Blah Blah Blah

So Robb didn't get the job he interviewed for last week. I really thought he would and I'm pretty bummed. It was M-F, 8-5, right around the corner from our house, and it was something he would be crazy good at. And it paid actual money, not just the freaking Family Chrisian coupons he gets now for working his hiney off. I like the word "hiney."

I just thought we were ready for a steady stream of good news around here. It just seemed like time for it.

I am bummed and I don't wanna talk about it.

Wild Kingdom

So because Robb is away for a couple of days at a Managers Conference (DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS), we have been taking the Two Shoe Express to and from school. This is a good way to see things you normally wouldn't if you were in the car.

On our way there yesterday, we found a dead bullfrog the size of a small chicken. It was only recently dead, and actually looked very much alive. Mattie was pretty freaked out, but Vin and I found it pretty cool. Seriously, it is sitting in the grass and would easily fill a dinner plate, it is so big. I don't know how it got there, why it died, but I have to guess old age.

On the way home yesterday, a chocolate lab, probably still a puppy based on his fairly uncoordinated movements, followed us all the way home. He was a very cheerful fella, and basically well behaved. We kept him out of the busy street and he bobbled along and hung out with us for a while at home. Sid was not please at all. He did have a collar, so I assume he had some place to be, but I couldn't help liking him inspite of his propensity for drool.

Once inside, Mattie let out a shriek from the bathroom. There in the corner...and don't ask me how these guys get there...was one of the hairy spiders, the size of a half-dollar. I hate them. I hate killing them. I literally can feel the life-force leave the universe because they are so big. I feel like I'm killing a small bird. I smacked it dutifully with a fly swatter. But, you know, that sometimes only dazes them and I didn't want this one waking up later, all ticked off at me and ready to jump at my throat and suck my blood. So I took it outside to Jackson.

Jackson is the humongous yellow and black dude that lives in our backyard. I know that he is a good guy and that he eats a lot of the flies that plague us and so I put up with him, even though if I get too close, a cold chill runs down the back of my neck. Jackson has grown A LOT since setting up camp out there, when the kids first named him. I soon learned why. I tossed the dazed spider carcass at the web and within seconds, Action Jackson had shimmied up the web, wrapped the body in multiple layers of silk and began having a buggy smoothie. It was something, I tell you.

Thank you...

I laughed out loud at the Emmy's on Sunday night. I don't know if I was just wound up from the day or if I had too much chocolate, or if Conan was really funny, but I outright haw-hawed.

I'm always impressed by the actors who can cough up a funny acceptance speech...hands down the best this time was the writer/director of My Name is Earl, who listed the people he was not thanking, including his 8th grade teacher who said he wasn't funny, and God, for making him bald.

I'm not accepting any awards that I know of (Do they give out Mommy's? Oh we could have some fun with that....

"The Award for Most Appropriate Underwear in a Crisis" goes to...."

And now, the Mommy Award for "Most Consistent Production of Home-made Desserts "

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for, the Mommy Award for "Staying in the Mood to Keep Having Sex after Cleaning up One of the Children's Vomit"


...anyway, I digress. I just wanted to say "Thank you" to all my friends who have called, emailed, commented, or just lurked here on the blog lately. You get me. I love making you laugh. Thanks for listening and encouraging me. It really does make a difference knowing you are out there.

Uh...I think something good just happened...

So I just got off the phone with D and I think...

I think we have renters for our house.

Not just renters but
lawn-mowers,
utility-bill payers
snow-shovelers,
leaf-rakers,
Weekly-Shopper-Newspaper-Picker-uppers...
yeah, even bat-killers.

I think a 2 ton weight is about to be lifted off my shoulders.

My beloved house is going to be full with a family. A nice family. A family in need that we are in the position of helping.

Their son came to AWANA (the afterschool kids program at our church there) and we were impressed with him. I kept trying to remember the family name until D told me the kids' names and I remembered this boy. A very nice boy who Robb and I liked a lot.

