"Dude"

Today I taught my nephew how to say "Dude". If I accomplish nothing else in my life I think I will be satisfied.
He is still working on the mechanics of making a peace sign.

Best Part of My Day

Today I heard my nephew said "Anna" for the first time. It warmed my heart and just that one word made me feel loved!

Today is also Joanna's birthday - it's hard to believe she just turned 4.




What a cutie!!!!!!

Funny moments are funnier when people are there to laugh with you!

Yesterday I was lonely as Esther slept and I walked around the house aimlessly trying to find something to do that made minimal noise and was still fun. I could think of nothing, so decided to go out on the front porch and call my mother. As I walked outside and was hit by a wall of freezing cold air I decided it would be more pleasant should the Christmas lights on the porch be turned on. I lifted up the hammock, walked under, and plugged in the lights. As I turned around I thought.. well, maybe if I curled up in the hammock I could get warm while I talked with my mother. So... I sat down and as I leaned back to lay down I lost my balance, my feet flew over my head and I dumped out the other side of the hammock. I landed on my head. I was laughing really really hard until I realized that I was laying upside down on my porch, legs straight up in the air, phone clutched tightly in my hand, pretty lights sparkling above my head, and I was all alone. Some how things just don't seem as funny when you have no one to enjoy them with.
After that embarrassment set in.
Bummer, a perfectly good moment of hilarity yet again turned into embarrassment. What is this world coming to?

Been a long time

So, I suppose I am a slacker and I am not sure why I decided at 12:00 a.m. (the night before I need to be in court in Bradley County before 9:00 a.m., then go and supervise the last visit one of the kids on my caseload has with his mother, then take one of my kids out to lunch for good behavior, then drive from Cleveland to Pikeville, to Dunlap, and then to Dayton, where I will see two more of my kids, and then drive home)... that I would update my blog. Maybe it is my new medication, maybe it is because I am stalling because i know that if I go to sleep then naturally I will wake up and have to begin dealing with the above categorized day.. or maybe because I am too cold to go to sleep... However, I believe the actual reason is that my sister Rinnie is my inspiration. She finally updated her blog after an absence of quite some time and so I thought I should do the same.

The medication comment is a question of mine as I just started medication today to hopefully help with my OCD/Anxiety/and apparent ADD. Who knew I was soo messed up. Well, anyway, hopefully it will help, though I won't know for a while.

I have a few funny stories from recently.

Sometimes I think I have bad luck, but really I think that it is just God's way of saying, hey, I know you like jokes and I just want you to know that I am still watching out for you. Or maybe He just knows that I am a bit of a sadist and tend to laugh when bad things such as when people (myself included) trip, spill things on themselves, or do rather embarrassing things in public. My most famous might be the time that Cristin Taylor accidentally pulled my pants down in the vegetable section of Bilo....

The other day I was washing my new car. I take it to this place where you put quarters in and get to choose between the soapy brush, soapy wash, rinse, tires, etc. Anyway, I don't know why I go there because I always leave feeling like my car is dirtier than it was when I came and generally speaking I somehow end up soaking wet. This day in particular was frustrating as I had spent approximately 5 dollars in quarters vacuuming, brushing, washing, and rinsing my car and just as I ran out of water for the final time (and ran out of quarters as well) a bird flew into the roofed closure and pooped directly on my windshield. There was nothing i could do about it. I had no more money, was soaking wet, and it was the gooey, white, slimy kind that I knew would not simply wash off my windshield if I used the spray and my wipers, no it was the kind that would spread over the entire front of my car and make it impossible to see to drive home. I felt dejected.

P.S. oh siblings of mine... the psychiatrist said that if I had been on medication sooner I may not have always been named the "relational one" - I like to think that I could have been the family brain surgeon :)

GRRR..

My computer crashed, and I am mad about it. My hard drive is "caput" and I am annoyed to the extreme.

However, a very funny moment came out of all of this - I called Erik at 10:00 at night, an appropriate time to catch him I thought. He answered the phone and

I piped up "Hey Erik, how's it going..."

a very groggy voice answered "anna?" .

OOps... I thought. I woke him up... why is he asleep... that's wierd. Shoot, I hope he isn't in another country.

"Oh no" I said, "you aren't in another country are you?"

"Um... I think so" he answered.

I chuckled to myself.

