An Uberlicious Day All The Way Around

I did something today that I haven't done since I was in college or maybe the way early years of marriage! I was completely selfish! I was completely hedonistic! I didn't care one hoot about anyone else! What was it that I did you might ask?

I slept in until 10:30!

I know....crazy, selfish, hedonistic, all-about-me...and wonderful! Honestly I can't remember the last time I did that, but I know it was well before children, or pregnancy, came into my life...and that was almost 20 years ago!

After sleeping in, Ben and I went with our good friends out for lunch lingering over great theological conversation and then went to get an uberlicious (note the new word I am creating!) cupcake. Then a stroll in Old Town, a fun little area in Fort Collins with great shops, was in order.

Tomorrow is our last day here and then we head to Colorado Springs and then soon after onward to Minnesota and my kids! I miss them so much! I can't wait to see each one! But until that sweet day comes, I am going to remember my sleeping in time this morning! What a blessing!

Happy Lord's Day

Ponder on this with me:

Every other religion has a man to help us find our way to God.

Christianity has a God who came to earth to find us!

Have a great Sunday.

I Wish it Were a Pain in the Neck

I either badly bruised or cracked my tailbone before we left for Colorado and let me tell you just how painful it is to sit as much as we are sitting here! Ouch! I could say it's 'a pain in the butt', but that would be too easy...so I'm not going to say it.

I must say that when we are here, we go to all the movies we don't get a chance to go see at home. Our kids get to see movies, but Ben and I rarely go! So while we have been here, we have seen UP in 3D, Star Trek, Transformers 2, and Harry Potter. (At least chairs in movie theaters are pretty well padded, but they aren't perfect!)

Today we spend all day with the fellow missionaries in our specific ministry: Military Ministry. It will be nice to connect with them in particular and catch up. But the sitting is going to drive me insane. We might find ourselves sneaking out early...who knows?

Cool Acts

Here we are at CSU in Ft. Collins Colorado and it's great! The weather is perfect (high today was about 85! and right now at 11:30pm it's 72)! The town is absolutely stunning! We are hearing amazing speakers...one in particular...Tim Keller. But one of the amazing things about being at CSU is that during the time we are here, the conference team gets great acts to come perform for us.

We just got back from hearing Tim Hawkins live! Just as funny, maybe funnier, as on his dvds. Actually cried from laughing so hard!

Tomorrow night Tenth Avenue North is having a concert.

Monday we get to see part 2 of The Rock and The Rabbi...it's called The Witnesses! I can't wait for that one!

And Tuesday night LaCrae is performing...will probably miss that one.

We certainly get to feel edified when leaving here.

Don't Have to Hide the Crazy

So I have done a lot of posts in the last few months about friendship....and today will not be an exception. We are out in Colorado with our Campus Crusade staff conference. When we are here, we get to see many friends and reconnect!

Today we had the privilege of eating lunch with our favorite friends who live in Little Rock; so you can imagine how little we get to see them!

Great friends are ones who know your neurosis and not only stick around and tolerate them, but actually indulge them! Or as Ben says, "You don't have to hide the crazy."

Case in point: one of my many idicyncrasies...wet paper...especially the thin kind of paper like napkins! You know the kind that when it gets wets, it actually begins to break apart into little pieces. Completely makes me gag! It's been the cause of a lot of jokes and pranks over the years...and I'm ok with that. But today at the restaurant, a glass of water was spilled and when the waitress came over to see what the problem was, she said "I'll go get napkins to clean it up." And my friend said "No...no paper of any kind. We need an actual towel."

Now...that might not seem like a big deal to me...but it made me smile to hear her stand up for me and not just tolerate my weirdness, but to actually go out of her way to completely accommodate me! Thanks friend! I hope that you have at least one person in your life who knows you and doesn't make you have to "hide the crazy" !

Hurry and Work on Me!

Ever have a day, or week, or in my case...several weeks (maybe months!) where you constantly say that wrong thing? Well...I really hope that you haven't because it is so frustrating and annoying and irritating!

