Mason - September

(above)Mason with Gammaw :)

Mason :)

(above) Our sweet chunker monker

Gammaw with Jaclyn & Mason

Pics pics pics.....

Picked a peck of pickeled peppers...LOL

Wow! Summer has flown by! We had Mr. Mason make his grand entrance on June 28th. He's a cute chunky monkey now! LOL All the kids were here and Anna was able to be in the delivery room with us. It was seriously a precious precious moment in my life. To have her in there. Wow.

So I'll write more later but for now I'll update with pics! :)

Jaclyn and Daddy at Buffalo River

More pics!!

Pictures!!

Adventures of Christi....

I'm starting a new business making cloth diapers and wipes. I'm a proud owner of a brand new Singer sewing machine and I can't wait to get started. Here's an example of the cloth diapers of today and what I will be making....

They look like this on the inside. Again this is an example of a bum genius diaper. But the pattern I'm making is very similar to these. Eventually, after I get things off the ground with the diapers, I'll add things like hair bows and t-shirts to match the diaper covers. I'm getting ahead of myself though. :) For now, I am making simple fitted diapers and covers with a hidden PUL layer. I'll also make soakers out of Hemp French Terry. As I believe this is the best material for soakers. I'm really excited about this new adventure. I know it'll take a little while to get started but the best part is that this is something I enjoy, it's fun. And I can do this and be able to stay home with my munchkins. That is the BEST part about it. :) Speaking of munchkins!

I am proud to announce that Joe and I are expecting our son, Mason, to arrive July 29, 2009

Yeah! We are so excited about having another little boy running around. :) Abby has been saying all along that she's going to have a little "brudder". I guess she was right! We do go next Wednesday to Little Rock for a fetal echocardiogram. So we're keeping our fingers crossed that everything is fine with our little Mason Dobson. :) I'll keep you posted ~

Fell Into A Pool Of Purple Elephants

Joe and I took Abby to Wal-art last night to see about buying her a bike. We live in the perfect neighborhood for bike riding and she has outgrown her little tricycle. *sniff*. She cracks us up all the time with her little antics and sayings. We were walking through looking at the bikes and Joe reached up to get a bike off the really high hook it was hanging on and Abby says "Uh, I don't think so. That is a big bike for big humans." LOL I crack up at this. Then we stopped at the store because Joe was fixing his famous chicken/bacon/ranch (on the grill...YUMMY) Well, the girls and I waited in the car while he ran in. While we were waiting I saw that I had missed Mom's call, 4 times, so I called her back. Abby gets on the pone with her and asks "Mimi, are you a human?" LOL I have no idea what the deal is with the whole being a human but she is such a funny little girl.

Here recently she has refused to count right (1,2,3 etc). She claims that she is counting like her Dad. When I asked him about it we finally decided figured out that when she was visiting him they played hide and seek and they counted out of order just trying to be funny. Well, she took it seriously and now won't count right for anything. LOL Anyway, before wal-mart last night we went to a book store to pick up a book I had ordered. Abby was looking around at all the books for her age and all of a sudden I realize she's counting... 1,2,3,4,5... I look at Joe and say "Hey, do you hear that? He grins and says (in his deep voice drawing the word out) "yes". I just laugh but I did feel relieved knowing that she CAN do it, she just doesn't WANT to.

Took me back to the old laundry times I had where it was a struggle...wanting to do it and doing it, come to find out, were very different things. Ha!

Well, today is Saturday and we are taking the girls and heading out of town! Yeah!!! We're so glad to be able to get away and go do something! I'll post pics of our adventures after we get back.

Oh and a belly update.....I am 18 weeks pregnant today. Yes, my tummy definitely looks pregnant, Joe can now rub my belly and make wishes....LOL I have a dr's appt next Wednesday and will let ya know how it goes! So far, things have been drama free (thank God) and we are hoping for a plump little healthy baby. :)

~

Jaclyn's video....revised

She's crawling!

Yep! Jaclyn has mastered the art of crawling. Although she kind-of looks like a little frog sometimes. LOL She gets up on all fours and rocks and then she plops down on her tummy and low crawls across the floor. What she really wants to do is walk.....but let's hope she waits a while to do that!
The good news here is that work has picked back up at the electric company Joe works for. *Thank God*. Seriously. So hopefully it will stay that way. We have school tuition to pay for and Jaclyn's medical bills!

Well, Abby's in the tub and Jaclyn is now all over the place so I had better get off this computer. Hopefully I'll get a video on here soon of both of them :) ~

Growing up

Jaclyn is trying so hard to crawl. She gets up on both her hands and her knees and then she just rocks back and forth. Poor girl, she gets so upset when she doesn't go anywhere. LOL
She's just so curious about everything though it's so funny. Just like her Daddy, if there is a cord or gadget laying around that's what she goes for. You could have her surrounded with toys and she'll bypass them to get to someone's cell phone they left out or the computer cord or whatever else looks cool. :)

She's fun, it's going to be so neat to see what kind of personality she has. I've loved that about being a Momma. Being able to watch them all grow and exert their individual personalities. That's one of the best parts of being a parent. it's just so neat to watch these little people become big people, inside and out! I love being a Momma. It's what I've always wanted to do. Since I was a little girl I wanted to grow up and be a Momma. So how cool is it that I get to be one to 6 kiddo's?!?! *huge grin*

For my new readers...

