Blog Hop – Three Things Every Parent Should Teach Their Kids

Three Things Every Parent Should Teach Their Kids

1.  TO HAVE A SERVANT’S HEART.  Our children need to look beyond themselves in life and reach out to others and help whenever they can.  Never be satisfied with only being able to take care of yourself or even just your family.  Strive to have enough provision that you are able to not only take care of you and yours, but that you can extend your heart and hand out to people in need – year round.  There is no greater joy than helping others.

2.  TO LOVE THEMSELVES.  If our children don’t love themselves, they will allow themselves to be taken advantage of – in all aspects of life.  Loving themselves will foster a strong and confident self image.  Loving themselves will allow for them to love others and treat them with respect.  Loving themselves will cause them to take care of their physical bodies for a healthy, long life.  It’s a form of respect that reaches into every area of a child’s life that builds a strong foundation.  Having this as a child, teen, young adult and adult is priceless.

3.  TO CELEBRATE LIFE.  Don’t waste  hours, days, months and years being unproductive.  Don’t spend time dragging through the day to day monotony of life.  Get out of the rat race.  Teach them to enjoy each and everyday and show them how to celebrate their relationships, their successes, their future.  Don’t allow your children to get so bogged down trying to survive that they forget to take the time to truly live.  Teach your children to have goals.  To live with a purpose.  There’s more to life then getting up, going to work, coming home, watching TV, going to bed and then starting over the next day.  We are designed with a purpose.  Teach them how to find that purpose and how to fulfill that purpose.

“There is no friendship, no love,
like that of the parent for the child.”
Henry Ward Beecher

Special thanks to Shoplet.com-Purell Hand Sanitizers for sponsoring this blog hop.

Water Cooler Monday – Week Ending 9-28-09

I didn’t take as many photos as usual last week – but I got enough cute shots that I had to post.  I did want to mention that I am going to start referring to my kiddos by their nicknames they have at home.  I’m a little late at doing this and past posts have their names, but if I can remember, I’ll be using their nicknames:  Beauty and Bubba. I went photo album hunting this afternoon and oh my goodness did I find some photos that I NEED to scan and share with all my bloggy friends.  The hair.  The clothes.  The kitchen appliances.  Oh me oh my!  Look for those to come soon.  Oh, and I found the album with all the photos from the Columbine Memorials here in Littleton. I shared  a post on Columbine for it’s 10 year anniversary.  I said I’d scan photos and I finally found them.  Yay!

♥  

This is Beauty before school.  She has SO much fun and really enjoys her new teachers and class.  They are learning the alphabet in sign language which is cool.  She’s getting so big – I’m amazed. 
My Bubba after a short little scream fest.

Um, looks like it’s time to lower the mattress – so we did.  We ended up having to lower it twice because he’ll stand up and lean over the edge.  Hopefully he’ll get past his need to lean over.  Bella went through this too and fell numerous times.  Ugh.

Bubba’s beautiful blue eyes!

Bubba’s million dollar smile!

Beauty is a budding florist (no pun intended).  She took her scissors and cut some roses from the front yard, so I put them in a custard cup (that I got at a church garage sale a few weeks back).  Well, a couple days later they were still sitting on the table and she asked for her scissors again and went into the backyard and came in with a few extries for her arrangement.  She put the leaves and the dandelions in herself and placed them where they would be ‘beee – utiful’.  Did good, didn’t she"?

Bubba and Jerry Bean.

I love this photo.  Could he be ANY cuter.  Look at those thighs!

He is fascinated with standing these days.  He gets so excited to climb his way up things.

She is a Beauty (Izabella means beautiful).

Me and my kiddos after church on Sunday.

And most of you know that our very Special Jesse passed away last Wednesday morning.  It was very unexpected and took all of us by surprise.  We’ve been missing him TONS.  His absence is hard to get use to, especially for my mom since that’s where he lived.  These pups are intertwined in every second of our lives, so their presence is noticed and their absence is noticed.  I have hundreds of photos of him and the other animals, but I found a couple photos I wanted to share today.   This photo was Thanksgiving 1997 – the day after Jesse joined our family.  That’s me holding Jesse, then my brother and sister.

This was December of 1997.  He was an ornery little pug.

My sister pointed out that I didn’t have a photo of her pug on Jesse’s tribute post, which was not done purposely.   I mentioned there were 4 pugs in our family but since I didn’t have a photo of her pug with Jesse I didn’t put one on.  So, below is a photo of Jesse’s other brother, Max.  I also didn’t have any photos of Jesse and Missy in Jesse’s post so I found a couple and scanned them.  Jesse loved his ‘sister’ and they were very close while I still lived at home.  Even after I moved, he’s always get so excited when he got to see her.

They would always take naps or ‘sunbathe’ together.  Jerry usually joined them as well.

This was a couple days before he passed away.  I can say that he was full of life.  He loved his walks, his home made biscuits, his football, his brothers, his family.  We miss you and love you buddy!

