Eye of the Tiger

Before I had kids, it always drove me crazy when I would see an older kid with a pacifier. You've seen these kids. Way too old for a pacifier. If the kid can take his pacifier out of his mouth, say a complete sentence with prepositional phrases, conjunctions and adverbs then stick said pacifier back in his mouth, then I think he is too old.

So I said, "When I have kids, they won't get hooked on a pacifier."

When both Fletcher and Luke were about three or four months old, we took the pacifiers away. Neither one of them were that interested in it anyway.

Problem solved.

Well, until Fletcher started sucking his two fingers and sniffing his burp rag. Luke? He found his thumb and sniffs his stuffed dog Rocky's tail.

I'd say pacifiers are the least of my worries.

This is Fletcher at five months:

And this is Luke at about 9 months:

We broke Fletcher of the habit of sucking his fingers during the day, in the car, while watching tv, at preschool, etc. We just couldn't get him to stop at night. We had his dentist talk with him. We tried special gloves. We tried the nasty stuff people use to get kids to stop biting their nails. Nothing has worked so far. And he's five and a half. And his permanent teeth are starting to come in. The dentist told us that once his permanent teeth start coming in, any kind of thumb/finger sucking can really mess up his alignment.

We need to start saving now for orthodontia times two.

My creative and brilliant husband figured out that Fletcher really likes the concept of battles. Like the battles in Star Wars and the battles in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. So Kevin decided to approach this finger sucking habit as a battle that Fletcher has to fight. It has really led to some great discussions with him about how he will have to fight battles all his life - big ones and little ones - but how God can help him win the battle.

So for the last several weeks we've been using our baby video monitor to watch him fall asleep. Because he knows he is on camera, he has worked really hard on not sucking his fingers. Kevin also came up with the idea of drawing swords on both sets of fingers each night before he goes to bed. If he subconsciously sucks them in the middle of the night then the ink wears off on one hand and we know he didn't win the battle that night.

If the ink is still there, then he gets to put a sticker on his Battle Chart.

Kevin made his "Mix Tape" (see yesterday's post) of great battle-fighting songs to get him fired up to win this battle. (Brown Eyed Girl was just thrown in there because I happen to have brown eyes and I happen to like that song. )

Hopefully, he will win the battle. By the way, we also took away all of his burp rags. He had quite the collection. He associates sucking his fingers with sniffing his burp rag. I told him I was mailing them to his new baby cousin Wesley. He seemed ok with that and hasn't asked for them since then.

Happy Birthday tomorrow to Uncle D! He's been a part of our family for thirty years now. That's a long time to put up with our brand of crazy. I'm sure he could tell you some stories from all these years. The boys love going to Uncle D's house because he has all the cool toys like a real tractor. We love you and we hope you have a wonderful day.

Mix Tape

Do you remember making mix tapes when you were a kid? We would wait by the radio (or jam box) with a tape recorder waiting for a favorite song to come on so we could hit "Play" and "Record". We would hope the DJ wouldn't talk too much during the intro and ruin the song. It could take an entire afternoon waiting by the radio (and no bathroom breaks) just to get three or four good songs. There was the "I'm In Love With You So Here's Every Romantic Song I Can Find Including Our Special Song" mix tape and the "He Broke Up With Me - I Am So Depressed" mix tape and the "I Was The Fifth Caller And Won A Prize On The Radio" mix tape.

Good times.

These kids these days have no idea how good they have it. Ever since the introduction of CDs and iTunes, mix tapes take so little time to make. And sadly they aren't even called tapes anymore. This generation is missing out. Whoa. Sorry I got a little nostalgic on you.

Kevin made Fletcher & Luke a mix CD this weekend.

Here are the 8 songs that are on it:
Jump
All-Star (from the movie Shrek)
Eye of the Tiger
We Are The Champions
We Will Rock You
The Final Countdown
Brown Eyed Girl
Life Is A Highway (from the movie Cars)

They love going in Fletcher's room, turning up the volume and dancing to the songs. There is nothing better than hearing a 21 month old sing "we will rock you" while watching him simultaneously trying to clap to the beat.

I'll explain why these songs are important tomorrow.

On another note -- I'm taking a reader poll. Throwback Thursdays? Love it? Hate it? Skip it? I'm trying to decide whether to continue Throwback or do something else. Any thoughts?