Wow. Just like that.

Mornin'

Wow. Yesterday's Vingtage service was amazing. I can't explain all the reasons why, but this really is the one really great, really right thing in our lives.

Mud

For about a week now, maybe longer, I have been awake in the night, staring at the ceiling, wondering how things will ever work out. Feeling alone, forgotten, and mostly guilty for not being a better friend, a better Christian, a better person. Trying to pray, but too exhausted to cut through the heavy darkness around me. Overwhelmed by all that I should do, ought to do, need to do to make things right.

My mom told me yesterday that this is where faith comes in. I told her -honestly and authentically- "I know that's true, but honestly, that's a really trite answer." You can say things like that to your mom with the general expectation that she will still love you.

When my brother and I were the size of Mattie and Vin, my parents built their house. My dad dreamed of a pond in his back-yard and since the builder already had the heavy equipment there, he dug one. The spot they picked was spring fed, and several small streams flowed in and out it...which basically resulted in the pond sinking back in on itself, with gooey sucky mud, which was about the consistency of peanut butter, around it. It was like this for a long time before it became the very large and persistent puddle it is today.

One day we went out to play and mom told us, "Don't go near the pond." So of course, we went straight there with only the smallest of detours to guise our real destination. Moments later, my little rubber farm boots were sucked down into the gooey glue and I couldn't even take a step. I was sinking. My older brother, with dramatic TV visions of quicksand in his head, flew down to the house screaming for help. By the time Mom came to fish me out, my boots were goners. They are still there in the dirt I expect, these 25 years later. A spanking and a bath later, I was a wiser and cleaner little person.

The mud is around my ankles again. I need someone to fish me out. I'll gladly leave my boots behind and take whatever whacks I deserve so I can get on with life.

We are not good people,
but you have made us good.
We don't deserve anything from you,
but you choose to bless us.
We struggle with our needs,
but You can provide when You choose to.

We want to believe that you use what is broken
chipped and imperfect
To do your beautiful work.

In my head I hear..

"You are not holy."
"You are not good."
"You don't meet the standard"
"You do not belong"
"You have disgraced the name Christian"
"You play fast and loose with the Truth"
"Shame on you"

So if it is true
What I've heard about You, God...
That you actually love the broken and imperfect

the self-absorbed
comfort seeking
unfocussed
confused
unfaithful
careless
anxious
grouchy

Then please use us.
Please do something good with us.
Please make something beautiful out of us.
Make us part of your story...
Your fairy tale

Happily ever after.

Hard Rain

While we were picking up the kids from school yesterday, a massive storm blew in and dumped inches of rain in a short amount of time. The wind picked up the patio umbrella and table and tossed it over the top of the grill. The glass top shattered into a million pieces which I'm still not too sure how to clean up out of the grass. The grill seems to be fine, but a little bent up. The trellis, which had just begun to be breathtaking with purple and blue morning glories was also up-ended. I can't quite tell if they were uprooted completly, but they are not looking so good right now. A patio chair flew in the other direction and smashed my tomato plants and the wind also flattened my sunflowers. Out front, the rain pooled inches from our front door. I was so relieved that it did NOT go into the garage where Robb's library is still stacked in boxes. All in all, I think I will be most heartbroken if my morning glories got killed. I've been enjoying them for weeks now and spent a lot of time this summer watering them. It was also a relief to sense the sturdiness of the house as the wind beat against it. I'm thankful.

First Day

Cliffhanger weekend....

This may reveal a certain emptiness in my sphere, but I have certain blogs that I read with great frequency, and I know that some of you read mine with just as much frequency. Many of you don't update on the weekends, and I gotta say, I'm left wondering what will happen next in the ongoing sagas of your lives...

