7 Quick Takes (Volume 161)

1) We survived our church musical last weekend. As always, I'm astounded at how God brings so many people together for one cause. With cast, crew and orchestra, we're pushing fifty people, all on one page for the same goal. It's a beautiful picture of the body of Christ functioning as one.

This year's set was one of my favorites. Our director and set designer, Paul Whaley, outdid himself. Kevin was particularly proud of the working lamp post he built from scratch (see the left side of the set). That baby was 20 feet tall!


Our story took place in a market so we needed lots of food to fill our shelves. Our wonderful church family donated supplies (so much we couldn't set it all out without weighing down our wall too much!) we donated to our local food pantry.

Ladies Man played in our orchestra for the first time. See him warming up his trombone?


And here is our fantastic cast. We have an amazing bunch of actors who just keep getting better and better. People often tell me I should get on stage some year, but after watching these guys I decided I am WAY too far behind the curve to be any good there. See Miss Innocent One in the striped sweater in the front row?


What a privilege to be mixed up with these people. You guys are awesome! At the risk of sounding like an old person, I have one thing to say. I am so proud of you!

2) Ladies Man has taken to drinking out of a quart jar lately. Is he trying to perpetuate the notion that he's the giant his siblings tease him of being?

And this may be why they tease him.


His new shoes were as big as Miss Innocent One's thigh! Good news, though. These shoes were actually too big for him and had to be returned for a tinier size 14.

3) We went out to eat with Kevin's parents on Sunday evening and a little tiff ensued with Kevin and his mother about who was paying. Both shoved their debits cards at the poor woman working the cash register, saying the other's money wasn't good. Finally, the worker took Kevin's mom's card and said to Kevin, "She looks meaner than you."

She may be small, but she's mighty! This gives me hope as a mother. For their entire lives I've reminded my kids I could still take them down, and if in the right frame of mind, I still think I could do it. Little G-ma gives me hope I can do it forever.

4) We have a little friend in our pantry.




Each day we're finding new evidence of his existence. How do I know it's a he? C'mon! Apart from the cranberries, this thing's eating junk food!




We set a trap for it, but apparently it's smarter than the trap.


I just don't understand how we can have a mouse. Our neighborhood has an army of cats wandering around at all times. We find them sitting on our porches often. How could a mouse get by them?

We're curious about our little friend because our good friends who live nearby are missing their hamster. Our kids are back and forth often to each other's houses and we carpool to school with them. Is it possible the hamster caught a ride in someone's jacket and ended up in our house? Far fetched? Maybe. But it makes me feel better about my housekeeping skills! I may have to tear the pantry apart this weekend to flush the critter out.

5) Drama Queen was home over the weekend and Ladies Man started getting on her nerves.

Drama Queen: Stop it or I'll punch you in the head.

Ladies Man: You couldn't REACH my head.

Ooh, gotcha babe. Sorry.

6) My college kids are stressing about finals coming up next week. I'm wondering if the stress is hampering their ability to think clearly as Drama Queen and Drummer Boy had a long drawn out deal on Facebook about research on grapes and writing papers about them. Drummer Boy posted a survey for people to vote on their favorite grape, titling it, "I'm being a good brother and helping Drama Queen with her paper about grapes. What grapes are best?" Apparently this was to aggravate his sister which he succeeded in doing. The last thing she wrote on his wall was, "If you get me a bag of grapes for Christmas, I will shove them down your throat."

Prayers for their sanity would be appreciated!

7) We're headed to Lincoln tonight to catch Drummer Boy in action at the Cornhusker Marching Band Highlights concert. It's always a fun night. Imagine 300 bodies on one stage playing all the show music from the season and school fight songs. At last year's concert the band found out they'd be attending the bowl game with the football team. Wonder if they'll get such happy news this year.

And that's all I got this Friday, my friends. Enjoy the weekend and catch more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.