Louisianna Super Dome!

Part of my favorite team...the Jeffcoats!

It was an awesome day, and the Saints won 29 - 25!

Hurricane CP has disturbed my poor, sleeping dust bunnies. (If you have no clue what I'm talking about, click on the link.)

Today I popped over a dozen unmarked CDs into the computer to figure out what was on them.

Raymond was traveling north from Collins, MS. Road crews were sweeping the road creating a dust storm. Raymond didn't even see the truck in front of him until after Raymond hit his bumper. The car behind Raymond was obviously having the same problem since that lady hit Raymond's bumper. Our friend Kevin took Candace and I to Collins to pick Raymond up and take him to the ER at Baptist Hospital. Even though Raymond's arm hurt like crazy, the ER personnel said it wasn't broken. He's very banged up and sore, but thank God he will survive. We would appreciate your prayers for a speedy recovery and wisdom in obtaining another vehicle for me. Until then I guess I'm stranded. (Unless someone's insurance will provide me a rental.)

Mom: Hey, Cassie, why are you up so early?

Cassie: I'm not sure if I'm imagining things or not, but I think I just saw a mouse run from behind my desk to under my Michael Box. (That's the beautiful box her boyfriend made for her.) Come look.

(Come look???? How can there be a mouse in the house when we have two cats????)

We creep into her room. She jumps on the bed. I gently move the "Michael Box" which causes a brown streak to flash across the floor finding refuge under Cassie's hope chest. (Which is closer to the bed.) We both scream, and Candace comes running.

In spite of Candace's protests (I think she's becoming an animal rights activist.) We bring in the cats. They have no interest whatsoever in ridding the house of rodents. (I think we feed them too much.) We eventually located the mouse behind Cassie's bed. Since we don't have any mouse traps I googled "live mouse traps" online and promptly made one using a paper towel tube, a trash can, and a piece of cheese. We left it for an hour. It didn't work. The mouse was still behind Cassie's bed. Candace's battle cry was still, "Don't hurt it." So, using a box and a yard stick we managed to maneuver the poor frightened creature into the box. We closed the box, drove down the road, and set it free.

(This is the "Michael Box". Can you guess her boyfriend's name?)

(This is her hope chest, which started out as a toy box. My dad built it and my mom painted it.)

And this is the MOUSE!

(Isn't he/she cute?)

But that isn't all......

While Cassie and I were on our morning walk our yellow lab (Sam) began barking ferociously at someone's trash bin. (A large wooden crate they put trash bags in for collection.) We paid him little attention deciding there must be a mouse in there somewhere. Before long Sam came along as we continued our walk. On the return trip Sam once again began barking ferociously at the trash bin. Our curiosity got the best of us, so Cassie and I raised the heavy lid to peer in. Imagine our surprise when we literally came face to face with a full grown raccoon! (It was clinging to the underside of the lid!) We both screamed and dropped the lid. A discussion ensued as to what our next course of action should be. We decided to free it. This time I was using a large stick. It took some effort, but I opened the lid long enough to see the 'coon (as we say in Mississippi) and drop the lid again. On the next try I noticed the critter was no longer attached to the lid. (Probably was experiencing heart failure.) I lifted the lid carefully with my hand and slowly peered in. (Cassie was keeping her distance.) Inside was not one, not two, but THREE raccoons huddled in the bottom corner! One was growling. Cassie came closer and took some pictures with my camera phone. (Which I will post as soon as I figure out how to get them off the phone and onto the web.)

We just couldn't wait for Candace to ask her customary, "Did you see anything interesting on your walk this morning?"

What will the rest of the day hold????

It's raining outside. I'm not complaining; we need it.

On this rainy day I plan to...

...make banana muffins out of freshly ground whole wheat. (My friend, Dawn, ground it for me.)

...sew Cassie's quilt top together.

...figure out what to cook for supper. (And perhaps cook it. LOL!)