I want to share with you this post before you start reading the last 4 years of my life.

So no one will read anything on here and get offended, I want you to all understand that these blogs that I've spent 4 years writing were a documentation of my life. I was married to a military guy and we did *try* to treat each other as husbands and wives should.

I thought about deleting a lot of posts but then a thought came over me. I'm not ashamed or anything else for any of these posts in regards to my first husband. It was my life, and I appreciated it for what it was. So I blogged about it. Writing has always been my way to escape, vent or otherwise relax.

And as you will read, life took a sharp turn. And we began on new paths. And I will blog about it, because I appreciate my life now even more than before.

This blog is particularly special to me. It represents who I was and who I am now. So beginning a new one, after some thought, just wasn't an option. There are a lot of old posts on here that I cherish and I didn't want to delete them.

To the right you will see an archive of months. Scroll down and you will see August at the bottom of the list. I began this blog on August 15, 2005. When you click on a month you may see a list of blogs. If you scroll the page down and start with the last blog first and then read up, they will be in order and make more sense...LOL

Again, this is me. The past and the present.

~ Christi

Divorce

Reading some of the older posts on here lately really has had me thinking! Some of the posts I had forgotten about and was laughing so hard while reading them. Some made me sad. All in all, I realized that this blog really has been a documentation of my life. Pretty much the past 4 years. There is a lot of good documented, a lot of funny, some serious, some sad. But it's my life. It's my thoughts.

The one thing I'm going to do differently is be a little more real about the not so great stuff. There are too many Christians walking their walk who put on smiles and act like life is great and they don't struggle with anything. My friend, Kim, made a beautiful point the other day. I'll post it here:

If you don't have struggles or hard times then maybe you should ponder that. If Satan never attacks you then maybe you should ask yourself "am I a threat to him?". Quite simply, if you are not a threat, then he will not see the need to attack. If you ARE a threat, then he will attack.

I think I've learned to take my attacks as a compliment. Satan knows I want to live my life for God. And knowing that makes him really angry. And I've learned that he'll stop at nothing to get at me. The thing is, he won't win. Because even when I felt like I was in my darkest deepest moments at the bottom of the pit, I relied on God.

I kept reminding myself of Romans 12. Trying to not be conformed but transformed. And holy cow have I messed things up! But I would continue to say to myself "out with the old in with the new". And it has helped me keep my eye on the goal.

I am a divorced/remarried woman/momma. As sad as divorce is, I'm grateful that my ex-husband and I have come to the conclusion that we want to make this as easy an experience for our kids as we can. Is there anything easy about divorce? Nope. But it doesn't have to be a huge nasty fight. And I think we've learned that when you ignore the ill advice of people encouraging you to "go after or fight" and you put the kids first remembering that fighting in any way will hurt them, things are better.

It just doesn't matter any more what happened in our marriage. The divorce dissolved the marriage and it's contents. And what we have left are these 4 beautiful children who deserve only the best that we can give them.

That means putting aside what we want, what we think we deserve, and put the kids first. It's amazing how just doing that can clear up so many issues.

I also think that there were a lot of well meaning friends and family who were encouraging a nasty fight. Court or otherwise. I find that interesting seeing as how we both come from a long line of Christians.......

My point is that we all have our struggles. Some people have secret struggles and some have open struggles. We choose to be real about them or not. Sometimes we get angry when someone doesn't do things the way we want.

I've certainly had people angry with me because they think I'm doing things wrong. Of course, My family supported me and his family supported him. That's probably generally how it is.

Funny though, not very many at all were simply on the kids side. No one told us BOTH, hey pull your head out and look at how you are making this worse.....no, it seemed that it was either his side or my side.

Personally, I think the right thing to do would have been to just be on the kids side. It's important to our kids for their family members to be supportive of the other. It's important for my kids to know that my parents support a relationship with my ex's parents. It's a huge deal, because this is THEIR life. And ALL of these people are a part of their life. Even if they are not a part of my life, or my ex's life. it's about the KID'S life.

So, that's my view on this whole divorce thing. LOL

Well another year's gone by.....

Wow, I can't believe another year has gone by. Well, I did give birth to a beautiful baby girl on June 8th, 2008. She had Transposition of the great arteries with VSD. You can read about her open heart surgery here...
www.caringbridge.com/visit/jaclynclairedobson

I am married to a wonderful man, Joe. He's my best friend. Plain and simple. ;)

We actually are expecting again! This time due in July.

So much has happened over the last few years. I'm hoping to be able to write to help through some of the healing process. So much healing has already taken place and God is such a good and gracious God. For that I'm grateful.

I'll start writing more soon, until then...

~C.

Wow, a whole new life

Wow, well things are certainly in a completely new place from where things were the last time I blogged.

Let's see, I'm divorced.

That's the first very different thing. As sad as divorce is, I think it was the best thing that could have happened. I was married to someone who is a good person, just not good for me. I'm sure there is someone out there who will be able to appreciate him and all his needs/wants/desires.

The second very different thing is that I am in love with the most caring, gentle man. And we are having a little girl here in just a few more weeks. It's so exciting, this whole new life.

Here is a picture of our little girl. :)

Sometimes

Sometimes life throws us a curve ball that we were not prepared to catch.

So it hits us in the face.

Sometimes our plans don't happen in the order that we planned them.

So life hits us in the face.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the poems of life that we forget reality.

