Sticks and Stones

Usually my Sundays are pretty restful. And I'm thankful for that. This one? Not so much. I woke up 30 minute before my 7:30am alarm, and remembered that I needed to design Invitations to the Blue and Gold Banquet. Thank goodness I had ink in my printer. I got those all designed and printed by 7:40am. I got the big kids awake and in the shower, and the little kids searching in the clean laundry pile for their Sunday clothes. I'm a bit behind on the folding of laundry...

Anyway, I hoped in the shower, and got all pretty for Church. At about 8:15am, when I was all ready to go, I noticed that my phone wasn't getting texts because it was full. Sigh. I get SO many texts a day, and my phone can only handle 100 in my inbox. SO, I went and deleted them all. Instantly, the texts started pouring in. *sigh*. Andrea had both called and texted in the middle of the night, and I'd missed them all.

Ben, the 7 year old, was playing at a friends house at 9:30pm, and right before Andrea took him home, he got hurt. They were all wrestling around, and he ran into a corner, and split his head open. Poor kid! Ton of blood, I guess.

They got the bleeding stopped, then took him home. Lots of pressure, but it still wasn't stopping. You know how bad head wounds bleed. By almost midnight, she realized that he needed to go to the ER. That's when she called. I felt like such a heel the next morning, for missing her when she needed me. I"M SORRY, ANDREA! I'll do a better job of keeping my phone close! (Although, right now, I have no idea where it is..... my plan isn't working too well)

So I start texting her, trying to figure out what happened. She starts sending me pics of them in the ER from last night. NASTY gash on his forehead. All the while, I was trying to get the kids some breakfast (it would have to be cereal again - we were out of bread), and get the little boys dressed.

Another text that came through was one of the primary teachers, saying that her daughter was sick, and asking me to teach her class. As a member of the Primary Presidency, I don't really have time to teach for the teachers, though. Plus, I was already subbing for Singing time. After that thought went through my head, I realized that I hadn't prepared ANYTHING for it yet. Crud. It was time to leave the house.

I quickly grabbed a left over poster board, and started cutting it into 16 rectangles. I grabbed a sharpie, my kids, my church stuff, my talk, my phone, and a Diet Dr Pepper, and headed out the door. Oh yeah, and my Blue and Gold invitations, and a generic talk for Primary, in case there wasn't a kids with a talk prepared.

I was a bit flustered by the time I got to church, but tried to relax. Jacob realized that he'd left his talk at home, the one that he stayed up 2 hours late working on. *sigh* Poor kid. I gave him the Generic Primary Talk to give. He seemed happy. His dad had told him to "wing it". That would have TOTALLY panicked me if I were in his shoes. I'm not a "wing it" kinda girl...

After the Sacrament was passed, Jimmy, Jake and I went up on the stand to talk. Eme, Joe, and Tom were just fine in the row by themselves. Jake gave his talk, and did a nice job. When I got up to speak, I gave Jimmy to his dad. He must have done fine, because I didn't hear anything behind me - :)

I think my talk went fine. I found a talk by Elder Hales, and it outlined a WHOLE bunch of things to do to improve family relationships. I encouraged everyone to pick out just one or two to work on. And my family too. I said, if any of you do ALL of these things, I wanna come and join your family - hehehe.

After my talk, I took Jimmy, and we went back and sat down with the other kids. I had to work on my Singing Time lesson, and still listen to Captain America, and keep the kids from fighting. Quite a daunting task, I must say. Captain America gave a VERY nice talk about strengthening marriages. He was quite emotional about it, tearing up a lot, but it was very endearing. I just LOVE that man :)

I finished the Singing time lesson just in the nick of time, and we headed off to class. Andrea teaches the one of the Sunbeam class (3 turning 4 yr olds), and she wasn't coming today. She'd gotten home from the Hospital at 4am. I didn't blame her. SO, we needed to find a teacher for that class. And for the 8 turning 9 year olds. They needed a teacher too. Primary is ALWAYS crazy.

I think that the kids had a TON of fun in Singing Time. We lplayed the "Sing it Like" game. I took the rectangles of poster board, and wrote "Sing It Like" on one side, and then a "style" on the back. "Sing it like.... your underwater". "Sing it like.... you're a cowboy" "Sing it like.... you're a rockstar" and so on. We sang the same song O"VER and OVER and OVER, but you know what, by the time we were done with Singing Time, those kids ALL knew the song. And I think they REALLY had fun.

