Awkward spelling bee words

My son was the top speller in his class and will represent them in his school's spelling bee. This was a really big deal in our house, until we got the list of words. Yikes! I can't spell a lot of these words....all 6 pages of them. I realize that's not saying much...... We are spending 30-60 minutes a night on these words that range from easy to difficult. He's doing pretty well, but some of the words are, well, weird. The faces he makes when I say the word for him to spell have been downright comical. Like babushka...or meddle. The meddle one was frustrating - he spelled it metal, medal and finally looked at me and, in total frustration asked - "just how many ways can you spell it? I mean, really Mom!" Like I am the master inventor of all words and decided there needed to be 3 ways to spell a word! Geesh! I'm thinking Eve gets credit for the dictionary. While Adam named all the animals, Eve got the fun task of making all the words? If someone's going to get the blame, it's always going to be mom, right? Alas, I digress.... The best reaction I got was for one word I will never forget. Abreast. Take a moment and imagine telling your child that's a word in his spelling be and he has to spell it. Imagine their reaction. You get the picture. I won't bother to tell you the fun we had spelling assess.

A sick child....and why I love Harris Teeter

After dropping my son off at school today, I ran into the Harris Teeter for some items. My son's class is having a Pilgrim Picnic tomorrow and I signed up to make a few things so I needed to get going - I had the whole day planned to bake and cook......the best laid plans....... I was in the check out line when I heard my son make a strange noise. Then it started. I've never had a child throw up in public before (that I can recall - maybe I blocked it out). My sweet little boy was throwing up - thankfully just water - as I was trying to figure out what to do. Another mom from our school was in the check out line in front of me and asked me what she could do. I thanked her as I was pulling Jason out of the grocery cart and heading to the bathroom. I yelled back "sorry to leave my groceries there - I have to go!" We made it to the bathroom but not before he threw up all over me and himself. Thankfully he stopped. That's when my HT angel arrived. She followed me to the bathroom and got me wet paper towels and handed them to me, talking to Jason, telling him it was going to be ok. She said how sorry she was for me - and him - and recalled a time it happened to her. Tasha, my HT angel, offered to grab some ginger ale and crackers off the shelves. She then followed me out of the bathroom and asked if she could bring my groceries out for me. I told her I didn't even have time to check out. "I'll get them for you" she said. I tried to calculate in my mind if I should just leave - but I did need some of that stuff - not the baking items - no baking going on in my house today to infect other children. But I knew I wouldn't make it out of the house again today. She took my VIC card and my credit card and told me to go wait in the car. I put my sick baby in the car seat and waited outside in the van. Out comes the manager and sweet elderly bagger. They loaded my car up and hoped my son would feel better. I'll be honest, when some stranger starts throwing up - I run for the hills. No way do I want to be around that. What a selfless thing a perfect stranger did for me today. I'm ashamed to admit I may not do the same. I will never forget her. I pray the Lord blesses her and protects her from the virus. It may not seem like a big deal to her - but to me - it was a "God" moment.

Here's my little boy - towel and bucket near him - dead asleep. Thankfully no more "incidents" yet. Hopefully there won't be.

Wise words from Benjamin Franklin

In the midst of all that is being said, and felt, regarding this election, I found comfort today as I helped my son study for his Social Studies exam. Benjamin Franklin, as he and many others were writing the Constitution, stated: "I have lived a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" I pray the leaders of this country will fear the Lord as much as our forefathers did.

Joy or Happiness?

I have had so many things bring me happiness throughout my life, and several things that brought me great joy. It amazes to this day that I can still mistake one for the other. I was reminded of that as we were in the process of trying to decide on a house this weekend. We've been living in an apartment for the last 7 months, and it's been wonderful! Our friends don't believe us. It is kind of hard to imagine being happy in a one thousand square foot apartment after living in a four thousand square foot dream home, but we are. I've taken the whole "be content in whatever circumstances" thing to heart these last few months. Anyway, we found a house after just looking around one day. It was perfect floor plan, the perfect area, the perfect yard, the perfect kitchen....perfect. Have I said how "perfect" it was? I was giddy. So was my husband (as much as man can be anyway). Yet, as we drew closer to having to make a final decision, we couldn't get comfortable. We didn't have peace about it. Yes the economy is sagging and yes, we're never sure about the future, but that wasn't it. We kept trying to convince ourselves we this was right - it was the "perfect" house for crying out loud! How were we going to find a house like this again? Then my husband reminded me that the house wasn't going to make us happy. I knew this, of course, after living in our last house, but it still set me back when he said it. I was, even after having our "dream home" and it not fulfilling me, looking at that house thinking this time was going to be different. Our houses can be vessels for the things that bring us joy - but the house itself is not. I have learned after living in this apartment, that it doesn't matter what my house looks like - whether I have granite on the counter tops or stainless steel appliances in my kitchen; whether my yard is large and full of trees and my neighbors are all loving and helpful. No, what matters is following the Lord's will. Can the Lord grant me all of those things - of course! But will they fulfill me? No. Not one bit. Does God really care what house we live in? I don't think so. He cares about our character. He cares about our obedience. We have turned down the chance to buy the house. For whatever reason, we don't have peace about that house right now. That peace is what brings me the most joy. Going against that peace is like swimming against the current. You will work and work and work and never get it. You can't buy this peace, food won't bring you this peace. Only God can grant this peace. His peace is guiding us right now. He knows the future and I trust him. I trust that he will guide is each day. That's my joy.

