Oh my! My little boy made his first little supper all by himself for mama! A piece of bread thickly spread with butter and a tad of marmalade over it. And he managed to climb on the counter top to reach out for a dish (in the cabinet)  to lay the bread, and a mug for the water. And all so nicely arranged on the little serving table. By that time, his sister was all dressed and she and dh came downstairs (they were responding to my excited cries, lol) and we all made a fuss over that sweet display of love. Josh was grinning and grinning and I sure had a grand time partaking of that precious repast.

What a blessing children are!

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My husband has been playing the banjo for the past 30 years and he is now going to give formal lessons come September! Since time is premium, we decided that only one day a week would be devoted to lessons. It will held on Thursday evenings at our place. Yesterday we had a fun time reorganizing the office/library and now we have a real nice office/library/studio for his lessons. I'm so excited for him as he really loves his banjo! He's my real Alabama man with a banjo on his knee.

Oh, if you can, visit his blog and say hello to him!

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I do have something on my eye condition that I want to blog about but I think I'll wait on that and blog on something more fun. Fridays are Family Fun Nights for us. What we do is each member of the family chooses something fun to do. And every member must cooperate. We usually wait till all the dishes are put in the dishwasher and the kitchen counters are nice and tidy before we start. I'm so picky about the kitchen and the kitchen floor. If they are messy I cannot have fun. Sigh. Anyway, on Fun Nights, each person takes turn to choose a special dessert for the evening. We didn't have one tonight as we went for a birthday party for my niece this afternoon. We had our sugar fix there, so no desserts tonight. Anyway, this was what we did this evening.

I chose a card game called “Barn Bedlam”. It was a new game for everyone, including me. It took us a while for us to get it, but it was fun. My daughter won the game. Josh and I came in second and my husband was out quite early in the game.

Then it was Josh's turn to choose a game. He wanted us to dramatize the story of Moses, his favorite Bible character. So we all had a great time acting out the Burning Bush, the 10 Plagues, the Crossing of the Red Sea, the 10 Commandments and a host of other Exodus scenes. My husband also made funny sound effects with his guitar and we were all reduced to stitches.

Next was my daughter's turn. She chose MASTERPIECE- an art auction game. She doesn't care much for board games. Too boring she says, but she enjoys this one. It's fun. You also get to do Math and learn about famous artists at the same time. It was too difficult for Josh but he didn't mind drawing while we played the game. Since this game could go indefinitely, we set a time limit. We had 20-25 minutes of this game. My husband won. My daughter came in second and I was last. We decided we all needed some chocolate chips after the game so each popped a handful into our mouths and everyone was happy.

When it was my husband's turn, he decided he wanted to create some music. I think he never has enough of that! So we went to our music/play room and did just that. He played the banjo and I played the piano. We wanted our daughter to play her violin but I think she just had it with her practice earlier as she decided she just wanted to listen instead. Josh sat by me and thumped a bit on the piano keys. Then we played and sang “Down at the Cross”. That's something both my husband and I enjoy playing together. I wish we had the time to practice other pieces together!

Okay, you would think we had enough already but no, the night was still young so we played “Sardines”. This is a version of Hide and Seek. One person hides and everyone else looks for the person. The person who finds the “it” gets to hide with him/her. The next person who finds the both of them also gets to hide with them. And of course the last person will wonder where everyone has hidden. Usually those hiding will be squeezing together in some hiding spot, hence the name “Sardines”.  After two rounds, the children wanted more but  dh and I were getting worn out, LOL, so we said next Friday. It was nearly 9.00pm. We all prayed together and then up the stairs they went after they had brushed their teeth. The children are now in their beds...listening to some Bible stories on CD and talking. Ah, time now for my husband and me to do our individual computer work...before we retire...another day gone forever. But I think the memories we created together tonight will be cherished for a long long time...

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Sometimes things happen when you least expect it and your life changes forever. Well, that some thing has taken place in my life.

