I know some mighty angry parents tonight. They are parents of poor little defenseless babies who cannot defend themselves against a nasty, virulent Puke Bug.
Several of us have just been slammed with this stuff all winter,
and we are all weary and tired. Two of our Columbia church babies have been hospitalized this week with the vomiting virus. Both boys, Gage and David Cole, are in Hannah's class. It makes me feel really lucky that she only endured 48 straight hours of the stuff. They have endured much, much more with their weary parents. I think we can proclaim in unison, "Come on, Spring!"
I wish it were possible to gather all the evil forces at work right now and ride them collectively out of town on a rail. It has been a rough week for the saints around here, but prayer has been answered favorably in so many ways concerning some I have told you about.
My friend Tina got her medical report back after her double mastectomy. Cancer had spread to some of the lymph nodes and was found to be stage two and stage three. The good news has been that she has had minimal discomfort and she has a strong, positive outlook. We have heard that the more aggressive cancers respond better to treatment than some of the slow-growing ones. She is hopeful that this will be the case when she begins treatment for hers. In the meantime, she is cracking me up telling me how she is contemplating trying various hairstyles and colors with wigs when her hair comes out. She and some family and friends are apparently going to have as much fun with this as you can have under these circumstances. I told her that she is awesome in my book.
Brother Alvin had his cancer surgery today, too. He got a pretty good report. The cancer seems confined to the lumps they found in both jaws. The lumps and some lymph nodes were removed and will be further analyzed. They scoped his throat and did not see anything bad down there. So for now, they are cautiously optimistic, and we are grateful.
The Columbia hospital became a gathering place for as many as could play hooky from work and school today, apparently. Between the babies up in the baby unit with dehydration, and bro. Alvin in surgery, there was quite a gathering in the hospital today. Several of our dear older ladies are also " pink ladies " which means they help out on a volunteer basis at the hospital, so they have the inside scoop on what is going on a lot of times. We also have a few nurses and therapists who work inside the hospital, so "ve have our vays of vinding things out." It usually does not take too long to run down the answers to our questions, if it is, of course, information the families wish to share with the crowd. I did not try to go, because with Hannah having been sick and then the fact that I was throwing up Monday, I did not want to take any chances on making anyone else sick.
I did manage to get out a little in the gorgeous day today, however, to get a package off to my grandfather for his 85th birthday. He will celebrate on the 2nd. He has had quite a time this year with his wife, my step-grandmother, trying to recover from a stroke last year. She is at home now, but recovery has been slow, and my grandfather and my aunt Martha (Marni) have had their hands full caring for her day and night since she left the nursing home. Marni has a birthday in just a couple of days, too, but we will not tell her age out of respect for a woman's right to keep that a big secret!
I cannot let this blog today pass without commenting on the death of Terri Schiavo. I have to say that I think this whole case is just purely indicative of the growing collective lunacy and moronic behavior of this nation as a whole. While I recognize that there were good people who did their best to try and save her, for the most part, people either did not care or blatantly promoted what amounted to a calculated murder of a helpless individual.
I hope her husband is proud of himself tonight. He pulled it off. He orchestrated a murder and white-washed it as a mercy-killing. God alone holds the keys to life and death, and He alone gives it and takes it as He sees fit. Woe be to the man or woman who presumes to take God's role and make it his or her own. An autopsy will probably determine whether this case ends in the courts of man at this point or not. However, a Higher court will eventually convene, and Terri will get justice then, regardless of what happens here and now. I feel so sorry for her parents right now, but I genuinely feel more sorry for Michael Schiavo when he has to stand before the Bar and answer to the charge of impersonating Deity. Somehow I doubt his eternal "end" is going to be as "peaceful" as Terri's was. As always, JMHO.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Easter And Other Fun Ways to Tire Oneself
Whew! What a whirlwind weekend this has been! I am so tired that I may fall asleep in the middle of writing this blog!
We came off a week of Spring Break, doctor and dentist appointments scheduled, and Hannah having the roughest stomach virus of her life. I had a CAT scan last Monday (results came back normal Saturday!), but everything else kind of got canceled due to Mr. Puke Bug. By the end of the week, she was coming around, but not back to 100% yet.
On Friday afternoon, I was busily preparing for the weekend in my old hometown, for staying over at my folks' house, and helping them with some incoming company for Sunday dinner. I knew that I needed to pack my things and be ready to leave by at least noon on Saturday.
Now those of us with 5 children or more know what it is like to move a small army, complete with "dress uniforms" for 2 services of church on Sunday. I had the troops mobilized and preparing to move out for the most part.
Also in the mix was the "speech factor." Sam and Dan are giving a speech in town on Monday night in a high school competition, and we had to polish those this weekend as well. Then, all homework left from Spring Break also had to be ready to be turned in on Monday morning.
Tim was off on Friday, and I thought he would be of some assistance in getting the "troops" moving in the right direction. Instead, our beloved "commander" was sick as a dog. I think the Tennessee allergy season is definitely in full swing, and he was so sick, as he has been nearly every Easter since we moved here. So he was in bed all day and was not able to help get ready for the weekend.
On Friday afternoon, my future sister-in-law's mother emailed that she was ready to have a fitting for Sarah's flower girl dress, and she was wondering if I could bring her to just over the border into Alabama on Saturday morning, Monday or Tuesday. Since Monday and Tuesday were school days, Saturday seemed to be it. Well, realizing that I was nowhere near ready to leave early the next morning, panic set in. General Mama had to go back to the war room and redraw plans for battle. We had to unpack our bags---those that were packed---because I knew that there was no way I could get every single thing I would have to carry for Easter packed Friday night, so it would have to stay here, and we would just have to drive back Saturday night.
Further complicating things was the fact that we had a lingerie shower scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday, so the family would have to wait at Mom's til this was over so we could make the two-hour drive home.
Friday night ended up being a very late night, getting clothes situated for the following day (you know, the troops cannot travel without backup uniforms in case someone spills upon, poops upon, spits up upon, or otherwise sullies their outfits.) I surely was not ready to get up on four hours of sleep Saturday morning and then ride three hours! I was in la-la-land.
I had hoped I could sneak a nap in somewhere between the dress fitting and the shower. It was not to be. Micah had to have something to wear on Sunday. The boy is positively shooting out of his clothes now, and so I went in search of a suit his size. I went to several stores in their limited little town, and nothing was the right size for him. Some stores do not even carry boys' dress clothing any more.
Soooo, before I knew it, it was time for all the ladies to meet at a nice little restaurant there in town for the lingerie shower. Brooke got several beautiful little "band-aids" to paste on during her honeymoon! LOL! The funniest thing happened as she started to open her presents. Her little niece who is about Hannah's age was there with Brooke's sister, and as Brooke began to open her packages, the baby just started laughing hysterically. It was one of those precious belly laughs that babies do at that age, and it was contagious. Pretty soon, the whole table of ladies was laughing so hard that I know people thought we were crazy! I have never seen a baby get so tickled over lingerie before. Well, we were giving the mother a hard time---telling her that most babies like binkies and foofoo's, and her baby seems attached to teddies! (But not the stuffed kind!!!)
Well, after the shower was over, we all went to Drew and Brooke's new house to see how the decorating is coming along. They are nearly all set---gifts unwrapped and in place, furniture in, drapes hung, etc. It is a gorgeous place. They have worked so hard on it. Well, little Raley (spelling?), the teddy baby, entertained us some more by playing with the lingerie a little more before we all left. We discovered that the girl will definitely like lingerie! She was a doll!
Then came the grueling drive back home. I stopped at Penney's with 10 minutes til closing and snagged a suit for Micah, praying it would fit. And next came the even more grueling task of playing Easter bunny before bed, finishing laying out the Easter clothing, and trying to think of everything we would need for Sunday. Another 4 hour night left me beginning to feel like a real soldier who rarely gets more than 4 hours a night!
Sunday morning found us scurrying like bunnies to dress and get to church on time. Daniel was set to be an usher, but he got switched to song leading when the scheduled guy had a sore throat. Sam had scripture reading, and I was proud of my two "bookends" who looked so suave! Micah completed the family rotation with assisting at the Lord's table. Only Tim got a pass today on having to do anything. It was a good thing, as he was busy taking out Miss Hannah, who is a little too verbal in church most days. She is certainly not the passive little girl Sarah was in that regard!
After morning church, we drove on down to Mom and Dad's and all the family was showing up for dinner. My Dad's cousin Philis and her husband, Guy were also there with their two boys. It was a full house, and the food was stupendous. I am still full at 11:00 at night! We had ham AND turkey AND potroast with every vegetable known to man, Steph's dressing and Mom's famous potato salad, spinach dip and cheeseball appetizers....you name it, it was there. Very few of us were able to touch dessert. I ate the "sugar free cupcake" which was really not sugar free but rather Philis Ann's scraping off of some of the icing and lying to me about the rest! :) Brother Doug was ailing today and unable to attend, and Brooke and Drew were no-shows as well! :( I guess they were feasting down in 'Bama.
The afternoon seemed so short. We got a few pictures in, and Sarah played with her beloved cousins Ben and Kelsey. We remarked that we have never seen three love each other to the degree that these three do. They suck every last bit of fun out of every second of every moment they are together.
Philis shared memories of our Edwards relatives and made us laugh. Guy is a hoot to be with too. He is a public defender for 5 West Tennessee counties, so he never lacks for stories to tell, and he is quite good at it!
