Catchin' Up... Again

Story of my life, right?

And I don't have any blog notes to go by this time. Scary.

But I do have a few pictures. That helps. :-)

Every day the boys try to rush through school so they can head outside. We had a few red letter days around here last week. The spent one afternoon catching scorpions (yes, you read that right--YOU try talking sense into them) in bottles, and then were thrilled to capture this nasty little worm snake. Sam thought he was terrific.

They named him Squirmy and kept him in a cardboard box with dirt and leaves all day long. They spent most of the day giving him elevator rides from the balcony down to the ground. Here's Sam hoisting him back up.




The following day was much better. Joe caught two frogs that were mating, he assumes. He was sure to put them back right away in hopes of soon having a goldfish pond full of tadpoles.

And Sam found a turtle. It is SO COOL living at the Powell's house. :-)

The turtle found a home in the cardboard box for about three days until we had to leave town. Then Sam released him, making sure he hid him in the woods where Brady wouldn't find him. He was terrified that Brady would eat him. But even though Brady is a threat to the other pets, he is much loved and greatly enjoyed by the kids. And the Mom. :-)




He is SUCH a good dog. Though he does sneak into the house on occasion when we're all entering. He usually just flops over on his back and begs for a belly rub for a minute or two before obediently heading back outside when told to.

We had Ladies' Prayer Meeting last Thursday (though we did more visiting this time than praying--shame on us! Ha!) and James and the boys were there, as always. But this time Katie Farr came with Sister Ridlespurge and we went and picked up Madison. James kept all of the kids in the back, the boys playing with their $4 mini- air hockey table and the girls all doing crafts for the Mission table with James' assistance. I love it that James is heading up the Dorkette Club (you know, like a Dorcus Club for little girls--great name, hu?! Ha!)--and the kids are doing a great job raising money for Missions. And having lots of fun.

We stopped by Wal-Mart on our way home so I could get busy making some goodies for Easter dinner. I'm sure you remember our horrific Chef-Boyardee Easter dinner (ha!)... Well, Mom was in Africa and didn't have a proper Easter dinner either so we decided we would have to get together to have one. Dad was preaching a Revival in Anniston this past weekend and our family was going over to join them for Friday and Saturday night, so that got us all together. = Easter dinner. :-) When we got home from Wal-Mart I threw together a fantastical mandarin orange jell-o salad sort of thingie.

The next morning I got up and made some Almond Raspberry Kiss Cookies. I had clipped the recipe from a magazine and wanted to give it a try. WOW. I have a new favorite cookie! They were sooooo good--and the purtiest little cookies I've ever made, with raspberry icing drizzled over the top where a Hershey's Almond Kiss was sitting. Mmmmmm. Could win a blue ribbon somewhere. :-)

We got all packed up and headed to Anniston. We got there in time to haul our stuff in to Sister Bishop's house and get changed before service. We had a good song service, then a great message by Dad on the 23rd Psalm, followed by a wonderful altar service. The Ridlespurges and the Hopkins had come over for the service as well, along with some folks from the Lebanon church... and maybe some others. (I'm still sifting through and trying to figure out who belongs where!) It was such a blessing to have them there!

I can't remember much about that night, but I'm sure we had a great time. We were at Sister Bishop's house, you know. :-)

The next day was beautiful. The kids spent lots of time with Sister Bishop, as she is one of their most favorite people in the whole world. :-) Joe spent most all of his time with her, helping water and fertilize her trees and flowers. She is such an amazing woman. So knowledgeable and informative. I can't figure out of she makes me smart or if she makes me feel like an idiot. HA!

Sam found a dog to play with...
While Katie was coloring Easter eggs, Mom was working on Easter dinner, and Dad was fixing a lamp.
I didn't get any pictures of the Easter egg hunt (yes, we really did), but it was lots of fun. Not nearly as fun as the kids had with Sister Bishop though, just hanging out on the swing.
And here we are--having Easter dinner several weeks late. It was sooooo good. Ham, potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, hot rolls with strawberry jam, pea salad, orange jell-o, sweet potatoes, broccoli and cheese (okay, so not ALL of it was good--ha!), and Easter eggs. Then my almond cookies and Mom's key lime pie for dessert. Mmmmmmmm. :-)
By the time we got dinner cleaned up it was time to start getting ready for church again. We had another good service with a wonderful spirit from the get-go. Dad didn't even really preach, just sort of exhorted and opened the altar. I felt distracted to begin with but the Lord was so gracious as to help me to enter in to the spirit that was working there. I felt such a spirit of gratefulness for the pure pleasure of being able to seek the Lord. I love the contact that we have with God and how our relationship with Him is real and alive and always growing. I love how He has plans for us that we can't even imagine and how blessed we are to be able to get down and pray and pour our hearts out to Him, never expecting what He might have in store for us "this time."

After service we cut into the watermelon that Sister Bishop had insisted on buying. After Easter dinner that afternoon she loaded all three kids into her car and disappeared for a while, returning with a GIANT watermelon. It's not that we needed it. We had tons of food already. But they had to buy a watermelon so they'd be able to have a seed spitting contest that night after church. Ha! Shooting. Sister Bishop insists you don't "spit" the seeds, you "shoot" them. Either way, it was great fun to watch.

