Sibling Wars?

Last Friday night, my family went on a fun family outing. We went to dinner and took a ride thru Holiday In Lights. There were so many Christmas lights, making so many different things. The kids loved it. We then went to see Santa and to a kid's playland. It was an amazing night of fun for both my kids. They smiled and laughed all night long. Then we headed home. We hadn't been in the car for 5 minutues when they started. "She touched my arm!" " He stuck his tongue out at me." "She hit me". "Zach called me meanie". Now I am usually ok with the fighting. Unless I see blood or hear "dirty words or names", I can pretty much let them fight it out. Randy on the other hand, doesn't handle the fighting so well. He gets frustrated with them easily. "Why can they have so much fun together all night, then hate each other minutes later?" Oh, the memories started flooding back.....

When Travis and I were little, we were the best at sibling wars! It was one battle after another. I can't remember much about what we would fight about. What I do remember most is how my mom would handle it. Thinking back on our battles makes me laugh now. Seems like Travis and I would fight just about every day we were going to church. When mom had had enough she would say, "One more word and you two will sit next to me in church and hold hands the entire time." WHAT??? Oh no, that is not happening! Mom never heard another word! (we may have shared some nasty looks, and some tongues being stuck out at each other, but never another word!)

Travis and I had 2 things that were without fail, an area of controversy that always ending in a fight...1. Who was going to ride in the front seat of the car with mom and 2. Who got to watch "their cartoon". As usual, mom had the answer... We had to "call front" when we were growing up. The key was, we had to wait until mom said the words, "We are leaving". As soon as she said those words, whoever said, "I call front" got to sit in the front seat. This is one issue I have not had to deal with my kids yet. (Thank the Lord for the new car seat laws!) Travis and I would follow mom around the house whispering to her, "Is it time? Are we leaving?" We were hoping she would answer "yes" quietly so the other person didn't hear her say it. For some reason, most of my "car memories" are from the back seat! I don't think I was very good at that game!!!

Mom had the answer for stopping the arguing over cartoons too. We had our "days" to watch our cartoons. My days were Mondays and Wednesdays. Travis' days were Tuesdays and Thursdays. (because those days started with a "T" just like his name!) What happens on the other days you ask? They were "Mom and dad's days". If we started arguing over the TV on those afternoons, we watched what mom said to watch. And trust me, it wasn't interesting at all! My Tuesdays and Thursdays were full of "He-Man" and "Transformers" and "Thundercats". I hated them! Travis' Mondays and Wednesdays were full of "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Care Bears". Now that's some good cartoons!

Mom always seemed to have the answers to our arguments! I called mom the other day when my kids had been at each other all day long. I felt like I was losing my mind, and my thoughts went back to those days of bickering with Travis and Rachel. I immediately thought that I needed mom! She would know what to do. She would know how to handle them! I told her my dilemma and said, "What do I do, mom?" She said something I will never forget...she said, "Hahaha. I don't know!" What??? You don't know??? You have to know! You always knew!!! Her answer was, "You reap what you sow!" I think she thoroughly enjoys hearing me suffer thru my kids fights. She remembers those days like yesterday too. But what she told me next did help me .. a lot. She told me every kid is different. You have to find what works with them. Only the Lord can help you figure that out!

We have an amazing mom! Why was she so amazing? Not because she is an awesome cook (even tho she really is). Not because she can sing like no one I have ever heard..or any of the other millions of wonderful things about her...She is an amazing mom because she always found the answers in the Word of God. She always spent time finding her answers on her knees. We thought she had all the answers to solve our sibling wars growing up. What we know now, is we have the same "Book of Knowledge" that she did!! Thanks, MOM!!!!!!

And, Travis, it's Tuesday..and I'm NOT watching your cartoons!!!! :)

Perfect

So far we have shared some events that highlight the mistakes, attacks, and blunders of one another. Seeing how that both my sisters have forgotten how to type or share a story, I will go again...but this time a little different.
This past Friday at 11:30 a.m. (o.K. 11:40, I was late) I met my sisters at Soho for lunch (a wonderful place to eat). There we sat around the table, Chrystal, Rachel, Stacey, Caleb, Lici, Hope, and I. We told stories about what all was happening in our lives. The Japanese/American -Iron Chef wanna be-was cooking our food. He threw pieces of cooked food in the air and asked if we wanted to try and catch it in our mouths....of course Chrystal and I did. Was there any doubt? That is us all the way. I caught mine in my mouth, Chrystal after four attempts just caught the food in her hands and shoved it in her mouth so as to not waste any more food. Rachel with her smile and wit shared some news in her life. Stacey, the love of my life, sat near me laughing and sharing stories about our last few days. We had not all gotten together for nearly 2 months.
We ate our dinner, enjoying every bite of the wonderful food. Soon, because we inherited our mother's digestive system, Rachel and I at the same time had to go to the bathroom. Upon returning, we paid our bill, shared a candy bar (MILCH) from Mexico I had brought back (awesome), and walked out together. A few jokes shared, a couple of jabs at making fun of each other, and we got in our cars and went our separate ways. It had been a long time since we did something like that.
I know you read and we write of fun stories, jokes, dares, and blunders that we laugh at each other with; but there are not three siblings in the world closer than us. I praise the Lord for the gift He has given us in each other. That event, that afternoon, with each other was....well...in a word...Perfect.

