I just payed for this blog’s domain name for another two years, so I will have to use it for something.
I want to keep blogging, but I’m going to take an official breather so that I don’t have to keep feeling guilty for not posting.
Probably a month, maybe less, I will think about how often I can post, and try and find a new inspiration or theme for my blog/posts.
I love you!
We’ve been back from Yosemite for a week today. It’s been a packed week and we’re just catching our breath, but man was it worth it!
The beauty of Yosemite is awesome! The first two days we were there it was rainy and freezing cold. Just between you and me, I was really not loving the idea of hanging around there. But, on the third day the sun came out and the splendor that surrounded us overshadowed any sacrifice we’d made in enduring a few days of rain.
The kids loved it. Cade is a huge nature buff, so he was in Heaven rock climbing, wading, discovering this and that, totally in his element. Brooke appreciated it all on a more superficial level, plus she’d just learned to ride her bike well enough to ride places, and that kept her happy. Zara liked it, but mostly she was happy because Carla was there. Emma, she’s a huge nature buff as well. She was thrilled by every squirrel, bird, dog and butterfly. She saw upclose some deer and a racoon, that was magic for her! She was even awed by the waterfall, which I didn’t expect from such a young child.
Sam conquered Half Dome, which is a fairly formidable hike. He was thoroughly beat when he got back, but he’s considering doing it again now. you can read the whole story here.
I, well, I conquered camping with four scampering kids. Here are a few pictures of our happy week.
Here are a few pics, but you can’t see any of the Yosemite wonders in them, so I’ll have to do a follow up post with some of those pics.
All of us at the Indian Village.
The kids in a Teepee. Emma would not make a very good little Indian girl.
Cade playing around outside.
Brooke with Emms who loves standing on the scooter.
Zara rock climbing.
Zara and Carla.
And I’ll post some more pictures soon. ILY!
The most exciting thing we’ve been up to:
We’re going to Yosemite on Tuesday for a five day vacation. We’re being joined, or rather we’re joining, some wonderful friends, so I’m thinking we’re going to be having a grand old time breathing clean air, waking up every morning and seeing nature as God intended it to be seen. I am excited!
Something fun we did recently:
Last week we went to Lego Land. Oh, now that was fun! It’s amazing how the Lord spoils us!
Something that is bugging me:
Work out has been sporadic, sigh.
The biggest thing I have been trying to wrap my brain around:
The concept of meditation. I love this quote:
the deepest and most fruitful times of meditation are those born of a sincere love for His Spirit and wanting to be completely engulfed in it to where you are content to let everything else go to find that place of complete rest in Him.
And here are some pics from LegoLand.
Zara with her dearest friend, Carla. She is very loyal and passionate about this friendship!
Cade was quite pleased with this experience. They had a whole driving course with traffic signals, stop signs, etc.
Brooke was a better driver than I expected. So cute.
My dolly.
So now you are “in our loop.”
What’s going on in my life:
Weaning Emma, as of today (she’s doing really well)
What’s going on in my bathroom:
7 loads of laundry and no water (been three days now)
What’s going on in my closet:
Finally unpacked. I am so blessed, I bet none of you have a closet as nice as the one I have!!!
What’s going on in my fridge:
Way too many random left overs. I forgot to pick up a Pound Plus bar of Dark Chocolate from Trader Joe’s before coming back to Mexico. I feel the loss.
The thing I am happiest about right now;
That I tried a few new ideas, and they worked!!! PTL!
The thing that bugs at me right now:
That I still do all our “books” in my head, and never write anything down when it comes to our expenses, etc. I usually can keep all those figures afloat in my head, but I am sinking!!! I need to get myself a spreadsheet….fast.
And I’ll post pictures soon…..
Life is good. Life is full. Life is busy. Life is changing.
I know that there are some of you out there that feel that hunting is ruthless, unethical, inhumane and just plain old mean! Well, maybe so, but I think that there are many more pros for hunting.
I will list some cons from what I’ve heard against hunting and then some pros as how I see it.
Most of these cons have been voiced by the female gender. I believe it is due to the tender caring nature of women, but the more popular theory is due to too many viewings of Bambi!
On the other hand most of the pros have come from some very, very manly men, namely myself and a few others just as manly as I! By the way, I never considered having watched “Man in the Wilderness” as a very young child as having skewed my view on this, rather I see it as having been “survival training” if ever I were mauled by a wounded bear and left for dead!
Before I continue, I’d like to stop for a little Word Time!
GEN.1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, (I like that part!) and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Amen!
Now, for the Cons:
2. It’s just an excuse to go out and get drunk and stupid with the guys! (What’s wrong with excuses?)
3. Hunting gear costs too much. (Too much is relevant, Victoria’s Secret can also cost too much!)
Just a small sample of some of the things you might need!
Looks like that is all there is on the Con side. Now to the real reason for this post!
