Today is the Day!

That I'm going to get all caught up on my blog--just watch. I don't have to leave the house today (unless James pulls a quick one on me) and I'm pretty well caught up on all of the must-do chores around here, and most of all I dread the thought of remaining this far behind or--horrors, no--falling yet farther behind. So I'm getting caught up today no matter how much I have to skip to make it happen. ;-)

I think I left off at the cedar sided house that Tammy Washburn never heard about, right? (You didn't hear because it didn't stay on the list long enough to mention to you. Ha!)

We left at about noon and went to Staples, Best Buy, Kohl's, Wal-Mart and at least one other place--all with things to return or exchange. They had been piling up for weeks, so it felt good to get that taken care of. We also had a few stops at places just to purchase things instead of return them.

Then we drove by a different house that James saw on the MLS that is just over a mile from the church. Wouldn't THAT be nice! We had very low expectations, judging by the location. It's IN town and also in an area that's not known for being the BEST of locations--real close to a Wal-Mart. But it had three acres, so we figured we'd drive by it like all the others before marking it off the list. The setting ended up being beautiful. It's at the very end of a dead end street and while you do have neighbors, they're all spread out and there is nothing close to you. There are lots and lots of woods behind the house and a golf course edges the north side of the property, but there are also trees all along that fence line so you don't really notice it unless you're looking for it. It FEELS so very quiet and private and secluded. The landscaping is gorgeous. Then there's the house. HA! First of all, it looks like some rich, snooty estate. It's HUGE. I mean way, way, wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay too big. Like, twice as big as any house I'd ever need. And it has four great big tall pillars out front. They're square wooden pillars painted white instead of the rounded marble looking ones, but still. Hoity-toity. It's a white brick house and it's just... big. But this house is super-duper cheap (way cheaper than almost everything we've seen) and on three acres and real close to the church... It's another foreclosure (which always warns of disrepair) and we went and peeked in the windows. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! It is soooooo... Oh, I don't even have the word for it. This house was built by a very rich somebody 40 years ago and it has all of the latest styles... from 40 years ago still firmly in place--but with all those years of wear and tear, plus some neglect and probably abuse. We could only see into two or three widows, but we discovered 12" glass tiles with that gold marble effect all over the walls in the dining room, wall paper with giant peacocks and pheasants all over it, oh, I can't remember what all. It made us laugh so hard. I kept saying, "Look at it, James! This house NEEDS us! Look... it NEEDS somebody like us!!!" Ha! It's really something.

Then we happily drove to our appointment at the For Sale by Owner property. It's very, very nice (as is the lady who owns it), but there are a whole lot of things to take into consideration with it. Two of the three bedrooms are very small, the master is nice but has a very small bathroom with NO storage (pedestal sink--they look neat, but are SO impractical!), the "large kitchen" is not large at all and has very little counter space and even less cabinet space (and no pantry or place to add one), the dining area is a little small and there would be no room for a hutch, the laundry room is in a closet in the bathroom, and there is hardly any storage space in the house--closets and such. Aside from those things, it's perfect. ;-) Oh, and it has no real privacy, though the yard is beautiful and we love the fence. Most of the neighbors' houses are gorgeous, but there is one really rough looking trailer right across the street. The things that are wonderful about it are the cedar siding (though it is beginning to look rather worn--the weather here is so hard on wood), the adorable front porch, the gorgeous rock fire place in a really nice sized (not too big, not too small) living room, the wood floors in the kitchen/dining area, the new tile in the bathrooms and new carpet (brown, not white! Wa-Hoo!) throughout the rest of the house, the gorgeous yard with big, pretty trees, the outdoor fireplace and framed awning (can't think of how to describe it), and the beautiful in-ground pool. The pool is actually on the pro's list AND the con's list. ;-) I've heard that pools are a lot of work and money to keep up, so I wouldn't be crazy about that. But when it's super hot and nasty it would be really nice to have! If we're going to have one, I would love for it to be in-ground instead of one that stands up 4 feet high in your yard that you can't really SWIM in anyway. What else... We would need to finish out the garage area and convert it into living space, as well as have an office brought in or constructed out in the yard somewhere for James. So it's a matter of adding up all the numbers and seeing how much it would cost at the end of the day, then looking at the pro's (did I mention it's less than 5 miles from the church and is beautiful???) and cons (no privacy and your kitchen and bedrooms will always be small and low on storage) and seeing if it's really THE house after all. Hhmmm. In the end, we'd end up putting a decent amount of money into it and still struggle to "fit" in it--it's just not going to work well for us. Sooooo, perhaps James was wrong. It's not THE house. ;-)

That was on a Tuesday. We went to town early enough on Wednesday to go to the Salvation Army in Hoover--found some much needed dress clothes for the Assembly. We've been doing some heavy thrift shopping lately and should be pretty well set for dress clothes for a while. That feels good. :-)

We had tried to have Laura get us in to see the big white brick house with columns (we call it the Quinncrest Monstrosity), but she couldn't do it that night. We went on to church and enjoyed seeing a Missions video that Brother Rob and Brother Ridlespurge have been working tirelessly on. I am always so, so blessed by those.

After church we waited around while guys went pray for our pastor who was home sick. (He's doing much better now, thank the Lord.) When they got back we went to Burger King with the Coxes and the Ridlespurges. While we were there we got to talking about the Monstrosity and the longer we talked the better it got. James was wondering if it is haunted (ha!) and if it has secret passage-ways leading down to the laboratory (pronounced "la-BOR-uh-tory" in your best mad scientist voice) and so on. When we were ready to leave the restaurant James asked if I wanted to drive by the Monstrosity to see how the neighborhood felt at night (safe or scary)... so we invited everybody else to go with us! Ha! I think it was nearly midnight when our three vehicles went slinking down the nice, quiet dead-end street. We all pulled behind the house and tried to keep the kids decently quiet while we peeked in windows and talked and giggled about this crazy house. We'd only been there a few minutes when a cop walked around the corner and asked what we were doing. HA! James was closest to her and the rest of us instinctively closed in quickly behind him, just trying to get close enough to see what was going on. It was a girl cop and she took a step back and said, "Whoa! I know you're probably not up to anything, but I'm all alone here and I'd appreciate it if you'd all just back off a little bit!" Ha! James explained what we were up to and apparently it was believable (nobody would take that many people--and 8 children--if they were going to break into a place) because we had a nice little chat with her about the neighborhood and then she left us there. James was thrilled to find that neighbors keep an eye on things and that the cops were there so quickly. That's a GREAT sign to him. Ha! Whether anything ever comes of this house or not, we've had some great laughs over it and will always have some terrific memories. :-)

On Thursday we hoped all day that Laura would call and say that she could get us in to see the Monstrosity, but it never worked out.

