Wow, Time Flies.

It has been quite a few weeks since I was last able to post something here.
We attended the retreat in Seaside and really enjoyed catching up with old friends and we also met the new spouse of a former pastor who was a widower. We were blessed by different people paying for all of our meals.
When we got home, the weather  forecast was clear and sunny for about 2 weeks so we asked my dad to come up and build a mudroom and steps to our front and back doors. We had had 3 people fall through the front steps and 2 people fall off the back steps. The front porch was falling off the house and was pulling the siding away from the house and allowing water to go inside. Three weeks later, we have a wonderful mudroom with a bench and hooks, shelves and a storm door on the front. They also built a porch with steps out front. The back door has a nice little platform with steps and handrails. It all looks so nice and is so functional. I will be posting pictures soon.
Since dad was here building, mom came with him. I really enjoyed having them. One day for breakfast, Junior made biscuits and gravy and mom made chocolate gravy. So good. Another time mom made Junior's favorite  dinner, Shrimp Pasta  & Roasted Garlic. They were here during Valentine's Day and we thought about going in town for dinner, but decided with the weather so bad, it was not a good idea. Instead, Junior and Dad bought steak and lobster and Junior fixed it, adding baked potato  and asparagus to the plate. It was so good. The only thing missing was some chocolate cheesecake, but I don't know where I would have put it.
The last week Dad and Mom were here, Kara came to visit also. I liked having them here but I wish we had more room for sleeping arrangements. Poor Chelsey had to sleep on the floor, then get up and go to school.
Jesse has been sick since 2-13-11. Coughing, fever, sore throat, etc.
On the 18th, the kids left on a Missions Trip to San Francisco to minister to the homeless in the Tenderloin district. I am so impressed with the stories and events that took place during the trip. I think Jesse has a real grasp on who he is in Jesus. Also, one of the first things he did, was apologize for being disrespectful so often. Chelsey, also, really felt the presence of God and was used in amazing ways.
Unfortunately, she lost her voice the day she got back and now has been sick in bed ever since. It was rainy, and cold the entire time they were in SF and Jesse is also still sick. They have missed so much school, I hope it doesn't cause Chelsey any trouble with graduation.
The 22nd was Junior's birthday and we spent the day hanging around the house watching tv. Around 2:30, he wanted to start fixing dinner. I half-heartedly told Chelsey to clean the kitchen. She lazed around, picked up a few things. We watched more tv. I kept asking Junior to bring firewood in, go get something at the store, go check and see if the squirrels are out so we can go target practice, any thing I could think of to keep him busy. Finally around 4pm he started getting serious about dinner. He went to the freezer and took out a whole chicken and then put it in the microwave to defrost. Every time he walked out of the kitchen, one of us would shut the microwave off. It took a very long, long time to defrost the chicken. Then he had to go out to the garage and look through our camping stuff to find the cast iron skillet he wanted. Then he had to have more kitchen stuff cleaned up. So I had to nag Chelsey to clean the kitchen. Still she was dragging it out as long as she could. When he mentioned going to the freezer to find flour, I suggested sending Jesse instead. Then I took him aside and told him not find the flour. After about 15 minutes of looking for the flour, he came in from the snowy outdoors, announcing that we had no flour left. Junior decided he should go look. About 10 minutes later, he came back without flour. Now I was worried because I knew we had some but even he couldn't find it. He sent Jesse over to the store and Jesse came back without flour because "the price was almost $5 and you only sent me with $3."  After a bit of roughhousing to try to give Junior his birthday spanking, he insisted that I give Jesse more money so he could buy the flour and Junior could have his fried chicken birthday dinner. I told Jesse he better not buy flour when there was some in the freezer. He finally came back with the flour from the freezer.
Around 5:45pm I sent a text message to a lady at our church and had her call Junior to meet her at the church to talk to her about something important. He wasn't really excited about it because he was just getting ready to dredge the chicken in the flour mixture.
We drove to the church and as soon as we could see the parking lot, he started laughing and got all embarrassed and refusing to go in the church. I made sure he got inside to the full fellowship hall where the ladies in the church had hosted a surprise birthday party. Later he told me that was the most surprised he had ever been. I can't believe he didn't find out beforehand. It is really hard to keep a secret from him. We had so many delaying tactics, I thought for sure he would get suspicious.  I think this was his best birthday.
Well, we are pretty much up to speed. Still snowing. In fact this is supposed to be the worst storm to hit this area in a long time. So far, about 3 inches of snow but it seems to be melting as fast as it hits the ground. Not much new accumulation.
Hopefully, the next post won't be so long in developing.