Saturday, May 10, 2008

BEBE UPDATE

Bebe left here last night in a tote bag because it was pouring rain.
Unfortunately he was found this AM under Ann's bed.
WHY? "It was too late after we ate for us to take him back?"
They took him in a tote bag to a Chinese restaurant while they ate. "He didn't try to get out or anything."
Blake was supposed to take Bebe and Dumb and Dumber (the girl version better known as Ann and Kierstan) to take him home today but he didn't get around to it.
Famous last words. "Didn't get around to it."

ESCAPE

I just finished the greatest book. It is titled Escape by Carolyn Jessop.

The book is non-fiction dealing with Carolyn's ordeal with a polygamist marriage.

I read about the book on a friend's blog page and I am sorry to say I was extremely judgmental before even reading the book. But I was interested.

On Amazon as I read the review on the book, it struck me as odd a young woman would put up with the things a wife caught in polygamy was forced to endure. It was easy to become very proud and haughty before even opening the book.

As I opened the book the first night I found it hard to put down. My opinion changed dramatically in the first 50 pages.

I definitely suggest it as a must read for the summer.

The book also brought to light the sad truth of followers of Christ who are misled by so called prophets who become tyrants and glorify themselves and their own agendas.

It is so important for us as Christians to be aware and study what is being preached in our pulpits. Not all sermons are from God. If we are not studying our Bibles on our own and diligently seeking God's will in our lives, how will we know what is truly God's Word?

Most of God's servants are honest men of God but some are out to get rather than give and glorify themselves. If you hear something that makes you uneasy or creates a question in your mind, please take the time to check it out. God has given us a conscious for a reason. He has also given us His Word to use as a daily guide to live by. He will never have us do something that is contradictory.

If you are hearing something from a pulpit that is contradictory, RUN. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will not change.

It was amazing to me as I read this book how many people continued to follow "the prophet" even after he made ridiculous rules that could not be justified in the Bible.

Stay sharp and stay focused.

A very close friend and I were talking about a church near her recently. It is growing so much. Right now there are over 1000 members. But many problems exist. Recently they had to address a big one- divorce among the parishioners and what to do about it. So they opened a divorce recovery class.

No kidding. Rather than deal with why people are getting divorced, they wanted to deal with it after the fact. They also stated it would be a good way for singles to meet.

What? How about a class to help those with marriage difficulties?

This same church also has made some radical changes to appease their members such as keeping sermons "lite". They even list the times in the paper for the "lite" sermons so if the sermons on tithing, hell or true christian living were too much for you to hear, you could go hear a sermon on love or changing the world we live in rather than changing yourself.

A false prophet can also give us the illusion we are all right and it is the world that is wrong. We need to go on the way we are and ignore everyone around us.

What we need to do is read the Bible and make our decisions from the Bible not from the world, our own choices or anyone else. God has shown us how to follow the path. We are now required to follow if we want to be in tune with Him.

Just think of it as a treasure hunt. The Bible is our treasure map and along the way we find little treasures hidden. Each one is a fun surprise to find. We might not even realize how valuable it is right away but one day we wake up and see just how important that treasure is. The biggest treasure comes at the XXXX where we are welcomed into heaven. Get your map out today and start on that path! See you at the end.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles?" Matthew 7:15-16

Friday, May 9, 2008

MY MOTHER'S DAY GIFT

There are things that every mother loves to get for Mother's Day.
-a sweet little handprint
-a cute coloring page
-a handmade card
-a flower lovingly grown and cared for by precious hands
-a macaroni necklace
-a cheerio bracelet
-a gorgeous stripped kitten for a highly allergic mommy
WHAT??????
That is what Ann brought me home today.
A pretty little kitten. He was a stripped kitten with predominant black stripes. The tips of his ears and paws were black and he faded into a carmel color stripe. He was very vibrant.
Bebe (as she and Kierstan called him) was sweet. He chased string. Bounced all over the room and was all around joy in the shape of a fur ball.
But the problem is I am terribly allergic to cats. I have had two allergy tests in the last 10 years both times I have had two allergic reactions that have left scars, cats and ragweed.
Ann knows this. She has also been on me for about a month for a cat. So with Mother's Day this weekend she decided to surprise me with Bebe.
Once again I explained that although Bebe was a sweetie he could not live in the house and we had three dogs that prevented him from living outside. Not to mention the fact I now have six children to care for along with the three dogs.
I did make the mistake of petting him and letting him play on the back of my office chair. About 30 minutes later I called Ann down and showed her the huge, ugly welts on my neck and back.
When I told my mother this story I laughed and said if I let her keep the cat it will kill me. "Maybe that is what she is after." she jokingly said.
Hmmm. Maybe she is on to something.
So Bebe was packed up and taken back to his first home. At least that is what they promised me they were doing. I am so hoping he does not come back home with them tonight.
I suggested Kierstan give Bebe to her mother but she didn't think it would go over well.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

SAM GOOFING OFF

Of course Sam had his time riding, or should I say goofing off.

I think for him it was just having fun watching his cousin Maggie running back and forth with the lead rope. The didn't put a rein or something like that on the horse so Maggie had to lead Sam. It was very funny. Maggie, I want you to run as fast as you can while I sit up here and enjoy myself. Now get moving.
He was laughing so hard he could hardly stay on the horse.

For some reason Sam thought he was on a raging bull rather than a calm sweet pony.

MARVIN AND THE HORSE

Marvin enjoyed Sunday's horse ride also. He was a little more apprehensive than Anabeli about riding but once he relaxed he was a natural.




Sandra, you just want me to hold on this this thing and relax? I don't know if I can do that.



