Tales of the Hood - Episode IV

I was in the middle of baking some pumpkin dessert yesterday and decided to sit down in the lazy boy and relax for a minute. I can see the front walk from the lazy boy. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to what was out there, but there was someone on the front walk. 15 minutes went by and someone was still out by the tree. The next time I looked the guy across the street (Pipsqueak's owner) had come over to talk to the person. I watched for a bit and realized it was someone working on a baby stroller. The thing that was odd about the stroller was that it was not carrying a baby but a suitcase. I asked God if he wanted me to go talk to the person and I did not hear an answer..... The neighbor had given the person a roll of duct tape. I still could not tell if it was a guy or a gal.
So I sat there some more and watched. They were putting duct tape on the stroller wheel and then tried to push it up the sidewalk. Well, of course the duct tape is not going to hold a wheel. Does this person not realize this? I was thinking maybe the person was kind of retarded or slow. We do have a "slow" gal up the street. By this time, the person had come out from behind the stroller and our tree. It was a young blonde gal. She had a double baby stroller and about 3 bags, a pillow and a teddy bear. Still didn't know if I should go talk to this person. It's the hood man.
Finally I decided to see if I could help. She was not making much progress getting anywhere and she had to have been there at least a 1/2 hour.

me: "Hi. Is there anything I can help you with?"

girl: "I'm trying to fix this wheel."

me: "It's pretty well broke and I don't think duct tape is going to hold it on when the wheel turns... it's going to break."

girl: "Yeah, I guess."

me: "Where do you live?"

girl: "Nowhere now. I just got kicked out. My girlfriend I was staying with kicked me out of the house. She knows I don't have anywhere to go. I'm pregnant too, but she doesn't believe me. But that's ok. I know and my boyfriend knows."

me: "So where are you going to stay?"

girl: "I'm trying to get over to my mother-in-law's house to see if she will let me stay there. She lives over by the Quicktrip on SE 14th and E 6th."

me: "That's quite a ways to walk with a broken stroller."

girl: "Yeah, I know. I don't know what I'm going to do now."

me: "I've got an old stroller but I'm not sure if all of your stuff will fit on it."

girl: "We won't know unless we try it."

I go in the house to get the stroller. She started to follow me in the house and when I realized it, I turned around and shut the door and told her I would be back in a minute. The thing about the girl is - you can tell she had been doing meth. Her face was all marked up and her teeth were chipped. Her eyes were bright but she had that bugged out look. She had to have been maybe 21 or so, but she looked so old. She wasn't thinking straight at all - just obsessed with getting the stroller figured out.
Edgey and I were just talking about this with the Ayers on Sunday. Edgey was telling a story about hauling a guy in his car somewhere that was doing meth and he obsessed about picking the fuzz off of this blanket in the car. He had the whole blanket picked clean in about an hour and 1/2 and when Edgey threw the fuzz ball out the window, the guy totally freaked on him. This little chick was obsessed with the stroller.
The stroller I had was one I used with all my kids. It's one of those giant wheel Navigators. I figured the wheels would hold up under the weight and I am definitely not using it any more. I don't know why I hadn't gotten rid of it yet. I guess cause it was down in the dungeon and that is not my domain.
I took the stroller out there and showed her how to set it up and brushed off the dead spiders, etc... She started loading her stuff on. The suitcase wouldn't stay balanced though. By that time Ethan had come outside poking his nose around. I yelled at him to get in the house and get some shoes on.... Duh. Then when he came out again I had him go hunting for some bungee cord in the dungeon. He knows better than I do what's in the dungeon since he helps his dad out a lot.
This girl was totally trying to make the suitcase balance on there the entire time. Obsessed.
My brain is thinking.... Ok she has to walk all the way across town to get to this place with this little stroller carrying all this weight when all I have to do is load it up in the van and drive her there in 10 minutes. This girl is totally wasted and doesn't even really know what she is doing.
Is there really a place across town?
Ethan came back with the bungee cord. I strapped everything down and man, she was off like a flash of lightning.... off on her mission. Left the dead stroller sitting on my sidewalk. I pushed it to the curb hoping someone is going to take it. The neighbor kids are looking at me like I am nuts. I am standing there on the sidewalk thinking.....
Ok I did not even talk to this girl about Jesus. I had an opportunity here and I didn't even say anything. I ministered to her need, but how is she going to know it had ANYthing to do with Jesus. So I beat myself on the head a few times.

This morning, the stroller is still out on the curb. I don't know what I am going to do with it. It is nice and sturdy except the one wheel. I may have Edgey take it to his work dumpster... otherwise, I am going to have to pay money to have it removed.
I made the kids pancakes this a.m. We were supposed to go to IHOP for the shrove tuesday special (free pancakes) but the person we made plans with was sick. She thinks her husband poisoned her or something.... just kidding. I had already gotten all the kids out of bed early and got them all excited for pancakes.... so I just made them at home. Elizabeth said mine are the best anyway and she was glad we stayed home. LOL She just doesn't know any better... but that's ok.
School got done real early today.... they are all playing with starwars stuff. I am going to the video store to get that Ice Age movie. It is so funny.... we were talking about the Ice Age in history today. That will get us into some more discussion later without them realizing its actually school. Psyche.


A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

If the world didn't suck, we'd fall off....

We had a good weekend. Saturday was nice and relaxing. Aunti came and got the kids around 3 p.m. and we left to go to Wellspring so Curt could get a book and then out to the church for worship practice and a meeting after that. I was thinking it was going to be a big deal about the direction of the church.... It wasn't. Praise God for leadership accountability and covering.
After that, we went and picked up the kids from Aunti's and took them home. Went to bed early.
Sunday was family Sunday at church so all the kids were in the sanctuary with the adults. Pastor preached on mercy, love, grace and faith. We went to lunch with the Ayers at our favorite Chinese Buffet. It was fun. I don't get to fellowship often because of working weekends all of the time. When we got home, Babus and Shannon came over to hang out. They are doing well and looked really great. I almost cried because you can see what God is doing with them and after sooooo much had happened you could hear Edgey's words coming out of Babus' own mouth. It was good for me because we had poured a lot into their lives whether they thought so or not.
When we were at Teen Challenge, it was that way a lot. We pour ourselves into these students and fellowship and mentor and give.... then they would give up and leave or do something dumb and get kicked out and you never would know what ever happened to them. Edgey always said, "If they call you, you know they are doing good and if they don't, they aren't." Darkness wants nothing to do with light.
One of the worst ones for me was the guy that Edgey hung out with when we were getting married and a while afterwards.... Eric - he had a calling on his life to preach. He went his own way and living with some girl and doing drugs and ended up dead after diving into some lake off a dock and broke his neck. Even the guy that sang at our wedding.... he had been a christian for years (ALWAYS went to church and never stopped going) and clean and then turned around and left his family for some girl, had another kid, dealing drugs in some other state. The worst one for Edgey was a guy that we hung out with, went to Omaha several times to pick up his wife and kid and even recommended him to stay at the bible camp (where we had worked) to help out the new manager there. He ended up stealing the managers car, computer and who knows what to sell and get money to get meth down on 6th avenue. Edgey was devastated. He said the worst phone call he ever had to make was to that guys mother....telling her he left TC and was into drugs again -don't send him any money. He said the tone in her voice he would never forget-disgust, hurt, crushed. NO one is exempt from the temptation of sin. I think it's worse when there are addictive behaviors involved.
Enough depressing stuff. Why am I thinking about this anyway?



The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Psalm 37:23

got crabs?

