A Handy Guide

In the absence of something orignal to post, I'm going to instead borrow from a clever email I've received on several occasions. I have no idea who to give credit to but would like to say "thank you" for the person responsible--it's provided some good chuckles!

This is a handy guide that should be as common as a driver's license in the wallet of every husband!!

DANGEROUS: What's for dinner? SAFER: Can I help you with dinner? SAFEST: Where would you like to go for dinner? ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: Are you wearing that? SAFER: Gee, you look good in brown. SAFEST: WOW! Look at you! ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: What are you so worked up about? SAFER: What did I do wrong? SAFEST: Here's fifty dollars. ULTRASAFE: Here, have some chocolate.

DANGEROUS: What did you do all day? SAFER: I hope you didn't overdo it today. SAFEST: I've always loved you in that robe! ULTRASAFE: Here, have some more chocolate.

BTW, according to one of my friend's husbands, do you know how PMS got it's name? It's because the name "Mad Cow Disease" was already taken. Here, have some more chocolate!

It's Official...I think

Well, our kitten has a name. I think. Michelle's a little hesitant to make it final because she values everyone's opinion so much . I think if she were to take Kludge's quiz today, she'd definitely be a "Milk Thermometer". So, drum roll please...the name is...actually, I think I'll make you read the rest of my post to find out.

I've been a little buried lately. I haven't always had the best attitude--best being, "God has given me these opportunities and I need to depend upon Him to do them for His glory"--in fact I've been a BIT whiney at times and felt quite stressed. God has been very gracious in the midst of it all and has blessed me abundantly with some awesome teaching in His word, and some sweet Christian fellowship. He has also given my family a wonderful and understanding attitude. They all pulled together a dinner of waffles last night as I ran out of the house to my Parent Education Meeting and they left a clean kitchen for me when I returned. You go family!!

Anyhoo, one of the things that went by the wayside was bloggin'. My family stepped in admirably--Johnny's the only one that hasn't written a post for me--once again, you go family! But I feel really bad that I haven't been reading anyone else's blog. I so appologize for being so selfish and so neglecting everyone so shamefully. (You're probably understanding where Michelle got her "Milk thermometer" tendencies.)

Tonight, I got a free half hour and tried to read as many recent posts as I could and leave as many comments as I could. I have to admit, most were pretty lame--my comments, that is. I try to be rather witty whenever possible and sometimes I consider myself successful. Tonight, not even I thought they were insightful or funny. I couldn't even think of anything to say on RJ's post because it was way over my head, and on SJ's post, I had to try three times to type in those letters correctly before I could submit it. I'm thinking my comment skills are a little flabby.

Well, thank you for reading my confessions. It's good to get that off my chest.

By the way, the name is Squiggy.

Name That Kitten

Before I turn this post over to my youngest daughter let me just say that I haven't been able to devote much time to the blogosphere this past week. It's a bummer when life gets in the way of important stuff like blogging, but I was up to my eyeballs in committments and PMSing to boot. Hopefully soon I can take a tour of all the posts I've missed the past several days and praise everyone for their incredible insights. Maybe.
Now, onto the debut of the newest family blogger...

The Adorable fuzzball in the picture is...my new kitten!We got him on Saturday, September 23. He is very cute and we love him so much. Unfortunatley he has no name yet! We have gotten suggestions from many sources yet to no avail! I will list them below. In your comment, please say which one you like best. Feel free to suggest other names as well! Thank you! You will be updated on which name won later!

a. Milo

b. Tigger

c. Ziggy

d. Sparky

e. Puma

f. Squiggy

g. Opie (we're Andy Griffith fans here)

h. Orange Julius (O. J. for short)

i. Your great idea

By the way his tail is out of the ordinary so that should help you think of something! :)

The Night of the TP

Once again, I have a guest writer making a debut on my blog. This time it is my daughter, Catie, giving her much anticipated account of the night she TP'd her youth pastor.

