I Go for Two Teams

I realized today that it has been almost a month since my last post.  Neal and I went on an anniversary trip a few weeks back.  That took some planning up front and then we were gone and it has also taken some time to get back into the swing of things around here.  However with the excellent help of some friends and much family everyone had a good time while we were gone.  The running joke that Neal and I had before we left was that there was no telling where things would be when we got back.  The funny thing is the list of what I still have not been able to find...

1 salad plate 

the large container of feta cheese 

(consumed?)

one of Neal's Auburn cups

Anna Grace's hot pink hair band and a few of her ribbons

(currently blaming Hudson for this one)

However I can't complain about any of this too much because we did come home to find...

happy, healthy children still in tact

a couple of bottles of partially drunk wine in our frig

children on fire for more time with their grandparents

a playset in the back yard

When looking at the two lists I say the pros certainly out way the cons.  Therefore making our time away even more worth it.  

Since we have been home though there have been some great quotes by the children; none of which have anything to do with missing us or anything of the sort.

"Hey, Mama, when I think I have silly poop I go upstairs to the hall potty.  But when it is regular poop, like right now, I go in here."  Dean

~

"God said I can pull everything up."  Caleb
(He said this after I asked him if he needed help after coming out of the bathroom.  I chose to nod my head and roll with it;  he had done nothing wrong and who am I to argue with what God says!)

~

"I go for two teams:  Auburn and God.  God has the really good team."  Anna Grace  

Confessions from sassy, half-hearted hearts

All of this happened a few weeks ago but things have been going too fast around here for me to get this posted.  And I promise this all took place in one lunch I shared with the children.

Rewind:  One of my sweet grandmothers has cancer...again.  This time being in her 90s she has declared that she does not want any sort of aggressive treatment.  I completely understand that and am thankful that she is prepared to step into eternity with her faith secure in Jesus.  This however has meant that our family start praying for God's mercy in her life during all of this.  The children knew she had been in the hospital with some other complications.  Neal and I felt that we needed to have an honest conversation with them about her health.  The first conversation was fast one evening at dinner with not much said other than she was really sick, she might die before Christmas and we needed to pray for her.

Well in typical fashion that lead to thinking which lead to questions...

Now here we are:  There were some concerns expressed by the children about her dying during lunch.  I told the children that she was going to die; that we all are at some point but we needed to be thankful that she would go to heaven.  Instant relief hit their faces but Anna Grace asked how I knew for sure.  I told them that Jesus lived in her heart and he was in charge of her life....la, la, la...Caleb asked some relevant  yet uneventful question; I answered it.  Anna Grace tried to interrupt I pressed on because I wanted to share the gospel with my children again.  Dean continued to enjoy his meal.  Anna Grace stopped me and said she already did that then finished the gospel in her own words.  I agreed; all was well.  At some point during the meal it was said, "You have to ask Jesus to come into your heart before you can go to heaven when you die."   Dean, who had said nothing up to this point continued to stare down at his plate and eat as if he was a homeless child, says at the first silent moment: "Oh!  Jesus come into my heart.  Amen.  Did that!"  And he took another bite never looking up.  I almost fell out of my seat!  I quickly told him I did not think it worked quite like that you had to really mean it in your heart.

For some crazy reason, I foolishly thought going back to Anna Grace and whatever she wanted to talk about when she was trying to interrupt me had to be something more normal and maybe it was for a family like ours.  "Mama, there is something I've got to ask you about it.  I've been wondering, if Jesus lives inside my heart then what's going on with my attitude?!?"  (I wish I could convey the amount of sassy attitude and frustration in her voice as well as her body language as she spoke.)    I could continue our lunch discussion with poise no more; I erupted in laughter.  Somewhere between our once somber and serious conversation turning into an at best half-hearted sinner's prayer followed by an enormously sassy attitude confession, laughter bubbled from my soul.  Anna Grace even laughed when she realized how crazy she sounded.  After a few minutes she told me that she did not know that she was supposed to be praying daily for the Holy Spirit to help her use self-control.  She was hoping for full sanctification this side of heaven.

Through it all I could not help but think think that God had to be laughing too and sadly their actions funny and somehow appropriate for their age are but a glimpse of our sinful adult hearts wanting only short-cuts, easy roads and a checklist.

Four Amazing Imaginations

I went to the grocery store today.  The children on the other hand went on a boat ride (the buggy) through a swamp (the floor was brownish) with killer rhinoceroses all around (the other buggies) and one roaming giant green crocodile (the large green dust mop that was moving about the store) that was looking for children to eat of course.

Out of our trip I got groceries...they experienced an adventure.

