No Place Like Home

Last weekend we drove 4 1/2 hours away to my brother in law's wedding(husband's brother). We drove a short ways on the interstate then hopped through many highways to get to the tiny little town of Pocahontas, Iowa. I don't know the history of this place, I probably should look it up, but there isn't a whole lot to offer there. There is a giant statue of Pocahontas though, and my girls were pretty fascinated with her.

 We got there Friday, a few hours before the rehearsal was to start and were able to get settled in the Bed and Breakfast that was set up by the mother of the bride. We were very thankful that she put us up with everyone else as it was close(10 steps) to where the wedding and reception were being held. I had looked this place up online, asked others about it and wasn't able to find much, so I was slightly worried, OK fine, I was a total snob and figured the place to be a back woodsy dump. Sorry, I know, its awful but true.
We get there and I knew the place for the wedding and reception would be held in a barn, the B&B looked like a log cabin. We go inside and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it is clean and comfortable. Nothing gross about it. We had almost the whole upstairs for our family, a sitting room with a fridge, table, three beds in our room and our own bathroom.
So we settle in and spend some time with family before the rehearsal is to start. They warn us about the owner of the B&B, and we all laugh, I'm thinking my brother in law is exaggerating, which he is good at and getting a laugh out of us.
That is, until we walked into the barn. Actually we hadn't even stepped into the barn, we only had opened the door and before we ever see anyone we hear her....with a gravelly voice and probably one step away from one of those voice box thingies... DON'T LEAVE THAT DOOR OPEN! SHUT THAT DOOR BEFORE YOU LET THE FLIES IN!

We hurry our children in and shut the door, although we all were a little bewildered and unsure if any of us really wanted to go in that door at all, we should've slammed it shut-and ran-alas, we didn't and in we went.
She comes over to introduce herself as the owner of the B&B, did we find our rooms and make sure to keep the door closed.  As she is rattling off her list of rules one of my daughter's leaned down on a folding chair, tipped it back and set it down again but before it ever hit the floor "DON'T MOVE THE CHAIRS!!!"
My poor daughter was so scared she burst into tears which didn't seem to phase the lady one bit.
Really? You own a B&B? You have guests stay-and they actually stay-shouldn't you have better people skills to be in this line of work? Just a thought-good PR and all...?

Next we headed out to the town's legion hall and had dinner with both families, Josh got to see many Uncles, Aunts and cousin's that he hadn't seen in years. Everyone ate, drank, talked, drank, watched a slide show of pictures, drank, cleaned up, drank, and figured out who was driving who home.

We get back to the B&B, no sight of the Scary Lady and put our kids to bed. Came back down to Bride and Groom's sitting room to find lots of cousin's had come out and everyone drank and sat around talking for the next 3 hours. Well, Josh and I being the old people of the room checked out at 1230, everyone else stayed and drank for who knows how much longer, I've never lived in a frat house-but I'm guessing that's what one looks like-and smells like-with as much alcohol was in that place.

Wedding day started out uneventful, it was an afternoon wedding so relaxing morning turned into crazy afternoon. My youngest two were in the wedding, along with Josh, so we got them ready before the rest of us. It was a very nice and short wedding. Jaden and Ella did amazing-walked up and back down without a hitch-they were just too cute! I think my favorite part of the weekend was watching Jaden with the bride's uncle and grandpa. They  seemed to become fast friends, high five's and fist bumps turned into smiles on cue from Jaden. That also turned into, gum by the packetful and pennies, dimes and quarter's "coming out of Jaden's ears" So much so that I had to empty his pockets periodically-I think he made $3! Still if you ask him now what is in his ears, he will tell you " Pennies!"

Later after the dinner everyone was dancing and drinking from the flowing keg, at least tonight, most didn't have to drive home-just stumble across the 10 steps it took from the barn to the B&B.
I, of course, had to take the kids back to the room much earlier than the party ever ended-that's where I wish I would've had a babysitter with us! I bummed around in the room from 1030 until 100am where some of the other B&B residents were starting to stumble in. Some fighting started going on-I stepped out to see what it was and realized I didn't want in the middle of it, waited till Josh was done helping clean up at 130 and watched as everyone piled into the Bride and Groom's sitting room, yet again, for more drinking.
Really wouldn't be my way of spending my wedding night, but apparently they didn't mind. Josh and I finally left them and I still heard shouting going on until around 3a.m. Thankfully my kids slept through it all and woke up bright eyed at 730, awesome, thanks kids!

Driving home we had trouble with the van and had to stop at one point to check things out-thought it was the transmission actually, and had to take it pretty slow for awhile-very frustrating when you are 30 minutes from home and Josh had to go to work in 60 minutes. We made it home safely though and happy that the weekend was over. There really is no place like home.

