A Tale from the Shoe

My story tonight is why my blog name is what it is, for tonight we have quite a tale. I guess I should start from the beginning. Bear with me, it's kinda long. Last week Justin was in Kentucky all week for a Together For the Gospel Conference. Usually, by week's end I am at my end, but the week went rather smooth--I completely cleaned out the kids closets and dressers, got totally caught up on laundry--not even a pile to be hung up, which is quite a feat at my house. And I read through and pretty successfully, might I add (at least at the moment), implemented some discipline structure from Growing Kids God's Way. I also... had to take 2 kids to the doctor for regular visits, take dinner to a friend who just moved in our neighborhood, Community Group, a soccer practice, Jed's 1st Grade performance, Bible Study, laundry...Thursday we are leaving to go to soccer practice and Jed's performance when I have Blakley run to the side of our house to get a football that went over the fence. As she's coming back our neighbor challenges her to a race. Blakley cannot say no to a race (just ask her, that is exactly what she told the nurses at the doctor's office)and totally biffs it on the driveway. Her knee and whole right side of her face are completely raw. You would have thought she broke every bone in her body. We FINALLY leave for practice, go to Jed's performance, then to get Frosty's at Wendy's for a treat--by this time we all needed one!

On Friday morning my husband emailed me that he had just been in earthquake. Then Jed was sent home sick by lunchtime. I decided it best if I went ahead and took him in to get a strep test since it was Friday and didn't want to get stuck taking him to a clinic on Saturday. I got him in right after lunch, and asked if they could go ahead and test Judson because they share a room and last time Jed had strep, Judson had it as well. So, they do a flu and strep test. Judson's came back positive for the flu and Jed's came back positive for strep. This was totally wierd because Judson had NO symptoms--we had to stay there for 2 hours because Jed fell asleep twice on the examining table and the doctor was waiting for the Tylenol to take effect before swabbing his throat. He was a pitiful site. We finally get home 2 and a half hours later and Justin finally drives up after us--he was supposed to get in at 8:15 that morning, but an earthquake and mechanical problems on his American Airline flight delayed him.

Saturday, Justin takes Blakley to her game, then came and took snacks to Jed's football game. He then decided to go to Lowe's and buy me my Mother's Day present--screen doors! I want these for a couple of reasons. One, many people come knock on our door, and it will give me a bit more protection to have a locked screen door, and two, when the back door and front door is open a nice breeze goes through the house....well, J gets home with them and they go straight into the garage. He's not sure that he can install them.

So, that leads me to today. Of course, I was stuck home with sick kids, and it was a beautiful day outside, so I put of the baby gates in the front and back doors. We had a nice breeze going through all day. This evening, we are getting ready to go to the grocery store and I walk out of the kitchen and through the corner of my eye I see this ball of grey run under the door of the coat closet from the entry way. I SCREAM, Justin questions if it is a mouse or a giant spider, I assure him whatever it is is BIG. So, my manly husband gives Jed a broom and tells Blakley to start taking stuff out of the coat closet, they start and all of a sudden the mouse runs across Blakley's foot and into a corner behind Jed's backpack. We are all SCREAMING including Judson, Justin runs inside from the garage, I tell him it's behind the backpack and he starts beating the backpack with the broom, the mouse runs down the hall into the girls room....the kids literally tear apart the room (remember I had just cleaned it all up) looking for this mouse. Blakley has the broom ready to punce on it, Jdayn dancing around screaming, and Jed has the dustbuster. I guess he thought he could suck it up! (Davedda, doesn't this remind you of the ONE time we got to stay home while mom and dad were out of town and we thought someone was breking in so we locked ourselves in the bathroom and one of us had the aerosol hairspray and the other had the curling iron cord--we were going to spray his eyes then strangle him....my kids are brave like we were! :) )We can't find him, so we call our Landlord...he offers to come sometime this week (I pray it is tomorrow) and put out some bait and also volunteers to help Justin install the screen doors. We head to the grocery store and get home--(Meanwhile Jed and Blakley start having tummy problems--a sign the dr. told me to look for in case they get the flu too...) I have the kids start cleaning the girls room assuring them the mouse is in the kitchen or Mommy and Daddy's room and no the mouse cannot climb into beds I assure them....please don't comment otherwise. I go into the girls room and see the mouse leap over a toy...I SCREAM again slam the door shut and jump up and down, shouting for Justin to bring me something to put under the door so he could not get out. He just stands there staring at me with a huge grin on his face. He finally gets me a blanket that I cram into the opening as tight as I can make it, HOPING it will stay in that room. The girls are now sleeping on our floor in our room--yes, that mouse better stay in that room and not run all over my girls tonight. The ONE time I have all the laundry done and actually put away, BUT we are not going in there to get anything! Looks like the girls will be having pajama day tomorrow...don't ask me what we are going to do now, I have no idea.
I've said it before there is never a dull moment around the Edgar household! I'll keep you posted on our mouse hunt!