Friday was a good day. I woke up early and we got school done early with no hassles. My nieces were going to be at my mom's all day today so Mom had asked if my kids could come over to play with them. Like I'm gonna turn that down? I don't think so. I ran errands and got some things done. Dropped some things off at my mom's house for her. Then watched Oprah for about a 45 minutes.
Edgey and I went on a date. We were hoping to meet with friends but it was a no go. We had a nice dinner though. We had never been to Joe's Crab Shack at Jordan Creek and we had a coupon so we went. For those who have never been there we thought it was awesome. It was a bit noisy but very relaxed and open. Hilarious because for birthdays they make the birthday person do something totally embarassing. I'd like to see pastor or Larry have to run around on a stick horse with a cowboy hat shouting yeehaw! while everyone sings happy birthday to him. It would just be soooo Not them. It was very funny.... that's what they made this poor older couple do. They were probably in their 60's. The table next to me had to hula hoop while everyone sang happy birthday and another guy had to stand on a chair with a hawaiian hula skirt and some helmet or something and sing happy birthday to himself like it was american idol. It would be a trip to work there. The waiters and waitresses had to stop once in a while and go dance in the middle of the room, do the macarena and whatever. Food was great if you like seafood. Two thumbs up!
This morning we were up early and Edgey was getting ready to go to the men's group out at the church when his dad called and ended up talking to him for an hour... by that time it was too late to go so he just stayed home and we had coffee and hung out with the kids. Elizabeth was driving me nuts to write something on her blog so I did that for her and Ethan wrote on his for once.
I don't think we are doing too much today. Sometimes it's nice to just stay home and relax. Edgey wanted to go visit with Aunti and I have worship practice this afternoon and then a meeting at church tonight.
Time for another cup of coffee.....

Presence of God

How do you know you are in the presence of God? I have talked to people that say they knew because they would see a mist of Glory where the presence of God was, or that they had a burning sensation, or they would just shake. I guess I have never seen anything specific, but I have never really sought after a visual. I suppose I could ask, but do I really want to see God? I think it would totally freak me out. I have asked to see things through the eyes of the spirit, but then I think ... Do I really want to see evil demons standing over people or staring at me? Now angels would be cool. So far, I haven't seen anything. I'm sure God knows what he is doing there.
I have one friend that had an experience where she smelled God. She said it was the smell of frankincense. She was at a Benny Hinn conference at the time. She had been praying to be able to smell God the whole drive to the conference. She was in awe that God would reveal himself to her in that conference... Benny Hinn stopped in the middle of the service and asked the congregation if they could smell it.
I know others who have been baptized in water and come out of the water and they smelled a frankincense and myrrh smell. I have not had that experience either.

My experience with the presence of God is more like someone has punched me in the gut and I feel like I am going to puke. Not like a sick feeling, but that churning in your stomach like someone is squeezing it. Does that sound gross? Rarely is it a overwhelming sensation but it is there... When I pray or during worship sometimes (sad it's not all the time-just being honest), sometimes when I hear new revelation, etc... When it has been overwhelming God was really working on me. It's weird that most of the time it is when I have been at a special conference or listening to a special speaker. I suppose that is because when you go to those things, you are expecting impartation or just something to happen that is not normal...Something new.
The strongest I have ever felt it was at a weekend women's leadership conference in Dallas. We were in the word for 4 days straight and on the last day, TD Jakes was there speaking. Man, as soon as he walked on the platform, the anointing was so unbelievably strong, I didn't want to move. I didn't want it to stop either. My spirit was jumping though. I am not saying it is because of TD Jakes - but I think it was because we were in expectation. Why can't we be that way all of the time?

Anyway, my point with all this is to say... for the first time since that conference and that was years ago, Wed night service, it was strong again. A little bit during worship.... but as soon as pastor started preaching the word and said Holy Ghost - it was that SLAM- punch in the stomach. Edgey was looking at me and asking, "What's wrong?" Am I surprised? Yes and No. I guess because it has been such a long time since I have felt the presence that strongly and no because I was expecting something. But why now?
People, let me tell you, God must be getting ready to do something in our midst, because this feeling has not gone away ALL week. Not as strong at times, but my spirit is jumping.

Be expecting....


p.s. I got my cheeseburger. : )

mmmmmm, Burger....

Remember how I said I wanted a bunless cheeseburger yesterday? I never did get one. But, you know who got one? I'll give you one guess....... Yep, Edgey had bunless cheeseburgers yesterday. Not fair. Today is my freedom Thursday, so I am definitely going to get a bunless cheeseburger.
Yesterday I did get my nap in. Then did some more endless laundry. I still don't understand how I can finish one day and have 2 totally full baskets the next day ???? I keep looking through the clothes thinking.. Did they really wear this? Can't I just fold it back up and put it in the drawer?
Jesse Boy is obsessed with his camouflage clothing and everytime I get it clean he picks it out to wear. I wonder if he is going to be into hunting and fishing. Last night at church he was standing in the corner up against a wall. B- asked him if he was hiding with his camouflage on and he said yes. I had to laugh about that.
Church was good. Pastor was talking about the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It made me think of when I was a little kid. I was probably about 7 when I read the Easter story and was saved. My Great Grandmother Elizabeth (the one I named my daughter after - what a great inheritance) had given me a little sunday school paper. It was a pale purple color and had the Easter story on it. I read it over and over and over and cried and cried. I remember I was on the front porch at my Mom & Dad's house. No one prayed with me but I gave my heart to Jesus then... I really did not grow up in church but I do remember going to church once in a while. My parents attended a methodist church inconsistently and my great grandmother attended another methodist church. If you know much about methodist churches, they really don't go around speaking in tongues or anything.... I knew nothing about that. But I remember one night my mom had sent me to bed. I shared a room with my brother and sister. I started to pray and all of a sudden I was speaking in tongues (more like whispering so she wouldn't hear me and yell at me). I had no idea what I was doing or saying but I knew I was still praying. I probably prayed that way for a good hour and it felt so good. My mom did yell a couple of times but I didn't want to stop so I just tried to pray even quieter. Finally I went to sleep. It never happened again like that.
It really blows me away when I think about that though. To think that God called me to himself at even that early age. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but he did.
My mom tells a story about when I was about 2 years old and she was coming home from the grocery store. Where I grew up, we lived along a busy street. She had put me down to walk into the house so she could get the groceries out of the trunk of the car and all of a sudden she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned around really fast and saw me toddling towards the street. She caught me just in time. It freaked her out that someone tapped her shoulder. She always said I had an angel that was watching out for me.

Ugh... Edgey just called and said he is coming home for lunch today. Now I have to wait even longer to get my burger.... wahhhh.


Around our pillows golden ladders rise,
And up and down the skies,
With winged sandals shod,
The angels come, and go, the messengers of God.
-Richard Henry Stoddard

Elizabeth tried to get her schoolwork done much more quickly today. She wanted me to type on her blog for her. I added the link for her on the sidebar. I told her she had to have school done before I would type on it. She piddled around for a little bit but then picked up the pace.

I stayed up late on a cleaning spree last night. Sometimes I get these urges to clean and purge. I suppose it's like that hormonal nesting thing cause it usually happens once a month.
I went through a bunch of homeschool stuff and cleaned it out. A lot of it is preschool stuff and I am going to be glad to get rid of it. We are past that now. Yeah!!! I had a lot of things for the kids to do while I was doing school with Ethan. They wanted to "do school" too so I had special "school" things set aside for them. I'm not sure whether to sell it on ebay or just give it away. If anyone is interested in preschool stuff, let me know. Most of it is like wooden puzzles, manipulatives, lace up shapes, flash cards with colors, shapes, numbers and letters, etc...

I was totally planning on McDonalds today and then Jesse woke up (early I might add) and said he didn't feel good. He was white as a sheet and said his tummy hurt. I made him some toast with butter & honey and a little bit of water. He is fine now cause he is already asking for food, but now I won't have anybody to go with cause I didn't make plans. Crud. Now I have to make lunch instead of weaseling my way out of it. Nothing sounds good except a bunless cheeseburger anyway. Oh well.

I am starting to feel a nap coming on. I went to bed late to start with. Then I woke up in the wee hours of the morning. My favorite neighbor was outside screaming cuss words at somebody. It was about 4:30 a.m. Then he screeched his tires racing away down the street. It took me a while to go back to sleep. Then, my darling husband locked himself outside this morning and forgot his keys so I had to get up at 7:15 and let him back in. Good thing he had his cell phone or I probably would have slept through the pounding on the door. I was tired. So I just pushed the on button on the coffee pot and stayed up for the day.
One of my routines is trying to have the coffee ready for the next morning so I don't have to be totally awake to start the day. Sometimes Edgey even turns it on for me. He left me a little note yesterday on the coffee pot and said "I Love You". It was sweet. This morning he left me little piles of dried mud where he put his boots on for work on my freshly vaccuumed floor. Wasn't that sweet? At least he took out the trash.

