A Cole Front's Movin' In

Daddy's First Wife???

2006-05-11T19:27:00.000-05:00

Caleb came home from preschool this week with a very interesting question, "Who was Daddy's first wife?"

As you might imagine I could only sputter a laugh and reply with a very intelligent "WHHATT?" Maybe with my aging ears I did not hear his question correctly.

"Before Daddy marry you, who did he marry? Did he marry Lauren (my sister) or Andrew's mommy? Who?" he said with a bit of frustration.

Although Matt quite possibly did have a sorted past before I met at the age of 19, I am almost quite sure that he was not married before. So it was with semi-great assurance I told Caleb, "I am the only girl that daddy ever married. Before he married mommy, he was not married to anyone."

This only added to his angst. He kept insisting that Daddy had another wife. Now maybe he knows something that I not know, but I doubt it.

When Matt got home the line of questioning continued and with great insistence Caleb sustained that Matt did indeed have a first wife.

His belief is still that we are not telling him “all about it.” Several hours of conversations have not shaken his knowledge.

My only question is: What are they teaching in preschool?

From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Caleb M. Cole

2006-04-11T14:55:00.000-05:00

Last night as Caleb was being tucked in he decided to mix things up a bit and tell us a story for change. And this is the tail we were told:

"O.K. how 'bout this? O.K. I tell the 1. . . 2. . . 3 of you. All 3 of you a bible story. O.K. That be a good idea right? Right.

I tell you the story of David and the Lion's Den. O.K. David's daddy gave he a coat, and he made David's bother no coat. They had to be cold. So they throw David in a lion's den.

This lion's den had no lions in it, just rocks and no water. It used to be a water lion's den, but the water, it all gone now.

David cry and say, 'help,' but his brothers mean and they not help him. So his daddy come say, 'I help you.' He throw down one . . . no two ropes, for both his hands, and get him up. He daddy tell brothers to be nice to David, because he kill Goliath. The End."

My Dirty Little Secret

2006-03-27T17:43:00.000-06:00

Ok, so it is official; I am a terrible blogger. I have had a busy last few weeks (or months). Since my last blog, we have been to Austin (twice), Wichita and Abilene, we have been increasingly harassed by our downstairs neighbor, Matt has started working for a medical supply company with and our dog, Todd, got shaved.

But my primary concern over the past few months is the ever increasing number of uh-ohs, drinks spilled on me, and messes I fund poured all over me. For years now I have tried to blame it on my children: the random spot of ketchup on my shirt, the dab of paint on my hair, the milk spill on the table. I must confess though that I am the culprit.

Somehow messes are magnetically drawn to me. I can be sitting at my kitchen table and I am suddenly covered in flour, although the bag is residing calmly in the cabinet. The other day I spilled the same drink, three different times. (No, it was tea and not the Long Island variety.) I had to stop buying Kool Aid because of me, not my toddlers. Yesterday, I visited my mother's house. They were painting the walls and though I did not pick up a paint brush, I left with paint all over my ear. No where else but my ear. How do you do that?

I try to be neat and tidy, but I seem to have two left hands and four left feet. I have not always been like this. In high school, I had two friends one whom always ended up eating her hair by accident and another whom always got mustard on her. (This was actually funny at first and then turned creepy as mustard would appear on her clothing without any contact of the yellow/brownish substance what ever. Seriously we could be eating pizza and the spot would come to life. Perhaps at sometime she had had a run in with disappearing reappearing mustard.)

I always knew that at some point in my life I would revert to childish behavior and start making messes again, like a child. My Grandfather has had to revert and start wearing bibs again, but this is acceptable because he is in his eighties and has had several stokes. My great fear is I will be wearing them by the time I am 30. Or perhaps they will just place a hair cutting apron over me or even better a painting tarp. Maybe I will just have to start eating all my meals outside, you know where they send the messy children to play.

I fear this is an incurable case of an illness that cannot be cured. It is called DWD or EWD. That right - Drinking While Distracted and Eating While Distracted. I have been just pain Living While Distracted. With a household of little kids, I often times can’t even remember my name, I never even pretend to know my children’s names. There are neighbors to constantly be mindful of, chores to do, radio and television in the background and a child constantly in my arms.

