When in doubt trust your gut

You just might be right.  I was leaving Target last night and as I was getting in my car, I noticed this guy who was looking into a car.  Ok, I thought maybe it was his car, the way he walked around it, but then I looked up again and he was looking in a different car.  Hmmmm, I thought.  I better see what he's doing.  So I sat in my car and watched through the rear view mirror.  Sure enough he went to another car. I saw him open that car door and close it again.  That's when I decided I should call 911.  *Doof alert*  When the operator answered I said "hi I have a question." Right after I said that I thought oh geeze, why'd I say that.  I think Kenan rubbed off on me for a moment.  I proceeded to tell her what I noticed.  She asked me to stay on the phone and keep an eye on the guy.  So I drove in circles through the parking lot giving her updates on where he was in the lot.  The squad showed up and the guy walked right toward her and she immediately put cuffs on him.  I left figuring my job was done and I didn't really want to sit and watch.  I should've stayed because right as I walked in the door at home, the operator called me and asked me to please come back to the store so that I could give the officers a statement.  There were 3 officers, 2 of which were taking care of the suspect and one in her car.  I was told to just approach an officer so I approached the officer in her car.  She told me to talk to the officers that were with the suspect.  Ok, I have to approach the officers and the suspect is right there.  He was in the process of getting frisked.  How do you approach an officer when they are in the middle of something?  Do I stand there and wait my turn? Do I tap one of them on the shoulder?  I politely squeaked out an "excuse me.  I was told to talk to you."  Then I quietly said "I'm Amanda."  They said "oh you're our RP? "  The blank stare on my face must've showed that I had no idea what that was so they clarified with "you're the one who called?"  me: "yes."  Officer: "Please wait over there."  So I stood by another squad and kept thinking "oh man, I look like I'm in trouble too!"  Everyone going in and out of Target either looked at me with this look of "poor poor girl, getting up with that guy and getting into trouble" or they avoided looking too.  I kept trying to figure out how to stand there.  Should I stand straight or lean on one foot?  Should I put my hands in my pockets or have my arms folded across my chest or should I fumble in my purse?  What the officers think if just busied myself with texting my sister or calling Jeff?  Is using my cell phone even appropriate in this situation?  I didn't watch what the officers did with the suspect either. The officers finally walked over and asked me for my information.  I told them all that I saw and how I drove around keeping an eye on him until they arrived.  He asked me if I saw him actually get in a car, and I said no.  I didn't.  Doesn't mean he didn't.  There were times I lost sight of him because he was in between cars and out of my view but I have no idea if he did.  I did see him open a car door but he closed it right away.  The one officer got a call on her radio that said the names he gave them didn't come up at all.  The one officer said "the felony theft wasn't there?"  Then she looked at the officer talking to me and said "hmmm, maybe he should go to jail."  The 2nd officer said "sounds good to me."  From what the officer told me, it sounded like he was going to be charged with something, he just wasn't sure what it was.  Maybe a misdemeanor of some sort.  He thanked me for calling and sent me on my way.  I was happy that I did the right thing.  So when in doubt, trust your gut.  If something doesn't seem right, it just might not be.  It's better to call and have it be nothing then to ignore it and it is really something bad.

A funny Kenan Story

Last night was curriculum night at the kids' school.  This is where you go to talk with the teachers about the curriculum and ask questions you may have.  The first teacher we went to talk with was Kenan's teacher.  She shared a funny story about Kenan.  She was commenting that Kenan isn't afraid to us filters when he talks.  He tends to speak his mind and just blurt whatever comes to mind out.  Yesterday the classes were testing on laptops and it was very quiet in the classroom.  All of a sudden she hears "I NEED HELP!!!"  SOMEONE PLEASE COME HELP ME!!!"  (caps signify loud loud loud)  So the teacher walks over, while trying to stifle her laughter, and helps Kenan and reminds him to just raise his hand and she will come around to help him.  Then after about 7 questions, Kenan closes the laptop and tells the teacher he's done.  The teacher says, "ummm no.  You need to finish the test."  Kenan then said, "I closed the laptop so I'm done."  The teacher then logged him back in so he could finish his test.

