Bee Slow, Bee Quiet

Mr. Curly is raising bees.  Yeah. Yeah, you read that right.  He has a few videos on youtube (or at least is working on getting them up there) calling himself the ignorant bee keeper.

Here's how it all went down:

We have some friends who noticed a lot of bee activity outside their house. And then a buzzing in the walls. And then stains leaking through the old lathe & plaster walls (they live in an old farm house a little bit out of town).

They had to abandon a room due to the bees.

So Mr. Curly did a lot of studying and researching, built a hive with his dad, and went and pulled bees out of the walls and floors and ceiling. They were EVERYWHERE.

But now the house is bee free, and we have lots of honey and beeswax to use.

Somehow, there was no queen (this swarm had split once before and we think something traumatic happened to any new queen they would've had), so we bought one.  Who even knew you could do that?!

The kids are FASCINATED by the bees.  They repeat the rules to me often - be quiet, be slow - and then go sneak up to the hive and the observation window to see what they can see.

Honestly, they give me the hee-bee-jee-bees (hahahahahaha).
But, bees, yeah, we raise them now.

Insults in my oatmeal

Almost every morning I make myself what I call "energy oatmeal."
1/4 cup quick oats (uncooked) with 2-3 tbsps peanut butter, some brown sugar, raisins, and honey.  So yummy.

My kids call it "injury" oatmeal and always beg me for bites of my breakfast.

Mr. Curly looked at me yesterday morning and said "You know what you need to add to that oatmeal so the kids won't eat it?"
"Hm, no, what?"
"Insult."

Ha ha ha. Add insult to my injury oatmeal.
I love this man.

Geeking Out over Top Gear (America)

Mr. Curly and I don't try to hide the fact that we are car fans.

And we couldn't have been happier last night to sit down with our DVR and watch the season premiere of Top Gear (America).

Adam Ferrar is my favorite, hands down.  Rutledge is so down home and nice and funny.  Tanner is a show-offy little 20 something....

Or is he?

For some reason last night, we decided we needed to know our hosts a little better and discovered that Tanner is 40.
40.
He looks 19.
He's 40.

I didn't even know what to do with that.  I mean, that means he was 17 with Days of Thunder was released, which might explain his Tom Cruise-ness, his awesome ability with cars (all teenagers in the 80's are better with cars than teenagers later, and yes, that means they are better than me).  It explains how much he has done, since his life isn't as short as I thought it was.

But as the show continued, I forgot my problem with his age (even laughing when Adam cracked a joke saying they had to convince the cops that Tanner was old enough to drive), and just enjoyed myself.

And then it came.  The ultimate fan moment.

When Adam legitimately won (because they all do an awful lot of cheating) the challenge.
They were supposed to get to Venice, CA first with a picture of themselves with a celebrity.  Rut didn't  find a celebrity, Tanner only found a look-alike.  But Adam.
Adam showed up on the beach, in his Dodge Viper, with Dolph Lundgren.

Commence total fangirl freak out.  Even Mr. Curly was wide-eyed, laughing, amazed.  DOLPH LUNDGREN.

Finest moment in Top Gear history EVER.

Home War of the "Mans"

You know.  Superman, Batman, Ironman....

Yesterday we bought Curly Boy his first backpack for school.

We saw one with Ironman, Spiderman, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America on it.  Curly Boy was pretty interested I the Captain America part.
Then we found a CARS backpack, and an Angry Birds backpack.

Then we found them.  The backpacks with 6-pack abs built in - either Superman or Batman.

And I knew it would get dicey.

See, Curly Girl was pushing for the one with Ironman on it.  And Mr. Curly is the biggest Superman fan I know.
And I've been a Batman fan for a long, long time. (I still have a collection of action figures from high school that I can't quite give to the boys yet because I don't want them destroyed!!)

I took the approach of this cartoon I found:

source

 

 

After trying ALL the backpacks on, and thinking about the fact that he would have to carry this backpack for at least two years (maybe more, depending on how beat up it gets, I'm frugal) - Curly Boy went with the Batman.

 

And I suddenly dreaded going home... especially if Mr. Curly learned his little boy had passed up on Superman!!

 

Mr. Curly was a great geek parent though.  He ooohed and aaaahhhed over the backpack, told his son it was awesome, and was appropriately impressed.

