Tonight on my way home from church, (We have a Saturday evening service. The choir is singing this weekend and I am a part of the choir.) I saw a lady carrying a gas can walking down the road. The temp right now is 80 and I didn't see a car just up the road.
I stopped and asked if she needed a ride. She said yes and she hopped in. She was a little hesitant but came willingly pretty quickly. She said that a man had stopped and offered her a ride but she turned him down.
I drove her a couple of miles to the trailer park (she was going to mow her lawn - hence the need for gas).
One of the surprising things is that I didn't even hesitate to pick her up. Lots of times I will see someone that seems like they need help and pass them by but not this time. Maybe I was supposed to pick her up, I don't know. I don't know her name and she doesn't know mine. So why would I feel the need to pick her up?
Lots of times I will use my kids as my excuse because "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them." However, what kind of example am I setting when I just pass on by?
The sad thing - if I were walking and she had stopped I'm not sure I would have gotten in her car! She was missing most of her teeth, she was carrying her cigarettes, and not dressed in clean clothes. How horrible of me to judge - and I am judging - her on her appearance!
So I am wondering, what would you have done? Picked her up? Would you get in her car? My heart is actually pretty heavy over this!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Bowling
Last night Tim and I went bowling with friends. It was date night! Woo Hoo! (Always a good thing!). Anyway, we met 2 other couples for dinner and then headed to the bowling alley and met up with another couple and their child.
We had 2 lanes reserved. We put the guys on one lane and girls on the other. It was great fun! Tim said that the last time we had been bowling was in the Wisconsin Dells and that was 3 years ago!
We bowled 2 games. I got a 115 and then a 125 - WOW! I hope to make 100 when we go so this was a big deal. Tim bowled 94 and a 119. I beat him! (BTW, I do have pictures to back up the score. I just don't know how to get them off the camera). I was actually the high bowler of the night with 240! That includes both men and women!
The kids were a little bummed that they didn't get to go bowling. They spent the night with Tim's folks so they had a good time too.
We haven't told the kids yet that I won! Tim will say that he let me when because "men can't beat their wife" - plus it was date night so he was trying to be nice. However, don't believe him!
We had 2 lanes reserved. We put the guys on one lane and girls on the other. It was great fun! Tim said that the last time we had been bowling was in the Wisconsin Dells and that was 3 years ago!
We bowled 2 games. I got a 115 and then a 125 - WOW! I hope to make 100 when we go so this was a big deal. Tim bowled 94 and a 119. I beat him! (BTW, I do have pictures to back up the score. I just don't know how to get them off the camera). I was actually the high bowler of the night with 240! That includes both men and women!
The kids were a little bummed that they didn't get to go bowling. They spent the night with Tim's folks so they had a good time too.
We haven't told the kids yet that I won! Tim will say that he let me when because "men can't beat their wife" - plus it was date night so he was trying to be nice. However, don't believe him!
Friday, August 24, 2007
The Crowsons
We were blessed last week to have some "old" college friends and their children come stay with us for 4 nights and 5 days.
Murphy, Christine, Stephen, and Matthew Crowson are in the states on furlow right now. They have spent the past 9 years serving in Togo, Africa. They will go back in January before they head to Rwanda in January 2009.
What a great family!
We put the poor kids in over-stimulation mode I'm afraid! We had very little down time while they were here.
Wednesday: They arrive from IA. They head straight to Keystone to the Apple store because the computer has crashed. We meet them for dinner at Fridays. Murphy gets a birthday ice cream and sung to even though it wasn't his birthday. :)
Thursday: Sleep in! Boy that was good. Tim went to work but we all joined him there later. We took them on a tour of the office and warehouse at Flavor Burst. It's not that big but we were there for over an hour. They watched our kids for us in the afternoon while Tim and I met with our lawyer (see previous blog about that). Nice relaxing afternoon and a good dinner (if I do say so myself). Tom and Rebecca also joined us.
