Praying for sunny days...

One of the funny things about northeast Ohio is that no matter where you go you can always start up a conversation with people by just mentioning the weather. One of the reasons is we have crazy weather here. One day we can have a incredible day of sunshine and warm weather (relatively speaking) the next it can be horribly cold and gray. Case in point was last week Friday I went out with my sister to keep her company while she went grocery shopping. It was warm enough for me to get away with just wearing a long sleeve shirt and and hoodie. Everyone one else was out in shorts and tees. It was so nice to be out and to not be freezing that I even walked home from my sisters place. Something I haven't done in awhile. The extent of my going out is running from the house to the car and from the car to wherever I'm going. It's been so bad. I haven't wanted to go anywhere. I feel like a bear, big, fluffy and just wanting to stay in the cave and hibernate. Believe me 68 felt great after the temps we have been having around here. Tuesday was 17. Yeah that's 17. Brrrrr, On Saturday the day though not too bad was definitely cooler at 53 which dropped to 43 by the afternoon but rose to 55 again in the evening after the the sun set. Like I said we have crazy weather here. Today is as gray as it comes and rainy. And though it really isn't that cold temperature wise, it's hovering right above freezing so the rain doesn't turn to snow, it almost seems colder because it's wet.

When you have days like we had on Friday around here you have to take advantage of it and take advantage of it we did. Dad pulled out the grill and that night we had steak, yum! To my dad grilling steak is a art form. He goes out and selects the perfect steaks. Nice marbling and thick. Then he seasons it so wonderfully that even now my mouth is watering. He starts with garlic and uno seasoning. Then finishes with parmesan cheese... mmmmm. Accompanied by a baked potato and a nice salad, it doesn't get much better then that. As you can tell it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Yesterday was another day of just spending time with my family. We drove out to Erie PA which is about a hour away from us. You know it's strange how I have no problem driving a hour here to go to somewhere. 30 min away, no prob. An hour, what's that? Nothing. But having to drive a hour in Hawaii is crazy long! I guess it's all relative. Though part of it might be that where we live doesn't have bad traffic on the highways. It's all pretty much clear sailing the whole way. That really helps. So we just kinda cruised all afternoon and ended up at the dollar theater. We watched two movies and even with my large family we got in paying less then what it would cost you to watch it in the regular theater. Who cares that the movies were already out of the other theaters. We hadn't seen them and I throughly enjoyed them. We watched Bedtime Stories which was hilarious and Inkheart which was very good. Both had such interesting plots, very original. It's just funny that they both came out around the same time. Because they are different in their stories lines but yet there are similarities. Such as stories coming to life.

My family does something that must drive people nuts when they go to the movies with any of us. And especially the poor theater workers. We like to stay to the very end. We enjoy to watch the credits. One reason is that is some movies will place little things at the very end (Iron Man, X-Men: The Last Stand, etc). Another reason is that we enjoy looking at the names of people who crewed the movie. I have always found names to be fascinating and sometimes extremely funny. The one that took the prize yesterday will probably be a favorite of mine from now on. Are you ready for it, the name was "Fuzzy Goat". I love it! Isn't it great. What a unfortunate name. Poor guy!

Rena found a new friend

I love this pic. This is Jon enjoying a good book at a store in Erie.

Joe

Whatcha listening to Dara?

Daddy (Ray) reading to Judah

I need a hero...

Today I was almost heroic. I tried but unfortunately for me it just wasn't my time. It all started when my oldest sister came over. She was making dinner tonight. She asked if I had heard from my second oldest sister, Dara. Dara had some ingredients the Ange needed. Dara was over at her place with 2 of my other sisters, Melody and Katy. They were spending time over there keeping her company while my brother-in-law is away for the month with the National Guard. My oldest sister said she tried to call them all several times and no one was answering. We thought it was a little weird considering that they had 4 phones over there and no one was answering. Finally after I tried to call them again we decided that someone should go over there. You have to watch out over here in the winter time for carbon monoxide poisoning. It's odorless and most people don't know what is happening to them until it's to late. In most cases it's fatal. Then there was the exhaust smell my sister smelled in the house a couple weeks ago. Also a bad thing. So here I was all amped up, ready to bust down the door if they didn't answer it. Luckily for them and me they answered the door. As it turns out Mel and Katy's phones were dead, Dara left her phone upstairs and the house phone wasn't plugged in or something like that. I'm so glad that I didn't have to break down a door and that all were ok. I was all ready to be Superwoman or Xena. Like I said I was on amped up on a adrenaline high and then nothing. I felt happy but a little let down.

