Half-Bath

I'm too tired to actually blog tonight, but since I've been such a horrible failure at this lately I thought I'd at least throw a couple of pictures up here before falling into bed tonight. I haven't been taking any notes and therefore have no idea what we've been up to in the past week anyway. So I'll just post pictures. :-)

As of tonight we finally have a second bathroom! WA-HOOOOO!!!! I can't begin to express how excited I am about this, for multiple reasons. First of all, it will obviously be sooooo much easier for five people to share two bathrooms than just one, especially when getting ready for church. It will also be wonderful that the kids no longer need to come bursting through our bedroom in the middle of the night to get to the bathroom--they can use the new one instead. (If they're coherent enough to remember there's a second bathroom, that is.) It's also very exciting because, while this is the "public" bathroom on the main floor that will be used by folks when we have people over for dinner and such, it will be better known as MY bathroom. I love my husband dearly. But I don't like to share my bathroom with him. Ha! We got real spoiled at the Powell's house because they had a full master bath with another sink, mirror and vanity just outside--sort of in between the bedroom and bathroom. My half-bath is just a few steps from our bedroom and I've already moved all of my stuff in there. I'm soooooo excited!!!

Our master bath is really nice and I like it, but MY bathroom has some things going for it that the other is entirely without. First of all, it's blue and yellow. Can you say happy?! Blue and yellow just makes me happy. It's fresh, clean, bright, and cheery! Besides the color combination that I LOVE for a bathroom, it also has three other things I think are terrific just about anywhere:

* Plaid * Denim * Wood

Oh, and one last thing that makes it better yet...

It's MINE.

Does that sound selfish?! You're welcome to use it if you come visit--I promise! ;-)

P.S. -- The new Blogger is WAY wonky and it's going to take me some time to figure out how to format things here! Why do they have to go and change stuff that was fine before? I don't handle change well. Unless it comes by way of a nasty bathroom with African animals on a wallpaper boarder transforming into a fantastically fun and happy blue and yellow bathroom. I like THAT kind of change. :-)

My Mantel!

And better yet--my mantel clock! They both belonged to my Grandmother and are among a small number of possessions that I actually treasure, right D.T.? ;-)

(By the way, I just looked it up and "mantel" really is the proper spelling--regardless of how weird it looks to me and perhaps you!)

The Monstrosity has no fireplace, so it created quite a little dilemma for Grandmother's mantel. James insisted it would look stupid in the living room since there is no fireplace, but I couldn't get used to the thought of it sitting in the corner of the garage for the next ??? years that we live in this house. So I did some thinking and Googling (what else!) and found that mantels can be used to make really neat and unusual headboards for twin beds and also can be converted into shelf/display pieces. Since we weren't planning on a bed in the living room ;-) we worked out the following:



I think it's terrific! I have plans for that big blank space above the houses on the lower shelf and I'm sure there will be some adjusting of things on top of the mantel (the clock stays put, but everything else is subject to change), but for now this is what we've got. We painted an extra panel of bead board black as well as a couple of shelves, but we were able to piece everything together quickly and easily and without any actual changes or alterations to the mantel itself. A little while ago I wound up the clock and prayed that it would work (!) and ~voila~ I'm listening to it tic right now and every quarter hour it chimes beautifully. :-) I sooooo love this clock. I find most chiming clocks annoying (they sound tinny and sharp instead of having round, rich tones like Grandmother's does), but this is the one I used to listen to all night long on Christmas Eve, sleeping on the floor in the living room at the Cabin, anxiously awaiting 5:00 (or sometimes earlier) when we were allowed to get up. So many great memories of Grandmother and Granddad and all the time I spent there with them. The clock brings it all back and I'm so thankful to have it. It's a beautiful reminder of two of the most important people God placed in my life. How blessed I am to have known them.

That was the most exciting accomplishment of the day by far, but not the only one. We finally trimmed our bedroom and the bathroom and James got some more done around the floor in the kitchen, too. Wa-Hoo! Progress. I like progress. I have lots of touch-up painting to do on this floor, but not has much as I used to think. Now there's lots of furniture covering up places that should be touched-up, so I don't have to do those spots--they're already covered. HA! There was a day when I would have died before leaving things undone because they're "hidden" at present, but we are learning better all the time that we've just got to choose our battles in this Monstrosity! Maybe some day, when the house is all finished and we're fully settled upstairs and down, and I'm doing some deep cleaning and pulling everything away from the walls... maybe I'll do some touch-up painting then. But for now, I'll only worry about what I can see. :-)

Katie and Sam have been getting along great for the past few days. With Joe gone they've got nobody but each other so they've been finding ways to just make it work, I guess! Somehow it seems like it's really good for everybody involved when one kid is able to take a little vacation. I'm sooooo happy that Joe has been able to have some all-alone time with my folks. It sounds like he's been able to spend lots of time and have lots of adventures with his Granddad this week and it makes me so happy! (Though Grandma is the one who pulled out the pearl handled Colt .45 and shot the turtle out of the water--doesn't that create a great mental image for you?! HA!) And it's good for Katie and Sam to have some special time with just each other. It's good for James and me because it makes us miss and appreciate Joe more. And it's good for the Grandparents for all of the obvious reasons. Katie had her week up there, now it's Joe's turn. I would say that Sam is next if he would actually consider going, but for now he still refers to it as Alcatraz and insists he has no desire at all to make a solo trip there. HA! One of these days he'll change his mind and give it a try--and love it, no doubt.

