Cozy Comforts

A New Year

2012-02-08T20:47:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted, and I apologize. However, January is a month filled with basketball. Basketball season is now winding down, so I have a little more time. Sometimes, too, I just don't know what to post about and that keeps me from posting.

This year I have decided to try to share my favorite Christian artists and/or songs with you as my monthly headers. Although I missed January, I have chosen to begin with Casting Crowns for the rest of February. I love the music Casting Crowns puts out. Their songs have such wonderful messages and are so worshipful. Under the title of my blog is the chorus to one of the songs that they sing that has become a huge favorite of my. It is called "Oh, Glorious Day". I've been told it's an old hymn, but I never heard it until I heard Casting Crowns sing it. Since then, we have actually sung it in church once, but I have to say, I prefer the Casting Crowns version.

Also, I wanted to share that I have challenged myself to spend more time in God's word this year. There is nothing more important than where we will spend eternity, and having a close relationship with our Lord and really knowing His word are of eternal importance, so I want to really know God's word. I've been told many times to study the Bible, but have never really been taught how to do that, so I have found a book that I am reading that is teaching me exactly how to do that. It's a great book. The lessons are short and easy and so rich in value. I am already learning so much and getting so much out of my Bible, precisely the book of Jonah, which is the book this study walks you through. The book I am using to learn to study the Bible is:
It helps me to really focus on the scripture and calls my attention to who is writing the particular scripture I'm reading, who is it about, where and when does it take place, what does it teach and what can I learn and apply to my life from it. It has me color code things which really helps as well. All scripture that it wants me to read is actually printed in the back of the book right from the Bible, which makes it easy if I want to take the book with me if I know I'm going to have to wait for someone in a quiet place.

If you've never learned how to study the Bible and you want to, I highly recommend this book. By the way, the title doesn't mean that you'll study the entire Bible in 28 days; it means you'll learn, in 28 days, how to study the Bible.

The Joys of Homemaking

2011-12-13T15:26:00.002-05:00

Some women absolutely abhor the idea of being a homemaker. They think that only true success can be found in a high-paid career. They don't even want to have to think about cooking, washing laundry and cleaning the house, and, unfortunately, they don't have much time to spend with their children (if they have children).

Well, I'm here to tell you that I am not only a homemaker, but a homemaker who also homeschools my three boys (I know, you regular readers are well aware of this), and I LOVE IT! To me it is by far the most rewarding career possible!

I hear those groans from those of you who prefer working outside of your home. I also hear those two all-too-familiar questions "What do you do at home all day?" "Don't you get bored?" To which I answer, "How can I possibly get bored? And, what do I do all day -- well, each day varies because of all of the activities and possibilities.

On a daily, Monday through Friday, basis, I spend about half of the day teaching my boys. We read great books that teach us about history and literature, science, art, music. We begin each day reading our Bible to learn more about our Lord God. We read books about others who have learned to walk with the Lord and who are missionaries in other countries. We write Bible verses to practice our writing. I listen as my new reader reads some fun stories to me. We solve math problems.

Other things that take up my time are the things I love to do for my family, like cooking, baking and sewing. I cannot tell you what a joy it is to hear my boys say "these are great cookies, Mom. Thanks for making them," or my husband remark, "this is a really good meal, dear." I made our little guy pajamas for Christmas this year, and when I showed them to the older boys, I heard, "you made those? They're really cool!" I would call these successes, but more importantly, I call them blessings of great joy.

I love doing things that give my family pleasure. I love making them special treats, favorite meals, warm pajamas, etc.

You may be thinking, "but isn't it a big sacrifice? How do you survive on one income?" Yes, it can be challenging, and I suppose many of you may think it's a big sacrifice. I make lots of things from scratch to help save money on groceries, like I make my own granola instead of purchasing expensive cereals. I make cookies from scratch instead of buying expensive prepackaged cookies. I bake my own bread. We have a small garden each year to help save some money as well because we grow some of our own vegetables, and I can some items like making our own homemade salsa.

You may think that sounds like too much of a sacrifice, but I really enjoy doing these things, and I can always do something to earn money when my boys are grown. We only have them for such a short time anyway. I want to cherish the time I have with them now because time goes so fast.

I cherish the relationships we have because of the time we spend together and the open lines of communication we have with one another. I don't have to worry about where my children are, who they are with, or if they are getting into some kind of trouble or messing with illegal drugs or alcohol. We have talked about all of these things, and my boys know how detrimental they can be. My boys know the Lord and are walking with Him. I know that I can trust them, and I know that they don't ever want to break that trust. We have a special bond, and I love them all dearly, even on the days that they do, occasionally drive me crazy.

Do special, nice things for my family and seeing their faces light up when I hand then a freshly baked cookie or some other special, nice thing, and these are my joys of homemaking.

The Lord Continues to Bless

2011-12-02T20:08:00.002-05:00

Last night, we attended Andrea's viewing to pay our respects to the family. The family seems to be surprisingly well. They are just so glad to know that Andrea is now with the Lord and no longer suffering. It was difficult for me, as I waited in line to pay my respects, not to dissolve into tears, but I made it through and waited until I was at home to weep. It just gripped my mother's heart to see all of the photos of Andrea with her children, ages nine and seven. And, when I reached the casket, to see Andrea so tiny and frail and weak, as the cancer left her, I know that she is in a better place and I rejoice that her pain is gone, but to see the cards and pictures that the children created "for mommy" that lay in the casket with her was another tear-jerking moment. It greatly saddens me to imagine them growing up the rest of the way without their mother being there and loving them and comforting them and tending to them when they don't feel well and all of the things a mother does. It just breaks my heart, but they have a good father and extended family that I know will take good care of them, but my mother's heart just aches because I know how much those children meant to Andrea, but I know that God will also be watching over these little ones. I know they are in good hands.

God is good. He is my help and my strength. After unloading my heart here on Tuesday, I turned to God's word, where my comfort comes from. I am so glad to be a Christian and to know that God is in control so I don't have to be. All I have to do is rest in Him.

I am greatly looking forward to this Christmas and celebrating the birth of my Lord and Savior. It is my absolute favorite holiday, and I will begin baking some cookies tomorrow, and I have been looking at recipes to plan our Christmas Eve day, as we will be spending the day together as a family and celebrating our Christmas on Christmas Eve day so that Friday evening we can celebrate with my parents and Sunday, Christmas Day, after celebrating with our dear church family with a special service, we will be celebrating with my husband's side of the family. I enjoy it all, but after experiencing our first full-day Christmas celebration on our own last year on Christmas day, I must say that is the part I cherish and look forward to the most. I love building loving bonds, holiday memories and family traditions with our children. We are truly blessed.

Many Ups and Downs Right Now

2011-11-29T18:20:00.003-05:00

I feel a need to write from my heart here today, as my heart is full of much mixed emotions. We received very sad news yesterday. A friend of ours who has been battling cancer for quite some time passed away yesterday morning. She was only 43 years old, and she leaves a husband and two precious children. It's been quite a struggle for the children watching their mother, sick more than she was well for most of their lives. The thing that strikes me to my very heart is that I remember when she was diagnosed all those years ago, and it was just before Christmas, and now she has passed away just before Christmas. It is of great comfort, though, knowing that she knew and loved the Lord, and I am sure she is feeling no pain or suffering as she now rests in His embrace. We will miss you, Andrea.

On a happier note, I am rejoicing with our dear friends, Joe and Susanna and their family, as their precious newly adopted daughter continues to grow and improve in so many ways. Hers was a sad story until Joe and Susanna determined to make her a part of their family. You can find out more and see pictures of precious little Katie here.

Today has been a gloomy, rainy day. Our little guy is exhibiting some challenging behaviors lately as well. My oldest son believes it's all because of the excitement and expectation of the holidays. To which my response was, but he didn't behave this poorly last year. But then, my oldest reminded me, "Well, Mom, last year he didn't know what to expect." (As we are sure that he hadn't experienced holiday celebrations before becoming a part of our family.) It has put my mind to rest, but it is so difficult to have to deal with the challenges on a daily basis amid all of the other things that life throws my way. Oh, well, I know it is all part of being an adoptive parent and no one ever promised that it would be easy. Alas, I grow weary trying to find new disciplines and encouragements that work because it so often seems that nothing works.

It is difficult being so alone in these challenges, as we have very few friends who truly understand our struggles because our children did not belong to us as infants. They came to us as toddlers or preschoolers from the foster care system. They came with so many insecurities, fears and anger. They had no boundaries or training in self-discipline in their early years, so when they are feeling strong emotions, whether positive or negative, they don't know how to control their actions and it's exhausting trying to teach them.

I know that it is well worth it, as clearly evidenced by our two older boys, who are such a blessing as they grow in the Lord. I know that this little one too, but I guess, I forgot how challenging and tiring it can be, and I'm no longer a Spring chicken!

Anyway, that's all for now. I feel a little better, just getting some of this off of my chest.

Out of a Far Country by Christopher Yuan and Angela Yuan

2011-11-22T20:14:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading this book last night. It is not a very long book and it is an easy read. It also kept my attention. It was very interesting as reading this book and hearing about the life of a young man who had chosen the homosexual lifestyle, but later came to a saving knowledge of the Lord, learned that the Lord condemns homosexual sex and that Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 make it clear that "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."
The Bible does not say that God hates homosexuals; it says the act of homosexuality is an abomination.

It was also quite clear that Christopher, the young man whose life the book is about, was living in sin and searching for something that was missing in his life, but he was searching in all of the wrong places. Not only did he practice homosexuality, but he became a drug dealer and addict, and eventually, he ended up in jail.

The story is also about Christopher's mom and her own problems, which seemed to come to a head, when Christopher left in an angry state because his parents would not accept his homosexual lifestyle. She became so depressed, she planned her own suicide.

It is a blessing to read this book and see how God worked in the lives of Christopher and his mother, and eventually, Christopher's father, and how God saved each of them individually and the three of them as a family.

One of my favorite parts of the book is where Christopher shares that he came to a realization that his identity should not be his sexuality, but that Paul said in Acts 17:28, "For in him we live and move and have our being." God says, "Be holy, for I am holy." Holy sexuality is based on obedience, which means that no matter what his situation, no matter what his feelings, he must obey and be faithful to God.

I think this book shows that people are not born homosexual. It clearly shows that God seeks and saves people from this so-called lifestyle. It is a book worth reading, and I recommend that you read it to find out how God changed Christopher's mother and to see what God called Christopher to. It is a great example of God's love, grace, mercy and faithfulness.

Busy is as Busy Does

2011-11-16T21:16:00.002-05:00

I just can't seem to find enough time to do much posting here on my blog. I am busy schooling my boys, taking care of my house and family and trying to get my business running. In order to get my Etsy shop noticed, I need to spend a couple of hours a day online on the Etsy site networking with other shop owners.

I am also trying to build a bit of a business offline as well. It's a slow process, but one that I am enjoying, and one that I hope will pay off.

Today was our last co-op day until after the holidays, and as much as we all enjoy our co-op, I am thankful for the break. However, basketball begins on Saturday. I received the schedule for the months of November and December and they aren't too bad. We did, however, receive some bad news today in regard to the varsity team that Anthony will be playing on. They will have a different coach again this year. The bad thing is the one boy who is moving up to the varsity team this year has strong self-centered tendencies and a bad temper. Last year, most of the boys on the JV team wanted him off of the team because he gets nasty to his teammates, and we've seen him lose his cool in a game. Well, the coach is his father, who encourages the self-centered attitude and hasn't done much to curb the bad temper, so we are concerned for the team this year, and Anthony, who was looking forward to this season, (as it is his senior year), is now dreading it. So, please help us bathe this issue in prayer. This is a Christian Homeschool team my boys participate on, and we hope the organization will take a stand, if it becomes necessary, to be clear on the appropriate behavior that is expected. However, it is quite apparent that a lot of people shy away from saying too much to this gentleman, who will be coaching, because they feel indebted to him because he helped to start this homeschool basketball program and has been involved for many years. So, please help us to pray.

Another, much bigger prayer request is for dear friends of ours who adopted a little girl from another country. They are currently in that country to bring her home, but they are experiencing some problems in that the little girl stopped taking her bottle for them and began to dehydrate, so they had to take her to the hospital. They have a nurse who was to arrive yesterday to be with them on the journey back to the U.S. to help with this precious little girl's special needs, so please pray that all will go well. Pray for sweet little Katie and her new mommy and daddy, Susanna and Joe.

Another Month Gone By

2011-11-06T21:15:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to be absent from blogland so often, but life is just so busy. We just finished soccer season, but are preparing for basketball season to begin. In the beginning of October, we took a much-needed and much-enjoyed family vacation. We hadn't taken a family vacation, (just us), in eleven or twelve years.

We went to Florence, Kentucky. We visited the Creation Museum for two days -- one day in the museum and one day out in the botanical garden and petting zoo and then shopping in the bookstore. We also spent a day at the Cincinnati Zoo. It was a large zoo. We thoroughly enjoyed the many different animals we saw there. Some gibbons seemed to give us a performance in the morning. We got to see some animals we had never seen before, like the manatees. I got lots of great photos.

I just began my own business -- Barr Photography! I have an online Etsy shop located here, where I am selling photos I have taken. I will be adding new photos at least once a week. I hope to also add photo notecards soon. I also have a business page on facebook, so stop by and "like" my business. Please check out my Etsy shop and tell your friends about it.

My Month of September

2011-10-17T20:12:00.024-04:00

Two of our boys had birthdays in the month of September and they were Lego birthdays! These boys love their Legos!

They couldn't wait to start assembling these Lego sets!

We also had some sever flooding in September:

One hundred roads were closed for a whole day. It wasn't easy to get around. My husband was sent home from work at lunch time and had to drive out around down into the opposite end of town to come back around to get to our home.

When I stopped to take the photo above, two of my children did not say they were going to get out of the car. I had left the keys in the ignition because I wasn't going more than like ten feet away from the car. Well, one of my boys locked all of the doors when he got out, so we were near a garage, and what a blessing, they got my car open for me and didn't charge me a single penny!

Finally, soccer season is in full swing and our boys' team is playing extremely well this year. They haven't lost a game yet.

I hope to post about what's been happening so far in October by the end of the week.

Oh, and a bit of bad news, our boys' soccer team lost their game tonight 2-1. Our oldest was very upset about it, but I said, "It's the first game you've lost all season. You can't always win, and your team has been doing extremely well this season. You only have one game left. So your wins will definitely outnumber your losses, and that's a better season than your team has had since you've been playing on it." (They have something to be proud of, and it's our oldest's last season, as he is a senior this year, so it's a great last season.)

Just a Quick Note

2011-09-02T21:13:00.003-04:00

Well, thanks to all of you who left me such nice, encouraging comments. Today was absolutely 100% better than yesterday.

The two big boys cleaned the house, I did three loads of laundry and did a 2-mile workout with my Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds for Abs video, as the sky seemed to threaten rain. It remained looking that way all day, but we didn't receive a drop. We did school, made homemade pizza for pizza, and I baked a cake that, after I add frosting and some other decoration, will be a birthday cake for a special little boy -- our Zeb who will be 7 tomorrow.

Then, our middle son, Nick will have his birthday on Sunday. He will be 14! I will be baking his cake tomorrow and decorating it. It will travel to church with us, and we will have it as part of our fellowship meal. Our boys love to celebrate their special days with our church family, although many of our church family will not be present due to other plans, but we will just enjoy the ones who will be there.

Also, tomorrow, the two big boys have soccer practice in the morning and my hubby will be helping his sister and her husband move the rest of their things out of her old house. We will do lunch with them.

Monday is fairly clear and relaxing, though I may have the boys do some school. We don't always take the little holidays off. Then, we will help to celebrate the birthday of a dear friend that evening. And Tuesday, back to the normal routine.

I'm feeling so much better today. God is so good. He always knows just what I need and when I need it.

One of Those Days

2011-09-01T21:20:00.002-04:00

This once-a-week posting is becoming a habit, but we have begun our school year and things are quite busy right now, but the schedule is starting to settle.

Today was the kind of day where I wonder, "why did I even get out of bed?"

I have been trying so hard to figure out a way to save more money on our grocery bills. The couponing thing doesn't work for me because most coupons are for name brand products and I buy as many generic brands as possible. Also, I won't just buy something because I have a coupon. I've been shopping at a discount grocery store, but it's difficult to buy the types of things I am supposed to eat there. So, this week, I took the flyer that I got at the regular grocery store that I shop at and carefully sifted through it. I planned my meals according to the sale items. I had everything planned and on a list and knew about what I was going to spend, which was about $30-$40 less than past weeks, so I was feeling good about going shopping.

Then I got to the store. I went to the meat counter and asked for the bone-in pork chops that were on sale and was told they weren't on sale. Then I asked about the smoked sausage that was on sale, and that wasn't on sale either. I said, "How can this be? I planned my whole grocery list according to your sale flyer?" So, they showed me their flyer for this week, which was not the same as mine. Mine is the flyer for next week! What??!! I got my flyer here at the store on the table on the way out, where they always have "Next Week's Ad"!

Apparently, last week, someone put the wrong ad on the table for "Next Week's Ad", and I never thought to look at the dates! I won't make that mistake again. This completely threw everything off and I overspent again. Such frustration! Between grocery and gas prices it is extremely hard to live on a budget!

Then there was the issue with my medicine. I called the pharmacy this morning to order my refills and was completely out of two of my pills (I had taken the last ones last night). My sister works at the pharmacy and she told me I had no more refills left. So, she faxed my doctor's office and I called my doctor's office.

After the grocery fiasco, I called the pharmacy to see if the doctor's had renewed my prescriptions and was told, by someone other than my sister, that they had, so I went to the pharmacy. My sister waited on me and said, "I gave you five of each pill to hold you over because your doctor's office hasn't called yet." I said, "What? I called before I came and was told that they had." My sister said, "Don't talk to anyone else next time."

Then I had to get Anthony to a soccer game by 3p.m. in a town about 30 minutes away. We made it. That was the only thing that went right today and was the one bright spot as I watched our team win 2-1!

When we returned home, I found a message on the answering machine from the nurse at the doctor's office telling me that they had called a one-month prescription in for me and that I will not get any more refills until I see the doctor, as I am supposed to see him every three months! That was news to me. I hadn't been told that before, and I currently have lab paperwork to go for a fasting blood test that the doctor told me to get in September, and now I'm supposed to schedule an appointment in September as well! All this medical stuff is expensive, even with insurance! It's not helping our budget!

Well, praise the Lord, the first four days of the week went well. Hopefully, the weekend will go well, too.

Too much stress today. I think I'll do a little reading and then get to bed. Tomorrow's gotta be better:)

What A Week!

2011-08-25T21:03:00.002-04:00

Last week my husband's car kept stalling off. Friends who know about cars said it's most likely the fuel filter or the fuel pump. They said it is relatively easy and inexpensive to change the fuel filter, so last Saturday, my hubby made a couple of calls and went and purchased a fuel filter and he and our son, Nick, changed the fuel filter on his car and it's now running fine!

Also, last Saturday, my van's brake issues became an issue. They had been squeaking for a couple of weeks, but now I could hear and feel them grinding when I pushed the brake pedal. Well, my hubby spoke to those car knowledgeable people again and decided he was going to try to fix my brakes as well to avoid a large garage bill. I made the phone calls and purchased the parts on Monday afternoon, making sure that if we didn't need all of the parts we could return them. So, Monday evening after work, one of my hubby's co-workers was going to help, but that didn't work out, so my hubby decided to try it alone. However, he wasn't quite sure how to remove the parts, so I called my dad who knows about cars, and he came over and explained what my hubby needed to do, and my hubby fixed my brakes all by himself! And I was able to return three items that were un-needed.

So, the repairs for both cars that would have cost us between $200 and $300 at a garage, cost us a little over $100 because my hubby did them himself. I am so proud of him.

Then Tuesday evening, instead of having a regular Diabetes Education Class, each of us in the class had an individual appointment to go in to see the nurse and dietician. The nurse looked over the meds I am taking and explained how the Metforman that I take for the Diabetes works. She also took my blood pressure and looked at my numbers from the previous week of the times I had recorded my blood glucose levels from my personal monitoring. She said that my number look great! She was also pleased that I have been doing some exercising and that I have lost weight. (I have lost a total of 19 lbs. so far). She also checked my feet and explained why it is so important that anyone with Diabetes check their feet on a regular basis as that is the first place problems arise. You can lose feeling in your feet and if you get an infection, it can turn serious and cause the need for amputation of toes or worse. My feet are fine. She suggested that I walk even more than I am -- I've been doing three times a week. She said everyday would be ideal, but they like to see at least FIVE times a week.

