The Dating Game

Hey gang! Just thought I'd let you know that TWO new segments of the Tim and Amie saga have been added to the brain dump site. Click here and scroll down to read. Enjoy!

Coloring

Yesterday while Justus, Bella, and Izzy were all napping I did something that I haven't done in years. I sat on the couch with a box of crayons and a coloring book and I colored a picture. The house was completely quiet except for the shk,shk,shk of the crayon on the page. Had I been hooked up to a monitor, I'm certain you would have seen my heart rate and blood pressure drop dramatically.

I am convinced that coloring could change the world. (not quite as effectively as Jesus but still helpful.) Forget deploying Marines, we need to do air drops over Iran of crayons and coloring pages. UN meetings should begin with 15 minutes of coloring. Truckloads of coloring supplies should be donated to the local prison system. I think the percentage of rehabilitated inmates would sky rocket. Mind you, it can't be those cheap behind crayons from the dollar store. Sorry to the Rose Art company but those are the waxiest, crumbliest, unevenly pigmented-est coloring sticks ever. It's got to be the real deal. Crayola people. And at least a 64 box. (Anyone representing the Crayola company who may be reading -call me. We'll do lunch.)

Negotiations, treaties, cease-fires? Blah. World peace lies at the tip of a Cerulean crayon.

Not buying it? Well, Debbie-Downer, try it. Yes, it's another silly challenge. Sometime this week, bury yourself away with a box of crayons and a fun coloring book full of puppy dogs, butterflies, and rainbows and go to town with it! It might not create world peace --but I bet it will be the most relaxing twenty minutes of your day. How can it not be when you have crayons that are dandelion, carnation pink, and purple mountains' majesty?

Four and Five on Display

Panther in training.

Here Justus is showing off his strength and his cleavage at the same time.

These two are for you, Chris!

And this one for Debbie K!

Going Public

"The eagles have landed." Tim reported after dropping the two oldest off for their first day at public school. Tim said that many parents were walking their kids in but Nathan made it perfectly clear that he was not in need of assistance.

I thought I would melt into a puddle of mush but I'm taking it pretty well so far. It helps that they annoyed us both by waking Bella up at 6:30 am even though there was no reason for them to be awake that early, thereby leaving me with a grumpy toddler. Made me glad to see the little snots go. (not really!)

I know that many of you out there have very strong convictions about how, when, or where children should be educated. I'm okay with that. We started home school knowing that we would evaluate every year and decide how to proceed. We are going into public school with the same notion. I heard a guy from one of the home school conventions say something to this effect:

(not a direct quote)

I think God makes it clear that our children's education is up to us. Whatever means we choose or whatever level of involvement we contribute to it is also up to us. The end result, however, will not be the fault of any teacher, administration, or curriculum. The responsibility lies with us to teach and with our children to learn.

In sending Mamoune and Nathan to school, we have by no means washed our hands of them. Though I might actually get to wash my hair more than twice a week in their absence. ;-) We will be right there pulling for them, helping them, cheering them, prodding them, and so on. Just wanted to clarify where we are coming from in case this decision shatters any one's image of me. Oh wait, who am I kidding? I shattered that a long time ago.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the first day send off and those who were left behind.

Nathan GQing his back pack and Mamoune with a smile that says,

"I'm not nervous, really I'm not."

"Seriously? How many pictures are you going to take?"

"Well, at least I got a new back-pack out of this."

"What do mean a diaper bag doesn't count?"

Meet the Teacher

Today at 5:00 we will go to the kid's elementary school for a "Meet the Teacher." You could call it orientation or open house; we're just hoping not to call it "the day Amie finally broke and lay in the fetal position weeping hysterically and had to be scraped off the floor of the third grade hall." Let's really NOT call it that.

It's such a dichotomy of emotions. I am excited for my two oldest as they start a new thing. I am nervous for them as they start a new thing. I look forward to a few hours without them under my feet. I will miss having them under my feet. And with so many confusing, conflicting, and raw emotions rolling around compacted by the fact that Justus was fussy with a tummy ache all-night-long and something as simple as meeting the new teacher could easily turn into a blub fest.

