Weather Lesson

If you know me at all you know that I'm a weather girl. I may have missed my true calling in life. I'd love to go to meteorology school if I ever had the opportunity. Either that or spy school...

Anyway, here are a few personal weather statistics about me before we begin our lesson.

1. I watched the weather channel during the births of our first two children.
2. I always know what the weather is going to be at the destination we are traveling to. I like to know what to expect, ya know?!
3. I used to play "weather man" with my little brother when we would watch the storms roll in across the Texas plains.
4. I "follow" WRAL weather on twitter. Josh laughs at me, but who is the first one to know when Perquimans County is under a severe Thunderstorm Warning, huh?
5. I have a secret love affair with Greg Fischel.

Ok, on to today's lesson.

Have you ever wondered what the difference between "isolated", "scattered" or "likely" is when referring to rain or storms?

"Isolated" = a probability of less than 30%.

"Scattered" = a 30% - 50% probability.

"Likely" = the probability is 60% or more.

Let me know if you have any other questions you'd like me to answer;)

Fun Facts For Friday

Fly Lady was back in the kitchen, and my kitchen is still pretty clean after my last sweep through so I decided to tackle a few things outside this week;)

1 - It took me two days to mow the grass this week. I get so into my projects that it's hard for me to stop and take a break, so it's probably a good thing that the mower ran out of gas on me. I picked it right back up the next day and finished it. Have I mentioned before that we have a HUGE yard! Not only that, but it is mainly weeds. Why in God's creation do weeds grow quicker than grass and why oh why does it already look like it could use another cutting already?!

Notice the dirt-creases arms

and NO that is not a nice tan on my legs, ha!

Notice, also, that I cropped my face out. My hair was hidious and I was just praying that nobody would go by that knew me.

2 - I started trimming the bushes in the front yard. We hadn't done anything with them since we moved in and they were getting out of control! I've spent several hours out there over the past couple of days weeding and trimming and bagging. I've seen way more wolf spiders than I ever care to see and those darn holly bushes have made my arms swell up each place I was pricked. Grrr...

Still Have A Ways To Go...

But Here's What I've Done So Far

3 - I have wanted to organize our storage shed since we moved in. Everything that looked like it belonged outside was just piled in there and we have just been pulling things out and piling them back in after their use. It was driving me CRAZY! It's still full of quite a bit of stuff from our landlord but it looks much better. We even got the kids strollers and bikes in there.

BEFORE

AFTER

We are getting a new roof because we had a leak in our living room, but after that, maybe people will stop coming by offering their services for things around the house like roofing, tree disposal and landscaping. I know we've looked a little redneck lately but sheesh!

4 - Totally un-related, but Micaiah is in roomtime with Rainy and Zeke right now. They are LOVING having a real baby to play "mommy and daddy" with. Not so fun for Cai;)

5 - I'm fresh out of facts for today. I'm spent and realizing more and more that these youth conferences are taking longer and longer to recover from. It might help if I stayed out of the 90 degree weather doing yard work for a day or two after getting home, I suppose.

Happy Friday!

Road Trip Interrupted

Yesterday, I told you I'd let you in on why our 3.5 hour trip took 3 hours longer than expected.

We were 45 minutes down the road, headed back home from Myrtle Beach. Josh kept saying "I feel like I forgot something." Sure enough, while we were talking about our merchandise we realized that we had forgotten the pipe and drape we borrowed for our merchandise table.

Seriously?

I mean, we HAD to turn around. We didn't have any other options. We could gripe and complain about it but that would just make us even more frustrated. Okay, maybe we griped and complained just a little bit;)

To top it off, the kids had just fallen asleep. If you are a parent you KNOW that once your kids wake up from a nap that's it. No more nap. No more quiet ride.

Anyway, we got back to the Springmaid Resort where we had been staying. The kids were really confused when they woke up in the back seat to find us right back where we had started, ha.

Thankfully the conference building was still unlocked so Josh got right in and was able to load it in the trailer in no time.

Fast forward a couple of hours.

We were driving back down the interstate and Josh noticed that a van in front of us had a flat tire. They didn't appear to be pulling over any time soon, so I told Josh to ride up next to it so I could let them know that they had a flat.

It was a lady all by herself in the vehicle and she took my cue immediately. We followed her off the next exit to see if she might need any help.

She was fairly new to the area and all alone. On her way to work. I can't begin to tell you how many times she thanked us for stopping and helping.

Josh got right out and went to work on the tire. She had kept her distance from me and the kids...until she saw Micaiah. I was pulling him out to feed him really quick and she came over immediately and started making over him and the other two.

She began unraveling her life story while I fed Cai. There's no need for me to go into details except for the fact that she and her family need Christ. She was a captive audience for me as I shared a little bit about what we do and why we do it. I mean, it's not like she could go anywhere=)

Then, she asked if we had a website or something.

I told her that we didn't give that kind of stuff out to strangers. Just kidding! Of course we had something to put in her hands. I had something WAY BETTER than a website to give her. I handed her an "All That Glitters" CD, which seemed more than appropriate for this woman who struggled with gambling.

The Lord allowed the kids to happily keep each other occupied, without pushing too many important buttons in the car, so I could give all my attention to this woman, while Cai helped her heart soften toward the words we spoke.

So, if we wouldn't have forgotten the pipe and drape we would never have met this woman and she would not have heard the gospel that day. We could have used our kids as an excuse. They were hot, tired, hungry and we needed to keep going so we could get home at a decent hour. But if we would have kept driving, ignoring this divine interruption, we would have missed this opportunity.

