Too much or not enough

Lately I have had too much to blog about or not enough. When there is too much I don't have the patience to condense it down into readable form. When there's not enough, I don't feel like putting forth the effort. Plus I refuse to be political. Anywhere. not. even. here. I just won't drag myself into that, even though it would be so easy to go there!

So having made all the excuses I can for my lack of blogging, I'll try to give you the Campbell's condensed soup version of things going on.

First, my Dad fell last Monday. It wasn't pretty and still isn't. He cracked his hip joint bone. He is in pain from that and with various conditions concerning his back and vascular system. He has had a hard week. The good news is it looks like he has escaped having surgery and he was transferred to a rehab hospital today. The bad news is that he is still in a great deal of pain even on medication and is never comfortable, which is terrible to have to watch and worse to have to live. I'm hoping the pain part will become more manageable in the next few days as he is in no shape for visiting, let alone being able to endure the rehab he is there for. But on the bright side, he is in a great facility and we are very thankful for that. He has many people praying for him and he has good doctors and good insurance (or so we hope!) AND yes, he had already voted. That came up the other day. It made me laugh.

Turns out things like Halloween don't get postponed just cause your Dad is in pain in the hospital. In ways that is a good thing. A great diversion. We had so much fun at Trunk-or-Treat last night! For the first time ever my kids did not dress in theme. :( They were going to all be in the sports theme because we bought the girls ACU cheerleader outfits this summer and Rhett just wanted to be a FC Dallas soccer player. But at the last minute Kolby didn't want to be twins with her 2 year old sister (imagine that!) and EK announced she was going to be a kitty kat. So we went with that. I spent $10 bucks at Hobby Lobby and just pulled stuff out of her closet and wah-lah! A pretty little black kitty! My Mom even made a black shiny tutu. (I was going to make it but Mom was convinced I didn't know how to do it right... :)

In other news, it looks like the PTA storm that took over my life for three months has subsided a bit... AND Mission Accomplished! Our awesome SVE kids sold over $58,000 dollars worth of products so we raised twice as much as we had budgeted! So exciting! Our PTA is doing really well this year. We also doubled our membership and we are having lots of fun. But all this has made for some long hours and crazy schedules. Even though it isn't over by any stretch of the imagination, hopefully my job isn't going to be so all-consuming. YAY! And while I'm loving PTA I realize you can have too much of a good thing.

Speaking of... I read Twilight back in August and much to the disgust of my coven friends, I have not even started New Moon. My affair with Bella and Edward was short lived, not by choice, but by circumstance. I'm hoping to rekindle that fire soon, but I tend to get so wrapped up in books like that that I want to do little else. So before I dive back into the town of Fork, I want to get the house in tip top shape... Something that it has not been in over a year! Plus I need to help Kolby more.

Kolby is doing great, but with the adjustment to 5th grade came changing classes 8 times a day, some meaner spirited girls, and more emphasis on things like fashion, fads and the cost of your shoes. I hate that. Socially Kolby is fine but she takes the meanness to heart. Academically I think she has finally found her stride, it just took a bit longer this year. All in all the move to a new school and grade has not been as smooth a transition as we would have liked. So I have had to adjust my mothering a bit to help Kolby learn how to cope with the new challenges. That's what you do as a Mom, you adjust as your kids need you differently. Turns out Kolby and I are both slow to adjust, but once we get there we rarely backslide!

That's about as concise as I can get, and since dinner isn't going to make itself (darn!), I'll leave you with some Fall pictures. Explanations to come later! Sorry for being such a blog slacker! I wish everyone would join Facebook because it is just so much easier! :)

Happy Halloween!!!

FC Panthers

Today marked the close of the soccer season for the FC PANTHERS! With a hard loss today, they finished 4-2-1 for the season. (We missed you Thomas!) This was a tougher season for the boys as they moved to the big fields and had to play longer quarters with goalies, but they did well enough to get this Mama's heart pumping more than one Saturday! It's so fun to watch these boys as they mature each season. Spring soccer starts in February! Up next Upward Basketball! YAY! An inside sport!

