For Aaron....

Our Mountain of Strength

Aaron, our son - "Mountain of strength",
A gift from our Lord this year,
So many months of hopes and dreams,
Are now dissolved into tears.

But how can we cry? How can we sorrow?
You are face to face with the Lord!
And though you are gone to your Heavenly home,
We are still bound by love's strong cord.

Let your body sleep; your soul rejoice and sing,
You do not see through a glass darkly today,
We praise God for you, and expect to praise Him with you,
When we reach Heaven one day.

Our thoughts and dreams must adapt to God's will,
You will not be forgotten, though your time here was brief.
Oh Lord be our Rock, our "Mountain of Strength",
And comfort us in our grief.




Yes, my SIL wrote it for the program for the funeral on Friday.

Prayers please....

I wasn't going to mention this on-line, but since she has herself.......

My SIL and her husband lost their baby yesterday. She had been due on the 21st... everything was fine until Monday--suddenly no movement from the baby. Ultrasounds could find no heart beat. She was to be induced yesterday afternoon. I just can't imagine... but the Lord's grace will be sufficient for them, even in this.

To borrow her words: Obviously we have many hard decisions to make in the next several days, and many more hard moments to face. Your prayers on our behalf are greatly appreciated.

UPDATE:

Just got off the phone with my SIL. He was born yesterday at 5:20pm. Aaron Gabriel. Funeral will be Friday at 1pm. Aaron: Mountain of strength. She said "they had been thinking of that name b/c he kicked so strongly while she was carrying him. Now they need one." Lord, have mercy.

Merry Christmas '07

Dear Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas! Isaiah 7:14 records one of many prophecies about Christ’s birth: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Although this verse accurately predicts Christ’s miraculous birth approximately 600 years before the very first Christmas, it does much more as well. The wording in the first part of the verse reveals that the sign of Christ’s birth was special even among miracles because God Himself was going to do it, unlike many other miracles that He accomplished through prophets and such. The middle part of the verse ties this prophecy and Christ’s birth to the very first prophecy which God Himself made to Satan in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Also, this facet of the verse declares that Christ will be genuinely human. The last part of the verse reveals that not only is God the doer of this sign but that He is the sign. Matthew 1:23 explains, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Additionally, His name of Immanuel points toward the purpose for His miraculous birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension – to be with us. Just before Christ went to the mount of Olives where He was betrayed, He prayed in John 17:20 & 21: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” May your Christmas be merry in belief, trust, & faith in Christ; and if you do not believe in Him, please know that though more than 2000 Christmases have passed since His birth, He still invites you to be with Him through belief in His word.

In addition to salvation, the Lord has blessed and challenged us throughout this year. Of course, Hannah was born in October of 2006; but we spent most of the beginning of 2007 getting to know one another. In March we visited Paul’s dad & step-mom in Florida for a weekend and celebrated Kenneth’s 2nd birthday. While we were there Kenneth befriended his step-aunt, Jennifer. In April Melinda’s parents visited us for a week, and then we traveled together to NJ so they could return to their home and we could visit Melinda’s friend, Nancy. We then proceeded to NY to visit Paul’s sister (Lisa) & her family for about a week along with Melinda’s cousin & her family, who had traveled down from Canada. We packed Lisa’s home with 6 adults and 12 children, and we had a wonderful time. Hannah especially enjoyed meeting her northern “fan club.”

Most of our summer was spent working, chasing Kenneth & Hannah, doing chores around the house, and involving ourselves at church. Aside from growing like a weed and attaining new heights of mischief, Kenneth is developing his vocal skills. Of course Hannah is growing fast as well, but her chief development seems to be her mobility as she tries to keep up with her brother. Paul continues to work as a probation/parole officer, and Melinda continues her work as the family’s homemaker. Also, we have completed several projects around the house such as insulating some of the water pipes in the crawlspace, hanging more wall decorations, and building gates for the porch and deck. We spent about a week of the summer house-sitting for the Souths (friends from church) and enjoyed their pool and garden. Along with the regular activities at church, we spent a lot of time amending the church’s constitution. This was both challenging and educational. Melinda continues to minister as the church’s nursery superintendent, and Paul continues to serve as a deacon.