The dietician was quite happy with the changes I have made in my diet. She gave me a couple of more suggestions for my diet as well, and she, too, was pleased at my progress thus far.

Walking five times a week! I was wondering how to fit that in. Well, my two older boys are supposed to run as much as possible during this soccer season since soccer requires a lot of running. So, my plan, in the mornings after breakfast, we (the three boys, the puppy and I) will walk, and the two older boys can run part of the route we take. We did that one morning last week and it worked well. We just have to do it more often. Of course, Monday and Tuesday mornings won't work for the boys as they work, so the little guy and I will simply have to take the puppy and walk after taking the older two to work. We did this on Tuesday morning and found it quite enjoyable. This morning it was thundering and raining rather hard, so we didn't walk this morning. However, things cleared off, and when I took the two older boys to soccer practice, I walked six laps around the soccer field.

I have some Leslie Sansone videos I can walk with and some other exercise videos that I can do when weather is not appropriate for walking outside, but I really prefer to walk outside. Our poor old Labrador Retriever was not happy on Tuesday morning when we took the puppy for the walk and left him at home, but I cannot handle them both because he doesn't behave well when he sees other dogs, although I've tried to teach him better. So, I spoke to my dear hubby and on Saturday evening if the weather is cooperative, we will take a walk together and he can take our dear old Elvis while I walk the puppy, Gentry. I am blessed to have a supportive family.

Tuesday was also my boys' last day of freedom, as our homeschool co-op began yesterday and so we are now into the true beginning of our school year. I am looking forward to a regular schedule and not so much busy-ness.

By the way, the veggie lasagna turned out great!

My Diabetes Update

2011-08-19T20:15:00.002-04:00

I know I've been awol for a while again, but life has been busy. We have begun school -- we've got 13 days in so far! Soccer season began last Saturday, and co-op begins on Wednesday. I have also been encouraging and informing my neighbor lady in regard to homeschooling. She will begin her homeschool journey with her oldest child this year. I love being able to be a help and encouragement to another mom who wants to homeschool because as far as I'm concerned, homeschooling is the only way to go. Besides, the Bible tells us in Titus 2:3-5: "Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." I do my best to live according to God's word, and this is one part I find relatively easy to do and I enjoy doing it.

Now, my diabetes update. I had the first of 6 classes on diabetes education last Tuesday. Each of us who were there to learn more about diabetes received a binder full of information that we will be using for the class, and we can keep this binder. It was an introductory class, but I did learn some valuable information and tips. For instance, they recommend that we use canola oil for baking and olive oil for cooking, and ground flax seed is better for you than the actual seeds in that it gets absorbed in your body quicker so that you reap the benefits quicker. Also, we learned the percentage of nutrients that is changed to blood glucose in our bodies: 100% of carbs turn to blood glucose, 50% of protein and less than 10% of fat turn to blood glucose.

Next Tuesday, we have individual appointments and will meet with the nurse for a period of time and then with the dietician. We have to keep a record of everything we eat every day for the entire six weeks of these classes. I know this is helpful. I've done it before with other diets when I wanted to lose weight, but it's a real pain.

We were also advised to eat more plant based foods. So, today I had a salad for lunch and plan to eat salad just about every day for lunch. I have lots of salad recipes I've been wanting to try. Then, this evening for dinner, I made a recipe that a friend of my posted about on facebook a few weeks ago, but I tweaked it a little. She said that she had put zucchini and yellow squash in the bottom of a pain and then put hamburger on top of that, (I browned my burger first, I don't know if she did or not), then topped that with tomato slices and sprinkled parmesan cheese on the top. I added a little bit of tomato puree because I was afraid that otherwise my husband would find it too dry and he doesn't like dry foods. I also added some mozzarella cheese on top. The whole family enjoyed it! My two older boys told me that I should start getting more creative with my cooking and not always follow recipes:)

I plan to do just that twice this week. The same friend told me how she had made some homemade vegetable lasagna a couple of weeks ago. I asked if she put noodles in it and she said "yes". Well, tomorrow, I will make a regular lasagna with whole wheat lasagna noodles, especially for my husband as he is not a big veggie eater, but I am going to try to make my own veggie lasagna, and I'm not going to use noodles. I plan to use slices of zucchini and yellow squash in place of the noodles. I also plan to include red and green peppers, broccoli, carrots and spinach, and, of course, ricotta and mozzarella cheese, and some tomato puree. I can't wait to try it. I'm imagining that it will be quite tasty. I'll let you know.

Then Monday night, I'm going to create my own casserole. I'll try to post more about that on Monday or Tuesday, so be sure to stop by to find out how the veggie lasagna turns out and to find out about my casserole creation. This is fun!

2011-08-06T14:16:00.016-04:00

This has been a crazy week. I was trying to download the photos in this post last Saturday, after seeing my niece perform in a small horse show, but I lost my internet connection and couldn't get it back. So, Monday, a man from the company we get our internet service from had to come out to see if he could fix the problem.

You'll never believe what it was -- we had our phone plug plugged into the surge protector! Yep, that's it. He took the phone plug out of the surge protector and has it plugged directly from the phone line to the computer and so far so good -- weird!

During the past week, I have been able to reconnect with two friends that I haven't seen in a while. I went to lunch with one and we had a lovely time catching up. After lunch we visited some of the shops in my favorite nearby town and I purchased some loose leaf tea in a tea shop. It was so much fun spending time with this young lady and we both decided we need to get together again.

Then, I attempted to contact a friend who I haven't had contact with for quite some time. Unfortunately, it was because I had received some sad news that I felt she needed to know. This led to us getting together to do some catching up as well. One day this week, we met at a park with our kids, and while the kids played, we chatted away. It was nice to reconnect with her again. We were very close in the past and whenever we do get together, even if a length of time has passed, we always seem to be able to just pick up where we left off.

We've also been trying to do school, but sadly, we only managed to get two days in this week. We really need to get a regular schedule going. I have also been spending a lot of time talking and emailing with my neighbor lady helping her learn more about homeschooling, as they have decided that homeschooling is they way they want to go. That has been such a blessing. I love helping others begin the homeschool journey and walking through it with them because I believe whole heartedly that homeschooling is the best possible way to educate children. Well, I'll try to post more about this on my homeschool blog, so that those of you who aren't interested in all the homeschool talk won't have to read about it unless you choose to.

Now for the photos I was trying to post last Saturday. My niece was in a small horse show and we were able to go and watch, and, of course I took photos. Anthony did some videotaping for her as well:

In the above photos, Steph rode a horse named "Fruit Loop". She rode Fruit Loop in the jumping event.

In the photos, Steph rode a horse named "Thor". She rode Thor in the synchronized riding event. I think it's pretty apparent that she likes Thor better than Fruit Loop.

Sweet Sunday

2011-08-04T20:50:00.027-04:00

Last Sunday, we had a picnic planned after church and Sunday school. We didn't want to leave the new puppy in his crate all day, when he spends all night there, so we called one of the families from church, who live near the church and have 3 little dogs of their own, if we could bring our puppy and his crate and let him at their house during church and Sunday school, and we would take him along to the picnic. The woman of the house answered the phone and said that would be fine. So, off we went, the five of us and our new puppy.

The picnic was at a small park, but it was nice -- very shady, and a creek with clean running water.

Our new puppy, checking out a shallow area of the creek.

Suddenly, he thought he saw something! (A frog, perhaps). Well, first, he cautiously sniffed at it, then he tried to pick it up in his mouth and finally, he tried to catch it with his paw -- too funny, as it was simply, a rock.

As it was a fairly hot day, most of the younger kids cooled off by playing in the creek:

The young adults and teens played Ultimate Frisbee in the meadow across the creek:

They came across a slippery rock bridge.

The adults did what adults do best, sat and chatted.

A boy and his dog. This young man just got his dog about a week before we did. He brought him along to prevent having to let him in his crate all day long as well. We enjoyed seeing how well his dog and our puppy took to water.

This mom took her precious little one to cool off a bit in a shallow area of the creek. She perched upon a rock and curiously reached a hand into the water. Then . . .

she decided to kick her feet to splash a bit. What a joy to watch!

Some of the ladies decided to cool off by simply wading, ankle-deep, in the creek. (After I shot this photo, they convinced me to join them for a while.)

This young lady found a comfy perch across from where we stood in the creek. Isn't she pretty, and doesn't her colorful skirt make this photo come alive?

Okay, this is as deep as I am willing to go on my own.

This young lady held our baby, and he looked right into her face. (Her younger sister is the one who convinced Gentry, the puppy, to go up to his belly in the water, and then she gently scooped water over his back to be sure he got wet all over. These two are animal lovers.)

Now, here is the photo that speaks 1,000 words. My hubby, who was most hesitant about getting a new puppy due to the extra time and work it would take, not to mention the possibility of it having accidents on our newly placed carpet (we won't talk about this), spent most of Sunday getting pretty chummy with the new pup. He had him most of the day, and here you can see, just how cozy the two are becoming. I knew he'd love a new puppy!

After the picnic, we visited with this lovely family to meet this sweet pony, Liberty.

This is Rachel riding her precious pony, Liberty. She was so happy to show her new pony off to us. It was a wonderful, sweet Sunday.

A New Puppy!

2011-07-30T13:22:00.001-04:00

Is this face adorable or what?

He is four months old.

Silly puppy. This is one of his favorite positions to relax in. Our big boys get a kick out of the different crazy ways he lies around, sometimes twisting his upper body in the opposite direction from his lower body.

Our first dog, Elvis, is not very hospitable to the new kid. Elvis will let him lie near him, but he doesn't yet want the new kid touching him and he certainly doesn't want to play with him.

So, you've seen the photos, now I'll tell you his story. I saw that one of my friends had posted on Facebook that she had a black Lab puppy that she needed to find a good home for. Needless to say, I, a black Lab lover, quickly jumped to attention. I asked her some questions and then asked for 24 hours to convince my hesitant husband that this puppy needed us. That was a Tuesday.

Wednesday, when I spoke with my husband on his lunch break, he still wasn't completely convinced, but he was softening. To be quite honest, I had a few reservations myself, but at the same time, I really wanted this puppy.

Finally, Wednesday evening my husband and I were talking and had just decided we would take the puppy, when the phone rang. It was my friend wanting to touch base with me about the puppy and see if we had made a decision. She was both thrilled and relieved that we would take the puppy. She said she knew we would give him a good home. She asked when we wanted to pick him up. (My gut reaction was "I'll be right over.") However, Wednesday evening Nicholas has drum lessons, so we really didn't have time. So we said we'd pick him up Thursday evening.

I kept telling Elvis on Thursday that he needed to prepare to welcome his new little brother that evening. Nicholas said to me, at one point in the afternoon, "You're really excited to get this puppy tonight, aren't you, Mom? You keep talking about Elvis getting a little brother." I just smiled.

Finally, after dinner Thursday evening, we all got into the car and headed to my friend's house to pick up the puppy. Of course, I fell in love with him as soon as he came bounding up to us when we arrived.

We spent quite a bit of time there catching up with each other, as we hadn't seen each other for a while, and, of course, she was telling us what she knew about the puppy. She said that she had helped her oldest daughter raise a black Lab for the Seeing Eye Foundation and that the dog they raised for that had left them three months ago. She missed him and decided she wanted another black Lab, so she got this puppy. However, the day she brought this puppy home, Seeing Eye called and told her that she would be getting the dog they raised back because he had failed as a Seeing Eye dog because he was afraid of and distracted by other dogs. (When you raise and train a dog for Seeing Eye, if it fails, it becomes your dog to keep.) Well, she had two other small dogs and two cats in her home already, so she didn't feel that it was a good idea to keep this puppy. She had only had the puppy for a week, when we got him.

She said that the lady, who had him before her, had only had the puppy for 2 months and that he was about 4 months old. She said he is a purebred black Lab but he has no papers. She said the lady, who had him before her, had not had him in the house, but kept him outside. She said that he hadn't had any shots, that the previous lady had wormed him. She said that when she had gotten him, he had fleas, and she had treated him for that. She said that he was very calm, and we noticed, while we were there, he played with one of the other dogs for a while and then lay down and went to sleep on the floor. So we brought him home to our house on Thursday evening.

On the drive home, we tried to come up with a name for him. First, we tried to think of a good name that went with the fact that he was black, and the best we could come up with was when Anthony said, "Well, we could call him "Shadow", but that's pretty generic." So then we decided to think about his personality. We decided that he was quite calm, so we tried to think of a word that meant calm that we could use as a name but didn't like anything we came up with. Finally, Duane said I should go on the computer when we get home and look up names that mean "calm".
That's what I did. However, we didn't like any of those names, so Duane said, "What about names that mean 'gentle' since calm and gentle were very similar." So I punched that into Google and found one that we liked, "Gentry". So, we took a vote, would it be "Shadow" or "Gentry" and "Gentry" won. So Gentry it is (pronounced "jen tree").

Then yesterday, he was so calm and he lay around so much I began to worry. Also, he didn't drink much or go to potty as much as most puppies, so I began to suspect dehydration. So, we
took him to the vet. I told our vet everything I know about Gentry, and he gave him a thorough examination. He said that Gentry's temperature is normal, that he is hydrated and that he has no fleas. He verified that Gentry is, indeed, four months old. He gave him one shot and said he wants to see him again in three or four weeks, which works well because Elvis is due for his annual exam, and we can take the two of them together. He told me that Gentry was going to be a good dog and told me that I should not hesitate to keep him.

Gentry has been so good. He did show one problem that I need to get worked out as soon as possible, and that is that he has done his business twice in the house instead of outside. I started to think about possible reasons for this behavior and thought that, maybe, he doesn't want to do that when he's on a leash and we've been taking him out on the leash all of the time so far, as we haven't had time to really take him out into the backyard without a leash and having to keep an eye on him to be sure he doesn't run off. Also, we have to provide him with puppy chew items as today he carried off one of my new sneakers and was going to chew it up. He also tried to chew up one of Zeb's Lego men. He's very good about letting these items go as soon as you take them from him and tell him "no". He is already beginning to respond to his name too.

Finally, my friend who gave Gentry to us, called this morning to see how things are going. As we talked, she agreed that his problem with doing his business outside is probably from being on the leash because she said she had never had him on a leash and neither did the lady who had him before her. She laughed when I told her how worried I was about his being so calm that he mostly just lies around all day. She said that's how he was at her house. She said he seems to just follow whatever any other dog(s) he is with do(does). She said that the one dog she had would play with him a little bit, but then let him know she was done. She also said that while he was with them, they had gone away for two days and had left him with a friend who has a chocolate Lab, and that lady said that he had run around and played with the chocolate Lab the whole time he was there. Then my friend said that she had asked a lot of questions and was very particular about what she wanted when she was looking to get a black Lab puppy. She said that she said that she wanted one that would get fairly large and that was calm and quiet, and believe me, Gentry fits these requests so far. We'll wait and see about the "large" part, but he is already not much shorter than our older Lab and his paws are quite large. I will have no problem with this as I love large dogs. I would love to have a Great Dane someday.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share Gentry's whole story so far and to show you photos. I also apologize if you're not much of a dog person and, therefore, didn't enjoy this post, and, so I will give fair warning that I will most likely post updates as Gentry grows.

Inside Threat by Jason Elam and Steve Yohn

2011-07-28T09:04:00.003-04:00

"Linebacker Riley Covington's tumultous return to football after two seasons away is cut short when a terrorist attack puts him and the woman he most cares about -- Khadi Faroughi -- in the crosshairs once again.
During a state funeral, a new generation of the Cause made up of homegrown Islamic terrorists overruns the National Cathedral and takes members of Congress and their entourages hostage, including Khadi, now employed as a security specialist for one of Washington's most visible senators.
With so many lives on the line, Riley's former boss -- counterterrorism director Scott Ross -- doesn't want Riley anywhere near the scene. But with the clock ticking on the terrorists' demands and the fate of the nation in the balance, Riley races to the scene armed with a dangerous rescue plan." (from back of book)

This is a book that is part of a series. I did not read the other books in the series, however, it is not difficult to follow this story without having read the other books in the series. This book is loaded with interesting characters and lots of action and suspense. It certainly kept me turning pages.
One thing that I did not particularly care for was the amount of writing devoted to the Muslim faith. Yes, it was necessary to the story to know something about the Muslim faith. However, I didn't think it was necessary to write as many Muslim prayers as this book included without including more Christian prayers of the Christian characters.
By the end of the book, it certainly shows the truth about Jesus and his sacrifice and resurrection for us. That is the strong point of the book. However, I was disappointed with the ending of the story. I kept expecting one more twist to change the outcome and was disappointed when it didn't come. I don't think that I will be going back to read the rest of the series, but if you like stories with lots of action, suspense and intrigue and interesting characters, you should consider reading this series.

I received this book free from Tyndale for review. I was not paid to review this book. The above photo of the book cover is taken from Amazon.com.

The Week is Off to a Good Start

2011-07-26T20:11:00.003-04:00

We began school yesterday. The boys never want the entire summer off because they get too bored. We usually take about two months off before starting again. This really allows our schedule to be flexible. We can take more time for holidays, and we have the freedom to take off if needed for unexpected events and issues.

This year our little guy is in the first grade, so we are doing a bit more than last year. Last year we focused on writing letters and numbers, beginning to learn to read and beginning to add and subtract. He did very well and learned quite a bit. His favorite thing is reading and he is really excelling at that. This year we are adding Bible and history, and I think I'll add a bit of science since he really likes animals and we can study them and some literature which will simply consist of my reading some good books to him.

Anthony is in his last year of high school and has also already begun college, so he is busy. Here at home for high school, he simply needs to complete his government study which he began last year, his health, again, something he began last year, and he wants to continue to read classic literature with me. He will also continue to participate in our homeschool co-op because there were some classes he was interested in, and he really enjoys co-op.

As far as the college goes, he is doing that online. He is participating in the College Plus program, which enables to study and CLEP out of all of the general education classes during the first year, and then to get into the heart of the studies he has chosen. He has chosen to study Humanities. He has already taken two CLEP tests: Analyzing and Interpreting Literature and College Composition. He also had taken a Psychology AP test at the end of last school year through a class he completed at co-op. He has passed all of these tests and has already earned 18 college credits! He is currently studying for the American History I CLEP test.

Nicholas is in eighth grade this year. Our little guy thinks it's great that he and Nicholas are both studying the same thing for History. I am reading books to them about the famous explorers. Nicholas will have to do some additional work like writing a report of two and another project that I have up my sleeve to show what he is learning about the explorers as we progress. He will also finish learning keyboarding. He would like to start a blog, so I told him he needs to finish learning his keyboarding skills so that he can use all of his fingers and not take forever on typing as he will have to share the computer I use most. We will also finish reading the Lord of the Rings series, which we began last year, and I have a few other books we will read together.

We have begun the year with Anthony, Nicholas and I also reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Also, this school year, the three of us are doing a writing curriculum together. It is called "The One Year Adventure Novel". It was created by the author Daniel Schwabauer for homeschoolers. The curriculum guides you to complete an adventure within one school year, and as I have always had an interest in writing, I decided to take the course along with them. We began this writing course yesterday as well and are really enjoying it and looking forward to upcoming lessons. It is fun reading each others' work.

Today was just a good day. We did school and I played with our little guy for a while, just kind of romping around and doing a lot of giggling. There was lots of laughter in our house today and our Pastor stopped by for a short visit because he had been in the area. That was fun, too, as the boys could all share with him about some of their current interests. It's always a pleasure to spend time with our Pastor or any of our church family.

Even the unbearable heat gave us a break today. We finally got some much-needed rain yesterday as well, but we could still use more. However, the weatherman is saying the heat and humidity will be returning by the end of the week. Oh, well, at least we're getting a bit of a break before it hits us again.

I hope your day was filled with laughter and blessings like mine was.

He's Home!

2011-07-23T14:47:00.015-04:00

It was not an easy trip. When we left the GPS said we should reach our destination at 12:15p.m.
However, that was not to be. I'm not sure why, but this year, every time we travel, we encounter complications. We were looking forward to arriving at Mohonk House early enough to enjoy spending a little time there with our son. However, just after crossing the New York line, we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic for the second time. The first time was brief, thankfully.

In New York, the bumper-to-bumper traffic didn't just slow to a crawl, it came to a stand-still. It took us half-an-hour to travel three miles. Then we reached a service area, so we got off and went to use the restrooms. The travel plaza (service area) was so crowded, it was nearly as hot inside as out, and there was no place to sit unless you were going to eat. So we stood, and then sat, for an hour outside in 104 degree heat waiting for the traffic to move.

