...long enough to say what we've been up to. :-)
Last Sunday was full of church, more house hunting, and church again. No luck with the houses, but we weren't surprised at that. Just doesn't seem to be anything out there right now. Maybe after State Convention. Or the Assembly. Or Ministers' Convention, Ladies' Retreat, or Youth Retreat. That should usher us right into Thanksgiving and Christmas, after which it is TIME to vacate our current residence. So sometime between now and then, we're trusting that we'll find the right place to land. For now, we feel peaceful and settled. ~Aaaaaahhhh~ That's a good feeling. :-)
Monday morning we got up, cleaned house, packed, hopped in the van, and headed for Cleveland--just because we could. :-) By "we" I mean the kids and myself. We got to Mom and Dad's house an hour or two before they got home from their latest trip, so we just moved right in and got busy setting up the puzzle table. That's why we'd gone. Just to "do nothing" with Mom and Dad for a day or two. In the end, we managed 3 puzzles--one 1,000 piece-er and 2 750 piece-ers. Well, almost. There were only about 50 pieces left on the last puzzle when I had to leave. It was killing me to leave it unfinished, but I had to hit the road if I was going to make it home in time for church.
Anyway, we just lazed around and worked puzzles and watched girl movies and a Greater Vision/Legacy 5 concert video--stuff like that. We stayed up until 2:00 something Monday night, then closer to 1:00 Tuesday. Mom fixed us a fantastic elk steak dinner, making us all very happy. Even though she forgot the potatoes. ;-) She also whipped out a skirt for Katie before we left on Wednesday morning. Amazing. I'll have to take a picture of this skirt--I think it's super cute. Joe's not very happy about donating a pair of jeans to the project, but we didn't have time to shop for any at a thrift store this time. Joe IS happy that he was able to get some fishing in at Granddad's pond. I think he caught 10 fish in the day and a half we were there.
We tried to go to Steak 'N Shake for lunch, but they were too busy. ~sigh~ Two trips to Cleveland in a row with no Frisco Melt. That's just wrong. I'll have to make up for it next time and order two of 'em. ;-) We ended up at Cici's Pizza for lunch instead. Then we sent the kids to Headquarters with Dad (scary) while Mom and I stopped by the store in search of some deals. I didn't find any, but Mom did.
It was nice dropping in at HQ and being able to see everybody. I love doing that. :-) I worry about the kids bouncing from office to office, obstructing any productivity that might have otherwise been accomplished (!), so I try to keep the visits there relatively short.
We headed out, gassed up, and hit the road. Mom was kind enough to call and talk to me for a little while to help keep me awake. (She knew how little sleep I'd had!) We got to the church at 5:30. James met us there and I got busy ironing the buntings for Convention. We had CPMA service, then several of the folks stayed around to help us get things all set up. It makes James so happy to have things set up. And days ahead of time!
We were in separate vehicles that night, but we both ended up in the same traffic jam on the way home. There were cops and fire trucks and lights everywhere, but we couldn't see what was going on--and there was no indication of anybody getting through any time soon. So we both turned around and tried to find another route. I had Sean with me, but he never could find a signal so we were pretty much on our own. That would usually scare me (the very thought of being lost and unable to find our way home at 11:30 at night when I'm soooooo tired and desperate for bed was utterly miserable!), but there's so much "civilization" around here. There are roads all over the place, going every which direction, so it wasn't difficult at all to turn back north, find a little highway that took us east for just a mile or so before running into another highway that took us straight home. For once I was truly thankful for all of the crazy roads that are all over the place down here. :-)
Today has been spent in an effort to accomplish something. I'm not sure I succeeded in any way! I can't recall a single thing that got FINISHED. We did several different things, I'm just not sure we actually got done with any of them. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.
Of course, tomorrow is when State Convention starts! I'm excited, but it feels really weird. Weird to not be packing, for one. I'm used to packing to go stay at a motel during Convention. More than that, I'm used to packing and preparing for a week of Camp at the same time because they were always back-to-back. Maybe that's why things feel so weird this time--because it's just Convention instead of Camp, too. ??? Anyway, we're looking forward to a great Convention and trusting God to help us there.
And there you have it. The update. I'll try to take at least one picture at Convention, but no promises. ;-)
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Strike Two!
I can't decide whether to go with "Three Strikes and You're Out" or "Third Time's a Charm." ;-)
House #2 went to another bidder, so that seems to be the end of that. I think I had more disappointment over losing the first house and James is having more disappointment over losing this one. He (we) just loved the idea of finding a house priced so low, but that would still meet all of our needs, and it's very unlikely that we'll find anything else in that price range. Unlikely, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible with God, right? :-)
It's funny... The plan I had conceived in my mind was that we would move into the Powell's house and start looking for super-duper cheap houses. If we found something in the super cheap hunk-o-junk category, we would buy it and continue to live in the Powell's house while we fixed it up. If we couldn't find something like that in the first few months, we'd have to broaden our scope and consider houses that were priced a little higher, then a little higher and a little higher as the months went on until we reached our "limit." We would have to up our price and buy SOMETHING at some point. After all, the Powells will come and want their home back at some point ;-) and we'll have to have somewhere else to go! :-) But strangely, as time goes on, we seem to keep looking at cheaper and cheaper houses instead of upping our price as we go along! Ha! When you find houses way cheap, it becomes incredibly difficult to think of paying lots and lots more for something comparable. When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, we're still praying for the right house in the right location at the right price--and I've begun to add in, "at the right time." There are a couple of places we may drive by and take a look at tomorrow, but we don't have real high hopes for either of them. It doesn't appear as if there is anything on the market right now that we're really interested in. I feel so blessed by this last house we put an offer in on though. If nothing else, it was a wonderful reminder that when it seems we've exhausted all of the possibilities out there, God can open up a brand new listing that meets the important criteria: a safe place for the kids to roam while they're growing up, at least a degree of privacy, and something relatively close to the church that will allow us to have people over for fellowship and band meetings or whatnot. Just when we were sure we'd seen it all and knew there was nothing in close proximity to the church, this place 7 miles away hit the market. God doesn't have to remind us that He's able to do things like that, but I sure appreciate it when He does. :-)
What else has been going on around here... Hhmmm. Not a lot. We've actually done a couple of puzzles this week--that's been GREAT. :-) The laundry and ironing are completely caught up (first time since Camp--what a relief to conquer that!), the upstairs bathroom and floors were all cleaned yesterday as well as the stairs, and I made 5 batches of jam this afternoon--that should be enough to last us until next spring unless I give it all away like last time. ;-) In other news...
I spent quite a while earlier picking hundreds of ticks off of Katie. Yup, you read that right. I didn't actually count, but I'm pretty sure there were hundreds of them, little itty-bitty tiny things, about the size of the end of a pin. ~BLEAGH!~ I remember Sister Kristal telling us how Dalton was covered in tiny little ticks one time when he was younger and they had to pick them all off. I'm sure these have to be the same thing. I was hoping that perhaps they could just be washed off, but no such luck. They had to be tweezed off just like that big guys to ensure that they came off completely. It sooooo grosses me out!!! I had let the kids go down to the creek for a little while and none of them used any Off! this time. THAT won't be happening again. I'm not real crazy about using stuff like that, but I'm to the point that I'd rather drench my kids in chemicals and hope for the best instead of dealing with all of the nasty little critters around here! ~Bleagh~ Soooooo gross.
