Tight Back

The back is making progress. The upper back finally "released" today during manipulation. I think it has been 13 treatments so far. That was one tight back!

Surprise!!!

This was a surprised boy. His friends wanted to throw him a surprise party since he wasn't planning on doing anything special. We emailed his school friends and told them to be at CiCi's Pizza yesterday at 4:45. When we got there after school they were already gathered at the back of the restaurant. He didn't even notice until they jumped up from the floor and yelled, "Surprise!" He got a big smile and turned red.

One of the girls made him a cake-- very yummy chocolate, from scratch!-- and her mom decorated it since she didn't have her composition done for class the next day. Shame on her!

There were about 12 kids. Hubby and I stayed about 3 tables away with another mom. Two women came over at different times to tell me how impressed they were with the kids. They really were very well-behaved. The second woman even said, "I work with teens and they don't act like that!" We never once had to quiet them down or make a reprimand. I love all my kids!

Happy Birthday

Six feet, one inch. Barely 30 inch waist. Size 12-13 shoe. Fourteen years old today. That's my boy by the numbers. He is a goofy, gangly, witty, charming, young man who can do nothing wrong today. Tomorrow he will be back to being plenty wrong, but for today he gets a reprieve. Happy Birthday, Puppy!

Orange Over Achievers

Everyone knows absolutely NOTHING rhymes with orange. That is until #2 comes downstairs, from an afternoon "cleaning" his room, and informs me that door hinge rhymes with orange. Items are still left strewn about, the bed is still unmade, drawers still stand askew, but we now know what rhymes with orange. Maybe I should just close the door on its door hinge and not think about it. I went upstairs last week to help #2 with some school work that needed printed out. While I was trying to fix the printer I kept smelling something like a dead mouse. "Go around there and see if you find a dead mouse," I ordered #2. What I meant was go into the attic crawl space and see if a mouse was in there. What he did was crawl under the printer stand and FIND A DEAD MOUSE!! It had obviously been there a few days. He removed it, and I washed the area with Lysol and sprayed an odor neutralizer. On second thought maybe I should take the door off the door hinge. ---------- "We will be working on Cumulative Records this weekend," I informed #1 last week. The look of excitement was precious to behold. Cumulative Records are a three years' summation of what a kid has done in a project area. You are allowed to turn in two a year after you turn 13 in 4H years. This is #1's first time to be eligible, and of course we are turning in two reports. #1 is fond of saying, "You don't have to be an over-achiever, Mom!" "If you are born into this family you do," I snidely reply. Anyway, as we worked on the prestigious Cumulative Record, #1 asked yet again why he has to do this. "Honor Club," I replied. "But I don't want to be in Honor Club," he whined. "Yes you do. You said so." "When did I ever say that?" he asked with annoyance. "Every time you asked me in the last couple of years how many points you have toward Honor Club," I shot back. He just grinned and went on typing his report. He is an over achiever even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Bless Your Heart

Our local paper has a section called Bless Your Heart. You can submit local comments as either real bless your hearts (Thank you to the guy who paid for my meal in the Taco Bell line.) or they can be "Southern Bless Your Hearts", which means it is not a nice thing (You're as bright as a burned out light bulb, bless your heart.). My husband and I enjoy reading this section because the comments can be so funny. Here is one from yesterday: Clothing stores continue to decrease their inventory in dresses each year. Styles are very unflattering. I think this is forcing women to wear pants to church. Hubby said he quite agrees and any woman worth her salt should learn to sew and wear a dress to church! (Tongue in cheek of course) I am left wondering is this person serious or is this a tongue in cheek remark on his/her part? So have you seen the woman who fell into the mall fountain because she was texting while walking? Her comment: "Texting and walking can be very dangerous." I wonder if she texts while driving? Bless her heart. ------- Solved lots of the world's problems last night as I lay awake for several hours. Ok, perhaps not the world's problems, but my little part of the world anyway. ------- Thank you to those who remembered my birthday yesterday. I had a lovely day teaching enjoyable kids. We went to dinner at Dickey's for some Texas brisket- which is very, very hard to find in Eastern Carolina, and then came home to fall asleep on the couch. Perhaps that is why I had trouble sleeping last night.

