Interviewing Ethan

I had seen many people asking their kids these questions, and I was really curious to see what responses my kids would make! So I interviewed them and asked them questions about me. It was so fun to see myself through my kids eyes! I interviewed them separately, yet some of their answers were identical! Since Ethan had his birthday last week, I thought I'd start with him. These pictures of him were all taken on his birthday!

1. What is something mom always says to you? obey
2. What makes mom happy? obeying
3. What makes mom sad? not obeying
4. How does your mom make you laugh? by tickling me
5. What was you mom like as a child? little (haha - he's in that "literal" phase!)
6. How old is your mom? hard to guess that
7. How tall is you mom? ::laughing:: hard to tell
8. What is her favorite thing to do? play
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? be alone

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? to be a monster truck
11. What is your mom really good at? taking care of us
12. What is your mom not good at? not taking care of us
13. What does your mom do for a job? work
14. What is your mom's favorite food? apples
15. What makes you proud of your mom? obeying (I really tried to explain this question to him, but to no avail...)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Word Girl (I like this one!!)

17. What do you and your mom do together? work
18. How are your and your mom the same? same skin
19. How are you and your mom different? because you're a girl and I'm a boy
20. How do you know your mom loves you? because I love her
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? working (huh?)

A Garden and Space

We went to see Discovery launch on Sunday. I'm such a dummy I forgot to email Leah and see if she could meet us there and get us any closer. I feel really blessed to live close enough to be able to just jump in the van and drive a couple of hours to see a space shuttle skip off into space. It's pretty cool. The couple next to us had a radio (great idea!) and so we got to hear all the radio transmissions and the countdown and everything. Next time though, I'm going to get with Leah. What a thrilling job that must be. She doesn't get as many cute little smiles and coos and hugs as I do though.

There was another couple there who were really enamored of my family. The Mrs. oohed and ahhed over Anna and counted my kids. "Four daughters?" she asked. "Nope, five," I told her. Her response was not the usual "my, you've got your hands full," or "you know how that happens, don't you" or "are they all yours" or any of the other dumb comments. Hers was, "Wow, then you are REALLY blessed, aren't you." I just love that. And I find that I get that kind of comment more than I get any of the others. And that is a double blessing.

The sunset was really beautiful that night. I was taking pictures of the sun going down over the city and some young guy comes up the the wall and starts snapping photos also. Then he says to me, as I'm still taking pictures, "It's a really beautiful sunset, isn't it" in this cheesy I'm-so-deep-and-artsy tone of voice. I didn't know if he was talking to me so I looked over at him and saw no one else, so I mumbled something like "...yeah...it sure is" and went back to taking photos. LOL. I don't get hit on very often. But I'm usually in close proximity to my handsome husband and at least one but usually five very cute daughters. I'm telling this story because it was really the first time in a long time that I've thought about how happy I am to have the security of Del in my life. No matter how bizarre my behavior, no matter how smelly I get from working in the yard, no matter what emotional roller coaster I'm currently on, he comes home to me every day and kisses me and tells me he loves me. I've never had to pretend to be something that I wasn't with him. I appreciate the steady love that has developed between us over the last ten years and look forward to seeing how it matures as we grow old together.

Okay, on to more surface things. Look at our garden. We've got four different types of tomatoes, corn, green beans, onions, cucumbers and a green and red bell pepper so far. There are a few other things we want to grow like sweet potatoes and maybe some other gourd so that we can have them in time to make baby food for Anna when she's six months old. The herbs we are growing are thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram, rosemary and parsley. And mint. It's been a lot of work and we plan to make it bigger for the fall planting season, but for now this is what we have.

The People's Cube

From a man who knows what it's like to live a socialist society. A must must must read. Please check out this article at The People's Cube.

Contradictions of Socialism: I saw the future and ran away

**Not everything is squeaky clean, so this website is best viewed by a parent or rational thinking adult**

A Great Book

I have been doing some heavy reading lately. I have been reading summaries of scientific studies, books to learn about cooking in traditional methods, and two autobiographies. I am not one to normally read so much non-fiction, so this has all stretched me quite a bit mentally. However, it has been a good exercise for me because all four books I have read recently have been excellent! One of the autobiographies I read is Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This is an awesome book and I recommend it highly! I enjoyed this book for many reasons. First of all, it is set in Ft. Worth, Texas, so it is right in my home stomping grounds! I can picture many of the places mentioned in this book. But beyond that, this book challenges the very way I think about acting out my faith and how I think about the homeless population in my area. I am ashamed to admit it, but often when I see a homeless person on the side of the road, I am not moved to compassion. I do not often think, "I need to show Jesus to this person." It has happened before that my response was like this and I helped the person or prayed for them, but more often than not I wonder what they did to end up that way. I tend to assume the worst about their character and become fearful for my safety, even if I have no reason to suspect the person to be violent. Anyway, this book is the story of a homeless man, his life, and his encounter with a woman who had a passion for showing God's love to those less fortunate than her. While reading this book, I laughed out loud, shed real tears, and grieved for my lack of compassion. I hope that you'll read this one - it is an excellent book!

Starting the Day with a Positive Outlook

Jerry forwarded this to me. It is one of those mass e-mails that are normally so very annoying, but this one made me laugh out loud!

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK:

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it 'Barack Obama'.
3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
5. Your PC will ask you: 'Do you really want to get rid of 'Barack Obama?'
6. Firmly Click 'Yes.'
7. Feel better?

GOOD! - Tomorrow we'll do Nancy Pelosi

I Needed This Today

The God of all comfort. Thanks for the reminder Terry.

The Joys of Homeschool

Do you ever find yourself singing in your head, "Yellow is the sun, six is five and one."? It just won't go away!!