The Ideal Pastor

According to a 1960's tongue in cheek cartoon...

The Ideal Pastor has the following qualities:

• Hair - One side crew cut for youthfullness and the other side grey for experience.
• Split Personality - Half is business like, other half is artistic, idealistic and dramatic
• Ear - To hear all gossip, grumblings, complaints, etc.
• Radar Mind - To detect and know of every possible disturbance, illness, and problem.
• Automatic Mind - To produce 4 lively, original messages each week - deep enough to be new and shallow enough to entertain.
• File Cabinet Mind - With the following files:

1. Full record of all Bible knowledge
2. Full record of all popular knowledge
3. Full record of the names of every member, guest, visitor, etc.
4. Thousands of ideas for progam ideas available at a moments notice.

• Right arm - Spring wound to lead music, shake hands, lend helping hand to all members, committees, and classes, etc.
• Check Valve - To insure against all mistakes and forgetting.

Note: Duplicate is desirable so he can be more than one place at a time.
* Available only with the Ideal Preacher's Wife!

Sometimes you just gotta switch things up...

Like taking a bath WITH your clothes on!

Jam Packed...

Our weekend, that is!

It is time for Durham's Metamorphosis...hosted at Grey Stone this year.



We are expecting 700 students for this d-town wide discipleship weekend!

We are hosting the high-school boys at our house...
That should be a lively addition to our normally quiet household =)

Then on Saturday, I am van-pooling with Kelly and her kids to trek to Charlotte for Areyna's 4th birthday party. 2 moms, 4 kids three and under and 5+ hours in the car...should be fun!

Hope you have a great weekend!

The Ideal Pastor's Wife

Someone at Grey Stone gave Jeremiah and I an old 1960's cartoon that depicts a Blueprint for the Ideal Pastor's Wife:

• File Cabinet Mind with the following files:

1. Misc. file of all information that husband is apt to forget
2. Recipe file of 999 ways to prepare hamburger and chicken
   
3. Information file on child psychology, marriage problems, etc.
4. Clever idea file to keep up husbands morale
5. Name of every member, guest, visitor, etc.
   

• Ear with automatic sifter to sort our information to be repeated from that which is to be kept confidential.
• 4 arms to keep kids clean, well-dressed, and obedient at all times
• Nose - big enough to detect every disturbance yet small enough to stay out of people's business
• No heart to be hurt, offended, or affected by all criticisms or complaints.
• Mouth - always smiling and saying good things
• Feet - substantial enough to work and work and work...
  
• Hair - half in the fashion of the day and the other half in motherly style
• Figure - Not too glamorous and not too matronly
• Clothing - Always neat, not too new, not too old, not too fancy, not too plain.
• Escape valve to relieve tensions

Obviously, these are pretty funny!

But, truthfully...

I wouldn't mind having some of these traits...namely the file cabinet mind =)

p.s. the Blueprint for The Ideal Pastor to come later

A flock of thieves!

We have three outdoor cats here at the farm...who are very well loved solely for their mice and snake-hunting abilities =)

We keep their food bowls on our side porch and have been noticing that their food was being eaten up ALOT faster than normal. We know we have deer that might have been eating it and have even caught a very fat possum helping himself to the tasty treats on several occasions.

Side note: what in the world was the Lord thinking when he created possums?

However, this morning I caught some other culprits right in the act...










Yes...5 or 6 blue jays were enjoying their morning breakfast of cat food. Who knew that birds like cat food?

Those jays better be careful though...

Will I see you again?

That is the question I always wonder as I eat a meal after one of us has come down with a stomach bug...

I have a whole list of foods that I can no longer eat after seeing them again in their semi-digested state:

• Skittles
• Chili-burgers
• Rice
• Spinach
• and, well...you get the picture =)

I found myself asking that question again last night as Ella had some kind of stomach bug.

Wow, what a difference a year can make though! I can handle this whole throw-up thing with a three year old!

Here's the difference between yesterday and a year ago when she last had a stomach bug:

1) She actually told me she had to throw up before she threw up
2)She didn't freak out at my insistence of keeping a bucket nearby her at all times
3) She didn't freak out at my insistence that she use that bucket


She woke up this morning...good as new and you'd never know she was sick last night!