But on the bright side - Bella, Justus, and I will be left with a willing and capable helper.

I think Justus is saying "Are you sure he's not going to eat me?" Don't worry, little man. I'm 98% sure! =)

Just a little Justus

Just- adorable

Just- precious

Just- delightful

Just- funny

Just- sweet

Yes, this is the same boy who is trying to kill me.

It's a complicated relationship. =)

Story Time

I have a couple of stories to share with you today. First up -Nathan has decided to write his autobiography. Here is the first chapter exactly as it appears on paper:


how I wuzs born.

I wuzs born In 1999 I wuzs born and the babe wuzs me. and the name wuzs Nathan.

Chapter Two is pending. I think it's profound and if he continues the three sentences per year of life format, it will certainly be a quick read. Place your orders for this spell-binder early, people.


Story number two is entitled: Bella and the BeBe (blanket)

Once upon a time there was a little princess named Bella who had a very special bebe. It had been a gift from her fairy grandmother and she loved it with all her heart. She slept with the bebe every night and carried it with her everywhere she went. Then one day, a wicked monster gobbled up the bebe. Princess Bella valliantly fought the monster and frantically pleaded for the safe return of her precious bebe. But the monster just kept chewing and chewing.

At last, the weary Princess Bella searched the palace for the beautiful Queen and implored her to rescue the bebe from the clenches of death. The brave and irresistably gorgeous queen fearlessly yanked open the mouth of the fire-breathing beast and ripped the bebe from it's jaws. She returned the bebe to the sweet princess who vowed never to let it out of her sight again. All the kingdom rejoiced!

And Princess Bella and her bebe...

...lived happily ever after.

Attention Fairy Grandmother!!! Kick those crochet needles into high gear, woman. We need a back-up bebe asap! =)

Well, well, well...

It is always refreshing to know that no matter how stupid I think I am, there is someone out there who will take the bait. ;-)

Congratulations KIP!!!

Because you clearly have too much time on your hands --you are the proud winner of nothing except my gratitude for not leaving a psychotic woman hanging out there all alone. You had my back and I'm forever in your debt.

"I blog therefore I am." was the correct translation of the highly sophisticated secret webding message. In retrospect I should have gone with "My brain is mush and I cannot be trusted to operate heavy machinery." But that would've been a little much.

Thanks to all for tolerating my randomness today. Nothin' but love for ya.

Blogging, Torture, and the Wizard of Oz

grrrr. Okay, here's the deal. I tried to supply you with a long and somewhat amusing post earlier today. I typed it all out, attempted to publish it, and lost it. Then, I typed another post (below) to take the place of that post but after re-reading it, thought this is stupid so I tried to delete it but somehow published it instead. Didn't even realize what had happened until I got the comment from Tara that said "You have lost your mind." (not the literal translation but I can read between the lines even in Kreyol!)

I have no excuse for these random acts of brainlessness except one -torture. I am being held captive by a unassuming tyrant and exposed to high levels of the age old torture mechanism known as sleep deprivation. He is trying to break me and I don't know how long I can hold out.

All I can say is "pay no attention to that (woman) behind the curtain." She is a mindless, rambling buffoon.

Annoyed

I wrote a lengthy albeit random post this morning and then lost it somewhere in cyberspace. ugh. I do not have the wherewithall to repost it at this point so I decided to do something else instead...

A CONTEST!!!

As the winner of this contest you will recieve:

fame, notoriety, and be the envy of all your friends!

(no actual prize will be awarded because the owner of this blog is cheap

and too stupid to remember to send actual prizes to thier perspective owners.)

I have written an encoded message below. The first to decipher the message correctly and in its entirety wins! Simple enough. Good luck!

I blog therefore I am.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

After a particularly grueling, sleepless night followed by a long day, Tim was tucking the children into bed. Lacking his usual energy to pray with and for the kiddos, he hugged Nathan and offered just what he could muster- "God loves you, buddy." Nathan thoughtfully replied, "Daddy, God loves you, too." And with those precious words a grown man was reduced to a puddle of tears.