Sam has been building some amazing forts in the basement. Stores and motels and who-knows what all. Katie has opened and closed several businesses in the past week but managed to bring in a little profit for herself before each one crashed. I found a story tonight that Joe wrote last week entitled "The Wok Mess Monster." Ha! The title cracks me up--he is so clever. :-) The storyline is very much like The Blob, except it takes place mostly in (as you may have guessed) a Chinese restaurant. :-)

And that's all the news from around here. Oh wait--we had another home cooked meal by Katie tonight! Tuna noodle casserole, peas, and corn. :-) I'm sure I'll enjoy cooking one of these days, too, but Katie was all excited and wrote out a menu and list of ingredients for three meals a few days ago. She's got one more to go, then maybe I'll get a turn. Though I must say it's been a wonderful blessing that my daughter is old enough to be able to handle some things in the kitchen all by herself. It means James and I can keep working on the house and yet our family still ends up with a good, hot, home cooked meal! How blessed we are. Katie is a good girl and a big, big help to her mama. I love her tons. :-)

Kitchen Pictures!

It's been a good and productive day around here today. I like that kind. :-)

Today was the day that I FINALLY got the dining room all cleaned up. It had become the catch-all (along with the foyer and utility room!) for all of the boxes and STUFF while we've been unpacking and moving in on the main floor. The kitchen counter had suffered horribly too, collecting all manner of odds and ends. But today I finally got it all sorted through and cleaned up and, along with Katie and Sam's help, I got all of the trash hauled out, the boxes flatted and moved out to the carport, and the things we didn't end up needing or using boxed up and taken back to the garage. Once all of that was done I was able to CLEAN the dining room and kitchen, floor and all. ~Aaaaahhhhh~ What a great feeling!!! It just looks so, so, so good! It looks like MY HOUSE. I have loved the past year+ and all of the great memories that we will always carry with us from it, but I can't tell you how good it feels to start feeling AT HOME--my very own home--again.

AND...

Today was a monumental day. Over the past few days we've enjoyed a few Totino's pizzas, a pot pie, some soup, some Ramen... but now that the kitchen is all cleaned up and put back together we were able to enjoy our VERY FIRST HOMECOOKED MEAL in our very own house, from our very own WORKING oven!!! Wa-Hooooo!!!!!

Katie had asked if SHE could please cook the first meal. :-) So today she made a tasty lasagna and a delicious homemade apple pie. It was all sooooo good! And it just felt soooooo good to be eating REAL food. From my very own kitchen. ~Aaahhh~ Life is grand! We are all so, so, sooooo thankful! The only really sad thing is that Joe wasn't here to enjoy it! Of the whole family, HE is the one who's been DYING for us to get set up with a functional kitchen and working stove so we could start having home cooked meals again... and he missed it! Poor Joe. At least we know he's eating nice home cooked meals at Grandma Vicki's house this week.

Anyway, the first home cooked meal had to be properly documented:


Notice the big blank walls in there?! Ha! I have NOTHING to go on them and they just look so bare. Someday we'll fix that. I would LOVE to go with the idea that Sister Krystal showed me a picture of a while back--an old paned window with shutters on either side of it. We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled to see what we come across.

Here is the hutch--with DISHES in it, for the first time ever! (Or at least since we bought it from the dude in Albuquerque.)

And for Mom. She's been dying for kitchen pictures, but I never can remember why. I know I've posted some pictures and I can't think of what's different since the last time, though she has told me time and again. The only thing I know of for sure is that the beautiful white double oven actually WORKS now, but it looks just the same in the picture. ;-) Anyway, here you go, Mom. --Oh, I still haven't had a chance to make more hooks yet. That's why there are only three pots hanging from the pot rack. HA! There will be lots more one of these days, I assure you. :-)

I did find a few things to hang on the other wall in the kitchen and it feels so good to have SOMETHING up there.

And my little desk nook. I love it. :-) I love to keep my oatmeal and beans and spaghetti and macaroni noodles in glass jars on a shelf where I can see them.
After our scrumptious dinner we got the kitchen all cleaned up, then split up into our respective rooms. James went to spend the evening in his office doing... I don't know--office stuff, I guess! Katie came to the utility room with me to help me iron. We put on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (I hadn't seen it in many years and Katie LOVED it--I knew she would) and got lots done, though I still can't tell that the pile has gone down much. Maybe if we do this every night this week we'll finally get caught up! Pitiful. Anyway, Sam wasn't much interested in cramming into the utility room with us to watch a girl movie (!), so we let him watch Courageous in the other room. A good night for all, I'd say.

And then I even blogged. :-)

What a great day this has been. The house is looking better all the time and feeling more and more like home. Though it's still rather lonely without a little furball growling at us like intruders every time we come home and a thousand other things that we miss about Charlie. Still, we're doing well overall. Staying busy helps us all to stay happier. We're so blessed and we know it. God is good to us. :-)

The Stove Story

I've long wanted a double oven, but they are soooooo expensive. If you find one on a super-duper sale for anywhere under $1,000 you're doing really, really good. But that is sooooo much money! I just mentioned it to the Lord, but knew it wasn't important enough to really agonize over. ;-) We found one on Craigslist for $300--and it was even white. WOWZERS. When we went to look at it, it was in a storage unit so there was no way to test anything, but it looked to be in really good shape with only a few minor dings. The inside of the ovens looks practically brand new. Dude told us it was about 3 years old. I had already spoken with an appliance repair guy and he told me WORST CASE scenario to get it fixed if it had big, bad, ugly problems would be $450, putting our total at $750. Still a lot of money, but a good price for a double oven.

