The Long Wait and the Train Ride

My train for Washington was scheduled to leave from Chicago's Union Station at 2:15pm on Saturday, the 27th of December. So, DH and I went into Chicago on the "L" from our hotel (see previous post), ate lunch at the station, then went to my gate only to find out that there was a delay on the train, and we didn't know how long it was. What started out as a 45 minute wait became 6 hours. DH waited as long as he could as he had to catch his train back to where we parked the car at Cumberland to get back home in time for dinner as Grandpa and Grandma were watching the girls for us overnight.
I waited and waited some more with very little encouraging news from Amtrak.
Finally at about 6:00 they announced that our train was here, the whoops and applause was great. We waited in line for another hour and finally at 7:45 our train pulled out of the station. I have never waited that long at a train station before but I guess I would rather wait at the beginning of the trip at the station than somewhere along the line stuck somewhere.
I finally made it in to my destination at 1:05 pm today (Monday, the 29th) 7.5 hours late.

A Night in Chicago

On Saturday I was scheduled to leave for the West C0ast for my brother's wedding, so on Friday, my husband took me into Chicago for the night.
We stayed on the outskirts and took the CTA, otherwise known as the "L" into downtown and went to our new favorite restaurant --The Cheesecake Factory -- that sits under the well known landmark --The John Hancock Building.
After dinner we walked along the famous "Magnificant Mile" or Michigan Ave. It is a high end shopping district and is home to stores such as Tiffany and Co., Nordstrom, Apple, and American Girl Place, to Millenium Park and watached the ice skaters at the new outdoor ice skating rink. Then we walked around the park.
Unfortunately it was Winter so it was dark, so we weren't really able to see much except for the lights on the "crown fountain" and the "cloud gate" otherwise known as the giant bean. That is a place that I would love to go back to in the Spring when all the flowers are in bloom and the fountain is actually on.
We then caught our train back to our hotel.

A Night in Chicago

promised pictures

I know it is hard to see the colors exactly, but I had 5 different colors of beads, all pastel colors, that they could choose from along with silver colored metal beads. They each picked out a charm, a heart, daisy, butterfly, etc... , and put it together to suit their personal tastes. I then showed them how to crimp the clasps on.

Clockwise from left to right:

picture number 1 is the younger girls, Bethany, Melanie, Emma, and Brianna, displaying their work. They made theirs on elastic strings so as to make it easier to get on and off for someone as young as 4 1/2.

picture number 2 is two sisters, Megan and Rachel, comparing their handiwork. One is elastic and the other is wire.

picture number 3 is 5 of the older girls,Allie, Morgan, Lindsay, Hallie, and Shelby, wearing their pieces. It is always fun to wear what you did yourself.

picture number 4 is two of the girls, Chandra and Jessica, from the older group showing off their

Girls night out.

As some know, I am developing a new hobby. It is jewelry making. I hope to one day sell it as I love to make it. It is such a stress release. You might ask "how much stress can a stay at home mom have?" You would probably be very surprised. We have not only our schooling to do, but a house to attempt to keep neat as well as cooking and the other household duties to maintain as well.

I recently had the priviledge of having 13 girls between the ages of 5 - 15 in my home (including my two), on December 4th for a bracelet making workshop. I prepared the beads, stations, etc.... ahead of time to make it run smoothly. I was nervous as it is the first time that I had attempted something like this. I loved listening to the girl talk around the table as they were trying to compare thier handy work.

I made a snack called brownie lollipops and those went over like marshmallows in a smore's. I think it became quite the snack and I plan on giving out a couple copies of the recipe as well as making them again sometime.

Thanks to Kristie for taking some pictures which I will post as soon as she e mails me them over. I plan on doing it again in the Spring. Maybe we will try something more ambitious, such as a necklace.

Funny Vacation Story

As most of my readers know, I have three little girls. We went to Michigan for Thanksgiving to spend it with Grandpa and Grandma. Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Anouk went as well.
One evening my two 5 year olds were upstairs in the old house talking to Uncle Jeremy. They happened to glance at the book he was reading. They told him the man on the cover of the book was John Calvin (one of the early Reformers). Jeremy turned his book over and surprisingly said, "yes it is, how did you know that"? To that they replied, "My daddy has that book, and we can't read it yet, but we will someday. Brianna will borrow daddy's and I will borrow yours."

A couple of days later, Grandpa and Grandma took the same two children to see Christmas lights. One of the displays had Santa and his reindeer. She asked them if they knew who it was. They had no idea who Santa is.

So my kids know who John Calvin is and not Santa Claus at age 5. Imagine that!!

Life is good

Well, lots of wonderful things have happened.
I have lost 32 pounds and bought a size 12 jean a couple of weeks ago, we got new carpet ( I guess I can't say new as we did not have carpet before), and my husband got the John Calvin commentary set half off. I have discovered the joys of the Whole Foods Market with its cashew butter and pumpkin and flax seed granola cereal. I just wish the closest one was not 51 miles and the prices were a little lower.

New Era

Well, a new era has dawned in America. I grieve for the masses who went into this wanting so much to have a change that they really have no idea what they have truly voted for. I grieved as I watched the mezmerized masses in Grant Park in Chicago as their "messiah" graced their presence. America was a "shining city on a hill" to quote Reagan. We were the beacon of hope to the world, now I fear that that the beacon's light has gone out we will become just like all the rest.
I do thank my God for his Sovereignty and we as Christians can go into this knowing that He is our Messiah and He is in control and has not left His throne. He didn't wring His hands in heaven last night wondering what would happen in America. He knew from before the world began which brings comfort and peace to me in these turbulant times.
I will be praying for President Bush as he finishes his term as president and I will be praying for President Obama as he begins his term and that God will give him the wisdom to govern our great land and that God will have mercy on our country and still allow us to shine brightly to the world.

Ode to my country as I know it.

It is the eve (or should I say early morning of) an all important election that will decide the future of our great country.
Are we a country that truly wants "change we can believe in" or what we know -- "the straight talk express." In less than 24 hours we should know what the future of our country will be.
I love my country and I feel truly blessed to have been born in what I believe to be the greatest country on earth. As I sit here, I pray for the future of it. I pray for the future of the unborn, the future of the elderly, the future of our marriages, and the future of my money.
What Senator Barack Obama wants and sees as his America is one where there will be many more people dependent on the government to solve their problems. A wonderful utopia where there are no classes and bread is given to the masses. It is a Socialist society that has been proven not to work in Europe. Where will the Canadians go for health care if we socialize ours? Hmm, that is an interesting question. If he cannot even solve the problems in Illinois, how can we expect him to solve the problems in the whole country. Sure, he is articulate and can mezmerize you and bring in the masses and the money, but can he and his policies protect you from a terrorist attack? Can his beliefs that the Constitution is wrong and the Justices of the Supreme Court should not govern by the Constitution, but should be able to do what they want from the bench satisfy you. What about his friends --Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, and the other shady characters in his past? Shouldn't those concern you?
John McCain, though not a perfect person either, has a proven record, though I don't agree with all his past accomplishments in the Senate. He has protected life, whether it be unborn or whether it be aged. He has personally fought and suffered for our country more than an average person will ever know. The battle scars that he bears for us -- all Americans -- are true to the sacrifices he has made for his beloved country. He has always been a proponent of tax cuts and lowering taxes for EVERYONE and not handing people something that they have not worked for.
If you don't pay taxes, you should not get money from those who do. The harder you work for your money, the more money you deserve. If you read this and are an American citizen who will be voting later, I plead with you to THINK before you vote. I ask you to check the record of each person on the ballot. It takes more than fancy speech to run a country. Hitler was articulate and mezmerizing and look what happened in Germany. Consider your choices wisely. Voting is a priviledge and should not be taken lightly.
Not only do I ask you to vote for the future of the free market economy and the future of the unborn, but think of your own children and grandchildren. Do you want to leave them with a welfare state with a Socialist mindset? Or would you rather leave them with a prosperous Capitalistic country that is successful and ready for the future?

