A Sunday to Remember

It started off well. My brother Norman and his wife LeAnne were on a trip so my sisters and I were watching the nephews. Sunday morning was my turn so I took them to church with me. We had a great time except for the end when I was leaving.

My Dad and I had switched cars, it was easier for me to transport the boys in the van, and he was driving up north to preach at a church so I let him take my car. I bundled the boys up and we exited out the back of the church. I started the van and then climbed in the back to buckle them into their seats. They were in. I grabbed my phone and a carton of peanuts to bring in the front seat with me and then I pulled the door shut. After I shut the door I watched in horror as the van automatically locked itself. My heart fell as I watched the little lock buttons fall on both the front and back door-- I had just locked my nephews into the car and we don't have a spare key.

I stood there starring at the side of the car in disbelief. Vehicles are not supposed to lock themselves until you are driving away! Apparently my dad's van didn't know that little piece of information. After trying all the doors I went around the car and started talking to Holt through the window. I told him what had happened and tried to tell him to push the red button between his legs to get out of his seat, but he was not getting it.

I don't think I have felt such a panic feeling before. Obviously they were okay, the car was running and warm, and they were buckled in. But I couldn't get to them, and that felt horrible! It was a weird feeling when I walked into church. I felt embarrassed, worried, and useless. I wanted to tell someone but I realized that no one could really help me, and I felt like crying. I went outside once again. My friend Mike came by, but couldn't really help and he needed to get going. Mike was trying not to laugh even though he felt sorry for me. It was then that I realized this really was a humorous situation. He left and I called Mom and she got a hold of roadside assistance through our insurance company, but it was going to take a while for them to get there.

In the mean time, Blake started to cry. There is no way to calm a one and a half year old through a window. But thankfully soon afterwards he fell asleep. Holt started to get scared after being in his seat for about 20 minutes, and started to cry. I tried to tell him to lay his head back and get a little rest too, but the music was playing in the car so I don't think he could hear me very well.

I got a automated call telling me the estimated arrival of the rescue guy. 30 minutes! And Holt was crying. I was so frustrated, I am a nanny for goodness sake! I take car of children for a living! But my 3 year old nephew was crying and I couldn't help him.

Soon other people were leaving church and came by to try and help. One of the men suggested calling the police because they weren't too far away and could be there in 5 minutes. So I called 911 and told them the situation. My brother Colin and his wife Kristi showed up, they had been at my mother's house and had heard the story.

They tried to talk to Holt and calm him down as well, but to no avail. Finally a truck pulled up and a man jumped out, I was so happy to see him! He had a lot of contraptions and after I signed papers started to go to work. Not even a minute later the police showed up as well. We were starting to look like we were having a party outside in the back of the church. The officer went in his trunk and got out his tool and asked the truck man if he wanted to race to get the van open. The police officer won.

We got it open and Colin got Holt out of his seat and gave him a hug to calm him down. It didn't take too long. I think Holt was more excited to see the "police officer" and the "truck man" rather than actually getting out of his seat. But I was happy that he was okay. Blake was sleeping still so he was just fine! I thanked the officer and the other man. After getting information from me they left.

Oh what an afternoon. I already know I probably won't live this whole experience down for quite a long time. I am more than willing to be the cause of so much laughter and hilarity. Carrie hugged me when I got home and said "out of all of us it would happen to you!" Yes, I do tend to have random things happen to me. So even though I had to wait outside in the cold for 45 minutes, it really turned out okay. I am thankful that they really weren't in danger, that Blake fell asleep (a 1.5 year old in a car seat for that long could be ugly,) and especially that Holt didn't have to use the bathroom during that time.

I don't think Holt will be scarred for life or anything, despite the tears, he was having too much fun later recounting the story to everyone. I had made sure on the drive home that he knew what REALLY happened. Later I smiled as he told his dad, "the car accidentally locked us in, and the police officer and the truck man got me out!"