"Well, where are you... sorry I woke you up?"

"um.. I dont know... I dont know where I am... " he seemed quite confused.

I never did find out where he was... in fact, I dont think he every remembered what country he was in :)

I still laugh to myself ... haha..

BUT - I STILL HATE TECHNOLOGY - well, not really, but it is quite annoying at times!

Starting a new Job.

It has been about a month now since I started working for Omni Visions. So far so good. I started out slow, but now have a full caseload of 7 kids. Each one very differant and very unique. I am excited to work with these 7 kids. I wonder how long I will have to build relationships with these kids. Let me tell you a little bit about my kids;

5 out of the 7 kids that I have have been sexually abused. All five while living in their own home.

One of my kids was found in a trash bag in China when she was a baby, was taken to an orphanage, adopted by an american family, and sexually abused for years by her adoptive dad, before she finally made it to a new family. This little girl has been living with a foster family for 2.5 years and they are starting the adoptive process. I hope that her story will be full of redeptions.

One of my kids that was sexually abused acted out on his younger sister and was convicted in court as a sexual perpetrator. He spent 3 days in juvenile detention before being released into DCS custody. Did I mention that he is 9.

Anyway, this is just a bit on the kids that I am having the priveledge to work with. I really enjoy all of them and look forward to helping them through this journey of their life. Pray for me as I do this though. It is hard not to get overwhelmed by everyone's stories and to help them conquer their pasts.

Even though I just started this job I am realizing that I have another dream. I have been thinking a lot about being a Child Life Specialist and working in a hospital and through the past several weeks little things here and there have continued to pop up which have reminded me of this dream. One was a letter that came for Dad from St. Jude children's hospital in St. Louis. I almost cried as I read the letter asking for support and I wanted to be a part of that organization. I wanted to have an impact on those kids, not just through money, but through giving of myself. Today I was reading a friend's blog and saw a link to another woman's blog. She works for Hope Hospital or something like that in Uganda. She was talking about the kids that she works with and my heart skipped a beat and I wanted to be in Uganda, working at a hospital, helping kids to not feel afraid while they recieve treatment.
I think that this is a dream that I really need to pursue! Although I am enjoying my job right now, I get goose-bumps when I think about working in a hospital, being a child life specialist. I think I may have been destined for that kind of work?

Here is a link to the story that i was reading earlier:


Sorry I haven't updated in soo long. Although, Rin, Sarah, Mom.. you all need to update too :)

Winter Song

I know it isn't winter, thought driving around in my non-airconditioned car today made me wish there was some snow on the ground. So, Meg introduced me to this song, Winter Song... and I really really like it. I am not sure why, but I do. maybe because it reminds me of her. Anyway, there is a cute video to the song on youtube.. When I watch the video I picture Meg and I, and it is cute.
I also think that I have been hanging out with Esther, aka Mother Earth, for too long because when I first saw it and the flowers began to pop up I gasped and got all giddy :)
Sheesh, what is happening to me?

Enjoy!

Best Before 2007

"Best Before 2007" means.... this will be a different colour, texture, and taste if eaten in 2009. DO NOT EAT IT!! THROW IT AWAY!!

To bad I don't read labels until I have already made something :(

In other news, I went and signed the papers to begin working at Omni Visions. There was a mix up with my pay rate, which hopefully will get corrected, but tomorrow I should find out who my team leader is and hopefully begin my training at some point this week. This is a definite answer to prayers!

In even more other news, now that I have a job, I want to quit and go to grad school. :) Thankfully all the schools i want to go to won't be accepting applications until the spring, so I guess Ill have to wait a bit longer. Sarah and Kirk, there is a school that has my program about 2 hours away from you. I think I will apply there, and if I get in and go, I could at least come and hang out on the weekends :) Rinnie, I looked in Orlando, but didn't find anything. Meg... TZ came up empty too... as did Murphy :)

Lydia's wedding went really well. I almost caught the bouquet at the reception, but then thought, "do I really want to catch this, do I really want that attention, and everyone talking to me about my single-ness" thus, I let it slip through my fingers into someone else's, and I left the dance floor triumphantly!

Edible Creations that are not sooo edible.

Once upon a time I thought that I was a good cook, or at least I could bake. Recently though, I have been proven otherwise. Take last night for example. I made waffles.

