Ummm... What Will They Wear?

I'm going on a retreat this weekend... and I'm a little nervous about being away from home. I'm not worried about sleeping in a strange bed in a strange place with a bunch of what could turn out to be strange women. I'm not worried that my husband can't handle it, he is a Mighty Warrior and it will be a great Warrior Weekend for him and our four boys. I'm not worried about what they will eat. The oldest two can make everyone food, the third child who is three, will not go hungry. He has no problem hopping up on the cabinet and making his own peanut butter sandwich. I'm not sure why he makes less of a mess than the older two but I digress... The baby, now he is a scavenger so he'll eat the trail that the other boys leave behind, or he'll eat the cat food. Either way, he will not starve.

I AM worried about what my family will put on themselves to cover their bodies! Nearly every stitch of cloth in this house is clean. That is something to cheer for because I can't remember if that has EVER happened in our house. But, the clothes are not put away. There are no less than 7 FULL loads of clean laundry in my room, still in their buckets. It's not that I hate folding laundry, though I do, it's just that I've been busy cleaning out closets and getting rid of a TON of stuff. So I do have somewhat of an excuse. Now, I can spend several minutes (per child, okay per person!) digging through these buckets to find everyone a decent, only semi wrinkled outfit that is at least adequate for a brief public appearance. I can't say that my husband can or will do that! What will they wear? Will they wear the same clothes for the three days I will be gone or just swap shirts with each other and call it good?

As I expressed my heartfelt concern to my best friend (who is also going and is worried about much more important stuff like how she will do for a 6 hour car ride, what if we sleep in a unairconditioned screen cabin, what if there are lots of bugs, what the heck will be do without kids for three days...) and she laughed. Yep, she laughed at me. Then she said "Bobbi, they are boys! All they need is some underwear. They ain't gonna leave the house all weekend! If their underwear get dirty, they will flip them inside out and be good for another day or so." So now, I'm not only worried about their inability to find clothing, I'm also disgusted at the prospect of inside out, dirty underwear wandering around my house getting germs everywhere. Granted, I know it was just a joke, but it was alarming none the less, I do have boys after all.

I then expressed my heartfelt concern to my husband and he laughed. Yep, he laughed too. Is this funny to anyone else? I didn't think so! Then he said "Honey, don't worry about that. We will probably be in our underwear all weekend. We won't be going anywhere!" Did my husband and my best friend discuss my psychosis or is the reality that my family will really be home and undressed for 60+ hours? Then he proceeds to calm my fears by telling me that he and the boys may just build a bonfire in the front yard, roast marshmallows and skewer the nearest pig to smoke. Oh, I feel much better now! 5 nearly naked pale face warriors running around with pointy sticks, loaded up on sugar. This is why Xanax was created friends, and I may need some when I come home to something that resembles Lord of The Flies! Surely, they will remain at least partially clothed, fed on sandwiches and frozen pizzas and warmed by the heater not a fire. But just in case, you'd better keep your livestock locked up.

The Best Part!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe that I left this out! I wasn't that I really left it out, I just changed gears before getting to this. During my dad's service I didn't sit up front with my family. I used the excuse that Stephen needed my help in the back with the computer and sound stuff. Truly, I didn't want to sit up there on the front row on display for everyone. My mom was taken care of, my brother was at her side and her husband on the other. I also had the worlds best best friend and her husband come back and stay with us in the bar area (the building was previously a night club). I needed the comfort of their presence and someone else needed some seats. The music was wonderful and I worshipped! With my arms lifted high and my spirit comforted I prayed. "If just one person comes to you through this, it's all worth it." I prayed that so many times during that first week. Then my brother died. One of the first thoughts I had after 'coming to' was "That's not what I meant! That's not what I meant!" But His ways are higher than my ways. My brother's memorial service was long and beautiful. I didn't spend this service the same. I did 'hide' in the bar area with my husband and best friend. But instead of spending it with my arms outstretched, I spent it comforting my little warrior Randon. We had a special bond with his Uncle Dan and his Papa and he had been having a hard time with all this loss. I did continue the prayer for him to reach just one person. One person, and it would all be worth it!We had the services at the same church were we had my father's. Anew Church in Enid is a network church of LifeChurch.tv ( http://www.anewchurchenid.com/). We opened that church last summer. My brother laid the carpet. Anyway, during his service, the pastor of the church, Marshal Billingslea played a song, announced the eulogy and then did a short mini-sermon after the eulogy and video were over. He gave an alter call and 12, yes twelve, count them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 people came to Christ! I was with my son at this time and didn't find this out for a couple of hours. I was so excited I could burst. My sister and her husband were also thrilled! Stephen and Jimmy talked about how some people wouldn't have liked the long message at the end but how it was all worth if if just one came to know Him, but there were 12! This wondrous news brought me tears of joy! How the death of someone I love so much could bring others into eternity with Him is amazing. I'm not saying the sting of death is gone, but it sure makes it easier to take it.

Thank you Jesus, It was all worth it.

Snood

Have you ever played Snood? It is such a fun little shareware game! My husband told me about it, and then had to download it for me. It is a mindless clicking game that will steal away several minutes of your computer time, but it's fun! Good thing about the shareware version - There are only a few levels for each difficulty setting. Otherwise, who knows when I would walk away from the pc! http://www.womgames.com/index.php Don't say I didn't warn you!

I went to the moon today...

