Been a while

I know it has been a while since I last posted, but things have been a little crazy.

I will back up to when I last posted and get caught up on events taken place since then :o)

Thursday, August 23rd:
Caleb is going to spend a week at my mom and dad's! Mom and I met half way between her house and mine (Poplar Bluff, Mo) Thursday afternoon. We spent some time letting Caleb play at the McDonald's play area. He needed to get some energy out before getting back in the car again! He will have a great time - and I know that Mom and Dad will too.
When I got home, Sam and I went to see a movie. We went to see the movie Transformers. It was actually a really good movie. It is one we will be adding to our collection of DVD's for sure. We had a good time. It was nice getting out, just the two of us again. We haven't been abel to do that in a long time. We went to the late movie, so we didn't get home until 11:30 or so. But that was ok. We had a good time.

Friday, August 24th:
I got up around 8am and left for Ft. Smith. Loretta has her knee replacement done today. I got there around 10ish. Fred Jr, Dusty and Linda were in the waiting room. Candi was back in the room with her waiting on them to take her in for the surgery. Waiting is not fun. They finally started her surgery around 11:30. Around 1 they came out and said all went well and she would be in recovery for about an hour then they would move her to her room. I left and went to get me and Linda some lunch. After we ate, they came and told us what room she was going to be in. So we (Linda, Candi and I) packed up and headed to her room. I spent the day there with her.
After I left the hospital, I got in touch with Larry and Jane Plummer. They live their in Ft. Smith. He is the children's minister at FBC Ft. Smith. He is loving it. I went by and visited with them for a little while. It was great seeing them again. I haven't seen them in several years. They couldn't get over the fact that I had a 2 yr old and that I was married. Of course, all they remember is the little girl they knew in Forrest City :o) I am glad I stopped by to see them.
I finally headed home around 8:30. I would have been home around 10, but I took a wrong turn and was in Oklahoma before too long. Thankfully, Ft. Smith is only 10 miles from the Oklahoma border! I got home around 10:30.

Sunday, August 25th:
Sam got tonight off. He went to church with me this morning. After the choir sang, we left and drove back down to Ft. Smith to check on his mom. She was glad to see her son. Sam, Candi and I ended up playing Phase 10. It was fun. Loretta just laid their laughing at us. She was so loopy anyways, anything would have made her laugh! We spent the rest of the day their. We headed home around 6:30.

Monday, August 26th:
Sam and I went by a Medical Supply shop and got Reta's toilet stool for her. We went to her house and put it and her bath seat together. This way it was done when she got home from the hospital. Then we headed off to Branson for 2 days! Since his police department does security for hotels owned by Hilton, he is able to get the employee discount. So, we were able to get a room for $30 a night vs. $120 a night! We went to eat and drove around Monday night. The hotel had an indoor pool, so we went swimming. We were the only ones in their so it was nice.

Tuesday, August 27th:
One of the places there had an indoor water park. We had planned on going to White Water or Silver Dollar City, but they were both closed! We went to the indoor water park for the day. It was pretty neat. They have a HUGE bucket that sits on top of everything and fills up with water. Once it is full, it dumps all over you. They also have two tunnel slides (that was fun!), and a lazy river inside. Outside they have a toddler play area. The water is just deep enough in the middle to sit back and relax in. We had a good time there. That night we went and ate at Shogun's. It was Sam's first experience there. He really liked it. So did I.

Wednesday, August 28th:
We headed home around 9:30 Wednesday morning. Reta came home from the hospital Tuesday night. So, we went by her house and checked on her. Bro. John called me late Tuesday evening and asked if I could stop by to talk about the job as his assistant when we got home Wednesday afternoon. So, I met him at the church around 2 and we discussed the job. I start Tuesday of next week! (Monday is labor day). I am excited. I have wanted to work at the church since Gary needed an assistant. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford it financially then. I knew in God's time it would happen. :o)
Sam and I got back on the road around 3:30 and headed to mom and dad's for the rest of the week. We got there around 11:30 that night. Caleb was already asleep, and even though we both wanted to wake him up, we didn't...we let him sleep.

