I'm happy to report that our house has, for an entire week, been free of any activity that would garner the attention of local law enforcement! This is an improvement...



So, since we are a little low on excitement (thank goodness), I will just give you some thoughts.

Last evening I attended a memorial service for a 53-year-old mother, who has struggled with her health over the last couple of years. Her son, who has autism, came to PCS as he was preparing to enter the ninth grade. Being a devout Catholic family, he had attended one of their schools during the elementary years. Because of his "disability", he was terrified to enter the public high school. He knew that he would be an easy target for bullying, and the classroom situations would be both intimidating and inadequate for his educational needs.

The day I met this boy and his sweet mother, I knew we could solve their dilemma. Those first few weeks were a learning experience for me, as I learned to recognize his way of communicating and became familiar with his abilities. Other students will remember how his attempts to return a volleyball during those first gym classes were mostly a swing at the air, but within just a few weeks, his motor skills improved drastically. His face would light up when he would receive commendation for an academic achievement, and he loved his classmates. Watching him thrive and grow for four years was one of the greatest blessings of my life.

I had a couple of minutes to reflect before the start of the funeral...and I was watching William. So confident, freely talking to his relatives, friends, and neighbors, and so grieving the death of his mother, who had loved and cared for him for 22 years (he lost his father in 2001). I immediately thought...what if? Up until the death of his mother this week, he had been an assistant at her floral shop...taking orders, helping customers, sorting flowers...he had sorted out 100 dozen roses the day before Mother's Day, and when I called to place our order, he answered the phone with the professionalism of a businessman, and correctly placed and filled my order. I was so proud to see that he was really becoming self-sufficient.

We didn't have a whole lot of what the world deems imortant to give William. We don't receive government funds to have a special education department with specialized classrooms, counselors, and lots of assessments and 'intervention'. We brought him into our classroom and into our hearts. We tailored a course for graduation that was both challenging and attainable, and our students surrounded him with the love of God and the bond of friendship. That's the way it is supposed to be, and these years later, William still glows when he sees his PCS family.

Then my mind wandered on...ten days previous, I sat in the same funeral home, same room, for the service of a 47 -year-old mother (she died one day before her 48th birthday). My heart was so heavy for her children. Watching a daughter stand by the casket and adjust her mother's sweater, making sure everything was just right, was about more than I could take.
As moms I think most of us share a common fear: the idea that something may happen to us before our children are grown and settled. It is a scary thought...not that someone else couldn't 'mother' my children, but the fact that God has given them to me, and I want to raise them with the values and ideals with which He is pleased, and I love them more than any other mother would or could because I gave them life. It is an amazing thing.

After the funeral (this is totally random and unrelated), I went shopping at a supermarket on the west side of Lima. After dragging my tired body all over that mega-store, I proceeded to the checkout, satisfied with my bargains and my couponing strategy (yes, it is a strategy). :)
As is typical for that store, ****** (you guess which one), they charged me on an item I was to receive free. It was about a $2.39 mistake, so I felt it was worth worrying about. I snagged an employee who was nearby, and verified that the item was free with the purchase of a certain number of other items, and I had fulfilled that purchase. She then asked another cashier, who said, "Well, she must not have purchased the right stuff." After an explanation, she told me that I would have to go to the service desk (opposite end of mega-store) to retrieve my $2.39. Nearly every time I go to that store, they cheat me out of anywhere from .50 to $1.00, and I usually don't even fool with it because of the extreme hassle. The cashier usually likes to argue about it before finally realizing that the customer is right, and since the transaction is usually already completed, you can't get your money back at the register.
Since this was a little more money, and after all I had spent lots of time clipping coupons to save these amounts, I figured it was worth the effort. Being the non-confrontational sort, I rarely complain about service at stores or restaurants, but since I was already there, I uttered the dreaded words, "Can I speak to the manager, please?" When the manager came out, I explained that I'm not the type to complain to a manger, but that I was there and this was an ongoing hassle. We talked about how these situations could be remedied, and possibilities for making customer service a little more "customer" oriented. He was so gracious, and assured me that he would be working to improve these areas.
Moral of the story...if you shop at ****** located on Elida Rd. at the west end of Lima (near Eastown), watch your receipts closely...you probably aren't getting the savings you have been promised. :)

A few weeks ago, I recieved this...

Which enabled me to spend an evening with some very special mothers/daughters like Mary and Angie...


LuRhe and Fayrene....

Esther, Brianna, and Rachel...

While the rest of my family spent time at Steps (an incredible ministry outreach center) with Daniel, Jonathon, Titus, Tyler, Trenton, Timothy, and Luke, and at the Edwards Farm doing things like this..

This (Trenton's adorable little bunnies, Twix and Butterfinger)...

And this (Trenton's new turtle was probably thrilled that we didn't stay any longer!)...

Thanks, Dan and Angie, for the great evening, and for being such great friends!

Thursday's Excitement...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we recently added a dog to the madness at our house. I'm not sure why...dogs don't like us. We lovingly feed, water, and house them, and then like ungrateful teenagers, they break the chain and venture off looking for freedom!

When we arrived home from school yesterday, Teagan was gone. I wasn't surprised...we're getting pretty used to this! Anyway, I knew Greg wasn't going to be home real soon (his work truck broke down before he arrived at his first stop that morning, he had to stop at the viewing for his boss's father on the way home), so I was going to send the boys out on their bikes for a what has become a tradition for us...a dog hunt.

About that time, our friend Jason pulled in with a dump truck containing 12 ton of gravel we had ordered for our driveway. We waited for him to empty it, then the kids headed off to ask neighbors if they had seen Teagan. I sent a text to our friend Charles (a cop), just asking if he had seen her.

