Let's see now. It's been nearly two weeks since I "really" blogged. The first thing worthy of mention is the Easter egg hunt at the church. It was on the Saturday before Easter we all went to the church at about noon. We had pizza, chips, and some really great punch while we visited with the adults. Sister Dudley had done all sorts of special little things—like making Easter cupcakes with green “grass” frosting and Peeps on top, and some jell-o Easter eggs, stuff like that. The teenagers (the two Dudley boys and Kody) had way too much fun hiding the eggs while all the kids worked on crafts in the fellowship hall. I think I heard there were 460+ eggs hidden. Can you imagine?! I think there were probably 15 or 20 kids there, so there were plenty of eggs for everybody and they all had a blast. Katie found more eggs than any of the other girls, so she won the girl prize—an Easter basket with a little stuffed bunny and other goodies. Joe “found” the prize egg (a great big plastic egg with lots of candy), but only because Joshua Dudley is a cheater. ;-) The teen boys arranged a special egg to give to one of the girls and Katie was the lucky gal. Unfortunately for the boys, Katie wasn’t the least bit bothered by the live frog she discovered when she opened it. Little did they know she handles frogs and lizards all the time. :-) Here's a picture of her with her prize basket.

And a picture of the boys riding a Dudley. My kids LOVE the Dudley boys. Maybe almost as much as I do. :-)



We had lots of fun, then enjoyed watching the kids practice for the Easter program. When we finally left the church we went to a Parent-Teacher Supply store in Hoover. It’s a GREAT store and I was able to find everything I needed to teach Sunday School the next day. :-)

On Friday I had some strong pain in the middle of my back, perhaps a little higher than mid-back. I felt only very minor discomfort on Saturday, but by that night the pain had returned. I had a terrible time sleeping, unable to find a position that didn’t hurt. I got very little sleep and when I finally got up at six-something Sunday morning I was in horrible pain. When I stood I could just barely breathe and it was just tiny little itty-bitty shallow breaths, which is an acutely miserable condition to find yourself in. I spent a few excruciating minutes gathering my clothes and begging God for mercy. I stepped into the shower and the moment the water hit my back I felt relief. Praise the Lord! I can’t imagine the heat from the water would have had a chance to affect me that quickly; I truly believe God just touched me. ~sigh~ I love serving God. :-) I was still unable to take deep, full breaths, but the improvement from my previous condition was wonderful! I had Brother Hopkins and the men pray for me at church later on. I continued to improve throughout the rest of the day and by that night I was able to take the deepest breath I can manage—with no pain at all! My back felt great and I’ve been thanking the Lord ever since. :-)

That was Easter morning. We all got dolled up in our Easter garb (Katie’s the only one who had anything new to wear—and her’s was a hand-me-down! Ha!), Kate and I put on our corsages from James :-) and we headed to church. Though I was on to teach Sunday School, I had no students—they were all in play practice, going over the program one last time—so I sat in on the adult class. We had a good service and the kids’ program turned out great, though I failed to take a single picture of it. I saw all of the good mothers taking pictures and I figured I’d get ahold of some of theirs. ;-) I did, however, take a picture of our kids when we first got to church that morning.



Brother Ridlespurge saw me taking pictures and was offended that I hadn't asked him to be in them, so I made up for it. I love this shot. :-)



After church it was time for Easter dinner. If only…! I can’t remember eating out on Easter EVER in my whole life. Probably because it’s just wrong to eat out on Easter. ;-) You’re supposed to go home to a nice, home cooked ham dinner with all the fixin’s. Currently however, we don’t go home in between services because we are not living very close to the church. So if we were going to eat, we had to eat out. James figured all of the restaurants serving a traditional Easter dinner would be packed out and we should go someplace non-traditional. I don’t know why, but we ended up at Carino’s. I already hold a grudge against them for the lame no-refills-on-Italian-sodas thing. Jerks. ;-) And perhaps I went in with some subconscious glitch about having to eat out on Easter when we should be enjoying a nice ham dinner at home. All I know is, “This is the worst lunch I have ever had.” That’s a movie line from some movie I’ve never even seen, only heard about—but it is quite fitting. The bread was fantastic—always is. I’ll give ‘em that. From there, it went downhill. ~sigh~ We try to teach our kids to be thankful and to not be so picky—to not complain if they have to eat something that they’re not so crazy about; just eat it without making a fuss and quietly hope for something better next time. I set a horrible example for them that day! I’m usually so good to bite my tongue when I don’t like something at a restaurant for three reasons. #1 – I truly want to be thankful. #2 – I want to set a good example for our kids. #3 (or perhaps this should be #1—ha!), I know James paid good money for the food and I don’t like to gripe to him about what he just spent money on—it’s rude and ungrateful. On Sunday I held out for as long as I could, but it finally all came spilling out. “Okay, I’ve got to say it. This meal tastes like it came straight out of a can, James!” The noodles were rubbery and the sauce was horrible. I don’t mean not great, I mean really and truly horrible. Bad enough that I was forcing myself to eat it and doing my best to suppress the gag reflex. ~Bleagh~ So rare is it that I actually make a fuss about food at a restaurant that it became quite the joke, the kids all joining in and mocking all of my gripes and happily pointing out the hypocrisy of my rules vs. my example. Oh well. You can’t win ‘em all. ;-) I had just finished a rant about how awful my food was when the waitress appeared and said, “How is everything? Are you all enjoying your meal?” “Excellent, thank you. Please give my compliments to the Chef… Boyardee!!!” Naturally, I didn’t say that until after James had already covered for me and she had left the table. Actually, I would have preferred a bowl of Spaghetti-o’s to what I had that day. I enjoyed Carino’s out west (could it be entirely due to the Italian sodas? Was the food awful and I just didn’t notice or care because I was happily floating amid the raspberry cream delight in front of me???), but this one is terrible. We sing this Veggie Tales song around here sometimes when somebody is complaining: “My life is a disaster, a sea of endless pain; A picnic promising the sunshine, but giving only rain…” On Easter, “My lunch was a disaster…” So on the bright side, we were almost in tears laughing over the entire experience and will have some terrific memories of our first (and last—please!) Easter dinner OUT. :-)

About the time we left the restaurant I received my first ever phone call from South Africa! How cool is that?! They had reception for the first time, so Mom called on Brother Hawkins’ Skype account. I was able to talk to her and to Dad for a few minutes, so that was great. They were having a good time over there and the Lord was blessing in the services and Conventions. The following day was their “off” day so they were going to be able to do a little sightseeing—perhaps some elephants or lions or giraffes... It is SO WILD that my Mom and Dad went to AFRICA!!! I think it’s the coolest thing ever that the two of them were able to experience this. Better than that, they’ve were able to become acquainted with some of our own brothers and sisters and fellow members of the Body of Christ from Africa, as well as establish The Church of God in a brand new country! :-)

As I was talking to Mom & Dad on the phone, we were on our way to drive by two more houses. The first was another “Hhmmm… who knows—maybe it would work,” the second was a definite “Hu-uh.”

Then it was on to the hospital to visit Sister Christine Douglas. She is one of Brother Staggs’ daughters and she is one amazing lady! She has her father’s mind, that’s for sure. I didn’t even realize until just now that that’s where she gets it from, but I was blown away today at her memory of every tiny little detail about things that happened yesterday and things that happened 50 years ago. It was fascinating to listen to her. She fell recently and broke her left arm and leg and will have some serious recovery time if the Lord doesn’t heal her. We look forward to visiting with her again, whether she’s in the hospital or not. :-)

After that we headed back to the church. It was 4:30 and James was needing to do a little more prep for the message he was on to preach at church that night. I took a pillow in with me, laid down on the pew, and got a little, tiny nap, but one that was desperately needed after my painful and sleepless night. The kids played basketball outside, then Katie and I went to the Sunday School room and made the craft that I had intended to do with the class that morning had I had a class. I think it worked out for the best. The craft was great, but probably a little too difficult for the younger kids. But Katie and I enjoyed it, so it’s all good. :-)

That night we had communion and feetwashing service. It was much more formal than what I’m used to. Nobody telling anybody else, “Them’s purty feet” or instructing them to scrub between your toes or anything like that. ;-) The table was elegant and beautiful—they put so much thought and effort into making things special here. It’s strange to be in a whole different world and with different people who do things differently… and to enjoy and appreciate it just like you did the other way. :-) I feel like I’m learning a lot through the differences.