“A hug is the shortest distance between friends.”

Here Come The Answers Part Deux

First I want to thank EVERYONE for their sweet and thoughtful comments on yesterday’s blog about Our Special Jesse.  Those all meant so much to me and brought a smile to my face in a much needed time.  He was a part of our family and this has been hard.

Now, here are some more answers for my bloggy friends.  I will still have one or more posts after this to finish up the answers.

Here we go:

1.  How did you come up with the title of your blog and what does it mean?

For my entire married life, my husband and I have always signed our letters, cards, notes and emails “lovelove”.  Now it’s the last thing I say to my daughter before I leave her room at  night.  “Bella – lovelove.”  And Bella answers back, “lovelove mom.”  So, I thought it would be a cute name for the journaling of my day to day life.

2.  I know you guys eat healthy cause you've said so before. But are you guys vegetarians? If not, do you eat pork? (seriously, I'm not trying to make fun of Miss Piggy ~ I think she's cool).

We are very healthy eaters – something that’s big for me.  I sort of have to force my husband and it’s how my kids are growing up so it’s not a big deal for them.  BUT we are most definitely meat eaters.  And it may surprise you (Shhhh, don’t tell Missy) that I occasionally have sausage or bacon at a restaurant.  I know that freaks people out, but I do.  PB pigs don’t have bacon since they don’t have stomach muscle, so I can’t feel bad about that.  As for sausage, I just try not to let Missy know I’m eating her cousins :o)  I will say, though, that I’m not pleased at all at how animals are raised for ‘slaughter’, so when buying meat I am big on getting organic, vegetarian fed, cage-free / free roaming meat.  I’ve seen too many documentaries on how these animals are treated for conventional meat and it’s terrible and sad (I am a true animal lover to the core – just not PETA style).  But, for the most part, we do not eat pork, because it is not a healthy meat.

3.  Do you like to read?

I so ENJOY reading and have my whole life.  My style of what I read has changed over the years, but I am an avid reader.  I usually have about 3 books I read at a time.  I’m not really big on fiction books – though my MIL gave me The Midford Series books when I was pregnant with Bella and I enjoyed those.  I stick to mostly books by Christian authors that I respect that teach about aspects of the Bible, i.e. healing, finances, relationships, faith, prayer, etc.  I am a constant student and am always finding ways to educate myself on stuff. 

Other types of books I may read are books on health and nutrition, organizing, decorating, home design, etc.  Oh, and I can’t forget that I actually like reading books written BY Donald Trump.  He has tons of wisdom on business and everyday interaction in the business world – it’s fascinating.  

I also like magazines that don’t require me to read long articles since I don’t have time with the kiddos.  Real Simple, Living, Energy Times, Inc., etc. That way I can flip through these when it’s bath time for the kids, or waiting to pick my daughter up from school.  Below is me reading on the beach in Mexico.

4.  Do you watch TV? If so, what's your favorite TV show?

We hardly watch TV at our house.  We are always busy with the kids or being outside.  On Sunday’s we usually have football on and we do like the show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”.   If we actually had cable, we’d probably  be glued to the TV and forget we had kids and the house would get turned upside down as we stopped bathing, ate junk food and stared at the TV with remote in hand.  Hence, we don’t have cable at our house :o)

5.  How long have you been sewing? Who taught you how to sew?

I took my first sewing class in the 7th grade.  I liked it and thought it was fun so I pulled out my mom’s avocado green sewing machine and starting messing around on it.  Took another class in the 8th grade, then in the 9th grade took my last class that was called “Fashion”.  Just helped us better understand how to sew and make clothes.  I always would make bags and purses and stuff like pillows and blankets, but I didn’t start to make clothes again until about 4-5 years out of high school.  I had to re-teach myself the ‘trade’. 

Unfortunately, after all the sewing I did for my wedding and then all the quilts I made that same year for Christmas due to a lack of funds with the newlyweds – I got burned out on sewing.  I just recently (9 years later) have given myself a couple projects that I have finished, but I can tell the desire still isn’t there.  I’m hoping it comes back again some day.  I will say, though, that I have NEVER lost my passion for fabric.  It’s strange and probably uncommon, but I’m fascinated with fabric.  I have tons and tons of fabric that I’ve tried to part with, but still cannot.  So, I just look at it every once in a while while I’m in the basement.  Like I said, strange.

