After the earthquake in China, my youngest decided that she would love to raise some money to help... Since we do not have a school to help us raise money, I was kind of at a loss how to help her. Well my team at Dove Chocolate came through!

They have offered to partner with my daughter to raise money for the earthquake victims in China! I didn't even know that they were thinking about it, I did mention to my boss that she really wanted to help, but that she was having a hard time coming up with an idea as to how to do so.
 
Here is what they have offered to do... For each Bakers Bundle that our team sells each Chocolatier will donate $5 to Vickie's cause! She will then be sending the money to CCAI's earthquake relief fund! I will keep you posted on how she does.

Here is what a Baker's Bundle is:

Baker's Bundle - Save 30% off when you order this. This is available to all your customers! It contains one box of chocolate chip cookie mix, one box of brownie mix, one large box of the 1 1/2 pound Chef Series Dark Chocolate bars and 4 packets of mousse. It's a $56 value and for this month, any guest pays just $40!

For more information please email me at renay@coloradosweets.com

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This Friday my oldest daughter will be stepping out into the new world as an adult. She and 24 of her peers at church will have all graduated from High School, by then. Some will graduate from large city High Schools others like my daughter will graduate from smaller co-op or homeschools. All will be facing the world as caring, full of excitement, knowing Jesus – adults.

Last Sunday our church had a ceremony honoring these young men and women and graduating them into either the women’s or men’s ministry from the youth ministry program. Each was met head on with the reality that they were no longer considered a part of the Youth any more, they were in fact handed over to the adult education minister from the youth minister they had grown up with since they entered into the youth program in grade 7 now 6, in a similar ceremony, many of them hardly remember.

There were a lot of tears and hugs, and emotions were high as these young adults step out to meet their future, but I know that our youth pastor, his wife and their families have given them a firm foundation to stand on and they will do fine.

All I can add is Congratulations class of 2008!!!

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I am proud to announce that I am now an Independent Chocolatier for DOVE® Chocolate at Home and LOVIN' it! "Ground floor opportunity. Only $50 down to start. Offer ends 6/30/08" PAYMENT PLAN All May recruits may take advantage of a special payment option this month. Say yes, sign an agreement, pay $50 plus tax (based on the kit cost of $399) and pay the remaining balance of $349 in 60 days. DID YOU KNOW THAT 80% OF WOMAN WHO MAKE OVER $100,000.00 A YEAR ARE WITH A DIRECT MARKETING COMPANY? DCAH is the NEWEST HOT party plan company around! (M&M) MARS Company is our parent corporation a 33 BILLION Dollar Corporation. Come indulge all of your senses at a Dove® Chocolate at Home Tasting Party. We offer an exclusive line of fine quality chocolate that is delicious, perfect for elegant and easy entertaining, and fun for friends and family. Dove® Chocolate at Home products are sold exclusively through in-home Tasting Parties by independent contractors called "Chocolatiers". Our exclusive product line includes everything you need to create your own special moments of chocolate discovery, from easy-to prepare desserts that impress, to ready-to-enjoy candies and giftables that are perfect for sharing with family and friends. If you enjoy making candy from scratch, you'll love our professional grade tempering unit, top quality chocolate molds and transfer sheets.  If you're looking to plan a romantic evening for two, we've got you covered with our Heart Fondue Set. Schedule a night of celebration with a group of friends, and they'll appreciate the Girls' Night Out Kit featuring our decadent chocolate martini mix. When last-minute company calls and you need a "wow" dessert in a flash, try our fabulous (and foolproof) Mousse Mix. With just one bite or sip of our products, you'll discover what makes Dove Chocolate at Home® so special. The DOVE Chocolate at Home® career plan offers a great opportunity to earn an income and grow at your own pace through personal sales, recruiting, building a team and developing leaders. As an independent Chocolatier, your base commission is 25 percent of your sales, with the opportunity to earn additional commissions up to 40 percent, based on the amount of your personal sales. There are additional bonus and override opportunities based on the sales of your recruits. We offer it all, and invite you to Share the Sweet Life! If you'd like to set up a time for us to talk, please contact me by email at renay@coloradosweets.com or visit my site at www.dovechocolateathome/coloradosweets

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Yesterday, while we were out helping at the stables, Sue (stable owner) came over and told my oldest daughter to tack and ride Kiva, that she really needed it. This is one of her favorite horses. She is older, stable, well trained, a wonderful horse for a beginning rider. She then told my husband and I that Kiva was now available to adopt through FFER.
 
