Miracles: Big and Small

You know I believe in miracles.
I love to find miracles and I see them happen every day.
I try to share them here every once in awhile.
I HAVE to share Friday's miracle.


I was driving from an appointment back to the office.
It was only a 10 minute drive max and I was in a hurry.
For some reason ;), I had a feeling I should call my friend Amber.


"Hey Amber!  How's it going?"
"Well, it's been a rough morning."
"What happened?"


Amber had just gotten off the phone with her son TYLER (Yes! <- the OTHER half of the Bonehead Brothers!  Garrett's twin by another mother.  The EXTRA son who LIVED here for nearly two years.  And by HERE, I mean IN THIS house 24/7)

Tyler's been serving his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Ukraine for the last 19 months.

Missionaries only call home on Christmas and Mother's Day
And it's not one of those holidays.
So it can't be good!

Amber explained that a few months ago,
Tyler mentioned that he was "itching."
It was a casual mention that he didn't know what was wrong but he was constantly scratching.
The end.

But when he called Friday,
he told them that he was itching day and night for almost six months and that it was so bad he was awake most of the night scratching.
His skin is raw and he is trying to survive on 3-4 hours of sleep a night.
He has gone to the doctor in the Ukraine.
They couldn't find anything and they hinted that perhaps it was mental.

The adult leaders recommended he come to the mission office and call home and prepare his family that he might be sent home early.  No one in Ukraine could explain this itching and they asked Tyler to meet with a psychologist.

He told his mom it was NOT mental.
He has the language down.
He loves his mission.
He feels great mentally.
They are teaching more people than ever
and he DOESN'T want to come home.

But he can't survive on 3 hours a sleep.
And he can't continue to scratch his skin off.

Amber told all of this to me.
Hmmmm...........I was skeptical.
I knew there was more to it.
It wasn't mental.
I didn't tell her I would, but immediately after hanging up,
I called my brother.

I knew he was working in the Pediatric ICU.
I NEVER call him when I know he is at work.
I KNOW he can't answer his phone.
But I called.

He answered with, "Is it emergent?"
"No. But Tyler has............."
I told him everything in less than 30 seconds and he said, "It's Scabies.  I'll call you back."

In a whirlwind of events and phone calls at 2 am,
My brother spoke with the leaders in the mission office, Tyler's parents, Tyler, a doctor in the Ukraine and a pharmacist.
Long story, but it IS scabies.
They are unfamiliar with scabies in the Ukraine.
It can be easily and quickly treated.
There is NO reason to "live" with it.  And there is NO reason for Tyler to come home.

Within 24 hours, he went from miserable and returning early from his mission to ecstatic and ready to ROCK the last five months in the Ukraine.

Why did I call Amber at a random time when it was not convenient and I didn't have time to talk?
Why did Amber tell me the whole story instead of just saying everything was fine?
Why did Jared answer the phone even though he was in a meeting with his attending?
How did Jared know without seeing Tyler and from my extremely limited description what it was?
How did they get all those people on an international conference call?
How is it that the ONE pharmacy that has the scabies medication is JUST DOWN THE STREET from Tyler's apartment?

God's hand is in the miracles.
We can be instruments in his hands.

I know miracles happen every day.
We just have to notice them.

Have a fabulous Sunday!
Gina

Occupy Crazyville!

Welcome to Crazy Town!
Do you wanna occupy us?

Come on over.  Bring cupcakes!
If you wanna get really crazy, join in the Friday Fragmenting Fun!

Go see Mrs. 4444.  She started all the Fragmenting!

* Oh shoot!  I forgot to care about Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.


* Parker had a great idea.
"I'm going to start Occupy Grandview." <- That's his high school.
"I'm going to go into the counseling office and find out the top 1% (he's only in the top 5%) of the kids in my class and insist on redistribution of grades.  Their points on tests and homework should be redistributed to the rest of us. It's not fair that they get all of the A's."


It's almost as good an idea as Occupy Wall Street.....but somehow LESS ridiculous.

* I overheard this conversation between Parker and his friend.
Friend: "Hey Parker, want to go see Dierks Bentley Saturday?"
Parker: "Not really.  But how much is it?"
Friend: "Like $40."
Parker: "Wanna go see Ben Carson Saturday?"
Friend: "How much is it?"
Parker: "$5"
Friend: "Wait.  I don't even know who that is."
Parker: "He's a famous neurologist.  It's a lecture from 9:30 to 12:30."
Friend: "Uh, then, no."

