The original reason for the planning of the trip - to see my dear friend Kim Wimmer and her band, Clockwork, at the Island View Casino. They actually live and work in Las Vegas, but due to renovation work at their regular gig, they are doing some touring right now. We had SO much fun listening to them! Even with a stand-in keyboard player and drummer, I thought their repertoire was fantastic.

Kim and I go waaaaay back. Like she said from the stage, she and I "attended different high schools together". We were both our state representatives for Junior Miss, which is how we met originally. And our friendship has endured thru the years, even though we have actually seen each other very infrequently. Since college, Kim has been in Orlando, New York, Japan, California, and Las Vegas - but that has only made the heart grow fonder, as it were.

Jmk and I tried to talk her into coming home with us for a few weeks so I could mommy her and help her take a break, but no dice. :-)

She has been having some serious thyroid troubles, and her entire adrenal and hormonal systems are totally out of whack. Please add her to your prayer list!

We love you Kimmer!

Our brave companions for the evening, Robert and Megan. We didn't even leave for the casino until, gosh, almost 10pm. Y'all, Jmk and I don't see 10pm. Hardly ever. Even this young newly married couple got pretty pooped before the evening was over.

But, oh - it was so worth it to see Kim!!! I had so much fun. Thank you again to SueSue and Amy for watching the kids and giving us the chance to be out so late. It was wonderful to see my dear friend!

Kim Wimmer during one of their sets on Saturday night. Even with most of her voice gone, she still sounded incredible!

Here is her band's website. They are a good group of really talented people!

sigh....

I really meant to post some pictures from the beach today. But I have managed to acquire an oh-so-lovely sinus infection and used naptime to actually lay down myself.

Man. I've never been prone to sinus infections (praise the Lord!) and can not even remember the last time I had one. I had forgotten how uncomfortable they are. Blugh.

Pictures soon! I promise!

Just to clarify....

I am afraid I may have sounded irritated or frustrated about questions regarding schools and pre-schools and such. Please know that I haven't been!!! It's just one of those natural questions that people have, especially those that care about us and want to know about our lives because they are close to us.

I think I was taking the easy way out and using the blog to get the word out in one fell swoop. But, as is normal anytime one mentions the word "homeschool", there are naturally a lot of other questions that arise. Mostly because it's a new'ish concept for this day and age.

Hey, we're not anti-preschool! It's just more cost effective for us to do pre-school at home. There's a reason that I'm able to be a SAHM. Being creative with how we spend our dollars makes it possible. With the taxes that we all pay these days, I think it's something that everyone understands!

Now, enough about all that - pictures from our vacation are coming!!! I will try to get some up today of our new beach babies!

We're Preschooling!

I get the "is Poodle going to preschool this year" question quite often, as she is turning four next month. The problem is that she is turning four after that magical Sep. 1 date which precludes her from joining the other 4 year olds. So, that means that she'd need to join a 3 YO program. And, we've chosen not to enroll her thusly because that will be too tight on the budget, especially since it's not absolutely necessary.

InSTEAD - we're going to "homeschool" this year! Well - pseudo homeschool. Four year olds don't need all day structure. They need a lot of free play and a lot of imagination time, and the learning stuff can be snuck in when they aren't paying attention.

However, it makes some folks feel better to hear that we're "homeschooling", and that Poodle isn't going to be "just" sitting at home playing with Mommy.

We're even going to be involved with one of the local homeschool groups that a lot of the families from our church belong to, so that Poodle can see her buddies more often. Do some cool stuff. Field trips and the like. We won't try to do too many things, because we're just not "go and do all the time" kind of people right now. But we'll pick the stuff that she'll enjoy. One of her swimming class buddies will be in the group, too!

Now, I'm sure saying all that has raised some questions. So, let me answer them:

1) No, this doesn't mean that we are officially homeschooling forever and ever, amen. We will probably "hs" again next year, assuming things go well this year. But when it's time for her to start 5 yo kindergarten, (which won't be for 2 more years, as weird as that sounds), we'll seriously evaluate everything. Make decisions then. Year by year - as long as the kids are getting what they need. Not saying we will - not saying we won't. Just taking things year by year.

2) No, we're not about to buy a goat and start making all of our own clothes out of hemp. Okay, we've JOKED about a goat so that Jmk doesn't have to cut the grass in the backyard. But then we'd have to deal with the whole neighborhood covenant violation thing.....

3) Yes, I do think about homeschooling "for real", but we live in a fantastic public school district, so we are blessed with a lot of options with schooling. I like the idea of a private school quality education without the private school cost, but homeschooling isn't for everyone - and I don't know if it's for me and my family or not.

