I Married A Good Man

There are times when I think my brain will explode because of something my husband said or did.  Yet it passes quickly and I'm back to loving him.  And then there are days like today...

Last week Thursday, I was offered a free dog.  FREE.  It needs a good home and can no longer stay at the breeder's house.  FREE.  Cute little white dog.  My kids have wanted a dog for over 5 years.  FREE.  I didn't search for this...it found me.  FREE.  This offer couldn't have come at a better time and it certainly couldn't have been better for our family.  And my husband said, "No!  Absolutely not."

On Monday, my son and I went shopping and I saw dog dishes and dog toys.  I made the decision right then and there to get that dog.  So we bought the dog dish and the dog toy and I knew I would have to play my cards right to get my husband to change his mind. 

I told my boss about the dog on Tuesday and she said, "Let's go see her!"  So we did.  And I truly believed this dog was meant for my family.  It's a Coton de Tulear and it's a cute little white dog.  Her name is Chloe and she's blind in one eye.  When I first saw her, her blind eye is glazed over and it's a little larger than her other eye.  But Chloe is sweet and loving and she came right to me and rolled over so I could give her a tummy rub.  No one else wanted this poor little dog and my heart went out to her.  I left there determined NOT to take "No!" for an answer!

Yesterday, my daughter and I went to shop at a flea market in Shipshewanna, IN.  We saw a LOT of dog toys and clothes.  We bought a dog leash and brush.  And then I called my husband and told him I think we should get the kids the dog.  They really want one and I think this one would be good for our family.  He said he'd think about it and we'd talk later.

Today, I sat down and smiled at him.  Then I raised my eyebrows at him in question.  He looked at me and nodded his head "Yes".  I married a man who would LOVE to think of himself first, but he doesn't.  He thinks of all of us first.  I know he doesn't want a dog.  He doesn't really like animals and he caved in numerous times (we have three cats!) already.  But he loves us and he thinks of our happiness.  I love him.  And not just because I got my way.  He's a good man and I'm blessed to have him as my husband.  

And we'll have Chloe living with us soon.  I'll post pictures...

Love and peace to you all! 

Teacher Issues

Okay, I have a hard time confronting people because I like to avoid conflict.  But seriously, when a teacher criticizes my child for having a paper that was "bad" (after saying to others, "Perfect, good, good, perfect....BAD!") and there's "too much on it", I think that's where I have to draw the line.  I believe in constructive criticism and by all that is holy and mighty, I believe that if you negatively criticize a child, especially in front of her classmates, that's damaging to their self esteem.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my child should have her hand held and be cradled in the teacher's arms.  I'm saying that teachers have a major impact on kids with their choice of words.

The above allegedly (and I use this word because I realize there's two sides to every story) happened to my daughter by her social studies teacher.  My daughter, who LOVES school and everything about it, came home and told me she no longer likes social studies which happened to be one of her favorite subjects.  When asked, "Why not?", that's when she told me what the teacher said to her.  If this really did happen, I could have thought of about 150 different better ways that statement could have been said.  And I think I may send this teacher an email suggesting ideas for her to use in the future.  Perhaps, "Wow!  This paper has a LOT of stuff on it!  Maybe next time you can try to focus on just a few states and make sure they look their best rather than trying to get all 50 on the paper!". Or "Maddie, your paper has too many states on it.  I think it would have looked better if there weren't as many." Or "Next time why don't you try to keep the paper a little less crowded."  I think ANYTHING rather than simply saying it's "bad".  I'm saddened that my daughter was hurt by this and the Momma Bear is starting to growl.  In fairness to the teacher, though, this needs to be discussed before I go all "bear" on her.    

72011

I know I've written about this a few times, but this is something that has clearly affected my life.  I'm going to share some more information about Matt Hales and his untimely death.  I say untimely because he was only 27 years old at the time of his death, and don't we all feel that people should live long lives before they die?  Everyone should be old when they die, not young, right?  One of my longest memories of my father's advice (by longest, I remember him telling me this early in life and he's never stopped repeating this statement) is:  "The old must die and the young may."  