Parking Wars

We live across from 4 apartment complexes. Our street isn't a main road, but its a shortcut and is pretty busy. There are garages and a parking lot  for the apartments but the street becomes the parking lot for most.

Our driveway is a single lane drive,  on the medium to long side-it goes past the house to the detached garage in our backyard-it also cuts off to the left and you are able to park two cars but getting them out isn't easy.

You can see where I'm going with this....

So, since Josh is at work at night, the street parking in front of our house is filled, when he gets home in the morning, he has to park behind the van in the driveway so I can't get out-or park at least 3 houses down.

There are two vehicles that are consistently parked in front of our house-not sure why they like this spot? Josh has asked them repeatedly to park elsewhere or at least leave on spot for him to park. They refuse and things have gotten ugly.

If they happen to be gone-which for some reason they don't leave their apartment much? Josh parks there. When he leaves for work-they know. They have been watching from their apartment, and will come out and move their vehicles to park in front of our house.

As a mom with children by myself at night-this creeps me out.

A few weeks ago the kids and I were sitting in our living room, reading books and waiting for a pizza to be delivered, Josh was sleeping-it was a few hours before he had to leave for work. I look out the window and notice that "Red Truck Guy"(Josh calls them Dumb and Dumber but I refer to them by their vehicles :P) has come out to his vehicle which happens to be parked in front of Josh's truck. I see him stand and stare, then proceed to walk the length of Josh's truck and back, then get in his vehicle and speed off.  Because Red Truck Guy has gotten in Josh's face and they both had a shouting match, I won't deal directly with him, the childish ways and weird behavior is enough to make me stay away.So after he drives off, I go out and look at Josh's truck to find it has nice key scratch all the way down.
I let Josh know and he is furious. He talks to the people who own the apartments and they refuse to do anything, our word against theirs. Awesome.

Another week or two passes by and Josh had to unload stuff from the truck to the garage, I parked the van in the street in front of our house. Josh leaves for work, I don't even remember that the van is in the street and it stayed there all night.
The kids and I head out early to the farmer's market the next morning and I get in to drive after buckling everyone and look in my driver's side mirror to see if I can pull out into the street-and see that my mirror is cracked.
I can't prove that Red Truck Guy did this, but I'm thinking.. if a car drove down the street and hit my mirror-wouldn't there be more damage then just the mirror being cracked-like- the whole mirror would be hanging by the wire? It looks like someone drove a nail  or some sharp object and just hit it to break it.
Another thought-how is it that Red Truck Guy and Son with White Camaro can park their vehicles in front of our house, day after day, night after night, and never suffer any trouble?
An annoying coincidence or foul play?

Today is a day...

that started with a troubling phone call. Nothing major-work issue-but one that puzzles me and that I wish to go fix, but the day is too packed to even try. So I have to let it go for today.

Then when I go to take my girls to school, and because we are later than normal, we got stuck in the usual traffic jam of 4 lanes of traffic, one bus that is stuck in the middle, kids darting through moving cars and we are at the back. I park the van in the middle of the road, obviously no one is moving, go around get the girls out, and walk them safely to the sidewalk of the school.. come back to the van to see that one of my precious girls has unbuckled Jaden and he is running amok in the van. I catch and buckle him, get in and of course, now traffic is moving and I'm getting honked at. I start to move and notice something odd about Aubrey..something she has yet to notice.
Her backpack is still in the van.  So like the ever calm mom that I am, I roll the window down and...
"AUBREY-YOU FORGOT YOUR BACKPACK GET BACK HERE AND GET IT!"
She comes and we've blocked traffic twice now and the little dears are finally hurrying off to school.

Next phase comes when I get home to grab water bottles, snacks, toys, socks and shoes Jaden and I can go to Stroller Strides. I *think* I get it all and we head out and drive down the road-only to realize-I'm still wearing flip flops. So we turn around go back home so I can get my socks and shoes ,and head back out. I'm 5 minutes from the park when I look down at my coolant levels. I never look at it, I can only attest the fact that I looked at it to God. You know that Holy Spirit nudging? So thankful for that! I keep an eye on it until we park and call Josh to see if he can bring some water and coolant. He's working but call when I'm done.
I do the grueling class in the heat for an hour and start the van, looks good.
We start driving and it shoots up to HOT. The light comes on, its ringing at me, I'm expecting it to smoke.. or burst into flames movie style, any minute.
Thankfully I was able to pull it in quickly stop and shut it off. Also thankfully, my mom was nearby so she took Jaden  back home to be cool and I sat in the shade until Josh came and filled everything up, was able to drive home and all is well.
I have 45minutes to eat lunch and shower before I have to pick up kids at this point because its a two hour early out for extreme heat. We had two extra kids today and it was-mass chaos-you could tell it was Friday. Everyone was just insanely crazy and I am just glad the day is finally over.
These long stressful days are a great reminder to enjoy those days I have nothing to do and soak it in as much as I can-not feeling guilty in the least for it either! Now.. when I can see about getting me one of those days sometime soon here....

