Five for Friday

1.  Whelp, folks, it's time to start talking Africa.  Guess who has 2 thumbs and leaves 3 months from today?  Yep.  THIS GIRL!  AND my whole fam.  Can you even believe it?  Can you believe I'm really going back to Uganda....again??  Gosh.  Fifteen months ago I thought I literally might die from the weight of grieving over Africa, and now here I am co-leading a team!  Really, truly, y'all - God is ALWAYS working.  Sometimes it is SO. HARD. to see and so hard to trust Him through the dark, but we just have to.  "Lord, where else can we go?" (John 6:68) Totally talkin' to myself here.

2. Jacob is (finally!) getting to play football this year!  Poor guy, he's wanted to play tackle football ever since he finished playing flag when he was 6 years old.  Mama wasn't so crazy about the idea, and somehow I conveniently missed the signup deadline (really) every year.  He made DARN SURE I didn't forget this year and, well, here we are.  He's #33 - wide receiver - and he loves it.

Uh, his uniform is wet from getting water poured on his head.  It was hot, but not THAT hot. ;-)

What we do not love is practice 3x per week and games on Sunday afternoons.  For 8 weeks.  But, what're ya gonna do?

3. Kloe's spending the night with a friend tonight and The Mister is out of town.  Would you like to guess what movie Jacob picked for us to watch on our night home together?  A little Diary of a Wimpy Kid?  Bolt?  Sky High?  Noooo.....this:

Oh yes he did.

4.  Why yes, that is my t-shirt Kloe's wearing.  It's just not right.

5.  Have you met this girl?

Bloggy friends, meet Zoey.  Zoey, meet bloggy friends.  Don't let this innocent face fool you.  That was our first mistake.  This girl is a tasmanian devil in disguise.  Oh the barking, and the digging, and the jumping.  We are prime candidates for the Dog Whisperer.  I think he would pay us to let him come help us.  If only I knew where to get his number.

Hope you all have a great, quiet weekend!

Tiny Talk Tuesday Thursday

One thing you just don't anticipate hearing when they place that tiny baby in your arms and announce, "It's a boy!".....

"This jock strap feels weird!" :)

He is so excited for his first year of football!

Annnd....they're off!

You'd think after 8 years of doing this gig (and even more, if you count preschool), it would have dawned on me before now.  I'm a little slow that way.

Here it is, the big revelation:  School makes me crazy.

All year long last year I fought with my kids almost every (week)day about running late, messing around in the mornings, not getting their stuff done, not doing their chores, homework, messy rooms (ok, this one is ongoing), and on and on and ON.  I thought it was them.  Lazy.  Undisciplined.  Careless.  Couldn't-care-less.  Bad attitudes.

And then I thought it was me.  Overbearing.  Impatient.  Too-high expectations.  Drill sergeant.  All-around bad parent.

After a couple of weeks of being out of school this summer, things started to mellow out a little.  We all started getting along better.  Tempers flared less and less often.  Less arguing (between them and me, not between themselves), less grouching, less frustration.  More harmony.  More laughter.  More relaxed.

Yesterday - on day ONE of school - I woke up and prayed, "God, I don't want to go back to the way things were last year.  Please give me the patience of Your Spirit.  Please fill me with Your love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness....  I want our home to be full of Your PEACE...."

And on day ONE of school, both kids were STARTING their lunches 5 minutes before time to go (yes, they make their own.  Bad mom.).  Kloe was asking me - as she should have been walking out the door - "Do I take these supplies that were in my backpack from last year?  Or only the ones in the sack?"  Didn't we already go through all this?

Jacob picked up his sack of supplies and the handle tore off, nearly dumping notebook paper and spirals and dry erase markers everywhere.  His hair looked like he just crawled out of bed - after he brushed it.  He wore a shirt with bleach stains on it.  Oh yes he did.  On the first day of school.

After school I got a text from Kloe saying she wouldn't be at her usual pickup spot, but instead was by the front doors of the school.  Of course traffic was RIDICULOUS, because every parent in the known world picks up their kid on the first day of school (WHY?).  So I waited and waited and waited in the pickup line (normally I can just drive right through the middle because of where she usually waits), only to get to the front and....no Kloe.

