Dogwood Winter

The dogwood trees are in full bloom and as always happens about this time we have the little cold snap that has been dubbed "Dogwood Winter." And I had taken all my long sleeve shirts upstairs....

SATURDAY SOCCER. This Saturday was picture day for all the soccer teams. I took Ben in for his game and pictures. When game time rolled around the coach took a vote of players and parents to decide whether or not to forfeit the game due to the cold. Only one kid wanted to play. I think he made a wise decision given the cold wind and the ages of his players. Vicki took Jenna in for her game. The coach really bragged on her improvement.

KIDISMS. We had a couple of good ones this week. Jenna sits across from a little boy at school named Anthony Warren. She told Vicki the other day that Anthony wants to marry her so his last name will be Swann. When Vicki told Jenna it didn't work that way she said, "We'll just have to write the President. He can change that."

As Ben and I were riding home from his soccer game Saturday he said, "Hey Dad, do you know how I keep my nose clean?" I could only guess what was to come out next. I was not disappointed. Ben proudly continued, "I picked all the boogers out of it."

Of course, when he is starting to tell me something important he always begins, "Now Dad, here's the deal...."

MUSICAL ROOMS--PHASE 1 COMPLETE. I mentioned last week that we are moving people and rooms around. All three of the kids have been sleeping in the same room for a week now. We finished all the painting in the study (Nate's old room) last week and set up our office stuff on Saturday. That means our computer is e-mailing you from its new home. There's still a bit of confusion due to the change up. Vicki told Nate to go get his pajamas the other evening. He ran into his old room, stopped and looked around and said, "Aw, man!" Then he turned and ran to his new bedroom to look for pajamas.

We have painted the upstairs an Easter egg purple and the second coat is drying as I type. We hope to have Jenna moved in by Friday night. She is very anxious to be settled in to her new pad.

THE HAIRCUT. So Vicki goes to the kitchen and sees hair on the floor. When Ben answered her call to come she saw that the hair did, in fact, once belong to his head. I guess most preschoolers do this at one time or another and Ben has joined the club.

Jenna is not a member of this club, but one of her Barbie dolls belongs in her place. What was so cute was that she thought the doll's hair would grow back. (Wait...Vicki thinks Jenna actually does belong to this club.)

REVIVAL. We had a revival this weekend at church. The guest speaker was Robert Tyson, the Director of Missions for the Robertson County Baptist Association. Everything about the revival was really good. It was the first one we'd had in several years and I think everyone was blessed.

AUNT MAR ON THE MEND. My Aunt Margarette is an incredible woman. Her determination to get back on her feet has not wavered. She attended every revival service at church this weekend. Several times over the last few days I have been to her house only to catch her leaving her walker behind. As of today the doctor has given her permission to leave the walker behind at her discretion and she can drive again. She is one happy woman!

POINTS FOR CREATIVITY. I mentioned last week that Vicki and Angi went to Camden. While away Angi was curious and decided to get a home pregnancy test kit. She tested positive! (They have one six-year-old son, Jackson.)

Where I have to give Angi credit for creativity was in the way she broke the news to her husband, Keith, when she returned home. She got one of Jackson's washable markers and wrote "Baby Inside" across her belly. Then she told Keith that she and the girls got a bit on the crazy side while she was away and that she got a tattoo. When she lifted her shirt to show off the tattoo he got the message. They are all very excited!

INDIA OR BUST. I reported some time ago that Brian and Melissa Whaley are in the process of adopting a girl from India. They've gotten the word that it's time to travel so they left home today (as far as we know). Please join us in praying for them over the next couple of weeks as they meet Morgan and bring her home.

Joe

Has It Been Seven Years?

It is corn planting time in Robertson County. It seems like everywhere I go I am following a tractor and corn planter. It kind of feels like we have skipped spring and gone straight into early summer.

SEVENTH BIRTHDAY. It seems like just a few months ago when Jenna was born and here we celebrated her seventh birthday Monday. What is scary is realizing that she is over halfway to being a teenager now.

One nice thing for Jenna's birthday was that our schools were closed on Monday for "Staff Development Day." We enjoyed a morning at the playground and then we went to Burdette's Tea Room in Springfield for lunch. This year the luncheon was just a family affair as we enjoyed our meal with Mom, Aunt Mar and Pauline.

Vicki and Ben brought cupcakes and drinks to Jenna's class on Tuesday afternoon. Jenna had helped to make them and they were a hit!

ROOM RESHUFFLE. One thing Jenna is getting for her birthday is a private bedroom. She can't wait. Since Nate came along she and Ben have been sharing a bedroom. We are a bit behind schedule on this but we plan to move Nate in with Ben, move Jenna upstairs and create a study in the nursery.

Yesterday afternoon we prepared the former nursery for painting and I painted until about 9:30. Vicki painted all the woodwork today. The next step is to move all the stuff for the study downstairs and paint the upstairs. With the paint job in progress all three kids are sleeping in one room. It is quite a sight and Nate seems thrilled with it.

