Halloween

We are still alive... just buried under the piles of laundry and mess that have invaded with full force this fall as we juggled Zane's referee schedule, full time jobs, and Graham's increased activity schedule. If I am still awake 10 minutes after the kids have gone to bed, I'm thinking it has been a pretty ok day!!

Lots has happened in the past month or so- here is a quick summary:

1. Zane injured his achilles tendon while reffing a game and was in a walking boot for a month. During that month, he was going to physical therapy two or three times a week in addition to all of his games. He couldn't work the field, but he sure is a pro at manning the clock!! We were glad that he was able to keep working some games so that we can pay cash for Christmas!
2. Karis was bitten by our neighbor's dog a few weeks ago and it has been a pretty bad experience for her. She has never liked dogs, but now she is TERRIFIED of anything that has 4 legs and fur. We were extremely blessed that our neighbors were so easy to work with and had good records on their dog. Tracy could produce the formal receipt and paperwork for the last rabies shot so that we had no doubt about Karis' health. They even called the police themselves to report the incident so that there would be the proper record on file and we think that they got rid of the dog. It was a bad scene, but it could have been sooooooo much worse. We are so thankful that Karis was not hurt any worse than she was!

I'm sure other crazy things have happened... like Karis asking me in the car Sunday if she had a penis and if I'd ever seen one, but I'd never stop typing if I documented all the hilarious stuff that happened around here. : )

The title drew you in to see our Trick-or-Treaters... so without further ado..... here they are!

This year it was Zane's turn to accompany the kids around the block and I stayed home to hand out the candy. When did kids forget that you are supposed to say "Trick or Treat" when you open the door? I think I had three kids all night who actually said "Thank you" to me... it made me sad to think that our culture doesn't value manners the way I was raised to value them.

Once the kids returned home, we threw our suitcase in the van, and took the costumes on the road! Our first stop was at Aunt Susan and Uncle Terry's house. We didn't stay long, but long enough to see the cool planet that were shining brightly in the clear sky. Awesome site!!

Our next stop was at Trish's house. For all 7 Halloween's that Graham has been alive, we have gone to Trish's to wish her a Happy Birthday and to have pumpkin pie. We though that this year would be the one to break the tradition as they had planned to go out of town for the weekend. Much to our surpise and definitely to our delight, those plans changed during the week, so we headed over to see Trish and Bean. Part of the tradition is to take a photo of the kids on the loveseat in their living room. In the first photo, there are four Nolan children with baby Graham... now there is only one Nolan with my two. Next year, the couch will be empty as Bean heads off to college. Here are some photos from that wonderful visit... and glimpse of what Karis was like at about 9:15 after 3 pieces of Halloween candy!!!

After we wrangled Karis into her PJs and doped Graham up on the Benedryl, we pulled off to grab a quick bite to eat at the local Wendy's. Never expected a huge line at the Wendy's in Walkertown at 9:35 at night, but you have to expect the unexpected in life. It was 10:00 before we headed off into the night to travel up to Nana's Mountain. We pulled into the driveway in Jefferson at about 11:30 with two sleeping munchkins who were pooped out! What a night!

We had a great weekend in the mountains... too short, but good just the same! Mom and I collected leaves for a craft project that we worked on, and Zane and I built a toilet bucket for my friend Dave's surprise birthday party on Sunday. More pictures and details to come on that adventure... photos are on Mom's camera and I need to show the final product rather than explain!

Fall Break is over in 15 minutes. I have students coming in for class tomorrow, so I must bring this update to an end. Hope all is well with you and that I can post more frequently now that football season is over!!!

A Glimpse of the Man within

These past few days I have had the opportunity to realize that there is a man inside my little boy. One day, he is going to be a full-sized hairy man. (Based on genetics... sorry Graham!) I have always known that one day he would hopefully become a husband and a father, but God really has opened my eyes in the past few days to the fact that I am shaping what type of man he will be in the future. It is up to Zane and I to make sure he knows how to be a man of God with integrity, self-control, kindness and forgiveness in his heart. Wow... I'm feeling the pressure.

Through several events this past weekend, we have had to teach some hard lessons. Ones like some of us had to learn the hard way... like when I took something from a store and rather than just punish me, my parents took me back to the store and made me go and explain to the manager what I had done. Graham didn't steal anything, but he did have some hard lessons to learn this week and it has been hard as a parent to know I am teaching them the right way.

Graham had to make a couple of hard phone calls to make apologies this week and as I stood by listening, I teared up to see my boy who months ago would have been meekly mumbling an "I'm sorry" stand there and boldly apologize and accept responsibility for what he had done wrong. I had a quick glimpse of that man within.

We have been blessed with a close group of friends in life. Several of these friends have been strong examples for Graham these past few days as they showed him forgiveness and support as he worked to right his wrongs. He has seen and experienced grace ... what a blessing for us as parents to have others in our lives who can help us raise our son to be the man we want him to be.

It is a hard realization for me to know that my innocent little boy is already taking steps toward becoming a man. It is even more scary for me to think about what a huge role I play each day in shaping who that man will be. My grandchildren and daughter-in-law depend on me to make God-centered decisions that will shape Graham into the man of God they will need in their lives years from now.

Thank the Lord for wonderful friends, fabulous church families and excellent grandmothers to help in the process! Keep us in your prayers as we continue to work each day on this project!

