There's only one way to spell Coke and that's not it.

I'm so thankful that my children don't know yet that they have the meanest mom in the world. Ok, I'm not THE worst but I've been so pumped up by my homeschooling literature that I sprung it on Beatle after a week off of school that we're starting up. She wasn't thrilled but she has hung with me and we have had a great time. On Memorial Day, I realized that her skills are at their peak right now, she doesn't want to go outside because it's so hot, we're already doing the Summer Reading Program at the Library, and I don't want her to lay around watching TV because "she deserves it" so why not go toward more of a year-round schooling format? It's like we're getting a headstart so I already feel successful. We've had a great time; however, it has proved a little tricky with Birdie running around. That girl is fiercely persistent and contrary. I love her so much but sometimes (like today!) the only thing that gets me through is remembering how much I wanted her. We have GOT to point that girl in the right direction and she will be a force to be reckoned with for God and His glory but if not, it could potentially be every parent's worst nightmare. Beatle's a funny lady. I was teaching the kids' Wednesday night class last night and she was busting my chops in all the right ways--so hilarious but not disrespectful. However, we're realizing that Birdie will also do about anything for a laugh. She thinks it's hilarious to pray for poop everynight now. She gets stuck on it like a scratched record...only because big sister thought it was funny two nights ago. Beatle is trying to spell secret messages to me but it's pretty sketchy since she just finished 1st grade! She also likes to try to spell really fast. I can't even begin to think of how many times I've cringed and told her that C-O-C-K does NOT spell Coke!!! Aghhh! We are living in the house of horrors! We have wasps that live in the attic during the summer and sometimes they can drop down through our recessed lighting and buzz our heads. Then, after we came in from the back yard, Birdie had a flea on her leg and later, I had one on my arm. Yesterday, 3 giant waterbugs appeared in 3 different rooms. When I was going to walk around to the front of the house to push the trash to the curb, I saw a huge snakeskin by our back porch and wait...it actually CAN get worse...we have something living in our bedroom wall!!! Hold me! Thank the Lord we bumped it up to a quarterly contract last time our pest control guy was here and he's coming tomorrow. My eyes are constantly sweeping the floors, walls, yard and Brent is sleeping closest to the scary wall as my buffer. Is it any wonder that poor Birdie is having nightmares of "big bugs"???

Don't Make Me Call You a D**** H***!

