Home again, home again

Well...we made it, we're home! It was a good and interesting week away. I'll just give you some highlights.
We were planning on taking Matt's little Toyota wagon on the trip, our van isn't running. It has no air conditioning. Well we left on Sunday when it was about 105 degrees. Our friends blessed us so hugely and let us take their awesome van, complete with air conditioning and drop down VCR! (THANKS TIM AND MINDY!!!!!)

- Eating fast food every night.......very bad.

- Staying in a hotel room with four children 6 and under.....intersting. Now throw in Indiana time...an hour behind us so we're up at 5 AM screaming and jumping on the beds....even more interesting!

- Being cooped up in the same hotel room for 8 hours because Matt has the car at work.....very bad. I think we broke the record for the most times going to the pool in one day.

- Being able to read two complete books.....good!

- If you ever get to Ft. Wayne, go to Science Central.....that place is awesome! The BEST sciene, hands on place we've ever been to.

-Fountains in the park that you're allowed to play in...awesome!

-Almost getting kicked out of the hotel for having chips on the floor.......very bad.

-Saying, "You guys have GOT to be quiet" so many times you think you're going to lose your mind.....bad.

-Having your husband's company pay $400 for you to go away for a week.....awesome.

-Making memories with your kids that you know they will remember.....awesome.

Ok, this is starting to sound like the mastercard commercial....

Anyway, we had a fairly goo0d time rounded off by a visit to the Fort Wayne children's zoo. That place is awesome! We got to go see Africa in a powered jeep that Jonah, Molli and Emma took turns driving, we went to Austrailia and took a canoe to see the wwildlife there....it's a great zoo. The hotel situation got a little crazy. But overall, I'm so glad we went. I think the kids had a good time, although they are all hysterical at the moment. Then we came home and walked in on our good friends installing our gas stove that we thought would never get put in! How awesome is that!! I cannot wait to sleep in my own bed...IN OUR OWN ROOM!!!!!! So thank you Lord for vacation, but thanks even more for being able to come home! See below for pics....

Kids at Science Central 

family at the pool 

Molli "walking on the moon" 

Add water and stir

So today the phone rings. It's Matt 's work. "They're sending me to Fort Wayne for the week." A whole week, I cry thinking of the single parenting nightmare that will ensue in his absence. "They said I could bring you guys with me....." So add water and stir and you have...instant vacation! His company pays for the hotel and food......yee haw.

We have to leave tomorrow afternoon so we are in a flurry of laundry and packing. I'm dreaming about my first expericence with four children on the city's transit system because I am determined to get out and do stuff. Our hotel is close to the big mall and only four miles from the great children's zoo. PLus there's a pool at the hotel and we're taking our DVD player. I got Charlotte's Web for us to read as a family. I'm so excited. We didn't think we'd be able to go anywhere this summer.

I will desperately miss blogging, but I look forward to catching up when we get back. I'll have pictures and stories, no doubt.

Till then.....adieu....

Saddness

My heart is heavy now. There are some things that must be said.

First of all, to Sandy, Misty, Amy, Mindy, Angie, and Kelli.....the comment I made about Birch Run was a joke. I really had no intention of coming.....so those of you who were upset about that, I truly apologize. I should have written j/k next to it. I have no intentions of crashing into your circle.

Second, I am not sorry that I mentioned Harry Potter. Angie and I had some awesome discussions/debates regarding this issue. I admit that at first I felt defensive, NOT from anything Angie said, but rather from my own self conciousness. As the discussions progressed, I felt it was a healthy debate. Neither of us (I believe) were offended or felt judged because we disagreed with each other. I respect Angie's position on this whole matter, even though I disagree. I do NOT feel that her blog regarding Harry Potter was judgemental...rather just her looking for input as to how other's felt about it.

So I am deeply saddened to think that my whole blog regarding Harry Potter has caused relationships to falter. We MUST understand that we can disagree on things. If we all agreed on everything, we would be clones. God made us all unique and different. There's a reason for that. This is a subject that Angie is passionate about. And she is consistent. I respect that.

I will continue to read and comment on ALL of your blogs And I hope you will do the same. I pray that there can be healing.

maddness

Ok the maddness is here again. I am once again in the possesion of 5 addiotional children. My mom and Jill are on their way to St. Louis to drop off Tigger and Jill's car. They have to ship their car from there for it to get to Alaska. So I have my four, Tigger's four and Noah. Craziness. Actually, it's been fine so far. It's only been an hour however :)

THe reality has hit that they are actaully leaving. Again, I'm not sure why this destination feels so much more permanent....maybe because it's 3000 miles away! Tigger said it's just beautiful there. I can't wait to see it!