Friday: Off to the Indiana State Fair. We were there for hours! It was great fun but expensive! and we even brought in water and some snack food. Attending a state fair was "an American experience" they wanted for the kids and we were able to help mark that off their list. We then met Tom and Rebecca downtown and the Spaghetti Factory. We then walked around downtown for a little while. Christine and I brought the kids home and put them to bed while Tim and Murphy went to go pick up his computer. They fixed it - yeah!
Saturday: We went to the Indiana Motor Speedway. We took the 15 minute bus ride around the track. We had never done that before. It was very cool. Then we headed to the Children's Museum. We were there for hours! (*For those of you not familiar with the museum it is the largest in the country and ranked either 1 or 2 for children's museum.) I must admit that I got museumed out! I normally take the kids for about 2 hours and leave - the beauty of having a pass. We returned home just in time for a cookout we had planned in the Crowson's honor. We had more "old" friends, Marianne (Sassi) and Heath Mathias along with their girls, and met a new friend, Jana Treadway, who had been in Togo with them. What a great night!
Sunday: Church. It was a good day! Lunch at Moe's - poor Murphy had so many goosebumps because it was cold in there. They left on Sunday afternoon. We did get a few pictures. Once I learn how to take them off the camera and on the computer, I'll put a few up on her.
We stayed up way to late every night! Poor Murphy and Christine were cold most of the time. Their body temperatures are not used to our weather. BTW, it was 85+ degrees and they were cold. We laughed at them - all in love of course!
Great Times!
Their boys are so well behaved! Our boys had a great time making new friends. We are going to try to keep in touch with them (good writing experience for my boys and homeschooling).
Anyway, this was their visit in a nutshell. It was wonderful to reconnect with them we are blessed to able to call them friends.
Please pray for them as they are adopting from China. What a wonderful outcome it will be but the in between is a long drawn out process.
On a side note: everyone is always welcome in our home! I tease and tell people that I can feed you (might only be peanut butter sandwiches) and give you a place to sleep. However, I can't promise that my house will be clean! We love to have house guests! We've been blessed with a nice size house and enjoy using it! So, if you are ever in the Indy area and need a quick PB&J sandwich, a place to sleep, and a quick shower - look us up but please ignore my housekeeping abilities (or inabilities as the case may be).
Murphy, Christine, Stephen, and Matthew Crowson are in the states on furlow right now. They have spent the past 9 years serving in Togo, Africa. They will go back in January before they head to Rwanda in January 2009.
What a great family!
We put the poor kids in over-stimulation mode I'm afraid! We had very little down time while they were here.
Wednesday: They arrive from IA. They head straight to Keystone to the Apple store because the computer has crashed. We meet them for dinner at Fridays. Murphy gets a birthday ice cream and sung to even though it wasn't his birthday. :)
Thursday: Sleep in! Boy that was good. Tim went to work but we all joined him there later. We took them on a tour of the office and warehouse at Flavor Burst. It's not that big but we were there for over an hour. They watched our kids for us in the afternoon while Tim and I met with our lawyer (see previous blog about that). Nice relaxing afternoon and a good dinner (if I do say so myself). Tom and Rebecca also joined us.
Friday: Off to the Indiana State Fair. We were there for hours! It was great fun but expensive! and we even brought in water and some snack food. Attending a state fair was "an American experience" they wanted for the kids and we were able to help mark that off their list. We then met Tom and Rebecca downtown and the Spaghetti Factory. We then walked around downtown for a little while. Christine and I brought the kids home and put them to bed while Tim and Murphy went to go pick up his computer. They fixed it - yeah!
