Thankfully, God is still in control!

In a previous post, I told you that Tommy and I already voted. I won't speak for Tommy but if you ask me who I voted for, I won't tell you. I don't want to be defined in any way shape or form by who I voted for. Some of my friends and family may think less of me for saying that, for not being willing to take a stand for one or the other, but there are just so many things that I don't agree with on both sides. Honestly, my hardest decision was actually whether to vote or not. I know, you say it's my duty, my right and my privilege as a citizen. I agree and I did, only because I truly believe that God is in control.

Anyway, I ran across this video of John Piper, author and pastor, from a blog I read and I thought it was excellent, the blog post and the video. John Piper really spoke my heart inasmuch as he talked about how politics and how God is in control and we should care more about serving The King rather being so concerned about politics. I am sick of how politics is affecting how we love each other. The world will not end when Obama or McCain gets elected. The world will end when God says so.

Here is my comment that I wrote on the blog that I mentioned above:
For the next four years, no matter who is our President, we will just have to pray like crazy and live out our faith like never before and remember that loving others, even those we might disagree with, is still what we are supposed to be about.

Thankfully, God is still in control. That is the only thing that brings me any peace in all of this.

Here is the video.

Halloween Shmalloween!

Halloween was kind of fun when the kids were little but even then it was way too expensive and over rated. The candy, costumes, etc..... None of it is really healthy, I don't think, except the fun family memories and we do have some of those. The whole reason behind why it's celebrated, the dark undertone that surrounds it all just bothers me. It can be fun and some of the costumes we've seen over the years have been pretty creative but I just never have understood all the hype and it really is getting to be a consumeristic nightmare and way out of control.

I do have to say that I have always loved those Green Apple, Caramel suckers that come out for Halloween but I haven't seen them in a couple of years. I miss those for sure.

A month or so ago, Tommy and I were trying to think of something fun to do this year since the kids are older and we just couldn't come up with anything creative (surprise, surprise) so we decided we'd just stay home and pass out candy to those who stop by. That's way more fun to me anyway. (Although, we would not be giving candy to adults or teens who is dressed up and were trick or treating without a kid. That's just ridiculous!! Go buy your own candy.) Anyway, we were saved by the Buc football game! Woohoo!!! No costumes, no buying candy that we would eat too much of anyway, we didn't even have time to carve pumpkins this year. That part is fun and I regret we didn't get to do that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not passing judgement on anyone! If your kids are dressing up and we were going to be home, I'd say please bring them over. We did our share of that when our kids were little and definitely had some fun but I'm just not a big fan of Halloween.

I'm sure when we have grandkids - YEARS from now -we'll have some dress-up, pumpkin-carving, candy-filled Halloween fun! And I'm guessing that we, as grandparents - did I say YEARS from now?!? - will most likely want to purchase their costumes and candy (within their parents limitations, of course).

If you're headed out to go trick or treating tonight with your kids, have fun and be safe!! Don't come by our house though, our porch light will be off and we'll be at the game eating popcorn balls and maybe some of those suckers, if I can find some today, and probably watching the Bucs lose again.

Daraja Children's Choir of Africa

As posted previously, we had the incredible pleasure of meeting this choir and hosting three of the girls, Rahab, Gladys and Mercy ("Marcy"), and a chaperone (Christi) in our home for several days. It was a life-changing experience for our family. It would probabaly take more words than you would care to read to express how much this experience meant to us and how our hearts are both broken and full as a result of our encounter.

They are an wonderful and inspiring group, the kids and the leaders! Please pray for them as they continue their first fall tour for provision, health, safety, strength and encouragement along the way.

Enjoy the photos! One particular photo, the one of Tommy with only Gladys, was very special. She requested that this photo be taken specifically of just her with Tommy. She has no earthly father. I can't imagine what was going on in her head.

The song behind the slideshow, Everlasting God, is sung by Daraja. This song just keeps ringing in my heart. I hope it stays there. They love God, their Everlasting God, with everything in them.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We need your help!