The Pilgrimage to Ikea

Memorial Day was rainy here so we decided to take a little trip to the Ikea store which recently opened here. There's an IKEA in Houston, but it's been a long time since I've been to that one.

Oh. My. Goodness. That is a big store. Half the population of the city had the same idea we did because it was also very crowded.

We did buy a few things. (I love the fact that IKEA has fun stuff but most of it is very inexpensive.) Now that we've been in this house almost two years, I'm determined to get some decorating done this summer. Simple things like, oh I don't know, pictures on the walls maybe. I'll post pictures after we're done.

We ended the day at a local outlet mall with a Bass Pro Shop and a NASCAR go cart racing / video arcade. A little slice of heaven for a certain 5 year old.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?

Thought it might be time for a garden update.

We are actually seeing a few tomatoes.

These are the Better Bush kind. They seem to be doing well and growing really fast.

These are the Roma (at least I think so). Someone removed the little markers before we had a chance to make sure we knew which was which.

Unfortunately, our strawberries aren't getting very big. There are a few that are growing but some critter is getting to them before they ripen all the way. Must be a squirrel or maybe a bird. Any ideas? I just hope this same critter doesn't like tomotoes!

We've been watering more often and we've gotten a good bit of rain recently. I added some fertilizer to the cucumbers and pepper plants so we'll see if that helps. This gardening stuff is much harder than I thought it would be! :-)

Pomp and Circumstance

Kevin asked me after the ceremony if Fletcher had been to all the practices. I assured him that he hadn't missed any school recently. But I also reminded him that his firstborn son is a very social child and given the choice between working a crowd and focusing on a task, he'd pick crowd every time.

Listen closely at the very end and you can hear Luke cheering for Fletcher.

P.S. Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all the men and women who have faithfully served our country and those who continue to serve today. Your courage and sacrifice and sense of duty are amazing to me.

Happy Birthday, Bear!

This little cutie patootie is one today. He is my great nephew (I'm really too young to be a great aunt, right?) I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by! Have a fun day and a fun party this weekend. We wish we could be there to celebrate with you, but we know there will be lots of pictures. You have the best mommy and daddy ever so do your Aunt Rachel a favor and start sleeping a little later in the mornings to give them a break, okay?

Happy Birthday, PawPaw

In 1934, here are some of the things that were happening in the world:

• The first Flash Gordon comic strip was published
• A team of police officers ambushed Bonnie and Clyde near Black Lake, Louisiana killing both of them
• A Studebaker truck cost $625 and gas was 10 cents a gallon.
• The song Winter Wonderland was written

In 1934, a baby was born near Hathaway, Louisiana. That's 75 years ago in case you have trouble with math. He was really tiny. The doctor at the time told his mom (my grandmother) to put him in a shoebox and only take him out to feed him. How's that for advice? I don't think she used the lid. . . He survived and thrived. Grew up helping his dad on a rice farm. Went on to serve his country in the Air Force. Came back and met a beautiful young lady at a rollerskating rink. Married her. Had four kids. (Shhh, don't tell the others but the last one is his favorite.) Served (and still does) at his church as a deacon and Sunday School teacher to 4 & 5 year olds. Worked for over 35 years for the same company and never took a sick day. Not one. Ever. Retired. Sings tenor in the choir. Can cook some seriously awesome food like gumbo, pork loin, roast, and fried shrimp. Has a great garden and a Facebook account. Has 10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Understands what Jesus meant about loving and serving "the least of these".

Happy Birthday, Dad (and PawPaw). We love you and we hope you have a wonderful day!

The Recap

Warning: This post could set the all time Snickelfritz Lane record for the most pictures and videos so be sure to let all the pictures load.

We drove to Charleston Thursday night and stayed at the Charleston Marriott. We used some Marriott Rewards points so we didn't have to pay anything for the room. Sweet! They also put us on the 12th floor which had access to their Concierge floor which meant free breakfast for us. Bonus!

Friday morning we headed to Patriot's Point to tour the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, a Navy submarine and a Coast Guard boat. Fletcher really enjoyed this. I only got a little claustrophobic in the submarine after I read how many people (18) were housed in a room about the size of my closet along with real torpedoes! The USS Yorktown was huge. We saw their bakery which churned out 10,000 chocolate chip cookies A DAY and fed 3500 people four times a day. I should never complain about making dinner again! It was a good opportunity to talk to Fletcher about the men (like both of his grandfathers) and women who have fought for our freedom. We also saw several cool airplanes on display both inside and on the deck. Kevin let Fletcher use the camera to take a few pictures. Fletcher said he was taking them for PawPaw since PawPaw used to work on planes when he was in the military. Fifty four pictures later. . .