Did Darla and Michael get a contract on the house?
IS *** pregnant?
Did a certain two year old achieve potty mastery?
Did A & J survive the night with their new puppy?
Is Eleanore Rigby doing well?
When DOES Courtney sleep?
Did Kingsjoy and Kingjoy's Bride get a new house?
Will Sara pass the drug test and land the job as Chief Cook and Bunny Killer?
How did the reveal go "while SHE was out?"
Forget Mid-Eastern peace, is there peace in Goshen, IN?


Yeah don't leave me hanging with just that Grenzian Guy...all football and politics...blah blah blah : )

Neccessity is the Mother of Invention....

So I have a pile of stuff that needs mending or altering that has gotten to the point of making it worth it to haul out my sewing machine to sit in the middle of the living room and get thread everywhere. The only problem is that my machine is pretty old and though it works very faithfully, it has its quirks. The rubber grip that winds the bobbin has gotten so old it has begun to crack apart and no longer spins well enough to wind a new bobbin of thread. After fussing with it for a while last night, I finally just wound the bobbin by hand, which makes for pretty lousy stitching. Since I was working on jeans for Mattie (who needs elastic sewn into everything she owns because she's such a skinny minny) I promptly broke the only needle I had. So I made a quick pitstop at Walmart this morning hoping they had miscellaneous sewing machine parts...for a 20 year old machine....ya never know, right? Yeah, so I got 3 packages of needles, but no dice of the bobbin grip. So I resorted to my wits. I ended up with a toy John Deere Tractor with rubber wheels. Works like a charm...and the best part...I got the Utility Tractor with 12 wheels. Sweet.

Making a Dent....

So yesterday, I barricaded myself into the childrens' rooms and got them cleaned and organized, including weeding out the things they've grown out of (about half of Vin's pants!) and getting their clothes ready for the next season. I must have picked up at least 100 different Polly Pocket parts, which, as the name implies, are miniscule. Now both rooms are clean and organized and poor Sara actually has a niche for her belongings. She's still living out of her suitcase, but at least she has some inkling now which clothes are clean.

I also photographed 20 different lots of kids and baby clothes to list. I have been in a massive funk lately for ebay and haven't been able to list much. I think this may have something to do with the job interview I went to on Saturday, which I now have decided was a 10 on the creepy scale. I was so enamored by the idea that actually could earn 10 dollars an hour doing something I know how to do, I kind of missed the fact that it was a skeevy place to work. Hindsight, you know.

Robb's job continues to be a massive pain in the neck. For those who don't know, the COO decided awhile ago that he wanted someone with a lot of retail managerial experience, so the job was not offerred to Robb, even though he has been doing a fantastic job as interim manager according to his regional manager. So far the RM has offerred the job to three people who have all turned it down, and he is in town today interviewing. He confessed to Robb that he has a bad attitude about hiring anyone else and thinks that Robb is the very best person for the job. He has been given a deadline of Sept. 15th to find someone, and is hoping that if he doesn't find someone more qualified he can indeed offer it to Robb afterall. Robb also dropped off resume's to two other places this week, one of which he really liked. He has an interview with them on Monday at 2:00.

On the house front, we have fulfilled our five years under a rural development grant and we can now refinance to an interest only payment, since we aren't really interested in owning the house outright. This will of course, cut our payments nearly in half. Because the market is so bad, but is promising to improve with time, we are seeking renters for a year or two. By that time, we may be able to sell the house for a profit. Even our realtor thinks this is a good plan.

Sara is now neatly ensconced here and meeting some friends, but the lodging situation isn't perfect. Vin goes to sleep in his bed and when Sara is ready to go to sleep, she moves him to the couch and sets the TV to watch cartoons in the morning. This seems to be working so far, but isn't exactly ideal. If we just had one more room....I'd keep Sara forever. Yesterday, while I cleaned the kids rooms, she made lunch for them, cleaned the living room, scrubbed the bathroom, mopped the floors and vacuumed. You should have seen me...I was like on cloud nine with all that clean. Sara is hoping to hear from her first choice job any day now. This would be a great opportunity for her, even though it requires torturing bunnies.

