The
Blood 

  The new moon
allowed no light to complete the task. No street lights, house lights, or
vehicle lights were available to help. This she had to do alone. A dreaded
task. There was no choice. The blood. The blood was all she could think
about.

  It had been a full day since the drive out of state. The body parts  in
the back of the van were properly bagged upon arrival. There would be no
further problems.

 But the blood remained.
Blood was in the carpet. One large spot that continued to spread the
longer it sat. It just wouldn’t do, so work in the dark she must. She had
thought the extra thick bag was enough, but the blood still found its way
out. It left its mark. Someone would ask questions. Someone would notice
the smell. After all, it was July in Maryland. In the heat of the sun, the
blood had begun its inevitable decay. When she opened the driver’s door
the next morning, the smell of corruption assaulted her. The foul stench
drove her back from the vehicle, but she she had to be THERE in 15
minutes. If she was late, questions would be asked. She couldn’t be late.
Taking a deep breath she alighted to the driver’s seat, opened up every
window and turned the air conditioning on full. The fresh air blowing in
her face almost made the smell bearable.

  Now it was night, and
the lack of light from the moon and stars couldn’t stop her. The blood had
to go. With gloves, scrub brush, a bucket with water, and detergent in
hand she proceeded to scrub every…last….trace…Even in the semi-dark
she could see the blood. It stood out like a beacon.

 The task done, she
emptied the bucket of fouled water and threw away the gloves and scrub
brush. She wouldn’t be using that again. She only hoped it was good
enough…would the smell be gone? Would anyone ask about it? Would they
find out about the bloodied bag?

  This was never going
to happen again. She WOULD be more careful next time. It happened every
month…the drive out of state, the bloodied bag, the chance for stains on
the carpet. If she was going to keep this up she really needed to consider
getting a pickup. Things would be so much easier if there were no carpet
to worry about. Or maybe a cooler? Would a cooler work? Then there would
be no need for bags. No worries about dripping blood or stains. She hoped
they appreciated this. All this work. The smell .The blood. She did this
all for them.

  This was the 4th time
in 6 months she had made the trip. The 4th time with the bag, but this had
never happened before. There had never been this much blood. She had never
been this careless, and now she was paying the price for her carelessness.
She had to be more careful. The smell of the blood wouldn’t leave her
nostrils. The scent of it clung to her skin, her hair, her clothes. Now
that she had erased the evidence of her doings, she went inside the house
to her family.

 "Mom, mom…are you
done?" her little one asks.

 "Yes sweetie I’m
done. What a nasty job. I need to take a shower now, I can still smell
it."

 "Ugh…I am glad that I
didn’t have to do that, " the husband grimaces.

 "So the smell is gone?"
asks the little one again…so curious, " Man that was nasty. Who would
have thought that chicken blood could smell so bad! I guess from now on
when we buy a 50lb case of chicken for the dogs we need to take coolers.
The ice and plastic bag aren’t enough, especially in the summer. YUCK"

  Yep…next time I get
food for the dogs from the farmer’s market in Lancaster, I will be taking
a couple of coolers. There is little appeal to a Chevy Astro van that
smells like one of Frank Purdue’s slaughterhouses.

  Yes indeed friends,
truth is stranger than fiction.

  Try living my
life for a day….

Blessings! 

             
Kathie

  And yes, I left my
camera at home…again. / I will have a chance to take pics tomorrow or
Sunday, and I will be sure to do so. We put the backdrop up today and it
looks AWESOME with the big volcano in front of it! I can’t wait to see
what it is going to look like once we get the rest of the decorations up.

 *****************************

 
On an aside, can I just
tell ya…I am too just way too white to work outside in July in 95 degree
heat? My ancestors didn’t plan for this when they met with the red headed
Vikings and other Norsemen with pale skin and blue eyes. They were more at
home gutting fish on the shores of a windy lake in weak sunlight. There is
just NOT enough melanin in my skin to fair well in this July sun in the
Southern US sun. Think "puddled  melted wax". Yep me…add a blob of
red hair on top. Fewf.

