saw a mouse

I was walking into the bathroom half asleep when all of a sudden a mouse crawled over my foot. I screamed terror and jumped in the laundry basket. Now that I am calm I'm thinking about how funny I must have looked to Roger when we ran into the bathroom and say me standing in a laundry basket half screaming/ half crying. I hope we catch that nasty thing.

Our first Home!

We bought our first home! How strange is that? I mean, seriously, I'm a little freaked out. I own a home. Oh man. What in the world have I gotten myself in to. I feel like I should be more excited than I am. I want to be excited. I guess I'm excited but not as excited as I thought that I would be. i'm thinking maybe it is because once you have given birth, twice, buying a house doesn't really seem as exciting. Lets see...house?....life?.....house?....life? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that having a baby is SO MUCH MORE exciting then buying a house. Nothing tops having a life made out of love!!! I'm thinking this is why people buy the house and then have the baby. I don't know. Just a thought.

Anyway, we own a home. YAAAAY Well, let me rephrase that....we own a house. Over the next couple of months we will be making it into a home. I hope (biting lip).

The whole closing process was a piece of cake. Don't roll your eyes at the screen. It WAS a piece of cake. the only thing about the house buying process that was annoying ( i wouldn't call it stressful) was getting my mutual fund closed out and a check sent to me. Darn Edward Jones could not seem to get anything right.

I must say, however, that I was feeling a little overwhelmed whilst sitting in the conference room at the bank with our attorney (this is another story), our loan officer, our realtor, the seller and the seller's realtor. I sat and stared at the stack of papers we were about to sign and rocked back and forth in my chair, while sitting on my hands. "What are we doing? Is this the right decision? Oh no, I'm signing my childhood away. I have to grow up now. I have a mortgage." At which point Roger looked at me with that crazy, creepy smile and all my fears and worries disappeared "yep, we're making the right decision."

I was feeling pretty calm and starting to get a little bit excited and then the seller handed me the keys. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. It was almost as if some random person on the street walked up, handed me their child and took off running. My immediate reaction was to slide them back across the table and say "ha, funny."

After the whole "holy moley we own a house" smile. We decided to get lunch from a local deli (SubWay) and have a picnic in OUR living room. It was so weird walking into a house that we own. I mean, we OWN a house. How unjasper is that??? OWNING a house. Anyway, we had a lovely lunch!

Then I drove across the street and picked up Paul from school. He has been soooooooooo excited about having his own house. He was very confussed a couple of weeks ago as to why we were not allowed to stay at the house. I tried to explain to him that mom and dad had to give the man money first and then he would give us a key. Well, yesterday while he was at his Nanna's house he found some change on the floor. He grabbed it real fast, jumped up and down and said "I can buy my new house now!!!!" So, when I picked him up from school I took him to the house. While we were on the porch I said "Paul, you know that money you found yesterday? I took it to the man. You know what he gave me??? A KEY!!!!" Then I pulled the key out of my pocket and he jumped up and down faster than I have ever seen him jump. We sat on the stairs in the foyer and enjoyed a snack of apples, marshmallows, and raisons. His little face was priceless. He is so excited and that makes me so happy!!!

Also, I drive around town this afternoon looking for a fitness center, a hair dresser, and cool stores. guess what I found??? THE PEDDLERS MALL!!!!! YAY. It's even better than the peddlers mall where we live now. less junk!!

To end this blog I must say how blessed I feel. God is truly amazing and I have no clue why he has blessed me so much. He amazes me!

meaningful living

Life has been so great lately, I have been learning so much about so many different things.

For the past month I have been very interested in the learning as much as I possibly can about the civil right movement. I grew up in a small town in Kentucky that thought Martin Luther King Jr. was quote "nothing but a no got for nothing nigger." I know most everyone that is reading this is in utter shock by that quote but let me tell you something even more shocking, that quote was from my parent's sunday school teacher. I know, you are speechless aren't ya.

Anyway, I grew up knowing very little about the movement and really had no REAL clue who Martin Luther King Jr, was. I mean, I knew who he ways but I didn't really know WHO he was.

In college I took a class entitled Seminar on Vocation. We were given an ungodly amount of incredible books to read and asked to write a reflective essay on each. It was a bit overwhelming and needless to say I only skimmed through most, ok, all of the books. However, I kept all of the books with the intention of reading them at some point in my life. One of those books was the autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. So, with the whole Obama running for president thing I thought I better hop to it and learn as much as possible about Mr. King and the movement so that I could really enjoy the history that was taking place.

Thus far Martin Luther King Jr rocks my world. He was such an amazing man and I promise you that if I were to have another son I would name him Martin. A lot of people in the small little town I grew up in believe he started the whole movement. No, he didn;t, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was just a well respected pastor at a local church. Rosa Parks was kinda the person who started this whole thing. Let me explain.