So now my oldest had a decision to make, between two horses she loves, DC the pony and Kiva the quarter horse. Since we were out at the stable yesterday volunteering, there is a lot of work needing to be done at a place like Iron Springs. She asked me to help her  groomed Kiva after riding her, in other words she need to talk.
 
To me it was a simple decision, but then my heart wasn’t as involved, we had found out some things about DC in the last few months that really bothered me. One he hasn’t been ridden in almost 2 years, and during that time has been turned out at all the times. So he would have to be worked with a professional trainer for a while, before he could be ridden by anyone. Secondly, we were told that DC was a perfect children’s horse and that even our youngest could ride him. When I told Sue that she was shocked. She told us that his temperament is very hot, she said that she would be afraid to put oldest daughter or anyone but the most experienced riders on DC, and that would only be after he received a lot of ground work and training. Plus, with the need a lot of expensive training it would have taken him out of the ability for our oldest to pay for and work for his keep.
 
Add to this that Kiva’s adoption fee was exactly the amount that she had in saving to buy her futre horse! Plus the fact that Kiva loves my oldest as much as she loves her, they just have a connection, DH was asked by two different people, one a trainer there to talk about work with some horses and kids, and the other a mom that board there, if Kiva was our horse, they both were surprised to find out that she wasn’t, as the connection is that evident!
 
Sooo to make a short story even longer, our oldest has spent her savings and bought her first horse! 

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My youngest daughter and I have been doing some more work on our dollhouse. It is really shaping up.

Here are some recent photos I have taken.

We are going to finish the walls on the other side today and finish shingling over the week end!

This as really been a fun and not too difficult project!

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We went to the vet and she was given a clean bill of health! Our vet said that she will probably get to be between 80 and 100 pounds! So a nice size dog. We just love her, she is just so sweet and lovable!

I wish I could figure out how to get a picture off of my phone! She was riding home with her bumm up on the back deck of the car with her feet on the seat, looking out the window! We were able to get a picture of it at a stop light… I wonder what the folks driving behind us thought :o)

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I know that I have given my oldest daughter a lot of grief about going to the pet food store and bringing home a new pet… Well now I am guilty.

Yesterday on our first stop of our errands in the city we stopped at PetsMart. They were hosting and adopt-a-pet fair and we ran into the most beautiful, almost 7 month old puppy. Well I couldn’t resist her, in my defence we have been thinking about  getting another dog since our beloved Schultzie died a year and a half ago, and seriously for the last 4 or so months. So I can’t really claim this as an impulse thing.

So Maggie May is now the newest member of our family! She is half Blue Heeler and Half Leonberger (a breed of German Mastiff)!! But she is sooo sweet and cuddly.

She is right now laying on my feet asleep after playing with Marty… Who loves having a big-little sister as my youngest calls it.

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Here is what we have done so far:

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I have been baking and freezing already for some of the gift basket that I am making for gifts. I ran on to these recipes too. I think that they will go nicely for gifts for the ladies on our lists.

Gifts Gel Air Fresheners
Heat 1 cup of distilled water to boiling. Stir in 4 packages of unflavored gelatin (e.g., Knox) until dissolved. Remove the mixture from heat and stir in the other 1 cup water. Add 10-20 drops of essential oil or other concentrated fragrance. If desired, add food coloring to tint your gel. You may also wish to add a mold inhibitor, such as 1-2 T salt. Pour the gel into clean baby food jars or other small, decorative containers. The gel will set at room temperature, although you can place the air fresheners in the refrigerator for a quick set (and scented fridge). Decorate your jars as desired and enjoy! You can also layer to colors of gel just like you would a Jell-O desert.

Sugar Scrub
1 Cup Sugar, 1 tsp glycerin, 1 tsp sea salt, Food coloring, Essential Oil
Mix well pour into seal able jar.

Bath Soak
2 Cups Epson Salts, 2 Cups Sea Salt, 1-2 tsp soda, 10-12 drops food coloring, 10-12 drops essential oil. mix using a baggie keep in baggie or transfer to jars as gifts.

Plus lots of cookies and candy!

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Yesterday my oldest turned 17.

