Silly Putty......The Scourge of Fabrics Everywhere

This evening my husband and I tucked our children into bed and left them in the care of my sis in law while we ventured out to spend some quality time together doing laundry! Yes, laundry. Our dryer is broken, so we went into town to use the dryers at the apt complex that my sister manages. When we arrived home we found our sweet three year old cuddled on the couch with his cousin Miranda.

While we were putting things away a teary eyed Miranda came in with her baby doll, covered in green silly putty. History....this doll.....Lucy, has been Miranda's baby doll since she was one year old. Her daddy got it for her on a quick trip to the store and brought it to her during a short hospital stay she endured. This doll has been through 9 years of some serious loving. She is faded and worn, but is still and always will be a treasure. The silly putty came from another of our nieces birthday party this afternoon.

When I saw the doll, I tried to remain calm, for Miranda's sake. Stephen tossed the doll in the freezer and then we pulled off the excess putty. Most came off, but there was still a large stained area where there wasn't really any to remove, but the color and tiny bits remained. I hopped online and found a fix. Alcohol. And of course, I'm out. But I do have some alcohol prep wipes! I fetched the box of those and went to work on the face, neck and chest of Lucy. Within minutes she was looking great and smelling like she had just come from outpatient surgery. The Westfamily Surgical Center got 5 stars from Miranda, Tracy and Lucy!

Miranda's tears were gone and she was ready to go back to bed. Then she found more silly putty. Only this time, it was in Daniel's hair. A very large, mostly irremovable chunk of green silly putty was smashed into the back of his beautiful hair. After a tug or two it became apparent that alcohol wasn't to play a part in this surgery...we had to go straight for the razor. Okay, not a razor really, but the clippers anyway. No guard either, we couldn't get one under the mess. Daniel was not happy as Daddy held him and I preformed the first cut. It came off rather quickly, with only three or four quick snips but lots of yelling and some flailing about.


Luckily, Daniel's curls had been cut off several months ago. Had this happened to Aven, who still has curls, I would not have been able to just shave off his hair all the way to the skin! It wasn't ideal with Dan Dan either, but at least his hair is mostly short to began with. Now we will just have a story to tell about why he has a bald spot. Surely we can come up with some interesting stories like he had a grey spot so we cut it out instead of dyeing it, or he chronically rubs that spot until the hair falls out or he wanted to go bald but when he felt the bare shavers he changed his mind. I could draw on some stitches and we could pretend that one of his brothers helped him sustain an injury that required a shaved head and some local anesthetic. Of course there are many more....any ideas?

Year In Review - Blood Sweat and Tears

Rain, Rain....Go Away!

If you live in Oklahoma and recall anything about summer 07, you will recall the rain. That's pretty much all it did that summer, rain. And then it rained some more. After that, it rained again.

We live on about 5 acres, and I love every inch of it. I love to hold events at my house to enjoy this space. When our homeschool group halted it's summer meetings, I offered to hold, not meeting, but get togethers at my home each month. This way, we could still take a break from the meeting style setting, but still enjoy the fellowship of each other. Just days before our first gathering was scheduled, it was raining...go figure. Our yard was so soggy that we had to cancel the get together. I was not happy about it. But there was always next month!

The soggy mess continued and for days we couldn't open our garage door because of all the water rushing by it. There is no ditch or drain out near the road by our house. Water and more water runs into one of our fields from I don't even know how many acres to our west. All of this water then runs down and pools beside the driveway. After it levels with the driveway, it runs back up towards the garage, fills the cement driveway in front of the garage, travels down the sidewalk and out across the front yard. As if this isn't enough, while the rain is coming down, it can't make this journey fast enough so the water also spills over the driveway from the 'pond' and takes out across the front yard from another direction. After running through the yard and taking a significant amount of dirt with it, it spills down under the fence...where erosion has removed several feet of earth and there it forms a creek. Behind the mini barn thing and out into the south east field and its on its way towards the lake.

When we moved into this house, I decided this place needed a name. Between Scissortail Landing and Deer Run, Deer Run stuck. On the phone with my husband one afternoon, letting him know the extent of this particular day's flooding, I said "Well, I was thinking of changing the name from Deer Run to A River Runs Through It." Once, Stephen called to say he was on his way home and I told him that at the bend of the driveway, it was likely that he would have to abandon car and swim for it. Other days I told him to stop by Academy and pick up a canoe so that he could get to the house! While those are obviously just exaggerations, our family thrives on the humor that comes out of all situations. Not everyone would appreciate the way we see some things as just plain laughable.

