I may be sore tomorrow...

I played Volleyball tonight...played pretty well too. My team was scheduled for back to back matches, and then I helped out another team from my church. So in all I played volleyball for over 2 and half hours. My hand is bruised. I had hammered the ball and hit it in such a way that under my thumb area there is a large purple coloration and boy does it hurt! Hopefully it's just a temporary pain!

So we lost all our games tonight....pooey! We played well just couldn't get the points that we needed when we needed them.. The games went back and forth and back and forth! Fun playing though...winning isn't everything!

The kids were filthy and needed baths when we got home and they used up all the hot water so I took a short...enough to wash off residual sand...shower. I will have to take a full shower tomorrow.

And the Winner is...

Jaron completed this game last night! He is over the moon excited for having completed his first game completely!

Dinner, a movie and fireworks

Today being Family Night at Home at church...ie no service the last Sunday night of the month so you can do things as a family we decided to do something as a family but not at home.!

We went and took the kiddos out for a family fun nite. We went and had Chipotle for dinner(YUM!) then we went to see the new Pixar movie Wall-E! It is very cute! The kids enjoyed it, Dan and I enjoyed it...rates right up there with a fun movie as a family! We love Pixar movies and this one is worth the money to go and see! Good news for us though...I had a gift card to AMC theaters so we just had to pay for dinner!

After the movie we headed for home! On the way Dan decides we need to pick up some fireworks. So we got a few cones and things to set off when we got home. The kids are too funny...they like trying to catch the smoke rather than just enjoying the fireworks!

All in all a fun "Family Night at Home"

Weird? Yeah...

It's been a weird week in the Jonathan household! I love summer and getting to be home with my kids and doing stuff for them but they are acting really weird.

Case in point: Janea is on this huge Pokemon kick...everyday she asks to get on the computer and check out stuff online...don't worry, there are only certain sites she is allowed to go to and if she want to look for something I have to be right there with her. Anyway, lately she has been getting on this Pokemon website and she sits with the headphones on and sings these dumb songs about stupid things. Plus she now has her brother playing too, they talk about who they would capture, why they like different ones the whole gambit. True it isn't quite as mind numbing as Barbie but still...

Jaron is addicted to the Playstation 2. He has this Ben 10 game and a Crash game that he has been playing. I don't mind the Crash game, it's kinda fun, but the Ben 10 game is going to drive me insane! Jaron can fight the monsters but he gets to excited that he can't push the right shapes on the controller in time to defeat the main level monsters so that he can advance. So he drags me into his room and then throws me the controlller so he can advance. Now I can't always do it the first time and he freaks out totally at me and is like "MOMMMMY" It's nuts!

Dan is wanting to move tomorrow. I am working on getting a mortgage and finding reasonable priced property. He wants everything done now...I understand his frustration I want to move as soon as possible too. However, these things take a while.

Me...I'm holding it together...it's weird, I am a little attached to this house we are living in since I have put a lot of my time into it...but it's caused me nothing but stress. I am also a little frustrated with things that from my point of view are unfair or unreasonable. So I go and play volleyball and hit the ball and imagine it's the people in my life who are driving me crazy...it's very theraputic to see someone's head flying over a net!

My children are doing it again...Janea just came in and told me we have a rollercoaster in the Great Room....gotta love their imaginations!

Well, that's about all she wrote...

Wow!

Today is my wedding anniversary! Dan and I have been married for 9 years! That's a long time...we have been a couple for 10 years now!

As I think back to that Summer day 9 years ago I am overwhelmed by all the ways that God has changed the crazy plans we had made.

We didn't plan on having kids right away...I wanted to wait 3-5 years...well we got pregnant during the first 3 months...Janea was actually born 18 days before our first anniversary! Then after having one you might as well have them close together so along came Jaron!

I was going to be done with school, teaching and having gotten tenure...well I am still working on my schooling...my school is closed and I don't have a job currently...still looking!

We thought we would be living a small middle class existence instead of being in limbo once again...stability never seems to be our luck!

Well, through it all we are a team...we are working together and trying to be supportive of one another. We are still in love and love our kiddos. It's been a good nine years and I look forward to the years ahead.!

Too tired

Don't you just love when you are so tired and you lay down to go to sleep and then you can't sleep for like the next 4 hours....why does this happen? Shouldn't you just fall right to sleep...I mean really, I worked hard today, I cooked, I cleaned, I ran errands, I played with my children, I worked on the computer and everything and now when I should be sleeping I can't fall asleep...so I gave up and now I am going to try again....I just want to sleep for like a year....no interupptions, no little feet in the small of my back from little bed hogs... no snoring husband...he can be sleeping just not snoring:)

Happy Birthday Janea

So my baby's birthday is actually the 8th of June...but with the flood and all the stress of our lives we didn't really start celebrating until this past weekend.

