Home....

I haven't mentioned much about it, but we've been doing a lot of home improvement this summer. You may have heard me say that our house is close to 100 years old. It was a bit of a fixer when we bought it, but it had good bones (still does). To say that the house needed updating is an understatement. Avocado green, Goldenrod and Rustic Orange were the colors of choice throughout most of the downstairs, with the exception of the Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom. The carpet was green shag. Every single room in the house had carpet (including the bathrooms). Can I get an "ewwwww?"

There have been so many times these past four years when I have griped and complained about this house. But the truth is, I love it. I have grown to love it. It is really perfect for us and our family. Not too big, not too small. Yes, it's tight in places. But I've learned that more space isn't necessarily better. (Remember the beautiful house we lived in for a week while our friends were on vacation? Yeah. Goregous. But waaaaay to big for our family.)

And the Lord has been so faithful to teach us much as we've lived in a less-than-perfect house. We've learned contentment. We've grown to absolutely love and cherish our neighbors. We have taken pride in each and every improvement we've made, because we've been the ones doing the work. Correction: Most of it has been done by my willing and hard-working hubby.

Granted, it's not perfect. We're amateurs in training. There is still so much to be done. The rest of the house still needs to be painted. The trim needs to be scraped, sanded, primed, and painted. The storm windows need attention. There's landscaping....OY...the landscaping is a big task, and there's still so much more to do.

And yet, it's home.

It's where we work and breathe and live.

It's where we learn and love and cry.

It's where we say we're sorry, kiss each other's ouchies and hug.

It's where we snuggle up, play games and smile.

It's where we pray, read, and grow.

It's home.

And I'm so very, very thankful for it and every person in it.

The View From the Concession Stand

Part of my obligation as a baseball mom is to work the concession stand at the ball park one time during the season.  I actually enjoy doing it for some odd reason.  Perhaps it's the smell of popcorn or the fact that the freezer is stocked full of DQ buster bars.  Anyway, I had to commit to three hours today and it turned out to be quite an interesting time, for sure.  I confess I'm a bit of a people watcher, and there were lots of opportunities to observe them!

First, I had this group of kids that kept coming up to the window.  They started off with $10.00 and I've never seen anyone stretch ten bucks like these little frugal ones did!  There must have been six of them and they had water, soda, sunflower seeds, granola bars.  Fruit snacks, nerds, airheads, and cheetos.  Bubble gum, ice pops, M&Ms and a ring pop.  They figured out ways to split up the money and negotiate sharing everything so they could eat more and get more, and truly... it was impressive. 

Secondly, I ran into a former student and her mom there.  Their family has been going through a tough time over the past year, but it was good to see them happy and doing well despite tough circumstances and lots of change.

Third, I found out that one of Cody's teammates' siblings fought a rare form of leukemia and beat it.  It took three years but he was given the "all clear" in February.  Praise God!!

Fourth, I heard all about a fight that transpired between two six year-old little girls through an older, wiser 8 year-old.  "And they are, like, so totally going to get in trouble with their moms."

Next, I overcharged an umpire for his gatorade.  It was supposed to be free.  OOPS.  I wondered why he gave me a quizzical look when I asked him for $3.

Finally, I was attempting to read the book, "Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman during my down times of working the stand.  (It's a book about disciplining strong-willed children.) One of Cody's classmates came over and asked, "Whatcha readin'?"  I told her the title and she started laughing.  She lost complete interest in what I was saying when I began explaining the main point of the book:  To teach your children to obey because of what God's Word says versus what Mom says.  I was hoping I could start quoting scripture to her from the concession window, but I never got my chance.  Oh well.  There's always next year.

So the moral of the story?  You just never know what the day will bring when you sit in the concession stand for three hours.  I didn't come home empty handed either.  I promised I would bring home a giant Pixie Stick for Cody, and I made good on it!

A Break Needed Indeed

The past few months have brought so much "busy"ness that this break has been such a welcome and wonderful time for us all. We so enjoyed the services at our church over Easter, time with my family out of town, time with our little family to spend together, and much more to come before the end of the week. We are so grateful for the break...it was truly needed!

