NEWS, NEWS, NEWS

Seems like it has been forever ago since I last posted something, so I thought I would take a few minutes to post a quick update.

We adopted a Yorkshire Terrier from the pound about a month ago. Four days after we brought him home, Benji-Dog jumped off the sofa and broke his leg. He then was reinvested with the hookworms that he had been treated for at the shelter. Yikes!

Christmas was very busy with the usual church/family activities. I believe everyone enjoyed the holidays, and I know I haven't even cleared out all of the Christmas boxes from the house yet! The tree is down, but my ornaments are still sitting in their plastic boxes ready for Dwane to take them to the shed.

I have been unemployed since December 19. My boss is vacationing in Florida, and Alice and I are both unemployed until she returns. My unemployment check is about $75 less than I would normally bring home, so that's a tough pill to swallow (especially in light of the $1K we've paid to the vet for Benji-Dog's leg). I've put in an application at Wal-Mart, and I think that next week I'm going to send a flood of resumes out to the lawyers in Knox County, hoping maybe someone will want to hire me for some sort of temporary project.

Eben has been really busy. He's playing basketball again, and he has scored at least 2 points in every game so far. I think he's up to 25 points scored for the season. We have two more weekends to go for basketball. This week, he won his class geography bee (for the second year in a row), and he'll be competing in the school geography bee tomorrow (which he won last year). He was also chosen for District III 6th Grade Honors Band and Honors Chorus, but he can only participate in one, so he chose to do the Honors Chorus.

Caleb is still liking Kindergarten, and he's quite smitten with his teacher, Miss Vinal. She's very young, and quite pretty, so I guess he has pretty good taste (at least so far). He tried a soccer clinic last fall, and they are now offering basketball clinics, but he doesn't think he wants to follow the sports route, at least not yet.

Dwane is not working at the taxi job anymore. It really was too much to work so many hours during the week, and then have to drive the taxi two nights as well. He's become even more active in church: taking part in a new Bible study, and assisting with the new Youth Group.

I'm still doing my Close To My Heart stuff, which I love, but in this economy, it's tough to be in sales, especially when the goods are strictly "wants". I'm trying to stick with it, and I hope the economy will turn around soon. (Dont' we all hope for that?) Now that I'm unemployed, I'm also hoping to get a huge jump on the housework. The mess is driving me nuts, and I'm ready to pretty much just open the doors and throw everything out.

I'm also finding that I'm crying quite a bit lately, and I'm not sure what's up with that. I got really upset the other night with trying to upload (or download) pictures from my digital camera to the computer. I always get lost in the directories, and I always feel like I'm being a pain in the neck to ask Dwane for help. (He tells me that I'm a "smart girl" and that I can "figure it out".) So, I tried to "figure it out", and thought I lost all my Christmas pictures. He found them, so no harm was done, but I was pretty spastic about it. I told Dwane he wouldn't understand because he wasn't a scrapbooking mama. I cried about some other stupid thing last week, too. I don't remember what that was about. I don't know if it's the stress of the economy (and being unemployed), the lack of sunshine, or the lack of Dad at the holidays. I wouldn't say that I'm depressed, but I would like to know why I'm getting so sad about different things. Maybe I'm premenopausal. Maybe it's my thyroid.

I've started a new Beth Moore Bible Study: "Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman". I always love Beth's studies, and this is no exception. I've also joined her Scripture Memory Team, and I've committed to learning 2 verses every month for all of 2009. My first verse is "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26. From the emotions I've described above, I don't think that, generally speaking, I have a heart of stone, but there are times when I know that I do. I've already found this verse helpful a couple of times during the last week.

Well, I guess I've rambled on enough. Oh--and if you are not already on Facebook, you should join up! I'm on there as "Lisa Batty Wight", and I am having a lot of fun playing with that. And, hint, hint, I love to receive "Growing Flowers" and "Hatching Eggs". Facebookers will know what I mean. Maybe someone will send me something really pretty to cheer me up---maybe yellow roses? Or diamonds? It's certainly a cheap way to show affection or appreciation! My Beloved Sister-in-Law sent me a spider!! (She didn't have enough "points" to send me something else. I was glad to hear that--I thought she was mad at me!)