The above photo are the vehicles lined up on the off-ramp at the travel plaza, waiting to get back onto the highway. Deep in the photo, you can also see the traffic lined up on the highway.

The above photo is traffic lined up on the highway. The photo below shows some of the many semis (tractor trailers) were stuck in the traffic awaiting to get to their destinations as well.

In the photo above, our little guy is swinging his arms back and forth, out of boredom.
In the photo below, you see our son, Nick, hot and disgusted with the situation. He also wasn't thrilled that mom had her camera out to capture the situation. (Hey, what else was I supposed to do?)

Our two boys' feet, trying to be patient, while another little fella decides to attempt to climb the stone pillar at the travel plaza, just for something to do.

Our nation's flag blew in the hot breeze overhead.

After an hour, we got back into the van, and joined the line of traffic. This time, however, things moved slowly and we made it through in a more reasonable amount of time. What was the hold-up, you might ask? Well, as we drove through the congested area, we saw a tractor trailer's trailer lying on its side completed blackened and destroyed by fire, nothing remaining but the frame. I'm not sure what caused the fire, but this was what caused the delay. I don't believe anyone was injured, as the tractor part of the semi was safely detached and sat several yards away.

So the plans we had to enjoy some time at the castle were dashed as we only arrived there at 4p.m. and it was about a 3 1/2 - 4 hour drive home and my hubby had to work today, starting at 6a.m. as they are currently working some overtime. We also took the other young man, who had ridden with us to New York, home to his family, before we could go home to our house. So, basically, we picked up the boys and their luggage and headed for home.

The photo above and below show a diner that we passed during the travel. It's called the Clinton Station diner, and it was an intriguing looking diner. Our original plan was to leave the castle early enough to stop and enjoy a relaxed dinner here on our way home, but that plan was thwarted as well, by the delay. (sigh) So, we ended up getting McDonald's to go at a travel plaza.

So, we arrived home at 9:30p.m. after a very long day. I was just so thankful that we were ALL home again, and that we were all safe. It's been a blessing to see the changes in Anthony from this amazing experience. We have been having some fantastic conversations about spiritual matters. Despite the traveling challenges, this week was quite a blessing.

(And, yes, that train car is connected to the restaurant building, which was what intrigued me. I wanted to see if we could actually dine in the train car. Oh, well, maybe some other time.)

P. S. I'm not sure if I will be able to post again until Wednesday or not. We have been having problems with out internet connection and are supposed to be getting a replacement modem on Wednesday. (And I've been doing so well at keeping up with my blog again.)

The Castle Garden

2011-07-21T18:39:00.022-04:00

Just in case you can't read the sign in the photo above, it says "Welcome to Candyland".

As for the rest of this post, I will simply let you enjoy the sights without any more words.

The Views from the Castle

2011-07-20T14:29:00.017-04:00

Here are some of the photos I took of views from different places inside and outside of the castle, but it is not every available view by any means.

The above photo was taken from a second floor window.

Here are two photos of the garden -- the top photo taken from one end of the garden and the bottom photo taken from one side of the garden.

See the spider web designed fence in the photo below that is surrounding evergreen trees? Well that is a maze of evergreen trees that is in the garden. We didn't have time to explore it, but Anthony said that he and a friend did and it took them about 2 1/2 minutes to get through it.

The above photo is the lake and the photo below is another shot of the lake that includes the dock.

The above photo is the stone arch that is near the lake area of the castle and the photo below shows the view from the stone archway.

The photo above is a view from one of the porches and the photo below is a close up of the little pond that has the above fountain in it. I took it so you could see the huge goldfish in the pond.

Tomorrow I will post photos of the garden and some flower close-ups.

The Castle

2011-07-19T16:19:00.018-04:00

Just thought I'd share some photos of the castle our oldest son is staying in right now. He said that his room is on the fifth floor.
Mohonk Mountain House is the name of the castle.

I think the round section in the photo above is where one of the dining rooms is located.

It has large wooden porches, and they have wooden rocking chairs lined up along the railing on each porch.
The porch area above is a great lookout point. In a future post, I'll show you some of the views seen from the castle.

These beautiful lilies look more yellow in the photo than they were for real, but they were in a vase near the check-in desk and were making that area smell wonderful.

The above photo is a little alcove where you can sit and relax and enjoy the view, and the photo below is a cozy room you can relax in.

The photo above does not do the color of these flowers justice. They were deep purple and blue and they were decorating a section of hallway near the staircase.

This last photo is an alcove as well. Nick is standing in front of a fireplace, and Zeb is sitting on a bench-type seat at the window. This was where we exited the castle.

Anthony has called us twice since he's been gone, once yesterday and once today. He is having a wonderful time and learning a lot, but most importantly, God is touching him in many ways. He shared that last night there was a concert performed by the Harrow Family of the Eastman School of Music. He said that they were so good and that by the end of the concert, he had tears in his eyes.

Today he shared that Jon Fornoff has told them that his focus for this entire week is to "serve them". Anthony had a one-on-one consultation with Mr. Fornoff today and was touched to misty eyes when they ended the time taking turns praying for each other.

I can hear a change when I speak to Anthony on the phone and I look forward to seeing him at the end of the week and seeing the awesome changes God is making in his life through this opportunity. He also shared that he feels like they have done so much and gotten so much information already, it feels like the week should be almost over, but, he said, it seems more like time has slowed down for them to allow them to do even more. He said that Mr. Mark Hamby, the coordinator of this program said the same thing. They are being blessed!

What's Going On

2011-07-18T15:09:00.002-04:00

Well, our trip to New York and back went well yesterday. We took our oldest son and another young man to a huge resort in New York. The resort is in an old 17th century castle. They are there for a dramatic arts program that has been put together by Lamplighter creator, Mark Hamby. There is also a visual arts program at the same time. Mr. Hamby has managed to gather some of the big names in Christian programming to teach at this program, which lasts until Friday. Many of the people who will be speaking have been involved in "Adventures in Odyssey" and the newer "Lamplighter Theater".

My son was so excited. One of the first people he was able to meet after he was through registration was the man he was most excited to meet, John Fornoff, who works on both "Adventure in Odyssey" and "Lamplighter Theater". He was so excited to be able to introduce his family to Mr. Fornoff, before we left. It was neat to see him so excited.

Before we left the resort, however, we took a walk through their beautiful garden, and, yes, of course, I took photos. I will post photos another day. I actually have lots of photos from activities in the past month that I need to post, so keep your eyes peeeled.

Now, today, my middle son is having a friend over and he will leave tomorrow afternoon. This seemed like a great time to do this since he will get bored without our oldest son around for almost a whole week.

It's so hot here today and is supposed to be this way the majority of the week. Temperatures in the mid-90's. Weather that keeps me in the air conditioning. I always have plenty of work I can do in the house. Today I am washing all of the sheets.

Saturday was a great day, as I made homemade granola and a loaf of banana bread, did two loads of laundry. Oh, yes, and I had made baked oatmeal for breakfast. I also helped my oldest son pack for his trip. Well, I need to go check on those sheets. Maybe there will be some photos here tomorrow.

Sad News

2011-07-15T15:27:00.002-04:00

Today I received some sad news in the mail. We have been sponsoring a little boy from Uganda through World Vision for four or five years, and we received notification today that he is no longer eligible for sponsorship. I knew this day would come, but didn't expect it yet. It is sad because even though he is many miles away and we haven't ever met him face-to-face, he is still a part of our family, as we have provided for him for several years and have written back and forth and exchanged photos. Along with the letter, we have been encouraged to send a farewell letter to him, which I most certainly will do.

Also, along with the letter, we have received information about another little boy from Uganda that needs a sponsor, and they have asked us to sponsor him. They also included the option of calling or going to their website and selecting a child.

I decided to go to the website and search for a little girl, as it appears that a little girl in a distant land may be the only little girl I can have, until I may be blessed with a granddaughter someday:)

I found three little girls on the World Vision website that I found quite appealing, but one in particular just seemed to capture my heart as soon as I looked at her photo. I really would've liked to sponsor at least two, but due to finances, we can only continue to sponsor one. So I chose a beautiful little girl from Tanzania. I look forward to receiving more information about her in a week or two. I will enjoy writing to her and exchanging photos with her, but I will really miss our Nicholas in Uganda. He will continue to be in my prayers.

Now, for our household news, we will be hosting some friends for dinner again this evening. There is a family from our church who will be joining us for a simple cook-out type of dinner and some good fellowship. There son has been away from church for several weeks this summer, as he was attending camps and the family vacationed. Now as our oldest prepares to leave on Sunday for a week, they really wanted to get together before our son leaves, so we will spend this evening together and then have to wait until next Sunday, July 24th, to see them at church again.

We are looking forward to it. I have purchased fresh fruit to put a fresh fruit salad together as we all enjoyed that so much at the picnic our church had on July 3rd. I also made a big batch of rice pudding, which is a recipe that the lady, whose family is visiting tonight, gave to me. I hope they think it tastes like hers. We also have regular hamburgers for on the grill as well as veggieburgers and some veggie-chicken patties. She said she'll either bring baked beans or a dessert, so I think we will be set for food, and it will be just a great time of relaxing and fellowship.

Then tomorrow I will help my son to pack and make a list to take with him, so when he has to pack to come home, he can double check and be sure he doesn't leave anything important behind.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, too.

PrayerWalk by Janet Holm McHenry

2011-07-14T19:55:00.000-04:00

I read PrayerWalk in three days, so it's an easy read. It was mostly what I expected. Janet Holm McHenry began walking in the mornings for exercise and to allow herself time to spend in prayer with God.
She talks about the blessings she has witnessed and received from the prayers she prays while walking. She offers good advice on prayer and Bible reading.
She offers advice on good walking shoes, safety and stretching and walking. She talks about the self-discipline needed to doing a prayerwalk and talks about the elements you will need to face and the possible sacrifices you will need to make to become a faithful prayerwalker.
It was a good, inspiring book. I just didn't find any surprises.

Be the People by Carol M. Swain, PhD

2011-07-11T16:23:00.001-04:00

Can I vote for Carol Swain for President? Read Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith & Promise and you may be thinking the same thing. Carol Swain is a well-educated, wise woman. She clearly defines the issues facing our country and offers solid reasoning for why our country has come to this point and good ideas on how to fix it.

The following is directly from page 166:

In recent years our nation has been shocked and embarrassed by the
actions of US troops who have committed atrocities and tortured,
murdered, and raped other human beings. The Old Testament makes
clear the brutalities and horrors that are part of war. We might ask
how soldiers from our predominantly Christian nation could commit
the horrific acts that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and
Guantanamo Bay. The answer, I believe, lies in the ungodly model
of leadership that has been patterned in our nation--for instance, the
burning of Christian Bibles at the order of military officials, the
acceptance and accommodation of Wiccans in our military ranks,
and the passing of resolutions that ban American soldiers from
witnessing to others about their Christian faith. Under current
military rules, American soldiers home on leave or stationed within
the United States are prohibited from sharing their Christian
testimony while wearing their military uniform. Clearly, we have
strayed from the religious foundations of our nation and our
belief in the providence of a God who watches over us. So-called
secular progress in recent years is actually our nation's decline
from grace, common sense, and wisdom.

In this book, Carol Swain addresses issues such as abortion, racism, homosexuality and immigration and offers reasons why these issues are all part of the problem of our country's decline. I highly recommend this book to anyone who truly cares about our country and the shape that it is in and the direction in which it is headed. This book is eye-opening.

I will leave you with one more direct paragraph from the book (pages 224-225):

Pastor Joe Wright of Central Christian Church in Wichita used his
opportunity as a guest chaplain at the Kansas State House on January
23, 1996, to call for national repentance. Thousands of copies of Pastor
Wright's prayer circulated the world in the weeks after he uttered the
prayer. His words still reverberate across the nation. Wright's prayer
is one that we should all consider praying, with sincerity and conviction,
individually, congregationally, and in small groups.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness
and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says,
"We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism.
We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it building ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin
and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to
direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the
living Savior, Jesus Christ.

This book has a very timely and valuable message. Our government was designed to be "of the people, by the people and for the people". We need to stand and "Be the People".

Carol offers great suggestions for things we can all do to make a difference in our government at the end of each chapter. She also gives other resources and has study questions available for each chapter. At the end of the book, she has included a copy of the Ten Commandments, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. I urge all Americans to read this book and take a stand.

Update

2011-07-08T11:50:00.003-04:00

Thank you to all of you who left such kind comments and are praying. Prayer is truly powerful as I am sure that the prayers as well as having taken enough medicine to have it finally kick in is helping. I do not feel as weak and tired today.

The doctor's office did call this morning and said that the blood test results confirmed, as they came back positive for Lyme disease. They said that I should just continue the medication for the full 21 days and that will take care of it.

It does seem like we are going through a lot of health challenges right now, but we are simply taking things one day at a time. We know that the Lord will see us through.

Now, I have to get some laundry done and spend some hours with my nose in a book as I have book reviews that are due soon.

No Energy

2011-07-07T10:15:00.003-04:00

I will make this short as I don't have enough energy to type for too long. My husband and I are going through some health struggles this summer and would appreciate any prayer on our behalf.

First, as I've already posted about, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Then, this past Friday, my husband awakened me in the middle of the night and thought he should go to the hospital. He was having back pain and couldn't get comfortable and couldn't sleep. He thought it may be another kidney stone (he's had some in the past). Unfortunately, it isn't quite that simple this time. Instead, they found a spot on his kidney which they said could be one of three things: a sist, a hemorrhage, or a mass. Now he is scheduled to see a urologist to find out what course of action needs to be taken.

Then, Saturday, I don't know what I did, but somehow I injured my right shoulder and it prevented me from sleeping well on Saturday night. Thankfully, after taking advil a few times, my shoulder is fine.

Finally, on Monday, July 4th, I wasn't feeling quite right and I ran a bit of a fever. I didn't really get sick in my stomach or anything, just fever and chills. It happened again on Tuesday night, after our dinner guests left and I was praying that whatever it was wouldn't be contagious because I would feel just awful if they got sick from being here. Well, Wednesday, I finally decided to go to the doctor to see if he could find out the cause of the fever and chills. He asked me several questions and I said that I, at first, thought my allergies were acting up because my sinuses were bothering me and I had a dry cough, but I never got a fever with my allergies before. He looked at me, and I thought he looked perplexed, so I said, "Weird, huh?" To which he responded, "Not really. It sounds like Lyme disease to me."

That frightened me because I know two people who had Lyme disease years ago and suffered for years and one ended up in a wheelchair. But, I did have a mark high on the outside of my right thigh, which had appeared Sunday after we had been to the house of some friends, which is in a wooded area. I had asked my husband about it twice, but he thought that I had been scratching it too much for him to tell anything because he said it's really red all around it.

I showed it to the doctor, and he said, "Now I'm sure that's what it is." He sent me for a blood test but said it may not give a positive result as it sometimes takes a week or two to show a positive result in the blood, and he started me on a 21-day regimen of an antibiotic.

He said the symptoms are very similar to having the flu insofar as it causes fever and chills and fatigue, as well as headache and other aches and pains. He also said I was the second one he saw with it this week.

So, I've had the fever and chills for days and now I have the fatigue. I feel extremely weak and tired constantly. I hope it won't take too long for the antibiotic to kick in and lessen these symptoms. It's very difficult not feeling strong enough to do the things I normally do as a wife and mother.

Is it really July already?

2011-07-01T20:15:00.002-04:00

I can't believe we are in the month of July already. But, new month, new movie photo at the top of my blog. This was one of my favorites when I was learning about history in school. Does anyone know what it is?

Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but each month when I change my movie header photo, I also change my Bible verse to also try to say something from God's word that can apply to the holiday for the month.

This has been a busy week. Wednesday evening I had an appointment with a dietician to talk about my eating habits and what I might need to change because of the diabetes. Well, that went fairly well, but I specifically asked her for help with my hardest day of the week, Sunday, as we are away all day and the evening meal is rarely planned and can sometimes simply be snack foods (not necessarily healthy ones), and she never really gave me an answer. So I was a bit frustrated about that.

However, Thursday I took our oldest son to take his first CLEP exam for college credits for his general education classes, and there is a public about a half a block from the college where he takes the CLEP exams, so guess where I spend my time while I wait for him? You betcha -- I can be found in that library. Anyway, I had looked for some good books on Amazon in regards to diabetes and actually found two that sounded really good, as well as two cookbooks that sounded really good, so I ordered them. However, I decided to look at the library to see if they had any of the informational ones as I really want to start reading and learning. Well, I found the one that I think is absolutely the best one to read first. I began reading it and was really engrossed in it. I was also taking some notes as I read. Before I knew it, my time at the library was up, so I quickly went to the desk and checked the book out so that I can continue reading it until my own copy arrives. The book is titled The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed by Gretchen Becker. The reason the book is so good is because it is written in easy-to-understand terminology instead of lots of medical terminology, and it talks about the thoughts and emotions involved in dealing with the diagnosis, instead of simply giving facts and information and talking about the physical aspect, although these are also covered. I could really relate. The author wrote as seven individual days and then month 1 and monthly through the twelfth month. Well, since my first month is almost up, I wanted to at least try to get the first seven days and first month read before my copy arrives. While in the library, I had almost finished through Day 2.

By the way, my son scored a 68 on his Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP test, which is equivalent to an "A", and it earned him six college credits! He's off to a great start, don't ya think?

Today, we spent the day running errand, mostly grocery shopping. We started at the local weekly large farmers' market, Green Dragon. I bought lots of fresh fruit and some vegetables as well as some sunglasses and a cell phone case there. Then it was to the discount grocery store, the egg plant where I get two-and-a-half dozen large eggs for $1.50, then the regular grocery store, where I buy whatever we need that I couldn't get at the discount grocery store, (I know this sounds like a lot of running, but the egg plant, the discount grocery and the regular grocery store are all along the same highway and not too far apart). Then we went to Kmart so I could purchase a special little girl's one-year-old birthday present, and finally, to the pharmacy to pick up my medicines.

We ended the day by going back to Green Dragon with my parents, where we all had dinner together, and my husband got sunglasses and we bought a fabulous bone for our dog. He loves the bone. We gave it to him when we got home and he hasn't stopped gnawing on it. The man who sells them puts some kind of flavoring on them and smokes them -- they're real bones, and this one is going to last a while.

Tomorrow we will visit my favorite breakfast place as I have been wanting to go there for breakfast for the past couple of months and we just couldn't fit it into the schedule. Then in the afternoon, we will visit that special little girl and give her the birthday gift.

Sunday, we will go to church and Sunday school and then to one of the family's houses for a cookout/picnic and fellowship, and Monday, July 4th, we will spend with my in-laws and Duane's oldest sister who is visiting from Massachusetts right now, and most likely take in some fireworks to end the night. Then Tuesday we are having a dear couple from church over for dinner. Lots of good times with lots of people we love.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend as well.

To Virginia and Back

2011-06-27T11:27:00.023-04:00

My husband's father did most of his growing up in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. So, once a year, they still hold a family reunion. We attend about every other year, and since we didn't attend last year, we decided to go this year. We didn't take the time to plan an extended stay as we didn't think we would have the resources and because the one motel we are familiar with in the area is usually booked fairly well in advance for that weekend. So we decided to do the trip all in one day. We've done this more than once before and it's usually not too bad. It took us four hours to get their.

Lots of trees and mountains everywhere.

Most of the roads are quite windy and either go up or down a mountain, and you mostly see trees and/or rocky banks along the roadways.
I don't really know anything about the place in the photo above, but I liked it's country presence.
This little house used to be a little country store many years ago.
This wonderful house was being fixed up and the stone section in the back added on when we were down two years ago. I love the finished product. I'd really like to see the inside, but we don't know the people who live there.
There are also a lot of open areas like this in the valley. There appear to be quite a few rather large farms, but we didn't see much in the way of livestock. We kind of wondered about that because there didn't seem to be many fields of planted crops either, just lots of open meadow.
This is a photo of me with my favorite of the "cousins". (We refer to everyone in the way they are related to my father-in-law.) This is Ernie, and the very first year that I went along on this trip, Ernie was working as a K-9 police officer. I had never met a K-9 police officer before and was extremely interested in what he did. He talked to me for a couple of hours and told me some fascinating stories. I returned home and wrote an article about him and his police dog and submitted it to a K-9 police magazine. Unfortunately, they were not interested in printing it, but Ernie thought it was great that I had attempted to do this, and he was very pleased with the article, which I gave him a copy of.