 

And Curly Boy is extremely excited to show off his backpack to all the new friends he will make.

 

(And of course I'm totally proud he chose my "man.")

Whaddya Do?

Last week, Mr. Curly and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on July 4th.
To celebrate, Mr. Curly planned a trip.  I knew about the trip, but had no idea where we'd be going, or what we'd be doing, so I couldn't really say anything about it except that my dad was going to stay with the Curly Kids while we were gone!

But we're back!  And now I can answer ALL the questions (and then some) that we had beforehand!

The short answer is this:
Tuesday we spent the night in Omaha, walked the river park, ate at Old Chicago in the Old Market downtown area, walked through their open air mall, tried on expensive leather hats and fur coats.

Fountains at the River Park

Wednesday we drove down to Brownville, NE where we spent the night at Pierce Cottage (the same place we stayed 8 years ago for our 2nd anniversary when we did a motorcycle trip through Nebraska). 
Here's what you need to know about Brownville.  It is super cute.  It is only 148 people.  It is a tourist trap.  Nothing is open Mon-Thurs.  We lucked out that things would be open on Thursday because they had July 4th events starting at 7am and not ending until 9:30 that night! 

Our view from the cab of Mr. Curly's 1950 Ford F-1 as we drove through the one-way roads of Indian Cave State Park

Part of the cave

Anyway, since it was Wednesday and everything was closed, we went out to Indian State park where we battled an army of ticks and an ant named Bobby (planning a children's book out of that tale!!)


Thursday we were part of the Brownville July 4th parade, then went down to St. Joe, MO, toured the Patee House and Jesse James house where he was shot.




















And I had this thought there - we are weird.  Did you know that?  People are totally weird.  We paid $4/person (really not bad) to go into a 4 room house (that would fit inside most living rooms these days) to see a bullet hole in the wall and hear about the death of a famous bank robbing outlaw.  How WEIRD is that?!  Why would we pay to stand in the room where someone died?!?!
The answer?  I have no idea.  But it was actually really cool.  (insert self conscious smile here)


1886 firetruck

Joaquin Murietta - the Original Zorro!

After we left St. Joe, we headed back up to Brownville, where we perused the local shops, ate some ice cream.....
















 and then the BIG surprise of the trip - a river boat dinner cruise and a night at the River Resort Inn!!

River Boat Resort Inn

The Missouri River may be muddy, and we were the only ones dressed up, but it was an absolutely  lovely river ride.
Once we got back to the shore, we listened to some live music, took a walk, enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather!

View from the Dinner Boat

At 9:00, we were snacky, but we're still in Brownville, that has nothing open. They even unplugged the pop machines! (We're guessing, none of the ones we found in town were on) So we hopped in the truck to go over to Rock Port MO (just 7 miles away).  Brownville is RIGHT on the river, so we were driving across the bridge when the River Boat firework show began!!
We flipped around, ZOOMED back to the riverboat, ran down the gangplank, around the decks back to our room door, where we set down and watched a nice little firework show (and cringed away from the TWELVE HUGE spiders building webs above our heads).

View of fireworks from our spot on the lower deck.  Nice, but started a bit too early.

Then we got in the truck, now that it was truly dark, and headed to Rock Port!  We got to watch fireworks as we drove, and once we got our pop and snacks, followed the flares to downtown Rock Port where we sat on the back of the truck (still all dressed up!) and watched their show too!
Heading back to Brownville, we got to watch the fireworks people were shooting off at the Brownville bar.

View of the River Boat Resort Inn from the shore at night.

We spent the night on the riverboat, woke up Friday morning just in time for a wonderful breakfast watching the river sparkle in the sunlight and laughing at a gentleman from the kitchen who was VERY particular about where people set.

Friday we headed back to Omaha, where we toured the zoo without our kids and watched the Dinosaur Alive imax movie.  That night we stayed in the Council Bluffs Settle Inn (Mr. Curly booked us the Mountain Retreat room - it was SO nice, a Jacuzzi tub right in the room.... bliss) and ate at the Red Lobster (that had the worst service ever).

Saturday morning we slept in, ate a late breakfast, and came home to extremely joyful kids and a (probably gratefully relieved!) granddad.

