Facebook Funnies!

I went through my facebook account from last year and copied all the funny stuff I want to remember.  One of the things I love about facebook is how easy it is to pop on and type out something hilarious a kid just said or did.  Maybe I do it too much, because yesterday I laughed at something Ruth said, and Elisabeth piped up, "Mom!  You've got to 'face' that on facebook!"  

Why does a child who does not hesitate to pick up gooey freshly squished spiders think a gooey glop of cheese that dropped off his plate is too gross to touch?

My daughter is loudly singing "Away With the Manger!" Gonna have to correct that one!

Quote for the day: "I like to wiggle my toes together when they are clean." (Ruth, 8 yrs old.) so many people are posting wonderful, life-changing quotes, I thought I'd include one that made me stop and think about the deep things of life.

A child in my house was heard belting out, "Who wants a friend like the lonely Jesus? No not I! No not I!" Oh, my word, we need to work on theological education!

Yesterday the toilet backed up, and I had to plunge the daylights out of it to get it back in "running" condition. Today, my son came to me in tears, asking me to get his favorite underpants back.

Yes. These two items are related.
 
 

My law of children: Children are not naturally makers of neat places, but they are drawn to neat place. They are drawn irresistably to neat places, with their minds filled with all kinds of plans about what to do with the neat places. None of these plans involve neatness.

Sticky mouse traps. I have not caught any mice, but I have caught my dog, three of my children, and my foot. The dog finds where I put them, and she drags them out and leaves them for us to step on. When she steps on them, she slaps around the house like she's got flippers on her feet.

I'm getting pigtails put (ouch) in my (ouch) hair by a five year old.

There is a stripey blue and yellow frog hopping around the house and saying, "Wibbit! Wibbitwibbitwibbt!

No mother enjoys hearing this from their three-year-old:

"Um, mom? I get the toe-lit, um, bigger. Yeah. It's bigger..."

Something I never expected to say as a mother: "R___, we do not suck oatmeal with a straw."

This morning David woke up and attempted to give me a kiss right away. "Oh, Mama! You lip smews YUCKY!"

Conversation from my house today
David: "Mommy, my thtummik thez 'gimme a thandwich!'"

Me: "Tell your thtummik it needs to learn to say pleath!"

Apparently he thinks bad manners are acceptible if they are vicariously acted out through a third party. (thtummik)

The little bench is a little heavy, I won't deny it. But it is not too heavy to pull out of the corner I put it in, turn upside down, and use as a motorcycle for a small body, and then leave at the bottom of the stairs for me to trip over. It is apparently way too heavy, however, for that same small body to drag back to the corner, turn right side up, and put away.

Heard in my house today: No David, do not chew on the table.

Heard in my house today, singing: "Superclalafradulisticexpialid​otious! Even though the sound of it is something HALITOSIS!"

They make me laugh, thought I'd share.
 

Heard in my house today: (earnestly) "A infinito! Y máth allá!" Translation:  To infinity! And Beyond! (with a lithp)

So I was knocking doors for the church today and a grasshopper jumped on my foot. My young soulwinning partner told me she likes them fried with lemon. That's a first for me!

Heard in my house today:
Me, sending Elisabeth on a mission-"Quick! Like a bunny!"

Elisabeth, hopping away-"Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!"

Me-"That's a frog, not a bunny!"

Elisabeth-"Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit!"

I noticed part of my son's ninja outfit hanging out from under his cloths after we had arrived at Bible club this morning. Luckily, no-one was hurt by the undercover ninja attending class, and the his secret identity remained intact.

My kids are playing with a jalapeno. It is quite amusing.

So I just found the hairbrush and comb that was missing. Both were filled with plastic pony hair. Suspicious.

Well apparently the doctors have it all wrong, and all you have to do to make a sick, feverish child feel better is feed it marshmallows every now and then!

Note to self: scratching eyes, nose, or ears after cutting serrano peppers is a very, very bad idea.

Necessary qualifiers: "Elisabeth, go wash your face and hands."
"With my skirt?"
"NO!"
"With my tongue?"
"NO!"

A Mighty Fortress is Our House

I love all the locks on the doors.  I love the fact that every window has heavy iron bars.  I love that our hacienda is closed with a giant iron gate and a heavy padlock.  These are all things that help me sleep at night a little more peacefully.

