Jammin' with my Homeboy

Yesterday I did something I have never done before. I went on a date with a man other than my husband. Yes, I know, not exactly the kind of activity a pastor's wife should participate in. My date was tall, blond haired, blue-eyed, and very talkative. The exact opposite of my husband. OK, I'll confess, before Phil is asked to turn over his pastor's license. It was Timmy. He is tall, 3ft. 10 to be exact, and has blond hair, and blue eyes. As I've mentioned before I've been trying to spend more quality time with him, especially since we've had so much going on with Aaron. Last night I wanted to go to Overland Park to see my friend Raquel and her new baby girl. I took Timmy with me, and we made a date out of it. On our way to the hospital, we stopped and got chocolate chip cookies, and a drink. Those happen to be his favorite treats. We spent a few hours visiting with Raq and her sister, admiring the baby. Her name is Jaclyn and she's got the most amazing black hair you have ever seen. It's long enough to put in pigtails already. I can feel myself rambling, so I'll hurry along.

On our way home, we were thirsty again, and got another drink, then got on the topic of real estate. How many hospitals did Mom own. He thought that every time I went to the hospital to have a baby, it was mine. Then the topic drifted over to music; who was the best singer, Bob, Larry, or Mr. Nezzer. (For all you uncultured people, they are from Veggie Tales.) After a while, we stopped talking, and I was listening to the radio. I love talk radio, and Sean Hanity (Hannity?) was on. Timmy leaned over and asked,"Mommy, could I listen to Veggie Tales?" We turned it on, and the song "I'm Gonna Take a Trip on the Good Ol' Gospel Ship" came on. We cranked up the bass, and started nodding our heads in time to the music, and singing on the top of our lungs. It might not have been a beautiful noise, but it was sure a joyful noise. Then "Father Abraham" came on. We just HAD to do the motions to it. It was quite interesting trying to do all the motions while I was driving. We had some of the weirdest looks given to us, but we were having fun. People probably thought we were nuts, but who cares!! I am, and I know it, and I was going to have fun with my little boy. 20 years from now, he'll be all grown up, and not want to hang out with his mom, so while he still thinks I"m cool, I'm going to hang with my homeboy.

My Future Chef

Timmy loves cooking, baking, and anything pertaining to eating. I think he's going to be a chef when he grows up. That would be wonderful because his mother greatly dislikes cooking. I do it only out of necessity. The day we could all survive without eating will be a glorious day in my book. Anyway.... Yesterday I asked Timmy to help me fix dinner. We had bacon, lettuce, and cheese sandwiches. He fixed the toast, and put the bacon in the microwave. It was the precooked kind so all Timmy had to do was stick it on aplate and put papertowels over it. He was so happy, that he had to tell his Daddy right away. It took a little longer to fix the meal, and a LOT longer cleaning up afterwards, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. The happy memories will long outlast the cleaning time.

The Three Stooges

Here is a picture of Luke, Timmy, and my nephew Zachary. Zachary is two weeks older than Timmy. While we were in Michigan visiting Phil's family, they became great friends. Timmy would tell me that Zachary wasn't his best friend, but his best cousin. I guess that's even better. Friends sometimes lose touch with each other, but family is always there. Besides, his best friend is Mark Winkler, and he'll take you down if you say otherwise.

The Flood

This is a picture of the levees at the north end of town. As you can tell the water is only a couple feet from the top of the levee. The gravel road is actually the top. You can see the flooding on the town side too. A lot of homes are flooded up to their roofs. We live three miles from here.

Timmy

I just realized that I haven't written anything about Timmy. He turns five in December, so he won't be able to start kindergarten this year. He's still so bashful, that he definetely needs anothe year before he starts school. We are thinking of putting him in preschool this year, so he can get speech therapy, and to help him with his shyness. He's never been around kids his own age, so he prefers to play by himself, or his brothers most of the time. His "best friend" at church is a little boy named Mark. Mark is three, and is only about half as tall as Timmy. Timmy doesn't like loud noises. One night we were watching a movie and it got a little loud, and even though it was a John Wayne movie (Our family favorite) he leaned over to me and whispered, "Mommy, I don't especially like this movie, because it is especially loud." I wanted to ask him how does a 4 year old know what especially mean. He is so tall for his age I sometimes forget he is only four and not older like the twins. He has grown up so much, but not that much. He also has been acting very clingy and whiney since Aaron's been born, and at times I get so annoyed by it. I keep forgetting that his world has changed dramatically, and I need to spend quality time with him. He gets lost in the shuffle, and I'm to blame on that. Lately I've been having him help me load and unload the dishwasher. He complains about it, but we have some meaningful conversations as we're working. He loves to run the can opener too, so maybe I have a future chef on my hands. As much as he loves sweets, I wouldn't be surprised.

Luke's Laughable Moments

I think I should start writing a weekly article about Luke and his antics. Maybe I could get national syndication!!


On Friday as I said before it was pouring down rain. I was exhausted from a week of VBS and Aaron's Dr. visits, so I decided to take the boys to McD's for dinner. I rounded up the older three kids and was trying to get them buckled into the van, as well as put Aaron in, and somehow Luke got away from me. I looked up in time to see a little blond head running toward the church at top speed. Now those of you who have been to our church knows that it has several low areas where water pools, thus making gigantic puddles. That was exactly where Luke was headed. I yelled, "Luke, no!" But it was a little too late. He had already jumped feet first into the puddle. By the time I reached him he was soaked to the knees. I grabbed his hand and said, "Luke, look at you! How did you get so wet?" (I know, obviously dumb question.) He looked up at me with those huge brown eyes, took me by the hand and led me over to the deep end of the puddle, and said, "Here, and here, and here." point out the exact spots he had jumped. I had to laugh. How can you be mad when he had an explanation for my question, and had to show me exactly where it happened?

Noah's Flood

We certainly got more than our share of rain this past week. It's kind of funny. At VBS we studied about Noah's Ark, and it rained for three days solid. I don't know how Noah stood it for forty days. Especially with all his animals. My five are going crazy the way it is!!! There are two rivers that surround Osawatomie, and they are flooded. We are about a mile from one of them, so the water is getting close. We live up on a hill so it shouldn't reach our house, but we could get "watered in."
I thought I was being a good girl by not telling people how close we were to the flooding and I got a couple of phone calls from certain people who just happened to turn on the Weather Channel and caught the story, or read the Associated Press, and saw the article. I guess the Bible does say something about your sins finding you out. I just never thought it would take me so literally. Little tiny Oswatomie never makes national news, and the time I wanted to keep eveyone from worrying, we go national. So I'm sorry Daddy, Lele, and everyone else who DIDN"T call!!
Also, Mom Avery, I do keep trying to post pictures, but your son's lovely computer keeps kicking me off!!!! I think I should go throw it in the river!!