Lifes little Conveniences!

On Saturday afternoon, we noticed that our air conditioner was making a "funny noise". Sal didn't seem extremely concerned at first. He was scheduled to fly to Dallas on Sunday afternoon and I made the comment to him that I was going to be highly irritated if he left and the air conditioner went out while he was gone. So, not wanting me to be irritated, I guess, he called his maintenance man from the office and he advised Sal to spray WD-40 on the blades of the blower fan,. Well of course, we were out of WD-40 and so Sal went to buy some. He came home and sprayed away, turned the AC back on and the noise was WORSE! Yeah, that one didn't work! By early afternoon, the noise was gone because the blower fan had completely STOPPED! That's right! No AC for us! We went to bed Saturday night at midnight and at 1:15 were up because we so hot that finding a breath was difficult! We had all ceiling fans running full blast only to blow around the hot air! OH, I failed to mention that Clarissa had had the stomach bug all day and so I'm sure at this point that we're all going to be sick because the germs are cooking and multiplying!

Sunday morning found us breaking a sweat while getting ready for church! We broke out the telephone book to find a repairman. Sal called several people who offered 24 hour service! Yeah right! We went to the early service and kindly sat on the back row so no one would be offended if we smelled. During service I bluntly told the Lord that I was so glad I was assured a spot in heaven because I had gotten a very small glimpse of the heat in Hell and I in no way wanted a part of that! We had lunch and came home to finish getting Sal ready to leave. A few people called but wanted Sal's arm, leg and our first born to come look at the AC PLUS they told us that the part would be over $400! He called some more people and through some family members, he ended up finding a man that was such a blessing! This gentleman came out Sunday afternoon to assess the problem and tried to at least get the AC working so that we wouldn't cook overnight. He couldn't but at least he tried!

I took Sal to the airport and tried not to be too upset that we was about to stay in an air conditioned hotel room! The repairman wasn't going to return until Monday afternoon to fix the AC so the kids and I loaded up and was accommodated by some good friends who let us spend the night at their house. The AC was back on by 3:00 and we were so thankful! However, I was MORE than thankful when our total cost was under $200! Wow! Sal didn't have to sacrifice his limbs and Jonathon got to stay with us! Hallelujah! How thankful I am today to be blessed with the convenience of air conditioning. I know there are many people in the world without such convenience and how I feel for them!

Lessons on Life

This week has been so busy. I've been at school trying to get my room ready for the year, the kids have been attending VBS at our "old" church, Clarissa has had doctor's appointments, and then there was just "life" to contend with. However, through it all, God found (as He always does) those moments to teach me something. Here are a few of the lessons I learned this week.

1. While working in my classroom I had a knock at the door, it was one of my former students. Wow! He now towers over me, his voice is MUCH deeper and he told me that he'd be going into the 8th grade this year. As we talked, I reminded him of how he got angry with me one day and told me he hated my class. He refused that he had ever said that and then proceeded to tell me that he would have never said that because my class was his favorite so far in his school career. Wow! That meant alot to me to hear. Lesson - Just when I was dreading the school year, God brought a kid that I haven't seen in at least a year and a half, to say some very powerful words. It made me realize that I do make a difference and that God does have a plan for me there!
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2. The kids and I went to lunch one day this week at one of our favorite places, a local Japanese steakhouse. They wre getting close to closing for the afternoon and a young man was going around cleaning all of the grills. He came to ours to clean (while we were still eating) and it bothered me a bit but I didn't say anything. I was putting my food and Jonathon's in a "to go" box and Clarissa was still eating. THEN, I looked up to see him SPRAYING a cleaner onto the grill! That was too much for me so I said "Sir, could you please not do that while my daughter is eating" - There was silence........by him and by my kids............everyone just sat and waited for an answer........finally he said (with a roll of his eyes), OK. And went back to scrubbing the grill. GRRRRrrrrrr, I really wanted him to stop cleaning while we were there! Clarissa quickly said she was done and we were on our way. We got into the car and Jonathon said, "MOM, I can't believe you said that to him!" So, I spent the next five minutes trying to explain to Jonathon that when a Mother feels something is wrong and could harm one of her children, it is her JOB to speak up. I told him it was my job to protect my kids. He didn't care as much about me protecting him as he did that I had embarrassed him! Lesson - These preteen and teenage years are going to be fun.......I'll be protecting and he'll be humiliated! However, he did tell me he was glad that I was always looking out for them!