We had a marvelous trip.  We enjoyed hot food and quiet times, walks without worry, drives without car seats, late nights and later mornings.
As our first vacation without our kids since they were born, it was quite successful.  I can't wait for the next one!

The tears come so easy now....

I am NOT a crier.  In public anyway.  Mr. Curly will tell you that.  My biggest irritant on reality shows is how much everybody cries!  You're on TV - pull it together!  Or, as my mom likes to quote "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!"

I do NOT let people see me cry.  I do my best not to let people see me get angry, because inevitably, the anger causes tears.  I try to remain calm, even somewhat humorous in tough situations.

Other people can cry, that is fine (except those tv reality people, come on, now!).  Sometimes people need to cry.  I just like to stay more in control of myself.

It seems lately though, that crying is my default.  I think about Curly Girl starting preschool, I cry.  I watch my boys (BOYS, I don't really have a baby anymore....) play together and it brings tears to my eyes.  I watch Mary Poppins and I cry.  I lose it at my kids because I'm telling them for the 10th time to PLEASE PICK UP YOUR BOOKS and I cry.  I see my husband tossing the kids around after work and I cry.

I've always felt that whatever emotion you have the most of, is the one that will come to the surface during high emotional times.  Which is why these tears bother me so much.

I am NOT sad.  And I don't want to be crying all the time when I'm trying to convince my kids THEY don't need to cry over every little thing ("i can't find a pen" "my tv show is over" "the books have to go back to the library" "i love this song").

My life is very very blessed.  I told the Curly Kids this last night (as they whined about not having juice with their fajitas, that they didn't want to eat because they were sure they didn't like them): We have a blessed life.  We have all the food we need, we have plenty of clean clothes to wear that fit us.  We have a nice house, we have an awesome yard to play in.  Daddy has TWO jobs, even Momma has a job!  We have family and friends that love us.  We have a God who provides.  We do NOT need to whine over inconsequential little things.  You don't need juice tonight - we're going out for ice cream after this for Daddy's birthday.  So here's the deal - I'll remind you of all the good things when you are crying for no reason, and you do the same for me, ok?  When I'm angry, or frustrated, or crying over something silly - you remind me of something good, and together we'll help each other be more happy."

I think Curly Boy actually got it - because when I was frustrated over putting the train track together for the 15th time (Curly Baby is trying to learn how it works, which means pulling it apart... a lot), Curly Boy looked at me, smiled and said "I love you, Mom."

You guessed it - tears.

*Sigh*  Maybe it's an aging thing....

Are you a certified mechanic?

Thursday night, I got to work on our car with Mr. Curly.  I can practically hear the "So what?" you're thinking right now.

SOOOO - soooo, this is something we used to do regularly.  We'd go out, change the oil on the car, clean it out, check a few things, talk, joke, laugh, and then get a treat.
I'm not sure we've done that since Curly Boy was born (3 years for those of you keeping track). 

Thursday night, Mr. Curly worked on the car a bit by himself while the kids played and I worked in the garden.  Then I bathed the kids (and left an adorable ring of dirt around the tub.  I love the days my kids have played so hard that the tub is filthy when they're done. Silly I know, but it means we had a good day.), put them to bed, grabbed my nook (from my mom, I'm loving it) and went out to keep my husband company.

Turns out, the nook was unnecessary.

I added windshield wiper fluid, and oil once the new filter was on.  I read capacity limits in the car's manual.  Then I helped remove and put new transmission fluid in the transfer case, and helped pump new transmission fluid into (where else) the transmission.
My hands and hair got greasy (I can't work on a car without getting dirt on my face and oil in my hair) and I'm pretty sure I ruined the pants I was wearing when a hose of transmission fluid leaked on them (I didn't dress for the job unfortunately).

But I had a really great time with my husband.  We laughed and talked and joked, searched out parts together and came in at 10:00 at night thoroughly dirty and pleased with the job we had done.

There is something satisfying about working on a car yourself.  There's something even more satisfying about working on a car with your spouse.

And we were singing.....

Soooo, I've started playing the piano at church.  After 8 years of lessons, and, um, well, 8 years of saying "I don't do worship team stuff" I'm a piano player!

I'm also helping choose the songs we sing each Sunday.

