flat screen tv giveaway

5 Minutes for Mom is having another one of their fantastic giveaways. This one is for an  Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV (Model: NS-LCD37).

Click here to enter the contest ~ it’s easy; all you have to do is leave a comment on the 5 Minutes for Mom contest page. Good luck!

inspirational blogger

Thanks go to my friend De’Etta for passing the Inspirational Blogger Award to me. I’m humbled that anyone would find anything inspirational about my blog ~ it’s definitely not me but the Holy Spirit! The funny thing is, I’m usually inspired by something De’Etta has posted! LOL

Now I have the pleasure of passing along the Writer’s Reviews Blogger Awards to 5 blogs/bloggers of my choosing (click here to see “the official rules”). This is not an easy task! There are so many inspirational, courageous, charity, thoughtful and/or creative bloggers out there. It’s hard to believe these “awards” have only been in existence since July 4, 2007 ~ I think at least half of the blogs I read on a regular basis have been given these awards already!

1. Meredith at Life at 7000 Feet ~ a mountain girl with altitude : I came across Meredith’s blog by way of another blog. I immediately realized that Meredith and I have quite a bit in common. I emailed her, and we’ve been email pals ever since. She pops in on my blog occasionally, and I pop in on hers too. I have learned about her and her family by way of her blog. Meredith’s fun outlook on life and her willingness to be real on her blog, warts and all, consistently inspire me and cause me to re-examine my relationship with the Lord (not to mention the fact that I’m just plain jealous that she gets to live in Colorado!).

2. Tamara at Training Hearts ~ Tamara could easily be awarded both the Inspirational Blogger Award and the Courageous Blogger Award; I’ll let her choose which one she would like to display on her blog. Tamara’s sweet spirit, love for the Lord, love for her family, her heart for homeschooling and her desire to share her talents are so evident within her blog design and her posts. Tamara has faced great pain in her personal life; she’s not afraid to share what she has learned by way of her suffering, and she offers solace and hope to others who experience similar pain.

3. Alycia at Where My Treasures Are ~ Alycia’s blog is another one I found through a link on someone else’s blog. As a sister military wife, I understand well the lifestyle Alycia and her family are currently living. I remember vividly what it was like to have a husband who was away from home frequently while our children were little. Alycia is also a sister in Christ and a sister homeschooler. Alycia’s faith is unmistakable ~ and I think she handles homeschooling small children while hubby’s TDY better than I ever did!

4. Angela at The Potter’s Hand ~ Whenever I need a chuckle, I can count on Angela’s blog to provide it. The really great thing about Angela’s blog is that while she never fails to pick me up, she consistently points me back to the Lord. She writes about homeschooling, coffee, her relationships with others, decorating, coffee, being thrifty, studying God’s Word, and did I mention coffee? (BTW Angela, I’m with ya on not being too happy with Starbucks lately!)

5. Joy at Joy in the Journey ~ Joy currently lives in Indonesia with her husband and children. She and her family are missionaries there. Joy has an incredibly sweet spirit that shines through in all of her posts. She has an amazing heart for God, and she so desires to serve Him by ministering to His people. She relates well with those who read her blog, whether she knows them personally or not. I have been so blessed just from reading her posts and observing her desire to care for others and spread the Gospel.

I encourage you to read all of the above-mentioned blogs. There are so many more that I could list ~ and I’ve only touched on ONE of the Writer’s Reviews Blog Awards! If I listed all of the blogs that came to mind under each of the headings, I’d be sitting at my desk writing for at least the rest of the day.

Thanks again, De’Etta, for thinking of me. And thank you to Christy, creator of the Writer’s Reviews Blog Awards, for the chance to recognize bloggers who make the blogosphere a better place.

when i was four

Ever since Maggie redesigned my blog, I have been hunting through all of my photo storage boxes for a particular picture. I remembered seeing a picture of myself that was taken on the same trip to the Oregon coast as the picture of my mom and me that is in my header (by the way, if you didn’t know, the picture in my header is of my mom and me in 1972 ~ I was 4 years old).

Today I finally found it. Of course, I wasn’t looking for this particular picture when I came across it ~ but isn’t that how it always works? Anyway, since you can’t really see me in the picture in my header, this is what I looked like then:

I think everyone has certain pictures from their childhood that they especially like. For me, this is one of those photos. It’s not that this particular photo holds fond memories ~ I don’t remember this trip to Oregon at all. But I have a few photos of myself as a child that I think are especially endearing. Most of them are the ones where a great expression on my face was caught by the camera (and they are mostly the ones where my eyes are big and blue).

I love both the photo in my header and this one. Maggie did a fantastic job fixing up the photo we used in the header. It was a chore for both of us to finally find just the right header for this blog. The story of the photo that we used is long ~ perhaps I’ll write out the entire story some day ~ but the short story is that the photo in the header is actually a slide. I had to make a digital photo of the slide by placing the slide on a lightbox, then using the zoom on the camera to get in close enough to just get the photo and not the entire lightbox. This other photo is a print, so all I had to do was scan it into my computer and use Photoshop to crop and resize. Easy-peasy compared to the pic in the header!

Incase you’re curious, here’s a picture of Roger and me that was taken last June:

Soon after this picture was taken I had all of my hair chopped off super short (you may think it’s short in the picture, but I’m talking REALLY short, like an inch or two in length all over!). Since then I’ve just let it grow, and it’s actually longer now than it was in this picture. I’m not quite sure how that has worked ~ I think when I chopped it all off my hair went into overtime growth mode.

My hair will never again be as sleek and shiny as it was in the picture when I was 4 years old. When I hit puberty my hair suddenly had a natural curl ~ and when I live in a humid climate, as I do now, my hair gets a bit wild. The longer it grows the curlier it gets (strange, no?). So right now I have some major hair going on, and as it grows longer it will get curlier and wilder.

Anyway, back to the original subject of this post; I don’t have a ton of pictures from when I was a kid, but since I’m the daughter of a photographer at heart most of the picture I do have are pretty good. I have tons of off-focus, off-center, really-not-so-great pictures of my kids when they were little. I don’t think I have any like that of myself as a kid. So, while the quantity isn’t high, the overall quality is. I suppose that’s a good thing.

blogger awards

Thanks go to my friend De’Etta for passing the Inspirational Blogger Award to me. I’m humbled that anyone would find anything inspirational about my blog ~ it’s definitely not me but the Holy Spirit! The funny thing is, I’m usually inspired by something De’Etta has posted! LOL

Now I have the pleasure of passing along the Writer’s Reviews Blogger Awards to 5 blogs/bloggers of my choosing (click here to see "the official rules"). This is not an easy task! There are so many inspirational, courageous, charity, thoughtful and/or creative bloggers out there. It’s hard to believe these "awards" have only been in existence since July 4, 2007 ~ I think at least half of the blogs I read on a regular basis have been given these awards already!

1. Meredith at Life at 7000 Feet ~ a mountain girl with altitude : I came across Meredith’s blog by way of another blog. I immediately realized that Meredith and I have quite a bit in common. I emailed her, and we’ve been email pals ever since. She pops in on my blog occasionally, and I pop in on hers too. I have learned about her and her family by way of her blog. Meredith’s fun outlook on life and her willingness to be real on her blog, warts and all, consistently inspire me and cause me to re-examine my relationship with the Lord (not to mention the fact that I’m just plain jealous that she gets to live in Colorado!).

2. Tamara at Training Hearts ~ Tamara could easily be awarded both the Inspirational Blogger Award and the Courageous Blogger Award; I’ll let her choose which one she would like to display on her blog. Tamara’s sweet spirit, love for the Lord, love for her family, her heart for homeschooling and her desire to share her talents are so evident within her blog design and her posts. Tamara has faced great pain in her personal life; she’s not afraid to share what she has learned by way of her suffering, and she offers solace and hope to others who experience similar pain.

3. Alycia at Where My Treasures Are ~ Alycia’s blog is another one I found through a link on someone else’s blog. As a sister military wife, I understand well the lifestyle Alycia and her family are currently living. I remember vividly what it was like to have a husband who was away from home frequently while our children were little. Alycia is also a sister in Christ and a sister homeschooler. Alycia’s faith is unmistakable ~ and I think she handles homeschooling small children while hubby’s TDY better than I ever did!

4. Angela at The Potter’s Hand ~ Whenever I need a chuckle, I can count on Angela’s blog to provide it. The really great thing about Angela’s blog is that while she never fails to pick me up, she consistently points me back to the Lord. She writes about homeschooling, coffee, her relationships with others, decorating, coffee, being thrifty, studying God’s Word, and did I mention coffee? (BTW Angela, I’m with ya on not being too happy with Starbucks lately!)

5. Joy at Joy in the Journey ~ Joy currently lives in Indonesia with her husband and children. She and her family are missionaries there. Joy has an incredibly sweet spirit that shines through in all of her posts. She has an amazing heart for God, and she so desires to serve Him by ministering to His people. She relates well with those who read her blog, whether she knows them personally or not. I have been so blessed just from reading her posts and observing her desire to care for others and spread the Gospel.

I encourage you to read all of the above-mentioned blogs. There are so many more that I could list ~ and I’ve only touched on ONE of the Writer’s Reviews Blog Awards! If I listed all of the blogs that came to mind under each of the headings, I’d be sitting at my desk writing for at least the rest of the day.

Thanks again, De’Etta, for thinking of me. And thank you to Christy, creator of the Writer’s Reviews Blog Awards, for the chance to recognize bloggers who make the blogosphere a better place.

Fruitful Friday

I had a lovely time this week emailing with each of The Fruit of the Spirit nominees. Please visit these blogs, and leave them a comment to let them know you dropped by!
Scratchin’ the Surface ~ Bev
Laurel Wreath ~ Laurel
In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 ~ Amy (Amy has been moving all week, so she hasn’t been able to put the graphic on her site yet.)
Shortybears Place ~ Denise
Also, a quick note about The Fruit of the Spirit Blogs list ~ I’ve put it into a Blogrolling format, so if you would like to display the list on your blog it’s available. Just send me an email an let me know you’d like the blogrolling code.

praising God

Graphic provided by A Source of Joy graphics

I have hesitated to post about our friend’s funeral yesterday ~ but on further reflection, I think it would be good to share about the service.

Overall it was an amazing service. I’m not sure if Tammera, Pastor Eddie, or both of them chose the music; either way, it was really incredible. This was not your usual somber type of funeral service. I don’t think Dean would have wanted it to be somber. Tammera’s brother gave a lovely, humorous speech about Dean, reminding us all that while his brother-in-law was a man of few words, what words he did speak were full of meaning and importance. Pastor Lee delivered a message in typical Pastor Lee style ~ he had his Tigger going on (Pastor Lee isn’t one to stand quietly behind a pulpit ~ he bounces all over the place, just like Tigger) ~ Dean’s faith, his devotion to his family, and his willingness to help others were spoken about.

The most amazing part, however, was the choir. Our adult choir did an outstanding job (they always do, but they were especially impressive yesterday). The choir’s music was a selection of praise and worship songs. At one point almost everyone in the church was on their feet singing and praising God. It really was fantastic.

I have never left a funeral service feeling as uplifted as I did yesterday. I still feel a lot of sorrow; that’s going to take time to heal, but it will never completely go away. And the road ahead of me is nothing compared to what Tammera, the kids, and the rest of the family must face. But as I left the church, I felt as though I had actually been encouraged at a friend’s funeral. And in fact, I had.

As strange as it may sound, I think that Dean would have liked his funeral service. The pastors, choir, his wife and his brother-in-law all honored Dean and his memory with their words (both spoken and sung), their actions (in praising God for Dean’s life, legacy and salvation), and with their hearts’ desire to remember Dean as a devoted husband and father, good friend and employer, a man who "would never ask anyone to do anything he was not willing to do himself," and as a son of God who longed to bring honor, glory and praise to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As Tammera put it, "Congratulations Dean, you made it! I can’t wait to see you again one day in heaven."

fruitful friday

I had a lovely time this week emailing with each of The Fruit of the Spirit nominees. Please visit these blogs, and leave them a comment to let them know you dropped by!

