Angela's Blog

My daughter, Angela, now has a blog. Check it out at http://angelapaparazzo.blogspot.com/

Random Paparazzo Activity

Yay! It's almost bedtime. My favorite time of day. When the kids go to bed. Of course, I'll probably go to bed early tonight myself, because I'm kind of tired. Of course, that might change after my stomach full of potatoes digests. Angela says I'm always tired, but that is because she always wears me out. Mostly Angela, but also Chloe and Jeremiah. But Angela definitely requires a lot of energy. She gets so excited about my blog. She always wants to help. So funny. They're going to bed now. Yay! Boy is this a random blog post. I told you I'm easily distracted. Having three kids is a definite distraction, but a fun one. I doubt if I'll actually go to bed early. I always say that, but it never happens. I'm just a night person by nature, plus with all the kids in bed it's so pleasantly quiet in the house at night.

Winter Break Fun (When does school start again?)

Well, the kids are driving me crazy. They fight all the time and keep doing things like bouncing my body ball, which they know they're not supposed to do. The body ball just landed on the desk a few minutes ago, knocking a bunch of stuff down. Ugh! Jeremiah spent his money from his Wal-Mart gift card the day after Christmas. He got a nerf gun and a remote control car. A starter piece for a Tech Dek build a park set, and some extra darts for his nerf gun. He promised he wouldn't shoot his sisters with the nerf gun, cause I knew that would cause fights, but apparently Chloe likes being hunted, so she asks him to shoot her with his nerf gun, while she runs from him! LOL. She is so funny! Jeremiah is now squishing a bunch of little marshmallows together to make a big marshmellow for his hot cocoa. He is so strange! I certainly can't accuse my kids of not having imaginations!

Christmas Presents and All That Drama

For Christmas Angela and Chloe got new Webkinz and they both screamed, at the same time, because they both happened to open them at the same time. One's called The Pucker Fish and it is Chloe's and the other is called the Clown Fish, named Nemo, which if you hadn't noticed is what almost every clown fish is called since a certain movie came out! And Jeremiah got Tech Deks. They're small finger boards and they have tiny little bolts. Josh got a new coat and he pulled the strings and covered his face. He looked really funny sitting there. I got a Scentsy warmer and a few scents to go with it. I was thrilled about that. I've been wanting one for a long time, but never could justify the expense. I must have mentioned that to my mother at some point, cause she got me lots of Scentsy stuff. Angela and Chloe got Snuggies For Kids. They wear them while they're playing on the computer and making puzzles. They like to cut and make puzzles. Angela got roller blades and kept roller blading all over my mom's house and she would go too fast and crash into things. Angela also got a Discovery Kids video camera, which I am afraid she might use to blackmail some people since she was recording all the time. Chloe got a new coat that is very cute and fuzzy. She looks adorable in it. Angela wanted one, too, but Uncle Dave (my brother) has a thing about kids getting clothes and/or books for Christmas, because he didn't like it when he got those things. So he wouldn't let Aunt Sheila (his wife) buy one for Angela, too. He didn't even want her to buy the one for Chloe. She also got a book about baseball for Jeremiah tha he had a fit about, but he got it anyway and he loves it.

Those are not all the things we got, but they are the main things. The kids had a good Christmas, other than Chloe's allergies.

This was mostly Angela's post, as she was telling me what to type, but I added my own commentaries in a few places, so I will say it was authored by

Angela and Shellie Paparazzo

itunes

Hey, I found my itunes gift card I had lost last year, so now I have a playlist on my computer! Only 12 songs, but we all have to start somewhere right! I discovered that my ipod no longer works, so I lost all the songs my husband had put on that, but oh,well. Now, I can put my favorites from my computer onto my new ipod, when I get one (if I get one). I only got this one because my daughter misbehaved for the last time and got her ipod taken from her. I never had one, really. So, the songs he put on there were for her. Otherwise I'd be more upset about losing them. As it is, they weren't my favorite songs to begin with. They were convenient that's all. Not the one's I would have picked. Considering how long it took me to figure out how itunes works, it will be a miracle if I figure out how to get the music from my computer to an ipod, if I ever get one, anyway.

Our Christmas Turmoil

Well, Christmas went fairly well. Chloe again had problems with her allergies while at my parents house. I don't know whether we'll ever be able to go to their house. Between her and I, we are allergic to every animal they have. I am allergic to both cats and dogs and who knows what else. I survive at Josh's mom's house, because I am only there for brief periods of time and I have prescription allergy meds that cost us a lot of money, that I have to take a ton of when I'm at my mom's. I give Chloe lots of her over the counter stuff, but it barely touches it. She's always so miserable down there with all there adorable long-haired cats that she can't resist. Of course, my extremely rude sister got on my case about having a cat when my daughter's allergic to them. Never mind that she never has this problem at home, except on the very rare occasion that Jewel sheds and Chloe packs her around. If she leaves her alone, she's fine. And Jewel's so big, she's hard to carry, so Chloe never does. Why does she think we were leaving mom's house to go to our own house with our own cat? Because our cat doesn't cause her problems. Maybe Jill should get rid of her dogs, so I don't have to pay so much money to go see her! Anyway, we headed back yesterday, partly because I was sick of everyone's judgmental jerkiness (sometimes I wish I was an orphan), but mostly because of Chloe's allergies.

A Need For Interaction

Okay, I know it's Christmas and everything, but some comments would be nice! I'm going to be leaving in a little bit. I'll be back Saturday and I expect to see some comments. I'm a social person. I require interaction in everything I do. Sorry about that, but it's a need that I have!

Genesis 1:26

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Now, many of the policies in this country are trying to put animals in a position they don't belong in. They are treating them as either equals, or in some cases as higher than humans, but they're not! We are to rule over them. Now, does that give us the right to abuse them? Certainly not! I'm just against abusing animals as much as anyone else, but I don't think they should be as valuable or more valuable then humans. If my cat got a terminal disease I'd probably just have her put down. But I wouldn't do that if it was one of my children. I would look at and weigh all of our options and choose a good, aggressive treatment plan for him/her. What's the difference? I'm not going to make my family suffer financially over a cat, but my children are worth it. They are a higher value than my cat. I love my cat very much and I feed her and water her and I give her love and attention, just not at the expense of my children. If it came to that I would find another home for her. I would not neglect her or make her suffer further in any way. If I can't take care of her, I'll find someone who can. If she's ill and is probably going to die anyway, I believe putting her down is the most merciful thing I could do for her.

Now, this will probably be my last post in Genesis before the new year, since this is the last day of school for my kids, before break. I'll probably be on here a few times to update you on the holiday happenings, but no more in Genesis for now. We'll pick it back up in January.

Lord, help us to keep the right balance in knowing how far to go in caring for animals. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,
The Paparazzo's (Shellie, Josh, Jeremiah, Angela, Chloe, and Jewel...the cat)

A Busy Week of Christmas Celebrations

It's been a good week, so far, other than Chloe throwing up last night. She stayed home today, even though she was fine. I just wanted to be sure and was worried about her being tired since she didn't get a lot of sleep. I didn't have any trouble getting her to go to bed tonight, let me tell you! Anyway, Tuesday was sort of a nice lazy day at home. Wednesday was Jeremiah's AWANA Christmas program, which was fun and had lots of yummy food afterwards, mostly cookies. That morning I also had a cookie exchange sort of a thing at my bible study, so I enjoyed that and then went and looked at the thrift stores to see if they might still have some stuff I could get for my kids for Christmas, since we're really broke this year. They have a few things. Hope they still have them this weekend, the next time I'll probably be able to shop, after I take my kids tomorrow to show me what sorts of things they are even interested in. I also went to the food bank to get a few things. Oh, yes, and I baked cookies Tuesday night for my bible study, and decorated them. That is very unusual for me. I never bake! I usually just buy cookies for these sorts of things. Today, we went to a friends to sing carols and eat more cookies. (I'm starting to sense a theme here. No wonder Chloe got sick!) We'll see how tomorrow goes, with our window shopping adventure after school and then Celebrate Recovery.

Genesis 1:24-25

Genesis 1:24-25

And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Now, I really don't care too much for the "creatures that move along the ground", but I love all the other creatures that God created! Although, hippos aren't all that attractive. What in the world was God thinking when he created those? Have you ever seen one in real life? They're hideous. I don't know why they bother with them at zoos. You'd think they'd be detrimental to their numbers! Nobody wants to see that. Especially not after lunch! I did noticed something interesting just now for the first time that I'd never seen before, that I find a bit odd. Maybe it's just me, but did God just say to "Let the land produce" these things. Are you picturing apes and giraffes, and cows and sheep, and snakes just suddenly growing out of the ground like I am? Some deer and elk maybe? It was a quite a funny picture in my mind. You have to wonder what it looked like. Did they just suddenly appear? Or did they literally grow out of the ground like a flower only a lot faster to where you could actually see it growing? Or did it just pop out of the ground like I pictured earlier? I have to admit the growing out of the ground picture in my mind was even stranger than the first. Maybe I'm just weird to wonder about these things, but I like wondering about the things no human has ever seen with their own eyes.

By the way, I have one of those lovely creatures that God created. A cat named Jewel, and I love her very much. I'm glad God created her. I thought I had four before we got her, but they tell me they're human, which we'll talk about in the next post. I think I'm glad God created them, too. Sometimes, I have my doubts, like when they try to ride their new electric scooter through the house at 15 miles an hour, thinking I won't notice. That's another story for another time. Anyway, I love giraffes. They are just so surprisingly graceful with those long necks and spindly legs. They are amazing creatures. Have you ever seen one drink. They have to spread their legs way out, even with those long necks. They are incredible creatures! What a mind to think that up! That is amazing! There are a lot of other creatures I love as well, but the giraffe has to be my favorite. Of course, I love deer and elk as well, but mostly on my dinner plate! I would love to here about any of your favorite creatures and what you love about them?

