and done with in a matter of minutes! Ha!

Once we got the kids to bed I worked on the church calendar for May (James is in high Choleric gear tonight, apparently! Ha!) and my song sheet for tomorrow. For some reason, we seemed to sing all of the usual Easter songs last week so since I'm on to lead songs tomorrow I wanted to do some different songs. And I just can't do that "up from the grave He arose" song--it has a wonderful message... but it's sooooo not Church of God style and it drives me a little batty! Ha! So tomorrow we're going to sing Because He Lives, then I Live, then Changed in the Twinkling of an Eye. :-) I don't know if any of these folks know the last two, but they will by tomorrow!

Hhmmm. Guess that's it. I rambled, didn't I? ~sigh~ Been trying not to do that so much. I'll call it quits for the night.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

The Latest Head Injury

~sigh~ That kid.

So tonight we stopped for gas on our way home from church. The boys couldn't wait the whole 10 minutes until we got home and insisted they had to use the restroom immediately. So I marched them inside and waited for them. Joe started jogging back out to the van and stepped on the... whatcha-call-it (the cement block thing that you pull your car up to)... and his foot slipped off of it and he fell. Hard. Very, very hard. I saw it happen and knew before he even caught his breath that he was gonna be hurtin' in several places, but his head is what hit the pavement real hard. I was on the phone with Mom at the moment and she can vouch for the seriousness of the screaming that ensued. I was thankful that there wasn't any blood and we loaded Joe up and came on home. By the time we got here he had a nice little lump on the side of his forehead that is a slightly greenish color. Mom says not to let him sleep for an hour or two. Doesn't she know it's past bedtime?! We lo-o-o-o-o-o-ove bedtime around here. ;-) So right now he's sitting on the couch across the room from me reading a book for a while. Oh... not anymore. Now all three kids have been summoned from their respective beds and couches by the soda jerk who is experimenting in an effort to create the perfect vanilla malt. :-)


Anyway, back to Joe... The most disturbing thing is that he insists he can't remember what happened. Says he remembers going into the bathroom, but that's it. He keeps asking what happened to his head. I'm 95% sure that he's just playing it up, having read somewhere about amnesia and how it can be induced by a severe blow to the head. But since it is Joe and he is prone to crazy injuries that nobody else would venture to try, there's still that 5% chance that he's on the level! Ha! Anyway, say a prayer for Joe. He can't bear for his cognitive skills to be hindered any further than they already are! He's already the most forgetful kid I've ever known. Except maybe myself. ;-)

It's been another good day around here for the most part. School went well. We started in on a new study in science. We're going to be learning about the human body, so today we started with the 5 senses. Sister Galaviz lent us a really neat book with some fantastic illustrations to go along with the other book we'll be going through, so that will be fun to get into. All three kids made these "models" today with flaps that open so you can see what everything looks like in your head.


I finished reading The Wizard of Oz to the kids. It's amazing how different it is from the movie--in a thousand ways! The kids seemed to really enjoy it. "Just one more chapter, Mom!!!" They've never seen the movie, but the book was a hit!

Katie also finished up on her felt craft today, so I was able to take a picture of the kids with their projects.

Joe made a "D" coaster for his Dad. Sam made a dinosaur piggy bank for himself. And Katie made a Bible cover for herself. Is that not the coolest thing?! I'm so proud of all of them--they did so good! Katie had to really stretch the thread (see the huge stitches at the bottom?! Ha!) because she was running out, but when we get more she'll be able to re-do that part and make it a little more uniform. Either way, she had great fun making it and is so happy with it. And me, too! I'm just so proud of her! What a fun craft--for all of them.

We had a really good BTI study tonight. I, personally, didn't appreciate that the lesson left us in the Dark Ages until next week (I'm much more of a ride-off-into-the-sunset ending sort of a person--why couldn't we at least get started into the Arise, Shine?!), but we had lots of good discussion and everybody seemed to really enjoy it. It lasted nearly 2 hours, I think.

And that's it! The kids are finished with their malts and I just finished my cherry-vanilla Coke. :-) Life is so grand! I think I'm going to shoo everybody off to bed and just relax for a while tonight. If you think of it, pray for Joe and his head. Not just the injury... his head! ;-)

Hhmmm

So much for my being more faithful to post, hu, Ma? Don't know what happened. Actually, not much. That's why I haven't blogged!

