Wiser for the Wear

Go listen to this!!!! Our great friend, James Killian, who is the drummer for the band "Godspeed" that we love so much, now has a new endeavor called "Wiser for the Wear." They have two songs up on Myspace, and to sum it up....it's AWESOME!!! And I'm not just saying that because the drummer, his wife, and two girlies are some of my favorite people.

So go and listen to this right now by clicking on the link below....you will be really impressed. James is, of course, the drummer, and if you don't think the sound is amazing and highly professional, well, then you have a problem! Heehee! So here's a little plug for our great friends that we love so much....

http://www.myspace.com/wiserforthewear

Have you ever had one of those days????

I am having one of those days. That's all I have to say. OK, it's not. My morning went like this:

To begin, I managed to spill about 2/3 of a 5 pound bag of flour all over the kitchen floor while making pumpkin cake. It was all over me, too. The whole entire kitchen floor was covered in flour, with mounds in some places.

After cleaning up that mess and getting the cake in the oven, it was time to sit down at the school desk with the boys and a nice hot cup of tea. Too bad I spilled it all over the stove when I knocked the cup over with the tea kettle.

Fast forward to 11am or so. I was making stuffed potatoes. As I'm mixing all the ingredients in with the potato pulp, I am bewildered by the results. It was a pasty mess. I questioned myself as to what I could possibly have done to get these results. I've made this recipe before. Hmmm....Well, I decided to proceed with filling the potato shells with the filling anyway, hoping they will turn out fine once they are baked. I'm about 14 shells full when the dinger in my brain goes off......Butter, you fool! You forgot the butter! So I pulled out two sticks of butter from the freezer and stuck them in the micro for 15 seconds to thaw and soften them. Except instead of pressing one-five, I press one-one-five (or a minute 15). It seemed to be taking way too long for the butter when I realized what I had done, and I opened the micro to find a melted mess all over the turtable plate. At the same time, one nameless child spilled an entire glass of water all over the table which is now spilling all over the hardwood floors. Eeeeeeek! So we cleaned that up, and then I tackled my butter mess. Which now leaves me back at the potatoes. I re-stuffed them after mixing in the buter.

By this time, I am hungry, as it is well past lunchtime and the kids have all been fed. I decided to heat up some leftover chicken tortilla soup.....Do you think I could get that right? I semi-exploded that in the micro as well. I'm not going to touch anything or do anything more today out of fear of what may happen!

Facebook

OK, Facebook has totally changed my life!!!! If you don't know what Facebook is, it is a social network that is totally free in which you can "invite" people to be your friends and interact with them. Your own personal Facebook page can be totally private, only viewable by those you invite. And you can search the database and find all your old school friends, etc. Because of Facebook, I am now back in touch with several people from my youth whom I had lost contact with and always wondered where their were. In fact, this week I am having an old high school friend over for dinner. I am so excited.

So here's my plug for Facebook, people. If you are reading this, you probably know me personally. So get on Facebook if you haven't already!!!! And invite me to be your friend. It is such a great way to keep connected with your friends without any intrusion on their daily life. It's fun, and it's free, so why not???? Now go sign up.....GO......!!!

Boys and Bugs

I have totally learned to not be so "freaky" about bugs having three sons. OK, I haven't learned. Check out these videos to see what happened in our home this morning.

Let me give you a backdrop. Last night as we were letting our dinner guest out the door, a praying mantis flew in and landed on my SHIRT! I tried to remain calm as Dave took it off of me. Inside I was panicking, but I was OK. We put it in a jar for the boys to see when they got up in the morning. I wanted to take a picture of Vance holding "Prayster" (the name they gave him), so we let him out of the jar. What followed was a scene of widespread panic when he jumped out of Vance's hand. There are three separate videos, as I had to stop the camera due to my own "bug issues". As we are all trying to locate the escapee, all the while it is on Luke's back and he doesn't know it. In the first clip, you can clearly see him climbing up Luke's back. It's hilarious....And then in the 2nd clip, he is on his arm. Ewwwwwwww!!!!

So here it is: Raw, uncensored life with three boys: (You may want to pause the playlist down at the bottom so you can hear the video better)!

Another quote from Vance

Vance (while supposed to be doing math): "Mom, I need to click on something on Webkinz, and if I click on it, I get something exclusive."

Mom: "Do you know what exclusive means?"

Vance: "It means you can't buy it anywhere."

Mom: "You're too cute. I love you."(Squeeze his cheeks)

Vance: "Does that mean I don't have to do my math?"

Vance's memorable quote of the week....

This afternoon, Vance got into trouble for biting his brother. Apparently, the lessons he learned about this when he was 2 didn't remain in his memory. The things that he can remember are quite astonishing, however. Such as the kind of soda he had when Grandma took him to McDonalds when he was 3. Or the kind of cake someone served at a birthday party he went to 5 years ago. Go figure.

But anyways, this evening when we returned home Dave had a private "discussion" with Vance regarding his behavior. It went like this:

Dave: "Vance, why did you bite your brother?"

Vance: "Because he tasted like chicken."

How can you continue on with a straight face after that? When Dave told me about the discussion, I asked him how he could keep his composure after he said that. Dave replied, "I didn't."

Too funny. Oh, and don't worry. He still got punished. The lesson will be learned. Someday.

