Surprise!!! Jesus is ALIVE!

Today is Easter Sunday. It just so happened that it was my turn to "do" Children's Church so I wasn't in regular services....instead I had a lesson to do with the 2 and 3 year olds. Usually we have 6 or 7 kids in there but today, with it being a Holiday weekend, some families were traveling so the class was small.

I really like the preschool class but sometimes the material is a little to advanced for them. Today was one of those days. :)

We have really nice lesson plans broken up into a game, bible memory verse, puppet show, bible story, craft and snack. It is very organized...on paper that is.

I had three little girls and one little boy. It was the little boys first time coming to Children's Church....ever. He has never even gone to Sunday School so his parents were a little concerned that he wouldn't do well. He did great. One little girl cries bitterly whenever her parents bring her back and as soon as they shake her off their leg and the door closes it is like the OFF switch and she is fine for the rest of the class. But it is always a little dicey at first. The other two girls are troopers. They never cry. They never fight. They never misbehave. Ever.

So I started out with the game. Today we were supposed to make a sign that said BIG and a sign that said LITTLE and give some scenarios that the kids were supposed to listen to then stand under the BIG sign or the LITTLE sign if they thought it was a big or little surprise. Ummm. Did I mention that they were 2 and 3?

So I just decided we would talk about the scenarios. Here is an excerpt...."Let's talk about surprises...did anyone have any surprises this week?" (Crickets chirping) "Did anybody get any surprises this morning?" (Crickets chirping) "Anyone?" Finally....a little voice said "I ika ped da abee haffs". Umm. "Oh yeah, me too (I think)." Translation...maybe..."I like to pet the baby calves." Not sure but that's what I went with. OK...back to surprises...."What if somebody popped a balloon right behind you....would that be a big surprise or a little surprise?" (Crickets) "How about if your Grandpa and Grandma came for a visit?" A different little voice..."I haff dat...uhhuh me do" Um....ok. "Good...thank you Ruthie" (Later I find out that her Grandpa and Grandma actually were here for Easter and perhaps that is what she was getting at. :) Anyway...you get the drift. The whole point was to get to the SURPRISE of Jesus not being in the tomb when the women came and saw the stone was rolled away. It wasn't really working for us.

So....we moved on to the story. The lesson plan was to review last week when they must have talked about Jesus being betrayed and going to the cross. It is age appropriate and short and sweet but while I was reviewing that Jesus wasn't liked by some people and they had him arrested....little Ruthie's chin started to tremble and her little mouth had turned in to a profound frown. I quickly said....but it was all ok because even though Jesus died on the cross and was put in the tomb...he came back to life and will live forever. Well, Ruthie couldn't take it and it was just too sad and she started to cry. Oh man. In this group it is totally like dominoes when someone starts to cry and ask for their mom. Ruthie is one of my solid little girls too so it was totally out of character.

Ruthie's Dad came and took her out for a couple of minutes....I quickly finished up the story and we moved on to the craft. Stringing beads onto pipe cleaners. :) Fun. Pretty soon Ruthie came back in...sniffling every few seconds, but she very bravely and quietly said "I sorry." and started on her craft. I love little Ruthie. And it IS sad that some people didn't like Jesus and made fun of him and hung him on a cross. I totally remember being very sad and very mad about that very thing when I was a kid. It is a hard concept to grasp that HE did it for us and that it fulfilled the plan perfectly.

But when you are 3 years old.....and tenderhearted....hearing that Jesus wasn't liked and died on the cross is a little hard to take.

Shoot. It is kind of still hard to take when you are 45!

