Not All Work

While we were out walking today for Run for the Fallen, the boys also took advantage of the obstacle course. When I asked #1 if he wanted to go to the event, his first question was, "Who will be there?" I told him this is not about Socialism, but about Patriotism! He decided to work in a little "socialism" anyway.

So far I haven't lost any more chickens. The neighbor stopped this evening as we were finishing up the greenhouse to ask if we had heard a commotion this afternoon. The other neighbor's rooster was killed by something. The chicks above are out all afternoon running hither and yon, so I don't know why they didn't get taken instead of a rooster. Kelly is out again tonight for their protection. The hens don't roost very high, so I hope she does a good job.

Greenhouse without the Gasses

Here are a few more shots of the new greenhouse. I would show you the inside, but I need to weed first. I have been spending all of my time fixing the other house. I am so ready to have everything done!

Remember this from a couple of years ago? It was a shed in our back yard. We think it was probably used as a smoke house at one point. Then it had garage doors put on that may have been for a car or perhaps lawnmower.

Hubby and the rest of us tore it down and saved the wood. It is good pine wood and aged really well. The wood has been sitting in our barn since 2008 waiting to be denailed and used for some other purpose. I had thought we might be able to incorporate it into the remodeling upstairs, but our fabulous carpenter friend said that would be very difficult and costly.

So now it is here. Well, partly anyway. Hubby got another bee in his bonnet and decided to build a greenhouse. He used the wood from the shed to frame it out. The directions were online through the Extension Service. Overall it was a fairly inexpensive project since we didn't have to buy wood.

Now I just need a picnic table to put on the concrete slab left from the shed. Pine would do nicely...

Memorial Weekend

The boys and I went to celebrate Memorial Day a little early today. We participated in Run for the Fallen at an area high school. We carried a fallen soldier's picture with an American flag for a mile, and then put the flag in a row with all of the other soldiers. The soldiers were all from the current Afghan/Iraq War and were all NC citizens.

There were 140 soldiers to be "walked". I took three around the track, #1 took two, and #2 took three. The soldiers below walked their miles in full explosive gear. They work for the explosive/bomb squad. It was very humid and I am sure they were wishing they worked in a different area!

Here is one of them putting in his fallen soldier's flag. The soldiers I carried were 37, 27, and 23 when they died.

I wanted to stay on my roll of getting things done at the house, but I was torn to go show my respect at the event. I decided to go because without their sacrifice I may not be free to have bought the home I am working on. God Bless America and all of our soldiers and their families.

The Greatest of These

Sunday's sermon assignment was to write a thank you note to God for his spiritual blessings. We were specifically told not to thank for material blessings, but for spiritual ones. I have thought all week about it, and I think I have my note ready. Here goes: Dear God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, Thank you for LOVE. I have known love all of my life and in it I have found you. I was blessed to be born to parents who were committed to my well being, both emotional and physical. My father never gave me reason to fear abandonment. In this love I found that my Heavenly Father can be trusted to do what is best for me. I appreciate your blessing of protection and providence. You care for whatever needs I may have and have never given me reason to be afraid of abandonment when the going gets tough. I was born into an extended family that taught me there are many types of people in the world, and they are all worthy of love. In learning to love everyone around me it made me better prepared to love your church and to appreciate its unique personalities. I have been extremely blessed to find a husband who loves me more than himself. In this I found the love of Christ emulated in a personal, concrete way. I know I don't deserve the love, but it is freely granted to me anyway. In my children I have found the love that passes understanding. No matter what my children do or say, I want what is best for them and to see them happy and content. In this relationship I have discovered more about the love of my Father than I could have understood otherwise. How could a father give up his son? Perhaps I have a little better understanding of it now. Through the love of friendships I have found the Holy Spirit active and alive. He is always whispering little friendly reminders of what I need to do and where I need to go. My friends have been blessings in my life to spur me on to higher goals and to give me ideas of possibilities. The Holy Spirit acts in a similar way in my life telling me I can do what needs to be done and to get out there and do it. So Lord, I am grateful for your generosity in abundant LOVE. It is the greatest of the spiritual gifts, and it certainly is evident in my life. Thank you.