After church we grabbed dinner at McAlister’s (kids eat free on Sunday nights), drove home, got the kids to bed… then had a crazy impulse come over me and I cleaned out the laundry room, emptied everything out from above and below the sink in that room (it’s rather disturbing, Sister Powell, to come across large dead bugs preserved in Tupperware when you’re not expecting it—just so you know. Beautiful moths or not, they’re a little creepy when they take you off guard!), did a few loads of laundry, bathed Charlie and who knows what all. It was weird to have so much energy that late at night (I know it was after midnight when I was washing the dog) and after such busy days, but my back was feeling great and I was able to breathe deep, full breaths without pain and I just felt like accomplishing something!

Monday morning James and I got up early, sat down and talked it over, and decided we needed to make a trip to Pennsylvania. Like… right then. So we spent the next 3 or 4 hours getting packed and cleaning the house up, then left for Pennsylvania at about 10:00am.

The thing that necessitated this trip is that James’ Dad, who is 70 years old, fell off a ladder last week. He broke a rib and banged his arm up pretty good. He’s okay, but having a hard time getting around and certainly unable to do some of the things that need done around their place. So we decided we would spend a few days helping out around the house.

I’m not sure how far we made it Monday night before finding a motel. I know we were somewhere in Virginia and ended up at a very nice, clean, and pet friendly Howard Johnson.

Tuesday we finished our trek to Pennsylvania, arriving just after noon. James was hoping to mow the many acres of grass, but it was too wet due to the recent rains. Our first job, then, was to go pick up a tool box (a big Craftsman one with lots of drawers—loaded with tools) that James’ Dad had bought off a lady, but was unable to lift. When we got home from that little trip I got to work on dinner. I tried to take care of the the cooking and housework so James’ Mom wouldn't have to worry with it and could better direct James in the big chores. After dinner James and his Mom went shopping for a few necessities and came home with them, plus a whole lot more. I did some laundry and ironing while they were gone.

James spent most of the day on Wednesday pressure washing the house and spraying for bugs and stuff like that. I was able to get the living room completely dusted, baseboards wiped down, furniture vacuumed behind and under—everything completely clean. AND I made chicken and noodles for lunch and then smothered deer steaks (some of the best ever, nice and tender—yum!) for dinner. How come I can’t be that productive at my own house?! All that while making multiple trips down to the bridge to try to kill snakes with a shovel so we could investigate and find out if they really were Copperheads or if they were just water snakes. I’d really like to know for sure if my kids are going to be fishing down there, as they were doing all day long! I never was able to kill one. They’re too fast, I’m too slow, I didn’t have the right angle, or any combination of the above.

That night we received a phone call from Sister Bishop, checking on us and updating us about all of the storms in Alabama. I felt guilty to learn that all of our folks there were enduring such horrible weather and we didn’t even know about it! There were tornadoes all over the place, reports of dozens of people killed (that number is well over 200 at this point, just in Alabama) and extensive damage in several locations. We immediately got to praying and started checking the news to try to keep up. Part of me was glad to not be there in the midst of all of that mess. The other part felt horribly guilty that we weren’t there hiding out in a basement like all of the other Church folks in the state! We just ran off and left ‘em to weather the storms themselves—that’s horrible!

Though it couldn’t possibly compare to the devastation caused by the storms down south and is not to be compared, we had our own minor little tragedy that night. The kids were all playing on the swing set and somehow a swing came back and hit Joe in the face, breaking his front tooth. I mean really breaking his front tooth. Like, nearly half of it is GONE. ~sigh~ Poor Joe. He came in with tears in his eyes, not from pain but from the knowledge that this was a permanent tooth and he’s going to “look like a freak” for the rest of his life. I couldn’t get any information out of him because he was choking back the tears, but when I saw he was holding his mouth and didn’t appear to be in pain though he was obviously deeply upset I wondered if perhaps he had broken a tooth. I’m glad I realized that possibility before I saw it or he was able to tell me about it—it allowed me a minute to prepare a proper reaction. What, by the way, IS the proper reaction to that?! I didn’t want to freak out and cause him more alarm, but it takes a mighty good game face to be able to pull that off! As a mom, it gives you a horrible, sick feeling inside to come to the realization that your kid’s front tooth is half gone… forever. ~sigh~ Poor Joe. He amazes me though. I told him to go into the bathroom because I could see a little blood on his hand (his nose was bleeding a bit) and I could tell he didn’t want to talk about whatever happened with Grandma Wanda there. When we got in the other room I asked if he broke his tooth and he just nodded his head and the tears started streaming down his face. I felt sooooo bad for him! I hugged him and told him it was okay, that we’d work through it and everything would be fine. Within just a few moments he was trying to make jokes and find a bright side to it… in between those moments when his eyes would well up with tears once more. For the first day or two afterward a sort of sick feeling would wash over me when I think about it, but then it settled back into rational thought. We have so much to be thankful for. My son could have been in an accident and lost and arm or a leg or something; all we’re dealing with is a tooth. Or what if it was a serious head injury or something. We are so blessed to have a broken tooth! And then there’s “the big scheme of things.” In the scope of eternity, this is so insignificant. And yet, God uses so many things to work in our hearts and lives and form us into who He wants us to be. I’m sure He has some purpose for even this. So we’re praying that God will help us to come to the right decisions. Here's picture I took of the little trooper that night.

Thursday and Friday were spent working, working, and working some more. I managed to get all three bedrooms completely cleaned, everything dusted, ceiling fans cleaned, walls wiped down, baseboards, all that jazz. It felt GREAT. :-) James worked with his Mom on getting the closets cleaned out; something that has needed done around there for, oh, probably 20 or 30 years. HA! It was AMAZING what all was crammed into those little itty-bitty spaces. After putting the “keepers” back in the closets, there were two HUGE piles filling the living room: stuff to be donated and stuff to be thrown out. Two trips to Goodwill took care of the donation pile.

I can’t remember what else we may have done up there, I just know that things are in much, much better shape than they were before. James’ Dad is still in a lot of pain and actually the last day we were there seemed to be his worst day. He seemed to be in more pain that day and he did lots and lots of sleeping. On the whole, he’s doing well and we’re all trusting and expecting a full recovery.

Saturday we loaded up and hit the road by about 7:30am. Here’s our goodbye picture.


We drove all through the day and made it to Cleveland in time to meet Mom and Dad for a late dinner at the Pizza Hut/Dairy Queen/Daylight Donuts/gas station (talk about multi-tasking) at Exit 20 near their house. I hate it that we couldn’t stay longer, but I’m so thankful for the time we had with them there. It was so great to see them and to hear a little more about their trip to Africa. They had just gotten back a day or two before, so it was especially nice to be able to see them.

We left Cleveland after dinner and drove the 4 hours or so back to the Powell’s house. We were sooooo tired! But we made it and got everything unloaded before crashing for the night.

Woke up a little late Sunday morning, but still managed to leave early for Church. We’ve been doing much, much better about being there early instead of rushing and being stressed out and sliding into our pews moments before the opening prayer. :-) Anyway, it was good to be back in our home church, especially after all of the tornadoes this past week. So good to see all of the folks still alive and well!

After church we went to a Mexican restaurant (pretty good, but not as good as the one in Russellville), Penney’s (I found black dress shoes--been searching for two or three years-- and Katie and I got a couple of shirts on clearance from $1.97 to $4.97--wa-hoo!), stopped by the Post Office, then the car wash, did some shopping, stopped by the pastor's house and visited for a little while, then went back to church. Brother Hawkins preached a great message about the "pillow or pillar" and ground of the truth. After service James went to pray for Sister Washburn's niece or cousin (can't remember!) while I waited at the church with some of the other folks. The kids all enjoyed playing kickball in the parking lot and the adults enjoyed visiting. :-) We went to McAlister’s with Washburns, Coxes, and Hopkins later on. It was GREAT. I love having people to go out and visit with. :-) We got home late, but I took time to bathe the smelly dog after he'd been in the outside pin all day. I sleep better knowing my dog doesn't stink, even though he usually sleeps with Katie!

