Six for Saturday

1. I know, Halloween was SO last month, but since when did that ever stop me? :)

Who's the rootin-est, tootin-est cowgirl in the wild, wild west? Could it be....























Why, no! It's Miss Kloe, wearing Jacob's too-small chaps and vest and Daddy's hat, but she was happy and so I was too. :) And Jacob was beyond-thrilled to be Obi-Wan Kenobi. I told someone that he was a storm trooper....boy, do I stand corrected! Can you see his padawan braid? (it was a braided leather bracelet I brought him from Uganda) So cute. :)



































We get to dress up twice most years since we go to the fall festivals at Jacob's school and at church. And most years, the kids go as something different for each one! For the school festival, Kloe decided not to dress up this year (too big now that's she's in middle school, I suppose), but Jacob finally got to wear his fighter-pilot costume. We actually bought it at a resale shop 2 years ago even though it was way too big, just because he loves to play dress up so much. He's had a blast with it all this time, and I'm sad that it actually fits now, because that means he won't be able to wear it much longer. This is his fighter-pilot face. Doesn't he look so serious (and handsome)? :)

2. Why, oh why, is this the scene on Kloe's bedroom floor every. single. morning? sigh. And why exactly does it matter so much? I don't know, but for some reason it does.























3. I was excited to see Dum-Dums in the half price basket at Wal*Mart the day after Halloween because the kids in Uganda LOVE them! They were marked $2.40-something per bag, so I picked up 2 for my trip next summer. When I got to the register, they rang up at 99 cents each! I was so bummed I hadn't picked up more.

4. Pumpkin Spice lattes are back! Woohoo! I'm usually not a fan of pumpkin flavor (other than pie), but I had a coupon for a free one of these last year so I tried one and loved it. After that I picked up some pumpkin-flavored coffee creamer at the store, but it was nasty. In fact, I only used it once and ended up throwing the bottle away. But YAY for pumpkin spice at Starbucks! Get 'em while they last!

5.Just received this book in the mail from PaperBackSwap, and I am LOVING it. I'm only on chapter one, but I've already got it all highlighted-up.

I love this quote from the book. It's referring to Deuteronomy 24:19, which says, "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Tom Davis says, "The Hebrew word for blessing is baruch. It implies being hunted down and pursued by the favor of the Lord.....God promises that if we take care of the needs of the fatherless, WHATEVER we put our hand to will be blessed."(emphasis added)

Incredible.

6. After this incident a little over a year and a half ago, we had a monitored alarm system installed at our house. A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I had JUST left the house when my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, so I didn't answer it. Not 10 seconds later The Mister called me in a bit of a panic. Turns out that call I had ignored was the alarm company. Seems our alarm had been activated through a breach in the back door, and the police were en route to our house. Oh my déjà vu.

Immediately I knew what had happened. Jacob had been outside in the backyard playing, and we were leaving the house in a hurry to get somewhere. I called him in and we headed straight out the door through the garage. It was a pretty windy day (what? in West Texas?), and he didn't get the back door shut good. The wind blew it open, and wah-la - the alarm system works!

We were only a couple of blocks from the house when The Mister called me, and by the time we got back home there were already TWO police cars at our house! Wow! The officer who talked to me seemed to be none-too-happy about being called out on a false alarm, but HELLO, would you rather it had been the real thing?

Not exactly the way I'd like to have our system tested, but I'm happy to know it works the way it's supposed to!

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 5

The Nile River.  In person. :)

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 4

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 3

My dear, sweet friend Ashley,
I have no words.
You have no idea.
Thank you for sharing the true love of our Lord Jesus with me.
I just....just....well, thank you.
Love, valerie
(I canNOT get this picture (on right) to turn the right way. grrrr. It's so much lovelier if you tip your head to the right. :) )

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 2

Yesterday, I got new wires and 4 new brackets (on my wisdom teeth) for my braces.

Today, I am more thankful than I can even say for these:

What are you thankful for today?

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 1

It's not about the apples.

I was standing in the produce section at Wal*Mart when it slapped me in the face struck me.