...wash and dry clothes. (I'll let my girls fold them. *hee hee hee*)

...sort out the new choir shirts.

...post this blog.

If I have time I'll be lazy.

What's happening in this picture?  I'll make it easy.  This is multiple choice.

(A)  We're going on a major camping trip and decided to take the entire refrigerator.

(B)  I got energetic and decided to deep clean the kitchen.

(C)  I'm looking for hidden Christmas presents.

(D)  We're contestants on Trading Spaces.

(E)  My mother-in-law is coming to visit.  (Though in my case my own mother is more likely to notice dust and dirt.)

(F)  Our refrigerator went out on Thursday, was declared dead on Friday, and is now waiting for transport to its great reward.

Scroll down for the correct answer.

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

The answer is..........

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

(F) The refrigerator went out on Thursday, was declared dead on Friday, and is currently waiting for transport to its great reward. 

A new one was purchased last night with promised delivery this morning.  The delivery man arrived around 4:00....PM not AM!  He arrived with the WRONG refrigerator!  All our cold food is in ice chests.  (I'm having flash backs to Katrina.)  However, there is no great loss without some small gain.  I choose to count my blessings.

1.  It is now clean behind my refrigerator.

2.  It is now clean underneath my couch and recliner.  (Had to move them to move out the old and bring in the new.)

3.  This happened before I bought groceries so I didn't lose too much when it went out.

4.  This didn't happen next weekend when my cookie swap takes place.

5.  I'll miss the Florence parade because we're waiting for the delivery to return and then I'll have to put everything that's in the ice chests in the refrigerator and clean up my kitchen.  (I've been to the local Christmas parade for the last 5 years.  I think I can handle missing this year.  Oh the joys of having a daughter with her driver's license!)

I don't know why I wait until I have something profound to say...(Well, perhaps "profound" is a little strong :-) at least something I consider worthwhile to say) before blogging.  Some of my favorite blogging posts to read are those that just give a glimpse into people's lives.  With that in mind, I don't promise to do better, but I'll try. 

I'd really like to post pictures of my favorite ornaments and/or Christmas decorations.  The house is nearly completely decorated.  I wanted to get it done ASAP because I plan to host a cookie swap here for our church ladies on December 7th. 

I'll just confess here, the last time I took one of those spiritual inventory test thingies, I scored lowest in hospitality!!  How does that sound coming from a resident of the Hospitality State??? Oh, and God does have a sense of humor.  Remember that foreign country we went to as missionaries for two years?  Guess what they value.....hospitality!  Those folks put me to shame!  Now, it's not that I don't love people or that I don't love having them over. My problem is that the whole thing totally stresses me out.  Cleaning the house, making sure every thing is in place, planning food, etc is hard for me.  Then I worry that people won't have a good time.  I asked the ladies at church to please let me know if they plan to attend so I can let everyone know how many cookies to bring.  So far five people have signed up....DD16, DD12, a mother and daughter from the church, and myself.  Do you think they all know hospitality isn't my gift and they're afraid to come?  I'd think they'd want to come just to see how it turns out! LOL!

I'll keep you posted.

(Atlanta from my hotel room)

God just blessed my socks off this past weekend! Cassie (DD16) and I went with a small group from our church to Atlanta for a Beth Moore/Women of Faith Conference.  Having Cassie share the experience was almost more than my heart could hold. 

I'm not one prone to tears (unless my feelings are hurt), so it amazes even me that I spent the entire Beth Moore Conference crying from either extreme laughter or an extreme touch from God.  I could feel the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit from the moment I walked into the Arena.  It shouldn't have surprised me when Beth said she had asked God to fill the Arena with His emotional presence that day. 

I thought my "toes" were safe when the topic was "Comfort".  I thought, "How can there be anything convicting in the topic of 'Comfort'?"  Boy was I wrong!  The message was about being members of the "Cult of Comfort" which our society endorses, and that we are not to be compelled by comfort, but by our love for Christ.  There was much food for thought, let me tell you!

