Thankful Thursday

This is a little late, but can it still count?

I actually feel really quilty that I'm so thankful for this.

My mom called me Thursday morning and said if I would meet her 1/2 way, which is about a 90 minute drive she would take all 3 of the oldest kids home with her until I come home next which will be this next week for the 4th of July. My 1st comment was, "Uhmm, I have a bible study tonight." Then after I had a chance to clearly see the opportunity as I was telling my kids for the umteenth time to quit fighting with each other, I realize what a gift she was offering plus it would be great Grandma time. So never had we packed so quickly, loaded the car and we were off.

I'm so thankful for a mom who loves her grandbabies so much and loves me so much and wants to help me. I'm thankful for some quiet time in the house with just the baby. I'm thankful I got to go to some yard sales. I'm thankful that I'll be able to work on some much needed projects.

Marriage Monday

My husband is so good at protecting me from everyone. I had been wanting him to shave his head and he surprised me and let me razor it last week. When we went over to his families house when everyone started giving him a hard time about going bald he never once said, "Suzanne's the one who wanted me to do it." Knowing they would start picking on me or worse, not say anything but think I made him do it. He is so good at having my best interest in mind, at times. He's not perfect, but he does love me even with all my crazy quirks.

Chop Chop

I love learning new things, especially when it comes to Bible Study, so with my limited education that happens daily. I had not studied Acts before, I've read threw it but could not tell you an overview or even a single verse from it. So this morning I reluctantly read Acts 1. I had the memory of Acts and Romans being so boring that I was proven wrong immediately. Here we have the 4 Gospels previously which were all the facts about the birth, live, cruxification and resurrection of Christ. All books full of facts from different eyes with one view point. So we go from facts, facts, facts, facts to the very next book of ACTS. And it doesn't take long, 11 verses in the Chapter before two angels show up and snap the disciples out of their gazing at the clouds to (in today's language)...fools, what are you doing staring at the sun? Jesus told you what to do, you know the facts so let's get to movin, chop chop!

I wish those angels would show up for me some mornings as I piddle around and get off track and forget what it is that I'm suppose to be doing. His greatest challenge to us was to take His Word into the world. Right now at this stage of life, I have a captive audience of 4 that I can take His Word to daily. They will in turn trickle it on. My greatest challenge to myself is to walk, talk and live hourly a life that will teach His Word without my words getting in the way.

Ask and you shall receive

Several of my friends asked for some funny things that my kids have done lately. So I thought I would share. I jot down anything I don't want to forget to journal about on a scrap on my frig so it was about time I took some off anyway.

At the Good Ol Day's Festival, they had a kids fair that requires a certain amount of tickets for each little game. Makensie wanted to play one so gave the guy her ticket. He told her that he needed 2 tickets. She stood looking at her one ticket for a bit, then tore it in half and gave him the 2 tickets.

I have a little flip desk top calendar with sayings from "A woman after God's own heart." Each morning I've started reading them to Makensie as she seems to be so interested in being a mom and wife someday. I wish she had a better example than me. So Tuesday morning we read, "We should see our husband as our best friend, and we should work on building a friendship with him. That work takes planning, but the rewards are definitely worth the effort as they flow out of a heart that loves." Wanting to show off a little for Allen at supper since he didn't know I had been doing this with her I asked, "Makensie, do you remember what we talked about this morning and how we are suppose to treat our husbands. How are we suppose to treat our husbands?" She thought about it, then replied, "as a servant?". Allen was definitely impressed with all I've been teaching her.

I called everyone to the table for dinner and Brian strutted up and pulled a dime out of his pocket and slapped it on the counter top. "This is for you for being so sweet." I told him thank you. He walked over to the table and found the same plate he had been given for lunch, snack and now supper that he was refusing to eat. His jaw dropped and frustration swept over his little face. "Why did you give me this again?!" I told him, "because you haven't ate your lunch yet." He stomped back across the room stuck his palm out and stated, "then I want my dime back!" Ok.

At supper Makensie tells me, "I'm on the opposite diet as you because I need to gain weight because I'm getting so skinny." And she really is. "I need to eat things like bread and meat because papa told me that I need to put some meat on my bones."

I'll post some more with pictures later.

Post Vacation Depression

I finally came back to our home. It's amazing what a difference 2 weeks can make. I feel rested, more in love with Allen, calmer with the kids and ready to tackle our daily tasks. Allen missed me also, we were like teenagers calling each other just after a couple of hours. I have missed my quiet time with my Lord, while I did get in some time while away, there was always so much to do and out of my routine that it got left out many mornings.