Coincidence? I don't think so!

Oasis 10

We had a GREAT weekend at Ingleside's camp, Oasis 10. I love that we've gotten to minister to this group of students so many times that we are actually starting to recognize faces and build friendships.

Our band was amazing! We had Patrick Downing on Bass, Jordan Leino on drums, Andy Cherry on Electric and Scott Spruill on Keys.

Last year Ingleside brought in Tenth Avenue North. This year they brought in Master Illusionist, Harris III. It was unreal. Josh and I spent several hours on the way home (I know, it's only supposed to take 3.5 hours. I'll tell you about that trip tomorrow!) speculating as to how he did it all. Zeke has been acting out magic tricks since we got home. The cool thing about it is that Harris relates his illusions to Christianity.

Dr. Alvin Reid was the speaker for the weekend and did a great job communicating to all the students.

Several students accepted Christ and many others made decisions. There was a sweet spirit for sure.

Our kids had a great time too. We spent hours in the pools. I mean, good grief, with 8 to choose from... And don't forget the ocean that we could watch from our hotel room patio and walk to whenever we wanted.

Check out Zeke's new trick:

He didn't need my help in the least this trip.

We had so much help with our kids during services,

Lana and the kids

and meals.

Matt feeding Micaiah

and just loving on them.

Katelyn designated Areyna as an honorary yellow team member

Thank you everyone for all your help and for being so sweet to our kids! (and thanks Katelyn for the pictures;)

The Bubby Battle

Both Zeke and Micaiah are VERY attached to their "bubbies".

The only problem is...

Zeke knows EXACTLY which ones are his...

and Cai does NOT!

Little Shadows

They follow me around everywhere.

They hear every word that comes out of my mouth.

They watch my every move.

They take note of every action and reaction to each life experience.

They are named Areyna, Zeke and Micaiah.

We were running errands the other day and I was a little frantic because we were doing our usual...unpacking to repack. I felt like I had a million things to get done and we were leaving the next morning.

Me: at buisiness bank "Ugh...this is taking FOREVER!"

Areyna: "Maybe the lady is helping someone else first, mommy."

Me: at personal bank "Good grief, this guy is just sitting there"

Areyna: "Maybe he is just thinking about something for a second."

Me: in the car behind some grandpa going 20 miles UNDER the speed limit on a 2-lane HWY "Are you serious?"

Areyna: "What mommy"

Me: "This guy is going SUPER slow."

Areyna: "Maybe he's lost"

Those sweet, gentle reminders that my children are ALWAYS watching me and listening to me.

AND that sometimes it's the mommy who needs to ask God to give her a "happy heart";)

Thank you Areyna for helping me change my heart!

10 Months

Weight: I'll let you know when we get home but he is over 21 pounds.

I mean, would you even think any less?!

Still loves to eat, but here are some of his faves:

grapes, bananas, semi-frozen pieces of peas, carrots and corn

and basically anything else edible;)

Pulls up to standing and shuffles his feet.

Tooth #3 came through on the 18th, Praise The Lord!

Now we're working on #4

This boy is stinkin' fast!

He knows where he wants to go and gets their fast.

Found out he is allergic to penicillin and is prone to ear infections. Awesome.

Loves going swimming and taking baths.

The beach? Not so much...YET.

None of our kids have ever been instant lovers of the ocean, but in due time...

Coos himself to sleep. It's really sweet.

We can tell when he finally falls asleep because his cute little sounds suddenly stop.

Gets mighty fiesty over not getting OUR food...

so sometimes he eats our food:)

Likes to "share", especially things that he's been chewing on...mmmm

Started singing this month.

The song that has always soothed our kids is:

"ho-ho-ho-ho-sannah

ha-ha-ha-le-luiah

He-He-He-He-saved-me

now-I've-got-the-joy-of-the-Lord"

When we start singing that song for Cai now,

he'll start "huh-huh-huh-huh"-ing along with us.

He is all boy!

Creating Environments

We're getting pretty darn good at "creating environments" in our hotel rooms so that we can all enjoy our stay.

The kids get to sleep in a fort! You can't beat that.

We don't have to go to bed when the kids do=)

Cai gets his own little section so that when he peeks over the top of his pack-n-play, albeit as cute as it is, he won't see any of us and will lay back down and go back to sleep. That's the plan anyway!

We're all about trying to keep our level of sanity at a tolerable level on these ministry trips.

Fun Facts For Friday

1 - Is this REALLY necessary??? I mean, how many kids do I have?
2 - Our garden has been SO fun to watch! This is our only strawberry that actually made it this season. We decided to cut it in quarters so we could each have a bite. I transplanted the strawberry plants to a better location so hopefully it will do better next year.

3 - Our first batch of tomatoes were yummy and our beans are growing like crazy. We had a bowl full for dinner a few nights ago and then Zeke pretty much cleaned the rest out of the garden while he was playing. I have to keep reminding him that we are saving them for meals and that he can't just go grab a handful at a time;) At least it's a healthy snack.

4 - Guess where we are? Our summer has officially begun! We are at our first of six camps that we're leading in June and July. We did this camp last summer for our friend's church and are so excited to be doing it again. We brought the kids this year and they are SO excited to be playing in the ocean!5 - This is a first. I made my kids fold their own laundry on Thursday while we were getting ready to pack up for camp. They weren't too enthused that I made them stop building their fort to help me out, ha! I had to bite my tongue while Zeke carried on his dad's tradition of folding his clothes inside out.

Happy Friday!