On August 18th Melinda celebrated her birthday and reached the age of majority – for a hobbit. In October Paul & Melinda celebrated their 10th anniversary! In keeping with tradition, we took Hannah out for Mexican food with our friends, Coart & Lori, on her 1st birthday. We enjoyed fellowshipping with Coart & Lori again on Thanksgiving but missed the traditional visit by Paul’s mom due to her new job. We look forward to Paul’s dad & step-mom visiting us for Christmas followed in January by some friends from IN, the Matsons. May God bless each of you during this special season as you reflect on the Christ of Christmas.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,

Taking a break...

...but not eating a Kit-Kat.

Just wanted to let ya's know that things will be quiet around here for a while. (Not that they haven't been quiet lately... they'll just continue being quiet for different reasons.)

Ciao!!

Please pray...

To borrow a quote from Lori:

"... I'm thinking there's just a whole lot going on in people's lives right now.

sometimes it's really hard to know when to hold fast to the boundaries .... and when administrative mercy is the right response."



Yea, that pretty well sums up my life right now. Hubby and I could use your prayers. No need for particulars, just for the Lord's grace to be abundant, His mercies to be new in the morning, and His faithfulness to be steadfast. (And we know He is!) I was going to change my status on FaceBook to read "Mel is thinking that life sucks" but they took away the "is." LOL *sighs*

Thanks in advance. Love you guys!!



P.S. The Dragon Family Christmas letter & photo cards went out today. Hopefully y'alls will arrive unscathed.

I'm alive...

... and I have proof that the kids are alive.



Labor Day & just a week or so ago....

S.S.S.

Sox swept Series. Woot!!

10...

.... 10 years ago today.....

Grace-based parenting questions

Following is an excerpt from a letter/response I exchanged with a new friend a while back:

<<<"Tedd Tripp's _Shepherding a Child's Heart_. Ever read it?"
Um... I bought it at a consignment sale last year for .50! Did I pay too much?? I haven't actually read it yet. Skimmed here and there. Some of what he says sounds like how my folks raised me, some doesn't. (Not that how I was raised is any kind of golden standard, just what I'm most familiar with.) I haven't read enough to form an opinion. In your opinion is it worth reading for the chicken while spitting bones, or is it all skin & bones??

"Tim Kimmel's _Grace-Based Parenting_ is very good."
Agreed. Borrowed it from a friend a year or so ago. Liked it. My only "gripe" with Kimmel was (at least that book) seemed to be geared more toward the parents of older kids/teens... while I'm in the infants and toddlers group. I agree with the lion's share of what Kimmel said, but how do I go about *applying* that kind of grace to my 2 year old??? Which is what I'm trying to ask when I say "How different do those two (you don't expect your children to obey you, you expect them to obey God) look when dealing with a 1-2 year old??" IOW, if it's NOT "first time, every time, with a happy face" then what IS it?

I tend to be a black & white, very concrete stick in the mud kind of thinker. LOL (I.e. I own Ezzo--bought him on recommendation from a friend at church. And Pearl--a gift. Shaking your head yet?? Note I only said I own them, not that they own me! ;-) ) I see the "ease of mom's life" that following their behaviour modification techniques could bring, but I also see the adversarial relationship that their "techniques" can foster/encourage between parent and child. The main thing that I'm *really* attracted to in their books is the "Do these three things & you'll have X result." ((Man, that sounds like indy-fundy speak doesn't it?!))