The prodigal has returned

Wow, it has been quite some time since I have posted on my blog. So many things have happened. One of my friends has remarried, we have journeyed our "long distance" trip to the Wisconsin Dells for our annual Fall vacation, and we have had an eventful evening of Trick or Treating fun -- and not so much fun as spraining my ankle and falling on my face in front of others. As my friend Robin would say" Welcome to the dorks anonymous club". Our sidewalks are not known to be the greatest.
I hope I did not chase any readers away in my long absence.

From the mouths of babes...

Here is a funny thing that one of my kids said today.

I was going through their math book and saw that they are having a "test" tomorrow. When I was doing the pre-day planning this afternoon, I said, "Ok, they have a test tomorrow". One of my girls said "Mom, will the test hurt?"
Wait until they get to college, then they will truly understand the "pain" of a test.

I thought that spoke for itself.
One of the girls has allergy tests a couple of weeks ago, which is drawing blood, so in their little minds, tests hurt.

Well, we started school last week and it seems to be going well. There are times that I feel as though I want to tear all my hair out trying to teach 2 5 year olds how to write certain numbers and letters. It can be somewhat difficult.
So far I think they might be learning something. It seems as though each day their letter and number writing does get a little bit easier.
First time homeschool mom and first time schoolers can be somewhat interesting. My degree is not for this age group and there is a reason for that, but the teaching aspect is the same none the less.
I did realize that I forgot to take a picture of their first day. I cannot believe that I did, but I did. My husband cannot believe that I forgot either.

We'll see how this year goes as to whether or not it has been a success.

Go Sarah Go

Here is my two cents.

I was not sure about John McCain. He appeared to be the better of two bads initially. I personally thought my candidate of choice (Mitt Romney) was better back in February. Maybe he still would have been in certain areas of leadership.
I became more convinced that John McCain was the person that he claimed to be when he was interviewed by Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in California. I thought he gave the better answers. He was clear and concise and shared his view points on certain important issues to Conservatives, such as myself.
I had decided at that point that I was going to vote for him and of course hoping that he would choose a good Conservative running mate and not do his "maverick" thing of choosing someone who would help gain those more moderate voters who would probably vote Democrat anyway (like Joe Lieberman for example) --though he did give a good speech at the RNC convention last week.
I certainly did not expect who John McCain did pick to be his running mate. I had heard her name once or twice thrown around on Conservative talk shows, but she was not on the short list for them.
After hearing Sarah speak, I am convinced that she can do the job. I am also convinced by some of her testimony as shared by the pastor of her church (that she grew up in and attends when she is at home in Wasilla, AK) that she is a woman who is trying to follow God's direction in her life -- though she has made mistakes as have we all.
John McCain not only did meet expectations, but he did far better. He did choose a Maverick like himself -- in Sarah Palin.

Sorry, more politics. It is in my blood, what can I say?

I am glad that both party conventions are over and we can move on to the real stuff -- the debates and negative campaigning (just kidding on the last one).

I think all of our (the Republicans, duh) speeches were just "too hot for the Dems to handle". I am not a HUGE McCain fan, but his choice of Sarah Palin for VP was just over the top for me. By choosing her he has shown a choice for Conservative values and after hearing both speeches the past couple of days, I love the reform idea. We do need LOTS of reform in the Congress and the White House.

Happy 9 weeks until the elections.

New McCain campaign slogan

For those of you who hate politics, this post is not for you.
I, personally, like it to a point. By November, I will be ready to get the election behind me as the negativity and ads will get to me by then.
You also know that I am a Republican by choice. My first allegience is to God and those things that are Biblically sound -- such as pro life and pro marriage between one male and one female. My pocketbook comes in also as I do not like to pay high taxes and I am in one of the highest taxed states here. I also like to choose my own healthcare program and do not need the government telling me that I can't own a gun. That is usually the political party that stands behind all of those things. I also have to vote my conscience in what I believe that would best honor God.

I am also not an Obama kool-aid drinker. He believes in nothing more than a Communist Utopia. He wants everyone equal even though he owns a multi million dollar home that he had to have help buying. He wants higher taxes for what he calls the rich (if you make over 150,000 --does that include himself and many of his colleauges in Congress). Apparently in his lack of experience he fails to realize that it is the rich who pay the most taxes in this country.
He is also very extreme in his abortion beliefs -- abortion after the baby is born by letting it die.
He has no experience and has done nothing for the state of Illinois. There is no such thing as the Land of Lincoln.
Because of the Republican party he can stand where he stands today as a presidential candidate. It was the Republican party under the great Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves in 1862 and 1863.

After hearing Hillary's speech last night. I got all fired up. Here is the new campaign slogan.
NO WAY, NO HOW, NO BAMA. Go McCain. Never thought I would hear myself say that one. I want the bumper sticker.

New Lifestyle

As some of you know (okay, maybe only one), I have been trying to figure out for the past few weeks what was causing the eczema and coughing of one of my children. A friend suggested that it could be allergies (I had never thought of that) and she suggested that I take her off of milk for a couple of weeks and see what happens. She left me with a couple pints of rice milk to try.

Lo and behold, suddenly my child does not cough all night, something that she has not done in several weeks. Her coughing had kept us all up for nights on end and it was nice to finally get a night sleep. For almost two weeks this went on and when I would allow her to indulge in cheese, ice cream etc... she would then cough at night. Her eczema started clearing up also.

Things then got out of control after we re-introduced dairy and I did not know what to do next so I called the doctor and he suggested the blood test.
We finally had a blood test last Friday and we found out that sure enough, she is allergic to milk and egg whites. Now life will get easier for us as now we know what not to give her. It is a mild allergy, so having either of those two items will not kill her, but she will just get the uncomfort that comes with it. It does not mean that she cannot have ice cream with Grandma, but it means that if sherbet or sorbet is an option, she should have that instead.

The egg whites is going to be a little harder to do as there are eggs in a lot of things. There will be some lifestyle changes that will need to be made feeding my allergic child and I may need some guidance on that one.

Update on the Update.

We finally got the infamous car home. He picked it up on Saturday morning and got it as far as a mechanic about half way to the house from the dealership.
He looked at it over Monday and found it to only be a cadyllic converter flush was needed (that dumb eco friendly unnecessary part anyway). Cost us a measly $58.00. Thankfully, after my husband talked them down at the dealership $200 on the price of the car and we still came out ahead.
Now that the car runs well, and my husband made it the 25 miles one way to work, we priced it on Kelley Blue Book and it is valued over twice what we paid.
I definitely think that car dealership knew it had a problem and didn't want to fix it and wanted it off their lot. They could have made a lot more on it if they would have just fixed it up. How much more time, effort, and money would that have truly taken. And, they would have made their customers happy and kept their reputation in tact.
If it lasts a few months, or even a year, this hassle will be but a happy memory as we tootle along in our new van-- that hopefully won't be a hassle as this little car was.
If I could drive it, I would show it off to my two readers, but since it is a manual transmission, I have to just look at it from a distance (until my husband has the patience to put up with me behind the wheel so I can practice on it).