We stayed up late visiting that night, then finally went to bed--a real bed this time. HA! Ah, yes!!! How could I have forgotten this?! The first night we were there the bed collapsed! If that doesn't say "diet time," what does?! Ha! James just sat on the edge of the bed and the whole sha-bang gave way. Sister Bishop heard the commotion and came running, but Mom & Dad (in the room right next to us) managed to sleep right through it. Amazing. We just put the mattress on the floor for that night and James got busy on the bed the next morning, fixing it up properly. It's obviously had some issues before, judging by the 28 nails he pulled out (!) but he was able to get some good screws put into place so it should hold just fine for a great many years. Or at least we hope so. :-)

We got up early on Sunday morning, enjoyed a great breakfast that Sister Bishop insisted on making--even though we'd told her we'd just eat watermelon and left-over jell-o and lime pie. ;-) We enjoyed the tasty home cooked breakfast, then loaded up and headed to Lebanon. That was GREAT. :-) The drive was nice and we loved the area where the church is located. The last several miles were just beautiful. Then you turn onto a rough dirt road and wonder if you're going to need a four wheel drive to continue on. Ha! We've got a little church tucked way back into the woods, sitting in a nice little clearing. I loved it. :-) We had a good service there and enjoyed meeting some more new people. There were a few visitors that day and we were surprised to hear later on that they were from a snake handling church nearby! HA! THAT'S something we never would have run into out west, for sure! They were very kind, holiness believing people, and they seemed to enjoy the service. Maybe they'll be back. And give up their snakes. ;-)

After service the Cooks took us out to a very popular (judging by the crowd) Mexican joint called Don Chico. James had "the best shrimp quesadilla I've ever had" and I had a really great chimichanga. And we had good fellowship. :-) The Cooks seem to be really sweet people and we thoroughly enjoyed being with them.

From there we drove around a bit, gassed up, went into an antique store, found the church in Collinsville (only about 12 miles away from the one in Lebanon--I know all of the westerners reading this are thinking, "WHAT?!" Ha! True story through!)... then drove on a mile or two and found a cemetery to park in so we could take a little nap before service time. It was a beautiful, cool day and we found the cemetery a quiet peaceful place, if a little unusual for a nap location. ;-)

It was nice to meet the folks in Collinsville that night. I was surprised to learn that the pastor and wife were so young! Like, our age! I don't know why, but I'd somehow expected that they would be much older like all of the other pastors--except the Booths. I know I'd been told differently, but it just didn't click until I met them. He and his wife seem very nice. Out west we had almost exclusively young ministers and pastors. It's sort of flipped around here. I'm loving all of the old people, but it's exciting to find some young ones in there too. :-)

After service we drove home and got here at about 10:00--earlier than we usually do when we go to church in Bessemer! Of course, we lost Sam on the way. He NEVER makes it home awake.

Monday we went and picked up the very lonely puppy that we had boarded over the weekend (I hate doing that!!!) and the ingredients I would need to make corn chowder--since it was CHILLY! Wa-Hoo!!! Came home, did some school, then headed back out to go to the library. Made the chowder that afternoon and it was sooooo good for dinner that night!

Yesterday we got the news about our offer being accepted. That was a good way to start the day. :-) I had felt disappointed when Monday came and went, but still not convinced that it wouldn't work out--still thinking that perhaps they would contact us after all. Lo and behold, they already had contacted us--we just didn't know it yet. ~sigh~ I'm so excited and so thankful to have found a house with such potential, with such a nice lot, and so very close to the church. And so CHEAP. God has truly blessed us. :-)

The Washburns had told us that they wanted to take us out to celebrate whenever we put a contract on a house, so we headed up to Hoover to meet them for dinner last night. :-) They took us to a fantastic Mexican restaurant with great ambiance and very tasty salsa. We loved it and had a great time visiting with them. After dinner we walked next door to the Mexican market where Brother Washburn bought a couple of mando doughnuts for the kids. They were HUGE. "They've got food as big as your head!" Then we went back to their house for Blue Bell and some more visiting. What a great night!!! We loved it! And I loved the thought that we'll be able to do that sort of thing much more often whenever we end up actually moving into our new house. We'll be 10 minutes from PEOPLE. Makes me very happy just to think about it. :-)

Today we got school done early so we could leave at about 1:30. We met Laura and James signed all of the paperwork, so now we wait for "them" to sign the papers. Then we get the home inspection and apply for the loan.

After we met with Laura we decided to do some more celebrating. We went to Krispy Kreme and ate hot, fresh doughnuts and drank chocolate milk. Can't get much better than that. :-) Then we took the kids to 2nd & Charles (the used book store that they love so dearly) and the Christian book store. Then James was hungry for--of all things--the really greasy pizza they serve at Sam's Club. Ha! So we went there for dinner. I gotta say, it is cheap. Fed all five of us for less than $10. Not bad. The price, anyway. The food on the other hand... Ha! No, I don't mind it--I just like to give James a hard time.

Tonight was Brother Carpenter's CPMA service. He's a sweet man and has a good spirit. :-) We visited for quite a while after service, then started home only to realize that we had Sister Hopkins' orange sodas with us. (She loves the old fashioned orange sodas in glass bottles, so we like to get them as part of their "pounding.") We headed back to the church to deliver them... and ended up staying and visiting with the Hopkins and Sister Kristal for a good while longer! I so enjoyed it though. We delivered our good AND got to hang out. Good deal. :-)

~whew~ That gets us back up to date. Tomorrow will be a busy day. The house is a wreck and we've got COMPANY coming for dinner! (Oh, happy day!) Lots to be done, so I'd best call it a night.