Unfortunately, a couple of years afterward, Ernie suffered a brain anuerism and almost died. Afterward, he was unable to go back to the K-9 police line of work. He worked part-time at a sub shop for a while and then got a job with animal control, which is what he is still doing. He had to work yesterday and wasn't going to make it to the reunion, but he stopped by his sister's house when he saw our vehicles there to visit for a bit before the reunion. (We almost always visit there before the reunion begins).

Here, the lady in the front in the deep blue is Doris (Ernie's sister). Behind her is my father-in-law and the lady in white is Hilda and the lady in pink is Winnie (she always tells the kids that she is Winnie-the-Pooh. She is 81 today!)
Spending time catching up, talking and laughing together. This is Duane's mom, Jeanette, in black with her husband's cousin, MaryJane in red. (Just to clarify, Duane is my hubby).

This crew is my family with my husband's oldest sister. In the back are our two oldest boys, Nicholas and Anthony and our little one, Zeb, is in front of us. My sister-in-law is in the red plaid and her name is Diane.
This photo is precious. It is three generations and would be four, if the little guy's dad would've been there. The lady in blue is great-grandma, Retha, and she is 93 years old! Doesn't she look great? She still lives alone and still drives a car! The lady in green is her daughter, Joanne, and is the grandma.

Oh, my, what a silly group. Of course, you should recognize our three boys and my husband is on the left in the front row and his dad is all the way to the right. The two in the middle are two of my father-in-law's cousins, probably the two he is closest to. The one in plaid is Leslie and the one in blue is Billy. They are fun-loving guys.

Here my hubby is having our little guy put his hands in fresh, cool spring water which naturally flows from out of the mountain. There were three places where pipes were placed to have the water run through, and we could still see a couple of places where water was simply running from the ground. Stopping at this spring is a tradition for my husband and his siblings, and he wanted to pass it down to our kiddos, so they've each had their visit here. However, we don't drink the water because I once got food poisoning from water flowing freely from a mountain like this, and I must not have been the only one because not long after my illness, we saw that someone had put a sign up at that spring stating that the water was contaminated and not to drink it. Therefore, unless I know the water has been tested and proven clean, we don't drink water freely flowing from a mountain.

Now for the trials of this trip. You would never know from the photos above that our little guy suffered from car sickness on this trip. It began on our trip down. Not long after crossing the Virginia border, he announced, "I think I have to throw up." We pulled off the side of the highway as quickly as was safely possible and managed to get him out and he threw up over the guardrail. It happened again when we reached the fire hall where the reunion was held. He climbed out of the van and threw up off the side of the parking lot. I was not completely sure that it was car sickness as it had never happened before. But, each time, he said he felt better after throwing up and ten to fifteen minutes after acted like nothing was wrong. He had no fever either. I didn't let him eat much at the reunion, though. After all, we had been fortunate enough to not have him throw up inside the van or on his clothing and I didn't want to push it.

Before the return trip, we stopped at a Walmart in the area and purchased some dramamine, which I had him swallow with some water and two basins figuring on keeping one in each of our vehicles for such needed occasions.

Thankfully the dramamine helped and he did fine on the way home.

The way home included this:

bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling so slowly that it took us 40 minutes to travel 4 miles. We had to exit this highway, as it was closed up ahead, and had to try to find a way around. Unfortunately, both of the major alternate routes were slow going as well because everyone was trying to go around.

The next two photos are of things we saw as we waited in traffic lines:

We had left Virginia at 4:30p.m. and should have arrived home no later than 8:30p.m. So I should not have seen the beautiful sunset that I captured in the next two photos:

The bottom photo is the main part of the Harrisburg skyline. I know it's a little blurry, but that is because we were driving (on clear highway, finally). the domed building is the Pennsylvania state capitol building.
We finally arrived home at 10p.m. and were very weary. The weariness is still upon me today, but I plan to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep to take the weariness away for tomorrow.

We found out after we were home that the traffic jam and re-routing were due to an accident that involved a car and a school bus. The school bus was taking a group of kids and their chaperones to a Christian camp when a car attempted to pass them and cut their front end too close causing the bus to hit the car and the bus flipped over onto it's roof. Twenty-three people were injured in the accident. But, what a blessing, the injuries were all non-life-threatening. God was certainly holding those people in the palm of his hand.

Tasty Beverages and Great Music

2011-06-25T16:23:00.013-04:00

This is our favorite place to go to get coffee, tea, steamers, smoothies, hot chocolate, etc. and they have live music most Friday nights. Last night Vivace Strings played. We know two of the girls from this group, so we went to enjoy their playing.

Javateas is a cute little cafe and these were the paintings hanging on the wall above where we sat.

I thought their napkin/menu holders on the tables were cute.

The beverages -- yummmmy! Who needs Starbucks? We think Javateas has a nicer atmosphere and their prices are a bit better as well. In the above photo are two frozen hot chocolate (my personal favorite), and a small peach steamer (steamed milk with flavoring). They also have mouth-watering food.

Most of us don't drink coffee, but above Nick enjoys his frozen hot chocolate, and below, Anthony, (who thinks it's great to drink some kind of coffee beverage occasionally), enjoys the beginning of his javaccino (which he admitted was a bit strong by the time he finished it).
Now for the music. Vivace Strings are a two violins, cello and a viola, but they don't always appear as a quartet, and last night it was a trio. They play classical, folk and a little bit of pop music. It was very enjoyable and relaxing. The music was beautiful.

The young lady in the photo above and the one in the photo below are the two we know and the one in the photo above is the manager of the group.

This was a lovely piece that only the two played. The penny whistle gave the piece a hauntingly, lovely sound.
If you're interested in knowing more about or visiting Javateas, visit www.javateas.com, and if you would like to know more about Vivace Strings who play at weddings, receptions, parties, visit www.vivacelive.com.

The Song in My Head

2011-06-21T14:03:00.002-04:00

I have had the chorus of a song going through my head since yesterday. My oldest son has been working on playing it on the piano. It's a lovely song that has been recorded by Don Moen. Here are the lyrics (I got them from lyricsmode.com).

Power of Your Love
Lord I come to You
Let My heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I have found in You
And Lord I have come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love

*Chorus:
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I will rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love

2. Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see You face to face
The knowledge of Your love
As you live in me
And Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
By the power of Your love

*ending
(repeat chorus twice)
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love

I love the words and the music. It could well be so good to me, also, because part of the words are found in my favorite scripture:

"The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even though youths grow tired and weary
and young stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary
they will walk and not be faint."

I added the italics to highlight my favorite part of that scripture. Have you ever seen an eagle soar in the sky? They are look so peaceful. Though I have never flown in an airplane and am not a fan of heights, I can imagine that being up there in the sky simply gliding on the gentle current, I would feel like I was floating in the palm of God's hand without a care in the world.

I'm sorry I couldn't find the song being sung by Don Moen anywhere that I could put a link here so that you could actually hear it. Maybe you can find it somewhere. It's out there to be purchased or downloaded on MP-3. It is truly restful song.

Busy Again

2011-06-20T19:23:00.003-04:00

Well, Friday we had our homeschool evaluations and they went very well. Now I just have to type up my objectives and print my affadavit and have it notarized and wait for our evaluations in the mail. Then I just have to take everything to the school and I will be all set to begin a new school year.

Saturday, we spent the evening with a sweet family from church. They wanted me to take some family photos of them and some photos of their children outside on their property. We had fun and the photos turned out really nice. We also had dinner with them and were introduced to their animals. My husband and two older boys were even challenged by Mr. E. to catch their duck. You see, they have a duck that is tame for the most part. However, they put him in a pen overnight so that a fox doesn't get him and they shared stories about how difficult it is to catch the duck to put him in the pen for the night. Well, my husband and boys tried once and their plan didn't work too well. But, after dinner, they implemented a new plan and had the duck in less than ten minutes. Mr. E. said that was the record so far. Apparently, he challenges all of their guests to "catch the duck". Too funny!

Sunday was Father's Day and we had a nice day. After Sunday school and church, we took Duane out for lunch. His first choice of restaurant had way too long a wait, so we went to his second choice which was an Asian buffet and there weren't too many people there, so we got a table and food right away without any wait! There was another couple, from our church, and one set of their parents also dining there. Afterward, we returned home and all the men changed clothes and we decided to go shopping. We don't usually shop on a Sunday as I frown upon that, but we were hoping to get a canopy for our deck. Well, we couldn't as our deck is not as wide as it is long and the majority of the canopies are square and their width was wider than the width of our deck. So, we went camera shopping. You see, our oldest son is planning on becoming a Christian filmmaker, and he enjoys taking still photos as well. He had a little point and shoot digital camera but had it stolen when he let it lay with his other things at a basketball game that he was participating in, and when he finished the game and went for his things, his camera was gone. I was not happy about that as we had purchased that camera for him, and he could have given it to me to hold while he played, but I didn't even know that he had it with him.

Well, he learned a hard lesson as he had to finish a photography class at co-op without a camera. He also has been without a camera for a few months. I really wasn't going to purchase another camera for him. I was going to make him save for his own. However, he has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to a special 5-day training for dramatic arts, which is focusing on filmmaking, and is being lead by some of the top people involved in writing, directing and producing "Adventures in Odyssey" and a few other leading people in the field, and I felt he should have a decent camera to take with him. So, we found a really good deal on a camera that is more than a simple point and shoot, but is not a SLR. It has a good zoom feature and even records video. So, we bought it for him with the understanding that this is absolutely the last camera we are purchasing for him so he had better be responsible with it. We can't pick it up until tomorrow evening, as they were sold out except for the display model, but will be receiving more tomorrow. He is very pleased and excited.

After that purchase, we returned home and relaxed for the evening, and today hasn't been anything worthy of writing about.

A New Path to Travel

2011-06-14T20:10:00.002-04:00

Well, I promised to expound about the past month of my life, so here goes. Actually, it's been more like two-and-a-half months. Anyway, it began with a trip to the doctor's office on Monday, April 4th for my annual ear infection (yeah, these things come along once a year for me, and my only symptom is vertigo). Well, I saw a doctor whom I had never seen before. Therefore, he perused my chart to make himself familiar with my medical history. He saw that ten years ago someone had sent me for some blood work, and my numbers had been high and no one had followed up on it. So, after prescribing medicine for my ear infection, he gave me paperwork to go to the lab for a fasting blood test and a urinalysis, suspecting diabetes.

I decided to do my best to begin eating healthy and try to lose some weight before going for these tests because I know that diet and exercise, as well as obesity, play a huge roll in blood sugar levels.

Then at the end of April, the day after my birthday, I had my annual exam with a doctor that I was familiar with. She spoke to me about my weight and the problems that can arise from being overweight as you get older, and she suggested that I diet and exercise.

Finally, on Saturday, May 21st, I went to get the blood and urine tests taken. The following Tuesday, May 24th, the doctor who sent me to the lab, called me first thing in the morning to inform me that I do, indeed, have diabetes and to tell me that I need to make an appointment to see him, at my earliest convenience, to discuss medication.

My first thought was "I'm not giving myself shots. There's no way I can do that because I am afraid of needles." Then I was angry with the doctor and blamed it on him because if he hadn't sent me for those tests I wouldn't be dealing with this because I had no symptoms, which was, of course, denial as well.

The rest of that week was pretty rough as I had to come to terms with the fact that I have diabetes and what that means. It can be a serious disease if not handled properly. I know people who have had amputations because they didn't listen and watch what they ate, and I am not about to go down that road.

So, just like every other time I have tried to lose weight, I overcompensated. I wasn't eating enough because I was afraid of eating the wrong things because not only do I know that I have to watch my sugar intake, but I also know that carbohydrates turn to sugar in your body, so I knew I needed to watch those as well.

I went to see the doctor on Friday, June 3rd, almost two weeks after my diagnosis because then I was finally ready to accept it and begin to deal with it.

Fortunately, I do not have to take insulin, so I don't have to worry about the shots. First we are trying a pill -- metformin. And, in addition to this, I have to take a Cholesterol medicine and a low-dose blood pressure medicine. I was concerned about taking medicine and was hoping I could simply control it with diet and exercise, but that's not likely, at least not at this point, and I'm not sure it will be. My concern about medication is, of course, the side effects that can be caused by medications. Every medicine seems to have them.

I have been taking the medicines since June 3rd, and have had no problems with the medicines. I am thankful for that and continue to pray that God will continue to help me not have any side effects and that the medications will help.

I also have to test my blood sugar each morning before breakfast and every evening two hours past dinner. This has been a great challenge as I have to poke my finger to make it bleed to do this, and I really had to work up the nerve to do it the first few times. It's still not easy, but it's much easier than it was and it doesn't hurt as much as it did in the beginning. I do not poke myself in the fingertip, but in the side of the top part of my finger, as that part of the finger doesn't get as sore as the fingertip pad would.

I'm still struggling with the eating part of it as well. The doctor didn't answer my questions about eating, but said that our local hospital offers Diabetic Education classes that will help me with that. However, apparently they aren't holding any of those classes currently, so I am doing the best I can until I can get those classes.

I did find a very helpful website, and they have a magazine as well. I need to study it better and take the time to plan my meals. Another problem is when we aren't at home. It's easier at home because I buy things at the store that I know that I can eat for meals and for snacks, but going to someone else's home or to a restaurant can be stressful and difficult, so I need to learn how to plan for these occasions. I know there is something about this either in the magazine or on the website, as I remember seeing it. I just need to make the time to study it and put it into practice.

So far my blood sugar numbers do well when I consistently eat at home, but whenever we are out or away, even though I am careful, my numbers are always higher after that. My number is supposed to be as close to 100 as I can get it. My has been kind of all over the place with my highest reading being 213 and my lowest being 110. I really be happy if I could keep it between 100 and 120, but I don't know if that's possible. My mom has been doing this for quite a few years already and she told me that her numbers stay below 200, but that she can't consistently keep her numbers that low on a regular basis, and she is still only taking oral medicine.

So I have begun a new journey and it's not an easy one. I do believe that peanut butter has become my new favorite food, though, because I have found that when I put some Jif Natural Peanut Butter on two Wasa 7 grain crackers and eat them, they taste good, make me feel full and my blood sugar level is not highly elevated from that snack.

Any of you blogging buddies who have experience with diabetes and want to pass along tips or advice, please feel free to let me a comment. Also, any of you blogging buddies who may have been newly diagnosed with Diabetes, feel free to join me on my journey. A journey is always easier when you don't have to walk it alone.

Just a Note

2011-06-13T20:59:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone. I'm sorry I was M.I.A. again last week. The past month has been quite a challenge for me. I will expound upon that tomorrow.

Thank you to all of you who commented about my current movie photo. It is indeed from "To Kill a Mockingbird". I am trying to pick photos from movies that coincide with a holiday from each month. Last month and this month may have been hard to tell, but last month's was to show a decent movie mom for Mother's Day, and I thought that Sandra Bullock in "Blind Side" was a decent movie mom, although certainly not my ideal. This month my attempt was to find a decent movie dad for Father's Day, and since my oldest son and I finished our school year with the reading of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Atticus Finch was fresh in my mind, I decided he would take the honors on my blog this month.

I hope you are all enjoying my attempts to find a movie photo for each month based on each month's holiday. I certainly am having fun trying to find one for each month.

I'll post longer tomorrow. I will have more time to do so.

My Movie Theme Continues

2011-06-02T16:45:00.003-04:00

I am having so much fun finding a photo from a movie for each month for this year so far. I hope you've enjoyed seeing them. This month's photo is an oldie. Can you tell me what movie it's from? And, then, while you're at it, tell me if you've seen the movie and if it has any meaning to you.

I will post a longer post tomorrow.

Oh, and by the way, I don't know how many of you read the comments on my posts, but Heather of Homemade Comforts left an interesting recipe in my comments section of the last post. It's for rice on the grill and it sounds pretty tasty. I think I'll have to try it soon.

2011-05-28T21:15:00.008-04:00

The weather was beautiful here today. We had mostly sunny days this week, but several of them were hot and humid, but today was very pleasant.

So, we've had a basketball hoop lying in our yard for months. Uncle Jeff found it for "Free" and came to get the boys to help him haul it to our house late last summer. Not long after its arrival, we had to begin to prepare our house for the renovations, and then Duane was working overtime, and then the weather turned to winter and this hoop never got put up. You see, it needed some work.

So, today, Duane went to the hardware store to purchase a bolt for a spot where a bolt was missing. He also borrowed Jeff's wire brush motor driven sander to sand the rust spots. Then he painted it. Then he stood it up, but he had forgotten to attach the net. So while the boys began to try out the hoop, he found the net and . . .

he attached it. There is just one loop that can't be attached because the hook for it is broken off.

Also, you're supposed to fill the bottom of these things with sand to weight them so they stand. However, this one has a hole in and it cannot be filled, so my husband put a bag of sand and some bricks on top of it to weight it down so that it stands and does not fall over. Not bad for "free", and the boys were quite happy.

Even Dad and the little one attempted some shots.

Then we had dinner on our deck.

As we are trying to eat healthier, we had tilapia, which my husband put on Reynold's wrap and put some butter, onions, garlic and mint on top of it and grilled it. I made some rice to go with it, and it looks yellow because I put a little chicken soup base in when I cook it to give it some flavor. (I plan to start using only brown and wild rices, but I still have some white rice in the cupboard, and we will use this up first, as I will not waste.) Then my hubby and I had cinnamon applesauce and the boys had yogurt. We all like yogurt, but we just felt like cinnamon applesauce instead, and there was a jar in the fridge that needed emptying.

Now tomorrow we will attend Sunday school and church, and the go to one of the homes of one of the families from church to have lunch and some activities to celebrate their daughter's graduation, which took place on Thursday night. If you want to see my post and photos of graduation, visit my other blog Homeschool View. Then Monday, for Memorial Day, after our oldest son is finished working (he works at a horse farm, and horses need care daily, so he doesn't get off for holidays unless he works it out with another employee to cover for him), we'll be heading over to spend the afternoon with my husband's parents and one of his sisters and her husband. We'll be having a cookout.

What are your plans this Memorial Day weekend?

Photos of our Current Events

2011-05-27T17:14:00.028-04:00

Well, I posted three times last week, but here it is Friday, and this is my first post this week. Well, I hope you enjoy all of these photos. We only have three days of school left before break, so maybe I'll be able to post more soon.
My beautiful roses. My rose bush is in full, glorious bloom.

Last Saturday:
Our oldest son, Anthony, turned 16 this month. He had some friends meet us at the soccer field their team uses to have some fun for his birthday. They played a little bit of soccer with the 6 of them who were present.

Then, they practice taking shots on goal, and my hubby and I even participated in this activity.

And, of course, little brother tried his best as well. He just doesn't get it, and always wants to use his hands, but he took a shot against one of Anthony's friends in the goal.
Then they played some ultimate frisbee. One of the girls decided she didn't really like the game because she isn't so good at throwing frisbee. She has an interest in photography and took a liking to my camera, so I let her take some photos with it.

Here are the four guys, tired , hot and thirsty, after all of their activities.

Then came Sunday:
Anthony sang a duet, "For Those Tears I Died" in church on Sunday morning, and they sounded great! Anthony hasn't done much singing since his voice changed, but he can still sing very well. I hope this experience boosted his confidence, and that we'll get to hear him more often.

After church, we had a picnic:
Our poor grill cook was suffering from back pain, but he took some pain medicine and wouldn't let anyone else take a turn to man the grill, and he ate last. He has such a servant's heart.

The older boys played several different games throughout the afternoon.

I captured these two young ladies in this great photo when they returned from a walk. Notice they are carrying cameras. It's a very common thing among the young ladies of our church to take lots of photos. It's so much fun to compare photos with them and see their creativity too.

These two moms decided to take a walk and invited the rest of us ladies to go along, and we did.

We walked down a hill, up a hill, and down another hill to wait by the water for several of the men who had taken most of the little ones out on boats to try their hand at fishing (or just floating around in the boat). The above photo is of our little guy with one of our dear friends from church. Of course, all of our church friends are dear. We are like one big, happy family.

One of the men from church had been on the dock with this little one and I missed getting the shot of the two of them looking into the water together, as I prepared to take the shot, this little lady moved before the "click". But, I managed to capture this great shot a few minutes later.

I love this photo of father and son standing on the dock looking out over the water together.

One of the little boys was very excited for us to see these Canadian geese and their goslings, whom we determined were "teenaged" goslings, as they weren't small anymore.
They were all up on the land together in one big group, but . . .

Even though all of those goslings looked the same to us, those adult geese knew their children, and they went into the water in their family groups.