Update on car

As I said in the previous post, I HATE buying a car.
We went to bring the car home on Wednesday and it still would not run as expected. I know it is a 4 cylinder 5 speed manual, but it is supposed to go over 35 mph. It shuddered and made a funny hissing noise, which he said was not there before (he probably had the "great" stereo so loud that he didn't notice). We have spent so much time and gas going to and from this dealership that we just want to be done with it.
We are hoping now that either a good hearted dealership manager (who is obviously crooked) or the threat of bad publicity will get him to reconsider the previous "no" to taking the car back completely and letting us walk away from it as though no sale ever occurred.
If we do have to bring the car home, the newspapers, news medias, and better business bureau (that one will find out anyway) will know about as well as all of our friends.
My husband told the sales person that the car should not have even been on the lot and the sales person agreed and said that he should not have sold it to him. I know that we cannot trust that particular dealership (of which I will mention if we do not get this resolved our way--customer is always right?) to buy a car from them in the future.
There are so many more reputable dearlerships that we can buy from and take our business to those places.

A Car Story

One thing I despise is shopping for cars. I don't like dealing with the dealers, used car issues, and all that goes with it. I have never owned a brand new car and I probably never will. I would be happy with horse and buggy and just feeding the horse and oiling the buggy (not really but sometimes it sounds cheaper and easier -- the Amish have it made when it comes to gas and hassles).

My husband has a 1994 Saturn that we both just really like, but it has started having some major problems of late. It has started making very loud (okay, has been making loud noises for a long time now) noises and running very rough. He took the car in to a shop and they told him that he needs the water pump and some other thing replaced. Well, one of those two items is going to cost too much more than it was worth for us, so on Saturday we decided to put it up for sale (it will appear on Craig's list soon) and look around for something to replace it. Hopefully we can find someone who knows what they are doing and can fix it themselves. To make a long story a little shorter, he found something he really liked (he kept raving about the stereo -- he likes that loud). He ended up buying a 5 speed Kia Sephia. Well, he did not even make it home. A little over half way from the dealership his clutch went out.

Thankfully the dealer was willing to work with him and told him that he basically had two options (because he had signed on the dotted line for a car that is "as is"), those were: they would pay for half of the repair work and we pay the other half; or we can use the full amount of what we payed for the car as a down payment on something else on the lot. We thought the deal was more than fair. They could have said, "too bad, so sad, your loss".

We tried the second option first and a couple of things looked appealing (one being a cadillac catera --never thought I would like a cadillac, and a camero --gas hog). He test drove another Saturn, but the price said it all. There was so much wrong with it that it would not have been worth it. We were just not comfortable with anything from that lot, so we will just be paying for the repairs on his little car and bringing it home (hopefully it will make it this time).

What we have decided to do is this:
1. sell the Saturn SL1 (anyone like cars and knows how to fix them by themselves enjoy) and apply to payment of Kia.
2. sell the old Oldsmobile that is rotting in the garage and apply to payment of Kia.
--meanwhile making a couple of extra payments on it to get it paid off sooner.
3. sell minivan -- Pontiac Montana -- and replace it with newer model (if we are going to have payments, we might as well have payments on our family vehicle.
4. Money from van, go towards down payment (or full payment) of new car for husband. Then of course, sell Kia and apply towards one of the two "new" cars.
We just figured that this was the wiser choice. It is amazing when the options have been considered through prayer, peace is found.
Hopefully all this will all go through in the next few months as I would LOVE to drive a new van to Disney World in the Spring.
Anyone want to buy a Saturn? okay, how about a 1978 Oldsmobile? no? Okay, how about a Pontiac Montana, loaded?

Swimsuits (girls only)

I was checking out swimsuits online and after a discussion about them with some other ladies, a website was brought to my attention. I will post it later in this entry.
I am trying hard to be an example of modesty to my girls. I am trying to teach them by my own actions and clothing what is modest. They are quick to point out other ladies' immodesty with pointed fingers and have to be reminded that we are not to judge other people, but only concentrate on what we wear to be honoring to God.
I am looking for a new 2 piece swimsuit --don't worry, I am not going to show my fat belly to the world. It is a tankini, not a bikini. The top that I ordered is a little lower than it appeared in the pictures on the store website so I am debating of sending it back and getting a different one or keeping it and trying the style on me. I am going to let my husband be the judge to see if he would be comfortable with me wearing it in public.
This has always been a hard spot for me because of my Independent Fundamental Baptist (you might as well call it Amish) background. Sometimes the rebellious roots come out in my new found liberation from the legalistic oppression and I could not resist. Our shirts could not be lower than 4 fingers from the base of the neck (which is not a bad standard to have -- but extremely hard to find in this day and age). We also wore coulottes ( I have seen them illustrated extremely as "sugar britches" --Ann Marie posted about those a couple of months back) that had to be 36 inches around each leg. Here is where the double standard falls. Why did it matter what a girls' swimsuit looks like if we were not to "mix bathe"? Of course, I never went mixed "bathing" until I was married. Do they mean mixed swimming? If it was all girls, why was skinny dipping not okay? If there is any lusting going on with all girls, then there are other issues that need to be addressed.
Anyway, to the subject in point. A friend of mine mentioned the burquini (for the modern muslim woman), which is not bad, but a little extreme for me. Definitely hides all those flaws, flab, and cellulite though.
One that really got my attention is the Fundamental Baptist Swimwear . (this is the title that I gave it) If you type Amish swimwear in the subject line this is what comes up. Too funny, actually sad to think that parents would put their kids in these and that full grown adult women would actually wear them. I loved the line in one of the blogs that said that the husbands can pick out swim clothes for their wives that would be modest. Of course you know that in that culture, the woman has no say anyway.
Another line said (this one was against the swimwear) that there is nothing about what was modest for men to wear (what about women against speedos, yuck!) What about suits for the modest man (gunnysacks and burlap bag clothes lines). I think women should start selling modest swimsuits for men.
One of the comments used the verse Deuteronomy 22:5 Read the comment for yourself. I can't tell you how many times I heard that verse has been taken out of context and construed to make it say what the person in the pulpit wanted it to say.
My husband and I jsut had a discussion about this verse last night. We have come to the conclusion that it is referring to cross dressers and others who get their jollys by looking like the opposite sex. Our conclusion is backed up by people like R.C. Sproul who says in his notes in the Reformation Study Bible (ESV)that verse should be translated as people who wear the clothes of the opposite sex for religious purposes, such as bestiality and homosexuality. It was meant for the culture of the time. John MacArthur says in his study Bible that it was referring to cross dressers and transvestites.
Oh wait, did I say NKJV and ESV? It is the version that is my problem. I didn't use the KJV. Oh, oops that is for another post.

Our library, like most libraries, had a summer reading program.
For every 5 books they read (or in their case, I read to them), they got a prize. There were sports drinking bottles, balls, blowup balls, stickers, coupons for fun stuff like pizza and ice cream, etc... . My kids reached every prize and then some. You got a total of 30 books which resulted in 6 prizes plus the invitation to Magic Waters water park for the program finishers party.
That was held on Friday, August 8th. We decided to go and a good time was had by all. Initially my plan was to keep the baby home and just let Daddy take the other two so I didn't have to show myself in my pesky swimsuit. I will use any excuse to not have to use that thing. I ordered a new one, but until that one comes, I have this other one.
Anyway, Brookelyn (the baby) "earned" her tickets too, so we decided that she would probably enjoy the evening as well. So all 5 of us made our way to the waterpark, while I was trying to figure out how to work it so that I can keep my cover-up on.
Then I thought "okay, I am going, I will just stay in my swimsuit cover-up and just stay with Brookelyn and he can take them to the slides." I looked around and saw people that are bigger than me and decided "what is the big deal. No one is looking at me anyway. I have looked worse at the Dells before" and decided to go ahead and go with them. My husband offered to keep Brookelyn for the first part and I took them on some of the slides, then he took them in the lazy river and I took Brookelyn on a tube as well.
We ended up on the big slides with the girls not wanting to leave, slowly trying bigger slides throughout the night. I kept telling them that "this is the last one". And they would go down and ask for one more time.
Finally at about 8:45 and it was starting to get chilly, we did call it a night.
Thank you public library for a great party. My 5 year olds loved it.

