Unwanted House Guests

Last week I was rearranging things in the garage when I noticed some mouse droppings. I showed them to my sister who verified my fear. I told James of my anxieties concerning mice in my house, but he did not hop right into action, much to my dismay. My sister said we should keep the mouse info on the DL since my mom was here for Christmas.
The morning after Christmas, James told me that he had heard scurryng sounds while in the basement. I insisted that we buy traps right away, James said the mice could be cute guests like Fifel. No. Things started moving quickly after I dashed James' dreams of having a cartoon mouse in our basement. We immediately went to Wal-Mart to buy traps, or as I call them: mouse beds. If you mention the word trap and a mouse hears, he might hide so as to not get killed. Just a little side note: Wal-Mart was crazy the day after Christmas. There were pallets of merchandise all over the place, waiting to be shelved. There were bits of garbage and tons of people everywhere! Since we didn't know where to find the traps, we ended up walking all over the store with a 24 pack of Dr. Pepper!
We set out the traps Wednesday evening. By 9:00, we had our first hit. The only problem was that the trap didn't kill its prey. At first, James thought the mouse was just sitting near the trap eating the cheese and pushing the trap around. After a second look it was discovered that the mouse's little paw was caught. I thought we should kill the little guy since the trap hadn't done its job. I grabbed a hammer and insisted that James smash it. He only said in a scared voice, "I can't do it!" After a phone call to my mother about a possible poison for the mouse and several urgings to smash him with the hammer, my brave husband finally smashed the intruder with a snow shovel. It was an act deserving a purple heart.
Since then, we have trapped three mice, bringing the grand total to four. We will continue to set out little beds with night-time snacks for our friends in the garage. The good news is that none have been caught in the house. That makes us assume that there are none here. And that is a great thing for all of us!

Restaurant Help

As a former waitress, I expect good service when I go to a restaurant. However, I am usually forgiving of small problems and a good tipper. These are some things that I have observed over the years. Some just make me laugh at the waitress and others actually tick me off a little.

• asking if this will be on one check when it's just me and my husband
• calling me some term of endearment, such as sweetie- this is particularly annoying when she is 16
• touching the top of my glass or near the food on my plate- those hands aren't always clean
• blaming the wait on the kitchen- that's only true 30% of the time, it just ensures the waitress a better tip since it "wasn't her fault"

To all of you waiters/waitresses out there, good luck. It's a hard job but someone has to do it!

Merry Chirstmas & Happy New Year

Dear family and friends,
2006 has been a year of changes for us.
In February James started taking classes at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He lived in a small house in Kansas City and visited Iowa on many weekends. Life as a bachelor was a little hard after a couple years of being married and having a companion and cook.
Jodi finished teaching her second year at Albia High School in May. The second year was much easier than the first. Class and concert preparations were easier to put together, and students looked to Jodi as a role model and friend. It was hard to leave friends and great students at the end of the year.
About the time school ended, we found out we would be having a baby. The interesting part of this discovery is that James was already in Arizona with his parents for the summer. Luckily, he believed the message that he would soon be a daddy. Preparations began in May for an addition to our family. With a little over a month to go, we still have about as many things to do as we did in May.
We spent most of the summer in Arizona with James’ family. It was good to be able to spend a lot of time with them since we live so far away. A three-month visit is more relaxing than a three-day visit. We were also able to spend time with some of James’ friends from his days growing up in Winslow.
In August we began the search for a place to live in Kansas City. We ended up in a duplex in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The rent is reasonable for the area and there is a lot of space. We have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office/play room and a garage. We look forward to bringing our new baby to this home.
In November Jodi’s dad ended his year and a half battle with kidney cancer. Jodi was in Oskaloosa with her family the whole month of November as Dad’s health and strength deteriorated. He passed away the evening of November 19 and the funeral was the day before Thanksgiving. It was a very peaceful time of mourning for the family. We felt God’s presence in everything.
James started a new job at Nazarene Publishing House on December 18. He is working in the shipping department, packing boxes of Sunday school materials, books and music. They mostly ship things to Nazarene churches around the country. He is glad to have a secure job that has an impact on many people around the world while he is in seminary.
As we come to the end of 2006, we look back at our year. We have had our share of hard times, but God has been faithful to provide exactly what we have needed. We have lost a life but look forward to new life in the new year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
We love you,
James and Jodi

Christmas

There's just something about Christmas that gets me excited. I am happy to see twinkle lights on houses, wreaths on doors and trees through the windows. I am so excited for our family dinner, reading the Christmas story and opening presents. I can't wait to see what Santa brings me. I guess Christmas is just a special time for families to be together. My family has always made Christmas a big deal. We didn't always have loads of money, but there was always a lot of love and whatever presents Mom and Dad could afford. They never let us know that things were tight in their pocket books. I guess I am just thankful at Christmas that I have a family who loves me, awesome, caring friends and a God who sent his only son as a baby to save our flawed souls.
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you can jump on the excitement train.

City Life

I have always lived in a small town until this past August. I am happy to note differences between life in a small community and in a large city.
Good things about the city:
-all your favorite stores and restaurants are within five minutes (instead of one hour)
-things tend to be new quite often (new hospital, new street, new church building)
-you can go somewhere and be lost in the crowd
-nice public services such as libraries
Good things about the small town:
-you and your family know lots of people and they care about you
-it is occasionally quiet
-there is a sense of history

There are a lot of differences. Some good, some bad. Probably the worst thing is that we live far away from family and good friends. But I presume that some day we will move from the city and leave our friends here. I am thankful for the places I've lived, big towns or small.

Hiccups

Do you ever go somewhere and there's one poor soul suffering from the plague of hiccups? That is James today. Poor guy. We came to the library to check our email and he just couldn't stop. He left and went somewhere; I hope I can find him when I'm finished. I am a little thankful because we're usually here for much longer than I would like. James checks about thirty sports websites. We go home and he has this wealth of knowledge about all the college teams and the BCS. Today, he's finished early.
Another person close to me suffers with the hiccups as well. Our baby in my tummy gets the hiccups about once a day. Maybe less. At least I think this is what is happening. I can't explain the structured movements any other way. Once again, I feel bad but there is nothing I can do. I would tell the baby to hold its breath, but it doesn't breathe! Hopefully I will learn to soothe this problem after the baby is born.
Happy hiccuping to everyone!

McDonald's

We have the nicest McDonald's in the world here in Lee's Summit. We had noticed that the outside was nice with nice bricking, a big play room and a fancy Lee's Summit sign tacked on the side of the building. We went inside the restaurant a couple weeks ago for Sunday School. This place has brick inside, big fancy booths like at real restaurants, nice music and a sweet Christmas tree. We were very surprised. I guess it's hard to put all of this into words, but it is a really nice place for a $5 fast food joint!