Several posts back I mentioned how Anna is a great paraphraser (can that be a noun?). She is good at understanding the general concept of something and then putting it into her own words.

Her weekly spelling test has an extra credit section for her to write a verse that is given to her that goes along with her spelling list and then if she writes it correctly on her test from memory she gets extra credit. We need help in deciding if her paraphrase should count for extra points or not. Technically she would get 1 point for the scripture and 1 point for the reference but it's your opinion so you can give her as many points as you want to.

Here's the bible version:"Now I pray to God that you do no evil; ...but that you should do that which is honest." 2 Corinthians 13:7 (Actually, her curriculum uses "ye" and "thee" and "thou" but we definitely take those out! They really need to update some of this stuff.)

Here's Anna's paraphrase:
"He will pray to God for no evil, but that you should be true to God." 2 Coileile 13:7

What do you think??? She's eagerly awaiting your comments. :)

Our street stinks!

Literally!

We live on a busy street and that's a huge downside of our "location, location, location". But a sewer line busted down on the corner this afternoon and a pretty good-sized river of sewage began to flow. It stinks!

Anna went out to ride her bike. Why she'd want to do that, I have no idea but I told her to be careful to stay out of the sewer with the Leave It To Beaver mom voice and all. How often is it that a mom gets to tell her kid that?

Cars are driving by, some slow and some without a care in the world. I guess they'll wonder why their garage smells like a campground bathroom.

The upside - the first 2-3 feet of grass that was almost dead from all of the hurricane limbs that were there after the hurricane will be well fertilized now.

Voting, Upset Stomach and Good Medicine

Tommy and I voted today. Tommy had his mind made up but I didn't. I can't tell you what a hard decision it was for me given the lousy choices I feel we've been given. I honestly didn't know who I was going to vote for until I was actually in the booth and prayed my final "God help me" prayer and made my choice. I had a sick stomach for several hours and it would have been that way no matter who I chose.

A juicy hamburger and some homemade chocolate chip cookies shared with three precious girls from the Daraja Children's Choir on tour here from Kenya and their chaperone was the perfect medicine for making my tummie happy again. It has been so incredible having them in our home. They are so full of energy and joy. I'll share more pictures soon. We've had such a good time with them and they've loved everything I've cooked for them so far, going back for seconds and even thirds every meal. Those who know me well, know that this makes me very happy. One of the girls is eating her weight in bananas, she's eaten at least 6 and a half so far today - that I know of.



So, if our country goes into the toilet, we'll just go live with them!

The Daraja Children's Choir is here!!!

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 1 Chronicles 16:8-10

The Daraja Children's Choir from Kenya arrived in town yesterday and will be staying through Tuesday. Even though most of them have already lived through hardships in their 12 or 13 years that we would never dream of in our lifetime, the scripture above is exactly what they live out as they tour the US sharing their gifts and talents and love for Christ. They are full of gratitude - it's humbling, really.

We have the amazing gift of being able to host three choir members and one chaperone through Sunday. Some of these kids are from the orphanage that Tori visited this summer in Kenya. One of the girls, Gladys, is staying in our home they actually hung out with while Tori there - how cool is that???

It is awesome to see such extraordinary hospitality coming out in my kids. They were so excited that the choir was coming and that we were going to get to host a few of them. They have just been so loving and wonderful to them. This is an eye and heart opening experience for Anna and she is eagerly soaking it all in. I'm thinking it might be changing the course of her life in some way.

Perhaps the choir would say we're blessing them by giving them a place to stay and food to eat but I know we are receiving at least twice as much of a blessing by their presence in our home. They are so sweet and full of wonder and an obvious love for Christ and having fun doing what He's allowing them to do. One of the girls prayed last night before we went to bed. It was one of the most honest and incredible prayers I think I've ever heard.

Go check out the info on the choir and you can also go here and see "our kids". Rahab, Mercy and Gladys Wanaguru. Please pray for the choir and their leaders as they are touring all over this fall with 20+ kiddos.

The choir will be performing at our church this Sunday night at 6pm. It's a free concert. You just have to come!

