Joe the Plumber

Just in case you were wondering what he looks like....



And if you don't follow politics (Heidi), I apologize for this irrevelant blog.

Just another day in the life...

This just heard....

Haley: You are Annahkenns skywalker.

Lexi: I not nanakins sywalker. i lexi mae.

Haley: Nooooo...You are Annahkenns skywalker.

Lexi: NO! I Lexi mae. I telling mommy. Mommy, I not nanakins sywalker. Sissy told me I nanakins sywalker.


-----Meanwhile, Curtis is in the kitchen beaming from ear to ear and says "I love these kinds of fights!--------

Pot Callin' the Kettle...

Scene: Haley getting ready for swim class.

She comes out of the bathroom with her butt cheeks perfectly positioned between the straps of her suit...mooning all of us. (A move that already made me laugh 15 minutes earlier.)

Curtis says and I quote "Haley...come on...get dressed. You don't have to put on a show for everyone every second of the day."

Kristi: Laughing...Says to Curtis.. "Oh, hello Pot. Meet the Kettle."

Haley: "I'm not a Pot Kettle"

And Scene.

FrEaKed OuT!

So today at MOPS a police officer came in to talk to us about Child Safety. She got to the part about pedophiles, and now I'm worried about my blog and the pictures I've posted. Is anyone else? Maybe I should make this by invite only???

Yums...

Haley and I made chili and homemade oatmeal cookies today. The kitchen smells divine. I'm taking a break to type because she is washing the dishes. She got mad at me when I tried to help.

So when will she figure out that washing dishes isn't fun? Cause this ROCKS!

SARA B.

Just got back from the concert. So rich, I cannot describe. She was beyond perfect. Absolutely flawless. Seriously....

To my readers in LA - go see her tomorrow night (Sat.) if you can.

She is in Portland on the 14th.

Seattle on the 15th.

Seriously...it is too good and too inexpensive to pass up. (Tickets are like $22-$25 each.)

I dream of singing like her one day. It just makes me want to crawl up to a piano and practice. It was so inspiring.

Quick Prayer...

I hope this doesn't seem trivial to you. It's not to us. We've been trying to sell our house for 4 months now in a short sale. It's an endless amount of paperwork, dead-ends, phone calls, disappointment, and stress. After months of trying, we finally got a call today from our loan negotiator. She called our realtor (who unfortunately was on jury duty at the time) and asked him to return her call tomorrow.

If you have a moment to pray a simple prayer for us it would be this...

That Ron (our realtor) and Babatte (our Loan Negotiator) will have a chance to speak tomorrow (which would be Thursday). My second prayer would be for closure. We would just like this long, draining saga to be over.

Thank you my sweet friends for praying for us.

Carnival.

I love Carnivals & Fairs. Especially when they are at a neighborhood church. It is just so sweet, simple, and charming to me. And I like it. We went to St. Simon and Jude last night with the kids and had a fun time.

Highlights....

We are a bit trepidatious over rides that are pulled out of a box. So we opted for this for some reason.....

Yeah....it looks a WHOLE lot safer.

Curtis and Haley loved it.


So I decided to try it. See me - going up the stairs...right hand side? Yeah, it's about this point where I was wishing I had taken a Xanex. I got a little freaked out about falling over the side. Oh well. No turning back now....

Here we go....

This face is showing equal parts of "that was fun" and "fyoosh...we are still alive."


Somewhere, I am quite certain that my parents have pics of my sister and I riding this same ride at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. So this was sentimental for me.



Everybody got to play one game...



He had to go and get a hot dog.... (and I had to take a pic, cause he looks HOT!)


And yes, no fair could be complete without cotton candy and funnel cake. Don't bother looking for the cotton candy. It was already in our bellies.


Fun night. I will leave out the part about Haley throwing a tantrum and Curtis carrying her out of the fair (but if you look closely at the above pic, you will see her face starting to turn sour...this was about 10 seconds before it all went down)... and instead tell you that I also got a great big bag of Children's books for $1. Seriously. What a deal. Gotta love the Catholics!

Eat Pray Love : A Disclaimer

Yesterday, my Mother told me she was going to buy this book. We talked about it and I realized that I was vague in my description of the spiritual journey the author was on. I don't know how Elizabeth Gilbert would define her spirituality. Actually, I doubt she would give it a name. But it's definitely not the non-denominational, Christian, "churchy" upbringing that I have had. She finds God in ways that will be very unconventional to some. And though I don't agree with everything she believes in, or choose certain spiritual disciplines that she has...her words still found a way to draw me closer to God.

I am writing this because I know some of you who read this blog...and I know your backgrounds and beliefs. I also work at a church, and well, let's just say wouldn't recommend this as small group literature or anything.... So please keep that in mind before/as you read it.

With that said....here is just one of the many passages she wrote that I can identify with...

If faith were rational, it wouldn't be - by definition - faith. Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch. Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity, it would just be...a prudent insurance policy.

I'm not interested in the insurance industry. I'm tired of being a skeptic, I'm irritated by spiritual prudence and I feel bored and parched by empirical debate. I don't want to hear it anymore. I couldn't care less about evidence and proof and assurances. I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on water.