Clue: Travis, in the Hallway, with the Dental Floss

What has become a legendary story around our church all began one rainy summer evening in around the year 1984. That day, all day, my sister Chrystal tried desperately to interfere with my playing with my G.I. Joe men (not dolls) and transformers. We were stuck inside all day due to the rain, and I was content playing in my room with my cool toys. Problem was, Chrystal was not content with her toys and wanted to play "army" and "transformers" with me.
Now, let me say. My wife, being an only child, does not understand how our two children Alex and Grace, just can't play together all the time. Grace too, wants all the time to play with Alex and his "Legos" and "transformers." I, on the other hand, understand, and try my best to protect this much needed 'alone time between the boy and his toys.' It just isn't right to have your sister play the part of Megatron, Cobra Commander, or have her steeling that one large blue flat piece you need to finish constructing that awesome space ship out of legos. So Alex, I understand and got your back....
Back to our story: That day Chrystal seemingly was constantly interfering with my play time. I was about 10 at the time and Chrystal around 7. Mom, had given in to Chrystal's unjust demands and had instructed to me let her play with my transformers. That is when it happened...I got the idea that would forever symbolize mine and Chrystal's relationship.
"Chrystal, you stay in here and build a fort, and I will go into the living room and build mine and then we will battle!" I said.
"Really, thanks Bub, that will be great." Chrystal replied. Off I went into the living room; but not to build a fort, but instead a trap.
Now, let me say, most who know me have already realized that I have quite the 'imagination.' That day it was working overtime. Instead of building a fort, I reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out a brand new box of dental floss. I began placing my trap.
At the end of the hallway there was a coat closet and Chrystal's room. I, using the hinges and articles behind both doors, used the dental floss to make a way to trip Chrystal as she walked down the hallway. I, even at that age, new one piece would not do it, so I went back and forth until I felt the trap was strong enough. By that time, I was very proud of myself and was about to call for Chrystal, but then I had another idea.
Instead of just tripping her, I could make like a spider web that she would have to break through. That would be funny. So, like Charlotte for an incredible pig, I began spinning my web. Back and forth from top to bottom I stretched out the dental floss. Soon I realized I had used the entire roll of dental floss. And the best part was, it was virtually invisible with such tiny thread and the lights turned out.
I visioned in my mind Chrystal running down the hall way and hitting the floss and falling through it while all of us laughed and made a fun memory.
It was then I set on the sofa where I could see down the hall way. I then called out "Chrystal, Chrystal, come quick you have to see this...HURRY!"
My bedroom door swang open and Chrystal came running down the hall. My smile grew larger with every step she took. It was then she hit the trap. It was all just like I had visioned...Chrystal runnind down the hall, hitting the floss...but she didn't fall through it. Where was the laughing? I immediately heard a scream...and so did mom downstairs. I turned on the lights, and to my horror found my sister laying on the floor in the hall with blood on her face, arms, and legs. Mom came up and saw her and screamed and went to pick her up....she didn't see the floss either. Luckily, for me, it was just a nuisance to her and she wasn't hurt. By that time I had a big knife to cut my way through the floss so mom could get to her.
Stopping and thinking about it, I sure am glad no one walked in at that time to see my mom screaming, me with a large knife, and a bloody Chrystal lying on the floor.
Anyways, I cut the floss and mom got to Chrystal and all was well.
Seemed that because of the amount of floss I used, instead of just breaking when she hit it, it became like small paper cuts that cut Chrystal's head, arms, and legs.
Needless to say, I got a serious spanking when dad came home....but to be honest, it was worth it and I would definitely had done it again.
Classic!

"Garage Sale" ????

One of my favorite things to do on Saturdays is to go to garage sales with my sister. It's always been fun to me to go "garage sale-ing", as we call it. It is my husband's least favorite thing that I do. He has never understood why I love other people's "garbage" so much! But Rachel and I find some great treasures amidst that garbage some days! Especially now that she has Caleb. She understands how much fun it can be to go looking for baby clothes and toys! I really believe the Lord sends us to some garage sales just to find the "perfect" item. This story, however, takes place before Caleb. It was about 3 years ago, I think. Let me set the stage...