Now all I can do is pray that Ezra doesn't get it. The picture is not so pretty with a 17 month old =)

Look alike

My first suspicion that something was amiss...













Hmmm...I don't remember us having a ball like that?












Oh, that's because it isn't a ball...
it's the grapefruit I was planning on eating this morning =)









Oh well, at least it kept him occupied for a while!

O Spring, where art thou?

I just looked at the weather forecast...and am very depressed to see a lot of 40's in our future.

I am seriously ready for some warm weather around here!

Anybody with me?

A look back...

I was looking through my old video's and found this one taken last February...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Some observations of the differences between then and now:

• We were still living in our old house...no move to the farm yet
• Ezra wasn't even sitting up yet!
• Ella is still just as bossy =)
• The crib mattress was so high...definitely pre-mobile-Ezra days!
• Ella's shirt is too short for her now
  
• Ezra's hair was still dark and doing that crazy comb-over thing
• "Barnyard Dance" remains a favorite book among them both
• Ezra was actually sitting still!
• They both still love to play in his crib together...just not so calmly now

Funny how so much can change (and stay the same!)...in just one year.
I can't imagine what it will be like to look back on pictures of my children years from now...

Listen to me...sounding like an old lady already!

After 3 years 12 weeks and 6 days...

It's official...

Ella is OURS!











To explain:
Due to some misinformed insurance choices we made early on in our marriage and the extra week Ella spent in the hospital at birth due to her prematurity...we racked up a lot of hospital bills with her!

That is all behind us as we have FINALLY paid off the last of her hospital bills this morning.

I guess we don't have to worry that the hospital is going to repo her anymore =)

One of those days

You ever have one of "those" days?

I had mine yesterday.

I'm not sure what happened.

The morning started out good...
and then everything went downhill for me from there.

I had NO patience for the kids or Jeremiah. I had NO patience for myself. Just to clarify...Jeremiah and the kids weren't the ones with the problem...I was.

I hate when I have days like that. I know that I am not living the "abundant life" when I allow selfishness and emotions to take control of me. I know I am not glorifying the Lord. I know I am not setting the example to my children. I know I am not loving my husband the way I should.

Thankfully, the Lord is not JUST a God of second chances. He is a God of new beginnings, which I need every single day.

Lamentations 3:21-23

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Also, thankfully I have a husband who realized I needed a "time out" and sent me out of the house for the afternoon =)

Little boy for hire

Name: Ezra James
Area of expertise: Dishwasher dis-assembler
Years of experience: Just a few months...but I am a very fast learner!
Salary requirements: Just feed me lots of fruit and give me a few cars to play with and we'll call it even
Refrences: Call my mommy!
Contact info: Call my mommy =)

Fort Friday

The kids and I are in the habit of building a fort on friday mornings. We have done this enough now and perfected our technique so that it is only considered a real fort now if it comes complete with the following:

• flashlights
• snacks
• pillows
• blankets
• and lots and lots of animal/baby/barbie friends

Little do they know that not only is this a fun activity for them...it allows me time to finish up my cleaning as 1) they are happily occupied 2) I can easily sweep and mop my kitchen floors as all the dining chairs are in the living room.

Recent Reads

I just finished Chaos, the fourth and last book in the Ted Dekker Lost Books Series.

Altogether I liked them.

Not as good as the original Circle Trilogy books...but very on par with his other books. I liked how they helped to explain some aspects of The Circle Trilogy further. Also, they are classified as juvenile fiction so they are a very easy and quick read...perfect for this mom who reads in whatever snippets of time she gets!



Also, Jeremiah and I are currently reading through The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. We have heard so much about this book over the past year...both incredibly good and horrifically bad reviews...that we figured we needed to read it for ourselves and make up our own minds about it. We are reading it on our "technology-free Thursdays" so it is kind of slow-going...but so far it is very interesting.

More to come on this one as we finish it.

Conversations I never thought I'd have...

Setting: The kitchen table at lunch.


Ella: Mommy! Look!

Me: Oh! Ella don't put your cheese on your puppy.