These things are great, until you lose your keys and the doors are locked.  This morning, I used the keys to unlock the back door so I could light the hot water heater.  (There was wind in the night, so it was out.)  I remember placing the keys on the table in the kitchen.  Later, one of my children, who shall remain nameless, picked them up, and I told her to put them away.  It was to be the last time I saw them.

They passed through her hands to the unpredictable hands of my son, who is not remaining nameless because I'm still holding it against the little twerp.  Extensive questioning revealed that they went up and down the stairs in a pillowcase for a while, unlocked secret doors in the walls and the beds in the kids bedrooms, and then somehow evaporated.

I have an image in my mind of George Bailey shaking poor Uncle Billy by the collar and screaming at him, and for the first time, I relate to George.  (Note, I did not do that to my son, I just related.)  We were trapped in the house with no way out.

Hours later, with everything from the rooms having been gone through, every stone unturned, and church service coming up, we gave up and called a locksmith.  He got them open after about 30 minutes of work, and had the locks replaced with new keys two hours after that.

Hey I've got an idea!  Let's be real careful with these keys!

I had a Bible lesson to give tonight about being anxious for nothing...it's funny how the Lord gives me an object lesson on what I'm teaching.  I'm pretty sure that lesson was more for me than for the kids.

You encouraged me!

When I went to the Youth Conference at Lancaster Baptist Church, I had reached the point where I just wanted to do whatever God wanted me to do. He led me very directly, based on the doctrine, standards, and spirit of love for God; to go to West Coast Baptist College the next Autumn. It was a decision I have never doubted or regretted, even after things (bills, sickness, etc.) got tough.


I knew what God wanted me to do, and when I stepped forward to do it, He provided, and kept on leading me to the next step. Right now, I am still on that path, and He's just as faithful as ever. I've seen things and done things I could never have imagined. He's given me a life that is challenging at times, but so packed with amazing things, that the funny little ideas I had as a child of what my future would be look silly.

I get to see God do what He does! What does He do? He transforms lives. He takes impossible situations (a dozen are popping into my mind, just from this past year.) and turns them into glorious and unexpected blessings. He can crush hearts of stone, and save people everyone else has given up on. He humbles Himself to hear the voice of little children who are hurting, confused, or just want to learn how to know Him better. He humbles Himself to hear my cry!

And I wanted to be a veterinarian. I've got nothing against veterinarians, don't get me wrong. If that's what God made you for, go for it. I just can't now imagine myself doing anything other than what I'm doing now.

Which brings me to the title of my post. Some of my friends from my church made some decisions at the last Youth Conference. I remember, some years ago, sitting in the pew and listening to you sing, "But each one, can reach one, if we follow after Christ we all can lead one, we can lead one, to the Savior..." If you saw me you must have wondered what was wrong with me, because I was blubbering. I was thinking, "What if each one of these children did what God made them for?" And I was praying for you. If you start out on that path, you may or may not end up in Mexico like me, but I promise you, you will never ever regret it! Hearing that you made decisions for God is such an encouragement to me I can't find words to explain it. Stick with those decisions! Keep hold of the faith that God has given you now (we make those decisions by faith), and He will bless you for it. Do what He made you for!

You are taking a step away from your families to study, and to gain experience serving God. I know this can be nerve wracking, and sometimes you will feel homesick. If you start out with a bad attitude, it will be real tough. If you make some unwise decisions along the way, the devil will try to convince you that you are done for. He will also throw some roadblocks in front of you from time to time.

God knows all about each and every one of these things, and I've seen Him give victory to His own in each of these situations. So what I'm saying is, step in to finish! If you have a goal, finish it, and be open to God guiding your life from this point. Let the Lord have His way in your life, and don't let yourself get discouraged, as challenges come. Keep getting closer and closer to the Lord, letting Him use every thing you pass through to draw you more and more into His heart. If you are taking that step away from your family, and into the will of God, it's like stepping right into His arms. Don't worry about anything-He will take care of you!

I hope you don't think I'm nagging. This is just sisterly advice from someone whose gone that way before, and loves you, and can't keep her mouth shut. Know that I'm praying for you!

Celebrating with Menudo!

 It's menudo!  The kids aren't being bratty-it really does smell that bad when it's cooking.  It's my husband's favorite dish, because he grew up in a Mexican home where menudo was standard holiday fare.  It makes him think of happy times. (It does taste a lot better than it smells.)

I love him.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

New Building!