Political Correctness "PC"

Are you "PC"?

Do you speak it?

Probably do more than we even realize in this day and age. The culture as become that of one that takes great offense in any aspect that pertains to it.

We "have" to use certain words to describe certain people, ways of living, or organizations so as not to offend. As soon as you offend someone, that person usually, cry's foul.  You can count on a number of organizations coming to that person's aid, lawsuits may happen, etc.

Is this the kind of people we want to be? Do we want to be overly sensitive to everything others think or say?
One of Josh and I's favorite comedians, Brad Stine, talks about being "PC", or the lack of. Because you know how you stop being "PC"? You just don't do it.  Someone says"You've offended me"  You say " I don't care.. game over.. I win" Put a helmet on.. and slam it down tight!
He does a bit about Oversensitive Witches that you should watch.
There's a point where being sensitive to other's feelings, having manners, and letting all sense go out the window to save someone from their "feeling offended"

There are so many news stories about that one person that is offended by a Cross, the Ten Commandments, "Under God" in our pledge of allegiance, praying in schools, on and on, and that one person that is offended, gets what the want and the majority that want all the above listed-have to bow to one person's feelings. 
If this is truly America, Land of the Free, why do we change so much for one person? Can that one person just not look at the Cross as he/she drives by it? Not read the Ten Commandments? Chose not to say, "under God" or to pray.. and let the rest of us participate in our freedoms to DO SO?

Why is one person's freedom and feeling's more important than another? All men are created equal unless you are a Christian and make me feel inferior and offended, then I will cry foul and get my way. 

I will teach my kids manners, to be respectful, kind and  caring to one another, but I certainly won't be teaching them to be "PC", most of all I will teach them to stand up for what they believe in regardless of it being popular.
Are you "PC"?

Sometimes things just don't fall into place like I want.

I have great intentions.
I think about them, dream about them and see myself where I want to be-getting there is the problem.
I have great determination...sometimes. I've determined, my determination. .has ADHD. I start out all fired up-only to putter out to start on something else, or deal with whatever has popped up that is, obviously, way more important.
Maybe the problem is focusing on too much at once?
I see things in other people that I admire, were they always this way, does it come easy to them, did they have to fight tooth and nail to be where they are?
Growing up I'd always considered myself average. Average height, weight, looks, personality. Average is fine, sometimes it puts ya right in the middle. Not a bad spot to be-until average  in some areas, takes a downward spiral to "less than".
We all want to fit in, to be accepted, sometimes even appreciated.
Abandoned and lonely are things most people fear. Its a fear of mine. It can make you feel desperate-and people can get stupid when they get desperate.
Desperation can also lead to Redemption. Always, when I get to the end of my rope and fear, loneliness and desperation kick in, I remember Who created me. When determination fails, self loathing seeps in and desperation occurs-He was there-always there with arms wide open, just waiting for me to finally turn and cry out for help.
Why I wait until I'm at the bottom and end of the rope, I'll never understand. How much easier and peaceful my walk would be. 
The song in my heart is from Hillsong, Forever Reign:
You are good
You are good
When there's nothing good in me
You are love
You are love
On display for all to see
You are light
You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope
You are hope
You have covered all my sin

(Verse 2)
You are peace
You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true
You are true
Even in my wandering
You are joy
You are joy
You're the reason that I sing
You are life
You are life
In You death has lost its sting

(Chorus)
Oh I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

(Verse 3)
You are more
You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord
You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here
You are here
In Your presence I'm made whole
You are God
You are God
Of all else I'm letting go

(Bridge)
Hallelujah forever
All the glory forever
All the praise to You

My heart will sing
No other name
Jesus Jesus

Is there a promise as great as that? He is God. So simple, so true, so comforting. In the depths of my heart, He is the Only One-I pray one day my life will be that all out example, that my valley's won't be so low and when I run to His arms, it won't be because of my lowest desperation, it'll be because He is my King, and there's no other place I'd rather be.
http://youtu.be/wZ3KIXadMoY

