Living in Love and Laughter - Homeschool Blogger

Blog confusion...

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:51:00 -0600

I think I might be getting in over my head with this blog...not sure if I can keep trying to keep up with things here, LOL! I just can't seem to do the quick pop-in thing - it's either stay forever and catch myself up with Everything that Everyone is doing, or stay away because the responsibility is too much. I'm sure that says something about my character, but I'm not sure if its good!

I guess I just haven't got the system figured out - is there a way to be advised when a friend posts a new entry on her blog? What's Trackback or Permanent Link? And if I comment somewhere, how do I know if someone has responded? I've quit commenting to others because I can never remember where I've blabbed! There has Got to be an easier way to do this.

Thanks so much for all your concern for my grandma. I laughed when I realized that I'd put the name "Ornor" down. She's never been very maternal, and so refused to let us call her grandma. We were to call her "Elinor", and of course one of us got it wrong and it's been Ornor forever.

She's doing okay. My brother moved down from Alaska and has been taking care of her for a few weeks now, bless the man. She is Very controlling and manipulative with him and showing signs of demetia. She's refusing to go to the doctors, and she won't give POA to my brother, though she says she wants nothing more than for him to be in charge. She also won't give Jeff money to buy the most basic necessities, so we are sending what we can, and we'll see how long we can all hold out. If we don't get POA and the doc decides she is unable to make her own decisions, she might need to go to a home, but we're doing all that we can to prevent that. I can't imagine how hard it is for Jeff to be doing this. My prayer is that it will bring both of them closer to the Lord.

Whining and Solving

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:33:00 -0600

Okay, this post is strictly to get my own self straightened out and less whirl-brained. I don't expect it to me very exciting, so if you're looking for a good time: Read No Further!

WHINES:

1- I can't seem to remember to give the puppy his calcium. Ever. Hip-dysplacia (sp?) runs in the fam, and I want him strong ended.

2- I have totally lost my morning routine of getting up early, spending time with my Jesus, sipping a glass of Barley-Max, and going to the gym. Our house has been chalk (chock?) full of people for weeks on end - not counting the 6 of us that normally live here, and if I don't have the same chair with the same cup, I just don't get it done.

3- I don't even want to go to the gym anymore. Even though it helps my back Tons, I just don't think it's worth leaving my babies for...

4- We've slipped quite a bit on our healthy eating. There never seems to be fruit in the house anymore, and our babies are staging a strike on salads.

5- My truck is filthy (as in mud and sand inside and out) and my house is cluttered.

6- I haven't visited Ms. Dolly (old neighbor) in forever. I'm a horrible friend.

7- About being a friend: I never think to do those nice things like make meals for sick people or call when it's been a while. Doesn't even cross my mind. I've also got three people that can't get emails and for some dumb reason I can't seem to sit down and write them a few lines.

8- We haven't done real live Math work in a couple months, I haven't taught the babies a new English worship song in probably just as long, and we've been stuck halfway through 1 Corinthians 13 in memorization for about a month now.

9- My Grandma, Ornor, was found by her neighbor after days of not leaving the house. She was dehydrated and disoriented, laying on her couch with a few bruises, and nobody knows why. Her purse is missing and she lives in a gnarly neighborhood in North Hollywood. And I'm in another country.

*OKAY* Before I depress myself too much, let's get onto the solving.

SOLUTIONS:

1- Delegate the puppy meds to Big Bro, with Little Bro as doctor's assistant.

2- Start tomorrow: up at 5am, shake my barley, and Spend Time with God.

3- Pull out the FIRM videos and see if I can start a routine without leaving the house.

4- Just talked to Husband and he's bringing home a boatload of fruit. Tonight we're working out a better shopping plan.

5- Make a fun time out of cleaning the truck tonight with the babies, and keep trying to Purge the extra house stuff.

6- Talk to Husband about when we can visit Ms Dolly. Maybe take over some Mango jelly?

7- Pray more for my friends, and ask God to make me sensitive to their needs.

8- Make a school schedule, even if we only follow it loosely.

9- I really don't know what to do about Ornor. Husband says wait until my brother gets there (he's flying from Alaska) and let him tell me what should be done. I mostly just want to Go There and Be With Her, but I don't know what help that would be - she's not exactly fond of anyone but my brother...I looked up plane flights and we could do it on the Visa, but that's debt... PRAYER. That's what I'll do until something else comes up. Pray for her health and her slavation and wisdom for our family as we decided at what point we are allowed to decide anything.

I'm sure I'll revisit this soon, but that's where I'm at right now. :~)

Living and Powerful!

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 21:20:00 -0600

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17

I've been thinking a lot about this verse lately. "Big Bro" and I had a long talk tonight about how when we remember to think about Jesus and "walk with Him" as we go about our day we can honestly say that we are grateful for (almost!) anything that comes our way. Being with Him changes every ounce of every mili-second of our lives, and it gives us a true joy that doesn't depend on circumstances.

