Remember back in April and May when I was so ready for school to be out because I LOVED having the kids all at home with me? Well...toay I'm ready for school to start again. Arghhh. I think I'm going crazy. I had to leave for a little while today and I couldn't have been happier about it. They're whining and arguing and seeming not to listen to or care about a single thing I say. It's getting really old. And summer is feeling really long. Thankfully John has been around to absorb some of this for me, and that's been a really good thing.

Will is having a tooth extracted tomorrow. It's a molar on the bottom left. He had a cavity in that tooth a long time ago, but now it has started to abcess and has to come out. Better sooner than later, so we have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Ouch! It makes me hurt just thinking about it. He actually had a tooth pulled a couple of years ago and did great. We're hoping for a repeat procedure. This time around though we have dental insurance. We haven't had it in YEARS, so it will actually be nice when it comes time to pay the dentist tomorrow...or at least that part won't be painful. Our health insurance is the reason that John continues to work at REI. They offer health insurance to all part-time employees--regardless of hours worked. For over a year we paid for our own and the cost was outrageous and our coverage pitiful. REI has been a huge blessing in that regard.

hodge podge

We finished watching America's Funniest Videos a little while ago. We all love to laugh and that show keeps us in stitches. After it was over, John was flipping channels and the Simpsons was on FOX. I was doing something with Will, but I heard Abbey say, "Cheese-sticks...it's the Cheese-sticks!" After a couple of minutes had passed I burst out laughing. I buy string cheese for the kids all the time, and the Simpsons characters are on the packaging of a particular brand. When she saw the Simpsons on tv, she immediately associated them with string cheese and kept asking to go back to the Cheesesticks show. Hilarious. It was also funny during the Sonic commercial when she told us she wanted a bubble gum "flushie". I think she meant a "slushie". Hope so anyway.

John shared a fantastic message this morning. I'm pretty sure it was recorded, but I don't think it will be available from our church website for a week or so because the guy who does that is out of town until next week. I'll try to alert you via this blog if and when it is available for your listening pleasure. smile. It is always a little hard for me when he preaches. Mostly because I know that he is really enjoying himself and is living out his calling. Seriously, so many people come up to us both after he preaches and tell us things like...he has a gift, his words are annointed, and wow...that was beautiful. And that creates tension in me because I have really enjoyed this break from pastoral ministry for almost two years. Our last church experience was very, very hard for me. Selfish, yeah. Honest, you bet. I'm not exactly sure what to do with all that either. I guess I wish that he could just keep doing things the way he's doing them now...work full-time in publishing and preach a little on the side. I like not feeling the "pressure of the position" and I know he likes that too. But when he's in that role, like he was this morning, I know that preaching is not completely written out of our future. So we both contine to pray about that and keep all options open.

I just have to give you a little weather report because our July weather has been so bizarre. It has continued raining all day today and we haven't seen the sun since Friday. Our lawn is loving this rain, and so is our checking account. Water here is so expensive because there isn't enough of it. We have watering restrictions and are only allowed to water three times/week. We've had significant rainfall every day this month. It's creating problems all around us too...roads washing out, flooding, rockslides (the front page of today's Denver Post showed a car parked along a highway smashed flat by a boulder that fell!), and standing water everywhere. So unusual for a state that has had drought-like conditions for the three years we've lived here. The rain has brought very cool temps though. I don't think we've hit 80 degrees since the end of June. We went to the park after church for a party for a friend and it was FREEZING! The bank temp sign read 55 degrees at 2:30 this afternoon. So, not only are we saving money by not having to water...we're not having to run our air conditioner either. Nice.

Oh yeah...John's meeting with Eugene Peterson on Friday was cool. He went to a large assemby meeting at NavPress where Mr. Peterson spoke, then he went with a group of 10 to lunch with him. It was nice, and John said he was pretty much as he expected him to be. It was a neat opportunity and John was grateful for it!

Every so often I think of something that I really miss about living in the South. Last week, I remembered how much I miss swimming pools. You just rarely see them around here (water is scarce--seriously!). But in the south...wow...they're everywhere. I get such a kick out of flying into DFW airport from here. As you're landing, you look out the window of the plane and all you see is a blur of turquoise from all the pools. We do have a few pools around here, but most of them are indoors. They get more use out of them that way because when it's 68-70 degrees in July, it's not really warm enough to swim. When we lived in Arkadelphia, we had lots of friends with pools as well as a great aquatic park. I would take Will and Sarah swimming almost every day (before Abbey came along!). It is great fun and a great way to get your kids to sleep at night...exhaustion works wonders. We've been swimming once since we've lived here...isn't that SAD? My next door neighbor took us to the pool at her parent's high-rise condo in downtown Denver last summer. It was fun, but kinda weird too. The pool was on the third floor. Still fun though. So yeah...I really miss swimming and having a pool to swim in.

Lazy Day

Today is one of those days that just screams LAZY! We've yet to see the sun though we've seen a slow, steady rain for a few hours now! I love it! It's one of those days where I think I could just stay in bed and read or watch tv ALL DAY!!! I can't even remember the last time I did something like that. Probably BK--before kids.

Anyway, John gave me a chance to be lazy today. He gave me the morning off...a huge gift. He's so busy with work these days and that leaves me dealing with the kids for long stretches without a break. And breaks are really, really nice. So I got one this morning. He got everyone up (actually, Abbey got everyone up about 6:50 AM), fed them breakfast, got them dressed, then took them with him to run errands. I got to stay in bed and read for awhile, then work on getting our Estes Park photos from last week in a scrapbook. Very relaxing, and very good for my heart!!! They were gone for about 4 hours and I enjoyed every single second of quiet. Sometimes I like to leave the house for a break, but the best break for me is when THEY leave and I get to stay home. So, thanks John!!! I owe you.

Sarah had a fun birthday party this week. It was a rubber-stamping/scrapbook party. One of my friends is a rubber-stamping enthusiast (it's actually her business) and she has a scrapbook room in her basement. We went to her house and she organized some projects for the girls and then let them have lots of creative space. It was GREAT and Sarah was really in her element. She helped me put together some fun treat bags for her guests--full of scrapbooking goodies. So, I was kinda in my element too. It's fun that we've found something we both enjoy and love doing together. We followed up the party with lunch at Fatburger. So she was queen for the day, and thinks she will remain queen until her actual birthday arrives this week! I'm all for it!!! Birthdays usually last awhile around our house.

Our weekend is feeling really full. We have a friend's 40th birthday party to go to tonight, and another party after church tomorrow to celebrate one of Sarah's friend's victory over cancer. John preaches in the morning too. So yeah, a full weekend. Glad I got rested up this morning!

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

It has been raining for about 3 hours now. And I can't even begin to tell you how uncommon that is in Colorado. It has rained like this for the last 4-5 days and it's GREAT! We are usually so dry that we pray for this kind of moisture. It's not unusual to get a shower or two each afternoon in the summer, but they're usually brief and the sun comes right back out. These however, have been slow-moving storms that are dumping major rainfall, and we've got puddles all over the neighborhood. It's amazing, and we're so grateful! Our fireworks even got rained out last night. We didn't go downtown as planned because we had major storms yesterday afternoon and the ground was soaked. We went instead to the cul-de-sac at the end of our street and watched two different firework shows from afar...until the second storm that moved through put an end to things. It was fine though...by that time we were wiped out from the activites of the day and were only a few hundred yards from home!! Oh yeah...it was freezing cold too! We all had on jeans and fleece and were wrapped up in blankets and were still shivering! I LOVE summertime in Colorado!!!

Next week Sarah will be eight years old. We're having a birthday party for her tomorrow! She is so excited. Should be fun...I'll let you know how it goes!

Tonight is the first time in about a month that all of our kids were in bed with the lights out at 8PM. With our company here, then vacation, then July 4, we were pushing 9:30-10:00 every night. Highly unusual for us. Our kids are in bed by 7:30 on school nights!!! I'm ready to get back on schedule. Otherwise John and I never have any time alone.

John is up to preach again on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it! He's swamped with work and deadlines right now and is trying to squeeze some sermon prep in somewhere. Last week was so nice for him...he really needed a break from all he's got going on right now. But right now, Estes Park feels like a lifetime ago. He's getting excited about Friday. It's the day he gets to meet Eugene Peterson (the Message guy) at NavPress. Exciting stuff.

4th of July!!

I love the 4th of July. In fact, it is my favorite holiday. People look at me funny when I say that, but I'm serious! I think it has something to do with the fact that I LOVE summertime, love being outside, and love being around other people...and all those things are usually a part of our 4th celebrations. I remember as a kid waking up on the 4th of July to my dad playing John Phillips Sousa records on his old turntable. We'd usually have some sort of bar-b-que plans with friends and family, then we'd sit outside in our driveway and watch the Elks Club fireworks while being eaten alive by mosquitos. When I remember my childhood 4th of Julys, I smell smoke and Off insect repellent! Nice!

My favorite 4th of July ever was in 1990--the year John and I got married. We honeymooned in Boston, and were there for July 4. We sat on the banks of the St. Charles river and listened to the Boston Pops concert and watched the most amazing fireworks display we've ever seen! It was awesome and is forever etched in my memory!

This will be our third July 4th celebration in Colorado and we're making new traditions that I hope our children will remember fondly! Monument has a 4th of July parade, so we're heading downtown in the morning. It is so much fun!!! It is a long parade...like 2 hours long...and there are floats, bands, firetrucks--the works. The kids love it because most of the float participants throw candy, and they scramble to collect as much as they possibly can! Politicians pass out popsicles, churches give out water bottles, and one dentist even throws toothbrushes to the crowd (we need them after all the candy!). Ours is a small town and it's doubly fun because you see so many people you know--spectators and parade participants! Tomorrow some friends from our small group at church are joining us. Should be fun for the kids and adults too.

I also love the 4th of July in Colorado because it's NOT usually hot! Our high tomorrow is supposed to be 77...and we'll need to take fleece with us to the park for fireworks. Nothing muggy or buggy about this holiday and I love it!

