Packing, watering, and more oh my!

Well, Pokey is outside barking for me to let her in. She has been outside for TWO hours gnawing on a bone from our steak BBQ. I don't usually give her bones, but I just wanted to tonight. She was in HEAVEN! I hope her foot didn't bug her like the dog in the video. (See previous post.)

I took some interpreting work today and came home about 2pm and CRASHED in bed for 2 hours!!! I couldn't believe it. Mazen was up ALL NIGHT last night. She just rolled and cried and cried and complained and rolled over and laid on top of me and then rolled off me. It seemed like she cried every hour. I was so out of it and so was Michael we just laid in bed with her and didn't quite know what to do. She had 2 small bottles which seemed to help. Every time she woke me up I would think, "Oh no! I have to interpret tomorrow! My brain is NOT going to function!!!" Then around 7:30 Michael got up with her and they went downstairs and let me sleep another hour. Whew! Then I had this horrible dream that I was at work interpreting and Mazen was following me around and crying and complaining. And not only her, but another one younger than Mazen! We had TWO of them! Then Breanna was there and she was wandering around crying too! Kelly was there and we were both trying to interpret and take turns herding the kids and people were SO mad at us for bringing them to work. I called Michael and told him frantically to come over right now and get the kids because I was going to get fired! He said he would but it would take a while because he was on the other side of town AND he didn't know where my work was and it was in this tall building with lots of stairs.... and then I heard Michael calling me, "Mommie!!!! Wake up!!!!" and that was it!

I went to work half in a comatose state and wandered through things for a while and felt pretty out of it. I felt bad being there to interpret in such a state but didn't feel right cancelling either. Sigh. Got home and told Michael I should start packing again and he said I should take a nap. I don't like taking naps, but I went upstairs with my novel (a really good one I just started and it's already halfway over!!!) and fell asleep mid-sentence! That NEVER happens!!! Next thing I know 2 hours had passed!

We then went to the store to get something to grill and came home. I went out to water our near death plants (the heat today!) that hadn't been watered because the weather report for 3 days has been: "It's going to rain, don't water yet!" and it hasn't rained at all! When I got to the plants in the backyard Mazen couldn't resist and she followed me ALL over the backyard to stick her hand in the watering wand. Then her arm, then she stood under the hanging planters and got soaked like you would in a shower and she just laughed and laughed! She went wherever the water was and ran through it and laughed! I'd never seen her be happy with water in her face before! It was hilarious! She and I played in the water for about a half an hour and she was completely soaked!

I took her clothes off and shoes and told her that we had to go inside and dry off with the towel and she WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT! No sirree! She wanted to stay out and play in the water! We are going to take our kiddie pool to the Family Reunion in WY so Mazen can play in the water! It should be fun! Maybe we should take our watering wand too! ha ha

I got all the meat fried up a couple of weeks ago for the spaghetti we are making. And I baked like 16 dozen cookies and froze them so everything's ready for the meal we are providing that weekend. Good thing because I have now packed almost everything in the kitchen. Can you believe that the kitchen and china hutch took like 25 boxes????? Ugh! I can't believe how much stuff I had in that kitchen. I told Michael it was a REALLY good thing we didn't end up buying that house by Hansen Park after all because the kitchen was TINY and after packing up all this stuff I realized I would have been a miserable wreck trying to manage in that kitchen! Now we have a HUGE kitchen!!!! I can't wait. We are buying this house on faith and for ministry and the best thing of all is that it is also such a great blessing to us and our family.

Well... lots of changes at NCU. For those of you former students, here's the latest:

1. VP Dan Call just resigned after 9 years at NCU. He's going to go back into full time ministry at a church in Texas (Dallas area - someone tell Ed Graham before I do ok?) He's also going to be starting up some kind of church training thing there. His assistant, Sarah just left too.
2. Glen Menzies resigned from being chair of Pastoral Studies. Then they divided Pastoral Studies into three departments as follows:
A. Biblical Studies with Glen Menzies as Chair (And Jen resigned so they need a new assistant too)
B. Pastoral MINISTRIES (practics courses) with David Watson as Chair
C. Student Ministries (Youth Ministry, Youth Development, Children Ministries) with Tracy Paino as Chair
3. Jim Hubert resigned from Admissions and has started doing Real Estate.
4. Dr. Lenell Allen was recently hired to implement a degree completion program (so now we have TWO Dr. Allens!)
5. NCU has a chance to get a BIG HUGE new building by the dome. PRAY for a miracle people! This building could be a huge thing in the history of NCU and really affect our course in the long run. It's an amazing building. Ask me and I'll tell you more. It's 23 million dollars so it will be a miracle to get it. But God is able!

I had the privilege of hosting Dr. Lenell Allen for a few days during her interview and again when she came to find a place to live. She is an amazing woman. I know our students will enjoy getting to know her and her spirit. I felt like I made a new friend who will be a friend for years to come. I am so excited about her coming to NCU!

Okay... I gotta go and see my hubby now! THis has been a LONG post.

Hugs to all !