Saturday Already???

One thing is for sure. Time FLIES when you're not blogging. You look down and *wham-o!* it's been days.

It's been a nice week around here since getting home from Camp on Sunday. I think I was unpacked by Wednesday. Ha! Got all the laundry done, but have been fighting with myself (but only in my head--I never have taken any action) to get the ironing down. "Maybe tonight" is my most used and abused phrase this week. I have, however, managed to cook a few decent meals--something that seems to be a nice accomplishment for me since we've been in Alabama! Brother Hart had brought us some pork a couple of weeks ago and I finally had a chance to cook up some of the chops this week. Yum. :-) The bacon and spicy sausage that we'd already tried was all great, too. I made homemade "KFC bowls" (rice, little bits of fried chicken, corn, gravy, and cheese all piled up) one night--and even managed a blueberry pie with the berries the kids and I had picked last month. It was sooooo good. Actually, I don't know how good it is alone, but when it's warm and had Blue Bell Southern Blackberry Cobbler ice cream on top--it's deeeeeeeee-larapin. :-)

On Thursday James drove past a new house on the market. Did I mention on here that things fell through with the Shades Creek house. It's back on the market again, listed $2,000 less than it was before. We had considered putting another offer in on it and seeing if we could get it to go through this time, but we always felt a little "hitch" about doing it. We'd prayed so much about that house, the price, the whole sha-bang, asking God for HIS will. If He wanted us to have that house, He could have worked it out the first time... and we're scared of pulling a Balaam and going back to ask again if He's already given us an answer, you know?! Ha! We've never felt a definite "don't do it" about placing another offer, but we don't currently feel freedom to pursue it. So we wait and pray and consider the other options.

Enter: House #2. Or is it House #50??? Ha! This journey began nearly a year ago for us. We found out in early August of last year that we'd be moving and we began looking for houses way back then. Crazy. It occurred to me the other day... maybe God hasn't opened the doors for us because we might be moving again this year! ~GASP!~ Surely not!!! We've barely just begun and feel like we're just now starting to get settled in with all the folks here--AND WE LOVE THEM! We are so not ready to leave! As far as we're concerned we'll be around at least long enough to finish raising our children in the state of Alabama... unless God pulls a quick one on us! Ha! You'd think I would have connections and an inside track on such possibilities. Not hardly. ;-) I really don't think that's what's going to happen, but it was a disturbing thought anyway!

Back to the house again. James drove past a house that I had found for super-duper cheap the night before. The first assumption is that something must be horribly wrong with it. Maybe there is, but it was cheap enough that it would be wrong not to at least drive by and take a look! He was actually pretty impressed with it. The house ITSELF (I'll explain that in a minute) looks very, very nice from the outside and the setting is great--2 acres, 7 miles from the church, only two neighbors in view (across the street) and lots and lots of woods all around you.

So we made arrangements with Laura and went to see it Thursday night. The house isn't torn up... but it's TRASHED. There are piles and piles and piles of STUFF all through it--personal belongings: papers, pictures, trash, toys, clothes--you name it. Outside there are HEAPS of more stuff, including furniture. The is another Fanny Mae property (yippie...), but it's still strange that somebody would have left so much of their STUFF behind. Especially the pictures! Pictures of dads with little girls and even some old wedding pictures scattered around on the floor. There are bank statements and signature cards all over the floor in one bedroom. It's just weird. BUT... if you can look past all the JUNK, the house is actually quite nice. Well, it has potential to be quite nice anyway. We're not crazy about the floor plan, but we can make it work. For the land, the setting, the distance to the church, and most of all the PRICE (it's listed $40,000 less than the other house--and that one was a steal!) we can definitely make it work!

So begins the drama once more. We put in our offer, then we get the same ole' call saying there are "multiple offers" on this property so put in your highest price (two houses in a row? Could it be they just say that every time in hopes of getting you to up your offer?!)... blah, blah, blah. I'm tired of the run-around. We put in our offer, now we wait and see. I can honestly say that we don't care whether we get this house or not. In fact, sometimes we're not even sure that we want it! Ha! I know it can be a nice place, but it lacks the "openness" that I like. But in the big scheme of things, we're realizing more and more that IT'S JUST A HOUSE--it doesn't really matter. We just want to be where God wants us to be, when He wants us to be there. I feel sort of dead to it all. That's a good thing, right??? I haven't even really thought much about it since we put the offer in yesterday. I'm guessing we'll hear something next week.

Today James is gone. All day! When's the last time that happened?! He's at Committee meetings up in Moulton and won't be back until late. Feels like the kids and I should make a party of it since it's been so long since we had a "free day" without Dad, so that's pretty much what we've done. :-) I spent about 30 minutes this morning finishing up the puzzle that's been sitting out on the little table for a few weeks. Then I realized that we were low on some basic necessities this morning... milk, juice, Totinos, Fritos, chili--you know, important stuff like that. :-) So I left Kate and Joe at the house for a few minutes and took Sam to the store with me. James had taken the van, so we drove Brother Powell's truck. WOW. That thing has got some serious VA-ROOM to it!!! Makes you feel all big and tough and like you ought to drive over a tree or up the side of a mountain or something. (Don't worry, Sister Powell--I didn't.) I also noticed that the gas gauge was reading below "E" so we stopped to fuel up a little bit just to be sure we would make it back home.

We had Frito Pie for lunch. Yum. We got the kitchen cleaned up, bathed the smelly dog, then gave Sam the responsibility of playing with the super-hyper-post-bath poodle while Katie and Joe and I played Scattergories for a while. Then I played Sorry! Spin with Sam. Kate and Joe are playing chess right now while Sam takes his shower. Soon it will be time to throw the pizzas in the oven. Then we'll probably finish off that blueberry pie and fantastical ice cream. ~aaaaahhhh~ What a great day. :-)

I found a whole host of random pictures to post. None of Camp just yet, but they are beginning to appear on Facebook, so maybe next time I'll nab some of them and put them up. Until then...