****************************************************************************
I keep running across this verse in my readings so I have been thinking about it a lot lately.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. -Gal 2:20

If Christ is really living in me, I should be living a truly holy and powerful life. If I am a part of the body of Christ and the body is a representation of Christ himself today, why am I not walking around as Christ did; discerning needs, ministering and seeing people as God himself sees them through spirit eyes? It reminds me of that song... If we are the body, why aren't his arms reaching, why aren't his hands healing, why aren't his words teaching?

I John 2:5-6 says
By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

How did Christ walk? In holiness and power.
Am I truly abiding in Christ? Am I totally dependent on Him? What keeps me from living in holiness and power?

Just what I have been pondering......

Elizabeth - When she was getting this picture taken she told the photographer this was the pose she wanted to do and after they came back it was the best one in the bunch. Elizabeth says it looks like the spirit of God is shining down on her..... and she is right. : )

We went out yesterday to run errands and find Bling,Bling. The place I go has not gotten any new ones yet, but I did buy one that was a crown. Edgey was coveting that one too. He wouldn't put it back in the sack. I figured it was as close to a King of Kings, Lord of Lords crown as one can get. We'll have to advertise it that way. I guess I could get a skull&Crossbones and advertise it as "Sin Sucks". Anyway, I did get the crown and a couple of dog tag crowns.

After shopping, we went over to my Mom & Dad's to pick up Ethan and Mom wanted to go for a walk at the lake (Gray's Lake) so Elizabeth and Ethan went with her and her little puff ball dog to walk and I stayed at the house with my Dad and Jesse Boy. Jesse is not much for the walking. He had gotten a can of silly string at the dollar store and he wanted to go outside and unload that instead. So Jesse took off and we were trying to sneak around to watch him without being detected. He figured it out and was shooting string at us through the window. It was sticking in the screen. You should have heard him cackling. He is my orneriest kid.... He sprayed it in his face at one point and I had to wipe off his glasses, then he was off again. At least it was nice outside. When he got finished spraying, he came inside and washed his hands off cause they were a bluish green color and he used ice cold water. He came out of the bathroom and his hands were all red because they were so cold. Then he tried to put them on my neck. Little bugger. We made him go stand by the fireplace to get warm.
After he warmed up he was hungry so grandpa made him a can of spaghettios. He ate the whole thing and was still hungry. By that time the others were back from their walk so we all went home to have tacos. Edgey and I had taco salads and the kids had tacos. Jesse had a huge taco and still wanted more to eat (spaghettios, taco, cheese stick, apple). Finally I said that was enough. They played for a while then went to bed.
Today Ethan is supposed to go back and help cut more wood. He is up doing his school. Elizabeth is in the play room watching Sesame Street and trying hard not to do school. Jesse is still in bed asleep. I am having my coffee and reading blogs. Then I have to get back to real life and do some aerobic housecleaning like Mary Lynn.

Tip for the day: Fasten your seatbelt! It's the law.

Ok - I am feeling stressed today. It has to do with school again. Nobody wants to do anything they are supposed to do or they want to do it right now and not be patient and wait for the right timing. I just want to scream and I am supposed to be a good example and a reflection of Christ in their lives. AAAAAAAAHHHHH! Why can't I just send them all to public school? Why did God want me to keep them home and teach them about him? and to learn how everything in life comes from Him and is related to Him? Why can't life just be easy???
I loved going to school when I was a kid, but that was because school was easy and I already knew everything before we did it in school because I had already learned it at home. Of course it is fun if you get good grades... but what about the kids that do not get good grades and get made fun of everyday because the teacher picks on them in front of the entire class and makes examples of them. Did I really learn anything important in school? I doubt it. I don't remember any history because it was all just boring dates and nothing flowed and nothing related to anything else. I was good at advanced math, but do I use any of it? When do you use trigonometry in real life? really? Yes, I use algebra for nursing and drug calculations.
Science was my favorite subject.. LOVED it. Nature is awesome. Why is that? Cause it's all God. God's glory. Do you learn that in school? No. Nature is real life; Birth, death, metamorphosis, seasons, planting, harvest... Do you learn birth by watching a film at school? or by watching a mare give birth to a foal, or kittens being born in a barn? Do you learn about death by watching your classmates get shot at or knifed? or by caring for sick family members and going to their funeral when they pass? Do I learn about myself as God sees me and who I am in Christ? Or do I fight with peer pressure and whether to do drugs and have sex cause everybody else is doing it and I am not secure in myself to stand up to it?
Ok, I just talked myself back into homeschooling again.

My dad just came and took Ethan to help him cut firewood. Elizabeth and Jesse and I are going to run some errands and go look for some more Bling, Bling. Jesse wants his own cross necklace now. Ethan bought one in the children's church store and Jesse is borrowing it this morning. It hangs all the way down to his belly button. LOL.

Later-

Sunday, Sunday

I got a phone call at 5 a.m. this morning.... "Do you want to stay home on call today?"
What a dumb question. Of course I want to stay home today, but is that really what I need to do? NO. I am off next weekend so I can't really afford to stay home today. So, I turned them down. I get a call 5 minutes later - "You're it!" What that translates to is that no one else wanted to stay home either and since I was first up on the list, I had to stay home on a mandatory call status. So I get paid $2 an hour to sit around at home waiting to see if I get called in when they get busy on our floor. Unfortunately, since I will be off next weekend and would normally get 1/2 a paycheck anyway, this just subtracts even more. Maybe I will get called in, but I doubt it, and I am usually right on my guesses. Most of the time it's like Murphy's laws.... If I want to work, I don't and if I don't want to work, I do. I'm sure God knows what he's doing.
I suppose I am glad to be home since, when I woke up, I had a horrible headache. I took some Aleve and 12 hr sudafed. My sinuses have been acting up for the past 3 days off and on. It must be the weather. I made some coffee Edgey picked up at Sam's club. They carry the Caribou coffee in bulk there. YUM. And I have been sitting around catching up on catalogs that I haven't had time to look at and the Sunday paper. The last two Sunday papers never even got read. They went to the curb still in the wrappers.
It was so cold yesterday, Edgey actually got up and went and started my minivan for me before I went to work. It was sort of warmed up. I got in and one of the engine dummy lights was on though. I hope it just needs some oil or an oil change or something... especially since my next check is going to be so piddly.
Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend.

Bad Day?

And you thought your day was bad.....

More Maxine

Chocolate Problems

Well I was up late again last night but it was not because of coffee this time. This time it was because I forgot how sugar free chocolate affects my system. Besides the camera phone, Edgey got me a box of sugar free chocolates. I am fine if I just have one or two, but tonight I had 3 pieces. The serving size on the back of the box says 3 pieces so I wanted 3 pieces. I had it all figured in for my little diet thing I am doing. I am sure I lost 3 pounds from running to the bathroom all night.
I should know better, but I haven't had any for a long time. We tease my friend at work cause every weekend she brings her sugar free chocolate and every weekend she is running to the bathroom and passing gas all day long. We threaten to hide it from her. She stinks and she knows it.
I am thinking it would be a good thing for our constipated pregnant ladies to get. Forget taking the stool softeners, just have a few pieces of sugar free chocolate. I suppose it's a good thing for Atkins people too... since there is a tendency to get constipated on Atkins. Too much meat and cheese. Ok, well enough old people and nurse talk.
It's Friday. I have the weekend dread today. It's one of those weekends that I just want to stay home and hang out with Edgey and the kids and get stuff done around the house. At least the laundry is done for a couple of days. I'm sure by Monday, there will be another giant pile to do. Good old never ending laundry. I guess I should just be thankful that I have laundry to do and a machine to do it in.
The kids are begging me to get pizza tonight. Jesse gets to go out with Daddy on a "date" and Ethan and Elizabeth are hanging with me. Jesse wants pancakes so they are going to IHOP.
Well, off to order pizza.
Have a great weekend. I am off next weekend. Yippee.

This is the first pic I took with my camera phone.... they are both in their camouflage.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

Well, I tried to write more this evening but when I got on to blog, AOL froze up and wouldn't let me go anywhere, so I gave up.

