Crazy, Scary Thing #2

I ask you, is there ever a dull moment around here? Let me help you out by saying, NO. No there is not.
So bright and early Monday morning, I was a determined woman. Mark had to head out of town for business overnight, and I was going to make sure that our day/night ran smoothly. We got school done in a swift and accurate way, the house was picked up and all was well. I even took the boys to gymnastics that evening and used the opportunity to reward myself and the littles with a Chick-fil-A chocolate milkshake (Can I just pause here to say OH.MY.WORD....If you have never experienced this new obsession of mine, get thyself to a Chick-fil-A, pronto! Trust me.)
Anyway, I got home, made a decent supper and got all the little dumplings in bed, feeling thrilled that it went so well. I was more than giddy that I would be able to obnoxiously sprawl all over that bed, so I made myself a nest of pillows and crawled in. Right in the middle...and before I knew it I was sleeping like a baby.
Do you get the feeling that something is about to happen? Well, of course it is.
All of a sudden, I am jarred awake by the sound of a massive crash and the house literally shaking. All at once I realize that a pretty serious storm is going on outside, and the power is out.
I checked the time...4:21 a.m., and I go to get the kids out of their beds to sleep in my room while I called the power company to tell them of our outage. I just thought that maybe the big box thingie had been struck by lightning or something.
Well, I was wrong.
When the light of day came, I realized that we had a MASSIVE tree come down in the backyard that took our power line and my peach tree with it. We had a live wire in the back yard....AND it came only a few feet from hitting my boys room. A few feet.
Don't forget the fact that my hubs is 4 hours away when all this comes to my FRANTIC attention.
So anyway, I called the neighbors, the power company and Mark, and before too long, I was out the door to my Mom's, where it was warm. They couldn't get it fixed until late last night, but bless their little overtired hearts, they did it, using the headlights of their trucks just to make sure we had power. My backyard looks like a bomb went off and as soon as I can find the camera's battery charger, I will post pictures.
I am, yet again, humbled and awed at the Lord's protection over this family. There are families all across Alabama today that are dealing with waaaaaay more damage than we are, to their hearts or homes, or both. Thank you Father for your protection, again.

**Edited to add pictures and to say that...YES, Emily! You hit the nail right on the head....I have no doubt in my mind that that's exactly what He is trying to show me. For so many reasons... and I adore Him for it.

This is the view from the boy's window:

This is from my kitchen window:

This is Ty:

My "Rebuttal"

It has come to my attention that the previous post may have made a certain man look like a "big fat jerk". I was also made aware that I wasn't as hurried to let y'all know that I was presented with some amazing take-out from one of my favorite restaurants for dinner that night, or that it was accompanied with a DQ ice cream cake (my favorite...it's the crunchy chocolate stuff in the middle that does it for me) complete with my name on it.
I guess now would be a good time to mention that said man footed the bill for my freshly cut new do and highlights, and that he has a pretty big deal date set up for us in the next few weeks. I am not privy to date and time, you see. He takes care of everything.
Whew~now you can rest easy knowing that I am married to a pretty swell guy. Seriously, I adore this fellow and he is waaaaay more nice to me than I have ever deserved. Love you, my Mark.
Oh, and I am the ripe old age of 33.....Thirrrrrty-three.....Treinta y tres. Nope, no matter how many times I say it, it doesn't go away. Oh well. Now you know.

It's my party

So, um....yeah. It's my birthday. And due to the fact that we still have sickness in the Westie abode, I am guessing that no big parties with cake and presents are going to be thrown in my honor. Actually, that wouldn't happen anyway because anyone who might be so inclined to do such a thing would probably realize that I would be mortified.
But this is my blog, and I bet you can spare 30 seconds for a beggar to let her know that your here, and that you sympathize with the fact that she will indeed be scrubbing toilets, on this, her special day.
thankyouverymuch.

Thank You Father

We interrupt this virus to tell you something important: This weekend, before we knew that people would start dropping like flies with illness here, Ty went on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts. I am always a HUGE worry-wort every time he goes, so I spend alot of time praying. I have to tell you though, this time was different even before I dropped him off at our church to meet up with the others.
On the way there, I lectured him on the importance of wearing his seat-belt while en route to and from the campout (it was a few hours drive away), and I told him how much I loved him like 50 times. He even asked me why I was "freaking out", and I told him that I'm a Mom, so I I have the express right.
Fast forward through 2 very cold nights that my boy was only in a mere tent and I was more than ready to go pick him up. When I woke up this morning it was already raining, but by the time lunch rolled around, it was flat-out storming, then hailing, with tornadic activity possible.
Knowing that Mark was barely coherant, I loaded the (also sick) kids up to take them to my Mom so that I didn't have to drive with them in this scary weather to go get Ty (our church is almost a half hour away).
As I was driving to my Mom's, I had such a sense of urgency within my spirit. Such a heavy calling to pray for those boys that it actually moved me to tears (and I am not a characteristically weepy person). So, I cried out for the Lord to place His holy hands around those vehicles as they travel back and to keep all of that precious cargo safe. I actually glanced down at the clock right as I finished praying, and it was 1:06 p.m.. I called Ty's cell phone and got his voice mail, so I left a message saying that I may be a little late because of the weather, but I needed him to call me back as soon as he got the message, so that I would know that he was safe.
I dropped the younger three off and as I was pulling out of my Mom's driveway, my phone rang and it was Ty telling me that he just watched the vehicle directly in front of theirs, which was carrying some of his friends, have a bad accident.
What he went on to describe was terrifying to say the least. The truck that they were in hydroplaned and started to spin out of control eventually hitting a tree and totalling the truck. The boys within were trapped and hurt and rescue was on it's way. He hung up the phone and called back a few minutes later to say that they had to use the hatchet to get the boys out, but that they were out and conscious, by the grace of God. By all appearances, it is a complete miracle that this post is not ending in a much different way.
God protected those boys today. Yes, they are pretty banged up, but they will go home to be with their parents before too long (one boy is still hospitalized at the time of this post due to a concussion and broken pelvis, but the other passengers were released). God caused not only me, but several other mothers right at the time of the accident to stop dead in their tracks and pray (it is completely wild to realize how many stopped to pray right at that time, seriously), and it only increased our faith and awe at His mighty sovereignty. God is so good.
I will ask that you say a prayer obviously for the 3 that were involved in the accident, but also for those that had to watch it. These fellows (leaders and boys) are a very tight-knit group so, needless to say, they are all pretty shaken.
Thanks for praying. I am off to bed. To God be the Glory on this night.