The Lego boys...
Here's Brady the day he got his haircut. Charlie wasn't sure what to think of him! Ha!
Poor Brady. He's sooooooo cute when he's got all that shaggy hair, but it's just way, way, way too hot for him to be able to keep it this time of year! He needed shaved and I know he FEELS better... And though I think he's still cute, he doesn't seem to agree. I took several pictures of him that night and he looks embarrassed in every one of them! Ha!
Joe had gone upstairs to read a book on afternoon and never came back down. This is how I found him an hour or two later. How does he sleep like that?!
Ha! This isn't exactly a "keeper" of a picture except that it will always remind me of my boys... Joe, who is terrified of fireworks (still, at age 9)--even, or maybe especially--the sparklers. This, of course, was taken on the 4th of July when we set off just a few very small fireworks--mostly smoke bombs and stuff like that. You can't really see Joe, but he's under that burgundy hat behind the rock over there. ;-) And Sam. That kid has some serious OCD tendencies! He must pull his socks up a hundred times a day--no lie. He is CONSTANTLY tugging them up because he can't handle it when they start to sag!
Here is the house we put an offer on yesterday. It has a two car garage and unfinished basement area underneath it... but I had to crop it out so you couldn't see all of the trash and junk piled up outside! Ha! Some people (like our children) just can't see past all that stuff and would think we're NUTS for putting an offer on such a pig sty. But if you JUST look at the HOUSE... it's nice. :-)
Sam was SOOOOO excited the other night because his toad find. "Look, Mom! It's a mom and a dad and a baby! It's a whole family!!! I found them all in the same hole--they're a FAMILY!!!"
And Joe is thrilled that it appears to be baby lizard season around here. He's found and caught dozens of these little itty-bitty guys. (He doesn't shoot them, in case you're wondering--he was out shooting something else, I'm sure!)
Sam and Charlie have a uniquely tender relationship. HA! Not exactly. (You have to zoom in on their faces to truly appreciate it.)
And here's the little skink that Sam caught today and BEGGED for permission to take a picture of. He was all of an inch and a half long. Maybe. I love his tail. :-)
And here's a picture that Tayde took of Katie and me at BTI. I don't have very many pictures of the two of us, so I love it. :-)

Where to Start???

There's just NO good place to start when you're this far behind! But if I don't blog something it'll just keep on getting worse, right? It seems like I should start with Camp, then maybe catch the other stuff here and there if I ever get time. Okay, truthfully, I have no idea what "the other stuff" is--I can't remember much about the past month because it's been pretty well consumed in Camp preparations! I did LOTS of praying and trying to prepare myself for The Great Unknown, otherwise referred to as Alabama Family Camp.

I think I mentioned that I was the cabin leader for the 15-19 year old girls. I had feared that there would be 10 or 12 of them, all perfect heathens that I wouldn't have a clue what to do with! Ha! As it turns out there were only 5 girls, one of each age: Ashley Werkheiser (15 -- I'm sooooo glad she was there! It gave me one girl I already knew, along with other reasons it was wonderful to have her there!), Savannah (16), Brandi (17), Emily (18), and Stephanie (19). I must confess that the first day was horribly uncomfortable--simply because I have a terrible time finding my niche in "new" situations. But by the time we hit mid-day on Thursday it's like something just sort of clicked, either with the girls or with me, and it was smooth sailing from then on out. I felt totally and completely comfortable with them, had a great time with them, got more and more at ease with getting on to them when necessary (ha!), and ended up LOVING this teen cabin leader job. :-) It was a blast and a blessing! Our cabin devotions went very well. I think. ;-) I talked to them about modesty one day and dating another day. I could really feel the Lord helping me with the right things to say and--however the girls end up responding to it all--their eyes were glued to me the whole time. Those are topics of interest to young people--they want to hear about them. Those are topics that we have a lot of "rules" about, but often times young people are never taught WHY the rules are there. I know that there have been things taught and preached in this state about these things in the past few years, so it's not like it was the first time these girls had heard it. But they acted like it! Ha! Maybe it was the intimate "just the six of us" cabin setting or something, but they were right with me. One girl went and changed clothes (without being told--yeah!!!) right after our modesty devotion, then came and thanked me and asked me for a copy of the devotion later on. Another girl came to me the next day and told me how the dating devotion had really gotten to her and that God was dealing with her. :-) God is sooooo good. I remember making all of those choices and decisions as a teenager in these specific areas. It's tough to do at the time, but I'm so, so, sooooo thankful that God placed people in my life to teach me and train me in the ways of righteousness instead of just slapping a list of rules in front of me without explaining any of them. In the end, I feel soooooooooooo blessed to have been given the opportunity to share some of the things God worked in my heart about with other girls who seemed so hungry for it. God is moving in His Church and I just felt so unworthy, but grateful, to be able to be a part of what He's doing!

And then one day we hauled a bed frame, nine mattresses, and the pillows and such that went to them down from a second story room, loaded them into the truck of a willing accomplice, hauled them to the middle of the campground and stacked them up, leaving them for the rightful owners (and everybody else) to discover on their way back to the cabins after lunch. :-) I could tell my girls were getting "pranky" and wanting to do something big and I didn't want them doing something I didn't know about. I wanted to be sure that whatever they did was fun, but harmless (not damaging personal or campground property), was away from the boys' dorms, wasn't embarrassing for anyone--you know, all the rules of a good, clean prank. So I HAD to help them, right?! ;-) I've got to say that I was a little worried when it was first discovered. Lots of people laughed and thought it was great, but there were some people who were disturbingly quiet. It's THEN that I thought, "Uh-oh... I hope nobody gets offended by this!!!" I'm one of those people who thinks of things after. I know there are some people who may not feel like it's "respectable" to be involved in "nonsense" and I just felt sick over it, wondering if there was anybody like that at this camp and if it would reflect on their feelings toward my husband and his ministry. I walked over to the "quiet" side of the crowd and tried to save it. "If I get kicked out of Camp on my very first year, please don't hold it against my husband--he didn't know anything about this and had nothing to do with it!" About that time James came walking down the hill holding up both thumbs, saying, "This is great! That's the best prank I've ever seen!" HA! Okay, I tried--he's on his own now!!! ;-) I did lots of checking around and, unless they're not coming clean with me (ha!), the quiet folks were mostly quiet because they were wondering what everybody else was thinking and ended up laughing over it later on. So far I haven't found anybody who was offended or thought it was out of line, so I'm hoping that everybody took it as the good, clean fun it was intended to be. So at this point, I'm pleased that we were able to pull it off--it was fun (though exhausting and HOT!) and the girls will have great memories of it--and everybody else seems to be okay with it. We had several compliments on how great it was, but they would mean nothing at all if I discovered that just one person was upset over it--that would kill me! But from what I can tell, we're all good. Even some of the quiet folks came around later and talked about what they "used" to do at Camp and how fun it was. :-)

Anyway, I had lots of FUN with the girls, as well as everybody else. The classes were good, the clubs were fun (though Sam wasn't very happy about having to be in Cake Decorating Club--it was the only one available for his age other than choir, which entails standing in front of people and singing: no way!), the services were great, the sermons were really good (if a little long--ha!--James was the evangelist), the Fun Time was fantastic--everything was just so, so good. It sounds like they really faced some struggles at Camp last year and everybody was so relieved to have such a good, trouble-free Camp this year--especially me! Ha! God was merciful to let us slide in on an easy year. ;-) Oh, and they have a TERRIFIC campground here!!! I was a little overwhelmed by the price ($110 no matter your age--that would make it tough for a lot of families!) and had intentions of looking around to see if perhaps there was a cheaper campground somewhere that would work for Camp. Huh-uh, not now! Ha! The facilities are amazing and meet every need you could possibly have at Camp. And they have--hands down--the BEST swimming pool I've ever been in. :-) It's been years (5 years, maybe?!) since we've been able to swim, so the kids and I just ate it up! It was FANTASTIC, especially considering how HOT it was the last two days. Sooooo relieving to be able to get into the pool. :-)