  I was painting the
volcanoes outside to prevent the aforementioned fluorocarbon high.
Instead, I wound up near passing out from the heat of the sun. There was a
breeze blowing, but the air that was in the wind felt like a fan blowing
from a furnace. No coolness or relief from it at all. I was bending spray
painting the volcanoes and counting down as I did so.."OK..10 more to go.
Well maybe I can make 20 more instead"

 
Sweat…sweat…drip..drip…until I can’t see through my glasses…

 "OK…ten more
to go…20 is um, too many ..we don’t need that many " then mutters "I am
too freakin’ white for this…I see heatstroke in my future. I would
rather see Rita’s Frozen Custard than the inside of Upper Chesapeake’s
ER….I am getting out of this heat."

  While I
like summer and love the sun-shiney days, the sun beating down on this
red-headed, white-skinned chick is not a good thing.I think I would have
fit right in with those Southern Belles that would stand around with
umbrellas and fans, sippin’ mint Juleps. *G*

 
Without the rum. I will save the rum for making a rum sauce for a creme
brulee.

 
Blessings! 

             
Kathie

 
Today I went over
to church about 1:30 expecting to paint the volcano and possibly put up
the backdrop on the stage. Oops…Jeff was finishing painting the volcano
when I got there *today is his day off, I didn’t even know he would be
there…he just must have been really eager to finish painting it and see
what it would look like. I hope he didn’t think he had to come in to help
me…I was going to do it myself
( He needs to take his day off and spend some time on himself and Beth
and the kids *. He did leave soon after I arrived though, since Beth had
to work. I helped him clean up and I finished cleaning up the Friendship
Hall where we were painting the backdrop yesterday. I am so proud of us !
We didn’t get ANY paint on the carpet in the Friendship Hall. Greatly in
part to the fact that I was super anal about the handling and use of the
paint in the carpeted room. By putting down three large plastic drop
cloths, surrounding the backdrop with a double layer of newsprint, and
putting down plastic garbage bags where every drop of paint and paint
brush resided, we kept the floor clean! Yeah! I would much rather have
been able to paint on the parking lot or in a room with a tiled floor. The
threat of rain was imminent so the parking lot was out. There are no large
rooms with tiled floor inside the church, so painting inside anywhere
other than the Friendship Hall, which is the largest room in the building
outside of the sanctuary, was out. We done good!
  

  
Oh, did I mention that I also sternly warned the 16 year old and 10 and 9
year olds helping me that that had to STAY On the paper. DON’T step in
PAINT. DON’T walk off the newsprint for ANY REASON without getting me to
come over to them. If they got primer or paint on the carpet, it wasn’t
coming out, then I would get in trouble and I wasn’t going to have that.
NOW HAVE FUN! lol Actually, I wasn’t as mean as it sounded but dealing
with 8 gallons of latex paint on a carpeted surface with kids can be a
nail biting experience. They did great and I am proud of them. THANKS
GIRLS AND THUMBS UP!

  I
will take pictures of the backdrop and painted volcano tomorrow. It is
hard to photograph a 10 foot by 30 foot piece of canvas that is lying on
the floor. )

  So, other than
clean up, what was it I did all day you may ask? Well since you ask I will
tell you…I made volcanoes. Well I made volcanoes after I made a run to
Home Depot for spray paint, rope and 13 rolls of packing tape.

 
Johnny *youth pastor* bought a BIG OLE four foot wide roll of brown paper
to line all the hallways with. Over that we will be hanging palm trees,
the Bible characters for the VBS, leaves, other tropical decorations, etc.
Before I left for Home Depot he asked me if I could draw volcanoes on the
brown paper in the hallways in the basement. No problem…but I came up
with a better way to make the volcanoes: make them 3D and big and by using
materials that we had. I picked up more spray paint at Home Depot while I
was out.