Tonight we invited some of our little neighborhood friends over to make firecracker hats for the parade tomorrow. I saw the idea in my Family Fun magazine and they are super cute. The kids went with me to Hobby Lobby this afternoon to get the stuff, and we set up two tables in our garage (it was raining) for craft-night! They turned out great and the kids will look quite festive tomorrow. We're also planning to have a little neighborhood bike parade tomorrow afternoon. We've invited some neighborhood kids to make a few loops around the block with us. Everyone is going to decorate their bike, wear their hats, and ride all together. I think it will be so much fun!

The downside to all this 4th of July fun is that John has to work at REI. We were both so surprised. We never even considered that he might be scheduled to work. After being off last week, and needing some time off this week for meetings, he's kinda at their mercy...so we'll celebrate without him...and that is so hard for me. He feels so bad (and sad) about it too because he knows I love this holiday, and he likes it a lot himself. At least he'll be able to go to the park for fireworks with us. Our friend is a self-proclaimed fireworks snob and says the best show is in downtown Colorado Springs. I think we're going to trek down there even though we can see two really great displays from our backyard because it's always more fun with friends!

Happy 4th of July to you! Celebrate freedom this day!!!!!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We're back from our stay in Estes Park. We had a really good week together and did lots of fun things. My favorite thing was spending time in Rocky Mountain National Park. You can not believe how beautiful that place is until you see it for yourself. I'm moved to tears each time we're there. Seriously, it's that beautiful. God is the best artist!! We did some hiking and I was so proud of the kids, especially Abbey, for completing a two-mile hike uphill to Alberta Falls. We did some more hiking too, and saw some elk and deer and lots of chipmunks. Every time we're at the park, we try to see the bighorn sheep at Sheeps Lake. The sheep live up in the mountains, but come down to these kettle lakes to lick minerals from the mud. The times of their descent are never predictable, and we've never seen them in the park. Big bummer! The bighorn sheep is the symbol of RMNP, but the visitors who actually see those elusive animals are the lucky ones!

Our kids will tell you their favorite thing was the go-karts and bumper boats and the giant slide. That was fun, but they love being in the park as much as their parents do.

Um...if you're ever headed to Estes Park, let me tell you where NOT to stay. Our little cabin that I fell in love with last year quickly lost it's charm on this trip. Seems the owners had a problem with mice. Eek! It really was so gross. The first night we were there we were watching a movie all together and John thought he kept seeing things out of the corner of his eye. That was all he had to say for me to be a ball of nerves. Literally, I curled up in a ball on the couch and stayed that way for the rest of the movie. We got the kids to bed and he got out the broom to do a little searching. Sure enough, we saw two mice. He shooed one out the door, but we never found the second one again. The next morning, he got the owners to set some traps out. Let me just say we stopped counting at 8 dead ones. So, so gross. I was really irritated. John felt bad about it all week. If we could have found another place to stay, we would have, but Estes Park is packed in June and July. NO VACANCY is a sign you see everywhere. We finished out the week, but the owners knew we weren't happy and wouldn't be back next year. I understand that the cabin is on a cliffside, and field mice are sure to turn up every now and then, but this was infestation. It was NOT a restful week for me! The kids were great about it though, and didn't seem to be too aware of our guests...or their mother's fear. We ended up eating out a lot more than we planned to...simply because I didn't want to be in that place! We did find another cabin we'd like to stay in next time. We were shopping one day (we spent a lot of time out!!!!) and discovered a cabin on the river that we wanted to check out. We stopped in and the owner showed it to us, and I was delightfully surprised to find that it fits our budget and is WAY nicer than the Mouse House! I'm there!

The weather there was fabulous. Highs were in the 70s, lows in the 40s. We had to turn on the heat at night! And we wore fleece when we were hiking. Up in the higher elevations of the park, the temperature is much lower! One night we went to a dulcimer concert downtown in Estes Park. I was freezing! The wind was blowing and temps were in the 50s. Despite my layers and fleece, I couldn't get warm, so we left...and went for ice cream! John and the kids could eat ice cream even if it was 30 below. I passed up ice cream for a chai from Starbucks! It warmed me right up!

Before we left home, John and I gave each of the kids a roll of quarters. The deal was that every time they complained, argued, talked back, or whined, they lost a quarter. At the end of the week, any money they had left was theirs to spend on whatever they wanted. They each lost a couple of dollars, but their daddy taught them an important lesson about grace...getting something you don't deserve...by letting them spend money they didn't really have! Good lesson, and I think they "got it"!

Oh yeah...about those license plates we've been searching for. We're still lacking four states--Hawaii, Rhode Island, Delaware, and West Virginia. I'm sure
we could have found them in Estes Park, but John wasn't quite as into this quest as the rest of us, and didn't want to drive us through the parking lots! So...we keep searching.

We're off this week to Estes Park for a little vacation and a lot of rest! We discovered Estes Park last summer and it has become our favorite spot in Colorado. Last June we rented a little cabin for a week and spent one of our best family vacations in that place. We loved it so much, we're headed to the same cabin this week. It's not fancy schmancy or anything, but it's got a great screened-in porch and a big family room, a terrific view of Longs Peak, and you see elk when you glance out the window. BEAUTIFUL!!! We're planning to spend some time in Rocky Mountain National Park doing some hiking and exploring. We also hope to take a trail ride on horseback. We're taking UNO and a 1000 piece puzzle, and books and our dvd player and movies! Can you tell I'm excited?

We're actually leaving before my mom does...aren't we hospitable? She's flying home with a friend from home who's here visiting in Colorado. That worked out well for them and eased my guilt a little!

Last Thursday John had a meeting with a guy from NavPress. At their meeting he gave John two advance copies of the WORLDVIEWS book he wrote in December. It's a book he co-authored with another guy named John. He actually re-wrote some of the other guys work, then finished up the second half. Anyway, it looks great, and I actually read the chapter on Postmodernism! Terrific! I'm not sure when it comes out (officially), but I'm so proud of him. It's a really cool thing to watch a book evolve from words on a screen to a book you hold in your hands. Really cool. I hope there is much more of that in his future!

We've taken advantage of my mom being here as a babysitter. This Friday is our 16th anniversary and we celebrated a week early with dinner and a movie in downtown Colorado Springs. We went to see A Prairie Home Companion and loved it. John has always been a Garrison Keillor fan! Our favorite part was the jokes the two cowboys told. Some were a little crude, but most were very funny!!!

I'm off to get things ready for Estes Park. We take our own food and cook most of our meals at the cabin (or "cavern" as Abbey calls it!). It's very chilly here this morning with temps in the upper 40s, and Estes Park is higher in elevation (translated even cooler) so I'm going to have to dig out some cool-weather clothes! Not that I mind or anything!

Fifty States

Saturday afternoon we were stuck in a bit of traffic. Yuck. Summertime in Colorado always seems to bring an influx of traffic. I've gradually begun to realize (sometimes I'm slow) that it's mostly from tourism. So while we were stuck, I got the kids to help me identify as many license plates as we could find from different states. Five days later, we've spotted tags from 40 of the 50 states. I think that's pretty incredible, don't you?? I'm sure that next week when we go to Estes Park we'll be able to complete our list. Last summer the parking lots were full of cars from all over the country and I remember thinking that there were more people from out of state at Rocky Mountain National Park than there were from Colorado. Estes Park is our favorite place in Colorado.

We took the kids to see Cars yesterday afternoon, and I thought it was a cute movie. It took me awhile to get into it but I loved it...especially the ending. I discovered that our theater offers a FREE movie every week for kids during the summer. They've got some great movies showing too...Dreamer, Curious George, Madagascar, Zathura, and more. I think tomorrow we may take the kids to see Dreamer. It's one of our favorites and who can say no to a free movie?!?

Will's hair grows so fast. I accidentally scalped him on Sunday, but he's already got some new growth that you can easily see. I think I've learned my lesson about those clippers and I'll gladly fork over $12-$15 for him to get his hair cut/buzzed by a licensed professional from now on! Live and learn, baby!

John just continues to get more and more projects pitched his way. He has a meeting tomorrow with a guy about a potential project for a publication in the works. His name got passed along as a result of a proposal he presented about two weeks ago. We're curious about where this meeting tomorrow might go. He's got so much on his plate this summer that we're not sure at this point if we'll be able to make another trip to Arkansas. We're still thinking/praying about that.

Random News

It's been several days since I've posted because we've been busy enjoying our company! My mom is here visiting from Arkansas. We've enjoyed having her here, and have more fun stuff planned for this week.

John had a nice Father's Day yesterday. We surprised him with three books from an author he recently discovered. He preached at our church yesterday too, and shared a beautiful message. If you care to listen, you can download it from our church's website (International Anglican Church--see the sidebar on the right side of this blog). He loves having the opportunity to preach when he can, and is up again in July!

About two weeks ago I gave Will a buzz haircut with my neighbor's clippers. It has been looking shaggy lately, so we borrowed them again yesterday and I was going to straighten it up. I should have gotten her to re-instruct me on how to use them. I forgot to put the guard on, and even though I set it on the highest setting, he was nearly bald after the first swipe through his hair. Of course I started at the front of his head, so it looked like he had an inverted mohawk. I gotta tell you that some really bad words came out of my mouth. I was near tears, but had to keep going. John was cool about it, and Will LOVES it. He called his friend to come over and see it when I was done. My mom was just thankful she had gotten some cute pictures of him before he was bald. Seriously, he has NO HAIR! I'm getting used to it though, and have already smeared sunscreen on his bald pate this morning. Wouldn't that be a painful sunburn? Ouch!

I've got my mom out working in my yard. Neither John and I are "yard" people, and she has about five green thumbs. She loves it, and I love that she loves it. It's hot out there today though...upper 80s. We should have been out there working on Friday afternoon when the temps were in the upper 40s...yes, I said 40s!!! It was downright cold!