Ms Judy's Blog

I don't put much "church talk" on this blog. Today is church talk. But I think this is something all churches are going to have to deal with soon, regardless of creed or denomination. On her blog this week Judy Thomas summarized what Scot McKnight said about Reaching the Next Generation at the Zoe Nashville conference this year. If you have ever had a problem explaining to your parents why the church of their youth isn't meeting the needs or holding up to the questions and challenges of this generation, this would be a good place to start. That first list is a hard list to read. But when you read the second list, the wisdom shines through. Now go talk amongst yourselves....

beyond stressed

Last week was one of the most stressful weeks I have ever lived. So I guess now I am beyond stressed? :) Nothing big or horrible happened but so much happened in so many arenas of life. I am just really happy last week is over. This week is also going to be busy, but more of a normal busy, not a meeting every night, 8 things on the calendar everyday, newspaper articles, public hearings, hours of counting $ in "a safe room" :>, finding someone to watch Ella Kate every other hour so I could do what I needed to do, and having my stomach in knots for days kind of busy! Yes, thankfully I am beyond that kind of stress!

I am very excited about decorating for Halloween & Fall this week. Our poor house has undergone so many of my "projects" since last November. I am no where near "done" with everything. I've begun to wonder if I will ever feel as if it's "done". It has not been very fun or easy living with things off kilter for so long. But finished or not, I have decided to take a break. I have also decided from now on I will have to hire more things out. Rob and I can paint, but anything beyond a coat of paint takes way to much out of us. So... things will not happening very fast because I will be waiting for the money to pay someone else. But projects won't be dragged out for weeks or months making us live in chaos either. Live and learn.

So even though I am in the middle of redecorating in the living room and the kitchen is still dressed in the undercoating of the wall paper I pulled down last March I'm quitting for a while. And it's nice not to have that on my mind all the time. Rhett's room is finally done. I just have to get in there and hang pictures and put books in shelves etc. Hope to have it wrapped up and post pictures soon.

This is one thrilling post, isn't it? :)

In other news, Rob, Kolby and Rhett got to go to Farm Fest this weekend. We were all supposed to go until Ella Kate started running a high fever Friday night. I couldn't take her with us and I just couldn't leave her so sick, so EK and I missed Farm Fest! :( I was so bummed! Still am. Rob and the kids had a great time though. They got to see some of my favorite people and do things you only do at Farm Fest. Things like pumpkin ball, bottle rockets, hayrides, and so many other Fall/Farm like things. They all came back with fun stories.


This year our family stayed in a cabin at a near by retreat on Lake Bob Sandlin. Rob, Kolby and Rhett all loved it! We hope to go back some weekend this year to get away from it all...well all but sewers, microwaves and heat/AC. I'm not much of a camper.

ANYWAY, I'm glad they got to go and had such a great time. Our family was blessed to be included in Farm Fest again this year. Thanks so much Dick, Ruthie and family! With the big kids gone and EK subdued, I got to do some things around the house which was so nice!

AND to make me feel better, Rob bought the Christmas tree I have been wanting from Sam's today!

Yay! It's tall like our old one (that fizzled out last Christmas) but thin so it doesn't take up half the room. And it has 1600 little clear twinkle lights already strung perfectly all over it! Gotta love that! Usually Christmas decorations before Halloween make me feel ill, but not this one! I have looked at trees all over town and this one is my favorite for our house. I may have to put the tree up before Thanksgiving this year! :)

But in the mean time I have to say that I LOVE PUMPKINS!

I love to see them in my house, yard and all over town. I love the smell and taste of pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake, and yummy ginger pumpkin scones! I love orange pumpkins, white pumpkins, painted pumpkins and carved pumpkins. Pumpkins make me smile. I have even decided orange is one of my top three favorite colors. So happy pumpkin season bloggies!

Thanks for your prayers when I requested them!

I have come to the conclusion that some things just aren't safe to say unless you have a private blog. Truly, I'm too tired to go private so please understand if I just pull some posts after a day or two.
Also know I am OK. I was really worried about yesterday and having to talk in front of people, but God got me through it.
As fate would have it, I ended up in the news which is NOT AT ALL WHAT I WANTED. I much prefer to be in the background! I never saw the piece, but have been assured I didn't come across as some mad, emotional mother so I guess it's not all bad. I am hopeful, but won't be shocked if nothing changes. Still, I feel I had to try.
Can't wait to get away to FARM FEST this weekend! The weekend truly can not get here soon enough. Ever had one of those weeks?

Feeling like Paul Harvey

My sweet Mom is always e-mailing me "chicken soup" like stories and inspirational stuff. And while I enjoy them, well, you know me and my take on forwards! But, I think these two stories are really pretty cool in a Paul Harvey-esque kind of way. Hope you do to!

STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago . Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.

Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong.& nbsp; Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done.

He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. So, he testified.

Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street . But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

The poem read:
"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."


STORY NUMBER TWO


World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare.
He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank.
He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship.
His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet.

The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent.


Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier.

Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.


This took place on February 20, 1942 , and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

And now you know the rest of the story! :)