My family!

My son never ceases to make me laugh. He is so much like me sometimes it's scary and he has my sense of humor. Last week I picked the kids up from school and for some reason we were talking about bad words. Now Andrew and I don't cuss in our house but the occasional crap or heck will pop out. We've taught our kids that these along with stupid, dumb, and shut up are all bad words. And to us are just a short cut to cussing. So as we're driving home and having this conversation Drew says "Mom, I didn't want to tell you but Harry Potter has a bad word in it." He was worried that if I found this out I would make him stop reading them and right now he's more than obsessed with everything HP. So I asked, Drew what bad word is in it? He said "Oh no I can't say it." So I asked him could you spell it then. So he precedes to spell the word S-H-I and by this point I'm like wow I really didn't think that word was in the book and then he ends with N. S-H-I-N! So I say N? He says yes. So I again ask Shin? Yes. I say really Shin? He says "Yes mom, quit saying it." So I say shin, as in the front part of your leg, shin? He gets this funny look on his face and says OH! I ask him Drew, what did you think a shin was? He whispers and points to his crotch "I thought it was something in this area." The book said one of the characters was going around kicking people in the shin and he thought it was a private area. The boy is beyond adorable! There's never a dull moment in the Swan house. We're always laughing about something. Just tonight we were dramatically reading the Walgreens digital  marque and just cracking up. Taking turns seeing who could say "Coke 12 packs 4/$13" in the most dramatic voice. I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful family. And if my kids only remember one thing from their childhood I hope it's that we laughed a lot.

Working like Crazy

As I lay alone in bed for what feels like the thousandth time and miss my Dude, I can't help but think of other Church on the Move employee spouses who might be going through the same thing. It's that time of year that every employee of COTM gets very busy and works until all hours of the night. I think it's especially hard on us this year because last week Andrew was in California all week for a Barco training class. He got home saturday and the kids and I counted down the minutes until we could see him. But we had to wait a little bit longer after service that Saturday because his boss wanted to have a meeting or a pep talk if you will about Celebrate with Family. He wanted to pump everyone up before the hard work started this week. A "keep your eyes on the prize" sort of meeting. And like I said as I lay here without him hoping he gets to come home soon for some rest before tackling tomorrow's tasks I can't help but wonder if that's what I and maybe other wives need, a "keep your eyes on the prize" kinda blog! We must remember that even though we're not physically putting Celebrate with Family on, we are still an important part of the process. It's us being home taking care of the kids and house that frees our husbands up to work with out worry. It's us making sure that the time they do have at home is restful and peaceful. I know that Andrew finds comfort in knowing that everything at home is running smoothly when he can't be around. We must remember that the time they are missing from home now is going to help other families come to know Christ. Yes Celebrate with Family is a fun time for COTM family members but it's also an opportunity for us to bring in people that might not go to church any other time of the year. And when those people see what our husbands and all the other employees of COTM have worked so tirelessly and diligently on they might come to know Christ as we do, as a savior and father. Therefore this time spent apart now though as difficult as it might be is worth it in the end.