Mom's Good Ol' Home Cooking

My two boys have come down with a dreadful case of strep throat. Both got sick Sunday morning. I knew immediately that Jed had strep because he always gets that "smell", and he had that "smell" stronger than ever by Sunday night. Well, sure enough, tests were positive--it seems like everyone in our town has something, as I dropped off prescriptions at 11:00am and did not get them until 6:00pm. Well, this evening Jed finally decided he could eat something other than a chocolate milk shake, he asked for mac n cheese, I happily obliged. But he thought it was too cheesy. So, then I make the girls their dinner, Jed asks for some of it, so I make him a small bowl. He scarfs it down. A little later he comes into the office, climbs his long, lanky body onto my lap and says, "Mom, can I have some more? I love your cooking." pause..."I think you should have show on the cooking channel, your cooking is so good."
"Thanks Jed, Mommy puts a lot of love into the meals I make you. I'm glad you liked it."
"yeah mom, I love your cooking."
This warms my heart. I would really love to be a great cook, I love the cooking channel! However, my children really only love my cooking when it is premade, in a can. For tonight their dinner was Spaghetti O's and Meatballs. Thanks to Chef Boyardee, my kids think I am a gourmet chef~and I wouldn't have it any other way! ;)

Bunco Craziness!

So, I just returned from our 3rd bunco group. Let me just say that I am so excited that so many women want to give up their Friday night to roll dice! Bunco was a staple in my life in Lubbock--every 1st Thursday of the month was bunco, Justin knew it and was always home or had a sitter scheduled for me to attend. He knows that I need an outlet to go and be with girls to laugh, talk, and breathe for at least 2 hours without kiddos around. I always come home refreshed. Women need women. So, when we moved here, one of the first things I wanted to do was get into a bunco group. Our church didn't have one, so I mentioned it to the women in our Community Group, talked about it to a neighbor, and started one. We have done it for 3 months. Let me tell you, word has gotten out about us girls--the first 2 months we had 12, then 10, and tonight we had 19! We had at one point 25 that wanted to come, but you know there are always those that cancel at the last minute. We ended up with 5 tables--it was so much fun! What is so great about bunco is that you are forced to rotate tables and have different partners--so you have to be social--I met women I would never have met anywhere else. We have a handful from church who bring their friends, then the rest live in our devlopment--I love meeting these women, there is such potential for us to be on mission, to develop realtionships--it just thrills me.

Anyway, I get home and a frozen pizza is on the stove (cooked of course) and the whole fam is laying on the living room floor watching Indiana Jones...so, I took the opportunity to sneak in the office and post--since I was chastised tonight for taking so long to post! :) Here's to you ladies and the fun we had tonight! Hope all your children sleep really late in the morning so you can too! :)

Sweet Randomness

A few little stories I want to get written down before they are gone from my memory!