Eating cold pizza, still in my jammies, one's in bed and the other's watching Sesame Street, and it's after 9am...I LOVE SUMMER! The relaxed schedule, the laid back nature of the world...it's wonderful. I say that and instantly feel a little pang of guilt because this is the time of year my husband's blood pressure and anxiety go way up. I just do my best to keep the girls preoccupied, the home calm and my schedule open and accommodating for ways we can help him. This week has been the first week of Summer and everyday, we've had someone drop in for us to watch for a few hours. The girls have enjoyed having visitors and I enjoy our home being a place where people know they're welcome. Last Friday, we went to Beatle's awards assembly. Thank the Lord for the Good Citizenship Award! It gets us through every time. :) Last Wednesday, at gymnastics, they were giving out trophies and certificates to everyone. They were doing a fantastic job of assigning specific awards to kids to highlight their strengths. They got to stand on a platform, just like at the Olympics. Everyone had received their award when the instructor said, "Last, but not least...Sarah So-and-So." There I was with video camera in hand, puzzled. Oh, man. They forgot B. I knew they'd make it right afterwards but she wouldn't get her moment in the sun. Beatle held it together, she didn't get pouty or upset even though she later admitted all that was running through her head at the time was, "Oh man, I must have been a really bad student if everyone else got an award but I didn't." They were lining the kids up for a group picture when the instructor noticed Beatle didn't have anything. It wasn't too late! They sat everyone back down and made it right and she got the Awesome Attitude Award. Now, like I told her later, wouldn't have that been interesting if she had just thrown a ring-tailed fit because she was overlooked just to jump up there and get the Awesome Attitude Award??? Awkward! I'm proud that she's received awards that relate to her good character; those can translate well into life. Changing the subject, but you can't tell because my browser no longer supports the new Blogger and I can't create a new paragraph... :) On the evening of last Friday night, we threw a killer end-of-the-school-year party for these little First Graders. Brent was going to be on a retreat but it got canceled and Zac and Suz came to visit so I had a crew of WONDERFUL helpers. I had fully intended to do it on my own but it would have been a stressful nightmare. Having the adequate help I needed, the School's Out Sligh-ma-thon was a BLAST! We played messy games and it ended with an Oatmeal fight--students vs. the teacher and her family. We had a jam-packed weekend with Zac and Suzy but it was so fun having them here all to ourselves! Last story of this blog, I have a friend here who teaches Beatle sometimes and I teach her son in one of my classes. I've found that a wedge is coming into the relationship because she insists on telling me everytime that Beatle steps over the line or pushes boundaries in her class. To me, your job as the present adult is to reel them in and if it is consistently happening and they have a flagrant disregard for the teacher's instructions, then yes, talk to the parents but it's hurtful having all of these weird little conversations when, being ugly here, there's a lot of conversations we could be having about her son too! But the other day, when she was gone and a sub was in place, I realized that there's something else that we're being robbed of while she's tattling on Beatle--the ability for the Holy Spirit to work. If these children are Christians, they have the same Holy Spirit we have and we need to give It some room to work instead of smothering them with virtue and manner teachings. We were riding in the car home from the church activity with the sub and out of nowhere Beatle says that she needs to tell me something because she's feeling really guilty. There was a new boy there and he was taunting Beatle and she started calling him bad names back. I wanted to cringe but I was so excited to see the Spirit working and I want to encourage honesty--and c'mon! We all do crap like that and admitting that we did something wrong is hard! So, I was listening (so proud that I wasn't lecturing this time) when she was rattling off names like "sissy" and "fancy pants" but she was hemming and hawing about the last one. I was a nervous wreck as she was working up the nerve to tell me the last and most horrible name...finally..."Mom, I called him...a...dream head. I know! I know, it's bad!" I wanted so desperately to giggle with relief at this most ridiculous of accusations. Thank the Lord it was just Dream Head and thank you Lord for your power of conviction; may she always be sensitive to that feeling.

