The Healy River

Normally, no, our town does not have a river running down the middle of it. But after last night, guess what, we have a river in the place of the highway. And it goes through the very middle of the town.

Scott and I had to be out in it last night (twice), so I snapped pictures (like 50 of them) of different places in town. Scott had to check on things at work, otherwise we would have stayed home. It was so weird seeing my town like this.

While we were out the first time with our van, there were spots that the water came up to the bottom of our doors. There were also place that we could not go, because we would have been stuck...the water was just too deep.

We talked to someone in town and he said that he had gotten like 4.70 inches and that north of town someone had gotten like 7 inches. Wow...that's a lot of water for Healy.

Did I mention yet that this storm that dropped so much rain was also accompanied by a tornado (didn't hit town)? What a night, what a night.

There are a lot of people with flooded basements (obviously) and some that are even having sewer problems. Wow! Who would have thought that our town would be so wet.

The best I can do is just show you the pictures, so here goes. I put the rest of the pictures on my facebook page, so if you are friends with me on facebook, check out the rest of the pictures.







God Bless and hopefully I don't float away. Loves to you all.

Prom

Ok, a life-milestone. My daughter is about to go to prom. It's her first, so the pictures will be plentiful, I can promise that.

I understand from my days of going to prom that having a "guy" date is the best thing in the world...but I have to admit that I'm a little glad that her first "date" is her aunt Michaela. I know she will be safe and taken care of.

I agree with my sister-in-law that time does go by too fast and I'm not sure how to slow it down. The problem that I have is that I don't get much time with Martie anyway (since we got her at the age of 13) and then it has to go so fast.

I don't think that at the age of 31 or 32 I will be ready for an empty nest. I keep thinking about how we will fill our house again after she's gone (or start filling it before she leaves). I want to adopt an infant or toddler so bad, but it just doesn't seem to be in God's will.

Ok, wait a second, I was talking about prom. Enough with the drama, right?

Martie even gets to serve at the prom banquet, so that's exciting. She will be there...just not eating all dressed up like the juniors and seniors. But her time will come.

She has asked me to do her hair (Michaela asked me too) so I will be very busy on Saturday doing make-up, hair, probably painting nails (even putting on fake ones maybe). So our house will become the Soodsma beauty spa...lol...hmmmm.

And to top it all off, after I dress up the girls (maybe pull my hair up quick and put on a nice shirt and pants), watch them go to prom and make sure they are safe, Scott is taking me out on a date. All alone, just the two of us. I love when it's just the two of us. We act like teenagers again and hold hands, and get all smoochy smoochy. Actually we usually end up going to wal-mart or hastings and buying something for Martie. Since she's also the topic of most of our conversations on a date.

Anyway, that's how my weekend will be going. Busy, tiring, but lots of fun.

God bless and loves to everyone.

Excited

I'm excited. As you read this, my excitement will probably be obvious.

We are going to look at that house this weekend. I can't wait to see it. I also talked to the guy selling it and he is willing to lower the price for what we can afford. He will also lower it quite a bit if we want to take it as is (and fix it up to our liking....if it's mostly cosmetic stuff). I hope the house looks bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Like I said before, I'm so ready to own my own house. To fix it up like I want it done. To paint it some colors I might never do myself. I plan to ask my sis-in-law, Desi, to help with that. She did an awesome job on her house, so I decided that makes her an expert. I tend to just be a boring, plain, go with white, kind of person.

So I guess after this weekend I'll maybe have more news about it. Pray that God will let us own something that is all ours.

God bless and love to ya'll!

Song of the Week

Ok, here it is. The song of the week for this week. Scott helped me pick it out, so I'll give the credit to him. He loves this song and we thought you just might like it too.


Where I'm From
On a three hour flight from Memphis to LA
I was silently celebrating my first class upgrade
Laughing at my jeans and my boots
Beside those high dollar shoes and Armani suits
When the gentleman next to me said the drinks up here are free
So if you'd like the first one can be on me
He said i'm headin back from business in New York and Rome
Tell me son, Where do you call home

I said I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church
A courthouse clock it still dont work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers maiden name
Yes it may not sound like much
But its where I'm from

So we drank that round and then another
There wasn't a topic in this world we did not cover
He said I headed out west when I was barely 19
Just a kid chasing my dreams
I said I'm flying out here to pick up my big brother
He's been fighting the cancer they discovered
But he called last night and said I think this is the end
So come take me home to my family and my friends

Where the quarterback dates the homecoming queen
The truck's a ford and the tractor's green
And Amazing Grace is what we sing
Well there's a county fair every fall
And your friends are there no matter when you call
Yeah It may not sound like much but it's
Where I'm from

And as we stood to claim the bags we checked
He said I'll pray for your brother and did I mention that
Italian suits haven't always been my style
See I was quarterback of my high school team
We took state back in '63
And my wife, she's still my homecoming queen

Cause I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church
A courthouse clock that still don't work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers maiden name
Yes it may not sound like much
I said it may not sound like much but it's where I'm from
it's where I'm from
Where I'm from
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound....


God Bless you all. Love ya!