Talent Show

#1 spent Tuesday making final preparations for the talent show he was producing. This was the third annual talent show he has been involved in. The first time it was our whole club putting it on for our club state project. Last year he wanted to try again, and that time he organized and emceed the event. This year he did the entire event himself. I was quite nervous about the whole thing since he still didn't have judges the night before the event! These two ladies from church were very, very sweet to agree to judge on short notice.

We had 11 contestants and a small audience. Here are three of the contestants. It was a fun night, and hopefully if he does it again there will be more participants.

#1 came up with the script to introduce the contestants and what to say while the judges were marking the score sheets. There were long silences since the judges were very diligent about writing comments for the kids on their score sheets.

I enjoyed working with #1 on this project. I spent the year helping with Envirothon, which is #2's big thing, so it was nice to help out #1 for a change.

#2 is spending the week with his buddy at the buddy's grandparents. Yesterday we let #1 take a friend to the movies and dinner. Then we all went to youth at church together. Today we are working on #1's movie for the state project and painting the house. Yes, painting the house. It seems that remodeling means you then have to redo everything else that was messed up during the remodel. I have puttied and sanded the ceilings in the living room, dining room, and kitchen, and the walls in the sunroom. Today we spent over an hour at Lowe's getting paint to fix it all. What a happy holiday weekend it will be!

Money or Merit?

A couple of weeks ago #2 wanted to earn a little money. He was told if he would clear the ditch by the barn he could have $10. While he was working I was doing some yard work. He yelled over, "It sure is easier to work when you are getting paid for it!" I quite agree. I was not getting paid. There is merit in a job well done though. I cleaned out the pantry a week or so ago, and I was elated the rest of the day. It felt so good to know that all of the dirt and grime were gone. I pulled out the washer and dryer and scrubbed under them, threw out old things, resorted items, and made it look down right fantabulous! Today as I scrub other rooms, I keep reminding myself of how good that felt. It was good to have Hubby come home and say it sure smelled clean. I intend to do some sanding of the livingroom and diningroom ceilings, so I am not doing any heavy cleaning in there, but I have managed to clean rooms that will be shut off from the others when I sand. I guess if I want to feel even better about it, I can ask a cleaning service to come and give me a quote. Then I will feel like I was paid!

Ghosts in the Attic

The ghost is back. It asked #2 to "Pass me the nails." He came downstairs and told me heard something in the attic. I said it was probably me scraping the ceiling and echoeing through the attic. He said "No. It sounded like pass me the nails." He didn't know if it sounded male or female, but given the age of the house I would say that it would be a male. Interesting. Today's sermon was about the blessings of Christ. We were asked to write a thank you note to God about our thankfulness for his spiritual blessings. I have several ideas, but I want to think about it a few more days. I guess one thing to thank him for would be that I have the Holy Ghost, not just one in the attic.

Odds and Ends

I finally unloaded my camera. We had a yard sale at church today, and we show pictures on Sunday mornings at church. So I had taken a bunch of pictures and had to get them to the "church picture lady" before it got too late for tomorrow's slides. While I was at it, I downloaded some of these. It's amazing how quickly time goes! This was a posed shot at the speech contest. I figured #1 would pitch a fit about it, but since all of the other kids' moms were making them pose too I guess he decided it was ok.

These are my boys and a friend helping at the yard sale. The younger girl goes to our church as well. The kids had a great time at the lock-in, and I think they were able to help with the sorting and set up. They also did a lot of movie watching and playing, but that was part of the idea. Both boys said they had a great time and want to do it again...the lock-in not necessarily the yard sale. They are both in bed now at 2:45 pm.

These following pictures are from Mother's Day. Kelly wanted to be in the family pictures too.

I wanted to get those pictures up before May was over. At least they got up in the Mothers Day month!

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#1 had his hearing evaluation on Thursday. It all turned out fine. He doesn't have any hearing problems, though one ear is better than the other by a slight difference. It is great that he is fine, I just wish you didn't have to pay as much to find out you are fine as you do if you are not fine. It kind of makes you wish you just went with your gut and ignored the doctors.

