How To Smile

That's a Good Question

2010-10-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Zachary, my 6 year old, has always been very inquisitive and analytical. I remember him telling me that he sang "the old lady who swallowed a fly" in preschool one day, and just could not understand why that lady would eat *all* of those things, just to get rid of a fly.

As he's gotten older, his questions most often turn to superheroes, the most common question being the "Who would win" question. "Who would win, batman or spiderman?"... "Who would win, Superman, or that guy who can't get hurt?" (That would be Wolverine) but sometimes they would branch out to, "who would you rather be?" or "who is your favorite?"

These questions require a lot of brain power on my part. It takes a considerable thought to compare all of the individual powers of each superhero & then have an imaginary fight in your head in order to answer a question like that. "Well, spiderman could catch batman with his web - but batman is very clever and always finds a way out of every problem. Plus, he's got those throwing star things, to cut himself out of the web. but spiderman..... wait a minute, does Batman have Robin with him? because that would put the odds in his favor..."

You can see why these questions might become a bit tiresome for me. So when Zachy started finding new subjects to ask about, i was relieved. And then I went from relief to laughter, because his thought process is so random. Allow me to share with you some examples from a recent car ride. --and while you read them, keep in mind that these were all asked in a time span of about 15 minutes while we drove from the store back to our house. As soon as I would answer one question, he's ask the next:

* If you didn't need food or water, and you couldn't open your mouth for your whole life, would you live?
* Would your mouth get hot?
* Is it cool the way your body works?
* Why?
* Who was the first person alive after the flood?
* Why is your breath hot? (this one apparently didn't get a satisfactory answer, because he still continues to ask questions about how our breath gets hot when we breath in cold air, and it's hardly spent any time in our body before we breathe it out)
* How do spiders make webs?
* If you shot an arrow really hard right through your pupil, would it go to the other side of your eye?
* How do you get throw up?
* Why do they make chapstick so yummy if you can't lick it off?
* Which is importanter: Christmas or Sunday?
* If we didn't have the word, "ow," what would we say when we got hurt?
* Why do people buy scarecrows?
* Why are they called scarecrows if they scare other kinds of birds?
* Aren't our eyes like windshield wipers?
* Why is every question that people don't know the answer to, a "good question?"

And now I find myself wishing he would go back to asking me simple superhero questions.

So how about you? Which is your favorite question and how would you answer it? And for 5 bonus points, who would win, Superman or Ironman? --and for the sake of argument, let's assume that Ironman does not have access to any kryptonite.

Weekly 7

2010-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

okay. so my amazing sister-in-law, Jody, has an amazing blog. In it, she did an author interview, which was really fun. And in the interview, she gave the link to Erin McCahan's blog. And Erin McCahan had the very clever blogging idea of Saturday Seven, in which she describes her week in 7 words. Well, I thought it was such a great idea that i'm going to ~~steal~~ borrow it. Now i'm not going to do it every saturday, because i don't usually blog on Saturdays. But i will be doing it here and there, and figured I should give Erin all of the creative credit. Thanks Erin! :)

So here's mine:

Boxes
Furniture hunting
Ants!
Produce
Growing anticipation

How about you? What's your weekly seven?

Unpack is the new Pack

2010-08-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we've moved into our house, & I'm working hard trying to get some semblance of order. But at least we have the computer up and going. :) Everything is one big chaotic mess right now. Pretty stressful. But the house is great. The kids woke up yesterday morning & went straight into the jacuzzi. Our garden is producing large zucchinis, and looks like soon, we'll have some beans or something. The giant tree in the back yard is working hard to ripen the hundreds of avocados that are hanging from its branches, and the 5+ orange and lemon trees peek into my windows and show off their lovely happy colors to me as I work.

This Saturday, we'll be celebrating Gideon's birthday at a nearby park, and Monday, Chloe & Gideon will begin attending public school for the first time ever!

And now I'm off to explore the plethora of boxes scattered through my house. I think if i can ever figure out where to put everything, I'll really enjoy it here. until then, it's work work work.

Moving

2010-08-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

We're moving this weekend! Last night we went by the new place and dropped off a load of stuff. It's starting to feel homey already. We'll be making the big move this weekend.

The house is just a few blocks away from where my grandma used to live - and almost the same model home. It's funny to be there, and sort of feel like I'm at Grandma's.

Revival

2010-08-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, here I go again. Yet another attempt to revive The Blog. Seems like whenever I read, I'm motivated to write (what irony). And tonight, I enjoyed looking at a project that someone did, where they took a photograph of themselves every day for 365 days. It was inspirational, because she's an amazing photographer... and while I really wanted to do a challenge like that, I knew it was unrealistic, because there's no way I'd have the time or creativity to take a cool picture of myself every day ...and I'm sure you'd all be bored looking at the same exact pose 365 different times. So I figured, why not give you a small verbal snapshot of myself each day, along with an occasional visual snapshot? Just typing that makes me feel narcissistic, but my motivation is pure. It really has little to do with showing myself to you because i know you're all desperately waiting, but had more to do with saving moments in time for myself to look back upon --- which i think just made me sound all the more self absorbed. Oh well... I guess I can't escape it.

So. here we go. Snapshot day1 ... oooh! since i seem to be changing the direction of The Blog - yet again- maybe i should change the title -yet again... will consider the title, "Snapshots." What do you think?
-distracted- let me start again.
Snapshot day 1:

Today I finished reading "Hank the Cowdog" to my kids. This was fun for me, because I remember reading it (and meeting the author!) when I was in 5th grade. They all enjoyed it just as much as me, and kept begging me not to put it down. :) It was also a little sad, though because I know that our cuddling-on-the-couch-around-a-good-book times are coming to an end, because my two big kids will be going to public school this fall.

Choice one: if you want Karina to be sad about this decision, continue reading here: *SOB!* {runs from computer and throws herself on the bed in a fit of tears and cries herself to sleep}

Choice two: if you want Karina to be happy about this decision, read here: *WaHoo!!* {leaps away from computer and celebrates her upcoming freedom by doing the happy dance until the clock strikes midnight}

Did I mention that I've also been reading a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book to the kids?

Things That Make Me Smile

2010-04-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Well, true to form, I have proven to be incapable of keeping with a weekly schedule, with this little blog, so i'm officially giving up. I'll write when i can write - which isn't often, but at least it's something.

And now, some things that have made me smile lately:

I HAPPY that my house is really super duper clean. --I mean *really* clean. Over the last couple weeks, we've been doing my first spring cleaning ever. (we've never stayed in a house for more than two years. Moving has always been my "spring cleaning" --but this house, we've been in for four years. It was really needing some help). My poor kids have been working like crazy with me, and aren't allowed to do anything but sit on the floor, for fear that they'll mess it up, but at least the house is clean, doggone-it!

SMILING that i hear classical music coming from my boys' room. As a result of our cleaning process, The boys got an old CD player in their room, along with a case of all our CD's. I'm amused that their regular choice of music is classical.

ENJOYED our much needed family vacation to Joshua Tree National Park. our vacation was several days, but the day in Joshua Tree was the highlight for me. I have to admit that I was not looking forward to spending my vacation in the desert... but it was full of all kinds of interestingness. I took tons of pictures with my new camera & will hopefully post them some day, if I can ever finish edditing my latest wedding photos.

Which brings me to how much I LOVE my new camera!!! A few weeks back, I sold all of my Pentax camera gear (which was very hard to part with), and bought a new Canon camera & a few lenses. I had 2 weeks to learn how to use the thing before my next wedding shoot. eek! I felt like I was cramming for a test. But learn it I did, and I'm loving the results! The pictures are beautiful. So long, Pentax. You'll always be my first love. Here's one of my very first pictues from the new camera:

Along the lines of my new camera, I had lots of FUN being a wedding photographer for the third time. This time, for Chris' business partner, Adam. A sweet, simple wedding in a tiny little chapel up in the wine country.

You can see more of the pictures as I edit them on my facebook photo page.
In other news I'm PROUD of Evelyn for learning how to ride her bike while we were on our vacation. Yay Evelyn!!

Also, I can't tell you how THANKFUL I am to have Chris in my life, to help me deal with the tough stuff. After the brutal death of one of our mice few weeks ago, and then amputating another one's tail last week, I've come to 2 conclusions: 1) I don't handle gore very well, and 2) Chris really is my hero. I don't know what I'd do without him.

And finally, I'm EXCITED that I was recently a finalist in a photo contest! It was very fun & I won all kinds of great stuff. --and to make it even better, it was one of my favorite pictures of my grandma, right before she died.

Happy Cookieversary to Us!

2010-03-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. The time of year when I bemoan the fact that I just don't make chocolate chip cookies like I used to. But I'm thankful for Chloe who has taken up the joy of cookie-making, and while I was away, made a lovely batch with the babysitter. So this evening Chris and I will enjoy some homemade cookies together, and remember our first romantic encounter in Grandma's kitchen . Who would have thought on that day, that thirteen years later, we would have a daughter who was baking for us?

Random Trivia that I've learned through homeschooling

2010-03-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest joys in homeschooling is all the fun stuff that *I* get to learn with the kids. I thought I'd share some of the things I've discovered recently:

- When you get hot, the blood vessels in your skin get wider. This lets more blood into your skin. The extra blook makes your face look red. But it let the air around you cool your blood down faster.

- When Columbus sailed the ocean blue, he landed in San Salvador (named by him, which means "Holy Savior") He never actually discovered North America --that was later dicovered by an English man: John Cabot.( --obviously by "discovered," I'm not reffering to the natives who lived there, or the Vikings who had discovered it long before - I mean discovered by the Europeans). Here's another interesting snippet from our history book "A Child's History of the World" --a *great* book, by the way): "People soon began to say it was nothing for Columbus to have sailed westward until land was found, that anyone could do that. One day when Columbus was dining with the king's nobles, who were trying to belittle what he had done, he took an egg and, passing it around the table, asked each one if he could stand it on end. No one oculd. When it came back to Columbus, he set it down just hard enough to crack the end slightly and flatten it. Of course, then it stood up. 'You see,' said Columbus, 'it's very easy if you only know how. So it's easy enough to sail west until you find land after I have done it once and shown you how.' ....Some [people] were so spiteful and jealous of [Columbus'] success that they even charged him with wrongdoing...Columbus was put in chains and shipped home. Although he was promptly st free, Columbus kept the chains as a reminder of men's ingratitude and asked to have the burried with him....When at last he died in Spain, he was alone and almost forgotten even by his friends."

- speaking of the Americas, they interestingly (and obviously) enough were not named after Columbus. Instead, they were named after Americus Vespucci who, after traveling to the New World, wrote a book about it.

- I also thought it was very fascinating to learn about Magellan's travels (he's credited for being the first to sail all the way around the world). Only one of his five ships made it all the way around, but did you know that Magellan wasn't acutally on that ship? He was killed inthe Philippines by the natives before completing the trip.

Things that make me smile #7 (and some things that don't)

2010-03-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the week again. I've been looking forward to the time when my kids were in school today, so I could sit down and write about all the lovely happy thoughts I've been having. This morning, as I took Gideon to the doctor to get his stitches out, I thought about how I would share that exciting news with you later in the day. But just as we were leaving, chloe and evelyn collided as they ran down the driveway to the car. Evelyn did a faceplant and ended up with all kinds of scrapes on her hands and knees. So I got her home, finished placing the five bandaids in various places, and set my attentions on rebandaging gideon's thumb (because the doctor did a bad job). Just as I was finishing with Gideon, chloe came into the room holding her mouse in her hands, and went into a big long story about how she accidentally cut the mouse with some scissors. Then she opened her hands to show me her mouse covered in blood. After much discussion it was decided that the poor little thing should be put out of its misery, so we took it to Chris at work so he could do the Deed. I'm sure it was pretty funny sight to see chris standing in the parking lot with his three girls all bawling as they hand him a paper bag. I think I cried as much as chloe. I'm such a sap. The big question of the moment was, "how is daddy going to kill it?"   We drove away with chloe yelling "bring it back in one piece!

After my very eventful morning (this all happened before 9:30 am), I've come to two conclusions. 1.   between the mouse and Gideon's thumb I've had my fill of blood and gore for the rest of the month -maybe even the year. and 2. It's a really good thing I never tried to be an ER nurse. I never would've made it.

so...now that i've mostly recovered from all that trauma, I'm ready to get my mind off of it by sharing the things that have made me smile this recently:

I'm SMILING about the beautiful weather we've had this week, and all the time we've spent at the beach. And i'm LOVING all the tidepools and rocks that have been uncovered on the beaches after our recent storms. We've found so many great seashells and things. There's so much seaglass all over the place that I've had to buy new jars to hold our collection. Plus, after finding a golf ball every time we're there, we've started a new collection.

Over the weekend, I ENJOYED going out to a local Japanese restaurant for chris's birthday. We got to watch the chef prepare our dinner at our table, complete with some spatula percussion, egg juggling, and a giant fire. We also had a GREAT TIME on sunday evening celebrating with friends.

I've LOVED the girlfriend time i've had this week. lots of fun with good friends.

I LAUGH when I look in the refrigerator an see the bright green goo sitting in a tupperware container. That's what's leftover from our very colorful St. Patrick's Day meal that we had last night which consisted of corned beef, cooked red cabbage, green mashed potatoes, green milk, and a salad.

I've been AMAZED every day when I look at Gideon's thumb and see his skin reattaching itself and growing back together.  I can't think of anything that man has made that could do something so miraculous.   What an amazing God we have! I'm in such wonder, that gideon has begun to complain. Every time I look at his thumb, I exclaim, "That's Amazing!!" and he rolls his eyes and says, "you *always* say that!" :)

I'm CELEBRATING because Gideon got his stitches out today (as you've already heard)!   Our celebratory dinner will be breakfast burritos at Gideon's request. And while i'm on the subject of getting the stitches out, you might be interested to know that I asked the doctor how often he sees this kind of cut. His answer: About 3 times a week (!!!!) often from experienced chefs who say, "i've never cut myself before!"

LOVE the fact that mice can be quickly & easily replaced with a quick trip to petco and a couple bucks. I'm also GRATEFUL for the fact that my children learned a life lesson on experiencing the loss of a loved one. Not fun, but a part of life that must be experienced. --and also the life lesson of being careful with scissors...and pets.

and finally,

I've LOVED pondering what it means to be the apple of God's eye. Trying to understand what that meant, I looked it up on Wikkipedia. this is what they said: "The original Hebrew for this idiom was 'iyshown 'ayin (אישון עין), and can be literally translated as "Little Man of the Eye." This is a reference to the tiny reflection of yourself that you can see in other people's pupils." This made me think about how that little reflection of yourself is only seen when someone is looking at you closely. I love the idea that God's face is so close to mine that I can see my reflection in His eyes. Just like lovers gazing into each other's eyes.