Now we know where Parker will be Saturday AM.


* The other night I went to Costco.
I was cute.
I wore my cape.

The 20 something year old checker said:

"I like your......ummm......(kind of motions to the cape)...."

"My cape?"

"Yeah.....you look like.........ummm.........Nancy Drew."

"Oh thanks. I thought you were going to say Sherlock Holmes."

"I was but I didn't want you to feel bad."

What?

"Parker, guess what?  The checker just said I looked like Nancy Drew but......"

He cut me off, "Nancy Drew?  You look like Sherlock Holmes."

He's grounded.

He obviously doesn't care if I feel bad.

* Look what I bought at IKEA last night -

25 of them............because you never know when you might need them.

And searching IKEA for them is a whole different post!

* Margaret wanted to stop at McDonalds for a McRib sandwich.

She NEVER eats McDonalds food..........only during McRib season.

Yes.  There's a season.

Anyway, there are only 6 days left of McRib season and then I guess, they run out.

I don't know how you run out of processed meat but whatever.

Parker was making fun of her for eating the McRib and she asked him if he had ever had one.

"No.  But there are more than 70 ingredients in that thing."
"But it's soooo good.  you have to try it."

"No.  There's actually an ingredient in the McRib that they use in yoga mats."

Do you think he made that up?

Where would he get that?

* Oh my gosh!  He's NOT lying!

The McRib Sandwich and a Yoga Mat What Do They Have in Common

I never believe my kids.

I checked it out and he's right!

Have a great weekend!

Go get yourself a McRib!

Gina

Truth is......

Truth is..........I am SOOOOO excited for Thanksgiving.I was not so excited on Tuesday.
Then my friend called and invited us to her house and it was an answer to an unsaid prayer.
Yippee!!!!


Truth is..........I don't get Occupy Wall Street, Oakland, Berkely, Portland, Denver.


Truth is..........I want to start getting out the Christmas stuff.  I think I will start setting up the EPIC Christmas village this weekend.  It only takes three days to set up.
Who has three days?
Truth is.........Retailers are RUINING Black Friday by opening on Thanksgiving.........even if they don't open until 9 pm.  It's Thursday!  Not Friday!!!  Is there NO DOWN TIME in America?


Truth is.........Parker REALLY wants these Muno (from Yo Gabba Gabba) for skating.

He's disappointed because they only come in kids' sizes. 

Truth is.........I checked, they do come in adult sizes!  Christmas!

Truth is........that's it for today.  I'm going to Ikea to buy 20 little white lanterns.  They are WAY CUTE!
Gina

CAN I GET SOME HELP HERE?

Oh yeah!
It's RaNDoM!
And have I got RaNDoM for you!


* Did you know that Q comes BEFORE R
Evidently I am having a hard time with that because I always open the "R" file cabinet, am shocked that I can't find the "Q" files and have to sing "O, P, Q, R" of the alphabet song to myself.


* My co workers are horrified by my eating habits.
Breakfast - half a sleeve of Ritz crackers and a Coke.
Mid Morning Snack - A Sees Pecan Truffle.
Lunch - Lays Potato Chips and some Hostess Crumb mini donuts and a Coke.
I DID have a nutritious dinner at IKEA at 7:30.


* A man at work does Weight Watchers.
He explained the "point system" to me.
He gets 40 points a day.
He said I would probably get 25-30 points a day.
Those mini donuts would be 17 of those points.
I'm glad I'm not doing Weight Watchers!


* My family thinks I am crazy because I clean the house BEFORE the house cleaner comes.
She only comes every other week.
So we do have to clean toilets and vacuum ourselves.
But it drives them nutty when I rush around cleaning the night before.
I explained that if *we* didn't pick up the nine pairs of shoes scattered on the laundry room floor, she wouldn't be able to mop the floor.
She's only there for a limited time.
If she spends all that time picking up, straightening desks and making beds,
WHO IS GOING TO CLEAN THE TOILETS?
You get this right?


* Text from Parker:
"I think I'll take a rain check on English."
Arrrggghhhh
I called him.
"Why aren't you going to English?"
"We have a substitute for the 17th time."
"You can't miss English 27 times!"
"Wow! I've missed it 3 times.  There's a huge difference between 3 and 27."