So maybe I'm not as far down this road toward understanding grace as I'd like to think I am. I can function with a list of rules & regs, and happen to be pretty darn good at flying under the radar. I *like* the law... at least insofar as I know what's expected of me. *rolls eyes* >>>

Somehow I think this is antithetical to grace, but are there any spelled out "this is hands-on _how_ you parent in grace" books out there??? I can give mental assent to the fact that we were raised (sincerely) wrongly, but my little OCD mind really likes a check-list. Harrumph!! It's like I can kinda see what's wrong (with me, with the system we grew up in, etc.), but I'm still not really "getting it." **sighs**

Dh and I have been discussing this topic (grace) off and on over the last few years...
Since '02 when (depending on your theology) I got saved (or "rededicated") and realized the theological framework that most accurately describes/accounts for my personal experience with the Gospel is a Reformed one...
Since our son was born in '05 and we started thinking (much more seriously) about raising another generation in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord"...
Since '06 when Gothard's definition of grace started showing up in sermons at our church (Grace: God's enabling power to do His will!?!?!??)...
Since dh resigned from an 11 year career in law enforcement...
Since.................... Yea. Since!!

We've decided that we need to sit down with our Bibles and study grace for ourselves. *grins* 'Cause if we don't "get it" for ourselves, we'll never be able to adequately teach/show it to our kids. So... yea.... "That topic" is on the table again. Grace. Beautiful thing, isn't it??

Be Warned...

... a post is coming... eventually.



No.... really.... maybe *this* weekend... <.< >.>

That feeling....

..... Ever have that feeling that "maybe I shouldn't do X" ...even though you've done X any number of times and nothing has EVER gone wrong??? Heh. Today was one of those days. Had "that feeling" about maybe I *shouldn't* eat my PB&J at the computer this afternoon, and no less than 15 seconds later had dumped a 16 oz. glass of milk all over our computer desk. Bah!!

So now our computer desk is freshly cleaned. :-D

Idiot!!

That would be me. Someone go get my sign, please! Ever try to leave a comment on some one's blog while you've got a cookie-blocker on... and not been able to leave a comment... and gotten annoyed & written a really sarcastic comment.... *then* adjusted your cookie settings.... and that's the comment that's finally "taken".... so basically you're fussing at some poor innocent blogger because YOU didn't adjust your computer's settings??

Nothing good happens after midnight. :blush:



It doesn't help that the lady has been through (and is still being put through) crap (and that's the severest of understatements), and my original intent had been to be encouraging. *sighs* ............ goes off to beat head on wall, then to sleep.

Finished!!

The church's Constitution amendment/re-write is done... in all 4 versions....

Final Board-approved version

Hubby & Savage's grammar edit

Presentation version (to be read publicly for voting on)

and last but not least...

Hubby & Savage's wish-list incorporated version..... just little things ... yanno, like fixing doctrinal issues. :-P (Satan *caused* the fall?!?!) But since our edit is not allowed to change the intent of the final board-approved version in any way.... they're getting what they asked for. :-/ I suspect that we will wind up voting against it... but any way.

It's done!!

Grace!

GRACE, ’TIS A CHARMING SOUND

Grace! ‘Tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear,
Heav’n with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.

Saved by grace alone!
This is all my plea:
Jesus died for all mankind,
And Jesus died for me.

‘Twas grace that wrote my name
In life’s eternal book;
‘Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
Who all my sorrows took.

Grace taught my wandering feet
To tread the heav’nly road;
And new supplies each hour I meet,
While pressing on to God.

Grace taught my soul to pray,
And made mine eyes o’erflow;
'Twas grace which kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.

Oh let Thy grace inspire
My soul with strength divine;
May all my pow’rs to Thee aspire,
And all my days be Thine.

Saved by grace alone!
This is all my plea:
Jesus died for all mankind,
And Jesus died for me.


Philip Doddridge
and
Augustus M. Toplady

FWIW, CyberHymnal has slightly different words and an extra vese that our hymnal doesn't have. I like the tune we use better too. :-)

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeean Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicker!