These are jobs where we needed somebody to fill in - where our beautiful pianist and husband had been doing our worship for many years and need time to simply enjoy worship rather than lead it, and so, here I am.  Now that Curly Baby is over a year, he can easily set with someone else during the worship time, Curly Boy likes to sit in the front row and watch me, and Curly Girl sits by herself in our pew coloring.
It's kind of awesome.

But now I feel this HUGE responsibility to give us a deep, meaningful worship time - to teach and encourage, to uplift and console.... it must be how Mr. Curly feels each Sunday morning when he steps up to preach.

I recently started reading a new blog, To Love, Honor and Vacuum, that I love, and she just posted this article yesterday about worship.  It will definitely be something I keep in mind.

Can she bake a cherry pie?

Point of fact, Billy Boy - I have never baked a cherry pie. Though I have made cherry poptarts using pie crust and HOME CANNED cherries, so that is pretty darn close.

Yesterday was President's Day.  True to my new "I'm a stay at home mom so we should celebrate very holiday on the calendar" the kids and I discussed George Washington and the cherry tree.

This was actually a pretty awesome thing.  Curly Girl has begun lying, and I'm not sure how to deal with it, so we read the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree (that I found at www.first-school.ws).  After reading it, Curly Girl and I discussed what little George Washington said, and how he DIDN'T get in trouble because he told the truth.  I asked Curly Girl what we should so when asked a question and she said "Say, I cannot tell a lie?"  Which isn't exactly where I was going with it, but is pretty close.

We also printed out the cherry tree picture found with the legend, glued construction paper cherries to the tree, then stood the whole picture up using a toilet paper tube and a paper straw from Ted's (one of Mr. Curly and my's absolute favorite restaurants in the whole entire world that we never get to eat at).

And, as an ode to my  mother and my childhood, we made George Washington dessert.  It is kind of like cherry cake, only it isn't.  It is a recipe I brought home in first or second grade written on super-wide ruled paper and blue construction paper.  My mom kept that paper, AND knew exactly where it was when I called asking for the recipe.

Next point of fact - my mom rocks.

George Washington Dessert:
2 cans cherry pie filling (we used one large store-bought can and my one last home-canned can of cherries)
Curly Boy poured the cherries, Curly Girl spread the cherries, they both enjoyed licking the can and spatula
1 box white cake mix
Curly Girl poured the cake mix, Curly Boy helped spread it
2/3 cup butter, melted (about 11 tablespoons for those of you measuring out your blue bonnet sticks)
I did this step by myself.

Spread the cherry pie filling in a 13x9 pan, cover cherry pie filling with box mixed (just the powder you pour out of the bag), cover with melted butter.  Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.

Out comes a bubbling, cakey, cherry dessert that is FANTASTIC.  The kids and I are VERY excited to share it with Mr. Curly.

Point of fact three - Mr. Curly doesn't like cherries, but I'm sure he'll try this recipe when Curly Girl says "Look what I baked for you, Daddy!"  He's a sucker for that.

You need to be more FLEXible.

I told Mr. Curly the other day that I LOVE the idea of a home organization binder - cleaning schedules, meal plans, budgets, craft projects, birthday lists.... the whole nine yards.
But that I can't even imagine actually making one, because in my mind, there is no room for flexibility in something like that.

I mean, I do have a weekly cleaning schedule, but it gets switched around ALL the time.
And we make weekly meal lists, but always feel free to change them up according to what is in our pantry.

If I planned 30 meals and only bought food for those 30 meals, we'd end up eating out a LOT by the time the end of the month came and we were tired of our meal plans.
And if I couldn't get something cleaned/organized/done on the day it was planned, it probably wouldn't happen at all since every other minute would be taken up with something else.

I've learned in the past month that a pastor's wife needs to be flexible.  That on the nights you plan on your husband being home by 8:00 so you can clean out the hall closet together is the night he'll end up at the hospital with someone.  That the day-off he's supposed to have for family time will be the only day someone has open for much needed counseling.

I used to pride myself on my organization, on the schedule I lived my life on, on the schedule my children adapted to so quickly, making our life, in my mind, immensly easier.

Thankfully, I have children who take after their father and can break their schedule without issue.
And now, God is teaching me to let go a little bit too.  To relax and trust that He is in control.

