Generalities

Hey, CBB, thanks for the update! Now I will write one too.

We've been dealing with more bugs around here. I've been trying to learn more about poisonous spiders as well. Just last week, I heard two stories of people who had been bitten by poisonous spiders and ended up in the hospital. Scary. I have learned that in addition to the Black Widow and Brown Recluse, there is a spider called the Hobo Spider that we need to watch out for. We might mistake it for the Brown Recluse. Just so you know. It's very dangerous. The good things about these spiders is that 1) they are shy and actually like to stay away from people. They bite only on instict when threatened. 2)they eat lots and lots of bugs and we'd be otherwise overrun with bugs (like mosquitos) if it weren't for these guys. They're essential to the environment.

But there are some other creepy-crawlers that I know nothing about their purpose. I'm talking about walking sticks, and not the friendly variety you might see in A Bug's Life. No, these are not skinny, but gigantic. And really creepy. And our garage is infested with them. However, if I found out that they help out by eating the Texas Cockroach, I might try to make their stay a bit more comfortable.

This season has seen plenty of toads and frogs around our yard, and plenty of alligators in the nearby bayous. But the big news is that there was a shark caught in a nearby river. You just don't know what's in there. The fisherman has kept the jaws of the shark, which he plans to mount on a plaque that will read, "The One That Didn't Get Away." The shark would not have lasted long in the river, and may have been sick by the time it got that far up the river. Still, just knowing it was there is scary enough for me. A Shark. In a river. No, I don't like that.

On the homefront, aside from bugs, toads, alligators, and sharks, Noodle and Banana have been sick. Noodle came down with something during Vacation Bible School, about the same day that we noticed Banana was cutting four teeth at once. Buffalo Wings stayed home with the two of them Thursday and Friday. Noodle is better; I had to take Banana to the doctor yesterday. He's got an ear infection on top of everything else. I can't imagine the pain the little guy must be in, and BW and I feel sorry for him. And we are really tired. We've not had a full night's sleep in about two weeks. It's been tough. To top it off, BW and I have been sick as well. All head-cold stuff, but my throat has been killing me and I'm getting an annoying cough. It's all just enough to make you feel miserable. I just go to bed praying for sleep, then drag myself out of bed at the first whimper of either Noodle or Banana and pray for strength to make it through the day. It's nice that BW has been home with me. My house is a wreck and I feel like I've been yelling at the kids too much and that I'm really a lousy mom. What I'm really thankful for is the relationship I have with Chicken Nugget. I can go to her and apologize and pray with her that I can follow Jesus and ask Him to help me be a better mom, even when I'm cranky. She's always quick to forgive and happy to pray with me. I'm making it a habit with Noodle too. I just wish I could do better. That I didn't need to apologize as much as I do. But the enemy attacks when we are weak, and I've been so weak. Please pray for the Tasty Names household, whoever is reading this! We are tired and frail at this time.

BW got a job for the summer. It's been interesting watching him enter the world of retail. I like hearing about his day (he works so few hours that he is still home with me most days). I like hearing about quotas and challenges, his co-workers and intersting customers. The best story so far was of a lady that was in the store for his entire shift. She almost passed out (low blood sugar or something), but after sitting for awhile was fine to shop again. She bought lots and lots of items. Now that's a dedicated shopper.

Now, if you'll allow me a rant. I know this post is really long, but in my defense, at least I haven't posted a thousand pictures this time! So, here goes: I like to go to the meetings of our ladies' mission group at church. There are two a month, and I go when I can. It is mostly little old ladies, but I love to go because get updates on and pray for our international and North American missionaries. I like that a lot. But sometimes, we have Bible studies or other presentations. One of the meetings next month will consist of watching some film called "Debunking the DaVinci Code," or something like that, and I am really disappointed about that! The lady that is in charge of our church's mission group is very dear to me, and I do not want to hurt her feelings, but I also cannot support going to see this video. I think it is a waste of time. The DaVinci Code is a work of fiction. Both book and movie, as far as I understand it, are for entertainment purposes. Am I wrong? If so, someone do tell me so that I will be better informed. I feel that none of the ladies in the group (besides me) would be interested in reading or watching either, so it is simply a waste of time to show the Debunking video. What is the point? Besides, aren't we all intelligent enough to make our own decisions? I think I'm going to be bold here: if we spent the amount of time trying to debunk everything, and stand on soapboxes or in picket lines, instead telling a lost world about the Savior Who loves them so much (and Who they so desperately need), that would be the thing that would really please God. Just my two cents.

Thanks for bearing with this really long post! So much randomness. Sorry. Much love to all of you.

Marin

I was just thinking how much I miss living in Marin County, California. I miss going to Rodeo Beach several times a week. I miss people coming to my apartment and chatting and eating ungodly amounts of Ben& Jerry's. I miss going into the city. I miss the foggy hills. I miss the worship services in chapel. I miss the wonderful talks in Dr. Kim's class. I miss the freedom to think and search and talk and figure things out, and the freedom others had to tell one another if what they thought and sought was good or right or not. I miss the authenticity of worship and Christianity in general, the way that there was not a fear about being bold and out there and sharing with someone who really needed it. I miss all the laughter and the comfortablity and the real sense of family. Shame just didn't have a place there. We needed and were needed, and everyone's place was important. Everyone's place was taken. I didn't feel left out there. I felt loved. I felt challenged and sharpened. I felt refreshed and alive. I loved the cold, cold ocean on my bear feet. I loved Sunday dinners at the Tuinzing's. I loved Tennesse Valley. I loved laughing and learning and sharing. I loved driving around the corner every day as I went to sell shoes and seeing Mt. Tam staring back at me, the wonder of her as the princess, the beauty of her as I would think to myself over and over, "Man, I really live here!" It was an amazing year and a half, and I don't know who I would be now if I had not experienced it. I would not have known love like that. I'd have known love, but not like that. I am glad that I saw the Family of God there. I had brothers and sisters and Chicken had caregivers, brothers and sisters as well, sometimes they were moms and dads. I had those who were not afraid to kick me in the butt when I needed it, to love on me and encourage me when I needed it. I saw the hard stuff there, and having seen it makes the hard stuff now a little easier. It's ok for me to love the life I have now and still say, I miss that time in my life. Because I do. I miss it.

Not For What it was Intended . . .

So Chicken Nugget wasn't that into slipping and sliding, but she still had fun laying, sitting, lounging, and playing on the Slip-and-Slide. And I guess having fun is what is most important!

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.