A Good Monday (Is that an oxymoron?)

Wow! I'm sure I gained 10 pounds tonight, but what else is new. It's the Christmas season! Tis the season to get fat! We had a Ladies Christmas Party tonight at my church. There were lots of ladies there. It was a great success. We ate cookies and drank hot drinks like cocoa and apple cider and played the necessary cheesy Christmas party games and sang Christmas carols. It was loads of fun. Met some new people from the church that I've only been attending for about 10 months. It was great! I did make it to Step Study this morning and was able to stay the whole time. I even found a baby-sitter for next week, when my kids are on Christmas break, so I can go then, too.

Missing Step Study

Let's see if I make it to and actually get to stay at Step Study this morning. This whole thing has been a disaster. Circumstances beyond my control have kept me away from the step study I'm supposed to be co-leading, all but 3 times. Yeah, I've been gone more than I've been there. We're already in book 2 and I've only shared my answers to 2 of the lessons in book 1. There are 6 lessons in book one. I've done all the lessons, but that's not all you're supposed to do. You're supposed to share your answers with someone even if you miss your group time. I've got a lot of makeup work to do.

A Relaxing Sunday

It's been a lovely Lord's Day. I got to relax and enjoy my day. My girls were both beautiful angels at our church's Christmas program this morning, which I had completely forgotten about! They barely got their in time to get in their costumes for second service! I guess with the two hockey games and the slumber party I had to pick Angela up from this morning, my brain was just too full for one weekend! And my son had the nerve to ask me to take him to Wal-Mart this afternoon to spend his gift card he got for selling popcorn with the Boy Scouts. Ugh! I'm not taking him until after Christmas! I don't care how much he whines!

A Rather Boring Morning (I enjoy expsosing you to the mundane things of life sometimes)

Well, we'll be going to church in about 40 minutes. We have snow on the ground again, finally! Jeremiah's outside playing in it right now! He couldn't resist the snow this morning. My daughter had a rough night. She was cold apparently. I don't know what her deal is. I wasn't cold at all last night!

Angela's First Hockey Games

Sorry, I haven't gotten back to Genesis yet. I've been promoting my son's blog instead. Again check it out. Refer to the post before this one if you need the address. I'll be getting back to Genesis hopefully, this next week. My daughter had her first 2 hockey games today. All in one day. They played LC here in Moscow this morning and then went to Lewiston to play them on their own ice. They lost both games, but tried hard and had fun. They have a few new players on their team besides my daughter, I believe, so they're just learning. Angela needs to work on her skating mostly. I think the rest will come pretty quickly once she gets her "ice legs". Right now she balances with her stick, so when she hits the puck she falls over, so learning to skate better will make a huge different. Once she gets confident on skates, I think she'll be able to be more aggressive, going after the puck and learning to control the puck and everything. I'm sure by the end of the season she'll be a very different hockey player! She loves it a lot, so I know she'll work hard to improve! She's a great little girl with a lot of fire and a lot of energy. This will be a great sport for her!

A New Blog From My Brilliant Little Scientist

Please check out my son's blog at http://11th11.blogspot.com/

He calls it that cause apparently it's a big deal that he turned 11 on the 11th this year!

Jeremiah

Today, Jeremiah is sick, so he's home leaning over my shoulder looking at my blog. He says he wants a blog. It would probably be much more interesting than mine. He'd talk about baseball, and science. I'm sure you'd find it fascinating. He's really quite brilliant! Of course, I might be a bit biased.

Our Weeekend Away

By the way, the hotel we stayed in was amazing, too. It was a big room and beautiful! As far as what we did at the hotel by ourselves with no children, besides have a big, wonderful buffet breakfast the morning after the party that didn't involve food landing on the floor, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

Our Weekend With The Boy Scouts

Well, Josh and I had a wonderful weekend! The party was fantastic! Great food, great company, great games! Such a fun group! I met lots of great people! We may be broke with this job, but Josh gets to work with some great people, doing very good work! Helping our future to become the best men they can be!

Heading Out

Well, I'm going to be leaving in just a little while for a Boy Scout Pow-wow. Right now the kids are packing for their night at grandma's. I think they're trying to pack their entire rooms into one bag! I'm not looking very festive, but I have a tendency to lose things when I bring too much, so I'm not wearing earrings or anything. I don't want to lose my Christmas earrings! I'm really tired, so it's going to be a long day.

I'm Leaving Town (Seriously, This Is A Big Deal!!!)

Tomorrow morning after Angela's hockey practice the Paparazzo's are leaving town! You have no idea how exciting this is! I haven't left Moscow since the Friday before Thanksgiving and then I only went to a small town about a half hour drive from here. Before that, the last time was last summer when I went to my grandpa's funeral. I really am too broke to go anywhere, so this is exciting! We're taking the kids to their grandma's house in Deary, but then Josh and I are going to Spokane, I believe. Or somewhere around there. And his boss is putting us up in a hotel! This is REALLY, REALLY EXCITING! I know, I'm easily amused. This is what happens when you have no money. Anything that gets you out of town is exciting, even if it is a Boy Scout employee pow-wow and staff Christmas party, with a night in a hotel. It's really kind of sad the simple things that get me excited. I mean the pow-wow will probably be really boring for me, since I have no idea what's going on with the Boy Scouts and have nothing to contribute, but just the idea of doing something without my children tagging along (not that I don't love them), and with my husband, alone, really sounds cool! Very Cool!!!!

A Paparazzo Thanksgiving

Since I never really told you all about our Thanksgiving, I thought I'd tell you now, even though it was rather normal except for when Josh burned his leg. Well, why don't I just start at the beginning.

It started the weekend before Thanksgiving on Friday night, when we went to Josh's Mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody was busy doing other things the rest of the week, so that's why they decided to do it early rather than not be able to have Thanksgiving at all. So, we went out there on Friday night after helping Josh with some popcorn organizing for the Boy Scouts. We got out there shortly before dinner. It was really noisy with Candy and Danny's 5 kids, Amy's 3 girls, and our 3. Actually that is an understatement. It was INSANELY LOUD!!!! Just so you get the idea. After dinner, we had a bonfire, so they could burn some brush. Don't worry, they had a permit. Anyway, after starting the fire we went inside and had some pie, before Josh and his brother Raymond, headed back out to work on burning the brush. It had been raining during all of this and Josh was wearing denim jeans. They were slightly damp from the rain while he was scooping stuff into the fire. He got too close to the fire and his pants started steaming on the inside. He felt like he was on fire, so he moved away from the fire and stopped, dropped, and rolled like your supposed to. It was dark, so when Raymond saw him rolling, he assumed he was on fire and ran over to pat the fire out, but he wasn't on fire. I didn't actually see this happen, cause I was in the house with the women and kids. Josh came running in and took off his pants. (Apparently pain takes away any sense of modesty one might have.) He needed to get something cold on it right away. To make a long story short he suffered second degree burns on his leg. He's still treating them and we've got a few different medicines that are working quite well for those of you who might be concerned. Not long after we treated and wrapped his burn we returned home. He was in a lot of pain for the next few days.

We were going to go to my parents house the next Wednesday, but I woke up early Tuesday morning with a very stuffy nose and achey all over, so I called my mom and cancelled our trip. Usually when I get a cold, I'm sick for at least a week. Not this time. After a VERY miserable Tuesday, I woke up Wednesday morning feeling almost completely back to normal. I still didn't want to risk getting my family sick, so we still stayed home. We went to our church where some of our friends were putting on a dinner for anyone who wanted to come enjoy dinner there and didn't have somewhere else to go. It was a really delicious dinner, and we enjoyed spending the time with our friends. We didn't stay long, since Josh was still in quite a bit of pain from his burn and wanted to get home, where he could vedge on the couch and not move much, letting his leg heal. Well, like I said, not too eventful, but that was our Thanksgiving!

Genesis 1:20-23

Genesis 1:20-23





And God said,"Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, " Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning-the fifth day.



Oh, goody! Now we're getting to the good stuff! The animals. Not a real big fan of fish or birds, but I absolutely love whales and dolphins! I'm a particularly big fan of the Orca. Otherwise known as the Killer Whale. Such a terrible name for such a beautiful creature! How about you? What is your favorite creation from this day?

A Tired Day

Wow! Am I tired! I think I got a little too used to sleeping in! I could not get out of bed this morning! Luckily the kids can pretty much get themselves ready for school, including breakfast or I'm not sure anyone would have ever made it! I would have just stayed in bed, but I've already missed way too much of the step study I'm supposed to be co-leading with my friend, KO, so I really need to get going. I'm mostly ready. Just have to gather a few things and get out the door in about 20 minutes. Shouldn't be a problem. Staying awake during class will be the trick. Thank God for coffee!

My Happy Little Pretend Cowgirls

Yay! School's starting back up again tomorrow! Maybe I can get back to our silly devotionals with me as your host! The kids and I went to church today without Josh. He wanted to just lay on the couch and move as little as possible so his burn can heal some more. He's got all kinds of gross, messy stuff he's putting on it to help it heal. It finally formed a scab, so it's a little easier to deal with, but still kind of painful! My uncle stopped by and dropped off Angela's birthday present from grandma while we were gone. It's only late because she got the wrong size when she came up for her birthday on Halloween. Halloween's not her birthday, the day after is, but grandma came on Halloween with Angela's ill-fitting cowGIRL boots. This pair fits and she's a very happy little wanna be cowgirl. I keep trying to call them cowboy boots and I always get corrected. Now Chloe has her old pair, so both my girls have cowGIRL boots and they are VERY happy about it! Chloe's are pink, so she's really happy, and Angela's happy that hers aren't. She has big girl CowGIRL boots now. Just like the one's her Mommy had growing up. Of course, I had the horse and the ranch and everything to go with them and hated it! So, now I'm raising my kids in town and they dream of living the country life I once lived. Doesn't that just figure! I longed for their life and they long for mine. The grass truly is always greener, I guess.

