It's 9:15 and there's still plenty to do, but I'm getting close enough to done that I figured I could take a break for a few minutes. Wonder if I'll regret it when I discover there's still more to be done than what I thought... Nah!
Get this. I've been packed since Tuesday. NO WAY!!! That's only because I knew there was a lot to be done AFTER the packing, so it forced me to start early. I love it when I'm forced to do things early. It's so unlike me (unless I'm forced) but I love how it feels. Wish I could pull it off without the being forced thing. Maybe some day.
Yesterday we left way early so we could make some necessary stops before church. We dropped a few things off at the cleaners, took all the books back to the library (Katie and I ran across the field with arms full of books because the traffic was wa-a-a-a-a-ay backed up--school letting out or something), then stopped by Spencer and Shayla's house (at least I can TYPE it correctly... I usually say Shencer and Spayla's house. One time I even said Spencer and Tracey's house. HA!) to drop off the Powell's mail. They weren't home. My kids were thrilled. HA! Usually when we stop by there I end up staying inside and visiting for way, way too long while James and the kids wait in the van. I just enjoy good company, I guess. :-)
Next stop was--you guessed it--a thrift store. James is insisting that I wear white for the Mission program at the Assembly. I'm not against doing it, I just haven't been able to find anything white. I've been looking for white shoes for years (casually, not as a full time pursuit--ha!) to no avail. They don't make anything white that isn't all open and sandal-ish. I hate sandals. I like my feet to be covered as much as possible. I'd just as soon not know they're there. ;-) ANYWAY, I've had a white skirt for a few years (super cheap at C&B) but no shoes and no white shirt or jacket. Joe was also in need of a white dress shirt, but the thrift store held neither.
James had caught some great sales at Penney's the other day, so we went there in search of all our white needs. Nope. They did have a shirt that I thought might work, but not in my size. They did, however, have remote controlled helicopters. The very same helicopter that Sam got for Christmas last year that promptly broke on Christmas day. We exchanged it and the next one broke, too. Sam had been working hard all week and had earned some money, so... He just loves those helicopters. :-) They were on a terrific sale, but it would wipe out all the money he just made. We reminded him that we are going on vacation after the Assembly and he might want to save his money in case he wants to buy anything then. We talked for several minutes and he nodded his head and said "yeah" in agreement with everything. Then James said, "Or you could buy the helicopter." Sam didn't miss a beat--"I'll buy the helicopter." HA!
By the time we got to the car Sam was having serious second thoughts--something not like him at all. Over the next few minutes he became truly miserable and was almost in tears over having spent his money, having none left, and what if this helicopter just breaks like the others--and can he even return it since it was a clearance item??? By the time we got to the Penney's in McCalla (to see if they had a white shirt in the right size) he had made his decision to try to get his money back if they'd let him. They did and now he's helicopterless, but has $15 to blow elsewhere and feels much better about life.
I doubt if he'll make it past the next helicopter display without caving in and buying another one. He just can't help himself. Loves those things for the few minutes they work.
They did have the right size at Penney's, so now I have a white shirt--which makes my husband very happy. He was also determined that I have white shoes, regardless of how ugly they might be. I couldn't make myself spend money on shoes that I don't like (to wear for an hour or two?!) I'd rather just wear black or brown.
So we stopped by The Shoe Dept. They do have some great sales. I ended up getting a pair of really cute brown dress shoes (needed those for years, too) and a truly horrid pair of white shoes because they were only $10 and they fit. ~sigh~ A waste of money and precious luggage space in my estimation. ;-)
We grabbed dinner at Chick-Fil-A then went on to Brother Carpenter's CPMA service. I appreciate Brother Carpenter. He surprises me with some of the insights he receives from scripture. He had some very good things to share about Naboth's vineyard and how he didn't--and we shouldn't--ever compromise and sell out or let go of our heritage and all that God has given us.
We didn't have time to go out and visit with people after church, so we spent an equal amount of time just visiting there at the church. Ha! Spent a considerable amount of time trying to help Brother Ridlespurge decide if it is a Pastors' Conference or a Pastors Conference (is it the PASTORS' Conference... or is it a Conference OF pastors? A flock of geese or the geese's flock???), then getting some good vacation pointers from Brother Will and Sister Krystal.
Then we had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home. Crazy. Had a few last minute Assembly items we were in need of. Of course, we forgot to buy the clothes bar for the van that we were supposed to get. Oops. That means James had to go buy one this morning. He got the best one they had... and the hook promptly snapped when we placed the last of our hanging clothes on it. HA! We have a horrible history with clothes rods. Suits are so heavy--and now that I have some dress jackets to wear our clothes are even weightier than before! We ended up using portions of Joe's rope to tie the rod up. Ha! We'll see if everything is still hanging in the morning or just in a giant heap.
Today I've managed to do several loads of laundry, get all of the sheets washed and changed, clean all of the upstairs bathrooms and the floors up there. James got packed this afternoon and we were able to get the van all loaded, so that will make our early morning a lot easier. I have the downstairs bathroom to clean, the kitchen to straighten up, and the floors to shine--and one more load of towels to wash. We're all camping out in the living room tonight (which the kids think is so cool), then we'll throw the sleeping bags in the van and fold the blankets and put them away. I'm hoping there's not something big and dirty somewhere that I'm forgetting about. Ha!
The only other news of interest is that Sam has been sick all day. He woke up not feeling well and has spent nearly the entire day asleep on the couch. He played with some toys for a little while, but never did sit up. He finally ate some soup tonight and we're trusting and praying that he'll be better by morning.
Sister Dudley and Thomas stopped by for a while this evening. She brought some craft supplies for Katie to be able to make things for the Mission Table at the Assembly--and even stayed and taught Katie how to do it (plastic canvas stuff--Kate hasn't done any in a long, long time), which Katie LOVED. James took Thomas around outside and showed him a few things he wasn't able to get to (weed-eating and such) so he can come take care of that when we're gone. It was obvious that Sam was really and truly sick because he never did end up on Thomas' back, wrestling and trying to steal his wallet or anything--he just sat there and grinned every now and then.
We leave early tomorrow for IYC and the Assembly! After that we've got some vacation plans. I'm looking forward to ALL of it. :-)
Oh yeah--for anybody who might be helping us pray (or sitting back thinking we're crazy for praying about a house that somebody else is buying--ha!), we found out yesterday that the Quinncrest Monstrosity is set to close at the end of August. If it doesn't close by then for whatever reason, the contract is then void. To be completely honest, I haven't really been praying about it very much myself lately--almost forgot about it entirely for a couple of days! Other things have been occupying my time and thoughts and prayers. It's in God's hands. We should hear something while we're at the Assembly, either "Sorry, it's sold" or "Guess what!!! The contract fell through and they accepted your offer!" A rational person would put their money on the former... a hopeful person who believes God can work miracles is still holding out for the latter. ;-) And either way, we'll be happy knowing that God has a perfect plan for our family and our future.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Assembly Prep
That's what this week is all about. :-) I've spent the day sorting through my clothes and all of the kids' clothes, pulling out and piecing together Assembly outfits. I was amazed to see that I've got so many new clothes to wear this year. I've been wearing some of the same outfits for years and years now. --Not that I ever had a problem with that, but it's exciting to have something new for a change! The thrift stores out here are terrific, that's all I can say. :-) And apparently I'm into the dress jacket thing now. I think all of my Assembly clothes include a jacket. With my "new figure" (ha!) it just seems to be what works best, I guess!
Katie has been working hard for hours and hours today, cleaning up her room. I helped her with her closet and dresser, sorting and refolding and pulling out the "too little" clothes to pass along. She cleaned out her "wardrobe" cabinet, the stack of STUFF under her nightstand, the STUFF under and behind her chair, the STUFF on the other side of her bed, the STUFF under her bed... I can't help but laugh because it makes me think of when she was a year old, marching all over the house with a huge basket hanging from her arm all the time. It contained STUFF, lots and lots of STUFF--things that she never actually used or played with, but she insisted on keeping it with her all the time. So hoarding is an inborne thing, not a developed habit??? I'm going to pull a few boxes out of the basement for her to put some of the STUFF in tomorrow.
Note to Brother and Sister Powell: I know you said not to do "anything special" to the house before your arrival (except remove any critters--ha!)... I'm not doing anything special. I'm doing what I do every time I have company at my own house. So there. ;-) Knowing that people are coming gives me the glorious incentive to do the things I've been wanting to get done for a long time anyway. You're doing me a favor! I will be so much happier after this week. :-)
I also worked in the boys room for several hours today. The closet in there has been a catastrophe--just a knee deep toy box the whole way across. I didn't touch any of that stuff, I just sicked Sam on it while I worked on clothes. That kid amazes me. He is by far the best organizer in the house, if a little obsessive. (Can't imagine where he gets that from. ~ahem~) He's got a bin of "rubber." Little figures and lizards and monkeys and whatever--but only if they are made of rubber, otherwise they go somewhere else. There is a gun bin, with a dozen different weapons (cap guns, dart guns, disc guns--whatever) all laid out systematically. He's got all of his electronic stuff in a sealed box and his most precious belongings in a small keyed safe. Things are looking great in there. Now we'll just have to see if it can be maintained for the three days until our departure.
Ah, yes. I don't think I ever mentioned the kit James got him for $2 at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. It came with several sets of electrical wires (like mini- jumper cables) and a little light, a little fan, a little buzzer, and a book that explained in terms even I could understand all of the basics of electricity, along with several experiments to conduct. WAY COOL. Sam has been wiring up all sorts of great things since then. :-)
Another note to Brother & Sister Powell: There are 10 or 12 pillows up in the loft, some ours, some yours. (I put safety pins on all of ours when we moved in to try to keep track.) That may help your family not have to bring so much with them when they come. There will also be easy access to our 5 sleeping bags as well as a few extra blankets, just so you know.
I have spent way too much time trying to get the kids' computer school set up for the coming year, though we don't intend to start until after the Assembly. I got Joe's 4th grade up and going with no real trouble, but Katie's 5th grade has been eatin' me alive. I finally spent a good deal of time on the phone with tech support today and we discovered that Safe Eyes (the program installed to filter where the kids go on the Internet) was the problem. Oh, brother. I got it uninstalled (we'll put it back on later) and finally got everything up and working and registered. We're good to go! It feels great to have that taken care of.
It was Saturday when I began installing the new curriculum on the computers. Can't remember what else I did that day. Hhmmm.
Yesterday was a strange day indeed. It included a Sunday afternoon nap!!! WHOA!!! It's been 6 months since I've had one of those! Ha! It was FANTASTIC. :-) We went to church in Bessemer in the morning, then grabbed a quick lunch and went HOME. We never do that because it seems silly to have to make the twice in one day. But we went to church in Alex City last night and home sits sort of in between the two churches. :-) We had a little less than an hour, but it was enough for James to work in his office a bit, the kids to watch a Veggie Tales, the Charles to be released from his Sunday prison, and me to catch a quick nap. It was GREAT. :-)
We had a good service in Alex City and really enjoyed being with the folks there. James conducted a business conference after service because Brother John wasn't able to... until the end of this conference--now he can. :-) He was received in as a member, Brother Butch and Sister Stephanie were transferred out, and Brother Brandon and Sister Kimmi's transfer requests were rescinded since they have now decided to stay in Alex City instead of moving. At the end of the conference James had Brother John come to the front so everyone could come around and welcome him as a member there... and he made Brandon and Kimmi do the same thing! HA! They've been there all along--I think Brother Brandon has been there all his life, hasn't he?--but everybody had to go around and "welcome" them to Alex City. Ha!