Houses, Houses, Houses

I have to confess something. I'm itching to own my own home again...I didn't get to pick the last one I owned. I like living in a home that is rent-free, don't get me wrong. It's saved us a lot of money. But there's a time in a woman's life when she wants a house that she can really make her own. Yes, the people that own our home are very nice, and if I asked, I would get to decorate it up a little more than it is (cost on us). But who wants to pay for the decorating and then someday have to leave it there?

So, remedy for that? We have been looking at houses in Dighton.

Why did we pick Dighton? Well, there are a few reasons:

1. Martie may eventually end up in school over there (depends on what happens in Healy)

2. We would love to be closer to our church (since I'm the worship leader)

3. My brother and his wife live there (and they are having a baby and I don't want to miss anything....it's hard enough I have to miss some things about my nieces in Topeka)

4. We don't want to buy a house in Healy, it just seems smarter that way. We don't feel like we will be here forever.

I think those are our main reasons. Do they sound logical enough? I've watched my brother, Michael fix his house up and it's so beautiful. Then I got to help my brother, Matt, move into his brand new house (which is also beautiful). So what did I start thinking? "What about me? I want a beautiful house of my own."

So here I am, actually waiting to hear from a guy who is selling a house in Dighton. It's within our price range (easily). And it has the right number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and it has a full, finished basement. What more could we ask for? All we have to do now is find a good time to go look at it and see if it's really what we want.

A part of me wants to just jump and tell the guy, "we'll take it right now." But then my smarter side says, "don't be stupid about it. You're not in a hurry, so take your time and let God lead you to the perfect house."

We told Martie about it tonight and I told her how I found the house. She proceeded to tell me that it had to be a God-thing. She was just sure of it. (I found it on Nex-Tech, just browsing for fun...go figure)

Well, it may be a God-thing or it may not be. I guess time will tell. And for now this impatient woman will just have to learn some patience if it kills her in the process. I'm so not good at waiting to make decisions. I'm so like my father and I make snap decisions and usually think about them after the fact. (sometimes good, sometimes bad) So it's good that I'm married to a man who is a thinker. He's good at sometimes taking weeks to think about something (drives me absolutely bananas).

Anyway, I better go find something else to do to keep my mind off of houses (like actually sleeping, since it's 5:00 am.) Gotta get up for church in just a couple hours.

God bless you and keep you. Loves to all!

Song of the Week

I was a little late getting the song of the week up. But here it is. I would like you to hear the song that Scott and I did for our special....it's not us singing though.

It is a duet between Jesus and His mother, Mary. He is telling her that it's ok and that this is God's plan for Him. And she is questioning, wondering why God would have His own Son killed. She is hurting because it's her Son too. It's an awesome song. Just listen to it. Yes, I added it to the playlist below. It's the last song on the list.

(Brad Paisley)
Mother - do not cry for me
All of this is exactly how it's supposed to be
(Sara Evans)
I'm right here. Can you hear my voice?
My life, my love, my Lord....my baby boy

(Brad Paisley)
As they nail me to this tree
Just know the Father waits for me
(Sara Evans)
God how can this be your will?
To have your son and my son killed?

(Brad Paisley)
Whatever happens...whatever you see...
Whatever your eyes tell you has become of me
This is not...
Not the end...
I am making all things new again

(Sara Evans)
I remember when you were born
In that manger where I first held
You in my arms
So many miracles and lives you've changed
And this world repays you how?
With all this pain

(Brad Paisley)
As they nail me to this tree
Just know the Father waits for me
(Sara Evans)
God how can this be your will?
To have your son and my son killed?

(Both)
Whatever happens(Whatever happens)...whatever you see(I don't wanna see)...
Whatever your eyes tell you has become of me
This is not(Tell me it's not...
Not the end...
I am making all things new again


(Brad Paisley)
Whatever happens...whatever you see...
Whatever your eyes tell you has become of me
This is not(No)...
Not the end...
I am making all things new again

Duet

You won't believe what I was able to do for Easter. I was able to convince Scott to sing a song with me. It was so great. I thought he sounded very good. I'm pretty sure this kind of thing won't happen very often, so I have to make a big deal out of it. We sang the song "New Again" by Brad Paisley and Sara Evans.



It's actually pretty funny how it happened. I set it up with my parents for me to sing a special at their church on Sunday. Well, I decided I wanted to sing that song, and it has to be a duet. So I called and asked my dad to sing it with me. He said he would rather have Scott do it with me.

So, I call up Scott and I asked him if he would like to be a Brad Paisley stunt double..LOL! He said, "why?" I kind of stalled around and then he tried to change the subject.

"Do you want to cut my hair, honey?" he asked me. What did I reply?

"I'll cut your hair if you sing this song with me."

So later that night I cut his hair.....what happened Sunday? Of course, he sang with me.

Isn't that funny? Maybe he'll ask me to cut his hair again at a time we can sing another special. Although, he told me that if this was going to become a habit, he would start going somewhere else to get his hair cut. What a guy.

Just thought I would share this with you. I have to figure out how to put the video on the internet (facebook and here) so it might be awhile. I'm kind of computer illiterate sometimes. Hope I can share it with you soon.