Much Ado About Nothing

Our Friendly Neighborhood Pool (May 2010)

2011-01-24T15:28:00.004-05:00

One of the things we love about our new house, but didn't get to enjoy right away because of the season, is our neighborhood pool! As soon as it opened we started going several times a week right after school. I even went a couple of times after work before the kids got home and enjoyed some peace and quiet. The kids even discovered that if they check the drains they can, on occasion, find a frog! They get a kick out of playing with them for awhile before letting them go. We love having access to a pool!

Search Me Oh God

2011-01-23T14:11:00.004-05:00

Search me Oh God
Search me and find
Any way in me

that does not reflect Your purity
Refine me Oh God
In the fire of Your gaze
That I might be holy

in all of my ways
Take me deeper Lord
Draw me closer Lord…

I have sung this song many times over the years and I have meant every word. I tend to think more about the 'take me deeper, draw me closer' part the most, though, because I often don't feel very close to Him.

The last year or two have been a bit of a struggle for me. I've questioned more, doubted more, prayed more, prayed less, felt guilty, felt hopeless, felt hope. I have become so aware of how despicable I am. I have wallowed in feelings of self-loathing. I have been anxious and desperate. I cry out 'take me deeper, draw me closer'.

In the midst of this, though, I have come to realize that my struggles do not mean God is farther away, instead, I have realized he IS drawing closer! How else do I know how sinful I am except by God's examination? I forgot that when I sing that song, I am also singing "Search me and find any way in me that does not reflect Your purity" and oh boy, is He answering my prayer! Knowing this gives me hope! He IS listening to the cries of my heart. He is showing me myself, AND He is showing me that he LOVES ME ANYWAY. Praise Yahweh! Even though it doesn't always feel like it, He is here and moving in my life. He is refining me in His fire so that I CAN draw deeper and nearer to Him. Thank you, Jesus!

Dean's 40th Birthday! -May 29

2010-12-04T09:59:00.007-05:00

For my 40th birthday, Dean took me sailing in Charleston, and I LOVED it! But Dean loves people and hosting parties at our house. He also loves ice cream and sprinkles! So for his birthday, I threw him an ice cream party and invited lots of people. This was especially fun, since we recently bought a new house and most of these people hadn't seen it yet. We had about 15 different flavors of ice cream and around 25 toppings! It was a big success.

Happy Birthday, Dean!

Have You Ever Seen God Smile?

2010-09-07T08:07:00.007-04:00

I did not intend to have two such thoughtful posts in a row, but these things have been on my mind lately and I want to write them down before I forget. Too often I plan to write about something and never do.

I pray on a regular basis, usually in my car or at night when I go to bed. This is not a religious 'observance' for me. It's just what I do. Mostly my prayers consists of asking for help in one thing or another, or asking for the safety of my family, or prayer for other people.

However, the other day on my way to work, I started praying for something else. For some reason it occurred to me to pray for God, for Yeshua Himself! I prayed that He would be blessed that day. That someone somewhere in the world would do something that would bless His socks off! It sounds funny to say that, and surely God is blessed every day by some one of His servants doing what He's asked. But, praying that prayer ended up blessing ME, because as I prayed I pictured the face of God smiling, because of me, because of you. We can make God smile! We can bless Him! I love that picture and it makes me want to constantly strive to put that smile on His face.

Hebrews 11:1

2010-09-06T11:13:00.005-04:00

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."

To be honest, I've never really quite wrapped my brain around this one, to know what it really means. For the past year or so, my faith has been tested. I've had some conversations that have challenged some of the things I've always believed, or at least the way I've understood them. It had me questioning whether what I've always believed was wrong, or just different. How then can I know the truth? I'm not a scholar. I asked this person, based on some of what he told me, why/how he believes. He said he just does. He chooses to have faith in God. I still don't know exactly what to believe, in many cases it really doesn't matter, it's just semantics. But when it came down to brass tacks, I asked myself, "Why do I believe?" My answer was because I HOPE it's true. My heart tells me God is real and he loves me. I can't prove it. I can't participate in theological debates on the subject. Some people may think it is ridiculous and childish to believe something just because I want it to be so, nevertheless, I HOPE it's true.

Now I get it!

"Faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things unseen." Hebrews 11:1

Alyssa's Art Show - May

2010-08-03T11:18:00.002-04:00

Alyssa was in Honor's Art this year and we attended her art show in May. Here were her projects:

The next one is a face mask. She had to have her face completely covered with plaster breathing through her nose for 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the class ran out of time at the end of the year, and she was unable to finish it.

This last one is a clay box. Her teacher loved it and said she should enter it into the state fair this year. Great job, babe!

Happy Birthday to Me! -May 10

2010-07-30T09:49:00.008-04:00

Once my kid's were all in school, I needed to find a part-time job. For about a year I was a substitute teacher. I really wanted flexibility when it came time to being home when my kids were home and substituting worked out nicely except I needed more work than I was getting.

I needed a permanent position and it occurred to me that a job with the school would be perfect because for the most part, I could keep the same hours as my kids including holidays & summers. Believe it or not, out of all the positions I had 'sampled', the one I enjoyed the most was in the cafeteria. I know, it's not glamorous, but my goal was not to get the most prestigious job, or even one with the most money. My primary goal was to be home with my kids as much as possible and this was the best way to accomplish that. So I kept an eye out for an opening and since I already had a foot in the door with the school system, was able to step right in when one came available. And it was at the school I wanted! I work with a great bunch of people.

One of the things we do, which I love, is fix a private lunch for each other on our individual birthdays. Johnny does most of the cooking (AND IT IS GOOD!) but it wouldn't happen without Susan's planning and enthusiasm. This past year was my first and for my birthday lunch, they made me (at my request) BBQ Chicken, Corn Bread, Collard Greens, Rutabagas, and Pineapple Upside down Cake for dessert. YUM! Thank you, Susan, Johnny, Angel, Julie, and Erin! You're the best!

Our New House in the Spring-April

2010-07-22T11:37:00.005-04:00

One particularly fun element of the first year in a new house, is discovering the differences during each season. We moved in during September, so it was fun watching which trees might turn which colors. Then, in the winter time, we enjoyed having a fire place for the first time and had the added unlikely surprise of getting to see what our house looks like in the snow. Now, it's spring! I have have so enjoyed watching to see what blooms. I love that we have a dogwood tree in the front yard.

But my favorite by far, are the roses! I've never had roses before. In the spring they bloom all over the side of my house and over the garage! I can't tell you the joy they have given me!

I even have a few in the back yard. Look at the size of this one!
Thank you, Jesus, for our new house, for the ROSES! I am so grateful!

OSCAR!!!-April 7

2010-07-22T10:54:00.007-04:00

I was so excited that my sisters came to visit with their kids, including OSCAR, my newest nephew! We haven't seen a whole lot of him so, it was fun to get to hang out a bit and get to know him better. Although, he wouldn't come within 10 feet of me. Thought I was a big scary monster, I guess. That's OK though, I enjoyed him from a distance! As long as I didn't get too close, I'd even get some smiles :) We went to the mall and rode on the carousel, which I believe was Oscar's first time.

We also went to the Zoo which was another first. He had a blast!

We love you Oscar! Thanks for coming to visit us!

Kai's 12th Birthday-April 16

2010-07-22T10:41:00.006-04:00

Kai had a couple friends spend the night for his birthday. He got Band Hero for his birthday, so they spent the WHOLE time playing it! They even got pretty creative with the vocals :)I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. I fully expected him to say chocolate cake with chocolate icing because that is what he has ALWAYS asked for. But, he surprised me with pound cake with butterscotch chips!??? Where did that come from? I've never even made a pound cake before, so I googled a recipe that looked good and it was a big hit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAI!

Semi-Formal Dance-April 23

2010-07-22T10:30:00.003-04:00

Alyssa went to the 8th grade Semi-Formal Dance. First one. She went shopping with a friend to buy a dress all by herself. First time. *sigh* She and her friends had a great time and after the dance went to her friend, Jessica's, house for an 'after party'. I am so thankful. Alyssa has been blessed with a great group of friends that are good kids, trustworthy, whose parents I know and trust and all go to youth group together.

8th Grade D.C. Trip-March 30

2010-07-22T10:15:00.004-04:00

Alyssa's 8th grade class went to Washington D.C. for three days! They had so much fun. They left at 10pm and drove through the night. They even wore their pajamas on the bus! Dean let Alyssa bring his camera, so she enjoyed taking lots of pics.

Our South Carolina Junior Scholar-March 22

2010-07-22T09:55:00.004-04:00

One reason I love our new house...January 31

2010-07-22T09:48:00.004-04:00

Kai's Spring Concert

2010-04-20T09:43:00.003-04:00

Kai has been playing the bassoon this year. He's doing a great job!

February SNOW!

2010-04-20T09:29:00.005-04:00

I know, it's silly posting about snow at the end of April. At least here in South Carolina! I'm a bit late obviously, but I'm trying to catch up. It is unusual to get snow of any kind in SC, but this past February, we got 4 inches! The airport got 8! We knew it wasn't going to last long, so we enjoyed it while it lasted. This was also the first time we had snow in our new house. I love my neighborhood in the snow! So beautiful....

Pinewood Derby

2010-04-20T09:12:00.002-04:00

This past January, Roan participated in his first Pinewood Derby tournament! Daddy helped him build his car then we all went to watch him race. He won 2nd place in his den!

U.S.S. Yorktown

2010-04-20T08:34:00.005-04:00

Back in January, Roan's cubscout pack went to Charleston to spend the night on the Yorktown, a real battleship! Dean got the dubious honor of accompanying him. Dubious, because it was SO COLD! Dean said never was there a time inside or out of the ship (other than in bed) that they were not fully bundled in hats, gloves, and coats. But they did have a great time, Roan had a blast!

OKAAAAY, Andrea!

2010-04-20T08:09:00.006-04:00

My sister Andrea recently awarded a ‘Beautiful Blog Award’ to me. Here is what she said:

“This blog belongs to my sister Angie. Maybe in the past she deserved this award, but her last post was in Februrary, so now I am not so sure. I pass on this award in the hopes that she will start writing again. Get to it Angie!”

So, since my son is home from school sick today, AGAIN, I will take this opportunity to catch up a bit.

Before I get starting on the 'catching up' bit , though, I’d like to comment on the whole ‘sick kid’ thing. Don’t you hate it when you are not sure if you should keep them home or not? Yesterday Roan was clearly sick. He had a fever and spent the day on the couch. He still had a fever when he went to bed last night. Now, technically, according to the school, the child is supposed to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. So by that rule no school today. But since he’d already missed one day of school (and me a day of work) I had pretty much decided that if he woke up without a fever and felt fine, I’d let him go. However, he still had a bit of fever this morning (close to 100*) so I kept him home and called in to work again. Now, he’s bouncing around all over the place, asking to play the Wii. *Sigh*

See, the reason trying to make this decision torments me is because, once when Kai was in 2^nd grade, he said he wasn’t feeling well. He didn’t have a fever or any other symptoms. Sometimes kids wake up on the wrong side of the bed but perk up once they get to school. I told him to go to school and see how he does. If he’s really not feeling well, they can call me and I’ll come get him. I never got a call, so I felt I’d made the right choice. However, when I picked him up from school, just one look at him shuffling to the car and I knew something was not right. His teacher came over and told me that he had been miserable all day and spent the day on the couch in her classroom. I asked why they didn’t call me to come get him and she said the nurse wouldn’t call me because he didn’t have a fever! I was so mad; I wondered how much he learned that day from the teacher’s couch.

So, now I just make the best decision I can based on the info I have and deal with it. Right now, I'm again wondering if I made the right choice keeping Roan home. By school rules, yes. But.....did I mention he wants to play the Wii? Does that sound like a sick kid to you?

Lilkidthings

2010-03-15T15:10:00.005-04:00

My sister has a great mommy blog. She been blogging for years and has progressively journaled about her college/single years, dating, marraige, having a baby, and is now all about motherhood with a little bit of life in general thrown in. She's honest and funny. She's also going to the BlogHer conference in NYC this fall. Right now she is having an awesome giveaway. Check her out at:

Roan Mountain 2009

2010-02-21T16:24:00.005-05:00

Time for Roan Mt. again! This year we were very excited because we had all been watching the weather and knew to expect snow! ALSO, this year we had Oscar for the very first time! This was Oscar’s first Christmas and first time at Roan Mt. We had all the usual fun, getting the tree, making decorations, home cooked meals, walks, sledding, puzzles… it was all good! Here are some pics:

Merry Christmas!

NYC: Day 4

2010-02-20T14:28:00.006-05:00

I let Alyssa sleep in on this last day while I packed. After she woke up, we had breakfast at the café, and then walked up to Central Park one last time. On our first day there, Alyssa had mentioned wanting to ride a horse and carriage through the park. We had just enough time to do that before going home. It was funny the way all the pigeons ate the horse’s food. When the horse bent down to eat, they all flew away then came right back when he lifted his head again.

While riding through the park we noticed some sidewalk artists which reminded Alyssa that that was something else she had wanted to do. When the ride was over, we walked back to find one. As we approached one guy, we asked how much. He said $150! I said, “No, thank you.” and walked away. He kept calling out numbers. He made it all the way to $30 before he gave up. We went on until we found a man who advertised for $15. That was more like it. He took Alyssa’s picture so we could walk around while he drew.
When we returned he was almost done and we watched him for a few minutes. He did a really great job and was very nice.
At that point we high-tailed it back to the hotel, running most of the way. We ran up to the room, grabbed our stuff, and made it back to the lobby just in time to meet our town car. He took us to the airport and the end of our trip. Goodbye, New York!

NYC: Day 3

2010-02-20T12:29:00.004-05:00

Friday was another beautiful day! We decided to do the Statue of Liberty first. So we hopped on the subway which was very crowded with Yankees Fans. There was a ticker tape parade celebrating their World Series win and the parade was starting right next to where we were going. It was fun and a little scary being squeezed so tightly in the middle of the Yankees crowd!

