Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Amazing Rocky Road

I just finished a YUMMY bowl of rocky road ice cream with a teaspoon of natural peanut butter plopped on top. Mmmmmm.

Yes, it's nearly 11PM and yes, that's bad for my gut but I REALLY needed it.

(Marci knows what I'm talking about, right Mjo?)

Let's forget the fact that I often have ice cream & peanut butter for an evening snack and just chat a second about WHY I needed it so badly tonight.

1st phone call of the day. Mom rings to say that she was in a car accident last night and that she's fine except for a few airbag burns and soreness. The person she hit (who cut in front of her to turn left -- coming from the opposite direction) was only slightly injured in her knee. Mom's Sequoia had to be towed but hopefully is repairable.

In the same call, Mr. Morris from EHBC died (grandfather of a boy that I taught in a class at EBC this summer and father of adult friends). He was in a terrible car accident in GA.

ALSO in that call, Big Dog (Mom's Dalmatian) is sick. He hasn't eaten anything for 3 days and is losing weight. They're taking him to the vet.

AND, we had the unspoken acknowledgement that yesterday was one year since Granny died. What a crappy day for Mom.

And all of that is before getting out of bed.

Thankfully I also got the good news about Weezy before getting out of bed so that helped.

Next I realized that I slept/talked on the phone entirely too long for all that needed to be done today.

Big project for the day -- Flea-ridding.
Our second bout with fleas had to be stopped ASAP (our first bout was when we adopted Andy from the wooded kennel home he was being raised in). You see, our new flea treatment for Lucy has sent fleas JUMPING OFF OF HER! She's perfecty fine but our carpets house bugs that DISGUST us on a regular basis. They really love the taste of Shayne so she has sad little bites on her ankles. She looks white-trashy from the knees down. I hate it. So enough was enough and we arranged for the Zap guy to come de-flea the house and yard. This required vacuuming the house (of which I first had to get EVERYTHING off the floor -- easier said than done) and getting Lucy to the groomer for a 'bath & tidy.' She had to be flea-free when she returned.

It was a lot of work to do before 10AM. In fact, it was so much that I didn't finish it until 11 even though I really needed to be out of the house by 10. Oh well.

Next, I had to deal with Hudson SCREAMING-CRYING when we left Lucy at the groomer. It was sad, sweet, and annoying all rolled into one.

Move forward to time to get Lucy picked up and back home. By this time, we're hearing of the problems expected with gasoline. I start looking for the cheapest gas to fillup. I run across several gas stations where the regular unleaded was sold out. I finally did find gas for 2.61 a gallon. I thought it was insane at first because I had seen it for 2.42 that morning but when I rode home later and saw 3.09 on WF Road, I thought I'd croak! What in the world?!? I'm paranoid about this gas stuff now. We are on the road WAY too much for these prices and certainly for a gas shortage.

Bored with my sob story yet?! (And yes, I am quite aware that my moaning and whining is pathetic considering the struggles THOUSANDS (Million?) of other people are struggling with today.)

When I get Lucy home, I do a quick answering machine check before getting back out for church. There are 2 messages that really need my attention yet I knew I'd be unable to call them until at least tomorrow/Thursday afternoon. Ugh.

At church, again reminders of the storm devastation. Also of the struggles of friends of ours whose 14 month old baby just had her 2nd liver transplant (first one she received last week failed her) and of our 19 year old friend who is recovering from paralysis after a 4wheeler accident. Annnnnd we find out that Mr. Morris (see above) had actually BLINKED his desire to be taken off life support! So his family did! AGONY!

Oh, and I agree to teach a women's bible study about the "six myths that rob many Christian women of the abundant life that Christ intends for us to live." Sigh.

Then there is a situation with Shayne and a friend at church that sent my emotions for a spin. I can't get into it here but I had to breathe and count to 10 many times.

Then I get home and watch more Fox News. Then I watch local news. And then I come to the computer totally bummed. I get a few sad emails about different things. A couple stress me out a little further but thankfully one lets me know that a friend from Biloxi is safe.

The ice cream helped :)

And now that I'm a little clearer in my thinking (how addicted to ice cream that I am actually rational now!?) I can cling to this verse: "May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant." Psalm 119:76

Weezy!