Brother Dan (the "Parsons") shared with all of us his hilarious account of how he took home some furry Easter GOATS yesterday to his incredulous family! He bought four goats on a shopping trip out to the Farm Supply store, when an old guy in town absolutely would not take "no" for an answer---or so Dan says! :) One goat promptly got away, and the family---Dan, Steph, Ben and Kelsey took out in hot pursuit! Now these goats are still just teeny tiny, but they can run faster than a full grown Parsons. He chased the goat down the dirt road, silently saying a little prayer that the good Lord would allow him to catch this goat, lest he be in worse trouble with the wife for loosing the newly purchased Easter goat. Quite providentially, it seems, a stray Great Pyrenees puppy appeared out of nowhere and cornered the goat. Now by this time, Dan had arrived in front of the mobile home of four men who were using the day to drink and play poker in the front yard. Puppy cornered goat before Dan became the latest statistic in his county, and the men even kindly yelled out that he could take the stray dog home too! Wasn't that nice of them?
So, Dan and Steph now have 4 new goats, a new puppy, and two very happy kids (not the baaah-ing kind!) All I can say is that Steph is one good woman! She has accepted the fact that Dan will forever be bringing home strays of all kinds, and she truly hopes that when Dan gets his Masters Degree soon in Psychology and Counseling, and hangs his shingle out, that his first client is himself!
In other happy news, double mastectomy patient and friend, Tina, who I told you about earlier last week was at church this morning. I told her I was going to get her a shirt that said "SuperTina" on it. She is truly amazing. I hope she did not overdo it too soon.
Tim's aunt Rita is ailing right now, and she is in our thoughts and prayers. They are still trying to work out what is wrong with her, so for the meantime, she is out of the hospital and being tended to by Tim's parents. We continue to remember my grandmother in Florida who is slowly recovering from a stroke last year. (Hi Marni! Hi Pappaw! Love you!)
Well, that is all the news that is news tonight. I am whipped for good now, and I may sleep about a week now. I need a week to get over my Spring Break week. Things are going to be just crazy between now and the middle of April, when we have both Dan and Sam's A.C.E. conference, where Dan is entered in 9 events and Sam in about as many. April 16th is also wedding day for Brooke and Drew, and a week before that, Dan has ACT test. So we are going to be an insane family for a while. I promised them, though, that when all this is over, we are getting out of here for a while and having at least a whole week of doing nothing but staring at an ocean somewhere.
Hope that wherever you are, your Easter was just very Hoppy! Sorry, it is late. I'm allowed to be giddy.
We came off a week of Spring Break, doctor and dentist appointments scheduled, and Hannah having the roughest stomach virus of her life. I had a CAT scan last Monday (results came back normal Saturday!), but everything else kind of got canceled due to Mr. Puke Bug. By the end of the week, she was coming around, but not back to 100% yet.
On Friday afternoon, I was busily preparing for the weekend in my old hometown, for staying over at my folks' house, and helping them with some incoming company for Sunday dinner. I knew that I needed to pack my things and be ready to leave by at least noon on Saturday.
Now those of us with 5 children or more know what it is like to move a small army, complete with "dress uniforms" for 2 services of church on Sunday. I had the troops mobilized and preparing to move out for the most part.
Also in the mix was the "speech factor." Sam and Dan are giving a speech in town on Monday night in a high school competition, and we had to polish those this weekend as well. Then, all homework left from Spring Break also had to be ready to be turned in on Monday morning.
Tim was off on Friday, and I thought he would be of some assistance in getting the "troops" moving in the right direction. Instead, our beloved "commander" was sick as a dog. I think the Tennessee allergy season is definitely in full swing, and he was so sick, as he has been nearly every Easter since we moved here. So he was in bed all day and was not able to help get ready for the weekend.
On Friday afternoon, my future sister-in-law's mother emailed that she was ready to have a fitting for Sarah's flower girl dress, and she was wondering if I could bring her to just over the border into Alabama on Saturday morning, Monday or Tuesday. Since Monday and Tuesday were school days, Saturday seemed to be it. Well, realizing that I was nowhere near ready to leave early the next morning, panic set in. General Mama had to go back to the war room and redraw plans for battle. We had to unpack our bags---those that were packed---because I knew that there was no way I could get every single thing I would have to carry for Easter packed Friday night, so it would have to stay here, and we would just have to drive back Saturday night.
Further complicating things was the fact that we had a lingerie shower scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday, so the family would have to wait at Mom's til this was over so we could make the two-hour drive home.
Friday night ended up being a very late night, getting clothes situated for the following day (you know, the troops cannot travel without backup uniforms in case someone spills upon, poops upon, spits up upon, or otherwise sullies their outfits.) I surely was not ready to get up on four hours of sleep Saturday morning and then ride three hours! I was in la-la-land.
I had hoped I could sneak a nap in somewhere between the dress fitting and the shower. It was not to be. Micah had to have something to wear on Sunday. The boy is positively shooting out of his clothes now, and so I went in search of a suit his size. I went to several stores in their limited little town, and nothing was the right size for him. Some stores do not even carry boys' dress clothing any more.
Soooo, before I knew it, it was time for all the ladies to meet at a nice little restaurant there in town for the lingerie shower. Brooke got several beautiful little "band-aids" to paste on during her honeymoon! LOL! The funniest thing happened as she started to open her presents. Her little niece who is about Hannah's age was there with Brooke's sister, and as Brooke began to open her packages, the baby just started laughing hysterically. It was one of those precious belly laughs that babies do at that age, and it was contagious. Pretty soon, the whole table of ladies was laughing so hard that I know people thought we were crazy! I have never seen a baby get so tickled over lingerie before. Well, we were giving the mother a hard time---telling her that most babies like binkies and foofoo's, and her baby seems attached to teddies! (But not the stuffed kind!!!)
Well, after the shower was over, we all went to Drew and Brooke's new house to see how the decorating is coming along. They are nearly all set---gifts unwrapped and in place, furniture in, drapes hung, etc. It is a gorgeous place. They have worked so hard on it. Well, little Raley (spelling?), the teddy baby, entertained us some more by playing with the lingerie a little more before we all left. We discovered that the girl will definitely like lingerie! She was a doll!
Then came the grueling drive back home. I stopped at Penney's with 10 minutes til closing and snagged a suit for Micah, praying it would fit. And next came the even more grueling task of playing Easter bunny before bed, finishing laying out the Easter clothing, and trying to think of everything we would need for Sunday. Another 4 hour night left me beginning to feel like a real soldier who rarely gets more than 4 hours a night!
Sunday morning found us scurrying like bunnies to dress and get to church on time. Daniel was set to be an usher, but he got switched to song leading when the scheduled guy had a sore throat. Sam had scripture reading, and I was proud of my two "bookends" who looked so suave! Micah completed the family rotation with assisting at the Lord's table. Only Tim got a pass today on having to do anything. It was a good thing, as he was busy taking out Miss Hannah, who is a little too verbal in church most days. She is certainly not the passive little girl Sarah was in that regard!
After morning church, we drove on down to Mom and Dad's and all the family was showing up for dinner. My Dad's cousin Philis and her husband, Guy were also there with their two boys. It was a full house, and the food was stupendous. I am still full at 11:00 at night! We had ham AND turkey AND potroast with every vegetable known to man, Steph's dressing and Mom's famous potato salad, spinach dip and cheeseball appetizers....you name it, it was there. Very few of us were able to touch dessert. I ate the "sugar free cupcake" which was really not sugar free but rather Philis Ann's scraping off of some of the icing and lying to me about the rest! :) Brother Doug was ailing today and unable to attend, and Brooke and Drew were no-shows as well! :( I guess they were feasting down in 'Bama.
The afternoon seemed so short. We got a few pictures in, and Sarah played with her beloved cousins Ben and Kelsey. We remarked that we have never seen three love each other to the degree that these three do. They suck every last bit of fun out of every second of every moment they are together.
Philis shared memories of our Edwards relatives and made us laugh. Guy is a hoot to be with too. He is a public defender for 5 West Tennessee counties, so he never lacks for stories to tell, and he is quite good at it!
Brother Dan (the "Parsons") shared with all of us his hilarious account of how he took home some furry Easter GOATS yesterday to his incredulous family! He bought four goats on a shopping trip out to the Farm Supply store, when an old guy in town absolutely would not take "no" for an answer---or so Dan says! :) One goat promptly got away, and the family---Dan, Steph, Ben and Kelsey took out in hot pursuit! Now these goats are still just teeny tiny, but they can run faster than a full grown Parsons. He chased the goat down the dirt road, silently saying a little prayer that the good Lord would allow him to catch this goat, lest he be in worse trouble with the wife for loosing the newly purchased Easter goat. Quite providentially, it seems, a stray Great Pyrenees puppy appeared out of nowhere and cornered the goat. Now by this time, Dan had arrived in front of the mobile home of four men who were using the day to drink and play poker in the front yard. Puppy cornered goat before Dan became the latest statistic in his county, and the men even kindly yelled out that he could take the stray dog home too! Wasn't that nice of them?
So, Dan and Steph now have 4 new goats, a new puppy, and two very happy kids (not the baaah-ing kind!) All I can say is that Steph is one good woman! She has accepted the fact that Dan will forever be bringing home strays of all kinds, and she truly hopes that when Dan gets his Masters Degree soon in Psychology and Counseling, and hangs his shingle out, that his first client is himself!
