Death Discussion

Most of you know we don't do Halloween but I figured y'all might not appreciate this topic on many other days. Am I right, or am I right?

AND, I don't have to write everything I want to say because Barbara already quotes, notes, links, and says most of the things I'd like to tell you. So, just click over to Barb's post and then come back here!

Go ahead...click over...I'll wait...

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Read it? OK, you can continue here now.

Many of these thoughts began cropping up in my head after the beautiful experience I had with my Granny when she was called from earth to be with the LORD. I have never fully worked through all of my thoughts but I've had many of these ideas for a while now. I guess I'll have to truly discuss all of this with family some day but if the day for needing these decisions made comes sooner than later, all you blog-readers can attest to my wishes!

In a nutshell, I'd like:
-death at home without over-medication. Keep me aware of my situation!
-family at my side
-pine box, wicker or similar wooden/naturally decomposing coffin
-natural oils & spices in place of chemical embalming
-funeral time spent in praise and pointing people to Jesus with a time of invitation

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT

13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

***

(p.s. - I still nauseatingly cringe about all the plastic used to bury our dog, Lucy...I honestly can't stand to think about it....purposely thinking of something else now....la la la la...)

"I'm So Glad We're Behind Her!"

That's what the couple said who was standing behind me in the self-checkout line at Wal-mart tonight.

OK, not really. But they were probably THINKING it with my mad scanning & bagging skills. "Beep!" (bag) "Beep!" (bag) (pay) (grab receipt) (see ya!)

Why in the world am I blogging about this? Because I'm desperately trying to quit thinking & worrying & "doing" about house stuff.

Henry & I concluded today that we will no longer arrange with our Realtors to look at houses unless we are ready to make an offer. We gave ourselves the leeway of making a CONTINGENT offer before our house sells but I seriously doubt we'll go that route.

So, no more window-shopping. Online browsing is the only thing allowed at this point.

Thanks again to everyone who has prayed and spread the word about the www.EmeraldMtn.blogspot.com site. (Steph & Jen, you two PARTICULARLY rock!) I know that it's basically just been something to keep me busy and to make me feel like I have done something to help with the house selling but my heart knows that it really doesn't matter what I do.

But...

Proverbs 14:23NLT
Work brings profit,
but mere talk leads to poverty!

Whoever Said Homes Weren't Selling?

No, I'm not posting with the excellent news that our house is sold BUT I AM posting to complain (I need one of those bracelets!) that nearly every house we have been interested in has sold.

Hmph.

Deep breaths...

I set up a new blog to highlight our for-sale house. It's a work in progress but maybe it will help??

www.EmeraldMtn.blogspot.com

By the way, THANK YOU so much to everyone who prayed and is praying for us. I am not forgetting that many of you dear readers are in the same boat of needing/wanting your house to sell, too! I assure you, I am including you in my prayers and look forward to the day we celebrate this milestone!

Even in my complaining, I truly do know God has this planned and I am praising Him for it! What incredible mercy we are shown in this fallen world...

Any Way The Wind Blows

Doesn't really matter....to me...

More Google Fun For Blog Nerds!

Find 5 Google searches where your blog comes up with the number 1 hit! If you need help, browse your blog for key words and try searching with quotation marks around specific phrases that you know can be found in your writings.

Thanks to Dennis for intro'ing me to this silliness :)

Leave your searches in my comments section...

Here's mine!

1. rocky & he-man (but not he-man & rocky)

2. cheese ball naughty cows

3. captain flintstone co-sleeper

4. garth brooks hooter hiders

5. bama loves bob leningrad cowboys

Such A Shame

I saw a house today that had such HUGE potential for being one amazing house (especially for youth group functions we would like to host next year) but it is absolutely totalled from water damage.

The famous "Flintstone" house must have been totally awesome back in its day because the design is incredible. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home and it's built of Alabama rock and Phillipine mahogany. Unfortunately, the flat roof and complete non-mainttained strutcture is rotting and growing some scary, puffy mold. Its only hope is to be ripped down to the rocks and re-built. It could easily be a million dollar home but the work would be HUGE. An historical society should pay to have it re-done and should charge for tours.

At least its one more off our 'to-see' list.

Induldgent Morning

Ahhh, it's been a long time since having such a wonderfully lazy Saturday morning! I need to write about it quickly because it's coming to an end.