Saturday: We went to the Indiana Motor Speedway. We took the 15 minute bus ride around the track. We had never done that before. It was very cool. Then we headed to the Children's Museum. We were there for hours! (*For those of you not familiar with the museum it is the largest in the country and ranked either 1 or 2 for children's museum.) I must admit that I got museumed out! I normally take the kids for about 2 hours and leave - the beauty of having a pass. We returned home just in time for a cookout we had planned in the Crowson's honor. We had more "old" friends, Marianne (Sassi) and Heath Mathias along with their girls, and met a new friend, Jana Treadway, who had been in Togo with them. What a great night!
Sunday: Church. It was a good day! Lunch at Moe's - poor Murphy had so many goosebumps because it was cold in there. They left on Sunday afternoon. We did get a few pictures. Once I learn how to take them off the camera and on the computer, I'll put a few up on her.
We stayed up way to late every night! Poor Murphy and Christine were cold most of the time. Their body temperatures are not used to our weather. BTW, it was 85+ degrees and they were cold. We laughed at them - all in love of course!
Great Times!
Their boys are so well behaved! Our boys had a great time making new friends. We are going to try to keep in touch with them (good writing experience for my boys and homeschooling).
Anyway, this was their visit in a nutshell. It was wonderful to reconnect with them we are blessed to able to call them friends.
Please pray for them as they are adopting from China. What a wonderful outcome it will be but the in between is a long drawn out process.
On a side note: everyone is always welcome in our home! I tease and tell people that I can feed you (might only be peanut butter sandwiches) and give you a place to sleep. However, I can't promise that my house will be clean! We love to have house guests! We've been blessed with a nice size house and enjoy using it! So, if you are ever in the Indy area and need a quick PB&J sandwich, a place to sleep, and a quick shower - look us up but please ignore my housekeeping abilities (or inabilities as the case may be).
FREE National Museum Day
I am trying to spread the word about National Museum Day. If you print a pass you can get in tons of museums that day for FREE! This is also available in every state!
National Museum Day is Saturday, September 29!
Go to: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/articles/venues.php Click on your state and you will find what museums are available for free that day.
Go to: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/articles/card.php To fill out and print your "admission" card. Do 2 per household or 1 per e-mail address and then most families should be able to get in for FREE!
Spread the word! What a great way to visit some museums that you normally don't get to!
National Museum Day is Saturday, September 29!
Go to: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/articles/venues.php Click on your state and you will find what museums are available for free that day.
Go to: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/articles/card.php To fill out and print your "admission" card. Do 2 per household or 1 per e-mail address and then most families should be able to get in for FREE!
Spread the word! What a great way to visit some museums that you normally don't get to!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Our Calendar
I added the calendar feature to facebook. I have spent the past little while putting in all the things we have to do for August and September. WOW! The sad thing is that not everything is listed on the calendar. I will have my EPIC (drama) practices. Tim has his accountability group every other Thursday but we will have to adjust those just a bit. I will be starting a biggest loser group in September that will be added also. (I'll blog about that another day so people can pray for me). We are very busy! In the midst of these things, we have school!
I like the calendar feature but it doesn't just show it on my profile. I really thought that it might. If anyone knows how to get it to show it, please let me know. As of right now, you have to click on the calendar and it will show what you have going on.
Anyway, all this reminds me that we MUST slow down and take it easy when we can. Enjoy our lives because they are on full speed ahead!
I like the calendar feature but it doesn't just show it on my profile. I really thought that it might. If anyone knows how to get it to show it, please let me know. As of right now, you have to click on the calendar and it will show what you have going on.
Anyway, all this reminds me that we MUST slow down and take it easy when we can. Enjoy our lives because they are on full speed ahead!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Finally, after 11 years.....
Back in Feb. 1996 I was in a car wreck. It was very minor however, it gave me TMJ.
Tim and I tried for almost 3 years to deal with their insurance company but they wouldn't have it. We had to break down and hire a lawyer and we had to sue. I never thought I would be in that position!