So, am I going blind? What a scary thought! And that might happen if I thought of the worst. But I'm not going to take that route here or now...

When I was 11, my eye sight started to deteriorate. Genes? Bad reading habits? Maybe. The myopia didn't stop its aggression till I was in my mid or late twenties. I recall how in every class, I was one of the most short-sighted gals. As an adult, I realized that was the case too.

Okay. I recently discovered that my left eye was weird. It couldn't focus. It couldn't see clearly. We don't usually think about our vision of individual eyes till we get an eye check, but because I wasn't able to see my right eye lid clearly when I was putting on eye shadow recently, I started testing the vision of my left eye. Then I realized things were just not right. I couldn't figure out street names. I couldn't see the numbers on the clock clearly. I could n't read something from a page without manipulating its position. Maybe I'm getting long-sighted. Maybe the left eye is become even more short-sighted. Maybe it's my astigmatism, I thought.

So I saw my optometrist yesterday. After several tests, he concluded that I have epiretinal membrane or macular pucker (not to be mistaken with macular degeneration).

It simply means a think sheet of membrane has developed over the macular region of my retina. And that sheet has become wrinkled. Imagine a sheet of saran wrap. See through it. Not too bad. Now imagine seeing through a wrinkled saran wrap. Now things look blurry and distorted. That is what has been happening and there are no non-surgical treatments to eradicate that wrinkle or that membrane.

Causes include medical conditions like diabetes and retinal detachment, inflammation and eye injury or trauma. For many, the causes are unknown. I wonder if mine is due to eye trauma. When I delivered Josh, I did it without any epidural and man, did I push. I forgot to listen to my body and just pushed. After the event, my face was red for three weeks (I broke all the tiny blood vessels) and my eyes were blood shot. Three days after the delivery, I went to the eye ER because my left eye felt like someone had pushed a needle into it. It was so painful. The ophthalmologist didn't think anything was wrong with it and I really can't remember what happened after the visit. I think the eye drops he gave me helped and the pain receded. I was so excited with my beautiful Josh I guess the pain just want away too. At the back of my mind I did wonder if the pain might cause some future problems. (This membrane actually comprises strands of scar tissue.) I hope to see a retina specialist sometime soon to discuss the matter and I'll ask him if my rather rough labor could have contributed to the scar tissue forming. Actually, whatever the cause, the fact is I have this puckered membrane over my macular!

Well, that's all I have time for today so I'll end here. In my next blog, I plan to share lessons I'm learning from having a sudden trial (of a physical nature) like this presented to me.

Meanwhile I do covet your prayers. Please pray that:

1. The pucker does not get worse over time. Hey, it's supposed to be more common amongst folks over 75 and I'm almost 3 decades from that. Sometimes I feel old but never that old!!!!

2. My right eye (which is also very myopic) will not develop that or any other eye condition since I now only have one "good" eye left

Thank you so much.

James tells us to “count it all joy” when we “fall into diverse temptations.” I was talking to my husband about that verse last night. Then this morning, at church, my pastor preached on that and oh, that was just so timely! No matter what, God already knew about this and He has allowed it to take place. And while I feel very sad about it, I'm already seeing many blessings coming from this. But that will be for another blog for another day. :)

Thank you for reading. I must just add that “Be Thou My Vision” and “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” now have taken on a far richer meaning for me.

Oh, if you want to be more educated on this condition, you can refer to this link.

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Roma Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 large Roma tomato, sliced
1 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
3 leaves fresh basil, chopped

Instructions:
Mix the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic in a small bowl. On a salad plate, layer slices of the cucumber, tomato and cheese. Drizzle with the dressing. Sprinkle with the chopped fresh basil.

(From Dr. Weil's Recipes)

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My dear husband had his birthday the past Sunday. Two weeks before that I asked our church families to write out a greeting for him on a blank card I distributed to each family. The next Sunday, our sweet friends gave me the cards and last week, I made a collage of cards for him. I reduced the size of the cards so I could put all of them in a jig-saw frame I had. I also stuck some pictures of his younger days. He was such a cute and mischievous looking boy.