Scratchin’ the Surface ~ Bev

Laurel Wreath ~ Laurel

In Pursuit of Proverbs 31 ~ Amy (Amy has been moving all week, so she hasn’t been able to put the graphic on her site yet.)

Shortybears Place ~ Denise

Also, a quick note about The Fruit of the Spirit Blogs list ~ I’ve put it into a Blogrolling format, so if you would like to display the list on your blog it’s available. Just send me an email an let me know you’d like the blogrolling code.

and the winner is……..

I’m going to have to do the drawing for the "Dog Days of Summer Giveaway" earlier than I had anticipated. So, rather than waiting until tonight, I’ll go ahead and do it now.

The winner of my giveaway of the 2007 August MemoryWorks Express Kit is:

#154 ~ Elaina

Congratulations, Elaina! I have sent you an email requesting your mailing information!

Thanks to everyone who entered my drawing. This was fun! From what I hear, Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer has another drawing planned coming up soon!

everlasting mercies

Graphic provided by A Source of Joy

Family members and friends of Dean Worden will gather together tomorrow to remember him. Dean was shot and killed in a Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday afternoon by a 17-year-old boy. The boy, whose last name is Lofton, stole a woman’s purse then beat her in the face and back of the head with a gun. As he ran away, Lofton turned and fired his gun. The bullet struck Dean in the neck. He died before paramedics could arrive.

Lofton was arrested early Monday morning and arraigned today. He pled not guilty, but then turned and apologized to his mother for what he has done. Lofton was denied bail by the judge, and will be charged with capital murder.

Dean Worden was 40 years old. He was a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, nephew and friend. Many, many people will gather together tomorrow night to tell stories and recall how Dean touched their lives. Friday morning Dean’s body will be buried in a grave yard in North Little Rock.

We rest in the knowledge that even though Dean’s body is still with us, his spirit now lies in the arms of Jesus. We will celebrate his life and his time on earth tomorrow; someday we will celebrate and sing glory to God with him in heaven.

Dean’s wife and youngest son were with him when he was killed. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be in their shoes. This week has been hard enough for me; my heart aches every time I see or talk to one of Dean’s family members. His youngest son is one of my youngest son’s closest friends. His daughter is one of the sweetest, gentlest young ladies I know. His wife is my friend, a sister in Christ, a sister homeschooler. 

God’s mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. They are new every morning. Right now Dean’s family clings to this promise. Although our sorrow at the sudden, horrific loss of a good father, husband, friend and neighbor is fresh right now, our hearts and souls rejoice that he knew and served Almighty God. Dean left a legacy; he guided his children in the ways of the Lord, he loved his wife as Christ loves the church, he showed God’s love to his neighbors and employees. We mourn his death, and yet we are able to praise God for all that He has done. We find peace and comfort in Him. We stand on God’s promises; He promises that weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

organization

Several of my friends have been reorganizing their homes this summer. Some are simply tidying up their space, while others are doing a major keep it/give it away/dump in job.

I don’t really have any junk closets that need tidying up; I suppose Roger would say there are a lot of things just laying around that we don’t need, but they’re organized (not just thrown in a closet or the basement) ~ besides, we did a major keep/give/dump 2 years ago when we moved from Alaska, so I’m not really ready to go through that again.

I’ve been thinking more about reorganizing this blog. I’ve been thinking about the original intent of my blog when I first started blogging a little over a year ago. That purpose was to be a creative outlet for me; a way to keep friends and family informed of things that were happening in our family life, and to offer something real and important to people who ran across this blog.

I don’t really feel like I’ve strayed so far from those original intents that I’ve gotten completely off track; instead, I feel that things have gotten a little jumbled and need some reorganization. I have other weblogs that aren’t being used ~ I have plenty of room and ways to reorganize.

So, to that end, I’m going to be moving things about a bit. I won’t delete anything that’s already posted or in the archives, but I am going to start doing things a little differently from here on out.

All of my book reviews will be found on my Books & Book Reviews weblog. Once I get my knitting and crochet kicked into high gear again (after the summer break), I’ll display those on my Knit2gether weblog. I’ll put links in the sidebar so you can find them easily ~ and I may post a link here when a new book is reviewed or a new creation is finished, just so you’re not constantly having to check 3 blogs. When I do, it will be a quick post with the link and a couple of words letting you know what’s new, but the majority of the post will be on the other blog.

Whew! I feel better already. I dislike mixed-up jumbled things. To me, my blog is starting to have that mixed-up jumbled feeling. I’m going to take advantage of the additional storage units I already have. You’ll recognize the changes as I make them.

As for this blog, I’m going to make this one very personal. I’ll write about family events, homeschooling, homemaking, personal thoughts, faith and other things that are part of our lives. I’m tossing around the idea of doing a book study or Bible study after school starts. We’ll see.

to dance in the desert (cfba & trish’s take)

Read the CFBA and Trish’s Take reviews of Kathleen Popa’s To Dance in the Desert here.

to dance in the desert (cfba & trish’s take)

Read the CFBA and Trish’s Take reviews of Kathleen Popa’s To Dance in the Desert here.

the meaning of joy

I thought this was beautiful. Thanks to Abigail at Snapshots of Joy for creating beautiful graphics and graciously allowing them to be shared.

a shred of truth

Another great book! Read the synopsis here: http://ordinarylife.typepad.com/books/2007/07/a-shred-of-trut.html

csff blog tour ~ fearless

For this week’s CSFF blog tour of Fearless by Robin Parrish, please click here.

continue to pray

Today I spent some time with my friend Tammera, whose husband was killed yesterday. It was so difficult……

In order to protect my friend’s privacy, I won’t post too many details about our time together or the horrible tragedy that has struck her family. There are enough details in the press for anyone who’s really curious. I will say that some of the "facts" the media is putting out there are not facts at all ~ this was a senseless act of violence; Dean was an innocent bystander who was murdered simply because he was in that Wal-Mart parking lot at just that time.

However, Dean was a Christian and his life testified to his words. His family is able to take comfort in the knowledge that he is now with our Lord. This is an extremely difficult time in their lives ~ one they’re struggling with greatly. But their faith has been so evident in their words and actions over the past 27 hours ~ it has been amazing to me, and yet such a comfort and a blessing, to be able to grieve with the family and praise God at the same time.

I may post more about Dean’s death at a later time. However for now, I would like to ask for your continued prayers. Please pray not only for Dean’s immediate family, but also for his extended family and friends ~ especially for those friends and family members who are not followers of Christ. Please pray that God would be glorified through Dean’s wife and kids during this extremely difficult time in their lives. 

please pray

Even as I write this, I’m not exactly sure what to write or how to write it.

This afternoon, a friend of ours was shot and killed in a robbery attempt. A man (I don’t know the age) was attempting to steal a woman’s purse in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. He raised his gun and started randomly shooting. Our friend, Dean, was just getting out of his car ~ he was there with his wife and youngest son (14 years old). Dean was shot in the neck ~ I have been told he died instantly.

Please pray for Dean’s family ~ his wife Tammera, and children Antwoin, Andrea and Sam.

Please also pray for the youth and the pastors of our church. Dean and his family are members, and they are very active in the youth, choir and homeschool co-op.

Fruitful Friday

I’m so pleased to add these wonderful blogs to the list of The Fruit of the Spirit blogs. This week The Fruit of the Spirit graphic was added to 6 sites, including our first blog by young ladies (teenagers)! Please visit these blogs ~ you will be blessed. And don’t forget to leave a comment blessing the bloggers back!
Maidens of Worth (our first teen blog) ~ Anna and Miriam
Joy in the Journey ~ Joy
Blessed Mommy ~ Liz
A Chelsea Morning ~ Barb
A Path Made Straight ~ Elise
Reflecting Him ~ Jennifer

Fruitful Friday

I’m so pleased to add these wonderful blogs to the list of The Fruit of the Spirit blogs. This week The Fruit of the Spirit graphic was added to 6 sites, including our first blog by young ladies (teenagers)! Please visit these blogs ~ you will be blessed. And don’t forget to leave a comment blessing the bloggers back!
Maidens of Worth (our first teen blog) ~ Anna and Miriam
Joy in the Journey ~ Joy
Blessed Mommy ~ Liz
A Chelsea Morning ~ Barb
A Path Made Straight ~ Elise
Reflecting Him ~ Jennifer

my dad’s camera

In February of 2006, my dad sold his home in Ohio and moved in with us. He was 76 years old at the time; he has had Parkinson’s disease since he was in his early 50’s, has had countless numbers of surgeries, a rod put into his back to replace several discs, and even had an electrode implanted into his brain to help control the shaking of the right side of his body (a result of the Parkinson’s). I don’t think he was completely overjoyed about selling his home and moving down south to live with us, but he really didn’t have any other choice. He needed to be close to someone who would be able to help him and take care of him; seeing as I’m an only child, that someone is me.

Dad lived with us in our home for about 6 months, then he was able to move into an apartment and live on his own. Over the past year his health has seemed to improve quite a bit ~ I think moving from what can be fairly cold winters in Ohio to the south where it’s not quite as harsh in the winters, and where the winters are definitely shorter, has helped him.

My dad is ummm, well, let’s just say he’s quite a character. His first love was acting. He took acting classes in college, performed in all sorts of productions, and got his first degree in drama. He stayed in college and got a degree in cinematography. Then he worked as a petroleum engineer. After he met my mom, Dad decided to become an Episcopal priest. He went to seminary, then performed the duties of an Episcopal priest at several different churches all over the country. His career as a priest lasted about 30 years.

During his priesthood, my dad continued to build on his cinematography skills. He took up photography ~ not as a hobby, but in a very serious way. We had a darkroom in our basement when I was a kid; Dad built a darkroom in a closet at the church after we moved to Montana. We had all kinds of photography equipment ~ professional cameras (plural!), flashes, light meters, strobe flashes, filters, tripods, all of the darkroom equipment any professional photographer could ever need ~ I think Dad has probably spent a small fortune on photography equipment over his lifetime!

After he retired from the priesthood, Dad got a job as a photographer for a small trade newspaper. This inspired him to new heights. Although he had always been a die-hard film photographer, Dad decided to take up digital photography in order to keep up with the times and make his job at the newspaper a little easier. He acquired all kinds of digital photography equipment ~ in addition to his other equipment.

My dad has taken some really amazing photos. I have several that are art size and framed in my home. He never has been one to enjoy taking portraits ~ his most amazing photos have always been more of the pastoral sceen type; a winding road in New England with the beautiful colors of fall covering the trees on either side of the road; old covered bridges; a blue water fall deep in a forest of green; an old grain mill with a water wheel to turn the grinder; a bumblebee perched on the center of a stark white and yellow daisy; an old red barn with an advertisement for chewing tobacco painted on the side and faded with age; a mom and daughter holding hands, with their jeans rolled up, standing on the beach at the edge of the ocean (Oh wait ~ that’s me and my mom! See the picture in the header of this blog.). He even has photos of some of the funkiest animals ~ frogs, snakes, lizards ~ I have ever seen.

After Dad moved in with us, he discovered that I didn’t have a digital camera that was worth using. So, he loaned me his digital camera ~ a professional Konika-Minolta with all the bells and whistles. He said that he really wasn’t able to use it anymore because the Parkinson’s had become so bad and his brain wasn’t working as well as it did when he was younger. I was thrilled; I even read the camera’s instruction manual! LOL When Dad moved into his own apartment, he left all of his digital camera equipment at my house, along with about 4 or 5 tripods and 4 professional camera cases. He continued to let me use his digital camera ~ most of the pictures you’ll find on my blog were taken with that camera.

Dad called this afternoon and asked me if I would like to keep that digital camera, along with all of the equipment, as my very own. I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing! He said that the camera is just too advanced for him now ~ he can’t remember what to do with most of the buttons and settings, and his hands and brain don’t really work well enough to use it anymore anyway. He’s going to buy himself a nice, simple little point-and-shoot digital camera that he can mount on his table-top tripod or on a really big tripod that adjusts tall enough for him to see the screen.

