Hello everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful last week. Most of you haven't seen the sun in a while. I'll send some sunshine your way. Actually our week has been about equally split with sunshine, clouds, humidity, and rain. Today is beautiful, sunny, low 70's... just perfect for being outside. Hang in there Virginians - it's coming your way!
I had my first day and a half of officially 'going to work' this past week. Tom and Karen were here from Wed. late night to Friday noon. All day Thursday Karen taught me how to do the books. I can now invoice, pack, and ship parts, along with enter information on Quick Books. So far I'm quite sure I can handle it but I did feel like a University student with all the notes I took. I was good to work and use my brain to do something new! I'll enjoy this I believe.
No snake or scorpion sightings this week... sorry. Just about 6 or 7 cute little geckos darting around the flower beds and on the deck. Then have bright blue tails... apparently they'll pop off if you step on them but I don't have the heart to do that. Plus, I likely couldn't catch on if I tried.
Russ and the children spent a couple evenings on the ponds infront of the house this past week. Tom's boat is still here so they've been paddling around and just doing well... whatever it is you do on the pond in a boat! The children LOVE it. They've spent a fair bit of time out there alone during the day. I can see them from the kitchen window so I know they're OK. Plus they MUST have their life jackets on to go near the pond. After we told then that rule Katlyn let Levi get on the boat and of course he refused to wear his life jacket. She was proudly rowing him around... until Jessica informed me of Levi's jacketless status. Needless to say the boat was docked, Katlyn had a time out, and Levi had a spanking and time out. Since then he's come up to me several times to have his life jacket zipped up. :)
My most exciting news is that my mother arrived last Tuesday!!! Hooray!! It's soooo nice to have her here. It's like a security blanket for me since Doug and Betty Sue left for 4 months to Alaska today. She's gotten my house clean already and been a TREMENDOUS help with the children, especially when I need to work with Karen in the shop.
Early Saturday morning Mom, the children, and I went to some yard sales to find a computer desk. We had no luck but learned how to get around Sulphur Springs a bit. Then we went to the Saturday Market down town and enjoyed all the taste tests form little businesses here and their. Mom bought us a nice sized flowering bush, kind of tropical looking, and the kids asked if they could buy this and that for about an hour. Of course Mom spoiled them a bit! Then we got new flip flops for Katlyn and got groceries at Walmart. A FULL morning. That afternoon Doug and Betty Sue had a little party for us in the picnic area near their house. It threatened rain all afternoon but fortunately held off. We had a big bonfire, lots of yummy food, and met many people. One of the families has 20 children... 9 biological whose youngest is 15 and the rest from Vietnam and hmmm,,, I can't remember. Betty Sue tutored their daughter Amanda for this past school year. They are a wonderful family - it was a pleasure to meet them. Such calm parents, and each child was clean, well dressed, and had combed hair and braids with matching ribbons for the girls. They used to homeschool but now have their children in school. I tried to glean some tips from her - our children are not that presentable most of the time that we go anywhere. But I think it's the older kids jobs to get the younger ones ready in the morning. So the solution is to have about 10 more kids... NOT!! Another family had 5 children. The mom teaches grade 1 at a private Christian school and the dad is a high school assistant football coach. They plan to homeschool next year. I enjoyed talking with them and hope to get together with them sometime... they have a pool in their back yard and their children range from 4 to 11. Then Betty Sue's best friend was their with her family (husband, 2 daughters and their husbands and children). It was a very nice group of people. We enjoyed that afternoon.
Russ and I snuck off early this morning for a bike ride to explore the back roads around here. It was so nice to leave before anyone else was up. I told mom and she had the kids fed and dressed for church by the time we got back. We went about 15 miles, saw many different kinds of birds (especially Mocking birds) and learned a few new back roads. It was wonderful!
We've been here now officially for 2 weeks. On the way to church today I was thinking it sure feels real now... most vacations we've taken are not for 2 weeks so if this had been a vacation we'd have been back at Grace Mennonite today. We visited the same church as last week, Shannon Oaks non-denominational church. The pastor invited us to come this weekend, stay for lunch, and attend an orientation class to learn more about the church. Since food was involved we agreed. :) We've been there at total now of about 4 times (including the times we visited TX). The worship music is really good and the sermons are good - but I haven't been 'inspired' lately. I'm searching for inspired. Today though, the sermon was better than the last couple times we've heard Preacher Frank. We do plan to visit some other churches in the area over the next couple weeks, but I was happy with what I heard at the orientation meeting. They have a thriving women's bible study group, studying my favorite bible studies, Beth Moore, of course. They have a men's group that meets when the ladies group does. Also, they have small groups they call life groups.
This afternoon was perfect for outdoor work. Russ got the electric fence around the house running - to keep out giant scorpions! Hah! Just kidding! It's actually to keep the turkeys out of the flowers and bushes around the house. He also had a little training session for our new dog, Buddy 2 (we're dog sitting him for Doug and Betty Sue for 4 months). Buddy 2 likes to kill chickens, as we discovered when getting home from church. ;( I hope Russ's training technique worked. It involved a bark/shock collar and putting the dog in the chicken pen. I like those chickens, and especially their eggs! Mom cleaned up around my flower beds, and the fish pond. She loves that kind of stuff - and I'm so thankful! I unpacked a bit more and straightened up our bedroom and the closets.
We had a wonderful surprise this evening around 6 PM. Jessica came running in as I was fixin' to prepare dinner saying, "There are neighbors coming up our drive... ON HORSES!" So I looked out the kitchen window and their they were, just as she said. Yeehaw! I say - I like Texas's style of saying hello! So we met our first neighbour who are the first neighbors to our east. Their was Randy and Jody, with their daughter maybe my age, and her children, Cheyenne (8 yr old girl) and Newt (5 year old boy). Cheyenne road a pony and the rest were on big horses. We visited for 2 hours and the children had many rides being led around. Katlyn was hesitant to leave the horses side... she just stared lovingly at them and kept petty the pony's nose. They all live next door so we'll be seeing a lot more of them. All of our children got along wonderfully! It's so nice to know their are neighbors right next door with kids. They'll ride the bus together for school next fall. Katlyn and Cheyenne will be in the same grade too. Finally we ate supper at 8 PM and just got the kids to bed. That's were I'll be headed next.
We love you all and do miss you. We look forward to hearing from you soon. F.W.I. - a certain someone will be 41 on Wed. ;)
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