So Katie's big news of the night is ticks. Poor kid. As for Joe, he has been nigh unto perfect for two or three days now. We've been struggling with attitude issues with him for some time. Nothing huge, just pesty little things--most of all when he's asked to do something. Even if he doesn't verbally complain about it, he has this PITIFUL look that he does just to let you know how truly miserable he is. It drives me nuts!!! We've been trying to get him worked through it with all the usual methods, but nothing seemed to be helping. Then a few days ago I asked him to come take care of the dishes. He put on his very biggest and best pitiful face--almost tears and all--and asked what he had done wrong. Aaaaauuuggghhhh!!! You know you've got real problems when a kid thinks that a normal every day household chore is PUNISHMENT. I went away for a few minutes to pray and ask God for wisdom... before I hurt the child. Ha! I then sat down and had a talk with Joe about work being a part of life (we've had this talk before) and about his attitude problems and all that stuff. I reminded him that the Bible says that if we don't WORK, neither should we eat. That's how serious GOD is about us doing the things we're supposed to do--that's HIS rule, not mine. I love that. :-) Anyway, I then gave Joe a short article about good work ethic and the joy found through working hard, as well as a story about a lazy person who refused to work and how things turned out for him. Joe was then to write one full page on the subject of WORK, however he wanted to approach the subject--things from our talk, from the story he read, his own thoughts, whatever. There was no indication that anything was getting through to Joe at all while I was talking to him, but he wrote a very humble and sincere page about work being a good thing and the different ways that his attitude has been wrong and how he needs to improve. I was pleased with what he wrote, but didn't have very high expectations for immediate changes in his behavior. I totally misjudged him there. He has been AMAZING since that time. Every... single... time... I have called his name and given him an instruction--large or small--he has jumped up and said, "Yes, Ma'am" and gotten right to it. I've never seen anything like it! And it didn't last for an hour and then fade away; it's been going on for two or three days now. Even when he has to clean the kitchen (which is his duty exclusively for the next week due to the little incident about doing dishes the other day--the thing that spawned all of these events) he just smiles, gives me a "Yes, Ma'am" and whistles his way into the kitchen. ~sigh~ I'm sooooo thankful!!! I pray every single day for wisdom to raise the kids right, reminding God that He (who giveth to all men liberally) said if any of us lack wisdom we were to ask for it in faith. I ask every day, but very seldom see any wisdom actually kicking in. HA! And I pray a lot that God will help me to be the EXAMPLE of what I'm trying so hard to train my kids to be. "More is caught, than is taught" and I came to the devastating realization some time ago that when my children display bad attitudes, they most likely learned them from me--the one who they spend all of their time with. I can't have my own bad attitudes, then try to discipline them out of my children! Anyway, I don't know if it was the talk that helped Joe out, the reading that I gave to him, making him articulate his own thoughts on the matter, or simply God doing something in his heart that had nothing to do with any of the above. I just know that there has been a definite change in that kid and I'm astounded at how he seems to have instantaneously dropped the deeply ingrained "pouty and pitiful" habit and traded it in for cheerful and willing obedience. Oh, that I could bottle this!!! And pour it down the throats of my other two children. HA! Just kidding. Katie is already very, very good about doing as she's told without complaint. And Sam usually is. Unless he's in the middle of a project of some kind--he has a terrible time laying aside his own plans to accommodate somebody else's plans. ;-)
Okay, more random pictures before I go.
James has been keeping Sam busy pulling weeds again. These are CRAZY weeds here. They're sissy weeds (sooooo easy to pull--NOTHING like the weeds out west!) but I fear the Powells will have huge gaping holes all over their yard if Sam keeps pulling 'em! There's more dirt and root than there is weed!
Ha! Joe insisted that he have a picture of this. I think the caption he wanted was something like, "Joe Horne bagged this fly on July 12, 2011" or something like that. Along with his trophy fly is his weapon of choice. This new hobby has been keeping him happily occupied for days now. He even had the nerve to ask me if he could leave the door open for a while so some flies could come in--he couldn't find any more to hunt.
And then... ~sigh~ What am I supposed to say about this??? Like it's not embarrassing enough to be a poodle... to have to be a BOY poodle... then to have to be a boy poodle that's the exact size to fit into doll clothes... then to be such a poodle who has a little girl around who REALIZES you're that size... ~sigh~ Poor Charlie. Still, I have to admit that I laughed heartily. And obviously took pictures.
And last, but certainly not least, it's Katie and Katie! We saw at Camp that Katie F. had the same blue shirt that Katie H. has. My Katie got dressed for church on Wednesday and jabbered all afternoon about how she hoped Katie F. would wear her blue shirt, too... And amazingly she did, making for two very happy--and very cute--Katies. :-)
House #2 went to another bidder, so that seems to be the end of that. I think I had more disappointment over losing the first house and James is having more disappointment over losing this one. He (we) just loved the idea of finding a house priced so low, but that would still meet all of our needs, and it's very unlikely that we'll find anything else in that price range. Unlikely, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible with God, right? :-)
It's funny... The plan I had conceived in my mind was that we would move into the Powell's house and start looking for super-duper cheap houses. If we found something in the super cheap hunk-o-junk category, we would buy it and continue to live in the Powell's house while we fixed it up. If we couldn't find something like that in the first few months, we'd have to broaden our scope and consider houses that were priced a little higher, then a little higher and a little higher as the months went on until we reached our "limit." We would have to up our price and buy SOMETHING at some point. After all, the Powells will come and want their home back at some point ;-) and we'll have to have somewhere else to go! :-) But strangely, as time goes on, we seem to keep looking at cheaper and cheaper houses instead of upping our price as we go along! Ha! When you find houses way cheap, it becomes incredibly difficult to think of paying lots and lots more for something comparable. When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, we're still praying for the right house in the right location at the right price--and I've begun to add in, "at the right time." There are a couple of places we may drive by and take a look at tomorrow, but we don't have real high hopes for either of them. It doesn't appear as if there is anything on the market right now that we're really interested in. I feel so blessed by this last house we put an offer in on though. If nothing else, it was a wonderful reminder that when it seems we've exhausted all of the possibilities out there, God can open up a brand new listing that meets the important criteria: a safe place for the kids to roam while they're growing up, at least a degree of privacy, and something relatively close to the church that will allow us to have people over for fellowship and band meetings or whatnot. Just when we were sure we'd seen it all and knew there was nothing in close proximity to the church, this place 7 miles away hit the market. God doesn't have to remind us that He's able to do things like that, but I sure appreciate it when He does. :-)
What else has been going on around here... Hhmmm. Not a lot. We've actually done a couple of puzzles this week--that's been GREAT. :-) The laundry and ironing are completely caught up (first time since Camp--what a relief to conquer that!), the upstairs bathroom and floors were all cleaned yesterday as well as the stairs, and I made 5 batches of jam this afternoon--that should be enough to last us until next spring unless I give it all away like last time. ;-) In other news...
I spent quite a while earlier picking hundreds of ticks off of Katie. Yup, you read that right. I didn't actually count, but I'm pretty sure there were hundreds of them, little itty-bitty tiny things, about the size of the end of a pin. ~BLEAGH!~ I remember Sister Kristal telling us how Dalton was covered in tiny little ticks one time when he was younger and they had to pick them all off. I'm sure these have to be the same thing. I was hoping that perhaps they could just be washed off, but no such luck. They had to be tweezed off just like that big guys to ensure that they came off completely. It sooooo grosses me out!!! I had let the kids go down to the creek for a little while and none of them used any Off! this time. THAT won't be happening again. I'm not real crazy about using stuff like that, but I'm to the point that I'd rather drench my kids in chemicals and hope for the best instead of dealing with all of the nasty little critters around here! ~Bleagh~ Soooooo gross.