Bleh

I'll be back when everyone's fever subsides and the puke smell comes out of my new van.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have been away from my computer quite a bit lately, but I didn't want to miss the chance to come on here to wish you a nice Valentine's Day! Each one of you bring an extra measure of sunshine to my life and I really appreciate your friendships. That goes for those of you that I am blessed enough to see face to face on a regular basis, and for those of you whom I have yet to have coffee with (or chocolate....it's all good).

Some of you make me laugh, some of you challenge me to think, and some of you even gross me out, but hey, that's a quality I appreciate. ;) I have watched you make completely cute crafts, whip up insanely yummy looking food, and take a blob of material and turn it into something I wouldn't be embarrased to wear (or put on my children).

The one thing that I love across the board, though, is that all of you love your Father. I have watched some of you praise Him for all you're worth, and I have watched some of you struggle in a few of the harshest pits. I have watched while each of you minister to your families in the name of Jesus during the easy places, and I have watched as some of you have had to make some really agonizing decisions.

I am so grateful to have had this great big place opened up to me so that I could watch and learn and have the awesome privilege to pray for you even from miles and miles away. What a huge blessing each of you have been to me, and I am so very grateful to God for bringing me here.

Have a great Valentine's Day!

A post about nothing

We have had a pretty busy week, so today my deepest desire is to do absolutely nothing. Well nothing mundane, that is. I still haven't gained complete dominance of the laundry monster, and truthfully, I think I might be fighting a losing battle. So there's that...and my kitchen. Yikes. And the classroom. And the bedrooms and bathrooms....
The problem is that I don't want to do it. No gumption what-so-ever. I really want to let my kids work with abandon on each of their respective art projects that they have going, and then simply play, whilst I go watch Food Network and nap at will. How many of you have similar dreams? (High five, sister!)
I *do* have the drive of having several women in my house on Sunday night, so that always helps the motivation factor. And just as I was typing that last sentence, Mark called to say that he wanted to do "something fun" tomorrow, so I am seeing rather quickly that my Food Network bubble is bursting.
Alright ~yawn~ I better get going.

What's for Lunch?

If you have been hanging around here for any length of time, you will no doubt know that I have no less that a great affection for food. Savory or sweet, healthy or not-so-much, it's all good. However, I do have one area in the sustenance realm that I cannot seem to grasp with any amount of dignity.
Lunch.
This meal is such a mind-boggler to me because it isn't meant to be huge and praiseworthy, like it's counterpart, Dinner, yet it isn't meant to be quite as simple and quick as the "get-your-day- movin" Breakfast (which, I admit, rarely even exists for me).
I have found that I love to eat lunch out, but my pocketbook AND my lovehandles would rather I didn't. So I moved right along into the over-processed insanely high carb world for my kidlets. You know, the world which consists mainly of mac-n-cheese, popcorn chicken from a bag and PB&J's? Well, that isn't working out either because I feel bad.
Their little bodies are growing and I don't want to be stuffing them full of garbage for even one meal. In addition, I don't want them to develop bad habits that they will have to break once they are grown up and their cholesterol test comes back too high.
SOOOOO, all of that to say, what are you feeding your kids for lunch that doesn't take a year to prepare? I would love to have the convenience of processed foods with the nutrition of a home-grown garden salad. Too lofty?
Ok, nevermind. Just tell me what you eat. Please. There are children involved here. Thank you kindly. :)

Some Pik-cha Love

After wildly popular demand... ;) Behold, our new van:

Here are the children within. Notice the scowl on Ty's face. That's just so you know that we are already late for P.E. class because his MOM had to tell y'all about her mentholatum breath....


And just to add further to the excitement, I brightened up my sidebar. The new family photo is of us hiking in Arkansas over the summer. Plus, you will find the freshly added "slideshow of randomness". Enjoy...
I am going to go nurse my migraine now. The one that my mega-vitamin didn't prevent. Oh, and I have been looking all over the place for a website that has this product, but it is NO WHERE....what up with that? Anyway, it is called Mega Multi and it is made by Above All, Inc. out of Scottsdale, Arizona. I was even going to link you to the healthfood store where I bought it, but 587 year old women apparently aren't internet savvy.
Have a great weekend!