I had a deep craving for a waffle with chocolate chips in it and peanut butter on top. I know, now super healthy, but the last time I had such a treat was at Rinnie's a long time ago. besides, they were whole wheat, which i like to think cancels out all of the bad stuff (peanut butter, chocolate chips, etc)

Well, I needed whole wheat flour and chocolate chips, so Esther graciously drove me to the store in her new super cool car (that I am coveting greatly - a mini cooper). Since i am on crutches I decided to give the motorized carts a go. I got pretty good, could even flip a U-y in the middle of an isle:)

Anyway, I grabbed what i needed and headed home. I began using a recipe that I was unfamiliar with, but seemed simple enough. I doubled it, so that we could have leftovers. I did the math in my head, put the flour, baking powder and salt in a container and began cracking eggs for the next step. Unfortunately I didn't read the whole recipe or directions and believed that I needed 4 egg yokes. I got 3 yokes and ditched the whites. Unfortunately on the next line, the whites were called back into action. I could not retrieve them from down the drain however, no could very easily separate them all out again, and then there is the added math of the three yokes already added and all of that. Thus, I began again. Thankfully I had put them in a separate bowl, thus saving me the flour and dry mixture.

7 eggs later, I had my egg mixture. I believed I was ready, so I added my fluffed eggs to my dry batter, mixed it with the electric mixer, presumable mixing it all in quite well. I began making my first waffle. I was too excited at the prospect of eating waffles that i forgot to add the chocolate chips to my mixture until it was too late and all I ended up with was a waffle with chocolate chip droppings singed into the top and chocolate melted all throughout my waffle maker. No worries though, as I had prepared to scoop the next waffle I realized that my mixer had been significantly ineffective and there was substantial unmixed flour throughout my batter. As I took the batter back over to the mixer to get the job done again, I glanced at the recipe and realized that I had forgotten a significant ingredient - oil (a whole cup of it). I mathematically guesstimated that since i had already used one waffle's worth of batter this cup of oil should now be somewhere between 3/4Th of a cup and a cup. I left this measurement up to fate. (now that I look back however, I believe that I only put 1/2 cup in - i guess fate was not on my side). Anyway, after tis whole ordeal I made two more waffles.. then covered the batter and put it in the fridge, no longer feeling inspired, but rather defeated. I ate my waffle and felt disheartened.
This reminds me of the time that I made chocolate chip cookies for Erik and forgot the brown sugar. And also of the time in the recent past when I made a cake for a group of people at my house, and accidental used meg's already used and recycled oil. My cake tasted like old, burnt mandazis.
Oh well. I guess we all can't be good at everything :)

(in other news, I went to the doctor today and he told me that he is pretty sure I tore my Meniscus (sp), but does not know to what extent. I am in a brace and taking anti-inflammatory for the next two weeks and then go back to him to see what my progress is. He will then asses if I need an MRI/Surgery - I think it is good news sort of, but feel a bit disheartened by it. I wish it was more concrete. I don't really want to wait another two weeks to find out. But, we will hope and pray for the best. Thanks for all your prayers)

Thought

I Miss My Sister!!

New Job

As many of you know, I had an interview with Omni Visions on Monday of this week. Well, my interview went well. I started interviewing, but then Jennifer (who will be my supervisor) said that she didnt really need to interview me, that if I was still interested she wanted to offer me a job. I told her that I was still interested and this is what she offered. She said that another girl had also been hired, who already has her masters. Heather was hired starting off full-time. She has a full caseload of kids (7 or 8) and will be training at the same time. Omni Visions can't hire me full time yet, but anticipate being able to within a few months. Untill then, they will pay me $500 a month to carry maybe one kid and also do my training (prob with Heather). On top of this I can still work for Devona (who has tons of stuff for me to do) and other mentoring opportunities. I actually think i got the better deal, I already know how to live on a small budget and I think I would be completely overwhelmed if I had to start with 8 kids on my caseload and also train at the same time :)
So, that is the scoop... I guess all of my waiting will finally pay off :)
This also will give me more free time this summer, which is good for the weddings that I am in and such things.
Love you all,
Anna

Plantains vs. Bananas

Hey,
Did you know that Plantains have the same effect on the body as Bananas do???