Well on with this day.

oh man

Well yet again, I have written something that has everyone debating! I seem to have a knack for getting this ball rolling :)

This is where I stand. We like Harry Potter. Simple as that. I appreciate the fact that some believers don't read it....that's fine! My problem lies where those same people tell me that I'm sinning and evil because I read it. Um, you don't get to make those decisions for me. When I get to heaven, it is I who will be responsible for standing before the Lord and being held accountable for what I've done. so what I chose to read/watch/ listen to is my decision. Like I said, if you don't like Harry Potter, fine with me. But do not tell me what you think about me doing it. Not that I think ANYONE reading this blog has done this. This has just been our past experience with Harry Potter.

Meanwhile I will just watch the debate....he he.

Me and the Half Blood Prince

Ok so I don't know how any of you feel about Harry Potter. I am unashamed to say that I love Harry Potter. I've read all the books, seen all the movies, etc. So of course there was huge excitement with a new book and a new movie this year.

No, we did not stay up till midnight to get the new book. We're too old :) Instead we walked into Wal-Mart the next morning and got it. Matt is re-reading book 5 so I had it all to myself. I fell asleep reading it on Saturday night and finished it yesterday. I do not usually cry at books, but I sure cried at this one. Now I have to wait another two years for the next one. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only downfall. On the upside, there is a cool new movie coming out in November.

I can't say what it is about the books that I like so much. I don't think that they're outstanding fiction, but they sure are fun to read. So I'm not arguing that everyone should read them becasue of the fantastic way they are written. I'm not even arguing that everyone should read them. I just love them. And it does fascinate me that one person could make up a whole world.....amazing.

So three cheers for the new Harry Potter book!

Goodbyes

In general. goodbyes suck. Please excuse my language but there isn't any other word that sums up how I feel about goodbyes.

Tonight I had to say goodbye to my big little brother, Tigger. No, that's NOT his real name for those of you who are thinking, "Who would do that to their child??" His real name is Ian-Michael, but he will always be Tigger.....

He is in the Army and has just been stationed in Alaska. For the past few years they have been at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, far away, but doable. Alaska......is very far away. Seems permanent somehow.

Tigger and I are 14 months apart in age. I am the oldest and it was just the two of us for 7 years until Mom and Dad thought it would be fun to add Tori..what the heck were they thinking??? Just kidding, love you Tori! Tigs and I were best buds. There was one summer,when we lived in Pittsburgh, when we were inseparable. I wore his cool boy underwear, we slept in the same room every night, we peed together (it can be done!). We were pretty tight till we got older. There were a distinct number of years where I hardly acknowledged him as a brother. When I talked about my siblings, it was always, Tori, Joshie and Noah. Never Tigger. Then that turbulent summer when our lives changed forever. Even then, we were not close.

Last fall, Tigger and his family came for a visit. It was then that Tigger gave his life back to the Lord. And it clicked. Somehow we just picked up where we left off. We could talk again. He still drives me crazy with his insane teasing and poking and all the stuff Dad used to do to us when we were little! But he's my brother, my big (he's way taller than me) little brother.

So tonight was hard. I held it together while I was hugging him and even till we got to the car. Then Jonah looke out the back window and waved and said, "good-bye Uncle Tigger, I love you." I lost it. I'm not sure why this time bothers me more than any other time of goodbye. They come every summer and spend time and then leave. This just feels.....different somehow. Maybe it's because I know how hard it be for Jill (his wife) tomorrow, watching him leave and not having any idea of when she will see him next. Or how much hard it will be for him to kiss his kids one last time and then have to let go. Or how much I wish he was staying so we could be close.

So for you little brother, I love you more than words can say. May the Lord bless you and keep you, until we are together again. Goodbye.

Debating...

Holy cow. I made one comment and look at what is had turned into!!! Regarding my previous post about Bleeding Isaac and how his blog intrigued and saddened me. Well he commented on Kelli's blog and I commented to Kelli about it and then it all went down hill.

I pride myself on knowing big words. Although, since discovering Wes's page I have felt inferior. I must confess that when I was reading his blog, I had to stop and look up some words! I have never been good at defending myself or what I believe. Of course, I've never really had to either. Not that I feel I have to defend myself from Wes....