When Matt died on 7-20-11, it was 11 years after his severe accident in 2000, 11 days before his 28th birthday and in the year 2011.  But Matt's wife, Stephanie, posted on her blog some more information that is profound.  Matt died in the 11th hour.  7-20-11:  7+2+0+1+1 = 11.  Jesus Christ - count the letters:  11 letters in His name.  Coincidence?  Or Heavenly messages?  I believe it's a message.  See a YouTube video discussing this phenomena at 11:11

Often times we question "why?".  WHY would God let someone who's so good and wonderful die at such a young age while there are rotten, nasty, evil people who live SO long and hurt so many during their lives?  Regarding Matt's death, Matt was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It wasn't a critical accident caused by God.  The Bible's explanation of why there is suffering and death can help us understand that God is not responsible. For one thing, the Bible alerts us to the fact that "time and unforeseen occurrence" befall all humans (Eccl 9:11).  For example, Jesus brought to light that 18 people were killed when a tower fell on them.  He made it clear that their death was not because of God's displeasure but because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (Luke 13:1-5).  Just like Matt was.  God doesn't cause events such as this, but He has ways of comforting us.  Like all of the coincidences with the number "11" involved in Matt's life and death.  Do you think this is God's way of showing us that Matt was called to Heaven and is perfect once again so that our grief can turn into gladness for Matt?  I believe.  I believe with all my heart.  I hope and pray that Stephanie will find much comfort and be blessed with inner peace.  She deserves it.   

Fall Festivals Abound!

There's something to be said about fall and all the church festivals that occur this time of year.  We attended festival at my parent's church to celebrate my daughter's birthday!  Walking up to the parking lot with the large tents set up brought back such fond memories.

When we were growing up, my sisters and I would go to church, often times to the 7:00 a.m. liturgy because that's what my dad liked best, and see the huge white tents set up in the middle of the parking lot.  The excitement was almost too much to bear!  We would have to go home and come back later when the festival started.  My mom was for many, many years in charge of the pie room for the festival dinner.  She would leave early, sometimes taking us with her, other times leaving us home with my dad.  He was never in a big hurry to get there, so it was difficult waiting for him!

Once we arrived, we would stand in line waiting for tables in the school basement to open so we could sit down and eat the grilled chicken dinner our church was famous for.  As a youngster, I could have cared less about the dinner and would have just preferred to play games in the game tent!  Time would drag until we'd get the okay to go out and play.

The games were typical festival games but they were just plain fun.  And the huge bounce house was by far my favorite part of festival.  The pony rides in the circle was fun and sometimes there was a horse drawn wagon that would take us into the orchards and back.  Those are some very fond memories!

I'm happy that I was able to share that same fun with my kids a few weeks back.  While the festival has changed over the years, the innocence of childhood fun never ceases!  

This coming weekend OUR church is having a festival.  It will be small and cramped, but we're doing our part in planning and working and we'll give it 100%+ effort.  We'll take lots of notes and continue to make our festival one that grows and gets better every year.  Here's to a fall filled with lots of church festivals and good food served by good, hard working parishioners.  We're blessed!

Nervous After 20 Years!

Can you believe that I still get nervous to teach faith formation even though I've been teaching for 20 years?  I'm starting a new class tonight and my heart rate is relatively high right now!  You'd think that I'd have this nervousness whipped but I don't.  

I think I have set such high expectations for myself.  I know how I feel about our faith and I want to make sure I get the kids to feel the same way, too.  Possible?  I hope so.  I just have to remind myself to speak from the heart, share and get them to share in return so that maybe they'll either light a spark in their hearts or the spark that's there will turn into a blazing flame!  

This picture of Jesus shows him before the crucifixtion, after the crowning with thorns.  The artist (sorry, the artist is unknown to me) has done an amazing job capturing the emotion in Jesus' eyes.  This is beautiful and it just helps to reinforce my belief that what I'm doing is right and good.  Thank you, Jesus...  

Today is Catechetical Sunday.  During the mass, our priest called all catechists forward for a special blessing by him and also had the congregation extend their hands over us with prayers. It was very special and I left there with such a wonderful feeling in my heart.  I believe I was blessed with the Holy Spirit and I pray that the Holy Spirit will remain in me and guide me on the path to bringing these kids into a deeper faith with Jesus Christ.  