Monday was a nice day. We got school done early so we would have time to get the house all whipped into shape for company. Sister Galaviz came over in the afternoon and ended up staying for about 5 hours, I think. Longer than she had planned, I'm sure, but we loved it! It was so nice to have her here. We played I Buy, then had beans and cornbread for supper (that's how we treat our company around here! Ha!), then had time for one more round of I Buy before she had to leave. It was great fun and I really think we should do it more often. :-)

Tuesday was a pretty regular day, from what I remember. I can't seem to think of much that happened at all. I've got to start writing down the crazy things the kids do because I can't ever seem to think of what they are when I try to blog. I know that I had to get on to Joe for praying the other day. Ha! That's just great, hu?! He was praying for the following days' breakfast in devotions at night and praying for dinner during our breakfast prayer and all manner of "getting ahead" in his thanks for whatever food might be coming his way. I finally said no more. "You are hereby forbidden from praying for your meals in advance!" Is that not wrong?! I just told my kid to QUIT praying for things ahead of time! ~sigh~ I'm such a bad Mom. ;-)

Today has been a nice day. I was up wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay late last night and was able to get all of the ironing done. (That I'd been putting off for 3 weeks now--scary!) That made for a little bit of a late start this morning, but we managed to have devotions and get through school and get some cleaning done.

After that I sat down and helped the kids make some... things out of felt. Katie got a book from the library about sewing with felt and all three kids found things they thought looked like fun. I would tell you about them, but I'd rather post pictures. :-) The boys' finished theirs up today, but Katie has a bit more work to do on hers. I'm sure she'll finish it up tomorrow, then I'll take pictures. They're cute! And even Joe got over his "sewing is girl stuff" long enough to make something.

Tonight we went out to Wal-Mart to do some shopping and have dinner at McDonalds. ~gag~ I've learned to eat there on occasion, but it's still not anything I can look forward to. Came home and read a few more chapters of The Wizard of Oz to the kids before our evening devotions, and now they're sacked out and here I am! That's about it. Nothing too exciting, I'm afraid. But tomorrow is another day. Perhaps something blogworthy will happen. :-) Until then... (or the day after that... or perhaps the next day... or...)

For Tayde

Who translated the Western Skies into Spanish in record time this month (it was truly amazing), BLOGGED for the first time in a month (!!!), AND even bragged about the Western Skies in said blog. Here you go, Tayde!


You deserve it! ;-)

As for the rest of you, thanks for all the comments! I think the boys' cowboy room is pretty cool and they are sooooo excited to have all their western stuff up again. Sam has been in full sheriff garb ever since. :-)

Kasey, you're CRAZY! I knew the wrapping paper was visible (only because of the flash--otherwise the closet is just dark inside!), but I didn't think anybody would be able to tell what it WAS! Ha!

Em & Bekah, thanks and I think you're right--it's surely time for some good books! :-) I actually just read a book about the Duggar family (the folks from Arkansas with 18 kids) and it was nice... but not as fun as the O'Malley series or anything! Ha!

Charity, Joe has had a fixation with the guitar since before he was two years old and it's never seemed to waver. He's been learning some chords and hopefully we'll be able to get him some training from somebody who knows how to play. Sam, who likes to be under the bed as much as on top of it (!), may follow along and learn to play, too. Only time will tell!

Mom, it was time for a new template even though I really, really liked the last one. Needed something a little more... bright and cheery or something! This will work for a while. I love the colors. :-)

Sister Tammy, thanks! The jail door is sooooo fitting. The boys' regularly haul each other off to jail now. Actually, the other day Joe was driving me BONKERS and I actually made him "go to jail" for about 15 minutes. Ha! What a great concept! I can't believe it took us so long to think of it! ;-)

Tayde, are you going to come see the place in person? And stay with us for a while like you talked about last summer??? The offer still stands! And it's a much nicer place than it was a year ago! :-)

Okay, I think that's it. We had a nice Sunday. I really, really enjoyed the SS lesson on prayer this morning. So many good things in there. And I love it that we have brand new, fresh lessons! That's so great! James had a headache today and spent most of the afternoon in bed. I decided to forgo the Sunday afternoon nap so I could get the Spanish Western Skies formatted. I was able to get it done and James printed it tonight.

We are still having service in the motel for now (still praying for a more permanant place!) and tonight James had taken some old Assembly DVD's to show as part of his CPMA service. Some of those clips are just so neat! Anyway, after service our family just hung out at the motel for a while. James ran to Target to pick up some popcorn and slushies and we watched a movie there in the meeting room since the projector and screen were already set up! Ha! It was great fun and the kids thought it was terrific.