So reality hits us in the face.

Sometimes we dream so big, that we leave everyone else out of our dreams.

So our dreams hit us in the face.

Sometimes we think we're doing the right thing.

So the wrong thing hits us in the face.

Sometimes we need so much that we forget that other people have needs too.

So needs hits us in the face.

Sometimes we want so badly to be loved that we forget to love.

So love hits us in the face.

Sometimes we hold so tightly to "ourselves"... we forget all about God.

So, maybe, just maybe, God hits us in the face.

And sometimes while we're getting hit in the face, we lose our vision and all the people we thought we loved.

And so those people get hit in the face.

Changes, Changes, Changes....

Wow. Life has certainly taken me down a different path than I expected to find myself on.

That's all I'm going to say for now. Until I find my words. Right now, I seem to have lost them.

Thanksgiving

First of all....

Sunnydale, I missed you SO much today!! I luv and mis you ;)

Now...

The best part of thanksgiving was being with my sister, Melody, her husband, Doug and their boys, Vince and Mark. The second best part was being there for my nephew Mark's baptism....and my Dad baptizing him. *huge grin*

And being with my sis..... Melody... *I love you*

And here is me and Vince, my oldest nephew....

And I promise to put some on here of all my kiddo's and them too!

We had a ton of food and a ton of fun. This was a great Thanksgiving! All we needed to make it perfect was Sunnydale.

Life in the ummmmmm slow lane

Well, I'm a recovering chickenpoxian. LOL Actually, I got the lab results back from my dr. today and it wasn't the chicken pox after all, but a staph infection! ACK! Holy Cow, how did that happen? Well, it's going away, and I suppose that's all that really matters.

The girls are enjoying school! Adri is making friends and Anna is doing SO much better in school. The classes here are very different from your traditional school and we are loving that!

The little people are doing really well too. They have made friends now with Justin, Katie and Samantha. While she's not taking away Samantha's binky, Abby, is especially loving Justin, she calls him "jon jon". She likes to tell him "no no!" and "shhhh". She has been cracking me up. Sunnydale has had a blast running around and playing.

We all miss Daddy and are counting down the days until he gets here! Love you Sunnydale!

I agree with him too, that we'll start saving now for the John Deere Car. *laughing* That will be great!

I'll try to update more often with pictures.

Getting Settled

Well, we are slowly but surely getting settled here in the South again! Sooo glad to be here! The girls are so funny, they get excited about all those wonderful little things that us adults overlook. Such as the fact that you can hear the band practicing and you can listen to the football games outside in the front yard on Friday night! They get so excited, it's funny and so very nice to see their sweet smiles and hear their laughter.

Here is a picture of Anna and Adri's room....

It's actually a light pink, but it comes out darker in the picture.

Here is a picture of something you'd only see here in Mississippi

It's a John Deere Car....*laugh*

Hilarious!!!

Cheap Shot

For all of you out there wondering what to get us for Christmas, I've added a wish List in my Profile. *grin*

Well, today is Saturday and Monday afternoon, I need to be completely done with the house. I've pretty much wasted my morning playing around with my new cell phone and working on this blog. Even though I'll be computerless for a while. LOL I need to clean up the blog before it gets packed away. That's how I feel about my house!

I'm pretty much done though. All I have to do now is wash the bedding from all the rooms , take down the trampoline, drain all the oil/gas from the lawnmower and we should be good to go.

I think I'll be glad when we actually get on the road, then I can breathe cause there won't be anything to do except drive! :)

Thanks for the prayers, keep em going up! ~C.

Ma Ma Ma Ma Mary, this ones for you!!

I've enabled comment moderation. Basically that just means that anyone can post a comment now, you don't have to be a registered user. This way, if any of that nasty spam comes up, I can delete it before it's published.

*grin* - Mary, this means that you click on "comments" at the end of this post. Then you type your message, then click on "other", type your name, type in the word verification and then you're done! *hehe, I'll be expecting you to reply now* LOL

I thinking about switching over to the Beta form, so we'll see.

Today I'll be crazy busy trying to fit everything into my schedule as we are fast approaching "The Move". I have to say we have some very special family members who are making this move easier than I ever thought. *thanks*

Hopefully, Jamie, can keep the blog updated for me since I won't have a computer until....... I have no idea how long it'll be. March??? Wow, I hadn't given that one any good thought until now, huh? Hmmm. Note to self - need computer before March.

Ok, well I'm rambling. I've been up since 2:30 am. Can't sleep. The house is clean and the laundry is almost complete. I mean, complete, complete. Where there is no dirty laundry hiding anywhere in this house! All I have left to wash is the bedding. I'm waiting until Sunday to do that since we're sleeping on it and the point is to pack it clean. *grin*

I suppose since it's 4:43 and my hubby hasn't left for work yet, I should go and see if he's sleeping late on purpose. *wink*

~C.

Jamie's whole family

We went to Burney,Ca for Hailee's 1st birthday with my parents and took many pictures,so you'll probably see many of them. In the other picture Hailee was probably 7th months old,she is the princess of THIS house.

Forever friends

I just want you all to know that I've invited my best friend, Jamie, to post on this blog. This will enable us to keep in touch and transfer pictures and stuff back and forth.