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I just want you to know how old my husband and I are getting. Last night- a Friday night!- we were without children. We watched a tv show. I took a Benadryl and headed to bed by 10:00 ALONE! Oh for a lock-in outside of allergy season!

Sneezing and Sam

My allergies are wild this spring. Today I have sneezed until I am worn out from sneezing. I spent the morning at the Farmer's Market, but didn't have a whole lot of luck. There wasn't much foot traffic and what there was didn't seem interested in eggs. I sold 5 dozen the whole morning. The Market irritates me at times. The farmers sometimes sell produce that isn't local. The booth next to me had corn, peaches, and other things from SC. I just feel like they are lying to customers- though they do tell those who ask- since the idea is for people to buy local. Later in the season most of the food will be local though. Tonight the boys are participating in a lock-in at church. We are having a huge yard sale tomorrow to benefit a family that has enormous medical bills for their one year old son. The youth group is meeting to price and sort everything as well as have some fun. They will be baking items to sell tomorrow, and we will have a pancake breakfast in the morning for donations. Last year we gave $4,000-5,000. The mother's blog the other day said bandages and ointment can run anywhere from $3,000-$8,000 a MONTH! I hope God blesses our sale so we can help them out. Last, but not least, I sold Sam the other day. I sold the last of the baby goats last weekend, and we had removed the sign from the yard. Two guys came by asking if this was the place that sometimes sells goats. I hemmed and hawed since I wasn't sure I wanted to part with Sam. I know you are all shocked at that statement since I always complain about him. The problem was that I felt like he would protect the babies from anything if whatever is getting my chickens decided to try goat. But in the end I let him go. At least now I don't have to worry about him jumping the chicken fence and eating all of the chicken feed!

My Boy

It took me nearly a week, but here they are as promised. Actually I haven't unloaded my camera yet, but these were sent to me by the Soil and Water Dept. I doubt that my pictures will be as nice.

Above is #1 receiving his plaque for honorable mention. He really did do a good job. Below is a shot of the audience. I am behind the guy on the left with the bright aqua shirt. Some of you haven't seen my short hair-do yet.

Below are the 8 grade students sitting outside waiting their turn to speak. My boy felt awkward that he was the only guy, but we all reassured him that is the way to have it! The girl in the middle of the row with the red hair and black pants suit was the first place winner. The 26 year old sitting on the end with her black hair facing you was the second place winner. I'm glad my 13 year old looks 13.

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We had a special evening at church last night. We had a speaker from TN come to help us through some identity issues and we will be working with him for a while to see if we can get our church moving in the right direction. The best part for me was being with our church family in the middle of the week to share a meal. It was so encouraging to see everyone even though I didn't get to talk to all of them. We are truly blessed to be here.

Predictability

Kelly's favorite tv show is back on the air. The chicks started hatching last night, and I just took out the first dry ones to the hutch. Now Kelly is sitting outside watching the chicks through the rabbit wire. Mary had twins about a week and a half ago. Emma and, I believe, Faye are also pregnant. Madison is always last to kid and doesn't look pregnant yet. It always seems to go in that order; Mary, Emma, Faye, Madison. I have started working on school plans for next year. I haven't quite put away all of this year's supplies, and I am still working on the yearbook for this past school year. The test scores haven't arrived yet, but still I plan for the next school year. I have started back with my writing schedule, and have enjoyed filling my days with house keeping. The guys are out on their weekly Guys Night Out. A restaurant followed by the library or Barnes and Noble is what they always seem to choose to do. We and our animals are predictable. One might think that a little change is needed to keep our lives exciting, but it doesn't seem to be. We like it predictable, just like our God. "Every good and perfect gift is from above,coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Another Accident