*Last week we were driving home from school and Jed says that he doesn't want to go to school tomorrow. I tell him just 2 more days then he will have a 3 day weekend. He says, "Oh, yeah, it's that King Juniors birthday." I say, "Yes, Martin Luther King Jr. Do you know what he did?" Jed replies, "Uh, he used big words and had a dream." I burst out laughing, "yes, he did." We later explained a bit more about why we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On Sunday night, he wanted to know how we were going to celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday...sorry buddy, no birthday cake at our house!

*Blakley is totally infatuated with horses, so Justin rented her "Flicka" the movie with Tim McGraw. Well, I was getting ready to go to bunco Friday night and she was watching it in the playroom when all of a sudden she comes running to me sobbing. I thought she was hurt or sick, and through her sobs she tells me that Flicka was killed by a Mountain Lion. She was SO upset. Justin walks into the kitchen and I scolded him for getting her that movie. Well, it turned out that Flicka did not die, and recovered, so Blakley was then able to finish it. I love that she is growing and maturing and able to have these emotions that she understands when something is sad.
Our best friends came to visit us from Lubbock this past weekend for Blakley's birthday. Emmy and Blakley are best friends, they played so great this weekend. Usually, they end up in some kind of argument or wrestling match on the floor. Not this weekend they played and giggled and talked...when it was time for them to leave both girls cried. It was so sweet.

*Today we were walking down an aisle at Walmart, trying to get all on my list--which is quite a task with my sweet little Jadyn roaming around in her own little world she made some intellegent comment, then said, "Am I smart?" Justin said, "yes, you are." then Blakley chimes in, "Jadyn got her talent from me" Justin and I giggled over that.

*Tomorrow my little girly girl turns 5. I can't believe it. 5 years ago tonight we had our friends Tim and Carrie King over to eat pizza and watch American Idol auditions. As I did not go into labor with Jed (just induced) she was explaining to me what it felt like to actually go into labor. When they were leaving I stood up and swear I felt a contraction.....Carrie predicted I would be going to the hospital that night. Well, I didn't. The morning came and I woke up with a terrible urge to clean out Jed's closet. So, there I am in my comfy clothes. I bend over to pick up a box of outgrown clothes and a gush comes pouring down my leg. Justin is at work. I kinda go, could this be my water breaking? I call my doctor first, asking if this indeed is my water breaking. The nurse assures me it is, and instructs me to get to the hospital. Well, I hadn't showered, I hadn't eaten any lunch (and experience from Jed told me I needed to eat before I get there, because they certainly weren't going to let me eat). I asked the nurse if I could quickly get ready. She advised against it, but I did anyway. Then I called Justin at the church office. Well, he was not as excited as I was. The staff was walking out the door to go eat lunch at PF Changs--which had JUST opened (This is a big deal for J --PF and Pei Wei are by far his favorites!) So, this is how our phone conversation went:
"Hello"
"Hey, you need to come home"
"Why"
"My water broke and we need to get to the hospital"
"Right now? Can't you wait an hour or so? I'm on my way to PF Changs"
"WHAT? NO IT CANT WAIT AN HOUR OR SO, WE ARE ABOUT TO HAVE A BABY!"
"Are you sure?"
"YES, I ALREADY CALLED THE DOCTOR!"
"OK, I'll be home in a bit"
Hang up....call mom to pick up Jed...head to the hospital, mom takes Jed to my inlaws and meets us at the hospital. Later my mother in law, Justin's aunt and grandmother, my mom and dad all show up. We hang out in the room, time to push and I make everyone leave the room. One push she's out. Everyone files back in.
Blaley's birth was special in that it was the only one of our four kids that was born in Albuquerque. The only birth that we got to have our families there with us. It was a blessing. Very fitting that Blakley was born with my Dad present--he did not have any sons to pass on the family name, but this little baby girl would carry the name on.
I can't believe it's been 5 years--time has literally flown by. She's growing up, getting big girl feet,heading off to kindergarten in the fall. My, it will be soon when she will be having her own baby....wow.
Happy Birthday Blakes, I love you!