When I got home Allen surprised me with shaving his head, which was something I've wanted him to do for 2 years. I think he looks like a tough guy now, very hot. Maybe I really do like bad guys. This little act completely covered the sins of letting the dishes sit in the sink for two weeks and the fact I had to go to the grocery store just an hour after getting home since we were out of milk, bread...you know all that silly stuff that is usually in the frig and pantry. I felt bad for him that the magical little fairy that usually stocks all that didn't take care of it for him. He also had washed his clothes, however they were all on the floor in the laundry room, the clean mixed in with the dirty. I am sure the mailman would have been excited for him to have gotten the mail at least once while I was gone as I had to use a crowbar to get it out of the mailbox. But the most noticeable mess was the one directly behind our back door.

Just 15 feet behind our property line almost an entire block that was a field is now leveled and filled with rock. We knew it was coming but I'm sad work has started. Our 1st summer here, they were widening the street so there were all kinds of men working around the house and everything got dusty. I was nervous to let the kids go out and play by themselves, I was nervous who some of the men were and their backgrounds, they were not a crew from here. I saw 2 of them peeing in the yard, close to a tree, but still scarred for life. It was loud and there was always someone watching if we were outside. We had to park across the street as you couldn't even drive across the road most days. It was slightly inconvenient to go to the grocery store and make several trips from the car to the house with 3 little kids when your car if down the road.

This morning I slept in as Wyatt was up in the night for the first time in several weeks. I slept until the windows started rattling and the the floor was vibrating. I was disoriented but was sure we were having an earthquake. I jumped up and got dressed and realized it was really loud and it was coming from outside. Ahhh yes, the familiar sound of that huge tractor packing the earth. I remember that. I'm thankful that we had 2 summers here we weren't in the midst of construction, this is our 4th summer and we won't be opening the pool this year. Too many eyes around.

I'm praying that the lure of the huge equipment won't be too much for Brian to resist. He's like a bug drawn to light with tractors. I also pray that the man that gave him a sucker and a coke this morning is of good heart as he will be our new neighbor for the next several months. I pray that we will be able to befriend the crew as we did last time. We served many cold sweet teas and brownies and built a relationship that gave us an opportunity to share our faith. I was so pleased once when I came home with groceries that 1st summer when I heard 2 tractors shut off and saw several guys head my direction to grab my bags, one took the stroller and pushed the kids home and the other held my hand as I was stumbling up and over the mound of dirt and rocks to enter our driveway.

Lord thank you for my time with my parents and family, thank you for renewing my breath, thank you for our home and the sweet feel inspite of the bachelor pad smell and spiders that have taken over, thank you for a good and faithful husband, thank you for your will for our lives whatever it brings. Thank you for all the funny things that happen daily. Thank you for loving me.

I'm going home

The kids and I are headed to my parents this afternoon...for 18 days! Allen will be coming up for the weekend as it is the town's Good Ol Days festival. This is one of our favorite weekends. They get it off with a parade on Friday night and then the entire downtown area is blocked off for a chicken dinner and dancing with live bands. Saturday there are 3 blocks of craft booths, the car show, sometimes a bed race, the kids rides, entertainment and and old fashion red garter saloon. When I get back I'll post a picture of the summer I was a saloon girl. Not to mention the food...funnel cake, homemade pies and ice cream, kettle corn.

I plan to shopping with one sister on Friday and then we are having a girls night with my sisters and cousin. After the festival we've made it a little tradition now that the kids and I stay for 2 weeks following and all the cousins have sorta cousin camp at my mom's. We take the kids to swimming lessons in the morning and then the community center offers all sorts of other classes for $5 a class. Where we live now it is $45 a kid and that just gets a little pricey. One summer I actually stayed 6 weeks. During that time the kids took every class they were interested in and it was so much fun and really wore them out...day camp, swimming, flag, pom pon, cheerleading, cooking, tumbling, ballet. Most classes only ran an hour and were either M/W or T/TH. Of course we had a beautiful 15 passenger church van (I'll post a pic of that too).

Allen comes up and visits, but summer is his busy time so we don't see much of him anyway. I did help prepare for my absence by shopping for him yesterday. Wow, are convenience foods expensive! Probably still cheaper than eating out though.