The past Sunday, we had our fellowship lunch. It was also a little birthday party of sorts for him. There I presented him the collage of cards. I also got him a delicious cake to share with everyone. Yellow cake with vanilla filling and not -too-sweet whipped cream. Our Publix bakery sells good cakes that are not cloyingly sweet. I usually bake him a little cake and I think this was just the second time I bought a birthday cake for my dh from a bakery. The first time was maybe 5 or 6 years ago when I gave him a surprise dinner party at our home. We had a great Sunday and I'm so thankful for my little church family who celebrated my dh's birthday with us.

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Something else. Josh still loves being Moses and he now has a large collection of sticks in the house and on our back porch. I only allow clean-looking sticks in the house. So he has two sets of sticks : indoor and outdoor sticks.

We were all in the great room yesterday afternoon (dh was on vacation) doing nothing in particular. I think we were just listening to the Animal Alphabet Songs and thinking how clever the song writer was. Josh was holding one really slick looking stick that was about his height. It was probably his favorite stick. I commented to dh that we could use that as a yard- stick the following year to see how much he had grown. Apparently Josh was listening as he looked at us and said, “This is an indoor stick, not a yard stick.” When it dawned on us what he said, we all laughed. Funny boy.

Meanwhile, Happy Independence Day, my friends! I'm just reminded that this July marks two years of my blogging experience. Time flies.

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Oh rain, rain. It's raining now. Wonderful refreshing rain! We have been so far behind this year. 18-30 inches behind. We need more than this rain to help our local farmers, but every bit helps. Let it rain, let it rain! I hope our veggies are happy; and I don't have to water them today.

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Oh, I must include this. Little Josh was precious.  While I was blogging about my dad earlier, he was sitting by me and making up a song about the story of Moses.  It's about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. This was part of the song he was “writing” on a piece of paper and singing.  I wish my tape recorder was working so I could have taped it. The tune was very cute.

“The Red Sea was in front of them,
The Egyptians were behind them.
God told Moses to raise his hand
Moses did that
And the waters parted
The Israelites crossed the Red Sea
But the waters came back
And the Egyptians drowned
Then they Israelites continued on their journey...”

I'm so thankful his speech has inproved so much that I could actually could pick out the above. He sang that over and over again. He and his sister are now writing a song book on Moses' life. They are just precious. 

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A favorite picture of my dad. Mom made the shirt
he was wearing.  I was 3 when this picture was taken.

I miss you papa, but I know you are in a better place today than ever before. I wish you could see the Michiko now, and I wish you had met Josh. I know you would be very proud of them too.

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I was bitten by some mysterious bug. A brown recluse spider? The emergency doctor I saw last week wasn't sure as the wound was already healing by the time I saw him. Actually I thought it was getting worse but he thought otherwise. He suspected the tea tree oil I had applied might have arrested the damage.

If you do not know the severity of brown recluse spider bites, check this out. But be warned, the pictures you will see are not pretty. But to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

I know we have these nefariouly nasty critters lurking in the dark nooks of my house. We have trapped some of them in our glue traps. And we are going to eliminate EVERY ONE of them. That is my calling now! In fact I killed an engorged one the other evening. At first I wasn't sure if I could do it. Think Charlotte's Web. Then I thought of my children and all the little ones who come over to play.  And I squashed it (that reminded me of a Garfield moment). It's just a spider after all. A very bad spider! After that event I was glad, happy and delirious I found it squatting in a lonely box  before it dispersed its descendents all over MY house.

