Sometimes I Write

My friend Tawnya was here this week from Kansas City. We had a such a great visit until she left yesterday. Her timing couldn’t have been better with Benny and Max being in Texas. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands when it came time to go anywhere, and she is great with my kids. Zoe the cuddlebug would hardly leave her side the whole week. 🙂

We drove up to Buena Vista and stayed with my inlaws for a few days and played tourist. Tawnya loves to travel and see new things, and I was happy to play tour guide in these mountains I love so much. The first night we were there, we met Linda for dinner. It feels a little odd for two worlds to collide, you know a friend from one period of your life meeting a friend from another, but I was glad these two women that I love could meet each other.

Wednesday morning we drove to St. Elmo, an old mining/ghost town up on Mt. Princeton where we hand fed chipmunks. We took pictures of the high mountain lakes, and Cascade Falls which runs alongside the road – a tourist spot for sure. We drove up Cottonwood Pass to the Continental Divide and parked so we could climb up to where the snow was. (The kids stayed with grandma and grandpa for that one.) I told her she HAD to take my picture up there because there was no way my MIL would believe that I hiked anywhere. LOL The hike produced 9 more heart-shaped rocks! 9! That doubled my collection, though the ones received by Benny and Max hold more of a special place in my own heart. We visited Mountain View that night with my in-laws. It was an interesting hour! It was singing night, which I love, but right in the middle of the song that my FIL requested for me, Petey filled his pants and my cell phone rang! I don’t get service most of the time up there, so I didn’t think to shut it off! Right after that mess, literally, my van alarm started going off so I had to leave again! It was not my night!!!

The next day my FIL made us all his homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast before we left to head back to Denver. He’s tried to teach me how to do it, but honestly I prefer to just eat his when we visit. I can’t make good gravy to save my life! We drove past Twin Lakes on the way to Leadville and I thought of the group from Northside that might still be in the area. It was cloudy and rainy and I hoped it wasn’t their day to go whitewater rafting. Not knowing their schedule, they could have already been on their way back to TX.

Leadville is the highest elevated city in the continental U.S. It too is an old mining town, and though it isn’t much to look at, it is rich with history. Tawnya had been trying to capture wildlife on film since we fed the chipmunks and driving through Leadville she saw a fox in a front yard. I turned around to drive by again, but it was already gone. We took LOTS of pictures while she was here. (She’s a scrapbook junkie) 🙂 I’ll post a few after I get them scanned into the computer this week.

Thursday night my friends Jonathan and Jennifer watched the kids so Tawnya and I could go out for dinner. We went by Shakespeare’s first so I could introduce her to the other Dry Bones staff and a few of the street kids I know. In this case, former street kids – Cheeto, Don, and Bob. All three are now off the streets and have jobs. Praise God! They still come to pool night and hang out with everyone. There were about half as many kids there as normal. I don’t know if the rain kept them away or what. Nikki said she heard there was a concert downtown, so they could have been spanging. (collecting spare change from people) After that we went to Cinzetti’s for dinner. That place is awesome! There are only two restaurants, one in Denver, and one in Kansas City (Overland Park). Tawnya and I have now been to both of them together. If you’re ever in either city, you have to eat there.

Friday morning Tawnya left and I spent the rest of the day running errands with Jennifer and baby Judah, Zoe, and Petey. We went to Savers and witnessed a screaming woman be obnoxious with her kids. I don’t ever want to be one of those parents that people actually sigh with relief when the offensive family leaves the store. It won’t happen! After my irritation subsided I felt sorry for her. I have no idea what her life is like, I just don’t think yelling and screaming in a store is any way for an adult to act…EVER!

Today I’m hanging out at home and catching up on a little housework and resting. I’m hoping Benny and Max will be home on Monday since they were unable to find another place to speak about DB on Sunday. Speaking at Northside was a HUGE blessing last Sunday. It really was the reason for the whole trip to begin with. Benny and Max have definitely been loved on by our friends in the south and I’m so grateful! Their hearts have been cared for and they’ve been able to stay with friends we’ve not seen in a long time. Today they’re in Dallas seeing his grandparents, and his great aunt, none of which are in good health. They’ll be traveling back to Denver from Dallas via I35 north through OKC and Wichita, then I70 west from Salina to Denver. If you know anyone else he can share the DB message with on the way, email me and I’ll relay the message.

MANY MANY THANKS to the Northside congregation, and all of the people that have welcomed my guys into their homes or fed them this past week: Bob & Glenda Laxson, Troy & Lauren, Shaun & Emily Burrow, Marshall & Kristine Morris, Chip & Lisa Bloecher, Dan McGregor, and anyone else I may have forgotten to list here. My family is truly blessed with great friends!

In the beginning was Adam…Copeland that is. He emails to invite me to check out his new blog, which I do. I then read everyone he links to and get hooked on Mike Cope’s blog. I am intrigued by some of the people that comment there and join the crowd. Then I start checking out their blogs too. Some stood out in my mind and they became my favorites, though they are too numerous to list here. It wasn’t very long before I began my own…MY Journey was born. One day Sandy is hitting the “Next Blog” button and stumbles onto MY Journey and leaves a comment. I reciprocated and BAM! Instant new blogging friend. By this time I’ve told everyone who would listen that I’m offically an addicted blogger and they need to read my posts. Others begin leaving comments to what I have to say, and ofcourse I link back to them. Jetty Betty begins blessing my socks off with her encouragement and soon I’m looking forward to reading her every new post and seeing her initials in my comments section. TMK found me through Adam’s blog. Another blogging sister! Yeah! Soon I’m seeing JB, TMK, and Sandy commenting on each others blogs. Adam, Brock and I are talking up blogging at camp and now Chris and Natalie have started their own blogs. Which JB is already leaving her encouragement on! Everybody sing with me…

It’s a small blog world after all…
It’s a small blog world afterall…
It’s a small blog world afterall…
It’s a small blog world! 🙂

You can never have too many friends…2 single, wonderful youth ministers, a world class traveler, a country star in the making, 2 super SAHM’s (stay-at-home-moms) – one with twins!, a newly married man and his young wife (wink wink), a preacher/college professor with quite a following, an army man and his band, a mountain mama, a college student, and the list goes on. Yep! That’s my blogging family!

Here’s a picture of me and the sand eater. Despite his MANY allergies, he’s a very happy and goofy child and such a blessing in my life. It seems whenever I’m feeling a little blue, he crawls into my lap and says, “hold you” or “hug, hug”. He is keeping me on my toes this weekend! Benny stores his clippers underneath his side of the sink in our masterbath. Today Petey brought them to me and said, “haircut?” as he was holding them to his head. I definitely need to recheck all of our sockets and make sure there are safety covers on them!!! I’ve said it many times before…life is NEVER boring at our house!

I was born exactly 33 years and 13 minutes ago, at Camp Pendleton in sunny California to hippie military parents. 🙂 (yeah, they’ll love reading that-oxymoron and all) What a life I’ve had so far! I know where I come from and I know where I’m going. I think that’s something to be proud of! Life has been funny, sad, horrific, and joyful…and that’s just today!

Benny and Max left for TX early this morning. I thought I’d get to blog a bit before the other kids woke up, but 30 minutes after they left, I heard Petey (17 mos. old) in the livingroom. I walked out there to get him and there he stood with his finger up his nose. He saw me and said “booger” and tried to show me his finger. (gross – thanks for making me a boy mom, God!) He said “yuuuuucky!” to which I agreed and got him a tissue. We cuddled for a bit on the couch then Zoe joined us and we had breakfast. I had Pete desensitized to some allergens this week, so I gave him a little bit of milk on his corn chex – the only cereal he’s NOT allergic to. Within minutes he was breaking out in hives all over his body. UGH!!! The milk desensitization did NOT work. Good thing I own stock in Benadryl! 😉 jk.

