What Happens When Mommy Slips Away for a Few Days (NO PICTURES)

Lori has run off with her buddy Sara for a "medical conference". Of course every time I hear from her, she is looking at boats, eating at Nobu, or goofing around. I'm not really sure what they do at these "medical conferences" but I assume a large part is sitting around laughing at their spouses trying to do it by themselves for 5 days. While I trust Lori and Sara, I am worried they might meet the San Diego Chicken and get swept off their feet.

As for me, the kids are sensing weakness in me and going for it. I should have known that they had figured out that Lori was gone for a bit when the little ones stopped scratching and biting each other and starting heading to random rooms being relatively silent. When Alex and Katie are together and quiet, only bad things can happen. In fact when I hear the sounds of silence, my heart stops, I run to get the Spot Shot and then take off to find whatever they have done.

All said and done, the week is going OK and I am feeling like I will survive. I just need to make it until Friday afternoon when my sister-in-law will spell me for a bit and then I can handle the rest. It's strange how Lori and I are always talking about how much she works and never gets to see the kids or me, but only 2 days into her trip, I am realizing exactly how much she does see me and help me when she is here. I hope she relaxes and enjoys herself because she does an amazing job at work and at home and this trip reminds me of that.

"Absense makes the heart grow fonder" has always been a saying I understood but now I UNDERSTAND it. I am glad Lori is getting a chance to get away, learn (which she loves), and spend time with a good friend/collegue. However, I am selfishly awaiting her return.

Maybe I've lived in Missouri too long

So, I am in the living room with my 3 little angels (I am told by law you must use "cutsie" terms of endearment to refer to your kids on your family blog). Ryan turns to me and says,"daddy, can we have some hick juice".

"What????," I said as I turned to look at my eldest child. "what did you say?"

Ryan replied, "Can we have hick juice with dinner?"

My mind started to wonder. hick juice? What is that? Where would they have heard a term like that and what could it be? I thought maybe he read it in a book. So I asked, "Ryan, what is hick juice?"

Ryan said, "You know daddy, hick juice like we had for lunch"

At this point I wondered what he was talking about but I knew for lunch they hadn't had moonshine so i was a bit relieved and since I had made lunch and there was nothing hick about them. There was nothing hick about the juice......

Finally Ryan says, "Daddy, you know, H, I, C juice"

Still not sure until Alex chimes in, "Hi-C. Yeay. I want hick juice."

Hope Now

I've been listening to KLOVE(online radio at www.klove.com)a lot lately. Sometimes the problems of the world just make me so negative - so pessimistic. A song I happened to hear really made me think and it really helped lift my spirits tonight. Something to come back to when the darkness creeps in........


"Hope Now" - Addison Road

If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours

I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
You've become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

One-on-one Time

We've been really busy. We had friends over on Sunday for a BBQ. Some were new friends that have moved to this area from China. It was wonderful serving them the tea I brought from China last year and hearing Mandarin spoken in our house.

This last few weeks before school started I tried to take my days off and spend one-on-one time with each of the kids. I took them to different places - Silver Dollar City, the park, and to Kansas City to a wedding. We had a great time and it was nice to have special time alone with each of them. Here are some photos:

First Day of Kindergarten

Ryan is in kindergarten this year. His first day was Thursday, Aug. 21st and he was thrilled. He likes his teacher and has a lot of friends in his class.
I took him that morning and as the parents got them settled the kids were encouraged to go and play with the toys scattered around. Ryan went over to a big bin of dinosaurs and got them all out. I came over after a bit and started to say good-bye.
I noticed he had one group of dinosaurs on one side facing another group on the other side. I asked what he was doing - "Oh, the meat-eating dinosaurs are going to battle the plant-eating dinosaurs."

Grandpa got him camoflauged clothes this week too. They tried them out today when they went out fishing (you don't REALLY need to be camoflauged to fish but oh well). Ryan caught a big blue gill and had a blast.