First Day of School...Again

  

Today we had our third first day of school since mid-August around here.  This time it was Caleb heading off to Mother's Day Out for the first time in his life.  He was so excited.  I'm sure I have said this before on here but Caleb lives his life not wishing he was a "big kid" but he really thinks he is a big boy, no different from his older siblings.  In Caleb's mind he is a 5 year old trapped in a 3 year old's body.  I cannot wait to see what this year holds for him at school and watch him soar on his own wings doing his own thing.  He is such a funny, excitable character.  He is 100% boy...very tough, a little bit sloppy, loud (oh wait that is not the boy in him but the Hatchett in him), and loves his mama.  He had not even the slightest hesitation about running in there and getting in the mix.  He has been asking me since last May when his first day of school would be; I am very thankful that Ms. Jennie and Ms. Mikelyn did not disappoint.

He was excited to see me pick him up, show me his room, his craft and tell me about his day.  He was also very excited to tell me about the boy in the blue shirt who did not obey today.  He told me that he was going back next time so he could go on the bear hunt with his class!  He also loved dominating the table conversation this evening sharing with us about his day which is something he has never been able to do.  He has always been the listener when it came to school  He beamed from ear to ear as he told us his experiences...he sat by a girl at lunch; he had to potty during lunch so he could not eat all of his food; he played at the playground two times but not outside because of the rain; he sang several songs - some new, some old; and most importantly he made his craft - a pair of bear ears - by himself!  He also told us that he tried to play by himself but kept getting interrupted by his new friends.

I told the children that we were having popsicle after dinner tonight to celebrate Caleb's great first day of school.  After Dean's popsicle he tried to thank me for dinner and his popsicle to which Caleb said, "No, Dean, thank me!"  We got a good laugh out of that.  I don't think his first day could have been any better!   

Here he is before we left this morning; absolutely ready...a fresh cut thanks to Ms. Danna, new shoes, new lunch box and a big grin:

 

  

New Shoes!

 

 

It was time for new shoes the other day and what an adventure we had.  Our feet are ready for whatever the fall/winter bring our way!  Everyone except Hudson picked out their pair of tennis shoes...I picked out the church shoes (Well Anna Grace was able to chose between several options but not ready to unleash her in Sikes especially after seeing her "loud" tennis shoe choice!)  I will say they picked things that I think testify to their personalities.  Anna Grace chose a collision of brightness; Dean went with grey and mustard (his favorite condiment); and Caleb chose chocolate and orange.

Thank you so much, Honey and Big Daddy!  In case you did not notice the past few days we are very proud of our new shoes.  Anna Grace talked the boys into hiding them around the house for Neal to find when he came home from work that night.  She said she wanted to have an Easter Egg Hunt but with shoes!

Dean Organizes Numbers

I gave Dean some numbers (1-9) out of order and said "Put these in order from smallest to biggest."  This is what he did:

I had to look at a few times before I figured out that he had followed the instructions.  I guess in the future I need to be a little more specific.

I asked him after I looked at it three times and had finally understood it why he put them in that order.  He said, "Because I wanted to."  I said something about smallest to biggest and he said, "Yes, 1/9, 2/8, 3/7, 4/6, 5."  And walked away.  I'm not sure I will every really understand that boy.  He is funny and smart; and often times years ahead of me and he's only 5.  (He cracked me up at lunch the other day but that is its own post for a different day)

I will wait until he is much older to tell him what Neal's quote was when I showed him the picture (direct from our GoogleChat so he can't deny it)

Husband: i don't get what dean did, i think it's too genius for me 

They are back (Hurricane Isaac part 3)

My mom drove Wayne back as far as she could get in the truck this morning and from there he waded in to the house.

Washington Avenue was as far as they could get this morning at 10.

  Yes you read that correctly.  Mom drove Wayne's truck to this intersection and he waded back to the house in his waders.  She said that his boots came just above his knees and the water hit the bottom of his knees.  I guess that means he barely made it.  She was able to drive his truck in this afternoon so they are officially back (water is still too high for her car).  She did say that as she rounded the corner onto their little street she opened the truck door just to see where the water was...It was up to the door.  She said she shut the door as gingerly as she could and reminded herself that Wayne said to drive in and not stop.  Her comment was, "I have never  driven through water that deep but Wayne told me to come on!"

The water line always tells the story.  Even though the street is still high and the front yard looks like the first picture I put on here, it only got about 18" high under the house and about 3 1/2" high in the pump house.  They are extremely thankful.  