Sometimes, when you are squeezing out every ounce of strength to be a good parent, a loving spouse, a loyal worker, a friendly neighbor, etc., etc.; it's easy to overlook the simplest truth. We have not been left to draw from a limited well. We can only continue to pour out of ourselves if we are tapped into the Living Water, a renewable source that fills and overflows through us. Too often, I find that I have dammed up the well-spring of my own heart by becoming so focused on my obligation to love others. I forget to stand -arms outstretched, head up, mouth open- in the refreshing rain of the Father's love for me. God loves me, too. How easily I forget.

Here is my challenge to you. It is goofy, silly, maybe embarrassing but I double dog dare you to do it anyway. Find a quiet place -lock yourself in the bathroom, hide in a closet, whatever you need to do to get alone for 30 seconds. Now sing "Jesus Loves Me."

Do you believe it? Had you forgotten? Be reminded today. God loves you, too!

FYI

A new post has been added to the Tim and Amie saga. Click here to read along. If you are just joining us you will have to scroll through older posts to find the beginning. Oh, and thanks to Nancy's scanner, I will try and post a picture of Tim with hair soon. =)

A meeting of the minds...

...may not always be a good thing.

Does this happen in your neighborhood?

Tim went outside to dump the trash and noticed a group of young men standing on the corner (ours is the corner house). One was holding money up in the air and all were wearing blue. Blue shirts, blue bandannas, blue shorts, something blue on each one. He came in the house and drew me to the window saying, "Check out this group in blue. Weird, huh?" As they slowly made their way down the street in front of our house; I looked up and noticed another group of young men getting out of a car wearing -you guessed it- red. Red shirts, red bandannas, etc.

Now, you may not know much about the nuances of gang life but surely you know that these two colors have long since represented arch rivals. So, here we stand at our living room window watching twenty or so young men wearing opposing colors walking toward each other. Are you holding your breath?

So. were. we.

That's when the most peculiar thing happened. Nothing. They talked for a second and then piled all of the guys (red and blue) into two cars and pulled away. First reaction? Whew! Second reaction -what the heck? And apparently we weren't the only ones on edge. They were followed out by a police cruiser.

Was it a fluke? A bizarre fashion coincidence? Or did two rival gangs come together for some "greater" purpose? oh. my. crapness. We love our neighborhood. We love our neighbors. We generally feel safe here. But I think asking you to pray for God's protection for us and the friends around us seems reasonable.

Peace out.

Vignettes

A couple of short scenes from my life recently:



The Library Loser


I've gotten repeated pre-recorded messages regarding two overdue library books. I was starting to get annoyed and thinking to myself, "those ding-dongs must've missed something 'cause I know we returned all our books."

Two days later, Mamoune is looking under the couch for the remote control and pulls out...yup, two library books. grrr.

Tax Free not TERROR Free

I went to Walmart to take advantage of tax free weekend and purchase school supplies. I did not know what school supplies to purchase because my kid's school was not among those listed in the store and I was too dumb to look it up online. I pull three other schools 3rd grade lists and begin trying to compile my own version of what they need. I then join the 473,000 other people crammed into the one subject notebook aisle. I stood for like 10 minutes staring blankly at the chaos before me, moving occasionally to the right or left to get out of the way of other people who seemed to know what they were doing. I have yet to pull up the correct school list because I don't want to see how much I have to go back for.

It's 2 a.m. Do you know where your brain is?

While feeding Justus the other night I had the song "Missing" by Everything but the Girl in my head. You know the one..."and I miss you like the deserts miss the rain..." I started thinking (which I do not advise doing in the middle of the night) Do deserts miss rain? Isn't a desert a place where it never rains? If it never rains, how can the desert miss it? Can you miss what you've never had? Maybe she doesn't really miss him at all. Maybe she never really had him but still misses him. Maybe I've misunderstood the song all these years.

Note to self: Maybe you should shut up and go to sleep!

yeah, I think that says it all.