LOL. I have a new appreciation for my great-grandparents. My family used to work the bean fields & cannery in Jersey (back before there were illegal migrant workers to do it). I have new respect for all of 'em. Legals & non. Bean pickin' IS back-breaking work. Between last Saturday and Thursday of this week, hubby and I picked 27 pounds of green beans. O.O Thankfully I have an auntie who loves me, and loves to can veggies... so we are now the proud owners of 17 quarts and 14 pints of green beans.

Beans anyone??? :-D

Patience anyone??

Please, please, please tell me you haven't been praying for patience for us.... and if you have been, STOP IT AT ONCE!!! :-D

The saga continues.....

After my round with the bread knife and ensuing stitches and tetanus shot Monday evening, I was hoping for a quiet week on the home-front. BWHAHAHAHAHA. *ahem*

Wednesday night was a business meeting at church. Hubby had to work late, so we didn't get there until just as the meeting was getting under way at 7:30pm. (Good baptistic people that they are, they did have a time of prayer first.) Not 5 minutes in to the meeting Baby Dragon #1 decided he had heard enough and tried to scoot forward to get down off the pew. (Please note, he's been doing this for months on his own, successfully.) This night, however, his butt apparently stuck; and he pitched forward with his head, earning for himself a quite deep puncture wound *just* the shape of the corner of the hymnbook rack smack in the middle of his forehead.... Of course it started spurting blood.... poor little guy, sitting there with blood running down his face & dripping off the end of his nose! I went for something to press against it to staunch the bleeding, hubby scooped him up and followed; we just left Baby Dragon #2 there in her car-seat to fend for herself. ;-) Thankfully, once we got pressure on his head, the bleeding stopped. He had a bit of a bloody nose too, but that didn't even drip. He also has quite the bruise on his cheekbone from the hymnbook itself. Truthfully, he looks like we've been beating on him, but we have witnesses--we haven't! Afterwards people told us when we'd left they'd all swiveled and stared down April, (our resident MD who is like 8 3/4 months pregnant) til she got up and followed us out. :-D She got a bag of ice for his head and after examining him declared, "Well, he's sure got a hole in his head!" :-) So we put a band-aide on it & back into the meeting we went. Thankfully it was a short one and free of rancor, so we were done by 8:15. (I'm nursery super again. Oh the joys!! ;-) )

Thursday, Little Miss wakes us up early, sporting a fever of 102.3. She's cutting teeth (maybe all 4 of her top center ones at once?)... but I thought teeth-cutting was only supposed to induce low-grade fevers. I don't call 102 low-grade anything, but she seems happy enough with a bit of Infant's Tylenol, and has no other symptoms, so we're going to wait it out over the weekend before calling the Dr.

For now, Samsbane is sporting a (healing nicely) hole in his forehead, Little Miss is alternating between burning up & cold, my tetanus shot is finally not hurting & my finger feels great.............. so we're hunkering down for the weekend... hoping hubby escapes our injury parade. Of course, he was just asked to help someone move tomorrow.... :-\ anyone have a back brace I can send with him?



**UPDATE on BD #2**

Well, her temp was 102.6 this (Friday) am, but after Tylenol it came down and stayed down all day. She seems like her 'old' self again! Praise be!!

2 hours and 3 stitches later...

... we're back home. :-) My finger is still numb. We'll see how it is tomorrow!! :-\

Not to worry, it was just a flesh wound.... :-D

...the pickle wraps got done, Pastor (bless his heart) came and picked up said pickle wraps & the shower present while Hubby came to get me. While hubby was driving home he called our resident saint-in-waiting (next door neighbor lady) to come over w/ her two grand-kids and sit with the Baby Dragons #1 & #2 while he and I went out for supper (to kill time while we waited for the Dr to run home & get his supper) before coming back to his office to meet us & stitch my finger back together. It only took three stitches.... and 4 shots & a squirt of something in the --caine family before sewing commenced. I'd post a pic, but it just looks like a band-aide right now. :-D My finger is still numb. Before it just felt like a giant paper cut. Nothing like being able to see the inside of one's finger. Then we had to go and have BBQ for supper!! :-P Oh, and while I'm whining, my shoulder is sore! The men insisted I needed a tetanus booster--it was a dag-gum bread knife folks, freshly washed--no rust I promise--but I lost that argument. >-(

