Found Friend

Sherry was my best friend since 4th grade. We spent A LOT of time together. She lived just up the road, so it was convenient. We were in band together, we went to after proms together, we learned the words to Meatloaf and Michael Jackson songs together. I think we spent the night at each other's houses every weekend. We watched Friday Night Videos when we could stay up that late. We went to South Carolina together for spring break when we were senior. We were buds. We were even the maids of honor in each other's weddings. But then we lost touch. She moved to Tennessee with her family, and I moved to Virginia with mine. We saw each other at our 10 year class reunion, but didn't really get to spend any time together. I had looked for her on line several times, but couldn't find her. As our 20 year reunion approaches, I started looking for information on-line. I found Sherry's my-space page and re-connected! I love how small the world becomes on the computer. Sherry just comleted a 1/2 marathon in Tenessee, and is planning to run one in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach! That's only about 3-4 hours away! So hopefully we will get to meet up after the 1/2 marathon. It's so nice to catch up after all these years. She has 3 almost-grown children with one in college. Twenty years is a long time, so I'm thankful for the chance to re-connect with my childhood friend.

Study

I just finished my second week of studying the kinsman redeemer from the Book of Ruth in the Bible. It has been so good. This week was about how Jesus met all of the requirements for being a kinsman redeemer--that he became a close relative (human), and that He was willing to pay the price for us. It was an awesome study. I'm so excited about next week. We are studying how He will eventually redeem the land as well. God has painted these pictures throught Scripture and around us to show Himself and make Himself known. A friend of mine shared the story of her mother at the study. Her mom worked in a cotton field in Alabama and had her own hoe from a young age. When she graduated high school at 20 (schools were closed during the depression), she expected a life of working in the fields. But a family with a daughter the same age as her mother moved from their town in Alabama to Mississippi where the daughter got a job at the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). They needed more employees, so this family sent for Barbara's mom. She went to work there and finally made enough to rent a room at a boarding house across the street from the company. Soon after, a man came home from the service, and instead of going out to his family in the country, first went to that same boarding house and rented a room. He met Barbara's mother there and they fell in love and married. Barbara shared this with us to show that her mother had been redeemed. Someone was willing to pay the price to get her out of that field. God has done the same for us through Jesus' blood. It gives me goose bumps!
While I'm on the subject, have you heard about Reign Down U.S.A. this weekend? It's a national event calling our nation to repentence. You can go to the web site and read about it, www.reigndownusa.com. It'll be a great weekend!

New neighbors

We have new arrivals at the pond. Chris was mowing and the geese weren't moving. Finally the mama got up and the 7 or 8 little goslings got out from under her. We have had a couple nesting at the pond since March, but it appears we missed two. Now our other couple is still nesting, but this family has shown up as well. I don't know how long they will stay, but it was fun to watch them from afar yesterday.

New floors

Our project for the week (well, someone else's project for the week) was refinishing the floors in Chris's office and Fred's bedroom. Our house is 108 years old and it has lots of--um--character. We tore up the carpet in these two rooms last year since it smelled awful sometimes. These beautiful but worn floors were underneath. They needed help desperately, but since our future here has been up in the air, we didn't want to put any money into fixing up the house. We still don't know how long this old house will stand since it is built on corner stones with no way of getting underneath to see what condition it is in, but it's fun to be able to make it look nice. And since we can look forward to college tuition for the next 14 years, we will be here for a while.


When the man came to give us an estimate on the floors, he told us that they were pine. He said that it's hard to find now and is about $14 a foot. That was exciting. Now they are so beautiful. We haven't moved anything back into the rooms yet. I still want to paint Chris's office. But it's hard to think of covering them up with stuff. I'm so glad that we decided to have them done. What a difference!

SPRING

The chickens enjoy the bugs stirred up by the mower.

This Saturday after all of the business, we came home and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was gorgeous. The lilacs came into bloom and Chris mowed the grass. I wish I could post the smells. It smelled like spring. Sunday we were back in the low 50's, but this week promises more of spring time beauty.

Pausing to catch my breath

Well, we're half way through our crazy Saturday, and I have gained a new appreciation for soccer coaches. Chris coaches Peter's and Ben's teams. Today Sam played at 9 and Peter and Ben played at 10 at different fields. Thankfully we are good friends with Sam's coach, so he brought Sam to where we were. Chris couldn't do both games, so I was supposed to coach Peter's team. His assistant came today, so I didn't have to be on the field, but I tried to keep everyone where they were supposed to be and watch the clock as well. It was exhausting and confusing, but we made it. Pete's team tied the other, which was great with me. One of the dad's came up and asked me to relay a message to Chris--"Don't miss any more games!" Chris does a fantastic job with the kids. He's so calm and organized and patient. I'm very thankful that he's willing to do this. Sam's team won and Ben's team lost by one. Fred's baseball team is playing now, Sam has to be across the county at the Fine Arts Festival to sing with the chorus in an hour. I wonder if I'll miss the craziness when they are all on their own? But for now, it's time to dive back in.