On Saturday afternoon we went down to Old Colorado City and walked around. There are lots of neat shops and art galleries on that stretch, and it's just a fun place to explore when we have out-of-town guests. Anyway, I saw a lady with an Arkansas Razorback t-shirt on and stopped to talk to her for a minute. Turns out she is related to one of our doctor friends in Arkadelphia (the last place we lived before moving here), and she is friends with one of my cousins. Small, small world isn't it???

You've Got Mail!

Today was a good mail day! I'm talking about snail mail. I don't like to go the mailbox and come home with bills, advertisements, and catalogs. I like letters! The personal stuff! Today was great in that regard. I got an invitation to a baby shower for friend at church. That was nice. The kids got letters from their grandparents in Arkansas. That made their day. We got two more Little House on the Prairie dvds from Blockbuster.com. We'll watch a couple episodes tonight! John got a Father's Day card with $$. Always nice. And we got an invitation to a celebration of life for Sarah's little friend who is a cancer survivor. That's one celebration we don't want to miss. And finally, John got a letter from his parents that included an article from their hometown newspaper. When we were there in May, the Nashville News interviewed him and wrote a feature article about his leap from the pulpit to the publishing world, complete with a picture of him holding a few of his books. If the photo of him and Will in Pray! magazine didn't do it, I guess this article cements his celebrity status. SMILE!! So yeah, it was a good mail day. And if you want to rib him about being a "celebrity"...I think he'd probably laugh right along with you!

We're off in a few minutes to Denver to get my mom from the airport. She's spending some time with us this month, and we're excited! The kids already have plenty of ideas of how they want her to spend her time. Should be fun!

The "Yes" Mom

I love summer more than anything! I love having no schedule, I love being outside, I love having my kids all home, and I love being the "yes" mom. Yes, you can have a sleepover; yes, you can go to the movies; yes, you can play outside; yes, we can go for a bike ride; yes, you can have a friend over; yes, you can go to your friend's house; yes, you can stay up late; yes, we can go for ice cream; and yes to so many many more things. Will told us yesterday (after two sleepovers and a movie with friends) that we were the "ultimate" parents. I don't know about that, but I do like saying yes to his requests, and it seems so much easier in the summer!

We've been outside so much lately, that my house is in major disarray. That is stressing me out a little because we have company coming tomorrow (and here I am on the computer instead of tackling the myriad of tasks that await me!). Our kids have lost interest in those chores they were so gung-ho about last week (isn't that the way it goes?). They still help me, but they need lots of persuading (and bribing!). Who can blame them? They want to be outside as much as I do! So we've been doing the bare minimum every day! And that's okay really...it's SUMMER!!!!

We've been working for a while now with Sarah on learning to ride her bike...without training wheels. For whatever reason, she hasn't been too interested in learning until a few weeks ago, and even then was really tentative and cautious. When she didn't "get it" right away and had a bad fall, she lost interest....until Wednesday when our five-year-old neighbor across the street learned how to ride hers. Our neighbor (she's cute as a bug) was riding up and down the street in front of our house, saying "Hi Sarah" each time she rode past. So Thursday morning, we were outside playing, and I was talking to our neighbor, and Sarah asked me to get her bike. She got on and started pedaling while I was holding onto her seat. And away she pedaled...again and again and again! Yesterday she mastered starting on her own and turning corners well. So today we all went to REI and bought her a new bike and helmet. An early birthday present. They had to build the bike, so it's not quite ready, but she and her daddy are going to pick it up this afternoon. We're thrilled that she's riding on her own now, and she is pretty darn proud of herself as well. Way to go Sarah!

We're all pretty proud of John too. He had a meeting on Thursday with some folks at a publishing company. They asked him to submit a proposal for a women's devotional bible. They asked for something different than what is already out there...something really "out of the box". So, he presented his proposal on Thursday (while Sarah was learning to ride!) and they loved his ideas. He got some good affirmation, and possibly some more work! It was really great for me to see him "in his element" as far as the creative process goes, and equally great for them to recognize his creative capacity. He doesn't know what will come of the meeting, but it seemed promising, and he was grateful to be asked for his ideas.

I posted a few days ago about how God seems to be blessing my little home business. In the last two days, I've gotten even more unsolicited orders for over $300 of product. I'm thinking that maybe I should really start working this a little more. If that's what keeps happening without effort on my part, think what I might could do if I really started to get serious about it. I'm actually pretty motivated right now, but still praying about how to proceed.

No signs of our little mouse today. John didn't see it yesterday either, but said that he was trying to climb out of the window well on Thursday. There's not much for him to "grip" onto though, so he'd get about half-way up and fall back to the ground. Poor thing. Maybe his determination won out and he's found his way to freedom! We'll keep watching for him, but I'd be fine to never see him or his kind ever again!

I was deleting old messages from our answering machine a few days ago, and made an interesting observation...our kids get more messages than their parents do! I deleted about 6-7 messages, and 4 of them were for our nine-year-old. He has a couple of neighborhood friends who call all the time for him (and let me stress all the time!) . Seriously, my phone might ring 10x a day, and I bet 5-6 of those calls are for Will. Sarah gets calls too, but not the volume that Will does. Is this a sign of times to come??? Yikes.

Today I got a real treat. A pedicure. My neighbor gave me a gift certificate for one last summer...and I just now got around to using it. It was luxurious, and I'm so thankful for her gift. John was gracious to watch the kids for me. He is insanely busy these days, so the luxury of time was as much a gift as the pedicure.

God is really blessing my Creative Memories business. In the last two days, I've gotten phone calls from friends wanting to order over $150 of product. I've really put very little effort into this business, but things keep happening. It's exciting to watch and wonder where God is taking this. I met another consultant a couple of months ago and am really praying about how she and I might work together. She's been doing this for a long time, but just recently moved to Colorado. Again, I don't know where God is taking this, but I'm enjoying the ride. We'll see what happens!

Oh yeah...about that mouse in the window well downstairs. I've yet to see it, but apparently that little mouse likes to watch John while he's working. This afternoon, John rummaged around in the garage until he found his air rifle, then he went around to the window well to put an end to the little guy. He's a sneaky little critter and kept burrowing underground, so John wasn't even able to find him much less shoot him. So the saga continues. I hope he'll try again tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!

Well, we finally broke down and turned the air conditioner on today. We're actually the envy of our neighborhood because we actually have a/c. It was complete shock to us when we were house-hunting to realize that most homes in Colorado don't. Friends without it usually tell us that it's only miserable for a week or so in July, but we've had some warm temps this week. I'm just thankful it's running and that our house is nice and cool!

I'm downstairs typing on John's computer right now. His desk sits underneath a window with not much of a view. Because his "office" is in the basement, and most of the basement is underground, the view from his window is the inside of our window well. I came down here earlier to tell him something and he told me to listen very carefully and not react to what he needed to tell me. Seems he had been watching a mouse all morning...apparently one trapped in the window well. It was all I could do not to scream. Tiny creatures I know, but they freak me out!!! I haven't seen the mouse this afternoon, but really don't want to either, so this will be a short post. I'm not too worried about it migrating indoors. I think it just must have fallen down into the well, and there's really no way it can climb back out without assistance. So hopefully, John will be removing a dead mouse really soon. I think he's burrowed down into the cool ground right now...just hope he can't burrow through our concrete basement wall. YUCK!

Ah...Sunday afternoons. My favorite time of the week. I like Friday nights too, but Sundays usually have a lazy, restful pace that I really love.

On the way to church this morning, I noticed that Pikes Peak only has a few spotty patches of snow left on her! Not really surprising considering that our temps in June have been in the 80s! Quite a change from those nice 60s we were enjoying earlier in the week. At least it's beginning to feel like summer around here.

Daily chores are a part of our summer routine. Each of my kids has a "chore-chart" on the fridge, and they check their completed chores off of their chart each day. Believe it or not, it's something they really look forward every morning. Sarah and I were up early yesterday morning and she had all her boxes "checked" before 7am. She and Will are so darn competitive with each other that it's a race to finish first...every single day. Today, he was up before her racing to finish his chores before she awoke. They even help Abbey get her chores checked off, hoping that I'll give them a bonus check for assisting her. And heaven forbid one of them get more check marks. They're both reading right now, each afraid that the other will log more hours on their summer reading plan. Hmmm...I wonder where that competitive gene came from? If you're thinking it came from their mother, guess again. John and I are equally stubborn and competitive. At least I've motivated our kids to help me out around here. And let me tell you, my house is dust-free and my kitchen appliances are sparkling. Nice!

Last week John got a really cool invitation. Most of his writing/editing involves The Message translation of the Bible. The guy who translated the Message is Eugene Peterson. Mr. Peterson is very particular about Message-related products and has very specific ideas of what those products should and shouldn't look like. Anyway, John has wanted for a while now to talk to the man himself, and last week got an inviation to do just that. Mr. Peterson is going to be at NavPress in July. John was invited to attend a large assemby, then have lunch and be a part of smaller, Message-related team meeting with him. I'm excited for him! I wish I could tag along!

I'm heading outside in a few minutes. It's too nice a day to spend inside on the computer. We have some lilac bushes in our front yard that bloomed this week and they smell so amazing. We also have columbine (Colorado state flower) and iris blooming too. I think the lady we bought this house from must have liked purple because all of the blooms are lavendar! I love the kind of flowers and plants that come back every year without me having to do anything. I'm not a yard person...at all! Sadly, John isn't either.

Dreary Wednesday

It is a really dreary day. We don't get too many days like these. When we moved here our realtor told us that this city has about 320 days of sunshine a year...and it's true. It's also wonderful! I love the sun.

I can't really complain about it not being sunny today though because we haven't yet reached 60 degrees today. It's downright chilly. The kids were outside playing in the backyard earlier this morning and came inside to put their fleece on. How's that make you guys in Arkansas feel right now???

Anyway, I had planned to take the kids to the park to watch the *free* air show from the Air Force graduation today. But it's not really fun to play at the park when it's cold outside. And it's been raining off and on all morning, so I didn't want to sit in the rain either. We made a good choice and stayed home and saw a little of the Thunderbirds, but viewing is difficult in our neighborhood because of all the rooftops.

