Were BBAAACCCKK !! Did ya miss us??

WWHHHOOO!! We made it back from the wilds of Montana !! We had a great trip and brought back a few photos of our journey to share, we learned a lot on this trip...just when you think you know all that there is to know about Monatana....well there is just another surprise waiting around the bend!!!



They have finally caught on to the idea of a riding lawn mower!! You don't even have to empty the bag on this model...it does it automatically!!! Wow !! What will they come up with next ?!?!





The locals in Jimmies home town were excited to show us how they have joined the information superhighway....I don't think they completely understand ...but I just didn't have the heart to break it to them!!! It's a start I sappose...











We also found out where jerky comes from...this is me collecting some fresh jerky......its a little sticky at first..but you know there is nothing like fresh jerky!!












We were so glad to see the Montana has renovated their "rest " stops!! Here is a picture of their new facilities!! WOW !!











The controversy of Row vs. Wade is still a hot topic in Montana.





I hope you all learned a lot about Montana from our little photo essay.......

On the road again.....

Were off to Montana for a long weekend!! Pray that we will have a safe trip...as we have 5 passes...yes, I said 5 passes to travail on along the way !!! We will be back on Monday night...try not to miss us to much ! You should be used to us and our gypsy ways by now!!

PRAYER AND SUPPORT!!!

Kimiko's Mom had a stroke Saturday morning. She is alive , but she has lost the use of the left side of her body. So Kimi is up here in the Everett area taking care of her mother. It is going to be a long hard road. Kimi's mom was a seamstress, so she needs to regain the use of her left arm in order to work and support herself. Please keep Kimi, her Mom and Tim in your prayers as this will be a hard time for all of them!!! Call me if you would like Kimi's cell phone number !! She needs our support and I know she would really love to hear from you !!!

**UPDATE*** Kimi's mom is doing better, she has finished rehab and has returned home, but life is still difficult and Kimi still has to come up 3days a week to help her around the house..keep praying that she will continue to get stronger and more mobile, and yes even get back to work!!

Want to get paid for something you enjoy doing?

Sorry guys this one's not for you. Besides, most of you blog at work and are already getting paid. No fair double dipping.This opportunity is for the all the blogging moms out there.

ClubMom is looking for bloggers to join their team. They have two opportunities available.
1. Mom Bloggers. There willing to pay $500 a month for topic specific blog writers on a variety of topics from parenting, homeschooling, money, family, and business.
2. Best of Mom Blog Round-up. This one's a little more involved. The winning candidate will create a daily round-up blog which consists of descriptions and links to the best blog content written by moms or of interest to moms. Compensation is $1000 per month.
Deadline for consideration is March 30.
UPDATE: Here's another writing opportunity. Heather tells us about a new volume in the series when God Allows U Turns. Have you ever had to make a tough choice as a mom? As a couple? As a family? Here’s a chance to submit your story.

Ok..I have been tagged again!! So yep, you guessed it..you now get to find out things about me you never knew you wanted to know....but you do so here they are.....





Four Jobs I Have Had:
1. Deli slave
2. Teacher for a preschool
3. Answering service
4.Cake decorator

Four jobs I think might be cool to have:
1. Fighter Pilot
2. Search and rescues
3. Missionary (I have heard the boss is great!!)
4. Farmer/rancher

Four Movies I could watch over and over:
1. Sense and sensibility
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Braveheart
4. Into the West

Four places I have lived:
1. Seattle, WA
2. Pocatello, Idaho
3. Auburn , California
4. Helena & Billings Mt.

Four places I have vacationed:
1. Montana
2. California
3. Washington coast
4. Wow...I don't get out much!

