Cannibalistic Goldfish & "Pichr Suls"

School started with a bang this year!  Eli and Katybird got to pick out their first day of school outfits by themselves with no direction from me.  Turns out that they must like hot pink glittery retina-burning '80s throwback clothing.  Ah well...

Eli came bursting through the door after school, delighted that she had been assigned to put up and take down the flag outside the school.  Evidently this is a big honor in the 4th grade (aside from weaving the maypole at the end of the year and scraping plates at lunch).  Eli was very worried that she couldn't fulfill her obligations.  "Mom, can we practice with my blanket?  I have to fold the flag in a triangle.  And it can't touch the ground.  And I can't reach the rope to untie it. And can you take me to school early because I want to make sure I have time to take care of the flag?"  Ooo...the pressure builds. 

And Katybird took the entrepreneurial route, painting watercolor blobs on paper the day before school started.  "I'm going to sell these, Mom.  I think I'll charge $50.".  I told her 25 cents was more like it.  "That's what I meant." she said.  She printed a sign and everything!

Benny D from her class was her one and only customer.  And either Katybird overcharged him or Benny can't count money any better than Kate can.  We told her that she should have only collected 25 cents from him and she started whimpering, "Well, I didn't know how much he gave me because I...can't...(sob, hiccup)...count MONEY!"  Given the choice of offering Benny a refund or more pictures, she felt certain he would choose more pictures.  Who wouldn't want more pictures of blobs on paper? 

And finally, Husband took the girls to ReggieFest this past weekend and came home with...goldfish.  We have no bowl, no food, and no ability to keep sensitive plants and animals alive.  I gave him a tired look and Big D muttered, "Well, that's what the prize was!"  Whoever decided goldfish make good prizes must have spent too much time in the beer tent. 

So alas, Husband turned my Tupperware bowl into a fish bowl and the Squirrels christened "Sunshine", "Goldie" and "Jane" (I'm deeply flattered.)  They thought that the goldfish would want to eat crackers with their namesake but it sounded a bit cannibalistic to me!  We didn't need a goldfish Donner party going on in the bowl.  Instead, we opted for instant mashed potato flakes and crushed up saltines. 

We found Goldie floating dead in the water when we returned from church the following day.  After carefully removing him (or her...who can tell with goldfish) from his/her brief home, Husband carried Goldie gently to the local porcelain throne room.  Eli had a touching eulogy and prayer.  Katybird flushed the toilet while shouting "So long, Sucker!" (I'm not making this up). 

And so life continues trying to keep Sunshine and Jane alive.  I'm working to convince Squirrels that they need to release the fish back into nature.  Truth be told, I have a hard enough time keeping everyone else healthy and alive around here. 

Computer Advice from Mom: Live Screaming

My mom and her computer are not always a compatible match but this latest email from her relaying technical advice given by a local radio station when she called in to find out how to listen to her grandson's football game online is...well...nothing short of hilarious:

If anyone is interested in listening to Bennett's game on-line tonight, here is what K101fm told me: Go to www.oursiouxland.com, click on Local radio (middle right of home page), then click on Luverne Cardinals, K101, Catch the Live Broadcast; then you click on you scream or live scream or something such.


Mom

I, for one, am all up for a live "screaming" broadcast about high school football!  However, I think she meant "streaming". 

Stuck in Between Two Worlds

We've been stuck in a bit of a holding pattern here while we wait for our house to sell so we can head down to Reynosa, Mexico.  This whole "waiting on the Lord to move" thing is a bit tough for the hyper-planner in me.  I mean, I plan something and then plan a 2nd and 3rd contingency...so not knowing when God will remove this obstacle?  KILLING ME! 

Here's the deal.  Our hearts?  Already down in Mexico.  Our thoughts and prayers - already sent those on ahead.  Just my body is left back in the Midwest.  When you know WHERE you are supposed to go and yet aren't there yet, it feels like you are stuck somewhere in the middle.  I can't plan anything more than about 30 days out.  Friends are already starting to disengage because that's how they prepare for the fact that you won't necessarily be around for much longer. 

I registered the girls for school which was tough since I hoped we could transition before the school year started.  Despite multiple showings on the house, plenty of random people driving up my lane to ogle, and some rather interesting phone calls (one lady called asking if we would consider a land contract since she was going to begin receiving oil royalties - from oil found on her land and drilled by another party - but that banks wouldn't lend money under a conventional mortgage until she could show two years' worth of royalties)...the house is still on the market. 

The last two homes we sold took two days and nine days, respectively.  So you can imagine that my patience for keeping a house in a show-ready state for three months now is wearing thin....

But in the meantime, we keep doing what we can do.  We are officially accepted by our sending agency http://www.goyefellowship.org/ under Account #87 (for those who care to support our endeavor).  We finally made the staff page on Isaiah 55's website .  Our prayer magnets are at the printers and our prayer cards are being designed by my AWESOME sister-in-law Dena.  Our sending church has been extremely generous in their pledge to our support while on the field.  We have approximately $1,000 left to raise in monthly pledges to meet our first year fundraising goal. 

My Spanish needs help but I am not sure I could finish a semester at college if I enrolled (I still plan on God doing BIG things to get us down there in His perfect timing).  So we record the vision (Habakkuk 2: 2-3) and then we wait...and wait...and wait...and try to lower my control FREAK FLAG to at least half mast.

PS You can hear the testimony of our calling by visiting iTunes and downloading the 7/3/11 "Ordinary People, Extraordinary God" podcast.  The first 20 minutes or so is the recap by those that went to Reynosa on the June mission trip.  Then Husband and I both share the events that led up to our decision to make a run for the border.