Jamie and I met 9 years ago here in Monterey and have become the best of friends over the last 9 years. She has 3 boys and a girl and we have 3 girls and a boy. I'm going to miss being so close, even if it is a 5 hour drive that I refused to make...*laughing*

I love ya, Jamie and we'll get our families together before too long. I'll miss you and I love how we've been through everything together. *smack*

Kiss those kids for me,

Christi

Christi's best buddy!!!

This is Christi's best friend Jamie that lives in Redding,Ca, Hailee is Jamie's 4th child. She also has 3 boys ,Braedon ,Andrew,and Zachary. Christi and Jamie have been friends since 1998.

Taking Care of His Soldiers....

It never ceases to amaze me how God's love works in our lives. He is always there, beckoning us to him. Wanting us, loving us, forgiving us.

Even those who don't believe, he's there, waiting for them to turn to him.

And when they do, he's ready for them. Always prepared, always taking care of things ahead of time.

Always picking up the pieces of his weary soldiers.

The military is very different. My experience, today, with the military went something along these lines.....

(Me walking into the finance office to fill out the paperwork for our travel pay)

"Yes, I have my husbands separation orders and I need to fill out the appropriate paperwork so that we will receive our travel pay"

her - "He's getting out of the Army?"

me - "yes"

her - "you have his orders?"

me - "yes"

her - "Well there is nothing I can do for you until he attends the separation briefings"

me - "He's not actually separating until Feb."

her - "then why are you here?"

me - "I have my husbands orders because I need to fill out the appropriate paperwork to receive our travel pay, we're leaving in a week, he's leaving in a few months"

her - "you can not receive your travel pay before his ETS date"

me - "yes, you can if you have orders"

her - "do you have orders?"

**rolling my eyes in my head and thinking how many times I've already repeated myself I reply...**

me - "ummm, yes" while pointing to the papers she's holding in her hand.

her - "yeah, about these, it doesn't specify that the travel pay is allowed for you and your children before the ETS date"

me - "orders are orders aren't they? They wouldn't have cut them this early if they were not for us to use."

her - "I'm sorry, but there really isn't anything I can do. Except I can tell you that in April you can fill out this form and send it in. Where are you driving to?"

me - "Mississippi"......"Grenada, Mississippi"

her - "let's see here..." punches in some info on a computer....."you will be allowed 20c a mile, 74.25 per day for yourself and 49.50 per day per child. But like I said, you can't even see if your eligible for that until April."

me - "ummm, well thanks for letting me know how much I probably won't be getting. That's always pertinent information."

her - stares at me over her little glasses

me- trying to think of something polite to say....

her - "anything else I can help you with?"

When did she help me??

me - "no, I suppose not for now"

her - "well......" then she gets real quiet and hands me a small stack of papers like they're holding some serious secret information...."take these, give them to your husband, it'll help him when he's out processing."

me - "ummm, thanks. Bye"

I get out to the truck and I open the stack of papers. What are they??????

WHAT ARE THEY????

She had handed me back his orders and my Power of Attorney I had given her. Good grief.

That was a sample of how my day was. I couldn't help but to compare how God is always prepared to take care of us, even if we are separating ourselves from him. He's always there, holding out his hands to us.


I'm done with that. The Army has a lot of really great perks that make it difficult to leave, but once you get past the comfort zone, and realize it's a security blanket full of holes, it isn't too hard to leave.

It is, disappointing.

God isn't like that. His promise is that even through the bad, he's going to be there with us. To love us to comfort us. He isn't going to take the hurt away, but he'll hold our hand when the waters rough. He'll prevent us from drowning. His deep and intense love for us will be our life raft.

What an incredible Father we have!! We're so very blessed. So blessed. ~

Abby and Anna ready for their day

I remember when Anna wore this dress!! Wow, time flies. Getting ready for our move so the posts will be few for a while. Keep us in your prayers.

~ Christi

Nothing would be normal if plans didn't change *grin*

I'm only going to say ONE thing right now, cause I don't have time to say much else......

It's going to be a long DRIVE home. Yep, drive. Not FLY, but Drive. *sigh*

"You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me, Lucille...."

I told Chaplain Minjares the other day, that I thought he should write a song about me and sing it in church this Sunday for my Farewell. He stared at me blankly for half a second and then broke out into...."You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille......". Hahaha

This is one of the busiest times of the year at the Chapel. Everyone gearing up and preparing for all the fall/winter programs. Those take months to plan. And I'm leaving.

Tonight was the last night I will have any actual work to do. Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday I will spend cleaning out my office and tying up any last minute loose ends. Today, I finished typing up the inventory of my supply closet and the books, curriculum, CD's, DVD's and cassette tapes that are in my office. 6 long pages of detailed inventory. But it is done. I turned it in and went back to my office to have a look around. Making my list for what needs to be done tomorrow. I don't know who will be sitting at that desk next week. I have no idea what God has in plan for the Chapel here. I do hope that whoever it is and whatever their task, they fulfill it joyfully in the Lord. I hope that when they are faced with difficult tasks, or difficult people, they shine brighter than when things are running smoothly.

I'm proud of my accomplishments here. I'm proud of myself for finishing the task. For persevering even when my faith was stomped on, when my integrity was tested and when I very simply felt like I couldn't do it any more.

I have something, now, that is worth more than money can buy. It is more precious than the most precious gold or diamonds.

I've a new Girdle of Truth. And I'm wearing it proudly.

Yes, Girdle of Truth. You know, part of the Armor of God.

