What Does The Future Hold?

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately.  Not sure what my thinking will produce, but I have been thinking none the less.  Sometimes it is about the mundane and other times it is about directional change.  

Anyway, Pumpkin will be starting the first grade in about a month.  We ran into a glitch in the last week with an adult influence suggesting that reading be used as a punishment to deter inappropriate behavior.  Definitely not an option in our books.  Hubby and I want our children to love reading and love books.  Unfortunately this was suggested in front of our son, so his current stance is that he hates books and hates reading (which breaks my heart).  We are working on trying to fix this glitch, hopefully before school starts, with positive re-enforcement.  The ladies at our local library suggested books on CD to entice his imagination, so I am thinking that we will try that tomorrow night as a treat during family dinner night.  I have a cousin that is a kindergarten teacher and she also offered some good suggestions to help us encourage Pumpkin in his reading endeavors.

Princess should be starting preschool in the fall, but we cannot afford to pay for it and take off work to transport her to and from for the half day programs in our area.  She is too smart for the one public preschool and it has a very limited number of students that it can accept.  Anyway, it is something that we are thinking about and reassessing.  She will definitely need to know how to write her letters and numbers within the next twelve months.  

Last night as I attempted to go to sleep (my brain was in full thinking mode), I tossed and turned, and tossed and turned.   Finally a verse popped into my head Jeremiah 29:11  

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 

"plans to prosper you and not harm you, 

plans to give you hope and a future."  

Well glad to know that the Big Guy Upstairs knows what is going on, although it would be nice if He could clue me in sooner than later.  Guess I need to send up a few more prayers for direction and guidance.

Friendship

Friendship comes in all sizes, all shapes, and all types.  There are school aged friends, there are college friends, there are work friends, and there are parenthood friends.  All of these types of friendship fill a niche in our lives.  Some friends we talk with quite often, some friends we Facebook stalk (a shout out to Mike), some friends we chat back and forth with on Facebook and blogs,  some friends we touch base with from time to time, and some friends are the ones you turn to when the world is crashing down.  Friendship is an amazing thing.  It can span decades or it can be short lived.  But we all have something to learn from one another. 

From my grade school friend, I learned about bagels with cream cheese and Tang.  She has been my best friend since the 5th grade.  Even though we do not get a chance to talk often, we automatically pick up where we left off (like we had just talked the day before).  Now if she only lived closer (wink, wink).   I love seeing pictures of her girls growing up and love seeing pictures of their horses and greyhounds.

College friends are amazing too.  One of my college friends and I were inseparable for a quite a few years.  She is the one that got me addicted to chocolate cherry cokes.  She is the happiest, most positive person I know.  She is rarely without a smile and her determination has taken her places that she was told she could never go.  We have many stories to tell from our carefree college years and have learned a lot of lessons (all filled with laughter).  We spend hours on the phone during the "dark years" when dad was having a lot of medical problems (prior to his cancer diagnosis), mom was going through a messy divorce with husband number two (which lead to her excessive drinking and smoking), and my sister was being tugged back and forth between her dad and my mom.  I had even thought about dropping out of college and trying to get custody of my sister at one point, but I managed to make it  through my junior year of college instead.  Anyway, this friend is amazing and helped me keep my sanity during a very difficult phase of my life.

Two of my college friends and I try to met up every few months.  One is local and the other is about a two hour drive.  They help me to feel young and carefree again, even though more often than not we have kids in tow.  My local college buddy has triplets and the non-local college friend has yet to start a family.  We have a grand time together.  My local college buddy is very loud (whereas I am quite) and has a good sense of humor.  We were talking the other day and she told me that it was a shame that we did not become friends sooner in college because I probably would of helped her stay out of more trouble during her college years.  She cracks me up, like I could of stopped her from being herself!  I had the honor of holding her triplets as newborns at the hospital.  Only family was allowed in the room, so she told them I was her sister.  (ha ha ha ha ha)  My non-local college friend is a librarian and loves being around kids.  Last time she was in town, she crashed at our house for the evening.  Pumpkin got to practice his reading skills and read her a book.  She does not mind it if we drag her to the library or used book store, which is awesome!  My funniest memory with her is when I talked her into placing a lamp shade on her head in college and snapped a picture.  No . . . . none of us were drinking (I personal do not drink any alcohol); we were just being goofy to blow off some steam.

