Recovery Post

Just to cover what's gone on the past several days. Before all of the really exciting stuff begins. :-)

Tuesday was a BIG productive day! I painted Katie’s walls black. Yes, you read that right. Black. B-L-A-C-K. Black is a very scary color. At least on a wall. Who ever heard of painting walls black anyway?! But it simply had to be done. It’s what was needed to make this soon-to-be-Coca-Cola room just right. Still, I gasped just about every time I’d make a swipe with the brush or roller and see BLACK paint spread across the wall! We had enough trim from some other project, so we went ahead and painted it white. It will one day separate the red and white striped wallpaper from the black wall beneath, but for now this is what it looks like.




It took two coats of black to cover well. Then I got out the blah brown color and painted the top half of Joe’s room and the bottom half of the upstairs foyer. I didn’t take any pictures because… well, because it’s just blah brown. It will look great once we get the wallpapers up in those rooms, but until then it’s just not anything grand. The thing that IS truly grand is that I am now FINISHED painting upstairs! I mean, there will still be trim and bathroom cabinets and things like that, but the WALLS are finished. WA-HOOOOO! That is soooooo exciting to me! It means that we CAN put carpet in whenever we need do, though there are lots of other things we’d LIKE to get done first.

Wednesday was spent mostly helping the kids with school. We are trying to finish up this year’s SoS. Joe is SOOOOO close (4 lessons and 1 test) and Katie is getting there, but we didn’t get it done before the trip. Oh well. It’s not going anywhere. We can finish after BTI. I did finally go upstairs to work for an hour or two, but accomplished very little.

James preached at church that night. I love hearing him preach. :-) After service we went out with the crowd—since I’ll be gone for two weeks. I’M SO GLAD I’M GOING TO BE GONE FOR TWO WEEKS!!! :-) The only thing I really remember about the outting is the conversations about Sister Tammy’s severe aversion to poodles. She is deeply scarred by some childhood experiences and it has caused some definite emotional imbalances. Unfortunately she seems to find relief in taking it out on sweet, loveable little dogs—especially poodles—instead of truly recovering from the trauma. HA!

Thursday I worked long and hard in Sam’s room… but at the end of the day I had only finished HALF of the room. You see, I’m trying this crazy thing up there where you rip up brown craft paper (like paper bags), crinkle it up, then glue it in overlaying patches all over the wall. It’s supposed to look a little like suede or leather or something and I thought it would be really cool for a western room. So far it just looks like paper bags all over the wall. HA! I like how it’s turning out and I think it will be neat with the cowboy stuff all over it, but it is definitely taking longer than I expected. I like it, but I’m pretty sure it’s not worth the time invested! Still, it’s a fun job. Like a giant paper mache. It’s like 1st Grade art class happening all over your walls. Fun. :-)



We had ladies’ prayer meeting that night. It was just Sister Ridlespurge and I, but I really enjoyed and needed it. I’m so blessed.

After that the Ridlespurges came by to visit (I basically told her that they had to—ha!) for a little while before my two week departure. They were gracious about the room with the paper bags glued all over the wall. ;-)

I had decided by the end of that day that I simply was NOT going back to Sam’s room again until after BTI. I originally had every intention of finishing that room before my trip, but I have been working sooooo hard on the house and I could feel my body just sort of fizzle out Thursday night and say, “Nope. We’re done for a while.” It was a good decision. :-) I spent the whole of Friday getting all caught up on the laundry and ironing, then packing for the kids and myself for two weeks. It’s amazing how much STUFF you have to take to BTI, even when you’re not attending!

Saturday morning we worked on getting the last of our things loaded up, then spent an hour or two cleaning house—putting things away, scrubbing the kitchen, sorting piles of stuff, vacuuming carpets and swiffering wood floors. We got everything looking nice and spiffy at about noon—right on schedule. We grabbed a bite to eat, then said our goodbyes to James before going to pick up Kody, who was riding up to Mom & Dad’s house with us. We had a happy and uneventful trip. I was sure to make Kody and the kids play the “I’m Going on a Trip” game. I told them it wouldn’t be a proper BTI trip unless we did. Of course, when I attended BTI we had to drive two days to get there, not three hours. Still, I made them suffer through to the very end of the game, the bunch of gripers. ;-)

We got in at about 5:00 and started unloading. Of course, Joe immediately started fishing. We got everything moved in, then I helped Mom make Sloppy Joes for dinner (they are soooooo much better with deer meat—yum!) and we were joined by Chris Thompson and Aaron Brooks. Tomorrow the rest of the crowd will come in: Chris Clarkson, Kim (Clark) Edmunds and her daughter Sarah, two Baldwin boys from Virginia, and the Hays family. That makes 17 of us staying in the house (Mom & Dad are in the trailer) for the two weeks of BTI. How fun. :-) I guess I should clarify since I’ve never mentioned it on here before… I have come to spend the two weeks here at Mom & Dad’s house so I can watch Sister Kim’s daughter and the Hays’ kids so they’ll all be able to attend BTI this year. Actually, that’s the excuse. Babysitting was my ticket to get to come BE HERE during BTI and I am soooooooo excited!!! Ha! I won’t be AT BTI during the days (unless I load up the 7 kids and take them in for lunch there a day or two), but I’ll be able to be involved in all of the weekend services and be here WITH some of the BTI people—and that’s close enough to make me very, very happy. And I’m thrilled to be able to watch the kids so Jamey and Kim can go. BTI is one of the bestest things EVER and everybody ought to be able to go to it one way or another. ~sigh~ I’m so happy to be here. :-)

Anyway, after dinner Sam caught two fish, one very large bass.



He and Katie got in the hot tub for a while, they played with all of the neighbor dogs, Sam caught a frog—Kody caught another and hurled it into the middle of the pond—I helped Mom with dishes and then tried to head to bed at a decent hour. I wanted to start the two weeks off with one good night’s sleep. It might be the only one I see. ;-)

NOTE: I wrote all of the above last night, but just now had a chance to post it. I am at General Headquarters. With BTI people. And I am ECSTATIC!!!!!!! Oh, I can't BEGIN to express how happy-happy-happy-happy-happy I am to be here! I have loved seeing all of the folks coming in to register and feeling the excitement. There is just NOTHING like BTI. It will be mildly painful for me to stay at the house with 7 kids while everybody else leaves to go to school each day, but I will still be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful to just BE HERE and be able to be with the PEOPLE and take part in the SERVICES. ~sigh~ I belong here. That's all there is to it. I am a BTI person, and I belong at BTI. It's in my blood or something. I can't thank God and James enough for letting me come!!! :-)

I hope it's only mildly painful to stay home each day... ;-)