Monday was the day I scrubbed the Powell's wood floors down to saw dust. You already heard all about that. ;-)

And then there was today. We did school this morning, then James said we were going out. Get this--I was able to don a SWEATSHIRT and BOOTS before we left! WA-HOO!!! Great weather right now, let me tell you. :-) We went to the Chinese buffet then to the library in Montevallo. We had stopped in there before, but hadn't gone to the trouble of getting library cards because we know we're only living here temporarily. It cost $15 for a card since we don't live in the county. It seemed crazy to PAY for a library card, but the kids have really been missing the weekly library trip and fresh books. And there's no telling how much longer we'll be here. Apparently Brother Powell’s prayers are better than ours. Ha! We came home and enjoyed the rainy afternoon. James took a nap, I tried, but then gave up and played a game with the kids up in the loft room. Katie cooked dinner tonight and cleaned the kitchen (I owe her--maybe a girl movie night one of these days after the boys are in bed), then I scrubbed (no--gently rubbed a damp cloth across) the remainder of the floors while kids watched a video from the library about American legions. I cried during the John Henry part. Joe got up and started playing with the dog to distract himself and try to keep from crying. Sam pelted me with questions about WHY he died. Who picked this show out, anyway?!

At the end of the day, ALL of the wood floors in the main area are nice and shiny and clean. ~AAAAHHHHHHHHH.~ That feels so good. :-) We let the kids stay up and read books after devotions tonight while I looked through several Taste of Home magazines James' mother sent home with me. I pulled out some recipes that look worth trying. We'll see.

And there you have it--I'm ALL CAUGHT UP!!! :-)

Ah, yes. I almost forgot to post this clip. This is my pastor and his wife singing in church the other day. I do love my pastor. I love his sincerity and pureness of heart, and his true worship. And his raspy voice and old guy adorableness. :-) They are a blessing to me.

I Will Blog

But not today. ;-)

I'm toooooooooooo tired. It's been a long and crazy however-long since I last blogged. I have my "blog notes" intact so it'll be way too lengthy when I finally do get around to blogging. I had hopes of tonight being the night, but I just can't. I've been on a mad cleaning spree around here today and I'm beat. I spot cleaned the couches, then moved them out of the way, vacuumed the evil rug, vacuumed the underneath side of the evil rug (I'm givin' it what for now!), then got a sponge and a towel and a bucket of Mop~n~Glow/water solution and scrubbed floors and baseboards. I kept thinking it was leaving a bit of a residue, so I rinsed two or three times being careful to not get things too wet and to dry everything up immediately--I'm doing my best to not ruin Sister Powell's floors. That's very important to me. :-) Rinsing still didn't seem to help, so I thought maybe the Mop~n~Glow solution must be the problem. I Googled. Found a whole slew of people saying you're supposed to use 1 cup white vinegar to 1 gallon of hot water to scrub your wood floors with. I gave it a shot, but wasn't any more pleased with the result. I Googled some more and found a whole lot of other people saying DON'T use vinegar and water--it will dull your floors and ruin the finish over time. Aaaaauuuuuggggghhhhhhhh! Then it hit me... the FINISH. I'm not used to having floors that have a "finish" on them. I got to thinking about what I was using to scrub with... one of those kitchen sponges--the ones that are soft on one side and a little scratchy on the other side. That scratchy side is terrific at getting stuff off the floor. It's what I've always used on my floors. But upon further reflection (!)... on a wood floor with a "finish"?! ~sigh~ What a dummy. I've been so careful to not get things to wet and warp the wood, but I never thought about a finish. Mom says there will be products that will help bring the shine back. Yeah, when Google failed I finally called Mom. Should've started with her to begin with. ANYWAY... though I failed in my heartfelt desire and attempt to not damage Sister Powell's floors, at least everything that I dulled belongs under furniture. Ha! The couches and evil rug cover it all up. After that I switched over to a delicate solution and a nice, soft cloth. You can't really SCRUB with a nice, soft cloth, but neither can you scratch the finish off the floor. It's a delicate balance I suppose and I struggle finding it, being a newbie and all. I have learned this: wood floors are not my friend. What's with a floor that you can't scrub?! I'm a pretty proficient cleaner. Don't let that fool you. You could show up unannounced and 95% of the time my house would not produce sufficient proof of that statement. I'm a great cleaner, but I'm a horrible maintainer--and things seem to fall apart way too fast at my house. Nonetheless, if I know that it was really and truly clean, way deep down all-of-the-grubbiness-been-scrubbed-away kind of clean sometime recently, I feel so much better about my life and my whole little world seems to run more smoothly. Thus the need to scrub. But not wood floors--not anymore! At least the places that are still nice and shiny. ;-) I've probably exaggerated just a little bit--it's not THAT bad. I hope. ;-) Sister Powell, I can take pictures for you if you're worried about it. We already have another confession to make about the kitchen table. Forgot about that one 'til just now. ~sigh~ Are you ready to kick us out yet??? ;-) ANYWAY, I've been scrubbing baseboards and window panes and the kitchen table and chairs and washing the chair pads and who-knows-what-all. It takes a long time to scrub (or gingerly massage with a soft cloth, once you learn your lesson) on your hands and knees, especially when you're getting all of the baseboards and such, so I didn't finish today before I ran out of steam. I spent quite a bit of time trying to re-figure the kids' school work and add an extra week onto the end of their school year to make up for the week we just lost--stuff like that in between scrubbing and caressing the floor. And they all required LOTS of help in school today. That always wears me out! In any case, I have hopes of finishing all of the "ginger massaging" up tomorrow. It will feel so good to have that done. It makes me smile just thinking about it. :-)

I said I wasn't going to blog. It doesn't really count as a blog if everything is crammed into one paragraph, right? ;-) I'll try to play catch up here real soon and let you know what all we've been up to, but I'm headed to bed early tonight. The floors will be waiting for me come morning. And that dastardly rug. I'm going to vacuum it right off the bat tomorrow. I may even get up and do it at three in the morning, just to take it off guard. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Blogging Rather Than Ironing

Again. :-)

It's been a long, long day, so the ironing will have to wait until "tomorrow." I can't count how many days I've said that. I get a little bit done each day, but never can get it completed before I have to do more laundry and add to the pile again. I wish wrinkled was considered fashionable or at least acceptable. ;-)

Not much to report from yesterday. We left early for church as we do every Wednesday, though we didn't pack the day full and end up at church exhausted like we did last week. We stopped by the storage unit to pick up my old Gothard books (we're needing to do some review!) and a few other things, drove by another house (though I can't remember a thing about it, so it mustn't have been very impressive), then stopped by Penney's, Ross, and Target in search of some much needed items of clothing. We found nothing at the first two stops (and I don't think I'll be returning to Ross--it was a MESS), but hit the jackpot at Target: a pair of desperately needed slacks for Joe, a pair of white shoes for Katie to wear on Easter and beyond, and a few other odds and ends.

Then it was time for church. It was Brother Carpenter's CPMA service. I felt tired and a little distracted again, though we had tried real hard to not have too busy of a day knowing we'd be going in to church. I just have a hard time concentrating sometimes, I guess! I enjoyed the scriptures he was sharing about not being fearful but rather trusting in the Lord. I missed the last part of the service because of a phone call from a friend who wasn't aware what time zone we live in (silly girl--ha!) and thought we'd be out of church by that time. She was calling with a prayer request and I was glad I had stepped out to call her back (I had remembered to turn my ringer off in church for a change--thank goodness!), thinking it might be something of that nature.

Got home late again and way too tired to iron. Story of my life.

This morning we got up and around decently early so we could head out for a day on the town. First stop, Centreville so I could get my Alabama license. The lady wasn’t the friendliest ever, but it was relatively painless—though I did come out with a drivers license photo that fits the usual stereotype: hideous. I laughed when I saw it. Oh well. It’s not like it hangs on my wall or anything.