4) No, I really enjoyed school, personally. Good experiences and most excellent teachers.

5) Yes, I agree. Technically, any parent who keeps their young child at home is homeschooling. Even if they don't give it a specific label.

6) Nope. Not using any type of curriculum. The stuff we need to learn to color inside the lines can be obtained from the dollar store. And magnet boards are fantastic for practicing letters. Again, she's only 3-almost-4.

7) Yes - she's still our little social butterfly. I have no intention of changing that about her! Okay, maybe we can curtail her tendency to go up and hug complete strangers (who happen to be in the 3-5 year old range) in the mall.

8) So why call it homeschooling? Mostly so that everyone understands when I can't always answer the phone right away, or it takes me awhile to answer an email. If we're going to introduce some structure to Poodle, then Mommy has to be willing to focus on creating said structure.

So...... there we are. All of y'all out there who have kids near Poodle's age, puh-leeze feel free to keep me posted with what they're doing or did at their preschools. I may not be trying to structurize (like that word? just made it up.) her entire day, but I do want to be sure that she's getting all she needs. Being all she can be. And all that.

Happy New School Year to everyone!

Latest Newspaper article

Regarding the McGowans.

Website Update

There is a new link for pictures for all the grandbabies (including Baby Audrey!) at the website! We've had a Windows crash (shocker) on the main computer at home, and I won't be able to get the month by month pictures updated until we can get around to fixing that. Having some issues with the whole thing. (groan)

But I'll get to it asap. Be sure to leave me a comment with your email addy if you need our website address.

No updates on the situation with Alex and Carmen. Just continue to keep them in your prayers.

Prayer Request

For a family at our church - 2 young girls (7th and 8th grades) lost both of their parents in a horrible car accident last night. The girls sustained injuries also, but are going to be okay physically.

Please pray for the girls and for the parents of Eddie and Vicki.

And then pray for those girls again - Alexandra and Carmen. They are so close to their parents. I can not even imagine what they are going to go thru when they come out of sedation and have to be told that their mom and dad are gone.

Monday P.M. update: More on this from The Clinton News.

We're back!

We had a lovely time down in Gulfport this weekend, and I'll post lots of pictures... or at least post a picture link... just as soon as I can. I might get to a few onesies twosies pictures in the meantime. BUT, until I can get to all of that, here is a neat post by one of our local meteorologists. Hat tip to Kiley for this one!

Kimmer - by the time you see this, you'll hopefully be safe at home. I hate that we couldn't stay longer last night, but when we got back to the condo, Poodle was awake and panicky that I wasn't back yet. So, we were right in leaving when we did. But we hated to leave you!!!

Hey - Uncle David!

Poodle is really digging the puzzles you got for her at Christmas!

More napping.

Tooter decided to conk out in Daddy's chair yesterday. He was watching "Monsters" while I was paying bills yesterday, waiting on lunch to get finished cooking. At least I thought he was watching!

Visiting with PopPop

I'm pretty sure she was "attacking" PopPop during this moment in time. She and Tooter were running around the room like crazy people, and Poodle would jump up in P's lap for a second, and then take off running again.

I long for that kind of energy again!

And, said crazy people!

Btw, RSF, you do notice Poodle's fashion creation, hmmm?
B's skills aren't that bad after all, huh? ;-)

The love of a child is a priceless gem. No diamond or pearl has ever been worth more.

Because she can.

MooMoo and GaGa picked the kids up from us at our meeting place yesterday afternoon, and got them back to our house. Even though Jmk and I weren't feeling up to snuff, we still took the time to go eat together in a non-busy way, which as parents of small children, we don't do very often.

So, in the meantime, MooMoo runs to CiCi's to get the kids' favorite pizza, and also picked up some pasta for Poodle. She gets it home, and while the story gets fuzzy from here, this is what we discovered when we got home.

There was no white sauce on the pasta. Poodle knows that Cici's has white sauce. She then apparently asked MooMoo to go back and get said white sauce.

Now, I'm sure you know that had it been Jmk or myself, there would have been a resounding "uh, no - we'll figure something else out, but there's no way we're going all the back to Cici's". However, being the doting grandmother she is, MooMoo went back and got the white sauce.

It's the prerogative of the grandparents! Spoil those babies, and enjoy every minute of it!

Tooter, later in the evening, crawled into GaGa's lap and apparently practically put himself to sleep.

(In all seriousness - we are so grateful for the love that all the kids' grandparents have for them. Thank you for blessing them with yourselves!!!)

Just Thoughts

"Our culture is increasingly adverse to the absolute truths of the Bible and those who embody those truths. Nevertheless, we must be constant salt and light representatives of Christ, the one True God, even as the culture falls away."

