Water can ruin things

Water is a good thing. Our bodies cannot survive without it. Plants cannot grow without it. Many of us experienced a drought this summer and are thankful to have the pouring rain we are in the midst of. California now wishes they had rain as they are undergoing a HUGE fire. The Bible itself speaks highly of water and even likens the Word of God to it.

The precious commodity of water damaged something in my house yesterday. While I was in the basement throwing a load of laundry into the washing machine, my son was able to spill a cup of water onto my Macbook upstairs. My Macbook is less than a month old. I called customer support, took their advice, but to no avail. It's broken.

Right now I want to say that I will not be blogging anymore, but the reality is that I may just need a breather. It was fun while it lasted. May the Lord bless you all.

Verse for thought: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." I John 2:15a

More Fall Fun

These pictures are from the corn maze on Sunday. Carol was the one with the camera. Thanks!

Seth in the maze:
Tabitha and Joel:
Here we are at the pumpkin patch, with the two perfect pumpkins that Tabitha picked all by herself:
Carol, Lily and Tabitha on the infamous hay ride:
This box was so cool. It was full of corn kernels instead of sand. This is the type of box I wouldn't mind having around!
I hate pictures of me, but here you go. Me and Seth:


Verse for thought: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." Phil. 4:4

Happy Fall Y'all

Today we went with our neighbors to a corn maze/pumpkin patch fall fun thingy. While I was there I realized how many pumpkins I've accumulated this fall. Tabitha and I have a lot of cooking to do, which will give us lots of puree. I thought I'd take some good shots of the kids with it all. This first one was taken immediately after they sat down.

Within a minute, Tabitha was yelling, "Ah! Mommy look...

Seth is using the pumpkin as a ball."

Patricia was quiet, as usual. She thought I put the leaves there for her eating pleasure.


Verse for thought: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted" Ecc. 3:1,2

For Card Making Maniacs

The other day I ran across this site. This woman blogs about the beautiful cards she comes up with. She's really good. So then I had the idea that maybe I would post a few of my own designs today. The only problem is I don't have too much confidence in my "art work", so instead I am showing you my newly finished craft closet.

This is what it looks like. Do you see the picnic basket? That's what I used to cram everything into. That means most of the stuff ended up being every where else. Now it houses only my stamp sets.



I had to throw in this cute picture:


Verse for thought: "all the widows stood by [Peter] weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up... And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord." Acts 9:39-42

Michelle's bake off

Today I was in the mood for something sweet, which is nothing new. That pushed me to bake. Something I haven't done much of in a while. On the few recent occasions that I have baked I usually make yummy ginger cookies, because I want to use up my crystallized ginger. But today I couldn't find that particular magazine, which has the recipe in it. Due to picture appeal and the ingredients I had on hand, I opted for these White Chip Brownies:




1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs2 cups white chips, divided

-~-~-~-~

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. In large mixer, beat sugar, butter and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in one and a half cups of the white chips/morsels. Pour into greased 9" square baking dish. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan. Melt the remaining chips and drizzle on top (I used the ziploc bag method).


It's a keeper. Not only is it delish, but its also heavy. A good combo in my book.

Verse for thought:''Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Matthew 6:25

Verse for thought

"What is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." James 4:14

Look-a-likes? Maybe

I am convinced that my kids look like their best friends. Today I wanted to shoot pictures of them to show you. Of course, they didn't look as alike as I thought they did today!

Here is Tabitha (on the left) with Rachel. They always have snack together and sit like little girls talking about who knows what.
Seth (on the bottom) has recently befriended Joshua. When he sees him, he yells, "JOSHUA!" Then runs up to him and starts rough housing. Joshua laughs and plays along. Quite a different relationship then the girls'.
Is it just me or do my kids look like their friends? I wonder who Patricia will become friends with!

Verse for thought: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Proverbs 27:6

An hour to spare

Last night Enoch and I had some extra time on our hands, so we decided to check out a Korean grocery store that was in the area. I love looking at international produce sections. They always have a much wider selection of goodies. Here I found cactus pears and even cactus leaves, more types of mushrooms then you can imagine and a bitter melon.