Well, I'm trying real hard to write shorter, less rambling posts (how am I doin', Em?!) and to get to bed a little earlier than usual. I've been in a bad really, really late night rut for a while. So I'm gonna call it quits. Have a great Monday, everybody! (As if there is such a thing!)

Boys' Room!

Finally got it done! Wa-Hoo!!! Of course, there are still a few things to do here and there but it's just little stuff and doesn't interfere with being able to say it's DONE! I need to take all the extra slats off the bottom of the blinds, make some curtains, come up with bedspreads of some sort...stuff like that. It'll happen soon enough. For now, I'm just thrilled to have every room in the house FINISHED! Wa-Hoo! God is good. :-)




I had forgotten how much great cowboy stuff the boys had--it's been in a box for nearly a year and a half now! It's great to have a place for good ole' Matt Dillon again. ;-)

And Katie just had to make a Coke sign for her Dad's soda fountain. :-)

Nothing much going on here other than that. I did set the card table up in the den and put a puzzle together today. There is room behind the couch for a small table and we'll eventually find one that's just the right size (and price!), but for now the card table did the trick. I love the idea of having a "puzzle table" in the den so you can just go and relax for a few minutes, but it's out of the way and not cluttering up your dining table or sitting in the middle of the room. It's perfect!

That's about it from here. Looking forward to good services tomorrow. Maybe I'll try to go around and comment all the places I haven't been commenting for weeks now! (Sorry I've been such a slacker--I'm trying to recover... again!)

So... the Vacuum

Well, the next morning I woke up and found James already sitting at the computer with my blog on the screen. If he didn't know about the vacuum before, he would very soon. I began to rub his shoulders and tell him how very, very much I love him. :-) He didn't say much, so I finally asked (rather nervously) if he had read the blog yet. He started laughing and said, "I don't know who you think you married." (I know very well who I married. I married a jerk! Ha! But I haven't seen him in several years now. I've been married to a totally different guy for quite some time! ;-) ~sigh~ It's ni-i-i-i-i-i-ice!) James then yanked me into his lap and flew into his best Doug Oldham impersonation. Very few blog readers will appreciate it because very few (1) know who Doug Oldham is and what songs he sang, (2) have ever heard what he sounds like, and (3) know how intensely I dislike his singing--almost as intensely as I hate James' impersonation of it. But I was being held down and couldn't get away from it. "HONEY, 'I said,' You don't have to be afraid anymore... you've got a bra-a-a-a-a-and new husband now! Thanks to Calvary... things are different... than befo-o-o-o-o-o-ore!!!" HA! It was a rather sneaky way of being a jerk without really being a jerk. I mean, he knows how much I detest it when he sings that song (!!!), but all in all I had to admit it was rather fitting. And I'm ashamed to admit that I did laugh. AND...

For perhaps the first time in the history of his life, The Fiend was right. (I'm just making a safe assumption about that "first time ever" thing. I haven't actually been privy to all of his decisions and statements...but I would think it safe to ask his wife for an affirmation of my suspicion.) ;-) Anyway, it WAS cheaper to fix the vacuum than replace it. Wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay cheaper. James took it to the Oreck dealer and the lady hauled it into the back room for about 3 minutes, fixed it, and handed it back to him. NO CHARGE. Wa-Hoo!!!!! ~sigh~ God is soooooo good! (And YES, Mom, I did pray!!!) Apparently when I pulled that slick little trip-slam move the other day it yanked a connection loose where the cord attaches to the handle and the girl was able to get it fixed with no problem at all. Life is grand!

As for the house, I'm still winning... one small baby step at a time. I really expected to knock the whole project out in a day, but I've had a few minor delays so I'm actually just sort of conquering the mountain an inch at a time. Every night when I go to bed I tell myself that tomorrow I should be able to finish up. I'm oh-so-close, but I've been oh-so-close for at least 3 days now. So I'll go to bed tonight telling myself the same thing. "Tomorrow..." One of these days I'll be right. A happy day it will be. Maybe I'll celebrate with a raspberry cream soda. (We should be equipped to make one of those by tomorrow night, just in case I actually do pull through and conquer the house after all.)

In closing, I just had to share this:





James made a menu! Ha! Gotta love it. :-) (I'm hoping the lack of prices means that he doesn't intend to actually charge our friends and family who come to visit. You never can be too sure with James--he's always looking for ways to make a buck or two! Ha!)