How can it be seventeen years since the day they handed me that oh so tiny baby…. That everyone tried to tell me what huge… Nope she was sooo small and sooo helpless and I wasn’t ready to be a mom…. But when she smiled my heart melted and I knew I would walk through fire for her…  I had a lot to learn!

Yesterday as she enjoyed her steak, at her birthday dinner, and talked about how cute the waiter was…. I realized that she still can melt my heart with a simple smile and that I would still walk through fire for her… and that I have to learn something that is equally as hard as becoming a first time mom…. now I have to learn to let go….

Happy birthday Little One!!

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Last night my oldest daughter and a couple of her friends were discussing 9/11 and it turned into an argument, about politics, race and in part religion. Though all three of these kids claim the same beliefs as far as religion goes. They found out that one of them had a very different view on how to handle a person that didn’t either believe like you do or that as he put it “missed the boat 2000 years ago”.  It started out on a discussion about if our country chose the right course after 9/11, to what they believed the war is really about today, and went down hill from there...
 
It always surprises me how young, kids learn to say the right thing but when they are in the middle of an argument their true feelings come out. For my oldest it is hard to find out that someone she thought she knew well isn't someone she knew at all. Some truly ugly beliefs came out. Ones that I had hoped would have been lost to this younger generation. It was sad to hear the same old prejudices come out of a young man's mouth last night, which I had heard over and over as a kid. Finding out that a person can hate a group of people that he really didn’t know, but thinks he knows, was hard for my oldest to accept.  Especially when he made the comment that the sound of her name was not fitting to her looks or race, and that she needed to rethink changing her name.
 
I was proud of my oldest and her other friend for standing up for themselves and for what they believed in, when it was obvious that to save a friendship it would have been easier for them to either back down or to just change the subject. But they felt it was worth the risk, that just possibly they should try and help their friend to understand that you can’t judge a person by their race, the sound of their name, or by what they believe in. Especially when it comes to helping them be protected from others. That you can’t just stand by and watch someone hurt someone else and does nothing, just because you don’t like who is being hurt.

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This page is dedicated to the family and friends of those who are still fighting to making America great our wonderful men and women in uniform. Know that our prayers and thoughts are with you!                                       

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After last weeks disastrous start I had hoped this week would start better. It did for my oldest, just not for my husband and me. My car is in the shop again, I am ready to drive it to Goodwill and donate it! But let's not go down that road...

So yesterday DH went in late to work and dropped our oldest off at the bus, she went to school and he went to work. Everything went smooth as glass until DH went to pick her up and she didn't come out the building... He waited for awhile still no daughter, he saw a lot of her friends, he asked the guy that was patrolling the common area if he had seen her. Nope so he called me, did he have the time right? Yes he did. He headed to the office they hadn't seen her, but she should be in her math class... Yep they had her old schedule on file; he told them that her scheduled had changed last week.

DH and some other gentleman checked all the classrooms that are used by our school in both buildings of the University... No daughter... OK I am stuck at home with no way to get up there and DH is going crazy trying to find her and no one at the school knows where she is or have they seen her!! DH finally tracks down her psych teacher. Yes our oldest was in class left on time and seemed fine, she volunteered to check all the girls’ bathrooms for him... No daughter...

DH is now walking the perimeter of the building checking in the fields and along the stream, just in case... I am on the phone with him, using my cell phone to keep redialing daughter's cell, in a total panic as no one has seen or heard from our daughter for over an hour now!!! When he yells in the phone she is calling me.... A few minutes later, seems like another hour, the phone rings it is my daughter!! Her guidance counselor pulled everyone, about 15 kids, that didn't have a Flex class in for a meeting and decided to use a conference room that isn't part of our school, but one that is used only by the University that hosts the school!!! He had turned off his radio so he didn't hear the frantic calls from the office to the rest of the staff looking for our daughter!!

Mean while the school has been locked down and the police have been called, there is still chaos going on around the school... But I am just happy to have my daughter in her father's care safe and sound and totally oblivious that she was the cause of the crisis. She has also been told even if the counselor says it is just going to take a few minutes to call whoever is picking her up and let them know, no matter if he objects!!!

We are so thankful that God kept her safe and oblivious to all of this. She just felt aweful that we had gone through this. She kept telling me mommy I am sorry...

Here is hoping and praying that we have a better day today!!