I do seem to be in this cycle of saying the wrong thing, or the right thing in the wrong way, and I am fed up with it! I am trying to figure out what I am saying that is wrong or how I am saying something that is wrong! I am having a difficult time getting to the bottom of this...but I am determined to do it!

This goes right along with one of my big areas of weakness...the tongue...but it's a new twist than has been before...so it's all new to me and I want it to stop. Apparently I am doing this to several people...the ones who I love the very most in life...so it's even more hurtful to them and to me.

Aarrgghh! God knows the struggle I have with my tongue and I know He is working on me right now as well. I hope I learn this lesson soon so that the innocent people I get to drag into this with me can be free also!

Here's hoping you are not dealing with this!

Endings...oh yeah! and Beginnings

Several things are ending today...and most of them are good to end...there is at least one sad one along the way.

Ending:
*vbs
* Bailey's working
*my time to get some of the things done before the trip (things that require a gov't office)
*my time with my good friend!

I normally would say that I don't like endings, but as I look at this list...that is not necessarily true...I don't like many endings, but there are many I do like...

I love the start of vbs, but I also love the end of vbs!
I love that Bailey has several jobs and how industrious she is, but I love that her jobs are ending today freeing her up for other things!
I love time with my friend, but I am not going to love saying goodbye today and not seeing her again until Thanksgiving! That is dreadfully sad to me.

The great thing is that every ending means a new beginning of something!

Ending vbs means the beginning of some free time.
Ending work for Bailey means free time and her priorities get to change.
Ending the time of some of the things I need to do for our trip means that I can then focus on other things and the trip is near!
Ending my time with my friend means more time with new friends (and missing her desperately).

The Bible says there is a time for everything! So I will trust God with these endings and then trust him again with the beginnings!

God is Good!

So the week is winding up here. It's VBS week! I have loved VBS week for as long as I can remember! I only have great memories of VBS and this year....even with the stinkin' heat! is no exception! I have met fabulous people I have never known and gotten to work with some of my favorite people that I have known and with whom I love to spend time.

Today and tomorrow, I get to see a dear friend also. God is so good to me. She and her family drove down from Little Rock and we get to spend a bit of time together just catching up and slipping back into that easy relationship we have. Don't you love that?

I must say, I feel completely blessed by God today! I don't know why He chooses to keep blessing me, but I love it and hope to pass that along to others today. I hope you are having a terrific day too!

Birthday Boy Ben

Today my fabulous husband turned 47! Happy Birthday Ben! It seems funny (in an odd way, not a haha way) to be married to someone so old! :) For years we have told each other that we want to grow so old together and today it has begun...

Just kidding...Ben is terrific and wonderful and I can only hope that he feels like his life right now is as happy as mine is!

Happy Birthday Benji.

Baby Steps

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” -Mother Teresa

This is my goal for today! I'd like it to be for life...but I'll work on one day at a time.

Summer Adventure

We are getting ready to be gone for over a month! We aren't normally gone for this amount of time, but it just worked out that way this summer. A week from today, Ben and I will be in Colorado and a week from tomorrow, the kids and my parents will be on their way to Minnesota. We will meet up with them a week and a half later in Minnesota and then stay for a week there with the whole gang. Then we take our kiddos back out to Colorado! I know this is one of those trips we will all remember forever!

I want it to be great! I don't want it to be too organized, but I don't want to have too much idle time where everyone gets on each other's nerves either....tight balance there!

Today is the beginning of pretty much washing everything in our house to get it ready to be packed. Packing for seven for five weeks is crazy and daunting to say the least!

This week is VBS at our church and I have meetings, swim lessons, and out of town company while trying to get ready. We have been eating potluck style for three weeks already trying to empty out the freezer and fridge before we go! The meals have been interesting to say the least. Two pizza rolls, two spoonsful of corn, a piece of bacon, and some applesauce and you've got a meal! I think the whole group is going to be thrilled with a "normal" meal at McDonalds for the first 40 meals, and then there will be some rebellion.

I will keep you posted!

Drive In Movie Night

Our homeschool co-op held a movie night last night. It was a "drive in" theme and the kids were supposed to make their own cars out of boxes. We passed out movie candy (skittles, m &ms, snickers, etc.) and watched the original Love Bug.

