Gotta Love the Man

So, Jason is now working the ticket counter now for an airline and is enjoying it. In order to keep people from throwing up their hands leaving their employment, the airline assigns new employees a "mentor". That's fancy talk for someone showing you the ropes.
A couple days ago Jason came home and said that his mentor is from Arizona and "may not be an extreme liberal." (this is apparently a huge accomplishment)
Then, he came home yesterday looking like he'd won the lottery.

"My mentor's either a libertarian or a repulican!!"

Me: "Great, whoopee." (notice my political excitement)

"AND he LICENSES people to carry a CONCEALED weapon!!!"

Me: "Okayyyyy, why is that cool."

"He said he could license me to carry a CONCEALED weapon."

Me: "Um, why would you want to and where would you carry it?"

"I don't know, but I could carry a CONCEALED weapon!"

I don't think he's thought this one through very well though. He will deny it up and down, but the guy looks like he's Middle Eastern. Given the U.S. 's current view of that part of the world, part of me worry's about him. He already gets profiled every time we go overseas.
Apparently this is as close as my dear hubby can get to being as cool as James Bond. Plus now he could walk around downtown with a missile launcher stuck in his pant leg. Pfh! Boys!

Best Frenemies

My kids hit their quintessential day yesterday.
7am-watch cartoons
8am-2pm Play with neighbor kids!!!! Eat at THEIR house!!!!
2pm-5pm Library (not looking @ books mind you, but playing computer games and coloring. Darn these new fangled libraries)
5pm-6pm Park and trying to chase down the ice cream truck!!! (One bummer of the day...we didn't catch it)
6pm-8pm Play with neighbor kids!!!! (Also 2 NEW episodes of Spongebob)
Oh to be young and spend your day as NOT the chauffeur. I marvel at their ability to play with each other and the neighbor kids almost all day and still feel like they could play with them.
I now understand why my mom held me back occasionally from playing at the neighbor's house. See, I thought she was just being mean, but really she and the other mothers were trying to give each other a break. There's always a cool house that the kids will prefer to play in or around most of the time...it's not my house. My house is the lame house, and I'm okay with that.
A full hour of new Spongebob was on last night and I LOVED IT!!! They made fun of "Aliens" and Starbucks all in a 1/2 hour. Can't help it if a yellow sponge has captured my heart!

You Know You're a Mother When...

...the only sunglasses in your car are Roy Orbison clown glasses that are your son's. That being said, you wear them anyway because snow blindness and child rearing don't mix.

Hey kids, it's Poetry Corner!

Long ago I resolved to write a poem a day and did quite well at it for a year. Here are two I'd love to share with you:

January 1999

Caffeine addicts
Are full of spunk.
They act happy,
Their bodies full of junk.

Sometimes their hands start to shake
And their brains begin to quake!
Uncontrollable, they want to dance
Good espresso gives them that chance.

Will they ever stop their craving?
For more beans they are raving!
Never will I join their band,
Though it's spread throughout the land.

(Silly me, thinking I could escape coffee. I'm a happy addict now!)

This next one continues to speak to where I'm sitting.

February 2005

I sit here and try to justify
everything I want to buy.

"I Need this...""It's for our health."
"Life will be easier..."
Do I give from my wealth???

We figure we're Americans,
might as well keep up.
It's only a FEW conveniences
overflowing in my cup.

So I'm pulled from Treasure Above.
Back to my Covetous Cove.

God, why can't I always
think first
Of giving to another's
deep thirst?

Perfection and consistency
lofty goals
Yeshua, please keep them
in front of my nose!

Leaving China

Last day with N, K, and A here in good old China. Last minute bargaining is going on down at the markets and we're going to eat our last chopstick dominated meal. No more lazy susans with 7 different dishes on it. No more nunchuck rap dances, no more diabetic jokes, no more staring at the only foreigners you'll ever see. No more waking up to every and any song whistled from my early years (A is a master whistler). No more ice cream topped coffee from KFC.

Happy to go see my sugared and spoiled kids. Those munchkins have worked the aunt and grandparents over for every whim their sweet little hearts could want. They've been to the circus, McDonalds numerous times, Chuck E. Cheese, the one room schoolhouse, to see Jack and Mae (the coolest horse and donkey ever), and showered with new clothes and shoes. Never mind that their mother will be adding to the mound of gifts as soon as she sees their cute little faces.

See you all stateside!

In China

We're in China at our friends house now. Spent two days in Beijing, which was nearly too much. It's so dirty and polluted! All the doctor's masks I see them wearing now make total sense to me.
Favorite treat so far...peaches and tapioca in a jelly substance.
A lot of these places remind me of Las Vegas, just because of all the flashy signs and large billboards. We're now in a small city of "only one or two million". Going to a lecture on Easter today which will be hysterical!
Least fav part: The beds that are all box spring and thin foam. Crazy person that I am I brought 5 (count 'em people, FIVE) pillows and am using them nightly to sleep comfortably.

Ciao for now!

So much to say

We are in mission's busy season and, of course it's turned into a tough time. I leave with two other women for China tomorrow. Please feel free to shoot me a line in that time because I might try to post while there. Blessings all!!!