Success

Raccoon update

The raccoons have left the building. Thankfully they left on their own without the expense of a trapper.
That happened last time too, except we still had the trapper come in that case.
Since the raccoons left, we had a roofer friend of ours come and patch the place where the raccoons lived for that short time.
Good riddance coons.

Well, another year has come and gone. Another birthday has past.
Not really a big deal, right? Nothing wrong with 32, right? It doesn't seem possible, but it is.

My family was so sweet. 5 year olds are funny about birthdays. My husband was trying to keep everything as secret and quiet as possible. While I went to a mom's night out, he took them to the store to buy my birthday gifts.
On the morning of my birthday, daddy was away at his accountablity group, one of my 5 year olds walked up to me and said, "mommy, daddy hid your birthday gifts in his closet."
I replied, "he did, huh?". So I wouldn't ruin his fun, I did not look in his closet.
Later, one of them said, "don't look behind the 'cucumbers'," while pointing to the romaine lettuce.
I said, "we don't have any cucumbers". I looked behind the lettuce and there was a cake in a bag. OOps.
After my husband returned, one of them told me "mom, we went to Target and got your gift."
I told my husband that if we keep going here, they are going to tell me what I am getting and ruin the fun.

We did open my birthday gifts later that afternoon and I got a couple of nice things from the girls and a Target gift card which I will SOOOO use.

That night he had arranged for "Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Anouk" to come over to babysit the kids while he took me out to the suburbs of Chicago for dinner.
He had pre arranged for a dinner at Ruth's Chris steakhouse at 5:30 that night.
That was the best steak I had ever had. There was free valet parking which we did not do because my husband's reasoning was he was not going to have someone else park our messy minivan.
The servers were in suits and ties and once you were seated, you had personal service from your server. They did not serve anyone else the entire time you were there. It was great.
I wish I would have taken a picture of our steaks. We did take a picture outside the restaurant which I will post later (along with the raccoons that I promised a few days ago).
To top off the evening, my husband put up with a walk through IKEA.

Wonderful Addition to the family --God's family.

Yesterday I was washing the stove and Bethany came to me and said, "Mommy, I want to repent." I looked her in shocked amazement and said, "ok, do you know what repenting of your sins means?"
She replied, "not really."
I said "Well, why don't we talk to Daddy when he comes home and he can help you with that."
My idea was Jason would want to be there if she truly wanted to. I also thought that if she remembered to ask, it was likely and truly the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Coming from the background that I come from -- decisionism and immediate baptism-- I wanted to be careful how it was done. I wanted to be careful what was said and all that. I wanted it all to come from her, and not from me. All to the Glory of God, not to me.

We had dinner and I took a walk. After I got back, Bethany told Daddy, "Daddy, I want to repent of my sins." He looked at her about the same way I did and put his video game away.
He started asking her questions like What is sin? Have you sinned? Give me an example of how you sinned. She was able to answer all of them. He then asked her , " who saved you?"
she replied "God",
Jason "who is His Son?"
Bethany "His Son."
Jason "who is His Son, who died on the cross?"
Bethany "God".
Me "What is His name?"
Bethany "I don't know."
Jason "yes you do."
Bethany "Oh, Jesus". He died on the cross and rose froM THE DEAD." (she yelled the last part)
Brookelyn was getting distracting, so we went upstairs and put her in her crib and Brianna came along too.
We got in their room and talked some more. Asked some of the same questions as well as explaining what repent means. We wanted to make sure she was truly ready. The Bible says, "Become as a little child...". She is 5.
When Jason was sure she understood, he said, "What do you have to do?"
Bethany "pray and tell Jesus I want to repent and ask Him to forgive me and trust Jesus."
Jason said, "do you want to do that?"
She answered, "yes"
Brianna said "I am not ready, Daddy." Of which in a way were relieved. She is her own person this way and not just following Bethany. We pray she will come to the same on her own in the near future.
We sent Brianna out of the room while Daddy prayed. He then told her that he could not pray for her as she had to pray on her own. Bethany said, " you prayed on your own Daddy, and Mommy prayed on her own, because your parents could not pray for you, right?"
We replied, "right"
She then bowed her head and prayed a sweet little prayer and we believe trusted in Christ for salvation.
What a glorious moment when we can see and hear our children come to Him. It brings tears to my eyes as I write this.
What a wonderful addition to the family of God. Now we will start the teachings of baptism and hopefully in a few years we can see her follow Christ in baptism.

Raccoons

If anyone remembers the story about how we had raccoons in our attic, dejavu. Here we go again. This time they are not in our attic, but in our soffits (our eaves). There are at least three of them. They are cute little critters in their own sort of way.
I just don't want them to stay there too much longer. I have an appointment with a trapper on Tuesday to put up some traps to get rid of them for good. I will keep everyone posted on how that goes.
It does cost a pretty penny to take care of all this though, I will say. I will post pictures of the little critters.
In the meantime, I have three new pets.

baby contest

I have been urged by more than one person to enter my baby in a baby photo contest. All it takes is votes.
VOTE FOR BROOKELYN

Here is the site. All you have to do is click and it will take you right to her.

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=648647&x=.jpg

Here is the second picture that I have entered. Please vote for Brookelyn.

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=648661&x=.jpg

Thanks and enjoy.

Well, the time has come for my kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa by themselves. Amidst the tears they left this afternoon for a week of fun and games with Grandma and some evenings of fishing with Grandpa.
On Friday, after a wonderful meal, thank you Jeremy for grilling the meat and Anouk for making the beans and organizing everything, we took the family to our newly discovered spot to view the city's 4th of July fireworks. It was another great show and we did not have to pay a dime. Wonderful !!
Yesterday we went galavanting off to Chicago to give the parents the great Chicago train experience. Dad is not fond of big cities and hates driving through them, so we thought it might be nice to show them how wonderful the transporation system is and how great Chicago is once you learn the loops.
Jeremy, Anouk, our girls, us, the Grandparents, and Uncle Josh enjoyed the nice uneventful train ride, followed by a wonderful lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in downtown Chicago--actually in the basement of the John Hancock Center.
We then took a bus to the Lincoln Park Zoo, a FREE zoo right in the park district along Lake Michigan. We could not have asked for better weather. The beaches were crowded with half naked bodies worshipping the sun. We found it to be a wonderful zoo and look forward to going back and seeing more of it sometime soon.
After that we went back to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. It has all the upscale shops like American Girl, Bloomingdales, Macy's, 5th Avenue, Apple, Niketown, etc... , and walked a short distance on it.
Finally to top off the day we ended up at Navy Pier and had lunch and enjoyed the cool breeze off the lake for a little while.
We then hopped back on our bus, to get to our train, to get to our van, to get home, and in the end, I think it was a success.

Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones

That is actually the title of the book that the girls and I read this morning.
For some reason, my girls have been obsessed with dinosaurs lately and I really don't know why. We have never talked about them. I wonder if they are learning about them from the kids they play with.
We have been going to the library to get books/movies recently and I saw that book on the shelf and thought "we could read that book and then go to the local natural history museum and look at the real dinosaur bones on display.
So a couple of days ago I asked my husband if he could take half a day today so we could all go to the Burpee Museum of Natural History and enjoy their free day.
He did and we had a great time. They kept asking if everything was real. The common answer was, "they were once".
We saw Jane, our local baby t-rex, and Homer, the "new" dinosaur -- a juvenile triceratops. Here are a couple pictures of the kids at the museum. Both of them are of them standing in front of Jane, but you really can't see her.

American Girl doll pictures

I have been asked to post pictures from the girls trip to Chicago when they went to pick out their American Girl dolls. Here are pictures of them with the dolls.
The first picture is actually a mistake. It is of Brookelyn playing at the mall play area. I accidently put the wrong picture and don't know how to delet it.