In a society of ADD/ADHD, it is a wonder that anyone get anything done. We rush rush rush until till we can’t remember the names of the ones we love, the day of the week, the year it is (I caught myself writing 1999 on a check the other day) and some of us even forget where our mouth is.

It is so hard to sit still and do nothing. To simply be. We go to bed with radios and televisions blaring, we drive to people screaming/singing in our ears and relax to a video game or movie. When do we stop? When do we follow try to “be still and know that I am God?” If I can’t even find to time to go slowly enough to pour my drink while looking to see if it is full, how can I be still and know God?

My little distracted messes are a simple calling for me to be more deliberate in my day to day existence and to become more accountable for my time and stop some of the “noises” in my life. We need to ensure that we put the mute button on and create the musing in our head than allow David Letterman, Beyonce’, or that co-worker who always talks and talks. Our minds will be filled by what ever we allow our senses to discover. To “be of the mind of Christ,” we must be deliberate in our surroundings and fill our minds with Him and begin to filter out the noises and static in our life. Just stop.

Singin' a Song

2006-02-13T14:04:00.000-06:00

Well for the first time, I am going to Sing Song. I have never been in attendance for Sing Song, althought I did preform in 9 different acts. So this will be a new experiance.It is Matt's youngest sister and her husband/my first cousin's senior year, so it is now or never. (yah, our family tree does a double loop and goes straight back into the ground.)

Too bad Sub T is kicked off campus right now, they have the only funny act. Oh and Gamma Sig's are frogs. So much for their macho image.

Then we are staying for lectureships. Matt is like a giddy school girl looking over the Lectureship catalog. I have never seen someone get so excited about "Feeding the Soul of the Marginalized Woman" and "The War of the Unseen Worlds." After the fall we had, it will be great for us to have a time just to be fed.

So is anyone else going to be around go ole' Abilene next week?

Food for thought

2006-02-10T21:28:00.000-06:00

This an article written after Bono addressed the President's National Day of Prayer breakfast. Just something to think about as Christians.

Bono Waxes 'Prophetic'
by Sheryl Henderson Blunt

While every celebrity seems to have a cause, few stars get their inspiration from Scripture.
That is what sets lead U2 singer Bono apart. Sporting his trademark tinted sunglasses, the rock star spoke to an audience of more than 3,000 at the National Prayer Breakfast February 2, imploring them to respond to the United States' urgent responsibility to help "the least of these."
Two passages drive his message, Bono says: the call in Leviticus 25 for a Year of Jubilee and debt forgiveness, and the command in Isaiah 58 to share with the hungry and provide for the poor.
"Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring forth, then your Lord will be your rear guard," Bono quoted from Isaiah 58:7-8.
"I appreciate the absurdity of being a rock star and quoting the Scriptures," Bono joked in his typical self-effacing style at a private meeting with half a dozen journalists following his address.
Wearing jeans, a brown corduroy jacket, and a black, open-collared shirt, the rocker was relaxed as he snacked on fruit and muffins while taking questions from journalists. He expounded on his work in Africa, the role of the church, and some of his favorite verses.
"It's absolutely the prophetic utterance of this moment in time," he exclaimed, referring to Isaiah 58:7-8. "What it really suggests is that if we do God's business, God will be more in ours. To use the colloquial, it's God watching our back. It literally means God will watch your back!"