Then we headed up north and drove past several more “maybe, but probably not” houses. There were a few that look really nice and are in nice neighborhoods… but we don’t really want to be in a neighborhood! We’d rather have lesser house and more land—or at least some privacy that would make you feel like there’s more land. We might consider some of these houses, but only if we’re not able to find something in a nice, seclude setting. If these are still around a few months from now we might take a look, but until then we’ll keep searching for location, location, location. :-)

We stopped by a thrift store to search for some of the things we hadn't been able to find elsewhere. We ended up with a shirt for James a pair of shoes and another pair of slacks for Joe, a tie for the boys, a robe for Katie as well as a brand-new-with-tags-still-on white shirt that I think will work perfect with her Easter dress… if I can make the long sleeves into short sleeves without ruining it. ;-)

Afterward we stopped by Pizza Hut to redeem the kids last Book It! coupons for the year and also enjoyed freshly mixed cherry sodas there. Who knew? Cherry Dr. Pepper is actually pretty tasty. Especially with a couple of cherries at the bottom of the glass. :-)

We drove past two more houses on our way home, found another “maybe someday, but not until we're sure we can't end up with more land or privacy” house, then drove to Wal-Mart in Calera to fill our list: groceries, flea collar (just for Charlie, not the rest of us… yet—Charles finally had his first tick a few days ago), a toaster (but they were sold out), and who knows what all. It wasn’t very exciting until James decided to walk down the clearance aisle. He found all together too many great deals on all sorts of junk, mostly learning-type or craft kits and games. We got a $23 game for $3, some craft kits for the same, $14 kits for $1, and who knows what all. On top of all of that, each kid got a $50 scooter for $10… so we got all three for barely over half of what one would have normally cost. Part of me feels great about the bargains, and the other part wonders how much we spent saving so much money. Ha! My only real regret is that the kids were with us. It would have been better if James had discovered this treasure of savings all alone—we would have been all set for Christmas! Oh well, we came home with three very, very excited children tonight.

We got here, hauled all of our stuff in through the rain, then did our best to get the house straightened up a bit before everybody dug into the new loot. In the meantime, James built scooters. We hadn’t been home very long when a white truck came zooming up the driveway. The Dudley boys. :-) The two younger boys anyway, Thomas and Joshua. They had come to return Brother Powell’s chainsaw. We all stood outside and visited for quite a while—and I have now decided that my boys won’t be with Dustin Warren OR the Dudley boys without my supervision. Ha! Maybe I’m the weird one. I never knew you could use a nail gun for recreational purposes such as killing bats, small birds, squirrels—or just shoot it straight up into the air and then run for your lives before the nails come down, or… well, a whole lot of other things. I love teenage boys. :-)

After a while James told the boys to come on in the house and we’d try to call the Powells. Sure enough, they were home! The Dudley boys are really close to the Powells—even call them Grandmother and Granddad—and I know they really enjoyed being able to see and talk with them. Those boys just crack me up. They are so good natured and fun to be around. And they are just all boy—taking great pleasure in doing dumb guy things, wrestling and rough-housing, and taking their food very seriously. We were discussing the time difference between here and South Korea and the Powells said it was about 10:30 “tomorrow” morning over there. Joshua said, “Y'all are getting ready to have lunch and we’re just now getting ready to have dinner.” Then his face sort of fell and he said, “Hey… y'all are two meals ahead of us!” Thomas piped up and said, “Me and Joshua got some catchin’ up to do then, Granddad!” Ha! They don’t measure the difference by miles or hours, but by meals. :-)

James had some house things to discuss with the Powells, but it wasn’t so easy keeping the children under control. Joe picks at the Dudley boys non-stop when they’re around, just asking for trouble. He’s not just real bright picking on boys that size, but he’s in that stage where he’s got to prove how big and tough he is (do they ever grow out of that???) and thinks the Dudleys are a worthy challenge. I keep telling the boys that they are welcome to do whatever they need to do to our children—whatever they deserve. It pretty much turned into a free-for-all tonight and the chaos was beyond my realm of authority apparently because I wasn’t able to regain control at all. They all--three children and two teenagers--ran like a heard of elephants up and down the stairs and from one end of the house to the other, wrestling and laughing and squealing. Okay, well maybe the Dudley boys didn't squeal. ;-)

I went to check on things one time and saw one of my children being held over the edge of the balcony railing. I did what any good mother would do. I ran for my camera. Ha!



Thomas employed a tactic I probably wouldn't have thought of: using one boy to squish another one. :-)





I’m a little ashamed to post some of these pictures. Okay, a whole lot ashamed. The Powells visit this blog and I’d hate for them to see these pictures and think that we’re the kind of people you DON’T WANT living in your house! Ha! But there you see it. Not only is the house far from perfect, but there stands my son, ON the couch, preparing to hurl a pillow across the room. And the mother obviously approves because she’s using a camera at this moment rather than a switch. HA! To be clear, I do not approve. I just took a quick picture before making the little punk get off the couch and put the pillows back. ;-) I’m sure none of this is all that surprising to the Powells (though James will still probably make me remove this picture once he sees it—ha!) since they could hear all of the madness in the background while they were trying to talk to James.



That’s Joshua Dudley by the way (the youngest of the three brothers), being nice and calm, either playing with or tormenting the dog—I’m not sure which. ;-)

Not that it will be any great comfort of mind to the Powells, but I can honestly say that tonight is by far the wildest night this house has seen since our arrival here. I would start to regain a degree of control over the situation, but then somebody (kid or teenager) would do something tiny, like steal somebody else’s hat, and it would break loose into an all out brawl all over again, kids wielding plastic bats and hurling pillows at teenagers, teenagers wadding kids up into little balls and throwing them onto couches, the mother standing by helplessly wondering why nobody ever listens to her… And so on. Ha! We really did have a good time with the boys (though next time the chaos will be limited to the great outdoors, I hope!) and hope they come back very soon.

After the Dudleys left James had Joe help him haul all of the trash out to the road for pick-up in the morning. When the headlights of the tractor swept across the “field” Joe spotted lots of small movements out there. Upon further investigation he discovered frogs/toads (I never can remember the difference) in abundance. It was already way past bedtime, but the kids were sooooo excited. They’d been seeing frogs in the pond for a week or two now but had been unable to catch one, mostly because I had forbidden it. The last thing I want to deal with is a kid falling into the goldfish pond just before bed, which is when the frogs come out. Anyway, I told them I’d give them a few minutes to go catch frogs and it wasn’t long before they were hollering for us to come out to the porch and look.





What a happy day for the kids. We found a shirt that completes Katie’s Easter ensemble (making it possible for her to finally wear that hand-me-down jumper/dress thing she’s been dying to wear), got some new books at the thrift store, then new crafts for Katie, new building toys for Sam, and some night vision goggles for Joe (did I mention that?) due to a phenomenal clearance aisle—ah yes, and scooters for each of them… Then a wild night of having it out with the Dudley boys, shooting bb guns with them (Joe has to challenge everybody to see who can out-shoot who... he won), and then a chance to go catch frogs by the fistful. They should sleep well tonight. :-)

Me, too. G’night!

For Brother Hawkins

I told Cody/Kody (somebody help me out here--which is it?) that I had recorded his testimony (though I missed the first part) and asked if he wanted me to see that Brother Hawkins saw it. He said YES and acted like he would really appreciate that. So Mom, if your Internet connection is good enough over there in Africa could you please see that Brother Rob watches this? Thank you. :-)

Blog Rather Than Bed

Actually, the plan for tonight was to conquer the ironing. It's been piling up since we got home from New Mexico (how long has that been?!) and I've just been ironing a piece here and there as we've needed them. There is a pretty impressive pile now. It's crawling out of the basket up onto the couch. I thought if I brought it to the living room and set up my ironing board in here it would push me to finally get it done. No such luck. I worked on it for a while today, but had too many distractions like school, school, and more school.

So the new plan was to stay up late and do all of the ironing tonight while watching Assembly DVDs or something. But then James got a phone call, so the kids and I hung out watching YouTube clips of old Looney Toons and southern gospel groups, then reading stories and poems from The Book of Virtues while we waiting on James for devotions. About an hour past bedtime I finally prayed with them and put them down. Shortly thereafter James came in and we sat and talked for a good little while. Then I was too tired to think about ironing, so I decided to go to bed instead.