In other happy news, double mastectomy patient and friend, Tina, who I told you about earlier last week was at church this morning. I told her I was going to get her a shirt that said "SuperTina" on it. She is truly amazing. I hope she did not overdo it too soon.
Tim's aunt Rita is ailing right now, and she is in our thoughts and prayers. They are still trying to work out what is wrong with her, so for the meantime, she is out of the hospital and being tended to by Tim's parents. We continue to remember my grandmother in Florida who is slowly recovering from a stroke last year. (Hi Marni! Hi Pappaw! Love you!)
Well, that is all the news that is news tonight. I am whipped for good now, and I may sleep about a week now. I need a week to get over my Spring Break week. Things are going to be just crazy between now and the middle of April, when we have both Dan and Sam's A.C.E. conference, where Dan is entered in 9 events and Sam in about as many. April 16th is also wedding day for Brooke and Drew, and a week before that, Dan has ACT test. So we are going to be an insane family for a while. I promised them, though, that when all this is over, we are getting out of here for a while and having at least a whole week of doing nothing but staring at an ocean somewhere.
Hope that wherever you are, your Easter was just very Hoppy! Sorry, it is late. I'm allowed to be giddy.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
The Bee is Back!
Well, after the second visit this year by my friend Jennifer's nemesis, Puke Bug, we seem to be coming back around to normal. Hannah Bee threw up for a full 48 hours straight, every 30 minutes to an hour around the clock for two days. I am exhausted but so glad to see the sparkle back in her beautiful brown eyes.
Who has time to be sick during Spring Break and Easter weekend? We surely don't. I have a shower to give this weekend for my sister-in-law to be. We decided to just take it to a restaurant rather than stress my mother further with yet another social event at her house. She is going to be entertaining company anyway this weekend. My dad's cousin, her husband, and their two grandsons that they are raising are coming. So there are going to be a lot of people in town this weekend!
We hardly have time to turn around after we come home Sunday night, and school will begin again Monday, and the boys have to give a speech in town Monday night. They are actually compteting in a contest. Dan and Sam will be competing against about 6 other kids in something sponsored by our county's chapter of Right to Life. It is surely an appropriate time to be remembering the gift of life that God gave to all. At this writing, it does not look like Terry Shiavo will make it much longer, seeing that her husband is intent on killing her. What a sham and a travesty this whole thing is!
My church family is surely having a rough week. My cousin called early this morning with the bad news that a dear sister who is 80 years old fell and broke her hip yesterday. She is quite frail and only has one lung, so we are all very concerned for her. I understand she is to have surgery today. Meanwhile, Tina with the mastectomy is doing as well as can be expected and is home now. Our elder will have surgery to try and remove the jaw cancer in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, he is delighting in having all four of his children in from various places, and many of the grandchildren came too.
I have a busy day on tap. I need to clean house (always!) and start packing for the trip to Mom's this weekend. We have speeches to finish and to rehearse, and little Sarah Hope always has a few things on her "to do list" too! I'm sure she will come up with a couple of dollies that need dressing, and she is having a good time working finally on her scrapbook that MeMe gave her for Christmas.
I need to do a little Easter shopping if I can sneak out. I cannot take anyone, so that is going to be a feat if I can pull off sneaking out without The Bee getting upset.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend, full of egg hunts and beautiful Spring breezes! Stay safe and give somebody close a hug today.
Who has time to be sick during Spring Break and Easter weekend? We surely don't. I have a shower to give this weekend for my sister-in-law to be. We decided to just take it to a restaurant rather than stress my mother further with yet another social event at her house. She is going to be entertaining company anyway this weekend. My dad's cousin, her husband, and their two grandsons that they are raising are coming. So there are going to be a lot of people in town this weekend!
We hardly have time to turn around after we come home Sunday night, and school will begin again Monday, and the boys have to give a speech in town Monday night. They are actually compteting in a contest. Dan and Sam will be competing against about 6 other kids in something sponsored by our county's chapter of Right to Life. It is surely an appropriate time to be remembering the gift of life that God gave to all. At this writing, it does not look like Terry Shiavo will make it much longer, seeing that her husband is intent on killing her. What a sham and a travesty this whole thing is!
My church family is surely having a rough week. My cousin called early this morning with the bad news that a dear sister who is 80 years old fell and broke her hip yesterday. She is quite frail and only has one lung, so we are all very concerned for her. I understand she is to have surgery today. Meanwhile, Tina with the mastectomy is doing as well as can be expected and is home now. Our elder will have surgery to try and remove the jaw cancer in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, he is delighting in having all four of his children in from various places, and many of the grandchildren came too.
I have a busy day on tap. I need to clean house (always!) and start packing for the trip to Mom's this weekend. We have speeches to finish and to rehearse, and little Sarah Hope always has a few things on her "to do list" too! I'm sure she will come up with a couple of dollies that need dressing, and she is having a good time working finally on her scrapbook that MeMe gave her for Christmas.
I need to do a little Easter shopping if I can sneak out. I cannot take anyone, so that is going to be a feat if I can pull off sneaking out without The Bee getting upset.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend, full of egg hunts and beautiful Spring breezes! Stay safe and give somebody close a hug today.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Bad News, Good News!
My Dad is convinced that the whole world is going crazy. He would not have to do a lot to convince me, too. One hour of watching the cable news channels, if I had them, is enough to convince one that "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!" I have to remind myself daily that "there is nothing new under the sun." It is just that CNN and Fox News are now there to cover it all.
This has been a mixed bag of a day. The bad news is---Hannah has been puking for over 24 hours. (Hence, no blog last night....sorry, Jen!) She came in from being out with Sam and me yesterday and threw up three different places in the den. While I was getting the carpet cleaner out, Daniel was taking the poor little thing upstairs to bathe her off. She promptly threw up on him two or three more times. He's a great brother. He just took it right in stride and handed her off to me while he went and showered! Poor Sam ran for the hills and decided that last night was the perfect time to clean his room! LOL! The good news is that it seems to be letting up some tonight, but she still cannot keep anything, and I mean anything, down. The doctor said to give her just small sips of diluted Sprite or Pedialyte and when she can keep it down 4 hours, then increase the amounts.
I got up this morning and went to the bathroom, and shortly, Hannah toddled in after me. She had gotten down off my bed and followed me in there, toting a glass of pretty cold water that had melted down from ice chips. She wanted me to put it to her lips. She shook as I gave her the precious drops of cold water. I felt so sorry for her as her little dehydrated body quivered all over in anticipation of the precious drops of refreshment. I offered her fluids all night, but she would throw up anything she took in. She has only been without fluids a few short hours. Terry Shiavo has gone nearly 5 days now. I can only imagine what she is thinking, laying there in torment, wondering why her mommy won't get her a drink?
The bad news is that while I was steamcleaning baby puke last night, Tim was guiding a tow truck up to the multi-story parking garage at his work to get our other SUV! Just a couple of weeks ago, we spent mega-bucks to fix the white one, and now the blue one was shaking like it was going to break up on the interstate. So Tim had to rent a car, because I was having a CAT scan at the time, and then he had to get the blue one home. The good news is that the mechanic looked at it today, and it was relatively minor---points, plugs and a coil pack. The damage was not nearly what it could have been.
The bad news is that my friend, Tina, had to have both breasts removed today. Some of the lymph nodes under her arm were enlarged, too. I am unclear as to whether they removed those or not. We are all eagerly waiting for a prognosis. The good news is that she and her husband are Christians and will face this battle surrounded, as they were today, by faithful brethren who will be cheerleaders for Tina every step of the way. Tina has no insurance, so she is fighting an uphill battle in many ways. The first battle is that she will have to go home tomorrow, just 24 hours after this extensive surgery. I don't know how she is going to make it. They live an hour west of church and we live an hour east, making it two hours to get to her. Her husband has to work, so I am not sure who is going to watch over her in the next couple of days. I know her daughter will probably be there to help, but still, I worry for her.
The bad news is that my brother Doug "delivered" a 5 pound baby polyp last week. O.K., I don't know that it was THAT big, but it reportedly was big. My dummy little brother has let rectal bleeding go on for several years now without taking it seriously. He went to a friend's website---someone he was at West Point with---and this guy was telling about having colo-rectal cancer, and the symptoms scared my brother enough to schedule a quick colonoscopy. The good news is that the pathology report came back today, and there is no cancer! Praise God!
This has surely been one of those days where I could say, "There but for the grace of God go I!" My brother is cancer-free, but my "sister" is fighting for her life. Tim was just saying last night...and it is true... that we all have to work on accepting whatever life gives us in the most graceful way we can. I feel so badly for Tina and her family right now, and for brother Alvin, one of the three dear elders at the church where I am a member. Brother Alvin will have to have surgery in a week or two, as soon as they can squeeze him in, to remove cancer of the jawbone.
So, today, the bad news is that there are many that I care about who are sick and hurting tonight. There are also many I do not know or am not aware of who are sick and hurting. The good news is that God knows who they are, and He will be watching over them even as I sleep. He is much, much more equipped to handle all this chaos in the world than I, so I gladly turn it all over to Him and say a peaceful "Good Night!"
