Random Funny Stuff

Daniel was telling a story at dinner and said, "Grandma called." Richard asked which Grandma and Daniel replied, "Our Grandma."

The kids were playing "store" with a bunch of toy groceries and a cash box with fake money. Richard just came in the room with his massive nerf gun and the cash box and said, "The kids' store just got robbed at gun point."

I only caught part of this conversation, but Daniel said something about it taking a century for something. Nathan said, "You couldn't do that. You'd never live a million years!"

Chocolate Thief

As I was putting up the Christmas decorations, I kept finding chocolate candy wrappers in odd places. There was a wrapper under our livingroom table. In helping the boys clean their room, I found a couple of wrappers under Daniel's bed. This wasn't completely unusual because wrappers sometimes get forgotten in pockets.

At dinner, I was telling Richard and Nathan that I had been finding chocolate wrappers in weird places. And I noticed our candy dish by the front door was completely empty. That candy dish doesn't get eaten out of very often so that was weird to me. Jokingly, we asked Nathan if he was sneaking candy. Nathan said no but he can't keep a straight face for anything so we were telling him we didn't believe him. Although the truth is, Nathan has never proven to not be telling the truth. He is a fact teller almost to a fault.

By shower time, Nathan called me in the bathroom to show me 5 candy wrappers on the floor. He said he opened the cabinet to get a towel and the wrappers fell out! Now I knew who my culprit was and that I wasn't going crazy. There was a chocolate thief! We called Daniel into the bathroom and I asked him how those wrappers got there. Without hesitation, he didn't answer my question but quickly said he would throw them away. I said, "No. I want to know how those got in the cabinet. Did you sneak candy and hide the trash in the bathroom cabinet?" That poor child knew he was caught and didn't know what to do about it. He tried to hesitate but finally said, "Yes." After Richard and I collected ourselves to keep from laughing so hard, we had the whole honesty talk and everything. But I still keep laughing about this thinking of what he must have looked like trying to sneak all that candy. And why hide the wrappers? Doesn't he know enough to at least put them in the trash where we'd never know?

Things Not to Say to a Woman

These are a couple of conversations that took place today all with Richard trying desperately to explain to the boys that these are all things that should NOT be said to a woman.

A little background information that will help you fully appreciate these conversations: During the summer, I did Weight Watchers and lost a little over 20 pounds. I weigh now what I weighed before I had children. Yay!!

At lunch, Nathan looked at me and said, "Mom, are you still doing Weight Watchers?"
Richard said, "that's something you shouldn't say to a woman."
Nathan said, "She's not a woman. She's a full grown lady."
Again Richard said, "That's something you shouldn't say to a woman either."

Tonight, Daniel asked me what I would do if I had another baby. Of course, I assured him I will NOT be having another baby. He reached over and patted my stomach and said, "Well, you're tummy is getting a little bigger like you're going to have a baby."
Richard intervened before I could say anything and said, "Daniel, this is something you should not say to a woman!"

Who are you and what did you do with Nathan?

Tonight after dinner Nathan took his plate to the sink (which is not unusual) and asked if he should put it in the dishwasher. Of course I said yes. Then he suggested that doing the dishes after dinner should be one of his regular paying jobs. So we started discussing it and came to the agreement that he would be on trial for one week. I would train him to do the job and he would have to be patient because there would be some things I would still do (like put up leftovers and wash the pots and pans). After one week, if he still wanted the job and had learned what to do, we would add this to his chores and he could start getting paid for it.

So, he and I continued to clean the kitchen and I showed him several things about cleaning up. The last thing we were doing was putting soap into the dishwasher. At that time, Daniel came in the kitchen and asked if next time he could do that. Nathan said, "Daniel, no. I'm applying for a job."

Catching Up

Well...obviously...it's been a while. We have been incredibly busy. Both boys played baseball this fall so we were either practicing or playing baseball or at church EVERY NIGHT. School starting was extra stressful as all my classes are brand new with no curriculum so inbetween everything else, I've had to find time to do lesson plans. With any extra spare time, I've put together some photo books of our China trip to give to our church. We also teach 10th grade Sunday school and Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University on Wednesday nights. I'm sure there are other things we've done that took up so much time!

In October we took at trip to Searcy, Arkansas to visit friends and Harding. We had not been back in a long, long time so it was really great to reconnect with friends and see how much the campus has changed. The picture on the blog is of us standing at the football field in front of the bison statue.