It was a warm, summer Saturday. Rachel had spent the night with me the night before. It was all with the grand idea of going "garage sale-ing" the next morning. We like to start early. We don't do the early bird thing, because that's just rude, but we do like to get started early before all the good deals are gone. We got our newspaper and hunted out the best area of town to go towards. We were so excited. And "garage sale" we did! It was a blast. I think we hit every garage sale in the newspaper. We were out of ads, so we decided to sign hunt! We were driving around looking for signs. "I will look on my side, you look on your's". We had been out for several hours at this point. So, I will give it to Rachel. We were both getting tired. We were in the beautiful little town of Loveland. We came to the top of a hill to a red light. As we were pulling up to it, Rachel shouted, "Oh, over there." And she started to read the sign. (I'm having trouble typing this right now, because I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.)

Rachel said in a loud, bold voice. "OH! Over there!" .She was reading slowly, and on purpose like she was sounding out every letter.."GARAAAAGGGEEE SAAALLLE! "

I looked out her window with excitement in my voice, "Oh boy, Where? Which way? I don't see it!"

I think she was getting aggervated at me.."Right there!" She pointed to a white piece of poster board. I was looking everywhere around the poster board. "What?"

Rachel said, "Oh, wait. Nevermind." I looked at the board...I said, "You mean the one that says 'Oak Bed for sale' ?" I couldn't help but lose it!! I started laughing so hard!!

"Where in the world did you think you saw garage sale?"

"I don't know. I thought it said that."

I promise you, my friends, my sister can read. She was trying to very hard as she read what she thought said "Garage Sale". She was sounding out every letter with purpose!!!
Oh, we still go "garage sale-ing" these days...but I look for the signs now. Unless of course we are looking for beds..then I let her read them!!! I love my sister, I really do!!! :)

The 3 Bears

My brother was not known for being kind to me as a child. He loved to make me cry. One of his favorite things to say to me was, "If you don't stop it, I will make you cry." And that he did. If I started to aggervate him in any way, it didn't last long because he would make me cry everytime. I think he found some sort of joy in it.

My worst memory of him making me cry happened when I was about 6 years old. I can still remember it plain as day. Mom was telling us the story of The 3 Bears..Papa bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear. Such a nice little story. I enjoyed hearing mom tell us stories. It was bed time. It was getting dark out. Mom told us to go to bed. I jumped up and started down the hall. I had to pass Travis' room to get to my room. He said, "Psst. Come here." I went in his room and jumped up on his bed.

He said, "You know those 3 bears mom was telling you about?"

"Yes?"

"Well, what she didn't tell you, because she didn't want to scare you was...They live under your bed!!"

"WHAT????"

"Yes. Papa Bear. Mama Bear. Baby Bear...they all live under your bed. They come out at night while you are sleeping and eat and play in your room."

Now, I don't know why I was such a stupid child. But in my world, Travis hung the moon! He could've told me anything and I would've believed him. (like the fact that I was adopted. bc he told me that and I believed him til I was 12!)

"We need to tell mom!" I was sobbing at this point!

"NOOOO!!! You can't tell anyone!! If you do..they will eat us all!! They don't want to go back to the zoo. If they know we know then they will eat us! You can't tell a soul!"

OHH NOOO!!!! I really was terrified. He told me to go jump in to bed. I couldn't get out of bed until the sun came up every morning. That's when they went back under the bed and wouldn't bother us. We all know bears sleep during the day and are up at night. Right? Of course, I didn't want to sound dumb so I agreed..and I believed every word of it.

I didn't sleep for months! I don't know exactly what happened to make me stop believing that. I do remember having some accidents tho, because I couldn't get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or we would all die!!

I might have been dumb, but I would rather be dumb than mean...plain old mean!!!!!!!!!!

The Gettysburg Undress

One score and a few days ago, my father brought forth our family and declared a vacation that none would equal.
My sister and I (as usual) were engaged in a great civil war; testing whether this sibling, or that sibling, after being conceived would endure as the greatest. There we again met on a great battlefield of that war. It was on a portion of that field, a restaurant place where those that were hungry might eat. It was altogether not fitting and propper that I should have done this (but I did).
In a large sense, I cannot delete-I can not erase-I cannot forget this event. The two siblings, Travis and Chrystal, who struggled here, have desecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we said there, but it can never forget what I did there. It was I, the brother, in a brave act greatly humbled and embarrassed the sister. I am here dedicated to the task of remembering this great event-that from this task of dishonour, Chrystal took increased devotion to get back at her brother-but her attempts have all been in vain-for in that day, in that parking lot of that restaurant, before tourist and residents alike, I 'accidentally' pulled her skirt, by its hem, off her waist, to the ground; and this act before family, people, and friends, shall not perish from our thoughts.

Good times, good times!

