Fog Delays!

My friends in Bakersfield probably do not care about this blog, but for my friends other places, I must share something that I find very interesting about Bakersfield . . .

Just like those of you in Oklahoma who have children in school have snow delays, we have fog delays. Yes, fog delays. We did have a couple last year, so this is not new information to me, but I never thought much about it last year. I think we only had three total, and they were pretty far apart. And the first two, we did not even know and sent our children to school anyway. After the second time, Jason came home and said his teacher said not to come in. Classrooms are still open because technically it is only a bus delay, but the teachers cannot teach regular curriculum because the students who come late cannot be forced to make up the work, so they have to do something to keep kids busy that has nothing to do with regular classroom learning. We are actually far enough for a bus (but that is funny in itself because we are so close to the school, and the kids have never ridden the bus in the morning), so my kids count in the bus delay. Plus, they do not check attendance until after 10:00, so many people keep their kids home.

Well, this year has been completely different from last year, and I have a new appreciation for fog delays. We have had at least one fog delay each week for the past four or five weeks, and both last week and this week we had two. The fog is crazy. I leave for work at 6:25, and it is unbelievable. I wish I could get above it and take a picture to show you. Some of the mornings I have not been able to see the houses across the street. I have to drive very slowly because I am almost at an intersection before I see the stoplight. I guess I probably should just stay home.

Who knew there was somewhere in the world that delayed school because of fog?

He's sweet, He's ornery!

I think they go hand in hand. I've said before that David is about the most loving child there is, but he is also the most trying in my house!!!! Here are a couple stories!!!

Last night we stopped at Target to let each of the kids choose a Christmas Tree ornament. Everyone was walking around looking for what they wanted. After a few minutes, David walked up to me holding a pretty ornament, but not one that a five year old boy would normally choose. I should put up a picture. He said he wanted that one, so I asked why he chose it, and he said, "Because it was all alone." Apparently, he found it by itself on a shelf where it did not belong. He seemed genuinely sad for the ornament, and he was set on getting it. I was a little nervous because it is glass, but he wanted to carry it, not put it in the cart. So the other three kids continued to walk around looking for their ornaments. They chose Winnie the Pooh and Charlie Brown (Jason has yet to choose.) In the process of waiting, David saw other ornaments that caught his eye, but he continued to hold that other one. At some point, he walked up to me with a sad look and said he changed his mind. I hadn't heard glass shatter, but the way he talked and looked, I was certain he broke the ornament, so I had him show me where it was. With a very sullen face, he walked over to a shelf, sat down and pointed. There was the gold ornament, sitting along again. David looked like he was about to cry. It was evident to Brent and I that he wanted a fun ornament, but was broken hearted about this one being alone. I don't know if this is where he found the ornament to begin with, but I think it may have been. It just about brought me to tears. Needless to say, we came home with the gold ball ornament AND a star wars ornament!!!!

A few minutes ago, I asked David what he wanted for lunch. He said he wanted to make his own. He likes to be so independent because of his brothers. I said he could look in the refrigerator and let me know what he was going to make. He got out the buns and came in asking about pepperonis, which we do not have, so I told him that. He left and went back into the kitchen. A couple minutes later I went in to check on him. I found him sitting on the floor scooping Cool Whip into a bowl! He was prepared to eat Cool Whip for lunch. No more lunch making for David for a while!!!!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I will post some pics of our time in San Diego. We had a nice day with my family, then we enjoyed Wild Animal Park yesterday before returning home!! Now, it is a busy day preparing for tomorrow!

Cutie Patootie!!!

Okay, I really don't know where that saying came from or if I am even spelling Patootie right, but I have a funny story about Sarah!!!

This morning I was brushing her hair and helping her with her teeth, and she was just looking so darn cute! I looked at her and said, "You are such a Cutie Patootie!" She said, "I not a cutie patooo - what you call me?" So I said, "A cutie patootie." She said, "I not a cutie patootie." I said, "Yes you are." She followed with, "No I not, I don't toot!" I held off on the conversation about honesty because I was laughing so hard!!! It's funny what our little sayings bring to the mind of a three year old!! Whatever she says, she is adorable - definitely a cutie, but maybe I will leave off the patootie part next time I am talking to her about it!!!