All that to say, I probably won't be posting for a while. I'm so thankful and excited that I get to go home. I haven't lived there since just weeks after I graduated high school 17 years ago, but it still feels like home. And there is nothing better than to rest in my mom's nest. She is the most serving and giving person. I just want to walk in the house, hand over the baby and cry in gratefulness as to how much relieve it will be to have her give me a break for a little while.

There's A Stranger In My House.

As I sat nursing 8 week old Wyatt, that unmistakable gurgle hit my gut. As the evening progressed so did the seriousness of my ailment. As I sat on my porcelain throne trembling and worried with trash can dumped out on the floor for a make shift bucket, I debated whether to call someone for help to watch the kids. They hadn't read the manual of how to act when momma is sick. Instead they were running in to tell me "Brian changed the channel on the TV" and me saying "I don't care". Them running in to ask "Are you done yet? We have to go potty", me saying "I DON'T care, go upstairs". Them running in to tell me, "Brian dumped out the bottle of glue on the chair in the office" Me yelling, "I DON'T CARE!"

I summoned my oldest, Makensie age 7, and asked her to call daddy and tell him to pick up the pace and get home that I was really sick. Unfortunately Allen was still about 30 minutes away. I also asked her for a wet washcloth because at this point, I was thinking I was going to pass out. I told her that if I did pass out, NOT to call 911! She could however, go to our sweet elderly neighbors house and ask Miss Virginia to come and sit with the baby until daddy got home. After all, the last thing I want on my record of humiliating experiences, is to be passed out on the floor with my panties around my ankles.

Then the door bell rang. Since it is so late, it only made sense that it had to be someone we knew. The kids all start yelling, "Go to the back door!" Now our front door hasn't opened from the inside for about a year now, yet somehow appears to be #131 on someone's honeydo list. Then I hear the stampede to the kitchen. How is it possible that 3 kids that weigh less than 40lbs each sound as if a fleet of octopus wearing work boots rose up and were trampling through the house?

I hear the back door open and knew it had to be a close friend because the rule is to never ever ever ever open the door to a stranger. At this point I am not mustering up the energy to be moving anywhere. I was thinking to myself, "Thank you Lord! Please let them be able to stay with the baby just until Allen gets home. "

Then I hear the stampede heading my direction. Makensie and Gabby come in and shout excitedly, "mom, it's one of your friends." I ask of course, "Which one?" You have to imagine this next part as if viewing it thru a slow motion camera... Makensie gestures to the bathroom door as she says, "Thiiiiiissssss oooonnnne." And now joining me in the bathroom is a complete stranger. I sat looking up at her, my mouth wide open, sounds in my head I didn't know existed. Gabby helped explain the slightly awkward situation by letting her know, "momma's sick. She has diarrhea." As she wrinkled up and pinched her nose and fanned the air.

Ya think? She had to have guessed that when she walked into our bedroom! But wait! It gets better, as she stood there and went ahead to tell me that she had stopped by to see if I had a playpen to get rid of.

Well, I shouldn't’t have said she was a complete stranger, I had met her at my yard sale a couple of days previous. And a couple of days previous I would have gladly in my yard, dressed have discussed the sale of the playpen.

At this point my head is whirling, partly from the embarrassment and partly from the shock that I had to then ask her if I could finish going to the bathroom, then we could talk. I wanted to scream "IS THIS SERIOUSLY HAPPENING?! AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN SEE I'M ON THE TOILET?!"

I am having a complete lack of understanding of what in the world my children were thinking! I didn’t even want to leave the bathroom. I splash my face with cold water, lean over the sink and glance into the mirror and tell myself "This is it. This is THE most embarrassing moment of my life." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But not laugh like funny haha, laugh like crazy insane then burst into tears and then back into laughing, they're-coming-to-take-me-away laughing. I bravely step foot into Wyatt's room to see Makensie folding up MY pack and play and I tell her and the gal that I'm not giving my pack and play away that I still use it, "that's why it is set up - Makensie" said in my best I'm trying to keep my composure here although I really want to scream voice.

Makensie then goes and gets my 2 month old baby out of the swing and brings him in and hands him to this lady, who by this time I'm 100% sure is not all there. And yet I'm considering sending my kids home with her. She hands him immediately back to me. Then says, "I don't like to hold them when they're that small" Although I specifically remember her having a kid, and correct me if I'm wrong, but she is wanting a pack and play. At this point my tummy is sounding off again. And for some reason I still fell the need to be polite as I usher her out apologizing for the quick visit, that I was just sick.

I will probably need to seek counseling for my post traumatic shock.