Christopher the Singer

My son Christopher is terrified of the water or so it seems, until his instructor throws a plastic duckie out into the water. He will hold the instructor's hand and go out after the duck and he sings the whole time. It's hilarious. He normally sings Five Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed and today he sang a song about the pizza angel, a Veggie Tale song I think. The instructor laughed the whole time. I'll have to take my camera tomorrow and see if I can get it on video.

The lifeguards say that they think that he will be a famous singer one day. I have always believed that he will be a Pastor. I guess he could be a singing Pastor. :-)

Passport Application

Last week I applied for a passport. Because of tightened security, it now takes 10-12 weeks to get a passport. I'm going on a cruise to Mexico with my Mom. The trip is not until November and so we had time to apply for passports without putting a rush on them.

For those of you who may be applying for a passport or know of someone, the cheapest place I know of to get them is Sam's Club. You can get the photos taken at the Post Office, but it cost 3 times as much.

If you think you might even have a chance of going out of the country this year, apply for you passport now. It feels so good not to procrastinate. :-)

Update on Kid's Swimming

The kids took two sessions of swimming and then we had a break. The first session of swimming was somewhat of a "warm-up" session and by the second session, both of the kids were making tremendous improvements.

Well, then came 4th of July, which during that week there were no classes and the next session was full. Not good. Now we are in classes again and it is if we are starting over. Christopher will barely get into the pool and Jasmine screams every time her instructor tries to get her to use the kick board.

Yesterday classes were cancelled to due inclement weather, but one of the lifeguards has agreed to work with Jasmine one on one. So I'm hoping that the one on one will be good for her.

Random Thoughts of Old Friends

From time to time I think of people that I've met some time in my past and I put their name into Google to see what I come up with. Recently I found one of my college roommates (who then got me in touch with one of our other roommates) and I also found a friend that I met while tutoring (she needed help with Calculus).

They are both married with children; one has four kids and the other is 7.5 months pregnant. I still have one roommate that I would like to find, but I can't seem to remember her last name! Oh well, maybe it will come to me one day... :-)

So have you googled anyone lately?

Cable Decision

Recently I have been trying to decide if I should get rid of our cable. About a year and a half ago, I called in to reduce the cable to Limited Basic, which is supposed to just include the local channels, but they never cut our channels back so we still had all of the same channels as before for the low price of $9.99

At some point, Cox was bought out by Sudden Link. When the switch was made, our cable bill went from $9.99 to $19.99 for local channels, but for some reason we never had just the local channels until very recently. I guess they had an audit or something and realized that we were getting more channels than we were paying for, which is no problem for me because I rarely ever watch tv.

I'm thinking that $20 is an awful lot of money to pay for local channels! And I am seriously considering just turning the cable completely off. These days even PBS has questionable programming. Is there anyone else that lives cable free? How do you like it?

Learning About Chores

God has really been impressing my heart with teaching my children diligence through chores. So through the suggestion of Shereen, I ordered a book entitled Managers of Their Chores by Steven and Teri Maxwell.

I encourage every parent who does not have a chore system in place to order this book. I honestly was expecting a book that just went through how to schedule chores and hints on how to get them done. This book is so much more than that. It tackles the spiritual aspect of chores and how training our children to do chores helps to equip them for life.

I am pleased so far with what I have read and will keep you updated on our chore system and the progress that I see in my children.

A Busy Summer

I was planning to relax and really enjoy my summer, but I feel as though I have been meeting myself coming and going. :-)

Vaction Bible School is finally over. The kids had a blast. We didn't get home most nights until 9:30 or so, we were all exhausted.

Our Sign Language class ended today. The kids learned so much and have been signing to each other around the house. I really didn't think Christopher would pick up on much, but he has learned a lot.

We start back up with swimming tomorrow and even though the class is only for two weeks, by the time we finish, it will be time to start school again! Well, there goes our summer. :-)

100th Post!

Wow, this is my 100th post. I hardly even know what to say. This week is VBS and I am exhausted! I am responsible for the opening and closing which includes teaching songs with motions. It is wearing me out!

Of course it's all worth it because the kids are having a blast and learning stories in the book of Joshua like Rahab and the Israelites crossing the Jordan river. The story tellers have done a wonderful job of making everything come to life. My daughter said on Monday that she was really afraid and then she realized it was just a story. :-)

Like Paul, I am learning to be content in every phase of my life whether good or bad. When you concentrate on the good you can be thankful for the bad and how it strengthens your character. We are most thankful for the light when it shines after darkness.

If you are in a tough spot in life, hold your head up because a better day is coming soon.

More Bird Nests

A couple of years ago I bought a hanging plant to go on my back patio, and a bird built a nest in it. As a result, my plant died. This year, I decided to try again and purchase another hanging plant for the back patio. Wouldn't you know it, there is another nest!

The feeling is truly bittersweet. I'm not sure whether to be upset because my plant may die or happy because we will get a sneak peak into the life of these birds. :-)

We will use this as an educational opportunity. Our first assignment is to figure out what kind of nest it is. It measures 3.5 inches across. Any guesses?

Tackle it Tuesday

I got tired of wondering what was going to fall out of the cabinet when I opened it, so I decided to go ahead and tackle it. I set my timer for 15 minutes and went for it. I trashed a lot and orgainized the rest and Voila!

To see more projects that have been tackled or to post your own, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Poor Little Fellow

Friday, as we were loading the van for the drive back, I noticed a little creature under the gate that leads to my Mom's backyard; it was an opossum. I could not believe it. I got close enough to see if he was alive. I don't know how long he had been there, but he wasn't there when we went to bed on Thursday night.

My husband says that he heard the fence rattling, but he just assumed it was the wind. Well, it wasn't the wind after all. It was the poor little opossum. I guess he was trying to wiggle his way out.

I called animal control to come and get him so my Mom wouldn't have to worry about it. I called my girlfriend to tell her what happened and she said that I should have fussed at him because he is smart enough to know that he is on private property and he should have gone the other way. Sheer Hilarity!

At any rate, he was gone when my Mom got home. I'm assuming the animal control people came and picked him up. I guess I'm the only one that feels sorry for the little fellow

Reminiscing

One of the things I love most about visiting home is reminiscing. I pull out my old yearbooks and remember classmates that I haven't seen since second grade. I get to see cousins that I haven't seen in a while and their children that remind me of what they looked like when they were the same age.

I got to see one of my twin cousins that lives in MD. Her twin sister lives here so I see her when I come home, but today was the first day I saw her sister in five years. It was nice to see her and her twins that are only a couple of months older than my youngest.

Her son is 10. I haven't seen him since he was a little fellow. I remember babysitting him when he was a baby and I was pregnant with my daughter. He screamed and yelled the whole time. I kept thinking he was going to get tired and go to sleep. NOT!

He is so well mannered and well behaved now and makes almost all A's in school. Who woulda thunk it??

I was so excited about seeing everyone, that I didn't take a single picture. I will see if I can catch up with them tonight and get at least a few pics.

My daughter commented, "Mom, I never knew I had so many cousins!" She has never even met most of them. My Mom is the oldest of 10 children. I have at least more than 30 first cousins on my Mom's side and a lot of them have children!

At any rate, it's so nice to come home and visit and remember when everyone was young.

Family Vacation

This week, I am visiting family in Pensacola, FL. Last night my Mom, two brothers, my husband and I went bowling at Liberty Lanes. They have this wonderful Monday night special. The cover charge is $6 which includes shoes and then each game bowled is $0.25. We bowled a total of 10 games and paid $32.50 including shoe rental!! Now that is a bargain and I almost forgot to mention that they are smoke free!

My brother Jason got a brand new ball and talked trash the whole week up to us coming. My Mother said that he was "armed, but not dangerous". LOL. I guess we spoke to soon, since in the first game he came in first place with a 165. I bowled a 135 and came in 4th! Guess that's what happens when you come from a family of bowlers. :-)

We won't discuss my second game in detail. I broke 100 (barely) ,LOL and came in dead last. We had a blast and I need to include Monday nights as a part of my vacation so we can get in on this wonderful deal. :-)

For Better or for Worse

This quarter's Sabbath School Lesson is entitled For Better or for Worse: Lessons from Old Testament Couples. The first week's study is about Adam and Eve. It's amazing how even in Adam's perfection, he longed for a companion. I think what I have found most interesting is that it is only through God that we are able to completely enjoy this companionship He so masterfully designed.

To be known intimately and still be loved, is a Divine task indeed. If you are having struggles in an intimate relationship, any relationship for that matter, I challenge you to strengthen your relationship with the Master of all relationships and watch Him make miraculous changes in you. Change begins with each individual. When you change, so will those around you.