Stuff I Want

I want one of those cool cell phones with all the bells and whistles.

I want a chef to fix me fantastic, fresh foods with no fish whatsoever.

I want a car with a full, lifetime warrantee.

I want a thai lady to live with us to give us foot massages whenever we want.

I want a lifetime, all you can buy card for Office Depot, because office supplies rock.

But then again....

If I had the phone, I would end up spending time talking to other people than to the one I'm with.

If I had a chef to fix me food, then I wouldn't want to grow my own garden and find out how to nurture the plants and cook with them.

If I had the car with the full time warrantee, then I wouldn't learn how to fix cars and would be at the full mercy of mechanics everywhere!

I can't find a reason why a thai lady shouldn't live with us to give us foot massages.

If I had a lifetime supply card for Office Depot, then I would rob random people from giving supplies to help kids that don't have.



I guess I don't want that stuff after all. Except the thai lady. Still can't find a reason not to have her.

Cousins

My nephew flew in for the week, and we're having such a good time having him around. He is the son of my husband's sister, and we all used to live close to each other, until we moved overseas when the boys were four and five years old. They've only spent a week or two together at a time every few years since then. But we've always gone to their house. This time Trey came here.

All I can say is, he assimilated. Kind of a seamless transition from his house to ours. It's been fun, hearing all of the kids upstairs laughing, feet pounding on the floor, having to tell them it's late and they need to go to bed. Then there are the times when we tell family stories, and laughter spreads all around.

A week isn't long. But it's just enough time to let the kids hang out, touch base, and reconnect. Now if I can just get him to stop saying "yes ma'am."

I Want To Go To There...

It's just a matter of a couple of weeks now, and we'll be moving into our new school. I'm so excited. It's a beautiful campus, with a two story building that will house 660 students and 75 teachers and administrators. My room will be on the far right, bottom floor.

I can't wait to get started! I feel so blessed to have a job that I can't wait to go to.

C.S. Lewis

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C. S. Lewis

I would have loved an afternoon to sit and talk to this man.

HGTV

Yep. I'm already addicted. Getting tons of ideas for my humble abode.

Some Paint and Some Memories

We're painting. Again. This time it's our room. Our room is going to be full of blues and various shades of brown and cream. T is the one who cuts in, because he's got enough OCD in him to make it really nice. I've been working on my W's, because "You don't want to see your lines!" But as T was cutting in, I was kind of in limbo to work on my w's, so I took on another task while I was waiting.

I organized pictures. UGH! See, I'm terrible at organizing those types of things. I usually organize by person or event, but then I start looking at the people in the picture and start thinking this is a good picture of this person, maybe it should go over here, or over there... It's just so confusing.

But today I decided to organize by place. And I'm being very disciplined in the process: wherever the picture was taken is where it goes. Period. And it's been so fun.

Springfield. Florida. Georgetown. Thailand. China. Taiwan. Weatherford. And that's how I'm keeping it. I've really enjoyed looking at pictures of when we were younger, skinnier, smaller... Seeing the kids interacting with cousins, looking at the places we took in. Those places and events aren't just on paper. They are three dimensional motion pictures in my head, and I can hear the sounds, smell the smells, taste the foods. It's wonderfully indulgent.

*Sigh* Back to my w's.

So Thankful.

God is good.

Changes

Daughter off to college
Son #1 working
Son #2 socializing
Son #3 starting middle school

New campus
New Job responsibilities

Things are looking good.

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.

Socrates

Another Half a Century in this Family!

Last December, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and I'm happy to say that tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of my husband's parents.

I've taken time to pause and think about all of the things they've seen since they were married. It was a different world back then. I'm sure things traveled at a much slower pace until the 60's went into full swing. I imagine it was difficult to be newly married during such tumultuous times, but Mom and Dad Hughes started their little family and went full force.

Both did what they needed to do to raise a good, strong family. Dad worked as a fireman, and also took side jobs on his off days. Mom worked in the school system. They were busy, but they stayed on top of things in their family, and they have been better for it. My husband likes to tell my kids of the time he disobeyed his mom, and with just one phone call, the fire truck pulled up outside. That was mom and dad working as a team. :)

Mom and Dad Hughes make comments to me occasionally about our kids and how behaved they are, how polite and well mannered. I have to say, though, that those beginnings didn't start with us. They began the generation before us, and worked their way down. I do believe when scriptures talk about blessings being passed to the 3rd and 4th generations, this is what it is talking about. There are real blessings that come with the principles that have been passed to us.

So on this day, Mom and Dad Hughes, I want to thank you for the time, patience and efforts you have put forth for your family and your marriage. It has not returned to you void, and there are a few generations that owe the blessings we are reaping to what you have sown these past 50 years.

We are forever proud of you and grateful to you.

July 4th

One of the things our kids wanted to do more than anything when we returned to the States was to go to a July 4th celebration. We were planning on staying here for a little less than a year, so we timed things so that we would be able to get in the 4th of July before heading back overseas. Turns out we stayed, and that made the 4th even more enjoyable.

I'm proud of my country, warts and all. I know there are issues out there, serious ones. But we have procedures in place to correct those issues if we all choose to participate. It's a wonderful, wonderful system, but it is fragile just the same. Our freedom is to be tempered with responsibility and participation, and if any of those carry more weight than the others, it ceases to become a democracy.

I have problems with high profile people, such as actors,actresses and singers, who feel the need to disparage our country TO other countries. I will not buy a Dixie Chicks album, and I will not watch a Sean Penn movie because of this. I don't mind them using their position in our country, because heck, it will either get people involved for their cause or against it. But to go to another country and disparage this nation...well, I can't stomach it, and I think it's the height of ingratitude to do so.

This day takes on a whole new meaning when you celebrate it in another country. I was able to celebrate this day with my family at an American consulate in Thailand one year. It was such a good day, and we spent it with total strangers who had little in common but the country of our birth and celebrating it.

Look. America has it's problems. We can be prideful. We can be ignorant of others in the world. But we are giving. And we do like to help others. We LIKE to be the ones to send aid and support to those in need. In that way, we are a shining example of true charity, and I'm...yes, proud...to be a part of it.

Happy 4th of July all.