We bought it, in hopes that we wouldn't encounter worst case scenario. :-)

When we got it home and plugged it in it started speaking French and beeping continuously--wouldn't respond to any of the buttons at all. This was worst case scenario. :-/ The computer was just fried. No fixing it; it needed replaced. The piece alone cost $300+ dollars. ~sigh~

We called an appliance repair man who shall hereafter be referred to as Stove Guy simply because Dirty Rotten Crook doesn't sound very gracious. ;-) He came and looked at the stove, told us we needed a new touchpad and computer board (it's one piece), took $150 (half of the price of the part he needed to order)... and disappeared. About the day he had told us the parts would arrive is when he stopped calling us and stopped answering any of our phone calls--until I would call from a different phone number. THEN he'd answer and be full of excuses:

"Sorry I didn't come this morning like I said--I lost my keys and..."

"Yes, Ma'am--I should have called and told you--I stepped on a nail last night and spent a few hours in the Emergency Room..."

I was already thinking that this guy is either a liar, or he's got really, really bad luck. The clincher though:

"I can't come tonight because I've got to drive to Hunstville and pick up my fiance from the airport."

To which I replied, "Wait a minute... didn't you tell me you drove to Hunstville yesterday to pick her up???"

He then told me that the weather was really bad in Oregon and her flight had been cancelled the day before, so he was driving up again to get her when her new flight arrived... completely forgetting that he hadn't just told me he was going to pick her up, his actual words the previous day had been, "Yeah, I just picked her up and we're headed back to Birmingham now..." Hahahahahaha! It wasn't worth arguing with him--he was obviously a chronic liar.

It was THEN that we got wise and started trying to look up reviews on the Internet. You guessed it--there were SEVERAL of them, all saying the same thing. "The jerk took my money and ran--he won't answer or return my calls. I'm calling the cops!" Of course there were two posted that were just praising how honest and efficient the guy was... but of which had been posted that very week, obviously by Dirty Rotten Cr--I mean Stove Guy himself. ;-) I KNOW how he'd been treating his customers that week, so there's no doubt about the fact that it wasn't a true customer writing anything complimentary. ~sigh~ Live and learn. We obviously got burned.

I was going to call him and tell him that I was going to call the cops on him... but before I made the call I had a change of heart. I certainly wanted to have a working stove and I certainly did want my money back, but he has a SOUL and that is sooooo much more important than my stove or money. I finally decided that I was going to call and talk to him about his soul and how God loves him and wants to save him. I knew he wouldn't answer my call because I was out of new phone numbers to use (!), so I was all prepared to leave a message on his voice mail telling him everything I thought I should tell him about how to get saved and why he needed to.

I called him up... and got a message saying his voice mailbox was full. Hahahahahaha! OF COURSE it's full--of complaints, no doubt!!! So I took that as my answer from God to just let it go.

A few minutes later, Stove Guy CALLED ME BACK. Whoa!!! That hadn't happened in a couple of weeks! He called and told me that he was going to send my money back. I was SO unprepared for him to actually call me and it totally threw me off my game. I completely forgot about my little salvation speech, just stammered a "thank you" and managed to think to tell him that I was praying for him before he hung up.

I didn't actually believe that he'd send the money back, it it's always good to hope, right? :-)

He didn't.

It's been nearly two weeks since then. James and I decided that it was only right to call the police and report the dude. But I also felt it was only right that I inform the guy that I was going to have to do that. Talk about an awkward phone call! He didn't answer when I called this morning, of course, but he did call me back a few minutes later. He had some great excuses this time about an ex-girlfriend who's in a coma and whose kidneys are failing because she took too many children's Tylonol after having cancer, etc. I then thought how very sad it would be if it really was a true story. Sad because of the situation itself, but also sad because I had no reason to believe that such a person even exists and couldn't even muster a sincere prayer. How sad to be a liar and have everything you say doubted, even if you're telling the truth! ANYWAY, he insisted that he will put a check for $150 in the mail today and I told him that I would really like to believe that, but...! I told him I wouldn't call the police until after I'd checked the mail on Wednesday. I kept praying for God to give me wisdom and an opportunity to talk to the guy about his sould, but he rarely gives you a chance to say ANYTHING and I never did get to address the subject. I have prayed for him several times though, asking God to send somebody who can make him shush and listen (!) or somehow prick his heart and help him to search out the truth and find God.

ANYWAY...

In the meantime...

I called Maytag about two weeks ago, when I finally gave up on Stove Guy ever showing up to fix my oven or give my money back. Upon doing some investigation we discovered that this stove is 10 years old, not 3 years old. I'm good at finding liars, it seems. ;-) I couldn't believe it--this stove looks soooooo nice and like the ovens have just barely been used at all. I was disappointed and a little embarrassed to fine out it was so old. But then I also found out that it had a recall on it. Good news? Bad news? We received the parts in the mail last week and opened the box to discover some pieces of venting that needed replaced AND the entire computer/touchpad that was shot! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!! The repair guy (a real one, not a crook) showed up the next day and fixed the oven for us--all free of charge--meaning all we had to do was hook it up to gas and we'd be rarin' to go. God is soooooo good and soooooo merciful!