Earlier in May, I took Will to get his hair buzzed for summer. It's already grown so much and has been looking really shaggy. My neighbor let me borrow her clippers this morning and I buzzed his head myself a little while ago. I never knew it was that easy. Will was a little skeptical and protested loudly about me doing it. He said he was afraid I'd mess up. I told him if I messed up, I'd pay him $5...an offer he didn't hesitate to refuse. He was pleased with the results and said I could just pay him $1 instead...the $1 I took away from him yesterday for continually picking on Sarah. Money is a powerful motivator for him!

So after John finishes up for the day, he promised to take them all to our local toy store to spend some money they got from grandparents. They begged to stop at every Walmart in Oklahoma and Kansas to spend it, but we made them wait! They're not very patient when they have money in their pockets!

Good to be Home

Our family is back home after a whirlwind trip to Arkansas. John's grandfather passed away last Tuesday, and we left Wednesday for his funeral. It is a grueling trip, but we were very thankful to be able to be there to honor him.

We had really hoped to fly instead of drive, but the cheapest plane tickets John found were $700 apiece...and there are five of us. We knew we could drive for way less than that...but it meant driving 18 hours. It's never pleasant, but it's always worth it. Especially when we get to see our kids enjoying their cousins. Their only cousins are on John's side of the family, and they LOVE them so much.

We have tentatively been planning to make a two-week trip to Arkansas sometime later this summer. I'm not even willing to discuss it at this point (give me a few weeks). I tell people that drive is so much like labor...I need to forget how bad it is before I'm ready to do it again. Note that I stopped after having three children! smile! I will say that it has gotten much easier to travel that distance as our children have gotten bigger. Abbey being potty-trained makes a really big difference. Apparently, she's overcome her fear of public restrooms being that we had to stop once an hour for her yesterday morning. And we've also discovered books on cd. We listened to Frindle, Anastasia Krupnik, Amber Brown is NOT a Crayon, and Henry and Ribsy during our drive. Enlightening stuff! The dvd player is nice too, but I make them alternate between movies and books...mainly because I can't stand the dvd player noise in my ear (it hooks onto the back of my seat).

Since we got home yesterday afternoon, I guess that makes today the kid's first official day of summer vacation. I was thinking we might head to the library. They signed up last week for the summer reading program, and they've been asking if I'd let them count all the books we listened to as hours read. Hmmmm...because each book is roughly three recorded hours, they'd be finished with the entire game card TODAY...so no way! They're bummed, and I'm the mean mom. Whatever.

A few minutes ago, I heard and recognized one of my favorite sounds. It was the sound of the Air Force Thunderbirds flying overhead. We live about 5 miles north of the Air Force Academy and every year at the AF graduation, the Thunderbirds perform. The perk for us is that they practice flying overhead for a few days. They practice their stunts and their formation flying and it's just super cool. So, in a little while, we're heading out back to take in some amazing sights. Awesome! Just another one of the many reasons we love living here.

Another reason would have to be the cool mountain air. We were greeted by it yesterday afternoon, and with temps in the low 60s, it was a welcome change from the mid 90s we experienced in Arkansas. 90+ temps with 90% humidity is really HOT. I don't miss that or those pesky mosquitoes one bit!

Winding Down

The school year is winding down. Only two more days. I don't know who's happier...me or the kids! Only 2 more days of making lunches and rushing out the door in the mornings. I LOVE summer!

This afternoon a tornado touched down just east of here. Tornados aren't too common in Colorado and I'm thankful for that. Tornados terrify me!

Back in March when John's parents were here, we visited Focus on the Family. In the kid's mini-theater, they were playing a Veggie Tales Video that had Will quite intrigued. Our kids were huge Veggie Tale fans when they were smaller, but have been "so done" with that for a long time now...until Will saw a little bit of the "Lord of the Beans" video. He was begging me to buy it for him, but I was skeptical because I didn't want to add another Veggie Tales video to my yard sale bin. So, we put a hold on it at our local library, and we just got the video yesterday. It is HILARIOUS! It's based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. John and I are big Tolkein fans, but this video takes the cake. It's Toto, instead of Frodo...EarofCorn rather than Aragorn...flobbits instead of hobbits...and the list of humorous similarities goes on and on and on. If you're familiar with the LOTR trilogy, you'll get a good chuckle from Lord of the Beans. I'm thinking it's one I really would like to add to our collection!

Yesterday, we worshipped at a Seventh Day Adventist Church. Now...hear me out while you pick your jaw up off the floor. The Anglican church we attend meets at a chapel on a college campus. Twice a year, our church gets the "boot" because of campus events. Yesterday was one of those occasions...the baccalaureate service was going on in the chapel, so we had to find an alternative meeting spot. Last year, we met at a park (which was so great!) but this year, they decided to keep us inside and so we borrowed the Seventh Day Adventists' sanctuary. I don't really know what Seventh Day Adventists are all about, but they had a beautiful building. You know John is going to be writing a book on denominations this summer; I hope he can fill me in on those 7th day guys.

V.B.S.

Okay, gotta tell you that VBS (Vacation Bible School) in Colorado is WAY different than what we're used to. In the past two weeks, I've seen ads in the paper for three different bible schools...and the cost to attend each of those is $15, $35, or $45 PER CHILD! What in the world? Have you ever heard of such a thing or am I just really, really out of it???

I've been a part of different VBS programs for most of my life and I've never heard of a child having to pay to go! At each church John pastored, VBS was a huge part of our church budget every year. It was just something you planned for and the church paid for. I guess it's just not the same here in the west.

Any thoughts on this??? Anyone else think this is crazy?

I have found a few programs that don't charge for their VBS. They have an enrollment list though and once it's full you're put on a waiting list. I'm not really a cheap person, but I'm thinking I could have VBS in my own backyard this summer and funnel the money I would have spent into our vacation fund!

The Blues

I've got the blues. Blue legs that is. I got a new pair of denim capris on Mother's Day, and I love them. But every time I take them off, my legs have a bluish tint. Really weird. When I first noticed it, I thought maybe I was having circulation problems. I showed John and he thought I had bruises all over. Today I wore them again and not only were my legs blue, but my hands were too (from having them in my pockets). I guess I need to wash them and see if that takes care of it. They're a really dark wash, but I've NEVER seen anything like this. My blue legs make me look like a Smurf!

I just got back from having dinner with my friend who is moving to Fort Collins. We ate at Pei Wei. It's an Asian diner and it's really yummy. It's right around the corner from REI and every time I drive by that shopping strip it makes me laugh that the letters P-E-I, W-E-I, and R-E-I are in such close proximity to each other. I think they should name it EI square or something. I know...I'm weird. I really do notice letters and words and such. Sometimes I even see words in my head when I'm talking. John thinks it's strange...and I think that it's strange that he doesn't see words in his head--he being the writer and all.

Abbey and I ran to the grocery store this afternoon and picked up some stuff for dinner. John had dinner duty since I was meeting my friend, and he said he wanted to make hamburgers. John's great at cooking burgers on the G. Foreman grill. Anyway, I bought 2.5lbs of meat thinking he'd cook it all and we'd have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. He just informed me that the four of them ate ALL of the burgers. Two and a half pounds of ground chuck between the four of them! Unbelievable. Actually, the amount of food our kids consume really is unbelievable. The other day they had a snack--cheese and crackers--and in 15 minutes they had eaten a half-pound of cheese! What's that about? We get our milk and bread from a dairy service that delivers to our door. I filled my order out this morning and upped my bread to three loaves. I usually order two a week, but always have to make a run for another loaf or two. Some of our friends have five kids (I shudder to think what their food bill looks like) and she bakes her own bread. Maybe I'll get her to teach me how to do that this summer! Or maybe not.

Tomorrow is another CRAZY day around here. I think I have somewhere to be every hour from 8AM to 4PM. I'm LIVING for Friday when I have absolutely nowhere I have to be!

Swinging

This afternoon John went with me to pick the kids up from school. Their school has a great playground--with two zip-lines, three or four slides, monkey bars and of course, the swings. My kids all love to swing and eventually we all found ourselves at the swingset. Abbey has recently learned to pump her legs to keep herself moving (great news for mom and dad!) and she is so proud of her accomplishment. I decided to hop on the swing next to Will, and being the competitors that we are, it quickly turned into a contest to see who could propel themselves the highest. My son won even though he told me that my weight was to my advantage. Just what a mom wants to hear! The kids and I were all swinging side by side while John patiently gave everyone a push every so often. There's something about swinging that is so relaxing. My kids could swing for hours on end (and often do) and I think I could join them. It was the best part of my day!

Still Here

It's been awhile since I've blogged...life has been busy! Some weeks are slow and some are busy. This one is just crazy!

Will had his last track meet tonight. It was sprint night. He did so great! We're really proud of him! Also today I went on a field trip with Sarah's class to a bug museum. It was cool. This local guy collected thousands of species of insects and butterflies from all over the world and has them on display. It was amazing! Then we went to the park and ate lunch. I think that was the kid's favorite part.

Yesterday I had a perfect Mother's Day. The kids brought me breakfast in bed. They also brought me the Sunday paper and let me read it in bed after I ate breakfast. That's high on my list of favorite things to do, and one I don't get to do often! We went to church, then out for lunch (Carrabbas--my most favorite place!). We stopped by Home Depot on the way home and bought a storm door for the front and then John watched the kids while I went to Eddie Bauer (my favorite store) and got to buy a few things for spring! Yea...we ended the day the way we end every Sunday...watching Funniest Home Videos and laughing our heads off! Thanks guys for a fantastic day!

Yesterday morning we woke up to snow. I did a double take when I looked outside. I don't always catch the weather forecast, but this was a big surprise. The ground was completely covered, but it melted pretty quickly once the sun came up.