Anyway... all is well that ends well. All appendages are still quite firmly attached! Our poor neighbor about had a heart attack though. See, she arrived just as Pastor was, and she's thinking "how bad is this cut???? They've called in the preacher!!" What was even funnier, when I called Pastor to see if he'd be willing to come by & pick up the pickle wraps for the baby shower tonight, he had volunteered, "I'll do your funeral for free!" Funny, funny guy. ;-)

Vindication!!

For those of you who *always* complain about being called "kid" or when hearing me call someone not much my younger "kid".... read on....

..... you know you are from Philly when you refer to some one as a kid even if they are an adult eg: "look at this kid"


So there. The official You Know You're from PHILLY if..... Facebook group said so!! :-P



P.S. [also] You call everyone guys, no matter if they're a girl or a guy.

Prayers appreciated....

I love you guys, really I do. :-) You see, I'm still chewing through this book. Not that it's that hard to chew, I just have to re-read every page about 3 times because I've gotten so lazy about reading anything requiring thought that things just don't stick...or maybe the Teflon-brain's just because of the constant one-eye-on-the-book one-eye-on-the-kids thing! ;-) Either way, we're still reading it (me and the mouse in my pocket). I'm using a piece of junk mail for a bookmark so I can rip out pieces to make pages that have particularly salient thoughts on them (that I want to discuss with hubby)... besides being a practical way to mark pages without dog-earing LJ's book, I get some visceral satisfaction from shredding junk mail a piece at a time, :-D but anyway.....

If you think of it, I'd appreciate your prayers as we [continue] chewing through this book... We had a special speaker at church last week & wouldn't you know, the opening night's message had a few comments thrown in that directly contradicted the main point of the chapter I'd been working on all week. :-P Then in yesterday's second service, about half of Pastor's off-the-cuff statements (IOW what he really thinks) were directly in conflict with rather clearly presented Scripture from this weeks chapter!! So I'm having fun!!! I feel like Sam--I have a bunch of questions I want to throw out there but I don't know entirely who to ask b/c anyone within my "camp" is going to take them as an attack, an insult, or just argumentativeness for the sake of orneriness (and y'all know I can do that pretty well some days). So for now, I'm just keeping my mouth shut. *waiting for laughter to die down* Hubby is planning to read this after I finish & then we'll sit down and discuss it, and us, and where we are. So y'all be praying.

Oh, and thanks to LJ again for hooking me up with the text of one of my all-time favorite songs.... good thoughts to meditate on......



Before the Throne

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of Grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God


“Before the Throne”, lyrics by Charitie Less Bancroft, alt. lyrics and music by Vikki Cook.

© 1997 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

You speck!!

"If you say there is no God, I can only ask how you --a speck of mortal living for a moment of time on an atom of an earth in plain sight of an infinite universe full of incredible beauty, wonder and design-- can so confidently hold so improbable a view."

---attributed to former President of Harvard University, Dr. Charles Eliot

Ernest Goes to Camp... and learns about Grace?!

At church Sunday one of the kids was talking about the "Ernest" movies (goes to Camp, goes to Jail, saves the Day, etc.). Monday I was thinking back through that conversation & wondered what his parents would have thought if I had asked him about M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village." Somehow I doubt they'd have been pleased.:-D Anyway, that got me thinking. (Smell smoke?!) I've got a bunch of things rattling through my head about the Village again in relation to Fundamentalism, standards, expectations, etc.; but mostly was just reminded that I still haven't finished LJ's Putting Amazing Back into Grace, so off the shelf it came again. :-) I was pleasantly surprised to find myself beginning chapter 7, "Mission Accomplished." This line got me...