Reasons to Die
Bono said there are manifold problems when a religious nation ignores God's business, particularly in light of growing anti-Americanism. "The religiosity of this country is offensive to a lot of people in Europe because they see hypocrisy in the heart of it," Bono said. "They see that for all their talk, prayer breakfasts, and overt religiosity, these people are giving the least to the least of these."
While crediting President Bush with a 0.5 percent increase in the nation's foreign assistance budget since he took office, Bono said that according to polls, "the reason why people don't want to increase foreign assistance is they think it's already up to 15 or 20 percent. … But it's actually a tenth of even the lowest estimations."
The lack of greater foreign assistance and availability of life-saving antiretroviral drugs "is not a good enough reason to die anymore," he said.
Bono described a 2002 visit to Soweto, South Africa, where he talked with a young widower trying to decide whether to keep his life-saving AIDS drugs for himself or give them to the woman he had come to love. "He said, 'I can give her my drugs and my children can lose their last parent, or we can share the drugs and both die slowly, or I can keep the drugs and lose, for the second time, my love,' Bono recalled. "I stood there thinking, This is barbaric. This is actually barbaric."

Not Missing This Issue
Fortunately, he said, the church is responding. "In the past, the church has been behind on some issues, but the church hasn't missed this one," Bono said. "The church is leading. It's amazing. If I, 10 years ago, had heard what I am saying [now], I wouldn't have believed me."
That is because 10 years ago, as Bono explained during his breakfast speech, he didn't think much of the church, Christianity, or overt religion. "You see, I avoided religious people most of my life," he said. "Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line; where the line between church and state was … well, a little blurry, and hard to see."
"I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays … and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God."
His faith, which he describes as "private," is largely influenced by the words and actions of Jesus, the Beatitudes, and Old Testament Prophets. Bono told the group of journalists that he enjoys reading The Message, a modern Bible paraphrase "by the very gifted scholar and poet Eugene Peterson." In contrast to some of the more popular "happy-clappy" Christian music, the religious music that speaks to him most includes Charles Wesley's hymns, Handel's Messiah, Jewish chanting, and songs that contain "raw" emotion, he said.
Addressing how he hoped the United States would respond to his plea for justice for Africa's poor and downtrodden, Bono appealed to Christian and patriotic responsibility.
Imagine a so-called Christian society with the absolute capability to save lives in Africa that fails to act, Bono said. "You can explain that to the budget appropriators, but you can't explain it to God. He will not accept that excuse, and history won't."
"I think growing a movement that defines itself by the way it treats these issues, particularly at a time of conflict—it's so poetic actually. … This is where you demonstrate the values of America."
Sheryl Henderson Blunt is a senior news writer for Christianity Today.
Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today.

Excuse me, but have you seen my chicken?

2006-02-08T22:32:00.000-06:00

Well is has been one of those days, where everything touch seems to turn upside down. To top it all off, I have lost my chicken. No, this is not the family pet or the funny (and always practical) rubber chicken, but chicken that I cooked last night.
I made extra chicken last night so that before church tonight we could grab a quick bite as we run out the door. But when I went to look for it, it was gone. I cleaned out the fridge looking for a few scraps of bbq chicken.
Now those of you that know me can attest that I can be ... perhaps well ...a little flighty. For instance, once I lost a important tax paper, only to find it in the ice box, chillin'. So I began to search the unusual places.
First I checked the trash (since it had not been emptied since last night,) Nope, only the expected trash. Then I turned to the freezer, maybe I just open the wrong door. I have happened many times in the past. Only the usual suspects, Popsicles, frozen chicken & frozen veggies. The cabinets were next. Nothing.
I have now searched the under the kitchen sink, in the pots and pans drawers, in the laundry room, in the boy's toy closet(you know incase they were trying to save a snack for later), and even the bathroom cabinets. And still there is no sign of the chicken.
I guess the only thing left to do is wait. Wait and smell.

Casa Linda Bakery and a few of my other favorite things

2006-02-07T16:26:00.000-06:00

While I enjoy warm apple strudel, I don't really care for whiskers on kittens or warm woollen mittens (they both make me itch). Brown paper packages tied up with string are nice, and silver white winter that melt into spring might be a favorite as well, but alas I have never seen it happen. Although I am not a VanTrapp or Oprah, I wanted to share a few of my favorite things.

1. Casa Linda Bakery. Now it you do not live near Garland, it is ok, because you have a car. They make the best white cake in the world. I have heard it to be rumored that they also make the world's best chocolate cake, but since I can only eat one cake at a time, I never risk forsaking my white cake for the unknown. Once you discover Casa Linda, you will find yourself inventing reasons to drive 45 minute out of your way to get petit fours and lemon thumbprint cookies. Hands down best bakery ever. And did I mention they only use butter cream icing, so wear your fat pants.

