Come check out my new blog at ohmydad.com.

Jeff

Here are some pictures that I took of the kids at the property the other day.  Enjoy.

All the kids

Jenna

John

Jacob

Jason

Jessica

June

Josiah and Joshua

Jillian

Jolina

Jonah

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Today we had the mobile ultrasound guy come out and do an ultrasound for us.  Very exciting!  All of the kids sat on the bed and watched on the TV in our room.  Here it is for you to see...

Jason doing school work

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Jolina

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Jonah working hard

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June and Jessica

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Jenna, Jonah, Jillian and June

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Our beautiful sunset tonight

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Texas Sage flowers in our front yard

Aren't cameras wonderful things?  We can choose what we want the viewer to see.  Just like blogging, we can choose what we want our readers to hear.  Just because I choose not to talk about negative things in my life does not mean that everything is idyllic over here.  My family is just like yours - we are not perfect - our kids are not perfect - our life is not perfect.  

I mention this because I have seen people comment about people being fake.  Their lives cannot be THAT nice, can they?  They must be lying.  The reality is everyone has negative things in their lives - some people just choose not to focus on them.  Is that fake?  I think not.  Witholding the negative aspects of our life is... let me think... proper?  Is proper a good word to use?  Tactful? 

Why would someone want to go to a blog and read all about the negative things in a person's life?  They wouldn't.  Just as I chose to use the photo above instead of the one I am going to show you next.  I chose that photo because it is pretty.  People like to look at pretty things.  I could have used this photo instead...

Texas Sage flowers in our front yard (version 2)

This photo shows the pretty flowers too.  But it also shows the dead bush and the hose that was left out.  Was I being fake because I chose to show the picture of just the pretty flowers?  You may think so... I don't know.  I choose to believe it is tactful to show you the pretty flowers instead of the entire front yard.  We don't need to air all of our dirty laundry on here - it is inconsiderate to the reader.  It makes them feel uncomfortable.  I don't need to rant about my kids doing this or my wife doing that or... you get the point. 

Katie and I have been married for thirteen years.  Time goes so fast.  It does not seem like it has really been that long - she may not tell you the same thing.  I have not always been the easiest person to live with so to her it may seem like it has been an eternity ;)  Let's hope not.

Katie and Jonah

Katie and Jonah again

My daughter, Jenna, tagged me...

Rules:

Players start with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged write their own facts in and these rules. At the end, you need to choose 8 people to tag and don't forget to leave them a comment telling them to check out your blog. Also remember to write who tagged you.

1.  I have blue eyes

2.  I have one dozen wonderful children

3.  I hold an insurance license in two states

4.  I am contemplating buying a new camera

5.  I never let my hair get more than one half of an inch long

6.  I was kicked out of the Air Force for refusing to take the Anthrax vaccine

7.  I have a Section 608 Universal Certification from the EPA

8.  I have the best wife in the world

Do I really have to tag 8 people?  I don't know 8 people on here so I will only tag teambettendorf and father2five.

Jenna is going to go with Jill to the clininc this next week.  They are both going to wear scrubs and these IDs that I made them.

I bought lanyards and ID card pouches  for them so they can wear them around their necks like all the nurses do.

I read this article recently and thought I would post a portion of it for you to read...

While this is an obvious statement, it was a shocker for me to grasp: My spouse views life differently than I do. I always believed Larry saw life from my perspective. And since there was only one way of doing things, he should do them the right way—my way!

My viewpoint took a 180 degree turn, however, after a friend gave Larry and me a personality test. After we finished, we discovered our temperaments and learning styles are different.

My temperament, combined with my perfectionism, makes me want to over-analyze all the facts before making a decision. And then I constantly second-guess myself. Larry's temperament enables him to make fast decisions and feel confident about them. Before, I'd thought fast decision-making indicated he wasn't sensitive to my opinions.

The test stressed that different is different; it's not necessarily wrong. It didn't mean he was insensitive to my opinions. As I recognized that Larry and I view situations differently—and that's okay!—I became more patient, loving, and kind toward him. I have to remind myself that there are several ways to do something—not just my way. As someone once said, "Two plus two may equal four. But so does three plus one."

While sometimes it still frustrates me that he "can't get his act together," I rely on patience and grace. I ask myself, Is this because we define "act" differently? Are different motives energizing us? Then I take a look at my answers. Usually, I'm the one who's more rigid, so I stop taking his behavior personally, back off, and accept our differences.

Now that Larry and I have been married 35 years, we look back on that time 28 years ago when my perfectionism brought "great pains" into our relationship with gratitude for God's healing. By changing my viewpoint and giving grace and patience to myself and to my husband, I've learned to appreciate him. Now I express my love many times a day—and so does he. And yes, we even rejoice in our differences!

Kathy Collard Miller is author of Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries (Bethany House). Visit Kathy at www.KathyCollardMiller.com.

Today I have been working on a video project I need to finish up.  Here is a picture of Jessica - she is doing the voiceovers for part of the video.

I just did a search on the internet to see if either of my 2 posts could be found...  Guess what?  I did not find my blog listed in the search results.  Instead, I found out that "Family Guy" is the name of a show on TV that aired from 1999-2005.  I had never heard of it before so I went to their website to see what it was about...

I began to look at the character bios and I was repulsed.  I am not sure who this show is geared toward, but I am sure children are watching it.  This is definitely not a show for children OR adults.  And people wonder why their marriages are so dysfunctional and why their children do not behave?  Do people not understand that watching this kind of stuff day in and day out will desensitize you to it to the point that you start believing that what you are watching is normal behavior?

It reminds me of a conversation my wife and I had with one of our teenage foster daughters a long time ago.  I don't remember the exact conversation, but one of us said something to the effect of "wait until you move out and are in the real world" or something like that.  Her reply was "I know what the real world is like - I watch Sally Jessy Raphael."

Sadly, the "real world" is changing because of shows like this.  People watch this extreme behavior on these shows and start to believe that these people are "normal." 

I could go on and on about this but I am sure there are plenty of good books out there that speak all about it so I will stop here and leave you with these verses from the bible.

Phillippians 4:8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. 9. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me–put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Romans 12:2  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Have a great day!

Jeff

Below is a video that Katie made.  She did a wonderful job!  If you are having a problem with it loading correctly you can download it directly from our website at

www.teambettendorf.com/shared/jillianstorm.wmv

Just left-click on the link to watch it or you can right-click and choose to save it to your computer.  Make sure to stop the music on this page first or you will be listening to two different songs at the same time.

Have a great day!

Jeff

Welcome to my blog.

I am the husband of a super-wonderful wife.  Her name is Katie.  We will be celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary in August.

Katie and I have eleven children.  Seven we handpicked and adopted and the other four are our biological children.  We believe children are a blessing from the Lord and will be happy with as many as God chooses to give us.

Katie just came home from the hospital with my 4 year-old daughter, Jill.  She was in the hospital for 2 days to get her chemotherapy.  Jill was diagnosed with Pleuropulmonary Blastoma back in February of this year.  On April 30th, after several rounds of chemo, they went in to remove the tumor.  Her entire left lung and pleura had to be removed along with a piece of her diaphragm.  The biopsy revealed that the cancer was gone - praise God!  We are going to finish up the treatment protocol just to make sure there are no stray cancer cells living anywhere.  You can read more about Jill at my wife's blog.

Have a wonderful day!

Jeff