Speaking of snow, Pikes Peak is still snow-capped. It's usually all melted by June but I don't know if it will be gone as quickly this year. We'll see. It's always a sad thing to me when the snow-cap melts. It's still pretty majestic looking, but the snow really accentuates its beauty.

How are gas prices where you live? Sunday afternoon, we put $40 worth of gas in Minnie-the-van. I had about a quarter of a tank when we filled up, and $40 didn't even bring her all the way to full. Very depressing. It was $2.79/gallon Sunday. Yuck.

I'm downstairs and I keep hearing thuds from the kids rooms so I'm off to see what chaos I need to manage. Ta ta for now!

Disaster

In the almost 16 years that John and I have been married, I can't ever recall burning a meal...until tonight. I put some veggies on to steam in my new steamer basket. The steamer basket sits inside a saucepan with water in the bottom. When the water boils, the lid goes on the saucepan and the steam cooks the veggies. And they're usually quite tasty that way. Well, I put water in the pan, but not enough and by the time I realized the little water I did add had evaporated, I had a big mess on my hands. I tried to salvage dinner, but it had a distinct burnt taste...and was actually really gross. And I still can't get the black stuff off of my saucepan or steamer basket. Yuck. John was sweet to eat it anyway (and even said he liked it), but the kids wouldn't touch it. Usually I make them eat what I prepare, but tonight they were glad I had a box of mac and cheese on hand.

About a week ago, John and I got our first ATM/debit cards in 11 years. ELEVEN YEARS! When we moved from Irving, TX to Stephens, AR in 1995, our local bank didn't offer an ATM card, so we did without. We got so used to living without it that we didn't choose one when we later moved to Arkadelphia and then to Colorado. It wasn't really too hard to do without one, but did require planning ahead for weekends and making sure we had cash before the bank closed on Friday/Saturday/holidays. A few weeks ago we ran into a situation (track registration) where we really didn't want to use our credit card, but they were going to charge us $10 more to write a check (arghhhh). A debit card would have been the solution, but we didn't have one. So we decided to apply for one and like I said we got them about a week ago. Actually, they sat on the counter for 4-5 days before we even remembered to use it. Let me say...OH MY GOSH!! How much easier this has made my life!!! I really didn't know what I was missing when my kids were smaller and I was at the checkout line putting the groceries on the belt while trying to juggle a kid on my hip, keep the others from climbing out of the cart, give the cashier my coupons AND write a check while my baby was trying to grab my pen and put it in her mouth. How much easier it would have been to swipe my debit card and be done with it! NOW you tell me...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...or maybe NOT!

Colorado Springs has a minor league baseball team called the Sky Sox. Today, Will's class took a field trip to a Sky Sox game. I don't remember going on field trips like that, do you? Anyway, I had volunteered to go, but his teacher had enough parents and didn't need my help. At first I was bummed, but this morning I was thankful. It was FREEZING! Seriously! The temps started out in the 40s, dropped to the 30s, and the wind chill was in the 20s. It was foggy/rainy/drizzling/snowing. Definitely not baseball weather. They ended up cutting the field trip short as the game was delayed due to fog. Will was pretty disappointed, but I was glad they didn't have to sit out in that weather longer than they did. I told him we'd take him some warm summer evening! Sounds like a much better plan to me.

My Random Post for the Week

Whew! Today was our busy day. I'm glad it's over. Very glad.

The countdown has begun! The kids have three more weeks of school left. Actually only 14 days because they have a four-day week next week. I am so tired of making lunches and having to remember all the things they each have to take each day. I can't wait!!! I guess other parents and students are ready too. Sarah has been invited to THREE end-of-the-school-year parties. Her social calendar is very full these days.

Oh yeah, did I mention I was tired of homework? Really tired of it. Last night John and I got together with some friends from church and we had a babysitter for the kids. While I went to get our sitter, John helped Will finish up his homework. They didn't quite finish because they got stumped on one of the questions. Will is doing fractions right now, and this particular problem was pretty tough--even for my brilliant husband. Before we left, I overheard John tell our babysitter that he'd pay her extra if she'd help Will figure that problem out. She's very smart and of course it was finished when we got home...and yes, we gave her a couple extra dollars!

I took Will to get his summer haircut this afternoon--a buzz. It looks great and we both love how easy it is. He thinks it's so cool that he doesn't have to brush his hair for awhile. Me too.

Today one of Sarah's classmates had a celebration at school. She was celebrating the completion of her chemotherapy. She was diagnosed with leukemia in kindergarten, but she's doing great now. I can't think of a better thing to celebrate, can you? One of Will's classmates had hip surgery today. He has some rare degenerative disease that has affected his hip. He's been in a wheelchair for a couple of months now and probably will be for at least a year longer. So sad. Those two situations made me so grateful for healthy, happy children. It's not to be taken for granted that our kids are as healthy as they are...and we say Thanks, Lord.

John talked to one of his editors today about writing more Living the Questions Bible studies. The four that he wrote (that have been published) were on the four gospels, but now they want some based on Paul's letters. Exciting stuff. This series was actually "his baby". The idea was his own and they gave him a lot of creative space. That's always a nice thing.

I met a lady a couple of weeks ago who had just moved here from Texas. We started talking and realized that we had lots and lots of things in common. I invited her to get some coffee/tea with me this moring and we had the best time. I love adding new friends to my circle! And it's always fun when they're from the South...it give us lots of things to laugh and talk about.

Hide it in Your Heart

I've mentioned before that Sarah goes to AWANA at one of the churches here in town. We're really, really proud of her. She has memorized massive amounts of scripture, all the books of the Bible, and most recently, the 23rd Psalm. She's great at memorizing, but what I've been so impressed with is her ability to really learn and remember it.

Last Saturday, Will found a gum dispenser that he got for his birthday. At one time it was filled with gum. Lots and lots of gum. Seems Abbey found it and has been gradually consuming the gum (and hiding the dispenser in her secret hiding place under the back of our recliner!) Will was pretty disappointed when he discovered that his little sister had chewed all of it. I had a little talk with Abbey and explained to her that is eating Will's gum was "stealing"--taking something that didn't belong to her. Sarah was observing all of this and started spouting scripture..."Let him who has been stealing, steal no more..." And she was very serious in her tone towards Abbey. Last week, I was joking around with Sarah about something silly, and she looked at me and said, "Mom, you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you..." It was all I could do not to laugh at her. But what she was saying was actually quite true in that moment! Hiding God's word in your heart...that's what Sarah's been doing. It's neat to see her pull those verses out and quote them...in the context of the situation. She was also pleasantly surprised that she could repeat another verse along with our pastor on Sunday. Way to go, Sarah!

It's the dreaded Monday morning...ugh. The kids only have 3.5 more weeks of school though, so I guess I only have 3 more Mondays to really dread. After that, we'll have a LOT of togetherness. My most favorite thing.

John had this past weekend off. He works a lot of Saturdays, so when he has an entire weekend off, it's a great thing. This weekend, however, he was fighting a really bad cold. How un-fun to be sick on your time off. Thankfully he's feeling better this morning, but Will woke up coughing and complaining of a sore throat. He conned me into letting him stay home from school this morning (I think because it's Monday!). I'm taking him a little later though because he has his first track meet tonight...and if he doesn't go to school, he doesn't go to the meet. And he really wants to run tonight. He's up for the 800 meter (1/2 mile).

Can you believe it's already May? Where do the months go???

It's been snowing since we woke up this morning. Still hard for me to believe that May is just a few days away and we have snow, but we need the moisture and this is the form it takes for us, so I'm not complaining. It's very cold outside though--the weather icon on my screen reads 30 degrees with a wind chill of 22. Fun spring weather, huh?

Twenty-six weeks ago today, I had my last Diet Coke! That's half a year without one! I'm pretty proud of that. I was on the 2, 3, sometimes 4 a day plan, so this was a pretty drastic step for me. A good step though. I feel much better, and I've actually lost about 5 pounds. I'm convinced it's from not drinking soda because I haven't drastically changed my diet.

Last night I gathered with some ladies from my church to pray/listen for the needs of the women in our body. I seem to be the "young mom" representative. When asked about what I was sensing, I just couldn't keep my honest tears from falling as I confessed that I was tired. Really tired. Physically, yes, but also emotionally and spiritually. If you're a mom, you know what I'm talking about. Meeting the many, many needs of my family is exhausting. Yesterday was a hard day to begin with, but that question just opened up a range of emotion I was keeping at arms length. Initially, I was a little embarrassed by my raw display of emotion, but the ladies surrounding me seemed to be grateful for it. It confirmed for them what they were sensing too...that most of the young moms in our body feel the same way. One dear lady thanked me for my tears (wow) that she felt represented the tears of a lot of moms. And I really think she's right. We spend so much time trying to hold it all together and make things look "good" and perfect on the outside when we're just dying on the inside. And it's so tiresome. It's hard to confess your fears and struggles and indadequacies to fellow mom if they seem all too perfect and never appear to struggle with their kids, their husband, their finances, their faith, and on and on and on. I've been on both sides of this, and I am sorry for the times I tried so hard to appear together and perfect! The reality is I'm not. I'm a mess most of the time. A ragamuffin as Brendan Manning would say. And I'm so okay with that. I know who I am, but more importantly I know whose I am and I know how He sees me. So, my tears last night were in some sense healing for me. The most basic reason I went last night was to escape by myself for a few hours. However, God had more in mind for me, and I came home with a deep sense of peace, a new friend, and a lot of affirmation that we're in exactly the place (church-wise and in life) that we're supposed to be right now.

Below is a piece that John wrote this week. He said I could share it here...