Weezy has been found! Praise God. She and her boys are fine. She has been stranded at her Uncle's house. She hopes to be able to rumble her way to her home today.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Please pray...


A picture from a Biloxi/Gulfport Newspaper...

I have just gotten sicker and sicker about the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. It only takes a few minutes of watching the TV coverage to see that this was a catastrophic storm.

As I mentioned earlier, there are several people that I know in the affected areas that we have been concerned about but we are particularly worried about one specific family. I'm asking you all to please pray for them.

Our friend, Louise ("Weezy") has not been in contact with any friends or family since Sunday night. She lives in an area near Gulfport, MS and last anyone heard, she had moved inland only a couple more miles (like 5 miles from the coast). We're hoping she was able to move farther away before the Hurricane hit. She has her 2 boys with her. Please pray for their safety and for them to be able to contact loved ones soon. Everyone else at her office has been accounted for. We KNOW she would contact someone as soon as she could so we're all very worried.

Weezy is a dear friend of my sister-in-law, Donna and we've known her for many years through their close friendship. Donna is also very, very concerned.

I'll post something here as soon as we hear something.

Thanks for the prayers.

Walking On Sunshine


We're still hearing the wind whip around the house some this morning but things are good here. It is dramatically cooler today than what we've suffered with in the past few weeks. You can still see the direction of the 'feeder bands' when watching the clouds race across the sky. We actually have a few patches of blue in the breaks of the grey, though (see picture attempt).

Yesterday we had the possibility of tornadoes and I actually had my heart racing at one time. I was making some Mannatech-related phone calls when my Mom beeped in to make sure I was watching the news.

When I found my favorite weatherman, Rich, he showed us a radar of a tornado just a few miles away from us and the cell in which it travelled was heading our direction. I told all the kids to get their blankets and sit in the bathroom. We hooked up the small portable DVD player and they watched "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" while I watched Mr. Thomas on TV (for non-locals...Rich Thomas is our weather guy). As I stood watching that cell on TV, I kept one eye out the window. My heart started pumping harder when I saw this crazy black cloud that hung in a V-shape heading over the pine trees in our direction. I decided to change which Thomas I was watching :)

We prayed for safety and everything was fine. A tornado DID cause some damage a few miles from us and I wouldn't be surprised if the clouds I saw held the tornado that hit them.

Here's a picture during one of the calmer gusty times during the day. Our biggest gusts came overnight when I couldn't take a picture.



All is well here, and for that I am grateful. I am trying to find information on some friends in live in Biloxi and am waiting for Donnie to update me on a relative of his that lives in New Orleans. I hope to hear from several others in the coming days (particularly some of my Mannatech friends from Mobile, MS and New Orleans).

Katrina was bad news for so many. I'm sitting here thankful that we didn't have to worry about power outages here (so that I could post in my blog!) yet there are THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS who are grateful for their LIVES and will be worrying about food and shelter! And then there are those who are grieving the loss of loved ones... We need to pray for them all.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Katrina and the Waves


We're gonna be hearing about her a bunch and probably for a long time.

If you've never visited New Orleans, you might have missed your chance.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Tomorrow Is The Big Day


Dream Home Giveaway. 9AM tomorrow morning. Rumor has it only 100 or so people are qualified! It's possible not all of those will even show up!

I know 4 other people who are qualified for the home along with me.

We'll see what happens!

A Gardener I Ain't

Remember that weed? Today was the day it was yanked from the ground. Even its roots are ugly.

I also removed everything else in the little flower bed that thing called home.

It was horrible.

There was ants EVERYwhere....and I mean EVERYWHERE in that flower bed. It was disgusting.

It took me a gazillion trips to get all the tools I needed for this project because my non-gardening mind didn't think of everything I'd need beforehand. My new $0.88 gloves from Wal-Mart got covered in ants early in the game so I did most of the work barehanded. I didn't have a wheelbarrow to load the stuff into so I put it all into an old plastic pool. I then had to drag the pool to the old, white van and loaded it into the back. I took the load to dump around some construction areas.

It was absolutely ZERO fun. I do not understand how someone can enjoy this kind of work.

I then raked the newly naked area and seeded it with some sort of 'coastal' grass that is supposed to be good for really high-sunlit areas. I lightly raked it again and watered it.

Whew.

Hope it does something worthwhile.