Alex is really angry when we don't say that he goes to kindergarten too. He is going to Ryan's school this year and that is BIG for him. His first day of preschool was today. He is frustrated that he doesn't go every day like Ryan. He is so proud to be wearing big boy underwear to school.

Katie will be going to a Mother's Day out (BUM Kids - Bolivar United Methodist) that all of them have been to in the past. She also starts speech therapy tomorrow. She feels QUITE grown up as well because now she has her OWN back pack and goes to her own school without her brothers.

Should be an interesting year....

Finding Strength when you can barely hold on...

I found the link on line to a show I had wanted to see but we Tivo'd the wrong night.
Steven Curtis Chapman's family, life and music have meant a lot to me and I have been praying for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u8T3dL8KYo

This is the family's interview on Larry King. It is in six parts. There is also an article about them in this month's People.
It is about their faith in the midst of tragedy.

I am so inspired by them. His music and their ministry are amazing. Now I am amazed by their family.

Lori

Happy Birthday Ryan Foster!!

I'm late in posting this because the last two weeks have been a blur. We have had so much craziness and so much going on - finally today I feel as though I can look around clearly and catch my breath.

On Wednesday, July 30th, Ryan Foster turned six!! He has really been into dinosaurs lately and knows the names of most of them. He likes to play dinosaurs, Cars, and of course, Thomas the Tank Engine. He loves reading and is really into the "Magic Treehouse" books. He is such a sweet boy and helps with his little brother and sister. He cares about others' feelings and that makes me very proud.
On his birthday, we had a family day and went down to the Ozark Empire Fair for the day after we all ate breakfast out. It was free ride day and we had gotten tickets ahead of time. We got there early and it was a lovely cloudy day (not the blistering heat we'd been having). The kids had a great time riding on the bumper cars. Alex wanted to hit everyone and I had a hard time keeping him seated in the car with me. Ryan did a lot of going in circles till he got the hang of making it go. Katie was too short to ride so she went on the merry go round with Daddy. Ryan and I stayed all day and Daddy took the little ones home to nap then came back. We saw baby chicks in an incubator that had just hatched along with lots of other animals. Ryan was quite impressed with two baby calves that had been born just that day. "on MY birthday!!" We went out to supper at Nakato that night.

Saturday we had Ryan's birthday party at Nana's and they had lots of fun. That night was NOT fun when Alex couldn't sleep - he went into my room ahead of me at about 11 o'clock. I was talking to Eric in the livingroom and heard that gut-wrenching scream and I raced in to find Alex beside himself with his mouth bloody.
He cut his upper gumline right between his top two teeth all the way up and knocked the teeth loose. He must have been jumping on the bed or lunging to something and hit the headboard. It looked horrible and to be safe we took him to the ER. I called Dr. Scott (our SPECTACULAR pediatric dentist) on Sunday morning and he worked him in on Monday. He fractured both of his top two teeth high at the root and all we can do is feed him soft foods and watch to see if they will heal. We have another appt. in a week and a half. If they don't heal - he will have to have oral surgery to get them removed. He is feeling much better now but he sure had a rough week. Everyone is praying his little teeth will heal.

Last Wednesday, we all went to the Aquaplex in Branson for the afternoon with my friend Colleen and her three kids. We had a BLAST. Katie and Jonathan were best buddies and swam all over the place together. Ryan really learned to swim well - floating on his own and swimming well underwater. Katie is a fish and can actually swim just as well as Ryan almost.

Work has been busy and we've been battling getting our home pest-free and organized.
All the school supplies are ready and school is now just around the corner. Ryan's first day of kindergarten and Alex's first day of preschool is August 21st!!

A parting note - I am LOVING the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I watched every bit of the opening ceremonies last night and cried through half of it. I feel proud of China and what she has accomplished - I love her people and I am glad to see them celebrate this amazing time in the history of this magnificent country. God bless America and God Bless China.