Any Takers???

They book birthday parties, weddings, and in this case, 4th of July celebrations.

Craziness I'll Never Understand!

I always knew that my husband was a sports maniac, and football season is no exception. Since Fantasy Football has become a major part of the season, however, Paul has taken his insanity to a new level, which never really affected me until yesterday. Those of you who are Fantasy Football "coaches" (or wives of these crazy men) know what I'm talking about when 8 o' clock (central time) on Tuesday morning rolls around and those football free agents suddenly become "available".

For some reason a guy named Earnest Graham was the coveted player. I personally thought there was nothing special about him but, nonetheless, Paul was determined to "pick him up" (which I thought was a dating term, but...okay). Unfortunately Paul had to work yesterday so our morning went something like this:

5 am! Paul woke me up: "Hon, do you mind if I take the computer to work today?"

me: "Well, we kinda use it for school. Don't you have to work?"

Paul: "Yes, but there's this free agent that I have to pick up"

me: "When are you going to have time to pick him up?"

Paul: "Well...maybe you could do it for me..."

me: "...........okay?"

Paul: "--GREAT! I'll get the computer set up so all you have to do is press the "pick up this player" button.......but if for some reason the computer needs to be reset, let me show you how to get where you need to be."

He proceeds to take me through the detailed layout of the Fantasy Football website along with the list of possible "pick-ups" if I fail my attempt to pick up Earnest...by this time I decided to get ready for the day and camp out close to the computer since I was wide awake in fear of forgetting my crash course in Fantasy Football 101.

7:39 am My cell phone rings. "Honey, are you awake?"

"Yes. I never went back to sleep."

"Oh........okay, just checking. Love you! Bye!"

7:42 am Cell phone rings again. "If you can't pick up Graham, first try Adrian Peterson, and then Jesse Chapman, and then whoever else is on the list. And don't forget to drop Ted Ginn, Jr."

7:56 am (I'm not kidding) Ring, ring! "Hey! I also wanted to tell you to to go by the clock on your cell phone. That's real time."

GRRRRR!!! By this time I'm sweating bullets, and my heart rate is actually rising! There I am at 7:58 am staring at this page that I would've never gone to of my own accord and I am once again feeling like I did in high school just before the gun sounded during a cross country meet...

7:59 am My finger is on the mouse, my eyes are on the "pick up player" button. I quickly glance to make sure I have the right player...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... click........

silence

Okay, you know what? I didn't get the player. Because some MANIAC COACH beat me to him!!! Not only that, but when I went to find out who had stolen this Earnest what's-his-name, there were 4 or 5 more maniacs scurrying around like ants on candy picking up their "coveted players"!

....craziness I will never understand....

The Gift of Worship

Seems like the Lord is reminding me of this a lot lately. Thanks, God's Daisy, for sharing!

P.S.

Does anyone see anything odd about this picture (I mean, besides the poor quality)?

This is a sign we saw while on our excursion in Illinois. Girlie Girl was thinking that maybe the Bud "Family 24 Pack" comes with a nipple for the baby...only in Illinois...okay...and maybe Wisconsin.

Our Weekend With Branching Out

Okay, so I am a little late on this post--I can't believe a week has gone by--but we had a wonderful weekend last weekend with the fine couple over there at Branching Out (pictured below).

You graciously allowed seven of us invade their home and, I must say, your hospitality exceeded our expectations (you even had Coke in the refrigerator and Sunday night popcorn)! We had such a good time catching up with you; hearing how the Lord has been working in your lives and reminiscing about our days together at camp...not to mention our weekend at that...well...ritsy golf resort with Jeremy and Brina! We loved getting to know your sweet boys; we were excited that Rocky finally had some boys to play with (as I type this he is being coerced by his older sisters to play "wedding" with them). Going out to eat with you on Saturday night was such a treat (many, many, many thanks to WeeBecca) and we left wondering why we don't keep in better touch with you!

This post may specifically be for Branching Out...I know I am not that swell at putting my thoughts into words--and I know this post does not do it justice--but you were a huge encouragement to our family last weekend, probably more than you will ever know. We love you guys!

Where to start?

I can't even count the number of times I have started to post on my blog and then stopped thinking, "Is this really blog-worthy after being a non-blogger for so long?" Tonight I have decided that is does not matter, I'm just going to post with high hopes that blogging will just get easier from here on out (does anyone understand what I mean...the first post is always so hard after being away for a while).

So much has changed since August 15th. The biggest change being that as of August 31st, we have been homeless and living with my parents. We are thanking God for doing the impossible by selling our house in less than a month; if that wasn't a push, I don't know what else could be! Closing day was an emotional one for all of us (including "Frankie", our newborn, who cried through the whole signing process). I am especially missing my sister who lived just a block away--now she lives 5 minutes away! Although they are so excited to live with Papa and Mimi the kids miss "going home". We are very thankful for Papa and Mimi allowing us to live with them even though I'm sure the house gets a little louder and a little messier than what they are used to!

The kids are doing well. Twiggy is now in first grade and loving it so much more than Kindergarten (as am I). Her reading is getting so much better and I can tell that she's really starting to enjoy the challenge of picking up a book and sounding out words she does not know.

Daisy is equally eager to learn and enjoys sitting in on school lessons. Her favorite thing to do lately is to sing and color at the same time and I love to listen to her sweet voice.

Rocky is all boy. His two new passions in life are Thomas the Tank Engine and driving his older sisters crazy! His younger sister, however, can do no wrong and he is SO protective of her. The other day at church he came crying to me, "Mom, those kids are watching my sister!" As a two-year-old, he is almost as tall as his four-year-old sister!

Frankie has obviously done the most changing! She smiles a lot and LOVES her brother and sisters...and is maybe a little spoiled! We are all thoroughly enjoying watching her grow and change!

Paul and I are doing well. While we our hearts ache at the thought of leaving here in two months our urgency grows as we get closer to moving. We are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives as we prepare with To Every Tribe Ministries, but are longing for God to teach us and grow us during this transition time as well. I am amazed already at how specifically God has proven Himself to be the almighty, all-powerful God who can do anything!