Hi-Lo discoveries

So today was another DTMT, and I was wiped out. Still not totally recovered from the weekend, plus Daddy and Perry got home from a den meeting just before I did at 9:30...long night for everyone. So we skipped homework, every once in a while due to busy lives this is ok, besides he got an A on his spelling test last week after a few weeks of not doing so good, so it's all good. We took some time before bed to share "Hi-Lo", High point of your day....and Low point of your day. He shared the high point of his day today was going to Mrs. Copelands room and putting on his weighted vest, and then the low point this is when I decided "Hi-Lo" is a good idea.....he said the low point was when the kid on the bus who sits next to him keeps hitting him and hurting him, and he doesn't know how to make him quit cause no matter what he does he can't hurt him cause he's stronger......yikes.....so my kid appears to be being bullied. I don't know the full story since it's hard to get everything out of him. So send up some words for Perry, he's a small kid and I can see where bigger kids would mess with him. Had we not done Hi-Lo he may have never told me, and just delt with it. I sent the assistant principle an e-mail, lets hope he's not the one whose starting it.

Hung Over.....

And I only had one glass of wine all weekend. Which was on Friday night. I have a scraphangover, and well I should I did 14 pages and 1 card. Madness! Not to mention a HUGE case of "strange-bed syndrome", and I am beat down, tired. I think I've slept 4 hours in 2 days. Would have had much more sleep last night had it not been for some exstrenuious circumstances and the fire alarm going off at 6 am at the hotel we were staying at. My good heavens did that stir up a lot of drama among other things for those with an upset stomach (it wasn't me). Thanks to my friend Cyndi for making me evacuate the building, had there been a fire I would have felt safe and cared for. But since there was no fire I was delirious and annoyed staggering around the parking lot like a drunk....of which I was not. Thanks to Layni for going back into the non-burning building with me while others continued to stand outside and freeze. She then rechecked to make sure it was all clear, and I went back to bed....only to be awoke again a few short hours later by Layni's mother (BC) looking for the conference room key......arrrghhhh....and then again an hour later by housekeeping......DAMN IT PEOPLE I JUST WANT SOME SLEEP....so that's where I'm headed now....I leave you with a layout from the weekend.

Those Moments....

Ok it's the end of another DTMT, and I'm alive and full of energy. Why yes I am aware that it is almost midnight.....whatever I'm not tired. Ok heres a question to ponder. Why is my kid still awake for one.....for two....why is he talking to himself and then cracking up laughing? My first instinct is to yell "go to sleep".....but then I'd miss out on the free spirited cute laughter.....I'll just let him go he'll fall asleep eventually.

Music...

Man I love music. The right music can make or break your day! I was lucky enough to catch Austin City Limits saturday night and it was coldplay, it's the second time I've seen that one, last time being on Christmas Eve. The song with Michael Stipe and Chris Martin is priceless (the video above) that is an amazing song, that I'll probably have on repeat tomorrow. I love Chris Martin, not for his good looks, because he ain't all that handsome, but for the passion he appears to have for his music. He's not trying to look good, he's just enjoying what he's doing, and sings from his gut....Michael Stipe that's pretty much a given, everybody knows that....right?

Fun Day!

This is one of those shots that's just perfect. The lighting....everything. I love this picture from the Renessance Festival today. Thankfully we had free tickets. (I know the Mayor)....otherwise

We would not have gone. This is a people watchers paradise. Theres plenty of normal folks and way way more freaky folks. If my "do not draw attention" husband hadn't been with me I would have been taken pictures of freaky folks all day long. I did manage to take one picture of a stranger. When you zoom in on this one, you can see the layers of this womens outfit....and her crazy hat. Plus she was in need of some dental work. I do not think she worked there, but you never know. If you notice Perry is in the left hand corner of the photo.

Spelling....

