What?

Football jersey, short shorts, soccer shin guards, hockey stick, and a ball.

Any guesses as to what sport he thinks he is playing?

Ice Hockey!

I guess I should at least be thankful he didn't say tennis.

Grandpa

The world lost a great man this week.

My grandfather was a man of few words, but lack of dialogue did not limit the many wonderful memories formed over the years.

• My grandpa lived 600 miles away, but he was the only grandpa I ever knew. This made him special right from the start. I don't remember him being a cuddly, crawl-up-in-his-lap kind of guy, but he always had a smile and a wink that let us all know we were loved.
• The fact that he only had one arm may have had something to do with the lack of cuddle time as well. Oh, the memories I have of grandpa's "arm". He could do amazing tricks with his hook, but as a little girl, I could never decide if I was in awe of that thing or scared to death. I'll never forget the first time I saw his prosthetic arm laying on grandma's dryer. I'm surprised someone didn't have to scrape me up off the floor.
• Grandpa often called me Susie. And I think he called my cousin, Charity, that as well. We never did discover why he called us Susie, but it sure made us giggle a lot.
• I could never figure out why grandpa only had SIX CHANNELS on his TV. Six channels? Who could possibly live on six channels? Funny, since that is all I get on my TV. Right now. In 2010. Well, ok, maybe we get eight, if you count the Spanish channel that appeared last year with the conversion to digital.
• Grandpa really only needed one channel. Oh, how he loved his Wheel of Fortune.
• Charity and I used to love to sneak into grandpa's office. I have no idea what the draw was to that room....maybe it was because we weren't supposed to be in there? Quite possibly it was because it was right next to the two giant freezers where grandma always stashed the cookies and candy. I've always wondered if grandpa ever had any idea how many hours we spent hiding out in that forbidden room.
• Oh, how I remember the days that grandpa would take me choring with him. That smell is just not something you forget easily. I was somewhat fascinated with the whole process since I knew nothing about farming, but secretly I was always terrified that grandpa would be completely armless by the time we were done. I'm pretty sure I watched every move his hand made, just praying nothing would happen on my watch.
• Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like that man mowed his lawn more than anyone I've ever known. It seemed like he was ALWAYS riding around the yard on his little John Deere mower. But now that I think about it.....he did have a houseful of crazy grandchildren......it makes perfect sense why he was out there. I bet he didn't mow his lawn near as much when we were gone.
• Although grandpa wasn't a talker, there were two distinct situations where his voice rang in my head loud and clear. One of these was Christmas time. Whenever I hear someone read the Christmas story, it is always my grandpa's soft voice that I hear. Not a Christmas went by that he didn't start by opening his Bible and reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas and the greatest Gift that ever was given. As kids, we were were squirmy, and impatient, and just wishing that grandpa would read a little faster. But he was always determined to keep the focus right where it should have been.
• The other moments I will never forget with grandpa were morning devotions. After breakfast he would read out loud from the Bible - every morning, without fail. Sadly, I'll admit, Charity and I used to lay downstairs in bed and stay really quiet, wondering if maybe, just maybe, we could pretend we were sleeping through breakfast so we didn't have to sit through the Bible reading. But as I grew up, I began to realize the importance of what grandpa was doing, the daily connect with God through His Word, and how grandpa's day just was not complete without it.

The memory list could go on and on....the stockyard visits, the tractor rides, and grandma shoving Wheat Thins into grandpa's mouth to keep him awake on long trips. But most importantly, I am so thankful I know that grandpa is right he wanted to be, running along the streets of gold, free from pain and suffering.

We will miss him greatly!

Living Amidst the Crazy

In the relay race of blog-slacking, the baton has officially been handed off to me.

At 11:00 Tuesday night, I was trying to unwind my brain, so I wrote a blog post about what was up in my world. When I was ONE sentence from finishing the post, I somehow selected all the text and deleted it before I even knew what was happening.