A Relaxing Black Friday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our church friends and in just about a half hour I will be heading back to church to enjoy some more fellowship and leftovers. It should be loads of fun. I've had a great do nothing day today!

New Dresser and A Confused Mom

I have a feeling the reason why there are no comments on my posts this week is not because you all have not had anything to say, but because you are not as addicted to blogging as I am. I cannot stay off of here, even when I obviously have nothing new to tell you. My girls finally got their new dresser this morning and they are very excited. Their daddy won't let them put any labels on their dressers which none of us are very happy about, because we have to remember where everything goes. What a pain! I can't even remember what day of the week it is half the time. I'm constantly questioning myself on where it is I'm supposed to be on any given day, cause I'm rarely 100 percent sure it's the day I think it is. I'm usually right, but I still get confused sometimes. Oh, well. We'll see if I can put their clothes away properly without labeled drawers.

Skipping Meals Is Not A Good Idea

I should be going to bed now. I'm really tired, but my tummy's still full cause I at around 10. Couldn't help myself. I went to the grocery store and it made me hungry. You ever have that problem. I missed dinner, too, so that didn't help. Good thing I was broke or I would have bought everything in the store I was so hungry!

Thanksgiving Is Coming!

I can't wait for tomorrow! I'm dying for more turkey! (I already had one Thanksgiving dinner!) All this talk about food is making me hungry. Everyone everywhere is talking about what they are having for Thanksgiving dinner! Going to my prayer group tonight. Yay! Already almost completely healthy!

New Thanksgiving Plans

I was sick yesterday. On the mend today. I feel so much better! It must be the water. I never get over a cold this fast. I've been drinking Kangen water. You should look it up. My kids love it. It tastes ten times better than any bottled or filtered water. My girls were supposed to get a new dresser yesterday, but the people we bought it from who are also delivering it to us had an emergency yesterday and weren't able to get it to us, so now we're supposed to get it today. The girls can't wait. Yesterday was totally focused on their room, getting it ready for the new dresser. It's huge. If I was up to moving stuff around in my room Josh and I would put it in our room and give our dresser to the girls. We have a lot of stuff folded in the bottom of the closet because we can't fit all of our clothes in the drawers and closet. Maybe eventually we'll trade. I doubt it, though. I probably won't want to move stuff once I've got it all moved in with the clothes in the dresser. They have another big dresser that has Angela's clothes in it, so really it's Chloe's dresser. We found it on Craigslist. Hopefully, I'll get a nap today. Who knows, though, with no one working or going to school today. Anyway, being sick is why we're not gone. We're staying here for Thanksgiving. It should be fun, anyway. We're going to our church for Thanksgiving dinner. They have a dinner for all those with nowhere to go. It'll be great to hang out with our friends there.

Confessions...

Okay, a friend asked me to do this. We're confessing things that we've done as a mother that we didn't think we'd ever do when we weren't parents and thought we were soooo cool and sooooo smart. Well, here goes. You guys are probably going to think I'm totally disgusting when I'm done. Let's see if I can think of five.


1. I have wiped my kids noses with my shirt.
(I think most of these will be about nose wiping)

2. I laugh when my son tries to burp real loud, and I say, "Good one!" instead of telling him it's impolite!

3. I actually once told my son to hit his little sister back when she hit him. She was about a year old and he was almost 3 and a lot bigger than her! Plus just the fact that he's a boy. She barely touched him and he started bawling and ran to me, crying, "Mommy, Angela hit me!" I turned around, in shock that he was crying about this and said, "You're bigger than her! Hit her back!"
He didn't by the way. I think he was just as shocked that I said that as I was.

4. I've wiped there noses with my hand.....in public. Of course the awkward part is then, trying to figure out what you're going to wipe your hand on.

5. Now, that my kids are older, I sometimes let them fend for themselves for meals, especially if I'm sick, like today.

Now, you know what an awful, lazy, disgusting mom I really am. Hope you still like me.

A Pile of Clothes to fold and A Wonderful Sunday

Aah! Sunday! My day of rest and relaxation....well, after I chase everybody out the door for church! Tomorrow, I'm going to have to get to work folding the ton of clothes that Josh and I have done. For now, I'm just going to ignore it and relax.

A Much Better Week and Looking Forward To Thanksgiving

Well, it was a good week. Finally! After the 2 before that being horrible! Let's see if we can keep it up. I made it 6 days with no soda, before I decided to have one tonight. After all I'm going to be at my parents house away from sodas of any kind, more than likely for at least 3 days this next week. Of course, I'll also be away from anything even remotely resembling modern technology, since my parents are not at all interested in having internet hooked up in their home. I know, what planet are they from, right? People way older than them have the internet. It's crazy. But, that's the lifestyle they've chosen and they are my parents and I love them, so we're going to go see them for Thanksgiving and the girls and Jeremiah, hopefully, will get to play with the horses. I'll probably be on here again before then, but just in case I'm not, happy Thanksgiving!

Genesis 1:14-19

Genesis 1:14-19



And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the fourth day.



So, He separated the day from the night, so I wouldn't get confused about what day it is. Too bad it didn't work. I require a calendar and someone better be crossing out each day as it passes or I might still get confused! I decide what season it is based on whether I'm covered in fleece to stay warm or only a thin sheet when I wake up in the morning. Right now it's definitely fleece! Brrrr! I'm thankful for the light, though. It's very hard to function early in the morning when it's so dark. It gets much easier when the light He created so beautifully for us rises in the sky. And I like the moon and the stars. They are beautiful and they really help when we have to leave the house at night. Otherwise it would be very hard to be able to see my way to the car. And again, all in one day. Wow! I consider it a good day if I get a few loads of laundry in! It's even better if all the laundry has been folded and put away!

My Usual Busy Wednesday

Well, today's my busiest day of the week. I have bible study this morning. Then, later, Jeremiah has AWANA and Angela has Hockey practice. Also, I have prayer meeting if I can fit it in. Only if Josh can pick up Angela. The Wednesdays that he can't, I have to pick her up at 7:15. My prayer meeting starts at 7. So, I'll take her to practice, drop Jeremiah off at AWANA's and probably just return to the ice rink to watch her practice. Maybe. It depends largely on how Chloe's doing. Okay, probably not, cause Chloe will be bored. She'll have to sit through her games. Might as well not bore her to tears with practice as well. Anyway, it's time to get the kids up and get them ready for school. Breathe in, breathe out. Okay, I'm ready!

My Very Big Cub Scout (Soon To Be Boy Scout)

Wow! More Boy Scouts! My Jeremiah is going to a troop meeting tonight. It keeps us really busy, this transitioning from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. No one told me his last year in Cub Scouts would mean taking him to both Boy Scouts troop meetings and his usual Cub Scout activities and some of the Boy Scouts activities as well. Although, it does make sense to get them used to Boy Scouts while they're finishing up their requirements for Cub Scouts, instead of just waiting for them to bridge over to Boy Scouts in the spring and send them to Boy Scout camp with a bunch of kids they don't know in the summer. Definitely would like him to know some of the kids he'll be spending that week in the summer with. He very much enjoys Cub Scouts and is very excited about moving up to Boy Scouts. He's growing up so fast, but it is kind of fun being a part of it. Even if I seem to only be a small part at this point in his life. He's joining a troop with a boy from our church as well, so he'll really be comfortable in this troop. Not that he wouldn't quickly adjust to any troop. He's very easy that way. Very personable and fun.

A Fun, Busy Day and An Explanation Of Sorts

Wow! What a busy day! I'm feeling a lot better so far this week. I was very much encouraged last Friday at Celebrate Recovery and my mood improved throughout the weekend. I actually missed my step study this morning. I was up and down all night with a stomach ache and when I got up this morning still wasn't 100 percent. I asked Josh if he could help get the kids ready for school and he said yes, and ordered me back to bed. In other words, he was going to do it himself. I didn't think I'd actually fall asleep, but apparently I did, cause when I woke up it was 10 till nine. My step study started at 8:45. Luckily, I'm only one of the leaders so step study still took place which is the only reason I didn't have it in my mind to call people right away and not even risk falling back to sleep. I did feel bad for not calling and at least telling them why I wasn't there before they got started. Anyway, I felt better and that point and got up and did some laundry and otherwise just relaxed. I went with my husband to my friend's house to get our Kangen water or as my kids call it, "the good water." They can't stand the taste of our filtered tap water now. It has to be Kangen water. They complained when we ran out. Now we probably won't run out, cause I know how to get to her house. When the kids got home from school, I cuddled with Jeremiah for a while. (He probably doesn't like me saying that publicly, but too bad.) Then, we went to the Dollar Tree where Jeremiah bought a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. poster that he wanted with 1 dollar of his birthday money. Then, we went to the local arcade in the mall, where Jeremiah let his sisters help him spend most of the rest of his birthday money. They had a great time. After a while I noticed Angela started to really slow down and didn't seem her normal self. I kept asking her if she was okay and she kept insisting she was fine. Finally, I got her to admit that she wasn't feeling too good. It was about 6:15 at that time and Jeremiah had a Cub Scout den meeting at 7, so I gathered the kids and we headed home and grabbed a bite to eat. Jeremiah got in his Cub Scout uniform and grabbed his Webelos book and we headed out the door. After we dropped him off, the girls and I went to the grocery store and picked up some allergy medicine and some ice cream. Mostly the ice cream was for Angela. She hates medicine and ice cream is really the only thing that sometimes makes her feel better. Besides, I couldn't get her to eat anything else. She hardly ate any of her ice cream, too, so she must be sick. She fell asleep on the couch and Josh just kicked her off the couch and sent her to bed. It's been a generally good day, even if I really got nothing done, other than some good times with the kids. And isn't that the only thing that makes being a stay-at-home mom worth it? Nobody chooses this life because they sooo want to do laundry, dishes, and other house chores! We choose it so we can spend as much time as possible with our children!

