WELL, EXCUSE ME.....

MC 2 come get in the shower.


Murmurmur...private (while he sits at my computer)


Excuse me? (walking in the room)


(Little chubby 5 year old hand extended to my face while he stares at the computer)
Can you give me some private please.


I feel my inner Cliff Huxtable coming forth. (Watch it till the very end:)

VICTORY!

As I am sure you have deduced by now, I can be a worrier.

I can be a worst case kinda gal before you can say,well...., anything.

The worst case then leads to a great deal of anxiety

and it just goes down hill from there.

At times, I am my own worst enemy.

So imagine the trepidation of my family and friends when I take HH to the ER.

The concern they had not only for his physical well being,

but for my mental as things proceeded to get worse.

I mean this was the perfect opportunity for the devil,

and myself,

to tear me up one side and down the other.

Open season was declared on Rhonda's mental health.

The lion prowled to devour.

He paced to and fro to look for the chance to get me.

AND.....

Praise be to God, he came up empty.

Not one "worst case scenario" induced anxiety attack.

Not one "what am I going to do" followed by tears and fears.

The one time I did think HH might be in big trouble,

I deliberately turned to the Lord and said,

Ok.

If this is where we are going,

You are going to have to take care of us.

I know You will.

I did shed tears one day,

but out of frustration for my man who was in so much pain,

not out of fear.

LET ME TELL YOU

THAT IS A GOOD WORK OF THE LORD!

Without Christ Jesus, I would have been a mess.

He calmed me.

He has renewed my mind.

He has shown me the work I needed to do to help out.

He helped me do it.

So props the Lord Jesus for renewing this mind.

May He receive all the glory!

For it is His alone.

PLAN C (FOR CHOICE)...

I was so looking forward to getting back to the routine of my week.
Doing what I needed (and wanted) to do on my own time frame.
Not happening.
Yesterday, I had planned on going to a class at church in the morning.
Walking out the door, my neighbor called.
She was having car troubles in town and needed a ride home.
I am sorry I can't help you, I have a church meeting.
Yep, sounded wrong to me as well.
So I missed the meeting and went and brought her home.
For the record, as my sister so lovingly pointed out, she was glad to see Christ at work in me because I was clearly not on board for this.
I adjusted my attitude and decided that I would hit my meeting this morning.
Seems the dentist had other plans for me.
At the same time.
So now my attempt to attend the meeting has been denied once again.
I am choosing to believe the Lord will get me at the meeting when He wants me at the meeting.
Choosing not to get frustrated when my plans fall through.
Believe me it is a choice.

GOOD MORNING!

I hope you all had a great weekend. An uneventful weekend. One that did not involve your dog biting the face of your child and having to call poison control for same said child all before noon on Saturday.
First, he asked for it from the dog and it was just a scratch.
Second, yes, those berries are toxic, but since he spit them (or it) out, you just watch for signs of sickness and go to the ER if it gets bad.
Right....cause it is not like I haven't been there enough times over the past two weeks.
Praise the Lord he was fine.
Would you like to guess which child?
Too easy, I know.
Saturday night found us visiting with dear friends who had moved away. It was HH first public appearance in two weeks. If you don't count the 2 ER trips, a doc visit and a the day spent at the hospital. They were all so glad he was there.
He was "glad to see somebody besides Rhonda".
Tacky and ungrateful thang.
Whom I love dearly and was ever so glad to see vertical.
Yesterday, with the pseudo cold weather, HH decided to prepare for deer season.
Translation.....required trip to Academy for corn and then to the feeders.
EXCEPT HH has been banished from picking up anything over 20 lbs. for a bit, so, I had to load up the corn.
While he was checking out I offered to go start loading the corn, forgetting about his weight restrictions. When he came outside and just stood there, it took me a minute to get over my shock as to why he wasn't helping and then remember why.
Then I noticed all the looks we were getting.
Looks that only continued as I manhandled the buggy to the truck and proceeded to load all the corn in the truck.
HH was squirming.
I wish I had a sign that could explain why am I just standing here.
I am not that lazy.
It's fine babe....GASPING FOR AIR....
As MC1 so lovingly pointed out earlier - But it is good for you mom. You need the exercise.
Seems I did.
Off to Audie and Grandpa's house to fill up feeders. Of course Grandpa had to do it because I am way to short to even try. Few hours later we were all set, and HH was exhausted. From sitting and watching. It is hard work. I speak from experience. It is how I try to roll.
So by 8:30ish last night, all the men were asleep in my house and I crashed on the couch.
By 4:30, I was awake.
Yep...Monday is here.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

I have been with him.

Getting that leak he had fixed.

(Yes, for you eagle-eyed folks, that is a Bone Collector shirt)

Maybe mocking just a bit.

Especially when the nurse told him to drop his undies,

unless he would feel more comfortable keeping them on.