August last year I decided I was going to fulfill a little dream. I love to dance. Ball-room, folk-dance...but I'd  never really tried ballet. Just two months when I was ten then I had to stop because no one could take me to classes then (so my mother told me recently). My daughter was already dancing for three years and I decided to leap out of my comfort zone onto the dance floor. It was praise ballet for adults. There were several teenagers (who did some ballet as little girls and were now returning as new students) and a few grandmothers. Nice age range. For a while I wanted to give up as bunions and a back strain put a damper on my enthusaism. But what example would I be to my daughter if I gave up? So I persevered and well, on May 19th, when my mom and sister were still here, we had a recital. My daughter had hers too and oh, it was lovely. My daughter was just so proud of me and so was my husband. I think my mom and sister were amused, LOL. Anyway, it was a memorable night for all of us and a little dream did come true for me. Being a ballerina on stage for those few minutes! Will I do it again? Maybe in a few years time. I have other mountains to conquer this year!

Of course deep down I would rather dance with my husband. As a single, I dreamed of dancing with my future husband every week-end. Get the kids to bed, dim the lights, put on Strass and waltz. Ah, romantic notions singles have. Now, if I can get the kids to bed and then have my shower in a timely manner I will have attained a nice daily goal. Anyway, I married a non-dancer. No big deal. I knew he rather not dance when I married him. So I dance by myself and with my children. Okay, after the recital, I started a crazy ritual. I like rituals, LOL. This really was to entertain my family but my son ensures I stick to it. It goes like this:

Before my DH goes to work, I twirl for him, curtsey and then intone...”and good bye.” And when he returns from work, I twirl, do a little arabesque and intone,”Welcome home, honey.” It really is funny. You cannot be in a bad mood when you make a practice of doing this every morning and every evening. I mean you cannot be snarling and dancing at the same time, can you? It has been a few weeks already, and the other morning, when I forgot that ritual, little Josh said,”Mama, you forgot your good bye dance.” Man, I hope he doesn't expect his future wfe to be as crazy as his mother. (But then he still says he wants to marry his mama, haha).

Mama and DD

Taken soon after the rehearsal, May 19th 2007
My hair was in a mess, but well, all for sweet memories...

Our vegetables are doing great. I need to upload pictures of our four  4X4 square foot plots. Each morning, after I take Peppermint out of his crate to the yard, I water the plots, our cucumber patch, our herb garden, our mint box and a host of other vegetation. I love that hour outdoors. It's meditation and prayer time for me too. We are 18” behind as far as rain is concerned so I love to imagine how refreshed the vegetables are when they receive their morning shower. I make sure the earth is nicely saoked and so all the roots can continue to draw up water throughout the day. I bet you can see the spiritual lesson already. Isn't it amazing how little everyday things can teach us more about God and our walk with Him? Actually I think I'm kinda droughty myself. My spirit is kinda dry and I need a good soaking of His Word right about now. Not just a drizzle here and that but a mighty super soaking! I hope you will always find refreshment through His eternal Word too.

Not long ago, my brother-in-law gave us a head of cabbage and a bag of sugar peas from his  garden. I was grateful as we don't have those vegetables in ours. Anyway, this was what I did with them and the family really loved it.

Melt butter in a pan. It has to be butter. Saute sliced onions till they are translucent. Throw in chopped and julienned cabbage and carrots. Throw in the sugar peas. Shake some sea salt and black pepper. Oh man, so good with brown rice!

Still on veggies. Sorry for rambling.

If you really want good, fresh organic vegetables every day of the year, you need to sprout. Sprouts are rightly called "the Miracle Food".  And as from today, my Berrysong site is selling the automatic sprouter that I've been raving about. That Christmas gift from my dh is unbelievable. My mom liked it so much we got her one and she called the other day to say she was in sprouting heaven. And here is a little tid-bit. If you are into healthy eating, you might know that the plant compoud, sulforaphane glucosinolate (SGS) found in broccoli and other brassicas, has anti-cancer and anti-oxidant effects. Well, broccoli sprouts contain 10 - 100 times more SGSs than mature broccoli. Now ain't that cool? They taste WONDERFUL too. Sandwiches, nori-make, salads....

