Well, some exciting things are happening in the Bishop household tonight. I can't say what they are right now, but God seems to be moving and it will be really interesting to see where he will take us. Don't worry--no plans to move from Missouri just yet! We will see what tomorrow and the next few weeks bring.



I had a good time tonight with Addie. O'Charleys was pretty good--dessert was awesome!! Besides getting sick at the mall (not because of Addie) we had a good time just talking and getting away from reality.



The kids are all getting ready for bed now. It's late, but since I was out, Kris and I spent a lot of time talking about the latest news (which will be expounded upon at a later date). We didn't want to interrupt the conversation to put the kids in bed, so we let them play with play dough. It made for quite a mess in the dining room, but I am going to try to convince Kris that I am still "sick" so that he will clean the floor.



Kris and Kaleb are having a conversation about arm pit hair--very interesting.



I had a bathtub scare this evening. All three kids were in there and Kris and I were in the giraffe room. All of a sudden I hear Katherine yelling "Mommy, help!" So I run in there, because I am always paranoid that something will happen to Abbey when she's with them. What did I find? Katherine looks at me and shows me a little toy elephant. She told me that the elephant was calling for help. Apparently she was just playing with the elephant and pretending. Scared me though!



Well, I am going to try to go to bed earlier tonight than I have been the last week or so. I imagine that after the kids are down, though, that Kris and I will head to bed but then stay up until 1 or 2am contemplating this next stage in our lives. Don't worry anyone--I'M NOT PREGNANT---AGAIN!



Until tomorrow...

Well, we had a wonderful lunch at "Apple Juice" (see post below)! It was nice to just sit and talk with Kris and the kids--although the kids weren't too thrilled at having to wait for about an hour for our food--but for the most part they did fine. Kaleb, though, before we left the house decided that we were going not to "Apple Juice" but to "Peach Juice." I told him we were going to Applebees and that just made him mad and he insisted that, no, we were going to peach juice. Okay, so I left it alone. Then, as we were driving home, out of the blue Kaleb asks, "Mommy are we going to "Peach Juice" now?" I have no idea what he was thinking, but it was funny.



I am looking forward to this evening. I am going out with Addie tonight, which is one thing I really look forward to every week. I think we are going out to dinner at the new O'Charleys in St. Charles. Yummy! There is nothing like their rolls!



The kids are all sleeping, and have been for about 2 hours now. That's always nice. It's more of a drug-induced coma than sleep though. Just kidding! I did give all three of them cold medicine, but it was within the boundary of their weight/age. Sometimes I wonder about that cough medicine though--is there alcohol in the kids' stuff too?? Hmm...

I had a wonderful screaming session with Kaleb this morning. All of the kids seem to be getting sick (just with colds) and they are all just plain cranky. I find it annoying, to be quite honest and I don't know some days how I keep my sanity. Maybe I don't keep it--maybe I'm just "running on the gas fumes"??? Anyway, I actually found the screaming match quite enjoyable. Kaleb hated it. See, I have begun to lay on him and hold him down when he is being downright defiant and mean. Does that sound cruel?? I guess that in and of itself isn't cruel--because I am not physically hurting him. Maybe the cruel part is that I find it so amusing when he just screams at the top of his lungs (in his high pitched voice--keep that in mind) "Get off of me! Get off of me!" I just scream it back at him and it makes me laugh. I don't think it helps him get rid of his anger though! But, when he calms down I will get up (sometimes it takes about 15 minutes) and if he is ready to calm down and apologize, we are done. If not, it's pinned back down to the floor we go. Kaleb decided it would take 3 times this morning before he was ready to apologize and behave. But since then he has been good and sweet.



I think it is just his age--I seem to remember Katherine going through this same kind of thing. Unfortunately, no form of anything seems to work with him. So, we are trying this new method. We will see how it goes--it seems to be the only thing that really phases him.



I told Kaleb we were going to Applebees for lunch and he is walking around telling me that he wants to go to "apple juice." That makes me smile--things like that start to make up for his terrible attitude lately.



It is so awesome to see Abigail walking. She is so adorable. And that girl can go fast!



I can't seem to get over how much I like Kaleb's new haircut. It just really looks good on him. Maybe it is because he looks more like his daddy now! He's just like a little tiny Kris, only without the excessive facial hair-which actually is not present on Kris right now. Something possessed him and he shaved a couple of days ago. Despite my shock, I was pleased!



At the risk of not including Katherine, I will just comment on how proud I am that she can sing both the English and the Greek alphabet. I always rolled my eyes when Kris talked about teaching our kids Greek, but I have to admit that it is really awesome to hear your 3 year old sing the Greek alphabet and do it to perfection. For the most part, you can understand every letter that she is saying, although if you are not familiar with the Greek alphabet, you may not think she even knows it!



It is off to lunch now. Kris is taking a long lunch this afternoon which will be really nice. We are meeting (apparently at "Apple Juice") and it will be nice to just sit and talk. We don't see too much of each other throughout the week; one of us is either coming or going every day it seems. But tomorrow will be nice and relaxing. Cindy is keeping the kids overnight and Kris and I are going to a leadership retreat with Crossroads. It will be nice to have a night/morning of not having to worry about what to feed the kids for breakfast (since we are out of cereal).

I am just getting started at this, so I do not know what form it will take. I guess we'll just get started and go from there.



I had a hectic day--seemed like the kids were intentionally TRYING to be bad. I know they weren't but sometimes I wonder! I think it is just me. My emotions seem to be out of control, but fortunately, I may have found the source, which I may or may not address later. So, I am looking into that and hoping that my plan of action will alleviate some of that chaos in my mind and heart!



My night at work was ok. No real problem calls. I enjoy my job. Don't get me wrong--I love to be at home with my kids, but I also love to get away and do something that establishes me as a woman, and not just a wife and mother. While I acknowledge that there is a lot to be said for being "just" a wife and mother--I do not feel accomplished in those areas. And I think to some degree that is to be expected. The marriage and kids are both young, and they are not finished. Though I also realize that I just have some issues there--when it comes to not feeling accomplished or valued in those areas. Anyway, so basically--I like working!



It is getting late and I really should be trying to sleep since the kids will be up in less than 7 or 8 hours. That is the downside to working. Three nights a week I work until 11pm, which means the earliest I get home is around 11:25pm. But I can't seem to sleep as soon as I get home. So this whole blogging thing will be a good outlet for me.



I have some research to do, so I'll sign off of here and see what tomorrow will bring.



Psalm 81:10-"Open your mouth wide and I will fill it with good things."