a template

So this blog has gone REALLY down hill. Thank you all you faithful people who remind me that it is worth doing (even if it is only SOMETIMES worth reading).

And the ironic thing is – the more AMAZINGLY exciting life gets the lamer the blog... and this really should not be.

Also, what should not be is that I forget to tell my closest friends really important stuff like “WE ARE GOING TO HODURAS!!!!!!!” (Just for 8 days).

So I thought what about a “blog template”? I'm gonna give it a whirl. And just so you know, I would love to get a similar reply about each of your lives :).

(Also, just so you know I wrote the template 2 weeks ago and am just now getting around to filling it in - so don't expect too much improvement.)

Life rating:

A – things are great. I am actually freaking out A LOT about several different fronts – but I am recognizing it quickly and repenting of this life sucking behavior on like an hourly basis – so that's an improvement. Oh but the weather rating is an F-.... I would give it an F – if I could.... but apparently the weather has no regard for my ratings or interest in improving itself.

Here I should also mention it was really hard to loose Lynn... my Tia Chia teacher and Heather my running partner, friend, and mother of Jude and Lucy's new friends. I hate it when people move.  I give moving an F.

I should also mention we have a new nephew Michael.  I give new babies an A.

Who is living with us:

Gin – a Chinese guy with a green card who just finished ESL and is taking a physical education class over the summer... but mostly he just plays video games and has a “ma,ma,hu,hu” (so-so) life. We are working on him and are hoping that he comes to visit often (like Kingson) even though he is moving out Sunday. (Sunday, Allen (also Chinese) – a good friend from last year will be moving in).

Alice – a Chinese lady who we also don't see that much of right now because she is helping her two best friends prepare to move. But... we are expecting to enjoy a full year with her.

Khalad – a Saudi Arabian young man, cousin to Saad and Salah (I think the whole country is related really). He is in ESL and will live with us until December when he returns to Saudi to get married.

Sawsan – a Saudi woman who is such a blessing and so much fun. We don't know if she will be with us 3 more weeks or 1 ½ years.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing the students have said or done that week:

Sawsan has really been amazing, surprising us with her willingness to try everything – mud slides at cousins camp, the tube at the lake, 102 degree hot dog roasts at the old fort, learn Monopoly, cleaning the bathroom and scrubbing floors. WAIT a student who loves to clean?? How amazing is that? So no, in general she is not hilarious or horrible – just helpful. Except maybe when she lets Lucy do makeup parties before bed. (oh also I can't take pictures of her as part of her culture so you just have to imagine her... she is beautiful... and I kind of like the whole hajab secret hair thing... Suadi women are so mysterious. Oh and also I bet STINKING miserably HOT. Did I mention it is hot here??

Lucy in her bedtime makeup

How the children are:

Good, I think. I feel as though I don't see them as much. They spend two days with my mom while I work at Bethesda. Last night they spent the night with the Lowerys. They go on trips and spend time with Grandma Joan and Grandpa Bob, they run off with their friends now at the pool, and when they do have time at home they are excited to just go in their room and play with their toys or DO LEMONADE STAND and I try to catch up on two days of work around here. Yes, their father and grandparents built them a high-tech, long lasting lemonade stand, and even after repaying all building and startup costs their profit is over $50. They are in the money. They literally make more per hour than Jarod.

Building the stand in the mancave.

Selling at the Old Fort on the 4th. They should NOT let Lucy do the money.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing my children have said that week:

Oh, let me count the words.... Actually, the best this week probably comes from Lucy getting fired from the Lemonade stand. Maysyn brought Lucy in crying and said Jude had hurt her. This is uncommon for my son so I just told Lucy to go in and rest and then I went out to get the whole story from Jude.

First Lucy had torn the caps off of their “air conditioner” - a mister that Jarod attached to the stand. Water was squirting everywhere. Then she started yelling, “3 for a dollar” when lemonade is 50 cents each. So Jude told her she was fired. (That may have been an over reaction except the day before she had stuck her muddy feet in the ice cooler and filled the cups with grass). She didn't like being fired so she started punching him again and again saying that he “hurt her feelings”. He grabbed her arm and told her to stop and that is when she came inside. She couldn't possibly figure out what she did wrong so I explained it to her and told her just to take a nap. (When it is over 100 I think a nap in a cool room is the solution for almost all parenting issues.)

How work at Bethesda is going:

So here is the thing. My parents are saints. The may screw up some stuff but they are saints, and also Katie – she is a saint. Jarod and I – not so much. I love the guys – I really do – and Jarod does too – but patients isn't our strong suit (ask our children). So basically, to give my parents a break we need to find replacement saints... and they are hard to come by. Thankfully Jarod and I do OK with paperwork, organization, and we can schlep and few hoses, spray some trees, and go to Dr.'s appointments – so we don't need a super QUALIFIED saint – just a regular old saint. To be honest, I don't see any on the horizon so I am thinking God is in the process of “saintifying us” which basically means – MAKING us be patient. Patient when John decides to spray water the garden when it is 102 for the 10^th time. Patient when Randy sneaks out to buy soda for the 100^th time, or even better when he sneak drinks the rotting melted leftover homemade ice cream from a dirty Tupperware AFTER he has eaten out twice, had a huge dessert and bowl of ice cream and a slushy from Sonic – WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY AND SNEAKING FOOD?? Patient after Carl flips out at everyone in the crowded 11 passenger van at 11 p.m. Patient when they rewash clean clothes and don't wash dirty clothes, patient when they take ten hours in the bathroom or forget to go. Or both. Don't ask how – but they can do that. They are just good like that. Patient when they somehow dump a box of pancake mix from the top shelf of a pantry on to EVERYTHING. They can do that too. Patient when they have ten pitchers but still make tea in a bowl and then dump it everywhere when pouring. Patient when they tell complete strangers about tumors they don't have, or good friends that they want to move to Cincinnati just because they are having a bad day. And the list? It goes on... and on... and on... Do you think I should put that in the job description I am posting EVERYWHERE?

I bet Randy snuck and ate whole pie after this.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing my parents or the guys have said that week:

I really think there should be a movie of this place. That's all. I'll do better next week I promise.

How my house and yard are holding up:

They aren't. It's all dirty and dying.  So there. Take that. I am blogging anyway.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing I have thought that week about my house and yard:

I just don't care when it is so FREAKING hot. I don't. Well, I do, but my body doesn't and my body wins. Also, I should drink water... but my body wins and I just drink glass after glass of cold coffee with full cream and vanilla syrup. Why? It tastes better.

1 thing God is teaching me:

Don't freak out. It just isn't helpful. Yes, the Titanic may be sinking... but all I've got is a life boat so I'm just supposed to do this small job and call it good. Also, I am supposed to remind my husband that he also ONLY has a lifeboat. Our lifeboats are called “the 24 hour day”... and they just don't get any bigger.

Also – I should just pray for rain and saints and patients... 'cause I can't make any of those things but I need them BAD. And I can pray while I shlep hoses – it is more productive than cursing them – at least that's what I'm hoping.

Major events past or upcoming that I covet your prayers over:

Yeah, if you could pray for rain, saints, and patients that would be AWESOME. Especially if we could get some BEFORE we leave for Honduras July 17. 

Andrea, did I mention we are going to Honduras July 17th? I should have.... a LONG TIME AGO :)