War of the Words

My walk with Christ has never been straight, nor have I ever claimed it to be.  To help get back on the path, I write verses on my bathroom mirror to remind me of certain things.  Right now my three panel mirror has "Let your yes be yes. Let your no be no." (Matthew 5:37) scribbled on it.  Yesterday morning, when I woke up, there was another verses scribbled in Eric's hand writing just beside mine. "Good people are good to their animals, the 'good-hearted' bad people kick and abuse them" (Proverbs 12:10).  Needless to say, I was a little confused about it.  I understand what it means, but didn't understand what Eric meant.  So, I texted him to please explain the verse and who it pertained to.  I then went about my morning getting ready for work in utter confusion. 
Around 9 o'clock when Eric's break came around, he replied to my text.

"I just wanted you to feed the cats and dog. Luv you!"


Because that would have been much harder to say...

Boise State Thanksgiving

For the Thanksgiving Holiday the Reel's ventured to travel down south to Boise to see my real dad.  We arose bright and early Wednesday morning hoping for promising roads.  Thank goodness they were dry the whole way down.  Thursday was spent prepping, cooking and watching football. Friday we avoided the mass crowds, but did manage to make it into a Goodwill.  All their stuff was 50% off.  I love Goodwill shopping in other towns.  The only other store we hit up was the Bronco Shop.  We needed Bronco gear for Saturday's game.  Saturday morning reared it's cold  head and we had to get all geared up for the 12 o'clock game.  Here's just a few snap shots of what the stadium was like.  I handed the camera over to Trent since he was cold so he could be preoccupied to keep the cold off his mind.  He managed to take 116 photos, mostly of Kellan Moore on the field and all the action plays...                                                                    

Once the Bronco's finished up with a WIN, we fought the crowded streets of down town Boise and rested up at my dad's house.  Sunday showed more promising weather, so we took off early back to Lewiston.  Being down there for 5 days, the BSU game was the only time I managed to bring out the camera.

A Moment of Peace

Last Thursday seem to be a bit hectic. I had to do a bunch of running around when I got off work.  Trent's football practice, grocery store, and taxi-ing kids to the Jen-awea football game.  I thought I'd spend some quality time with the youngest by carting her around with me. While at the grocery store, Eric texted me asking me to run to Home Depot to get a furnace filter.  Not a problem, I was heading up that way. As we pull in to the Depot parking lot Caitrin chimes in with attitude.."Why are we here?"
 I reply "Dad asked me to get a furnace filter, so we're stopping here."
Not losing the attitude, Caitrin tells me "I know you and Dad love each other, but seriously, he needs to learn how to do things on his own."
Pretty shocked by her response and not sure where that even came from, I told her that we were out and about and I have no problem running errands for Dad.  We run in and get the furnace filter and a small package of batteries for the thermostat.  Not thinking, I thrown the batteries in a bag and out the door we go.  Heading home, she still had some "tude"..
Caitrin: You know what Mom? Your phone is WAY better than Dad's.  You know what? He deleted all of his games off of his phone.  Can you believe that?  Even Zebra Paint! Of all games, Zebra Paint!
Me:  Well, I'm sure he doesn't want you guys on his phone anymore.  Don't know what to tell you. Sorry.

We get home to unload the groceries quickly because I have to get Trent from football practice.  Caitrin starts crying because she wants to help.  So I tell her to grab the closest bag which happen to be the batteries. She holds it up like a dead skunk.
Cairtin:  Really, Mom? Really?  Did you really think you needed a bag for this?
Me: Caitrin, just get in the house.

Rushing back out the door to get Trent, I kiss Eric good bye and tell him to have fun with Caiti.  I see our German Shepard, Adella, sitting at the back door with a sad look on her face.  So I pat my leg and tell her to load up. 
Apparently that offended Caitrin "I want to go, too!"
Me: NO!
Caitrin: Why?!
Me:  Because Adella doesn't talk!

