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When last we visited my family was in the throes of basketball season. We’ve just wrapped that up with Elijah finishing his year with the 9th Grade team and Sydney going to the Area Championship game with her 4th Grade Team. Even though they didn’t come away with the win, she scored! A point! I was so proud of her and her darling team mates who worked so hard this season. So proud I’m not even going to rant about what should have been a three day Area Tournament being scheduled over an entire month because there is someone somewhere who greatly enjoys sitting on hard bleachers and eating Cheez Its for supper.
Here’s Syd lining up to take her famous shot. And by the way, this is the same hair look she tries to get away with wearing every single day to school. It’s just not fair that I finally got my girl and she would rather wear Under Armour than Justice. I’ve made an agreement with her she can dress like she just rolled fresh from a locker room 1-2 days per week dependent solely upon my mood (i.e., whether or not I feel like arguing about it) but otherwise she will look like a girl if it kills us both.
Look at that form! That air! She gets it from watching Luke preach.
Here is where I must mention these photos are not my own but those of a photographer (Thanks Priceless Photography!) who shared them with us on Facebook. I have scads of pictures of my own but they are still safely tucked away on the camera card in my camera which Elijah has commandeered to make a film short with 7 or 19 of his closest friends. It stars a dinosaur, a Sasquatch-like rabbit, and may or may not involve a staged break-in of my home or at the very least a Harlem Shake. Wise Lisa wants to take my camera back and homeschool. But the Other Lisa – the one I defer to most – makes the kids lots of snacks and locks herself in her room until the director yells, “Cut!”
Production resumes Thursday.
Suddenly Cheez Its and bleachers don’t sound so terrible any more.
{Help}
We just returned home from a long weekend in the mountains where we took a couple of days with Luke’s parents and sister’s family to spend a little time together and unwind from all the busy. The kids’ Christmas break was entirely too short (we don’t even get a full two weeks in our county..grr!!) and basketball season has about been the death of us. Between my two that are playing elementary and high school it takes us somewhere every blessed night of the week. I love watching my kids play sports but really, I’m done now.
So the respite was just what we needed. My mom-in-law’s love language is food which is normally a good thing except Luke and I have been playing around with Weight Watchers. We’ve been starving since January 2nd and so we ate food glorious food and chewed the legs off the tables for dessert. It was much more tasty than the oranges we’ve been eating every day because they are Point Free. I don’t see how any food can be free if you eat twelve a day but if nothing else, there is enough Vitamin C in our collective systems to ward off a cold for the next seven years. We might be chubby, but our noses are clear. We are not weighing until next week when hopefully we’ll have shed what we gained in those three days. Can I just say here that it makes me so mad that I get 25 points a day and Luke gets 44? It’s also been a little difficult explaining to him that he can’t save 30 points until 9 pm and then eat a huge bowl of ice cream. ”That’s stupid! I still have points left! This diet doesn’t work!” Yes, it does. Just ask Jennifer Hudson and her team of chefs and personal trainers. At the rate we are going, I think we belong on Team Jessica. (On a side note, if you are on a health kick too then check out Skinny Taste. I’ve tried several recipes, loved them, and they all have WW point values.)
Not only can my MIL cook but she’s the queen of discount dinner tickets. She scored ridiculously cheap seats to the Dukes of Hazard at the Smith Brother Theater. Y’all go to Les Mis on Broadway, we go see Bo, Luke, and Daisy in Gatlinburg. If you can overlook the hideous wig Bo was wearing and not one, but many girls wearing pantyhose with shorts, then I would say the production was delightful. Boss Hogg and Roscoe were well-played. At one point “Charlie Daniels” played the fiddle at the Boar’s Nest and gave a rousing monologue on the Bible and the 2nd Amendment. By the end I wanted to say the Pledge of Allegiance and shoot a firearm that held more than 7 rounds. And grow my own garden. And build a bunker. Sawyer texted me at this point and said, “All you have to do to get a room full of rednecks riled up is talk about God and Guns.” My kid is fantastically intuitive.
No trip to the mountains would be complete without the go-kart track. I opted to take a few pictures rather than ride which was the wise choice considering Luke is still limping from being spun out and t-boned by his loving children. These are a few of my favorites:
Syd in the lead. It could be they were lapping her but we’ll stick with Story #1.