The fact that God would choose, redeem, call, and keep a great number known only to Him is amazing grace indeed and of infinitely more comfort than the idea that Christ's death actually secured the salvation of none, merely making salvation possible, depending on the ability of those who are 'dead in trespasses and sins' to make the right moves to God.

Imagine, "the work of Christ on the cross was effective in and of itself." Imagine, indeed!!

Speaking of Featured Content...

This post caught my eye because I saw one of the TLC shows on the Duggars while we were at my in-laws last spring. Think of them what you will, 17 is a lot of kids from one Momma. Anyway, in case it's not still on FC, here's the Xanga site: cindyjg. Obviously she doesn't agree with them, but at least her arguments are polite and articulate (unlike some of the Duggar supporters who are leaving her comments). :-|

Oh, and related tangentially, I read recently that if we were to give one whole acre of land to every man, woman, and child alive on the earth today, we'd still all fit inside the land mass of the good 'ole U.S. of A.... so I kinda think the natural resources argument is specious one, but that's just me.



(update)

Now this guy.... I'll let his words speak for themselves... Back to the fall-out over the Duggar post from a few days ago (see above), one of the nut-jobs that commented on her post said: To have so many children [is]almost the same as abortion because in both cases life or death of the future child [is] in the mind of mother. THAT idea, my dears, takes a special kind of stupid to believe, but hey.... it takes all kinds, right? *shakes head*



(update #2)

Now this is a quote worth reading (because it agrees with me, of course! ;-))

G.K. Chesterton compared a mother's duties to those of a monarch, a merchant, and a theology teacher. He said, "I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about (arithmetic), and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness."

What think ye??

This is from "10 ways to build your child's self-esteem"

There's a difference between praise and encouragement.

One rewards the task while the other rewards the person ("You did it!" rather than "I'm proud of you!").

Praise can make a child feel that he's only "good" if he does something perfectly.
Encouragement, on the other hand, acknowledges the effort.

"Tell me about your drawing. I see that you like purple" is more helpful than saying, "That's the most beautiful picture I've ever seen."

Too much praise can sap self-esteem because it can create pressure to perform and set up a continual need for approval from others.

So dole out the praise judiciously and offer encouragement liberally; it will [help] your child grow up to feel good about himself.


I don't know what I think about this nifty little article. I want to roll my eyes at the "self-esteem building" ideas everyone loves, yet I know drowning a child in superlatives is hardly beneficial either. I guess I've not had to give it much thought yet.... I remember hearing a young dad praising his son for every bite the youngster ate (he was just learning to self feed). It seemed like excessive praise at the time, but with the retrospection of having my own two year old, maybe it was just much needed positive reinforcement! :-D

Proof...

They say the proof is in the pudding... well, no pudding in NY (though we did consume several flats of yogurt).... never mind.. it was going to be a really lame joke...

ANYWAY, as proof of our insanity & that I wasn't kidding about all those kids & their ages; here's a pic of all 12 kiddoes.



Sorry they're not all looking at the camera... we had about 4 cameras going at once & counted ourselves lucky that all the kids stayed inside those 6 sq. ft. for long enough to get the pictures taken!! :-D

Notice that there's no mud, blood, or guts. Of course, that culd be because we took the pic right after lunch on Sunday (they hadn't been allowed out in the mud yet). Almost unbelievable, but the only blood the entire Thursday -> Sunday when everybody was there was a little rugburn on BD#1's nose. That's it.

12 kids....

In an episode that will challenge the sound & sanity barrier of even the most kid-noise loving among us, we're in NY with Hubby's sister & her family (with 6 kids who are 10 down to 2 years of age). Tonight my cousin Cat & her hubby and their 4 kids (5 years down to 4 months) are also joining the mayhem here. So yea.... by this time tomorrow there will be 12 kids 10 years and under in the house... of whom 9 kids are 6 and under..... whichever sounds more scary---both are true! :-) Should be fun!!!

