In an Unexpected Turn of Events...

We are just east of Brazil right now.

Brazil, Indiana, that is. I couldn't help but be amused when we passed a sign for Brazil earlier and I thought it would make for a catchy beginning to a blog post. ;-)

Before I begin on The Big Trip review, here are a couple of pictures for my Dad. Be sure to show him, okay, Ma? He can probably use it now to break up the last-minute stress and pressure. :-) I think Sam dressed up so I could take a picture "for Grandddad" this day. (It was sometime this week.)




Okay! The Big Trip!!! Leg One of the trip was nice and easy. We travelled about 8 hours yesterday, I think. Talk about nice and easy! The kids did lots of reading, and Katie and Joe started keeping track of all the different license plates we see along the way. They are up to 35 states and two Canadian provinces. They're pretty excited. Joe was especially thrilled to see a car from Alaska this afternoon. Now if they could just find one from Hawaii...

We made it to the Adams' house at about 6:00 last night, I think. It was so good to be there with them! We had such a nice, leisurely evening and sooooo enjoyed the fellowship. Brother Ray grilled some yummy chicken for us while Sister Tammi put out all the fixin's: corn on the cob, green beans, mac-n-cheese, salad, and dinner rolls. It was all great! Especially the Blue Bell ice cream afterwards! What luxury! Unfortunately, the one picture that I took of Sister Tammi happened to have a spatula concealing her face so I decided not to post it. However, I couldn't NOT post this one...



Ha! And here's Brother Ray showing off a piece of chicken that he cooked a little long. He seemed pretty proud to discover that he can make chicken jerky!



James insisted on taking a close-up.



The Adams are wonderful hosts and I recommend that you all go stay with them sometime. :-) I have the liberty to say that, right, Sister Tammi? Ha! They will treat you like royalty and even insist on giving up their own bedroom for you. Of course, Brother Ray removes several things from the bedroom first... his fan... blankets... pillows... more blankets... the mattress... ;-) Okay, so it wasn't really THAT bad, but I figured Sister Tammi would have him read this and he would be thrilled to find me sharing such things on the web. :-) They really did treat us well and I slept soooooo well last night--what a great bed they gave up for us!!!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing in the back yard with the Adams' nephew, Ethan. Sister Amy came over to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary by visiting with all of us (she left her sick husband in bed--they sure know how to celebrate! Ha!) so her three girls livened up the party in the back yard. It was especially lively when Madison decided that something was in her pants and came to her Mom for some assistance. They disappeared into the bathroom for a minute or two and suddenly we heard crazed and maniacal laughter erupting from behind the door--I really thought Sister Amy was going to hurt herself or throw herself into labor or something! Ha! It was WILD laughter!!! She finally opened the door and started screaming that she needed Joe's help, which threw us all for a loop. Long story short (too late for that, isn't it?!) Madison had somehow managed to get a FROG up her pant leg and when Sister Amy started investigating it jumped out of her pants and hopped behind the toilet to hide! HA! Can you imagine?!?!? Sam was the closest kid so I hollered for him to come inside and rescue the silly girls in hysterics in the bathroom. Actually, Madison was quite calm--although she had NO interest in touching the frog. (She'd had quite enough of that already, I presume!) Sister Amy, however, was pretty hysterical! Ha!



Sadly, that's the only picture I got of Sister Amy! Ha! I feel so bad for her. She looks great, but she looks so miserable!!! She's just sooooo big for such a little person! I'm sure she'll feel so relieved to have that baby on the outside very soon. I know it'll be easier on her back that way! Ha!

We were so glad she and the kids were able to come spend some time. Especially because now we all have the great frog memory to carry with us! :-)

We stayed up visiting with the Adams until about 11:00, I think, which is VERY, VERY late for Brother Ray and actually felt quite late to me, too! I don't know how I can sleep for half of the trip and then be so tired. We had a really good visit and I'm just so thankful we were able to stop over and have some time with them. And a free meal and room! ;-) What a blessing!

We hit the road at about 8:30 this morning, I think, and have had another good day of travelling, though I think Pennsylvania is crawling farther east as we go. We're not nearly as close as I thought we'd be. It looks like another full day of driving tomorrow--which makes me realize just how long and miserable the days would have been if we'd decided to make this trip in just two days instead of three!

The kids have done lots of reading (Joe brought some "Harry the Poisonous Centipede" books with him, so that keeps him occupied), playing games, singing, and scoping out the license plates. Joe ke-e-e-e-e-eps asking me what they say--as if he can't read them for himself. I've started just screaming them before he has a chance to ask. "MISSOURI, Joe!!!!" "WASHINGTON!!!!" As for myself, I barely even noticed the ELEVEN Steak ~n~ Shake restaurants we passed today (~ahem~) before we finally stopped at one for dinner. :-) The number 12 has been my favorite number all my life and I've wondered why for all of these years... only to find out now! Ha! I thought of Dustin Hays a few times as I was savoring every greasy bite of my Frisco burger and sipping on my delectable orange freeze because the terms "pure deliciousness" and "nectar of the gods" kept popping into my mind! Ha! It was truly grand. :-)

And now here we are, somewhere between St. Louis and Indianapolis. I think we've probably got another 8 hours to go tomorrow. The goal is simply to get to the grandparents' house before dark so the kids can run and play a bit. That should be easy enough to do. It's strange... I have really, really been missing Hershey Dog on this trip! Isn't that nuts?! Like it's easier to travel with a dog?! Not hardly! Still, he was such a good traveler and he sooooo loved to go. And he loved being in Pennsylvania, being at the house up there, running away up there and coming back hours later... ~sigh~ How do I miss that?! Crazy. Dog people are just crazy, I guess. That realization doesn't change a thing though. I miss 'im. I'm anxious to see the puppies at my folks' house--maybe that'll help me feel better! That won't be until the end of next week though. Until then it's sure to be a fun and eventful week on Pennsylvania! :-) (But with no dogs...)

I'll TRY to post this week, but it just depends on the Internet connection and availability and all that. We'll see!

And We're Off!!!