Saturday the grandparents took the kiddos to see "Kung-fu Panda" and then we went to Grandma's house for cake and ice cream....very yummy!

I can't believe that my baby is eight years old already! The pictures are on my mom's computer so the next time I'm over I will download a few!

I needed to go...

to the bathroom. We were on our way to Belton after having spent the afternoon in Greenwood looking at different things...(more about that later.) The kiddos are in the back seat and they decided they needed to sing the song "Funkytown" at the top of their lungs...neither could really remember how the song goes so they are just basically singing"FUUUUNNNKKKYYTOOOWWNN" in this weird chord pattern over and over and over again. Dan is sitting next to me saying things like..."where do you want to go to eat?, which way do you want to go?, what should we do?" and the whole time my head is pounding, my stomach is hurting and I just want to find a bathroom....I can't concentrate between the feeling in my body and the noise coming from the backseat...so just as we are pulling into the restaurant my phone rings, it's my mom and she needs to know something and oh my word! So much stimulation.

We get in the restaurant, I don't even sit down but immediately go to the bathroom and wow do I feel better...until I go to sit down and then Dan has to go and he wants me to order for him and the kids and I don't know what I want and it's again all too much....we have been dealing with so much stuff from the flood and having to make some big choices about our life so little choices have become overwhelming....it's been a challenge. Fortunately, our waitress realized I needed some more time and came back a few minutes later and life was good again.

So last night I watched TV....spent time with my hubby and just chilled....we will stress more later today but for the time being it was good to just hang out!

Tired Momma

I don't usually like to post picturs of myself on here...unless it's a group shot or something...anyway...here's me after dealing with the flood for the past 2 weeks.

A day off...

from the chaos, from the disaster, from the abnormal area of my life.

I took a trip to the Zoo today...my friend Tracie from church decided I needed to play hooky. She has a zoo membership so we all got in for free...it was a nice break. We had a very good time.

Dan and I are working on our next step in life...making decisions, choices and trying to figure it out....

A Taste of Summer

So do you like the new look? I was needing a summery change! Hope it helps to boost my mood!

Monday Mishaps

It's been a crazy day! I feel terrible today...just cranky, tired, sore, and having an all around bad day. The kids are being crazy maniacs. And I messed up Dan's eye appointment. He had an appointment, at a different place then where we went. He got seen at a place that didn't have an appointment for him and it was crazy!

On an upside...volleyball was a lot of fun tonight and I played better than normal!

Happy Father's Day to My Dad

This is my Dad...He's a fun guy and I love him very much! He is a great father, a loving grandfather and a man that I admire very much...so to my dear sweet dad...I love you!
I just love this one!

Semblence of Normal

So today this evening we are getting things slightly back to normal.

We took the kiddos shopping for some new clothes...Janea was in need of tops and bottoms and Jaron was in need of just tops

Went out for a nice dinner of Mexican Food. Yummy!

Took the kiddos to the park and played on the tennis courts for awhile. Just had fun as a family!

I'm glad that we're getting a little bit past the flood!

The 10 day Window

I was reading an article on dealing with disaster. It's crazy how true it was...

It said that if you are in the process of throwing stuff away on day 10 you give up, you just starting chucking it because it's not worth it anymore. Today is day 10 and Dan and I were cleaning up the yard and started literally chucking things at random because we are just ready for the yard to be clear!

A bad attitude

I'm really struggling with my attitude at the moment. I am very frustrated by the SIL. Today was a prime example of how it bothers me...

Today I had a dumpster dropped off..it arrived around 9:30 this morning.

The heating and cooling guy came and informed us that we need a new furnace. He jerry-rigged it to work so that our air conditioner works now...well Sharon doesn't like air-conditioning...at all. She says that it makes her sick...which could be the truth...personally I think that if it is hot then she has an excuse to further not do anything. Well currently the humidity level is around 80% in the basement. It's really damp and we need to run the dehumidifier and the air conditioner to get the basement drier...well she is going on and on about how it's no big deal, we won't have mold, that the air-conditioner doesn't need to be run...all the while the heating/cooling guy and I are talking needing it on...

So it's been crazy, and she keeps saying things without thinking that are quite hurtful...so my attitude is lousy and I could use the prayers that I stay positive and have a good attitude.

Flood Pictures

Here are just a few pictures of our ordeal....

This is Janea's Room

Missouri Mud is thick and nasty!

