Overheard in the Church Lobby

"Hey, Alex!  How's it going?  How's married life?"

It's great, man!  Great!"

Yeah?  That's good!

You bet!  Today when I got home from work, she had burgers grilled and ready!  Marriage is totally worth it, even if just for the food! 

Baby Shower Advice

I went to a baby shower yesterday.  A sweet youth worker at our church is expecting Baby #1.  And she's 24.  Who does that anymore?  (Well, besides Christa!)  I just smile when I see W and her husband.  They are young.  They are hard working.  They love my kids.  They love to do things for others.

The shower was well attended with nearly 20 ladies.  She got alot of nice gifts, always a help with those new Little Ones.  At several points of the shower, the hostess asked anyone that wanted to to share some advice with W.  She had no takers until nearly the very end.  And even at that point, I just couldn't come up with any advice.  Really?!  I suppose I'm a bit timid in group settings, especially those that include people I don't know, about sharing advice, especially since the jury is still out on a couple of my kids!  :)  Several spoke about the importance of praying with your children, keeping them on schedules (to which I had to bite my tongue!), consistent discipline, knowing your child, but I suppose I appreciated the lady that said "My advice is to listen to others advice, then go with your own instinct."

Yes, listen to others, but let your heart speak the loudest.  I guess that's true of a lot of things in family life.  Not just how to feed, discipline and raise your children, but also how to let them go.  Some people wonder why I'm not a basket case with my chicks strewn out all over: Chicago, Tulsa, Colcord, Germany, and living with a Muslim family.  Sometimes my heart screams at me "THEY ARE TOO FAR AWAY!"  That's when I realize my heart is solely consumed with itself.  Mostly my heart tells me that they are fine adults, capable of making the best decisions for their lives.  So I will continue to listen to others, sometimes I have no choice!  :)

I will listen to others, but let my heart speak the loudest.

Garage Sale

Andrew and Emily are moving out of their apartment, so yesterday we had a yard sale.  They didn't have a whole lot, so maybe a "driveway sale" is more accurate.  Some of the highlights of the day were: 
1:  Having Em spending the night with us, and waking early Saturday morning to her smiling face!  I miss her.
2:  Wishing we had donuts, over and over. Even though neither of us really like them, it just seemed like the right thing to have for a yard sale day.
3:  Watching Em dicker prices as people offered less than the marked price.  She was a tough cookie!
4:  Em laying down in the middle of our street in protest of "Drive By" shoppers.  I told her I totally do the same Drive By Yard Sale Shopping, too, so I understood.
5.  Getting chastised by Em when I donated some goblets to a ladies church group.  She deducted $12.00 from my total. 
6.  Humiliating Andrew and Em by using the binoculars that were for sale to watch the shirtless roofer on the house across the street.  They said I was not being sneaky enough. I say "What roofer?"  It's just so fun seeing my kids squirm!

We didn't make a lot of money, but sure had a lot of fun!

Country Music

When I was a kid, one thing I loved about my Dad was his love for country music.  I only got to listen to country when I was with him.  I have vivid memories of a concert he took me to.  We saw Loretta Lynn and Jerry Lee Lewis.  That inspired me to save my allowance to buy what may have been my very first album, a collection of country favorites!  I listened to that album until I had every word memorized, including Lynn Anderson's "I've Been Everywhere, Man!"  Watching The Porter Wagoner Show and Hee Haw was a welcome diversion from my suburban life style!

Well, I can add country music concert #2 to my list.  Last night Jim surprised me with tickets to the Brad Paisley concert.  Brad Paisley in Bozeman?  That's a long way from Nashville!  Justin Moore and Darius Rucker were on the concert stage as well.  Just a couple of observations, and forgive me if I state the obvious here.

1.  I'm pretty sure there was not a cowboy boot on stage.  Now, Brad had on what looked like work boots, and he was indeed working.  But there were no slick look-how-pointy-these-sweet-foot-covers can be.  I love cowboy boots, that's all I'm saying.  Guess you don't have to be a cowboy anymore to sing C&W.
2.  Concert fans love to stand, rather than sit.  I guess if I wanted to stand for three and half hours, listening to three guys croon-and-holler isn't a bad way to keep my mind off the fact that I'm standing for three and a half hours.
3.  Concert fans also like to sing along.  Loudly.  Hmmm, so why aren't they on stage?  I really don't care if know every word to every song.  So do I, pretty much, but you don't hear me belting along off tune with Brad and the boys.
4.  There is still something very exciting about all the lights (albeit they be lazer), smoke, and loud noise!
5.  There is still something very romantic about snuggling with your love to all the love songs.  Smile!
6.  I was still star struck, cowboy boots or not. 
7.  Brad Paisley is an amazing guitarist.  Even if his weapon of choice is usually an electric guitar.  Can you say "Whiny"?
8.  I love that my rock-and-roll husband has finally seen a small glimmer of country music light.  I guess my rocking to Queen and his singing along with Brad is proof that after nearly thirty years of marriage indeed, you do become each other.

Long live rock-and roll!  (Errr, I mean country music!)

Power School

So, our school district has an online website (is that stating the obvious?  Online website?) where parents can access their children's grades.  I'm still trying to decide if this is a good thing or not.  At least in my case, if I access G&D's grades regularly, I then feel somehow responsible for their grades.  Should I?  When the grades are low, I am all over their backs about bringing them up.  If they are good grades, well, they should be, so no big deal, right?  I don't know.  When A,B,C,D, and E were in school, I'm sure I had no idea what their grades were until report card time.  As it should be, right?  Then once every grading period the wrath of mom and dad came down on those with poor grades.  Now it seems like a continual annoyance.  "What's going on in math?"  "Did you turn in your science journal?"  "Why do you have a D in Art?  Who gets a D in Art?  How hard can Art be?"  The grade chatter is always running through my brain.  So, for my own sanity I have told G&D I will check Power School only once a week.  Then the wrath of mom will only blow once a week.  Grrr!  That still doesn't seem right.  When I was in school, I hated school, and the whole grading system.  Guess I still do.

What's New

So, I guess I took a little break from blogging.  Here are my three excuses: 1) I have no idea where the camera cord is to transfer photos to the computer. 2) I've been kind of busy, or lazy, or apathetic.  3) I don't get enough time on the family computer to do anything other than "business".  You know checking email, checking facebook, checking recipes.  So in an attempt to bring you up to speed, I will simply list significant (mostly) things that have happened in the last four months.

1.  School was out, not one day too soon!  We were all relieved to be free of homework for the summer.
2.  Bethany came to Montana for the summer, working at the church's day camp, falling in love with this place, and making this place fall in love with her.
3.  We took a family vacation to Portland, ate Tillamook ice cream at the factory, loved on Uncle Wayne and Aunt Dana, and won Bingo at a church bbq.
4. I had a 50" flat screen tv installed for Jim for his 50th birthday.  What a great surprise!
5. I have worked up to one hour on the elipitical machine.
6. I was elected as Women's Ministries Deaconess at church.  I'm so excited to be back in the saddle.
7. We gave Duke, our dog, away.  No doggie doors and no fenced yard = one frustrated dog and four frustrated people living with said dog.  He is now in a good home, with a friend dog to play with.
8. Suffered one broken front window, five screens, and roof damage from a terrific hail storm.
9.  Andrew has accepted a job at Edelweiss Lodge and Retreat center in Germany.  Leaves October 17th.
10.  Emily is moving in with a family from Saudia Arabia.  Free room and board for an English speaking presence in their home.

See, you really haven't missed much, have you?  :)  But I bet you do miss photos.  I may actually look for that cord soon.

While the cat's away...