We Ate This!

(originally posted on my other blog 11-29-06)

Hello, all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a great Thanksgiving vacation. We traveled to My Honey's Father's home, and feasted with our family there. On Friday, the men went fishing, as is dictated by family tradition.

Four years ago, the after-Thanksgiving fishing trip almost ended tragically. My Honey, his Father and their friend D. had a terrible car accident on the way home. The Beautiful '68 Bronco was totaled. None of the men needed (or was that, agreed) to be hospitalized, but my Father-in-law still has shoulder trouble from it. My Honey (who has since been in another car-totaler) is nearly always sore in the shoulders and back. You just have to know the men of my family to understand them! Cut from old stock they are! The kind that would, if shot for example, just might dig around in the wound, pull out the bullet, and stitch themselves up.

Anyway, that year, they caught six wonderful stripers, but gave them to the firemen who dealt with the accident, as no one was well enough to fillet the fish! We watched the firefighters begin their fishfry from the hospital waiting room as glass was being removed from inside the ear of D.

Fastforward to this year...

Safe at home with the catch of the day:

My Honey caught five (three keepers and two a little too small)!!! This was the biggest. There were six keepers caught all together.

Now here's a shot to give a little more perspective: The fish is longer than BabyJ is tall!

Meanwhile, the Lambies, the Cousin, the Aunties and I went to a science museum on Friday. We were able to meet a California Desert Tortoise, a box turtle and a beautiful red-tailed hawk. We also enjoyed a planetarium show, an exhibit on bones (with real skeletons!), we met a couple on vacation from China, and enjoyed *just running* at full speed and screaming at the top of our lungs outside in the amphitheater. A better day could only be accomplished by having Daddy with us, too. Of course, he was providing our meals for the next two days! My that fish was tasty!!

Some of BabyJ's exploits

(originally posted on my other blog 4-25-06)

My little J...what can I say about him??? He is our first birth boy, my older boys having been adopted at the ages of 7 months and 4 years. He is a joy, a delight, a blessing. He has grown at a remarkable rate, scooting across the floor and destroying the cover of a beloved cookbook at the age of 5 months, 2 days. I told him that I was supposed to have another month of his immobility, but he didn't agree. Real crawling soon followed.

He didn't walk especially early; he still uses a combination of crawling and walking. But, boy, does that boy climb! He is able to pull out drawers and use them as stairs to get up on the kitchen counters and bedroom dressers...can get up on the couch and reach the back of the end tables, but thankfully, hasn't yet learned to (or thought about, I suppose) climb out of his crib.

On Sunday, our Pastor's wife was tending the infants and told a funny story of how she turned to attend another little one, then turned back around to J. and found him standing on the snack table! Then she went on as to how he will be jumping off the roof into the pool next year! "Oh," she said to me with pity, "he's going to be a wild one!" She had to turn all the little stools over so he wouldn't climb them. I'm sure that he'll be a mountain biker like his Daddy and have no fear, like his Daddy!

He has a smile that would melt your heart, a giggle/cackle that makes you wonder what he's into now, and a personality that is so engaging! He has expressive eyebrows, much like my 4yo ddR. He is a deep thinker, constantly watching and figuring things out. He will intently watch something and then copy it, like putting on headphones correctly, opening phones and 'talking' on them, he is even trying to dress and undress himself!

I could go on all day about him, but I need to get breakfast on the table...so I'll end with: What a blessing he is! Such a joy!!

The Little Things

This is the day, this is the day

that the Lord has made,

that the Lord has made.

I will rejoice, I will rejoice

and be glad in it, and be glad in it.

This is the day that the Lord has made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the day, this is the day

that the Lord has made!!!

This song directly led to my conversion.

I was in the bunk of my boyfriend's stepdad's BigRig somewhere between California and Oregon in the middle of the night. Two other truckers sang this over the CB and said a short prayer of thanksgiving and then they were passed each other, and the radio was silent. I sat back there and was struck at how far away from God I was. Right there, I cried in repentance and gave my life to the Lord. I was 23.

So, in that Little Thing, a Sunday school song sang in fellowship, these two Believing truck drivers changed my life. They have no idea. They won't, until they reach the Bema Seat and find that they pointed a lost little girl to the Light.

So I often remind my children that the Lord uses The Little Things. He uses the word of praise to Him spoken at the grocery store to the lady who can't believe I have 8 children 10 and under. My favorite reply to "Are they all yours?" is: "Oh, yes, aren't I blessed??" with a big smile. I can usually tell someone of my faith when I reply this way.

He uses The Little Things like a smile and good natured response even when Baby poops all over you while out and about.

He uses The Little Things, so don't forget to do The Little Things. You may bring someone to Heaven with you, and you might not even know it!

Survival Through The Eyes of a Four Year Old Girl

My fourth birth daughter, little almost 5yo Polly, can be SO funny! I simply have to share this moment with you!

My dd Missy had spilled a paper bowl full of Turtle flavored Chex mix all over the kitchen floor. She was busy sweeping up her mess when she began to say "Uhhh...Uhhhh..." Polly went to see what was bothering Missy and announced, "Mom, there's an ant on the floor!" So I came in from the living room to see the extent of the ant invasion and found a lone tiny ant, squashed by Polly's chubby pointer finger, on the floor. I said, "There's just one?" To which my precious hazel-eyes blondie remarked, "Well, there were two, but I ATE one!" I gulped and said, "Did you *really*?" She looked as if I were the silly one and said in the perfect smart girl tone..."I squished him first!" (like, DUH)..."Of course she would squish him first...otherwise he might bite her tongue!", she explained later!

Oh, these homeschooled kids! I had been explaining to the children a few days before that, during our time in Search and Rescue (back in Oregon, a million years ago), Daddy and I had been trained in many different areas including outdoor survival. How to make traps, fires, capture dew for water, build survival shelters, what to eat etc. Ants were one common thing that you can eat in a survival situation. You are supposed to squash them or bite off their heads so they don't bite you! You can also stir many of them into water and boil, and the water will be faintly lemony. And, in case you wanted to know, slugs are also a safe food source, as are snails, of course! Beware of some berries as 90% of red berries are poisonous, but many blue and most black colored berries are not. Nibble a tiny bit and see if it makes your tongue tingle. A tingly tongue means no good!

So anyway, our well-fed blondie thought she would practice her outdoor survival skills in our well-stocked kitchen and eat an ant...hopefully it was the first time she had seen an ant since that lesson!