We are also still operating with one car. It's working somehow for now, but with school starting soon, it's about to get a little sticky...especially when Sara gets another job (she is currently roughing it at the bookstore with Robb).

Vintage Fellowship is about to be in full swing. We have one more preview service this month and then we launch weekly services after Labor Day. I think we are a little giddy about this. I am really looking forward to the centering effect of weekly church life. I have missed having this as the core of our lives. I feel like we are about to put on something very normal and needed that we have been without for a long time. And oh, yeah, it's going to be a huge amount of work :)

So that's what's going on for you my friends who I really need to call and just haven't had a chance (Amy and Shari, you know who you are : )

We'll keep you posted!

Do you realize what time it is???

Let me give you a hint,

this time next week my kids will be at school!

What a summer it has been...the longest summer we have ever had in some ways...Mattie was done at Providence mid May, so its been a full three months. I have all the school supplies squirrelled away and today I will try to sort through their clothes and see what we need besides new shoes and lunchboxes. Thursday night will be a hotdog social at the school where we'll meet the PTA people (aka Overachievers). We finally got Vin's shots done (whew) and he never even flinched. Yes, I have that school feeling. I can almost smell the pencil shavings.

Now, if we can just squeeze in one more trip to the lake....

Adventures in the Interactive Food Museum

....Ala' Paul Riser (Babyhood): aka the grocery store, or in NWA, Walmart Supercenter.

I noticed last Sunday morning that hardly anyone was at Walmart between 7 and 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings, so I hauled my insomnia-depleted carcass out of bed and went on a grocery run before the rest of the family got up this morning.

First stop, the automated coffee machine. You plunk in a buck and it gives you a hot, fresh cup of coffee.

So, I'm tooling through the store, with my list and my long-evolved grocery strategy. You know...the plan you have in your head for shopping. How you survive making that many decisions...yes to this, no to that...

and maybe it was because it was morning (not my best time of day) and maybe it's because I am ultra money-conscious right now, but I was kind of cranky about it. I was kind of annoyed by the price of meat being so high here and by the obviously well-to-do,blonde and on top of that, disgustingly-thin chicks buying their expensive organic chicken...witchilly (that's right, as in like a witch) and judgementally thinking I could be that thin too if I could afford to eat only healthy food...all the while craving a can of Spaghettios, which even my children won't eat....anyway, I digress. The point is that I was being a brat.

So it's been a couple of weeks since I got groceries. I like to see how long I can make a grocery run last...usually like three weeks if I throw in pancakes as a supper once or twice. We've been using kleenex as toilet paper for two days, but I really REALLY hate the mini-grocery run, because let's face it, you go in for toilet paper only and come out with toilet paper, a package of matches, clearanced flip-flops, a dog toy and a cube of pop. And also, it destroys the rhythm...if you buy things at different times, they run out at different times; but if you buy everything at the same time, the laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, shampoo and paper towels all give out at the same time. It creates a small amount of control over my little universe. Are you beginning to sense that I have a lot of neuroses concerning grocery-getting/consuming? You are correct. It has been shocking at times for my husband, like when I go ballistic when he finishes off a gallon of milk a full day before I planned to buy groceries. I assume he should understand that when the milk gets low, you nurse it along to make it last: you NEVER just selfishly gulp down the rest of it without thinking about what I will put in my
coffee the next morning (I have a stash of non-fat dry milk for this purpose, actually). I have these rules in my head, you see. I don't know where they came from, but they are rules. My greatest guilty pleasure: opening a new package or container of something before the old one is gone. I can hear my mother yelling at me in my head, but I ignore her and do it anyway.

