So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen - For Now...

OK, So here’s the deal. For the last week and a half I have been planning on writing about some of the exciting “firsts” that have been happening with Timothy. It started with his first steps on 10/2 (finally! though he still strongly prefers crawling), his first hour left with “babysitters” (Lowell’s parents – we went to Taco Bell and OSH. Woohoo!) and our first post-placement visit with our social worker (where Timothy decided to show off and walk farther than he had ever walked before.) Since then the list has gotten even longer… we’ve experienced his first trip to the fair, first trip to the Dr., first cold days… and some other things I can’t remember. I’ve also thought about some profound things regarding adoption, my spiritual walk right now, life in general and who knows what else that I wanted to blog about. BUT have you gotten to read about any of these things????? Have I actually written about any of these things (before now)????? Unfortunately the answer is NO. Today I even thought of some ridiculous ways to tell you what I’m about to tell you: The BLOG is taking another vacation! I thought about writing a letter to the blog (“It’s not you, it’s me. And yes, there is someone else and his name is Timothy.”) but, well, that was just weird. And I KNOW that I had another silly idea, but I can’t even remember what it was – even though it was being thought about less than 6 hours ago. (Another reason I haven’t been blogging… I think of things when I’m not at the computer and then when I’m at the computer can’t remember what they were.) It’s bugging me that I keep thinking of things I want to write about and keep not finding the time to write. K All of the extra time I used to use to blog has disappeared into the black hole called “I have 3 children now.” BUT, ever an optimist, I am determined not to abandon my beloved blog and handful of devoted readers forever. J I am hoping to be back, full of insight and stories in a few weeks. Sometime in November maybe? I was thinking of taking the month of October off, but realized today that October is already almost halfway over. (Huh???) So maybe it will be until Thanksgiving – because you know there isn’t going to be much going on after that and I always (HAHAHAHA!!!) have Mikaela’s birthday preparations, our Christmas shopping, family newsletter and baking done by Thanksgiving. (Yeah…. that’s the optimist in denial.) So December should be the perfect time to start blogging again. J Well, whatever happens, for now I need to stop being frustrated for not writing and just set it aside for a few weeks. This season is so new to me. Not only do I have another child that I’m still getting to know and learning to love, but for the first time in 2 and a half YEARS I do not have “The Adoption” to be obsessing about and procrastinating about and preparing for. It feels very strange. It’s been on my To-Do list for so long, I’m wondering now what’s going to fill the space (besides diapers and nap-resistance.) I know God is doing some new stuff in my heart and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you after I’ve had a bit more time to listen to Him (without thinking about the blog.) Feel free to comment away – they’ll still end up in my inbox. Love you all and see you soon!!!!! Love, Melissa

Finally, Flying, Fish, Fathers & Fruit

Well, I don't have a real thought-provoking post for you this week...  Just some random thoughts that I managed to make all start with the letter F.

 

Finally, Mikaela is done with First grade!!!  We are happy and I am amazed at how much we have both grown this year.  Perhaps more reflection on that will be coming, but for now I'll just say I'm grateful for how it ended and that vacation is here!!!

 

Flying airplanes doing stunts and leaving swirling smoke trails were fun to watch at the annual Father's Day weekend airshow Saturday morning here in town. It was lots of Fun!  Sorry...  I'm not going to take the time to post a picture right now so you'll have to use your imagination.  (Sun, airplanes, beach chairs, umbrellas, sun, exhibits, more sun, more airplanes...  you get the picture!)

 

Fish were friends, not food (except for the Goldfish crackers and gummy-fish) at my niece's birthday party on Saturday evening.  Bailey turned 2 and her parents put on quite the Fabulous party.  Toby finally (after watching kids much younger for at least an hour) got up the nerve to go down the inflatable waterslide and there was no stopping him after that.  Hooray!

 

Father's Day weekend was special.  For maybe the first time in a long while, I got to see all 3 of my dads (Dad, Step-Dad, Father-in-law) on Father's Day weekend.  And we also celebrated my favorite father of all...  the father of my kids!  (Well, God's really my favorite Father...  but you know what I mean!)  I love each one of you men so much!!!

 

And...

 

Fruit!!!  Not just eating it...  but learning about it!  This summer, God gave me the idea to teach Mikaela and Toby about the Fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) and we're very excited about it. There are nine "fruits" (though I think they're really aspects of the same Fruit?) listed in that passage and we have exactly nine weeks of vacation, so we're going to talk about one each week.  I'm excited as I know that kids will learn a lot and I will too...  And maybe we'll all be showing some spiritual fruit by the end of our study as well.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

 

: )  Have a Fabulous week Friends!!!

