Happy Trails

Today the kids started at Vacation Bible School. They were so excited to be going again this year. The church where it is being held is absolutely amazing when it comes to the kids program. I can't wait for our own church to have a building so that one day, our kids can go to our own VBS........until then the kids will be riding the range this year at the neighborhood church. I am blessed that they reach out to the community, in the ways that they do.

Okay, if I am honest, I am also excited because I get 3 hours of Mommy time all by myself........Ahhhh my house is so quiet right now!

Solitaire

I have been playing solitaire lately. When I told Mr. C. his reply was "On what?" My answer, "The kitchen table." He just laughed. Go figure from a guy with a high tech phone with fun games.

This morning I was playing again, and it hit me. Solitaire is a lot like walking with God. He has dealt our hand, shuffled the deck, and laid out the beginning cards for us. We, walk up and start rearranging the cards, in hopes of the way that will lead us to "winning" (maybe a blessing). Free will is the simple act of choosing which cards we move, shuffle, play, and in what order. Only God though knows which cards are being hidden, which treasures we have yet to discover, and how the hand is suppose to be played out. His goal is for us to win too, but sometimes we don't get the prize because we haven't played our hand well. Sometimes we get really close to a blessing but not the whole thing because WE got in the way and messed things up. We didn't look at the bigger picture of what was being dealt to us.

Unlike Solitaire though, walking with God is not a solitary act. We can ask for help, hints, guidance, and hope. We still have free will, we still can mess things up if we let our pride not ask for the assistance that is there, but it is there all the same. My prayer this week, will be to not let my pride get in the way, and ask for help when I can't see HIS way and plan.

We have a diagnosis

It has been a month exactly since the original "incident". It has been mulitple doctors appointments, tests, and meetings, but today it became all worth it. I went to the Neurologist today. She had the results of the MRI, cat scan, blood work, EKG, and the rest of it all. The big diagnosis is this: LOW BLOOD PRESSURE. I mean, REALLY REALLY LOW. You can search on WebMD and look at low blood pressure and out of the 10 or so symptoms, in the last month I have experienced most if not all of them.

So how do we fix it???? SALT!!! Yep that is right, unlike the rest of you who have to watch what you intake, I now have a medical condition to eat chips and salsa, hot dogs at baseball games, pizza, and pretzels. She wants me to try for the next month to increase my salt intake, and if that doesn't work then there is a medicine that I can try. This is going to be great! Bean and cheese burritos here I come!!!!

I currently am wearing a halter monitor for my heart right now too. It might be related, it might not be, but at least it will rule out any questions. This I can't wait to take off. I literally look like the Bionic Woman with wires taped to my body.

Right now I am extremely excited that we have some answers, I am not crazy, and we know what path to take from here. Thank you all for prayers, updates, and just listening to this month long process.

Tuesday's Treasure

My kid's Dad ROCKS!!!!! He is the kind of Dad to build sand castles, read stories, build Legos, on rainy days create a tunnel out of couch cushions, and pretend to be at a tea party. Simply put he loves our kids, and loves to be around them. He is patient in areas that I am not. He is also the enforcer when I need him to be. He is our treasure, and am proud that he is my kid's Dad. Happy Fathers Day. Love you Babe!

Home again

Vacation is wonderful. You get to experience the adventure of a new place, discover where important things are like, the pool, golf course, and of course the grocery store! We had a wonderful time at the in-laws time share. We literally were across the street (HWY 1) from the beach. The resort had everything we needed to make the beach fun, and exciting. The kids could play on the miniature golf course right outside our room.

We had busy days, lazy days, but mostly family fun days. As fate would have it, the best weather was the day we left, but that just left us wanting more! The kids were wonderful, happy, and didn't fight! I had forgotten how much food the kids could consume when all they did all day was play in the ocean, pool, and be on some kind of adventure all day long! I wasn't sure on the timing of the vacation, being the actual first week of summer for us, but it ended up being exactly what the kids and us needed.

One positive, was coming home and the only chore left to do is the laundry.....piles and piles, but hey my house is clean!

Ahh Clean at LAST ~ part 2

If my house was bad, my car was DEFINITELY worse. Here is my scenario........

1 car

5 kids in carpool

1 puppy being transported

life in general

__+___________________________________

ONE DISGUSTING MESS OF A VEHICLE

So because I value my marriage, the germ free environment I should be giving my kids, I cleaned the inside of my car for 2 hours!

I used 17 Clorox wipes, filled the Dyson vacuum, and a trash can. Most of the mess was "under" the seats, but still. I want to start the summer and vacation on a clean note and in a clean car.

So for my germaphobe friends and family, you can now lick the inside of my car should you choose, and you will be free from any grossness. Come over quick though because we are taking this car on vacation and I will need to clean again ~ oy!

AHH Clean at LAST

My house was disgusting. In fact, it is so bad that I refuse to post pictures. Not the kind of dirty, when your friend comes over and you say "Oh excuse the mess" when really it can't be seen. I am talking about actual filth, slim, grime, crusty, visible dirt, nastiness on the floor, gross toilets, yucky sinks, OSHA might be called in, that kind of dirty. Not that it is an excuse, but with my health, kids getting out of school, my Dad in the hospital, cleaning has been last on my "to do" list. Hey, at least we have clean underwear!!!

Things changed Wednesday and yesterday. They changed because they needed to be. They changed because Small group was coming over ~ thank goodness!!!! They also changed because I am quirky on going away and coming home to a dirty house. I needed my house clean and refused to let more time go on without doing something about it. As I stated yesterday, we are getting ready to go away on vacation. That means that when I come home, I want my house to be as clean as the hotel is suppose to be. I want the sheets to smell like softener, the bathrooms to be gleaming, and the carpet to feel soft beneath my feet. I want when I come home from vacation for my only true chore to be the mountains of laundry that we come home with, and not have to worry about how to clean my house too.

So for three days I am on a cleaning frenzy. I have scrubbed them all; toilets, sinks, bathtubs, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, wiped down, cleaned up clutter and the whatnots. The laundry is done, a necessity for going away. The beds and towels will be cleaned on Saturday so they are fresh when we return. I am getting some of the sanity back, so that I can soak up the sun for summer time ~ when the sun decides to come out, that is!!!

As for today.........We are celebrating summer at Disneyland!