Dull Day

Today was one of those extremely boring, rained all day, nothing to do kind of days. Because my job requires the weather to be decent in order for there to be a need for me to work I was told not to come in today due to the rain. Saturdays Rob is usually around the house anyway (finishing up his sermon prep) and so all four of us were just here. Trapped in the house. Ok....so....housework, housework, housework...... bored with that.... projects around the house we'd been meaning to do.... finished those.... kids play with play dough, toys, watch too much TV..... but are still bored..... it's one of those weeks where money's tight so you don't even have good snacks.... it's like, "OK kids do you want hard boiled eggs or bread and butter?" One of those days all four of us randomly walk up to the fridge, open it and stare just to close it again and walk away empty handed.

I did let the kids go out and stomp in the puddles and that was fun. The first one they jumped in I yelled "Cowabunga" and from then on they would take a running start and yell "California!" (Too cute.) And my sweet little daughter jumped happily in a puddle just to turn to me with a serious face and say "Mommy, when we go inside may I have new clothes?" (As if I'd make her live in the soaked ones! She's such a sweet little thing.)

So... they had a warm bath.... watched yet more TV while I finished a book I've been reading (see side) and Rob, you guessed it, worked on his sermon. I stuffed bulletins, straightened my Sunday School room, swept every floor in the house, worked on the kids Christmas gifts, whatever I could find to do...

I hate those days when you're so bored you check the email 500x. Today was one of those days.

Now, we did finish getting the room ready for Sam, our friend who is moving in with us. (We have a large room on the first floor of the house we don't need or use and she needs a place to stay.) So that was good, to finish that project.

Currently the kids are getting ready for bed, I'm blogging (duh) and Rob is on the kitchen floor playing his guitar and singing....

So that's all. Boring post I know. But that was today.... boring.



(be sure to check out the picture of my son below...)

One-sided Email

Wow... I received an extremely one-sided email today about the Presidential Candidates. The issues aren't as simple as this clearly Republican-Christian-ese email made them sound... The health care issue for instance - my little family of four has just about killed ourselves to pay our health insurance and co pays for YEARS and at one point were without any health insurance PRAYING our butts off that nothing would happen in that time. (All the while hard working and not wastefully spending.) I know good hard working Americans who have gone bankrupt due to medical bills. To say a nation wide program to provide health care to all Americans would even be close to "like a third world country" is ignorant and overly dramatic. We're America. We pride ourselves on being the best so lets put our money where our mouth is and have the best health care around.

Land of opportunity? Not for people who can't afford to go to college. Not for immigrants who we now boo and treat horribly (everyone reading this, unless you are Native American you are booing your own heritage. Was your grandfather a leech or is it just possible that people still dream of the chance to live here?)

And why do a lot of women/girls have abortions?.... Many because they feel they can't afford to feed and care for a child on minimum wage. Many because they are desperately looking for love and acceptance so they find it in a man's arms partially because the church has failed to show the unconditional come-as-you-are love of Christ to them. We're too caught up in meetings and buildings to even notice the dying all around us! I think we get so caught up in looking at these girls as numbers and stats that we forget to look in their eyes and see Christ. We are trying to fix a symptom while ignoring the root cause. And one of the major root causes is the fact that the "haves" and the "have nots" are getting further and further apart. Not everything you have is due to your hard work. I guarantee you have had some luck along the way, or started with more opportunities than others. It is wrong to view those less fortunate than you as any less hard working than you. How about the years when my husband and I were first in the ministry and working OUR TAILS OFF and were being paid $10,000? Were we slackers? We got WIC and fuel oil grants - are we the problem or could there be people out there who truly need assistance through a period of their life? I am not so concerned with whether or not my taxes go up as I am about a fellow American not being able to feed their children, dying young of a preventable disease, having a vet on the street due to uncovered mental illness, or the elderly having to choose between prescriptions and food. I'd pay more taxes ANY DAY to insure that those things would be done away with.

I honestly am a registered Republican but not sure I'm voting that way in this election... honesty I don't like either candidate. But I am sick of hearing that if I'm a real Christian I'll vote for John McCain. Does God love Barack less than John? No. Does the church always get things right? No. Is God still sovereign and on the throne if Obama wins. Absolutely.

Everyone, please think for yourselves. Think deeper than the stats. What will the chain reaction of these issues be in ten years? Have we all been making choices that are leading to the demise or marginalization of others because it benefits us? Perhaps.

My point is, this is not as cut and dry as this email makes it seem. Think and then vote. Vote for who YOU choose regardless of who your family or church thinks you should vote for.

The Dress

My daughter has been on my case to sew her a dress that she designed about 2 months ago. She's only 3 but she always is very fashionable and fashion conscience. She explained to me exactly what she wanted it to look like, as I said, about two months ago, and I've been putting it off. Today she came to me frustrated and said "Mom, can you just make my dress today?!?!" So I did, and here it is. She's very pleased.

Fall in NY & My New Job

We live in Candor NY, home of Iron Kettle Farm - an awesome pumpkin farm complete with hay rides, candy apples, pies, fresh donuts, fresh produce, kids activities, hot kettle fries, various farm animals, and of course tons and tons of pumpkins.

Our family went down to Iron Kettle with our Library Story Time group on Thursday and went on a private hay ride. The kids even got to pick their own pumpkins out of the field. My daughter picked the first one she came to and my son took FOREVER to pick out just the right one. (He let his Dad know that he was frustrated that so many of the pumpkins had dirt on them - he wanted a clean one :)
I have also started working part-time there in the apple room. They offer about 10 different kinds of New York state apples in 1/2 peck, a peck, 1/2 bushel, and bushels. I literally spend 7 hours just picking apples out of HUGE crates, bagging them, and keeping the shelves full. Sometimes I barley keep up. I had no idea people bought that many apples! The job requires a lot of bending and lifting and hustling but I really like it.

They've dubbed me "apple girl". It smells great in the apple room and all of the people milling around and shopping are so happy to be there - a very festive atmosphere. Kids giggling and couples holding hands enjoying a fall tradition. Crisp air with blue skies...

I am struggling a little to adjust to work on top of all my other duties at home and church but very happy to have my own thing.