On our way.

In the submarine.

On the Coast Guard vessel.

Friday afternoon we headed to our condo at Wild Dunes. The place was very nice, new in 2008, very clean, but I wouldn't stay there again. It was just ok for what we paid compared to when we went to Watercolor last year. The boys enjoyed playing in the sand and going to the pool. We didn't do any golf or tennis. Only Kevin and Fletcher were brave enough to get in the water. We did have some rain, but we were still able to go do all the stuff we wanted to do. Sunday morning we rented bikes. Fletcher rode on a tandem bike attached to Kevin's bike and Luke rode in one of those stroller/carriers behind my bike.

Brotherly love.

Giant adirondack chair.

At the end of the video, Luke was concerned that he couldn't find Kevin's feet so he was trying to help him dig them out.

Happy 11th Anniversary!

The weather forecast said it was going to rain most of Monday morning so we decided to surprise the boys with a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia on the way home. Very fun. Kevin and Fletcher got to feed a giraffe! I think Luke was a little confused since these were the first real animals he's seen that weren't just pictures in a book.

This gorilla's name was Mike.

The elephants were reddish brown, not gray. I think they needed a bath from all the red clay and mud.

Feeding the giraffe. I thought Fletcher would freak out, but he did just fine. Apparently, giraffe slobber doesn't really bother him much anymore.

I should put together a slideshow of all the pictures Fletcher took (Kevin let him use the camera several times). However, the majority of the pictures are of my backside so we'll just skip that part.

We're Back

We're back from our little trip to Charleston. We had fun, but I am tired. The boys were up at 6 AM sometimes earlier. Every. Single. Morning.

I'll post more pics and maybe a video later on this week. But for now, here's a quick pic.

Kevin's Turn

Marriage Conference with couples from our former church in Florida. Jekyll Island, Georgia.

The first event of the night was a banquet with traditional hotel food - Roast beef, vegetables, potatoes and rolls. The roast beef was dry and hard to chew. We were sitting at a table with three other couples. Two of the couples we knew pretty well and one of the couples we had really just met.

Pleasant conversation. A few jokes about the conference. Then our friend Chris sitting at the table starts coughing. We look up and he is choking on his food. Not just a little bit but really choking and turning red. His wife screams, "Somebody do something." There was a doctor seated at the next table who jumped up and started doing the Heimlech. They were able to dislodge the food. The doctor told Chris to walk outside and get some fresh air. Everyone sort of resumed eating although many people were suddenly not hungry. Kevin looked at me and said that he was going outside to check on Chris and get some fresh air too. I watched him walk out the door but I noticed he wasn't walking in a straight line. (This was a Baptist marriage conference so it wasn't like he'd been hitting the bottle. )

I decided I better go check on Kevin. I walk outside. Our choking friend Chris is outside with the doctor. Kevin mumbles something about not feeling well. He looks a little pale. The doc tells someone to go get him a chair. He starts to sit down (remember Kevin is 6' 4" and about 195 lbs). Instead of sitting, he starts falling backwards. Dead weight. I'm trying to catch him so he doesn't hit his head on the concrete below us. I guess I was hoping my adrenalin would kick in and make me into Wonder Woman or something. Doc yells at Chris to help and get his feet above his heart. Poor Chris steps in and we (well really he) catch Kevin and ease him to the ground. He is completely out and suddenly every horrible thought fills my mind.

The paramedics pull up. Wow! That was fast. Someone from the hotel staff had called 911 when Chris started choking. Kevin wakes up and looks up at me (remember he is flat on his back on the ground). I can tell he doesn't recognize me or know where he is. It was like he had a blank hard drive. He finally realizes what had happened and where he is.

This is how I knew he would be ok.
Paramedic: What year is it?
Kevin: 2006
P: Who is the President
K: George W. Bush
P: What are you guys doing here at this hotel?
K: We're at a marriage conference and the first topic was sex*. That guy choked and I passed out. We're off to a great start.
P: Sign me up! Sounds like fun.

*It really wasn't. We hadn't even started the "conference" portion yet when all this happened.