--
Update: I've just returned from picking the kids up from school where, I'm told, Zachary fell on his face. He's got a nice little scratch on his nose & several band aids to match Evelyn's. And now I must run to help Gideon who, I'm told, has just stepped in the dog poop he was supposed to be cleaning up. If next Thursday is anything like today or last week's, I might just start boycotting Thursdays --or maybe I'll just buy stock in Band-aids..

Have Fun!

2010-03-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, as I was dropping my darlings off at school, I waved good-bye and hollered sweetly after them, "have fun!" as is my habit any time I leave my children to do something without me. But this time I was struck by what a strange statement this was. Why is it that my parting words to my children are always, "have fun?" Is that really the very best and greatest wisdom that I have to give them as they leave the shelter of my arms to face the perilous world out there?

on the other hand, if I didn't tell my children to have fun, would the forget? Would they have an awful time, just because I forgot to tell them to have fun? What a rediculous statement! I put it in the same box as statements like "drive safe!" and "take care!" When people tell me things like that, I know that they're trying to express kind thoughts, but I want to reply, "Wow! I'm so glad you told me to drive safe! I was planning to drive recklessly and crash into a tree, but because you told me to drive safe, I'm certainly going to change those plans."

But back into the world of mommyisms: It would make sense that whatever final words I give to my children on a regular basis would emphasize what I value. Is having fun my greatest value? Is it the one thing that I want my children to think about and remember through the day? I don't think so.

Therefore, regardless of whether it will actually change my children's behaviors or actions, I want my words to be full of meaning and purpose. And so I am on a quest to change this very meaningless little phrase that I frequently say to my children into something more intentional.

So... what are my values? What would I like to instill in my children's subconscious little hearts?
My mom and I have been talking about the importance of teaching children to value and enjoy hard work. I've been trying out, "Work hard!" It doesn't quite feel right.
Probably my number one value is kindness. Should I say "Be kind"?
or perhaps, "love well!"
or maybe "be kind, love well, work hard and have fun! --and while I'm at it, don't forget all those other things I've been trying to teach you!--and I love you!"

this reminds me of the very funny mom song that I think i've posted here before. Maybe I should just play that as my kids are running out the door.
What do you think? What would you say?

A day to remember

2010-03-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

It began like any other day. After enjoying one of my final days with Mom before she went home to Texas, I picked up the kids from school & they all settled down for snacks and naps. Within 15 minutes of our arrival home, I heard the most terrified scream ever coming from Gideon.   He came back to my bedroom, screaming that he'd cut himself. In my usual unconcerned manner, I got up slowly and nonchalantly told him to go rinse the cut off in the sink while I got him a bandaid. As I watched him rinse off of his hand, I noticed that the blood didn't seem to wash away. It just kept coming. And coming... And coming.  Then it occured to me that a bandaid was not going to contain all of that blood. A hint of panic struck me, and as I went back to my medicine closet to search for gauze, I pondered what my next step of action should be. This didn't seem quite serious enough for me to call 911. On the other hand, I just couldn't figure out what to do about all the red stuff that seemed to be flowing endlessly out of his thumb.

Adrenaline is a funny thing. It heightens your heart rate, and makes your mind do all sorts of crazy things. Some people get panicky& start yelling, and running in aimless circles. Others get into a zone of clarity, & work super-efficiently. Me, I freeze. (this was a moment of self discovery for me, as I've never been in such a split second emergency type of situation before). All I could do, was let my mind wander in circles as to the best course of action: bandaid? too much blood. 911? they would laugh at me. Call chris? he's working - and besides, what would he do? He can't see it to tell me what to do, and it'd take forever before he got here. By then Gideon will bleed to death. Maybe I *should* call 911. WHERE IS THAT GAUZE!? what on earth am I going to do once i find the gauze? I wonder if his blood is spurting with his heart beats like it does in the movies? 911? Call chris? Call mom? That's it! I'll call mom! She'll know what I should do!

And so I called mom, who was visitng a friend just down the street, and in my calmest voice - choking back tears (because apparently, extreme adrenaline surges make me want to cry), I said, "mom. I need you. NOW. Gideon's cut himself."
Mom: "is that Gideon screaming in the background? I'll be right over"

While waiting for Mom to arrive, I wrapped the gauze around Gideon's thumb, and asked the other kids how this had happened. "He was cutting a frozen orange." what??

Within the few minutes it too mom to get here, the blood had soaked all the way through the bandage. After a quick examination, she said that I should take Gideon to the local med center. So i shoved a bunch of toilet paper into his hand to catch any more blood that may be spewing, and we got in the car to drive to the med center. As we drove, I called chris to tell him to come meet me, and Gideon occaisionally interrupted his nonstop screaming to ask questions about what the doctor was going to do to him and how much it would hurt.   I could tell that he was beginning to go into shock because his speech was getting slurred and he was shivering like crazy. We parked in front of the office & i carried him to the door. It was then that i noticed that I hadn't bothered to bring any shoes for him. Oh well. Who need shoes in an emergency? I walked in the door and told the receptionist that my son had cut his finger. She took one look at the bloody wrappings and sent us straight back to and exam room.

By this time Gideon had stopped screaming and put on his brave face. The nurse who examined him asked if he would be having pizza and video games that night - and then informed me that it was standard practice for all mothers to pamper their traumatized children with pizza and video games once the ordeal was over. Good to know.

10 minutes later, the doctor came in. 10 minutes!! didn't anyone tell him my son was bleeding to death!? He was very casual about the ordeal. Took a quick look, and then informed Gideon that he would be giving him a shot to take away the pain. "It's going to hurt when I give you the shot. But only for about 5 seconds and then it won't hurt anymore. I never lie to children. Only adults."   After the pain was gone, and Gideon had a groggy smile, the doctor took a closer look at the wound. "Well, the skin is still attached, so that's good." He looked at me, "If he were to cut off the whole thing, you would need to be sure to bring it in with you, so we could sew it back on." Mentally noted.  Then he turned to the trainee who had come in with him. "usually when this happens, they cut through the fingernail, too."  USUALLY?! how often does this sort of thing happen!?

As the doctor stiched up Gideon's finger, Chris came in to join the fun. We nervously chatted while Gideon's flesh was mended. Then it occured to me that this was the first time that Gideon had ever had stiches! A momentous occasion! Of course, it needed to be doccumented with photos. The doctor loved this idea, and covered Gideon's hand in red iodine to help make it look more gruesome.

When everything was done, Gideon decided that he didn't want pizza for dinner. He wanted pancakes. So we went home, and I made pancakes for my brave little boy. And Chris was very kind to take all the kids out shopping with him while I cooked. This was greatly apreciated by me, because i really needed some time to come down from my adrenaline high & recover from my traumatic experience. I think it was harder on me than it was on Gideon.

And of course, we had to take one more picture, for Gideon to show off to his friends, while the bandaid conceals his "battle wound."

Jokes by Evelyn

2010-03-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

we had a ~~funny~~ ~~ammusing~~ intersting night of joke telling with the kids this evening. Here were two of the "jokes" that Evy told.

E: how do you get a sign and a tree out of a tree that's not metal, it's glass?
me: (verifying that I understand the question) how do you get a glass sign out of a tree?
E: yah. but no. it's not glass it's metal
me: it's metal?
E: yah. with glass around the edges
me: so, how do you get a metal and glass sign out of a tree?
E: yah.
me: um..shake it out?
E: no
me: you climb up and get it?
E: no
me: I don't know. I give up.
E: you climb up in the tree and get it down.

E: Why did all the fish in the world that aren't whales or sharks or jellyfish or anything that eat other fish cross the road?
me: Why?
E: because they couldn't eat anything so they died.

and one by Gideon (which is what prompted the previous one by Evy):
Why did the starfish cross the road without looking both ways?
me: because he couldn't turn his head?
G: no
me: because there weren't any cars coming?
G: no
me: why?
G: because he was at a crosswalk and the light turned green.

GROAN!
sometimes i laugh really hard at my kids jokes just because they are so *not* funny

Things That Make Me Smile #6

2010-02-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

I'm rushing around, getting ready to make the forever drive to Ikea, where we will be buying some supplies for our church. But I thought I'd just check in super quick because i don't like leaving a depressing post as my most recent. So... a couple things that made me smile recently:

LOVE having my mom in town! She's been here for about a week and has a couple more to go. We've enjoyed spending time at the beach and going out to birthday lunches, and just sitting around talking. I just adore my mom, and am so thankful to have some time together.

LOVED Chloe's 9th birthday last week! For her gift she wanted to go horseback riding, so we found a little place that would take us for an hour and a half. The little kids stayed home & it was just me, chris, chloe, & gideon. It was so cute watching the kids learn how to sit on a horse and steer. we rode through the beautiful mountains, and had a wonderful time! and a little less than a week later, my butt is still bruised. ;)

Things that make me sad

2010-02-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was feeling a bit down, so I thought it would be the perfect time to start my first "Things-That-Make-Me-Smile" post of the new year, in an effort to cure my gloominess. But I didn't get very far, because the busy-ness of life interrupted me. And the next day, Chris and I recieved some bad news. There's no need to go into the details of it, other than to say that it was really discouraging for me. I was so down, that I couldn't even begin to think about writing a post about smiling. I only wanted to cry and think about how I was hurt and angry and sad.

I didn't want to pout. But those of you who have tried will understand how hard it was for me to convince my emotions to stop feeling the way they did. Emotions by nature are irrational, and no amount of convincing, cajoling, or chocolate could persuade them to feel any other way. And so I sat in my emotional darkness, waiting for those cruel little guys lose the battle to my sunnier (and ordinarily more victorious) emotions --or at least to show me a little mercy and take a break from their tireless nagging. Well, I'm happy to say that after a week of moping, I had my very first day of good mood-ness. This is a great relief to me, because I hated being sad. And while battle still contiues, I'm glad that I'm seeing more sunshine than clouds lately. And hopefully by next week, I'll be able to share my new "Things That Make Me Smile" post.

Random Facts About Me

2010-01-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

In honor of my birthday today, I thought I'd re-post something I did on facebook awhile back. It was a fun little game where you think of 25 random facts about yourself, & list them for friends to see. I've taken that, and added some more, just for fun. I'll put a link to this page on my sidebar and add more as I think of things. If you can think of a fact about me that should be added, feel free to post it in the comments. I can always delete it if I don't want anyone knowing. ;)

1.I have a great memory for anything that leaves an emotional impression --especially music. But I have a terrible memory for numbers --unless the numbers have some sort of emotional value attached to them.

2. i've gotten so good at tuning out all the noises form the children talking & playing, that I often don't hear them when they're talking to me. "mom.. mom!... MOOOM!!!:

3. I hate almost every activity that needs to be repeated on a daily basis, including cooking, cleaning, and bathing... "i just did this yesterday!!"

4. i'm an increadibly loyal person and *hate* losing touch with anyone, even if i only met them once...which is why I love facebook. :)

5. It's impossible for me to talk without using a lot of expression. If i'm not feeling well enough to adequately express myself, i'd rather just not talk.

6. when I type, I put happy faces at the end of almost every sentence. I just can't help myself. I *need* to use facial expression! :) :) :) :)

7. i've been told that i look like Claire Danes, Gwenyth Powltrow, Cameron Diaz, and Kirstin Dunst.

8. I can't stand Kirstin Dunst...she reminds me too much of me!

9. My favorite flowers are star lilies. I just love how the smell fills the room.

10. I've always regretted not getting my bachelor's degree.

11. When my kids grow up, i'd like to be professional photographer.

12. I *really* regret not taking cosemtology classes in high school

13. i'm *terrible* at returning phone calls and emails.

14. I'm kind of lazy, and would often rather not do something fun, if it involves work to do it -- which is why i seldom take my kids to the beach . I wasn't like this until I had kids.

15. I *love* people. I love being with people. I'm energized by being with people. But i'm dreadfully shy. So shy, that if i see someone i know in the store, i try to hide. Or if i'm at a meeting of some sort, I'll pretend to be reading something so I don't have to talk to anyone.

16. one of my highest values is kindness.

17. I can't stand to see anyone or anything hurt. even an annoying bug. i feel terrible anytime i have to kill one. If there's any way I can avoid it, I will. If it must be killed, I try to get someone else to do it, & then hide, so I don't have to watch.

18. I hate conflict of any kind, & will go to great lengths to avoid it.

19. I seldom apreciate new technology.
~ I thought CD's were dumb --"they'll get scratched just like records!"
~I wondered who on earth would want a digital camera... "it's not a good picture unless you can hold it in your hand...and the lag time after pushing the shutter: don't get me started!"
~ I thought cell phones were annoying "if you want to call me, call me when I'm at home!"
~ I thought MP3 players were rediculous "what if you don't want to listen through the earphones??"

20. I know about half of the employees at our local grocery store by name, and I have to plan extra time for my shopping, because i know i'll be stopping to talk to a lot of them while i'm there.

21. I've always wished I could be cool &; artsy &; quirky.

22. I'm somewhat concerned that i'm never going to grow up.

23. i smile when I'm nervous or uncomfortable. If i'm *really* nervous, i smile a LOT... which is really inconvenient, if i'm in a serious situation... like if i'm telling chris i just totalled the car, or something (remember fact # 18?) The upside is that i usually make a great impression at job interviews because of my "great smile" :)

24. I *love* getting things in the mail! ( real things like cards & packages. not junk mail)

25. i love to help people. you know, with little kids, how you ask if someone wants to help & they *all* raise their hand & say "pick me! pick me!" ? I never grew out of that. (see random fact #22)

26. my feet are always cold, but i seldom wear socks. when i must wear socks, i use thos thick fuzzy ones that never match what i'm wearing

27. the three hardest times in my life were: when i placed my baby for adoption; my first year of marriage; my first year of motherhood.

28. i love being a mother.

29. i hate being a housewife. mainly because of fact #3 and probably also #14. It takes away a lot of the joy i have in mothering.

30. my first kiss w/chris was on the night we got engaged... not that we waited *that* long, since we met & married in five months. :)

31. My mom is my greatest hero.

32. I think the whole question of whether the glass is half-full or half-empty can be easily decided by asking if the glass was just filled, or if someone just drank out of it?

33. I don't use capital letters very often when i type. This bad habit started when Chloe was a little baby and I could never put her down. So I would chat in chat rooms on the internet to pass the time. but I could only type with one hand because i was holding the baby with the other. That made pressing the shift key more difficult, so I didn't. I'm working hard on breaking that bad habit.

34. I don't drink coffee. I tried to like it once, because that's what grown-ups drink. But then I noticed that everbody I know who drinks coffee is adicted, & would like to break the habit, and I decided that it's silly to try to force myself to like something that will only become a bad habit, so I quit trying.

35. I feel the same way about alcohol as I do about coffee.

36. I've never been on a diet.

37. My life's dream is to have an orphanage in Africa. This started when I read an article about Compassion International. In the article they talked about children who were living alone, scavenging for food in a trash dump. The tragedy was that there was no one to help them or take them in because there were so many orphans. I couldn't understand why there weren't enough people to help, & thought, "someone should do something about this!" As quickly as that thought went through my mind, a new one came, "I will."