Mom said that as she stood outside by the truck watching Wayne wade in (what a sight to imagine!) just to make sure he was going to make it through a man approached her and asked to video her (or take her picture); he was filming for an episode of Hurricane Hunters for the Weather Channel.  I never knew this show existed but I guess I am going to watch it.  I am guessing that he wanted to video Wayne trying to get back home while Mom looked on.  She said they made her sign a waver and all sorts of crazy stuff.  The best part though was this (and those who know the man well will be able to picture this perfectly) "I'm standing there watching him wade in; he was wearing his waders and his uniform. [I knew exactly what she meant but she paused a second and then said just to make sure] White t-shirt, [I interject "cut off jeans"] Einstein hair, waders, holding his shoes."  Even typing it I laugh and can picture the sight perfectly.  I asked why she did not take that picture from this hurricane saga and she doesn't have a good answer unless it is that the tv man got her distracted (that is my thought not hers).  I told her that I really hoped the tv man was able to get a good shot of the crazy man wading back to his home!  

I have an childhood memory; I am guessing I was about five, of Wayne and Mr. Striffe (I have no idea how to spell their last name but that should be close enough), our neighbor at the time, wading me and I guess my mom and sister out of the house before a hurricane or I guess possibly after to that very Blow Fly Inn sign.  Only difference was they were wading and pulling us behind in the metal row boat to get us out to the car.  So strange yet so normal in my mind.

Thank you for all your prayers.  They are so thankful to be back home and from what I hear well on their way to having things all bleached out and pressure washed.  They just need the sun to shine so they can move the stuff back. 

Water's still on the move (Hurricane Isaac part 2)

Here are pictures of my parent's house/yard taken from the neighbor's house around 10:00 this morning.  The neighbor's chose to stay - they had to project their pool.  Which having the Berry's stuck in has been a great blessing and wealth of knowledge for my parents who have been stuck out.

Front view water up on the downstairs's slab.

The Berry's pool but the lone rooftop out there is the end of my parent's pier.

Back view again water on the downstairs slab.

Dean was very concerned about my mom's flower garden - or should I say the spot where her flower garden should be by the fence in the back yard.  Anna Grace was pretty convinced that she saw an alligator in the back yard.  But she could not show me the exact spot but thinks it is there.  Anna Grace was also very concerned that the pier, a great source of enjoyment for all children, is going to break in the water.  Possible I told her but not probable.

~~~~

Here are pictures from around 2:30 this afternoon.  Water had continued to rise some throughout the day but they think it has now started to recede some.

Again front view. Water up a few steps.

Back view.  Water appears to be about a foot or so higher on  the fence.

After seeing these pictures Anna Grace is asking for 100% confirmation that the house is not going to be knocked down by all this water.  I have told her that I cannot be 100% sure (only God can) but I would be very, very surprised if the house got knocked down at this point.

My mom said she was starting to understand what Noah and his wife felt like.  Before you say she is grossly exaggerating think about this...they are in my grandmother's 2 bedroom cottage (aka small) house with her and she has Alzheimer's.  Last night she got upset and wanted to know what all the food was doing on her counter and who was having a party at her house and who was coming and what were they serving and why was she not included in the plans...My mom had made dinner for them to eat with my grandmother along with my aunt and uncle who live down the street!  My family chooses to laugh at these type occurences; so it is okay to laugh at this.  Mom, I bet right about now you wish y'all had not made her downsize!

After listening to Anna Grace on the phone with my parents getting all of her questions answered it is very apparent that one of her main concerns is an alligator getting into their house!  They have prayed the sweetest and funniest prayers in the past 24 hours about water and alligators and safety...and my dad changing his mind and deciding to rebuild if the house does get knocked down in the water.

Catechism from a 3 Year Old

We begin our school day at the breakfast table eating and working on our memory verse and Catechism questions.

Question #18: Of what were our first parents made?

"God made Adam's body out of the ground and Eve's body out of a ribbon." ~ Caleb

That has been his answer two days in a row...he's consistent!

Water on the Rise

This is not a familiar site to most people and certainly not a welcomed site to those involved but here is the view of my parents front yard today thanks to Issac.  This picture was taken at 9:45 this morning and the storm is still not on land.  The water will continue to rise....

To quote Anna Grace when she saw the picture, "God, help the hurricane go 15 up so it can hurry down.  Amen."  The un-cryptic version of the prayer is, "Lord, help the storm pick up speed to at least 15 mph so there is not so much flooding and destruction in its path."

My parents have evacuated...only to my Grandmother's house a few miles away but her house is more protected from the water.  They will not know until the storm is completely past and the water has receded what they will come home too.  Crazy.  Neal says we will never live down there for this very reason...hurricanes.  (Editor's Note: I don't think I said this.)  He generally thinks my family is very normal except for their willingness to put up with hurricane season (specifically every June 1st until November 30th).  What else can I say...It's home.

Oh, yeah, there is one other reason he is not willing (without Divine intervention) to move to Gulfport, Mississippi....It is too far from Auburn!