Oh Mosquito
National bird of my back porch
sometimes you swarm around my head
sometimes you are an invisible little bloodsucker
you get me in the soft spot
where my shirt does not reach my waist band
giving me red bumpy bracelets where my sleeve meets skin
you bite me through my fabulous V.S. thin cotton pj pants
my ankles are little rings of red blotches
I can no longer wiggle my toes from the swelling
I haven’t worn shorts all summer
because my legs look like a game of Connect Four
gone horribly wrong
where “Red” was the clear winner
Where are the mosquito trucks,
City of Houston?
Why don’t you love us like you did when we lived downtown?
I miss you sweet poison ventilating mosquito trucks.
Oh how I miss you.

There IS joy in the midst of Anna’s two-year old tantrum. I will choose to see what a wonderful blessing she is to me. I will pray for guidance to guide her through this stage as she becomes a strong, decisive woman of God. I will remember throughout the screaming that in a moment she will be sitting on my lap loving me and gently wiping away my tears. I will encourage her that she really can walk even though her knee is hurting, then praise her when she finally makes it up the steps and onto my lap—”I knew you could do it!”

AND, I will remember how God gently encourages me through my tantrums with the understanding that I am growing and learning and becoming a strong, decisive woman of God—although I’m kicking and screaming all the way.

As the Psalmist shouts out, “I WILL bless the Lord at all times. His praise SHALL continually be in my mouth”.

On this gorgeous Monday morning, I will choose to walk in the Joy of the Lord. I will choose to live in the moment so I will not have reason to look back on this day with regrets.

Love to all you Frieden’s!!! Mary

…Hi. I’m Mel; Michelle’s dog. I had an impossibly difficult day today. Andi slept in until 6:15, the nerve. So, I had to paw Michelle’s door until it pried open, and run into Andi & Joe’s room and bark my head off. So tiring. Finally, she took me and Gracie (my yippy sister) outside. I didn’t really have to pee. I just like to drag her out of bed and watch her get attacked by mosquitos. Very entertaining. So entertaining, in fact, that while she was making the coffee later, I had to take a spontaneous nap on the back of the couch. Ah, but then I smelled bacon. So, I had to get up and jump up and down until I got a piece. Fabulous. It made me tired, though. So I took a little nap. Michelle was still sleeping in my bed (she thinks its hers), so I had to sleep on her head. Then, I had to take a bath. I proceeded to run around the bathroom shaking my wet hair and watching Andi try to reach me with the blow dryer as I darted between her legs. Hilarious. It wore me out though. I had to rest for a few hours. Michelle woke me up and tried to wear me as a hat. She said that if we are ever evacuated, I will need to blend in. It’s our new hat trick. Michelle looks ridiculous in a fur hat in Houston, but I’m not going to be the one to tell her. She’s so sensitive. I’d better run, I still need to lick Michelle’s face off before I catch anther nap on the couch before bed.

Good Grief!! We will never know if Jerry Rice would have made a difference. Perhaps he’s glad he turned in his Orange and Blue before today’s incredible display!!

Hey, My Sunshine, did it do YOUR heart good to see Miami whip them today?

Oh well, as we say here in Mile High Country, there’s always next week!!!!

Mary

It’s Saturday morning again. Where did the week go? The dogs woke me up this morning. I guess they wanted me to see the sun come up today. Thanks, dogs. It is, in fact, a beautiful morning. The sun is creeping up, and I can just make out the white puffy clouds up there. It’s only 79 degrees on my porch this early. I nearly have a chill. The verse of the day today on www.biblegateway.com is: “ Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. ”- Isaiah 46:4. Isn’t that awesome?

For those of you interested in Katrina, Houston, etc. here is a little update (from my perspective anyway, for what that’s worth)…

The victims of the storm have consumed my thoughts and silent prayers since the storm was predicted, and especially since two days after the storm surge when we learned of the plight of so many along the shores of the Gulf Coast (like so many others, no doubt). For those of us who lived through the Flood of 93 along the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities, we had some idea of the devastation a flood can bring to a farm community. And we were 5, 6, 700 feet above sea level (probably seems pretty low to Aunt Mary out on Pike’s Peak, but seemed pretty good to those of us on the Illinois side of the River, living in the upper hills at the time… even with the better part of Andalusia accessible only by boat). Even with the constant pictures brought to us by local and national news, I still cannot imagine a similar fate brought on all at once to a metropolis sitting right at or below sea level. I just cannot imagine. I’m sure when Great Grandpa Frieden was working with the Army Corps of Engineers back before the turn of the century to levee the Mighty Miss so that our family could farm the rich black soil of the old river bottom without fear of seasonal flooding, he did not imagine they would try to do it all the way to the ocean. But they did.

Houston is only about 40 miles from the Gulf of Mexico (give or take). But unlike the summer I moved here (2001) during Hurricane Allison, we had no ill effects of this storm. Houston is a good 350 miles from New Orleans, which isn’t so bad for a weekend excursion to the city that serves the best Shrimp Po Boys in America (yes, I have gone there just for a sandwich)… but I have to imagine is a very long long long way when you are hot, tired, wet, dirty, hungry, have seen and lived the unimaginable, and are fearful for your future.