Heavenly Father, please bless the children who will be in my class tonight.  Open their hearts to receive You and to learn so much more about our faith.  Father, please be with me and bless me with the Holy Spirit.  Let the Holy Spirit guide me and help me in making choices that are pleasing to You, Lord.  Let me be Your vessel so that I can make a difference in these kids' lives.  

Amen.

It's All Relative

The work, the bills, the work, the bills.  It's all relative and that's why we do what we do, right?  There are bills, one must work to earn money to pay bills, repeat, repeat, repeat.  

I'm thankful that I have as many jobs as I do.  I know people who have been looking for work for two years!  I remind myself that as I'm working...to do the best job I can because there's a lot of other people out there who can do the job better so I need to make sure I give it my all!  Every time. 

Thank you, God, for blessing me and my family.  You provide for us in so many ways and I want to be certain to thank You and praise You.  With wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God!

My Baby's A Year Older!

I call her my baby, but in reality, she just celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday!  She happens to be my youngest child, but that doesn't stop me from calling her OR my son "baby".  I love them to pieces and no matter their age, they both will always be my babies!  Just like the book says, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always.  As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."  Isn't that the truth?

In any event, we did celebrate Maddie's birthday yesterday (without her Dad - he's out of town on business which is why I tried to make her day even more special).  I woke up early to make her favorite breakfast:  eggs over-easy with crispy bacon.  Or as she calls them "dippin' eggs".  Both she and Jon love that for breakfast so they both enjoyed themselves yesterday!  

I walked Maddie to the bus stop and as soon as she left, I headed out to buy her birthday treat for school.  We had major plans of making sugar cookie pops (the big cookies on a lollipop stick) but with all the hours I've been putting in at work and harvesting the garden (plus processing all that's harvested!) I ran out of time.  I talked her into Krispy Kreme doughnuts and that's always a hit with her.  She agreed, and I made the 25 minute trek to buy the treats.  But it wasn't a wasted trip on doughnuts only...I stopped and bought her present at the mall next door.  

Jo-Ann Fabrics has to be one of the best stores I know of.  I could have meandered through the aisles for hours in that one store (okay, I'm kind of like that in Bed, Bath and Beyond and Hobby Lobby, too, but who can blame me?  They're great stores!) so it was a little difficult for me to rein in on the meander!  But I had to go to work so I put it in high gear and shopped as fast as I could.  The gift?  A full-size sewing machine!  It's amazing:  a Singer with 6 basic stitches, 13 stretch stitches and 15 decorative stitches PLUS it can automatically sew the button hole stitch!  I'm getting all excited about this machine and I have absolutely NO idea how to use it!  I told her we'll take classes together so we can both learn, although I have a feeling she's going to leave me in the dust when it comes to skill level.   

After shopping, I took Maddie's birthday treat to school, brought her a healthy lunch from McDonalds (I avoid over-stuffing my kids with the processed goo from there, but wouldn't you know it, they love it!) and headed to work.  

We celebrated the evening with Aunt Sherry and cousin Kelly coming over with a gift for Maddie (a sewing kit with scissors, threads of all colors, straight pins, seam ripper, tape measure, thimble, needle threader, marking pencils and what EVERY seamstress needs, a pink tomato pin cushion!) and dinner of Hungry Howie's thin crust pizza.  Aaahhh, life doesn't get much better than that, no?

Maddie's 1st day of school (I'm lovin' her shoe choice!)!

Happy birthday to my absolutely beautiful daughter!  She's blessed our lives with so much love and laughter and she is and remains a wonderful example of Christian charity, kindness, thoughtfulness and love.  I love you, Madeleine!

Saturdays Equal Football (and LOTS of it!)

The rocket season has started.  This year I have a rocket player AND a rocket cheerleader!  And they don't play and cheer at the same game (that would be too easy!).  While we completely understand the game scheduling process, it doesn't make it any easier to plan our Saturdays.  We don't know when the games are on Saturday until Wednesday because they try to match up teams according to their skill level.  A team with a "win" will play another team with a "win" as a team with a "loss" will play another team with a "loss".

Jon and Maddie before their first Rocket games!

At least we know WHERE the games are played this year.  The last 3 years we didn't know when or where the game would be until Wednesday.  This year our son's coach is the Field Director so he gets all home games to be accessible in the event there's an emergency at any of the fields.  Yea for us!