What else? I loved Camp because it gave us a chance to get to know all of the folks better! That's always been my favorite thing about Camp. Something happens when you are LIVING together for a week, eating together, worshipping together, working together, sweating together (ha!), playing together, praying together, laughing together... it just does something to knit your hearts together and brings about a nearness and a unity that just can't be accomplished in a Convention setting. I LOVE IT. :-)

The other great joy of Camp was watching Brother Ridlespurge chase all those little boys all over the campground all week. HA! It was GREAT. He had the 6-10 year old boys and I think there were six of them. He did a great job with them (it's got to be one of the toughest--and amusing--jobs at Camp!) and I was so thankful to know that both of my boys were in his group. They did great and loved every minute of it. Well, as far as I know they did great. They could have been holy terrors, for all I know! This is the first time we've ever been in a setting like this, where we didn't have our children under our own supervision. To be honest, it really freaked me out and we did LOTS and LOTS of praying about it ahead of time! But it worked out great and I was surprised to learn that they were probably more heavily supervised than what they've been before under our own watch in the past. Out west all of the kids sort of run loose during free time with parents checking on them and relaying messages about who's where and what they're up to. Here they were with their group and counsellor pretty much all the time. Watched like hawks. That's the way I like it, I'm just used to being the one doing the watching. I WAS the one doing the watching, but I was watching 5 teenage girls--a brand new and exciting challenge all its own. :-)

~whew~ I started writing this early this morning. Just now finished up--though "finished" is a silly word to use. I'm sure there's lots more camp stuff to share, but I'm sooooo tired and not able to think of any of it. It's way past bedtime now, so I'll call it quits. I must apologize for my complete and utter failure in the picture department. Believe it or not, I didn't take a single shot at Camp. What is wrong with me?! Weird. One of these days I'll snag some pictures off of Facebook to put on here--but there aren't just a whole lot available just yet. Give it time. :-)

Blog Fail

That's what we have going on here. A serious blog fail. I can't explain it really. I missed blogging about the week after we got home from BTI (including two more exciting snake encounters) and I missed blogging about all of last week--which was full of VBS. I've blogged nothing about this week, and now we're getting ready to leave for Family Camp in the morning--more to blog about! I'll never get it all covered. And I don't even have pictures. All of the pictures are on my computer which is now dead. And can't be charged. Because the DUMB DOG is suddenly on a chewing frenzy (never done it before, but at 9 months old he's chewing on everything) and rendered by power cord... zappy, shall we say? We were dreading paying out the big bucks for a new cord and were excited to find one for only $10 (including shipping) on eBay last night, but James realized this morning that the shipping address was in New Mexico instead of Alabama. ~sigh~ Who knows when it will make it to us, if it ever does. So I'm reduced to using Joe's school computer, which is void of all of the programs that I'm used to using--as well as my picture files, of course. Dumb dog.

That's the bad news. The truly amazing news is that at 9:00 the night before Camp all of the laundry is done, the ironing is done (pause and let that one sink in for a moment... ~ooohhhh~aaahhhh~), the house is clean, wood floors shining, we are completely packed for Camp, the van is already loaded (who am I and what have I done with the real me?!), I have fresh sheets ready to put on the bed, the boarding arrangements for the dog have been made... AMAZING. Something must be dreadfully wrong. The only thing left to do is finalize my devotions for my teen girls.

Ah, yes. Get this... I'm the counsellor for the teen girls. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Could you die?! I feel totally and completely unprepared and ill equipped for this particular duty, but I didn't mention that to the directors. I just told them I'm be more than happy to help in any way I can. Then I walked into the other room and freaked out a little bit. ;-) It seems like a teen counsellor should be... oh, I don't know--a little more grown up than I am! And able to handle confrontation if necessary. I am SUCH a weenie--noooooo good with confrontations. (Nobody tell the girls--maybe I can fake it!) I don't know these girls (have no idea who they even are or how many there will be) and HOW they'll be. Are they fun-loving, holy, spiritual minded girls who are in love with the Lord and using their youth to draw close to Him and develop pure, life-long friendships? Or are they the kind... who will think I'm a total geek and freak out about my "fanaticism"?! HA! I guess we'll find out tomorrow. ;-) I've been doing lots of praying about it for several weeks now and then preparing this week... and I've found myself getting pretty excited here the last day or two. :-)

I'm not going to take the time to try to do ANY catching up tonight. I really need to go make sure I've got all my thoughts straight for my cabin devotions, then try to get decent rest before entering the no-sleep zone otherwise known as Camp. I'm really just here to acknowledge the fact that I'm a blogging failure and announce that I will be back some day. Maybe. :-)

Pray for Alabama Camp!!!

Oh, one more thing... For those who may have been wondering about our housing situation, the Shades Creek house fell through. Long story. Summed up: Fanny Mae is completely irrational and can't be reasoned with. But getting down to the root: God must have something else in mind for us. We felt so totally surrendered to Him through this entire process and just have to believe that it didn't work out at this time for some reason that we're not currently aware of. I need to ask that sneaky Brother Powell if he was praying it would fall through so we'd stay here at his house a little longer... ;-) In any case, we feel happy and settled that God is in control and we have perfect peace that He will direct our steps to where we need to be. In the meantime, we're still feeling so, so, so blessed that He's provided so well for us and that we have such a beautiful place to live in during the "limbo" stage. Though we're going to have to buy the Powells a new set of glasses before we leave... Katie broke #4 (or was it #5?) a few days ago... THAT'S the one truly bad thing about living in somebody else's house! ~sigh~ I'm ready to start breaking our OWN stuff again one of these days. ;-)

Okay, gotta go. Again, pray for Alabama Camp!!!

Okay, back to last week.

On Wednesday morning James got up and headed back to Alabama. On his way there he got the phone call from the bank saying: no loan. The story is this: because the house is a foreclosure and in need of some work, the appraiser deemed it "substandard." The three issues that caused it to be rated that way were three things that we loved because it would make it much easier on us to go in and remodel! 1) There is no finished floor in the kitchen/dining area or the utility room. (Yeah! We get to put in a floor we like without having to rip anything out first!) 2) A sink is missing in one of the bathrooms. (Yeah! We get to pick out the sink and vanity we like!) 3) A door and drawer are missing from the cabinet in the other bathroom. (Huh?! That makes the house "unlivable"??? Both pieces are there, just not currently attached. No biggie--any ole dummy could pick up a screwdriver and put them back into place, you know?) But because the appraiser said the house is substandard and unlivable, the bank won't loan on it. Crazy.