A good reminder

You know the saying 'the grass is always greener on the other side?'  I was reminded of that today.  My sister sent me a bunch of links to other blogs that she reads one day.  I started to slowly check them out.  It's hard for me to jump right in and start following a blog.  I have to go back in the archives and read back a ways until I feel like I've gotten to know them a little bit.  One of the links she gave me was this one about a woman who has triplets.  I went to check her blog today and she had a post titled Holland.  Her mom had given her this article soon after they knew there were having triplets and then someone recently emailed it to her again.  The article itself isn't about multiples but rather I felt it was about finding that contentment in what is thrown your way.  First here is the article 

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

This was such a good reminder to be happy and content where I am at.  I am a stay at home mom.  I have 4 kids (3 of which are in school full time), I watch my niece every day and I love it!  I love seeing Micah and Lucy play and learn and grow together.  But sometimes the grass seems greener on the other side.  Like my life is Holland, and  I'm longing for Italy.  I don't know exactly what about Italy it is I'm longing for.  Maybe Kid free days, or maybe a bigger house, or whatever.  I'm not saying that I don't love being a mom or that I don't love being home with them.  It the hard days that are trying and I need to find my contentment in where I'm at.  God has placed me here in this season of life at this time for a reason.  Otherwise I miss the beauty of where I am at right now.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "Give thank in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  (emphasis mine) I think that God's will for us is to be thankful for where ever we are and not let our longing feeling of discontentment take over.  

Locked Out!

Today I went outside after lunch to clean up the yard a little since I noticed it had sprinkled and we probably won't are "supposed" to get some more rain later this afternoon/evening/night.  Anyway, Micah and Lucy were fed, happy, and cleaned up.  They were playing cars and blocks so I thought I'd quick tidy up the yard.  I put 2 trucks away, and started to put the down spout gutter thingy on the house when suddenly I hear a loud SLAM!  My first thought was 'oh crap!'  My next thought was 'I think I just got locked out by my 2 year old!'  I run to the door and try the knob and yep it's locked.  Great.  I don't have a spare key out in the yard because I don't have a clever place to hide it.  All my "clever" ideas are probably the first places a burglar is going to check.  So I start pacing.  Oh my what am I going to do?  I tried yelling for Micah to open the door.  Yeah right!  Like that would ever work.  I've never seen Micah open the front door.  He only slams it shut!  By the way, I usually make the sure the door is unlocked before I take the garbage out or something since Micah has shut slammed the door before.  Back to my story.  I check other windows to see if they are open, knowing full well I hadn't opened any except the too small kitchen window above the sink.* I check the basement windows and none are readily accessible, besides there are way too many spiders for me to be brave enough to climb through one!  Thankfully they were closed tight.  I thought about going to a neighbor's house to call my hubby or father in law, but wouldn't you know - all the neighbors are at work today, except the neighbor that sleeps all day because her husband works nights.  Besides, I'd have to leave 2 mischievious curiously cute toddlers to their own devices and that would not be good.  I walked all the way around the house just to double check that there were no other possible ways into the house.  I even checked my pockets to make sure I didn't have keys.  I thought about trying to talk Micah through sending the phone up the mailbox to the outside of the house so I could call someone (911 perhaps?)  and still keep an eye on the little ones.  Then I finally settle on climbing through that too small kitchen window* I begin to scour the yard for something to pry the screen off the window without ripping it because I'm careful like that.  I finally found something, and pulled the screen off.  As I am I hear Micah laughing and pulling all the eating utensils out of the drawer and throwing them on the floor.  I asked him to go play cars, find his bus for me... didn't work.  Lucy stood in the door way watching all this happen.  Now I begin to climb up and through the teeny tiny window (oh how I wish I would've had the camera so I could take pictures  of all this, but I am also so glad none of the neighbors were home to see me climbing through my kitchen window.)  I appear in the window and get stuck.  Because a.) the window is too dang small for an adult to climb though and b.) the kitchen sink is right below.  Not necessarily a good spot to be climbing through a window.  Micah FREAKS out at the sight of mama climbing through window, getting stuck, and yelping in pain because her legs are every-which-way.  Finally  I made it through the window and we cleaned up the mess that Micah made and promptly set off for home depot for screen.  I figure since I already have to put screen in one window today I might as well replace the other couple ripped screens on our house too.  As I backed out of the driveway I said, "life with a 2 year old!" and Micah's response was "yeah!" Except it sounded more "deh!" • note to self: find clever burglar proof spot to hide key - a.s.a.p.

*The too small kitchen window above the sink minus the screen

A little not me Monday

Mckmama started a blog carnival entitled Not me! Mondays.  It's a mini therapy session for those of us who wish to confess their imperfections and those moments that maybe we aren't so proud of.  What do you wish to confess today?  Link back to Mckmama's blog to get started or click here to get started!  I love it and it's so nice to know I'm not the only one out there who did not do much this past week!