Good News and Good Company

Life with three kids is forever busy, and I realized that it's been forever since I last blogged.  Summer has come and gone, and now fall is vastly approaching.  I'm hoping with that, things will greatly slow down.

These past few weeks have been filled with lots of joy and blessings.

Last week my little sister, Missy, came up from Boise to celebrate my youngest neices'  third birthday, and my other little sister, Jenni, drove over from the Tri-Cities to join in the festivities.  I also got to meet Jenni's daughter, Mataya, for the first time. There were about five kids under the age of five.  Once the clock struck 9pm, the tears started to flow, Jonnie and I knew it was bed time and ditched right out of there. 

Earlier the same day of the birthday party, my mom's boyfriend George, proposed to her.  So my mom will be getting married and I will once again have a step-dad. I have nothing ill to say about George.  He's a wonderful man and it seems that he has brought my mother back to a life that we all thought was gone.  He makes her happy and has graciously accepted 5 rogue kids as his grand kids. 

A few days later, we found out that Eric's sister, Chaney, and her husband are finally expecting!  They have been trying for so many frustrating years.  They've have gone with the whole fertility circus, just to be let down every month.  None of us were supposed to know but Eric's mom was too excited she had to tell everyone. Chris and Chaney were a little scared and didn't want to say much until their ultra sound two days ago.  Low and behold, they found 2 little beans in her belly! We are going to be graced with another set of twins for Eric's family hopefully sometime in May.  Everyone is over the moon!!  I honestly can't wait!  This will make grand baby 18 & 19 for the Reel Family...

Six years ago this past September was the last time I got to see my grandparents from my mother's side.  They live in a travel trailer and go all over the place.  A small family fall out had occurred and they just avoided this side of the states.  When my sister and I pushed for amends, shortly afterwards we found out my grandmother had cancer.  If that doesn't make a quick shove to forgiveness, I'm not sure what does. After her surgery and her getting used to a different life style, my grandparents agreed to head out this way.  They arrived this week and we've spent every night at my mom's house playing catch up.  It's amazing the traits and similarities that are found.  Though my son favors Eric's looks, he favors my grandmothers habits.  When they left six years ago, I had just found out I was pregnant with Caitrin.  They hadn't meet her yet.  The older four always talked about them, so when Caiti walked into my mom's house, she ran right up to my grandma, and said "HI, GRANDMA!! I missed you!!"  It was the cutest thing.  We are hoping the weather will cooperate this weekend and have a great big family barbecue. 

I'm also hoping that I can find a little more me time and blog more often...

Conversations...

Setting:  Selected schools around the valley provide free lunch for children 0 - 18 years old. My sister likes to take all the kids down to the Junior High to eat so they don't eat her out of house and home.  On this particular day, crispidoras were served.  As my sister was driving  back home, Trent was still gnawing on what was left of his.

Trent:  Aunt Jonnie, what are crispadoras made of?
Jonnie: (not hesitating) Cat. Why?
Trent: What??!! (chucking the crispadora out the window)
Caitrin: I don't see what the problem is.  You eat pig.
Jonnie: Why did you throw that out the window?  I was only joking!!  It's made from cow, hamburger, ground beef.
Trent: Aunt Jonnie, I don't feel so good.

She had to pull the car over from laughing so hard.

I'm not sure if I should be upset at the fact that Trent actually believed my sister, or concerned with Caitrin not caring that it could possibly be a domesticated household animal...

Conversations...

Setting:  We were packing up our trailer to head over to the coast to send the 4th of July with Eric's family. (More on that if I can find time to upload my pictures)

Caiti:  Hey, Mom.  Do you think.. I mean we'll be really good.. and not move.. I promise to sit still... Can we ride in the trailer on our way to the coast?
Me:  Umm.. NO!!
Caiti:  But, why not?!
(I didn't want to scare her, but I needed her to get the point)
Me: Well, let's just say that something happens and the trailer comes unhitched from the truck, you could get hurt really bad, and you might even die.  So NO. Sorry kiddo.
Caiti: Yeah, I'd be pretty mad if I died.

