Saturday, August 28, 2010

It Takes Going To...

the school of hard knocks to get me to learn some things.

Sad but true.

The other day, my husband got a phone call from a company we were waiting to hear from about returning a book we had purchased.

The man explained to my husband that under no circumstances whatsoever would we be able to return the item. My husband explained that it was something that we could not use; we had not made copies of any of the pages in it nor had we passed the information in the book on to others. The man became irate and started yelling at Walter calling him a liar and a thief.

Walter told him what it was we thought the book included. The man said that it was not something that we would want anyway. Walter asked him why. He wouldn't answer.

The man actually made some threats, too. Shocked and absolutely befuddled with what this man was saying, Walter hung the phone up. He didn't want to say anything that would be wrong.

You might be thinking, "What's the big deal?" Well, the big deal is that this man is a Christian! Or at least he works for a Christian organization.

Walter was very upset. He can usually let things go but not this time. It almost haunted him for the rest of the day. His flesh wanted to get back at this guy, but his spirit said to let it go.

So this whole incident has gotten me thinking the past couple of days.

I know that I haven't always had the Christian testimony of loving my neighbors in every situation. In fact, I'm ashamed of the hurt I have caused other people (and Christians) down through the years. How many times is it going to take to get me to learn how to treat other people correctly?

I hope I've learned, but if not, may this man's testimony remind me of how NOT to act towards others.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Last Family Day...

before she leaves for her second year of college.

Last Saturday, Walter's employer paid for every employee and their families to go to Knott's Berry Farm (they even paid for parking, too). An all-you-can-eat bbq was included.

We were excited to go. We got there safely and finally got parked (their signs for parking are frustrating, to say the least) and had lunch outside the park.

Once inside, we told the kids they could be by themselves (since Lyndsey was with them and she has a phone, too) and we would go our own way. We are much slower these days and we discovered this time that we just can't handle all the rides like we used to. It's soooooo sad! We both love rides (Walter likes more of the extreme rides than I do, but I didn't used to give up a good roller coaster).

The very first ride Walter and I rode was the Silver Bullet. I thought it was one we had ridden years ago, but it wasn't. This one was incredibly extreme but I didn't know it at the time and I was in for a rude awakening. I screamed for almost the whole ride. I opened my eyes for less than a split second only to close them and keep them that way till it was over. As soon as the ride was over I noticed my throat hurt and it continued to hurt the rest of the day. I think I did it in when we rode the SideWinder later. Hence, my voice was partially gone for a couple of days! My husband says that's not necessarily a bad thing! *smile*

We got sunburned and felt like we had sweat about 10 pounds off (which really isn't a bad thing).

Didn't get too many pictures of the day since we were apart from the kids but here are the ones I did get.

Our first attempt at a family picture

The second and final attempt

Gorgeous girl!

Handsome young man!

This cutie is naturally funny! I love it! :)

One of a few attempts of just us

The best one of us I could get. Do I look tired? perhaps hot and sweaty? Oh my, how we sweat that day!

Standing in line waiting to ride the stagecoach

Pictures with this girl are getting few and far between with her away at school now - had to get as many as I could.

I just love this girl!

so handsome - will do anything for his momma!

my "little man" loves his momma unconditionally and I'm so thankful


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Sisters

I was going through my pictures today.

Been meaning to load them to the computer and then on to my external hard drive in case something happens to all my pictures and they get lost or burned, etc. So I started that whole process today.

Boy, what a very LARGE project that is!

Anyhow, I ran across some pictures that I absolutely love.

One is with my sister. I think it's my all time favorite of her and I. I will post that one and then several others and see which one you like best.
2002 - my favorite

2005

2007

2008

2010

So which one is your favorite?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Guess What I Learned?

I started becoming interested in cooking oil (weird, huh?).

Then I wondered which oil(s) were actually good for consumption.

So I started reading up on the different oils (canola, vegetable...aka...soybean oil, sesame oil, olive oil, coconut oil). And I learned a lot.

I read about hydrogenated oils - ABSOLUTELY bad for us! Here is just one of the websites I read about it on.

Canola oil is REALLY bad for us...from what I've read, the plant that canola is made from, animals won't even eat it!

