Two miracles in one day!

About a year ago, there was a tiny article in our newspaper saying that a new grocery store was coming to town. I don't even know why I bothered to read it. I never shop at local groceries—I go to the commissary at Quantico, which saves me tons of money. It's kind of a drag driving all the way up there every two weeks (it's about 30 miles from home), but it's what I do and I'm used to it. So I don't much care about stores closer to the house.

Then around April and May the marketing started. It would be bigger, better, have fresher produce, more selection of the things you buy every day, a huge organic department, meats cut to order, and on and on it went. By the time Wegman's opened on June 21, I was sick of the hype.

They say opening day was a madhouse with thousands of people showing up for the bargains like some Foodie Black Friday. My neighbor went just for the sport of it. I continued to ignore its existence.

But then Melanie had to ruin it all.

She had to go talking about yogurt and granola and about how this one particular granola is the best in the world, and there is no substitute, and just the right blend of crunch and sweet strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

And I had to have it.

Thus began my quest for Bear Naked Triple Berry Crunch. I started with the commissary, hoping above all hope that they would have something other than Cap'n Crunch and Cinnamon Life. No go. I tried Ukrops and Bloom, both known for having out-of-the-ordinary stuff of the healthy variety. Nada. I went to Walmart, Giant, and Bottom Dollar, even Aldi. No luck.

I realized I would have to swallow my pride and go to Wegman's.

I scoffed as I drove in the pristine parking lot at all the Cadillacs, Hummers, BMWs, and Lexuses (or is it Lexi?). "No wonder I never come here,"I thought, pulling my commonplace Honda into a space. I made my way across the cobblestone walkway leading into the store thinking, "Yeah, and I'm sure I'll pay dearly for that lovely sidewalk in the price of the food here."

I found the organic section and wandered through the aisles looking for my granola. And wouldn't you know it? There it was!



I felt repentance wash over me right there in front of the Kashi. Wegman's had succeeded where all other grocery stores in my area had failed. I pledged undying love to my newfound friend and promised to come back often, or at least whenever I needed more Triple Berry Crunch.

I made my way to the checkout feeling that all was right with the world. And then I saw it.

I wanted to shout! I wanted to kiss someone! I wanted to sing the praises of whomever was responsible for FINALLY getting one of these signs grammatically correct!

It's 15 items or FEWER!

I may not be able to sleep tonight for all the excitement.

Be thankful ~

Karen

PS. The triple berry crunch is every bit as incredible as Melanie said it was. I put it in Stonyfield Farms organic fat-free French vanilla yogurt. Seriously, this is not your ordinary granola. Find it at a Wegman's near you.

Yes, it's lame.

Maybe it's because I spend my days deleting extra spaces after end punctuation (only one space, in case you wondered) and unsplicing comma splices. Or maybe it's because my hormones can't decide whether they want to be 25 or 65. Whatever the reason, this made me laugh. I hate cats, so why are these things so funny?

Other random thoughts:

12 days until Man-boy comes home.

The hotter it gets, the more hair Pete produces. In fact, he grows it as fast as I can brush it out of him. Why can't science clone his hair follicles? No one would ever be bald again. (PS. Dog hair sticks to unfinished wood flooring.)

Mike and I are tea purists. Other people in our family like iced tea made from a mix. Mike refers to it as "vile powdered swill."

Be thankful ~

Karen

Two weeks from today the man-boy comes home. I have really missed him and his constant eating, mostly because he takes care of the beast that lives with us. Ben misses him cutting the grass. Mike misses him taking the trash out. Leah misses stealing his salsa. I don't think Abbie has any ulterior motives--she just misses him.

Of course, you know I'm kidding. We all really do miss him and can't wait to have him back.

For the benefit of those who know us and the house we live in, here are pictures of the new flooring. It is as yet unfinished, but it's actually on the floor, and that's a huge step in the right direction. Ben likes to joke that we buy perfectly nice houses and then start "improving" them.

Here's the kitchen. We were especially happy to get rid of the lovely white-with-blue-flowers-'80s-style vinyl in here. Now that I'm looking at this picture, I realize we need some color.