The election and "God"

I think back to the previous presidential elections and I was so geared up; so nervous. I would stay up until all hours of the night watching the returns. This year has been different. I've been strangely emotionally removed from this year's election process. Maybe it's because of all the nasty accusations and relentless advertising. Maybe it's because deep in my mind I knew how it would turn out. Maybe it's because, for the first time, I just didn't know what to vote for anymore. Being the good white Christian that I am, I have always voted Republican. Without question. But after watching "my" party the last 4 years make grievous mistakes, I started questioning what "they" believed in. Does the Republican party represent me or just a part of me? And why is abortion the one issue that ranks at the top? What about war? What about financial responsibility? I am not just anti-abortion, against raising taxes, and against hand-outs to those who refuse to work. Weeks before I went to vote, I printed off the sample ballot for my district. I then went through each candidates website from President to Commissioner of Agriculture to District Court Judges. I spent time seeing who was most like me; who I would want to represent me. I was saddened by the results. This election, for me, was the lesser of two evils. For the first time it wasn't about who represented me the best, whose values and voting record would closely match my own - because I couldn't find one. No. This year was more trying to pick the person whose values were the furthest from mine and voting against that. Candidates from the Republican and Democratic party all came up short.

The God of both parties? I watched last night as predominately African-American churches were singing and praying and holding vigils for Barack Obama to be president. For the Lord to hear their prayers. I watched last night as predominately white churches did the same for John McCain. One African-American woman, after Obama was elected president, stated "this is the day the Lord has made!" And from all the emails I have been sent today, you would think that Jesus Christ himself was coming back tomorrow because of this election result alone. How is it possible we are praying to the same God? How is it possible that Republicans believe their prayers weren't answered but "God is still in control" and Democrats believe their prayers were answered and "God is still on his throne". Is this what it has come to? And what does this rhetoric say to the unbeliever? If I didn't believe in God and I saw all this mess, I wouldn't want to believe in Him. I couldn't help but watch and think of my Savior and wonder what He thought.

If African-Americans believe God answered their prayers because a black man was elected President they should be ashamed. If white Americans believe God answered our prayers 4 years ago because George Bush was elected president then we should be ashamed. Jesus taught us how to pray - and no where in that prayer was "oh Jesus, please let the Republican party win!". My son last night was saying his prayers. He knew the election results were coming in and he was strongly in favor of McCain (as much as you can be for 8 years old). When he started his prayer, I knew he would pray like any 8 year old would "Lord, please let John McCain win". I mean after all, he doesn't have the maturity to pray anything greater than that right? He surprised me. His prayer was simple. "Lord, whoever gets to be President, help him make the right decisions. Help him make good decisions. Amen." Amen indeed.

Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating with our friends this past Friday. Even though Rick and I were sick, and it was cold, we toughed it out so our children could get a ridiculous amount of candy! It was worth it. Here is a picture of my son (second from left) and his pals. I must say, he was one of about 50 storm troopers!

Here's out little Jason - the white and hold storm trooper with his mask on top of his head. He kept up with his big brother and big brother's friends all night. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. He didn't miss a single house!

This was one of the more "elaborate" houses in the neighborhood. Complete with graveyard, masked man with a chainsaw, mechanical half-person crawling on the driveway and a grim reaper on stilts! He stayed there until the last trick or treater left - it was a scary sight at night. I wonder what their house will look like at Christmas?

I'll be honest...I'm glad this "holiday" is over.

Fall Party Week

Last week I was very busy with class fall parties for both our boys. We had great fun and somehow I got put in charge of the craft for both parties! Here are some pictures:

David's party was a lot of fun. The craft was a little hard - tissue paper mache votive holders. The children loved dipping apples in the caramel and decorating them with sprinkles. The craft turned out well. They are such a sweet class.

Jason's party was a lot of fun. I went the day before and took pictures of all the children, and then they decorated frames with stickers. They are a sweet class too. Thanks for my friends Christy and Nancy for the craft idea! I went from a plain wood frame for 80 cents at A.C. Moore (thanks to an awesome 20% off entire purchase coupon!), to this:

I can't complain. The boys helped me paint all 15 frames black, I put the pictures in, got foam stickers for their names and let them decorate it with them - along with some other fall type stickers. (I wrote the 2008 at the bottom with a gold paint pen). The kids had a great time decorating them and the moms loved them. I was so excited they turned out this great!