My Week

I haven't been blogging too much lately - just too much going on. And I realized that my last few posts, with the exception of the seven random things post have been kind of downers. I don't like that because really things are good. And I don't want people not to realize that because the few times that I take a moment to write are moments that I'm not feeling so great. I am making a point to write today because I really feel encouraged. God is amazing! He does amazing things in my life, and it's no good not to mention the good things.

This was a pretty good week. Here are a few of the highlights.

I really am liking my job. The people are super, and I am learning and beginning to understand more, though I do have a long ways to go yet.

Though David has been exceptionally on the hyper side lately, he is doing better academically, at least from my perspective. Letter sounds are starting to mean more to him. He is great at sight words, and his phonics are coming along.

Jason has completely caught up in his reading level. His teacher tested him last week, and he is reading at exactly the right level. I'm not real big on tracking levels because all kids do things at different paces, but this is a big deal when you consider where he is compared to a year ago. We discontinued his tutoring, at least for the time being. Mostly because of scheduling conflicts, but we wouldn't have been able to if he had not made so much progress.

We have continued to have visitors at church, and Brent was very encouraged by this morning's lesson. Most of the people in our church have more than two kids, so the numbers add up quickly. Jill and I had 8 3-6 year olds today and two babies. We had to pull someone to come and give us a hand with the older kids (7-12), and thankfully we had someone who was willing!

I had a nice lunch with my friend Jill yesterday. It's just nice to sit and talk without our kids playing loud or fighting with each other!

Then last night I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with my mom's group. It was nice to chat with friends and eat amazing food!

James went to Acquire the Fire with the youth group this weekend. Kevin took four boys. There were several instances of touched hearts, and one of the boys accepted the Lord for the first time!!!!! We are so excited!

Tomorrow night I start a Bible study with a few ladies from our church. The two ladies who requested we start a Bible study came to our launch service after having not been in church ever or in many, many years.

We had a nice family day to the LA Zoo this week. The kids were out of school for Veteran's Day, so I switched my work schedule so I could have the same day off. We had a nice time.

I'm sure there are many more great things that happened this week, but these are the things that stick out!! I'm ready to see what is in store this week. Hope everyone else had a good week, too.

Seven Random Things About Me

I've been tagged and need to tell seven random things about myself, so here goes.

1. I was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 17 - kind of a rough time to not be able to drive and to mess with medications. There are parts of my senior year of high school that I do not remember because of medication reactions. YUCK! But it all worked out, and I have now been seizure free for almost 10 years.

2. I had two marriage proposals (if you want to call them that - certainly not romantic ones) before Brent, and before I was even 19 years old.

3. At the point of graduation from high school, I really thought I wanted to be a chemist. How in the world did I become a social worker? I can't even answer that, except to say that God knew what He was doing, and somehow I wandered down a path of classes that led me to an internship at DHS, which I loved.

4. I went to 12 or 13 schools before I finished high school. By the time I was through my sophomore year in college, I had lived in Bartlesville longer than anywhere else consecutively. I actually lived in El Paso, Texas, for four years, but not consecutively. And, no, my parents were not in the military.

5. When Brent was trying to propose to me, I caused a fight. It's a good story. For more laughter, you will have to ask him to tell the story rather than me.

6. I absolutely love ice cream, and as silly as it may seem, especially those king size drumsticks - vanilla with chocolate swirls.

7. I do not like to cook. Actually, I guess I don't mind cooking, but the whole process from start to finish drives me crazy, especially when it only takes a few short minutes to eat.

Okay, I tag Courtney, Kylee Colaw, and Vickie

Lots of New Things

For those of you who do not know, I have been looking and looking for a job for several months. It kept seeming that doors would open and then slam shut. Well, last week I finally started a job. And it is completely new to me. I am working for Chevron with the title of engineering assistant. I wish I could tell you more of what that means, but basically, I just do whatever I am told. So far it has consisted of data entry and printing a lot of maps. The job just fell into place. I have a friend here, and her mother was looking to hire someone, and I was the person she decided to hire. I knew her mother some, from going to different family events. She is very nice and great to work for. All of the people in my office are very nice . . . and very patient with me as I learn! Also, my boss is from Bartlesville originally, though she has been in Bakersfield since she was about five years old. Kind of fun!!! I am working three days a week, and they are flexible. Normally I am working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 7:00 to 4:00. I love getting off work early, but the mornings are just about to kill me!!! I am absolutely not a morning person. However, I am so thankful for God's provision.