Though they didn't have much luck fishing out in the boats, for the most part, this little guy caught himself a little sunny from the shore. Of course, it was much too small to keep, but it was so much fun to see how excited he got to catch this fish on his own.

Here is one of the dads with three of his children returning from their boating/fishing adventure.

We were all excited when one of our families made a surprise appearance in the final hour or two of our day, on their way home from their vacation and after a long car ride. It didn't take them long to join right in with the fun we were having.

Our pastor is a wonderful man who truly loves his congregation. He spends so much time with all of us and he encourages all of us and invests in the lives of each and every person in our congregation. Here he is holding one of the youngest children in our church, just relaxing after a fun-filled day, while the little one's parents prepare for their drive home.

A Very Productive Day

2011-05-20T20:12:00.002-04:00

Today we received a lot of rain. It has rained every day this week. I didn't have anywhere to go today, so I spent the day in my kitchen. Anthony turned 16 early this month, but we never really got to have a cake or anything. We went out to dinner with some friends on his birthday and had a very good time, but this weekend he is having a friend over tonight and then tomorrow is to get together with several friends in hopes to play some soccer. So, I made and cake and icing today. He always likes me to come up with something different each year, but I don't like to be too unusual when I know people other than our own immediate family are going to eat it. Therefore, I made a usual chocolate cake. However, I decided to do a different icing, and he likes chocolate and mint, so I made mint icing. I'm not really a mint person, but I think this actually got pretty good. I'll let you know after I actually eat a small piece of the cake.

I also made homemade granola bars and homemade granola for breakfasts. We are trying to eat healthier and we like to have these things on hand. Then I made, (and I know my dinner wasn't as healthy as it could have been), ham loaf, au gratin potatoes from a box, and french cut green beans. I also got a load of laundry done today and cleaned up some of our clutter. We do manage to keep it to a minimum since the house has been redone, but we still have to stay on top of it.

Tomorrow, as I mentioned, Anthony will be getting together with friends to attempt to play soccer (hopefully it won't rain) and to have cake. Then we'll be taking our guest home and going to a baseball game with them and they will also have fireworks following the game. Then on Sunday, we have Sunday school, church and a church family picnic.

Another Wrench in my Schedule

2011-05-19T22:03:00.002-04:00

This school year has been quite a challenge. I hope next school year will be much calmer and simpler. It seems that things just keep coming up that throw a wrench in our plans this year. Sometimes it's one event in a day or a week, and there was one very big one (our house being remodeled) that changed our plans for about two months! Thankfully, the boys have been able to do their studies through it all, just not exactly as planned.

Well, Wednesday (yesterday), it happened again. I got up and showered and was just getting ready to awaken the boys when the telephone rang. It was my neighbor. She called to tell me that as she was just letting her dog in, she noticed that I had a flat tire.

Oh, no! Yesterday (Tuesday), I had noticed a screw in the tire. I thought that as long as I didn't pull the screw out, that it would be okay until I could get it to a garage. I guess not.

So, after breakfast, the two big boys and I went out to attempt to change the tire. I know how, but the boys weren't sure. One of them had learned in a co-op class quite a few years ago, but hadn't had to change one since. Well, first we were challenged to find my spare tire. It seems that my spare is underneath the bottom of the van and you need to turn a knob-type thing in the back of the van with the handle of the jack (we know this now, we used an adjustable wrench) to lower the spare.

Then we got the jack out from under the hood in where the engine is. It's not the greatest jack, but it works. Then came the challenge of loosening lug nuts that were tightened with an air wrench. Well, no muscle-bound men were handy, so I placed the handle of the jack (yes, it also fits the lug nuts), on a lug nut in a way that enabled me to put a foot upon it and do these little hops to use my full weight to get the lug nuts to begin to turn.

My oldest son said he wished he had a camera because he thought I looked funny doing this.

Eventually we were able to get the spare on, only to notice that, while it was not flat, it was low in air. Well, I really wanted the big boys to get their school work started, and since I know how to put air in a tire, I took our youngest son with me to get air in the tire.

Well, wouldn't you know, the air pump sounded like it was working, but it was most definitely not adding any air to this tire. Then I heard a man's voice behind me say, "Is it working?"

This made me a little nervous as the air pump is behind the gas station building and at the time, no one else was around. So, I nervously answered that it didn't appear to be. He tried it and said it definitely was not working. He looked inside the hose piece and asked if I had something with a sharp end. (By this time another truck had pulled up with another man in, which made me feel a little better as there was now someone else around). Anyway, I had nothing to worry about. I happened to have a flat-head screwdriver in the van, which I handed to the man, and he used it to stick into the hose piece to bend the stem back where it belonged so that it would push the valve stem to my tire in and blow air into the tire. So, the tire was filled and with a word of "thanks" to the kind man, I was on my way.

As soon as I returned home, I called my garage and they said I could bring the van in at 1p.m. and they would repair my tire.

When I spoke to the mechanic, I also told him where the spare tire went and hinted that we weren't able to get my jack properly back in place either, and for $18, he fixed my tire and put both the spare and the jack back where they belonged.

Whew! We survived that one!

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Then, today we left to go grocery shopping. Thursday is my grocery shopping day, and once every two to three weeks, I also like to go to a whole foods (healthfood) store.

Well, we were about half-way there when we realized that I had forgotten to withdraw cash. This store doesn't accept our debit card. I also don't carry my check book. So, I thought I was going to have to withdraw money from a different bank's ATM machine and suffer a $3 service fee, which aggravated me.

It turned out that I got in line at the ATM and when I opened my purse to get my wallet for my ATM card, I saw a bank envelope. Oh, yes, my oldest son had gotten paid yesterday and we had gone to the bank and he asked me to put his money in my purse til we got home. Then he forgot to ask me for it, and I forgot about it as well. So, I still had his money. So, no ATM withdrawal with a $3 service fee attached. I would use his money and get it out of our account to give back to him when we got back to our bank.

Then we ran into a "road closed" with no detour. There was a road worker who was absolutely no help when I asked her how to get around and get back to the same road past their work, and I hadn't brought our GPS as I knew where I was going.

Well, I was bound and determined to get to this store and not have to go back home, so I took a chance and took a road that Nicholas and I thought might take us back over to the road we wanted, and lo and behold, it did! We got to the healthfood store and back again without another hitch.

So, what's your week been like?

CHAP Homeschool Convention

2011-05-17T18:05:00.002-04:00

This past weekend we attended our local Christian Homeschool Convention. What a blessing! Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis and Doug Phillips of Vision Forum were among the speakers. There were some tremendous seminars to help get us encouraged and renewed for another year of homeschoolers.

The hot topic this year seemed to be about the media saturation in our society and how we need to be careful not to become too wrapped up in it. We heard the phrase that the society is "amusing ourselves to death" many times throughout the weekend. Our two older boys went to many of the media focused seminars by speaker Phillip Telfer of Media Talk. They also attended some Ken Ham and Doug Phillips seminars. They were challenged and renewed.

I also enjoyed the seminars by Todd Wilson of Family Man Ministries and Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishers. If you have never held or read a Lamplighter book, I urge you to do so. These books are wonderful! Not only are they of fine quality as far as cover, pages and binding, but you cannot put a price on the quality of the stories within them. Lamplighter's phrase is "Building character . . . one story at a time", and that is what the stories in these books encourage within us. They have stories for all ages. They also have a book club you can join that you have many options on how it runs and you have full control of your choices. I was so excited to join this club. You join online and control it online by simply visiting mylamplighter.com.

I didn't need much in the way of curriculum this year, but I couldn't resist picking up some great books to bring home to read to help in my spiritual growth and to challenge me in my thinking. I am a complete book lover. I have always loved to read, but over the past years didn't seem to have the time to read with teaching the boys and taking care of our home. Lately, however, I have found a way to make time to read every evening before going to bed, and I have been enjoying some great books, as I'm sure you can tell from all of the book reviews you find here.

What did you do this past weekend?

We Have a Winner!

2011-05-11T20:06:00.002-04:00

It is time to reveal the winner for the unPlanned DVD. I wish you could hear my son, Nick, play a drum roll here:)

And the winner is: HEATHER of Homemade Comforts! Congratulations!

Thank you to all who left comments for this giveaway.

Don't Forget the Give Away!

2011-05-10T21:02:00.002-04:00

Don't forget tomorrow I will draw a winner for the FREE copy of the unPlanned DVD, the story of Abby Johnson. Get your comments in so you can be entered to win!

Nick of Time by Tim Downs

2011-05-10T20:52:00.003-04:00

bI love books that grab my attention and keep it, and this book does exactly that. Nick of Time
is the latest book in the "Bug Man" series by Tim Downs. Nick Polchak is a Bug Man -- he studies the bugs that live off of decomposing bodies. This is how he helps to solve murders.

In this book, Nick is supposed to be getting married. However, a few days before their wedding, Nick leaves to go to a meeting and doesn't come back because he believes one of his friends has been murdered. He gets so caught up in trying to solve this mystery that he even forgets to call his fiancee! She then decides to go to look for him, and she gets caught up in some trouble of her own.

It's an easy, fast-paced read. I have not read any of the other "Bug Man' books in this series, and I still had no problem following the storyline. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery. Tim Downs also includes quite a bit of humor. Oh, yeah, there is also a very unexpected twist near the end. It certainly caught me by surprise. Now, I think I'll go find the other "Bug Man" books and get all caught up:)

I received Nick of Time by Tim Downs free for review from BookSneeze.

The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen

2011-05-10T20:17:00.003-04:00

The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen is a book that hooks you from the first page and doesn't let you go until you reach the end. Olivia returns home from her job one evening and finds a man attacking her mother. Without much thought, she grabs the fire poker and whacks the man over the head, knocking him unconscious. Her mother tells her she must flee and never return, and her mother tells her where to go and says that she will reunite with her as soon as possible. Olivia believes it is her father that she hit, as she has seen him come home in nasty moods after being out drinking.

Olivia travels toward her destination, but ends up somewhere else instead. She spends a night in jail and is unable to speak after her release. She ends up becoming a governess to two children in the home that she has been taken into. Many interesting things happen to Olivia throughout this story as she worries whether she shall ever see her mother again. There is mystery surrounding Olivia, involving her life and the life of the gentleman whose home she is staying in. There is romance involved as well, and as the story unfolded, I found myself willing Olivia and a certain man to end up together, but wasn't quite sure how things would turn out as there was more than one young man interested in Olivia's hand.

I really enjoyed this story and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a little romance and mystery within the same story.

"unPlanned" with a giveaway

2011-05-06T17:49:00.005-04:00

I've been looking forward to reading the book unPlanned by Abby Johnson. However, I had the opportunity to watch the documentary style DVD version for free from Tyndale Publishers. This story is quite a testimony. Abby was raised by Christian parents who were quite astonished to find out that their daughter was volunteering for the Planned Parenthood organization. She began doing this in college.

Abby thought that she and Planned Parenthood were doing a good thing and helping women who needed help. Eventually Abby became an employee of Planned Parenthood.

This DVD showed some things that happened in Abby's personal life that also made her believe that Planned Parenthood was helping women in need. It also explained how Pro-Life advocates would stand outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic to pray. Watching these Pro-Life advocates made Abby think a little more about what she was doing, but it didn't really impact her for quite some time.

Eventually, Abby learned the truth about what Planned Parenthood was all about. More importantly, she came to learn the truth that a so-called "fetus" or "embryo" is much more. It is a real live human baby. This was the turning point in Abby's life that made her finally walk away from Planned Parenthood.

Now Abby speaks out for the unborn. She had originally planned to simply walk away from Planned Parenthood and quietly become involved in a "Right to Life" organization, but found that impossible when Planned Parenthood brought a lawsuit against her and released their opinions on the situation to the press.

I still look forward to reading the book, but considered being able to view and review this DVD a blessing.

There is so much more to this story, but I don't want to give it all away. Abby Johnson's life was truly changed and she is an inspiration. I hope that you will see this DVD or read the book.

I also hope that you will that you will take a minute to watch the trailer for the DVD by clicking this link: http://www.unplannedthebook.com/index.php/the-documentary/

I would also like to invite you to the Unite for LIFE webcast, a free webcast featuring Abby Johnson that will benefit pregnancy care organizations. You can sign up to participate on May 17 at 8:00p.m. (in all time zones) at www.uniteforlifewebcast.org. unPlanned the book and the DVD will be available for purchase as a package deal and 33% of each purchase will go to crisis pregnancy centers like CareNet, the National Institute of Family & Life Advocates, and Heartbeat International.

Finally, in connection with Tyndale House Publishers and "unPlanned", I am privileged to offer a Free copy of the DVD to one of my blog readers. So, if you would like to win a FREE copy of the unPlanned DVD, please leave a comment on this post and I will enter your name into a drawing for the Free DVD. I will draw a name for a winner on Wednesday, May 11th.

Soul Surfer

2011-04-14T16:19:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, when the Soul Surfer movie opened, we took our two older boys and went to see the film on Saturday afternoon. This movie is based upon a true story. The story was told in a book years ago, and our oldest son had read the book.

It is the story of Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack while surfing. Bethany grew up surfing and being in the water, as she lives on one of the islands that make up Hawaii. Bethany's family is a Christian family and it is their faith that helped them all get through this tragic accident. The movie, like the book, tells of Bethany's courage and her determination to surf again, not to mention how her determination and just the fact that she got back in the water and tried again inspired others with physical limitations to try to accomplish some of their dreams.

We found the movie very true to the book. It was a good movie. It had me crying at times and laughing at other times. It was nice to see the strong, loving bond of Bethany's family. The movie had a couple of really good messages to convey. There was biblical scripture quoted on more than one occasion. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future", was a Bible verse that was quoted that really spoke to Bethany. They also show Bethany's family in church and the worship team is leading the congregation in the song "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord".

I have heard about some of the criticisms people are saying or writing about this movie, things like "there are too many bikinis". Well, yes, there are bikinis. However, let's remember that it is Hawaii, an island that is surrounded by water, and, therefore, water is a big part of the people's lives and culture, so bikinis are a normal everyday occurrence. However, I also want to make something clear here about the bikini scenes -- there weren't any body parts falling out of them or even practically falling out them. There weren't any large-chested women in bikinis that I noticed. And, the girls weren't wearing bikinis when they were competing in surfing. When they showed surfing competition, the girls all had bikini bottoms on with T-shirts and nothing was hanging out of the bottoms either.

There was no bad language in the movie either, which was very refreshing.

And, yes, there was a scene where Bethany sneaked out one night to go night surfing with some friends. The next day, her mom confronted her about it, but her dad asked her mom if she would've let her go if she'd have asked, and there weren't any consequences given to Bethany, and they didn't really complete the conversation either. But, let's remember that this movie is a true story about real people and real people make mistakes. There are no perfect children nor are there any perfect parents. But it wasn't like Bethany was always disobeying and wild.

There have been people criticizing the fact that Bethany placed such importance on surfing, as here biggest concern after losing her arm, was "will I be able to surf again?" Well, surfing had been a huge part of her life. Her parents were surfers as well. And, Bethany did say, "I really believed that God created her to surf." So, it wasn't like she was putting surfing above God. She believed that her surfing was in obedience with God's will for her life, and she was only 13 when this tragic accident occurred.

There has also been some criticism of a scene where Bethany goes back on her word to go on a missions trip with her youth group after she gets a sponsor for her surfing competition because she feels she needs to practice more. Her mother asks her a question or two about it, but, ultimately lets the decision to Bethany, which is what some people have been criticizing. But, as parents, our job is to teach our children to make their own decisions and to allow them to suffer the consequences or reap the rewards of their decisions, in order to prepare them for life.

Bethany does go on a missions trip with her youth group not long after she loses her arm, and not only does she make a difference for the people whom they are helping in Thailand, but she learns a very important lesson for herself about the value of love.

The real Bethany Hamilton continues to travel and speak to groups of people today. She continues to encourage and inspire people who have physical difficulties, as well as people like me, who are amazed at how God has worked in her life.

It really surprise me to read and hear so much criticism about this movie. It irritates me that it seems like people can't wait to view a film that's known to have a Christian message with the purpose of deliberately looking for things they can point their fingers at to criticize to try to put the Christianity in a negative light. It's even more surprising to me that even Christians are pointing fingers and criticizing. I've even noticed people who haven't even seen the movie criticizing it. What I want to know is where are all of these critical people when movies come out that have an over-abundance of inappropriate language and violence and sensuality? I don't hear a lot of criticizing such films, and the Christians just seem to remain quiet and simply not view them. I think we should spend more time criticizing films that really need criticism.

I am a very conservative Christian, and am more careful about what I allow my boys to watch than anyone else we know, and I am perfectly comfortable with my older two having seen this movie. No, I would not allow my 6-year-old to watch it, but that's mostly because of the scene of the shark attack and seeing the blood and her loss of her arm. I believe that is too scary and traumatic for him at this time.

I highly recommend this movie for the wonderful, Godly messages it contains. I would not recommend it for children under the age of 12.

An Emotional Week

2011-04-01T19:30:00.002-04:00

Well, first I'd like to say that I chose the photo for my header this month from "The Passion of the Christ" since we will celebrate Christ's death and resurrection this month over the Easter weekend. I chose the photo with his mother, Mary, at one of the times when he stumbled and fell under the weight of the cross, because, as a mother, that moment in the movie really touched me, as did so many others (I cried through most of the film). But, the movie's portrayal of Mary made her so much more real to me than just what we read in the Bible, even if it was film-making liberty, because I am sure that as Christ's mother, she was in anguish over the horrible treatment he received and the brutal beatings and finally, his death upon the cross. I'm sure she wished she could have taken his place and saved him that awful pain. I know, as a mother, I would.

My prayer, this Easter season, is that you will be sure to take time to really reflect upon Christ's horrible death upon the cross, followed by his glorious resurrection and make it personal to you, because he did it for you, just as he did it for me! Praise the Lord! I am unworthy but so thankful and blessed to call him my Lord!

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Now for the emotional week. This world is such a sad place and it gets worse all of the time. When my husband and I decided to foster-to-adopt children thirteen years ago, the world was sad and most of the available children were of ethnicities other than caucasion and it didn't matter to us. We just wanted to give a good, loving, stable home to some children who really needed it.

In 2009, we decided we'd like to add one or two more to our family, so we connected to our agency again and last year, we adopted another wonderful little boy. We also did a respite this past summer for a month, and had a recent respite a couple of weeks ago for about 10 days.

This week, I received many calls from the agency looking for somewhere to place some children who really need good, loving, stable homes. More of these calls were for caucasion children. The economy and the drug addictions have really caused so many more children to need care. This week, I have received calls on three days. When we first began this journey, thirteen years ago, I actually called the agency to be sure they hadn't forgotten about us, because it took quite a while to receive our first call about a placement.

The calls are heartbreaking as I hear the stories of the sad, dangerous, and neglectful situations these poor innocent children are in. My heart wishes I could take them all; I mean, how are we supposed to pick and choose? Most times, the person from the agency needs an immediate answer because it's an emergency to get these children somewhere safe. We don't have time to pray for wisdom.

Then are the ones we say we would like to have placed with us, and we receive a call back telling us that the county caseworker found another family they decided to place the child(ren) with. Then we wait for another call. Today I was told we can tell our agency worker that "yes" to more than one child or set of children that they call us about because they have to share our information with the county caseworker who looks at more than one family for each placement and decides which one they think is best for that particular child or children. So, we can say we want a particular child but still not get him or her. It wasn't like that thirteen years ago. Back then, whenever we received a call, we got the child they called us about as long as we said "yes".

I suppose it may be better for the child(ren) this way, as long as the worker making the placement decision really has the best interests of the child(ren) in mind, but, sometimes, that's not the case either.

So, long story short, this week we said "yes" to a baby and then, after receiving more information, had to say "no" because of the medical issues involved and the fact that we have to take our children we've already adopted into consideration. This week, we've also said "yes" to a group of 3 siblings they really didn't want to separate. We would've had to get a bigger van to be able to all go away together as a family, if we'd have gotten these three, but we were trusting God to provide. Today, I was told, the county caseworker decided to place these three with another family. Finally, we said "yes" to a sibling group of two and we still await to hear the decision. We may even have to be interviewed by the county caseworker before a decision is rendered, something else that is entirely new to us.

So, it's been a very emotionally challenging week, but we are trusting in God and praying for His will in our family and the lives of these precious, innocent children.