Let's talk snow.... Our snow stinks. It didn't even cover up the front yard completely. It's not even worth shoveling. It is a dingy grey color- maybe just cause where I live... but everywhere else it is a disgusting brown like somebody made a frappuccino and dumped it everywhere.
Let's talk driving in the snow.... There were some REAL idiots out today. I was very patient and on the offense. One group of kids was really ticking me off though. They were following someone they knew who was in a brand new car with no license plates yet and were going way too slow - irritatingly slow like 15 miles/hr, which might not have bothered me except they were weaving in and out and goofing around. Well, we got to this stop light and they go to turn but both cars turned too fast or something because the idiot following almost t-boned the brand new car and they both spun out. The new car ended up driving opposite of the way he was originally going. LOL. That showed 'em. Weather is boss! Yeah! I happily drove on with nothing to hold me back. It did get pretty slippery. A few more idiots were slipping around on hills and one guy couldn't stop at a red light and ran it and turned at the same time, otherwise he would have t-boned another car who had the green light. It really amazes me.

My most scary driving moment.... I lived in Colfax at Teen Challenge and was driving to Ankeny to classes for nursing school. When you are coming into town on I-80 west of Adventureland there is a nice little downhill stretch that for some reason totally ices over. I hit the ice at about 35 miles/hr and did a couple 360's gripping the wheel tightly, closing my eyes (like that's going to help) and yelling "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" .... when the car stopped, I was facing the direction I was going on the shoulder and was able to just pull right back out and keep driving.... adrenaline rushed of course.
My most scary passenger moment.... I was working for my favorite insurance company and we were coming back from MN. There were 3 of us in the car. The main man was driving and we hit a patch of ice on a downhill and headed DIRECTLY for a bridge. Mind you, this is a high bridge and if we had gone off, the car would have smashed into little pieces. So again, as we are spinning out of control and heading toward the bridge railing, I am in the back seat with my eyes closed again, saying "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." <---that's a good prayer you know! Jesus is good to me. The vehicle stopped, facing the right way and only the rear left side panel had a lovely scratch on it. The driver was shaking so badly, the other gal had to drive the rest of the way home.

So why did I brave the conditions today.... FREEDOM!
I met Edgey at chinese buffet and we had a nice lunch. Then I made a Wallyworld run and checked out the leftover valentines day stuff. I did find some cute stuffed animals- Elizabeth approved of them but she still wanted to know if I had gotten one of those puppies they had in the disco ball store that she was crying over. She was disgusted with me because I had no idea where the puppies came from or who had bought them and NO I did not have any. I found some clearance jewelry for the girls. No boy stuff today.

I bought a cell phone case for myself with leftover Christmas money I had on a gift card. Edgey got me a new cell phone for Valentines day. I had wanted one that takes pictures. I wanted one like his but he got me some other kind and I'm not sure if I like it as well, but I am thankful that at least it takes pics and video. His has a removable chip and mine doesn't. We just take his to the store and can print off the pics on the memory chip. oh well. We will probably give the other cell to Ethan at some point, maybe his birthday or something. He just gets to use it now on an "as needed" basis.
I actually watched olympics tonight. That women's skeleton thing is a trip! I really liked the snowboard cross though. I have always liked skating, but the snowboard cross was the bomb this year.

late nite blogging

Food Swap?

This is for anyone at church who might be interested... I was thinking maybe it would be nice if we could trade a dish once in a while. I get tired of making all the extras to go with the meal. You know it is nice to have extras to go with the meat. Now I am talking about those of you who are on Atkins, South Beach, low carb..... Meat and cheese only goes so far. What I was thinking was maybe if we could just make a gigantic batch of one thing and then package it to share and if at least 3 of us could trade off every wed? maybe we would have something else to eat with our meals.
examples: coleslaw, veggie salads, tuna salad, egg salad, angel (devilled) eggs, chicken salad, etc... I use a lot of the salad stuff to make low carb roll ups.
Then we wouldn't have to spend so much time in prepping. What do you think. We could make a list of dislikes (raw onions, mushrooms, whatever) so everyone would know what not to put in and we could pick a dish to make every week or every other week.
Please let me know if you are interested. : )

Thursday

It's Thursday and my free day. I am looking forward to lunchtime. I may try to meet Edgey for a lunchdate. The two older ones already have their schoolwork done. Yippee. Jesse Boy is still asleep and it is now 10:45. He is the only one that went to church with me last night so he didn't get to bed until after 9:30 anyway. The other two got sent to bed at 7:30. Elizabeth wanted to stay home with Dad cause Edgey stayed home with sicko Ethan. He is still a snot nose today but at least he is not coughing. The hard part about "sick" with Ethan is when he gets the Asthma. That can be stressful. So far, so good.
I have to go to the grocery store today and I am going to do some after-valentines- day shopping and see if I can find some clearance stuff for the childrens church store. Girls do like stuff with hearts on it don't they?
Oh why oh why did it have to snow. I am freezing today again... I was so cold yesterday and last night at church I was shivering all through it. I would have gotten my coat but I put it in the music office on the platform - DUH. That was real cool - literally.
Pastor talked about the Holy Spirit last night. I don't have any comments at this time, but I do remember the best description of the Holy Spirit ever and it was from Kathryn Kuhlman - I will have to see if I can find it. It is very simple and I had written it down for a sunday school lesson at one time. The kids in my class got it. Somebody told me later that they were asking about speaking in tongues and wanting to be filled with the spirit just because of that one lesson. Wow. God is so amazing.
Nothing exciting for today so far. Maybe I will write later in the day after my running.



Question for the day? What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

Red Eye

For those of you who are into action/suspense movies, I've got a good one for you. We watched it last night. Awesome! and even as tired as Edgey was, it kept him awake. It is called "Red Eye." Two thumbs up!
We had a pretty good day yesterday. Elizabeth didn't want to do school again. All she wanted to do was make valentines. So there were a hundred valentines taped to the walls and doors and tables. She said we were having a valentine party and she was making party decorations. So I chalked it up to an art day for her. I need those days sometimes... The boys both did their school and they all sat for the read aloud stuff.
I got the kids little valentine heart boxes that had chocolates in them. Jesse got spiderman, Ethan got Hulk and Elizabeth got a Care Bear heart. I was having a hard time deciding which ones to give the boys. Jesse came down in the morning with a Hulk shirt on. Darn.
My superhero book compared the Hulk to sin. When a sinner wrestles with himself he cannot win. Hulk/Bruce Banner battles himself; gentle scientist Bruce compared to monster Hulk. Man suffers from anguished conscience, dreading the future and worrying about harming the one he loves. The man's control of the monster is slowly losing ground and the monster is becoming more and more powerful. The scripture they use is Rom 7:15, 18-20

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.... For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

In the end Hulk wins. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." John 8:34

We had boring sandwiches for lunch and then the kids played playstation. They were so into playing they didn't even notice that I took a nice little nap. I had gotten a smoked turkey at the store the other day so I had put that in the electric roaster. We had that for supper along with low carb garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Man, that was awesome. I hope they have some more turkeys when I go back. I may have to buy a couple more for the freezer.
Then last night Edgey and I met the Mack's for coffee and fellowship at Caribou Coffee. It was fun. Of course, I had too much coffee, so I was wide awake, pretty much the whole night. I will probably have to have a nap again today.
Ethan woke up this a.m. and he is coughing and saying his throat hurts. I'm afraid we will have to cut the McDonalds day today. Edge may have to stay home with him tonight. We have had a good year so far without any major sick stuff. Sometimes that surprises me, especially with my job and the fact that I am around so many sick women. I thank God for that.
For some of you, you may not know exactly what I do for my job. I am a nurse on a perinatal floor. Our specialty is taking care of pregnant women who are 36 weeks or less. Full term pregnancy is 36-40 weeks. We get all the hyperemesis (pukers with morning sickness and flu), preterm labor, high risk pregnancy like pre-eclampsia or PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) when the blood pressures go way high due to pregnancy, PROM = premature rupture of membranes. Really, we get anybody that is before 36 weeks..... gallbladder problems, kidney stones, car accidents, bleeding, etc... We also get delivered patients that were PIH and on magnesium IV because they need to be more closely watched, and fetal demise patients (dead baby) which is one of the more emotionally demanding and lesser aspects of my job. The days I have those patients are not fun. It is awful. Edgey says my job is mainly to keep the buns in the ovens. I love it. I really love it when I compare it to the telemetry/respiratory floor I was on. That was stressful. Whenever I feel like complaining about the job I have now, I just think of the job I had before, and then before that..... My "favorite" insurance company. Yuck.

joke for the day: What does a fish say when it runs into a wall? Dam.