Girl Time

Karis and I took a break from consignment sale hanging and tagging two weeks ago and went to have some girl time. Zane and Graham dropped us off at the nail salon and then went next door to Game Stop to look for cheap used games. Karis was a true princess as she sat in the pedichair and was perfectly still while the girl painted her toes. She even sat still to wait for them to dry! I know some may worry that I am teaching her to be pampered and spoiled, but I want her to know that it is ok to do something nice for yourself every once in a blue moon. While she was getting the flowers painted on her toes, I was having a summer's worth of bare-foot-gunk scrubbed off my feet and a relaxing foot massage to boot. If you haven't taken 20 minutes for yourself lately... do it! It doesn't have to require money- just take time away from life's expectations and obligations to breathe and do something nice for yourself. If you are refreshed, it will make you much better equipped to serve others and return to your responsibilities.

Here's a peek at the princess' toes... boy, was she proud!!!

Matt, Matt, Be-Ja-Hat...

This is just one of the great magic spells that my boy spouted out last weekend as he entertained us with a magic show. He was trying to come up with things to do during the rain without turning on the tv. He had lost privileges for the afternoon, and was going crazy stuck inside with no electronic access. SO WERE WE!!!

Zane and I were in the midst of consignment sale HELL as we hauled out all the winter clothing our children had ever owned and most of the "baby toys" that we had in the house. We were hanging up clothes and tagging them in order to start the circuit in town of all the pre-school consignment sales. You'll notice in the background that there are piles of clothes EVERYWHERE... and that is after we picked up a bit. We have taken things to two sales now and have made a significant dent in our closet clutter.... but we made a huge mess in order to get to this point. We have hung and tagged an additional 150 pieces to take to the next sales on the circuit. I will be happy if I never see another safety pin and I really feel like Mommy Dearest with the "NO WIRE HANGERS!!!" mantra that is playing in my head. I'll let you know how we do when the checks start rolling in... hopefully it will be worth the time and energy we spent to get things ready to go!

Enjoy the magic show. Graham is available for your next birthday party, corporate event, or family gathering if you need a magician. Please contact his agent, Karis Tuck, for booking information.

Catch Up Time...

Ok, I took a 3 hour nap today and so I am able to stay up a little later to catch up on some computer time. I haven't updated my BLOG in forever, so there will be a few posts tonight. For all of you readers out there, forgive my lapse. As Brian Thomas said, "you've been workin too hard if you don't have time to blog!" Thanks for reminding me to slow down!!!

Hope all are well and that you enjoy the catch-up posts.

And the Race is on...

Ok, so it is obvious that the first real week back to school kicked my behind... big time! I knew that it was going to be very different from the calm, relaxed schedule we have had this summer, but I had conveniently forgotten what a toll the days at school take on me mentally and physically. I was hurtin to stay awake longer than the kids all week this past week and I think I could have taken a nap every day if they would have let me.

Graham's first week in 1st grade went very well. He had "Green" days all week, which for those of you who aren't well versed in elementary behavior management means that his behavior was good. We were thrilled for that... especially when we discovered that he knew all but one of the other people sitting at his table! Wonder where he got that love of talking to other people from??? No Mom, you don't need to pull out the old report cards... we all know he comes by it honestly! He starts his 2nd grade reading class tomorrow, so we will see how this week goes. It works out very well that the two grade levels have matching schedules for reading group time. Graham will be with several girls who were in his 1st grade reading group last year which will hopefully provide him with some familiarity as he enters a new class tomorrow.

Karis' week was wonderful. She has made herself right at home back at "Nana" Suzanne's house and many days, she has to be forced to come home with me! That does my heart good to know that she is so happy there and so well loved and taken care of. We have been sooooo blessed with wonderful women (aka angels!) who have loved our babies in their first years. Trish was wonderful for Graham and Suzanne is a blessing to Karis. We thank God for his blessing that we haven't had to put either of them in daycare in their early years.

Zane had a JV and a Varsity football game this past week, so the end of the week was busy. He didn't make it home Friday night until close to 11 and as he climbed into bed, I asked if he had taken his state exam for football.... the testing window closed at midnight Friday. After he yelled "Yikes!" and jumped out of bed, he took the test in under 40 minutes and scored his highest score yet... a 94. Nothing like performing under pressure!

We traveled to VA to see Zane's family on Saturday morning for a quick 2 day trip. It was nice to spend some time with Grammy and the kids had a great time seeing cousin Nathan. I got up from napping with Karis Saturday afternoon to find Graham and Nathan in the back yard running in the sprinkler in their undies... won't be long before they are too old for that. They had a great time playing in the water and launching their gliders- until 2 of them got stuck on top of Grammy's camper. That was the sign that it was time to go to dinner. It was later than normal dinner rush, so our party of 8 was able to get seated right away- a true gift from God. Sunday was wonderful as we traveled to Bedford to the Wal-Mart there. This Wal-Mart is the Virginia Tech mecca and Zane was in heaven looking at all the things he wanted for Christmas- they had a 10x10 pop-up VT tent and tons of other cool stuff. We played outside and then finally packed up the family truckster to head home at about 5:30 or so.

Today was laundry day. While Zane separated clothes, I started hanging up the clothes that we are sending to the consignment sales this fall. I got close to 75 pieces ready, and I haven't even made much of dent in the piles yet! We got a call from Bryce and Ingrid Hoover, friends of ours who live in Charlotte now, and they were in town. We met them for a hot dog at Bill and Leah's and spent the afternoon catching up with them. After a short nap, we headed to mom's house for a family cook-out with Meredith, Micah and the girls. Since our trip to the beach this summer together, the kids are much more comfortable with the "uncles" who often aren't around when we do other activities together. It has been neat to see Karis kid around with Micah and Zane give Jordan a hard time about being his "girlfriend". I wish all of our family could be as close in location so that the family bonds were much stronger.