This has been a mixed bag of a day. The bad news is---Hannah has been puking for over 24 hours. (Hence, no blog last night....sorry, Jen!) She came in from being out with Sam and me yesterday and threw up three different places in the den. While I was getting the carpet cleaner out, Daniel was taking the poor little thing upstairs to bathe her off. She promptly threw up on him two or three more times. He's a great brother. He just took it right in stride and handed her off to me while he went and showered! Poor Sam ran for the hills and decided that last night was the perfect time to clean his room! LOL! The good news is that it seems to be letting up some tonight, but she still cannot keep anything, and I mean anything, down. The doctor said to give her just small sips of diluted Sprite or Pedialyte and when she can keep it down 4 hours, then increase the amounts.
I got up this morning and went to the bathroom, and shortly, Hannah toddled in after me. She had gotten down off my bed and followed me in there, toting a glass of pretty cold water that had melted down from ice chips. She wanted me to put it to her lips. She shook as I gave her the precious drops of cold water. I felt so sorry for her as her little dehydrated body quivered all over in anticipation of the precious drops of refreshment. I offered her fluids all night, but she would throw up anything she took in. She has only been without fluids a few short hours. Terry Shiavo has gone nearly 5 days now. I can only imagine what she is thinking, laying there in torment, wondering why her mommy won't get her a drink?
The bad news is that while I was steamcleaning baby puke last night, Tim was guiding a tow truck up to the multi-story parking garage at his work to get our other SUV! Just a couple of weeks ago, we spent mega-bucks to fix the white one, and now the blue one was shaking like it was going to break up on the interstate. So Tim had to rent a car, because I was having a CAT scan at the time, and then he had to get the blue one home. The good news is that the mechanic looked at it today, and it was relatively minor---points, plugs and a coil pack. The damage was not nearly what it could have been.
The bad news is that my friend, Tina, had to have both breasts removed today. Some of the lymph nodes under her arm were enlarged, too. I am unclear as to whether they removed those or not. We are all eagerly waiting for a prognosis. The good news is that she and her husband are Christians and will face this battle surrounded, as they were today, by faithful brethren who will be cheerleaders for Tina every step of the way. Tina has no insurance, so she is fighting an uphill battle in many ways. The first battle is that she will have to go home tomorrow, just 24 hours after this extensive surgery. I don't know how she is going to make it. They live an hour west of church and we live an hour east, making it two hours to get to her. Her husband has to work, so I am not sure who is going to watch over her in the next couple of days. I know her daughter will probably be there to help, but still, I worry for her.
The bad news is that my brother Doug "delivered" a 5 pound baby polyp last week. O.K., I don't know that it was THAT big, but it reportedly was big. My dummy little brother has let rectal bleeding go on for several years now without taking it seriously. He went to a friend's website---someone he was at West Point with---and this guy was telling about having colo-rectal cancer, and the symptoms scared my brother enough to schedule a quick colonoscopy. The good news is that the pathology report came back today, and there is no cancer! Praise God!
This has surely been one of those days where I could say, "There but for the grace of God go I!" My brother is cancer-free, but my "sister" is fighting for her life. Tim was just saying last night...and it is true... that we all have to work on accepting whatever life gives us in the most graceful way we can. I feel so badly for Tina and her family right now, and for brother Alvin, one of the three dear elders at the church where I am a member. Brother Alvin will have to have surgery in a week or two, as soon as they can squeeze him in, to remove cancer of the jawbone.
So, today, the bad news is that there are many that I care about who are sick and hurting tonight. There are also many I do not know or am not aware of who are sick and hurting. The good news is that God knows who they are, and He will be watching over them even as I sleep. He is much, much more equipped to handle all this chaos in the world than I, so I gladly turn it all over to Him and say a peaceful "Good Night!"
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Oh, Where, Oh, Where Has D'Lee Gone....
I know some of you have been singing that for a few days now. I guess it has been more like a couple of weeks since I have made the time to post. Sometimes it is just like that. A Mom of 5 cannot always blog every day!
It seems there has been more than usual going on! Thankfully, this is Spring Break week coming up. I wish we could get out of here for a week, but Daddy is at his busiest time of the year so far, and his new guy is starting the job tomorrow. Tim has added one to his crew, so now, hopefully, he will have someone a little competent to help with some of the technical stuff at his work. He has a great crew of guys that work for him, but they all do different things, and so far, there has really not been anyone with the technical skills that Tim has to lift off some of his work load. The new guy will be a big help, we hope.
We are thick in the middle of Spring appointments---you know, the maintenance things you put off all winter because you did not want to get out in the cold?
Sam had oral surgery last week, and Sarah has it this Tuesday. My kids, or at least some of them, were not blessed with great teeth. So now, we are going to have to address problems in their mouths and see where it takes us. I hope Sarah is going to do ok with this kind of thing. She has never had anything like this, and she is somewhat of a tenderheart, so I am not sure how she will do.
We got some troubling news last week at church, and we learned more about it today at services. One of my dearest friends, Tina, found a lump in her breast. Further tests determined it is malignant. She may have to have both breasts removed this Tuesday if a lumpectomy is not successful or practical. I guess they will not know til they get in there. And then, our dear elder, brother Alvin, found out that some mouth cancer he had has returned in his jawbone. Many times, when someone has cancer in this region, it is the result of using tobacco. This is not the case with him. Both Tina and bro. Alvin are in the earliest stages of determining treatment, having just gotten "the news." It breaks my heart for them and their families, but hopefully they will be able to get through this and be stronger on the other side.
Both Tina and bro. Alvin are just the sweetest people you could hope to know. We have been so blessed to meet and come to know so many wonderful people at our Sunday "home" and our Wednesday night "home." We are a little odd in that we have two churches that we attend! Since we cannot drive the distance and make it in time to the church that we attend on Sundays on Wednesday night, we drive to a closer church. Both groups have been very gracious in "sharing" us. They both make good use of our menfolk in the family. Daniel has been designated as the official "back up songleader." In addition to leading when he is in the rotation, he also fills in if the designated man is sick or absent. He has really come a long way in his song leading and seems very comfortable with that now. He lead a pretty prayer this morning, also. It has taken him some years to get past his strong "stage fright," but he is coming along nicely now.
Micah is chomping at the bits to take a more active part in the worship services. I told him that it helps if people can see you behind the podium. Poor little shorty pants may have to get a box and stand on it if he does not get to growing. I think some day he may be a fine song leader, as he is really exercising those vocal chords in preparation. Sam gets to lead a lot more on Wednesdays than Sundays, but he is just happy to participate whenever. That's my happy-go-lucky boy.
We have rejoiced in the progress of one family at our Sunday church who moved up from Florida. The mother was baptized around Christmas and the father was restored. Last week, two of their teenaged daughters were baptized. The baby, who is a doll, went to class for the first time today and stayed the whole time without a whimper! This family has four girls, similar in age range of our 5 kids! So we have a lot in common. We had a good time getting to know them a little better last week at the Sunday evening Bible study at the preacher's house. Our kids really look forward to that study once a month!
My brother Daniel---we jokingly call him "Parsons Dan"----is baptizing 'em "right and left" at his little country church. No one knows how that kid has worked to build up that church. He has worked 3 jobs in addition to preaching, and he goes to school once a month for a weekend to get his Masters degree. Even with all that, he has made the time to author an outstanding Bible study series working all the way through the Bible. These lessons are not shallow either. He has put in all kinds of time to research and write each and every lesson. It is paying off as it always does in churches whose focus is on the Word. People are turning to the Lord in droves down there. Of course, it also helps that these wonderful people are being converted and then going out and bringing in their own families to be saved. Marcella was at about 20 or 25 in attendance when he got there, and now they have roughly 80 people on a regular basis. Dan and his wife Steph have worked hard there, and it is showing.
Well, tomorrow I have to go have one of those wonderful CAT scans where you get to drink the lovely chalk milkshake. They want to see why my pancreas is acting up a bit. My triglycerides are very high, and we are going to have to get that down. I am back to drinking my cholestiramine drinks which will hopefully bind with the cholesterol and take it out of my body. I think I am going to take cousin Carolyn's advice and ingest some fish oil tablets every day, too. She says it cannot hurt. Carolyn and Hugh are really my daddy's cousins, but I think of them as mine! They are precious people who just happen to worship with us on Sunday too! They always have a big hug waiting for me! Carolyn just LOVES for the boys to lead singing. She has "inside information" that a lot of the "little old ladies" at church like it when the boys lead, also. It makes a Mom proud, for sure! But then, in all fairness, we have a lot of good song leaders there, both young men and older men. We are blessed in that at Collegevue!
I'm proud of myself. For once, I have the girls Easter dresses as well as dresses for Brooke and Drew's wedding in April AND my dresses already bought. I did not take it to the last minute as I normally do. Now, all I have to do is get the shoes all lined up and get my boys attired, and we will be in business. That will be part of the work of this week.
Well, the hour is late, and I do have tests tomorrow. I am also posting another soapbox post, as I plan to do from time to time. I have no way of knowing how many people actually read these things, but it makes me feel better to get things off my chest.
Hopefully, I won't take so long to post again! (Jennifer, I don't know how you do it all!) Alice, if you are reading this, I am sure missing you and the old Kirb. I am beginning to feel like Miss Nancy on Romper Room here...all you kids of the sixties. I look in my magic mirror and I see Alice and Jennifer and Matt and Ron and Sarah and Anne and Susan and Jeff......LOL. Have a great week, everyone, and keep Tina, and brother Alvin, and also Hannah's teacher Miss Joan, and Dan Q., and my little Sarah in your prayers. All except bro. Alvin are due to have surgery this week. Love you all and God bless.....