We finally got an appointment set for Friday morning to see the Quinncrest Monstrosity. The Mortuary. The Estate. It looks like any of those. We had only been able to see through a few of the downstairs windows (and saw the gold marble streaked mirror tiles and the peacock wall paper) and were truly prepared for the worst. We were expecting to see serious neglect and abuse and all sorts of nastiness and ugliness all throughout the house. My worst fear was the bathrooms. What if they were 40 years old with pink fixtures and tile and filth and grime that could only be ripped out and replaced instead of freshened up and used? I HATE bathroom remodels--as soon as you call the plumber in it costs a FORTUNE and takes FOREVER.

Well... we walked through the first floor: foyer (yes, I just said that--it's a BIG house!), living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, den, master with private bath and closet... and couldn't believe how un-horrible everything was. So... what's the catch? A house this size at this price, even as a foreclosure??? It must have something seriously wrong with it. Must be upstairs. We went up and were immediately WOWED by the gorgeous "library" room. It is very large, tongue-and-groove that's stained a dark (cherry, maybe?) color with large beams lining the peak ceiling. It looks like a pretty little chapel except for the built in book cases on each end of the room. It is beautiful and James immediately claimed it for his office--and Church History Museum. ;-) It really would be perfect for that. There are also two bathrooms and several more bedrooms. (Did I mention that this house is big?) And everything looked very nice. Can it be possible that all this house needs is some cosmetic work?! Paint and wallpaper and a few minor fixes??? No way!!!

We then walked down to the basement. (Yes, a full basement too--CRAZY.) It's mostly wide open space down there (I told James we could just buy the kids some skates and let them go at it! Ha!) with a half bath, another room, and a few storage-type rooms for the furnace and stuff like that.

Long story short (I know--too late for that) we decided to put an offer on it. Laura went home and got busy on all the paperwork while we dinked around town for a few hours waiting to get with her and sign the papers. When she finally called she told us that this house already had a contract on it! HA! You could have guessed that, right??? :-) Sooooo... that was a waste of time!

And yet... over the next day or two we kept thinking and praying about it and decided to do a crazy thing. But more on that in a minute.

For that day, we came home feeling a little discouraged. Although this house was way bigger and "fancier" than what we are looking for (though still in need of some definite updating)--and there is a part of me that would worry about what people would think with us owning such a big and hoity-toity place (!)--it answers the specific things we've been praying for better than any other, by a long shot. The two things I pray for in a house are #1, a safe place to raise our kids with room for the boys to roam just a little bit and be BOYS and #2, a place that can be used to minister to others, where we can be hospitable and have people over for dinners, band meetings, fellowship--and be able to keep people during Conventions and stuff like that. This house is surrounded by lots of "woods" for the boys to play in, in an area that feels very private and safe. As for entertaining, well, there's no doubt you've got plenty room to do it there (ha!)--and being only a mile and a half from the church opens that door a thousand times more. We would never have to turn anyone way--we could house the entire State Convention! HA! (James and Mom tell me that I exaggerate. Mom said that house wasn't NEARLY as "mansion-ish" as she'd expected after hearing my description!) Anyway, because of all the possibilities with the house and how it could be used to be a blessing (I wouldn't even be able to think of it as my own--it would be the Church's house) we were very disappointed to learn that it already had a contract on it before we even got in to see it. And James was a wee bit frustrated with the other real estate company for not TELLING us so before allowing us a showing.

But that night turned out to be quite nice anyway. We got home and my son decided to take me out to dinner. How cool is that?! Sam took me to Mosey Joe’s Café and paid for both of our meals. :-)

As you can see, the ambiance was exquisite, the food delicious, and the company quite handsome. I think I had a half a ham sandwich with a bowl of ramen, sweet tea, and a side of applesauce. Sam even paid extra for our ramen to be topped with real bacon bits. :-) It was so great! Katie is the main chef at Mosey Joe's, so I made the two of them pose for me with their menu before sending them to bed that night. I love the prices.

Saturday morning started with another visit to the café at Joe's insistence (Golden Grahams and hot chocolate with WAY too many marshmallows), then Joe went fishing (caught a few fish and several ticks), Sam played outside most of the morning, Katie fiddled around in her room and was later allowed to playing a computer game (a rare occurrence around here), while I worked on the house. We spent a lazy afternoon watching a corny old black and white movie while I got all caught up on the ironing.

On Sunday (look, I'm caught up now to the current week--look at me go!) we had morning service, then went out for Mexican with Hopkins and Coxes. We had a good visit and the food was great. I love the chimichanga at Habeneros. :-) Afterward we drove by a house that Brother Will had told us about. It was adorable and had a great price tag, but James recognized it immediately as one that had just hit the market and was already under contract. Same song, 14th verse. ;-) We did some minor shopping, then crashed at the Cox's house for the remainder of the afternoon. We enjoyed visiting and comparing how much Brother Will and James have in common (which led to discussing the value of various antiques and Brother will dragging in an old Coca-Cola cooler that James oohed and ahhed over), and playing with their adorable little Yorkie pup, Roxie. Katie and Madison played in the room most of the time, but did go outside to jump rope for a little while. The boys spent the afternoon running around outside in full suits (100+ degrees) with guns and rifles of all sorts. I finally made them forfeit their suit jackets, but by then the boys were beet red, sopping wet and SMELLY. ~Bleagh~

We also got a call from Laura while we were there. This is where we did the really weird thing. :-) We'd been doing some more thinking and praying about the Monstrosity (that turned out not to be a monstrosity at all once we saw inside) and had decided to put an offer on it. HA! Go ahead--laugh. We already know. It's insane. The house already has a contract on it. That means that somebody else is already in the process of buying it. In fact, the story is that the guy had a contract on this house, it fell through, the house hit the market again, and he immediately put another offer on it and it is now under contract with him again. I'm sure he's worked hard to see that whatever caused it to fall through the first time won't happen again. In any case, what we did is put in a secondary offer, or back-up offer, so that IF the current contract falls through our offer will be there waiting. I know it's illogical and irrational, but we felt like it's what we should do. We know this house to be worth way, way more than the asking price and it would fit all of our needs PLUS open up such amazing opportunities to be hospitable... we just felt like we should put in a "just in case" offer. :-) And we've been praying and talking to God about it. I read a verse the day we saw the house (and then learned that it was already under contract) that said that GOD is the judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another. I know it sounds nuts, but I'm praying for God to "put down" the current contract, and "set up" ours. :-) I have such a hard time praying definitively about anything. I'm always praying for God's will and never anything specific because what if I'm praying in a direction that isn't God's will--what if He's wanting to use a situation in some other way, you know?! I have moments when I feel presumptuous even talking to God about this house, but I feel like I've searched my heart and I truly believe that my motives are right and I'm wanting it for the right reasons. So, I'm asking God to work miracles and move mountains and grant us this house that matches everything I've been praying for--and so much more. I would love it if He blessed us with it. And if He says no, I'll be truly thankful that He has a different plan for us. I just felt like asking specifically this time. :-)