2. Sodoku. This clever little puzzle arrives in most papers each day and it is addicting. You have to complete a grid of numbers so that every row column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9 inclusively. They start easy on Monday get harder as the week goes on. (No math involved)

3. Super Target. Currently competing with Disneyworld for the title "Happiest Place on Earth."

4. Large Mom Purses/Suitcases. When Santa first needed a bag to carry his many gifts, he simply borrowed his wife's purse. You know the bag I am talking about, you need a back brace to carry it and every time someone else picks it up they comment, "Wow, this thing is heavy. What do you have in here bricks? Snicker, Snicker" "Yes in addition to carrying around two small children, extra changes of clothes, snacks, books, toys, wipes, wallet, keys, checkbook and many important papers, I like to throw in a couple of bricks, just to push my self."

5. Central Market. I could spend the entire day wandering though the 579 different varieties of mustard and 213 different types of pasta. I am not quite sure what I would do with miniature grapes, but they are fun to look at.

6. Write this one down!! Stonewall Kitchen's Sour Cherry Jam. It turns any piece of bread into a cherry pie in your mouth. I found it at Whole Foods. Yumm Yumm.

7. Popsicle Brand's Mighty Magic Minis. These popsicles are the size of your pinky, but packed with flavor. They are perfect for kids. You only have to give them one and then you can say, "You already had dessert today" and at only ten calories, hah you fooled them.

8. Jen Gaylor's blog. It is all the wit and charm you've missed since college, rolled into a super great new blog. (Plus: Drew comments and that makes it even better.)

9. Banana Republic. My love affair is endless, particularly when they have winter clearance sales.

10. MiCocina's Lucy Changa. Yum. They typically serve it with ranchero sauce, but try it with sour cream sauce for a taste explosion.

If you have any favorites please share.

Ode to Germs

2006-02-02T22:48:00.000-06:00

Now I know that in confessing this, you may all never want to come to my house or eat my cooking again, but I think "Germs" are not all that bad.

We are so scared of germs today: Washing our hands a thousand times a day, bleaching anything that is colorfast, buying antibacterial tissues, hand sanitizers, dish soap. What will they think of next antibacterial underwear?

Did we ever think that some exposure to germs can be good for us? Now I am not suggesting that we all go out and eat raw chicken that has been left out for three days, but maybe God intended babies to be exposed to some germs. After all He created them to crawl on their bellies in the dirt long before Pergo flooring was invented. If this had been a fatal design flaw, then we would be designed to walk first. You know that as Mrs. Pioneer was baking bread the young buccaneers stuffed handful of dirt floor or much worse into to his mouth.

Every one of us probably consumed many a handful of dirt and maybe even a bug or two as a young child, maybe I have failed my children, by not allowing my children to partake of God's "immunizations."

Babies and young children, who grow up on farms with all those allergens and animals, have less allergies by far. They don't get sick as often and they know how to milk a cow, (which I think is kinda cool.)

If any of you have read the recent scientific findings about antibiotics, then you can skip this next part, but for those of you who haven't: well, they can be quite harmful. They don't allow our bodies to learn how to fight infection and they encourage mutations in the strains of bacterial.

So be daring. Put away your bleach. Eat a cookie without washing your hands. Let you kids play in the dirt (responsibly.) Don't wipe down the shopping cart before you baby chews on it. Ok maybe I have gone to far, but you get my drift.

Well I better go clean my kitchen. Now where did I put the Clorox Cleanup?

Life with bubbles

2006-01-23T22:56:00.000-06:00

Since coming to Dallas, my eating habits have been altered.
To begin with my mother has convinced me into eating these meals made out of soy with her. In an effort to be more healthy, she somehow got me to eat this stuff with tastes like wallpaper paste. Now I know that a healthier lifestyle is the best gift that you can give your body, but I don't think I like my body this much. Matt laughs at me while I struggle to swallow "peach oatmeal" made with soy instead of oats.

