Family - It's a Vivas Thing!

May 31 2010

Laughable Moment #27

Saturday evening, we were sitting around with Punky and the Good-Looking One’s girlfriend, watching a movie. All of a sudden, the Drama Queen comes downstairs with Chicken Noodle Butt. She dramatically informs us,

“Mom, you need to take care of Chicken Noodle Butt, his face is glowing in the dark!”

Not exactly the words I was expecting to hear out of her mouth, but as I looked up, his face was indeed, glowing in the dark.

And he was crying. And we were trying really hard not to laugh.

You see, he’d been given a glow in the dark thingie that he’d snuck upstairs to his room when he went to bed. And he’d apparently kept cracking it until some of the liquid leaked out onto his hair and face. So, he was glowing.

We quickly got up and took him into the bathroom. Punky picked him up and held him over the sink while I ran water over his hair and face. Not sure if we’d gotten it all off, we shut the door, turned off the light, and discovered that yes indeed, he was no longer glowing in the dark!

Meanwhile, the Princess was waiting outside the door with the glow in the dark stick that she’d taken to bed with her. She was handing it over to us, as she quickly stated,

“Here, take it! I don’t want to be glowing in the dark!”

See, it’s moments like this that made me decide to blog!

May 29 2010

Birthday Fun!

Today was my niece’s birthday; later this week it is my nephew’s, too. So, we held a party in their honor today. I think we had a pretty good time!

We had a spider cake for him!

And a Dirt Cake for Her!

And Face Painting for all!

We even had a bubble blowing contest where some adults had as much fun as the kids!

Of course, in this case, it was more of a bubble popping contest!

She had a pretty big bubble….

Until he came along and went even bigger!

The day ended on a slip and slide. Oh, what memories this brought back for us moms!

I’d say it was a pretty good day! After all, what could be more fun then spending a day with friends, family, and sugar!

May 24 2010

Making a Difference

Have you ever noticed how when you're focused on how much your life is…well…not going so well, God shows you someone's whose is worse?

Last night, as we were cleaning up after youth, I felt an urge to take the last six homeless ministry bags with me. But I ignored the urge, thinking I still had one in the van and that I'd grab some more next weekend. These bags have juice/water, snacks, hygiene items (like soap and mouthwash), and a personal note of encouragement in them. The idea is to carry them in your vehicle, and then when you pass a homeless person on the street, you can hand them a bag of encouragement. I knew I had one bag left, so I ignored that urge.

Fast forward to today. I had to run a couple of errands. Today didn't start out too great and I've had a lot on my mind. One of which is trying really hard to know what God is trying to say to me and listening when He says it. I was waiting in the deli line with an older gentleman. We waited for quite a while, and finally someone noticed and came over and asked who was first in line. I replied that the gentleman was.

He replies, "And the first will come last and the last will come first."

I simply smiled, yet was reminded of this scripture:

"So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but
few chosen."

Matthew 20:16

As I was pulling out of the store parking lot, I had to stop at the light. Next to me was a homeless woman, with a sign that said,

"I have no home or food. Please help."

I rolled down my window and handed her the bag as she quickly said "thank you."

And then I noticed several other homeless people all around me. I had no more bags to give and instantly thought of last night, when I had the *urge* to take the remaining bags with me. But I didn't. I wish I had listened to that still, small voice.

Lately, God has been speaking to me about something in particular. It's not something I'm comfortable with, but I'm trying hard to listen. I think today was a little reminder; perhaps a test. I didn't do so well.

What I can say is this. I would urge all of my readers to make up their own bags to pass out. If you're local and you attend our church, I'd encourage you to bring in items so that we can make up more bags as we are getting low. We fill the bags with juice or water, snacks (like granola bars), small bottles of hygiene items (such as mouthwash, tooth paste, body soap). We place a note card inside, with a note of encouragement from our youth. And we keep them in our vehicles for those street corners, when we wish we'd had something but didn't. Now you can.

And if you are feeling a bit sorry for yourself today, I'd suggest you open up your eyes and take a look around. Make a difference. You might just find yourself feeling a bit better about your own circumstances!