And then of course, there is the matter of health. Also a very loud voice in my head. The voice always votes for whatever is on "God's Diet" which I used after I had Mattie to lose the 45 pounds I put on. The rules of God's Diet are: if you can kill it, pick it, pluck it or dig it, you can eat it. No sugar, flour, bread, pasta, carbs, etc. But if you want a steak with a baked potato and real butter, have at it. This is an excellent diet which just melts the pounds off in no time flat, but it also leaves you a little out at ends for say, lunch, the great sandwich hour. So I try to stick to pretty healthy stuff for the most part, but Calvin is always hungry and I can either try to fill him up with fresh fruit and veggies every three minutes, or I can mix in some cheap filler by way of Saltine crackers and 99 cent oatmeal cookies. I also try to avoid the 33 cent mac and cheese, but it usually follows me home at least once a month.

So now maybe you understand some of my crankiness. I have the rules. I have the budget. I have the expensive meat. It's all very complicated in my head.

So I'm in the bean aisle. Beans are perfect actually because they are crazy cheap and they are on God's diet. I buy a lot of beans. (I convince Vin to eat them by telling him that they are tiny pills of mashed potatoes; Charleigh, on the other hand has never met a bean she didn't like.) And my cart was pretty full. Okay it was overflowing already. There was nothing fancy in there, but it was so full I was getting a workout from pushing it.

A man passed me, sitting in one of those motorized carts. He and a friend were shopping together and his friend asked if he wanted beans. He had maybe five things in the little cart on the front of the scooter.

"I don't know..." he hesitated. Then he looked at my cart."I wish I could spend that much money." he said flatly.

I mumbled something about "cupboards being empty..." but mostly, I was just dumbstruck. At first I was annoyed. After catching a whiff of him, I thought (witchilly again) "Maybe if you spent less money on cigarettes..." and then I caught myself. Or God caught me.

"You've been going through this store ungrateful and focused only on what you can't have. You're mad because you have to try to make healthy meals on a small budget. You're fussing like a spoiled brat. That guy has fewer options than you. He's disabled. He's alone. He's older. What do you think his future will look like? You at least are able bodied and can earn something for yourself. You know how to cook healthy meals for your family. You have that ability because of me. How about a little gratitude?."

I headed to the checkout line humbled.

The cart was actually so full, I couldn't get it all emptied to move foreword and get the bags the cashier was filling with scanned items. The lady behind me said, "Oh! I want to go to your house! Look at all that good food." I must have given her a double take. "I have three kids." I offered almost apologetically. She laughed, "Yes, my children are grown now, but when they were younger, all their friends wanted to come to our house because they liked our food better"...she laughed to herself and the cashier hooted to me, "Yep, just wait til they're teenagers!" and then wished me a great weekend.

I began to wonder...am I...well, for lack of a better word, "normal"? Do I buy too many groceries? Don't we basically have less than other people in our cupboard? I am left scratching my head. So if any of you want to chime in on this, what is a normal grocery budget for you? Is there a better way to do this thing? What are your grocery strategies? How do you cut corners and stay healthy?

I told you I think about things too much.

Funny Face

According to Dr. Leman, last born children are natural entertainers. Ya think?

that's all I'm trying to say...

Back to life, back to reality....

We had a great anniversary getaway to Eureka Springs where we ate entirely too much, reached the total saturation point for cutesy little shops (see top photo!) and just generally had a fantastic time. My sweet husband surprised me with a bouquet of ten roses with daisies (my wedding bouquet - which was inspired by the Jars of Clay song, I Want to Fall in Love with You) He also compiled an overview of "Our First Decade." I love that Sweet Man.

When we got back yesterday afternoon, I switched party hats and Sara and I went out for dinner and a movie to celebrate both her survival of babysitting for two days and also her 23rd birthday. We had a great time and saw Lady in the Water. I am totally inclined to love M. Night Shamalan, and so even though I was still scratching my head a bit by the time the very last group of words rolled up the screen, I decided to like it. I liked it better after I saw the very last group of words scroll.

