Chinese Food and a Chinese Boy

Tuesday night we were so blessed to spend time with old friends from when we lived close to Houston several years ago. PandaPop served on staff at a church there, but I worked at a private Christian school where I worked with my friend pictured above. She and I quickly became friends and have been close ever since even though we haven't lived there since 2003. We all four hung out quite a bit (didn't have kids yet!!) because we all got along so well and because they did not attend our church making it easier to really be ourselves. Not that we aren't ourselves among church members, but other vocational ministers know what I mean by this. We just needed a break from church-life and these great friends were our respite. Miss them dearly, but had a great time catching up and laughing this week while they were in town on business. My homeschool blog has more details.


Yesterday afternoon we welcomed home our friends' new little son from China. He is just a doll!

First Day of Stone Table Academy

I won't post homeschool information on this blog very often, but being the first day of our journey then click here to see what we did. These other pics were just hanging out after dinner with PandaPop.

Thank Goodness We Homeschool

Can you say "tongue & cheek" title?...as Monday, September 21st was to be our first official day to start homeschooling, yet PandaGirl came downstairs at 4:15 this morning with a fever of 103.2 and gunk in her throat.

Lovely.

Wasn't sure if it was strep or pig flu and wouldn't be able to find out until after noon when the acute care clinic opened.

BTW: this picture was taken a few days ago. She did not look this cute this morning. Nor did all the other icky-sicky kiddos that came into the weekend clinic. Can I just say a H-U-G-E THANK YOU to all weekend medical workers?!!! We walked in the door as soon as it was unlocked along with some VERY sick children. I wanted PG and I to wear one of those astronaut looking suits that the contaminated/poison/bomb helper people don before entering a deadly zone. I am not a germ-a-phobe, but at the clinic....I was. Especially, when the mom and dad bring in their three kids with barf bags in hand and all three children ranging in age from about 5 to 10 look green and are bent over with scrunched up eyebrows. Poor things. They were on vacation. Ouch.

Where's the Lysol
and masks and hand-sanitizer????

Thankfully, there are no pigs involved...except for the yummy ham, potato and cheese crock pot dish I had cooking all morning...and so far the culture didn't prove strep, but the doc will send it to another lab with more equipment to test for it. PG is on an antibiotic just in case, but we caught it soon enough if it is.

Needless to say, our original educational plans are not going to work out, but I am thankful for the flexibility of our homeschool. Smile.

I Heart the Library

One of my favorite places to go is our local library. It is so soothing. Though I am a girl who likes to always have music playing in the car and at home, there is something wonderful about the hushed muffled almost padded sound of the library that just says my name. I wish I had the time to stay the entire day long searching for whatever I wanted to and then sit and sit and sit in those big puffy chairs looking out at the blue sky with green trees or the falling rain or the wintry sky through the GINORMOUS three story floor to ceiling curved glass window while not reading whatever wonderful book was in my possession.

Ahhhh.

I adore the children's section. It has to be one of the best around!! Recently remodeled in the past few years, it boasts a funky, cool convex ceiling right in the middle of the HUGE section that is one of those echo thingies. I'd say it is about 25 feet in diameter. When you walk under it you can whisper, but your voice is magnified a gazillion times while within that convexed area yet no one outside of that area can really hear you...it stays muffled. Very scientific and cool. On the top of that the ceiling it is lighted with rich changing colors that swirl all around. I always make my way through whispering something, anything to PandaGirl just so we can giggle. Flip flops sound really silly through the middle of it. When we finally get that out of our system, we head separate ways and I can get lost amid the gobs of picture books, what's new, non-fiction---all of it. We always walk away with more than our two bags can carry.

Now that we will be homeschooling, I'm quite sure we'll be able to spend even more time there. Fine by me.

Two Sweet Scenes From Camp

Am I the Only One?

Is The Pioneer Woman really a REAL person?

