How Johnny Spent THIS Afternoon

Poor guy.... Let me just say that he has a MUCH stronger stomache than I do. This "water" (and everything else in it) *insert shudder here* have been sitting in this jacuzzi tub for 6 months and 2 weeks... Gross... I have not personally seen or smelled anything that wretched since we have been down here... or maybe ever for that matter.









He said that he might be holding a cat at that point. Eww...











I am SO glad that he somehow squeezed his hands into MY rubber gloves and did that ... He did say that the gloves cut off ALL circulation in his hands. Ya think?

One of Life's *LITTLE* Lessons....

.... Or "How Johnny Spent His ENTIRE Sunday Afternoon AND Evening."

Ok, I have no ONE picture that could possible do this... event... justice, so you will have to wrap your head around the enormity of what one little kid with one little lighter can start with the minimal help of the pictures included. These are pictures of PART of the damage done by a 400 acre forest fire... Started by a child somewhere between Tanara's age and John Tylor's age. He got ahold of a lighter and headed for the back yard and ended his day with three fire companies fighting this fire for eight-and-a-half hours. John was fighting for seven of those. The fire started back up the next morning, was put down again, and started back up again yesterday and is burning in places still today. The fire was a couple miles away from our house, and the kids and I still spent the day breathing in smoke and watching ash "snow" all around our house. Not so good...

So, lesson for the day... Keep that stuff out of reach... seriously. That little boy's parents are now looking at a very large bill.... and there were a number of houses that somehow managed to escape being caught in that blaze... thanks to the hardwork of all the firefighters there.

This week....

*I got to make banana bread IN MY OVEN! IN MY HOUSE!!! :) He is not actually wiring the kitchen in this photo, but you get the idea...














*Tanara was Joe's little helper for the week. :)














*I got another window in my bedroom! :)













*Tanara learned how to ride her bike with NO training wheels with a little bit of help from everybody, but Bud is the one that taught her the all important lesson of how to corner and he has been a great riding buddy ever since.

Me?

If You Need a Laugh...

You SERIOUSLY need to go see "Ice Age 2". It was SO funny! And the best part is watching it with your kids and all of you laughing so hard that your bellies hurt. Then, on the way home from the theater, ask them what their favorite part was. Be prepared to laugh again!

Yes, I am alive....

Ok, for those of you that have been keeping track of this site, I am done being horrible and not posting... for today.... :)

We are still alive and well down here in MS and I spent my first birthday away from home AT the BEACH! Now how cool is that?? Normally we are shovelling out snow... I am liking this...

The "new" house is awesome! (We've moved from North of I-10 to down on the bayou much closer to the beach) The rough wiring for electricity was finished Friday and the plumber will be there Monday... after those two things are done and inspected, we can put up insulation and sheetrock. Woo hoo!! In case you were wondering, we are in a gutted house that was under a litte bit of water. (A little bit translates to water up to the ceiling in the second story.) We live on the second (main - most houses there are on stilts and the only a few actually having living quarters on the ground floor) floor and J's cousin and sister and my brother's brother-in-law live on the first level. JT and T LOVE it and get to ride bikes all over the street and adore the owner of the house... He makes a fantastic "great-grandpa" figure.

Last week we had teams from North Dakota in with Sons of Salvation in Florida. What an awesome experience!! It was a Senior class from a Christian school up there and working with them and then having the chance to minister to them at the end of the week was unforgettable. Can't wait to do it again! :)

J is keeping very busy helping people to rebuild... Big project, but taking it one job at a time. There are days that he feels like there is not enough time in the week to get everything done and then days here and there that he remembers to slow down and take a breath. Thankfully, today was my birthday so he was FORCED to take the day off and play. ;) I think it has done him some good. :)

I will be posting again... Keep track... I just won't promise to post on a daily (or even regular?) basis for right now. I'll get pics in here as well.... Eventually ;)

Back "Home"

Well, we arrived safe and sound back in the WARM (read: 75 degrees!) South yesterday morning.... It is SO good to be back!

Right now I am sitting in Cafe Restoration at the Rec Center in Long Beach and I am surrounded by volunteers... it is so awesome!! All I can say at this point is God is awesome and the work being done here is amazing.... It really is good to be back.....

I'll write more later.... Love you all....