The Big Trip starts in just a few hours! Amazing how quickly it creeps up on you. But I've got three suitcases packed (not backed, as my last post stated--ha!) and loaded into the van that I spent an hour or more cleaning and vacuuming out today. All of our hanging clothes are on the rack, there is a bin of library books under the middle seat as well as a bin of bread and chips and other lunch equipment, the bottled water is on the floor in the back, and all of the kids' sleeping bags are loaded as well--just in case they might come in handy somewhere along the way. In the morning we'll throw in the last suitcase (it's waiting on James' shaving kit), some pillows, some CD's, a cooler with drinks, strawberry jam and lunchmeat, our laptops, a few kids, and we'll be on our way! All of the laundry and ironing is caught up (of course--it's all packed!), the dishes are all clean, and the house is looking good. I do think I'm going to sweep and swiffer the kitchen before I call it a night.

James decided that we would make the trek to Pennsylvania in three regular long days rather than two agonizingly long days. ;-) We're going to be crashing at the Adams Inn in Oklahoma City tomorrow night ;-) so it won't really cost us any extra to travel one extra day--especially since we're packing food instead of eating out every meal. And we get to FELLOWSHIP! With PEOPLE! I'm so looking forward to having some time with them. I think the last time I was at their house is when I was house sitting for them in Colorado Springs and they had that crazed black cat named Bear who would stalk you and swat at you and make scary growling noises--like nothing I've ever heard any other cat do. He was rather freaky! Ha! Still, I've got nothing but good memories that make me smile. Like all of us girls staying in the basement while we attended a seminar there in 'Springs... and dressing up in all of Gabe's Air Force clothes and taking tons of pictures... or the time we "babysat" Jeremy and Darren and ended up locking one of them outside and telling the other he'd have to lick his slurpie up off the carpet if he spilled it in the car. ~sigh~ Those were the good ole' days! Ha! I should let Brother Ray hide one of my boys in the dryer just to even things out from when I used to watch their boys! ;-)

Anyway, after our Oklahoma stop we have no idea where the next day will land us. Doesn't much matter so long as it's on the way to Pennsylvania. I haven't even looked at a map to familiarize myself with the route we'll be taking. We've only made the trip from our present location once before, you know. I'm not worried about it. I've got Sean all packed and ready to go. You get map lazy when you have a GPS. You don't do any thinking or planning for yourself, you just trust that the little computerized voice won't lead you wrong. It's sad, really.

I'd best call it a night. There are still a few things left to be done before we can leave in the morning and I know I'll be called upon to drive in the afternoon, so I really ought to get some sleep. I'll TRY to post along the way. But not tomorrow night. I'll be with PEOPLE. :-)

For Amy Montgomery

Corn Chowder 2 T bacon fat
1/2 C butter
3 large chopped onions (HA! I use 1/2 C or so, maybe a little more)
1/4 C green pepper (I use all colors of bell peppers--makes it purtier! And I usually add extra)
8 medium potatoes, diced
4 C milk
2 C whipping cream
1/4 minced parsley
5 C fresh or frozen corn (canned is fine, too--just drain it)
3/4 t nutmeg
1 t salt (I actually almost triple that)
1/2 t pepper
1/4 C butter
6-8 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

Boil potatoes until tender. Meanwhile, cut bacon into small pieces, fry crisp in large saucepan and set aside. Melt butter (in the pan with the bacon grease), then add onions and saute over medium heat until tender. Add green pepper and saute 2 to 3 minutes. Add milk and cream and heat slowly. When warm, add all other ingredients and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let stand for at least 3 hours. Warm before serving and thin with milk, if desired.

Interesting you should ask for that recipe, Amy. I was thinking about it just the other day and getting sooooo excited that once we get home from our Assembly trip we'll be in full Fall gear and I'll be able to make all of my favorite soups and breads and such. It's been cool and rainy here the last few days and that really makes it feel like time! I figured I would post the recipe here instead of e-mailing it to you because it's just too good to not share. It is my all time favorite soup in the whole wide world. I'm glad to hear Brother Rob liked it well enough to remember it after all these years! Ha! That's crazy!

My other reason for posting the recipe here is because it's the Week of Fasting for the Church and I always like to do my part to make sure everybody in Blogland is truly giving an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. ;-) Last year I changed my template to a whole bunch of pizzas. I looked for another good food template this year, but couldn't find one. So the chowder picture will just have to do. Although I don't think it's quite as pretty and yummy looking as my recipe usually turns out! :-)

Speaking of fasting, our kids gave it a shot today. We told them that "the General Overseer" (so hard for them to separate that from "Granddaddy!") had asked the Church to fast for the General Assembly and we asked them if they would be interested in joining us. We suggested that if they wanted to try it they could fast just one meal. They immediately agreed that it would NOT be breakfast because that's their favorite! Ha! And they really like dinner a whole lot too... lunch is probably the least favorite meal, so... Lunch it is! They did pretty well, I thought, for their first time. Only a few "I'm sooooo hungry" comments here and there. It's amazing how fasting affects you. It is SUCH a mental thing. We might get busy some days and miss a meal without even realizing it until the next mealtime comes around. But if you're FASTING you feel like you're just going to die! Ha! Anyway, we got together at noon today and had a good prayer for the Assembly. And the kids greatly enjoyed their dinners tonight. James had taken Katie & Sam to town with them and I think I heard they broke their fast at Wendy's. Joe stayed here (because he hadn't finished his school yet--what a shock!), but he was thrilled to make himself a pot of ramen noodles. :-) My fast is ending tomorrow and that corn chowder is sounding mighty good to me! But alas, it would be foolish to make it now just before we leave on a big trip. We need to eat whatever left-overs are already in the fridge and clean it out before we go.

The only other notable occurance of the day is that I started backing. Sorted through the kids clothes and mine and picked out Assembly outfits. It's always harder to pack for the Assembly than the rest of the trip, it seems, so I thought I'd start there. There's always so much THINKING to be done when I pack for this trip. I need our Assembly suitcase, our Pennsylvania suitcase, and our On-the-Way-to-Pennsylvania suitcase. The hanging clothes have to be sorted that way, too. The Stay-with-My-Folks-After-the-Assembly part of the trip gets no thought or organization. It consists of: wash whatever we wore in Pennsylvania and wear it all again! :-) We're also going to be doing some of our eating in the van on this trip, so we'll throw a cooler and contents into the mix as well. And we've got the commentaries we're taking to my Dad, whatever we happen to get him for his birthday (which is TODAY!), cameras and chargers and all the little odds and ends that I'm prone to forget. Really though, packing isn't nearly as stressful as it used to be. It's because (1) I no longer have babies to pack all of that crazy equipment for and (2) I've done it sooooo many times now that I think I'm just getting better at it!