It seems there has been more than usual going on! Thankfully, this is Spring Break week coming up. I wish we could get out of here for a week, but Daddy is at his busiest time of the year so far, and his new guy is starting the job tomorrow. Tim has added one to his crew, so now, hopefully, he will have someone a little competent to help with some of the technical stuff at his work. He has a great crew of guys that work for him, but they all do different things, and so far, there has really not been anyone with the technical skills that Tim has to lift off some of his work load. The new guy will be a big help, we hope.
We are thick in the middle of Spring appointments---you know, the maintenance things you put off all winter because you did not want to get out in the cold?
Sam had oral surgery last week, and Sarah has it this Tuesday. My kids, or at least some of them, were not blessed with great teeth. So now, we are going to have to address problems in their mouths and see where it takes us. I hope Sarah is going to do ok with this kind of thing. She has never had anything like this, and she is somewhat of a tenderheart, so I am not sure how she will do.
We got some troubling news last week at church, and we learned more about it today at services. One of my dearest friends, Tina, found a lump in her breast. Further tests determined it is malignant. She may have to have both breasts removed this Tuesday if a lumpectomy is not successful or practical. I guess they will not know til they get in there. And then, our dear elder, brother Alvin, found out that some mouth cancer he had has returned in his jawbone. Many times, when someone has cancer in this region, it is the result of using tobacco. This is not the case with him. Both Tina and bro. Alvin are in the earliest stages of determining treatment, having just gotten "the news." It breaks my heart for them and their families, but hopefully they will be able to get through this and be stronger on the other side.
Both Tina and bro. Alvin are just the sweetest people you could hope to know. We have been so blessed to meet and come to know so many wonderful people at our Sunday "home" and our Wednesday night "home." We are a little odd in that we have two churches that we attend! Since we cannot drive the distance and make it in time to the church that we attend on Sundays on Wednesday night, we drive to a closer church. Both groups have been very gracious in "sharing" us. They both make good use of our menfolk in the family. Daniel has been designated as the official "back up songleader." In addition to leading when he is in the rotation, he also fills in if the designated man is sick or absent. He has really come a long way in his song leading and seems very comfortable with that now. He lead a pretty prayer this morning, also. It has taken him some years to get past his strong "stage fright," but he is coming along nicely now.
Micah is chomping at the bits to take a more active part in the worship services. I told him that it helps if people can see you behind the podium. Poor little shorty pants may have to get a box and stand on it if he does not get to growing. I think some day he may be a fine song leader, as he is really exercising those vocal chords in preparation. Sam gets to lead a lot more on Wednesdays than Sundays, but he is just happy to participate whenever. That's my happy-go-lucky boy.
We have rejoiced in the progress of one family at our Sunday church who moved up from Florida. The mother was baptized around Christmas and the father was restored. Last week, two of their teenaged daughters were baptized. The baby, who is a doll, went to class for the first time today and stayed the whole time without a whimper! This family has four girls, similar in age range of our 5 kids! So we have a lot in common. We had a good time getting to know them a little better last week at the Sunday evening Bible study at the preacher's house. Our kids really look forward to that study once a month!
My brother Daniel---we jokingly call him "Parsons Dan"----is baptizing 'em "right and left" at his little country church. No one knows how that kid has worked to build up that church. He has worked 3 jobs in addition to preaching, and he goes to school once a month for a weekend to get his Masters degree. Even with all that, he has made the time to author an outstanding Bible study series working all the way through the Bible. These lessons are not shallow either. He has put in all kinds of time to research and write each and every lesson. It is paying off as it always does in churches whose focus is on the Word. People are turning to the Lord in droves down there. Of course, it also helps that these wonderful people are being converted and then going out and bringing in their own families to be saved. Marcella was at about 20 or 25 in attendance when he got there, and now they have roughly 80 people on a regular basis. Dan and his wife Steph have worked hard there, and it is showing.
Well, tomorrow I have to go have one of those wonderful CAT scans where you get to drink the lovely chalk milkshake. They want to see why my pancreas is acting up a bit. My triglycerides are very high, and we are going to have to get that down. I am back to drinking my cholestiramine drinks which will hopefully bind with the cholesterol and take it out of my body. I think I am going to take cousin Carolyn's advice and ingest some fish oil tablets every day, too. She says it cannot hurt. Carolyn and Hugh are really my daddy's cousins, but I think of them as mine! They are precious people who just happen to worship with us on Sunday too! They always have a big hug waiting for me! Carolyn just LOVES for the boys to lead singing. She has "inside information" that a lot of the "little old ladies" at church like it when the boys lead, also. It makes a Mom proud, for sure! But then, in all fairness, we have a lot of good song leaders there, both young men and older men. We are blessed in that at Collegevue!
I'm proud of myself. For once, I have the girls Easter dresses as well as dresses for Brooke and Drew's wedding in April AND my dresses already bought. I did not take it to the last minute as I normally do. Now, all I have to do is get the shoes all lined up and get my boys attired, and we will be in business. That will be part of the work of this week.
Well, the hour is late, and I do have tests tomorrow. I am also posting another soapbox post, as I plan to do from time to time. I have no way of knowing how many people actually read these things, but it makes me feel better to get things off my chest.
Hopefully, I won't take so long to post again! (Jennifer, I don't know how you do it all!) Alice, if you are reading this, I am sure missing you and the old Kirb. I am beginning to feel like Miss Nancy on Romper Room here...all you kids of the sixties. I look in my magic mirror and I see Alice and Jennifer and Matt and Ron and Sarah and Anne and Susan and Jeff......LOL. Have a great week, everyone, and keep Tina, and brother Alvin, and also Hannah's teacher Miss Joan, and Dan Q., and my little Sarah in your prayers. All except bro. Alvin are due to have surgery this week. Love you all and God bless.....
Where Has All the Feeling Gone?
I see an alarming trend in my country. I predict that if the present trend continues, in not all too many years, Americans will be going through their daily paces with complete absence of emotion.
What would prompt me to make such a bold statement, you might ask? I have observed a phenomenon for several years now which has disturbed me to the very fiber of my being. Slowly, very gradually, as it is with most bad things that enter our lives, I have watched many people around me turn into little more than robots. Let me explain.
I think that the advent of "nasty t.v." Has had a lot to do with the dulling of American sensation. I can remember in the 70's when Hollywood began to sneak concepts, innuendo, and just downright filth into our living rooms. They did not do it all at once. We were coming off the decade of the 60's when America began taking its clothes off, and we pretty well finished the strip in the 70's. The same went with everything from married people sleeping in the same bed evolving into every type of perversion to now our present-day blatant approval of homosexuality. Where America used to be incensed if Desi and Lucy shared the same bed, though they were married on and off stage, now, two people of the same sex and not married (obviously) can share the "marriage bed."
My mom and I were having a conversation the other day. We were talking about television, and she asked me if I remembered watching "Three's Company?" I told her that I did. Here we were, a family of Christians, watching "Three's Company" and thinking nothing about it. We both asked each other the question, "What were we thinking?" Rhetorically, we obviously were neither thinking nor feeling. Thankfully, now, we have come to know that shows like that, with scanty attire, innuendo, and straight out references to sexuality and homosexuality are not going to be viewed in our homes.
Not too many years ago, I walked unannounced into a home of some Christians I knew. They were watching "The Simpsons." You know, the cartoon on Fox with Homer and Bart, etc.? At any rate, they informed me that it was their favorite program. Perfect example of desensitization. Bart Simpson is about the most obnoxious child to ever hit t.v. He is rude, arrogant, smart-mouthed, disrespectful (calls his own dad Homer) and just about every other derogatory label you could think of. These people would smack their own kids "upside the head" if they even thought of acting any of these ways. Yet, they sat around as a family and enjoyed the show. I've seen enough clips of the show to know that it can be funny in spots. But I also saw enough of the show to know that it was something we were not going to watch in our house. I am not trying to be self-righteous here. I guess I am just shocked that Christians could pick out a show like this to be a favorite.
Ditto on the Super Bowl and Super Bowl parties. (Due to church services, the game would always be taped for viewing later.) I stopped going to those a long time ago when I realized that I could not view the commercials in mixed company, or more honestly, that they should not be viewed at all. At times that maybe the t.v. should have just been shut off, people merely got up to go get a coke. That was their way of dealing with a moment of discomfort, but not nearly enough discomfort to just do the right thing. Janet Jackson finally finished it off for most people who still have consciences. I thankfully missed her expose' because I had given up on being able to watch the Superbowl in good conscience.
Music took a turn somewhere, too, and a genre intended for pleasure and the eliciting of emotions from people became a channel for pure filth. We have evolved now to the point where our airwaves are full of "music" that invites the listener to 'go out and kill your local law enforcement officer for the fun of it.' It also invites you to embrace a lifestyle filled with infidelity to your mate, drugs, alcohol, and the unrestrained pursuit of every type of "feel-good" activity--- illegal, illicit, or whatever.
The result of garbage in is, as you guessed, garbage out. But one of the by-products of allowing all of this to come right in and live with us has been a generation or two now of emotional train-wreck victims.
