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Let’s see…what do I do last night? Emma and Lexi went home with MIL. Emma had slept all afternoon over there which was not like her. She had a little fever when she got home. Not good. I went to the gym though and worked my butt off in the Custom Cuts class. I seriously about passed several times. Not good to do when you haven’t eaten in 5 or 6 hours. Scott went to work and I ended up cuddling with Emma after Lexi went to bed and we watched The Family Stone. I didn’t immensely enjoy the movie by any means but parts of it were entertaining. So Emma went to bed with me because by that time, she was burning up even with Tylenol. We spent the night up every hour or so taking sips of water and moving around with her wet washcloth on her forehead. It was not a pleasant night. Lexi woke up several times too. I’ve been working pretty hard all day. I can’t believe it’s already almost 3. The girls are off with MIL for the afternoon again. I could so get used to that every day. Scott is off to the gym. I’m going to probably work later this afternoon to make up for yesterday morning.

Tonight is youth group. The youth pastor has had a lot on him since we got back from camp. One of the kids got put in jail and he has no family to get him out. They had to travel this weekend to get their kids too. I imagine he’s pretty frazzled but we’ll see. The pastor didn’t say anything about youth camp this Sunday. It will be interesting to see how youth group is tonight, especially when they mix with the kids who didn’t go. Hopefully it will go well.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/06/14/360/

OK, nevermind, it’s working again.

Yesterday evening the girls were really irritable so I took them to the local park. Lexi went right down the huge windy slide even before Emma would go. I think Lexi went twice before Emma would go. They were filthy when we left though. I brought them home and gave them a bath. Emma said her tummy was hurting and laid down on the couch. So both the girls went to bed really early last night. I got almost all of my VBS stuff organized. I still need to print some stuff out but otherwise I’m in good condition. I’ve been really busy the past few weeks but I’ve really, really enjoyed it. I enjoy researching and studying up for the lessons and it keeps me busy doing something I feel is worth spending time on.

This morning Scott went to Columbia to be recognized as Trooper of the Quarter for his troop. His mom went with us and the girls. It seemed like a pretty big deal. There were a lot of people there. I think all the DPS employees were there that worked in Columbia and as Scott says, there was a lot of brass in the room.

David Nasser put a blog entry out about last week. The blog name is Hyperbole because Thursday night he was talking about some verses and said like a billion times that it was a hyperbole. Only he wasn’t saying it was a hyperbole, he kept saying hyper-bowl. In the post, he mentioned a bat was flying through the sanctuary also. I’m not convinced hyperbole wasn’t more distracting! Every time he said it, I was like grinding my teeth and whispering hyperbole. He knew he had done it on Friday. Apparently people told him Thursday night. He was making fun of himself Friday morning at our last service before everyone left camp. Anyway, I think it’s funny he named his entry that.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/06/13/359/

No posts in forever. Sorry about that.

Well, back from youth camp and back to work. Let me just say youth camp was AWESOME!!!!!. The kids were great on the way up. Monday afternoon was a bit crazy because we had several meetings in a row and no time to get our stuff out of the van. Carla was left in the room with no tv and hardly any toys. Although I was a bit worried if that was a clue to the rest of the week, it turned out fine and the rest of the week was even better.

Geez, I can barely remember already. Monday evening we had our first family group. Everyone was mum. Hardly anyone talked although they graciously played the silly ice breaker games. I knew the lesson well enough and think I delivered it well, they just had not much to say on the matter. I think Monday night I stayed in with the girls instead of going to worship and Carla stayed too. Tuesday morning we got them up at 6:45 to make the early breakfast. I didn’t even put their clothes on, I did their hair and put shoes on them. They ate good but when Lexi was done eating, she wanted down and was hard to keep up with. That also got a LITTLE better towards the end of the week. Each day was bible study in the morning, lunch and then rec. Somewhere around Tuesday evening we found the playground there and that was really nice. They went there at least once a day, if not several. When I went to rec in the afternoon, Carla would get them down for their nap. She usually rocked Lexi to sleep on one of the many porches and then carry her up to the hotel-type room. She then would read Emma a story where she would fall asleep too. So I usually came back from rec to find at least one, if not all of them asleep. One afternoon I headed out for frappuccino they had at a coffee shop. Yes, they even served Starbuck’s coffee there. The word “camp” in youth camp was pretty unfitting. It was really nice there.