Tomorrow I'll start packing for the non-Assembly parts of the trip. I actually kind of like packing. I like being able to organize it all or something. And it makes it sink in that you're really and truly going somewhere! And that almost always means that you're going to see PEOPLE!!! :-) And, of course, I'm excited about the Assembly itself. I'm particularly excited about a message by Luis Banuelos and the Annual Address. But then, I'm biased on both counts. ;-)

Look, Mom--I blogged two days in a row!!! How long's it been since I've done THAT?! Must be all those comments I got on the last post... ;-)

My Mama Said

...that she expected a blog from me tonight. Can she do that??? Isn't that sort of thing supposed to end when a girl gets married and moves away? Can I pull one of those "You're not my boss anymore" things??? Incidentally, that's one of my very biggest pet peeves. I hate when I hear kids (mine, or anybody elses) say to somebody (even if it's true), "You're not my boss" or "You're not my Mom." Oooooooh, it bugs me! So I guess I'll forego the fit and just do what Mom said to do. ~sigh~ Life is so not fair. ;-)

We had horse lessons on Friday because we weren't able to make it on Tuesday. Afterward we drove down the the library to bring home 30 or 40 new books. I love it that my kids love books so much! It was a pretty lazy day after that. The kids decided they were going to open a restaurant that afternoon, so the boys donned the waiter apparel...

And got busy making their own money so they could operate a proper business.

I told 'em I was going to call the cops on them--it's illegal to make your own money like that. "They'll throw you in the pokey for sure!!!" ;-)

Saturday was spent cleaning house and getting some food together for our Sunday pot-luck. We weren't able to have church in our usual location this week (still praying for God to open doors for a REGULAR place of worship!), so we had our regular Sunday morning service here at our house, then a pot-luck, then went straight into our ABM service. It's really nice to have a day like that every now and then! I love the fellowship and togetherness of it all. We enjoyed really good services, too. I made meatballs at James' request, taco salad, deviled eggs, chocolate eclair, and oatmeal scotchies--which, to clear up any confusion, are simply oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips, not any other kind of scotch. ;-) We had that discussion over dinner! We also had spaghetti and lasagna and potato salad and cheesecake and... hhmmm. Oh! James made a green chili enchilada, too, with the chilies we brought back from Hatch. Yum! Anyway, back to the subject...

We had really, really good services yesterday and just really felt the Lord with us. Because we had other rooms available for a change I was able to take the kids and have Sunday School with them, a luxury they haven't enjoyed in many, many months. It was great! We used Psalm 119:18 as our text: "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," and talked about the need to search and pray for understanding when we read something in the Bible that we don't "get," so that God can open our eyes and help us to see what He's trying to say to us--He has wondrous things for us to behold! It turned out better than I had expected for practically no preparation (I didn't realize until late Saturday night that I should prepare something... Good thing we'd nabbed some super cheap craft supplies at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago!) and the kids enjoyed it. And had way too much fun, too! Here is Cainan's "Open thou mine eyes" act...

Joe thinks Cainan is just about the funniest kid out there! Ha! I love how he's cracking up over Cainan being a dork! :-) And here are all of the kids with their Open My Eyes visors and their Search the Word magnifying glasses. :-)

After Sunday School we enjoyed a good worship service--with MUSIC! Wa-Hoo! It was great to have a piano for a change. Then Brother Chris preached another really, really good message. It was sort of along the lines of what I had talked about in my VLB service last week, about not toying around with the things of this world even if they aren't necessarily "sinful." He likened it to throwing pebbles at a sleeping giant, feeling safe all the while because you're in control of the situation. But when we venture toward the things of this world we are foolishly throwing rocks at a giant that will eventually be aroused and be bigger and stronger than we think and will easily overcome us. He spoke of the Advice to Members and how some people want to make light of it and even mock it or call it legalistic. But when you have the "need" to break some of the rules there (especially if you have covenanted yourself to the Church and are committed to Theocratic government which, incidentally, felt strongly enough about the Advice to create it... for a reason!) you're starting to throw rocks at the giant. Good, good advice. That's what God gave us and I'm so thankful!

We enjoyed way too much good food after service and lots of good fellowship. I love that part. :-) I would love it if we did this once a month!

After lunch we went right into our ABM service and it, too, was wonderful. God really blessed us in our singing and in our praying to begin with. God is really working to bind our members together with love and concern for each other and it's a beautiful thing. I love to see all of us bearing one another's burdens and rejoicing in one another's victories! Sister Galaviz taught a wonderful lesson on the Beatitues. The merciful one is the one that really stuck out to me. Mercy comes into play when somebody doesn't deserve to be treated with kindness or compassion. I immediately thought of a particular situation where some people have been so mean and hateful and destructive and had to ask myself if I truly have a MERCIFUL spirit toward them, or if I somehow want to see them suffer (even just to some small degree) for their meanness and cruelty. ??? I want to have a loving and merciful spirit toward everybody! I don't deserve God's mercy; who am I to think others should have to "earn" kindness and compassion from me?! Lots to think and pray about.

The crowd had cleared out after ABM service by about 4:30, I think, so we just hung out and enjoyed a nice, relaxing evening. ~Aaahhhh~ What a great day it was!

Today has been school, school, school and laundry, laundry, laundry. We got all of the intended goals accomplished for both, so that's good! It started out pretty rough for Joe today (his anti-school attitude had him spending over an hour to complete HALF of a page), but after his visit to the principal's office he came back with an attitude that was much improved and he did the best school work--and fastest--he's done in months! I'm going to have to send him to the office more often, I guess. ;-) Katie has so much fun doing her school that I've been encouraging her to do lots of extra work, especially since we'll be gone for 3 weeks or more on our Assembly trip. The big trip will begin for us either Friday or Saturday of this week. How did it sneak up on us like that?!

I think I'm going to go read some in my A. J. Tomlinson book before bed. I haven't been as faithful to it as I had hoped (tell me you're surprised! Ha!), but I'm not letting myself pick up any OTHER books until I finish it, even if it takes me 3 months. :-) That ought to do it! G'night!

By the way... when you read my blog title, how many of you thought the first line of my post was going to be, "You can't hurry love"??? Come on, now--be honest! Ha!

