First Day of School

Today was Payton's first day of school. We had kind of a hard time getting him to get out of bed. Most mornings, that isn't a problem. I guess as far as school days go, we have several more ahead of us!! =)

We had a hard time finding shorts to fit him this morning!! I thought he had several pairs that would fit him, but I was wrong!! They were all too little!! So, we moved to jeans and had the same problem!! So, we broke out some of his "brand new cowboy jeans" and he was happy. He put on his new "cowboy" shirt and was ready for his "breakfast of champions -- waffles".

We made his lunch -- a lunchable with Oreo cookies, a juice box (frozen to help keep his lunchable cold) and a cup of pudding with a cookie "spoon".









Then, it was off to school!! He rode with Aaron, but of course we all went! We got to school and I had to tell him to take off his cowboy hat and he could leave it in Aaron's car so he could put it back on as soon as school was over. I'm not sure he was too happy about that.

We tried to take a picture of him in front of the school, but the sun was in his face and he was not happy about this whole going school thing.





We walked to his classroom to find Mrs. Assenmacher (I have no clue how to spell her name, but I'm sure I will by the end of the year), the teacher's assistant. We put his backpack and lunch box in his cubbie and went to find his chair -- between those two girls. Mrs. Brokaw, his teacher, gave him a name tag and said she could remember the cowboy hat, but she couldn't remember his face. I snapped one more picture before leaving him for the day. He was nervous and scared, but I think he'll do just fine.

We got home and our house has been so quiet. I'm not sure I like it all that much. No horses running through the house, no more of Evan screaming because he's mad at Payton, no more John Wayne movies playing on the tv all day. Most would say to just enjoy the silence. . . guess it will just take some getting used to!!

Well, Evan just came in and asked if he could watch "Rio Bravo". . a John Wayne movie. Guess that's one thing that won't change during the day. Evan and I are going to have to figure out what to do while Payton's in school. Evan thinks we can go to the bookstore and play trains every day. This morning, he wanted to go as soon as we dropped Payton off. I told him that it wasn't open yet and he said, "Well, you have keys, don't you?"

It is very strange that at 8:30 this morning, I had 2 boys and myself dressed, 1 at school, 1 lunch made and was back home wondering what to do with my day. Most days, I would just be crawling out of bed at 8:30. Maybe this school thing isn't such a bad thing after all!! =)

Offer . . .

We got an offer on the house on Friday. Full price, we pay part of closing, but it's a VA loan -- HATE VA loans (or their appraisers)! We are praying that the house will appraise. If it does, we'll be closing on Oct. 9th. Just a few days after the foundation guys come to fix that!! We are looking in Clyde, but haven't found anything as of yet. Few things have our eye, but we haven't seen the inside yet.

3 Days and Counting . . .

Yesterday, I took Payton to his school orientation. We first went to hear the principal talk to us about some changes and some other "parent info". Then, it was time to go to his room and meet with the teacher. There are 18 kids in his class and it was a very small room for 18 kids and at least one parent with each child. However, we got his school supplies put away in his cubbie and it was time for Payton to find his spot.

The teacher pointed him to his chair -- between 2 girls!! His worst nightmare! When we went to visit his class in February, he said he would go to school, but he wasn't sitting by any girls. Boy, was he wrong!! Not only is there a girl on each side, but there's a girl across the table from him!! He's surrounded!! No matter how much we try to explain why his teacher did that, it's just not good enough. He's not going to school.

While we were there, he had his cowboy clothes on with his hat and everyone was commenting on his hat and vest. I laughed and said, "I just have to figure out how to get it off of him by Monday." They just laughed. Guess they don't understand how his hat is a necessity EVERY SINGLE DAY and EVERYWHERE WE GO!! I'm sure he'll understand (at least I have my fingers crossed!)

While we were in the room, the teacher had given the kids a little cup with a few snacks in it. Payton ate all of his snacks and kept looking at me like "Come on. Let's get out of here quick!"

I am praying that Monday morning will be an easy adjustment for all of us. For me, I have to get up early and make some kind of lunch to send with him. It's Aaron's job to get him to school on time (but I'm going on Monday). Evan will have to find stuff to play by himself. We will probably get some shopping done because Evan loves to shop, but Payton hates it.

The biggest change for us will be that my "baby" has grown up. I don't know where the last 5 years have gone and I'm sure the next 13 will go by just as fast and he'll be graduating from high school.

My, how time flies . . .

It's OVER . . .

Wednesday, I got a phone call from our realtor that someone wants to make an offer on our house. They just wanted us to have someone come and look at the foundation first. One of our bathroom floors sags and it has sagged since we bought the house.

