Skin color says it all...or does it?

This is a picture of my dad and my brother Brett. It was many, many years ago that this picture was taken. What's funny is that my dad sent this to Austin via email and Austin said, "Nice picture, you guys look like a couple of Mexicans." I thought this was so funny because everyone in our family gets dark but I've never thought to call us Mexicans before. My dad was miffed (only a little) so I thought I'd post a picture of Austin.

As you can see Austin kind of looks like a Mexican in this picture. He gets rather dark. It's especially noticable against little Liam. I'm sure if my dad looks through his photos he can find one of me looking like I stepped off the boat too. All of this is in good fun, we're actually decendants of Germans, Scotts, Italians, and who knows what.

Encounters with neighbors

I have this neighbor, Lady M, who's very nosy. She loves to criticize and get into everyone's business. One thing she believes in strongly is having only 2 kids (she had 3). She also doesn't believe in homeschooling but that public schools are the only way to turn out good kids. She doesn't hesitate to tell me any of this and then to tell me I'm crazy for homeschooling and having more than two kids. When I point out that she had 3 kids she just says she shouldn't have and that she only had two hands. I wonder which one she'd have sent back??

So today I get the "Congratulations, I heard you're having another one." Yes, I am. Then the questions start: Will I finally put the kids in school? Where am I going to fit another one? On and on. I try to smile and answer the questions as politely as I can. I pointed out that for most homeschool families mine is still quite small (many of my friends have 6, 7, or 8 children and one mom I know has 12). She then asked if all of them were certified teachers. I then brought up that studies have shown that a woman with a high school diploma can turn out a student with better academic abilities than some of the public school children, she rolled her eyes. Hey, the single determining factor for success in school is small class size.

"Well, that I agree with," Lady M replied.

"Well, you can't get much smaller than 3 can you?" I asked. She then changed the subject and started questioning the children on what kind of teacher I was and whether I was any good. I don't even take offense at this anymore since there isn't anything I can do to stop this. I'm hoping one day she will see that my children aren't as messed up as she thinks they will be. Until then I pray prayers of patience any time I see her coming and hope I can continue to persevere.

Healing Promises review

I was sent this copy of book two of the Defender of Hope series by Amy Wallace via Multnomah Press called Healing Promises. It's a good book in the sense that you can read it by itself and it makes sense even though it's a part of a series. You will also like it if you are a fan of Karen Kingsbury. It is a christian fiction book about an FBI agent, CLint who is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and his wife is a leading oncologist. Overall I liked the book. It kept my attention and their problems were real.

What I didn't like about the book is that it was neatly packaged. While the characers do the wrong things it's almost too quickly resolved which I find unrealistic. Plus the characters always have these amazing parents who are there for them as long as they need, pray for them, and never say unkind things to their kids. This is really unrealistic in light of today's fractured famililes. But maybe everyone needs a break from reality and would like a bit of nostalgic Leave it to Beaver type family.

Like I said, I liked it overall. I would like to see the author move towards more character development and less plot based drama, but that's just me.

Happy Mother's Day!

I have to post pictures of all the kids on mother's day. I'm so blessed to be a mom to these great kids. If you're a mom I hope you're having a great day. Even if you're not a mom call yours up and tell her you love her. She'll appreciate it.

Dylan's working on a present so I'm banned from the blue room. Bill got me a cream cheese coffee cake and flowers! What a nice treat. We're going to have it after lunch. Austin's mad at me so I probably won't get a tribute from him but that's okay. Part of my job is to be a fun-sucker!

Let them eat cake part two

Liam was so shy about eating cake at his party so I wanted to show everyone what he's really like. He loves cake and digns into it like it will be taken away any second. I guess he was shy doing that in front of others.

Note the bunny ears. Austin feels that no picture should be taken without them. I don'tknow when this started but I'm sure he'll love it when he's older.

I've decided that spray n wash is my new friend since I've had it with Liam. He's such a messy eater but that stuff takes away any stains even on white clothing. It's a mothers best friend. I don't bother with bibs since he yanks on them to get them off. He's such a stinker about any effort at hygiene. Typical boy I guess.

John Piper and the prosperity gospel

Me and my pregnant glow

Okay I just had to post this picture. I love this shirt that I bought a while back but I didn't pay attention to the label. The hanger said large but the shirt is only a medium. I just love it though so it's probably the last time I can wear it since I'm popping out in expontential proportions! I'm officially halfway through the pregnancy and can feel the baby more and more. In case you don't know we're having a boy. Taylor's handling it well, especially since she wants a sister. They all adore her so what's one more boy to her? I told her to hope they marry cool women so that she can have sisters that way if nothing else. The baby looks healthy and the pregnancy is progressing well so I'm happy. I get very tired at night but that's to be expected. God is very good to bless again with another little man. I"ll look forward to meeting him in the fall.