38. I'm 6 ft. tall, and wear size 11 shoes. I'm constantly discouraged by how difficult it is to find inexpensive clothing that fits well.

39. I love to laugh and enjoy people with a good sense of humor.

40. I love starting new projects, but I'm terrible at finishing them.

41. My drink of choice is milk.

42. My favorite TV show of all time is Pushing Daisies. I'm sad it only lasted 2 seasons.

43. Because of my height, I'm often asked if I ever played volleyball, basketball, or any other sport. The answer to that question is no. I've never played sports, except for the occaisional tennis "game" with my dad when I was in grade school.

44. I love to dance. Five minutes of loud music, dancing, and singing at the top of my lungs is the perfect emotional pick-me-up for me.

45. I was a nerd in high school. (not like the smart kind. the dorky kind)

46. My childhood pets included (but were not limited to) a parakeet who was beheaded by my pet ferrett; a gerbil who died after being thrown against my bedroom wall by a certain person who will go unnamed; and a baby duck who was smothered to death in a certain other person's bed, when they were trying to keep it warm at night,

Enjoying Life

2010-01-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my birthday. I love birthdays. I love having a special day. And if it were up to me, I'd celebrate my whole birthMONTH. To celebrate my birthday, I spent today doing laundry, and endless paperwork for school. That way there would be nothing that I *have* to do tomorrow! Sadly for birthday me, I got tired of doing yucky stuff today & decided that I should go ahead and start celebrating a little bit early, by not finishing the laundry. That means that tomorrow I have to fold the mountain that I washed today. But that's okay, because at least I'm not doing *all* of it on my birthday! :)

Tomorrow, Chris is planning to come home early (I love rainy days when he can't work!), and take me out to lunch. Then we've planned to play games, roast marshmallows, and generally lay around being cozy in the living room while it rains outside. For dinner, the family will be going out to eat at my favorite restaurant, which is right on the beach. Maybe we'll get to see the giant waves crashing over the pier while we're there! Then we'll bring the kids home to stay with my very kind father-in-law who has agreed to babysit, and Chris and I will go out to a movie (I'm planning to see Leap Year, which doesn't look amazing, but this is the only day of the year that Chris will willingly watch a girly movie with me, and this is the only one that's out, so we'll be watching it whether it's good or not, doggone it!).

Saturday, we'll be extending the festivities (because that's the kind of girl I am) by going to visit the Getty Museum while the kids stay with Grandpa. I've wanted to visit ever since I moved here twelve years ago, and it's finally working out. Yay! :)

Science vs. Fairy Tale

2010-01-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

Today's science lesson began with an introduction to the animals of Australia & its surrounding islands. I read to the children, "Unlike other mammals, monotremes do not have any teats. Instead, baby monotremes lick up milk that seeps out of glands in the mother's skin." This very interesting fact was followed up with a question from Evelyn, "What's a teat?" I answered matter-of-factly, using simple words that she would understand easily, "It's like a mamma's boobie, where the baby gets it's milk from." The light turned on in her mind, and she exclaimed knowingly, "Oh! Like Boobie and the Beast!"

Shortly after, we learned about the birds of New Guinea. Our book described the way male birds of paradise fluff up their feathers & show off their good looks in order to attract a female. It went on to tell about bowerbirds, who atract their females by building elaborate "bowers", decorated with flowers and berries. The female selects the male whose bower impresses her the most. (as a sidenote a bower is defined as, "A large nest made of grass and bright objects, used by the bower bird during courtship displays; A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods; A woman's bedroom or private apartments, especially in a medieval castle; A picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat" --isn't that romantic!?) Check out this picture of the beautiful bower that was built for one lucky chick. (found on Nick Triantafillou' flickr site--a great photograph don't you think?)

This lesson on how birds pick their mates seemed like a great opportunity for me to teach my children the importance of picking a good mate for themselves. I explained how, just like birds, different people are attracted to different things in a husband or wife. Some people are attracted to a good looking person. Some are attracted to someone with lots of money, or a nice home. Some people want someone with similar aspirations, etc. Then I said (especially to the boys), "Do you think that if you choose a wife just because she's pretty, that you will be happy for the rest of your life with her? People's appearances change as they get older, and they won't look the same as they did when they were young. So if that's the only thing you look at when you pick someone, you might be disappointed when you get older." Zachary thought about this for a minute, while I went on to talk about other things you can look for in a spouse. And then he said, "Then you should pick someone because you like their hair, because your hair stays the same when you get old." Guess that's what the handsome prince was thinking when he rescued Rapunzel.

27 Random Things I Learned From Driving Across the Country With Four Children

2010-01-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well, after all that to-do about how I wouldn't be posting anytime soon...we decided not to go to Big Bear this week, and I've got a quiet evening to myself, while Chris plays basketball. So.... i will give you a little bit more detail about the last several weeks of my life.

As is our usual Christmas tradition, we drove to Dallas, TX for the holidays to spend the time with my family and friends. While we've always flown, having four kids over the age of two made that a financial impossibility this year, so we decided to truck it. We had a wonderful time driving through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and it was fun to see the land. The three days of driving each way was a very educational experience for me, and I thought you might enjoy hearing what I learned.

1. There are five prisons between Santa Barbara, CA and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
1b. There is one windmill.
2. It is possible for the one and a half hour drive between Phoenix and Tucson to turn into a six hour drive.
3. Truck drivers know everything that's happening on the roads ahead of them.
4. Truck drivers are very friendly to women who stick their heads out the window and ask them to share their infinite knowledge.
5. A little dust storm can cause a lot of damage!
6. If you ever need to steer around Hwy. 10 in Arizona because you've been sitting still on the road for hours due to your second encounter with a 20 car pile-up, driving over dirt roads that run through cotton fields is an excellent option.
6b. This Should not be attempted if your car doesn't have a GPS system.
7. If you happen to be driving on dirt roads through cotton fields in Arizona, this is a wonderful educational opportunity. Pull the car over and pick some cotton to show your children.
8. It's possible for a dust storm to get so bad that you can't see anything outside of your car.
8b. This is a bad time to be exploring Arizona by way of a dirt road.
8c. It's also a bad time to decide that you want to educate your children by running out into a field to pick cotton for them.
9. My children are amazingly well behaved in the car.
10. Bribing the kids with various gifts every couple hours goes a long way toward keeping them well behaved.
11. Gideon can amuse himself for hours, playing "war" with two pencils and a piece of paper.
12. My children aren't so well behaved when we let them out of the car after driving for several hours.
13. I can no longer take pride in the fact that I don't get carsick
14. Chocolate milkshakes go a long way toward curing my carsickness. Starbucks hot chocolate: not so much.
15. My children's cheeks turn red when they ride in the car for an extended length of time
16. The majority of trucks on the road between Santa Barbara, CA and Dallas, TX are from Indiana, Maine, and Tennessee (in that order). (Why maine?? What on earth does the whole country need from Maine??)
17. There are two major choices for driving from California to Texas: Hwy 10 and Hwy 40
18. Hwy 40 has a lot more snow and windmills. Hwy 10 has a lot more dust and prisons.
19. There is a mass exodus occuring from Minnesota to the southwestern part of the country.
20. While there may be hundreds of Mennesotans driving on Hwy 40, we couldn't find a single one driving on Hwy 10.
21. The Grand Canyon is beautiful when it's covered in snow.
22. When the Grand Canyon is covered in snow, it's a bad idea to walk out to the very edge, because it may not be the edge at all. It may just be a big chunk of snow that's sticking off of the edge, and it may not be strong enough to hold your weight.
23. It's a bad idea to go walking around in snow, when you have holes in your shoes.
24. A three day car trip is the perfect time to knit a scarf.
25. If you want to knit a scarf in three days, you must knit for the entire three days.
26. It's possible for Dallas to have a white christmas!

27. As fun as it is to go on a road trip, and spend time with family and friends, it's a wonderful feeling to be home again.

One small step...

2010-01-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

I know I've beem MIA since December. Our family took a road trip to Texas so we could celebrate the holidays with friends and family there. We had a wonderful time, and I have a whole post written in my head about it. But today is not that day. I'm still trying to get my life back in order after all the holiday chaos. (We still have a pile of Chistmas presents waiting for a certain someone -- you know who you are. And the funny thing is that they probably won't be getting them until my birthday, which is this Friday.) So... once I recover, I hope to continue with all of my regular fun posts that I was doing here. But that probably won't be for awhile still, because today, I'm packing up the family, so we can go to Big Bear to play in the snow for a few days.

But the point of this post is not to give you a million excuses for why I haven't written, or why I don't intend to write for a while longer. The point of this post is to share some exciting news.

Today, I mailed off the last of the forms we needed for our adoption and homestudy agencies, which brings us one small step closer to bringing our new baby home! Next, we need to meet with our "buddy family", and take one more class through our homestudy agency. After that, we will be assigned a social worker, who will interview us several times. I hope to be finished with all that by the end of February. Then it will take the social worker some time to write up her report, so I'm hoping that by the end of March, we'll be on the waiting list for our baby! Woo hoo!!!

The joys of democracy

2009-12-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

As I was cleaning my kitchen (finally), Chloe ran up to me and asked if policemen were allowed to be in charge of the president. "No," I told her, "the president is in charge of the policemen."

"Good!" She said, & ran off down the hall, shouting at Zachary, in a snotty voice, "I'm the president, so I'm the boss of you, and you have to do whatever I say!"

This just would not do. I followed her back to her room and informed all of the children that it's important for a president to treat her people well, otherwise they might vote her down --or worse: form a military coup to bring her out of power forcefully. This pleased the other children greatly, and as I walked back to the kitchen, they were debating what to do with their president.

A few minutes later, they were all marching around the kitchen chanting, "Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote!" 3 year old Evelyn interrupted her chanting, turned to chloe and said maliciously, "We are the enemy! Vote! Vote! Vote!" And they marched out of the room.

Back in the playroom the political debates continued.

Gideon: "Well, I'll let you play the Wii!"

Chloe: "I'll let you play whenever you want!"

Gideon: "I'll give you candy!"

Chloe: "I'll give you candy too!"

Zachary and Evelyn cheer!

Then Zachary runs to me, "I'm the congress, and I'm making a law that Chloe can't be president anymore."

The chanting resumes: "Vote! Vote! Vote!"

As I think about it, this doesn't sound much different from how adults behave when it comes to politics. As I go back to my dishes, I congratulate myself on a successful moment of minimal-effort homeschooling. And then I'm jolted back to reality as I'm whacked in the head by a foam dart that one of my darlings just shot at me. (who's idea was it to buy those dart guns for christmas, anyway?)

Travel with Kids!!

2009-12-15T21:40:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite memories from my childhood years is all of the car trips we used to go on. I loved discovering the world around me through the window of our family van, i loved playing games with my brother... i loved everything about it! This year, for Christmas, our family will be driving to Texas. That means three days in the car, with four children ages 4-8. Today I went out and bought lots of little gifts to give the kids at regular intervals through each day, to help the time pass. While trying to think of some other creative car trip ideas, I came acoss a great website! The creator of this site has so many super ideas, that I thought all of you out in blogland would appreciate hearing about it. With all of her suggestions, plus whatever else I can come up with on google, we're bound to have a great time in the car! --this just further supports my creativity motto: steal everyone else's tidbits, and you'll look like a creative genius!

Things That Make Me Smile #5

2009-12-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

Last week, I came upon a local news site. While browsing their articles, I found this one, in which they discuss the how many of santa hats were worn at our local Christmas --oh, excuse me --- *Holiday* parade this year. I just LOVE that they considered this newsworthy. Also, not only do they count santa hats at Christmastime, but they also count dogs, horses, and drums, during some of our other many parades throughout the year. How fun is that??

I'm CELEBRATING because today, Chris & I finished the last of our 6 counseling sessions which were required for us to get through the homestudy for our adoption. Hooray!! We had a great meeting with our counselor today, and she gave us all sorts of wonderful advice in regards to raising teenagers. I'm now sufficiently freaked out. (next step in the adoption: finish take another class with the homestudy agency, and finish paperwork

SMILING because we had a lovely pre-Christmas celebration with the kids on Sunday. Because we go to Texas every year for Christmas, we always celebrate with Chris' family the weekend before we leave. But neither my family nor his family want to sit around & watch all our kids open their gifts from us. So we have an addional Christmas just for us & the little ones --which happened to be last night. They had lots of fun opening our gifts, and we even had some friends come by for a surprise visit, bearing many more gifts!

SMILING because we had a very fun ladies' brunch at my church. There were 10 tables, and each one was assigned a table leader who got to decorate her own table, all christmasy cute. I got to be one of the table leaders and had lots of fun decorating mine.

LAUGHING because i got to take part in a fun skit for the brunch. I'm reminded of why I feel I missed my calling as a melodrama actress.....maybe someday

THANKFUL that i'll be seeing my family for christmas again this year. I LOVE visiting family and friends every year

And, I'm EXCITED that we'll be driving, because I LOVE road trips!!!

I'm also HAPPY that i've finished 99% of my Christmas shopping! Yay me! Now on to the wrapping

And finally, i'm LOVING the holiday season. it's just so dang HAPPY!

Magnanimous Monday

2009-12-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

In many parts of the world, the poverty conditions are so bad, that people are dying from lack of food or clean water. This is a hard reality to comprehend when we live in such an affluent place. This week, consider giving a gift to a family in Asia. This site offers many options for life-saving gifts ranging from $1 to $11,000.

For just $11 you could give chickens to a family in need. Their eggs would provide much needed nourishment, and as they reproduce, they can sell the chickens for additional income. That tiny bit of money can change the course of a families life!!

For $30 you can help supply a village with clean drinking water --one of those little things that we so easily take for granted. Or how about a blanket to keep someone warm through the winter for only $5??

What sort of guilty pleasure could you give up for a week or two (or a month or two!) that would give *life* to these people in Asia?

Childhood Magic

2009-12-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

We've all felt it. The childish excitement. The wonder. The desperate hoping. We wake up in the morning, throw the covers off, pray a silent prayer, and run to the window. Is it there? Has it come? We peer outside to see the rooftops covered in white. The ground has been frosted with a sparkling blanket, and tiny little flakes flutter magically from the sky. They pile neatly along the edges of our window, and if we look very closely, we can see the detail of a tiny flake that has just landed. The dirty old world of yesterday has been transformed in to a stunning land of white. And then it hits us. It's happened! It's actually happened! The moment we've been waiting for has arrived! We run out of our rooms, shouting the joyful proclamation to anyone who can hear. "It's snowing! It's snowing!"

Beyond the constraints of time, this feeling of expectation and excitement has remained the same in children throughout our country - and perhaps even the world. And it's no different for my children today. As I tucked my little ones into bed on Sunday night, their final thoughts were full of anticipation for the next morning. Will the Glorious Change take place as they slumber? What magic will greet them when they awake? As soon as the clocks in their bedrooms change from 5:59 to 6:00 they know they can finally get out of bed. They run to their windows and look outside. It's here! It's come! Sweet elation! I hear the sound of my children running to my room, as I snuggle deeper beneath my warm blankets. And then I hear the rejoicing of my children. "Mommy! Daddy! It's raining!" I'm suddenly awakened to the stark contrast of my childhood versus my children's.