We all went out to a bar-b-que joint afterward and had a good time visiting. I love having a chance to get to know these people a little better, though it was a bit of a quiet crowd. Well, all except for Brother Glenn. He's nuts. Ha! He provides plenty of entertainment for all. Brother John is very quiet, Brother Brandon has a great sense of humor but seems rather reserved around us (because James seems like such a stiff, I'm sure--ha!), Sister Kimmi is a little quiet but so very nice and seems like lots of fun, Sister Cherry is sharp and clever in a dry sort of way (love that), and Brother Eric is just so easy to be around--he's relaxed and pleasant, a good conversationalist. There. I've summed 'em all up for you. The people who REALLY know them are probably thinking, Nah, you're wa-a-a-a-a-ay off. Ha!
Strangely, we got home earlier than we do most Sunday nights from our own local church. It was nice to get a decent night's sleep.
Hhmmm. Guess that gets me all caught up again. Weird. :-) The next few days will include lots of packing, lots of cleaning, and a little bit of shopping. It's amazing how quickly IYC and the Assembly have snuck up on us!
Note to the Powells: I always try to clean my house before I go on a trip, just so you know. HA!
Extra important note to the Powells: EAT SPAGHETTI!!!
Katie has been working hard for hours and hours today, cleaning up her room. I helped her with her closet and dresser, sorting and refolding and pulling out the "too little" clothes to pass along. She cleaned out her "wardrobe" cabinet, the stack of STUFF under her nightstand, the STUFF under and behind her chair, the STUFF on the other side of her bed, the STUFF under her bed... I can't help but laugh because it makes me think of when she was a year old, marching all over the house with a huge basket hanging from her arm all the time. It contained STUFF, lots and lots of STUFF--things that she never actually used or played with, but she insisted on keeping it with her all the time. So hoarding is an inborne thing, not a developed habit??? I'm going to pull a few boxes out of the basement for her to put some of the STUFF in tomorrow.
Note to Brother and Sister Powell: I know you said not to do "anything special" to the house before your arrival (except remove any critters--ha!)... I'm not doing anything special. I'm doing what I do every time I have company at my own house. So there. ;-) Knowing that people are coming gives me the glorious incentive to do the things I've been wanting to get done for a long time anyway. You're doing me a favor! I will be so much happier after this week. :-)
I also worked in the boys room for several hours today. The closet in there has been a catastrophe--just a knee deep toy box the whole way across. I didn't touch any of that stuff, I just sicked Sam on it while I worked on clothes. That kid amazes me. He is by far the best organizer in the house, if a little obsessive. (Can't imagine where he gets that from. ~ahem~) He's got a bin of "rubber." Little figures and lizards and monkeys and whatever--but only if they are made of rubber, otherwise they go somewhere else. There is a gun bin, with a dozen different weapons (cap guns, dart guns, disc guns--whatever) all laid out systematically. He's got all of his electronic stuff in a sealed box and his most precious belongings in a small keyed safe. Things are looking great in there. Now we'll just have to see if it can be maintained for the three days until our departure.
Ah, yes. I don't think I ever mentioned the kit James got him for $2 at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. It came with several sets of electrical wires (like mini- jumper cables) and a little light, a little fan, a little buzzer, and a book that explained in terms even I could understand all of the basics of electricity, along with several experiments to conduct. WAY COOL. Sam has been wiring up all sorts of great things since then. :-)
Another note to Brother & Sister Powell: There are 10 or 12 pillows up in the loft, some ours, some yours. (I put safety pins on all of ours when we moved in to try to keep track.) That may help your family not have to bring so much with them when they come. There will also be easy access to our 5 sleeping bags as well as a few extra blankets, just so you know.
I have spent way too much time trying to get the kids' computer school set up for the coming year, though we don't intend to start until after the Assembly. I got Joe's 4th grade up and going with no real trouble, but Katie's 5th grade has been eatin' me alive. I finally spent a good deal of time on the phone with tech support today and we discovered that Safe Eyes (the program installed to filter where the kids go on the Internet) was the problem. Oh, brother. I got it uninstalled (we'll put it back on later) and finally got everything up and working and registered. We're good to go! It feels great to have that taken care of.
It was Saturday when I began installing the new curriculum on the computers. Can't remember what else I did that day. Hhmmm.
Yesterday was a strange day indeed. It included a Sunday afternoon nap!!! WHOA!!! It's been 6 months since I've had one of those! Ha! It was FANTASTIC. :-) We went to church in Bessemer in the morning, then grabbed a quick lunch and went HOME. We never do that because it seems silly to have to make the twice in one day. But we went to church in Alex City last night and home sits sort of in between the two churches. :-) We had a little less than an hour, but it was enough for James to work in his office a bit, the kids to watch a Veggie Tales, the Charles to be released from his Sunday prison, and me to catch a quick nap. It was GREAT. :-)
We had a good service in Alex City and really enjoyed being with the folks there. James conducted a business conference after service because Brother John wasn't able to... until the end of this conference--now he can. :-) He was received in as a member, Brother Butch and Sister Stephanie were transferred out, and Brother Brandon and Sister Kimmi's transfer requests were rescinded since they have now decided to stay in Alex City instead of moving. At the end of the conference James had Brother John come to the front so everyone could come around and welcome him as a member there... and he made Brandon and Kimmi do the same thing! HA! They've been there all along--I think Brother Brandon has been there all his life, hasn't he?--but everybody had to go around and "welcome" them to Alex City. Ha!
We all went out to a bar-b-que joint afterward and had a good time visiting. I love having a chance to get to know these people a little better, though it was a bit of a quiet crowd. Well, all except for Brother Glenn. He's nuts. Ha! He provides plenty of entertainment for all. Brother John is very quiet, Brother Brandon has a great sense of humor but seems rather reserved around us (because James seems like such a stiff, I'm sure--ha!), Sister Kimmi is a little quiet but so very nice and seems like lots of fun, Sister Cherry is sharp and clever in a dry sort of way (love that), and Brother Eric is just so easy to be around--he's relaxed and pleasant, a good conversationalist. There. I've summed 'em all up for you. The people who REALLY know them are probably thinking, Nah, you're wa-a-a-a-a-ay off. Ha!
Strangely, we got home earlier than we do most Sunday nights from our own local church. It was nice to get a decent night's sleep.
Hhmmm. Guess that gets me all caught up again. Weird. :-) The next few days will include lots of packing, lots of cleaning, and a little bit of shopping. It's amazing how quickly IYC and the Assembly have snuck up on us!
Note to the Powells: I always try to clean my house before I go on a trip, just so you know. HA!
Extra important note to the Powells: EAT SPAGHETTI!!!
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Monstrosity
Jessa wanted to see pictures after reading the post below. Or the one below that??? I've been a busy blogger, finally. I decided it would be good to post a few just for posterity anyway. :-)
It's really so much better if you imagine the wacky organ music from The Ghost and Mr. Chicken as you view. HA! This is the view from the bottom of the driveway.
And from the front...
Since I mentioned the two most interesting eye sores, here is the foyer of pheasants...
And the hall of mirrors (dining room)...
This room is anything but an eye sore. Can you see James? I think he's holding his heart while envisioning his dream office and Church History Museum. HA!
So there you have it, a glimpse of the Monstrosity.
We appreciate your prayers. God knows best and we trust His decision concerning this house as any other. I sometimes wonder if "we have not, because we ask not" (thank you, Melissa) and if we're scared to ask God for big or difficult things because we would feel let down if He says no, or because we feel it would be presumptuous. I want to live and walk in faith and ask of Him as if I'm asking a favor of a very rich king who can afford to grant our petitions without his storehouse being depleted in the least, regardless of how "big" they seem to us. And of course, we will love and trust Him just the same if He chooses to answer us with a "no." But I wanna give Him a chance to say yes first instead of just not asking for a miracle at all... just in case, you know. ;-)
It's really so much better if you imagine the wacky organ music from The Ghost and Mr. Chicken as you view. HA! This is the view from the bottom of the driveway.
And from the front...
Since I mentioned the two most interesting eye sores, here is the foyer of pheasants...
And the hall of mirrors (dining room)...
This room is anything but an eye sore. Can you see James? I think he's holding his heart while envisioning his dream office and Church History Museum. HA!
So there you have it, a glimpse of the Monstrosity.
We appreciate your prayers. God knows best and we trust His decision concerning this house as any other. I sometimes wonder if "we have not, because we ask not" (thank you, Melissa) and if we're scared to ask God for big or difficult things because we would feel let down if He says no, or because we feel it would be presumptuous. I want to live and walk in faith and ask of Him as if I'm asking a favor of a very rich king who can afford to grant our petitions without his storehouse being depleted in the least, regardless of how "big" they seem to us. And of course, we will love and trust Him just the same if He chooses to answer us with a "no." But I wanna give Him a chance to say yes first instead of just not asking for a miracle at all... just in case, you know. ;-)
Today is the Day!
That I'm going to get all caught up on my blog--just watch. I don't have to leave the house today (unless James pulls a quick one on me) and I'm pretty well caught up on all of the must-do chores around here, and most of all I dread the thought of remaining this far behind or--horrors, no--falling yet farther behind. So I'm getting caught up today no matter how much I have to skip to make it happen. ;-)
I think I left off at the cedar sided house that Tammy Washburn never heard about, right? (You didn't hear because it didn't stay on the list long enough to mention to you. Ha!)
We left at about noon and went to Staples, Best Buy, Kohl's, Wal-Mart and at least one other place--all with things to return or exchange. They had been piling up for weeks, so it felt good to get that taken care of. We also had a few stops at places just to purchase things instead of return them.
Then we drove by a different house that James saw on the MLS that is just over a mile from the church. Wouldn't THAT be nice! We had very low expectations, judging by the location. It's IN town and also in an area that's not known for being the BEST of locations--real close to a Wal-Mart. But it had three acres, so we figured we'd drive by it like all the others before marking it off the list. The setting ended up being beautiful. It's at the very end of a dead end street and while you do have neighbors, they're all spread out and there is nothing close to you. There are lots and lots of woods behind the house and a golf course edges the north side of the property, but there are also trees all along that fence line so you don't really notice it unless you're looking for it. It FEELS so very quiet and private and secluded. The landscaping is gorgeous. Then there's the house. HA! First of all, it looks like some rich, snooty estate. It's HUGE. I mean way, way, wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay too big. Like, twice as big as any house I'd ever need. And it has four great big tall pillars out front. They're square wooden pillars painted white instead of the rounded marble looking ones, but still. Hoity-toity. It's a white brick house and it's just... big. But this house is super-duper cheap (way cheaper than almost everything we've seen) and on three acres and real close to the church... It's another foreclosure (which always warns of disrepair) and we went and peeked in the windows. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! It is soooooo... Oh, I don't even have the word for it. This house was built by a very rich somebody 40 years ago and it has all of the latest styles... from 40 years ago still firmly in place--but with all those years of wear and tear, plus some neglect and probably abuse. We could only see into two or three widows, but we discovered 12" glass tiles with that gold marble effect all over the walls in the dining room, wall paper with giant peacocks and pheasants all over it, oh, I can't remember what all. It made us laugh so hard. I kept saying, "Look at it, James! This house NEEDS us! Look... it NEEDS somebody like us!!!" Ha! It's really something.