Fears

I have realized lately that while driving in the car, or riding with other people, that I have acquired quite a fear of being in a car crash again. Specifically getting rear ended or to rear end someone else. It seems to be rather obvious that getting rear ended as I did that I would be a little more cautious about driving. But I now realize that it must have effected me deeply. Every time someone else I am driving with, or myself, has to put the breaks on more quickly than normal my entire body tenses up and my adrenaline starts to pump much quicker than it used to. It is not pleasant because it takes a little while for my body to return back to normal after such occurrences.

I faced this fear even more when we went to Disney's Epcot last week. There was a ride called Fast Track that simulated a vehicle testing system. During the briefing I grew a little tense at the thought of the quick turns and bumps the ride would take us on. I had been worried about the jerking it might do to me, and while waiting in line I actually considered turning around and not going on the ride. Oh my! I am not used to being afraid of things like that. I did go on the ride and braced myself through the whole thing, but thankfully it really wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it. I chose not to go on it a second time, but I did enjoy it. It is weird what a traumatic experience such as getting in a car crash can do to you. Hopefully I will not have such a fear for too much longer.

Missing!

It is always such a chore to get all four kids dressed to play outside in the snow. When I finally accomplished the feat I sighed with relief. All four kids at home that day and I needed a diversion for them to do while I cooked lunch.

The Glance family have a nice fenced in yard with ample amount of snow to play in. I had a to go outside a couple times to check on Sophia, who is the youngest, but otherwise they played fairly well with each other and were having a good time. The kitchen is right next to the back door and I would glance every few minutes to see what they were doing. After checking the food I looked out the window and realized I couldn't see any of the kids anymore. My first thought was that Franklin went in the front yard after I told him he couldn't. (He wanted to sled down the front little hill which would have most likely put him in the street.) They weren't there and I could find them on the side of the house. I started to yell each of their names hoping that they would hear me. I had no idea where they went!

The alley was my next place to look. "Franklin! Corbin! Austin!" I called over and over again. Franklin is tall enough to open the gate and I never know what they will want to do next. I couldn't find them in the alley and I wondered if the neighbors let them in their house. Although I doubted they would take in all four kids. Especially Sophia. I was getting worried and wondering how I could have lost four kids, One of them not even two years old yet!

I was standing in the back yard calling their names, when I heard Sophia's little voice say something. I looked over at next to the fence and saw a canoe that was tipped over and appeared to be covered in snow. But alas! It was not completely covered. I walked around it there were blue snowsuits peeking out from underneath. "Come out of there!" I said very sternly. I leaned over and saw that all four kids were hiding under the canoe. It was frozen in the snow so I couldn't tip it over. They evidently had heard me calling them but were trying to be very quiet so I couldn't find them.

I was pretty upset to say the least. Everyone except Sophia was sent to their rooms. I tried to explain to Franklin, the eldest, about why it is such a bad thing to hide like that without telling me or responding to me when I call. "How would you feel if you were taking care of TJ's (neighbor boy next door) puppy and the puppy ran away?" I asked him. "Not very good." he said with the most repentant look on his face that I have ever seen him have.

It was an interesting day. I think the story is quite funny now, I really wasn't that worried. Maybe because it didn't quite register what would happen if they really were lost. The thoughts of kidnapping were brief. Who would kidnap four kids? Anyways I am so thankful they are safe and sound. Oh I forgot to tell their mother! I will have to do that today.

Ah yes that is me

Last weekend was the Life Light event. Life Light is our family's largest event of the year. I was so thankful this year because sales were up 30% of what we did previously. It was as though we really broke through the amount we have normally been getting.

It was also this weekend that I had another one of my odd moments that so often occur to me. Usually brought on by my own carelessness or clumsiness. It was late, probably 12:30am or so. I was putting our manican guys back in their plastic bags when the bag got away from me. Now there is never anything quite so awkward than chasing after something that is being blown by the wind and you are not sure how far it will go or how much you have to chase it. .I caught up with the bag and decided to firmly put my foot on it so it wouldn't keep blowing and then instead of leaning over and having it blow away from under me, I could then gracefully bend over and pick it up. But no that was not to be.