Angie suggested that I needed to apologize to WEs for the judgment that I passed on his heart. And she was right. I did need to apologize. It is not my place to say where his heart is or is not. So I did. On his blog. Well go there and read the comments....holy cow. First of all it was entirely weird having complete strangers arguing about me and my comments. Second of all, my apology was not up for analizaition, just for Wes to see. Ah well.

I guess all of this bother s me so much because it makes me feel naive and so out of touch where the rest of the world is concerned. I have never been a good debater, I am slow with words. Jesus dealt with people who had unbelief. He loves Wes as much as He loves me. He died for Wes....Therefore, I will bow out. I can't debate theological stuff, just don't have the knowledge or the words. But I will continue to pray for Wes. That I can do.

Mr. Whiskers

I vowed this day would NEVER come. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them, but I swore that I would NEVER let one in my house. Well, he's here.....

Our good friend Darren who lives across the street had a pet rat. Or rather his son did. Anyway, he was going on vacation and needed someone to "rat sit". I can't believe it, but I volunteered. So we "rat sat". And the unexpected happened.......I liked him. My kids fell in love with him and promptly named him Mr. Whiskers. Not only did he not bother me, but I actually picked him up and put him into another box so that we could clean out his cage!!!! Now since most of you don't know me very well, this is huge, my husband thought I had fallen deathly ill! When Darren came home, my children promptly asked if we could keep him. My first response was "NO WAY!!!!!" Darren said that his son had been looking to get rid of him anyway. Oh man........suffice to say, I said yes. So we now have another member of the Kurtz family, Mr. Whiskers.

I heard the kids giggling upstairs yesterday so I crept up to see what they were doing. Mr. Whiskers was out of his cage and running around on Jonah's bed with Sydney. Jonah had made a little wall around the edges so that he couldn't get off (yeah right). I sat there and watched them for a few minutes. They were so happy. Sydney loves him and was so gentle. They all were. After a few more minutes of silent watching, I told Jonah to put him away and to please ask me before he gets his pet out again.

Last night as I was saying prayers with Jonah this is what he said,
J: Dear God, thank you for this day and for my mom and dad. Thanks for Molli, Emma and Sydney. And thank you God for my rat, Mr. Whiskers. He's my friend and my pet. Thanks for my friend. Amen.

I guess the rat stays.

Awww...

Look at my babies!!!

Matt and I saw the most amazing sunset last night. It wasn't quite as glorious as the one in the picture, but still.

I had quite the awakening yesterday. I was reading blogs and noticed that Angie had some links on the bottom of hers. So I clicked on one, curiosity got the best of me.

At first I was shocked that Angie would have such a link. This man is clearly NOT a believer, or rather, he was, but is now an atheist. After telling myself to get over my prudishness, I kept reading. I was intrigued. This man went to several seminaries and was ready to go into the pastorate. Several things drove him and his wife away from the church and God. Reading his arguments with the Christian faith, his beliefs on gay Christians (he's all for them), and his beliefs on atheism.....wow. I read some of the stuff to Matt and he pulled up a chair and read it with me. It was nothing if not thought provoking. This is just one example of a person who refutes the teachings we hold as dear. Would I be able to argue with him??? Would I be able to convince him that the bible is the ultimate truth?? That he will go to hell??? Probably not. Which really made me stop and evaluate where I am. Jesus gave us the Great commission. Does that mean I only share my faith with people who come into my church??? This man is very intellectual, but if God wanted me to, could I share with him as well? Serious stuff to think about.

Sorry about the partial sentences, just typing my thoughts!

Hot and bothered

First of all, thanks to all of you who commented on my previous post. It created quite the stir with the hubby. He has now consented to see it with me and judge it afterwards. (We had the same fight regarding Harry Potter:) ) Interesting to see how all of you feel about that subject.....

Now I'm hot. It is so hot and our small group decided it would be a great night to head to the local park and cook out. I'm all for cook outs, but not when it is 93 degrees! I do not handle the heat well. Add to that the fact that we were at the park where there are great playthings for the kids. Well they picked a spot that was very far way from the play area. GRR! So we either had to be away from the group at the park with the kids or trying to stay and eat with the group while yelling at the children to not go to the park. AAAAHHHH! After about 20 minutes of this, I announced we were going home. Everyone looked surprised. I wanted to say, "I'm sorry that you all have 2.5 children that are well behaved and sit still for hours on end. But since we have crazy, wild children, we'll be leaving now." I know that part of my frustration is the heat, it alters me. Some of it is also from having four children. Two other women in our group kept saying, "I don't know how you do it with four kids!" Well, you just do... When will I stop feeling condemed by people for having four kids????Another part of it is the poor planning of our group. And we haven't been able to get together in months because of everyone's crazy summer schedules so I was really looking forward to catching up with everyone. Ah well. Guess it'll have to wait.
*big sigh* Just checked the weather, supposed to be 95 all week. great.

