Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
I'm Back! And So Is Spring!
Boy, have I got a lot of catching up to do! First of all, I'm glad to hear that Kristi's daughter is doing so well. So many were praying for her. I enjoy reading Kristi's blog. She's a great writer.
So, what's been going on with me? Well, let's see...
Easter and the Egg Hunt (March 23)
When it's time for us to pray, Gary knows when to fold his hands and when we all say, "Amen," he confidently says, "Men!" Kari knows several songs about Jesus: "Jesus loves me, this I know" and "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world..." There is a children's Bible that they enjoy having us read to them. They enjoy going to church and they certainly bring smiles to the adults there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Animal Stories
This may not seem interesting to you, but kindly remember that I am a city girl. Last week on a Thursday morning (April 3rd, to be exact), I heard this strange noise outside and investigated. There were 3 horses on the loose and they seemed to be enjoying our grass!
I called my mother-in-law to see if she knew anything about them. She said they probably belonged to a neighbor of hers, so she called her and that neighbor called me to let me know that her boys were getting off work to pick up the horses and that it would probably be in 20 minutes. I told her that they were nearing the end of my driveway and are probably going to get on the road. She said that that was OK.
In the meantime, I took pictures of the pretty horses. What do you think?
The horses were later picked up and the broken fence from which they escaped was mended.
Now let's fast forward to yesterday. Living out in the country, I rarely get visitors, or if I do, they usually call first. Anyway, it was in the late afternoon when I was in the middle of making a homemade birthday card for my brother-in-law, the children just woke up from their nap and the house was in chaos with toys strewn all over the place. That's when I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the window and there's a blond-haired woman whom I've never seen before. Someone was driving a shiny new blue minivan and doing a U-turn on our driveway. I opened the door and here was how our conversation went:
Me: "Hi!"
Her: "Hi, I've lost 2 sheep and was wondering if you've seen them." (She looked agitated, as if she wanted to be anywhere but where she was right now.)
Me: "Excuse me?"
(I wasn't sure if I heard her right and I resisted the urge to ask if she was Little Bo Peep.)
Her: "They're really small sheep. They kind of look like goats. The neighbors in the brick house down the road say they've seen the sheep 4 days ago and I was wondering if they passed by your place. I've been knocking on other houses to see if they've seen my sheep."
Me: "No, I haven't seen any sheep lately. All I've seen are horses, stray cats and dogs and an occasional herd of deer, but no sheep. But if I do see your sheep, do you have a phone number which I can contact?"
Her: "Yes." She checks her jacket for something to write.
Me: "Hold on."
I was carrying Gary in one arm as I scrambled to find a green Crayola magic marker and an old receipt on which to write. I handed her the 2 items and she wrote down 2 phone numbers. One was her home number, the other was her husband's cell phone number.
Her (as she's writing): "My husband's Mexican. If you get a hold of him, do you know someone who speaks Spanish?"
Me: "No. What's the Spanish word for 'sheep'?"
Her: "It's 'oveja.'"
I repeated the word over and over until she no longer corrected me. She handed me the phone information. Since I am quite ignorant of sheep, I casually asked her what do I need to do should I see them on my property. I mean, is there anything I should do to make them stay where they are until you get them?
Her (frustrated): "How should I know?!" I surmised that she's not really a people person and that her husband is making her knock on people's doors because she speaks better English than he does. Also, as I had Gary in one arm, he kept waving at her, saying "hi" and she didn't even acknowledge him. Clearly, she was a nervous individual.
She continued, "I need those sheep this weekend for my children's birthday party. I plan to barbecue them."
I couldn't help but feel sorry for the sheep. It's a ridiculous feeling, I know, since I enjoy eating meat (steak, chicken, beef), but I still felt sorry for them.
I wished her good luck in finding her sheep and she kept looking back at my enormous backyard - I guess she was wondering how our land connected to hers. I think she was also wondering if I was hiding her sheep there - oh, I don't know, it's all speculation. I found out from my MIL that that lady was actually my neighbor on the left. After their minivan drove off, I was reminded of that scene from "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding:"
Aunt Voula: "What do you mean he don't eat no meat?" [The entire room stops, in shock.] Aunt Voula: "Oh, that's okay. I make lamb."
I called Larry and told him about my incident. He thought that it was a prank door knocker. I told him that was not the case because the lady seemed too serious to be playing a joke and she would not be giving me her phone numbers if she wasn't so anxious about those sheep. We laughed about it. I told him that last week, it was horses. This week, it's sheep. What will next week bring, I wonder? Cows?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Storm Was Worse Than I Thought
What I thought was just heavy rains turned out to be serious as we were without electricity for about 9 hours on Friday, April 4th! It would've been helpful if the sun shone, but the clouds dominated so it still looked dark in the house despite opening the curtains. The children enjoyed shining flashlights on the ceiling. We sang songs, read books with the flashlight and fortunately, the dreary weather seemed to make them nap longer. We all applauded when the lights came on!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visiting with the McCowns
On April 6th, we drove to Mt. Pleasant (about a 2-1/2-hour drive from Center) after church to meet with some old friend
s of ours, Frank and Becky McCown. We had attended church with them in Virginia Beach. They have an adorable one-year-old son named Ethan whom we've never seen before except in pictures. Becky was pregnant with Ethan when we moved to Texas in January 2007.
The McCowns moved to Searcy, AR where Frank is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Harding University. They were attending a wedding in Dallas for Frank's brother and we met them off I-30 as they made their way back to Arkansas. It's always good to visit with dear friends!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Married for 8 Years Now!
Larry and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, April 8th. We drove to Nacogdoches and toured the Arboretum at Stephen F. Austin University. It was a pleasant stroll and the weather was splendid. Then we ate at a restaurant and went to a few stores. It wasn't anything exciting, but just being together as a family is just the best feeling to have. Larry is usually working a lot, whether it's building our house or working some overtime, that we don't see him as much, so I cherish the times that he is with us.
Well, I think that's it for now. We are looking forward to our trip to Virginia in late May/early June. My parents are eagerly awaiting our arrival. I'm sure it's going to look like another toystore at their house, but that's what grandparents are for, yes?
So, what's been going on with me? Well, let's see...
Easter and the Egg Hunt (March 23)
When it's time for us to pray, Gary knows when to fold his hands and when we all say, "Amen," he confidently says, "Men!" Kari knows several songs about Jesus: "Jesus loves me, this I know" and "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world..." There is a children's Bible that they enjoy having us read to them. They enjoy going to church and they certainly bring smiles to the adults there.
The children had a great time with their egg hunt. It was Gary's first, s
o he was unfamiliar and uncaring of the egg hunt rules. He was so fascinated with the first egg that he found, that he gave his sister plenty of time to find the rest of the eggs! We all had a good time. Kari enjoyed the discovery of chocolate coins. She thought coins were just for kiddie rides and candy machines. She had no idea that they could be delicious!
o he was unfamiliar and uncaring of the egg hunt rules. He was so fascinated with the first egg that he found, that he gave his sister plenty of time to find the rest of the eggs! We all had a good time. Kari enjoyed the discovery of chocolate coins. She thought coins were just for kiddie rides and candy machines. She had no idea that they could be delicious!
Animal Stories
This may not seem interesting to you, but kindly remember that I am a city girl. Last week on a Thursday morning (April 3rd, to be exact), I heard this strange noise outside and investigated. There were 3 horses on the loose and they seemed to be enjoying our grass!
I called my mother-in-law to see if she knew anything about them. She said they probably belonged to a neighbor of hers, so she called her and that neighbor called me to let me know that her boys were getting off work to pick up the horses and that it would probably be in 20 minutes. I told her that they were nearing the end of my driveway and are probably going to get on the road. She said that that was OK.
In the meantime, I took pictures of the pretty horses. What do you think?
Now let's fast forward to yesterday. Living out in the country, I rarely get visitors, or if I do, they usually call first. Anyway, it was in the late afternoon when I was in the middle of making a homemade birthday card for my brother-in-law, the children just woke up from their nap and the house was in chaos with toys strewn all over the place. That's when I heard a knock on the door. I looked out the window and there's a blond-haired woman whom I've never seen before. Someone was driving a shiny new blue minivan and doing a U-turn on our driveway. I opened the door and here was how our conversation went:
Me: "Hi!"
Her: "Hi, I've lost 2 sheep and was wondering if you've seen them." (She looked agitated, as if she wanted to be anywhere but where she was right now.)
Me: "Excuse me?"
(I wasn't sure if I heard her right and I resisted the urge to ask if she was Little Bo Peep.)
Her: "They're really small sheep. They kind of look like goats. The neighbors in the brick house down the road say they've seen the sheep 4 days ago and I was wondering if they passed by your place. I've been knocking on other houses to see if they've seen my sheep."
Me: "No, I haven't seen any sheep lately. All I've seen are horses, stray cats and dogs and an occasional herd of deer, but no sheep. But if I do see your sheep, do you have a phone number which I can contact?"
Her: "Yes." She checks her jacket for something to write.
Me: "Hold on."
I was carrying Gary in one arm as I scrambled to find a green Crayola magic marker and an old receipt on which to write. I handed her the 2 items and she wrote down 2 phone numbers. One was her home number, the other was her husband's cell phone number.
Her (as she's writing): "My husband's Mexican. If you get a hold of him, do you know someone who speaks Spanish?"
Me: "No. What's the Spanish word for 'sheep'?"
Her: "It's 'oveja.'"
I repeated the word over and over until she no longer corrected me. She handed me the phone information. Since I am quite ignorant of sheep, I casually asked her what do I need to do should I see them on my property. I mean, is there anything I should do to make them stay where they are until you get them?
Her (frustrated): "How should I know?!" I surmised that she's not really a people person and that her husband is making her knock on people's doors because she speaks better English than he does. Also, as I had Gary in one arm, he kept waving at her, saying "hi" and she didn't even acknowledge him. Clearly, she was a nervous individual.
She continued, "I need those sheep this weekend for my children's birthday party. I plan to barbecue them."
I couldn't help but feel sorry for the sheep. It's a ridiculous feeling, I know, since I enjoy eating meat (steak, chicken, beef), but I still felt sorry for them.
I wished her good luck in finding her sheep and she kept looking back at my enormous backyard - I guess she was wondering how our land connected to hers. I think she was also wondering if I was hiding her sheep there - oh, I don't know, it's all speculation. I found out from my MIL that that lady was actually my neighbor on the left. After their minivan drove off, I was reminded of that scene from "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding:"
Aunt Voula: "What do you mean he don't eat no meat?" [The entire room stops, in shock.] Aunt Voula: "Oh, that's okay. I make lamb."
I called Larry and told him about my incident. He thought that it was a prank door knocker. I told him that was not the case because the lady seemed too serious to be playing a joke and she would not be giving me her phone numbers if she wasn't so anxious about those sheep. We laughed about it. I told him that last week, it was horses. This week, it's sheep. What will next week bring, I wonder? Cows?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Storm Was Worse Than I Thought
What I thought was just heavy rains turned out to be serious as we were without electricity for about 9 hours on Friday, April 4th! It would've been helpful if the sun shone, but the clouds dominated so it still looked dark in the house despite opening the curtains. The children enjoyed shining flashlights on the ceiling. We sang songs, read books with the flashlight and fortunately, the dreary weather seemed to make them nap longer. We all applauded when the lights came on!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visiting with the McCowns
On April 6th, we drove to Mt. Pleasant (about a 2-1/2-hour drive from Center) after church to meet with some old friend
s of ours, Frank and Becky McCown. We had attended church with them in Virginia Beach. They have an adorable one-year-old son named Ethan whom we've never seen before except in pictures. Becky was pregnant with Ethan when we moved to Texas in January 2007.
The McCowns moved to Searcy, AR where Frank is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Harding University. They were attending a wedding in Dallas for Frank's brother and we met them off I-30 as they made their way back to Arkansas. It's always good to visit with dear friends!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Married for 8 Years Now!
Larry and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, April 8th. We drove to Nacogdoches and toured the Arboretum at Stephen F. Austin University. It was a pleasant stroll and the weather was splendid. Then we ate at a restaurant and went to a few stores. It wasn't anything exciting, but just being together as a family is just the best feeling to have. Larry is usually working a lot, whether it's building our house or working some overtime, that we don't see him as much, so I cherish the times that he is with us.
Well, I think that's it for now. We are looking forward to our trip to Virginia in late May/early June. My parents are eagerly awaiting our arrival. I'm sure it's going to look like another toystore at their house, but that's what grandparents are for, yes?
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Funny Demotivators(R) Sample - DESTINY
You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment.