Friday went well in Raleigh. My boy received honorable mention. The competition was fierce, but he really held up well. His speech was by far the most original, comparing the soil to the story of Frankenstein, but he just didn't have the animation to pull it off. The other kids had their speeches memorized, and the girls especially were very dramatic and interesting to listen to. #2 went with us and now he has a good idea of what he is up against next year. When we got back from the competition the boys wanted to go biking in the neighborhood. They had been sitting still all day long and I thought it was a good idea. A little while later #2 came running back in telling me that #1 had had another accident and needed me. My stomach lurched, and I ran for the van. I thought I better drive over in case I needed to carry him somewhere. My baby is much bigger than I am, and there was no way I could have carried him without the van. When I got to him he was standing, and his body was covered in dirt with a few scratches. He had missed the turn, gone into the ditch, flipped over the handle bars and landed on a big rock pile. Thank God he had his helmet on or I am sure you would have been asked for more prayers! The bike- less than a week old- is ruined. I think we will try taking it to a bicycle shop to see if they can fix it since it is so new. We also will be keeping him off bikes for a while. He has grown so quickly that I think perhaps his body hasn't kept up and he is too awkward. Anyway I told him I can only be 40 once, and he is ruining it for me. He is sending me straight to 50 or even 60! Saturday we worked on the yard and the garden. I have the garden looking rather good now. It is raining and cooler so that has to help as well. #2 went to a youth rally on Saturday and had the best time. Yesterday we mostly relaxed. It was a good weekend, after Friday anyway, and now we are back to work. I am enjoying the time to CLEAN my house. Today we are focusing on the kitchen and #1 is scraping paint from the ceiling. We had some paint start peeling a while back but I put off fixing it until I could have some free time. Summer vacation is here and now free time is fix-it time. I have pictures of the speech contest and other things, but I will wait to put those up when I have more of my work done. I'm on a roll and need to keep at it. Have a great day everyone!

Sleep Interrupted

#2 and I slept in the van. It was a very pleasant night to be out. I enjoyed the fresh air and breezes while waiting on the "thing" to show its face. I turned the van around so the headlights would shine on the chicken coop if anything came, and we filled the back with pillows and blankets for a pallet. The guns were loaded and ready- with the safety on- in the front seats. I slept well until 1:00. Then Kelly started barking. I shined the spotlight all over the back field, but I couldn't find anything. The rest of the night was spent in short sleeps interrupted by barking spells. It seemed that she was running it in circles around the neighborhoods, as I listened to the dogs bark all around us. We never saw what it was, and it didn't get anything else. So I plan to keep Kelly out at night for a while and we will see what happens. I don't think I can spend too many nights in the van, though. --------- #1 had his eye appointment today. He mangled his glasses so badly in the accident that I thought we better just go ahead and get the check-up and order new glasses. His eyes changed a bit since a little over a year ago, but the doctor said for his age- I assume that means puberty- it was a small change. We picked out glasses at WalMart and then came home and ordered them on Zenni Optical. The frames alone at WalMart were $29. I don't know what the lenses would have run, but #2 put us in the hole for about $150. I ordered two pair- one tinted, one not- with shipping for $20.95. Now how about that?! --------- I skipped class at church last night. I felt a bit badly about it since I wasn't sick per se, but I was totally exhausted. I tried cleaning out the house yesterday to prepare for a church yard sale next week. I guess I worked too hard, but it didn't seem that I had done too much. Perhaps too much excitement in the last month caught up with me. I will be happy to have a month without much excitement. Tomorrow we head to Raleigh for the speech contest for #1 and then rest, sweet, rest.

Death Eaters

Yesterday we woke to the death of our adopted guinea. Today I noticed my chicks were out of the kennel and thought I better go check on them. Five out of eight were dead and another one injured. Actually four were missing and one was left headless. Whatever it was was able to get into the kennel and still leave the gate closed. I am guessing some sort of fox or large cat. Tonight we will be sleeping in the van and carrying a gun. #2 is excited. He and #1 have made a deal...#1 gets the head of whatever it is so he can mount it, and #2 gets the skin to tan. Like any of that is going to happen.