When we got off the subway we staked our spot for the parade. We just wanted to see the ticker tape! It was pretty cool. After about 30 minutes we squeezed our way out of the crowd and went to get on the ferry. This was Alyssa’s first time seeing the Statue of Liberty. It was very cold and windy on the boat but we HAD to stand right in the front of the boat for the best view! When we reached the island, we decided to eat lunch first before looking around.
After we sat down, I realized I had forgotten to put ketchup on my burger, so I took my bun with me to get some ketchup. When I returned, all of two minutes later, Alyssa was running around the table frantically waving her arms. Her chicken strips and fries were scattered all over the table! I asked her what happened and she said the seagulls attacked! She had been taking a picture of one seagull when she felt a rush of wind and her food spilled all over the table as a gull dive bombed her food trying to steal a piece of chicken. As I laughed at her I reached down to put the bun on my burger, but the burger was gone, the WHOLE BURGER! Now she was laughing at me! Fortunately, they gave me another burger free of charge.

After lunch, we walked around the statue taking pictures. On the other side of the island, we stopped to feed the gulls some of Alyssa’s leftover fries. It was such a beautiful day. After returning to the mainland, we took the subway to the Empire State building. We reached the top just before sunset. It was beautiful.

Did you know that the spike at the top was built to be a landing platform for dirigibles?I had never heard that. It was only used once because it was deemed too dangerous. I recently watched the movie ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’ (really good, you should watch it) and noticed that at the beginning of the movie, they disembarked from the top of the Empire State Building.

After another fun-filled day, we went to bed. Tomorrow we are going home. Only one thing left on our agenda….

NYC: Day 2

2010-02-15T09:45:00.012-05:00

We started off day 2 with a delicious breakfast. It turns out we get a complimentary breakfast every morning at the cafe downstairs! We had French toast with bacon and fresh squeezed OJ. It was so YUM! We then took the subway to about halfway up Central Park and walked across the park to the MET. This was a ‘must see’ since Alyssa loves art and was, after all, in NYC because of winning an art contest. We had a lot of fun roaming the museum looking at all the fascinating exhibits. We really enjoyed the Roman exhibit. Alyssa loved seeing the real columns that she once made in miniature for a school project. These are the ones she made two years ago in sixth grade:We also loved looking at the paintings, especially Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, and Dali. We visited the gift shop before calling it a day. I bought a Christmas ornament and a print of Van Gogh’s ‘Wheat Field with Cypresses’ (We were very disappointed later to realize we never visited the Egyptian exhibit.) Afterward, we went outside and ate lunch from a sidewalk vendor on the steps of the MET. It was actually very tasty! I had a gyro and Alyssa had chicken with rice. It was very cool eating there on the steps. Alyssa fed some of the pigeons and that turned out to be one of the highlights of her day!

There were also some guys singing and they had gathered quite a crowd as they were really pretty good. We even bought their homemade CD as a souvenir.

After the MET, we walked back across Central Park and took the subway to Rockefeller Plaza. We saw the ice skaters and the site of the huge Christmas tree (although it wasn’t up yet) then walked up 5^th Ave. for a while. We went into Tiffany’s,a Lindor’s chocolate shop, Trump Tower (just the lobby), the Apple Store (very cool) and FAO Swartz. There, I saw ‘Ugly Doll’s’ for the first time and fell in love with them. I took a picture so I could later make one for my nephew, Oscar, for Christmas.

We walked back to the hotel with enough time to get ready for the big event! It was time to go to the Exhibit Event displaying Alyssa's winning project and to receive her prize. We and the other three winners were all picked up at the hotel and taken to the 'Society of Illustrators'. It is a museum for Children's Book Illustrators. We wandered around looking at the art and eating hors d'oeuvers. Eventually they called everyone to order and presented the winners with giant checks! We loved that! We had such a wonderful time. It was such an honor and they made Alyssa feel very special. When it was all over, they returned us to the hotel before we turned into pumpkins :). We grabbed some desert-to-go at the cafe and brought it back to our rooms. We finished the day relaxing in front of the TV with our deserts. Ready for Day 3...

NYC-Day One

2009-11-09T14:33:00.016-05:00

Alyssa recently entered an art contest called Henkel Helps Create. Henkel is a marketing company behind many recognizable products. She had to create a work of art that answered the question, "How would you make an easier, cleaner, more beautiful world?" Here is her entry:

People should be kind to each other and families stay together.

We should use a cleaner energy source, reduce pollution and plant more trees."

Alyssa won the grand prize for her age group! The prize was an all expense paid trip to NYC for both of us, plus $500 spending money and $1000 toward her education!

Last Wednesday, we woke up at 4:30 am and Dean took us to the airport. This was Alyssa’s first airplane trip! (not counting the time when she was only 6 weeks old!) She loved it and was fascinated with the clouds and rivers, etc. She took these pictures from the plane:

As we flew over NYC, she took these from the plane:

We had a direct flight and flew into LaGuardia by 9am. Henkel sent a very nice car service to pick us up and take us to our hotel, The Wellington. It was located in Midtown only 3 blocks from Central Park. Check-in was not until 3 and while you are normally allowed to leave your bags with the bell-hop but they wouldn’t take Alyssa’s artwork because it was fragile, and then they offered us a different room so we could check in early but the travel agency hadn’t paid yet, and they were on the west coast so they weren’t open yet, and I only had a debit card with me, so long story short (too late), we spent a couple hours in the lobby waiting for the travel agency on the west coast to open up and pay for our room.

Good news is, because of this hassle, the hotel upgraded us to a suite, no charge, woot! After we finally got into our room, we decided get lunch in the café downstairs then walk around Central Park for a while and go to the Central Park Zoo. We had fun taking pictures, too.

Our favorite part of the zoo was the rainforest but we didn’t spend a lot of time in there because it was very humid and we both had just had our hair done and didn’t want to ruin it. What? This IS a girl’s only trip. Hair matters.

After the zoo we returned to the hotel because we had to deliver Alyssa’s artwork to the front desk for pick up. They finally accepted it just for a few minutes under the condition that we understood they were not liable. We then took the subway to Times Square. We went to Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum.

The best part of that in my opinion was when Alyssa got to dodge laser beams just like Mission Impossible. That was pretty cool. We ate dinner at McDonald’s (Alyssa’s choice, sigh) then walked around Times Square looking at all the lights, etc.

We also went into the Toys R Us with the 3 story ferris wheel and bought the boys some legos.

This was the end of Day One and we were off to a great start!

Camping!

2009-11-08T16:15:00.006-05:00

Roan was very excited to participate in his first cubscout camping trip! I was excited (and a little nervous, truth be told) to be going with him! We arrived at Camp Barstow in the pouring rain, but it soon stopped. Fortunately we were the first ones to arrive at our particular campsite so I was able to assemble our brand new tent for the very first time without an audience! It went pretty well, actually. Here is Roan in front of our tent with a couple friends. This was one of the happy surprises of joining the cubscouts. It turns out three of Roan's school friends are in his den! Pictured above are Hayden and Riley. After opening ceremonies, we took off for the first of our activities. Roan learned how to shoot a B.B. gun and even hit the target 3 times! Next was Archery:He also played games, decorated a pumpking, got his face (and arms!) painted, and climbed a rock wall!

(Above is Roan's third friend, Caleb, who arrived a little late.)

Occasionally Roan would run ahead of me because I was apparently too slow. He kept running ahead and yelling, "MOM, come on!" This is significant because he was calling me mom for the first time, not mommy. *Sigh* They all grow up someday, don't they?

At this point we returned to the campsite and hung out for a while before dinner. The boys had so much fun running around, watching the fire, playing in the woods and swingin on vines!After dinner we all went to the council circle for a bonfire, skits, songs, etc. then departed for a walk through the Haunted Forest. Roan really enjoyed that part.

When we got back to camp, we made a few smores then crashed. Roan was very excited to sleep in the tent. He slept like a log. I slept, well, not much! It was fun, though. Next morning after breakfast, we packed up and went home. I think I can honestly say I look forward to next time!

Airshow

2009-11-08T15:16:00.006-05:00

On Saturday morning, I woke up and eventually made my way to facebook. I noticed a friend had just updated that she was going to the airshow. I hadn't even heard there was going to be one but I had recently been thinking how fun it would be to go again. Last time we went, Kai was 4, Alyssa was 6 and Roan was only about 6 wks old! So I immediately looked up the info, showed Dean, and we decided spontaneously to go.

It was so much fun. We saw jets, apaches, tanks, and so much more.

And not just current day either. They had stuff dating all the way back to the Civil War! Alyssa was in the middle of a school project on Vietnam and was excited to see things she was learning about in person. They also did search and rescue demonstrations. It was all very exciting!

The kids also enjoyed getting to climb inside jeeps, tanks, helicopters, etc. We love the airshow!

Roan Quote:

(FYI, I apologize if some may consider the following to be a bit TMI, but this is essentially my journal and I want it recorded)

Dean recently had a vasectomy and as we have always been forthcoming about certain things, he explained to the boys what that meant. Roan came to me later and told me that "the doctor cut the two tubes in the ball things in daddy's private spot!"

2nd Annual East Lake Scrap Retreat

2009-11-08T13:02:00.003-05:00

I went away for a weekend to our church's weekend scrap retreat. I was so ready for this! After all the chaos of moving these last couple months, getting away for the weekend to do nothing but scrap was just what the doctor ordered! I love digi-scrapping, too. I'm so over lugging around heavy bags and cleaning up messes. Plus, the number and weight of scrapbooks I own is getting ridiculous! Since I don't want to give up scrapbooking, I've simply changed my ways and am loving it! There were four digi-scrappers there, so I wasn't alone! I'm not in any of these pictures because I was behind the camera, but I promise, I was there!

I already can't wait until next year!

Quick Catch-Up

2009-11-08T08:36:00.005-05:00

OK. I’m going to try to quickly catch up on some stuff I’ve wanted to blog about BEFORE the NYC update. Sorry, but I have this anal retentive need to do things in chronological order.

First, a few odds and ends.

A while back we went to the Okra Strut, which is a like a local county fair. Kai does Tai Kwon Do and participated in a demonstration. Here he is doing one of his forms:

This is Alyssa on one of those spinny rides, I don't remember what it was called. She is the one in pink at the top of the picture:

She loved this ride. That's basically it. The kids went on a few more rides and visited the adopt-a-pet tent. We had a fun time walking around the Okra Strut. We ate lunch at Carolina Wings, then went home.

As an aside, the kids and I started digging up a flower bed at the new house. This was the first time we'd done anything in the yard. There was so much dead stuff that it was choking off whatever was still living. It was kind of like a treasure hunt because once we cleared the junk away, we discovered living crysanthimums and roses! Another thing we found, was a monster! The kids and I have never seen such a huge dandelion!!!

Anyway, that's all for now. I have to get ready for church! More coming soon!

Roan Quote: To daddy, “Whenever my skin falls off, I always try to find it…”

My Little Cubscout!

2009-11-02T09:20:00.003-05:00

For the last year, Roan has been doing Tai Kwon Do with Kai, but his heart just wasn't in it. He's just not into it like Kai is. So this year he asked to join the Cubscouts. In the past, both Kai and Alyssa have wanted to do cubscouts/girlscouts and we never did so I felt a little guilty saying yes, but I did.

Kai and Alyssa have so much going on with them right now. The day after tomorrow, Alyssa and I are going to NYC. Next spring Alyssa will be going on a 3 day school trip to D.C. Kai and I will be going on a 3 day trip to Orlando for an Honor Band compitition. So I felt Roan needed something fun to look forward to.

I signed him up and it turns out 3 of his friends from school also joined and are in his den. One of them even lives in our neighborhood! So, he's very excited and looking forward to some really fun stuff which I will write about soon.

Congratulations Tiger Cub!

Roan Quote: "If God jumped off a cliff, he would just float there."

WE'RE IN! (two months ago!)

2009-10-29T17:29:00.006-04:00

I know I haven’t blogged much lately, but I didn’t realize it’s been SO long! I’ve posted a few odds and ends but the last time I really journaled was TWO MONTHS AGO! Yikes, I have some catching up to do!

I left you right before the big move. Here’s what happened. We were to close on Monday, August 31st. We had to be out of the house by then. But, because our new house was owned by a relocation company, they would not let us move in until after the closing. So, we loaded up the biggest Uhaul we could find and borrowed a large van from the youth group, and moved everything out on Saturday. That left us Sunday to clean before our closing on Monday morning. We thought about staying in a hotel those two nights but decided we would save the money and ‘camp out’ in the house. It would be fun! We kept two twin mattresses, 3 sleeping bags, a small tv, a cooler, a weekends worth of clothes, and the cleaning supplies. All of this (hopefully) would fit in our van when it was time to leave.

A bunch of guys came over to load the truck on Saturday. We had fun that night. We ordered Chinese take-out and watched a DVD on Dean’s laptop. On Sunday, two of my friends, Brandy and Sam, came over to help me clean. That night, we walked around the clean, empty house to ‘say goodbye’. Although we were very happy to move, the kids were a little sad to leave the only home they’ve ever known. On Monday morning, we sent the kids to school with plans to take the bus home to our NEW HOUSE! I spent the morning packing everything (very tightly) into the van, then vacuumed and left. I went to the library to use the computer and check my email, etc. until go time. Our meeting was scheduled for 11 am. At about 10:30 Dean called to tell me the meeting was moved up to 1pm. Apparently, the buyers of our house had a hiccup (the lender dropped the ball) and they wouldn’t be ready by eleven. So after leaving the library I went to get lunch. Then I got another phone call saying the closing wouldn’t be until Tuesday! Arrgh! This was so disappointing on so many levels! I had to go unload the van again, ALL THAT STUFF! Then I had to go to the new house to pick up the kids who would all go there after school and tell them we can’t move in yet. And then add the niggling fear that something was going to go wrong and we wouldn’t sell the house. I REALLY needed to not think about that possibility.