.

Beautiful Words

2009-12-04T08:19:00.000-08:00

Today I read Ephesians 1-4. I don't see how anyone can read those chapters and not smile. It's so full of beautiful descriptive phrases! Take a minute to read through these slowly. Let their words settle into your heart and echo through your mind as you go about your day.

Established in love
Love that surpasses knowledge
Fullness of God
In accordance with his pleasure and will
To the praise of his glorious grace
Freely given
Riches of God's grace
Lavished on us
Mystery of his will
Good pleasure
Praise of his glory
Riches of his glorious inheritance
Great love for us
Rich in mercy
Incomparable riches of his grace
Expressed in his kindness
Gift of God
We are God's workmanship
He himself is our peace
Unsearchable riches of Christ
Rooted and established in love
Immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine
Gifts to men

Funny Friday #3

2009-12-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

Things That Make Me Smile #4

2009-12-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

I'm smiling *lots* this week, after a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

THANKFUL that I have great inlaws who I love & get along with well.

LOVED Thanksgiving dinner, even if there were 30+ people, 1/2 of whom i didn't know. :)

HAPPY that Thanksgiving wasn't at my house, so I didn't have to deal with the mess! (sorry, Linda.)

LOVED having Chris home this last weekend. With all of the work he's been doing lately, we haven't seen much of him. This weekend was a *great* re-connect.

LOVE that we got our christmas tree up on Sunday, and LOVE the way the house feels when it's decorated for Christmas.

THANKFUL that we were able to get some much needed clothes for the kids and me.

SMILING because even though my last good pair of jeans got a hole in them, at least I have clothes to wear.

LOVED watching the (first) Star Wars trilogy with the kids this weekend. It was so fun watching them discover the story for the first time. The boys LOVED all of the fighting scenes, but all of the kids want to know why people kept cutting of each other's hands and arms instead of just killing each other. :)

HAPPY that Chloe & Gideon just finished two of their workbooks in school.

THANKFUL for Alexander Graham Bell for inventing the telephone, because i don't know how I would survive without my regular chats with my mom

which reminds me that I'm THANKFUL for Bill Gates for inventing the internet, which will helps me get lots of my last minute Christmas shopping done, *and* allows me to keep up with friends around the world. AMAZING!

oh! and of course, i can't forget that I'm THANKFUL for all those Black Friday deals! We got a great new computer that works nicely (though i'm still getting used to the new Windows program). I'm THRILLED that i'll finally be able to burn CD's again --and that the computer came with at "free" printer, so now I can print things again! Yay for technology! :)

and speaking of Black Friday, i actually really ENJOYED my crack-of-dawn shopping (or should I say sitting in line?) experience. it was quite an adventure (maybe i'll post the story sometime), and since i just love people-watching, i had a blast observing the mayhem that is Black Friday. Also, i got to have some nice conversations with the people who stood in line with me for an hour and a half.

There's so much more that i could write about, because is was just a week full of smiles for me. But i'll leave it at that, because I wouldn't want to bore my faithful readers.

Gift-tastic Tuesday

2009-12-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well, i'm a little late on my Magnanimous Monday, simply because I forgot. But i'm glad I did, because I found something WONDERFUL to post about today! I found a great blog/website called rethinkingchristmas.com . Their focus is on getting away from the materialism of Christmas, & getting back to the spirit of the holiday. Among other things, they suggested these great ideas:

Purchase a Christmas wreath from This Site, and you will provide vitamins for a Guatemalan child for 1 year.

or

give a T-shirt as a gift: If you buy one of These Shirts, Aklesia will donate a school uniform or piece of apparel to a child in need.
or buy one of These Shirts, and $1 of your payment will go toward thesoldproject.com , which is dedicated to fighting child prostitution.

if T-shirts aren't your thing, consider buying jewelry from NightLight, who's procedes go to help those who have been sexually enslaved or exploited.

I think these are amazing ways to make your gifts count for more than just Christmas. Not only are they something nice for the receiver, but they help to change lives. I plan to order from these sites as much as I'm able for the holidays, and I hope you will do the same.

Know of any other places to buy gifts that have a double purpose? let me know!

Funny Friday #2

2009-11-27T08:09:00.000-08:00

I just love readers digest, for the main reason that they have good jokes. :) Whenever I visit the chiropractor (which is more often than I would like), I like to read the funny snippets from the magazine. So, since many people will begin decorating for the holidays today, I thought I'd post this little blurb from Reader's Digest.

What Your Christmas Tree Says About You
White Lights You ask houseguests to remove their shoes
Mulitcolored lights you're an extrovert
Blinking lights you have attention deficit disorder.

Homemade ornaments You have lots of children
Strung popcorn you have too much time on your hands
Red balls only you wish you lived in a department store.

Yellow star on top you're traditional
Glowing Santa on top you shop at Kitsch'R'Us
Cutoff top You didn't measure the tree

Vague evergreen smell you bought a healthy tree
Strong evergreen smell you sprayed your tree with pine-sol
Just plain smelly there's a dead bird in your tree

-Rebecca Munsterer

Things That Make Me Smile (AKA Thankful Thursday)

2009-11-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

As much as I was enjoying my cheesey alliterations, I've decided to rename my Thankful Thursdays. Those of you who know me well would understand how I hate having to fit into a box (unless, I suppose, it's an oddly shaped, multi-colored box that's tied with lots of funky ribbons and finished with a lovely smelling flower tucked on top). So the Thankful Thursday thing was just too restrictive. What if I don't want to say THANKFUL every time? What if I want to say that I'm HAPPY about something...or that LOVE something? So. I'm taking Thankful Thursdays out of its squishy little square box, and i'm re-wrapping it into a purple, oval-shaped box, tied with orange and brown ribbons, and I'm adding a little pink fresia for an extra touch . :)

So.. today, I am

THANKFUL for warm fuzzy socks

HAPPY that we'll be buying a new computer on Friday. This one's been on its way out for awhile, but we've been keeping it on life support until windows came out w/a new version. hooray! Can't wait to have everything working beautifully again. :)

LOVE chocolate ice cream drumsticks. What is it about chocolate that's so comforting to women? And why isn't it as effective on men? Someone needs to do a study!

THANKFUL for the beautiful weather we've had this week. Mid 70's!

SMILING about the time I got to spend with friends at the beach. :)

THANKFUL for the time I got to spend with my friend, Shelley, making salsa & hanging out at the beach.

LOVING the africam video. I mentioned this awhile ago, on the blog, but i stopped watching it & eventually forgot about it. But a friend mentioned it on facebook, & i've started checking it out again. It's so fun to watch live video feed all the way from africa! So far we've seen lots of birds, several sunsets, some wildabeasts, boars, deer things, and a cheetah. Right now, as I'm writing, we're watching a bird weave a nest, piece by piece. it's amazing!

THANKFUL that our church finished a *major* part of their construction project & will be able to move on to other things. And I'm EXCITED to watch it grow more beautiful as external touches are added.

SMILING about the movie that I was reading about. It was rated PG-13 for "Mayhem". How random is that?

LOVING the new songs I bought for my ipod over the last week --esp. Guy Davis' "Grandma is Dancing" --which I think i'll have to buy for my mom.

AMAZED at how faithfully God has cared for me & provided everything I've needed. In awe of His goodness.

Thankful Thursday #3 Preface

2009-11-26T07:26:00.000-08:00

well, this being THE biggest Thankful Thursday of the year, let me wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!! We will be spending the day with Chris's family. I always enjoy visiting with them, but am especially looking forward to it today, because we've seen each other so seldom this year.

and now on with the Thankful Thursday post...

Magnanimous Monday #5

2009-11-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

Today, in honor of Thanksgiving, leave some Thanksgiving flowers on the doorstep of a neighbor, to brighten their day. :)

My kids carved out a pumpkin & planted a small flower in it. We gave it to an elderly neighbor with a Thanksgiving note.

Madnanimous Monday follow-up

2009-11-20T13:39:00.001-08:00

Thought you might enjoy seeing what we left for our mailman this week. The kids all had tons of fun making pictures and notes. Evelyn's was great. she's started doing this new thing where she scribble writes. So she covered a sheet of paper in her "writing" & then she read it to me & i wrote it so that an adult could read it. I regret not taking a picture of it. But here are the pics I *did* take. interestingly, the mailman took the notes, but left the balloons.

Funny Friday

2009-11-20T07:01:00.000-08:00

considering the title of my blog, not only is it important to smile, but it's important to laugh. And since i just can't help myself with these cheesy alliterations, i thought i'd post funny things on fridays. :)

So...today, being the first Funny Friday of How to Smile, i'd like to share an amazingly hilarious blog with you. My sister-in-law, Jody, just introduced me to it today. I read his first real post, & i was laughing so hard by the first paragraph, that tears were streaming from my eyes, and i could hardly get through the rest. This man just has a perfect way with words. So without further ado, you must check out Life Between Naps and at very minimun read his post titled, "Raisin Ruby"

Thankful Thursday #2

2009-11-19T12:15:00.001-08:00

Today, I am THANKFUL for the holidays. What a wonderful lovely spirit is in the air, thinking about family & thanksgiving, & christmas.

I've been listening to Christmas music this week, to help get me in the mood for a Christmas party I'm helping with. The music inspired me to hunt for more, on itunes. I'm so THANKFUL that I found the song, "Sleigh Ride" by Barenaked Ladies. LOVE it!!

i'm also THANKFUL for my camera. Photography is such a release for me. I just love exploring life through my lens, & dicsovering beauty in a different way.

I'm THANKFUL for foundmagazine.com, & the laugh I often get from exploring their site.

I'm THANKFUL for my friend, Shelley, who left a giant boquet of lillies (my favorite flower) on my car this week. And i'm THANKFUL that my house has been filled with their amazing aroma all week long!

I'm also THANKFUL for my friend Melissa who took a chunk of time out of her day to give me & Chloe haircuts...I just love getting my hair done! Which make me THANKFUL for my hair! bcause hair is just FUN! :)

I'm THANKFUL that my car's leaky windshield was fixed & it was all taken care of under warranty. And i'm THANKFUL that the warranty covered a rental car for us, so I had transportation the whole time it was in the shop. And the tiny car I drove made me especially THANKFUL for our great big roomy car. AND, i'm THANKFUL for the mechanic who changed my car radio's favorite button to play the Spanish station, because it gave me a good laugh.

Which reminds me that I'm always THANKFUL for a good laugh.

I've also been thinking about all the little things that i don't even notice in my life. I'm so THANKFUL for fingers. I can't imagine what life would be like without them. Take the time today, to think of all the things you use your fingers for. And thank God for his amazing creation!

I'm THANKFUL that I get to spend so much time with my amazing children, because i homeschool -- which makes me THANKFUL for the freedom I have in this country to do that. And i'm THANKFUL for all the amazing books we get to read together. We just finished reading Robin Hood. What a great story!!!

Which also reminds me that i'm THANKFUL for youtube, because when none of the video stores carried Robin Hood for me to watch with the kids, we were able to watch it on youtube (even though it *was* in 10 parts) :)

And as I sit here & ramble to you, eating my chocloate chips & marshmallows, I'm THANKFUL for tastebuds which make eating so very interesting. And i'm THANKFUL for computers and the internet. However did we survive before the internet??

editted 8:01pm: i forgot to add that i'm THANKFUL that I decided declare a school holiday on Monday & organize the house. We super-cleaned the playroom and both the kids' bedrooms. They were sparkly and roomy & pretty for a whole afternoon!!

The Attitude of Gratitude

2009-11-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

After my first Thankful Thursday post last week, I discovered a little thing going around facebook, where people were posting one thing each day that they're thankful for, until thanksgiving. What a great idea! Between the two projects, I've come to feel much more appreciation for the little things in life. So as I was pondering how thankful I am for the many things in my life, I went to church on Sunday, and you'll never guess what the pastor's sermon was about..... Thankfulness! haha! :) it was a really great sermon. I had planned to post a link to the podcast, but i guess they haven't uploaded it yet, so you're out of luck. shoulda been there! ;) One thing that interested me were the many studies that my pastor read that stated the health benefits of living a life of gratitude. amazing! Anyway, I've obviously been working on my own thankful heart already, but as a result of the sermon, I was inspired to do the same thing with my kids. So now, every day, before we start school, we each take a minute to write in our journals, about the things we're thankful for. I love it! and according to all those studies that were referenced, my kids should live more happy healthy lives as a result. :)

Because I couldn't post a link to the sermon, I went ahead & googled "thankfulness research," and found some interesting things... here are a few highlights:

*In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

*In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.

*Prosociality: People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and to take the perspective of others. They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

*Spirituality: Those who regularly attend religious services and engage in religious activities such as prayer reading religious material score are more likely to be grateful. Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others (McCullough et. al., 2002). Gratitude does not require religious faith, but faith enhances the ability to be grateful.

Adoption FAQ

2009-11-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

As most of you already know, Chris and I have recently decided to adopt a baby from South Korea. Many of you have questions about the process, so I thought i'd post a little FAQ here. I'll post a link to it on my sidebar, and continue to add to it, as more questions come up, and as I have time. If you have a question, feel free to ask! :)

When Did You Decide to Adopt?
May, 2009

What Made You Decide to Adopt?
There's not a really cut and dry answer to this one. Maybe someday, I'll write the *whole* story which goes all the way back to my high school days, but for now, I'll just say that it's an idea that Chris and I have toyed with for a few years, but never felt strong enough to act on it. But last May, after a series of events, I felt like God was speaking strongly to my heart, that he wanted us to adopt. So I told him that I didn't think Chris would go for that idea, and if he wanted us to do that, he would have to put it on Chris' heart as well. Well, God kept speaking to me about it, so the next day, I told Chris that I really felt like we should adopt a child. And chris said, "I've been thinking the same thing lately." !!! So we decided to move forward.

Why Did You Choose South Korea?
This, again, doesn't have a very practical answer, but a God one. Once we knew we were adopting, I started doing all the research I could. I looked into domestic and international. I explored the cost of different countries, as well as the time frame. We want to move through this process as quickly as possible, so that the new baby will be close in age with the other children. One thing I discovered through my research is that different countries have different regulations as to *who* can adopt from them. They may have regulations on anything from age, to amount of divorces, to marital status, to amount of children in the home. For example, Haiti will not allow you to have more than 2 children already, so that ruled them out for us. So as I was researching which countries are options, chris called me one day, and said, "I was praying about it, and I felt like God said we should adopt from Korea." So in addition to the other countries I was looking into, I began hunting down adoption agencies that worked with Korea. Well, it turns out that in all of my state, there's only one agency that we would be able to use. At this point, *I* was leaning more toward Ethiopia, but I went ahead and ordered some information from the Korean agency, just to appease Chris. ;) Again, chris called me from work one day, and said, "I was praying about it again, and really feel like God said, 'Seoul, South Korea.'" Well, I didn't think this made much sense at all. After all, it's a whole country, with all kinds of cities. How on earth could we say we want our baby to come from Seoul that would be like adopting from here, and saying, "my child must come from Austin, Texas." So I kind of blew him off, and didn't think much of it. A couple days later, we got the information packet from the adoption agency, and it said, "All of our children come from Seoul, South Korea." Well, that was enough confirmation for me. So I stopped looking in to our other options, and we began to pursue a Korean Adoption.