First mentioned because it denotes preparation for battle.....and holds together the other pieces of armor. Girdle of Truth is strength of our loins.....gives confidence....1 Cor. 16:13, Eph 4:14-15, 1 Sam 17:48. According to Mr. James Davis, it is sincerity in the innermost being, he describes scriptures 1 Cor. 5:8, Psa 51:6.

It's the girdle of truth because that's what I've found over the last year. A person inside of me that is slowly coming out of her shell. Probably more so to the people around her than to the people she loves, yet that is a feat that will be conquered also.

I'm realizing that I have a potential to be something bigger than I've ever dreamed. Because to me, God, Jesus, being a Christian was just a bottled up package that I bought.

Not anymore. It's my faith. It's who I am. It's why I'm alive.

We use to sing this song in church.....it's my Mom's favorite...(rolls eyes), Called Tempted and Tried....I know the words by heart...that's scary...LOL

Tempted and tried we're oft made to wander, Why should it be such all the day long? While there are others living around us, never molested, though in the wrong. Farther along, weÂ’ll know all about it farther along, weÂ’ll understand why cheer up my brother walk in the sunshine weÂ’ll understand it all by and by.

I may hate the song and it's oh so slow......... drawn.......... out..........music..............

But I think the lyrics truly are correct. I do understand more this year than I did last year. I have a better understanding of my faith and why I believe things the way I do. I can say that I know my Father. And I know why he loves me. I can't wait to see how much more I'll understand next year and the year after that and the year after that.

Ok. Well, I'm exhausted. And I'm still in pain. So I'm going to bed.

Did I mention that I fractured my knee cap? It happened Wednesday, but I didn't go to the Dr. until Friday. So now I have to wear this brace with a steel bar on both sides of my leg and another steel bar that runs down the back. Hopefully this won't hinder our plane ride too much.*laughing* This will be one for the books!!

~

Dear Dad

Subject: Why parents have grey hair!!!

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see the bed nicely made up and everything neat and tidy.

Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow.

It was addressed, "Dad"

With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Dad, It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you and Mom.

I've been finding real passion with Joan and she is so nice. I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, and her tight motorcycle clothes and because she is so much older than I am but it's not only the passion, Dad, she's pregnant.

Joan says that we are going to be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood, enough for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Joan has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it and trading it with the other people in the commune for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want.

In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Joan can get better; she sure deserves it!

Don't worry Dad, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself.
Someday, I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your son, Chad


P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that's in my desk drawer.

I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home

Life runs, I walk.

Well, this is Sunday night. Tomorrow we close on our first home and become official home owners. *cheer*
Please pray that this goes ok. If you're reading this and it's Monday, just take a second and say a prayer for our family. Today marks the beginning of a completely new life. A beginning as an "on the way to becoming a civilian family". Being home owners is a task that I'm certain we're ready for. It's exciting, to know that I no longer have to hang pictures, decorative tile, or anything else for that matter, with Velcro. (You can decorate almost your entire home with Velcro. You would be amazed at what that stuff can hold.....) Still, until tomorrow is over, I'm going to slightly hold my breath. It ain't over till it's over. *grin*

On that note, I can tell you that I'm ready to move. Not anxious, just ready. I'm past the point of making lists ( I live for lists ), of all the things I need to do before the movers come. I am, however, at the point of throwing away everything and starting over with all new stuff. *just kiddin*

This will mark our 14th move. Let me tell you, I have learned that it is ALL about the UNpacking. Get all the clutter put away, anything that is trash thrown away. Anything that can not be moved (liquids, cleaners, garage stuff...oil...soap, perishable items....the likes) should be giv en away to some grateful person. Then, you should organize all the books in the house into one location. This makes un packing so much easier. If you know it's books, you can unpack it last. All toys should be moved to one location, all clothes should be in the proper drawers in the proper rooms, all jewelry should be placed together, all telephones and cords should be together, all computers should be in one location....you get the idea?

I've unpacked boxes before where they packed, shoes, clothes and papers together in one box. They will put anything together just to fill a box. Dumping out every drawer in your entire house will give you an idea how how much of a clutterbug you are, but it will also allow you to get rid of the unnecessary items and keep the important ones.

So many people think that if you clean a room and leave it the way it usually is, they will come in, pack it up and you can unpack it the same exact way. Not true. Most likely, the layout of the rooms where you live and where you are going are not going to be the same. Also, you would be surprised how much the movers can tear your house apart while packing. You think it's really clean until they start unloading drawers and dumping out the items in your desk and bathroom cabinets. Not to mention your storage room and garage.

I have a system though. And I like it.

I walk around and mark each and every box they pack, as they pack it, with priority numbers. An open me first box, will have clean towels, linens and toilet paper. It will also have the telephones and their cords, a skillet, 2 pots, paper plates, plastic cups and disposable silverware. For this move, I will include a package of batteries, the new magic erasers by Mr. Clean and a COPY of the kids health and school records, just in case something should happen to the ones on the plane.

Then, I go around and mark the priority of the rest of the boxes. The idea, is to get the number of boxes down to a minimum. We have a ton of furniture. So hopefully, most of the boxes will hold the kitchenware, clothes, book, toys etc. The goal is to NOT have to open a box at the new house and say "oh good grief, this is junk". *grin*

The other goal, is to be able to immediately direct all boxes that can go straight to storage, to storage. And be able to focus on the boxes that contain the things we use on a regular basis.