Honestly, I feel like a complete and utter loser when looking at this woman's life.

(Ms. Drummond, if you should happen to read this, I REALLY don't mean any disrespect towards you).

Please, by no means, am I bashing her. Just the opposite. I think she is amazing. I have no idea about her spiritual life, but as for the rest of her.....I think I find myself a bit....no a lot jealous.

Downright covetous.

Have you visited her blog?
*It is so visually appealing.
*She has gobs of recipes in her cooking SECTION.
* She has a wonderfully organized and deliciously painted homeschooling room, in the Homeschooling SECTION, that makes me drool with lust for it.
*She has a lovely and creative Home and Garden SECTION.
*She lives in the country on a ranch.....my dream.
*She has darling kids, a rugged hubby and she is just gorgeous herself.
*Her photography SECTION is second to none. The woman knows her stuff backwards and forwards with a camera and photos and has time to do amazing things with them.
*Clearly she knows how to maneuver "HTML" and all kinds of computer stuff since her website is so darn amazing.
*Did I mention she homeschools her FOUR children, too?

All this and HORSES, too?

Why??

HOW???

Don't get me wrong. I know I am so blessed and I am not complaining about all that the Lord has so graciously given me in my life.
I am truly curious as to HOW all this is accomplished...daily.

Does this woman have more hours in her day than I do? Does she sleep....ever? Is there a walk-by pump of caffeine that she swigs throughout the day in order to stay pumped and motivated to accomplish all that she does and then has the TIME to post it all on her site?

Someone help me with this 'cause SURELY I'm not the only girl "out there" who feels this way.

Please.

Someone help me out here...the jealousy is killing me.

A New Chapter

If you are interested in a new chapter in our life concerning PandaGirl then, please click here. It's not adoption related so don't get your hopes up too much! LOL. This is just something we've prayed for, for a long time.

If it does happen to interest you then there is also a new link on this blog to the right above my picture.

So Blessed

We just CANNOT take all our luxuries for granted. We ARE a blessed country, but so easily forget and ignore God's hand of grace and mercy over us.

Take time to pray for healing in our USA. We are an awesome people when allowing the Lord of all creation to work through us.

Thank you, God for your countless blessings and for the men and women who serve to keep our freedom to worship you openly.

09-09-09

What a fun date!

Apparently lots of people are getting married today or playing the slots or feeling superstitious or feeling lucky or feeling unlucky or doing something with The Beatles or just taking off work for the heck of it or SOMEthing to do with all those nines. I read that this date is the last time for single digit repeats in our calendar for quite some time. Interesting.

Have a great day! ; )

B-day Stuff

So, the first full day of being 39 wasn't so bad. We cleaned and organized a bit, goofed around and laughed until we cried and our muscles hurt from watching
Tim Hawkins.
(By the way, you HAVE to watch his new video "The Government Can" if you are at all perplexed by the new ideas coming forth from up on The Hill.) Relaxed some more, messed around on Face**Book, put all of PG's birthday scrap pages in one book, ate more carbs than I EVER should have and listened as PP was dumbfounded that OU lost to BYU.

All in all, a pretty good day. ; )

This fun b-day banner was a surprise waiting for me on Friday morning that PandaPop had stayed up a bit later than me on Thursday to make for me then later on Friday he showed up with the chocolaty-chocolate cake thingy! Awwwe.


If you know me for real or have ever read this blog, then you KNOW I had to have a caramel frappuccino yesterday. ; )



We enjoyed watching Bolt together. That's a movie to add to our list for purchase!


I am truly blessed to have my precious family and awesome friends!!!

40 Minus 1

Happy Birthday, Me.

Hmph.

I have loved every one of my birthdays.

I always celebrate and tell everyone that is, indeed my birthday.

This year's seems kind of weird.

Not sure why.

Hmph.
*****************UPDATE****************

I posted those words last night and fully expected to see them this morning. However, I forgot to actually PRE-post them so they didn't show up. Good thing. My Bible just had some words in it that spoke some Life into me.