We missed church yesterday while we were out of town, and I can definitely feel the missing piece to my puzzle of life. Karis and I sang some praise songs while on the porch, but it wasn't quite the same. I am looking forward to getting back into the Word this week and getting to church on Sunday.

Looking at the week ahead, we have lots of things on the schedule already. As my title says, the race is on. I haven't done such a great job of staying on top of my game these past two weeks and I am hopefull that we will be able to control the pace a little better in the weeks to come. It is hard to say No to things that you really want to do and participate in, but at the same time, when is enough enough? I especially need some time with week to be still and know that God is God. Hope I can successfully make that time.

We are holding our breath awaiting the new arrivial of our friend's Jayne and Jason's first child. Hopefully we will have good news to report SOON!!!

Hope all of you out there in cyber land are doing well and that if you stop by the page, you'll leave us a note to let us know how you are. Take care and have a great week!!

"Back to Life... Back to Reality..."

Seems like those lyrics were in my head all day today as I did return to the working world and try to begin my school year. Things were off to a rocky start as I spent 5 minutes last night working on getting the alarm set to just the right time, BUT obviously forgot to flip the switch into the ON position!! I am blessed with a God that loves me, because I rolled over and woke up with enough time to get ready and still be on time. The first day back is usually filled with lots of meetings... and today was no different. We spent the entire morning listening to presentations and it was a struggle to stay focused. They say that the average person has an attention span equal to the number of years old they are. I'd say I hung in there with the 60-70 year old crowd, but after that, I was hurtin to pay attention!!

The kids spent some time back in a more normal routine and I think that it was good for both of them. I did get lots of hugs and love today which shows me that they noticed I wasn't around as much as normal. That made my heart feel good. Karis had a real treat today on her first day back with Suzanne. She got to ride with John and Suzanne as they delivered their latest foster baby to meet his "Forever Family". Suzanne said that Karis told the nurses at the Children's Home that she was going to get a new Mommy and Daddy tomorrow. When they asked how she was going to do that, she simply told them that Suzanne would take her to meet them. Guess I better step it up a bit or I might lose my job as Mommy!!!! :)

We have scheduled a meeting to talk about Graham's school year coming up and we are praying that things will be put in place to help him have a wonderful year. We want him to be able to hit the ground running rather than dragging feet like we did this past year waiting on things to happen. His teacher is a wonderful girl that I went to high school with. She is a quiet, calm, sweet girl. I think that will be a gift for Graham to have her... let's just hope she feels that way about him as the year goes on!!

Well, as reality has set in, the Tucks prepare to hold on for the ride. Don't blink ya'll, it's about to get interesting!!!

Life this Week

We have been BUSY! As summer comes to a close, we are trying to stuff lots of summer activity and fun into the days we have left. Here's a little of what we have been up to ...



* Zane is in the final weeks of his yearly training to start the football season. To ref, he has to attend class one night a week all through the summer. The exam is coming up and he is studying hard. This year will be a year of adding on-field experience for JV games and probably doing some sideline/clock work at Varsity games. While football season means I am a single mom a lot, it also fullfills something in Zane that is very valuable. His love for the sport and for what he is doing is a big source of happiness for him. It is well worth the extra responsibility on my part in order for him to connect with other guys who love the sport as much as he does. He has found a new friend in the process and believe it or not, I think that the football field will be a great mission field for him to live his faith out as he works with the players and other officials. This week holds three events for Zane in his football life, so our evenings have been a bit crazy. Who knows- one day you may see him on the field doing college ball! That would be a dream come true for him!!!



* The kids and I have been trying to catch summer and hold on to it! We spent a day at my sister's pool with the cousins and became raisins in the sun. Graham can finally touch the bottom of the pool and was a whole new swimmer. He was turning flips under water and swimming like a fish. That has been a cool thing to watch. Karis became less like a leach and was venturing out enough to have about 12 inches between her body and mine. Being born in January was a huge detriment to her love of the water. Graham started swimming at Trish's house when he was 8 weeks old. Karis was much older and never developed the same love for the water. Bath time has even become quite a struggle as we face the meltdown when it comes to washing her hair. Perhaps I should cut it shorter, but I can't do that just yet.

* School is around the corner. I spent two days at Mom's house in the mountains with two of my team members to get a up-start on the school year this past week. It was wonderful to spend time with them and toss around ideas and plans for the year, but it really brought in the reality of the fact that life is about to take some drastic changes for our family. It has been a challenge for me this summer to be home with the kids all day, every day. But at the same time, we have bonded and had some incredible fun together. In some ways, I am hungry to go back and return to what I feel called to do- teach. In others, I know that I will miss the care-free days of the summer that we have enjoyed. My stress level has been drastically different this summer. Looking forward, I know that there is going to be an extreme need for me to PRIORITIZE things in my life. My obligations are about to triple in about a week, and I don't want to lose hold of what is important. It makes me crazy when we are away from home 4 nights a week and the list of things to do never gets any shorter. Where do I draw the lines and say "No more?" As I have thought about these things, here is a short list of some things I plan to "put in place" once school is back in session.