Just a few hours earlier I'd been at home reading Katie Davis's blog. The Mister and I were looking at a picture of some children carrying plastic sacks on their heads, and I was telling him how the kids who came to Amazima while we were there would literally fight over unripened mangos as they knocked them out of the trees with a giant stick. They would scurry around, scooping up the hard, green fruit, filling their little torn, dirty plastic bags, then guarding them like a prize. The younger kids often lost their treasure to the older ones.



Because they're hungry. Truly hungry. The kind of hunger my kids and I have never known.

And there I stood in Wal*Mart, passing over one apple after another after another. Because this one had a broken spot in the peel, and that one had a yellow place on one side, and another had a small bruise. And as I stood there, the picture of the children at Amazima came back to me. And I hung my head, wondering if everyone else around me was shaking their head at my pickiness. I sighed and quickly scooped a couple of apples into my sack.

Most of the time I’m overwhelmed with trying to figure out how I can afford to buy groceries while avoiding the BPAs in canned foods, the pesticides in fresh foods, the nitrates and nitrites in lunch meat, the hormones in milk, and on and on (and on). And just this week I read this post about how the chocolate I buy is most likely produced by child slaves. Oh. My. Word. (I did skip the Hershey’s cocoa at the store. Haven’t quite figured out what I’m gonna do about that yet.)

All the way home from the store I thought about this. God is messing with my heart, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about it. Does this mean I’m supposed to choose the worse-looking fruit at Wal*Mart? Am I supposed to skip the luxury of fruit altogether? Is it wrong for me to spend more for organic? Should we be eating beans and rice every day because that’s all some of these children in Uganda get?



I can’t quite talk about the chocolate issue yet, but here’s what I think about the fruit. I don’t think it’s really about the fruit. Or about buying organic, or eating rice and beans every day. I think it’s about......hold on......wait for it......our hearts.

And that doesn't just mean how we feel about those who have less, but the action we're willing to take.

The issue is, what are we DOING about the children who eat nothing but rice and beans every day (if they even get to eat every day) while we eat a vast array of perfect, fresh, organic fruit and every other kind of food we could possibly ever dream of? (And obviously, this analogy could be applied to any number of different scenarios.) Are we ignoring them? Looking the other way? Shaking our heads and saying “how sad” while we go about life as usual? Because if we are, that’s when something’s wrong.

It's not about feeling guilty for what we have. God is the One who decided where we would be born, where we would live, and (though open to debate) what jobs we would have. But while I don't think we’re supposed to go through life feeling guilty, I think we ARE supposed to take the blessings we’ve been given and use them for the good of others. God didn’t give us all this stuff just so we could sit in our luxury and satisfy our own insatiable desires. He has given us what we have so that we can give and share and help others.

Every blessing we have been given – every gift, every talent, every ability, every financial gain – is given to us for the purpose of serving others.

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 (emphasis mine)
"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:15-17
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ Then the King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” Matt. 25:37-40
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48
What I think God was saying to me in the produce section at Wal*Mart was not, “Don’t be so picky about your apples,” but simply “Remember”.

• Remember that the vast majority of people in the world don’t have the luxury of being picky with their fruit (or anything else they eat, for that matter).


• Remember that I have been blessed to be a blessing. It’s not just a pretty cliché, it’s TRUTH.


• Remember that I am among the wealthiest people in the world - when compared to the rest of the world – and with that wealth comes great responsibility.


• Remember that saying, “I felt sad for them” isn’t going to be the right answer when Jesus asks me what I did about the people I saw all around me in dire need.

Please know that I am so very, very far from doing this right. But I'm trying to learn. I want to make a difference. I want to BE different.

Oh Jesus, change my heart. Lord, I’m so selfish and me-focused. I hurry through life only looking out for myself and my own family. Continue to break my heart for the things that break Yours, and then give me the COURAGE to step out of my comfort zone and do something about it. Make me know Your ways, Oh Lord, teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me. (Ps. 25:4-5)

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." Phil. 2:3-4
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale

Uganda, here I come.....again!

Hey friends! I just wanted to jump on here real quick to let you know about the first fundraiser I’m doing for my return trip to Uganda next summer! Yay!