It is very hard to be a sweet little naive boy or girl when you see someone's head blown off in living color each and every night, and sometimes several times a night, depending on your parent's taste in television. It is hard to retain innocence when sex is vividly described and performed multiple times during a "normal" day of network television. Cable has taken viewers to all new heights (really new depths) in the shock value categories. Nothing has been left to the imagination. No subject is taboo. Jerry Springer and Geraldo and numerous other talk show hosts have taken reality to a level that we never needed to achieve.
And so, here we are, at the turn of the millennium, running out of new sins. Every so often, someone manages to commit an atrocity so rotten, so filthy, so inhuman, that we all get shocked for a nanosecond. Then we go right back to our emotionless lives.
I'll bet that some who read this might get offended and deny being desensitized. They would say, in their own minds, they feel plenty. I would challenge that.
I began to notice some years ago, around the time that filth really began to hit the airwaves, that my circle of acquaintances began to change in demeanor. I have always been one to feel everything very, very deeply. I realize that not all people are made that way. Sometimes it is a blessing to feel things more deeply than others; other times, it is more of a curse.
You cannot go to church on Sunday and then go home and get out the Nintendo and kill a few people and reconcile that in your mind. You just cannot. So, to compensate, you just turn off the emotions all together. You cannot "take communion" and then run right out and engage in an adulterous affair unless you have turned off the emotional spigots. You cannot wear your "Sunday Best" on Sunday morning and then go home and strip off all your clothes, don a string bikini, and mow the yard unless you are either really untaught or you just don't care.
You cannot go into a home, kill an entire family, while all the time being a "leader in your church" and holding down a job unless something very terrible has happened in the area of your brain that is responsible for emotions.
Eddie, a very dear member of our church, recently reminded us that you can put a frog in a pot of water and turn up the heat so gradually that he does not know he is being cooked. He'll sit happily in that pot of water while you turn up the heat one degree at a time. Pretty soon, he's dinner. I am afraid we are becoming a nation of cooked frogs.
Mothers have begun to dope themselves up, many times unnecessarily, with drugs that keep them from having to feel the highs and lows of life. They have reasoned that it is much easier not to feel anything at all than it is to feel the stressful and sometimes heart-wrenching feelings that accompany having a home and family. None of us have too hard a time when times are good...when everything is going right and we are king of the hill. But it takes a much stronger person to ride the waves and deal with things like debilitating or terminal illness, the death of a loved one, or financial loss.
I have done an informal poll of my closest acquaintances, and I have found an alarming trend. There are a TON of people on drugs to alter their moods. Doctors are all too happy to send you on your way with a new prescription for one of a number of "anti-depressants." In my experience, there are more women than men who use these drugs, and I fully understand that are some people who really need them. I cannot help but think, however, that there are just a lot of people these days who are genuinely not happy people, and they are using acceptable drugs to take the edge off the pain or better yet get to the point where there is no feeling at all!
I have always had a pet peeve, of sorts, that is targeted at those I may worship with at times. To me, worship should be the most awesome of all our experiences here on earth. We have the opportunity to come into the Presence of the Almighty, but even that does not excite us anymore. We mouth the words to such songs as "Hallelujah, What a Savior" and cannot even remember which verse we are on. Those who lead in singing from pulpits all across America can attest to the lack of feeling coming from the worshippers. It is an exercise in futility sometimes to try and wake the congregation.
I am not saying that we all must worship with some kind of manufactured charisma. I would be happy if people just smiled a little when they sang "Jesus is All the World to Me" and shed a tear or two occasionally when they reflected for five minutes on His suffering at Calvary. It would be nice if unbelievers who come into our churches from time to time searching for something were moved by our rendition of "Oh, How I Love Jesus" enough to want to join us in our walk towards Heaven. I think that many times, people can sit in congregations for years and never have their conscience pricked enough to make changes in their lives. Sometimes,the responsibility for this decision to do nothing lies entirely with the person. Other times, the church has let this person down. If I sit in an emotionless church for 30 years with very little impetus to grow and improve my inner self, how can I expect droves of the unsaved to come rushing in, just begging to have what I have?
We are just not hungry and thirsty anymore. There is an urgency with hunger and thirst. There is urgency in very few lives anymore. Most of us are just comfortable. We are not extraordinarily happy or sad. We love our mates, but we do not have love affairs with them (our mate!) Perhaps we love our children, our flesh and blood, the most, but oftentimes, we go days without having a meaningful conversation with that child. Our highs come from collecting possessions, and our lows come when things don't go our way. Let some terrorists invade our space, and we get angry and patriotic for a little while. But in time, it all fades back to the lackadaisical lifestyle we have become comfortable in living.
There is not the depth in relationships that I have seen in other eras during my lifetime. Friendships are often on the surface level. In fact, many prefer to keep a comfortable distance so that others do not know too much about what is going on in their lives. In the friendship category, we are often friends with many, many people, but we do not take the time to invest ourselves in the lives of others on any kind of a deep level. (jack-of-all-trades, master of none.) That is how our next door neighbor can be a mass murderer or a child molester. That is how the person who has sat on the pew with us for 10 years can just turn out to be a big phony bologny! We don't really know him or her deeply. We are often shocked when we find out that someone we thought we knew was having an affair or embezzling funds from his company. I strongly contend that our emotionless relationships are the culprit.
What can we do? Well, once we have so scalded ourselves so that there is no feeling left in that part of our body or our emotions, it is hard to turn around. However, the brain is indeed an amazing thing, and sometimes, we can apparently create new paths in our brain by exercising them. It is never easy work. But it is so worth it to feel the love of a child, to share the burden of a friend, to experience worship as God intended, to love that soulmate with all our hearts.
I pity those that cannot find their way back or choose not to. Yet, I will not let the lack of emotion from those around me entrap me into a way of life that is second class at best. I chose my epitaph a long time ago. Let it be said of me when I die, "She lived to love and loved to live."
What would prompt me to make such a bold statement, you might ask? I have observed a phenomenon for several years now which has disturbed me to the very fiber of my being. Slowly, very gradually, as it is with most bad things that enter our lives, I have watched many people around me turn into little more than robots. Let me explain.
I think that the advent of "nasty t.v." Has had a lot to do with the dulling of American sensation. I can remember in the 70's when Hollywood began to sneak concepts, innuendo, and just downright filth into our living rooms. They did not do it all at once. We were coming off the decade of the 60's when America began taking its clothes off, and we pretty well finished the strip in the 70's. The same went with everything from married people sleeping in the same bed evolving into every type of perversion to now our present-day blatant approval of homosexuality. Where America used to be incensed if Desi and Lucy shared the same bed, though they were married on and off stage, now, two people of the same sex and not married (obviously) can share the "marriage bed."
My mom and I were having a conversation the other day. We were talking about television, and she asked me if I remembered watching "Three's Company?" I told her that I did. Here we were, a family of Christians, watching "Three's Company" and thinking nothing about it. We both asked each other the question, "What were we thinking?" Rhetorically, we obviously were neither thinking nor feeling. Thankfully, now, we have come to know that shows like that, with scanty attire, innuendo, and straight out references to sexuality and homosexuality are not going to be viewed in our homes.
Not too many years ago, I walked unannounced into a home of some Christians I knew. They were watching "The Simpsons." You know, the cartoon on Fox with Homer and Bart, etc.? At any rate, they informed me that it was their favorite program. Perfect example of desensitization. Bart Simpson is about the most obnoxious child to ever hit t.v. He is rude, arrogant, smart-mouthed, disrespectful (calls his own dad Homer) and just about every other derogatory label you could think of. These people would smack their own kids "upside the head" if they even thought of acting any of these ways. Yet, they sat around as a family and enjoyed the show. I've seen enough clips of the show to know that it can be funny in spots. But I also saw enough of the show to know that it was something we were not going to watch in our house. I am not trying to be self-righteous here. I guess I am just shocked that Christians could pick out a show like this to be a favorite.
Ditto on the Super Bowl and Super Bowl parties. (Due to church services, the game would always be taped for viewing later.) I stopped going to those a long time ago when I realized that I could not view the commercials in mixed company, or more honestly, that they should not be viewed at all. At times that maybe the t.v. should have just been shut off, people merely got up to go get a coke. That was their way of dealing with a moment of discomfort, but not nearly enough discomfort to just do the right thing. Janet Jackson finally finished it off for most people who still have consciences. I thankfully missed her expose' because I had given up on being able to watch the Superbowl in good conscience.
Music took a turn somewhere, too, and a genre intended for pleasure and the eliciting of emotions from people became a channel for pure filth. We have evolved now to the point where our airwaves are full of "music" that invites the listener to 'go out and kill your local law enforcement officer for the fun of it.' It also invites you to embrace a lifestyle filled with infidelity to your mate, drugs, alcohol, and the unrestrained pursuit of every type of "feel-good" activity--- illegal, illicit, or whatever.
The result of garbage in is, as you guessed, garbage out. But one of the by-products of allowing all of this to come right in and live with us has been a generation or two now of emotional train-wreck victims.
It is very hard to be a sweet little naive boy or girl when you see someone's head blown off in living color each and every night, and sometimes several times a night, depending on your parent's taste in television. It is hard to retain innocence when sex is vividly described and performed multiple times during a "normal" day of network television. Cable has taken viewers to all new heights (really new depths) in the shock value categories. Nothing has been left to the imagination. No subject is taboo. Jerry Springer and Geraldo and numerous other talk show hosts have taken reality to a level that we never needed to achieve.