Thursday, August 29th:
Caleb slept until 10 am this morning. Sam heard him wake up and he went to go get him. Sam rounded the corner from the hallway towards the kitchen. Caleb spotted me sitting at the kitchen table and said "Mommy?!?!?!" Sam put him down and he ran to me and practically jumped into my arms. He wrapped his arms around my neck and just layed there for a while. I cried! Who knew that something like that would make you cry! We spent the rest of the day just hanging out. Sam and Caleb played on the 4-wheeler a lot. They both love it!

Friday, August 30th:
We hung around the house Friday. It was nice to just relax for a while. Friday night, Sam and I took Caleb to Paglia's for supper. Then we went back to the house. We were going to go watch the football game, but it was just a practice game that started at 6pm. Sam said, "it just isn't football unless it is night time with the stadium lights and cool breeze blowing thru". Mom and dad had a wedding dress rehearsal to go to that night. On their way home, the Mike and Betty Miller called and said they were in town for the game (Glasgow played one of the scrimmage games that evening). So, they came over and visited for a while. I haven't seen them since we went to Disney World in 1992. So it was great to see them again. They even brought Caleb a truck and a book! That was really sweet of them! We had a good time visiting and catching up with them.

Saturday, August 31st:
Sam and I took Caleb to the Water park in Eddyville. It is about 10 miles from mom and dad's house. He had SO much fun! Our son is one dare-devil that is for sure. There were lots of other kids their that day. He watched as some of them went down the slide on their tummy's feet first, on thier tummy head first. You could see the wheels turning in his head..."I think I can do that!" So when the crowd of kids died down a little, he got brave and when down the water slide on his tummy- feet first! He loved it. He did this several more times. Then he finally enough courage to go head first down the slide. SOLD. He loved it! There was no stopping him then! We took him to the wave pool. He loved it too. He just loves the water! I am so thankful that he is not scared of the water! I don't know what I would do if my child was scared of the water! I love it just as much! :o)
When we got back to the house, Caleb took a nap. He wore himself out playing at the water park. When Caleb woke up, he and I went for a walk. Sam was out on the 4-wheeler out in the woods. Sam saw us walking when he was coming up from the woods and picked us up. We went over to the pond for a while. Sam wanted to fish with Caleb for a little while. So they did. Didn't catch anything though. We went back up to the house and sat outside and let Caleb play. He found the waterhose - apparently the water valve was not turned off - he hit the spray button and he began to water anything and everything around him. He had seen mom and/or dad put water in the dogs dish, so he filled it back up again. Then he watered his shoes and his pants. Then Patches (the 2 month old kitten) got a bath. She didn't stick around for too long! Caleb had fun with the water hose!
Saturday night we ordered a pizza for supper from Pizza Hut. Mom and Dad had the wedding that evening. By the time we got the pizza home, they were walking in the door from the wedding and the reception, so it was perfect timing. After I put Caleb to bed, we played Phase 10 and Mexican train. We have a blast playing games together. It can get ugly sometimes, but it is all fun!

Sunday, Sept 1:
We went to church with mom and dad. I sang "Lion and the Lamb" for the special today. I love that song! After church, we ate leftovers from the wedding the night before. It was pretty good! We got back to mom and dad's and I got us all packed up, car cleaned out and the car loaded up. We headed back for home around 2. We had a great time at mom and dad's. We always do! We got home about 9pm. Caleb didn't sleep but maybe an hour on the way home, so he did not argue about going to bed! In fact, none of us did!

Monday, Sept 2:
Caleb and I went and spent the day with Reta. Nothing too exciting happened.