Well, I saw it. I waited until it came out on DVD and watched it in the safety and comfort of my own home – Brokeback Mountain. I really wanted to see how the movie dealt with male friendships. I had heard and read all the hoopla about it being the gay cowboy movie, but I also knew, from the storyline, that it began as a friendship between men. And that is what I was curious to see unfold; however, the story didn’t so much unfold as it unraveled, for somethin’ got broke, long before that mountain, and everything else ended up broke as well.
As the final credits rolled across my screen, the overriding emotion I felt was sadness. I told my wife the next morning, Boy that was sad. The two main characters, Jake and Ennis, sit at a bar early in the film recounting a little of their past. Jake talks about how he could never please his father and so he eventually just stopped trying. Ennis lost both parents at a young age and ended up being raised by a brother and sister. Can anybody say father wound? And their lives, from those points on, were painful attempts to assuage those original wounds. They both married women and had kids and tried to present (for 1963) a normal face to the world. But both men ended up passing their pain onto their wives and children. As Richard Rohr says: If you don’t transform your pain, you’ll transfer it, certainly to those closest to you. You see, once the heart is broke, all the denim, boots, pickups, and longnecks can’t put it back together again.
I read one pastor’s blog where he declared that Brokeback was a movie all Christians must see. He felt it boldly exposed the prejudices we all carry. Sorry to burst his bloggle, but I didn’t feel that at all. Now I know that may indicate just how prejudiced I am, and I’m willing to look at that, but that’s just not the truth I believe the movie holds. I feel it boldly exposes the wounds we all carry and how we try to heal them. And how so many of them can be traced back to our fathers.
After the movie, I watched a special feature on director Ang Lee. He kept describing Brokeback as a classic American love story. I don’t know much about the American love part; there are some aspects of America these days that I just don’t have a context for. But I do know that it a classic story, because it tells the story of the heart’s longing for the father and how it gets broken along the way. And whether the names are Adam and Eve or Jack and Ennis, sadly, we go lookin’ for love in all the wrong places. And even though a mountain named Brokeback might look to be the key to unlock the door, even the psalmist knew that when he lifted up his eyes unto the hills or mountains, that wasn’t where his help cometh from. His help came from the LORD. And so does ours, whether cowboys or doctors and lawyers and such.

Not so fond of Mondays

I just really don't care for Mondays. Before John and I had kids, I always dreaded Monday mornings. We'd spend the whole weekend together, then have to enter our separate worlds of work and school during the week. I hated the feeling of separateness (is that even a word?). After our children started arriving, I dreaded Mondays even more, probably because I lost my helper! I love it when all of us are together, and Monday mornings just seem to pull us all apart. Now Abbey and I dread Mondays together. John usually goes to REI, and Sarah and Will go off to school. She usually spends the first hour after they all leave whining and crying. And many times I want to do the same. It just feels right when we're all together at home! Another reason I'm ready for summer.

Speaking of summer...we're not experiencing much of that today. We spent a good part of the weekend outside in the beautiful springtime weather. Yesterday, we didn't go outside without wearing shorts, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Today, the kids left for school wearing coats, hats, and gloves. That's because it was snowing. Yep, you heard me correctly. Snow. It's still snowing right now. Not a lot, but those are definitely snowflakes. Weird, huh? I think I mentioned before that April is our snowiest month. Not true this year though. We are WAY behind on snowfall and things here are so dry. That means we have higher risk of forest fires. Colorado has already seen more fires than last year, and we're barely into the fire season. Scary! So today's snow is very welcome.

Yesterday Abbey found a darkling beetle outside and she put it in a container because she wanted it to be her "pet". She screams and comes running inside if she sees an ant within 6 feet of her, but she's taken a liking to beetles. Go figure. Will and Sarah informed her that hers is a darkling beetle, and Will told her that it is harmless, so she walks around telling me that it's only a harmless beetle. Kinda funny. Well, she's been keeping the container in her room and she goes to check on it about every 10 minutes. Last night before bed, the beetle escaped. I think it was because she tried to transfer it to a plastic easter egg. She cried and cried because we made her go to bed without finding it. By the way, this beetle is about 2cm long. I kinda figured we'd come across a dead beetle sometime this week, but when I was making up her bed this morning, guess what I found on her pillowcase? The harmless beetle. It kinda grossed me out--but she was elated that we found it, and has been playing with it all morning. I'm actually surprised it has survived as long as it has the way she's been handling it.

Church Skippers

Today our family skipped church. We don't do it very often (I can probably count on one hand the times we've intentionally missed) but I gotta tell you it was really nice. John has been working quite a bit lately. Even when he's home, he's working. So, it really was a no-brainer to stay home today. We needed the family time and we needed the rest. Restful it was. We all slept in, made a big breakfast, read the newspaper--on Sunday morning rather than late Sunday night!, played outside in the beautiful weather, made a cake, exercised, played Connect Four and cards, made dinner, and watched Funniest Videos together--complete with popcorn. It was the best day we've had in the longest time. The pace was leisurely and restful. A true Sabbath.

Well, for all you folks suffering in the south in the 90+ degree April temps, just know that we didn't make it out of the 40s yesterday (in the 50s today). Last night at 9:30, it was 27 degrees outside. How's that for April weather? Anyone wanna move to Colorado? Or come for a visit?

We got our taxes finished up late Sunday night and mailed on Monday. What a relief that was. We got a small refund on our federal return, but we owed the state of Colorado. Our federal refund was enough to cover what we owed and still come out $50 ahead. We were thrilled!

Just when we begin to think that all the freelance work has dried up, God seems to show up for us in big ways. Like yesterday. John got a call from an editor wanting him to write a book on Christian denominations. Back in December, he wrote on one worldviews (he actually did a re-write) and this is to be a book in the same line. I think he's going to give it a shot. Exciting, huh? We're grateful for any and all work that comes his way.

Don't you like it when John posts on here? I love it, but can't seem to get him interested in doing it too often. I was laughing out loud as he was typing the post about Sarah's easter vomiting episode. I'm going to stay on him (nag, nag, nag) to share on this blog more often!

I'm posting here (John) while my dial-up service is downloading some tax documents. Yeah, ssllooww!

I left yesterday for work about 10:00. By that time, our kids had been eating jelly beans for about three hours. Mer had given them the "today, I don't care" green light to eat their Easter candy with abandon. I later learned that for lunch, and we'll focus in on Sarah here, she ate 10 chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A and french fries. You totaling all this up? After lunch, the kids dyed eggs. Meredith boiled 24 eggs and by the time I got home, there were three left on the counter. When I inquired about this, she said, "Well, Sarah ate 7 boiled eggs this afternoon. And then she blew." Yes, death and resurrection in the old Blase household on bad Saturday. I tried to step back into the flow of the house, but realized there was no flow to step into, but there was something else to step into; and there was more to come. One more upchuckin' two-step occurred about an hour after I got home. There was this cry, like a stuck Easter bunny, from the hall: "Bring the bowl." But Sarah managed to strategically hit the floor between the bowl and the toilet bowl. Bullseye! There ain't much on a Easter-eve evening, when you're trying to prepare yourself for the holy hallelujahs of Sunday morning, than to have to clean up the remains of the day. But that's life - cleaning out the muck of the stalls, literally and figuratively. Sarah finally fell asleep from a post-jelly-bean-chicken-nugget-boiled-egg intestinal roller coaster ride in the middle of Saturday Night Live. She was o.k. this morning and when asked in Sunday school if she wanted any jelly beans, she resolutely answered, "No thanks." You go to sleep some nights wondering just what in the world keeps your kids alive. Same stuff that always has - God's hands.

John

Good Friday

Today is April 14th, and we have not yet finished our taxes. Last weekend we bought TurboTax, and Wednesday we opened it and made quite a bit of headway. Seems we'll likely owe a little but we're okay with that...it's a manageable amount! We've never used TurboTax before. Probably because John was a pastor and our taxes were so complicated. Last year we got a CPA to do our taxes and get us set up with John's self-employment stuff. We felt brave enough to do it on our own this year and I gotta tell you that TurboTax is awesome. So simple to use and we saved about $200 by doing them ourselves. Since we owe, we're going to mail our stuff on Monday!

For the last 8 years, the Easter bunny has visited our house on the evening of Good Friday. That's tonight! It's a little different, but it allows our kids to play with their stuff and stuff their faces all day Saturday, and on Sunday we can keep the focus on Jesus. So, the Easter bunny gave me his list and recruited me to help him gather some stuff for the kids this morning. I think they'll have a few surprises in the morning.

I was listening to the radio this morning. We have a Christian station that I really like (and, no, it's not K-LOVE) and they were talking about Good Friday. I've always felt it was a sort of somber day...and in some sense it is. I know that Easter Sunday is the pinnacle day of this week, but I really think that today is also celebratory. Jesus' death is what gives us life. And He rose from the grave to give us hope. So tonight at dinner we're going to celebrate life and what Jesus did on the cross to ensure that for us.

I hope and pray that you have a blessed Easter weekend. We tell our kids all the time that Jesus loves them the most and He loves them the best. I hope you get a glimpse of His extravagant love for you today.

Our community is really growing. It seems we can't go far in any direction without seeing new constuction. Currently, we're watching a Walmart being built. A popular chain restaurant is due to open any day now, and there are houses going up like crazy. We've also gotten a new Mexican and Chinese restaurant, and a new strip mall in the last couple of months. Yesterday, John went with me to deliver something to a friend and was commenting on all the new development. He told me he was ready to start looking for a cabin in the mountains...far, far away from all this stuff! I think I'm with him.

It has been beautiful here for the last several days! And, we've spent much of the last two days outside. This morning Abbey and I ran lots of errands, and I stopped by McDonalds to get her a Happy Meal for lunch. I thought she might want to take it to the park (her FAVORITE place) and have a little picnic with me since the weather was so nice. Nope, she wanted to go inside and eat it in the play area. Probably because I always say no to that. Today, though, I said yes, and we had a fun time together and then played outside when we got home.

Will just started running track. He and Sarah both ran last fall (cross-country) but only Will wanted to run this spring. Last fall, they both had to run a mile at their meets. During one of Sarah's races, she got pretty tired towards the end, and with her typical dramatic flair, Sarah flung her arms back and LAID DOWN on the track for a little rest. Yep, that's our Sarah. She got back up after a couple of minutes and finished strong. She is quite the little actress and keeps us laughing. She came home last week with the proofs from her school pictures. She told me that even though I forgot it was school picture day, she still looked fabulous because she wore her poncho. She's definitely not lacking in self-esteem, huh? We're really proud of her--dramatics and all.