Anyway, Brother Hopkins preached on faith at church that night. I was so blessed and so enjoyed the good prayer time afterward. Just what I needed. :-)

James has owed all the church kids milkshakes for a few weeks now. (He promised it to them when they were helping fold Convention programs and stuff like that.) We finally pulled it off that night. We went to Jack's with the Ridlespurges, the Coxes, and the Parkers. James was able to free himself of his milkshake commitment (and they use Blue Bell there--YUM!) and we had a great time visiting. All the kids were arm wrestling at their table and before long James had cleared the trash from between Sister Ridlespurge and me and wanted to see who could take who. HA! So we gave it a shot and were both equally surprised at the strength of the other (isn't that always the way it is?!) but in the end I was able to take her. Considering our age difference, I'm pretty sure she could have beaten me in her prime. ;-) We then made Brother Ridlespurge and James give it a go. THAT was funny. They just sat there for the longest time, arms trembling, but never actually moving either direction. They finally just quit. Then Brother Chris had to try Brother Ridlespurge. That's the only one I got a picture of.

It was a great night.

~whew~ I'm almost caught up--there's no stopping now!

The first part of this week was full of more of the same: housework, praying, and fasting for the Assembly. I also had lots of computer work to do as well as making reservations and plans for our post Assembly trip. I starting on the planning guide we're putting together for distribution at the Minister's Convention next month. It will include all of the pastors, clerks, and ministers contact info and stuff like that. I also pulled out the couches and found all manner of interesting clutter (better me than the Powells in a few weeks! Ha!), swept and swiffered and got lots of other hidden places in order. We straightened up the basement and cleaned out the griddle and overflowing grease cup (oops), as well as the fridge. It feels good to get some of those odd jobs taken care of.

We had WMB service on Wednesday night, the Ladies' Prayer Meeting last night. No news for today, really. Charlie got a haircut and now looks like an overgrown rat again, but it's actually the best haircut he's ever had--he'll be adorable in a couple of weeks. :-)

And that's IT! I'm all caught up! Wa-Hoo!!!!!

One last picture, just because it's available. Sam doesn't really eat lizards, in case you're wondering. Just plays with them and then releases them. Outside. As far as I know. ;-)

Sooooo Far Behind

I look at these pictures and have only faint memories of them, so long it's been since I took them. ;-)

We had a great time at Sister Bishop's house. As always, the kids had to have a seed spitting contest with her. (She insists that it is "shooting" not "spitting" but as a witness to the event I have to disagree. It's spitting if ever I've seen it! Ha!) She made me promise not to post any pictures of her in her nightgown, so I'll just post a picture of her front porch at the tail end of the contest. This is after they'd already spit three times as many seeds the other direction and finally turned around and started spitting this way. I really can't tell who has more fun, the kids or Sister Bishop!



The next morning we went on a little sight seeing expedition with Sister Bishop. First, she took us to this beautiful stone Episcopal church. The workmanship is truly amazing. I was surprised at how few pictures I had taken, but here are just a few.



People who know me well know how I feel about organs (if anyone plays one at my funeral I'm coming back to hurt you. HA!), but I would have loved to have heard this one played. Look at those pipes! Amazing.



James and Katie behind the pulpit. Is it called a pulpit in places like that?



James checking out the strange castle sort of thing up front. There were hints of Catholicism of course and although it was really weird I didn't feel creeped out like I have in Catholic churches. Mostly it just felt empty and hollow. So formal and... well, just empty. Like the ceremony is so important and there's nothing alive and REAL about it. It just feels cold and dead there. So sad.



I did think this window was beautiful.



When we left the church we drove to... somewhere. (I never know where I am down here!) It wasn't rainy. Despite the dark cloud in the picture, it was hot and sunshiny--the umbrella was used as a parasol to give some relief.



I can't remember the name of it (though I remember it starts with a J... Jeanies? Jannes?), but this is a furnace that was used to make cannon balls during the war. Way cool.



Uh-oh, looks like somebody got caught trying to make a quick escape! (Read the sign.) ;-)



The kids enjoyed climbing the rock walls surrounding the furnace, but Katie got high enough that she could go no farther and had to climb back down to where her Dad could help her to the ground.



Rescued! (Look at her skirt--it's the one Mom made for her a few weeks ago. I love it!)



There was also a neat little museum there with all sorts of war-era artifacts. The boys loved seeing the old guns and musket balls and tomahawks. There was lots of neat stuff there--we enjoyed it.

Sister Bishop is one of the best and most natural teachers I've ever known. She is so knowledgeable about so many things and it's just built into her character to share what she knows with others. The whole time you're with her you feel like you're in school. Except it's fun. :-)

Not that this is the best example of the praise I just bestowed upon her (ha!), but here she's trying to teach Sam how to snap the tops off of some weed and make them "shoot."



Next stop was a nice little creek that she insisted had cold, cold water. I think it was called Coldwater Creek. We all went wading (except for James) and I had to laugh. It was a very, very hot day and the water did feel cool and wonderfully refreshing, but I dare say Sister Bishop has never waded in any truly COLD water. :-) I remember trying to wade in the little drainage creek that ran in front of the Cabin (my grandparents' house near Gunnison, Colorado). The first step would take your breath away and within 5 seconds your feet were throbbing with pain. If you made it 10 seconds they were completely numb, but a very painful sort of numb--and there was just no lasting beyond that or you'd end up with frostbite or something! Ha!

In any case, we had a great time wading and the water was so cool and just felt so, so good.



Next we drove to a dam (that I failed to take any pictures of) and heard all sorts of great stories along the way--fishing stories, baptismal stories, historic stories. We loved it. We finally headed back to Sister Bishop's house, loaded up our things, had a light lunch, then headed for home.

We stopped in Hoover and met with the Washburns and their son-in-law, Chris, for one of Sister Tammy's famous home cooked meals: Olive Garden! :-) It had been many months since we'd eaten there, so it was especially enjoyable--and the great company made it better yet. We were able to treat the Washburns this time. When we had a contract on a house a few months ago they took us out, as a celebration dinner. It fell through of course and then the offer we put on a different house wasn't accepted and we didn't have anything in the works, so we decided it was our turn to pay and we'd call it our de-celebration dinner. ;-)

We drove to McCalla and picked up Charlie from his new boarders (he seemed very well cared for and even smelled like he'd just had a bath--nice improvement from the last place!) and made it home at about 9:00. That was Thursday night.