A Black-Eyed Birdie

I had resolved not to tell Beatle when she was released from the doctor to do cartwheels or handstands and just wait until she felt the urge again...and it happened two days ago, right on schedule with his orders. I guess, as much as it is annoying to have her flipping all over the place, I did miss it and was a little nervous that the stage was officially over. But now we are back to our house feeling much like Shawn Johnson's Bounty commercials. Do you ever forget God's in control? I do! As much as I love what Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace has done for us, we still are living solely on a minister's budget with a wife that loves travelling and a husband that has things that follow him home from unsupervised trips to the store. ("How did that get in here?") :) And, I don't know about you, but I have alligator arms that find it hard to reach in my pockets when it comes to boring, necessary, grown-up purchases (tires, air conditioning filters, appliance repairs). I only share these things because I often need the reminder that He's in control. Every summer, our AC is like the Little Air Conditioner that Could. We hold our breath and try not to work it too hard. Last year, we got a part replaced and he said, "It could last 2 months or another 10 years." Well, in April, on a trial run, it wasn't working--just blowing but not cold. We shut it off and spent the month of April with windows open. I was just sick about it. I really was contemplating going without an AC for the summer...I mean, it IS a luxury for most of the world and a relatively new invention! Brent wasn't really on board with that notion (probably because he knows how hysterical I get when I'm hot). Well, I tried it again the other day and it worked! It's been working beautifully ever since. Could it break in a week? Probably but what a blessing! Then, Brent's jeep has been acting all screwy but we both know nothing when it comes to cars. Our minds were going to a dark place--a new transmission?? Yesterday, he called to have them tow it to the shop and the lady over the phone diagnosed it for him (we love our mechanic shop!!!) as being low on clutch fluid (Brent was leary that she was just setting him up to check for something that didn't exist, like blinker fluid). But, using the same fluid they had given us for the van two years ago, Brent was able to fix the jeep! Again, these things could all give out tomorrow but but knowing that He provided for yesterday, reminds me that he will provide for tomorrow. Birdie's eye has been horrible ever since her stumble last week. It was completely black but it's finally fading a little. These two scraggly men at Wal-Mart (give me two scraggly men any day over little, old know-it-all ladies!) were remarking to one another, "She's got a shiner." "Yeah, but I'd hate to see the other kid." Love it! Last night, I was looking for my keys. I had really been willy-nilly with my stuff a few months ago so I had resolved to be better and was truly puzzled that I had misplaced my keys. I told Brent about it and he said, "Oh, you probably left them in the key basket on the fitness ministry desk." "Wait...what? I NEVER put them in the basket." Then he sheepishly realized that not only did HE leave MY keys in the fitness ministry basket at church but he gave it away to me. He said I left them in the jeep but I reminded him that I stayed behind at the jeep (because I was feverishly looking for my keys!) and he went in first to the church. I never left them anywhere! He stole them! Don't you just love it when you win a playful and rousing game of "Who's right and who's wrong?" I know I do! :) So, two life dreams accomplished in two weeks! I got to use a zero-turn radius lawn mower to mow a yard. SO MUCH FUN! I was cheesing the whole time. And a picture of the girls is now hanging in a portrait studio. I walked in to pick up my picture order and said, "Hey, I know those girls!" That was beyond cool. There's just nothing that endears yourself to someone as when they cherish your kids or think they are as beautiful and wonderful as you do!

My School's Dis-Stricter Than Your School

My old computer is not handling these Blogger updates well. One of the things it won't do is separate my paragraphs so it just looks like I've typed a running stream of consciousness. Sorry! Beatle did great on her solo. She was praying the night before, "God, I need your help to do this. It's not like I can just go up to Mrs. Edgin now and tell her I can't do my solo. There's no turning back and I'm so scared." But on the day of the program, she did great! She went to the crystal mines yesterday with her class and came home absolutely filthy but proudly hauling a bag of crystals she found. She's been scrubbing and scrubbing those things on the backporch to make them shine. She estimates that it will take about three days total to get them ship-shape. :) Yesterday, at Game Night, one of the girls was talking about how strict her school is and Beatle said, "Yes, that's why they call it 'our school dis-strict'." Bahaha! We all just laughed and laughed. We are just days away from summer! Yay! Can't wait to have Beatle at home. Poor Birdie busted her face this morning. She was being my "friend" in the bathroom and didn't give enough room for the step out of our tub and she stumbled into it, cracking the side of her face on the tub. This is her worst boo-boo to date. Her eye is almost swollen shut and it's cut a little on the side. It is awful! I feel so bad for her! Thinking about last weekend in Oklahoma, she kept my dad busy swinging her outside. That girl can log some hours in the swing! We had such a wonderful trip to OK--visiting with family, celebrating Dad's retirement, Becky's birthday and Zac being home. It was laid-back and truly enjoyable. Last night, I had a life-changing moment. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about it because I don't want to cheapen what I experienced and I don't think you can truly understand unless you go through it--I know I didn't. I was asked to wear full Muslim garb (burka/imbya) for the 3rd and 4th grade girls class. I thought, "No big deal. I'll help out and play dress up." I was fine but when she put the veil on me--the full, black veil--I really almost lost it. I never saw that emotion coming! The only thing showing were the top two joints on my fingers. It wasn't so much pity for the women that have to wear that daily, I mean, that was there but it was extreme appreciation for the fact that I can be ME! I can wear what I want, I can do what I want, I can vote, I have a college education and my girls can do all of those things too. I always thought I was thankful...and I think I was, but it was without understanding what life really could be like.