Now, I'm hungry.:)

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Josh is speaking better. I'm so thankful. The Lord is so good. I thought if he didn't sound out his “s” words better when he turned four I might just have to take him to see a speech therapist. Now, the amazing thing was the day after he turned four, he was actually speaking better. I mean the transformation was amazing. Literally an overnight development. So instead of “un” he could say “sun”. And daily, he is improving. So now we understand 90% of what he's saying. Just two months ago, it was not more than 45%.

I'm bummed though that he has a cavity on one of his front teeth. I've been so careful to brush his teeth but I guess I missed that one spot. An incisor. He loves buttered bread with honey and I bet that gooey honey was the culprit. Anyway, he had his first dental visit on June 7^th and oh, he was so good and co-operative. My daughter acted like his mother though; hovering over him and assuring him the whole time. It was so funny. She was like a little fussy hen. We'll all be going back to the dentist again in a couple of weeks. DD and I will get our teeth cleaned and little Josh will get that little cavity patched. Meanwhile I'm ensuring that they rinse their mouths after each meal.

It's swimming time again. DD is having private lessons at the YMCA this year. She likes the attention but she thinks it's more fun swimming with other kids. Maybe next year we'll do group lessons again. While DD is having lessons, little Josh plays in the baby pool. He is not quite ready to take lessons.

BTW, here are some cool sites if you want modest swim wear.

http://www.wholesomewear.com,
http://www.swimmodest.com

and my favorite:
http://www.freewebs.com/swimwear_solutions  

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I recall with much fondness the two years I did Home Economics in school. Our first cooking lesson was how to make hot cocoa (or was it English tea?) and cucumber (or was it sardine?) sandwiches. The next lesson was “Rock Buns”. My mom, although a fantastic cook, was not a baker. One reason was my dad didn't care to buy an oven for the house. A waste of electricity, he said. That might seem strange to an average American mind, but we mostly steamed our food and desserts then. Oh, I was excited when I finally got to learn how to bake cookies in school! I couldn't wait to share my delicious baked goodies and other ethic dishes (I recall: onde onde, Indian curry, mee siaim) with my family each week after the Home Ec. class. And after raving about cookies and baking for the longest, my dear papa succumbed and bought us our first little oven when I was around 15. That began my journey into cake and cookie baking. I still remember my first highly burnt disaster...

The ironic thing is I now mostly steam my food and desserts; sometimes I even steam my bread. But I still love to bake on special occasions.

And one very special occasion is coming soon! My mom and sister are visiting me for almost three whole weeks come May. My single sister, who was NEVER a baker, and who lives with my widowed non-baking mom, requested the following childhood favorites:

1. Yaohan Rock buns (“Yaohan” was a supermarket we used to patronize; I think it's no longer there)

2. Butter cake granny used to bake (with brandy/rum and cherries)

3. Marble cake (that I used to bake)

And she specially requested “no healthy ingredients, please.” I guess that means no whole wheat flour. The last time she was here, 2 years ago, I baked eggless cookies not because eggs are unhealthy (they sure are, especially when they are free-range and organic), but my son was and still is allergic to them. I had also used whole wheat flour and virgin coconut oil.

Rock buns? I had not made that in a couple or more decades, LOL. But what do you do when you need information fast? Google, of course, and look what I found!

I love my life now. Life with my own sweet family here – my lovely children, my loving husband. But “rock buns” and all this reminiscing have made me “homesick” (to some extent) of my life that was. A life that was so absolutely different from what I'm experiencing now. Maybe it's the family and friends I'd left behind; maybe I miss the familiar buildings, smells and rituals that had been so much of my growing up years. Maybe it's the excitement of seeing my mom and sister again, but the anticipation of sadness that I know will follow because all too soon, there will be another round of good-byes. Again.

It was a good life then. Great family, great friends, great church. Meaningful employment.

It is a better life now. Great family, great friends, great church. And what better employment is there on this earth than that of a homeschooling mom?