As I stomped on it with my flip flop I felt my feet go out from beneath me and I landed abruptly on my rear. Someone I grabbed the bag in the process but there was a guy in front of me that witnessed the whole thing and offered me a hand up. He asked me if I was okay but I didn't really want to tell him where it hurt so I said I would be fine. I felt a little embarrassed but was in a little too much pain to think much about it. I turned and walked back to the trailer and had the lovely experience of being laughed at by Emily. I suppose I would have done the same thing if she had produced such a spectical.

I guess I have another story to tell now. That is how I rate my experiences.

A Quick Story

I had taken a nice hot bath in the King's House Hotel. My muscles were aching and I thought it would help. I was trying to get the water hot enough, but it was taking too long.

I decided to use our hot water heater that is used for making tea. It looks sort of like a Brita water filter, but you plug it in and it heats up the water you put in it to boiling. Well, I used it twice and on the third time it stopped heating up the water. I was frustrated and a little worried that I broke it. But the water was hot enough so I took a bath.

Later, Meghann and I wanted some tea. The kettle still wouldn't heat up. We decided to go knock on Wade and Bob's door as ask to use their's. Our room was at the end of a corridor. I was sure that their room was next to ours but I wasn't positive. I thought I heard one of their voices through the door. Meghann and I knocked very softly. So softly that I did not think anyone would even hear it.

Suddenly, we heard voices- they were not American accents. We looked at each other and did what anyone would do in this situation... we ran.

We ran back to our room and collapsed on our beds laughing. It was a hilarious moment. We went to the girls' room later to borrow their kettle, and were finally able to drink our tea.

Getting to Destiny Church

Ah, finally after three weeks I was able to attend church. (Actually they had a prayer service at Rosslyn Chapel while we were there so that isn't fully true.) I had searched the internet looking for a place to go. I wanted to find somewhere similar to my church at home. I didn't think I would find a replica. But I wanted somewhere more contemporary, had a younger populace, and what can I say... I wanted it to be alive. After typing "charismatic church" in Google, Destiny was the first one to pop up.

We sure had a crazy time getting there. From Dalkeith there are two bus lines that go into the city. The number 3 and the number 49. Destiny Church is north of the Edinburgh City Center about 10 minutes in an area called Leith. The 49 actually goes all the way from Dalkeith to Leith. It is pretty much a straight shot through the city center of Edinburgh. Unfortunately the 49 doesn't leave early enough to get there at 10am. We would have been 15 minutes late.

I decided to take the 3 and then change to the 7 to get to Leith, we would have been 20 minutes early then. Well, Ali and I got out of the house a little late. Our bus was supposed to leave at 8:52 from Dalkeith. Two blocks away at 8:50 we saw it turn the corner to pull out of Dalkeith. I should have realized it might be early on Sunday. Well we waited a half an hour to get on the next bus at 9:22. I thought we were going to have to go to the 12pm service instead.

I planned on riding to the North Bridge, which is basically the downtown area, and changing to the 7 bus there. As we were riding on the bus I noticed that the bus stops before the North Bridge had a sign saying that the 7 bus stopped there as well. I just about to tell Ali that we could get off now and just wait for a 7. But, low and behold while we were at a stop what bus would happen to pass us but the number 7!! I saw it pushing on ahead and through the stop light. So much for that idea. We not only missed our first bus but the one we would catch next passed us by. We were sure to be late.

We kept riding and then close to the bridge the 7 was held up and then we passed it. Haha! It is interesting how these things work. We arrived at the bridge and jumped off, then we realized that the 7 was stopped a block in back of us at the beginning of the bridge and wasn't going to stop where we were dropped off. For some reason though it was waiting there. "Let's try for it Ali," I said to her and we walked briskly off. It still wasn't moving and we thankfully arrived a little before it headed out.

It really was a quick trip and at exactly 10am we walking into the church. We smiled at the man who was handing us a pamphlet and were thankful the entrance wasn't even a block from the bus stop. Seats were hard to get but we weren't upset. We arrived and were ready for the music to start. I don't fully have an opinion of the church yet. It felt different but that is to be expected. I will write more next time.

