Nothing.

I got nothing today.

I've been gone all day helping clean at someone else's house...which by the way is SO MUCH BETTER THAN CLEANING YOUR OWN! Why is that?!? Let me know if you happen to know the answer to that one...

I can't come up with anything because I am FREAKING out a little bit about this tomorrow:

I can't come up with ANYTHING to talk about so you can "see" me...it's like a deer in headlights.

Not good.

It well certainly not help me in pretending to sound smart when I talk on the camera ;)

Have any ideas for a topic?

Help....

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We Have A Winner...

Remember this little give-away?!? :)

I tried, really I did, to figure out that fancy little random number generator that I've seen on countless give-aways...but obviously, in my computer idiotness I totally couldn't figure it out.

So I resorted to a much more scientific approach.

1. printed off the comments
2. cut them in strips
3. folded and placed in a bowl
4. mixed them up

Then, the boys, picked one.

And the winner is........

Tracie @ Coffee with the Crains!!!!!! Congratulations!

I had to smile, because after all the printing, cutting and folding and mixing of those comments...Eli draws the first comment on that post :)

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Six Years Ago...

Six years ago today I looked like this...

And then, at 11:39 PM just 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital, I had this:You caught me off guard that night my little Eli...who knew you'd plan on making such a fast entrance into this world?!? No induction, no epidural, no monitors, no IV...just a nurse, holding your head in while the Dr. hurried in from another floor.

When it was all over, your daddy and I sat there in the quietness of our hospital room, staring at you...trying to wrap our brains around all that had transpired in just a few short hours.

From the very moment I found out I was carrying you, God used you to strengthen my faith and dependence on Him. My prayer for you my sweet boy, is that you grow up loving Him with all your heart. That your faith would be strong and your dependence on Him...even stronger.

I love you my big six year old boy!

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A Tiny Town Give-Away!

So...if you've read my blog at all this summer you know it's been quite eventful in tiny town over the past several months.

All that God is doing here in the midst of it...just continues to take my breath away. Sometimes to appreciate today, one must go back and remember where they were.

Here's a little journey down memory lane...

May 25th 2008: An EF5 tornado came through the and devastated the West side (just outside of town) and the North end of town where the cemetery and new housing development stood.

Looked a little like this:

This was my friend Shanon's home. It has been bull-dozed and the new framing of the house should start going up this month! YAY! Many of the other homes that were hit are also in the process of rebuilding.

This was the cemetery. All of the big pine trees that lined it were totally gone and head stones turned over. The headstones have been put back in place, and this fall new evergreens will be planted.

Then, during the midst of the tornado clean-up, on June 8th 2008, tiny-town experienced one of the worst floods in its history. This is a town that is used to flooding...it's just part of life...but this flood covered most of the town in water and it was devastating...to say the least.

As I went back to find pictures of it, I realized that at the time, every time I went to get my camera, I was just too sad to even take a picture of the devastation. I have some of our basement, which was so very minor compared to the rest of town, which if probably why I have a pic of it.

Here was our basement:

We've since gotten a new water heater, and a new furnace will be installed soon. BUT, it's dry...and still smells a little like bleach :)Rubber boots were the staple for quite some time...I have to say, I miss them a little.

OK, now starts our journey through tiny town. I was trying to be discreet and take pictures (from my van and yes those are stickers stuck to it, imagine that) while driving around...yeah, that doesn't work so well :) AND in tiny-town you can't do anything without someone you know seeing you...my friend Connie ran into me when I was down by the CO-OP and said "what are you doing?!?" ...because generally, I don't hang out at the CO-OP...although I might start...

I digress...the above picture is what several homes in town now look like. Many had to be burned down.

While others:

Just got jacked waaaay up in the air...whatever works.

Many are trying to sell what's left and move on, and others (below) have decorated their house before it's scheduled destruction...

And we also have some good 'ol FEMA trailers...which by the way, I have NO IDEA how a family fits in there.

This was our Kwik Star that...hmmm...how shall I say it....totally abandoned us in our time of need. I do not heart kwik star anymore.

We did lose the gas station, but the car wash re-opened! And, for the record, it has a pop machine...which I've visited on more than one occasion ;)

And last, but certainly not least...the beloved post office! IT'S OPEN!!! In it's honor...I give you a pic of our PO Boxes...exciting, I know.

So, for my very first give-away in honor of the post office, I'm giving away 3 of my favorite things...

1. A $10 gift card to STARBUCKS


2. Some Aveda Conditioner


3. And a "green" bag from Target that folds with velcro tabs into the size of a wallet...SO CUTE!

Leave me a comment, tell me anything, and you'll be registered in my little drawing! It'll be open through Saturday and I'll post the winner on Sunday! If you're not a blogger or are a blogger without an email address listed, please leave me your email in your comment so I can get ahold of you!