April snow

Well, I'm sorry to report that we didn't get the day off from school due to snow. It is snowing here though and coming down fast. Late last night they downgraded the blizzard watch to a blowing snow advisory. Until I moved here, I always assumed that a blizzard was a HUGE snowstorm, with snow accumulations measured in feet. That is usually a consequence of a blizzard, but the defining criteria is the wind/windspeed. Strong wind and snow constitute a blizzard. White out occurs when the wind is blowing the snow so hard you can't see very far in front of you. We had a blizzard last April and for most of the day, we couldn't see the swing-set in our back yard or the houses across the street. The snow was deep, but the drifts were up to my waist! Today we're only expecting 1-3 inches of snow, but the wind is blowing very hard. But not hard enough to be declared a blizzard! So, there's your meterology lesson for the day.

Will was thankful to have school. His class is going on a field trip and he's already missed one this year because he was sick. Sarah was glad to go to school today too. She knew she was having a substitute and she loves this particular sub. I guess I was the only one who was bummed they had to go. I still hope to get one more snow day before the end of the year!

Last night, John and I watched Memoirs of a Geisha. I actually read the book a few weeks ago and loved it. The richness and beauty of the Japanese culture really drew me into the book, and the film was even more spectacular. I was disappointed that the movie wasn't completely true to the book (is it ever?) but they did manage to keep the important storyline elements intact. John liked it too. We're movie lovers...can you tell? We don't have cable, so we tend to watch movies instead. There are lots of nuggets of spiritual truth in Memoirs of a Geisha though. That's one of the reasons we enjoyed it so much!

Random News and Notes

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a popular phrase we have around here, "Springtime in the Rockies". Well, we've had some very spring-like days lately with highs in the 70s. And today we have a Blizzard/Winter Storm Watch in effect until noon tomorrow. Weird, huh? I'll keep you posted...especially if we get a snow day tomorrow. I'm not planning on it, but it would make me happy if it happened to work out that way!

Remember back in January when my friend photographed John and Will for Pray! magazine? Well, I got some copies from her last week and their picture turned out great. If you can find a copy of the March/April issue, see if you can spot them! I don't know if you can buy it from Christian Booksellers/Retailers. It's a publication of NavPress and is a sister magazine to Discipleship Journal. I guess you could always try to find it online. Sorry I don't have a link.

John's sermon from last week won't be available online after all. A new girl was manning the sound booth and it didn't get recorded on Sunday. Sorry you can't hear it. It was a good one.

Here's a funny story I wanted to share. I was working in the library at the kids' school a few weeks ago helping the kindergarteners check out books. The kindies are only allowed to check out one book per visit, and they have to return their book in order to check out a new one. One little girl I was helping had forgotten her book and was so disappointed that she had to leave without a new one. I reminded her the name of the book she had out and she couldn't remember where it was. I asked her to get her mom to help her look for it. She told me she didn't have it any longer and when I asked her where she thought it was, her eyes got REALLY big and she told me she put it under her pillow and the tooth fairy took it. It was ALL I could do not to laugh. Too funny! I think she really believed the tooth fairy took it because she kept telling me she didn't have that book at home.

Last week I decided after a lot of though and a lot of prayer to sign up as a Creative Memories consultant. Creative Memories is a photo-preservation/scrapbook supply company. I've loved and used their product for nine years, and preserving my family's memories/stories is really my passion. So, it wasn't a big stretch to decide to do this. In fact, I've had people trying to convince me to do this for years. This time, though, the time felt right and I'm pretty excited about it. Yesterday I got my consultant kit and I was like a kid in a candy store. It was three boxes worth of stuff I get to play with! Poor John, he got a box from UPS too that had some copies of his Mark/Luke LTQ Bible studies but it got opened last. His books look GREAT by the way! I'm so proud of him. Last week when his parents were here we visited Focus on the Family (Abbey refers to it as Family Pocus) and they had copies of his studies in their bookstore. That was really great to see and we were all so proud of him!

We've had a busy week and are looking forward to having NOTHING to do tonight.

Monday morning

I wish I knew who came up with the idea of spring break so I could thank them! What a wonderful break it was last week. I woke up later than I wanted to this morning...and feel like I've been ten steps behind since my feet hit the floor. I'm really ready for summer to arrive because I'm ready to chunk my calendar and schedule! All five of us hit the ground running this morning. Like I said yesterday, I have a lot of sloth in me. I think it would have helped to ease into this week but no such luck.

Abbey and I have been to the kid's school twice this morning. We went the second time to take a class picture for Sarah's teacher, then we went to "AFEWAY" to have some prints made. One night last fall, we were driving past SAFEWAY and the light behind the "S" was burned out, so it read, "AFEWAY". Sarah and Abbey thought that was hilarious. As we were leaving school this morning, I told Abbey we were headed to Safeway. She quickly corrected me and said we were headed to afeway. They ALWAYS correct me because I ALWAYS seem to say it wrong. It makes me laugh every time!

A Long Time...

Wow...I just logged on to check my email and to post here. I didn't realize my last post was a week ago! Time certainly flies when you're having fun...and it certainly seems to fly on the day after we've set our clocks forward an hour! I can't believe it's already 3pm!

We had a really fun time with John's parent's last week. They enjoyed being with the kids, and the kids loved having them here. (We did too!) Abbey was funny yesterday morning when I was admiring the toenail polish that Mimi put on for her. She told me that she didn't like to look at her toes because it made her think of Mimi and that made her too sad. Cute, huh? Mimi and Papa kept us on the go the entire time! I guess we were so busy trying to make the most of every minute they were here. John and I decided after they left that we have a lot of "sloth" in us. We like to take it easy and we always manage to find time in our day to rest. One of our neighbors is a busy guy. He always has some project going. One day last summer, I was commenting to John about his latest undertaking and John asked if I wished he was more like our neighbor. I replied, "Absolutely not. If you were that busy all the time, I'd feel too guilty for wanting to sit around. I like that you want to sit with me!" Yeah, we both have a lot of sloth in us. And we're not ready to give that up.

John preached at our church this morning. He did a great job. I think I said this after he preached a couple of months ago, but it just makes me realize that preaching/teaching isn't completely written out of our future. We don't have any idea what this might look like, but we both sense that it's a part of our future. If you care to listen to his message, visit our church's website (on the right sidebar of this page--International Anglican Church) and click on sermons. You can download and listen. It may take a few days for his sermon to be available though, so if it's not there, check back in a day or so.

One afternoon while John's parents were here, they let us go out for a date. It's been a very long time since we've done that. We went to downtown Colorado Springs and walked around all the cool shops. We ate some amazing Mexican food, and then we saw a movie called the Three Burials of Melchiades Estrada (or something very similar to that!). It was a really good movie. It's an independent film so it's not on at every major theater, but if it is on close to you, I'd recommend it. It was a really neat story of redemption. Tommy Lee Jones directed and stars in it. We like him a lot and thought he did an excellent job with this film.

Okay...off to enjoy the rest of this day and get ready for things to start-up again tomorrow. I will say that I haven't missed packing lunches or spelling homework or the rushing out the door this week. But...all good things must come to an end. And we only have 7.5 more weeks of that before summer vacation! Can't wait.

This morning as we were driving to church, we counted a dozen or more prairie dogs. There is an open field by close by and it is a big prairie dog community. It was warm and sunny this morning and we kept seeing them out scampering or standing up sunning themselves. They're so darn cute! We counted a dozen more on the way home from church too. I think that we must be getting closer to spring...they were out in full force today!

The field they live in is also home to the preble mouse. It's got some official species classification name, but most folks around here call it the !*&^#? preble mouse. That's because it's on the endangered species list and a lot of the undeveloped land around here is preble mouse habitat...and therefore is restricted from being developed. Just recently, the mouse was taken off the endangered list, but not before making a lot of developers unhappy. There is one interstate exit rampthat takes you on a half-mile loop south and then back north to the overpass....just because of the preble mouse habitat that couldn't be interfered with when the ramp was constructed. Very interesting and very talked about in this community. So there's a little bit of preble mouse fun for you today. I know you're just so glad you know that!

It's Back

Lately, John and I have been organizing the "junk" we have stored in our basement. We had Goodwill come by and pick up some items last week, and we threw a lot of things away as well. The last thing we needed to do something with is our NordicTrac exercise machine. A friend gave it to us a few years ago and it has been taking up a corner in the basement for WAY too long. It's GREAT exercise, but you have to be pretty coordinated to get the exercise benefit. And neither of us fits that bill. We bought a treadmill last year which we use frequently (well, John uses it frequently!) so the NordicTrac needed to go. Yesterday, I hauled it upstairs and out to the curb and taped a FREE sign to it. It was gone in less than an hour and I was soooo happy and quite proud that my little plan worked! John was happy too. This morning when I went to get the newspaper, guess what was back on our curb? You guessed it...that stupid NordicTrac. I guess whoever took it decided they weren't coordinated enough or didn't have a free corner in their basement. That was about 7:30 this morning. It's 3:30 now and it's still sitting there.......arghhh. We can't even GIVE the thing away. So I guess we'll be hauling it to Goodwill next week or returning it to that corner again. Anybody interested in taking it off our hands?

On another note, we're having a beautiful day here. Abbey rode her new scooter for awhile and she's great at it...she goes really fast too. Fun!

Happy Birthday...

...to John and Abbey. Abbey is four years old today, and John is thirty-nine! We began the day opening gifts, then Abbey had her choice of breakfast--cinnamon rolls. We didn't have a big party for either of them, just a simple family celebration, complete with a Belle cake. (Belle is the princess in Beauty and the Beast.) John was a great sport to share the Belle cake with Abbey. Abbey got a princess scooter but because we still have snow outside, she had to ride it in the house. Times like these are when an unfinished basement is a good thing. She had a fun day! John had a busy day, but we're going to watch a movie together in a little bit, and hopefully we can have a date night next week when we have a free babysitter. His parents are arriving Monday and will spend the week with us. It's Spring Break and the kids will be out of school, so it's a great time for them to come and we're getting really excited!