The Weekly Blog

That seems to be how often I blog anymore. How sad. I used to be so good at this. Maybe I'll get back into the groove one of these days. Or maybe not. ;-)

Sunday was another good day of church services. I had stayed up until 2:00 Saturday night trying to finalize my VLB lesson, so I was a bit tired. I actually spent Sunday afternoon working on it, too--right up until time to leave for service! I felt really good about things, but it just took a really long time to get it all pieced together and I felt like God was laying little things to add to it on my heart up until the very last minute. "Do not err, my beloved brethren" was our text and we spent the entire service talking about what it means to err, the dangers of erring and the sin it could lead to, those in the Bible who erred and the road it put them on, and how to avoid those errors. Quite a challenging topic for someone who has great difficulty pronouncing her "r"'s. Thanks again, Ma, for thinking it was CUTE when I was little and not signing me up for that speech therapy class. ;-) Anyway, I felt like the service went well. God really spoke to my heart about the subject while I was studying. No Christian ever just jumps head long into sin. It always starts by erring first--using poor judgment or making an unwise decision or not becoming as knowlegable as you should be in the Word, etc. Like the young man in Proverbs 7 who walked down the street where the harlot lived, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. There was no sin in walking down the street. But he erred when he did it and it led him into temptation that he was unable to resist. It was not sinful, but very foolish to be at such a place and in such a time. His erring led to his sin and his downfall. I don't want to simply avoid sin; I want to never err because those errors we make lead in the direction of sin.

We went out to Weinerschnitzel (is that spelled right???) with the Clarkson clan after service that night. It was nice, though it had to have been 90 degrees in that joint! Crazy employees. We enjoyed the fellowship though and that's what really matters. :-)

Monday... Lots of laundry on Monday... School... Those are all the details I can come up with!

Tuesday morning we got the crowd up bright and early (6:30ish, I think) and headed into town to help Brother Chris get the rest of their stuff out of storage and moved up to their house. We worked until just after noon, I think, and we were able to get everything up there except for a bunch of heads. Yeah, heads. Brother Chris was going to go back and get his mounts (deer, antelope, etc.) later on. :-) The kids had a great time catching snails in the Clarksons' back yard and generally just running wild and revelling in the joy of having friends. I am very happy for them. :-)

On our way home that afternoon James told me I ought to take the rest of the day off--that I deserved it. It made me terribly suspicious ("What is it you want me to do tomorrow that I need to be well rested up for?!?!?") and I really had every intention of coming home and doing the ironing... but since my husband actually TOLD me to take the day off I decided it would be best to be submissive. Ha! We didn't home until about 3:00, but I was able to grab a little nap, then I got up and showered and put on some nice, cushy, fleece pj's on by about 5:00. :-) It's actually been cool enough at night to wear them! WA-HOO!!! I spent some time working on the puzzle that I'd gotten out a few days before and just loafed around on the computer for the rest of the night. It was great and I really did feel wiped out and like I had needed the day off, after all. Thanks, James! :-)

Yesterday was more school... a long, grueling day of school for Joe. That kid. He's killin' me. He's got a very light work load right now (I'm waiting until after the Assembly to really get down to business with him again), but he still takes FOREVER to get his school done. He is soooooooo easily distracted. When Brother Keven was here several weeks ago he watched Joe "do school" for a little while and finally just started laughing and saying that the kid must have A.D.D. Ha! He'd probably be all doped up if he was somebody else's kid. I figure he already acts doped up enough! ;-) Joe had already been working for hours yesterday when he got to this page in Maps & Geography where he was supposed to glue the seven continents onto two blank circles--eastern and western hemispheres. He glued what he thought was South America in place, then picked up the next continent and said "Hey... Wait a minute... Is THIS South America???" Sure enough, he had glued Africa down below where North America was to go! I couldn't help but laugh... a lot. Joe was so frustrated and started shaking his book above his head and growling and moaning and growning. "NIA, Mom! Can't this page PLEASE be NIA???" HA! On certain pages that I have felt were too advanced for him I have taken my red pen and written N/A (not applicable) on it and he knows he can skip it. He always thinks it says N I A and calls it "nee-uh," no matter how many times I've tried to explain to him what it stands for. I laughed 'til I cried yesterday over him shaking with frustration and begging and pleading for the page to pleeeeeease be NIA. Ha!

I stayed up wa-a-a-a-a-ay too late last night working on the ironing that's been accumulating over the past two+ weeks. I hate it when I let it become overwhelming like that. Oh, well. I watched the 4th Love Comes Softly movie while I was ironing. I have watched the first 3 over the past couple of months during late night ironing sessions. I know I've seen the next one because I remember Willie dying (DUMB--so not like the books), but I guess we must have just borrowed it when James worked at Mardel because we don't own that one. I looked, but couldn't find anywhere online where I could watch it for free. So I ended up finding The Incredibles and watching it on YouTube instead! Ha! Talk about switching gears... ;-)

Today was a much better school day around here. Joe didn't take 6 hours to do his work, so that helped a lot! Katie LOVES Switched on Schoolhouse and so do I, so far. And I really think Joe will do much better once we start him on it next year, too. I think it will help him focus a lot better than when he's got a book sitting in front of him. The way the work is set up on the computer it's much more interactive and I think it may be easier for him. Or maybe not. You never can tell with Joe!

Our BTI lesson tonight was on the "Signs Following Believers" teaching of the Church. It was another good one. We stood outside of Sister Grimes' house and talked for probably an hour with the Clarksons (!), then grabbed a late dinner at Taco Bell before heading home. I sat down and finished up that 1,000 piece puzzle I started the other day. Actually, as of now it's a 998 piece puzzle. Dopey kids. They will be scouring the floor and under the couch and in the cushions and everywhere else tomorrow, I assure you! James just bought me this puzzle last week. It's just WRONG to have pieces missing!

That's about it, I guess. Be sure to check in next week, same time, same place--there should be a new post by then. ;-)

Oh, here are a few pictures before I go. The first was taken on Saturday night when the boys decided to start their own band. The funky hair... where do kids get such ideas?! Certainly not from any music they hear around THIS house! Ha!


And these were all taken today. Katie caught a praying mantis this morning and kept him throughout the day. She named him Buster and I must say... if there is such a thing as a friendly bug, he was it! He was so curious--would just tilt his head and watch you--and seemed to genuinely like being on Katie's hand. She had a terrible time ever getting him off and putting him back into the box or on the ground. He would turn around and start crawling up onto her hand again real fast, then just sit down contentedly again. Crazy thing. All of the kids had to have their picture taken with him, of course.