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Extreme Home makeover
2. History channel
3. Biography channel
4. Life According to Jim

Four Websites I visit daily:
1. Favorite blogs (gotta leave my 2 cents ya know!)
2. One place.com
3. Hotmail
4. Google

Four favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Cheese...most any kind
3. Woody's BBQ
4. Italian

Four Places I would rather be:
1. Someplace warm and sunny
2. On the back of a horse
3. a Private beach or pool
4. Laying under the stars

Four people I am tagging with this meme:
1. Elicia Wendling
2. James Lee Bickler
3. Rick Kruze
4. Blake Paine

Four charities I wish I could give thousands (millions?) of dollars to:

1. World vision
2. Last Days Ministries
3. Casa Hogar (childrens home in Mexico)
4. World Concern

Memories of Amy

Amy,

She was a friend, a soul mate, a sister.....It has been a long hard road but I am starting to update my "AMY" page again. It has been almost a year, that is so hard to believe, I feel like I am sitting in one spot and the world is racing on past me in fast forward. I am posting this here because I really need your prayers, this by far has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through. So if you have a moment to stop by my "Amy" blog .....


This was Amy & I in 1981

Disneyland

WOW ! We are back and it was a wonderful trip!! Though my legs and feet might have a different opinion......This picture is kind of fuzzy but still pretty cool! This is the first "real" vacation we have ever taken as a family and I highly recommend taking the time and money and investing it in your family like this....the memories are priceless!!

A portrait.....

Jim and I had this lovely portrait done while we were in Disneyland...it really is the land of fantasy isn't it??? Tawni got one with her friend Jessica also...you can see that on her blog soon!!

FIVE ON THE WAY !! Kitsap county family needs our help!

That's five babies soon to be born to one blessed momma and papa. The doctors encouraged the parents, Mike and Courtnee Stevenson, to "selectively reduce" the number of babies.
"After much prayer and seeking of God's will, Courtnee and Mike have decided to treasure God's precious gift to them and carry all five babies. She's due in March and on bed rest until then. There is a website set up if you would like to help "donate a foot" to build a house for their growing family.

Blessings....

Well. I am sure you all remember a few months ago when I was whining and complaining about how horrible my life was.....how everything seems to go wrong.....yeah...I know...I need to first ask your forgiveness..you people can feel free to slap me when I need it. (I did say when I need it so don't get any funny ideas.....yeah you know I am talkin to you..I don't need to mention any names !! ) It is so easy to get caught up in what is going on around us...and once your eyes are off Jesus...wow that big old shadow of me seems to block out Jesus completely.

Well we have been blessed!!! So I feel the need to shout it from the roof tops!! It happened a few weeks ago..but Jim felt we should keep it to ourselves for a while..I think he was afraid that it would all disappear if we actually said it out loud. Anyways, about 4 years ago I signed onto a law suit...I won't go into the details ...but just when we thought all hope was gone....we got a settlement !! YYIIPPPPEEE !!! It isn't a huge amount...ok well huge to us, enough to pay off ALL our debt, and put some aside (just in case....) and get a few things we have been needing!!
And ok...our one splurge..we are taking our baby to Disneyland !!

So for all of you who have been supporting us and blessing us so...WE REALLY WANT TO SAY THANK YOU !! We can't wait to be able to bless you and others in the same way you have blessed us !!

Chores. Family responsibility? or indentured servants?

The other day I was reading a post on another blog The Big Yellow House ( a MUST read by the way!) about kids and chores....I was amazed at how many differing views there were out there and decided to see what you all think..... I personally was raised doing chores, my mom was pretty set with 4 kids...she didn't have to do much of anything..at least in my young eyes! Now that I am older..(no comments from the peanut gallery..yes that means you JAMES) I wonder constantly how she survived, and I am grateful that she taught me the meaning of hard work, the pride of a job well done, and family team work. I must admit I never thought I would say those words..Especially when I was on my hands and knees cleaning around the bottom of the toilet !! Now that I have my own slave..I mean daughter....I hope I can give her that same sense of pride in a job well done. At first it was hard, as with most things for me...I have such high expectations that it was just easier to do it all myself. But I finally decided that I needed to do what was best for my daughter even if it meant a lot more work for me and a setting aside of my high expectations for a time. For the first while we really had a hard time...I would send her in to do the dishes and 3 hours later she would still be in the kitchen, with water all over the floor and every kitchen towel in wet balls all over the kitchen!!! Then it dawned on me ( sometimes I can be a little slow....I know hard to believe huh?) I had never shown her how to do the dishes or what the end result should look like!! It's like when you first get into a car to drive....you have seen it done a million times but when you have to do it all yourself it's overwhelming!! So after this great mind boggling revelation...we started doing the dishes together, we traded off positions each night, so she got the hang of each thing one at a time...(who knew getting a pan clean could be so hard??) Each night as we finished I would point out all the little things she should look for and make sure were done..like is that spaghetti sauce dripping down the front of the stove a decoration..or should we clean it?? Showing her what the finished product was expected to look like. Then we moved onto another chore...and went through the same process...me walking her through...giving her tips on how to make it quicker and what works best..... Now I have a pretty well trained slave..oops again...I don't know why I keep doing that!!

