week in review

apples apples everywhere! and hand turkeys too.


work work and more work.

finally wood for the fireplace!

harrison came to dinner. so funny. yummy mexican lasagna.

southern christmas show. mikey told santa he wanted a massaging car seat. what a hoot! awesome trains and cinnamon pretzels.

shopping for our justice project family. gotta love Aldi's!

big c's thanksgiving/etiquette luncheon. man!! he is handsome. (don't you think he needs a haircut?)

deer in the back yard. in the fence no less.

no rest on saturday then sunday is "Shattered" at church. so excited!!!

hopefully over the thanksgiving holiday i can get a real post in!!

happy weekend

oh and i forgot to mention the LICE!!!!!

the leaf doesn't fall far from the tree

monkey and i have been working on the letter L. and leaf starts with the letter l. so we went on a leaf hunt and then learned about them. we learned why and how leaves change color. i was impressed; he was not. then we did leaf rubbing's. i was great at it; he was not. then he got to finger paint some leaves on a tree. that he loved! (note the cat) and since sorting is a big deal in kindergarten, we sorted the leaves from largest to smallest. he has that down pat. i also wanted him to know how trees grew. and since i didn't have any seeds, i used beans to show him. we put some cannellini beans (which is all i had) on a wet paper towel, folded them and then put them into plastic baggies. i'll keep you posted on their growth. he was very excited about his "experiment".

today i ordered the ants for his ant farm. not real thrilled about that but both boys are excited about it. we are also going to have a butterfly farm in the late summer and we are going to grow a frog. that makes 4 different animals this year!! (see the fish here)


i can't believe i have to start thinking about buying gifts soon. uggh!! usually i have a list by now. this job is putting a big chink in my schedule! :) but i'm happy to have it believe me!

note to self...

i am an avid note taker. i love nothing more than to go somewhere (usually church) with my special pen and something to write on and jot down pearls of wisdom from others. i don't know if this is because i'm not very original myself or writing stuff down helps me to remember better. and i just got this great new note book just for taking notes at church. i managed to cover 2 pages today! now if i can just remember to go back and read it all!

pastor todd is teaching on jonah. most of you know the story, prophet not wanting to do God's work, runs away and ends up in being eaten by a big fish. great sunday school fodder. (no pun intended) but i never looked at jonah as someone like me. a prophet! well he must be a great guy who always does what he is told. i constantly hear God telling me to do stuff and i just don't want to do it so i run in the opposite direction. huh. just like jonah. todd asked us this week to give God 100%. not 92% (or in my case 75%). so my note to self is this. GIVE 100% TO GOD THIS WEEK.

my pastor posted this last night after hearing the news...

my pastor posted this last night after hearing the news...

Historic Night

We don't do partisan politics at Next Level and, no, I ain't gonna tell you who I voted for!

All that aside, this is a historic night in American history. Senator Barack Obama has just been elected president. The first African-American President. The first bi-racial President. At a perilous and promising moment in the history of this nation. In an instant, this man's life has changed. He is about to become the most powerful person in the history of the world - which is always the description of the American President. The responsibilities he will bear are beyond telling.

His is an extraordinary story, and agree or disagree with his politics it is impossible not to admire his grit and determination in arriving at this night. May he be blessed and may he know God in ways he has never before imagined.

I am writing as a pastor, not a partisan, to make a few points.

Pray for President-elect Obama. Pray that God will bless him with great wisdom, courage, discernment and insight. Pray in particular that he will be wise in his selection of men and women to advise him.

Whether you voted for President-elect Obama or Senator McCain, know this - the world has not ended on the one hand, and the new era of perfection has not begun on the other. God is still in charge of mankind and nations and He is working all things to his eternal purpose. Focus on what is eternal, not what is temporal.

Finally, pray for healing and hope for our nation. These are difficult times. More than ever before, our greatest need is to turn to God who wants to heal and restore and give us hope!

ma-ma mia!

monkey decided he wanted to go as Mario (as in Super Mario from Nintendo) for Halloween.
fine with me. the only thing i had to get was a $3 mustache and his costume was done. i laughed so hard i wet my pants twice. and what was even funnier was that people walked right up to him and said "MARIO!" they knew exactly who he was. big c, being 12, was sullen about what he wanted to do. it just had to be something dead. so i suggested a zombie. that way all i had to get for him was some white makeup. then he wanted green hair. whatever. but he looked good. he's so cute he even makes a zombie look adorable! don't tell him i said that! he would get mad at me! we went to the church up the street that was having a carnival. they handed out tons of candy and free stuff. they both got stuffed animals (?) and monkey got a whiffle ball and bat. and they had free hot dogs. then we headed over to my mom's neighborhood. she has more houses than we do and she said usually everyone gives out candy. well i think the recession is bitting into the candy giving in my town. we walked many streets but only about 3 out of 10 houses were giving out candy. oh well. my kids got tons!! we headed to the store afterwards to get a pizza and monkey and big c got their second wind. so i dropped them off at the end of the street and went home to put the pizza in the oven. they worked their way up and got home in time to cram candy and pizza in before i made them go to bed.
not a bad night i would say!

AGGGHHHHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....my life right now. nuts-o





HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Next Level Gladiators

last saturday night our church (next level) was holding a youth event. they were going to play american gladiators. remember that show? the gladiators beat the crap out of the contestants. well this was the same. the gladiators were the youth leaders and the contestants were the kids. it was held on a soccer field. and we had just had 3 days of rain right before this. so you can imagine how wet and mushy it was. not to mention i think geese like to flock there and do their thing. so it was disgusting. and of course i volunteered to help. (i mean i wasn't going to waste the gas driving out there and back!) jared (the youth pastor) put me to work scoring on the power ball game. that's the one where you take a ball out of the basket (or in this case trashcan) and try to get it into another basket (trashcan) with out getting slammed to the ground by a gladiator. and it was 1 kid to 3 gladiators. i laughed my butt off. they were sliding all over the place and falling like crazy. even the adults. and i have to say some of the girls really stepped up to the plate. they were great! then their were the ones who didn't want to get dirty. pansy's. so i helped out with this game for a while, then it was time for the ELIMINATOR!! they set out big blue tarps and covered them with vegetable oil. yes vegetable oil. the kids had to put their heads on the top of a umbrella and spin around 10 times. then roll all the way down the tarp (covered in vegetable oil) and then do 10 pushups. there was something else but i couldn't see it from where i was. oh they got hit by pillows that had been covered in flour. and had to slide down a muddy hill to see who won. big c was an absolute mess! but he had a wonderful time. my feet were soooo dirty and my pants legs were soaked.

hot dogs and music followed. and big c had blake and caden spend the night with him. i made them all sit on garbage bags on the way home and immediately strip and get into the shower. (and wash a load of laundry!)

i wanted to take my camera but was afraid it would get gross so i didn't. and i'm glad! if i get some pix i'll post them. you have to see how disgusting it really was.

i love my church!