I am finding this out as we speak. I recently ate approximately the equivilant of one whole Plantain, in the time frame of 30 minutes..... I believe it might be about 30 years until all systems are a go again :(

This reminds me of the time that I went to the movies with a bushel of grapes... I ate them all during one movie.... I had the opposite problem :(

p.s. In other news... I finally killed my fish. I have been slowly starving them for the past six months, granted I starve them, then feel bad, then feed them, then start the whole trend over. I knew I should just flush them away, but for some odd reason that seemed more cruel. I know... I'm a Sadist. Anyway, this past Sunday I did it (with the help of Esther of course) I flushed them away. However, I do believe that I am now going to Hell in a Handbasket, not only did I kill 4 of God's creatures needlessly.... I did it on a Sunday.

Here they are saying bye (again, I know... a Sadist)

hmmmm.

All I have to say is that with the exception of Erik and Kirk, my family is slacking on their blog updating....

:)

p.s. if any of you were confused like I was... Mother's day is NOT today, It is next week.

Dead Birds and Bare Feet

Yuck.

Today Esther's cat Paisley made her first kill and presented a gift to us. Esther let Paisley and Acacia (my cat) out this morning to begin their life of playing in the yard. I have been observing Paisley perfecting her hunting skills recently. I have even observed her teaching Acacia the art of stalking prey :). Anyway this morning Paisley was outside for a while, then came to the backdoor meowing. We let her in, she brushed against Esther's leg, then went back to the door and Meowed. (Pais is an exceptionally smart cat and uses her actions to communicate). So, we went to the back door to see what was up. Lying right outside the door was a baby bird that Paisley has caught and brought to us as a present.
We congratulated her and told her that she did a job well done... even though we were a bit sad about the baby bird that was on our stoop. We let her bask in the glory of her hunt and then went outside to see how our plant are doing. when we went back into the house Esther picked up the bird and placed it in a bucket to deal with later.
A few minutes later Paisley was at the door again, Meowing and presenting her gift again. She was quite proud of her first capture. So esther decided to leave the bird there for a little while and pamper Paisley's obvious pride issues. Unfortunately Esther did not inform me of this decision and when I went outside to fine my flipflops (I was clearly barefoot), I cupped the tiny dead animal in the arch of my newly washed barefoot. My scream of clear shock and discussted-ness made Esther (who was in the bathroom at the time) inform me via shout that she had let Paisly put the bird back and to watch out for it......
too late.
I was mortified...
It reminded me of the time when I was a kid and my gold-fish jumped out of its bowl as I was walking by... again barefoot... and killed it. Dead. They both squished under my step. What a gross feeling!!!!
Yuck!

Corn Bread Festival

A partook in a cultural experience today. I went to the Corn Bread Festival in South Pittsburg Tennessee :) And an experience it was. Some highlights are:

1. I rode a Ferris wheel (sp?) for the first time in my life. Dave rode with me and tried to tip the bucket and we got in trouble, but it was still fun.

2. I drank three slushies. It was soo hot, and they were so refreshing... and half price refills. Unfortunately I forgot about the half price refills until after I had thrown my cup away. I did go to get it back out of the trash can... looked around, and then decided I better not. A kind friend gave me theirs :)

3. I payed $2.00 to sample 9 differant types of cornbread... I realized afterward that I still dont really care for cornbread. Even if it is made with gritts, cherries, cheese, peppers, cream cheese, and whatever other varieties I tried. Mom, of all of those cornbreads I think I like yours the best.

4. I got a tan

5. It was a good excuse to hang out with some friends and do something out of the norm.

So, if anyone is up for a cultural experiance... come to chattanooga at the end of April and I'll take you to the cornbread festival. you can get "chicken on a stick" (Dave's favorite), Sweet Potatoe Fries (my favorite), funnel cake, bloomin onions, and oh.. did I mention, Cornbread. Ill even take you to ride the Ferris Wheel.