Note: Kevin did go to the doc when we got home to get checked out. The doc said he had something called a vasovagal episode when a person's body reacts in an exaggerated way to distress (Kevin was watching Chris choke thinking that he could die and he is young with four kids...). Heart rate drops, no blood to brain. Down you go.

Houston, We Have A Problem

Most people know I was a teacher for several years before I got married. I didn't make much money so every summer I had to find jobs to supplement my income. For two summers when I lived in Houston before I got married, I worked with a group called National Youth Leadership Forum. Over 400 high school juniors from all over the country come to Houston for 11 days to learn about the medical field. I was part of their Advance Team which handled logistics (transportation, food, emergency room visits, curfew). This was before the day of high tech cell phones so we relied heavily on long range walkie talkies to communicate. We even had those cool ear pieces and microphones (called whisper mics) that attached to our sleeve like you see the Secret Service wear. I know after reading yesterday's post you might be wondering why in the world I would be doing anything related to the medical field. But my job just involved getting the students where they needed to be in the Med Center. I never actually had to participate.

For liability reasons, if a kid said he/she was sick we had to take him/her to the ER. We couldn't let him/her stay in his/her room. There were five of us on the A-Team so we rotated who had to be on ER duty each day. No one liked ER duty because it took forever and nine times out of ten the kid wasn't really sick, he/she just stayed up too late or ate too much and was constipated. Just keeping it real for you.

Early one morning the students were getting ready to go to the med center and I got a call on my walkie talkie that a student was having heart palpitations. She had recently had heart surgery(!!!) and was a little concerned. A little? What parent in his or her right mind sends a daughter across the country after major heart surgery??? I quickly got dressed. The students had to dress up every day so we did too. Black pants, red jacket. I went to get heart girl and she too was wearing black pants and red jacket. She also had long brown hair and brown eyes. We could have been twins. I get her into the rental car and we head to the hospital which is thankfully right down the street and within walkie talkie range.

Many of you know I am not so good with hospital/doctor related things like shots and blood. See previous post.

On the way there I start thinking that I wasn't feeling great. But I just chalked it up to being a little nervous that there might be something seriously wrong with heart girl. I drive up to the covered drop off area of the ER. I turn to heart girl to tell her to go inside and I would park and come meet her with her waiver paperwork. She looks at me and says, "Are you ok?" At that moment, with my foot on the brake but the car still in drive, I pass out cold. My foot falls off the break and the car starts slowly rolling forward.

If heart girl thought she might have been having palpitations before, she was clearly having them now. Poor thing.

She was only 16 and didn't think to put the car in park. She is screaming and reaching down by my feet trying to put her hand on the brake while the car continues to slowly roll forward. We are in Houston, a city of 4 million people and ridiculous traffic. Do you know how thankful I am to this day to have passed out at the front door of the ER instead of on the 610 Loop???? Someone in the ER saw the commotion and came outside.

Heart girl is screaming right as I come to. They bring a wheel chair to the drivers side and I am trying to tell them that I'm here to bring heart girl to the ER. I'm not the patient. I start babbling about National Youth Leadership Forum and the Advance Team. A nurse looked at me and said, "Lady, are you on something? You just fainted while driving a moving vehicle and you are trying to tell me that you are ok? And why in the world are you two dressed alike?" Clearly, this is the perfect time to discuss fashion.

They get both of us inside and I finally explain everything to them. They did see both of us right away, no triage necessary. :) I go to the bathroom to try to use my walkie talkie to contact the other A Team people to let them know what was going on. But the reception was bad since we were in a hospital so all they got was "fainted, car, moving, help". They showed up in record time!

We were both ok. Heart girl just needed some medicine. After some blood work for me, it turns out that I had a touch of food poisoning most likely from the dinner I had at Boston Market the day before. The way the doctor explained it, at that moment in the car all the blood rushed to my stomach to fight off the food poisoning which caused me to pass out. Like I always say, if you're gonna pass out, you might as well do it at the front doors of the ER.

One bonus - I did get out of doing ER duty for several days.

Happy Anniversary tomorrow to my wonderful husband of 11 years. I love you, Kevin!

Not For the Faint of Heart

Throwback Thursday will resume next week. We have more fainting stories to tell.