He opted to keep.

Praise the Lord it was successful!

He is doing much better.

Maybe next week I can get back to my normal routine.

Maybe.

MOVIN' ON UP...

The other morning I found this outside my gate.

I know...

Who drops a kid off outside the gate?

I thought it was empty.

I was wrong.

Seems someone packed it to my house.

A sight I would have loved to have seen.

We decided that:

a. He did not like the food I bought.

b. He has decided to contribute to the cause

c. He has decided to go on and move his stuff down here.

Judging by the amount of time he has been here,

I am thinking C.

Yes, the tally is now up to 5 canines.

5 people...

F-I-V-E!

NOT THIS....

Mom?

Yes...

What did you and Dad DO before you had kids?

Not this.....

Okay, well maybe your daddy did that....

THE GUEST LIST

A conversation between MC 2 and myself....

Mom, do you know what time Bella's birthday is?

Do you mean do I know when Bella's birthday is?

No, I have no idea.

Why?

Did you want to throw her a party?

Yes...

I am not throwing a dog a birthday party.

Not a party with kids mom.... a party with dogs.

(Of course...what was I thinking)

Who would we invite?

Buddy...

(Who else? Where was my head?)

So Buddy...

you are cordially invited to Bella's birthday party.

Just whenever you can stop by.

You know, pick a day.

Perhaps one day when you weren't planning on already coming over.

We want to make it special.

COMPASSION

A group of Compassion bloggers just returned from a trip to Guatemala.

You can, and should, read the stories of

Amanda,

Ann,

Lisa-Jo

and Lindsey

on the Compassion Bloggers web page.

You can also read about Compassion and how to support it on Shaun Groves blog.

We adopted a girl for MC 1 about a year ago.

Shery lives in Tanzania.

She and MC 1 trade letters, pictures, stories of school.

She even invited him to come hunting, which thrilled him to no end.

I know it is had to picture how your money makes a difference.

I know I sit on this side of the screen and wonder if it really helps.

I see pictures of poverty.

I see pictures of filth.

Then I see pictures of joy.

Pictures of hope.

Pictures of the family of Christ being brought together.

Sharing a love that started miles apart

and is only strengthened by their physical connection.

Your money matters.

It makes a difference.

Your letters matter.

They make a difference.

Not to just the one.

But to an entire family.

An entire community.

Quite possibly to an entire world.

Most importantly, to Jesus.

AT LEAST I HAD THE DECENCY...

to stay in the hospital when I was down for a week.
Those were words I spoke to HH about Wednesday of the past week.
In jest, of course, because he has had a rough week.
It started Sunday with the onset of a severe headache.
So much so we ended up on the ER that night.
One CAT scan and spinal tap later, he came home with meds and bed rest.
We went to see our doc on Monday and he concurred.
He also scheduled an appointment with a neurologist to find out what was going on.
Home to mend we thought.
By Wednesday, HH was bad......very bad.
He could not stand or sit up with out excruciating pain in his head.
Wednesday night finds us back in the ER.
(I bet if I saw one 1 mama I saw 15 mama's to be wheeled into that ER)
We waited for 2+ hours before we could even get him in.
He slept in the truck while I awaited his name being called.
By God's hand, our wait allowed for our actual doctor to be working at the very same ER, which is in a totally different town.
It was determined that his spinal tap was leaking.
Plan of treatment - caffeine dip via IV then a blood patch on Thursday to plug it up.
YAY!!!
Or not.
They call yesterday to set it up and we hit a snag. One of his meds would not allow for the procedure to be done.
New treatment plan....up his caffeine intake and his salty food. Lay on his back and wait it out till Monday. Hopefully it will heal on its own.
Okay...day 4 of lying on the couch.
Pretty uneventful day except when I got a call about one of his cultures and that they would call me back because the infectious disease lady was on the other line and they needed to talk to her first.
Like that won't totally mess with your head.
If not for scripture, we would have had a mini Outbreak reaction and visions of monkeys in the backyard.
They call back.
It is all ok.
Great...thanks.
Of course, now with all the caffeine HH can't sleep and it has given him acid reflux.
He sat straight up out of his sleep 3x times last night, which is not a good thing for someone with orders to lay flat on his back.
I think he told me he got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night, so needless to say he is snoring away right now.
I have learned one valuable lesson...the MC's can function at school on sugar and carbs, be them donuts from the store of cinnamon toast I make because I woke up 15 minutes before we needed to leave.
The IL's (in laws) have been awesome about helping and watching the MC's. Our friends have been praying. We are blessed.
It has just drawn out a whole lot longer than anyone of us expected.
We still need to find out what caused the first headache, so please pray for wisdom for the doctors.
Well, that is how our week has been.
At least after my week down we got a kid out of it.
HH does have a much deeper appreciation for epidurals and the such.
I doubt he will ever look a child birth the same again.
Also....we survived MC 2 first day of archery. Let me tell you that was a feat worthy of a post all its own.
Have a great weekend!
Go to church!
Meet with Jesus before you ever get there!
In the words of PW...love you more than my luggage!