Funny Story

Often times there is a policeman at the Bilo that I generally shop at. They hang out there, check stuff out... make sure no one is stealing anything. Although, they did miss the one time I accidentally stole a salad dressing packet. But, That is another story.
My story begins two nights ago when I went to Bilo to purchase some much needed groceries. Generally two police officers rotate, one I like, the other is awkward and likes to flirt with the girls who come through, so I try to avoid him. Unfortunately my grocery run was at approximately 10:00 on a Friday night. (yes, no cracks about how un-cool I am that I am grocery shopping on a well known date night). Needless to say, I was one of the only people in the store, and quite possibly the only female under the age of 60. I soon became prey to the "over-eager to make conversation with any female under the age of 95" policeman. He came to "bag my groceries" and make small talk. Thankfully my cashier was a big burly black man who seemed to sympathize with my situation and make small talk instead. phew. However, after having the policeman inspect the types of things that I was buying, i was able to take my groceries and head to the DVD vending machine (again, no wise cracks about renting a movie to watch by myself on a friday night, while I eat the box of oranges that I bought) At this point, the policeman made his way over to where I was again, and began to play with my keys even though they were securely places on my cart, a mere two feet away from me. Again, taking interest in what I was up to. at this point I made to brilliant move to call my sister Meg, so that I at least had an excuse to ignore him, after all, I WAS on the phone. I made small talk with Meg, I am sure she was wondering why I was calling her and asking her about her thoughts on the weather :) I discover that there are absolutely no movies that i want to rent so I get my grocery cart and head out of the store. As I am still on the phone, and making my way out, I pass the policeman and unfortunately run directly into a motorized cart. thankfully no one was driving this cart, however it made a loud enough bang for everyone in the store to here, and look my direction. The police officer laughs and remarks, "that's what happens when you talk on the phone and drive". I laugh, move on.... and run my cart into the metal detector one foot from my freedom outside...

Note to self.... never grocery shop on a friday night!!

Essy at the Playground!

Thought that this was really really cute. It was her first time on a swing :)

May or May Not?

So, today I was alone with the kids from about 6:00 a.m. till about 2:00 p.m. For the most part it went great.

I may or may not have let Coriena spend most of the day either naked or in her bathingsuit. I may or may not have continually encouraged her to be sure to go to the potty. While we were sitting and telling stories and playing on the porch she may or may not have said, "I need to go potty" and slipped out of her bathingsuit. Then she may or may not have made it almost to the door, paused, and then did something suspicious. She may or may not have then ran naked into the house, grabbed the hand towel and layed it on the floor where the mysterious deed was done. Then may or may not have wrapped it around her naked body and continued playing. I may or may not have watched and said nothing...

I may or may not be getting a little too used to life here :)

First Experiance

Lauren Elizabeth Hersman, age 6 accompanied me as I had my first ever roller coaster experiance. The Shamu ride in the kid's play ground section of Sea World provided me with my 10 seconds of exhilleration, followed by the realization that not having avoided roller coasters for the previous 24 years was a good idea.

Along with the roller coaster I also was brave enough to try the freefall crab. A daring and dangerously scary piece of machinery, which carries you a miraculous 30 feet into the air and then drops you in waves of ten or so feet at an incredible speed.

Then there were the spinning and rising tea cups. Lauren, Meredith and I waited in line for 20 minutes in order to sit in a teacup, rise into the air, and control the rate at which we spun. We got our 20 minutes worth of waiting in spins.... till we figured out that Lauren and I get "tea cup sick".

Disclaimer: some information in this entry has been slightly exagerated for effect.... except of course that I do NOT like roller coasters and was embarased to be screaming more than my 6 year old niece. Shamu my friend, you may have the honor of being the only roller coaster that Anna Elizabeth Meiners rides within her lifetime. How's that for an honor?

Back in Orlando

Well, I'm back in Orlando for 10-ish days. And I have some more funny stories. Ill just draw from today's drama's. My two favorites are:

Today as I was helping Coriena get dressed we seemed to run into a panty problem. We originally picked out a fun pair of panties with a monkey on the bottom, what could be more fun. However, these seemed to be a bit too small as she was wiggling uncomfortably trying to get them out of her bottom and arranged properly. I suggested we try another pair. Our second pair however must have been a hand-me-down, or at the least had seen much better days. The elastic we discovered was close too.. if not all used up. Coriena put them on with ease, sat down indian style and discovered a slight problem......she discovered that the panties were not doing what they were intended too, the funny part was that she said, "my bottom is falling out", and proceeded to try to push it back in... As she pushed it back in, the elastic gave way again and again. I could see the frustration on her face, but all I could do is laugh. She laughed to. The monkeys made it back on!