Anyway, skip ahead to THURSDAY!!!!!! We finally closed on our house Thursday evening. Even though we couldn’t close on the new house until Friday am, the relocation company had mercy on us and let us sleep there that night. When we decided it would be fun to camp out at the house for a couple nights, we did not intend to be there for five nights! Remember, we only had a weekends worth of clothes! I had to go to the laundry mat to make those stretch.

So, we are all moved in (mostly) and loving our new home and neighborhood. The neighbors are great and even came out and helped move furniture! All three kids have friends in the neighborhood. Alyssa reconnected with a good friend she made in 6th grade and walks to school with her. She is in the 8th grade now and loves her new school and already has several good friends. Kai has moved up to 6th grade this year and has joined the band. He plays the bassoon! Roan’s new school is great. It’s only 4 years old so it’s still all nice and shiny! His teacher’s name is Mrs. Smiley, and his music teacher is Ms. Smore. How can you not have fun with them? He’s already made several friends, three who live in our neighborhood!

We’ve been very busy since, though, so we haven’t personalized much yet. We are hosting our church small group now, though, so that’s fun. Anyway, that’s it about the move. More catch-up later!

Roan Quote: "God could turn us all into SpongeBob people if he wanted to."

Really?

2009-10-17T17:20:00.003-04:00

I feel the need to release a little bit of exasperated maternal steam. Here is the conversation I had just a few minutes ago with my eleven year old son:

Son: May I build a fire in the fire place?

Mom: No, Dad and I are leaving in a little while and I don't want to leave a fire burning while we're gone.

Son: We can put it out before you leave.

Mom: No we can't, these firelogs are only supposed to be put out with a fire extinguisher or if necessary carefully with water. (So say the directions on the firelog I just bought)

Son: Please?

Mom: No. Tomorrow night we are having company and we'll light one then.

At this point as far as I was concerned, the conversation was over. I was getting dressed a few minutes later when I suddenly heard the fire alarm go off. I went downstairs to find that Kai had started a fire without opening the flu. The house was filling with smoke and the alarm was doing damage to my eardrums. I couldn't figure out how to shut the stupid thing off. I even ripped it off the wall and it was still going. It eventually shut off by itself. I admit I went a bit postal. I asked him what on earth he was doing, I said not to light a fire! He said,"But you said yes!"

You know that piercing tone you hear on your TV that announces an emergency? That was the sound I was hearing at this point, and it wasn't the fire alarm.

I think my son needs a few lessons in communication.

Roan Quote

2009-10-10T21:41:00.005-04:00

While helping Roan do his homework, we had this conversation:

Roan: "Ahhh, I'm a backwards Monkey!"

Mom: "Why are you a backwards Monkey?"

Roan: "Because I always write my letters backwards."

Mom: "But why are you a backwards Monkey?"

Roan: "Because I always write my letters backwards!"

Mom: "Do Monkeys always write their letters backwards?"

Roan: "AND EAT BANANAS!"

Everything is Amazing and Nobody's Happy

2009-10-08T14:10:00.002-04:00

Ok, this was just too funny. And true!

Question #30

2009-09-21T13:20:00.002-04:00

What is a favorite hobby of yours?Journaling: I love photography! It's a fun hobby of mine. I've even entered some contests. I won grand prize in one! I also have a blog to display some of my favorite pictures.

Question #29

2009-09-21T13:17:00.003-04:00

(I skipped #28 for now, but I'll come back to it!)

What was your first car?

Journaling: 1973 Buick Century. I loved that car! It was a tank and had some serious horse power. It was brown and ugly but I loved it. For some reason I can’t explain, I called it ‘my lil’ brown mule’.

Question #27

2009-09-13T16:49:00.002-04:00

Using today's internet technology, what is a typical week on the internet for you?

Journaling: I have a blog that I try to update fairly regularly. It serves as a journal of my family’s daily life. I have another blog where I post my favorite photography. I keep in touch with others through facebook. Blogs that I like to read are my sister, Andrea’s, blog ‘Lil-kid-things’, Dean’s blog ‘Zero to Boston’, ‘Debby’s Dare’, ‘Cake-Wrecks’, ‘Cute Overload’, ‘15 Minute Lunch’, ‘Stuff Christians Like’, ‘Dooce’ and ‘To Every Man a Manswer’. I generally like light-hearted sites that make me laugh. Of course, I also frequent several digi-scrapping web-sites! My favorites are: Peppermint Creative, Shabby Princess, Scrap Girls, Memory Makers, Summertime Designs, and WaterLo Project.

I'm the Appendix

2009-08-25T22:13:00.003-04:00

You know how we [the church] are often referred to as ‘the body of Christ’? There is even a song ‘If We Are the Body’ that talks about His arms reaching, His hands healing, His words teaching. Lately I’ve had a tendency to wallow in my general uselessness, it seems, when it comes to being a part of the body of Christ. In my mind I’ve joked about being the appendix. Feeling this way doesn't help a whole lot when it comes to fighting spiritual battles. You walk into it already feeling defeated.

This past month has been both very exciting because we sold our house and have a contract on a new one, and very stressful dealing with these same issues as well as multiple others that have come up this month. I’ve begun to feel like the devil’s dartboard. I’ve struggled with fear and anxiety, lack of faith, etc. I've spent many nights praying that God would give me peace, that He would help me trust Him. The problem is that I have the hardest time trusting Him when things are bad. If things aren’t great I question whether I stepped out of His will, or whether I’m under spiritual attack, or if it’s just life and things happen. It’s hard to trust God because I want to trust that He will make everything all right, and that may not be what He will do. So basically, all this has been floating around in my head confusing me.

For the last couple weeks, though, it seems like every time I turn around, I hear or read encouragement to be at peace, to trust God. I have heard this in one form or another so many times lately that it’s impossible not to believe God is trying to get through to me to JUST TRUST HIM. I went to bed one night convinced that instead of begging Him to give me peace, I needed to just THANK Him for all the good things. I fell asleep that night thanking Him. About an hour later, I woke up still thanking Him. Since that night, I have been much more at peace. Now I thank Him for all the little messages He's been leaving around me to encourage me that HE IS IN CONTROL. I still feel attacked sometimes with the spirit of fear, but it’s amazing how much just thanking God is a weapon against it. Today my husband was in a car accident. He called me to tell me he was fine but the car was totaled. I was shaken that that phone call could have been much different this morning. So my mind started asking why did this happen? Why this on top of everything else right now? We just got this car 6 months ago! Does the other guy have insurance? But then, I just stopped those thoughts in their tracks. I started thanking God that even though the car was totaled, Dean walked away without a scratch on him. My husband is alive! My kids still have a father! Thank you, Jesus!

Tonight, I came across an article. The title was THE APPENDIX: USEFUL AND IN FACT PROMISING.

He is Faithful.

Question #26

2009-08-24T09:55:00.002-04:00

What ordinary, everyday moment makes you smile?

Journaling: When my kids are happy and loving each other, enjoying each other's company.

The Insanity

2009-08-20T10:06:00.014-04:00

OH MY GOODNESS THIS LAST MONTH HAS BEEN CRAZY!!!

On Tuesday, July 21st, we got an offer on our house! Friday, I started looking at houses with my real estate agent. Saturday morning was Alyssa’s TriDac showcase mentioned in an earlier post. For the rest of the day I had plans at an all-day crop so Dean went house hunting with Elizabeth (the real estate agent). On Sunday we both went with her. After walking into the same house for the third time, Dean and I agreed this was it! So, on Monday, less than a week from the offer on our house, WE made an offer! The reason why we were moving so quickly is that our buyers wanted a closing date of August 21st. This was too early for us so we pushed it back to Aug. 31st which was still WAY close because of the timing. We had already scheduled a 9 day trip to CT leaving Aug. 1st so we needed to get everything in motion before we left. By the way, here is a picture of our new house (assuming everything goes according to plan, LORD WILLING!)

The trip to Connecticut, while fun in some respects, was really rough. It was very difficult to leave at that time with everything going on with both houses, getting inspections, etc. Plus, it was hard for Dean to leave work for so long. He spent most of the visit either on the phone with work, on the phone with Elizabeth, or dealing with other issues. However, here is a report of the good stuff:

When we left home on Saturday, we went straight to Raleigh, NC to spend the night at my parents. We hadn’t seen them in about 6 months so it was nice to be able to spend the afternoon with them. We also finally got to see my nephew Oscar! I hadn't seen him since he was born (6 months ago), and Dean and the kids had never met him! Roan was especially enamored.

We left early Sunday morning to go to Washington D.C. We wanted as much time as possible. We drove up past D.C. near to where our hotel would be and took the train back into the city. The kids loved it! This was their first time on a train. It was raining at first, but had stopped by the time we arrived at the Smithsonian.

That was actually pretty cool. The weather forecasted rain all afternoon. We fully expected to be walking around soaking wet. We seriously considered doing D.C. on the way back instead. But we decided to stick it out and once we got off the train, we never had any more rain! It was a God thing.
We went straight to the Air & Space Museum.

We knew there was a food court there and wanted to eat first. After lunch, and spending some time in that museum, we walked across the mall to the Museum of Natural History. We enjoyed looking at the dinasaurs, the ocean, mammals, the jewelry (especially the Hope Diamond!), and other precious rocks.After that, Alyssa and I sat on a bench for a while on the mall while Dean and the boys went into the Museum of American History. Alyssa wasn’t feeling very well this day, so she isn’t in many pictures, but she was a real trooper. I enjoyed the time we spent alone together. When the boys came out, we decided to walk to the Lincoln Memorial before going back to the hotel. Roan had been REALLY looking for the seeing Abe Lincoln. I think this was my favorite part of the day! It was a very pleasant walk. Even though it didn’t rain, it was still overcast much of the afternoon, so it wasn’t even too terribly hot. I really enjoyed taking pictures, too! We finally got back on the train. We didn’t get into the hotel until about 9:30 and we hadn’t eaten yet! So, I took the kids to the indoor pool for a quick swim while Dean tracked down a McDonald’s and brought back dinner.

Monday, we set out for Connecticut. We stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s. The kids and I ate inside while Dean was on a business phone call in the van. No rest for the weary! We actually made surprisingly good time. The kids and I spent the next few days hanging out with Grandma and Aunt Edie and cousins Richie, Ashley, and Evan (another cousin we've not had the chance to meet. He is 1 1/2 years old, such a cutie), while Dean spent most of his time as mentioned above. On Friday, our last day there, we all (12 of us) took the train into New York City. Again, the kids loved the train and subways. They were very impressed with Grand Central Station. When Roan first walked out into Times Square, he looked up at the huge buildings and said, "Wow! I never knew New York was so awesome!" He loved all the tall building, lights, and crowds of people in Times Square.

First thing we did after arriving was eat lunch at Tony’s. It was really good. Then we walked around the corner to visit the three story Toys R Us. The kids loved looking at the huge Legos section, the Star War’s section and the life sized animatronics dinosaur from Jurassic Park! Then they all enjoyed riding in the 3-story FERRIS WHEEL that was in the middle of the store! When we left Uncle Richard showed us where the New Year Ball drops. We all thought that was very cool. After that, we got back on the subway and went to the American Museum of Natural History. This was the museum featured in the 'Night at the Museum' movie, so the kids were really looking forward to it. We spent most of our time on the 4th floor looking at the dinosaurs and in the gift shop. The kids had brought their own spending money, so there was NO passing up the gift shop! After the museum, we went to dinner at Uno’s nearby. While waiting for the food, Dean and I ran over to Central Park because I had never been there before and wanted to see it since we were only ONE BLOCK AWAY. I hate that we didn’t get to take the kids there. Alyssa was particularly disappointed but displayed a very good attitude about it. If I’d realized, I would have taken her when Dean and I went. But we were only gone 10 minutes. She didn’t miss much. We’ll just have to go back someday! After dinner, we made our way back to the subway, and took the train back to CT. Saturday morning, we stopped to say goodbye to the cousins, then headed back home. We encountered some horrible traffic in New Jersey and by the time we got to our hotel that night we were pretty stressed. But we had a great hotel! The indoor pool had a hot tub and BOY were we ready for that! That hotel really helped us decompress and the rest of the drive home the next day was much better. We even made it home in time for our small group’s Fun, Food, and Fellowship night! We were VERY glad to be home!

Since then it’s been all about getting ready for school. I’ve had to enroll 2 of the kids in new schools because our new house changes our school zone. But, finally that’s behind me. Today is the first day of school! Just over a week now until the move. Boy, have we got a lot to do! I’d better get back to work…..

Roan Quote: After arriving home from a trip to CT, I said to Roan, “Well, we’re back in the South. Can you feel the heat?” He said, “Yes. I do indeed feel the heat.”

Question #25

2009-08-17T11:34:00.002-04:00

What moments of your childhood bring back memories of family?
Journaling: Growing up, we always had such fun on vacation. When I was little, we used to go to Disney World for a week during summer vacation. We stayed in a motor home at Fort Wilderness. We also stayed in beach condos, went to Circus World and Sea World. Once we took a month long trip up the East Coast. We went to D.C., visited New Hampshire, stayed in a cabin off the coast of Maine, and went to NYC. Then of course we had many summers of Roan Mountain! I was blessed to have a family who thought it important to make these moments happen and continue in the same tradition with my own family!

Question # 24

2009-08-16T09:15:00.001-04:00

How are fashion and fads different for you from today?
Journaling: Unfortunately, current fashion is not too far off from when I was a kid. It was PRETTY BAD back then, though.

When I was a kid I had a record player which was later replaced by cassettes. I didn’t have CDs until after I got married! We didn’t have the internet. We didn’t even have a computer until my tweenage years. No cell phones, no portable game systems. If you wanted to play video games, you had to go to an Arcade and that cost you a quarter for each game! We didn’t even have a microwave oven in the early years of my childhood. TV only had a few channels. The first cable channels as I remember were a couple movie channels like HBO and Cinemax. We loved it when the Disney channel came out. At the time all they showed were old Disney Movies. It’s amazing how fast things can change in 40 years!