Tip: If you really hate someone, invite them over to your house and serve soy oatmeal rasin cookies.

My next eating discovering has a happier sound. TALKING RAIN. Now this is fun stuff; carbonated water with a refreshing burst of flavor. You can't help but smile as your hear little pops and feel tiny bubbles pop it your mouth. It is much fizzier than a regular soda, but not as overwhelming as a Diet Coke. (I am scared to drink those things. The fizz might travel right up to my brain and kill my 10 brain cell).

I have included these two pictures just for fun. We found these pants at an Burberry outlet and while they were still way out of our price range, Matt had to try them on for a photo. Wouldn't he kill on a golf course or maybe with some big gold chains, huge sunglass and a cigar?
This is a new picture we had taken of the boys about a month ago. (you almost believe that they never fight)

New Years in California

2006-01-18T15:26:00.000-06:00

I know that this is a little late, but here are some pics form our crazy New Year's trip. Go Longhorns!!

Playing in the snow at Disneyland. Ok, it was soap bubbles, but it fooled us for about 2 seconds. (pardon the soap bubble in front of Bradley)

After Texas is victorious in the greatest Rose Bowl Ever.

Matt and the boys celebrating New Year's Eve, in festive hats.

Longing to get settled, but until then. . .

2005-12-29T22:56:00.000-06:00

Well on all day Monday we drove back from Denver to Dallas. Although it is normally a 13 hour drive, we managed to make it in only 15. Ah, traveling with kids. We were met back at the apartment by my parents, to have our family Christmas. So, it was a long day.
We have had two action packed days filled with many family and friends, but now it is Thursday and we are unpacking our suitcases only to repack them. In the morning, we are leaving with my family for the Rose Bowl and all the surrounding activities and some time in Palm Springs.
We will return next Friday, so that we can return to Brookhaven on Saturday, to pack up the little remaining things and close on our house on Tuesday.
Now I know that this sounds whinny. Poor Matt and Brooke, first Mexico, then Denver, now California, and they sold their house. These things are all blessings and hey dang exciting, but I am starting longing for normal.
Today Amber Groves said it best, "I just want to sleep in my own bed." I would love to sleep in my own bed, but it is in Mississippi and when we get there we will only be there to pack it into a storage POD, so that it can be shipped in due time.
Life seems to slowly drift by, when it seems nothing special is happening and the scenery never changes, but then you suddenly get pulled into a swift current which pulls you so quickly down life's stream, you find yourself gasping for air and praying to stop once again.
Well I must go I have two loads of laundry, alot to pack, and a apartment to clean, but fun ahead.

My Life (the condensed version)

2005-12-19T17:48:00.000-06:00

Well since my last post:

Caleb had a root canal, a crown and an extraction. Poor kid he has awful teeth and brushing and limiting sweets does not help. (he has 3 more crown, a 2 fillings and another root canal to go, but those are in january)

We have received hate notes and many many bangs on the ceiling form from our old bitter spinster downstairs neighbor,Angela. One night after coming home, we walked into our apartment and when yet another round of banging on the ceiling, my mother and Matt when down to they to smooth things out and explain that we had simply walked in to the entryway of the apartment, when she (Angela)had started banging and we were trying to be good neighbors and perhaps the ceilings were rather thin.
That did not go well. . . She suggested that more than likely Matt did not live with us, but had simply knocked me up and I was a single mother who could not control her fatherless children. It finally dissovled into Matt suggesting that if she could teach Bradley(2) to tiptoe all the time and never run that Matt would teach her dog to tap dance. (she smuggly said, "Well, I have a pretty smart dog.")What do people expect when they move into an apartment building?? Get a house.

We are currently freezing our butts off at my inlaws the Coles. These people are so nice that they make Ward and June Cleaver look like ax murders, so I fit in really well. Ah, the fun of in-laws. Hey please share any of your akward times with your inlaws, so that I don't feel like a failure daughter in law.