Of course now came the subject of an allowance...hummm ....I don't get paid...well yes with love and affection...food for my tummy and a warm bed at night...so why should she get any more than me??? But my dear husband had grown up with a small weekly allotment to spend as his heart so desired...and he wished to bless his beloved daughter with the same token of gratitude for a job well done. We wrestled over the decision for a few weeks and another grand revelation came to us!!! We as children had never been taught about how to handle money and we had been wondering how we could teach our daughter about finances, so that she will hopefully not struggle as we did. Yep, you guessed it...1 + 1 =2 Wow amazing how that works ! So this was our grand idea (well not really ours...I am thinkin those idea's probably came from higher up !)
We made a list, she has personal responsibilities ...example getting up on time and being ready to go for the day by 8:30, washing her face, making her bed...ect.
Then she has family responsibilities i.e. keeping her stuff picked up when not in use, putting her dishes in the sink......
And finally she has a list of things she can do to earn money i.e. clean bathroom, clean out car, make Daddy's lunch.
She only gets paid for those items if she has maintained at least 90% of the personal and family responsibilities.

Of course that starts a whole new list...how should she spend her money?!! We have broken it down into.. Giving, Future savings (NOT to be touched!) special savings (for a new game or whatever) and spending...the only one we have told her how much to give to is her giving...she has to do 10% as the Bible instructs us to! The rest she decides on......

Now, I know I have been babbling on for far to long for most of you, but I really feel like this is an area of importance. I was shocked to see how many families don't require anything from their children and they sited many reasons, from my old one of "Its easier to do it myself", "I just can't get my kids to do the chores" , (which I have to ask who's in charge there?) to "I want my kids to enjoy being a kid" My problem with these thoughts are....if not you....who?? Who will teach them to take care of themselves? You will not always be there to clean the dishes and do the laundry....Why not create a sense of personal responsibility, as well as family obligation. We need to be looking out for one another, Jesus calls us to be servants, that starts at home! You don't need to work your kids like your running a sweat shop but I do believe in instilling in them a good work ethic...that isn't something that just happens...it is learned in the home! And no they are not going to like it, but they might enjoy it more if its something you do as a family, and there are ways of making it fun, not to mention that you can show them how it is their chance to bless others!! I have learned that starting early is actually easier....I waited till tawni was almost 9...but when I worked at a daycare...I saw children as young as 2 learning to be responsible for themselves and help others. We taught them when they came in the house..Their shoes and coats were to go right here, and after lunch..they rinsed their plates and put them in the dishwasher, and yes from time to time we had to remind or help get things put away right...but they knew what was expected of them! Now with my nieces I am having them help me (which they love) with the dishes....and we like to surprise mommy by cleaning the house before she comes home from work (showing them it is something special they can do for someone they love!! And they know a happy mommy is a GOOD thing!)

Another point on the subject of them complaining and not doing the work.....they need to know that there is always going to be things in life they don't like...but they have to do!! ( I.E PAP SMEAR..need I say more?) And they are not going to be able to complain to a boss every time they don't want to do something he asks of them ! This also and more importantly goes for our relationship with God ! Yep, believe it or not he is always asking people to do things they REALLY don't want to do....(i.e Jonah & Moses to name a few) We need to learn to listen to authority and do things, even we we don't want to, or don't understand why we have to do them. We need to do them with a servants heart, without having to be asked twice.......