Do You Want a Boy or a Girl?
We would be happy with either one. But even if we wanted to choose, we wouldn't have the option. Most people who adopt want girls. Because the babies are offered to Koreans before they're offered to Americans, the girls get adopted more quickly, and that leaves mostly boys for the Americans. At one point, the agency that we're using (DSW) let people choose, but because so many people preferred girls, the boys weren't being adopted. So they changed the rules, and now, only certain people have a choice. Because we have 2 boys and 2 girls already, we don't get a choice, so we'll most likely be getting a boy.

How Long Until You Get Your Baby?
I'm guessing have about three more months of paperwork and interviews to go. After that point, we'll be put in the adoption pool at DSW. They don't go first come, first serve, so when they find a child that seems to suit us, they'll give us a call. The pool of adoptive parents is getting larger and larger with time, so i'm guessing we will have to wait for about 1 year before we hear from the agency. After we get a referral, it will take another 5 months or so, to process all of the paperwork, etc, to bring the baby home. So... we're thinking it's going to be about two years before we're able to have our baby.

Will Your Baby Come From an Orphanage?

Most Korean adoptions are pretty similar to American adoptions. A woman gets pregnant & is unable to care for the baby for whatever reason, so she give the baby to the adoption agency (Eastern Social Welfare Society --or Eastern for short). The baby is then place in the care of a foster family, which is usually an older couple who had already raised their children. They care for the baby as their own, until a suitable home is found for him/her.

How Old Will Your Baby Be?

When a baby is born, and placed with Eastern, they first try to find a Korean home for him/her. After 5 months, if they still haven't been able to find a Korean home, then the baby is offered to America. That's when DSW is able to call us with a referral. After that, another 5 months or so of paperwork makes the baby 10ish months before they're able to come home.

Will You Go to Korea?
Korea is one of the few countries that doesn't require you to stay there before you get your baby. If we want, we can go to our local airport & get the baby there. However, that means waiting even longer, until someone is available to fly to the US with the baby. For that reason alone, we would probably like to go to Korea ourselves, to get our baby. Also, because we'll raising a Korean child in a white family, we would like to be able to be able to get an understanding of their cultural heritage, so we can help teach them about it when they get older. The only thing that would keep us from going to Korea is the cost of the airline tickets. It's cheaper to fly one person here with the baby, than it would be to fly both of us there.

How Much Does it Cost?
too much!

Why Are You Using Two Agencies?
Every adoption requires a Homestudy. This is where a social worker comes into your home and asks you all sorts of questions about yourself and your life to try to determine if you're good people and should be allowed to adopt a child. They take all of the information you give them, and type it up into a nice little file that tells all about you, and this goes to the government and the orphanage (I think. --i'm a little confused about who actually gets the completed homestudy, so I could be wrong about that.) Anyway, DSW, the adoption agency that we're using will connect us to our child, and the agency in Korea. They would do our homestudy for us, but they're in another state, so we have to use a different agency, who is certified in our state, to do that. Therefore, we have two agencies: DSW, the adoption agency, and FCCA, the homestudy agency. This is a little annoying, because it means that we have to do most of the paperwork twice, because they both want almost the same thing --but it's just different enough to make us do it twice. Also, it means that we have to pay two agencies, which raises our price a bit.

What do the kids think?
The kids are *thrilled!* They've been asking us to adopt for a couple years now, ever since we heard there were some twin babies who were abandoned at the hospital. They love talking about what we're going to name the new baby, and they debate constantly, whether we should get a girl or a boy (we don't have a choice). They also pray for the baby & the adoption process daily. Evelyn for awhile, was telling everyone we met (friends, family, random people in the grocery store) that we're planning to adopt, and she would always add that she's going to give the new baby her car seat. so sweet! :)

So there you have it. What other questions do you have?

Magnanimous Monday #4

2009-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

Leave a thank you note in your mailbox for the postman/woman (postperson? mail person? mailbeing?) For an extra special touch, stick a balloon in there, too. Better yet, write a note to your postal service person, and stick it in a balloon with confetti, so when they pop it, they'll have their own mini party. (be sure to label that the balloon is for them --and also, if you put the note in the balloon, you'll have to use a pump to blow it up, because if you do it yourself, all your hot air will condensate on the note & confetti, and that wouldn't be very magnanimous at all.)

A New Name

2009-11-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

As I reflect on my latest blog entries, I'm realizing that I've unintentionally taken this blog in a new direction.

When I first started blogging a few years ago, my main purpose was to have a pace to share some of my photos. But I quickly realized i had plenty to talk about in my life, so I shared whatever random things I thought friends and family would want to know about.

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you'll know that it died down a bit when I found facebook and realized that it was much easier to keep up with the people I care about, that way, rather than through the blog.

Then, as our family entered our new journey of adoption, it occured to me, that I'll be wanting to write more than just a little status update now and then. Hence, The Revivial Of The Blog.

Now, as I write, I find myself thinking less about the day-to-day, and more about the journey of my heart. So... I've decided to change the title of my blog to better reflect where my thoughts are leading. I'm happy to have you join me as I travel on this journey. Maybe we can learn a thing or two together. :)

Admiration

2009-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

When Zachy was a baby, and I was pregnant with Evelyn, and I was overwhelmed with motherhood, Chris & I decided it would be beneficial to hire someone to help with the housecleaning once a week. Through a friend of mine, we found an amazing woman to help, and she's been with us for five years now!

Through the years, we've had lots of time to talk, and while she doesn't speak any English, and I only speak preschool Spanish, I've enjoyed getting to know her, and have come to admire her deeply.

Living in Mexico, Ruth* grew up cleaning houses alongside of her mother, to help bring in the money. Because she had to work, she was unable attend school for any kind of education. She can't read or write, and has trouble with simple things like understanding a calendar, or telling me her age. But that's never stopped Ruth from dreaming.

As a young adult, she decided to leave her abusive husband, and come to America to try to start a new life. So she found her way across the border, with her five kids in tow --her youngest just a baby.

When I met her, Ruth had been in America for about 6 years. She was living happily with a new man, and her children were attending school - already better educated than she. Still not knowing any English, she often expressed her desire to learn. But when she told her husband of her aspirations, he informed her that she couldn't because she was too stupid. This was the beginning of their problems. Little by little she shared stories with me, of how he was mistreating her, and of the occasions that she had to call the police. She was torn, because she wanted to leave the unsafe environment of an alcoholic husband, but she didn't know how to drive, and relied on him for transportation to and from work. With the help of some friends, Ruth was able to leave her husband and support herself.

It didn't take long, before she told me that she was learning to drive! Some time after that, she asked me to get her some math books, because she wanted to learn math. A couple months ago, Ruth pulled up to my house with a "new" car that she had just purchased.

I'm amazed to watch this woman's life unfold, knowing where she's come from, and how far she's come. She works hard to provide for her children, and is happy to do so. Sometimes, I'll ask her about weekend plans, and she'll give me a list of the houses she has to clean. When I express sympathy for all the work she has to do, she always stops me. "No, Karina. Estoy muy contenta" I'm happy. She never complains. And when she leaves at the end of each day, I thank her for her work, but she's always quick to turn it around and thank me instead.

After living here for about 11 years, Ruth still can't speak English, and I'm amused because she gets exasperated with me whenever I fumble over my Spanish. But today she informed me that this month, she's going to start taking English classes. She told me in Spanish, "I wanted to drive, and I learned how to drive. I wanted a car, and I got a car. Now I'm going to learn English." And I'm sure she will!

And so you see why I had to take the time to write about this amazing woman, who chooses to overcome her obstacles, and make the best out of life, while I complain about the mountain of laundry in my garage.

*not her real name

Thankful Thursdays

2009-11-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

a friend of mine is starting a gratitude journal. It sounded like such a great idea that i was inspired to do the same. Because it's so hard to resist a good alliteration, i've decided to post mine on Thursdays. :)

To start the theme off, i'll post the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, by the persuasions:

I’m so glad that I’ve got knees
‘cause I can climb up and hang in the trees
I’m so glad that I’ve got hair
It would feel mighty funny with nothing up there
I’m so glad that I’ve got skin
‘cause that’s what keeps my insides in
I’m so glad that I’ve got a nose
Even though it looks like one of my toes
I’m so glad that I’ve got arms
Cause that’s what holds my hands on
I’m so glad that I’ve got feet
I can run and jump and skip down the street
I’m so glad that I’ve got teeth
‘cause there’s so many good things to eat
I’m so glad that I’ve got eyes
‘cause when I get sad I can always cry
I’m so glad that I’ve got a head
I can lay it on my pillow when I’m lyin’ in bed
I’m so glad that I’ve got a face
‘cause I am a member of the human race

So aside from all of those wonderful things, this week, i'm thankful for:

1. Chocolate! (need I say more?)
2. shopping carts (can you imagine trying to shop without them!?)
3. toilets (one visit to port-a-potty takes me back to the old days and makes me thankful for this little luxery)
4. tampons (sorry guys, but it's true!)
5. warranties (i just love not having to worry about how much i have to pay to have something fixed!)
6. health! (i'm so thankful that no one in my family has any serious medical conditions that we have to deal with)
7. books (I love getting lost in a good story)
8. freedom of worship (I never want to take for granted the fact that I can worship God without fear)
9. eyesight (to see the the smiles on my children's faces or a sunset...priceless)
10. my giant stove in my big kitchen in my beautiful home

Magnanimous Monday #3

2009-11-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

In honor of Orphan Sunday which was yesterday, donate some money to help a child in need. It doesn't have to be a lot. It could be $1 or $1,000. But every penny can help.

some ideas for where to donate:
* a local church's children's ministry
* a local school
* a family who is adopting (if you don't know anyone, Showhope.org raises money to give to adoptive families)
* World Vision
* Make a wish foundation
* St. Jude
* Ronald McDonald House
* a local chidlren's hospital

these are the places that came to the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty more.

for 10 extra MM points, sign up with World Vision to sponsor a child long-term. If you already sponsor a child, send them a letter!

For 100 extra MM points, dress up like a clown & visit the children's ward of a hospital

For 1,000 extra MM points, take some time to volunteer at an orphanage.

For 1,000,000 extra MM points seriously consider adopting an orphan!

For endless extra MM points, DO IT!

Let me know what *you* decide to do. :)

Magnanimous Monday #2

2009-11-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

oops. i accidently forgot to be nice last monday, because i was sick. :)

So your assignment today, for Magnanimous Monday #2: give genuine heart-felt compliments to at least 5 people this week. One of them must be a stranger. Have fun! And let me know how it goes. :)

and for tomorrow: Tagnanimous Tuesday tag everyone you see who's wearing red. Don't forget say, "Tag, you're it!" :)

Magnanimous Mondays

2009-10-19T17:06:00.001-07:00

mag·nani·mous (mag nan′ə məs) adjective
noble in mind; high-souled; esp., generous in overlooking injury or insult; rising above pettiness or meanness; giving and kind; showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind

My friend Shelley, just started a blog with the focus of committing 3 random acts of kindness every week. I think this will be fun to follow, and i've decided to join her in her endeavor. I thought i'd write about it here, once a week. So, I picked mondays, because mondays are the days when people are the most gloomy, and in need of some extra kindness. I would love it if you would join me each week, in spreading a little extra kindness to the world around you. Let me know what *you* decide to do! :) If you don't want to think of your own ideas, you can follow my assignment each week.

This week: Your mission, should you chose to accept it: buy flowers and give them to a complete stranger.

I actually did this last week because i was too excited about the idea, & couldn't wait until Monday. :)

A couple days ago, when I went grocery shopping, I stopped at the floral section and picked out some pretty fall-looking flowers, and prayed that God would show me the perfect person to give them to. . As I checked out, I also donated a dollar to the store's current cause (thus earning an extra Magnanimous Monday point for me! ;) ) Because I had made this donation, they gave me a root beer float. As I was waiting for them to make it, I spied a lady sitting on a bench with her back to me. Being too shy to talk to a complete stranger myself, I sent Evelyn, my 3 1/2 year old, to give the flowers to her. My plan backfired, because, being a conscientious woman, she refused to take a bunch of flowers from a little girl who was unaccompanied by an adult. So Evelyn brought the woman to me, and I explained to her that we would like her to have the flowers, just because. She beamed & said how touched she was, because she had grandchildren. --I'm not really sure what that had to do with anything, but whatever the point, it made her happy. She left us with a smile on her face. Mission accomplished.

What's your Magnanimous Monday story?

Photo fund-raiser

2009-10-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

Next weekend (October 9-10) I'm offering photo sessions as a fund-raiser for my church. Check out my photoblog for more information! :)

Orphan Sunday

2009-10-02T07:43:00.001-07:00

Saw this video on another blog that I read. I loved it! Thought you might like it, too. Orphan Sunday is November 8,2009.

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

An Announcement!

2009-10-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

I've just started a photography blog, where i'll post my favorite pictures to share with the world. Also, I thought it would be fun to start a facebook page for my photographs as well. Check 'em out! let me know what you think. :)

Ed & Melissa

2009-09-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, I took Ed & Melissa's engagement photos. In October, I have the privilege of shooting their wedding!

Chipsnsalsa!

2009-09-24T12:55:00.001-07:00

Last July, for our Church picnic, Chloe signed up to bake a pie for the Apple pie contest. Considering that she can't bake on her own yet, that meant that *I* was signed up for the apple pie contest. The problem with this was that I had never baked an apple pie before. So, i set out on a quest to discover the best Apple Pie Recipe. But that's another story (although I *will* tell you that I --I mean chloe, won first place).

In addition to the apple pie contest, the church also held a salsa contest. Before I moved here, I never knew that people actually made their own salsa. But i've come to discover that making a good salsa is an area of great pride among many people in my community. Anyway, as I was hunting down apple pie recipes, it occurred to me that If I could make apple pie, maybe some day I could try entering a salsa contest! So I hunted for "the world's best salsa" recipe. Well, let me tell you... people have many more differing opinions about salsa than they do about apple pie. But I came upon an interesting recipe.

Apparently, there's a great restaurant in San Francisco, named Papalote, which is known for it's amazing salsa, and someone figured out how to mimic the recipe. So...I printed it up, and saved it for a rainy day, when I wasn't thinking about apples.