So, I am now the OWNER of my very own really awesome digital camera! And I have more gadgets and gizmos for it than I can possibly ever use. I also have 3 tripods and 3 camera cases. As far as gifts go, this is one humdinger ~ I think I’ll get out the camera’s owner’s manual and go over it again, just to make sure I’m not missing out on any really cool functions!

fruitful friday

I’m so pleased to add these wonderful blogs to the list of The Fruit of the Spirit blogs. This week The Fruit of the Spirit graphic was added to 6 sites, including our first blog by young ladies (teenagers)! Please visit these blogs ~ you will be blessed. And don’t forget to leave a comment blessing the bloggers back!

Maidens of Worth (our first teen blog) ~ Anna and Miriam

Joy in the Journey ~ Joy

Blessed Mommy ~ Liz

A Chelsea Morning ~ Barb

A Path Made Straight ~ Elise

Reflecting Him ~ Jennifer

thankful thursday

This is the first time I’ve ever participated in a meme. I’ve been reading lots of other people’s blogs for quite a while now ~ there are a LOT of memes out there! I’ve decided to participate in Thankful Thursdays ~ I thought it would be a good meme to participate in and see how things go.
I am thankful that my younger son was able to go on a mission trip with a small group from our church.
I’m thankful for adults on that mission trip who care about the kids and are willing to take on the responsibility of standing in for mom and dad (Sawyer doesn’t know this, but I contacted one of the adults on the trip to have them keep an eye on the cold Sawyer’s developing ~ he has such terrible asthma that even a little cold can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia overnight).
I’m thankful that Sawyer’s cold is so far just that ~ a cold.
I’m thankful to be married to the most wonderful man I know.
It’s 95 degrees here with 90% humidity ~ so today I’m extremely thankful for air conditioning!
I’m thankful to have a week to spend with my older son while my younger son is on the mission trip ~ Patrick will have to go back to school very soon, so it’s nice to have some time with just him.
I’m thankful for sweet friendships with people who encourage me in the Lord.
Thanks to Laurel at Laurel Wreath for hosting Thankful Thursday this week while Iris at Sting My Heart is on a little blogging break.

homeschool decisions

I think I have finally come to some decisions regarding what curricula we will use this coming school year. Some of the decisions were already made for me, based on what our homeschool co-op will be using. The biggest and hardest decision this year has been what history curriculum to use.

We have been die-hard Sonlight Curriculum users. Over the past few years, Sonlight has changed their curriculum a lot ~ to the point where many of my Sonlight-using friends switched curricula. The biggest complaint I heard from those friends was that Sonlight was really pushing the envelope as far as what is acceptable and what is not in the areas of literature and personal philosophy. Their argument is very valid. And I agree ~ Sonlight has gotten a bit too liberal in what books are included with the Core curriculum. But, even though I agree with those ex-Sonlight users, we’ve been able to weed out those things that we didn’t particularly like so that we could stick with Sonlight. Both of my boys are avid readers, and Sonlight has always fit us very well. This year, however, I’m going to stray from the norm and NOT buy a Sonlight curriculum. I want to study ancient history with Sawyer this school year. Sonlight doesn’t offer high school level in-depth ancient history. This past school year we completed yet another round of early American history ~ Sawyer’s going to pull all of his hair out if we don’t study something other than American history this coming school year!

It looks like we’ll be going with Beautiful Feet Books high school ancient history course. It will be a huge change for us to not have the Sonlight teacher’s manual there with everything already planned out for us. But Beautiful Feet Books offers a study guide and detailed study notes, as well as lesson plans, tests and test keys in their senior high ancient history pack.

At co-op we’ll be using Apologia Science Exploring Creation with Biology (including all of the fun labs, like dissection!), Bob Jones Spanish I, and Lightning Literature Early 19th Century British Literature. I toyed with the idea of getting Sonlight’s Survey of British Literature as our home history course, but I have a feeling that while I would love all of the books, Sawyer would be bored out of his mind.

Last year was our first year using a math curriculum other than Saxon Math. Sawyer used Teaching Textbook’s Algebra I and really enjoyed it. When we bought the curriculum at the beginning of this past school year Sawyer had high aspirations of completing Algebra I and Algebra II all in the same year, so we bought both of them. Sawyer only completed Algebra I last school year, which means we still have an unopened Algebra II package. However, after talking with several high school teachers I know, I’ve decided that Sawyer shouldn’t work on Algebra II this year; instead, he should do geometry, then come back to Algebra II next year. That means I’ll have to let the Algebra II package sit unused on the shelf another year. Oh well ~ at least next year we won’t have to purchase a math package!

I’ve been homeschooling long enough that really all of this should be easy for me. It usually is. But for some reason this year I’ve had a hard time deciding what Sawyer and I should study. Now that I’ve done all of the research and actually made the decisions, I feel good about what we’ll be doing. I’m surprised by how much anxiety and indecision I experience leading up to these decisions, though. I haven’t been that unsure about our homeschool curriculum since Sawyer started kindergarten! (I already had a couple of years of homeschooling Patrick under my belt by the time Sawyer stared kindergarten.)

I think part of the reason it has been so difficult this year is that it’s the first time I’ve been completely on my own regarding homeschooling. Up until this year I had a homeschooling mentor who I really looked up to ~ she always helped me reason out what would be best for a particular school year based on that particular child and his strengths, weaknesses, abilities and needs. This year I haven’t had the benefit of consulting her (and that, in and of itself is a very long story ~ one that would be better suited for another day…).

I’m actually looking forward to getting back into the routine of the school year. Don’t get me wrong ~ I’m enjoying having time off from school with both boys home (at least they’ve been home parts of the summer). But the school year offers me a routine that rarely changes ~ I’m such a homebody that that kind of a routine is very comforting to me. And I enjoy seeing the other moms of our homeschool co-op ~ I’ve missed the comeraderie and fellowship we have every Tuesday.

For now, I guess I’d better take advantage of what’s left of the summer. Patrick has to be back at school August 4th; we’ll start homeschooling again August 21st with our first co-op meeting. Those dates are coming up quicker than I expected them to!

simple things

I recently discovered "i have to say…..", a blog by Randi ~ and Randi is an absolutely amazing seamstress. She has some beautiful creations you can check out by clicking here. Randi has decided to take a little break from blogging (which seems to be very common in July!), but I’m pretty sure she’d be more than happy to answer questions about her products. I have a friend who loves aprons who also has a birthday coming up…….

thankful thursday

This is the first time I’ve ever participated in a meme. I’ve been reading lots of other people’s blogs for quite a while now ~ there are a LOT of memes out there! I’ve decided to participate in Thankful Thursdays ~ I thought it would be a good meme to participate in and see how things go.

1. I am thankful that my younger son was able to go on a mission trip with a small group from our church.
2. I’m thankful for adults on that mission trip who care about the kids and are willing to take on the responsibility of standing in for mom and dad (Sawyer doesn’t know this, but I contacted one of the adults on the trip to have them keep an eye on the cold Sawyer’s developing ~ he has such terrible asthma that even a little cold can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia overnight).
3. I’m thankful that Sawyer’s cold is so far just that ~ a cold.
4. I’m thankful to be married to the most wonderful man I know.
5. It’s 95 degrees here with 90% humidity ~ so today I’m extremely thankful for air conditioning!
6. I’m thankful to have a week to spend with my older son while my younger son is on the mission trip ~ Patrick will have to go back to school very soon, so it’s nice to have some time with just him.
7. I’m thankful for sweet friendships with people who encourage me in the Lord.

Thanks to Laurel at Laurel Wreath for hosting Thankful Thursday this week while Iris at Sting My Heart is on a little blogging break.

homeschool decisions

I think I have finally come to some decisions regarding what curricula we will use this coming school year. Some of the decisions were already made for me, based on what our homeschool co-op will be using. The biggest and hardest decision this year has been what history curriculum to use.

We have been die-hard Sonlight Curriculum users. Over the past few years, Sonlight has changed their curriculum a lot ~ to the point where many of my Sonlight-using friends switched curricula. The biggest complaint I heard from those friends was that Sonlight was really pushing the envelope as far as what is acceptable and what is not in the areas of literature and personal philosophy. Their argument is very valid. And I agree ~ Sonlight has gotten a bit too liberal in what books are included with the Core curriculum. But, even though I agree with those ex-Sonlight users, we’ve been able to weed out those things that we didn’t particularly like so that we could stick with Sonlight. Both of my boys are avid readers, and Sonlight has always fit us very well. This year, however, I’m going to stray from the norm and NOT buy a Sonlight curriculum. I want to study ancient history with Sawyer this school year. Sonlight doesn’t offer high school level in-depth ancient history. This past school year we completed yet another round of early American history ~ Sawyer’s going to pull all of his hair out if we don’t study something other than American history this coming school year!

It looks like we’ll be going with Beautiful Feet Books high school ancient history course. It will be a huge change for us to not have the Sonlight teacher’s manual there with everything already planned out for us. But Beautiful Feet Books offers a study guide and detailed study notes, as well as lesson plans, tests and test keys in their senior high ancient history pack.

At co-op we’ll be using Apologia Science Exploring Creation with Biology (including all of the fun labs, like dissection!), Bob Jones Spanish I, and Lightning Literature Early 19th Century British Literature. I toyed with the idea of getting Sonlight’s Survey of British Literature as our home history course, but I have a feeling that while I would love all of the books, Sawyer would be bored out of his mind.

Last year was our first year using a math curriculum other than Saxon Math. Sawyer used Teaching Textbook’s Algebra I and really enjoyed it. When we bought the curriculum at the beginning of this past school year Sawyer had high aspirations of completing Algebra I and Algebra II all in the same year, so we bought both of them. Sawyer only completed Algebra I last school year, which means we still have an unopened Algebra II package. However, after talking with several high school teachers I know, I’ve decided that Sawyer shouldn’t work on Algebra II this year; instead, he should do geometry, then come back to Algebra II next year. That means I’ll have to let the Algebra II package sit unused on the shelf another year. Oh well ~ at least next year we won’t have to purchase a math package!

I’ve been homeschooling long enough that really all of this should be easy for me. It usually is. But for some reason this year I’ve had a hard time deciding what Sawyer and I should study. Now that I’ve done all of the research and actually made the decisions, I feel good about what we’ll be doing. I’m surprised by how much anxiety and indecision I experience leading up to these decisions, though. I haven’t been that unsure about our homeschool curriculum since Sawyer started kindergarten! (I already had a couple of years of homeschooling Patrick under my belt by the time Sawyer stared kindergarten.)

I think part of the reason it has been so difficult this year is that it’s the first time I’ve been completely on my own regarding homeschooling. Up until this year I had a homeschooling mentor who I really looked up to ~ she always helped me reason out what would be best for a particular school year based on that particular child and his strengths, weaknesses, abilities and needs. This year I haven’t had the benefit of consulting her (and that, in and of itself is a very long story ~ one that would be better suited for another day…).

I’m actually looking forward to getting back into the routine of the school year. Don’t get me wrong ~ I’m enjoying having time off from school with both boys home (at least they’ve been home parts of the summer). But the school year offers me a routine that rarely changes ~ I’m such a homebody that that kind of a routine is very comforting to me. And I enjoy seeing the other moms of our homeschool co-op ~ I’ve missed the comeraderie and fellowship we have every Tuesday.

For now, I guess I’d better take advantage of what’s left of the summer. Patrick has to be back at school August 4th; we’ll start homeschooling again August 21st with our first co-op meeting. Those dates are coming up quicker than I expected them to!

thankful thursday

This is the first time I’ve ever participated in a meme. I’ve been reading lots of other people’s blogs for quite a while now ~ there are a LOT of memes out there! I’ve decided to participate in Thankful Thursdays ~ I thought it would be a good meme to participate in and see how things go.

1. I am thankful that my younger son was able to go on a mission trip with a small group from our church.
2. I’m thankful for adults on that mission trip who care about the kids and are willing to take on the responsibility of standing in for mom and dad (Sawyer doesn’t know this, but I contacted one of the adults on the trip to have them keep an eye on the cold Sawyer’s developing ~ he has such terrible asthma that even a little cold can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia overnight).
3. I’m thankful that Sawyer’s cold is so far just that ~  a cold.
4. I’m thankful to be married to the most wonderful man I know.
5. It’s 95 degrees here with 90% humidity ~ so today I’m extremely thankful for air conditioning!
6. I’m thankful to have a week to spend with my older son while my younger son is on the mission trip ~ Patrick will have to go back to school very soon, so it’s nice to have some time with just him.
7. I’m thankful for sweet friendships with people who encourage me in the Lord.