This is kind of scary but I am starting to get the hang of it.



Hey mom. This is kind of cool. I really like this. I am starting to get the groove.

Just call me Mr. Cowboy.

Marvin concentrating on the perfect riding technique.

All smiles at the end of the day.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

LESTER HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Trust me folks this is not overkill either.

I have saved the Lester stories because they are sooooo very dramatic. Really overly dramatic on my part and my poor sweet husband who needs to get up and see really true sick people every day had to deal with this nights on end.

We had a mouse that came into the house over a month. About a week or two ago I named him Lester out of complete frustration. I would see him run through our room at night around 10:30 or so and I would scream and yell and make Blake chase Lester everywhere.

At one time we had over 10 mouse traps set in our room, our bath and our office. And we still didn't catch the little fat guy. I believe he was so fat that his belly actually would drag the ground. He wouldn't go into a mouse trap. He just wouldn't do it.

Now I can stand a lot but a mouse is not something I will handle at all. By the way we live in the country so a mouse will occasionally enter which makes this even crazier.

So Lester had to go. Blake doesn't believe in Decon. He doesn't want mice to die in the walls and smell. We have to use traps. So in a way it is his own fault I scream and cry.

I think the final night we saw him was the horrible night that I refused to get off the edge of the bathtub for about 45 minutes because Lester ran under the bed. In the end Blake felt my screaming ran him off. That was about 10 days ago and we haven't seen him since.

Most of the mouse traps have been moved to the basement.

Last night Lester stumbled into one and met his timely death in the water softener room. Unforntunately I didn't feel any sorrow when I was told. Honestly I just dance a little jig and said,, "YEAH"

No funeral service was performed. He was just wrapped in a plastic bag and thrown into the garbage can.

So long Lester. I have to admit, it wasn't good to know you but you did cause me to pray a whole lot more than I had been so I guess it was a good thing you came around. Now I need to get up and start doing all of those things I promised God I would do when you stepped into that trap!

ANABELI AND THE HORSE


Sunday my mother called and asked the kids to come over and ride horses.


Anabeli took quite the interest in horses in the fall but it was getting too late in the year for her to ride outside.


So after rest time we went to grandma's house for a ride. Anabeli and Marvin were both so excited. It was so great. I enjoyed watching both of them ride.


Tonight I am posting Anabeli's pictures and tomorrow I will post Marvin's pictures.
Her first few seconds up on a horse. Her cousins and aunt Sandra were around to make sure she didn't fall off or get too scared. She was such a big girl and immediately fell in love with riding.


She is too busy watching Maggie. After this picture she began sliding off the saddle.
BIG smiles for everyone.



Hey mom. This is fun. I want a horse. Would you tell dad?

What do you mean more practice? I am the best there is.




We are ready for our pictures and then Miss Libbie and Miss Anabeli will ride off into the sunset.

ANOTHER RANT IS NEEDED

I am so upset. We are scheduled to leave on vacation mid June. We scheduled early in the summer because we are working around Ann's tennis schedule, Sam's football schedule and possibly Jesse's football schedule.

Jake's Birth Certificate still has not been approved by RENAP. Now from what I understand we have had the BC forever but this new group called RENAP is now in charge of approving them.

So it has been there for so long the paper is almost yellowing and it is still not done. RENAP is not releasing things as quickly as they should. Imagine that. A Guatemalan office not working up to speed. That has got to be a first. HA!

I am trying to keep my head on straight but I am about ready to blow. If things don't move soon Jake won't be home for vacation with us. When we get back Blake will have so much work backed up he will work later than usual and bonding will be hard.

This vaction was supposed to help everyone bond. It was supposed to give us all time to hang out together and get to know each other.

I am not sure why we are even in RENAP since we were grandfathered in under the old rules and RENAP is a new rule. Guatemala tends to start these offices and then realizes they didn't provide funding and needs to close them while they gather some money to reopen.

So here I sit really stressing today. The countdown is getting closer. I NEED this to move.

Once again I am stressing and telling God what I need, not accepting what HE knows is best and will happen. Why does this whole acceptance thing have to be so hard? Why can't he just email me a schedule of the dates and times of the rest of the adoption timeframe? I PROMISE I will still trust him. I just need to know who this will turn out.

I remembered this scripture from a long time ago in middle school. It is interesting to me at this moment because it mentions the name of Jacob. Pretty cool right now. But it is still hard to wait.

Isaiah 8:17 " I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him."

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

MARVIN AND N-64



My older boys have created a monster!!

Last week they introduced Marvin to the old N-64 and a Mario Brothers game. Marvin absolutely loves it. He begs to play all the time. It is so funny. He is also taking on more responsibility. To get "play minutes" he must dress himself in the morning, pick up his toys and put his dishes from meals in the sink. He also can't whine and must listen. It has been a good trade off. He gets 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes after lunch and another 30 at night. But the 30 minutes is also shared with Jesse. He loves to ask Jesse to help him and Jesse is able to teach him how to play the game.


This little guy is very good at it. He can get further in the game than I can.




Getting instructions from the "master".



"I know I can get Mario to do this. Jesse is a good teacher."


Thursday, May 1, 2008

CRISIS AT HOME

Well we have had a crisis today.
The internet went down about 10:00 AM and it just came up now at 8:22 PM. Talk about frustrating. I felt cut off from the entire world. Oh My.
But it was a good day because today is Labor Day in Guatemala so we didn't have anything going on there.
If it had been a work day there I would have DIED!!!! I do mean DIE.
So I am fixing supper now and then will be time for LOST. So I will be back on tomorrow to post some new pictures.
Stay tuned....