Last Saturday, when i was doing all of my lemon baking, I was re-inspired. As I was hunting down lemon recipes, I remembered my old salsa recipe that I was waiting to try. I looked it up again, and found an article that explained the writer's process of putting the salsa recipe together. The writer does such a great job of relaying her salsa adventure, that I would recommend you read her piece. Among other things, she mentioned that the owners of Papalote weren't about to share their secret family recipe, and that the last time someone offered to buy it, the price was $300,000!!! This must be some recipe!! So I made up my mind to make it as soon as I had time.

Because the recipe call for strange things that I had never heard of, like Pasillas, Pepitas, and Chiles de Arbol, I was sure I would have to go to a Mexican market to gather my ingredients. However, much to my surprise, my local Albertsons carried everything! I was so pleased that I promised the produce manager that I would share my salsa with him, after he found the Pepitas for me. That afternoon after picking up the kids from school, and putting away my groceries, and cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the floors, i cut up my chiles, and boiled my tomatoes, and roasted my pepitas, and made an amazing salsa! And as soon as it was done, can you guess my first stop? To Albertsons - to share this tastiness with Ed the produce guy.

Now I figure that if a recipe is worth $300,000, then some of you out there in cyberland may want to try it as well. So, without further ado, here is The Recipe. Once again, though, I strongly suggest that you read the article that goes with it, first, in order to get the feel for how special this salsa really is.

When life hands you lemons...

2009-09-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

So the other day, a friend came over & brought some lemons that my kids had asked him to bring. But it wasn't just a few lemons... it was a trash bag FULL!

So this morning, I thought I would use the first lemons to bake some of my Grandma Joanna's famous lemon bars. (As a side note, last Thursday would have been her 91st birthday). Well, that recipe only used up half of a lemon, I had a long way to go, if I was going to use the other 48 1/2 any time soon (for those of you mathematicians out there, who feel the need to point out that 50 minus 1/2 does not equal 48 1/2, Gideon ate one lemon, raw, and Chloe used another to make lemonade). SO...I went online to look up some good lemon recipes, and came across the perfect website! lemonrecipes.net . This was exactly what I was looking for! As I was skimming the recipe for lemon pancakes, chloe came in, stating that she was hungry. This being a lazy Saturday, I thought it would be fun to make lemon pancakes for lunch. After all, the recipe looked pretty simple.

Lemon Pancakes recipe
Ingredients:
½ cup of sour cream.
½ cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice.
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter melted.
1 x egg.
1 cup of self-rising flour.
2 tablespoons of sugar.
1 tablespoon of lemon zest.
Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top.

Preparation Instructions:
1. Beat the sour cream, melted butter and egg in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and half the lemon zest. Stir in slowly to prevent curdling.
2. Add the flour and sugar and stir carefully.
3. Preheat a non-stick pan. When the pan is hot, pour silver-dollar-sized pancakes. Watch for small bubbles to form on the surface.
Cook for 3-4 minutes per side.
4. Garnish with sugar and lemon zest.

So... first things first... Sour Cream. Oops.... I didn't have any sour cream! Not to worry. I was sure there was some way to substitute sour cream. [Thank you, Jesus, for creating Google!] so i found a great site which gave me several options. I could use buttermilk [darn. I just dumped out a bunch of buttermilk, because i had no clue what i'd ever use it for].... or plain yogurt [don't have any of that, either]... or cream cheese --yes! i was sure i had cream cheese! So i went to my fridge, pulled out the carton, and opened it up, only to discover that *someone* *cough-CHLOE-cough* had used the last of it, and put it back in the fridge, EMPTY!!! .... so my last option was evaporated milk... I thought i remembered buying some on accident, several years ago, so I hunted through my cupboards. Sure enough! it was there! [Check the expiration... hmmm... expired last month... that's good enough!]. So i opened the can [hmmm there's some gook around the top --never mind that. it'll be fine], and dumped it in my measuring cup. Now all i had to do was add a Tablespoon of vinegar. but i was all out of that, too!! and then i remembered some apple cider vinegar that i had in a cupboard. [that should do fine --what's the difference, anyway??].

Good! finally, i had sour cream. So I juiced my lemons, and got chloe started on grating the "lemon zest." I got my melted butter & my egg, and dumped in all of my "sour cream." [Waaaiiiit a second... that recipe says *half* a cup of sour cream, and i just dumped in a WHOLE cup! No problem... we'll just double the whole recipe!] So... I add in some more butter, and go to get another egg. [hmm...i think i just used my last egg a second ago.] so i send the kids to look in our other fridge (the one in the garage, where i keep my extra 6 gallons of milk, and other misc. things like eggs). Chloe brought me the last carton [i hope that's not the one that's been sitting in there for months, that I keep forgetting to use --oh well... i should be fine...right?]. Now i've got the eggs & the butter, and the juice and the "sour cream"

Next: the self-rising flour. [well, i don't have any of that, either, but i'm sure i can make something work. how hard can it be?] Back to google to find this site! So... i mix my flour and my baking soda, and my salt. [Great! this is going to work out fine!] now... if you will recall, when I made my "sour cream," i used Vinegar. And my "self rising flour" used Baking soda. Does anyone remember what happens when you mix baking soda & vinegar? As I poured my flour mixture into my batter, everything started foaming up! Thankfully, I was using an extra large bowl, and no messy disaster ensued.

After all that drama of making a very simple recipe, I think the pancakes turned out just fine! :)

We topped the pancakes with powdered sugar, lemon zest and strawberries, and they were *delicious!!*

If you decide that you'd like to try this recipe (which I highly recommend), I suggest using the proper ingredients. Also, I think it's essential to garnish with the lemon zest. it really makes it perfect! :)

Now i'm off to clean my crazy messy kitchen!

A little Arabian trivia

2009-09-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

after a wonderfully fun summer, we've gotten back into the homeschool routine. while I don't enjoy all of the extra work on my part, I'm really enjoying homeschooling, for the simple fact that *I* am learning so much!

this week, we've been studying the middle east, and muslims & arabs. Did you know that in the Dark Ages, after the Roman empire was defeated, the muslims conquered much of the known world? Well, that's not the interesting part. What's interesting, is all of the things that we've gotten from their brilliant minds.

For example, in England, at that time, they were still using sun-dials. So one of the kings invented this way to measure time by how long it took a candle to burn. But guess what the Arabs were doing? inventing pendulum clocks!

Also, the wool from sheep was a very expensive way to make clothing, so they figured out how to make fabric from cotton. Then they would stamp it with ink patterns, called... Calico!

AND...the shepherds would watch their sheep eat these cool little berry things, & then dance around with all kinds of energy. So they decided to take the beans from these plants, roast them, grind them, & use them to make drinks... and that's where we get... Coffee!

I'm so amazed to learn these interesting things about an empire and time that I knew nothing about... All thanks to home school.

...and one more thing: the next time you write a phone number or a math problem, you can thank the arabs that we don't use roman numerals anymore! :)

making a come-back

2009-09-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hello bloggy world! It's been awhile! I've decided, in the midst of my life's chaos, to try to keep this little bloggity blog going. and now, for my very first post in forever....i can't think of a thing to say! haha! :) so... since a picture is worth a thousand words, i'll post some of my latest pictures. :)

these are a few of the maternity pictures that I took for a friend & her in the spring. :)

Amazing!!!

2009-04-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Okay... i know it's been *forever* since my last post. I'm composing a very long post in my head, for the future, but of course, i never have time to do it. :) Facebook really is so much easier!! anyway.. a friend shared this video with me & i was amazed. thought you'd like to see it too!

Elephant Paints Amazing Self-portrait - The funniest home videos are here

note - the video imbed didn't work... i probably don't remember how to do it right. bt if you click above, on the link that says "elephant paints amazing self-portrait" it'll take you to the video. Watch it! it's amazing!

checking in...

2009-01-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

we had a lovely christmas holiday. My brother, Erik, and his family came into town to visit. It was fun to be with family again, although i was sorry to miss Josh & Heidi, & their families.

New Year's day, my mom called to tell me that my Grandma had died in her sleep. we were all glad that the suffering from her illness had ended, but sorry to say goodbye to such a special person. She was a woman deeply devoted to God, and full of compassion for others. I'm so greatful for the very rich heritage that i have.

In the following week, family from all over the country poured in. It was nice to see cousins and aunts and uncles who i haven't seen in years. I especially enjoyed talking to my grandma's brother & sisters. So fun to hear stories from the far-away past. I think i especailly apreciated it, because i know i won't hear any more of those stories from Grandma.

Heidi and Josh were among the family who came in. I was very excited to see them - especially Josh, who i hadn't seen since before Evelyn was born, i think... BUT me & Evy & Chloe were all stricken with a yucky stomach bug, so i didn't get to spend much time with them. My poor mom was throwing up the day of the funeral, so she wasn't able to attend. so sad!

Now, Family has all gone back to their homes, the Sickies have subsided - though i have a terrible lingering cough - and life is slowly going back to normal. I started school again on Monday. A very nice time with the kids. We read the entire 150 pages of Mr. Poppers Penguins in one sitting. the kids just kept begging for more. :)

anyway... its nice to start getting back into our routine... though i'm still recovering from the holidays -- i spent all day on Tuesday, doing laundry from the last 3 weeks. And i hope, someday, to get my nativities put away. :) Yesterday, i realized i have just a little over a week before my birthday. 32 years. ak! it never stops! the days just keep going & going!

so... that's my update. Joined facebook over the holidays. It's a lot of fun. WAY easier to update than my blog. So, if you'd like more frequent updates, come check me out on facebook. we can be friends. :)

keeping up with the times

2008-12-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, i've gone & done it. Chris took me out last night & bought me a new fancy pants cell phone, to replace my dinky tracfone. We will be cancelling our home phone w/in the next couple days, so if you need my new phone number be sure to let me know! :)

Christmas Once Again in Santa Barbara

2008-12-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

"It's Christmas once again in Santa Barbara
There is not a chance that it will snow
Palm trees are swaying in the warm breeze
Back east it's 10 degrees below

I can hear the mission bells are ringing
State Street is all dressed up in Christmas Cheer
Kids are counting days 'til Christmas morning
It's my favorite time of year

It's Christmas once again in Santa Barbara
There is not a snowflake to be found
No sleigh rides, no snowmen like you see on the Christmas cards
Oh But we've got a lot of Christmas in our hearts

Some folks say it doesn't feel like Christmas
If you can't look outside and see some snow
I don't recall that it was snowing in Bethlehem 2000 years ago

Trees hung with lights and decorations
Families gather by the fireside
This scene would make a perfect Christmas card
As long as you don't look outside

It's Christmas once again in Santa Barbara
There is not a snowflake to be found
No sleigh rides, no snowmen like you see on the Christmas cards
Oh But we've got a lot of Christmas in our hearts "

Composers: Barry DeVorzon and Micheal Towers

one of my favorite christmas songs. :) ... now if only i could find a way to buy it. :(

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to you all! May your new year be filled with new discoveries of God's love for you!

One Photo

2008-12-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

I took LOTS of pictures while we were in New York, but haven't had much time to go through them. so while you're waiting.... here's me & chris at the Top of the Rock --72 (or something) stories above New York.

Me having lots of fun.... and chris - tired of me taking pictures. :)

Did i mention that i dyed my hair blonde?

Day 4 in NYC

2008-12-13T18:05:00.000-08:00

our last day. lots of fun! very new yorky

Today was the coldest of all... high of 31 degrees.
went to the Statue of liberty. There were all sorts of little street vendors that were fun to browse. my favorite was the one w/the hot apple cider. :) Then we waited for HOURS to get on the fairy to see the statue. We had to go through all sorts of security. They don't tell you all that *before* you buy the tickets. But, she was beautiful. we're glad we went. Got to watch the sun set behind the statue. wow.

Then we visted Ground Zero (the former site of the twin towers). That was really neat. They're building 6 towers in the their place. pretty cool.

From there, we tried to see Trinity church, which we've heard a lot about, but it was closed. so we got on the subway & headed toward Central park....but we decided to hop off at Times Square. WOW! very busy & exciting! so many lights! very cool...then back into the abyss of the subway & up at Central park. There, we got to experience New York hospitality at it's finest, when we waited for a carriage ride, and some guy tried to tell us how terrible they are, and that we should ride in his bicycle trailer instead. Then we got to watch a fight between the people at the front of the carriage line & the people in the back, who were cutting. And then we got kicked off of a carriage, because *we* were at the front of the line, and apparently, the carriage driver feels angry about having to serve people in a civil fashion. bu we *finally* got on a carriage, & had a lovely ride around the park.

afterward, we went looking for a gift for my mother in law, in a nearby shop. When i asked how much a crystal bowl was, i was able to talk the guy down from $350 to $100, just by saying, "that's not in our budget." hee hee. :)

off to the subway again, & back to Times Square where we had some authentic New York pizza for dinner. Even though it was cold, & old, it was probably some of the best pizza i've had. yum!

Then, back to the subway, & to the hotel. Now we've got to pack & be out of the hotel by 4am, which is 1am CA time. EEK!

good night!

day 3 in NYC

2008-12-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

no more rain... no more broken umbrellas lying around.

we woke up at 10:30 this am. laid around awhile, & went downstairs to get breakfast. They were closed for breakfast, but said they would open for lunch in 1/2 an hour. so we waited & got a lovely lunch. Chris was feeling sick from a cold he had before we left home, so we came upstairs to our room & watched a movie that we had rented before leaving SB. Then we took a nap, & woke up around 5:00pm. FINALLY got out the door to see NY around 6 in the eve! Went to dinner at a fun italian place called Alfredo's. They were the first place to make Fetuccini Alfredo - back in 1914, so of course i had to order some. The best i've ever had. After dinner we walked around a little more, and now we're back in the hotel, at 11:30 NY time. lots of fun details i'm leaving out, but i'm gonna go be w/my honey - who's glad to be back in bed. :)

tomorrow: a carriage ride at central park & maybe a visit to an art museum..and the statue of liberty??

here we are!

2008-12-11T19:40:00.001-08:00

left home at 4 yesterday. arrived in NY at 6 this am. i got sick on the taxi, so we got a hotel room & crashed til about 12:30. We've got a room on the 22nd floor, in a hotel that overlooks the brooklyn bridge. very FUN!!! This evening, we took the subway to manhattan & watched a cirque du soliel at the Madison Square Garden. what a blast. i think everyone should see a cirque du soliel at some point in their lives. they're amazing! tomorrow, we don't know what we're doing yet. so much to see! so much to do! it's rainy & windy & cold. I've got a tally of how many broken umbrellas i find on the street. we've seen 23 so far. And that doesn't include the piles that we saw in the trash cans. :)

Off To The Big Apple

2008-12-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, at 4:00, Chris & I leave for New York!!! Can't wait to see the big city all deck out for Christmas. :)

12 days of....

2008-11-24T20:14:00.000-08:00

With thanksgiving just a few days away, i thought you might enjoy watching this video, to help you get into the holiday spirit. :)

American Red Cross

2008-11-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

Saturday, we spent *all* day taking a class with the red cross, so we could work with them to help with the fires. It was an incredibly boring five hours, but I really learned a lot about the red cross. I've used them to get my CPR or First Aid certification, but i didn't really realize what else the did.