So we applied for an extension on the closing date--to June 30th. The series of events since then:

* Fanny Mae (who currently owns the home) has to have one of their own approved contractors do the work--we're not allowed to do it or find anybody to do it.

* The Fanny Mae contractor way overbid the job.

* Fanny Mae wants us to pay for the work to be done... a lot of money for work that we don't want to have done--we'll just have to rip it out when we move in anyway.

* James said "Hu-uh. That's nuts."

And that's about it. Now we wait to see if Fanny Mae will pay for the work to be done... if so, we wait to see if their contractor will actually get there and do the work... if so, we wait to see if the appraiser can get back out there right away and approve the work... if so, we wait to see if the bank will reconsider the whole matter and get clicking to finalize the loan.

That's a lot of if's and a lot of waiting to be done on something that has to happen before June 30th. Still, we feel so at peace about the whole thing. I sometimes get anxious for an answer just because I hate waiting (ha!), but I'm not anxious about what the answer will be. I love it that God gets to make this decision, not us and not Fanny Mae. There's no way we can push our will here. But there's also no way that Fanny Mae can keep us from getting this house if it's the one God has for us. Either way, it's in God's hands and we're still waiting and praying and trusting and waiting some more. So that's the low-down on the house. Now you know. :-)

Back to Cleveland...

I did some grocery shopping on Wednesday, then Jamey and I made spaghetti for dinner. The kids spent all day playing, playing, and playing some more. I loved it that they could all be together--and at my folks house where there's so much great stuff to do!

That night was the Communion & Feetwashing service at BTI, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember who preached the Communion part of the service (how is that possible?!), but I thought Brother Ammons did a fantastic job with the Feetwashing part. "Just do it." :-) And I really didn't think he had it in him to keep it to 10 minutes, but he amazed us all! It was a good service.

Thursday was a nice, relaxing day. I had intended to go in for morning devotions, but overslept. :-/ I ended up not leaving the house all day. The kids loved being able to just have fun and not worry about getting cleaned up to go some place at the end of the day.

I have a few pictures here, but they're all jumbled and I don't know when they were taken. The first one is of Joe. This was taken one day after he'd fished and fished for hours and hours and finally came inside to curl up with a Calvin & Hobbes book. This is how I found him shortly thereafter.

And here he is with yet another fish. He caught lots and lots of fish this time and--finally!--is able to get them off the hook by himself. Most of the time. That's a great relief, let me tell you!
Ha! I love this picture. Mom & Dad have lots of great stuff up in the loft in the barn--a Foosball table, a terrific train set, and a costume box. Aleah LOVED the costume box. :-)
And here are the little men. The boys have never been allowed out on the boat without an adult before this trip, but it suddenly seemed like time. Actually, with the life jackets properly secured I wondered why we'd never allowed it before. In any case, being their first time and all (!) they felt sooooo cool and grown up. They were in and out of it dozens of times each day. :-)
Where was I? Thursday, I think. That night everybody had engagements, so I made an enchilada casserole for dinner for just the family--Mom & Dad, the kids, and myself. It was nice to have a quiet evening with them, especially since we saw so little of them all week long. Matt came in and helped clean up the rest of the casserole, then the Hortons arrived shortly after that. We all sat on the front porch and had a great time visiting until the rest of the crowd came home.

Friday morning I woke up early and decided on a whim to go to morning devotions. Joe was already awake and getting dressed (the fish were waiting, you know), so I asked if he wanted to join me. I felt bad just disappearing like that without telling Katie or Sam that I was leaving and without telling Jamey that I was leaving two children there with her (ha!), but I didn't want to wake any of them. As it turned out, when I got back just after 9:00 Katie and Sam were still asleep!!! A few days of playing hard at Granddad's house will do that to you, I guess. :-)

It was another full day of play for the kids (once they finally awoke), which means they were all sweaty and smelly and nasty. I was, too, thanks to that lovely decision to let the boys be men and have charge of the boat. They had been getting in and out at every edge of the pond (instead of at the dock, where they're supposed to) and the boat was covered in mud. There's no way a real person (=anyone who is not a grubby little boy) would actually sit in it--you'd be filthy. So I had the boys help be haul it over to where the hose would reach it and we worked a good long while spraying and scrubbing. It was HOT and SUNNY that day and we were all soaked by the time we were finished--and not because of the hose. ~Bleagh~ Gross. We suddenly realized what time it was sometime that afternoon and Jamey and I began a mad showering spree, trying to get everybody all cleaned up and looking (and smelling) like decent human beings again. We managed it, thank goodness.

We went to Chick-Fil-A on our way to service that night. There was a group of Church folks pulling out when we got there and others still inside eating. Steve Lewis was there and started handing out Chick-Fil-A coupons. Between the coupon from him and the three gift cards the kids had gotten at a VLB service a few weeks ago, our total was $3.00 or something like that. --And I let everybody get dessert, because I knew we had so much coming for free. It was great. :-)

James made it back to Cleveland that night and joined us at Church. It was a really good service and I loved Dad's message. It was about suffering and sacrifices and he gave lots of current day examples, mostly of people who were present that night, of those who have given things up in order to serve the Lord and His Church. I LOVE having current day examples. It is SUCH a blessing and encouragement to me to look around and see people in the Church right now who are living their whole lives for the Lord, not just read about Peter or John or those guys who did it "way back then."

After service that night something truly tragic happened. We went to Steak-n-Shake... and I was too full to be able to get anything!!! ~sigh~ That is so wrong. James got a Frisco melt (what I LOVE) and it looked terrific, but I couldn't even make myself take one bite--I was just too full from my Chick-Fil-A sandwich, fries, and banana pudding milkshake. ~sigh~ Wrong. So, so wrong. Though that milkshake was fantabulous. :-)

Saturday I felt horrible. Tons of pressure in my head and groggy and achy and just all-over "BLEAGH." The kind of day you just can't pull yourself out of bed because you feel so awful. But I had to pull out of bed--there were things to be done and places to go and people to be with! :-) I had gotten to bed really late the night before, had a hard time falling asleep, then got up at 5:00am to put the brisket in the oven. I got up "for real" at about 7:00, I think, and made a cherry pie with some of Mom's delicious frozen pie cherries. YUM. :-) After that I started trying to gather up our belongings because I knew I'd be packing later in the day.

We went to Fazoli's AGAIN for lunch that day on our way to the Graduation Ceremony/Heritage Day service. To be truthful, I felt so bad at the service I can't remember anything about it. That's not true. I remember that Brother Dupre said he was only going to take 15 minutes. He obviously doesn't know himself as well as the rest of us know him. Mom timed him. She's not nice like that. 40 minutes. I was falling asleep before he ever got up there, though. I hadn't had much sleep throughout the week, but that night before was practically worthless--and I was feeling so horrible that day. I went and stood in the back for a while, just in an effort to stay awake and alert. It seemed to help.