Conversations

Back in the summer of 2008, Eric was laid off along with 250 other boat builder here in the Valley.  As a family we had a crash course in "need vs. want" real quick.  We found that we didn't "need" cable and had it shut off.  Though things are perfectly fine now, we still maintain that mentality and find that cable is among things we don't need.  We watch movies in the evenings and that's about the extent of the ol boob tube.

This past Saturday morning Caitrin had woke up and stumbled onto the couch.

Caitrin: Mom, will you put in a movie for me?
Mom: Nope.  It's "No TV Saturday".
Caitrin: You are so mean!
Mom: I know.  But me being mean only means I love you.  Isn't that right, Tarren?

Tarren's room is right off the living room.  I knew she was trying to wake up and was hearing our conversation.

Tarren: Yea, well.. most of the time.
Mom:  What's that supposed to mean?
Tarren:  All the other times you're just PMS'ing.

The child obviously doesn't know how dangerous those words are.

As for Eric, he had to hold himself back from spitting all his coffee out..

First day of Summer Vacation...

 I came home on my lunch hour to find this...

He must have stayed up way too late last night celebrating....

Hard Lessons Learned

Tarren has always been my sick child.  She had many ear infections as a baby, had a bout with pneumonia, bronchitis, strep, and now with her hay fever she's had many sinus infections.  All have been treated with various forms of penicillin.  This last round must have done her in.  She woke up Wednesday morning with a rash but only on her sun burned area from the weekend.  By Thursday morning, the rash had spread to her entire body.  At that point I knew it was the allergic reaction to the amoxicillen and hauled her in to the hospital.  I was hoping to just go through Minor Care, but they pushed her thought to the ER because they were worried about her breathing.  The doctor got her hooked up with a Z-Pack and told me to keep her doped up on Benadryl for the next couple of days.  Poor kid, she says she's not in pain, but my heart breaks just looking at her.

ARMS

BACK

LEGS (her thighs are way worse)

Her poor hands, feet look just as bad. 

Up River

In the 4th grade, students learn about Idaho History.  Being that we live at the mouth of the great Hell's Canyon, Lewiston student get to fund raise the whole school year to take an all day boat trip up the Snake River.  Trenton alone raised over $200.00 for his class.  Since space is limited, not all parents are allowed to go.  Trent's teacher, Mrs. Roberts, has a raffle that each parent can purchase a ticket for $5 and only two entries per child.  I bought two and put Eric's name on both (he's lived in Lewiston his whole life and has never been up the Snake).  Trent and I had prayed every night that his dad would be drawn, and Eric was!! Last Wednesday was the first nice day we've had in a long while, and that just happened to be the day that was scheduled for the boat trip. 

The boat driver had no objections about entertaining the kids, so during the heat of the afternoon he decided that he'd do "cookies" and splash any of the kids who sat in the back.  Eric snapped some of Trent's turn...

 Bracing himself....

..wait for it...

Trent claimed he had a BLAST!! (so did Eric)

Shout out to Coop Dog...

Being busy with five children's activities I nearly forgot to say........

Happy Birthday to Cooper....

He turned 12 on May 11th, the day after my birthday.

Instant gratification

Back at the beginning of the month, Eric had said that he wanted to go to Home Depot to look at what they had for our garden.  Up until this point we had only tilled under the area we wanted to plant in and fertilized it.  We had discussed what various plants we wanted and were they would fit best. When we got there I was grabbing plants left and right, throwing them in the cart. "I want these, and these, and ohh some of those!!"  He was putting them back on the shelves as fast as I was tossing them in the cart.  He had to explain to me what his intentions were, which was all seeds, no starts. 

Me "Umm.. NO.  I need starts" 

Eric "Why?"