What an adventure we had today! Danny disappeared for a moment, and I found him perched on the swing in the front yard. He requested that I join him, so I did. Suddenly, we were off to outer space! Swinging, I mean flying high above the earth until we landed on the moon. DanDan gave me a space helmet and space suit and we left the safety of our ship to explore the moon. Almost instantly we found a moon rover! It was bright red, with 4 wheels and 4X4 on the side. Sadly, there was room for only one. Danny jumped into the driver seat and we were off! The pic to the left is of Aven in the moon rover. We found a black and white Moon Cat (below and right) and we chased it in our mommy powered moon rover all over the moon! We also ran into a Moon Randon and it chased us! It was discovered none to soon that the Moon Randon was a friendly creature and did not wish to harm or capture us. About that time the mommy powered moon rover ran out of gas, and we all three headed back to our swing, I mean ship. The Moon Randon came back with us on our rocket ship. After a safe landing back on earth we took off the cumbersome spacesuits and relaxed. We must now head to bed, as we are jet lagged!

Frequent Oblivion

I am frequently oblivious to the work God is going in my life. My phone number for example. The number we have had for the past 2 + years has been a huge part of our life. It once belonged to Mercy Ministries, an outreach that is run by the church we attend. At one time, we would receive up to 40 phone calls a day asking for various forms of assistance. Some we could help, some we could not. This phone number, which was not coincidence, but providence, opened up new areas of ministry for us and took us places we never dreamed we would go. Nor would we have chosen to go.

For many months now, my sweet and wonderful husband has wanted to change our number. Not because of the continued calls, but to go to a new type of service that offered significant savings. This new service (Skype) does not yet have the capability to allow you to take your number with you when you leave your current provider. I was resistant. What about the calls? What about the people!? My husband told me it was the Lord that brought us the people, and even without the phone number, he could continue to do so.

It is just amazing how completely oblivious I can be sometimes. Right about the time of our family losses (see below), the calls just dropped off. There were almost none. Not even one per day. During this season, God removed what took up a lot of our time and emotional energy. I didn't even notice it at first. Granted, I was dealing with other things and my mind was not wondering why the phone wasn't ringing. It wasn't until after the 'dust had settled' so to speak, that I realized that we were no longer receiving calls. It wasn't until a few days ago that I realized what the Lord had done for us. It was a 'duh' moment. I sometimes take for granted the things that He orchestrates. I sometimes fail to give Him the glory for the things that happen to me. It is simply looked at as everyday life rather than the awesomeness that it really is. He is never absent but sometimes it is required of me to 'be still and know that He is God" and that he is right there, laying out everything before me, just as it should be. Thank you, Sweet Jesus, for all of your awesomeness in my life.

A Knights Tale

I found myself in a battle of epic proportions. Two mighty warriors, boasting three swords between them, came after me. I did my best to fend them off. The smaller one attacked first. I knocked one of his weapons free from his grasp effortlessly. He clung tight to the other, for he would not be defeated so easily. He refused to go down with out a fight. And then I was wounded in the back by the second assailant. While my weapon wielding shoulder ached in pain, I flung around to face him. Ah ha! The sword of the smaller one lay just ahead of me. I now had two swords, surely I would come forth a winner. With a warrior behind me and another in front, I began to fight. I swung my swords against one, then turned to face in other. This went on for what seemed like hours, though I know it was only moments. The second one retreated! Perhaps victory is mine! I shall give chase and conquer him in his village! As I lung ever so gracefully forward he straightens. "Mom, Pirates don't skip!" he says. Oh. I thought we were knights.

Tagged Game

Here are the rules:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago: Ten years ago I had been married one whole day, so you can guess what I was doing! Oh, it was a Tuesday so I went to work! You and your dirty mind!

Five Snacks I enjoy: In a perfect, non weight-gaining world:
1. Starbucks-grande-mocha-frappicino with lots of whip cream.
2. Starbucks Cranberry Orange Muffin (must be accompanied by number 1, while number 1 is okay on it's own or with a treat!
3. I Hate Chocolate (a delicious brownie treat I make)
4. M&M's and a glass of water
5. McDonalds sausage, egg and cheese biscuit with a md Dr. Pepper.

In the real world:
1. My husband is awesome and amazing.
2. I have the best, best friend ever.
3. I'm an internet junkie who is techo-spoiled along with techo-challenged.
4. I love movies, some shoot-em-up games and balloons.
5. I don’t like getting up early.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Secretly meet other people’s financial needs.
2. Be super thrilled that my husband could be home with us everyday...okay 6 days a week!
3. Travel in a huge travel trailor around the country and reach people for Jesus.
4. Open more network churches
5. Invest for our future generations to have wealth too.
Oh, and get a maid for sure, that one doesn't even count 'cuz it's a given!

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Mom
2. Wife
3. Cook
4. Teacher
5. Maid
Oh wait, those are five jobs that I currently have...here are five I had:
1. Childcare provider
2. Vacation Sales Agent for Delta Vacations, AAA Vacations and Marriott Vacations
3. Shift manager for Popcorn Poppers Express
4. Movie theater (where I met my husband) concession, door and film.
5. Snow Cone Stand (hey I was like 14!)

Three of my habits:
1. Clicking "update" as I walk by the computer to check email.
2. Collecting crap. I'm always bringing more junk home that we don't need.
3. Clamping my jaw. Even after my surgeries, it's sometimes really painful.

Five place I have lived:1
. Enid, Oklahoma (18 years)
2. Bartlesville, Oklahoma (1 year)
3. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (1 year)
4. Enid, Oklahoma ( 1 year)
5. Edmond, Oklahoma (8 years)

What do you want others to get from your blog: A giggle or two. Selfishly, I think it's mostly for me. I love to write and it's kinda nice having a place to put it rather than just writing for no reason. I guess it would be nice to know if anyone is reading it or laughing at it. Of course right now, it's not been too funny.

Who are you going to tag:
I don't know...