Now, on a new topic: I felt it necessary to explain why I allow my raw emotions to be made so public! My life is pretty much an open book. I think it's important that people get a real glimpse of what it is to live with depression, among other issues that many of the seemingly "normal" peopole in the world have to live with on a daily basis. I would never expect anyone else to be that real publicly. It can be scary. It makes you very vulnerable. Besides, I'll admit it, I want to be understood, and counseling never seemed to help me. Those are educated people, with a successful career. What could they possibly know about someone like me? So there, you have it. That's why I'm willing to make myself so vulnerable on a public blog. It's definitely not a good choice for everyone and may not be for me either, but it's the choice I've made.

Our Harried Lives!

Okay, my dear friends. I know I haven't been in the best mood lately, but I do get upset by the expectations of others for me to be the average American Christian woman, and judging me for not being that and I've experienced a lot of that lately. Plus I've been trying to quit drinking soda which doesn't help. I'm struggling with how to tell a dear friend that I can't be as consistent about doing something she challenged me to try because it takes too much time to get my supplies each week and my family just doesn't have that kind of time. I know she's going to say, "What, you don't have time to be healthy?" which always makes me feel like the most horrible person on the planet. But you know what, no, I don't. A lot of people don't. After all, do any of us really eat processed food because we actually think it's healthy. No, I think the majority of Americans know that it's not healthy and yet most of what we eat is processed food, because it's quick and we are always in a hurry. We live in a society that forces us to be that way. I mean, some put it on themselves by putting too high of expectations of themselves and giving in to the pressures of others, but we do live in a society that since they're all running, we have to run to keep up!

Genesis 1:9-13

Genesis 1:9-13



And God said, " Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the third day.



I love that we have the land and the sea and knowing that we have God to thank for that. Those of you who know me well, know how much I love the ocean. It is probably my most favorite of all God's creations. Maybe that's what's been wrong lately. I haven't been anywhere near the ocean in years! I have definitely not had the best couple of weeks. I like the land pretty well, too, even though I'm allergic to a lot of the things that grow on it! But, of course fruits and veggies are a good thing! Even if my son would disagree. So, there you have it, the third day!

Depression Again

I really hate depression. It never seems to go away. There's always someone around to remind me of my families financial disaster and the fact that I have never been able to help my family out financially, because I can't work outside the home without having so much pressure that I have a complete nervous breakdown. I'm not pushy enough to do a home-based business successfully and I'm really not very good with computers. Why do you think my blog is so boring looking and I never have any pictures on here? I don't know how to do any of that stuff. And everything I start to learn usually flies out the window right after I successfully do it the first time. I'm probably the only person to not be able to successsfully run a program following directions from a "Dummies" book exactly as they printed them. I'm worthless, hopeless, and will never amount to anything no matter what I do. I should never be put in a position to make any kind of decisions.

Emotional Responses: Sometimes I Wish I Was A Robot

Oh, man. I really need to go to bed! Pissed off a friend, apparently. Had to deal with that in some way, while still being honest about what I really think. Still didn't do a very good job, I don't think. I have a bad habit of immediately responding emotionally. You'd think with all the healing that I've done that I'd have quit doing that by now, but apparently not.

School Pics

Sorry, no more Genesis today. Jeremiah stayed home sick from school, so I've been distracted. And today was picture retake day. Jeremiah and Angela needed their pictures redone. Oh, well. So, Jeremiah's going to look more like his normal, goofy self in his school pictures than like the child on his very best of behavior and totally normal. Being normal is not normal for him at all, so I guess you'll all get to see his true self in his school pics! Angela will hopefully be getting some better one's in a few weeks. Chloe's turned out perfect. I swear the camera loves that girl!

A Not So Typical Sunday

I know. I've been on here a ton lately. I've just needed to express myself and writing is my favorite form of expression. My private journal has gotten a lot of writing in it as well. My two older kids were invited to hang out with the youth group this afternoon. We all had lunch with them at the church and then Jeremiah and Angela stayed for the movie they are watching. They're watching Bolt. My kids have seen it like 3 times already, but they wanted to stay. I think they're feeling pretty cool getting to hang out with the teenagers. I'll be picking them up in an hour. Chloe is liking being home with just me. Josh is in LaCrosse at a board meeting discussing starting a Boy Scout Troop there. He should be home this afternoon. After that, we'll probably have a couple of hours to all relax as a family before Josh has to go deliver pizza. That's his second job that he only does on Sunday nights. Trust me, we need the extra money for all our extra medical bills!

My Awesome Husband

Josh went and got my yummy water that I love so much!!! Isn't he wonderful! Now, he's watching tv. He also finished cleaning the house for me. The kids started yesterday. It was all done when I got home from Celebrate Recovery!

Addiction Continued

It's a new day, and it's a beautiful one! No headache so far. We'll see how we do today! I'm going to my friend's house to get my water today. I can't wait to get it. It tastes so much better than even my filtered tap water!

My Not So Good Day

Ugh! My day went from bad to worse. The kids continued to make me want to, as Beth Moore, would say, "snatch them baldheaded." They destroyed my bedroom during a pillow fight. I'm still trying to find some of my books that got knocked all over the room. One in particular that's very important. It's for the step study that I'm c0-leading. It would be really bad if one of their fearless (can you say denial?) leaders showed up on Monday without their book. Yes, I frequently speak about myself in the third person. Get used to it. Anyway, they moved their rough housing into the kitchen after that and knocked down some dishes. At that point I sent them all into their rooms to CHILL OUT! (Can you believe they actually asked me later if they could have some coffee?!) I then let the two oldest go to TJ's Books, a used book store not far from our house. They love to go there and see what books they have that they might like and report back to me what they found. That's when I discovered the missing books. I called them on the cell phone I always send them with and ordered them home. I screamed at them on the phone. I'm sure they couldn't understand a word I said, really. At that point I had a headache, from going all day without soda. Then, Josh called and I told him what happened. He came home and gave them all daddy spankings. Those are much worse than mommy spankings just so you know. Then, they were ordered to clean the house, including doing dishes. They proceeded to do so. Later I got a phone call from my friend with the Kangen water. This was a good thing really. She told me that if I wasn't going to use the water could she buy back her containers that she had sold me. I told her I still wanted to try the water, I just couldn't until I got off the soda. She then, told me that she would try to help me with that. In fact, she told me that some people she knew who were on the water told her that after they'd drank the water for a while soda didn't taste as good to them anymore, so it helped them quit. Soda had never been an issue for her, so she'd had to ask some other people about it. So, she told me that she'd be at her house at a certain time that evening and if I could meet her there and bring my empty jugs, she could refill them for me. So, I got the directions to her house, got ready to go and headed out. She lives in an area I've never driven to before (been there but never driven there) and I'd never been to her house, obviously. I got lost, and couldn't find it, so I came back home. Called my husband and yelled at him, as if it's his fault, right. But I wanted him to help me and he was working as usual. He got her phone number from me and called her himself and set up a time to get the water tomorrow. So, we're getting it tomorrow. We fought more about his job and everything else. I'm just really cranky I guess, and I was feeling bad about pressuring him to take care of it for me. It seems my usual reaction to negative feelings these days is to get angry. When I couldn't find my friend's house, I yelled at the kids, blaming them for me not being able to find her house. If they hadn't been talking to me, asking me questions, wanting the radio turned up, etc. Ridiculous, I know. Those things didn't help, but I probably wouldn't have been able to find it anyway. It didn't help that other drivers were honking at me cause I was driving so slow, trying to find this place. Remember that the next time you're behind a slow driver, or one that seems confused. Maybe they are confused! Anyway, I eventually decided to go to Celebrate Recovery, which I'd previously decided not to do because of the kids behavior, but I'm glad I did. Everyone there is loving and accepting and it felt good just to be there with them.

The Mommies

Well, I only had one soda yesterday. We'll see if we can have none today. We'll see what we can do about that. I can already tell my kids are not going to be helpful. I've already had to break up a couple of fights. And now, I'm getting the "mommies" again. You all know what the "mommies" are if you have children. "Mommy he's doing such and such." "Mommy, she's doing such and such." That is happening a lot in my house this morning and we've only been up for about an hour!

Addiction

It seems I can't live a single day of my life without some sort of addiction. This one has been a constant in my life since I was in high school. I just didn't realize how addicted I was until I was given a new opportunity to improve my families health. It required me to make a committment though. I had to give it thirty days to start working. I had to quit drinking sodas and energy drinks and no bottled water or flavored water. It's called Kangen water. It's made with a special machine that separates out all of the acids so that it's more alkaline. This is a good thing. Our bodies are supposed to be more alkaline than acidic. But it doesn't work if I drink all that other stuff. I can drink coffee and tea and all that other stuff. I just need to use the Kangen water to mix it. Those of you who know me well, know what the problem is. People used to know that I was church when they heard a soda can open. That was then. Now I can get through church without a Pepsi, but apparently I can't go more than 2 1/2 days! It's ridiculous. In fact, I had just told some people that I make sure not to drink any soda for at least a day to be sure I'm not addicted. Well, I guess that's not enough. I'm going to have to try to quit yet again. We're talking migraine headache after 2 1/2 days of no soda. I talked to my husband before I head to Taco Bell for my fix. He told me, just think of the money you'll save if you don't go out for lunch. I told him, "Just think of the people I'll kill if I don't get a soda right now!" I know. Terrible. Why is it I'm always seriously addicted to something? My head was pounding so bad I literally couldn't think about anything else. I just barely kept moving. I couldn't do my work at home, cause I was just in so much pain! It was definitely withdrawals, mixed with the detoxification process the water sends you into. I was more miserable, physically, than ever before. Seriously, the flu feels better than this felt. I decided to quit drinking the water and try to wean myself off that soda before I try it again. Hopefully I'll be able to. I sure hope so, cause I really want to be healthy and have healthy kids.