Final Farewell

Well, this should be the last post about our dog, Karat. We will bury a special rock and a picture that Anna drew of him in his grave because that's what Anna wants to do and that will bring comfort to her.

Today, I had alot of housework and stuff to get done as a mom so my teacher responsibilities had to be rearranged. I planned out Jakeb and Anna's assignments to be ones that they would not need my help on but they did get things done.

One of Anna's assignments was to write a three paragraph story about Karat. I thought this would help her process and reflect on the positive. First paragraph was to be why she loved him. Second, fun things she did with him. And third, why she misses him. While we were talking the assignment through, she was telling me stories and I told her that those were the stories she needed to write about. Then, in an attempt to prompt a third paragraph, I asked her why she would miss him and she simply said "because he's dead".

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to make light of his death in any way. We miss him and Anna is still very sad but it is true, afterall, that we wouldn't miss him if he weren't dead.

Maybe Dogs Do Have a Sense of Humor

All of the family left except for dad and me on the day the hurricane was supposed to hit. Dad and I had to pack up the dogs and board windows and all that fun stuff. Everything seemed to be going as planned… the bags were packed, Bella in the kennel and Karat tied to the leash in the back of the truck. Karat had never been in any car situation but Bella had and had either thrown up or peed everywhere. This experience with Karat was not much different. We got to the intersection of Center Way and Magnolia and Karat decided to release all bodily fluid and make a dash for it. Little did he know the restraints around his neck would stop him from going anywhere but hanging from the side of the truck. Dad rushed out to pick him up not knowing of the cruel act that Karat had displayed before his escape attempt. We had to go back home so dad could change his shirt and wash up. Karat learned his lesson that day.

Maybe Karat had a sense of humor… I mean what other dog would decide to pee before making an escape attempt. He must have know it was a win-win situation for him but the total opposite for us… or dad. hah

Photos To Remember Karat By

These aren't terrific photos but I guess we didn't take very many of him and I finally found some so I thought I'd put them out there. The first one is a few years ago when it actually snowed here on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The second is earlier this summer and the third is when we evacuated for Hurricane Ike recently. He was already not looking so great. He was happy and healthy up until about a month ago so at least he wasn't sick for very long.

Karat - Part 2

I got a phone call at work. It was Andrea and she said, “There is a dog in our garage.”

I said “Is he mean? If not run him out!”

She said, “I put him there.”

That was the first I knew about Karat. I thought we would find his owner and get back to our one dog existence.

Karat was a mellow dog. He never got too excited about anything. One of the reasons we got a dog was so I could run with it. As soon as Bella grew up enough I started running with her. The problem though is that she is so hyperactive that she would pull me down the street when I wasn’t fast enough. Then she would wrap me in the leash as she ran in big circles around my intended path. When it was safe I would just drop the leash and let Bella run free and she loved it.

After we got Karat I would take Bella out of the pen in the morning to run and he would just whine. I thought maybe he wanted to go running too so when he was old enough to run I put the leash on him instead of Bella. It turns out that he wasn’t interested in running at all. He just didn’t want Bella to leave.

As we ran I had to practically drag Karat along with me. Where Bella was spastic, Karat was lethargic. We ran on the sidewalk that goes behind the houses on Azalea. When we made the turn away from the road I dropped the leash so Karat could run free. Instead of taking off like a rocket as Bella normally did Karat stopped.

I stopped too and turned around and looked at him. He looked at me like “If you want me to run some more you’re going to have to make me.”

In the mornings when I fed the dogs I would let them out and they would run and play. Karat was the dog who would come fall on my feet as I filled up the water bowl because he wanted me to pet him. Only after I scratched his ears or rubbed his belly would he go off to see what Bella was up to.

We'll miss you Karat!

Our dog, Karat, died sometime yesterday afternoon. We knew it was coming and almost hoped it would be sooner than later because he was just so ill and he looked miserable. We did all we could but he just got so skinny and mellow over the last month, we really noticed he was not right over the last month or so. The picture above was taken in March (he hated baths!)and he was fine then.

