Life or Something Like It

Anyone else out there staying as busy as we are? It seems like once the school year is underway the days start literally flying by. This will be a strange and rambling post to update you on the happenings of our household. Of course that means many pictures so hang on cause here we go.

I looked out my window while Harold was mowing, and this was the view. It was so cute I just had to take a picture and share.

Carla turned 40, thought she was getting old and feeble, underestimated the amount of force behind her "hot air" and blew wax all over her cake.

Here are my babies. I love this picture because it shows the contrast in their looks. I may have to put on sign on them when we go out in public that says "Yes, they have the same Mother and Father".

If anyone has an extra boat lying around, we'll be happy to take it off your hands. Poor Dylan may never get to sleep in his bed for fear of being dumped out by the extra passengers every night.

The other morning I heard a horrible clunking coming down the hallway. This is what came around the corner. Okay, so I added the scrunchy, but he did the "kissy lips" on his own.

This is my neighbors car. My boys have fallen in love with it and keep asking if we can get one like it. I'm considering it. It has to get better gas mileage than a truck and I would have peace and quiet in the front for a change.

BAPTISM VS. FORGIVENESS

A couple of days ago the boys were swimming when I looked up to see Ethan repeatedly dunking Landon under water. Landon did not seem the least distraught, and Collin was observing the whole proceeding very somberly. I rushed over saying "What in the world are you doing?". "I'm baptizing him" was the reply. I admonished him very severely saying "You shouldn't be baptizing anyone, and you definitely don't need to do it more than once. You're going to drown him". "But Mom" says the little preacher, "He threw a rock at me and I just wanted to forgive him". Oh my, the explanations to follow. Yes, baptism does signify that your sins are forgiven, but you don't get to baptize everyone who wrongs you to express your forgiveness, especially not if you plan on baptizing them 70 x 7. I guess it's good that we have a pool since it looks like we'll be having lots of Baptism Services. Every one's welcome, come on over. Just make sure you have healthy lungs.

ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER

Yesterday I had the privilege of going with Collin on his first field trip of the year. We went to the Environmental Center. If you ever attended HS Christian Academy, you've probably been there. It was a very fun day learning about Manatees and other sea creatures. I won't subject you to every picture, but here are a few of my favorites.

With his best buddy, Scott.

Things got very intense. As you can see, they kept us on the edge of our seats.

Giggly girls.

Tamara's toes looked so tasty that she almost lost them. Thank goodness for fences!

Lunch partners.

Don't you love the way our Fall colors match the ocean. Oh well, it's part of living in FL.

The whole class.

All the talk about Endangered Species reminded me of an incident that happened a couple of years ago. We were in line at a fast food restaurant when two "older" ladies in front of us started complimenting us on Ethan's hair. One of them said, "I read in the paper that red heads are becoming extinct". A little voice said "Mom,what does extinct mean?". Still trying to be polite and listen to the ladies I, without thinking, said, "It means that their all going away, and soon there won't be anymore". I quickly realized what I had said and looked down to see a very stricken little boy trying to figure out why he was an Endangered Species. Oh the messes I get myself into.

Harold is still very busy doing hurricane relief. There is now another storm forming over Haiti so continue to keep everyone involved in your prayers.

Thanks for reading this strange post, the next will be normal. Maybe!