But then I read this thing from my Mom about how she's over in Swaziland and on her way to South Africa and struggling through horrible Internet connections, yet she's taking the time out of their busy schedule to keep us updated on things every day... but "her girls" are a bunch of losers and won't post anything new for her to read so she can know what's going on over here. (Those weren't her exact words, but the essence.) ~sigh~ She's right, of course. I hate it when she's right. ;-)

So here I am, blogging. I keep an on-going file of blog notes at all times so that when I do finally sit down to blog I'll have something to say. Unfortunately the list was somehow deleted so now I'm left with only my memory. This should be a very short post. (Ha. I don't have to remember what's been going on to be able to ramble aimlessly--we all know that.)

Last time I left off was when we finally left New Mexico and headed back to Alabama "for good." We had a good trip and I was surprised and relieved at how well we both did driving (James in the U-Haul, me in the van) the entire way without getting too tired--especially after all the adrenaline and hard work and sleep deprivation that had been going on.

The kids took turns riding in the different vehicles, but Katie was with me in the van all day long the second day and the boys were together in the truck with James. We had some really good girl talks and I was thankful for some nice, quiet time with her without interruptions. Well... time with Katie is never just real quiet, but you know what I mean. ;-) There were several things that I have been aware of for quite some time, but Katie didn't know that I knew about them--bad things that she had never confessed. I had really felt like just praying about it and leaving it with God, and trusting that some day Katie would come to me about them instead of me just declaring what I knew and punishing her. Well, our conversation led toward some of those subjects that day and I sort of opened the door and waited to see what would happen. She did, indeed, confess to the things I already knew about. I then told her that I already knew about these things and she was stunned and a little flurbed out by it. I told her that God loves her so much that He makes ways for her parents to know all of the things we need to know, even when she doesn't think we know. :-) Every time she would confess something I would follow it up by informing her that I was already aware of it and she would sort of spazz out on me. She is now fully convinced that God tells me everything so she should never try to keep anything from me. :-) I'm hoping that will work to our benefit in the coming years. Ha!

The next day Katie was riding with James and I had the boys with me. We had been talking and listening to Joe's southern gospel music when--out of the blue--he says, "Mom... I need to talk to you about something." And out pours a confession from him! Ha! Who knew that moving could be so revealing?! I guess we just need to move every few months so I'll know what my children have been up to. ;-) I had a good talk with Joe and we prayed and worked through all of the guilt he'd been struggling with. So now at least two-thirds of our children have clear consciences once more. :-)

I think I blogged a bit about after we made it back to Alabama, then there's a big gap in my blog notes, so I don't know anything up until the past week or so. You lucky dogs. :-)

We've been working real hard on school and on house stuff this week. The boys have been pulling weeds, Katie has been working on the Polar Regions unit that I had to reassign to her because she was doing so poorly the first time--that's taken up lots of her time (and mine) lately--and I've been working real hard trying to get some things taken care of around the house. I cleaned the master bathroom during a storm one night, scrubbing in the light sometimes, sometimes in the dark. :-) We've had a few good storms here and I know there were several killed by tornadoes in Alabama a few days ago, but I have a hard time getting real riled up over them as yet. I mean, every time it starts raining (which is frequently) the weather alarm starts going off and after a while you just sort of tune it out, you know? I've been around some pretty fierce storms (though they've been few) and I remember a couple of times in my life when we were under a tornado warning and piled up in a safe place to wait it out, but I haven't been in any storms here yet that have had me scared or feeling like it was bad enough to take everybody to the basement. So when the alarm sounds I don't think anything of it. I mean, if you took it seriously every time you'd spend your whole life sitting in the basement waiting to die! Ha! I can't live like that... no pun intended. ;-) It's like the "never cry wolf" thing. I'm already used to the sirens and don't take them seriously anymore; one day it'll be the real thing and I'll get blown to kingdom come because I'll be thinking "ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight" and won't prepare.

ANYWAY, I got all of the floors cleaned the other day--AT THE SAME TIME! Wa-Hoo! I have a terrible time accomplishing that. Of course, there's always that spiteful rug in the living room. Sister Powell says to just roll it up. Can't do that. It's the only patch of carpet in the house aside from up in the boys' room and I like having it there. Besides, I can't be beaten by a rug. I'm going to win. Even if I have to bleach the whole thing so you can no longer see little balls of fuzz and string and specks of whatever else it is. I'm only kidding of course, Sister Powell--I wouldn't actually bleach your rug. :-) On purpose anyway. I did that by accident one time years ago... Ha!

Sometime this past week James and I must've had a real hankering for Mexican food because he made cheese enchiladas for lunch and I made an enchilada casserole for dinner. Yum. :-)

I've done innumerable loads of laundry this week. It's amazing how much more we go through here! I haven’t had a chance to look for a drying rack yet but I’m under the assumption most people here use a towel once, then wash it. Someone was telling us the other day (you know who you are--ha!) that their kid used one towel during camp one year and "all the others were all still clean," thus proving he had only showered once (and is just as gross as everybody else's kids--ha!). So I did the math. You’d have to have 25 towels for a family of five for five days of Camp if everybody got a new towel every day! Plus wash cloths and hand towels?! Amazing. But then, around here I'm guessing that your towel wouldn't be DRY the next day if you used it the first. Crazy. I have so much to learn. ;-)

Last Wednesday was a long, long day. I got up at 6:30 and took my shower, did my devotions, cleaned house a bit, then vacuumed that fuzz collecting rug before we walked out the door just to see what tricks it might try to pull while we were away. We are praying about whether to trade our van in for one that will last us a while (we've put 38,000 miles on this one in the past year and it may not have another year or two in it) or just stick with what we've got and find out just exactly how long it will go. So we looked at some vehicles that day, drove a Honda Odyssey, then went to the Church to meet Laura (our Alabama realtor as opposed to Jason, our New Mexico realtor).

Laura hadn't arrived yet, so James decided to have everybody use the restroom there at the church so they wouldn't be asking to do it while we were looking at houses. He unlocked the church and tried to turn off the alarm, but he pushed a wrong button. Our church has a VERY IMPRESSIVE burglar alarm, let me tell you. :-) Our boys both just about jumped out of their skin and were across the parking lot and back in the van in what seemed like one swift motion. I called Sister Hopkins to ask how to shut it off, while the alarm company was calling Brother Hopkins to inform him that the alarm was going off and to inquire as to whether they needed to send the cops out or not. He said, yep, send the cops--haul 'em all off. :-) We finally got everything under control before Laura showed up.

We went to see five houses. Two are definite NO’s, 3 more are probably-not's, though we really love the land and setting of two of them, and the house itself but not so much the land and setting of the third. Any of them could be taken and made into HOME for us with enough money. Therein lies the problem. The "enough money" part at the end. ;-) Not that God hasn't blessed us; just that we want to be good stewards of all that He places in our hands and we never want to over-extend ourselves. We'll keep praying for wisdom and for the right house at the right time. Until then, we'll enjoy and be thankful for the blessing of being able to live in the Powell's beautiful home. God's timing is perfect. :-)

After our long day of housework, car shopping and house hunting, we went into church that night feeling so wiped out! It's really a bad idea to pack that much into a church day. I'll try to make a note of that for the future. I think it was VLB service that night (?!) and Brother Will was in charge. He did a GREAT job and I was so blessed by his message. No wait, maybe that was a different day. Whenever that service was I was blessed by it! :-) I do know that after last Wednesday's service Brother Hopkins had a called business conference. I must admit I cringed just a little bit. Ha! Only because a service or two before that I had sat through almost all of the longest business conference in the history of the world. Really—the Bessemer church should have a banner hung on the wall or a trophy on a shelf somewhere or something. HA! Did you notice I said I sat through almost all of it? At the beginning of the conference my kids noticed that all of the other children had quickly scrambled for the back door. They asked if they could go outside with the others and I had to give them one of those Mom lectures. "I know you don't understand this right now and business conferences seem boring to you, but this is The Church of God and the business of The Church of God is important--and it's important that you understand how it works because some day you'll be the ones up there, blah, blah, blah." I finally had mercy on them and escorted them out after about an hour and a half. Well, the two who weren’t snoring on the pew by then. Sam was a goner before the first hour was over. Ha! To be fair, this church has a whole lot more members than what I'm used to and therefore has a whole lot more money--along with a property that needs tended to--and there are simply a lot more things to discuss and make decisions about than what I'm used to. But now it's time to get used to it. :-) Still, I don't know what to do with the kids. I still feel it's important for them to be there... but I don't want them to end up hating Church business because it takes so long! Ha!