So there was a bit of induced panic the other day. I was stressed and tired. It happens. Plus I've been a procrastinator this week. Majorly. So I waited too late to begin homework, plus I made him write too many words. Anyways we made it through the week, tomorrows friday, and he did a practice test and got them all right with very little help, so the agony we went through the other night is well worth it. Tis Hell no more. Lets just say we defeated hell with a little HG action. That's Holy Ghost for those of you just joining this party. Just means we pray....we are praying type people. Thus the reason Perry's got awesome teachers this year. Good kind caring people who seem to understand he's different and willing to work with that, and do whatevers necessary. I can't help but think about those parents who have a kid in Kindergarten or 1st grade, who have just figured out their kid has learning difficulties, and they are completely lost like I was. Fairfield really needs an advocate, just someone whose willing to point these people in the right direction. Some parents just give up way too easy. I'll pray for them, it's what I do.....

Because of procrastinating this week, it seems every dish in my house is dirty. So I should get to that.....domestic duties are never done!

It's Cold.....

And I sent my child to school with shorts and a t-shirt....and crocs. Is that bad? It was hot yesterday, now it's cold. I pay no attention to news reports or weather reports. Oh he did have on his rain coat too. I didn't know there was a school shooting at an amish school. I don't know, nor do I care about politics. Thanks mom, for the good laugh about what Hilary said....really sometimes it's best to keep your mouth shut.

Ron's made it through week 4 of The Call small group, and he was actually more comfortable last night. And even said so, said that last night wasn't as deep as the week before. I think he's mistaken. Life stages is far less deeper than surrender. But maybe coming to terms with what stage you are at and where you'd like to be, has a whole lot to do with surrender. Yikes.....

I've had a couple folks mention they read my blog due to the mass e-mail I sent informing people of popcorn sales. Although they weren't able to leave comments without joining blogger and then could do so. I have it set up so that crazy people trying to sell me stuff can't leave anonymous comments. So if you wanna give me a shout, or leave me a comment send me an e-mail or call me.....ahhhhh the dreaded phone call.....I too rarely talk on the phone anymore, but theres some peoples whose voice I like to hear from time to time. I sure miss hanging with my friends and family, everyones lives are so busy it seems. But I love you all even if I don't get to see or talk to you. Send me an e-mail and let me know your thinking about me....I love that!

Charming....

Conversation had after midnight on Saturday after a YMCA lock-in......

"Mommy I can't wait until I go back to the "new" Y again so I can lock myself in a locker again because that was so fun!"
"Um lock yourself in a locker? You locked yourself in a locker? Do you think that's a safe thing to do?"
"Yes, it's fun...you get inside and you close the door, and you just breath and breath, and talk, and then a nice lady hears your voice and opens it and lets you out. That was so nice of her wasn't it?"
"Right....I'm thinking that's a bad game to play....."

So at the next lock-in when we can't find Perry we should probably check the lockers, he's probably in there breathing, and talking.

He's extremely lucky he's charming. Otherwise one might just leave him in that locker!

Hell.....

Wanna know what hell is? Hell is 13 words 3 times each by a child with ADD and his medication has worn off. Yep that's what I'd like to call hell. Unless I sit on top of him....meaning directly behind him looking over his shoulder....otherwise we'd be up till midnight as he daydreams in between letters. Praying for patience here...but dang I'm tired and annoyed. I asked politely if the man would do some of my laundry, since I'm on homework patrol. He didn't protest so that's cool. He certainly didn't volunteer for homework patrol. Which is for the best really since his patience is less than mine, and he'd let him spell words incorrectly and call it done.

Erwin did a talk a few weeks ago on Hell. Man that man is truely blessed with God's word. I've learned so much from listening to his podcast. I feel like I'm finally starting to "get it", but not completely I'm not completely there. I'm definately being molded into something far greater than I can imagine I'm sure. Why else would I have all this awesome knowledge in my head. Just so Life Insurance would seem insanely boring, because my head is filled with far more interesting things. Like how God desires a relationship with every human being, but he will not force himself on us, it's completely our choice. God will never override your will. It's completely our choice. I think that's pretty cool. I wouldn't think it was cool if I didn't choose God because well then I'd have to live with the consequences. Which the way I see it would be Hell....for real Hell. Which would = a room full of kids with ADD writing spelling words 3 times each for many many many hours. Thank you God for loving me enough to gently knock and wait for me to open the door. So that I might have patience for the small mind I am helping to form.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
Rev. 3:20

Dog

Don't let his good looks fool you. He's freakin crazy! 