So Katie's big news of the night is ticks. Poor kid. As for Joe, he has been nigh unto perfect for two or three days now. We've been struggling with attitude issues with him for some time. Nothing huge, just pesty little things--most of all when he's asked to do something. Even if he doesn't verbally complain about it, he has this PITIFUL look that he does just to let you know how truly miserable he is. It drives me nuts!!! We've been trying to get him worked through it with all the usual methods, but nothing seemed to be helping. Then a few days ago I asked him to come take care of the dishes. He put on his very biggest and best pitiful face--almost tears and all--and asked what he had done wrong. Aaaaauuuggghhhh!!! You know you've got real problems when a kid thinks that a normal every day household chore is PUNISHMENT. I went away for a few minutes to pray and ask God for wisdom... before I hurt the child. Ha! I then sat down and had a talk with Joe about work being a part of life (we've had this talk before) and about his attitude problems and all that stuff. I reminded him that the Bible says that if we don't WORK, neither should we eat. That's how serious GOD is about us doing the things we're supposed to do--that's HIS rule, not mine. I love that. :-) Anyway, I then gave Joe a short article about good work ethic and the joy found through working hard, as well as a story about a lazy person who refused to work and how things turned out for him. Joe was then to write one full page on the subject of WORK, however he wanted to approach the subject--things from our talk, from the story he read, his own thoughts, whatever. There was no indication that anything was getting through to Joe at all while I was talking to him, but he wrote a very humble and sincere page about work being a good thing and the different ways that his attitude has been wrong and how he needs to improve. I was pleased with what he wrote, but didn't have very high expectations for immediate changes in his behavior. I totally misjudged him there. He has been AMAZING since that time. Every... single... time... I have called his name and given him an instruction--large or small--he has jumped up and said, "Yes, Ma'am" and gotten right to it. I've never seen anything like it! And it didn't last for an hour and then fade away; it's been going on for two or three days now. Even when he has to clean the kitchen (which is his duty exclusively for the next week due to the little incident about doing dishes the other day--the thing that spawned all of these events) he just smiles, gives me a "Yes, Ma'am" and whistles his way into the kitchen. ~sigh~ I'm sooooo thankful!!! I pray every single day for wisdom to raise the kids right, reminding God that He (who giveth to all men liberally) said if any of us lack wisdom we were to ask for it in faith. I ask every day, but very seldom see any wisdom actually kicking in. HA! And I pray a lot that God will help me to be the EXAMPLE of what I'm trying so hard to train my kids to be. "More is caught, than is taught" and I came to the devastating realization some time ago that when my children display bad attitudes, they most likely learned them from me--the one who they spend all of their time with. I can't have my own bad attitudes, then try to discipline them out of my children! Anyway, I don't know if it was the talk that helped Joe out, the reading that I gave to him, making him articulate his own thoughts on the matter, or simply God doing something in his heart that had nothing to do with any of the above. I just know that there has been a definite change in that kid and I'm astounded at how he seems to have instantaneously dropped the deeply ingrained "pouty and pitiful" habit and traded it in for cheerful and willing obedience. Oh, that I could bottle this!!! And pour it down the throats of my other two children. HA! Just kidding. Katie is already very, very good about doing as she's told without complaint. And Sam usually is. Unless he's in the middle of a project of some kind--he has a terrible time laying aside his own plans to accommodate somebody else's plans. ;-)
Okay, more random pictures before I go.
James has been keeping Sam busy pulling weeds again. These are CRAZY weeds here. They're sissy weeds (sooooo easy to pull--NOTHING like the weeds out west!) but I fear the Powells will have huge gaping holes all over their yard if Sam keeps pulling 'em! There's more dirt and root than there is weed!
Ha! Joe insisted that he have a picture of this. I think the caption he wanted was something like, "Joe Horne bagged this fly on July 12, 2011" or something like that. Along with his trophy fly is his weapon of choice. This new hobby has been keeping him happily occupied for days now. He even had the nerve to ask me if he could leave the door open for a while so some flies could come in--he couldn't find any more to hunt.
And then... ~sigh~ What am I supposed to say about this??? Like it's not embarrassing enough to be a poodle... to have to be a BOY poodle... then to have to be a boy poodle that's the exact size to fit into doll clothes... then to be such a poodle who has a little girl around who REALIZES you're that size... ~sigh~ Poor Charlie. Still, I have to admit that I laughed heartily. And obviously took pictures.
And last, but certainly not least, it's Katie and Katie! We saw at Camp that Katie F. had the same blue shirt that Katie H. has. My Katie got dressed for church on Wednesday and jabbered all afternoon about how she hoped Katie F. would wear her blue shirt, too... And amazingly she did, making for two very happy--and very cute--Katies. :-)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sam's Snakes
Time just keeps whizzin' on by, doesn't it? Things are good here, though I can't think of much to blog about. Had a nice Sunday with good church and good fellowship... had a busy, laundry filled Monday and a nice, home cooked meal that night... have done lots of proof reading and other odds and ends for James this week... had another pizza party last night because James was out of town until late... stayed up and got about half of the ironing done... And that's about it. Haven't heard anything about the house we made an offer on. It's really not on my mind very much, but when it does come to mind I stop and pray for God to work His will in the situation. Should He decide to give us this house at this price, we would be beyond ecstatic. And should He decide not to, we might be relieved. HA! We really don't care--we just want whatever God has planned for us, be it this or something else.
There is something that I failed to blog about several week ago that I really ought to have recorded somewhere. I can't imagine there's any possibility that we'll ever forget all of Sam's antics, but it still seems right to document them. :-)
When we were at Mom & Dad's house for BTI, Sam and Isaac were out on the paddle boat together when they spotted a snake coming up out of the water and onto the little dock. They paddled toward the dock and Sam saw that the colors and markings on the snake were similar to the copperhead we had killed at the Powell's house just a week or two before. He jumped out of the boat and onto the dock, the snake bit his pant leg, Sam stomped on the snake and held it still (with his foot just behind the snake's head) and hollered for Isaac to run and get the knife. So Isaac jumped out of the boat (that, of course, was not tied up--thus propelling it out into the pond unoccupied as a result of Sam's instruction) and ran to the other side of the pond where the knife was sitting on the table. The "knife" happened to be a utility knife. You know, where it's almost entirely handle with only an inch or so of blade sticking out. THIS is what Sam used to stab the snake through the back of its head. This all happened in rapid succession and by the time the adults heard of the commotion and began gathering around it was all over. Joe had come running inside yelling that Sam had killed a copperhead--something that sent all of us rushing to the scene. I saw the boat drifting solo across the pond and was envisioning somebody (me???) having to get into the nasty water to retrieve it, but that was the least of my worries. My son had been trifling with a copperhead??? We got to the deck and saw that the snake was certainly dead, a hole directly through it's head and another in its side. It did indeed have markings very similar to a copperhead, but the shape and dimensions of its body were completely different. We all stood staring at it for a minute, stunned, then looked to up to see Sam on the other side of the pond with a ginormous tree branch. He had followed the boat over to the bank it was closest to, slapped the branch down on top of it, drug it to the shore, jumped in, and paddled it back to the dock where all of the adults were still standing dumbfounded. No, that's not true. My Dad was not dumbfounded. He was too busy scolding me for my failure to train my kids to stay away from snakes to be dumbfounded. HA! I just stared at him for a minute before finally answering. "Okay, Dad--YOU train Sam to stay away from snakes. And GOOD LUCK to you!" Ha! As it turns out, it was just a harmless water snake, but it was maddening to ALL of us that Sam had THOUGHT it was a copperhead by its markings, but had jumped out of the boat to investigate anyway, the snake bit his pants--could have bitten him--he stomped on the snake, then killed it with a one inch blade--all while thinking it was a venomous snake! ~sigh~ That kid. And while we're standing over the dead snake trying to sort out the story, he's already solved the boat dilemma and is rowing back to shore. That kid is a definite "fix it" guy. If something arises he's going to have it completely under control--good or bad--by the time anybody else even knows there is a problem.