From the Nanny Files, July 5, 1984

10:30 am - It is a yuk day today. Cloudy and foggy. Morgan is at camp and Chloe is at sailing lessons. I don't have my sailing lesson until Tuesday. Chloe goes every morning for 3 hours. I think mine are 3 hours also....but not every morning. It is low tide right now so I climbed out on the rocks and went a long way down the beach to my favorite rock to sit on to write this. There is always a breeze here on this rock. I like it. I had planned to sketch a picture of my favorite black sailboat but I broke the lead in my pencil on the way out here. I slipped on a rock and scraped the whole side of my leg too. Diane, the cleaning lady, is here today so I didn't want to be inside and in her way. I talked to Jo on the phone this morning and she is coming over later today. They were supposed to go to Dix Island for the 4th but they had company instead. Jo said it was a guy that is with the Go Go's, his girlfriend, a lady that plays "Margo" on Another World and her husband who is 6'9". Quite a celebrity gathering I guess. Carl has the day off today but I think he went to his office anyway. Morgan asked me last night if John liked Micheal Jackson. I told her yes....because she wouldn't understand someone NOT liking Micheal Jackson. So....she gave me a Micheal Jackson trading card to send him. :) 3 pm. - I have a terrible cold. Susan gave me some medicine last night but it didn't help that much. It did put me to sleep though. Jolene just left. I was a zombie while she was here because I took some more cold medicine. I wasn't very good company. Carl told me to go to bed so I am in my room but I can't sleep. Chloe had a good sailing lesson. They learned how to tie special knots and all the part of the boat and sails. I can hardly wait to get out on a boat and sail it! I am in the ADULT class. That makes me feel old. :) Jolene would like to go to Portland Saturday and do some shopping. I don't really feel like I want to right now but maybe I will feel better and more like going by Saturday. 7:30 pm. - I took a long nap. Susan is at Women's club tonight. The traffic is terrible here now. The summer rush has started. It is really hard to get on the road. People from here will stop and let you in but the tourists won't. They drive really fast and don't even stop for pedestrians unless they are going to run over them. It's DANGEROUS!

Chocolate Thunder from Down Under

Ok. Weird title I know.

But just wait....I will explain.

Yesterday my man and I took our annual trip to the Black Hills Stock Show in Rapid City. We have only missed one year in the last 12. We like to go the first weekend and take in the horses....Stallion Row to be specific. However, this year the Stallion Row was pretty small. But there are a lot of other things to take in.

John had buddies there to talk to and stayed the afternoon to watch the horse sale. After touring the expo booths and making my annual purchase of little round crocheted pot scratchers....four for six bucks. :) I headed out for an afternoon of shopping.

When I was done I called my man and picked him up at the Civic Center and we drove across town to the Outback Steakhouse. It is definitely in our top 3 favorite places to eat. At 5pm it was packed. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the masses and stared at the lucky ducks that had gotten there earlier while they ate. It was just about a 30 minute wait so it wasn't too bad.

We were both really hungry....and overpriced slice of pizza at the Stock Show Food Court was not quite enough to sustain us through the afternoon.

We both had steak and steamed veggies and salad. If you have never tried the steamed veggies at Outback....you really gotta try 'em. I have attempted to duplicate it and have gotten close but they are not quite as good as the restaurant. I love them!

The funny thing is that at first I actually thought I might be hungry enough to have dessert as well....or at least to split one with my man. So while I studied the dessert menu....one title struck my funny bone. Chocolate Thunder from Down Under. :) I showed it to John and said "Doesn't this seem like something that would crack a group of Junior High boys up for weeks?"

I must confess...it made me internally giggle for most of the night. I think I might have the sense of humor of a Jr. High boy. But, not the appetite. We did not have room for dessert afterall.

Happy 2011!!!

I can NOT believe how fast last year flew by. I think I might say that every January.
Last year I resolved not to make any resolutions. Initially I was planning to keep that resolution for 2011 too. But....I am a goal oriented girl and I missed not reaching my goals I guess. So...here goes....