They're available to help with any kind of disaster, even a single home fire - it doesn't have to be a huge, city-wide thing. They help people get back on their feet, after their disaster - which means providing a place to stay (shelter or hotel), and any kind of resources a person could need to get started again. Right now, where we are, they're going out to the burn areas, & passing out clean up kits for people - shovels, brooms, gloves, eye drops, etc... whatever they could use to help them clean up the mess that used to be their home.

And I'm amazed at how *very* organized they are! they have checklists for EVERYTHING! That way, anyone (like me) could just walk in on their first day, & open up a shelter - or whatever else. Also, they work really hard at being prepared, so that when a disaster does strike, they have everything they need. So they have all sorts of agreements with businesses all over town, so they can get all sorts of supplies for free from - whomever. (McDonald's supplied our lunch for the day of our class) --which, by the way, give a huge tax write-off to the donating company.

On Tuesday, I was "activated," & got to help for a couple hours while all my kids were at school. They were sending out trucks to so hand out the clean up kits. I really wanted to do that, but since i wasn't available all day, i just got to help load the trucks. Then i went upstairs to help make phone calls.

It was really cool, & i really liked being able to help. And now i have great respect for the Red Cross!

More on the Fire

2008-11-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

1,940 acres burned
100% contained
231 residences destroyed: 151 City of Santa Barbara, 80 County of Santa Barbara;
9 residences damaged
Damage assessment is continuing
319 parcels currently remain under evacuation
756 firefighters and support personnel
23 injuries from smoke inhalation
3 burn injuries
Estimated firefighting cost to date $5,700,000

The firemen were able to keep the fires under control, so they didn't spread any further than where they were the first couple days.

The people started returning to their homes on Monday. Very sad to hear about the devisation out there. I heard one lady talking about her dad's car...it was caught in the fire, & the metal melted down into the street. now the car is fused to the street!

I think i mentioned before, that the fire was in a *very* wealthy part of town, so a lot of expensive property was completely lost. One man had museum pieces in his home!

But the fire is contained, and now begins the recovery process.

Westmont, the local college was hit hard. about 50 college kids are needing a place tostay, because some of the dorms were burned (we've offered to house a couple of girls). Tons of faculty lost their homes. One of the worst hit was a family with a little 4 y/o boy, and she's 6 months pregnant. They lost EVERYTHING. the fire grew so qickly that they just had to run out as fast as they could. so they had no clothes, no toys for their child, no baby supplies for the next... So our church adopted them & is trying to gather things together for them. We're planning to throw a baby shower later, for her.

update #2

2008-11-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

random facts & news bits:

it's supposed to be crazy hot (90 degrees) and windy today - but not as windy as yesterday.

the fire is 2 1/2 miles from the shore.

For you movie buffs, the news people just mentioned that "scarface" was filmed out where the fire is burning. Also, a local hotel which is near the fire was site for "the postman aways rings twice."

"Publicists for [Rob] Lowe and [Oprah] Winfrey told the AP the celebrities' homes had not been destroyed and neither was staying in the area Thursday night." just in case you were worried about them.

Montecito suffered a major fire in 1977, when more than 200 homes burned. A fire in 1964 burned about 67,000 acres and damaged 150 houses and buildings." - fox news

"Due to the firefighting activities in the area, water reservoirs have dropped to dangerously low levels."

as of last night, at least 2 people had to be helicoptered out to burn centers for treatment.

10 injuries from smoke inhalation
3 burn injuries (1 firefighter and 2 residents)

1,000 firefighters on the front lines.

5,400 residents have been evacuated.

over 100 people slept at the local shelter last night (no celebrities mentioned ;~) ). That's sad to me, b/c that means there are over 100 people who don't have any friends who can house them! :(

Animals Sheltered at Santa Barbara Humane Society:•20 cats, 9 dogs, 1 pig, 4 horses, 11 miscellaneous small animals - just in case you were worried about all the little critters. :)

update #1

2008-11-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

Chris went out and bought an antena for our TV last night, so we could get one grainy news channel. The fire is burning mainly in Montecito, which is where a lot of famous people live on large estates. When we were watching last night, the footage of the burning buildings, the houses were enormous! If you feel like doing some celebrity sightings, you might want to go check out the local evac. center. --maybe i should go check it out & see if my good friend, Kenny Loggins is there. ;~)

They had a few helicopters dumping water on the fires through the night, using infrared goggles. Now that daylight is here, there are all sorts of helicpters flying around.

waking up this morning to the news, we heard that Westmont (chris' alma mater) lost about 8 buildings, including some student housing, and 12 faculty houses. 2,500 acres have burned and over 100 homes have been lost. The yard where chris' company keeps all of their equipment has been put on evacuation alert. Before we went to sleep last night, we set out a few things that we would want to grab quickly, just in case we had to evacuate. So far the fire has stayed a safe distance from us. It would have to go through downtown S.B. before it got to us. It's just hard to feel 100% safe, since the winds are so crazy.

If you'd like to hear more, Fox News has a good article w/photos. it's pretty sad when the national news gives you better coverage than the local news! - but seriously, i think that's just because all the local news is just trying to tell everyone the wheres & whens of evacuations & school closures. Our schools don't close for snow days, they close for fire!

This should be an interesting weekend!

As a side-note, the local radio station just mocked the national headlines: "We're being reffered to as a 'wealthy enclave.' For those of you going to work this morning, struggling to make your mortgage payment, you can be comforted with the fact that you live in a 'wealthy enclave.'" :)

another wildfire...

2008-11-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

Just thought you'd all like to know that we have a HUGE wildfire burning here in the mountains just above town. It started about four hours ago & is growing like crazy. We have really strong hot winds that are blowing down the mountain - sometimes at 75 miles/hour. It's making this fire spread really quickly. I heard one news source estimate well over 60 structures that he saw burning. It also sounds like the local college (which chris attended) has lost several buildings. All of the students are currently locked in the fire-proof gym. It's hard to tell what exactly is happening, because the fire is so huge & moving so rapidly, that it doesn't sound like anyone has any exact news. The people on the radio just said 20,000 homes are w/o electricity, and 400 acres burned. The firefighters aren't giving any estimations as to how much is contained, because it's completely out of control.

We don't have TV here, so we're keeping up with the news w/our local radio station, and KEYT, live video feed from KSBY and one more.

Bippity Boppity Boo! - or something like that.

2008-11-13T07:35:00.000-08:00

okay... it looks like my blog is in desperate need of an update, so i thought i'd share a few pictures from halloween.

normally, i don't dress up, but since my in-laws were going to be enjoying halloween with us, my very creative mother-in-law, & sister-in-law thought it'd be fun to do a group costume, and since they did all the work how could i resist? :)

We were the 3 fairies from sleeping beauty. I think i was flora - but i've never seen the movie, so i'm not really sure.

Didn't they do a great job on the costumes!?

People *loved* seeing the three fairies & everyone gushed over how wonderful it was & asked to take pictures. What a strange feeling to be a celebrity. :)

Chris was a MasterCard commercial. :)

Chloe was a waitress

The Boys were bees. It's truly impossible to get a good picture of those boys. they just can't hold a decent smile for more than half a second! I finally gave up. This is my best one of about 5.

Evy was a Ballerina Butterfly

Chloe's wish list

2008-11-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Chloe told me this moring that she's added a few things to her christmas wish list:

an iphone
$1,000
a wallet (to hold her $1,000?)
and some make-up

She couldn't understand why i was laughing so hard at her request.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Happy halloween everybody. :) my in laws are coming into town soon, & we'll all go to a church carnival together. what are *you* doing?

we had no time to do the pumpkin thing this month, so we ran to the "pumpkin patch" & got some pumpkins last night. Thank goodness for K-mart, because we didn't have time to carve them, either. :)

My weekend

2008-10-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Chris went away on a men's retreat over the weekend, which left me with *lots* of time to do *whatever i wanted* (aside from the part when I was dealing with kids ;~)). So... on friday night, i went to my aunt & uncle's house & took pictures of their family for christmas. Then i spent the rest of the evening with my mom. Saturday morning, we spent the morning tie-dying. it was a BLAST! we made all sorts of fun shirts. maybe i'll take a picture some day & show you. After that, a friend came over, & i took pictures of 3 of her kids. THEN, i had a sitter & went out with a girlfriend, and THEN, another friend joined us, and we watched movies until late. So fun!

Here's one of the pictures that i took of my friend's daughter. isn't she darling!?

A New Post For Heather

2008-10-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

I have some extra time to post today, so i thought i share some of my favorite pics from this summer when Heather came to visit. Thanks to Eric for the pics of me & heather together. :)

The Night Life

2008-10-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

When we got our dog, we put her food outside, right under our bathroom window. Shortly after, we realized we were going to have to bring the food inside every night, to protect it from the many animals who wanted to share with Shasta. What usually happens, though, is that we forget, until we hear an animal crunching the food outside, & then we have to scare them away, so we can grab the food really quick. Well, the other night, i looked outside, & found this guy.

He refused to be scared away! i made noises to scare him, & he just came closer! at one point, he started to walk away (finally!), so i opened the door to grab the food. As soon as he heard the door open, he turned around & came back! i'm sure he would've walked right into the house, if i had let him! this is him, standing on his hind legs to get a better look at me, while I took his picture through the window.

Over the last week or so, Ricky Raccoon has been replaced by a cute little Pepe le Pew. (I'm not about to take pictures of him! He might spray me!) and once, he brought his whole family of about five skunks! The other night, after we scared him away once, I looked out the window, to investigate a little noise outside. There was Pepe le Pew, having a stand off with Ricky! Pepe was fiercely guarding the food, so Ricky wouldn't get to it. Finally after several flicks of the tail, & some scratching at the ground from Pepe, Ricky turned around & walked away. I was kind of surprised, since raccoons are known to be kind of agressive. But i guess nothing compares to a little spritz of Stink.

My Children Are Missing

2008-09-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

I'm convinced that someone has abducted my children and replaced them with perfect little angels.

The other night, for dinner, I made chicken with stir-fry veggies. The second we were done praying, my boys were begging for the vegetables. "I want *lots* of vegetables, please!"
and then, "Wow, Thanks for making such a great dinner, Mom! This is my favorite meal *ever*"
"MMM! This is *so* good!"
"Can I have *more* vegetables??"
"I *love* this broccoli!"

As far as I'm concerned, whoever took my children can keep them. I like the new ones *just* fine!" :)

The little old lady...

2008-09-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Zachy always amuses me with the way he looks at the world. He thinks about things (or at least verbalizes them) differently than most kids. Today, i picked him up from preschool, & asked him what he did. He tod me that he heard about "a very old lady who ate all these different animals, like a dog and a spider and a fly!"

so I said, "Wow! that's crazy! I wonder why someone would do that?"

"I'm pretty sure she did it to catch the bugs that she ate.... and i'm pretty sure she ate the whole cow without even cooking it or anything! .... mom, do people drain the blood out before they eat things like that?"

"yes, they drain the blood."

"how do they do that?"

"I don't know... but you know, Zachary, that's just a pretend story. A person couldn't *really* eat all of those animals, right?"

"yah... unless they cut them up into tiny little pieces first.... and did you know she ate a dog and a cat, too!?"

"no!"

"yah! and they tickled her in her tummy!"

:) I don't think I know of anyone who's put so much thought into that story before. :)

I wonder what he'll be when he grows up. :)

Fun

2008-09-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Jessica for sending me a link to some fun videos by MercyMe, a popular christian band (well-known for their song, "I can Only Imagine".)

I thought all my girlfriends from Dallas would enjoy this one, especially. ;~)

Here's "Ice Baby"

and "The Eye of the Tiger"

"Never Gonna Give You Up"

the "talk"

2008-09-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

okay... so i've tried & tried to figure out a way to post the podcast of sunday's service onto this blog, but i can't figure it out. So, if you'd like to hear it, you can go to our church's website and click in the bottom left-hand corner where it says "new life podcast." That will bring up an itunes window w/a few podcasts from our church. ours is "road trip #4." you can click on the play button in the top left corner to listen, or if you want to keep it forever, because you think we're so wonderful ;~), you can click on "get episode," & it will upload to your itunes account (assuming you have one).

There was a couple who shared before us, so our interview doesn't start until about 33 min. into it. you can skip them if you want (though they had a great story, too). FYI, we shared for about 30 min, so if you're going to listen, you'll wanna make sure you have enough time. :)

if any of you computer geniuses who read my blog, know how to post the podcast, let me know, & i'll do that instead. :) Thanks!

Let me know if you listen, i'd like to know your thoughts. :)

Last Sunday

2008-09-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past month or so, our church as been doing a series called "road trips," where the pastor interviews a person or two, and they share their testimonies. This has been a really powerful time, because not only do we get to know the people in our church in a little deeper way, but God is really using these testimonies to touch everyone's hearts.

Last Wednesday our pastor asked, Chris & me to share *our* testimony on Sunday. Most of you know, to some degree, that Chris & I have had a pretty difficult marriage over the years, but this last year, God has really changed Chris' heart, which in turn, has really changed our marriage. After giving up on ever serving God together it felt like such a privilege to be able to stand up share this story! It felt like such a gift from God. :)

Through the week, Chris & I prayed & prayed, & were very excited to see what God would do on Sunday. It went wonderfully! I felt like we were both able to articulate the things we wanted to say, and we got to speak about how God reached into our hopeless situation & bring life. Lots of people talked to us afterward & thanked us for sharing. it was great!

This was a very special time to me, especially, because it was the first time for me & chris to minister together publicly - it kind of felt like an initiation. :) The fact that we would ever be able to do that, after where we've come from is truly a miracle!! Yay, God!

I can't wait to do it again! ;~)

a great Zachy-ism

2008-09-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

along with the theme of, "you're the best mom i ever had!" that i posted a couple weeks ago:

zachy told me today, "you're the best mom in the whole world! I never had a mom who gave us our *own* sponges and let our grandma come visit!" :)

CELEBRATE!

2008-09-08T18:14:00.001-07:00

Chris got his passport on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

2008-09-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today was the kids' first day of school! YAY! CRAZY, BUSY, FUN! Tomorrow will be Chloe & Gideon's first day to *go* to school! (if you remember, we're doing a homeschool/public school hybrid) They're just THRILLED! Tuesdays (9-2) will be art, P.E, music, & spanish. Thursdays will be history & science, & the rest of the time they'll be with me! Evy & Zachy will be in preschool tomorrow, too, so i'll have TWO HOLE HOURS to myself! yay! i plan to spend some time w/my mom. :) should be nice. --in the future i plan to use that time for shopping & errands. Thursdays, Zachy will be in preschool, but evy will be w/me.

It's a really full schedule, but i'm really excited. YAY!

"wow! I get to give birth and change diapers!"

2008-09-04T13:04:00.001-07:00

My mom found a bunch of cute cards the other day & showed them to me. The were so wonderful that I had to check out the website of the person who made them. These were some of my favorites. :)

New hair!