So I have this horrible conflict going on inside of me. The things I was saying out loud were: "Sam!!!!!! You thought it was a copperhead and if it would have been, you could have been bitten by a... ven...o...mous...sna-a-a-a-ake! What were you thinking???" And the things I was thinking on the inside but not saying aloud were: "Wow, he is the coolest kid ever!!! I can't believe how he just handled the whole thing without ever freaking out or showing the least bit of alarm--just took charge and dealt with it, and here we are, dead snake and rescued boat, all by my 7 year old son." I was so proud! Ha! And upset, of course. I hate it when I have conflicting emotions like that! Dad's emotions didn't seem to be dual, however. ;-) And of course, it had nothing to do with anything that SAM had done wrong, just ME and my failure to teach him to stay away from snakes. Ha! ~sigh~ What can you do? ;-) He was struggling with the, "What if it would have been a copperhead" thing.
We had some serious snake talks with that boy.
But then...
A week or two later, back at the Powell's house, I had let the boys go down to the creek to fish. Just before they left the house, we had the usual snake talk: "What do you do if you see a snake???" "We get away from it quick and come straight to you, Mom--we know." Riiiiiight. They had only been gone a few minutes when Joe first checked in on the walkie-talkie. "Mom, I had a bite on my very first cast--and caught a fish on my second!" Then again a couple of minutes later, "They're biting like CRAZY, Mom! I've caught four fish already!" They were having the time of their lives. I love that. :-) They'd been gone less than an hour when the walkie-talkie beckoned again. There was still excitement in Joe's voice, but it was a totally different kind of excitement. He told me with trembling voice that they'd run into a water moccasin. Joe had gotten his lure stuck in a bush on the other side of the creek, so they crossed to retrieve it. While over there, they saw a snake a few feet away. In a flash reaction, Sam grabbed a stick and slammed it down on the snake's neck, pinning it to the ground. It then turned and opened its "cotton mouth" toward them. That scared the boys (even Sam, thank goodness) and they dropped their sticks and ran. They grabbed their gear and called me on the walkie-talking while they were trying to climb the hill back to the house on rubbery legs. I was so mad at Sam!!! If he were a few years older I wouldn't mind his attempts to subdue all things snakely around him, when he has a little more wisdom and common sense. But the thought of my 7 year old tangling with poisonous snakes just doesn't set well with me! One day he will be wonderful to have around and I know we'll feel safer because of his abilities and intuitions. For now, he causes lots and lots of extra prayers and gray hairs. ;-) To his credit, he did seem to be genuinely shaken by this experience and seemed truly ashamed that he hadn't just run away to begin with instead of going after the snake with a stick. I'm hoping that means that perhaps next time he'll run away first, but I'm thankful that there have been no further encounters since that time for us to find out if Sam has really learned anything or not. I'd be perfectly okay if it stayed that way. :-)
There is something that I failed to blog about several week ago that I really ought to have recorded somewhere. I can't imagine there's any possibility that we'll ever forget all of Sam's antics, but it still seems right to document them. :-)
When we were at Mom & Dad's house for BTI, Sam and Isaac were out on the paddle boat together when they spotted a snake coming up out of the water and onto the little dock. They paddled toward the dock and Sam saw that the colors and markings on the snake were similar to the copperhead we had killed at the Powell's house just a week or two before. He jumped out of the boat and onto the dock, the snake bit his pant leg, Sam stomped on the snake and held it still (with his foot just behind the snake's head) and hollered for Isaac to run and get the knife. So Isaac jumped out of the boat (that, of course, was not tied up--thus propelling it out into the pond unoccupied as a result of Sam's instruction) and ran to the other side of the pond where the knife was sitting on the table. The "knife" happened to be a utility knife. You know, where it's almost entirely handle with only an inch or so of blade sticking out. THIS is what Sam used to stab the snake through the back of its head. This all happened in rapid succession and by the time the adults heard of the commotion and began gathering around it was all over. Joe had come running inside yelling that Sam had killed a copperhead--something that sent all of us rushing to the scene. I saw the boat drifting solo across the pond and was envisioning somebody (me???) having to get into the nasty water to retrieve it, but that was the least of my worries. My son had been trifling with a copperhead??? We got to the deck and saw that the snake was certainly dead, a hole directly through it's head and another in its side. It did indeed have markings very similar to a copperhead, but the shape and dimensions of its body were completely different. We all stood staring at it for a minute, stunned, then looked to up to see Sam on the other side of the pond with a ginormous tree branch. He had followed the boat over to the bank it was closest to, slapped the branch down on top of it, drug it to the shore, jumped in, and paddled it back to the dock where all of the adults were still standing dumbfounded. No, that's not true. My Dad was not dumbfounded. He was too busy scolding me for my failure to train my kids to stay away from snakes to be dumbfounded. HA! I just stared at him for a minute before finally answering. "Okay, Dad--YOU train Sam to stay away from snakes. And GOOD LUCK to you!" Ha! As it turns out, it was just a harmless water snake, but it was maddening to ALL of us that Sam had THOUGHT it was a copperhead by its markings, but had jumped out of the boat to investigate anyway, the snake bit his pants--could have bitten him--he stomped on the snake, then killed it with a one inch blade--all while thinking it was a venomous snake! ~sigh~ That kid. And while we're standing over the dead snake trying to sort out the story, he's already solved the boat dilemma and is rowing back to shore. That kid is a definite "fix it" guy. If something arises he's going to have it completely under control--good or bad--by the time anybody else even knows there is a problem.
So I have this horrible conflict going on inside of me. The things I was saying out loud were: "Sam!!!!!! You thought it was a copperhead and if it would have been, you could have been bitten by a... ven...o...mous...sna-a-a-a-ake! What were you thinking???" And the things I was thinking on the inside but not saying aloud were: "Wow, he is the coolest kid ever!!! I can't believe how he just handled the whole thing without ever freaking out or showing the least bit of alarm--just took charge and dealt with it, and here we are, dead snake and rescued boat, all by my 7 year old son." I was so proud! Ha! And upset, of course. I hate it when I have conflicting emotions like that! Dad's emotions didn't seem to be dual, however. ;-) And of course, it had nothing to do with anything that SAM had done wrong, just ME and my failure to teach him to stay away from snakes. Ha! ~sigh~ What can you do? ;-) He was struggling with the, "What if it would have been a copperhead" thing.
We had some serious snake talks with that boy.
But then...
A week or two later, back at the Powell's house, I had let the boys go down to the creek to fish. Just before they left the house, we had the usual snake talk: "What do you do if you see a snake???" "We get away from it quick and come straight to you, Mom--we know." Riiiiiight. They had only been gone a few minutes when Joe first checked in on the walkie-talkie. "Mom, I had a bite on my very first cast--and caught a fish on my second!" Then again a couple of minutes later, "They're biting like CRAZY, Mom! I've caught four fish already!" They were having the time of their lives. I love that. :-) They'd been gone less than an hour when the walkie-talkie beckoned again. There was still excitement in Joe's voice, but it was a totally different kind of excitement. He told me with trembling voice that they'd run into a water moccasin. Joe had gotten his lure stuck in a bush on the other side of the creek, so they crossed to retrieve it. While over there, they saw a snake a few feet away. In a flash reaction, Sam grabbed a stick and slammed it down on the snake's neck, pinning it to the ground. It then turned and opened its "cotton mouth" toward them. That scared the boys (even Sam, thank goodness) and they dropped their sticks and ran. They grabbed their gear and called me on the walkie-talking while they were trying to climb the hill back to the house on rubbery legs. I was so mad at Sam!!! If he were a few years older I wouldn't mind his attempts to subdue all things snakely around him, when he has a little more wisdom and common sense. But the thought of my 7 year old tangling with poisonous snakes just doesn't set well with me! One day he will be wonderful to have around and I know we'll feel safer because of his abilities and intuitions. For now, he causes lots and lots of extra prayers and gray hairs. ;-) To his credit, he did seem to be genuinely shaken by this experience and seemed truly ashamed that he hadn't just run away to begin with instead of going after the snake with a stick. I'm hoping that means that perhaps next time he'll run away first, but I'm thankful that there have been no further encounters since that time for us to find out if Sam has really learned anything or not. I'd be perfectly okay if it stayed that way. :-)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Saturday Already???