Yesterday around lunch time, I looked out and saw him moving a little in the dog house but then around 5pm or so Jakeb came and told me that he wasn't moving at all. When Tommy came home from work, he dug a grave and he buried our big orange dog.

We are all very sad but Anna, our 9 yr. old, is particularly sad. One of the best things about Anna is that whatever she loves, she loves deeply and she really loves our dogs. This is her first real experience with death and having to say a hard goodbye to something she loves so much and go through the grieving process. As a parent, it's so tough to see your children hurting so much.

We told Anna we will just need to focus on the good stories and we do have a few with Karat. Starting with how we got him.

When Jakeb was in 4th grade, 6 years ago, Anna was 3. The day was November 19th and Jakeb's class was having their Thanksgiving Feast at school. I was supposed to take carrots and forgot. So, Anna and I dropped Jakeb off at school and went to the store to buy carrots and bring them back. When we got back to the school, there was a super cute little orange puppy with huge feet (we knew he would be a big dog!) hanging around the outside entry to the school. Anna immediately fell in love and I thought I would be a bad role model if I just left that puppy there to get run over in school traffic. We dropped off the carrots, picked up the dog and took him home. He had no collar. We made all the appropriate phone calls and did all we could to return him to whoever he belonged to but we had no luck in finding his home. So, we kept him. Bella, our hyperspastic English Shorthair/Pointer, needed a playmate anyway and we had room in our big "dog yard". We named the big-footed, orange dog Karat for three reasons. We found him while dropping off carrots, he was orange and November 19th is mine and Tommy's wedding anniversary so I guess I had diamonds on the brain. :)

The Stunz family blog posts for the next few days will be dedicated to Karat and stories about him. I will try to get the kids and Tommy to tell a story or two. It's always good to remember the fun times when you miss someone.

Girl Stuff - Passport to Purity

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Last week, Anna and I got to go on our first mother/daughter Passport to Purity overnight date. I started this with Tori when she was 9 and the Tommy started it with Jakeb when he was a bit older. Boys are different than girls. I know, you had no clue.....

Anyway, since we hardly ever go by the book on things, we take three years with three well-planned and memorable dates to complete this with each kid. The program says to complete it all in one weekend when they are 11 or 12 but we found that there is information in it that they should know when they are younger, especially the girls as they develop earlier. They look forward to it each year and so do we. Tori and Jakeb have already received their "passport". I am so grateful for this program and cannot praise it enough. It is beneficial on so many levels, education, communication and spending time with each individual child -the list goes on.

Anna and I went to Houston and stayed at a 4 star hotel (thanks Priceline), ate at Cheescake Factory (her favorite in the world!) and shopped at the Galleria until our feet could go no more and we got our ears pierced. The ear piercing was a surprise gift for her. She was surprised and thrilled and then nervous when the Libby Lu lady got that gun out and it became a reality. I joined in the fun and gifted myself with getting my second holes pierced as well. Yes, a 41 year old got her ears pierced at Libby Lu! Funny, huh? So, we have the experience of getting holes punched in our body to share forever!

The pictures are pretty self-explanatory except for the green stuff. That was a project for one of the sessions that started with clean water, talking about her having good friends and then we dumped coffee grounds, dirt, green food coloring (bad friends) to show how they mess things up. We also did another fun puzzle project. The projects are all planned out for you in the program. They say the hard stuff. You just have to plan ahead a little and gather the supplies. It really couldn't be any easier.

It was the start of three years of fun, memorable dates with Anna. We're already ready for next year.

Hope4Kenya Photo Memory Book is DONE!!

I created a photo memory book at the request of our student minister of this summer's Kenya mission trip that our daughter, Tori, along with over 30 others went on.

It is an 8.5x11 brown suede-like bound book and includes 35 pages of quotes from the team members and photos of everyone who went. I worked pretty hard on it, compiling the quotes and going through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos and then matching them up with the quotes to tell the story, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. It captures the events and stories that made this trip so special.