Now it is raining and I am finally feeling ready to settle in and do some actual work. And, I have a call in to a place that advertised for an ebay seller, so that could be interesting. I'm not the biggest fan of cats, but just now, I do envy their ability to purr.

Ten years ago today....

My friend's daughter Helena was born in MI.

And in PA...

We were setting up the gym with white lights and tulle.

Grandma and Grandpa Valentine were on their way.

We got ready for a hilarious rehearsal picnic.

The Aunts were cutting up veggies in the kitchen.

The florist forgot the rose petals.

I wore a size 4.

Ted got in from Philly.

Dr. Carter disapproved of the rehearsal...where we laughed our heads off.

Bill Clinton was President, September 11th hadn't happened, Mad About You was our favorite TV show, we drove a teal Geo Storm, D & K were still married, A and Ted and Ron weren't married yet, and Nate was a year old.

The next day, Cathy took this picture...it ended up being my very favorite one.
Ten years. They've just flown by...that happens when you spend it with your very best friend in the world.

i'm not sure why I found this so annoying...

but I've been nursing along two tomato plants in the back yard because I'm very partial to "real" tomatoes in season. So I managed to keep them alive in the heat, and to keep the dog away from them. So I was more than a little fried when a certain two year old of mine took a bite of one of the unripe ones, decided it was not "good for food or pleasing to the eye" and proceeded to pick every one off the plant and chuck them into the yard.

She's in time out. Currently singing U2's "Vertigo." I kid you not.

"yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah....."

For an encore, her favorite knock-knock joke:

knock knock

"Who's there?"

Impatient Cow (okay, she only says, "cow")

"Impatient cow, wh..."

"MOO!"

The Fam

I love this pic of us just as we are: Mattie with her Curious George shirt, Vin with his Narnia shirt. Charleigh's thumb firmly in place. Bare feet. Dirty chins. Disheveled after running races in the yard. A moment of sheer bliss.

If you even wondered who Courtney is....

she is my adorable sister, three years my junior. She brandishes a rapier wit, a heart of gold and could cook your socks off with a bag of flour and some other magic she throws in.






And here is her adorable daughter Dora, who's rose-petal complexion must be aided by her strange diet. Here she contemplates a tiny frog.

Later she settles for a pill bug as a snack.












Finally, the two-year-old-power-grand-daughter-team of Dora & Charleigh with Poppa. Yep, this guy is wrapped, just like he was with my two sisters and I.

Yes, that's the sound in my ears....

Dear Darla posted this to her blog today and I just had to put it on Happiness too. This resonates deep in my soul and gives words to what has been happening to me and many people I love for months now....


the baffling call of God

"and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished … and they understood none of these things."
luke 18:31, 34

"God called Jesus Christ to what seemed unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death; He led every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. Jesus Christ's life was an absolute failure from every standpoint but God's. but what seemed failure from man's standpoint was a tremendous triumph from God's, because God's purpose is never man's purpose.

there comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. the call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. the call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. it cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is after. the things that happen do not happen by chance, they happen entirely in the decree of God. God is working out His purposes.

if we are in communion with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, we shall no longer try to find out what His purposes are. as we go on in the Christian life it gets simpler, because we are less inclined to say - now why did God allow this and that? behind the whole thing lies the compelling of God. 'there's a divinity that shapes our ends.' a Christian is one who trusts the wits and the wisdom of God, and not his own wits. if we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the leisureliness which ought to characterize the children of God."

oswald chambers

David made us laugh so hard, we squeezed the hearty lemons

Halfway through the project, Frank looked like he had been
gargling the glass pickle.

Visit the euphemism generator if you haven't already. It is just the thing on a hot August day.

how'm I gonna fit this great big post into dis little box?

I have so much to write about, I don't know how I will be able to get it all in...

