Tooth #11 is out!!!

Anna lost her 11th tooth yesterday (she's counting, not me). It was a "big" tooth and she was excited.

She put it in a decorated ziploc under her pillow with a picture of her and her Mimi. The "tooth fairy" brought $2. "She" left the money, the tooth and the picture. Why in the world would "she" want to keep that nasty tooth???

Anna stated that she only got $2 and the last tooth she lost at Mimi's brought her $5. Perhaps the picture of her and her Mimi was placed strategically for a hopeful good fortune. The tooth fairy probably should have given her more for taking the time to decorate the bag. Bet she doesn't see many of those!

I remember only getting a quarter, maybe .50 if I was lucky!

Good Things In Life

There are a few good things in my life right now.

My husband and three kids, a few friends who "love me anyway", good health, I just got a new look for the master bedroom and last but not least, our own personal photographer.

Go check out J. Hintze Photography. Jenny is an excellent photographer!!! She has a wonderful ability to capture personality. She also happens to be one of those "few friends who loves me anyway". http://www.jhintze.com/ or http://www.jhintzephotography.blogspot.com/

It really is a good thing to know that I never have to search again for a photographer for our family pictures, senior graduation pictures, weddings to come, babies to come (grandbabies, of course, and in the waaaayyy far distant future!), etc.

I say that tongue and cheek because I know there are more important things in life but it really is nice to have something settled. I like for things to be settled and having one thing to count on brings me some element of peace in the chaos of my life. So, thanks, Jenny! I'm sure you had no idea you were an element of peace. :)

If you haven't clicked on the link yet, go now!!!

New guitar...

I happened to get a new guitar this Spring Break with my birthday money. It is called a Gretsch and is quite the most amazing thing I've seen even though I haven't even seen it yet( it comes on Friday). My only problem is the name brand... Gretsch. Doesn't it remind you of like one of them old maids they show in an Irish fantasy movie? " Ey Gretsch fetch me a bucket o' watur wuld ya?" Maybe that's more of a Gretch. Take out the "s". But hey.... the name brand of the guitar can't be changed. I might name it something else. Give me time and I will think of something good.

Jakeb

It's not about the bunny!

Lately, I've been conflicted with knowing and acknowledging Christ's suffering in my life. This past week was the week that we set aside to remember the suffering Jesus went through on his journey to the cross. I'm ashamed at how difficult it is for me to sacrifice the luxuries I'm so accustomed to. I fail miserably at loving Him. I'm amazed that His love for me never fails.

It's increasingly more difficult for me to stomach the selfish materialism we partake of on Easter and other Christ centered holidays. I'm not sure if it's just cause my kids are older or maybe I'm older and wiser or perhaps I'm just being a judgemental pharisee, who knows. I just know that I don't much care for it anymore. I want my kids to understand why we celebrate Easter and that it's not about candy and Easter baskets. It's not about the bunny.

No, I'm not an Easter grinch. We did dye Easter eggs and had some peeps and Easter bunny cookies. I just think as our culture dives in head first into the pool of consumerism and away from Christ, as parents, we've got to work harder at finding a balance.

If you have a few minutes, watch this video. I'm not particularly fond of the music style but the message is powerful and timeless.

I pray I never lose sight of what Jesus did and that today is the celebration of the new life we can all have in Him! Not about having a "hoppy" Easter.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not parish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Nepal

I went to Pokhara Nepal in May of 2006. On the way to and from Pokhara I spent a couple of days in Katmandu. Where Pokhara is a resort town that is fairly clean with restaurants around Phewa Lake and Mountain Views, Katmandu is a busy urban place with dirty narrow streets.

I spent only two weeks in Nepal but I miss it. I miss the culture that is so heavily influenced by both Hindu and Buddhist religions. I miss the landscapes and have a picture of Gandruk on my computer as wallpaper to remind me of one of the places where I trekked. I have good memories of walking through the mountains with a backpack on my back and my feet as my only transportation. I miss the city too with little shops that sold steamed momo (a dumpling) with spicy sauce for twenty-five cents US for half a dozen. I miss the milk tea and green tea from the tea shops and homes in the villages.

During my stay in Katmandu on the way out of Nepal I went into a book store across from our hotel. I love book stores and this place was mostly for Westerners and held lots of English titles. I stayed in there for a couple of hours. I remember how they were playing 70’s music, burning incense and it had a very hippie feel to it. This story on NPR flooded my brain with memories of Nepal … link.

St. Patrick's Day Prayer

I'm not an avid St. Patrick's Day observer although I did choose to wear green today (mostly to keep my 9 yr. old from pinching me) and I do have some Irish blood in me.

Thought this St. Patrick's Day Prayer was interesting, maybe you will too. It really could be a prayer for any day so much like my other blogs, it will be archived here and that way I can refer back to it when I want to.

Sour Cream, Soup, and Funny Words

The other night we went to eat dinner at El Toro's with my parents and my nephew. My parents treated us to dinner to celebrate the almost 2 month gift that keeps on giving. We gave them a tile floor redo in their bathroom for a Christmas gift and it turned in to more of a remodel. We're still not quite done, just some trim painting and tile sealing to do but it's been fun.

Anyway... Jakeb, our son, ordered tortilla soup. It's not Papasitto's but it'll due for this small town. He didn't want sour cream to come on his soup. We told him that if it did, he could just scrape it off. Apparently, according to Jakeb, you cannot scrape sour cream off of soup. Thus, the funny word -

"unscrapeoffable" It is a verb and used in Jakeb's sentence, went something like this: "Sour cream on soup is unscrapeoffable."

How's that? Jakeb has messed around with words since he was little. Saying weird words with weird combinations and just finding humor in words that others of us just don't pay any attention to.

Here's another sentence: "Laughter is good medicine and can cause a family to have unscrapeoffable memories." I made that one up all by myself! :)

Here we go...

Ok, so I'm going to see how blogging goes for me. I always have thoughts, ideas, photos, etc. that I think are worth sharing so this will give me the forum to do that with anyone who happens to stumble by. If nothing else, it will help us as a family to archive some of our memorable moments.

We hope to be adding our kids as contributors soon, too. So maybe they will be able to enlighten your day as well.

Happy reading...