Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Do you remember chanting that on the playground if a fight erupted?  I do.  Usually it was a couple of boys scrapping.  Every once in a while it was girls.  It even happened in highschool from time to time.  I was NOT a fighter.  I'm a peacemaker...well, most of the time anyhow.

That's the chant that has been going through my mind for the past 15 minutes as my kiddos pick up trash from the yard.  Yes, son, I do understand that it's not our trash; I do know the neighbors are careless and we end up with their trash in our yard.  Yes, girl child, Oliver does have to help.  Oliver, you get off your rear and HELP.  After mean momma comments, they stayed outside. 

I have an open window on that side of the house and have been listening to them fuss.  One doesn't think the other is doing enough.  Apparently girl child hung the trash bag up and the first born can't put heavy stuff in it.  Girl child gets mad at young son because he takes it down and won't hold it open.

FINALLY!  The yard is clean and first born takes the bag to the dumpster.

Wow.  These are the same kids that worked together this morning to clean the dining room as a surprise for me.  Why can't they seem to do the same thing 9 hours later in the front yard?  My guess:  It's because I asked them to do it.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

brainstorming

Bless my readers' hearts, y'all are bound to be sick of hearing about our housing situation.  Me too.  I'm sick of having a housing situation.  Really, really sick of it.  There are still no houses available in our price range in our town.  It's nutso.  So we've started thinking outside the box.

Mobile homes.  We've found one at a great price that we love.  We just don't have the down payment we would need for it.  Even if we did, I can't find a mobile home park that has a space for it.  Since our lot behind the church is not yet clear, I guess that's a no go for now. 

Buying a house.  Yeah, it's a great idea.  It's also expensive.  Very expensive here.  We run into the down payment issue again as well as closing costs.  Guess that's a no go too.

Someone donating a house to the church.  I think this is by far the greatest idea yet!  Anyone know someone who wants to donate??  I'd be totally into this.  Just in case you know someone who would like to do this, I would love to have a 3 or 4 bedroom, 2 bath house.  A dishwasher would be great but we don't HAVE to have one.  A fenced yard for my kiddos and doggie would be great too.

Ok.  Well, no one is jumping in line to give us a house so we better come up with something else.

How about transforming our fellowship hall into a pastoral apartment?  This would require changing up how we conduct church.  I think it's possible.  No Sunday School:  that's not gonna kill anyone.  Might make some people made but no one's going to die over it.  We would also have to have children's church in my living room.  I can also deal with that.  It might actually work nicely that way.

Church services are the easy part.  The actual transformation is harder.  There is a closet in the bathroom that could be turned into a shower.  I don't know how hard that would be but that would make that a 3/4 bath and that is fine for our family.  Our kiddos are old enough to just shower and the oldest actually prefers that.  We would also need washer and dryer connections.  There is a Sunday School supply closet that would be great for this.  We'd just need to take out the free standing cabinet in there and install washer and dryer connections.  I have no idea how hard or how expensive that is but it's a great place for them.  Also in there would be a great place for a family closet.  I think this would be great!  All our hang up clothes could go straight from the dryer to hanging in the closet.  Easy peasy!  Install a dishwasher in the kitchen and we're in business.  Of all this, the only thing I HAVE to have right away would be a shower.  I can go to the laundry mat for a while and we can keep doing dishes by hand.  A fence for my kids and long little doggie would be nice too.

So, what do y'all think?  Is this doable?  What would you think if your pastors needed/wanted to do this?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

If I know what's going on...

I took Noah to the PA today.  Ms. Stacey agrees with me that something is not right.  We already know he's severely ADHD.  Stacey told me to continue with the DHA I've been giving him but to up his dose from 1000 mg a day to 1000mg in the morning and 1000mg in the evening.  She said it should help a lot more.  She also wrote orders for labs (thyroid, vitamin D, and something else that I don't remember).  After the labs come back, we'll get referrals.  She is going to refer us to Dr. Rogers in Lubbock...a Nuero-developmental Pediatrician.  Stacey said that Dr. Rogers checks him out for all sorts of things including learning disabilities.  Stacey also suggested music lessons.  She confirmed with my brother-in-law, Doug, told me last year:  Playing music opens up the brain in places that cause damaged places in the brain to open up and heal themselves (that's my phrasing).  Gee, Uncle Doug, can't you move to Clovis to teach music so Noah can learn from his patient uncle who loves him and sees past his issues?!  Sorry...I digress.