No Looking

...at the plethora of pictures at the bottom of this post unless you actually take the time to read through my mindless ramblings. That's the rule of my blog. HA! Yeah, right! ;-)

My memory is all used up. I filled it up years ago with mostly useless information (I still remember movie lines and birthdays from shows I haven’t watched and people I haven’t seen in YEARS) and it appears I hit full capacity some time ago. At this point in time I remember practically nothing. If I intend to vacuum the floor tomorrow, I’d better write it down somewhere because if I don’t I’ll wake up in the morning and wonder what to do with myself. Of course, I’ll never remember where I wrote it down, so it doesn’t much matter.

My terrible memory poses a real problem when I go several days without blogging. I’m lucky if I can recall what I did TODAY, much less the past two or three days. Nonetheless, I’ll try…

Thursday… Hhmmm. I think I spent most of the day cleaning house in anticipation of company that didn’t end up coming after all. That’s okay though—it always feels so good to have the house nice and clean. It sometimes just takes company (or even just the fear of company) to give you that good motivational shove to get it done. :-)

We had BTI service that night. It was a very good lesson on divine healing and tithing. There has been so much craziness said lately about what some people “teach and preach” about divine healing I hesitate to mention that we studied the subject in our local church! Ha! It just happened to be the next lesson in the book. ;-) I was blessed by the lesson, as well as by what I’ve been reading in A.J. Tomlinson. (Proud of me, Sister Galaviz??? I think I’m on chapter 5 now! Ha!) I love what Brother Tomlinson said about the verses in Psalm 102 (I think that’s where it is). I can’t quote it exactly, but says to bless the Lord and to forget not all His benefits; who forgives our iniquities and who heals our deseases. He took that to mean that while we might forget some of God’s benefits, we’d better always remember those two—He saves us from our sins and he heals our bodies. How blessed we are to serve such a God!

Friday. I’m thinkin’… I know that Katie finally finished up her Maps & Geography book and was able to start into her Switched on Schoolhouse. She LOVES it. And she’s driving me NUTS!!! Ha! It’s just sooooo exciting to be on the computer and she feels all grown up. She’s really more interested in playing games, changing her background, and writing in her journal than she is in actually doing school. And she wants to be on the computer—my new laptop, of all things—all the time. I’m not sure this was a good idea after all! Ha! No, it’s fun for her and I think she’s going to do really well with this.

I’ve been meaning to clean out the boys’ closet for a while now and get rid of all the stuff they don’t use, wear, or play with anymore. It’s amazing how quickly things accumulate in there. Well, James brought home a wooden box/bench from the flea market, so I decided that now is the time! I discovered, however, that it couldn’t be done with the boys present. I started sorting into the “donate” and “throw away” piles and Joe was about to die. I found a cardboard tube (from a roll of paper towels, I assume) and tossed it into the “throw away” pile. “Mom!!!! You can’t throw that away—I need it! I’m going to invent something!” Then a crumpled up post-it note. It was a coupon for a soda from his Dad’s soda fountain that he had found in a plastic Easter egg during the hunt this spring. “Mom!!!! You can’t throw that away! I want to keep it to remember the best Easter ever!!!” Ha! I finally told James to TAKE THE CHILDREN somewhere so I could get something done. He loaded them up and took them out for Chinese, which bought me about an hour and half. It was just enough time and when they walked through the door I had one big black trash bag of stuff to donate, another of stuff to throw away, and a nice, clean, well organized closet. It feels soooooo good!

I stayed up last night working on my VLB service for tomorrow night. Felt like I got a pretty good start on it, but still lots to do tonight to finish up on it.

The big news of the day is that the Clarksons are moving into a house!!! Wa-Hoo!!! So Katie did her school this morning (yes, on Saturday!) and the boys kept busy doing boy things while I rearranged three of the cabinets in the kitchen. The Tupperware cabinet has been a disaster for months now and I finally had all I could take. Seems I’m in an organizing mood here lately! So I rearranged where the cups, glasses, Tupperware, baking dishes and kid dishes go. It’ll be a few days before we catch on to the new system, but maybe THIS will work out. For a little while!

James was in town to help the Clarksons with their move, but it seemed the best help was going to be to remove the kids from the scene. ;-) So he loaded ‘em up and brought them here to the house to play with our kids. Not sure how it happened, but right now they’re all outside playing “the first Thanksgiving” and hunting every imaginable animal for dinner. James is on his way back into town to help the Clarksons move everything out of the storage units they just moved into (gotta love that!) and into the house they’ve found. I hope they can get it all done pretty quickly and painlessly. HA. I have never known of moving to be quick or painless. Oh well. At least they don’t have to worry about the kids getting lost, tired, crabby, or trampled on!

Okay, here are some pictures from a few days ago when we had all the kids. This first one was taken at the Tinkertown Museum.

Everybody loved this little guy! All of the horses were sooooo sociable. :-)
These were taken while we were roaming around the National Forest. James took all the kids for a spin...


I'm not sure what they thought they were going to do with this. And yes, I think it was eventually dropped on somebody's foot. Nobody ever listens to the Mom. ;-)
I had to post this picture just for my own memory's sake. You can barely see it because it had happened several days before, but there is a line going across Sam's forehead. See it??? I had noticed it and thought maybe he'd just been wearing a hat that was too tight, but several hours later the mark was still there. The following day when it was still there I finally asked him what he'd done to his head. "Oh. Joe tried to scalp me," he said, nonchalantly. HA! With a rubber knife. It's been nearly a week now and Sam STILL has a line! It's almost gone, but not completely. Who knew we had to put "no scalping each other" on the list of family rules?! Crazy kids!!!
The kids love it when James goes out to play. :-) The girls were supposed to remain attached to each other in order to win this game. Didn't seem very smart to me--I was just waiting for their heads to crack into each other real good and the tears to start flowing! They did fine though and were able to "win" every time. Cainan and Joe lost every time. :-)
James loves bouncing Cainan because he's so compact--just stays in tight, perfect form and flies!
And here are all of the kids around the fire...