I have a lot of amazing parenthood friends.  Two really stick out in my mind right now.  One has children the same age as mine and the kids love to play together.  She is an amazing cheerleader and cheers me up when I am blue.  She helps me brain storm about ideas to try with Pumpkin.  Her kids have birthdays three days apart, just like mine.  When mom and dad were sick, she offered all of the encouragement that she could think of.  She send me emails and texts of support and she sent me snail mail to encourage me.  She even came to mom's visitation to show her family's support.  I am so blessed to call her my friend.  Another friend of mine is the most amazing parent ever.  She would leap through fire for her children.  I have mentioned her family in my blog before.  Her oldest daughter is a cancer survivor.  Her daughter was diagnosed with leukemia just weeks after starting kindergarten, around the same time that my mom died.  My friend's determination, strength, and endurance is beyond words.  Through the last three years they have raised two confident, fearless, and beautiful daughters.  The youngest is just a few months older than Princess.  Even though her daughter has won the battle against cancer, she continues the fight to draw attention to childhood cancer research.  It is truly an honor and privilege to have her as a friend and I love her kids dearly!

Oh, and I cannot forget to mention my best friend and number one supporter- my husband.  We were friends in college before we started dating.  He would help me traipse through the prairie as I did research for my undergrad paper and later for my master's thesis.  I needed someone to protect me from snakes and those ugly huge yellow garden spiders (wink, wink).  Of course years later, I learned he really did so he could look down my shirt when I bend over (typical guy).  He has helped me through a lot of rough days- ups and downs with both of my parents. And of course, he is the handsome dad to my two kiddos. 

Well I am definitely long winded this evening.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!

I'm Back!!!

Wow!  It has been a while since I have posted on this little blog.  We have been keeping busy lately and when I do think about posting something hubby is playing on the computer.  I wrangled it from him a few minutes ago (chuckle, chuckle).

So what is new with us?  Well chocolate chip brownies just came out of the oven.  Pumpkin begged for them about an hour ago, so I made a deal with him.  Take a shower, get dressed in pajamas, and put his laundry away.  Then he can have the brownies, nice and warm from the oven.  Princess is just going to get a bonus from the deal as an innocent bystander.

The kids participated in Vacation Bible School last week.  They had A LOT of fun!  And the best part it was in the evening, so hubby and I got some free time.  We even got to go out one evening for dinner without the kids.  Yippee!   During Bible School they collected canned goods for a local food pantry, every 50 cans equaled one whipped cream pie in Pastor’s face.  The kids collected enough for 9 whipped cream pies.  Princess had her name drawn so she got to cream our Pastor.  The most amazing part of the event was during the cream at the end of the last day a double rainbow appeared in the sky.  And the purple was so vivid.  AMAZING!

 

I have had my nose buried in my kindle lately.  I am still not a big fan of electronic books, but it sure is nice to download free books to read without leaving home.  So needless to day I have read quite a few books this summer.  It is a nice way to escape reality for awhile and I have been discovering new authors.

In the last few weeks we have:

-         Taken walks

-         Captured lightening bugs

-         Read books

-         Watched Monsters University at the local theater

-         Colored pictures

-         Swung on the swing

-         Gone to nature camps

-         Gone to a birthday party for two friends

-         Watched movies at home

On the to-do-list for July:

-         Take a one day adventure out of town

-         Swim at the cousins’ house

-         More nature camps

-         Continue the summer reading program

-         Try a few new recipes

-         Have a few play dates for the kids

Well better get going.  I hope that everyone has a great and safe Fourth of July!