I am amazingly refreshed. (Notice I didn't say that I am refreshing because I just mowed the lawn and I frankly stink like a thing, as we say here.) But I do feel alive and present in my life for the first time in a while and it is a pretty amazing feeling. Robb's parents took the two older kids to MI with them for a week and then dropped them off in PA with my parents on their way back to VA. That was some logisitical feat, let me tell you. That left Robb and I with just Charleigh for a week, and she still sleeps a lot. Good times.

Then, early Saturday morning, we loaded up the car and hit the road: destination, upstate NY, with a pitstop at my parent's house to say "hi" to the kids (who stayed with Poppa and Nana while we went on to camp: making that 2 weeks with just one kid). We filled the cooler, listened to books on CD and had a very smooth and long road trip through St. Louis, Indianapolis, Dayton, Columbus and then the relative boon-docks of northwestern PA. I think what made it fly by was the books on CD...

I am still reeling from our first choice called, "Under the Overpass" which was the record of two college students who chose to live as homeless men in 6 cities for six months. The book chronicles their experiences as Christians looking at the world from a very different vantage point in the heat of Washington DC, the damp of Portland, OR, the cold of San Francisco, the misery of Phoenix and finally San Diego. It was truly an amazing story and I feel like an idiot for not being able to put into words how this story will stick in my brain. These guys are young and idealistic and have hearts of gold. I can only imagine how this choice will affect the lives of many people who hear their story.

Next, we took in Lauren Winner's Mudhouse Sabbath, a book I've wanted to read for a long time. Winner is one of my favorite writers and I loved this effort to explain how Christians can benefit from the deep tradition of orthodox Judaism. I'll be thinking about this one too.

We also polished off another "reading" of Velvet Elvis. Man, that book is something.

After a laid back Sunday at Mom and Dad's, we had another 6 hour drive to Camp Bayouca, where Robb was the speaker for Junior High week 1. You can check out his anecdotes on the Grenzian. I personally love this gig. Robb is doing what he loves, where he loves to be, so it is more like a vacation than anything. The Missionary Cottage (or Lucky Lake House, as we like to call it) sits down by the lake and I spent big chunks of time lying on the dock, reading and chilling. Charleigh played in the sand and water, and I took her out for a canoe ride (I love to canoe). Robb and I had tons of time together and on Friday, my fellow-venturer and good friend Amy hit the sales in the pouring rain. She introduced me to the collossal "Thrify Shopper" store and we guiltily tore ourselves away after about 3 solid hours of heavy thrifting. Good stuff, friends. Pretty much the very definition of a perfect week.

One of the great things that also evolved was that Sara came back to AR with us. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Sara was in the youth group in our church in MI, just graduated from Bible college, and is basically a member of the family. We haven't decided if she is our sister or the daughter I had at the age of 10, but basically she has indentured herself to us to serve in any way possible. ( You can check out her blog at hopebeundismayed@blogspot.com) And just to make sure that she didn't get away, I tampered with her car. Just kidding....it turns out there is a limit on how far a 91 Geo Prism transmission will go. Just outside Elmira, NY, would be the precise location. So we ditched it. Right there. Bye Bye little Suzy. Hello Pick-A-Part. (anybody out there got a car they are looking to get rid of cheap?). For those of you keeping score, that's three adults, one car.

Interesting factoid: I think it is hotter and slightly more miserable in northwestern PA than it is in Arkansas. That might be because of the insane humidity or the complete lack of air conditioning, or perhaps even because my poor parent's basement flooded ...again. The kids had fun with Poppa and Nana, but don't call there anytime soon because I'm pretty sure they are sleeping...round the clock.

So here we are again. We have more work to do than is probably humanly possible. We now have two jobs to find and a car and all that jazz. Another Vintage service on Sunday looms with lots of unfinished work. I have apparently lost all the important papers needed to enroll the children for school, but don't tell them because they are already nervous little wrecks. But hey...we still have a couple of weeks of summer left and I feel happy. Relaxed. Chill. It feels nice.