If you'd like to see it online, you can get the link here from the Kenya trip blog. I also have my copy if you'd like to look at it close up. You can't really read the quotes online. My copy has some errors, which was expected but still disappointing, but I'll be ordering me another copy of it now that those are all fixed up.

Presidents and a Hint of Football

Has anyone been paying attention to the presidential election campaign stuff? If you’re over 18, I would hope the answer is yes. But all I have to say is it stinks for yall so-called adults because if I were an adult, I would be a dangerous voter. I know nothing of the existing politics these days. Nothing on the war in Iraq. Nothing on the 7 billion dollar market thing. Feel free to correct me on what in the world this thing is called but all I know is that people lost a lot of money. I know nothing on what Barack Obama’s views are. Same with John McCain. The only thing I got out of any of this presidential campaign is the hilarious SNL videos with the actors making fun of debates. So to conclude this pointless post to inform you that I am a better person for not voting because of my under-age, I will encourage those who vote to hang in there because I am glad I’m not you. Besides God will take care of the whole thing. Vote-on.


Oh and to further conclude this post, I also have to say that if you are an Oklahoma University fan, consider this sentence as a rubbing-our-awesome-win-in-your-face type of sentence.

I liked it when I was two!

Last night we sat down with the kids and restructured some things in how we do chores, etc. We've been working with a broken system for about a year now and it was time for change. Anyway, that's not what this is about but in the course of that conversation, Anna said, "I liked it when I was two!". What she meant was that when she was two, she was utterly and completely waited on and cared for. Not a care in the world, if she wanted something, she barely had to ask and it was either done or provided right then.

Our life is about to get crazy! We've are homeschooling two kids, we've got one kid graduating and taking care of all the college stuff, Christmas, graduation party, 3 birthday's right after Christmas (18, 16, & 10- all milestones birthday's) fixing and selling a house (the market stinks!), planning a move overseas (yes, in June or July), finding schools overseas, packing stuff to leave in storage, packing stuff to go, packing a kid for college, the emotions of leaving family and friends and a daughter behind, the list seems endless and overwhelming so if you see us over the next few months and our eyes are spinning around in our heads, you'll know why. It will be so much fun to go but it won't be so much fun getting there. Have I ever mentioned that I hate packing??? Man, this will be my packing nightmare on steroids!

Oh, to be two again.....

Week At A Glance

Just sharing some stuff from our week.

On Thursday, Jakeb, our 15 year old, made an incredible Middle Eastern meal for a History project. He spent the week researching and gathering recipes, learning about some of the ingredients and making a shopping list. He made most of it from scratch and worked on it most of the afternoon and man did it pay off. He marinated and grilled beef kabobs, and made saffron rice (or sovreign rice), naan (flat yeast bread) and Persian pastries made with Phyllo dough, the inside was filled with sugar, flour, walnuts, some other seasonings and a little bit of cardamom. That stuff is $10 for a small bottle! I now have two because I couldn't find it and as soon as he used the new one, I went to put it in the pantry and placed it right next to the one I knew I had. Ugh! So I know have $18.50 worth of cardamom in my pantry. Guess I'll have to find something to bake alot of over the holiday's that takes cardamom. Anyway, all of it was totally yummy and he worked so hard! He deserved a 150 for his grade. The dessert was my favorite and I had fun watching him slave in the kitchen and I even got to work on it with him a little. He didn't really need much help from me. He loves to cook and he's really good at it.


Yesterday, Friday, the three kiddos left for a weekend church camp at Pine Cove in Columbus. Anna went as a camper and Tori and Jakeb went as junior counselors. I'm pretty sure they're having a blast right now. It never fails to put a lump in my throat as I watch any of my kids drive away to leave somewhere. I didn't want to go home and cry so I went shopping... I had a few things to exchange anyway. I do miss them but it's nice to not have to fix anyone food for a couple of days or answer any questions and it's sooooo quiet!

As I shopped, I found a new laundry hamper that I really like for our bathroom that we are remodeling and redecorating. I'm trashing this old one. It's at least 10 years old. The lid has been broken for probably 5 years now. It's time for it to go take up some space at the landfill.