While the Women of Faith part was fun (Sandi Patty was incredible as usual, and who knew Nicole C. Mullen has so much energy!) my heart was most blessed by my time with Beth Moore. 

On a side note:  I think we underestimate the ability of our teens to grasp the things of God.  Cassie was as blessed as I and took as many notes. Perhaps the reason so many of our youth are still "babes" in Christ is because we don't offer them anything solid.  I'm developing a whole philosophy on church youth ministries, but I'll save it for later.  (I have a feeling I'll be preaching to the choir!)

Just a little update to let everyone know my Dear Son age 19 is back from his mission trip.  I wish I could really share with you where he went and his deep insights on that experience, but I'm afraid it would jeopardize the Kingdom work going on in that particular part of the world.  You'll just have to trust me that it was awesome for him and for me to vicariously go with him.  He returned at 4:15 am Monday morning.  DH and I got up and looked at his 163 pictures.  (Oh the wonder of digital cameras!).  He was so hyped up from the experience that I had to rejoice with him all day.  (Or at least until he totally crashed at 6:15 last night.  He was wide awake this morning at 3:00!  Jet lag is getting the best of him.)

Oh, yeah, it's because I love blackberry jelly!

My back hurts.

I'm sore all over. 

My hands, arms, and legs are covered with scratches.

I must be crazy. 

I guess I am...crazy about blackberry jelly!  About a month ago my dad gave me a gallon of beautiful blackberries.  Since I'm not crazy about plain blackberries, I decided to make jelly out of them.  All I can say is, "AWESOME!"  My kids and I can't get enough of that stuff.  A friend of mine has quite a few bushes growing on her pond dam, so the girls and I picked another 5 quarts.  When I discovered that blackberries added to homemade smoothies are the bomb (an exclaimation of delight used by today's generation), I knew I didn't have enough in my freezer.  DD12 and I picked another gallon today.  I made these into jelly, six pints to be exact.  Now I'm in the process of making homemade bagels to go with it.  (Thanks for that recipe, Jimmie!   It's the bomb too!)

(Note:  These pictures weren't taken today, though they were taken at my house of my goodies.)

"After 34 days in the Trauma unit we were finally released!!!  We were transferred to the rehabilitation hospital in our own town!!!!  He is doing very well!!"

(Don't stop praying!)

We pick the girls up from camp today!  DS19 is headed to ---------.  I'm trying not to worry!

Vacation Bible School.  Enough said for any of you who have worked in VBS.  The first night we had 18, yes, 18 preschoolers rotating around to the different classes.  I wanted to pull my hair out. (But only the gray ones.)  Once again I was reminded why I am no longer a public school teacher. LOL!  But on Tuesday the class was divided which made things much easier.  I was in charge of music.  If any of you have done the hand motions to the  "Game Day Central" VBS you know what a work out it was.  Add "Father Abraham" to the mix five times each night and you know I didn't need to walk each morning.

 My music team.  Yellow-shirt (DD16), me, and Guitar-player DD16's boyfriend.

The Saturday after VBS was my dad's retirement party.  Dear Husband and I drove to a not so nearby town to celebrate with him.  Thirty years with the United States Postal Service is something to be proud of.  It made me proud to hear all the nice things said about him.

My dad and mom.

Sunday was church as usual, then DD16 headed to Mission camp for the week to serve as a counselor in training. On Monday we took DD12 and four other girls from church to the same camp.  (I don't have pictures because I sent my camera with DD12.)  I know they are having a blast.  It is awfully quiet around here and I miss them.

 Today I've been trying to catch up on some things around the house.  I don't know how much progress I've made, but at least I can no longer grow watermelons on the entertainment center in the living room.  The dust had dust.

On Friday DS19 is headed to an undisclosed (not to me but to you for security reasons) part of the world on a mission trip.  Pray for his safety and my peace of mind.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Memorial Day