One thing is for sure. Time FLIES when you're not blogging. You look down and *wham-o!* it's been days.
It's been a nice week around here since getting home from Camp on Sunday. I think I was unpacked by Wednesday. Ha! Got all the laundry done, but have been fighting with myself (but only in my head--I never have taken any action) to get the ironing down. "Maybe tonight" is my most used and abused phrase this week. I have, however, managed to cook a few decent meals--something that seems to be a nice accomplishment for me since we've been in Alabama! Brother Hart had brought us some pork a couple of weeks ago and I finally had a chance to cook up some of the chops this week. Yum. :-) The bacon and spicy sausage that we'd already tried was all great, too. I made homemade "KFC bowls" (rice, little bits of fried chicken, corn, gravy, and cheese all piled up) one night--and even managed a blueberry pie with the berries the kids and I had picked last month. It was sooooo good. Actually, I don't know how good it is alone, but when it's warm and had Blue Bell Southern Blackberry Cobbler ice cream on top--it's deeeeeeeee-larapin. :-)
On Thursday James drove past a new house on the market. Did I mention on here that things fell through with the Shades Creek house. It's back on the market again, listed $2,000 less than it was before. We had considered putting another offer in on it and seeing if we could get it to go through this time, but we always felt a little "hitch" about doing it. We'd prayed so much about that house, the price, the whole sha-bang, asking God for HIS will. If He wanted us to have that house, He could have worked it out the first time... and we're scared of pulling a Balaam and going back to ask again if He's already given us an answer, you know?! Ha! We've never felt a definite "don't do it" about placing another offer, but we don't currently feel freedom to pursue it. So we wait and pray and consider the other options.
Enter: House #2. Or is it House #50??? Ha! This journey began nearly a year ago for us. We found out in early August of last year that we'd be moving and we began looking for houses way back then. Crazy. It occurred to me the other day... maybe God hasn't opened the doors for us because we might be moving again this year! ~GASP!~ Surely not!!! We've barely just begun and feel like we're just now starting to get settled in with all the folks here--AND WE LOVE THEM! We are so not ready to leave! As far as we're concerned we'll be around at least long enough to finish raising our children in the state of Alabama... unless God pulls a quick one on us! Ha! You'd think I would have connections and an inside track on such possibilities. Not hardly. ;-) I really don't think that's what's going to happen, but it was a disturbing thought anyway!
Back to the house again. James drove past a house that I had found for super-duper cheap the night before. The first assumption is that something must be horribly wrong with it. Maybe there is, but it was cheap enough that it would be wrong not to at least drive by and take a look! He was actually pretty impressed with it. The house ITSELF (I'll explain that in a minute) looks very, very nice from the outside and the setting is great--2 acres, 7 miles from the church, only two neighbors in view (across the street) and lots and lots of woods all around you.
So we made arrangements with Laura and went to see it Thursday night. The house isn't torn up... but it's TRASHED. There are piles and piles and piles of STUFF all through it--personal belongings: papers, pictures, trash, toys, clothes--you name it. Outside there are HEAPS of more stuff, including furniture. The is another Fanny Mae property (yippie...), but it's still strange that somebody would have left so much of their STUFF behind. Especially the pictures! Pictures of dads with little girls and even some old wedding pictures scattered around on the floor. There are bank statements and signature cards all over the floor in one bedroom. It's just weird. BUT... if you can look past all the JUNK, the house is actually quite nice. Well, it has potential to be quite nice anyway. We're not crazy about the floor plan, but we can make it work. For the land, the setting, the distance to the church, and most of all the PRICE (it's listed $40,000 less than the other house--and that one was a steal!) we can definitely make it work!
So begins the drama once more. We put in our offer, then we get the same ole' call saying there are "multiple offers" on this property so put in your highest price (two houses in a row? Could it be they just say that every time in hopes of getting you to up your offer?!)... blah, blah, blah. I'm tired of the run-around. We put in our offer, now we wait and see. I can honestly say that we don't care whether we get this house or not. In fact, sometimes we're not even sure that we want it! Ha! I know it can be a nice place, but it lacks the "openness" that I like. But in the big scheme of things, we're realizing more and more that IT'S JUST A HOUSE--it doesn't really matter. We just want to be where God wants us to be, when He wants us to be there. I feel sort of dead to it all. That's a good thing, right??? I haven't even really thought much about it since we put the offer in yesterday. I'm guessing we'll hear something next week.
Today James is gone. All day! When's the last time that happened?! He's at Committee meetings up in Moulton and won't be back until late. Feels like the kids and I should make a party of it since it's been so long since we had a "free day" without Dad, so that's pretty much what we've done. :-) I spent about 30 minutes this morning finishing up the puzzle that's been sitting out on the little table for a few weeks. Then I realized that we were low on some basic necessities this morning... milk, juice, Totinos, Fritos, chili--you know, important stuff like that. :-) So I left Kate and Joe at the house for a few minutes and took Sam to the store with me. James had taken the van, so we drove Brother Powell's truck. WOW. That thing has got some serious VA-ROOM to it!!! Makes you feel all big and tough and like you ought to drive over a tree or up the side of a mountain or something. (Don't worry, Sister Powell--I didn't.) I also noticed that the gas gauge was reading below "E" so we stopped to fuel up a little bit just to be sure we would make it back home.
We had Frito Pie for lunch. Yum. We got the kitchen cleaned up, bathed the smelly dog, then gave Sam the responsibility of playing with the super-hyper-post-bath poodle while Katie and Joe and I played Scattergories for a while. Then I played Sorry! Spin with Sam. Kate and Joe are playing chess right now while Sam takes his shower. Soon it will be time to throw the pizzas in the oven. Then we'll probably finish off that blueberry pie and fantastical ice cream. ~aaaaahhhh~ What a great day. :-)
I found a whole host of random pictures to post. None of Camp just yet, but they are beginning to appear on Facebook, so maybe next time I'll nab some of them and put them up. Until then...
The Lego boys...
Here's Brady the day he got his haircut. Charlie wasn't sure what to think of him! Ha!
Poor Brady. He's sooooooo cute when he's got all that shaggy hair, but it's just way, way, way too hot for him to be able to keep it this time of year! He needed shaved and I know he FEELS better... And though I think he's still cute, he doesn't seem to agree. I took several pictures of him that night and he looks embarrassed in every one of them! Ha!
Joe had gone upstairs to read a book on afternoon and never came back down. This is how I found him an hour or two later. How does he sleep like that?!
Ha! This isn't exactly a "keeper" of a picture except that it will always remind me of my boys... Joe, who is terrified of fireworks (still, at age 9)--even, or maybe especially--the sparklers. This, of course, was taken on the 4th of July when we set off just a few very small fireworks--mostly smoke bombs and stuff like that. You can't really see Joe, but he's under that burgundy hat behind the rock over there. ;-) And Sam. That kid has some serious OCD tendencies! He must pull his socks up a hundred times a day--no lie. He is CONSTANTLY tugging them up because he can't handle it when they start to sag!
Here is the house we put an offer on yesterday. It has a two car garage and unfinished basement area underneath it... but I had to crop it out so you couldn't see all of the trash and junk piled up outside! Ha! Some people (like our children) just can't see past all that stuff and would think we're NUTS for putting an offer on such a pig sty. But if you JUST look at the HOUSE... it's nice. :-)
Sam was SOOOOO excited the other night because his toad find. "Look, Mom! It's a mom and a dad and a baby! It's a whole family!!! I found them all in the same hole--they're a FAMILY!!!"