This morning, my sister, Gwen and I went walking at the track. We did 3 miles and watched some group work out super hard. They must have been a local Biggest Loser group or something except that some weren't really heavy at all so they must have just wanted to get in shape. Novel concept... Anyway, Gwen and I were chatting and smiling while we walked. They were all sweaty and crawling on the ground and stuff. They really made us look like wimps. Oh well, at least we were out there walking.

After we finished walking, I went to the grocery store and bought all healthy food. That made me feel better. I paid $10 for 5 honey-crisp apples! Now I know whey Jenny ripped hers off. They must inject them with high fructose corn syrup. We will not be buying these on a regular basis. They will have to be our "special occasion" apples. Dedee, come over soon and I'll serve you some of my "special occasion" apples on my birthday dishes! :)



Tommy is working on the bathroom alot this weekend. He has finished replacing the rotten wood and the major plumbing job for the new shower and putting the walls on. Today, he is texturing the ceiling and walls. We may be able to get the walls painted and start on the tile this weekend. I think it's really going to look nice. Way nicer than the 1960's bathroom that it was.

Anyone have a recipe for honey?

Anna is learning about insects in Science. Some of it is pretty interesting, although, I'm not sure when we actually need this information in life. The only real advantage to learning about insects I can see, unless you end up being an entomologist, is to realize just how clever our Creator God is which does make it worthwhile.

Anyway, here's a brief conversation during our lesson yesterday:

Anna: I wish bees would become extinct.
Mom: Why?
Anna: Because they sting.
Mom: Then we'd have no honey!
Anna: Can't we just find a recipe for it?

We had a good, long laugh about that one. So I did some digging and it would indeed appear that the only recipe for honey is from bee barf. Read and/or watch below.

I found a cool website called HowStuff Works. I couldn't figure out how to embed the video but it's worth watching. There are all types of cool science videos there.

HOW DO BEES MAKE HONEY? (a portion from a cleaned up version)
Bees begin to make honey by gathering nectar from the flowers they find. This nectar mixture is carried back to the hive and placed into the honeycomb cells that the bees have made inside the hive. Honeybees carry the nectar and mix it with enzymes in a special pouch in their bodies. This begins the process of changing the nectar into honey. The bees then evaporate much of the water out of the nectar mixture to thicken it. Once it becomes honey the bees put a cap of beeswax over the top of each cell.

This one is kinda boring but educational and short.


This one is interesting and very educational but lengthy.


Words like digest, secrete and regurgitate really make me want to go eat a big ol' spoon full of the tasty, sweet throw-up - yum!

The Lie of Politics

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http://www.rabbitroom.com/?p=1087

To me, what this guy says is not so much about politics as it is about people. Tommy and I believe, and we strive to teach our kids that loving God and loving people are our top priorities while here on earth (Jesus said that - not me). It's not about who will be president or whether we buy stuff made in China. On those issues, we go with our gut and trust that God is ultimately in control. But, when we find ourselves getting wrapped up in pharisaical legalism and fussing at our neighbors, one might conclude that we have our priorities out of line. Yes, I have three fingers pointing back at me... (figuratively speaking cause I'm not even pointing).

It's possible that by posting this, I'm opening myself up for who knows what (my family can really get into it about this stuff). I just thought this was honest writing from and honest American and worth the read. Don't judge me, I didn't write it and consider that you did the clicking and chose to read, so there. It is what it is and that's that.

Oh, and don't pass by the comments, it's a really good discussion.




Disclaimer: The contents of the linked blog post do not necessarily reflect my family's beliefs and value system - but they might. All comments on this blog are moderated. If you're nice, I'll consider posting yours. If you comment on Facebook, please be nice. :)

My Suggested Proposal for Government "Spending"

I would also like to propose that they go to a cash budget envelope system like we use in our family. When the entertainment envelope is empty, you can't buy the pizza! They'd have bigger envelopes (or vaults) of course. This paints a pretty funny picture if you think about it

Fun Homeschool Stuff

One of the blogs I read pretty regularly posted this video a week or so ago. I'd never heard it before (I think my childhood would have been much more complete if I had. I kinda feel ripped off!) but I thought it was pretty entertaining and educational.