Friday and Saturday were filled with laundry, laundry and more laundry. I finally got our huge pounding from State Convention put away, too. (We left the morning after Convention for this trip and there had just been no time.) That was quite a chore! It did make me clean out the pantry and reorganize, so that's a good thing. It is fairly BURSTING now. In fact, I'm still worried about the Powell's shelves in there! It's been two weeks now and nothing has come crashing down yet, so I'm hoping all is well. I tried to distribute the weight evenly and I stacked lots of cans on the floor. I still feel so overwhelmed and so blessed and so thankful every time I open the door. It's amazing. Aside from milk and eggs and lunch meat, I don't know if we've bought anything since Convention--we've got such an amazing selection of stuff in the pantry right now!

Along with the laundry and pounding-putting-away, I was determined to get the house CLEAN. I felt like I was just working in circles and those darling little imps of mine (ha!) were making messes faster than I could clean them. It drives me batty when I get something totally clean then walk through 10 minutes later and it's trashed again. Of course it's a testament to my failure to properly train my children, but I still would rather put the blame on them. ;-) The kitchen is the worst. Those crazy kids NEVER close cabinets or drawers. I can have everything sparkly clean... then a child will walk through the kitchen and when they come out the other end there will be 5 cabinet doors open, 2 drawers, the trash can pulled out, a loaf of bread laying open, an open jar of peanut butter, a dirty knife, a jug of milk on the counter and 8 dirty dishes scattered about. HOW DO THEY DO THAT?! More importantly, WHY do they do it??? There are times when things seem reasonably under control and then there are times (like lately) when they act like they have had no upbringing whatsoever and like they're in some pigly who-can-make-the-biggest-mess-the-fastest competition. By Saturday night I was near meltdown stage. I don't reach it very often, but it's a horrible condition that leaves a mother in a heap, crying tears of frustration about what a failure you are to be able to train your kids or care for your house, much less both. The kids (and James--ha!) could sense it and before long all of them were scurrying around picking things up all throughout the house and whispering little things like, "Quick--she's coming!" HA! I never actually had the meltdown, but judging by the reactions I got--and how quickly the house came together with 5 people working on it instead of 1 (while the others busy themselves making messes in other areas)--I'm thinking maybe I should come to near meltdown a little more often. ;-)

On Sunday I was the impromptu Sunday School teacher for the little guys. (Who ever thinks of appointing a 5th Sunday teacher? Brother Washburn will probably think of it now. Ha!) We went to the Chinese Buffet with a big crowd for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon driving about 70 miles to go check out about 10 more houses for sale--just to drive by and see if we liked the area and whatnot before we trouble Laura with taking us inside. We found two or three that we thought we might go look in sometime. By the next morning we had decided, Nah, we really weren't interested in any of them.

Monday was a clean, clean, clean day. Everything had been put away during the Saturday night almost-meltdown ;-) but there were things that needed some good scrubbing. I didn't get as far as I would have liked, but it felt GREAT to get all of the downstairs floors nice and shiny.

Tuesday was a total bust. I had intentions of finishing the house, upstairs floors and bathrooms and all. I had barely begun when James came into the room announcing that he thinks he has found THE house. It was a cedar-sided For Sale by Owner, pretty cheap, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, rock fireplace, boasted a large kitchen, on two acres with an x-rail fence around it, less than 5 miles from the church. So there went our day. ;-) He called and made arrangements with the lady to look at it at 5:00 that night.

Hhmmm. Seems like this blog is plenty long enough. I'll start a new one to finish the story. :-)

And Then...

To continue the story of our lives...

I can’t remember what time we got to Sister Bishop's house Wednesday afternoon. We hadn’t been there too long when she loaded us up (all except for James, who stayed home to rest and study) and we went in search of peaches. She drove us through downtown Anniston and shared lots of interesting history. We eventually did find some peaches--and a watermelon with yellow innards instead of red. Somehow it disturbs my children much more to call it watermelon "meat" than it does to say watermelon innards. Weird-o's. We got back to the house and made quick work of the stew and cornbread Sister Bishop had made for dinner. Then it was time to get ready for church. We had planned on going home from Atlanta instead of Anniston for the night, but Sister Bishop called and schnookered James into preaching there that night. I'm so glad she did. :-) He felt a little strange not having a suit to wear, but it didn't seem to hinder his preaching.

We had a good service, then had a nice, relaxing night at Sister Bishop's house. I took a shower to cool off (it was sooooo hot that day!) while Sister Bishop and the kids sat on the front porch playing instruments and serenading the neighbors. We split open the watermelon and the kids thought the yellow "innards" were great, especially because they yielded a plethora of the most gigantic seeds they'd ever seen--PERFECT for their traditional seed shooting contest with Sister Bishop. So before long they were all on the front porch spitting what seemed like hundreds of seeds all over the place. Crazy kids. And crazy lady!

After the kids went to bed we worked on the new WMB logo for a while, then I stayed up way too late trying to catch up on some e-mails. The next morning Sister Bishop prepared a fantastic breakfast for us. I can't even remember what all we had (it was a bunch!), but it was all delicious. Then we all headed out for a little sight seeing...

But that will have to wait until next time. I ran out of steam again. I hate being behind like this. I'll catch up some day. Probably just in time to leave for the Assembly and get behind again. :-)

Before I go, I'll go through and narrate all of the pictures I've spent all evening uploading. You know, the ones that belong with my LAST post. The pictures that go with THIS post will be in the NEXT one. I'm amazing that way. :-)

Here we are, riding the Marta--the subway sort of thing in Atlanta. Looks thrilling, doesn't it?

And on the bus...

Finally at the aquarium. I had to take this picture because it reminded me of Joe screaming bloody murder at the Tennessee Aquarium a few years ago when he turned around and saw a scuba diver in one of the tanks. I'm not sure what was so terrifying, but he was firmly affixed to somebody's neck for the next several minutes. I'm glad he has gained control of himself since that time, at least to some degree. :-)

Petting the stingrays was the first thing we did and was the kids' favorite part of the entire aquarium. In fact, we went back again just before we left so they could do it again. It is pretty cool. And the rays actually seem to want to be petted--come right out of the water toward your hand sometimes.



James making friends with a lion fish...

Dad making use of the slide...

Katie posing with an albino alligator...

Okay, so the picture isn't exactly great. But I had to post it to remind me of one of the best parts of the day! We stood there for the longest time watching that one otter play with his little red ball and the other two wrestle and flop and flail all over the tank. Those are the greatest animals.

The tube! You stand on a moving walkway (which took Dad by surprise--ha!) and try to get cool pictures of all of the great fish. None of the pictures you REALLY want seem to turn out though. My favorite thing in the big tank was the huge manta rays. They had to be close to 15' across and they were just sooooo cool. But I didn't get a single picture of them worth sharing. Bummer.

There's Joe, taking pictures of it all...

Sister Krystal, I took this one for you. ;-) This is what we came to do, right???

There were four whale sharks in that tank. Very, very cool.