Something I didn't know that I learnt from the book was that Rosa Parks was NOT the first black individual to refuse to move to the back of the bus. She was simply the first black individual that refused to move to the back of the bus that didn't resort to violence. Thus, she was the first black individual to be arrested for soly disobeying the jim crow laws. The others prior were arrested because of disorderly conduct. When the black community found out that a little kinda hearted, good tempered Rosa Parks was forced off of the bus and into jail they became very upset. Violently upset. But Martin Luther King, being a passivist, discouraged a violent retaliation and simple stated that if the bus system was unwilling to treat Negros fairly they would simply no longer ride the bus. Why support (give money) to a system that is unjust.

Another bit of information that I have picked up from the book is that Martin Luther King required those who wanted to participate in the demonstrations (marches, sit-ins, boycotts ) to go through a training. This training was to insure a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration. He wanted to make sure they knew the proper way to respond when faced with violence. This was to be a peaceful movement. Unfortunately some white citizens didn't get the memo.

So, I contend that if it was not for Martin Luther King Jr the civil rights movement would have been even bloodier then it was. He stood in the middle of those who were content to be ignored and degraded and those who where so tired of being ignored and degraded that they had resorted to violence and hatred towards the whites. He spoke to the content that it was not ok to be content in the unjust jim crow laws and he spoke to the discontented that violence and hatred was not the way. "A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a REVOLUTION."

The amount of knowledge out there that is at my finger tips amazes me. I never want to stop learning, I never want to be that person that thinks they know everything and that there is no longer a need to search. I want to pursue my PhD soly because I want to go to school as long as possible and soak up as much as I can while I am there.

My year of discovery, as I lovingly call this gap between undergrad and graduate school, has been such a blessing. I have been blessed with the time to seek out things of interest and learn as much as I can. No deadlines, no requirements, no GPA's. It's fabulous!!! Stress free learning at it's finest.

I only pray that one day Paul and Anna will have the passion for learning that Roger and I have just recently discovered. My dream is that one day Roger, Paul, Anna and I will have indepth discussions about theology, psychology and philosophy over a nice home cooked meal as the grandkids run circles around the table. What a a wonderful life!!

Day Dreaming

I love my children but sometimes I crave the "married without children" life. Being married with two children is hard work. There are times when Roger and I are home all day together and never really talk. We say words to one another like "hey, Anna needs her diaper changed" and "Paul is screaming in there. Can you go check on him." But we lack actual conversation. It's hard to have an actual grown up conversation when you have little ones around who need constant care and attention. Then when the little ones are in bed asleep all I want to do is jump in a hot bath with a glass of wine and lay there until I'm half asleep.

Sounds horrible? I know!

But the truth is that is not how most nights and days are. For instants, lastnight Colt came over to talk, I went to play Volleyball (we won second in the tournament) and the kids played nicely in the living room. When I got back from the game the kids were in bed and Roger was lying in the floor reading. WE talked a bit and then decided to sing Karaoke until 1am.

However, today while I was at the library, I began to think nasty thoughts "Man, life would be so much easier and I could get so much more accomplished if I didn't have these darn kids." For example, going anywhere with the kids is a huge task. It takes FOREVER just to go to the library to get a book and half the time when I finally get into the library I am to tired to fight with paul to follow me over to my section to look for anything.

I'll spare you the details but getting two kids and yourself dressed, in the car, back out of the car, into the library and back in the car again only to get back out is extreme.

Today at the library I had my hands so full that I had to ask a librarian to hold Anna. It sure does take a village.

I envy people who have their parents near by for help. Our parents live 2 hours away. If we want to run out and do something we have no one to watch the kids. I would love to be able to say 'man i need about an hour break. Rog, I think I'll take the kids to your mom;s for a bit." No sir that does not happen here. If we want to go anywhere at all, even out for a quick bit of coffee alone together we have to plan it way in advance. Thankfully we have friends who are more than willing to drop everything if we absolutely need someone at that moment to watch the kids, but I hate to bother them to much. here lately we have been sending the kids, once a month, to their Nanna's house for the weekend. It gives Roger and I a chance to reconnect with one another, get caught up on school work, and hang out with friends.

On a side note, Anna has two teeth now!!! She screamed all day yesterday and nothing would appease her. So, I got to thinking that maybe she was teething and stuck my finger in her mouth to massage her gums. Then she bit me. OUCH!!! And I discovered that she had two teeth on the bottom. I wanted to cry. My little baby girl has teeth. I swear she is growing faster than Paul.

Anna also has decided that I am just as funny as paul. I don't even have to do anything, she just looks at me and laughs. However, she does still look at me and cry....she needs to get control over her emotions :)

I'm excited about moving to the new house, still!!! I have been thinking about how I am going to decorate (shhhhhh don't tell Roger). I'm going to go with a Wendell Berry theme in our living room, a Beatrix Potter theme in Anna's baby room and Paul wants his room to be all about baseballs.