But you know what? Reminiscing aside. When this earthy life is over, things will be even better. Eternal life with the Lord. Oh wow! Even if we don't get to eat “Yaohan rock buns” there.

The best is yet to be...

(For some reason, I cannot "unbold" the font without retyping everything. It sure hurts my eye rereading what I had written. So, if you have read till here, you are great, LOL).

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There have been different crises in the lives of different friends the past two weeks. Time gets crunched up when there is a crisis. And time for blogging gets the boot when that happens.

I had intended to have a little write-up for each day of the Holy Week last week, but was not afforded that luxury...

But I'm intent on writing something now that everyone else is happily occupied – dh is redesigning my Berrysong website (oh, it's so cool; I love it and I think my customers will too!) and the children are playing Lego's in the office. Dh has some wonderful classical music wafting in the air so the whole atmosphere now is lovely especially in this weather: it's not quite noon, but the sky is darkened and I can also hear some light rain pattering outside my window. Very peaceful. And I'm very thankful.

Prayers go out to many the past two weeks. Sustained prayers. Broken marriages, impending divorces, unemployment, church abuse of one kind or other (thankfully NOT my church; may God continue to be merciful), moral turpitude in a couple of families, and most recently, yesterday, in fact, someone I know is caught in a lie and I just fear for her...so, what a world we're living in. How corrupted by sin. Like this was unexpected. But thank God for the Resurrected Christ, for if He did not rise, life will continue to be dark and dank for many. And mind you, all the nasties I've listed are happening in Christian families. Well, not everyone involved is a Christian, evidently, but at least one Christian is involved and he or she is suffering. But we know because of our Risen Lord there is hope. And hope eternal too.

Okay, to sweeter things I want to remember, not that my heart is not heavy for my dear friends and acquaintances...

My little darling boy turned 4 a couple of days ago. All he wanted to eat for that day (when I asked him to list special meals) were : buttered bread with honey, broccoli (boy after my own heart!), chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. He also declared on his birthday that he wanted to marry me when he grew up so I would “always be close” to him. How precious he is. Okay, he got his wish but instead of chocolate ice cream, I made our first banana split.

This past week, my little-but-getting-bigger boy has also been playing the role of Moses. He even carries a rod around the house. Once in a while, water gushes out from some wall-rock and we know the Lord is at work again! Well, pretend water, you know. And we have manna and quail for dinner most nights. His sister made him two paper slabs of The Ten Commandments and he enjoys throwing them down from the top of the stairs because of the idol worshipers. Yours truly usually plays the role of the crazy dancing Israelites. I will prance around a pillow-golden calf idol while dh and my dd look on in amusement. I can't make dh dance around the pillow-golden calf with me.

I think he like Moses because because he knows Moses has a little problem with being hot-headed. And he seems to identify with that.

Oh, I have not put on record anywhere that all my frozen beef (we bought a quarter of grass-fed steer in January; and merely consumed 1/8 of it) suffered the worst fate. I forgot to shut my upright freezer and the helpless cuts and ground beef were left to melt for 36 hours. That happened on Maundy Thursday when we had planned our own little family service (foot-washing and all). My dh discovered that calamity when he put some plants in the garage (temperature dipping to freezing point that evening) and for a while, my brain was frozen. Before it turned to mush again, I called my dear friend and neighbor. I had never bought that much beef in my life! To cut the whole story short, her whole family came over after dinner. While the children played and our husbands talked, we cooked the beef. Now I have little neat boxes of ground beef and cooked roasts and other cuts in the freezer. All set for the next few months!

Okay, in between writing this we had lunch. I now want to read to the children. I love this weather, especially when I'm at home. Hmmm....I need to get some groceries later though.

If you have read thus far, please don't go way yet before saying a prayer for my friends in their various stages of crises. The blog is too public to name names,  places or details, but the Lord knows who they are! Thank you.

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I recently developed this strange habit of using  weird endearments like “Boo-boo” and “Bunchy-baby” on my husband.  Don't ask me why but they just come out of my mouth.