1. I must work hard to accomplish as much as possible at school to minimize how much work I bring home. It is not unusual for me to have between 2 and 4 hours of work to do at night. That usually translates into time spent after the kids are in bed. My goal is to reduce this amount of time as much as possible so that I have time and energy left to spend with Zane.
2. I want to meal plan and prep on the weekends so that dinners can be as quick as possible while still being healthy. One of the shows I saw a few times this summer while folding laundry, was a lady on the Food Network who prepped for her meals and put all components in ziplocks on the weekend. Each meal was ready to eat within 20 minutes or so.
3. Zane and I have to establish a "Date Night". With him gone so often doing football, our "us" time becomes non-existant. When he is home, I want the kids to spend time with him and what happens is that there isn't any time left for us. Ideally, I'd love for this to be once every two weeks, but I'd be ok if it was at least once a month that we had a sitter and went somewhere by ourselves.
4. I have to make time for me. Since Karis came along and our routine changed to include an infant, time for myself ceased to exist. I became last on the list. As she is older and more independent, it is time for that to change. On a small scale, I would like to earn the right to go to the bathroom alone. On a larger scale, I'd like to take time to do some of the things I need to/want to do for myself.

The list of things that needs to happen before school starts is long... but I will start the endless journey with one step. If I can accomplish these things, then others can be tackled at a later date.

* Finally, as an end to this rambling post, I will share with you a little about the series that we are currently involved in at The River. It is called "OverFlow" and it is about how we are called to allow Christ to flow from us into the world we live in. Last week we focused on abiding in Christ so that we might be full of life as he promises. This week, Joey asked us to focus on sharing the love of Christ in our Jerusalem- our close circle of family, friends and co-workers. We were challenged to select someone within that group that we were going to FLOW onto. We are then to pray for them, listen to them (develop a deeper relationship with them), love them (in a way that isn't obvious or ostentatious) and then to share with them. The first three are going to be very easy for me... the last one will be the challenge. I'll keep you posted on how things go!

We have a busy week ahead. Monday is the week of BULK ITEM PICK UP in our zone. This means that we need to really spend some time tonight in our garage and purge the big junk that needs to take a hike. If you are in the market for some junk, come ride through our neighborhood... looks like there is a bunch out there! Tuesday is a workshop for me at school and I planned to "open" my classroom. I'll work a full day while my dear, dear mother has my kids. Zane has a scrimmage game on Tuesday night, so he'll be gone all evening. Wednesday and Thursday will be mad cleaning days as we work to evict the dust bunnies who have declared squatter's rights in our house in preparation for our Life Group to come to our house while Smitty and Meredith move. (Those of you in Life Group, we are thrilled to have you... we just don't want to scare any of you away with our clutter!) Friday, Zane has another football game and then we are into the LAST weekend of the summer before school starts! In between all of that, I hope that we can go swimming at least one more day and that we can inhale the sweet smell of summer before the rat race begins!!

Satan's After ME!!!!!!!

Ever had a day like that??? Well, here is a re-cap of how active he has tried to be in my life today (and it is only 1:58 pm as I sit to write this, so I am sure he has other things in store for me!)

This morning started off wonderfully. Zane kissed me goodbye as he left to go to his state-wide football ref meeting. I was enjoying some quiet snoozing time as Graham played in the living room and Karis slept. I wasn't asleep, but not totally awake. I had a ton of awesome thoughts about some things I could do in my classroom this year, ways I could be a better teacher, things I could do to minister to families of middle school children as an outreach of my faith, ways to share my love for Christ with others around me who I am in contact with day in and day out... just awesome time with God. He uses that quiet time with me... I just don't make enough of it! I glanced at the clock and saw that it was close to time for me to get up, get the kids dressed and we would have enough time to stop at Hardee's for a Sunday morning treat of a biscuit and juice before church. I thanked God for all the blessings in my life (including my cozy bed!) and then pulled myself out of the "dreamy" state. I firmly placed my feet on the floor to begin my joyous day, and from that moment on, Satan was on me.

He started as I got to Karis and she said, "Mommy, can you help me... I wet." (For those who didn' t know, Karis has been potty trained this summer and has had amazing success. She transitioned quickly from pull-ups to real underwear in a matter of two weeks and has been accident free for the past 5 weeks. She has been sleeping in real underwear and often doesn't potty until well into the morning- hours after getting up.) NOT TODAY! I pulled off her wet clothes and went into her room to find a wet bed- a very wet bed. No biggie... accidents happen... we can wash these things and move on with the glorious day God has planned.

We finish getting ready- everyone dressed and out the door in plenty of time to hit Hardee's and make it church on time. After we are out the door, I realize that my pocketbook is in the van... and I hold my breath to see if Zane left the door unlocked after he got the checkbook out this morning to go to his meeting. Of course not... he did the responsible thing and locked it behind him. So my beautiful children are dressed for church and ready for breakfast, standing the driveway waiting to get into a van that is locked. What to do? Well, most people would go back inside, BUT we were locked outside and my keys to the house were.... drumroll please.... yes, you guessed it- in the VAN!!!!

Now, God loves me and he will never give me more than I can handle. He guided me to pick up my cell phone before we left the house- it was the only thing I had. So, I figure no big deal. I'll call Zane and have him run home quickly to unlock it for us. Before the first ring, the call goes into voicemail... his phone is turned off! AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! So, plan B- call Nana. Mom was coming home from the mountains this morning and it was early enough that I thought she might be still on the road and could swing by to at least let us back in the house. Nope.... no answer on Nana's phone. Ok... I then try Zane a few more times and then Nana again and begin to realize that we might be stuck outside for a while. I take a chance and try to call my sister. They live close and even if they have headed to church, it is close as well. Meredith's phone goes into voicemail also, so I try Micah. He answers!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Micah comes to the rescue and attempts to use a coathanger to get our van open. We use a variety of items- including a ninja star from Graham's Transformer toy he was taking for the ride. No luck, so Micah says for us to drop him back by his church and for us to take their van on to church with us. By this time, it is 10:27 and church starts at 10:30. Nothing like being on time!