Then we happily drove to our appointment at the For Sale by Owner property. It's very, very nice (as is the lady who owns it), but there are a whole lot of things to take into consideration with it. Two of the three bedrooms are very small, the master is nice but has a very small bathroom with NO storage (pedestal sink--they look neat, but are SO impractical!), the "large kitchen" is not large at all and has very little counter space and even less cabinet space (and no pantry or place to add one), the dining area is a little small and there would be no room for a hutch, the laundry room is in a closet in the bathroom, and there is hardly any storage space in the house--closets and such. Aside from those things, it's perfect. ;-) Oh, and it has no real privacy, though the yard is beautiful and we love the fence. Most of the neighbors' houses are gorgeous, but there is one really rough looking trailer right across the street. The things that are wonderful about it are the cedar siding (though it is beginning to look rather worn--the weather here is so hard on wood), the adorable front porch, the gorgeous rock fire place in a really nice sized (not too big, not too small) living room, the wood floors in the kitchen/dining area, the new tile in the bathrooms and new carpet (brown, not white! Wa-Hoo!) throughout the rest of the house, the gorgeous yard with big, pretty trees, the outdoor fireplace and framed awning (can't think of how to describe it), and the beautiful in-ground pool. The pool is actually on the pro's list AND the con's list. ;-) I've heard that pools are a lot of work and money to keep up, so I wouldn't be crazy about that. But when it's super hot and nasty it would be really nice to have! If we're going to have one, I would love for it to be in-ground instead of one that stands up 4 feet high in your yard that you can't really SWIM in anyway. What else... We would need to finish out the garage area and convert it into living space, as well as have an office brought in or constructed out in the yard somewhere for James. So it's a matter of adding up all the numbers and seeing how much it would cost at the end of the day, then looking at the pro's (did I mention it's less than 5 miles from the church and is beautiful???) and cons (no privacy and your kitchen and bedrooms will always be small and low on storage) and seeing if it's really THE house after all. Hhmmm. In the end, we'd end up putting a decent amount of money into it and still struggle to "fit" in it--it's just not going to work well for us. Sooooo, perhaps James was wrong. It's not THE house. ;-)
That was on a Tuesday. We went to town early enough on Wednesday to go to the Salvation Army in Hoover--found some much needed dress clothes for the Assembly. We've been doing some heavy thrift shopping lately and should be pretty well set for dress clothes for a while. That feels good. :-)
We had tried to have Laura get us in to see the big white brick house with columns (we call it the Quinncrest Monstrosity), but she couldn't do it that night. We went on to church and enjoyed seeing a Missions video that Brother Rob and Brother Ridlespurge have been working tirelessly on. I am always so, so blessed by those.
After church we waited around while guys went pray for our pastor who was home sick. (He's doing much better now, thank the Lord.) When they got back we went to Burger King with the Coxes and the Ridlespurges. While we were there we got to talking about the Monstrosity and the longer we talked the better it got. James was wondering if it is haunted (ha!) and if it has secret passage-ways leading down to the laboratory (pronounced "la-BOR-uh-tory" in your best mad scientist voice) and so on. When we were ready to leave the restaurant James asked if I wanted to drive by the Monstrosity to see how the neighborhood felt at night (safe or scary)... so we invited everybody else to go with us! Ha! I think it was nearly midnight when our three vehicles went slinking down the nice, quiet dead-end street. We all pulled behind the house and tried to keep the kids decently quiet while we peeked in windows and talked and giggled about this crazy house. We'd only been there a few minutes when a cop walked around the corner and asked what we were doing. HA! James was closest to her and the rest of us instinctively closed in quickly behind him, just trying to get close enough to see what was going on. It was a girl cop and she took a step back and said, "Whoa! I know you're probably not up to anything, but I'm all alone here and I'd appreciate it if you'd all just back off a little bit!" Ha! James explained what we were up to and apparently it was believable (nobody would take that many people--and 8 children--if they were going to break into a place) because we had a nice little chat with her about the neighborhood and then she left us there. James was thrilled to find that neighbors keep an eye on things and that the cops were there so quickly. That's a GREAT sign to him. Ha! Whether anything ever comes of this house or not, we've had some great laughs over it and will always have some terrific memories. :-)
On Thursday we hoped all day that Laura would call and say that she could get us in to see the Monstrosity, but it never worked out.
We finally got an appointment set for Friday morning to see the Quinncrest Monstrosity. The Mortuary. The Estate. It looks like any of those. We had only been able to see through a few of the downstairs windows (and saw the gold marble streaked mirror tiles and the peacock wall paper) and were truly prepared for the worst. We were expecting to see serious neglect and abuse and all sorts of nastiness and ugliness all throughout the house. My worst fear was the bathrooms. What if they were 40 years old with pink fixtures and tile and filth and grime that could only be ripped out and replaced instead of freshened up and used? I HATE bathroom remodels--as soon as you call the plumber in it costs a FORTUNE and takes FOREVER.
Well... we walked through the first floor: foyer (yes, I just said that--it's a BIG house!), living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, den, master with private bath and closet... and couldn't believe how un-horrible everything was. So... what's the catch? A house this size at this price, even as a foreclosure??? It must have something seriously wrong with it. Must be upstairs. We went up and were immediately WOWED by the gorgeous "library" room. It is very large, tongue-and-groove that's stained a dark (cherry, maybe?) color with large beams lining the peak ceiling. It looks like a pretty little chapel except for the built in book cases on each end of the room. It is beautiful and James immediately claimed it for his office--and Church History Museum. ;-) It really would be perfect for that. There are also two bathrooms and several more bedrooms. (Did I mention that this house is big?) And everything looked very nice. Can it be possible that all this house needs is some cosmetic work?! Paint and wallpaper and a few minor fixes??? No way!!!
We then walked down to the basement. (Yes, a full basement too--CRAZY.) It's mostly wide open space down there (I told James we could just buy the kids some skates and let them go at it! Ha!) with a half bath, another room, and a few storage-type rooms for the furnace and stuff like that.
Long story short (I know--too late for that) we decided to put an offer on it. Laura went home and got busy on all the paperwork while we dinked around town for a few hours waiting to get with her and sign the papers. When she finally called she told us that this house already had a contract on it! HA! You could have guessed that, right??? :-) Sooooo... that was a waste of time!
And yet... over the next day or two we kept thinking and praying about it and decided to do a crazy thing. But more on that in a minute.
For that day, we came home feeling a little discouraged. Although this house was way bigger and "fancier" than what we are looking for (though still in need of some definite updating)--and there is a part of me that would worry about what people would think with us owning such a big and hoity-toity place (!)--it answers the specific things we've been praying for better than any other, by a long shot. The two things I pray for in a house are #1, a safe place to raise our kids with room for the boys to roam just a little bit and be BOYS and #2, a place that can be used to minister to others, where we can be hospitable and have people over for dinners, band meetings, fellowship--and be able to keep people during Conventions and stuff like that. This house is surrounded by lots of "woods" for the boys to play in, in an area that feels very private and safe. As for entertaining, well, there's no doubt you've got plenty room to do it there (ha!)--and being only a mile and a half from the church opens that door a thousand times more. We would never have to turn anyone way--we could house the entire State Convention! HA! (James and Mom tell me that I exaggerate. Mom said that house wasn't NEARLY as "mansion-ish" as she'd expected after hearing my description!) Anyway, because of all the possibilities with the house and how it could be used to be a blessing (I wouldn't even be able to think of it as my own--it would be the Church's house) we were very disappointed to learn that it already had a contract on it before we even got in to see it. And James was a wee bit frustrated with the other real estate company for not TELLING us so before allowing us a showing.
But that night turned out to be quite nice anyway. We got home and my son decided to take me out to dinner. How cool is that?! Sam took me to Mosey Joe’s Café and paid for both of our meals. :-)
As you can see, the ambiance was exquisite, the food delicious, and the company quite handsome. I think I had a half a ham sandwich with a bowl of ramen, sweet tea, and a side of applesauce. Sam even paid extra for our ramen to be topped with real bacon bits. :-) It was so great! Katie is the main chef at Mosey Joe's, so I made the two of them pose for me with their menu before sending them to bed that night. I love the prices.
Saturday morning started with another visit to the café at Joe's insistence (Golden Grahams and hot chocolate with WAY too many marshmallows), then Joe went fishing (caught a few fish and several ticks), Sam played outside most of the morning, Katie fiddled around in her room and was later allowed to playing a computer game (a rare occurrence around here), while I worked on the house. We spent a lazy afternoon watching a corny old black and white movie while I got all caught up on the ironing.