So, Wednesday night, Aaron called home and I was able to tell him all of the crazy things that happened while he was gone. He said he would call the foundation guy the next morning.

So, Thursday morning, I met the foundation guy at our house. He was SO EXTREMELY nice about everything, but he didn't have good news for us. Under that bathroom, there is a "sink hole" and the foundation needs to be fixed -- to the tune of $7200. I'm just laughed. He said, "So, you don't have a gun to shoot me when I give you this total, do you?" I just laughed and said, "If you knew how my week has been, you would know that all I can do is laugh at whatever you say. I don't know where it's going to come from, but all I can do is laugh at it."

So, I'm laughing at the thought of God providing $7,200. Not because He can't do it, but just because I know He will. I'm laughing at the devil for thinking that $7,200 would make me crumble. I'm laughing that it took everything that I've been through this week to finally get me to that place of totally trusting in God to take care of it all and when things come up, just laugh with confidence -- knowing I'm blessed ABOVE & BEYOND!!

I am so glad to have Aaron home. I slept so good last night knowing he was here with us. Last night, the boys were playing outside and I was cleaning the house when I heard these screams coming from outside. I ran to the door to see Aaron in the driveway and the boys just overly excited to see their dad. Payton made the cutest sign to welcome Aaron home (but he was too busy talking to have his picture made with it). The boys had so much to tell their dad!! We finally got them in bed last night and they kept coming in saying, One more thing, dad." It was just too cute!

Every day is a new day . . .

Full of surprises!! =)

It's Wednesday and it's been one week since Aaron left. And, I'm going to write about every detail of my week so that when he gets back, he can see what happened!! I'm telling you, he better be having the time of his life for what I've been through this week!! =) Every time Aaron's gone hiking, it's been a terrible experience. This one better be different -- at least one of us should be having fun!! But, I'm going to have to prepare myself because if he comes home and DID have the time of his life, I'll either be happy that at least one of us was having fun -- or I'll be mad that he did have a good time while I was fighting the battle at home! =)

So, I'll start on Monday. I did finally get in touch with the realtor's office and they said nobody was coming to look at my house. 15 minutes later, the people showed up to look. Luckily, we hadn't been at home at all on Sunday, so it was really clean. They looked at the house and left. We did have a neat conversation about George W. Bush, though. Seems that they have connections!! =)

Anyway, I get Payton an appointment for the doctor and as we're loading in the van, I realize the tire is flat again. So, I drive it over to the air compressor and it won't come on. I keep messing with it and now we're late. I call my father-in-law to ask him how to run this thing and he tells me there is a reset button somewhere on the motor. I finally find it, but it kicks on while I have my head really close to it (and the phone). I know it was as loud on the other end of the phone!!

I get the tire aired up and we're on our way. We passed by Wal-Mart and I was trying to decide if I should go there first and do Payton's appointment later or just go to the appointment. I look at Payton and he's crying because his ear hurts and he's cold (he had a fever). So, to the doctor's we go.

Sure enough, it's a bad ear infection. Get the prescription, we're on our way to Wal-Mart. I drop the car off to be looked at and we go to the pharmacy. We went to eat while we waited and Payton's fever went up again.

We got his medicine and get to the TLE and they say my tire is too bad and they can't fix it and they don't carry those tires. I know . . only 1 place in town does. I just decide to go home for the day and figure out the money situation to get tires.

That evening, I just vegged on the couch. It was nice to just do nothing for a little while. The boys played outside and they were playing really well together.

Then, Tuesday, I'm trying to figure out how to get the money for the tires. We have the money, it's just tied up in some silly online accout -- so much for "emergency". I just decided that we were going to go get the tires and just figure out the money later.

Thirty minutes before we were suppposed to be at the tire place, Payton comes in the house SCREAMING HIS HEAD OFF and he's hopping on one foot and holding his ankle. My first thought was that he had broken something, but it wasn't. He had been stung by some yellow-jackets that were under our porch. He was stung 5 times!! I had no idea what to do for a sting, so I'm pulling out my medical books to see while he's screaming and Evan's just shocked!!

I get ice on his bites and then go outside to kill the yellow-jackets. There were about 20 of them on this one nest. I sprayed them and they fell off. It was crazy!!

So, we go get the tires, go play putt-putt golf with some friends, hang out at their house for a while, then on our way home, we pass the "burned down house". It's on fire AGAIN!! I call 911 and get transferred around and they're arguing on who is going to go out. Finally, they decide it's H. Finally that fire department guy calls me and I told him that it wasn't a bad fire, but I just wanted to make sure it was put out. He said that was fine and they would be right here.