Anna is having to memorize The American's Creed for History. There are a few words in there that are a little tough for her mostly cause she doesn't even know what they mean and they aren't words that we use but she's doing great. She is really good at paraphrasing. She catches the overall meaning of something and then puts things into her own words. She does it with scriptures alot, which is fine with me as long as she understands the meaning. I'm not sure if she should memorize it verbatim or not. Is it unpatriotic for her to paraphrase this historical document? What about the Declaration of Indepence, cause that's next? Can that be paraphrased? Is the goal to memorize words or to memorize the meaning? I just don't know, but I'm thinking some paraphrase is okay with me and I'm the teacher and I give the grades. So, that's that, I guess. I think I may even give her bonus points for creativity and imagination!

Here is Anna's version:

The American's Creed
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people and for the people, whose just powers are "destroyed" from the "constant" of the governed; a democracy in a republic, a "saffron" Nation of many "saffron" States; a perfect Union, one and "indivisible"; established upon thos principles of freedom, "equally", justice and humanity for which American patriots "suffered for" their lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my dutyto my country to love it, to support its "Congegrations", to obey its laws, to respect its flag and to defend it against all enemies.

My personal favorite is the "saffron Nation. And you'd never know she has grown up in church, huh? "to support its Congregation" - too funny!


Here's the real version:

The American's Creed
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic, a sovreign Nation of many sovreign States; a perfect Union, one and inseperable; established upon thos principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my dutyto my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag and to defend it against all enemies.

What's Up?

Well, there's been alot going on but probably mostly junk nobody wants to hear about.

We got our electricity back on last Sunday after Ike huffed and puffed and blew our lines down and after all of the hurricane turmoil, emotional and such, I just decided that I had nothing to blog about that anyone would care to read so I just haven't. And now you will know, if you read this post, that what I say is true - I really don't have much to blog about that you probably care to read.... :) (Interesting tidbit: When I looked at the analytics on our blog, we had more daily hits over the week that we didn't post anything. Not sure what's up with that... I think they were mostly from people searching for Ike info.)

But our blog's purpose is to chronicle what's happening in our family and honestly it's mainly for us and the few friends and family members that want to keep up with what's going on in our lives because you know how terrible I am at picking up the phone. :) It's also a great way for me to archive some things, photos, stories, etc. that we will be able to read again someday since I'm not disciplined enough to write them down anywhere else and organize my pictures. So if you don't want to read it, don't. No one is forcing you.

Here's the rundown:

* Last Saturday, when we still didn't have electricity, tensions were running high and Tommy sensed that we needed to get out of the house. We went to Sugarland to eat and then took the kids to Hong Kong City Mall. Tommy, Jakeb, Anna and myself had a great time and loved the adventure, the sights and the smells. Tori, not so much... While there, we purchased a small bamboo steamer and some wonton wrappers. Jakeb has been wanting to make wonton's forever so he finally did on Monday and they were awesome. We bought some frozen dumplings that were all ready to steam and they were good too.

* Sometime during the hurricane event, someone used our credit card to purchase stuff in Hong Kong and we didn't know it because our phone and internet service was out when the credit card company tried to call. We don't use that card very much at all so we can't really figure out how they got the number. So this week, I'll be dealing with trying to get credit reports and junk to find out if anything else is going on that we wouldn't know about until it was too late.

* Comcast is the ultimate joke of customer service. That's a really long story with some really long phone calls on hold forever and they ticked me off and it makes me get all mad again every time I think about it. So I am planning to get all of the credit I can out of them for our service being out and then cut 'em loose and switch to AT&T. That's probably not very Christian of me, is it? Word to the wise... if you get digital cable service, don't include your phone in the bundle and it's probably a good idea to stay clear of Comcast. When our cable was out we had no phone. We had to use our cell phones for everything and that was a pain in and of itself but it also ate up minutes. I'm sure we went over this month. I'll probably try to make Comcast pay for that too!