And from the kitchen looking out into the porch. There used to be a set of sliding glass doors. They are now happily in the landfill. The porch also has sliding glass doors on three sides. One set will go bye-bye very soon, and the other two will join it ASAP. You know how when you try to fix something, you find other things that are wrong? Well, we've found other things, so we'll continue our "improvements." Ignore the shirts drying on the back of the couch.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Things my grandmother didn't have.

I've been thinking lately about the things I have that my grandmothers could only imagine, and how I'm thankful for them. In honor of that thought, here's a list:

1. My breadmaker. And you thought I was going to say my computer or my cell phone, didn't you? Ha.

2. Computer and cell phone. Ok, now I did.

3. Facebook. Yeah, that falls under computer, but seriously, what was the computer before we had facebook? I was contacted this week by a guy I thought I'd never heard of, until he posted our eight-grade yearbook class picture and reminded me that we called our teacher "Stoneface." I bet that never happened to my grandmother! One thing led to another, and half my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes are tagging people in those photos, trying to remember names and whatnot. Then I heard from my very first childhood friend, and my daughter Leah asked, "The one with the long-haired doll and the band-aid box full of plastic animals?" (Remember Long-haired Chrissy? You pulled her pony tail and it got long, then pressed a button on her stomach and it got short again. Yeah, Cathy had one. She also had this beautiful Irish-looking doll named Bernadette. And a dog named Kimmy and a cat named Pepper. How come I can remember all this and I can't get my kids names right?)

Back to my list.

4. Central air conditioning in my house and my car.

5. Fast postal service. We've gotten two letters from Elijah in Switzerland. In my grandmother's day, it would have taken months to get one. Halfway around the world for 98 cents? That's a bargain.

I'm sure there are others, but I'm going to go admire my new wood floor, installed with the help of an electric chop saw and hydraulic flooring stapler.

Be thankful ~

Karen

We've had a WORD from GOD.

Just a quick note to say that we got affirmation from God Himself today that Liberty U. is, indeed, the right college choice for Abbie.

They sell Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the bookstore.

We'll rest well tonight.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Top Ten Tuesday, a day late.

My top ten favorite things about back-to-school shopping, in no particular order:

1. Post-it notes.

2. Pencils with new erasers.

3. 10¢ notebooks.

4. Tax-free weekend.

5. Fine-point pens.

6. Funky new flash drives.

7. A lecture recorder that looks like a pen. No kidding, this thing is the coolest. She puts it on her desk, it records the lecture, then she goes home and transfers it to her computer. Awesome.

8. Only two kids. Seriously, back-to-school shopping for five children? Not fun.

9. Homeschooling. I make my own list.

10. New shoes.

And just because I can, here's Wordless Wednesday:

He's giving himself a chiropractic adjustment. And snoring.

There, Leah. Are you satisfied?

Be thankful ~

Karen

If you have to work, at least you can enjoy the scenery.

Remember when I told you Elijah was going on a mission trip to Switzerland? And remember how I said it wasn't going to be easy? And they were going to live in tents and wash their laundry in buckets and work like rented mules all summer? Well that's all true. They are at the YWAM base in Einigen, Switzerland, where they have several work projects lined up for their 6-week stay. The first one involves painting a house. When we first heard that, we were excited, because if there's one thing my kids know how to do, it's sling some paint.

Nothing—but nothing—could have prepared him for this:



Welcome to Schlossli Le Rudli on the scenic shores of Lake Thun in Einigen. That's what they're painting.





But first the whole house has to be scraped. With scrapers. Why they're not sand-blasting it is beyond me. According to the lastest report from their leaders, the house is covered with little tile-like shingles, each of which has to be individually scraped. When I read that, I thought, "Oh, big deal. Scrape a few shingles." Then we read the second, more in-depth report.

Each square foot contains 96 shingles.

Do the math. Each shingle is one inch wide and one-and-a-half inches tall. My cell phone covers four shingles.

Dang. That's a lot of scraping.

They expect this to take them a week and a half. Then they paint it.

I have no idea what their other work projects are. I'm not sure I want to know.

I'm thankful that Teen Missions doesn't sell teenagers short. I'm glad they know just how much kids are capable of, and that they're not afraid to push the them—sometimes hard. The team will come out of this with the knowledge that they can attempt huge things for God, and that God will go with them.