On Sunday (look, I'm caught up now to the current week--look at me go!) we had morning service, then went out for Mexican with Hopkins and Coxes. We had a good visit and the food was great. I love the chimichanga at Habeneros. :-) Afterward we drove by a house that Brother Will had told us about. It was adorable and had a great price tag, but James recognized it immediately as one that had just hit the market and was already under contract. Same song, 14th verse. ;-) We did some minor shopping, then crashed at the Cox's house for the remainder of the afternoon. We enjoyed visiting and comparing how much Brother Will and James have in common (which led to discussing the value of various antiques and Brother will dragging in an old Coca-Cola cooler that James oohed and ahhed over), and playing with their adorable little Yorkie pup, Roxie. Katie and Madison played in the room most of the time, but did go outside to jump rope for a little while. The boys spent the afternoon running around outside in full suits (100+ degrees) with guns and rifles of all sorts. I finally made them forfeit their suit jackets, but by then the boys were beet red, sopping wet and SMELLY. ~Bleagh~
We also got a call from Laura while we were there. This is where we did the really weird thing. :-) We'd been doing some more thinking and praying about the Monstrosity (that turned out not to be a monstrosity at all once we saw inside) and had decided to put an offer on it. HA! Go ahead--laugh. We already know. It's insane. The house already has a contract on it. That means that somebody else is already in the process of buying it. In fact, the story is that the guy had a contract on this house, it fell through, the house hit the market again, and he immediately put another offer on it and it is now under contract with him again. I'm sure he's worked hard to see that whatever caused it to fall through the first time won't happen again. In any case, what we did is put in a secondary offer, or back-up offer, so that IF the current contract falls through our offer will be there waiting. I know it's illogical and irrational, but we felt like it's what we should do. We know this house to be worth way, way more than the asking price and it would fit all of our needs PLUS open up such amazing opportunities to be hospitable... we just felt like we should put in a "just in case" offer. :-) And we've been praying and talking to God about it. I read a verse the day we saw the house (and then learned that it was already under contract) that said that GOD is the judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another. I know it sounds nuts, but I'm praying for God to "put down" the current contract, and "set up" ours. :-) I have such a hard time praying definitively about anything. I'm always praying for God's will and never anything specific because what if I'm praying in a direction that isn't God's will--what if He's wanting to use a situation in some other way, you know?! I have moments when I feel presumptuous even talking to God about this house, but I feel like I've searched my heart and I truly believe that my motives are right and I'm wanting it for the right reasons. So, I'm asking God to work miracles and move mountains and grant us this house that matches everything I've been praying for--and so much more. I would love it if He blessed us with it. And if He says no, I'll be truly thankful that He has a different plan for us. I just felt like asking specifically this time. :-)
Anyway, Brother Hopkins preached on faith at church that night. I was so blessed and so enjoyed the good prayer time afterward. Just what I needed. :-)
James has owed all the church kids milkshakes for a few weeks now. (He promised it to them when they were helping fold Convention programs and stuff like that.) We finally pulled it off that night. We went to Jack's with the Ridlespurges, the Coxes, and the Parkers. James was able to free himself of his milkshake commitment (and they use Blue Bell there--YUM!) and we had a great time visiting. All the kids were arm wrestling at their table and before long James had cleared the trash from between Sister Ridlespurge and me and wanted to see who could take who. HA! So we gave it a shot and were both equally surprised at the strength of the other (isn't that always the way it is?!) but in the end I was able to take her. Considering our age difference, I'm pretty sure she could have beaten me in her prime. ;-) We then made Brother Ridlespurge and James give it a go. THAT was funny. They just sat there for the longest time, arms trembling, but never actually moving either direction. They finally just quit. Then Brother Chris had to try Brother Ridlespurge. That's the only one I got a picture of.
It was a great night.
~whew~ I'm almost caught up--there's no stopping now!
The first part of this week was full of more of the same: housework, praying, and fasting for the Assembly. I also had lots of computer work to do as well as making reservations and plans for our post Assembly trip. I starting on the planning guide we're putting together for distribution at the Minister's Convention next month. It will include all of the pastors, clerks, and ministers contact info and stuff like that. I also pulled out the couches and found all manner of interesting clutter (better me than the Powells in a few weeks! Ha!), swept and swiffered and got lots of other hidden places in order. We straightened up the basement and cleaned out the griddle and overflowing grease cup (oops), as well as the fridge. It feels good to get some of those odd jobs taken care of.
We had WMB service on Wednesday night, the Ladies' Prayer Meeting last night. No news for today, really. Charlie got a haircut and now looks like an overgrown rat again, but it's actually the best haircut he's ever had--he'll be adorable in a couple of weeks. :-)
And that's IT! I'm all caught up! Wa-Hoo!!!!!
One last picture, just because it's available. Sam doesn't really eat lizards, in case you're wondering. Just plays with them and then releases them. Outside. As far as I know. ;-)
I think I left off at the cedar sided house that Tammy Washburn never heard about, right? (You didn't hear because it didn't stay on the list long enough to mention to you. Ha!)
We left at about noon and went to Staples, Best Buy, Kohl's, Wal-Mart and at least one other place--all with things to return or exchange. They had been piling up for weeks, so it felt good to get that taken care of. We also had a few stops at places just to purchase things instead of return them.
Then we drove by a different house that James saw on the MLS that is just over a mile from the church. Wouldn't THAT be nice! We had very low expectations, judging by the location. It's IN town and also in an area that's not known for being the BEST of locations--real close to a Wal-Mart. But it had three acres, so we figured we'd drive by it like all the others before marking it off the list. The setting ended up being beautiful. It's at the very end of a dead end street and while you do have neighbors, they're all spread out and there is nothing close to you. There are lots and lots of woods behind the house and a golf course edges the north side of the property, but there are also trees all along that fence line so you don't really notice it unless you're looking for it. It FEELS so very quiet and private and secluded. The landscaping is gorgeous. Then there's the house. HA! First of all, it looks like some rich, snooty estate. It's HUGE. I mean way, way, wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay too big. Like, twice as big as any house I'd ever need. And it has four great big tall pillars out front. They're square wooden pillars painted white instead of the rounded marble looking ones, but still. Hoity-toity. It's a white brick house and it's just... big. But this house is super-duper cheap (way cheaper than almost everything we've seen) and on three acres and real close to the church... It's another foreclosure (which always warns of disrepair) and we went and peeked in the windows. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! It is soooooo... Oh, I don't even have the word for it. This house was built by a very rich somebody 40 years ago and it has all of the latest styles... from 40 years ago still firmly in place--but with all those years of wear and tear, plus some neglect and probably abuse. We could only see into two or three widows, but we discovered 12" glass tiles with that gold marble effect all over the walls in the dining room, wall paper with giant peacocks and pheasants all over it, oh, I can't remember what all. It made us laugh so hard. I kept saying, "Look at it, James! This house NEEDS us! Look... it NEEDS somebody like us!!!" Ha! It's really something.
Then we happily drove to our appointment at the For Sale by Owner property. It's very, very nice (as is the lady who owns it), but there are a whole lot of things to take into consideration with it. Two of the three bedrooms are very small, the master is nice but has a very small bathroom with NO storage (pedestal sink--they look neat, but are SO impractical!), the "large kitchen" is not large at all and has very little counter space and even less cabinet space (and no pantry or place to add one), the dining area is a little small and there would be no room for a hutch, the laundry room is in a closet in the bathroom, and there is hardly any storage space in the house--closets and such. Aside from those things, it's perfect. ;-) Oh, and it has no real privacy, though the yard is beautiful and we love the fence. Most of the neighbors' houses are gorgeous, but there is one really rough looking trailer right across the street. The things that are wonderful about it are the cedar siding (though it is beginning to look rather worn--the weather here is so hard on wood), the adorable front porch, the gorgeous rock fire place in a really nice sized (not too big, not too small) living room, the wood floors in the kitchen/dining area, the new tile in the bathrooms and new carpet (brown, not white! Wa-Hoo!) throughout the rest of the house, the gorgeous yard with big, pretty trees, the outdoor fireplace and framed awning (can't think of how to describe it), and the beautiful in-ground pool. The pool is actually on the pro's list AND the con's list. ;-) I've heard that pools are a lot of work and money to keep up, so I wouldn't be crazy about that. But when it's super hot and nasty it would be really nice to have! If we're going to have one, I would love for it to be in-ground instead of one that stands up 4 feet high in your yard that you can't really SWIM in anyway. What else... We would need to finish out the garage area and convert it into living space, as well as have an office brought in or constructed out in the yard somewhere for James. So it's a matter of adding up all the numbers and seeing how much it would cost at the end of the day, then looking at the pro's (did I mention it's less than 5 miles from the church and is beautiful???) and cons (no privacy and your kitchen and bedrooms will always be small and low on storage) and seeing if it's really THE house after all. Hhmmm. In the end, we'd end up putting a decent amount of money into it and still struggle to "fit" in it--it's just not going to work well for us. Sooooo, perhaps James was wrong. It's not THE house. ;-)
That was on a Tuesday. We went to town early enough on Wednesday to go to the Salvation Army in Hoover--found some much needed dress clothes for the Assembly. We've been doing some heavy thrift shopping lately and should be pretty well set for dress clothes for a while. That feels good. :-)
We had tried to have Laura get us in to see the big white brick house with columns (we call it the Quinncrest Monstrosity), but she couldn't do it that night. We went on to church and enjoyed seeing a Missions video that Brother Rob and Brother Ridlespurge have been working tirelessly on. I am always so, so blessed by those.
After church we waited around while guys went pray for our pastor who was home sick. (He's doing much better now, thank the Lord.) When they got back we went to Burger King with the Coxes and the Ridlespurges. While we were there we got to talking about the Monstrosity and the longer we talked the better it got. James was wondering if it is haunted (ha!) and if it has secret passage-ways leading down to the laboratory (pronounced "la-BOR-uh-tory" in your best mad scientist voice) and so on. When we were ready to leave the restaurant James asked if I wanted to drive by the Monstrosity to see how the neighborhood felt at night (safe or scary)... so we invited everybody else to go with us! Ha! I think it was nearly midnight when our three vehicles went slinking down the nice, quiet dead-end street. We all pulled behind the house and tried to keep the kids decently quiet while we peeked in windows and talked and giggled about this crazy house. We'd only been there a few minutes when a cop walked around the corner and asked what we were doing. HA! James was closest to her and the rest of us instinctively closed in quickly behind him, just trying to get close enough to see what was going on. It was a girl cop and she took a step back and said, "Whoa! I know you're probably not up to anything, but I'm all alone here and I'd appreciate it if you'd all just back off a little bit!" Ha! James explained what we were up to and apparently it was believable (nobody would take that many people--and 8 children--if they were going to break into a place) because we had a nice little chat with her about the neighborhood and then she left us there. James was thrilled to find that neighbors keep an eye on things and that the cops were there so quickly. That's a GREAT sign to him. Ha! Whether anything ever comes of this house or not, we've had some great laughs over it and will always have some terrific memories. :-)
On Thursday we hoped all day that Laura would call and say that she could get us in to see the Monstrosity, but it never worked out.
We finally got an appointment set for Friday morning to see the Quinncrest Monstrosity. The Mortuary. The Estate. It looks like any of those. We had only been able to see through a few of the downstairs windows (and saw the gold marble streaked mirror tiles and the peacock wall paper) and were truly prepared for the worst. We were expecting to see serious neglect and abuse and all sorts of nastiness and ugliness all throughout the house. My worst fear was the bathrooms. What if they were 40 years old with pink fixtures and tile and filth and grime that could only be ripped out and replaced instead of freshened up and used? I HATE bathroom remodels--as soon as you call the plumber in it costs a FORTUNE and takes FOREVER.
Well... we walked through the first floor: foyer (yes, I just said that--it's a BIG house!), living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, den, master with private bath and closet... and couldn't believe how un-horrible everything was. So... what's the catch? A house this size at this price, even as a foreclosure??? It must have something seriously wrong with it. Must be upstairs. We went up and were immediately WOWED by the gorgeous "library" room. It is very large, tongue-and-groove that's stained a dark (cherry, maybe?) color with large beams lining the peak ceiling. It looks like a pretty little chapel except for the built in book cases on each end of the room. It is beautiful and James immediately claimed it for his office--and Church History Museum. ;-) It really would be perfect for that. There are also two bathrooms and several more bedrooms. (Did I mention that this house is big?) And everything looked very nice. Can it be possible that all this house needs is some cosmetic work?! Paint and wallpaper and a few minor fixes??? No way!!!
We then walked down to the basement. (Yes, a full basement too--CRAZY.) It's mostly wide open space down there (I told James we could just buy the kids some skates and let them go at it! Ha!) with a half bath, another room, and a few storage-type rooms for the furnace and stuff like that.