* Since Tori is graduating a semester early, we're in the process of ordering her senior pictures and announcements. Jenny did such a great job and she'll be making the announcement for us as well. Tori is busy filling out college applications and taking SAT's and ACT's and getting transcripts and stuff. In the last rank update, she is 61st in her class of 558. That is just six places away from being in the top 10% of her class. What a brain!! We really are so proud of what she's accomplished in her school career so far. Hopefully that brain we somehow gave her will pay off with some incredible scholarships!

* Since our electricity is back on, Tommy was able to get back to work on our bathroom remodel. Maybe I'll post an update about that this week. It will be nice when it's finished. We're hoping to finish it in a couple of weeks as we've get the privilege to host four members of the Daraja Children's Choir for three nights. They are coming to LJ and performing at our church on Sunday night, October 26th. It would be nice to have two showers instead of the one that we are sharing right now.

* We were given tickets to the Music ReBuilds Concert, Third Day, Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and Robert Randolph and the Family Band on Friday night. Third Day and Jars of Clay (they dressed in all white and looked like the Jonas Brothers) were tolerable but Switchfoot and Robert Randolf were exceptional. Robert Randolph was a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. They played alot of music without words, sometimes I think that's probably the best music anyway. I don't think their cd is like that but we'll probably be buying it, it's quality, fun, music that will make me feel all happy inside. It was fun to see Tori and Jakeb enjoying Switchfoot. They are one of their favorite bands. Anna got to stay with Mawmaw and Pawpaw and roast hot dogs and marshmallows, play and get her way and eat Mawmaw's pancakes and bacon!

* We're back in the swing of things with home school. I'm still pretty overwhelmed but I think in a week or two that will settle down. If it weren't for Ike, I'd probably be doing pretty good right now. The kids are doing great and are very patient with me. Anna is doing very well focusing and getting her work done. We've introduced several great incentives (bribes) to help her out there. Jakeb is getting Tori's help on Algebra 2 and she and Tommy have to help him with Chemistry because those are two subjects that I just can't teach him or help him with. I think they both miss seeing their friends so we're working on that as well.

* Anna and I went on our first field trip to Taste of Texas last Tuesday. The owner does a Texas History field trip for 4th graders and she was very knowledgeable. She told us alot about famous Texas people and interesting stories about Texas and then they fed us lunch and we left. We joined up with another homeschool group so there were only about 30 people for this one, she usually has like a hundred or something. Being a part of the homeschool world we have definitely run across some noteworthy characters and it has had it's interesting moments. There was a girl on the field trip in a full-length prairie dress and a bonnett. I'm not saying that's bad, it's just interesting and probably not something you'd see in a public school setting.

* Jakeb and I went to see Dr. Hanson for a 2nd opinion for his scoliosis on Friday. Tori saw Dr. Hanson with hers right up until her surgery and our insurance changed and they didn't allow him to do the surgery so we had to switch. Anyway, Jakeb really liked Dr. Hanson so we'll continue seeing him. For me, seeing him and talking to him was like putting on a comfortable pair of tennis shoes. Dr. Hanson confirmed our choice to not brace Jakeb and just wait it out. His curves are currently at 35 (thorasic) and 34 (lumbar) so they are very proportional and if they stayed like this and stayed proportional he would have no issues. He did say, though, that Jakeb has alot of growing left to do so there's alot riding on how his body decides to make that happen. He said he wouldn't brace him because most dr's won't brace boys of his age due to the muscle around their spine. Girls have less muscle so the potential for the brace to work is increased because the brace works by strategically pushing on the ribs to keep the spine in place. He said that Jakeb has more muscle than most, probably from running, and that the brace just simply would not work because the muscle would just keep the spine just where it is and the brace would just hurt and be uncomfortable. So, we go back in April to see where we're at.

That's it for now, you are all caught up and the events of our last week are captured in time on the stunz blog.