It all started on a Tuesday morning, at our junior high Bible study. Jeremy told us that he had gotten tp'd last night, and a wonderful idea came to me. Why not tp him tonight? It was the chance I had been waiting for. I told my idea to Bethany, Claire, Emma, and Michelle. They all thought it was a good idea, and agreed to carry it out.

Everyone was helping to clean out the juinor high room that afternoon, and it was there that we found a key element to our mission. (Michelle likes to remind me that it was HER that rescued him) It was boB. (Spelled backwards, as Bethany likes to say.) No, boB is not some kid, he is a styraphomic dummy that has been in the junior high for who knows how long. Jeremy was going to throw him out, but we(Pardon me, I mean Michelle) rescued the head. Claire then took the head home and decorated it with makeup. Everyone came over at 8 to get ready and look over each other's supplies.

Michelle and I each had eight rolls of toilet paper, the thin stuff that tears easily, making it harder to dispose of. Emma had a whole pack of Charmin Ultra Plus, and Claire and Bethany each had a roll or two. Emma also brought a box of plastic forks, to spear the lawn with, and gold fish crackers, to feed the lawn with. Claire had also packed along boB's head, and my dad drilled a hole through the mouth, and we stuck a fake rose through, looking like he was holding a rose in his teeth. We also stuck bits of clay here and there on his face, giving him eyebrows, earrings, nose goobers, ect. I popped a whole bunch of popcorn for their door. (I'll tell you more about this later) then, I took two Hershey’s caramel kisses, took out the candy, and filled the wrapper with clay instead. (A successful joke I had used on April Fool's Day) Then, later Bethany and I composed a note to the victims, saying something about how we hoped they would appreciate this small token of our appreciation, bla bla bla.

Finally, it was almost time to leave. My mom and dad drove, and we allowed Johnny to come along, which proved a mistake later on. The main reason we let him come, was so he could get his revenge on Jeremy for smashing a cream pie in his face. We parked several houses away, and snuck out. Soon, there were pranksters tossing tp into trees (By the way, anyone who reads this, Jeremy & Stephanie have a GREAT house to tp) rolling rolls down the drive way, wrapping bushes, spearing lawns, and stuffing mail boxes. Johnny stuck forks into the lawn and wrote PIE with them.

Getting the tp up into the trees was not our strong suit, and more then once, a roll would fail to be caught, and BANG! It would sound like a gun shot to us. we weren’t exactly quiet, but the worst was when Johnny threw a roll on the top of the garage. It made a loud BONGGGGG and I was sure we would be caught. But they didn’t catch us... yet. We put a roll on their porch, with the note rolled up in the middle, the two clay kisses on the roll, and boB's head with a Hawaiian Lei around the neck. By this time, the Writebol front yard was covered in white with dashes of orange sprinkled on the lawn. Then came the popcorn plan. It was a mistake from the start.

The plan was to tape plastic wrap around the door, then pour popcorn into the space between the wrap and the door. Problems first started with the wrap. It made a loud crackly sound as it was unwrapped, and shattered the stillness. Not only was it loud, it kept wrapping and sticking together. Then, the tape was too loud. The sound of it coming off the roll just about burst our eardrums. And lastly, we ran out of wrap. It was an old roll, and was almost empty anyway. Just as Claire and I decided to just wrap the stuff all over the door, and then figure out what to do with the popcorn, we heard it. A man's voice inside the house.

It took us about two seconds to realize the voice belonged to Jeremy, to realize this meant that he was awake, and to stare at each other in terror. We both tore out of there, me having the presence of mind to snag the tape (a noble effort on my part) and started running down the street to where the car was parked. When Emma saw us running, her first thoughts were “Oh shoot, we’re caught!” and then she ran also. I reached the car first and practically dove into the back seat. In seconds, the car was filled with terrified tp’ers. Looking out the back window, I could see Jeremy running down the street after us. You will never again see him that fast.