After the service ended we headed back home for our big brisket dinner. I had made the pie that morning and Jamey had made a strawberry cake. That night I made some cheesy potatoes and she made some baked beans. Before we ever even sat down to eat I was regretting this meal--we should have just ordered pizza! Ha! We were all sooooo tired and it was already nearly 7:00 and we had so much collected and packing and cleaning to do. And now we throw a big meal and all those dishes into the mix! Dumb. Oh well. It tasted great and gave Mom & Dad some good left-overs.

That night we let all the kids get in the hot tub, girls first, then the boys. As Jamey and I were standing out there with the girls we decided that we were just going to have to get in, too. :-) We were so tired and there was still so much to do... but the hot tub just looked so good! I was still feeling pretty rough and was so achy. It's the best decision we made all week. :-) It was so nice and I felt sooooo much better afterward!

Sunday morning I got up at about 5:30 to finish up a little laundry and the packing, then do as much cleaning and sheet changing as I could. We said our goodbyes and pulled out at about 7:15 to head back home. We got to Bessemer and dropped the Charles off in the Hopkins' basement (too hot to leave him in the van) and made it to church in plenty of time. I love the time chance coming this direction. :-)

I was sooooo tired again in church! It had been another late night/early morning and though I was feeling much better, sitting down was a bad, bad thing for my efforts to stay awake. ;-) After Church James had a meeting to attend, so visited with the other people who were waiting for the meeting to adjourn--and Tammy Washburn, who God had stranded there at the church to make sure she'd be back for evening service. HA! Or something like that. ;-) The meeting finally ended and several of us when to Cracker Barrel which, I have decided, is one of my least favorite places to go--at least on Sundays. I like the food, but they were sooooo crowded. It took forever to be seated, then forever to have your order taken, a while to get your drinks, and a good long while for the food to come. None of which would bother me if it wasn't for the NOISE. I'm hard of hearing anyway, but in a setting where there is so much racket it is soooooo hard for me to make out what anybody is saying. I have to lean in with my good ear (which must be amusing--ha!) and concentrate really, really hard and try to read the lips of the person who is talking to me. And then I hope to make out enough to figure out what they're talking about, even if I miss most of the details. It's just not a relaxing or enjoyable place for the hard of hearing, you know?! Ha!

After lunch we went to the Hopkins' house to check on the Charles, then just stayed and visited until church time. It was nice. And it was coooooooool in their house which was wonderful. :-)

We had a good service that night, then made it home by about 10:30, I think. I was so happy to go to bed at a decent hour that night!

And that catches me up on last week. Which means I'm still a week behind. Hhmmm. That didn't go according to plan at all! ;-) There's not nearly as much to report from this week, so it should be easier to catch up at this point. I think.

Before I go, here are two more pictures I found. The first is of Brother Matt and the shiner he acquired from the spill he took from the scooter. It seemed like the eye just kept getting darker and darker each day! This was taken two or three days after the accident.

And this is Katie and Lillie, playing a duet. Charlie was curled up on the bench with them, sleeping, until I walked in the room. :-)

More of BTI

Our Alabama Banquet was on Monday night. I remember when I was in BTI as a teenager. I hated all those crazy banquets! We never could understand why you would go to BTI and actually have a chance to be with other Church folks from all over the country--old friends and brand new ones--and then designate a night to go out with... all of the people you're with all the time at home?! That's nuts! ;-) We never had one of our own and we finally began crashing some of the "big" state's banquet, like Tennessee or North Carolina. So that's sort of how we approached the Alabama Banquet this year. More of a free-for-all rather than a strictly-Alabama folk thing. :-) As it turned out, aside from a few western tag-alongs :-) everybody there was either from Alabama or formerly from Alabama--the Hawkins, the O'Dells and the Womacks. It was GREAT.

We wanted to continue on with the BTI Box tradition, but we didn't have to mail it this time--we just took it to the Banquet and hand-delivered the goods. :-) We weren't sure how it would go over (we only know how to put together super corny gifts), but apparently it was a hit. I don't remember all that we got, but I stole some pictures from Facebook (that's not illegal, is it?) and had a few of my own, too, so here we go.

This is Taylor and Tarin Puckett, the pastor's kids from Red Bay. We got him a bib because he was our youngest BTI-er from Alabama. He wore it with pride, as you can see. (I love teenagers.) We got Taylor a glow stick wand because... well, because we don't know her well enough to know WHAT to get her--but who doesn't like glow sticks?! :-)



We got the clown nose and glasses for Matt Barnes because we DID know him well enough.



Everybody had fun with the glasses. :-)



Sister Tammy got the Annual Ammons Disguise this year. --It made the rounds too, as you'll see in a moments. We got googly eyes for everyone to glue to their eyelids when they are too tired to stay awake in class, so their instructors won't know. ~ahem~ Sister Tammy actually taped them on to her own reading glasses--they looked great! Ha!



Okay, I know there are a lot of pictures of the same thing here, but I just couldn't decide what to post and what not to! I'll start by a video clip that's not nearly as great as all of the things I didn't record, but still enjoyable...



Brother Chris was cracking everybody up, but I really thought Brother Rob was going to hurt himself. He got to laughing sooooo hard. His face turned beet red and he was almost completely out of his chair, leaning over on Sister Missy, gasping for breath. HA! It was so great! It was hilarious!!!











After a while, Brother Matt decided to take a turn. He was giving his best Brother Ammons impersonation here, rehearsing his testimony about being kidnapped in Africa. He does a GREAT Brother Ammons--as you can tell from Brother Chris' response. Ha!





We had a great time. I'm pretty sure there wasn't quite so much cuttin' up at the other state banquets. HA!

The next morning we got the whole family up and headed in for BTI morning devotions. :-) We all hung around Headquarters for a while, just visiting and snooping around the "exciting" classrooms. 1st Term and LPD classes were right next to each other, meaning that if one class started to pray and get loud the other class couldn't hear their instructor and continue. So they'd just start praying too and before long somebody would through open the door and everybody would be in one classroom all together, praying. This particular day it lasted for two or three hours, I think.

There are a lot of things I could say about this picture. I was so blessed by this entire prayer time. I hate to post this where I know he will see it (skip this part, D.T.!!!)... but I was just so, so, so blessed to see our VLB leader setting such a wonderful example for all of our young people of praying and persevering until the victory came. Brother Dustin stayed in this one spot for hours, seeking and seeking and seeking--because he was in need of something from the Lord. It's so easy to pray a little while and then get up or go pray for someone else, but we've got to learn how to pray things through--and I love that God is giving us leaders in The Church of God who don't just tell us what to do, but show us--without even realizing it. And, by his own testimony, Brother Dustin got saved that day. ;-) I, for one, am still waiting to see the fruit of it but...