Having never had a gas oven before and having never done anything with gas lines we were a little bit nervous, but didn't want to pay a plumber $100 to do a 15 minute job. We bought the kit, shut the gas off, hooked it all up, checked for leaks... but kept thinking we were smelling gas. James and the boys left for Cleveland immediately afterward (I had really pushed to get the stove hooked up so we could have a pizza party while they were gone--ha!), leaving him to worry if we'd all be gassed to death while he was away. :-/ Even worse, Katie had arranged for Katie Farr to spend the night, so we were putting her life in peril, too. (Not really--if I REALLY THOUGHT anyone was in peril I never would have brought another girl into the house; I just couldn't help but be NERVOUS about it, just in case, you know?!) When we picked Katie up I got to talking to the Ridlespurges about hooking the gas up to the stove... and after an hour or two they couldn't take it any longer and came over to see if they could detect any gas leaks. After all, their granddaughter's life was hanging in the balance. ;-) I didn't THINK I was smelling gas any more, but my smeller has never been the greatest and I did feel much better when they brought their noses over and assured us that they weren't smelling any gas at all either. So since we checked for leaks and didn't find any and we had several noses not detecting any smell, we decided we must be alright. That's when we headed to the office and took those great pictures of Brother Ridlespurge. :-)

And we cooked pizzas that night. And brownies. And have used the range to heat up soup and make some Ramen. Nothing actually homemade yet, but it's just soooooo great to actually be able to do stuff like that! It was so exciting to get a refrigerator, then twice as exciting to finally get a microwave. Now that we have a working stove we're just ecstatic!!! And it cost us $450. If Stove Crook sends our money back it will have cost only $300 and I wouldn't even know what to do with myself. :-)

So there you have it. I've thanked God soooooo many times for how he worked all of this out. I'm just so excited and so, so grateful. I have a double oven! And it WORKS! Oh, happy day!!!

In other news, the Katie & Katie party was fun. I played Quelf with them, then they wanted to watch Fiddler on the Roof... at 10:00 at night! Do you have any idea how long that movie is?! Crazy. They roller skated downstairs lots the next day, turning the whole basement into an obstacle course. They had to jump over some things, skate around others, then squat down real low and skate through a big box that was laying on it's side, open at both ends. FUN. Made me wish I had some skates!

The girls also helped me built my bed. I've been DYING to get it done all week, but it just never happened. Between the three of us, all three volumes of Upon This Rock and a History of the Old Testament book (!) we got it together pretty quickly and painlessly. And that meant I could unpack and decorate my bedroom. WA-HOO!!! I got all of that done and cleaned up Saturday afternoon. Keep in mind that we haven't yet installed the trim between the paint and wallpaper--that's still to come. But I figured my decorations wouldn't be in the way. Too much. :-)



It's strange... I like my house in person, but when I put pictures on the blog it just doesn't seem to look all that great. HA! Mostly I keep seeing all of the naked windows in need of curtains, I think. Oh well. Some day. :-)

Today I got all of James' grandmother's dishes put away. We brought them back from Pennsylvania at Thanksgiving time last year. She had servings for TWENTY-FOUR PEOPLE of blue and white Currier and Ives dishes. Can you imagine? 24 plates, 24 bowls, 24 dessert plates, 24 saucers, 24 coffee cups... Amazing. I built (I use the term "built" very loosely) two racks with hooks for the cups to hang from and got everything all put away and arranged in the hutch this morning. Unfortunately, that's about all of the house accomplishements for the day. I helped children with school quite a bit, then this evening we went to Hoover to do some running around. Picked up a dress for Katie and a suit for Joe at the thrift store, went to Christmas Tree Shops in search of something to put on the dining room walls (I've never had a dining room before and therefore have nothing to hang in there--and didn't have any luck in our search today) and accidentally found a few other things instead, stopped for pizza, then went to the library so I could pick up some girl movies in hopes that if I have something new (meaning I haven't seen them in years) to watch I'll make myself iron... and iron... and iron. I haven't gotten the ironing caught up since we moved out of the Powell's house. I'm really, really hoping this will be the week I make it happen. Of course, I think I've hoped that every week for the past two months. ;-) It's been a nice day, but we're missing Joe already. He's staying at Mom & Dad's house for the week. I'm so happy for him. He's soooooo excited and it sounds like he's having a terrific time. I'm still wondering if he'll enjoy it the whole way through, or start to get lonely for siblings to play (and fight) with after a few days. Time will tell. :-)

Pictures!

Don't get excited--there really aren't that many house pictures to share yet. But I was finally able to upload the pictures that wouldn't upload with my post last night.

I had to laugh at how different Ken Ham looked from when I first saw him... 21 YEARS AGO. I'm sure I probably look a little different, too.

The church he was speaking at was AMAZING. Look at all of those pipes! My kids are pretty sure this is where the Assembly should be held. :-)
Okay, Mom -- LIVING ROOM! My VERY OWN living room! ~Aaaaahhhhhh~ It feels like HOME. :-)
It's strange... I don't notice so much in person, but in this picture all I can see is that great big, ugly window that needs curtains of some kind. Ha!
That's it, Mom. I took a picture of the mantle wall, too, but it looks so silly with the mantle just leaning against the wall so I figured I'd wait until we enact my mantle plan and get it attached to the wall. Besides, the walls are mostly naked over there and I need to come up with something to fill them with. Some day. :-)

But HERE! Here is my kitchen sink. I LOVE IT. :-) It's just soooooooo nice to have a kitchen sink after all this time! And I really, really like the faucet we found at that salvage place in Chattanooga. I think it's perfect.
And then there are these pictures... I just couldn't NOT post these pictures. Hahahahahaha! James is in Cleveland right now and the Ridlespurges had to come over last night because our lives depended on it (no, really--I'll explain next time!) and I took them to see James' nearly finished office. They've been so excited to see it and we've all given James such a hard time about the great big, hoity-toity "overseer's desk" that he got real cheap recently. Brother Ridlespurge couldn't help himself--he just at to try it out...


Hahahahaha! I love it. We laughed a LOT. :-)

Progress

Slowly, slowly, slowly... but surely. And I'm thankful for every bit of it. But first, a short (no, really--I'll try to keep it short) recap of what all I've failed to blog.