Ok, so we drop off Micah (who we have decided gets the superhero status for today!) and head toward church. My kids are complaining that they are hungry, as well they should be since they hadn't had breakfast yet. Well, unfortunately, I now have transportation, but no pocketbook with money to buy them anything. I simply say a prayer that Lindsey will understand and feed them once I get to church. We make it to church in time for me to get them ushered in and grab a seat. I let out a sigh and collect myself. I give Satan a little "humph" and a "so there!" as I begin to focus on the message for the day. He did lots of things to end my joy and to keep me from making it to church, but we overcame.

About 5 minutes into Joey's message, my chair makes a funny noise. Those of you from The River will understand my concern. For those of you who haven't visited, we have some chairs who have been less-than-kind to a few other members and dumped them on the floor during parts of the services in the past month or so. The last thing I wanted was to end up on the floor with a loud crash... I think that might have been the straw on the camel's back for me. So I begin to focus on sitting VERY still so as to not disturb the delicate state I think my chair is in. I found myself battling between listening to Joey and focusing on being still (doesn't sound hard- but it was). I finally told Satan to leave me alone and let me listen. I prayed that God would hold that chair together through the rest of the message.

As I listened, I knew that Satan didn't want me there because I needed to hear the things that were said today. We are starting a series called "Overflow" and it is about how we need to let Christ overflow out of us and into the world we live in. Joey used the Gatorade analogy... "Is it in you?" If we drink from the living waters of Christ, we will be filled with him and when we go about life, we will have it oozing out of us and onto others. Just like in the commercials... the athlete drinks in the Gatorade and then as they sweat and play, the color drips out of them. As the start of the school year gets close this is what I need to think about everyday... will my words and actions "drip" with the love of Christ or will I just pass by folks without any effect on them.

I firmly believe that Satan was scared of me this morning when I woke up. I was having an awesome time with God and Satan was afraid to let me continue that. It was a challenge to remember whose I was this morning... I wanted so badly to just throw my hands in the air and say "WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG?!?!?!" (If you've ever felt that way, let me warm you that if you ask, often times you are shown what else can go wrong... and trust me, there is always something else!!) Instead, I kept turning my attention back to God and asking Him for guidance, patience, help, and lots of other things. He gave me those and much more. He sent help in the form of my brother-in-law as we were able to make it to church. He gave me patience to not lose my cool with my kids who were VERY GROUCHY and not-so-understanding of our situation. He held my chair together and kept me from being very embarrassed during the message. He spoke to me through Joey's words and helped me to see some things that I need to do on a daily basis so that I can be overflowing with His love in my life. He had Donny pick one of my favorite praise songs to end the service with so that even though I missed the praise portion of church this morning, I got to sing one of my favorites to show my thanks for all of God's help. God is good... even in the crazy bad times.

So, I post this saga of today to warn you. Satan is out there and he's lookin for a way to keep you from being close to God. I think that the closer you get, the more actively he pays attention to you and focuses on ways to distract you. I find comfort in the fact that I made him nervous today. Am I glad that I had the drama in my life this morning... well, I'd have preferred to have a joyous morning that included breakfast at Hardee's and a pleasant ride to church. BUT, the rebel in me is a little thrilled that I managed to go a round with the little red guy and come out singing the praises to my God and King!

I hope that you all are having a wonderful day and that you will ask yourself, "What am I doing today to make Satan a little nervous about me?" If he locks you out of your house and van... call me. I'll come get you AND take you to Hardees! : )

"Mommy, It helps if you shake your leg!"

Ok... so that is not exactly what you expect to hear on a typical Sunday evening. But, that was Graham's advice to me as I attempted to play Guitar Hero with his Daddy and him on Sunday. The boys have had a great time with this new video game and it has become a great motivator for Graham to do the things he is supposed to do... because he knows he'll lose his 15 minutes of video time at night if his behavior is not what it should be.

Graham has practiced quite a few of the classic songs from the 80's by all the bands Zane and I remember hearing on the radio during our childhood. I'm just waiting to see the face of the next adult who he tells "I've been practicing 'Talk Dirty to Me' at home!" Can you see it now?!?!?

Here are a few pictures of the latest "Jam Session" at 151 HS Dr. Karis can't quite reach things on the guitar yet, so she gets to stand on the stage (aka the coffee table) and be Hannah Montana singing along with the band. So far, I'm just a roadie who has an occassional chance to appear with the band and "tune up" the guitar. Enjoy the pictures.... and remember- it does help if you shake your leg!!

Confluence.... Where Coffee and Live Collide

It is open!!!!!!!! Finally, after months of hard work at the Confluence building, the coffee house is now open. The volunteers worked hours painting, scraping, laying carpet, pulling wires, falling through the ceiling, laying tile, building cabinets/countertops, hauling trash, mowing, etc.... The names who contributed are many, but the glory belongs to God for the wonderful transformation that has occurred in this building.

