My Street

All this week my street is being torn up to replace the curbs and repave the street. Here are some pictures.

My Driveway- we have to park on the street.

One Deep Hole

The team of guys were here all last week too, fixing some spots on the street so they can repave. Girly Girl saw them working and said, "Mom, those guys are working too hard! We need to make them cookies." On Monday, that's exactly what we did. We made them snickerdoodles. Girly Girl wrote an thank you note on each of the bags then she handed each worker a bag of cookies and a soda.



Today I was outside talking to some of the workers and they told me how much they appreciated the cookies and soda. I took the hint and brought them more. Who knows if they ever get treated nice. Who knows if they are appreciated for what they do. I just pray that our act of kindness will plant a seed in their lives for Christ.

Things To Do Without Electricity

Last night our electricity went out at 6:15 PM. And stayed out. And stayed out. And stayed out! Only to come back on at 3:30AM Yep, that's 9 hours without electricity.

You never realize how much you take something for granted until it's gone. All night, we kept saying things like, my CD player doesn't work, or I'm hot, I think I'll turn on the fan. This morning, I am much more appreciative of having electric.

Here's some of what we did during our 9 hour stint...
1. Checked our flashlights to find that only 2 have batteries. (I'll be working on that this week.)
2. Ate all the Popsicles we could before they melted. (this was one of the kids favorites)
3. Played Skip-Bo by candlelight. (boy that's a long game!)
4. Got baths by candlelight. (this wasn't high up on the kids favorite things to do without electricity list, but they were filthy after the park yesterday).
5. Lit as many candles as we could find. (this entertained the kids for quite awhile)
6. We put the kids to bed early (around 9PM but that is early for us).
7. My personal favorite, my DSH and I sat on our porch and eavesdropped on our neighbor's conversation. They were complaining about the neighborhood kids, the street (more on that one later), and life in general.


When the electricity finally came back on at 3:30 AM, I was woken up by some of our lights being on. I looked outside my window and noticed that almost every house in the neighborhood had lots of lights on. My street was very well-lit this morning.

What do you do when the electricity is out at your house? I am looking to expand my idea list.

Singing Sunday

In the spring, I love to sleep with the windows open. In fact I pretty much have the windows open 24/7 throughout the spring. The other morning, we awoke at 5:15 to the pitter patter of raindrops hitting our trampoline ( that sits right outside our bedroom window). The shower didn't last too long and after, all was not quiet.

I have been noticing over the last few weeks that after the rain, the birds are out in full force singing their hearts away. After the rain shower at 5:15 AM, I was laying in bed pondering this fact.

This is what I felt the Lord was telling me. First of all, the sound of rain itself is very soothing. The sound of rain calms our hearts. And the birds sing so much after the rain because the rain brings refreshing, comfort, and food. Rain brings the worms to the surface of the ground. Rain refreshes dry land. Rain brings insects to flowers. Rain also washes the birds, it takes away the dirt and grime covering them. Spiritual rain does the same things for us. It soothes. It comforts. It refreshes. It brings us food. It cleanses.

Next time it rains, listen for the change in the way the birds sing.

Lord, I ask that you would send Your spiritual rain to refresh our lives. Let it comfort our hearts. Let it refresh our spirits. Let it bring a peace to our hearts. Let it wash away all of the dirt and grime that fills up our lives. Let it clear our minds so we can focus on Your Word.

Free on Friday

Here's today's...

Gillette Fusion Razor

Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program

Blessings on your Friday!

Kids Say...

Tonight while I was working in the preschool room at church the kids were eating their snack and they started talking about their grandmothers. The one kid said he was going to visit his grandma tomorrow. Then another kid said, (and I quote) "my grandma had LOTS of wrinkles. They are all over her face! She has to fix that!" My jaw dropped open when he said that. Then I started laughing. I just hope he doesn't say it to her face.

Can You Spot the Difference?

Before

After

If you guessed the missing tooth, you're right. It fell out at church on Saturday night. We must be at church too much because that's where Shadow's first one fell out too. Time will only tell if Bible Bat Boy's will fall out at church.

Do You Listen?

We hardly ever listen to the radio anymore since we got our iPod but we recently we came upon a new radio station servicing our area. It's different than the other well-known christian station. It plays a wider variety of music and doesn't get in a rut of playing the same song 4 times every hour.