So, the labs.  Stacey numbed his arms with a lotion and sent us to the outside lab.  We sit there for a few minutes and are called to register.  We spend time doing that, get him back there, and he's being a trooper.  The lady sticks him, nothing.  Stick number two.  Nothing.  Same thing with the next 3.  She tried both arms and his hand.  I could even see that she was hitting veins.  He would NOT bleed.  She said she feels he is dehydrated (I think so too).  Soooo tonight we're pushing fluids and he goes back tomorrow.  He's drank 2 bottles of Powerade and is working on his 3rd.  He also drank 2 Sunny Ds, and 3 cups of orange drink.  Hopefully he bleeds in the morning!

Why did I take him in to begin with?  Well, I should have done this YEARS ago but I figured he'd outgrow some of it like Oliver did.  He didn't.  He's gotten worse.  He won't eat certain textures.  He won't eat certain foods.  He has to have foods cooked a certain way.  He nearly always needs contact with people.  I get no less than 20 hugs a day.  I've started making him ask permission from me to hug and/or kiss me.  He often likes to be held like a baby.  He refuses to sleep in his own bed.  He sleeps with his brother (poor Oliver--Noah is a kicker).  He learns like a 4 year old.  He plays well with everyone but really likes to play with younger children.  THAT can be a problem!  He's bigger than most kids his own age, think about how much bigger he is than younger ones.

I just want to know what's going on with my kiddo.  If I know, I can help him.  I can teach him. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Housing

This housing situation is about to drive me NUTS.  We might have someone who will help us buy a mobile home so we went and looked at some today.  We found several that we like.  The one we are most interested in is a brand new 16x84.  With a little over 1200 sqft, the bedrooms are large, the kitchen is eat in and has tall countertops so Wendon and I won't have aching backs from our tall selves bending over the sink to wash dishes.  Not that we'd have to do a whole lot of that since there's a dishwasher.  the master bath has a nice garden tub with separate shower that is HUGE.  Wendon and I both love the shower!  We could order it the way we want it but I love it the way it is so we'd buy the model.

I think we could use some prayer on this. 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Heart of a Champion

KLove is having a contest in which you tell them about someone who has overcome incredible odds.  I was in my car thinking about people I know who fit that bill.  Who could I write about?  I know several people who do.  My dad.  My mom.  Several other people.  So who will I write about?  My Papa.  James Edward Holcomb.

On October 18, 1929 a baby boy was born to Bryan and Estell Holcomb.  A baby boy with a serious bleeding disorder...hemophilia.  They named him James Edward.  I have no idea what my Papa looked like when he was a baby.  I don't think I remember ever seeing a picture of him.  I imagine he looked a lot like my Oliver when Oliver was a baby.  I do know that he wasn't expected to live past the age of 20.  I know that when he was 10 years old, he had an internal bleed that caused his leg joints to fuse.  He was crippled from that point on.  I know he lived past the age of 20.  My mom was born when he was 29 years old.

My Papa went through hell most of his life because of pain.  I remember horrible hospitalizations.  I remember one time he was mugged and nearly died.  Much of my life I was prepared for his death.  So much so that his actual death took me by surprise.  Even through all that pain, he smiled all the time.  Every single picture we have of him, he was smiling.

I know he loved his family.  He loved my mother enough that when his wife abandoned them, he moved in with HIS mother so my mom would be properly taken care of.  I know he worked hard through great pain to provide for my mom.  He loved her so much that he asked my dad to marry my mom when she was 15 years old so he'd know she'd be taken care of if he died in the surgery he was supposed to have (good thing my dad was gonna ask to marry my mom anyway, huh?).  He took care of all of us and loved us with such a love no one can imagine.

