Family Fun Night

Most weekends for the DeLoach's are filled with going and doing.... This weekend however was not. Even though it was a very yucky, cold and wet Friday night we wanted to do something fun just the 5 of us. Since there are five of us we have to always be aware of the cost, preferably before we arrive at our destination. If I'm not prepared I tend to spend more money than I prefer and then kick myself afterwords. So we came up with a few ideas (with the help of some friends) like going to the Bass Pro Shop or the Circus which is in town. I wouldn't say I have a fear of clowns, but I don't go willingly to anywhere I know there will be clowns. They are just freaky! So the Circus was out pretty quickly for me. We decided that we would just keep things simple. We'd go out to eat and then rent a movie. The rainy night was perfect to spend some time indoors.

One thing my kids love is going out to eat! Not something we do a whole lot, but come the weekend it's nice to not have to fix something as well as clean it all up. Pretty much on any given day you can ask any three of our kids where they would like to go and your pretty much going to get the same response from all three. MEXICAN! Which honestly is nice considering we could be having fights over where to go.

Around 5:00 on the rainy, cold night we headed out for our family fun. We all 5 decided that Pablo's at Lee Branch is our favorite Mexican restaurant. We used to go constantly every Sunday afternoon and yes they know us by name. So when we showed up on a Friday night we caught them off guard. After the best taco salad in town and Isabel's meal she made with chips & cheese dip we headed to get a movie. The Redbox movie rental for a $1 is a favorite of mine. I actually have a Redbox allowance in our budget :) Since it was raining and the Walgreens didn't have an awning over the redbox, it was a pretty quick decision for the movie. The boys really wanted a "boy movie" and Isabel really wanted a Barbie movie. Unfortunately for Isabel there was no Barbie movie, but there was a HeMan movie that the boys HAD to have. So we got HeMan, but mommy also decided that we would get Hotel For Dogs.

The couch wasn't enough room, so we got the air mattress out and made a nice "movie bed". After just one episode of HeMan (which brought back so many childhood memories for Ben) we watched Hotel For Dogs and the kids loved it! They all three stayed up and watched it till the end which was around 10pm. It was a wonderful family fun night! One I'm sure we'll duplicate soon.

What are the odds?

So I'm driving along with 2 of my 3 kids in the car and a friend of mine's little girl. I have just left work and we're headed home. The route I usually take is not available and hasn't been for awhile so I'm headed down a detour road. We're talking about our day and what all we had done when BAM! I quickly look in the review mirror and saw nothing. My first thought was did I drive too close to the shoulder of the road and hit a tree limb? There were no other cars on the road so I knew it wasn't a car. Then a little voice from the back of my van said "hey! that reindeer tried to get in my window!" Yes as a matter of fact a deer had ran smack into the SIDE of my van. I was going prob. around 40 mph on a two lane road with NO other car in site and the deer ran right into the side of MY van. Now tell me what the odds are on that one!






$3,000 worth of damage! Luckily we have "deer insurance" (only in the south right :) and only had to pay a $200 deductible. There was a two week wait at the body shop, so after having to drive a banged up van for two weeks I now get the luxury of driving a rental Dodge Caravan.




My van wasn't the newest or have all the great luxury features, but it was paid in full! Now I get to drive this new van, that granite doesn't have all the bells and whistles, it's on the more basic side since it's a rental, but it does have one great thing my van does not.....automatic doors!! We have only had the van 4 hours now and I can't tell you how many fights I have had to intervene because they all three want to push the button to close & open the doors. Maybe it's a good thing my van doesn't have automatic doors.

Little sadness, lots of happiness

This past weekend has been filled with lots of emotions. A friend of Ben & I's pasted away on Wed. afternoon. Even though I was not as close to John as Ben the emotions have still been up and down. John had a heart attack at 1 am on Wed. morning and as soon as Ben heard the news he was up at the hospital sitting with the family. Just waiting. Waiting on what would come next. Would he pull through or was it God's timing for John to go home? Wed. early afternoon was when John was finally at peace. He had lots of pain with the different health issues he faced every day, now there is no more pain for John. He is rejoicing with our Lord and Savior.

The witness that John was for Christ is amazing. He really had a heart for the impoverished and less fortunate. His life demonstrated that. John was a wonderful example of Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." Even through the pain that John faced daily, he was going and disciplining others.

John and his wife Kathy were always giving to others. One of the treats that they gave to us was a get away weekend trip just a few months ago to Chateau Toots www.chateautoots.com. It was just down the road to Lay Lake, but what a wonderful time we had together.








John is a man that will truly be missed. I count it a blessing to have known him and look forward to the day that we will meet again. We are sad that John is gone from this earth, but so happy that his pain of his earthly body has ended and he is rejoicing in his new body with our Heavenly Father.

Give it a whirl!

I always seem to be a little behind on the "in" things. Like this blogging thing. It took me forever to get a myspace page and when I did then facebook was the new thing. So I get a facebook page, which honestly I never make status updates to. I do love to read the live feed and see what all is going on with everyone. Now blogging is becoming more popular. So this DeLoach gal is going to give it a whirl :) There seems to be a lot going on right now with the DeLoach's and I would love to be able to write it all out and have friends and family be able to know what's going on. One of the purposes of a blog right?!
One of the first things I had to do was find somewhere that all I had to do was type info., not a clue how to set up a blog. Thanks blogger.com! Then I had to have a cute background (of course!) and lastly the perfect picture of the kids to go on top. I think the one from our camping trip pictures their little personalities perfectly!
So it may take me a little bit to get going, but hopefully it will be worth it.