My New Blog

Welcome to my new and improved blog! I just love the changes I have been able to make, thanks to my sister and my genius technologically advanced nephew who can do anything when it comes to stuff like this. Oh, I love technology......(Napoleon Dynamite quote, of course).

Anyways, thanks K and Drew! My new blog looks wonderful!!!!

Thoughts on Contentment....from a humble heart.

Anyone who knows our family knows that Dave's hours at work have been cut back recently. So we have lost 20% of our already tight budget! Dave has been doing work for my sis and her husband which we are SO grateful for, beyond belief. It has been such a blessing.

When my first little boy was born (11 YEARS AGO, GET OUT!) I remember thinking to myself, "How are we going to do this?" I was quitting my job and we were going to have to survive on Dave's then very meager salary. On paper, it just didn't make sense. We were going to come up short by hundreds of dollars each month. But we knew God's desire for me was to stay at home. And you know what, He blessed that. He has always been faithful. It has been hard and I have had to learn over the years to say "no" to a lot of opportunities and other things.

Over the years, it got a little easier, as Dave's pay steadily increased. Our budget strings got a little looser. Yet, with the economy going down the drain, rising gas and food costs, and three boys that are getting bigger and hungrier by the day, the strings were tightening again. And yes, there were some foolish choices along the way, as well (like the huge RV in our driveway that we can never use now because we can't afford it)! But that's another story.

I am battling with my flesh these days. And it is a constant battle practically every moment. "Sign up your kids for this activity", "go camping", "buy a new bedskirt because yours is ripped", the temptations go on and on. And I begin to see self pity creep in. "How sad that you can't have those things. How sad. You deserve them." You deserve them? That's another story, as well.

Then my redeemed self steps in. "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food or clothing, we will be content with that." The words of God telling me I already have everything I need. Teaching me to find my sufficiency, comfort, peace, and joy in Him and in my salvation. Not to mention the fact that the Scriptures teach that I deserve none of it.

The flesh steps in again. "But those things bring you comfort and joy in this life."

The Spirit says, "But not lasting joy. You buy, you experience, and then you long for more which ultimately do not satisfy. I am your true joy. The joy that will last into eternity. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" God is telling me I could gain everything the world has to offer, but what good would it do me if I didn't have salvation and the forgiveness of my sins? I would have gained the whole world and forfeited my soul for all eternity.

I know these truths. I know them in my heart. Even deep in my heart. But it is a battle to obey and put them into practice. To choose to be content. I have a choice. I can wallow in self pity, complain, be discontent and unhappy. Or I can be thankful for the multitude of blessings I have that I don't deserve. And I can remember that God uses trials to teach us and strengthen His children. So I can look for what I need to learn. I would never learn contentment if not given the opportunity to learn it. I would never learn ultimate sufficiency in God if never forced to do so. But I am weak, and I trust God will allow this trial until I have victory in it through Him. And until He recieves the glory He deserves in everything.

Cat Party at the DeShongs

This week, my sister had her house fumigated for termites, so she brought her FOUR cats to my house for a little "cat party" with my FOUR cats. Now, you do the math...four plus four is EIGHT!!!! Yes, eight kitty cats, ah, ah, ah (as the count would say). Her whole fam had to come and bring the kitties. It was quite the production. One by one, they were brought into the house (or the circus). It was not a pretty sight to begin with. Her cats were dazed and confused, maybe a little angry even. Then my cats discovered they were there, and it was "pandelerium" as I would say. Karen's huge Maine Coon cat, Fiyero was entirely bent out of shape for one whole day and night. He would growl or hiss at his own shadow, he was so "T.O.'d" And should another cat walk by, even one from his own house, he would be beside himself. It was quite comical.

By the third day, they were all at peace with one another, Fiyero's other personality came out, and they were possibly even enjoying each other's company to a certain extent. It was so fun having them all here. You really couldn't turn around in my small house and not have a cat at your feet. One morning, Austin was the Pied Piper as he passed out kitty treats to the multitude. He was completely surrounded by cats. It was histerical! Yesterday, we brought them all back to Karen's house and they were back in their own element. And it's kinda quiet around here with just four cats. Never thought I'd find myself saying that!

Thanks Fi-Fi, Jack, Brie, and Boomer for coming to Aunt Suzie's house. It was a lot of fun!

Carpinteria

Riding bikes around the campground!
Vance and Emma goofing off in the trailer.
Dave riding one of our boy's bikes. He's such a big kid!
Ooooooooh......Karen and Rich's homemade funnel cake made in the turkey fryer!
All of us in the trailer about to eat dinner!

On Monday, our family joined my sister's family and 3 other families in Carpinteria for one night and two days for the Labor Day holiday. We didn't take our own trailer, but just stayed with my sis for one night. Yes, 9 people and two dogs in her trailer! Tuesday morning, Dave drove back into town with Drew, as Dave needed to be at work and Drew had to go to his college classes. The rest of us stayed all day Tuesday and left after dinner. It was a great time! We spent the days at the beach, eating, making funnel cake, riding bikes, and just having a blast! I love that campground, as it is right on the beach. The boys had fun boogie boarding, digging up sand crabs, making sand castles, and finding shells. One of the other kids found a giant clam, and they also saw the multitude of seals basking on the rocks. Now it's back to school again!