It was beyond wet. No shoe could survive a trip to the van, even it was parked in the closest spot. There was no way you could park in the yard to shorten the trip, it was so soggy the van would have been our new yard flamingo, but more expensive and less vibrant. On days that the rain didn't pour down from the sky all day long, we were never dry. Our pond remained filled and we had three ducks. Really, we had three ducks that came here every day that we had water to swim in. The kids enjoyed to 'pond' too and they had a great time chasing those ducks around. We also had our very first time witness of wildlife love in action. "Oh honey, that duck isn't hurting her (on our porch)!"

Many a days did I stand on the porch watching the water rushing by wondering if it would overtake us. It was so close on a few occasions. Had the water reached the top of the porch, it would have been right in the house, as the porch is tilted. Had the water reached the house, it would have been in my living room, as it is sunken.

When we investigated the flooding in the garage, it was, well, wet. Really wet. We rented a giant dumpster and our LifeGroup came over and helped us clean up the soggy mess. As we sifted through the moldy puddles and soaked boxes, we realized the water went much further into the garage then we thought it did. In some places the water went all the way up the back wall. The dumpster was filled with damaged stuff from our garage. Lots of it was junk. I mean before the flood! After it, nearly everything was junk! It was certainly a way to lighten our load and for the most part I was okay with it. When we found things that were special I was upset. I had to throw away moldy photographs and lots of artwork that my children had made when they were very young. A box of my oldest sons stuffed animals got ruined and he did not take it lightly when we had to chunk his things in the trash.

Large black stains marked the floor in each place a moldy box was pulled up. I learned that nothing should ever be stuck in a cardboard box. Even though the water was only a few inches high, the cardboard just soaks up the water and ruins everything inside. We tossed yearbooks, birthday cards and momentos of all kinds. We lost clothes and Christmas stuff, computer parts and more. As I think back about it, it saddens me remember what we had to throw out, but I remember that they are just things and my memories do not require tangible items in order for me to enjoy them. That was a lesson that I know will benefit me forever, as it has come in very handy during the past year.

It's amazing how, so many times, we can see God's hand all over our messes that are so much more than just messes. Did that make any sense? I mean, being able to look back and see His purpose for our mess. The Lord gave us humor to deal with lots of soggy, smelly, ruined shoes. He reminded us that we have our memories as we sifted through garbage bound keepsakes. He gave us ducks to enjoy while our house was all but floating away. He even gave us a rainbow to remind us He has all things under control.

Year In Review : Blood, Sweat and Tears

July may seem like an odd time to do a review of the last year. It's actually going to be a little more than a year, as our 'adventure' started in June. For us, the last year has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, giving and receiving, highs and lows, openings and closings, laughter and tears, openness and withdrawl, joys and sorrows.

At church this weekend, during a sermon on loss, this verse reminded me of what I had already written in the paragraph above.
Ecclesiastes 3 A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.


June 2 - Stephen and I had been talking about opening up a church in Enid for quite some time. We had lots of great excuses like "Oh, we are expecting." or "We have a baby." or "Our van isn't reliable." and a host of others. We went to church to hear the last week of a series called Fearless. This particular sermon was on 'facing your Goliath." The gentleman that spoke talked about how is most recent Goliath was the sermon itself, as it was the first one he had ever given. During service Stephen leaned over to me and said "Enid is my Goliath." I acknowledged his statement and continued to listen to the sermon.

As we were getting up to leave, Stephen said "We are going to Enid next weekend." I replied with something really clever like "You mean, like the one seven days from now?" Uh, huh. I asked several questions on the way towards the exit, which takes quite a while when you sit in the front row. He didn't know the answer to most of them, but he knew we were going, and that's all he needed to know right then.

The following week we packed up our van, hauled our family and a bunch of stuff to Enid to set up church in the American Legion. Since we had zero advertising, we put on church for our mommies! We did a couple of weeks of 'dry runs' before we even made some fliers. One afternoon after packing things back up, we went to lunch at one of our local favorite restaurants. My husband had previously worked for the owner and I suggest that he ask if we could put out some fliers. He did, and we left a small stack of fliers there. Those were the only ones that we ever put out. From that small stack of fliers, an amazing transformation occurred!

