One Insane Youth Pastor

My Husband is Crazy. He is a also a Youth Pastor. Those two things seem to go hand in hand. He recently just quit his daily grind job to start his own business. I have never seen him so happy and excited (except for the day he married me). He has a lot of extra time now and a flexible schedule. This leaves time for our family and ministry.

We have taken advantage of this new found freedom by having our youth group kids over a lot. They like to hang out and watch movies or go golfing or bake cookies. So the other night after a church wide activity that ended before 11 p.m., we knew we had to do something. It was the end of the summer. We can't end a party that early. School starts this week. So they all crashed at our house. And they brought a Scary Movie. Now the last scary movie I watched was Nightmare on Elm Street part one. Yes, It has been THAT long. I am a Scaredy Cat. I watched most of The Ring Part two through a blanket or watched the reflection in my fireplace screen. After the screamfest ended I had to drive a couple of the girls home. This was at about 2:30 a.m. And I couldn't take my Husband with me. I must really love those teens.

Back to Crazy Larry. The teen boys weren't ready to end the party so they stayed and I hit the sack. The girls decided to call the boys and try to scare them. What they didn't know was the boys were still at our house with Crazy Larry. (And that cell Phones have caller ID) So the boys, directed by my Husband, go over to the girls house and Larry puts on a dark coat and a blanket over his head and stands outside the girl's window and calls them. He tells them what's going inside their house with a freaky voice. Things like "Look outside your window" and "Those are nice red chairs". The girls get a little scared, but who is really upset is the girl's mom. She wakes up and hears them talking to boys on the phone at 4:30 in the morning and can only assume the worst.

Imagine her surprise when she finds out it's the Youth Pastor.

It's Official!

Our youngest is officially a Kindergartener. She had a great day. She brought home her glue sticks because she couldn't find them in her backpack. She is also officially a blonde.

OOOH! That's Scary!

There are three kinds of people that watch a scary movie:

A. The Scaredy Cat. This person watches the movie under a blanket or behind a pillow. They don't watch the really scary scenes and they scream a lot.

B. The Aggrevator. This person is not scared of the movie and generally talks through the entire show driving the other movie watchers crazy.

C. The Fan. This person truly loves a scary movie and wants to watch it and be scared.

Can you guess which group I fall into?

Something better than Calgon

I just returned from shopping at Wal-mart with four children. You would think that would stressful, but the kids were great. I saw the Calgon and was tempted to buy it. (Larry always tells me not to get to preachy on this blog thing, but sometimes I like to preach at myself so here goes.) I have something stronger than Calgon to take me away. God has written a love letter to me that I can read anytime to take me away. Nothing soothes and calms like the Word of God. Nothing brings you back to reality faster. God is so much bigger and greater than we are. He can take away all the worries and stress if I let Him. He gives me the strength and grace to clean, cook, organize, plan and discipline. Now if I can just remember that I won 't need the Calgon.

I need some Calgon

Ever have a day or week where you feel like you can't keep up with anything? Or you can't do anything right? The Castle household has been in medium level chaos most of the summer. The kids have had a great time playing outside and have forgotten what a chore is. My oldest daughter told me she forgot how to clean. My husband quit his job to begin his own company. We no longer have a paycheck coming in. He assures me this in only temporary. I believe him, but it doesn't help with the waiting. All the neighborhood children are going back to school TOMORROW! I am home schooling the oldest two this year and still haven't decided what to do. I finally got to planning yesterday and my sister-in-law calls with a kid emergency. Today I am babysitting that emergency. We ran out of milk and juice and fruit. The kids have eaten peanut butter and jelly and mac and cheese. And to top it all off my husband got a wisdom tooth pulled yesterday. He was drugged up most of the day.

I don't think even Calgon can help at this point. Unless it would help get the bathtub clean.

Paint the town . . .

I wish I had thought to take a picture! I don't think you can imagine the redness of the kitchen when I came around the corner to find the little red girl crying as she stood on the red purgo floor in front of the open red refrigerator. I didn't have a mirror handy, but I'd wager that my face turned some shade of red too when I realized what happened.

I also have to say that I deserve the Most Insensitive Dad Award for making such a big deal out of how this wouldn't have happened if she had been paying attention when I said, "just get a glass and I'll help you."

Oh well. No use crying over . . . uugh! Bad analogy. I guess one bright spot is that it gave me a chance to demonstrate what it looks like to humble yourself, admit you were wrong, and ask for forgiveness. I'm always telling the girls to do that. Yesterday I got to model it.