6.  Do you like watching Oprah, or did you just refer to her as an example?

I use to watch Oprah occasionally – years ago.  Up until I was a mommy, I always worked, so didn’t have time for daytime television.  In the more  recent years I have lost a lot of respect for her.  In my opinion she has become very vain and I have seen certain segments of her show where she acts a tad too much like ‘the law’, as if something is true JUST  because she ‘believes’ it to be true, regardless of fact.  And don’t get me going on the fact that people out there look to her as a spiritual leader.  If you are looking to her to guide you  spiritually, I say you need a little help.  (I’m sure I just offended somebody, but that’s my view point on it :o)

7.  What's your favorite color?

This is hard because I always use to have a ‘definite’ favorite color, but I don’t think I do anymore.  Different areas of my life require different favorite colors.  I have started liking pink more (duh – as if you couldn’t tell by my blog) and I NEVER use to like pink.  Baby blue is cute in the clothing area.  Black is perfect with clothes.  When decorating I like earth tone colors with bright colors for accents.  I’m ashamed to admit that mid 80’s I was into the fluorescent.  Shorts, tops, headbands, glasses.  Everything was fluorescent.  Cyndie Lauper and Madonna had more influence on my generation then I care to admit.  Seriously – when I was about 10 or 11 our church was doing a Gong Show aka A Talent Show.  Me and my sister wanted to do a dance for it and the song we picked was “Like A Virgin” by Madonna.  When we ran that across my parents we got the big, ‘No!’  I had no clue what the song meant – back then it wasn’t required by law to teach student sex-ed when they were in kindergarten, so I had not had my schooling on all that fun stuff and what it would mean when you sang, ‘Like a virgin – hey – touched for the very first time!’  Clueless that it wasn’t appropriate for a church talent show.  So, what did we do instead????  California Girls – haha!  How did this story fit into this color question?  We wore fluorescent clothing for the dance and we had these outrageous glasses that looked like something from Back to the Future Part 2 that were, you guessed it – fluorescent.

Ehem, to make a long story longer - I guess my answer is that I have favorite colors for different aspects of my life.

8.  Do you think I'm wonderful?

Julie, I only have one word that can answer that.  WWJD?  I’m sure you can draw your conclusion from that ;o)

9.  If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live?

If it was just me and my hubby and kids I would want to live near an ocean with warm water where I was surrounded by Palm trees and a hammock.  There is something so peaceful about that kind of setting.  I enjoy being in the sun.  I think sun-kissed skin is beautiful, especially on little kids.  I would spend my days writing my blog from the beach, drinking coconut juice and eating fruit from the trees.  I would have to drive down to Cold Stone or DQ once a week to get my ice cream fix though :o) 

If I had to consider that I am close to my entire extended family – I would pick nowhere else but Colorado.  I love it here.  The mountains are amazing.  The four seasons are beautiful – and sometimes we get all four in one day.  That actually happened on Monday this week.  It snowed, rained, drizzles, thundered and add a little bit of afternoon sunshine – and you have a normal Colorado day.  It’s a beautiful state where you can ski (which I have never done), hike, take mountain drives, etc.


10.  If you don't publish some of those post ideas soon, can I steal some of them?

Okay, Julie, give me a month to post mine and then you can do your version of the same topics.  That might me a cool meme, don’t you think?

 

Part Three will be next week!  Have a great day ya’ll!

Brownies, Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Drops, Sugar Cookies

Joining in today for Kelly’s Korner ‘Show Us Your Life’ – Favorite Dessert Recipe today.   Head on over to see the others.

Being a dessert fanatic, this was hard, but….

Here are 3 of my favorite recipes  for Brownies from Scratch, No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Drops (great if you have kids that like to help bake), Better than bakery style Sugar Cookies!

Hard to choose from hundreds, but these are good so try them and tell me what you think.  These always get rave reviews from everyone who eats them.  In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with these.  I will have to say that using quality ingredients can make all the difference in the world with the taste. 

I use REAL butter when I cook and bittersweet chocolate and unbleached flour – so the taste is different from those who may use margarine and chocolate chips that don’t have any chocolate in them – you know, stuff like that.  REAL vanilla extract can also make a big difference in the taste.

Here we go…….

* * * * *

Brownies From Scratch

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup REAL butter
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 12 tbsp cocoa with 4 tbsp of  oil (mix well) (I use cold-pressed olive oil)
• 1 cup flour (I use half unbleached and half whole wheat or pastry flour)
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla
• chocolate chips of your choice
  

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour a 13" x 9" cake pan.
Mix all ingredients well.
Pour into pan and sprinkle chocolate chips
over the batter (or mix them into the batter if you fancy that way better.) Bake for 35 minutes.  Let cool before cutting – they will be messy if you don’t!  ENJOY!

* * * * *

Chocolate Yum Yums
- No bake chocolate/oatmeal drops

MIX TOGETHER IN A SAUCE PAN:

• ½ cup cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  

ADD AND BRING TO A BOIL FOR 1 MINUTE:

• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup milk
  

REMOVE FROM HEAT FOR 3 MINUTES AND ADD:

• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 - 4 1/2 cups quick oats - 1 cup at a time
  

DROP ONTO WAXED PAPER ON A
COOKIE SHEET AND REFRIGERATE.

* * * * *

Mom's Sugar Cookies

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup melted lard
• 2 lightly beaten eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 5-6 cups flour
  

Mix all ingredients together. Chill at least one hour.  Roll and cut with cookie cutters
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I frost with Royal Frosting, but any frosting is good. The Royal Icing dried hard which is nice since we make these and give them to people, so you can stack easily without making a mess. 
Note:  I realize Lard is NOT healthy, but it makes the cookies soft they way they should be.  If you don’t make these daily, your intake of Lard is probably not too much, so you can splurge a bit.  Using butter in this recipe will harden the cookies.  I prefer the soft.  THESE COOKIES ARE AMAZING!