 

J, Melissa

Who Me? Distracted???

OK, sorry everyone!  This is just a quick note to tell you why I haven't been blogging much recently.  First of all, my hubby, kids and I went to the coast last weekend.  We had a wonderful time and I'm hoping to share some pictures from our trip in a few days.  But the other reason I haven't done much blogging is that I've found another internet distraction!  (Please don't feel betrayed...)  J

 

It turns out that our adoption agency has a web forum where families from the different country programs can "talk" to each other (post topics and replies) and it has been amazing how much it has made our adoption feel more real to me.  I get to see pictures of other kids and hear from people who are travelling right now to meet their children or will be soon as well as families who are just starting the process (which reminds me how far we've come!)  They are a wonderfully supportive group of people and I love them already!  You can take a look at it if you'd like, too.

 

So anyway, I just wanted to let you know I'm not gone forever...  just distracted!  (I know, that's so strange!)  But I have lots to tell you about (surprise, surprise) and hopefully will get around to it soon!

 

Y, Melissa

 

---

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:17b-19

What's in my head right now...

Planning for our church's Mother and Daughter brunch next Saturday... 

 

Deciding whether it will be best for Toby to start or not start kindergarten next year...  (don't even get me started.  I have obsessed about this way too much!!!)

 

Discovering places online where families who are adopting or have adopted through our agency can post questions and answers for each other...

 

Reading blogs by families who have adopted or will be adopting soon from Thailand...  (Which is where, in case you're interested, I found a link to this article in the Bangkok Post about foster families (with the Sahathai foundation) like the one caring for Kamin.)

 

Realizing school is going to be out in less than 6 weeks!   Wow!!!  I'm quite excited about that...  J

 

Wondering how my relationship with God is right now and if I'll ever be up early in the mornings to pray consistently again...  but trusting Him to help me stay close.

 

Wondering how I'll do on housekeeping this week while I'm getting ready for the brunch Saturday and if I'll get enough other people to help (I already have a lot) or if I'll still try to do too much by myself because I'm not good at gauging how much I can really do in any particular amount of time...

 

Thinking I need to work on our taxes (we filed an extension again this year) because I want them to be done before I completely forget the year 2007.

 

Trying to take life one day at a time and enjoy the special moments God gives us because they really are treasures and (I think) meant to strengthen us for the journey...  (I'll tell you more next weekend about my thoughts on this because I'm talking about it at the brunch.  You can pray that God will speak to all of us and that we will hear Him!!!  Thank you!!!)

 

May your week be filled with truth, peace, hope, strength and courage as You walk with Jesus one step at a time...

 

Y, Melissa

Mom-Ease

Grammar, schmammar. Being a mom for over 7 years has done something strange to my methods of communication. Now, like every mom I've every known, I say a lot of the same things over and over. Getting children to get up, get dressed, get out the door and get to bed requires a lot of communicational encouragement, shall we say! But what's funny is that lately, I've noticed that I'm not speaking in complete sentences to my kids anymore. And I'm not even just giving orders like "Stop!" or "Go!" that in the English language are acceptable for grammatical reasons that you probably don't care about. Instead I'm barking at them things like "Toby, seatbelt!" and "Hey you! Teeth! Now!" So in case you're ever around when it appears that I'm teaching an English vocabulary lesson to my children, let me explain to you what my kids know I really mean:

"Shoes!" = Hurry up and get your shoes on because I've already told you that we are late and need to leave NOW! "Seatbelt!" = Put your seatbelt on and stop playing in the backseat because I've already told you that we are late, etc. (See "Shoes!") "Homework!" = Please, PLEASE, let's get your homework done now so that we don't have to finish it in the morning while you're spilling cereal on it! "Teeth!" = Brush your teeth and stop playing with the toothpaste and the water because it's time for bed and if I don't say goodnight and goodbye (and I love you!) to you soon I just might completely lose my mind! "Pajamas!" = Get your pajamas on now because I'm even closer to losing my mind than I was when we were brushing your teeth!

Does anybody else out there do this??? Parenting... It's an art, you know!!! : ) Have a great week everyone!!! Love, Melissa

Excuse me... I have an announcement to make.

(Drumroll please...)

