Thursday, January 28, 2010

Carrying The Flag

At AWANA's, in Opening Ceremonies, they select clubbers to carry the flags. The AWANA program in Oregon had the T&T students carry the flags (didn't have the smaller flags), so Emma has been waiting since she was in Kindergarten to carry one. She was so excited to have the opportunity this week. As you can see the Sparky's get to carry the small flags; we missed Madi's turn, but you can see Madi in the shadow of Emma's flag in the second picture (click on the picture to enlarge to see Madi better).








Note: AWANA is a Christian Club where children memorize scripture, play games, and learn more about Jesus. To learn more about the AWANA program go to www.awana.org

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

My Grandpa

My parents called me last Friday to let me know that Grandpa (Dad's side) is in the hospital; he is having trouble breathing. Of course they haven't figured out why. We called and talked to him on Friday and Sunday. He enjoyed hearing the girls, although we didn't talk long, because of his breathing. Please pray that the doctors would be able to find out what is causing his lack of breath and would be able to fix the problem. Grandpa will be 92 yrs. in July. He is all in all healthy and walks every day.
This picture was taken in October when I went with my parents to Arizona.





Update: A couple of hours after I posted this post, my mom called to let me know that Grandpa is home and doing better. Thank you for all your prayers.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

PictoChatting

Last week Emma's class had a Wii party for earning marbles for good behavior. The students were able to bring their Nintendo DS systems, so the students could keep busy while waiting for a turn to play the Wii. Emma was introduced to PictoChatting. The girls have communicated while playing the same game before, but never PictoChatting. Chris walked by Madi's room and noticed that they were sitting right next to each other, PictoChatting. How cute is that? This will be a good thing for them to know for situations where they can't be talking, like tomorrow night's church meeting. Let's just hope I don't catch them chatting at night after they go to bed (smile). For those that want to learn more about PictoChatting, here is what Wikipedia had to say about it:

"PictoChat is a communication utility included with the Nintendo DS. Up to sixteen people can paint chat with each other using it, connected wirelessly through a system-to-system wireless connection. It allows for simple input of keyboard text and written text/drawings. On October 22, 2007, PictoChat was announced as a stage for Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii."

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Sunday Mornings

I don't know if anyone can relate, but Sunday mornings can be crazy for us. I know the evil one would love to mess with anyone who is trying to go to church to grow their faith and fellowship with other believers. Usually we are running late, someone's grouchy, and/or can't find a shoe, etc.. The last two Sundays it has been more then that.

Two Sunday's ago, Chris left before the girls and I had gotten up, so the girls and I got ready for church and were actually leaving on time. We got in the car, buckled up, turned the car on, but couldn't get the brake off! Chris had thoughtfully defrosted my car before he left for church. When he turned the car on, he pulled the brake up more, because our car is known to roll down slanted driveways with the car in neutral. I tried many times, I even went on the passenger side so I could use my left hand (my dominant hand)... nothing. Emma thought she could do it, so I thought, sure why not... nothing.

I then went to two neighbor's houses, but no one answered their doors. We went back in the house, girls crying to the thought of not going to Sunday School. I called Chris to let him know what was going on. Called one more person to see if they could pick us up on the way to church (or fix our brake)... unfortunately they were sick. I called Chris back to let him know that I would possibly try our neighbors again later. He told me that Paul, a worship team member, said to lift the brake up and hit it with a book. I smiled, thinking how simple and funny that would be. Believe it or not, it worked! Instead of being late to Sunday School, I 'll just say we were early for church service. I now always have a book in the car and have already had to use it when I got my oil changed. Paul is brilliant!

Last Sunday, again, Chris left before we got up. As I was fixing Emma's hair that morning, the power went off. I quickly stopped doing Emma's hair and tried to fix mine before the flat iron cooled down, but that didn't work well. We hadn't eaten breakfast yet, which was a problem because we now couldn't make our oatmeal. I found crumbs of corn flakes for the girls (gave them peanut butter too). I had a glass of milk and peanut butter. Now running a few minutes late, with slightly done hair, we headed out the door. But couldn't find my keys! I went out to the car knowing that I had brought my keys last night and possibly left them in the car... Yep, there they were sitting in the cup holder.

I had brought my keys last night so Chris could use them since they are key less entry and his are not. He had already started the car with his keys, so I held mine in my hand. He drove into a pot hole which scared me. As I jumped, my keys went flying out of my hand, across Chris' face landing at his feet. He picked them up and we set them in the cup holder. And of course, I didn't pick them up and put them in my purse. So there they were sitting in the cup holder just staring at me....

I reluctantly went back in the house to inform the girls that the keys are indeed in the car. With tears in the girl's eyes, I called Chris to let him know. He said he would come and drop off the keys during Sunday School. Judy, a worship team member, heard of the situation and volunteered to run the keys to us. What a blessing; Chris is usually busy at church. We were able to finish our hair while we were waiting for the keys, for the power came back on. We did miss Sunday School, but were able to attend service and children's church. I am praying that this week is a smooth one.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Weird

The other night the girls and I were driving home from our Wednesday church night. We came to a stop light and I started to slow down and stop. I heard a honk. While I was wondering where it came from the car in front of me started to back up towards me. I know it wasn't a log truck backing up, attempting to kill me, but still was scary. He stopped before he got close enough I needed to lay on my horn. Thankfully since the accident where the log truck backed into me, I keep my distance from all vehicles (see April 30, 2009 blog titled: Car Accident in June 2008). Then the man in front of him got out of his car. It looked like he had a gun in his hand. Non the less, he had an object pointing down to the ground. He turned towards the car in between us (the one that backed up towards me). Then he turned around and got back in his car. While this was happening the girls noticed and asked what the person was doing out of his car. As I was wide eyed looking at the two cars, heart beating fast, I said, "I don't know" and left it at that. A few seconds after he got back in his car, the light turned green and off we went. I stayed back away from both vehicles as I drove home. I soon lost sight of the two vehicles, but my heart was still beating rapidly all the way home. What a weird incident. I will never know what the whole story was and what was really in that man's hand. Weird.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Madi's New Thing

Before I tell you Madi's new favorite thing to do when we go outside, I want to say, "Happy New Year!" Okay, Madi's new thing is she kicks the icicles off our cars. When we are getting in the car, I look for where she is and sure enough, she is going around the car and kicking more icicles (or snow chunks) off the car. It's humorous to me that she gets a kick (joke attended) out of it. I never remember seeing icicles hanging off cars before I moved to Utah; it is rare to see a vehicle without them. Since we are talking about icicles, I wanted to include this picture of some of the icicles hanging off our gutter. Since we live in an ice box, we have icicles everywhere. Click on the picture to see them clearer.