There was a cool nip in the air that was perfected with the breeze of the low-setting ceiling fan. The Gardeners were on their way to the Bama game early this morning and Henry had taken Rocky to a pancake breakfast and "Boxcar Derby." That means there were no adults in the house to make me feel guilty for sleeping in. The girls had spent the night at the Trippes so there was no sibling rivalry to deal with because the only big kid in the house was He-Man and he was more than content to play Nintendo allllllll by his little self.

And Captain is such a doll to be a lazy, loving co-sleeper. As long as I am in the bed with him, he will cozy up and snooze all day long. Or almost.

You better believe I milked it for all it was worth (pun intended!)

It's 10:30 now, though and the quiet is over. He-Man is realizing a quiet house isn't nearly as fun and he's complaining of being bored. He's asking when Rocky will be back. Captain is tired of playing around on the floor, too (which he did splendidly for a little while) and needs my attention again.

Thankfully, it's almost game-time so we'll pack it up and head over to the Trippes. THe girls will be there and Henry & Rocky will meet us there soon.

Hope you all have a lovely football day! I'll even be pulling for the Tigers today!

Roll Tide!

P.S. There's a new poll on the sidebar. Vote, why don't ya? It's even easier than commenting!

Remember Angie?

Yeah, 20/20 said it wasn't working, remember?

Her blog says otherwise. Read older entries, too.

Yay God!!

How Not To Obsess?

I don't know how Henry does it but he has no problem watching TV & letting his mind focus on the fictional & non-fictional sagas portrayed there. I, on the other hand, can't sit still for more than a minute or two without hitting the online MLS sites. I've tried detaching from the house I want by continuing to search online for potentials in our parameters. And when I get tired of looking at the same old houses over and over again, I start searching for any new houses in similar description to our for-sale house. In my obsessed little head, I think that continuing to look for houses will keep me from being so absorbed in the one that we really want.

But I'm SO not emotionally detached.

The evidence of that came today when Henry called to say "our" house had the for-sale sign out of the yard and a couple of cars under the carport. Online, the house is listed as "contingent."

Crap.

This past Tuesday, I prayer walked around and throughout our for-sale house. I'm being reminded over and over that it doesn't matter how much advertisement is done for our house. When it's time, it will happen. I am confident God has a plan to send the right person at the right time. I just wanna know when that will be. And I wanna know what house is for us after it does happen.

Waiting is so hard.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 NLT

If You Have A Few Minutes

Maybe you'd like to see some pictures of us at the Gardeners?

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sesame Street

An online friend posted this gem today...

Long-Sleeves & Leaves

All of the big kids were dressed and ready for the day when I stumbled quietly out of my parents' guest room this morning. They were all smiling and telling me it was cold outside! They each had on long pants and long-sleeved shirts. He-Man was the most excited and said, "When can we go jump in the leaves at Uma's house?"

Ahhh! THIS is the kind of temp that would make a weather-bottler a millionaire!

*****

The girls had a slow school morning and had to skip the treat of outdoor-playground-day at (gasp) Mickey-D's. I hated they had to be cooped up in the house but also glad that my Mom was home so that I could use this as a learning experience. It's only day 29 of school and they're already trying to get behind in their work. Grr.

The boys really enjoyed playing outside at McD's and I enjoyed chatting with some ladies I knew. We didn't stay long but enjoyed every second of fresh air!

On our way back to the van, I got a call on my cell from Indie. She cracked me up.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Mom..."

I laughed. Was she buttering me up?

"Can we have a Capri Sun?'

Bless her heart...

After lunch, I took the boys to the for-sale house. We needed to do our fairly-frequent gerbil check (yes, we still have Junie. She's pushing 5 years old!) and I wanted to just see that everything was OK for Sunday's Open House. I didn't allow the boys inside at all so they played on the trampoline with the teaching money they found in a drawer. Play money and breezy days can make for a long clean-up time.

I took Captain out to the baby swing for a little while, too. He thought it was fun but nearly toppled out because of his desperate need to see what his big brothers were doing at all times. He enjoyed the motion but would not be content to face away from the trampoline.

After leaving the FS house, and while the two youngest were sleeping in their carseats, Rocky and I enjoyed driving through a new neighborhood on the outskirts of Butterville. It was one of the neatest neighborhoods I have ever seen...but I was kinda nauseated at it, too. The prices are obscene and I just felt like there was a lot of snobbiness. Of course, it could be some jealousy causing me to feel that way but I think most of my readers would agree that it is a little excessive. Ultra-neato but gagging at the same time.