That's my theory on packing down and unpacking a house. *smile*

Mom owes me money

Isn't this picture the cutest??? I'm telling you, this little boy brings so much joy into our lives on a daily basis. All our kids do, but he's the only boy, so I think all of us girls give him extra attention. Anna and Adrienne are always asking him to sit with them, or asking him if they can read to him, or just doting on him, getting him snacks and juice when he asks. And Abby copies everything he does, making him pay more attention to the things he does, just to see if she'll do it. *smile* That can get crazy! He is such a sweetie and we all enjoy his presence in our lives. I can't wait to see what kind of man he grows up to be.

Ok, here's a funny for today....

Tonight, I was in the kitchen and Anna walked in holding a small brown envelope. She says..."Ahem, look what I found".

The envelope says "Anna's tooth". It's an old envelope.

She eyes me curiously "Do you know what this means?" she asks.

"what" I reply

She smiles and gives me a knowing look. She found the envelope in a dresser drawer.

Somewhere deep down, I knew I shouldn't have put it there.

I tell her, "you know what it tells me? It tells me that the Tooth Fairy never came for it. If I were you I'd put it under your pillow."

Then I smile at her.

Without batting an eye she replies "Yeah, Mom, that's what I'll do, then maybe the Tooth Fairy will leave the $23.00 she owes me" She laughs and winks at me. I wink back.

I love this kid!

Anna's Story

Here is the story that Anna wrote today for her homework.......She is quite the budding writer!

"The Note"
By Anna Hyde

"You all get detention!" Miss B. said. This wouldn't have happened if, wait, let me tell it from the beginning.


It all started on the 100th day of school. "Miss B. is always giving us F's. It's not fair!" Jack said. "Well, not all of us, only kids like you, who like flunking." Amy insisted. Amy's the kid in the group who'a always saying stuff like "technically" and things like that. "Listen guys, there are only 3 of us. I think the other 22 are just fine with Miss B." I said. I'm kinda like Amy, pointing out the obvious.


We were heading to school. When we got there the bell had just rung. So, again, we were five minutes late. "OK, class, time to hand out the answer tests!" Miss B. was explaining. I saw Jack writing a note. He handed it to Amy. After she read it she gave it to me. It said, "Here we go again, F, F F's!". I saw Miss B. heading toward us. I quickly put it in my desk.


Miss B. handed Amy her test. "Yes!" I gave her a look. She had a happy look on her face. Then Miss B. gave Jack his test. He said " I told you so!" He got a F. Miss B. then stopped at me. She said "Wow". Noting else just "Wow". Slowly I opened my sheet. I got an A!!!


I started to get one of my papers out of my desk. Then as I began to write I noticed that it looked different. I continues to write. I realized that once I thought of what I wanted to write, it was already on the paper. So I gave it to Amy and shrugged. She knew something was wrong. She opened the paper, and it read "No, here we go again...A, A, A's". Jack read it too and they both realized the difference. Jack started to pass it back.


Miss B. said, "Stop passing notes!" She started to take it from him. Then she said "You all get detention!". She opened the note and just stared at it. She saw a difference also. She sat down at her desk and started to think of something then stopped. It was already written on the paper! Then she saw a symbol at the top of the paper.


Instantly she said "Class, go out to early recess!". Everyone cheered. She called me, Amy and Jack up to her desk. "Where did you get this paper?" she asked. I said, "It was in my desk". Then she told us that it was worth 1 million dollars!!! She told us that we don't have any more detention but that she has to keep the paper. We groaned but we also knew that she was right to keep it. From then on we never wrote another note again. (We kept the paper to ourselves just in case).


The End

September 11th, 2006

Well, tonight I remember 5 years ago. I had an in home daycare. Adrienne was 2. Anna was 5. Sunnydale was gone. Detached to "group". He was supposed to be gone on a 63 day mission.

270 days went by.

My heart broke every time the phone rang and it wasn't him.

My heart broke every time I left the house only to come home to a message he left on the machine.

That was the worst.

I can still feel the pain in the disappointment that I had left the house and missed his call.

Then I got a cell phone. And got word to him to call that number. ;)

I rarely missed a call after that.

But the calls came less and less.

Weeks would go by.

I would stay up half the night watching the news. Flipping back and forth from one channel to the next.

I took a few minutes tonight to allow the girls to watch a couple of the Memorial videos online.

Anna remembers.

Adrienne does not.

Adrienne had a lot of questions.

Anna answered a lot of questions.

They both got an eye opening view of their Dad and what he's done for them and for our country.

I'll never forget that day.

Mandatory Reading

God placed a book in my lap and said, "read this".

I did.

I cried.

My heart opened in ways it never has before.

A wall came down.

I cried some more.

I prayed.

I listened.

I heard.




Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers a Christian Novel

Ms. Gladys

I'm sitting here tonight, remembering a lifetime ago. I was 19 yrs old. Married. Pregnant. Trying to make a new home in a new town with basically a 100% turn around from where I had been 18 months prior to that.

We moved to a little town called Bogue Chitto. I swear, really, it's called that. Sunnydale was the youth minister for this tiny church there. Tiny church. Did I mention that this place was tiny? I could tell you how tiny but I actually have fond memories and I don't want to come off as offensive...LOL

So there we were, Sunnydale was driving all the way up to Kosciusko to go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays at MBC. Needless to say, I got lonely when he was gone. We only had one car, so when he was gone it left me at home. I began going on walks up and down the street we lived on.