We had a very good District Convention in Moulton, then visited the churches in Russelville and West Lawrence the next day. Things didn't go as we had planned and we got to the church in West Lawrence much earlier than we expected--and right on time for James to go in and help Brother Dustin and several of the other ministers pray for a young man who was devil possessed. In the end, the young man was delivered and saved and sanctified. Praise the Lord!

We got home late that night, but got up early the next day so the kids and I could drive to Vestavia Hills to attend one session of a Ken Ham seminar. He's always been my favorite Creation Science speaker and I've always thoroughly enjoyed hearing him. In fact, I remember hearing him speak at a Creation Seminar in Colorado Springs when I was about 13 years old. TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO?! That is sooooo crazy! My kids really enjoyed hearing him, too, but since we've already exposed them to lots of Creation books and DVD's it wasn't really anything new and enlightening to them. Once it was too late (!) I REALLY wished that I would have tried to get some of the other church kids there. It would've been great for them to hear and (if they're anything like me) they would have thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The next day we bought our kitchen sink. Actually, we returned the one that we'd bought previously (took it out of the box and found it chipped) and bought a different one. One that I love, but that cost way too much money. :-/ But when you're already paying a crazy amount for a sink (has anybody priced cast iron sinks lately?!) I figured I'd go ahead and pay $13 more for the one I really wanted. Though we scarred up the countertop a little bit getting it in (those things weigh sooooo much!), we got it installed that night and--miracle of miracles--there were NO leaks. I mean, on the very first try! NOTHING leaked; not the sink, the dishwasher, the ice maker--nothing! Wa-hoooo! I didn't even know that was possible. :-)

Let's see, what else... I did my VLB service this month on the 7 Motivational Gifts found in Romans 12. I've always LOVED that study, but was a little nervous about presenting it here. In the end it seemed like everybody enjoyed it, though they were fighting over who was what after service. Ha! The "Prophets" and the "Mercy's" are always the easiest to spot. :-)

Last Friday the kids and I drove to Fort Payne to meet Mom & Dad for lunch. It's so cool that we live close enough to do that now! Mom had made a DARLING Easter dress for Katie, so we needed to pick it up. (Unfortunately Easter wasn't very nice for us this year, what with losing Charlie, and I didn't get a good picture of her in it! Next time she puts it on I will.) Anyway, we had a nice lunch at Western Sizzlin', then we all went to a few stores before parting ways.

Yesterday Brother & Sister Powell called and asked if they could bring Brady up for the kids to play with for a little while. I cried at the when James told me! They are so sweet and thoughtful. They came and we all walked all over the property (they've never been here in the daylight) while Brady drug Katie all over tarnation. :-) It was great to see them. And Brady.

As for the house, I was able to get some work done in the half bath. Painting and polying the vanity, finishing the countertop, and laying the wood floor. Aside from that, we've been working on unpacking and finding places for all of the stuff we got moved in this past Saturday. I found places for everything in the kitchen (I was worried when I saw how many boxes said KITCHEN on them!), I've gotten the living room all unpacked and decorated (except for a few things that will have to be done later), and James has his office all set up and moved into. Those three rooms are looking great, but everything else is TRASHED! I keep thinking "tomorrow" I'll get the rest of the house under control, but so far "tomorrow" has been very evasive.

There is other grand and glorious news, but I'll save it for another time because it deserves attention all to itself instead of just being tacked on to the end of an already long post. :-) For now, I'll just put on a few pictures of the house.

Actually, I won't. HA! I'm so sorry, Mom--I've tried and tried and tried again, but Blogger just keeps getting STUCK. I will try again tomorrow. :-)

Doing Much Better

That last post was still pretty grim, so I thought I'd put an update on here tonight. Today has been a much, much, better day. I haven't had children spontaneously sobbing and coming for hugs and I never broke down and cried until I got to church tonight and a "Mercy" guy asked with great compassion in his eyes and voice how I was doing. But then his "Prophet" wife showed up and confessed that she couldn't leave a comment on my blog because nobody would believe it was sincere. Ha! I love them both so much. :-)

Truthfully, I feel like God really helped us and gave us relief and rest from the deep grief today. I know that sounds silly and way over dramatic to non-dog people (!), but we've truly been grieving around here. But today I've felt peace and not that deep, sick, heavy feeling that had tugged persistently at my heart since Sunday. I still miss Charlie tons and I know that we will for a long time, but I think we're all feeling so much better than we were yesterday. I'm sooooo thankful. And despite what some people think (you know who you are--ha!), it IS worth it to go through the grief. I agree emphatically with Alfred, Lord Tennyson: "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." It's true.

In house news, I LOVE having the kitchen all unpacked! I've still got some odds and ends to work out and I'm sure I'll rearrange things a little bit here and there to see what works best in this kitchen, but it just feels sooooo good to have all of my own pots and pans and Tupperware and... oh, just everything. I can't wait to use it!!! If only I had a stove. Ah, yes, The Stove Story is still in progress, but I sincerely hope to have a conclusion sometime very soon (this week???) and then I'll tell you all about it. I'm still praying for a happy ending. :-)

Today I got the living room furniture all arranged the way that I want it (I think) and leaned the mantle on the wall where it's going to go, even though there's no fireplace there. James thinks it's horribly corny to have a mantle with no fireplace, but it was my Grandmother's mantle and I love the memories and refuse to just shove it in a corner of the garage or basement. I've been looking and gathering ideas and I think I have a plan now. James may even end up liking it in the end. Only time will tell. He's mighty hard to please sometimes. ;-)