Let's see, that's B(10), E(8), E(8), J(6), K(5), C(4), S(4), N(2), J(2), K(2), H(6mo), and J(4mo). :-D



So, are we insane???? ;-)

CAKE !!

Baby Dragon #1 is now the big 2. Woot! Let them eat cake!!

Prayers....

...would be much appreciated. My folks come in on Thursday evening, then we all leave together next Thursday for what will wind up being 24 hours on the road for 14 hours of actual driving time. I know this (time estimate)because our trip to FL last weekend took 12 hours each way for 7 1/2 hours of driving time--chalk it up to traveling with small kids (2 of the 2 and under variety). For this trip we will be adding two semi-infirm 60-somethings to the mix. Well, they're not really semi-infirm, but one with two artificial hips & one with Parkinson's means they'll need to get out and stretch/walk just as much as our 2 year old. On the plus side there will be two more sets of adult eyes on the littles. But that's not the prayer request.

By the time we leave SC (after a week of grandparents in the house) I'm going to need a drink. :-D BADLY. The grandparents do not know that we drink. So I won't, because I really really really don't want to go there. Not now, not ever. We're not hiding anything, there's just no point in having the discussion. Of course the box of really cool (new) wine glasses in the cupboard might raise questions...... *sighs*

Anyway........... y'all pray. :-)


***Update***
Other than a minor incident with the chest freezer in the side yard, so far so good. Today is Dad's 61st b-day....

I know why.....

...there are fewer pictures of each subsequent kid. Mom & Dad have less time available to take pictures b/c they're busy with the previous siblings.

That said, here's an interesting blog I was referred to today. Not that someone thought I needed it specifically, but that it was recommended as a good one.



(In retrospect, take her links to LAF with a grain of salt. ;-) )

I'm spethial...

Factoids from: HowManyOfMe.com

There are only 2 people with my name in the U.S.A.

Of course the fact that.....

• There are 3,240 people in the U.S. with the last name VanWhosiawhatsitwalkercarolinianburg.
• Statistically the 10010th most popular last name. (tied with 123 other last names)

.....might have something to do with it!!

How many have your name?

Hamlet Rocks!!

Just in case you were wondering.... Hamlet ROCKED!!! Hubby and I were talking on the way home....Y'all WAY out-classed & out- performed any other high school performances we've seen (and a good number of adult ones too!) Not much more can be said. Hamlet rocked. The acting was p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a-l. The actors nailed their lines, their interplay was so believable, the emotions were dead on, the sword fighting was incredible. Ophelia's funeral made me cry. There aren't enough positive big words to describe how awesome a job Hamlet did.... Dame. Awesome!!!

Props, guys, massive numbers of props, for a job masterfully done!

Momma's Little Helper...

I had to make bread Wednesday, because there wasn't a crumb left in the house. As usual, Baby Dragon #1 wanted to see what I was doing, so I sat him up on a bar stool to watch. Being a rather active little boy he wasn't content to sit and watch for long, so I wrapped him up in an apron and put him to work stirring the dry ingredients...



...and yes, most of the flour did stay in the bowl!

Advice from a mother of two....

The giggles of a toddler are precious and to be cherished. However, do not make the mistake of failing to know exactly WHAT it is that they are giggling about!

I give you Exhibit A:



I was in the kitchen making a dessert for tonight & heard Baby Dragon #1 giggling hysterically. Since I had heard his pattering feet just minutes before, I assumed he was entertaining himself by running back & forth in front of the TV, laughing at his reflection (he does this at least twice a day).

Was I ever wrong..... Apparently he thought that black bear needed a blanket of tissues....... Argh! Next time I'll find out what he's laughing about sooner!!

News for those with kids....

WeeCycledWear

Go check it out!!

The cat saga continues...

Yesterday Little Miss started sympathy crying for the danged cats! Apparently their yowling sounded enough like human crying that she thought she needed to join in for sympathy sake.... O.O

CatS?! Oh yes, there are THREE of them--apparently acquaintances--who sometimes hang out under the house... occasionally yowling at each other. Cat turf wars under my house and a sympathetic baby. What next?!