Can you believe it’s time to start fundraising already?? Next summer we are flying a different airline than we did this year, and because of that we will have to purchase our plane tickets by this December. So….the fundraising must begin! :)



Just in time for fall planting, I’m selling spring-blooming FLOWER BULBS! They are so beautiful, and there are 24 varieties to choose from: tulips, irises, crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils, allium, anemone, and lilies. If you’re lacking the green-thumb gene like I am, there are even Paperwhite Narcissus that can be grown indoors in a vase with only water. :)



If you’re interesting in looking, you can CLICK HERE to see the brochure. I'm sorry there is no online ordering, but if you're interested in anything you can leave a comment or send me an email and I will add you to the order! Prices start at just $6.50 (plus shipping), and 50% goes toward my trip!



I will be turning in my order on Monday, so don’t delay! You’ll be so happy next spring when your flower beds (or flower pots) burst into bloom all on their own! :)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Jacob has really been loving all kinds of "tricks" lately....magic tricks, plays on words, optical illusions, riddles. Yesterday he asked me for a pen, and wrote this on a piece of paper:

PEAR

The following conversation ensued.

Jacob: "What's this word?"
Me: "Pear."
Jacob: "I can make that pear disappear."
Me: "Really? Show me."

He takes back the paper, writes something else, then shows me the paper with his PEAR made into DISAPPEAR.

J: "See? Disappear! Get it?"
Me: Appropriate laughter. :) "Aahhh, that was sneaky!"
J: "Dis.Ap.Pear. That's one word. Three syllables, one word."
Me: "Yep."
J: "Good thing I didn't write Kiss a Pear. That would be two words. (yes, he said two) Disappear is one word, but kiss a pear is two words."
The Mister: "Well, if disappear is one word, and kiss a pear is two words, what about Kickapoo? What's that?"

J: "Now that's just nasty!"

Bahahahaha!!

Hello Bloggy World!

I'm so glad to be back! Man, I can't believe it's been almost a MONTH since I posted!

What's that?

What do you mean you didn't realize I'd been gone? Wow, you must be even busier than I am! ;)

Well, here's the low down. A while back (apparently about a month ago), my laptop had a nervous breakdown and freaked out with the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH...not once, but THREE times! It finally freaked ME out enough that I took it to the laptop hospital (aka, Best Buy). After a restful stay in laptop ICU, the nice man at Best Buy was able to fix my little laptop friend and send it home.

Sadly, once my little friend came home we discovered that his (her?) main source of fruitfulness and entertainment (i.e., internet service) was also out of business. For THREE. WEEKS. After hemming and hawing and ranting and raving, we finally switched carriers and just got back up and running again last weekend.

WHEW!

And now here we are! (And by the way, we are LOVING our new internet provider. SOO much faster, and...guess what Jen? we can actually watch an entire movie on Netfl*x without it retrieving half a dozen times! LOVE.)

I've missed you guys so much! Actually, I've been secretly stalking all of you, I just haven't been keeping up my end of the conversation flow. A lot has happened in the last month. And, there were a lot of things I had on the tip of my bloggy tongue just before all the fiasco started, so I've got lots of pent-up words to spill. Hopefully I can find some time to get them all out. I wish we could all just grab a cup of coffee and have a conference call to get caught up. Chatting on the phone is so much more time efficient. :)

Since I last talked to you, Kloe has started middle school (that's been an adventure!) and also band, I've received a (semi) update from SixtyFeet, Jacob has played half a season of soccer and joined Cub Scouts, I saw this amazing woman in person, we remembered and honored a tragic day in our nation's history, we pulled up all the tile in our bathroom (and have yet to put down the new), I attended my very first photography class, we babysat an awesome new vehicle for 24 hours (and then took it back because it was out of our price range), and The Mister and I went to see this incredible, amazing, outstanding movie on opening night. (Have you seen it yet? You must. You MUST.)

What I didn't get to tell you about before The Great Computer Crash of 2011 was Kloe's very fun 11th birthday party and our very fun summer vacation road trip. I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the update. ;) Actually, it's more for my own future-memory benefit that I want to get all of that posted, but maybe you'll come along for the ride?

Put on the coffee and I'll call you in a few minutes.