I know that most blogs die in a short amount of time. This is not an entry saying that I am done writing. I am simply letting you know that the reason I haven’t been writing lately is because I have not been on my computer much. My computer is slowly dying, and I must keep it alive until I get a new one in the fall. So I am not on it as much as I used to be. Also, I am at work almost full time, then while I’m at home, I don’t want to waste my time on the computer when I could be spending time with my familly. So…I’ll try to keep updated and when I start school in August/September again, I can see if it’s going to work out with that schedule. I’ll be on the computer more, and I’ll be away from my family, so it’s likely going to work.

What a Wonderful Weekend

Hey everyone, sorry about the lack of posting.

I have been busy busy busy and can’t think of what to write sometimes. I guess some people call it writer’s block. But since I don’t really consider myself a writer, I guess it would have to be something else.

Hmm…a little update on my life…

I had a great 3-day weekend that included:

- a failed attempt at making star shaped banana pancakes

- trip to Walmart

- church picnic

- fireworks (celebrating our freedom and thinking about those who got it for us)

- trash pickup in the park

- trip to the computer store

- 2 hour episode of Clean House

- a rousing game of 13 domino chicken foot

- chinese food and ice cream

- breaking brand new nail polish on my tile floor

- scrubbing the tile grout for over an hour (it came out! hurray!)

- church

- a nap

- my first try at tennis

- sand (dirt) volleyball

- the newest episode of Food Network Star!

It was lovely. (except the nail polish breaking and the pancake breakfast) I don’t have much time to spare right now to write a full-blown entry, because I need to study to take the basic Math clep test. I was wondering if any of you have taken it, do you have any advice? I have to pass it in order to take a class I pretty much HAVE to take this fall. Yikes! I hope you all have a great Monday and I will try to write more often from now on!

sorry…

My computer needs a new fan. The other one has stopped working completely. I will try to write soon!!

Missing, Evacuating, and Moving

Yesterday was a very long, crazy day.

It began the night before. Well, technically it began that same day, at 12:15 am, when I realized that…

…my cell phone was missing.

AND

…it was on silent

Earlier in the evening, my younger sisters and I had gone to a friend’s house and played flashlight tag and volleyball. This friend has a very large yard and they live out in the country. I was absolutely certain that I left my phone at their house because I knew I had it when I went there.

“If you’ve lost it, I can find it.” – Harlow Doyle

So we called our friend and he kindly went out in the dark to look for the phone. Without success.

Thursday was the day that I didn’t have to go into work until noon. That is always lovely, and I was excited to have the morning off. I usually get up around 7, (I know, I know, I’m a morning person!!) but I was tired so I slept until 8. 

What does that have to do with the story, you might ask. Well, not a lot actually. But I just want to show you how I lost an hour of the day that I normally have, partially due to losing my phone.

Now, lest (lest?) ha ha this story bore you, I will continue it, because it is by no means all about losing my phone. 

“The person responsible for this whole thing is…EUGENE MELTZNER!” – Harlow Doyle

“Mel, Rob’s watch is missing.” – Sally Rogers

“Which watch?” – Mel

“The one that goes, ’tick-tock’” - Buddy

So anyway, my younger sisters and I left for our friend’s house around 9 and didn’t come back until nearly 11. We walked all around the yard. It wasn’t very fun, but it was a beautiful morning!

When I got home, we heard my mom’s cell phone ring. Now please note that all the cell phones for everyone in my family (except my dad) look exactly the same. My mom picked up one of them, and said, “18 missed calls?!” I ran over and we quickly discovered that it was my phone. It was in my sister’s purse! We have no idea how it got there. But I’m glad to have it home.

“Whit! Where’ve ya been? We’ve been looking all over for you! Welcome home! Relax everyone, I’ve found him!” – Harlow

Then I had to go to work. We were one teacher short in the daycare, so for an hour, I had to watch two classes, the three-year-olds and the schoolagers. The 3-year-olds weren’t behaving at all, and it was naptime. The whole day I was very impatient with the kids, which is not good.

But the story from daycare doesn’t end there. At the end of the day, another teacher and I were closing up, and we still had four kids left. The other teacher was cleaning out the trash bins and she ran out of cleaner. So she added our bleach mixture to the rest of the cleaner. It began to smell horrible, but we didn’t really think anything was wrong. I then began to clean the little boys’ bathroom with the same cleaner, and for some reason I thought to make sure that this cleaner was okay to be mixed with bleach.

