That was Dumb...

We just had another fun day with the Clarkson kids and took lots of pictures... then I loaded them onto my laptop and sent it to town with James because he wanted to show the pics to Brother Chris & Sister Shanda. That's cool, but it means I don't have the pictures here so I can post them! AND I'm having to use James laptop instead of my shiny new one. What a gyp. ;-)

I can't imagine how it's already been four days since I blogged. Crazy. Sunday was a good day. Sister Galaviz taught an outstanding lesson on temperance and I felt like I understood the passage from Corinthians (about not eating meats offered to idols so as to not offend a weaker brother, etc.) better then I ever have before. So, so good. Then Brother Chris preached a message about the dire situation Mephibosheth found himself in: crippled by something that happened during his youth, fearful of the king since he was related to the king's enemy who had wanted to destroy the king, etc. Much like they who find themselves crippled by sin and fearful of the judgment of the King--feeling they deserve to die. But King David was merciful and full of compassion and sought not to destroy him, but rather to "save" him. When he heard about Mephibosheth he said, "Where is he?," just as God is searching for helpless, hopeless souls that he can embrace and bring into his household. David said that from now on Mephibosheth would sit at the king's table as one of his own sons, just as God desires to save lost souls--no matter what their condition (billionaire, druggie, businessman, homosexual...)--they are all crippled by sin and in need of deliverance. We need God to give us a heart like David's heart (which was, of course, like God's heart) to love others regardless of their situation in life and reach out to them no matter what.

I felt some convinction, let's say. That's a good thing. :-) Lord, help me!

Sunday night was Sister Bailey's WMB service and it, too, was very good. We're so blessed and I'm so thankful to be a member of this local church! After service we went out with the Clarkson gang to McAllister's. We had a nice visit, then let the kids run through the fountain for a while. They had a blast, but they were completely drenched--not one square inch left dry!--and by the time we left they were all shivering from the cold. Oh, the fun of being a kid!

Monday was a grand and glorious day. We'd been doing lots of praying and fasting for a particular situation and it was coming to a climax that day. So the first part of the day was spent in tears and prayer, pleading with God for a desperate need. And the last part of the day was spent in tears and prayer, thanking God for His miraculous authority and power and mercy and grace and that He loves us soooooo much and that He answers prayers!!! The need was so urgent and He didn't just answer our prayers; He did more than we would have dared to imagine possible! PRAISE GOD!!!! He is sooooo good to His people!!! Makes me glad to be one of 'em. ;-)

The Clarksons are still searching for a house (please pray for God to provide--soon!), so on Monday night we went into town to help them get their things moved into storage so Brother Whoever-He-Is (Gordon-Kelly-Kel-Kal... too many names to keep up with! Ha!) could get on his way. It took 2 or 3 hours, I think, and it was about 10:00 by the time we finished. We were tired, but soooooo thirsty and the kids were starving since they'd had no dinner. We went to Villiage Inn and the kids got some dinner and the adults enjoyed some pie. We had a good time, but didn't make it home until nearly 12:30, I think! I was soooooo tired that I was starting to feel sick so I decided to just go to bed and take a shower in the morning. It was a poor decision. We'd been hot and sweaty earlier helping at the storage place and I just never could get the thought out of my mind that I was DIRTY, so I never could go to sleep! I tossed and turned and dozed a bit here and there and finally gave up and went and took a long, hot bath at 6:00. Felt soooooo much better, but I was still so tired. So I went back to bed from 8:00-9:00! What a crazy way to start the day.

Once I got up... again (!), we had breakfast and devotions, then it was suddenly time to go to horse lessons. (That's what happens when you start the day all crazy like that!) It was a little cooler than last week, so that was nice. Came home and worked on laundry a bit. I made some apple pork chops and they turned out well. Nice and juicy. But still... pork chops are kind of like syrup. You can try all of these great, exciting flavors (blackberry, blueberry, huckleberry...) but in the end there's just nothing that can beat plain ole' maple. That's how it is with chops--the good, old fashioned, slow-cooked fried pork chops are the best!

I also made some apple dumplings, but my heart really wasn't in it and they didn't turn out nearly as good as the ones I made last fall. That's probably why my heart wasn't in it. I've been doing all sorts of "fall" cooking and baking lately... but it's August! When we get home from the Assembly I'm always ready to hop into fall mode immediately--soups and stews and spicy baked goods of all sorts. But it just doesn't feel right to be doing it right now! Oh well. At least we used up all the apples so they didn't just go bad on us!

Today we did some school and regular things, cleaned the house up a bit and whatnot. Then James went and fetched the Clarkson kids again. He brought them home and everybody just played outside for a while, then we headed to the Tinkertown Museum. Everybody had a blast, even though the biggest excitement was about petting the horses in the corral out front! When we left there we headed to the National Forest to let the kids romp and play. We hiked up a trail a bit and the kids all climbed to the top of a very steep hill--and insisted they heard a bear up there. :-) We had a good time, but it started to rain so we loaded up and came back home.

James grilled hot dogs and burgers for dinner, then the boys collected rocks for a fire rectangle (Joe can't make a circle--ha!) so we could toast marshmallows. From what I can tell, I'm the only one really interested in properly toasting them so they'll be delicious. Everybody else just likes catching them on fire and blowing them out, dropping them into the fire and watching them swell and ooze, or just making torches out of their sticks. Ha! No matter--everybody had fun and that was the point.

The girls and Sam helped me make sugar cookies after that. That was fun, too, of course. They all headed outside to play while I was working on dishes and I had already had to go out once to remind everybody to not be so loud. "We live in the mountains, but we do have neighbors and they don't want to hear a bunch of kids screaming at the top of their lungs..." And so on. I hadn't been in the house 60 seconds when the whole lot of them started screaming bloody murder outside, worse than before! I put on my best Mom face and tromped out the door, opened my mouth... and saw James on the trampoline with all six kids, bouncing them all to kingdom-come and having more fun than the rest of 'em put together! Ha! So you can guess who got the scolding for the noise. ;-)

By the time I got the kitchen cleaned up again it was time for devotions, so we called all the kids inside (the big one, too!) and we got everybody calmed down enough to proceed. I looked at Naomi and Sadie and had to laugh. What must their parents think when they get their kids back after a day with the Hornes??? Those girls were FILTHY, head to toe! Ha! Anyway, after devotions James headed into town to return the Clarkson kids to their rightful owners. My kids are all SOUND asleep now and I'm needing to get off the computer and do some proof reading. Hhmmm. Wonder if I will... ;-)