Picking up where we left off -

My sister Denise -
She and my niece Traci were arguing over what kind of Sadie Hawkins shirts Traci should get. Because everyone knows this is such an important decision. Traci went to her room in a huff of teenage angst and slammed the door. Then she heard a thud in the hall. She opened her door and there was Denise out cold on the floor. The best part was Denise's husband David's response (after he heard Traci screaming). He told Traci to just leave her alone and she'd wake up in a minute. Gee, remind me not to pass out in front of my brother-in-law. And then Traci got in trouble for causing too much drama in the house.

My niece Traci -
She was at Aunt Putsy's funeral with her now husband Cade. There's a Louisiana name for you - Putsy, not Cade. I like the name Cade! They were wearing their matching Sadie Hawkins shirts. Maybe. In the Catholic church they have a rosary in which everyone kneels for a really long time - like 30 minutes or so. About halfway through, Traci started feeling a little woozy, but she didn't want to get up because that's not polite during a rosary. Finally, Cade told her to go get some fresh air and before she could stand up she passed out right there in the pew. She opened her eyes to see everyone in front of her and behind her peering over the pew at her. She is not one to want alot of attention so she was mortified! And after all she was kinda stealing Aunt Putsy's thunder. . .Because of that incident she had to beg the priest who married them not to make them kneel during the wedding ceremony because she was afraid she would pass out again!

My nephew Thom -
Middle school. Science class. Everyone is excited because they get to dissect deer hearts. Did I mention this happened in Louisiana. No, I don't think it was BYOH (bring your own heart) although most people in Louisiana could probably track down a deer heart relatively quickly. For some it is as close as their freezer. Anyhoo... Thom was excited about doing this. Until the teacher handed out the somewhat bloody hearts and he picked up the scalpel. Reality set in. He told his teacher he didn't feel very good as he stood up and slid down the wall onto the floor. Poor teacher. It's bad enough she has to teach middle schoolers who are basically hormones with legs, but now she has to deal with "that kid" who faints. I think she switched to teaching English.

The crazy thing about all of these stories is that none of the "incidents" are particularly gory or traumatic. But everyone seems to have at least one story. Except my mom. So we are thinking this must be from my dad's side of the family.

Me -
This is just one of my stories. I had to narrow it down to just two otherwise you guys would get bored. When I was in ninth grade my best friend convinced me to join a club called The Explorers. It was for students interested in the medical field. They wanted kids to get an up close look at what working in the field of medicine was really like so they had us shadow real doctors and nurses at the local hospital. We even had our own lab coats. First day. Third floor. Very hot male nurse (remember I'm in ninth grade). First patient. My best friend is with me. We walk into a room with Mr. Nurse and there's an elderly woman in the bed sort of moaning. She's hooked up to all kinds of machines and an IV. My palms get a little sweaty. Remember up to this point I had never passed out before. I didn't know what it felt like. Mr. Nurse starts explaining as he is pulling back the blankets at the foot of the bed that the patient has gangrene in her foot. He reveals a massively swollen foot with black toes. I am so not kidding. The woman starts moaning louder. In my head I'm thinking how painful that must. . . whoops. . .next thing I know I am on a couch at the nurse's station with Mr. Nurse waving one of those smelling salts under my nose (what are those things anyway?). My friend told me later that I mumbled something and Mr. Nurse saw my knees buckling and caught me just in time before I fell. She said I was flirting. Sure. They called my mom to come pick me up and that was the end of that little club for me.

My other story is coming tomorrow and Kevin's story will be on Monday. I know you can't wait.

We are off tonight for a little mini getaway to Charleston and a beach near there. Fletcher is very excited. Can you tell?

Because I'm In a Storytelling Mood

My niece Brittany recently posted a note on Facebook telling how she was opening a can of pineapples using one of those "safety" can openers. However, she ended up cutting her finger on one of the metal slivers. She passed out cold. She had to go to the doctor and get a tetanus shot and some finger glue to seal up the cut.


Her note reminded me that my side of the family seems to have more than their fair share of fainting stories. It is bizarre. Possibly genetic. Let's just say that you may not want any of us to be the only person helping you in a bad situation.


So for the next few days I thought I'd let you in on a few of our best fainting stories. And help you see that this genetic abnormality doesn't affect just one or two of us but most of us. Fortunately, for Kevin, he has a fainting story of his own so he fits right in with my family.


I'll cover a few of the simple ones first (and by all means if you dispute the details, feel free to leave a comment setting me straight).


My oldest brother Mike -
When he was either in high school or college, one of his friends was in a very bad car accident. Mike went to see him at the hospital. He walked out of the hospital room and collapsed in the hall.