Be thankful ~

Karen

PS. Photos courtesy of YWAM.

He's a rolling bargain.

My husband is . . . thrifty. Always has been. If there's a bargain to be had, he'll have it. And that includes the cars he drives. We've been given cars before, as in, please come take this thing and we don't care what you do with it, just get it out of here. He puts a battery in it and drives it for two years. And I'm not kidding. This works great for us, unless you mind your feet getting wet when it rains and you turn left, but other than that, he's happy with it.

Over the years, he's driven The Car Bomb, Hoopty, The Scalded Dog, and most recently, The Hot Rod.

The Hot Rod is a '94 Pontiac Grand Am he bought from his brother six years ago for a thousand dollars. It had oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil, but the motor was strong and he needed something to abuse on the highways of Virginia and Tennessee. THR has 228,000 miles on it and a completely shot driver's seat (I can barely see over the steering wheel for the hole I'm sitting in when I drive). We had to rebuild the transmission two years ago. We've replaced the regulator in the driver's window twice, but not before we duct-taped a garbage bag over the window for a few months. Ben hit a deer with the right front on a trip to South Carolina last year. My right quad gets a workout every time I brake. The oil light comes on at random intervals. Each year at state inspection time, we go out and lay hands on it and have prayer. So far, so good.

Last week, Ben was talking to his brother and mentioned Mike's new car, in which the AC doesn't work, and said that was ok, he'd been driving without AC for six years. The following conversation ensued:

Brother: What?

Ben: Yeah, the AC in the Pontiac hasn't ever worked.

Bro: It worked when I sold it to you.

Silence.

Ben: You mean, really worked? Cold air?

Bro: Yeah!

Ben: You're kidding.

So Ben took THR that very afternoon to the service guy, had whatever environmentally-friendly, grotesquely-expensive stuff they use in place of freon now put in it, and you know what?

THE AC WORKS.

All those hour-long commutes to DC in the dead of summer, sweat dripping in his eyes from the heat while sitting in Northern Virginia traffic. All the drives to Charleston and back for work. The job an hour and a half from home in the blazing heat of Nashville.

For $185, The Hot Rod lives, better than ever.

Be thankful ~

Karen

There's nothing ice cream can't fix.

I have spent a lot of my day making capitalization decisions. And if you think that's boring, let me tell you it beats the heck out of trying to complete financial check-in at the same time as the other 18,000 students. The website has been totally jammed all day, the promissory note is still unsigned, and we are facing the possibility of being wait-listed if we can't get it all done by the end of tomorrow.

I'll be at my computer, well, it won't be bright and early . . . it will still be dark . . . trying to get to the right website. I feel like a teenager standing on line all night to get tickets to see Billy Joel, but without the fun of the concert. My reward for all my effort? I get to pay them eight thousand a semester. (I actually hope our final number is that low.)

Abbie is quite stressed out about the whole thing--the schoolwork, the cost, the unknowns. She's afraid her roommates will be weird. She's nervous about writing papers. Afraid of tests. Bless her heart.

So in honor of our horrendous tuition bill and all the stresses, Ben is out doing what any responsible father would do. He's buying twelve different flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for Abbie. Yes, that's the stuff that's $3.50 a spoonful, but it has no bovine growth hormone, so she can eat it. And everyone knows that an emotional crisis calls for lots of bovine-growth-hormone-free ice cream.

Every girl should have a daddy who understands her needs.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Random five thoughts for today.

1. I am very tired of being told how I should remember people who have died. Michael Jackson was a deviant freak who slept with little boys and Steve McNair was an adulterer.

2. God can pay the bill, whether it's big or small. It's all the same to Him.

3. It is possible to exercise faithfully and still gain weight. Dang ice cream.

4. Sometimes Word is just going to do what it wants, and you just better deal with it.

5. Farley Mowat wrote some great stories. If you've never read them, start with The Dog Who Wouldn't Be. Part of what makes them great is that they're all true.

And just because I can, here's

6. Hondas are awesome. 250,000 miles and made it through another state inspection.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Not much, but at least you know I'm still alive.