Good Bye 2007

Taking a que from my sister, here is the Edgar's life in 2007. Davedda did it so she doesn't forget, I am doing it out of guilt that I do not have any up to date scrap books, poor Judson, not even a baby book yet....there's a resolution for me!

JANUARY: Justin always went with our youth group skiing over the break. This year, he took Jed and Blakley with him. After a ton of hours in the van to get from Albuquerque to Lubbock because of a HUGE snowstorm, they made it about 6 hours before they got back on the road to come back up north on to Colorado. The kids loved skiing, Blakley was, of course, a natural. But the best part for them was the hot chocolate and spending quality time with Daddy!
Blakley turned 4 on the 23rd. We took cupcakes to "school" and had a special lunch with Mommy and Daddy.
Justin began Seminary at Westminster Theological Seminary in Dallas. Over the course of the semester he traveled to Dallas a few times a month to take classes. Still new and exciting, the wear and tear hasn't effected the family yet!
Justin's mom received results about her thyroid. She will have to have her thyroid removed.
Continued homeschooling Jed...

FEBRUARY: Justin was out of town 13 days for seminary classes and planning team meetings for Fun in the Son Camp in Padre. Trips to the Science Spectrum with Jess and Ami,Kids Night Out at Church, Covenant Meeting with the girls, Couples Small Group, and Bunco filled up the month while Justin was in and out. My Nanny turned 80.
Oh, the funnest adventure was "Girls in the Know"! Many of us wives "suffer" through Fantasy Football, well, this is for us girls--a fantasy league with celebrities. We drafted our celebrities at Leslie and Brenna's and saw sides of our friends that we had never seen before! :) What fun it was, I had Justin Timberlake and through him I took a strong second--only because Jess had that rapper dude with those ring tones....:)
Went to see Beth Moore simulcast at a local church--much needed revival...
Blakley continued with ballet lessons at the community center.

MARCH: March began relaxing with a massage! If I was rich I'd have one at least once a month--so worth it! We celebrated Ami's baby shower and the coming of little Gracelyn. Justin was again back and forth to Dallas, Spring Break Mission Trip to New Orleans. And on an extremely sad note, we witnessed a heartbreaking loss of a father and husband to a dear family in our church. No other death has affected me as much as this one did, we were certain God was going to heal him, ultimately He did, but to see a wife and children without their father/husband is heart wrenching.
Jadyn turned 3 on the 9th, we celebrated with a party at Jumpin' Jungle for both the girls with all their friends--much fun!
Put our house on the market...a move to Dallas was inevitable, as the traveling has taken its toll on Justin, Danette and the kiddos.
Justin discovers Providence Community Church in Plano. His first visit and knows this is where we will be serving when we move to Dallas.
Lots more trips to the Science Spectrum, library, Chic-Fil-A, and McDonalds to pass time while Daddy is away.
My mom is still going through many tests and different doctors to find out what is wrong with her.

APRIL: Justin was in Dallas a lot! We filled the month with: Tuesday School, Jed getting tested for Speech Services, Children's Choir at Church, Science Spectrum, Jumpin'Jungle, Small Group, Weight Watchers, and keeping the house picked up (as much as possible with 4 kiddos!)and way too many hours on the internet looking at houses in the DFW area. At the end of the month the kids and I traveled to Albuquerque. I dropped off the kiddos at my wonderful in-laws and my mom and I spent the weekend at Living Proof Live Conference with Beth Moore. We were privileged "greeters" which gave us first row seats. Beth was literally in my face at one point during her first session....exciting and again, much needed personal revival! Still didn't know what was going on with my mom, but she was a trooper and did great for the weekend of early morning and late nights!

