More Pictures

So I can't help it, ya'll. I like pictures. I like to take them. I like to look at them. I like to put them all over the house. And, now that I have figured out how to post them, I like to do that to. So I have started to bombard anyone who might come across my blog with all kinds of pictures. If only I could figure out how to make captions under each picture. Oh, well.












1. The kids and I with our friend Miss Missouri, while we visited her in lovely Crockett, Texas before she moved away.

2. Chicken and Noodle, both in desperate need of haircuts. Perhaps that's why they are screaming.

2. Banana on the day he was born.

3. My friend Miss Texas and I when she came and visited me last summer. I was pregnant with Banana at the time, but despite me, the two of us were some bathing beauties at Galveston beach. There's also pics of us with the fam ( pics 4. & 5.)

6. Chicken Nugget on her birthday this year. She wanted pizza from pizza hut (her favorite) and I baked her a cake that she decorated to look just how she wanted it.

7. Buffalo Wings with cronies when he visited Iowa over spring break. Left to right - Miss Beautiful Princess, BW, Mr. Meat Group, Mr. Intervarsity, Mr. Methodist (Miss Beautiful Princess's dad) , and Mr. Video Games (son of Mr. Methodist also)


8. Noodle and a kitty that we rescued as it cried outside our window one night. We fed it and took care of it for a whole day before the animal control people came to get it. Wish we could have kept it, but BW's allergic and our landlords will not allow pets in this house. :o(

9. Banana and Noodle being all silly.

10. Noodle and BW being all silly.

11. Me and Banana and Noodle at the Battleship Texas which resides at the San Jacinto battleground that is not too far from our house.

12. Cuddly quilty girls.

Vacation Bible School

We had Vacation Bible School at church this week - well, we are still having it! Tomorrow is the last day. I have fond memories of VBS as a child. I remember first feeling the call of Christ while I was taught by some dear people about how Jesus had died for my sins. I loved singing songs about the Lord and doing crafts and getting great snacks! It was always a fun week with friends and a great time of learning.

Now I am the adult! I get to do the planning and teaching, and I can really appreciate what all those adults did for us all those years that I was growing up. This week's VBS theme was The Arctic Edge - Where Adventure Meets Courage! Joshua 1:9 is the background verse, where the command is to be strong and courageous!

I got to teach the Missions class with my friend Mrs. B. I have so enjoyed working with her and getting to know her - she was a school teacher for many years, and that woman can work wonders with crepe paper!

In fact, everyone who worked VBS this year can work wonders with all kinds of materials. I was so amazed to watch brown paper turn into Big Bear Lodge (the Bible study room), and different colors of paint and paper turn into Echo Bay (the music room) and crepe paper and cardboard turn into The Depot (arts and crafts rooms). As for Mrs. B. and me, we turned blue and white crepe paper, spray paint, and foam blocks into Glacier Pass, a place where kids learned all about missionaries in Arctic regions of the world!

I was so impressed with everyone's rooms that I took pictures to share. Don't all the rooms look great? Better than how great the rooms look, however, is how many kids got to hear the Gospel message this week and were challenged to follow, trust, and believe in the Savior.

Tonight was Parents' Night. All the kids got to share the songs they had learned as the groups of 1st-6th graders sang on stage. After the program and a fun slide show, parents and kids enjoyed punch and cookies as the kids got to show their parents all the learning rooms and we teachers shared what we had been learning all week. It was fun to meet parents and talk about all the cool (no pun intended) missionaries we'd been learning about and praying for!

I was so excited when I got the call a couple of months ago, from a friend asking if I'd be willing to teach the missions class! I hope I get a call again next summer. It's been a joy.

Tough Times

I Heart Bunco!

Bunco
is the greatest game ever! When I lived in Arkansas and worked at Hallmark, a wonderful (but a bit older) lady I worked with played Bunco. She was always picking out Bunco prizes at the store. She told me it was a game that she and her friends played once a month, and since she was a very fun lady, I figured the game must be a lot of fun, too. Fun, but something for older ladies. Sort of like bridge, I guess. I never thought much more about Bunco and then I moved away and started gally-vanting all over this great wide country. Then I forgot about Bunco completely.

Until . . .