HAPPY FRIDAY! It's Homecoming Game for tiny-town tonight...GO BIG BLUE!!!!!

PS - if you're interested in reading more about tiny town you can go to the left side of my sidebar and click on tiny town under "things I blog about".

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Post Office: I love You...

First off: Your comments yesterday were so incredibly encouraging to me, thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm feeling better about walking through that fear, realizing that it's going to feel scary, but maybe that's how walking in faith is supposed to feel...

Second: This bloggy friend had such a clever post yesterday...I'm totally wishing I'd thought of it...oh, and it mentions my name in it...and it's funny...and you should just listen to me and go watch it :)

Third: Guess what openes in tiny-town TODAY?!?
Did you guess?
THE POST OFFICE. Yiiiippppeeeee!
No more driving into the bigger city just to get my bills mail. But, it really was an excellent excuse to drive thru Starbucks...so for that reason, I might miss it a little.

Or not. I can still hit the Starbucks on the way to Target ;)


So, tomorrow, in honor of the post office re-opening and tiny-town (and me) recovering from this and this and this and this...I'm gonna have some pictorial updates and my very first GIVEAWAY (which I can send out from my new fixed up post office!)


I'm not entirely sure what the give-away will be yet...but it will certainly involve some of this super smelling stuff ;)


So...come back tomorrow and visit and enter yourself and then I can have a good 'ol time drawing names! :)


I have now resorted to bribing you....wow....it's kinda like you're my children now.

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Where'd the Fear Come From?!?

Updates:

• Eli is back to school
• I am feeling better!
• A lovely friend called and volunteered to take Jake today, God bless her.
• I always want a quiet house...and then when it's quiet, guess what I do...miss them. Good grief. I am going to be a terrible empty-nester I think.

Here's me thinking out loud today...

So, I may have mentioned before that I am a bit of a control freak.

I wish I wasn't...but I am.

I also mentioned before that there is one particular life-changing decision that I'm trying to give up control of. It is not particularly enjoyable, the process of letting go.

Part of the problem is...that I'm not quite sure which decision is actually the one that relinquishes control.

The other part of the problem is that I can't shut-up the inner dialogue in my head that keeps making pro and con lists...aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

Really, as I type this, I'm thinking what would I tell someone in my particular predicament... (because I like telling other people how to obey ;)

So, if I were going to Dr. Phil myself, I would say...

• play out the "what-if" game to completion.
• How's that working for you?

And then I wonder...where is this fear coming from? The fear of something happening that I think I'm not ready for...after all, I can name a million things that have happened in my little life that I was pretty sure I couldn't handle...and it turns out, they're some of the biggest blessings.

You all know why...His strength, His leading, His plan. How can I look back at all of that and have any doubts of who is in control? What am I so scared of? When did this fear creep in?

It needs to go.

I wish I could share details with you. I wish I could put a little poll box at the top of my blog and ya'll could just cast a vote and then I would just do what you said...do you ever get to that point? Where you wear yourself out thinking about something and end up just wanting someone to tell you what you should do?!?

It's been my prayer for awhile now...God, just tell me what to do...and then I sit back and pout because it isn't "clear" enough. Truth is...He's been crystal clear...I just seem to keep clouding it up with my pro/con list. Dang lists.

Ya know what...through all this rambling, I've found some clarity.

I know what He wants...and I know that it may not be my first choice, but I trust Him.

I'm gonna trust Him, and walk through the fear.

And if I start to waiver (which I totally will), and revert back to my pro/con list in some upcoming post, it's your duty bloggy friends to remind me to walk in faith and not fear ;)

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Sickly...

Life in the parsonage today...

Sunday night Eli and I started feeling sick...both with different stuff.

Turns out his is Strep. He's on his 2nd day of staying home from school so that he doesn't infect his friends. First Day: Just felt lousy, laid around. Second Day: Feels great but still contagious...which means another day of Star Wars movies and building.

Jakob has been giddy the past two days with his new found freedom. Mom sick and brother sick means complete and utter access to all he wishes. This morning he fed himself (and Odie) shredded cheddar cheese...right from the bag. He's moved furniture around to accommodate his needs and dumped powdered laundry soap all over the mud-room...but not to worry, he assured me "It smells good, mom."

There is no rest for the weary...with Jake in the house. And I don't want to send him to a friend, because chances are...he's gonna get strep too...cause we share like that.

He is entertaining though...I give him that ;)

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