Thanks to Laurel at Laurel Wreath for hosting Thankful Thursday this week while Iris at Sting My Heart is on a little blogging break.

the passport fiasco

Remember at the beginning of the year, how the U.S. State Department decided that all U.S. citizens needed to have a passport in order to re-enter the country? It even applied to traveling to Canada. The exception was that it applied to re-entering the country by air from Canada, but not if you were traveling by car across the border. Nonetheless, all U.S. citizens were encouraged to obtain a passport before leaving the country, regardless of the destination or point of return.

When Sawyer was accepted as part of the mission team our church was sending to Canada, Pastor Josh (the trip coordinator) said everyone had to have a passport. Even though technically a passport wouldn’t be needed to re-enter the country because they would be traveling by bus, Josh felt it would be best for everyone to have a passport. I could understand his point ~ after all, the group would consist of approximately 5 adults and 17 kids, most of whom were not related in any way to any of the adults accompanying them.

On March 22nd I took Sawyer down to the post office with all of the necessary documentation required to apply for a passport. He had been issued a military dependent’s passport in 1998, but the military had ended up canceling that passport when Roger’s assignment changed from Japan to Alaska. The lady at the post office was very nice, and she spent some time explaining the passport process to us, letting us know that the passport offices were all backed up because of the new requirements ~ they’d been swamped with passport applications and weren’t equipped to handle the additional workload (gee, imagine that!). She said that we should expect to receive Sawyer’s passport in the mail in about 10 to 12 weeks. That was MORE than enough time, since Sawyer’s mission trip didn’t leave until July 13.

So we waited. And we waited. Then we waited some more. When the passport hadn’t arrived by the end of June, I called our senator’s office to let her know that we had applied for a passport that had not arrived yet. I spoke with one of the senator’s staff members, a very nice lady named Stacy. Stacy made some phone calls, and was finally able to locate Sawyer’s passport. It was in Virginia, still being "processed." Stacy assured me that a passport wouldn’t be necessary to re-enter the country because the state department had lifted the passport requirement for re-entering the U.S. from Canada.

Thankfully I had thought ahead and ordered an additional certified copy of Sawyer’s birth certificate. He WOULD need that to re-enter the country. We had sent our only certified copy of his birth certificate along with the passport application ~ I figured it might be a good idea to have an extra birth certificate, just incase.

The day of departure came, and still no passport. Good thing I had ordered that extra birth certificate! We sent Sawyer off with the documents he will need when the mission trip group crosses back over into the U.S. after completing their time in Canada.

Well, guess what came in the mail today. Yep ~ Sawyer’s passport (and yes, thankfully they also returned the birth certificate we had sent off with the passport application). The date of issue on the passport? July 13 ~ the day he LEFT on his trip!

no mister linky

I haven’t posted the link to enter the One Step Over the Border book giveaway yet, so no you haven’t missed it! I’m still trying to figure out how to work the version of Mr. Linky I want to use. I have an email in to Mr. Linky ~ and as soon as I figure out how to make it work I’ll post the link. Please keep checking back!

trish’s take ~ one step over the border

Stephen Bly’s novel One Step Over the Border is the story of two modern-day cowboys who set out on a quest. Hap Bowman and his rodeo partner, Laramie Majors, are looking for Hap’s long lost childhood love. The search for Hap’s Juanita takes them from Wyoming to Mexico and back. Along the way they encounter irate Mexican ranchers, a robbery at a convenience store, bar fights, a little rodeoing, a crooked park ranger, and a whole lot of adventure plus some.

I read this book in under two days. I loved it. I chuckled my way through Hap and Laramie’s exploits.

I think part of the reason this book appealed to me so much is that I married into a family of ranchers, cowboys and rodeoers. My husband’s father’s entire family, from brothers and sisters to aunts, uncles, and cousins to the nth degree (and 15 times removed) are all involved in the cowboy lifestyle in one way or another. We have true ranchers with cattle and crops, true cowboys working cattle and whatever odd jobs they can find, and true rodeoers including a past rodeo queen, barrel racers, saddle bronc riders, bull riders, and rodeo judges galore.

Stephen Bly has given the characters Hap Bowman and Laramie Majors true cowboy personalities ~ and that’s not something you can do if you’re not intimately knowledgable of what real cowboys are like. There were so many times throughout the book where I would stop, read a section outloud to Roger, and we’d both chuckle and say, "Boy, that really sounds like something PeeWee would say!" or, "Don’t you just know Dink, Denny and Monte were just like that ~ and Uncle Dutch probably encourage it!" (real cowboys all have great nicknames).

One Step Over the Border is a fabulous read, and definitely worth adding to your home library. Even if you’re not familiar with any real life cowboys you’re sure to get a kick out of Hap and Laramie’s personalities, and their rockin’ adventures are very entertaining. By the time you’ve finished reading One Step Over the Border you’ll feel as though you really do know two modern-day cowboys ~ and you might even envy the fun they have.

Click here to see the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance review of One Step Over the Border.

review and giveaway to come

There’s more to come regarding the CFBA review of One Step Over the Border. I’ll be posting my Trish’s Take review of the book, AND I have a wonderful surprise ~ 2 brand new copies of One Step Over the Border to give away!

I really must get going and take a shower first ~ but I promise to return as quickly as possible with my review and the giveaway. Come back in an hour or so!

one step over the border (cfba)

One Step Over The Border by Stephen Bly

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

ONE STEP OVER THE BORDER(Center Street June 12, 2007)by

Stephen Bly

(click on the "Continue reading" link just below to read the rest of this post)

anniversary bouquet

Saturday evening when Roger took me to dinner at The Peabody Hotel to celebrate our 18th anniversary, I was surprised to find that our table was the only one in the restaurant that had a vase of flowers. Actually, it took me about 20 minutes to notice, LOL, but that’s not unusual for me. I was so taken with talking to Roger and discreetly watching all of the other diners around us that I guess I just didn’t pay close enough attention to our table itself. Roger was very patient with me though, and waited for me to notice. When I finally did notice, he had to stifle his laughter at me!

Roger had called a florist and ordered a bouquet of mixed flowers in a vase to be delivered to our table at the restaurant Saturday. My favorite flowers are tulips, but the florist didn’t have any tulips, so Roger went with the next best thing, which is a lovely mix of carnations, daisies, baby’s breath, Peruvian lilies, and (best of all) purple roses. Wait a minute ~ purple roses? Yep. Purple roses.

Now, I will confess to not being a roses fan. They’re just not appealing to me. I don’t know if it’s the hype that surrounds them, those nasty little thorns, or the fact that the smell of roses makes me think of stinky purfume. I’ve just never been a roses fan. My husband will tell you it’s because it’s just in my nature to be different (he might say difficult, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here). That may be true.

But to be honest, I’m quite taken with these purple roses. Then again, I may very well be taken with them because I’ve never seen them before. They may not be roses at all. I’m definitely NOT a flower expert ~ but they look like roses to me, so we’ll just make a wild guess that that’s what they are.

The bouquet has been sitting in my house for a couple of days now, and it just occured to me that I should take a picture or two to share. So, here you go: (click on the "Continue reading" link just below to see the pictures and the rest of this post)

computers, techies and propane

Well. The past 36 hours have been, well, interesting in a frustrating way, and frustrating in an interesting way.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours on the phone with Microsoft Technical Support, trying to figure out why my Microsoft Broadband Network wasn’t working. We couldn’t get online on either of our 2 desktop computers. We still had internet access on Patrick’s laptop, which made it even more confusing. Eventually we were able to figure out the problem, but going through every single little thing, step by step, can be so frustrating. Nonetheless, thanks to Samuel at Microsoft Technical Support, the problem was taken care of. 

This morning I got online and discovered that one of the folders in my favorites had disappeared. And of course, that folder was my bookmarked blogs folder, which is probably the worst one to lose! So, I’ve spent considerable time this afternoon trying to go through and reacquire all of my blog bookmarks ~ not an easy thing to do since I’m a pretty avid blog reader.

Then, while I was in the middle of making dinner, we ran out of propane gas. Our house is entirely electric, except the stove. One of the previous owners decided it would be great to have a gas stove, so they installed one and ran a gas line from a small propane tank outside to feed the gas to the stove. The people we bought the house from said they only had to fill the propane tank about once a year. They must have eaten out A LOT ~ we have found that we have to fill the propane tank at least twice a year. Last week I mentioned to Roger that it was probably getting close to time to fill up the tank again since we filled it up this past December. Sure enough, while I had noodles boiling, a sauce in progress, and the oven preheating, the burners went poof! No more gas. Thankfully the chicken had already been completely cooked, and the mushrooms hadn’t entered the sauce yet. So, the chicken, mushrooms, and chicken broth/milk/seasonings mixture all went into the refrigerator, and Patrick took the Suburban to McDonald’s to pick up some chicken nuggets for dinner. Oh well, at least I tried.

Prayerfully nothing else will go wrong this evening ~ here’s praying for a nice, quiet, relaxing evening with all of the appliances and computers working as they should!

faith

Graphic provided by A Source of Joy

I have a very dear friend who has an amazing gift/abundance of faith. I spoke with her just yesterday ~ she filled me in on some events that have taken place in her life over the past two years that until now she hasn’t been free to talk about; events that would have made me pack up my belongings and run away screaming. But her faith held steady and true. And while her life hasn’t been easy over the past two years, her faith has grown stronger and stronger. I am constantly amazed by her incredible gift ~ I can honestly say that I don’t know another person who has the abundant amount of faith she has shown.

I went to bed last night (actually, very early this morning) with mixed feelings. I had a knot in my stomach because of the intense, involved story she related to me during our telephone conversation. But I also had a sense of awe and wonder at the way God had worked in her life during those events. She told me about her prayers, and the sweet ways God would answer them, even though it seemed at the time that her entire life was falling apart at the seams. She told me about talking with other believers who were in or had experienced similar situations, and how she was consistently brought back to the questions, "Do you believe God’s Word? Do you trust him? Are you relying completely on Him?" She told me about how she was given opportunities to minister to others throughout this extremely difficult time in her life, and how God continually blessed her through sweet fellowship with Him. Through it all, she held fast to God, to His Word and His promises.

This lovely lady, dear sweet friend, is almost a decade younger than I am. We have been friends for close to that long as well. And all throughout our friendship she has amazed and humbled me with her absolute, unquestioning faith. God continues to teach me through her ~ it’s a very humbling experience; she’s a very gracious friend with such a sweet, loving, and caring spirit. She is wise well beyond her years, and she sees things in such a way that brings balance and clarity to my often harsh, black and white worldview. Where I see an opportunity to cut bait and run, she sees an opportunity to trust God for His provision; where I see the unrighteous acts of others, she sees the righteousness of God; where I see the injustice and hurtful effects of other’s decisions, she sees the ability to experience the mercy and grace of God and to show mercy and grace to those who have offended and hurt her. She truly is an example of God’s love shining through, and her steadfast faith and unwavering trust in the Lord are an incredible testimony.

I am once again humbled by the way she so wisely and so fervently clings to God in every way. God has surely given her the gift of faith, and the ability to share that gift with others through some of the most difficult, darkest times in her life. I am honored, blessed and encouraged through our friendship ~  I can only thank God for placing this amazing friend in my life.

rocks in my dryer

Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a great "bloggy giveaway" ~ next Monday bloggers all over bloggityville/the blogosphere will band together for what very well may be the biggest group effort giveaway in bloggityville history!

I will definitely be participating. I LOVE to give stuff away. I have several possible items in mind; I just need to decide what would be best suited for this particular giveaway.

In order to give stuff away on your blog, it’s kinda necessary to actually HAVE a blog; however, you don’t have to have a blog to WIN something. You can check out Shannon’s post here.

just for de’etta

My friend De’Etta is looking to possibly buy a new small digital camera. You can read about her "hunt" here.