SWANN ATHLETES. I mentioned last week that Vicki would be going to Camden to play in a high school basketball alumni game. She went, had a good time and even scored two points. She says this experience is her inspiration to get in good physical shape by her 40th birthday. (Five more years.) She had a lot of fun visiting with friends too. Angi spent the night with us Friday night and they traveled to Waverly to stay with Becky Saturday. Needless to say sleep was in short commodity on both nights.

On the soccer front Ben scored two goals on Saturday, one for his team and one for the opposition. For the goal he won for his team he got the ball and had a nice drive up the center of the field. Jenna's team got skunked. The other team were pros at keeping control of the ball. Jenna plays defense so she doesn't get much of a chance to score. They both enjoy it.

BATH TIME. Since the kids had played outside and gotten all sweaty they took baths after church tonight. Afterwards I combed the boys' hair. Later I noticed Ben combing his hair again and making a rat's nest out of it. When I got on to him for messing up his hair he brushed me off by saying, "But Dad, when you do it it doesn't look like me."

Joe

Spring Has Sprung

We're having our first taste of consistent spring weather and I've been enjoying riding with the windows down in the truck looking at all the trees start to put out their new growth. I've even seen hints of dogwood blooms.

CONQUERING A NEW SKILL. Jenna has learned how to ride her bike! I took her training wheels off about three weeks ago. She hasn't been able to practice a lot due to all the rain but on Saturday she demonstrated that she can now ride the length of Pauline's driveway. Since her bike is too small for her we took her to Wal-Mart and let her pick out a new bike as an early birthday present.

I think Jenna is proud of her new bike. Yesterday Pauline noticed Jenna looking at her bike from different angles as it was parked in the driveway. When she asked Jenna what she was doing Jenna said, "I'm pretending to take pictures of it."

SLUMBER PARTY. On Friday evening the GAs at church had a slumber party and Jenna attended. (GAs, or Girls in Action, is the missions organization for young girls we have at church.) One of our members works at a boat factory (Matt Harvey) and he took all the girls on a cruise on Old Hickory Lake. Then they returned to Cross Plains for movies and games. Their final activity was to eat chocolate at midnight. Jenna stayed up much later than we did that night. She said it was 1:48 am the last time she remembered looking at the clock.

DEACON'S RETREAT. The deacons and their spouses at church took a overnight retreat this Friday at Kenlake Lodge on Kentucky Lake (near Land Between the Lakes). We went and had a really good time and I think the retreat will be really beneficial to all of us. The retreat was led by Ken Cope who is a Christian counselor and former member of Mt. Carmel.

BEN'S GOAL. While we were at the retreat Jenna and Ben played in their first soccer games of the season. When I talked to Ben about his game he was really excited because he made a goal. Then he told me he kicked the ball into the other team's goal. I guess he'll have to work on that.

VICKI AND VOLLEYBALL. Vicki is really enjoying playing volleyball on the church team. I feel sorry for her though. You see, her knees and muscles aren't recovering like they did twenty years ago.

Vicki is planning to go to Camden this weekend to play in an alumni basketball game for her high school. They do this every so often and any graduate of Camden High can play. With her physical condition in mind she wasn't too worried about it because she heard the game was played half court style. Then she found out she graduated about eight years too late to play in the half court game. I have a feeling she's going to be in a lot of pain when she gets home on Sunday.

Joe

Winter's Last Gasp?

We are having some really pleasant days now but it has still been cool enough to need the heat at night. What was really crazy was Friday night it was cold enough for a snow advisory on the Cumberland Plateau and 36 hours later it was warm enough to wear shorts. Now that we're on Daylight Saving Time I feel like Spring is officially here. So does firing up the mower.

FAMILY TIME. With all the relatives in we've been visiting a lot. We all went out to the Catfish House for dinner last Tuesday night. Aunt Mar decided to skip that trip which I know was hard but probably a wise choice.

Ann Beth and the girls spent most of last Wednesday visiting with Aunt Mar. Judy, Amanda, Riley and Harper came a bit later and by the time Jenna got home from school they had another Easter egg hunt going. They even decorated their eggs.

There were several late night games of Spades of course.

The Yerglers left Thursday morning to return home. Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob are still here though and I know they are being a big help to Aunt Mar. Sadly, they will be leaving in the morning.

BEN'S BAD LUCK. A couple of weeks ago I reported that Ben had strep throat and had to miss the church Easter egg hunt. He was kind of upset about that but felt too bad to put up much of a fuss. At least he got to participate in the egg hunt at his Mom's Day Out program. By the time we had the egg hunt I mentioned above he was feeling bad enough that Vicki was taking him to the doctor while the rest of the kids were searching for eggs. The diagnosis: strep throat again. Jenna was diagnosed with it the next day. At least it skipped Nate.

I'M NOT OKAY. So this morning something happened that hurt Nate's feelings and he went to his room to cry. He stood there and cried for several minutes before I walked by and asked, "Nate, are you gonna be okay?" He answered with a really pitiful, "NNOOOO!!!"

HE SHOULD BE MORE DISCREET. This I overheard Ben say to Jenna about something they didn't want me to know about: "Jenna, if you won't tell on me I won't tell on you." I really wanted to say, "Kid, if you are going to plot against your parents, don't do it when one of them is listening." I just kept my mouth shut figuring that I didn't need to help out the other side.

Joe