Long story short (I know--too late for that) we decided to put an offer on it. Laura went home and got busy on all the paperwork while we dinked around town for a few hours waiting to get with her and sign the papers. When she finally called she told us that this house already had a contract on it! HA! You could have guessed that, right??? :-) Sooooo... that was a waste of time!
And yet... over the next day or two we kept thinking and praying about it and decided to do a crazy thing. But more on that in a minute.
For that day, we came home feeling a little discouraged. Although this house was way bigger and "fancier" than what we are looking for (though still in need of some definite updating)--and there is a part of me that would worry about what people would think with us owning such a big and hoity-toity place (!)--it answers the specific things we've been praying for better than any other, by a long shot. The two things I pray for in a house are #1, a safe place to raise our kids with room for the boys to roam just a little bit and be BOYS and #2, a place that can be used to minister to others, where we can be hospitable and have people over for dinners, band meetings, fellowship--and be able to keep people during Conventions and stuff like that. This house is surrounded by lots of "woods" for the boys to play in, in an area that feels very private and safe. As for entertaining, well, there's no doubt you've got plenty room to do it there (ha!)--and being only a mile and a half from the church opens that door a thousand times more. We would never have to turn anyone way--we could house the entire State Convention! HA! (James and Mom tell me that I exaggerate. Mom said that house wasn't NEARLY as "mansion-ish" as she'd expected after hearing my description!) Anyway, because of all the possibilities with the house and how it could be used to be a blessing (I wouldn't even be able to think of it as my own--it would be the Church's house) we were very disappointed to learn that it already had a contract on it before we even got in to see it. And James was a wee bit frustrated with the other real estate company for not TELLING us so before allowing us a showing.
But that night turned out to be quite nice anyway. We got home and my son decided to take me out to dinner. How cool is that?! Sam took me to Mosey Joe’s Café and paid for both of our meals. :-)
As you can see, the ambiance was exquisite, the food delicious, and the company quite handsome. I think I had a half a ham sandwich with a bowl of ramen, sweet tea, and a side of applesauce. Sam even paid extra for our ramen to be topped with real bacon bits. :-) It was so great! Katie is the main chef at Mosey Joe's, so I made the two of them pose for me with their menu before sending them to bed that night. I love the prices.
Saturday morning started with another visit to the café at Joe's insistence (Golden Grahams and hot chocolate with WAY too many marshmallows), then Joe went fishing (caught a few fish and several ticks), Sam played outside most of the morning, Katie fiddled around in her room and was later allowed to playing a computer game (a rare occurrence around here), while I worked on the house. We spent a lazy afternoon watching a corny old black and white movie while I got all caught up on the ironing.
On Sunday (look, I'm caught up now to the current week--look at me go!) we had morning service, then went out for Mexican with Hopkins and Coxes. We had a good visit and the food was great. I love the chimichanga at Habeneros. :-) Afterward we drove by a house that Brother Will had told us about. It was adorable and had a great price tag, but James recognized it immediately as one that had just hit the market and was already under contract. Same song, 14th verse. ;-) We did some minor shopping, then crashed at the Cox's house for the remainder of the afternoon. We enjoyed visiting and comparing how much Brother Will and James have in common (which led to discussing the value of various antiques and Brother will dragging in an old Coca-Cola cooler that James oohed and ahhed over), and playing with their adorable little Yorkie pup, Roxie. Katie and Madison played in the room most of the time, but did go outside to jump rope for a little while. The boys spent the afternoon running around outside in full suits (100+ degrees) with guns and rifles of all sorts. I finally made them forfeit their suit jackets, but by then the boys were beet red, sopping wet and SMELLY. ~Bleagh~
We also got a call from Laura while we were there. This is where we did the really weird thing. :-) We'd been doing some more thinking and praying about the Monstrosity (that turned out not to be a monstrosity at all once we saw inside) and had decided to put an offer on it. HA! Go ahead--laugh. We already know. It's insane. The house already has a contract on it. That means that somebody else is already in the process of buying it. In fact, the story is that the guy had a contract on this house, it fell through, the house hit the market again, and he immediately put another offer on it and it is now under contract with him again. I'm sure he's worked hard to see that whatever caused it to fall through the first time won't happen again. In any case, what we did is put in a secondary offer, or back-up offer, so that IF the current contract falls through our offer will be there waiting. I know it's illogical and irrational, but we felt like it's what we should do. We know this house to be worth way, way more than the asking price and it would fit all of our needs PLUS open up such amazing opportunities to be hospitable... we just felt like we should put in a "just in case" offer. :-) And we've been praying and talking to God about it. I read a verse the day we saw the house (and then learned that it was already under contract) that said that GOD is the judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another. I know it sounds nuts, but I'm praying for God to "put down" the current contract, and "set up" ours. :-) I have such a hard time praying definitively about anything. I'm always praying for God's will and never anything specific because what if I'm praying in a direction that isn't God's will--what if He's wanting to use a situation in some other way, you know?! I have moments when I feel presumptuous even talking to God about this house, but I feel like I've searched my heart and I truly believe that my motives are right and I'm wanting it for the right reasons. So, I'm asking God to work miracles and move mountains and grant us this house that matches everything I've been praying for--and so much more. I would love it if He blessed us with it. And if He says no, I'll be truly thankful that He has a different plan for us. I just felt like asking specifically this time. :-)
Anyway, Brother Hopkins preached on faith at church that night. I was so blessed and so enjoyed the good prayer time afterward. Just what I needed. :-)
James has owed all the church kids milkshakes for a few weeks now. (He promised it to them when they were helping fold Convention programs and stuff like that.) We finally pulled it off that night. We went to Jack's with the Ridlespurges, the Coxes, and the Parkers. James was able to free himself of his milkshake commitment (and they use Blue Bell there--YUM!) and we had a great time visiting. All the kids were arm wrestling at their table and before long James had cleared the trash from between Sister Ridlespurge and me and wanted to see who could take who. HA! So we gave it a shot and were both equally surprised at the strength of the other (isn't that always the way it is?!) but in the end I was able to take her. Considering our age difference, I'm pretty sure she could have beaten me in her prime. ;-) We then made Brother Ridlespurge and James give it a go. THAT was funny. They just sat there for the longest time, arms trembling, but never actually moving either direction. They finally just quit. Then Brother Chris had to try Brother Ridlespurge. That's the only one I got a picture of.
It was a great night.
~whew~ I'm almost caught up--there's no stopping now!
The first part of this week was full of more of the same: housework, praying, and fasting for the Assembly. I also had lots of computer work to do as well as making reservations and plans for our post Assembly trip. I starting on the planning guide we're putting together for distribution at the Minister's Convention next month. It will include all of the pastors, clerks, and ministers contact info and stuff like that. I also pulled out the couches and found all manner of interesting clutter (better me than the Powells in a few weeks! Ha!), swept and swiffered and got lots of other hidden places in order. We straightened up the basement and cleaned out the griddle and overflowing grease cup (oops), as well as the fridge. It feels good to get some of those odd jobs taken care of.
We had WMB service on Wednesday night, the Ladies' Prayer Meeting last night. No news for today, really. Charlie got a haircut and now looks like an overgrown rat again, but it's actually the best haircut he's ever had--he'll be adorable in a couple of weeks. :-)
And that's IT! I'm all caught up! Wa-Hoo!!!!!
One last picture, just because it's available. Sam doesn't really eat lizards, in case you're wondering. Just plays with them and then releases them. Outside. As far as I know. ;-)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Sooooo Far Behind
I look at these pictures and have only faint memories of them, so long it's been since I took them. ;-)
We had a great time at Sister Bishop's house. As always, the kids had to have a seed spitting contest with her. (She insists that it is "shooting" not "spitting" but as a witness to the event I have to disagree. It's spitting if ever I've seen it! Ha!) She made me promise not to post any pictures of her in her nightgown, so I'll just post a picture of her front porch at the tail end of the contest. This is after they'd already spit three times as many seeds the other direction and finally turned around and started spitting this way. I really can't tell who has more fun, the kids or Sister Bishop!
The next morning we went on a little sight seeing expedition with Sister Bishop. First, she took us to this beautiful stone Episcopal church. The workmanship is truly amazing. I was surprised at how few pictures I had taken, but here are just a few.
People who know me well know how I feel about organs (if anyone plays one at my funeral I'm coming back to hurt you. HA!), but I would have loved to have heard this one played. Look at those pipes! Amazing.
James and Katie behind the pulpit. Is it called a pulpit in places like that?
James checking out the strange castle sort of thing up front. There were hints of Catholicism of course and although it was really weird I didn't feel creeped out like I have in Catholic churches. Mostly it just felt empty and hollow. So formal and... well, just empty. Like the ceremony is so important and there's nothing alive and REAL about it. It just feels cold and dead there. So sad.
I did think this window was beautiful.
When we left the church we drove to... somewhere. (I never know where I am down here!) It wasn't rainy. Despite the dark cloud in the picture, it was hot and sunshiny--the umbrella was used as a parasol to give some relief.
I can't remember the name of it (though I remember it starts with a J... Jeanies? Jannes?), but this is a furnace that was used to make cannon balls during the war. Way cool.
Uh-oh, looks like somebody got caught trying to make a quick escape! (Read the sign.) ;-)
The kids enjoyed climbing the rock walls surrounding the furnace, but Katie got high enough that she could go no farther and had to climb back down to where her Dad could help her to the ground.
Rescued! (Look at her skirt--it's the one Mom made for her a few weeks ago. I love it!)
There was also a neat little museum there with all sorts of war-era artifacts. The boys loved seeing the old guns and musket balls and tomahawks. There was lots of neat stuff there--we enjoyed it.
Sister Bishop is one of the best and most natural teachers I've ever known. She is so knowledgeable about so many things and it's just built into her character to share what she knows with others. The whole time you're with her you feel like you're in school. Except it's fun. :-)
Not that this is the best example of the praise I just bestowed upon her (ha!), but here she's trying to teach Sam how to snap the tops off of some weed and make them "shoot."
Next stop was a nice little creek that she insisted had cold, cold water. I think it was called Coldwater Creek. We all went wading (except for James) and I had to laugh. It was a very, very hot day and the water did feel cool and wonderfully refreshing, but I dare say Sister Bishop has never waded in any truly COLD water. :-) I remember trying to wade in the little drainage creek that ran in front of the Cabin (my grandparents' house near Gunnison, Colorado). The first step would take your breath away and within 5 seconds your feet were throbbing with pain. If you made it 10 seconds they were completely numb, but a very painful sort of numb--and there was just no lasting beyond that or you'd end up with frostbite or something! Ha!
In any case, we had a great time wading and the water was so cool and just felt so, so good.
Next we drove to a dam (that I failed to take any pictures of) and heard all sorts of great stories along the way--fishing stories, baptismal stories, historic stories. We loved it. We finally headed back to Sister Bishop's house, loaded up our things, had a light lunch, then headed for home.
