Giving Thanks ~ Train Rides Together

We had so much fun taking this family outing to a park for a train ride! I'm thankful for my train-loving boys, who always have an intricate and ever-changing train layout filling half their bedroom floor. I'm thankful they were so excited to see their little sister get to ride this train with them for the first time. Loud noises, new places, and crowds of people can all trigger stress for S. See where her fingers are in the first picture? She is prepared! The train driver agreed not to blow the whistle while we rode, and we were all thankful that S made it through most of this experience with a big smile on her face. And I'm especially thankful for my precious teen, who truly enjoys anything that brings joy to her siblings.

Giving Thanks ~ Rain

I love this time of year! What a wonderful time to find moments to thank our good and loving Father for the many blessings in our lives.

Today I am thankful for rain. We suffered so long this year with record-breaking drought and heat. When the rain finally came this fall it was sweeter than ever. The rapid change from parched, dry ground to fresh green grass was a sight to behold! We are still in need of more, but every precious drop was a blessing from the heavens. To God be the glory! Thank you Lord, for rain.

"I would seek unto God, 

and unto God would I commit my cause:

Which doeth great things and unsearchable;

 marvelous things without number:

Who giveth rain upon the earth,

 and sendeth waters upon the fields:" 

Job 5:8-10

Just because.

My husband came home from work with these for me. I was so surprised!

When I asked what the special occasion was, he grinned.

"Just because I thought you could use some flowers." 

How sweet is that?

This Moment

It's been a whirlwind of last-minute travel, unusual appointments, weird schedules, rushed school work and hurried chores around here for several weeks now. It seems I wake up behind, and go to bed further behind. In addition, we've been without Daddy for four days. He made it home safely this evening.

Finally, I am again hearing the lovely sounds of my whole family, including dear Daddy, clearing the spaghetti dishes from the supper table and chatting and laughing.

I love this moment. All is right with my world. Thank you, Lord. 

Peculiar

Every month R and I make one massive trip to Sam's Club to stock up on pantry and freezer foods. We shop from our list and keep track of prices. It's fun to do it together and see how much we can save.

Back in August we marched in with our flatcar and were promptly met by a nice young man with straight, white teeth and slicked back hair. He flashed us a smile and began his spiel.

"Hello, how are you ladies today?" he smiled.
"Fine, thanks. How are you?"
"Just great!" he beamed. "Can I ask you who provides your cable service?"

To be honest, his question that hot afternoon in August actually caught me off-guard. I stammered a little, embarrassed, then shrugged, "Uh, we don't have cable. We actually have a digital converter box and a really old TV we play videos on. We don't even watch TV." 

"You have a what?" he asked, clearly confused. As I explained briefly that we have a little box that converts those newfangled digital signals so that our ancient TV can still pick up the weather reports via our antenna, his expression became more and more amazed. When I explained that we get about three channels on a clear day, his eyebrows went up a little, then knitted in the middle.  He tilted his head to one side and his mouth hung open. He was looking at me as if I were an alien that had walked right in off the parking lot. He shook himself out of his amazed stupor and I could see the wheels turning in his well-trained mind. He was thinking so hard I could almost hear it. These people don't have cable? These people don't watch TV? What on earth do they do? This wasn't in my sales training manual at all! What am I supposed to say to that?

He tried valiantly to figure out where to take this odd conversation with these peculiar people. He didn't come up with anything so he just sort of shrugged back at me and said, "Cool." You know, just like you'd say if you saw an alien. Cool.

I smiled politely and said, "Have a good day." We pushed our cart away and rounded a corner down the first aisle. R looked at me, and I looked at her, and we burst out laughing. His expression was priceless! Although I'd been a little embarrassed at the time, it really was a hilarious moment.

In September we headed back to the price club to stock up. As we walked in the door I spotted her coming toward us. This time instead of a toothy young man we were facing a pretty young lady, all business, brochures in hand. She was ready to tackle our cable problems and sell us on a new provider. I braced myself.

"Hello!" she called to us.
"Hi, how are you?" I responded.
"Just fine, thanks. Can I ask who your cable provider is?"
I smiled, squared my shoulders and met her gaze. "We don't have cable. We don't watch TV." 
She truly looked like I'd just slapped her with a wet rag. Again, this situation is obviously not in the training manuals. After a few awkward moments she regained her balance and said, "Oh, OK. Well, have a good day?" The question mark is there on purpose, because she said it like a question. The wheels were still turning, and she was full of questions about our quirky selves, but she refrained from asking them out loud.

We waited until we were several steps away before R and I dissolved into giggles.

When this month's trip to Sam's Club rolled around, I was prepared. We got our cart and marched in the doors. But there was no one running toward us to discuss our TV habits this time. I admit I was a little disappointed. You see, I'd prepared my statement beforehand and was looking forward to using it. I was going to say, "We don't watch TV. Too much filth!" But, we made it all the way through the electronics sections with nary an encounter.

Just when I let my guard down and started digging in my purse for the list, round the next corner a freshly scrubbed kid stepped out toward me. "Have you heard about the event we are having in the store today?" he asked excitedly.

I turned toward him and smiled. "No, I haven't."
He brightened, then plowed ahead. "Three lucky customers will have a chance to win a year of free service from blah-blah-blah cable service! Can I ask who provides your cable service now?"

I looked at him. He couldn't have been over twenty and he was so happy about his task today, accosting people and getting them signed up for stuff. I just didn't have the heart to smack him with my prepared "filth" statement, so I simply replied, "We don't watch TV."