We were screaming for my dad to drive away, but he was just sorta inching forward. I later found out that my mom thought that Jeremy was one of us being left behind, and I wonder if that contributed to the slowness of our take off. As he got closer, I will admit that a few of us called out that he was gaining on us. Finally, we picked up speed, and made our getaway. As we were leaving the street, still in view of our handiwork, Emma dumped a whole bag of gold fish on the street. (Birds took care of that the next day)

Just when we thought all was safe, Johnny rolled down the window and yelled “LOSER” at the top of his lungs. As I write this, I am not sure if he heard it or not, but at the time, I was sure that Johnny had sealed our fate. It was about this time that I realized I had left my bag on Jeremy’s well-covered lawn. As I sorrowfully said this, Bethany realized she had also left her bag behind. It was here that Claire showed her heroism. As she was running, she noticed the forgotten bags. She ran back, grabbed them both, and retuned to the car before Jeremy.

We dropped off Bethany and Claire at their houses, and returned to our house. Emma spent the night. As we pulled into our drive way, we decided to avoid suspicion by tping our neighbors who had tp'd Jeremy's house the night before, and we tp'd ourselves. They were simple jobs, just a few rolls at each house, then we went to bed.

In the morning, a surprise greeted us on our porch. Jeremy and Stephanie had come in the night and left all the trash on our porch, with a note indicating that our decorating efforts weren’t appreciated. You can ask them about their experience of the Night, of the TP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Girl

My baby has turned 12. I was going to post a happy birthday bit yesterday, but I was afraid Scott would have a cow if I bumped his “masterpiece” so quickly. He’s been checking my blog often to see how many comments he’s accumulated. Thank you all who chimed in. I must say though, he has become a little uppity now that he’s received 9 comments on his very first post. I tried to tell him it was really only 8 because June’s comment appeared twice. He claims it’s a legitimate 9 however because it was obvious that June was so moved by his words that she commented 2 times. He’s also enjoying quoting from some of the comments. I believe I’ve heard the phrase “insightful and interesting” just about enough, thank you. Anyhoo, back to my baby…

I cuddled her in my lap last night, rock-a-bye-baby style and found that she just doesn’t fit the way she used too. Time goes by too fast. The above picture is one of my favorites. I used to set her in a bucket at my feet when I would hang laundry. The delighted expression on her face is reflective of the happy baby she was. In addition to her sweet disposition, she was such a great cuddler. God only gave me one cuddler, so I was so thankful He saved her for last. I savored, and continue to savor, every precious hug.

In the years since this picture, it’s been quite an adventure. Oh the stories that could be told! We used to call her our surprise baby because she was probably the biggest surprise of my life. Because of that, we gave her the middle name “Grace”. Grace means “unmerited favor” and it is a very accurate description of the way God has blessed and grown us through the privilege of being Michelle’s parents. We pray that He will continue to show His favor in her life and that she will walk with Him and love Him with her whole heart.

In closing, I need to tell you that my husband believes I way exaggerated his comment fixation. He said, and I quote, “My actions were only in jest of your infatuation with comments on your posts.” I have no idea what he could be referring to!

The Unexplainable

I asked Scott to write a post for me regarding his experience in Ecuador—I had no idea what I was unleashing. Apparently he had many words waiting for a forum. Be nice and leave him lots of comments—it’s very sweet and he might even hug you!

As I sat there surrounded by other men, I could tell something was amiss. The speaker told us how much God cares for us, how much we need each other, how much we miss when… oh no, here it comes…..how much we miss as Christians when don’t truly express our love one for another. I was about to enter the zone of no escape unless I could pretend I needed to use the restroom and quietly get up and go out. Unfortunately, I was up near the front. Escape seemed way too difficult since I was hemmed in on all sides by the others who also seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable with the way this was going.

What is it with speakers who think they need us to get touchy feely. The truth is, most men when confronted with such moments, a chance to put faith to work, to truly connect, just want to have their cell phone ring and take the call (this is one reason to go to med school – “medical emergency you know”).

