A Three Man Sling Shot, A Tool Set, And a Skateboard

I found out while enjoying the beautiful weather this week that it does not take much to keep 8 boys occupied. All the kids were outside playing the other day and my neighbors two boys came over with a friend. Now you need to take into account that my neighbors one son is a teenager and so was his friend. The boys had a blast playing nerf guns, sling shot (using rocks to try and hit our stream), skateboards, and a tool set. The results were hilarious as Alex and Daniel took a part our cozy coupe and then had to reassemble it. Samuel had a blast on the skateboard and yes he tried to do it the right way. The other boys had a great time flinging rocks to the backyard with our three man sling shot (a great investment by the way from Vision Forum.) The yard looked like a huge nerf gun battle had taken place, no wait, that is exactly what happened. There were darts everywhere. We are still finding them as some ended up on the roof and the wind today blew them down. We all had a great time. Even Esther who got involved as much as the boys would let her. I love being outside and the people who drive or walk by always enjoy watching the kids play. Although I always see them counting the number of kids playing. Isn't it amazing that kids will always gravitate towards where there are adults around? I sometimes end up with 10 or 15 kids playing in and around our yard. Half of them are over the age of 11. I don't mind though. That is how I grew up. Everyone always came over our house because they knew that Miss Judy (my mom) was always home and would welcome them in. She was the secondary emergency contact for a lot of our friends because they knew she would always be around. I don't mind the kids of the neighborhood knowing that I am always home.

Happy Birthday Alex

For Alex's 10th birthday we took him to Florida. It just worked out that we got great tickets and Carl had to be down there for the Army anyway so they paid for the hotel. He got a five day pass free for the military. He was able to buy up to 5 other 5 day passes for only $99 each. That is a great deal for Disney. We ended up paying a little bit more for the fun package which enabled us to go to the Disney Quest at Downtown Disney. It is a five story arcade. It was Alex's favorite place to go so I am glad we paid a little extra. While Carl was at meetings all day Alex and I explored all the parks. This was a great week because it was just time with Alex and we were able to work on some things he had been struggling with. One of his problems is a fear of new situations. He was really out of his comfort zone on this trip because everything was new. He did a great job and only had two really bad outbursts. One of the places I made him go (after three tries) was the T_Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney. Imagine the Rain forest Cafe only with dinosaurs and much louder. It was very loud with animatronic dinosaurs everywhere. We sat in the ice cave where it was not so loud and he fell in love with it. He even did okay when the meteor shower began and all the dinosaurs started being really loud and the ice cave went from blue to red with lots of thunder and lightening. We ended up going back again with Carl because he was unable to join us the first time. It was great. I will write about more of our adventures in Florida in another blog.

SNOW!

Finally some snow down here. It is still snowing as I type and we already have about 5 or 6 inches on the ground. The govenor has declared a state of emergency (Ha!). They have so many accidents on the road right now that the police can't keep up. They are encouraging everyone to just stay home. The kids have already played outside for about an hour. Esther cried because her hands hurt when they started to warm up. A couple of neighborhood kids had some sleds and in our backyard is a great hill. It ends in a stream at the bottom so mean mom made Carl stand at the bottom to catch fast sledders from landing in the water. I stayed inside and cooked up a lunch of cinnamon rolls and pancakes. Carl made some scrambled eggs with veggies and we had hot chocolate to drink. The kids are now playing the WII we got for Christmas and enjoying a day of daddy not going to work. Although he does have one crazy coworker who went in to work and keeps calling him with questions. Carl took a bunch of videos and some will make you laugh. Here are my favorite.

We Are Supposed to Get Snow!

The weather this year in NC has been weird. Cold one week and then warm the next. This past week it has been freezing, and I do mean the coldest weather that NC has seen in ten years. We have had flurries already for several days but nothing has stayed. Tomorrow we are expecting 2 to 4 inches. That is big deal down here. Everyone is freaking out. The grocery stores are packed and so are the gas stations. The last snow we had was a surprise storm that came in the middle of the day. Schools freaked and let kids out. Buses got stranded on the road because no one knew how to drive in snow or ice. There were abandoned cars on the side of the road for a week. People were trapped at work and the some kids were trapped at school. Everyone is being very cuatious this time around. Luckily the storm is suppopsed to come overnight so the schools should be okay. I need to go out and buy hats and gloves for the kids. It is not something we use a lot down here. I know I have some but I can't find them. The kids have probably outgrown them anyway. Last night Carl and Alex stood back to back and Alex comes up almost to Carl's shoulder. Wow! Time flies. Just wanted to let you all know about our white forecast. I will take pictures for everyone if it really does snow.

Cd I Highly Recommend

I bought this CD at the home school fair this past May. I like to listen to it every couple months because it is just so good. It is Doug Philips A Wise Woman's Guide to Blessing Her Husbands Vision. Talk about a kick in the pants. It is absolutely fabulous and very convicting. One of the things that struck me this time I was listening to it was the fact about the bricks. He said that our husbands have bricks on them from their jobs, church, family, other people and circumstances around them. It is our job as wives to try and ease some of the pressure from these bricks. The one thing that he said that really made me think was that as wives we sometimes add more bricks to his pile without even realizing that we are doing it. It could be just a passing comment to our husbands but in their mind it is another brick added to their pile. Wow! How many bricks have I unintentionally put on Carl? I decided that I am really going to try to not add any more bricks to Carl. I am going to put a note on my bathroom mirror that simply says NO MORE BRICKS. I hope that it serves as a reminder to build up my husband and not tear him down. I highly recommend buying the CD or trying to get a copy from someone else. If you have it already, listen to it again.

Praise

My mom just called and said they got back the results from his bone marrow biopsy. He is in COMPLETE REMISSION. Praise the Lord. I have spent the whole morning crying out of happiness and a little pregancny homrones mixed in. It has been a rough 9 months but he is finally done and ready just to play with his grandkids again. Thank you all for praying for my family throughout all of this.

Prayer Requests

My mom called today with an update about my dad. He had his bone marrow biopsy today to determine if the leukemia is in remission. They will have the results next Wednesday. We are all walking around on pins and needles until the results get back. He was already told that if the results are not good that he may have to have the treatment all over again. I don't think his body can take it. Also be in prayer for my mom. She was told today that her lungs are working at 50% capacity. She was diagnosed with Respiratory Obstruction. Because of her lupus they can't put her on the normal medication for it. She may have to go on mega doses of steroids which is not fun. Be in prayer for my sister also. Her doctors want to wean her off her beta blockers. She has been on them for 16 years. It is the medication that stabilizes her blood pressure and keeps her from passing out. Pray her body adjusts well and she can come off them without any side effects. Wow! My family sure is weird. But at least they are all saved and we know we will all meet up in heaven one day. It definitely makes life interesting and causes reliance on God and lots of prayer. Love all of you guys and can't wait to see everyone in a couple weeks.