There was a different spirit entirely in this room. HA! I can't expound, but these girls had come to Mom's office to beg--I mean really beg--for her to help them with some... personal problems, we'll say. Ha! Of course, Mom could do nothing for them, so what were they to do?



Blame the next guy to walk into the room, of course! Ha! I wish I could have gotten a picture when they were glaring him down as he approached the room. :-)



James had some running around town to do that day, so the kids and I just hung out at Headquarters until after lunch. Katie is SUCH a people person (she has all the social needs I ever did, only with none of the inhibitions!), so she was great with it. Joe was beginning to get bored and itching to get back to Granddad's house to fish some more, but then Jimmy and Daniel Cox showed up. That fixed that. :-) They went into the church and jammed on all the instruments for a while. Sam tagged along and seemed to have a great time, as well.

That night we went to Golden Corral with the western folks for their Banquet. It wasn't nearly as exciting as the Alabama Banquet had been (ha!), but that's probably just because we'd all worn ourselves out the night before laughing so hard!

We got back to the house decently early that night and everybody had a chance to enjoy a nice evening outside.

Joe and Isaac hung out on the swing for a while with some Calvin & Hobbes books.



Sam and Aleah took turns pulling each other up and down the hill. :-)





And pretty soon the whole crowd was out there, fishing, riding scooters and wagons, sitting on benches and visiting, just whatever.



Some of the fishermen...





And some of the riders...



Though a great many of you have already seen this video, it seemed worth posting again. :-) Good ole' Matt.



This was taken immediately following the accident, before his eye swelled up and blackened. And really, the picture doesn't show the severity of the cuts and scrapes either. But no matter--it was just another excuse to pose for Matt!



In the meantime, the others kept on fishing.



And giving rides to a VERY compliant poodle (he amazes me!) with Head Wound Barnes looking on.





Charlie just amazes me. These girls held him and toted him everywhere all week long. You'd think he'd get tired of it and start getting testy. He did run and hide a few times (ha!), but most of the time he'd follow them around and even go looking for them. And he'd just happily put up with whatever they had in mind for him, seemingly enjoying all the attention. What a good dog. :-)





James and Matt took Sam and Isaac out for a ride in the paddle boat--always a hit with the kids.



And that's about it for that night. This video clip was taken a few days later, as a follow up to the "Magnificent Matt" clip. :-)



That night Brother Dustin, Sister Jamey, Brother Chris, Brother Matt, James and I all stayed up and played I Buy. It was great, but not nearly as great as all of the impersonations that went on. I laughed until my sides were just aching. I love that. :-)

Wednesday morning James got up and headed back to Alabama. On his way he got a phone call informing us that our plans to buy that house were in serious trouble. Hhmmm. This is an interesting turn! I won't bore you with all of the details right now, but in the end: tomorrow is June 15th, the day we are set to close. We haven't heard anything yet informing us that matters have changed and that we will be able to buy it. Somehow I still feel like this is the right place and I expect that God will work it out one way or another. But we all know better than to trust in feelings. :-) God knows best and we just keep praying and putting it in His hands, trusting that He'll work all things according to His perfect will.

And it looks like this is where I run out of steam for the night! I'll finish up one of these days. :-)

I Love BTI!!!

...when I get to be there. :-) Even just for a little bit of it.

Saturday night I think I got to bed at about 1:00am. Got up sometime after 5:00 to finish packing and loading the van and getting everybody ready to go. We drove up to Somerville for service that morning and were so blessed there! We enjoyed such a beautiful spirit of worship and were blessed by the time and preparation that had obviously gone into what we usually call "preliminaries"--the song service and things like that. During a special song by Sister Valerie the Lord really began to move and soon enough the Mason's backslidden son, Justin, made his way to the altar. It was wonderful to see how all of the men gathered around to pray for him and with him. I am so thankful for the love and forgiveness that can be found in The Church of God! After a good while of praying, Justin testified to being saved and asked forgiveness for having brought a reproach on the Church by his actions while not serving the Lord. Thank the Lord! Pray that God will help him to live in the strength and grace that God has provided.

After service the whole church went to Ryan's for lunch. That means we ate way, way too much. I have gained so much weight since being here! That's another problem for another day though. I was able to sit with several of the ladies and I so enjoyed visiting with them and getting to know them a little better--Sister Kay Collins, Sister Emily, Sister Susan and her daughter Hailey, Sister Valerie, and Sister Reed. We talked about Camp and kids and homeschooling and how old everybody was when they got married--oh, all sorts of stuff. I loved it. :-)

We drove to West Lawrence after that and visited with the Warrens at their house for about an hour before leaving for church. Brother Dustin pulled out his AK-47 and several really neat bows, an Indian war club, a tomahawk, and a few other guns including some really neat looking thing that looked like a flintlock pistol, but I don't think it was actually a flintlock. Percussion, perhaps? In any case, he's got a ton of neat stuff like that. Even I was impressed, and I'm not very knowledgeable about such things. Brother Dustin seems to take great pride in the fact that, "You know I'm a true redneck 'cuz my guns are worth more than my house!" You have to say that in the thickest, most country sounding drawl you can muster, followed by deep, hearty laughter. :-) "No, really--they are!"

We had a good service in West Lawrence that night. I can't remember the guys name, but some man there played the guitar and sang a song that he'd written about "That Little Floppin' Tongue." HA! I love Alabama. ;-) It really was a great song. The verses talked about gossip or backbiting or bad language or just being ugly, then the chorus basically said that all of your good works aren't going to be worth a thing if you don't put a bridle on "that little floppin' tongue." I was sorry I hadn't recorded it. :-) James preached a good message that night on divine healing.

After service we visited and visited and visited some more. I'm not sure what time we finally left, but we had a long drive ahead of us that took much longer than anticipated. James didn't last too long and handed the wheel over to me. I'm the one who had really, really wanted to go on to Cleveland that night instead of waiting until the next day so I guess it's fair. :-) I was so tired though after only about 4 hours of sleep and a very, very long day since then. I did lots of praying and God did keep us safe all the way to Mom & Dad's house, where we arrived at about 2:00am. ~whew~ I was so worn out! I made the mistake however of complaining the next day about it "taking forever" to get there. I was in the presence of a couple of westerners who looked rather dumbfounded, but were quick to point out my folly. "Boy, listen to her! Been down south for a few months and already complaining about 'how far it is' and 'how long it takes' to get places. A whole four hours???" Ha! I quickly apologized and took back my complaints! It SEEMED like a long and miserable trip because it took longer than I had expected it to take--and no doubt because of the hour of day. Night, rather. But it's wrong to complain to people who drove 20 hours (with no complaints) to get to the same place you drove 3 or 4 hours to get to. I really, really don't want to "go soft" living here and being made aware of my complaint made me wonder if I have already begun! Ha!