One thing I'd forgotten is the importance of reminding my babies that adults deal with sin too. We mess up and fall flat on our faces just as much as they do - problem is we've got years of experience in covering it up! It was so special to sit and chat with my boy and tell him how grace is needed for his mama just as much as it is for him! How each and every morning I need to mentally attach myself to God in order to even get through the day in a somewhat successful manner.

I was telling him about how I feel when I work just to get the job done instead of trying to do all things in God's nature. The work becomes pure drudgery, and I miss an opportunity to learn more about serving my Lord. We talked about how amazing it is to imagine the great Creator standing at the kitchen counter with me while I do the dishes, or to picture Him sitting next to us while we read His word - maybe pointing out the special parts that will touch us extra deep....

It's beyond me to fathom why He loves us so much - but boy am I grateful!!

We're not Group groupies...

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 23:52:00 -0600

Yes, we're missionaries. Yep, we have a home church that we call our very own. But no, we don't really Do groups.

I'm not sure why that is...but I'm not complaining!

We have a group here now. (I know I just said that we don't really do that - but this is only a once a year thing) There are 18 of them - half are part of a medical brigade, and the other half will be building a house for our Miskito Indian pastor so that he can move back amongst his people after being here in the city for 6 years. Good stuff going on! Today they left at 4:30 in the morning on a journey out near the Nicaraguan border where they'll be ministering for the next week. I know God will do amazing things...

But as selfish and pathetic as this may sound, it is BeYond Exhausting to facilitate something like this! I mean, not only is there weeks and weeks of planning, but quite often in a culture like this the plans turn to Dust before your very eyes! It is emotionally draining for many reasons.

On Saturday my sweet hubbyman and our 2yo daughter spent an entire day driving 3 hours to an aiprort and then waiting for a plane that came within 300 feet of landing before pulling up and heading to Belize due to rains. When everyone finally arrived, (hours and hours and hours behind schedule) there was still the 3 hour drive back, but this time with water dumping from heaven So hard that the windshield wipers were basically a joke.

Pulling into the Hotel I'm sure that everyone was relieved....until the blank looks on the faces of the staff told the story: No Reservations for a group of 18. Forget the fact that dh had gone in repeatedly and I myself had heard him confirm at least 3 times by telephone. No Records of Reservations. Go away. Of course this all looks like a lack of advanced planning on the part of the resident missionaries....

But another hotel was found and we were on our way! Breakfast was switched to our house because the new hotel had only 6 seats in their "restaurant". I have no idea how we had enough bowls and utensils, but as always God made it to be enough! I had even made a few carrot cakes the night before - perfect with oatmeal. Add some fresh squeezed orange juice and I totally felt that we were getting Help from Above!

There was church with the Garifunas and lunch at a small food stand. Husband had to miss church to go buy plane tickets, so the babies and I led the group to where we'd be eating. Everyone grabbed chairs and started laughing and chatting, and we sat alone - just me and the kids. That was hard. And unfortunately not an uncommon sight this weekend.

But other than that it's been great to see so many people praying for those that we love and work for. It touched my heart to hear the passion and desire to see the Garifuna and Miskito Indians saved. I think we may have lost a bit of the passion in all our daily dealings with them. Such a good reminder!!

So they all left this morning, and the babies and I will hopefully be starting school tomorrow. We've been on an extended vacation since Thanksgiving - which was when our litter of puppies came. They've kept us busy! I am pretty relaxed about seat-work, but we've been collecting some great kiddy games that I think do the job just as well. And if not, we've got plenty of years of catch up! :~D

Playing tag

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:28:00 -0600

I found this on Juliestew's blog, and liked the questions!

1. What's the one question you want to ask God when you get to heaven?

A: Why me?

2. What the one question you think Jesus would ask you were He still here in bodily form?

A: Want to take a walk?

3. What do you think heaven will be like?

A: Bright and humbling

4. Do you have a desire to be there now or a desire to stay here until the work if finished?

A: My husband is such an amazing evangelist it would be sad to have him not see the work through to the end - and he wouldn't want to be here without me! So even though I want to be in heaven more than anything, I think it would be cool to be able to keep working for the kingdom as long as possible.

Laaaaate night entertainment

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:00:00 -0600

I am so cross-eyed tired. I should be setting up kiddy monopoly or playing AtoZ with my babies in an attempt to say we've done school today, but I don't even have the brain power for that.

I don't sleep well. Never have. These last few weeks have been really bad. I also have a super messed up back, and when the beauty rest is lacking, I am seriously hating it pain-wise. Add mind-exploding allergies to that, and you're looking at a Rough Time. Nothing new, same old cycle, not even enough to take our joy. :~) But it does get exhausting.

Last night around midnight we found ourselves rushing out the door to pick up a friend and take her to the hospital for false labor. I knew that's what was going on, but to tell her that would have done no good. No one ever believes the gringa's medical opinion anyways...

So there we were: my sweet dh, df's mother (a fiesty little 4ft 10in midwife), df's husband (who is also our main Garifuna pastor and second in command at the mission), and I. Sitting in the hospital hall waiting. Watching the ants and centipedes do their thing. Discussing one of our pastors who has AIDS and is marrying a girl with the same disease. Talking through a plan for the mission in the next month of crazy busyness. Giggling hopelessly as df's mother tries to fall asleep in a wheel chair. Out of desperate boredom we turned on the tv, but the Only channel available is Latino TBN. Woah! Don't wanna do that again...