My dad has always told me, “Never mix ammonia and bleach.” He is a fire chief, so when the back of the bottle read, “Do not mix with bleach products, harmful gases may occur” or something of that nature, the other teacher and I took all the kids outside and I called my dad.

He sent over two firetrucks.

The bottle of cleaner was hot and swelling up. We put it in the parking lot.

Fortunately, we only had to explain what happened to the firemen, three parents, our boss, and the cleaning lady. 

Do not mix cleaners.

“Not to self: buy mouthwash. Dishwasher soap doesn’t have same minty freshness.” – Harlow

(I don’t know what’s the deal with all the Harlow quotes today)

Oh but my day was not over yet. Oh no! Not at all.

I came home and ate dinner. My dad and a friend were working on our roof, so, as you can imagine, it was very peaceful and quiet inside. I didn’t do much for a couple hours, until my youngest sister came home. When about 9 o’clock rolled around, we were talking in her room, and as we had been thinking of it for a while, (I’d been ready to do it since early May), we decided to move my bed up to her room. My bedroom is in the basement, but I’ve gotten used to sleeping with people in the same room, having a roommate at school and all. My youngest sister and I always drag our mattresses to eachother’s rooms when I’m home. Her room is upstairs. Being the young, spontaneous sort of people that we are, we decided to do it right away. But we knew it was vital to get the furniture moving done before my dad came in from working, or he’d think we were doing a big moving project.

What a silly thought.

Because after all, all we had to do was…

…move her two bookshelves downstairs

…take apart my bed and move it upstairs

…put together my bed

…take it apart again to move it

…move her dresser, bed and desk around the room

Now why would he think that was a big deal?

“Lift with your knees, not with your back!” – Eugene

“Well neither work to well at my age.” – Whit

So by 10:30, we had finished, and were exhausted.

“Well folks, that’s been my day. From the early morning jog in the park, to this little gathering we’ve had here.” – Alan Brady

 

 

The Great Bird Escape

My life is full of adventures and excitement. Many of the adventures are self-inflicted, sometimes they are brought about by my own lack of sense, but others, like the one this morning, just happen upon me.

I was in the basement, doing a little of this and that on my laptop, and I noticed a large robin acting very nervous at the top of our window well. This robin was big. And frustrated. In fact, it’s hair was standing on end. That is, its feathers were ruffled.

I quickly took in the situation. There was a baby bird trapped in the window well. This bird must have been learning how to fly. (By the way, have you ever thought about how their isn’t a well-known word for baby birds in general? I mean, chickens have chicks, ducks have ducklings, geese have goslings, but robins have…roblings? Really now.)

I immediately went upstairs and out the back door to discover how dire the situation really was. The baby bird wasn’t very small, it must have been learning to fly and fell into the window well. While I peered into it, two very angry birds flew around chirping loudly.

My two younger sisters came outside to help me. We got a shovel, to see if we could scoop it out. But this baby robin didn’t know what we were doing and naturally hopped off the shovel every time we managed to get it on. After several tries, we knew the shovel had to go.

We needed a new plan.

An original plan.

But before we came up with one, someone decided to try a badminton racket. No such luck.

So back to the original plan we went.

We decided to walk down the street to the nearby wood and find a branch to put into the window well. According to this plan, the bird would hop up the branch and out to freedom in the yard. My sister and I walked to the woods.

After a little searching, I broke off a nice big branch from a pile of jumbled up plants, and we took it back to our house. I don’t carry large branches very often, and I must admit, it gave me a feeling of triumph to have broken it off myself.

We made our way back to the window well, and I strategically placed the branch inside it. I must explain that while this was going on, the birds were flying around and my sisters defended me by waving their hands and badminton rackets in the air. These birds were MAD!

After the branch was in place, my sisters and I went to the basement to watch the happenings through the window.

You may be able to make out the bird in the lower right-hand side. As you can see, the bird was frightened to get onto the branch. (Notice the Adventures in Odyssey albums on the window. I do not store them there, I was also videotaping this adventure and hoped to set the camera on top of them. It didn’t work)

After a long long while of waiting, we watched the mother (or father) robin come up to the window well. It chirped a few times. It was likely telling the baby bird that there was a branch there and the large creatures who were trying to kill the bird with the shovel were gone. After much more waiting, I saw the baby robin finally get up enough courage to climb the branch.

We were so proud of our little baby bird.

And thus concludes the saga of the Great Bird Escape.