*****

Captain has 4 teeth now. Teething is no fun.

*****

My brain is tired and mushy. I don't feel like proofing this post. Y'all just have to deal. Sorry.

No More House-Hunting

Hopefully, that is.

We found a house. We're trying not to be emotionally attached. It's a fixer-upper but mostly in the sense of needing MAJOR updating and not repair. It's old and big and we love it!

But we gotta sell our house, first.

We've never done any sort of project like this and I might be an idiot for thinking that it will be fun BUT, that's what I'm thinking. Honestly, if we get it all together like we have in our little heads, it will be the coolest house we've ever known! But it might/will be a long road. Of course, we won't be DIYers like my sis & bil so it should be at least a little less stressful than their experience (and more expensive) but I know it will be hard work. Budgeting and all things money will be stressful just because they are but, MAN I hope all this works out!

The excitement grew when our friend, an interior designer, came over and confirmed that it was indeed a cool house for us and proceeded to toss out AMAZING ideas on how to make the house perfect. Sigh...now I'm totally in love with it and all the HGTV makeover-ness that will go along with it!

So now I have to work hard at emotionaly detaching myself from this inanimate object while still praying passionately for God to please sell our house. Once it does, we plan to move forward. That's why we must also continue praying for God to let us know if we're heading the right direction or not. I'm willing to walk away from this house without a second guess if God doesn't have it in His plans for us (so please let us know, Lord!)

Since I Haven't Added Her To My Sidebar Yet

Here's another link to my sister's blog. She's on a roll so check it out and SHOW HER SOME BLOGGIN' LUV by leaving a comment, how about it?

Uma, How's THIS For Random?

It's That Time Of Year!

Call me pitiful but I only get my hair cut once a year and THIS is that time of year! I don't intentionally wait this length of time, it's just that I will be fine with this cut until 12 months pass and then I'll be sick of it! And I certainly don't have the time to go get a cut just because.

The girls got theirs cut today too so we're gonna share with you our little modeling session we had after our visit to the salon!

The Story of Sam

You might remember that my last post about Sam was all pitiful and teary-eyed. Well, I got a little wet in the blinkers this morning, too but for a GOOD reason!

Here's the rest of the story:

A couple of days after posting that story and montage, I got an email/PM from an online friend from a crunchy Mom forum that I LOVE & frequent daily. Turns out my Sam post made her cry! She has just moved here (AL) from NY and had to leave her cats behind. She KNOWS my pain and wrote me to say she'd like to adopt Sam!

So we talked over the weekend and arranged for a Thursday pickup. I emailed (because the office was closed) the rescue office to let them know about the pending adoption! I was so excited! And so was my friend! This was working out so wonderfully!

Monday, I received a call from the rescuer/new-friend who helped receive Sam for adoption. She said, "I hope your friend isn't upset because Sam is already adopted!!!"

Turns out that one of the vets at the Animal Hospital where the adoption center resides, fell in love with Sam and adopted him as her very own! AND AND AND, this vet is a woman that I have met and is friends with many of my friends at church and is an inspirational Christian who has led a Mom's group Bible study I've attended! She is a super-cool lady! And I have to say again...SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH SAM! How perfect is that?

But the story doesn't end there! Monday morning, before anyone read my weekend email, Sam was taken by a DIFFERENT vet at the same hospital and was on TV on the local early morning show during their "pet vet" segment! Take a look and you'll see that he's beautiful and sweet! Awwww...I'm SO glad he's being spoiled and loved on! I wonder what's going on in that little cat brain of his. He has had THE most bizaare of weeks this month.

Of course, the vet who has adopted him got a little upset that Sam went on the air as an animal needing adoption because SHE already "called" him. I'm so glad she was willing to fight for him and not just let him go to anyone who requested him, which she EASILY could have done. I'm sure cats are a dime-a-dozen at the rescue center and if she didn't REALLY want him and just wanted A cat, she could have let someone else get him and she could have gotten another one from the center.

(Oh Sam...you DESERVE the royal treatment! I hope you are happy forever and ever!)

I did have the unfortunate job of calling my friend (who lives a couple of hours away) to tell her the story but she was super-understanding and genuinely happy for our sweet kitty.