Growth

Very interesting to see growth in other peoples lives as well as your own. I am speaking of spiritual growth. So this is what week 3 of The Call is about life stages. Seeker....follower....owner....reproducer. This is where it got a bit boring for me, we've heard it a few times before this. Granted my church is primarily made up of folks who have been coming for 2 years or less, so just cause I've heard it don't mean everyones heard it. And when you here it again you could very well be at a different stage. What's interesting to me is the folks who embrace christianity as a mature adult, start off as a seeker and want to jump right on over to reproducer. Sometimes they can be a bit stuburn about it, you can't skip stages, you gotta go through the crap too....it's not a fast process, growing your faith takes some time trust me I know. All this labeling sounds very cult like I think.....however it's kind of nice to know where you are on the spiritual growth spectrum and where'd you like to be. Some may be perfectly happy to stay in the followers stage......some folks would like to stay a toddler too, and never be potty trained, but you gotta grow up sometime. Besides God calls us to be reproducers, which looks different for everyone. Ok when I look at it this way it's not so boring. Watching other people learn and grow and seeing God for the first time in different aspect and how he shows up in other peoples lives....sometimes they don't even realize it....so so so cool. That's the good stuff right there....not even boring. When you truly know what's going on and how God manifest himself, man that's way cool.

BORED...

Ok so I have a whole weekend where nothing is planned. No real plans other than a meeting for me on Sunday evening. So why do I feel so bored and depressed. Here I have a weekend I can just spend time at home and do nothing. What did I do? Moped around and took naps. I did absolutely nothing productive. I think a lot of it is that I am on a complete and total financial lock down. Any other weekend where I had nothing planned I would have taken that time and gone shopping. Well I'm in this Dave Ramsey total money makeover hell, and therefor I'm not allowed to spend any money. AS IN NO MONEY......yeah I'm pretty much dying. So when I had to run to Krogers to pick up a sponge for the sponge mop, I snagged me a Rachel Ray Magazine. I was excited about the opportunity for a quick trip to walmart to pick up a few things, so that I could sneak in a few things too, just to make it look like I was shopping. It felt good.....satified my needs.

Then at church...I'm bored too. This might be because God's getting ready to do something really big?? Preparing me, so I'm not overwhelmed. We're doing this Call thing, where everyone's reading a devotional written by leaders with in the church, then we have a message on Sunday and everyones in a small group during the week. To me it's a bit repetitive. As in all that stuff repeats a lot of what was in the chapter we just read. Guess they figure if you've heard something about it 3 times and had the opportunity to discuss it, maybe it'll eventually sink in. I guess maybe some of what Dave said in his message today about once you become a Christian who is now a "reproducer", you can get bored. Yep that's me, I'm bored. At a really bad time. I prayed for 5 years for my husband to attend church with me, and now he has for about 7 years. Then I prayed for God to really show up in his life, so that he could really understand how I feel sometimes, and not just be a warm body at church. Well now he's starting to get all this cool God stuff, now that his wife is a bored reproducer. See I've reverted to language your average Joe probably doesn't even understand, not only am I bored I've now officially become BORING. ugh.....Pray for me....pray for whatever big thing God's got planned he'll reveal even a little bit of it to me, so life will get interesting. Or I'm gonna become some crazy partying drunk....cause then life would definitely be interesting. LOL.....yeah right.

Life in Order....

Feels wierd that life may actually get on track. This whole getting out of debt thing of my husband and the "Dave Ramsey hell" it has placed me in feels not too bad. It's thursday, and I've not spent a single cent on food out at a resturant. I'd venture to say I may have lost weight, except for the 2 latte's I've had this week along with the blueberry muffins thank you Starbucks.

So small group for The Call night 2, was good. Ron appeared to be more comfortable, and seemed to be taking the challenge of being the first small group participant to not utter a word like a champ. He managed to only say his name during the entire session. Didn't seem wierd at all, since he wasn't the only one. He did engage in small talk before and after so he is socializing.....who knows by week six he'll be offering to have a word of prayer......if that happens it'll be because he got the holy ghost for sure! He had no answers for all the questions, something about "he can't come up with answers to questions about his feelings real quick like that." LOL....although he had all sorts of ideas on how to draw people out who aren't talking, afterwards....LOL. Which I already knew the strategies, since I've been an Alpha facilitator for 3 years and was a small group leader for 2 years. Sometimes "drawing people out" just isn't appropriate, they'll talk when the time is right. Why he's got all this advice when he's the one not talking is beyond me. Dude it's ok to not talk, trust me you are getting plenty by just listening.