Katie looks quite concerned about her marshmallow! Ha!
And the girls with their cookies...
Great lips, Sadie! :-)
HA! Ah, yes. Sister Galaviz cracks me up!!! She has a terrific stuffed animal collection and she had to bring her newest additions, Wall-E and Eve, to church the other night to show the kids. :-)
This is a lizard Sam caught earlier today. Or is it a salamander? It's rather slick instead of scaly (is that spelled right???)... Joe thought maybe it was a newt. Most probably because he thinks it would be cool to have caught something with the name of "newt."
And here are all of our Pilgrims, about to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast. Of course, since this picture was taken the boys have gone through several other costumes and the last time I saw the girls they were all wearing pj's and having a "slumber party." Oh, to be a kid again. I hope they're still enjoying it when they are doing laundry and folding all of the clothes they're burning through today! HA!

That was Dumb...

We just had another fun day with the Clarkson kids and took lots of pictures... then I loaded them onto my laptop and sent it to town with James because he wanted to show the pics to Brother Chris & Sister Shanda. That's cool, but it means I don't have the pictures here so I can post them! AND I'm having to use James laptop instead of my shiny new one. What a gyp. ;-)

I can't imagine how it's already been four days since I blogged. Crazy. Sunday was a good day. Sister Galaviz taught an outstanding lesson on temperance and I felt like I understood the passage from Corinthians (about not eating meats offered to idols so as to not offend a weaker brother, etc.) better then I ever have before. So, so good. Then Brother Chris preached a message about the dire situation Mephibosheth found himself in: crippled by something that happened during his youth, fearful of the king since he was related to the king's enemy who had wanted to destroy the king, etc. Much like they who find themselves crippled by sin and fearful of the judgment of the King--feeling they deserve to die. But King David was merciful and full of compassion and sought not to destroy him, but rather to "save" him. When he heard about Mephibosheth he said, "Where is he?," just as God is searching for helpless, hopeless souls that he can embrace and bring into his household. David said that from now on Mephibosheth would sit at the king's table as one of his own sons, just as God desires to save lost souls--no matter what their condition (billionaire, druggie, businessman, homosexual...)--they are all crippled by sin and in need of deliverance. We need God to give us a heart like David's heart (which was, of course, like God's heart) to love others regardless of their situation in life and reach out to them no matter what.

I felt some convinction, let's say. That's a good thing. :-) Lord, help me!

Sunday night was Sister Bailey's WMB service and it, too, was very good. We're so blessed and I'm so thankful to be a member of this local church! After service we went out with the Clarkson gang to McAllister's. We had a nice visit, then let the kids run through the fountain for a while. They had a blast, but they were completely drenched--not one square inch left dry!--and by the time we left they were all shivering from the cold. Oh, the fun of being a kid!

Monday was a grand and glorious day. We'd been doing lots of praying and fasting for a particular situation and it was coming to a climax that day. So the first part of the day was spent in tears and prayer, pleading with God for a desperate need. And the last part of the day was spent in tears and prayer, thanking God for His miraculous authority and power and mercy and grace and that He loves us soooooo much and that He answers prayers!!! The need was so urgent and He didn't just answer our prayers; He did more than we would have dared to imagine possible! PRAISE GOD!!!! He is sooooo good to His people!!! Makes me glad to be one of 'em. ;-)

The Clarksons are still searching for a house (please pray for God to provide--soon!), so on Monday night we went into town to help them get their things moved into storage so Brother Whoever-He-Is (Gordon-Kelly-Kel-Kal... too many names to keep up with! Ha!) could get on his way. It took 2 or 3 hours, I think, and it was about 10:00 by the time we finished. We were tired, but soooooo thirsty and the kids were starving since they'd had no dinner. We went to Villiage Inn and the kids got some dinner and the adults enjoyed some pie. We had a good time, but didn't make it home until nearly 12:30, I think! I was soooooo tired that I was starting to feel sick so I decided to just go to bed and take a shower in the morning. It was a poor decision. We'd been hot and sweaty earlier helping at the storage place and I just never could get the thought out of my mind that I was DIRTY, so I never could go to sleep! I tossed and turned and dozed a bit here and there and finally gave up and went and took a long, hot bath at 6:00. Felt soooooo much better, but I was still so tired. So I went back to bed from 8:00-9:00! What a crazy way to start the day.

Once I got up... again (!), we had breakfast and devotions, then it was suddenly time to go to horse lessons. (That's what happens when you start the day all crazy like that!) It was a little cooler than last week, so that was nice. Came home and worked on laundry a bit. I made some apple pork chops and they turned out well. Nice and juicy. But still... pork chops are kind of like syrup. You can try all of these great, exciting flavors (blackberry, blueberry, huckleberry...) but in the end there's just nothing that can beat plain ole' maple. That's how it is with chops--the good, old fashioned, slow-cooked fried pork chops are the best!

I also made some apple dumplings, but my heart really wasn't in it and they didn't turn out nearly as good as the ones I made last fall. That's probably why my heart wasn't in it. I've been doing all sorts of "fall" cooking and baking lately... but it's August! When we get home from the Assembly I'm always ready to hop into fall mode immediately--soups and stews and spicy baked goods of all sorts. But it just doesn't feel right to be doing it right now! Oh well. At least we used up all the apples so they didn't just go bad on us!

Today we did some school and regular things, cleaned the house up a bit and whatnot. Then James went and fetched the Clarkson kids again. He brought them home and everybody just played outside for a while, then we headed to the Tinkertown Museum. Everybody had a blast, even though the biggest excitement was about petting the horses in the corral out front! When we left there we headed to the National Forest to let the kids romp and play. We hiked up a trail a bit and the kids all climbed to the top of a very steep hill--and insisted they heard a bear up there. :-) We had a good time, but it started to rain so we loaded up and came back home.

James grilled hot dogs and burgers for dinner, then the boys collected rocks for a fire rectangle (Joe can't make a circle--ha!) so we could toast marshmallows. From what I can tell, I'm the only one really interested in properly toasting them so they'll be delicious. Everybody else just likes catching them on fire and blowing them out, dropping them into the fire and watching them swell and ooze, or just making torches out of their sticks. Ha! No matter--everybody had fun and that was the point.