It is an intimidating choice. You walk into the store and there are dolls everywhere (once you get on the doll floors). For a child picking out a doll, it is a very difficult choice, but they didmake their choices fairly quickly.
This is Bethany with her doll. She picked Kit Kitteredge -- from the historical doll collection. I believe she represents the 1930-1940 era.
This is Brianna with her doll. They don't have a doll with a missing tooth, but she picked out one close enough. She picked one of the "Just like me" dolls. Long blonde-brown hair and brown eyes. I really think she looks like her. She named her Mia (which is also the name of the doll of the year). She chose the name herself.
This is both girls later with their dolls in the pajamas that Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Anouk bought them for their bitrhday. It had been a long day and they were both struggling so hard to keep their eyes open long enough to open and change their dolls clothes.

Chicago, Chicago, My Kind of town .....

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. We ended our time of busyness with a trip into Chicago. We have been looking forward to this trip for some time as we have been planning it for a couple of weeks. We wanted to take our kids in to the city to pick out their birthday gifts.
So, this morning we hopped into the van to catch an early afternoon train into the city, after picking up our brother and sister in law. This was an experience that we have not had the courage to do ourselves in the past 7 years that we have lived near Chicago. We have always taken our car in and paid for parking or something dumb like that.
We caught the train and had an enjoyable ride that included trains and buses and ended up downtown where we had to walk a few blocks to eat at a fabulous restaurant under the John Hancock building-- The Cheesecake factory. We had a delicious meal and followed it with a slice of cheesecake of course, white chocolate caramel macadamia nut cheesecake. yummy!
Then we made our way to our next stop, The American Girl Place to let the girls pick out their new dolls. Yes, we have officially entered the realm of the American girl, no turning back now. I had been putting off this adventure because of the fear of expensive teas and brunches that the future may hold, but I was looking forward to the experience of the rite of passage for most 5 year old girls -- a bright face of a new doll. A doll that they can cuddle, dress, and learn how to care for. The looks on their faces when we told them that they got to pick out their own new doll for their birthdays was priceless. It brought tears to the eyes of one mom who can't believe that her babies are 5. It was also overwhelming for the girls to pick out their own among so many. They also learned that they got to pick out one outfit for their new doll courtesy of Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Anouk. In less time than I thought it was going to take, we left with two brand new dolls, two new outfits, two happy children, and lighter wallets. Happiness on our children's faces was worth every penny.
After that we hopped on the city bus and went to Navy Pier -- a place of interest on the waterfront of Chicago. While there we watched a juggler, took a walk on the pier while enjoying the breeze on an otherwise hot day, and finally I enjoyed a carousel ride. As we were leaving the girls were entranced by the dancing fountain outside of Navy Pier and had to play in it and it being a hot day, we could not refuse. Thankfully, their clothes dried quickly.
The train was not as overwhelming as is seems and it is a journey that I would love to take every couple of months. There are so many things to do, museums, parks, shopping, beaches, etc.... I love living so close where we can enjoy the sights and sounds of the city, but far enough away where we don't deal with the traffic on a daily basis.

Globalization

There has been this talk in political America about a word called Globalization.

Here is a definition that I received from that same neighbor that sent me all that other good stuff that I included here the past few days.

Question: What is the truest definition of globalization?
Answer:
Princess Diana's Death

Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky (check the bottle before you change the spelling) (emphasis not mine as I am not touching a bottle of Scottish whisky. I will take the writer's word for it). followed closely by Italian paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor using Brazilian medicines.
This is sent to you by an American using Bill Gates' technology, and you're probably reading this on your computer, that uses Taiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangledeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked by you by Mexican illegals. ... .

That my friends, is globalization.

Father-Daughter Talk

This is another one of those papers that were given to me by my neighbor. She works for a local Conservative Republican Congressman.

A young woman was about to finish her first year at college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth as she indicated so to her father.

Her father responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she does not even show up to classes because she is too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1. 0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. Taht way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades? I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next nothing toward her degree. She played while worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked, and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican party."

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between Republican and Democrat I'm all ears.

(However, lately, they are closer to one and the same. November will be interesting. There will be a lot of holding of noses on the side of the Republicans who do not care too much for the candidate. I do hope, however, that unless an alternative comes up, that the majority of the Conservative Republicans --like myself-- will choose the lesser of two evils and vote for the Republican. John McCain beats a Barack Obama any old day.)

Rules

This was attached to the application for dating.

Daddy's rules for Dating
Your dad's rules for your boyfriend (or for you if you are a guy).

Rule 1: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule 2: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off my daughter's body, I will remove them.


Rule 3: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants 10 sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely to your waist.

Rule 4: I'm sure you hve been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule 5: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and the other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information that I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need to hear from you on this issue is: "early".

Rule 6: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule 7: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule 8: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, mid riffs, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong sexual or romantic themes are to be avoided; movies which feature chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule 9: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a pot bellied, balding, middle aged dimwitted has been; but on issues related to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule 10: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daugher home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face in the window is mine.

Dating Application

I got this one from my neighbor and had to post it.

APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER
NOTE: This application will be incomplete and rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, lineage, and current medical report from your doctor.

Name ___________________________ Date of Birth _________________
Height ________ Weight _________ IQ _________ GPA __________
Social Security # ___________________ Driver's License # _____________
Boy Scout Rank and Badges ________________________________
Home Address __________________ City/State ______________ Zip _______
Do you have parents? ___yes ___ no
Is one male and the other female? ___yes ___ no
If no, please explain __________________________________________________
Number of years they have been married __________________________________
If less than your age, explain _____________________________________________
Do you own or have access to a van? _____yes ____ no
A truck with oversized tires? _____yes _____no
A waterbed? _____yes _____no
A pickup with a mattress in the back? ___yes ____no
A tattoo? ___yes ____no
Do you have an earring, nose ring, pierced tongue, pierced cheek or a belly button ring? ____yes ____ no

(IF YOU ANSWERED YES TO ANY OF THE ABOVE, DISCONTINUE APPLICATION AND LEAVE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY. I SUGGEST RUNNING.)
ESSAY SECTION:
In 50 words or less, what does "Late" mean to you?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

In 50 words or less, what does "Don't touch my daughter" mean to you?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

In 50 words or less, what does "Abstinence" mean to you?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES SECTION:
Church you attend ______________________________________
How often you attend ____________________________________
When would be the best time to interview your:
father? _______________
mother?_______________
pastor? _______________

SHORT ANSWER SECTION:
Answer by filling the blank. Please answer freely, all answers are confidential.

A: If I were shot, the last place I would want to be shot would be: ____________________
___________________________________________________________________
B: If I were beaten, the last bone I would want broken is my: _______________________
C. A woman's place is in the: _______________________________________________
D. The one thing I hope this application does not ask me about is: ___________________________________________________________________
E. What do you want to do IF you grow up? ____________________________________
F. When I meet a girl, the thing I alway notice about her first is: ____________________________________________________________________
G. What is the current going rate of a hotel room? ______________________________

I SWEAR THAT ALL INFORMATION SUPPLIED ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, NATIVE AMERICAN ANT TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION, ELECTROCUTION, CHINESE WATER TORTURE, RED HOT POKERS, AND HILLARY CLINTON KISS TORTURE.

______________________________________________________________
Applicant's signature (that means your name, moron)
___________________ _______________ ________________________
Mother's signature Father's signature
_____________________________________________________________
Pastor/Priest/Rabbi/ State Representative or Congressman

Thank you for your interest, and it had better be genuine and non sexual. Please allow four to six YEARS for processing.

You will be contacted in writing if you are approved. Please do not try to call or write (since you probably can't and wit would cause you injury). If your application is rejected, you will be notified by two gentlemen wearing white ties carrying violin cases (you might watch your back).