Sure enough this misguided speaker was about to have all the men at the men’s conference stand up and give their neighbors a hug and tell them they love them. This was supposed to fill a need we all had for brotherly love. I was seated next to Jeff, my brother in law. Now I like Jeff and yes, as a brother in Christ, I even love him. It’s just that I do not love hugging him, or anyone else of the Y chromosome. To be clear, this includes everyone of the X except my immediate family such as wife, mother and daughters. They seem to have an exemption to this aversion.

The point I am trying to make is men, myself very much included, absolutely do not want to hug other men. It’s an awkward moment. We certainly can’t grunt and make other manly noises (just think about that). In my opinion, men are only truly comfortable among other men when high-fiving or grunting is acceptable, perhaps an occasional “huahh!” For myself when confronted with these mass touchy feely moments, I prefer to look at the ceiling and pray that no one is carried away with the moment, putting their arms out in my direction. If cornered and with no escape, I opt for the hands only hug. No body contact, only a pat on the back (long honkin arms are good for this).

So with this deep perspective on being a manly man…. I am unable to explain some of things that happened on my recent trip to Ecuador. Mind you, unexplainable phenomena in actuality are usually quite easy to explain. At least that is my opinion of one who makes it his duty in life to know everything (that sounds better than being a know-it-all). This summer, I and 45 others went on a short term mission trip to Ecuador. During our preparation for the trip our leader was encouraging us as to how God will change us on this trip. Isaiah 55 really hits home here that God’s ways are not our ways. As it turns out, God did change me in a way that was really quite shocking. Let me give you some background. First, the people of Ecuador we met on the trip were some of the friendliest people on earth. Their love for God and each other was a shinning testimony to us. Their friendliness and love for each other was very attractive, it draws you in and makes you want to be a part of it. In fact a deep change was quickly overcoming me. The truth is Gods love, when demonstrated in truth, draws us in with little hope of us resisting. I was drawn by the smiles, the friendly eyes, the older siblings caring tenderly for the younger, the old shown respect, and the joy of the Lord in all circumstances.

Our first worship service there was quite a time. We entered into a large and modest sanctuary. We were a little late but that was totally unimportant. The music seemed to penetrate right to my heart and the joy expressed by almost everyone was infectious. It was truly a special worship experience. I noticed that when someone entered the service late and took their seat (quiet common and perfectly ok there), others nearby would reach over and give them a great big hug. There was no slipping in late and taking a quiet seat. Each person was important to his neighbor and it showed. The neat thing was that even though they didn’t know us yet, we were important to them too. I wanted to be a part of this worship and these wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ. Strangely, this transformation was happening with a people for all I knew were just off the boat from Babel—I couldn’t understand a word they spoke except maybe “grawshus”. It didn’t matter as Christian brothers and sisters as we were truly of the same family with the same Father.

What happened next was shocking. At each service we attended, they would play a song that had something to do with being a family, some amigo thing. As they played, everyone would rise from the safety of their seats and walk around hugging each other. I was lured into it. Now if evolution were true, I would have had a twitch or something that would have saved me from this display. After all, how many generations of manly men had preceded me to instill in my genes the anti-hug reaction? No, evolution had no hold. What had a hold is freedom from silly inhibitions and “Norte” coldness. For the first time in my life, I was a hugger by choice. I was even hugging my fellow North Americans and liking it (that sounds kind of funny but you know what I mean – brotherly love liking only).

Over the week, I hugged more times than I could count with a large number of self-initiated hugs. It even carried over to my return to North America (at least temporarily). This brings me to the unexplainable point. How does God do it? I mean, a self-proclaimed and proud of it hug-hater initiating hugging?? My only know-it-all explanation is that God in his infinite wisdom gave me a life changing experience and used hugging as part of his method. I have a better understanding now of 1 Cor 1:25 “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” God’s love when unburdened by silly inhibitions is where our strength really lies. I learned a lesson about the family of God and how truly special they are to me. His love is hard to hold in. I am now back home and I realize that what I experienced seems a little distant already and this is disappointing. Whether of not I can maintain a hug friendly attitude is unknown to me. What I do know is that I was changed and I’m glad I didn’t go to med school. It’s a start.

