Happy Birthday Nathan! (Okay Belated--it was Oct 28th)

I am so glad that Nathan probably won't remember his 2nd birthday--it really was quite a bummer. It started with a trip to the emergency for the croup. Then to treat the croup he had to eat applesauce with crushed up steroid pill in it. Now, I wouldn't even want to do that on a normal day--let alone my birthday. So then he comes home and I'm so wiped out that I didn't even remember to get the poor kid birthday candles for the cake that his daddy had so graciously made for him because I had been gone the day before. However, since Daddy made the cake it split three ways so it kind of looked like an earthquake had occurred. (I actually think it was caused by over beating) Fortunately, that doesn't effect the taste and it was delicious. And the spider man pajamas from Grandpa and Grandma Horn pretty much kept him happy all day. So Happy 2nd Birthday to you Nathan. Here's hoping that it was the worst day of your next year of life.

The herd at the zoo

Before all the health chaos broke out at our house we went to the zoo. It has taken me awhile to get these posted to the blog. I had some others, but I need to talk to one of my techy friends and find out how to do one of those slide show things. Those look so cool. Or I need to use photobucket or something. Anyway, here's a snapshot my herd at the zoo.

Fa la la la laaa la la la la

Evidently there are 48 days until Christmas. So says the sign at Walmart. Ashley returned to school today and so I emerged from my diseased house and made my entry back into the world. I honestly don't remember the last time I actually went shopping to a couple of stores. And, man, did the price of gas jump while I was in seclusion. Seriously I know it was around $2.80/gallon when the surgeries began and today it was $3.18/gallon. It made me wonder if somehow my house turned into a time machine and jumped forward a few years. But I have digressed. I noticed it in the first store I entered--Christmas music. I know Halloween is over, but did anyone remember that Thanksgiving is between October 31st and December 25th. However, the longer I shopped the more I sang and the more I sang the more I thought about Christmas and the more I thought about Christmas the greater urge I had to buy, buy, buy, and buy some more. I was formulating Christmas lists in my head and thinking about getting this great jump start on all my shopping. I even had a toy in my cart!!!!! Fortunately my sanity returned as I reached for the second present--the subliminal messages had worked!!! And I usually pride myself on not giving in to any sales tactics--I mean, everyone knows that if you start buying Christmas presents now you will buy more than you had planned because you have so much time to shop some more and see the ultimate gifts that my kid just can't live without. This doesn't happen if you are seriously disciplined--even I don't have that kind of discipline in my shopping life. So I returned the toys to their shelves, pulled my original crinkled up list out of my pocket and became determined not to sing anymore Christmas music. I think the next time I'll wear earplugs...

My Sequel Movie Idea for Disney

We were on our way to Taco Bell for lunch today in honor of Ashley's last day home from school. She loves chicken taquitos so I decided to treat her to some. So we were in the van and John was reintroducing himself to all the dinosaurs in the back seat (some of the dinosaurs stay in the van so he can be entertained). About half way there he began the following conversation:

John: Mom, can we go see some dinosaurs?
Mom: No, John there are no more dinosaurs.
John: Can we go to the zoo so I can see some dinosaurs?
Mom: No John all the dinosaurs are dead. We can't see them anymore.
John after a moment of thought: Mom, are there T-Rexs in heaven?
Mom: I don't know if there will be T-Rexs in heaven John
John: Will they not be there because they don't believe Jesus died on the cross for their sins? (--at least he is getting the gospel message)
Mom: Uh, no John, remember dinosaurs are animals and animals don't have spirits like we do.
John looking very bummed: Oh, I want to see a dinosaur.

So maybe Disney should look into doing a sequel new movie called All T-Rexs Go to Heaven.

The Quest to be Normal

The word normal rolled off my tongue a lot last week. "I just want life to be normal." was my constant mantra. By that I meant I wanted my husband to have a "normal job", I wanted my kids to have "normal" health (which I actually think they do), I also wanted my husband to have "normal" health. I wanted my financial situation to be "normal". I wanted my friendships to be back to "normal" because when you move your friendships are not "normal" for awhile. Basically I wanted to have the "normal" suburban lifestyle. I have said this before in my life. I say things like this in the midst in discouragement. This morning the Lord dragged me out of bed at 5am and I could feel the Holy Spirit begging me to get back into the word of God. (Why is it when we face discouragement we tend to distance ourselves from the one thing that we need the most?) So I expressed my desire to be "normal" to the Lord. He brought me to Psalm 73 which was the Psalm I read the last time I was in the word--last week. It was in my small group study book on a lesson on Doubts. I can remember when I went through the lesson how, what I now recognize as pride, set in. I may get discouraged or frustrated, but I NEVER doubt the Lord, was my feeling at the time. I had a different attitude as I read through the Psalm again this morning. My feeling of wanting to be "normal" was just a reflection of my doubt and lack of trust in the Lord. My perception was that if I was "normal" life would be full of goodness, because, afterall, all those around me who seem to be experiencing the "normal" life have very minimal hardships. The wicked do seem to prosper and for whatever reason "...my feet came close to stumbling; my steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They are not in trouble as other men; nor are they plagued like mankind." (Psalm 73:2-3,5 (NAS)). This is just the beginning of the Psalm. The Psalmist continues to describe what he sees as the success of those who don't follow the Lord. Then comes the key to the Psalm "Until I am into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end." (Psalm 73:17). I had become "senseless and ignorant" (vs 22). I am so thankful that I serve a God who loves me and forgives me and stays with me regardless of my stupidity. And I praise Him that even when I feel that I am failing, He is still my strength. And so, thanks to Him, I can now praise Him that I am not normal and that He has chosen me to serve Him.

"My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:26 emphasis mine)

My most recent conspiracy theory

I'm home from church this morning to nurse Ashley back to health. She's actually doing pretty well. She ate two meals yesterday. Her ears are hurting today, but codeine did the trick and she's already ditched the hot pad. So while she is watching a movie I decided to catch up on some blog reading. Both of the blogs that I went to had posts on daylight savings time and the affect it has on their children. And, yeah, it does affect my kids for a couple of weeks, but what about ME!? I know that sounds selfish, but seriously changing my clock affects me for about a month. I was wide awake at 4am this morning after going to be at 11:30. (I know, I know the bedtime part was my fault, but what can I say-I only get a date with Joe once in a blue moon!) All the research that I've seen talks about how detrimental the affect of changing the clock can be on your health. So Mr. Government--why are we changing our clocks if it is hazardous to our health?? And, seriously, there are not really more hours of sunlight in the day because of it. We may be the most powerful country on earth, but I don't think we control the sun yet. Maybe it is just a conspiracy to turn us insane...