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

I am pleased to announce to you all that, after much procrastinating and avoidance of the finest kind, Lowell and I officially and finally finished and filed our taxes tonight!  (What???  Were you expecting something more exciting?)  And we even figured out that since taxes were due on April 17 this year (I can't remember why) our 6 month extension was good until Oct. 17 so we are actually 3 days early!  (So very sad, I know.  Especially considering we are getting a rebate.)

 

So, I just want all of you who care to know that hopefully I will be returning to the normal blogging schedule tomorrow (whatever that is.)

 

And if you don't care...  well, you know anyway.  : )

 

G'Night!

Hey! Guess What?

I'm in Portland, OR! Lowell actually flew up here yesterday and I joined him today--a couple of hours ago, actually. Lowell is attending a conference about cleaning up contaminated land (called "Brownfields") and I'm along just for the fun of it. We're going tomorrow to see our friends Sam & Melinda Kyllo who live not toooo far away and then we're going home Saturday. And I have another couple hours yet today and several more tomorrow morning ALL TO MYSELF!!! So you might be hearing from me again before we leave here tomorrow, since I have, you know... TIME! It was so very strange today to travel without any family or friends. I sat next to another woman and though we exchanged a couple of comments while we waited for the military jets to land so we could take off, we didn't have even what I would call half a conversation, really. And I kept thinking I had to be forgetting something or someone since I wasn't carrying anyone or their backpack or holding any hands or turning around every 3 seconds to see where the kids were or what they were doing. And I felt so anonymous. To think nobody around me knew if I had kids or a husband or a church or a job. It was very strange. I actually wrote a whole lot more here, but lost it when the connection disappeared. Bummer!!! But Lowell's back from his meeting now so I'm not going to take another 20 minutes to redo it. You'll just have to make up your own ending for this post. And maybe I'll tell you tomorrow what it actually said. : ) It was the best blogging I've ever done, I tell you! Have a nice day everyone!

I'm Tired!

Well, I don't have much to say at the moment because I'm tired.  Thursday afternoon, my sister and bro-in-law dropped off their 5 kids (ages 1, 3, 5, almost 7 and 8) here on their way out of town.  The youngest 2  spent the nights with my parents but all day yesterday here.  So for the day yesterday I had 6 (when Mik was at school) or 7 kids to take care of.  Thankfully they all get along well and it was very fun. 

 

But now I'm back to taking care of my 2.  And I'm tired.  : )  But I have a whole new appreciation for the fact that my kids sleep in until at least 7 in the morning!!!  : )  And I still don't know how my sister does what she does...  but that's nothing new!  : )

 

I'll leave you with a verse I read yesterday that sums up so much in so few words.  May God help you to...

 

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men [and women] of courage; be strong.  Do everything in love." 

(I Corinthians 16:13-14)

 

Amen!

Me and My Big Mouth

Hi Friends! I haven't been blogging as much lately, but thankfully not just because of Blogger's Block and worrying about what people looking at my blog for the first time will think. (So far I don't think there's been anybody visiting it other than all of you regular faithful... uh... Readers o' my Blog anyway. Phew! Pressure's off!) We DID finally get our actual copy of the Christian Leader this week. It's fun to see what I wrote in there and funny that at least one friend of mine was reading it thinking "Hmm... this lady is saying a lot of the same stuff Melissa was talking about..." realizing at the end that it was in fact me again. I've been busy these last couple of weeks. I'm working on a project for a friend and I'm actually getting paid real money for it! Amazing! And I'm playing around with another business idea that I'll tell you more about one of these days. So in addition to normal life stuff I have some new things to do. It's really nice to have some other stuff to think about, but definitely leaves me with less time to blog. I'm also going to have some opportunities soon to share some of my music at church! : ) I'm very excited about it (and a little nervous, of course!) I'm praying for more opportunities to sing and share because I feel like God has done so incredibly much for me and everyone needs to be encouraged in this life... I've been reading in 1 Corinthians about the body of Christ and thinking that if God made me to be a mouth, I'd better not keep quiet. (Oh, the FUN (at my expense) my family would have with that comment!!!!!) But it's true. And I can't sing my songs without talking about what they mean and where they came from and how I hope they encourage or bless others or God. At church last week God was challenging me to start asking Him for opportunities to share because that's the dream He's given me. I want so badly to tell people (mostly women) about how good He is and about the FREEDOM He offers and longs for us to experience in this life if we will let Him untangle the lies our hearts are holding on to... So anyway, I'm grateful that next month I'll likely have a couple of chances to do that. Yay! (Are you brave enough to ask Him to make the dreams He's given You come true???)