He holds the whole world in His hands

In the midst of chaos its all I can think about. It didn't come to me easily, but after I sat worried about a myriad of critical issues-I got that still small whisper. I wasted all that time worrying-why is it so easy to do?
Last night my husband went to work his third shift job, the job he has come to loathe this past year as management has decided to turn the place upside down, to the entire plant being evacuated because of a bomb threat.  For the past month they have had to have their belongings searched as they've walked into the plant because of the threats of blowing the plant up, now a real threat called in saying it was in there. My husband had to wait outside for hours while the entire plant was searched for this bomb-which there was none.
What about next time though-tonight? Next week..month? Its crazy to think that someone would actually do this-but our world is no stranger to crazy. When I think about all that has happened in this plant this past year such as:
No overtime for electricians, no double-time pay on the weekend and watch every move you make, because management will write you up for the most ridiculous of "wrongs" i.e. A man was recently written up for "passing gas while on the job" -his course of action to take next time was to ask the floor supervisor to use the bathroom, or shut off the line.
Insanity.
Small amounts of employees have been fired-not enough to make it newsworthy as our economy sinks further you have to wonder what depths someone will go to in the name of money? Justice? Anger?
When the union you pay your dues to doesn't lift a finger to help you-you tend to get agitated. You start to wonder about a good sized plant gets a bomb threat, its evacuated and  hundreds of people are standing outside-how does the media not get a hold of this? Conspiracy?
I'm not one to get crazy about that kind of stuff-it makes you think though-I have my hope in Christ. We may be financially burdened right now-frustrated and upset with the politics of unions and corporations-but that doesn't make me want to blow up a building with innocent employees.

The only thing I can do during these times-is to trust in Him. I have no control over any of this. I can worry all I want but it won't change anything,. So I will willingly put my faith the Lord. Life will be scary at times, frustrating and upsetting, but He is constant. He will never leave me nor forsake me.
I can only hope and pray that whoever is threatening and maybe really thinking about doing something this damaging-will be stopped and find peace.
John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

Another school year begins

I have a 3rd, 2nd grader and Kindergartner. Jaden is still home with me, not quite sure if he loves or hates that they are gone all day. He asks for them, but generally stays occupied. I also keep him busy, while enjoying the fact I can get a whole lot more done during the day-stores are quieter now and not as busy, which is also nice.
Aubrey's first week of 3rd grade has gone well. She is loving her teacher and seeing friends again. She's so social she just loves school-I hope it continues to stay that way!
Kaylyn's first week of 2nd grade has been great too-she comes home bubbly with everything that happened during the day-mostly everything that her teacher says-she repeats back to me. How's that for retaining information?
Ella's first week of Kindergarten hasn't gone as well. Her second day in she fell on the playground. I get the call from the nurse and she is bawling and I try to soothe but over the phone is so hard. I didn't cry when I took her the first day but that was my undoing. Hearing your child hurt and not being able to be there to hug the ouch away is hard. It also reminds me that I can't be there for everything in her life and this is part of her growing experience. After school she was all smiles so that helped, but then I start to hear her and Aubrey tell me how Ella was sent back to class but got lost-Aubrey found her(which I know was God sending her to Ella at the exact time and place she needed her to be) and took her back to class. Today I sent her with money to get a chocolate milk-a treat for the girl's lunch and when they get home I have to hear how Ella didn't know who to ask so didn't get any milk. We went over it, the girls told her as much as they could about how to do it but I guess she just didn't know. My other thought is-um-Teachers, Nurses, Lunch staff-shes in kindergarten-first week-maybe someone could be a little more attentive to those that are obviously still figuring the system out?
Being a parent is so hard. You have to sit and watch them stumble, fall and get back up, you have no control over the circumstances in their lives. My comfort and hope is only in the Lord-I know He loves them so much more than I do, and even in tiny situations like Ella has had this week-He is there always-especially when I'm not there, I can trust in Him.
On a lighter  note I have spent the week cleaning. Ok, I did take some time to do some fun things-Josh and I went bowling with Jaden today, just us and the elderly crew, it was fun, sort of a date with just a tiny third wheel. Of course, he was awful cute so we didn't mind having him along ;)
Back to the cleaning-I gave up on trying so hard this summer, so when I looked around and saw opportunity to get the deep cleaning my house has needed done-I attacked. I wasn't stopped by fighting, being asked for food, to be entertained, etc. I just cleaned until I decided to be done and it just feels fresher in here. Probably smells and looks better too.
You have to love to how you feel so accomplished and when they get home from school I wait for the: "oo mom-you've worked so hard!" but instead I got-"mo-om, you didn't take a shower at all today? Why are you still wearing your pj's? Here's my lunchbox to clean out, can I have a snack and watch tv"

Cue deflated balloon. 

Sigh. Well what  can you expect from those filthy adorable children?
Cleaning during the day means I get my nights back to relax and that's my cue to head out-I believe I hear a book calling to me....