The aftermath of the flood

5 feet and 9 inches of water were in our basement. My baby had to swim out of her own bedroom through a swimming pool of water! I am still in shock that she is here...God truly protected her that night! He allowed her to wake up, to realize that she needed to get out and calmness in her panic to make it out of the basement by floating on a suitcase and a box and dog paddling her way to the stairs.

It's now day 6...6 long days!

Wednesday and Thursday Dan and I were on our own for cleaning. Our church had offered help if we wanted it but we weren't at the point of desperation yet. So we worked together and got a lot down but only a fraction of what needed to be done.

Friday: A woman from our church called and told me that she had 3 kids at home with nothing to do and would we like them to come and help us out...boy did I want them too! So they came for a few hours that afternoon and we got all of Janea's room emptied and mopped and most of Ambers room done! It was such a blessing to have extra hands!

Saturday: I go downstairs to start the process and to help out the plumber who was reinstalling our water heater! Another praise: Didn't need a new one, the old one works and we have hot water! It also cost less than $150.00! So around noon I get a call from a friend and he says that he and his wife would like to come and help! Then I called a deacon in my church and he also wanted to help and he rallied a cleaning crew. So from like 1:30-8:30 we had help in getting all the remaining stuff from the house onto the yard, we got all the laundry prewashed, we got the floors inside all mopped and pressure washed, we got the garage door up and cleaned out and found out that our riding mower is probably salvageable! It was an amazing blessing to have friends come and help us finish the inside of the house! The deacons also have allowed us to borrow the heavy duty fans from the church to help everything dry out! They even were able to move my flooded vehicle out of the way!

Sunday: Church breakfast, people asking how things are and everything I even got to cut in line! During our Missions Moment one of the deacons from the church got up and told the church about our predicament and how he had come to help and encourage us but that we had been an encouragement to him! Our church has been so supportive through all of this! I am so thankful for the encouragement that has been shown to us, the love that they give us and just the fellowship of the believers!

Monday: Today I am feeling depressed over the amount of stuff that was lost! I lost so many books and things that really just make me sick at heart, I know it's not important or anything but it still makes my heart hurt! I have pictures but I haven't downloaded them yet! I'll post some soon!

Just when you think that your life is getting back to normal....

You are hit with another dose of craziness! So I get home from a great trip to California...notice that the relatives haven't done everything I liked but oh well, I get the laundry started, wash some dishes and just try to adjust to being home and the heat! That night it happens...disaster strikes again!

Tuesday night at Midnight Janea comes upstairs and tells me that there is water in the basement...I think okay there are probably some puddles or something, then I touch her shoulder, she is soaking wet! She was trapped in a flooded basement and had to swim out! The water was up higher than my head! I looked out the window and notice that our house is basically in the middle of a giant lake...aka..the backyard! My car is not visable it's completely underwater! I rush to my phone and call Dan and let him know what is going on and he tells me he will be coming home...I start to panic since the water is up to the street, I am freaking out...it's bad, really bad...

Dan gets home as the water is starting to recede yet he is unable to reach the house, I feel better but then as I am standing in the house, ringing my hands in a tizzy, I smell something...propane gas...I try to call the propane company and my phone is out of minutes, so I use my sister in laws and they tell me they can't do anything but to call the fire department, we get the kids out of bed and get ready to go to grandmas house just in case the house may explode, and then the man from the propane company comes and turn off our leaking propane tank...disaster from fire is temporarily adverted. Dan goes to the basement, the water has receded but it's still knee high, its bad, really bad, nasty bad! He is still hearing rushing water and starts to investigate, hollering for me to come and hold the flashlight, so he can shut off the intake valve to the water heater which is spewing additional gallons of water all over the basement!

All in all a trying evening...followed by little sleep and then we begin to clean up...I will post pictures of the damage soon! Please pray that we can get the mess cleaned up in a timely fashion! Some major blessings...our washer and dryer are working! Our Daughter is fine and has a great story to tell about surviving the flood! I'll have her dicate her story soon as well! All in all, we are grateful that we have beds to sleep in and that it was only the lower level of our house that was affected! Please pray that we will get the insurance stuff all straightened out as well!

Day at Disney

A brief sampling of the pictures that we took during our day at Disney!

The mad Hatter's Tea Party

Jaron meets Buzz Lightyear!

My Aunt Debbie and me...true Royalty!

Getting Ready for Toon Town!

The walk to Start our Adventure...my momma, Jaron, my Aunt Debbie, Janea and Wendy!

Meeting Mickey Mouse!

We're Having so Much Fun!

Aunt Wendy, Janea and Auntie Debbie on the Tea Cups!

The Kiddos first California Adventure!