I don't know what to say.

Well, I'm sitting here thinking I should write something on my blog because it's been a couple of days, but I'm suffering from a bit of Blogger's Block.  I think it's because the article I wrote for the Christian Leader has (as far as I know) been printed and is on its way to coffee tables all over the continent maybe even as I type.  And at the end of the article it mentions my blogsite (in the bio info.)  And Lowell thinks that people will read the article and check out my blog.  Hence the Blogger's Block!

 

I don't really expect tons of people to look at it, but nonetheless, it's a bit scary to think about.  I was quite comfortable sharing my thoughts (silly or serious) with the handful of friends and family I know read it and even random strangers from around the world who occasionally find it through comments I've left on other blogs.  But this is different!  I don't have the fabulous Connie Faber editing my writing here and what I blog about is just off-the-top-of-my-head stuff, not carefully outlined, organized, drafted, editted for hours and finalized.  Augh! 

 

Well, I expect that mostly people who already know my husband or me (but didn't know I had a blog and want to know what's going on in our lives these days) will be the ones who maybe look it up.  (If you are one of those people, let me know!  Leave a comment!)  I sincerely hope that CL readers who don't like what I wrote won't come just to leave me grumpy comments because that would make me very sad.  : )

 

So, I'll just get over my self-consciousness (cuz, you know, it's that easy. hah!) and keep doing what I'm doing and pray that if God wants anyone to look at it they will and if he wants them to come back that they will and that whatever He wants me to write, I will.  Because whatever He wants is what I want most of all.

 

And just in case anyone reads my blog who doesn't know me or Lowell already, I'm going to post (maybe tomorrow?) a blog version of my Mennonite lineage and who I'm related to and who my husband is related to because you never know...  we might be connected after all.  J

 

Have a great Monday everyone!

J  ~Melissa

The New and Improved (not really) Honeybee Blog!

Don't worry...  only the name has changed!  As you can see everything else is, well, almost exactly the same.  I thought of the new name the other day and liked it, thinking it's a bit more ummm...  casual? and English?  than the old name (La Miel de Melissa), which was pretty if you knew how to read it in Spanish, but probably not so pretty otherwise.  And like I said way back when I started this blog, it sounded more sophisticated than I really am.  J  But I kept the old name anyway because of what it meant.  Like I explained here, my name means "Honeybee" and it's become quite significant to me this year.  So I hope you don't mind the name change and that you keep coming back to see what this Honeybee is buzzing about.   J

 

Sleepy Slow Saturday

I just want to clear up some myths that are still floating around. 

• The tooth fairy and Santa Claus aren't real.
• You CAN go swimming right after you eat (or even while you are eating if you're really coordinated).
• I DO NOT really have time to maintain a blog.

You see, some people mistakenly are amazed that I have a blog because they don't know how I could have the time because they don't have time for such an exciting literary hobby.  Let me explain.  It's really because when I entered into college at the illustrious Fresno Pacific University, I quickly got my Professional Procrastinator's license and I am hard at work maintaining it to this day.  Right now, for example, I am accruing Professional Procrastinator Development units by avoiding the dishes in the kitchen that need to be taken care of and by not working on our taxes.

 

Seriously though, I do most of my writing after my kids are in bed (or sometimes on a Saturday morning like this.)  Except for trying hard to get the dishes done every night, I've quit pushing myself to keep working on the house or laundry or whatever until I am exhausted and it's time for bed.  I've discovered that I am more motivated to get things done in the morning if I have given myself a break at night for a least a while.  (I don't know if I actually get more done or not, but at least I'm not so grumpy.) And I happen to love the whole blogging thing.  It's been fun and it's neat to know that there is a small group of people out there who enjoy reading my blog and knowing too much about my life. 

 

I have lived a couple of hours away from my dad since I was 4 and though we've always been in contact, he knows more than ever about me now because from the very beginning of my blogging several months ago he has been one of my most faithful readers.   (That alone would have made having this blog worth it!J) Just recently my stepdad has started printing out my blog (including old posts) for my technologically-challenged mom, so they're reading it now, too.  Oddly enough, they (along with some of my siblings) are getting a glimpse of sides of me that mostly my friends and maybe church have seen up to now.  It was a little scary when I first started this to tell them all about it...  maybe because I still care too much about what they think.