Click here to see some "Before" pictures: http://blog.confluencecoffee.com/2008/06/before-pictures/

The photos below are from the Friends and Family Open House event last Thursday evening. It was wonderful fun to see lots of familiar faces that we've painted with and shared the excitement of the process with. The official opening was yesterday, Wednesday, and we made a trip out once again to enjoy the yummy treats and see some friends. Graham highly recommends the Superman icecream and the lemonade smoothies. My favorite is the Caramel Mocha Coffee Freezer- super awesome and if you ask nicely, they'll even take out all the calories for you. : ) Zane is a huge fan of the Cookies and Cream Freezer- basically a milkshake with a funny name. Karis is in love with the Strawberry Cheesecake icecream and the strawberry smoothies. There is cheesecake and a good selection of other sweet treats to choose from.

If you are out in Winston and have a hankering for some great coffee and a cool place to relax for a little while, stop in and see the folks at Confluence. The gas is soooooo much cheaper on that side of town that it is really worth a trip once a week just to fill up! The Sheetz had gas for $3.68 and the new Wal-Mart had it for $3.66... not finding it that cheap in K-ville these days.

Here are photos of the Friends and Family night last week. I think that you will see how much work and love has been poured into this space in hopes of making a wonderful location for people in the North Davidson community. May God be glorified in what has been and will be done here!

Everyone has a Twin...

Ever heard that? Ever experienced that? Well on our trip to the beach, we did.

Let me set the scene for you...

We are at the ferry station waiting in line for the next boat to pull up so we can roll on. We've walked around, visited the bathroom (which every potty-training child must do each time one is within 100 yards!) and were back in the van waiting for the boat. I'm fiddling with something in the front seat when Graham yells out, "Hey! What is Grammy doing here?!?" That would seem like a really odd question given that Zane's mom Linda lives in Virginia and we were in Southport, but she had been at the beach the day before visiting with Natalie, John and Nathan at Myrtle. I thought it would be a stretch, but not impossible, for her to be there. I looked up and about that time, Zane and my mom, Nana, said "Wow! That does look like her!"

It was eerie how much this lady favored Linda. She had on an outfit that I could see Linda wearing (I think she even has a similiar shirt), she had on matching earrings- Linda's collection of earrings would have any little princess drooling!, and her haircut was almost identical. She had on glasses like Linda and her coloring was similiar.

Here are a few of the many pictures we took as we acted like spys on the boat. Everyone else was taking pictures of the birds, other boats and the scenery- not us. We were clicking pictures of this random lady! For those of you who know Linda, I think that you'll see it right away. For those of you who haven't met Linda, we are looking for a picture with her glasses on so you can see how much alike they do look.

So, I guess it is true... we all have a twin out there somewhere. If I meet yours, I promise to put my spy skills to work and bring back the proof! If you meet mine, tell her "Hi!" and that I hope she is as blessed as I am!

Trip to the Aquarium

Our first two days at the beach were wonderful. Lots of sun and calm water. We let the kids play without worrying too much that they would drift off to Africa in a rip tide. We spent a lot of time on the beach those two days, and most of us needed a break from the sun. So, we drove into Southport and caught the ferry over to Ft. Fisher. I had done this with my students on our tour of the coast this March, but no one else in the Tuck family had been on the ferry before. We were lucky that we didn't have to wait too long for the ferry- sometimes you have to wait two or three trips worth of cars in order to get a place. The ride was wonderful and the kids loved being out on the water for a little while.

We grabbed a quick lunch once back on land and then headed to the aquarium. (If you ask Karis about this trip, she will refer to this as our visit to "Nemo".) The highlight of the visit was the diver talk in the two story tank. They have a scuba diver in the tank who has a mic in his mask. He does a show talking about the fish in the tank while they are swimming around with him... including 3 types of sharks. We had an uneventful return trip- had to sit inside this time because it was just too hot out on the deck. We got home in time for everyone to take a late nap and all was good. : )

Beach Week 2008

We have returned from paradise... or at least as close as we can get this side of the Pearly Gates! The Flynt girls and our families all spent a glorious week at Oak Island and had a fantastic time. This was our first full week together. We've done shorter trips before, but not a full week of "togetherness". It was awesome to see all 5 of the kids play together and to spend some time with Meredith and Micah. We live only three streets away, but we don't see nearly enough of each other.

Our week began last Saturday as we loaded up everything you could possibly need for a week at the beach and then some into Nana's van and headed southeast. We had to make a stop at Radio Shack for batteries, at Nana's house for a water bottle and then a short trip back home to get my cell phone, which actually ended up being on silent in the bottom of my purse! Ever have one of those crazy starts to a vacation that you begin to think if you will ever actually leave town??? Our trip was long- as you can imagine that traveling with 2 kids for 4 hours would be, but we survived. I even got to put my Girl Scout/Social Studies teacher skills to work as I had to read the atlas to get us around several traffic tie ups along the way. We pulled into Lowes Food at 4:30 to pick up our Lowes Food to Go order (If you haven't tried this luxury, it is worth it for those special times when you either don't have the time to shop for yourself or the sanity to do it with small children in tow.) Did I mention that we left at 10:25 Saturday morning? BUT, we made it in one piece.

I'll post things about our trip as the week goes on, but I did upload the slideshow of the highlight pictures. I'll try to get to other highlights soon!

Off to do my homework... my workshop for school assigned 50+ pages of reading for tonight to be discussed tomorrow. There are only 7 people total in the class, so I guess it would be pretty obvious if I don't at least skim pretty well.

Zane's Random Thoughts

Got a few thoughts bouncing around inside my head and I wanted to get them out. So, here they are.