Tuesday night was an awesome night at worship. I wasn’t even sitting with our youth group and we all had similar experiences. God really moved that night and during our church group time, two of our kids stepped up during the youth pastor’s invitation. I think the entire room was in tears. I think I cried on and off for at least an hour or two. It was really awesome.

Wednesday we went to Wal-Mart during our free time in the afternoon so Carla could go baby shopping since she found out they’re having a BOY.

Thursday seemed to be the most relaxing day. We all had our system down finally. We would skip breakfast, I skipped the leaders meeting. We took the girls to the service at 9. Bible study was at 10 and Carla took the girls to the playground. I came back for lunch. I went to rec and they napped. We had free time and dinner and then worship for the evening. It really felt like a vacation that day and by Friday morning, I really didn’t want to leave.

Tree63 was the worship leader and is an awesome band. Please google them, find them on myspace, find them on iTunes. Whatever. They are awesome. I have to say they were much better live but bottom line is they are great.

David Nasser was the speaker who was very easy to understand, very funny and just plain enthralling. The time always flew by with him and you always wanted more.

I think all the youth group were very hesitant about going but by the end of the week didn’t want to leave. And then even on Sunday, everybody wanted to go back. They were all very well-behaved except for one set of girls who actually got in a fist-fight on Thursday night and then there was the usual cattiness between the girls.

Even the weather was awesome. It sprinkled on Thursday evening and never got above 80 degrees there. It was just SO PRETTY up there. We were up on a mountain and there lots of trees and even hiking trails that had a stream going through it.

I don’t really have anything bad to say about the week. I stayed busy with the girls there and it probably would have been a lot easier without them. Sometimes I got tired of chasing Lexi down or holding her because she missed me so much but I don’t think I could have done it any other way. Carla was my hero for the week for sacrificing so much and the kids really were well-behaved. And I didn’t have to sit home with only Scott going or having to figure out where the girls would go if the two of us went.

And the time at worship where I really got to worship and learn was something I really needed. I feel refreshed.

Some of the kids in our youth group really have a hard time though. I had to sit in some of the sessions with the youth pastor with the girls and I can’t believe some of their homelives. My heart almost hurts for them and I hope they can get through and be able to stay close to God and come through it seeing His faithfulness.

I’m not sure how we’ll handle next year. Carla will have a 7 month old and probably won’t be able to go. I’m not sure if I’ll be willing to leave the girls for a week yet still. Maybe I can convince Mom to let Heather go with us. Anyway, I’m still on the high from this year and am going to ride it as long as I can.

MIL took the girls yesterday afternoon. I met up with D at her old house that they are getting ready to put on the market. The house looks great as they’ve moved out but all their furniture is still there since they are using his grandmother’s existing furniture in their new (but older) house. It looks like a model house. They seriously might make 40K out of that house that they’ve only been in for like 4 years. Unbelievable. Anyway, we sat there for over an hour talking about their upgrade plans for their house and possibilities we have with the land and MaMaw’s old house. Scott went to talk to his uncle who is power of attorney for her about the price because there was some other guy who hasn’t gotten back with them yet that might buy it. He was actually going to give him more than we wanted to give for it but his uncle said he had wanted to get x amount for her out of the house so she had enough to live off of until they passed on. Which I can’t blame him but I don’t think we’ll make enough off of it to buy the land we want. Of course, the way I see it, even if we get half of what the land is, we could pay off our van if nothing else and then use that to make payments on the land until we are ready to build. For some reason neither Scott nor I feel an extreme pressure to get the land right now but I do feel a need to get MaMaw’s house. Scott just hasn’t gotten the bug yet. I think it would take an appraiser coming in to say it’s worth X now and could be worth Y if you made these changes and if that Y was high enough, he’d be all over it. But I don’t think he wants to spend hundreds of dollars getting appraisals done if it doesn’t pan out. We still haven’t shelved the idea but we just have to make sure the numbers work. I don’t want it to be a close call by any means. I would want worse case cost scenario + buying price and the selling price to be way apart from each other. Especially on our first house we re-do. I have no doubt Scott can do the work and it would sell, it’s just a matter of the numbers. And if we come out with enough, I think that’s the only way we’ll be buying any land.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/06/01/355/