Slowing Time

Boy God sure is fantastic and surprising. A woman at church was needing rides to school and back home this semester. I offered to pick her up after school on Wednesdays. She misunderstood and last night I received a message on my phone saying she needed me to get her at 8:20 to go to school. I thought about it a while. I consider my home schooling a full-time job, and leaving in the morning to get her would be missing some school time, but I also want her to be able to improve her life. So I decided the sacrifice would be worth it to help her, and I left this morning to get her. I picked her up and dropped her at the college, which is by SAM'S. Then I stopped and gassed up, picked up bread and milk, got to the chiropractor in time, made my way to the library to get #2's History books, and then went home. The kids were already working on their school work. I cleared the kitchen, folded laundry, and basically straightened up the house. We had lunch and then I worked with each boy independently. Now I have checked emails, paid bills, and worked on tomorrow's writing classes. I leave in half an hour to pick up my extra boys and get this lady from school. Here I am with time to pack tomorrow's school lunches! There wasn't time to do all of those things, but God blessed me with time since I sacrificed the earlier time. I don't know how God slows time for me, but he has done it before. Thank you Father for showing me yet again that if I serve others you will faithfully serve me.

Tasty Pie

"How's my bride today?!" Papaw bellowed as entered the house. Grandma sat in her chair visiting with me over the noise of Wheel of Fortune. Papaw walked through the entryway and grabbed hold of her as if to dump her on her backside and laid a big smack on her. Grabbing hold of his arm she giggled and told him to "behave". That was a daily scene for me as a young girl. I miss them still. Learning to love someone for the rest of my life was taught to me by grandparents, parents (who would kiss in the kitchen when I had friends over! YUCK!), aunts and uncles, and friends at church. There was never a thought that marriage would be any different for me. Lifetime Love was not a fairytale but a daily reality. A friend asked me the other day how I handle with my kids "church issues" that end up on the front doorstep. She was specifically asking about marriages that are falling apart in front of everyone. Her son thinks he may not ever want to marry because his family has seen so many of these disasters. After thinking through this for several days I guess my answer should have been that I just point back at our family. There is too much love involved to not want a piece of that pie. It isn't that the pie is perfect, certainly there are parts of burned crust and meringue that is turning soggy, but the pie tastes good anyway. ------------ Back spasms knocked me off my feet this morning when I got out of bed. I managed to get to the chiropractor and he pushed some things around to give me a little relief. This is a very hard Resolution to keep! Hopefully in another week or so the spasms will subside and everything will be limbre again.

iPods and Brownies

My children bought iPods with their Christmas money. This was against their mother's better judgment, but their father sided with them. I suppose I understand that they want to be part of their friends' culture, but I had hoped we could wait longer. My rule had been no electronics- other than tv- until they are 15. Today I had to crack down on them and the iPods found their way to the top of my chest of drawers. It seems texting friends and playing games ranks higher than school work. The new rule is iPods go in my room during school hours. I have listened to my friends talk about these disciplinary actions, but I was exempt from the stories since there was nothing to take away. I don't like being part of this club. Tonight the kids are having a "hang-out" at our house. There are about 15 of them in the living room now watching a movie. They are watching those crazy 1950's B movies. Currently it is "Attack of the Crab Monsters". I think they will play some games later and probably watch some other movies. I like having lots of kids over to play and visit. The Envirothon team was here this afternoon studying about soils. Halfway through our meeting they asked, "Mrs. Angel, did you make brownies?" I hadn't, so the question changed to, "Mrs. Angel, are you going to make brownies?" They really like my brownies. I told them to come back tonight for some. Instead I made cookies, which are as good as my brownies. The house smells divine. BTW, I used a new egg in the cookies. I love January 10!

#2 and My Back

"Why are you putting the curtains up?" asked #2. "Because I washed them last week and now I need to hang them up." "Oh. I thought you were taking them down for winter." He had no reason for me as to why I would take them down for the winter. I have no idea. "You should put more blue on that hat and then finish in yellow," observed #2 about my knitting. I thought I would end it in blue and then make a yellow pom-pom for the top." "I thought it was for Isaac." (my nearly 3 year old nephew) "Yes." "You don't put pom-poms on boys' hats. He'll get made fun of and wish he could crawl in a hole." "He's 3. It's ok to put pom-poms on 3 year old boys' hats." "No. His parents will take a picture and show it to his girlfriend some day. She will look at the picture and cry, "You were so wierd! I can't possibly date you!" and then he will never get married and it will be all your fault." There won't be a pom-pom on your hat Isaac. I went back to the chiropractor yesterday and today, and I go again tomorrow. I am a category 2 out of 4. Four means surgery. He informed me I am much too young for even category 2, so off I have gone for shock therapy and the traction bed. My back is having spasms and that Mac truck continues to run over me. This might be one of the hardest New Year's Resolutions I have ever made. I hope it ends up being a great thing.