Dating Application

My neighbor gave this too me and I just could not resist posting it.

APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER

From the mouth of babes....

Last night was baptism night at our church. I think most of you know how important baptism is in our churches. In most Baptist churches it allows for a believer (whether new or old) to identify with Christ and also usually is the "rite"(for lack of the word I am thinking of) of membership. Our church is not in a building that can have a baptistry, so we have to "borrow" other baptistries. Thankfully, we have a sister church here that has offered us theirs.
My kids are not old enough to be baptised much less fully comprehend the significance of repentance and the meaning of baptism. Here are a couple of things that my kids said last night during and after the baptismal service.
"Mom, do you want to go in that swimming pool? I do". We explained to them that it was not a swimming pool, but a baptistry and they need to repent of their sins before they will get to go in and that mommy and daddy have all ready dont that, and that we pray that one day they will be able to.
"Mom, they should be wearing their swimsuits." We had to let them know that it is not appropriate for this occasion.
One redeeming thing for them is they said while at the table later, "Pastor said that he baptizes them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
Dad: "Who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
Kids: "God".
There may be some parents who think we are strict and there is now way that a 4 year old can get anything out of the message, so they should draw (even at age 10) and color or sleep during the service. This proves that kids do hear and may repeat what is being preached even though they may not yet understand.

Time we've been waiting for

We have two greatly anticipated movies coming out two weeks in a row. 1st, tomorrow is the opening of Narnia--Prince Caspian. I think I need to bone up on the book again before I see it so that I can remember what happened. This is the movie that C.S. Lewis fans from all over the world have been waiting for (at least most of the ones I know).
The 2nd is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I have been a HUGE fan of Indiana Jones from the very first one (the second is not my favorite, but it does have some great parts in it) and Harrison Ford. It is time for a movie marathon. I need to watch all three (minus one part) of the Indiana Jones movies in the next week or so.

Happy movie going.

Mother's Day Madness

My husband is so sweet. He wanted to take me out to dinner for Mother's Day. I got a roast out to cook on Sunday and he asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was getting a roast out to cook for Sunday dinner unless he had other plans. He told me that I should assume that I don't have to cook on Mother's day and that we would go out. I told him that I assume that I have to cook and have to plan ahead if we are going to eat at home, which saves us money.
Okay, so I put the roast back in the freezer and we go to church on Sunday morning. After church we went home and changed our clothes thinking that the people would have all ready gone out to Sunday brunches or early lunches with their Moms. After changing we proceeded to go out to dinner. We first went to my first choice, Outback Steakhouse. There was an hour wait which would have been okay. We took their little buzzer and waited. After waiting about 5 minutes, the place seemed to be closing in on us and we realized how small the dining and wait area really was. There was a lady (not small by any measure) who said "excuse me" to get through. I was holding a squirming baby and my husband had both the other two kids. I couldn't move as I was back against the wall. She looked at me and said it again. I looked at her like What am I supposed to do, disappear so you can get yourself through here. I had had enough of that, so we decided to leave and try somewhere else. We drove past Olive Garden and we tried Red Lobster (if you had 3 people it was 20 min, but if you have five, it was 65-75 minutes). Finally, my husband asked me to call Texas Roadhouse. It was a two hour wait. You can't tell me the economy is bad and we are in a recession if there are waits this long at restaurants.
We ended up taking Culvers home. Better idea is to go out for Mother's day on either the Saturday before or the Monday afterward.
We went out for Mother's Day last night to Red Lobster. Only about 10 minute wait and the food was very tasty. It had been several years since I had been there.
Happy Mother's Day, all you Mother's (or want to be mom's) out there.

Mother

Birthday weekend.

The final score.
After the game. Inside the Palace of Auburn Hills.
The game winner. Free throws. Orlando could not make theirs. This is Chauncey Billups shooting a free throw.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I have always wanted to take my husband to a sporting event for his birthday, but usually there are not any of interest at that time. Not a huge golf (watching it) or Nascar fan.

A couple of weeks I got on the internet to see what kind of tickets I could find at a reasonable price (keep in mind that his birthday is not until June). His favorite NBA team is the Detroit Pistons. His favorite NHL team is the Detroit Red Wings. Can anyone guess where my husband is from? Both of those teams are in the playoffs right now. So you can imagine how exciting sports is around my house.

I thought tickets would be too expensive for any playoff game. I checked into his birthday and of course, the NBA finals were too expensive and there is no guarantee that the Pistons would be going that far, so I went back a couple of levels. I ended up buying him round 2 game 1 against the Orlando Magic. I also checked into the Red Wings hockey playoffs, but those tickets were more than I wanted to pay, though not as high as I was expecting. It was supposed to be a surprise for an early birthday present, but I decided to go ahead and tell him. I am glad I did because I was going to get him round 1 game 7. Well, there was no round 1 game 7 because the Pistons won the series in 6 games.

I am so glad that I did that I splurged on his birthday because I think it was the best birthday present I have ever bought him. He really enjoyed himself seeing some of his favorite players in person. We sat high up in the arena, but the seats were still good. The fans in our section were also good as well. There were not a lot of drunks around us. We have gone to other games wehre the drinking was so bad that the fans were horribly behaved. The atmosphere was great. The best thing of all was the score of the game (Pistons 91, Magic 72). It made for a great experience for both of us.

Strange Things Kids Do

Here are a couple of strange things I was thinking about the past couple of days that my children have done. I think I have strange children (I am not complaining however). I was cleaning all my lettuce and repackaging it when my kids asked me what I was doing. I told them and they wanted a piece. I gave them a piece. They finished it and asked for more. Mine love lettuce, olives, and tomatoes. I know of so many kids who won't touch those things. I am truly blessed in those areas.
Last Saturday my husband who is a wonderful, loving father took my two older kids out to McDonalds for lunch. He then took them to the dollar store and told them that they could pick out any one thing they wanted for 1.00 (not a bad deal). So, one of them picked up a toy hair dryer thinking she could dry her own hair with it. It would take a VERY long time to dry all her hair. The other child picked out a set of three dolls with clothes. Cute dolls. However they come apart so easily that they leave legs, arms, and heads all over the place. It looks like CSI in my house. Oh look, there is a leg here, an arm there, and Oh look, Grissom, we found the torso over there. Oh oh, the head is missing. Sorry, too much CSI. Anyway, it is quite disturbing. I don't know how much longer I can have my house looking like a crime scene.

Midnight Fun

I love my neighborhood. The occasional midnight excitement would be so hard to give up.
Something interesting like this following story happens about every 6 months or so. I think this one may be a case of Spring fever amongst our youth who have nothing else to do.
My husband and I were watching one of our favorite shows from the 80's (okay that dates us) The A-team when I heard a bang. I didn't think too much of it until I heard what sounded like something crashing into the house. I went upstairs to see if the kids were all in bed. They were and sound asleep.
I sat back down on the couch to finish watching the show and I heard another bang. We looked outside and saw about 4 teenagers standing at the corner (we live near a busy corner that connects our neighborhood with one farther to the west). They proceeded to walk up the street, then walked down our part of the street (I didn't see this, but my husband did). I was debating calling the police because we had some problems with wayward teens before.
As I was thinking about it, a police car showed up and questioned a car pulling out of the driveway up the street (where I personally had seen the teens last). Then another police car showed up and my neighbor ran out of his house and talked to him while pointing down the streets. I assumed he called them.
Just as he was talking to the police, the teens passed in front of our house and the police stopped them for questioning. Thankfully, they were cooperative.
My neighbor ended up calling me soon after this to explain what was going on. He thought he heard gunshots and looked outside and there was smoke in the air near one of the teens that was hanging out in the street. This is something that is foreign to our neighborhood to this point. I thank the Lord for that.
To make a long story shorter, the street was blocked by 5 police cars including the paddy wagon; two of the four teens were arrested; the other two were taken home; and it is believed that it was fireworks that we heard.
Two problems: fireworks are illegal, and there is a curfew in Rockford of 11:00 on weekends, I believe.
The funny thing is that the neighbor was having a party and they were all outside telling one of the kids to run and laughing at him. Poor kid, as if he was not embarrassed enough.
To make matters more interesting, one of the police cars was still parked in the middle of the street after all the others had left and another car pulled up behind him and put his lights on the police car. The police man flashed his lights at the car behind him and that car backed up and sped away like the driver was mad that a police man would block his way. Oh the inconvenience of life!! What a dummy!!
If these things keep happening, moving will be oh so wonderful. I really do like my neighborhood and would miss the people I have come to know.

Puke, Pepper, and --- Fish Food?

Today was a day where if it could go wrong, it did. I woke up and went in the baby's room and was greeted by an unmistakable smell. Apparently sometime in the night she had gotten some kind of stomach virus. I will spare all the details, but we were reminded what she had for dinner the night before.
So, I showered her, dressed her, then gave her some cheerios to eat. I also fed the other two kids their cereal and went upstairs to take care of the mess in the crib. No easy chore. It was everywhere.
I then proceeded to eat my breakfast amidst the cheerios that the baby spilled on the floor because she did not want them.
While I was eating breakfast, I heard the words, " Mom, Brianna spilled the pepper." It was one of those times I wanted to say, "who is your mom?" and run away. I came around the corner and saw what apparently was the whole container of pepper all over the table in front of her.
I told her since she spilled it, she had to clean it up. She wiped it all onto the floor, hence making a mess on the floor.
I then proceeded to sweep the floor while my nose was stinging from all that pepper. Ugh!!
Later in the morning, I was reading some e mail and I hear "Mom, come look, we fed the fish. Come count how much food I put in." I went over to the fish bowls and saw, to my amazement, probably several hundred Betta pellets in each bowl. The entire top of the bowls were covered.
It was not part of my plan to change the water today, but it quickly was introduced. Now the fish have new water.
I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Weekend of Family Fun

The girls and I had gone over to a friend's house for the afternoon to watch a movie and gotten home a little after 6. My husband was all ready home and says to me "did you know that the tax refund check is in?". I said, "no, it is, good." He said that he wanted to surprise the girls with a trip overnight somewhere fun with a pool like the Dells, Springfield, or something like that. He had been thinking about it for a few days and decided that if the check were to come in before the end of the week we would do it.
That night I did some laundry and packed the kids suitcases without them knowing it. I went online and checked into some pricing at various resorts in the Dells area. I also checked a water park resort here in Rockford and one in Chicago.
We finally decided on Great Wolf Lodge . We had been there twice before for my husband's company picnics (which they pay for I might add) and really liked it. They have a really nice kid area as well as some new larger slides for adults or big kids.
I made the reservations and my husband packed the car. Finally somewhere around 2:30 am we went to bed.
When we left we just told the girls that we were going out to lunch and a drive. When we arrived at the resort the girls looked at it and said, "this is a hotel, why are we at a hotel?" My husband said that I went in to get a map (which is partly true because usually they give you a map of these kinds of places and a guide of what to do). When I got back in the car after "picking up the map" we went to park. That is when we told them what we were going to do. They were shocked that we packed their bags while they were sleeping (sounds like a movie).
The girls had a great time at the waterpark. They enjoyed the kid areas. Even the baby had a great time. She kicked, paddled,and slapped at the water. She even waded in the small kidde pool as well as rode down a couple of slides in the toddler area.
My older girls loved the kid slides (the white slides) and even tried a tube slide and a couple of the larger slides. My husband asked the girls if there was anything they wanted to try before we went home. One of them said "the green slide". I said "what green slide?" She said "the one by the green bucket." My thought was she would just go up to the top and then turn around and go back down in fear. So I took her up to where you climb through the fort to get up to the slides and made a deal. I told her that if she goes down the slide, I would stand under the bucket (it drops 1000 gallons of water on those standing under it) by myself and let them watch. Apparently she liked the deal because we got to the top of the slide, she sat down, and almost before the lifeguard could say "go", she went. I could not believe what I was seeing. I followed her down. She loved it and talked her sister into trying it. I made the same deal. Of course, I stood under the bucket and let them watch.
One of the girls really loved the big slides and she could not get enough, much to my liking. Finally I have kids who will go on the bigger slides with me. yay!! I was so tired out after hiking up the steps with a large tube on my back so that my girls and I could go down the slide. My arms are tired from paddling down the lazy river to get out of the water to do it all over again. Finally, I made my husband go down the slide with them.
She even said she wanted to try the larger tube slide which she ended up being too small for as she is not quite tall enough. In the end, I don't think she would like it anyway as it was dark and fast.
We intended on getting back a little earlier on Sunday so that we could go to the evening service at the church, but the girls were just getting into the larger slides and we wanted them to be able to really get what they could out of the waterpark.
What a great weekend of family fun. I am looking forward to the next time.

Easter pictures

Here are the pictures I promised in the previous post. On Saturday we painted eggs. The kit came with faces that you could stick to the eggs to make silly eggs. I remember having a great time doing this as a kid.
Here is the finished project.

Here are my three girls all dressed up in their Easter dresses (the pink ones were used once before in a wedding last August) and ready to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Resurrection Sunday

On Sunday we Christians celebrated Easter, otherwise known as Resurrection Sunday. We celebrate our Lord's miraculous supernatural resurrection from the grave after his horrible gruesome death on the cross.
By having church on Sunday morning, we celebrate His resurrection every Sunday, but this particular one is special because our services revolve around the celebration.
We started out with a service at 8:30 (called our Sunrise service--which was not truly at sunrise). Then at 9:00 we had a great breakfast. There were all kinds of egg dishes, potato dishes, and various types of breads. It was delicious.
Then we had a wonderful service after that where the choir sang several numbers and a special group sand a couple of songs, along with several congregational songs all about our Savior's glorious resurrection. All that praise time was followed by a great message on the power, pardon, and the promise found in salvation from Jesus Christ through his death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.
After the service we had family over for dinner and the NCAA basketball tournament. We had a great time of fellowship in the afternoon.
When we download the pictures from my camera, I hope to post a couple of pictures of my kids all dressed up in their Easter clothes.

Down on the Farm

Last Thursday our homeschool group went to the Fountain of Life farm in the Pecatonica Illinois area. It is owned by a Christian family who also homeschools their 6 children. They had this dream for 10 years before it became a reality 5 years ago. They do their best to live off the land when possible by selling their cow/goat milk, eggs, honey, and lamb meat.
I thought it was a real eye opening experience. We started out with the dairy cows. They try to keep a calf nursing all the time so the cows produce milk. I did not realize that cows stopped producing milk as I figured that since they were dairy cows, they produced milk 24/7 365. Oh well, I'm just a city slicker, what do I know?!
There have over a hundred chickens wandering all over the farm. They believe in free range chickens and get their eggs daily that way. They walk all over the acreage looking for eggs once a day. The chickens usually use the same nest daily, so the eggs really aren't that hard to find most days.
I also learned that we have cougars around here. I thought I left that threat way behind in the mountains of Washington and Idaho. They keep two large dogs around to chase the cougars and coyotes away from the animals.
Then we went to the goat pen. They have an orphan goat, and the children got to see the baby nurse on the foster mom. I think they enjoyed that. The mama goat does not take other babies usually, but if they distract her with food and tie her down, she will feed the orphan baby. Because of this situation, though, they did not have any goat milk to sell.
On to the bee hives. My dad had bees and I had my own set of bee keeper garb and would help him on several occasions. It was interesting listening to how she takes care of her bees and the fond memories it brought back. Yes, I have been stung a few times, but if you care for them correctly and wear the proper garb, the stings are at a minimum.
Then we went to the sheep pasture. They had several lambs that they will eventually sell for meat. I love the lambs. They are so cute. It was amazing though when you watch them how the scriptures describe sheep so vividly. They truly are dumb follower animals and obviously need a Shepherd to watch them.
The last animals we saw were a pair of pea fowl. She had been given the set from a friend and was later given pea fowl babies.
Finally the kids were all given turns on the butter churn and made their own butter and butter milk. I think the kids all enjoyed that. To end the day they each had a piece of sour dough bread with the butter they had made and some of us sampled some of the fresh milk. I don't think the kids really enjoyed the sour dough bread though as it was really sour. I know my bread is not as sour as hers was.
We ended the day with a "healthy" lunch at Burger King. yummy.