Tuesday, Sept 3:
I started work today at the church. I am only working about 24 hours a week right now. In October that will go up to 30 hours a week. I am excited. I was a littel aprehensive as to how it was going to be, but after today, I know that all will be okay. I am grateful to Lynn (Caleb's babysitter). Since I am only working 24 hrs a week, she cut his weekly rate in 1/2. I don't know if we would be able to afford it other wise. :o) Once the hours go more than 30 hours, then her pay will go back up as well. I am very thankful that she was willing to do that for us. God is good!

Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday (9/4-9/6)
Nothing major happened these days. I went to work. I picked up Caleb from Lynn's. We went home. At Supper. He took a bath, went to bed. We got up the next morning and did it all over again ;o) I can tell you that my body was not use to having to get up in the mornings! I have gotten so use to sleeping in every day that my body was just dragging by the end of the week!

Sunday, 9/8
Since it was Grandparents day, I took Caleb to WM to get his grammie a card. We took it over to her. We spent a little while over there. Then John and Debbie were having an open house for the staff. So, we went over there for a little while. Got to see their house. It is beautiful! We came home and spent some time with Sam before he headed off to work. I had nursery duty that evening, so off we went back to church. Caleb had fun playing with the other kids their that night.

Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday (Sept 10,11 & 12)
Nothing major on these days. I went to work. Sam worked. Caleb went to Lynn's.

Side note for Wednesday: I heard back from a supplier who is wanting someone here part time to help with reports and light stuff. I meet with her and her boss Thursday of next week. I pray that this will work out. This will allow us the extra income needed. They are wanting to do the job on a contact basis. Meaning, I will bill them for the hours I worked and they will cut me a check for each billing. I will be considered self-employed on this job. I talked to Mom and Dad about that (dad is considered self-employed). I will have to holdout 15.675% out of each check. Dad said that I need to increase the pay from $20 to a minimum of $25 per hour since I will have to pay the full amount on taxes. They are only wanting around 20 hours a week, so it is something I will be able to do around my job at the church. I pray that this works out!

Thursday, Sept 13th:
This morning we had a Prism Music Workshop at FBC Bentonville. I met Bro. John and Debbie their. Cari Kaufman came as well. I had a good time. Getting to read thru new books being promoted. Jack Price is a hoot. He is the owner of Prism Music. I had a really good time!

Friday, Sept 14th:
Sam and I took Caleb to the Benton County Fair this afternoon. We met Ronnie, Christy and Briley there. Caleb rode a few rides. We looked at the Cows, Sheep, Pigs, Horses, etc. Caleb had fun. But he just didn't understand why he couldn't keep riding the rides as long as he wanted to! That was tough for him! But, we made it thru! We all went to Denny's and ate supper. Caleb walked thru the fair grounds (with his monkey, of course), so he had worked up an appetite. He ate 4 chicken nuggets, 2 mozerella sticks, and a bowl of applesauce with teddy grams! There was not much room left in his little belly after that meal!
Sam worked the hotels tonight. So, Caleb and I headed home. I gave him a bath when we got home. While he was playing, he pooped in the tub. I couldn't see anything b/c of the bubbles lining the top of the water, so I have no idea how long it had been in there! Gross! So, I emptied the water from the tub. Cleaned the tub. Then we took another bath to wash the poop off of him! By then, we were both worn out! He didn't put up too much of a fight going to bed friday night!

Saturday, Sept 15th:
We got up and went to the Fayetteville mall. I had to get Caleb some more footed pajama's. He has outgrown the ones that are a 24 mos! We had to by 3T's..and those won't last but a few months! He is growing up too quickly! I got a call from Christy Fast that morning as well. They found out they are expecting their 2nd baby! She was so excited, as am I. That will put about 28 months in between Briley and the new baby. Lord, I pray that Briley will adjust okay to having to share both mommy and daddy! That will be the hardest part for her!

Sunday, Sept 16th:
Sunday was church. One of the guys from the Sportsman Extravaganza spoke this morning. He was great! After church, we went by to see Reta for a little while. She is doing good. Other than that, not much else is going on.


I think this gets us caught up for now! More later....