Saturday Nine

1. When was the last time you were told to go your own way?

Don't know that I've ever been encouraged to go my own way. I've gone my own way too many times, and the end thereof is pain and destruction.

2. What one experience has strengthened your character the most so far?

O.K., aside from meeting and falling in love with Jesus, I don't think I could pick just one. Here are just a few life experiences that come quickly to mind: as a child watching my grandmother decline with Alzheimer's and my mother take care of her, participating in missions as a teenager--culminating in a summer spent in California, having secret sin publicly exposed and being restored, becoming a mother, adopting my daughters, losing our house in a hurricane, my husband losing his leg...

3. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?

Read

4. How long can you go without your cell phone?

Forever

5. Do you wish you were somewhere else right now?

No. We had a nice little mini-trip to Dallas this weekend for a pastor/pastor's wives retreat, and I'm enjoying being home.

6. Of all the people you've ever known, who have you most feared?

My mother. She's going to be really ticked when she reads that, but it's true. Perhaps 'fear' isn't the correct term....'healthy respect'?...Nah, going to have to keep 'fear.' Sorry, Mom.

7. Do people tell you that you look your age?

Wouldn't that be a horrible thing to tell someone? "Girl, you are looking your age--and then some."

When people find out that I have so many children, they will often say, "You don't look old enough to have that many kids!" I used to find that pretty irritating, but the older I get, the more complimentary it seems.

8. Your ex shows up randomly at your house, what do you say?

Don't have one.

9. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

I don't believe we deserve a first chance, but praise God, He doesn't give us what we deserve.

The Evening in Pictures

Here is the cute diaper-less (going on three weeks!!) girl who likes to run around my house in her pj's.

Two adorable rogues who play in the woods behind my house until they are called in for dinner...

The two lovely young ladies who cheese for the camera whenever the opportunity arises...

The handsome hunk who will soon delight his family with a delicous supper from his new Father Day grill...

The studious lad who sneaks off to the couch with a good book (Sherlock Holmes is the latest)when he can...

And the gorgeous bouquet he picked for me after a long morning of work in the pea fields.

Wall*Mart Wake Up Call

So we went to the lake for the holiday, and I decided that the children and I would attend services in the tiny Louisiana town that sits some 15 miles away (incidentally, the same town my Daddy grew up in). The kids are just not worth living with if you do not take them to church. They will sermonize you to death.
"Isn't this Sunday? The Lord's Day?" confused and perplexed
"We aren't going to church?!" aghast
"But I want to go to Sunday School and learn about Jesus!" pleading
What is a mom to do? The good little Baptists had all packed their Sunday clothes, but their mother--the reprobate--had not. I decided I would whip into the old fashioned Wally-world (I bet you didn't even know they still existed) and grab a dress. They did not have any dresses in the ladies department except three marked down on the "plus" size wrack. I looked at the purple glorified moo-moo and shook my head. Certain that the thing would simply swallow me, I grabbed a belt and went to try it on.
I was shocked to find that it didn't swallow me. It did not need a belt. Besides being a little roomy in the bust, It looked like it was made for me. I cried.
I quit my aerobics class months ago--it wasn't feasible with the daycare schedule. And meals had become a matter of catching what I could when I could. Most often that meant high-carb, high fat. In the evenings we were eating out alot. And my daily coca-cola (or two) quickly became my lifesaver and an evening snow-cone run an addiction. Hey, I was working hard, so I deserved it, right?
Notice the use of the past tense? Yes, friends, the master and I and our two oldest children are on a quest to eat right and exercise. Our goal is a BMI in the healthy range (since the master, K and I are considered "obese"--Abby is only "overweight"). For me, that means 30 pounds. Yikes!!! That seems like a huge number. But I can't do plus sizes. They are so NOT "Just My Size"