Me "I need instant gratifications.  I need to SEE it all"

Needless to say I had a small baby tantrum in the Home Depot Garden Department because I wanted to see greenery.  After he brought me back to reality, he gave me his reasoning as to why it all had to be seeds, the price.  It's quite a cheaper to purchase the seeds than the plant starts.  Fine, I give in. 

So, on the 7th of May, Eric planted my garden all from seeds, minus the tomatoes and strawberries (I wouldn't budge on those).  Six days later this is what I got....

 Thai Radishes

 Spinach

 Corn

 Sugar Snap Peas

 My strawberries already have green heads on them!!

Since then my carrots, chives, bell pepper, jalapeno peppers have all sprung up as well. 

When one of your weakness's is patience, God gives you plenty of opportunities to practice it.  I am now extremely grateful for the wonderful garden that I have in bloom.  I just can't wait until they all come to fruition..

Welcome Baby Scotlyn

On May 16th, Eric's little brother's wife finally went into labor with their 4th child.  Scotlyn Camry Reel graced us with her presence at 9:53am weighing in at 8lbs 3oz and 20 in long.  She was due to arrive on the 5th but thought she'd hang on for 11 more days...

Trent refused to hold her, I had to beg him.  After I got some pictures he asked me if he could be done yet.

Caitrin and Tarren couldn't get enough of her. 

This is grand baby #17 to the Reel Family.

F-I-V-E

Happy Birthday, Caitrin Mae!

I can't believe you are 5!!!

Conversations...

Setting: On the way home from Trent's baseball game. He played catcher (and he LOVES it!), this will be his third year playing that position.

Dad: Son, you did awesome out there tonight.
Trent: Hey, how much do you think I'd get paid if I played like I did in the Majors?
Dad: Well, let's just worry about the next game. I don't think the recruiters are out yet.

Those people...

On the first Sunday of every month, our church has a meeting called Bridge Builders. It's about the direction of the church, leaders and ministries group up and discuss what's going to happen next and it's a HUGE potluck with yummy food. Eric and I attend because we are apart of two ministries, and let's face it, it's a night I don't have to cook dinner and have an awesome meal all for free.

Last Sunday was no exception and we attended. As our pastor was about to open up in prayer, my brother in laws phone went off. He hurried to ignore it and shut it down. Eric and I just chuckled. Not even two seconds later my phone goes off. I scrambled to shut my down as well. Not only did I get a dirty look from Eric, Pastor Brad thought he needed to shoot one my way, too. No sooner did I shut my phone down and Eric's blew up. At that point, Pastor Brad stopped and came over to our table and asked if everything was ok. He looked over to Tarren and said, "Honey, is your phone next?" With out missing a beat, "Nope, mine's in the car."

It was my mother just wondering what was going on and why she couldn't get a hold of anyone. The only reason Jonnie's didn't go off was because her phone was dead.

Yeah, we were "those people" at church....

Conversations...

Setting: Trent had found a 1952 wildlife book. It talks about animals and their habitats. He found the pages on armadillos and read to me the expert.

Trent: Mom, it says here that they have four to six babies and all the same sex. Why would they say "sex"? That's not a good word to put in a wildlife book.

Mom: In this case son, it means gender. It means that babies will be all girls or all boys. Not a mixture.

Trent: Oh, why all the same?

Mom: I'm not sure. Sounds like a conversation to have with God. (I always say that when I don't know the answer and don't exactly have time to research it)

Trent: Or.. I could just Google it.

Yes, yes.. Why didn't I think of that?

Mother of the Year Award..

Saturday evening found the Reel's at my sister's house watching a movie. Which wasn't all that exciting to the kids so they ventured off to entertain themselves. I figured all the kids were upstairs in my nephews' room playing minus Trent drawing and coloring at the kitchen table. Trent kept pestering me to come look at something. I thought it was his drawings. I told him he'd have to wait a minute because his timing is so impeccable, he had to chose the point in the movie where the mystery unravels its tangled web. Within minutes the movie was over and I got up to see what he was all excited about....