OK, so I haven’t posted a thing about the finale last week. I know, I’m a little late. Just a few comments. Of course we all knew Taylor was going to win. Dialidol had him way out front after Tuesday’s vote. And apparently Taylor was in the top spot since the Top 24. I’d like to see his total number of votes since Top 12 to see how far ahead he was and how much Chris lost by. So the finale was much better than Tuesday’s show. Best finale ever, that’s for sure. I thought Chris sounded better than Live’s singer and could have done without him. I thought Meatloaf was acting very odd and sang not so well but I heard he was extremely nervous and actually cried after the performance. I thought Katharine did great with it and if Meatloaf hadn’t been so nervous, it could have been really, really cool. Mary J. Blige was a bit hyper and made Elliott seem secondhand although I thought he sounded fine. Poor Taylor. I think Toni Braxton was horrible. The notes were too low, the dress was too little, her moves were too suggestive. Poor Taylor. He seemed uncomfortable and for goodness sakes, they were singing about THE GHETTO! Prince’s performance was great. The group performances were bearable, if not good. The awards were a little cheesy but bearable. Clay Aiken REALLY needs a new hair cut. Dave still needs some Prozac. Chris’s wife still needs to spiff it up a little if she’s going to be his man in the spotlight. Fine for McLeansville, not fine for Chris Daughtry, the wildly popular entertaining heartthrob. Ok, I’m only mildly joking but I do think other styles would suit her better and look more up to date. So I think Taylor handled the announcement well. You know, the more I see him, the more attractive he seems. I think he is losing weight and gaining a George Clooney look for himself there. This definitely was the best season ever. I can’t imagine a better season next year.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/06/01/354/

Somebody, quick! Tell me I’m crazy for thinking of driving to Greensboro to see Chris Daughtry’s homecoming Saturday.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/05/31/353/

Man, what a weekend. The lack of posts should give proof to the insanity from this weekend. We left Wednesday for Maryland about 3:45 and got there at 11:45. Which means yes, I MISSED AI FINALE!!! Thankfully my aunt recorded it for me (she already had planned to) and we watched it on Thursday. Which was our first order of business after finally getting ready about lunchtime on Thursday. Next on the list was going to out to eat with my grandmother and other aunt and uncle and then going to see my very sick grandfather in a nursing home. Honestly, we thought he might be dead when we saw him. He was asleep apparently and looked horrible. The kids even got kind of scared. That sounds horrible but that’s how bad he looked. So I took the kids out and came back a little later. We were there for about an hour and I kept the kids busy in the yard outside. That was a lot of work. The agreement was Pap only has days to live. My mom said he seemed very peaceful about the whole thing and said he was in his last days and working on going to heaven. So I think we all feel ready for it. So after THAT we went to my aunt’s house and stayed until Lexi about lost it. I think it was after 9 by the time we left. Lexi also burnt her finger on one of her spotlights in the front yard. So the kids FINALLY got to sleep I think at 11 or 12 or something. I fell into bed as soon as they did. The rest of the days went very similar to that one. The fridge was broken at the house so we had to go out for every meal. I think Friday we did some shopping and went out to eat. Saturday we went up to my great-grandmother’s grave and ended up having a small reunion with other family members that were there. Then went to see my cousin’s new house they are building. This is the same cousin whose wedding I went to last September. The house is two-story. Open kitchen, fireplace in the bedroom, several nozzle thingies in their shower, basement. It’s very nice. Saturday night we had my mom’s whole family over for some fried chicken. Sunday we actually went to church. Me and my mom and the girls went. They actually stayed with us in the pews and were good. The guy that is the preacher is a son of an old family friend of my mom’s. We are very near the same age and he is cousins with my mom’s son who is one year younger than me and sometimes when we up to Maryland when we were younger, we would hang out together. Now to see him as an (excellent) preacher is sort of odd but good. Anyway, we had to leave early because we had to be at a Memorial Day cookout with my dad’s family. Emma played with my two younger cousins that are 4 and 5. They had a GREAT time. They played on the swingset, played dress-up, played with the water hose. Lexi got a small nap while we were there. We stayed until 5:00 when we had to go to dinner with my mom’s dad and his wife and my mom’s brother and his family. Lexi was a handFUL. I barely ate and followed her around the front of the restaurant and outside. We left Monday morning about 11, stopped at my mom’s brother’s to eat some pizza and then headed home. The trip was a whirlwind to say the least. I was bone tired yesterday on the way home. The kids were really, really good the entire trip but that only meant that momma worked hard to keep them entertained, fed and rested.