Dapper Dan Takes a Spin

Well cleaning has it's advantage beyond the obvious. In the process of organizing a closet, I found my album that contained the gem to the left. (At least I think that's left--I'm a little challenged that way). Granted, the photography is lame, but the memory, how shall we say it? The memory, she is priceless!!

Here is the photo Stephanie requested after reading a post in August about my wonderful son. As unthinkable as it seems, someone reading this right now may not recall that post, or perhaps, shudder, not have even read it. Therefore, I will post again the story behind the picture, in which our son demonstrated a keen fashion sense which would characterize much of the next seven years of his life.

It was in October and we'd recently bought a McDonald's Happy Meal that had come in a pumpkin bucket. Most folks probably assumed it was for "Trick-or-treating" but my boy knew how to think out of the box, or bucket. He took off the little lid and put that pumpkin bucket on his head with the handle tucked underneath his chin. He then set out with dad for a spin around the block on his big wheel. Sure, anyone can wear a helmet. It takes a real Dapper Dan to wear a pumpkin bucket.




The picture to the right (I hope that's right) shows his cousin using an identical pumpkin bucket in a far less creative, but certainly more convention way. Jonathan, by the way, is the cute little clown in the back.

A Face Only a Mother Could Post

Next week my baby will turn 12. In her honor, I told her next Wednesday I would post something all about her. (That's a lot of "her"s in one sentence!)

Before I do my nice tribute, I really need to get something off my chest.

When we went to Ecuador, one of the brilliant thoughts that went through my mind was, "Let's make sure to take a family picture so we can send it in our Christmas cards." Our first day in Ecuador we visited some great spots for a photo but my family was completely uncooperative. No one else had the same passion for my brilliant idea. "Oh well," I thought, "We'll get one another day."

However, as it turned out, most days all five of us were not in the same place at the same time. On our last day in Ecuador it hit me, "Oh my, we need a family picture." We gathered together so one of our sweet traveling companions, Nancy, could take the coveted family shot. My children were a little grumpy about this but I stressed to them why we needed to do it--it was brilliant I tell you!

Well the above photo of my little angel is a cut out from the first shot Nancy took. EVERYONE else looked great. In the next one, she had a decent smirk, but it wasn't good of her brother. When I saw this face I told her, "It will serve you right if I DO send this to everyone." Better yet, I am posting it on the internet where all 9 of my readers will see it--if they bother to check. Ha! Take that little missy! She's gonna think twice about ruining one of my brilliant plans again!!!

Now that I've had my revenge, maybe I can try to learn photo shop and paste her good face into the nice shot of everyone else.

More Teacher Ideas

In a previous post, entitled "Back to School Ideas", I made the observation that teachers have lots of mugs so maybe mugs aren't the best gift for a teacher. I suggested a replacement idea of Starbuck's gift cards, but now I think maybe I've found a better idea! After all, what would a person with a plethora of mugs like better than something to sit all those mugs upon? Practical as well as thoughtful! Not to mention with just the right homemade touch. Here's the answer...a mug rug.

In addition to 400+ baby quilts for the pregnancy counseling center, Grandma Della made more crafts than you could shake a stick at. As we've been sorting through her things and trying to find the right home for each, I have discovered more and more little handmade goodies. However, this particular creation spoke to me.

Supplies are basic: plastic canvas, brown yarn, white yarn, and a yarn needle. If you can spell "mug" and "rug" you can probably work out the simple needlepoint pattern. The design for the mug may be a little tricky, but I believe the above photo can be used to work out the number of stitches in each row.

This is just what teachers need. Be warned though, mug rugs are more time-consuming than buying a Starbucks card, so start early and set aside several hours to stitch all the rugs you need for each of the special teachers in your child's life. I'm sure they will be very pleased.