In spite of our late night Joe was up at the crack of dawn, gathering his fishing gear. He had quite a successful time fishing throughout the week and spent many, many hours at it. He definitely got some of his Granddad's genes! The first fish was just a little itty-bitty guy, but still worth smiling over.



Then there's Sam. He caught a stick. Sorry, Mom--I did make him get all the fishing stuff and the nasty stick out of the house right away. Well, right after I took the picture, anyway. ;-)



Though we didn't get unloaded and unpacked and settled (while being very, very quiet so as to not wake up the company that was already at Mom & Dad's house--the Hortons, the Hays family, Chris Clarkson and Matt Barnes) and asleep until about 3:00am the night before, I couldn't help but get up in the morning and hop in the Yukon with Dad at 7:30 so I could be there for morning devotions at BTI. And I'm soooooooooo glad I did!!! I have always loved BTI. Always. (Except when I miss it. Ha!) But I was amazed at how I felt during that first devotion time. There is a BTI spirit that can only be felt and experienced at BTI. That's not to belittle camps or conventions or the Assembly or anything like that--some of those functions have a feeling all their own, too. But it has been 9 years since I've been to BTI and I was overwhelmed by the feeling of it--the camaraderie I could feel among the students there, the oneness in worship and direction, and--probably more than anything else--the hunger and desire to grow in the Lord. There are lots of reasons to go to all Church functions, but the core reason people go to BTI is to learn and to grow, to become better equipped to serve God and work in The Church of God. I LOVE THAT. :-) And the fact that it happens together, with so many brothers and sisters that are there for the same reason. I was so, so, sooooo blessed to be able to take part in even just a little bit of BTI here and there. I was able to make it to 3 morning devotions and 3 services, as well as just hanging out around Headquarters here and there and peek through doors to enjoy the excitement of classes that were no longer classes, but altar calls with people being filled with the Holy Ghost and healed and who knows what all. ~sigh~ Have I mentioned that I love BTI???

Unfortunately, I have practically no pictures of BTI to share. I just popped in for a minute here and there and didn't have my camera with me most of the time. I did take this one, however, because I found it amusing--though there are no people in it. (I know, I know--I fail!) Though there are four in a row, be not deceived--this is NOT the Cobalt aisle on a Chevy lot. It's just some BTI students of like mind, I guess. :-)



After morning devotions I headed back home to meet up with the rest of the family. We had some running around to do, then met Brother Chris and Brother Dustin (Jamey and the kids were in Arkansas until the following afternoon) at Fazoli's for lunch. :-) Afterward we went home to prepare for our Alabama banquet that night.

But that will have to wait until next time. I've been averaging four to five hours of sleep a night for over a week now and it's finally caught up to me! Last night I went to bed at 10:30 and slept until nearly 8:00 this morning. I still felt exhausted but managed to get a few things done, including and afternoon nap. Ha! I'm going to try to get to bed at a decent hour again tonight and see if I can get regulated a little bit. I'll do some more catching up tomorrow, I home. Until then, here are a few parting shots. :-)

We didn't get to spend much time with Mom & Dad at all this week (wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay too busy!), but we're thankful for the moments here and there. :-) Dad was able to fish with the kids for a few minutes that first night.



The Charles LOVED the pond water. That means he had muddy paws all week. I can't count the times I had to carry him in and wash and dry his paws so he wouldn't leave little brown prints all over Mom's white carpet! Everybody ought to have dirt colored carpet, especially if they have ponds in their yards. ;-)

I Hate BTI

But only when I miss it. ;-)

I've discovered one of the great mysteries of life: while you're at BTI the time just flashes past and you find yourself saying "It's over tomorrow?! No way--we just got here!" but when you're wishing you were at BTI it creeps along at a snail's pace. A sick and lethargic snail. It's the longest two weeks of the year, meandering by while you think, "They're in morning devotions right now... I wonder what they're singing... Who's speaking today?... I wonder what classes are going on right now..." Then evening comes. "Who's preaching tonight and what wonderful move of the Holy Ghost are they enjoying? Who's lives are being forever changed--especially all those young people in this amazing and pivotal time of their lives." Stuff like that.

And yet... I really don't feel jealous. No, I take that back. There are moments when I feel very jealous. :-) Then I remember that I had my years there--a whole lot in a row--during that fantastic season of teenage/early twenties, and I really do love it that there are other "kids" there now learning and growing and making dear friends and creating lasting memories. It's their turn. Still, I really wish I was there to watch it all--and do some more learning and growing of my own.

One other observation:

Missing BTI makes you not want to blog. ;-)

But there's been so much going on this week, a thousand things to blog about and now I'm way behind and I haven't even been taking notes. Ready for random?

It's been a red letter week around here this week. Lots of big goings on. I got all of the ironing caught up for the very first time since living in Alabama. That's HUGE. Pitiful, but true. The kids finished school this week. Big, exciting event. James spent most of the week in bed. Not exciting, but maybe a new record. (He's been really sick, not just lazy. Felt like I should clarify. Ha!) We had our first encounter with a venomous snake. Oh, all kinds of things.

Last Sunday we went to church, then went out to eat with the Ridlespurges, then went to the Ridlespurges house to visit throughout the rest of the afternoon, then went to church that night, then went out with the Ridlespurges again. Katie and Katie dubbed it "RidleHorne Day." Ha! It just sort of worked out that way and I'm so glad it did. We had such a great time being with them, as we always do.

What else?

We met Brother Hopkins at "our" house, along with a contractor he knows. We're having the guy give us an estimate on constructing a garage for us. We also had the septic and termite inspections done this week. They turned out good and the termite guy was also able to take care of the mold problem in the crawl space that turned out to not be mold after all, just fungus. Either way, it's been treated and should no longer be an issue. Everything seems to be moving along, one step at a time.

I got the utility room all cleaned up and floor scrubbed this week. Oh--I didn't mention WHY I finally conquered the ironing. I had been keeping the ironing board set up by the dining table so that I could work on ironing while helping the kids with school. I had somehow misplaced my Bible for a few days and was going NUTS trying to find it. I had looked everywhere (house, van, church) multiple times and finally just about tore the house apart one morning looking for it. No good. It's maddening because, though it says the same thing, using somebody else's Bible just doesn't feel right--it's not familiar like your own, you know?! Anyway, later that day I found my Bible. Under a stack of ironing. ~sigh~ That's a sure sign that things are out of control and it's time to take action, right?! I figured it was God telling me that it's time. So that's what I did that day. FINISHED. ~aaaaaahhhh~ It felt GREAT. And it's continued to feel great because I've washed several loads of laundry since then and immediately ironed everything, so I'm STILL caught up--except for the last load tonight that's still in the dryer. Makes me very, very happy. :-)

Okay, here's something worth blogging.