Genesis 1:6-8

Genesis 1:6-8



And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.



Okay, so this is the second day. Wow, it took me more than one day just to study what He did in one day! And I got to admit, this I'm having to read several times. I've read Genesis 1 many times, but I've never taken it apart and really look at the individual parts before now. I never thought about their behind "water separated from water." Maybe that's what He means by the earth being formless. Maybe it was entirely made of water. After all, water is pretty formless. So, then, maybe all the planets were water. So he separated them on day two by creating the sky. Look at the sky every once in a while today. Didn't he do a beautiful job?

Halloween with the Paparazzo's

The kids enjoyed their Halloween fun. We really didn't have a lot of money, so we used mostly what we already have at home. My kids love dress-up, so it wasn't hard. Jeremiah went as a Boy Scout, Angela went as the cutest cheerleader ever, and Chloe, the only person we bought a costume for, was the most adorable SuperGirl I have ever seen! She was just getting over a cold, but we managed to get her out for a while. We went trick-or-treating in a friend's neighborhood and then went to the Nazarene Church for some fun games, activities, and hot dogs and cider. Of course they also got candy and prizes there. Temporarily forgetting about Chloe's hay fever along with the cold she already was trying to get over, I sent her through the hay maze. I quickly remembered her hay fever when I heard a child hacking up a lung in the hay maze. Talk about feeling like the worst mom on the planet. We soon left at went to a couple of friends houses, before heading home to get her some medicine and off to bed. They had a good time anyway, and Chloe was soon feeling better and enjoying her candy. She still has the cough she's had all week and she and I stayed home from church this morning, but hopefully she'll be okay to go to school in the morning.

Genesis 1:4-5

Genesis 1:4-5

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day", and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.

I wish I had included this with my last post, so we could be done with light. I'm much more familiar with darkness. Is anybody else ready for daylight savings time to end? It's very hard to get up in the morning with it being so dark. There's a reason why God called the light "day", and the darkness, "night." We're supposed to sleep when it's dark! I also find it interesting that He made a point of saying that there was evening and morning the first day. After all, everybody makes a big deal about whether or not He's talking about a literal day. I think this is trying to make it obvious that it was ONE actual literal day. The man with the pen may not have known that it would become an issue, but God knew.

Getting Ready For A Busy Weekend

Well, it's going to be a weekend of Halloween parties, with church sandwiched in-between. Jeremiah's out selling popcorn in our neighborhood right now. I hope he sells lots. Angela wants to sell raffle tickets, but not right now. I have got to do some laundry before Christie's annual pumpkin carving party tonight.

Cardboard Testimony and Day Six Without Josh

This is going to have to be quick since my kids will be home any minute. I'll be doing a cardboard testimony on Sunday at my church, so I have to try to fit something on this piece of cardboard I have. If you don't know what a cardboard testimony is just look up "cardboard testimony" on utube. You'll find all kinds of examples. I'm not very good at lettering, so I'm having a little trouble. Also, I have to take my kids to both services on Sunday by myself, I think. I'm pretty sure I have to do both services. Celebrate Recovery is doing the services this Sunday and I volunteered to do one of these testimonies. I know what you're thinking. I've completely lost my mind. You're probably right, but it's too late to change my mind. It's going to be especially hard, since my children are used to sleeping in until 9 or so on Sunday mornings. Not this Sunday. We have to do the first and second services. The first service starts at 8:30. I'm tired just thinking about it. Or maybe it's because I'm just usually tired anyway.

Nobody had to come home early from school today! Hip! Hip! Hooray! Too bad it's now the weekend. Jeremiah and Angela got postcards from their dad in Dallas. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see them. I just hope Chloe doesn't feel left out. I'm sure he's sent her one too, but it just hasn't arrived yet. I hope it didn't get lost. That would be terrible. I talked to him today. He was getting ready to go to Six Flags with the rest of the Boy Scout guys and gals. Yes, there are girls who work for the Boy Scouts, too. They're paying for food and everything at Six Flags for them. No fair!!! Oh, well. I'm glad he's having fun. I just hope Angela doesn't get too jealous. He told me not to tell her, but I don't know if I can do that. Anyway, they should be home in a few minutes, so I'll talk to ya'll later. Oh, no! He's already rubbed off on me!

Josh in Texas

Okay, guys. I would love some feedback on my devotional/journal entry sort of things. I like getting feedback on anything really, but especially those. I like the interaction that occurs on blogs, but mine has not provided much.

Anyway, this week has been really crazy. Josh left for a training in Texas on Sunday morning. Me and the kids went to church. Afterward, we invited Angela's best friend, Maggie, to come over and play. Monday morning I had a step study to begin co-leading. The kids missed the bus, so I was a little rushed to get ready, run them to school and then head to the church early, to meet with my co-leader, KO, to go over how we're going to run the study. She'd been through the training online. I haven't. So, I guess you could say she's training me. On Tuesday, I got a phone call from the school that Angela wasn't feeling well and needed to be picked up. Unfortunately I had to drag her to the grocery store with me, cause I needed to get a few items. Wednesday went well, but then this morning I got a phone call from school again. This time Jermiah had fallen asleep in class and had a scratchy throat, so they were worried that he might be getting sick. So, I had to go get him from school. It's been quite a week. Hopefully next week everyone will stay at school and not miss the bus or anything.

Genesis 1:3

Genesis 1:3







And God said,"Let there be light," and there was light.

Wow! I'm starting a lot of these post this way, aren't I? I really wish I could do this with my children. "Let there be obedience," and there was obedience. Somehow it just doesn't have the same affect. I guess it's a good reminder that I'm not God.

It does bring me great comfort to know that when God says something it's done. I don't have to wonder if He's really going to follow through. I know He is, because what He says ALWAYS comes to pass. Praise you, Lord!

Thank you, Jesus that what you say you do!

Genesis 1:2

Genesis 1:2



Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.



These are some tough concepts to grasp since we have never seen a "formless and empty" earth. It seems to need further explanation, but how do you explain what no one's ever seen. It's like trying to describe a flavor of a food to someone who's never tasted anything even similar to it. Weird things usually end up being described as tasting like chicken. Well, what if you had to describe it to someone who'd never eaten chicken. How do you describe what chicken tastes like? I'd be like, "Well, I don't know. Chicken tastes like chicken." We don't have any english words to describe what chicken tastes like. It's such a common food that we just assume people know what chicken tastes like. But the situation God is in is like trying to explain what chicken tastes like to people who will never taste chicken. Now, that makes me a little confused about the next phrase.



darkness was over the surface of the deep



It seems to be their wouldn't be a "surface of the deep" if it's formless and empty. I do think this is emphasizing how dark it was and empty.

and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Now, I would have thought with it being formless and empty that there wouldn't be any waters, but apparently there was. Maybe it was all water. Who knows? Only God. But I do want to point out that here we see the involvement of the Holy Spirit in this process. After all, we do all understand that all three persons of the Trinity were part of the creation, I hope. That is very important to understand.

Dear Jesus, thank you for creating our beautiful earth for us to live on and thank you for your word.

Am I Insane To Want My Kids To Stay Active and Involved?

Wow, it's been a busy night. I had to take Jeremiah to football practice, then the girls to McDonald's cause I didn't have time to make anything at home and not many choices left anyway, since we haven't done any grocery shopping in a while. Then, I took Angela to AWANA, returned to pick Jeremiah up from football practice, to my prayer meeting, back to pick Angela up from AWANA, and then finally heading home almost ran out of gas, so went to the gas station, and, phew, finally home.

Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.



Now, my plan is to lead you through Genesis all the way through chapter 11. For now I do not plan to use any other books besides the bible for my inspiration. Probably some of that comes from stuff I have read or studied in the past that relates to the subject matter, but I am not going to quote directly from other sources. At least that's my intention for now. Of course, on this blog there will be posts in between about what my family is doing. I will not neglect that purpose for this blog. I just would like it to be more and encourage you all in your faith. I do not know that I will do it one verse at a time, but if it happens that way, hey, we only have the rest of our lives to learn more about God. I just feel that verse 1 of Genesis chapter 1 is a loaded verse all by itself. I probably won't even be able to tell you all that I see in this verse in one post, but I will cover what I can. I will not continue discussing this verse after this post. I will continue on to the rest of the chapter.



So, let's get started:



First of all, In the beginning God...



We learn here that God was in the beginning. In fact, I have been reminded a lot lately that God is the only person or thing that has no beginning and therefore will have no end. At least that's how I see it. Everything that has a beginning has an end, and since God has no beginning He will have no end. Even our earth will have a beginning and no matter what we do to try and save it, it WILL have an end. There's something to think about as you consider where to invest your time and money and other resources.



Now, for the next part, created the heavens and the earth.



Wow! He created it! All of it! None of it was here. As we stare into the heavens, God created all of that, and as we look at the earth, He created all of that, too, out of nothing. Nothing! Any of you ever created something out of nothing. Even if you've had children, you started with you and your husband. It wasn't out of nothing. It came from already established DNA that God already created. He started with NOTHING but He Himself. No artist in the world has anything on God! He's the ultimate Artist! The Artist to begin all art. Think about it. Even the art others create was inspired by something He created!

