The ball is OFFICIALLY rolling

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you lived fourteen lives in one day? Today was one of those days for me. We woke up just like any normal day, except that it was raining and yucky here in Nashvegas.

Mary Elizabeth, Angie V., Abby, and I loaded up to head to Catholic Charities in Nashville to turn in the pre-application to start our independent home study. On our way, we began discussing lunch. If you know me, I don't go anywhere and not start immediately thinking about lunch. Since we would be in Nashville, we were thinking a little P.F. Changs, but what would the girls eat? That just wouldn't work and then, at the same time, we said "MONELL'S!" out loud. If you have never been to Monell's, you need to stop reading this blog, get in your car and go. It's on 6th Ave. in Germantown in a cool cat old house. They serve authentic "Southern" food family style. This means you sit at a big, fat table with a bunch of strangers. It is UMMM, UMMM GOOD. You will need buffet pants if you go (or at least adjustable waist). $12.95 per person, kids eat free, trust me, you will eat your money's worth. So, we walk in and get seated at a table with two guys who turned out to be from New York. They were in town for the Jets vs. Titans game yesterday and we had a great time eating with them. For some reason, they didn't seat anyone else at our table but that was A.O.K. with us. As we sat down, the guys were already eating on the broccoli salad, cucumber salad, and breakfast casserole. They made over the kids and we started telling them the history of Monell's. That's when Angie V. and I discovered that these guys thought that was all the food they were getting. We both bust out laughing because right about this time, girlie brings huge bowls of (and I'm not kidding) mashed potatoes, meatloaf, fried chicken, chicken and dumplins, corn casserole, green beans, and biscuits and cornbread with fresh peach preserves. I thought these guys were going to die! They even took out their cell phones and took a picture of all the food as they said no one at home would believe this. Now, let's just take this moment to discuss that you are not supposed to use your cell phone inside Monell's. I have ate there several times and didn't know this, but we quickly found out when the cell phone freak from the back came out and rode New Yorker's butt about him using his cell phone to take a picture of the food. How about that Southern hospitality? Anyway, we ate and ate. Mary Elizabeth cleaned her plate. Then, it was time for dessert. Strawberry Shortcake. Oh YEAH!


We said our goodbyes and it was time to head to CC. We got there and can I just say, place is HUGE. When the Catholics say they are doing some Charities, they aren't joking. It's not just a little building, they have a whole freaking campus. I was very impressed and everyone was super nice, although I didn't have a clue what in the world I was supposed to do. We'll take this moment for a sidebar:

SIDEBAR: I would LOVE to use Bethany again and we have NOTHING in the world against them, but as I told Kim T. this morning, I feel God gave us a brain for a reason. If we can get a home study completed in 1/4 of the time and at 1/2 of the cost, it just seems wasteful of God's money and time not to do that. I absolutely LOVE Bethany and plan to recommend them to anyone I know (and still volunteer there), it's just that J and I have prayed about this at great length and we really feel God is leading us in a different direction this time. Ok, back to the story.

That's the thing I will miss about Bethany. I KNOW Bethany. I KNOW the staff. I KNOW my way around. It's COMFORTABLE. BUT, I have found in my life that when I get comfortable, I don't fully rely on God. So, we're going with the unknown this time. We walked in CC and I asked the receptionist to make copies of all of our birth certificates and J and I's marriage certificates. I gave her all our paperwork, a few pictures of our family, a check for $625 (half the homestudy), and then Angie V. took our picture. Can I just say that I am sure the front desk lady now thinks I am the crazy scrapbook lady who took a picture at her front desk turning in paperwork? So, yes, the ball is OFFICIALLY rolling on Freeman #5.



We get back in the car, run a few errands and are heading home when my cell phone rings. It's the dentist office wondering where I am. CRAP. I forgot that me and the three older kids ALL had dentist appointments at 1pm and it's 1:02pm. CRAP. CRAP. CRAP. So, I call J (at work) and he leaves to get the kids and meet me there. Angie drops me off, takes M.E. to meet my saint of a mother-in-law Barbara, and I start my teeth cleaning, x-rays, oral cancer mouth screening, scrape my gums off process. The kids come rolling in and 2 hours and $1034 later, we leave the dentist. Next week, we will be having a yard sale to raise funds for dental treatments (I'm totally kidding).

We head home with J who is officially hacked off at me as he has now missed 2 hours of work (did you notice that Angie dropped me off as my car was at home), my gums are radiating, and I'm trying to figure out what I can sell on ebay to help pay for the dental abomination that just occurred. Did I mention I'm getting a migraine?

So, that's my day. Aren't you jealous.