School is going great for both boys--Nathan in 3rd grade and Daniel in Kindergarten. They are having a great year and just moving right along doing everything right!

For Halloween they were Phineas and Ferb. If you've never seen the show on The Disney Channel, you must check it out. It is really funny and we all enjoy watching it. We got to hairspray their hair different colors and I think that was their favorite part!

Our other big adventure this fall was following the Rangers all the way to the World Series! The four of us were very blessed to be able to go to the American League Division Series and see them play against Tampa Bay. Then Richard, Nathan, my brother Chris, and my brother were at Game 6 of the American League Championship Series when they won against the Yankees clenching their spot in the World Series. This was probably the coolest game I've ever been to. Then, Richard and I, Janet, and our friend Brent were at the World Series Game 5. We were at Game 5 which was the deciding game and we saw them lose to the Giants. But, even seeing a team win the World Series was amazing! Definitely the opportunity of a lifetime!

Nathan's Thoughts on China

I asked Nathan to write in a journal during our trip. Here are some excerpts from his journal: (I did correct spelling.)

When we go to China we're going to have lots of fun. We do need to be prepared. My mom is on a diet. Well she can't stand not having any dessert so she is off now.

Okay, so we're on the plane now, but we're having a 15 minute tire delay. The tire was flat, so we're not leaving at 6:30 which was planned. The tire's about done, so we're off!

Right now we're flying over the Pacific Ocean. The coolest part is that I've never gone out of the United States of America. I bet China is the best out-of-the-country trip ever! We're in the clouds now. It's gonna be cool and long. I have to go to the restroom and the seat belt sign was on.

Now we're finally in our apartment room. I don't really like the couches and chairs. Flat Stanley was eating duck tonight at dinner. I'm not hungry so I don't eat. We are having a good time tonight. I really want to go to sleep. I've been tired all day because I woke up at 4:00.

We are in church right now. I don't understand words so I'm writing in this. I'm going to a class in a little bit. It's so weird that we are listening to Chinese preach.

Today we went to the Temple of Heaven. It was cool. We got to see where the Emperor comes and prays to some god. I think it's a little weird anyway. Right now we're at KFC having training. I do nothing but play my DS. I just got this DS card that has 30 games on it. It's awesome!

While we were at KFC a boy that only speaks Chinese asked if I would like to go over and play with his dinosaur. Also another friend came to our apartment and played. Mom suggested I show him my new Bakugan. He seemed pretty interested in them. It was hard to get his attention off of them. Then we played my DS. He hliked Backyard Baseball 10 but he loved pinball. He liked to watch the pinball go up and down.

We went to the Great Wall of China yesterday. It was pretty cool. Me and Dad went up 1,197 steps. That was huge! The Great Wall of China has four sections. Two of them connect. But the other two don't connect. At least Granna made it. Then we went to the Forbidden City. We also went to where the emporer lived. After dinner we went to where they had the summer olympics and water olympics.

Then we had a party. We taught them some baseball.

Today we went to the zoo. We saw panda bears and even golden monkeys! Golden monkeys don't live in America, but they do live in China. After I ate, Dad and I went for a run. We went to the old part of China.

Today we went to the pearl market with Mom's LST team she trained.

Me: What was your favorite part of the trip?
Nathan: The Great Wall

Me: What did you learn about teaching others about God?
Nathan: If we keep training them, they will know more and they will want to get baptized.

Readers Say the Funniest Things

It is such a blessing to be able to laugh at the differences in our language and culture. When we can laugh at ourselves and even when we misunderstand something, it brings us closer and creates joy between us and our readers. Here are a couple of quick funny stories that we have enjoyed telling and laughing about:

One of my readers was having trouble understanding the word "servant." We were talking about the relationship between a servant and his master. I explained a servant might do the cooking, cleaning, wash clothes, shopping, etc. He said, "Oh, like a housewife!"

Another reader seemed unable to believe Jesus was born with animals. She did not understand the word "cattle" and insisted it didn't mean cow. She told me several times it meant cradle or carriage and Jesus was not placed in a box but a crib. Oh dear...

I showed a reader pictures of ourselves and one of them was the picture of all of us with our empty tomb shirts on (the same one at the top of this blog). She told me this did not look like the same person (talking about me). She said the one in the picture was fatter. I think I'll take that as a compliment.