They also carried things that I would not care to try, such as this black fungus:
Or these tiny dried fish. In one of the aisles they had quite a variety of dried fish packaged up in plastic bags. Maybe someone else would like to pop two or three of these whole crunchy fish in their mouths, but I think I'll pass: (Can you find any eyes?)
I've heard of this one before. It's a latin american pastry. There's a large number of hispanics in that area, so this store caters to them as well. This one is called toasted tongue, although its not the real deal. We did, however, see cow tongue, pig hearts and even a package of chicken feet (sorry no pics of these!)
This one, for some reason, tickled me the most. In the event that you're stocking up your pantry, don't forget to grab a one pound bag of MSG powder:

Have any of you come across interesting foods that many others haven't heard of? Have you tried anything different? Please do tell.

Verse for thought: "Then Job answered and said...the arrows of the Almighty are within me;

My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me...My soul refuses to touch them; They are as loathsome food to me." Job 6:1,4,7

October 12, 2002

Happy Anniversary Honey Bunches of Oats! Five years ago on this day:
At the time there was the sniper on the loose. Thankfully no one who attended was shot :D. Although my in-laws were stopped by the police because their rental vehicle was the exact one that the police were looking for!

Verse for thought: "And they two shall be one flesh." Ephesians 5:31

Update on the children

Just thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on the gang.

Tabitha is not so little any more. I no longer feel like I can say I have three little children, because she doesn't fit into that category any more. She loves to learn. She would gladly do school work with me if I was able to make it a priority. Though I don't always find her to be the most obedient child, she does play by the rules and lets others know if they are deviating from them. She knows she's not allowed in the street, so she'll be responsible enough to tell other children not to go. She's 4 years old.
Seth is about as boy as boy could be. He's often found swinging bats, sticks or whatever he can find throughout the house. When he sees other boys he does this bear like grunt and screams, "BOY!" Nothing can hurt this boy. He falls like there's no tomorrow, gets bruises and scratches, yet he isn't even phased by it. His speech is becoming clearer every day. He's 2 1/2 now. Here he is demonstrating his silly face.

Patricia is 8-months-old now. Yesterday she stood up without holding on to anything for five seconds. I can't believe she's at that stage of the game already. She loves to eat the chalk and crayons that Seth leaves all over the floor. Just as I take one piece of chalk away from her, she finds another one. She finally found her voice. For a while she was always "the quiet baby", but now she lets out loud squeals all day long. She's even able to repeat sounds that you make. You can see her chompers here.

Verse for thought: "Lo children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalm 127:3

Fractured Prune

For months I've been wanting to try out this new donut shop called the Fractured Prune. They seemed to have an interesting take on donuts from what I've read in the coupons they offer. I finally went in today. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. When I told him I wanted a dozen donuts, he went into the back, got the batter ready, plopped it into the machine and then came back to ask me what I would like on top of them. At this particular branch they have a selection of 15 different glazes, ranging from honey and mocha to mixed berry and good old chocolate. So as these hot donuts come out of the machine they are then plopped into their glaze. From the glaze they go to any one of 10 toppings, which include mini chocolate chips, coconut and powdered sugar among others. They even have kids' meals, which consist of two donuts and a bottle of milk, served on a frisbee with their logo.

It seems that every branch has a different variety of choices. Here are samples of some of the specialty donuts I ordered today:

• Banana nut bread: banana glaze, cinnamon sugar and peanuts
• Peppermint Patty: mint glaze, mini chocolate chips
• Ms. Prunella: mixed berry glaze, cinnamon sugar

Check out their site to see if there's one in your area and read the story of how they got their name. If you don't have one close by you, they do have franchise opportunities!

Verse for thought: "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." I Timothy 6:7,8

And can it be...

that I just cleaned? Last night when I went to bed our kitchen and breakfast nook floors were spotless and freshly mopped. Less than 24 hours later this is how it looks:

You can barely notice poor Patricia sitting amongst it all. Please note that this is just the kitchen. I did not snap my stairs which have chips all over them or the couch which had all of the cushions taken off or the tent that was pulled out of its bag or the squished tomatoes I cleaned off of the floor or the two separate puzzles which were out of their places or the pictures which were strewn all over the floor. On and on the list goes. Yes all of those things happened TODAY. Yes, the kids helped clean up a lot of them. No, I will not finish cleaning up before it's time for my "lights out". And no, every day is not this bad. As a matter of fact, I figured out why today was so crazy. I laugh as I write this. Today was as such, because yesterday I announced, quite happily, that Tuesdays are now TV free days in our home. To think that doing a good thing, such as shutting off the tv, ends up dragging me through torture is funny. I can't help but laugh.

Verse for thought: "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean; but much increase is by the strength of the ox." Proverbs 14:4

May I introduce...

Carol is not only a good friend and believer, but she's also our next door neighbor. She's been on the blogging scene for about two months now. I love reading her blog. It's usually a short story about something funny one of her two children did or great pictures that I never tire looking at. Stop by her place and say, "hi".

Verse for thought: "A merry heart does good like medicine." Proverbs 17:22

Laine's letters

I don't know if anyone who reads this subscribes to Laine's Letters. If so, this will be a repeat. I received this yesterday in my e-mail and it challenged me. I thought I'd pass it along to you. Laine was answering a reader's question:

3~ What do you do when you're having a difficult day? How do you change
your attitude and not get depressed or overwhelmed?

We all have difficult days, don't we? My mother taught me long ago to
count my blessings when I am having a difficult day. So I start to thank
God for every thing I can think of. As soon as it comes to my mind, I
thank Him. Pretty soon my mind is so occupied thanking Him that I am not
dwelling on my present difficulties, rather focusing on His many
blessings. There is just so much to be thankful for, and I am afraid that
it sometimes takes a good difficulty to redirect my thinking as to what
He has already done causing me to realize afresh what He will do. I was
counting my blessings only recently with all our latest trials.

It is called the "sacrifice of praise" or as my mother puts it,
"practicing praise."

"My times are in Your Hand." Psalm 31:15

Ball in your sink?

In our small bathroom down stairs we don't have a drain stop or whatever they're called. There is an open circle where all the water freely flows down. About three or four inches down there is a rod that goes across the middle. The other day Seth happened to drop one of his bouncy balls down there, which happened to be the exact size of the hole. I tried different things to get it out:

• Using two knives to grasp it.
• Flushing it out with water. Thankfully that didn't work
• Using one knife.
• Praying.
• Considering calling a plumber, but so not wanting to pay the price.
• Trying to unscrew the pipe, but having no sucess

Today I went to wash my hands and the water was taking an unusually long time to drain. When it finally went down I noticed that there was a coin on top of the ball. I was able to pick the coin out with pliers. As I was yelling at Seth I had an idea as to how to get the ball. It worked right away! I straightened out a safety pin, held that with the pliers, poked it into the ball and easily pulled it out.

Now to get a proper drain in the sink!

Verse for thought: "Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding." Proverbs 3:13

The greatest...

I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband. I don't really know where to begin. He loves me like no one else on earth has ever loved me. I see it in his eyes when he looks at me. He loves his kids and doesn't mind teaching them a thing or two about baseball. When he feels that anything is going slightly wrong he does everything in his power to change and make things right. I'm so thankful that he loves the Lord above all and that has never wavered. He has the wisdom of Solomon. I really believe he does.

I love you, Enoch!

Verse for thought: "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." Gen 2:21,22

My first Project

I spent all day yesterday and some time Monday and today burning DVDs. There is a set of five DVDs that a missionary wanted to pass on to all of the families in the meeting. I was asked to make six sets. I was overjoyed that I could use my new computer for this type of work. We didn't have any cd covers at home. So, instead of going to the store I thought it would be better to use stuff I have at home.


Of course, that meant I just had to decorate them too. I have a button with ribbon holding each set together.

While I was able to focus my attention on this task, I had to neglect other things a little. Now I can spend the next few days focusing on picking up toys and laundry!

Verse for thought: "In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves." Philippians 2:3

Standing and clapping

Carol, I hope you don't mind that I stole this picture off of you.

Today was another milestone day, which Patricia has been having her fair share of lately. One minute she was playing on the floor. The next thing I know, I see her standing at the edge of the couch. It was literally just three weeks ago that she learned how to crawl. And only a week after that, she was able to sit herself up from a lying down position. Once it's time for them to grow, they just don't stop.

Neither Tabitha nor Seth were crawling any more by their first birthdays. I think Patricia will be following "in their footsteps!"

If you have a minute, please check out this hilarious video. It's called the "Mom Song". If you read the description you'll know right off the bat what kind of things will be included, but if you listen to it, you'll be amazed.

Verse for thought: "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby." I Peter 2:2

A Natural Phenomenon

How is it that Seth, being a boy, has almost empty drawers, yet when I go to get his dressed in the morning, I rarely have difficulty finding anything for him to wear. However, with Tabitha (a girl), I have to shove her laundry into her drawers, because they are over flowing. And when I go to find clothes for her I usually end up thinking, "I really do need to buy her more clothes, she just doesn't have anything to wear!"

Verse for thought: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." Matthew 6:28,29