A Helping Hand

Sorry I haven't been updating much lately. I spent all week last week and today helping Mary Butcher clean out rooms in the country store they own where they will be living while they rebuild their house. Noah and Karlee have had a blast playing and fighting together. What one of them doesn't think of the other one does.

The work has been hard but rewarding. One of the nice things about being a stay-at-home mom is that I have the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I love it that I am available to do things for people without the restraints that go along with a job.

It has been heartwarming to see how our church family and community have supported this family. They've been given clothing, furniture, household goods and cash by people they know and total strangers. Last Friday while we were cleaning these two ladies we'd never seen before came in the store wanting sandwiches for lunch. Mary explained to them that the store was actually closed because they had lost their house in a fire and were converting the store to living quarters. Both ladies expressed their sympathy, wished Mary well and left the store. A few minutes later one of them came back in asking for Mary. When Mary came into the room she said, "We're from Lexington and we're out driving around today. I don't have much money with me but what I do have I want to give to you and your family. Try not to worry. God will provide what you need." Wow! I got goosebumps all over. It is awesome to watch God at work caring for his children!

Military School for Two Year Olds?

Does anyone out there know if there is such a thing as military school for two year olds? I'd even settle for obedience school. Noah is about to drive me insane. He has suddenly turned into a little devil. Now don't get me wrong. He's never had a halo but his horns have sprouted big time. He is just so busy and is constantly into something.

Just three examples (from the last three days, I might add):

CASE #1

Time: Sunday evening

Place: Church

Darren and I were in the auditorium talking to James and Christy and Amy after service Sunday night. All the kids were in the back. Jarrod runs in and says, "Mom, you have to come stop Noah." Now, I'm no rocket scientist but even I know that this greeting bodes an ill wind. When I went to the back Noah had found craft paint and poured two bottles (blue and green) into a bowl. He had then dug in and was covered in paint from his fingertips to his elbows. Amazingly he didn't have as much on him elsewhere as you would think but that's not the worst of it. He had proceeded out into the fellowship hall where he designed a little original by Noah on one wall....then into the nursery for another wall mural....back into the fellowship hall for a little padded pew painting.....and finally into the foyer for some floor work. What a mess. I nearly beat him to death, cleaned him up, and set him in a chair for some alone time. Fortunately we caught all of it while it was still wet and were able to get it cleaned up before any real harm was done.

CASE #2

Time: Monday afternoon

Place: Living Room

I spent Monday trying to do some much needed housecleaning. My house is an absolute wreck after a month of non-stop activity. I put some Backyardigans on for Noah in the living room and went to clean the kitchen. He was quiet and I thought all was well. That's what I get for thinking. I went to check on him. He had been in Jacob's room and found an ink pen and proceeded to write all over the seat and one arm of Darren's tan leather recliner. Another spanking and more time alone followed. I've scrubbed the chair with everything I can think of....409, Crown Spray, hairspray, Oops. I even tried the Magic Eraser. Nothing will take it off so basically Darren's chair is ruined. I keep telling myself that before I know it all the kids will be gone and I can finally have nice furniture (Jacob ruined our last leather recliner with a black permanent marker when he was Noah's age) but that's not much consolation right now.

CASE #3

Time: Tuesday morning (today)

Place: Living room

I left the room for a moment to enjoy a rare visit alone to the potty. As soon as I came out I knew something was up. Noah was hiding behind the door. All you moms know that this is never a good sign. When I stepped into the living room I looked over to find that he had been disassembling my laptop keyboard. He had pulled several keys off. Yep, you guessed it. Poor guy got another spanking and some more time to think. Fortunately, I was able to put all the keys back on but you have to understand that this used to be one of his favorite things to do and he has been punished over it many times. It had been forever since he had touched it so I though we were over this particular thing. Guess again.

I shudder to think what tomorrow holds. Who am I kidding? The day is still young. What more could he possibly get into today? I don't know how much more I can take before I snap. Pray for me, please, and in the meantime if you find one of those military schools or even an insane assylum for moms of two year olds, please let me know! Heck, don't even bother contacting me. Just go ahead and sign me up!

The First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for Fleming County. Jacob started the 3rd grade and Jarrod started 8th grade. Today was his last first day of middle school! Next year he'll be a greenie! I can't believe my kids are already this old. They both seemed to have a good day. Jacob says his teacher is really nice and Jarrod is excited about starting to run on the cross country team.