MAY: Dead Day and Finals week at Tech was emotional for Justin--last pancake breakfast, having to say goodbye to many students who were going home or on missions for the summer. Goodbye parties started early...
Jed finished up kindergarten--not sure how I did as a home school teacher--:)
Jed turned 6 on the 12th--celebrated with Will Mitchell at the Mitchell's with a Spiderman party--
Justin's aunt passed away and his Grandmother had a big birthday. Unfortunately, they happened too close together.
Went to see Dr. Lawrence on last time--amazing how attached you get to your ob/gyn, I've convinced myself to travel to Lubbock once a year to keep him as my doctor!
FINALLY, Mom is diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. A blessing to know what it is, and now chemo begins...through it all Mom and Dad were incredible.
Graduation and goodbye parties filled up the month--oh, and I think there was a juice fast in there some where! :)

JUNE: Crash Course in Hodgkins Lymphoma and chemo. Lots of internet searching and praying, and another study through "Believing God" but this time with a whole different perspective.
More dinners, lunches and playdates with friends, squeezing in as much "friend" time as possible, more keeping the house picked up and my last Bunko--appropriately at the Barron's.
VBS filled a half a week, then me and the kiddos trekked back to Albuquerque. Again, my wonderful in-laws took the kiddos, and I met Justin in Dallas to house hunt--Stayed with the Moores--our pastor and his family. Had a great time, rained the whole weekend, and found our house--yippee!. Back to Albuquerque, to spend some quality time with my parents, and my sister and Colby. Celebrated Mom's 60th, Dad's 62nd, and their 36 or 37th? anniversary (yes, all this happens on the same day every year--and on the 13th!)Judson gets some major spoiling with all his grandparents!
Justin preached his last sermon at WPC and a staff party followed--bitter sweet....


JULY: the big month, we are moving whether the house sells or not, but not to fear, an offer comes in and the timing is PERFECT--isn't God incredible?!? Schedule the Uhaul, set date for garage sale and FINALLY, the house can be a mess again! This is when you know your tried and true friends. Barron's, Mitchell's, Holtzman's all sacrificed lots of time to help pack, babysit kiddos, and take down a swing set. (Same one they put together 3 years prior)The take apart swing-set cookout is one of my best memories, I think because I purposefully tried to remember details. Ami and Kristen packed the girls room, Brooke and I got dinner ready, Holtzman grilled, and the guys did the manly stuff with the big tools! Holtzman's also announced the comming of Holtzman Baby #2!!!
We scheduled to pick up the Uhaul in Clovis because it was $300 cheaper then picking it up in Lubbock. When I called to confirm they said that Clovis did not have the size we needed, but would be getting a phone call where the closest place was to pick it up. Low and behold, the closest place to pick it up was in Lubbock--again a reminder who is in control! What a blessing. Another blessing was my wonderful mother-in-law came down the weekend of the move and worked her tail off--cleaning and packing and taking care of kiddos. Don't know what I'd have done without her.
By the grace of God, SEVERAL friends, a last minute jaunt to the Uhual place at 5:00 Sunday night to get the biggest trailor to pull behind the biggest Uhaul we are loaded and ready to go. Sleep deprivation (and Jadyn puking all night -- as we slept on the floor of our empty house one last night--nothing to clean throw up up with was a little blessing as I could somewhat keep it together as we closed on our house, said good bye to Kristen and pulled out of Lubbock--yes, I sang "I thought Happiness was Lubbock Texas in my rearview mirror, but my momma kept calling me home..." Get to Wylie (oh yeah, Brian locked the keys to Justin's car in the trunk, spare set packed away...so we left without him) a crew from Providence is waiting to unload us--another blessing. Got unloaded, pizzas ordered and everyone fed my nightfall. We are here, a new beginning...bummer all 4 kids threw up all night our first night--no towels unpacked, no washing maching hooked up,....us Edgar's make sure everything we do is memorable :)

I turned 32 somewhere in there!

AUGUST:Justin took his first Greek class....every morning...his practicing at home was humorous for the rest of us! Unpacking and getting settled was how we spent the month. Meeting neighbors, and getting to know my way around.... Back to Lubbock for Whitney and Andrew's wedding, Blakley was flower girl and Justin did part of the ceremony.
Jed started public school...getting into the groove
Spent Labor Day weekend with Wes and Jama and their family. Then spent the night in Ft. Worth went to the museum and Stock Yards--really fun, but what is up with the humidity!?!?!?
Blakley started playing soccer--a natural.
Jed started playing football--a passion has been born!
J and I celebrated our 12th anniversary, and J turned 36!