As for G and MD, we didn’t talk at all this weekend. Which back at our Christmas visit is where things kind of spiralled out of hand. It was somewhat cleansing this time. The ground was covered with snow at Christmas and we were huddled up in the house most of the visit. Made a great background to let your mind create a fairytale world. This time the clear ground almost provided a physical sort of clearing of my brain. I was scared I’d get up there and have all the old feelings come up. But it sort of served as a proof of the changes I’ve made. Did some of the memories come up? Of course they did, but not with the emotional attachment they once had.

So I’m back working today. Only a few days this week and then next week is youth camp which I believe will be a little less tiring but no less a whirlwind of activity. Scott will be there and Carla will be there to help specifically with the kids and I expect that some of the youth girls will end up helping out some. The only thing I’m concerned about is bed time seeing that the evening worship service is smack dab during bed time and they won’t allow the kids in the service. I’m not sure if Carla and I will take turns getting them to bed or what. I’m going to have to play it by ear.

Lexi started saying a bunch of new stuff this weekend. None very clear at all but you knew what she was saying. Hello, cars, I don’t know, ma (for Grandma and Momma), baby, bottle, no, bye, dog. I can’t think of any others but it seems there were several times we were like, did you hear that??

Scott and I are also debating whether to buy some land near us. We’re not sure how to figure it out how to afford it but it would be nice to get some as land is getting pretty scarce around here. Even if we never built on it I think we would be smart to buy it as an investment property. Speaking of investment property, I still haven’t ruled out the idea of buying his grandmother’s house, fixing it up and using that money to buy the land with. But I’m not sure that would happen until the fall and who knows when we would actually sell the house.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/05/30/352/

I’m not quite sure what happened last night except to say now me, Scott, Emma AND Lexi are going to youth camp in two weeks. S&S came over last night (why do all my friends have the same initials. it makes things quite confusing) with their two kids J&J (geez, ok, their kids have the same initials too–one is 7 year old girl and the other is 4 year old boy). We had a great dinner. I made a roast and potatoes and they brought mac & cheese and green beans. Lexi slept through dinner which made it even easier and the other kids sat at our coffee table and took care of themselves. Emma had SO much fun with them. She almost literally passed out after I got her pajamas on and had her sit with me in the recliner after the left. So we had some church talk and we realized Scott and I are sort of their sounding board. Which is cool because they don’t have that with many people from the church. I’m glad they feel comfortable enough with us and trust us enough to talk about stuff. We had another camp leader come over after dinner to go over camp stuff. In the meantime, I STILL really want to go. And they REALLY need people to go. 40 kids and only 4 adults going with them. So by the end of it, I had agreed to go and bring Carla with me to watch the kids which surprisingly agreed to do. Which I’m actually really excited about. I have to call up to the camp today to find out details to see if it makes sense to take kids up there. I don’t want to take them if they’re just going to end up stuck in the room. Definitely don’t want that. But if they are able to go to a playground and have somewhere to watch some tv, then it will be good I think. Like a mini-vacation.

http://www.amyjbennett.com/2006/05/23/350/