My brother David -
He has four kids. When one of them was born he either passed out or almost passed out in the delivery room. To the point that all of the doctors and nurses were tending to him instead of my sister-in-law Monette who was lying on the table saying, "Hello, can someone please take care of me." Way to steal the show, Dave.


My dad -
He has passed out several times. At least once when he was in the military. But the one that stands out to the kids is when we were all in the bedroom playing a board game. Dad was in the living room watching tv and mom was in her bedroom on the phone. Just like four kids tend to do, we had been bickering and arguing about that game all night. My dad had already told us several times to stop fighting. We were at it again and he jumped up from his recliner and came into the room to spank us. Keep in mind that our house wasn't that big so he didn't have far to walk. He started to say, "I've told you. . . " and he passed out cold on the bedroom floor. We were shocked and we started screaming and crying. One of us yelled, "We just killed Daddy". My mom came in the room and freaked out. About that time my Dad woke up and he ended up being fine. He just got up too fast from his chair. Needless to say, we were very good children after that incident. For about a day.


Are you seeing a pattern here? Stay tuned tomorrow for stories of Sadie Hawkins, deer hearts, rosaries, and gangrene.

Pull The Plug! (Part 2)

Here are my other two favorite baptism stories. You can read the first two by clicking here. In order to get the full effect, you have to picture both of these in your head as they are happening.

3. This happened to a staff member at Second Baptist when he was at a smaller church. He was baptizing an older woman who was well known in the community. What many people did not know is that she wore a wig. Being a prim and proper woman and not wanting to divulge her little secret, she insisted on wearing her wig during her baptism. When the minister dunked her, the wig came off and was floating in the water. But no one could tell because they were higher up than the congregation in the baptistery.

In a split second he had a decision to make: Do I pull her up without the wig or do I try to reposition her underneath the wig and pull her and the wig up at the same time hoping people will just think it's her wet hair. He chose the latter. However, what he didn't take into account was the fact that when he dunked her he caused some waves in the water so as he is trying to reposition her the wig keeps floating away. He is so fixated on getting her under the wig that he forgets SHE IS UNDERWATER THIS WHOLE TIME. She begins flailing about and grabbing on to him wondering why he is trying to drown her instead of baptize her. He finally pulls her up sputtering and coughing with her wig in front of her face like Cousin Itt. I think she became a Methodist.

4. I don't remember where I heard it. Large church for a medium sized town. The baptismal area had two sides - men's and women's. Both sides had changing areas, showers, bathrooms, hairdryers, etc. There were steps from both sides leading down into the baptismal pool.

There was a lady who was in charge of making sure everyone had what they needed like robes and towels and were lined up correctly. No Baptism Committee. Just her. She was one of those church ladies that liked having power. Bossy. Things had to be done her way. It was her job to meet with the people and explain what to do and how to do it. She ran a tight ship so to speak. Most people were a little afraid of her. Her biggest rule? If the person was a man, he was to come down the man steps, get baptized then turn and go back up the man steps. Otherwise, if he went up the other steps he would be in the women's changing area. Same thing for women. Go down the woman steps, come up the woman steps. Are you still with me?

One guy was so very excited that he had given his life to Christ. He couldn't wait to be baptized along with five other people. He listened intently to Mrs. Bossy's rules. He was thrilled to be the first person in line. He went down the man steps, got baptized and then he got confused. He walked across the pool and started going up the woman steps instead of turning around and going back up the man steps. A simple mistake. Except Mrs. Bossy was standing at the top of the woman steps, arms folded, pursed lips, eyes shooting daggers at the poor guy who just messed up her deal. What was he to do? There were four more people some men and some women and he was in the wrong place. He had to get back to the man side. So in a moment of brilliance, he decided to swim underwater underneath the pastor to the other side. Simple solution, right? Well, it seemed like it until he happened to look to his right. He didn't realize the baptistery was clear glass in the front so 2000 people were watching him swim underwater underneath the pastor. He gave the thumbs up sign and just kept going. Mrs. Bossy still doesn't speak to him.

Happy Mother's Day!

I typically don't post anything on the weekend, but I wanted to send a special message to all the moms I know.

"Happy Mother's Day! I hope you have a wonderful day."

To my mom, my mother-in-law, my sister Denise, my sisters-in-law Stacie, Monette, & Peanut, awesome friends and three first time moms -my niece Traci, my friend Caroline and the very newest mom in our family, my niece Allie. Congratulations on baby Wesley David born May 7, 2009 weighing 6 lbs, 14 ounces. The journey is just beginning.

