Beach Trip

While our house dried from "The Flood", we decided to keep our plans and go on the vacation we had scheduled for a few months. We joined the Keever Family down in Edisto at Kelly's dad's place for a few nights in October. It was so fun and relaxing! We biked and even got to go to the beach on a warm day, and again on a cold day. The kids did not care, so I tried my best not to complain about the cold. There was "putt putt putt", as Kate called it, and Ryan, Jeremy and Calahan went shrimping one night and caught just enough for us to eat for shrimp boil. 

Most of all we really loved hanging out with the Keevers and their kids and made some fun memories and had great conversations. The kids got along great, and Kate got to have a sleepover every night in Harper and Calahan's room. Kate learned the word "beehonkus" and by the end of the weekend I was getting Harper to say "fwamwich" as much as possible ("sandwich", in English). 

After our time in Edisto, we headed up to Litchfield to join Ryan's parents at their condo for a few nights. We were able to have another warm beach day with the girls, and even visited the Atalaya Castle at Huntington Beach. But Ryan was spending  a lot of time on the phone with my brother, who was going to our house to empty the dehumidifier under the house and check how the floor was drying.  We stopped at the Columbia zoo on the way home and had a quick but enjoyable trip. It was a fun way to take a pit stop and sure beat the Columbiana mall (which in my Sonshine Festival days considered it to be a huge mall!)

On Huntington Beach State Park. I thought Ryan's face was funny.

At Litchfield. A sweet daddy moment.

Kelly reading to Kate, Harper and Nancy.

Yes! Bathing suits! It was great!

So cute in her suit.

We returned home to stay with my folks for 2 more nights. The first night we were home, my brother and sister-in-law stopped by to give some exciting news - they are having a baby in June! The next night Ryan and my bro, Ray, were at our house until 1am fixing the carpet. Ryan crawled into bed that night around 2am, and woke at 5:15 to go to Bible study! We were away from our house for 10 nights, and I was never so thankful for our 1300sq. feet. And I still am! It has been a month since I tried to wash my loofah in the sink, but sometimes when I am rinsing something out in the sink in the bathroom I get a pit in my stomach, as if somehow the water will just start rising and overflow again and I won't be able to control it. I am just so thankful for Ryan and his patience with me, and for Ray and his hard work. We would have never been able to fix it without him! For my parents who let us eat their food and use their laundry detergent, it was nice to be someplace familiar. And for Kim DeLoach and her dehumidifier and Lee Anne for playing with the girls while we cleaned up the mess, and the lifetime supply of loofahs! Thanks! 

The Gym

Kelly invited me to join her at her gym for a 7 day trial. We actually received a 14 day free trial offer in the mail, so I decided to meet her for the 

class she goes to on MWF, Tread and Shed. Let's just say I honest to goodness had to get off the treadmill and go to the bathroom because I thought

I was going to be sick. It was a great workout. I am totally hooked after just one day, Raquel (yes, that was her name) charmed me with their showers, 

makeup counters, free childcare, and spinning room. When I find myself convincing myself that we can totally join the gym, this is the scene that 

flashes through my head.

Survival of the....

I can't say "Survival of the Fittest", because the Sav-Mor bi-monthly sidewalk sale is a race for food. Maybe "Survival of the Thriftiest" is more accurate. This past Saturday, Emily, Kelly, Sara and I met at 7:45am, piled in Kelly's car and rode to the Sav-Mor sale. A brief explanation of what The Sale is: Every other week, Sav-Mor has a "sidewalk sale" (which I lovingly call a Food Yard Sale) where the store puts all the expired or almost expired food in banana boxes out in aisles in the parking lot. People line up around the perimeter with empty banana boxes to fill to the brim for $7 a box. The whistle blows at 9am, and the food is gone in about 10 minutes. People get really, REALLY comptetitive - Moms barking orders to their kids, 12 year olds elbowing me out of the way for a shot at some Starbucks, and even a 95 pound older woman who was apparently not too old to haul an entire box of canned tomatoes from under my nose. Lots of the food is organic, so we rack up on organic kids' snacks, cereals, flours and things. Then there are treasures like Pop Tarts and Xantham Gum that save us bunches of money!

Okay, on with the story. We have learned there are safety in numbers (and you have to have someone man your food or others will take it!) and we planned our strategy in the car: Choose the box you want, grab the entire thing and take it back to base (our buggy on the wall). If there is time, grab an empty box and go out for more. Kelly is usually the one who mans the buggy so no one sticks their hands in our boxes. We spread out around the perimeter, choose our spots and wait. For an hour. Sara and I learned to make friends. The girl to my left was going to share some King Arthur Unbleached Flour from the box she was eyeing. And the large man beside me, a karate instructor, said he'd grab a box of Splenda packets for me, since I had my eye on a box full of Pop Tarts. 

