Happy Halloween!

Staying with the theme that has dominated most of the past few years at our house, the boys decided on being Star Wars characters for Halloween. Molly didn't have much of a choice, so she became Pricess Leia. This "costume" was Amanda's and my craft project for about an hour last night. (Notice the duct tape.) Benjamin is Anakin Skywalker. (That's Darth Vader before he went bad for those of you non-Star Wars freaks.) Caleb is a clone trooper (the storm troopers before they went bad). Matthew is Darth Vader. He does a great "Luke, I am your father."

I was able to go into Ben's class this morning and help with the Halloween party. It was a fun morning. I spent much of the time praying for one of the boys that did not come with a costume, the blind girl, the handicapped children and the boy who wanted to wait for his mom to put his costume on. He eventually put it on with about twenty minutes left of class. I was once again so thankful for the ways that God has blessed me. I was once again gripped by how much I need to offer to His groaning world. I hope all of you will have a fun night with your family, whether you decided to celebrate Halloween or not.

P.S.
Don't ever buy a Sony camera. We are on our second one in four years and it is a hunk of junk. I am hoping to enter the digital SLR world before Christmas.

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Now playing: Pierce Pettis - Desire
via FoxyTunes

Our birthday girls

October is a busy month. It seems to get even busier when everyone in your house is coughing, wheezing and their eyes are bleeding. I didn't do a very good job of celebrating two of my best friends in the world this year. Tricia's birthday was on the 25th and Mom's birthday was on the 27th. I sure hope my large bouquet of flowers got there on time. You can hardly rely on the postal service these days. They seem to lose all of the really great birthday presents that I send (or mean to send.) I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. I am hoping for a long walk on the beach with just Mom and at least a cup of coffee alone Tricia. These are coveted treats and ones where the distance between is too great. Happy birthday Tricia! Happy birthday Mom! Sorry that these blog sentiments are late.

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Now playing: Neko Case - That Teenage Feeling
via FoxyTunes

Loss of faith in humanity

Not that I had much faith in humanity, but any that I had has been lost. I came out to my car this morning to discover that my ipod fm transmitter and a cable had been stolen. Now, I did grow up in Alpena, Michigan so I don't always (ever) lock the car doors. Apparently, this was just too much temptation for some sticky fingered adolescent in our neighborhood. I guess it is back to listening to my tunes over my head phones for a while. If you know the culprit, tell them that they can drop off the lute at my house, no questions asked.

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Now playing: Bruce Springsteen - From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)
via FoxyTunes

Recovering

After a weekend of hunkering down and not leaving the house, most of the Gammons family is on the mend. The picture below is of Caleb's eye (sorry Gregg.) On Friday I noticed that his eye looked REALLY bloodshot. I don't know what the deal is but he can still see out of both of his eyes and says they don't hurt.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us while we were sick. This week we are memorizing I Peter 5:9-10. I don't have it by memory yet but it is about the suffering church and how after we suffer for a time, God will confirm, establish and pretty much solidify our faith. When I explained to the guys that people all over the world were sick, just like were, that helped them get the verse. I said that God uses things like sickness and suffering to draw us closer to himself and to confirm our faith. I think that kind of made sense to them.

1 Peter 5:9-10 (English Standard Version)

9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

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Now playing: David Wilcox - Grateful For Her Beauty
via FoxyTunes

Amanda--Wonderwoman

How does Amanda do it? She has been sick all this week and has been dealing with a household of other sickies. But last night I came home to a full turkey dinner. It was amazing! The bird was absolutely perfect, potatoes, gravy and broccoli. She was obviously worn out and thought that none of the boys would even eat because of how sick everyone is. Boy, was she wrong. The boys and I devoured almost the whole 9 pound turkey. Both Benjamin and Caleb wanted the drumsticks. They think it is really fun to hold on to the leg and eat them. Matthew of course wanted a drumstick too once he saw his brothers with one. I gave him a wing and he was none the wiser. I think there is just enough turkey left over for some hot turkey sandwiches. MMMM. It made me really look forward to the holidays coming up.

I just wanted to celebrate Amanda publicly. She is an amazing wife and mother and works so hard for all of us. She is our gift from God! Thanks, Amanda.

Still sick, but back to work

I came to work yesterday after taking some Dayquil. I don't know what went wrong, but at about 9:00, I was in the rest room throwing up. If you've ever been around me when I am sick, you know what that sounded like. I am a bit of a loud vomiter. I don't know where that came from because when I got home my stomach was fine. Matthew was the last of us to be sick and he woke up during the night with the scratchy cough and the stuffed up nose.

Yesterday afternoon we built a fire in the backyard and enjoyed one of the last 60+ degree days. I just wrapped myself up in a big blanket. Building fires is a great thing for me and the boys. Yesterday I told Molly how when she is 16, she and I will sit out by the fire just the two of us. Amanda doesn't really like to be out by the fire and her brothers will all be out of the house (maybe.) It is fun to think down the road like that.

I hope all of you are able to dodge the change of season sickness. Pray for Amanda that she can make it through these days.

P.S.
Photos by Ben. He thought it was a pretty cool deal!

Neti pots, hot tea, Vicks vapor rub

Everyone at the Gammons' house is sick. This brings many memories of my dad's favorite home remedies. I remember him with a towel over his head breathing in the steam from boiling water and vinegar; Vicks on his chest at bed time; two aspirin and a hot bath. If one of these didn't help, we knew he was really sick. I have inherited his desire for something to cure what ails me. If there's a pill for it, I'll take it. For a long time, I was on the cocktail of Dayquil/Nyquil. (We all know some Nyquil addicts.) Recently my mom has introduced me to the neti pot. This looks like a tea pot that you shove in one nostril and then let the water drain out of the other nostril. Sharon is a believer and she sent me one in the mail when I complained of my head being stuffed up. I asked Amanda to take a video of me doing mine, but she refused. I have been using it whenever I have sinus problems. It really does clean it out.

So pray for all of our little kids. Molly sounded like she was suffocating while she was nursing this morning and Caleb looks like death-warmed-over. I hope all of you are dodging the change of season ills.