Obsession

I'm addicted. There's just no getting around it. When I read Misty's blog about Rent coming out as a movie, I had mixed feelings. There was a time in my life when I declared the musical morally corrupt. However, I decided to view the trailer, just to see. I'm hooked. It's in my favorites and I watch it at least once a day. Which has caused some "intense fellowship" with my husband. Let me give you a little history.

Music is a part of my life. My parents were both theater majors in New York. So growing up there was musis everywhere. As a young girl I couldn't understand my my little friends didn't want to watch Calamity Jane or Oklahoma. It was jsut part of who we were. Then my music styles changed and adapted as I grew and I found that I loved some secular music. However, at the time, my parents forbade my brother and I to listen to secualr music. *sidenote- it seemed very hypocritical at that time to me , given their background. We have since worked through that! Anyway, when I met Matt he was a sold out believer. He didn't lsiten to anything besides CCM and some christian alternative. We struggled with this issue. And I believe it will be something that we disagree on forever. Some of the strongest believers I know listen to secular music, not exclusively, but still. There is just some music, Christian and non, that touches my soul. It gives me goosebumps. And Matt has changed somewhat, he now accpets these things about me, to some extent. He has also lost some debates on this subject. It's just hard when I want to see this movie so much even though I know the plot is morally bankrupt (what movies aren't these days??) but the music...oh the music.....

So how do I be submissive and get my own way?!?!?!?!?!

Much randomness

Not really one thing to blog about, just thought I blog about a lot of little things :)

conversation between my daughter Molli and her cousin Mackenzi...(heard through the window)
Molli: Kenzi, you're a meanie!
Kenzi: No, I'm not!
Molli: yes you are!
Kenzi: Fine! Shut up! Now I'm a meanie!

Yes, I believe the cousins have had enough of each other. These little petty fight have been cropping up constantly. Which is so sad to me because this is their last chance to be together before they move to Alaska. But I guess you can't force all eight of them to get along all the time.

WE took all eight to Sears to have pictures taken for my mom. Can't even come up with a word to describe the experience. I would just like to kiss the photographer who was so very patient. The pictures came out great and we all escaped alive, enough said.

I keep thinking at the end of every week that the next week will go back to normal. I have now concluded that summer holds absolutely no normalcy whatsoever. so I've given up that fantasy.

And my last thought. It is 8:30 AM and my children are still asleep!!!!!! God is good!

Update

The world didn't end....I was sure it would when I posted last. But strangely enough life has soldiered on. The dog will live, the cousins stayed, and all is well. I tend to over-react. :)

The cousins all leave to day and I have to say, minus the dog incident, it was a pretty fantastic weekend. Other than the fact that I have a killer swimmer's ear infection so I'm back on the Vicoden...(vicious cycle). But everyone had a great time and we all broke out calendars to plan this again for next summer.

Tigger and Jill are here till Friday and my other set of grandparents arrive tomorrow so there's still some level of craziness. Cuz after all, where would we be without a little insanity????

Happy Fourth of July!

Crying

OK so I will try and write this blog, but I'm crying pretty hard so there might be typos......

So this is our big family weekend. My cousins all came into town to surprise my aunt and grandparents. One of my cousins and his wife almost didn't come because they couldn't find anywhere to board their dog. I assured them that it would be ok, my mom and dad have a dog. No biggie. So they came. Well you must know that my mom's dog was almost killed twice by my grandpa's german sheperd. So he's somewhat skittish. Well my cousin's dog is slightly hyper and mom's dog was not happy. Well tehy got into a fight and my cousin's dog got hurt. So Mom was furious wit hme for telling them they could bring the dog. And now my cousins are going home. I ruined everything.....I'm so upset right now. My keyboard is covered in tears....How could I take something so special and ruin it for everyone? I quickly left mom's house because I was so upset and my children were hysterical because we were going to do fireworks tonight. So they're upstairs crying themselves to sleep. So now I've ruined their weekend too. I can't type anymore.