As far as our activities go, we were supposed to have a basketball banquet this evening but it was canceled due to lack of interest. Tomorrow, the boys are supposed to play in a co-ed soccer game in the morning and in the afternoon we will be attending a play done by many of our homeschool friends -- "Nicholas Nickelby" by Charles Dickens. Sunday, we will attend Sunday school and church and remain for the fellowship meal.

God bless all of my blogging friends and visitors this weekend.

Return Policy by Michael Snyder

2011-04-01T18:26:00.002-04:00

This is a book that is new to our local Christian library and I read it to do a review on it. It seemed a strange book for the Christian genre to me. I was disappointed by the fact that the characters were all what the world would label "losers". To me, they were simply depressed, lost souls. One of the characters that was introduced early in the book was a friend to the main character and was apparently a happily married man, but for some unknown reason, felt a need to pretend to be gay around certain people.

All of the main characters showed a real need for the Lord, but by the end of the book, none of them really find Him. In my opinion, this book was depressing and lacked what I look for in a Christian novel, which is at least one character who is following the Lord.

Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of places where God is mentioned, but more like the characters are trying to figure out if He is real or significant in any way. None of the characters are truly committed to God.

Another thing that kind of let me down was that, even though this book wasn't a mystery per se, there were a few things that were hinted at in the beginning that caused my mind to begin to try to figure out, most of which had to do with how the characters were connected. The disappointing thing for me was that when I reached the end of the book, most of my conclusions turned out to be correct, so there was no real interesting twist thrown in.

This book caught my attention enough to keep me reading, simply to see if my conclusions were correct, but I wouldn't say that I really enjoyed the book. I really don't recommend this book to anyone, unless you like stories that are more depressing than anything. I suppose the ending would be considered a happy one, but it wasn't happy enough for me and I felt left a few too many things weren't really explained to tied up.

Curiosities of the Civil War by Webb Garrison

2011-03-30T15:09:00.004-04:00

My copy of this book, which I received from Booksneeze for free, is a large hardcover copy. It is a great book to leave out on the coffee table for a conversation piece. It is filled with short to medium-length paragraphs of information. It is fascinating bits and pieces of information that most history buffs, including the Civil War buffs, most likely have not heard before.

The book is divided into nine different sections. Each section has fascinating information about different facets of the Civil War, from little known information about some of the well-known people involved in the Civil War to events that were never before published.

This book is easy to read as it is divided into sections and the paragraphs are divided with space in between as well. So it is easy to find a particular piece of information to wow some of your house guests with, even those who thought they knew everything there is to know about the Civil War.

I enjoyed the book because it was easy to read because of the way it is set up in bite-size pieces. I found some interesting facts about things I didn't know before. One of my favorites being that Abraham Lincoln liked to ask exceptionally tall men to stand with him, back to back, in order to compare measurements.
Headed for a visit with Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, Lincoln stopped at Aquia Creek, Virginia, to review troops. Almost as soon as he entered the encampment, the Federal commander in chief spotted a lanky member of the Ninety-third Pennsylvania Regiment. Gesturing, the president let Mahlon Shaaber know that he wanted a word with him. "Turn around, young fellow," he is alleged to have said, "and put your back against mine while I take off my hat." As soon as their heads touched, Lincoln knew he had met a man considerably taller than he.
Carefully measured, the seventeen-year-old from Pennsylvania proved to top the six-foot, four-inch president by two and one-half inches. . .

There are lots of interesting facts about many different facets of the Civil War. You will learn about people who were involved in some aspect of the war who would one day become famous, but not for their part during the Civil War. There are interesting facts about men who continued to fight after being seriously wounded or while having severe pain. There are just so many interesting things to learn by reading this book.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes history, the Civil War, or who just likes to read things of educational value.

My Week in Review

2011-03-18T19:29:00.002-04:00

I know I have been missing for almost two whole weeks, but sometimes life just gets in the way of my blogging. This past week has been quite eventful, and not all of the events were pleasant.

First of all, last Sunday after church and Sunday school, we came home for a change. There was no fellowship meal although we were invited to do lunch and go to a local train museum with our dear friends from Creekside Cottage, and whatever other church family members decided to join them. It was Charter Day here in PA and that one day a year, many of the museums are free to tour. We would have loved to join them, but we are doing a respite for a 5-year-old boy who goes to all-day kindergarten and I have to drive him to school and pick him up in the afternoons, and I've had to get up at 5:30a.m. to get myself and him and our little guy ready to go and have him at the school by 7:30a.m. I am not a morning person, and 5:30 to me is still prime sleep time. So, we began that last Friday morning. Then last Friday night we had family game night and video planning night at church, which we attended and got home late. So, even though we slept in Saturday morning, I just felt it would be better to get home at a decent hour on Sunday.

After lunch on Sunday, we took the kids to a local wildlife preservation area to see the Snow Geese that stop in this area as they fly back north at this time of year each year. Unfortunately, we didn't see too many. We did get pretty close to a handful of them in a field along the hiking trail, however. We also saw some Tundra Swans out on the water. I did get some pictures, but haven't had time to download them yet, and don't have the time now. So, you'll have to wait.

After our little hike to look for Snow Geese, we went to Dairy Queen and Anthony and I went in and got ice cream for everyone and we took it home and ate it. It was a fun day, but we had the two little boys in bed on time. Then hubby and the two older boys and I sat down to watch the movie "Letters to God". It was a very good movie. I cried several times.

After the movie, the two older boys went to bed and hubby and I began to get ready to go off to bed as well. So, as is our routine, hubby let the dog out. However when he let him in, UUUUGH! The SMELL! -- he had been sprayed by a skunk. I shouted, "Get him outside!" So, my husband put him out on our deck but not before he had been on the two main floors of the house and everything had that awful smell!

So, I went online to find out how to get rid of the stench, both on the dog and in our house. Then I ended up taking a trip to Walmart at 10p.m. The good news is that the mixture we made to wash the dog, took the smell off of him. However, burning candles and incense did not take the smell out of the house. It simply masked the smell until we burned the candles and incense out. I finally got to bed around 12:30a.m., but didn't sleep well because of the smell.

Monday, I was a mess. I was so tired that I could barely function. I couldn't seem to keep my thoughts together. I managed to get the little guy to kindergarten. Then I got Anthony to work and came back and took about an hour-and-a-half nap, which helped me be able to function for the rest of the day.

By the way, there was one candle that seemed to help with the skunk odor better than any of the others and that is the Candy Cane scented soy candles that I have from my good friend at Hospitality Lane.

Monday afternoon, we went to our local Christian Library and I told the librarian about our skunk issue and she suggested soaking a rag with vinegar and wringing it out and then going from room to room and spinning it around in the air. She said vinegar is supposed to absorb odors. So, when we got home, I did just that. I soaked the rag and wrang it out several times as I went throughout my house. It seemed to help a good deal, but there was still skunk smell.

So, Tuesday morning, after taking the little guy to kindergarten, Zeb and I went to a local grocery store and I picked up 11 boxes of baking soda. I brought them home, opened each one and put one in every room in the house and in the laundry area. I had also left some windows open every time I went anywhere, hoping to air things out. Then last night, my husband sprinkled some stuff, similar to Carpet Fresh, on the carpet in our family room and vacuumed, and that left a fresh, clean scent. However, I still smell skunk smell in the family room a little bit. But it seems to have left the rest of the house.

I babysat a precious little baby for one of our dear friends today, and she said she couldn't smell any skunk smell when she came into the house, so that's a good thing. Hopefully, that's done and over with.

Then on Wednesday, we had co-op, and in the early evening, Anthony began to complain about pain in his right leg. By the time supper was through, it seemed like he should have medical attention, because we were not aware of any recent injury and couldn't figure out what could be causing the pain. I called our doctor's answering service, as they were already out of the office for the day. The doctor called fairly quickly, asked me a few questions and suggested we take him to the hospital emergency room.

I was just ready to take Nick to drum lessons, and we really needed the two little ones to get to bed, so we decided that I would take Nick to drum lessons and then get Anthony to the hospital directly after that.

We went to the hospital and didn't have to wait too long in the emergency area. But then they sent us to what they call the "E-Care" area, which is for people who need attention but it's not a real emergency. We weren't there long until a nurse came in to see Anthony, but then we waited like 45 minutes for the doctor to finally come in. In the meantime, we could hear the people in the next room. A boy had been brought in because he had a huge nose bleed and a cut lip, but he was no longer bleeding. It turned out his nose was fractured. I'm not sure about his lip, but we heard the nurse trying to give instructions about what he should eat and what to stay away from for the next several days until this lip heals. Of course, they said nothing crunchy or hard; eat things that are soft. And, suddenly, the boy and his family got really loud and began talking about all of the things he can't eat. They were so loud and obnoxious, it was like a circus or something. I mumbled, "just shut up, go home and eat some ice cream." Of course, they didn't hear me because we were in the next room, and they were so loud, but just a few seconds after I mumbled that, we heard the boy say, "I'll eat ice cream." That struck my son, Nick, funny, and he laughed.

Fortunately, there was nothing seriously wrong with Anthony's leg. Just some muscle strain. The doctor suggested he take it easy for a couple of days and take Advil for the pain. We went home, he took some Advil and went to bed and Thursday morning he said his leg felt fine.

Praise the Lord, yesterday and today were fairly uneventful. And the weather today was absolutely gorgeous, so after picking up the little guy from kindergarten, I took all of the boys to a local park for about an hour. Then we came home and had homemade stromboli and calzone for supper.

Tomorrow, I have to take Anthony to a music thing in the morning. Students, including Anthony, will be playing a piece of music, they will have a workshop or two to do some learning, and then there will be a presentation on George Gershwin and his music. We'll be home for lunch. Sunday will be Sunday school and church followed by a fellowship meal, and we will return home early as our little visitor will be picked up in the early evening to rejoin his normal foster family, who were on a missions trip to Mexico.

I hope your week was more fun than mine.

Thrifty Thursday

2011-03-03T18:37:00.002-05:00

Today was my day to do the grocery shopping. I really stocked up this week. We have been having to go kind of skimpy for about the past month, only buying the things that were absolutely needed, as in we had no more in the cupboard or refrigerator. So it was nice to have enough to replenish some things and deepen the pantry a little.

I bought some extra baking products, since I now have time to bake more again, I needed to be sure I had baking staples in stock. Our local grocery store, where we prefer to buy our meats, had a one day meat sale today and I was able to get quite a few things at great prices:

I purchased a 10 lb. bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $12.96, a boneless pork loin that was a little more than 9 lbs. and I had a little more than 5 lbs. cut into chops and had the remaining 4 lbs. left for a roast for $19.08, and 4 lbs. of bacon for $10.76.

I also purchased 5 lbs. of pre-sliced white American cheese for $9.45. There were other great deals as well and so our freezer is full and my baking supplies are replenished. I can't wait to cook and bake!

I also picked up 2 lbs. of strawberries for $1.98 and a fresh pineapple for $1.99 at our local discount grocery store, which is always my first stop on grocery day. This is where I purchased my baking products because I purchase them in bulk for a lower price as well.

The turkey I mentioned cooking on Tuesday, with the other things that I made to go with it provided us with supper last night as well because we had plenty of leftovers. I used a lot of the leftover turkey to make turkey barbecue sandwiches for tonight's supper, and there is still a bit of turkey left for some turkey sandwiches for lunch tomorrow or Saturday.

Now, my dear friend from Creekside Cottage, wanted to know how I fry sweet potatoes. Now, if I said I made candied and fried sweet potatoes, let me first apologize and make a correction -- they were actually yams not sweet potatoes. We have eaten sweet potatoes, but find that we much prefer yams.

That being said, it is quite easy to fry yams. First I wash and cook them with the skins on, until they are fairly soft, but not mushy. Then I drain them and run them under cold water to cool them enough to be able to hold them and remove their skins. Then I slice them into quarter or half-inch slices. I melt some butter in a large pan and add the sliced yams. I fry them until I see some black around the edges and maybe just a little in the middle of each slice and then remove them from the pan and put them on a plate. I enjoy them this way, but my family prefer them candied. I enjoy them candied as well, but sometimes I just want them fried. Sometimes I bake them or put them in the microwave until soft and then put butter and a little brown sugar on them, or just butter. They're quite tasty any of these ways.

Beguiled

2011-03-03T18:20:00.004-05:00

Beguiled by Deanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand is a definite page-turner for mystery lovers. It starts with a simple theft and the crimes begin to grow and there is no shortage of possible suspects. I couldn't put this book down. I read it in two days, finishing by staying up until midnight the second night in my determination to reach the end and find out "whodunit".

Beguiled has an interesting cast of characters and a little romance which begins in a comical way. The mystery is the main story line, however, and I kept changing my mind about who I thought the culprit was. I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't as complicated as some mysteries that I've read but it was refreshing. The main character had an unusual career as a dog walker -- not something you read about every day.

This book made me laugh, had me on the edge of my seat and even scared me a little. It was a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great mystery with a little romance mixed in.

This was the first time the authors worked together. Deanne Gist is a bestselling romance novelist known for her bestselling historical romances, including A Bride in the Bargain. J. Mark Bertrand's solo debut to the crime novel is Back on Murder.

Wonderful Weekend and Terrific Tuesday

2011-03-01T20:04:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend this past weekend. First, our boys basketball season came to an end with a fun Parents' Day, where parents played against the kids. I didn't play, but my husband did. I took lots of pictures, which I will try to post another day when I have more time. The boys also received certificates for their participation. We also took team photos of each of the teams. We also found out that our Nicholas scored 179 points this season!

While we were at the gym waiting for the activities to begin, my husband's cell phone rang. It was our dear friends from Creekside Cottage. They wanted to know if we could get together to go to Chick-fil-a, (we had told them some time ago that we had never been to a Chick-fil-a). So, we met them at a Walmart near our house and followed them to the nearest Chick-fil-a for lunch. It was fun, and their chicken sandwiches and waffle fries are quite tasty as are their shakes. Before leaving there, the folks from Creekside Cottage decided to call another family from our church that live near the Chick-fil-a we were at, and they said, "Come on over." So we went to that family's house for the rest of the afternoon, stayed for a great dinner and headed home around 8p.m. or so. It was so much fun being able to just get together with dear friends on the spur of the moment and have wonderful fellowship with them.

Then on Sunday, we had Sunday school and church, followed by time at Creekside Cottage. After lunch, a large group from our church went to a nearby place to hike, climb rocks, and explore a cave. Four of us ladies remained at Creekside Cottage and had a wonderful time chatting and having tea. When the group returned from the cave, we listened to their stories of courage and daring that turned a bit scary for one. Thankfully all returned safely and we spent a bit more time fellowshipping and headed home around 7:45p.m.

Today, (Tuesday), was terrific as I had no where I had to go except to take Anthony to work this morning and pick him up in the afternoon. A local grocery store is having a large meat sale on Thursday. They have one about twice a year, and the prices are too good to pass up. I used to really stock up when they had these sales. Now, however, I can't stock up as much as before as we no longer have a large stand-alone freezer. Thankfully, the freezer in our refrigerator is a fairly good size though, so I ordered some things. So, today I cooked a turkey that we had received from our insurance agent near Thanksgiving, to make room for the meat I will be bringing home on Thursday. I also made candied yams and a few fried ones, brown-buttered noodles, corn casserole and buttermilk biscuits. My boys thought it was Thanksgiving all over again:) I love to cook and bake, and with basketball season I didn't get time to cook and bake as much as I usually do, so it was so much fun for me to be able to really cook and bake again.

Tomorrow I've got to get some laundry done, and I need to work on cleaning out our spare bedroom. There's always something to be done here at Cozy Comforts.

While The World Watched

2011-02-22T21:37:00.003-05:00

"What did this horrifying event say to me, even as a child? That black life is irrelevant, insignificant, worthless. The loss of black life is of no consequence."

"Such was the plight of black Americans in the United States South at that time. Two white men bragged about killing Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old boy. Some white men even glorified the killing of black people. And the American people, for the most part, showed no outrage whenever these things happened. They responded with no horror or shock. Just silence. They seemed to accept what had become an everyday occurrence. Usually no one was charged, no one was arrested, no one was punished."

"I also wondered why white adults would treat black children so cruelly. It was one thing for black and white adults to clash, to fight against each other. But I was surprised to see white adults doing battle against children. Even at that age, I knew black children had no power to fight white adults or even to protect themselves from them. I was certain the children would be the ones to suffer in that matchup."

The three above paragraphs are taken from the the book While the World Watched by Carolyn Maull McKinstry. This book made me angry and sad. It made me feel ashamed to be white because of the way white people behaved during the time of the Civil Rights movement. I, too, question how white people could be so cruel to black people, not just the children. How can people of one color be so cruel and hate-filled toward people of another color simply because of the color of their skin?

This book has a powerful message that we all should read and receive. A message that shows how horrible people can be, and as we read and receive this message, I pray that we would be horrified and that we would not want to see this type of history repeat itself. I hope that we will stand firm and strong and show love to ALL our brothers and sisters of EVERY color and race. I would hope that we would teach our children to love others and to look far beyond a person's skin color or outward appearance, to the character and spirit within.

This book also carries a tremendous message of forgiveness and how important it is for our own well-being, because when you hold on to anger, resentment and hatred, it only makes you miserable, whereas the power of forgiveness can set you free and give you peace.

While the World Watched is the story of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. A bombing that took the lives of four innocent black girls, the closest friends of Carolyn Maull McKinstry, and how that same bombing could have also taken the lives of Carolyn and her two brothers. It is the story of the Civil Rights movement and the cruelty and injustice shown to the black people during that time period. She includes many excerpts of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, as well as quotes from other people from that time period, both on the positive side of the movement as well as on the negative side of the movement. Carolyn tells of her struggle to come to terms with the deaths of her friends as there was no counseling available to black children in that time and the community, as well as her family didn't talk about it and seemed to simply try to forget about it. She talks about her personal struggles because of the grief, anger and resentment she experienced, until she was finally able to forgive. She talks about how she was able to forgive and what forgiveness means for her.

I highly recommend this book. It has historical and moral value. I received my advanced reader copy from Tyndale House, but you can go out and buy this book now, as it became available this month at all local bookstores, as well as online.

A Small Holiday

2011-02-21T19:30:00.002-05:00

It's so funny. As homeschoolers, we don't observe every little holiday that the government run public schools do, and today is President's Day. I mean no disrespect to the presidents, but sometimes I find these little holidays an annoyance. This morning, after dropping Anthony off at work, my other two boys and I went to the Social Security office to take care of something that I need to take care of, and found it closed because it is President's Day, which I had forgotten all about even though a couple of people at church yesterday mentioned not having school or work. Now I'll have to try again tomorrow. I hate that I wasted time and gas.

So glad to see my calendar settling down. No where to go tonight or tomorrow night or Thursday night. Final basketball game Friday night and the Parents' day Saturday morning. And, next week, there's nothing on the calendar except a field trip for Friday -- yippee! I might actually be able to get some laundry, baking and sewing done. I'm looking forward to having some quiet days and nights at home for a while.

Oh, and the weather has turned colder again. We just had a taste of the Spring to come last week and now it's cold again, but thank the Lord, not as cold as it had been. I am a bit concerned about my flower bed, though. We see little crocus buds coming up and I hope that the cold won't harm them that we won't have them blooming and looking lovely in the early Spring days.

Well, I know this post wasn't really interesting or exciting, but that's about how my day was -- just a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

What a Nice Week

2011-02-19T16:53:00.003-05:00

The Lord has smiled upon us this week and blessed us with warmer weather. What a nice break from the bitter cold we've been experiencing for months.

Our oldest, Anthony, suffered from a bad sinus infection last week. Then he passed it to me and to our youngest. Thankfully we didn't get it as bad as Anthony, and praise the Lord we are all doing much better. Poor Anthony couldn't participate in his entire basketball tournament last week because of it. He played in the first game and got hit in the face with the basketball and then had a nosebleed for a while. Then he was not feeling well enough to play in the second game, but his team won the championship anyway! Anthony had a game today, and they won. Both Anthony and Nicholas have a game next Friday night and then Saturday is parents' day and that wraps up basketball season for this year -- yippee! We do love our basketball and soccer seasons, though. The photo above is all of us in our new TEACH Timberwolves hoodies. We are proud of them, and they are so comfy.

Anthony also got a part-time job at a local horse farm. He really in not inclined to do hard labor. He is very academic and would much prefer a job that requires him to use his brain more than his muscles, but when you're only fifteen and looking for your first job, there isn't any "brainy" job available. So, his next choice is to, at least, work with animals. He has learned some things about horses from our good friend, Lindsay, from Creekside Cottage, and was excited to be able to work with horses. However, he was told that he wouldn't be working directly with the horses for a while. He would start by cleaning out stalls and such. He has worked just three days and, the third day he helped to groom one of the horses. He hopes to get some more hours and to be able to work more with the horses.