While we were trying to settle it we asked the insurance company to put the money into an escrow account and when we were ready for the treatment, we would just withdraw the money. We were only asking for cost of the treatment and the expenses for medical and loss of wages that had been incurred - nothing else. At the time of the wreck Tim and I were trying to get pregnant and then in 1997 started fertility treatments. So, needless to say, we were not ready to just stop everything for 3 years (yes this treatment is that long). We couldn't even think about starting TMJ treatment until we were down with our family.
To make a long story even longer - hopefully you are sort of following what I am saying.
Our family is complete - 6 pregnancies with only 3 children - was very stressful. However, I am glad that we did not start that treatment because who knows how our family would be.
We went to mediation yesterday in hopes of getting it all settled. Should our mediation not have been successful, we were going to court in November. Thankfully, we settled. Our lawyer said that we did better than he would have hoped. Going to trial was very risky! The good news is that we got enough to cover the treatment and pay our lawyer - which is what we had asked for 11 years ago!
God is good!
One day I will write about the mediation process. It was very interesting.
Tim and I tried for almost 3 years to deal with their insurance company but they wouldn't have it. We had to break down and hire a lawyer and we had to sue. I never thought I would be in that position!
While we were trying to settle it we asked the insurance company to put the money into an escrow account and when we were ready for the treatment, we would just withdraw the money. We were only asking for cost of the treatment and the expenses for medical and loss of wages that had been incurred - nothing else. At the time of the wreck Tim and I were trying to get pregnant and then in 1997 started fertility treatments. So, needless to say, we were not ready to just stop everything for 3 years (yes this treatment is that long). We couldn't even think about starting TMJ treatment until we were down with our family.
To make a long story even longer - hopefully you are sort of following what I am saying.
Our family is complete - 6 pregnancies with only 3 children - was very stressful. However, I am glad that we did not start that treatment because who knows how our family would be.
We went to mediation yesterday in hopes of getting it all settled. Should our mediation not have been successful, we were going to court in November. Thankfully, we settled. Our lawyer said that we did better than he would have hoped. Going to trial was very risky! The good news is that we got enough to cover the treatment and pay our lawyer - which is what we had asked for 11 years ago!
God is good!
One day I will write about the mediation process. It was very interesting.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Our Summer
This summer has been so busy that I find it hard to believe that it is over already. School starts next week here locally. Since we home school we can start when we want - never really finish - but for official "school" it will be at least another week.
Here is a brief summary of our summer:
free movies - woo hoo, so hard to beat! Tuesdays and Wednesdays of most weeks
swimming - several pool parties, Tom and Rebecca's new house has a community pool
travels - not much except for Tim to SD for his mission trip
camping - gotta love Holiday World
baby-sitting - had 2 extra kids for a few weeks this summer - paid for Holiday World!
parks - our area has so many parks that we love to visit them
company - we have had lots of visitors this summer with more to come next week
bible study - our big group doesn't meet during the summer but the ladies did
VBS - kids attended several
kids - baseball, church camp, friends
Anyway, just a quick overview of our summer.
I am learning how to use blogspot and importing it to facebook and myspace. Bear with me while I learn.
Here is a brief summary of our summer:
free movies - woo hoo, so hard to beat! Tuesdays and Wednesdays of most weeks
swimming - several pool parties, Tom and Rebecca's new house has a community pool
travels - not much except for Tim to SD for his mission trip
camping - gotta love Holiday World
baby-sitting - had 2 extra kids for a few weeks this summer - paid for Holiday World!
parks - our area has so many parks that we love to visit them
company - we have had lots of visitors this summer with more to come next week
bible study - our big group doesn't meet during the summer but the ladies did
VBS - kids attended several
kids - baseball, church camp, friends
Anyway, just a quick overview of our summer.
I am learning how to use blogspot and importing it to facebook and myspace. Bear with me while I learn.
This is a test
I have set up an outside blog. I am going to try to import it into my facebook and myspace accounts. This will save me from trying to blog on different sites. Please bear with me while I try this out.
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