Real Life....

Have I talked about how much God loves me lately?? Have I? I mean seriously that whole switchfoot thing well that was clearly a God divine appointment. And then I also mentioned, my self inflicted latte ban. Why would I do that to myself? When a 2 minute trip through starbucks drive-thru can happen every single day with barely any effort whatsoever, it's like some sort of cruel and unusual joke. So then Ron hands me todays mail. Which included an unmarked envelope from MN....I know no one in MN. But it felt bulky like I was recieving a credit card....big no no in the world of financial peace. I open it and it's none other than my 2 starbucks gift cards I got from reward points at my bank. THANK YOU GOD! He knew it was too hard for me. That's real life baby...you can't make that stuff up!

Funny....

Thought that God hooked up that Starbucks with the superfast drive-thru service, but after a week of being brainwashed by Dave Ramsey.....I'm convinced it's Satan! Ron and I both have been listening to Dave Ramsey's podcast. Normally he has a talk radio show in the evening for 3 hours. But with a podcast you can get a whole hour commercial free...woohoo...
Ron got his book Lord help me, so I think Ron's began the baby steps to financial freedom.....I'm doomed. Unless I can stick it out long enough to get debt free, then I'll be allowed a latte or two, I think. I can't live like a pauper forever right? So the mans very much on my nerves about money again. This time I think we might be on the same page. So the challenge initiated by myself for the week. Can we go a full week without purchasing any food from a resturant. Including STARBUCKS. Plenty of food in the house. Lunches will be packed this week. Yowza....anyone wanna play along. Come on it'll be fun. Not to mention rewarding. That just means more money saved for latte's at a later date.

So I was contemplating on going to the Switchfoot concert in Columbus at the end of October. It happens to be on a Monday which is a crazy day to travel to columbus to see a concert. But if you've been reading my blog for any length of time you'd know what a huge Switchfoot fan I am. So I keep going back and forth in my head "is it responsible?", "will I be neglecting my family?" Is it too crazy to attempt such nonsense? Well God shows up again, and this time I think it was for real because it was at church. Today's message was what are your wildest dreams? Now seeing switchfoot in concert is a wild dream but I wouldn't say it was my wildest, plus I'm thinking he was going for way more complex, more like what has God really created you for? And what are you doing to pursue what God has planned for you? Except I'm sort of a simple minded kind of girl, with simple obtainable dreams really. So at the end of the service, his message took a rather intense turn....and I got my answer. I'M GOING TO COLUMBUS BABY! So click on that, and if you have an hour check out the whole service. If you only have like 30 min fast forward to the message, it's a good one, but if you wanna just see the message from God to little ole me.....fast forward to 55 min. sit back and watch the magic. Close your eye and listen. But don't cry like I did.....it's late and your eyes will be all puffy in the AM. And if you aren't a switchfoot fan, that song.....man oh man....it's one of those songs that grabs you, speaks to your soul, gets you really thinking. I mean not just dang my life sucks kind of thinking, but am I really doing what God created me to do, and if I'm not what am I going to do about it?

I love you Starbucks!!

Ok so a few years ago I was doing a full on Starbucks boycott because they charge so much for coffee to be yummy. I was getting my coffee at Super America for 89 cents instead of 3.90 for a grande latte. Something happened, fall at Starbucks is what happened, and all the yummyness that goes with that. I started getting the occasional Pumpkin spice Latte last year....you can even go fat free and it's just magic, worth every cent! Well guess what happened? So we're doing that praying everyday "God what would the abundant life look like in my life?" A Starbucks with a drive-thru right by the exit where I get on to go to work.....that my friend is what the abundant life looks like. It's gotta be it, because a bad morning suddenly turns into a magical happy morning with a 2 minute trip thru the drive thru....it's gotta be a God thing what else could it be?