He has discovered that the bedding for the horses is an irritant for his nasal/sinus issues, so he is hoping that he will not have to quit. I have suggested that he use the netty pot each time he comes home from work, and hopefully, that will take care of it.

I'm looking forward to this next week, as we will be in a more regular routine, since basketball is just about over. We will actually be home three evenings this week! I am looking forward to it. We also need to get some normal school days in. We aren't behind, but it's been a struggle with the basketball schedule to do school, housework, music lessons, co-op classes and now a part-time job. I don't like to be so busy. I much prefer to have a simple life, but I do like to allow the boys their sports because it is a great outlet for their energy, and they learn how to work as a part of a team and how to respect different authority figures such as their coaches and the referees. Its' a good experience for them, and I do enjoy going to watch their games and cheer them on, and, of course, taking lots of photos.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday school and church followed by a fellowship meal. Aaah, restful Sundays with our church family -- what could be better?

I hope you all have a blessed Sunday.

Have a New Husband by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman

2011-02-13T15:56:00.002-05:00

Would you like to have a New Husband by Friday? Does the man you are married to now seem to be a different man than the one you married? Well, if you are looking for a way to get your husband to change while you simply sit back and wait for the difference, you don’t want to read this book. However, if you are willing to make some changes in some of the things you say and do in order to bring about the desired changes in your husband, than this book will be very valuable.

In this book, you will learn a lot about the differences between men and women. You will learn how to better understand your husband and why he does the things he does and what makes him tick. You will also learn about the things that have caused many of us women to view men differently than God designed and planned. Our views have been distorted by the women’s liberation movement and the way we have been treated by our fathers.

Does that mean that this book is going to suggest that you turn your thinking back to the stone age? No, in this book, Dr. Kevin Leman offers suggestions that you can put into practice to bring about a change in your husband and your marital relationship. The suggestions are quite simple, though they may not be easy.

Dr. Kevin Leman is an internationally known psychologist, humorist, radio and television personality and speaker. His humor and personal stories from his own marriage relationship add great insight as well as humor to this book. I highly recommend this book to any woman who wants her provider and protector -- her knight in shining armor -- because Dr. Leman tells you how to help your husband shine his armor up so that you can benefit from his shine once more and for years to come.

This is a book review that I have completed for the Christian Library of Lancaster.

Winter

2011-02-01T19:09:00.002-05:00

Winter: A Dirge by Robert Burns

THE WINTRY west extends his blast,
And hail and rain does blaw;
Or the stormy north sends driving forth
The blinding sleet and snaw:
While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars frae bank to brae;
And bird and beast in covert rest,
And pass the heartless day.

“The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast,”
The joyless winter day
Let others fear, to me more dear
Than all the pride of May:
The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul,
My griefs it seems to join;
The leafless trees my fancy please,
Their fate resembles mine!

Thou Power Supreme, whose mighty scheme
These woes of mine fulfil,
Here firm I rest; they must be best,
Because they are Thy will!
Then all I want—O do Thou grant
This one request of mine!—
Since to enjoy Thou dost deny,
Assist me to resign.

I just wanted to post something about winter today because we've been having such cold temperatures for so long and I do not like the cold. It always chills me to the bone. I would much prefer being a bear and hibernating in my cozy, warm home all winter. However, I am rejoicing in one thing today -- we did not get all of the sleet and freezing rain they were originally predicting for our area. We actually only received a very little bit of ice, although we could still get more overnight, but tomorrow we're just supposed to get rain.

Nicholas was supposed to have a home basketball game tonight, but it was canceled due to the weather. He was quite disappointed because he hasn't had as many games as Anthony this season, and basketball is his main and favorite sport. Oh, well, safety is more important that a basketball game, even though they are a lot of fun for all of us.

Also, just a note about the photo at the top of my blog. One of my blogging friends recognized it as a photo from the movie "P.S. I Love You" and commented that it is her favorite movie. I really like that movie as well and wanted to post a photo that seemed appropriate for Valentine's Day. I had the photo from the movie "The Nativity" for Christmas through the New Year and decided to try to post a movie photo as often as possible throughout this year in keeping with the upcoming holidays or some kind of theme or something. Just something I thought would be fun to do.

Now, I'm off to get cozy and watch "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" with my husband and two older boys. Anthony's studying government this year and his curriculum suggested we watch this movie. I've never seen it, even though it is quite an old movie, so I'm looking forward to it. I have always liked James Stewart.

Econogas Update

2011-01-31T15:39:00.002-05:00

Okay, here is what happened with my parents and Econogas. My mom called them last Wednesday, January 19th to inform them she could now pay them for a gas delivery, and she paid them nearly $300 and they still told her the delivery would not happen for five to seven days. Then she found out that Liheat, one of those places that aids people on fixed incomes with such situations, also paid Econogas $400 on behalf of my parents and Econogas still wasn't delivering for 5 to 7 days. So, my mom called again on Thursday and was told the same thing, and so, the told them that if it would get them gas, Econogas could use $150 of the money in my parents' account as the emergency delivery fee.

So, Saturday, January 29th, a delivery man finally brought them the gas they needed to get heat in their home. This was just one day short of one week since they had run out of gas. The delivery man could not believe that they had been out of gas/heat for so long. He also couldn't believe that Econogas had told my parents and me that they don't have an actual company in our town. He said, "That's where I came from." He did say, however, that he didn't think they were going to go through with charging my parents the $150 for an emergency delivery fee. (I guess, we'll see.)

This morning, my mom spoke with a lawyer that her and my dad are working with in regard to something else, and she told the lawyer about what happened to them with their heat situation and the Econogas company, and the lawyer said she would be writing them a letter. My mom told her that I posted about it on my facebook account and my blog on the internet, and the lawyer said, "Good for her."

Econogas seems to think that they can take advantage of people. They certainly have people, like my parents, who live on a fixed income, stuck between a rock and a hard place. They offer gas at a lower price than their competitors to attract such people, and then this is how they treat them. They better wake up because word now spreads faster farther via internet than it used to simply via word of mouth.

SNOW!

2011-01-27T10:12:00.003-05:00

Yippee! We finally got a good snow storm. It snowed a good part of the day yesterday, but really dumped it on us overnight. I love to have at least one good snowstorm a year, so I am quite happy. But, now that we've gotten it, I'll be just as happy not to receive any more this year.

My two older boys are so great! They went out and did all of the shoveling yesterday and are out there right now cleaning it all up again today! They are such a blessing! Because they did that yesterday, I was able to make some things I've been wanting to make for quite some time. I made a double batch of sweet scones. I also made lemon curd and Devonshire cream to go with them, and since my mixer stopped working, I had to beat that cream until it was stiff by hand with my whisk -- whew, that was a real workout for my arms! I also made a shoo-fly cake. Yes, here in Lancaster County, we are known for our shoo-fly pie, which happens to be my hubby's favorite, but the shoo-fly cake is a bit less time consuming and easier to do, so that's what I chose to do yesterday.

Today, after my boys are finished with the shoveling, I need to go pay some bills and do grocery shopping. We are on an extremely tight budget right now due to a large car repair bill as well as some other large bills I'm trying to get paid that all seemed to come on top of one another, and I don't have much to spend on groceries, so I have to purchase just the real necessities and be creative, as well as make more things from scratch. Thankfully, when our house was being re-done, we got rid of our freezer which we used to store extra meats and things, and I took some things to my parents' house to store because they have a large freezer. However, I had forgotten about it until last week, so while we are tight for grocery money, it's been great to be able to get those items and bring them home. They need to be used anyway. This is just another way God supplies for our needs. Obviously, there was a reason I forgot about those items at my parents' house and remembered them when they are really needed.

Today, I hope to have some time to bake some cookies, but in addition to the errands I will run, I also need to do laundry. Tomorrow, I won't have time to do anything as Nick has an eye doctor appointment in the afternoon and they have a basketball game an hour's drive away in the evening. Basketball is winding down. They have no more practices and only two more away games after tomorrow. Oh, yes, and, of course, we do school in the morning.

Well, the boys just came in. I'm going to go make them some hot chocolate. I hope to visit some of you blogging friends later. It feels like forever since I've been able to visit.

Econogas Cares More About Money Than People

2011-01-25T18:14:00.002-05:00

This is a post for consumer awareness. It is a warning for anyone who is or is considering becoming a customer of the Econogas company. My parents are Econogas customers and have gas heat. My parents are retired and live on a fixed income and have health issues, which make them high risk in the summer if it is too hot and in the winter if it is too cold. This winter we have had considerably consistently lower temperatures than normal for our area. It has rarely been above freezing (32 degrees). The past several nights have been in the teens or single digits and this is the third day in a row that my parents are without heat because they paid their bill late.

When retired people living on a fixed income only receive money twice a month they cannot be expected to pay bills on dates when they have no money. I know that people can plan ahead and save and now we have 401k's and retirement plans and such. However, my parents have never been real good at saving and/or planning ahead financially. But that is no reason they should be without basic needs. I also know there are homeless people who do not have their basic needs. I know having your basic needs is not an absolute right.

However, I don't think that it's right that a company put more emphasis on money than on the well-being of people. Econogas has told my parents that they will deliver gas within 5-7 days of receiving a phone call from my parents stating that they have the money to pay for it, and they will be required to pay the delivery man upon delivery. Until then, my parents are at risk for hypothermia.

My mother believes in Christ Jesus, but my father does not. My mother has a health issue that causes her to have difficulty in the mornings and makes it difficult for her to do things or go places in the mornings, and she does not attend a church. So, they have no possible help through a church either.

I am sure there are other elderly folks out there with the same problem, some of whom, I am sure, are older than my parents.

I just think it is a shame that money has become more important than people in many situations and scenarios. I tried calling and speaking with Econogas and made no progress. They refuse to budge. I have made some other calls as well, but unfortunately, there is nothing we can do until my parents have the money to pay for the gas, and if they request emergency assistance, it will cost an additional $150. Fortunately, my parents have a place to stay, where they are in the warm, until this problem is resolved, but what about all of those who don't?

It just angers me that elderly people are considered so expendable in today's society.

Oh, To Be A Bear

2011-01-20T16:45:00.002-05:00

It's so cold! We have been having a very cold winter. Temperatures have been mostly below freezing pretty consistently since November. We have had a little bit of snow here and there, the largest accumulation we received was about three inches. We also had some ice earlier this week when we received some freezing rain. Now, tonight, we await more snow, 2 to 5 inches this time, according to the weatherman.

I like to receive one very large snow and then have milder temperatures, as I do not like cold weather. Someone said to me yesterday, "we complain in the summer that we are too hot, and in the winter, we complain about the cold." I, however, can take the heat better than the cold. I really do not like feeling chilled to the bone.

Therefore, I would prefer to live through the winter like a bear -- in hibernation. Not necessarily sleeping the whole time, but not having to leave my cozy, comfortable cave would be nice.

We were to have our first day of the new semester of our homeschool co-op last week, but it was canceled due to snow. So, we had it this past Wednesday. Things went very well. We have lots of new faces again this semester, and I chatted for quite a while with one of the new moms, who is very nice and was so happy to find our co-op. She is the mother of eight, and is schooling the last of the eight. All of the others have graduated, and only the one she currently schools and a nineteen-year-old daughter remain at home. She's been homeschooling for thirty years! It's great to meet moms with so much homeschool experience, as well as those just starting out.

We meet every Wednesday. Again, they are calling for snow this coming Tuesday, so we'll see if it affects our co-op meeting or not. I hope not. We have to have our class ideas ready for this coming week for what we would like to teach in the fall, as we always plan well in advance. I found a great curriculum for teaching high schoolers how to handle their finances and plan for their financial futures. I hope that I will be able to teach that. I have to offer two things that I would be willing to teach and I haven't decided for certain on a second idea. That's always hard because I really want to teach one particular thing, but if more moms prefer the other idea, that I may not be so excited about teaching, it can be difficult. So, I have to try to find another idea that I would be as excited about teaching. Think, think, think.

Miss Me? Here's Why

2011-01-15T16:25:00.005-05:00

My boys love their sports. So, we have soccer in the fall and basketball in the spring. This year's Varsity boys team got off to a rough start in but things have improved quite a bit. It's nice that they have something active they can do in these cold winter months. I enjoy going to the games and cheering them on and so does their little brother.

I found the schedule a little too hectic near the holidays. I hope that next year there aren't so many games scheduled so close to the holidays. Since the holidays have past, there games are spaced farther apart and so the schedule is calmer. That's the way it should be near the holidays. Oh, well, I am grateful for the calmer schedule now.

I took on a couple of tasks to help out this year. I helped by being the go-to person for the first fundraiser. They sold candles made by my dear friend, Becky at Hospitality Lane, and we go to the same church, so it made things easy because we see each other weekly. Then they wanted to order hoodie sweatshirts with our team logo and the girl who was going to handle it was only going to order for the Varsity teams. Well, there were plenty of other people who wanted to order as well, but she said she didn't have enough time to handle it for everyone, so I said I would do it so that anyone who wanted to order could order.

You see, our homeschool sports teams have a good amount of fans because they have a very good sports organization, so some of the fans wanted hoodie sweatshirts to show their "spirit" as well. The hoodies should arrive next Saturday, January 22nd!

Hopefully, I'll be able to post on my blog at least once a week from here on out. I'll do my best!

My First Book Review for Tyndale House

2011-01-07T20:21:00.004-05:00

I have never been a real big biography reader. However, I find that now I really enjoy reading biographies of people whose lives have been changed by and because of their faith in God. Not only does this book tell of how Dr. Levy's life is changed because of his faith in God, but it tells how his obedience to God helps change the lives of many of his patients.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was an easy read and it was fascinating and inspirational. Dr. David Levy saw his father persecuted by family and others because he became a Messianic Jew. That persecution had quite an impact on David, although he had some struggles of his own with Jewish peers in college before he decided to fully commit himself to his Christian faith.

Dr. David Levy is a neurosurgeon. He writes a lot about his work and some of the difficult cases he has had. It's fascinating and frightening to read of his surgeries on people's brains or rather, the blood vessels in their brains. I learned a lot about aneurysms in this book. Dr. Levy shared of many of his successful and even of some of his not so successful surgeries. It is a powerful story of the suffering and healing of the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of his patients' lives.

The thing I liked best about this book is that Dr. David Levy, though a prominent neurosurgeon, took a risk and decided to offer to pray with his patients. He shares how difficult it was for him to work up the courage to actually follow through with his desire to pray with a patient for the very first time.

It's so wonderful to see how God works as Dr. Levy prays with patients and then takes it a step further and offers to help them seek forgiveness from God because he has seen that people who are bitter or angry or resentful often have poor health because our emotional state also affects our physical well-being.

I highly recommend this book. I received this book as an advanced reader copy from Tyndale House and was very pleased to read it and offer this review. I encourage you to read this book as well when it becomes available to the public in March.

The Creativity of Homeschoolers

2010-12-14T16:00:00.002-05:00

I always love to see the creative things that homeschoolers produce. My boys love to make their own videos and have done some really clever things as have some homeschool girls that we know from church. So, when another homeschool mom found this on Youtube and posted it on my Facebook wall, I decided to share it with bloggers as well. I hope you enjoy it too!

Christmas Shopping and Book Reviews

2010-12-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

Well, I have completed the majority of my Christmas shopping, and I did it all sitting in the comfort of my own home. Yes, that's right, I have become a cyber shopper. I just couldn't face going into the crowded stores and having to face the many grumpy shoppers and the long lines at the checkouts.

I always end up doing my Christmas shopping in the month of December and usually within just a week or two of Christmas, and every year I find more grumpy and rude people in the stores. It's really sad. Christmas should be a joyous time and we should not have to stress over it. It's not all about spending a lot of money or running to store after store to try to find that hot item. It's not about Santa Claus or Rudolph or Frosty or even evergreen trees.

Christmas is about Jesus, God's one and only son who was born to die to save us from our sins so that we may have eternal life. Christmas is about love -- a love so strong that Jesus was willing to die for us -- a self-sacrificing love. Christmas is about Mary and Joseph and a blessed baby born in a lowly manger in the little town of Bethlehem. Christmas is about angels and shepherds and much rejoicing for the hope that blessed baby brought with him.

Christmas should be a time for love, hope, joy and family. These are the things we focus on at Christmas. We don't spend too much money or charge so many things to a credit card that it takes until next year to pay for them. No, we focus on that precious gift that God gave to us a few thousand years ago, his one and only son, Jesus Christ.

We do put up decorations which include an evergreen Christmas tree, although this year our tree is artificial. It is decorated with wonderful homemade ornaments our children have made over the years. And, yes, we do exchange gifts, but each person only receives three gifts and whatever stocking stuffers they find in their stockings. We usually try to get each child one more expensive gift as one of their three gifts, but this year that won't be happening, but they will still each receive three gifts.

Our main focus is on our nativity set, although we don't place the baby Jesus into the nativity until Christmas morning. We also watch "The Nativity" movie on Christmas Eve after our church Christmas Eve service, and we read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas morning before opening gifts. It's much more enjoyable keeping the focus where it is meant to be instead of stressing over spending money.

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On a different note, I just wanted to let you know about some new posts I will be doing in the future. I have become a book reviewer for Tyndale House Publishers (there is a button on my sidebar). I have wanted to be a book reviewer for some time. I love to read, and I am so excited to be able to review books for Tyndale House Publishers.

I just received my first book in the mail today, so be looking for my book review in a couple of weeks.

Basketball and Candles

2010-12-09T16:00:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone. We've been busy around here trying to do school and running to basketball practices and games. I will try to post some photos soon.

In the meantime, our fundraiser is winding down. We have to have our orders in this Saturday, so, if you need a great last minute Christmas gift for someone, please go to Becky's Candle Store to place an order for some great smelling candles and mention either Nicholas or Anthony Barr on the TEACH Basketball fundraiser page to help my boys raise funds for their basketball season. We would greatly appreciate it.

Well, I've gotta run. It's time to get ready to go to more basketball games. Both of the boys have a game tonight. Nicholas plays on the middle school team and Anthony plays on the Varsity team.

I'll be back with photos soon!

Back to School and Christmas

2010-12-01T18:24:00.003-05:00

Well, after six weeks of almost completely focusing on either clearing out the house or putting things back in place, we are finally back to a semi-normal schedule and able to enjoy simply living in our wonderfully improved home.

This is our first full week of school since the house project began, and we are really enjoying doing school in our new family room, which has quickly become our favorite room in the house. It's a nice and cozy place to sit and read to the boys and to have discussions. Anthony has chosen to even do things that he needs to write sitting in the family room. He simply uses either a large hardcover book or clipboard for a writing surface. Today, however, we had a school day away from home. We went to a local church, where our co-op sponsored a fundraising event. We had Mr. Mike Snavely of Mission Imperative come and speak on creation. He explained the flood and how there is scientific evidence of the flood everywhere. He also explained that yes, dinosaurs, really did exist. He also gave us creepy information about how we have dust and eyelash mites living on our bodies -- ew! He also gave us some fascinating information of those creepy, crawly spiders that most of us love to hate. It was a good day, and it covered Bible, science and history, and then my boys came home and practiced their musical instruments which covered music. Even though it was a good day, I prefer the days we get to spend having school snuggled up on the big comfy couch in the family room.

The only thing abnormal about our schedule is all of the nights and Saturday mornings of basketball, but we are in basketball season, so that is to be expected.

Now that the weather has turned colder and the house is settled, I look forward to getting back into a normal routine that will also allow me to do some of the things that I enjoy doing for the family like baking, and for myself like sewing.

We put our Christmas decorations up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and are thoroughly enjoying them and looking forward to the Christmas season. We enjoy watching Christmas movies together like "White Christmas", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "The Year Without a Santa Claus", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street", and on Christmas Eve we like to watch "The Nativity" before we go to bed. We enjoy listening to Christmas music. I love Christmas music and try to get at least one new Christmas CD each year. And, I love to bake Christmas cookies with the boys and make Candy Cane Fudge.

This year we are looking forward to having Christmas day at our own house, which we have never done before. We have either been at my husband's side of the family or mine. And, due to complications with my family I had to decide a couple of years ago, that we couldn't get together with my entire family for holidays anymore. It was detrimental to my children. Since then, we've always gone to my husband's side, but this year, even before the house project came about, our two older boys asked if we could just stay home on Christmas day this year and do our own thing. They wanted to just be able to take their time opening gifts and being able to take the time to spend enjoying their gifts without having to rush off to someone else's house.

