Who was I kidding? The Shulers are here. Why in the world would I take time to blog??? I'm only here right now because the guys are gone to the Powells' house with James. They'll be back any time now and we'll eat the taco soup I made for Men's Retreat (bad planning--I'll have to make more tomorrow so there'll be enough to send up there!) and then... who knows. If it's anything like this morning it will be an all-out war with the dart and disc guns. Uncle Colin and Sam sleuthed around the circle (living room / dining room / kitchen / back to living room) at Sister Fender's house this morning chasing one another and blasting away. With Joe and Jacob and Philip in the mix it was pretty chaotic for a while. It fills me with pride to know that we'll be leaving our mark on not only the Powells' house, but Sister Fender's as well. They'll probably still be finding darts and discs a year from now! We've searched high and low to locate them all, but you never find them ALL. At the Powell's house there is a dart in EACH of the way-up-high light fixtures. I have NO IDEA how to get up there (matching the no-desire element) so I think I'll leave them there to remember us by. I did manage to peel the red, sticky alien off of the dining room ceiling last week. And the boys hung precariously through the railing in the loft (I didn't know about it--they told me later) to reach miscellaneous objects that had made their way into the light fixture in that room. Good boys. Good, reckless boys. I'm glad I didn't know about it. I wouldn't have been able to watch.
I can't remember enough to play catch-up right now and have no notes (I did write a few things down in a notebook, right??? Where IS that notebook?), so we'll just pick things up at the beginning of this week and try to fill in the holes later.
On Sunday I had three boys in my Sunday School class: Zack, Devon, and Jackson. Sam graduated to the junior class when he turned 8 last November. He's doing amazingly well in there from what I hear. I was a little worried about it, but he's doing great and seems to have been so much better behaved on the whole since then. Like he's growing up or something horrible like that. I'm enjoying certain aspects of it, but really bothered by the idea in general!
We had some shopping to do so we headed to Hoover after service. We ended up at Johnny Rocket's for lunch, enjoying the food, service, and atmosphere, but shocked and appalled and the prices. That last part happened too late. Then we did our shopping before going to the Monstrosity to load up our laundry and a few things to take back to the Powells' house. It's ironic that the "few things" FILLED the back of the van with stuff to take to the Powells' house so that we could move everything out of the Powells' house.
Ah yes, while we were out shopping Mom called... FROM ISRAEL!!! It's sooooo crazy. It just baffles my mind to think of my parents being in Israel--and on their way to Turkey and India! WILD. It sounds like they were already having a GREAT trip and so overwhelmed at the thought of being so many places that Jesus walked while here in the flesh--as well as Elijah and Solomon and Paul and so many others. SO COOL. I can't wait to see all of the pictures and hear all about it when they get home. That's if they survive the last half of the trip. Ha! They'll be visiting with Brother Jones and his daughter while in Turkey (our only members there), then going on to the National Convention in India, a not-so-friendly place where everybody who visits gets super sick. Say a prayer for them, please. God is more than able to break the have-to-get-sick-there rule. :-)
We went home to Brierfield that night so I could spend Monday and Tuesday beginning the big pack-up-and-move-out project at the Powells' house. I sorted through all of the boys' clothes and came up with plenty that they've outgrown to donate. Sam spent a couple of hours packing up all of their other belongings. He is SUCH an amazing help with stuff like that. He does a terrific job, works long and hard with no breaks, and doesn't ask questions--just sees what needs done and does it. I love that kid. :-) I managed to do 5 loads of laundry that day, clean out the front closet, under the kitchen sink and under the utility sink--and return all of the Powells' things (I hope) that belong in those places.
UPDATE: The guys just got back from Brierfield with three darts. Apparently Jacob CRAWLED OUT ON THE BEAM to retrieve the dart from the light fixture nearest the front door. THEN went to get a ladder (from where? I don't remember seeing one that tall anywhere!) for the second dart. Just like a teenager. One thing is for sure... you have to have a camera ready every moment when those boys are around. Too bad I hadn't sent it with James. I'm not sure where they found the third dart. Right now they're sticking all over Siste Fender's TV screen. The guys have also put on quite a show with all of the fun goblets they found in the kitchen.
Okay, it's now way, way too late and James and I are still sitting here with Jake and Phil. My sides hurt from laughing. I just love these boys. If they ever go off the road, I want them to move in with us. If only. :-) Anyway, I'll finish catching up THIS week...
I packed. I cleaned. James found a bedroom set for Joe on Craigslist. Katie baked up a storm--chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and a cake. We filled the truck with boxes of stuff and James dropped it off at the Monstrosity on his way up to Sister Pruitt's funeral (she passed away Sunday), then I stuffed the van snake-in-a-can style and unloaded up there the next day. The Shuler men got here at 6:00 last night, about 30 hours after leaving Arizona. They pretty much crashed once they arrived. Today we took them to the Monstrosity and Uncle Colin inspected our plumbing while the kids showed the boys around. Then James took the Shuler three and headed to Brierfield to get what he needed for Men's Retreat (and risk life and limb to remove darts from light fixtures) while the kids and I went back to Sister Fender's house to clean some things up and make the soup. And we've spent the rest of the evening just hanging with the Shulers--something I could do every night. :-) Unfortunately, it's nearly 2:00am now and I don't have time or energy to upload pictures or videos. Maybe some day. :-)
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2 comments:
And here's your Mom at the airport in Tel Aviv with free Internet. Bizarre, huh?
So neat to hear about your fun with the Shulers. There's never a dull moment with them around, for sure! And I'm sure they're teaching your kids all sorts of things that will no doubt get them in trouble. ;-)
We are in Tel Aviv awaiting our flight to Istanbul, Turkey. From there we will catch a flight to Dalaman, Turkey. Brother Jones will meet us at the airport and we will drive a couple of hours to where he lives. We will have church services and classes with him Saturday and Sunday, then on Monday we will take him and his daughter to Ephesus. The tour company Mike works for has set us up with a tour guide in Ephesus to show us around. Ephesus is about a 3 hour drive from where Brother Jones lives. Brother Jones has never been there so it will be our pleasure to treat him and his family to the tour. I'm excited about the next few days! We leave for India next Tuesday. That's when the prayers need to really kick in. ;-) I feel confident the Lord is already there waiting for us. We want to be faithful servants and do His bidding. What an honor and privilege to serve the most Holy God! Amen!
Those boys are like nailing jello to a tree. :-) Ha!
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