Tales of the Hood - The Two Towers

Our neighbors are quite interesting.... We'll call the "man" of the house T- and the lady of the house "Cuz" because one day we were all coming home and Elizabeth waved over and yelled "Hi Cuz (cousin)". Edgey just about fell over laughing. Cuz just laughed and waved back. T and Cuz have a couple of kids and are common law married. T is drunk or high just about anytime we see him and always cussing at his kids - one boy who is a bit older than Ethan and a girl who just went to college for medical school. She is the only one who has got it together. Sources say they have the best weed for sale in all of Des Moines. Whenever a big shipment comes in, T- brings this evil dog home and pens him up in the back yard. The dog is mean but its because they are so mean to the dog. No one touches it except T.
When we first moved in there were many nights of drunken parties next door. Over the years it has gotten 80% better. They don't have too many parties now. They would be up till 3 or 4 in the morning on the weekends and of course, I have to work - it did not go over with me very well. We didn't call the cops too much or there would have been problems. I know what patience is when it comes to that.... Peace now or peace later? Now when they would wake up the kids in the middle of the night, Edgey would go out there and holler or at least ask them to keep it down. One of the worst things was that they would blast the stereo in the car in their driveway and then all go in the house with the radio blaring - NO one would be out there to listen to it. That was really irritating. You know how it makes the windows in the house rattle and vibrate? grrrrr.
The best time was when I think I hear fireworks and the next door neighbor is getting his house shot at. No one was home at the time, so who knows if anyone was even aware they had gotten shot at.
Speaking of fireworks... that is a spectacular thing around here on the 4th of July and probably about a month before and a month after. On the 4th, however, T- gets his gun out and shoots it into the air in the middle of the night after a drinking spree. He says it sounds like fireworks. They also spend way too much money to get fireworks and light them off..... That gets really old when you are trying to sleep too. It wouldn't even be so bad if it was just one night all night, but not around here. People really love their freedom around here.
The only thing about T- is that he really does take care of us in a neighborly sort of way. One morning, very early, before anybody had gotten up, Elizabeth decided to take a walk and go visit Katie V. who lives about 20 miles away. She was about 4 at the time. She got herself dressed, put on her jacket and purse and unlocked the front door and started walking down the street. It happened to be a garbage day and T- was taking out the garbage after an all night drunken stupor. He grabbed Elizabeth and, staggering, brought her back home. He pounded on the door and I finally ran down there in a robe. He just said, "I was trying to be a good neighbor. I'm a good neighbor, you know." He was slurring his words the entire time. I had to reassure him he was a great neighbor and thanked him over and over again until he left to stagger home. Elizabeth was in BIG trouble.
The other time he was helpful was when the little drunk mexican knocked all the trash cans over on another garbage day..... he helped me pick up my trash too. I thought that was very nice of him but it was probably because my trashcan and trash were in his yard.
Oh well. God takes care of us..... but if anyone wants to pray for me to get a place in Adel or DeSoto, I would welcome the prayers. : )

Oh, and happy valentines day!

maxine on terrorists

What a Weekend

I am glad the weekend is over. The kids all went somewhere on Friday night since Edgey was out of town. I got up at my usual 5 a.m Saturday and went to work. Saturday it was really busy. It was the night before the full moon and that always seems to be busy. Sunday was better and more calm. I was glad, because we all needed calm after Saturday. I got fired for the first time in my life. That was interesting. I had a patient that decided I didn't "bond" well with her. To tell you the truth, I am very very glad she didn't want me anymore because the nurse that took her had to go through a lot of pain and suffering to keep her happy. The woman was nuts. Really. Like the psycho ward kind.

After I worked all day Sat. and had to stay until 9 p.m. to finish charting (normally get off at 7:30) then I had to race and pick up the kids from their respective places. I actually made good time and had them home and in bed by 10 p.m. Edgey picked up Ethan in Ankeny on his way home from ATF. He was excited. Ethan got a signed poster from KJ52 and was hopping all over the place. Edgey brought home 3 new CD's but I haven't got to listen to ANY of them yet. Somebody doesn't share well. By the time I got to sleep it was 11:30 or so and 5 a.m. comes around quick. Didn't even feel like I slept.... : ( wah. Sunday was better and I got off work on time.

I came home and watched a movie called Hockey Mom. It was ok, but nothing spectacular. Kind of like Mighty Ducks or something except it was about a single mother. Mediocre.

I went to bed and didn't wake up till this a.m. at 10:30. All the kids slept in late (till 10:30) and Ethan slept until 11:30 - They had a late weekend so they needed to catch up on their sleep. At least they are not crabby today.
Jesse did his school right away and Elizabeth ran off to watch TV. It's so funny how different they are and to see their priorities. It will be interesting to see what they will be like when they grow up and get jobs and have kids...
I am still having coffee and trying to wake up.

Someone sent me a cartoon this weekend. I think is is hilarious so I am posting it on here. It was funny because I had been thinking about this subject anyway. I keep wondering if we, as christians, would ever react the way the muslims have and demand apologies from countries for defamation or desecrating the one that we believe in.
In one sense I feel like we should stand up for what we believe and on the other I am opposed to revenge and killing people, burning buildings, etc... just my thoughts.

Mayberry

I woke up with a headache this morning. It's not a real headache but the kind you get from sleeping in the wrong position. I wish I could go to the chiropractor. I keep stretching my neck but then I just get shooting pains going to weird places in my head and back. Ow. I used to have a friend that could just hold my head in the palm of his hands and barely twist and my neck would crack everytime, just like the chiropractor. It was awesome. But he's hanging out with Jesus now. Life is short... and the older you get, the shorter it gets - the faster it goes by. I remember when my grandmother turned 50; my dad called her "1/2 a century" to tease her.
Ethan and Jesse boy are sleeping in today. They must be tired. Ethan had karate last night and then the instructor took them swimming until about 9:30 p.m. Then Edgey went and picked him up and Ethan came home acting like he was starving to death - so he ate a huge sandwich and an apple and went to bed.
Jesse fell off the end of his bunk bed (slipped on the ladder) last night right before bedtime and whacked his head on a box that had his toys in it. Now he has a little gash on his forehead. Luckily a batman bandaid helped him quit crying. Batman is cool. I am afraid he is going to have a lovely bruise this morning.
Elizabeth is the only one up right now (10:15 am). Edgey got up this morning and took her on her weekly date. He tries to take her out to breakfast every week. He's a good dad. I was surprised he took her out and didn't sleep in cause he is going to have a late night tonight, I imagine. He is going to help at the ATF (Acquire The Fire) thing for the youth at church. He was really looking forward to going. They are going to have a great worship band there.
Since I have to work and leave by 6:30 in the morning, I have to go pawn off the kids for the night. It's way to early to try to wake them up and get them to 3 different places (nobody wants all 3 at once). Ethan is going to Aunti's, Jesse is going to my grandpa's, and Elizabeth is going to hang out with her grandma. She already drew grandma a picture to give her.
I was out running yesterday as it was my freedom day. I didn't go to my usual dink around spots. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and one Goodwill and the Family Christian Bookstore in Ankeny. I had never been to the Ankeny one and wanted to check it out. Pastor had said he was really into Andy Griffith right now. So what do I run across when I am looking around but this "Mayberry" bible study that relates the Andy Griffith show to the bible. I almost called him to ask if he had it. They also had some for "Bonanza" the old western show. You can either get the study guide alone or with the video's. There is an entire website dedicated to Andy Griffith episodes. (click here to see it) It looks pretty cool. I wish they had one for Little House on the Prairie. I know, I'm weird.
The one thing I did get for myself was a book (who could have guessed) called "Who Needs a Superhero?" The boys are so into all the superhero stuff, I thought maybe it would help to relate it to bible stuff - you know - spur of the moment teachable moments. I have to look for those all the time for homeschool. It goes through Superman, The Hulk, Batman, Spider Man, Daredevil, X-men, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man and Wonderwoman. I used to love the old Superman and Wonder Woman t.v. shows. I will share if there is anything really interesting in there.
I also looked through the cd's but didn't find what I was looking for. I like Wellspring's better for the cd collection.
Well, I need to go pack bags for tonight. I think Elizabeth already did hers, but I had better check it out. You never know what she puts in there.