Funny story numero dos:

Today we painted little wooden jewelry boxes that we got at Joann's. After the painting was finished, the bodies desperately needed to be washed. A simple task I assumed.... Coriena and Meredith headed into the bath and Lauren and I sat on the porch doing some girl bonding. About ten minutes later I heard a suspicious giggling from the bathroom. Lauren and I rushed to the bathroom only to find a tub FULL of bubbles and a Coriena hurriedly pouring the last of the bottle of shampoo under the running faucet. It was actually quite funny, however I did feel the need to give them a lecture about being wasteful and make them at least feel guilty about their actions. However, I didnt want to waste all those hard-worked-for bubbles, so I let them have their fun. Here is the result:

Ah, the joys of Aunt-Hood.

I am loving it!!

Also, Rin and I have a problem. We are either gluttons for strawberries, or we just want to find the Perfect one and in turn pick and pick and pick and pick. When I was down here last time we thought we were bad when we picked 13 pounds of strawberries. Yesterday we picked 20. Woops :)

Hillarious stories with my nieces.. and more to come!!

The past two weeks have been some of the most hillarious of my life. That might be a slight exageration, but funny moments have definately abounded. Allow me to share some with you...

First, some background. I am currently in Orlando helping my sister out with her three kids while her husband is out of town. Rinnie worked 4 days last week and works two this week. So, while she is at work, I chase the three girls and try to keep them sane and from burning the house down. It has been sooo much fun! So, here are some funny moments:

1. On tuesday last week I decided to take the girls to Chick Fil-A to eat dinner and kill some time playing on the playground. After a short lecture in the car about not touching eachother and not picking on eachother, we arrived at the restaurant and commenced operation "make it to the potty before anyone has an accident". As we pulled up Lauren said "Auntie Anna I have to go potty sooo bad", Coriena apparantly did too. So, I rush the kids out of the car, unstrap them, grab thier stuff, and walk accross the street (after waiting for Lauren's urge to pass as she crouched behind the car) "This is what I have to do Auntie Anna... I just have to do this till I feel better". So, very chaotically all four of us rush into chick fil-a, run to the bathroom, and thankfully everyone "made it". The kids get really excited because there is a man there making balloons and talking about playing BINGO. We sit down to eat, and balloon man (as we affectionately called him) came by and made each kid a pretty elaborate balloon. I tried to get the kids to eat dinner, though they were terribly distracted. I have a new found admiration for mothers who take multiple children out of their homes.... its impossible. Inevitably, one kid wants to play on the playground, one wants to play bingo, and the unfortunate third one is currently crouching on the floor about to wet her pants. In the course of dinner we switched tables to be closer to the bingo man (also known as the balloon man), and in this transition unfortunately leave our balloons behind :( Big mistake. When the kids realize they want thier balloons again there are other people sitting at our old table and the balloons have dissapeared. Of course, this does not fly with three little girls. Lauren and Meredith ask for new balloons, and after explaining to the balloon man (also known as bingo man) that they lost them/they popped, he hesitantly made them two more. During this time, Coriena was playing on the playground. Also during this time the family gets up and leaves from our old table, and I rediscover our balloons. I now feel slightly bad for the balloon man who made two extra balloons, but nope, I feel like it is minor. Unfortunately though, Coriena has returned from the playground and has seen that the two other girls got new balloons. I proudly show her the duck that I recovered for her..... but no, i dont even know why I assumed she would be excited. She was not impressed and I felt that I may have a situation on my hands if I didnt let her get in line to get a new balloon. I was very impressed as she stood inline by herself, took a huge step forward as each kid recieved a balloon. Finally, she was at the front. The balloon man (bingo man) said, "Hi little girl, what kid of balloon would you like" Coriena shyly swayed back and forth. Balloon/Bingo man asked who's she was, I raised my hand. He asked "didnt I already make her a balloon". I am not proud of this, but it was necissary. I said "It popped!" . I felt bad, but not too bad. I stuffed Coriena's old balloon in my purse so he wouldnt know I lied, and I started to gather our stuff to leave. As I was gathering however I wondered, "where in the world did I put my keys". I checked my purse, Nope...I checked my table, Nope... I checked my old table, Nope... then I thought, "surely i didnt leave them in the car. Grrrr. Well, Ill just get all the kids strapped in, trapped in the car and I will find my keys. To my horror as we approach the car I realize that it looks like i have left my lights on..... To my ever increasing horror, it looks like I have not only left the lights on, but let the keys in the ignition, and the car running, and the doors unlocked and the windows down. The car is gently rumbling waiting paitently for my return. Oh the horror of it all.
I told Rinnie, she laughed at me :)