My 3 year old son dislikes it.

Just now my dh called during his lunch hour. I ended our conversation with, “Bye, Boo-Boo" and a string of other nothings.

My son, who was quietly making play-dough creations, looked up at me and said, “That is not nice. God doesn't like it!”

Huh?

I looked at him and reminded him, ”It's all right for mama to call daddy pet-names, sweetie.”

He frowned again and said,”That's not nice to call daddy dog-names.”

Hahaha.....he's cute. Maybe that's what he has been thinking all along. I've been calling his daddy dog-names. This is a keeper.

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Three days ago when I was checking my email...

Joshie: Mama, I don't want to have a wife when I'm grown. I want you.

Awww...wasn't that sweet from a three year old?

Last night when I was preparing to go for a Ladies' Bible Study...

Joshie: Mama, I don't want to leave you when I'm grown.

Me: You don't have to, you know.

Joshie: Well, Moses had to leave his mama.

I spent the next few minutes explaining to him what really happened.

By the way, as much as I positively love my son and want him to be with me as long as possible, I do want my son to have a wife! I pray almost daily that he finds a godly wife and that her parents (that is if she is already born!) are currently training her well.

This morning when my dh and I were talking and Joshie came into the bedroom...

I told our Joshie, “ Today is mommy and daddy's 11^th anniversary.”

Joshie said, “Oh” rather seriously.

Then he asked, “And will you be getting taller?”

We laughed, and daddy said, “We have stopped growing. At least we hope just in the height department!”

A few minutes ago....

“Pastries don't fill you. They just make your tongue happy,” said my daughter when I asked her if she wanted a small piece of left-over pastry I had in the fridge when she said she was hungry.

I love these precious words that come out from their mouths...how blessed I am!

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Today is our 11^th Anniversary! How I thank the Lord for my kind, sweet and godly husband. Since I didn't get him a card, (eeeks! I woke up with lovely red roses and a beautiful card on the kitchen table!)  I will make it up by composing something for him now. Here goes:

To my Dearest Husband on our 11^th Anniversary

You are sweet;

Life with you is one long treat.

(YUM!)

You are kind;

You don't mind my “another find!”

(YEAH!)

You are loving:

Tender, caring and forgiving.

(THANK YOU!)

You are not demanding;

Even when your jeans need mending.

(OOPS!)

You are patient;

You fill me with inspiration.

(YES!)

You are the best daddy;

Just ask Michiko and Joshie.

(DADDY!)

You are my buddy;

Warm, comfortable and cuddly.

(HEE, HEE)

You are so,so fun;

Oh, my handsome beloved one!

(Mmmmm!)

YOU are my dream come true,

Thank you for being YOU!!!

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

I love you lots! Yes, we'll have a great day today!

Your Miiko :)

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Today is just one of those days when my heart overflows with super-abundant love for my children. I think of the flowers they thoughtfully pick for me each time they visit their grandma's; the tight hugs they give me thoughout the day; the sweetness in their beautiful eyes when they say, “I'll miss you so much, mama” when I need to run an errand and they stay home with daddy; the laughter I hear when they swing in the yard and play tag with their doggy; the bright joy in their eyes when they notice me watching them with gratitude; their simple desire to obey me...and yes, I'm so blessed. I love them so much.

Thank you Lord, for blessing me with my two children. My life is rich beyond compare because I have them to love each day. Please watch over them, protect them, guide them and draw them close to You for the rest of their lives.

Amen

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Hope you are all having a nice Valentine's Day! We are! Hubby's home and we're using this opportunity to do some major de-cluttering. This is really fun for me because my husband is the very focused, single-minded kind of person who is a born organizer. I am the sentimental easily distracted pack-rat so it's soooooo good have him around whenever I do big time de-cluttering. I just told him I was so happy to be married to him because he's so super-organized!!!! LOL.