We had not lived in Texas, oh, a couple of months maybe, when a friend from church called and asked if I wanted to play Bunco with her group the next week. They were in need of a sub. I didn't know anything about the game, except that it was a game, but I desperately wanted a social outlet. I was thrilled to be asked and excited to meet with this group of ladies to play. I was immediately hooked and soon became a regular member, not just a sub!

What is Bunco, anyway? Well, it is a mindless dice game, if you want to know the truth. I'm sure it was invented by a caveman. If you can roll three dice at once and count to at least six, then you're in. It is really an excuse for a bunch of women (twelve to be exact) to get together, laugh, talk, and eat great food. It takes place once a month and each of the twelve ladies takes turns hosting in her home and providing food and prizes. Twelve players, twelve months of the year - you get it. Each lady puts in five dollars and that covers the food and prizes. I have included a link above where you can read about the rules of Bunco.

In my opinion, the most important (though unspoken) rule is, always have chocolate!

I love Bunco, ya'll! I highly encourage of any of you who are not involved in a Bunco group to form one! This is easy to do with your play group or Sunday School class or a group of co-workers. It is helpful to have a group of subs handy, in case someone has to go out of town or their kids get sick, whatever. It also helps to have supportive hubbies! I'm so thankful for mine! He was so great tonight to keep the kids while I went to Bunco. Know why? Because tonight I was a sub for another Bunco group - my regular Bunco group already met this month, last Monday! I know, I played Bunco twice in a seven-day time span! Could my life get any better???? And to top it off, I won prizes both times!!!! Last week, because I had the highest score. Tonight, I had the most Buncos! Crazy.

Seriously, ya'll, it is such a great time of fellowship time with some great ladies. We laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed tonight! And there was some seriously outstanding chocolate.

No joking: I Brake for Bunco!

My Little Chicken

Chicken Nugget, BW, and I started singing a very silly song just after BW and I got married. It goes something like this:
"Mamma (or Chicken Nugget or BW) is a silly chicken! She's the silliest chicken I know! Whenever I see her, she's a silly chicken! And I know she's a siiiiiii-ly chicken!"
I wish you could hear it being sung, but you'll just have to imagine a very silly tune that goes along with us all singing about us being silly chickens. Now we can sing about Noodle and Banana being silly chickens, too.

I don't know why I started calling CN "My Little Chicken," or when, but it's funny. We also call many other things "chickens." You can use the word "chicken in place of lots of things, and it's really funny. Like, if you want pizza, you can go to Chicken Hut. Or if you need a hug, you can ask very politely for a chicken as you hold out your arms. It probably doesn't have the same impact in explanation, but if you were around us and observing it all in context, it would make perfect sense. And you'd laugh, because it's really funny.



Right now, I'm missing my Little Chicken. She's been in AR for two weeks, and I'm lonely without her. She really is one of my very best friends. I tell her often how glad I am that God gave her to me. She really has been a great gift to me over these past seven years of her life. She's touched so many people, loved them, been loved by them, and made them happy. Not least of all, me! She's so willing to love and forgive and be gracious. Don't get me wrong! She tried me a lot when she hit, not the terrible two's, but the terrible three's! I didn't know if I would survive. But she has grown out of it and the more I look back, the more I understand how so much of what I considered to be trials were simply developmental normalcy! And through it all, she was still my gift, and we'd cuddle and giggle and make it through the day. And we still do.

Last year, when she stayed with our dear friends who pastor a wonderful church a little north of us, she asked Jesus into her heart to be her savior. I had been telling her the story of Jesus for the year preceeding and just let things soak into that little mind and heart of hers. So, at our friends' Vacation Bible School last year, she walked up to the front and told her friend that she wanted to ask Jesus to forgive her sins and to be the boss of her life. She is a little girl who loves the Lord already and asks me often to pray with her or to pray for friends of hers. Or she'll tell me of kindness she's shown to a classmate, maybe one who no one else will play with. I just thank the Lord when she tells me stories like this. I thank Him and praise Him that despite me, she is becoming something wonderful for God. (She has not gotten baptized yet, though, because she says that 1) she's afraid of the water and 2) she's afraid of all the people watching. But we'll get there!)

I make so many mistakes. I've messed up so often when it comes to My Little Chicken. But God's grace shines through everywhere.