Fireplace

Afternoon Nap

This afternoon I decided to take a nap. However, my mind was running at such a rate that my attempt was made to no avail. I laid there for probably an hour and a half or more. I looked around the room a couple times and noticed two of my roommates asleep. We designate our afternoons in our room to sleep and study. I finally decided to be productive. I flipped on my bedside lamp, took out my book Jane Eyre, and started to read.

This seemed to cause a chain reaction in the room. Novia (pronounced Nova) turned her lamp on and later Ali stirred as well. We chatted for awhile after seeing everyone was awake. I told them my frustration with not being able to sleep. Ali said that she thought I was asleep from looking at me. She could not fall asleep either and was trying to lie quietly so as to not wake me. I laughed and exclaimed, "We could have been talking all this time!" For Ali and I love to talk to each other. Then Novia said that she too thought we were both asleep. She exclaimed that we looked so sweet in our slumber and she wished that she could have fallen asleep like us. But sleep had eluded her as well.

Therefore three of the five roommates of room 101 in Dalkeith Palace attempted a nap for one and a half hours, but none of them were able to achieve this envied state of being. I suppose we shall sleep extra hard tonight.

Seated on the Light Rail

I believe a good writer can see stories in almost anything. I haven't been writing as much on my blog lately partly because I haven't taken the time to write down things that happen to me.

I haven't really been out much lately- church, work, friend's homes, mall, grocery store, that is about as far out as I have ventured. I realized this last week when I took the light rail home from my friend Joanna's home. I think it was because when you are riding public transportation you have time to just sit and observe people, rather than when you are out and about in your car you are just coming and going; without any real interaction with people in general.

It was a deserted platform that I arrived at. Rush hour was basically over with. A few people trickled in and I waited. The train arrived and I had to decide which door to enter. After getting on I saw two seats open, an aisle and window seat. The aisle looked liked someone had an accident on it or something along those lines. Probably just spilled coffee. I skipped over that one and sat by the window.

I enjoyed sitting back and looking at the scenery. Several stops later a man with an orange vest got on. I had my headphones in and was looking out the window until all of a sudden he got on and started hammering on the seat next to me. At first I wasn't sure what he was doing. It was a little awkward because everyone was watching him and therefore me. I didn't know whether I should watch him or just ignore that he was there.

He popped the bottom of the seat off and he put a new one on and hammered it in. The train apparently was waiting for him to get done. After quickly finishing he stepped out of the train and waved to the driver. I watched him as he walked away, opened a gate and with the dirty seat under his arm he gradually faded from view as our mode of transportation increased in velocity.

Everyone on the train was still looking at me and where the man had left. I didn't really know how to respond. It was a little awkward so I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled, and returned my gaze to the scenery going by.

He accomplished all of this in such a short amount of time. It is sort of nice to know that people are keeping up with how our public transportation vehicles are looking. He apparently knew exactly which seat in which train was dirty. A little awkward for me, but that is okay. I am used to weird awkward situations. I thought it hilarious and am retelling the story... even now.

Playground equipment is not my friend

Okay so I did something really stupid today, and have a lovely bump above my eyebrow to show for it. Jeremiah, one of the little boys I take care of was playing on the playground. He called me to come over. I was sitting on a bench watching them as well texting. I got up and was still looking at my phone. Well I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and all of a sudden I wasn't walking anymore or texting. I stopped, because my head conked into a low poll and a sound resonated throughout the whole playground. I sat down quickly and held my head in pain. I now fully understood why on all the cartoons when the characters hit their heads there are little starts that dance around their heads. I felt like there was a ton of celestial movement above my head as I tried to regain some sort of reality. I didn't go unconscious, so that is good. It just hurt really bad and made me a little dizzy. There were two pieces of the playground that had bars connecting between polls. One bar was higher way above my head, the other was perfectly even with my forehead. That was the one that decided to give me such a great story to tell.

A dad that was playing with his kids at the playground asked me if I was okay. He said he didn't see me get hit but he heard it. Great, just great.