Anyway, just before church I busted open a big box that said "Living Room" and started pulling things out to see what I've got. It's been over a year since I boxed up all of our belongings in New Mexico and it's so exciting to start seeing all of the things I had forgotten about! I hit the jackpot with this box. It had most or all of my framed prints--primitive houses or old timey stitch prints with scriptures on them. It made me feel all warm and cozy and homey just pulling them out of the box--I can't wait to hang them on the walls! :-)

No pictures yet, Mom. Soon. :-)

That's about it from here. The house is coming together, slowly but surely, and we're all going to survive losing Charlie. I'm sure there will be some more really rough days, but I'm so, so, so thankful for the relief we experienced today. God is good to us. :-)

Doing Okay

I thought it would be best to post an update, just so folks know that we're going to survive. ;-)

Sunday night was really tough. I'm a little bit ashamed to admit just HOW badly I felt after Charlie's funeral. I tried to listen to some nice soothing worship music before bed, but everything that came on just sounded so melancholy and mournful! I'm pretty sure on any other day I wouldn't have thought so, but that's sure how it sounded that night! I finally gave up and went to bed, trying to put words to the horrible feeling I was experiencing. I finally settled on a word that I was embarrassed (and still am) to choose: depressed. I just felt sooooo down and sad and hopeless and all manner of feelings that God doesn't intend for us to live with and that I'm sooooo unaccustomed to feeling! I know that it was mostly due to losing Charlie, but I'm sure it was compounded by the major lack of sleep over the previous two or three days, the stress of caring for a very sick dog, the physical exertion of "moving in" (such as it was) on Saturday, as well as a few other physical issues at the time--everything piled up together just threw me totally out of whack! But God is good and faithful to hear and answer prayers. He gave me such good and solid rest that night and I did awake feeling much better.

Yesterday was pretty tough. As long as they stay busy, the kids do pretty well. But when a lull comes during the day the tears aren't far behind. I don't know how many times throughout the day I would hear the kids playing or doing school in the other room, and then one of them (usually Sam) would walk around the corner with tears just streaming down his face, coming to hug and cry. (They know they can count on me to break down and cry with them every time, I guess!) Then they tell me what it was that made them think of Charlie. Sometimes they happen to see something he loved to play with, or sometimes they'll look under the table to see if he's there--just out of habit, or sometimes they'll drop a piece of food on the floor and he's not there to come and get it. It's amazing, the thousand and two things that make you think of a dog once he's not there anymore.

I was really dreading a long and teary night with three heartbroken kids, but then the Ridlespurges showed up! They had seen what a wreck we were at church the night before (or was it mostly just me???) and they wanted to come by just to check on us and make sure we were doing okay. Most folks wouldn't think to do that after a dog dies (!), but it meant sooooo much to us! We visited for a few minutes, then they tried to leave--insisting that they didn't want to barge in or keep us from our work--but we managed to talk them into going out to eat with us first. James and I agreed to let all of the kids ride in the back of the Ridlespurge's truck (apparently that's not illegal in Alabama??? Crazy!) and on a whim we hopped out of the van and climbed into the back of the truck with the rest of 'em. It was great. :-) Except that I think my husband scares Katie Farr. He's always so WEIRD when she's around and I think it freaks her out a little bit. Ha!

Since we had bummed a ride, the Ridlespurges had to take us back home. When we got there, the kids were all saying things like, "Okay, Mom... Do your thing--keep 'em talking!" They were wanting some more time to play and hang out with the kids. After a good bit of effort we were able to persuade Brother & Sister Ridlespurge to come in a visit just a little while longer. The kids all went to the basement and had a BLAST. I went to check on them a few times. The girls spent a lot of time on the roller skates and the boys were having a fantastic dart gun war with cardboard box "tanks" and cannons and who knows what all. It was sooooo nice to see them all laughing and having such a great time. We so, so, soooooo needed the distraction and it was such a blessing to not just sit and cry all night! And I think it gave the kids some hope that they'll be okay and they'll make it through this thing and not just spend the rest of their lives sad and teary.

Today has been much better, for the most part. It was late this afternoon before I broke down and cried. :-) I suddenly felt a strong urge to stop working and pick up a poodle and cuddle for a few minutes. It was something I used to do several times every day, explaining to Charlie that I needed poodle therapy. “Poodles are good for people, you know that, Charlie? They are. It’s just soothing and relaxing to cuddle with poodles. That’s why God made them…” I’m sure he knew the speech by heart. ;-) I really could've used some poodle therapy today. But the reason I really needed it is because… ~sigh~ …because I don’t have a poodle. So since I was all teary anyway I went on out to his grave to cry for a little while. You can’t just stand and cry without praying, so I thanked God for the time we had with Charlie and what a great little dog he was for our family, and then I asked Him again (as I have dozens of times already) to help our hearts to heal. It doesn’t take very long to run out of words, so I felt like I was saying the same thing over and over, but it felt good to go cry about it for a few minutes anyway. I remember James asking me after Hershey died if it was really worth it to have a dog and then suffer so horribly over losing them. The answer was an obvious YES, it is soooooo worth it! And I would say the same thing again after losing Charlie, but if I would have KNOWN ahead of time that we’d only have him for a year and a half before going through this…!? I'm sure I still would have agreed. He was such a great dog and had such fun little quirks that we'll always remember. Like the way he loved to crouch down and crawl slowly toward you, then pounce at you. Or that his favorite toy was a plastic bag. How much he loved air blowing and would stand over a heater vent and lick at it--or come running when he heard the blow dryer. He was just so fun. I’m THANKFUL that we had him for the time we did and I certainly don’t regret it, but a year and a half just isn’t nearly long enough to love and enjoy a dog before going through the hurting/grieving thing again. It almost makes me hesitate to think of getting another one down the road. I would feel much better if I had at least a 3 year guarantee (though I’d prefer a 10 year guarantee!) that they’d be with us and in good health that long! Too bad it doesn’t work like that. Oh, I did thank God again for how merciful He is to have only ever chosen to take poodles from us. We’re soooooo blessed for the health and protection He’s always provided for James and the kids and myself.