Rick and I have now started working with the youth at our church, and I count it as such a privilege and honor. It is such a huge responsibility. Being with the youth has made me really start to think about my time in the youth department. My youth director for most of my time was Travis. It was great having my brother as my youth director...most of the time. I remember a few times when it was not so much fun because he went from youth director to brother REAL fast.
One circumstance would have been at our annual "Murder Mystery." I LOVED murder mysteries. It was one of my favorite activities. At one particular Murder Mystery I was sitting across from my then "beau" Ricky. I believe the mystery was over and we were all just sitting around talking and goofing off. Well, Ricky was hitting my feet and I may or may not have been hitting his back ;) I think you call this "footsies". Well, my youth director/brother saw us from across the room, and hollered at us in this playful but serious way. We got the point! BUSTED!! I know he probably would have done that to any teen in the circumstance, but it was different when it's you're brother! Oh man! I could've died. I could not believe my big brother just caught me flirting with a boy...he's not even supposed to know I like boys yet!
Another circumstance was at our Prim we had each year. I think it was my very first prim. I was probably about 13 (?) We were at Cincinnati museum center about to see an Omnimax show. We were standing outside when these two boys came over and started talking to me and my friend. It was the first time a boy had showed any interest in talking to me, and Travis was going to make sure it was the last! He came right over stepped between me and these boys, threw his arm around me, and asked why they were talking to his "little sister." I could've crawled in a hole! About that time they remembered they had somewhere else to be. He hugged me with his one arm, smiled, and walked away. The youth director/brother strikes again!
At the time those moments were "my worst nightmare", but now as I look back I'm so thankful for my youth director/ brother! I would not have traded any moment in that teen class. I can truly say that I know NO better youth worker! He has taught us so much in how to work with teens, and I pray Rick and I can impact their lives as much as he has impacted our's! I'm so thankful for my youth director!

RBD

I recently heard a radio commercial that said, "What are the three most feared letters of the English Language? I.R.S." I am sure that for many, that may be true, but while growing up, there were three letters that were by far much more greatly feared...at least for Chrystal and me. Those letters were "R.B.D."
So what is RBD? Well, it all started around 1987 at the Moraine Heights Baptist Church around 5:00 p.m. one Sunday afternoon.
At that time, our father was the Music/Youth Director of the church. This meant many things, one of which was choir practice every Sunday night before church. Now if you have never been to Moraine Heights Baptist Church, you should definitely go, especially if you are a kid. There are so many fun and adventerous things to do there. There are old ruins of a castle or mansion in the woods with rooms underground, writings on the walls, and interesting artifacts left lying around. There are cracks in the stair well walls that take you upstairs that look like animals and words. There are rooms full of cool props to play with, foosball tables, ping pong tables, a gymnasium...not to mention a parking lot perfectly paved and seemingly desinged for riding a bike-with even a 'hump' in the lower left side that was a perfect ramp right into seemingly a never dry puddle. There was a car port outside that was four giant cement squares...perfect for a killer four square game. There were only like 9,000 pews in the auditorium, at that time tile hallways perfect for sliding in socks, hideouts, and perhaps the greatest building for hide-n-seek ever!
Needless to say, Sunday nights before church, the hour of choir practice was the funnest of fun times for us and our friends. It was on one of those Sunday nights that my mother came up to us and first said to us those dreaded words, "Who has RBD tonight?" What was this RBD she spoke of? What was it we had or were about to get? Many things went through my head. It was an exciting thought until we learned that RBD stood for Rachel Burke Duty!
Rachel was at that time 2 years old. To have RBD meant you had to keep her in a pew while she played with her toys. Oh the horror! All of our friends playing and having so much fun while one of us sat imprisoned on a leaf green pew. It was most unfair. Each week we took turns, unless, that is, either me or Chrystal had gotten in trouble that week-then part of punishment was RBD.
Now, let me stop...this is in NO WAY a reflexion upon Rachel as a person. She is the bestest! It was just a selfish childish feeling that Chrystal and I had while growing up. But to this day, the hair on the neck stands, the goosebumps rise, the shake of the hand begins, the eyes open a little wider in dread at the hearing of those three letters:

RBD.

Leave it to them!

As many of you know, we just returned home not too long ago from seeing my dad after his by-pass surgery. This was not the first time we had to rush out to see him. I remember on one trip out there it was Rick, Chrystal, and me. My dad was in the hospital and my mom was very, very ill. We left on a Sunday night, and I was EXHUASTED. Although, I am not the greatest person to travel with...I speak little and sleep LOTS!! On this particular trip I had fallen asleep. When I woke up I looked around..it did not look familar! I asked where we were. My lovely sister and wonderful husband informed me of where we were and it was not where we were supposed to be. We had passed Kansas...that's right...PASSED IT!! How do you pass a state?!?!?! I know, my same thoughts, but don't worry they managed to do it! We were on the toll roads somewhere in Oklahoma. We got off and proceeded to find a gas station. If you know my husband at all you know that he is not one to ask for directions, so when he did I knew were seriously lost! We found a gas station that I'm pretty sure was straight from the heart of red neck country. At this gas station we asked "Jeff"(now we don't know that Jeff was his name, but Chrystal said he looked like a Jeff so that's what we call him to this day) for directions to Kansas. He gave us directions in his country twang (that only Chrystal can impersonate perfectly) and directed us through "a trashy little town called Pitcher". We were off, and when he said "trashy little town" he really meant it, but he got us there! It was probably one of the funniest moments I've had with my sister..whom swears that Jeff was in love with her! :)
As a side note..not too long ago on the news here in OH they were reporting about the tornadoes out west. One small town was destroyed...it was our trashy little town called Pitcher! It was a sad day in history for sure!