On a prodominant place on the wall there's a picture of a woman in a nurse's uniform sternly putting her finger to her mouth in a SHHH! kinda way. Everytime one of us laughs or drops something the other 3 smack the offender and point to the picture, which of course makes us laugh more.

And as silence catches us again I think, "Lord, You are so good. You give us joy where others find only sadness or frustration. You allow us to see the little things and smile. You are really here and whatever may come our way, You'll prepare us. And maybe even show us the light in it all."

Opening night ~ Narnia!

Sat, 7 Jan 2006 07:16:00 -0600

Okay, so we're a bit behind in the ol' Hollywood scene, but Husband and I actually had a DATE last night! And this is the very first time I didn't freak out about half way through and whine to go home to our babies. :D

The movie times were 5, 7, and 9, so we figured we could get the kiddos fed and jammied and plopped infront of a DVD before heading out for the 9 o' clock showing. We have a girl that lives with us, so she just kept her door open while everyone slept - well, that was the Plan. Of course nothing *ever* goes according to Plan here...

The theatre is in the mall, along with the Supermarket where we buy most of our groceries - along with our bank and pharmacy and bakery, but I digress. We thought we were so smart to all go shopping before dinner, so we could jump upstairs and buy our tickets - All ahead of the game (pat, pat, on the back). Welp, after dealing with the main artery having 2 traffic lights out (read: I sweated and swivled my head a million times, all the while nosing the truck out into the middle of a blazing intersection - Twice), we got to the mall and found out that the 9 o' clock was "sold out", so we decided to buy the 7 o'clock and rush rush to get the kids down.

The babies and I had cooked a Pecan cake to celebrate the last Bible story in a Bible we've been working on for a year and a half. So we shoveled that down while we read about John on Patmos. Meli (our friend that lives with us) took over from there and Husband and I hurried back to the mall, pre-bought ticket in hand.

The theatre was BeYond packed - there were plastic chairs lined up in the aisles and people standing in the back. We decided to ask again about the 9 o' clock and this time the story was that they haven't even started selling seats yet. (Is there a roll-eyes smilie on this site?) They said we could be first in line at nine. Over two hours to kill in a place that we end up at every-other-day.

We tried our best, but it was a Dull 2 hours. There was the highlight of a slushy orange juice for dh, who had been fasting for 3 days...then there was the older man that kept getting on stage with a singer and dancing to beat the band...and of course I got a Supreme Granita (frozen coffee with 2 oreo cookies blended in). But over all it was a Loooong wait. It woulda been cool to talk and Click, but it was just too loud and distracting. We did get to chat with about a million people that all know my Husband because he's one of those Really Nice always-smile-and-greet-with-a-handshake kinda guys. Plus he's an evangelist so he makes lots of aquaintences around town.

Around 8:30 we headed back toward the movies and tried to humbly slink towards the front of the line. After an hour and forty-five minute wait (where we made great friends with a kid practicing his English and I had a slow, silent This is My Place on the Wall issue with the girl smushed into my ribs), we were Finally ushered into the hallway outside the theatre doors. There we listened to the muffled sounds of the end of the movie - for another half hour. When the rope was let down you would have thought it was the olympics! I could hardly keep my Hubbies hand as we were joggled and shoved and generally abused. I had thought our new friend was being a bit dramatic when he laid out a plan for his family's entrance, shook off his jacket, and popped his knuckles (no lie), but I saw that it was the wisest way to ensure survival.

When we finally got some seats it was just Sit Back and Enjoy the Scene. It was priceless, I'm telling you. I'm just grateful there wasn't any brawls...

So we loved the movie and plan on buying it. I want to name one of our puppies (we've got a litter of 7) after the brave centaurius that led the army...as soon as I figure out his name.

Wow. I am so stinking long-winded sometimes...

So I guess I'd better introduce myself...

Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:49:00 -0600

I'm Heidi. Our family lives on the northern coast of Honduras. (That's in Central America ;) ) We've been here off and on since a few weeks after our wedding, which was in '97. My husband and I have three really amazing babies - our son Big Bro will be 7 next week (party time!), our boy Little Bro is 4.5, and our girl Little Lady is 2.5!

I'm originally from Oregon, and my dh is from Southern California. Our hearts are in the mountains and lakes, but God keeps placing us in the jungles and beaches! We are coming near the end of our mission here, and it's always fun for us to see what God will do next - we are ready to go anywhere! We're basically gypsies for Jesus - minus the chrystal ball and tendency towards thievery. :)

The very first ever blog entry by Risa - well, at this site anyways

Wed, 4 Jan 2006 09:14:00 -0600

Hi all! Here I am in Homeschoolblogger Land. I'm a homeschool mom, and I live on land. ;~)

Don't know if I'll write much or not - I mostly just want to figure out how to get linked with the other blogs I read here occasionally. God bless.