The Pros:
1. The feeling of being one with nature. (Nature of course being God.)
2. Helping to control the over population of particular species. (Just think how overridden our nice little suburbs and cities would be if dangerous, vicious, and wild animals were free to do whatever they so desired, such as live. Thank God for the hunter!)
3. Future survival training. (Someday you are going to need to eat and wish I could hunt!)
4. Bonding time with others of like-mindedness and who have the same goals, even if it is with a few drinks. (This could also be considered engendering unity.)
5. Just seeing these magnificent animals, shows the true wonder of the Lords power. (And being the one to kill it…well…never mind that one.)
6. Hunting is fun. (That’s a real important one!)
7. Hunting is cool. (Another biggie!)
8. Hunting is awesome. (Can’t forget awesome!)
9. Hunting shows just how much of a real man you really are. For real! (Can’t do that too much!)
Wow, three times as many Pros than Cons. So from the looks of things, the Pros so outweigh the Cons.
And just to show you what I mean, here are a few pictures to prove how cool hunting can be. (I hunted these off the internet, but I thought they were cool anyway.)
Would never have thunk it!
Would love to hunt a kitty that size!
What man wouldn’t be happy?
That ain’t no “Bambi” dear!
“I do like colossus eggs and ham” said Sam I am!
Just in case some of you guys don’t think hunting can be breathtakingly awesome just check these out!
The part of the show you’ve all been waiting for!
I would almost consider strapping on a pair of antlers for this!
So, what do you think?
On Sunday we celebrated Emma’s first birthday. As usual, that’s the one birthday I know I can get away with not making too big a deal out of it, so I don’t.
But we all enjoyed her and had lots of fun watching her reactions to things. She’s such a serious little one, not always, but most of the time.
See how seriously she’s looking at that cake….
She loved the doll she got. Here she’s hugging her new baby.
She very seriously ate her cake and ice cream
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With her cute pink shoes. She’s very into her shoes. “Shoe” is one of the words she understands, and if you sk her where her shoes are she bends over basically till her nose touches her shoe to show you her shoes.
Emma, you are such a joy to us. We thank Jesus everyday that you are a part of our lives! We love you!
We had family day on Sunday. It was such a cute day. We took the kids to the park. As I watched them play it finally dawned on me that I had better enjoy these days when it’s all so simple.
Playing tag with Mom is still cool, Mom is still cool (!), it’s still fun to play with their siblings, a cookie is still a treat, and the list goes on and on.
All in all, these are days of bliss. I am a happy mom!
What are three things that you need to have, the things that equal “happy” to you?
Like your day could be totally crazy, but you know you will be okay because…..
You can’t say “because my kids, family, spouse, friends, etc, are happy and healthy”
Nor can you say “If I get Word time”
Those things are a given.
My three things are: (and I know this because I have had a lot of practice with crazy days lately)
A hot shower (and if it can’t be hot just a shower will do)
A good run (oddly because I’m not even a runner per se)
yummy food (usually a good salad, extra good if there’s ice cream too)
Okay, I have to throw in a fourth, a good conversation. For me there is something totally therapeutic in having a good talk
with someone. It can be about anything, doesn’t have to be intenstly soul searching, but just connecting with someone.
So, what keeps you ticking?
I come to the end of many a week only to realize that I forgot/didn’t find time to post anything. I don’t know if anyone suffers from these lacks, chances are the world keeps on turning just fine.
I came to a small realization today, and that is that I love tips. Tiny bits of information that can be easily passed on, but can be the key to something. I’m always on the look out for tips, so maybe I can use my idle blog to gather/swap tips more.
Yesterday I was on the trampoline with all the kids(5) and Emma. Emms did not like the trampoline on this day, in fact she didn’t like a lot of things. I was barely able to moderate the situation. I was certainly not able to have any fun with the kids.
Tammy took Emma after a little while (thanks Tammy!), and we started playing this game, me and the kids. In just a little while we all were swept up in this game, having tons of fun together. There were no squabbles or anything to work out. It was one of those little “ahh” parenting moments.
so, here’s my tip: If you have a baby most of the time, make sure that dad or someone else takes the baby sometimes so you can do fun things with the other kids.
It helps you realize that the stage will pass, soon enough baby will be one of those kids happily joining in, and you will be a mom who can do “cool” things with your kids.
Not to say you can’t when you have a baby…but if you have a baby I think you’ll get it.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last weeks:
The kids at Sea World. One with Zara cut off, and one with Zara.
Zara loves her “friend Cawla”
Our Preschoolers. Aren’t they cute!
I love this one of Emma!
I had some really nice ones of Sam and Cade at Sea World, but it seems that Sea World took a small collection and I lost my sun glasses and my 1G SD card there. PTL!
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I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the love and birthday wishes from everyone. I feel that I am very blessed to have so many wonderful friends. I love you guys!
And just so you know regardless of how long it lasts, the approval of the beard means a lot to me.
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