Yes, I’m here

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Not only has it been a crazy week, I forgot my password to my blog, and the password to my e-mail account, so I had to redo both of those. Anyway, I don’t have time for a long entry right now, but I wanted to let you know I’m still alive!

Serving Trivially

What is “serving God?” Isn’t it really serving others in His name?

I don’t do big things to serve God.

Sometimes it seems that we focus so much on doing the big important things that we neglect the people around us.

…just because a coworker is living in sin, do you spend all your energy witnessing to him, and don’t notice that your own brother just needs someone to talk to?

…do you pray and read your Bible like a pastor but don’t bother to smile and be extra kind to those around you?

…are you willing to give up your life for Christ but not willing to help your family clean up the kitchen without being asked?

…are you different from your coworkers/classmates simply because your personal lives are different, but your efforts at work are the same?

…do you think of God’s goodness only when every detail of your life is to your liking, or do you complain because it’s much easier?

Shouldn’t we as Christians be the first to listen to our brothers and sisters?

Hebrews 3:13 “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (NIV)

Should we not be the first to speak with patience and kindness to our families and everyone around us because we have live-giving, soul-satisfying joy?

Col. 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (NIV)

Isn’t “dying to ourselves” supposed to be apparent in our daily lives? Shouldn’t others be so much more important that we look for opportunities to be a blessing to them?

Matt. 20:26-28 “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)

To be a good witness of Christ in our schools or workplaces, shouldn’t we be: more dilligent in our work, respectful of the boss/teacher, refrain from gossip, do more than the bare minimum? Won’t this show that we do have different values rather than that we simply don’t watch the same movies as unbelievers?

Col. 3:22-24 “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (NIV)

And finally, when something doesn’t go your way, are you quick to be upset (sigh, complain, speak out in frustration) or do you try to think of how “a thankful heart is a happy heart” (Veggie Tales)

Phil. 2:14-16 ”Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” (ESV)

This last verse has always been so eye opening for me. We, as believers, will shine out as lights in a dark world just by not grumbling, complaining or arguing!! Isn’t that so true, and I’m sure you can see how that would make you different from nonbelievers.

Believe me, I’m preaching to myself here. I work at a daycare and besides that am only around my family and church friends in the summer. Sometimes it can feel like I’m not really doing anything of significance. But it doesn’t really matter, because God sees the small things. He knows when you don’t feel like doing your job well just because the boss isn’t around but you do it anyway. He sees when you give up your time to listen to someone whose talking does not interest you. He watches everything you do, and he reads the motives and intents of your heart behind your actions.

Let’s make it our goal to honor God in EVERYTHING that we do, and in our interactions with EVERYONE around us. We will not be able to do it perfectly, but I believe God uses a willing heart to accomplish things for Him. (And an unwilling heart, but that’s another entry for another time.)  

It’s Monday…hurray!

I like Mondays. When I’m not in school. Which is not most of the time. So pretty much I like Mondays in the summer. It’s the start of a new week! With new accomplishments and events to happen! I mean, do you feel that on a Wednesday? Who starts major things on Wednesdays? I sure don’t.

Today I look forward to one thing. This one thing comes from working long hours at work. This thing I’m talking about is a feeling. It’s a good feeling. One can only get this feeling when they have been working hard all day, are tired, hungry, and walk into an inviting house with delicious food awaiting them and a comfortable couch to sit upon. Friendly faces ask them how their day was. I will experience this today at approximately 6:05. The first day of working at the daycare for the rest of the summer.  

It’s silly, but I’m a little trepidatious about the summer going by too fast and having to go back to school shortly. I have SO much to do this summer, and I want to enjoy it. I am excited to go back to the daycare and see my kids. I have missed them so much. I am NOT ready in the least to go back to school in the fall, my mind and emotions were done with the schoolwork and the socialization.  

I’ve been listening to the new Adventures in Odysseys on the weekends, naturally, and I have actually been enjoying the Kidsboro series. I have actually found people who don’t know that you can listen to AIO online, so if you didn’t know that, here’s the link. So for all you Odyssey fans out there, I want to know, what was the last episode you listened to? Mine was…Kidsboro II. Big suprise there.

I’m also drawing a blank for quotes today so I think this entry will be somewhat lacking in “a little humor.” – Stacey Petrie (Dick van Dyke show)

Last night was my first evening service at my church in months. It was so good. I love my church friends. I played Skippo golf with them! I am a board/card game fanatic and the kids taught me how to play Skippo golf and it was much fun. I don’t really know why it’s called Skipbo golf because in my opinion it makes it sound boring and unlike a card game. All I know is that you want the fewest points possible and apparently that’s like golf. I obviously don’t know much about golf.

