Changing Normal

Hey, Everyone!! :) It's been a while, huh? Over a week?!?! I haven't really been overly busy, but just lazy & obsessed with reading my little romance stories...I LOVE romance novels...I get sucked into them, though, and can't hardly put them down until I finish them. I'm blaming the weather right now, though...Can you believe all this snow?!?! But, today, it was, like, 50 degrees!! Talk about heat wave!! :)

So, hmmm, when I logged in blogger said I had to sign up for the "new" blogger, so this is a little strange for me. It didn't take long for my blog to switch over, though. Must be a slow night :)

Wow, really exciting stuff, huh?!?! LOL

So, I guess I left off at Steve's birthday, huh? We had a great time at The Dock (the food is just awesome there), and we left not too long after Jimmie & Jodi left, I guess around 10p.m., after Diddley got done. As soon as we left there, Abbey said, "I have to go potty, Mommy!" So, thank goodness Enon has a McDonald's now, because we didn't even get a mile before we had to pull over & let her take care of business :) LOL We went home, and I had a headache that wouldn't quit, so Steve put Abbey to bed (later I found out she didn't get to sleep until around 1a.m. or so). Steve had to work the next day, but I got up with him & made pancakes (I felt bad because I didn't get him a cake for his actual birthday). So, I made pancakes for breakfast, left the syrup on the table (important detail later), and then Matt dropped off Katie. Well, she was not a happy camper, and was a little fussy most of the day, but she still played & laughed at Abbey :) They really do love each other :).

Anyways, a little later, I fixed Abbey some lunch. She'd been a little MONSTER the whole morning, just with an attitude & backtalk and all that. So, I finally fixed her lunch & couldn't wait to put her down for a nap!! I sat her at the kitchen table, and went & sat back in the living room with Katie. Then, I got a BIG wiff of syrup, more than just the scent of lingering breakfast...I looked over at Abbey, and she had syrup EVERYWHERE!!!! She had taken her pants off (she likes to run around in her underwear, I have no idea why), and there was syrup on her legs, her arms, her face, her hair, all over the kitchen table, DRIPPING onto the kitchen chair(s) & she had the bottle (which was new, btw) upside down, just SQUEEZING it onto the floor...I've never seen a bigger syrup mess in my life, and I just wanted to cry. I actually did a fair amount of yelling & trying not to cry, because where do you even start cleaning a mess like that up?!?! THEN, Miss Abbey, who has big girl underwear on, just pees all over the syrup mess. And, before you ask, NO, I didn't take a picture, I was WAY too mad to think scrapbook!! (Everyone I've told this story to has asked me if I took a picture!! LOL). So, I just started with Abbey, and started a bath in the tub, then took her, 3-men-and-a-baby-style to the bathroom & told her to get herself undressed & into the tub. I usually wash her hair in the sink, but I wasn't going to make a BIGGER mess by doing all that, so I just scrubbed her from head to toe in the bathtub. Actually, at first I told her to just sit there & wait on me, because I needed to clean up the mess in the kitchen. Ohhhhh, I was so mad...

So, after her bath, I got her dressed & told her to lay down in her bed & not to make a sound. She got up once, but after I told her to get into bed again, she was asleep before her head hit the pillow...and she slept for about 3 1/2 hours...

So, Chelle came & picked Katie up, and I related the syrup story to her, then she left & I piddled around the house for a while. Steve had to work at Block later than planned, and he went to Kroger on his way home because we needed a few things, and I thought I'd make him a marbled cake with chocolate frosting (that's one of his favorites, and I had a box mix already!! LOL). So, by then Abbey was up from her nap, and I was cooking in the kitchen when I hear what sounds like a pen on my walls. I turn around & holler at Abbey to stop writing on the walls, and the closer I get to her, I saw she had one of my scrapbooking markers and DREW on my walls...So, I told her that was it, she could sit on the couch, no toys, no TV, NOTHING until her Daddy got home. I did NOT feel sorry for her in the least...

Of course, Steve got home & didn't act nearly as outraged as I thought he should (LOL), and that ticked me off. She went to bed early, but what can you do? I was SO mad...So, we had a syrup incident & a marker-on-the-walls incident ALL on the same day...

Besides the snow, we had a very unexciting week :) Steve worked that Monday after his birthday, then he was off Tues, Wed, & Thurs, so that was VERY nice :) Lots of togetherness :) He had to go in on Friday, but was off from Block, and then Saturday he worked at Block again. Chelle & Carrie came by on Friday night for chili & a movie. That was fun :) Carrie's so funny...There was NO syrup this past Saturday, though. Even though Abbey did ask me to make her pancakes, I gave her an emphatic "NO."

There's some drama going on at church right now, and because I'm in charge of the Ladies' Luncheon (this coming Saturday, btw) I'm unfortunately caught up in the middle of it. We're still fighting a negative spirit, a know-it-all attitude, and it's just so destructive. When I scheduled the Ladies' Luncheon, I checked with Pastor Paul & the church calendar before I made any definite plans. I got the OK & go-ahead from him, so I made up invitations & Dawn & I passed them out the following Sunday at church to all the ladies. Well, the next week, there was a thing in the bulletin about there being a Valentine's Dinner Dance fundraiser for the Youth group on the same day, just later that night. That was the first I'd heard about it (and I later found out, the first that Pastor heard about it was when he saw it in the bulletin). That Sunday (the Sunday after Steve's birthday), I got stopped by a couple of people who asked me why they were scheduled on the same day, and I just looked dumb because I had no idea there was something else planned. I didn't give it any more thought because I knew I had gone through the right channels, and they weren't scheduled at the same time, anyways. Well, Thursday, I talked to Dawn, and just from the things she had heard & the negativity of a few people, I was just overcome with discouragement & the thought crossed my mind to just re-schedule...but as soon as the thought crossed my mind, there was a check in my spirit, and I knew that wasn't the answer. I was actually in Target & just stopped thinking & prayed!! You all might remember a year ago I had thought about starting a women's ministry at church with this luncheon idea, but after a choir practice (with Negative Nelly, btw) I was very discouraged, and didn't do anything. I let my fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of looking silly stop me dead in my tracks. So, I really had an awakening after Negative Nelly left that, wait a minute, Whom do I serve? If the Lord tells me to organize a quarterly ladies' luncheon, I'd better do it!! Forget about what other people think!! DUH!! So, that's when I talked to Dawn & we got the ball rolling again.

SO, even after some bad counsel from one of our women Elder's, Dawn & I feel affirmed that we should proceed with the Ladies' Luncheon as planned. This isn't even about whether we have a ladies' ministry or not, it's about ME being obedient right now. It's not about scheduling conflicts & people feeling torn between supporting the youth group and starting a women's fellowship. For me, it's about being obedient. One of my friends (supporters, btw!! LOL) said, "Mandy, the people who come will be there because they were meant to be there." So, since all the "drama" I've felt the Lord's affirmation, His leading in all of this. It's absolutely about obedience for me. That's the issue!! LOL :) Not people choosing between the 2. Oh, and it just hit me tonight, that because of the drama/conflict, that's even MORE of an affirmation that this is the right thing to do. We always meet opposition when we're doing the will of the Lord.

Incidentally, we won't be able to go to the dance because we're already going to see Chris Tomlin with Scott & Missy!! :) YAY!! :)

Well, I'd better go. I feel like I should email Pastor Paul right now, and just encourage him. It's not easy to shepherd a flock, and sometimes we can be dumber than even sheep!!