He faltered, confused and shaken. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He titled his head to one side, nodded slightly, then recovered nicely with this little nugget. "Oh, is that by choice?"

Now, I'm not sure what he meant, and I'm not sure he knew what he meant, either. Are there folks out there who don't watch TV because they are under duress? Maybe. But for us? Yep, it's by choice.

I've got to give him credit; he came up with a way to continue our conversation without too long of an awkward pause. His expressions were absolutely hilarious, but he managed to smile politely and keep chatting with us weirdos while his mind raced around and around the concept that some people just don't watch TV. We ended with smiles all around, but clearly he was thinking, "I can't wait to tell everybody at break about these people!"

We'll see what next month's trip to the price club holds. It should be interesting for everyone, especially the young people peddling cable plans.

Celebrations!

The summer seems jam packed with birthdays in our family. Here are some pictures of our celebration at Granny and Grandpa's house. We partied in honor of HW's ninth birthday, and S's third birthday so it was a big blowout! Everyone had a blast and we were all thrilled to get to spend time with the whole family. Unfortunately in all the fun we failed to get all the pictures I intended to get ~ Aunt Mandy and Uncle Drew were certainly there to celebrate with us, but were somehow completely missing from the photos ~ boo! So sorry guys!
We had a great time and the kids were sugared up and played hard the whole weekend. Thanks for such a great summer birthday celebration, Family!

While Granny and I were trying to herd folks into the kitchen for singing and cake, S just couldn't stand the wait any longer and took a little nibble off one corner.  I had told her not to touch the cake, and like an obedient little girl she kept her hands down at her sides ~ she never touched it, just tasted it.  Good job, baby!

Look at my beautiful new rocking horse!

HW requested an ice cream cake this year, and boy was it delicious! 

Some snuggle time with Grandpa

New Legos were a big hit!

R and HA also got some goodies, just for being the sister and brother of the Birthday Boy and Girl.

Snuggle time with Granny

Love all the pretty new clothes Granny picked out, too!

This picture with Aunt Marla was after the big kids wrapped up the fun weekend
with a visit to a very cool traveling exhibit about Genghis Khan. 

Nearly Went Dumpster Diving

Usually R and I do the grocery shopping on the weekend when Mike is home to stay with the other kiddos, but yesterday I opened the fridge and realized I didn't even have anything for supper. So, I loaded my crew and we went to the store. I planned to just grab as much as we could until S got antsy in her stroller, then we'd head home.

We made about half the aisles. While the boys helped me fill the basket, R kept S entertained with snacks and toys. When we reached the bread aisle I noticed S was getting pretty tired of sitting, so that was our cue to wrap things up. We zipped through the check out lane and steeled ourselves to go back out into the heat. We reached the car, buckled S in, folded and loaded the stroller, packed the groceries around it, sweated (it's still in the 100s here!), and all buckled up. I cranked the a/c and we headed down the road toward home, hoping the milk wouldn't spoil before we got there. A few blocks later R turned to me with a funny expression.

"I hope we got the Pup..." she said.

Now, if you've ever had a child love a special blankey (aka "the Buppy/Puppy/Pup"), you'll understand the fear that her comment struck in my heart. Where is the beloved blankey? Why didn't I check before we left? Surely it's somewhere in this minivan, right? 


I pulled over into a parking lot, jumped out and started searching around her and her car seat. No luck. I pulled out the stroller and unfolded it, praying her sweet little soft Pup would fall out of it in front of me. Nope. The kids checked all through the van and pulled stuff from under the seats that we haven't seen in a good, long while. But no Pup. My temples were throbbing.

Back to the store we flew. I told the kids to pray for me, and hurried in. Retracing our steps I quickly checked the parking lot, then entered the store and backtracked through the check out lane, up through produce and into the bread aisle.

"Have you seen a little white rag?" I asked the man on his knees stocking loaves. "It's my daughter's blankey." He hadn't.

I turned left and walked by the cheese, quickly glancing always to my right down the long aisles we'd visited. No little white rag to be found.

Thankfully, the Puppy has a twin that we bring out when it's time to wash the dirty little thing. By switching them back and forth we've been able to extend the life of the well-loved lovey far past the normal life-span of a thin, cotton rag. When you're talking about old, raggedy, threadbare Pups, two is always better than one. I felt my eyes filling with tears as I remembered all the good times with Pup.

Pup helps close the gate

Pup visits the zoo

Pup plays with Grandpa

Pup attends B and K's lovely wedding

Pup snuggles with DaddyDon

My heart sank. If one of the precious Pups is gone, that dreaded day when the remaining Pup disintegrates into nothing more than blankey molecules will arrive much too soon. Oh, I just can't bear the thought of S losing her beloved blankey until she is good and ready to give it up!

Just then I turned to the side and looked into the doorway where the meat market guys come and go. And there, against the greasy baseboard, on the bottom of a pile of rubbish swept up from all over the grocery store, was the Pup. I couldn't help but say out loud, "Thank you dear Lord!"

It was filthy, blackened, and pathetic. But I grabbed it up in a second and hurried away with my prize before the sweeper returned for his pile. I missed dumpster diving for that precious little rag by mere seconds.

It's been through several hand-washings and hung out in the sun just for my peace of mind. The Pup seems no worse off than it was before its big adventure. I, on the other hand, have several more grey hairs.