And Joe is thrilled that it appears to be baby lizard season around here. He's found and caught dozens of these little itty-bitty guys. (He doesn't shoot them, in case you're wondering--he was out shooting something else, I'm sure!)
Sam and Charlie have a uniquely tender relationship. HA! Not exactly. (You have to zoom in on their faces to truly appreciate it.)
And here's the little skink that Sam caught today and BEGGED for permission to take a picture of. He was all of an inch and a half long. Maybe. I love his tail. :-)
And here's a picture that Tayde took of Katie and me at BTI. I don't have very many pictures of the two of us, so I love it. :-)
It's been a nice week around here since getting home from Camp on Sunday. I think I was unpacked by Wednesday. Ha! Got all the laundry done, but have been fighting with myself (but only in my head--I never have taken any action) to get the ironing down. "Maybe tonight" is my most used and abused phrase this week. I have, however, managed to cook a few decent meals--something that seems to be a nice accomplishment for me since we've been in Alabama! Brother Hart had brought us some pork a couple of weeks ago and I finally had a chance to cook up some of the chops this week. Yum. :-) The bacon and spicy sausage that we'd already tried was all great, too. I made homemade "KFC bowls" (rice, little bits of fried chicken, corn, gravy, and cheese all piled up) one night--and even managed a blueberry pie with the berries the kids and I had picked last month. It was sooooo good. Actually, I don't know how good it is alone, but when it's warm and had Blue Bell Southern Blackberry Cobbler ice cream on top--it's deeeeeeeee-larapin. :-)
On Thursday James drove past a new house on the market. Did I mention on here that things fell through with the Shades Creek house. It's back on the market again, listed $2,000 less than it was before. We had considered putting another offer in on it and seeing if we could get it to go through this time, but we always felt a little "hitch" about doing it. We'd prayed so much about that house, the price, the whole sha-bang, asking God for HIS will. If He wanted us to have that house, He could have worked it out the first time... and we're scared of pulling a Balaam and going back to ask again if He's already given us an answer, you know?! Ha! We've never felt a definite "don't do it" about placing another offer, but we don't currently feel freedom to pursue it. So we wait and pray and consider the other options.
Enter: House #2. Or is it House #50??? Ha! This journey began nearly a year ago for us. We found out in early August of last year that we'd be moving and we began looking for houses way back then. Crazy. It occurred to me the other day... maybe God hasn't opened the doors for us because we might be moving again this year! ~GASP!~ Surely not!!! We've barely just begun and feel like we're just now starting to get settled in with all the folks here--AND WE LOVE THEM! We are so not ready to leave! As far as we're concerned we'll be around at least long enough to finish raising our children in the state of Alabama... unless God pulls a quick one on us! Ha! You'd think I would have connections and an inside track on such possibilities. Not hardly. ;-) I really don't think that's what's going to happen, but it was a disturbing thought anyway!
Back to the house again. James drove past a house that I had found for super-duper cheap the night before. The first assumption is that something must be horribly wrong with it. Maybe there is, but it was cheap enough that it would be wrong not to at least drive by and take a look! He was actually pretty impressed with it. The house ITSELF (I'll explain that in a minute) looks very, very nice from the outside and the setting is great--2 acres, 7 miles from the church, only two neighbors in view (across the street) and lots and lots of woods all around you.
So we made arrangements with Laura and went to see it Thursday night. The house isn't torn up... but it's TRASHED. There are piles and piles and piles of STUFF all through it--personal belongings: papers, pictures, trash, toys, clothes--you name it. Outside there are HEAPS of more stuff, including furniture. The is another Fanny Mae property (yippie...), but it's still strange that somebody would have left so much of their STUFF behind. Especially the pictures! Pictures of dads with little girls and even some old wedding pictures scattered around on the floor. There are bank statements and signature cards all over the floor in one bedroom. It's just weird. BUT... if you can look past all the JUNK, the house is actually quite nice. Well, it has potential to be quite nice anyway. We're not crazy about the floor plan, but we can make it work. For the land, the setting, the distance to the church, and most of all the PRICE (it's listed $40,000 less than the other house--and that one was a steal!) we can definitely make it work!
So begins the drama once more. We put in our offer, then we get the same ole' call saying there are "multiple offers" on this property so put in your highest price (two houses in a row? Could it be they just say that every time in hopes of getting you to up your offer?!)... blah, blah, blah. I'm tired of the run-around. We put in our offer, now we wait and see. I can honestly say that we don't care whether we get this house or not. In fact, sometimes we're not even sure that we want it! Ha! I know it can be a nice place, but it lacks the "openness" that I like. But in the big scheme of things, we're realizing more and more that IT'S JUST A HOUSE--it doesn't really matter. We just want to be where God wants us to be, when He wants us to be there. I feel sort of dead to it all. That's a good thing, right??? I haven't even really thought much about it since we put the offer in yesterday. I'm guessing we'll hear something next week.
Today James is gone. All day! When's the last time that happened?! He's at Committee meetings up in Moulton and won't be back until late. Feels like the kids and I should make a party of it since it's been so long since we had a "free day" without Dad, so that's pretty much what we've done. :-) I spent about 30 minutes this morning finishing up the puzzle that's been sitting out on the little table for a few weeks. Then I realized that we were low on some basic necessities this morning... milk, juice, Totinos, Fritos, chili--you know, important stuff like that. :-) So I left Kate and Joe at the house for a few minutes and took Sam to the store with me. James had taken the van, so we drove Brother Powell's truck. WOW. That thing has got some serious VA-ROOM to it!!! Makes you feel all big and tough and like you ought to drive over a tree or up the side of a mountain or something. (Don't worry, Sister Powell--I didn't.) I also noticed that the gas gauge was reading below "E" so we stopped to fuel up a little bit just to be sure we would make it back home.
We had Frito Pie for lunch. Yum. We got the kitchen cleaned up, bathed the smelly dog, then gave Sam the responsibility of playing with the super-hyper-post-bath poodle while Katie and Joe and I played Scattergories for a while. Then I played Sorry! Spin with Sam. Kate and Joe are playing chess right now while Sam takes his shower. Soon it will be time to throw the pizzas in the oven. Then we'll probably finish off that blueberry pie and fantastical ice cream. ~aaaaahhhh~ What a great day. :-)
I found a whole host of random pictures to post. None of Camp just yet, but they are beginning to appear on Facebook, so maybe next time I'll nab some of them and put them up. Until then...
The Lego boys...
Here's Brady the day he got his haircut. Charlie wasn't sure what to think of him! Ha!
Poor Brady. He's sooooooo cute when he's got all that shaggy hair, but it's just way, way, way too hot for him to be able to keep it this time of year! He needed shaved and I know he FEELS better... And though I think he's still cute, he doesn't seem to agree. I took several pictures of him that night and he looks embarrassed in every one of them! Ha!
Joe had gone upstairs to read a book on afternoon and never came back down. This is how I found him an hour or two later. How does he sleep like that?!
Ha! This isn't exactly a "keeper" of a picture except that it will always remind me of my boys... Joe, who is terrified of fireworks (still, at age 9)--even, or maybe especially--the sparklers. This, of course, was taken on the 4th of July when we set off just a few very small fireworks--mostly smoke bombs and stuff like that. You can't really see Joe, but he's under that burgundy hat behind the rock over there. ;-) And Sam. That kid has some serious OCD tendencies! He must pull his socks up a hundred times a day--no lie. He is CONSTANTLY tugging them up because he can't handle it when they start to sag!
Here is the house we put an offer on yesterday. It has a two car garage and unfinished basement area underneath it... but I had to crop it out so you couldn't see all of the trash and junk piled up outside! Ha! Some people (like our children) just can't see past all that stuff and would think we're NUTS for putting an offer on such a pig sty. But if you JUST look at the HOUSE... it's nice. :-)
Sam was SOOOOO excited the other night because his toad find. "Look, Mom! It's a mom and a dad and a baby! It's a whole family!!! I found them all in the same hole--they're a FAMILY!!!"