Then again, maybe not. Stick with the Starbuck's card. Especially if I ever happen to be your child's teacher.

More Than a Date on the Calendar

Today is a busy calendar day and extras included: 1st day of Catie's writing class, junior high soccer try-outs, ladies' ministry board meeting tonight... Everytime I wrote something new on the date, I of course thought of 9-11, not as a calendar date, but as an event. Like most Americans, I remember well the morning of 9-11-01, but it's amazing how much we forget, particularly some of the best lessons we could have learned from the horror of that day.

My sister called early in the morning to let me know about the World Trade Center. Scott was in the shower but I immediately turned on the radio, trying to understand the nature of her panicked phone call. The 1st Tower had already collapsed by the time I tuned in, but I was listening as they broadcast the collapse of the second. It all seemed surreal. All three kids were homeschooled at that time. We woke them up and told them what had happened and we prayed together. Shortly after, Scott left for work. We didn't have TV at the time, so I packed the kids up and we went over to watch at my sister's house. The images we watched on screen were even worse that the ones I had pictured while listening to the radio.

Some of my vivid memories in the days & weeks after 9-11 include the following:

1. I remember President Bush's address to congress. He and Tom Daschle actually gave each other a genuine hug. For one brief moment, it was not a group of Republicans and Democrats, but rather a group of Americans. I also remember President Bush acknowledging the brave actions of those on American Flight 93. Lisa Beamer, the wife of 9-11 hero Todd Beamer, was recognized from the balcony. When she stood, it was obvious that she was pregnant. I remember crying at this fresh reminder of the personal tragedy this national crisis meant to so many.
2. I remember many churches held evening prayer services for the express purpose of praying for our nation.
3. I remember the plethora of flags that were suddenly flying from every home and from the back of many cars. For a while, stores were sold out of flags. Our own flag, a relic from my childhood, had disintegrated some time earlier. It was to my shame that I had not replaced it. We flew a small, plastic 4th of July decoration until I purchased a new one.
4. I remember it was the first, and only time in my life that I rooted for the Yankees. As I nation, we all suddenly had a tender spot for New York, our respect for New York's mayor, Rudy Giuliani was great, and our desire to honor New York's police officers and fire fighters was sincere. For me, this translated to rooting for the Yankees in the World Series.
5. I remember people had a temporary openess to God. "God Bless America" brought tears to many eyes as it was sung during the 7th inning of baseball games and America was again okay with the "One Nation Under God" concept. Granted, it was a "God" that could be tailored to whatever the individual believed, but even so, there was a recognition of the need for faith in something bigger than ourselves.
6. I remember it was during this time that the kids and I started including prayers for our president in our morning prayer time together. It is a Biblical instruction to pray for our leaders, 1 Timothy 2:1-3 says, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior". Though a Biblical instruction, it took something like 9-11 to impress upon me the need to do this daily. We now also pray for our troops and their families in our morning prayer time.
7. I remember stories of heroism and sacrifice as tragedy brought out the best in many.

God taught us much through the tragedy of 9-11. I wish we had better memories. Unfortunately there will probably come a time when we will be able to put an event on the calendar without thinking about 9-11 as more that just the 11th day of September. For those who choose not to forget, there are lessons worth choosing to remember. I don't think I'll be rooting for the Yankees again anytime soon, but surely we would all benefit from that greater realization of our need for prayer, humility before God, and a willingness to set small diffences aside and care for our fellow man.

To Link or Not to Link...that is the Question

My oh my, if you want to offend bloggers in three easy steps here's one way to do it:
1. Change your template & thereby erase all your links.
2. Replace a couple of the links before hitting an impasse.
3. Give up because it's midnight and nothing is working.

You know, I saw it coming. I thought, "I can't leave off some of my links, someone's gonna be mad!" So I went to "edit", and left a little side note on my newest post explaining my dilemma, thinking that might solve the problem. Vanity, vanity, it was like chasing the wind, it didn't solve anything--two of my coveted six comments, that's 1/3 BTW, were to whine that they no longer had links!!!