We stopped in Hoover and met with the Washburns and their son-in-law, Chris, for one of Sister Tammy's famous home cooked meals: Olive Garden! :-) It had been many months since we'd eaten there, so it was especially enjoyable--and the great company made it better yet. We were able to treat the Washburns this time. When we had a contract on a house a few months ago they took us out, as a celebration dinner. It fell through of course and then the offer we put on a different house wasn't accepted and we didn't have anything in the works, so we decided it was our turn to pay and we'd call it our de-celebration dinner. ;-)
We drove to McCalla and picked up Charlie from his new boarders (he seemed very well cared for and even smelled like he'd just had a bath--nice improvement from the last place!) and made it home at about 9:00. That was Thursday night.
Friday and Saturday were filled with laundry, laundry and more laundry. I finally got our huge pounding from State Convention put away, too. (We left the morning after Convention for this trip and there had just been no time.) That was quite a chore! It did make me clean out the pantry and reorganize, so that's a good thing. It is fairly BURSTING now. In fact, I'm still worried about the Powell's shelves in there! It's been two weeks now and nothing has come crashing down yet, so I'm hoping all is well. I tried to distribute the weight evenly and I stacked lots of cans on the floor. I still feel so overwhelmed and so blessed and so thankful every time I open the door. It's amazing. Aside from milk and eggs and lunch meat, I don't know if we've bought anything since Convention--we've got such an amazing selection of stuff in the pantry right now!
Along with the laundry and pounding-putting-away, I was determined to get the house CLEAN. I felt like I was just working in circles and those darling little imps of mine (ha!) were making messes faster than I could clean them. It drives me batty when I get something totally clean then walk through 10 minutes later and it's trashed again. Of course it's a testament to my failure to properly train my children, but I still would rather put the blame on them. ;-) The kitchen is the worst. Those crazy kids NEVER close cabinets or drawers. I can have everything sparkly clean... then a child will walk through the kitchen and when they come out the other end there will be 5 cabinet doors open, 2 drawers, the trash can pulled out, a loaf of bread laying open, an open jar of peanut butter, a dirty knife, a jug of milk on the counter and 8 dirty dishes scattered about. HOW DO THEY DO THAT?! More importantly, WHY do they do it??? There are times when things seem reasonably under control and then there are times (like lately) when they act like they have had no upbringing whatsoever and like they're in some pigly who-can-make-the-biggest-mess-the-fastest competition. By Saturday night I was near meltdown stage. I don't reach it very often, but it's a horrible condition that leaves a mother in a heap, crying tears of frustration about what a failure you are to be able to train your kids or care for your house, much less both. The kids (and James--ha!) could sense it and before long all of them were scurrying around picking things up all throughout the house and whispering little things like, "Quick--she's coming!" HA! I never actually had the meltdown, but judging by the reactions I got--and how quickly the house came together with 5 people working on it instead of 1 (while the others busy themselves making messes in other areas)--I'm thinking maybe I should come to near meltdown a little more often. ;-)
On Sunday I was the impromptu Sunday School teacher for the little guys. (Who ever thinks of appointing a 5th Sunday teacher? Brother Washburn will probably think of it now. Ha!) We went to the Chinese Buffet with a big crowd for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon driving about 70 miles to go check out about 10 more houses for sale--just to drive by and see if we liked the area and whatnot before we trouble Laura with taking us inside. We found two or three that we thought we might go look in sometime. By the next morning we had decided, Nah, we really weren't interested in any of them.
Monday was a clean, clean, clean day. Everything had been put away during the Saturday night almost-meltdown ;-) but there were things that needed some good scrubbing. I didn't get as far as I would have liked, but it felt GREAT to get all of the downstairs floors nice and shiny.
Tuesday was a total bust. I had intentions of finishing the house, upstairs floors and bathrooms and all. I had barely begun when James came into the room announcing that he thinks he has found THE house. It was a cedar-sided For Sale by Owner, pretty cheap, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, rock fireplace, boasted a large kitchen, on two acres with an x-rail fence around it, less than 5 miles from the church. So there went our day. ;-) He called and made arrangements with the lady to look at it at 5:00 that night.
Hhmmm. Seems like this blog is plenty long enough. I'll start a new one to finish the story. :-)
We had a great time at Sister Bishop's house. As always, the kids had to have a seed spitting contest with her. (She insists that it is "shooting" not "spitting" but as a witness to the event I have to disagree. It's spitting if ever I've seen it! Ha!) She made me promise not to post any pictures of her in her nightgown, so I'll just post a picture of her front porch at the tail end of the contest. This is after they'd already spit three times as many seeds the other direction and finally turned around and started spitting this way. I really can't tell who has more fun, the kids or Sister Bishop!
The next morning we went on a little sight seeing expedition with Sister Bishop. First, she took us to this beautiful stone Episcopal church. The workmanship is truly amazing. I was surprised at how few pictures I had taken, but here are just a few.
People who know me well know how I feel about organs (if anyone plays one at my funeral I'm coming back to hurt you. HA!), but I would have loved to have heard this one played. Look at those pipes! Amazing.
James and Katie behind the pulpit. Is it called a pulpit in places like that?
James checking out the strange castle sort of thing up front. There were hints of Catholicism of course and although it was really weird I didn't feel creeped out like I have in Catholic churches. Mostly it just felt empty and hollow. So formal and... well, just empty. Like the ceremony is so important and there's nothing alive and REAL about it. It just feels cold and dead there. So sad.
I did think this window was beautiful.
When we left the church we drove to... somewhere. (I never know where I am down here!) It wasn't rainy. Despite the dark cloud in the picture, it was hot and sunshiny--the umbrella was used as a parasol to give some relief.
I can't remember the name of it (though I remember it starts with a J... Jeanies? Jannes?), but this is a furnace that was used to make cannon balls during the war. Way cool.
Uh-oh, looks like somebody got caught trying to make a quick escape! (Read the sign.) ;-)
The kids enjoyed climbing the rock walls surrounding the furnace, but Katie got high enough that she could go no farther and had to climb back down to where her Dad could help her to the ground.
Rescued! (Look at her skirt--it's the one Mom made for her a few weeks ago. I love it!)
There was also a neat little museum there with all sorts of war-era artifacts. The boys loved seeing the old guns and musket balls and tomahawks. There was lots of neat stuff there--we enjoyed it.
Sister Bishop is one of the best and most natural teachers I've ever known. She is so knowledgeable about so many things and it's just built into her character to share what she knows with others. The whole time you're with her you feel like you're in school. Except it's fun. :-)
Not that this is the best example of the praise I just bestowed upon her (ha!), but here she's trying to teach Sam how to snap the tops off of some weed and make them "shoot."
Next stop was a nice little creek that she insisted had cold, cold water. I think it was called Coldwater Creek. We all went wading (except for James) and I had to laugh. It was a very, very hot day and the water did feel cool and wonderfully refreshing, but I dare say Sister Bishop has never waded in any truly COLD water. :-) I remember trying to wade in the little drainage creek that ran in front of the Cabin (my grandparents' house near Gunnison, Colorado). The first step would take your breath away and within 5 seconds your feet were throbbing with pain. If you made it 10 seconds they were completely numb, but a very painful sort of numb--and there was just no lasting beyond that or you'd end up with frostbite or something! Ha!
In any case, we had a great time wading and the water was so cool and just felt so, so good.
Next we drove to a dam (that I failed to take any pictures of) and heard all sorts of great stories along the way--fishing stories, baptismal stories, historic stories. We loved it. We finally headed back to Sister Bishop's house, loaded up our things, had a light lunch, then headed for home.
We stopped in Hoover and met with the Washburns and their son-in-law, Chris, for one of Sister Tammy's famous home cooked meals: Olive Garden! :-) It had been many months since we'd eaten there, so it was especially enjoyable--and the great company made it better yet. We were able to treat the Washburns this time. When we had a contract on a house a few months ago they took us out, as a celebration dinner. It fell through of course and then the offer we put on a different house wasn't accepted and we didn't have anything in the works, so we decided it was our turn to pay and we'd call it our de-celebration dinner. ;-)
We drove to McCalla and picked up Charlie from his new boarders (he seemed very well cared for and even smelled like he'd just had a bath--nice improvement from the last place!) and made it home at about 9:00. That was Thursday night.
Friday and Saturday were filled with laundry, laundry and more laundry. I finally got our huge pounding from State Convention put away, too. (We left the morning after Convention for this trip and there had just been no time.) That was quite a chore! It did make me clean out the pantry and reorganize, so that's a good thing. It is fairly BURSTING now. In fact, I'm still worried about the Powell's shelves in there! It's been two weeks now and nothing has come crashing down yet, so I'm hoping all is well. I tried to distribute the weight evenly and I stacked lots of cans on the floor. I still feel so overwhelmed and so blessed and so thankful every time I open the door. It's amazing. Aside from milk and eggs and lunch meat, I don't know if we've bought anything since Convention--we've got such an amazing selection of stuff in the pantry right now!
Along with the laundry and pounding-putting-away, I was determined to get the house CLEAN. I felt like I was just working in circles and those darling little imps of mine (ha!) were making messes faster than I could clean them. It drives me batty when I get something totally clean then walk through 10 minutes later and it's trashed again. Of course it's a testament to my failure to properly train my children, but I still would rather put the blame on them. ;-) The kitchen is the worst. Those crazy kids NEVER close cabinets or drawers. I can have everything sparkly clean... then a child will walk through the kitchen and when they come out the other end there will be 5 cabinet doors open, 2 drawers, the trash can pulled out, a loaf of bread laying open, an open jar of peanut butter, a dirty knife, a jug of milk on the counter and 8 dirty dishes scattered about. HOW DO THEY DO THAT?! More importantly, WHY do they do it??? There are times when things seem reasonably under control and then there are times (like lately) when they act like they have had no upbringing whatsoever and like they're in some pigly who-can-make-the-biggest-mess-the-fastest competition. By Saturday night I was near meltdown stage. I don't reach it very often, but it's a horrible condition that leaves a mother in a heap, crying tears of frustration about what a failure you are to be able to train your kids or care for your house, much less both. The kids (and James--ha!) could sense it and before long all of them were scurrying around picking things up all throughout the house and whispering little things like, "Quick--she's coming!" HA! I never actually had the meltdown, but judging by the reactions I got--and how quickly the house came together with 5 people working on it instead of 1 (while the others busy themselves making messes in other areas)--I'm thinking maybe I should come to near meltdown a little more often. ;-)
On Sunday I was the impromptu Sunday School teacher for the little guys. (Who ever thinks of appointing a 5th Sunday teacher? Brother Washburn will probably think of it now. Ha!) We went to the Chinese Buffet with a big crowd for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon driving about 70 miles to go check out about 10 more houses for sale--just to drive by and see if we liked the area and whatnot before we trouble Laura with taking us inside. We found two or three that we thought we might go look in sometime. By the next morning we had decided, Nah, we really weren't interested in any of them.
Monday was a clean, clean, clean day. Everything had been put away during the Saturday night almost-meltdown ;-) but there were things that needed some good scrubbing. I didn't get as far as I would have liked, but it felt GREAT to get all of the downstairs floors nice and shiny.