Saturday started out sunny and beautiful.  The afternoon games were sunny and HOT.  Jonathan played a great game (he had a touchdown and two 2-point conversions!) and even played a position that he's never played before - kicker!  The team's kicker was out-of-state for an NFL game so on Tuesday, Jon started practicing something he's never done before!  First kick of the game and it went 30 yards...not bad at all!  His team ended up winning 30-6 so it was a great start to the season.  Here's some pretty cool highlights:

Jon carrying the ball...

One guy's going to try and tackle him...

And he can't quite get Jon...

Let's add another one to see if the two can stop Jon...

Hmmm, not quite.  Let's add some more guys on Jon...

Three can't do it so add some more...

Let's just have FIVE guys jump on him!

It took five guys to get him down as he rushed for over 10 yards and gained a first down!  Way to dig in, Jon!

Maddie was all dolled up and looking cute as a button in her cheer outfit.  All of the young girls on the squad did such a great job and I could NOT be more proud of my daughter!  She knew her cheers inside and out and was excited to be there!  She makes a great cheerleader. I think she's pretty darn cute, too!  Saturday I'll get some video of the cheerleaders to share here next week so you can see for yourself (you probably think I'm just biased, but truly they all are very, very cute!).  =)

Saucy!

So here's to a week of practices preparing for games on Saturday with temps almost 20 degrees cooler than last Saturday.  I'll take it!

Second Day of School = Sick Day AND Work Day!

Can you believe it?  The second day of school yesterday and I already had one child home sick.  My husband was out on business calls all day (in situations like this he usually works from home and stays with whomever's home sick) so this day he couldn't stay home.  I actually called in sick today!  I really don't like doing that but what choice did I have?  

In any event, I stayed home and took care of my sweet little daughter (she's fine by the way - went to school today and is outside playing with all the neighbor kids!).  I was able to get some work done, too.  I cleaned out some cupboards getting ready for my MAJOR house de-cluttering project and massive rummage sale that will be the first week of October at Navigator Driving Academy where I work at one of my jobs.  Busy road, lots of traffic = lots of cash and hopefully will sell it all!  

I also canned tomatoes that I picked at my garden at my parent's house.  I love gardening.  It's so therapeutic and we grow everything organically so I know my family's going to eat healthy food.  The only thing I don't like, even though I'm a true farm girl at heart, are critters.  Like the 8-legged kind.  Or the kind that has no legs and slithers along.  ((((shudder))))  So imagine my surprise when I was out checking the tomatoes two weeks ago and ran into a spider that nearly made me go into cardiac arrest.  I'm not kidding!  This baby was black, yellow and H-U-G-E!  With it's leg span, it was almost 2 inches in diameter!  Yes, I screamed like a girl.  I wouldn't go back in the garden until my Daddy came out with me.  Funny, no?  I'm 40 years old and I had to have my Daddy walk me back out there!  

There was a distinct zig-zag marking in the spider's web, so I did some research and was able to quickly locate the information:  Argiope aurantia, black and yellow argiope.  Mind you I'm putting on my big girl panties here, the spider is harmless to humans and actually does a lot of good in the garden catching bugs and such.  These girls (the males are much smaller, brown and are usually eaten by the female after mating if they don't scurry out of there fast!) are so big they can even catch a bat in their web!  

Big girl panties on, I decided that the spider should remain and I will pick the tomatoes around her.  I even named her Agatha.  Agatha Argiope.  And here's what she looks like (see the zig zag in the web?  It goes down much farther as the web is quite large!):

Meet Agatha Argiope

Just as long as she stays on her web (which she has so far), I'm okay working by her.  The tomatoes directly underneath her will rot as I won't get THAT close, but I managed to pick around her.  I even had my kids come out and help me.  Yeah, that didn't work so well.  My son told me he suffers from arachnophobia so he wouldn't come near Agatha.  He even commented that there could be more so he wasn't picking either.  My response?  "Jon, I've been all over this garden and there is NOT another spider like this!"  You know what happened next...not more than 5 minutes passed and I happened to find one of Agatha's daughters not more than 4 feet away!  She's only half the size of her momma, but she's big nonetheless.  Her name is Agnes Argiope.  And I'm leaving her condo alone, too.  There will be more tomato rot in the garden because I won't pick under Agnes, either!