3. Last night Clarissa was praying before she went to bed and I heard her say, ".....and please help my Mom to stay around because I love her so much." She continued praying and I heard her say, "......that would be cool God". Lesson - It's nice to know that someone wants you around and that they actually PRAY for it and that God is the God of yesterday, tomorrow, and TODAY because I know that he understands what she means by "cool". There are too many people that try to use "proper prayer language" and it was so sweet to hear her just talking to God!

So, those were my lessons for the week, or at least the ones that stuck out the most! Look around, there's always someone or something to learn from!

What Stinkers!

Clarissa - "Mom, can we go out for Breakfast?"

Me - "No, not today."

Clarissa - "But why?"

Me - "I don't have any money"

Clarissa appears to have accepted that explanation and walks out of the room, only to return about 5 minutes later.

Clarissa (raising her voice somewhat) - "Gayla Bursiaga, you have LIED!"

Me (caught a little off guard) - "About what?"

Clarissa (visibly holding my wallet) - "You have money, you LIED!"

Jonathon (interjecting and always having an answer) - "Clarissa, Mom has to have that money for gas!"

Clarissa - "We don't need gas!"

Jonathon - "If we don't have gas, we don't get to go to the restaraunt!"

(Thanks Jonathon, I think) - What stinkers they both are but how I do love them!!!

Short and Sweet

Without going into alot of details.....Jonathon is home from camp. He had a horrible migraine last night and threw up at least 4 times. I am so glad to have him home even though his stay at camp was short and sweet.....well, not quite sweet.

Camp Pics - 1st Day

Here are some pictures of Jonathon's first day at camp. In the groujp picture, he is in the wagon w/ his cool shades on. The other one is a great shot of him socializing and NOT eating. Oh well, he seems to be having a blast! God is good!

MORE LATER!!!!

Lazy Days of Summer.....I think not!

Who said that summer days were lazy days? I have yet to find a really lazy day this summer! We have been so busy and time seems to be flying by! This month we have anjoyed a super 4th of July parade!

We also had a pretty interesting Fireworks display that began very late. This is Jonathon....waiting patiently.

Clarissa has been attempting to ride her bike without training wheels. As you can see, she decided to arm herself for the task at hand!

And yesterday, I sent Jonathon off to church camp at Fort Lone Tree. He has never been away from home for more than one night. This time he's gone for an entire week! I'm so proud of him! He was excited to go and was the first on the bus. I must say, he did better than his Mom. I miss him to death and can't wait until Friday because we get to go there for family day. As hard as it is for him to be away, I know that God has something special planned for him on this trip. I just hope God takes these days and speeds them up! This is Jonathon as he was getting ready to check-in and board the bus. And those are raindrops on the windows, not tears. Although I felt like adding my share at that time!

So I guess after Jonathon returns and we head into the final stretch of summer break, I will hope that we can find a few days to be lazy.....because so far...they've been crazy!

There's a new Chef in Town

Tonight I was getting ready to prepare dinner and announced (like I have on previous occasions) "Is there anyone who would like to help me cook dinner?" and my 11 year old son took the bait!!!

So, went through the routine of emptying the dishwasher so that we could refill it. He has been emtying the dishwasher for some time now but I've never had him load it. So, we had Dishwasher Loading 101 and he passed with flying colors! From there we put on our potatos to boil and I found a biscuit mix for him to make. In the meantime he prepared his meat and got it to cooking. It was so fun watching him add seasoning to the meat because it didn't take long for him to find his own flare! Before we knew it, dinner was ready and he had prepared, with supervision, all of it by himself!

I was so glad to see his eagerness and enjoyment in what we were doing. We managed to have a great conversation, which I know for many 11 year olds is not their favorite thing to do, and had some good laughs. He's growing up so very fast but something tells me that the years ahead are only going to get better and better.

I must return to the kitchen because I think I have clean-up duty but I wanted to sneak away long enough to share with you that there's a new Chef in town and he has the makings of a mighty fine one at that! He leaves for his first Church camp on Monday so get ready, the blog next week may be a little "wet"! Gotta Run!