Man-boy is in Switzerland now, after spending the first night and day in the Miami airport, flying to London the second night, spending that day seeing the sights (for the second time, poor thing), and flying the third night to Geneva. They arrived at their camp in Einigen at 4:30 Wednesday morning. Needless to say, no work got done. They slept, ate, did laundry (in their buckets), and slept some more. Here's where they are suffering for Jesus:





Not in that particular chalet (they don't call them houses over there). Man-boy's chalet has canvas sides with two bedrolls in it, but I don't feel sorry for him. It's 70 degrees and sunny with no humidity during the day, mid-fifties at night. He's in paradise—so what's a little construction work?


In other news, Ben brought home our flooring today, and it's stacked neatly in the dining room. It may take a while to put in, but it will be worth the wait.

And now, since I'm so tired I can't put another sentence together, I'm going to bed.

Be thankful ~

Karen

The Hole

A couple of years ago, friends of ours were in a terrible accident (their van was hit by a loaded logging truck), and they lost their two-year-old daughter Katie. What a terrible, difficult, dark time it was for them! But God provides for every need we have, and this time was no different. Another couple, who had previously lost a child as well, were there to minister to them. Here's what Wylie told them:

When you first lose a child, there's a huge hole in your yard, right outside the door. You stand at the hole and suffer. You can't think about anything but the hole. After a while you can go in the house, but you stand at the window and stare at the hole. You walk out the front door and stop at the hole. You can't get past it. Every thought is of the hole. Eventually, you're able to sit down in the living room, knowing the hole is still there, but you don't just stand and stare at it anymore. You get back to your daily routine, every so often stopping to acknowledge the hole. At some point, you begin to laugh again, to take pleasure in life again. You can walk out of the house, nod at the hole, and go about your day. The hole will never go away. It will always be there, reminding you of what you're missing, but you've learned to live with the hole.

Praying for Marsha and David today, while they're learning to live with the hole.

Be thankful~

Karen

Medicate me, please.

The other day I was sitting at my computer editing when I posed the question aloud, "Beside or besides?" I had to look them both up to be sure, but as I suspected, beside means next to or alongside of, and besides means in addition to.

The tall one was sitting at the other computer listening to my running commentary and started singing this hymn:

All the way my Saviour leads me
What have I to ask beside . . .

Oops.

Ole Fanny Crosby goofed. But then besides would have to rhyme with guide, which would then need to be changed to guides, which just doesn't make sense, and now we've opened a can of worms.

Dang. I'll never be able to sing that song right again. It reminds me of the other grammatically incorrect hymn that is like nails on a chalkboard:

If that isn't love
The ocean is dry
There's no stars in the sky . . .

Aaagggghhhhhh.

Ben says I'm afflicted with grammatical correctness and I think he's right. It's like a sickness you can't control. Imagine a person with two personalities having an internal conversation:

What?! That's not right!

Oh, stop it. Just sing the hymn.

But "there is no stars??" C'mon, isn't there a better way to say that?

*eyes rolling*

At least I get paid for it.

Be thankful ~

Karen

More on TMI

Each year, Teen Missions sends hundreds (sometimes close to 1,000) of teenagers around the world to serve God for the summer. They all start at the Lord's Boot Camp in Merritt Island, Florida with two weeks of intensive training, team-building, and instruction. But while all that's going on, they still have to eat. Can you imagine feeding that many hungry teenagers three meals a day for two weeks? Here's Elijah's team waiting in the serving line (he's on the far right almost behind the pole):


And here are some of the thousands of tacos they will eat for dinner:

They build the taco-propper-uppers with 2x4s and drape cloth over it all. Pretty ingenious, huh?

Boot camp was finished last night, and today is packout. That's when they pack and weigh their duffles and carry-ons, pack their food and tools, and begin taking down some of boot camp. Sunday evening is their commissioning service, and Monday they fly out of Miami through London and into Geneva. Please pray for their safety.

Be thankful ~

Karen

So cute -- please watch.

Sorry about the non-working link from yesterday. Try this one. I would say I hope I can do this when I'm 90, but I can't even do it at 47.

Be thankful ~

Karen

The man loves his coffee.

I'm full of pictures these days, aren't I? That's because I'm too busy to actually write anything. Here's Ben waiting for Sunday School to start. Yes, those are coffee cups next to him. Three of them. You know how they say the first step is admitting you have a problem?


Be thankful ~

Karen