SEPTEMBER: School, soccer, football, community group, church....this is what we did.
Justin had a small stint working at UPS, but the 3:30 mornings were too much on him and the family.

OCTOBER: Judson turned one on the 13th!!! A small cookout we had with a few friends to celebrate Judsy-BOys 1st b-day. Not walking yet...doesn't like to eat, didn't care much for his b-day cake!
Scool, soccer, football, community group, church, and Halloween! Halloween brought Dorothy, the Wicked Witch, and the Cowardly Lion, and Harry Potter to the Edgar Household. Good old Trick or Treating was in full force in our neighborhood, we hung out in our front yard with neighbors and enjoyed the warm fall weather. Kids had a blast.
Justin started working at FedEx--great job, just gone every evening--no family dinners....

NOVEMBER: Thanksgiving took us to Abeline for the annual Blakley/Marshall/Edgar Thanksgiving Getaway. This is where we all meet at this suite hotel, hang out, eat this amazing dinner that we didn't have to cook or clean up and sit around and catch up with everybody. This year we got several inches of snow, unfortunately, nobody brought their snow gear to play in it! We took a family portrait--guess there can't be anymore additions to the family for awhile! :)

DECEMBER: Results are in: No cancer cells can be found in my mom's body! Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus for healing mom.
Wow, already Christmas--we stayed in Wylie, my parents came--it was great! Laid back, no traveling with kiddos, presents,...nice. Just missed rest of the family.

Wow, that was a long year--lots of things happened--lots of life lived. Lots of changes took place. God has blessed.

Happy New Year!

Jesus Paid It All

I just finished reading my sisters blog (http://www.mom22boyz.blogspot.com/) and of course was bawling as soon as I read the title. As I was writing my comment--I ran out of room---so was going back to shorten it, my wonderfully, now mobile, but cute- as-ever, almost one year old pulled the power plug--so I had to reboot and figured I would just put my comments in my own blog (even though I have a ton of things I want to talk about) this is in the front of my brain right now.

Davedda talked about memories of our Grandpa singing. He was the worship leader at our church growing up (which would be the reason why my first duet with Chrissy Sciarrillo happened on stage at the First Baptist Church when I was like 7. And come to think of it--funny that I haven't been asked to sing since Grandpa has not been a worship leader, guess he heard only the good notes!) I also knew that "Kevin Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul" when I was like 3, much to my dismay I was later told that it wasn't Kevin, but Heaven that came down to fill my soul with Glory! Amen.



As soon as an old Hymn is playing my eyes (as well as my sister's, and I'm pretty sure my mom's) well up with tears. We immediately can hear Grandpa belting out the words (and many times a different word if the right word didn't come to him quick enough!) They are powerful memories of which partly define who I am today.



My sister reminenced over "How Great Thou Art" ~ a favorite of Grandpa's. Justin and I have taught our kids "Jesus Paid It All" another one that just by hearing the intro, we immediately hear Grandpa singing. I treasure the fact that it is my girls favorite song. I actually, have it on a Passion CD that is currently playing in the van and, ironically, just tonight as we were driving back from football practice it came on and I turned the volume way up and we all belted out from the top of our lungs, "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain he washed me white as snow, Oh PRAISE THE ONE WHO PAID MY DEBT AND RAISED THIS LIFE UP FROM THE DEAD....." It was a sweet moment worshipping Jesus with my children. Tears flowed down my face as I thought of how Justin and I are striving to instill Jesus and the Gospel into our children, just like Grandpa instilled it in me. I'd like to think that Grandpa was there worshipping with us, knowing that the seeds he planted in his daughter, my mom, have been fruitful in the generations to come. My children will never know Grandpa, as he passed away almost 4 years ago when Jed was only 2, but I hope to pass on the passion that he had for worshipping our wonderful Savior.