Weekend Update

I had my Women's Retreat this past Friday and Saturday. It was hosted by the church that hosts my MOPS group. The theme was Loving Well by Beth Moore I had never been on a retreat before so I wasn't sure what to expect. What was kind of funny was that I was more concerned with the fact that I knew the food (and, wow was there food) there wouldn't be on my diet. LOL! (I managed to do pretty well, though. I only gained .4 pounds from Friday's weight and still managed to be down almost 6 pounds for the week!) All in all, it was fun, insightful and I've become better friends with some of the girls. I'd love to do another Beth Moore study. She's crazy funny.

I got home late Saturday night and got to hear about how the rest of the family's weekend went.

Mike took the kids to Topeka on Saturday for a Tae Kwon Do tournament. Long story short, they were good competitors. Hannah managed to pout her way into a trophy and the boys were skunked. They seemed to have a great time, though. They got together with some other families from our TKD school before, during and after the tournament which, I'm sure, was a good thing for Mike. Oh, and Mike took 2nd in form and 3rd in sparring. Not bad, I think.

Tomorrow, Hannah has her appointment with the audiologist. I talked with some girls at the retreat about it and I was surprised how many have had similar things happen. Luckily for them, it was easily fixed with ear tubes. Of course, my mind is going through every possible scenario for this. At this point, I just want to know what's going on, how bad it is and what we can do to fix it. Of course, it could turn out to be nothing. I should be happy that this appointment is happening so quickly after the first diagnosis. Otherwise, I would have driven myself completely insane.

We're supposed to get a freeze tonight. The kids and I brought all of the planters inside and covered up the marigolds I planted last week. I thought about covering some of the perennials and the zinnias (I can't believe my zinnias came back up!) but decided that if they've made it this far, they should be okay. I might pay for it...oh, for crying out loud...I need to go cover those up too.

I'll let ya'll know how Hannah does tomorrow. I need to go get some sheets out of the closet.

Interesting Discussion

We had a really good talk during my Bible Study this morning. We were reviewing Galatians 5 and what we got out of it. Believe it or not, I've always had a difficult time pulling hidden meaning out of any text...especially the Bible. However, I usually have a lot to say when someone brings something up.

One of my friends said that the verse that spoke to her was Galatians 5:14-15, The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

We began talking about literal neighbors and then husbands. We said that it seemed that they were the ones we often bit and devoured the most. We got pretty specific. Someone mentioned that their husband had no idea how to do dishes and I chimed in that mine did, but couldn't load a dishwasher to save his life and that I often came, after he was done, and rearranged everything, grumbling the whole time. I did say that I would never tell Mike to his face that I thought he was doing it wrong, but only rearrange the dishwasher when I think he won't notice (fat chance...he's noticed) Then someone mentioned that their husband has no idea how to close a cabinet door. A chorus of, "ugh!" came from the ladies in the room. Again, I chimed in that Mike does the same, and as I'm slamming the door shut, I always fail to see past the open door to see that the reason it's open is because he's put away the dishes that were in the dishwasher and reloaded it with the dinner dishes. This time, a sad chorus of, "yeah, I do that too," came from the girls.

I think that most of us had an epiphany this morning. Mike, I promise I'll try to see past the open cabinet door (and unscrewed bottle tops...LOL!) to see the dishes done and/or put away more often.

Just Checking In

It's been so crazy around here that I've hardly had time to breathe much less blog.

After Sunday school, I took the kids up to the pumpkin patch while Mike stayed home to manage his fantasy football team (here's to you, Mr. Fantasy-Football-Manager-Guy). Of course, taking the kids out into the middle of a big pumpkin field the day after about 3 inches of rain may not have been the best idea in the world, but they had fun. I'm now considering opening our own pumpkin patch here at the house since we have about 15 pumpkins and/or gourds decorating the front of the house. Why in the world do we need that many pumpkins?

Yesterday, I decided I was tired of the pigsty that our house had become and cleaned. I waited until after Hannah went to school (partly because she had gymnastics in the morning and I had to do some grocery shopping if we wanted to eat at all this week) to begin the cleaning. I had hoped to get the whole house done but was only able to achieve a state of clean on the first floor. I guess it's better than nothing.

This morning I had my Bible study, which I'm loving every minute of. I found a Mom's Devotional Bible at Borders that is really awesome. It caught the attention of our study leader, who took off with it for most of the class (she'd give it back when we needed to look something up but would then ask to borrow it again). We had an interesting discussion on the Apocrypha (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees). One girl asked the question that if the Scriptures cannot be added to or taken away from, how come they are not included in all Bibles? Can anyone give a good explanation as to how they are/are not the Word of God? We just kept going in circles.

The boys had early release (have I mentioned just how much I HATE early release days?) and we scheduled a Go See It! for Daniel's Cub Scout Den at a local farmstead. The kids had a great time but I had absolutely no interest. I do have to say that it was nice to get to know some of the other moms a little better.

Then, we had Tae Kwon Do. I've got to tell you, this pace is beginning to wear more than a little thin. I need a break. We got invited to a playgroup tomorrow but I don't think we'll be attending. I just need a day to hang out at the house and catch up on laundry. Plus, it's supposed to storm tomorrow and I'd really like to sit back and enjoy the weather.

So, that's about it from here. I'm so freaking tired.

Bible Study

Today was the first day of the MOPS Bible Study (Bible Basics 101). It's a small group of us but it was nice because we are all from different backgrounds but we're all essentially looking for the same thing. It's a very basic study (hence the name Bible Basics 101) but has already proven very informative. It's nice because most of us (and I thought that I was the only one...I'm being serious here) have no idea where to start when it comes to the Bible and we're all learning and growing together. It is also comforting to know that I am not the only one who has arrived at a crossroads when it comes to their faith. What a great group of women I've been brought together with. I'm mentally exhausted yet refreshed all at the same time. This is going to be a wonderful thing for me.