 

Well, I think it's time to get to work.  (See?  Now I'm more motivated to do something!)  QUICK UPDATES:  Our bedroom floor is done except for the closet and baseboards.  You can expect an extremely exciting post chronicling it all soon.  I hope!  J  AND I think my article is coming out very soon in the Christian Leader magazine.  (I'm wondering if I'll get to see it before my in-laws do b/c they always get their copy in the mail before we do.)  I'll post it (or a link to it) here, too, in case you don't get the magazine.  AND our dossier (adoption papers) are almost totally done and ready to be sent to Thailand.  Amazing!!!

 

Thanks so much for reading, everyone.  Have a great weekend!!!

A Bit Mixed Up

I knew this was going to happen.  I feel sort of as if my life/routines are puzzle pieces that I had gotten into a nice picture and now the whole thing got dropped on the floor or somehow has been all mixed up and when I put the pieces back together this time it's going to make a different picture, so I can't just try to put them back where they were.  How/where I'm serving at church right now is changing, our house is (hopefully) changing soon, our adoption process is in transition (from work, work, work, to wait, wait, wait).    It's happening to my spiritual life right now, too.  Everything feels out of place and unsettled—my journaling, my prayer time, Bible study, worship, intercession…  Even stuff as simple as when to take a shower isn't the same as it was a week ago or last year.  But I know that if I give things time, we'll settle into a new routine.

 

I have to be patient.  

 

I am so thankful that it's really only the details that are changing.  The foundational pieces of my life are still the same:  my family and my God.  And as long as God doesn't change, I know I'll be alright.  J

Happy Birthday Toby! and some other ramblings

This is partly an experiment to see if I can post something via email WITH a picture!  (Did you know I can send an email to my blog and it will automatically be posted?  Hmmm....  I wonder if other people could do that too.  I'd better keep the email address a secret so you all don't start posting unauthorized stuff on my blog.  Cuz you just might do that...)  Ummm...  where was I?

 

Today is Toby's birthday and he's 4 and we're partly celebrating tonight with the local grandparents and tomorrow with the pinata and coolest cake I've ever made (you'll have to wait to see pictures of it when we get home) (because I know you really want to!) at the campground with all our friends.  It will be memorable I hope and fun even if tricky to get the (really cool!) cake there. 

 

Which reminds me that I left the family room a few minutes ago saying I needed to go pack.  And I ended up here, of course.  This will probably be the last post until after we get home Sunday.  (Unless I'm all packed up early and have time in the morning with nothing to do.  HA!)  And for those who are wondering, my appt. this morning with my new Dr. went well.  He said I do seem to have many indicators for ADD and he wasn't suprised I was there (looking for help.)  I go back a couple more times for some testing and then we'll see what happens after that.

 

Have a great week everyone!  While we're in Morro Bay camping I'll be thinking about stories to tell you.  Now I really do need to go pack so I don't repeat the packing disaster before our Hume trip.  Because we're leaving in 18 hours and have a birthday to celebrate tonight yet and I really need to stop procrastinating.  NOW.

 

OK.  Bye.  : )

Time Warp

I have this wierd feeling again...  like I used to get around the end of each semester in college when I knew that finals week was coming and I wasn't ready with all of my papers or hadn't read the text books yet for the tests.  One of my nicknames back then was The Pro-Krause-tinator.  (My last name was Krause back then) and unfortunately I haven't completely kicked the habit.

 

When we went camping a couple weeks ago I was panicking at the last hours before leaving because I wasn't packed yet, even though I had been sure I wasn't running behind.  This is part of what's feeding my current state of pre-panic syndrome.  We're going camping again on August 2.  And I have a magazine article to finish editing, adoption immigration paperwork to file, a day-trip to Bakersfield, Toby's birthday and a psychologist appointment all between now and Aug. 2.  That's not to mention all the normal things like cleaning the house, church stuff, paying bills and feeding and clothing my family (with CLEAN clothes being the issue here) that are for me a challenge anyway.  And I REALLY don't want a repeat performance of my last camping packing job because it left me with ONE pair of tennis shoes for the whole trip, no toothbrush for Toby and not quite enough food (we bought a toothbrush and more food at the general store at the lake) and barely enough blankets--not to mention the frazzledness!