Just this one verse makes me want to want to dig deeper! You, too? We truly do serve an awesome God!!!

A Busy Day for Jeremiah

Talk about a busy day for Jeremiah! The poor child is out there doing his thing and he hasn't even had dinner. Don't worry, I'm going to let him stay up long enough to put some food in his tummy! He was selling popcorn after school until 5:30, when he had football practice and now Josh has picked him up and he's on his way to a Cub Scout Den meeting! I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to forgive him if he has homework that isn't done tonight. Usually his teacher assigns all their homework for the week on Monday (at least most of it) and they have until Friday to turn it all in. So, he'll have to do extra to catch up tomorrow night.

Sales

Jeremiah's now selling popcorn for Cub Scouts and I'm selling raffle tickets for Moscow Charter School. My kids' school. I feel like we are trying to take everyone's money! They are both for a good cause, but I also understand that there are a lot of good causes and people have to pick and choose what they support with their money. Doesn't mean they don't care about the causes they don't give to. Just means they don't have enough money to give to all of them. Right at the moment I don't have any money to give to any of them, but I will eventually. I'm almost obligated to buy popcorn and of course, Chloe will be selling Girl Scout cookies in the spring. I'll bet she'll make a killing! Who could resist that blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll! Girl Scout cookies are impossible to resist anyway, without her selling them!

Kids School Open House and Book Fair

I hope you all enjoyed my recent post. I hope it gave you something to think about. It wasn't as good as I had hoped. I'm sure my head feeling three times too big for my body when I wrote it didn't help. I need to work on my thoughts on that subject some more so I can come up with something that could be publishable.

In case you hadn't figured it out I'm getting over a cold. I enjoyed the Open House at my childrens' school. Also, the book fair they had at the same time. We met Angela's twin, a cardboard cutout of herself with measurements and all. Also, some wonderful artistic crafts by Chloe with the highlight being a rather decorative cat. Jeremiah had, of course, lots of good grades on all of his papers. Although, I could definitely see some room for improvement. Both girls will be in the Title I reading program this year. I also met Chloe's new Special Ed. teacher. She is wonderful and of course, loves my little Chloe. She's got some wonderful new ideas about how to help Chloe learn to read. It should be a good year.

At the book fair I got some incredible deals on books me and the kids agreed on. Disney's version of "A Christmas Carol" (not the movie, the book), Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia, and a book about Demi Lavoto and Selena Gomez, two pop stars that my daughter is really into.

We took lots of pictures, since Josh was unable to make it to the open house and got to bring Angela's "twin" home. Oh, and Jeremiah's shield of virtues. Did you know that baseball is a virtue? Apparently it is in Jeremiah's world!

Fear

Fear is something that I have noticed that a lot of Christians struggle with. I have struggled with it all of my life. I know that it is something that God does not want us to have. Fear is really just a lack of trust. So, when we are afraid we are really telling God that we don't trust Him to take care of us in whatever it is that we are afraid of. Have you ever noticed how many times God tells people in His Word not to be afraid? I've never actually counted them, but as I read my bible I notice it pops up a lot. He is always telling people not to be afraid.

I have a lot of fears. I fear failure. Fear that if I get a job I will not do well and get fired. Fear that somehow I will spend my money in a way that is not right and will not have the things I need. I even have some hoarding tendencies as a result of fear. I'm afraid that if I get rid of something that is worn out that I won't be able to replace it. That's really why I'm afraid to get rid of it.

Like I said, the bible has a lot to say about this, but this is one of my favorites, that really speaks to me:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

1 John 4:18

Sick Kids

Chloe's home sick again today. I don't know if I'm ever going to get some time alone to do any writing at this point. It feels like my whole year is going to be filled with sick children. They've been so healthy the last couple of years, I never expected them to suddenly catch everything!

A Busy Weekend and Money Stress

Well, we're home today with colds instead of at church. I think I'm getting a cold. Chloe has a nasty cough that won't go away. I keep giving her medicine, but I don't know how much it's helping. Angela's fine. She wants me to go to the store today and get cereal. I'm out of soda as well, so I might do that later if Chloe is feeling better. Angela also needs new batteries for her keyboard so she can continue practicing. She's not having lessons right now, but I don't want her to lose what she's already learned. It's not because we can't afford it. The lady that was teaching her was teaching her for free, but we took away all extra activities from her, because she's been very disrespectful of me and other adults we've put in charge of her for periods of time, so until she can show some respect all she gets to do is go to school and church. She's not very happy about that, but maybe she'll learn. I am going to have to take her with me to the girls scouts family information night tomorrow, cause Josh is busy working. Chloe wants to be a girl scout, so I'm going to see if I can find a troop that will fit in with our schedule. That may not be so hard if there still is no football. It makes it hard not knowing what's happening with that. I'm beginning to think there isn't going to be any football. I think they're having trouble finding coaches. Josh and Jeremiah went camping with the Boy Scouts this weekend. They'll be coming home today. Josh will probably be mad at me, cause I went to Wal-Mart and got some things. Spent over 50 dollars. He gets real cranky about me spending money. I also took them to McDonald's cause I still needed to go to the Salvation Army after Wal-Mart and the mall and they were hungry. He won't be mad about the mall or Salvation Army, cause he gave me money to spend on myself and his mom gave us some special cards for free stuff at Salvation Army.

The Latah County Fair

Oh, man!! What a weekend. I took the girls to the fair on Saturday and spent 20 dollars in like 5 seconds! Okay, so that's not completely accurate but it seemed like it. If I'd have bought them all the tickets they wanted at the carnival it would have been accurate. They both went on one ride. Angela got to go on one with 2 of her very best friends from school. They had an elephant ear and I had some Nachos. Not the best Nachos I've ever had, but they'll do. There were a ton of them and since I'd already had lunch I felt like I was going to explode! But it would be totally wrong to leave the fair hungry, right! To think that the kids wanted to go on more rides after that! I DON'T THINK SO! I really didn't want to wear their elephant ear anymore than they wanted to be wearing my nachos (Oooooh, pretty colors!). They just didn't know it. Good thing for the wisdom of mom. They saw all kinds of cute animals, held their city slicker noses and said very loudly, and embarrassingly, to this ranch girl, "EW! It stinks in here!" I laughed at them. And that was just the sheep barn! They were real impressed with the swine barn! They also got all kinds of free pens, pencils, crayons, coloring books, and other stuff we'll never have any use for and will be spread all over the house in a week and soon after that in the trash can.

The next day we went to church and then I took Angela to her friend Maggie's house. Then, I drove Jeremiah and Chloe to the fair, since Jeremiah had gone hunting with his dad the day before and hadn't gotten to go. We did basically, the same things, except instead of Elephant Ears and Nachos, we did pretzels and Nachos (I really like Nachos). Also we saw more of the non-animal exhibits. Jeremiah had a few friends who'd entered some things. Plus, Jeremiah almost convinced me to buy a guinea pig. Good thing they were just plain black, so not all that impressive and logic took over. I looked in there and imagined what our large cat, Jewel, would do when she saw the nice rat-looking creature. Bye-Bye guinea pig! See you on the other end when we clean the litter box! Yeah, REALLY expensive cat food! I don't think so.

When Angela came home from Maggie's house, she informed me that she threw up twice at her house and then proceeded to throw up at our house. She'd also fallen asleep watching tv at Maggie's house. Not normal for her. She never takes naps, so I knew despite the fact that she said she was fine, she wasn't. She slept the whole time after she got home after she got done with the porcelain god in the bathroom. She threw up in the night as well. This morning she seemed a lot better, but she got sick after lunch and called me, so I had to go get her. I hope she's better tomorrow. It's school picture day!

Latah County Fair

Aaah, it's Friday. Yes, I'm still going to give you updates. Josh is still home so I can't concentrate to do anything serious. Plus, for some reason I'm just really tired this morning. The fair is this weekend. Well, actually, it's right now, but we can't go until tomorrow since the kids are in school. So, we'll probably go tomorrow afternoon. Jeremiah is going to work at Camp Grizzly with Josh and then doing some Grouse hunting afterwards. Jeremiah has been anxious to get to go hunting ever since he passed his Hunter's Safety Class. He has to choose if he wants to do that or go to the fair with me and the girls. Probably going to be a tough choice for him. Especially since it's probably the only time Josh can take him this year. Josh is pretty busy with his new job right now. He's always going to be real busy in the fall. It's the Boy Scouts busiest season. I'm surprised that didn't influence his decision on whether or not to take this job more than it did.

My Writing

I'm hoping soon to do some much more serious writing here on my blog. I have the time and some peace and quiet now during the day to study and write, so I will be putting some devotional thoughts and what not on here. I'm really looking forward to it and maybe will write something worth sending in to Focus on The Family. I would really love to be a published writer and do this for the rest of my life.

Continuing Sickness In The Paparazzo Home

Ugh! It's hot again. It's supposed to be 91 today. It's 88 right now. Way too hot. I wish I could nap today, but I have to go to a meeting with Angela's teacher this afternoon. Not sure I'd wake up in time. But I might be able to now that Josh is taking Jeremiah to his doctor's appointment. He had to come home sick today. He insisted this morning that he was fine. All 3 kids were home yesterday. Chloe of course stayed home on Monday. Angela came home at noon and when Jeremiah got home from school he was all stuffed up. So, they all stayed home sick yesterday. The only one last night that seemed like he might need to stay home another day was Jeremiah. But this morning he said he felt fine. Of course, I knew he was going to try really hard because tonight is the kick-off pack party for Cub Scouts this year. He really wanted to go. So, I sent them all off to school and went to my 9 am bible study. A few minutes later my cell phone rang. It was Jeremiah telling me that apparently he wasn't fine. So, I had to go get my son and come home. Bummer! I was free for about 5 minutes. Oh, well. The kids are most important. People who keep asking me if they had the swine flu, we'll probably find out today, since Jeremiah already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for today. He'll be there in just a little while. I really don't think they had the H1N1 virus, though. They weren't sick enough for long enough. Only one of them actually had what qualified as a fever. And that was Chloe. And the fever only lasted a couple of days. The other 2 never got fever's at all. Anyway, I will be taking Angela to AWANA's tonight anyway. I'm grateful for Josh taking Jeremiah to the doctor's.