2. Yesterday Meredith fell in the toilet.
I was helping her and Coriena brush her teeth and the next thing I know I hear this crash. I am expecting a scream but instead I hear this "oooooh, GROSS". Coriena and I look over in horror as we see Meredith thigh deep in the toilet. Meredith begins laughing, and we do too. I help pull Meredith out of the toilet and wash her off.
Yet another reason to flush the toilet.

3. There is nothing more "reach down into your throat and want to gag" then pulling off pee-filled socks. With most other clothes it is possible to avoid the pee, however pee filled socks are almost like squeezing a sponge full of pee.
Coriena had a potty-training relapse for a day, and even though i was reminding her to pee, she somehow kept not quite making it. One time she insisted that she didnt have to go, then five minutes later I found her, lets spread wide in the bathroom with a puddle at her feet. Unfortunately her clothes were full too. This day Coriena went through four outfits and took two baths :)

More stories to come, but this is a lot of reading for one day. Ill keep you updated on my adventures with my nieces :)

Verse for 2009

Well, it is that time of year again.... the beginning. Every year I try to come up with a verse that will kind of be my go to verse in times of hardship or trouble thoughout the year. I have had a variety of verses throughout the years, and I have finally chosen my 2009 verse for the year so I thought I would share it with you.
This particular verse comes with a story.

About six months ago I watched Essy for a weekend while her parents got a break from life and went on a mini-vacation. Essy is a very complicated kid to take care of, and her bedtime rutine is tedious to say the least. Let me explain. You first begin with the brushing of the teeth and going potty, no problems there. After this has gone on, you have to switch Essy over from oxygen onto her vent, get her in bed, put her SAT machine on, her feed machine, and get her all set for bed. Her SAT machine is the hardest and generally takes about 10 tries of placing the monitor on her foot at all differant angles trying to get a signal.
Anyway, to make a long story short, this particular night was a nightmare. I got Essy all set up, in bed, got her SAT machine to work, the whole shebang. This was at about 10:00. At 10:10 her vent alarm started going off saying something was disconnected. So, Essy woke back up and wated to help... I wanted her to go to sleep. So i checked all connections and decided it was a false alarm and put essy back to sleep. 10:20 her vent went off again.... disconnection. I again checked all connections tried turning it off and on, tried everything. 10:21 - Vent goes off, 10:22 vent goes off. At this point I decided to just bite the bullet and call Essy's mom Scarlette and see if she had any ideas. She said it sounded like I just needed to replace the whole circuit.... all the tubes, wires, etc. So, at about 10:30 I put Essy back on oxygen and started to replace the whole circuit.. meanwhile trying to keep Essy in bed and calm.
10:50 I finished replacing everythind put Essy back on her vent and put her back to bed. No aparant problems.
11:00 Essy is asleep, but is woken up by the alarm on her SAT machine going off. I return to the bedroom and try for the next 15 or so minutes to reset the SAT machine, place it differantly on her foot, but in my anger I decided to just turn it off. Her SATs had been normal, and if a major abnormality occured it should also show on the vent. Besides I checked on her frequently throughout the night. While in the room for the SAT machine, I turned on Essy's feed machine, which needed to begin around 11.
11:15 Essy is again woken up by the alarm on her feed machine going off. In my frustration and distraction I had turned on the machine but forgot to unclamp it to let the food flow into her tummy. I got it all sorted about and put essy back to bed, for the last time at around 11:30. At this time I was so flustered and tired that I went into the livingroom and began to read by Bible. I was still nervous about how the night would go, and also about not getting the SAT machine to work. I didnt know what to read, so i merely opened up my Bible and read the first verse that caught my eyes, and this is what it said...

Psalms 4:8
"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

I think you can probobly guess what my feelings were as I read that verse.

I know that in 2009 there will be times when I feel a void of peace, times when I feel unsafe, or when I feel burdened and it will be good for me to look back at this verse and know that the Lord provides safety for me, that He is where I can find my peace.