OUR NEWEST ADDITION

Because HH is a glutton for my punishment,

we have a new dog.

Well, we had a new dog.

His name is Kotten.

He is from Louisiana.

He was with us for a week.

Then he wondered off.

Or got lost.

Or was led astray by Buddy and Copper who detest him.

Growing up we had a pointer, Sam, who always tried

to lure the new dogs away and lose them.

ALWAYS.

She wanted to be an only dog.

He had been gone for about a 1 1/2 weeks,

when at the local gas station, I saw his picture.

It was on this.

Yep, that is my dog.

So now I must go retrieve said canine.

Then I am purchasing stock in Wal-Mart dog food,

because the dogs we keep getting to "replace" Zoey

for she will "not be with us forever",

yet seems to be outliving them all,

are going to eat a lot.

THE FIRST REPORT IS IN....

in the war of the world,

otherwise known as MC 2 vs. Kindergarten.

It is too close to call.

Out of 4 days last week we did get 3 smiley faces.

Then we lost two of them.

At the end of the day.

How many kids can do that?

It takes strategic planning I believe.

He brought home his first progress report.

The things we are good at ...

Working alone.


Pretty much everything else we need improvement on.


He does wait to talk.


It is a ploy.


His silence means he is plotting.

Taking in the lay of the land.

His mama and his teacher need prayers.

So does he.

THE...

dissolution

of

courage.

photos by Kay Owens Photography

THANK YOU BABY....

Saturday HH decided to divide and conquer.

He need to go check on a job for work and I had to get MC 1 to his rodeo.

HH took MC 2.

Between you and me I think he just took him because

he knew MC 2 would be trapped in a truck for a few hours

with nowhere to go or get in trouble.

Seems the boys did not like my tortilla bread pudding I made for breakfast.

(Just an FYI, I heard a rumor that you don't actually need the 1 1/2 cups of milk it calls for.

So if by chance you do something like FORGET IT TOTALLY until after you have it in the oven, no biggie!).

One the way to the rodeo,

MC 1 and I stopped by Sonic to get him some breakfast.

I ordered him a breakfast burrito.

Apparently we had been depriving him.

He fell in love.

Quickly.

Man! Mom! You have got to try this!

because clearly by his mama's physique she had NEVER had one before.

In her life.

E-V-E-R!

All I have to say is,

Thank you baby....

INEVITABLE...

is what it was.

We all knew.

I tried to tell them.

Before it ever started.

I tried.

This week I had a conference with MC 2's teacher.
12 days into the school year.
Topic was his behavior.

I used the term independent.
She concurred.
She wanted to know if we saw the same thing at home.

I should have brought in my body of evidence.

And witnesses.

Lots of eye witnesses.
We compared two coloring papers.

One done correctly.

One scribbled.

She said, "I guess this was a day he was feeling independent."

I have evidence of many of those days.
You want to know what the most effective punishment is for him?

Going to his room with no after school snack.

Gets him right where it hurts.

Today, he got a smiley face.

Mom! Mom! Check my folder! I got a smiley face!

Does this mean I don't have to go to my room?

Yes, baby it does,

and all is right with the world.

For now.

Which is good enough for me.

Give you entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Matthew 6:34

The Message

THUNDERDOME

the real reason the boys came west

Grandpa

Ca-caw...Ca-caw

aka

one too many viewings of Furry Vengeance

trying to turn so he will land on his junk in the trunk

and not his face this time!

For the record, I maintained my constant vigil of

you are going to break your leg

during these attempts.

Seems it was drowned out by HH's constant

jump boy jump!

ROAD WARRIORS

Friday we headed west!
I have more pics
but someone is being difficult.
The first two are the boys pre-trip.
Someone is ticked we won't tell him where we are going,
and someone is giddy to just be out of school.
The last is the famous RaRa!
More to come if this silly thing will get it's act together:)

ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN....

would have had a run for their money yesterday. The MCs are in archery one day a week. Yesterday was the first day. Yesterday 139 kids showed up. The most last year.....50. MC 1 participated last year so he was chosen to demonstrate somethings. MC 2 sat quietly and listened to instructions about how to not shoot someone, how to not stab someone, you know basically, how to walk out of there alive. There were so many kids they divided them by grade and let them shoot one arrow. Except we ran out of time and MC 2 did not get to shoot. Their fearless (and I mean that in every sense of the word) leader is developing a schedule to split them up into smaller groups. I thought that would be a lucky break for me and I would only be going every other week. Not so lucky. The rough draft has MC 2 one week and MC 1 the next. Yea me.
Have a great day!