........THIS.............

There wasn't enough room on the table for her to draw, so she climbed up on the counter. Apparently it was soothing enough to put her to sleep. I was very THANKFUL that she didn't roll right off. I think I need to start putting a bell around her neck.

Jonnie speaking..

Jonnie was to be the first speaker for Saturday morning. I tried to capture the moments leading up that point. I know that she was really nervous about speaking, so she was trying to make light of every thing. Christy Guinard and she are BFF's. So Christy was trying to keep Jonnie grounded.

Debbie Hoisington...a wonderful lady, came over to wish her good luck.

The theme of the retreat was John 15 :1-15

1 "I am the true vine. My Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch joined to me that does not bear fruit. He trims every branch that does bear fruit. Then it will bear even more fruit.

3 "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain joined to me, and I will remain joined to you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain joined to the vine. In the same way, you can't bear fruit unless you remain joined to me.
5 "I am the vine. You are the branches. If anyone remains joined to me, and I to him, he will bear a lot of fruit. You can't do anything without me. 6 If anyone does not remain joined to me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and dries up. Branches like those are picked up. They are thrown into the fire and burned.
7 "If you remain joined to me and my words remain in you, ask for anything you wish. And it will be given to you. 8 When you bear a lot of fruit, it brings glory to my Father. It shows that you are my disciples.
9 "Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. In the same way, I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy will be in you. I also want your joy to be complete.
12 "Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
15 "I do not call you servants anymore. Servants do not know their master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. I have told you everything I learned from my Father.

Different speakers spoke on certain verses. Jonnie had verses 3 & 4. She used a a lovely word pictures when she described the verses. She said that as parents we have to teach our children how to wash their hands. We tell them that they need to lather the soap in their hands and create friction to get the soap sudsy to work into our pores to get them clean. But how many times have we caught our children putting soap on their hands and running them under the water faucet? That's what the word of God is. His words are the soap and to apply them to our lives we need to take action, create suds and work it in to our pores. And it's easy to just read the word and not apply what's said to our lives, just putting the soap on our hands and letting the water rinse it off. So how are you washing your hands....??

I was pretty proud to call her my sister. Afterwards we a little down time, so we ventured out along the river. Christy and Jonnie thought they'd be cute and play in the road. Photo opt!! I don't think she knows I'm posting this.....

O' Well!! :)

Women's Retreat 2011

Every year our church puts on a Women's Retreat up river above Asotin at Snake River Rendezvous for a weekend. There are 8 cabins, a dorm and a lodge and they get filled to the brim every time (I ended up bunking up with Jonnie). I've not gone the last two years since I've placed a judgement on going. It just felt that every time I went, something bad happened. I removed the judgement and took a chance. I then found out that Jonnie was going to be speaking and I didn't want to miss that opportunity. Jonnie with her BFF Christy and me.

We headed out of town last Friday as soon as I got off work. These are a few pictures I took when I work up first thing Saturday morning. It snowed on the very top of the canyon. Very thankful we were below the snow line.

Our days were packed with worship, fellowship, and speakers. Both nights I don't think we were in bed before midnight just to be up early again. To call this retreat a relaxing vacation is very far from the truth.

Home

Fifteen years ago, my dad was an EMT and a logger in a small subdivision south of Cascade called Smith's Ferry. My mom, a 911 Dispatcher for the Valley County Sheriff's Department. Times were hard for the Logging Industry then. My parents soon realized that we weren't going to be able to make it on just her salary alone. So they sought out other options. Thus her finding a position at the City of Lewiston Dispatch Center. We had no problems selling our 5 acres in the middle of nowhere and transferring to the Lewiston Valley. As a fourteen year old, I hated them for up-rooting me from the only place I called home.