Springtime in the Rockies!

Well, I finally got that snow day I've been wanting for a while. We have about 6 inches on the ground and it's still snowing. Our school district, and every district in our county is closed today. Yeah!

Interestingly, today is the first day of spring. The weather forecasters around here are quite fond of the phrase "springtime in the Rockies". It's used to describe the widely varied weather conditions we experience this time of year. And varied is an appropriate word. Yesterday, we heard thunder, saw lightning, had fog, sunshine, rain, snow, and sleet, all in the space of a few hours. Definitely varied.

So we're going to take advantage of this day at home and catch up on some rest. Last week I got the Little House on the Prairie dvds from Blockbuster.com (by the way, I LOVE Blockbuster.com) and the kids thought watching Laura and Ma and Pa and Mary was just the greatest thing ever. We're going to watch a couple episodes today and later head over to Toboggan Hill for some serious sledding. Should be fun!

Leprechauns

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Abbey's preschool class celebrated St. Patrick's day yesterday and she was so excited when I picked her up. Apparently a leprechaun visited her classroom and left them tiny shamrock sequins (she saved them for my "crapbook"...translated scrapbook) and gold candy coins. They didn't see the leprechaun though...he must have come while they were gone to chapel. Her teacher told them to be on the lookout for the leprechaun. He might even visit them at home. She took those words to heart and had her eye out for that leprechaun for the remainder of yesterday. She even set a trap for him in our den floor. The trap involved pulling out every single dvd we own and arranging them in a grid-like pattern on the floor. So funny. She found one of those shamrock sequins this morning and her eyes got so big when she told me that he WAS HERE!!! I think she was upset that I made her pick up the "trap" she set. Oh to be a kid again!!!

St. Patrick's Day isn't one of those holidays that we go all out for. I have some friends who think it's fun to make a green meal for their family--green mashed potatoes, green meatloaf, etc. Last year we ate a traditional Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage with some friends...along with green jello and green beans and green rice krispie treats for dessert. I think John was disappointed that's not on the menu for tonight...our kids, however, are pretty okay to stick with pizza. I just hope you enjoy the day regardless of how you celebrate.

Random News

The wind started blowing this morning about 4am...and when I say blowing, I mean BLOWING. I am a very sound sleeper, but the rattling shutters and screens woke me up. It even blew our gas grill over. I'd say that is some strong wind.

Next week my baby will be FOUR years old. Her daddy will be 39. Most of you know that those two share a birthday. Isn't that neat? Abbey is counting down the days...eight more, which we mark on our caledar every day. I asked her yesterday after preschool what mommy was going to do when she turned four. She told me I would cry. She's probably right. She tells everyone that she wants princess stuff and real make-up. She wanted real make-up for Christmas and didn't get it, so I'm guessing she'll keep asking until she does. We'll see.

Last night John and I watched the movie Seabiscuit. It's one of those movies, like Cinderella Man, that we've rented countless times from Blockbuster and borrowed from the library at least 5 times and always returned unwatched. So we finally watched it. And it was beautiful. I don't think that if I had watched it any of the previous times I've had it that it would have spoken to me the way it did last night. If you haven't seen it, you simply must! It's great.

Spring?

The calendar tells me it should be spring, the sunshine tells me it should be spring, and retailer's advertisements tell me it should be spring...BUT nothing around here looks much like spring. We have snow on the ground (it snowed all day yesterday) and icy roads, and the bank sign said 24 degrees when I took the kids to school this morning. It still feels and looks like winter around here!!! And though I love it here in Colorado, spring is one of the things I miss. We do have a spring, but usually in late May. The first year that we lived here, I found myself planting petunias and other annuals in JULY. One July, (in Arkansas) I tried to get some bedding plants to spruce up my yard. There were none to be found. So, all of you in the South, enjoy your daffodils. Enjoy your azaleas and tulips and butterflies. Enjoy your green lawns and the pear trees that will soon blossom. Enjoy the warm temps and eating dinner on your patio/deck. Enjoy SPRING!

Funny stuff

My kids say some really funny things. I try to remember them all but of course that's impossible. However, I have a couple of recent things to pass on...

Will: "Dad, don't ever leave the "er" off of butter." (That's a word he's not allowed to say!)

Sarah: We were leaving some friend's house the other night and Sarah told us that their daughter said the "d" word and the "s" word. Upon further inquiry, we learned that Gracie said D-A-N-G and S-T-U-P-I-D...again, words we don't say at our house, but much better than what I was expecting to hear!

Abbey: I was sitting in my bedroom floor this afternoon and trying to get Abbey to come sit in my lap and look at something with me. She obviously didn't want to and her excuse was that if she stayed in my bedroom, she'd want to look at my bed, and that would make her want to jump on it (which isn't allowed) so she just needed to "get outta here". Funny.

Switching subjects, let me tell you that John has gotten a lot of affirmation lately about his writing. It has been a big boost for him. I try to encourage him often, but it means something different when he hears it from other sources. We're grateful for the encouragement that has come his way this week.

Today is a beautiful Colorado day. Lots of sunshine and temps in the upper 50s. A drastic change from yesterday--it snowed all day long and was very cold. Most of that snow is melted now, but the roads were a little icy this morning. I was hoping for a delayed start, but no such luck. April is actually our snowiest month, so I'm guessing we have a few more snow-days or delayed-start mornings to come.

Today was my morning to work in the library at the kids school. I'd been re-shelving books for a while and looked up to see my sweet husband standing there with a steaming cup of Starbucks chai latte in his hand. Just for me! My favorite. Wasn't that sweet? It was a nice surprise...and so nice of him to bring it to school for me!

A funny thing...last night the kids were brushing their teeth before bed and John asked me if I knew where the crust was?!??? What??? He was mimicking Abbey. She like to brush her teeth with the "crust toothpaste". Apparently she's not fond of Crest...unless you pronounce it crust. Smile!

It's Definitely a Monday!

What is it with Mondays? Do you ever have one of those days where everything you do seems hard??? That would describe my day perfectly. John's too. We're both just kinda scratching our heads and wondering where some of this stuff is coming from? And praying. And pushing through it.

Abbey woke up with a fever this morning and was complaining about her ear. I took her to the doctor and she has an infection in both of her ears. She hasn't had an ear infection in three years...and today she has two. Getting to the doctor this morning was interesting. I had plenty of time to make our 10AM appointment, but so many things kept delaying us and we arrived by the skin of our teeth at 9:59:59!! The pharmacy was a fun adventure too. They didn't have the medicine prescribed for her. I didn't have my cell phone with me (the one time I really needed it) to call the doctor and see if they'd prescribe a different medicine, and of course, the pharmacist wouldn't call them for me. Here is the good part of my day...I ran into a friend at the pharmacy counter who let me borrow her cell to make the call to our doctor, saving me two trips across town. That in itself was a small miracle because it's a well-known fact that you can't get a phone signal inside that store. I'll spare you the rest of the details of our day. Things can only get better from this point on!

Maybe things seem so hard when you're coming off of a good weekend. Ours was nice and relaxing. One of those that you hate to see come to an end.

On Saturday, John was digging around in his drawers (his dresser drawers) and he came across the resignation letter he read the day he resigned as pastor of Second BC in Arkadelphia. He read it, then gave it to me to read. It was interesting to say the least. Interesting because it was somewhat prophetic. A couple examples. He wrote that moving to Colorado was something that he felt he MUST do. He acknowledged that it felt risky and he didn't know what the future held, but that he felt compelled to go. Defintely interesting. Definitely true. And maybe very good that we didn't know what the road ahead would look like. Another thing he said was that we weren't running from anything, but rather towards Someone. The path we've been on since moving here has pushed us closer to Jesus than I could ever have imagined. And though it's been hard at times, it's all been for good. At one point in his letter, he was mentions heaven and he said something about how Gary Turner referred to it as the land of "no mores". I could't keep the tears from falling as I read that and was thinking that Gary Turner (a pastor friend from Arkadelphia) is indeed in that place of no more cancer, no more pain, no more suffering, and no more tears. He's home.

Company's Coming!

We're having company for dinner tonight. We invited a friend from church to join us. She is actually our new Children's Pastor so the kids are excited about that (because they really like her!) but they're more excited that they get to have dessert. We rarely have dessert at our house. I'm known as the Sugar Sheriff around here. I'll spare you my nutritional rant for now. Just know that sugar is terrible for our bodies, and that's why it's seriously limited around here. But...my kids know that when we have friends over, there is usually some type of treat for after dinner...and that treat is usually sweet! They're counting down the minutes.

Only in Colorado

Yesterday we had record-breaking temps in the mid 70s and this afternoon the snow clouds have blown in as predicted. We're only supposed to have light flurries tonight, but it is so weird because yesterday the kids playing outside in shorts! Only in Colorado can you have sunshine one minute and snow the next.

I'm reading a book right now called "Scraping Heaven" by Cindy Ross. The author and her husband were both avid long-distance hikers before they had children. Becoming parents didn't dampen their enthusiasm for hiking. This book tells the story of their family hiking the Continental Divide Trail, from the Canadian to Mexican border over 5 summers. The first section they hiked (about 600 miles) found them hiking with two toddlers (one in diapers at the time--and not the disposable variety either!) They used 3-6 llamas to carry their stuff and would schedule stops to replenish their supplies along the way. After hiking the Colorado Trail the first summer, they decided to hike the remaining sections (north and south) over the next several summers. It's a fascinating book, but I don't think I'll be hiking with kids and llamas anytime soon. Their kids were troopers, but she writes pretty honestly about the parenting challenges they faced on the trail. Not for me! My friend recommened this book to me last summer and now I'll recommend it to you all. It's a good read.