Cousin Matthew. You can’t curb his enthusiasm.
Sam. He has the eye of the tiger.
Luke still smiling before his injuries.
Elijah. Just waiting. Patiently. Verrrry patiently.
Papa showing the grandsons who’s boss.
The colors in this picture make me happy. The people aren’t bad either.
We traveled home on Monday which was a wonderful diversion from the Inauguration on every channel. On our way we stopped and ate at The Apple Barn (If you’ve never eaten one of their fritters, I will pray for you) and was proven wrong for every time I’ve said my kids can’t shock me anymore. The waitress was rounding the table and reached my son 15 year-old son Elijah to take his order. To give you some context, he is not full of mischief. He is not one who likes attention. He’s calm, dry-humored, and steady on. It was this boy who looked at the waitress with a perfectly straight face and said, “I would like the beef livers with a side of bartle doo“. ”With a side of what?” she asked. ”Bartle doo”, he calmly replied. ”Bartle..what is that?!” she asked. ”It’s okay, I don’t guess y’all have it here”, he said all while we couldn’t decide whether we were going to fall out of our chairs in shock or from laughing like maniacs. I felt so sorry for the poor waitress but she was such a great sport. We told her about Ed Bassmaster and explained the uproar as best we could and left a healthy tip. And then we re-introduced ourselves to our son because obviously we’ve never known him before now. And maybe you are thinking the same thing about me now that you know we are secret Ed Bassmaster fans. Only the moms of teenage boys will understand.
And now here we are back in the groove of life as we know it. We got home just in time Monday night to make a 7 pm basketball practice which thrilled me to the uttermost. I’m missing my leisurely mornings in the pj’s but having a few days away made it easier to face the work week in pants that button and shoes that aren’t lined with fur.
To which my coworkers are saying, ‘Thank You’.
It’s Saturday night and I’m sitting under the last twinklings of the Christmas tree before it all comes down for another year. I’m also freaking out a little that one of the gifts tucked safely underneath just a few short days ago is now hovering over my head in the form of a remote control helicopter Sam got from Santa which he has not yet learned how to properly navigate. He has mastered one direction – and that is down and quickly. I’m a nervous wreck. But why should today be different from any other for a woman surrounded by teenage boys?
I knew I’d not been around in a long time but I didn’t realize how long until I opened up my WordPress editor and realized the entire format had changed on me. I’m not even sure if I qualify as a blogger anymore but it feels good to say hello at any rate. I’ve missed writing and connecting with you, my not-so-imaginary friends! If life and ministry have been as busy for you as they have been in the McKay house then I do not have to explain why the computer has taken a back-burner as I’ve worked to establish a new normal as a working ministry wife, mom, and part-time itinerant speaker chick.
It’s the last part of that description that needs a quick update. Yes! I am still in the Bible teaching business! I’ve run into a couple of friends as of late who read I had gone back to work and assumed I had quit ministry. Nothing is further from the truth though my work schedule has required that I not make as many commitments as in the past. Also, if you have been trying to contact me via email please know that spammers have gotten ahold of the one here on my website and are assaulting me with hundreds of offers for indecent products and activities on a daily basis. I’ve had to delete my old address and replace it with another that is now embedded in my contact form. It’s most likely a matter of time before they get this one too but I didn’t want anyone trying to contact me at the old address (Lisa AT a Preachers Wife DOT com) to think I am ignoring you.
After an extended absence I don’t even know where to begin in catching up so let me leave it at this: I have the utmost respect for the full-time working woman who can bring home the bacon and find the time to fry it up in the pan versus bringing it home from McDonald’s. Dude. It’s taken a good 5 or 6 months to finally hit what feels like a decent stride but we are getting there. I’m still struggling in the meal department so here’s my question for you… Do you have some great crock pot recipes you want to share with me? Have some yummy stuff pinned on Pinterest? I’d be ever so grateful if you would help a sister out. I thank you. More importantly, my family thanks you.
I sincerely pray you had a wonderful Christmas and 2013 is one that marked by God moving in your lives in a measure unequaled at any other time. I’m asking Him to blow my mind this year and that has to begin by my blowing His I suppose. Here’s to breaking up the fallowed ground.
And lastly, would you please look at these darling children? Yes, they are mine and they are grown. Please make it stop.
Let me hear what is going on with you?!