I groaned, and then had a brilliant idea. Since blogger automatically saves throughout the writing process, 'edit posts' should have nearly all my data! I quickly went there while patting myself on the back for my ingenious plan. I found this:

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Apparently my brain was not quick enough. And the autosave is a little too quick.

So here I am again, trying to remember what has been taking up all my precious time.

On Sunday - Wednesday, I served on an accreditation team with three men. It was non-stop working from 7:00 a.m. each morning to 11:00 p.m. each night, with a few nice breaks for some fine dining. Being the lone female has its perks. Never in my life have I had so many doors opened for me, bags carried, trash cleared, drinks refilled....whoever said chivalry is dead is dead wrong. I think my husband was a little scared I was coming home spoiled rotten.

In the midst of the team visit, my grandfather got very sick. We are expecting the call any day that will put us on the road to Illinois for the funeral.

As a result, we canceled my son's tonsillectomy. It was supposed to be yesterday, but since the doctors did not want him traveling for around two weeks, we are postponing it for at least a month.

Also during the team visit, the girl who lives with us wrecked her car 1/4 mile from our house. Bridges, ice, and rear-wheel vehicles are not a good mix. We are thankful that the worst thing that happened is her car being totaled.

There's the update. I can officially pass the blog-slacking baton to someone else.

The Birthday Fairy Must Be On Strike

I'm pretty sure my little boy did not wish for breathing treatments and Zithromax for his fourth birthday...

And I'm pretty sure that I didn't wish for the over-emotional, jazzed up, jittery child that these treatments turn him into.

Happy Birthday, anyway, little buddy!

Guess what you are getting for your birthday today?

A NAP!

"Look at me, mom!"

We are a little bit addicted to Biggest Loser at our house. We have discovered that it is kind of risky to watch reality TV with the kids, as the contestants are not always the most...um....pleasant conversationalists. This one, however, is one we don't often miss. I rationalize it by thinking of all the great things they can learn from the Biggest Loser:

• The importance of healthy eating
• The benefits of exercise
• How hard life can be if you are overweight
• It takes determination to reach a goal

Why, then, do my children watch the show and only glean THIS??

I'm not too happy with Bob and Jillian for making the white team do this "exercise". Or with the rest of the contestants for cheering him on like he just found a cure for cancer.

A Little Life Update

On a positive note, things are looking up in my technology world. The computer guy called today and he has saved everything off my old computer on CDs. WHEW. My husband is currently looking online for a new laptop to order. YAY.

On a sadder note, my little guy had a visit to the ENT today. His tonsils are huge, his adenoids are huge, and he tries to clear his throat about 80 times each day. The solution: surgery. We told him that taking his tonsils out would help his throat, and that he could eat ice cream and jello and popsicles. He was not convinced. The poor guy looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "I don't think I want to have my tonsils taken out!"

On a confusing note, we have been inundated with adoption questions lately. Having more children was not on our to do list this year, or any other year for that matter. But five, yes FIVE, people have talked to us in the last month about one adoption situation or another. And three of those have been in the last four days. I'm not sure what God has up his sleeve, but I'm keeping in mind that His to do list is more important than mine.

And on a funny note, I was just chatting with a friend on facebook. She told me she had to go sing the good night song to Lance and Guin before she tucked them in for the night. It took me a second to realize that she was talking about her BIRDS! It's so nice to know I have friends that are weirder than I am.

A Little Lost

Nine days ago my laptop quit charging. I thought it was a power cord issue; turns out it is a $350-450 internal issue. Needless to say, we are not going to fix it.

No outlook calendar. Lost email addresses. Very limited internet access. Imprisoned to-do lists and needed information.

If you see me wandering around with a dazed look on my face, please help me.

If I do not show up to somewhere I am supposed to be, please call me.

If I promised you I'd do something and I didn't do it, please forgive me.

I feel like someone has erased my brain.