OH the pain

I just finished my first official day of P90X. This is a 90 day workout program that Chris has been doing for 9 weeks. He looks great and has gotten stronger and has more endurance. I, on the other hand, have done nothing. Since having back issues I had to stop walking, which I used to do daily. It would just hurt my SI joint. I started physical therapy last year and had great results and a one hour pilates workout. But when I started subbing long term, that went out the window as well. I really enjoyed doing it and I know it made me stronger. So now I'm becoming marshmallow-ish. Two of my friends, both older than me, are very active. One has biked across several states and the other just finished life-guard training, both pushing themselves beyond what they thought they could do. They are my inspiration right now along with Chris and my 20 year class reunion in November. The guy on the P90X videos is very annoying. Every workout is the mother or all workouts....blah, blah, blah. But I can't argue with the results I've seen on Chris. Honestly, the workouts scare me a little. Today I did more push ups than I thought I would ever need to do in a life time. I also did chin ups and a workout called "Ab ripper X." Guess what that does! I tried these out a couple of weeks ago. The day after the one I did today wasn't too bad except for the biceps, but the next one...well, I couldn't walk down the stairs well for 3 days. Chris assures me that this will go away, but I don't know that I believe him. Right now I just need the motivation to do it every day. Here's hoping! I'll keep thinking of Liz and Donna while I work.

Busy Saturday

I hadn't thought that it would be so long between posts when I started this, but life is busy now. I subbed on Thursday 1/2 day in kindergarten and 1/2 day in 3rd grade. I was not ready for that. They were all great kids, but my patience wore thin way too quickly. Maybe now I'm ready for subbing again. I don't know.
I started leading a Precepts Bible study this Friday morning. It was so much fun. I haven't been in a ladies Bible study for a while and am enjoying this one very much. We are studying Ruth. It's only a three week study, and I wanted to break them in easy. Precepts is an inductive study, meaning that it's all in the Bible, and the ones that we are doing require a good bit of homework. Then on Saturday I got to spend all day at a Precepts training course. It was fantastic. I could stay for days. It was so much fun to connect with people that I haven't seen in a while and catch up while we study God's Word. I'm so excited now for the study on Friday mornings, since I can put into practice what I learned Saturday.
Fred's game was cancelled on Friday evening. I guess they thought it was going to rain and the field was already a little wet. But they were fooled. It didn't rain until late last night. Sam, Ben and Peter all had soccer games yesterday, so Chris was running much of the day. He coaches Peter's and Ben's teams, who played an hour apart yesterday. Peter missed the last quarter of his game since Chris had to get to Ben's, but they were ahead by 9 when they left. Sam played goalie the first quarter of his game. He allowed 2 goals, one while admiring his gloves, but did much better on offense in the second half. His team won as well. Ben's team won, too, so they all start the season with big wins. Chris called me after the conference and we met at Bruster's (the best ice cream around!) It was a great day.

MBES Spirit Week

Peter the flame head

Sam has spirit.
My boys love spirit week. All year they plan their crazy hair for "crazy hair day." Last year Ben had long hair and had me shave one side. He liked it so much that he wouldn't let me finish the job for a few more days. He played soccer that way. This year Ben didn't participate in the middle school spirit week, but Sam and Peter had a ball with theirs. Sam's hair was long enough to stand up this year. He was very excited. You'll notice the flames coming out of their heads. One thing we are finding, though, is that he and Peter both have tender heads. It's a good thing they aren't girls! They always have the option of getting a hair cut if they don't like combing through the tangles. I got to paint their faces for ultimate spirit day. What fun!

Testing, testing

My friend Liz has been blogging for a while, and I love to read about her family. She lives in Ohio now, and we don't see each other very often. We had our first kids together in Maryland and really mentored each other as new mommies. Anyway, she has urged me several times to try this, so I thought I would.
It has been a quiet week so far with everyone back to school after spring break. The long-term sub job lasted for 10 weeks and finished just a week before spring break. I am still recovering and have no desire to go back. It's amazing how many things pile up when I am gone. Now with soccer and baseball starting as well as 2:49, the musical that Sam and Peter are a part of, it's too crazy to be gone all day and all night. I am enjoying the silence.