So let me know your thoughts!! I am always up for a good discussion !!

According to a news article the past couple of days (the story is below), Sony just pulled an ad campaign that featured an image of Jesus after considerable outcry from Christian, from Catholics in particular.


Not that we should necessarily be surprised that people would try to reduce Christ to being just a nice guy with some nice teachings. We do far too much of that ourselves, then we claim to follow the one we've reduced to that same caricature. Are others seeing Christ's power and holiness reflected in everything we do? Or do they come away from interactions with us thinking that Jesus is no big deal? I think C.S. Lewis put it pretty well:

MERE CHRISTIANITY, page 56: I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.




ROME (Reuters) - Sony has apologized for an advertising campaign for its PlayStation game console which featured a young man wearing a crown of thorns with the slogan "Ten years of passion".

Some Catholics were outraged by the ads, which ran in newspapers and magazines to celebrate the product's tenth anniversary.

"This time they've gone too far," said Antonio Sciortino, editor of Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family), a mass-circulation Catholic weekly.

"If this had concerned Islam there would have been a really strong reaction," Sciortino was quoted as saying in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

In the Bible, Jesus was forced to wear a crown of thorns by mocking Roman guards before he was crucified. In the advertisement, a young man smiles cheekily, wearing a crown whose thorns are twisted into the geometric shapes that are PlayStation's logo.

In a statement, Sony Computer Entertainment Italia expressed regret over the reaction to the advertisement. It acknowledged that the "spirit of the message was misunderstood" and said the campaign would not continue.

Sony's ad is not the first to irk Catholics in recent months.

"There's no religion any more", read a slogan for IKEA in an advert to inform Italians, whose Church attendance is steadily falling, that its furniture stores were open on a Sunday.

And two adapted versions of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper have been used for adverts that caused controversy in other predominantly Catholic countries.

French fashion designer Francois Girbaud featured Jesus as a woman with a table of glamorous disciples, while Irish bookmaker Paddy Power depicted the original Christians gambling, the traitor Judas clutching his 30 pieces of silver.

Outsourcing Parenthood

This article is from one of my favorite blogs called Spunky homeschool. She articulates things so much better than I could ever hope to !! So I have yet again taken one of her better posts to share with you !!

A few months ago a mother came to me all excited. She began to tell my about an experience she had in her daughter's elementary school.

It was around Christmas and her daughter came home from school telling her mom all the wonderful stories her teacher had been reading to her. Sadly, the daughter lamented however, none of the stories were about the real meaning of Christmas. The daughter asked her mother if she could come to her class and read to her a story from their shelf about the birth of Jesus. The mother thoughtfully replied that she would love to but that she would have to check with the teacher. The daughter seemed satisfied. The mother approached the teacher about the matter. The teacher told her that any extra reading material had to be cleared by the principal. The mother appealed to the principal who then consulted with a guideline for reading. After a short wait the mother was granted her request on the grounds that the birth was historical in nature. The mother was thankful.

Not wanting to burst her enthusiasm I told her how glad I was that she was able to read to the children. The mother's excitement puzzled me. Why would a mother seek the authority of someone else to read a book to her child and the classroom? The answer is obvious, of course. The mother was not the authority in the classroom. This is as it should be. The mother is not there every day and the teacher must keep control of the room and the principal must keep control of the school. The mother rightly sought their approval because that is the system that she submitted to when she allowed her daughter to attend.

The question is, why would a mother knowingly yield her authority to someone else to the point where a simple request for a story would require the approval of three others? Simply stated, the mother has outsourced her parenting.

We heard alot about outsourcing jobs in the last election. Everybody was worried about the number of jobs moving overseas. Yet, a bigger problem is brewing right here in the US. We are outsourcing parenthood. Parents are knowingly giving the job of raising their children over to another.