Ok, I'm rambling. I guess the time has come to exit the internet world and reenter the stay at home mom world by waking up the kiddos. Nap time is such a sacred hour. wish me luck!

quick update

First, my husband hates the nick name that I have given him. So, I have changed all the names. We are now going to be refered to by our first names. Jessica, Roger, Paul and Anna.

Second, Anna tried green beans today and said "mmmmmmm" I think it is safe to say that she loves the green beans.

And third. We have locked down an interest rate!!! Are you ready? Don't wet your pants but we got a 5% interest rate!!!! How AWESOME!! So, our house payment is crazy low. I keep pinching myself. I'm freaking out. Roger has been looking around at banks for two weeks and he totally hit the jackpot today. I know what you are asking..."did you buy points??" and the answer is NO. My husband just has ridiculously good credit.

YAY

Our closing date has been moved up to Nov 24. CRAZY. We're going to have so much to be thankful for this thanksgiving. I'm so excited about sitting around the table, eating turkey and showing off our new house.

Mr. inspector

We had the home inspection today. It was a little bit overwhelming. We walked through the house with him for 4hours while he told us this and that about the house. Well, I didn't really get to walk through the house listening to the man. I was to busy with little chica and amigo. They were a handful today.

Anyway, we got good and bad news. The house isn't absolutely perfect :( Hey, stop rolling your eyes. I was praying that he was going to walk in the house and say "Wow, perfect house. You have absolutely nothing to fix." Of coarse that never happens but hey I can always wish.

The things that he saw as a problem really aren't that big of a deal to fix. So, we are going to have some other professionals out to look at those things and give an estimation and see whether or not we need to re-negotiate with the seller on the price. We'll see. Either way we are pretty sure that we are going to go ahead and buy it but you just never know.

While preacher man and inspector man were walking through the house I took some pics. I' excited but I'm trying my best to not get too awful excited. Our closing date is still set for the 26th so if everything goes smoothly from here (fingers crossed) we'll get the house. I'm a bit nervous about buying a house but I guess everyone is when they buy their first house.

Also, we got the extra money in the other bank account!!!! YAY!!! I was so nervous about that. So, now we have a 10% downpayment plus a little extra to do some work on the house.

the kiss of death

So, things have not been to good in the Crazy household.  All day Saturday Amigo threw up.  It was so sad to watch this tiny little guy throwing up in a bucket all day long.  It crushed me.  Then Saturday night Preacher man started to feel sick.  Sunday morning came and Preacher man decided to call in sick to church.  

Saturday through Monday I played the role of doctor mom/wife.  Taking temps, giving plenty of liquids to the needy, and cleaning up vomit.  I was very careful the whole time to not touch my mouth with my hands and to constantly wash my hands.  Well, monday night around 10pm I started feeling a little "not myself."  I decided I was tired and took a nice hot bath to get ready for bed (I was freezing).  While in the bath I started feeling like I was going to throw up so I immediately got out and got dressed as fast as I could.  I hopped in the bed hoping that the nausea feeling was just a result of bath water being to hot.  

Sometime in the middle of the night I found myself screaming for Preacher man while my face was in the toilet.  It was horrible.  Now, what you need to know about me is that I am a BIG BABY when it comes to being sick.  I cry and do the classic "ooooh I am so sick" kinda whine.  After 4 1/2 years and two children, Preacher Man knows his job when I'm sick.  He holds my hair back and rubs my back.  What a lovely guy!!!

I was so sick last night that I decided to sleep with a bucket beside the bed.  Every 30 minutes I would roll over, yell for preacher man and he would give me support while I threw up (I know I am such a baby)

Early, early this morning amigo came in our bedroom saying that he was going to throw up.  He laid in our floor with his elmo blanket and we both took turns throwing up in the bucket.  It was a miserable night.  

My main concern is little chica.  She's just 5months and if she gets what amigo and I have it would be devastating.  Preacher man stayed home with us today and took care of the kids and me.  I laid in bed until 4:30pm and then finally forced myself to take a shower.  I feel a whole lot better than I did lastnight but I'm still aching all over and just feel a bit nauseated.

Anyway, that's what has been going on in the Crazy house.  There's you a little update.

Also, we have our home inspection on Thursday so let's all pray that it goes well!!  Also, we have a bank that said they would offer us a 6.0% interest rate with zero points.  AWESOME!!   we just need to get all of our statements together so that we can lock down the interest rate.  hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  I sure hope amigo starts feeling better.  It worries me. 

times, they are a changin'

Whether you were for Obama or McCain how could you not be moved by what has taken place? 