Royal Frosting

• 4 egg whites
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 tsp. glycerin (optional)
  

Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy (use only grade A clean, uncracked eggs). Gradually add sugar and lemon extract. Beat at high speed until thickened.

This is my daughter and her friend decorating sugar cookies and using the royal icing.  Didn’t get a close up, but you can see the fun they were having.

I found this photo online of the royal icing…Don’t know who took it, so I can’t give anyone credit. 

Let me know if you try these and let me know how they turn out!

In Honor of Our Special Jesse

Today has been a hard day.  Not only for me, but my family as well.  This morning one of our beloved family pugs passed away.  He was 12 years old.  He was our Special Jesse.  He passed peacefully in my dad’s arms at 4:50 a.m., September 23, 2009.

Jesse was the first pug of the family – and because of him we fell in love with the breed and the number of pugs in our family grew to four.  When we got Jesse I was still living at home.  He was my brother’s faith project.  Bringing him home back in 1997 was a night I’ll never forget.

You may not know, but pugs have amazing personalities.  You find yourself treating them like they’re human.  You talk to them.  They talk back to you.  They tilt their heads when you speak to them.  They are amazing animals.  They are truly your friends.

A year after Jesse joined our family, I bought Jerry.  They were instantly known as ‘brothers’.  They were inseparable.  I wish I had photos scanned of them spending every moment by each other’s sides.  After I got married, Jesse had some anxiety issues.  Not only did I leave, but I took Jerry and Missy, the pets he had known his whole life.  He missed his brother.

Enter in the family – George.  George joined the family to help Jesse be happy again.  To help him get past his other brother leaving.  He wouldn’t eat.  He moped around the house.  He would just sit in the chair at the window waiting for Jerry to come back home.  He needed to be happy again, so my parents got George.  It worked.  Now we had 3 brothers. 

Jesse was known as ‘The Boss’.  The other pups new it too.  He was debonair and very much a city slicker.  He preferred pavement over grass or fields.  He kept watch over his property and would bark at the leaves when they would blow through the yard.  He was like the King in a pride of Lions.

Jesse was ‘Digger’s puppy’ (my brother).  This is photo my brother made and he titled it “The Boss”.  That is my brother taking a picture of Jesse.  He loved his puppy tremendously.  Jesse knew that Danny was his dad.  A man and his pup!

He filled our lives with so much joy and laughter.  He was special and LOVED beyond words.  This photo was taken back on August 28, 2009.

Our three dogs always remained close.  They are all very much a part of our families.  They are taken care of better than some people take care of their kids.   They are not spoiled.  They are blessed.

This is a photo I took of him one week ago while my parents were in Washington D.C.  I took it so I could email it to my parents.  Their ‘puppies’ mean the world to them.        

Jesse, many tears have been cried today by all those who love you.  You left a mark on our lives that won’t ever go away.  Your absence right now is very hard.  We all miss you so much.  Thank you for bringing life into our lives over these past 12 years.  Your brothers will miss you.  I will miss seeing you when I walk into mom and dad’s house, laying on your bed with your tail curled up and slowly wagging back and forth.  I’ll miss your little barks when you want whatever it is I’m eating.  I’ll miss you pawing at my leg so I will scratch your head.  You are forever in our hearts and in our future.  I love you my Special Jesse!

Our Special Jesse
September 5, 1997 – September 23, 2009

“My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.” 

Edith Wharton

* * * * * *

(p.s.  I will now get back to reading all your blogs – in case you wonder why you haven’t heard from me.  The past couple days I have spent with my family during Jesse’s last days and haven’t had my reading time.)

This Is Amy’s Story

Desire.  Determination.  Love.  If I were to pick the first 3 words that came to me to describe Amy over at Filled With Praise – those would be the one’s I would choose!  This post today is for her – and if you have never stopped by her blog, then please take the time today to do just that.

This post was something totally different  two days ago.  I had contacted Amy a while back and asked if she wouldn’t mind if I did a post that featured her and the AMAZING journey her and her family have recently embarked on. I’ve been working on it over the weeks and a couple days ago I was reading over it all – and it just wasn’t right.  It sounded too much like an info-mercial or something and that was not what I wanted.  So, I sat down, got quiet and asked the question:  ‘How can I write what I want to share without making it sound like I’m peddling something.’  The answer was easy:  ‘What is in your heart about it?’  So, here is my new version, from my heart.  I hope you take the couple minutes it will take to read it and see if this family touches you the way they touched me.

Desire.  Determination.  Love.  Have you ever met someone who exudes the most amazing qualities a natural person can have?  I know several people in my life like that – and I have found several in the blogging world.  Amy is one of those.