Vegetable oil...aka soybean oil...not good for us at all. Soy is bad for us all the way around.

Olive oil is good for us but not for frying and at a high temperature. When it reaches a high temperature it changes chemically and becomes bad for us.

Sesame oil has a wealth of benefits. Just google it and you will see some amazing benefits. Two of my kids suffer with a dry, itchy scalp that looks like dandruff. Sesame oil is supposed to help cure that. It also works on athlete's foot (which my husband suffers from). It is good as a moisturizer. And the list goes on and on. As far as cooking with it...very good for us.

Coconut oil is wonderful! It cooks well at a high temperature and doesn't burn or change chemically. I also read that it's very healthy and for those that suffer with high blood pressure, this helps somehow.

So I cleaned out my cupboard of the bad oils and bought some sesame and coconut oil. I made egg rolls last night for dinner and cooked them in the coconut oil. They were the best I've ever made! The flavor was incredible!

There are other oils that are good for us as well like avocado oil, almond oil, and palm kernel oil, just to name a few.

Just wanted to share!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Funny

This has to be one of my all time favorite posts!

Click here to read it.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Great Message

I just heard a great message on how to help those in need.

1. Pray for them
2. Praise them
3. Perform (put yourself to action to help them - i.e. buy groceries, clean house, doctor appointments, etc.)
4. Give financially

Giving financially should be the last thing we do because it's more of a bandaid, or a quick fix, to soothe our conscience. Genuine help really is the first 3 things.

Really made me think about my priorities in helping people. How much do I pray for others; how much do I praise them; how much am I willing to do for them; and lastly, do I give of my extra cash to help someone buy some food or pay a bill, etc? Food for thought!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Lots of Pictures

My sister and her family were here for two weeks. We had a great time just hanging out (mainly at their resort because it was bigger and cooler there).

Sad to say but I didn't take any pictures until the last night they were here. Shame on me! I am usually taking all kinds of pictures but this time it slipped my mind over and over again. I took the camera with me each day and proceeded to forget about it.

So here's what I did get.


Me and my sister
I was having a bad hair day

Richard, Nancy, Me, Walter

The whole lot of us

It's really hard to get all of them to smile or just stand still to take one good picture. I thought it was hard when they were little! Sheesh!

Just the guys
Tyler, Phyllip, Richard, Matthew

Just the girls
Rebecca, Katie, Lyndsey
Lyndsey and Katie have looked alike for a very long time. I don't see so much of a resemblance anymore. Kinda sad.

These two look a lot alike these days. I never saw a resemblance til last year.

Look at their side profile. It's more pronounced in this picture.

I love my family!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Out of the "You Just Never Know" File

Walter came home from work today and told me this story.

He was finishing his paperwork in his truck when one of the mechanics (Victor) came walking up to him. Victor is a short Mexican man who speaks very broken English.

The conversation went like this:

Victor: Walter, I like you. And do you know why I like you?

Walter: No, why do you like me, Victor?

Victor: I have Jesus and I know you have Jesus. I know you have Jesus because every time I get in your truck I see those books (his Bible and Bible promise book) and those cards (gospel tracts). What you don't know is I've been taking a few of the Spanish ones for a long time and giving them to my friends and family. Sometimes I run out and make photocopies and hand out the photocopies.

Walter: Where do you live?

Victor: Riverside.

Walter: Where do you go to church?

Victor: The Catholic church. The Catholic church does not talk about needing Jesus and my family needs Jesus.

Walter: Victor, you don't need to sneak taking them. I will give you a handful.

We live about an hour from Riverside. So our church's Spanish tracts are floating all over Riverside and nobody knew it except for Victor.

Goes to show that we just never know who we impact and how God will use us!

She Went From This....










To This!!!!!


Poor baby was panting so much in our very high heat. Dear husband said it was time to get her shaved so she could have some relief. I agreed but never expected her to look like this! Not sure what I was expecting, though. We laughed and laughed when we picked her up from the groomer. She even seemed embarrassed by her looks (I know that's applying human emotions to an animal, but that's the way she was acting.)!

But she's not panting hardly at all anymore. In fact, I found her shivering the other day. So I covered her up with a blanket and she went right to sleep. Go figure!