  I
took pieces of the brown craft paper and spray painted in brown a rough
volcano shape *just a triangle with the top cut off *. At the top I spray
painted in red lava flowing down the top and sides. I cut the volcanoes
out and then taped one side to the craft paper on the walls. I then took
newsprint and crumpled it up and taped it to the wall under the volcano
towards the top, and then taped the other side down. The result is a 3D
volcano! After Sunday services when we put the tunnel up going into the
sanctuary and set up everything else, I am going to take yellow, red and
orange tissue paper and make *flames* coming out of the volcanoes.
Tomorrow I have to make another, oh, *counting*, 25 or 30 more volcanoes.
It won’t take me too terribly long to make them and cut them out. Once I
do that I can hand out the volcanoes to have someone else put them up in
the basement. I can’t go in the basement because one of the rooms has a
problem with a leak. We have had torrential downpours over the last month
and mold has grown on the wall. They are cleaning it up and are going to
paint it on Saturday, but I am deathly allergic to mold *deathly not being
an exaggeration as my throat closes up when I am around it for any length
of time*. The problems with mold were much worse last year before they had
the property regraded, and I got sick from being upstairs with the kids
coming up and down out of the basement with the mold on their clothing and
shoes. I had to leave the church after Tuesday afternoon and couldn’t go
back to do the video the rest of the week. Tuesday I just kept getting
progressively worse even with meds in my system, and I knew I was
approaching getting wicked sick.

  This year I am
going to stay away from the kids where possible, and the basement
completely, take allergy meds and a B complex every morning, and leave the
building if necessary after I do registration and set up and run the
store. I was sick for two weeks last year from exposure to the mold, I
missed Worship Team practice and the Sunday we were up for worship. I felt
terrible, had trouble breathing, etc. I don’t want to go that round again.
I get the feeling sometimes that people think I am a little nuts about
this, but if you have never had your chest close up to the point where you
can’t breath, just from walking into a room or being around people who
have walked in that room, you wouldn’t understand. It is scary to
experience and that was the worst reaction to an inhalant allergen I have
ever had. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that. I will be making sure
Brenna is loaded up on antihistamines and B vitamins too. Her allergies to
mold aren’t as severe as mine, but I don’t want her feeling nasty from
exposure to it either.

  So tomorrow
preparations continue. I really enjoy being able to get *artsy* when the
occasion arises! The holidays, special programs and VBS give me a chance
to be creative and I look forward to being able to do something different
every time we do a new program. VBS has really become something that we
all that are involved in *kids and adults* look to and enjoy. I think this
being the first year it is completely on his shoulders, Johnny is a wee
bit stressed. Prayers for peace for him and that everything would go
smoothly would be appreciated! I think we are doing GREAT so far…we have
the bulk of the decorating done, and that is by far the most time
consuming of the preparations the week before the actually VBS.

  I will take
pics tomorrow and Sunday when everything is completely decorated.

 

  If I
remember to take my camera, that is…. ;oD

Blessings! 

             
Kathie

Its
Time For…….

..LAVA
LAVA ISLAND!

     OK…well almost
time.

   Next week is our

church’s annual
VBS… *Vacation Bible School *. The week before is always super busy with
preparations for the VBS. so to me "its time". Between Jeff and I *Jeff is
the music/arts pastor* we do the big props and stage set. The youth pastor
takes care of the rest of the church, but the stage set is Jeff and my
baby D . Today I finished painting a backdrop for the stage, and got
Jeff and two of the teens busy with the paper mache’ for the volcano Jeff
built. They got the paper mache’ base done and it looks GREAT! It is
huge…probably 8 feet tall and as wide. Jeff built the armature *base for
the paper mache’ * out wood and 1/4 inch wire mesh. The way he mounted the
mesh it textured the volcano so it looks hilly and is shaped perfectly!
Every time we do a new project we learn something and get better at it.
Using the 1/4 inch mesh, newsprint, and a glue made with 3 parts water to
1 part flour, this project shaped up beautifully once we figured the
perfect way to apply the paste. Tomorrow I will be priming the surface
when it is completely dried. Then I will spray paint it. I will post
pictures once it is done and then once the stage is fully set up. It
always turns out amazingly good once it is all put together. Usually, a
couple of the local churches that we are friends with will use our props
when we are done, which is cool because after all the work we do getting
ready it is good that someone else can use the materials. This year,
however, we are the latest VBS in the group. I guess I will just roll the
backdrop up when we are done and keep it as a generic background for
another project. This is the 5th time we have used canvas we are using,
and I think this is its swan song. It can’t hold another layer of paint,
so I guess I will be going and getting another 6 yards of 10 foot wide
sail cloth at $30 a yard. Yep…$180 for the backdrop fabric. See why I
have used it 5 times??? If you ever need to paint a big backdrop, sail
cloth *called cotton duck* is the way to go. Finding a place that has it
may be a bit hard to do if you are in a land locked area. Here, we are on
the Chesapeake Bay,so it isn’t hard to find 10′ wide cotton duck that is
used for making sails on sailboats or covers for boats, etc.

