02/17/08

Sorry it has been so long..... it has been some crazy days recently!!

This past week at school with Valentine's it was a bit wild. I was thankful when the week ended because I was just plain tired. lol

Valentine's Day was nice. I have posted pictures today of my bulletin board at school. I know I had promised to do that earlier but kept forgetting to take my camera to school! I did so on Thursday so that I could take pictures of Wesley and Mikayla at their Valentine party. Well, I totally forgot to go down there because my class' party was at the same time and I didn't realize all of that until it was over. Just call me "Mom of the Year"... I did manage to take these pictures of 200 languages that say "I love you" or some form of it. Did you know there are over 6,000 languages in the world? Many are still unwritten, too. I don't know how to pronounce all of these but I do know some of them. Of course, I am sure if the people who actually speak those languages heard me pronounce them, they would laugh. I am from the "south" of whatever language I am trying to say at the moment. South of France, South of China, South of the Navajo Nation, etc... lol

The thing that is most important is the fact that without God none of these languages would be here... nor would LOVE even be here. God is the reason that love makes the world go around. HIS love is what holds us and carries us through each day. I am reminded of that every year that I put up this bulletin board. It always puts me in awe of such a great God that we serve who loves us ALL. It doesn't matter where you are from or what you have done, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for ALL people. That is what love is all about.

Steve and I didn't get to spend much of Valentine's Day together. By the time he got home from work I was taking a short snooze on the couch because I was going to a play with my brother that night. I hated that the play was on Valentine's Day but they didn't ask me when making the schedule!! Steve gave me a heart necklace (I will show that on another post... too many pictures of other things today...) and I gave him a new golf shirt. I surprised him that morning by having it out for him before work. Normally we wait till after school. The kids got their traditional balloons, stickers, and some chocolate covered strawberries similar to the ones my friend sent me a couple of weeks ago. They have been enjoying them slowly which is good. :) We went out to eat with my parents for Valentine's Day on Friday night. All in all it was a great time to celebrate with those you love.

On Friday morning I looked out and saw a beautiful sunrise. I knew now was the chance to take to try to get a picture over the lake... should have thought more on that. lol I grabbed my camera and told the kids to brace themselves for cold wind as I was putting down the window. No one was behind me or coming towards me so I slowed down to a stop on the bridge (yes, it was at 6:30 in the morning...) and had my camera in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. Comical is putting it mildly. I tried to get in a decent spot only to realize in my haste that I was right in front of the area where briars and other vegetation, which was now bare of any leaves, was in my way of the picturesque view I was trying to capture. I figured I could work around it... NOT SO. Then, after I had taken a couple of shots, both of which were not so great, Mikayla says that a car is coming so I had to get a move on... while the camera is still taking shots. Let's just say I didn't get anything of value but these pictures do make me laugh. At least you can see how pretty the colors of the sunrise were that morning. I'll try again another day, I hope... Just not in my vehicle and trying to drive at the same time. lol

On Friday afternoon I had to take Wesley to the doctor. He has had a cold for over a week and his cough was getting deeper and not better. I was concerned about bronchitis. He has seemed fine and no fever, but I thought it best to get it checked out. We saw one of our favorite doctors and he agreed something was going on in there but recommended we wait a few more days before filling the prescription for the antibiotic because a lot of these bronchitis' in children are viral. He was being silly with Wesley and rubbed the prescription paper on Wesley's head and said "See, now I healed ya!" Well, Wesley said in a quiet voice "Only Jesus can heal..." The doctor asked him what he had said and so Wesley repeated it. I was so proud of Wesley being that light for Jesus and showing his faith in the Great Physician. Well, the doctor fully agreed with Wesley and said that a lot of doctor's don't think that way. I just backed up Wesley's little powerful statement with the fact that it is GOD Who gives the doctors the wisdom to know how to help us and treat us and for that I am thankful. The doctor agreed wholeheartedly. It was nice to see and be a part of on that Friday afternoon after a long week. God can use children in a mighty way....

On Saturday we worked on cleaning the house. I got the idea that Steve and I needed a "date" since we didn't get to spend much time together on Valentine's Day. I had wanted to take some pictures of just him and me to "update" us so I had this brilliant (yet again) plan to go to a local park, set up my tripod and get some shots of us. You may think that would be easy... well, it wasn't exactly. lol We got all the way to the park (thankfully, it wasn't far from our house) and I realized I had forgotten the piece that attaches the camera to the tripod! I was not very happy about that. We had to go all of the way back home. Steve was so sweet about it. Then, we get there and I know we are looking a bit "geekish" as I am trying to set up this tripod to take pictures of US and not nature as others were doing. There were hikers, runners, walkers, etc.. there and we were the only ones on the trails having a photo shoot. The first shots were alright but we decided to go deeper into the park area (we went to Hemlock Bluffs for those of you who know our area). We kept getting some interesting looks but by this point we didn't care. It was actually kind of fun traipsing through the forest with my sweet man. He was trying to come up with neat backdrops for our photos. He would help me set everything up as well. We came to a neat bridge that led to a path. Steve came up with the idea of us holding hands and walking away from the camera. I thought that was so sweet of him to come up with that idea. I decided we'd do it. He helped me, once again, with the tripod. We thought everything was secure but THOUGHT is the key word here. I set the shot and leave to go grab Steve's hand when all of a sudden we hear this "Crash, THUD!"... we turned around to see my camera, flash, tripod... ALL of it had fallen off the bridge!!!! Thank the Lord it fell into a bed of leaves, but still... I wanted to CRY. Steve told me later he wanted so badly to laugh but knew I was about to cry so he decided against the laughter part. The only part that was messed up was the base of my flash. It still works but I know it won't handle very well forever like that. It made me quite mad but I am thankful it wasn't my lens or the camera body. I really would have gone to the crying room then. This leaf shot was what the camera still took as it was on the ground. (That was kind of funny...after I had calmed down a bit.) We still got some looks, but we also got a few pictures of us that I have updated in my sidebar section. :)

We were able to laugh about it later as the day went on. Steve felt so badly for me he took me out for a late lunch/early supper. We then headed to the mall and bought a few things before heading back home. It was just nice to spend the day with Steve. We don't get to do that very often anymore with how busy things get as well as things going on with the kids.

This afternoon we watched the Daytona 500. I never knew much about racing before meeting Steve (our first date will be 17 years ago this week!). Now, I enjoy watching a race with him but I never fully can handle ALL of the race. I like the beginning and the end. lol I fell asleep during the middle today and woke up with around 47 laps to go. That was perfect to watch. We are Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fans so we were cheering him on. He did well today but not well enough to win the race his father had finally won 10 years ago. That is hard to believe it has been a decade since that historical win for Dale, Sr. Anyway, I was bummed for our guy, but glad for Ryan Newman... he broke a non-winning streak, too, and won his first 500. Steve doesn't care much for Ryan Newman, but, as with any sports, I don't know enough about most of these guys to have an opinion so I just get happy if someone hasn't won something in a while. lol I do think Dale, Jr. will have a much better year. He already seems happier and quite content. I wish him the best...

Well, I have rambled enough for one night. I have the day off from school tomorrow as it was supposed to be a weather make-up day but you all know we haven't had anything to worry about making up!! I am off to go spend some more time with Steve as he watches re-caps of today's race on the SPEED Channel. lol The kids wanted to spend the night at my Mom and Dad's since they didn't have school tomorrow. I miss them.

Have a good one and I hope you had a few laughs with my mishaps this past weekend. lol :)