Ella: But it's his jacket and he is cold. He neeeeeds it.


It's hard to argue with that logic =)

technical difficulties...

My old faithful computer has been dying a long, slow, and painful death. Being the chea...I mean frugal person that I am I have refused to get a new one for a long time...despite Jeremiah's proddings =)

But...the time has come and as of yesterday I am ready to "pull the plug" on it!

We are finally going computer shopping!
Anyone know of any really good deals out there?

This feels oddly familiar

Exactly one week from his ear tube surgery...

Ezra has another rip-roaring double ear infection. Add a nice case of pink eye onto that and I have one very unhappy, non-sleeping, ball of snot on my hands.

Poor guy.

We are doing triple duty at the Hambrick Hospital...oral antibiotic, ear drop antibiotics, and eye drops. Now if only we could get some nasal spray and suppositories we'd have every orifice covered =)

(I'm not sure why it makes me happy to have used the word orifice? That's not a word that gets much opportunity.)

Despite having my hopes dashed that Ezra would be exactly like Ella who hasn't had a single ear infection since her tubes were put in over 2 years ago...I am hopeful that once his antibiotics kick in he will be back to his normal happy sleeping self again in a day or two.

Doctors Handbook

After several frustrating doctors visits/encounters I thought about some of the things I would include if I were to write a Doctor's Handbook:

• Don't wait several days to call me back
• Even if I am the 100th patient you have seen today...pretend that I am important
• Inform your reception staff that if they are just kind to me I will overlook a lot of flaws
• Put yourself in my shoes
  
• Don't rush me...after all I have been on hold for you for a loooong time
• Don't keep me on hold for a loooong time
• Don't throw insurance surprises on me on the day of my visit
  

What about you? What would you add to this handbook?

Hmmm...I think I feel a series coming on?!

The Oatmeal Incident

I don't know what I was thinking allowing Ezra to feed himself his oatmeal this morning...and then leaving the room for a few minutes...

Memory Monday

We have been dealing with a lot of nighttime fear issues with Ella lately...so her and I will be learning this verse this week.

Zephaniah 3:17

For the Lord your God is with you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Sibling Sunday

We took a walk on the trail around the pond this week and they had the best time together...

My Love

I hacked into my wife's account to write this. I wanted to tell her readers a little more about how incredible this woman is. If you couldn't already tell from her posts. I wanted to give you the other side of the story.

When you read a post from this woman it shows her creativity, compassion, love, commitment, faith, and strength. These things are just evident in the way she writes. These things are just there and hard to miss.

What many of you might not know is that her actions, her attitude, her heart, all say the same thing. You see I am married to this woman who simply steals my breath in a way I cannot fully explain. She is an inspiration to me! She is irresistible, she is irreplaceable, she is amazing in a way that leaves you thinking about her all day. She is beautiful in the mornings, she is gorgeous at night. She is simply radiant.

I lay awake a couple nights ago just watching her sleep and she still radiated as she lay there dreaming. I realized then just how great a woman I was looking at. And I thanked God that this would be the woman who I grow old with, who helps raise our kids, who instills godly, womanly, virtues in the heart of my daughter, and who mother's and encourages my son. What a blessed man am I, how blessed are my children to have her as their mother.

To the woman who makes a difference in so many lives every day, I love you with all that I am. I praise God because in creating a creature like you He revealed how great He is! You are the woman, not of my dreams, but of my life. You have me forever.

with all my heart,
Jeremiah

I love...day four

I love Jeremiah:

• His love of pizza rolls and cheesy 80's tunes.
• The way he plays the drums in the shower.
  
• His mischievous smile that reminds me of a picture of him in kindergarten.
• His love of Volkswagen beetles.
• The way he looks in fairy wings.
  
• The incredible way he takes care of me or the kids when we are sick.
• He is not afraid to ask for directions.
• The way his neck always smells so good.
• The way everything always ends up in a wrestling match with him and Ezra.
• He is not afraid to ride teeny-tiny trains to please his kids =)
• The way he has to have his car seats perfectly aligned...and the coffee table and pictures on the wall.
• His teachable spirit.
• The way he is always coming up with big ideas. Good ideas.
• His near-superhuman strength. You don't want to mess with him =)
  
• The way he is so easily talked into "just one more story" when tucking Ella into bed.