And so, here we are, at the turn of the millennium, running out of new sins. Every so often, someone manages to commit an atrocity so rotten, so filthy, so inhuman, that we all get shocked for a nanosecond. Then we go right back to our emotionless lives.
I'll bet that some who read this might get offended and deny being desensitized. They would say, in their own minds, they feel plenty. I would challenge that.
I began to notice some years ago, around the time that filth really began to hit the airwaves, that my circle of acquaintances began to change in demeanor. I have always been one to feel everything very, very deeply. I realize that not all people are made that way. Sometimes it is a blessing to feel things more deeply than others; other times, it is more of a curse.
You cannot go to church on Sunday and then go home and get out the Nintendo and kill a few people and reconcile that in your mind. You just cannot. So, to compensate, you just turn off the emotions all together. You cannot "take communion" and then run right out and engage in an adulterous affair unless you have turned off the emotional spigots. You cannot wear your "Sunday Best" on Sunday morning and then go home and strip off all your clothes, don a string bikini, and mow the yard unless you are either really untaught or you just don't care.
You cannot go into a home, kill an entire family, while all the time being a "leader in your church" and holding down a job unless something very terrible has happened in the area of your brain that is responsible for emotions.
Eddie, a very dear member of our church, recently reminded us that you can put a frog in a pot of water and turn up the heat so gradually that he does not know he is being cooked. He'll sit happily in that pot of water while you turn up the heat one degree at a time. Pretty soon, he's dinner. I am afraid we are becoming a nation of cooked frogs.
Mothers have begun to dope themselves up, many times unnecessarily, with drugs that keep them from having to feel the highs and lows of life. They have reasoned that it is much easier not to feel anything at all than it is to feel the stressful and sometimes heart-wrenching feelings that accompany having a home and family. None of us have too hard a time when times are good...when everything is going right and we are king of the hill. But it takes a much stronger person to ride the waves and deal with things like debilitating or terminal illness, the death of a loved one, or financial loss.
I have done an informal poll of my closest acquaintances, and I have found an alarming trend. There are a TON of people on drugs to alter their moods. Doctors are all too happy to send you on your way with a new prescription for one of a number of "anti-depressants." In my experience, there are more women than men who use these drugs, and I fully understand that are some people who really need them. I cannot help but think, however, that there are just a lot of people these days who are genuinely not happy people, and they are using acceptable drugs to take the edge off the pain or better yet get to the point where there is no feeling at all!
I have always had a pet peeve, of sorts, that is targeted at those I may worship with at times. To me, worship should be the most awesome of all our experiences here on earth. We have the opportunity to come into the Presence of the Almighty, but even that does not excite us anymore. We mouth the words to such songs as "Hallelujah, What a Savior" and cannot even remember which verse we are on. Those who lead in singing from pulpits all across America can attest to the lack of feeling coming from the worshippers. It is an exercise in futility sometimes to try and wake the congregation.
I am not saying that we all must worship with some kind of manufactured charisma. I would be happy if people just smiled a little when they sang "Jesus is All the World to Me" and shed a tear or two occasionally when they reflected for five minutes on His suffering at Calvary. It would be nice if unbelievers who come into our churches from time to time searching for something were moved by our rendition of "Oh, How I Love Jesus" enough to want to join us in our walk towards Heaven. I think that many times, people can sit in congregations for years and never have their conscience pricked enough to make changes in their lives. Sometimes,the responsibility for this decision to do nothing lies entirely with the person. Other times, the church has let this person down. If I sit in an emotionless church for 30 years with very little impetus to grow and improve my inner self, how can I expect droves of the unsaved to come rushing in, just begging to have what I have?
We are just not hungry and thirsty anymore. There is an urgency with hunger and thirst. There is urgency in very few lives anymore. Most of us are just comfortable. We are not extraordinarily happy or sad. We love our mates, but we do not have love affairs with them (our mate!) Perhaps we love our children, our flesh and blood, the most, but oftentimes, we go days without having a meaningful conversation with that child. Our highs come from collecting possessions, and our lows come when things don't go our way. Let some terrorists invade our space, and we get angry and patriotic for a little while. But in time, it all fades back to the lackadaisical lifestyle we have become comfortable in living.
There is not the depth in relationships that I have seen in other eras during my lifetime. Friendships are often on the surface level. In fact, many prefer to keep a comfortable distance so that others do not know too much about what is going on in their lives. In the friendship category, we are often friends with many, many people, but we do not take the time to invest ourselves in the lives of others on any kind of a deep level. (jack-of-all-trades, master of none.) That is how our next door neighbor can be a mass murderer or a child molester. That is how the person who has sat on the pew with us for 10 years can just turn out to be a big phony bologny! We don't really know him or her deeply. We are often shocked when we find out that someone we thought we knew was having an affair or embezzling funds from his company. I strongly contend that our emotionless relationships are the culprit.
What can we do? Well, once we have so scalded ourselves so that there is no feeling left in that part of our body or our emotions, it is hard to turn around. However, the brain is indeed an amazing thing, and sometimes, we can apparently create new paths in our brain by exercising them. It is never easy work. But it is so worth it to feel the love of a child, to share the burden of a friend, to experience worship as God intended, to love that soulmate with all our hearts.
I pity those that cannot find their way back or choose not to. Yet, I will not let the lack of emotion from those around me entrap me into a way of life that is second class at best. I chose my epitaph a long time ago. Let it be said of me when I die, "She lived to love and loved to live."
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Way Behind!
Well, this was the birthday weekend to end all weekends! Nearly everyone in my family had a birthday from the 3rd to the 7th! It was a wild weekend filled with preparation and execution of one giant birthday party for all who are physically in Tennessee.
Micah led the pack with birthday #11 on March 3rd. Pappy followed on March 5th with number 65, and our grandmother in Florida also celebrated on the 5th. I believe she is 85 this year! On the 7th, we had Sarah's 5th birthday, and she shares her happy day with Grandma Ginny, who turned 75, and with my Uncle Doug. We also celebrated the 7th birthday of my niece, Kelsey, who will actually turn 7 on the 25th. This month is only going to get crazier, so we decided to do them all at the same time for the sake of "simplicity."
Micah seemed to enjoy his birthday! He got a new Gamecube, as his old one had worn completely out. His dad got him the newest NBA game to go with it, and he also got him a school gymbag to carry all his gear to school. Micah had wanted an "official" VBA bag for some time now. He also got a new wrestling ring for his little wrestling figures. Uncle Doug gave him a new basketball, which Micah loves. Micah also got a lot of "green" from the other aunts and uncles and grandparents. In the way of clothing, he got some new Tommy jeans, a new Yugioh shirt and boxers, and some sleep pants (p.j's).
Micah is so cute because he is in that "in-between" age. One minute, he is a very mature kid, like when he is participating at church. Then, he can come home and pull out his action figures and games and play like a kid. He has quite an imagination, but both Tim and I are grateful that he no longer feels the need to flush his action figures when they have been "bad." It is saving us a ton on plumbing. We also rejoice that when we go to the freezer, wrestlers are not sharing the space with the meat.
Sarah is a cutie, too, at this age! I have had a ball this year watching her excitement with her gifts. Her favorite this year was, as predicted, the Barbie jeep. It is the cutest little thing. Both she and Hannah can fit in it, and she can drive forward and reverse at 5 miles an hour. So far, she has only gotten to test it in the den, as it is cold and rainy outside. Hopefully, she can take it for a more extensive test drive very soon.
Sarah got so many cute things this year. She got a lovely "art kit" from her aunt, uncle and cousins. It was lovingly hand-painted and just stuffed with a wealth of activities for her to indulge her creative side. I am sure she will have many happy hours with it. She got a magnetic Tigger from Uncle Doug, some cute clothes and money from the grandparents, and more greenery from the other uncles.
She also got her own Gameboy this year and a couple of games to start with. Dora the Explorer and Barbie will give her lots of happy hours. She also got some Dora dolls, some ballet dolls, and a set of Care Bear dominoes. Hannah will love playing with those!
Each child got to pick where they wanted to go for their birthday dinner. Micah chose Demos', a neat place in the next town, and he got his favorite dinner--a 6 oz. steak with baked potato and cheesey bread! Sarah chose to go to O'Charley's, as she loves their macaroni and cheese, of all things. She also likes their salads, the baloons, and the way the guys come out clapping and sing to you. I actually remembered to take the video camera and tape it this year. She was so cute.
Sandwiched in between all the birthday celebrating, we had a shower to attend for Brooke and Drew. My brother, Drew, is getting married April 16th. It is fast-approaching...5 weeks now, I think Drew said. They got so many nice things, and they are really lucky because they already have their house set up and going, and they try to go home and unpack the gifts as they get them. Sunday night, as they were unpacking my shower gift---a blender---they found that it had been previously used and then packed up again and taped to look like new! I was so disappointed. I bought it off their wedding registry, and apparently the store had taken it back from someone and returned it to inventory. Lucky me---I came along and picked THAT ONE. Hopefully, the store will graciously exchange it for them. They have a darling house that they have decorated so nicely, and I know they are going to be happy when they finally get married and settled into it.
So now, the birthdays are over for a bit. We have one in April and two in May, but that will be kid's play compared to this month! However, impending oral surguries for Sam and me, the boys' A. C. E. convention, Drew and Brooke's wedding, one more shower for her, and numerous other little things will undoubtedly keep me "way behind." I guess I will catch up in, oh, about 18 years or so when Hannah is grown.