There are 4 more beds like this that need to be removed. I will work on them another day.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Sissy Pike


THIS looks like a great video series for the girls.

Life Truly Is Sweet!

Worries turned to joy tonight! My Honda Odyssey went on the blink last night when we were going out to dinner. The darn thing just wouldn't start. I had been noticing for the last couple of days that electrical things were going kinda slow (sliding doors mainly). When the van acted up last night, we were REALLY worried. We could tell the battery was OK becuase we were able to turn on the A/C and windshield wipers and lights, etc. while we tried to start the engine but it just never would turn over. It made a yucky 'click click click' sound.

So we were resolved today that we were going to have it towed to our friend to be checked out. He sent his truck up today to tow 'er in but we couldn't even get the doggone thing in neutral so it couldn't be towed. That turned out to be a great blessing.

When Donnie came home (because he had to help me with all the taxi-ing of the day) he tried the van again and IT STARTED!!!

He drove it in and left it. Being so late in the afternoon, we knew it would surely be sometime tomorrow afternoon before we could get it back...and that was IF we were lucky.

Of course, we've been praying about this car. Our minds have been racing as to how expensive our problem was going to be. We've been worried about how long before we could get it back. We had already made arrangements (and even had in our possession) to drive Mom's vehicle until at least tomorrow afternoon. Things were going to be OK and we were grateful for everything working out but we didn't know how quickly God would answer our prayers.

When I got home in Mom's car tonight, I found a message from our friend J saying that the van was fixed and that he left the key in it at his shop so that we could pick it up TONIGHT!!! He said the 'connectors were dirty' so he cleaned them and things are working fine!!!

HALLELUJAH!!!

Donnie went by my parents' house to pick them up, they helped drive the Honda home, got their Toyota back, and went home again.

And guess what.....we don't owe a dime for the van. Our friend said, "Don't worry about it."

I'm working on a 'thank you' gift.

Life truly is SWEET! God answered our prayers SO fast and gave us the encouragement we really needed.

THANK YOU LORD!

Monday, August 22, 2005

Please settle this...


Is this a weed? (I think 'yes' so please let me know before I yank it!)

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Today is better

OK. Yesterday's post was about hearing that a family who needs glyconutrients is having doubts about using it (I'm thinking maybe a doctor discouraged them and possibly even said 'no'). Today I am finding out that it's possible there wasn't the skepticism that I first believed. I might be wrong but I at least have hope that the family is still open to the idea.

In my struggle of wondering "do I continue to emphasize how important glyconutrients are?" or "do I leave it alone?" I prayed and prayed for an answer.

I received an answer by reading Acts 3 & 4. I also received encouragement from a friend through email and then through a phone call today saying, "Keep telling them!" The said friend is also going to be encouraging the family to DO this.

The doctor for this family gave good news tonight. The condition is possibly not as bad as first thought. Therefore, glyconutrients are even MORE likely to be helpful! Now even MORE people are wanting to encourage the family to give it a try! PRAISE GOD!

I don't like telling God what to do but in my prayers these last few days I told Him, "God, if you're going to make me feel so confident in telling them this will be good for them, you're going to HAVE to follow through with this because I really don't want to be seen as a liar when this is said and done. I want you to make sure I'm telling the truth or STOP ME from saying anything! I don't want to offer false hope! So God, if I'm right in thinking you want me to continue with this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do the healing! I believe you will! Encourage my faith! I'm proclaiming the truth that YOU OFFER HEALING TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN JESUS' NAME and that I BELIEVE in Jesus' name! This is for your glory, Lord....I don't want to do anything outside of your will. I know you are faithful....please keep ME faithful!"

God is doing some mighty things! I'm recognizing God's work in SO many areas right now. It's getting exciting!

PRAISE GOD!

"So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 NLT

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

So important...

Y'all. I don't even know how to write about it.

This keeps flashing into the memory of my heart:
So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters. Galatians 6:9-10 (NLT)

This situation is so serious. When has 'conventional' promised anything better? I'm not making promises but it is HOPE and the 'conventional' isn't offering much of that.

Lots of praying going on around here...

Monday, August 15, 2005

Recent Snaps



Shayne & Harris Anne rode our "neigh"bors (LOL) horse during her birthday party.



