Cry of the Orphan

Tonight we went to Nashville (actually Franklin, TN) for the Cry of the Orphan concert.  It was basically to raise awareness of orphans in the US and around the world.  Talk about wanting to adopt like five kids right then and there!

Nicole, Jena and Amber came down from IL/IN for the concert and it was good to spend some time with them.

Mark and Bekah were there too but I never managed to get a picture of them.  One of my favorite parts was the Children of the World choir.  The kids in the choir were from Uganda, Nepal and one or two other places.  China by the looks of it.  They were really cute though.  I tried uploading a video but it was taking much too long for my liking so I cancelled the upload.  So you get a picture.

Steven Curtis Chapman was one of the main men behind the evening- it was held at his home church.  Also there to sing a couple songs was his good buddy Geoffe Moore.  Jim Daly from Focus on the Family talked and so did Dennis Rainey from Family Life.  They pretty much all just put out a plea for people to open their hearts to adoption and supporting orphans in some way or another.  It did start to get a little long after awhile but it was really a neat evening and I'm glad we went.  Here's Steven.

Not a very good picture, I know.  It got a little emotional when he talked about his daughter.  He said there were a couple songs he thought he'd never sing again after she died but.... to make a long story short, he sings them now.

After the concert we went to Famous Dave's.  Cassie had never heard the likes of such a place.  The poor girl.  But it was quite tasty!  Welp, off to work again tomorrow.  Last week went really really fast.  I hope this one does too.  Have a great day y'all!

Homecoming

I love homecoming weekend!  It's really one of my favorite weekends of the whole year.  Basically we sit at listen to bluegrass for a really long time which isn't my favorite, but we have some really cool people come down and listen to it with us which is really really fun.  And that was a really long sentence.  Anyway, the weekend started out with me making banana bars for Saturday night.  My mom had told me just how to make them and the frosting.  The bars turned out beautifully but I was having some serious issues with the frosting.  Something was way way wrong.  I decided to start over but was out of butter.  So I said "Okay, I'll go over to the preschool, grab a stick of butter, come back and call my mom to see what I did wrong."  I grabbed my keys and when we walked out the door there was this car coming in that I didn't recognize.  So we stood there with dumbfounded looks on our faces until it pulled up to our house.  The door opened and out hopped my mom!  I was completely shocked!  I had not a clue that she was coming.  It was a great suprise!  She came down last minute with three other people from Roanoke.  Ususally dad comes too but because of harvest and loading out hogs early Monday morning he just couldn't.

We had a group of friends coming that weren't supposed to get in until at least midnight so we stayed up waiting for them.  They got in around 1, then I talked to Katrina until almost 4!  Liiiiiitle bit tired on Saturday!  Saturday the guys that came went to the Jack Daniels distillery for a tour and us girls headed to Quizno's for lunch.

After lunch we were on our way to Mark & Bekah's to hang out with her and her sisters when we realized it was Halloween and the only appropriate thing to do was to go trick or treating!  So in the 10 minutes we had between lunch and their house we all found some sort of costume.  I was a walrus and LeaAnn was Mother Mary...... or a Muslim.  Take your pick.  I didn't get a picture of everybody's costume though.

After playing Scattegories, Speed Scrabble and some old school Nintendo, we went to the Tennessee Fellowship Center where our bluegrass fun began!

One of the groups that was supposed to come had to cancel because their lead singer was in the ER.  So we threw a few of our own groups together.  It was really fun and turned out to be my favorite homecoming since I've been here.

I also had a chance for some quality bonding time with Katrina, Leah and Emily.

Sunday of course was church.  116 people were there:)  Went to Sweet Peppers Deli ( my new favorite resturaunt) for lunch where we attempted to play Scrabble with our lunch letters.  (They give you a letter instead of a number)

A great weekend indeed.  And I really can't think of much else to say.

New Neighbors

As of today I'm feeling really safe!  I've never really felt unsafe but now I feel like I have extra protection should something sketchy ever happen in these parts.  Look who moved in next door today!

City of Athens police man.  Chris and his wife Mallory.  I plan on taking a meal or something over to them in a few days once they're more settled.  I want to be a good neighbor and I want to get in good with the cop in case he would ever stop me!

??????????

On my last post I had an anonymous comment from someone who said they liked my shoes, shirt vest and of course me.  It totally sounded like my mom but when I asked her about it she denied having anything to do with it.  So clearly, the most logical conclusion that I can make is that I have a secret admirer.  SURELY that's the case.  Right?  Oh, it's just so exciting;)

My Weekend

Costume Party- had the girls from church to our house as well as Cassie's old roommates.  Here's the group shot

And here's me, dressed up as Cassie.  I was going to dress up as an egg but then Saturday morning had this idea instead.  I found a curly wig at Wal*Mart, and while she went and got the pizza's for supper I raided her closet.  No, I do no own a pair of bright orange shoes.  Only Cassie.  As well as the piano belt, orange shirt and bright pink vest. 

Sunday we had a weiner roast/going away party/Extreme Makeover: Home Edition party.

Ryan and Hope Stoller have lived in the Tennessee Fellowship center for a little over two years now.  For some reason, God has led them back to central IL.  We are all really really sad about that and we're going to miss them and their kids like crazy.  They are one cool family and their kids are so cute!  But that was our reason for a going away party.  Not sure when they're leaving though.  The EM:HE party was because Kerwin worked on the house they did in Philo, IL and so we all wanted to watch it.  I love that show.

Then tonight we went over to the church to make the beds we have over there for people to stay in.  I was walking down the hall and found this

A black widow spider.  After defying death and trapping it, we had a small funeral and then flushed it down the toilet.  Glad I'm not the one staying in the church this weekend!

Okay, my camera is acting up.  When I cut it on it says that the memory card is protected and I can't do anything with it.  (These are all Cassie's pictures.)  Any suggestions?

Brutally Honest

Sometimes I tend to be brutally honest.  But I do know how to use tact when necessary.  Not true for my kiddos.  Take yesterday for example.  One of my boys was behind me as I was on my way to open the bike shed.  The conversation went something like this:
(His words are in yellow and my words are in purple.)

"Miss Sarah, I saw yo booty shake when you was walkin'!"
"Oh yeah?  Did it just shake or did it jiggle?"
"It was shakin'!"
"Is it really big?"
"It's big and flumpy."
"What does flumpy mean?"
"I don't know.... just flumpy."

Then him and another little boy standing there proceed to sing

"I like 'em big..... I like 'em chunky...."

Gotta love 'em!

Chain Reaction

 If two little boys drop the lid of the toilet tank into the tank,

it causes the tank to look a little something like this

Causing the floor to look a little something like this

Causing their teacher to look a little something like this.

OH the joys!  Somehow I reamained unusually calm through the whole ordeal.  I had to keep reminding myself that it was probably partly my fault and not just theirs.  They love to "fix" things with blocks that they like to pretend are tools.  Today they decided they wanted to be plumbers and were working on the toilets.  They were just "fixing" the bottom of it and they were being really good so I let them do it.  (Usually they don't get to just play in the bathroom.)  After awhile it was time to clean up and not 1 second after I said "Okay plumbers, time to clean up" I heard the crash.  At first I thought the lid broke but quickly realized that it was the tank, as water was gushing out.  *SIGH*  What's a girl to do?  Glad that afternoon's over.