The other bright spot is under the base board of the fridge. :-)

Physics lesson

A six year old child has the ability to spill a pitcher of red Kool-aid to cover every square inch of a refrigerator. This also includes the area under the refrigerator.

It takes three rolls of paper towels to soak up a pitcher of Kool-aid.

We will not be purchasing Kool-aid anymore.

Canada Eh!

My husband and I just returned from a business trip to Winnipeg Canada. Being so close to America there are a lot of similarities, but it is definitely a foreign country. We must have said 50 times "Only in Canada."
We saw these signs all over the city. At first we thought these were just polite warnings. Then later on that night when we heard sirens several times we weren't so sure. We took the signs advice just in case.
This shirt is an example of Canadian humor. Larry liked this one.
Canadian technology at its best.
And where else can you find a Strip and Rip connected to a Howard Johnson's?

Kids!

We took a trip today to a HUGE mall about an hour away. Larry hooked up the laptop so the kids could watch a video while we drove. This makes the time go by so much faster. At this HUGE mall there is a glorified Chuck E. Cheese type place called Jeepers!. They have video games and rides and even a small roller coaster. There is also a carousel at the mall and a play area in the food court. We probably make it to the HUGE mall 3 times a year. The girls love going. On the way home I was thinking while we were driving around trying to find the way home about when was the first time I went to a mall. I think I was in seventh grade. My best friend Monica and I spent 10 bucks at the County Seat on matching shirts. We didn't have play areas and roller coasters or video players in the car. We didn't even have air conditioning in one of our cars. Which brings me too my point. My kids are spoiled. I bought them a little something at the Hello Kitty store for a little treat. My oldest kid says "I didn't want that." (Whine and Cry sound effects should be added here. And then Loud Sigh sounds from Mom.) I expected her to thankful that her Mommy thought to get her a small treat. It hit me then that when kids get too many treats they don't appreciate a kind gesture. Nothing is special. It is the expected. It is the norm. It creates a desire for more. What else can I get. I am trying to teach them to be selfless and giving. I didn't realize my giving to them was doing the exact opposite.

An Ironic Evening

It was a beautiful evening last night. My family and I decided to spend it outdoors at Greenfield Village. (Or The Henry Ford as they would like you to call it.) They are having special Saturday nights in the summer where the Village is open until 9 instead of the usual 5 o' clock closing time. They are also having special concerts on the Village Green. You can bring chairs or blankets and sit and listen to a live performance. They have a different group every week. This weeks group was the North Star Gospel Chorale. They were very good. The kids had a great time listening to familiar songs like "What a Friend we have in Jesus" and "God is so Good". They also sang a few Negro Spirituals and Civil War songs. The kids learned a little bit about slavery and expressed shock when we explained it to them. Larry told them about the Underground Railroad and one of them piped up with "They took the Subway?"

After we were sitting there for a while it struck me as ironic that we were listening to music about freedom and equality.

Every one around me was middle or upper class white Americans.

Like you need another hole in your head...

My two girly girls got their ears pierced today. The boyish girl would have nothing to do with it. I told her she could get a pirate tattoo instead. She said no.

How much did you say that would be?

I was just trying to be good mother by taking my children to the library. Of course they checked out a few books, but the big thrill is the free video rental. They also just started stocking DVDs. So usually our trips to the library sound something like this.

"Mom, Can we get a movie?"
"Only one per person. And you have to get some books too."

We then get to the video section and the begging begins.

"Can I get this one and this one?"
"No."

We usually come away with about 26 books and 4 videos. One educational that Mom picks out.

I try to be careful about the due dates for I have been blacklisted by the library in the past.( Another embarrassing story for another day.) The due date on the book I am reading is July 26th. So I assumed wrongly that everything was due on the 26th. What I didn't realize is that videos are 3 DAY rental. Yes, my videos were 23 days overdue. At a dollar a day that's a lotta cash. I didn't realize they were late until I received a notice in the mail on the 26th telling me they were grossly overdue. Yikes! I could have bought that Mary Kate and Ashley Video for what I was going to owe!

So I take my three super cute kids with me to the library to beg for mercy from the library gods. I tell the girls to be good and smile a lot and if need be to start crying if the librarian makes us cough up the dough.

It worked like a charm. My 33 dollar charge was reduced to 6.

I was thinking about how much more we owe to God. He paid my entire debt. He shows us mercy every day. I was so grateful to the librarian for the small amount of mercy she showed me. How thankful am I to God? And do I show that mercy to others? To my children?

Captain Claire

Ahoy there!