Tonight the kids went to bed without any tears. ~whew~ That's such a relief! Thank the Lord. :-) And I'm feeling really good for the most part, too.

We've been busy trying to unpack and get moved in, but I'm amazed at how little we've accomplished in the past two days! James is making good progress in his office and, as of tonight, I'm pretty well moved in to the kitchen. And get this... a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-all of those kitchen boxes have been unpacked and everything actually found a place! I was so worried that I'd run out of room and still have 5 boxes to unpack (ha!), but it looks like it's all working out just right. The pantry is a WRECK, but aside from that things are looking good. I'll post pictures soon.

Tomorrow is a fresh day. I expect it to be a good one. I just can't help but feel so blessed. Our family feels closer. I love that. :-)

Charlie Dog

~sigh~

I so dread writing this post, but it must be done.

Charlie had a long and miserable week, and finally left us this afternoon. We are so heartbroken, but truthfully after what he's been through I must say that I am also relieved. For the past day or two we've been begging God to either heal Charlie and make him well again, or to have mercy and just let him die. God answered our prayers today and we are genuinely thankful, though it certainly wasn't the answer we were hoping for.

We had to board him last weekend while we were traveling. We left a healthy dog and came home to a sick one. I talked to my cousin tonight (a serious dog lover) and she says it sounds like perhaps it was Parvo. He had stopped eating and was having horrible symptoms, especially the past two or three days. He was so miserable and unable to sleep or get comfortable or take anything at all into his body aside from water. He was in pretty bad shape when we left him this morning, but when we got home from church things were sooooo much worse. I actually thought he was dead to begin with. He was completely limp and couldn't/wouldn't hold his head up or anything. Due to some of his horrible symptoms he was filthy so I laid him in the utility sink and got him all cleaned up, then wrapped him up in towels and the kids all took a turn sitting in a chair and holding him and crying and talking to him and saying goodbye--it was obvious that there would be no recovery unless God worked a miracle. It was so hard, but the kids were so grateful to have that time with Charlie and have told me how merciful it was of God that he didn't die while we were gone and that they all got to see him and love on him and say goodbye. They are thankful that Charlie knew we were there and that he was loved. It thrills me when I hear them say things like that and when they find ways to be thankful to the Lord even in the really hard things.

I intended to stay home and just hold Charlie until the end, but James thought it best if I went with the rest of the family to eat at the Hopkins' house. I was just sick over leaving Charlie, but then I remembered that he'd been trying to go hide all alone in dark, private places out in the woods for days. It's what dogs do when they're ready to die. Maybe my being here was actually preventing him? So I wrapped him in the towels and laid him on the floor in our closet, one of the places he'd gone to try to get rest earlier in the week.

When we got home after about two hours I was just sure he would either be healed (we weren't ready to give up hope and we hadn't stopped praying!) or dead--I just didn't see how he could have made it that long. He was still alive, but no longer conscious and his breathing was heavy and labored. It was worse to see him that way than peaceful and lethargic, but the kids insisted on saying goodbye one more time. While Katie was in the closet with him she lifted his head onto her lap. She said he opened his eyes and moved his head a little bit, and then he stopped breathing. Finally, the end. We were all devastated, but so very relieved that he is no longer sick. It's far worse to have a dog that you love laying there in such horrible shape and be unable to do anything to make him better.

I would have been crying anyway, of course, but the kids make it so much worse! I HATE seeing them so torn up! They just sobbed and heaved and the tears just flowed like a river. Katie and Sam are having a harder time accepting it, but Joe amazes me with his ability to see things from a mature and spiritual perspective. He sobs as hard as anybody, but he says that God knows best and that He must have His reasons for not healing Charlie; and that He still loves and trusts God just the same. In a strange kind of a way, I wonder if our kids won't end up loving and trusting God even MORE through this experience. When your heart is grieving you cry out to God in ways that you aren't able to do otherwise and you find Him so real and so near. I've been praying for God's will to be done and for God to somehow receive glory through this situation whichever way it went, and for us to make wise decisions and learn whatever God may wish to teach us through this. Right now everything is still such a blur and our hearts are so heavy and we feel that horrible emptiness of LOSS, so it's hard to really think of what we've learned. I know that my children have cried out to God from the depths of their hearts. That is a beautiful thing. Just a few minutes before Charlie died today I was walking down the hallway and I heard Joe's voice coming from the utility room. I stepped in the door and could hear him from around the corner. He was praying, "God, please, please, please heal my dog. You know what's best and I trust You, God, but I'm asking you, Lord, if it's okay to please heal him." As heartwrenching as it was, I was so blessed to hear him praying with so much passion and faith and even surrender.

Ah, yes. This morning when we got in the van to leave for church James didn't put the van into gear, he said he wanted to talk to us for a few minutes first. He said that he wanted our family to have a prayer together for Charlie and just give him to the Lord. He said we would pray for Charlie to be healed with faith believing that God can do just that. But that we would also pray that if God knew of some reason why it should be Charlie's time to go, that we would ask Him to please take him quickly and not let him suffer any more. The kids (and I, of course) just sobbed, but we had a good prayer and I could hear all of the kids praying sincerely just as their Dad had instructed. I pray that somehow it brings joy to the heart of God to see the kids "giving" Him something they hold so dear. They still have their "why" questions, of course, but they're genuine questions, not accusing questions. I'm pretty sure that kind are okay. :-)

I could ramble on and on. Everything is all hazy in my head, but none of it really matters at this point.