Several of you have asked me what I decided to do while decorating eggs with the kids in our neighborhood. Thanks to several great ideas, we decided to do Resurrection Eggs as well as a reading of "The Legend of the Easter Egg." It was a great time. Here are the pictures to prove it!

Caden was very excited to open his eggs to find out what was inside! (If you've never done these before, they are an awesome way to clearly tell the Easter story with tangible things little hands can touch and hold.) The kids loved it!

The children in our neighborhood are truly great kids. We enjoy having them around and they all play really well together.

After doing the Resurrection Eggs, we decorated eggs. Aren't these cute? These are the girls' eggs.

We had to occupy Caden with a sucker while we decorated eggs. He's a little too young yet to appreciate the concept of dipping the egg in the dye. In fact, the missing egg you see above is the one he threw into the cup that immediately cracked. Oops!

After eggs, we had a reading of "The Legend of the Easter Egg." The kids were all excited for story time.

Below, we have Cody posing as the "Easter Cowboy" before we left for church. He insisted he wear his cowboy hat for this photo.

Here is Caden at church. I couldn't get him to sit still with Cody to take a picture of the two of them together. I love this picture because he looks like he's praying. "Please God, make my mom stop taking photos!"Cody sang with the kids choir again this year. They were so cute and he did a great job.

Here's a picture of what our stage looked like from the front. This is only center stage, but I thought it looked really cool from where I was sitting.

And finally, the reason we celebrate:

More pictures and stories will follow soon. Hope you're all enjoying your week!

Well, Apparently I've Had My Head In The Sand

But unfortunately I haven't been helping my neighbors BAG it.

I feel so ignorant. I've been hearing about the Chicago suburbs here and there in blurbs on the radio, but we've been without cable all day and I haven't heard the latest. I rarely have the news on because of the kids (it's so sad that we live in a society where the daily/nightly news is dangerous to our children's mental well-being and an attack on their innocence). Anyways...

I go out tonight for a walk and I see the river in my neighbors' yards. I can't believe this has been going on for a few days and I didn't even know. Yes, we've been gone, but I didn't even know until tonight how my own neighbors were being affected.

Everyone's been sand bagging and they've literally been on their knees at the smallest clap of thunder or bolt of lightning praying God's mercy upon their homes. I'm praying that it doesn't rain tonight like it's supposed to. Our poor little town needs a reprieve.

I know God promised He'd never flood the earth again, but I'm sure the people in my community are wishing they had an ark right about now.

Too Close For Comfort

Have you heard that song? Well, it's been ringing in my ears ever since our little brush with danger yesterday. Cody was playing with some friends, and the mom offered to watch him while we went grocery shopping. I am all about saving money on groceries and am willing to drive twenty minutes away to save 50-70% on food! So, the three of us took off toward the store. As we were driving, the sky turned dark and looked quite ominous, but we thought it was just a thunderstorm coming...nothing more than that.

As we turned into the parking lot of the store, I said, "Are you hearing what I'm hearing?" I rolled down my windows and heard sirens blaring. Not the squad car or ambulance type. The other kind. We stopped the van, looked at each other and both said, "What should we do?" My mind quickly pondered our options. A.) Drive home to be with Cody, trying to outwit Mother Nature, B.) go into warehouse store with baby and husband where there are no walls or a basement, C.) stay in the van (uh, I think not), or D.) try to find a place with a basement to seek shelter. We turned on the radio and heard that a funnel cloud had been spotted not far from where we were, but according to forcasters, we learned that this particular area was not yet in the "danger zone." Funny, because the sirens seemed to beg to differ.

My mother's instinct kicked in, and upon learning the storm was heading in our home's direction, we decided to try to beat the clock and get back to Cody.

As we drove, we listened intently to the radio (and kept rolling down the windows in the rain listening for sirens...just in case), and praise God, we were protected and no tornados ever touched down in our area. But it was one scary half hour.

Let me tell you...I still do not know if we did the right thing. It was one of those moments you think you're prepared for but then when it happens, you really find yourself at a loss. The thought of being separated from Cody far outweighed the danger we might have found ourselves in with the weather, and both of us felt it was best to get back to him.

I still don't have my groceries, but I do have my family all together, in tact, and looking at sunny skies today. Praise Him!