And Joe is thrilled that it appears to be baby lizard season around here. He's found and caught dozens of these little itty-bitty guys. (He doesn't shoot them, in case you're wondering--he was out shooting something else, I'm sure!)
Sam and Charlie have a uniquely tender relationship. HA! Not exactly. (You have to zoom in on their faces to truly appreciate it.)
And here's the little skink that Sam caught today and BEGGED for permission to take a picture of. He was all of an inch and a half long. Maybe. I love his tail. :-)
And here's a picture that Tayde took of Katie and me at BTI. I don't have very many pictures of the two of us, so I love it. :-)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Where to Start???
There's just NO good place to start when you're this far behind! But if I don't blog something it'll just keep on getting worse, right? It seems like I should start with Camp, then maybe catch the other stuff here and there if I ever get time. Okay, truthfully, I have no idea what "the other stuff" is--I can't remember much about the past month because it's been pretty well consumed in Camp preparations! I did LOTS of praying and trying to prepare myself for The Great Unknown, otherwise referred to as Alabama Family Camp.
I think I mentioned that I was the cabin leader for the 15-19 year old girls. I had feared that there would be 10 or 12 of them, all perfect heathens that I wouldn't have a clue what to do with! Ha! As it turns out there were only 5 girls, one of each age: Ashley Werkheiser (15 -- I'm sooooo glad she was there! It gave me one girl I already knew, along with other reasons it was wonderful to have her there!), Savannah (16), Brandi (17), Emily (18), and Stephanie (19). I must confess that the first day was horribly uncomfortable--simply because I have a terrible time finding my niche in "new" situations. But by the time we hit mid-day on Thursday it's like something just sort of clicked, either with the girls or with me, and it was smooth sailing from then on out. I felt totally and completely comfortable with them, had a great time with them, got more and more at ease with getting on to them when necessary (ha!), and ended up LOVING this teen cabin leader job. :-) It was a blast and a blessing! Our cabin devotions went very well. I think. ;-) I talked to them about modesty one day and dating another day. I could really feel the Lord helping me with the right things to say and--however the girls end up responding to it all--their eyes were glued to me the whole time. Those are topics of interest to young people--they want to hear about them. Those are topics that we have a lot of "rules" about, but often times young people are never taught WHY the rules are there. I know that there have been things taught and preached in this state about these things in the past few years, so it's not like it was the first time these girls had heard it. But they acted like it! Ha! Maybe it was the intimate "just the six of us" cabin setting or something, but they were right with me. One girl went and changed clothes (without being told--yeah!!!) right after our modesty devotion, then came and thanked me and asked me for a copy of the devotion later on. Another girl came to me the next day and told me how the dating devotion had really gotten to her and that God was dealing with her. :-) God is sooooo good. I remember making all of those choices and decisions as a teenager in these specific areas. It's tough to do at the time, but I'm so, so, sooooo thankful that God placed people in my life to teach me and train me in the ways of righteousness instead of just slapping a list of rules in front of me without explaining any of them. In the end, I feel soooooooooooo blessed to have been given the opportunity to share some of the things God worked in my heart about with other girls who seemed so hungry for it. God is moving in His Church and I just felt so unworthy, but grateful, to be able to be a part of what He's doing!
And then one day we hauled a bed frame, nine mattresses, and the pillows and such that went to them down from a second story room, loaded them into the truck of a willing accomplice, hauled them to the middle of the campground and stacked them up, leaving them for the rightful owners (and everybody else) to discover on their way back to the cabins after lunch. :-) I could tell my girls were getting "pranky" and wanting to do something big and I didn't want them doing something I didn't know about. I wanted to be sure that whatever they did was fun, but harmless (not damaging personal or campground property), was away from the boys' dorms, wasn't embarrassing for anyone--you know, all the rules of a good, clean prank. So I HAD to help them, right?! ;-) I've got to say that I was a little worried when it was first discovered. Lots of people laughed and thought it was great, but there were some people who were disturbingly quiet. It's THEN that I thought, "Uh-oh... I hope nobody gets offended by this!!!" I'm one of those people who thinks of things after. I know there are some people who may not feel like it's "respectable" to be involved in "nonsense" and I just felt sick over it, wondering if there was anybody like that at this camp and if it would reflect on their feelings toward my husband and his ministry. I walked over to the "quiet" side of the crowd and tried to save it. "If I get kicked out of Camp on my very first year, please don't hold it against my husband--he didn't know anything about this and had nothing to do with it!" About that time James came walking down the hill holding up both thumbs, saying, "This is great! That's the best prank I've ever seen!" HA! Okay, I tried--he's on his own now!!! ;-) I did lots of checking around and, unless they're not coming clean with me (ha!), the quiet folks were mostly quiet because they were wondering what everybody else was thinking and ended up laughing over it later on. So far I haven't found anybody who was offended or thought it was out of line, so I'm hoping that everybody took it as the good, clean fun it was intended to be. So at this point, I'm pleased that we were able to pull it off--it was fun (though exhausting and HOT!) and the girls will have great memories of it--and everybody else seems to be okay with it. We had several compliments on how great it was, but they would mean nothing at all if I discovered that just one person was upset over it--that would kill me! But from what I can tell, we're all good. Even some of the quiet folks came around later and talked about what they "used" to do at Camp and how fun it was. :-)
Anyway, I had lots of FUN with the girls, as well as everybody else. The classes were good, the clubs were fun (though Sam wasn't very happy about having to be in Cake Decorating Club--it was the only one available for his age other than choir, which entails standing in front of people and singing: no way!), the services were great, the sermons were really good (if a little long--ha!--James was the evangelist), the Fun Time was fantastic--everything was just so, so good. It sounds like they really faced some struggles at Camp last year and everybody was so relieved to have such a good, trouble-free Camp this year--especially me! Ha! God was merciful to let us slide in on an easy year. ;-) Oh, and they have a TERRIFIC campground here!!! I was a little overwhelmed by the price ($110 no matter your age--that would make it tough for a lot of families!) and had intentions of looking around to see if perhaps there was a cheaper campground somewhere that would work for Camp. Huh-uh, not now! Ha! The facilities are amazing and meet every need you could possibly have at Camp. And they have--hands down--the BEST swimming pool I've ever been in. :-) It's been years (5 years, maybe?!) since we've been able to swim, so the kids and I just ate it up! It was FANTASTIC, especially considering how HOT it was the last two days. Sooooo relieving to be able to get into the pool. :-)
What else? I loved Camp because it gave us a chance to get to know all of the folks better! That's always been my favorite thing about Camp. Something happens when you are LIVING together for a week, eating together, worshipping together, working together, sweating together (ha!), playing together, praying together, laughing together... it just does something to knit your hearts together and brings about a nearness and a unity that just can't be accomplished in a Convention setting. I LOVE IT. :-)
The other great joy of Camp was watching Brother Ridlespurge chase all those little boys all over the campground all week. HA! It was GREAT. He had the 6-10 year old boys and I think there were six of them. He did a great job with them (it's got to be one of the toughest--and amusing--jobs at Camp!) and I was so thankful to know that both of my boys were in his group. They did great and loved every minute of it. Well, as far as I know they did great. They could have been holy terrors, for all I know! This is the first time we've ever been in a setting like this, where we didn't have our children under our own supervision. To be honest, it really freaked me out and we did LOTS and LOTS of praying about it ahead of time! But it worked out great and I was surprised to learn that they were probably more heavily supervised than what they've been before under our own watch in the past. Out west all of the kids sort of run loose during free time with parents checking on them and relaying messages about who's where and what they're up to. Here they were with their group and counsellor pretty much all the time. Watched like hawks. That's the way I like it, I'm just used to being the one doing the watching. I WAS the one doing the watching, but I was watching 5 teenage girls--a brand new and exciting challenge all its own. :-)