I sat down for a while and the kids kept playing. Jeremiah came and told me that one of his friends from school was there. I looked to see a cute kids with a blue shirt on. There was another kid as well. I was glad because then they would have kids to play with as rested my head. Later I looked to see the same kid with a green shirt on. "Wait a second!" I thought, "Didn't that kid have a blue shirt on." "Hillary you must have hit your head harder than you thought," went through my mind. I looked around to see if anything else seemed an odd color. I was honestly afraid that my sense of color got messed up or something. Then I saw a group of kids with Jeremiah and sighed with relief. He was playing with two boys.... identical twins. Once with a green shirt on and one with a blue. Thank the Lord!! What an odd morning.

So I have determined that playground equipment is not my friend, although with all the kids I take care of I am sure we will resume our relationship at some point.

Note to Self...

Note to self. If you lean your back against a drinking fountain, you may get your back wet.


moment of weirdness yet again

Traffic Lights

This is definitely a post about a Weird Hillary Moment. Or maybe it should be rephrased a Hilarious Hillary Moment. Whichever works for you. I wonder why no one leaves me any comments on my blog. Do you guys know how to do that? It is really nice and encouraging to look and see people's comments. So I would encourage you to leave me a little tidbit every now and then.

Well then... On Sunday we were going out to eat after church. I had Emma, Carrie and Tony in my car and we were driving to Mike's house which is a few blocks away to pick him up to go. I told him it would be a minute until we got there, but then the light ahead of us turned yellow and then red. So I said it would probably take a little longer. I hung up and then grew distracted finding my Ipod in my purse and talking to everyone in the car. After a while I realized I had forgotten that I was driving, I looked up and saw the light just turn red from yellow... It took a few seconds but then we all realized that I had sat in front of the light through a whole cycle! There were no cars around or in back of me, so I didn't get a honk to remind me of it. I waited in front of a green light and never went!!

Oh my, I laughed and laughed. We were all laughing, I had tears come to my eyes. I don't know why I do these crazy type things. I don't think I used to be this way. Maybe I did but it just wasn't something I shared with everyone or noticed. I don't know. Anyone else have crazy moments out there?

Wet Feet- Cold Feet and Little Balls

I had a delightful day this Tuesday. It was very eventful to say the least.

I arrived at the Lucas House and realized that I had no where planned out to take the kids. I dropped the older two off at school and then decided, since it was such a beautiful day, that I would take the two boys to the Coon Rapids Dam. I had gone there on Sunday and enjoyed it thoroughly. I like to take the boys places where we can explore.

We got there and I had a great time watching their faces as they saw the dam. The water was rushing quickly through the chute and there was beauty everywhere around the river. I loved Jeremiah's questions as he asked about the river, the ducks, the ice, the dam and many more things. We then spent some time where the boys threw snowballs and ice chips into the river. It was funny because that was what my friends Mike and Joe did when we had come the Sunday before.... It must be a guy thing.

We left the dam and went on a path looking for the playground. We suddenly came to a very large puddle on the sidewalk. There was a stream running into in and out of it. So there really wasn't any way to cross. All around there were large pools of water. Finally I realized that one of the streams looked deep but was really shallow, not even up to soles of my shoes. We crossed and then I realized that we didn't have enough time to get all the way to the playground and back.

Instead of crossing back over the puddle on the path I thought we would just walk straight through the snow to the paved road, it was much drier there. Bad idea- snow can be very deceiving. About 8 feet from the street I heard Nathan start crying and then I realized why, my feet suddenly grew very cold and wet. There was about 4 inches of slush under 6 inches of snow. I picked him up out of it quickly and gasped as his shoes stuck in the snow. I couldn't put him down to grab the shoes and my shoes were quickly filling up with water. I yelled to Jeremiah to get his shoes and I rushed through the snow and slush to the pavement. Ah it was terrible- yet hilarious. Jeremiah exclaimed over getting his feet completely soaked and poor Nathan just didn't like it. Quite an adventure.

I was pretty impressed that our feet didn't get too wet during the few hours we were there, only to have them get completely drenched as we walked back to the van.