It has been a rough week, though. To start things off, on Wednesday, we locked ourselves completely out of our house. Later that evening, we found out something one of our kids did that was incredibly shocking and disappointing - don't want to get into the details, but we have dealt with it much of the rest of the week. I don't want anyone to worry, everyone is fine, but there were some tough lessons to learn and probably to still be learned. I am mostly not saying anything because it would not please the child who made the mistake. Then, on Thursday night, Sarah cut her own hair. While she did a nice job overall, she has bangs, which just makes me sad. I have worked hard to keep her from having bangs. Then on Friday, we got a phone call from the fraud department of our credit card company verifying some charges. Our card number had been stolen, and several charges were made. One, in particular, was a charge of over $600.00 to a florist. I'm glad the fraud department caught it and that we don't have to pay it, so really it was not that big of a deal, but still a bummer.

While most of this is little, add it all to the busyness in our lives and the stress of church planting, and it was a hard week. I spent a lot of time wondering what we are doing and having a lot of doubts. Why are we here? Why did God choose us to do this? Is this really what He wants us to do?

As I was trying to pray on Wednesday evening, my mind kept wandering, and I was frustrated. However, it did wander to Scripture, I kept thinking of Isaiah 40:31, which says, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary, and they shall walk and not faint." In another version, the word "wait" is "hope". The word "hope" means to trust in or look expectantly to. This caused me to look inward and consider, "What am I trusting in? What am I eagerly awaiting?" I have to keep my eyes on what is truly important and not lose sight of the one who gives me strength, who gives me endurance to run this race. I think my focus was on the wrong thing for several days, and this isn't the first time. I have got to constantly refocus on Jesus.

I really sensed God's presence as we dealt with stuff with our kids this week. No, we definitely did not do things perfectly. There were several times when voices were elevated and tempers were lost, but God gave us wisdom, and He put people in our lives to help us as we treaded on new territory, dealing with brand new issues. Parenting grows us as much as it grows the kids, in wisdom, in humility and in reliance on the Lord.

We ended the week on a good note, with a nice family night out to Chipotle (My Bartlesville friends - you really, really need one of these there!!!) and then bowling. And since we had the little kids, we bumper bowled, which is always nicer on the scoreboard!!! It was a nice Friday evening, and I am thankful for my family and thankful for the God that I serve and for His Word, which grants us wisdom and a better understand of who He is.

Back in Time

I have seen so many amazing friends over the last 3 days, and I have enjoyed all of my time with each of them. Last night I was visiting with some of my old friends from Bartlesville! We were reminiscing about old times in college and beyond and just enjoying some good laughs. It was wonderful! While I am grateful for my new friends and relationships in Bakersfield, I really miss my friends here! It is stressful to come back for several reasons, but I think the biggest is that it reminds me of what I am missing. I can put it out of my mind when I am gone and busy. While I cannot imagine ever moving back, I really miss a lot of people.

Just driving around town takes me back through the past 17 years of my life - different memories pop into my mind as I pass different locations while driving down the road - from different places that Brent and I went when we were dating to old places of employment and old friends and fun memories I have with my kids. I think about all of it and remember so many good times. Mixed in with all of that were tough times, too, but I don't seem to remember those as much. I guess that is good.

Tonight I also heard some news that is still just making my stomach hurt. Things change so much in so little time. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to when things were simpler. I doubt back then they seemed simple, but right now my memories are simple. I remember life being slower and people being happier. I wonder in ten years if I will look back and see things that I am experiencing now differently than how I feel right now as I go through life. I wish I could take people back with me and remind them of what things looked like back then - marriages, friendships, work relationships. Change is good (although not all change), but change is also hard. Sometimes I wish some things didn't have to change so much.

And yet I know God allows change to grow us and to prepare us to do His work, so I know I must accept it and not dwell on what used to be.