I cannot tell you exactly how I met her.  Typical for most of my bloggy friends.  Blog hopping is a snowball effect and I’m assuming that’s how I’ve met most of these wonderful people.  Some of those you run across just stick with you as Amy did with me.  Her posts will always leave you smiling and loving God more then you did when you first logged onto Blogger.  She’s real.  She’s heartfelt.  She’s humble.  She’s courageous.  She’s obedient.

Did you know that there are 147 million orphans in the world today?  Does it even matter to you?  Sure, you care as any normal person would, but has it affected you to your core?  Has the desire to be a part of the solution to this problem laid a hold of your heart? Don’t worry if it hasn’t.  We aren’t all called to be the answer to every problem.  We’re not all called to travel to Africa and be missionaries.  If we were, how would the rest of the world be ministered too?  We all have our part and they are all different.  But this desire took hold of Amy’s heart and her husband’s heart as well – and they are on the journey to becoming part of the solution.  147 million orphans. 

Desire.  So many of us can relate to the desire to have children.  I had it.  Odd for me, because I remember in high school thinking how I never wanted to marry or have children.  No desire was there.  But that all changed and when that desire, that I believe is put there by God, is birthed inside a woman, you had better look out!  We were created with the ability to have life formed within us.  The desire is natural and it is justified.  But over the years, I’ve learned that you can have the same desire for children in the area of adoption.  The desire to nurture.  The desire to hold a child in your arms.  The desire to love.  The desire to add to your family.  The desire is no different.

Amy has three biological children.  She just had her third child in January, yet God spoke to her heart about adoption.  When she shared with her husband what was so strong in her heart – he was amazed because he was hearing the same thing. (To read her post on this CLICK HERE)  A child from Ethiopia was their heart’s desire.  What a wonderful thing when a husband and wife are in agreement with one another.  When a husband and wife can both hear the voice of God and both choose to be obedient to follow that voice – no matter what the cost and no matter who comes against you for the decisions you make.  That’s determination.

Determination.  Adoption is not an easy nor simple process.  I could not even go into detail describing the in depth planning and work this involves, but it’s no small task.  You know you’re not playing around when you are willing to go through it all.  Amy’s family dove head first into this journey with gusto  and to me that is such a beautiful start.  If you go through her blog you see amazing things.  The kids drawing pictures of the airplane bringing Elijah home.  Elijah.  That is the name the family chose to name their newest family member.  Everything they do, they are keeping before their eyes two things:  1) God and 2) His vision for their family.  They talk about it.  They draw about it.  They think about it.  They are actually operating in spiritual laws when they are doing all of this.  They’re writing the vision and making it plain.  They are meditating on it. They are calling things that be not as though they were.  They are moving forward depending totally on God.  They didn’t wait for every penny (24,000+ needed) to be in their hands before they stepped out of the boat, they just stepped out of the boat.  There are people who have come against them, who think they’ve gone crazy.  Well, you know what?  Staying in the boat is safe.  It’s comfortable.  But Jesus is on the water – so if you step out in faith, He’ll be right there for you every step of the way. When you are willing to do this, willing to go upstream when everyone else is going downstream – you’ll be chastised.  But there’s one thing that keeps you going.  Love.

Love. Love is such an amazing force.  God Himself IS Love.  His love is in us and we are capable of operating in and with that Love.  Isn’t it beautiful that we never run out of love.  You can have 2 children or you can have 10 and yet you never run out of love to give to those children.  And, in my estimation, it is a great love that desires to reach out to a child, whom you did not conceive, from a country that is different from your very own – and bring them into your family and raise them as your own.  Love.  I see it when I read her posts about Elijah.  I see it when I read of how excited her family is to bring this little boy home.  I see it as she continues day by day on this journey for Elijah – each step relying on God and God alone.  147 million orphans.

As I would read Amy’s blog I would find myself thinking about them later in the day.  I would think of how wonderful it is that her and her husband have decided to go down this path in their life.  I often wondered if I would do the same thing if God placed that vision on my heart.  More children isn’t exactly on my to do list right now.  But,  I would hope I would be obedient and ‘go ye’ – and that’s exactly what Amy and her husband have done.  I would think of how I wish I could help them raise the money they need for this child.  They desire this child SO much, I just wanted to help.  But, what could I possibly do?  Any monetary donation wouldn’t even make a dent in their 24,000+ needed to bring their Elijah home.  And then I’d continue on with my day and the thoughts would come to me again.  I’d go through this every time I’d read her blog – even if the post had nothing to do with the adoption.  I wanted to know: What can I do?