There seems to be no way to get a good picture through the glass, but I just love the colors of reef fish. Sooooo pretty.

Okay! Enter: Coca-Cola Museum!

I would LOVE to have some PJ pants like that... but the thought of somebody actually wearing them out and about in public just cracks me up. Oh, for the good 'ole days, I guess!

Check out this fancy-schmancy soda fountain. I've never seen anything like it before--it was so cool. If you look closely, you'll see some pretty good lookin' folks in the mirror up there, too.

I could drive one of those. :-)

There was so much neat stuff. Makes me wanna decorate a Coke kitchen again! Maybe some day.



This particular machine was amazing. It picked up dozens of bottles of Coke, inspected them, and performed several other varying functions, all quite quickly.

The Coca-Cola couch. Everybody needs one of those, right?!

We took this picture especially for Emily Wallace who advised, "Try the flavor 'Beverly.' You'll never be the same again!" She was right. ;-)

This is Katie, pointing out one of her favorite flavors.

Did I mention this part of the museum in my last post??? At the end of it, just before you leave, there are all of these kiosks with Coca-Cola products from all over the world. You could sample as many as you liked. I can't remember how many there were total, but I think it was 60 or more. I felt it my duty to try every one. :-) You only live once, you know! Strangely enough, one of my very favorite ones was an apple flavored soda from China. It was fantastic!

Beverly from Italy was not. Don't ever take advice from Emily Wallace. Some people just can't be trusted. ;-)

Just before you walk into the gift shop (which did NOT have any Coca-Cola socks--I was sorely disappointed... I should write a letter!) you get to take a coke off the belt that was made and bottled right there. It costs enough to visit this museum that it's only right for them to give you a "free" Coke at the end. The kids cracked theirs open the other day and I took a sip. It was one of the best I've ever had. Yum. :-)


And here we are taking the longest escalator known to man (or at least to us) down to the Marta at the end of the day.

Say It Isn't So!

Two weeks since I blogged???? That's CRAZY! There's no catching up, of course. But we all know I'll try anyway. ;-)

State Convention. Uummm... ;-) I've waited way too long to post about that (I can't remember things that happened that long ago!) AND failed to take even the one picture I had promised. I know that we had a GREAT Convention. It just felt good and solid and sound. It seemed like everything had such a nice coherent flow to it and there never seemed to be any opposing spirits of any kind. It was wonderful. The highlights for me personally included Sister Bishop's message on outward adornment (it was so, so, sooooo good--I wish she would have had or taken more time and not hurried so much!) and Dustin Warren's message on The Word of God. I don't think I've ever heard him preach before, but he did excellent. I couldn't help thinking while he was up there how much the western folks would enjoy having him out as Camp evangelist or guest speaker for some function. They would be blessed by his ministry and would get SUCH a kick out of just HIM. :-) I've thought how much they would enjoy Jeremy Wallace, too--either of those guys would be fantastic for Family Camp if it ever worked out. (Spread the word out there, westerners--got a couple of recommendations for you!)

We received the most ginormous pounding (along with a huge offering--I still feel so overwhelmed by it all!) and spent quite a while Sunday night hauling it all in and trying to arrange it on the table so we could take a picture of it.

We all (kids especially) were exhausted after Convention (the long drive really gets to you when you're having late nights coupled with early mornings!), but Monday morning we packed our things and hopped into the van to take a little trip. James had been looking forward to a mini family vacation and was ready to get out of town once he made it through Convention.

Our first stop was Best Buy in Hoover where we bought a new camera. Mine was 5 years old and getting more and more sluggish all the time. We’d been so pleased with it however that we opted to go for the newer version of the same thing. So I’ve got another Canon and I’m sure we’ll be very happy with it once I play around with it some more and figure out exactly what I’m doing with it.

We had a few other stops to make, including Charlie's new boarders up in McCalla. We also stopped by 2nd & Charles (the kids were thrilled to get some new comic books—Dilbert and Garfield, I think—for the trip), then on to Atlanta where we met up with Mom & Dad.  That’s right, we took a vacation with Mom & Dad! How cool is that?!

That first night we just enjoyed a nice dinner together, then went to our motel rooms, visited a bit, then got some much needed sleep.

The next morning we drove downtown (how in the world did we ever get anywhere before the invention of the GPS?! Atlanta is a NIGHTMARE to navigate through!), ended up on Level 5 of a parking garage, walked down the stairs to the street (the elevator was at the far corner of the garage), then realized we had forgotten our tickets in the van. Guess who got to run up 4 flights of stairs to retrieve them. :-) After much discussion, we finally decided to take the Marta, a subway-type train thing that runs underground and above ground. We then took a bus (all unfamiliar experiences for us!) up to the Georgia Aquarium.

Once we finished at the aquarium it was lunch time, but the only thing nearby was a café that sold hot dogs and the like—for about $7 apiece. I just can’t pay $7 for a hot dog. We told the kids we’d make up for it later with a big dinner, but we were skipping lunch!

We then walked over to the Coca-Cola Museum. It was great. :-) I loved seeing all of the old, historic stuff and I wish there would have been more of it. In the “pop culture” room there was a video playing that recounted the history of when they introduced New Coke, replacing the original Coca-Cola formula in 1985. It was all vaguely familiar to me, but I was pretty young at the time and don’t remember a lot about it. Dad started filling me in on the rest of the story—how the public was irate and the company received hundreds of thousands of calls and letters expressing outrage and dissatisfaction—and demanding a reintroduction of Coca-Cola, the original formula. After only 77 days, the company did just that and sales spiked, leaving Pepsi in the dust. Pepsi, who had been claiming that the switch to New Coke proved that they had indeed won the “cola wars” after all these years, then started bellyaching that introducing New Coke and then restoring Coca-Cola Classic was all a marketing ploy rather than a genuine attempt to take the company in a new direction. The video was still playing and had caught up to Dad’s rendition, with a response from the CEO of Coca-Cola, but before he spoke the words Dad told me, “He said, ‘We’re not that dumb. And we’re not that smart.’” Then the video immediately echoed those same words and I was floored. I asked Dad if he had recently read something about it that sparked his memory. Nope. He’s never seen or heard anything about it since that time, but he remembered that statement from the CEO from 26 years ago!!! Incredible. THAT is where I get my genes. All the genes that enable me to remember silly and unimportant things from years and years ago, but which prevent me from remembering anything of significance in the present—all those genes come from Dad, obviously. :-)

Okay, so that was probably a bit too much Coke history to include in my person blog, but I’ve been a Coke fan for forever and found the whole story quite interesting. Besides, it’s my blog. ;-)

When we left the museum we wandered around trying to figure out which way to go to catch a bus to take us back to the Marta that would take us back to the parking garage where we could get the van. Mom was our navigator and in the end we walked a three or four blocks in the hot, humid sunshine (bleagh) and skipped the bus entirely, arriving and the Marta station. Along the way we narrowly escaped getting mugged. At least it’s possible that the guy would have mugged us. Dad’s $5 with a promise that it wouldn’t be spend on drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes was enough to satisfy the dude. Gotta love Atlanta.