No parent would readily admit this of course. But the increased reliance on day care, before school, and after school programs demonstrates something else. We want the schools to provide nurtritious lunches without ever thinking we should pack the child one ourselves. We want the schools to bus our children to school without ever thinking that we could drive them ourselves. There are companies that will send a day care provider (paid for by the company) to the house when a child is ill so that mom can still go to work. On the weekend, daycares will provide overnight care so that the parents can go out on a date or catch up on house work.

When I was growing up we all went home for lunch. Then in the schools began to take on that responsibility. The parents were thankful. Then the schools began to provide clinics. The parents were thankful. Then the schools began to teach health. The parents were thankful. The schools began to teach sex ed. The parents were thankful. The schools began to parent for them. The parents were thankful.

The educational establishment is no longer bashful about becoming the parent. Consider the bills just inroduced in Rhode Island that would "require school districts receiving state aid to include in their plans strategies to decrease obesity and improve health and wellness of students." Since when did obesity become a school issue? When the parents began to outsource parenthood that's when. And just what does "improve health and wellness" mean. It doesn't matter, the parents are thankful. It is one less worry for them.

The schools are not the only arena that parents have outsourced their parenthood. We don't want the inconvenience of monitoring our children's viewing habits so we expect others to rate the shows for us and then we will decide based on their standard. Never mind that their standard is not ours they saved us the time necessary to do it ourselves. We feel good that we have done something and we are thankful.

We rely on internet filters to strain out the filth from our computers. Sure they miss some things that we wouldn't approve of but we're willing to make the trade off for the convenience of not having to monitor ourselves. We can go on with our own business because someone else is "parenting" the children and we are thankful.

Don't misunderstand, I am not saying that these things are not helpful. But we have come to rely on others rather than God amd His standard to define parenting and the standards by which we raise our children.

As a Christian, I am called to a higher standard. God has given me these children and I take that responsibility seriously. Society may make it easy to oursource parenthood but God will still hold me accountable.

I stole this post....I thought it was interesting..Thanks Spunky!!

No Parental Controls
Monday, February 06, 2006
According to a Boston Globe article, police in Connecticut are investigating whether the assaults of seven young girls was sparked by conversations on MySpace.com. The men allegedly found out about the girls through the website. Parents are upset about the lack of oversight and control by the administrators of MySpace.com. Connecticut State Attorney General Blumenthal commented,
As a parent, I find it appalling and abhorrent that a Web site would so poorly police its pages," Blumenthal said. "This Web site is a parent's worst nightmare." I am sorry that this happened to the girls, but is this a MySpace problem or a parenting problem? I find it amazing that a parent would expect any company to do what they won't do on their own - monitor their children. I have seen many parents just drop their children off at the library to do "homework". The next thing you know these kids are online chatting away with no supervision at all.Some may view MySpace as a parent's worst nightmare. In reality, the parents lack of control has turned into the young girls' worst nightmare.(HT: Daryl )

Go SEAHAWKS !!!

OUR OFFICIAL CHEERLEADER !! WWWHOOOO !!

Want this job??

JOB DESCRIPTION: Long-term player needed for challenging, permanent work in chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work evenings and weekends and frequent 24-hour shifts. There is some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in faraway cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Must keep this job for the rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule. Must be willing to tackle stimulating technical challenges such as gadget repair, sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must handle assembly and product safety testing, as well as floor maintenance and janitorial work. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and levels of mentality. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute and an embarrassment the next. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

ADVANCEMENT: There is no possibility. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining or retraining so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: None required, but on the job training is offered on a continually exhausting basis.WAGES: None. In fact, you must pay those in your charge, offering frequent wages and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 and attend college. When you die, you give them whatever income you have left.

I recently ran across some old pictures..that I thought I would share with you...they are of me when I was little and cute. My auntie Marie took them..I think she has a great eye for photography...anywho...NO LAUGHING!!

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. - Ronald Reagan

Minnie's new job !!!Yep its offical we are so hard up for money we put Minnie to work!! Can't have an free loaders around here!! Tawni is NEXT !!