I was going out to lunch with my friend Katy and her mom after that, then another meeting directly after that, and then to my nanny job with Elian. So I had to be in my wet shoes for quite some time.

I took Elian to the park next to his house. A very odd phenomenon surrounds that area. All over are these little tiny balls, sort of like small beads except with no holes. Elian loves balls so when we find them he stops and exclaims "Hillary look, a little tiny ball!!" It actually takes quite a long time to walk because as he walks he scans the side of the sidewalk for little balls sticking out of the dirt. I am relating this story because something funny happened. I told him to stick the balls in his pocket but didn't watch him do it. Later I did as we found the 4th ball, and I laughed out loud as I saw that he was sticking them in the little groove of his zipper on his jeans. Only about 3 would fit there so I took them all out and put them in my pocket. I couldn't believe he was walking around with all of those in that groove the whole time we were walking. Not sure if you can picture that or not. Let me know.

We also found a worm on the way back, a very large worm sticking out of the dirt. He exclaimed "What is that worm doing Hillary?" I love it when he asks that.

A friend filled Valentine's Day

This Love Day (as my sister calls it) was one of most fun Valentine's days of my life. My friend Katy agreed.

I woke up blessedly late, and found the house empty. It was a beautiful morning of quietness, with lovely worship music floating through the house. I was a little on edge despite the calm- I was supposed to teach/preach at youth group that night.

Whenever I have a time I am supposed to share in front of people I have that "wonderful" feeling of unrest- like when you have homework that is due soon but you put it off and aren't fully done. That was my feeling. Although I had shared almost the same message the weekend before at the Young Adult Retreat. This was a different group and the God wanted to be shared wouldn't be the same.

My friend Katy two Monday's before had ankle surgery and this week was the week that I was helping to take care of her. It was something I really enjoyed. The night before was our first night apart. She stayed at her apartment and I went home for the first time in 6 days (I babysat Thur. night, had the retreat Fri-Sun, then stayed at her house Sun-Tues.)

Despite our distance that day we still managed to talk a lot. We were planning the night and wanted to make is special for the kids and have them know they were loved. It took a lot of phone calls and planning- approximately around 12 or more calls were put through. Some only minutes apart. I laughed every time her face popped up on my phone again.

The night was amazing- God moved and I got it all out!! We had to rush Carrie home (although it was late-poor dear) and then remembered that I had to buy contact solution.

Katy and I headed to Walgreens.

I for some reason thought that all Valentine's day things were on sale the day of. We discussed buying each other cards and writing mushy stuff for Valentine's day.

We arrived- I opened all the doors for Katy and her crutches (they were automatic, I am good with weighing the floor down.) After grabbing what I needed I found Katy in the card aisle- V-day things were not on sale.

I was not aware of the obsession with greeting cards the Erickson family has until now. I was soon acquainted with it. Katy told me that her parents would go into the store and show each other what card they would buy if in fact they did. After some laughter we decided to do the same.

Katy soon found many cards to give to me (I had been quite helpful throughout the week so many were about kindness and giving.) I was having trouble getting one for her because she just kept grabbing all the good friend ones! I picked up one to give her "For the Man I love," it brought a large laugh. I love making Katy laugh. Finally I found one card to give her and then another. But she trumped me by showing me about 5 or 6. I am not particularly fond of greeting cards, I would rather write down in a letter or receive a letter, but Katy makes it all fun. I guess that is what all the open space is for. We spent quite some time in that aisle. She then started to show me cards she got before and other ones she liked. It was a blast.

This is ending up to be a long blog. So I wasn't as successful at giving/showing my friend some love. But the next day I swung by Walgreens again- when everything was half off and bought her some chocolate and a lovely little green frog that held a heart that said "Kiss Me" and had a crown. This brought more laughs from her- this gift had several inside jokes and words from God from the previous summer tied into it. I love finding the perfect gift- it is way better than the perfect card... haha

Ah I love my friends. This is Katy and the Love Lobster. Who would buy their love something like that?

