Thanks to Carol for the PICS!!

The Bulls and the Dahls!
TIM!

Tim Hawkins

I will post more later when I get pictures...but we went to see Tim Hawkins tonight with our good friends Sarah and Bret and Carol and Pete! I know John and I laughed our heads off...well just our cheeks!! You know on your wedding day when your face feels like it's about to fall off b/c you smiled sooooo much, well, that's a bit of the feeling I had tonight!

So, where are all of those people that would have laughed their heads off with us??? Well, as Pete said tonight..."They aren't as much fun as they think they are!!!" So, maybe we can go another time and get more of you folks out there to go with us.
I will get another you tube later to post that is a Tim Hawkins one. So, get ready to laugh. Turn off the song on my site to hear.

How BIG is GOD since He made these?!

Hmmm...makes our problems seem even smaller!

A poignant prayer

Our prayer to the Lord...I just read it in the book mentioned below. I thought it was so thought provoking, that I posted it.

"I do not know what to say!
God, you are my refuge--please protect me.
You are my strength--I am entirely weak.
You will give me peace and comfort--please see me through the days ahead." from the final entry of Susie Van Ryn (taken from Mistaken Identity by the Van Ryns and Ceraks)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23824767 The families involved in this book are being interviewed at this link.

Easter Pics

We went to see my family for the Easter weekend. My parents did an Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddos and we took lots of family posed pictures and random pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! You can click on the picture you want to see instead of waiting through it all!

Lizard Laughs

This weekend the kids found a lizard and had a blast with their new found friend. Katie even named it...Giiki(pronounced Geeky). She loves animals/bugs(nice ones)/people--you name it! Click on a picture that you want to see as it gets close to you. It's not a perfect slide show, but it was fun for the kids!

New look!

I think it's great how you meet people through a blog(not crazy people, but really nice normal people!). I have found several Christian sisters who are blogging and have some great ideas! One of which gave me the idea for the background and it was easy!! Ok, you have to follow some directions, but not too hard!! Thanks Lauren!
Just in case you are interested in changing your background of your blog, you can visit this cute blog and get the directions! http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/

Ladies Changing Room in the Hermitage...St. Petersburg

Milk Free Chocolate Chip Cookies with loads of fiber!!

Check out what we made today:
(By the way they are deliciouso, vacooshna, yummy!! and better for you!)
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups smart balance light (dairy free vegan butter made with flax oil)
1-1/4 cups raw organic sugar
1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 egg and 1 T oil
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 package chocolate chips(dairy free)
1 can of chick peas(or garbanzo beans)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add egg and oil in a large bowl using a spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Grind up the beans in a small blender and add to mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop dough by rounded measuring teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool.

Old Fisherman Story

My friend Amanda Johnson sent this to me, and I thought it was a great story, I had to post it!

THE OLD FISHERMAN

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore . We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the Clinic. One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old,' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'till morning.' He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success; no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face. I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments... For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: 'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.' I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. 'No thank you. I have plenty' And he held up a brown paper bag. When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going. At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded, and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, 'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.' He paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4 a.m. , and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. 'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!' Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice But, oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God. Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!' My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,' she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden.' She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. There's an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. 'He won't mind starting in this small body.' All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'

UGH! AGAIN!! FIXED AGAIN!!

Is there a personality that like creative change All the time???? Well, there must be and I must be that type! I have done it again...tried to change the blog look, and failed! So, be patient while I update things!! I want to have what I can't keep when I change it all!!! CRAZINESS! I am getting off the computer! Maybe if I remembered how to program, I could do this!! Where is my computer brother when I need him!!??

Ok, what I decided is to use my desire for flare in the picture on top! So, the template I pick will have to be traditional ones...I don't want to have to mess up everything every time I get spontaneous!! Plus, someday in the future, I might not be able to do this as much as I do now!

Mind words

Have you ever combined two words without realizing it(until it came out of your mouth)? I just got off the phone with John and answered his last statement with "Dool"...I was thinking deal and cool and it came out dool!! What our mind does without us having to put a lot of thought into it!! If this has ever happened to you, let me know...or maybe it's just me thinking way too fast!

This is a song that Katie and her choir co-op class will be performing for their dads this Friday. To play and hear the song, pause the music that is on my blog.

Who's Birthday is today?

Happy Birthday to BIG BIRD Today!!! Did you know that March 20th is his b-day? Bet you didn't!! Did you know the person inside has to operate the bird head with is right arm!? I don't think I could keep my arm up that long! Read more HERE about Carol Spinner --the man behind the bird.

We like to celebrate any special day!!

Cool Slideshows

TRAMPOLINE Benefits!

Did you know that you should jump on a trampoline for your health? My friend Beth was telling me how much it helped her out this week. So, I looked up some of the benefits. Run your mouse over the link in TRAMPOLINE and see all the things it can do for you!

FIRST DAY OF SPRING

Break out those white shoes! Bust out the bright colors!! It's spring time! The tulips are budding!

St. Petersburg, RUSSIA White NIGHTS! Wordless Wednesday Post

Deja Vu ALL OVER AGAIN!!

This is what he chose for pajamas after all!!!

I know someone that did this and got stiches when he put his super powers to work!!! I won't name any names...he knows who he is---he may never see this, but I thought I'd protect some innocence!! Mark wanted me to take the picture of the back of his cape!!! Ok, so the towel is old!! This is how Mark emerged after taking a bath tonight...it was too cute for words...well, it would have been better if he wasn't streaking through the house, but what else is new for him???

Tackle it Tuesday

Inspired by my weather friend Lori!

Here's my list to do today: Make mini-bundt cakes with the girls as part of cooking class. Pay a bill or two, finish school for the day--lots of reading, Read/Listen to Little Lord Fauntleroy, Stay inside and finish alllllllll my laundry!!!

UPDATE: Bundt cakes will be postponed. Finished school, going to pay the bill right now, Read LLF, listening to ch. 6 tonight, have done four loads of laundry--still not done though.

Laundry is my main goal today!

Atoms and Molecules

Mark's molecular airplane!!!

Glasses!


Katie's molecular man!! Melissa molecular massive window!!

Our evidence of the rainy day!!

Matthew is holding his molecule...very proud! Water molecules!

The kids are building their own molecules right now with jelly beans...it's raining cats and dogs outside. School can be fun!! Mark woke up not feeling so great...so as a precautionary measure, I brought him lots of books, toys and his own jelly beans to make his molecules. He seems fine now, but he is still playing in his room...the only time, I let him have "food" upstairs.

UPDATE: Mark's just fine...don't know what was wrong this morning...you would never know he felt bad.