I read this in an email that dealt with "an increasingly secular culture", based on polls and questionaires showing that Americans aren't as Bible-believing, God-believing, or religious as they once were. That those things are in a steady decline in our culture.

This email also mentions a "failure of the church". Maybe? I don't know. In order to reach out to a spiritually declining population, churches have tried to evolve to accommodate that population. More activities, bigger buildings, looser theologies, etc.

This email almost immediately brought to mind something my preacher said last Sunday. This is paraphrasing, but here's the gist:
Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting (emphasis mine) love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Okay. So, here's the thing that Bro. David said. Either we can believe in a God whose love is universal - applied to all people - but who will put a percentage of those people in hell (i.e. quit loving them). Or, we can believe in a God whose love is enduring and everlasting for His elected children.

Thing is, we can't believe both things. The first view is the most common view in the religious world today, although most people wouldn't actually SAY that God ceases to love. But that's what has to be true in order for hell to exist. The second view, while very much less common, is in line with "everlasting". But it requires one to agree with the doctrine of election.

I wonder if that universal view, somehow, contributes to an increasing apathy regarding Holy things. If, instinctually, people realize that if God's love can be lost, then He is no better than we are. And, if THAT is true, why in the world would we make sacrifices to worship Him?

God's love IS eternal and unchangeable and those for whom Christ died will NOT be lost. Our worship of Him IS warranted and merited. And necessary. Not for our eternal salvation, but it will help us to avoid the apathy that we will feel if we don't.

Love Bear

Tooter has acquired a pseudo lovey - I call him "love bear" because he'll love and squeeze on the bear before laying down with him. This picture was taken after he had gone to sleep a couple of nights ago. (Thus, the blurriness of the picture. I took it sans flash, and had to brighten it up a little in photoshop so's it could be seen).

Anyway, Toot doesn't carry the bear around or anything. Right now, love bear is just something he snuggles with for a little bit when he first goes to sleep. Doesn't really HAVE to have it. It's more of a "okay, this is nice. whatever." kind of thing.

In other medical matters, this crud is making its rounds. Poodle is feeling a bit better, with some minor lingering symptoms. (coughing, runny nose). Tooter is a few days behind her on the process, and I'm a few days behind him. (i.e. I'm on day two of feeling like junk). Like I told Jmk this morning, this is the day that, back in my regular j.o.b. days, I would make myself go to work, but would probably give up around 4:00 and go home. I fully expect Jmk to come down with this, but maybe it will be a weakened strain by the time he does.

Hey, I realize that's not logical, but it's my dream world. Indulge me.

There are times that I sort of wish we would come down with an actual infection for which we could take antibiotics and just get the heck over it. BUT, then, I realize that while the virus-type illnesses linger longer (that's fun to say! linger longer!), OTC meds are cheaper, and we don't have to worry about it being one of those antibiotic resistant strains of things.

Give and take. Find the silver lining. Glass half full. And all that.

Jmk and I have a meeting thingy late this pm, and MooMoo and GaGa are going to play with the kids for a few hours. We were supposed to have a date night after our meeting thingy, but my current state of affairs is going to seriously limit all of that, I'm a'feared. A couple of hours away from the kids will still be nice, even if it is for business'y stuff. Especially since I have zero energy. And the kids need extra mommyness right now. ugh.

More info about us than most of you need or care about!

Anyhoosier, back to the couch for now. Just gotta hang in there till naptime!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUESUE!!!

We love you so much, and wish for you much love, much prayer, and all the big sloppy grandbaby kisses that we can send your way!

God stands fast as your rock,
steadfast as your safeguard,
sleepless as your watcher,
valiant as your champion.
~~Charles Spurgeon

P.S. - And a happy birthday shout out to Uncle Chuck also!!!

Brief sneezy hiatus

There is a rotten cold making its way around the Zoo. Poodle Monkey caught it first, around Thursday'ish. Tooter Monkey started showing symptoms late Saturday night. And, now, Zookeeper Mommy has a tickle in my throat this morning. And that general "thar's a cold a'comin, get out the Zicam" feeling. No word on Zookeeper Daddy yet this morning. Tooter's medicine wore off at 5:00 this morning, and he wouldn't go back to sleep. So, he and I are sitting on the couch playing with legos at the moment, waiting on everyone else to wake up.

Blugh.

I'm not sure what we're going to do about swimming today. Poodle isn't running fever any more, but is still coughing and feeling generally yucky after playing for a bit. And, Tooter IS still running a tad of fever, so he doesn't need to go infect people. I hate to make her miss her favorite Wednesday thing, but I can't figure out another way around it.

Maybe some coffee will unlock some Mommy-creativity. Bring on the joe!