I know MOST cats are just average and run-of-the-mill (at least, that's what this dog-lover thinks!) but Sam is special and we'll miss him very much.

Higher Than Average Expectations

Our house has been on the market a little over a week and we are trying really hard not to be bummed by the fact that there hasn't even been a nibble!

Are we expecting too much to think that the house should be getting offers by now?

Here's a little history:
Henry & I had our first for-sale house on the market about a week before it sold. It was a really fast process.

Our second for-sale house sold before we had it on the market and we got exactly what we asked.

My parents, the Gardeners, sold my childhood home within a couple of weeks. They sold their second home (just a couple of years ago) before putting it on the market. Not only that, they were able to close on their house and rent it from the buyer for the amount they had been paying for a house payment while they waited for their new house to be built!

Henry's parents, the Trippes, sold their home a few years ago, the day it went on the market. They had two offers with one of them being $1000 over the asking price.

Do you see now why we have high hopes for this house of ours?

We're optimistic that the reason things haven't moved yet is because the pictures of the house only went online yesterday. SURELY that's why no one has bitten yet, right? I mean this IS the age of online house-searching, isn't it?

(btw, our MLS# is 246624 if you know how to do searches. Send us a buyer!)

OH, we'll be having an Open House the weekend after this one. If you're in the area, PLEASE stop by!

On the house-hunt search, we have seen a handful of very interesting prospects. The price range of these potentiels is HUGE. There are some seriously in-the-running houses in the way-below-our-budget range and some that are in the way-above-our-budget range. I like the variety because at first we thought we'd never find anything we liked but now we're much more excited.

But we gotta sell our house first.

***

I hope to tell you a really great Sam story before the end of the week. I could tell you now but I'm waiting for a couple of details to be clarified before I write it out. Let me just say that it is a GOOD NEWS STORY!

Lastly, I will let you know that Ray has started a blog. I'm not ready to share the link with all of you yet (no offense) but I will probably do so soon.

Time to doze off. The wonderful movie "Stranger Than Fiction" is on (DVR) so I probably won't go to sleep immediately but zzzs aren't too far away.

Goodnight!

The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful

Good : Looks like an online friend of mine is going to adopt Sam this Thursday! WHOO HOO!!

Bad : Today's football game outcomes. Pfft.

Beautiful : Pics from earlier this week...

Kitty Cat Roller Coaster

What an emotional day it has been. Soon after the previously posted video was recorded & put online, I received a phone call from the family who had graciously agreed to keep Sam for us, until we settled into a new home. Turns out our "perfect" situation was actually imperfect. Sam was entirely too dominant in a house with other cats and had to come back to us after two nights away.

So our roller coaster ride was something like this...
Sad after realization that we'd need to find a new home for Sam when we started making plans to move in with parents.
Happy because the family that had helped take care of Sam when we vacationed was willing to take him to live with them.
Sad because Daddy of said family didn't know about this arrangement when it was agreed upon and nixed the plans.
Relieved that we were able to keep Sam at the 'for sale' house while we kept trying to find a new situation for him.
Happy because Henry agreed that finding a temp home for Sam would be OK (which we thought would be easier than finding a permanent home.)
Sad because finding a temp home was VERY difficult.
Happy because a sweet friend agreed to keep Sam temporarily.
And that's where we came back to the 'sad' because it didn't work out.
Then, the kids were "happy" because they were able to play with Sam again when he was returned to us.

Then my big heartache... I realized we needed to find a permanent arrangement for Sam because the poor kitty was struggling with all the craziness of the last month. Bless his heart...he felt abandoned at the 'for sale' house, then traumatized by the new location with the other cats, then traumatized again by being returned to us but in a strange location. You can see in the pictures from today that he was sad.

Then the biggest tear-jerker of the whole thing ocurred. A local animal-rescue friend made arrangements with an animal hospital to have him boarded and put up for adoption (about 10 steps up from humane society.) So poor Sam had to be re-crated and driven again to a strange location. Once at the animal hospital, his cat carrier got attacked by a small terrier. When we tried taking him from his carrier, he totally flipped out. So the rescuer closed him back up and took him away.

I cried.

So if you are local, and know someone interested in a super-awesome 2-year-old cat, please contact me and I'll tell you where he is. He really needs a happy, safe, forever home.

Pics from today...(**WARNING** Very Sappy! Henry can't believe I made a montage!)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com