Tuesday was a total bust. I had intentions of finishing the house, upstairs floors and bathrooms and all. I had barely begun when James came into the room announcing that he thinks he has found THE house. It was a cedar-sided For Sale by Owner, pretty cheap, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, rock fireplace, boasted a large kitchen, on two acres with an x-rail fence around it, less than 5 miles from the church. So there went our day. ;-) He called and made arrangements with the lady to look at it at 5:00 that night.
Hhmmm. Seems like this blog is plenty long enough. I'll start a new one to finish the story. :-)
Friday, August 5, 2011
And Then...
To continue the story of our lives...
I can’t remember what time we got to Sister Bishop's house Wednesday afternoon. We hadn’t been there too long when she loaded us up (all except for James, who stayed home to rest and study) and we went in search of peaches. She drove us through downtown Anniston and shared lots of interesting history. We eventually did find some peaches--and a watermelon with yellow innards instead of red. Somehow it disturbs my children much more to call it watermelon "meat" than it does to say watermelon innards. Weird-o's. We got back to the house and made quick work of the stew and cornbread Sister Bishop had made for dinner. Then it was time to get ready for church. We had planned on going home from Atlanta instead of Anniston for the night, but Sister Bishop called and schnookered James into preaching there that night. I'm so glad she did. :-) He felt a little strange not having a suit to wear, but it didn't seem to hinder his preaching.
We had a good service, then had a nice, relaxing night at Sister Bishop's house. I took a shower to cool off (it was sooooo hot that day!) while Sister Bishop and the kids sat on the front porch playing instruments and serenading the neighbors. We split open the watermelon and the kids thought the yellow "innards" were great, especially because they yielded a plethora of the most gigantic seeds they'd ever seen--PERFECT for their traditional seed shooting contest with Sister Bishop. So before long they were all on the front porch spitting what seemed like hundreds of seeds all over the place. Crazy kids. And crazy lady!
After the kids went to bed we worked on the new WMB logo for a while, then I stayed up way too late trying to catch up on some e-mails. The next morning Sister Bishop prepared a fantastic breakfast for us. I can't even remember what all we had (it was a bunch!), but it was all delicious. Then we all headed out for a little sight seeing...
But that will have to wait until next time. I ran out of steam again. I hate being behind like this. I'll catch up some day. Probably just in time to leave for the Assembly and get behind again. :-)
Before I go, I'll go through and narrate all of the pictures I've spent all evening uploading. You know, the ones that belong with my LAST post. The pictures that go with THIS post will be in the NEXT one. I'm amazing that way. :-)
Here we are, riding the Marta--the subway sort of thing in Atlanta. Looks thrilling, doesn't it?
Did I mention this part of the museum in my last post??? At the end of it, just before you leave, there are all of these kiosks with Coca-Cola products from all over the world. You could sample as many as you liked. I can't remember how many there were total, but I think it was 60 or more. I felt it my duty to try every one. :-) You only live once, you know! Strangely enough, one of my very favorite ones was an apple flavored soda from China. It was fantastic!
I can’t remember what time we got to Sister Bishop's house Wednesday afternoon. We hadn’t been there too long when she loaded us up (all except for James, who stayed home to rest and study) and we went in search of peaches. She drove us through downtown Anniston and shared lots of interesting history. We eventually did find some peaches--and a watermelon with yellow innards instead of red. Somehow it disturbs my children much more to call it watermelon "meat" than it does to say watermelon innards. Weird-o's. We got back to the house and made quick work of the stew and cornbread Sister Bishop had made for dinner. Then it was time to get ready for church. We had planned on going home from Atlanta instead of Anniston for the night, but Sister Bishop called and schnookered James into preaching there that night. I'm so glad she did. :-) He felt a little strange not having a suit to wear, but it didn't seem to hinder his preaching.
We had a good service, then had a nice, relaxing night at Sister Bishop's house. I took a shower to cool off (it was sooooo hot that day!) while Sister Bishop and the kids sat on the front porch playing instruments and serenading the neighbors. We split open the watermelon and the kids thought the yellow "innards" were great, especially because they yielded a plethora of the most gigantic seeds they'd ever seen--PERFECT for their traditional seed shooting contest with Sister Bishop. So before long they were all on the front porch spitting what seemed like hundreds of seeds all over the place. Crazy kids. And crazy lady!
After the kids went to bed we worked on the new WMB logo for a while, then I stayed up way too late trying to catch up on some e-mails. The next morning Sister Bishop prepared a fantastic breakfast for us. I can't even remember what all we had (it was a bunch!), but it was all delicious. Then we all headed out for a little sight seeing...
But that will have to wait until next time. I ran out of steam again. I hate being behind like this. I'll catch up some day. Probably just in time to leave for the Assembly and get behind again. :-)
Before I go, I'll go through and narrate all of the pictures I've spent all evening uploading. You know, the ones that belong with my LAST post. The pictures that go with THIS post will be in the NEXT one. I'm amazing that way. :-)
Here we are, riding the Marta--the subway sort of thing in Atlanta. Looks thrilling, doesn't it?
And on the bus...
Finally at the aquarium. I had to take this picture because it reminded me of Joe screaming bloody murder at the Tennessee Aquarium a few years ago when he turned around and saw a scuba diver in one of the tanks. I'm not sure what was so terrifying, but he was firmly affixed to somebody's neck for the next several minutes. I'm glad he has gained control of himself since that time, at least to some degree. :-)
Petting the stingrays was the first thing we did and was the kids' favorite part of the entire aquarium. In fact, we went back again just before we left so they could do it again. It is pretty cool. And the rays actually seem to want to be petted--come right out of the water toward your hand sometimes.
James making friends with a lion fish...
Dad making use of the slide...
Katie posing with an albino alligator...
Okay, so the picture isn't exactly great. But I had to post it to remind me of one of the best parts of the day! We stood there for the longest time watching that one otter play with his little red ball and the other two wrestle and flop and flail all over the tank. Those are the greatest animals.
The tube! You stand on a moving walkway (which took Dad by surprise--ha!) and try to get cool pictures of all of the great fish. None of the pictures you REALLY want seem to turn out though. My favorite thing in the big tank was the huge manta rays. They had to be close to 15' across and they were just sooooo cool. But I didn't get a single picture of them worth sharing. Bummer.
There's Joe, taking pictures of it all...
Sister Krystal, I took this one for you. ;-) This is what we came to do, right???
There were four whale sharks in that tank. Very, very cool.
There seems to be no way to get a good picture through the glass, but I just love the colors of reef fish. Sooooo pretty.
Okay! Enter: Coca-Cola Museum!
I would LOVE to have some PJ pants like that... but the thought of somebody actually wearing them out and about in public just cracks me up. Oh, for the good 'ole days, I guess!
Check out this fancy-schmancy soda fountain. I've never seen anything like it before--it was so cool. If you look closely, you'll see some pretty good lookin' folks in the mirror up there, too.
I could drive one of those. :-)
There was so much neat stuff. Makes me wanna decorate a Coke kitchen again! Maybe some day.
This particular machine was amazing. It picked up dozens of bottles of Coke, inspected them, and performed several other varying functions, all quite quickly.
The Coca-Cola couch. Everybody needs one of those, right?!
We took this picture especially for Emily Wallace who advised, "Try the flavor 'Beverly.' You'll never be the same again!" She was right. ;-)
This is Katie, pointing out one of her favorite flavors.
Did I mention this part of the museum in my last post??? At the end of it, just before you leave, there are all of these kiosks with Coca-Cola products from all over the world. You could sample as many as you liked. I can't remember how many there were total, but I think it was 60 or more. I felt it my duty to try every one. :-) You only live once, you know! Strangely enough, one of my very favorite ones was an apple flavored soda from China. It was fantastic!
Beverly from Italy was not. Don't ever take advice from Emily Wallace. Some people just can't be trusted. ;-)
Just before you walk into the gift shop (which did NOT have any Coca-Cola socks--I was sorely disappointed... I should write a letter!) you get to take a coke off the belt that was made and bottled right there. It costs enough to visit this museum that it's only right for them to give you a "free" Coke at the end. The kids cracked theirs open the other day and I took a sip. It was one of the best I've ever had. Yum. :-)
And here we are taking the longest escalator known to man (or at least to us) down to the Marta at the end of the day.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Say It Isn't So!
Two weeks since I blogged???? That's CRAZY! There's no catching up, of course. But we all know I'll try anyway. ;-)
State Convention. Uummm... ;-) I've waited way too long to post about that (I can't remember things that happened that long ago!) AND failed to take even the one picture I had promised. I know that we had a GREAT Convention. It just felt good and solid and sound. It seemed like everything had such a nice coherent flow to it and there never seemed to be any opposing spirits of any kind. It was wonderful. The highlights for me personally included Sister Bishop's message on outward adornment (it was so, so, sooooo good--I wish she would have had or taken more time and not hurried so much!) and Dustin Warren's message on The Word of God. I don't think I've ever heard him preach before, but he did excellent. I couldn't help thinking while he was up there how much the western folks would enjoy having him out as Camp evangelist or guest speaker for some function. They would be blessed by his ministry and would get SUCH a kick out of just HIM. :-) I've thought how much they would enjoy Jeremy Wallace, too--either of those guys would be fantastic for Family Camp if it ever worked out. (Spread the word out there, westerners--got a couple of recommendations for you!)
We received the most ginormous pounding (along with a huge offering--I still feel so overwhelmed by it all!) and spent quite a while Sunday night hauling it all in and trying to arrange it on the table so we could take a picture of it.
We all (kids especially) were exhausted after Convention (the long drive really gets to you when you're having late nights coupled with early mornings!), but Monday morning we packed our things and hopped into the van to take a little trip. James had been looking forward to a mini family vacation and was ready to get out of town once he made it through Convention.
Our first stop was Best Buy in Hoover where we bought a new camera. Mine was 5 years old and getting more and more sluggish all the time. We’d been so pleased with it however that we opted to go for the newer version of the same thing. So I’ve got another Canon and I’m sure we’ll be very happy with it once I play around with it some more and figure out exactly what I’m doing with it.
We had a few other stops to make, including Charlie's new boarders up in McCalla. We also stopped by 2nd & Charles (the kids were thrilled to get some new comic books—Dilbert and Garfield, I think—for the trip), then on to Atlanta where we met up with Mom & Dad. That’s right, we took a vacation with Mom & Dad! How cool is that?!
That first night we just enjoyed a nice dinner together, then went to our motel rooms, visited a bit, then got some much needed sleep.
The next morning we drove downtown (how in the world did we ever get anywhere before the invention of the GPS?! Atlanta is a NIGHTMARE to navigate through!), ended up on Level 5 of a parking garage, walked down the stairs to the street (the elevator was at the far corner of the garage), then realized we had forgotten our tickets in the van. Guess who got to run up 4 flights of stairs to retrieve them. :-) After much discussion, we finally decided to take the Marta, a subway-type train thing that runs underground and above ground. We then took a bus (all unfamiliar experiences for us!) up to the Georgia Aquarium.