Tri-Dac Showcase Festival

2009-07-30T13:24:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday, we went to Alyssa's Tri-Dac Showcase Festival. She had so much fun these last three weeks. Each week they covered a different form of art. For her first week, she took Digital Photography where she not only learned about photography itself, but also how to manipulate photos in photoshop. They all had to design a Time Magazine cover:

This is another project they all did:

They even went on a field trip downtown to the State Capitol to take pictures. She really enjoyed this class.

The second week she took pencil sketching which was actually her 3rd choice but she enjoyed it. She started out frustrated. They were practicing shading techniques. She does not have the patience for this. (Wonder where she got that from???) But throughout the week she started telling me her project was looking better and by the end of the week she was happy with it: I think she did a great job! Even though this class wasn't her first choice, I think it's good that she had this opportunity to brush up on these skills.

The third week was her favorite, I think. She took metal sculpting. The students were not allowed to do the actual cutting or welding, but they design the project, chose the pieces, and directed where to cut and weld. They were told they could make anything they want but one good idea was to make one animal turning into another. Alyssa has done this before with papier mache' and loves animals so she went with it. Anytime you give Alyssa free hand in subject matter, her subject is bound to involve a dragon. So, she decided to make a bird turning into a dragon. She had a lot of fun with this class. She even made her name out of scrap metal.

At the end of Tri-Dac we went to the Showcase Festival. First we went to the auditorium to see the dance portion. Afterwards, before dismissing everybody to the Art Exhibit they announce the awards. There were 100 students in the Visual Arts portion of Tri-Dac. Each student had at least 3 projects. In many cases 4 or five projects. Out of all of these they gave 8 awards for outstanding achievement. The prize was a gift certificate for art supplies. Alyssa recieved one of these awards for her dragon sculpture!We were so happily surprised! Even Alyssa had no idea! After being dismissed from the auditorium we all made our way to the Atrium for the Art Exibit.

Do you see the size of that thing? Where are we going to put it? ;) Great job, Alyssa! We're proud of you!

Roan Quote: “Daddy, I don’t want to finish my snow cone. I want to eat it forever.”

Question # 23

2009-07-27T11:01:00.003-04:00

What family gathering brings you the most joy or refreshment?

Journaling: As a child, my family went to Roan Mt. Tennesee every summer with our church. These vacations were so special that years later, our extended family decided to start a new tradition by returning to Roan Mountain every other Christmas. We always cut down a real tree and make our own decorations. We hang out, do puzzles, go sledding, shopping, hiking, and take turns cooking. We have such a wonderful holiday every time.

Question # 22

2009-07-27T10:57:00.003-04:00

What piece of advice would you pass on that meant a lot to you when you recieved it?

Journaling: When I was a relatively new mother, I went to a Mother's Day breakfast with my mom & sisters. My mother was the guest speaker. She gave one of the most memorable pieces of advice I have ever heard. She said that as a om, you do your very best, then pray that where you fail, God will fill in the gaps.

Question # 21

2009-07-27T10:52:00.002-04:00

What is my greatest fear?

Journaling: I am afraid of suffocating, I am claustrophobic. I am afraid of somehow 'missing' God, of being one of the ones who think they're saved, but aren't. I'm afraid of losing my husband or my children. But my greatest fear is of failing as a mother in the stewardship of my children. I want so desperately to teach them to make the right choices. I want them to have a lasting and living relationship with God. I know that ultimately they will be responsible for their own choices. But I can't help holding myself responsible if they walk away from God. In the end, all I can do is place them in His hands and trust that he has everything under control and won't let them go.

2009-07-02T10:19:00.003-04:00

Last week, while Kai was at camp, Alyssa turned 13!!!!!! I can't believe I'm the mother of a teenager! On Friday, her birthday, Roan went to work with daddy, which he loves to do, so Alyssa and I could spend the day with each other. We went shopping, bought some new clothes, a new bed set and curtains for her room, and opened her first bank account. For dinner, we went to the Melting Pot. She loved it! We went there for her birthday last year, and she wanted to do it again. The restaurant even gave her a birthday card that everybody had signed. She was impressed. Sunday, we went to see the movie '17 Again'. We both enjoyed it. We had a great weekend with lots of Mother/daughter time. Now, she's at camp and I miss her! Happy Birthday, babe!

Time for Camp!

2009-07-02T10:01:00.009-04:00

Last week, Kai went to camp. He LOVES Bethel Camp and was very excited to go back. He’s been going since he was seven! Also, two of his friends were there. He took Riflery and Outdoor survival. In Riflery he hit the center of a one dollar bill! Since he was the first one to hit it, he got to keep it. He says he got a "hole in one"! :) In Outdoor Survival he learned how to start a fire. He had a great time! This week, Alyssa is at camp. Next week will be Roan's turn. Ah, summer!

AC Trials and Tribulations

2009-06-25T10:18:00.004-04:00

Well. Now that I’ve had some time to ‘cool off’, I thought I’d document our horrible week of HOT. I’ll try to keep it brief.

Sunday Afternoon: Our air conditioner froze up. The filter needed to be changed. The coils were encased in ice. Dean, having been told by our AC guy in the past to keep the coils clean, cleaned them. It didn’t work.

Monday Morning: After spending the night with no AC, Dean called our AC guy first thing. He could not come out that day, which is understandable. He said he’d come out first thing the next day. We set up fans throughout the house and camped in front of them. The kids watched a lot of TV and I spent a lot of time on the computer, wherever we could sit in front of a fan. We did try to leave for a while. Dean took Roan to work with him. I took the other two to the library and a movie (Star Trek, they loved it). Then we picked up some dinner and took it to Dean’s office and ate there. That was all some nice family fun, but we still had to come home to the hot house and spend another night.

Tuesday Morning: Dean went off to work. The AC guy was expected first thing, so we couldn’t escape the hot house this time, waiting for him. He arrived at 3:45pm. Yeah….first thing. He looked at the AC and said we needed a new coil. This was a $1200 part that should be covered by warrantee, but we still had to cover labor which was $525!!! Since AC guy had to now locate a new coil, the AC wouldn’t be fixed until the next day. He said he hoped to pick up the coil and get it in by lunch, Wed. Another hot night spent. It’s getting hotter.

Wednesday: He arrives at 2:45. He looks at me and says, “You don’t look very happy.” I said, “I’m hot.” He brings the coil in and unpacks it. Now, the coil is missing a part that should have been there. He makes a call, then drives one hour round trip to get the missing part. When he gets back he discovers it is the wrong part. Now he’s getting frustrated and defensive. Meanwhile, we are still HOT. He says he he’ll have to come back the next day. Dean even offered to go get the part for him, so he wouldn’t have to drive all the way back again. (Dean works pretty close) So, AC guy says he’ll be back Thurs. AM between 8:30 and 9. By now it is so hot in our house and tempers are flaring. Keep in mind, that since he keeps saying he’ll be there in the morning and then showing up hours late, that we have been trapped in the house, unable to leave it because we’re waiting for him!

Thursday: Dean decided to work from home in order to be able to talk to the guy and so the kids and I could get out for a while. Even though he said 8:30 to 9, we weren’t holding our breath. I took the kids to Saluda Splash for a few hours. We picnicked and got wet. I brought a book. We had a nice afternoon. When we arrived home about 2:00, he had not come yet. Big surprise. He finally arrived at 6:00 PM!

Unbelievable.

When Dean answered the door, AC guy clapped his hands together and said, “You can’t be as hot as I am, let’s get this thing fixed!”

. .
_

So they came in and fixed up the AC. He had pumped out all of the Freon and was outside in the process of pumping it back in when a huge severe thunderstorm started blowing through. They finished up just as the bottom of the sky opened up. Man, the wind was blowing and it was pouring rain. The thunder was really close and loud. A friend called afraid of tornadoes, it was that bad. However, inside the house, the AC was fixed! Yay! He flipped the switch to turn it on…..

And we lost all electricity in the house. (from the storm) The house was 92 degrees,

the AC was fixed, but we couldn’t turn it on because there was no electricity! AND NOW THE FANS DON’T WORK!

And it’s very dark. And the AC guy won’t leave because he’s afraid of lightening. And he sits in the living room drinking ice water commenting on how he can’t believe how hot it is in our house.

. .
_

The storm blew off, the AC guys left, and we left. We drove around for a while, went to Target, got some Italian ice at Rita’s, then went back home. The power was still out. The idea of going in to that house and going to bed WITHOUT the fans was unacceptable. We sat in the driveway for a while with the AC on. Roan was asleep in the back seat. We finally gave in. It was 10 pm by now. Roan was already asleep and Kai didn’t have too much trouble, but the rest of us couldn’t sleep. Finally, I decided to take a cold shower which really helped. Alyssa did the same, and we finally managed to fall asleep. Dean was still wide awake. The electricity finally kicked on about 1am. Because my hair was wet and the fan turned back on as well as the AC, by morning I had a sore throat which turned into a head cold that I’m still trying to kick.

But the AC works!!!

Question #20

2009-06-24T11:34:00.002-04:00

What is your greatest joy?

Journaling: "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1

Question #19

2009-06-18T16:22:00.001-04:00

Who is your best friend as an adult?Journaling: I am not generally a very intimate person, therefore I usually only have one or two close friends at a time. Even then, there always seems to be a barrier that prevents me from becoming truly close to anybody. This is my own deficiency, not theirs. So I started thinking, who do I go to when I need someone? Well, I go to my parents or my sisters, especially Amy since we are so much alike. But the one person who knows me the best, is always there for me, who I absolutely trust with my most intimate thoughts, whose advice I seek and opinion I value, is my husband, Dean. He has always been my very best friend.

Question #18

2009-06-17T18:05:00.001-04:00

Who was your best friend in high school? Journaling: I have known Shannon since I was about 8 or so, but we became close in 1985 at Mountain Missions in New Hampshire. We shared a tent and conspired with each other to send messages to our boyfriends (there was a strict no boyfriend policy!) Later, my sister, Amy, Shannon and I formed a trio called ‘Vintage’. We sang in local coffee houses, church functions, etc. We were even on TV once! (A telethon for a local Christian station, heehee) I haven’t seen Shannon in years but if we were to suddenly meet on the sidewalk one day, it would be as if no time at all had passed.

Sherry and I became friends in my Junior year of high school. We always had so much fun. We goofed around, made each other laugh. We hung out together all the time, spent the weekend at the beach, went to Disney World, were camp counselors together, even shared the same job at least three times. After getting married and moving away, we drifted apart but have recently reconnected. It’s been fun reminiscing with each other.

Question #17

2009-06-17T12:51:00.001-04:00

Who was your best friend as a child?

Journaling: I met Amy on the first day of school in 6th grade. She was in my home room class. We were best friends through all of middle school. We did EVERYTHING together. I went to her church, she came to mine. She came to youth group with me; we played at each other’s houses, and went to camp together. We were pretty inseparable. We drifted apart in high school. I’m not entirely sure why. I became involved with the choir, and she joined the drama club. I guess we just started becoming different people and our interests changed. The last time I saw her was right before I got married. She was doing some modeling and about to move into her first place. I have not seen or heard from her in almost 20 years, but I still think of her and would love to find her again.

The Hobo Doctor

2009-06-17T12:00:00.005-04:00

Since last year, Dean has been suffering from an injury that has seriously hampered his marathon running abilities. He recently decided to run a half-marathon. He intended to take it easy. Since he couldn't put forth his best effort due to the injury, he wanted to at least make it fun. Since this was the Kentucky Derby Marathon, he decided to dress up as Colonel Sanders! Here he is posing with the KFC team:Everybody got a big kick out of him. Lots of people took pictures or posed with him. He was even mentioned in the newspaper. Dean had fun but would rather be able to run again.

Roan Quote: When Roan saw these pictures, he asked Dean, "Daddy, why did you dress up like a hobo doctor?"

Question #15

2009-06-17T08:55:00.005-04:00

The air conditioner is still broken, so here I am. It's only 72 degrees outside this morning, but 84 inside my house. Grrrr.

Did you have a pet as a child, and what do you remember about your pet?

Journaling: We had lots of pets; gerbils, hamster, 2 dogs, several cats, turtles, guinea pig, parakeets, love birds, and cockatiels. But my favorite pets were a cockatiel named Casey and a cat named Shalom. Casey could say ‘hello’ and mimic whistling sounds. When I would walk home from school, as soon as he saw me through the window, he would start squawking. I could hear him outside. He would keep it up until I walked in the door. We had small group meetings at our house. He would be quiet the whole time, during dinner, and talking, but as soon as we all started singing, he would sing, too, with the prettiest trills. I loved that bird!

Shalom was a long haired cat that looked like a Maine Coon Cat only not quite as big. He was the perfect cat. He put up with just about anything (including being put in dolls clothes and walking around on a leash!). When cooking dinner, he would mill around the kitchen, and if you didn’t give him something to eat, he would bite your ankle. If you stalked him, then pounced, he would jump two feet into the air! He was the best cat ever!

*Yes, my sweatpants are tucked into my socks. Gotta love the eighties!

Roan Quote: Roan asked me if he could go to Mad Science Camp. I said that wasn't going to happen right now. He said, "But mommy, the commercial said it's fun and educational!"

Question #16

2009-06-16T17:34:00.006-04:00

I am so HOT. Our air conditioner has been broken since Sunday. They finally came out this afternoon and said they hope to get it fixed SOMETIME THIS WEEK! It is currently 91 degrees inside my house. Therefore I've planted myself in front of the computer with a fan blowing on me. This is how I've managed to catch up on some of these questions.

What Makes Me?

Journaling: I am a conglomerate of life experiences. I am a product of God, my family, my friends, my jobs, my husband, and my children. I’m a little bit different with each of these. I’m not entirely sure who I would be all by myself.

Yeah, I know, I skipped question #15. I'll get back to it.

