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!

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.

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...

This, That and the Other

Life seems to be going by at the speed of light these days!

Lots of things going on and the last thing on my mind is being on this here blog.

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Lyndsey was home last week for spring break. In her own words this morning, "Mom, break was NOT long enough!" She is back at school with only about 6 weeks left til summer break.

The Lord is so faithful!!! I can't even begin to thank Him for His provision for us. He has seen fit to pay for Lyndsey's school bill. Despite her commitment to search for a job almost daily this last semester, no job has been secured as of yet. But...God has paid her bill!

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Why is parenting sooooooooo hard some days????????!!!!!!!!

What is it about us as humans that make us so prone to disobedience (it's our sin nature)??? Why do we like to 'bend' the rules? Why do we act amazed when we receive punishment for our disobedience?

These are some of the questions I have had lately.

People told me years ago that parenting is not always easy. They were right. I thought parenting 2 kids 19 months apart in age was hard when they were babies. I think it's much more difficult parenting 2 kids 19 months apart in age when they are approaching adolescence. Oh, the fights and arguments and the scowls and the.....(insert so many things here)! The difficulty is because we MUST exercise tough love and a LOT of it right now. This mother's heart breaks when we MUST do it. I dislike punishment (come to think of it....who enjoys it at all?). But, so far they seem to be doing better (at least right now at this very moment:) ).

Another difficulty is hoping that we, as parents, are making the right decisions while raising them. Do my children see Jesus Christ in me and in their dad? Does my life make them desire a relationship with Christ more and more each day? Do I encourage them to serve God? Are my words critical or do they uplift?

More than anything else, I want my children to accomplish God's will for their lives. Walter and I have friends that have raised their children in godly homes and yet the children choose to live their lives completely opposed to the Bible (it's their choice, obviously). Oh, how my heart breaks for those parents and for those kids (turned adults), too! I pray that my children will choose to serve God as adults.

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Tyler had his birthday last month. A friend spent the night and Tyler really wanted to have a nerf gun war. With only 3 boys, that was not going to work out. So, I decided to play with them (can you believe it?).

I had the time of my life!!!! It was a blast!!! I screamed like a girl so many times!! The boys loved it.

We turned out all the lights in the house. Two would hide at one end of the house and the other two would seek. Lawrence had a laser light that we would use to see with. We played for over 2 hours. The dog had a blast, too. She gave up the hiders so many times but it was still a blast.

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We have a college student from Lyndsey's school coming out each weekend to help us with a Spanish ministry. His name is Oscar. He stays at our home.

Last weekend, Oscar was here and Lawrence stayed the night as well. He brought his nerf guns, too.

The boys really wanted to have another nerf war. I was too tired to play but Oscar decided to play. "What a sight" is all I can say! I think that was funnier than me playing with the boys! Those boys screamed like girls (all 4 of them)! They scared themselves silly! But, oh the fun they had!

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This coming weekend our church is hosting a youth rally. A group of college students will be coming from West Coast Baptist College to help us with it. Walter and I will be hosting 7 young men in our home. It's going to be a blast!!!! Phyllip and Tyler are looking forward to them being here and are hoping for a humongous nerf war with the guys!

Coming Soon

More posts with pictures.

At one point we had 4 computers in our house. A few weeks ago, we lost one of the towers (which had our music and pictures on it). The current tower we are using is going down - it's only a matter of time - problems with it as well. If I load pictures onto it it will be as slow as a snail. Lyndsey has hers at college. And that leaves us with my mobile office computer for our church (I try not to use that one for personal use). We have currently found a computer we like but are trying to be frugal and just wait until this one has crossed the point of no return.

However, my Mr. Wonderful bought me an external hard drive a couple of weeks ago. I did happen to save all our pictures to cds which are in the safe so as soon as I find time to figure out how to work it, I will be able to load pics again here.

I have lots of pictures from January when we had a week of storms. Beautiful mountain pictures. But that will have to wait a little while longer!

Something You Need to Read

Update: Oops! I did the wrong link. I fixed it.

Just click on this link and read the post. You will find it funny! I promise.