Personally, I still LOVE my plain ol’ regular "film" camera ~ I’ve had the same Canon AEProgram since I was 9 years old. However, since we decided to jump into the 1990’s and use digital cameras, our lives have been a lot simpler. Roger and I have an antique digital camera ~ one of the first ever produced. It sits in the far regions of a closet collecting dust. Awful camera. Talk about a lag time! I honestly think the lag time on the silly thing is 5 minutes! It cost an arm and a leg (over $800 ~ no kidding), and I think the memory card held about 5 pictures. Awful, horrible, terrible, no good, rotten camera.

A couple of years ago, Roger’s mom gave Patrick a digital camera for his birthday. It cost less than $100 ~ an Olympus something-or-other ~ but it does a much better job than the antique digital camera. This past winter Sawyer saved up his money and bought himself a digital camera. He got a Canon Powershot S5 (I think it’s the S5 IS) ~ this little camera takes amazing pictures, especially considering it falls under what I call the "point-and-shoot category." There’s a very slight lag time, but that can be remedied by putting the camera into Sport or Fast Action mode rather than Auto or Portrait. Even so, I shot these photos of Jake and Sawyer on the trampoline in Auto mode:

  (note: there’s a funny story behind these pics ~ no the dog is NOT sticking his snout you-know-where ~ click here to read the story and see more pictures from this series….)

There are more pictures shot with Sawyer’s Canon S5 here and here. The only doctoring or adjusting I did on these pics was to re-size them. I like my digital pics to be as large of a file as they can be so that when I re-size them the quality is very good.

Usually I use my dad’s Konica/Minolta that he used as a professional photographer (after he retired as an Episcopal priest and before his Parkinson’s got too bad). It has a lot of functions that Sawyer’s camera doesn’t, but if you’re looking for a good point-and-shoot you’re not looking for all of the extras of a professional camera.

Sawyer currently has his little camera with him on his mission trip to Canada. So far he has taken it on a couple of youth choir trips, several youth group outtings, birthday parties, random frisbee get-togethers, and a couple of youth group overnighters. The only thing I’m amazed about is that he hasn’t lost it! It has held up very well, but it’s a Canon so I expect no less.

Anyway, De’Etta asked for examples to help her choose a new digital point-and-shoot. There you have my 2 cents’ worth.

cranberry-orange scones recipe

I’ve been trying to find out where Starbucks gets their cranberry-orange scone. I haven’t had any luck locating them yet (surely there has to be a less expensive way to get those scones than to actually buy them at Starbucks). In my search of the internet, I have found an abundance of cranberry-orange scone recipes. Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea has the recipe that looks the most promising. I haven’t baked them myself yet, so I can’t vouch for them ~ but of all of the recipes I’ve read, this one sounds the most delicious. I’m going to continue my hunt for a cheaper way to get Starbucks cranberry-orange scones, but I may give up my search if these scones actually turn out as good as they sound.

anniversary dinner

I do believe that Roger and I had the best dinner we have ever had this evening. He took me to an Italian restaurant (known as the best place in town to get a fantastic steak, strangely enough) inside The Peabody Hotel ~ the food was absolutely amazing. We ordered the tempura vegetables as an appetizer; we each had a filet mignon, and we shared steamed asparagus and sauteed fresh mushrooms. The waitress brought us a silce of strawberry NY cheesecake and a piece of mint dark chocolate mousse pie for dessert. I may not need to eat again for a week I was so stuffed by the time we left ~ but oh, it was so incredibly good!

you mean i’m not hockey?

If I were a winter sport, I would be:

You Are Curling

What you lack in athleticism, you make up for in concentration. And while curling isn’t much more of a sport than bowling, you *can* win a gold medal for it!

What Winter Sport Are You?

LOL Oh man, who comes up with these things??!!!

(One of these days I’ll write a post proving just how true this is ~ we LOVE watching the Winter Olympics ~ they’re so much better than the Summer Olympics … and we really do even watch curling!)

i’m a child of the 80’s

You Are 64% A Child of the 80s

Not only did you experience the 80s… you are practically an expert. You should be totally stoked!

Are You a Child of an 80s?

ROFL No duh! Technically, I was a TEENAGER of the 80’s, but close enough.

anniversary day

Roger asked me if I would like to go somewhere for breakfast on our anniversary. My immediate answer was Starbucks.

Starbucks carries these cranberry-orange scones that are soooooo good! I wish I could find out where they get their scones ~ I’d buy a boat load and put them in my freezer. I’m quite sure they’re not good for me ~ they’re commercially produced, so they’re probably full of preservatives, sugar, white flour, and who knows what else. Plus, they have an orange flavored icing, so there’s more sugar, preservatives, and (ick!) lard. If I start to think about what they’re really made of…….well, I just won’t think about it!

Roger actually called ahead to make sure the Starbucks we were going to didn’t run out of cranberry scones. They have a tendency to sell out. I think I have this particular Starbucks trained, though ~ I’ve been in there so many times and bought so many cranberry orange scones with my coffee, they usually have at least one package in the back already thawing waiting for me to come in. I only had to complain twice about their running out of cranberry orange scones before they figured out they really needed to keep them in stock!

So, I had an amazing cranberry orange scone and decaf breve for breakfast this morning. Roger cracks me up ~ he gets an espresso brownie with his coffee for breakfast! That much caffeine would have me doing laps around the building for hours ~ I avoid caffeine.

After breakfast we went to a small, locally-owned family jewelry store to have my wedding ring sized. Having gained weight on the medications I take for the fibromyalgia, I’ve outgrown my wedding ring. Which is really awful considering how beautiful my ring is! On our fifth wedding anniversary Roger gave me 2 diamond anniversary bands; on our 10th wedding anniversary, Roger gave me a 1.10 carat marquise cut diamond set in platinum, surrounded by 4 smaller marquise diamonds and 8 baguette cut diamonds, all on an 18 carat yellow gold band. I took it to a jewelry store and had the anniversary bands added to either side of the bigger ring ~ it’s all one big honkin’ ring now, and I really love it. I get a lot of compliments on it, too. I haven’t been able to wear it for several months now ~ the jewelry store will be done with it next Saturday, and it will be so nice to be able to wear my wedding ring again!

After the jewelry store, we made a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond. We were feeling adventurous and decided that together we could brave that Beyond section so many people seem to get lost in! LOL Actually, we bought a couple of sets of new towels (bath towels, hand towels and washcloths). We decided to get bath towels instead of bath sheets because when I held the bath towel up to see how big it was, it was so long that when I held it to my chin the other end was touching the floor. We figured it was big enough ~ we didn’t need to pay the extra $10 each to have the bath sheets.  These are the first new towel sets we’ve bought for ourselves in I don’t know how many years. We also got a new waffle maker (since ours died and went the way of all dead waffle makers…..in the garbage), a shower caddy for the boys’ bathroom, and a new, "guaranteed never to grow mold" shower curtain liner for the boys’ bathroom. I usually have to replace their shower curtain liner about every 6 months, no matter what the "guarantee" on the package says.

We were going to make a trip to Best Buy to get a refrigerator for Patrick’s dorm room, but we decided to skip that ~ we went to the place my friend De’Etta refers to as "The Gates of Hell" (known to most people as Wal-Mart). I just wanted to run in and pick up one small item, but you know how that goes ~ not gonna happen! We ended up walking around finding other things we "need". We did find a refrigerator for Patrick’s dorm room, though. It’s a GE (an actual brand we had heard of), the last one in the store, and on sale. We just couldn’t resist. Besides, it’s a really cool dorm refrigerator that even has a soda can dispenser!

This afternoon Roger and I are planning to go to a movie, then we’ll go out to dinner. Roger made reservations at a restaurant in Little Rock ~ I don’t know which one yet because Roger’s keeping it a surprise. He has already told me that I can get a small popcorn at the movie theater if I want to, but I HAVE to save room for dinner. I think I can handle that.

our anniversary

Tomorrow, July 14, 2007, Roger and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage. I tell people all the time I don’t feel old enough to have teenagers, and I certainly don’t feel old enough to have been maried for 18 years! But, I guess the truth is I am.

Roger and I met and started dating in high school. I had just turned 16 and was a sophomore; Roger was 16 (his birthday was 4 months after we met) and a junior. We dated until the end of the school year, then I promptly got dumped in favor of baseball season (LOL). We ran into each other in the hall soon after school started again, and it was as if we hadn’t spent any time apart at all.

We dated through Roger’s senior year. We attended his senior prom together ~ my goodness, we were so young!

The 4 years he was at the Air Force Academy were rocky (to put it mildly), but by the time I was 20 years old I knew he was the man I was supposed to be married to. So, I moved to Colorado Springs during his senior year Christmas break, and somehow managed to convince him that I was the one he wanted to be married to. LOL Actually, he had known that all along.

Roger was accepted to pilot training, and was to report to Reese AFB in Lubbock, Texas, about 2 weeks after his Academy graduation. He wanted me to move to Texas; he said we would get married after pilot training. That idea didn’t go over so well with me. I had already moved once to be near him, and I really didn’t want to move again unless I had more than just a casual promise of marriage. Basically I told him either marry me now, or go to Texas by yourself. Nice, huh?

Well, thankfully enough Roger wanted to marry me ~ so we planned our wedding in 5 weeks’ time. It was a whirlwind of activity. My dad agreed to perform our marriage ceremony, and somehow I was able to get 3 of my close friends to fly to Colorado to be my bride’s maids. I’m still not sure how we managed it all ~ but we did, and Friday, July 14, at 7:oopm we were married at the Air Force Academy Community Church.

Some pictures from that evening:

I felt like the most beautiful, luckiest, most blessed bride in the entire world. I married my high school sweetheart in a gorgeous church with close friends and family in attendance. I was 21 years old ~ Roger was barely 22.

Two days later we packed everything we owned into a Uhaul and moved to Lubbock (we didn’t go on a honeymoon right then because of Roger’s orders to arrive at Reese AFB in time for pilot training!).

I will honestly say that Roger is the perfect husband for me. He balances out my impulsiveness with his calm, easy-going manner and ways; he brings mercy into my black and white worldview; he has a strong desire to lead and be the head of the household, and with God’s help he manages to do that even though I have a much stronger personality than he does, and I have a tendency to want to run things and do it my way. Don’t get me wrong ~ my husband is in no way a wimp ~ I would have eaten him alive a very long time ago if he were. But he has been very patient with me as I have struggled with finding and understanding my role as his help mate. Biblical submission is not an easy thing for me ~ but being married to Roger makes that difficult task easier than I ever thought it would be.

Roger has been my best friend almost since the moment I met him (big shout out to Mr. Pete Reed (retired high school math teacher and assistant wrestling coach) wherever you may be, for introducing me to Roger!). And as the years have gone by, I have come to understand what Pete meant when he told me Roger was the right guy for me. Somehow Pete saw a connection between me and Roger that we didn’t know was there. Our relationship has grown deeper and stronger with every passing year. When the trials have come, and they have, we have been able to maintain the vows we made to one another 18 years ago in front of God, our family and close friends.

God has blessed us with 2 wonderful sons, and with a relationship that we both know we can count on. We work well together, and that’s all God’s doing, not ours. Roger is the first person I pray for when I wake up every morning, and he’s the last person I pray for before I fall asleep every night. He’s my prince, my knight in shining armor; he is slayer of all things creepy crawly, and barbeque/grill master. He is the purveyor of all his kingdom ~ and on his trusty steed John Deere Riding Mower he makes sure those 3 acres of kingdom get mowed, watered and fertilized. He treats me better than any woman could hope to be treated, he takes care of me when I’m ill, and he goes beyond understanding when it comes to dealing with my fibromyalgia.

Roger is most definitely the perfect husband for me. And I can’t think of anything I would rather do than spend the next 50 years (or more) of my life hanging out with him. 18 years and an unmentionable number of pounds later (on my part), he’s still my guy.