Have a great weekend. If I have time, I will post.

God Can Use Anybody

Yesterday was Wednesday. We did school. I felt like pulling out my hair. They were all so needy yesterday. What is it with Wednesdays? They try my patience. Let me explain. I have to space out the homeschooling so I can give attention to each child at different intervals. Jesse is the most hands on cause he is the youngest. He does great at his math so while he is doing his math without me, I am working on Elizabeth's reading with her. While she is doing her math I read with Jesse. Ethan reads when they are all done. But yesterday, Ethan needed help with his math at the same time Elizabeth was reading and Jesse wanted to read while Elizabeth was reading because he finished his math so fast. They all wanted me at the same time and there was not enough me to go around..... AAAAAAAAAH. That's what I mean by overwhelmed for those of you who were having the stress discussion. I know it doesn't seem like much to some, but really, when you realize the responsibility of trying to teach your children, it is.

After school they played for a bit and then we went to the McDonalds again. $1.59 happy meal day. Ethan has 2 happy meals cause he is almost a bottomless pit. If you remember last week's fiasco, I wasn't too happy. This week, having the great parenting skills that I do (first sarcastic thing in this post), I bribed them with ice cream if they would be good and let me have an adult conversation. We took Guthrie's with us this week. Jesse played with Lance and Ethan chased Anna around the playroom for a good 2 hours. The only one that sat at the table and tried to hang with the adults was Elizabeth until I reminded her of the "no ice cream" and then she was scarce. They all got their ice cream. After a while we noticed that Jesse was missing and Lance was looking all over for him. Finally found him in the bathroom having difficulties after doing the #2 thing. Of course he was in the boy's bathroom and I could not go in to help, so lucky dog Ethan had to take care of things for me. : ) He will be a great daddy when he grows up.

Then on to home and church service. B- can really usher in the presence of God when she gets fired up. Worship was good and message was good. Pastor was talking about Grace and Faith. The kids were learning fruits of the spirit.

We got home and had dinner then I watched a movie and everybody else went to bed. It was called "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town". It is not what I expected it to be. To look at it, you think its about some kids family and it's going to be one of those so-so coming of age kid shows. It was sort of a so-so kid show, but it really got to me at the end. It starts off about this kid, Toby, around Ethan's age and how his summer gets more and more horrible. The fattest boy in the world shows up in his town and the kid and his friends are gawking at him but they end up being friends. The kids goes through losing his mother, a friend's death, getting kissed by a girl.... It was actually kind of emotional. But the part that made me think was at the end of the movie, the fat kid wants to be baptized because he wants to go to heaven and be with his mother when he dies. He had never been able to probably 'cause he was too fat. So the kid, Toby, gets this idea after having a fight with his best friend in a pond, to bring the fat kid there to baptize him. The kid doesn't know how to baptize so they find a bible and are trying to figure it out. They end up going to a drunk cafe owner to find out (he had studied to be a preacher). The drunk guy gives them a lesson about Christ and John the Baptist and then they go baptize the fat kid.
Why did this get to me? because it was soooooo Jesus. The compassion of the kid to reach out to the fat kid enough to help him reach his dreams, the drunk guy able to preach Jesus because he really did have faith and because God can use anybody to bring about change for his Glory... even a couple of kids and a drunk.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith...

Tales of the Hood - The King Returns

The little mexican man ran to his truck and tucked something under his seat. He had just received a phone call from his friend and was trying to understand what he had been told. His mind was spinning and he could not remember where he had been or what had happened during the night. It was now 9 a.m. He had to get to his girlfriends house. Why had his friend told him? He could not believe it! His own girlfriend! She was his! He drove down the street swerving to miss the obstacles but his mind was spinning in a whirlwind so badly that he hit several things and then ran into a tree. He backed the truck and then slammed the gear into drive to race down the street once again. He hit several more garbage cans dragging them along under the truck.
By this time the residents along the street had come out of their houses to see what the noise and commotion was about. They were shouting angry obscenities at him. He drove faster to reach his girlfriends house. He was driving so fast he almost passed the house. He slammed on the brakes and backed up, then tried to pull into her driveway and hit another tree. There was an exchange of words and he was yelling in Spanish into the little brown house. The girlfriend came out shouting profanity. Meanwhile many neighbors along the street were walking towards the scene. They were also shouting at him.
By this time the little man had had enough. His girlfriend was screaming at him and some other man was in the house behind the front door taunting him. The neighbors were coming after him down the street. He reached beneath his seat and pulled out the handgun. Neighbors fled away from the scene and someone called 911 for help. One woman ran down the street in her bare feet screaming, "He has a gun! He has a gun!"

Ok, so maybe it's exaggerating a bit, but this is my version of the most vivid story that happened on my street. It was 9 a.m on a monday morning cause it was garbage day. Some little mexican idiot on a drunken binge was racing down our street and kept running up on the curb. He hit at least 5 garbage cans (mind you - one for each residence) hit a bush, drug our garbage can and smashed it into our "favorite" neighbor's tree then backed up and hit 2 more cans on the way down the parking into the street. Then raced up the street to his girlfriends house. She was messing around on him (wonder why? hmmmm ) then he ran into her tree outside her house and it was just like I said. Everyone on our block was walking down the street to get him and see what was up when he pulls out this gun. They all scattered quick.
I had gone out and seen him backing up after totally smashing the can against the tree and got the cell phone and was trying to call 911. I hung up cause the neighbor lady, I actually talk with once in a while, was already calling on hers running down the sidewalk. DONT hang up. They call you back and then they are not happy campers. I apologized and while I was apologizing that is when the neighbors were running back yelling that he had a gun. I relayed the message to 911. Cops were there within a few minutes diffusing the situation. Talk about a fun morning. Thank God there were no kids playing out in the front yard at 9 a.m. That really makes me mad. What would have happened if my kids were out riding bikes on the sidewalk or rollerskating or something? Grrrrrr. Anyway, no gunshots were fired. He was arrested and the towtruck came to get the ugly little truck.
Now, that's what living in the hood is like!

Tales of the Hood

Well, I talked about Pipsqueak, one the smaller aspects of living in the hood. But, I thought I would share with you a few tales of living here also (maybe one at a time).
Background of how we came to live here in the first place: We were living at my Mother's house in transition and had been there almost a year when Edgey decided he couldn't take it any more... I was pregnant with Elizabeth and we needed to find somewhere to live. So he went on a house hunting spree. This was his ideal place. Don't ask me why - ask him. We drove by the house too slowly and some guy (tenant) came outside and was shouting at us and shaking his fists. Edgey took me to see the inside of the house just prior to purchasing it and I cried.
The former owner rented it out to low housing tenants. The guy had huge dogs (wonder why <-- sarcastic!) and they urinated all over the carpet. Gross. They jumped on the walls and there were muddy prints all over the kitchen cabinets. The only thing nice was the built in wood shelving in the dining room and it was a mess. But, Edgey had vision. I did not because I was pregnant - Not a good time to deal with things like that. The price was right - less than $40,000 so we ended up getting it. We closed on it 2 weeks before Elizabeth was born so he had to work his butt off to get it finished so we could move in. Edgeys dad came to help and I went into labor sanding the wood floors on my hands and knees with a palm sander. Elizabeth was just a couple of weeks old when we moved in. It was much nicer and Edgey did an awesome job getting everything together. The kitchen still needed a lot of work but it was cleaned and repainted. Since the house was a 2 family dwelling there was also a kitchen and bathroom upstairs and he gutted that out and made one huge bathroom with laundry facility in it. I didn't cry anymore.