Roan Quote: A couple weeks ago, Dean asked Roan if he'd like to help daddy do yard work. Roan said he was too stressed, and needed to play the Wii instead.

Question #14

2009-06-16T11:24:00.003-04:00

What 5 lessons have you learned in life?

Journaling:

1. Your relationship with God is more important than ANYTHING else. My relationship with God, while so much less than I want it to be, is the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes. Without Him, I would be lost in a morass of fear, but He gives me peace.
2. Godly parents are priceless. I cannot possibly begin to stand up to the example that my parents have set for me. But I pray that my kids will see them in me someday.
3. Always treat your spouse with respect. My parents have always treated each other with the utmost respect. I truly desire to treat my husband the same way. When I fail, it’s my fault, not his.
4. Don’t judge others. People are so quick to judge. It bothers me how easily people believe things with out a shred of proof. Some think I’m naïve, but I would rather give people the benefit of the doubt. The bible says, “Judge not, lest you be judged”. Would you like God to judge you the way you judge other people?
5. Reduce stress, don’t create it. I hate feeling stressed. I don’t understand why some people make things so hard for themselves unnecessarily. I want peace in my life. I know some stress is unavoidable, but I imagine it would be better handled if we didn’t bog ourselves down with the avoidable kind.

Question #13

2009-06-16T10:15:00.001-04:00

Who was your first kiss?

Journaling: I don't remember how old I was, perhaps around eleven. We had a home-group meeting at our house and the kids were all playing hide and seek back in the bedrooms. I was hiding under my bed with a boy named Lee. All of a sudden, he kissed me right on the mouth, then high-tailed it out of there! He was my first "boyfriend" although I don’t remember if that was before or after the kiss!

Question #11

2009-06-16T09:25:00.002-04:00

What was your best teenage moment? (See? I told you I'd come back to #11!)Journaling: When I was 19, I went to YWAM, ‘Youth With A Mission’. I lived in Dumbarton, Scotland in a grand mansion called ‘Overtoun House’ for three months. We worked and studied and every weekend participated in street evangelism in Glasgow. We roamed the beautiful countryside, visited Edinburgh, took LOTS of pictures and made good friends. At the end of the three months of preparation, we went to Hamburg, Germany for three weeks. We worked with the Red Cross, and spoke/performed in local churches and the University. I sang in the band. It was a wonderful faith lifting experience. It played an important part in the budding relationship with my future husband. Also, while technically an adult, I was still in my ‘teens’, and going out of the country by myself, navigating international airports by myself and hailing my own taxi in Glasgow were all very new and scary to me. This trip was definitely a highlight of my ‘teen’ years.

All the Cousins on a Camel

2009-06-14T12:07:00.004-04:00

Friday, Amy and her kiddos came for a visit. We went to Edventure which is always fun. They have a new butterfly exhibit, too. At one point we got all the kids up on a camel for a picture:

Even Oscar was there! ;)

One of Kai's friends stayed with us for the weekend, too. Saturday, we basically hung out at the pool all day. In the evening, Roan had a friend spend the night. Tonight we're going to go to a cookout. So, busy weekend, but the fun kind!

ROAN QUOTE: We had a fun time this weekend, but now Roan is exhausted. This morning in church, he'd finally reached his limit and told daddy, "I'm just ready for my life to go back to normal."

Dabbling in Watercolor

2009-06-08T12:41:00.005-04:00

Ok, inspired by the artistic talent of my children, and the incredible talent in watercolor of a friend of mine, I decided to try my hand in watercolor mini's. These are only 2 1/2 by 3 1/2, about the size of a playing card. The first one is my first attempt straight from my how-to book. If you could could see what the original looks like, you'd realize what a bad job I did. So, I won't show you the original! :) Besides, it was my first try, so I'm pretty happy with it.
The second is from a photo I recently posted on my photoblog, so no how-to here. I was on my own.

I think in both cases I liked the pencil drawing better before I painted it, LOL! Maybe I should stick with pencil sketching, but not yet, I want to keep trying.

One More...

2009-05-29T14:37:00.003-04:00

I decided that after yesterday's post of Alyssa's art work, that I HAD to post this piece that Kai came home with this week. I think it's fabulous. He had to reproduce a photo in a magazine:
Great job, Kai!

Tri-Dac

2009-05-28T16:48:00.008-04:00

In March, Alyssa auditioned for TriDac, the Tri-District Arts Consortium. Those who are chosen are invited to attend a wonderful three week program of intense study in their chosen field of art. They have vocal, instrument, dance, creative writing, and visual art. For Alyssa’s audition (she is interested in visual art), she had to present a portfolio of 5 pieces, go through an interview process, and attend a workshop where she created another project right there. She was NOT allowed to have help from art teachers or parents. I do not have a picture of the workshop piece. But of her original five, here they are:

1. 2D Self Portrait (Alyssa has recently been admiring Picasso and has been experimenting with his style)

2. 2D -Draw a rose illustrating Movement
3. 2D - Draw two different shoes against patterned cloth demonstrating shading and gradation. 4. 2D Depth5. 3D - Color (This is Alyssa’s preferred medium. She LOVES working with clay.) She was very nervous when we I dropped her off at the two hour auditions. (Parents were not allowed to stay) We found out a week later that she made it! She is very excited and can’t wait for July. Way to go, Alyssa!

While I'm at it I thought I'd include a few other art projects she has done this past year. This is a project where she had to find a small magazine photo and draw the object in the foreground (the toucan) while creating her own background:

With this next one, she had to find a picture of a boat in a magazine and paint it in watercolor:

Alyssa loves dragons. This past Christmas she got a 'How to Draw Dragons' book and these were the first two she drew!

She very obviously loves art!

Tae Kwon Do

2009-05-17T12:10:00.004-04:00

My boys take Tae Kwon Do. Kai has been doing some form of Martial Arts for years. Last August he switched to Tae Kwon Do. He was a little frustrated at feeling like he was starting over, but he dove right in and is doing great.
His current ranking is Blue Belt. In March he participated in the ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament. He won 3rd place in sparring! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that, but here is a video of him doing his forms at the tournament:

Roan just started in August and he has been doing great, too! His current ranking is Green Belt. Since he earned his green belt, he's has been able to start sparring and he's very proud of himself!

Roan Quote: Kai pondered, "How do you make marshmallows?" Roan said, "You just get some marsh stuff, and mix it with mallows!"

My Big Weekend

2009-05-12T19:00:00.008-04:00

Well, it’s done. I am officially 40 years old. For the past 10 years, I’ve joked around about Meg Ryan’s line in "When Harry Met Sally" where she cries, ‘I’m going to be 40!” When Billy Crystal asks when, she answers, “Someday!” So far, it’s not so bad. Dean ushered me gently into my forties with a surprise trip to Charleston! But, let me back up a bit…

This year my birthday coincided with Mother’s Day. As it was my 40th, Dean wanted to make sure I got to celebrate both. So Friday, I went shopping for a new outfit, got my hair cut and straightened and treated myself to a mani/pedi.

That night, Dean arranged for babysitting so he could take me to dinner and a movie, which is what we usually do on birthdays. On our way home, Dean said the kids would be spending the night with their friends and the next morning we would go to Charleston!

We arrived at lunch time and started off with lunch at Tommy Condon’s, an Irish Pub. I had yummy Shepherd’s Pie! Then we walked around Market Street and down to the Battery and back.

Dean said we had to be somewhere by 3 o’clock. He took me to the wharf where we set sail on The Schooner Pride! I love sailing! It was beautiful and the perfect day to be on the water. I’m not sure he could have picked a better surprise.

Afterwards, he took me to dinner at High Cotton.

He had made reservations. It was a very nice restaurant. I had steak and Dean had rabbit.

I even had soufflé’ for dessert. I’ve never had it before and it was yummy!

Sunday was Mother’s Day and Dean was still at the top of his game. He made me breakfast before church! That afternoon, we went to a Mother’s Day cookout. We had a great time. The kids were in the pool almost the whole time. Dean even brought a delicious chocolate birthday cake and everybody sang to me. Thank you, honey, for an awesome weekend! With you by my side, I don't mind being 40!

Question #12

2009-05-03T14:50:00.003-04:00

(I skipped question #11 but will go back to it.)

Who was your very first love?

Diagram of Inexplicable Behavior

2009-04-25T14:46:00.005-04:00

I know, the artistry is astounding. The bar at the top of this diagram is the screen in a movie theater. Obviously, the lines are the rows of seats. Those four little dots in a row in the middle are where my kids and I sat after entering a completely empty theater. The other two dots directly behind ours are where the mother and small child sat a few minutes later. At some point during the movie, the mother, who was sitting right behind me, put her daughter on her lap. Said daughter preceded to kick and push my seat until I turned my head enough times for the mother to get the hint and make her stop.

WHY, I ask you? With the whole theater empty around us, why did you sit THERE? It just doesn't make sense. I really would like to hear the logic behind your reasoning.

Question # 10

2009-04-07T10:22:00.000-04:00

What was my favorite birthday?

Persistance Pays Off

2009-03-27T16:26:00.002-04:00

Alyssa decided to join track this semester. It was kind of out of the blue and I didn’t really expect her to stick with it. She has never been a runner or really particularly athletic at all. When she started, she was unable to run one lap (1/4 mile) around the track without stopping multiple times. But she has amazed me! She really stuck with it. She has persisted and is constantly improving. Within a matter of 2 or 3 weeks she was able to run a mile (4 laps) without stopping and last week ran 2 miles without stopping. She has participated in two track meets so far, and while she is not competitive at this point, she is constantly scoring PR’s. She is proud of herself, and I am proud of her, too!

It's Oscar Time!

2009-03-26T15:37:00.005-04:00

On January 26th at 3:30am my sister, Andrea, gave birth to Oscar! He was ELEVEN pounds and 22 inches long! She tried so hard to get him out but he was just too big and ended up with a cesarean. Amy and I drove up to Raleigh because we wanted to be there when he made his first appearance. Everybody expected he would be born on the 25th. Amy and I were afraid we’d miss it, but things went a big longer than we anticipated! While poor Andrea was laboring, my dad, Amy and I hung out in the waiting room, ate at the cafeteria, surfed Dad’s computer and talked. It was actually a pretty cool time spent with my dad. Once Oscar arrived, we got to see him in the nursery and Andrea announced his name on her way to recovery. Then we all went home to get some rest. Amy and I finally went to bed about 6am! Later that afternoon, we went back to the hospital to get to know my new little nephew. The next day, after saying goodbye on the way out of town, we went home. He is now two months old! I miss him and want to see him again. I’m sure he has changed a lot. Here are some of my favorite pics that Andrea has taken since I saw him last:

I can't wait to see him again in a couple weeks! I miss you Oscar!

Question #9

2009-03-03T10:58:00.001-05:00

What was a moment that when you BLINKED your whole world changed?

Question #8

2009-03-02T10:45:00.002-05:00

What is a moment of Faith for me?

Journaling: When I was about 16, my cousin, sister, and two friends went to Camp Suwannee to be counselors. We had a great week. Before we left for home I joked around with a prayer “Lord, if we get in an accident, please let me be asleep!” On the way home we got in a car accident. Yes, I was asleep at the time. It was pretty serious. The car went through a barbed wire fence and flipped three times. This was an accident that easily could have killed all of us, but there were mostly only minor injuries. I was knocked unconscious. The accident occurred on property belonging to the local sheriff and occurred right across the street from a church. It was a Saturday, yet the pastor was outside talking to someone in a pickup truck. The pastor jumped in the back of the truck and they drove over to us. The dust was still settling when I awoke to the sound of the pastor praying for us. As we waited for the ambulance, my friends were walking around picking up their belongings off the ground. They wouldn’t let me move because I had blood all over me. Sherry found the tape recorder somewhere and put in the first tape she found to see if it still worked. The song playing was one of my favorite songs at the time, ‘Fear Not My Child’ by Carman. The ambulance arrived and took us all to the hospital. Everyone else was treated and released. During an x-ray they discovered I had a fractured skull. They decided to transfer me to Gainesville, FL which specialized in head injuries. It was a 2 hour ambulance ride away. During this time, our families had all been notified. They put me on the prayer chain at church. My parents drove up to meet me at the hospital. When I arrived, they gave me a CAT scan. There was no longer a fractured skull! During the two hour drive, while the people from my church were praying for me, I had been healed! I stayed at the hospital one night for observation, and then went home the next day with a large epidermal hematoma on my forehead and two black eyes, but no fractured skull. From the beginning, God took care of me. He even answered my flippant prayer about being asleep if we had an accident! I awoke to the sound of prayer and the song, ‘Fear Not’. Then, he healed me. Never at any time was I afraid. I felt completely safe in the arms of God. Interesting note: on the back of the car is our church bumper sticker ‘JESUS now more than ever’.

Question #7

2009-03-01T17:15:00.001-05:00

If you could freeze one moment in time what is that moment?

Journaling: The moment I became a mother. Well, maybe not that exact moment, I was kind of out of it! But those first days of holding my very own baby in my arms, there is nothing better, and that goes for all three of my babies! I guess that makes three moments in time…

Question #6.

2009-03-01T17:06:00.007-05:00

Who is the storyteller in my family?

Journaling: Well, I guess that would be me. I’ve been scrapbooking for 12 years, and a few years ago I started a blog journal. Dean is better at writing than I am, though. He’s a great storyteller, but doesn’t have much time for it.

(Yes, that's my friend Debby from 'Debby's Dare' giving me rabbit ears! She's so silly!)

Question #5

2009-02-27T15:31:00.003-05:00

On whose life have you had influence outside your immediate family?
Journaling: "My best friend Angie doesn't understand why I love her the way I do. I don't think that I tell her enough how dear to my heart she is. I think I love her because I hope to be like her someday. She brags about her mother being the Proverbs 31 woman, but I think she is well on her way to being just like her mom."