One day, on one of my walks, I noticed this older woman outside. In that southern hospitality that I truly love (and miss) we exchanged hellos. I recognized her as one of the older women at out church. She knew who I was and invited me in for some sweet tea.....(miss that too). Well, we began these visits regularly when Sunnydale was gone. And even when he was home, Ms. Gladys would invite us over and fix THE best meals. Let's just say we were well fed!!

On one of my visits she asked if I knew how to crochet. I said I didn't, but wished I did. Well that was all it took. She had tiny white thread wound around my hands and through my fingers with a needle going to work in no time. Those are some of the fondest memories I have. She would tell me stories about her life, when she was younger, and I would sit and crochet, fascinated with her.

Ms. Gladys was 93 when she taught me how to crochet.

An old friend called tonight, John Mark Smith, to let us know that Ms. Gladys had passed on to be with our Heavenly Father. I probably had an odd response, I thanked him for calling, it was extremely thoughtful, after all these years to think of letting us know. But now that I think about it, I didn't get any info for the funeral.....how she died, where she was...nothing. Here is this woman that I've thought of so often over the last 9 years and I didn't ask anything.

Then it occurred to me. I am very simply at complete peace with her passing. My very first thought was to thank John Mark for letting us know. It didn't occur to me to cry or mourn her. God had a reason for allowing her to live on this earth for so very long. She touched more people than just me, I can tell you that.

I'll remember her for her kindness, her loving compassion and endless smile. Never a harsh word or thought of judgment crossed over her lips onto my ears. She was very careful in how she taught me. I've never forgotten her and I never will.

Tonight, I celebrate her life. And I'm happy, for her, that she's home.

Chores

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes,looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.
He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.

As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do

all day?"


"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it"

"A Year of Memories" Life After Katrina....

Wow!
Sunnydale has been blessed with the opportunity to fly to New Orleans this weekend for an event held in Pontiff Park.

Emergency Medical Services
"A Year of Memories"
Held at the Veterans Memorial Square
Pontiff Park
New Orleans

He wrote a song a little over a year ago called "I'm Not Afraid To Fly". It's a beautiful song and he's going to sing it this weekend along with "God Bless America". I sure wish I could be there!!

Please keep his travels in your prayers. Also, please keep all the people and families that Katrina affected in your prayers. Anniversaries have a tendency to be very difficult.

~C.H.

You will NOT believe this!!!!!!

I am absolutely stunned at Adrienne. She cracks me up all the time, but this one hits #1 on her chart of hilarious things.....

I was looking through Adri's backpack this afternoon and came across a worksheet of math problems. Now, for those of you who don't know, Adri is in the 1st grade. She is repeating the first grade because her reading skills were not 2nd grade level, so we decided to allow her to repeat 1st. She started school when she was 4 so this is actually better because now she's with other 6 year olds.

Anyway, this math sheet had the basic of all basic math problems. For example....2+1=
So I noticed out of the 20 something problems, you could see where the teacher marked 16 of them WRONG. Ok, well, my first reaction was....ummm....what??? At the end of the year last year she was doing double digit addition, what's the deal?

So I brought her in here to talk to me about this without any of the other kids around. We sat down and I asked her about the worksheet. I told her that I need to know what's going on because I know she can do this math. This is the EASY math!

She put her hands on her face and said through her hands..."Mom, you're all mad at me and you don't get it......"

"Then please explain it to me, Adri"

She sat up in her chair looked me straight in the eye and said...

"Mom, if I do them all wrong the first time, then my teacher will have me erase them and I get to do them again"


WHAT???


She is doing them wrong on purpose because she likes math! She gets them wrong, then she gets to sit there and do it again.

That's hilarious. But clearly the wrong way to go about schoolwork.

Ok, so it's obvious she needs to be doing math that challenges her and this isn't it. I told her that tomorrow, if she'll get them all correct, then I'll tell her teacher that she has to give her extra worksheets to do. She said "You can do that?"

Ummm, yes. LOL

I suppose if you're going to have a problem at school, this is the one to have.

*laughing*

I should have known.....

I should have known by the way my day started that I was probably supposed to stay home today.

After I got the key situation taken care of, I got some housework done, got the girls up and off to school and then was on my way to daycare when.......

I caught a glimpse of a little boy, too little to be in school, walking down the road. I stopped the truck, threw it in reverse and backed up just to see if it really was a little boy....alone. I waited a minute or two (felt like 10) to see if his Mom or Dad came around.....still....quiet......he was alone.

I turned the truck around and drove down his street. When I arrived where he was, I immediately noticed that he was bawling. Not crying. BAWLING. His little face was all red splotched, you could tell he had been crying for a while. I turned my hazard lights on and got out of the truck. I asked him if he was ok and if he knew where his Mommy was. All he said was "My Dad's gone" over and over. He was maybe 4 years old...maybe.

So I looked around wondering what to do, I knew I couldn't put him in my truck so, off I went to the house where I had pulled over. I started to knock and saw it was cracked open. Then I thought, yeah, I bet he lives here. Nope. He didn't. Real nice lady answered though. She was just as upset as I was at the sight of him. He was that upset. Lost. Totally lost.