The answer came one day.  The answer was so simple, but something I had said no to earlier – and that was to give a monetary donation.  And it occurred to me that I may not be able to personally give them the full amount of what they need, but what if there are hundreds of people out there who have heard their story and want to help?  What if all of us did our part and donated what we could? What God put on our hearts for us to donate?  All those ‘little’ donations would soon add up.  Right then and there I decided that I wanted to sow a seed into their lives so they could bring their child home.  So that’s what I am going to do and I’m giving it from my non-profit Joy.Love Outreach, because our motto is:  Bringing JOY to people in the world, through LOVE.  I needed to do this.  I can now be a part of the solution of 147 million orphans.  I have also recently sent donations into Kenneth Copeland Ministries of Fort Worth, Texas who have partnered with El Mexicanito Orphanage in Tlalnepantla, Mexico.  They are working with them and helping them supply resources, including bedding, blankets, towels, uniforms, a speaker system for Bible class, and more.  I realized that I can be a part of the solution.  I may not be the one who is adopting.  I may not be the ministry that is sending teams of people down to overhaul an orphanage – but if I choose to help send those people, to be a vessel to bless these people, then I am doing my part.  That desire has been placed upon my heart.  I want to be a part of Amy’s vision.  I want to see her vision come to manifestation.

I want to challenge any of you who would have a desire to help this family with their adoption.  I challenge you to see what’s in your heart and how you can help.  Even if it’s just prayer for this family – that’s the best kind of gift a person can give. Please visit Amy’s blog @ Filled With Praise.  There you can read up on this God directed journey they are on.  You can visit their eBay store and purchase items to help pay for their adoption.  You can participate in their fundraisers (I just bought a messenger bag that says 147 million orphans on it).  You can make a monetary donation through pay pal.  If you have a desire to help – every gift counts and is appreciated.  Don’t make the mistake I did and think that a small gift wouldn’t scratch the surface.  It can help tremendously.  If you don’t really feel any desire to help towards the adoption – you should still visit her blog – it is beautiful and you will always find uplifting reading material that is good for any day of the week.

Amy, I commend you and your family for being obedient to God’s call on your life in this season.  There is a beautiful boy in Ethiopia who has the perfect family waiting for him.  Keep calling him into your family.  Keep the reality of Elijah coming home before your eyes.  Keep TRUSTING God.  Keep your FAITH pointed towards God.  Where He leads, He provides.  And He will use everyday people like me to be the vessel He can use to bring your provision.  What a wonderful opportunity that has been placed before me.  Everyday Elijah is one day closer to coming home.  Please give him a hug from me when he steps off that plane onto American soil, his new home.  Very soon there will be one less orphan to count.

Amy @ Filled With Praise

Some posts regarding their decision to adopt:

TRUST

OUR FIRST STEPS…

FAITH

Head on over to learn more about Amy’s adoption journey:  where it began, how they knew Ethiopia was the place they would adopt from, their walk of faith and more.  Thank you for taking the time to read this post today.  I truly appreciate it.  Have a great day!

“I will not leave you as orphans.  I will come to you.”

John 14:18

You Are The Best BF’s - EVER!

Hands down, I have the best Bloggy Friends!  Today was an unusual day for me since there was an unexpected ‘situation’ in the family and I was gone from early morning until about 2pm, so I had not checked my mail all day.  I came home to my mailbox full of LOVE! 

I had to laugh, hoping that my bf’s weren’t thinking I was  SERIOUSLY having a hard time with my UNfollower.  I was hoping my sense of humor came through in the previous post, because I would hope that I would never let an UNfollower have that much control over my life.  At least not to the point of pining over them leaving.   I wanted it to be a humorous post – and I think I succeeded!

Let’s be straight – I may have had 60 ‘followers’, but how many actually read consistently.  I’m smart for a blonde and know that most people don’t always keep up with the blogs they follow.  Take ME for example.  Heehee – yes, me.  I have this issue with enjoying everything out there, so I most likely have not found a blog that I didn’t like.  I follow way too many to keep up with on a daily basis.  BUT, I do have a long list that I make sure to always read – and isn’t that the way it should be?  They always say that it’s better to have a few close friends then a thousand acquaintances – and that is so true.

In fact, I didn’t start blogging to make friends.  When I started my blog – a suggestion from hubby as a way for me to keep the family and friends updated on our life in a simple way – I did it just for that.  I knew nothing about how it all worked.  I really didn’t know too much about blogs.  I know, I know, a little behind – but being a full time mom is a lot of work.   Anyhoodle – I started my blog and one of my friends ‘found’ me.  Then I found out how to add the follower section.  I did that and it sat with 6 friends for months and months.  Didn’t bother me one bit.  Then some strangers were on there and it sparked my curiosity.  How did they find me?  I was clueless.  Then a few more showed up.  Now I was hovering around 10 – and the addiction started ;o)

That section caught my eye before anything else did and I started making such cool friends.  Then I was hovering around 14 or 15 and I met Brandi (My Three Bubs – go check her out) and we were both so excited to have 15 followers.  Haha!  Then I started figuring out how to read other people’s blogs by using links from other people’s blogs and off I went!  It’s so much fun.  Fun to read.  Fun to write – and that’s what it is all about!