By the time we rode the Marta back to where we’d come from, had a nice dinner, and got back to our motel it was about 4:00 and we all decided it was naptime. What a crazy thing to do on a vacation and at such a late hour in the day! But we were exhausted going in to this vacation and it just seemed like the right thing to do. And it felt sooooo good. :-)

We all piled into the van after an hour or two in search of some dessert. We wandered around until we landed at a Baskin Robbins. It ended up being the best decision ever because the cones were on sale for $1 apiece… so several of us went back for a second one! HA!

We went back to the hotel and played Catch Phrase. It was fun, though it freaks me out a little bit to think that my kids are old enough to play that game and actually be good at it. Well, one of them is really good at it, another is so-so, and then there’s Sam. He can’t read quickly and certainly not under pressure, so he just helps guess the answers—and he’s the best guesser of the bunch. It was fun and we laughed a LOT.

The next morning we slept in, then just hung around the hotel until it was time to load up. We all went to lunch together at this really neat and HUGE old diner called Varsity. There were mixed reviews on the food, ranging from “no good” to “great,” but we all agreed it was a really neat place and we were glad we went there.

From there we said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad. They headed back to Cleveland and we headed on to Anniston.

~whew~ That’s going to have to cut it for tonight. I intended to add it lots of pictures from the aquarium and Coke Museum, but it’s too late now and I’m too tired. And we’re going to look at the Quinncrest Monstrosity in the morning, so we’ve got to be up and about decently early. The Quinncrest Monstrosity is a house that we can’t believe we’re actually considering… yet we’re going to take a look inside it tomorrow. I’ll blog about that place one of these days, whether anything comes from it or not. That’s one you can look forward to. ;-) Until then, help us pray again for God’s will. The right house at the right time for the right price in the right location with the right setting and the right opportunities to minister and be hospitable… Those are the prayers of my heart. Not to be picky or anything… ;-)

Just Stopping By

...long enough to say what we've been up to. :-)

Last Sunday was full of church, more house hunting, and church again. No luck with the houses, but we weren't surprised at that. Just doesn't seem to be anything out there right now. Maybe after State Convention. Or the Assembly. Or Ministers' Convention, Ladies' Retreat, or Youth Retreat. That should usher us right into Thanksgiving and Christmas, after which it is TIME to vacate our current residence. So sometime between now and then, we're trusting that we'll find the right place to land. For now, we feel peaceful and settled. ~Aaaaaahhhh~ That's a good feeling. :-)

Monday morning we got up, cleaned house, packed, hopped in the van, and headed for Cleveland--just because we could. :-) By "we" I mean the kids and myself. We got to Mom and Dad's house an hour or two before they got home from their latest trip, so we just moved right in and got busy setting up the puzzle table. That's why we'd gone. Just to "do nothing" with Mom and Dad for a day or two. In the end, we managed 3 puzzles--one 1,000 piece-er and 2 750 piece-ers. Well, almost. There were only about 50 pieces left on the last puzzle when I had to leave. It was killing me to leave it unfinished, but I had to hit the road if I was going to make it home in time for church.

Anyway, we just lazed around and worked puzzles and watched girl movies and a Greater Vision/Legacy 5 concert video--stuff like that. We stayed up until 2:00 something Monday night, then closer to 1:00 Tuesday. Mom fixed us a fantastic elk steak dinner, making us all very happy. Even though she forgot the potatoes. ;-) She also whipped out a skirt for Katie before we left on Wednesday morning. Amazing. I'll have to take a picture of this skirt--I think it's super cute. Joe's not very happy about donating a pair of jeans to the project, but we didn't have time to shop for any at a thrift store this time. Joe IS happy that he was able to get some fishing in at Granddad's pond. I think he caught 10 fish in the day and a half we were there.

We tried to go to Steak 'N Shake for lunch, but they were too busy. ~sigh~ Two trips to Cleveland in a row with no Frisco Melt. That's just wrong. I'll have to make up for it next time and order two of 'em. ;-) We ended up at Cici's Pizza for lunch instead. Then we sent the kids to Headquarters with Dad (scary) while Mom and I stopped by the store in search of some deals. I didn't find any, but Mom did.

It was nice dropping in at HQ and being able to see everybody. I love doing that. :-) I worry about the kids bouncing from office to office, obstructing any productivity that might have otherwise been accomplished (!), so I try to keep the visits there relatively short.

We headed out, gassed up, and hit the road. Mom was kind enough to call and talk to me for a little while to help keep me awake. (She knew how little sleep I'd had!) We got to the church at 5:30. James met us there and I got busy ironing the buntings for Convention. We had CPMA service, then several of the folks stayed around to help us get things all set up. It makes James so happy to have things set up. And days ahead of time!

We were in separate vehicles that night, but we both ended up in the same traffic jam on the way home. There were cops and fire trucks and lights everywhere, but we couldn't see what was going on--and there was no indication of anybody getting through any time soon. So we both turned around and tried to find another route. I had Sean with me, but he never could find a signal so we were pretty much on our own. That would usually scare me (the very thought of being lost and unable to find our way home at 11:30 at night when I'm soooooo tired and desperate for bed was utterly miserable!), but there's so much "civilization" around here. There are roads all over the place, going every which direction, so it wasn't difficult at all to turn back north, find a little highway that took us east for just a mile or so before running into another highway that took us straight home. For once I was truly thankful for all of the crazy roads that are all over the place down here. :-)

Today has been spent in an effort to accomplish something. I'm not sure I succeeded in any way! I can't recall a single thing that got FINISHED. We did several different things, I'm just not sure we actually got done with any of them. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.

Of course, tomorrow is when State Convention starts! I'm excited, but it feels really weird. Weird to not be packing, for one. I'm used to packing to go stay at a motel during Convention. More than that, I'm used to packing and preparing for a week of Camp at the same time because they were always back-to-back. Maybe that's why things feel so weird this time--because it's just Convention instead of Camp, too. ??? Anyway, we're looking forward to a great Convention and trusting God to help us there.

And there you have it. The update. I'll try to take at least one picture at Convention, but no promises. ;-)

Strike Two!