Singing in the Nursing Home

I don't remember the first time Travis and I sang together. I know we sang "He's Still Workin' on Me", but I don't remember it actually happening. If I had to guess, I would say I was around 4 or 5. (which would've made him 7 or 8.) We sang together a lot after that. It was something our family really loved doing together. We always sang Psalm 18;3 as a family. It was a joy of mine. But Travis and I sang often in competitions, for church services, camp, etc. We even made a "cassette tape" of ourselves. We had big dreams of selling it so we could make some money for our family vacation (which we tell on the tape is a trip to King's Island!). I think I was around 6 and Travis around 9. I would give a lot to get my hands on that tape again. Travis wrote a song on it. It was entitled "Jesus, He's My Friend". Oh boy, if only you could hear that! The words went a little something like this, "Jesus, He's my Friend. He helps me when I'm sick, or when I'm not feeling good. I love Jesus. He's my Friend." It was a ...song. :)

But one of the most enjoyable moments I have had singing with Travis was at the nursing homes. Our church held services on Sunday afternoons at various nursing homes. A man from the church would go and preach, and we would go with them to sing. (usually if Kim Dye was playing the piano!) I don't remember how old we were to be honest. I'm going to guess 5th grade and 8th grade, but it may have been a little younger than that. We went for several years. But on this glorious day, we were at a certain nursing home, and had just finished singing. We were sitting behind the speaker on a love seat. There is always distractions, as you can imagine, in the nursing home services. We had been instructed by mom and dad that no matter what was happening around us, we were to keep our eyes on the speaker and pay attention. Well, I had noticed that a lady, who I don't know how old she was, but from my young memory had to have been 130 years old, was slowly making her way in her wheel chair over towards Travis and me. We were glancing at each other thru our peripheral vision every once and a while, careful not to smile. I started getting a little nervous. She was getting closer and closer. I let out a little snicker, not sure what exactly she was doing, but she was smiling at us and saying something under her breath. Travis kicked me. I knew I had to gain control of myself or I was going to get us both in trouble. So I kept my eyes on the speaker. But she kept coming..closer, closer, closer...she was directly in front of us. Now remember, we are behind the speaker. So the whole audience can see us as well. She was just looking at us and smiling the biggest, toothless smile you have ever seen. That's when it happened!!!

Travis whispered to me, "lift your feet". I looked down. The lady who had so kindly rolled over to us, had apparently thought us to be the bathroom. I will never forget it as long as I live. I have never seen a little tiny lady have so much..."liquid" in her in my whole life! And now it was directly under our feet. We were not moving. We had our feet a little off the ground so the liquid could flow freely under us, but we did our best to keep our eyes on the speaker. (altho at this point, I wasn't doing so well!) When she had finished, she said, "Thank you", and slowly rolled away! Now we were stuck. I was thinking, "What in the world are we supposed to do?" We couldn't stand up. My legs were getting very tired and starting to shake from holding them up off the ground. Thankfully, the speaker said, "Let's pray." As soon as he bowed his head Travis said, "Roll off the end". We pulled our feet on to the couch and rolled over the arm of the chair on to safe ground!!!

It's pretty funny now, and to Kim Dye (who got to observe the whole thing from the dry ground of the piano bench) it was always funny! We learned our lesson. We sat in the back from then on. And on the occasions that I get the opportunity to serve the Lord at nursing homes now, I still sit in the back!!!

Welcome to the Family

About a year ago this week, our cousin Jonathan Hudson married Ally. The wedding was wonderful and beautiful and I was even able to usher my grandmother to her seat. A wonderful ceremony indeed. We then made our way to the reception. There, at a table, sat I and Stacey, Ricky and Rachel, and Randy and Chrystal. Soon the new bride and groom were going table to table thanking each and everyone for attending.
Let me pause...we, because of living in the Cinci area, did not know Ally very well at all and she didn't know us. She just knew we were the part of the family from Cinci.
As they approached, I looked at Chrystal and might have said something like...
"Hey Sis, when Ally gets over here, I will give you $5 to stand up and kiss her on the cheek and give her a huge bear hug lifting her off the ground and then all 'teary' say, 'Welcome to our family, I love you.'"
We all got a laugh and then a short pause to catch our breath. Chrystal then said, "$5 huh?" "Absolutely!" as I laid a Lincoln on the table.
Soon Ally was at our table making her way down the table thanking us for coming. It was then, well, just look at the pic and especially Ally's face.....