He was right -- it didn't take them long to get here, but they brought 5 trucks with them! It was funny!! They were down there for a little over an hour and I hope they figured out why it kept catching on fire.

I did get the big area next to our house all mowed this week and it looks so much nicer now that the grass is all cut. I keep thinking I want to tackle the "horse area", but I'm afraid to because I know there are rocks and stuff out there and I don't want to tear up the lawn mower.

Oh, and I haven't even posted about the silly tractor sprinkler that Aaron loves. It hasn't worked well for me!! It keeps getting stuck and spraying this one area until it's a giant mud puddle. Oh well. The only thing I can tell Aaron when he gets back is that I tried to water his green grass!! I haven't killed it all just yet.

Every day is a new day. . . it's now Wednesday and I'm hoping today is uneventful. I do know God's hand has been upon me this whole time. It's just silly all of the crazy things that have happened. Just plain SILLY!!!

I'm Just Plain Tired . . .

I think the title says it all. I'm just plain tired. =)

Aaron left last Wednesday to go on a 13 day hike (maybe I already posted about that), so I'm doing the "single mom thing" these 2 weeks and let me tell you, I'm so glad I don't have to do this by myself all the time.

We had church yesterday morning, so I got up early, knowing that I had to get Payton and Evan dressed and ready to go by myself. So, I got up and was loading the car when I looked down the street where the house used to be and there is smoke coming from there again!! I just thought maybe it was just smoldering and wasn't a big deal, but when we passed by on our way to church, it was on fire again. It wasn't bad . . just the already burned down house on fire again. Anyway, so I call 911 and I get T County emergency center. The lady says that since I'm in J County, she has to transfer me there (although that county seat is 30 miles from me). So, I get on the phone with that guy and I told him there were flames at the house and he said, "Well, how many?" WHAT?!?!?! I just said there were FLAMES at this house and you want me to COUNT THEM?!?! I told him that it wasn't bad, but my house was down the street and there were still things around that could catch on fire. I'm just trying to protect my property and those around it. So, he said he would send someone out.

So, I'm supposed to be at church by now setting up, so I call Joe B and ask him to get some stuff from the church for me and I told him the situation. I just wanted to make sure someone DID show up!! As I was sitting there, I decided that God was going to protect my house and I decided to go on. I got to the end of the road and realized I had forgotten my computer! So, I turned around to go back and get it and there was this semi truck/tanker thing sitting right before the house. He flagged me down and said, "So, you think anyone knows this house burned to the ground?" I thought he was kidding -- he wasn't.

I explained to him how it burned on Friday, etc. and that I had called 911 and they were supposed to be sending someone, but I wanted to make sure that someone did come and put it out, but I had to get to church. He said he would stay there until someone got there. That was awesome!! The neat thing about it is that I KNOW that was one of those "God Things". Those tanker trucks don't come down our road. The guy was there checking some wells or something in the field across the street from the house, but those guys always come in pick-ups, etc. . . never those kind of semi truck things.

So, we go to church yesterday morning and things went GREAT in children's church. We started the new curriculum and everyone LOVED it! I'm really excited about how it is all going to work out!!

That afternoon, I had a New Partners class to attend for a few minutes. All afternoon we worked on our family service and it started at 6 pm.

Afterwards, we went to eat and then went to Joe & Casey's house just because I was EXHAUSTED and the boys wanted to play over there. Evan eventually fell asleep and Payton decided it was time to go home.

I got home and had received a call from a good friend, so I called him back and we had a really neat conversation that lasted until after midnight. It was a conversation that I just LOVED having.

Anyway, Payton fell asleep while I was on the phone and after I got off the phone and snuggly in bed, Payton wakes up crying and crying that his ear was ringing and hurting. Great!! I gave him some Tylenol and hoped that would at least help him sleep until the morning . . . no such luck. Every 2 hours he woke up crying, so I did the best I could with the medicine that I had. It took him about 30 minutes to calm back down and get back to sleep. So, we did that ALL NIGHT LONG!

So, it's now 8:30 and they called yesterday and wanted to show my house this morning at 8 am!! I'm so glad I didn't do that!! But, I think they're supposed to be here at 9 and the boys are still asleep. I'm calling the office, but it's not opened yet, so I get silly voicemails and I don't know exactly where to leave a message!! UGH!

Anyway, I'm rambling . . . they say a woman has about 10,000 words that she uses a day. Since Aaron's been gone, I haven't gotten all my "words" in every day, so I think I'm just typing them all!

Plus, I'm just plain tired!!!

A House Fire . . .

Ok . . so I just have to post about what has just occurred in the last 2 hours!!