The girls and Sam helped me make sugar cookies after that. That was fun, too, of course. They all headed outside to play while I was working on dishes and I had already had to go out once to remind everybody to not be so loud. "We live in the mountains, but we do have neighbors and they don't want to hear a bunch of kids screaming at the top of their lungs..." And so on. I hadn't been in the house 60 seconds when the whole lot of them started screaming bloody murder outside, worse than before! I put on my best Mom face and tromped out the door, opened my mouth... and saw James on the trampoline with all six kids, bouncing them all to kingdom-come and having more fun than the rest of 'em put together! Ha! So you can guess who got the scolding for the noise. ;-)

By the time I got the kitchen cleaned up again it was time for devotions, so we called all the kids inside (the big one, too!) and we got everybody calmed down enough to proceed. I looked at Naomi and Sadie and had to laugh. What must their parents think when they get their kids back after a day with the Hornes??? Those girls were FILTHY, head to toe! Ha! Anyway, after devotions James headed into town to return the Clarkson kids to their rightful owners. My kids are all SOUND asleep now and I'm needing to get off the computer and do some proof reading. Hhmmm. Wonder if I will... ;-)

Friday, Friday, Friday

What in the world did we do on Friday??? It was just yesterday--I should remember!!! ~sigh~

Today has been a good, productive day. Got all of the carpets and rugs vacuumed and all of the tile and wood wet-swiffered. Oh--our bathroom! I know I gave our bathroom the big scrub job yesterday (Friday, that is), so that's something. :-)

We have decided to try Switched on Schoolhouse for Katie this year; something that I think I may have declared I'd never do. 'At'll teach ya' to go declaring things. ;-) I've never liked the idea of my kids sitting in front of a screen for hours at a time to do school. I much prefer real books, you know? But in our search for more "in depth" curriculum for Kate & Joe I always find myself totally overwhelmed by the different options--all of which aver themselves to be the absolute BEST thing for your child. I realize that every family is different and home-life varies drastically from one to the next, so some schooling styles work great for some folks and not at all for others. I think Stacey Clark is an incredible home school mom. I stand astonished and amazed ;-) at everything she does with her kids. She's a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of person and if something strikes her she's going to load up her brood that minute and rush off to the pasture or the garden center or the fabric store and immediately dive into a whole bunch of hands on projects that will teach whatever it is that popped into her head. I am soooooooooo not like that. If I'm going to plant a seed with my kids, I need a week to mentally prepare. HA! Okay, so maybe it's not that bad... but almost! Anyway, I've heard rave reviews about SoS from folks who have used it and I LOVE the idea that most of the brain work is done for me. I don't have to worry with lesson plans and all that--the whole year is plotted out and I get to set up the calendar around the days that we're travelling or taking a "field trip" or just loafing. :-) Well... I'll be able to do that once I get things figured out! I installed the programs onto the computer today and spent 2 or 3 hours fiddling around trying to figure out what I'm doing. It's all so overwhelming! My favorite thing so far is that it is so neat and organized. No books laying around the house, no scribbled up schedules and such, and--best of all--no crinkled paper! I've always had a thing about crinkled paper, right, Tammy? Ha! I'm a little intimidated by the whole thing still, but I'm sure it will get better as time goes on and I become more familiar with everything. That's what Emilee tells me, anyway. ;-)

So setting up Katie's school took up a good chunk of my day today. All for something she's not ready to start yet! She's got about 20 pages to go in her Maps & Geography book before we're going to let her start her "computer school," as she calls it. She'll continue on with her current spelling book until she completes it (along with the SoS) and I intend to have her do some handwriting sheets each day--maybe a little extra now that she will be writing so much less!

I also got my desk all cleaned out today. Cleaned out and cleaned off, that is. I love having a desk of my own, but I often wish I didn't. I so rarely actually USE a desk and 98% of the time it serves as nothing but a catch-all! But it looks great right now. We'll see how long it lasts. :-)

I have a confession to make. I started reading A.J. Tomlinson, by Lillie Duggar. I'm so ashamed! Not that I'm reading it... but that I'm reading it for the first time. ~gasp!~ I'm not sure my husband even knows that. He will surely be appalled. (Are you still glad you married me, James, or having second thoughts suddenly???) What's worse, I may have made the same confession on my blog 2 or 3 years ago! ~sigh~ I've started reading that book multiple times, but never have gotten very far into it. I can't figure out why--it's soooooo interesting! I read the first chapter last night and was so blessed again, just like all of the other times I've read that chapter! Ha! The deepest I've ever gone is about 75 pages in, I think. I love to read, so the hundreds and hundreds of pages shouldn't seem daunting to me... Who knows what my problem is--I just know I'm trying again. And now that I've got my very own little corner in our bedroom with a nice reading chair and a lamp maybe I'll be able to stick with it at least until page 100. Ha! I really do intend to follow all the way through this time. But I can't imagine ever starting that book any of the other times with any intention other than that, so... only time will tell!

I'm looking forward to church tomorrow! James and I are having differing reactions to our new pastor. James, after being the one up front for so long, is finding it hard to look at Brother Chris when he preaches for some reason! It's really strange to be sitting down with somebody else up there, you know? And he thinks it's because our last pastor (before James started pastoring again) would preach "at" you--stare at one person and never look away for a minute or more before switching to a new person. Ha! Used to intimidate me when it was my turn to be preached to, but I came to love it after a while. That particular pastor deeply loves his people and everything he says truly comes "from the heart." :-) Anyway, I think James is scared to look at Brother Chris for fear of being stared down or something! Ha! I, on the other hand, am suddenly getting so much out of our services! Ha! I know that must sound terrible (!!!), but I think it just has something to do with the new voice. I hear James' voice all the time, especially since he's not working a secular job and is home so much right now, and sometimes in church I have to really, really concentrate to make myself "get" what he's saying. Like how parents tune their kids out without knowing it and suddenly realize they've said "Mom" 87 times, you know?! (I have that issue, too, I'm afraid!) So now that we've got a new pastor with a new voice and a totally different "style" than James I'm finding it so easy to pay attention and really "get" what's going on, you know? Besides, other than Brother Sam for a couple of years in Texas, in all of my lifetime I've only ever had my Dad or my husband for a pastor. So there's something kind of exciting about a new pastor! I remember feeling the same way when Brother Sam came. It's just kind of cool! Not that I don't adore my Dad and my husband, of course... It's hard to explain! I'm just loving it. :-)

TOWN! That's what we did yesterday, we went to town. :-) We took Grandmother's mantle clock to a repair shop. It hasn't worked for years now, but the waiting period in Texas was a year and a half and we just never got around to having it done. I'm soooooo excited to think of it actually working again! I love to hear the chimes. It's just so homey and holds so many great memories. I remember listening to the clock chime at Grandmother's house every 15 minutes all night long on Christmas Eve--several years. And hearing it tick the hours away while working with Grandmother staining and sanding Granddad's wood in the living room. :-) And this clock has such a beautiful sound. I usually find noisy clocks to be irritating because they sound cheap and tinny, but this one has such good, rich tones. Just 8 weeks from now it should be sitting back on the mantle (also Grandmother's), keeping time and making musical memories for my kids all over again. Makes me very, very happy! :-) Now, if I could just find the key for it... :-S (Which "safe" place might I have put it that I haven't thought of yet???)