Welcome to the family Ally!

A Quick Follow Up

Just a quick word to follow up Travis' previous blog on being scarred for life... I too was scarred for life by that attempt at running away...You see, it was at the tender age of 2 when I found myself away from home, scared, lonely and confused that someone picked me up in my tears and set me on a counter and said, "Here, honey, have some food. It will make you feel better..." And now, almost 30 years later..I still find the food to make me feel better. Whoever that person was who started that should be shot!!! Ok, maybe not. But it really makes me feel better to blame it on the one I don't know!

Another quick follow up to that...Travis said he has to keep his children in eye range of him..he needs to add that he still has to keep ME (and Rachel) within eye shot of him. Everyone knows of our Black Friday Adventures (which is only 105 days away, by the way! :). What you don't know is that even in those crowds, Travis must know where I am at all times. The only difference now is that we have cell phones. He has to keep texting me all the time, and if I go too long in between texts answering him, then he will call me. It truly did leave a lasting impression on him when I "ran away". Poor Rachel never got the chance to run away because I'm pretty sure Travis kept her on an actual leash most of her childhood! :) (and she still gets the text today too!)

He didn't always like us growing up, but he knew where we were ALL the time! :)

Scarred For Life

I am a good speller, problem is, I think too much. I never was successful at Spelling Bees or scored that well on spelling test; not because I could not spell, but that I always double guess myself and over analyze. Thus, I am so thankful for spell checks on these blogs. It also didn't help that while growing up your mom was the Queen of all English teachers.
Anyways, I said all that to say that as I wrote the title for this post, I had to look up the word "scarred" to make sure it was correct. I was right, but talked myself into the idea that maybe it was "scared." I looked both words up, and the funny thing is-both would be perfect. So, I write under the titles:

Scarred For Life

or

Scared for Life

The year was 1979. I was four years old and my little sister, Chrystal, was not quite two. My father was pastoring a small church in Dayton, Ohio, and we lived at the parsonage on the church property. I remember it all so plainly.
It was early afternoon and my mother came down the stairs. She said, "Wayne, I will be back in a couple of hours, Chrystal is asleep upstairs. Keep an eye on her." Dad agreed with a grunt and I remember hearing the large aluminum screen door slam shut and rattle due to a lack of a working spring.
My dad and I were lying on the couch watching my favorite cartoon-Casper the Friendly Ghost. Dad then said, "Travis, listen for your sister."
Those were the last words I remember. Dad went to sleep and I soon followed. The next thing I heard was my mother's voice.
"Wayne, wake up. Where's Chrystal?"
Where's Chrystal!?
Dad sat up, "She is still in the bed," dad replied. "No she isn't!" Replied a very anxious mother. By this time, I didn't understand fully what was going on, but I felt the fear in the room and began to cry. Dad ran upstairs, mom started calling out her name through the house, and I cried. Dad ran down the stairs shouting her name, mom ran out the door shouting her name, and I cried.
Then it happened. Dad and mom both met back in the living room, frantically yelling out Chrystal's name, and it was then Dad looked at me and said,

It's Your fault, I told you to watch her."

My fault? How could I do this? How could I have allowed my little baby sister to disappear or get taken? How could I have failed in my duties so bad? How could I be such a failure? Wait a minute, I was FOUR!!
Dad then ran out the door, mom got on the phone, and I cried harder. It seemed like days, but it was really only about 30 minutes and dad came in with Chrystal. (At least he told me it was Chrystal. Yes, she was blonde and about two, but lets just say that there aren't too many baby pictures of Chrystal available for our viewing to this day. I am not accusing...I'm just saying it might explain a lot.)
Anyways, Chrystal was back home, safe and sound and I was off the hook for failing my post as a FOUR YEAR OLD!
Where was she? Well, it seemed that dad was running up and down the streets (funny thought there isn't it?), when an old man on his porch in a near by house said, "Hey, you looking for a little blonde girl?" "Yes, you seen one" dad asked. "Yup," he replied, "she is at that pizza place on the corner three blocks away." Dad went in the pizza place and there, sitting on the bar eating pretzles and pizza was my sister. They had called the police, but they had not arrived yet. Everyone was back where they should be.
Could you imagine if that happened today? Children's service would have taken my sister and I on the spot!
So, here we are 30 years later (Happy anniversary on your FIRST attempt at running away Chrystal). To this day, I greatly fear my children wondering away from me. When we are at a store, my children must be in sight at arm's length at all times. When we are at home, the kids may play outside, but only if I or Stacey are watching them. I can't tell you how many times TODAY I asked Stacey, "Where is Alex? Where is Grace? Where is Hope?"
Why am I this way? Because my sister escaped while I was on assigned patrol, I was a failure and felt the blame for it all-and from it all am Scarred/Scared for Life.