A gentleman picked one up and excitedly called his coworker and friend and read it to him. The gentleman he called was Marshall Billingslea. Marshall made a bunch of phone calls, tracked us down at home and talked to Stephen about what we were doing in Enid. The Billingslea family came to our rented room at the American Legion the following week and instantly became an intricate part of Anew Church. A year and two moves later, the church has grown so much!

There is so much more to come in this 'Year In Review.' I hope you will visit again to read about everything from puppies and kittens to injuries and surgeries. We will also cover flood, fire, fungus, famine, foliage, flood (yes, twice) and funerals. We will cover the good, the bad and the ugly.

What is your favorite memory of your past year?

The Retriever.....He Retrieves!

We have a new puppy. His name is Duke. Duke is an adorable

yellow lab. Duke is quite possibly the cutest puppy ever. This morning, he and I played for a long time before the kiddo's ever got up. We bought him a store full of toys, and we had to get him the miniature tennis balls.

I started tossing his little ball across the living room and say "Get the ball Duke, get the ball!" and he would get it! Then I would say "Bring it to Momma!" and most of the time, be brought it back to me! First of all, I have never taught a dog anything, so if it does something for me, then it must be instinct!

We've had Duke for less than a week and fell in love with him immediately. He rides in the car with us, sleeps peacefully in his crate (most of the time) and hasn't been to terrible with accidents considering his age. He's almost 8 weeks.

The boys want him to sleep with them (on their top bunks!) so bad they can't stand it. Aven loves to play with him. He runs and giggles as Duke chases after him. When the puppy sniffs Aven's toes, he belly laughs so hard he can hardly breathe! It's hysterical!

We think Duke's favorite new family member is the teddy bear that he gave his heart to. Well, that wasn't exactly his heart he gave to it, but he 'loves' it just the same! Our last dog was female so we didn't have to deal with the male 'instinct' and I'm not liking it at all. While he hasn't 'enjoyed' anything but the bear, I can just see him jumping visitors legs in the future! I know he is bound to do it in front of the boys very soon. At least we had kittens recently so we have covered a little on the subject of animal mating. Maybe it will encourage them to keep all their stuffed toys off the floor! That's one way to get their room clean I guess.

You Are Gonna Think I'm Crazy

I'm just warnin' ya now! If you are not a follower of Christ, you are going to write me off as a loon in a few minutes. If you are a Christ follower you may still think I am a little off my rocker. I read a couple of blogs lately that I thought were wonderful! Not only full of truth, but awesome in imagery. A dear friend of mine has been going through a lot lately with some painful health problems. I gave her a link to these blogs because I thought they might speak to her in a similar way. Little did I know that it would turn around into her ministering to me in a huge way with her incredible faith while she is in 'deep water' (more on this below).

The first one I read was by Cindy Beall called I Think I’ve Figured Out Grace. In that post, she quotes a book of Max Lucado called Grip of Grace. "If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain?" Wow, that just smacked me right in the face. It's very true, if we get nothing from the Lord but a free trip to Heaven, isn't that worth celebrating? When talking to my friend about her situation and His Grace, I brought up the song "Your Grace Is Enough." It means more to me now, just reading what I already knew, put to me in a different way. We are but a blip on a screen here on earth, but His grace for our eternity, now that is huge!

The second is called The Deep Water by Kim Heinecke . It's hard to figure out where to start with how this post effected me. I read it, it was beautiful. I really enjoyed it, I shared it. And that was it right? Yeah, no. If you've spent much time with me or read some of my previous post like Frequent Oblivion, then you know I am much of the time unaware of so many things. I don't read situations well, I don't see things coming and I don't anticipate what others see as the obvious. I don't think I'm dense, I just more time in the here and now than trying to figure out the symbolism behind things. I tend to believe that things are the way they seem and that what people say is what they mean. Too bad that's not always true. This is why God has to knock me clean off my chair sometimes to get my attention to something that he has put in front of me ten times in less obvious manners. It's not deliberate disobedience, just me going about my way, taking life in like at face value and not seeing somethings. Sometimes I just need giant billboards telling me what to do. I do not have the gift of discernment like my son.

