To Catch a Coon

Trapping Season is upon us and Cameron caught the first racoon of the season.  It's not too awful big but I'm sure its mama will come looking for it and then he can catch her as well....just kidding, that's a morbid thought but may be true after all.  Trapping is a favorite pasttime of Grandpa Hoagland's, he still traps and James trapped along with him until just last year, he just hasn't the time to invest in it.  But Cameron really enjoys it and is planning on getting in on the fun (oh joy) as much as he can this year, some for the sport..or whatever...of it and some for the money he will earn. 

James used to tell me to put trash bags in the car so if I saw a coon or other "trapping worthy" animal ran over on the highway, I could pick it up and put it in the car...I have NOT done this yet and I don't plan on it.  His response to my unwillingness is "You wouldn't leave a $20 bill on the side of the road, would you?"  At which my reply is "A $20 bill isn't bloody, nasty, and gross".  Think about that the next time you see roadkill.

Flashback Friday - I'll Get You My Pretty

When I was a kid "The Wizard of Oz" was on every year in the Fall.  My brothers and sister loved it....James, not so much.  It hasn't been much of a secret, the boys or I may let it slip once in awhile but it usually comes up in conversation?  That doesn't seem too ridiculous, does it?  Our old youth group used to tease him relentlessly, he cringes when he hears "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and don't even think about saying anything remotely like you-know-who of the west in that tone of voice.  I don't know if he will ever get over his Wizard of Oz phobia but he did let me snap the above pic of him at the Hollywood Wax Museum.  You know his expression really is sheer terror.

He also doesn't like The Muppets....go figure.

As your day, so shall your strength be

"Do not let any set of circumstances intimidate you.  The more challenging your day, the more of My Power I place at your disposal.  You seem to think that I empower you equally each day, but this is not so.  Your tendency upon awakening is to assess the difficulties ahead of you, measuring them against your average strength.  This is an exercise in unreality.
I know that what each of your days will contain, and I empower you accordingly.  The degree to which I strengthen you on a given day is based mainly on two variables:  the difficulty of your circumstances, and your willingness to depend on Me for help.  Try to view challenging days as opportunities to receive more of My Power than usual.  Look to Me for all that you need, and watch to see what I will do.  As your day, so shall your strength be."  Ephesians 1:18-20; Psalm 105:4; Deuteronomy 33:25

This is an excerpt from Jesus Calling: A 365 Day Devotional by Sarah Young

I read this last Saturday after receiving some not-so-good news.  We received a letter from my boys' school district stating the we needed to prove our residency or tuition would be due.  Ya see, when we bought our house in the spring of 2005 it was slightly over the line in terms of school districts.  To thwart any issues I got a full time job at the school, I worked there for 3 years and then subbed until acquiring my current job last year.  Many people knew we were out of district, school board members, administration, teachers, etc, I figured it would be okay although in the back of my mind it seemed like I was "cheating", and I was.  I talked myself out of any wrong doing by thinking about my boys going to school here since PreSchool.  I know, I know...tisk tisk.  But I can't do anything about that now, now can I?  I cried, I cried a lot...I talked to the school board president on Sunday afternoon and on Monday evening.  The boys had til semester and they took it pretty hard.  With each day though they are coming around and accepting the inevitable, they are going to be changing schools after Christmas.  I told them that we don't know God's purpose and plan and that they could do incredible things at this new school.  Christian prayed for dinner a couple nights ago and prayed that he and Cameron would look at this as an opportunity instead of a hardship.  I was very proud, both of them have faced this head-on and are looking at the good things God has in store for them there.

God is so good to us, in spite of me and my sinfulness.  Thank You, Lord, for what you are teaching us through this.  It's a new day!

Aye Matey!

Yesterday afternoon, Cameron came in from outside and said he had something in his eye.  I didn't see anything but since James is a cabinet maker he gets stuff in his eyes all the time so I always have "Eye wash" stuff handy.  We irrigated the eye but nothing seemed to help.  He said if he kept his eye open and looked to the left it didn't hurt so bad.  We went to church and someone suggested irrigating it with milk....weird, I thought but we'll try it anyway, also to no avail.  I figured it would just come out while he was sleeping, most of James' do but Cameron said it was still there so we headed to the clinic.  The dr took a look and diagnosed that it was probably scratched, he put some numbing stuff in the eye and then some drops of stain so you could see the scratch.  I just had to look, it was pretty cool and there plain as day was a scratch on the poor kid's eyeball.  Doc then dialated Cameron's eye, put some antiobiotic cream in it and the nurse put on a gnarly eye patch.  He goes back in the morning to see how it is but it should be just fine.