Goodbye Ole Rebs

2005-12-12T22:05:00.000-06:00

HEY!!! We got a contract on our house in Mississippi! This doesn't insure a sell, but it is a bis step down the road. We didn't get our asking price, but we should get 11500 more than we paid for it a year ago, so basically that will cover realtor costs, closing costs and cover all hours of repair and painting that we did.

In honor of this day here are a few things that I will and will not miss about Mississippi:

1. I will miss being the skinniest person in the church. (As Mississippi has earned its ranking as the fattest state in the nation this doesn't not even begin to imply that I am skinny.) I know that this will never happen again.

2. I will not miss fried frog legs, fried catfish, fried dinner rolls, fried cream corn, fried corn on the cob, collard greens fried in bacon grease, green beans fried in bacon grease, fried sweet potaoes and all of the other fried foods which have helped Mississippians become they large state they are.

3. I will not miss hurricanes. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ivan. We sure picked the wrong year to live in Mississippi. Thank goodness we were two hours off the coast and two hours from New Orleans, but still we got hit.

4. I will miss only having four digits to your phone number. Sure we all really had ten, but every knew the first six, because brookhaven was so small, everything was 601-833-XXXX.

5. I will miss getting to say that I shopped at Piggly Wiggly.

6. I will not miss passing the jars of pickled pigs feet and pickled hard boiled eggs in the grocery store.

7. I will miss my house and huge yard filled with huge trees, but I will not miss getting to rake and rake and rake and rake and rake and rake.

8. I will miss the friends we made, but I will not miss the seven hour drive back to Texas.

9. I will miss Dirt Cheap. My favorite store which sold Target, Gap, Banan Republic, JC Penny's, Kohl's and Old Navy returns. You remember that great skirt you bought at Banana for $78, wore to the party, stained it with mustard and returned it. I bought it at Dirt Cheap for $3 and cleaned the stain off.

10. I will not miss being the only person in town with out the last name of: Smith, Case, Lofton, or Britt.

pictures

2005-12-06T16:34:00.000-06:00

well since i am not tech savy, the most recent digital picture that i have is from march. oh well. (by the way caleb is not trying to strangle bradley)

life in the big "d"

2005-12-05T22:59:00.000-06:00

well now we live in dallas. sort of. we, (matt, caleb, matt, and myself) are here, along with select clothing and a card table. all of our furniture and decor items are still in brookhaven, mississippi trying to represent our house well as we try to sell it as soon as possible. All of our "junk" (inside of closets, drawers, attics, cabinets and garage) is in storage in a "p.o.d." in jackson, mississippi waiting to be shipped.

we came to dallas for thanksgiving, with my family. after a early thanksgiving dinner, we went to see matt's broncos beat dallas. (didn't they learn to be gracious to their hosts?) then we traveled to a&m to see them put in their place by the longhorns. yea! we followed that up by stopping by houston to see my father's sister and shop at the galleria for beach clothes. because my parents surprised us by treating us to a trip with my mother's family, that we previously didn't think that matt could get of from work for.

so we went to galveston to meet my mother's family. now if you know anyhting about my mother's family you're thinking, "but they all live in kansas?" oh yes they do, but they decided that my grandparents, my mother's sibling and spouses and their children should take a cruise to mexico. just a small family get together. right?

did i mention that my mother in the youngest of ten rather fertile children?
well so all 85 of us set sail to mexico and back.(23 couldn't make it) we did everything a family should do together: lay out by the pool, let all the little great grandkids play in the hot tub, and met some of my cousin's spouses and new babies. the highlight of the trip though was when the my guy cousins (23,24,&27) took my 92 year old grandfather, in his rascal (motorized wheelchair), and could not be found all day, until an aunt spotted them at a beach several miles away from the boat, all drinking beer under a palm tree.
my grandmother let him have it, because in all his fun he forgot to take his insulin and he didn't tell her where he was going or when he would be back. opps.
really we had a blast with them all and are now trying to settle in the our altered life in dallas.

the boys' fun day

2005-11-19T23:31:00.000-06:00

well since no one wants to here about matt and i packing, i will tell you about caleb's and bradley's day.