Today the computer was cooperating and all the links are restored. Happy???

I'm also posting a picture of what I hope will become my new blog ID photo, or whatever you call it. This is the fish I most relate to... Dory! I have to appologize to her for misspelling her name in an earlier post. It is really a rather clever spelling because the word "Dory" also means a flat-bottomed boat with high flaring sides, sharp bow, and deep V-shaped transom. That is clever, something you'd expect from those clever folks at Pixar. Anyways, I spelled it "Dorrie" in an ealier post entitled "The Dorrie Club". I'm not quite so clever (I don't even know what a transom is!). As I said in that misspelled post, I so relate to the memory challenged individual Dory embodied in Finding Nemo. So, if I can figure out how to do it, she will be my new ID.

One last thing, if I neglected to add you back on to my links, at this point it's because I forgot that you were on my links. You can feel offended or remember who you're dealing with. Dory Club. Charter Member.

Kaiser & the Pearly Gates

Although Grandma went to be with the Lord July 10, we still have many, many reminders of her all around the house. Her legacy has continued in the things she taught us as well as the many things she made. We miss her.

Often the mail brings us reminders of a different kind. Kaiser, her health care provider, sent several letters and brochures to her in the weeks following her death ranging from "Health Tips for Seniors" to "Information Regarding Your Plan". The more time passed, the more I'd shake my head. You'd think her health care provider would have a clue that she no longer has health to provide for.

Finally in late August, we received a letter from Kaiser addressed to "The Estate of Della Rowlands". Eureka! They updated their records! However, the message on the outside of the envelope was a little baffling: "Important! Continuing Your Coverage: Enclosed is valuable information about how to continue your Kaiser Permanente membership. Please read the enclosed materials immediately."

Now I don't claim to know everything about heaven, but I'm thinking along with "No more tears and no more sorrows" it's also true that there is "no more Kaiser". I hope so, because we don't have a clue how to forward her this "important" information.


Sidenote: I got tired of pink. I changed my blog template tonight and lost all of my links. No problem--I'm so tech savvy I'll just put them on again, and THIS TIME, it will be alphabetical! (Except for Indiana Update--that's my sister & my inspiration, and she'll always be on top!) Anyway, I was working down my "favorites" shortcut and it was working dandy until I got to Andy. Everytime I added him, the entire side bar would erase. Personally, I think it's because of the unkind comments he made on Josh's blog about the Giants--not so dandy, Andy. I will try again tomorrow to add in all those awesome links I lost tonight. This is why I never redecorate my house!

If Life Gives You TP...Make Dresses

Just a quick post to let you know that we're making the most of the extra TP we have around our house lately. 34 rolls, according to a source who should know.

Whatever you can or can't say for these girls, they certainly are creative. I remember when all three of the kids were little and we bought a trampoline. The next day I found them all playing happily in the box it had come in--they were pretending it was a boat and having a great time.

This time, our two young ladies put on a fashion show. I'm sure these gowns will be all the rage soon. They're light weight, extremely affordable, and very practical if you happen to be some place like Ecuador, where you often supply your own tissue! They are not recommended for rainy climates however, so wear wisely.

Oh, and BTW, as much fun as we had with the TP, our trash can's a little full. So please, no more donationas until after trash day!

Lofty and Lowly Thoughts

Well I had some bigger-than-usual thoughts for a post this morning. I was challenged in April to read my Bible through in a year. Cheryl Miles, our speaker at the ladies retreat, mentioned that she had done this for the past couple of years and God has blessed much in the process. I resolved that weekend to do the same--I had begun many times but always ended up getting behind and giving up. Usually I ran into trouble when Bible study began and I couldn't keep up on both. Well I realized that it is not impossible to make time to read a couple extra chapters in the Bible each day--after all, there has NEVER in my life been a time that busyness prevented me from eating the entire day. It was time to take my spiritual feeding a little more serious. So I left that retreat in early April and resolved that I was going to read the entire Bible in a year.