My Year In The Dorm

The year 1990 was a major turning point in my life. I had dropped out of high school supposedly to home school, yeah right. As you can imagine things weren't going so well, so my poor parents finally threw up their hands in defeat and sent me to HS to finish out my high school years in the dorm. As most of you know that only lasted for a year before they decided that they couldn't do without my wonderful presence in their lives and moved down to be with me.
That same year my dear friend Julia's parents decided to do the same thing. Such a duo has never been inflicted on the dorm since. As you will learn we weren't really bad, just really mischievous.
The death of Mrs. A this past week has had me doing a lot of reminiscing. Sometimes you don't realize just what an important part a person played in your life until years later. The one incident that stands out in my mind portraying her character and love happened about half way through the school year. There were only seven high school students in the dorm that year, and most were a little on the wild side. That's excluding Bethlehem and Yodit who were perfect. There came a night when some young men came calling and all the other high schoolers snuck out the laundry room window and headed for the beach. Mr. A somehow found out and headed down to the beach to retrieve the wayward ones. The next few days in the dorm were very somber as two were expelled and one was pretty much dormed for the rest of the year. Suffice it to say Mrs. A was very busy with lots on her mind, so imagine mine and Julia's surprise to each receive a card in our mailboxes from Mr. Steve A and Mrs Marilyn A. It was just a very simple little thank you for not giving in to pier pressure and encouraging us to keep heading in the right direction. It still means so much to me to realize that she knew the power of positive reinforcement and took the time to write a card that I've never forgotten.
All of that being said, I must tell you that we were not perfect angels. We pretty much terrorized the dorm that year. One day at the beginning of the year Mr. M was working on some maintenance project, Christy (another high schooler) asked if we could borrow his golf cart. For some reason he said "yes", so we all three piled on and went for a wild ride around the north parking lot of the dorm. If you can imagine a golf cart doing doughnuts, go ahead cause we had that poor thing rockin'. It wasn't long before Mrs. A appeared in the doorway. She very calmly said "Girls, FEA just called, they're all standing at their window watching you" I think maybe she rather enjoyed informing us of our audience. In great humiliation we climbed off and went back in dorm, out of sight.
The poor Taiwanese girls became some of our main objects of torment. We truly loved them, but they were so easy to tease. The main issue was that their bodies had not adjusted to our time yet, so at 3am they came alive. They would also never go barefoot, they always wore flip flops. So every morning around 3 they would go clopping or shuffling past our doors, and seeing that we had only been in bed for about an hour ourselves this became almost more than we could handle. One night we had had enough, so armed with hairdryers we went to the door of everyone who wore flip flops and demanded that they hand them over. We spouted off a line about how our hairdryers got much hotter than most and would literally burn your skin off. For some reason no one balked us and we ended up with every pair, and that's a lot of flip flops. Not knowing what to do with them once we had them we took them back to A hall and hung them on the wall with a sign that said "International Shoe Sale". By the time we were done it was time for us to go to bed, so we left the mess for Mrs. A to find when she came in the next morning. She was rightfully horrified by our actions and told us that we had to return every single pair. The problem was, that we had no idea what pair went to who. There may still be flip flops floating around with no rightful owner.
During study hall pretty much everyone studied but us. We found it much more amusing to go out into the courtyard and stare in people's windows. Since we had no air conditioners, every window was open wide. We would just stand there very quietly until the person felt someone staring at them, looked at the window and gave us the reaction we were waiting for. There are probably grown women still on nerve medication to this day due to our demented senses of humor. My favorite is night Julia was on her way back from some practice. Seeing an open window she went over and made a strange guttural sound. Thinking no more about it she went on her way. A few minutes later when she entered the dorm she found the poor occupant of the room sobbing in the lobby with the Assistant Dean praying for her. Upon asking what was wrong Julia was informed that a "devil" had just appeared outside the girl's room. We quit window watching after that, we decided it was better to "Do unto others".
On rainy evenings our favorite past time was truth or dare. We mostly did dares as a way to get some exercise. The main routine was to run to the end of the sidewalk with a towel around your neck and yell something ridiculous in the direction of the boy's dorm. I'll never forget the night when I opened the door to the Ad Building, completely soaked from head to toe, and yelled "The British are coming, the British are coming". Poor Darlene B. might still be partially frozen in fright.
We both got so many red tags that we were dormed for a short period of time. We had to have our rooms spotless in order to leave. This included not going to the cafeteria, which we ended up enjoying because the college girls, who thought they were so much older and wiser, felt sorry for us and piled our plates full. We ate really good for those few days. Mrs. A, being a stickler for cleanliness went so far as to have us paged at the end of the school day. Every one's standing at their lockers when over the loud speaker comes , "Julia I. and Kayla L. report immediately to the girl's dorm". That did it for us, we got our rooms cleaned up.
I'm glad to say that we have both done a lot of growing up and maturing. I still have a mischievous streak, but have learned to keep it under control. (Most of the time) Please keep both of our husbands in your prayers as they endeavor to deal with us.

Bitter Baby

This election year we've heard a lot about "equal rights". It seems though that we have neglected to pursue the opinion of the group whose lives are most at stake in this election. Therefore I have taken the liberty to interview one of these "people" about their thoughts on the candidates. This one is a little "bitter", he clings to pacifiers and diapers to "explain away his frustrations". I think that it is about time that we hear from the babies of America, that they have the same opportunities to express their opinions as the rest of us do. I will warn you though that this one is especially gifted with discernment. I think it has something to do with his genetic material. So now here is my exclusive, one on one interview with Baby Dylan.

Pilots of the Caribbean II: Giving Away the Treasure

The country of Haiti has now been hit by four storms. The devastation is widespread and the death toll keeps rising. As I said before Harold get really busy during these times. On Sat. his phone started ringing constantly with requests from missionaries and from relief organizations wanting to help. Although they took two flights down on Fri., they have had to cancel the flight for today due to Hurricane Ike. Hopefully they will be able to go on Thurs.