And to K and A, Fletcher and Luke's birthmoms -- Thank you once again for sacrificially giving me the most amazing gifts I could have ever hoped for. I hope you know how thankful we are for you.

You know I love this guy. This clip seemed so fitting on Mother's Day. I won't confess completely but I may or may not have said a few of the things on here. I KNOW I've heard all of them from my mom!

Pull The Plug!

Two days ago I put up a link and wrote a little bit about The Lord's Supper. So today I thought in keeping with that theme, I'd write about some of the funniest baptism stories I've either witnessed or heard about through the years. I'll give you my top 4.

1. When I sang in the group Hosanna, we traveled to lots of very small churches all over Louisiana. I mean really small. One church in southwest LA had baptism at the beginning of the service. After the pastor had dunked the guy, he brought him up and said, "And all God's people said. . ." Well, in Baptist world, when a pastor leads with that, the congregation is supposed to say, "AMEN!" which is what everyone in Hosanna started to say until the congregation yelled, "PULL THE PLUG!!!" Well, alrighty then. I guess that's their way of welcoming people to the family of God.

2. When I lived in Houston, I attended Second Baptist Church which is a pretty big church with several ministers on staff. (True confession time - I dated one of the ministers on staff so sometimes I got to hear the inside scoop of all that goes on which is why I know the following story). The ministers all had many responsibilities on any given Sunday so they rotated who would do baptisms. Because baptisms were at the beginning of the service and they usually had other responsibilities afterwards like teaching a Sunday School class, the minister would wear hip waders so they didn't have to completely change. He'd take off his suit coat, leave his pants, shirt, belt, shoes and socks on and step into the waders then put the baptism robe on top to cover them up. For any new minister on staff on his first day doing baptisms, they would make sure the waders with a hole in them were the only ones available in the baptism area. Yes, you can imagine the feeling of walking into those waters and slowly feeling those waders fill up with water in front of thousands of people. He couldn't get out because he had a job to do and everything was on a pretty strict time schedule. By the time he was done, it was like trying to walk out of wet concrete once they were filled. If you wanna work at a church, you have to have thick skin or incredibly strong leg muscles!

I think I'll save the other two for Monday. Have a great weekend.

Throwback Thursday

The date(s): 1990 and 1995
The place(s): Furman Univ. in SC and somewhere in Atlanta, GA

The mood(s): Siblings having fun! Both of these pictures are of Kevin and his sister Stacie. They've always had a good relationship (although I think they would both tell you they had their fair share of disagreements through the years).

Here's a little factoid for you - they both worked at Arthur Andersen in Atlanta for awhile, but in different departments.

I put up these pictures for two reasons. 1) They are great pictures of the two of them. 2) The first time I ever went to Kevin's apartment, he had the second picture in a frame on his shelf. I immediately went into questioning mode in my mind because I couldn't figure out a tactful way to ask Kevin directly. I was wondering: Who is she? Is she a former girlfriend? Is she a current girlfriend and he forgot to take down the picture? Are there any other pictures of her in this apartment like maybe in his room? I had NO IDEA she was his sister. You have to admit when you look at the pictures that there aren't any extreme similarities that would tell me that they are related (different eye color, different facial structure). I cannot tell you how relieved I was when I found out it was his sister! I don't remember the exact details but I think he might have seen me looking at the picture (trying to nonchalantly read the title and date at the bottom) and told me.

Edited to add: Look very closely in the first picture at Kevin's ear - do you see what I see?

Probably Not What Jesus Had In Mind

I've mentioned this guy (Jon Acuff) and this blog (Stuff Christians Like) before, but once again if you've grown up in church and you have ever taken The Lord's Supper or done Communion (whichever your church calls it) you have to go to link below and read his post. Hilarious.

#535 Communion Tray Etiquette

The best comment from this post came from a reader named Trish who said,

Another tip: If you have recently had your jaw broken and its not wired shut, but you have very thick rubber bands that allow you to open your mouth just wide enough to slip the cracker in...it is in fact NOT a good plan to let the cracker get just soggy enough that you think you can swallow it without chewing (cause you can't actually chew solid food with a broken jaw)...you still might choke. And the blood, I mean juice, usually doesn't follow fast enough for you to use it to help wash down the cracker; leaving you to eventually have to cough up the cracker. Of course, you can't open your mouth up wide enough to spit it back out, so you have you get your suction bulb (very similar to the ones used to suck out baby boogers) and suck the Jesus back out of your mouth before the paramedics are called. Not that it ever happened to me, I just wanted to warn everyone...