I can't decide whether to go with "Three Strikes and You're Out" or "Third Time's a Charm." ;-)

House #2 went to another bidder, so that seems to be the end of that. I think I had more disappointment over losing the first house and James is having more disappointment over losing this one. He (we) just loved the idea of finding a house priced so low, but that would still meet all of our needs, and it's very unlikely that we'll find anything else in that price range. Unlikely, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible with God, right? :-)

It's funny... The plan I had conceived in my mind was that we would move into the Powell's house and start looking for super-duper cheap houses. If we found something in the super cheap hunk-o-junk category, we would buy it and continue to live in the Powell's house while we fixed it up. If we couldn't find something like that in the first few months, we'd have to broaden our scope and consider houses that were priced a little higher, then a little higher and a little higher as the months went on until we reached our "limit." We would have to up our price and buy SOMETHING at some point. After all, the Powells will come and want their home back at some point ;-) and we'll have to have somewhere else to go! :-) But strangely, as time goes on, we seem to keep looking at cheaper and cheaper houses instead of upping our price as we go along! Ha! When you find houses way cheap, it becomes incredibly difficult to think of paying lots and lots more for something comparable. When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, we're still praying for the right house in the right location at the right price--and I've begun to add in, "at the right time." There are a couple of places we may drive by and take a look at tomorrow, but we don't have real high hopes for either of them. It doesn't appear as if there is anything on the market right now that we're really interested in. I feel so blessed by this last house we put an offer in on though. If nothing else, it was a wonderful reminder that when it seems we've exhausted all of the possibilities out there, God can open up a brand new listing that meets the important criteria: a safe place for the kids to roam while they're growing up, at least a degree of privacy, and something relatively close to the church that will allow us to have people over for fellowship and band meetings or whatnot. Just when we were sure we'd seen it all and knew there was nothing in close proximity to the church, this place 7 miles away hit the market. God doesn't have to remind us that He's able to do things like that, but I sure appreciate it when He does. :-)

What else has been going on around here... Hhmmm. Not a lot. We've actually done a couple of puzzles this week--that's been GREAT. :-) The laundry and ironing are completely caught up (first time since Camp--what a relief to conquer that!), the upstairs bathroom and floors were all cleaned yesterday as well as the stairs, and I made 5 batches of jam this afternoon--that should be enough to last us until next spring unless I give it all away like last time. ;-) In other news...

I spent quite a while earlier picking hundreds of ticks off of Katie. Yup, you read that right. I didn't actually count, but I'm pretty sure there were hundreds of them, little itty-bitty tiny things, about the size of the end of a pin. ~BLEAGH!~ I remember Sister Kristal telling us how Dalton was covered in tiny little ticks one time when he was younger and they had to pick them all off. I'm sure these have to be the same thing. I was hoping that perhaps they could just be washed off, but no such luck. They had to be tweezed off just like that big guys to ensure that they came off completely. It sooooo grosses me out!!! I had let the kids go down to the creek for a little while and none of them used any Off! this time. THAT won't be happening again. I'm not real crazy about using stuff like that, but I'm to the point that I'd rather drench my kids in chemicals and hope for the best instead of dealing with all of the nasty little critters around here! ~Bleagh~ Soooooo gross.

So Katie's big news of the night is ticks. Poor kid. As for Joe, he has been nigh unto perfect for two or three days now. We've been struggling with attitude issues with him for some time. Nothing huge, just pesty little things--most of all when he's asked to do something. Even if he doesn't verbally complain about it, he has this PITIFUL look that he does just to let you know how truly miserable he is. It drives me nuts!!! We've been trying to get him worked through it with all the usual methods, but nothing seemed to be helping. Then a few days ago I asked him to come take care of the dishes. He put on his very biggest and best pitiful face--almost tears and all--and asked what he had done wrong. Aaaaauuuggghhhh!!! You know you've got real problems when a kid thinks that a normal every day household chore is PUNISHMENT. I went away for a few minutes to pray and ask God for wisdom... before I hurt the child. Ha! I then sat down and had a talk with Joe about work being a part of life (we've had this talk before) and about his attitude problems and all that stuff. I reminded him that the Bible says that if we don't WORK, neither should we eat. That's how serious GOD is about us doing the things we're supposed to do--that's HIS rule, not mine. I love that. :-) Anyway, I then gave Joe a short article about good work ethic and the joy found through working hard, as well as a story about a lazy person who refused to work and how things turned out for him. Joe was then to write one full page on the subject of WORK, however he wanted to approach the subject--things from our talk, from the story he read, his own thoughts, whatever. There was no indication that anything was getting through to Joe at all while I was talking to him, but he wrote a very humble and sincere page about work being a good thing and the different ways that his attitude has been wrong and how he needs to improve. I was pleased with what he wrote, but didn't have very high expectations for immediate changes in his behavior. I totally misjudged him there. He has been AMAZING since that time. Every... single... time... I have called his name and given him an instruction--large or small--he has jumped up and said, "Yes, Ma'am" and gotten right to it. I've never seen anything like it! And it didn't last for an hour and then fade away; it's been going on for two or three days now. Even when he has to clean the kitchen (which is his duty exclusively for the next week due to the little incident about doing dishes the other day--the thing that spawned all of these events) he just smiles, gives me a "Yes, Ma'am" and whistles his way into the kitchen. ~sigh~ I'm sooooo thankful!!! I pray every single day for wisdom to raise the kids right, reminding God that He (who giveth to all men liberally) said if any of us lack wisdom we were to ask for it in faith. I ask every day, but very seldom see any wisdom actually kicking in. HA! And I pray a lot that God will help me to be the EXAMPLE of what I'm trying so hard to train my kids to be. "More is caught, than is taught" and I came to the devastating realization some time ago that when my children display bad attitudes, they most likely learned them from me--the one who they spend all of their time with. I can't have my own bad attitudes, then try to discipline them out of my children! Anyway, I don't know if it was the talk that helped Joe out, the reading that I gave to him, making him articulate his own thoughts on the matter, or simply God doing something in his heart that had nothing to do with any of the above. I just know that there has been a definite change in that kid and I'm astounded at how he seems to have instantaneously dropped the deeply ingrained "pouty and pitiful" habit and traded it in for cheerful and willing obedience. Oh, that I could bottle this!!! And pour it down the throats of my other two children. HA! Just kidding. Katie is already very, very good about doing as she's told without complaint. And Sam usually is. Unless he's in the middle of a project of some kind--he has a terrible time laying aside his own plans to accommodate somebody else's plans. ;-)

Okay, more random pictures before I go.

James has been keeping Sam busy pulling weeds again. These are CRAZY weeds here. They're sissy weeds (sooooo easy to pull--NOTHING like the weeds out west!) but I fear the Powells will have huge gaping holes all over their yard if Sam keeps pulling 'em! There's more dirt and root than there is weed!



Ha! Joe insisted that he have a picture of this. I think the caption he wanted was something like, "Joe Horne bagged this fly on July 12, 2011" or something like that. Along with his trophy fly is his weapon of choice. This new hobby has been keeping him happily occupied for days now. He even had the nerve to ask me if he could leave the door open for a while so some flies could come in--he couldn't find any more to hunt.



And then... ~sigh~ What am I supposed to say about this??? Like it's not embarrassing enough to be a poodle... to have to be a BOY poodle... then to have to be a boy poodle that's the exact size to fit into doll clothes... then to be such a poodle who has a little girl around who REALIZES you're that size... ~sigh~ Poor Charlie. Still, I have to admit that I laughed heartily. And obviously took pictures.





And last, but certainly not least, it's Katie and Katie! We saw at Camp that Katie F. had the same blue shirt that Katie H. has. My Katie got dressed for church on Wednesday and jabbered all afternoon about how she hoped Katie F. would wear her blue shirt, too... And amazingly she did, making for two very happy--and very cute--Katies. :-)

Sam's Snakes

Time just keeps whizzin' on by, doesn't it? Things are good here, though I can't think of much to blog about. Had a nice Sunday with good church and good fellowship... had a busy, laundry filled Monday and a nice, home cooked meal that night... have done lots of proof reading and other odds and ends for James this week... had another pizza party last night because James was out of town until late... stayed up and got about half of the ironing done... And that's about it. Haven't heard anything about the house we made an offer on. It's really not on my mind very much, but when it does come to mind I stop and pray for God to work His will in the situation. Should He decide to give us this house at this price, we would be beyond ecstatic. And should He decide not to, we might be relieved. HA! We really don't care--we just want whatever God has planned for us, be it this or something else.

There is something that I failed to blog about several week ago that I really ought to have recorded somewhere. I can't imagine there's any possibility that we'll ever forget all of Sam's antics, but it still seems right to document them. :-)

When we were at Mom & Dad's house for BTI, Sam and Isaac were out on the paddle boat together when they spotted a snake coming up out of the water and onto the little dock. They paddled toward the dock and Sam saw that the colors and markings on the snake were similar to the copperhead we had killed at the Powell's house just a week or two before. He jumped out of the boat and onto the dock, the snake bit his pant leg, Sam stomped on the snake and held it still (with his foot just behind the snake's head) and hollered for Isaac to run and get the knife. So Isaac jumped out of the boat (that, of course, was not tied up--thus propelling it out into the pond unoccupied as a result of Sam's instruction) and ran to the other side of the pond where the knife was sitting on the table. The "knife" happened to be a utility knife. You know, where it's almost entirely handle with only an inch or so of blade sticking out. THIS is what Sam used to stab the snake through the back of its head. This all happened in rapid succession and by the time the adults heard of the commotion and began gathering around it was all over. Joe had come running inside yelling that Sam had killed a copperhead--something that sent all of us rushing to the scene. I saw the boat drifting solo across the pond and was envisioning somebody (me???) having to get into the nasty water to retrieve it, but that was the least of my worries. My son had been trifling with a copperhead??? We got to the deck and saw that the snake was certainly dead, a hole directly through it's head and another in its side. It did indeed have markings very similar to a copperhead, but the shape and dimensions of its body were completely different. We all stood staring at it for a minute, stunned, then looked to up to see Sam on the other side of the pond with a ginormous tree branch. He had followed the boat over to the bank it was closest to, slapped the branch down on top of it, drug it to the shore, jumped in, and paddled it back to the dock where all of the adults were still standing dumbfounded. No, that's not true. My Dad was not dumbfounded. He was too busy scolding me for my failure to train my kids to stay away from snakes to be dumbfounded. HA! I just stared at him for a minute before finally answering. "Okay, Dad--YOU train Sam to stay away from snakes. And GOOD LUCK to you!" Ha! As it turns out, it was just a harmless water snake, but it was maddening to ALL of us that Sam had THOUGHT it was a copperhead by its markings, but had jumped out of the boat to investigate anyway, the snake bit his pants--could have bitten him--he stomped on the snake, then killed it with a one inch blade--all while thinking it was a venomous snake! ~sigh~ That kid. And while we're standing over the dead snake trying to sort out the story, he's already solved the boat dilemma and is rowing back to shore. That kid is a definite "fix it" guy. If something arises he's going to have it completely under control--good or bad--by the time anybody else even knows there is a problem.

So I have this horrible conflict going on inside of me. The things I was saying out loud were: "Sam!!!!!! You thought it was a copperhead and if it would have been, you could have been bitten by a... ven...o...mous...sna-a-a-a-ake! What were you thinking???" And the things I was thinking on the inside but not saying aloud were: "Wow, he is the coolest kid ever!!! I can't believe how he just handled the whole thing without ever freaking out or showing the least bit of alarm--just took charge and dealt with it, and here we are, dead snake and rescued boat, all by my 7 year old son." I was so proud! Ha! And upset, of course. I hate it when I have conflicting emotions like that! Dad's emotions didn't seem to be dual, however. ;-) And of course, it had nothing to do with anything that SAM had done wrong, just ME and my failure to teach him to stay away from snakes. Ha! ~sigh~ What can you do? ;-) He was struggling with the, "What if it would have been a copperhead" thing.

We had some serious snake talks with that boy.

But then...

A week or two later, back at the Powell's house, I had let the boys go down to the creek to fish. Just before they left the house, we had the usual snake talk: "What do you do if you see a snake???" "We get away from it quick and come straight to you, Mom--we know." Riiiiiight. They had only been gone a few minutes when Joe first checked in on the walkie-talkie. "Mom, I had a bite on my very first cast--and caught a fish on my second!" Then again a couple of minutes later, "They're biting like CRAZY, Mom! I've caught four fish already!" They were having the time of their lives. I love that. :-) They'd been gone less than an hour when the walkie-talkie beckoned again. There was still excitement in Joe's voice, but it was a totally different kind of excitement. He told me with trembling voice that they'd run into a water moccasin. Joe had gotten his lure stuck in a bush on the other side of the creek, so they crossed to retrieve it. While over there, they saw a snake a few feet away. In a flash reaction, Sam grabbed a stick and slammed it down on the snake's neck, pinning it to the ground. It then turned and opened its "cotton mouth" toward them. That scared the boys (even Sam, thank goodness) and they dropped their sticks and ran. They grabbed their gear and called me on the walkie-talking while they were trying to climb the hill back to the house on rubbery legs. I was so mad at Sam!!! If he were a few years older I wouldn't mind his attempts to subdue all things snakely around him, when he has a little more wisdom and common sense. But the thought of my 7 year old tangling with poisonous snakes just doesn't set well with me! One day he will be wonderful to have around and I know we'll feel safer because of his abilities and intuitions. For now, he causes lots and lots of extra prayers and gray hairs. ;-) To his credit, he did seem to be genuinely shaken by this experience and seemed truly ashamed that he hadn't just run away to begin with instead of going after the snake with a stick. I'm hoping that means that perhaps next time he'll run away first, but I'm thankful that there have been no further encounters since that time for us to find out if Sam has really learned anything or not. I'd be perfectly okay if it stayed that way. :-)