The cars they came up with were awesome!
Kally brought a box but didn't quite get the car theme, but she had a great time in it anyway!

Darby ended up being a bit too cool (sadly) to make a car and sat with the old folks in the back. It's hard for this old body to do floors these days!

Rawley was in a borrowed car (is that considered grand theft auto?) and having a big time watching the movie.

Rainey got to sit in the "back seat" of a friend's car.

We can't wait to do that again!

We Had a Ball Bowling

Today we tried to escape the 104 degree heat by taking the kids bowling! Our bowling alley here has a deal: from 9-5 Mon - Fri each game is 99 cents and then you just have to rent the shoes. Since we used a military ID, the shoes for 10 people ended up being a little over $8! Ten of us bowled two games each and had shoes for $30.00! We were there for over two hours! The kids had a blast!

Rawley used the slide most of the game, but on the last frame he wanted to bowl like everyone else!
Kally had a great time and even made a strike!

This was Ben's strike dance! He did well!

Bailey brought her friend Kayla and it brought me such joy to see them smiling and laughing the whole time!

Darby and Rainey had their share of great rolls and a few clunkers as well.

We all had such a great time and can't wait to do it again! Go bowling and have a ball!

She Finished Well

This was Kally's year for swimming! Thanks to my brother and sis-in-law, we heard about the local summer swim teams and we put Kally on the team! There were practices four days a week and a meet once a week. Kally started the first meet being entered in one event and by the last few meets, she had been placed in four events! She swam freestyle and backstroke.

Over six meets, Kally earned nine ribbons! We are so proud of her for how hard she tried! The funny thing was that if you watched her in practice you'd think "oh! poor girl can't make it across the pool!" But then you'd see her at the meets and she was zooming across! I think she surprised us all.
Kally and her coach, Joann!

Almost One Year!

It's been nearly one year (Aug. 11) since Darby was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It's been an interesting year to say the least! Within six weeks of being diagnosed, Darby was placed on an insulin pump. What a godsend that is! That has helped us tremendously and I can't even remember what the few weeks of insulin shots were like, but I don't want to either. Today, Darby was given yet another technological piece of her diabetic puzzle...a continuous monitoring system.

Medtronic actually sent out a trainer to our house to help us with this new gadget.
Of course, it comes with a new type of inserter. (the nice word for the instrument of torture that forces the device into your body!)

It was difficult for Carol, the trainer, to find any fat places on Darby! Why, oh why, did that particular gene come from Ben? Really? I couldn't have that one to give?

We finally found the tiniest place that had the teensiest bit of fat to place the sensor.

And there it is! A tiny jellyfish-body shaped thing that attaches to her body and sends out a signal to her pump with a wide range of information! Very cool! God is so good in providing this for her. The interesting thing is that as cool as this is now...we know that 5 years from now, we will be laughing at this outmoded technology! And, praise God, there will be even more cool inventions to better treat, manage, and care for this disease and the sweet body it is in!

God's Gift of Friendship

Friends are amazing aren't they? Well, I think so! God has provided some fabulous friends for me over the years. Some of them were to be in my life for a short season and they are no longer there...some have been there from the beginning of time, seemingly, and are still there...and some have been brought into my life in these later years. I love them all!

It has made me sad periodically to have friends who don't stay in my life, but God has given me perspective on those friendships and has shown me the purpose for them. I would never have not wanted them in my life...they brought joy and fun and a sense of purpose!

I especially love the friends who have been around for a long time. They have stood the test of time and have decided to overlook many of my flaws and love me anyway! How great is that? I have a lot of flaws...so for someone to push through that annoying part of a friendship and just keep loving me is awesome.

But I do hold dear the friends that God has brought to me in these later years. To have new friends when you are old...to make the effort to care for and love someone when lives are filled with very important things to do...to sacrifice time that could be better spent on something or someone else...how incredible is that!???

I have been reminded just today of the value of friendship. The specialness of others who know me and still love me despite of me...God is truly great to do that for me!