Once we finished at the aquarium it was lunch time, but the only thing nearby was a café that sold hot dogs and the like—for about $7 apiece. I just can’t pay $7 for a hot dog. We told the kids we’d make up for it later with a big dinner, but we were skipping lunch!
We then walked over to the Coca-Cola Museum. It was great. :-) I loved seeing all of the old, historic stuff and I wish there would have been more of it. In the “pop culture” room there was a video playing that recounted the history of when they introduced New Coke, replacing the original Coca-Cola formula in 1985. It was all vaguely familiar to me, but I was pretty young at the time and don’t remember a lot about it. Dad started filling me in on the rest of the story—how the public was irate and the company received hundreds of thousands of calls and letters expressing outrage and dissatisfaction—and demanding a reintroduction of Coca-Cola, the original formula. After only 77 days, the company did just that and sales spiked, leaving Pepsi in the dust. Pepsi, who had been claiming that the switch to New Coke proved that they had indeed won the “cola wars” after all these years, then started bellyaching that introducing New Coke and then restoring Coca-Cola Classic was all a marketing ploy rather than a genuine attempt to take the company in a new direction. The video was still playing and had caught up to Dad’s rendition, with a response from the CEO of Coca-Cola, but before he spoke the words Dad told me, “He said, ‘We’re not that dumb. And we’re not that smart.’” Then the video immediately echoed those same words and I was floored. I asked Dad if he had recently read something about it that sparked his memory. Nope. He’s never seen or heard anything about it since that time, but he remembered that statement from the CEO from 26 years ago!!! Incredible. THAT is where I get my genes. All the genes that enable me to remember silly and unimportant things from years and years ago, but which prevent me from remembering anything of significance in the present—all those genes come from Dad, obviously. :-)
Okay, so that was probably a bit too much Coke history to include in my person blog, but I’ve been a Coke fan for forever and found the whole story quite interesting. Besides, it’s my blog. ;-)
When we left the museum we wandered around trying to figure out which way to go to catch a bus to take us back to the Marta that would take us back to the parking garage where we could get the van. Mom was our navigator and in the end we walked a three or four blocks in the hot, humid sunshine (bleagh) and skipped the bus entirely, arriving and the Marta station. Along the way we narrowly escaped getting mugged. At least it’s possible that the guy would have mugged us. Dad’s $5 with a promise that it wouldn’t be spend on drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes was enough to satisfy the dude. Gotta love Atlanta.
By the time we rode the Marta back to where we’d come from, had a nice dinner, and got back to our motel it was about 4:00 and we all decided it was naptime. What a crazy thing to do on a vacation and at such a late hour in the day! But we were exhausted going in to this vacation and it just seemed like the right thing to do. And it felt sooooo good. :-)
We all piled into the van after an hour or two in search of some dessert. We wandered around until we landed at a Baskin Robbins. It ended up being the best decision ever because the cones were on sale for $1 apiece… so several of us went back for a second one! HA!
We went back to the hotel and played Catch Phrase. It was fun, though it freaks me out a little bit to think that my kids are old enough to play that game and actually be good at it. Well, one of them is really good at it, another is so-so, and then there’s Sam. He can’t read quickly and certainly not under pressure, so he just helps guess the answers—and he’s the best guesser of the bunch. It was fun and we laughed a LOT.
The next morning we slept in, then just hung around the hotel until it was time to load up. We all went to lunch together at this really neat and HUGE old diner called Varsity. There were mixed reviews on the food, ranging from “no good” to “great,” but we all agreed it was a really neat place and we were glad we went there.
From there we said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad. They headed back to Cleveland and we headed on to Anniston.
~whew~ That’s going to have to cut it for tonight. I intended to add it lots of pictures from the aquarium and Coke Museum, but it’s too late now and I’m too tired. And we’re going to look at the Quinncrest Monstrosity in the morning, so we’ve got to be up and about decently early. The Quinncrest Monstrosity is a house that we can’t believe we’re actually considering… yet we’re going to take a look inside it tomorrow. I’ll blog about that place one of these days, whether anything comes from it or not. That’s one you can look forward to. ;-) Until then, help us pray again for God’s will. The right house at the right time for the right price in the right location with the right setting and the right opportunities to minister and be hospitable… Those are the prayers of my heart. Not to be picky or anything… ;-)
State Convention. Uummm... ;-) I've waited way too long to post about that (I can't remember things that happened that long ago!) AND failed to take even the one picture I had promised. I know that we had a GREAT Convention. It just felt good and solid and sound. It seemed like everything had such a nice coherent flow to it and there never seemed to be any opposing spirits of any kind. It was wonderful. The highlights for me personally included Sister Bishop's message on outward adornment (it was so, so, sooooo good--I wish she would have had or taken more time and not hurried so much!) and Dustin Warren's message on The Word of God. I don't think I've ever heard him preach before, but he did excellent. I couldn't help thinking while he was up there how much the western folks would enjoy having him out as Camp evangelist or guest speaker for some function. They would be blessed by his ministry and would get SUCH a kick out of just HIM. :-) I've thought how much they would enjoy Jeremy Wallace, too--either of those guys would be fantastic for Family Camp if it ever worked out. (Spread the word out there, westerners--got a couple of recommendations for you!)
We received the most ginormous pounding (along with a huge offering--I still feel so overwhelmed by it all!) and spent quite a while Sunday night hauling it all in and trying to arrange it on the table so we could take a picture of it.
We all (kids especially) were exhausted after Convention (the long drive really gets to you when you're having late nights coupled with early mornings!), but Monday morning we packed our things and hopped into the van to take a little trip. James had been looking forward to a mini family vacation and was ready to get out of town once he made it through Convention.
Our first stop was Best Buy in Hoover where we bought a new camera. Mine was 5 years old and getting more and more sluggish all the time. We’d been so pleased with it however that we opted to go for the newer version of the same thing. So I’ve got another Canon and I’m sure we’ll be very happy with it once I play around with it some more and figure out exactly what I’m doing with it.
We had a few other stops to make, including Charlie's new boarders up in McCalla. We also stopped by 2nd & Charles (the kids were thrilled to get some new comic books—Dilbert and Garfield, I think—for the trip), then on to Atlanta where we met up with Mom & Dad. That’s right, we took a vacation with Mom & Dad! How cool is that?!
That first night we just enjoyed a nice dinner together, then went to our motel rooms, visited a bit, then got some much needed sleep.
The next morning we drove downtown (how in the world did we ever get anywhere before the invention of the GPS?! Atlanta is a NIGHTMARE to navigate through!), ended up on Level 5 of a parking garage, walked down the stairs to the street (the elevator was at the far corner of the garage), then realized we had forgotten our tickets in the van. Guess who got to run up 4 flights of stairs to retrieve them. :-) After much discussion, we finally decided to take the Marta, a subway-type train thing that runs underground and above ground. We then took a bus (all unfamiliar experiences for us!) up to the Georgia Aquarium.
Once we finished at the aquarium it was lunch time, but the only thing nearby was a café that sold hot dogs and the like—for about $7 apiece. I just can’t pay $7 for a hot dog. We told the kids we’d make up for it later with a big dinner, but we were skipping lunch!
We then walked over to the Coca-Cola Museum. It was great. :-) I loved seeing all of the old, historic stuff and I wish there would have been more of it. In the “pop culture” room there was a video playing that recounted the history of when they introduced New Coke, replacing the original Coca-Cola formula in 1985. It was all vaguely familiar to me, but I was pretty young at the time and don’t remember a lot about it. Dad started filling me in on the rest of the story—how the public was irate and the company received hundreds of thousands of calls and letters expressing outrage and dissatisfaction—and demanding a reintroduction of Coca-Cola, the original formula. After only 77 days, the company did just that and sales spiked, leaving Pepsi in the dust. Pepsi, who had been claiming that the switch to New Coke proved that they had indeed won the “cola wars” after all these years, then started bellyaching that introducing New Coke and then restoring Coca-Cola Classic was all a marketing ploy rather than a genuine attempt to take the company in a new direction. The video was still playing and had caught up to Dad’s rendition, with a response from the CEO of Coca-Cola, but before he spoke the words Dad told me, “He said, ‘We’re not that dumb. And we’re not that smart.’” Then the video immediately echoed those same words and I was floored. I asked Dad if he had recently read something about it that sparked his memory. Nope. He’s never seen or heard anything about it since that time, but he remembered that statement from the CEO from 26 years ago!!! Incredible. THAT is where I get my genes. All the genes that enable me to remember silly and unimportant things from years and years ago, but which prevent me from remembering anything of significance in the present—all those genes come from Dad, obviously. :-)
Okay, so that was probably a bit too much Coke history to include in my person blog, but I’ve been a Coke fan for forever and found the whole story quite interesting. Besides, it’s my blog. ;-)
When we left the museum we wandered around trying to figure out which way to go to catch a bus to take us back to the Marta that would take us back to the parking garage where we could get the van. Mom was our navigator and in the end we walked a three or four blocks in the hot, humid sunshine (bleagh) and skipped the bus entirely, arriving and the Marta station. Along the way we narrowly escaped getting mugged. At least it’s possible that the guy would have mugged us. Dad’s $5 with a promise that it wouldn’t be spend on drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes was enough to satisfy the dude. Gotta love Atlanta.
By the time we rode the Marta back to where we’d come from, had a nice dinner, and got back to our motel it was about 4:00 and we all decided it was naptime. What a crazy thing to do on a vacation and at such a late hour in the day! But we were exhausted going in to this vacation and it just seemed like the right thing to do. And it felt sooooo good. :-)
We all piled into the van after an hour or two in search of some dessert. We wandered around until we landed at a Baskin Robbins. It ended up being the best decision ever because the cones were on sale for $1 apiece… so several of us went back for a second one! HA!
We went back to the hotel and played Catch Phrase. It was fun, though it freaks me out a little bit to think that my kids are old enough to play that game and actually be good at it. Well, one of them is really good at it, another is so-so, and then there’s Sam. He can’t read quickly and certainly not under pressure, so he just helps guess the answers—and he’s the best guesser of the bunch. It was fun and we laughed a LOT.
The next morning we slept in, then just hung around the hotel until it was time to load up. We all went to lunch together at this really neat and HUGE old diner called Varsity. There were mixed reviews on the food, ranging from “no good” to “great,” but we all agreed it was a really neat place and we were glad we went there.
From there we said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad. They headed back to Cleveland and we headed on to Anniston.
~whew~ That’s going to have to cut it for tonight. I intended to add it lots of pictures from the aquarium and Coke Museum, but it’s too late now and I’m too tired. And we’re going to look at the Quinncrest Monstrosity in the morning, so we’ve got to be up and about decently early. The Quinncrest Monstrosity is a house that we can’t believe we’re actually considering… yet we’re going to take a look inside it tomorrow. I’ll blog about that place one of these days, whether anything comes from it or not. That’s one you can look forward to. ;-) Until then, help us pray again for God’s will. The right house at the right time for the right price in the right location with the right setting and the right opportunities to minister and be hospitable… Those are the prayers of my heart. Not to be picky or anything… ;-)
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