Yesterday I was listening to Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream" speech.  I started to cry.  It was even more moving than it was the first time I heard it.  His dream has come true.  A black man has been elected to the highest office in America.  And the amazing part is that I am alive to see it!!!  My children will be growing up in a world with a different outlook than what I grew up in.  how amazing??  I feel so blessed!

On the way to the park yesterday (we've gone to the park everyday this week because it has been so beautiful outside) I turned up John Lennon's "Power to the People."  It was such an amazing experience being able to drive around listening to that powerful song while people all over town were taking down their Palin/McCain signs!  I couldn't help but feel giddy!! 

Ok, enough about being part of history and on to the main point of this blog.  Keeping family and friends updated on the life and times of the Crazy family!

Like I said above, we went to the park yesterday.  

I called preacher man at work and begged him to take the rest of the day off so he could go to the park with us.  To my surprise he agreed!!  We had a wonderful afternoon laying around at the county park while Amigo played.  However, while there, we saw some strange characters.  And all of you all know how much I love strange characters. ( I must admit I miss working at the psychiatric hospital)

The first character:

   A young man, around the age of 16, rode up to the park with his bicycle.  We notice that he is talking to himself about weird things and acting like there was two people he was talking to.  However, those two people weren't  there.  I've seen the boy before and I have decided to diagnose him with schizophrenia.  He seems to be the text book case. He also loves to listen to his little headset.  That is another sign.  All the schizophrenic patients at the hospital had their headset on at all times.  The music would deaden the voices that they were hearing.  It was their only escape unless they had the type that only heard voices through the radio

So anyway.  He was fun to observe!!!

The second Character:

   We were trying our best to listen to the first characters conversation with his "friends" when out of no where this man appeared that looked a bit out of place. He had nice black dress pants on that were way to short and a dress shirt.  I thought he was a Dad that was meeting his family at the park like preacher man did.  However, he immediately walked over to the monkey bars and started swinging his arms around like he was stretching.  I said "oh no, is he going too.  Oh tell me he's not."  And he did.  He jumped up and started doing pull ups.  He would pause in between a few and do those stretches of his and then jump right back up on the bars.  He was grunting and everything.  So, there we were with this character doing pull ups while the other character was walking around yelling at himself.  Then all of sudden character 2 stopped doing pull ups and headed towards a tree.  I thought "Oh maybe he is going to do some karate stuff."  No, I was wrong, he started smelling the tree.  SMELLING THE TREE.  I think he might have even licked a leaf.  At least that's what it looked like from where I was sitting.

While we were watching Character 2 we lost track of character 1.  We thought he must have went home.  then all of a sudden we heard a kid scream. Lo and behold character 1 was standing at the bottom of an enclosed slide, screaming boo as the kids came down.  Man, wouldn't that be traumatic for a kid.  

Anyway, we had fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness of the characters we were so blessed to encounter!!  

  

Our House, is a very very very fine house

I can't get that Crosby, Still, Nash and Young song "Our House" out of my head.  After church today we drove by the house that is soon to be ours and put the cd in.  On the way back to Georgetown I kept hitting repeat.  It makes me smile to think about how blessed we are.  God has truly taken care of us!!  

I still remember the day that we decided to get married. We were Freshman in College and just had the wild idea to get married.  We had everything planned except for where we were going to live, work or how in the world we were going to be able to continue to go to college.  WE left it all up to God.  Sounds crazy?  UMMM yeah!!  But sometimes the only way you can truly follow the will of God is to be completely nutts.  Just look at John the Baptist, Abraham and Sarah, and Moses, now Moses was a  complete nutt.  Have you read the passage in Exodus where he waits in the bushes for the King to come down to the river?  Then he jumps out of the bushes and says "Let my people Go!"  He was a nutt.

Nutty or not, we got married, made it through college with no loans, and had two kids.  Now, at the age of 24, we are blessed enough to buy our own home.  Cliche' alert, "God is so good!"  

Preacher Man and I, since the beginning of our marriage have been committed to living a simpler life.  The first step we took was buying silver wedding bands.  It's not what the ring is made of that matters.  It's the commitment that was made with the ring.  The ring is a symbol of not only our commitment to one another but our commitment to God and our commitment to have a simplistic life style.

We are buying a house.  How is that simple?  I know.  I have been asking myself the same question.  But to be honest.  We bought the house not for the whole "Oh look we are homeowners."  We bought the house as an outreach for the church that we are now involved in. We are going to be able to meet so many people by living down town!  the house is also spacious enough to have many youth and young adult events in.  It's also going to be so much easier to minister when we are only 2 blocks from the church.  All the travel has left us all exhausted.  

On the day we close on the house (the weekend before Thanksgiving) we are going to camp out in the living room by the fireplace with some sleeping bags and a bottle of wine!  Then the day after we officially move in we are going to sit down as a family and watch "It's a Wonderful Life."  

I feel so blessed.  God is truly taking care of us.  With out him none of this would have been possible.