They are working with an organization called Feed My Starving Children to get food in, as well as taking in donations to send to the missionaries to help buy some of the food brought in by the U.N. and other secular organizations. They were also able to secure the help of the Air Calvary to help with some of the rescue efforts by helicopter. Today he is working with MAP Int. (Medical Assistance Program) to get some medical supplies into the country. Please continue to pray that souls will be reached through this effort. Here are a few pictures taken on Fri. as they took off and some that were sent in by the missionaries.

Harold's flight taxiing out for take off.

If you look close you can see the people stranded on the roof tops.

The water just keeps on rising

and rising.

Most of the people that you see have all their belongings on their heads. How important it is that someone tell them how to "store up treasure in heaven".

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Gamet of Emotion

The world, or at least the conservative world, seems to have fallen in love with Sarah Palin. I too admit to being intrigued and taken with this woman who seemingly came out of nowhere and is suddenly being referred to as "the next Ronald Reagan". It has been amusing to me though, to watch people who have always promoted a woman's primary place as being in the home suddenly become vicious protectors of her ability to balance family and career. Even though I am a "working" Mom I have struggled to figure out my emotions on this whole thing. I don't question her ability to govern, I just wonder if she is being honest with herself. Mothers have such strong bonds with their children, such a natural protective instinct. I know what it's like to be at work and have a sick child back at home, it takes everything in you to not give in to the urge to run home and take that child in your own arms. Surely she has already had those moments, and I'd love to know how she deals with them. It's not like you can walk out on the Joint Chiefs of Staff to care for a sick child.

The other side of me is rejoicing with the rest of you that we finally have a conservative woman who is willing to stand up for what she believes in. The "I am woman" in me is elated that someone is breaking through the "glass ceiling". The fact that she always wears glasses scores lots of points with me. This woman is actually willing to push Creationism in our public schools. How long since you heard someone willing to do that without fear of losing their political standing? Don't worry on election day I'll remember that I'm not voting for Mother of the Year, but for the best person to lead our country. The McCain/Palin ticket will have my vote despite my concerns, it will have my prayers because of them.

In my concern about this ticket I went to the Bible for some guidance. Guess what, Israel had a female Commander in Chief for a period of time. Anybody remember Deborah? While it wasn't God's ultimate plan for a woman to be the political or military leader, there came time when Israel was so far from God that there were no decent men to be put in authority. So along came Deborah, a wife and mother. The thing that I find ironic is that the man she ended up leading was Barak. Sound familiar even though the spelling is different? You can go to Judges chapter 4 to read it for yourself. Israel called upon God for help against their enemy Sisera and God gave them Deborah. She called for Barak, (the general) and gave him God's battle plan and assured victory, but he said "I won't go if you don't go with me". She went with him and they won, but for his inability to obey God's command on his own all the glory was taken away from him and given to another woman, Jael. She's the one who kills Sisera by pounding a tent peg through his head. Now I'm not being prophetic here, my imagination just gets the best of me with this story. I'm just saying that it is reassuring to know that in the past God raised up a woman, to be a wife and mother, but also to help lead a nation in a time of crisis.
http://www.netbroadcasting.tv/sarah_palin.html

Pilots of the Caribbean

Once again hurricane season is upon us, for most people here in South Florida that means stocking up on supplies and getting the shutters ready to go up if the need arises. Harold and I worry about the same things, but our lives take us in a different direction than most during this time. Most of you out there know that Harold is a Missionary Pilot who flies in the Caribbean. What a lot of people don't know is that during hurricane season he also coordinates relief for Missionary Flights and also for Samaritan's Purse. Life can get really hectic, really fast when a hurricane hits, and this year it looks like we'll be getting more than our share. As you can see from this picture the Caribbean is really "heating up".

If this picture doesn't mean much to you, I'll explain. DC-3's don't hold up very well as hurricane hunters. Right now Hanna is blocking the route down to the islands, so the flight today had to be cancelled. Normally they would just postpone until later on in the week, but our dear friend Ike is planning his visit to the islands at that time with Josephine following closely behind. Meanwhile missionaries are starting to call for help with relief supplies, passengers are stranded on both sides, and it doesn't look like the weather is going to get any better. Please keep everyone involved in your prayers. We know that God is more that able to make these storms dissipate, but if he chooses not to move in that way pray for wisdom and safety for those making the decisions when to fly and when to stay home. Also pray for the missionaries and for those that they serve, that they will use this opportunity to be a blessing.