November 1st 2013

How did November get here so fast?

Last night we went to “trunk or treat” at our church. For those not familiar with this ….we line up all of our cars and decorate the trucks of our cars in the parking lot and each car represents a family to pass out candy. That way it’s a safe environment for the kids to come and get candy in one location. The church also had a hot dog roast, Cake walk, face painting and costume contest.

My Dh and the boys won the contest for the best decorated trunk.  I was not allowed to be a part of this because i would have made it to “cutesy” and they wanted it to be scary. The special effects of the fog machine ( operated by remote) and red light…….we had a CD playing with spooky music as well. This is Preston….who thought is was HILARIOUS to duct tape his mouth and tie himself up and drive with me to the grocery store and pizza hut …and beg for help to anyone who would look at him so it seemed as if I had tied him up. How embarassing! These boys are going to be the death of me! Rob and I didn’t dress up…..But we did get our picture taken..and instead of hating my picture because I feel like I am “Two Ton Tess”….I am going to post it because I just need to embrace the fact that I am overweight or do something about it…plain and simple. Rob was wearing this punisher shirt all day. Even when he went to a jury duty call. Thank goodness he got out…that was an all day experience and they originally said he couldn’t go….even thought he has a work business trip, and a possible surgery in line. It is a 4 week trial. YIKES! But Thankfully God was watching out for him and they let him go after debating for a few hours.

Clarissa and Shelby were both beautiful bumble bees. I am not sure they wanted to be “matching” but Clarissa wanted to be a bee….so did Shelby. Shelby told Clarissa to be a lady bug. I told Clarissa to buy the costume she wanted…so we had two bees…they were cute! Clarissa is the blonde one…that looks just like me…except prettier. :) Clarissa also provided a couple dozen cupcakes for the cake walk….I didn’t have time to help her or suggest ideas….she got home from school and started working..our house was buzzing with all the activities…trunk decorating, quilting, shopping and prepping the church…..once she finished icing them she came to me and said “I think I messed up……I used pink and yellow icing, I should have used Halloween colors” She just used her favorite colors….hehe. I told her it would be fine…and they were. The little girls loved them.

I told Rob last weekend if something were to ever happen to me that he is not allowed to let Clarissa take care of everyone. I specifically said she would naturally willingly sacrifice herself to take care of all of you and she will give up her life. It is naturally in his and the boys to let her. My request is that she can live her life. He said ok. Then ironically two nights ago as we were talking as a family…I had mentioned something about me being gone or something and whatever else …If I die or something. Clarissa said “It’s ok Daddy I will take care of you…don’t worry” I said “See Rob…this is what I am talking about.” Clarissa will make their dinners when Ileave on business trips, make sure they stay in line…and keep everything running smoothly and she is 9.   If she does that whiel I am gone for 5 days…I can’t imagine what would happen if I was gone for longer. Poor girl! So rob took over the conversation and told her that wouldn’t happen because she needs to be a kid and that he would take care of everyone. It’s not her job to be the mom. Can I just say how well I know my kids? Sometimes I feel like a psychic!

This next picture is a few boys..but Carl is the only one who belongs to me..he is wearing his Dad’s gas mask from the military….these boys look scary!Bryce and Cole didn’t dress up. If I spent a small fortune they would probably dress up…but Halloween isn’t mt favorite holiday. I think they need to be creative and use what they have….they are older and don’t need to be wandering the streets. So I have kind of taken the fun out of it for them. The Halloween party at church is much more fun….and we get to hang with people we love.Jeri was a good sport and let the girls paint her face…..:) She is better than me. LOL But she quickly wiped it off because her love interest was there last night…of course. We also had a great talk. I keep my distance from him because it’s a sticky situation…he is a really good guy but jeri isn’t acting right. He asked me why I am cold to him. LOL I explained. He said he was trying to get her to behave and earn trust because he is on the up and up. ( honestly he is…I believe him) But I told him that is he associated with people that do wrong things that he is grouped with them….unfortunately it’s my daughter at the root of it……and he said to her…. “This is all your fault..you need to fix it.” LOL I just laughed……then he said he would like to go to the movies but can’t take her because she is grounded…I told him he could always take her brothers ..they would love to go and they are not grounded. Torture! Jeri will have to get her grades up and earn some trust back …quilt lying & sneaking around and we will let her have some freedom..maybe.

All in all a great Halloween. I think the best we have had in awhile.

I have a ton of pictures to share of quilts…I am going to try to do some mega posts….I have not posted what I have been working on the last couple of weeks. I am struggling….with everything. Getting ready, packing, leaving, meeting deadlines, paying bills and the looming cloud.  When I get overwhelmed I kind of shut-down. I wish I didn’t. So I am getting the minimal amount of stuff down that I know I can without shutting down. Today I did shut-down..kind of. I decided to take a bubble bath, read a quilting magazine and then I took a nap. My flight plans arrived…along with some ribbons to tie on my luggage (so we all have the same) and it all became real. I know seems strange…but it was real today. Only 3 days and then I leave on Monday. I won’t actually arrive in Port Au Prince until Wednesday…long travel days…yikes!  I think they will let us rest some before putting us to work. But I am not sure how I will manage that? I am bringing a sleeping aid…cause I know how I am. I would get a second wind and not sleep when I was supposed to and drag along when I was supposed to be working…that’s me. On my last mission I slept like 2 hours a night…..LOL. Instead I stayed up all night talking, reading and trying to sleep.  I also had a bit of phone service when nobody else did..and I came home to a huge phone bill cause it was a dollar a minute. I heard I may have service in Haiti as well at the same price ( that was before the storm..I have no idea now) and Wi-fi. If we stay at the compound the whole time I will have wi-fi as well..if everything is running properly. If that is the case I think I will be a happy missionary because I will at least have some contact with home. My DH doesn’t think I should be that connected…but I think he doesn’t realize how far away it is for a Mom to leave and not have some sort of relief. I could never be a soldier. Kudos to the moms who are!   Anyway…getting of on rabbit trails there.

As of tomorrow I should be sending out the last of the mail ordered quilts..yay! Over the weekend I will finish the local quilts…then spend time with my family over the weekend….except the boys are leaving…..and I won’t see them until Sunday night…bad timing.

I also just want to thank everyone who has supported me during this journey in all ways! when I needed a push ..when I needed funds….when I needed a hug! Thank you! I love the way we all encourage and help one another..it really is the human spirit.