Fruitful Friday

This week The Fruit of the Spirit graphic has been accepted and displayed on an abundance of blogs. Please visit these lovely ladies’ blogs ~ you will be blessed. Let them know you visited by leaving them a comment ~ this will enable you to bless them back!
Mississippi Girl
My Home Sweet Home
Little Red Hearts from God
Your Word is Life to Me
Pearls of Wisdom
God is in Control…Not Me
Preschoolers and Peace
Showered with Grace
Through His Eyes
I am really enjoying all of The Fruit of the Spirit graphic nominations that are being sent in. I have discovered SO many new, interesting, beautiful and God honoring blogs! Keep sending those nominations ~ I know there are still a lot of other bloggers out there who would be encouraged by this graphic. Click here to email your nominations to me.
By the way, there’s no limit on how many blogs one person may nominate. If you frequently read 15 other blogs, and you believe every single one of them exemplifies the fruit of the Spirit in their writing, then by all means, please send me links to all 15 of them!

fruitful friday

This week The Fruit of the Spirit graphic has been accepted and displayed on an abundance of blogs. Please visit these lovely ladies’ blogs ~ you will be blessed. Let them know you visited by leaving them a comment ~ this will enable you to bless them back!

Mississippi Girl

My Home Sweet Home

Little Red Hearts from God

Your Word is Life to Me

Pearls of Wisdom

God is in Control…Not Me

Preschoolers and Peace

Showered with Grace

Through His Eyes

I am really enjoying all of The Fruit of the Spirit graphic nominations that are being sent in. I have discovered SO many new, interesting, beautiful and God honoring blogs! Keep sending those nominations ~ I know there are still a lot of other bloggers out there who would be encouraged by this graphic. Click here to email your nominations to me.

By the way, there’s no limit on how many blogs one person may nominate. If you frequently read 15 other blogs, and you believe every single one of them exemplifies the fruit of the Spirit in their writing, then by all means, please send me links to all 15 of them!

wallwords

Oooooh, SO cool! I saw WallWords.com mentioned on another blog, and I just had to check it out.

Our pastor’s home has a Scripture verse written on a wall right by the front door. I have wondered how Pastor’s Wife (I haven’t asked her if it’s ok to use her name on my blog, so we’ll just refer to her that way for now) did that. I can’t say for sure that what she has on her wall came from WallWords, but at least now I know there’s a place to get stuff like what she has on her wall.

Roger and I are definitely going to have to get some WallWords. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click on the "continue reading" link just below to see some pictures…….

watch out popcorn, here I come!

Roger, the boys, Ariel and I are going to see Ratatouille tonight. Thursdays are free popcorn nights at out little bitty hometown theater. As long as we bring our own bowls, we get as much popcorn as we want ~ for free! Can’t you just see my little heart going pitter-patter?! Too bad the frozen Cokes aren’t free, too. But, that’s ok ~ we get the military discount on our tickets (which is the same as paying the matinee price), and the difference is probably about half of the cost of a large frozen Coke. So, going to a movie on Thursday nights is the absolute best!

it ain’t easy living in arkansas

This morning Sawyer and I headed to North Little Rock to do some last minute errands ~ there were a few things he needed before he could finish packing for his mission trip to Canada tomorrow.

I dropped him off at the book store while I ran to Petsmart. I needed to get more dog food for Jake. While I was in the store, I saw a man who had brought in his Rhodesian Ridgeback ~ an amazingly beautiful and friendly dog. We got to talking, and he told me that he had bought the dog from a local couple. They had interviewed him for 5 hours before deciding to sell the puppy to him!

As I walked away, I commented on what a pretty dog he was. The owner’s comment was, "It’s probably the food." I looked at the bag of puppy food he had thrown over his shoulder ~ and I seriously doubted the puppy was pretty because of the dog food!

We got Jake as a puppy when we were in Alaska. We bought him from a guy who happened to be a friend of the owner of a championship bloodline black Lab ~ champion bloodline all the way back 5 generations. Not some fancy schmancy froo-froo dog show champion bloodline, but real working and hunting dog, field trials champion bloodline. You’d never know it to see Jake, but it’s true.

When Jake was a puppy, I actually cooked his food for him. No, I’m not kidding, nor am I nuts (well, at least I don’t think I’m nuts ~ it’s the rest of you who are all nuts! LOL!). About once a week I would make a large batch of brown rice, ground lamb or beef and lots and lots of vegetables ~ we would feed this to him three times a day, with about 1/8th of a cup of salmon oil poured on top (they sell salmon oil by the gallon at feed stores in Alaska). Jake loved it. After about 2 years, I really got tired of doing it, though. Sawyer was extremely active in baseball, which meant we were rarely home (baseball in Alaska is an all-consuming activity from late April all the way into September if your kid plays Little League, then Little League All-Stars, then Pony League). I wasn’t able to keep up with feeding my sons and husband, much less the dog! So we broke down and started feeding Jake store bought dog food. I did a lot of reading and investigation on what commercial dog food we should feed him. I figured since we paid for a dog with championship bloodlines, we should probably feed him correctly.

What I discovered while reading about what goes into most dog foods turned my stomach. I won’t go into details here, but it truly is repulsive what dog food manufacturers put into dog food. If you’re curious, you can read more about it here (caution: NOT for the weak of stomach). I read many, many books on pet care ~ three of my favorites are: #1) Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats; #2) The Nature of Animal Healing: The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat ; and #3) Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs: Small Doses for Small Animals.

After researching commercial dog foods, I almost despaired of ever finding a way to feed Jake without actually cooking his food myself. Then I found Solid Gold Pet Foods. Solid Gold only uses human grade foods in their products, and they make wonderful supplements as well. Amazingly enough, Solid Gold dog food wasn’t hard to find in Alaska; there were a couple of places within a 15 mile radius of our house on base that carried it. And compared to other commercial dog foods, the price really wasn’t that bad.

Jake thrived on Solid Gold dog food. I gave him some supplements (bone meal, etc.), and I continued to put a small dab of salmon oil in his food once or twice a day. Jake had a radiant coat ~ when he ran in the field across the street from our house, he looked like he was wet because his coat was so shiny. He never got sick, and he had more energy than he knew what to do with.

When we moved back to Arkansas, I looked everywhere for Solid Gold dog food. There are several large chain pet stores in the area ~ but not one of them carries Solid Gold, much less ever heard of it. I got onto the Solid Gold website, but I couldn’t find a single carrier in the entire state of Arkansas. The only way I was going to get Solid Gold dog food in Arkansas was to order it from the website, and pay a boat load for the shipping. That made it way too expensive ~ I could feed Jake steak every day for less than I could get Solid Gold dog food in Arkansas.

I wasn’t happy about it, but I had to look into alternatives to Solid Gold. I really don’t like the alternatives, but other than going back to cooking his food myself, there’s not a lot I can do. So, we feed Jake the best food we can, and I keep hoping we won’t be sorry about it when he’s old.

The dog food the guy with the Rhodesian Ridgeback had slung over his shoulder was a brand that was on the list of foods pulled off the market several months ago because an additive put into the food was killing dogs. The food we feed Jake wasn’t on that list thankfully.

So, while the Rhodesian Ridgeback owner may think the dog’s beautiful coat is because of the food he’s feeding him, I seriously doubt it. After reading about everything that goes into dog food, I just can’t see how that could be true. I think he just got lucky and got a dog who has a naturally shiny coat. Eventually the dog will probably lose his shiny coat (he’s only 18 months old right now); he may even get sick. I hope not ~ he really is a very pretty dog!

new words

Get this: ginormous is now a word. It’s in Webster’s newest dictionary. Saw it on the news ~ must be true!

edited: Webster’s added the verb "google" a year or so ago, so I guess the addition of ginormous shouldn’t surprise me. I wonder if they’ve added "wonky" yet…….

blessings manager

Tamara at Training Hearts has another cool idea on her blog. She created a Blessings Manager, and she’s sharing it freely with everyone. All you have to do is download it. Check it out here.

memoryworks express kits

I don’t normally do this ~ honestly, this is an extremely unusual post ~ but I really want to tell you about the monthly Express (scrapbooking) kits MemoryWorks offers. Even if you’re not a scrapbooker, keep reading, because these kits are fantastic, and they always contain an altered project as well as card making supplies along with some fantastic, new to the market, trendy scrapbooking materials (which don’t even have to be used for scrapbooking!).

(backstory) A couple of years ago, I signed up with a scrapbooking company because a friend of mine was a consultant. At the time, the company didn’t have any monthly or quarterly minimums, and their monthly scrapbooking kits weren’t excessively expensive. After about 2 years as a "consultant" (I never sold anything to anyone except myself ~ I just joined because I wanted the consultant discount) the company decided to institute monthly minimums in both sales and recruiting. I kept buying the monthly kits, and kept waiting for them to basically terminate my consultantship because I never sold and never recruited. The company went out of business before they could do that!

Somewhere along the way, I stumbled upon MemoryWorks. This company is very different from that first scrapbooking company ~ they carry top of the line scrapbooking products from companies like K&Co., BasicGrey, Autumn Leaves, Imagination Project, and 7Gypsies. Very new, trendy stuff that you’ll find in the specialized scrapbooking stores. I did some reading and investigation on MemoryWorks ~ it turns out that the company was started by a lady who was looking for a scrapbooking company that fit what she wanted instead of forcing her to do things the way the company wanted. She wanted a company that carried the newest products from the best scrapbooking companies, that didn’t cost an arm and a leg to sign up with, and that didn’t require monthly or quarterly minimums in sales or recruiting. She didn’t want an "upline" looking over her shoulder, and she didn’t want to have to depend on a "downline" in order to make some extra spending money and maintain her status as a consultant.  She couldn’t find that company ~ so she started it!

I loved the idea of getting a 20% discount on great scrapbooking products ~ which can also be used for all kinds of projects, not just scrapbooking ~ and the fact that MemoryWorks was founded on the idea of not having monthly or quarterly minimums to worry about. The only things MemoryWorks requires in order to be a consultant is A) you purchase a consultant kit, which costs about $45 including shipping, and B) you purchase $75 worth of product each year. Heck, any scrapbooker or papercrafter will tell you $75 a year is nothing, absolutely nothing!

I signed up with MemoryWorks as quickly as I could. Even though that other company was still in business at the time, and I was still considered a consultant for them, I knew MemoryWorks was the way to go for me. As sad as it may be for me to say, I honestly wasn’t surprised, or disappointed, when that other company went out of business.

Ok, now to the main point of this post: this past January MemoryWorks started a monthly scrapbooking kit club. Of course I signed up immediately. I love the idea of getting a package every month, especially when the package contains some incredibly beautiful paper and craft projects, the hottest, trendiest products on the market, AND is exceptionally reasonably priced. Here are a couple of pictures of what the kits look like:

The pictures really don’t do the kits justice. They look great, but they’re even better when you have one in your hand.

The purpose of this post was to introduce you to MemoryWorks and the MemoryWorks Express monthly kits. The reason I wrote this post is that I received my July kit today, and I’m completely thrilled with it. I just wanted to let everyone else know about it!

I’m saving my kits for a special project ~ I can’t tell you what it is because my family reads my blog, and I don’t want to give anything away (if that in itself isn’t giving something away!).

If you’re interested in MemoryWorks, there’s a link to their site in the left hand sidebar, under Links. Since I’m a MemoryWorks consultant, let me know if you would like to order something. I can order it for you and have it sent right to your home ~ and you can get a subscription to the MemoryWorks Express kits through me, too!

Ok, that’s the end of my "commercial" ~ really, my blog is not meant to be a commercial for any product or company. It’s a personal blog ~ I’m not trying to sell you on anything. I just thought that since these products are SO good, I should share the information with you.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program…………..

fearless (cfba book review & trish’s take)

Fearless by Robin Parrish

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

FEARLESS
(Bethany House, July 1, 2007)
by

Robin Parrish

Click here to read the CFBA introduction and Trish’s Take .

fearless (cfba book review & trish’s take)

Fearless by Robin Parrish

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

FEARLESS
(Bethany House, July 1, 2007)
by

Robin Parrish

Click here to read the CFBA introduction and Trish’s Take .

fruit of the spirit graphic response

The response from other bloggers regarding The Fruit of the Spirit graphic has just been amazing to me. Almost every one of the nominees has chosen to display the graphic on their blog. And every single blogger who has responded to my email letting them know they’ve been nominated has told me how humbled they are to have been nominated.

