Monday, Monday

Laundry, cleaning up, a bit of gardening...trying to get things back into shape after the Lord's day. I've enjoyed the boys this morning and now have an hour or so of just me and Joseph while the little guys sleep.

I got an email this past weekend telling me about the formation of a 360 blog—how fun! On Saturday, we did a little work around the yard and Joe and I watched Glory Road after the boys went to bed. It was a pretty good movie by today’s standards, even if it was a sports movie.

Cucumbers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Pancakes

We I was a young teen, I frequently babysat for a charming little boy named Will who had a fascination with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—Rafael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and one I am forgetting at the minute. Give me a break, it has been 15 years. He couldn’t have been older than six and so turtles was pronounced “tur-uls” and I spent many evenings playing “tur-uls” with Will. I remember thinking at the time that turtles made odd super heroes (and now think muscled superhero turtles make particularly strange namesakes for Renaissance artists).

Having a soft spot in my heart for God’s creatures (and having a mama from whom I inherited this love), I grew up being excited about seeing animals. A caterpillar, unusual beetle, new species of bird, or even a non-poisonous snake was a chance for a quick nature lesson from Mama and excitement from us girls.

I can remember one time when we were driving down a semi-busy road in my hometown when we saw a turtle trying to cross the road. Soft hearts to the rescue, my mom turned our minivan around so that we could go back and help him across the road to safety. We were heading back towards the turtle when a big-wheeled pick-up truck veered out of his lane into the lane going the opposite direction just to run over the turtle!

“Girls, don’t look! He got the turtle,” instructed my mother.

Curious and strong headed, I stole a glance at the flattened pinkish pancake where the turtle had been. I was so angry at that truck. Why in the world did he feel the need to veer across the road just to kill a turtle!

So that is a brief history of turtles in my life, which brings me to this past week. Once again, I am having encounters with turtles and this time these creatures are surprising me with their diligence and resolve. Three times this week, we have gone out to the garden and found a turtle eating the cucumbers. Each time, we have moved the offending turtle farther into the woods away from the garden and each time I have been surprised to find her back.

I am fairly certain that it is the same turtle, an ordinary box turtle with a yellow underside and beady cucumber coveting eyes. We have only harvested 1 cucumber from our garden; she has eaten two that were almost fully-grown and countless ones that were just starting. Once full of budding cucumbers, our vines are now bare. I’ve told Joe that the next time we see her, we are putting her in the car and driving her several miles away before releasing her since obviously a trip into the woods on our property is not far enough. And I must admit that if that doesn’t work, I might even be tempted to put her on the other side of Hwy 35 and let her try her luck at coming back then. I love “tur-uls” just as much as the next guy (okay, probably more), but who knew that they could be garden pests! Maybe that poor guy in the pick-up truck was just a frustrated cucumber farmer.

As of today we were supposed to be the owners of only one home, but true to tradition, things did not turn out as planned. We were not able to close on the sale of our Jackson house because the new owners had not been able to close on the sale of their old house. They are supposed to sell it next Tuesday and then will be qualified to get the loan on our house. I signed my part of the papers today and DV Joe will sign on Tuesday when he is in Jackson for his presbytery meeting. Nothing like more last minute hijinks to improve marital harmony and overall stress levels!

Joe did have his allergist appointment and I got my hair cut while we were in Jackson today. I hate my hair as it is too short and too much "soccer mom" as I told Joe. His response, "Well, at least hair grows back." :) Love that manly thinking.

The boys did pretty well considering they were in the car all day. Since it was our last chance at teh Woodvale house, we loaded up all of teh last minute things and the van was stuffed to the brim. I do have all of my curtains here now and so I will be able to hang them.

It will be such a load off of my mind when the sale goes through and the money is back in the bank....just a few more days of wating.

Losing motherhood

This article caught my eye recently, especially the introduction in italics. The point of the article of woman needing to mentor women in the style of Titus 2 is well put also.

Correction

My humble hubby corrected me that he actually finished 1st of the relay swimmers, not second!

Speedos and FIRE!