That Little Chicken and I like to take Sunday naps together. She'll say, "Mamma, can we talk for a little while before we go to sleep?" And of course, there is always time for that.

I have loved watching her as she's started school and choir at church and as she has started ballet and tap this year. It's fun to watch her enjoy life and to succeed.

And Chicken is a prayer warrior! Before I got married, she prayed for a dad. After I got married, she prayed (nightly) for a baby, when a baby was not in the plans at that time! We were so shocked to find out I was pregnant, but not Chicken Nugget. She just assumed her prayers would be answered. And then she prayed that the baby would be a girl and there just wasn't any compromise. I've had many, many people ask to be put on Eliza's prayer list!

Her most recent prayer concern was about all the flooding near our home a couple of weeks ago. She came to me and asked if we could pray that we'd be safe, so we did. The next day on TV as there were reports of more floods, Chicken said in a confident voice, "Don't worry, Mom, we'll be safe because we prayed about it."

That Little Chicken has just always rolled with the punches. She's never faltered and always loved. No matter who she's been with, she's just loved and loved and loved. And she's been loved and is loved. I miss my little Chicken and can't wait for her to come home.

Oh, and just so you know, for Mother's Day I got a plate that she had made at school. It didn't say "Happy Mother's Day." No, it said "Happy Chicken Day!"

Sometimes Things Are Just Difficult

"I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Psalm 4:8

I don't remember when I found that verse in the Bible, but I was pretty young. And I'm sure I found it at a time when I was scared. I've repeated it to myself often, and it has brought me comfort.

"What then shall I look for? My hope is in You." Psalm 39:7

I found that verse written on a picnic table somewhere in East Texas as my family moved Chicken Nugget and me out to California one summer. My brother saw it written there and asked me what that verse says (you know, since everyone knows that I've memorized the book of Psalms). When we got back into the car, I looked that verse up and read it, and it spoke so much comfort to me. Earlier that day, I had asked God for a word, because I was scared. Though I was stepping out in obedience, I was scared, and God gave me that word. I was comforted.

I know many people who need comfort right now. Life is difficult. Jesus told us that life would be difficult, but that He has overcome. (John 16:33) Sometimes it is hard to remember that.

One of my friends found out last week that she has stage three cancer. She'll be having surgery next week.

One of my friends has ALS, and she is one year younger than me.

I have some friends that have recently had to leave a mission position due to illness. They have experienced sadness and confusion. They dearly loved their place of work and the people there.

Another couple I know had their first baby last year. When he was four months old, he started having seizures and they found out that he has a disorder that will affect him for the rest of his life.

I know several others who are experiencing trials.

I have experienced trials. In one year, my oldest brother passed away and I went through a devestating divorce. I remember going through so much sadness and depression and a lack of hope. I also remember the night that my husband left, that I put my daughter (then just 9 months old) into bed and I sat in my green chair by the window and I prayed: "God, You've got to get me through this. You're all I have left and I can't do this by myself."

And God did. And God gets me through every day. When I'm tired from just being a wife and mom. When I'm feeling like a horrible person because I've hurt my husband or one of my children. When the enemy attacks and I succomb to his lies. I don't understand it, and I certainly don't deserve it, but God is always there to remind me how precious I am to Him. He made me. He loves me. He desires so much just to know me, and that I know Him.

Like I said, I don't understand it.

I don't know who might be reading this and what trials are in your life. There's no way to sugar-coat life. Sometimes, it's just really, really hard. Things happen that shouldn't and that I just don't understand. All I can do is hurt with my brothers and sisters, to cry with them and pray with them and that's what I do. And I just hope it is enough for that small moment. God is bigger than all of the difficulties. God hurts with us, too. O, Lord God, we need You so much.

At The Park

We went to the park on Saturday, and as you can see, it was fun! Noodle really IS a monkey after all! Banana likes to kick back in the swing. We were sad that Chicken Nugget wasn't here, though. She's visiting AR for a little while. We'll be so happy when she comes home! Until then, we'll be chillin' on swings and swingin' from bars.