I love...day three

I love Ella:

• The way she only eats the frosting off her cake
• Her impressive imagination
• The way she loves to jump
  
• Her fearlessness
  
• The way she insists on bringing along at least 2 "friends" wherever we go and sleeping with about 200 of them.
• The crazy names she comes up with for all her "friends"
• The way she insists on wearing her princess dresses all the time.
  
• Her fascination with dinosaurs, snakes, and spiders.
  
• The way she rejects all my attempts at pillows and blankets
• Her sparkling green eyes.
• Her discerning and independent nature.
• The way she just makes up crazy words if she doesn't remember the right word for something...for example "crystal" became "prickle" and "shock" became "shi*"...that one was embarrassing!
  
• The way her emotions are so openly displayed on her face...despite her best efforts to hide them from me.

No words necessary...

I love...day two

I love Ezra:

• His slobbery open mouthed kisses that he insists on planting directly on the lips...no cheek kisses for him.
• The way he calls anything that has wheels or makes noise a "car-car".
• His dimples.
• The way he has never met a stranger.
  
• His baby blues.
  
• The way he greets me...whether its getting him up in the morning or when I'm coming in the door...he makes me feel like a million bucks the way he smiles and runs to me.
• His snuggly and affectionate ways.
• The way he frets his sister...and looks so innocent doing it =)

I love...

I saw this idea on a friends blog and thought I'd steal it.

In honor of Valentine's Week (yes, I know it is only a day but why not make a week out of it!) I'll be listing things I love today. Not necessarily the biggies in life...just the small insignificant things that make me happy.

Then each day for the rest of the week I'll be listing some of the things I love about Ella, Ezra, and Jeremiah.

Things I love:

• Kit-Kat bars and a cold glass of milk. Hands down...my favorite dessert.
  
• Hearing an unsolicited thank you from my kids.
• Black yoga pants from Old Navy.
• Planning out my week...I'm not so big on surprises.
  
• Hot coffee.
• Typography...I know, weird...but what can I say, I love a good font!
• Going shopping by myself.
• My kitchen. I have so much storage and counter space I am still in amazement.
  
• The excitement of starting a good book and the satisfaction of finishing it.
• Jumping on the trampoline with Ella.
• Chicken Quesadillas. Hands down...my favorite food.
• Living on the farm.
• Music cranked up so loud you just have to dance =)
• Ikea
• Breakfast. Hands down...my favorite meal of the day.
• My old red Rangers t-shirt. I found it in the .25 bin at Goodwill years ago...but it just fits so perfect...I wish I could find 10 others like it!
  

Now it's your turn.
What is one thing, not necessarily spiritual or "big" that you just love!

Glad that is over!

After a long morning we are home now and Ezra is sleeping off the last of the anesthesia. Everything went fine (except for the throw-up episode on the car ride home...blah) and the surgery was successful...and we are grateful for a healthier and happier little boy!

First sleepover

Ella had her first official sleepover last night with good buds Kerri and Emily. You can see from her face that she was more than a little excited to go =)

I hear the girls were so excited to play that they woke up hours earlier than normal this morning. So, I'm not sure she got much more sleep than if she had gone to the hospital with us...but I am sure she had way more fun!

otitis media

Ezra goes in tomorrow morning (way too early I might add!) to have his ear-tube surgery. After 6 ear infections within 4 months I know it is needed. We've gone thru this before with Ella so I feel like I know what to expect and I know how beneficial it will be for him...but it is still surgery...and no matter how minor...this momma will be glad when are on the other side of it.

Memory Monday

2 Corinthians 4:16

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Its always a scary thing when...

Your daughter wakes you up by telling you that she "only got her feet wet".

(It ended up being just a minor potty accident...but, man...what a way to wake up!)

Alien invasion?

We have these holes showing up in patches all over our yard.
Anyone have any idea what they could be?

2 birds with 1 stone

Here are some pictures from our morning at the park...and you can see their new hair cuts too...














































He was so tired at this point that all he would do was sit in the mulch and watch all the other kids play =)