I cleaned all morning which I didn’t think was fair since it was my birthday. Somebody had to do it. (martyr sigh) I decided to take the kids outside for awhile before the temp reached 130 or whatever it was today. I cleaned on the patio while they played with sandbox sand we had brought home from a camp activity. We have no sandbox so I poured it into a shallow tub. A few minutes later I heard a strange noise behind me and turned around to see Petey choking. He had poured a cup full of play sand down his throat and couldn’t breathe. There was no sound of moving air, just him frantically wiping his tongue- which wasn’t working. Play sand does not get slimy like regular dirt. It expands and clumps up. I grabbed him and stuck my finger down his throat to scoop out whatever I could. There was A LOT of sand in that tiny space, and he was turning purple! I repeated it until he could breathe again and throw up on me. I grabbed a bottle of water and dumped some in his mouth. I knew it would choke him a bit, but my goal was to get the airway clear all the way and choking/spitting seems to help that sometimes. I got his mouth cleaned out and had him drink the water. He didn’t even cry! After he was o.k. he looked at me and said, “yucky!” I almost cried. Did I mention that Zoe was oblivious to the whole episode? That means if I hadn’t been standing right there, he would have died. Even if Zoe had been paying attention, what’s a 2 1/2 year old going to do? I’m very surprised at how calm I remained during the whole thing. Now retelling it, I’m a bit shaky. A friend called a few minutes later and I couldn’t even bring myself to tell him what had just happened. Temporary shock I guess. I called Benny right after that and told him I’m not letting Petey out of my sight again until he’s 21. Choking shouldn’t be a problem by then.

One of the DB interns, Tricia, came over to spend the afternoon with us since it was her day off. I got to slip away by myself for an hour which was a nice treat. We had a good talk before I left and discovered that we both went to York, though she’s a senior at ACU this year, and I graduated 13 years ago. (us Yorkies are everywhere)

Tricia also watched the kids while I went out for supper with a new friend from one of the churches we’ve been visiting. (See? another answered prayer) This woman and I had so much in common it was amazing! We had so much fun laughing and talking you never would have guessed that we’ve only met a few times before. We clicked. Praise God! She took me home just in time for Tricia to leave to meet some of her friends, and Jonathan and Jennifer to come over for a visit with baby Judah (8 weeks old). I love having them over to our house. We talked and talked and talked…you get the picture. For those of you who have been reading here since the beginning, they are the couple we were supposed to start DB Boulder with. BTW, they are currently looking for a youth ministry position and are unsure about their future direction. Please add them to your prayer lists.

It’s been a long day. Just ask Petey. You can find him curled up in my bed instead of his own. He’s not sleeping well tonight (keeps running to my room), which means I probably won’t either.

Benny and Max arrived safely in Tulsa to spend the night with friends, then it’s on to San Antonio tomorrow. I’m a bit jealous that I couldn’t go, but before I go recalling the pre-children trips of our youth, I’ll just be thankful that I have three to enjoy, protect, laugh with and at, and love. I’m still jealous that Benny gets to meet/see a few of my blogging friends before I do. (like TMK) How’s that fair? :)- He’s preaching at Northside C of C, both services on Sunday. That’s where our friend Adam is the y.m. Ironically, Adam (with a group of 25 teens and adults) is on his way to Colorado to climb a mountain. Pray for him too. Remember, he broke a bone in his foot at Zenith. He’s healing well, and he’ll be fine. He commented that maybe there’s a reason why he needed to be slowed down before/for this trip. Our friend Chris gets back from Mexico tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear how his group did this past week. Check out his new blog here.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am?

Thank you Lord for the best, most faith-growing year yet!

I am inspired by this woman. I was led to her blog by Mike. She’s a single mother of two young girls and she’s fighting an uphill battle against melanoma. Please pray for her and her family, and check out her blog for yourself at www.kcjlane.blogspot.com
Just in case you’re not a blogsurfer, here is her most recent post:

Dancing With God

When i meditated on the word Guidance, i kept seeing “dance” at the end of the word.

i remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.

The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.

One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.

It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.

When i saw “G”: i thought of God, followed by “u” and “i”.

“God”, “u” and “i” “dance.” God, you, and i dance.

As i lowered my head, i became willing to trust that i would get guidance about my life.

Once again, i became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday.

May you abide in God as God abides in you.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

Prayer is one of the best gifts we can receive.

There is no cost but lots of rewards; so let’s continue to pray for one another.

i hope you dance…and let Him lead!