6 Weeks of Torture

Getting to know strangers 2 nights in a row is tiresome. Dragging my introverted husband along for the ride on day 2 is even more tiresome. Ron's first small group experience was this evening.....it was pretty much 1 full on hour of torture. He could very well be the first person in the history of small groups to pretty much say nothing. Ha! Now that's gonna be good. He answered the "ice breaker" question because he thought he had to, in which case he just tagged along to my response. After that he wasn't talking. Somehow I need to explain to him that you don't have to talk, it's not a requirement, and even if you don't talk you can very much get something out of the experience, by listening to what other people have to say. He didn't say afterwards "I don't ever want to do that again." He did however mention it could be a very long 6 weeks though. LOL.......So we're suppose to pray for God to reveal his purpose for our lives everyday for the next week. I'll let you know when I'm quitting my job!!! LOL......Not just yet things are finally getting interesting on the job front, I actually have important responsibilities for once and feel needed a teeny tiny bit. Cubeland isn't so bad right now....maybe Gods going to reveal my purpose in life insurance. That sounds just awful, I hope not. Hey God how about something a little more creative?? Oh forgot I'm not incharge.

Men!!

Why is it they can't get the organized side of parenting down? He did attempt to do homework with P tonight, I will give him that, but he is going to have more than 1 thing for homework. Besides it's all written down in his very bad 9 year old hand writing in his agenda. So I had to help finish up at 10 pm, when he's suppose to be in bed. UGH.....and I had to go search for a rock outside with a flashlight. Um we live in the suburbs not near a creek, and oddly enough even with a boy around theres no rocks in my yard. I had to look hard for a rock, but I found one.

So I now have one DTMT under my belt and it feels good. I feel accomplished and all the people at my Alpha table show'd up. Crazy how many folks have table where people don't show, or they'll leave at the break never to return. I've never had this happen....wait......last time around I did one week. But that was very strange circumstances. I love Alpha....good times!

Happy Grandparents day Geegaw!!!

Back in the day we loved to go TPing. I TP'd well into my 30's. It was like creating white beautiful art. We once did my mom's house in 24 rolls of TP, it was an amazing work of art! Geegaw was often a victim of our form of graffiti. Ecspecially once we were grown, and I know longer lived at home. Besides she always worked nights so she wasn't there to bust us. Now that I'm past 35, I strangely feel too old for TPing. Could be I don't really know anyone with big trees in their front yard. And many folks have big mean dogs or dogs in general who blow your cover. So now we go Flamingoing.......hee hee.....at least we did last night. Geegaw lives in a palacial single wide. She's as proud as Gretchen Wilson to call herself trailer trash. No singlewide is complete without a set of Flamingo's. So while Perry and I distracted Geegaw in the house, Ron "Flamingo'd" her yard. Perry sort of blew our cover, he didn't want to wait till morning for her discover them.....she loves them. I personally think it would be better with about 6 more!

Prepare yourself blog fans, it's that time again when we start......DO TOO MUCH TUESDAYS.....Ron is now joining in on the madness, and taking over as cub scout parent, at least for 10 weeks while I lead Alpha. So hold on to your seats it's gonna get crazy round here! 

Eye Doctors....

P and I went to the eye doctor this evening. I got me some Pure Vision contacts, they were kidding these mugs are clear, and everythings so crisp. Wow....I've been wearing my glass's for 2 weeks, because I was out of contacts. I had a pair, but I had wore them for a while, and figured I was pressing my luck. I'm a lazy contact wearer and someday I'll pay if I don't cut it out. I've gotten lectures on several occasions, that I'm damaging my eyes by not taking them out yada yada.....but this time....the man was in the room with me. So he heard so it's something he'll lecture about I'm sure...."um Jo are you going to take your contacts out before you go to bed?".....So I guess I'd better listen. Do you people have any idea how blind I am??? Perry's like a -2, me I'm like a -9, which is really bad. Those people who invented contacts I could kiss them, wonder if I'd be reading braile if I was this blind 100 years ago. Yikes.....Happy to be able to see thank you Pure Vision....you people are brilliant.
Ashton told me last week...."Aunt Jodi your eyes look bigger when you wear your glass's" Right.....had to inform her that, that's not a compliment. UGH.....