Yes, we do have a place for budget information that we can both access, that is something we do together anyway.  But while I'd love to have a home organizational binder, I don't think that's going to happen this year.
I think I'm going to be more flexible.

And that earned me a kiss.

Post title from The Incredibles.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!

So, last Sunday was awesome.

I got my picture taken with this lion's baby at MGM.

I saw white tigers at Mirage.

And in the Forum (Caesar's Palace shops) I met Dick Butkus.  Yeah, you read it.  Dick Butkus.  We chatted, he signed a picture for Mr. Curly, took a bunch of pics with me and my friend.

Taming the Frizz by Changing Our View

Mr. Curly and I attended a Ministers and Mates Retreat last week.  This is basically 2 days (starts Tuesday evening, ends Thursday at noon) where pastors from the Iowa district get together to relax.  We had 3 worship sessions, and one "Break out" time where the pastor's got together for team building, and the spouses got together to be themselves!

Honestly, the best time I had was Wednesday afternoon.  After 1:00 pm we were free for the entire day.
And for the entire day, I did nothing.

We laid around the hotel, sat in the hot tub, went swimming, had ice cream for supper.  I didn't pick up one toy, feed one child, do one dish or chore.  It was miraculous.

But the best thing I learned was sometimes life doesn't have to be so frizzy.  Sometimes, we bring that frizz upon ourselves, and if we would just change our view, things could be a lot more tame.

Like when we feel guilty for telling our kids that we have to share Daddy, or that there are events at church we need to be at.  Our kids our blessed to be a pastoral family, and they will make of it what we make of it.  Which means, as long as our kids know they are our second love (God being first), it is ok to be involved in the church, to sometimes have to have a babysitter so you can do a ministry, to share Daddy on Sundays.

And if we would learn to be a listening board instead of a sounding board, our pastor-husbands would be a lot more willing to share the stress of their calling.  This is hard for me, because I really want to fix things, to say "Well, you tell me what so-and-so said and I'll just go talk to them."  But that isn't going to help Mr. Curly.

So my focus is now to be a supportive listening board and to focus on making being the pastoral family fun (the way it was when I was growing up).

It's amazing. Shift your paradigm, focus on God and family, and this life can be a lot more smooth.

What are you doing, you madwoman, you're wrecking my apartment!

We rearranged furniture last week.

When Mr. Curly and I moved into our new home in Iowa, we were overwhelmed by boxes. You couldn't get into the boys's room, my couch was in the dining room... it was awful!
So, to give us an anchor in the sea of boxes, we created this furniture set up (view from the front door):

This allowed us to have a small box free area. Boxes were put behind the couch, behind chairs, used as end tables... but we had a small clean area to play.

Five months later, that small area was driving me crazy! It's like we had taken 1 huge room and chopped it into 4. So I got some graph paper, cut out our furniture to scale, and started trying to find a good arrangment. After 4 hours of paper arranging and having no luck, Mr. Curly sat down, spent 3 minutes looking at it and said "Let's move this chair to the dining room and put the couch here."

And so it was done. The blue recliner was moved to a dining room corner and will be returning to which it came (my parent's house), and this is our new arrangement.



I LOVE it! It is so much more open, the desk is less noticeable when you're sitting around, the kids can hide their bigger toys behind the couch, and did I mention it is so much more open?
Curly Girl cried when she saw it. It ruins the running path she was wearing in the carpet. I also turned the dining room table, but the kids won't change where they set (wonder where they get that creature of habit thing from), so I don't know if that will stay.

Mr. Curly thinks the TV is slightly too far away and that the light causes a glare on his face, but I think he'll get used to it.
Or maybe we'll just buy all new furniture to fit this new space. HA.

Post title from Music & Lyrics.

Learning through listening....

Welcome to a much neglected segment on this blog "Taming the Frizz!" See here for other posts.

You know how everybody learns differently? Mr. Curly is a very hands-on learner. I'm more of an auditory/reading learner. I loved lecture classes. To sit and take notes for an hour, then return to my dorm and read a chapter over that had just been lectured on and find subtle details I had missed... heaven!

I've always been the same way at church. I listen, take a few notes, then read the passages and my notes at home to solidify it in my mind and heart.

