Lesson learned

I learned a very good lesson today. Don't ever send food back at Ponderosa AKA Pondergrossa. Garry, Grace and I went there tonight for supper upon Grace's request. She likes the buffet and is tickled pink with the ice cream cone after we eat. When we got the steaks that Garry and I ordered they still had some moo in them. They had blood pouring out of them and they had a cold center. No lie! I can eat steak almost mooing but this was just plain raw. The center has to at least be warm for goodness sake. I took the steaks up to our waitress and told her the problem. She directed me to the manager who then took the steaks to get them taken care of. We sat to wait for the return of the steaks. A girl brought them out threw them on the table and almost all but ran away. I am still convinced she was in on the destruction of the food. They burnt them to a crisp. Mine especially was two times smaller than when it left us. Again, I am not all that picky and I can handle a very well done steak if I have to. These things got creamated. I got the attention of the waitress and showed her the problem. She got the manager and I could tell by the look on his face that someone was in DEEP trouble. He shook his head and said, "Now I know he did that to just be smart. I know he did that on purpose!" He was ticked at who ever "he" was that is for sure. He kept saying he was sorry and gave us a gift certificate for the price of our food. That would be great if we ever wanted to go there again! We went ahead and tipped the waitress. It wasn't her fault the dude in the back didn't like being told he had to re-do a steak. So the moral of the story is stop giving Pondergrossa one more try. We always say, "Oh let's give it one more try" because I guess many moons ago we went there and it was ok. We must just hold out hope that we could have that happen again but I guess that one time was a fluke of sorts. I should have taken a picture of my sad sad little steak to share with you the awsomeness of the cooks at Pondergrossa. Trust me, this blog can't even begin to describe the actuall experience. So, the upside to the story is that I didn't over-eat at all :) Yay me!

She melts me

Yesterday Garry and I took Grace to Monroe City for his Mom to watch her while we went out to dinner. As we drove down the road I noticed how beautiful the sun was coming through the rain clouds. It was beaming down in streams of light. I told Grace to look and she said she thought it looked like God was coming to earth. I asked her what would happen if God came to earth. She said that all the people that believe in Jesus would go back home with him. She asked me if she would be able to go with him. I told her that God knows what is in her heart and that she didn't have to worry. I told her why people get baptized and told her that there was nothing magic in the water and she didn't have to worry about that right now. She seemed happy with that answer so I was a little surprised when all on her own she went to ask Seth if she could be baptized. I had a hunch that is what she and Tali wanted when they went on the mission looking for him. Grace was so honest and pure in her answers to Seth's questions that I kept tearing up and couldn't help smiling at the same time. She cracked me up when she called the valley between us and God the "sin pit". Lauren got to pray with her and she was so patient and loving.
I will never forget this special moment in Grace's life with such special people whom we both love. It is amazing that Grace gets to share this with her best friend Tali. It is also amazing that I get to share this with my best friend Becky.
As we left the church I gave Grace a hug and told her she was the reason I started coming to church. I felt like I wasn't equipped to answer the big questions and I wanted to raise her knowing the love of God. I wanted her to know the love of a church family and be involved with the community in a positive way. I got all of that and so much more. God is so good.

Stupid people are....stupid.

Garry told me something today that just made me want to slap somebody! He pulled up at the bank behind a little car and while he was waiting his turn he noticed the lady in front of him turn a babies punkin' seat around by the handle so the baby was facing her in the front seat. Did ya catch that? A. The kid is in the front seat (big no no) B. The kid IS NOT buckled in. He saw her turn the seat around to face her with ease. If it was buckled in it wasn't in the right way for her to be able to turn it like that! Stupid people like this make me want to just pull my hair out. I see kids bouncing around in cars all the time obviously not buckled in. It hurts my heart and I always say a little prayer for those kids for God to protect them because He is all they have. I actually saw a woman a while back with a kid in her lap (in the passenger seat) while smoking. Nice. A friend of mine followed a car all over Indy while on the phone with police because of kids bouncing around the back seat. They got pulled over and I say put a star in his crown for a good deed done!