It was not me who dumped a pocket full of sand out of the 2 year olds shorts. Nope I always remember to check pockets and shoes before coming into the house to wash up.  And it was not me who forgot to tell Kenan to wait until he got home before emptying his shoes of the sand on the playground and it's not my van that has a playground's worth of sand on the floor.  My van is spic and span so it surely couldn't be.

In the bathroom, while helping the toddlers was their hands, it was not me who shrieked at the top of her lungs to grab her 2 year old child's attention so that he wouldn't grab the toilet plunger. Nope I never do that, especially when the windows are open and the neighbor is outside sweeping. I'm always calm, collected and cool as a cucumber.

It's not me who has played bingo explosion on facebook enough times that my 2 year old now says bingo! only it's more like gingo!

46 pairs of shoes!

Jeff and I started teaching the 3rd grade Sunday school at our church.  We only actually teach once every 6 weeks.  The other 5 weeks the classes rotate to a different station and learn about different aspect of the 5 week lesson.  This rotation focuses on the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-16.  Our class went to the games station and focused on Matthew 5:6-7.  I like how the message translates it: "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.  He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.  You're blessed when you care.  At the moment of being 'care-full', you find yourselves cared for."  The games the kids played had to do with shoes and at first I found myself wondering, 'what the heck do these games have to do with the beatitudes?'  I soon found out.

First let me tell you about the games.  The kids were divided into 3 teams of 3 people each.  For the first game they had to take one of their shoes off, and hop to the other side of the room on one foot, leave their shoe on the line and hop back and tag the next person in line and so on until each team mate had a turn.  The next game was retrieving the single shoe from the line by hopping on one foot.  The next game was hopping on one foot to retrieve a random shoe from the pile, find the owner and put it on their foot.  The kids never hopped on one foot and never put the shoe on the other persons foot had a lot of fun!  It was crazy, funny and they worked as a team in a strange sort of way.  So the games ended and we sat back down for a debriefing and talked about what all this meant.  Do you have any idea?  No?  Well, you will soon.

Before we got to the meat of the lesson, we went around the tables and tallied up all our shoes that we own.  There 12 of us in the room and the total number of shoes that we own collectively came to 95.  Then came the lesson... There are over 300 million children without shoes in the world.  Some kids don't wear shoes, some make shoes out whatever they can find.  Our students practiced making makeshift shoes using cardboard and rubber bands.  We discovered that it would be very hard to play and run and do fun kid stuff with shoes like that.  They aren't comfortable and they always fall off.  I was floored by the amount of shoes we all have and the amount of children without shoes.  It's heartbreaking to me.  How we don't think twice about buying that cute pair of sandals or that 2nd pair of tennis shoes and there are some kids that really need a pair of shoes and they have to use cardboard.  And not just in other countries but here in our city too!  This ties into the beatitude about mercy - "blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy" or like the message says "You're blessed when you care.  At the moment of being 'care-full', you find yourselves cared for."  We are going to show we care by collecting shoes that we don't wear anymore and donate them to our clothing store ministry at our church.  I was touched by how excited the kids were for this and I think it will be so cool for the kids to see collectively how many shoes they have brought in to help those in need!

 I think this ties into the other beatitude about hungering and thirsting for righteousness for they will be filled.  The message puts it "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.  He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat." If my life is so full of other stuff, like shoes or whatever I won't have room for the main course, God.  The other stuff just satisfies temporarily.  Sometimes we need to give up something and give it away and God will fill us up where we need it and we will be fully satisfied.  There are so many areas in my life where I need to let God fill me up, but I'm not hungering for him because it's too hard, scary, or not how I want it to be.  If this lesson touched me, how much more will the shoes I donate touch the hearts of those who need them!

Our family counted up all the pairs of shoes, boots, and slippers that we own and we came to the grand total for 46 pairs of shoes for a family of 6.  That averages about 8 pairs per person!  We surely have some that are outgrown, or that we just don't wear enough that we can donate!  I will update you with the total amount of shoes donating sometime next month.  The shoe drive continues until October 25th.

Lord I don't know

I haven't heard this song in a long time and this really spoke to my heart today.

You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what's been done
You hold the present and all that's to come
Until your everlasting kingdom

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what's been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come

Lord, we don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt


Music by Peter Furler / Lyrics by Steve Taylor and Peter Furler
©2002 Dawn Treader Music (admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) / Soylent Tunes / SESAC