Dark and early this morning, my hubby left home at 4 AM on his way to a triathlon relay in Loiusville, MS. He was the first leg of the relay and did the 800 meter swim. Seeing 800 meters in a course in a lake shows just how long it is much more so than knowing that it is 16 laps in a pool. He hasn’t trained for swimming since we were in Charlotte 4 years ago or competed in a triathlon in 8 years. He just called Johnny to check on the team’s finish (since we went home before the race finished in another city 30 miles away) and found out that they placed 2^nd of the relay teams. Joe finished 2^nd overall of the relay swimmers too! Hurray for my hubby! I must admit that my heart beat strangely as I watched him come out of the water after his swim. Some of the competitors were so disoriented that they could barely move. Joe was fine, but definitely tired. Advil and a nap this afternoon for him!

We got home at 8:30 this morning and still had plenty of time to do yard work before lunch. I mowed and Joe weedwacked while the boys played in the pool (they were copying their Daddy’s fast swimming). Then, we tackled a project that we’ve been chipping away at for a while. Dr. Mink (for some reason) placed old carpets along the perimeter of his garden and over the years about 6 inches of soil and crab grass grew on top of the carpets. As we are planning to increase our garden for next year (and because the carpet is right at the edge of our rapidly expanding pumpkin patch), we needed to get rid of the carpet. The largest piece we pulled up today was probably 15’ by 15’ and very heavy. How to get rid of a massive amount of heavy carpet? Why drag it to the edge of the woods and burn it!!!! Hurray!!!

We had a massive bonfire of carpet, fallen pine trees, and gasoline that is still smoking in the rain as I type. At one point just after we lit it, Joe and I frantically ran to hook up hoses and stretch them to the pile as the fire almost got out of control. Crisis averted, we’ve had our first burn and learned a lot. I love that we are learning things like this—simple living country things that have been done for centuries—gardening, burning things without setting a forest fire J, keeping a large yard, pruning, etc. Now if I could just figure out a way to keep a milk cow….

Back from the beach

It was a great week of sand, sea, pool, and cafeteria food. The extent of my cooking for the week was heating some Bagel Bites for Joe for a nighttime snack. Other than that, I carried trays to the table 3 times a day and enjoyed the glorious freedom of having someone else do the cooking. It certainly wasn’t ritzy (imagine the 5 of us in a small hotel room with David in the closet in a crib), but it was wonderful since I had a week off.

The boys loved the pool and Joseph loved the ocean. Will was still a bit skittish about the ocean and insisted on being carried. He was sick though, and so I think that added to his reticence. Both Joseph and Will had a nasty fever virus. Will is over it now and if Joseph follows the same pattern, he’ll be much better tomorrow. Both had dangerously high fevers at the peak of the virus that had Will in a cool shower at 3 AM two nights ago and sent us to the ER with Joseph as we were driving home yesterday. By the time we found the hospital and were able to have him seen the fever finally started dropping and so he didn’t have to be admitted. It is never boring around here.

Today, I’m home with the boys and Joe is teaching Sunday school and preaching for the morning service for the first time. We’ll try to catch the service on the radio, but also have to make a Wal-Mart run to get some groceries too since we do not have any food in the house.

In the car

On the way to RYM, somewhere in the middle of nowhere Mississippi….

"Boys, see that cow with really long horns?! Look over there.”

“Yes!” says Joseph.

“Yeth, I do,” copies Will.

Joseph looks thoughtfully at the cow. “Hey Mama, how does that cow honk his horn?”

“He doesn’t. It is a different kind of horn. Not like a car horn. He doesn’t honk it”

Another contemplative pause.

“Is is just for decoration?”

“Yes.”

Wife of a preacher man

Joe preached twice today. This morning, he preached at a very small church named Alexander Memorial Presbyterian Church and this evening he preached at our church. I heard the same message twice, but in different contexts. At our church tonight, I was teary-eyed almost the whole message as I marveled at God’s handiwork. He has gifted my dear husband as a preacher and I was just so thankful. Joe is not a flowery preacher, nor what most people would define as a great public speaker, however he clearly and plainly explains the Gospel. And that is the hallmark of a fine preacher.

I am so thankful for God’s work in him and am excited to see how God will use him in the future. This is a link to our church’s website where the sermon audio will be posted after we get back from the beach. To find the right sermon, look for the date of 7.09 and the text of Isaiah 40 and the title "Comfort." It won't be there until the 17th or 18th.