I ended up filling 3 boxes, the most I've ever filled, and I even have a battle wound to prove my success. I reached into a box to grab....don't remember. But I had cut my thumb on a broken glass jar of peanut butter. So half of my stuff is covered in blood. After the race as we were sorting our loot, I found.....a box of Band Aids!! I was so excited, as were my teammates. What was so much fun was making a memory with friends. But the bargains were pretty great, too. 75 items, 19 cents per item. It was worth every drop of blood.

Fair vs. Fair

Lots of parents we know read the Bible with their children before kissing them goodnight and tucking them into bed. We prefer to play a good game of cards with our kids, so that's just what we did. Ryan, Kate and I sat on our bed and played a game of Go Fish (we'll wait for poker til she's around 8). Kate only got one set before the game ended. As she was going to the potty before we tucked her in, we heard her whining. After much convincing that she just needed to tell us what she was whining about even if she was afraid she might get in trouble, Ryan was able to employ a Bill White-ism he's been waiting to use ever since he heard it. Thus goes the conversation:

Ryan: Kate, you need to tell us why you were whining because we asked you to even if you are afraid you might be in trouble.

Kate: Well, okay, um, I just, it's that, I just don't think it's very fair that I only got one match before you won.

Ryan (with glee in his eyes and an excited glance toward me): Kate, a fair is a place you go to ride rides and eat cotton candy.

Kate: Nooooo, not THAT kind of fair! I mean.....

Me: Bury face in pillow and laugh.

I think the Keevers had a similar scenario happen to them. At least they read the Bible to their kids - we teach Kate a poker face!

A Little Tiger in the Making

We really don't care where Kate goes to college. Really. But we were so excited because she was so excited to go to her first Clemson football game. We tailgated by the Clemson House (at 10:30am), went to the amphitheatre for the Tiger Band Rally, watched the band come down the hill to the stadium, and even bought Kate's first bag (yes, in a bag) of Dippin' Dots, for a mere $5. (And yes, that is what is all over her mouth in the pictures).

It was over a month ago and we went to the SC State game on September 20. BJ and Katie let us use some of their family's tickets, and we are so thankful we got to share some time with them. Katie and I planned Ryan and BJ's high school reunion while Kate watched the game through binoculars and BJ told Ryan "Remember the time..." stories. I love hanging out with the Bolings.

Our Kids are Funny.

I had to add this one! I wonder how long Cort will be willing to play dress up with us girls. Maybe I should ask how long Chris is willing to let Cort play dress up with us girls!

Watching a "widleeo".

Kate slept on her face and woke up with crazy hair.

The Forest for the Trees

Lately Ryan and I both have had a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. We have exhausted ourselves focusing on small things that we think are in our control instead of seeing the big picture - God does, will, and wants to provide for us in so many ways. It has been exposed in everything from buying an iron to replace the one we've had since college, to paying for the costs of repairing the flooding damage caused by my insatiable desire to win the Best MultiTasker Award. (Did I ever tell anyone about the time I buckled the kids in their car seats while talking to Emily on our house phone, put the phone on the top of the car, and a few errands later watched the phone in my rearview fly from the top of the car into traffic? I couldn't figure out what had flown off the car until several days later when I still hadn't found the missing handset and put it all together.)  Am I so proud that I honestly believe every scrutinized decision determines what God is going to do in us and through us as a family and individuals? How can I begin to operate like my choices define how He is going to choose to use me? As if I'm the one in control and He's on standby for the really "big stuff" I can't handle.

I have been learning this week, as we are adjusting from 10 days away from home, that just as I ask Kate to simply obey because I've asked her to and to trust mommy's word, God is calling me to do the very same thing. Ryan pointed out to me that I ask "why" often. I'm not sure why I do (ha!) and it was the first question I asked God after my feet squished across our bedroom carpet to turn off the faucet. I see my daughter in the same battle I'm in: to obey because I trust and nothing more. 

And speaking of trees, Lee Anne showed up this morning with this basketful of new loofahs for me, as if she has a loofah tree in her backyard. I call it a blessing; she called it "insurance". It will take everything in me to be willing to trash each one after it has served its purpose instead of attempting to prolong it's life by washing. But every loofah I'll use for the rest of my life will serve as an Ebeneezer that God provides exactly what we need, exactly when we need it - even if I don't ever get the "why?"

I'm off to shower.