 
 We have been having in excess
of 130 kids each year for the previous 2 years VBS programs, and I expect
this year will be as many if not more. The
people doing the crafts and snacks are getting things ready. The
decorations are starting to be cut out, a full complement of palm trees
has been ordered, flowers and leaves will abound! Our church will look
quite the tropical environment before Sunday is out.

  The Sunday before the week
of VBS is the day that a crew of 30 + people start decorating and readying
for the mass of miniature humans that will invade the building from 9-12
from Monday to Friday. Music and cheering, water games and slime will
abound for 15 hours! If your child has never had the chance to enjoy a
local VBS they need to give it a try. They will come away energized and
having made new friends. It can’t be beat for a great way to spend a week
of the summer with other kids!
 

   So tomorrow is
paint the volcano day. I will post pictures if I don’t get too high from
the spray paint fumes.

  If you don’t hear from
me in a while, it might be cause I am coming down from a sustained
fluorocarbon buzz.

                                
Blessings! 

                                                                                        
   Kathie

 The
Littlest Angel  

     Every day
thousands of sweet little angels are born into our earth. Some come just a
little too early, and then there are those that arrive far before they are
expected. There are those that start out slow but steadily catch up to
their peers. There are those that never catch up, yet their amazing
tenacity and zest for life touches each person that comes into contact
with them.
 

  
Here is one of the early angels, Amanda. This is from her birth day:
 

    This
sweet girl was gifted by God into the hands of a friend of mine and her
husband and their young
teen daughter.

   Amanda was born on of
May 8th this year, at 25 weeks gestation. She fought her way into the
world when the
placenta that nourished her failed when it ripped and forced her out of
the security of the womb. With the intervention of modern medicine and a
healthy dose of blessings from the Lord, she was born following an
emergency and
somewhat violent caesarian section weighing 2 lbs 3oz and measuring 13
inches.
Just a tiny little thing, she has captured the heart of all who have
looked on her.

  After open heart
surgery to close a hole in her heart that needed the extra time staying in
the womb would have given her , she is growing at a steady and amazingly
wonderful pace for one born so early. Now at almost 3 months, and
approaching her gestational birth date of August 15th, she is really
starting to thrive! She is now taking a full bottle.. and as of today she
is 4 lbs 11.5 oz and 15 inches long! WOW!
  
Like any micro preemie she still will have her share of hurdles to face.
Its called the preemie dance. For every step forward there will be 2-3
steps back. But this baby is an amazing miracle. She was born at 25 weeks.
Did you know that in the
United States there are states that allow abortions to 26 weeks?

 Can
you honestly look at this face, and say this is not a child? not a life?

Is this beautiful angel a choice? Or a gift to be cherished?

  She chose to
fight. She chose life. Every time I look at her picture I am in awe. Every
time I hear her name, hear that she is thriving and staying pretty much
one step ahead of the preemie dance, I want to shout out loud for her! And
then I mourn a bit for those whose moms made a "choice….

                                   
Blessings! 

                                                                                        
       
Kathie

MyBeautiful
Ballerina

   
I thought it would be nice
to put some current photos of  Brenna up. These are portraits that I
took of her a couple of months ago. This is her costume for her ballet
recital to the Sound of Music. I think she is amazingly beautiful.
 