Check it out...

93.1 FM or 88.7 FM

You are so funny...

The other night during dinner, Shadow was acting very silly, telling us joke after joke. After one such joke, Bible Bat Boy looked at Shadow and said in the most serious face and tone of voice, "Shadow, you are so funny I can't even laugh." Then he went back to eating his food. The rest of us started laughing hysterically.

God gave Bible Bat Boy an awesome personality. He comes up with funny things all the time, without even trying. I am looking forward to seeing how the Lord uses his personality to further the kingdom.

Gas Prices Got You Down?

As many of you know, I am a very frugal person. I try lots of different ways to save money. That being said, we started an experiment to try to save money at the pumps. Here's our experience (hopefully I'll explain it so that you are not too confused).

When we first started our experiment I was a little scared because in my brain, it didn't seem like it would work. But it actually does.

We started using the high grade gas (93 octane) in our car. This type of gas usually runs 20 cents more per gallon. So in our 11 1/2 gallon tank that's an extra $2.30 per fill up.

Normally we would get 320 miles per tank of gas. Since we started using 93 octane, we now get 360 miles per tank. That's an extra 40 miles per tank of gas!

Or, to put it another way, before our experiment, we got 28/29 miles per gallon. Since we started using 93 octane, we now get 32/33 miles per gallon.

Since we get an extra 40 miles per tank and we get 33 miles per gallon that's over an extra gallon of gas.

Here's where the saving money comes in... We spend an extra $2.30 to put 93 octane into our tank. We get an extra gallon of gas out of our tank (about $3.00). For every time we fill up our tank, we save $.70 - $1.00. It doesn't sound like much, but over a year, that's $52. Over 5 years (the life of our car loan) that's $260 (that's a car payment for us). Not only are we saving money by using high grade gas, we are helping our car too!

Try it for yourselves and you can decide if you save money!

A Visit to the ER

Wednesday night was pretty busy for us. At about 5 pm, the kids were playing outside when Bible Bat Boy came running to the door crying hysterically. I asked him what was wrong and he told me his foot hurt. I looked at his foot and thought it looked like it got pinched but then on further inspection I saw he had a splinter (not just any splinter, it was a small plank) in his foot. For about 10 minutes I tried to get it out (while dinner was over-cooking in the oven). I just couldn't get a hold of it. I prayed, I cried, and still it would not come out.

I researched the internet on how to remove a splinter. Most of the sites said to use scotch tape. I think they were talking about normal sized splinters, not plank sized. One site did say to soak the foot to soften the skin, so I gave that a try. It still didn't work.

My DSH came home from work at 5:30 and he tried to get it out too. We finally decided that a trip to the ER was the thing to do. Right away I had a feeling of dread. (Our history in the ER had not been good, it usually takes forever!) But then God spoke to me and told me it didn't have to be that way and He would be with us. Right before we left for the ER, I told my DSH I was expecting to get done soon and we would see him at church.

Let me tell you, my experience at the ER was amazing! We got there and a woman took out names. 5 minutes later, we were taken to our room. 5 minutes after that, the technician came in to take Joshua's vitals and a nurse came in to check his foot. Soon after that, the registration person came in with a computer to get all of our information. Soon after that, the doctor came in to operate. She told us that she didn't want to numb his foot because it would hurt more than taking the actual splinter out. They wrapped him in a blanket, mummy style with his head and feet sticking out and laid him on the table. I basically laid on top of him cuddling him and singing to him and telling him how much I loved him.

I was so proud of him...He started to shake and get scared but I just kept singing over him. He didn't cry at all! It took the doctor all of 20 seconds to get the plank out. After it was done I asked him why he didn't cry. He told me, "because the doctor asked me if I was going to be brave. Mommy I was brave." He was so good (well-behaved). I could tell at times he was scared but we just kept praying for Jesus to be with us.

We got to the ER at 6:20 and were done by 7:40. That in itself is a record for us!

I won't change my time in the ER for anything. I would change the circumstances of us being there, but I wouldn't change the fact that I got to spend some good quality time with Bible Bat Boy. I will cherish the conversations we had, the songs we sang, and the people we met.

For your enjoyment, here is the plank...

It doesn't look so big here, but it is the size of my thumb nail.