Noah and I enjoyed our day alone all except for the getting up early part. I've gotten really accustomed to sleeping in over the summer. We cleaned house....or rather I cleaned house and he destroyed the part I wasn't trying to clean. Sooo frustrating!

Happiness is....

....hearing your two year old whisper, "I wuv you, Mommy" out of the clear blue sky as you snuggle in bed together before starting the day. So sweet!

Nothing New

It's been nearly a week since I've posted. There just hasn't been much going on. It's been too hot to be out and about much and frankly I've just been exhausted from all of the activity of the past month. Yesterday was a pretty busy day. I went with a group of senior adults to Augusta, Kentucky to visit Rosemary Clooney's home and to eat lunch at the Parkview Inn. We had a really good time and the food was wonderful. And then last night a group of 50 of us from New Life went to the Legends ballgame at Applebees Park in Lexington. We all enjoyed ourselves and the fireworks were great. Oh, and if you see Kim Hester be sure and ask her what it's like to have a ball hurtling toward you at 80+ miles per hour. She got to find out first hand last night...and I do mean first hand. Her hand was the only thing that saved Reanna from getting hit! Thankfully no one was hurt and Kim is recovering from the emotional trauma nicely.

In the blink of an eye.

Have you ever stopped to consider how quickly your whole life can change? I mean, one minute you can be going along your merry way and then in literally the blink of an eye you find your whole world has been turned upside down. Today that really came home to me. I now realize how fast things can change and what it feels like to be totally helpless.

I was enjoying my Sunday afternoon nap when the telephone rang. On the other end of the line I heard Jennie Paige say "Have you heard what's happened?" I told her no and she proceeded to tell me that Steve and Mary Butcher's house was engulfed in flames. Mary and the kids go to church at New Life and we just spent the week with them at Hillsboro. They've really become active in the church recently and their oldest daughter, Angel, was baptized into Christ just this morning.

Darren and I immediately headed to Hester Ridge to see what we could do to help. When we got there it was pouring down rain and there was nearly nothing left of the house. All we could do was huddle together in the pouring rain and watch the fire rage. They literally lost everything. They didn't even get out with shoes on their feet. Mary said she had put laundry in and she and Karlee were taking a nap. Everyone was in the house and just enjoying an average Sunday afternoon and then suddenly everything they owned was gone.

As we stood there and watched the house that Steve had built and all their possessions go up in flames I felt completely powerless and so grateful that the entire family had escaped unharmed. I was reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 6:19, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." As Jesus said in v. 20 we need to be storing up our treasures in heaven. That's what it's all about. And this became even more evident throughout the rest of the day as we saw the love pour out from our brothers and sisters in Christ as everyone pulled together and came out to wrap this family in their arms, share their sorrows, and try to ease their burdens. This is the stuff that eternity is made of. Never take for granted the material blessings you have been given but at the same time always remember that it's just stuff and not what's really important at all.

Home again.

We are finally home. We spent Monday through Friday at Restoration Acres in Hillsboro, Ohio. This was our first year of camping at Hillsboro Family Camp. We went during the day one day last year and Darren decided then that he wanted to try to get a group from church to go and camp this year. We reserved three camping spots a couple of months ago in preparation for the week. As it turned out there were three families from church that went and stayed for the whole week. It was the five of us, Mary Butcher and her four kids, and Leonard and Ann Lutz. James came up every day with a group of teenagers and a group of the older adults came up for the day a couple of days so we ended up having a pretty good size group.

We enjoyed the fellowship and had a good time. The kids absolutely loved it. They have excellent programs for kids of all ages. Noah and Karlee both refused to go to the Kiddie Corral but the older kids all enjoyed their classes and activities. Actually, Noah went the first day and stayed about 15 minutes before a message for "Judy Fizer to report to the Kiddie Corral" flashed up on the big screen. Although my name isn't Judy I figured that the odds of there being another kid there with the last name of Fizer were slim to none and sure enough, when I got there he was screaming his head off so that was his first and last Kiddie Corral visit.

Chad Allen was in charge of the program for the junior and senior high kids and from what I gathered from them they thought he did an awesome job. They were all pumped up and excited.

Tent camping was okay I guess but it was miserably hot. My plan for next year is to abandon the tent and borrow a camper with air conditioning for the week!

All in all we had a very uplifting week and we only managed to almost burn down the entire campground once, but I really don't want to talk about the unfortunate camp stove accident that left us with a lovely sunroof in our canopy ;)