The Badge of Summer

It's summer, ya'll. Glorious summer. No school. Tons of free times for the kids. Swimming. Sleeping in. Sweltering temperatures. Sweat. Sunburns. Welts. Welts? Yes, welts. Welts and itching and misery. Grab the deet, ya'll, or you'll be wearing those badges all summer long. I'm talking about mosquito bites. I've got tons of those badges already, and I'm in misery. I'm itching all day. It's sad that my kids can't just rush out to play. Oh, no. They have to be wiped down with the mosquito-repellent and slathered with sunscreen. That is, when it's not too blazin' hot for them to even exit the house. And it is HOT down here, ya'll. Up in the 90's and getting hotter by the weekend. Well, I just wanted to share my summer bliss with all of you. Long live the token of the South - our expected pest this time of year. Our ambassador who brings the badge of the season.

I Just Like Pictures

Free Mistake

I will tell you a funny story. This evening, after supper and bathtime and everything, Buffalo Wings went over to our landlord's house to pay the rent. They are very nice and they love to see the kids, so Buffalo Wings decided to take Noodle with him. I walked outside as he was leaving, and he was talking to me through the van window. He was telling me about the poison ivy that attacked him as he was trimming hedges out there, and then showed me where it was (seriously, ya'll, he has got an awful case of poison ivy right now). I was holding Banana and as Buffalo Wings and Noodle pulled out of the driveway, I decided to go around the back of the house and the side yard to look at all of Buffalo Wings' hard work. The yard looked great. I made note of the poison ivy. I decided that the weather was lovely, so I would take Banana for a walk. I went to get the stroller out of the garage.

It was not to be.

The garage door was closed!

Not one door to the house was unlocked.

I yelled after BW, but he was already too far down the street, and I couldn't very well run with Banana in my arms, the hefty little man that he is. So I accepted my fate and just sat out in the yard.

It wouldn't have been so bad, if some Jehovah's Witnesses had not stopped over for a visit. I was a little embarrassed at my situation, but they enjoyed visiting with me out in my yard. They stayed quite a long time, and I was thankful for the company, but I wondered what a strange sight we must have been. We had a lovely talk under our pecan tree, and the wife held Aaron for awhile, and they were scared to leave me. They also comforted me by saying that the husband of the pair often accidentally locks the wife out quite frequently, especially as she is working in her flower garden.

They left and it was dark by that time and they made sure I would knock on my neighbor's door. I said I would and that if they ever came back, we could go into the house! Well, I knocked on my neighbor's door. And my other neighbor's. And my other neighbor's. Either they didn't want to associate with me, or really no one was home. So I walked around my house for a few minutes, but then BW and Noodle showed up. BW felt really, really, really bad. Lucky for him, he had picked me up a Frosty on the way! Always be prepared, just in case you might be in the doghouse for something, you know! I'm kidding - I told him it's a good thing that I do lots of stupid things on a daily basis, and this really wasn't a big deal. He hadn't even realized he had done it, of course. Now we can laugh about it and I get a free stupid mistake out of the deal!

Cute Pictures and More

I figured it out! And all in only one day! I've added links and pictures! I can do it! I had some help from my husband and from the viewing audience, so thanks, ya'll!!!!

Picture 1 - Banana in his highchair
Picture 2 - Noodle with a frog we found in the yard today
Picture 3 - Banana's bath in the sink
Picture 4 - Noodle and Chicken Nugget in "the most awsome tent you've (Mom) ever made!" last week when it rained and rained and rained
Picture 5 - Noodle and Chicken Nugget in the best toy in the world!!!! Think outside the box, ya'll!!!

I need to make a program note. My husband is no longer named Bratwurst. I told him what his blog name was, and he said that although he enjoys bratwurst a great deal, it really probably isn't his favorite food. He said that if he had to pick, buffalo wings would be his favorite. I thought, how insensitive of me to just make an assumption like that, so I apologized and will rename him Buffalo Wings.

Another New Amount

$679

Only $161 to go!!!!

Dance Recital

Here she is, that cute little Chicken Nugget. The top picture is in her ballet costume. The bottom picture is of her tap routine as she is actually performing on stage! The recital's theme was Cinderella. Isn't she a cutie? We are certainly very proud of her. She did a great job dancing in the rectial!

New Amount

The mail just came!

Monies to date: $504

Monies needed to date: $336

Praise be to God!

How Do I?

Hey, you savvy bloggers!
How do I snazz up my blog?
Add pics?
Links to other blogs?
And all that jazz?
Help me!