I'm Square

Well, I guess I'm square! I woke up Sunday morning with a coughing feverish child next to me. That would be Chloe. So, I had to stay home all day with her. No church and no block party. She's not much better today. The fever's down but she's still stuffy and headachey. She should be able to get some more rest today with Jeremiah and Angela at school all day.

Nuart Block Party 2009

Well, the Nuart Block Party is tomorrow. Good friends, good fellowship, good music! It should be a blast!

2 p.m. in Moscow, main street in front of the Nuart theatre. Be there or be square!

Too Hot For September!

Is anybody else done with summer? I am so done with summer. I hate the warmer temperatures. Over 90 degrees is not okay with me. I was being nice putting up with the 80's, but once September hits, I expect it to be below ninety. This is not okay with me.

Gym Shoes

We still haven't got the kids gym shoes and they're going over to the gym today. I told Jeremiah and Angela that they'd just have to go in their socks. Angela couldn't find her socks as usual, so I washed her gym shoes from last year. They're a little small, but she says she can wear them, so I washed and dried them this morning and then took them to her at school. It was really tempting to go shopping again today, but I resisted the urge and came home. The fact that I hadn't eaten lunch and was hungry helped.

Very Random Thoughts

Well, I got out of the house today and bought some construction paper for the girls projects that they always like to do at home. Josh also went to the store and got computer paper and a couple of sketch pads for the kids. Oh, well. So we won't need to get any more paper for a while! Last week when the kids brought home our new kitten, Tuna, we were out of cat food and Josh and I both went to the store. I had to get the kids school supplies anyway, so I went ahead and bought some cat food while I was at Wal-Mart. I came home and Josh was pooring some cat food he had just bought into their bowl. Things are going well with the cat. I haven't been able to find the free clinic to get him nutured, but hopefully Josh will help with that soon. I'm not very good at driving and looking for a place I'm not familiar with at the same time. I'm not even very good at just driving! I have only had my driver's license for about 11 months and I'm a slow learner anyway! Jeremiah will be starting football soon. He's all registered and games are supposed to start mid-september. Next Wednesday I will be starting my Navigators' study at BBF and the kids will start AWANA's again. I haven't decided yet if I should make Chloe go or not. She really doesn't want to. She has a hard time memorizing the verses and she has a hard time understanding the games well enough to play them, so she hates those. And since she hates it we have to fight with her to get her to go every week! I'm just not sure it's worth it. If anyone has any advice on this I could sure use some. She has ADD, so that's a big part of it, I think. She's not severe enough to need medications, but she definitely has a hard time focusing and I'm not very patient with her. Or maybe I'm just being hard on myself, cause I think I should know how to help her. Her school is great. They adjust really well to her learning style and do whatever she needs to do to learn. I love it! I couldn't find a better school for her if I could afford private school I don't think. In fact, if I won the lottery(kind of difficult since I don't buy tickets, I hear)I think I'd still send her exactly where she's at right now. Anyway, that's what's happening here. Oh, and she is only seven years old. It's not like she needs a whole lot of extra activities quite yet. I'm just worried about Angela thinking she can get out of it, just because she wants to hang out with her friends all the time, and not do anything responsible, because her sister doesn't have to go. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Sickness

Well, I was sick today, so didn't get anything done today that I needed to get done. I was going to go to the store and get some stuff I've been needing and go to the free spaying and nuturing clinic to see if I can get Tuna taken care of. Not to mention, I was just wanting to get out of the house. Something I haven't done since church on Sunday. Maybe not such a big deal for some, but a very big deal for me. I sure hope the kids stay healthy. I'm hoping for perfect attendance this year. Also no other health issues, like asthma complications. I sure don't want to do that again this year. We're going to be paying for those ER bills for a while! Besides, it's very stressful not knowing when your child might suddenly decide to stop breathing. Anyway, hopefully, I'll be able to sleep better and feel better in the morning. My nose got really runny last night and I woke up. Couldn't sleep much after that. I was hoping it was just allergies, but I was wrong. Anyway, hopefully I'll heal quickly and be able to get some stuff done tomorrow. I've taken some vitamins and garlic pills. I'll continue doing that tomorrow. I really should do that regularly. Well, the vitamins anyway, not the garlic pills.

Tuna

With everything else going on I haven't had a chance to mention the stray cat my kids brought home last Tuesday. He's a Tomcat, so if he's going to stay he has to get nutured. He's a kitten, so he hasn't developped any Tomcat habits I don't think. So if we take care of it soon hopefully he'll be a nice cat. However, if Chloe continues to have wheezing problems like she did last night we'll probably have to get rid of him. Angela named him Tuna. She saw a cat on Animal Planet named Tuna and thought that was cool. Plus when she brought him home we didn't have any cat food, so I opened up a can of tuna fish and he downed it in like seconds. I've never seen anything eat so fast in my life. He had no meat on his bones. Even just after a week he's got some substance to him. He's a funny creature. I've decided he'll eat anything. He ate green beans the other day and eggs the next morning. I think he has some dog in him! Well, I guess I'll have a little help around here cleaning up the mess after the meal. I won't have to clean under the table as much!! Or I should say the kids won't. Any more I make them do it most of the time. Today, we're going out to Josh's Mom's house to see his Aunt Judy and cousin Barb one more time before they head back to Texas this week. The kids have school and Josh has work after today, so it's our last chance.

Chloe's Birthday

well, the weather stayed nice yesterday long enough for us to have Chloe's party. Well, non-rainy anyway through all the main stuff. The Pizza, cake and ice cream, and presents. And they got to spend a little time in the pool before we got a few sprinkles. It never really rained until early the next morning. It could have been a little warmer, but it was still fun. Everybody who got in the pool froze, but oh, well. They all wanted to swim anyway, of course. You know kids. Nothing fazes them. My mom came up and brought my nephew with her. He'd never been to our pool here in Moscow. He had a great time and was he and mom were the last one's to leave the pool. Mom told us to go ahead and she'd meet us at the house. We had some cake and ice cream and also lots of presents to take home. Besides Chloe was real anxious to play with her new things and we didn't really want her to start getting things out at the pool. She got lots of small, crafty kind of things that would be hard to keep track of. Another treat was Josh's Aunt Judy and cousin, Barb were up visiting from Texas and were able to come to the party with Josh's mom of course. And several of Chloe's classmates came. It was loads of fun.

Learning Math

Well, I guess I'm going to have to learn how to play Suduku. My daughter has to play it for homework. I think I better just start getting math books for their grade levels and above so I can help them with their homework. I have no clue how to do 3rd grade or 5th grade math! Isn't that sad? If I recall I wasn't very good at it when I was a 3rd grader or a 5th grader, so we'll see if I can learn it this time around!

Continuing the first week of school

well, the kids will be home from their second day of school soon. Any minute they'll be walking through the door right behind me. Chloe was so excited yesterday. I went to give invitations to her class yesterday afternoon and she was so excited. Yes, we did schedule a pool party for her. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and everyone will have a good time. I don't want it to be too warm though, cause I want fewer people at the pool at that time. Just warm enough for the pool to be open, since there is no place else for her to have her big party! She invited her whole class and most of them came last year, so I'm anticipating a lot of kids! Angela also had a great day and has decided she really likes the new teacher. Jeremiah didn't have such a good day. The new kid that he thought he might get to be friends with started hanging out with the bullies, which is sort of most of his class right now. He's a really sweet kid and while I like him that way, apparently at his age it is really uncool to be sweet and sensitive to other people. It's cool to pick on people and I raised him better than that and personally I think in the long run he'll be the better for it, but right now it's really tough for him. And he just got home and told me that he needs a thumb drive, whatever that is. He's calling his dad to ask him about it. I guess Josh is going to let Jeremiah use his. I didn't even know he had one, obviously, cause I didn't even know what it was. See I'm really not as computer savvy as I pretend to be. Anyway, I have to get off of here so Jeremiah can do his homework. Ugh! I really need to either get our computer fixed or get another computer, so I don't have to let him use my laptop.

First Day Of School 2009-2010

Well, I sent the kids to school for the first time this morning, for the first time this year. Chloe went to Mr. Cole's first grade. He's her "best buddy" she tells me. He's a great teacher. My other kids all pretty much felt the same way about him. He makes each child really feel like they're his favorite. Yes, this is my third round with him and I'd do it again if I had to. He's great!!! Never had any problems with him. Angela's in Mr. Tousely's third grade class. He's new. I just met him for the first time last night and my first impression is I really liked him and usually my first impressions are correct. Not always, but usually. I really liked the letter he sent earlier also. We'll see how he does with my most stubborn child who thinks she's the center of the universe. He's sort of got a class full of those. All the girls in that class are drama queens who expect to be the center of attention all the time. Talk about a tough way to introduce him to the charter school! They can be a lot of fun, but boy do they take every ounce of energy out of you. I've worked with them before volunteering at the school. They are quite a handful! Jeremiah is in Mrs. Knott's 5th grade. She's a great teacher, too. He's actually had her before. She was his third grade teacher. Actually, the way it's worked out he's been in the same classrom the 2 years before this as well. He had a different teacher last year, but the teachers keep changing classrooms and it's worked out with the teachers that he's ended up in the same classroom for three years in a row. He thinks it's cool. I would think it was boring. He wanted to get Mrs. Knott because he knew she had moved back into that classroom. He helped her move on the last day of school last year. Anyway, that's all for now.