Bro. Pedro, Bro. Ryan, and Bro Ismael

You might notice that both Ryan and I are bright pink-we went doorknocking the day before and forgot sunblock.

People arriving in the church van

I'm so thankful for the opportunity we've had to be part of the planting of this church!

May the gospel continue to be preached from this spot for generations to come!

Happy Mother's Day (and I'm NOT late!)

Here mother's day is tomorrow, which means for my multicultural children, they must honor their American heritage, and their Mexican heritage.  Absolutely.  Yesterday I got cards from my kids, and my sweet oldest daughter made coffee and brought me some. (I'm not ready to trust her cooking in the kitchen without help.)

 My husband says I have to pick one day.  I think he needs to open his mind!  What about embracing the good in other cultures and all?  Well, I'm going out with him today, so I better not complain!

For the record, I love being a mom.  I had a sweet, humble, hardworking, dedicated mom that I try to be like as much as I can, and this journey has been one I would not trade for anything.  It's a privilege indeed!

God's blessing poured out-and missed!

The storms have begun!  We have a nice warm day, then around 4 oclock, on the dot, thunder slams through, rain pours, hail hammers, and my dog freaks.  These began this week, and as we experienced this every day during the spring and summer of last year, it does not bother us. (Humans)

Church time under a tarp, on the other hand, is an adventure.  Chairs are moved to the middle.  There are many more people now than there were last summer, so we are close together.  Puddles form quickly in the overhead tarp, and when a gust of wind moves the tarp, they empty out over the sides.  Tonight the seats had to be placed very close to the pulpit, and I was sitting on the front row, close to where Ryan was leading the singing.  We were singing "Avivanos, Senor".  I don't believe I've heard this song in English, but since it's a rousing revival song, I love it.  The last line of the second verse begins with "La lluvia de tu bendicion..." or "The rain of your blessing..."  I thought quickly, Yup, we are getting that tonight!  The line ends with, "derrama ahora aqui!"  Or "pour out here, now!"

Right when we began to sing the word for "pour out", a puddle began to pour out blessing from the Lord directly to Ryan's left!  It started small, then dumped about a gallon of icy water into the platform, while he quickly sidestepped to the right, and continued singing, with difficulty, because the laughter problem.  (There are times when we must not make eye contact in church if we wish to retain proper decorum.)  Later, while Ryan was preaching, more "blessing" continued to pour out over the other side of the tarp, and we had to scramble to rescue the piano.  I thoroughly enjoyed the service tonight!  No one is going to be tempted to fall asleep if the visit here!

The good news is the construction of the building should be finished in a month or so!

Wolly Polly Love

Chillin'!

Mondays are off days for us. It's like Saturday for us, and we have school on Saturday.  This morning we got up late.  I dilly dallied around and got around to making breakfast late-very late.  The kids cleaned up while I prepared a week's menu and shopping list; slowly.  I also found the time to tickle attack at least three of my children.  Elisabeth broke my pyrex baking pan, and I reassured her that I understood it was an accident.  Pyrex explodes violently when broken, so she was traumitized.  We went shopping, and on the way got stopped by the federal police to have our papers checked.  He saw that we were Americans with California plates and thought it would be good to make sure we were here legally.  (Honestly have no problem with that!)  Then we ate at a restaurant-very late for lunch, and enjoyed some more family time, and some fruit before sending the kids to bed.   David threw up all over his bed about five minutes after that.  This is no surprise, because this ugly bug passed through each of the girls last week.  David must have taken a little longer to incubate.  So now I have an urgent interruption in my laundry routine in the morning, waiting for me.  David is a brick, ready to do the deed and go right back to sleep.
All in all-a restful day, and and ordinary one.   I'm so thankful for days like this!  I love laughing and making my kids laugh.  I love helping them with their trials that seem so great to them, helping them to be strong.  We all need quiet days from time to time, don't we?  It never goes right to plan, but it helps me connect with my husband and my children.

Hey it's Spring!

There are some beautiful flowers growing in the fields, but not many near my house.  If I get some good pictures of the Spring blossoms here, I'll be sure to post them!  Here are some that I took of Springtime at my parent's place in Cloverdale last year.

Ryan was terribly allergic to this, I think.

Cherry plum blossoms just beginning to open

More cherry plum blossoms

Elisabeth was in this position much of the time.

Peach blossoms!

I forget what these are!

More from the peach tree.  (The same one that my daughter watered with gasoline.)