About three weeks later, I thought I really need to get going on that resolve. I remembered that we had purchased a chronological Bible several years ago that was broken up into daily readings and I had really enjoyed it until I gave up. Only problem was, where was that Bible? Two weeks later, when I finally found the chronological Bible, I started my daily Bible reading with the goal of reading the entire Bible through in one year. That was May 8th and I am so thankful to say , by the grace of God, this morning's reading was September 3rd.

I have to say, I have been AMAZED at how God has blessed me in this endeaver. I began in Psalms (because Genesis is back in January) and the reign of David. I'm currently in Ezekiel, and though as I record my thoughts on my reading they often say things like, "This is very difficult for me to understand", even more often I find so many examples of God's grace, along with a greater appreciation for His holiness. It's awesome to me as well how God will use what I am reading chronologically, and apply it to another place I am studying. I saw Him do that in my preparation for teaching a Biblical Worldview to the high school girls this summer. I saw Him do that as I was preparing for VBS devotions for our Ecuador trip. In Sunday school two weeks ago, the topic was the omnipotence of God and Pastor Stan mentioned Jeremiah 32 as an example--I had read that same passage that very morning. God uses that repetition to build excitement, understanding and a love for His word!

I was pondering how God has blessed this undertaking while getting ready this morning. I was also thinking this would be good material for my next post and thankfully a little deeper than the past several! I was just getting ready to read the September 3 passages when one of the girls came running in, "We got TP'd!"

Well the brain gears switched quickly, the lofty thoughts vanished, and I ran to the window to survey the wreckage. Hmmm, this was a much better job than the one a couple of weeks ago. This one was creative! I picked up my camera and headed out to photograph the handiwork of some late night artists. I crawled under the plastic wrap wound across our front porch and started taking shot after shot. Beamer followed me out and instantly became very interested in the lawn. That's when I noticed the fruit loops. Scattered among the plastic knives were fruit loops galore and Beamer was most appreciative. Later, Michelle wrapped him in some of the TP as we cleaned up and he didn't even notice because he was so busy trying to collect as many of those fruity rings as he could.

Two thoughts to leave you with, maybe three:
1. Reading through the entire Bible is extremely rewarding--God will bless it in your life and grow you in your hunger for His Word!
2. Please feel free to ask me if I'm staying on top of my reading--I do better with accountability.
3. If you were involved in TPing our house--you did an excellent job, we were very impressed, and you'd better watch your back! :)

Bad Hair Days

Well thanks to my vast readership I have some new thoughts for posts. I made a list of 9 potential ideas so hopefully I'll have some very insightful musings to share for quite a while. Tonight's title is a good indication of just how insightful.

Megan suggested posting hairstyles I've worn over the years. As I pondered that one, what came to mind were the times I have cut my own bangs.

Haircutting seems to be a "talent" that runs in our family because both my sister and I have created some rare styles in our efforts at saving a few bucks. I think she has even more "talent" than me in this area. (Her sweet mother-in-law, who would hesitate to say anything uncharitable about anyone, has been rather blunt in the unkind things she has said about Jody's clipping.)

Unlike my sister, who gave Jeff & David some very infamous haircuts, the one most victimized by my lack of ability was myself. Quite often I have resorted to cutting my own bangs. Not only does it save money, my hair just grows so fast and my hairline begins so low (about an inch & a half above my eyebrows--my husband & I are rather opposites in this area), that it is just a matter of convenience. In earlier years, I was never too careful about it and thought to myself that because of the curl in my hair, no one could tell my bangs were not even. As I compare the height of my bangs from one side of my face to the other in this picture, I'm thinking I was either blind or delusional.

This picture reminds me not only of some very bad hair days, but also of my new found solution to that particular problem. Johnny's got the right idea...wear a hat.