I blog for me – it’s my creative outlet I guess.  My husband’s not much of a conversationalist – so I have to get my 40,000 words a day in somewhere! I blog so I can one day put these all in a book and give it to my kids – the best way to give them memories of these years.  So, even if my parents were the only 2 who remained ‘followers’ of my blog – I’d still do it.  I won’t lie – I enjoy that people enjoy my blog and it can be sad *sigh* to have people go.  But I’m okay with that.  Really.  Being a stay at home mom sometimes leaves us without the ‘co-worker’ friendships we would have if we had a job.  But in Bloggy Land I have found my co-workers.  I enjoy chatting with them and telling them my stories.  Best thing yet is that nobody can cut me off when I’m talking.  I can blab all day about pigs, trucks, Barbies and what not and nobody interrupts me.  Life is GOOD!  

So, thank you my wonderful, BEAUTIFUL, Bloggy Friends for all you do for me on a daily basis.  You make me laugh, you make me smile, you make my normal, average life seem somewhat interesting since you actually take time to read about it.  Seriously – have you ever stopped and thought ‘Every week I get on Kari’s blog and see pictures of a life size Barbie head – and I keep coming back.’  Some might not see that as normal.  I see it as flattering!

Thank you! Thank you, my friends.  May I continue to bring a smile to your face – if for no other reason then so you can smile to know that the life I write about belongs to someone other than you!

Have yourselves a BLESSED day!  I’ll be back.  Better. Stronger.  Minus a friend – but with 59 who have stuck by my side!  Haha!

love.love.

"A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway." 

Fr. Jerome Cummings

Somebody ACTUALLY Clicked It!

Yep, they did.  They actually clicked THE button.  The button that can make a 34 year old, self-confident blogger, feel, well….not so confident anymore.  That’s right.  Somebody clicked the UNfollow button on my blog.  Yes, somebody UNfollowed me.  WHAT???  I KNOW!  I know.  I’m still in shock over the whole thing.

This has happened once before and to be honest, I didn’t think anything of it.  I just went about my business.  But then I saw how Julie @ Foursons handled her bloggy friend UNfriend who UNfollowed her and I thought – should this concern me if it happens to me???  Of course not, Kari.  Don’t be a silly willy (as my daughter would say.)

But, that’s because it hadn’t happened AGAIN.  But all that has changed.  I got on my Dashboard tonight to check on my bloggy friends and do some reading and I saw it": 

59 followers

59???  It had been at 60 for some time now.  And I should add that THAT alone was amazing.  Did 60 people actually find something they liked about my blog to even click the follow button to begin with?  But have you noticed how our Dashboards taunt us with that number right up TOP so it’s staring at you every time you get on?  It’s a conspiracy.  Seriously.  Did somebody get bored with my pig or our big beast of a truck?  Did I PERSONALLY offend them?  I honestly can’t say – out side of silly Doug – that I’ve ever pointed fingers at anyone – usually NOT my style.  I realize we all have different opinions, but that’s part of life, right.  And being able to still get along with people that share different views is the mature thing to do – right?  So, what happened?

How do I handle this?  WWJD….  And by that I mean – What Would Julie Do?  Julie checked her little following faces and out of 80+ people she knew who UNfollowed her.  Something came over me.  Julie came over me – and I did it.  I clicked on

59 followers

and started looking at the photos.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell who left – but who cares, I was on a mission.  If Julie was cool like that – then I could be too.  So, I start checking and going down the line of thumbnail photos of my bloggy friends…

“Nope, wasn’t her.  Not her.  Nadas on her.  Good thing I still see Brandi on here or she’d be in trouble. After all, I know where she lives.  Okay, Julie’s still there – that would be ironic if it were HER.  And, yes, my mom is still there – good thing!.  Kristin, Kate, Jenny, April, Kara…wait….GASP!  Oh my chinny chin chin – there’s a face missing.  I can’t believe I actually noticed!  I felt sad for a second – then Julie’s post about her UNfollower popped into my head. I thought, ‘Oohhh, I could go to hers and UNfollow her.”  But wait, it occurred to me that  I actually like her blog, so I can’t do that.   What can I do?  I have to just keep going.  Hold my head high and make me some yummy brownies or something.  That would make me feel better.   I won’t let this drag me down like the mean girls picking on me in the halls in high school.  Nope, I’m better then that!   I’m a survivor, I’m gonna make it… (got the song stuck in your head don’t ya :o) :o)

I don’t need to retaliate.  I don’t need to ‘get her back’.  But wait – it seems like I need to prove that other people like my blog (as if the 59 current ones weren’t enough).  I need to show them what they’re missing.  You know, the whole ‘Don’t know what you got till it’s gone’ thing.  Hey, I could go crazy and round up a gazillion more ‘followers’ (blah to that term) and that would make me feel better.  I could have you, my faithful and loyal readers send bloggy friends my way.  I could have that ‘followers’ number just sky rocket in no time. That would show all those who UNfollow me.  Right? 

Okay, okay. I’m not that desperate.  Or. Am. I?

 
“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.”