bradley started off his day early when at 6 this morning i felt a tap on my face and opened my eyes to see bradley crawling into our bed. he quickly went to sleep, but at 6:30 i kicked him ( in my sleep) off the bed on to the hardwood floor . don't worry he was fine, but he will have to have an story when he grows up to tell his therapist.

caleb, on the other hand slept in until almost 10:30. he actually would have stayed in bed all day, but we told him that dora the explorer was on and he was ran to the t.v. as matt and i are cheap and do not have cable, this is an once a week event and he knows that if he misses dora on saturday, he will have to wait a whole week to see her in those hiking boots again.

the boys played with their train while we packed and then they went out to the backyard and drove their jeep. let me rephrase that caleb drove the jeep and bradley sat in the jeep hanging on for dear life as his brother ran full speed in to one tree after another after another.

after lunch the boys had their highlight of the day, in our den we have seven french doors in a row. and of course having two boys, they have broken out several panes of glass in the year we have lived here. one of the panes down low, we didn't not replace the glass so that our dog, todd, could have a make shift doggie door. in an effort to sell the house matt and i decided that potentional buyers might prefer a window pain in the door, instead of the artic blast of air which pours through the gaping hole. this morning matt replaced the window (isn't he handy?)

soon after, matt and i heard a thud and the boys started laughing hysterically. as you all may have guessed, todd tried to go outside and didn't notice the glass.

but that wasn't the best part, the best part was having a four year old and a two year old try to retell you the story whiling laughing so hard that they cannot breathe or talk very well. (not that they could talk very well anyway) all caleb could say was "todd jumped into the door wall and he fall," which far surpassed bradley's "todd dog oww. todd dog oww"

well those are the highlights

death of all things kojie

2005-11-17T04:29:00.000-06:00

today matt, my mother and i spent the day packing. it is amazing how much stuff we have. since we have had zero income since we got married and don't purchase much stuff, it think that junks regenerates and mutates into new form once it enters our house.

today as i packed i tried to seperate the random old junk from the special memories. (the movie ticket from sometime my freshman year from the movie ticket from our first date.) but it each cabinet and every drawer of the house i could not get away from that "little club of woman" it was like they were trying to overwhelm me with pink and green, like they were inticing me to get up do "the stomp."

now i am a very proud kojie and have kept all of my wonderful treasures even as they become more and more tacky with each passing year. but i snapped when i found photos of my little sis that i never gave her and instead of mailing them to her 5 years after the fact like a good big sis . . . i threw them away.

i really didn't think much of it until my kojie stuff started to lash back at me. first i opened a box, and a kojie candle tried to land on my toe. then as i carried out a box of my china, the basket lynley, my big sis, gave me fillled with kojie splendor, engaged me in a surprise attack by grabbing my foot and throwing my in to a bike. it was only because of my cat-like reflexes that i saved the box. ( o.k. i have no reflexes cat or otherwise, it was sheer luck)

but in every battle there must be casulties and in the fight for my life and that of my china's, i regret to say i killed the basket. I delivered a kick to the bike which knocked in onto the basket and shattered it. i did not know that a basket could shatter, but let me assure that it can. perhaps it was the layers of gold spray paint that made it brittle or it might of been the years being pasted down and down and down through the generations of little women, or maybe it was just a cheap basket.

anyway, i know have a few less things to mave and that makes my night a little brighter.

well here i am again . . .

2005-11-11T22:55:00.000-06:00

well i just blogged a great first entry. it was wonderful full of prose, humor, deep emotions and thoughtful reflections, (er not really) ,but some how i erased it all. (i hope that there is a learning curve with blogging.) so here i go again in an abbreviated form . . .

well i am the mother of two little rascals --caleb, 4 and bradley, 2, the wife of "reverend matt king cole," the daughter of brant "bambi" and melita bryan and a sister to john, lauren and meredith. i live in mississippi for this week, but after next week i will be moving to a placing not yet known. as we bounce from one ministry job to where ever God leads us next.