“Congratulations, Mandy. I’m glad to pass the golden putter to you. Even though I never actually got to hold it.” – Alex Jefferson (AIO)

“I guess I just don’t understand what waxing your car has to do with golf.” – Alex

I hope you all have a great Monday and think of it not as the beginning of a long week, but as the door to a new adventure!

Okay so I know that was incredibly lame, but this isn’t:

Psalm 118:24

“This is the day that the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

 

 

 

The living is easy…for now

I officially (actually, it would really be unofficially, because how do I make it official?) have three days of freedom from work left. I start work at a daycare on Monday for the rest of the summer. Ah beautiful summer, well, it’s beautiful right now, as soon as it becomes 200% humidity and 90 degrees, I don’t love it at all, but at least I am school-free and get to be at home!! I looked back at some pictures I took the last couple weeks of school, and I’m so thankful to have a repreive for a while. I’m also going to be co-leading a Bible study for college/highschool girls, so that should definitely be…a learning experience. I’m excited though.

“What could be worse for a teacher than to be called boring?” – Connie

“Being called lazy.” – Whit

That AIO episode was where girls stopped going to Connie’s Bible study because she stopped preparing good material. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to me!

The youth leader’s wife and I are going to do the study every other week and on the alternate weeks, I’m going to do something fun with the girls by myself. Does anyone have any ideas about things we can do that don’t require money? We all know eachother really well so hopefully that will make it easier to find things to do.

Also, how do I make it so I can put words up by/around the picture on this post? So that the picture isn’t just at the top of the post but in it. I can’t figure it out.

Suburbs Gone Wild

It was Friday evening. It was dusk. I was sitting in my basement, by myself, in the dark, watching TV. I expected that this evening would include a little TV watching, and maybe a few games if I could persuade my family to play with me. Little did I know excitement was happening at that very moment.

I sat in front of the tube, halfheartedly watching, and growing more and more bored. Finally, I could tolerate it no longer. I turned off the TV and walked upstairs. I looked around. I didn’t see any of my family in the house. Where were they? I walked toward the kitchen, and as I did, I looked out the back door into the backyard. There I saw something that astonished me.

My sister Anna and her friend were sitting in chairs in the middle of the patio, watching something. I walked closer to the door, and further in the yard, I saw figures of people, one with a tool the size of a shovel, walking around the garden. I quickly recognized two friends from church and my younger sister and my mom.

My thoughts raced. What were they doing here? Why was everyone around the garden? The garden had become a pile of weeds, extremely overgrown. In fact, if I shrunk to be the size of a small toy, I could get lost in it and never find my way out!! This was not a spot of communal enjoyment. No, there had to be a reason. A bad reason, why they were surrounding it. I, being the bright detective that I am, figured the easiest way to uncover the truth behind the clues I was quickly gathering would be to…

ask Anna.

She filled me in on the story. Apparenly, about a half hour before I had even realized it, while I was wasting my life away, this happened. Anna was sitting in the living room. My sister Sarah came rushing into the kitchen (which is next to the living room) to talk to my mom and was making quite a commotion. When the commotion grew louder and more commotionous, Anna walked to the kitchen to discover the reason…

Sarah had found a SNAKE in the garden. Yes, that’s right. A snake.

Now to keep this from being anticlimactic, you must understand that I live in the suburbs. The most we ever see is an unusually large spider (shudder) or a deer from the neighboring woods. A snake was found a couple years ago in my window well, a big black snake, which had come, we assume, because of the flooding we had had nearby. However, we are not so close to a city to not experience these things. Cornfields lie relatively close to our neighborhood. So we should expect such a commonality as a snake to come at some points in time, especially in a very overgrown and sometimes living garden.

My dad was at work at the time, so Sarah and my mom tried to decide if they could call someone to come help them get the snake out-who had a nice hole he (or she) was living in under a pile of weeds in the garden. So they called two boys (friends of ours who live on a farm only a few minutes away) to come to see what they could do with it. They brought a strange tool of some sort, and now I, having pulled up a chair next to Anna and her friend, watched the rest of the fun. (I mean, danger.)

In a relatively short amount of time, the older boy had succeeded in putting the snake into a bucket. This finally allowed me to view the creature that was causing so much havock to my normally ordinary Friday night.

There it is. The small thing that made my weekend. My friends decided to take it home with them and let it go in their large farmland.

The End.