It’s very humbling when someone says something like this about you. She’s right that I don’t understand. I can be very selfish. I’m not a very good friend. She has other friends who are much more involved in her life, more generous, more loving. What have I done to deserve the place she gives me in her life? I’m the one who doesn’t tell her enough how I appreciate her in my life. She has influenced me.

I'M BACK!

2009-02-22T10:28:00.004-05:00

About a month ago, my computer crashed, horror of horrors! I have had occasional access to computers, either on Dean's work computer or the library, but the worst of it was that I couldn't digi-scrap AT ALL. This was very bad. Anyway, I finally have my computer working again. We had to get a new hard drive. Fortunately, all my pics and digi-stuff was on an external hard drive. WHEW! So, now I'm behind on my 'You in 52' challenge. I finally got to scrap again last night and caught up on a couple more questions. Here they are:

Question #3 - If I could change one thing about myself, what would it be?

Journaling: As a grown woman looking back, there are many things I would change. Most of them, however, are a result of choices I’ve made or things I could still fix if I really tried. So, I decided to go back to when I was young to answer this question, back to when I was more or less content with who I was. I WISH I COULD DANCE! In highschool, I was in an ensemble for two years. I loved to sing and dance with ‘Windsong’. Being in Windsong was the highlight of my highschool years. The problem is, you can teach me the choreography and I will get it right. Technically. I was a bit stiff and can’t dance at all without knowing the moves. I certainly wouldn’t look cool trying! That’s what I wish I could change. I wish I could just dance what feels good and look good doing it.

Question # 4 - What 7 decisions changed the course of your life?

Journaling:

1. My parents trained to be missionaries in Mexico. Mom was pregnant with me when they decided God was leading them in a different direction. I was almost born in Mexico!
2. We moved to Clearwater, FL when I was 4. Dad became pastor of Maranatha Chapel. I grew up there until I got married.
3. My parents gave me the choice to attend college or not. I chose not. It was perhaps not the wisest choice, but it put me where I am today.
4. Dean came to Roan Mt. when I was 19. My cousin Dan knew Dean liked me and they offered to pay for a plane ticket home so I could drive up with them to visit my cousin, Tami. At first, I wasn’t interested in Dean and thought it would be taking advantage if I accepted knowing what they were after. But they knew how I felt, so I said yes. I talked to mom the night before we left and asked for her advice. I rode with Dean and Dan to Connecticut. By the time we arrived 12 hours later, we were holding hands!
5. 2 weeks after Dean and I got together, I left for 4 months to YWAM in Scotland. While there, Dean and I wrote many letters but they were full of superficial “I love you’s”. One week we had a great speaker who spoke on ‘binding words’. I called Dean and told him I didn’t want us to say ‘I love you’ anymore. I tried to explain, but he thought I was being brainwashed! I sent him the cassettes so he could hear it for himself. He was only 18 but he listened to all 10 hours! Then he called me and agreed. From then on, our letters were full of content and we began to get to know each other for real. He even sent me a greeting card that said ‘I like you’! This made it so much more special when we were ready to say we loved each other for real.
6. We chose to get married pretty young. We were married right after Dean’s sophmore year of college.
7. We waited 6 years to have kids. When we had Alyssa, we decided that I would stay home with her. It was a real sacrifice to eliminate my income, but totally worth it!

Life in general has been kinda crazy lately. In addition to my computer problems, Dean's car died! It was a red, Mazda Protege. We've had this car since 1993. He has nursed it along and was determined to make it last as long as it could. It was a good little car. Dean affectionately called it 'Red'. Red lasted 220 thousand miles. So long, Red! Thanks for the memories!

I've also started working this past month as a substitute. I've taught kindergarten, 3rd grade, worked in the school office, was a cafeteria monitor, and I've worked in the cafeteria. Believe it or not, I like the cafeteria best. As soon as things settle down for us a bit, I may try to get a permanent job there. We've also been trying to fix up the house to sell, but have had very little time to do so. Right now we're working on painting the interior. So far, we've done one bathroom. *Sigh* MORE TIME PLEASE!

Another thing that has happened since I lost the use of my computer is that my nephew was born!!! But Oscar deserves a post of his own. So tune in next time for a little bit of this... and a little bit of that:

Hubby, Too.

2009-01-16T22:51:00.004-05:00

I decided I want to try to do these 'You in 52' questions for Dean, too. I want to pass this information about Both of us to our kids. I'll make the pages, all Dean has to do is answer the questions. Simple right? You'd think so...

Anyway, I went out of order and did the second question first because it was easier to answer. The first one is apparantly going to require more direct questioning to get what I need rather than an email request. If I gave you the answer he gave me, you'd say "huh?" That was after TWO chances to answer the question. I need more info! LOL! Here is Dean's page for question number 2:

Question #2

2009-01-14T15:08:00.003-05:00

Week 2's question was, "What did I want to be when I grew up?" Here is my page:

Digikit: 'Sophisticated Grunge' by Stolen Moments, Alpha 'Grit' by Stuff by Heather T.

The journaling says: "I could tell you that I wanted to be a teacher or a singer or any number of things I thought of over the years. But what i really wanted more than anything in the world was to be a wife and mom. I wanted this so bad it hurt. God has granted me the desires of my heart in my husband Dean, and my three wonderful children, Alyssa, Kai and Roan."

Let's Close Out 2008 and Get On With 2009

2009-01-14T11:02:00.005-05:00

For Thanksgiving we visiting my family in Raleigh for the weekend. We call it 'Thanksmas' because that is also when we exchange gifts with my family. I won't go into a lot of detail except to say we had a great time as usual and to show this one photo. (Naturally, as is my Thanksmas habit, I took very few pics for some reason.) The following pic is of Roan with his new Lightsaber by Grandpa and Grammy. Now, you should know that between Kai and Roan they probably have at least 8 lightsabers of different shapes and sizes. THIS lightsaber though, is blue, lights up, and has sound effects, hence the awed expression on his face!Amy and I went shopping on Black Friday as usual. Even Dean got it on the fun this year. Dean, Brad, and Dad went to a Duke basketball game at home. Amy and I went to see Twilight. It was fun seeing Andrea with her 7mo+ belly. Before we went home, I took a few pictures for them. Here is a digital scrapbook page I did with those pics:

The background paper is from 'Dinner Party' by Shabby Princess and Sara Carling.

Everything else is 'Wild Weekend' by Peppermint Creative.

Template by Cindy Schneider

They are obviously very excited because it's almost time! She is due January 31st and I plan to go up there the minute I hear she's in labor. Can't wait!

Last month Roan was recognized as a "Heart Act to Follow". This is a special award given each month (at school) to kids who demonstrate living the 'habit of the heart' such as:

Taking responsibility for self and others
Acting with courage and compassion
Practicing forgiveness and humility
Resolving differences in constructive ways.

This month, Kai was reconized as a "Heart Act to Follow".....twice!

For Christmas this year, we were supposed to go to Connecticut. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us to go this time. Dean flew up to Connecticut after New Year's to briefly see the family. Christmas as home was nice and quiet. We had a friend over for Christmas dinner. Our family gift was the Wii Fit. We had a lot of fun with that the rest of Christmas break.

I finally got a job! I am officially a Substitute for the Richland 5 district. Yesterday was my first day. I was a cafeteria monitor! Heehee. It went well. I'm just very glad I was able to find a job that would accomodate my kid's schedules.

Last bit of news is that we are finally trying to sell our house. We have been here for 11 years! When we moved here, we had one 20 month old daughter. Now we have three! We are way overcrowded and need a bigger place. We've got a lot of work to do. We've already put what feels like half of our furniture/belongings into storage and now we've go some fixing up to do.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

I Know, I Know....

2009-01-09T23:04:00.004-05:00

...I need to get back on the blog ball. I'll try to catch up soon. Right now I'm just going to talk about a scrapbook challenge I'm taking up called 'You in 52'. Debby's Dare is going to post a question every Monday for this year. You use the question to inspire a scrapbook page about yourself. Debby says most scrappers spend their time recording the lives of family, friends, pets, but not a lot of themselves. So by doing this challenge, by the end of the year you will have enough pages for a whole album/book about you that you can pass down to your children. The first question of the year is "Who has been the biggest influence in your life?" Here is the page I made:

(Digikit 'Funky Retro' by Vicki-A Work in Progress and Sweet Blossom Designs)

The journaling says: My parents met in college and married three years later. They trained to be missionaries. In fact, I was almost born in Mexico. However they felt God leading them in another direction. My dad became a pastor! He served as an associate pastor at Calvary Assembly of God in Orlando, FL. until taking the position of Senior Pastor at a small church called Maranatha Chapel in Clearwater, FL in 1973. He served in this capacity for 25 years. I grew up in this church. My parents are the most faithful people I know. They are by far they biggest influence in my life through their constant love, guidance, and most of all, Godly example. My father LIVES the biblical definition of Pastor and my mother IS the Proverbs 31 woman.

I'm really looking forward to this challenge and I'll try to post my page here each week. BTW, Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday, Sherry!

2008-12-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

Day Trip!

2008-12-05T09:56:00.003-05:00

On a spontaneous whim, we decided to take the family on a daytrip to mountains to see the fall colors. Believe it or not, we had never done this before! We drove up to Brevard, NC and wandered around downtown. We visited the ‘Coolest Toy Store on the Planet’, a Christmas store, and a fudge shop, yum! After lunch, we drove over to Pisgah National Forest and visited three of the waterfalls there. I even brought my tripod so we could get a family photo.

Then we headed back towards home and stopped at Caesar’s Head State Park. Here we got to see a beautiful vista of the fall colors right before sunset. The kid's enjoyed climbing all over the rocks and visiting 'The Devil's Kitchen'. It was beautiful and we had a wonderful day!

Fall Festival

2008-12-05T09:26:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple pics of my kiddo’s at the Fall Festival held by New Heights Baptist Church. They are just down the road from us and do a great job. They have free popcorn, cotton candy, funnel cakes, hotdogs, chips, lemonade, roasted marshmallows, games, prizes, hayride and inflatable rides. They do this every year and it’s all free! This year they even gave every child a free stuffed animal!

A Fresh Take on an Old Hobby

2008-11-12T22:41:00.005-05:00

I have to admit that one of the reasons for my lack of blogging, is that I’ve got a new hobby! Actually, it’s an old hobby reworked. I’ve been scrapbooking for about 12 years now. I used to scrap every Friday night at my local scrapbook store, but it closed almost a year ago and since then I’ve had very few opportunities to scrap. I don’t have the space for it at home and my church group only gets together once a month. Also, I’ve been losing my ‘mojo’. I needed something new and fresh, that I could do more easily at home. I found it!

A couple months ago when I went to my church scrap night, I had injured my back. I asked a friend to lift my heaviest bag out of the van for me but then I put everything else on my own shoulders. Yeah, stupid. Anyway, my back seized up and I almost ended up on the ground. It took half an hour for the muscles in my back to relax. As I was sitting there in a painful, awkward position, one of my friends arrived with her scrapbook stuff…a laptop. I had toyed with the idea of trying digital scrapping, but hadn’t yet been motivated enough to figure out how to start…until that night. I don’t have a laptop yet, but I do have photoshop on my computer at home, so I started to learn how to use it for digital scrapping. I found out that there are so many places on the web that you can download FREE digital kits. I was like a kid in a candy store! I love it! I enjoy scrapping again.

My church group had been planning our first scrap retreat. It was coming up in late October. So I worked on getting a good portfolio of kits and had it all organized. When the retreat came, all I had to bring was my computer! There were 3 other digital scrappers there besides myself. It’s a new age of scrapping! (my behemoth monitor did look a little silly next to their laptops, but I didn’t care!) We had 17 people at the retreat and we had a great time. I can’t wait to go again next year. Eventually, I’ll have a laptop….

Here are a few of the digi-pages I’ve created. I’m still learning:

If My Son Was President

2008-10-27T08:40:00.003-04:00

My ten year old son had to write a paper this weekend about what he'd do as President of the United States. Here it is:

If I Was da Prez

If I was President, I would reduce the amount of trash in landfills by encouraging people to recycle more. I will also hire some people to plant about one million more trees because people have cut down trees and do not replace them.

I would try to help all endangered species by making poaching illegal. But I will not make hunting illegal if it is done for survival. Animals used to be everywhere but since we arrived, animal populations have been decreasing due to pollution and poaching.

One thing I know kids will love: I will BAN HOMEWORK!

I would be famous for eating the most fudge in one day. I would tell scientists to make me a flying monkey. I would ride my monkey all day long. I would also get Lego sets for free! My office would be surrounded by Lego sets. If I had children, they would play with the Lego sets.

I will also paint the White House gold.

What He Said

2008-10-20T13:40:00.000-04:00

2008-09-25T13:00:00.003-04:00

Wow, end of September. Hmm. Blog much? Let’s see, where did I leave off…

Back to School! Yay!
Roan started Kindergarten this year.

He was a little nervous which is actually unlike him, but Dean had recently begun teaching him to read this past summer and somehow Roan got it into his head that he had to know how to read in order to go to Kindergarten! He did that with Tae Kwon Do, too. He’s been watching his big brother for years and begging to go. So, this year I signed him up and his response was, ‘But I don’t know Tae Kwon Do!” Good times.

I’m in the process of job hunting now that all kids are in school. I think I might be a substitute teacher. I want to have the same schedule as the kids including holidays, etc. and this is one way to make that happen.

The biggest most frustrating news in our lives right now is the soap opera with our van. 2 ½ weeks ago Dean ran the Blue Ridge Parkway 200 miles relay. This was his 3rd year. He loves it. It ends in Asheville. He then flew out of the Asheville Airport to Connecticut for his Aunt’s surprise 80th birthday party. He flew back into Charlotte Airport where I picked him up. On the way back home, about 48 miles out of town, our transmission blew! It took 2 hrs for the tow truck to arrive. I will try to make a very long frustrating story short. Basically, our van (a HONDA no less) is only about 8 years old with 120,000 miles. The transmission that just blew? It was the THIRD one. So we tow the van in, and they try to tell us that WE are going to pay for our FOURTH transmission in eight years. Do tell. So Dean has been ‘negotiating’ with them for 2 weeks, and finally gave them the go ahead after getting them down from $3700 to $490. Really they should be paying 100%. Anyway, on top of the $490 we are also paying for towing and about 4 or 5 days of rental cars. Now they keep telling us the van will be ready then calling back saying they found something else wrong. Yesterday they said they found ‘xyz’ wrong but they’d eat the cost. I asked Dean if they’d like ketchup with that. Supposedly we are to finally get the van back this morning after almost 3 weeks. Here’s hoping…

The weekend that Dean was out of town, Roan celebrated his 6th birthday. Since Dean wasn’t there we scheduled his party for the following weekend. However, on his actual Big Day, he brought a giant Yoda cookie to school. He LOVED that!

He party was, of course, Star Wars. He had several friends come. He was very excited. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROAN!

ROAN QUOTE: Roan’s been saying stuff that reminds me he’s growing up like ‘My bad’, and ‘hold that thought’. Also, he’s been trying to expand his vocabulary. He has noticed that Kai and Alyssa are praised when they use good words. So the other day, he was upset over some legos he was building. When I told him to calm down, he said, “I’m just really frustrated right now.” He came home from school the other day and told me he’d learned two new words that day, hibernation and exclamation point. He was very proud.

Early August

2008-08-13T12:08:00.005-04:00

Yay! Our deck is in! One more down and several to go on our list of things to do to sell the house. Here is a pic of Dean knocking down the old one:We also had a leak in our water meter fixed. Here’s the deal. We noticed our water meter in the front yard had sprung a pretty serious leak. We called the water company. It turns out that if the leak was on the street side of the meter the city would be responsible. However since it was on the house side of the meter, we are responsible. So, we called the plumbers. THREE guys showed up. They looked at it and said the trip fee would be $40 and the repair would be $210!!! They assured me, though, that we weren’t paying for all three guys. They must have been training one or something. So they dug a big hole in the yard and went to work. There was quite a view. A little while later I looked out the window and this is what I saw: In case you can’t tell, two of the guys are sitting on a bench under the tree and the 3rd guy was in the truck with air conditioning running, music playing and smoking a cigarette. They remained like this for over 15 minutes. Finally, they all went over and looked in the hole. They turned the water on, looked again, and walked away with my check for $250. Now, in all fairness, they were probably waiting for some sealant to dry or something. But they were only there for a total of 45 minutes, at least 15 of which they were doing nothing. AND the part they replaced was PVC pipe. What they heck was I paying $210 for?

Last Friday we went to Carowinds for the day. We spent half the day at the water park and rode a few rides. When we left, we met Amy & Family for dinner in Charlotte then went on to Raleigh to visit the grandparents. Saturday the kids went fishing with Grandpa and had a great time.Grandpa realized that the first fish ever caught by Grammy, me and my 2 sisters, and the five grandkids were all caught with him. That was pretty cool to think about. Sunday we went to church with Andrea and Jerry. Monday on the way back home we went to Durham to show the kids where Dean went to college at Duke. Kai and Alyssa thought it was so cool. Kai said he wanted to go to Duke. Alyssa said, “Now I want to try harder to get good grades!” So all in all, I’d say that was a successful visit!

I would like to add that while we were in Raleigh, dad showed me some prints they had had converted from some old slides that belonged to my grandmother. They were of my parents during their college days! They’re awesome! Here are 3 of my favorites:
ROAN QUOTE: “Did you know that I didn’t exist a billion years ago?”

CULTURE QUOTE: "There was a time in American television when parents and children alike would gather in front of the TV to watch Leave It to Beaver or even The Cosby Show, programs that ... reminded us that loving parents can guide their children through even the worst of childhood's problems. Those days are long gone, baby, as viewers were reminded last week when Living Lohan and Denise Richards: It's Complicated made their debut. Gone is the notion that parents are problem-solvers, or that parents—in the plural—are even the norm. In their place Hollywood now offers the new 'reality' of divorced mothers who, while claiming to love their kids, actually cause the majority of their problems in life. ... These shows, we're told by Hollywood, are 'reality programs' reflecting 'normal' families. They are, network executives would have us believe, more accurate depictions of the American family than fictional families of old: the Cleavers, the Bradys, the Huxtables, even the Simpsons. But when did any of our realities include buying a $9,000 grill like Denise Richards, or sitting down with our youngest daughter to watch a porn tape possibly starring our oldest child?" —Kansas homeschooling mom and blogger Katherine Berry [pajamasmedia.com, 6/02/08]

Some Stuff

2008-07-29T11:16:00.001-04:00

I don’t have much to write about right now, and no pictures, but I’ll do my best! Last Friday, we went to Palmetto Falls. If you’ve never been there, you should go! It is a small water park at Fort Jackson and it was a LOT of fun! It’s not as big as a regular water park, but then neither is the price. It is only $9.50 per person. Check it out. We had a blast.

These days I’m just doing all the normal ‘end of summer break’ activities such as making doctor appointments, registering for kindergarten and middle school, getting ready to go school shopping, and scheduling a last minute weekend at the grandparents as well a day trip to Folly Beach. We are also still working slowly but surely on fixing up the house to sell. This weekend we are replacing the deck.

Extended family news includes:

~Amy & family have moved to Charlotte, NC
~Andrea just turned 30
~Andrea is pregnant! Whoo Hoo!

Roan Quote: While we were in the car the other day, Roan told me out of the blue that South Carolina is better than Florida. I laughed and said, “Oh? Who told you that?” He answered without hesitation, “Jesus.”

Psyche!

2008-07-22T11:01:00.002-04:00

I LOVE this show! Here's why:

Time for Another Post....

2008-07-17T13:07:00.007-04:00

Kai and Alyssa had a great time at camp. They went on different weeks this year since Alyssa was bumped up to the older camp.

Roan wasn’t very happy with his YMCA camp experience. Just to give you an idea, they told me to supply him with $10 for the week for him to go to canteen at snack times, but he was taken to canteen only once out of the five days. I spoke to several different people throughout the week always being assured that they would work it out. Finally when camp was over I said I at least want my $8 back. They took a message and said someone would call me. They never did. Roan was also bored the whole week. They went swimming every day but only for 45 minutes. We were both very disappointed. He will NOT be going back next year. Fortunately, next summer he will be old enough to go to Camp Bethel where Kai and Alyssa go.

While Alyssa was at camp, the boys and I did some fun things. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, which they love. I just grin and bear it! Roan went to work with Dad for a day, so I took Kai to the movie ‘Iron Man’. We also went to the zoo. All three of us brought cameras. Roan was especially tickled that he got to have his own camera (he borrowed Alyssa’s) and could take as many pictures as he wanted of anything he wanted! Kai borrowed Dad’s camera. Here is one of Kai's pics:

Here is one of Roan's:And here are a few of mine:

I put a couple more on my photo blog, too.

On the 4th of July we went to the pool for a few hours. That evening we went to Fort Jackson. What is more appropriate than celebrating the 4th with our troops?

Unfortunately, a severe thunderstorm came through and we were evacuated to our cars.

Everyone seemed to be leaving so we did too. It turns out that they still had the fireworks after the storm passed, so we missed them. Hmph.

Saturday morning we picked up Alyssa from camp. That evening we went out to Lake Murray for one more chance to see fireworks. They were far away, but it was fun.

Last Friday we all went to see the movie ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D’. It was fun. It was in the same vein as the Spy Kids movies, National Treasure, & Night at the Museum in that they are all quality family fare.

This past weekend my sister and her family moved to Charlotte, NC. I drove up and picked up her kids. They stayed with us for the weekend so Brad & Amy could get stuff done. The kids all had a great time.

Yesterday, I took the kids to see ‘Meet Dave’. As kids go, it was cute, better that I thought it would be. My kids loved it. But, it’s hard to imagine adults going to this movie without kids.

Finally, I've been growing cherry tomatoes this summer. This is the first time I've ever grown anything edible! Here are the 'first fruits' of the crop:They were DELICIOUS!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a ‘Roan Quote’, so here you go:

ROAN QUOTE: Dean recently fell while running and scraped up his knee pretty badly. It took a while to heal and apparently occasionally commented to the kids about it. So, Roan came up to me one day and asked me, “Mommy, What is suppurating pus?”

June Recap

2008-06-25T10:26:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago, we attended the Ripple Awards. This is our church’s way of showing appreciating for their volunteers. They have a delicious banquet with dancing and entertainment and everybody dresses up, some even in gowns. It is a lot of fun. Alyssa has wanted to help out in the nursery since she was probably in about 2nd grade, but our church rules say they must wait until sixth grade. So this last year, Alyssa was finally able to help in the tikes room. She really enjoys it. So she was blessed when she was included in the banquet. She wore a gown and borrowed some of my jewelry. She even got a haircut. She looked beautiful and Dean and I really enjoyed being able to include her this time. YAY for the last day of school!

A few days after school ended, Grandma and Aunt Edie came for a visit. We did all kinds of things while they were here. We went to the Riverbanks Zoo, Edventure, and the State Museum. We ate out a lot and even went to Yamato’s (Japanese Steak House) YUM! One night we got a babysitter and went out (just us old folk!) and saw ‘Indiana Jones – Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. We also watched a few movies at home. We tried to stay indoors most of the time, because this whole week was a heat wave crossing over into the 100’s. Yikes! We’ll be going to Connecticut for Christmas this year. Hopefully we’ll see some snow!

A few months ago, I entered a magazine photo contest. I did not win but I did get runner’s up, so my pic is in the magazine. Yay!

This week Kai is away at camp. Also, Roan is attending all day camp this week at the YMCA. This leaves Alyssa and me to ourselves, so we’ve been having a high time of it. Tomorrow is also her birthday (she’s 12!). Monday we went to the zoo together to take pictures. We had a lot of fun together. Here are some of the pics I took:

There are a couple more on my photo blog, too. Alyssa took some great photos, too, and I downloaded picassa for her so she could learn to edit them herself. Here is what she did: Isn't she awesome? Yesterday, we got a mani/pedi. Today we’ll be going shopping for clothes. Tomorrow (her birthday) she will be going to work with dad and having a special lunch with him. Tomorrow night she and I will have a special birthday dinner at The Melting Pot. Then Friday we’ll go see the new movie ‘WallE’. Fun! Next week she goes off to camp and it will be just me and the boys. Now I have to think of some fun ‘boy’ things to do!

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

CULTURE QUOTES:

"Games are cool again, and it's not just violence. I think there's something really great about that." —2K Games senior vice president of marketing Sarah Anderson, discussing how the Nintendo Wii and DS systems (as well as games such as Brain Age, Guitar Hero and Rock Band) have increased the demand for family-friendly casual gaming. Anderson also cited a recent consumer survey she conducted. When gamers were asked what they wanted most in a game, their top answer was "Fun." "I've never seen that before," Anderson says. Previously, the top answers were "graphics" and "realism." [gamedaily.com, 4/9/08]

A school board in Bisbee, Ariz., has decided that prophylactics should be among the items handed out to students in a "prom bag" that has traditionally included items such as picture frames, balloons and candy. The board voted four to one in favor of adding two condoms to every bag given to teens attending this year's high school dance. [worldnetdaily.com, 4/9/08]

"In today's world, we look at our presidents, our prime ministers, our princes and our potentates, and we describe them as our leaders. But they're not. They're merely our rulers. The leaders are the people who change the minds and stimulate the imaginations of the public, whether children or adults. That means the moviemakers, the people who make TV shows, the entertainment people in the business. And that means that if you're going to lead the world as the movie people and the TV people do, you'd better choose very carefully in what direction you're going to lead." —Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis [Focus on the Family daily broadcast, 5/7/08]

Turns out that bigchurch.com, a Christian dating Web site bearing the motto "Bringing people together in love and faith," is actually a creation of Penthouse Media Group. [Newsweek, 5/10/08]

May Summary

2008-05-27T08:28:00.003-04:00

I really have no excuses. I just haven’t felt like blogging. I’ll try to catch you up. May started off with a bang as Dean and Alyssa participated in the last FamJam of the season. It was a lot of fun, and they did a great job.

Alyssa got her spring pictures back. I don’t always buy these, since I always get the fall ones, but this time, her picture turned out so good, I had to get it:

Alyssa had her spring concert for honor choir. This was her last one. She will no longer be in honor choir. After this year they won’t even be taking 6th graders any more. Unfortunately, she won’t be taking choir in 7th grade either. Not enough elective choices, especially when PE is mandatory, but counts as an elective. I don’t think that’s right. She enjoys choir, but Art is her first love and it always comes first! So, maybe we’ll squeeze choir back in another year.

May 10th was my birthday. Dean and Alyssa made breakfast for me, yum! Then we all went strawberry picking. Dean had the right idea. While the kids picked, Dean ate!

That evening we went to dinner and a movie. The next day was Mother’s Day. Dean normally makes breakfast for me on Mother’s Day, but this time I was singing in the worship team for all three services which meant I had to get up really early so I told him not to worry about it. He did it anyway! He got up when I did, made me breakfast, then went back to bed. Sweet! About 4pm, Dean and the kids took me to Yamatos!

This month was Kai and Alyssa’s Tae Kwon Do tournament. Kai was excited because he was on the sword team and they had to create their own routine and perform it. He did great! Alyssa was excited because she was finally done! She had decided about half way through the year that she didn’t want to do it anymore but we made her finish out the year. Here is Kai sparring. He is the one with the orange belt:

The last couple of weeks Dean has been working like crazy on deadlines. He’s stayed late (anywhere from 9pm to midnight) almost every night. He’s even been going in on the weekends, Memorial Day, our anniversary and his birthday! Those last two celebrations have been postponed.

Roan is officially out of school. (preschool) Friday was his last day. He’s excited that next time he goes to school, it will be kindergarten.

Last Saturday was our scheduled family YARD DAY. We all worked in the yard, trying to pretty it up. We hope to try to sell the house soon, so we’re working down our list of ‘things to do to sell the house’.

If you get a chance, you should check out Stuff Christians Like. (a play on 'Stuff White People Like, obviously) The cousin of a friend of mine writes this blog. It is a humorous look at the Christian subculture. It's is a good opportunity to laugh at ourselves, not take ourselves too seriously and ocassionally gain a little insight. I really enjoy reading it. I suggest starting at number one as he often refers to older posts.

Well, that’s about it for May so far. Hope you’ve had a great one!

Carowinds Choral Festival

2008-05-01T09:42:00.004-04:00

Saturday, I went with Alyssa and our neighbor, Naomi, to Carowinds with the Honor Choir for the Carowinds Choral Festival.

We had a lot of fun (except for the hour long line at one of the rides!). They did a fantastic job singing. An eighth grade chorus went on before them and were not nearly as good as our choir of 4th – 6th graders! They rated a superior! Great job, girls!

Alyssa and Naomi with Choir Director Elise Helms

Culture Quote: Teens with televisions in their bedrooms eat worse, exercise less and get lower grades than their peers who aren't as tuned in, according to a recent study from the University of Minnesota. Researchers found that the 62% of teens who have a TV in their bedrooms watch it four to five hours more per week than the 38% who don't. "It really clearly points out that there's some merit to not allowing your child to have a TV in the bedroom," says Daheia Barr-Anderson, one of the study's researchers. [Reuters, 4/7/08 stats, c&e]

A Decade and Counting

2008-04-30T09:41:00.005-04:00

Kai is 10 years old! He’s a whole decade! His actual birthday was on a Wednesday, which is a BAD day for celebrating anything. We are way too busy. However, he had an early release day so Roan and I took him out to lunch at Chili’s. We even had a Chocolate Molten Mountain for dessert. I also took him to Barnes and Noble (at his request) where he bought a couple books.

His party had to wait until after Boston. We just had the party Friday night. He invited a couple friends over. He opened his presents first,

then we went to see the movie ‘Nim’s Island’. They enjoyed it. Afterwards, we went home for cake and ice cream.

The boys stayed for a sleepover. The theme for this party was Star Wars. Both of my boys are WAY into Star Wars these days. Saturday morning, they all beat up a Darth Vader Head piñata with light sabers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAI!!!

(P.S. I just got back from the gym and I must say I had a hard time staying motivated due to the news channel reporting on VA Tornadoes, PA Church burning, L.A. Night club burning, 3 shark attacks in 3 days on the same beach in FL, a ‘smiley face’ serial killer, a daughter held captive by her father for 2 decades, a death from deliberately tainted Chinese supplied heparin and another school shooting. Can somebody change the channel please?)

Back from Boston

2008-04-29T07:03:00.007-04:00

Well, he finally did it! Dean ran the Boston Marathon! We left Friday afternoon and drove to Raleigh to deliver Roan to my parent’s house. We spent the night with Jerry and Andrea then got up at 4:15 am to catch a 7am flight out of Raleigh/Durham airport. We had a short layover in D.C. then went on to Manchester, NH.

Our first evening in Boston was interesting to say the least. Navigating Boston is, um, complicated. We managed to find a parking garage near the convention center and went to the expo where Dean checked in, got his bib number, and bought his Boston Marathon jacket!

Later we needed to meet some friends at a restaurant in the North End. We were wisely directed to take the train because there is no parking in the North End, but we did not take the advise. We did not want to add hours to the parking garage. We misunderstood the charge. We thought we would be paying $20 for parking, but it was $34! We had only been there for 3 ½ hours! This was crazy! Plus, if we had stayed the rest of the time, it would have stayed $34, but it was too late by the time we knew this. We spent an hour trying to get 2 miles away because of navigating the one-way streets. We were all over the place, going in circles, etc. This is a map showing our route. It was actually worse than this, we just couldn't remember everything, but this gives you an idea:

This was very NOT fun. Of course, when we finally got there, there was no parking, so we ended up in another parking garage. This time it was only $11. We walked to the restaurant and had a nice time with Dean’s friend. By this time it was about 11pm and we still had to drive an hour and 10 minutes to Dean’s cousin’s house where we were staying for a couple nights. We were so tired (remember-up since 4am) that it was a miserable hour of driving, but we finally made it. Sorry, this sounds like a depressing start to a much anticipated trip (and it was) but it got better!

The next morning we were going to attend the Women’s Olympic Trials but due to the late night and Dean’s impending Marathon we decided to sleep in. We drove back into Boston. This time we decided to park in the Boston Common’s parking garage. It was somewhat central to what we wanted to do. And we were excited to see that on weekends and holidays, it was only $11 for the whole day! We walked through the commons taking our time.

We had lunch at a great little Irish Pub,

and then went back to the Expo for a little while. When we were done, we walked back to the car down beautiful Commonwealth

then went back ‘home’ for dinner with Dean’s cousin Kathleen and her husband.

The next day dawned, Marathon day! I was apprehensive about navigating Boston all by myself, but by this time we pretty much had it down. I dropped Dean off in Hopkinton, where he took a school bus to the starting line. (to hear Dean’s own accounts of race day, check out his blog at ZerotoBoston) I drove on in to Boston, parked at the Commons, then made my way to the finish line (stopping first to take a picture of the place of inspiration for the TV show 'Cheers').

I found a spot right on the rail, and parked myself there for the next 3 ½ hours. I was within sight of the finish line. Cool. I saw the male and female winners and I saw Lance Armstrong pass by. It was all very exciting. Boston was crawling with people, very festive. After I saw Dean finish,

I headed toward our agreed upon meeting point. Boy, we did a lot of walking! Because of the course, roads were closed and it was a very round about way of getting where we need to go. It took me an hour of walking to get there! I met up with Dean and we ate a late lunch at a seafood restaurant. Dean did a great job, he finished right when he said he would. Way to go, Dean! You did it!!!We walked back to the car, so Dean could change into some clean clothes, then took the train back to the North End. (yeah, we wised up) We went to see Paul Revere’s house and the Old North Church.
Then we stopped at Mike’s Pastries which we had heard were awesome from more than one source. And they were! We made our way back to the car then left Boston for the last time and drove an hour to our hotel right next to the airport. Another early morning, we had to catch a 6am flight this time. The silly thing is, this time our layover was in Atlanta, GA! Then back up to Raleigh. My parents and Roan picked us up. Roan was VERY glad to see us! We all had lunch together (Andrea joined us, too), where we caught up on Roan’s weekend. He went to a Passover dinner with my parents and helped out a lot. He did a great job and impressed everybody. Dad took him fishing and he caught seven fish!
We said our goodbyes and headed home to Columbia. We picked up Kai and Alyssa from their friends’ houses and went home, happily reunited.

Roan Quote: Roan helped Grandpa and Grammy at the Passover dinner. He helped count out five quarters for each person. When he was finished, the lady he helped gave him the left over quarters. He was so exited about this; he kept counting them and showing everybody his quarters. He was so cute, people kept giving him more. At one point, someone told him they didn’t have anymore quarters. He said, “That’s OK, I’ll take dollars, too!”

Roan's Bath-time Fun

2008-04-28T08:21:00.002-04:00

Remember this song from Sesame Street?

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song?

We're Going to Boston!

2008-04-14T10:18:00.002-04:00

Wow! I guess I need to blog, huh? It’s been a while! Sorry! The week following Easter was Spring Break. We didn’t do much. We stayed home, saw a movie, went to Chuck E. Cheese, etc.

I entered another photo contest last month, but didn’t place. A little disappointing, but not unexpected. I did however win a small online photo contest at Lil’ Davis Designs, a scrapbooking website. The prize is $100 worth of Lil’ Davis product. So, that’s cool! Here is the pic that won:

This weekend, Dean and I will be going to Boston! Yay! He finally qualified for the Boston Marathon and we are flying up together. Lord willing! We originally had airline tickets with Skybus, but they went belly up recently along with 4 other airlines! Dean spent HOURS trying to find last minute tickets that we could afford, so please pray that we get to Boston and back without anymore fiascoes! Thanks! While we are gone, we will be parceling out our kids with other families. This was kind of hard because we will be gone for 2 school days, so we had to find families that 1) we trust with our kids, 2) have kids our kids age, 3) go to the same school, and 4)are willing/able to do it! We managed with Kai and Alyssa, but not Roan, so we are going to drive to Raleigh and leave him with my parents then fly out from the Raleigh/Durham airport. Please pray for our safety and the safety of our children while we are away. My next post will probably not be until after we get back.

Roan Quote: I picked Roan up from preschool the other day and he was acting disgruntled. I asked him if he had a good day, and he said yes (with a heavy sigh). I asked him what was wrong and he said he didn’t want to tell me. I said OK and left it at that. Less than a minute later he said, “OK, I’ll tell you.” Then preceded to tell me that 2 little girls in his class keep wanting to sit by him ALL the time and they say he’s their boyfriend. Then he said, “And I just can’t TAKE it!”

Happy Resurrection Day!

2008-03-24T11:32:00.003-04:00

We've had a nice week, how about you? Last Wednesday, I went with Roan's preschool class to a classmate's house for an Easter Egg Hunt and games. They had a lot of fun. Then Saturday, there was another one with my church. Kai came along and was a good big brother. They played games, blew bubbles and even flew a kite! Yesterday, for Easter Sunday, we took pictures before we went to church.
Saturday, the temperature was in the seventies, Sunday morning it was in the 50's! Alyssa was COLD! Yeah, yeah, I know, sweater, whatever.

The service was really good. Alyssa came into big church with me and had her first taste of coffee! In about one inch of coffee she had a french vanilla creamer and added sugar, she said she liked it. Well, who wouldn't? LOL! Like some coffee with your sugar? She wanted more. I said no! Later Brandy & family came over for dinner. It was delicious!For dessert I made a cake but it wasn't as yummy as it looks IMHO. I wanted angel food cake but they only had one small one left. They did have strawberry angel food cake, so I bought it and made a four layer cake alternating pink and white layers. The filling between layers was whipped cream, vanilla pudding, and pineapple. The cake was frosted with whipped cream with strawberries on top. Sound good? Unfortunately, the strawberry angel food cake was not very good and ruined the whole thing for me. Humph. Here's a picture anyway.

I hope you all had a great Resurrection Weekend!

A Roman Holiday

2008-03-21T17:37:00.011-04:00

Last weekend I went on a ladies retreat. We had a 'Roman Holiday'. We went down to St. John's Island near Charleston for the weekend. We stayed at St. Christopher's which was beautiful with nice 'hotel-like accomodations' and great food. Brandy, Lydia and I drove down together and Brandy and I shared a room. After arriving and settling in, we went to dinner. Following dinner we had a little 'social' to get to know each other.

Brandy and I

There were 50 ladies there! Later we went out to the beach and had a bonfire, sang songs, ate smores, etc.

The beach was really beautiful at night. There was a half moon with a huge halo, the biggest I've ever seen! It was breezy but not too cold. After leaving the beach we went back to the rooms and hung out with some other ladies for a while introducing ourselves, then we went to bed.

The next morning after breakfast we went to our first 'session'. We studied Romans (obviously!) with the emphasis of how dearly God loves us. Deborah was the speaker. I always love her classes/bible studies. She's definately gifted in this area. We took a break for lunch followed by some free time. During this time I and some other ladies went for a walk on the beach. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect! We saw dolphins, pelicans, sandollars, and a LOT of jellyfish!

Suzie, Brandy, Michelle, Paula, and Me

We came back for Session 2. More free time after where we did some crafts and hung out some more. We had a few minutes to spare before dinner so we went back to the beach for a few more pics.

Right before dinner we went back to the room to dress for the 'Murder Mystery' that would follow dinner. It takes place at a spa so we were all dressed in bath robes unless you had a character requiring a specific costume. Some of these were hilarious!

I think this one was my favorite, LOL, love that chest hair!!!

The unscheduled event of the evening was right after the mystery was solved (good timing, huh?) when we were evacuated to a gymnasium because tornadoes had been seen 3 miles away at a neighboring island! Before the party the weather was fine, by the time we were being evacuated it was pouring rain and REALLY windy. I wasn't too worried because they said the building was built to withstand 200 mile winds. I did a little check, realizing I had my camera and my phone with me which was good, but knowing we'd be stuck for a while in the gym, I regretted that my really good book and my palm with games was back in the room, LOL! We passed the time though:

The funny thing was that we were not the only group at St. Christophers. There was a group of teenagers there, too. So in we walk all dressed in bathrobes and jammies or dressed like men with hairy chests! Hahahaha! You should have seen their faces, it was hilarious! We were in the gym for little over an hour (not too bad) while 3 cells passed overhead. Finally, the storm was over and we went back to our rooms to bed.

The next morning was Sunday. We went to breakfast, then met in the chapel for our last meeting. This was a beautiful little chapel with wall-to-wall windows on three of the walls with a view of the ocean!

We had a time where we could publically offer thanks to God and pour water into a bowl sybolizing the 'pouring out' of our love for Him.

After that we had a nice time of praise and worship followed by communion. We served each other.
It was a really nice service and a fitting end to the weekend. After the service we packed up then had lunch. At this point we were free to go, but Brandy, Lydia, and I went on one more walk on the beach. We saw dolphins again. This time it was a mom and baby. Cool.

When we finally left, Brandy and Lydia humored me and allowed a little detour to Folly Beach where we ate an early dinner at Taco Boy's. They have the best guacomole and awesome taquitas! Thanks, ladies!

Our drive home was delayed by over an hour due to traffic. I don't think it was an accident though. It seemed to be road crew cleaning up felled trees from the storm. We had great fun though, singing old tv tunes and stuff.

I always love these retreats. Some people don't go because they're not 'retreat people'. I'll say that sometimes not everything we do is 'my thing' but I always enjoy getting into the word and closer to God as well as getting to know other ladies. We had a great time!