 

So I'm determined to do a better job this time, even though I have all these other things distracting me.  By the way, one of the reasons this is all so hard for me, I believe, is the ADD issue.  Dr. Amen has done some amazing brain studies that show people with ADD.  What happens is when they try to concentrate, the bloodflow to their pre-frontal cortex decreases dramatically.  That's the part of your brain you NEED when you're trying to think and prioritize and concentrate and figure stuff out!  It feels very often like I can think great when I'm relaxed, but as pressure starts to build, I stop being able to think clearly.  I feel like my brain is wandering around not quite sure where to start b/c everything looks sort of overwhelming and like it all needs to be done at once.  Then as the deadline gets really close, the last minute panic sets in.  THIS finally is what releases stuff like adrenalin that STIMULATES the pre-frontal cortex so I and others like me can finally think again!  : )  Do you understand now why I procrastinate???  There's more to it, but that's one piece of the story anyway.

 

I know, it's sort of hard to believe and understand if you don't suffer from it, but it's how I seem to work.  Another thing I've learned that makes it hard for me is my "job".  There isn't a whole lot of structure to my day and that makes it even harder to know where to start.  I'm not very good at structuring myself either...  never have been.  : )  Anyway, this is why I'm going to the psychologist on Aug. 1.  I'm going to finally get assessed by a professional (he's a Christian, by the way) to see if I really officially have ADD or not and to determine what to do about it.  I figure at this point I don't really have much to lose and if it could make this part of my life easier, I'm really ready to look into it.

 

If I don't post much in the next week or so, it's because I'm either working really hard or running around in circles like a chicken without a head (which brings up another great Bakersfield memory...  but I'll spare you that one.)  : )

 

Have a great week!

Confessions of a Blogger

That sounds so dramatic. Don't worry, this isn't going to be that exciting. : ) I just figure that since I actually have people reading my blog I should give you all something to read! : ) So here are some things I just need to let you know because even if I cheat when I'm playing a game I always admit it right afterward because I'm just like that. Here goes! Confession #1 - I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE! Scary, huh? (But I don't really know who you are. So don't worry too much.) You see that little box down on the left side of my blog that says "sitemeter"? Well, it means the sitemeter people are tracking how many people are visiting my blog. The first time I clicked on that box on somebody else's blog I was quite disturbed to see their sitemeter page with a little map on it with a red dot on Fresno CA and if I moved my cursor to the red dot it said "comcast.net" which is my internet provider. Just a little freaky, people. I set up an account with them (after I got over the freaky part of it) so I could find out if anyone was reading my blog or not because if I don't get any comments I don't know if anyone is visiting my blog unless they tell me. And if nobody's coming, I might keep writing, but then again, I might not. Anyway, I have my sitemeter thing set so that nobody else can see my stats, but I at least know that there are a handful of you out there reading this. Someday you'll have to let me know why. : ) And I felt like I should let you know. Confession #2 - I HAVEN'T TOUCHED THE PUZZLE ALL WEEK. My husband would say that means I lied. I prefer to think of it as meaning I didn't keep my word which is different than intending to deceive you, but still not good. (Not that you are really going to be upset because I haven't done a puzzle, but still!) So I have decided I'm not going make commitments to "you" anymore because I don't seem to feel the same sense of accountability to "you" as I do to "real people" (not because you're not "real", but because I don't really know who most of you are.) : ) But by saying I'm not making any more commitments to you, I'm sort of making a commitment to you. SIGH. Confession #3 - MY KITCHEN IS A BIG MESS AND MY SON JUST TOLD MY DAUGHTER HE IS PREGNANT. Apparantly I need to stop blogging and tend to my motherly duties before things really get out of control around here. Bye for now!

25 Years Later...

And I've almost completely forgotten where half the states in our blessed country are!Yesterday at a yard sale across the street I bought a US (including Hawaii, Alaska AND Puerto Rico) puzzle. You know, the kind where each state (except those teeny tiny New England states) are each a piece and they all fit together to form a big map (with some little maps on the side for the aforementioned non contiguous states.) (I should look those words up and make sure I got them right but I don't have time because we're supposed to be somewhere in 15 minutes.) (And I'm on the computer. Good grief.)

This being the week we celebrate our country's Independence I thought I should admit I have forgotten everything my 4th grade teacher taught me about where Alabama and the Dakotas and Iowa and Illinois are. Forgive me for being from a state that is so easy to find, but those other ones all get mixed up in my brain. SO I am determined to play with this puzzle every day this week (in honor of the 4th and 4th grade) and see if I can learn it again. Because even if I'm "only a housewife" (yes, yes, I know... I'm not ONLY a housewife and I'm not married to my house, BUT!) I should know where Missouri is!

Happy 4th of July everyone! And God bless America!