This graphic is such a work of God ~ encouraging others, spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. And I hope the readers of the blogs that display The Fruit of the Spirit graphic will continue to be encouraged by the fruit shown in written form.

I need more nominations for The Fruit of the Spirit graphic blogs. I haven’t run out yet, but this week I’ve already added 3 blogs to the list (I sent out emails to 10 bloggers this morning). Please send me your nominations ~ you’ll never really know how much you’re blessing that blogger by nominating their blog.

commenting made easy

I’ve taken the CAPTCHA feature off of comments ~ that means you won’t have to go through a second screen of filling in the little numbers and letters in order to have your comments posted. We’ll give it a try this way ~ I’ve been hesitant to do that because of all of the horror stories I’ve heard about comment spam and such. If I have any problems with that kind of thing, I’ll simply turn the CAPTCHA back on.

But for now, leaving a comment is a bit easier!

anniversary ~ maybe

18 years ago this Saturday (July 14, 1989), Roger and I were married at the chapel at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. My father, an Episcopal priest (now retired) performed our wedding ceremony.

The thing is, when my dad filled out the marriage certificate, he put the wrong date on it. He wrote July 15, 1989. So, the joke in our marriage has always been that maybe we’re not really married after all. Probably not something that seems like a joke to most people, but we’ve always chuckled about it and gone on with our day.

Roger has something planned for this Saturday, but he won’t tell me what it is. He has assured me that I am NOT getting the $19,ooo Yogo sapphire ring, or even a trip to Montana, so I might as well just forget about that! All he will tell me is that I’ll need to dress up. When he first said this, of course I had to grill him ~ does dress up mean I need to wear a cocktail dress, or just something like what I would wear to a nice dinner somewhere? He sighed, looked at me and said, "You just need to dress up a little bit." He knew the questions were my way of trying to drag more information out of him so I could figure out what it is he has planned! LOL (I really don’t like surprises ~ I used to peek at my presents under the Christmas tree just so I would be prepared for whatever was instore for me there……it’s only been the last 15 years or so that I haven’t peeked! And no, Roger, I really haven’t peeked in 15 years or so…..)

I’m sure whatever my husband has planned for our 18th anniversary will be wonderful. Now if I could just figure out what it is he has planned, and what gift I should give him…..

supreme court recognizes home schooling

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20070709/METRO/107090033&SearchID=73286641573236

This article says,

"While parents may have a fundamental right to decide whether to send their child to a public school, they do not have a fundamental right generally to direct how a public school teaches their child."

Hmmm ~ well, no wonder we decided to homeschool!

yogo sapphires

Growing up in Montana, I fell in love with Yogo sapphires. They’re mined only in Montana ~ and the mine shut down about 2 years ago. Which means ~ no more Yogo sapphires.

While blog hopping this morning, I ran across this blog: God Uses Broken Vessels. Angie is doing a tour of Montana, and she has been putting pictures of her tour on her blog. Her entry dated Sunday, July 8, 2007 has some pictures from Elling Gold Exchange, a jewelry store in Virginia City, Montana. One of the pictures is of an amazing Yogo sapphire ring.

Being as curious as I am, I gave Elling Gold Exchange a call. I asked for information about that ring. The gentleman I spoke with told me it’s a .93 carat Yogo sapphire with baguette diamonds on the sides, set in platinum. The setting is called a "fly by" setting because of the way the band curves around on either side of the center stone, holding it in place. He had me until he told me the price; $19,000. Oh, yes, you read that correctly ~ nineteen thousand dollars. Umm, just a bit out of my price range. Now, if he’d said nineteen hundred, I might be able to talk Roger into it ~ but nineteen thousand? No way.

Oh well. I asked the gentleman if they had a website ~ no luck there. So I asked him if he had any Yogos that I might actually be able to afford. He said he had been fortunate enough to purchase a few from some of the natives (small n, not capital N) who had small claims here and there ~ he has a couple of items he’s going to photograph and email to me.

I have always loved Yogo sapphires. They’re an amazing color ~ I have a very, very small (itty bitty is too big to describe it) Yogo in a ring setting, another ring with a half carat Yogo, and a pair of Yogo earrings. Since the mine shut down, they’re next to impossible to get ahold of ~ and when you do find them, they’re a bit on the expensive side. But I think they’re worth it ~ they’re prettier than other blue sapphires, they have a fire and sparkle to them that’s unique, and they’re from my beloved home state; I guess maybe I’m a little biased, but I think they’re the prettiest sapphires. Click on the link above to God Uses Broken Vessels and see for yourself ~ I’ll bet you fall in love with Yogo sapphires, too!

wedding belle blues (cfba review)

Wedding Bell Blues by Linda Windsor

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Wedding Bell Blues

(Avon Inspire 2007)

by

Linda Windsor

Click here to read more.

Fruitful Friday

I’m a little late in posting this ~ I apologize.
We had quite a few additions to The Fruit of the Spirit blogs this week. Be sure to visit them and leave a comment telling the blogger you visited!
A Pink Carnation In Bloom
Amy…Oh My!
Girlfriends in God
In the Grip of Grace
The Potter’s Hand
With Great Joy
Where My Treasures Are
I know there are a LOT more bloggers out there who would be so encouraged by being nominated to display this graphic. Please continue to send me your nominations ~ my email address is available towards the top of the left hand sidebar. I’m really looking forward to where God will take the graphic!

1 trip down, 2 to go

Patrick flew home from D.C. today. He’s exhausted, but I think he had a blast, and learned a lot.

Sawyer leaves for Canada on a mission trip this coming Friday. Wow. It’s coming up a lot more quickly than I thought it would.

After Sawyer gets home, Roger and the boys will take off for a quick trip up to Colorado. They’ll go by way of Missouri ~ Patrick wants to tour two colleges, Washington University at St. Louis and Drury University. I’m not exactly sure what their itinerary will be, but they’re hoping to tour both universities, visit Roger’s dad for a couple of days and visit Roger’s mom for a couple of days. I’m not going this time ~ it’s just too quick of a trip with too many days in the car for me. Which means….(hee hee hee) you guessed it ~ I’ll have another couple of days to hang out with just the dog!

fruitful friday (on saturday)

I’m a little late in posting this ~ I apologize.

We had quite a few additions to The Fruit of the Spirit blogs this week. Be sure to visit them and leave a comment telling the blogger you visited!

A Pink Carnation In Bloom

Amy…Oh My!

Girlfriends in God

In the Grip of Grace

The Potter’s Hand

With Great Joy

Where My Treasures Are

I know there are a LOT more bloggers out there who would be so encouraged by being nominated to display this graphic. Please continue to send me your nominations ~ my email address is available towards the top of the left hand sidebar. I’m really looking forward to where God will take the graphic!

sandcastles

My dad sent me these pictures of incredible sandcastles from a sculptor’s competition in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada ~ they’re thumbnails, so click on the image to see a larger version.

They made me think of the ice sculpture competition held every year during the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage, Alaska. I’ve been pining away for Alaska lately, so it’s not surprising that my mind jumped there.

These are amazing, especially considering they’re done completely in sand.

my blog rating

today’s doctor’s visit

My doctor’s visit this morning went well. He increased the dosage of the medication I take for neuropathy pain, and he gave me refills on a couple of other meds. Other than that, nothing new happened.

Nicole and I were almost late, because we were almost lost. I say "almost lost" because we weren’t really lost, we were just in the wrong building. The directions Nicole was given by the nurse, and the directions Roger printed out for me, weren’t very clear. The names on the streets didn’t match, and the nurse actually gave Nicole the name of the wrong building. But we figured it out eventually, and we were actually right on time for Nicole’s visit.

I was surprised by how quickly this morning’s visit went. Normally this particular doctor will run 30 to 45 minutes behind schedule. As I wrote yesterday, today’s visit was at an office that I had never been to before ~ this office is quite a bit farther away than the office I normally go to. My doc is the only doctor in the office I went to today ~ the office I normally go to is shared by my doc and about 8 or 10 other doctors. I’m not sure why he tends to run so far behind at the other office, or if today was just unusual and he normally runs behind at this office too. But whatever the case, it was really nice to see the doc at my actual appointment time and be in and out of there in 30 minutes (it would have been more like 15 minutes if I had been by myself, but I had to wait for Nicole to have her visit with the doc, too).

I have another appointment scheduled in 6 weeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to drag it out that long and not have to go in to see him again sooner.

counting my blessings

Hmmm, well….how much time do you have? Not enough, I’m sure. So, I’ll list the blessings that jump to my mind:

1. a wonderful husband who loves God, loves me, loves our sons
2. sons who love God, are growing in their faith every day, and who honor and obey their parents
3. my husband’s job, which has allowed me to stay home with our sons for over 15 years, provides the money for our needs, and allows us to do things like send one son to a LeadAmerica conference, the other son on a mission trip to Canada, and take a family vacation to Colorado all in the same summer
4. the understanding and grace of my family when it comes to my fibromyalgia
5. living in a country where rights and freedoms are guaranteed ~ especially the freedom of religion
6. a home which I absolutely love and is perfect for our family
7. our church family
8. spiritual mentors
9. friends ~ all over the world
10. homeschooling mentors
11. advancements in science and medicine
12. air conditioning
13. bread machines
14. new management at the commissary, ordering and stocking more organic foods
15. NHL Center Ice on DirecTV
16. TiVo
17. libraries and Christian book stores
18. household appliances (stove, diswasher, vacuum, etc.)

Ok, I know several of those last few items may seem a little strange or silly, but I truly am thankful for "silly" things like NHL Center Ice (see my post about hockey from last year), and I really do think TiVo is a blessing! (If you take into consideration my illness, and the fact that there are stretches of time (sometimes weeks at a time) where I get very very little sleep, you’ll understand why I’m thankful for TiVo. There’s absolutely nothing on TV at 4am!)

I don’t know how people actually survived before air conditioning; my life would be absolutely miserable without it. And bread machines? Well, my bread machine definitely makes life easier ~ I’m sure I could make bread the old fashioned way if I had to, but boy, I really do like just putting everything into the machine and letting it do all of the work! Someday I’m going to get my own grinder and start grinding my own wheat/grain flour…..

Anyway, although some of those items on my list may not seem like "blessings" to everyone, they are to me. And since this is my list of blessings…….well, there you are.

Have you counted your blessings lately? Make a list, whether it’s on a blog and public like mine, or a private list in a notebook or journal. But definintley make a list ~ you may be surprised at what jumps into your head while you’re writing it!

tomorrow

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with my pain management doctor. I’m meeting a friend for coffee first, then we’ll go to the doctor’s office together ~ she has fibromyalgia as well, and we see the same pain management doc. She and I live in the same town. Tomorrow we have to go to a different office than we usually do to see the doc because of the 4th of July holiday. He’s only in the office that’s close to us every other Wednesday ~ since the 4th was on Wednesday this year, he won’t be back to the closer office for another 2 weeks. So, we’re riding together to the office that’s quite a bit farther away tomorrow for our appointments.

Two posts I’m planning on working on tomorrow are Counting My Blessings (since Katie encouraged everyone to do this post) and my book review of Island Inferno.

I really should be sleepy now, since it’s past 11:30pm ~ I’m tired, but not sleepy enough to try to go to bed yet. I’m definitely too tired to think out reasonable posts right now, so I guess I’d better sign off!

island inferno (cfba & trish’s take)

Island Inferno by Chuck Holton

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

ISLAND INFERNOby
Chuck Holton

Click here to read the CFBA review and Trish’s Take of Island Inferno.

island inferno (cfba & trish’s take)

Island Inferno by Chuck Holton

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

ISLAND INFERNOby
Chuck Holton

Click here to read the CFBA review and Trish’s Take of Island Inferno.

at arlington national cemetery

This morning Patrick’s LeadAmerica group visited Arlington National Cemetery. Patrick called shortly after the group left Arlington to tell us about it. He said it was amazing. They watched the changing of the guard, visited the grave sites of several former US presidents, and were astounded and humbled by the number of headstones and memorials. Patrick said he took a lot of pictures ~ I don’t think he’ll have time to email them to me, but I’ll get everything off of his camera’s memory card after he returns home Saturday.