I found a parking place where I could see the front of the school and I started the search.  After a while I found her, standing over to the side, talking to a group of friends, totally not watching for me at all.  Grrr.  So I waited awhile, hoping she would glance up and I could catch her attention, but no.  Finally, I climbed out of the car and began The March to the front of the school.  The poor Assistant Principal happened to be working traffic.  She smiled her big, beautiful smile at me and said, "HI!!  How's the first day of school?"  I practically growled at her.

I'm sure you can guess how the rest of that scenario went.

Happy first day of school.

Today started out even worse.  Even though we got up earlier, everyone was running later.  More procrastinating.  More tempers flaring.  More arguing.  When Kloe and I were ready to walk out the door, I asked Jacob, "Where's your lunch?"  He said, "I didn't make it yet."  What??  He said, "What am I going to do?"  And I barked said, "I don't know.  You're going to have to figure out a plan."

Fortunately for him, The Mister was still at home and had time to wait.  I took Kloe to school while he made his lunch, then came back home and got him.

And somewhere in the middle of all that it dawned on me.

It isn't them.  It isn't me.

It's SCHOOL.

It makes us all crazy.

We don't roll this way.  We're not organized, orderly, stay-in-the-lines kind of people.  We're more the march-to-our-own drummer, take our own sweet time to do it our own way kind of people, and it seems we just don't fit in the standardized school mold.

And yet we have no choice but to keep doing it, year after year after year.

What is it they say about the definition of insanity?  Yeah.  This.

And so in the midst of all the craziness, in the midst of the chaos and frustration and not knowing how to make it be any different, this mama rushed everyone out the door on the first day of school to do what we always do - take pictures before her little loves rush headlong back into another year of crazy.  Pictures that hopefully we'll look back on and remember all of the good - and not so much of the insanity.

And tomorrow morning we'll get up and do it all again (minus the pictures).

Kloe - 8th grade

Jacob - 5th grade

A moment of peace. :)

Hello Thursday

Well, hello, Thursday. My, you snuck up on me quick this week. (I don’t really think “snuck” is a word, but my spell check says it’s ok, so I’m going with it.)

**Edit: this started out as sort of a “random Thursday” post, but kind of turned into a mostly-about-Ebenezer post. Sorry. I can’t seem to help myself. :)

So much going on around here lately – seems we are busy, busy, busy all the time, but at the same time it seems like really nothing is going on. When it’s the same-o, same-o, I guess it seems like nothing, even if it’s a lot.

Let’s see.

So….Uganda. LOTS going on with that already. Update in the next post (whenever that may be).

Kloe is preparing for her first major ballet production. She is so excited she could pop. She’s been taking ballet for just over a year, and she auditioned for a part in the spring production and got it! We are SO proud of her. It’s a small, group part, but just to be able to say she’s in the production is so awesome!

Jacob? Is, well, Jacob. :) He’s not playing any sports right now, and I’m SO thankful. Practices and games every week just about wear me out. He’s doing Boy Scouts (loves), preparing for Battle of the Books at school, and is learning to do his own laundry. Glory. And hallelujah.

The Mister is B.U.S.Y. with a capital “B” this time of year. He sells drip irrigation systems, so they are trying to squeeze in every last sale and minute of work they can before the farmers plant. We typically see him between 9 (or 10) p.m. and 7 (or 6) a.m. I am oh-so-ready for planting season to get here!

My newest bloggy loves: We Are THAT Family and Gloriously Ruined. If you aren’t reading them, you should. Wynne from Gloriously Ruined is a photographer and is good friends with my mission trip leader, Kari Gibson. She was part of the Man Up and Go team and is pretty much all-around awesome. I just recently found out that she only lives a couple of hours away from me! We are totally planning a get-together soon. ;-)

I’m still making letters for Ebenezer, and even yesterday when I walked into Jacob’s school, the workroom assistant stopped me and ordered 3 more.  Oh Lord. Whew. Making those letters is SO involved and SO time-consuming and SO frustrating to me….and yet, the orders just keep coming. I really don’t even make that much profit from them to donate to Ebenezer, and yet I can’t seem to get away from them. Thank you, Jesus, for Your purpose.

Speaking of Ebenezer, I have to tell you THE. COOLEST. STORY. EVER. IN. THE. HISTORY. OF. THE. WORLD. Ever.

About six-ish weeks ago, the director of Hope Grafted In (HGI) (which is the U.S. non-profit that handles donations for Ebenezer) contacted me and asked if I would host an online 31 Gifts party (she’s a consultant) as a fundraiser for Ebenezer. I said, “Uh, sure, but I typically don’t do very well with parties.”