I'll add my own Lord's Supper memory. My dad has been the deacon in charge of getting everything ready for the Lord's Supper at our church in Louisiana - grape juice in the little plastic glasses and wafers on the plate (I'm not sure if he still does it or not). Well, since he was in charge, he kept the supplies (juice and wafers) at our house. He kept the wafers in the freezer so they wouldn't go stale. Well, he and my mom cook alot with onions and bell peppers. I know you are wondering where I am going with this, but just stay with me. He would chop up onions and bell peppers and put them in the freezer so he would have them ready for gumbos, etoufees, etc. One Sunday at church on Lord's Supper Day, the entire congregation ate the wafers and everyone got these strange looks on their faces. Somehow the flavor of the onions and peppers had gotten into the wafers and they tasted like onion pepper crackers. I immediately knew what had happened and thought it was funny. I was in the youth group at the time so I am sure I wasn't being very reverent or reflective anyway. Shame on me. We all ate them. My mom was so embarassed. From then on I think the wafers were either kept in the freezer at church or at least kept far, far away from onions and peppers.

Anyone else want to share?

It's (Another) Date

Fletcher and I had another date Sunday afternoon. I took him downtown for lunch and a trip to the theater to see The Commedia of Aladdin. Very entertaining. Only four actors played all the parts using props and costume "changes" to tell the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp. Lots of silly slapstick humor too. Right up Fletcher's alley. When I asked him what he liked best, he said, "Getting ice cream afterwards." Well, ok then.



While we were on our date, Kevin took Luke to Bojangles for lunch. He thoroughly enjoyed it and Kevin taught him to say, "Bojangles." Too cute. I won't mention the massive diaper Kevin had to change later that afternoon after their little excursion. Better him than me.


Did I mention how much I love these two little boys? Note that Rocky (the stuffed dog) is in this picture. Luke keeps pretty close tabs on him throughout the day. He has started "reading" to Rocky and he makes sure Rocky's eyes are looking at the book.

Another One Bites The Dust

Fletcher lost his other bottom middle tooth last week. It was hanging on by a thread and I was afraid he was going to swallow it or lose it. I told Kevin that pulling teeth did not fall into my job description as Mom. The other day I tried to get it and it started bleeding. I got a little queasy and light headed. I figured fainting would not be a good idea since I was the only adult home at the time. So Kevin is now our official Tooth Puller.

Fletcher's comment the morning after the Tooth Fairy came? "She didn't leave any glitter!" Oops. I told him, "Well, I think the glitter is for first-timers only and then she just brings money." He seemed ok with that answer and he was happy with his dollar.

Side note: I promise I will not document Fletcher losing all 20 (?) of his teeth on the blog. The first few are special. I can't believe his permanent teeth are already coming in.

Praying for Michael

We have some very special friends that live in the Houston area - Michael and Christie and their daughter GraceAnn. Michael was a groomsman in our wedding. They were dating and got married just a few weeks before Kevin and I did. We've kept up with them through the years and we were able to see them this past Christmas. Their firstborn son was born with Downs Syndrome and he passed away when he was 8 months old. We grieved with them through their loss. We rejoiced with them a few years later when they adopted their precious little girl GraceAnn who is now 4 years old.

Recently Michael, an avid runner, photographer, business owner, and all around active wonderful guy, was having trouble with his hip. They found a large tumor on his bone and had to do surgery and remove the tumor and replace part of his hip. The tumor was a malignant cancer. On Monday, May 4, he starts some intensive chemotherapy for several months.

They both have an incredible faith in God and believe He is in control and is with them every step of the way on this journey. Michael is the most positive, upbeat, optimistic person you could ever meet. They sign every update they send out with "God is good all the time" and I know they believe that. But cancer is hard.

Will you please pray for this family? They have already been through so much. Pray for God's complete healing and provision (Michael owns his own business and Christie only works part time). Also, pray that the side effects of the chemo will be minimal. Finally, pray for GraceAnn who doesn't completely understand why Daddy is sick.

They do have a website on Caring Bridge if you'd like to read more.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelreiland