Panic in Dreamland

I was peacefully sleeping when I heard a "beep". A loud familiar beep that only comes from a failing smoke detector. My chest tightened, my gut liquefied, and I could hear my heart pounding in my head. I tried to go to sleep. I stuck my fingers in my ears... but by the second "Beep" and the following irregular heart beat prompted me to wake my poor husband at 4:41 am. He was WONDERFUL and changed the battery at the butt crack of dawn.

Epiphany

*I may have issues with smoke and smoke detectors forever*

Abbie's odd statement of the day

"Good people don't rip arms off."

Prayer

Click on the box to learn about Kennedy and her spine surgery.

My big girl...

Maggie has been at camp this week. We have missed her.
It is her first time away from home.

Thank you to my in-laws for providing
this awesome opportunity for her
and the great pictures!

Must be some kind of joke!

Sometimes I am against the death penalty... but not in this case.

Google Earth

I enjoy google earth. It shows satellite pictures of your area and places you want to go. I also like checking in on our old house. It's bright silver roof, the big cherry tree, the 55 foot tall spruce... It is still there on google earth. Like a little petri dish, or a time machine, our life still remains untouched. I will mourn the day that the house disappears even from Google Earth.

FREAKING OUT!

I am not the type to scream, "THE SKY IS FALLING!"

...but...

The last time there was a forest fire in our area... my house burned down.

The town is filled with smoke... the sky is red... and I am FREAKING OUT!

Baby John Video (LONG)

Amie had a birthday party!

Amie finally had her party on Sunday.
We combined the father's day BBQ with the birthday party.
A good time was had by all. Crystal made the cake... It isn't made of ice cream.

Bad Babysitter

So we are babysitting a child from church who is 20 months old. I failed to ask what he likes to eat for lunch! So I made our usual (PB and J) and gave him half of a sandwich. I gave it to him last so he could see the big kids eating the sandwich. He proceeded to open the sandwich, pull up his shirt and adhere the sandwich to his belly.

I shouldn't be a motivational speaker

I like to go and sit on my front step and watch ants... They toil in the hot sun. I enjoy watching them carry heavy things from our trash can. They are so small, yet can carry such heavy burdens.

Yesterday, a single ant was carrying a little caterpillar. The caterpillar was 3 or more times larger than the ant. I was trying to think of some motivational/scriptural reference to make this illustration work... but I am not the kind to tell the "Ant": Give Him your burdens, you can do more than you imagine and so forth... but on the flip side: Dearest Caterpillar: Don't worry, the end is near.

Frequent flyer card

Amie spent one hour of her birthday at the ER. Unfortunately she dislocated her elbow... with some help from Papa and living room wrestling. But all bones are where they should be. The ER nurse (Who recognized Jason and Amie) was very sweet and the new ER Dr. informed Jason of the proper procedure to re-assemble our child.

Amie's New word combo: Elbow boo boo.

Measure

Abbie: Since Jesus has a body, how tall is he?

Gardening

I love to grow stuff... unfortunately my children like pulling up stuff.

But today we planted a modest garden. 4 feet by 10 feet. We planted onions, carrots and tomatoes.

I have no hope for the tomatoes... it isn't warm enough here. But the carrots and onions will do well, be diced and frozen for winter use.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Nap

Mama: I am tired of grumpy girls. You will not throw things or yell at me. You are going to take a nap!

Abbie: It's too bad I'm not tired.

Mama: (Giggling) It's too bad you're still taking a nap.

Not for kids!

So I have been looking up greenhouse plans for quite a while...

Apparently in Europe they are also called "Hot Houses" so I googled "Hot House"

Unfortunately in this country, it is a meeting place for homosexuals and several porn websites.

Googling "Hot House Plans" came up with better results.

Spring Picnic

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.
I have been having a difficult time...
Little John has been sick,
our housing situation is a disaster
and I have been in a bad mood....
it is better not to post during these times.