My Papa was the first person to tell me I was pregnant.  He knew before I took a test.  He told me.  he told my mom.  He told my Nanny (his mom).  LOL...he told everyone but we all told him he was wrong.  Guess the joke was on us.  ;o)  The Christmas I was pregnant with that first baby, Papa's doctor told my mom he wouldn't make it out of the hospital.  She told my Papa to which he replied, "We'll have to talk to the Good Lord about that.  I want to live to see my grandson."  Uh, grandson?  What if it's a girl?  Oh well.  I guess God knew my Papa wanted a grandson because HE gave us James Oliver Edward.  Oliver was born in June.  We took my tiny newborn to see his Papa for the first time 6 months after Papa was supposed to die.  Papa was so very proud of that baby.  His eyes shone brightly through the pain every time he saw little Ollie.

James Edward Holcomb passed away almost a month after meeting his grandson for the first time.  For the first time in his life he was pain free.  He has been in the presence of his Savior for almost 10 years.  I miss him as much today as I did when we lost him.  I could go on for pages and pages about him.  I have so many great memories of Papa.

He had the heart of a champion.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Home is where you hang your hat...

What if you can't find a place to hang it?!  Housing in Clovis is terrible.  Not a little bad.  Not competitive.  It's TERRIBLE.  The US Airforce can't even bring in the personnel they're supposed to because of the housing crisis in our small town.  All of the apartment complexes have a wait list.  Realtors have more people asking about rentals than they have rental properties. 

How do I know this?  We have a family in our church who is currently homeless. There is no room at the shelter so they are living in our church fellowship hall.  I have been helping them look daily for a home.  They're approved for a 4 bedroom home through section 8; we can't find a 3 bedroom, muchless a 4!  The shelter is full of people in the same situation.  There just aren't any houses available and there certainly aren't any that accept section 8.

I also know because the house we currently live in is falling apart.  We have tons of plumbing problems, the insulation is rotted, and our bathroom floor is rotted and falling in.  In addition, it is just plain too small for our family.  Small I can live with.  Rotted insulation and floors I cannot.  Those are health hazards.  If it's rotten, it's possible it's MOLDY.  Um, yeah...not good.

Daily I call property managers to find out if they have any new listings.  Daily I check Craigslist.  Daily I check the paper.  Shoot, we even drive around town looking for "For Rent" signs! 

Last week we looked at a cute little house.  It was a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath with a garage.  There was one person ahead of us.  They took it.  The realtor told us about another house so we drove by it and were the first on the list.  The current tennants decided not to move.  That realtor has no other houses available.  Out of 14 property managers, only one or two have ANY property available.  Most of them have nothing more than 1 bedrooms. 

We're not sure what we're going to do.  We cannot continue to live in a house that is making us sick.  We are completely in God's hands.  So is the other family in our church. 

We need prayers!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Ok, hair conditioner experiment over.  It just didn't work well for me.  I ended up being super oily.  Yuk.  I looked for the bar shampoo at Makin It Natural but they didn't have it.  Big Lots had some shampoo for frizzy hair that was supposed to help curls to stay curly without frizzing.  I've used it twice now along with a leave in conditioner by Infusium.  It was just meh yesterday.  Today my hair went straight!  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Thank you, my friends, for all the suggestions.  I'm sure I'll be trying something else in a month.  Might even cut it for the summer.  There's a man in our church who cuts his wife and daughters' hair; he said he'd do mine if I need him to.  I think I might need him to.

Now that I've given a hair update, on to other things. 

I have been thinking about other people's drama a lot lately.  I am SO not a drama person.  Just don't like it at all.  Last week, Pastor Husband and I were just overwhelmed with other people's drama.  I tried to tell my mom that I wasn't used to church people's drama but she reminded me that it's just been a while and I forgot.  I will say that I do remember drama from our first two churches and from being youth pastors.  It was just different drama...money drama, parent drama, activity drama, people lying about us drama.  This is just crazy drama.  Some of it they've done to themselves.  It's almost like if there's no drama, they create it because they thrive on it.  That's crazy!