I asked her if she knew him and she said no then I said "I think you need to call the Police". She said ok and went back inside. I sat with him outside. When she came back outside after calling the Police, She held him while I pulled my truck into her driveway.

Then we noticed a man walking up the street. He was walking casually, not in a hurry. And when he reached her yard, she said to him "We found another one".....I was like huh? She explained that her own son had escaped her yard the other day while she was doing dishes.

So the man walks up and is talking to us he asked me where I found him and I explained what happened. Then AFTER THAT, he reaches out for the boy and takes him. It was HIS kid!!! And he didn't even say anything when he came up! The lady looks at him and said "oh! He's yours?"

The guy said yes and that was that. I couldn't believe it. The guy had left the kid home alone while he took the others to school. Sheesh.

I told him NOTHING was worth leaving him alone. Totally alone and asleep. Anything could have happened. Wow.

So the police came and took my statement and got the guys info and all of that but I have no idea what will happen to him, if he'll get into any trouble for leaving the kid alone. Probably just a good scare. Sometimes that's all that's needed is one good scare and then it never happens again.

What a day.

It isn't over yet. I'm going to hide.....

Oddities in Hayes Park

Ok, so if you haven't already, please read the previous post. It'll help you understand this one. *grin*

So here are a few things I noticed this morning when I stood on my front porch at 4:55 in the am waiting for Roadside Assistance.....

1. People drive carelessly, more so than usual. We live on a one way street that's in the shape of a half moon. Someone drove up the wrong way going quite fast this morning. It boggles me as to why people do this because going on our street serves absolutely no purpose unless you live on the street. We're not a shortcut in any sense of the word.

2. When the sprinklers come on, one of them goes around and around, continuously hitting the light pole and making this "zink, zink, zink" noise.......creepy

3. I was quite surprised how few lights I saw on other people houses. I just figured that most of the community, seeing as how we're all military, would be awake. But they are not.

4. The trucks alarm system works well and sounds especially loud and healthy at 5 in the morning.......I bet they're awake now.

5. An owl lives somewhere close to my house. I listened to it while I was waiting.

6. My neighbors have 2 flags in the front of their house, which they apparently follow procedure by taking down in the evenings. My other neighbors have a light on their flag. They are the only 2 houses on the street to have flags up. Hmm, I think that's weird.

7. And last but definitely not least, I am reminded of why I do not stand on my front porch in the dark...... little cute creatures called SKUNKS.

I think Sunnydale should cook dinner tonight. *grin*

How about some Peanut Butter & Jelly??

Roadside Assistance

We'll start this blog off with a smile.


:)


It's 4:46 in the morning and I just got off the phone with road side assistance. :)


Sunnydale locked the keys in his truck.


Er......someone locked the keys in his truck. :)


I'm sure it wasn't him. :)

He's all freaking out about the truck and I said, "you'll just have to take the car babe"...

There is this look on his face like...."the car.....but it's for girls.....I want my truck"

"it's ok, babe, things happen" is what I tell him. (guilt reminds me of last year when I locked the keys in the truck)

So he took the car.

I'm all proud because I spent my day on Saturday cleaning out the car. I mean I took a toothpick and an old toothbrush and cleaned my car, like I was going to sell it or something.

So I'm slightly disappointed that I don't get to drive it today.

However, I do get the truck. :)

It has air conditioning. :)

There's always a bright side.

So I called our car insurance and they are sending someone to get the keys out.

I'll blog again when it's over and I'm holding the "manly" truck keys in my hand. *grin*

Mercy or no mercy??

So, I've been pondering James 2:8-14. And I'd really, really appreciate some input.

⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"^[a] you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery,"^[a] also said, "Do not murder."^[b] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Basically, I see this as pretty cut and dry. Whether you sin once or ten times, you've sinned and broken the Law. Actually verses 12 and 13 are probably the ones I've been pondering the most.

It seems to me that so many people out there try so hard to find a way out of being merciful. In James we are told not to show partiality and yet, we do, we judge people and self righteously make up credible reasons not to show mercy. Someone wrongs us and we spend our lives sometimes trying to "right" the wrong. It's so much easier to not show mercy than to show mercy.

There are people who just can't help the situations they are in....Sometimes it's easy to show mercy to them. The children who are a living example of their conditions. However then there are people who are what they are because they have chosen that path. And let me tell you, we are told to show mercy to them also. There is no discrepancy in who we should show mercy to. Like them or not, frustrated and up to your ears in excuses, still, mercy will not be shown to those who have not shown it.

"Oh! But I have shown mercy". Don't be fooled. Showing mercy to some yet not others is just what is being discussed in verse 9!

It's definitely easier to show mercy to some. Sometimes it's very very hard to show mercy. Especially if someone hurt you or someone you love. But it's the fact that when you can show mercy, you are allowing yourself to be pulled up by God, you are fulfilling a purpose put on you only by Him who knows what we can and can not accomplish. And apparently, we can accomplish anything through Him. Striving to be Christ like is the key. Hard as that is, it isn't impossible or he wouldn't have asked it of us. Our Lord wouldn't give us false hope of being something we can't be!

Mercy triumphs over judgment! I love that.

I need all the mercy I can get, so that leaves me in a position to give all I can give. Judge me for that. And see where you are left.

Ok, let me just say something.

Sometimes the hardest lessons to learn, are the ones we think we already know. *sigh*