~whew~ I started writing this early this morning. Just now finished up--though "finished" is a silly word to use. I'm sure there's lots more camp stuff to share, but I'm sooooo tired and not able to think of any of it. It's way past bedtime now, so I'll call it quits. I must apologize for my complete and utter failure in the picture department. Believe it or not, I didn't take a single shot at Camp. What is wrong with me?! Weird. One of these days I'll snag some pictures off of Facebook to put on here--but there aren't just a whole lot available just yet. Give it time. :-)
I think I mentioned that I was the cabin leader for the 15-19 year old girls. I had feared that there would be 10 or 12 of them, all perfect heathens that I wouldn't have a clue what to do with! Ha! As it turns out there were only 5 girls, one of each age: Ashley Werkheiser (15 -- I'm sooooo glad she was there! It gave me one girl I already knew, along with other reasons it was wonderful to have her there!), Savannah (16), Brandi (17), Emily (18), and Stephanie (19). I must confess that the first day was horribly uncomfortable--simply because I have a terrible time finding my niche in "new" situations. But by the time we hit mid-day on Thursday it's like something just sort of clicked, either with the girls or with me, and it was smooth sailing from then on out. I felt totally and completely comfortable with them, had a great time with them, got more and more at ease with getting on to them when necessary (ha!), and ended up LOVING this teen cabin leader job. :-) It was a blast and a blessing! Our cabin devotions went very well. I think. ;-) I talked to them about modesty one day and dating another day. I could really feel the Lord helping me with the right things to say and--however the girls end up responding to it all--their eyes were glued to me the whole time. Those are topics of interest to young people--they want to hear about them. Those are topics that we have a lot of "rules" about, but often times young people are never taught WHY the rules are there. I know that there have been things taught and preached in this state about these things in the past few years, so it's not like it was the first time these girls had heard it. But they acted like it! Ha! Maybe it was the intimate "just the six of us" cabin setting or something, but they were right with me. One girl went and changed clothes (without being told--yeah!!!) right after our modesty devotion, then came and thanked me and asked me for a copy of the devotion later on. Another girl came to me the next day and told me how the dating devotion had really gotten to her and that God was dealing with her. :-) God is sooooo good. I remember making all of those choices and decisions as a teenager in these specific areas. It's tough to do at the time, but I'm so, so, sooooo thankful that God placed people in my life to teach me and train me in the ways of righteousness instead of just slapping a list of rules in front of me without explaining any of them. In the end, I feel soooooooooooo blessed to have been given the opportunity to share some of the things God worked in my heart about with other girls who seemed so hungry for it. God is moving in His Church and I just felt so unworthy, but grateful, to be able to be a part of what He's doing!
And then one day we hauled a bed frame, nine mattresses, and the pillows and such that went to them down from a second story room, loaded them into the truck of a willing accomplice, hauled them to the middle of the campground and stacked them up, leaving them for the rightful owners (and everybody else) to discover on their way back to the cabins after lunch. :-) I could tell my girls were getting "pranky" and wanting to do something big and I didn't want them doing something I didn't know about. I wanted to be sure that whatever they did was fun, but harmless (not damaging personal or campground property), was away from the boys' dorms, wasn't embarrassing for anyone--you know, all the rules of a good, clean prank. So I HAD to help them, right?! ;-) I've got to say that I was a little worried when it was first discovered. Lots of people laughed and thought it was great, but there were some people who were disturbingly quiet. It's THEN that I thought, "Uh-oh... I hope nobody gets offended by this!!!" I'm one of those people who thinks of things after. I know there are some people who may not feel like it's "respectable" to be involved in "nonsense" and I just felt sick over it, wondering if there was anybody like that at this camp and if it would reflect on their feelings toward my husband and his ministry. I walked over to the "quiet" side of the crowd and tried to save it. "If I get kicked out of Camp on my very first year, please don't hold it against my husband--he didn't know anything about this and had nothing to do with it!" About that time James came walking down the hill holding up both thumbs, saying, "This is great! That's the best prank I've ever seen!" HA! Okay, I tried--he's on his own now!!! ;-) I did lots of checking around and, unless they're not coming clean with me (ha!), the quiet folks were mostly quiet because they were wondering what everybody else was thinking and ended up laughing over it later on. So far I haven't found anybody who was offended or thought it was out of line, so I'm hoping that everybody took it as the good, clean fun it was intended to be. So at this point, I'm pleased that we were able to pull it off--it was fun (though exhausting and HOT!) and the girls will have great memories of it--and everybody else seems to be okay with it. We had several compliments on how great it was, but they would mean nothing at all if I discovered that just one person was upset over it--that would kill me! But from what I can tell, we're all good. Even some of the quiet folks came around later and talked about what they "used" to do at Camp and how fun it was. :-)
Anyway, I had lots of FUN with the girls, as well as everybody else. The classes were good, the clubs were fun (though Sam wasn't very happy about having to be in Cake Decorating Club--it was the only one available for his age other than choir, which entails standing in front of people and singing: no way!), the services were great, the sermons were really good (if a little long--ha!--James was the evangelist), the Fun Time was fantastic--everything was just so, so good. It sounds like they really faced some struggles at Camp last year and everybody was so relieved to have such a good, trouble-free Camp this year--especially me! Ha! God was merciful to let us slide in on an easy year. ;-) Oh, and they have a TERRIFIC campground here!!! I was a little overwhelmed by the price ($110 no matter your age--that would make it tough for a lot of families!) and had intentions of looking around to see if perhaps there was a cheaper campground somewhere that would work for Camp. Huh-uh, not now! Ha! The facilities are amazing and meet every need you could possibly have at Camp. And they have--hands down--the BEST swimming pool I've ever been in. :-) It's been years (5 years, maybe?!) since we've been able to swim, so the kids and I just ate it up! It was FANTASTIC, especially considering how HOT it was the last two days. Sooooo relieving to be able to get into the pool. :-)
What else? I loved Camp because it gave us a chance to get to know all of the folks better! That's always been my favorite thing about Camp. Something happens when you are LIVING together for a week, eating together, worshipping together, working together, sweating together (ha!), playing together, praying together, laughing together... it just does something to knit your hearts together and brings about a nearness and a unity that just can't be accomplished in a Convention setting. I LOVE IT. :-)
The other great joy of Camp was watching Brother Ridlespurge chase all those little boys all over the campground all week. HA! It was GREAT. He had the 6-10 year old boys and I think there were six of them. He did a great job with them (it's got to be one of the toughest--and amusing--jobs at Camp!) and I was so thankful to know that both of my boys were in his group. They did great and loved every minute of it. Well, as far as I know they did great. They could have been holy terrors, for all I know! This is the first time we've ever been in a setting like this, where we didn't have our children under our own supervision. To be honest, it really freaked me out and we did LOTS and LOTS of praying about it ahead of time! But it worked out great and I was surprised to learn that they were probably more heavily supervised than what they've been before under our own watch in the past. Out west all of the kids sort of run loose during free time with parents checking on them and relaying messages about who's where and what they're up to. Here they were with their group and counsellor pretty much all the time. Watched like hawks. That's the way I like it, I'm just used to being the one doing the watching. I WAS the one doing the watching, but I was watching 5 teenage girls--a brand new and exciting challenge all its own. :-)
~whew~ I started writing this early this morning. Just now finished up--though "finished" is a silly word to use. I'm sure there's lots more camp stuff to share, but I'm sooooo tired and not able to think of any of it. It's way past bedtime now, so I'll call it quits. I must apologize for my complete and utter failure in the picture department. Believe it or not, I didn't take a single shot at Camp. What is wrong with me?! Weird. One of these days I'll snag some pictures off of Facebook to put on here--but there aren't just a whole lot available just yet. Give it time. :-)
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