Aaron is out of town on a 14 day hiking trip (about 4 of those will be driving, but he's still away from home those days!) So, he left on Wednesday and today was the last day we could talk to him via cell phone because he will be above the towers (or something) -- there won't be any kind of signal for a week.

So, this morning, the boys and I had a really rough morning together. I think just spending 24/7 together for the last 3 days really wore on us. I never knew how crucial that 5 o'clock break was when Aaron got home from work and for at least 30 minutes, I could gather myself!! =)

Anyway, so I had Nick and Jesse come over to watch the boys tonight so I could go to a crop at the scrapbook store. As 11:30 pm was approaching, I just felt like I was supposed to get home, but I kept trying to prolong it. But, I left the crop at 11:45 pm to head home.

I pulled in my driveway about midnight and Nick and Jesse left about 12:15 am. So, a few minutes later, Nick calls me and says, "Rachel, I don't think this will affect you at all, but I just wanted to let you know that your neighbor's house is on fire."

WHAT?!?!?!

So, I look out the kitchen window and sure enough, their house has flames BILLOWING out of it and smoke pouring out!!

Nick said, "There's a propane tank, out here, so I just wanted to let you know that it's probably going to blow up, so if you hear a loud boom, that's all it is." Nick said they were going to stay with the couple until the fire department got there.

Payton was still awake, so we went outside in the front yard and just watched as the flames got bigger. Pretty soon, we heard this small boom, then a whistle sound, then a BIG BOOM!! There went the propane tank.

I had Payton run to get our phone because I didn't hear any fire sirens or anything, so I called 911 just in case nobody had called. The lady said she had dispatched them, but she would do it again. So, we waited.

About 12:45, the first fire trucks showed up. By this time, the grass behind the house had caught on fire and the wind was blowing enough to make it spread. They had a back "shop/building" that had also caught on fire by this time.

So, as we're watching this, I thought it was a perfect time to go over the "what-to-do-if-there's-a-fire routine" with Payton. We talked about how he needed to call 911 and what he would do if there was a fire in our house and where we would meet when we all got out. He asked what if he got out, but needed to come in and save his toys. I assured him that God would take care of us and we would just have to get new toys because you never run back into a burning building.

Anyway, so FINALLY the onslaught of firetrucks showed up. There were 5 that came from Hamby and I have no idea how many came from Abilene. There were all kinds of lights and horns going on down there.

I came back in the house about 1:15 and I think the fire was just about out by then. The firemen did an amazing job putting it out. It was neat to see how someone fought it from the back and someone was fighting in the front and when they met in the middle, it would all be out.

Anyway, Nick and Jesse stayed there with the family and they were able to minister to them and pray over them. The family was understandably just shaken and in shock. From what I could see from my house, the house was probably a total loss. We really believe that God is going to restore that family and give them back everything they had plus some. What the enemy meant for evil, God's going to turn it in to good.

Now, of course, your mind wants to wander all over the place. If the wind had been blowing towards my house, there's not a doubt in my mind that my house would have burned too. Or it would have gotten REALLY REALLY close. Or what if I hadn't come home early?

When we first looked at this house, I laughed and said, "Well, let's hope there's never a fire, because it would take them forever to get out here!!" I really saw tonight that it only takes a few minutes for a house to go up in flames.

I am so thankful that I serve a God that had his hand upon our road tonight. Even though it might not look like it at the time, I am believing that God is doing to do something AMAZING at the house down the street. Please pray for them. I don't know their names or their situation.

Ok . . . it's 2 am and I need to get some sleep!!!

My Printer is ALIVE!!!

For those of you who know me, I have some EXCELLENT news!! My printer is alive and well!!! For the last few weeks, I haven't been able to print ANYTHING and every time I would try, it would give me this "error" message (I HATE THOSE!!) Anyway, so I'm sitting at my desk today and I plugged it in to the USB port and it started loading the hardware. It said it was found and said it was ready to print!!

SO, I'm going scrapbooking tonight and thought it would be great to print some sketches out to take with me. I hit the print button and honestly, I was just waiting on it to tell me the stupid "error" message, but it started warming up (still expecting the "error") and all of a sudden, paper started going through the printer!!! YAY!!

I know it's something so silly to be excited about, but we just changed our children's church curriculum and EVERYTHING is downloaded off of the internet, which means you have to PRINT everything out!! I have been going in to the church once a week and we have an AWESOME printer/copier there, but it's annoying when I've just needed to print one thing and I can't!!

So, today I'm doing a funny dance around my office -- don't you wish you could see that?!?! =) I'm just so thankful that my printer and my computer have decided to cooperate!!!