A lot of people ended up here in my adopted home town. Houston. Houston is glad of it. Houston has (before this horrible tragedy) convinced me it is the new home of the entrepreneurial spirit of America. Here, people look at a 100,000 or so sudden influx of people and say, awesome…. more people, more creators, more engineers, more teachers, more children, more jobs. Not that everyone here is happy. People spend time blogging on the Houston Chronicle website (www.chron.com) about how little Lakewood Church is doing, for example (Lakewood, pastored by Joel Osteen, is my church, and it is not true that they are doing little best I can tell… Osteen has reportedly already raised over 700K for victims). But even those people, who spend plenty of time bashing church and God for that matter, still reportedly spend much of their time donating their last dollar and volunteering at local shelters and the Food Bank. It’s like that Christian Joke Email Forward we have all seen … where the old lady repeatedly praises God, and one day, a neighbor trying to show her that there is no God, fills her basic need for groceries by leaving them on her porch. He says, there is no God, I gave you those groceries. And the old woman says “Praise God for providing my food… and making the devil pay for it.”

God is in this place. He’s using everyone and everything. You can feel Him here. Everywhere you go. Even on the highway people seem more courteous… there are so many Louisiana plates on the roads here… but even the “Texas plates” are driving so civil, you’d think I was in Iowa, even on I-45 in rush hour. I hope the displaced people of Louisiana stay here. I pray they thrive here. I trust God that they will.

We’ve been volunteering various places… distribution centers, mass shelters… I even took a crash course in Louisiana law from the Houston Bar Association and answered phones at the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program… temporarily displaced Louisiana folks have questions about landlord/tenant issues, credit card bills, banking, etc. Answering phones was so much more fun than going to work this morning. Thank God I could do it, even for a short while.

But the most fun thing was: there is a house 4 blocks away from mine. I started noticing Louisiana plates parked out front on the street two days ago. There were always people outside in the front yard. I’d never seen anyone near that house before. I got it on my heart to go over there; to make sure everyone was ok. I decided when you don’t know what to do… bake! An old Frieden habit I must have inherited somewhere. I baked cookies all night, and Joe & I… and Michelle’s puppy (as the designated Michelle representative) walked over there. There were 11 extra people in that house. All from New Orleans. All looking for jobs. A young woman, about my age (very young! ) was on the stoop with 3 other ladies. We almost didn’t go up, because there were no lights on that you could see from the street. But we did. We said hello. And told them about the cookies… they were still warm.

And they asked God to bless us… and told us how many many people from the neighborhood had done the same thing! And despite their tragic circumstances, they told Joe & I about the kindness of others… and their hunt for jobs, etc. And every lady on that stoop was SMILING. Can you believe it? All that tragedy and they were smiling and thanking the Lord. God is in this place. You can really feel it.

Keep praying for the families along the entire Gulf Coast region and across the U.S. who have been affected by Katrina. Keep thanking God for being in this place with the victims, with the survivors, with the residents, with the children, with their schools and new teachers, with the Government, volunteers, and leaders.

There are so many stories here. We’ll have to stay up in somebody’s kitchen all night.

God is in this place.

Thank you Father,
Andi

Born in 1972!

…at 43, it was probably time. Sorry, Mary.

Hey Friedens… Well, Andi is turning 30, and I felt we should all get together to, well, make fun of my sister. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do much other than mention this to “the aunts” and they planned the whole thing. Evidently, I just need to show up with weenies (from Reason’s locker); buns (from HyVee); stuff for S’mores and pop. “The Aunts” (Mary, Donna, Jeanie, Doris for those who don’t know) are also bringing ice cream, and tons of other stuff (although, if you have an ice cream maker and you are up for it, bring it on). Everybody else: pot luck sides. Pass it on. Details:

DATE: SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
TIME: 4:00 PM (unless the aunts correct me)
PLACE: DONNA & VIRG’s BONFIRE PIT
WHAT TO BRING: POT LUCK SIDES; LAWN CHAIRS

Other fun things to know:
There may be a hay rack ride (in the making); so be sure to bring all the kids!
Beverages may be provided, however, this is a Frieden Sanctioned Event, so if you want it, b.y.o.b.

E me at work if you’d like more info: michelle.frieden@gulfsouthpl.com

Confidential to the Aunts: frozen blueberries out of a ziplock bag surrounded by you 4 and talking about food was the perfect ending to my crazy weekend. Thank you all.

Love,

Michellie

Well, I had a visitor last night that started me on blogging! Michellie spent the night with us and gave me a quick lesson. Joseph was watching and I think is ready to try the blog out for size. He will need to be setup I believe.

Anyway, things are going OK here for a holiday weekend. No big plans at this time. Wouldn’t want to commit to anything just in case something exciting were to come up. So, if anyone has any ideas, let me know!

This morning I baked a Blueberry Coffee Cake (recipe listed below). You will have to ask Michelle what she thought. I believe it was pretty good! You will have to try it out.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

2 Eggs ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Sugar 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ cup Oil 1 cup Sour Cream
½ teaspoon Vanilla 2 cups Blueberries
2 cups Flour
½ teaspoon Salt

Beat eggs, add sugar. Slowly pour in oil and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add sour cream and egg mixture alternately. Fold in blueberries.

Topping:

2 Tablespoons Melted Margarine
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup White Sugar

Pour batter mixture in greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle topping mixture over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I will try this blogging again soon!

Love Always
Jeanie