Charlie passed late this afternoon. I got him wrapped up and ready to bury while James and Sam started digging a hole out back. We didn't have time to finish before church, so when we got home tonight the boys and James finished digging and then we had a little graveside service. James asked the kids if they each wanted to say something. Katie talked about remembering the very first time she saw him and how cute it was, and she thanked him for choosing to be with her when he died. Joe thanked him for being such a great dog and for being our "Snarly Charlie" and all of the memories. Sam said about the same thing, but added a thanks for all of the biting times. (Sam and Charlie played ROUGH with each other!) We all cried and said a prayer, thanking God for letting us enjoy Charlie for the time that He did. A year and a half doesn't seem like nearly enough time, but he's truly been good for our family and we've been blessed to have him.

This may or may not seem weird--I don't know. I know that I didn't take any pictures of Hershey's funeral because I thought it would be really weird, but then later for some reason I regretting not having any. So I took a couple of pictures this time. If you think it's weird, don't look. ;-)





I know we'll be hurting and grieving for a while. The first few days and weeks are so tough. But I know that it pales in comparison to losing a family member (the human kind--all good dog owners consider their dogs to be family members!) and so many other things that are so much more tragic. I hate how EMPTY your home feels after you're used to having a happy, playful dog there with you all the time. We'll be feeling that emptiness all of the time for a while and do plenty more crying I'm sure, but time will ease things and we'll all survive and be okay. We're blessed. And we know it. I've been blessed by my husband's care for his family today. And I've been blessed by my children's sincere prayers and trust in God today. I feel heartbroken. But blessed. I love how much God loves us. :-)

Easter, Moving, & a Very Sick Dog

I'm thankful that we'll be going to church in a few hours and will be celebrating the Resurrection and thanking Jesus anew for the sacrifice He made for us. That's what Easter is all about.

For us, the extra festivities will probably have to wait. I don't have a functioning stove yet so I can't cook Easter dinner (some day I'll post The Stove Story, but I'm waiting to see how it ends before I devote that much time to it--ha!), I'm not sure my kids have clothes ironed and ready to wear (have no idea what anybody will be wearing--my goal is to just find dress clothes of any kind that are already ironed, which would be a miracle), and we never colored any eggs. Literally didn't have the time... and don't have a stove to boil them on anyway. ;-)

The good news is: My house is now covered with furniture and piles of boxes. It's a WRECK, but it's a very exciting wreck because it means that we are finally getting MOVED IN on the first floor. Wa-Hoo!!! I'm especially excited about busting in to all of the boxes that say "Kitchen." Though I must admit I'm wondering where I'm going to PUT all that stuff--there are a TON of boxes labeled for that room. It will be sooooooo exciting to open them!

Oh, other super-duper exciting thing: I HAVE MY PIANO. ~Aaaaahhhhh~ It feels sooooo good to have my piano again! We've been keeping it at the church (scared to put it in a storage unit or the garage) all this time, so now--after over a year without it--it sits in my living room again. I can play it any time I want. I may actually learn how to play again! :-) Soooooo thankful that it's here and for those who had a hand in getting it to its current resting place--along with all of the boxes and furniture all over my house. GOD BLESS THEM. :-)

The bad news is: We have a very, very sick dog. Charlie has been sick all week, but has gotten progressively worse the past three days. He hasn't eaten a single bite of anything and he is sooooo miserable with constant evidence of sickness in every possible way. (I'll spare you the gory details. You're welcome.) I was up with him most of the night last night and then up for good by 5:00am and haven't had high hopes of getting much more rest tonight tonight (Saturday night/Sunday morning), judging by how miserable and restless he is. I am SO thankful he and I both got a little over two hours of sleep before he woke me up a little while ago. I desperately needed it, so I KNOW he needed it. And God blessed me to actually feel quite rested by it. I'm hoping Charlie will be able to settle down and go back to sleep for another few hours, or maybe even all night? He's extremely sick. Way too sick. He crawled off into the woods several times today to go hide, which scares me to death. It's a miracle we even found him the last time. We're doing our very best to take care of him and have been praying (and as of today, praying with tears!) a whole lot. Joe told me before bed that he felt like Charlie is going to be okay--that he had prayed and really felt comfort about it. I'm leaning heavily on those prayers :-)--and now praying fervently that God will answer my son's prayers and increase his faith in God and in the power of prayer! Some times I feel like he'll pull through and everything will be fine, and other times I get really, really worried that he won't. He's just so, so bad. ~sigh~ For the most part, I feel very hopeful and even expectant that he'll get better, but I think it will be the grace of God alone if he does. I always have such mixed up feelings about praying for a dog... SO THANKFUL that God cares for our every need and that He cares about the things that are important to us... and yet always a little ashamed at how fervently I can find myself praying over a dog when I somehow struggle to really bear the burden in prayer for souls that I should! But then, I was reminded yesterday at how easily I feel guilt over things. ;-)

Anyway, there are grand and glorious things going on here and lots to update, but the joy of all of that has definitely been skewed by Charlie being in such horrible shape. In the end, we'll all be okay one way or another and be able to thank God for His goodness and His mercy and His omnipotence. Until then... if you're a dog person at all... or even if you're not, but you love me or my kids (ha!), please whisper a prayer for Charlie. Even if you feel silly doing it. It won't hurt you. ;-)