The highlight of all this is that Cameron wanted us to draw an eye on his patch...hilarious!  This is the result...fine artists I tell you.

Flashback Friday - Yak in the Box

This isn't all that long ago but it's in the past so I'm still calling it a flashback.  This summer we went on a little family vacation to Branson.  While we were there we saw the Yakov Dinner Adventure.  We got the family pass which gets 2 adults and 2 children (up to age 16) into the show along with dinner, it's a lot cheaper and I am a bargain gal.  I really thought that the portion sizes would be a little smaller for "kids" but thought that I would just share mine, whatever right?  When we went in they gave the boys "glow" bracelets which we found quite amusing, they were good sports and wore them proudly until...dinner came.  Then they told every child to hold up their glow bracelet so they could get their "Yak in the box", a glow-in-the-dark box with the below inside...

Child's meal features Yak in the Box:
•Hot dog
•Potato Chips
•Fruit Cup
•Refreshing Bottle of Water
•Scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake for dessert

Christian was not impressed.  Cameron could've cared less, he was enjoying being a "kid", he was only 14 at the time after all.  What made it worse was the announcement of the adult dinner, they made everything sound unbelievably delightful and served it on a golden platter.  We also had linen napkins...below is the adult dinner.  Christian was ornery and refused to eat anything from my plate, he just kept saying things like, "No, you go ahead, I'll just eat my fruit cup", Cameron did eat a little of mine but James refused to share any of his.  Had I known I would have gotten him an adult meal (maybe).
 

"Adult" Dinner Menu:
•Smoked Beef Brisket
•Grilled Breast of Chicken
•Buttery Mashed Potatoes
•Sauteed Vegetable Medley
•Sweet Corn Muffin
•Creamy Country Soup
•Refreshing Bottle of Water
•Scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake for dessert


They did get the same scrumptious strawberry shortcake for dessert though and the show was really good.  We went to Branson Landing and got the boys some ice cream, that helped...a little.

Parenting Tip #5

This is a must-have tip for all parents.

Circumstances will arise where you will not be able to bring do not want to bring your children or do not want to pick up your child at a ridiculously late hour.

Example:  A lovely woman at church called me recently and asked if her son could spend the night with us since they live a long way away from the activity that our youth were going to and it was going to be a really late night and the next day was Sunday, etc. etc.  Actually, she was really sweet, didn't want to ask but kinda did want to but didn't want to offend, ya know.  Well, of course we said yes, it really wasn't a big deal at all.  And it cracked me up, as you can tell, she is much sweeter than I am.

The tip is...do not feel as though this is such a faux pas.  It may seem like you are imposing on someone else or that this is not proper etiquette.  Who cares?  I used to, but then we did need someone for our kids so we just told our boys to find someone to stay the night with on such and such a day and they did, and don't worry, we approved of where they were going.  We've actually done this a couple times with other families that have needed the same kind of thing, a safe place for their child to be until they found the time to they could be picked up.  I think that what we are more caught up with is that we don't want to say "No".  If I felt I really couldn't have handled another person in our home on that particular night I would have just said so and she would not have felt slighted one little bit (she actually said, "it's okay to say no"). 

And ya know what??? It is.

Light the Night for Jesus!

Some of you may or may not know that my boys have never been trick-or-treating, James and I just decided that Halloween wasn't something we were going to celebrate.  I'm not offended by people that do or think they are bad or (in maniacal voice) "evil", we just chose not to participate.  We have went to many "Fall Celebrations" at church, etc.  A check out lady at Wal-Mart years ago asked the boys what they were going to be for halloween and I stated we didn't celebrate halloween and she asked me if were Jehovah's Witnesses, lol.  All this brings me to say, we had an awesome experience on October 31, 2011.  A precious family in our church, along with many members of Cornerstone put on "Light the Night for Jesus".  There were lights throughout the yard, carnival-like games, minute-2-win it games, hot dogs, bottled water, candy galore and a professional photographer that took pictures of all the darlings that wanted their picture taken and for free of course!  So I just had to get a pic with my little darlings in our cool shirts (all the workers wore one).  Over 400 kids came through, each received lots of candy, and the gospel message of Christ.  Thank you to the wonderful family that helped make this possible, they did this last year on their own, what a privilege it was to serve alongside them.

Cameron with girlfriend, Kaitlyn.  Alyssa, Christian's girlfriend, and Christian.