Mark's home

What a whirlwind this week has been. I can't believe it's only Thursday..it feels like many weeks in one!

Saturday when we returned home from Thanksgiving we had an email about a former boss of Mark's. Mark used to work at Super 8 with Cindy in Moberly just before we were married (10 years ago). Anyway, last weekend someone robbed the hotel she was working at in Columbia, MO and fatally shot her. What a sad surprise that you never expect to hear. By Monday Mark had a call from Cindy's sister, Connie, who used to go to church with Mark in Macon where he grew up, and asked him to do the service. So Mark left on Tuesday morning to go to Macon. He just got back early afternoon today. it was good for him to be there and to be with the family.

On Tuesday I headed out for a dr appt at the same time as Mark left for Macon. 5-6 weeks ago I found a lump on my abdomen. I went to a doctor three weeks ago and she thought it was just a cyst but wanted a surgeon to look at it to confirm and to see if it needed removed. So Tuesday I went to the surgeon. He was great...I wish I could have him for my primary doctor. Dr. Coy goes to our church (I didn't know that until my appt) and was very laid back and kind. He confirmed that it was a cyst and that I had nothing to worry about. He said if it changed in any way to call him and he'd get me in immediately. I'd taken my Beth Moore Bible study to work on while I waited. His nurse commented on it and we had a nice discussion about Beth Moore. it was so nice.

i've had a cookie sheet filled with sweet potatoes sitting on my stove waiting for me to do somethign with them (they were on sale before Thanksgiving). Javan climbs on the stool and onto everything. I"ve pulled him off the table, off the kitchen island and caught him from pulling things out of my pantry. Anyway, he climbed up onto a stool by the stove and was playing with the sweet potatoes while I was in the living room. I heard him scoot the stool and headed in there. By the time I got there he had thrown every sweet potato into the soup pot that he'd pulled out onto the kitchen floor by his stool. He made a basket with every potato. As I looked at them more closely today I noticed several slices on them from hitting the side of the pot and I even noticed one that was completely cut in two. He had a great time and was very proud of himself.

javan is sure a boy! When he burps or toots he laughs (so do the girls). then, he will stand wherever he is and try to do it again. Today he burped and laughed and laughed about it. THen he stood up and tried to make the sound come out again.

Tonight was a Christmas parade in Webb City. Despite the chilly weather (it was still 40something) we went. The kids loved it and when I asked if they wanted to leave early none of them did. Javan waived to every float (except the mascots). Ruthy wanted a pony tail in her hair. No matter how hard I tried she refused to put on her hat because it would mess up her hair!! she enjoyed the parade and couldn't wait to see the bands! every time a band came by Moriah told us "they're just practiciting!"

Moriah took a 2.5 hour nap today. she hasn't napped since Sunday and it was much needed. So tonight she is laying in bed reading books quietly.

We brought in Ruthy's dresser that we painted a few weeks ago. So we put her clothes in it and took out the drawers from her old dresser to be painted for Moriah to use. so Ruthy's old dresser frame is still in the room just w/o drawers. tonight Moriah had a lot of energy from her great nap. when she took off her shoes she said "I'm going to see if I can make a basket" and threw it into one of the openings. She laughed and laughed then said "Look Ruthy." Ruthy was tired from no nap and reluctantly looked. then moriah did it again and again.

A long time ago (probably Aug 2006) I wrote about the lady now dubbed "The Wal-Mart lady". A very kind lady who helped me out when Javan was a newborn and sreaming at the check-out line as I was going crazy. She came over with an empty cart and helped me get everyone outside. Then I found out she went to CCO. Anyway, I have since met her daughter Melissa and we are in Mom's Connection and the Beth Moore small group together. Melissa has a kindergarten-age son, a boy in Ruthy's class, and a girl in Moriah's class. It's neat and they are a great family. Anyway, Moriah's teacher on Wednesday was the w-mart lady (her real name is Wynona, I think). After class she stopped me in the hall and told me Moriah was in her class. She said how well she'd done and that Moriah is quite the helper. See, Moriah is one of the oldest in her class so to her many of her classmates are 'babies'. i asked her about it when we got home and asked if she held the kids in her class. she said, "Yes, like the little ones. I named off about three girls in her class and with each one she said, "No she's too big. *smacked her lips*! Then I said, well who do you hold?" her reply was that she holds the little babies like tennyson. her teacher however told me that she likes to help and says, "I can do that." or "I can do that for her" quite a bit.

this turned out to be a long blog just to let you know that we're happy to have Mark home again!!!