Play Time

I cannot believe that it is already June 13th.  This month is going really fast.  This is our really busy season at work, so by the time that we get home I am pretty much wiped of all of my energy.

The kids have been enjoying the summer though.  

We have explored a historic house and grounds.
 

We have gone to camp.

We are enjoying the summer reading program.  And I even caught Pumpkin reading a book out loud on his own, with Princess nearby listening.  Now granted he did not get all of the words right, but he was trying and that is what really matters.

They decorated my college friend's car tires with chalk.

We have had friends over to play and swing on the ancient swing set in the back yard.

Roller Coaster Of Life

The past seven days have felt like a roller coaster with its ups and downs. 

Monday was Memorial Day.  I found out in the morning that a dear man from my little country church had past away.  He was 96 years old and was an amazing person.  It is truly a blessing to have known him.  In the afternoon we decorated graves.  The first cemetery we decorated four graves from my husband's family.  The second cemetery we decorated my mom and maternal grandpa's graves.  We dropped the kids off before the next cemetery.  Then head to my paternal grandma's to get the flowers, by the time we got to the third cemetery we had to turn around and leave.  The wind started blowing, branches were flying by, and the rain coming down so hard you could barely see.  We drove back to our house to take cover in the basement.  When we came back up to get the kids one of trees in the front yard that was damaged during the ice storm of 2006 had limbed just peeled off it.  It looked like string cheese.

Tuesday, I finished decorating the graves of my paternal grandpa and uncle at the third cemetery.  We had a delicious family dinner at my maternal grandma's house.  Then everyone went outside to help pick up sticks from the storm the day before.

Wednesday was a ROUGH day at work.  Enough said there.

Thursday afternoon was the visitation, funeral, and grave side services of the gentleman that I had gone to church with.  I arranged to be off work for several hours so I could attend.  The funeral message was wonderful and encompassed the Christian example that he lead his life by.  The songs were perfect, two of his favorite: Amazing Grace and In the Garden.  I will always associate In the Garden with him.  He was the Sunday school superintendent and would lead us in reciting Psalm 19:14 (Let the words of my mouth, and the mediation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength, and my redeemer)  before we left the church for the day.  He would go out of his way to help others and was like an extra grandparent to me.  On Sundays, him and his wife would give me quarters to do with laundry while I was in college.  Sometimes they would send little treats with me, like a loaf of homemade bread or a jar of homemade jelly.  I was able to hug his wife, but was saddened to discover that this kind grandmotherly lady has dementia. 

Friday went fairly well until the evening.  During the day, I caught these little guys just outside the building at work.

In the evening we were in for some storms, so we kept an eye on the local weather station and the pending storms. The tornado sirens went off shortly after 10:00 p.m., so we took sleeping Pumpkin and Princess to the bathroom in the basement.  We placed a blanket on the floor and laid them down on it.  The lights flickered a few times here and there.  Eventually we heard the all clear from the sirens.    Since we were unsure if there would be any additional sirens, we placed the kids in their sleeping bags on our bedroom floor and left the hall light on so we could get moving faster if necessary.  As we monitored the local weather station reports were coming in from the area we live in.  We heard our street mentioned as being a war zone.  We looked out our windows and had no trees down and no visible damage from inside the house.  I finally got the internet up and heard about all sorts of storm damage.  The major street that we just live off of was closed, many were trees down, reports of a trampoline in a tree, someone said that they had heard the whistle of a tornado near the cemetery just south of our house.