This past weekend we had our final District Convention up in Moulton. We left the Charles with Brother Will and Sister Krystal for the weekend. They have a little Yorkie puppy and we thought the two of them would have a blast playing together for a few days. No such luck. Sister Krystal declares that the problem was with both dogs, but from what I could tell Roxie wants to play real bad and Charlie is just cranky with her and wants no part of it. (He is soooooo much like Rusty, Mom!) Dumb dog. Anyway, they said he didn't misbehave there at all ~whew~ so I'm thankful for that! And I so appreciate them being willing to take care of him for us over the weekend!

We left on Friday in the middle of all of the storms. We saw some nasty, foreboding clouds and went through some pretty rough vision-impairing rain off and on, but got up there just fine. We had a good Convention on Saturday with several mini-sermons, which I thought was great. Each local church (five of them in that district) were on for a song and a sermonette by the pastor, along with all of the usual auxiliary boosts and such. They had a noon meal there at the church and I was able to visit with Liz and Josh Anders for a while--though Liz is now a DeNARD :-) not an Anders. It's so crazy that they (we) are all grown up and married now! I think they were about 10 and 12 years old when they came out to Colorado way back when. I was 17 or 18. I used to chase Josh down and kiss him on the cheek because it made him so mad. :-) And I don't know why, but I used to call Liz, Lizard Breath. (Elizabeth--Lizard Breath... can you hear it???) Now we're all grown up and have to try to act like it. Sad. Ha! Anyway, it was great to see them. Especially since they were among the few people that I recognized. Ha! At the other Conventions I knew several people and only had a few "new" ones to learn. At this Convention there were a lot more people I hadn't met yet and it was a little overwhelming. It will help a lot as we're able to visit each local church and I can learn who everybody is in smaller groups. :-)

When Convention ended on Saturday afternoon we went out to eat with the Rollins, the Warrens, and the Masons. I didn't get a chance to visit with the Rollins at all (they were sort of at the end of the table), but I so enjoy being with Sister Mason. And Brother Dustin Warren is FULL of strange, interesting and sometimes downright disturbing stories, most of which involve large and dangerous weapons, dead deer and almost dead deer, unsuspecting bystanders, and victims of heartless pranks. He's GREAT. :-) My boys would LOVE to go to his house and see his entire arsenal, learn to throw tomahawks, go meet his Indian chief--all that stuff. Of course, I have already decided that my children will have no contact with Dustin Warren unless I AM THERE to supervise. HA!

The next morning we visited the church in Russellville. It's a small church and they are currently meeting in a little store front building. It reminded me a whole lot of where the church in Merkel, Texas, used to meet--and it felt very much like "home" to me. :-) We had a good service with such a good, sweet spirit. Afterward we went out to eat with the Bordens at a fantastic Mexican restaurant, something I was thrilled to find. We've tried one other Mexican joint since we've been here and it wasn't very impressive. I'm glad to know there's at least one in the state. We'll keep looking for more. :-)

After lunch we followed the Bordens over to the Spires house to visit for a while. They are a neat old couple and so much fun to be with! He's got that adorable old man thing going on, so of course I loved him. And she is a riot. I don't know how old she is, but she certainly doesn't act it. :-) She's full of spunk and humor.

That evening we drove the 30 minutes or so over to Red Bay for service, wishing some of our western friends could have joined us there. ;-) Several of their regulars were out of town, but there was still a decent sized crowd there in my estimation. James preached on the Church, something he's been doing a whole lot of since we've been here. Okay, so he does a lot of that wherever we are (ha!), but he's done even more of it since we got here. I must confess... I had one of those "this again?" thoughts. Not in a BAD way, just in a "I'm having a hard time focusing on this because I've heard it all a lot recently" sort of way. But by the time it was over the Holy Ghost had really begun to move and this young man...




joined The Church of God!!!

I felt humbled and corrected of God. I'd better not ever get tired of hearing about The Church of God! This is a boyfriend of the pastor's daughter there and although I don't know much about him or his situation, it's obvious that he's been around the Church and has been considering joining for a while. And he just couldn't contain himself that night. :-) He danced and praised the Lord and had a wonderful time--as did several others--and finished it off by taking the covenant to join God's Church. It was beautiful. :-)

After service we went out to eat with the Pucketts, their two kids and Cody/Kody (the kid who joined the Church), and Brother and Sister Grimes. I sat with Sister Puckett and learned lots about her while James visited with the others. It was a nice evening and I so enjoy having a chance to get to know the people here a little bit.

I can't remember what time we left, but I know it was about 12:30am when we got to the Cox's house to pick up Charlie. Is it not CRAZY to go to somebody's house at that hour?! I was raised better than that, I assure you! Ha! But Brother Will is working the night shift this week and they all sort of get on that schedule with him, so they were awake and told us to come ahead. It was nice to visit with them for a few minutes. And see Charlie again. :-)

It was after 2:00am before I made it to bed Sunday night, so I slept in until nearly 9:00 yesterday. It was nice, but not nearly enough! I had a hard time accomplished much of anything all day. By the time evening hit I was ready to crash. In fact, I ended up on the couch and sort of napped between 8 and 9 o'clock last night, not actually going to bed only because we hadn't had devotions yet! We put the kids down and then I stayed up for a little while and headed to bed at 10:00. Pitiful.

Today has been a little more productive after getting a decent night's sleep. Still have that pile of ironing threatening to overtake me (!) but I did get lots of other things done including a nice meal for my family tonight: meatloaf, corn, peas, buttered carrots, baked potatoes, and a blueberry cake with blueberry glaze.



I have a real problem with my cakes "falling" and was hoping it was just an altitude issue that would solve itself once I moved to Alabama. No such luck. I looked up possible causes and cures after this cake came out with a big dent in it and I have an attack plan for next time. Either way, it tasted GREAT and made me feel like a good wife and mom. I like that feeling. :-)

And that's about it. I did it for you, Mom. Mom probably won't have Internet access for the next week. Ha! Oh well, it'll be here for her whenever she gets to it. :-)

One last picture. And he wants people to think he doesn't like the dog. ;-)

Back to New Mexico... One Last Time

James came to pick me up at the end of Ladies’ Retreat with the van packed to the hilt with flattened moving boxes the Hoffman’s had given to assist in our move, along with three kids, a dog, and enough clothes to last us about a week. Maybe.

We had been gone about 30 minutes when I decided to check for my cell phone. I often experience this surge of panic out of the blue and think “Oh, no. ~gasp!~ Where did I put ________?!” Could be my phone, my camera, my keys—oh, any number of things. Then I quietly scramble around trying to find it before James discovers that I’ve lost something. I HATE having to tell James that I lost something. 99% of the time (well, maybe 90% or 95%) I haven’t actually lost anything, I just have to check and make SURE that I haven’t lost it. Well, this time I looked and my cell phone was indeed missing from the purse pocket where I keep it. I looked everywhere and still couldn’t find it. I was certain that I hadn’t lost it however, so I told James I couldn’t find it and asked for his phone so I could call my own and we would hear it ring and discover where in our PACKED van it was hiding. Long story short: I called it but we never heard it ring, we looked some more but couldn’t find it, I called the campground to ask if they’d seen it, the dude said he’d go look for it. A few minutes later it James started wiggling around and then we heard my phone. He had been SITTING on it and felt it vibrate when the campground guy tried to call it! HA! I’m just so glad it was THERE. :-)

We had a good trip out west, though I can’t recall any details of it at all. Just as well, I suppose. We ate at Fazoli’s in Amarillo, of course, and got a room there in town—after going to Mardel and getting some FANTASTIC deals, like .69 cents for $20 books—WA-HOO!!!!!