A few minutes later, Charles was knocking on the door with a very sheepish look on his face. He said that the dog warden had been called, and a cop came out to get our dog. They took her down to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (just down from our house, remember?), where they were holding her. He said that we could come and get her without being fined (she didn't have tags yet), but that a cop had told the dog warden that she was part pit bull, and that we would have to follow all of the rules that apply to pits (a muzzle, kids can't walk her, higher insurance rate, etc.). I told him that she was a full-blooded Chesapeake Bay Retriever without papers, and he said that even if I did have papers all it takes is two cops to say that a dog is part something dangerous, and it applies (not sure how that works, but anyway...). I told him that Greg would be home soon, and we would deal with it then.

Greg came home around 4:30, and I told him what was up...remember, he had 12 ton of gravel to shovel into place, and also had to drive the bus for Good News Club in less than an hour...not to mention hauling tables for my garage sale, etc. :)

He decided to tear into the gravel first, since today was supposed to bring rain. As he was shoveling, Charles drove up and tried to explain the whole issue to him. I'm sure Greg's blood pressure had already reached toxic levels, and he told Charles he would be down in just a little bit to get the dog. He needed to drive the bus and finish the driveway.

Before he could do either, the dog warden pulled up, unloaded our dog from the cage in the back, explained that the dog had been ruled not part pit bull (duh), and charged us $35 for driving the dog 300 yards.

"I will bless the Lord at all times."

Burley's Blockwatch :)

Lately we have been seeing way too much of this at our house...

It goes without saying that we live in a small community...a village. There isn't a stop light, but there is a 4-way stop at each "end" of main street. It's a small town. We live close to the west end of town, and the best thing about our location is the fact that there are only three houses on our street...if you travel north on our street, you quickly dead end into farmland and then the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Basically, if someone is on our street in the evening, they are either lost or up to no good.

Last Friday night, we bought a new dvd at the Christian book store, and decided to watch it after the kids went to bed. I think we started it around 12:15 a.m. At about 1:30, just as I was deeply involved in the plot of the movie, we heard a car outside our house. After a couple of minutes, Greg noticed that the driver had backed into the drive of the village garage, which is just across the street from us. He turned off the vehicle's lights, and then they sat for a little bit. Pretty soon both of the passenger doors opened, and two people went around and opened the trunk. Greg told me to come and watch where they went (there are some woods directly behind where they were parked), and he got dressed and got his gun. As I watched, more people started piling out of the driver's side, and they carried bags and boxes from the trunk, across the street, through our front yard, right along our bedroom window, on into our backyard. I told Greg that there were several of them and they were in the backyard, so he went out on the porch, loudly racked a shell into his gun, and hollered at them. They didn't answer and he couldn't see them, so he came back to the bedroom, gave me another gun, and told me to call the police. He figured it was drug related, since we have a relatively quiet neighborhood without a lot of kids that hang out. You would have had to seen me to understand how freaked out I was at that moment! I went in and checked on the kids, and called 911. I couldn't tell how many people were in the car because it was a little foggy, but I told the operator it appeared to be 6 0r 7. She kept me on the line until the police arrived. Fortunately, the cop from our church, who was working second shift, had stayed over to talk with the 3rd shift cop, so he recognized our address, and they both came. One of them went over to the car to run the tags, and the other took off through the backyard to find the intruders. Within just a couple of minutes Greg came in laughing and said, "Well, those kids just had their fun ruined!" To my relief, the "culprits" were four young adults (one was minor) from one of the local Bible Believer's churches. They were toiletpapering some friends from another Bible Believer's church, whose property borders our backyard. If I could have seen long hair and skirts on a couple of them, I would have felt a little less threatened, but with the mist and the fog, they all looked like men! Anyway, to conclude the story, they had already dumped about half the toilet paper on the trees, so the cop told them they would need to come back the next day and clean it up. Greg told them that if they had just answered when he hollered, he would not have called the police. They said they didn't hear him. What made it a little more interesting was that one of the guys was unknowingly driving on a suspended license because of some misfiled insurance paperwork from a previous speeding ticket he had received. Because of that, he has to appear in court, and could not drive home that night.

Moral of the story: teach your kids that it is not safe to cross private property in the middle of the night...especially right by someone's bedroom window! Some trigger-happy maniac (or scared homeowner) may just blow them to bits! :) By the way, Burley's Blockwatch is recruiting new volunteers, if you're interested!~

Mixed Vegetable Bake

Here is the "long-awaited" recipe! It is an old one from Pampered Chef, but one of my favorites...the only thing I ask is that none of you bring it to the WOW Mother/Daughter Banquet in Lima, cause I'm making it! :)

3 bags (16oz.) California Blend (I buy at Aldi because they now only use broccoli crowns)
1 can (10 oz. or so) cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mayo
1 clove garlic (I just use the powder and do it to taste-I know that makes some of you cringe!)
1/4 tsp. pepper (or to taste)
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can French fried onions (cheddar flavored are really good on this)

Spread the 3 bags of veggies in a 9x13 dish. Mix the soup, mayo, garlic, pepper and cheese. Spread them over and throughout the veggies. Cover with foil. Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes. Top with onions and bake for another 5 min. or so, until onions look brown and crispy.

***The first few times I made this, I was really frustrated. The veggies were not at all tender, and the rest of my meal was ready to put on the table. Now I usually thaw the veggies, then bake for at least an hour. Don't let it get mushy, otherwise it will taste like a bowl of goo. :)
If it retains some firmness, the dish will keep its shape, and the leftovers will be even more delicious. Enjoy!