2008-08-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Chloe got her hair cut this morning!

Before:

After:

i think it's darling... not so sure what chris will think!! :)

Great Quotes

2008-08-25T14:06:00.001-07:00

Here are some fun quotes that i've heard/read recently... i plan to add them to my sidebar shortly.

"I'm CDO. That's like OCD, except the letters are in alphabetical order, like they're supposed to be."

"Setting a good example for children takes all the fun out of life." - William Feather

"What good can come from a day that starts with getting up?"

"Ever notice that 'what the hell' is always the right decision?"

A busy week

2008-08-20T10:07:00.001-07:00

Gideon is SIX years old today!!! no time to post fun pictures of him, b/c i'm running around, trying to pack for our trip to Legoland!

When we get back on Saturday, it will be our 11th anniversary... we'll leave the kids w/some friends & go out alone to stay in a hotel for the night.

Looking forward to having lots of fun!!

and another

2008-08-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

another quote for today, from Gideon:

"You're the best mom I ever had!!"

I was especially glad to hear that, because I was really concerned with how I was measuring up to all his other moms. ;~)

Quote of the day

2008-08-16T08:44:00.001-07:00

Today's quote is from sweet Evy:

"Don't shoot me while i'm praying!!"

The Wedding

2008-08-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Last summer, Chloe fell in love with Heather's son, when they were visiting us. Chloe & Josh decided to get married & even began planning their wedding. Heather & i figured it would wear off, & they'd forget all about it by the following summer. Well... this summer, when Josh came to visit, they were even closer than before! The other day chloe drew this picuture:

This is her & Josh at their wedding. :)

Airline Fees

2008-08-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a funny video that Ruth showed us over the weekend... so perfect after flying all weekend. :)

An interesting trip

2008-08-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

So as I mentioned in my previous post, i went to Dallas last weekend to have a reunion with all my high school girlfriends. A few of them, i haven't seen since high school. We had *soooo* much fun!! it was so refreshing to hang out an just be girls. not mothers or wives or homemakers... just girls. :) we ate lots of chocolate, talked about our kids, our marriages, our hairy legs, and everything else we could think of. We laughed & cried & talked & talked & talked. And then we ate some more chocolate. We went to bed after 4am every night. Over the three nights that I was gone, I think i slept about 9 hours. Today, i was exhausted--and hoarse - yet my spirit is refreshed. :) I can't tell you what a treasure it is to have girlfriends. :)

My flight into Dallas was a nightmare. I left my house at 10am & didn't arrive in Dallas until 5am, due to a couple 3-4 hour delays, and 2 missed flights... *sigh*

however, my 1st flight out of santa barbara was a fun experience - even if we *did* take 3 hours to get off the ground. When i first sat down on the plane, i had a pilot sit next to me... but the flight attendant kicked him off, because we were over our weight limit. a few minutes later, two new people get on the plane. i don't know what happened to the weight limit, but i guess it didn't matter anymore.

those of you who know me well, know that i love to people watch & think it's fun to try to figure out the story behind the person. So my new seat-mate was very intriguing to me. He was an older guy, but very stylish - cool hair & clothes... looked a lot like this guy:
so I asked him if he was from santa barbara, & he said yes. (that explains it, a little. Santa barbara people tend to be pretty stylish :) ) He was going to Tucson to do a show. So i asked what kind of show he was doing. With a bit of hesitation in his voice, he told me that he was a singer. (ah! this explains it even more! he's a singer, so he has a "look.") so we talked some more, about i don't know what, & it occurred to me that maybe he was a famous singer, & here i am sitting next to some big famous guy & didn't even know it... so of course, i had to ask.

"So. you're a singer. Are you famous? Should I know you?"

Again, he hesitated a bit, & said, "yes."

HA! too funny! "well, who are you?"

"More importantly, who are you?"

(Who cares who *I* am? i'm not famous! ) I reached my hand out to shake his, & said, "hello. I'm Karina."

and he says, "Hello, Karina. I'm Kenny..." (that is *not* what kenny rogers looks like, is it??) "...Loggins." ooooooh! he *is* famous!

So i had a lovely 4 hour plane ride, talking to kenny loggins. & i've got to say, he was the most enjoyable seat-mate i've ever met (aside from my wonderful husband, of course ;) ) we talked about politics, marriage, kids, and our ridiculous flight, among other things.

I had lots of fun being silly with my girlfriends about it. saying all of those things a fan would say:
"I shook hands with Kenny Loggins!"

"I practically kissed Kenny Loggins!" (actually, he just shared some water with me, because it was crazy hot on the plane, --but hey! his mouth touched the bottle. my mouth touched the bottle. We practically kissed! ;~) )

"I shared a brownie with Kenny Loggins!"

"Kenny Loggins insulted me by thinking I was 33!"

"Kenny Loggins slept on my shoulder!" (actually, he was leaning on his hand, & just kinda fell over & bumped into me)

"Kenny Loggins thinks I'm funny!" (he laughed at a joke i made)

"Kenny Loggins made fun of my watch!" (I happen to think my watch is very stylish, thank you very much.)

"I told Kenny Loggins to shut up!"

Anyway... fun and silly. :) As we were leaving, he said, "not to put you on the spot or anything, but what songs of mine do you know?" well, those of you who know me, know that as much as I love music, i'm clueless about who actually sings the songs that I love. - and I told him so. But i told him i'm sure i would know them if he told me, so i asked him what some of his more popular songs were: "footloose"

"you sang THAT!?"

"yah. and the sound track to Top Gun"

"really!? that was you? i didn't know that!"

Looking back, I should've said, "that sounds kind of familiar. how does it go?" just so I could say, "Kenny Loggins sang to me!" :D

Heather later informed me that he also sang, "your mama don't dance", the "Caddy Shack" soundtrack, "house at pooh corner", and one of my all time favorite love songs: "for the first time"

And the best son award goes to...

2008-08-11T16:17:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, I went to Texas to have a reunion with some my high school girlfriends. It was a blast, but i'll tell you all about it later.

Today, I asked Gideon what best part of his weekend was.

His answer:
"Nothing, because you weren't here."

An Honor

2008-08-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Pentax (the camera brand that I use) has a website where they display photos that people have taken with their cameras. Last year I thought it would be fun to add my photos to their site. After looking at some of the photos that they had displayed, I was sure that they would accept some of mine as well. But apparently, they have a different standard for judging photos than I do. They rejected every single one of my photos!! After that, I took them a little more seriously, & only submitted my very best photos. And now, I'm excited to say that they've accepted four of my photos for their gallery. I feel honored. :) You can click on the above icon to see their site. or click here to see *my* page. (I'm Emelia Isaac) :)

all those kids!

2008-07-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

I saw a bumper sticker the other day. i've *got* to find one for myself, now.

"I child-proofed my house, but they keep getting in!"

Why I love Sandra Boynton

2008-07-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

okay... Sandra Boynton is quick becoming my favorite children's author. (it's a pretty tight race with David Shannon) But just the other day, i discovered that she does MUSIC as well!!! after hearing this *great* song the other day, & had to go & research it. Turns out, Sandra Boynton made a bunch of books/cd's. So i bought one (Blue Moo), & got it in the mail yesterday. Her lyrics are just so fun!!! -maybe even as good as Shel Silverstein! here are a few of my favorite songs:

The Uninvited Parade:

We're On Parade! We're on Parade!
We are Marching Marching through your living room!
A swell Brigade!
We're on Parade!
And the Big Bass Drum goes boom boom boom!
And the big bass drum goes boom!
We are marching up the stairs.
We are marching down the hall
We will have to turn around because your hallway is too small.
Parade!
We're on Parade!
We are marching through your closet, unafraid!
We are marching down the stairs.
We are marching out the door.
We will sing our noble ending just like every time before:
We're the uninvited loud precision band!
It's the best intruding band in all the land!

Return of the Uninvited Parade:

We are marching through your kitchen, for we need a little snack.
Now we organize your cupboards, and we exit out the back.
We're the uninvited loud precision band!
It's the best intruding band in all the land!

Loud!/Quiet:

One Shoe Blues: (sung by B.B King!!)

Well, I woke up this morning
Couldn't find my shoe
Yes, I woke up this morning and i couldn't find my shoe.
Although the right one is here, I need the left one too
(Yes, I do)
I can hear my mama calling.
She says it's time to go.
Yes, I can hear my mama calling.
She says:
REALLY now, it's time to go.
I say:
Mama, I can't find one of my shoes!
And she says, Oh now. Not again.
I've got the one shoe blues
it seems they're never gonna stop.
yes, those one shoe blues.
Oh, they might never ever stop.
Mama says,
just come along now!
one shoe.
do you expect me to hop?
Did you look in the close and under the bed?
yes, i did
did you look CAREFULLY in the closet and under the bed?
yes, yes i did.
try and think where you left it.
that's what my mama said.
Last night i left it right here next to my other shoe.
I KNOW I put it right here next to my other shoe.
I think somebody took it.
Bud i don't know who.
No, I don't.
I've got the
one shoe blues.
that's why I'm singing this song.
I've got the
one shoe blues!
And so I'm singing this sad song.
You know it's been
at least twenty minutes
that i 've been looking in every POSSIBLE place
for that...
huh.
There it i.
I guess it was on my foot all along.
Okay, i'm ready to go now.
Anybody seen my coat?

With You: (Sung by Bobby Vee!)

so sweet!

Rabbit Tango: (Sung by Patti LuPone)

If there's a rabbit,
then you should grab it.
then you should grab it,
gently nab it by the paws.
And then sincerely
you hold it nearly
as you await the sudden hush,
and then applause.
now with that rabbit
as if by habit
you begin that thrilling dance across the floor,
while in the hot light
of your own spotlight
there's a magic that you never knew before.
for bingo - bango!
it is a TANGO!
you hear the violins above
and bass beneath
it is dramatic.
it's so dramatic,
as the bunny holds a rose between its teeth
if! there's! a...rabbit,
then you should grab it.
then you should grab it,
gently nab it, as it were.
but if there's not one,
you haven't got one,
and so the tango
that we spoke of
won't occur.

When a Hippo Can Dance:

really funny. no time to type out all the lyrics, but you should listen carefully all the way to the end. :)

Your Personal Penguin: (sung by Davy Jones from The Monkees!)

The Uninvited Parade Strikes Again:

We're on Parade!
We're on Parade!
We are Marching , Marching through the grocery store!
A swell brigade!
We're on Parade! and the big bass drum goes boom some more!
and the drum goes boom some more!
We are marching up row A. We are marching down row B...
Parade! We're on Parade!
We admire how your produce is displayed!
We have marched through every aisle of this crowded supermart.
We are marching through the checkout lane with nothing in our cart!
We're the uninvited loud precision band!
It's the best intruding band in all the land!

There are lots more great songs (and singers) , but i din't want to give away the whole thing. :)

please excuse all the type-o's. it's late, & i'm in a hurry to get this done before chris gets home. :)

Back!

2008-07-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

i'm back!... finally! don't know how much i'm going to be posting anymore... my days are just SO FULL!! but... whenever i have free time (like this evening, i plan to pop in for a quick little update. :) ) my visit with my family was WONDERFUL!! it was so great to have them in my home. .. someday, maybe i'll post some pictures. :)

now, on to more exciting posts....

oh what a night

2008-07-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

As some of you already know, Santa Barbara doesn't have seasons like the rest of the world. Ours are quite different. Here, we have Flood, Fog, Fire, and Fiesta. At this moment, we're enjoying the lovely Fire season. You may remember a post from right around this time last year. We had a huge fire that lasted *forever* and dumped tons of ash all over our house. It was so bad on some days, that the kids couldn't go outside. This was by far, the worst case of ash I've ever seen in the area. We've only just gotten free of the effects w/in the last few months. Finally! no more ash all over the back porch!

...until now. Now we have another fire. Last year, the fire was behind the mountains of Santa Barbara. We could see the smoke & ash, but it was highly unlikely that it would actually reach the main city homes, etc. This time, it's on our side of the mountains.

Last night, we had a sitter come over so Chris & I could have a little time alone before people come over. Our sitter's family rents a house from us a few miles north, in Goleta, just at the foot of the mountains. She told us that she and her family have packed up a bunch of their things, just in case they have to evacuate. I started to think, "wow. that would be so sad to have your house burn down." & then it occurred to me: "Wait a second... that's *our* house!!"

Anyway... for our date, chris & i went to a restaurant in Goleta for Dinner. Shortly after getting our drinks, the power went out. While we were waiting for the lights to come back on, the man at the table next to us said it was out all the way down to Carpinteria. (to see a map of our area & where the fire is, click here.) So we left, & drove about 45 minutes south to Ventura, where we had dinner at a fast food place, and then went to a movie (Hancock). Just as the previews were playing, our sitter called & asked us to come home. She was sitting in our house, in the dark (the power was still off), watching the hillside burn from our window. She was anxious that her family would be evacuated, & she wouldn't know what was going on. So we left the movie & went home.

After she left, we lit a million candles, watched the fire burn for a few minutes, then went to bed (i was exhausted, since i had been up with Evy til 2:30am the night before) . Around 2 or 3 in the morning, the electricity came back on --and all the lights & radios that had been on in the evening came back on. Before I woke up, Evelyn (who's 2) got up, made herself breakfast (dumping half the cereal on the floor), let Shasta out of her crate & tried to feed the dog by dumping all of her treats on the floor. The dog, who wasn't let outside, promptly peed on the carpet. *sigh*

And now begins a new day with an eerie orange sun and great flakes of ash falling from the sky.

Things to Come

2008-07-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

well, as some of you have already guessed, having a puppy has taken up all of my blogging time. Between her and the kids, I just don't see the blog working anymore. So I'm sorry to say that this is officially my last post. No more blogging for me. :(

just kidding. i wouldn't do that to my faithful readers! (all two of them) :)

what's actually been happening is that my very best friend from Texas came to visit, and i just had too much fun enjoying her company to be thinking about the blog. :) This Saturday, my brother, Erik will be coming into town, and then my sister, Heidi, on Sun.

But i've got lots to talk about! Shasta has doubled in size, in the last 2 weeks, (weighing a whopping 12 pounds); Evelyn got a ball stuck in her nose yesterday; our refrigerator is broken; and Chris is an amazing husband. I've read some great books, taken some fun pictures, and started an exercise program for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!! so... i can't wait to tell you all about it... In a week or two. :)

Until then, I hope you have a great fourth of July. And if you're especially bored, check out the website I mentioned in the previous post. That should keep you busy for awhile. ;)

new blog

2008-06-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

okay... i think Glenna mentioned this blog on her site, but i just have to mention it here, because i've been laughing SO HARD! go check out: Stuff Christians Like. Too funny! :)

my apologies...

2008-06-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

my nice little blogging site hasn't been emailing when people post comments... so it only just now occured to me that i should just check my blog & see. So.... i've gone through the front page & commented on some of your comments - you might want to go back & look. :)