And in between putting away books (our main source of clutter!) we munch on chocolates ( I'm in chocolate-heaven today). We had pizzas for lunch today. We love Amy's pizzas. We had the plain cheese kind and ate them with spinach and cherry tomatoes. I sprinkled a lot of garlic powder and dried cilantro on mine. We were all in pizza heaven too.

Anyway, I just need to blog on the following:

Last night, my daughter had a violin book recital with three other children in a cozy room at a music shop. My three year old son didn't do too well after a while, so my husband took him back to the van to get a few things to amuse him.

While they were in the van, little Josh suddenly said to his daddy, “Let your yes be yes, and your no, no.”

Daddy asked, “Did mommy teach you that?”

Josh said, “Yep. At first I didn't believe it.”

Daddy: “And do you believe it now?

Josh:”Yep.”

When my husband remembered to relate that conversation to me this morning, my heart was so glad. I have used that phrase several times ever since my daughter and I started doing our Bible Study based on Matthew 5-7 the past few weeks. I want my kids to say what they mean and mean what they say. And I need to apply that principle to my own life too! 

This exchange was just too cute to forget...

Okay, now to attack the guest room. I'm expecting four sets of visitors this year. Yeah!!!

Meanwhile, blessings to you all!

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I don't believe it. DH is on the way to bring home our new doggie! We all fell in love with it at first sight last night. We decided we wanted it right away. We couldn't bring it home then as we didn't have anything in the house to welcome him. So we went shopping for a nice crate, some doggie food, a collar, a leash, a hair brush, a nice big hand mitt (ha!) and then we got home. The children then spent the next two hours playing in the dog house/crate. It was big enough for the two of them. Joshie even pretended he was a dog. He allowed my daughter to collar and leash him while he crawled all over the house. They were hilarious. I'll write more about the whippet later. I guess other aspects of life don't stop because we're bringing home a doggie. We are still wondering what to call him. Josh wants to call him “Percy” after his favorite train. His sister thinks that's a good name too. DH wants to call him something that ends with a “sha”. I are not sure. Any name ideas for a boy doggie? We did a search and the most common ones were Max and Jake.

Okay, going to blend my cauliflower combo now. We're having cauliflower soup for lunch. It's really good!

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We have been looking at whippets for a long time. We're researched many, many breeds of dogs that we thought might be suitable for our children. We've narrowed it down to whippets. Loving, indoor dogs who best of all (to me, anyway), don't shed much at all. Maybe it's because their fur is so short! Someone has a whippet for sale and we're going to take a look at it this evening at 6.00pm. I'm so excited. I hope it is the dog for us. I know the children will be soooooooooooooo happy!

We are going to dig into our Whippets Today by Patsy Gilmour now. That's school for today, LOL.

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I really don't like tags but this one looks fun. If I tag you please play, okay?

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘7 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 7 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 7 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

Okay, here they are:

1. I can't stand frosting and icing on cakes. I always scrap them off.

2. In the last 11 years, my hair was cut 4 times by a real hairdresser. I trim my own hair to the chagrin of my stylish sister (who incidentally made me go to her hairstyler twice in the last 11 years).

3. I love crunching on jalepenos and all kinds of peppers.

4. I never had a professional manicure or pedicure in my whole life (you see the pattern, lol).

5. My current favorite sandwich comprises honey wheat bread, butter, sliced cucumbers, romaine lettuce, sprouts and half a handful of cilantro. Wrap the whole thing in a sheet of seaweed (nori). Oh man, I'm hungry again.

6. I have double-joints (so they say) so I can rotate my arms. 

7. I love to dance. Too bad my husband doesn't so at my ripe old age, I'm attending weekly ballet classes (with 14 year olds and a few grandmothers). It's real cool. We do the barre and dance to Christian music. The past week we stretched to “As the Deer” and it was heavenly!

I think I'll tag others another day. I really don't have much time to spend on the computer today! If you want me to tag you, let me know! This is kinda fun.

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