The Senior primary (8-11) REALLY had a good time. They were loud and participating, and having a grand ole time. But, I was exhaused by the time church was over. Who knew I'd get my workout for the day at church - hehehe. Hopping and running in place, and fake skiing, and being a cowboy - those all work you leg muscles :)

I had to stay after church and go to a meeting, so my kids had to come and sit on the floor, and be quiet. Yeah, that's a stretch sometimes. The Youth (14-18) is going on a "trek" this summer. They're dressing up in Pioneer clothes, and talking what the pioneers would have had, and going on a 4 day "trek". Camping out, cooking their own meals. Anyway, I was asked to help some of the kids with sewing their clothes. After all the Civil War sewing experience I had, I could help :)

We got home at around 1:30pm. I got the kids out of their Sunday clothes, into their play clothes, fed, and situated with books in their rooms, and made some Soup for Andreas family. I brought it over, to check on them. Poor Bens cut looked pretty nasty. The hospital had glued it back together.

And get this. You know the part where the nurse rinses it out with saline. They made ANDREA do it. That's not cool. I take my kid to the doctor so that THEY can fix it. But she did it. I texted Captain America and asked him to drop by after he got done with church, for a visit. Captain America is assigned Andreas family, as a Home Teacher. He checks in with them to make sure that their needs are being met, and that they get the stuff that they need. I knew that Andrea was having a hard time with stress, and breaking out in hives, and thought that a Priesthood blessing out help. So he stopped by and gave her one.

I stayed for a bit longer, and visited with her. It can't be easier to have your man gone on Valentines day. I'd like to think that I helped out a little bit. We always get to laughing when we're together, so that's good :)

I came home, and Captain America was working on his truck. I know, not the best Sunday activity, but I've learned, over the years, that nagging doesn't work. Example works. I stayed out and chatted with him for a bit, then went inside to fix dinner for the kids. Scrambled eggs. Mmmm, yummy!

After the kids ate dinner, Captain America took the little ones on a truck drive, and I went with Andrea to a Valentines Dinner for the deployed ladies in the ward. She didn't want to go by herself, so I went for a little while with her. Captain America was spending time with the boys, so it was ok.

We had crepes with berries and filling and yummy stuff. It was a fun dinner. We helped clean up afterwords, and I headed back home. Captain America was finishing up his truck stuff, and heading back inside.

It was about that time that I checked my mail. I had a TON of emails. One in particular caught my attention. It was a comment on my blog from this morning. Not a nice one, either. I remember last year some time, or was it the year before, that I got a nasty comment on my blog. Something about "you don't really know Bethany, she's a bad person". This one was just as bad.

You know, I really don't know why people feel it necessary to leave nasty comments. I wonder, sometimes, if just ignoring it completely would be a better course. I guess I'll have my say today, then forget it. It's HERE, by the way.

I don't make people read my blog. Really, I use it as my Online Journal. I can look back over the 2 years that I've had it, and see what I've been up to. And I'm honest. Brutally honest. I don't do much editing. Because what I write about is MY life. My quirks. MY good and bad habits. I know I don't shower every day. Does that affect my eternal salvation? I don't think so. Does that make me a bad person? No. Does it make me smelly? Well, I shower if I'm smelly. Or at least I don't leave the house. hehehe.

As for the comment about my family relationships, well, that's just rude. Yeah, I leave my kids home sometimes. But I have a teen son who's responsible. That's the perks of having older kids. Did you know that I NEVER paid for a babysitter before I had a kid old enough to babysit? We never went out. I never went out. I would take all the kids with me when I grocery shopped. When I went to Walmart. When we went anywhere. Captain America and I had "at home" dates. We'd rent movies, or play cards, or work together around the house.

It's only been since my oldest was old enough to babysit, that I've started going out. And I must say, it's a nice feeling. To get away without the kids. Does that mean that I don't love my kids? Of course not. Does that mean that I'm a bad mom? I certainly hope not.

And yes, my husband works a lot. He tries his hardest to serve his county, his family, and his God. AND do a few things for himself. We used to go with him on his camp outs, but it's kinda lost it's fun for me. It's a lot easier to stay home. But, because I love him, I don't make him chose between it and me. I recognize that he can still have hobbies. And I know that he doesn't abuse the privilege.

Allright, that's enough, I think. I'm gonna quit responding, and just forget about the comment. How does the old saying go, "Stick and Stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me". That saying is right to a point. Words CAN hurt, but only if you let them. I kNOW that the comment that Anonymous made wasn't true, so it doesn't hurt me. Confuse me? Yeah, maybe a little. Annoy me? Um, yeah. But hurt me? Only if I truly believe the things that Anonymous said. And I don't.

I did wanna say a big THANK YOU to everyone who defended me on my blog and on facebook. Awe, thanks you guys! You guys rock!!!

It's now 1:33am, and I'm in some serious need of sleep. I've gotta get the kids to the bus stop tomorrow at 7:30am. Sweet dreams!

So, in honor of Anonymous, I'm not showering today. And I encourage you all to take a "no shower day" in the near future, in her honor as well. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you wish Anonymous would have chosen to leave her name. Thanks!

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