The next day held some dramatic weather changes. In those last 5 hours from Amarillo on home we went from using the air conditioner to the heater. We stopped to get a bite to eat in Moriarty and actually saw some snowflakes in the air. God loves me so much. :-)

We got home at noon on Tuesday. It was a strange feeling to walk into the house. I suddenly felt “homesick” for it for the first time! We’d been away for a month and it just felt so nice to walk in to “my” home. God has worked out such miracles for us and blessed us so abundantly—and we can’t thank Him (or the Powells!) enough. But there’s still something so relaxing about walking in to your home, you know? It’s been the perfect house for us these past three years and we’ve been so very, very happy there. I’m so thankful God saw fit to allow us to have a little log cabin up in the mountains with lots and lots of snow, gorgeous scenery, breathtaking sunsets, fresh mountain air, a wood burning stove for crackling fires—all that stuff. I just feel so, so blessed to have lived out “my dream come true” for a little while. :-)

Like I started to say, we got home at noon on Tuesday. We unloaded the van and I got everything unpacked and put away. It felt really stupid to unpack just so I could start packing (!), but it had to be done. I managed to get the boys’ room completely packed up, bed taken apart, and sparkly clean (ceiling fan, window inside and out, blinds, baseboards—it makes me so happy!) that day. Not a bad start!

I spent all day on Wednesday packing up the den. It took FOREVER. I washed all sorts of things that I’ve never washed before, just wiped down—like James’ little antique trucks and cars. There’s no way you can get to all of the tiny little crevices, even with a q-tip. So I took them (and who knows what else!) to the kitchen sink and sprayed them all down, then laid them out to dry. ~sigh~ It feels so good to know that someday when we move into whatever house we find everything will be so nice and fresh and sparkly clean! :-)

Anyway, perhaps due to my obsessive cleaning along the way, things moved very, very slowly that day. It was late afternoon by the time I finished up that one room. I was doing the math in my head and knew that we were never going to get everything done in time at that rate! I HAD to get one more room done that day, at the very least. I headed to Katie’s room, but I was already sooooo tired and feeling frustrated with the lack of productivity. James turned things around for me however when he showed up to help. :-) Typically I refuse to let him help. Guys just don’t know how to pack and James is probably worse than most. So I gave him the job of wiping things down or dusting them, then putting them on the bed for me to pack. It’s amazing how much that sped things up! By the end of the night we had completed that room and had it all packed up, emptied out, and mopped.

On Thursday morning I hit it bright and early, starting in our bedroom. Unfortunately, it was slow going in there too because of all the things I “had to” spray down and clean—the pine greenery, the fake bush, and all the little mooses (I know it’s not a real word, I just really like to say mooses) and other little things. Still, I managed to get everything packed up (except the closet) before…

The Hays arrived mid-afternoon that day!!! Can you believe it?! ~sigh~ They are just the best. They drove the 5 or 6 hours to help us move in to this house three years ago—before any of us even knew what great friends we would become! Ha! Then they came and helped us pack up our first moving truck this February, and then came AGAIN to help us with the last of our packing, cleaning, and loading up the big truck in March. They are amazing and I can honestly say there is NO WAY we would have been able to get everything done without their help. We would have been in big, big trouble!

When the Hays arrived on Thursday afternoon Brother Dustin’s got busy fixing all of the electrical catastrophes he had created over the previous years that the inspector had thrown a fit over and ordered to be fixed. Okay, so that’s not exactly the story, but there were a few little glitches he was kind enough to take care of for us. I moved my work out to the living room so I could be with the people. Couldn’t stay cooped up in the bedroom working all alone, you know. ;-) Sister Jamey helped out by washing stuff for me as I packed up all the décor from off the walls.

Before long it was time to get cleaned up for church. It was so nice to be in church. I’d been at Retreat the previous weekend, but it had been a long, hard four days and it felt like ages since I’d been in service! I can’t understand why/how anybody can just skip church—especially when life is crazy and hectic and spinning out of control. You know, when you “don’t have time” to go to church! That’s when I need it the very most! It’s sooooo refreshing to be with God’s people and—most of all, for me—to sing and worship the Lord in that setting. I can just feel all of the stress and pressure drain away and I feel so refreshed and renewed afterward, like I’m suddenly strengthened and ready to go conquer whatever I felt like I was sinking under before. God’s amazing that way. :-)

Sister Shanna flew in to Albuquerque that night and the Clarksons had gone to pick her up at the airport. After service was over we all went out to Dion’s together—James’ favorite pizza joint that he’d already been missing in Alabama. We had a good visit, but Sister Shanna was soooo tired. We got back to the house that night, set the work aside, and played games. I don’t remember anything specific about it, except that it’s always grand. :-)

We got up Friday morning and got back to packing again. I can’t remember how far we got, but we stopped to go eat at Burger Boy, the same little burger joint we ate at with the Hays when they helped us move in to this house. ~tear~ Ha! We had a good time and the Frito pie was some of the very best I’ve ever had. They make their own chili fresh every day and it was fantastic, though it was HOT—I was on fire for quite a while!

After lunch the Hays headed on down to Hatch to get settled in for Youth Convention. ~sigh~ I had been holding to this crazy little dream of getting everything done in record time and being able to go to Convention, too. But alas, we’d been working dawn ‘til dusk (ha—way beyond dusk) every day trying sooooooo hard… but there was still sooooooo much to do and we were to close on the house on Monday—had to have everything packed up, loaded into the truck, and have the house shining by then. We were still sooooo far away from there—the house was a WRECK and there were still things to pack, much less clean. ~sigh~

Since we knew we couldn’t leave and go to Convention Friday… my new goal was to work like a madwoman in hopes of getting far enough along that perhaps we could swing down for part of the Convention on Saturday! I worked in a frenzy all afternoon, all evening, and into the night. I got up Saturday morning and rushed from one end of the house to the other at record speed working, working, working, thinking perhaps if I got everything packed we could rush down to the last service that night. I knew the house would be TRASHED, but maybe we would be able to get it all cleaned up and loaded in time anyway… maybe.

I figured we needed to leave by 3:00 if we were going to make it for church, so my goal was to get far enough along by 2:00 or 2:30 that we could all clean up (sort of) and get dressed and head down there. Didn’t happen, or even get close. So then I rethought it all and decided that maybe if we could leave by 4:00… ha! In the end, we never did get “far enough” along to consider going to Youth Convention.

But we went anyway!!! Ha! We just couldn’t NOT go. How in the world can you be three hours away from a Church Convention and just NOT GO?! So we got everybody looking decent, packed one bag, and headed to Hatch. We got there ten or fifteen minutes before the evening service, enough time to say our howdies and see all the purty faces. :-) Brother Clarkson and Sister Shanna were both on to preach that night and I was greatly blessed by both messages—and so thankful to have been there. Brother Clarkson preached about the peace of God from the verse, “Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” It was sooooo good! ~sigh~ I miss Brother Clarkson already! He is SUCH a blessing and I just liked it best when I'm in church with him all the time. ;-) Sister Shanna preached about the truth of God and had lots and lots of good thoughts taken mostly from 1 Samuel about the lives of David and Saul. Good, good stuff.

After service we were THRILLED to hear that there were left-overs from the noon meal! WA-HOO!!! It would be wrong to go to Hatch and miss out on the food. I got the very last tamale. :-) Life is grand. We enjoyed visiting with the folks that night, mostly the Shulers. We hadn't seen them in nearly a year and were really wanting to see them before we moved so far away. Philip had called that afternoon (while we were getting dressed to go down there!) to beg James to pleeeeeease come to the last session of Convention. James never let on that we were going to do just that, so it was fun to surprise them. I just love Philip. :-) Anyway, I think it was sometime between midnight and 1:00 when we made it to the motel in Truth or Consequences.

We crashed and slept well, then got up and left a little after 8:00 to drive back to Albuquerque. We got to service there in time to catch the tail end of Sunday School and the CPMA service that followed. The Clarksons had stayed over to visit the local church in Hatch, and most of the others were missing at church that morning, too, so it was just our family and the three ladies—Sister Grimes, Sister Bailey, and Sister Galaviz. It actually ended up being really special because of that. When we first went to Albuquerque, they were the core group that we started with and they are all pretty special to us. We all said our goodbyes and shed a few tears—even Sister Galaviz, who has a heart of stone. HA! It’s so not true, but I have to give her a hard time because she reads my blog. ;-)

We left the church, grabbed a quick bite at James' other favorite restaurant (known to us—thanks to Sister Shanda—as “The Crusty Chili”), then headed home again to get back to work. THERE WAS SOOOOO MUCH TO BE DONE and the house closing was THE NEXT DAY! The Hays arrived at the house just shortly after we did and we all worked like the wind. It is amazing, however, at the things we seem to have time for when we’re all together. HA! I’m not sure how or why it started, but Joe—who prides himself in being “Houdini, the Second” and is actually quite good (due to his Jell-o like physique, no doubt) at wriggling out of most any knot—insisted that he could escape from anything Brother Dustin could dish out. Brother Dustin, being no more mature than Joe (ha!), can’t walk away from a challenge like that, so...