Funds to Date

Monies raised to date: $379

Monies needed to date: $461

Deadline: June 26

Dates of Mission Trip: July 31-Aug 5

Please continue to pray! Pray that all needed funds will come in. Pray for all of us as we prepare for mommy to be gone for a whole week. Pray for those who do not yet know Jesus, that our team may bring the love of Christ to them and that they will accept Him. Pray for safety of travel and work while we are in Hattiesburg.

Oh, yeah, and please pray for me as I prepare to teach Vacation Bible School at my church! VBS is June 19-23! I'll be teaching, what else, the missions class!!!! The theme for this summer's VBS is "Arctic Edge," so I get to teach about missionaries who are in Alaska! I'm very excited about this because I'll get to share with the kids my adventures hunting wolverines with my uncle while I was in Alaska last summer.

You Said . . .

"You said
ask and you will receive
whatever you need.

You said
pray and I'll hear from Heaven
and I'll hear your land.

You said
Your glory will fill the earth
like water the seas.

You said
lift up your eyes!
The harvest is here!
The Kingdom is near!

You said
ask and I'll give the nations to you!

Oh Lord, that's the cry of my heart!
Distant shores and the islands will see
Your life as it rises on Earth!"

"You Said"
Shane and Shane

I'll be posting things regarding my mission trip on this blog rather than on myspace. My mission trip to Hattiesburg, Mississippi is July 31-Aug. 5. Please pray for my preparation in every aspect - spiritual, emotional, physical. Please pray that the rest of the funds will come - already $310 of the needed $840 has come in, and I have not sent out a single fund-raising letter, though I do have one typed up and ready to mail. Please pray for the apprehensions I have about leaving my family. Please pray that others will come to know Christ through this work. I don't know anyone else on the team, but I ask prayer for unity among us - we will be of all backgrounds and denominations and will be working to fulfill one purpose, that of service for Christ as He works through us. May God's hand be upon us for safety and peace and all things as He desires them. This will be a challenging and amazing week, and I'm looking forward to how I will be stretched and how I will learn and grow at the feet of my Master.

"Oh, Lord, that's the cry of my heart!"

Come Thou Fount

Here is only a portion of the hymn that is one of my favorites:

"Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee -
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!
Prone to leave the God I love!
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above!"

and the lines just before it:

"Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God,
He to rescue me from danger
Bought me with His precious blood."

Words by Robert Robinson
Music by John Wyeth

And The Winners Are . . .

If you look on the previous post, "Who Said It?" you will see that Sonnet and Courtney are both going to win a prize. I'm a softie, so I can't let either of them go without a prize! I'm so proud of them for working so hard to find the answers to all the quotes! AND, Sonnet gets the bonus prize for guessing that all the folks quoted were from the South - darn tootin', dumplin'!

Upping the Anty

I forgot to add a prize to the mix - and this is a REAL prize, not a fake prize like some poeple cook up! I will allow my winner to choose a $10 Pampered Chef item, or I'll just send them a $10 gift certificate for a Pampered Chef item! This goes to the first person to get the most correct quotes, and I'll send a bonus gift for telling me the answer to the question of what all the folks have in common! Have fun, and good luck!

Who Said It?

Who can name each person for the quotes below?

1. "No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity."

2. "There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em."

3. "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."

4. "The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads a book is to remember it."

5. "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."

6. "In a way, I'd rather ride down the street on a camel than give what is sometimes called an in-depth interview. I'd rather ride down the street on a camel nude. In a snowstorm. Backwards."

7. "Science may have found a cure for most evils: but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings."

8. "I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail."

9. "People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for."

10. "I leave this rule for others
when I'm dead,
Be always sure you're
right - then go ahead."

AND - what do all of these folks have in common?

Stay

I asked it
if it
would go away

I asked it
in the
politest way

I asked it
why it
nested there

I asked it
why it
must always stare

I did not
want it
it had to know!

"Please leave!"
Said I,
it said,
"No!"

I understand now
For older I am
Why some things stay,
while others scram

I think with wisdom
comes some pain
And that's why it stayed
In sun
In rain

I understand
some better now
why its stay
I had to allow

Without the hurt
the heal won't be
It makes more sense
today to me . . .

It was sorrow
I saw that day
and necessary
was its stay

AKS 4-23-06