Tomorrow we head to RYM!

Who knew breastfeeding was so funny?

Laughed out loud last night to Tim Challies discussing the recent run-in that Victoria's Secret has had with lactivism. It seems that there have been nurse-ins at stores across the country in protest of VC requesting a few breastfeeding women to leave their stores. As a mom who breastfed (and sometimes publicly) 3 babies, what really got me was the comments----too funny!

My littlest man

David is now not only crawling, but getting teeth! His first tooth finally broke through today. It is a bit sad because there is just nothing like a toothless baby grin. My little man is all grown up!

Also, I found a really funny blog by a mom of 7 that had me in stitches last night. She's a little unorthodox, but a breath of fresh air.

Boy genius

I just have to do a quick midday blog to say that Joseph is so smart!!! I was sewing this morning while David napped and Will was with me in the office. Joseph was playing upstairs in the playroom, but I didn't know what he was doing. It was probably a half an hour before he came down and said, "Mama, come and see what hard puzzle I did." I went upstairs and he had done the United States of American puzzle, which has a different piece for each state and a border of water pieces. So he did a 75 piece or so map puzzle--at 3 years old!!!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

It was a momentous day here. Our pumpkin and sunflower seeds sprouted!!! We had only planted them a few days ago and so I was thrilled this morning to walk outside and see green leaves shooting up where only last night there had been bare soil. I called the boys and they were equally excited. So maybe we’ll have homegrown pumpkins this fall!

We also had a great time with the Holman family tonight. Angie brought deviled eggs, potato salad, and a jello mold to add to my hamburgers and artichoke dip and chips. For dessert, we had banana pudding with vanilla wafers and a meringue top, and watermelon of course. We had our own little fireworks show in the front yard and good conversation. We have really enjoyed the Holman family and look forward to getting to know them better.

On of those days....

Yep, today was one. The peak came at lunch time just as Will dropped the gallon of milk on the floor and David was screaming constantly. I cleaned up the milk and rushed David to the bathroom. He's been constipated and after sitting with him for a few minutes (and a glycerin enema), I finally nursed him and manage to calm him down. The whole time I was with him I could hear the older boys yelling from the kitchen for more food. I cleaned David up quickly and put him down to bed. Coming into the kitchen to a huge mess (a 2 year old and a 3 year old alone with PBJ sandwiches and glasses of milk--use your imagination), I had BM all over my arms from dealing with David. My dear husband walks in the door and takes that opportunity to note, "You have avocado on your shoulder."
Um....thanks.

We had a day like that on Saturday night too. Our minivan suddenly wouldn't start, we lost our $112 baby monitor (I know that is pricey, but it was the only model that can monitor more than one room--some people do have more than one small child, you know), the boys were fussy, I was trying to cook dinner, and I'm sure that there was a mess somewhere.

Joe and I have been talking a lot about wanting to live like Christians in the midst of such circumstance. To live in light of eternity in the middle of potty accidents, disobedient children, messes, ruined plans, and chaos. I am SO quick to lose my temper, yell, or be frustrated.

"Lord, give me grace to daily take the things of my life and serve with peace in the midst of them that I may bring glory to your name."

Bicycling!!!

Joseph’s friend Samuel was here this past week with a bike that his mom had found at Target for $20. Joseph loved it and we had lots of opportunities that day to talk about not being greedy. I had previously decided to hold off on a bicycle purchase for the boys until they got a bit older. Yesterday when I was at a yard sale though I saw one that was just Joseph’s size for $8 and I started to reconsider. When they saw me looking at it and said, “Hey, you can have that for $5 if you’ll take it,” I was sold. I was excited about it as I came home and wondered how I would be able to wait until his birthday for him to have it. Joe helped me with that though by saying that he wanted Joseph to have it now.

So, here are a few picture of the proud new bicycle owner. He road ALL day yesterday and went outside this morning as soon as he had gulped down his breakfast (note the PJs in the pictures). He was exhausted last night and so happy. Not a bad way to spend $5.

Test post

I am trying to transfer some posts over from my old blog, so bear with me if you are subscribed through a feed reader as you will be getting a lot of old posts over the next few days.