A week ago last Friday night I got ready to meet my sister at WalMart for a midnight shopping trip. I hop in my van and pull down the driveway. The radio is on KLOVE and I can't remember what song was ending. I thought to myself how much I had been thinking about Your Grace Is Enough and how cool it would be if it were to be the next song. Guess what? No, but really, out of all the songs that KLOVE plays, there is only one that I needed to hear. Only one that I wanted to hear. Only one that He wanted to play for me. Your radio on the same station may have been playing a totally different tune. I don't believe in coincidence, but providence. That may sound silly to some, but for me, it's just how it is.

As I pull out of the driveway and as Your Grace is Enough fills up my van, I am moved to tears. I can't say that I am going through horrible trials, I'm not homeless. I'm not hungry. I'm not alone. I'm not poor. I'm not sick. My kids are healthy. My husband is wonderful. My home is filled with 'stuff.' I have a big yard. I have a car. We are 'fat' rich. My husband has a car. We have electricity and water and money to pay our bills. Sometimes we are placed in situations where it's very easy believe that His grace is all we need. Other times, when things are going wonderfully, it's easy to forget about how big the gift of His grace really is. Maybe you're not guilty of taking His greatest gift for granted, by I know I have been. Have you?

The Lord spoke to my spirit as I drove down the road. Less than a 1/2 mile from home, I was to pull over. I pulled over into a little drive that I never knew excited. Mind you, it was midnight, so pitch black out where I live. In front of me was a small field, full of foliage. There was a clearing and in the middle stood a tree. I heard the Lord tell me to get out of the car and I sat there and argued with Him for the second half of the song. "But if I get out, I won't be able to hear the song." And I added, "Why do I need to get out of the car?" and He replied (not audibly) "Because I said so." Okay, point taken, getting out of the car... I got out of the car and again felt the Lord speak to my spirit to enter the clearing and walk around the tree. I responded with "WHAT?"

In my head, I instantly played 20 different scenarios of what could happen to me should I go for a stroll around this tree, in the middle of a dark field, in the middle of the country, in the middle of the night. Looking out at the tree I start to hype myself up. I can do this. The clearing looks fairly clear of large limbs, critters, or dead bodies. The grass appears to be about calf high. I can do this.

I walk off of the pavement and into the field. Thankfully, the lights of my van were shinning outward, giving me some light to see by. About four or five steps forward and the grass is up to my thighs and then almost to my waist. My heart is pounding, as what I saw was not what not what this was. Had I known from the beginning that the grass was so deep, I would likely not have entered the field. For a brief moment, I glanced to my right. The picture was a beautiful image of the trees with light shinning up through them from behind me. Looking back at my destination, I realized that I was at the furthest point from my van and I felt panic creeping up on me.

It then occurred to me that if I was at the half way point then, I was half way back to the van. Now the light it shinning on me and I have to look down at the grass and weeds in my path so not to be blinded by the light. I remember saying, out loud, "This crazy, why am I doing this?" and then I started to laugh and said "Because you told me to. Because you told me to. Because you told me to." My dad once got in trouble in school and had to right a several hundred word paper on why he had to right the paper. He filled up several sheets with "Because you told me to. Because you told me to. Because you told me to." I guess I am my father's daughter!

Now I am back at the van, brushing off some of the leaves and twigs that came with me. After I am sure that there are no ticks crawling up my pant legs, I get back in the van. I back out and again, head towards WalMart. I start to think about the significance of my trip around the tree. As I mentioned before, I am not always good at reading between the lines. I think about my best friend Dawn. She's very intuitive and insightful and she's knows her way all over the OKC metro area! I always like to take her with me when I'm heading into unfamiliar territory. I don't need a Tom Tom, I have something better, my Dawn Dawn. As I am thinking about the person who helps me with directions, I realize I am missing my turn. I quickly switch lanes and take my turn. Rolling my eyes at myself, I realize that I didn't miss my turn, I took an earlier one...one that will take me to WalMart just the same, but not the way I had planned. I did get to WalMart and to shop with my sister. We made a silly balloon "Mermaid Queen" and had a good time visiting. I didn't share this story with her then, as I am sure she would have raised an eyebrow at me.

I know that there is 'more than meets the eye' in this story. I want to hear your insightfullness. I want to hear your 'between the lines' comments. What in this story reminds you of a scripture or story in the bible? Have you had similar experiences? Has God had you do things that seemed silly or something you didn't understand? Please share. Comment here, or if it's long, blog about it and comment here to leave me your link.