I hate cats!

Before you cat lovers rush to hang me, let me assure you that I had a cat while growing up & loved her dearly. Tiger was a great cat. But now we have a neighborhood stray who seems to have taken up residence under our house. (Apparently there's cat-sized access to our crawl space.) Hubby and I thought this would be great at first, as a stray cat will usually help keep the mouse population down.

However, THIS stray has the annoying habit of meowing LOUDLY... loudly enough to wake me up from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. Even more annoying?? The cat sounds freakishly like our 3mo baby girl.

So last night (this morning) about 3am I wake from a sound sleep, hearing Little Miss whining in her crib. Since she always sleeps through the night, I went hurling from our bed to go see what was her grief before she woke up her brother (aka BD#1). When I get in their room, I find they're both sound asleep, but the sound that woke me is now easily recognized as a CAT rather than a baby.

Dang cat!! *grumbles* I'd kick it if I could get to it..... :-D

Little known fact

Cobwebs can withstand automatic dishwashers.

Seriously...

There was spider that had taken up residence in one of my KitchenAid attachments. After throwing it onto the floor to scare him out (and subsequently squashing him), I tossed the whisk attachment in the dishwasher. Once the load was done, the whisk still had remnants of cobweb on it. No longer sticky, but definitely still there. That spider silk is wicked strong (heat & soap resistant) stuff!! :-D

Engineer. -n. domestic variety

ISTP - "Engineer".
Values freedom of action and following interests and impulses. Independent, concise in speech, master of tools.
5.4% of total population.

Hmmmm... LOL

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Understanding Sarah....

The hubby and I were talking over lunch today (he had off for MLK day--woot!)... talking about just how much has changed for us in the last 3 years.

If you had told us 3 years ago that we'd have bought a house, been given an SUV, and had 2 kids inside the three years, we'd have said you were nuts!

I think I better understand why Sarah (Abraham's wife) laughed when the angel told her they'd have a kid. It really was laughable....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...........

.........wants to run away screaming......... but I can't run with an almost 22 month old clinging to my leg!!

No, actually things are going just fine.

We're all recovering from head cold/sinus/cough stuff (except the baby, she escaped, PTL).

BD#1 still likes his little sister, despite the interrupted sleep (we moved her to the big crib in his room this week). In evidence that he still likes her, I submit the following pictures:

In the first, he's giving her one of his favorite blocks.

In the second he's just sitting beside her on the couch...please notice that he's not poking at her or trying to shove her off the couch...which IS the evidence that he likes her (that and the way he lights up when he sees her get up in the morning or being carried into the room after a nap)... It's like he's excited that she's still here.... ....which is good since she's staying. ;-)






Happy New Year, everybody!!!!!!!

On measuring things...

Actually, (in reference to this post) it's teaspoonful or teaspoonfuls, according to the Dictionary.com site!! Oh well!!


I thought it had two "l"'s, which explains my confusion. It is ONE word, spelled like one word, not like two words smashed together, which is how it sounds! If it were two words then my questions stands.... Which one do you make the plural?

I feel naked... and behind..... O.o !?!

Notice I said "feel," not "am".... and no, my behind isn't naked either. :-D

The feeling of nakedness comes from messing with our anti-virus software... dumping the high-priced pain in the behind stuff and going with really well-functioning free stuff. Just a weird feeling... although the free stuff found some stuff that the high-priced stuff had let through.
Enough stuff in that ^ there sentence?!

Anyway... I am getting behind on e-mails.... I leave the ones I want to put a modicum of thought into answering marked as "new".... and right now I think I have more "new" email than I can answer in a week's worth of kids naps...... so while everyone is sleeping, off to answer e-mail I go....fully clothed! :-)


Trivia question...

When talking of measuring things, is it teaspoonsfull or teaspoonfulls?

Happy New Year!!!

We made it!!! :-)