Panic

The grandparents have been to visit. My in-laws came on Friday and left yesterday, and my parents came Sunday evening and left this morning. We had a nice visit with everyone. Hubby and his dad nearly finished building the greenhouse. My dad and mom wanted to be lazy, so we just visited yesterday. We did manage a trip to WalMart to buy helmets and new bikes for the boys. #2 was very excited and could hardly wait for his dad and grandad to get back with them. The boys tore around the driveway while the extra kids were here, but after dinner they wanted to go to the neighborhood to ride. I was washing dinner dishes when #1 came in and asked if they could go riding. I yelled out, "Be sure to wear your helmet!" I thought that would be the end of it, but about 10 seconds later I started crying and could hardly breathe. I was having fears of accidents and all sorts of possible calamities run through my mind. I went in my room to pray, knowing that I can't watch his every move and go with him everywhere. My mom kept talking to me and trying to distract me, but after maybe 15-20 minutes I started crying and said I had to be in that neighborhood. It was the closest I have ever come to having a panic attack. We found the boys playing basketball with a neighbor and everything seemed fine. I walked a couple of loops around the subdivision, gave the boys my watch, and told them when to come home. I thought I would throw up. They came home safe and sound. This morning #2 wanted to go riding again. I have the walkie-talkie, so if anything happens I can get him. Driving a car is going to be horrible for me.

Would You Like Some Cheese with That Whine?

We went to the beach yesterday to meet up with Hubby's aunt, uncle, and parents for a few hours. They are staying there this week and it is about an hour and fifteen minutes from here. The weather was crazy with fog rolling in and out all day long. #2 said he sure did wish we could get away from it all and spend a week at the beach. I asked him what it is that he would be getting away from. He answered all of the 4H tension and stress. There does seem to be a bit of it lately. #1 told me last night that he just isn't so sure that he wants to be in 4H. I assured him that he would feel differently in another week. It is presentation time and with all of the other things going in our life we are having to throw them together in a short amount of time. #1 is doing a presentation on puppets from around the world, and #2 is working on one about wildfire and prescribed burns. His is very nearly done. I hope that we will complete #1's this evening. The in-laws are coming tomorrow to stay for the weekend, and then my parents are coming to stay on Monday for a couple of days. We love seeing them, and the boys are irritated that they will have to practice their presentations and give them for the county while the grandparents are here. Life goes on whether there is company or not. Soon, though, the summer starts for real and we are all looking forward to it!

Finals Finally

I took my final today. It sure does feel good to be done! I studied like a bandit and I feel pretty good about it. I will find out next week how I did. This class was supposed to be a required course for the program at NCSU, but I found out last week that I didn't get in. I really am not upset about not getting in. I was afraid I might feel dejected or not good enough, but I haven't felt that way at all. I almost want to say I am relieved. I have really missed writing this semester. I know I haven't kept up the blog very well, but my own writing has gone by the wayside as I tried to complete all of my responsibilities as well as take the course. I tried praying that I would know for certain if I should complete the NC State program, but I also knew that I could get in or not get in and either might not be God's will since those admitting students may or may not be listening to God. So I wondered how I would feel upon hearing acceptance or rejection. Relief, I think, qualifies as knowing that I shouldn't be in the program. I don't exactly know what God has in mind for me, but I am excited about the possibilities. I definitely am looking forward to writing again. I am also looking at some programs here at ECU, but I don't know if I will jump right into that or wait another year. I feel a bit like I need to wait and make sure I am listening to that still, small voice. I have been reminding myself of this post from last year. We will see what happens. http://121689.blogspot.com/2009/07/prayer.html

You Just Never Know

I received a thank you card this week from two of my Envirothon students and their mother. The mother and one of the boys wrote a nice note of thanks. The other boy wrote, "Mrs. Angel, Thank you so much for everything you have done to make us the best team that you could. I also thank you for sacrificing so much time so you could teach us. And I am probably most thankful that we got blessed with such an awesome teacher as to let us eat raw shrimp! Thank you again! Sincerely, T." When we went to the Don Lee Center the boys caught something called glass shrimp. They asked if they could eat them, and the guide said yes it is possible. So belly up they went and ate a live shrimp. Well 4 of them did anyway. The oldest boy had a little more sense than that; which means that #2 did eat a live shrimp. Ugh. Evidently it was the highlight of Envirothon!