At 8:30 or 9:00 Thursday night the kids were outside hunting for toads, a late night privilege we allow them from time to time. I was upstairs when I heard Katie and Joe BURST through the front door in a panic--a true blue sort of panic--yelling, "Copperhead!!!" They've been somewhat panicked over a few things here and there, but this was excitement to a whole new level and there was absolute certainty in their voices--no doubts about their claim. So James and I got our shoes on as quickly as we could and grabbed a gun, Brother Powell's walking stick, and a lantern. In the meantime I kept asking, "Where's Sam???" and finally one of the kids said that he was still outside. I started to join in the panicky feeling at that point! Ha! Katie and Joe had rushed to tell us about the snake while Sam stayed to keep watch and see where it might go. A good plan, really--but not a comforting one to a Mom! We went out and found the snake--about 18" long, I guess--on the pavement up by the field. James didn't want to use the gun and damage the Powell's driveway, so the walking stick ended up being the weapon of choice. James beat the thing's brains out (literally--gross) and then slung it out into the woods somewhere. Apparently the snake had been right next to Katie when Joe saw it. He immediately recognized it as a copperhead and yelled at her, pointing it out. Then Charlie got involved, going right up to it and barking and I think they said even pawing at it. DUMB DOG. In the end, we had a dead snake, three unharmed children, and even an unharmed dumb dog who was trying to do his dogly duty without understanding he's a poodle, not a doberman.

The night before, James had stayed home sick while the kids and I had gone on to church. As I was driving home and nearing the house--the last 3 miles or so--I had this really strange, uneasy feeling. It was a hair-stand-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck sort of sense, akin to fear but not really fear. It was almost like a feeling of impending danger--like something was wrong, or that something bad could (or was about to?) happen. It was especially strange because I don't get "feelings." I'm sooooo insensitive to so many things (even obvious things most of the time!) and I just don't have the discernment to pick up on things that other people seem to pick up on. But this was a very strong and urgent feeling. I didn't feel fearful, but I did feel a sharp awareness and alertness to my surroundings, a cautious anticipation of some sort. I spent the rest of the trip home praying and asking God to keep his hand on my children, my husband, myself; that He would protect us from any harm or danger--since that's what I was feeling.

I've done a lot of thinking and praying since then, thanking God. Perhaps the Holy Ghost was leading me to pray and reach the Lord on behalf of the danger that was presently unknown to me. Who's to say that the snake hadn't been right in our path the night before when we walked from the van to the house? Maybe God protected us from it then. Or perhaps my prayers on Wednesday night were for Thursday night--and God answered when my children discovered, almost stepped on, but were unharmed by a venomous snake. How many times does God protect us from dangers unseen and unknown to us--and most of the time we never do know that we were in danger. How many injurious or fatal accidents have been avoided while we rest ignorantly in His care? ~sigh~ We can't possibly grasp the amazing gift that we have received by being HIS, in His care, under His watchful eye, and protected by His almighty power.

Friday was the big, exciting LAST DAY OF SCHOOL around here. Katie and Joe both managed to finish up on their computer school, working until nearly 9:00 that night to pull it off. Sam worked and worked throughout the day, doing two or three times the usual amount of work in order to finish up his school book on the same day the others finished. Ah, yes--Sam...

We've always done this thing at our house. When a kid learns to read--really read, not just a word here and there--they get a Bible of their very own. Well, James brought a Bible home for Sam a few days ago. He's been doing sooooo good with his reading and trying sooooo hard. He was sooooooo excited when James gave him his own Bible! And I was AMAZED at how much better his reading was the next day in school! It's like it did something in his head; like it's the license proving that he really can read now or something. I'm so proud of him. :-) Reading came so easily to Katie and Joe. Sam excels in so many other areas, but has always really struggled in this one. He's had to work so hard to achieve the "reader" status that his new Bible declares. :-)

Okay--winding down now. It's getting late and I've got a super early morning. I'll make it quick...

Yesterday we discovered bushes in the yard with lovely little black berries all over them. Raspberries! Yum! The kids ate a lot of them, then I helped them collect more, came inside and made a pie that was way, way too good. We ate the whole thing. :-) What a great day!!!

Today the kids and I got up early and met up with the Powell's son and daughter-in-law, Spencer and Shayla, and their three daughters. We went to a U-Pick farm and spent an hour or so sweating like pigs ~bleagh~ and picking the most gigantic blackberries I've ever seen in my life, followed by the sweetest and best blueberries I've ever tasted. What a great way to start the day!!! Then we all came back to the house and visited for a while, the Powells grabbed a few things they needed out of the basement, and we all went down to the cafe to have lunch together. We visited there for quite a while, too. I enjoyed every minute of it. :-) What a great family. I so thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. They're so nice to visit with and we have a lot of things in common. And their girls are just so, so sweet. And apparently they read my blog. Hi, girls!!! :-) I'm so glad we were finally able to get together for a little while. We've been planning on it for months now.

I need to iron and fold my last load of laundry, then wrap up the packing. We're leaving early in the morning to drive to Somerville for service, then we'll be in West Lawrence tomorrow night. After that, we're planning on going to Cleveland. We'll be there for our Alabama Banquet/Fellowship/Get-Together/Meal Thing on Monday night, then James will leave the kids and me there for the remainder of the week (wa-hooooo!) and he'll come back for the graduation ceremony/Heritage Day service on Saturday, after which we'll all head home. I'm soooooo excited!!! At least I'll be able to sneak in on PART of BTI this year!

And, as I'm sure you know, I probably won't be blogging while I'm there. I'll be with PEOPLE. :-)

Before I go, PICTURES! Though I'm sorry to say I don't have any great ones.

Here's a picture of the kids trying to solve a dilemma. That beam that crosses between the two pillars has been collecting things. Rubber band, paper airplanes, I don't know what all. I'm pretty sure the Powell's didn't have this problem, but it's been happening ever since we moved in. (By the way, have I mentioned there is a foam dart trapped in one of the ceiling fan light fixtures wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay up high? It's been there for a long time no and I have NO idea how to get it down. I think we may just leave it for the Powells to remember us by. HA!) Anyway, Joe decided to try to knock the stuck items down by shooting them with rubber bands.



The result, of course, was a big pile of rubber bands on top of all the other stuff. Ha! I finally stood on a stool and was able to get high enough to sling a towel over the top of the beam several times and drag the items off. So it's clean. For now.

And this is one of Sam's projects this week. He got his hands on this little motor that spins a tiny metal rod really fast when you touch two wires to opposite ends of a battery. With a little help from his Dad, Sam soon had a functioning windmill that was later modified to become a helicopter, among other things. I love it when he does stuff like this. :-)




And finally, though I completely failed in the picture department today (I left my camera in the van while we were picking berries!), I did take this one when we got home. Aren't those blackberries HUGE?!



Okay, that's it. Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week! And overlook all of the errors. I'm way to tired to proof read anything tonight. :-)