Saturday morning just after midnight we received an automated phone call from the local police department telling residents to not leave their houses due to downed trees and downed power lines.  If there was an emergency call 911, but do not leave your house.  Okay, that sort of scared me more than the facebook reports.  I only got about three hours sleep worrying about family members and friends in the area.  At five in the morning, I got dress and walked around our house.  Thankfully we did not sustain any damage at all.  By seven thirty I had talked to both grandmas and by eight I had talked with my dad.  I had thought about calling my pastor and his wife and assumed since my grandma that lives to the southwest of us and only two blocks from the church was fine that I didn't need to bother them.  We had signed up for a canoeing class, so we viewed some of the damage on the way to the class.  Massive trees were down, a box truck contorted and bend, small limbs and sticks littered the road ways, massive traffic of people gawking at the devastation.  

We got out the the nature center holding the class and we got to canoe as a family.  I think that the kids had fun.  Hubby did not have as much fun since he was in the front of the canoe and Pumpkin would not stay still and the canoe would rock from time to time.  I sacred Princess once with algae hanging off of my paddle.  She screamed and threw her paddle into the pond, so I had to retrieve it.  After we finished canoeing, I got a chance to take the kids around the pond to explore.  Princess liked the bullfrog that we found the best and Pumpkin liked paddling the best.  After our little adventure we went to the library to sign the kids up for the summer reading program.  Then on our way home, we drove through some of the storm damage to check on my paternal grandma's house.  The road just to the south of the cemetery looked like a war zone  (We live on the road just to the north of the same cemetery).  I hadn't seen anything that bad since the ice storm of 2006.  We were almost to my grandma's when we passed by the church and parsonage.  OMG . . . . . . . I think that I was in shock after that.  Trees just snapped off like toothpicks, debris everywhere, work crews in the area were using the parking lot as a staging area. 

Well,  the possible tornado (it has yet to be confirmed, but for the damage to have clear and long path it just has to be a tornado) started a half a block west of my church and the parsonage, went diagonal through the church property downing a lot of trees but minimal structural damage (windows, roof, awnings) (THANK YOU LORD!), then down the next street to the north about 5-6 city blocks before going diagonal through a section of houses, continued diagonal through the cemetery just south of our house (damaged the mausoleum, toppled trees), the ended across the street from the cemetery at two local businesses (one is pretty much totaled).  The closest it came to our house is about two city blocks to the south (approximately a 5 minutes walk from our house).  I was able to check the graves that we decorated and they were fine.  I also checked the grave of the gentleman that was buried on Thursday just east of the mausoleum, thankfully the dirt and flowers were still there.  I was so afraid that since the dirt had just been dug, that his casket could of gotten sucked out of the ground. 

Also on Saturday my sister's dad delivered a swing set frame.  It is the same swing set that my maternal grandparent got second hand when my mom was three years old, so the swing set is about 55 years old.  We had to go out and by some swings and it definitely needs a paint job.  But not too bad for the years that it has on it.  When I was a kid, it was painted green and yellow, so I hope that we can return it to those colors.  My most vivid memory of the swing was when my brother and I were playing on it in my grandparent's yard.  My brother was swinging and I had a hula hoop that he was swinging his legs into.  Somehow the hoop caught his legs and pulled him off the swing.  My sister's dad spanked me with his bare hands and my two top front teeth caught on his belt buckle.  They were not quite ready to come out but they were no longer in their normal position, so he had to pull both of the teeth out.  Gives me the willies just thinking about it. 

Sunday, grandma and I carpooled to church.  Besides water damage in the basement from the sump pumps not working because of the power outage, there was minimal damage to the building.  I saw some shingles on the ground and some of the awning was missing but not bad considering.  The church's pavilion needs some major work and the parsonage had some damage to the roof and a window blown out.  Thankfully none of the trees that fell or were shredded touch any of the buildings.  Most of the trees on the property were damaged on way or another.  But it is truly a blessing that pastor, his wife, the parsonage, and the church made it through the brunt of the storm.  Anyway, this afternoon we got the swings installed and the kids had fun swinging back and forth.

Well off to have some more adventures.  Hopefully this week will be much calmer.

### 6/3/13 Update: The National Weather Service has confirmed that it was an EF1 tornado with wind speeds up to 90 miles per hour. ###