My co-worker laughs when I tell her some of the stories about living here. She says they have to be real because nobody could make up that kind of a story.... I'll tell one of Edgey's favorite's first. We were having coffee prior to Edgey leaving for work one morning and I noticed a flashing light shining through the front window blinds. I open the blinds and Hello!! What is out there? A car in the middle of the street totally on fire and the flashing lights were the fire department. The best part was that we got to watch the whole thing from a glass window, hoping the car wouldn't blow up and shatter it of course. The second best part was that Edgey didn't have to go to work for another hour or so because the car was blocking the end of our driveway and there was no way to get out to go work. He had to call in and the boss was not really believing him. Sooooo we took pictures. If you notice the tree on the right hand side - that is the tree that is in our front yard right by the driveway.

Philosophy for the day: We all get heavier as we get older because there's a lot more information in our heads. So I'm not fat, I'm just really intelligent and my head couldn't hold any more so it started filling up the rest of me! That's my story and I'm sticking to it! (from a garfield cartoon-but it sounds good)

You Little Pipsqueak!

I just got back from the store and got some Pella bologna. I haven't had that in years, but it sounded really good today. When I went to college in Pella, I got it fresh all the time. The best thing about Pella were the dutch letters from Jaarsma's Bakery or maybe it was just the bakery itself. The Pella Happy Joe's also made the best taco supreme pizza. I've never had any that matched it here in Des Moines. If I had been saved when I went to college, I might have liked the place better, but really I hated being there. I hated the "tulip picking penalty" - you know how many stinking tulips there are and you can't even pick one or you have to pay (well, if you get caught anyway). I hated that the only thing open all night was the Hardee's. I have only gone to Hardees, maybe, 3 times since I went to college and that was a LONG time ago. It was the ONLY place to go and stay up all night while you were trying to study. I guess RedRock was cool too.
So how was our day today? We got done with school early except Jesse Boy slept till 10:30 (he's not a bad person, Alex) so he did his much later. Then we were reading blogs and Ethan found Brenny's and was thinking that was pretty cool, so we had to make one too- mainly so Ethan could comment on Brenny's. I had to set most of it up, but I think I will have him do it for school since it will help with spelling and grammar, etc... Elizabeth wanted to play a game on the computer after that so they all took turns playing some Disney interactive games for a while. So I have not been able to post all day cause the computer has been taken up or we have been busy running.
I made tuna for Elizabeth for lunch cause she has been begging me for a tuna sandwich since last Friday. The boys don't like it at all. I was chopping up onions into scarcely seen pieces and she came in. She hates onions if she knows they are in something but if she doesn't know she never says anything. She says, "Are those onions for my tuna salad? YUCK!" I had to explain that there have ALWAYS been onions in her tuna salad and she has ALWAYS liked it before and she was not a happy camper. She did eat her sandwich but when it got towards the end she says, "Mom, I can taste the onions and I don't want any more." Whatever. We gave the rest to the dog. Dogs are good for something like licking the floor clean and garbage disposals and being scary looking to the neighbors. The dog across the street is hilarious! It is a tiny black and tan chihuahua and it barks at me when I come home. It even crosses the street and comes after me.... and it's name... LOL is pipsqueak. I about died laughing when I heard the neighbor calling it back. "Come here Pipsqueak!" Pipsqueak better be careful on our street or it will get squashed by a psycho driver going 50 miles an hour.


Quote for the day: How much easier is self-sacrifice then self-realization! Eric Hoffer

Hair

I got off work right on time last night. That is a first in a long time. Usually I am there for at least a 1/2 hour if not an hour trying to chart everything that happens during the day. Sometimes paperwork stinks, but at least on our floor it is mostly computerized charting except weird stuff. I had a busy day because there were a lot of doorknobs coming in and out yesterday. My favorite was someone who was only a couple of months pregnant and she was having pains hours and hours prior to coming to be treated but was no longer having ANY pain at all while she was there.... asking if they were going to do an ultrasound. Why do people do that?
For our Christmas party at work we did a list of "you might be a patient on our floor" kind of thing like Jeff Foxworthy does the redneck list. EVERYBODY that came in yesterday was on that list! What a day. It's kind of like that on Sundays. I'm not sure why. A lot of times I think it is because people don't want to go back to work on Monday and they are trying get a legitimate excuse to stay home. You can kind of tell when you are sending them out the door with discharge instructions and they ask you "Do I have to go back to work tomorrow?" DUH. Didn't I just say? No restrictions on activity? That's where I have to be nice and non-sarcastic. But I think Maxine things! Let me tell you.....
So I got a great response to the hair picture. LOL. Edgey tells me last night when I get home, "Man, what did you put on that computer? Everybody was giving me a hard time about my hair." Just wait until I post his little cowboy picture. He used to try to be a cowboy. He spent a lot of years in Nebraska and that's ALL that's in Nebraska. If you're not a cowboy you are nobody. He said when he was going to church there nobody (meaning girls) payed attention to him. But then he had one of those geek makeovers and went and bought himself some cowboy boots, jeans and western shirt and hat... Then they were all about hangin' with the Edge. On his first Sunday back to church he got 3 dates. I guess at one point he could have been considered a REAL cowboy because he used to break horses on some ranch and he did work on a pig farm at one time - he talks about his brother throwing pig poop in his mouth and how he almost puked then he got a fresh one that was still warm and threw it on his brother's shirtless back. Brothers are fun aren't they? I can't say anything about the electric fence ordeal.... but you can probably guess. Somebody doesn't want me to talk about that.

Kim Lea

Work

I am working this weekend.... sorry I wasn't able to write anything exciting for the day. I have had to take care of some sick chicks this week; ectopic pregnancy, auto-immune diseased pregnant gal that should not have tried to get pregnant, hyperemesis at only 6 weeks... she's got a long pregnancy ahead of her! I am thankful I am done with all that pregnancy stuff. I hated being pregnant. I hated how I felt and hormones and throwing up all the time, back pains and chiropractor visits, dizziness, C-Sections every time. I wanted to like it but it never happened. I have a friend who loves it and just pops them out, no sweat.
I was tired last night when I got home. Edgey got home and was coming in the door at the same time I was. That was around 8:45 or so. He was out at the church all day working on the store for children's church. He put the kids in bed. He is the one that always prays with them at night. We both sat in our lazy boys and then all of a sudden he was yelling at me to quit snoring because it was waking HIM up. We both just decided to go to bed. I woke up again at 3 a.m. wondering if I had to go to work today or if it was my day off and checked my alarm to make sure it was on.
Hope you all had a great Sunday.

Our Story

Ok, so I told you I would write our story of how we met and all that jazz.... Well, first of all, some background. Edgey was at Teen Challenge on staff as a counselor. I was working at my favorite place in the whole world - the insurance company (Allied Group Insurance) and had just got done with a couple of LOSER relationships, so I had completely sworn off men and did not want anything to do with them. I was fine with just me and God and my best friend across the street. I lived a 1/2 block away from my church (Grace Wesleyan) at that time and totally loved the people there. Now, the only thing that I had a hard time with in that church was that I didn't get fed as much as I needed in terms of sermon material, but God knew what I needed in terms of "family" and that is what counted at that point in time. I got fed with word in other ways, like TBN and Joyce Meyer tapes and sunday school class (I went into the old people's class so I could actually learn something) and so on. But this church was not the church I grew up spiritually in so I had a lot of friends at my old church way across town (Commerce Community Church). A big reason I even went to Grace was because at some point my car had died and I couldn't drive way across town. At the time, it sucked, but later I could see God's hand in getting me to where I am now.
Well, my friends way across town were putting on a bible camp for underprivileged kids to teach them about Jesus and drugs/alcohol. We called it the Way to Life camp. They needed camp counselors so they talked me into doing it. I had to get off work a day or two.... Oh darn! So off I go to help with the camp. Meanwhile, back at the monastery, which is what Teen Challenge was at one point in history, Edgey was getting a bunch of drug/alcohol addicts together to come and give their testimonies at the camp and help with the kids.
I didn't even know he was there, but my friend Scott, kept saying, somebody here likes you cause he knew Edgey was watching me like a hawk. Scott didn't even tell me who it was until the day before the last day of the camp. I was like, what? him? no way. Edgey looked like a mountain man back then.... not my type. He wore flannel shirts, long curly hair and full beard and mustache. Besides, remember I had sworn off men anyway especially ones in flannel shirts. We ended up playing cards that night with a bunch of people and had a blast. Peoples personalities really come out when they play games. Couples fight, people get vicious and competitive during games... It's fun! You really see how they are. The next day before we left he talked to me about going out for coffee sometime and I agreed.
Now that's my side of the meeting. What he would tell you is that he saw me and freaked out.... he had to go down by the edge of the woods and pray and God told him that I was supposed to be his wife. I was exactly what he had been praying for. So he was staring at me from a distance and freaking out at the same time, avoiding me like the plague. We talked on the phone a couple of times for loooong periods of time and really got to know each other and he met me and my best friend one night to hang out. Then there was a phone conversation that went like this:

Edgey: "So, I've been praying about us."
Kim Lea: "Yeah?"
Edgey: "God told me you're the one I'm supposed to marry."
Kim Lea: "Yeah, right...." (1/2 laughing)
Edgey: "No, really, I'm going to marry you."
Kim Lea: "I'll have to pray about it."
Edgey: "Will you marry me?"
Kim Lea: "I told you I'll have to pray about it."
Edgey: "OK."

Whacked huh? He asked me to marry him on the phone after 3 phone conversations and we had never really gone on a date yet. He just knew what God had told him. So the rest of the story is I prayed and fasted over the whole deal and threw out a fleece to make sure I was hearing right... I mean, marriage is a huge decision, especially if you have sworn off men. LOL
So the rest of the story is pretty obvious, except that part of the deal was that he had to ask my parents for my hand in marriage. We were completely freaking out, worried that my dad would say no and if he did we were going to honor the decision. Talk about sweating. Anyway, he asked my dad and dad said yes. My mom laughed because she couldn't believe he was actually asking in this day and age. But we were so thankful that they agreed, we didn't care.

Well-married a man is winged; ill-matched, he is shackled. Henry Ward Beecher

This is me and Edge on a date before we were married. Man what happened to us? He actually had hair and I was 50 pounds lighter... I will have to tell you how we met in another post.....quite the story, but then, we are quite a story.

Wow!

Wow, guys! I just read Ryan's blog, then saw in the little sidebar Brenda has one and definitely was holding out on me too.... Then, I saw Cahlen and Conner are were on there too. Cool. Cahlen even has that great sarcastic humor (you know the kind that only other sarcastic people get) that Jeremy has.... Jeremy doesn't know it, but his blog was my favorite so far. Now there's some competition. I'm not too sure about Layne. He just needs to post something. Anything. I guess I will just have to add everyone to my sidebar so I can keep up. I agree, it's interesting to read what other people are thinking. Especially since it's the kind of stuff you don't just sit around and talk about at church or wherever. Most of my stuff is just sharing what is going on in my head and in the house for the day.
We got through school today without too many bumps on the head and then Thursdays are my favorite day because my kids get to spend the afternoon with their grandma and I get to run freeeeeeeeeeee......... yeah. I made them lunch then rushed them right over to grandmas house. I went to have lunch ALONE. Now I know some people have a hard time eating by themselves, but those people usually don't have three children hanging on them all day all week long... well, except for Saturday and Sunday's when I am at work - but then I have other needy people whining for things too. Now, don't get me wrong. I truly love my children, they are a heritage of the Lord, arrows in my quiver, etc... etc... but I do enjoy QUIET moments alone too. After a great low carb chinese buffet lunch alone, I went to the Dollar Tree to dink around. While I was there, mind you this is only 1 hour and 15 minutes from the time I dropped my darlings off, my mother calls on her cell and says, "We walked to the lake, can you come pick us up and take us to Tyler's game?". Tyler is my nephew and he is on a Dodge ball team at his school and my mother thought the kids would like to see that. Sooooo, I drove clear across town to pick them up at the lake and drive them to the school. My mother has this dog and I had to take the dog to my sister's to be babysat until the game was over. I talked to my sister for about 20 minutes when there is a knock on her door, and guess who was there? My kids! They got kicked out of the gymnasium because they were getting creamed by the dodge balls and it wasn't safe for them in the gym. Elizabeth got nailed in the leg, but she didn't cry... and Jesse got nailed too, but I am not sure where. Sooooo, after that, I had to take them all back to my mother's house so I could go dink around again.
I decided to go to another dollar store because I was looking for some more "Bling, Bling" (see previous post). I thought I would get one for Edgey for valentines day.... LOL... but to no avail.
Then I went to the goodwill store. I love to look for books at the goodwill and DAV and salvation army. That is my true hobby. Books. If you come to my house, you will see that reflected in the decor. Way too many books..... (smile). Well, the goodwill was having a 99cent sale on kids clothes. I could not believe the clothes I found today. Old Navy, Limited too, Gap, and 3 pairs of play jeans for Ethan... I just put 3 pairs in my hand-me-down stuff cause he is growing out of everything. I was excited. I bought a load of stuff. 1/3 of the clothes still had the brand new tags on them. I couldn't believe it. I'm guessing I would be the bargain shopper B- was talking about in her blog. That made the day for me; alone time and a real bargain. Wow. I really hate wasting money on clothes so that's a "thank you God" moment for me.
Edgey picked up the kids and took Ethan to karate tonight. When I got home, Jesse and I went to exchange videos at Hollywood video. He picked out some Magic School Bus DVD and I got the Grimm Brothers DVD. Don't waste your time on that one. I like fairy tale stuff, but this was way too whacked for even me. Edgey said it was dumb. Two thumbs down on that one.

Have an awesome day!
Kim Lea

Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. 4 Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior's hands. 5 How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.

Love the Lord...

When my alarm clock went off this a.m., my body did not want to get out of bed, but my spirit was singing that Lincoln Brewster song; Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and all your mind and with all your strength.... I went about doing my routines not even realizing I was singing. It's so much easier for me if a verse is written into a song because that is the way my mind thinks. It's not like pastor has been drilling the verse every service for about a year now. But, when it is in a song, boy it sticks with me. I remember going through psalms at one point and highlighting every verse that I remembered being in a song and it was getting pretty colorful. Now I know you young pups aren't going to know who Harvest is but when I was singing way back when, one of my favorite songs was: Behold God is my salvation, I will trust, I will not be afraid; Behold God is my strength and my song and He has become my Lord. Is 12:2
School went well this a.m. Elizabeth was excited because she just got to start reading her new primer and it has a little workbook to go with it. And she had finished her mathbook yesterday so we started a brand new mathbook today also. She was lovin' it.
Since I had gotten the "sheep" book out, the kids had seen that and were asking about it, so we have started reading a chapter a day out of that and I am having them memorize the 23rd psalm. Jesse is still working on phonics and he is doing really great with his math and numbers. I think he is going to be quicker in the math than Elizabeth. He can count silently and look at the numbers and think them where Elizabeth has to count everything out over and over out loud to hear herself... not sure if that's a girl thing or not. Ethan is almost done with the Dan Frontier series. He has one more book to go.... Then what am I going to do? He does like the Christian Liberty Nature Readers and we have been reading a little out of those also. Then I have him read the Keys for Kids on his e-mail every day. It's a pretty cool daily devotional for kids.
After school today we met Carmen and her kids for a play date at the McDonalds. Today is the $1.59 happy meals day. Her boy is Jesse's age and her girl is 3 but loves to play with Ethan. So I thought maybe I could actually have an adult conversation while they were all occupied with other things. Unfortunately they were extremely mommy needy today. They did not listen to me well at all. My friend even said how shocked she was since they have always been so well behaved at other times and she was even jealous..... well not so today. For some reason they have been arguing with me over EVERYTHING imaginable-even stupid stuff. So we will have to be going back to basic training again. Not something I enjoy. Elizabeth even said, "you don't love me, mom" "you hate me".... where did that come from? Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Proverbs 22:15
After the McDonalds fiasco we came home and the kids played some games on the computer until it was time to go to church. Pastor was talking about my message from monday.... except he expounded more than I did. It was about being content with life and if you are not you are in big trouble! The best part, of course, was that I got to sing! Wow, twice in one week.

Be Blessed!