Fast forwarding to present time, I still live in the Lewiston Valley, but that doesn't mean I miss home any less. (I still refer Smith's Ferry as home, I think I always will). Last weekend Eric and I made a unplanned trip to Boise to purchase some furniture that was too irresistible to pass up. We decided to head south through the Weiser route, but then we'd take our time coming up through Cascade and McCall. I asked him to stop in Smith's Ferry to let the dog out and for Caitrin to stretch her legs. Looking around, I saw very few things had changed. Still lots of snow and the roads were horrid. Here are a few snap shots of what used to be my home...

This is Cougar Mountain. Hiked around on it a few times, never saw a cougar.

Cougar Mountain Lodge. My bus stop every morning at 6:30am. It took and hour and a half each way to get to and from school in Cascade.

We lived two miles behind the Lodge, down river. Eric didn't want to try to attempt getting back to the house I used to live in since we had the furniture in the back of the truck. We didn't want to risk ruining it with mud and slush.

We didn't hang out for very long, the weather didn't look promising. Though the time was brief, I was satisfied in seeing where my roots once were established.

Photo Phun..

Last Saturday I had to work the LCSC Basketball game for Inland Cellular. Since we were the VIP's for the evening, we got to hang out in the conference room above the court. My camera has a panorama setting so I thought I'd try it out. I know it's small, but it's neat nonetheless...

Flea Market Child

With Tarren being 12, Eric and I feel she's old enough to keep an eye out for her brother and babysit her little sister for short periods of time. We tend to venture off to the grocery store sans the kids to avoid any meltdowns of wanting toys or really sugary cereals. Last Saturday was no exception. I think we might have only been gone 20 minutes.
When we pulled up to the drive, I saw Caitrin with her nose plastered to the back door window and tears streaming down her face. I rushed into the house to make sure everything was all right.

Mom: Bug, are you all right? What's wrong?
Caitrin: *sob* They *sob* said *sob* I was *sob* bought *sob* at a *sob* flea market! *sob*
Mom: If that were true, you were the best find I've ever found.

After picking her up and loving on her, I went in search of the culprits. They were hunkered down under a bed snickering. So when I went back into the kitchen to put the groceries away, I handed Caitrin a yummy chocolate chip cookie. When the other two saw what Caitrin got, they both came running to say they wanted one, too. I simply told them no. That the cookies were only for Flea Market Children, not Mean Biological Children. I can only hope that they learned not to pick on their little sister. But having four sisters myself, I kind of have a feeling it's only the beginning. Poor Caitrin, she's doomed....

Conversations....

Setting: In Caitrin's room trying to find clothes for her to wear.

Mom: Pick out a pair of pants please.
Caitrin: You know, Mom. I had a dream last night that I got to wear my blue and black dress. (her recital costume)
Mom: Ahh, nope. It's cold out, I'm not battling this with you this morning. You are wearing pants today.
Caitrin: But my dream told me to wear the dress today.
Mom: I'm sorry sweet heart. Your dreams are a product of your over active imagination. No go. Get dressed please.

Surprisingly enough, no battle after that.

Photo Phun...

Dance Recital

So Saturday evening rolled around and every one's nerves were shot. Tarren from being scared (this wasn't her first rodeo, so I was a little annoyed), Caitrin for obvious reasons pertaining to mass stranger anxiety, and mine from, well... both the girls. Dropping Caitrin off, I hurried and got a shot of all the girls: Tarren, Caitrin, LeAnna & Hannah. Forgive me for the blurriness: horrible lighting + shaky me doesn't equal quality pictures but proof enough that my girls danced.

This is were my heart sang with JOY! Caitrin actually stepped out on to the stage and started doing the moves with the other girls.

When I saw her moving, I burst into tears. I couldn't believe that she DANCED.

As soon as the whole recital was over, she made she let the instructors know that she wanted off the stage and wanted to find her mom and dad.

It was promised to Caitrin that if she danced, even just a little, that I would take her and Tarren to Baskin Robins for whatever they wanted. I couldn't be more proud of them!! (They did get their ice cream on Sunday after church)