Grandma

My Grandma Madge (Dad's Mom) is now living with my Dad and Mom. She moved in today and my Mom was able to set up hospice for her here in Indiana. She was living in Mt. Carmel IL. with her campanion Jack who just passed away this week from cancer. Grandma has cancer too. She is in a good bit of pain right now and her pain medicine is not working as well as it was. I am really glad she was able to move in with them. It is sad that she has had to leave her home of like 18 or 20 years. Most of the people who has been taking care of her is from the Bicknell, Bruceville, Vincennes area. It will be easier for those people that had to travel that far and with the gas prices that will help too. I am hoping to get to spend some more time with her now that she is closer. The last time I was there she wanted to share with me the story of her prayer shawl. Some of the ladies of the Episcopal church she attends got a chance to meet some important people of the church (she didn't say who) and they had these people bless the shawl for her. It was special to her and makes her feel better when she has it on. Lots of people are praying for her and I am asking you my friends to pray for her to be at peace and pain free until God calls her home.

Turtles

Turtles, turtles everywhere! Since the floods I have seen a blue bazillion turtles here lately. I know that I'm not entirely crazy. Other people have seen them too. I have stopped twice to help a few of the little fella's across the road. Why did the turtle cross the road? He was stappled to the chicken. That one is an inside joke for Becky's Zach :) I love litle turtles and always wanted to have them as pets when I was a kid. I could never keep them alive though. R.I.P. all those brave little guys I captured when we lived in Carlisle out in the country. Grace and Tali will tell you if you see a turtle you have to poke it with a stick first to see if it will bite it. If it doesn't it isn't a snapping turtle. Wise words from the mouths of babes. When in doubt, poke it with a stick.

Yea church camp!

Grace just got back from church camp. She had an amazing time. I missed her while she was gone but I didn't cry this time :) The other two times she has been to camp I bawled like a baby. There are many reason why this time was much easier. Seth, Lauren and Anna happened to be there at this camp and that made it easier. Grace was so excited to go with Tali and that made it easier. I just felt a peace that she was going to be with people that love her and that she loves. I never got the chance to go to church camp when I was a child. I really feel liked I missed out on something really awesome. I don't want Grace to ever look back and feel like I held her back or became a helicopter mom hovering over her all the time. She is getting to be a big girl. She is already excited about next year and I love that she can't wait until she goes for a whole week. The truth is that I won't like it much. I don't like not having her around but no more tears because I know she is having a blast while she is gone. It takes special people to be camp counselors and camp staff (and camp pastors). Maybe some day when Grace is a teen she will get to be a counselor and share God's love with little kids. I can't wait to see what wonderful things she is going to do. Just like they learned at camp this week, she is such a light! Shine on baby Grace.

Story to tell

I helped out a fellow stylist at work today by rinsing a condtioner off her customer (the stylist was running WAY behind). I have talked to this girl a few times when she has been in the salon and I really like her. She is the typical kid that has had a lot of things handed to her, like most teens this day and age are. She gets her hair done regularly and her nails too. She always has designer clothes, shoes and bags. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that by the way, just a little back ground to set the stage for the story I have to tell. As I am rinsing her hair she looks up at me and tells me she feels bad for getting her hair done. I am thinking she is feeling bad for running her stylist behind (she called in a panic begging to get in for a clarifying treatment). She goes on to tell me that she has been on a mission trip to Hondurous(spelling?). She tells me that she feels guilty for coming to get her hair done when there are people out in the world that have nothing. She went on to tell me that she felt so bad for the people that she gave away everything that she brought with her right down to her favorite tennis shoes and her face wash. Any girl knows that a good face wash is worth it's weight in gold! She also told me a story of how people on the street have visible body lice and open sores on their bodies and she still hugged them and showed them God's love. She said she could always replace all of those things in time and it meant so much more to those people. She was so blessed by this trip and I was blessed to get to hear her story and tell her how blessed I thought she was. She seemed to be pleased that I understood what she was trying to convey to me. It wasn't like she was wanting a pat on the back for her giving but just to share the joy she got from doing so. It was an amazing experience for her and I thank God for allowing her to share with me.