The Real World

"The real world has arrived," I called up the stairs at 8:15 yesterday. School started back in session last week, but because of their sicknesses, I went easy on them. So now that the boys are just hacking up one lung instead of two, I decided to hit 'em hard! Actually I can't imagine that 8:15 is hitting too hard, but they did look pretty hard up. The real world slammed into me yesterday too. I made one New Year's Resolution: to take care of my back. Finally yesterday I bit the bullet and made an appointment with the chiropractor. His assistant took a couple of X-rays, and then he came bounding into the room. "You are out of alignment. You are waaay, waaay out of alignment. I mean you are really, really out of alignment!" I guess it was a good resolution to make. Anyway he did some acupressure and shock therapy, and then I came home to feel like a Mac truck had run across me and then backed up for good measure. I go back today for another run at it. My appointment isn't until 10:30 because the office was planning to open late today. It seems all of Eastern Carolina knew that the real world of ice was going to slam into them last night. True to form it did; everything is covered in a sheet of ice. So now I have to tromp out in the cold and ice to see if my hens were productive yesterday. January 10 is the day that there is enough light for hens to produce eggs again. None too soon either as I have one egg left. Everyone has their own definition of "the real world", but it never seems to be a fun place. When the "Real World" comes though, I have a feeling we will all know it, and some of us will enjoy it. "That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." 2 Peter 3:12-13

Chicken Soup

The family is dropping like flies. Hubby started on Sunday, and the boys have slowly fallen to the crud over the last couple of days. This morning everyone was coughing. I guess that was my "Morning Coughy". They have low grade fevers and lots of cough. I just made a pot of chicken soup, and we will have lunch shortly. There's just nothing like a pot of real chicken soup. There are now 2 jars of my chicken left. Those who don't know, I can't eat regular store bought chicken. I haven't had it for years. It makes me very sick. But for some reason I don't have any trouble with my own chickens. One doctor said it had to do with a parasite that factory farm chickens carry. Anyway, the chickens should start laying again January 10-11 if they follow the normal schedule. I guess those that don't lay will end up in the canning jar or freezer to restock my supply. Hubby bought me new knives for Christmas just for butchering. The rule around here is be productive or be a product. All those coughing sickies better remember that!

Strong Women

I often write of the women that have affected my life. The strong ones who touched me forever and imprinted their stories on my heart. There are others whose touch was a passing pat, who didn't know what they had meant to me. This morning though, I wrote about two women who never knew 70 years ago that they would ever affect me. They are my in-laws' mothers. These women raised sons and daughters to believe in family, honesty, and hard work. They taught them of Jesus and his sacrifice. They stressed marriage and faithfulness. And then their children met. These two people became a family and taught my husband the lessons their own mothers had taught them. And now I benefit from the lives these women lived. Today their lives are but shadows dancing on the wall. Both women suffer from Alzheimer's. They can not remember the grandchild whom I married. Seldom can they recognize the children that they raised. Yet their personalities shine through the fog of forgotten memories like sun on a damp and drizzly day. They were good women to live the lives they did and to raise their children in such a way that their great-grandchildren receive the benefits. They are still good women showing us now how to trust others and accept help graciously.

2010: Good or Bad?

Last night Hubby and I went on a real grown up date. Red Lobster and a movie that let out at midnight! I don't think in all of our 21 years of marriage we have dated that late at night, with good reason; I fall asleep!! During dinner we were discussing the past year, and we decided it was a pretty lousy year. I didn't get in the grad program I was trying for, my child broke his head, financially things went kablooey, my health deteriorated and I ended up with Bell's Palsy, the shed roof leaks, the goats aren't selling, and on and on. There were a few highlights. My Envirothon team went to State competition, #1 was in two plays, Hubby was able to teach at college. We saw family on a few occasions and enjoyed more quiet times with each other. This morning when I awoke to a new year, I found myself hoping it will be a better one. Then my perspective changed. I thought about all of those bad things and how each was accompanied by the presence of God. I thought of how He had placed friends where I needed them at just the right times. I thought of how blessed by God we are that the health problems have turned out to be ok, that the finances are still flowing, the kids have what they need and are beginning to thrive again, and on it went. I arose from bed to see my home enfolded in a blanket of fog barely able to see the structures or road around me. As I sipped my peppermint tea the fog began to dissipate. I can now clearly see the barn, the neighbor, the road to town. I guess last night we were in a fog of memory, remembering parts of situations, but not the whole. This morning the fog evaporated and left me with the realization that no matter what this new year brings, good or bad, God will be there providing just what I need when I need it. Now how can that be a bad year?