I thought maybe if I got a friend to team up with me we would do better. So my friend A graciously jumped on board, and we had an online party for 3 weeks. And we got 3 orders. Three. We raised all of $50 for Ebenezer. Which is good, don’t get me wrong, but I was a little discouraged to say the least.

Well. Right after we found out the total from the party – like that same day – Ebenezer posted on their FB page that the heavy rains of the Ugandan rainy season had caused their school/church structure to collapse. And by “structure”, I mean it was a metal roof held up by some wooden poles. Not even “poles” as you would picture them, but just trimmed down tree-poles. That structure is where they hold classes for their school, which is a source of income to the ministry. George posted that they needed 90,500 shillings to fix the structure. OH. MY. GOSH. Do you know how much 90,500 shillings is? Approximately $34.

I emailed HGI right away and said, “OH. MY. GOSH.” (I like emailing in all caps when I’m excited.) “Am I reading this right? It’s going to cost less than $40 to fix the structure???” They emailed back and said, “Yes, I think so! God knew what He was doing – looks like your 31 party will cover the whole thing!”

I was beside myself. SOOO cool that my “disappointing” $50 donation was now going to completely pay to fix their school room/church structure!

Ohhhh, but wait, it gets better.

Almost as soon as I got that email from HGI – in fact, I think while I was reading it – George posted an update on FB that said, “Sorry, the repairs are not 90,500 shillings, they’re 900,500 shillings.”

Oh, the difference a zero can make! What we thought was going to take $34 to fix was actually going to take $335. HGI emailed me again and said, “Your $50 will still help them get there.”

*sigh*

Now wait. Remember I’m still making letters for them? Earlier that day – before all the drama – I had just so happened to “randomly” check the balance in the separate checking account I use for that money. There was $282.00 in the account.

Check this.

$335.00 (to fix the structure)
-  50.00 (31 Gifts fundraiser)
$285.00

$285!!!!
Y’ALL!!!
(Yes. Yes, I DO need all those exclamation points!!!!)

GOD. IS. SO. COOL!!!!

Never have I ever been SO. ECSTATIC. about God's awesomeness (ok, maybe not "never")!!  And that, my friends, makes any day a good day.  Happy Thursday (night)!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I feel like I never blog anymore.  I think about it all the time, but guess I just feel like there's not really anything blog-worthy going on around here.  Our lives consist of work, school, errands, laundry, dinner, dishes, homework, repeat.  I'm sure y'all don't want to hear about our exciting adventures of cleaning up after the new puppy, or the annoying knot on the bottom of my heel that won't go away.

But I've been reading back through all of my Tiny Talk Tuesday posts and cracking up at the little comedians we have in our family.  And so, for the benefit of all my many both of my readers, let's have a little Tiny Talk, shall we?

For some reason, one of my kids' favorite things to do is to lay all the seats in the van down flat - like fold them into the floor.  We just got a (not) new van last week, and as we drove down the road one day Jacob said, "Mom, I know how to flatten the van."  I said, "You do?"  He said, "Yes.  See that semi truck right there?  Just pull in front of it and stop!"

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You know how much I love it when the Canada geese come to visit our hometown every winter.  My whole family knows to be on the lookout for them.  One morning Jacob and I were getting in the car to go to school, and there was a flock of geese flying right over our house.

Me: "Wow, look how low those geese are flying!"


Jacob: "Why are they so low? They probably had a heavy breakfast."

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Back before Christmas, we made our first-ever visit to Santa Land.  Yes, our kids our 12 and 9.  We wanted to be sure they were old enough to truly appreciate it. :)


Jacob, looking at the very looong line of people:  "Wow, what are all those people doing?"

Me:  "I think that’s the line to see Santa."

Jacob:  "Maybe we should just wait until Santa Land closes and catch Santa in the taxi on the way out!"

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Hope you have a laughter-filled Tuesday!

Five Six Several for Sunday

1.  I finally used up the last of my Christmas stamps from last year.  Whew!  Just in time to get some new ones for this Christmas year.