1. Why do some people have to be so negative about things all the time?

I have been conducting training classes at work all week. We've got between 25 and 30 people doing the same job, but no one does it the same way. There's no standard procedure for that individual tasks that they do on a weekly basis. That's not very good when you're trying to train a new employee, or if you have someone who changes teams (which we had this week).

So, my department has spent the better part of the last 6-8 weeks meeting with representatives from each team to find out how people on their team do things and getting suggestions on how to make things better, run smoother, or save time. We took their suggestions and drew up what we called "Best Practices" and we unveiled them to the staff this week.

My class on Monday was great. They had a few questions, but nothing that I couldn't answer (or find out the answer). But my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday couldn't have been more opposite. The negativity and resistance to any kind of change in procedure or process was blatantly obvious. If it wasn't smirks and dirty looks glaring back at me, it was questions being asked with a tone of voice that didn't hide the fact that they weren't happy. After going over one of the biggest changes (which I thought would have received the most positive feedback), I was asked, "You mean now I have to walk from this room to that room?" Ummmm, yeah. You have to walk your lazy butt from one room to another to make copies. Is that too much to ask? Maybe it was.

I realize that some people don't handle change that well. I'm one of them. I don't like change. Not to the point that I fear it, but I do like my routines a lot. But I also know that when things change (especially at my job), I don't push back and resist. I suck it up and do it because it's my job and that's what I need to do. I also don't backbite and badmouth the person who asked me to make the change. But that's me. Maybe I'm just a different breed of cat.

2. Journey - Can You Tell the Difference?

I bought my first CD in who-knows-how long the other night. It's the new CD by Journey, called "Revolution". It's a 3-disc set with one disc of new material, one disc of their classic hits re-recorded with their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, and a third disc - a DVD of Journey in concert. I'll be honest - I haven't even listened to the new stuff yet. I put in the "classics" CD and was amazed. If I didn't know that Journey had a new lead singer, I'd have sworn that it was Steve Perry singing. This new guy sounds just like him! The songs sound great. They're touring this summer with Heart and Cheap Trick. Might be a good show.

3. Guitar Hero or Rock Band?

Graham and I got a PS2 for Christmas and we both have enjoyed playing it. He loves to play games like Meet the Robinsons, Larry-Boy and the Case of the Bad Apple, and The Incredibles. Mostly, I love the sports games. I took my Virginia Tech Hokies through the college football season undefeated and beat those couch-burners from West Virginia in the national championship. I've got the Pittsburgh Steelers at 17-0 and one game away from the Super Bowl (Roethlisberger threw for 60 TD's - including being injured for the last 2.5 games of the regular season. And Heath Miller catches EVERYTHING thrown his way!)

But I want one of the music games, and I can't decide whether to get Guitar Hero or Rock Band. So, any input on which one is better is appreciated. I looked at the songlists for the new GH game featuring Aerosmith and for RB. Both have good songlists, but I think Rock Band has more songs that I know/like. I'd love to see an 80's version like GH did. So, which one should I get?

That's all the randomness for tonight. Peace out, homeys!!!

"Does Katie Live on the Moon?"

Today, the kids and I made the journey to Apex to visit my college roomie Katie. The trip was a little longer than I had anticipated and the kids of course kept asking, "Are we there yet???" Finally, Graham said, "Mom, does Katie live on the moon??" We finally arrived to the lovely outskirts of Apex and unloaded the family truckster for our visit.

I haven't seen Katie since her precious little ones were born last August. Many of you who visit the BLOG will remember praying for Jacob and Clay when they were born VERY early last August. Jacob was only here with Clay for a few days before he returned to his angel position in heaven, but Clay has been working hard on gaining weight and learning how to do all the baby things since then.

We had a great visit and it was wonderful to see Clay so happy and alert. I wore a red shirt with a crazy print on it (imagine that! Me with a crazy print on my shirt?!) and he couldn't focus on much else when I was holding him. I think that for our next visit, I should wear a solid color! Katie made a delicious lunch for us. Graham hasn't stopped raving about the grilled cheese that "Granny Sandy" (Katie's mom) made for him. He told me tonight at dinner that I needed to get her recipe! Karis had a "bread samich"- you know bread with bread on it. : ) The three Meredith girls had chicken pie (homemade, of course!), deviled eggs, cucumbers with dill sauce and some delicious bamboo pickles. I'm in love with those. I'll post something about them later- I need to do some more research on where to find them. You know I had the wheels turning in my mind about my little bamboo grove in our Japanese garden at school... wonder if anyone would miss a few stalks now and then?

After lunch, we chatted and visited Clay's room. Katie and Michael had installed a screen door on the nursery doorway. What an excellent idea to keep the cat out and the room "open"!! I loved it. It gave the room a cool atmosphere... almost like you had stepped out onto a screened-in porch.

We had some awesome brownies with homemade cream cheese icing for desert, and Graham ate two of them. When Katie gave him the second one, he said "I wish you were my mom!" I chuckled a good one at that. I guess God-mothers are allowed to spoil their special ones from time to time. : )

We stayed until Karis was entering the "NO" phase - the one that says "it is really past my naptime and if you don't get me to my lovey and boppy soon, melt down is about to begin." As we were packing up to leave, we turned off the tv and I was APPALLED to see tiny handprints all over Michael's HUGE tv screen. Our tv is in the cubby above the fireplace and the kids can't reach it. Having one on their level is a new thing. Karis took full advantage of that when I wasn't looking. I'm sure glad we had a great visit because I don't think we'll ever be able to return!!! Michael, if you are reading this, I am SOOOOOOO sorry!!! Feel free to bring Clay over anytime for him to drool in my laptop or slobber on our digital camera!

