Friday, April 16, 2010

An Unexpected Pleasure

Do you remember the Pritchard Family?

They are the missionary family we went to see in Madagascar back in 2008.

Well, they surprised us with a visit tonight. They were passing through on their way to Phoenix.

We met them for dinner and spent a wonderful couple of hours with them!

If you want to read about our trip, scroll down and click on the label titled "Madagascar" on the right side of the page.

Monday, April 12, 2010

A Family Day

Life has been crazy busy for a long time now. It has seemed like every time we planned to do something, our plans were changed for us.

I finally told Mr. Wonderful last week that I needed to get away from home for the day where nobody could call and get ahold of us; that I just needed and wanted a family day without interruption.

I had a homeschool meeting to go to Saturday morning. So we all loaded up and away we went. The meeting was over and then our official family day began.

We had looked at going hiking up by where Lyndsey was. But we had made a backup plan in case it wasn't going to work for her to go with us. She ended up sick.

So we decided to go to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

It was really neat!

There is only a small parking lot at the observatory but everyone can park alongside the road. And let me tell you, that road is steep and winding.



We had only ever seen the "Hollywood" sign on tv or in pictures. We didn't realize that the sign was right there in the hills behind where we were at until someone pointed it out. Not that it matters much to us (after all, it's only a wooden sign) but I decided to get a picture of the boys with it in the background anyway.


The views from the decks were spectacular of Los Angeles. I always thought in my head that the city was BIG but until I saw it from the deck, I didn't realize just how vast it really is. And I know I didn't get the whole city in the pictures, either.







One of the highlights of the day was when we thought back on the day and realized that we only spent $20 the whole day! Now that is a feat living here in SoCal!!!!

We would really love to go back some day soon but in the evening because they have telescopes you can use to look up into space but they only work after dusk.

A much needed day away was what I needed to recharge my jets!

Between the Boys

The other night the boys were in the kitchen.

Phyllip was cleaning up some spilled chocolate milk.

The conversation went like this:

Tyler: Phyllip, when you grow up your floors are going to be sticky.

Phyllip: That's why I'm going to hire a maid!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Flowers + Tyler = Happiness

Tyler has been pestering us for a couple of months to have his own flower garden.

Walter told him to clear out a section of the front yard from weeds and he could use it for his garden.




Last Saturday we took him to get his flowers. We let him pick out what flowers he wanted. When we got home, he planted them.

He is a happy little man!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

What Is The First Thing

you do after an earthquake?






Get on the computer, of course!!!!!






This is what happened afterward. Everyone was looking for info on the earthquake.


A group of students from WCBC were at our church for Easter services.



L to R
Gideon, Shari, Kim, Hannah, Kayla, Matt

We were all at our pastor's home for the afternoon when the 7.2 earthquake struck in Calexico. That is only 1 1/2 hours away from us.

We didn't sustain any damage but boy, did we feel it! It was an odd feeling having the earth moving underneath you and there's nothing you can do to steady yourself.

Friday, April 2, 2010

WALL to WALL Testosterone

Last weekend, we had a group of college students from West Coast Baptist College come to our church to run a youth rally.

They came in on Friday afternoon and stayed until late Saturday night.

We hosted all the guys in our home. There were 8 guys altogether.

We had used just about every inch of space in the house to sleep them all.

I was the only girl in the house (but it really wasn't all that bad).

We had a blast with all of them. They were so kind to Phyllip and Tyler. I think my boys made life long friends with one of them.

One of the guys, Thomas, had his devotions with both our boys. He was so patient and kind. I wish I had a video camera and I could have captured it. It was so precious to my heart. The boys loved it, too.

On to the pictures now.


Lindsay, Debbie, Katherine, Tasha, Sharon

(not sure why it's turned - can't fix it)
Braeden and Jon Michael

Phyllip, Thomas, Tyler
Thomas is incredibly talented with kids - he's amazing!


Daniel, Ray, Matt
Ray - an incredible guitarist - he makes it look so easy. It was relaxing to listen to his playing.

Oscar, Tyler, Phyllip, Joemel

An Object Lesson Just For Me

My husband and I have been struggling with some parenting issues lately.

We've been trying a few new things to get our boys' attention of which they don't seem to have worked. It's frustrating watching your children (doing what you believe to be the best for them) and wanting them to be obedient, yet they keep pushing back at us with disrespect, disobedience and outright rebellion.

Lo and behold, last weekend at church I just happened to be talking with our pastor's wife and the subject of child rearing came up. She then proceeded to tell me what they have implemented in their home.

Today Walter and I decided to implement the same thing, but with a twist to fit our home.

So here's where the object lesson begins.

I wrote a list of chores on paper that the boys had to accomplish today. I went over it with them making sure they understood what they were supposed to do.

Then I sat back (figuratively) and watched them. To my disappointment, they did not accomplish a lot of the list.

So at dinner tonight, Walter and I talked with the boys and discussed what the Bible has to say about work - that he who doesn't work doesn't eat "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." Proverbs 19:15 "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing." Proverbs 20:4 We told them that if they don't get all their chores done by dinner each night, they won't eat until the chores are completed.

We are trying to teach them good work habits. Boy, it's tough sometimes!

It seemed like the Lord hit me upside the head while I was making dinner.

We tell our boys what they need to do (obedience) but they haven't been doing it - at least not the first time. So, I decided to write them down on paper making sure that it was easy for them to understand.

God knew that if He just told us to do things, we humans wouldn't do it, most of the time (we needed something to look at, to speak out loud, to memorize, to meditate on). So....He wrote the Bible. It's for us to read so we can gain understanding and wisdom and knowledge to live the right way (obedience) and accomplish God's will for our lives.

How obedient am I to God????? Talk about a sword piercing my heart...