Thieves

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and

where thieves break in and steal..."

 Matthew 6:19

This is what my dad came home to yesterday after work.

Thankfully, my parents were not home when the thieves broke in.  And thankfully they didn't do much damage.

Apparently, they opened a few drawers in other rooms on their way to the master bedroom but didn't take anything out of them.  In the master they put the 4 night stand drawers on the bed and then dumped my mom's jewelry drawer on top.  They wrapped the comforter around it all (including the stuffed animals from the grandkids that were there for decoration) and headed out of the house.  They also took the laptop.

You can see the comforter missing, the night without drawers, and the jewelry drawer discarded.

The nightstand drawers had memorabilia: notes and piddly things the kids had given them but that were sentimental and invaluable to my parents.

In Mom's jewelry drawer were mostly pieces of costume jewelry but also her original wedding ring set from 48 years ago and her current diamond ring which she had taken off to help Dad do some outside work. 

 

Also, her dad's watch and her mom's watch and other jewelry were in that drawer.  They are both deceased. 

What they stole was hardly worth the effort to them.  But to us, those things are priceless and irreplaceable.  I feel sick over it. 

They have lived in this house for 35 years.  They are not materialistic just sentimental.  I'm praying desperately that we at least find the important jewelry at a pawn shop somewhere.

Home Study Today

Last night we met our Social Worker at Barnes and Noble with another couple, who is also adopting, for a little "Here's What You Can Expect" session.  Debra is super nice and put us at ease for our Home Study which is happening in about 3 hours!

Mom and Dad were here all day yesterday helping me with this and that.  They made lunch and dinner. Dad ran errands and fixed things.  Mom did everything!  It was a huge blessing.  I'm so excited about all we've gotten done the last couple of weeks.  Not only for the home study but also before starting back to school.

I have one more bathroom to clean, the downstairs to vacuum, and some laundry to put away.  That's it.  Oh and a few papers we need to have notarized at 4:30pm.

I made bean soup this morning and have had it cooking all day so I wouldn't have any work to do at dinner time. 

Dad came by again today and fixed lunch again for us and mom ran through and straightened the kids' beds up.  What would I do without them!?!

If you look up spoiled in the dictionary, you might find my picture next to it! :)

Hi Ho. Hi Ho.  It's off to bleach the bathroom floor I go!

Father's Day

Father's day around here was nice and relaxing this year.

Roddy chose sandwiches for lunch after church to go with the Slurpee we picked up on the way home.  As we ate, the kids told all the things they love about their Daddy and the ways they want to be like him.

For dessert after naptime ~ Chocolate Cherry Pie!  Seriously the best dessert ever. 

Roddy kicked our behinds in Scrabble when he started out with this 64 point word.  He used all of his letters on his first word earning him a bonus 50 points.

Then Mom and Dad came over after church that night and visited for a bit.

I don't know about the dads, but it was a blessed day for me!

Dad and Jackson

My dad and Jackson are exactly 60 years apart in age.  Jay was born on Dad's 60th birthday!
 

He loves sharing his birthday with Papaw.

What's also interesting is that Roddy is 30 years (not to the day) older than Jay and Roddy' grandmother (who went to be with the Lord a few years ago) was 90 years older.

So when he was born, Roddy was 30, Dad 60 and Mudder 90!

Screech Owl

Saturday afternoon my parents found a screech owl perched in this opening close to their roof. The mockingbirds and blue jays were justa fussin' at him but he didn't seem phased by the commotion at all.

Even when we all gathered around right under him, he barely moved.
After we left to head home, Dad climbed a ladder and picked him up. He was so docile. He didn't even try to get away.

Later, after we met up for dinner with some extended family who were in town, we went back to Mom's and Dad's to see the owl. Emma and I took turns holding him.

I really wanted to keep it but I think it's against the law. But because Mom and Dad have a mockingbird nest with eggs in it next to the house, we walked down the street a ways and let it go there.

He didn't fly away when Dad opened his hand but as soon as he tried to place him in the tree he flew off!

Then we headed back...

Our Garden

After the boys' flag football game Saturday morning, Roddy's parent's (Meme and Papa) and my Dad (Mom was watching my nephew) came over to help me build raised beds for a vegetable garden. We used the spot where the grass was dead from the swimming pool this summer. Iris helped Papaw build the frames.Everyone pitched in. Roddy and Papa put up a fence to keep the bunnies out. Roddy had kept the poles from the old trampoline and used them as the posts.
We didn't plant anything yet, but I have the seeds and several plants to go in later this week.

The finished product was more than I even expected! I'm so excited. Thanks Meme, Papa, Dad and Roddy, Emma, Iris, Gray, Jackson and Charlie for all your help!

Papaw's Pancakes

My dad, aka Papaw, loves to make chocolate chip pancakes for the kids when they spend the night.

Well, last Sunday night he spent the night (no work on MLK Jr Day) with us and gave us all a lesson in making these special, highly requested, from scratch, chocolate chip pancakes.










My dad doesn't do anything in a hurry. I think it took 30 minutes just to mix up the batter. But everyone got a chance to help and it was worth the wait.









Of course, chocolate chip pancakes just wouldn't be the same without powdered sugar.

The Laundry Mat

After our delicious breakfast and morning chores, I called the kids downstairs to help sort laundry. It only takes a week of slacking on the laundry to get really behind.

When we got it all sorted out, Dad said, "Hey, what if we take it to the laundry mat and get it all done at once."

He might as well have offered me a million dollars -well almost. The thought of getting it all done was enough to make me giddy.

So, we filled and labeled trash bags with the sorted piles and loaded them into the back of the Excursion along with two baskets of clean laundry yet to be folded and put away. I already had one load washed and moved to the dryer and another load in when we left.

Do you see the small basket on the left? At the end of the day that one was full of socks alone.

Anyway, after Dad treats us to sausage McMuffins (not the healthiest day of eating) we head to the laundry mat.

I got out first just to check if there were enough machines and they weren't taken already. When I confirmed that we were good there, I asked the lady, "So it's what, 50 cents a load?"

In her thick Spanish accent she answers, "Noooo, these machines are $2.50, these are $3 and the biggest ones are $3.50."

Holy smokes!!! I got back in and told Dad to forget it.

He said he'd helped me out with $10 worth and I said okay. We had 11 machines running at once and used 2 dryers.









It took less than an hour to finish washing, another hour to dry and fold and another hour at home to hang up all the clothes that don't get dried - which in my house is most of the clothes.

Ready for my MasterCard commercial?

8 sausage McMuffins - $8.52

11 loads of laundry washed in 1 hour - $24.50

A few loads dried and folded - $4

A DAY WITH MY DAD - PRICELESS!