Please stand by...

by Grant

    I have just spent over an hour getting pictures and videos uploaded, etc. I will try to take some more time very soon to post these but until then watch this dizzying video (literally)

Please stand by...

by Grant

    I have just spent over an hour getting pictures and videos uploaded, etc. I will try to take some more time very soon to post these but until then watch this dizzying video (literally)

Nothing Clever

by Grant

    My Grandmother died on Monday. Rebekah was going to go with me to the funeral but decided to stay home with the kids. Probably best. I contracted some illness on Monday night so I'll be making the trip solo and sick. Don't cry for me Argentina, I'm sure I'll be fine. Rebekah graciously offered to let me take Forrest so I wouldn't be lonely (a teeney tiny part of me questions her motives) but that's not a good idea as I can barely take care of myself when I'm not sick let alone when a contagion is battling my immune system for dominance.

    I think that a death can spark some thoughts about the meaning of life. I know many people think it's tacky to "promote religion" at a funeral, but if you think of it bluntly, that's the most appropriate time. If you are a Christian, muslim, budhist, etc. you don't get a lot of benefits in this life. Frequently, you get persecuted for being the wrong religion. Jews, especially the jews. I think that doing a funeral service for a person that didn't know Christ would be extremely hard. I'm very grateful that my grandmother believed that Jesus died for her sins because she was a sinner (as are we all). I'm very grateful and joyful that she is with God now and no longer suffering. I think that it is perfectly natural to mourn her passing but with bitter sweet tears. She had suffered quite awhile and her health had deteriorated. My Mom called me Sunday to tell me the end was near, but we didn't know how near it truly was.

I'll miss my grandma; I loved her and I know that she loved me.

Tautology

by Grant

    Ha! to all those who never thought I'd use that information. My wife said "What's done is done" the other day. I made a comment about the tautology not being helpful (or something).

BTW, Rebekah SPRANG back quite well from her stair falling incident.

Also, Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut (thank you Lisa Simpson).

Helpful People

by Grant

    My Mother-in-law was sweet enough to gracefully, sweetly, tactfully, inform me that Rebekah's birthday is on Thursday. Heck, I was just saying Tuesday because that's what Rebekah told me. Silly me. Does it really matter? I'm sure on Tuesday Rebekah is going to be thrilled with me if I just say, "Honey, it's not your birthday yet." Who really thinks that's going to fly. There will be tears and accusations that I don't love somebody and I'm not the man that she married (that's true, he's been tied up in the basement for the last two months) and things like that.

    Rebekah tripped on Forrest coming downstairs this morning. She thumped her way down a few steps hurting her wrist (it's swollen), her neck (wrenched) and her tail bone. Life is hard, when you can't walk down the stairs safely. She's still in pain and moving slowly, but thankfully not hurt seriously.

    I went to get the last of the wood on Saturday. Forrest had been sick with the stomach flu, but he'd been pretty good so I took him along. Yeah, bad idea. He vomited all over the back seat. Quite a mess, let me tell you. Of course, we didn't have any spare clothes and I was just a couple miles from my destination. So I stopped and took all the defiled clothing off of him and put in the bed of truck with the chainsaw sitting on it. Then we continued on. He did fine the rest of the time, contentedly sitting in the truck in just his skivvies. I tried to find some good music for him to listen to (he likes classical) but all I could find was country gospel. That was acceptable to him so he relaxed in the truck with the warm rays of the sun while I bucked big pieces of wood into the truck.

    So, this week we've had Titus sick and throwing up all day and then Forrest sick on Thursday night and throwing up every 1.5 hours. The girls each had an incident somewhere during the night (on subsequent nights) but it didn't seeem to phase them much. So far Rebekah is healthy as am I (except for my bronchitis struggle).

    Rebekah bought tickets for her mom and grandmother to come out and visit. Since we don't live in a platial palace we're going to give up our bed for them. I've never been a very good host, so I hope they don't expect much when they get here. (think of Shrek in the first Shrek when he greeted the fairytale creatures: "Get off my land!")

Screaming Banshee

by Grant

    I'm trying to figure out if Liberty is upset or not. She's been shrieking for about 5 minutes. I looked over at her (she's right by my foot on the floor) and she gave me a me a look that seemed embarrassed. It's getting close to bedtime so I'm sure that she's getting tired. I'm staying home with Titus and the girls while Rebekah takes Forrest to Church. I always like Wednesday night as Kelly teaches and I learn a lot. But, it's not really fair to always leave Rebekah at home. The girls are doing well, very noisy right now, but healthy. Titus was super sick yesterday, but seems to be doing better today.

Rebekah's birthday is Tuesday and I'm trying to get something ready for her. I ordered her something from Amazon, but I like to try to do something a little more thoughtful every once and awhile. We haven't made any plans but it'd be nice to get a babysitter or something.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet. I'm still working on getting ready for winter. The oil man cometh yesterday and charged us for 99.9 gallons. We have a 100 gallon tank. Pretty amazing. $2.76 a gallon adds up in a hurry, thus my obsession with wood.

Hey, did I mention that I learned what a tautology was by watching the Simpsons? Also, (but I already knew this) a lawyer in England is called a barrister.

P.S. Yes, the song from my last post is "Monday, Monday" but I prefer Sunday.