Chloe's Birthday Update

Josh is talking about not having a party for Chloe. I don't think that'll make her very happy. She's been counting on having a pool party like last year. I said we'd do it eventually cause I thought that was Josh's intention, but I may have to take it back. I hope she isn't too disappointed. Of course, we still might do something. She really wants a party with her friends.

Chloe's birthday

Aah! It's mucher cooler today. Unfortunately it's supposed to go back to the 90's tomorrow and Wednesday. The kids first day of school is supposed to be the hottest day of the week. Doesn't that figure! I'm hoping we'll be able to throw together a last minute party for Chloe's birthday which was on Saturday the 29th this next weekend. We did that last year and it was a lot of fun. So, I do hope the weather is warm for Labor Day Weekend. At least on Saturday.

A Good Shopping Day (air conditioning)

Oh, man. And I thought it was hot yesterday! It's over 100 degrees today, which makes it about 110 or more in our unairconditioned trailer house. Yuck! We're dying. The cold shower I just took felt really good. We also went to the Salvation Army and got a few clothes for the kids to start the school year. Of course, I've found it impossible to keep the kids out of them. They're wearing them now. Or at least the girls are. Jeremiah coudn't care less. He found what he needed and was ready to come home five minutes after we got there. I'm going to go back on Monday, the last day of their big sale. All their clothes are 79 cents a piece until the end of the month, including adult clothes. They had a ton of women's jeans, so I might get something for myself, even. Then, we went to see Josh at the mall where he was getting his new iphone for work, so Angela could show off her new "Queen Amidala" shirt. She's from Star Wars for those of you that are not familiar. Then, after we looked around a bit and met Josh back at the AT&T store again he took us to the Super China Buffet. Not my favorite place, but I was hungry, so I wasn't complaining. Then, we came home to get Angela ready to go to her friend, Maggie's house. She's spending the night there tonight and we'll pick her up on our way out of town to go to our picnic's and camping tomorrow. I'll throw together some clothes for everyone tonight after Celebrate Recovery.

A Hot Day and A Busy Weekend Coming Up

Well, Jeremiah seems to be a little better today. Ugh! Is it ever hot, though, and the pool is not opened this week as I mentioned earlier. Most of their guards went back to school, so they don't have enough guards available at the same time to open the pool at all. It'll be open this weekend and doesn't it figure that the forecast is calling for rain. We'll be out of town anyway, so that's okay. In anticipation of possible rain (and just because he loves me so much) Josh arranged for us to have a cabin at the Boy Scout camp where we'll be staying. We're going to a family reunion for a little while and then to a staff picnic with the Boy Scouts and if we headed back after that we would get home early the next morning. So to avoid the late night we're just staying the night there at the campground.

Still Dealing With Some Sort of Sickness

Well, Jeremiah's stomach flu turned into a cold. He has a really bad soar throat and he sounds all stuffy. He wasn't complaining about the stuffiness though. He was complaining that it hurts to swallow. Please pray that the rest of us stay healthy. This is not how we needed to start the new school year. We need all the kids to be healthy next Wednesday for their first day of school. We have a busy weekend planned this weekend as well. A family reunion, a Boy Scout employee picnic and camping, so we don't have to come back super late that night.

Lots of Paperwork

Okay, getting the kids ready to go back to school is definitely going to be a challenge. Especially all this paperwork!

A Sick Child

Well, Jeremiah has the stomach flu or something, so I'm staying home from church with him while Josh takes the rest of them to church. Or at least Angela. Chloe's not awake yet, so she might be staying home with me as well. I've got to fill out all their forms for school and get them to the school this week. Not to mention get their school supplies and clothes for school. We did finally find out who their teachers are going to be. I guess all that information is on the website. I'll update you further later.

Update On Computer Issues

Well, now I have internet at home on my laptop but there appears to be a problem with our home computer. The Dell Company was going to charge us 50 dollars to fix it. First of all we don't have 50 extra dollars right now and second of all we don't think we should have to pay for something that was most likely caused by them in the first place from the way it sounds, so we're getting a friend of ours who works on computers for a living to take a look and see if he can fix it, before we even consider paying them to fix the problem. We haven't called him yet, but we will or talk to him tomorrow at church. Anyway, now my laptop is hooked up in the living room in place of our desktop. So, Josh is using my computer as well. Fortunately, he's not on it a lot, cause he has his own laptop for his work and that's mostly what he uses the compute for. He does check our personal email on here and also gets on facebook for a few minutes each day. He doesn't play the games and stuff like I do. I limit my activity there, but don't completely abstain. He completely abstains from playing any games and usually taking the tests as well. Anyway, it's late and I need to get ready for bed.

No Internet At Home And Getting Ready For School

Well, my computer doesn't recognize the router, so we're going to have to buy a new router, which we can't afford right now. So, right now I am at the HIRC (Hamilton Indoor Recreation Center). And for some reason now the home computer won't connect either, so until Josh gets back on trying to fix it I'll be travelling and going to hotspots to keep up with my blog and other things online. It's already really hot. I don't know how hot since I don't have my personal homepage without my internet at home, so I'll have to check on that online here while I'm here as well. The kids are not ready for school to start. We don't have their school supplies yet and Jeremiah needs some new clothes. The girls have gotten a lot of hand-me-downs this summer, so I think they're probably in pretty good shape.

A HOT HOT Day

I'm at the pool right now and I am sweating so bad, so I think I'm going to lock my laptop in my car and come back and jump in the pool.

Back to Pool Weather

Well, we finally made it back to the pool again yesterday afternoon. I got a whole bunch of laundry done to where I could see a dent in the pile, so I decided I could take the kids to the pool. We'll probably be going again today. Hopefully every day this week, cause it' s supposed to get hotter and hotter this week. Thursday it's supposed to be 95, so I definitely want to try and be able to go to the pool on that day. But I've got a good start on laundry again today, so if the kids want I think I'll take them all to the pool again today. Right now they're all at friends houses, but if they ever come home I'll feed them and take them to the pool.

Jeremiah's Permanent Grin

Well, my boys did come home. Jeremiah had, what I think might be a permanent grin on his face. I think he had a good time. I could be mistaken on that, but I'm pretty sure he had fun! He told me he rode the bull for those of you rafters who know what that means. I couldn't believe Josh let him ride the bull. That was pretty huge considering that I had to talk him into letting him go in the first place. He was worried about him passing out, but the way I see it we can't just lock him up and not let him do anything risky. Besides his breathing has been good this week. I know. I've tested him morning and night. The day after he fainted he wasn't doing so well, but after that he was great. So, I didn't see any reason not to let him go. Friday night Josh had him run around the church as fast as he could and then he listened to him breathe. His breathing was normal for a kid who'd just sprinted all the way around the church, so he said, "Okay, you can go." I didn't think it was normal! I would have been breathing a lot harder than that, but I suppose that's because I'm old and out of shape!

My Boys Coming Home

Josh and Jeremiah should be home any minute now! Can't wait to see them! But oh, I am so tired. I'm going to give them both big hugs, tell Jeremiah to take his asthma medicine and go to bed and then crash probably. Oh, well. I'll get to see them tomorrow.

White Water Rafting

Josh went white water rafting this weekend with some guys from church. He's supposed to be home this afternoon. I talked to him last night and they were having fun. Nobody's gotten hurt and Jeremiah is staying healthy. That's wonderful. I was a little worried about him. He passed out again last weekend, for no apparent reason. But he's been doing fine since then.

More pictures of Chloe's pool party from last year, in anticipation of her pool party this year.

End of Summer

Well, it's been an unusual week. Josh working from home most of the time. We went to the pool with some friends on Monday. That was different because we have never gone with this particular family before. Some of them I didn't really appreciate all that much. I won't mention any names. Anyway, I was happy to get out of there on that particular day. Tuesday, we had too much to do at home and never got to the pool. Then, it got cold, so I've been trying to get caught up on stuff at home, including my bible study homework. I'm meeting with Jeni for our last bible study session of the summer tomorrow morning. I'm still not done with all my homework, but we'll meet anyway, and I'll definitely spend the next day or two finishing up my homework for that bible study. I don't know what study I will be doing in the fall. I'll have to find out what the ladies at The Bridge are doing if anything and I'll have to keep my ears and eyes open for any other bible studies that I might be able to join up with.

Another Cool Day For Working

Well, Josh is home, working from home. He doesn't have an office yet. Just a laptop and lots of work to do. I'm sure we're all going to drive him crazy until he finds an office. We have to do some shopping today. I don't think we will be going to the park today. It's still raining and it's supposed to only get to a whopping high of 63 degrees! Oh, well. I'm sure we'll get together with Maggie's family somewhere else. And it will be a good day for more laundry.

A Nice Cool Day

Aah, a nice cool rain. It feels so good after all of the heat of the last couple of weeks. I got a few loads of laundry done today, but am hoping to get more done tomorrow. I'm meeting another family at the park tomorrow afternoon though, so I hope it's not raining. I much prefer the cooler weather, but the rain could really ruin our plans. Not that I'm complaining. I'm sure we can make other arrangements if necessary, so we can still get together. It is my daughter, Angela's, best friend's family. Or one of her best friends anyway. She has a couple of best friends at this point. But anyway, I am sure I will sleep much better tonight now that it is cooler.

Getting Ready For Another School Year

Well, it's supposed to be cooler and rainy the rest of this week. I think I'll take advantage of the opportunity to catch up on laundry, go through the clothes and figure out what we can get rid of and see what the kids need before school starts again.