Right now we are watching The Chronicles of Narnia. What a great movie! A couple days ago I started to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my youngest brothers. My oldest sister started to read this to them 2 years ago but they were too young to really get into them. But now they are loving it. This series was the first 'real' books that I read. I was probably about 7 or 8. It has been a favorite ever since. It's funny though that now that there is a movie my brothers compare it to the books. We'll read and the boys will say "that's not in the movie!" Now that they are reading the books they will see something that they left out or added in in the movie and they will comment on it. I'm just glad that they are now finding the excitement and thrill of a great book!

Baby it's cold outside...

I sit here in the living room all snuggled up watching it snow once again. It can be so pretty watching it snow, just as long as I'm watching it from here in the warmth. I will admit that the snow and ice can be beautiful. I just don't like the cold that goes with it. Last week some of my siblings were out playing in snow. They had a great time. They played Pie and made snow tunnels and there was a fleeting moment of insanity for me. I actually had a moment of wanting to go join them, I quickly overcame it. Sooner or later I suppose I will have to go out and play. It just no longer appeals to me. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Jon, Katy and Joe playing pie

That's actually been feeling that I've been having alot lately. Though some of that might be the fact that I done things with the teens. They seem so young. I just look at them and think, these are all kids that were in my children's church when I taught. Kids that I have known from the time they were babies. My youngest sister is one of the oldest kids in the youth group for goodness sake! Since I was here I went to Youth Convention with the youth group. Youth Convention is a time for a couple thousand teens from all over Ohio to get together and get fired up for God. It was awesome! I had a blast though I kept thinking that I was surrounded by babies. These kids surely couldn't be old enough. And doesn't that make me the old fogey. It's pitiful.

Emily and Katy

The theme of the Convention

It's been awhile but I'm back...

I had really wanted to be good this time back and keep up with the whole blog thing. Honest. It’s such a great way to get my thoughts out and let people know what is happening with me. But forces beyond my control conspire to stop me. First there is the who Christmas and New Years black hole. I don’ t know where the time goes but it definitely does. Then there is the whole “Joy’s home, we want to spend all our possible time with her.” Not that I mind because I love my family and I love spending time with then. I have a hard time carving out any time for me. Then there is there is the fact that our internet connection has died so if I want to get online I either have to hit the library or my sister’s place. Which wouldn’t be bad except that means I have to leave the house. Something that I avoid if at all possible. Though everyone says I will acclimatize I haven’t yet. I’m sorry 36º is pretty stinking cold. I will admit that I do like that better then the 9º we had last week. And it’s not even that but I can’t seem to regulate my body temperature. I’m either freezing my tushie off or sweating inside because of all the layers I wear. It takes me 20 mins just to get ready to go outside. I feel like the little brother on The Christmas Story. “I can’t put my arms down!!!” Luckily for me I have such a loving family who leaves the temp in the house around 75 for me.

It’s a little hard for me to believe that I have already been here for a month. Though I have it on good authority that there are those who can definitely believe it. It’s been really nice to just be. Not to have to do much just be. Some days I don’t even get out of my pj’s. It’s wonderful. I won’t have to worry about having problems with jet lag when I get back. My family are of bunch of night owls. Must nights (or should I say mornings) I going to bed around 2 or 3.