Starting at the Beginning...

I have been thinking a long time about what my first official "memory" should be on here. I started thinking about what my first "memory" is of Travis and Rachel. To be honest, I don't remember my first memory of Travis. He is 2 years and 353 days older than me. (I never used to like him being older than I was, so I liked to remind him he wasn't quite 3 years older than me..altho I am totally OK with him being older than I am now!) Travis has just "always been there". I'm sure he remembers me at a younger age than I have a first memory of him. (He says he can remember looking at his mobile in his crib. Mom verifies the correct mobile, but I'm not sure I'm convinced!)

Rachel...I can remember like yesterday the minute mom told me she was going to have a baby. I was 5. We lived in the house on the parking lot of Moraine Heights at the time. I was in my room playing. Mom came in and said, "Guess what? I have a surprise!" Oh boy!!! Candy? Toy? A new doll? We were going on a trip? Nope! She said, "Mommy is going to have a baby!" Like yesterday I can recall saying back to her, "What are you going to have it for?" I was very confused! She said it was in her belly! I thought that was gross! I can't remember much after that except being very, very worried it was going to be another boy!! Travis was...a boy! I was not ok with another boy.

April 16, 1985 started out as an eventful day from the very beginning. I woke up early, and the house was quiet. I decided to show mom what a big girl I was, so I got myself ready for school. I even brushed my own long, blond hair. I tiptoed quietly down the hall to the little place we kept our school bags etc. I peaked in the living room...who in the world was that??? There was a strange man dressed in a suit asleep on our couch! I ran to mom and dad's room...no one! I ran to Travis' room. By this time I was in a full panic...Shoo! Travis was there. I woke him up. "Travis, someone is sleeping on our couch...and it's not Goldilocks" (ok, so I didn't say that, but it would've been funny!) I did tell him someone was on our couch and mom and dad were gone. Travis ran to the living room with me. He said, "It's Bro. O'Bryant!" He was, and still is, a close, long time family friend..Oh, and our school principal at the time! Bro. O'Bryant heard us by this time. He told us to get ready. Mom and dad had gone to the hospital to have the baby, and we were going to his house for pancakes! Really, I should've heard.."baby", but to be honest- I heard "pancakes"!! YES!!!

I can remember eating pancakes that Mrs. O'Bryant made for us that morning. They were great! The next thing I remember is a knock at our classroom door. Mrs. Eubank, my teacher, called me in to the hallway and told me I had a new baby sister! I was so excited. A sister!!! A real sister!!

It wasn't too long before Rachel Diana Burke came home and joined our little family. (who by this time lived on Maple Hill Dr. in W. Carrollton, Ohio) When mom told me I was getting a new baby in our house, I had no idea the impact this would have on us. Rachel added so much joy, and happiness...and gave me a "doll" to play with for hours on end! I can't wait to share a few of the thousands of memories Rachel and I have made since that day. I might even tell about the time I dropped her on her head! Yep, I'm not kidding..right on her little infant head!

I love you, Rachel!!!! :)

Here goes nothin'

Well, I must admit that I am very hesitant to be "blogging." I must have more of my mother in me than I thought because this is all very foreign to me, but none the less I do LOVE sharing memories about my family!
So many memories and fun times, although as I joked with Travis earlier, most if his and Chrystal's memories are of eachother and most of mine are with Joey (my mom's fourth child:her poodle). They were just so much older and closer back in the day, but now that we are grown, married, and have started our own families I can say that there is no one closer to me outside of my husband and son.
One memory I would love to share (and I love to share with anyone who will listen) is the night I got saved. It fits perfectly into this setting because my brother was the one who led me to the Lord. I was (I believe) 13, and we had been gone allll day to Cedar Point with the youth group. We were exhausted! We got home at like 1:30 in the morning. Stacey had stayed all night with her mom because she had kept Alex while we were away and he was still quite young. It was just Travis and I in their house, and they live in the country where it is so dark at night. He had gone to bed, and I was laying on the couch...COULD NOT SLEEP. I was so scared the Lord would come back and I would be left all alone. So I went to his door and knocked. All I heard was a voice that said, "YYEEESSSS???" I knew he was so irritated at me. I have been known to be a bit of a baby..not that I am still, of course. :) But I told him I needed to talk. He sleepily came to the living room and asked what was up. I told him I knew I wasn't saved and I was scared. I had been in church my whole life. I had led people to the Lord myself. I knew what to say and when to say it, but it wasn't real. He told me exactly what I needed to hear. He said that I knew what Christ had done for me...died on the cross and rose FOR ME... but it wasn't until now that I knew I NEEDED His salvation! It was so true. I felt like I had lived how I was supposed to, prayed how I was supposed to, smiled like I was supposed to, but never had meaning behind any of it! That night at his house me sitting on the loveseat, him sitting on the couch I asked the Lord to save me! There is no better momory in this world! After that, of course, we had to play a little N64 Hangtime..my favorite game to this day.
I am so thankful for a brother and sister on whom I can trust! They are some of my closest friends. I know they love the Lord,and I know that makes our relationship so much sweeter!
I hope I can recall some wonderful memories to share, but if this is the only one you read I hope that you too will know for sure that the Lord is your Saviour. There is no greater memory to have!!

