Get-Togethers

We've been "getting together" with old friends lately. And when I say "old", I'm referring to the amount of time we've known a particular friend. I am definitely not referring to the age of any one of these friends. Although one of us has recently officially become a grandma!

Anyway.

We spent Saturday night with our friends Ben and Jada. We love them and miss them so much that we drove clear across the state in the pouring rain just to spend the evening with them. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit about the drive. But it was worth it! We had a wonderful dinner, and these great friends of ours even made a portion of Chicken Alfredo with rice noodles just for our boys. Wow. I can't tell you what that meant to me.

The food was great, but the company was better. This wonderful couple has become a source of encouragement and support for Chris and myself. And I just love Jada to death. What can I say about her? She just "gets" me. And I hope she feels that I "get" her. I am so blessed to have her as my sister in Christ. I absolutely cannot wait to see them again in December. And then again in January!

I did bring my camera along on Saturday night, but I didn't get many pictures. Here's one of some of the kids.



Today the kids and I met 2 of my childhood friends and their kids at the park. We had a great time! Even Shaun...who was not thrilled about playing with "babies"....was the perfect gentleman and was quickly adored by almost every child at the park! He was great with all the little ones.

I love the fact that Mandy, Kelli, and I grew up together. Not only that, but our parents have known each other for years. And now our kids are following in our footsteps. This is one of the good things about living in a small town. I'm already looking forward to next week, when we're getting together again.

Here are some pictures of our outing:

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I was NOT called the "Best Teacher in the World" by Shaun this week.

I did NOT walk outside to pick up a package from my mailman with my wet hair still wrapped up in a towel from my shower. And I most certainly did NOT rationalize this action my reasoning that at least I had clothes on.

We had a busy weekend. REALLY busy. We were out late and in bed way past our normal bedtimes and the children were so tired. But NOT tired enough that I would forgo the brushing of their teeth two nights in a row. No amount of sleepiness should take a toll on my children's dental health. So NO WAY would I choose to not pick this battle. Nope...NOT ME!

I am the wife of a worship leader. We take this calling seriously and are always reverent and respectful in our worship. So, there's no way that my sweet husband's band would get kicked out of the church they were invited to play at because their music was too loud. NO WAY! I would NOT marry that kind of man!

And lastly...I did NOT get squirted in the face with my homemade vinegar and lemon juice cleaning solution by my three year old. This son of mine did NOT do this to his wonderful mommy because he was mad and grouchy and didn't like what I had to say. I would never be that unreasonable! NOT ME!

Randomness

Here are some random things I did today:

Killed a ginormous, hairy spider in the bathroom.

Gave Shaun his math test. (He made a 93!)

Listened to a VERY interesting "Focus on the Family".

Took a bubble bath.

Sent my sweet husband to the store for "femenine products".

Rescued Jordan from the top of our truck.

Got my laundry pile down to ZERO.

Started to make dinner, only to realize that the particular dish I wanted to make takes an unbelievable 4 hours to make.

Fed my family some leftovers instead.

Walked to get the mail.

Watched the boys play in a big, huge, mud puddle on the way to the mailbox.

Stayed up way too late.

I wonder when...

...date night became dinner, a movie, and grocery shopping on the way home.

...Kroger decided to remain open 24 hours but decided that it was okay to NOT have a lane open
after midnight.

...Facebook became the number one means of communication between my family and myself.

Sigh.

There was a devil in my house...

...or at least there was a devil in my phone line.

A few nights ago, I was having an email conversation with a good friend of mine. A friend who I've been praying for for years. We were emailing about salvation. She had some questions and I was trying my best to answer them.

I had typed the best letter you've ever read explaining God's Plan of Salvation. This was harder than I expected. I take for granted the fact that I was raised in church and grew up having The Plan explained to me on a daily basis from the time I was a baby. I knew it had to be simple...I tend to over-complicate things and make them difficult to grasp.

So, there I was. In my bedroom, typing away, when it happened. My laptop lost its internet connection. I waited a few minutes and tried to connect again. I figured it was just the laptop having issues. But no. I still couldn't connect. Not only that, but my wonderful, God-breathed email was gone, too. Then Chris came in the room, asking if I had lost my internet connection. His connection upstairs had died, too. Apparently we were expecting an internet outage.

I cannot remember a SINGLE time this has happened since we've been living in our house.

I explained to Chris what I had been doing. We looked at each other and exclaimed : "The devil's in here!"

What else could it have been? Seriously. Which brought up another question in my mind: If Satan would go through that much trouble to keep me from sending that email, God must have SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL PLAN in store for my friend. I can just see it now. She WILL get saved, if she's not already. And if she HAS already been saved, then it won't be long before she rededicates her life and really begins to go after God. After that, there will be no stopping her. And that's got the devil scared. Real scared.

So, there was a devil in my house. Or at least in my phone line. But not to worry. We prayed him out. Our internet came back. I couldn't remember all of my letter, but a friend helped me out, and it was sent. So all's good.

Now I'll just sit back and watch what happens.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her/'>http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT force my 3 year old son to wear his female cousin's jeans out in public while we went to dinner the other night. This was NOT due to my neglecting to pack extra "accident clothes".

I am NOT seriously considering becoming a doula for some extra money.

I do NOT have a child with a 100 test average in math!

I love God and love going to church. I so look forward to church service on Sundays. So, there's NO WAY that I was so exhausted that I kept nodding off during yesterday's service. I also did NOT finally just get up and leave in the middle of the service, reasoning that I didn't know what Pastor was speaking about anyway. NOT ME!

I am a stay-at-home-mom and part of my job duty is keeping an orderly house. Therefore, I did NOT put off cleaning my bedroom for an entire year. That would be disgusting and unsanitary. And, because I did NOT wait so long between cleanings, I was NOT forced to spend my entire Labor Day cleaning my room. Nope! NOT ME!

Have a wonderful week!

The Smith Family's Weekend

Here's what we did this weekend:

Friday: We attended the Homeschool Kickoff Party at church. Chris led some worship, we all ate some tacos, and Shaun joined a Performing Arts group. We all had a great time. Chris and I had no idea we were in the midst of so many fellow homeschoolers on a weekly basis. Sweet!





Saturday: Sparring class in the a.m. Then we came home and cleaned, watched movies, and folded laundry. Then we decided to go to the park. We played a little on the swings and slide, then all three boys decided to play football...with lots of tackling!








After our park visit, we headed over to the grandparents' house, where my two children had way
too much fun with a hamper:






Now its Sunday. This weekend went way too fast!

Just call Erin...

I volunteer at church on Wednesday nights, in the children's ministry. Last night, right in the middle of the service, one of the other workers whispered into my ear "You need to go down to Jordan's class, just for a minute". I was full of chagrin because I had left my pager in my purse, which was in another room down the hall. So I quickly made my way to the preschool classrooms.

There sat Jordan, in the director's office, surrounded by women who were all giggling. I asked what was wrong and found out that my potty-trained 3 year old had had a "number 2 accident". In Jordan's words, he had "pooped in my underwear".

When one of the workers lovingly commented that if Jordan was big enough to tell them this, then he should be big enough to use the potty, my sweet 2nd-born looked at her and replied "Just call Erin. She'll change me!"

Needless to say, the staff got a kick out of that. It WAS funny, but it warmed my heart just a little. Its nice to know that my son knows that I love him unconditionally and will always take care of him...even when he poos in his brand new underwear!