Thomas Carlyle

Water Cooler Monday – Week Ending 9-20-09

Busy, busy week for our little family.  School, crawling, standing, ugly trucks, Barbie heads – the norm around here.  And take a quick glance and you can see I’m doing some changes around here, so stick with me while the transition takes place.  I change my blog as much as I rearrange my furniture.  I get antsy with the same thing and have to spice things up a bit.  So….

Bella had her first full week of school and she is really enjoying it.  They are teaching how to do the alphabet in sign language which I thought was cool.  I liked learning that when I was little – and she seems pretty impressed.  I can tell she is more worn out at the end of the day which is nice.  She goes to bed a tad earlier -  but don’t worry, she’s up with the roosters, so it’s not like I get any extra sleep.

My parents got back from DC today and what fun!  My mom sent photos over every night and it’s definitely a place rich with history and I think I’ll have to visit sometime with lots of memory in my camera!  Beautiful architecture!  My dad talked to Barbara Boxer at the Capital.  He called for her when she was walking through.  Yep, that’s my dad.  He did not get arrested or thrown out or put on some weird email list Obama’s administration put out for all those who think differently than him  - so I was very proud of him.

AND you all know we GOT THE TRUCK!  Yes, it’s right outside on the side of my house – and to it’s credit – outside of it being plain ugly – it’s pretty cool.  I like ‘antique’ things – including vehicles (and we’ve had our fair share of those) and this has TONS of potential (right Sarah? :o).  The thing starts right up – faster and quieter than my Land Rover Discovery.  Hmmmm.  But it’s HUGE!  Oh my, I’ll need a drop ladder thrown out the door for me to be able to climb in the cab of the thing.  It even has suicide wheels on it – that’s how old this thing is.

And then there is Scout – well, he’s just a hand full right now – and I’m enjoying every minute of it.  I LOVE how curious little kids can be.  Annoying, yes.  But how wonderful that they enjoy exploring so much.

So, since I already did a few posts of our week – last week – I don’t have as many photos this week.  Oh, come on, stop clapping!  It’s not that bad!  What can I say, I like my camera! 

This week I’ll be answering more of your questions and Wednesday I’ll have my  post entitled: 
This Is Amy’s Story

♥ ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  

 

It’s surreal sometimes how much Bella looks like me when I was younger.  I definitely see me in this photo.

She was ‘washing the backyard’.  This means she hosed down everything that didn’t move – but it kept her busy for the LONGEST time.  I won’t tell you how long (ehem) because some may think I’m a water waster.  I’m not – I’m a mom who understands how much fun her daughter was having and how she was using her imagination so beautifully as she did this.  Besides, I’m not stealing the water.  I’ll get charged for it on my bill and we’ll pay for it :o)  

Little tootsies and bottoms.  A mother’s dream.

His Dinosaur Ball toy.  He prefers to chew on the little figures up top.

Yes, we had to curl Barbie’s hair.  Did I say ‘WE’?  I mean, ‘I’.  I had to roll her hair and make it all curly ‘like the picture’.  We even made a trip to Wally-Mart to get her curlers.  She had to have pink.  Probably could think of 10 things I would have preferred doing, but Bella was so excited for me to do this. 

Imagine seeing this peeking at you while walking through your house at night.  Good thing I’m not armed with anything other than a baseball bat or Barbie would be – well – headless.  Note to self:  Don’t leave the life size Barbie head on the counter in front of the bluish colored ‘night light’ where she is freakishly illuminated at 2am.  Log that one away! 

Bella after school being a monkey.  She wouldn’t use words with me, she had to ‘Ooo, ah ah ah’.  Nice.

Bubba eating grass after telling him not to eat grass.

The Beast being unloaded at our house.

“Now that there is an R.V.” – Can anyone tell me the movie that’s from???????  Hubby you can’t play this game.  You’ll ruin it for everyone else.

The Red Rover with the wood to build the fence to hide the Beast. 

And my second little busy body!

As Bella would say, ‘Oh my chinny chin chin!’  My thoughts exactly.

And I’ll leave you with a little though provoking message.  Today at church we heard, what I think, was an amazing  message regarding our prayer lives, for the most part, in this day and age.  We are not fervent.  We are not desperate.   We don’t cry out to God anymore.  We have become powerless in our prayers.  This one statement stuck with me:

“What is it with people, that we wait for a catastrophe in our lives before we get fervent in prayer?”  Analogy: You get a stuffy nose and you do nothing about it.  It gets worse and turns into sinusitis.  You do nothing.  It gets worse and turns into bronchitis.  You do a little something to help your body, but it gets worse and now you have pneumonia.  NOW you want to do something to fix what’s wrong with your body.  WHY WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE PNEUMONIA BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

We don’t need hardships or catastrophes in our life to draw us closer to God.  Not to say that they won’t draw us closer, but He can teach us without us having to go through that.  Everyday we should be on a quest of seeking Him and being fervent in our relationship with Him.  Get pride out of the way and humble yourselves before Him.

“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5

“How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.”

George Washington Carver