We had a wonderful time and as we got in the car, Graham said to Katie, "When I grow up, I'm going to hire you to be my personal chef." (Remember that he only had a PB&J, a grilled cheese and 2 brownies... imagine what he would do if he ate her "REAL" cooking?!?!)

Thank goodness the kids fell asleep on the way home. I had to navigate back through Raleigh/RTP traffic at 4:45 and I wasn't looking forward to fighting four lanes of traffic AND two cranky kids. Thank you Lord. I recognize your hand in my day and I am thrilled with you help!!! : )

It was an excellent day and reminded me that we need to make more time for visits like that rather than filling our days with so many other things. My laundry was still here waiting for me when I got home... and I would have missed out on a wonderful opportunity to catch up with a friend if I had stayed home to finish it.

I leave you with a glimpse of your day... Clay wasn't in our group shot because he had already gone to bed for his nap. The one of him is from about a week ago, so you still get to see his adorable smile. Hope the rest of you had a wonderful day! Sleep well!

More Than Meets The Eye!

Tonight, Graham and Karis were watching an episode of "Blue's Clues" on Noggin tonight about dressing up. In the last year or so, Graham had gotten away from watching shows like this to watching shows on Disney Channel or shows about superheroes. But, lately, as Karis has begun watching these shows, he will watch them with her.

So, tonight, as they are watching this, he has this idea to dress up like they are on the show. He goes upstairs and soon comes back down with his bathing suit on and matching flip-flops. He says he's dressed like a guy ready for the beach!! Then he heads back upstairs, changes into another costume and asks me to make a mask for him (out of a cut-off leg from an old pair of sweatpants, no less). So, I cut out some eyeholes and a hole for his nose, and he puts on the "mask". I asked him who he was.....well, let's let Graham tell you who he is.



He had to make sure that he had the right color top and bottom (red and blue) to be Optimus Prime. Too funny!!

Big Girl Bed

We have put it off long enough... Karis has finally moved into the "big girl" bed! We spent most of the morning yesterday and about 2 hours this afternoon reorganizing Karis' room from the drawers to the furniture. We built up the excitement about her getting a big girl bed in hopes that she would be comfortable with the removal of her "bars".

Zane found that it was MUCH easier to convert the crib to a toddler bed than it was to change it from Graham's toddler bed back into a crib when Karis came along. I had braced myself for an afternoon of calming his nerves and dealing with frustration, but we were blessed with a quick and easy change over! Thank the LORD!!!! : )

Once things were in place, Karis of course needed to try it out. She invited Graham to join her and he read a few books to her.

Actually going to bed when the time arrived, was a little different. She DID NOT want to sleep in that bed. Daddy came up to chat for a while to help ease the stress. Karis and I ended up rocking for a while before she was ready to go to sleep, but she is quiet so far. We hope that she will stay happy through the night. More on that tomorrow!!!

The DASH

We have been working on our BLOG for about the past week off and on once the kids went to sleep. We toyed with a variety of different templates (several of those were a BEAR to deal with) and finally got things just about how we wanted them. No matter what we do, we can't get rid of that DANG DASH up there. Hours have been spent working within the blogger template as well as scouring the html/css code to see if we can get rid of it. NO LUCK!

Last night as I was rebuilding the site (we deleted it and started over from scratch in an effort to ditch the dash!), I recalled a sermon Joey gave about a month ago about making the DASH between our date of birth and date of death count. I have received the email story about the DASH several times in addition to hearing the sermon on it, and I began to think that perhaps that DASH was there on our page to remind us of that message. No matter what we did, we couldn't get rid of it. It was there to stay.

Each time I pull up the page to look over what we have done, that DASH is staring me in the face. Each time someone visits our page, that DASH will be there looking at them as well. When I look at the page now, I am reminded that each day I have choices to make on how I live my life. When they engrave my headstone at the end of my life, I want there to be a giant, fat, crazy-big DASH on there so that all who pass it will know that I squeezed every last drop out of life and that I did my best to love others with the grace and love that God has shown to me.

So what is the DASH for on our page?? Trust me, it wasn't designed by us to be there, but I think that perhaps God had a plan for it's stubborn presence in our title. After loathing it for almost a week now, I have come to embrace it and use it to remind me of my choices in life.

We hope that you will see that DASH and think of how you are filling that space between your birth and death. We hope that each of you are living your lives to the fullest and that most importantly, your life is filled with the love of God.

Who knows, we may start at trend of DASHes in blog titles ... I doubt it, but since we can't get rid of ours, we've decided to love it!

Keepin' Up With the Jones...

I'm not usually one who is concerned with what everyone else is doing... usually because I know I don't have the means to keep up with the latest and newest and bestest (as Graham used to say). But lately, lots of our friends have joined the blog community and we have enjoyed keeping up with them through this online community. As we make the trekk to Virginia less and less with the kids getting older and more involved on the weekends, this will also give them a window into the NC Tuck's lives. As many of you know, I am a huge fan of scrapbooking and this may be the scrapbooking of the 21st Century- my kids may one day read back through the archives of our website to remember things about their childhood. Who knows???!!!

So, I guess that we are joining the "Jones" in the BLOG world. I hope that those of you who stop by will find some humor in the crazy lives we lead. May our craziness bless you in some way each time you peep in!