After just a few moments Joe had freed his hands and was untying his feet.





Brother Dustin can't handle being beaten by a nine year old, so he decided to try a different approach. Charlie found the entire situation most interesting.



Alas, not only has Brother Dustin crushed my son beneath a massive boulder (just had to throw that one out there once more), but now he has also crushed his spirit. Joe was beaten, unable to loose himself despite his best efforts. The picture is too washed out to be able to show them well, but he had horrible rope burns on his arms, something that seemed to deeply disturb Brother Dustin (he doesn't often experience guilt or regret, but I believe we saw some that day), mostly because he worries about Joe's granddad finding out. What if there are terrible consequences for such an action?! Ha!



Even though we were still not completely packed (just a few things left to do in the utility room and our closet, stuff like that), we started loading up the big truck. James and I had run into town on Saturday morning to pick it up and he did an AMAZING job backing it up beside the house, with only inches to spare. I was so impressed. Anyway, the loading started off pretty slowly as we arranged, then rearranged, then re-rearranged, trying to get the "Mom's Attic" space filled up just right. We all decided that I'm obsessive about cleaning the house, Jamey is obsessive about packing the truck tightly with not a single square inch of space unused, and Brother Dustin is obsessive about the way his arms smell (don't ask). Loading a moving truck is hard work, but we were distracted by how much fun we were having along the way. That's the ONLY way to move, let me tell you! Brother Dustin is always sporting some weird head gear of some kind. This afternoon he was wearing one of the kids' fireman hats and an arm cover from the couch.



I couldn't not include these clips...





Those poor kids never did get a chance to ride, only the dads. Ha!

We worked and worked and worked and finally stopped once it got dark and fed the kids whatever was left in the house--ham and cheese, chips, Spaghetti-o's. Once we got them put to bed, the work continued for the adults. James insisted on going to Subway to get sandwiches for the adults (we really were running low on things to eat around there!) and I think it was nearly 10:00 when we finally sat down at the table to eat dinner. That's a new record for me--even with the Hays there. Ha!

After dinner we played one game of I Buy, but were just too bushed for Balderdash. A true tragedy. James is the one who made the call and said we'd be sure to play it the following night.

Monday morning we got up early and packed up the last of the stuff that was still not packed yet and got busy cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Jamey is AMAZING. She did most of the cleaning while I was packing up our closet contents and stuff like that. She mopped all of the tile floors and I don't even remember what all else she did, I just know that I'm sooooo glad she was there! I did scrub behind and under the stove and the freezer and the fridge, though James didn't want to pull the washer out for me--so we'll never know what gunk we left for the new people. I HATE THAT!!!

Jason knew that we still had a ton of stuff to do, so he was kind enough to bring all of the closing papers out to us instead of having us come into town to sign them. Is there another realtor in the world who would do such a thing??? ~sigh~ He's the greatest. :-) We signed the papers that morning, knowing that funding would go through and we'd need to BE OUT by 5:00 that afternoon. I think we finished up the last of the loading and cleaning at about 3:30. I had cleaned out and scrubbed the fridge and freezer a day or two before, but left one precious commodity: Blue Bell ice cream. I couldn't bring myself to throw it all away, so some of us grabbed plastic spoons (left out for just such a purpose) and ate what we could before disposing of the rest.



Then it was finally time to pull out, for the very last time. We were too tired and still enjoying being with good friends to get too emotional about it. ;-) I wish I would have thought to take a picture before James starting pulling out the U-Haul so you could see how tight it was getting that thing in there!



We drove into town, my vehicle stopping by the thrift store to drop off a few things, then the library to return the last of our books. We got to the hotel, hauled our stuff in, cleaned up, then went to meet the Clarksons at a park. We let the kids play for an hour or two while the adults visited and Brother Clarkson tormented unsuspecting kids at the park. I'd explain, but it wouldn't be funny here--you just had to be there!

Sister Jamey snatched my camera and got busy taking pictures. These were some of the best. :-)

Sliding Aleah



Swinging Lillie



Sandy Katie



Racing down the slide



These next pictures CRACK ME UP. The guys were discussing "getting fat" and how their fat feels. I found it especially amusing with Sister Shanda sitting there. Usually girls go and feel the pregnant lady's belly... but I'd never seen GUYS feeling one another's stomachs! Until now, that is. Ha! Couple of weird-o's. :-)





The Clarksons. I love 'em. :-)



I can't recall what he had done, but I have no doubt Sam deserved this. :-)



I was trying to remember the sequence of tooth events, but I can't remember when they all started falling out. I know Sam lost one of his front teeth just before we went to New Mexico. Then while the Hays were at our house before Youth Convention, Sam "assisted" Isaac (use your imagination) in loosing his first front tooth. The tooth had been loose for quite a while, so that's good! Sam loves Isaac to death and calls him his "bud" or his "chum." I thought it was cool that they were missing a tooth at the same time. Then during Sunday School on Sunday morning Sam ripped his other tooth out. (Really, he worked on it all through service and finally--after a few bloody tissues--presented the tooth, along with a huge gaping smile.) We were all amazed when Isaac woke up on Monday morning with his other tooth missing! He had somehow lost it during the night. So here we have a picture of the boys each missing a tooth...



And a picture of them missing BOTH teeth! Ha! I love it. :-)



When we left the park we took the Hays to the Olive Garden for a big "THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP--YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!!" dinner. :-) By the time we got back to the hotel and got the kids to bed we were feeling pretty tired ourselves. It had been a long, hard week, you know?! We made it through I Buy, but James--who declared we would have a great time playing Balderdash because we had missed it the night before--was fading fast. He was sooooo tired and needed to be roused on several occasions. I threatened several times and finally had to follow through... I rolled him off the bed.



It took a great deal of effort and was great fun but, as you can see, didn't really achieve the desired goal. ~sigh~ It was pitiful. He fell asleep several times throughout the game. While we did laugh a lot, most of our laughing was AT James and his condition. It was still fun, but a great departure from the usual formula.

The next morning we had breakfast together (Sandia Courtyard has the best motel breakfast I've ever seen), then loaded up the vans and said our final goodbyes. Of course, there was plenty of nonsense going on the whole time, mostly in the form of a pine cone war among the boys. ("The boys" being anyone under age 10... and Brother Dustin.) Sometime through it all Joe accidentally nailed Sister Jamey with a pinecone in his attempt to hit someone else. Brother Dustin saw fit to help him make his wrongs right.



We kept trying to get a decent picture of the kids together, but to no avail. I'm not sure how I uploaded so many of them here (slip of the finger?), but as long as it takes to upload I decided I'd just leave them here!



These boys crack me up. :-)







Katie took this picture of all the adults for us. Actually, she took several but we had a hard time making James behave himself. This was the best one we got.



And the guys together. ~sniff~ It's so touching. I think Jamey might have a picture of the two of them that's a LOT better than this one. I was too slow pulling the trigger. ;-)



And the girls.



Wish I could remember what was so funny...



James and Brother Dustin have formed a... unique friendship over the past several years and it's breaking their hearts to be separated. They get all emotional and blubber about it all the time. Well, that's what Brother Dustin does. James just cuts a check. HA! (Long story--I'll skip that one.) Anyway, we were really and truly LEAVING this time, MOVING to Alabama never to return again. The guys' goodbye was so touching we asked them to reenact it for the camera.



Okay, so maybe touching isn't exactly the right word. ;-)

~whew~ And that's it! We loaded up, and headed to Alabama "for good." What a bittersweet thing it is! Bitter to be leaving such good friends (ALL of them out west)... but sweet to be going to the place God has called you to be, still working among His wonderful people. Blessed. That's the word that keeps coming to me. We are just so, so, so blessed. :-)