So Excited!!

I am so thrilled to be a part of this blog. When Travis asked me if I would be interested in "blogging" some of our past and memories on this blog, I was so excited. Let me begin by saying that I am NOT a writer. I was not given that talent like Travis and Rachel were given it, but I do like to talk! (big surprise to all you who know me, I'm sure!) So, I have just decided that I am going to sit down here when I feel impressed to do so...and "talk" to you. For those of you who go to CBT, or have heard my brother preach on many occasions at all, know that he tends to share much of our childhood memories from the pulpit. One of the reasons this blog makes me so happy is because it gives me a chance to "share" my side of these stories. You may read a blog that you have heard from the pulpit before, but hopefully this time you will get to see it from a different side.

Before I begin "blogging", I wanted to thank the Lord for my brother and sister. I cannot say that we have always been close. As a matter of fact, I can honestly say that there were times growing up (as I'm sure you will read from all of us in the future) that we did not like each other at all!! But we have always LOVED each other. We didn't act like it all the time, but we did. As we have gotten older, we have all grown closer. Today, I consider my siblings, my best friends. (along with my husband, of course) There is nothing on earth I love doing more outside of serving the Lord, than spending time playing games, and fellowshipping with Travis and Rachel. When our other duties cause us to spend time away from this, I get weary. I find myself longing to spend time with them. We all talk at least 2 or 3 times a week, and we are OK with telling each other that we love each other, and that we pray for one another. When I am going thru a trial or hard time, I always call them and ask them to pray for me. I have complete confidence that they are doing just that. I could go on and on, but my point is that I am so grateful for Travis and Rachel. Not only did the Lord choose to give me an amazing set of Godly parents who raised me in the way of the Lord, but He blessed me with wonderful siblings who love Him. I can play with them all day, but I can pray with them all day too. That's what I call awesome!!!

I can't wait to start sharing memories and laughs with you all on here. Don't expect perfect spelling or grammar (sorry, mom), but I hope you can expect a good laugh or a small blessing!

Memories

Proverbs 10:7 reads, "The memory of the just is blessed:"
As time allows, my sisters and I will be posting memories we have while growing up together. Mainly, it is a way for us to share and remember the many great things that have happened in our lives, and perhaps someone else can be encouraged or just get a laugh from them as well. Thus, we introduce " King".
What is "King?" Good question!
As I once posted on my other blog, my dad has always been into Sci-fi. The Twighlight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock, Buck Rogers, and Star Trek were part of a steady diet for me while growing up. I was especially intrigued in the "Space" shows. Be it Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Lost in Space, or Star Wars-they greatly intrigued me. Because of them, my imagination took off in these areas. So much, that as a senior in High School I wrote a weekly article in our school paper called "The Adventures of King."
'King' was a space pilot that flew a fighter and saved the United Federation of planets over and over. They called him "King" because he never lost a dog fight. He was the 'King of Space.' His full name was Scott A. Shott. The 'A.' stood for Alexander named after the great ancient world conqueror Alexander the Great....and thus you have my first son's name.
Shott's main nemisis was Red Ed. His actual name was Edward Redford, born at a station on the planet Mars. Red Ed flew a, you guessed it, Red Fighter. He was always the best until Scott A. Shott came on the scene.
Whatever happened to Scott Shott? Well, in high school, he ended up finally defeating Red Ed and securing the freedoms of the United Federation. But, in actuality, the story continues. I have continued imagining and writing the adventures of King off and on since then. It has become a way to allow me to drift off to sleep at nights as it gets my mind off of the day's events.
Scott A. Shott eventually sacrifices his life to stop an great enemy. His co-pilot, Jonathan James, then takes the title King for a short while until Shott's Son, Seth, is capable of assuming that role. Seth has many adventures and even sees the annihilation of the United Federation. Seth is betrayed by the Federation and flies solo in a 'Robin Hood' type style for many years. It would be his son, Luke Shott, that would take the pieces of the what was Federation and unite a force to combat an evil empire. The new, Legion of Planets, with Luke's mighty Centurion (100 of the finest fighter pilots ever assembled) would rid the universe of its great foe and leave with it peace.
Luke, tired of the family 'curse' of fighting and destruction, would leave the Legion of Planets in good hands and remove himself from the scene. Luke and his wife would have a secluded home in a distant planet and have a son whom Luke would train to be an even greater pilot than any before.
That is when the unthinkable happens and a message is received in a very ominous way...Thus continues the adventures of King!

easter pictures