So, since it isn't our year to get together with my husband's side of the family on Christmas day, (because his one sister who is married has to go to her husbands' side of the family on Christmas day every other year), we are staying home on Christmas day, and our boys want to have a Christmas brunch rather than a Christmas dinner. So, I am currently looking through recipes and having fun planning a great feast of brunch items for Christmas day. I think we are all looking forward to our own special Christmas day together. Then, we will get together with my husband's side of the family, probably the day after Christmas, and we will go to my parents' house on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but we will be going to church on Christmas Eve and then home to watch "The Nativity" before bed.

We like to be sure that we don't get all caught up in the hustle and bustle and commercialism of Christmas that can cause you to miss the true meaning of such an important holiday -- the day we celebrate the birth of our dear Savior. We also started something new last year that we intend to stick with. Someone once told us that they only get each of their children three gifts. They said the children always get too much anyway with other relative's buying them things, and if three gifts were good enough for our Lord Jesus, three gifts should be good enough for our children. So, last year we attempted to do this, and technically, it wasn't only three gifts, but it was only three presents to open, as I had put maybe two books or two CDs or two pieces of clothing in a box and wrapped them, but it really did cut down on the gifts and the spending. And, the kids had no problem with it. As a matter of fact, my husband and I remember years where the boys got so much stuff that we didn't have room for it in our living room or dining room or in their bedrooms and so it would be put down in the basement. So, they had a couple of items in the basement that they had never even played with and didn't even ask for because they had gotten so many things they didn't even remember what all they had and simply couldn't play with it all.

So, what are you planning to do for Christmas this year?

Basketball Fundraiser

2010-11-30T19:23:00.005-05:00

My two older boys are once again playing basketball this year, and you can help them raise money for the gym rental by ordering some great smelling candles from my dear friend, Becky at Hospitality Lane who owns the Good Neighbors Candle Company.

All you have to do is simply click the link below and place your order and it will help with our fundraiser. You have to let Becky know which player you are supporting so you can choose either Anthony or Nicholas Barr to support either of my boys. The great thing is that the basketball program earns 50% of the sales. That's a wonderful return for a fundraiser.

Winter is a great time to burn great smelling candles both to help warm the house and fill it with wonderful aromas, so please check out the candles at the link below and place an order to help keep our basketball program going.

http://candlesathospitalitylane.blogspot.com/p/teach-basketball-fundraiser.html

Thank you for your help. We think this is a wonderful program and the boys learn a sports skill while learning team work and respect for authority figures, and we want to keep it alive. It is the largest organized homeschool basketball program in our area.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T20:46:00.002-05:00

I received this photo as the opening photo of an email I received from Vision Forum and thought it was lovely and so very fitting for tomorrow's holiday. We, here at Cozy Comforts, are more excited for Thanksgiving this year than we have been in previous years. Yes, we always have much to be thankful for and we thank and praise the Lord many more days than just on Thanksgiving day. But, this year, we have been so incredibly blessed in so many ways, as those of you who have been following us throughout the year know, and, not only are we so thankful, but we are excited to be having my husband's side of the family come to our house to share Thanksgiving.

We've never had family over for a holiday before. In the seventeen years that we have been married, we have always gone to either his relatives or mine for holidays. However, with all of the circumstances that have come about this year, it seemed most fitting to have my husband's side here for Thanksgiving. So, I have the turkey ready to put into the oven bright and early tomorrow morning. And, we'll be having candied yams, brown buttered noodles, and broccoli with cheese sauce. My sister-in-law, Diane, is bringing her squash casserole and my mother-in-law is bringing pumpkin pie, potato filling and cranberry salad, and my sister-in-law, Donna, is bringing broccoli salad and peanut butter pie. My sister-in-law, Dee, and her new husband will be spending Thanksgiving with his family.

We hope the weather will be good for the drive by the time they plan to arrive, as our forecast is calling for a wintry mix overnight and in the morning. The first ones plan to arrive around 11 or 11:30a.m. so, hopefully, all will be fine on the roads by then. So, I suppose winter is coming upon us, and being one who does not enjoy cold weather, that is another reason I am glad to have family coming here, instead of my having to go out:)

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving day, and I hope you will be spending it with loved ones. Remember to take time to truly thank the Lord for the blessings he has given you because we, Christians, know that Thanksgiving is much more than just a day to eat too much good food!

I'm Back with a Story of Great Blessing!

2010-11-17T17:03:00.057-05:00

We have received a HUGE Blessing! It took a lot of work on our part for the blessing to begin, but it was sooo worth it, as you will see in the photos and story below. First, I would like to begin with a couple of Bible verses because the Bible is our guide book. Though we still sometimes fall short of the glory of God, we try to be obedient to Him and His word.

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." (Psalm 82:3-4)

"So that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." (Deuteronomy14:29)

Our faithfulness to God in fostering to adopt children is why we were chosen for this blessing. I received a call from our foster care agency one Friday in September saying that they had been contacted by Charter Homes (a home builder in our area), and they wanted our foster care agency to choose a family that they felt could use some home repairs. Our foster care agency chose us and asked us if we would consider asking Charter Homes to finish our basement and put a bedroom down there so that we could continue doing foster care for them, as they were so pleased with us and really didn't want to lose us. (We had told them we had no more room for more children, but could continue to do respite care, which is short-term care, because we didn't have the needed requirements of a bed and dresser for a child. We had a fold away cot that could be used for a child to stay with us for a respite. They explained that Charter Homes wanted to do some home fixing up for a family who needed some stuff done who could not afford to pay for it. And, I believe, they wanted a family who does something to give back to the community in some way because they said to me more than once "we are doing this for you because of what you do for others".

Our foster care agency also said that even though they would like us to ask about having the basement finished and a bedroom put down there, they didn't want us to feel pressured, and they said we were free to choose to have something else done instead if we wanted, like having some flooring replaced or new kitchen cabinets or something.

I spoke with my hubby about it when he came home from work that day, and we took the weekend to think about it, talk about it as a family, and pray about it.

On Monday, I called our foster care agency (Cobys) and said that we had decided that we would like to have the basement finished and have a bedroom put down there so that we could continue to do more foster care.

Well, that Thursday, four people from Charter Homes and one of the men from Cobys came to our home. One of the women from Charter Homes did most of the talking and she asked what we thought we would like done. I told her, and we all went to look at the basement, which at this time was full of stuff because it had become our place to put everything we didn't know where to go with. They looked at the basement and the two men asked me a few questions and then one of them said, "This will be easy."

That's how it all began, and it grew and grew from that point on.

We needed to clean out our basement. Charter Homes provided us with a dumpster, which we filled. They also provided us with a storage pod, and they had a port-a-potty sat outside as well for their workers as they didn't want them using our bathrooms.

The storage pod and port-a-potty in front of our home.

The woman from Charter Homes, who had done most of the talking when they were here to look at the house was my contact throughout this project. Her name was Michelle, and she was very friendly, bubbly, sweet and helpful. After the men had decided that the basement project would be easy and that they would have someone power wash the back of our house and deck, Michelle decided that she didn't like certain things about my kitchen and wanted them fixed. Then the man who had said that the basement would be easy said they might as well put new vinyl flooring and carpet on our main floor if they were going to have to put it in the basement anyway. Then the other gentleman was looking at our sliding patio door and said that it was in bad shape, which we had planned to replace next spring because we knew it was bad but didn't have the money to replace it sooner, and the first gentleman said, "we'll replace that too."

A day or two later, when I was speaking with Michelle, she informed me they were going to re-do my entire kitchen with new cabinets and countertops. Another day that I spoke with Michelle, she said that all of my kitchen appliances were going to also be replaced.

Later, Michelle informed me that they were going to get me a new washer and dryer, but I said that I didn't want my dryer replaced as we had just bought that in the spring. So, they left my dryer but got me a new energy efficient large capacity washer.

As we approached the time that the work would take place, Michelle informed me that someone wanted to do some landscaping for us and wanted to know what they could do.

There just didn't seem to be an end to this blessing. Charter Homes and several other companies just showered us with blessings, and they completed the work in two days! We left our home Thursday morning, October 21st, after my being interviewed by a local television reporter and several workmen entering our home and beginning work.

We returned on Friday afternoon, October 22nd at 4:00p.m. to an awaiting Coby's employee whose job it was to stall us until the workers quickly finished up a few things in our home. When we entered our home, we were faced with many t.v. and newspaper cameras and lots of people from t.v. and newspapers and Charter Homes and Cobys.

We had not consulted with anyone or made many of the choices about what our home would look like, but we really love what all of these wonderful people did for us.

See for yourself in the photos below:

The above photo is of the lower deck in our back yard with two bushes that I didn't like because they hindered me when I wanted to hand laundry out to dry. So, the landscape people removed those two bushes.

The above photo shows the old stump of a Mimosa tree that was in our front yard. My husband had cut it down a few years ago because of the terrible mess it made, but hadn't been able to get rid of the stump. Also, the bushes under our bay window were getting a bit too large.
So . . .

As you can see in the photo above, the landscapers removed the stump and the bushes and put in a nice flower bed which includes a rose bush, two small holly bushes and some Day Lillies, and I believe, some crocuses.

In the above photo is the tree that was to the left (when facing the house) our front door. It had seriously gotten too tall and seemed to be dying in the middle.
So . . .

The landscapers replaced it with this small tree, which, according to the nursery person where they got it, is not to get taller than six feet.

These wonderful people even added some great little decorative touches.
They put down the "Welcome" mat, as well as the cheese pumpkin and lovely mums.
And . . .

This lovely fall decorative setting of mums, pumpkins and gourds.

The above photo shows what our deck looked like before power washing.

During power washing (notice the wood in the bottom of the photo has been power washed and the wood at the top of the photo has not been).

Above is our siding before power washing.

Clean siding and deck.

Below are three photos of our living room before the work was done. Notice all of the clutter. (The boxes in the first photo are not part of the normal clutter. They are part of the packing up, as we had to pack two whole floors of stuff.)

Below are three photos of the living room after the work was completed. No, they didn't change the size of any of the rooms. It just looks that much larger with a fresh coat of paint and no clutter.

Yes, the furniture in the living room is different. It used to belong to my sister-in-law, but as she and her new husband and her mom and dad have gotten a home together with in-law quarters, they all have to downsize, so she said we could have this sofa and love seat.

Above is the main section of our dining room before and below is the same section after. You will also note a different dining room table and chairs, the old one the chairs didn't match the table because the ones that matched had all broken. The ones in the newly done dining room used to be my mother-in-law's. It also has two boards to add to it for a larger gathering (like this Thanksgiving which is going to be here at our house).

The people who did the work put the lovely red table cloth on my table and they also had the vase on the table, but they had two dozen white roses in the vase. I liked the idea so much that I have decided to try to keep fresh flowers in the vase on the table all of the time.

Below is the wall in the dining room that separates the dining room from the living room. Notice how cluttered it is with homeschool stuff.

Same wall, now that things have been re-done. No more homeschool stuff in the dining room!

Above is the mess that sat against my kitchen counter dividing the kitchen from the dining room. I never had enough cupboard space, and, of course, there is yet more homeschooling stuff.

Above is the same space. Now there is only a small amount of stuff in front of the counter that I still don't have the cupboard space for, but it's not stuff I use too often. The stuff that we do use, I am not buying any more of until we eat this stuff and some stuff in my pantry cupboard so that it will then all fit in the pantry cupboard.

This is our sliding patio door; notice the duct tape along the bottom and up the left side of the screen. Also, notice the way the sliding screen doesn't close properly as the frame is bent.

Now we have this beautiful sliding patio door -- no more duct tape, and everything closes tightly!

The above photo shows the section of my kitchen that has our refrigerator in it.

Same section of the kitchen, after the finished work. Note more counter space as the microwave no longer needs that space.

My old kitchen with cluttered countertops.

Note how nice everything looks now: new cupboards and countertops, the microwave above the stove and the new ceiling fan and light and no more clutter!

In the kitchen, the people who lived here before us built this extra countertop and put it on wheels, but notice it sits in front of the dishwasher. So every time we needed to use the dishwasher, we needed to roll the counter away.

Voila! The dishwasher has been moved, the counter is now stationary and I have more cupboard space!

My new stove is a flat glasstop, so easy to clean! The people who worked on the house hung the lovely fall towels and put the nice smelling candle on the stove as well. They did such nice small things on top of the amazing big things.

The photo above is the new light that hangs above my kitchen sink. It's nice to have a drop-down light. Below is a close-up of the new chandelier light in our dining room.

Our half-bath before and . . .

after.

The new bathroom medicine cabinet, light, towel rack and yes, they hung that towel.

The only thing they didn't replace in this bathroom is the sink because it's an unusually small size, but they gave it a new faucet, and I got a nice handsoap dispenser to match.

This is our dirty basement door and our basement was one large open room, although we had it pretty full of stuff.

In the above photo, the door on the right is the door to the new hallway which has my laundry area to the left and that dirty basement door is clean and received a fresh new coat of paint.

As you can see, the walls in our basement were cement block and we had some water leakage a couple of times.

The above photo is the part of our basement that now looks like . . .

this! It is now a bedroom. The two older boys decided they would like to share this room although it's not really that big. We did ask that they paint this room a light shade of blue, and we got periwinkle and it looks nice. Charter Homes provided the new beds with sheets and pillowcases and . . .

a nice dresser with two lamps.

They also built a nice closet.

This is the other part of the basement before Charter Homes came in.

And, this is after -- a new family room! All of the furniture you see in the room, except the bookshelf, including the television and a blue-ray DVD player were provided by Charter Homes.

This is the last section of the basement before and . . .

After! A nice big closet. So, you wanted to know where all of the homeschool stuff went . . .

in here -- homeschool stuff on the right and my stamping and sewing stuff on the left!

This is by the basement stairs and near the hallway door. We got the bench from my in-laws.

Even our dog, Elvis, got a new bed, and he loves it!

This little plaque is setting on my kitchen counter. It was placed there by Charter Homes people as well. The newspaper article said that there was more than $20,000 worth of work that went into all of this for us, and the most amazing thing is that Charter Homes wasn't the only one who gave. They had many companies donate things for this project. I know that all of our new kitchen cupboard and countertops were donated and that is why we were also blessed with the furniture. This was a huge blessing!

Now, as to what this blessing has meant to me:
All of the clutter that was in our house had gotten so out-of-control that I was overwhelmed by it. I disliked it but had no real ambition to do anything about it. Now, the house looks so nice and there is no clutter, so I have every intention of keeping after it and keeping it looking nice. Even in my growing up years, I don't remember getting brand new furniture and we never lived in a brand new house. As a matter of fact, we rented the whole time I lived at home. So, this is HUGE to me. It has also accomplished something that my husband and I had wanted to do for years and never quite completed, and that was cleaning out the basement. As a matter of fact, when we had everything out of the basement for the workers to be able to work, Anthony said, "I didn't think we'd ever get this basement cleaned out." I am now proud of my home (but not overly so), and I look forward to having friends and family over for visits; something we haven't done much in a few years because I was embarrassed by what my house looked like. I am now happy and comfortable in my home and where I never seemed to want to try to decorate before, I now look forward to keeping my home looking nice and decorating for holidays, seasons or just because. Most importantly, we now have a home my children can feel good about and enjoy and invite their friends to come to, and we have room for more children.

Will we adopt more? At this point, we don't think so, but we are open to God's leading. We will continue doing foster care and see what God's plan is for us, but I sure hope we can spend some time with a little girl or two. After three boys, whom I love dearly, I'd like to try a little girl:)

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." (Psalm 100)

So Long! Farewell!

2010-09-28T20:59:00.037-04:00

I know that I have been absent for quite some time. Our lives have just been so busy lately, but in very good ways. God is blessing our family in incredible ways right now, and I wanted to post one last post to let you all know that I will be absent for quite some time. After today, I will probably be absent from blogland until the end of October or beginning November. At that time I will post pictures and a story of one of God's biggest blessings upon our family, so I hope that you, my appreciated readers and followers will be patient and return for my return in about a month. Until then, I hope you will enjoy lots of photos of things we have been doing recently:

The young people are involved in our church services. In the photo above, one of our young ladies sings the beautiful song, "Lamb of God" and below my son, Anthony played "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" on the piano for our offertory.

Following Sunday school and church this past Sunday, we had a church family picnic:

One of our dear ladies brought a bunch of steamed crabs.

I caught this dear lady frosting her cake before everything was ready to eat.

Becky of Hospitality Lane was very popular with the young children, as she had her two little dogs with her.

This precious little girl just started walking, and she was quite busy exploring.

After lunch, some of the men got into a game of Bocce ball.

One of the young ladies helped another young lady with her frisbee throwing skills to prepare for a game of Ultimate Frisbee.

I captured this photo later of these three beautiful young ladies having a good time. I really love the smile on Miss Chelsea's face and she looks absolutely adorable in that hat, don't ya think?

These adorable little ones sang "Jesus Loves Me" one Sunday after a fellowship meal.

Last Friday, we sat in the bright, hot sunshine in 92 degree humid weather to watch some of our beloved church family's young people participate in horse handling and horseback riding events at a local fair.

This young lady is a student to one of the young ladies from our church, and she is handling Sandy, the horse that belongs to the young lady from our church.

This adorable little cowgirl is not someone we know, but she was just to cute not to capture in photos and share.

Now this young lady is one we know and love well. Her grandpa led her around on Sandy.

This is our dear horse lady. She participated in several events and is the proud owner of Sandy, and she is generous with her horse and her time, as she often allows church children to ride Sandy and she teaches them or leads little ones around on Sandy's back when we gather at her family's home at Creekside Cottage.

This photo, as well as the next three, are of the boot race. Riders leave their boots at one end of the arena, where assistants scatter them, then the riders have to race up, find their boots, put them on, and head back to the finish line. The first one back wins.

This young lady decided it was much faster to ride back in just one stirrup!

This is another of the precious young ladies from our church riding Sandy in an event. Yes, Sandy was quite busy that day.

This photo and the one below are of the same young lady. We do not know her but thought she was very pretty. We also thought she truly had the "American Cowgirl" look, and she was really good with her horse. She was in almost all of the events, and walked away with first place in most of them (at least the ones we saw. There were events all day and into the evening, but we could only stay for about two-and-a-half hours. If the weather would've been nicer, we may have stayed the entire day. We really enjoy watching horses and their people:)

This is a young man from our church. I think he is just really beginning to work with horses, but he was in quite a few events.

I love this photo! This young man goes to our church and we were routing for him in several events, and he usually came away with second place. (I had opportunity to talk with his mother at the church picnic and got to know her better, which was really nice, and she told me that this young man has been working with horses for quite a while and has even worked to purchase his own horse -- not the one in this photo -- and is trying to work toward performing in rodeos.)

Last Saturday, we were blessed to be able to take the boys to a nearby amusement park, thanks to some dear friends who were generous enough to give us some free passes. I took Zeb to things he would enjoy and let my hubby take the big boys for the wilder things they would enjoy. Unfortunately, it was the last weekend of the season and the place was packed and lines were very long, so we didn't enjoy the park as much as we may have otherwise. However, we found a restaurant nearby that we didn't know we had anywhere around here and went there for dinner, and we really enjoyed our dinner and time there.

Of course, I couldn't leave without including some soccer shots. By the way, the boys had game on Tuesday night, and they won again -- 3 to 2! They have another game tomorrow night and one on Saturday, and more throughout the month of October.

Zeb is learning how to play soccer this year too, and he has his first game this Saturday too!

Well, I hope that God will be blessing all of you during the time that I am away. I will miss all of you.

Woo Hoo! We Won!

2010-09-21T19:48:00.002-04:00

My two older boys had three soccer games this season so far, one last Thursday in the rain, one this past Saturday -- both of which they lost, AND . . .

one this evening, which THEY WON -- 6 -2!

Anthony had fought really hard during the first half of the game to try and make a goal. He played well, and he played hard, but unfortunately he was not one of the scorers.

Nicholas was the goal keeper for the entire game and only two shots got past him. He played well and had good defensive players helping to protect the goal as well, but our goal didn't receive as many shots as the opposing team's goal received from us.

If You're Looking for the Rest of the Wedding Photos

2010-09-10T19:15:00.002-04:00

Hey, Everyone, I began the post of the wedding formals and reception on Sept. 8th, but didn't get it finished until today. However, I posted our adoption information and photos yesterday, Sept. 9th, so when I posted the rest of the wedding stuff, it posted below yesterday's adoption post, so you'll have to scroll down to find them, if you're interested.

Hope to post again soon. I have several birthdays to post about.