I Did it Again

Where does the time go??? It's been several days since I blogged. How does that happen?!

Tuesday is lost forever. Can't remember a thing about it. Yesterday was a GREAT day! The Clarksons are still in hot pursuit of a house (I think Brother Chris landed a job today--with Handyman Connection, Brother Dustin. Wa-Hoo! Praise the Lord for answering THAT prayer!) and James and I happen to know how hard it is on parents AND kids to spend all day looking at houses, especially day after day. So we made arrangements to go pick up Cainan, Naomi and Sadie yesterday morning. We headed to the zoo with 6 little people and had a BLAST! It really was a lot of fun. One of the first stops was the duck pond, James' favorite part of the zoo. The kids always have so much fun feeding the ducks, geese, and humongous fish.

All of the kids had fun, but I think Cainan may have had the most fun of all! Ha! He was so excited at EVERY exhibit.
The zoo has several young'uns right now, including this baby zebra...
And these two adorable giraffes! I always love the giraffes. :-)
After about an hour at the zoo we hopped on the train that takes you over to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium. I always love the kid section of the gardens 'cuz it makes for such great pictures. :-)
Here are all of the kids climbing through a giant log. My picture of everybody inside the monstrous pumpkin didn't turn out. My batteries were getting weak and most of the pictures I took yesterday are a little blurry and some didn't turn out at all. Including the pumpkin. Oh well!
Here are Joe and Cainan atop a big potato just beyond the carrot patch.
And here are the girly-girls
And all six kid-o's! It really was so much fun having them all together. I must confess I was a wee bit nervous about how the day would go just because they all get SO EXCITED when they're together. But it was perfect! Everybody was soooooooooooo good and just had so much fun together, but listened well and never got "too" excited. :-) I think James and I had as much fun as the kids did!
Here's everybody checking out the jellyfish at the aquarium.
Most of my aquarium pictures didn't turn out either. Too dark in there and the flash wasn't doing the trick either.

We rode the train back to the zoo and finished our tour there. Can you believe the size of that joey still hanging out in his mom's pouch?! It's like the college kid that came home and is bummin' off his folks again! HA! I can't believe she doesn't just kick him out--she looks SO uncomfortable!

And I think these guys need marriage counseling. Ha!
It was a HOT day--probably close to 100 degrees. This polar bear was just hangin' out, dangling one leg in the water to stay cool, I guess!
Can't you tell that Sadie was having a BLAST!!! Ha! That girl cracks me up. This was at the end of a long, hot day at the zoo and lots and lots of walking. We were all wiped out. Still... cool tortoise, hu?!
We lost our map of the zoo while still at the duck pond (first stop!), so we never did make it to see everything. We missed out on the koalas and the kookaburra and the fruit doves, and probably some others we just didn't realize. Oh well. It was a good, full day and we had plenty of fun.

When we left the zoo we headed to McDonalds for Happy Meals and to let the kids burn off some more steam in the play area. We had to pick up a few things at another stop, then came on home. We sat the crowd down and let them watch the new Veggie Tales that James had brought home the night before. That was a big hit. Then the kids jumped on the trampoline and ran all over the mountain for a few hours. We busted out a few cans of ravioli for dinner and James ended up taking the Clarkson kids back "home" to their folks sometime after 9:00, I think. It was a great day! And so much more fun for the kids than if they'd had to sit around and wait while their Dad was in a 4 hour job interview!

Today I woke up and found James in the kitchen making french toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage for breakfast. What a guy! When I got the kitchen cleaned up he informed me that we needed to make an apple pie. So he sat down and started peeling and slicing apples. We have a whole bunch of fruit right now--more than we can eat before it spoils--so I started looking up recipes for nectarines, too. Seems like most of the time people mix nectarines with other fruit like peaches or blueberries. We just happened to have a few small peaches that the Banueloses had sent home with us from Hatch, so along with the apple pie I made a nectarine/peach/pear crisp. (Had a pear sitting there, so we thought we'd throw it in, too!)

The pie was an average apple pie. It turned out way too pretty, for starters. Anything that looks that "perfect" can't be all that grand. The really great pies are the ones that have stuff oozing out of the them everywhere, you know?! Ha! It's not bad, just your average apple pie. The crisp, however, is delicious!!! It was so very, very good and a big hit with the kids. :-)

I managed a tiny little nap today and it felt so good. There is just nothing like cuddling up under and cushy throw on a rainy day when you're really, really tired and catching a few z's, expecially with the sound of the rain plinking on the skylight up above you. Aaahhhhhh. Love that. :-)

We had a good Home Missions Bible study tonight and were excited to have a visitor join us from the neighborhood. :-) Afterward we went out to Wendy's with the Clarkson clan and had a nice visit. Have I mentioned yet how HAPPY I am to have them here??? I think I realize it a little more every time I see them! It's SO GREAT to have kids for our kids to play with -- they get along so well and my kids are sooooooooooo excited to have FRIENDS here. And even for James and me--it's just so great to have some young people around! We have wonderful church folks here, of course, but they're all older and most have family situations that don't really allow for "hanging out" like we like to do, you know?! Of course, Sister Galaviz is old, but truly young at heart and we LOVE spending time with her (I had to throw that "old" thing in there since I know you're reading this, Sister G.! Ha!), but we haven't even had a chance to spend time with her since a few weeks before Camp because things have been so crazy. Anyway, I have loved having the Clarksons here and the few times we've been able to be with them. It's just like old times, except with two extra kids! Ha! It's been six years since we lived near them and that's before Sam and Sadie came along. I'm anxious for them to get settled (though not so anxious as they, I'm sure!) and everything to calm down a bit, then we'll have to have them up for dinner. We've already had great talks, edifying discussions, and some good laughs--and I look forward to many, many more. :-) And I've already been so blessed by my new pastor. I've always appreciated Brother Chris' honesty and sincerity. He truly feels what he is sharing and I love that openness. I'm just so excited to see how God is going to use them to minister to this church here. ~sigh~ I'M SO HAPPY! :-)