1. Make a cookbook. I don't want to publish anything but I want to organize the recipes that I do have into a 3 ring binder. I even have the binder. That is a good start.
2. Blog more often. I always say I want to blog more....but don't get to it. I am setting the mark at once a week. So far so good....for this week anyway.
3. Lose 11 pounds by 3-21-2011. The Biggest Loser Team competition at church. It starts on Wednesday so that is going to be my motivation and accountability.
4. Keep house better. Ok. I was a total FlyLady groupie by this time last year and LOVED it - then I must have gotten too cocky and stopped doing the program. I need to get back on the wagon and stick with the program. www.flylady.com if you are interested.
5. Be more purposeful with friendships. The first step will be to get a family picture and send out late Christmas...well....late New Years cards. I have not done that for several years....the biggest hurdle is getting the fellas to comply with store bought haircuts. Cole is done....John is dragging his feet. The next task will be to set up a lunch date once a week with someone. I have let my relationships become pretty shallow. This is going to be a tough one for me. I am not very good at being a good friend. But it is surely something that I can improve on.
6. Finish the trim work in the kitchen and Living room. Ugh. Isn't trim work just a drag? I have to wait for warm weather to get this one done....my "workshop" is the back deck....good summer project.
7. Finish tiling hall and laundry and bath areas. I just about burnt myself and my family out on tiling last summer but hopefully I can persevere and get it finished up this summer. I can say that at this moment....I am very tempted to remove this resolution.
8. Get a good garden in and maintain it. I did not even plant a garden last year! I missed it. Yes, it would have been hailed out...twice....but nothing ventured...nothing gained. I want to start the seeds in the windows. I did that two or three years ago and there is something really rebellious about having little plants growing when there is snow outside.
9. Sort through my "stuff" and simplify as much as possible. Now I am not the pack rat type but I do have "stuff" that is certainly baggage. I know this will help me keep my house better too. If I don't use it or love it.....it is going out of this house. I am resolved about that.
10. Rehouse the chickens. Ok. This one will probably be the most challenging. Mostly because I don't really know what the best thing to do will be....but I do know that I don't want the current living arrangements to continue. Currently the chickens are just out of control and roosting wherever they feel like roosting. Unfortunately the Rooster feels like being on the deck so he can see the sun at very first light and start crowing. He is a mess. I have had enough. It is too pathetically redneck to have to scoop chicken poop off your deck in case someone might go out there. Sad but true and it needs to stop.
11. And last but not least....the longest perpetual resolution in my repertoire.....read through the Bible. I got bogged down in Leviticus last year but am going to be VERY disappointed in myself if I do not accomplish this in 2011. Sad that I still have this in my "to do" bag. Shameful. This is the year.

So there you have it. Eleven resolutions for 2011. I will hope to fulfill all of them - we will revisit the list in 2012 and see how it went.

Frosty Day Part III

The next order of business was to head to the south place and break ice down there. Our road looked like it went on forever with the fog.
Cole went right to the task and again....I was just a slacker.

I stepped into the corral and snapped a picture of my favorite pony. Hi Teddy. You are my favorite. I can't wait to ride you. Maybe this summer. I hope you are still my favorite then.

I was so intent on hanging with Teddy that I never even noticed the two bulls in there. They look really mean don't they. I think the one on the left wanted a piece of me. I barely escaped alive.

That is the end of our frosty adventure. It was quite a treat to be able to get out and take some pictures. Usually those days happen on work days when I don't have an opportunity to appreciate the beauty and no way to attempt to capture it.

Frosty Day Part II

The first order of business was to break ice for Peter and Paul.

The boy went right to work and made pretty quick work of it and needed no assistance so I was free to roam a little.

Paul was not shy about getting right in there for a drink.

Then Peter and Paul had a falling out....they are brothers....and bulls....... so....... they fight.

Cole paid them no mind and kept on chopping.

Frosty Day Part I

We are having a frosty day here in NW Nebraska today. I don't think the thermometer got out of the teens all day and the sun never burned through the fog.

The great thing about days like this is that it looks like this all day long:

And my very favorite tree looks like this:

John is gone delivering bulls today so Cole was on chore duty. I decided to tag along.

THE most important thing to any teenager on any task in any vehicle is that the radio is tuned to the right station and the volume is loud enough to discourage easy conversation. Mission accomplished.

My boy is 16, almost 6 foot tall and pretty capable. Note to self....stop being such a mother all the time. At this time I did not heed my note to self. You can't really tell but the windshield is totally frosted over. I casually inquired (about 20 times) if there was a window scraper in the door pocket. Cole mostly ignored me. You see, there was a plan and my job was to tag along....not to orchestrate the events. I was also not to ask about the plan. I am a slow learner.

So while he backed around to the Quonset....apparently using bat-like radar....I strolled around to get a few more frosty shots.

Poor Mrs. Peabody....her top knot of feathers was all frosted over. She seemed a little confused about it too.

Cole loaded up the axe and scoop and then....seeing that the defrost had not magically melted the windows in the few seconds that he was gone....he begrudgingly got out the ice scraper. He is such a good boy.

Much better. We were off on our wintry adventure....

To be continued.......