He has a point.
I might be exaggerating.
But we sure TALK about missing English a lot!


* I had a dream last night that I was writing blog topics on scraps of paper at a high school baseball.
The kids were angry because the cafeteria ladies were running the concession stand.
I thought it was cool because we got these big crockery/cafeteria style bowls of nacho cheese.
Oh and.........the game was at 7:15 in the morning.
I have problems!!!!!!


If this was RaNDoM enough for you........head on over and see Stacy.
Happy Tuesday!
Gina

New Math Stinks!

p = 6 or 2 or 1 or whatever!

Parker is in Calculus. 
Maybe he should go back to Geometry.
Yesterday, *I* made this.

In light of the fact that no one will LET me hoard, I went on the proactive and started a friendly discussion.
"Okay, there are three of us.  Each of us gets a third of the pie."
"No"
"Yeah"
"No"
"Uh huh!"
We're mature over here.

"Mom, it's not going to be like that. You won't ever eat a third.  You are just trying to hoard your part."
Am I REALLY that transparent?
He's right.  I won't eat a third.
I will eat ONE piece.

And we all sat down and had one piece together - a 1/8 of a pie piece.
Some of us had whipped cream and some of us had ice cream AND whipped cream.
And then, Parker had a second piece. with two more scoops of ice cream.
There was approximately half the pie left.

Here's where the math gets tricky
.
"Okay there's only half the pie left and you had a second piece Parker."
"No. There are three of us and there is a half of a pie left. So we each just ate 1/6."
"Except we didn't.  You ate more."
"Mom, there are three of us.  We each ate some pie and now their is half left, therefore we each ate 1/6 and going by your rule that we each get 1/3, we each get to eat 1/3 of what is left or 1/6 of the pie."

What kind of math is that?

Gina

The Sting of the Scorpion

I thought I would share this little video with you.  I like it. 



Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Gina

Don't Read This if You are My Child

Don't you LOVE Fridays?
Don't you love Friday Fragments?

Don't you love Mrs. 4444?
Well go tell her!


* So when I was first brought in to wreak havoc help at Brian's work,
we were all trying to "perfect" a process.
I kept finding myself explaining the ultimate process by saying, "In my fantasies............"
Evidently, my coworkers don't fantasize about work and file folders and Sharpies.
Hmmmm.........Interesting.........

* All of my kids (all boys 23, 20 and 17) still sleep with their baby blankets.
Don't tell anyone.
Oh........my phone is ringing.
They're ticked!
They're furious at me for telling.
Trammell DID NOT take his blanket on his mission.
Neither did Garrett.
So they don't HAVE to have them.  They just like them........a lot.

* Isn't this a cute picture?

 Thanks Facebook!

* Text message from Parker -
"There's a sub in writing.  I'm not going."

Three minutes later -
"The teacher's here.
I'll go.
But I'm not happy about it."

He has such a HARD life!

* We made our first batch of Christmas cookies Sunday.
Three dozen "Mexican Wedding Cookies," "Russian Tea Cakes," "Sand Tarts," "Butterballs," whatever you want to call them.

Sunday, I ate none.  Zero.
Monday, I may have had two.
Brian and Parker ate ALL of the cookies except for three.
I pointed out that I hadn't had any (okay, not any, but only two) and so they said I could have the last three on the plate.
Tuesday the cookies sat untouched.
Wednesday the cookies sat untouched.
I came home from work and eyed them.
Their siren song was calling me.
But I was saving them for the millennium for later.
And then Brian came home and ate them.
Just popped them in his mouth like that.
"You can't hoard cookies!"
"But those were mine!"
"They sat there for two days.  You can't hoard cookies!"

* I made him take me to the bakery and I bought two big cookies:
one pumpkin and one molasses.
I ate half of the pumpkin Wednesday night.
I ate the other half this Thursday afternoon.
I am hoarding the molasses one.
I can hoard cookies if I want.

* If today wasn't Friday,
I would die.
That's how tired I am.
I still might die.
We have a birthday party, a bridal shower, a wedding, a missionary farewell and two wedding receptions this weekend.
When do we get to sleep?

Who needs sleep? Have a great weekend!
Gina