Confession time: Since Curly Girl was born, I can count on both hands how many times I carried my Bible and notebook to church. I can count on one hand how many times I actually pulled that Bible and notebook out. That is almost FOUR YEARS of not helping myself learn.
My excuse, of course, are the Curly Kids. And the church plant. Once Curly Girl was old enough, and we were attending an established church, she was in the nursery and I paid attention. But when we started our own Sunday morning services with 4 other people and only one other kid - well, there was no nursery to drop them off in.

And now, I AM the nursery worker. Which means, we don't go to the nursery. I have a bag in our seat with activities and snacks and I sit in the back and do my best to listen and wrangle the kids.

Mr. Curly was preaching about how we are the Children of God. Like a baby looks like his/her parents, we take on the look of God. We are His image bearers. Curly Girl heard this and said "Bearers? I thought Daddy was talking about how we are just kids."

She wasn't quite getting the point (we explained it later at home) but she was LISTENING. Actually listening while she colored, not just hearing.
Myself? Another confession: I was just hearing. I wasn't taking anything to heart. I had a teenage girl sitting with me to help, and I was more concerned about how Curly Boy was going to react to her interaction, I was thinking more about keeping Curly Baby asleep so I wouldn't have to leave the sanctuary (and thus fight Curly Boy to stay with the teenage help), than I was listening to the wonderful message God had put on Mr. Curly's heart.

It was an uncomfortable eye-opening moment.

Instead of worrying about my children and what others think about how I handle them, if they are safely contained and involved in a quiet activity, I should be focusing on what God has to say to me.

Today I pray that we can each say the following with utter truthfulness and confidence:

I seek you with all my heart, do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119:10-11

She said mysteriously as the elevator door closed....

I feel like my blog has been very teachy lately, very here's what I'm doing to organize my life. A little too much of that and not enough aren't my kids the cutest, isn't my husband the greatest, don't you just love summer?

The other night I made Mr. Curly get out of the recliner and come outside just to listen to cicadas and watch the fireflys with me. We talked about cicada memories - like the one summer we had TONS of them and my brother and I collected their shells off our treehouse tree every morning and kept them in our wagon.
Mr. Curly remembered listening to them in OK on family reunion trips - he said they sang ALL DAY there (as they do here), but I only remember them in the evenings from when I was growing up.

Thursday night it started raining and rained ALL night. At 8:30 in the morning, it was still raining and yet the cicacdas were singing.

Why is that tree cricket sound so great?

I read an awesome blog about summer. My friend Libby posted it here. Check her out. She's much more of an author in her blog than I am!

Post title from Music & Lyrics

Add a square?

So I was looking at my header and realized we're missing a child!

The header right now is Curly Girl (when she was younger, her hair is a little darker now), me, and then Curly Boy.

Mr. Curly refuses to let his hair get long enough to curl (even though it will WONDERFULLY, he has this great Superman wave in front... sigh), so he won't be represented in the header.

But Curly Baby should be, right? Only, his hair is so fine it's hard to get a picture of. And it isn't curly, yet. It will be. I'm sure of it.

Still, so far the new schedule (which I need to post for you at some point) is working marvelously, so I may actually start having time to do something new and exciting with this blog!

Would you believe Chuck Norris with a bb gun?

Mr. Curly took off this morning for a planning retreat. He'll be gone until Thursday afternoon.
For the first time since Curly Girl was 13th months old, I will be spending a night alone. Only this time, instead of being 12 miles from the cops in an old house pregnant with one baby for 2 days and one night, I'll be in town, in an old house, with three babies for 4 days and three nights.

Needless to say, I'm wishing I had some back-up right now. Black Op Snipers, Delta Force, even Chuck Norris with a bb gun could be helpful.

Post title from Get Smart.

Is it a new year yet?

So, yeah, wow. Curly Baby's first two months FLEW by, and I realized earlier this week I've been telling everybody he's 3 months old and he's not yet!

Technically our church's fiscal year began June 1. Personally, I feel as if last Wednesday night (July 6) began a new year for Mr. Curly and myself, or maybe just a new chapter in life?

Wednesday night Mr. Curly was officially ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene. To be ordained you must complete 4 years of study, be a full time pastor for 3 years, obtain a local, then district minister's license and keep it current and go through a formal interview.