It was still a productive day.  I picked two 5-gallon pails of tomatoes, one for me and one for my parents.  I was able to make stewed tomatoes yesterday while Maddie was home and I even took a picture to show you the fruits of my labor (no pun intended).  As you may see, I love Ball canning products and that's generally all I use!  Maybe because that's what my Mom always used...I grew up with it so that's what I use.  It's kind of funny, though.  It's like Christmas for me going down the canning aisle at the store right before canning time.  I truly enjoy picking out jars of all sizes and lids.  Weird huh?  =)

Summer in Michigan is wonderful as we have an amazing growing season.  As a matter of fact, Michigan grows more produce and crops than all other states in the U.S. except California.  Now that's impressive considering we have snow on the ground from December through March, sometimes even earlier and later!  

If you don't have your own garden, be sure to visit your local farmer's market and stock up on the season's bounty.  You'll be supporting local businesses (hard working farmers and their families!) and you'll be buying foods that will keep your body healthy.  It's a win-win!  

Here's to fresh fruits and vegetables!   

Almost Forgot...

Remember the young man I told you about on July 31st?  The one who passed away 11 days before his 28th birthday?  Well, Matt's widow, Stephanie, has started to blog as a way to heal her broken heart.  It's an amazing, faith-filled journey that at times is heart-breaking because she speaks directly from her heart and shares her feelings, ones that most people don't have to face in their life time.    

Usually people like funny blogs, educational blogs or even the truly dumb blogs, but if you're going to follow a blog, grab a box of tissues and take time to read this one.  Stephanie's journey of faith and healing is inspiring.  And you can't help but fall in love with her and her family.  Stop by Day Three and share a word or two of support and friendship with this young, brave mommy.

I've Been Holding Back!

Funny, after that last post, I had SO many ideas on what to write that I had to make myself wait for the next day just to hold myself back!  And then?  Well, I've been working so much (at 3 jobs!) that I'm no longer home very often and time here is escaping me. 

Good news today, though!  I won't have to kill myself working that many jobs because my husband spoke to his boss and asked for a really, REALLY big raise.  He thought he'd have to wait until he went down to the company office next week at the sales meeting to find out if he'll get anything.  He didn't have to wait.  His boss called him back an hour later and told him that he got what he asked for!  YIPPEEEE!  We just have to wait until October 1st for the new funds to start coming through.  Now THAT I can manage!  

So I guess all my hard work paid off.  It kept my family financially afloat these last two and a half years and if I continue to work these jobs for another year or so, we'll be able to start re-buidling our savings and retirement funds that took a major hit (oh who am I kidding - we drained them to survive the stint of unemployment plus all the digging out we had/have to do!).  What a pit and I'll be happy to climb out and not look back down there!

So I can unequivocally attest that good things come to those who wait.  And pray like crazy because that's what helped us!  We're blessed and I have no complaints.  One last little comment before I end...I read a book entitled The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

(I HIGHLY recommend this read!) which is about a boy who was in a horrific car accident.  The boy's head was completely severed from his spine and was only held there by the skin of his neck.  Through miracle after miracle, this young boy survived.  During the extended time he was in a coma, his soul was in Heaven with Jesus.  He has seen the "two" heavens (which if you're Catholic like me, we call the first area he saw "Purgatory") and came back to tell us.   He shares his story and his experiences; if you're a believer, it will reinforce your choice to believe.  If you're not a believer, this possibly can change your mind.  Regardless, through the whole ordeal his parents were steadfast in their faith and faced this trauma with courage, stamina, strength and a ton of faith.  At one point, the father said (and I'm paraphrasing), "I bet you there's a lot of people in this world who would love to trade places with us because what they're dealing with now is much, much worse."  That made me stop and think.  There were many times when I felt sorry for myself and my family watching what seemed like ALL the people around us who were not struggling.  But after all that we went through, I wouldn't change it for a minute.  Because it certainly could have been much, much worse and we are truly blessed because we have God in our lives, we are blessed with wonderful family and friends, we have each other and we have our love holding us together.

God's peace and blessings to you and your loved ones...