For more information on this ministry, you can read this: B-boo

⁴⁰"The King will reply,

'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Matthew 25:40

May 19 2010

See…It IS a Vivas Thing!

After a longggg day yesterday, I picked up the teens from spending some time at a local refugee *camp.* I don't think that is what it is really called, but they had gone to play games with the refugees. And they had fun, too! So afterward, our youth pastor takes them to Sonic. They go in to order and the next thing they know, they're being told to get back in the vans. The Talented One states he never saw our youth pastor move so fast, so he knew it was serious! All they saw outside was a tour bus and lots of police with rifles.

Fast forward to this morning. I'm sound asleep. I hear a voice calling, "Mom! Mom! Wake Up!"

I roll over in my bed in time to watch B-boo crumple to the floor. Swoosh! Just-like-that! (It was like she had turned into a rubberband…swoosh.)

(May I just state right now, that that is NOT the way a mom should have to get up in the morning! It is just plain rude!)

I yelled at hubby to wake up…WAKE UP! Something's wrong with B-boo!

She was mumbling and he was yelling at me to take her to ER while trying to figure out if she was ok or not. I ran downstairs to grab some pants. (Ok, the ONE TIME I run out of pj pants and regular pants is the one time I need them?!) As I ran downstairs, the Talented One comes running in asking me what is wrong. I tell him that his sister is upstairs on the floor and to go help dad. I grab the first set of pants that I see and meet them at the bottom of the stair case and off we go.

Didn't get to brush my teeth.

Didn't get to comb my hair.

I'm in my pj's.

She's fine, btw. She's been fighting a virus for a week and a half now and isn't resting properly. She's stubborn like that. She needs to drink more fluids and take care of herself.

Back to last night.

While we're in the ER, we talk to Punky about last night. We found out that an attempted robbery had happened and the guy with the gun had crashed into the bus that was in front of the Sonic that they kids were about to eat at. I am SO glad pastor got the kids out safe with his quick thinking.

Back to this morning.

B-boo has had a cough, too. So last night I gave her Nyquil. She took the CORRECT dose and almost 10 hours had passed before her little episode. But the Good-Looking one…he wonders if it was the Nyquil, just because one little time he took a little too much and ended up asleep in the bathroom. He just won't let it go! You'd think after over a decade he'd move past it, right? No, son, I did NOT overdose your sister!

See, it's times like this why we say, "It's a Vivas Thing!"

May 13 2010

Joy of Chocolate

Those of you who follow my blog can look forward to reading about something joyous on Thursday as part of Good, True and Beautiful's, Just for the Joy of It. And as some of you state you love to read about my family, I am happy to report that after over three months of being barely coherent by 8 am, I made it back, baby! Twice this week, I have gotten up at 6 am to get the two oldest to high school and then enjoy Bible study with the Smart One before driving him to school, too. Thereby letting my beloved hubby sleep in!

This is cause to celebrate! I've always been an early riser. I am up by 6 am most days; sleeping in for me is 7ish. I've not taken anyone to school since my surgery/illness. So, we had an extra scoop of joy this week….all of us!

But the REAL joy (sorry kids) came from a new discovery. B-boo and I were picking up some stuff in Wally World when we passed by the…dare I say it….chocolate aisle. I have a real fancy for chocolate. Especially good chocolate. Especially delicious dark chocolate. But not too dark so that it is bitter. It has to be just right.

And then, I spotted it! Werther's Original Caramel Chocolate, Dark Cream. I cannot not even begin to explain to you how truly delicious this amazing new product is! I could eat a whole bag in one setting! It is just the right amount of smooth, creamy, chocolaty flavor. It is not filled with caramel, so you taste more caramel than chocolate. It is swirled in together, making it just melt in your mouth! It is so new, I couldn't even find a picture of the bag on the internet! And it isn't in just any store, either. I know…I've looked!

This is as close to the bag as I could find; same color, but it's wrong, because the bag I bought says dark cream on the side and Caramel Chocolate instead of Chocolate under Original. I'm thinking that this is very important because I'd hate for one of you to go dashing out to the store in search of this joyous chocolate and pick up the wrong bag and then become upset with me over it!

Here's hoping your taste buds find some joy this week!