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This morning, I did something that most of America does every day of a new school year. I put my child on a bus to go to school. The only difference than most families is that my child is almost 17 not 5 or 6. It was a little strange, but I wasn't alone as there were several other parents there also waiting to watch their child take those first wing beats to adulthood.
 
One other mom and I were in the same place emotionally too, as she was also sending off a child that she had spent its whole life with. And was now cheerfully giving a wave and a kiss saying off you go have fun! See you tonight! All the while crying inside as the parting took effect. To go home to start school with other children, but knowing that there will always be an empty seat at the table that just a few months or weeks ago was planned to be filled, with a child that loved to learn and start each new school year with excitement and wonder. Knowing with certainty what she would be missing each day of school. That now someone else would be seeing the glint in their eye as they learned a new concept, figured out a problem, or just giggled with the joy of learning.

What makes this day even more special for me is that seven years ago our family was made complete. As I watched her wait excitedly to get on the bus, I see her in my mind a few short years ago; wait excitedly to get on a plane at the Hong Kong airport, because in just a few hours she would get to hold her baby sister for the first time. She chattered away excitedly that day too, as we flew to Nanchang, just like she did this morning to her fellow classmates as they waited for the bus.

August 20th will now hold two special memories in my heart. Today I watched a girl take flight to becoming a wonderful and caring woman, just as I watched a few short years ago she became a wonderful and caring big sister. 

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The last few weeks have been a lesson in grace, patience, and biting my tongue. As many of you know we found out the end of July that my oldest was accepted to a new college in our town called Early College. She will earn her High School Diploma at the same time as she earns her Associates Degree in Zoology. But because she tested out of high school, she will be attending college at the local Community College for some of her classes and others the adjunct professors come to her campus. This semester most of it will all take place at one campus, next semester we will be looking at getting her at least two maybe three different campuses. I am so thankful she passed her drivers test in July also.

So the last few weeks we have been dealing with schedules, testing, admittance meetings, bus schedules, meet the Professors, and a myriad of other meetings! Some we were told we need to be at and didn’t need to be at, others we were not told about until it was almost too late… But with working with a totally new program with a brand new school, some of this is to be expected.

I surely don’t remember going through this when I was getting ready for college, but when I was talking to my dad the other night he reminded me of a few of the same trials.

I am thankful to say that she now has a schedule that is correct and set to get on the bus on the 20^th for her first day of college!! Something I still find hard to believe I have a college student and not a junior in High School!

So when our school starts at home in a few weeks I will be teaching only one small 3^rd grader… what am I going to do with all that free time???

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Introducing our newest feathered kid...

He is the one in back. There were 4 in the clutch but by the time we made it to the breeder there were only 3 left. Ollie is so sweet and it is wonderful to have a bird again!!

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Saturday night at fair I was dragged by my oldest daughter to a vendor that was located near the both my husband and I were working selling light bulbs for the Lions club. The booth was for the local community college. My oldest daughter had been looking for information for her chosen career. She wants to be a zoologist and work at our local zoo.

Has had that dream since she was four years old and saw a keeper working with a tiger at our zoo! Even though it was great to watch her clean up after the same tiger later on!! She was in love.. fast forward 12 years that dream has never flickered or changed…

The gentleman at the booth informed me that there was a new school in town that was a hybrid between a college and high school that it would be a perfect fit for my daughter and loaded us down with a pile of literature, forms, brochures and a ton of other interesting goodies to look through, along with a bag to carry all of these treasures.

We called the school and they wanted her to test for acceptances/placement that night, no let's get ready for the possibility of having one less homeschooling student for me! Not only did she test college ready but she tested out of High School!!

I guess I am going to getting a crash course in the fine art of live with a college student!

She is now a full fledged college student!!

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One of my favorite times of the year is here, even though it is a lot of work we are a 4-H family, I love Fair!! This year is especially nice as we don’t have any live stock!! So we will be going out each day whenever we want to! Not when we have to!

We are also seriously thinking about buying a place with more land! See God knows what He was doing last year when we wanted to move to town!! Like we could ever be happy in town, what were we thinking???

Hope you can visit your local fair during this wonderful fun time of year!

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We are done with school for another year, we are also done with dance, 4-H meetings, and a host of other activites for the next two months! I am ready to have some family time and to take things a little easier. Hopefully we will get some camping in and a family get away time this summer...

Hope you all enjoy your summer vacations!!

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