Thank You, Lord, for being 39!!!
Thank You for:
*My parents who had me and love me
*My marriage and my HOT husband who completely adores me & tells and shows me often
*My beautiful daughter who is more than I ever could have dreamed up on my own even when she drives me batty! LOL!
*My wonderful in-laws who treat me like their daughter, not an in-law
*My brother and his family
*My home and all its fun decor and the richness of Your Spirit there
*My amazing friends all over the world who have richly blessed my heart
*My health, though I feel REALLY addicted to sugar and can't seem to get that out of me! GRRRR!
*My dark chocolate Plumsweets
*My church, the staff we serve with and the freedom to worship without the threat of death
*My fluffy, ol' lumpy, grumpy cat.
*My scrapbooks
*My charm bracelet
*My sense of humor
*My rides in the Jeep with the top down with my two favorite people
*My iPod and treadmill
*My fun little job teaching music to preschoolers
*My Fuze and my Fraps
*My Computer
*My undying love for fall and pumpkins
*My deep desire for more children that You are working on as I type
*My day to not have to sit at the funeral of my little girl like a friend at church will today who's long-time sick daughter is no longer sick, but is sitting in Jesus' lap
*My 39th Birthday
Thank You.

Head Explosion & Thumper

Yes, it's true. My head just about exploded today. In the car line at school. For the 8th day I have watched Miss Bleach Blond with super-duper long fingernails and super-duper tanned skin fly in on two wheels of her large black SUV as she parks smack in the middle of everyone in order to pick up her darling child. NOT in a parking space, mind you. No, no, THAT would be too easy to follow the rules or plain good manners. "Let's park in the row and block other people just so I can do what I please." Please forgive the obvious sarcasm in my tone. The selfish--self-centered--oblivious to anyone else but herself--woman has just about caused my early death.

I don't know why that kind of behavior just makes my blood boil, but it does. Speaking of boiling blood, why don't I just confess how terribly hateful PandaPop and I get towards other drivers? Oh yes. The minister and his wife have quite acidic tongues when "those" drivers pull their stupid stunts: pull RIGHT in front of us as if no one were coming their way and then go 10-20 miles under the posted speed limit, those oblivious people who really have no reason at all to have a license to drive, those people who are so incredibly selfish and MUST pull over RIGHT NOW no matter that they were inches from clipping our vehicle, those people who are clueless to any traffic laws, those people who TEXT with. both. hands. while driving, those people who shove their way into wherever they darn-well please, those people who......

You get the picture. I do believe The Enemy has gotten ahold of us two carnal beings and we have allowed PandaDemons to take over the driver's seat.

Possibly you are thinking that since we are the two common denominators in these situations that maybe WE are the problem. NO. It happens all the time and we are dumbfounded by the commonality of "those people" BUT, we can change how we react to said individuals on the road.

I found scripture yesterday that made me rethink how to behave in the car when things happen to my utter shock and dismay on a daily basis:

"When they hurled their insults at him [Jesus], he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to Him who judges justly." 1 Peter 2: 23

I am in NO WAY aligning the Pandas behavior with Jesus' perfect life. However, our reaction in the car should be either positive or silent. I was figuring that PandaGirl is only hearing negative, awful toned voices in the car and will certainly pick up on it and continue that yuck filled behavior. NOT a good example for our daughter. So, this picture came to mind....

Thumper.

"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all."

I can hardly handle the double negatives in that statement, but that little bunny is so darn cute when telling what his daddy's rule is that I can overlook it. I think my Daddy's rule is about the same. His Word is best and will bring out the best in me. In us. Sooooo, from now on, with lots of prayer, instead of getting all wound up, spewing venom out and being ugly at stupid...I mean less-than-courteous drivers.....PP and I will just resort to saying, "Thumper" and be done with it.

Hopefully.