I've also been thinking about helping others.  My parents were always helping others.  I hadn't realized how many people are unwilling to help others until recently.  Honestly, it just breaks my heart.  I get SO sick of hearing christians complain about social welfare, yet they don't do their part.  What happened to helping widows and orphans?  What happened to the church helping people out who are down on their luck?  In my opinion, if the church isn't going to offer a solution to the problem, they should keep their mouths shut.  As for me and my family, I can say that as long as God blesses us, we will bless others. 

That brings me to the crazy housing situation in Clovis.  It's nuts!  We're looking for a 3 bedroom house.  Nothing fancy.  Something livable that the floors aren't falling in and the shower floor isn't rotten.  I'm NOT picky.  The prices for said decent living is out of this world.  It's also very competitive. If you find something you want, you better apply and pay the deposit immediately!  We're going to call about a house first thing in the morning to arrange to view it.  If we like it, we'll be having our application processed and paying the deposit right then.

The Lighthouse Mission (ministry to the homeless) is full.  They have no temporary housing available.  Very few owners are willing to take HUD/Section 8 vouchers.  We don't have vouchers but some of our church members do and they can't find a place to live that will take them.  They're currently living in our fellowship hall.  We're certainly not making them sleep on the streets.  It all goes back to behaving like christians!  We would do this for any of our church members.

So I guess I should ask.  What are YOU doing to help others?  Are you complaining and not offering a solution?  Are you actively helping others?  Are you showing others the love of Jesus through your actions?  I pray my friends and family are serving Jesus through serving others.  I pray you're not being selfISH rather being selfLESS.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

kids and church and school...OH MY!

I have been SO. busy.  Church stuff has been keeping me crazy busy.  Between that and kids (and school), it's been nuts around here.  We're parenting some friends little girl for a while so that's an adjustment.  We've been helping her family so that's kept us busy.  We've started schooling with another family at the church so that's also an adjustment.  OH MY! 

First, an update on my hair.  Other than being softer, I don't see much of a difference.  I think I'm going to give up on the conditioner only and go buy the bar shampoo that Jennifer suggested.  If they don't have it at Makin' It Natural here in town, I'll hit some place in Lubbock next week.  For right now, I've decided not to cut it.  We'll see how that goes.  My darling little son wants it long.  I'm such a sucker for that kid!

I now have Miss O.  I've always heard that going from 2 to 3 kids was the hardest.  I can honestly say it's not easy anyway.  I think that it's because there are more little voices!  So far the bickering is actually less but I figure that will change in a couple of weeks (we've only had her since Monday).  After she gets used to being with us and the boys get used to have her around, it'll be ON.  Perhaps I should purchase a good pair of earplugs?  ;)

We've started schooling with the Gonzales family.  We're having school at the church starting at 1pm.  It's going to take some getting used to, for sure.  It is nice to have another mom there to explain if I can't seem to find the words.  For her its nice to have someone who can keep the kids on track and doesn't mind fussing at them.  That's me.  The fussy momma.  Seriously though, I hope it works out for us all.

On the church front, womens' ministries is doing the first fundraiser since we've been pastors here.  We're having a bake sale.  Hopefully it will be at Walgreens on March 26.  I think I'm going to do a bunch of cupcakes, some honey wheat bread, some banana bread, and cookies.  I need to get started on some of it next week and freeze it.  I certainly don't want to wait til the last minute to get it done.  I'm sure Miss O will love helping me do all that baking.  LOL...hope she's not like Aunt Gidget and likes to eat all the cookie dough! 

We could use your prayers as we embark on this journey with Miss O.  Please pray for God's will for her life.  Also, please pray for us a bigger house and that our church can/will step up and help pay for it.  We NEED a bigger place. 

Good night, friends.  Sleep well.  Have wonderful dreams.  Be blessed.