Sorry... I prayed for it

It was funny this morning. Katy and I went shopping and as we were driving to the mall I thought- "this snow is so dirty looking. I want it to be nice and fresh for when Danneth comes. God could you please make it snow before tomorrow?" That was all I prayed.

We went into HarMar Mall and as we when we came out it was snowing!!! I laughed. Katy thought me a little strange when I explained. It was hilarious though. I often pray for snow and God gives it to me. Now I realize that it was probably already coming and would have come if I hadn't prayed. Yet I don't care! It was special anyways.

Thanks God!

P.S. Danneth is home tomorrow! Praise the Lord! Pray for favor for her in customs.

She's coming home!!!

So I can't publish this yet because I don't know who Erich has talked to yet. But I had to start writing because I am so excited!! Danneth is finally coming home! The document was approved yesterday- he will hopefully get it by today or tomorrow and then overnight it to her. She may be able to come home by Friday or Saturday. I am sooo thrilled I can hardly stand it.

I was at Segue when Erich called, I couldn't talk then because I was walking out the door. So I called him back and he didn't answer. Then he called me. I wasn't expecting it- I thought he was going to talk about youth group tomorrow night. He told me the document was approved and I yelled and then started to cry. We talked for a little while about his chances of paying attention to his sermon on Sunday. I suggested we get little signs to hold up that says "PAY ATTENTION" just in case he can't keep his eyes off of his wife. Hopefully we won't have to go to such drastic measures.

We finished talking and I screamed (as much as I can scream- for some reason my vocal chords don't work that way) in the car and then turned some worship music on. God is SO GOOD!

I was driving home and COULD NOT WAIT to get there to tell my whole family and to dance around the house with Carrie. But alas no one was home! I was sooooo disapointed, and I couldn't tell them over the phone. That would ruin the whole dance idea. But I managed to dance around the house by myself some. Not quite the same. But I can wait until Carrie gets here.


Thank You God so much for answering our prayers. There actually is a really cool testimony from a group prayer time on Sunday. But I will have to get the actual facts to tell that.

Santa Clause

We have lived in our home for 6 and a half years now. I don't know when we first noticed it but along 13th street (Which is the street we drive on instead of Broadway), there is a small house with a fence that runs along the road. At this time of year there is a plastic Santa Clause figure with 4 reigndeer that glow inside and are connected by a single strand of red Christmas lights.

Of course this alone isn't very interesting or exciting. What myself and family think is hilarious is that the Santa Clause and deer not only occupy the fence around Christmas time- no they choose to hang out there all year round. We started to notice this weird phenomenon one March when they were still up. And after a couple years we came to the conclusion that they simply turn the internal lights on, and the red strand of lights on around Christmas time. The rest of the year they stay off. I am sure this is so much more simple that putting them up and taking them down each year.

Another mystery to us was that one month or two of last year that Santa and the deer disappeared off the fence. But we noticed them again later on. Weird!

Treasure from the Unknown

I can't help laughing. Yesterday I had one of the funniest experiences.

I will start out by saying when I change a little kid's diaper I often joke and ask them if they have a little "gift" or "present" for me. I might have even used the word "treasure." Yesterday I was changing Elian's diaper and low and behold I found about $4 dollars worth of coins in there!! (It thankfully was just a wet diaper.) I couldn't stop laughing. How in the world did it get in there? He had one of those lovely things that go under the bottom and snap so he couldn't put his hands in his diaper. I was so confused.

Today I talked with Amy his mom and she said she was confused too- but for a different reason. I had put the money in a wet wipe on the counter and forgot to tell her about it. She was wondering how it got there because the day before she couldn't find the money anywhere. They had been playing with it and Elian had it in his front pocket on his overalls, she found it missing soon after.

We came to the conclusion that he was trying to put the money in his front pocket again, but put it down his shirt instead. It fell all the way down and slipped into his diaper!

I must admit yeaterday for a second I wondered if this was a new provision from God. He put coins in fish... But little kids' diapers? Not sure about that yet.

Can't imagine how that would feel in there all morning.

"Yesterday was for tears, today is for action."