2.  Kloe is playing tennis in school this year, and she LOVES it.  Ever since last Valentine's Day, my kids beg to go play tennis anytime we have a free afternoon.  Can you believe this was my first time to use my new racket?  I know.  And after I'd played for a while, the kids weren't all that anxious for me to use it again anytime soon. :)





Love this action shot! :)









Haha - me in a jacket; Jacob with no shirt. :)

3.  Jacob's last soccer game of the season was a couple of weeks ago.  Team USA had a great 5-3 season.
 

The coach (who also happens to be my Mister) has a tradition that any player who scores four goals in one game gets to pour water on him. But when it's the last game of the season, we pretend everyone scored four goals. Even when it's 41 degrees outside.

4.  You might be a redneck if....this is how you make Cocoa Rice Crispies.

5.  We have Box Tops coming out our ears....

6. They're back!  Glory and hallelujah.  Hurry, buy a bag or twenty before they're gone again!

7. Science experiment.  I wasn't sure what exactly was supposed to happen, so I asked.  Jacob said, "Nothing, I just wanted to make it look all science-y."

8.  Our first pomegranate.  Not a lot to eat out of a pomegranate, but lots of fun (and so pretty)! :)

9.  Does your table ever look like this?  No?  Just me?  Sigh.

10.  I'm plum (do your people say plum?) out of dinner ideas.  What are you having tonight?

Springfield by the numbers

1,571 - total miles traveled

1:32 a.m. - arrival time in Tulsa Thursday night/Friday morning

35 - my Sleep Number on the bed at the hotel

1 - pillow (MY pillow) left at the hotel in Tulsa.  Boo.

4 - hotel nights

2 - days of school missed by my kids

180 - miles driven back and forth (and back and forth) between Springfield and Branson during the weekend

14 - flying hot rolls caught by my family at Lambert's Cafe, Home of the Throwed Rolls

 17 - of our original 23 team members who were at the movie premiere!  Woohoo! {Yep, I can count. This was the pre-party, and some people had already left for the theater. ;)}



I hate that the flash on this picture made us all look like evil-eyed zombies! 
We were all so happy to see each other all dressed up, with our hair and
make-up done! ;)

 47 - cool-guy handshakes between Jacob and his new idol best friend, Cory Cotton from Dude Perfect

Kloe was hor.ri.fied. at my "inappropriate" choice of....um....undergarments on this day.  Ha!  Sorry babe, you probably should get used to your mom embarrassing you!

0 - movies watched in the car during the drive (can you believe this?)

10,000 - tears shed by movie watchers during the premiere of Man Up and Go

We had such an awesome weekend in Springfield.  Because of time, we didn't do a lot of vacation-y type things while we were there.  We did spend a few hours at the Bass Pro Shop Man-Mall and had a delicious lunch there.  (Where are those pictures??  Ahh, on The Mister's phone.)

We also got to Ride the Ducks in Branson.  That was a lot of fun, and the kids both got a turn driving the boat, which they loved.

It was so good to see so many of my teammates again.  The last time we were all together, we were exhausted, had no makeup on, and were covered in the red dirt of Uganda.  We clean up pretty well, I must say!

And the movie was beyond incredible.  It was amazing to sit in a theater in Springfield, Missouri, while looking at the beautiful faces - and hearing the beautiful voices - of so many people I love from the other side of the world.  And what a precious surprise it was to see my sweet Christopher in the film! 

It made my heart ache for Uganda even more.

First day of school. Ish.

The first day of school this year was….interesting.

That’s not the word I would have used on Monday, but thanks to the passing of time and a little water under the bridge, I’m able to discuss it a little more calmly.  *ahem*

I won’t rehash all the gory details here on the blog, but suffice it to say that due to some…. miscommunication….NON-communication….we didn't get to take a picture of Jacob with his teacher on the first day of school.  Weren't even allowed in his classroom.  Boo.  Is all I have to say about that (now).

I’m happy to report that Kloe’s first day went much better, and she LOVES being a 7th grader! And she LOVES all her teachers (thank You Jesus)!  And she LOVES playing tennis!  Can't wait to watch her out on the court. :)

4th and 7th grade.  I know all you moms can relate when I say Whatintheworld?

Somewhere along the line, it became a tradition for us to get frozen yogurt on the first and last day of school.  Not sure when that happened, but we're all happy that it did.  We might need to add some more days to this tradition.  Like the last day of the first week of school (which would be tomorrow).

And we finally did get that picture with Jacob's teacher after all.  Not the first day of school....but at least it was the 4th day of 4th grade, which can be fun, too. :)

Here's trusting that the rest of the year will be a thousand times greater than day one!