It all started on the 18th of December. I flew out from Honolulu at 5:55pm. And though it was a overnight flight I couldn't sleep as it always seems to be the case with me. I don't’ know why. I always try but to no avail. I flew from Honolulu to Minneapolis. The flight was uneventful but long. I was ready to stand up and walk around by the time it was over. From Minneapolis I was flying to Detroit. I got to that flight with no problem. I was feeling pretty good. We started to taxi out when the Captain came on. He said he had some bad news. Detroit shut all but one runway due to the weather. But we might still be able to get out there. So we waited in the plane for a hour when we got the ok. But by that time the plane needed to be deiced and that took another hour. After we landed in Detroit we waited in the plane for 45min to get to a gate. Needless to say I didn't make my next flight. Actually my flight was canceled as were alot of other flights. And so began my 10 hour lay over in Detroit. Yea! What fun! What sublime joy! (Read heavy sarcasm) I was put on stand by on a flight leaving at 5:00. I grabbed some food then was able to pull 2 chairs together and take a nap for about a hour. That felt great. I felt bad though because my parents were already at the airport to pick me up by this point. Sorry guys!

5:00 rolled around and I was sitting at the gate counting noses. We had way to many people to try to get on the plane. I still held out hope. But in the end there was 12 of us left. I went up to the counter and was able to actually get a ticket on the last flight out. Everyone else was put on stand by. Yea God! If I hadn’t got on that flight the next flight out was 9:45...pm the next day. The flight was to leave at 7:30 we left at 9:00. This is why I don’t like to travel in the wintertime. We all piled in glad to be finally going where we were suppose to be going. All this for a 24min flight. 24 stinking minutes. Oh well I was glad to be finally there. Back in warm and balmy Ohio! Oh happy day!

Due to the the fact that I was 10 hours late I, of course, didn’t have any luggage to meet me. Now that really stunk. I needed as much warm clothes as I possibly get. The more layers the better. I don’t go out without at least 2 layers on. I know, I know, I’m a wimp but at least I’m a warm wimp. I find myself attracted to all things warm and fuzzy ...socks, scarves, hats ...mmmmm. Anyways like I said I no luggage, no layers. I wasn’t too worried though. Last time I went home they ‘temporarily misplaced’ my luggage. I got it in a couple days. But that was in Hawaii and I had more clothes there. I had nothing here. It looked like it was wash and wear for me. Thankfully on Sunday morning 10 minutes before we needed to be at church my suitcases came. I was so happy to see them. It would have really stunk if they got permanently misplaced.

I love my lips...

Call me childish but I love cartoons. One of my favorites in Veggietales. I love them little veggies. And of course one of my favorite character is Larry the cucumber. On a few of the episodes they have a segment called "Silly Songs with Larry" and it's the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song... One of the earlier songs was "I Love My Lips" The song starts out with Larry laying on a couch telling his psychiatrist about his love for his lips. The first line of the song goes "If my lips ever left my mouth, packed a bag and headed south. That'd be too bad. I'd be so sad" Well I think I'm about to be sad. After the past couple of days I think my lips are going to leave me.

Yesterday after Minichurch I came home and snuggled in bed with my laptop to watch a movie. A little into the movie I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to fix a wrinkle that was under me. So instead of getting up and fixing it I just wiggled around then reached underneath me and pulled. Well I wasn't paying attention to my computer and it slid off the book it was on, down the pillow that the book was resting on and right into my lip. To be more precise the corner of the computer connected with my very sensitive lip. It hit it just right. It swelled up right away. Luckily today it just looks puffy.

Now fast forward to about a hour ago. I had just come back from getting more line for the weedwacker. Just finished repacking the spool and was trying to finish the little bit of the yard work I was doing. I'm getting a good rhythm down and almost finished when a rock broke loose from the wall, flew up and hit me right above my lips, just under my nose. I had a nice little red Charlie Chapman mustache. I was so good too. I had eye protection on. Ear protection. I just never thought of lip protection. Hopefully it won't look too bad tonight. And hopefully my lips don't decided to get while the getting is good.