You might be a ... .

This is a fun little post I am doing for those of us who are free from this part of your past. Enjoy.

You might be a traditonal Independent Fundamental Baptist if... you heard the phrase "if you can't do it in coulottes, you shouldn't do it at all."

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... the letters NKJV together is a 4 letter word.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... you didn't ram Christianity down people's throats, you didn't care about souls.

You might be a traditonal Independent Fundamental Baptist if... pants on women are a sure sign of being out of fellowship with God.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... contemporary Christian music is a sure sign of being backslidden.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... the pastor preaches on pet peeves and not the true inner soul needs of the church.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... facial hair is a sure sign of rebellion.

You might be a traditional Independent Fundamental Baptist if... you are not in church every time the doors are open (which was rain, hail, sleet, snow, tornado, etc...) you are out of fellowship with God.

The Playland Terror

I just realized that I should have named my last post "The cat on a hot tin roof", but oh well, hindsight is well, you know.
Today my kids and I went to a McDonalds playland with another family for some lunch, catch up, and play time. They just adopted two girls and I had not had time to spend with just them as we have all been busy and it was nice to get out (we were also part of the box packing team for the NIU project with our church). We ordered our meal, sat and ate it. Then we went where every parent with kids goes when there is a playland at the restaurant, the playland of course.
All the kids were playing pretty well until this little bully of a kid started causing trouble. Every couple of minutes one of our kids (we had 6 between us) came out to tell us that this little boy was bothering them in some way. He either pushed them, spit on them, hit them, dominated the slide (he took up the whole thing and he could not have been more than 5), was rude, swore, or bit some other kid in the playland. Usually I leave other kids alone, but at one point I went up to the kid (who was just sitting in the slide) and told him that other kids wanted to play and he needed to share the slide with the others. I know other parents had talked with him too.
Finally, another mom saw her son being hit up in the upper part and went up there herself to protect her son. The bad thing is that the lady was 8 months pregnant. You think the caregiver of that little terror would have done something when the pregnant woman had to protect her kid. NOOOOOOO!
It took a riot on the part of us parents to finally get that kid out of the playland so that our kids could play happily and safely.
One of the other kids grandmother came into the eating area where this terror's caregiver was and told her that her kid was being very bad and this caregiver had the nerve to tell us to talk to him because he would not listen to her. That was completely obvious. I said, "no, we have all ready done that and it is not our job. It is yours."
She immediatly removed her kid, kicking and screaming and slapping her out of the restaurant. She ended up slapping him right there and it did not phase him one bit.
Imagine the peace and happiness that permeated the playland once the bully left. Some parents, sheesh.

Crazy Cat

The other night my husband and I were heading up to bed and we heard strange noises like they were coming from the roof. It had a familiar sound.
This goes back to a couple of years ago when we had raccoons in our attic. That was interesting. I think my husband and I both heard the loud crashing sounds about the same time because we both sat up in bed and looked at each other with that "what is that" look. It was bout 2:00 AM in February.
Initially my husband thought it was a squirrel and I thought that it was an awful big squirrel because I looked up and saw the light bounce up and down with the movements of the animal.
Then that episode of CSI came to mind where the guy was living in the attic of these people's homes and he peeped through holes in the ceilings (back from season 1, I think) and later murdered them. I started looking for little holes in the ceiling.
After waking my brother in law who was staying with us for a couple of days so the he could peek up in the attic since he was taller; and the guys going outside and seeing the raccoon's face in the attic window, it was determined that it was a raccoon looking for a warm place to nest.
We had a trapper come out and set a trap which led to nothing except a poor squirrel which I ended up letting go. We think all our noise and turning on the lights in the attic chased the coons away. We have since fixed the attic window so that hopefully nothing can get in.
How this all fits in with the present story.
We heard the sound coming from the roof and the thought was "oh no, not again". We looked out the window --nothing. We went up to the bedroom and I looked out the window and there was this cat walking along the tin roof above our 3 season porch. I opened the window and it came up and meowed at me. How do we get rid of this thing because we knew that the cat would walk along there all night thus keeping us awake.
After trying to entice it away with a flashlight and laser pointer, I finally went outside and it jumped off all by itself and ran away.

The Music of Our Lives

There is this important part of our lives called music. We really can't live without it. We really can't go anywhere without hearing it. It is played at the mall, stores, the gym and on our evil tv shows (which are strictly for entertainment pursposes). Theme songs from tv shows we have a tendency to remember for a long time. We sometimes quiz each other on the theme song from certain 80's shows because we remember the music.
It is interesting how our music preferences change as we age and our culture changes. I grew up in a very strict legalistic home and church where we were told that if we listened to any other radio station than the church's (boring city), we were not right with God and were in sin. My parents told me that I could either listen to that station or I could listen to tapes that of course, were sold at the church or were sold by music groups that came to our church (i.e. Marshall family, Hyles Anderson College, etc....) A classic is "In the Garden". That song gives me creeps to this day. The argument was always "approved station"vs. CCM. Country music and easy listening was rarely to never mentioned (come to find out, the pastor liked country and listened to it --ah the hypocrisy.)
I of course, did not always listen. I would change my station in the car to country music and change it back to the "approved" station when I came home. It was funny. Sometimes I would forget and run outside to change the station before my parents could find out. I would put my headphones into the radio or listen to country quietly when my parents weren't home. I still remember some of the older songs (by older I mean early 90's). My parents did not even listen to the "approved" station.
It is so funny how legalism has such control over our minds. When our here pastor was looking for a radio station outreach, one of his ideas was to put it on the local Christian pop station. I thought well, I guess I would never hear the sermons on the radio because I don't listen to that station. I remained pretty adamant about it until a few months ago. Both of the local stations would be considered evil in those IFB circles.
We were taught that if you started down the slippery slope of CCM (contemporary Christian music), you fell into complete sin and would end up listening to rock music (which was considered very bad). Well, I guess it is true. I have fallen into complete sin by starting with something basic like Steve Green (mild CCM) and now into the Christian Pop station (only once in a while, you know).
Music is one of those more touchy and personal issues we deal with. What is the purpose of music.? Is all music in all situations supposed to glorify God all the time? What is the timing of the music? What is the goal of the singer/performer? Can secular music be used for good? Obviously if the purpose is to glorify God we should be using good God honoring Christian music; but if it is for pure entertainment purposes, such as sporting events or shopping, good secular music is almost a must. Think a minute, ice hockey to "Great is thy Faithfulness"? A Chicago Bulls game to "In Christ Alone"? Of course, that might change some of the actions of the fans in the stands. (oh oops, I used a CCM style song).
What I never understood about music is why was some music that is God honoring (Steve Green or Michael Card) is bad while others that was written by people with known sinful lifestyles (such as some in the classical genre) is okay. It is something that will be struggled with in our churches until trumpet sounds and judgment day.