I'm still chuckling over "neigh"bor :)



Hudson is a computer geek, too. It's truly astonishing how well he manuevers the mouse. He can pick colors to 'color' with by clicking on the appropriate crayon at the bottom of the screen and then he can pick which picture he'd like to play with by clicking on the 'library'. David and Hudson both impress us to pieces with their computer skills.



I forgot to take a picture of the girls on their first day of school but this one was taken on the 2nd day ... after getting home and remembering to take it real quick before they changed out of their uniforms. That's why they look so enthusiastic.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Udderly Ridiculous :)


Taken from Cheryl who took it from Tammy.
Funny :)

Friday, August 12, 2005

Dance Contest

Y'all have seen some of the pictures I've posted of our living room performances but let me share with you a piece of paper I found.

These are exact quotes from Shayne's dance contest score sheet:
David - Wonder Dance David, I love the song so much! My favorite part was when you shaked your bottom so well. I'm going to give you a 9.
Harris - Great job. I like part where there's a big disco part about it. I'm a big fan of Disco. So I'm going to give you a nine.

No machine?

Why do people in 2005 still not have answering machines or voice mail? (OK Skye, I have forgiven you since you have email and I can drop you a quick line if necessary but it really IS time for a machine!)

My brain is running 90 miles-a-minute and when I get/make the time to call someone to tell the something, I'd like to not have to remember to call them again later. A machine is actually preferable to a live person many times because I'd rather just relay the information and avoid the casual chit-chat that is necessary with most people.

Ugh. I'm off to try calling a non-machine person AGAIN.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

A couple more pics





From this morning's MannaWalk :)

Take One Step

It's only one step but every great accomplishment starts with ONE STEP. And that's what we did today. Several of us have been raising funds for today's MannaWalk (still time to donate if you want to! hint hint! www.MannaKids.info ) We know that this effort is going to help change the world. We're doing our part to help the quality of life of AIDS kids around the world and when those positive changes occur, the rest of the world will take notice (they already are!)

So here are a few snapshots from our VERY HUMID and MISTY day at MannaWalk!





Friday, August 05, 2005

Wasting Time


I followed a link from Jen's Magical Website to build this. It's supposed to be me.

You can build your own here.

Snaps from today


Y'all might know these folks.



And here's a picture of the performance held in the living room this afternoon. H.A. is rapping and Shayne is 'scratchin' like a DJ!



David's in the groove...


Hudson doing his daily workout routine :)

(Sorry for the faint fog on the pictures. I had a smudge on the lens and didn't know it until I uploaded these pictures.)

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Some people will be offended...

EDITED - that entry was ENTIRELY too long. I'm sorry. To see what has been removed, click on the "source" link below.

Some of you might know that I'm raising money for www.MannaRelief.org to give nutritional products to children with HIV/AIDS in Africa. The program I am working with is called MannaWalk (and you can donate at www.MannaKids.info PLEASE!!)

This is a program that is not an 'awareness' program and it's not a 'find a cure' program. It is a program that is providing PROVEN RESULTS in quality of life for children with HIV/AIDS. 100% of funds raised goes towards providing nutritional products to children and we've already seen these same nutritional products providing incredibly positive results in sick children. The diplomats of Africa are almost begging us to grow our ministry in their different areas of the continent where the most children are being affected. In fact, the Ugandan Ambassador to the US wants us to expand our provisions to pregnant mothers in hopes of improving babies quality of lives before they are even born! I believe the LORD will answer her prayers for this kind of help one day...

Anyway, in the spirit of fundraising I felt I should share the difference between the kind of fundraising we're doing with MannaWalk versus the fundraising some OTHER organizations are doing. Some people are offended when I don't donate money to certain charities but I feel I must be a good steward of my money and must only give money to the charities that are moving forward with the LORD's work and not the work of businessmen and women.

Who am I to judge the LORD's work versus other charities? I don't want to be a 'judge' but a 'fruit inspector.' The following editorial work conveys many of my opinions and beliefs. Of course, there are points in this article that might stretch to the far side of what I believe but as a whole, I'm on board.

Again, be warned that some of you WILL be offended.

THE CURE CON

Tuesday, August 02, 2005
The Cure Con: how you're being deceived by charities that claim to be racing for the cure for cancer and other chronic diseases

Source: http://www.newstarget.com/009587.html