Micah led the pack with birthday #11 on March 3rd. Pappy followed on March 5th with number 65, and our grandmother in Florida also celebrated on the 5th. I believe she is 85 this year! On the 7th, we had Sarah's 5th birthday, and she shares her happy day with Grandma Ginny, who turned 75, and with my Uncle Doug. We also celebrated the 7th birthday of my niece, Kelsey, who will actually turn 7 on the 25th. This month is only going to get crazier, so we decided to do them all at the same time for the sake of "simplicity."
Micah seemed to enjoy his birthday! He got a new Gamecube, as his old one had worn completely out. His dad got him the newest NBA game to go with it, and he also got him a school gymbag to carry all his gear to school. Micah had wanted an "official" VBA bag for some time now. He also got a new wrestling ring for his little wrestling figures. Uncle Doug gave him a new basketball, which Micah loves. Micah also got a lot of "green" from the other aunts and uncles and grandparents. In the way of clothing, he got some new Tommy jeans, a new Yugioh shirt and boxers, and some sleep pants (p.j's).
Micah is so cute because he is in that "in-between" age. One minute, he is a very mature kid, like when he is participating at church. Then, he can come home and pull out his action figures and games and play like a kid. He has quite an imagination, but both Tim and I are grateful that he no longer feels the need to flush his action figures when they have been "bad." It is saving us a ton on plumbing. We also rejoice that when we go to the freezer, wrestlers are not sharing the space with the meat.
Sarah is a cutie, too, at this age! I have had a ball this year watching her excitement with her gifts. Her favorite this year was, as predicted, the Barbie jeep. It is the cutest little thing. Both she and Hannah can fit in it, and she can drive forward and reverse at 5 miles an hour. So far, she has only gotten to test it in the den, as it is cold and rainy outside. Hopefully, she can take it for a more extensive test drive very soon.
Sarah got so many cute things this year. She got a lovely "art kit" from her aunt, uncle and cousins. It was lovingly hand-painted and just stuffed with a wealth of activities for her to indulge her creative side. I am sure she will have many happy hours with it. She got a magnetic Tigger from Uncle Doug, some cute clothes and money from the grandparents, and more greenery from the other uncles.
She also got her own Gameboy this year and a couple of games to start with. Dora the Explorer and Barbie will give her lots of happy hours. She also got some Dora dolls, some ballet dolls, and a set of Care Bear dominoes. Hannah will love playing with those!
Each child got to pick where they wanted to go for their birthday dinner. Micah chose Demos', a neat place in the next town, and he got his favorite dinner--a 6 oz. steak with baked potato and cheesey bread! Sarah chose to go to O'Charley's, as she loves their macaroni and cheese, of all things. She also likes their salads, the baloons, and the way the guys come out clapping and sing to you. I actually remembered to take the video camera and tape it this year. She was so cute.
Sandwiched in between all the birthday celebrating, we had a shower to attend for Brooke and Drew. My brother, Drew, is getting married April 16th. It is fast-approaching...5 weeks now, I think Drew said. They got so many nice things, and they are really lucky because they already have their house set up and going, and they try to go home and unpack the gifts as they get them. Sunday night, as they were unpacking my shower gift---a blender---they found that it had been previously used and then packed up again and taped to look like new! I was so disappointed. I bought it off their wedding registry, and apparently the store had taken it back from someone and returned it to inventory. Lucky me---I came along and picked THAT ONE. Hopefully, the store will graciously exchange it for them. They have a darling house that they have decorated so nicely, and I know they are going to be happy when they finally get married and settled into it.
So now, the birthdays are over for a bit. We have one in April and two in May, but that will be kid's play compared to this month! However, impending oral surguries for Sam and me, the boys' A. C. E. convention, Drew and Brooke's wedding, one more shower for her, and numerous other little things will undoubtedly keep me "way behind." I guess I will catch up in, oh, about 18 years or so when Hannah is grown.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
No Snow for D'Lee
It just ain't happening this year, folks. Our town, U.S.A. is not going to see any appreciable amount of snow for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long. Snow hit Nashville and parts north and east of the city last night, but the snow-line stopped just short of our county. It was as though a big hand was on the border of our county not letting those clouds over the border from the neighboring county. I have just never seen anything like this!
It's a conspiracy. The good praying folks who want Spring must outweigh those of us praying for the white stuff.
I was really hoping to get snowed in this week. The house is moaning under the weight of undone clothing. There are dirty clothes, out-of-season clothes, clothes that don't fit anyone anymore, and clothes that have not been on a body in three decades. Somewhere in a tupperware (casket-sized) crate beneath piles of other crates are the baby clothes of my 18-year old son. It is not that I cannot bear to part with them. I just can't find the time to sort them.
For 18 long years now, I have been chasing some hyper child through the house, wrestling the cordless phone from his/her clutches before he/she randomly dials 911 or Mongolia. Why that number (911) is so easy for children to dial, I do not know. But then I also do not understand why my 16 month-old child can open child-proof caps and I cannot, and why plug covers are child's play for her. She merely pries them off with her tiny fingernails and puts them in her mouth. It is ironic that a safety device for the electrical outlets is, within itself, a choking hazard.
When your day consists of removing the candle wax from the bathroom drain because your sixteen year old genius thought that candle wax could go down the sink as easily as water, you don't have time to sort clothes. Besides that, the children seem to grow through whole sizes in a day's time, so any spare time I have is spent keeping the dear little ones from going naked.
Someone sent me this in email and I thought that maybe I wrote this and forgot about it....I thought it was cute:
THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM MY CHILDREN
1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2,000-square-foot house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with rollerblades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year-old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42-pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20-by-20-foot room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using the ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh," it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year-old man says they can only do it in the movies. A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.
10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a four-year-old.
11. "Play-Dough" and "microwave" should never be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject PB&J sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department has a 5 minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy. It will however make cats dizzy and cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
22. 75% of the men who read this will mix Clorox and brake fluid.
********************************************
I awoke this morning hoping against hope that there would be enough snow accumulation that I would not have to go have my blood drawn this morning. I should have known better. (Keep repeating to self...no snow this year, no snow this year.) To add insult to injury, I could not even drink a steaming hot cup of coffee on the way to the lab because I had to be fasting. It was sooooo cold outside. The wind really had a bite, and in the shade, it was downright unbearable.
This week, I have so much that I have to do. Birthdays abound in the next 5 days. Micah, Sarah, Grandma Ginny, Grandma Mary, Uncle Doug, and Pappy Ron all have birthdays on or before the 7th. I have wedding shower invites to make and send, and I have to send back proof orders on 4 sets of pictures for the boys.
I don't know if those clothes are ever going to get done. But Tim and I have an agreement that if all the children are still alive and the house is still standing when he gets home from work every day, then I have done a good job!
It's a conspiracy. The good praying folks who want Spring must outweigh those of us praying for the white stuff.
I was really hoping to get snowed in this week. The house is moaning under the weight of undone clothing. There are dirty clothes, out-of-season clothes, clothes that don't fit anyone anymore, and clothes that have not been on a body in three decades. Somewhere in a tupperware (casket-sized) crate beneath piles of other crates are the baby clothes of my 18-year old son. It is not that I cannot bear to part with them. I just can't find the time to sort them.
For 18 long years now, I have been chasing some hyper child through the house, wrestling the cordless phone from his/her clutches before he/she randomly dials 911 or Mongolia. Why that number (911) is so easy for children to dial, I do not know. But then I also do not understand why my 16 month-old child can open child-proof caps and I cannot, and why plug covers are child's play for her. She merely pries them off with her tiny fingernails and puts them in her mouth. It is ironic that a safety device for the electrical outlets is, within itself, a choking hazard.
When your day consists of removing the candle wax from the bathroom drain because your sixteen year old genius thought that candle wax could go down the sink as easily as water, you don't have time to sort clothes. Besides that, the children seem to grow through whole sizes in a day's time, so any spare time I have is spent keeping the dear little ones from going naked.
Someone sent me this in email and I thought that maybe I wrote this and forgot about it....I thought it was cute:
THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM MY CHILDREN
1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2,000-square-foot house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with rollerblades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year-old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42-pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20-by-20-foot room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using the ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh," it's already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year-old man says they can only do it in the movies. A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.
10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a four-year-old.
11. "Play-Dough" and "microwave" should never be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject PB&J sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department has a 5 minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy. It will however make cats dizzy and cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
22. 75% of the men who read this will mix Clorox and brake fluid.
********************************************
I awoke this morning hoping against hope that there would be enough snow accumulation that I would not have to go have my blood drawn this morning. I should have known better. (Keep repeating to self...no snow this year, no snow this year.) To add insult to injury, I could not even drink a steaming hot cup of coffee on the way to the lab because I had to be fasting. It was sooooo cold outside. The wind really had a bite, and in the shade, it was downright unbearable.
This week, I have so much that I have to do. Birthdays abound in the next 5 days. Micah, Sarah, Grandma Ginny, Grandma Mary, Uncle Doug, and Pappy Ron all have birthdays on or before the 7th. I have wedding shower invites to make and send, and I have to send back proof orders on 4 sets of pictures for the boys.
I don't know if those clothes are ever going to get done. But Tim and I have an agreement that if all the children are still alive and the house is still standing when he gets home from work every day, then I have done a good job!
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