Wednesday night Mr. Curly was ordained by the same man who called my father to his first church, who was present at my father's ordination, who dedicated me and my brother when we were just babies.... Needless to say it was an incredibly awesome moment. The Iowa district superintendent even let my dad pray over Mr. Curly and I and our ministry even though Dad isn't a pastor on the Iowa district (though he is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and since we're all family the state doesn't really matter).

Wednesday night was the first ordination service I didn't fall asleep in. It was the first ordination service I sat through, listening to a great message and felt such an excitement to be part of Mr. Curly's ministry, part of a church family, part of a larger mission.

So while it isn't a new year on the calendar, and it isn't a new fiscal year, for me, it is a new year.

I'll be there for you....

As I write this, I am setting in our town's best coffeshop and creperie Habitue. Actually, it is the only creperie, as far as I'm aware, but that still doesn't change the fact that I believe it is the best coffeeshop as well.

It's a beautiful shop - two levels and a garden courtyard. Blues, golds, greens and burgundies are foundin the paint, the floor, the furnishings. This coffeeshop is unique to other coffeeshops I've visited in that, instead of playing mindless soft rock, they play current Christian music. There are Bible verses on the wall.

Whether the Bible verses and music were here or not, the owners have done a fantastic job of creating a warm, inviting, comforting place.

I sit by the window, hoping I look cool and hip as I type on my laptop. You know, like the background people in Central Perk on Friends. I have a feeling though that I look like every other 20-30 something who spends their time in coffeeshops on laptops. It's no longer a new, hip thing, but very passe.

But that is me - passe. I come into every fad just as it finishes.
Still, I'm enjoying my quiet time. My time to eat without sharing with my kids, to enjoy a fresh made drink without having to wipe toddler spit off the straw. It is a new experience for me, and one I am quite enjoying.

Today, as I write this, it is my birthday. Curly Girl is at dance camp and the Curly Boys are with Mr. Curly, working on something that Mr. Curly won't tell me about.

There is a verse above the back counter that reads "He who refreshes others is refreshed himself."
So while today is my birthday, and I'm enjoying my time alone, I pray that tomorrow, when this will post, that Mr. Curly feels refreshed, because I am enjoying this quiet treat of a frosted cinnamon roll and strawberry-banana smoothie (SO GOOD) because of his love for me.

Now I'm going to get off blogger and enjoy my new library book and my hour left before I pick up Curly Girl and return to the duties of Momma.

Success!

Well, we had a rather successful 5 day weekend!

Thursday morning we took off around 6:30 to head down to KS to visit my mom for mother's day and attend her college graduation.

WAY TO GO (again) MOM on the college degree! I am SO proud of you! (Can you hear the voice, can you can you?)

Things that counted towards success -

• Thursday's 8 hour drive turned into a 10 hour drive due to Mr. Curly's sick stomach and an extra long lunch break, but not one of our 3 kids had a melt down.



• Curly Baby took his first vacation successful at just 2.5 weeks old - he travels MARVELOUSLY (Just like Curly Girl and Boy do).



• The kids got new swimsuits and now their KS Grandparents have an inflatable pool to cool their toes in on the hot summer nights.



• Curly Boy got his summer tan, Curly Girl did NOT burn, and I got my first sunburn in several years!*



• The weather was beautifully, unseasonably hot.



• I met my new little nephew, who is just a stinkin' handsome fella. You can read more about my brother and his family on my sister-in-law's blog, Life with Mrs. B.



• The Curly Kids (minus Curly Baby) spent every night at my parent's house, while Mr. Curly and I crashed in the church apartment. This allowed us to sleep in (though Curly Girl got my parents up at 6:00 every morning!). Thank you, Mom and Dad!



• And the drive back on Monday only took 8 hours, there were no meltdowns, no road construction, and ice cream at the end.

I'll do a picture post, hopefully this week!

*Since our move to SD, I have never found it warm enough to sit outside in a sleeveless dress. I greatly enjoyed melting in the sun at Mom's graduation. I did spray the Curly Kids down with sunscreen, but between one thing and another, completely forgot to spray myself. My right shoulder is nice and crispy and will fade/peel down to my normal porcelain white. While it is uncomfortable now, it was just nice to enjoy the sun. Next time I'll remember the sunscreen!