 
She wanted a different costume. This one was too poofy and itchy.;oD

  
After the 2nd performance she decided she liked the costume after all.

  
Good. I like it, too.

                                                           
                                   
Blessings! 

                                                                                        
       
Kathie

   Saturday and Sunday were much better days than that of the rest of this past week, stress level wise. I wanted to neither maim nor bodily destroy anyone *well, except some of the hoohas on the Washington, D.C. beltway yesterday …geeezz*; I didn’t feel like throwing anything at anyone; I got to sleep in today *but not on purpose*. My shoulder was killing me at about 4 a.m., so much so that I got up and took 800 mg ibuprofen. I then slept well enough that I proceeded to sleep through the alarm and miss church. ( I guess I needed the rest???

    Yesterday we woke early to go to Manassas, VA Pier One Imports.
Pier One had chairs we wanted for our family room table *we call it the library table* which had gone on clearance ~$60 each. Well, of course, now that we have the money for the chairs, there were no chairs to be found in Maryland. Or Delaware. Or lower Pennsylvania. Or most of Northern Virginia, save the Manassas store, which had 6. A helpful young woman from the Laurel, Maryland store called around for us and found the 4 chairs and had them held in Michael’s name *YEAH*. So Saturday meant road trip day! Here is one of the chairs: 

 Hint: When planning to drive on the DC Beltway, consider taking a nerve calming pill. Even at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning in July, the drivers are in Indianapolis 500 Mode. Call me a snarky American, but the high number of European, Asian, African, etc. nationals that can neither be forced to pay fines for acting like totally idiots on the roads nor whom can be arrested due to diplomatic immunity laws has a lot to do with the state of DC’s Beltway.

   But anyway, I digress…
   I met a long time online friend whom I hadn’t seen in person for about 2 years while we were down there as she lives about 1/2 hour away from Manassas. She brought her daughter that is Brenna’s age and they had fun browsing in the kid’s section of Barnes and Noble while Deb and I found comfy chairs to sit in while we talked.
It was a very nice treat! We then lunched at Baha Fresh…Mmmmmm. If you have never been to Baha Fresh, and there is one near you, take the time to visit and treat yourself. Their food is very good and reasonably priced. Brenna’s favorites are the nachos or a grilled shrimp soft taco. Oh and the quesadillas. I like everything that I have tried so far, but my most common meal are the nachos and a side salad with their delicious ranch dressing. Extra bonus points for Baha Fresh…they have Pepsi products! We rounded the up afternoon by hitting a Cold Stone Creamery for desert. They had the BESTsugar free, Splenda sweetened, ice cream with coconut mixed in. Imagine! Eating ice cream and not feeling guilty when you do it! Heaven! In searching to see where there may be a Cold Stone Creamery that is closer to us than Manassas, VA, what to my wondering eyes should appear but COMING SOON: 1200 B-Agora Drive, Bel Air, Maryland…that would be 4.24 miles from my house. Hmm…considering the Manassas, VA was about 117 miles, I think I can handle the 4.24.

  Then we went over to a grocery store there in Manassas called Global Foods that is a huge market specializing in Hispanic and Oriental foodstuffs. Other than the fact that it was kind of strong smelling in there *i.e. they need better ventilation*, it was a great market with oodles and oodles of fresh fish, tortillas and wontons, fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, pastas of every sort, Oriental and Hispanic cooking items, etc. I will be going back soon as I am in need of a new tea kettle, and they had a large one, 4 quarts or so, that incorporated a strainer . As most of the hot drinks we drink are tea, that is exactly what I want. At $32 it isn’t too bad either for a stainless steel kettle.

   As I said above, today I missed church because of sleeping through the alarm. Since I missed this morning’s teaching, I went to TD Jakes site, The Potter’s House. I have seen him online several times and really like his teaching. From what I know of him so far I like him a lot! Stop over and give him a listen, or check him out on TV one morning. He seems to be very widely broadcasted.

                                                                                                                      Blessings! 

                                                                                                 Kathie

Lord, please burn that truth into my soul.
                                    

                                                                                        
       
Kathie