After leaving Arlington, the group went to the Pentagon City Mall to hang out for a while. Later they’ll head back to the campus for some simulations on how to handle a press conference. After dinner they’ll load up on the buses again and head to The National Mall to watch the 4th of July fireworks display.

training hearts pledge

We are a Christian family desiring to raise our children with the primary focus of training their hearts.

I have no greater joy, than to hear my children walk in truth ~ 2John 1:4

Train up the child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! ~ Deuteronomy 5:29

In speaking with other parents about this subject, which is very near and dear to every parent’s heart, the main book I recommend regarding raising godly children is Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. Actually, other than the Bible, it’s the only book I can fully recommend. There are other books that focus on a child’s heart ~ not just their behavior ~ but the one I have found to be the best and most Scripturally accurate is Shepherding a Child’s Heart. If you haven’t read it, please check your local library, or click here to purchase the book from Amazon.com.

win a blog

Tamara at Training Hearts is having a blog giveaway. Yep, that’s right ~ she’s giving away a fully designed blog! The domain name is Friendship Alley. You can see an example of the blog design here.

The central focus of the blog Tamara is going to give away is friendship. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times" and Proverbs 18:24 says, "there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." That’s the kind of friend I desire to be ~ and the kind of friends I desire to have!

So, if you would like to be entered into the drawing for the free blog, click on over to Tamara’s site ~ you can enter here.

congressional appointments & motivational speeches

Patrick called me several times yesterday. The first time was in the morning to tell me his LeadAmerica conference class was going to Capitol Hill, and he had 3 Congressional appointments.

The second time he called was to tell me about the Congressional appointments ~ he didn’t meet any of Arkansas’s representatives because of the 4th of July holiday (they’re all back here in Arkansas rather than in D.C.). The most enjoyable appointment yesterday was with one of Senator Mark Pryor’s staffers. The young man was from this area, and he and Patrick had several things in common.

The third time Patrick called, he told me two main things: 1) that the speech given by Chris Salamone, the founder and CEO of LeadAmerica, was probably the best speech he’s ever heard, and he’ll never need a motivational speech again, and 2) he ripped his suit pants on a bolt sticking out from a chair he was sitting in. He said Roger won’t ever have to give him the "attention to detail, Patrick; situational awareness, Patrick" speech again (and you should hear him imitate Roger’s voice ~ it sounds more like an imitation someone would do of God’s voice than Roger’s~ LOL). The suit pants he ripped were the pair he had already worn a couple of times, and he was planning on wearing the other suit he has with him to any other functions requiring professional dress anyway. He said the bolt caught the outside seam on the leg, just under where his suit jacked meets the pants, and it should be easy enough to sew up (if only he had a sewing kit, and actually knew how to sew!)

Today’s schedule includes a visit to the US Naval Academy, a group photo, and several more leadership exercises, as well as a lecture and a simulation briefing.

I chuckled when Patrick told me about the air conditioner in his dorm room there. It’s an air conditioner/dehumidifier combination. He and his roommate have to take the collection canister out of it a couple of times a day and dump it out. Patrick said they’re dumping out at least 2 gallons of water a day from the thing because it’s so humid in D.C.!

congressional appointments & motivational speeches

Patrick called me several times yesterday. The first time was in the morning to tell me his LeadAmerica conference class was going to Capitol Hill, and he had 3 Congressional appointments.

The second time he called was to tell me about the Congressional appointments ~ he didn’t meet any of Arkansas’s representatives because of the 4th of July holiday (they’re all back here in Arkansas rather than in D.C.). The most enjoyable appointment yesterday was with one of Senator Mark Pryor’s staffers. The young man was from this area, and he and Patrick had several things in common.

The third time Patrick called, he told me two main things: 1) that the speech given by Chris Salamone, the founder and CEO of LeadAmerica, was probably the best speech he’s ever heard, and he’ll never need a motivational speech again, and 2) he ripped his suit pants on a bolt sticking out from a chair he was sitting in. He said Roger won’t ever have to give him the "attention to detail, Patrick; situational awareness, Patrick" speech again (and you should hear him imitate Roger’s voice ~ it sounds more like an imitation someone would do of God’s voice than Roger’s~ LOL). The suit pants he ripped were the pair he had already worn a couple of times, and he was planning on wearing the other suit he has with him to any other functions requiring professional dress anyway. He said the bolt caught the outside seam on the leg, just under where his suit jacked meets the pants, and it should be easy enough to sew up (if only he had a sewing kit, and actually knew how to sew!)

Today’s schedule includes a visit to the US Naval Academy, a group photo, and several more leadership exercises, as well as a lecture and a simulation briefing.

I chuckled when Patrick told me about the air conditioner in his dorm room there. It’s an air conditioner/dehumidifier combination. He and his roommate have to take the collection canister out of it a couple of times a day and dump it out. Patrick said they’re dumping out at least 2 gallons of water a day from the thing because it’s so humid in D.C.!

training hearts pledge

We are a Christian family desiring to raise our children with the primary focus of training their hearts.

I have no greater joy, than to hear my children walk in truth ~ 2John 1:4
Train up the child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! ~ Deuteronomy 5:29

In speaking with other parents about this subject, which is very near and dear to every parent’s heart, the main book I recommend regarding raising godly children is Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. Actually, other than the Bible, it’s the only book I can fully recommend. There are other books that focus on a child’s heart ~ not just their behavior ~ but the one I have found to be the best and most Scripturally accurate is Shepherding a Child’s Heart. If you haven’t read it, please check your local library, or click here to purchase the book from Amazon.com.

If you would like to join me in making this pledge, click here to go to Training Hearts.

home is where the af sends you

When we lived in Alaska, there was a very talented lady who lived a few doors down from us. Her name is Stephanie Rarick, and she does all kinds of crafts ~ her scrapbook pages have been in countless magazines, and she has sold her wood crafts (mostly painted signs, Christmasy stuff) to people all over the world.

Just about every military person I know, no matter what branch or status as active duty, dependent, spouse, retired, Guard, Reserve, etc., either owns or has seen the "Home is where the (insert your military branch here) sends you" plaques. Stephanie makes these plaques, only hers are the prettiest and most detailed I’ve ever seen. Her plaques are in the shape of a house, with little miniature houses hanging below that detail where you have lived while in the military.

Her houses come in a variety of colors and color combinations, and she will personalize them for you. She made one for us just before we left Alaska ~ the detail is incredible. You have to see it in person to really appreciate it, but here are a couple of pictures to give you the general idea (click on the picture to see a larger version).

 

The shingles on the roof and the bricks on the face of the house actually have texture; the window boxes are full of cheerily colored flowers; the little heart next to the door has our name on it (which I Photo Shopped out so I could post the close-up picture), with an "est. 1989" below it; Stephanie even added shutters and drapes to the windows. She gave us 4 extra little houses to have personalized with the names of the bases if we move again.

I was emailing with another military wife yesterday ~ one of The Fruit of the Spirit graphic displayers ~ who is stationed overseas with her husband and 3 children. Her blog is lovely, and reading it has really encouraged me in the area of being content. I’ve always been told by other, more experienced military wives to "bloom where you’re planted." When I was younger, with two little kids who I was homeschooling, a husband who was often TDY for weeks or months at a time, living in an area of the country I did NOT want to live in, feeling isolated and alone, it was very easy to wallow in a self-pity party. I would lament over how hard it was for me, how I hated the heat and humidity, how I shouldn’t have to raise my children on my own since I DID have a husband, how it wasn’t fair that I didn’t have anyone to help me, etc., etc. Really ~ there were times when the self-pity party went on for weeks and weeks.

One day, though, it finally dawned on me. All of those things were true, but the circumstances of my life weren’t the problem; my attitude was. As I began to thank God for my circumstances ~ for 2 healthy children I had been given the privilege of homeschooling, for a husband who loved me, for my husband’s job that allowed me the opportunity to stay home with my children, for the home God had provided, the food He put on our table, for a friendly neighbor who was willing to help out by watching my kids for a couple of hours whenever I needed to go shopping or just get out of the house, and for several people He had placed in my life as spiritual and homeschooling mentors ~ I realized that I was exactly where God wanted me to be.

The plaque that hangs on my wall, with the names of every base we’ve been to, reminds me on a daily basis that while "Home is where the Air Force sends you," God is the One Who is ultimately in control. The military sends us where God wants us, and God wants us wherever the military sends us.

It would have been SO easy for me to dredge up the pity party when we found out we had to leave Alaska to go back to Arkansas. Honestly, the heat and humidity in Arkansas are NOT my favorite things. I didn’t want to leave Alaska ~ we love the mountains, rivers and lakes, the 22 hours of daylight in the summer, the temperate summer weather, the fluffy snow, the amazing Northern Lights, all the wildlife, the king salmon fishing in the spring, the multitude of outdoor activities in both the summer and the winter, the smell of the fresh air and fresh-fallen snow, and did I mention the breathtaking mountains ? (Oh, yeah, I guess I did.) We have friends there who we consider family, and leaving them was the hardest part. The pity party was just dying to rear its ugly little head.

But Roger and I both knew in our hearts that God has a plan for us, and that part of His plan was that we move back to Arkansas. That’s what the plaque reminds me of every single day. I placed it in a very prominent, visible place in our home in Arkansas for that very reason. To remind me that no matter where the AF sends us, God has a purpose for us there. It’s my daily reminder to bloom where I’m planted, because where I’m planted is exactly where God wants me to bloom.

the burn pile

Ok, this is just wrong. Here’s a picture of the burn pile in our backyard (it’s a thumbnail, so if you want to see a larger version, just click on it):

Notice how hearty, healthy and green the WEEDS are as they grow in our burn pile! LOL That’s just wrong……

We’ve had so much rain lately that our lawn is actually green this year instead of a yellowish brown ~ we usually have to water, water, water just to keep the grass alive. But this year it’s looking pretty good so far.

director of the fbi

Patrick has been elected Director of the FBI. Well, he was elected director by the other kids in his group at the LeadAmerica conference, anyway.

The LeadAmerica conference Patrick is attending is on intelligence, defense and national security. For the purposes of exercises and simulations, the kids have been broken up into different groups, and each group has a different function within the intelligence, defense and national security communities. Patrick’s group was given the assignment of performing the function of the FBI during the simulations; the group is a total of about a dozen kids ~ they needed a "director," and they elected Patrick to fulfill that duty.

As far as I can tell, he’s having a really good time. He said his group has followed up on investigating 2 car bombings, has prevented an additional car bombing, and has worked on several other issues within their role as FBI. They’re having to work with other kids/groups, which means they’re learning communication skills as well as leadership skills. Patrick said the simulations have been awesome ~ really realistic ~ and that he looks forward to the exercises and simulations every day.

Over the weekend they did a lot of sight seeing, and today they are attending Congressional appointments. I spoke to one of Senator Blanche Lincoln’s aides this morning (on a totally unrelated topic) ~ Senator Lincoln is here in our state, not in D.C. this week, so Patrick won’t be able to meet her. He may be able to meet Mark Pryor if he’s still in D.C. I’m sure Patrick will call me this evening and tell me about who he met and talked with today.

Last night Patrick called to ask if it was ok to steam iron his suits ~ the tags read "Dry Clean Only." Poor kid ~ he’s stuck in a suit and tie all day again. He’s thrilled to be playing Director of the FBI, since the FBI is actually one of his career considerations. I suppose if he really does end up in the FBI, he may be wearing suits a lot, so the experience of having to wear them is good for him!

it’s monday again

i’m an amethyst

Interesting ~ amethyst is also my birthstone……..

Your Gemstone is Amethyst

Dignified, impressive, and wise. You have a deeply spiritual soul

What Gemstone Are You?

what’s in a name?

What Trish Means

T is for Talented R is for Romantic I is for Innocent S is for Spectacular H is for Honorable

What Does Your Name Mean?

Hmmm, well ~ let’s try my full name……

What Patricia Means

P is for Powerful A is for Active T is for Terrific R is for Romantic I is for Impassioned C is for Complex I is for Intelligent A is for Amazing

What Does Your Name

Interesting……..

coral moon (first post)

It is JULY 1st, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book’s FIRST chapter!

This month’s feature is: