My husband left his work pager at home yesterday.  He keeps it on vibrate and it scares me every time it goes off.  It sounds like the attack of the killer bees.  I sent him an email to tell him about his lost item.  Here is the conversation:

*******************************************

Hi!
Are you missing something?  No, not me... though I hope you do miss me.  I have your pager.  And I will not give it back until you give me a foot massage.
Charity

*****************************************************

Here ya go:

"Fun Guy Deluxe Foot Massage"

Materials Needed:
1 Roll of Duct Tape
1 Pager with good battery
1 Can of Lysol
1 Paper Towel

Tools Needed:
Telephone

Instructions:
1)  Find a comfortable place to sit/lay with feet off the floor

2)  Duct Tape pager firmly to bottom of foot being careful not to cut off circulation

3)  Using Telephone, Call xxx-xxxx and Dial "40000" (OOOOH upside down) then "#"

4)  Repeat steps 1-3 until foot has had good massage or battery runs down

5)  Remove Pager and Duct Tape, place on opposite foot in same manner, and repeat steps 1-4.

6)  When Finished, Spray Pager with Lysol and wipe thoroughly with paper towel to kill "Fun Guy"

Hope this helps :)
Love ya,
Jason

***********************************************************

I can't help but love him!  LOL!

I have been working on a fiction book for quite some time.  I decided to share a couple of chapters with the readers at the Homeschool TV blog.  It was well received!  So, I started a new blog.  I will be posting a chapter at a time.  If you want to keep up with my new book, The Castle and the King, for free jump on over to The Castle and the King blog.  If you want me to add you to this mailing list, just email me and say "I'm a Castle fan!"  I'll add you to the list.  You will be automatically notified when I add a chapter.

Be sure to comment each chapter.  Let me know what you think.  As long as I can tell there is interest in the book, I'll keep posting it... for free!  We will enjoy this ride one chapter at a time.

I fixed a couple more pictures from yesterday.  I thought I would share them with you.  Hope you all had a great day!

We had a great day at church yesterday.  I actually got some good pictures while my kids were clean.  Usually their hair is a mess and they are covered in mud, paint, or other traces of "childish" activities.

Kids grow up so fast.  I have been thinking a lot the past few days about how quickly mine are growing up.  But the great thing is that God has encouraged me along the way.  Like this:

Just the other day I had to finally explain to my son how money got under his pillow where his pulled tooth was.  I had sent him into my room to get something.  I totally forgot that it was in the same place as the box that held his last teeth he lost.  Well, he found the box.  He ran to me and said, "Mom, you have some explaining to do."    He had a wide grin on his face.  We do not do a tooth fairy or anything, we just were not explaining the "exchange" at all.  Well, I told him the truth and thought to myself, "My baby is growing up."

Where did the encouragement come from?  My friend.  She emailed me the next morning to tell me about her conversation with her son that same day.  Her son is 2 years older than mine.  It turns out he found his sister's personal items and teased her about having to wear what he called "diapers."  His mom had to explain a little about girl's "diapers."    How did this encourage me?  I sure am glad I didn't have to have that conversation!!!!  My conversation was a "my-little-boy-is-growing-up" conversation.  Hers was a "my-son-is-becoming-a-man" conversation!  I am sure she handled it very well.  She is good at those kind of things.

If that wasn't enough, I am having to sell my backpack child carrier.  My children just grow to fast.  This backpack was barely used.  We bought this item before we realized what TALL children we would have.  My son was 10 pounds 7 ounces at birth.  OUCH!  He hit 20 pounds at 6 months.  (My first child hit 20 pounds at 4 months... we thought his height was a fluke thing that wouldn't happen again... SURPRIZE!)  The 40 pound maximum would last normal kids SEVERAL years, but for us... 2 years... and we barely got to use this carrier which we LOVED!!!!  We should have taken the hint with our first child and not even bought it, but we love to hike.  Our first kid weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces at birth.  At 9 years old, he is 5 foot 2 inches and wears a size 9.5 mens shoe... and skinny as a rail.  Yes, he loves basketball.  (Look out Tyler Hansburough... The next Carolina basketball stars are hot on your Heels!)  Yes, I am trying to look on the bright side of having full grown children at birth instead of cute tiny little babies.

So where did the encouragement come from yesterday?  Here I was thinking about how my little baby boy was growing up, and then he reminded me of exactly how little he still is.  Last night before church started, I was at the piano practicing a new song to play for church.  Daddy was with me because he leads the singing.  The little guy comes running up to the front of the church... naked!    He had to go to the bathroom and snuck out without either of us seeing.  He successfully went potty but couldn't get his clothes back on.  He decided to run back to us to get one of us to help him put his clothes back on.  The church members thought it was hilarious!  I was totally speechless. 

Well, it was a great reminder to me that he is still a little boy.  I should enjoy the journey of them growing up, and I should enjoy them while they are young.

This weekend we took some kids from our church to a youth meeting at a church about 45 minutes from our house.  A girl from our former church (9 years ago) got back in touch with us, so we invited her to go, too.

The service was great!  All the singing and preaching was done by young people, moderated by the pastor.  There were no gimicks, no "entertainment evangelism" methods... and the church was packed and overflowing with young people.  At the end of the service, there was a pizza, salad, and dessert.  YUMMY!

I was sitting with this girl from our former church.  We were talking, and the Lord laid it on my heart to ask her bluntly about her salvation.  At first she said she was saved, but then I read a couple of verses.  Those verses pricked her heart, and she realized she was not saved.  We went off to a quiet room and I showed her from the Bible how to become a Christian and be born into God's family.  She asked the Lord to save her and forgive her of all that she had done.  In her prayer, she gave everything to Him.  She acknowledged and accepted what Jesus did for her on the cross.  It was a thing of beauty.

So, as of today, I have a new sister.  Give God all the glory!!!!!  Here are the scriptures I used with her:

Act 16:30-31 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

What do I think is the most ignored word in the Gospel message? "LORD."  Many people pray a prayer wanting Jesus to be their fire escape, but they are not willing to bend their knee to His will.  In order for a person to be saved, Jesus must be their LORD... confess with your mouth the ***LORD*** Jesus.  It is not works based salvation, but it is putting Him on the throne in your life where He deserves to be.

Think about it... are you 100% sure you would go to Heaven when you die?  If you have any questions about Biblical salvation, don't hesitate to ask.  I'll be glad to share with you what the Bible says about true salvation.

We are about to leave to go to my son's last basketball game of the season.  I hate to see the season end, but I will love having more time on Saturdays.

He loves the game and has done really well!  Check him out... #24.

Here he is blocking a shot.  Good job, Bubby!

Wow.  Sometimes I am amazed at what piles up on my to-do list.    Funny thing is, I am one who guards my calendar pretty well, but some things just have to be done.

For example, right now we are starting to remodel our kitchen.  We are trying to get this done ASAP so that we can refinance the house, and be debt free except for the house itself.  We are sanding, staining, and installing the cabinets ourselves to save money.  Boy, is this going to be time consuming!

Also, it is time to prep the garden for our second year of gardening.  I am about to go plant onions.  I will start the tomatoes in the sunroom in a couple of weeks.  Gardens sure do take up some more time!

I am working on a little landscaping around the house.  Our yard is still muddy from the summer construction project.  We have to do something about the mud.

In between all these projects, I still have to find time to homeschool, clean the house, cook, and be a wife.  Hmmm...  I have an idea!  The kids need to help in the garden and the landscaping.  We can do some studying on plants and nature... not to mention the physical nature of the projects will be great exercise for us all!  That will be great quality time with them.  My hubby and I are working on the cabinets together... I am sure we can enjoy each other's company by talking while we work.  The kids and I can clean the house while listening to a book on tape.  I just picked up a A Wrinkle in Time.

A little creativity... and suddenly my calendar isn't so full anymore.

For safety reasons, certain info has been edited:

I hope you are all doing well.  I just wanted to stop by and fill you in on all the exciting details of our trip to ********** so far.

I went this past week to get my passport paperwork dropped off and to get started on my travel immunizations.  Two hours after having the immunizations I had some minor side effects... I had no energy for two days. I hope the next shots don't hit me the same way.  It is hard for a mommy of
a wild 2 year old to survive without energy!  LOL!  Please pray that I do not have the same reaction at the end of this month.  But the good news... insurance paid for the Tetanus shot.  Yippee!!!  Every little bit helps!

We are currently making decisions on the flights we hope to take.  Our original plan was to go through ************, but the cost is significantly more. We are considering going through ***********.  It is definitely not as good or as easy, but we want to use God's money wisely.  At the same time, we don't
want to get to ********* stressed out and worn out.  We only have 2 weeks there. We want to make the most of every minute.  Pray that we make the right decision.

I have been learning a little of the language.  So far I can ask where the suitcases are, tell time, identify certain major body parts, and order some basic foods.  (Actually I can do a little more than that, but it is all just parroting.  I have no understanding of the language itself, but I suppose every little bit helps.)  However, I still have not learned how to ask for chocolate.  That is pretty important.  I'll keep working on it.  The kids have even gotten excited about learning the language and they are not even going with us! 

Right now I am researching the cost of making puppets that look like the people instead of Americans.  From what the missionaries told us, it comes as a great shock to the people to find out that Jesus was not an American and that Christianity is not "a white man's religion."  I would love to take some puppets over there that I could leave with them to use in their ministry with children... but they cannot be white skinned puppets like the four I currently own.  They are too expensive to buy, but I have a sweet lady at church who is willing to help me make them.  I found Jason's mom's old puppet pattern books.  Now I just have to price the materials.  Pray that the Lord will provide and guide, seeing that I have never made a puppet before.  And I want them to be the absolute BEST they can be.

I published my new e-book last month, My ABC's with God: a Young Child's Devotional and Activity Book.  We are putting all the profits from the book toward our trip.  It has brought in a few dollars here and there... and again... every little bit helps!  I praise God for every penny!  Maybe the profits from the book might pay for the puppets!  :-)

I can't wait to go.  I hope you are all praying for us daily.  We are praising God for all He is doing in our lives, in our church, and in our community.  We have been hearing of churches that have been having several people saved and revival breaking out.  I pray that happens at our church. I hunger to see real revival... Christians giving everything to the Lord and lost people being drawn to the Savior and saved by His wonderful grace.

Well, I am off to be a wife and mommy!  I hope you all have a great day.

Finally!  I finished my next e-book.

My ABC's with God: A Young Child's Devotional and Activity Book

Would you like a free copy?  I am giving away one free copy on each of my blogs.  You can have a chance to get it by doing two things: 1)  Be on the blog mailing lists.  If you are on all three blogs, you have three chances to win. You can sign up for the mailing lists by emailing me the name of the blog you are signing up for.  2)  Post a comment on this blog entry stating why you would like to have a copy of My ABC's with God OR if you would prefer not to post a comment, just email me with your reason for why you would like the e-book.

My children are going to choose the winner for each blog based on your "Why."

Also, I would love your help in getting the word out about this book.  The profits from this book are going to help pay for a missions trip my husband and I will be taking in the Fall.  The country is "closed" to missionaries, so I cannot disclose the name of the country on the internet.  Tell friends, family, post it on your blog, etc.  Thanks so much!!!

I just thought I would update everyone one what has been going on in our
family.  Some of you are finding out this info for the first time, others
are getting an update.  (Sorry for the form letter to a group, but I have
three... make that four children including Jason!  LOL!!  That doesn't leave
a lot of spare time.)

Jason and I have been praying about the mission field for quite some time.
We believe the Lord called us to the mission field over 12 years ago.  Jason
and I both went to Bible college to prepare, but when Jason graduated... the
Lord said, "Wait."  At the time we had no idea why we needed to wait.  But
the farther along we waited, the more clear it became.  God still had things
for us to do here AND we were not ready for the field yet.

The time is drawing close for us to go, though.  All we are waiting on is
the WHERE.  At the end of October, Jason and I decided to pray that if we
couldn't go to the mission field yet, maybe we could go on a short term
missions trip to satisfy the longing in our hearts to be on the field.  We
began to pray.  In three weeks, we had an unsolicited... very serious
invitation.  (That would be an answer to prayer.)  We prayed more just to be
sure.  And Jason and I both agree, we need to go on this trip.  But this
trip is going to be a survey trip.  For those of you who do not understand,
a survey trip is a missions trip where you go seeking the Lord's will if
this is the place God is calling you long term.  Our trip will be for a
little over two weeks at the end of September.  We will have to leave the
children here.  (I am trying not to think about that part.)

We met with our hosting missionary family on Saturday.  (What a wonderful
and informative meeting!)  They are heading back to the country in about a
week.  They have been praying for people to come for a long time.  So, what
country?

I cannot tell you on the internet for safety reason.  It is a country that is closed to missionaries, but is not a hostile country toward religion.  It is illegal to proselytize there, but God is opening doors.  Lord willing, we will be going to stay with the missionaries.  We will be ministering wherever we are needed while we are there, but we will be spending a great deal of time praying and searching God's will about us
returning.  The people are very poor, the city is very crowded, and the sanitation is poor. 

Please help us pray about the following:
1.  Strength during our preparations.

2.  The courage and fortitude to leave my children behind for 2 weeks.  They will be staying with VERY trustworthy and WONDERFUL people, but we will miss them dearly... and they will miss us.  (Not to mention the toddler is a hand full for even veteran moms!  LOL!)  Pray for those they will be staying
with.

3.  God would provide financially if it is His will for us to go.  He has provided for us many times before.  I do not expect Him to fail now.  (I'll never forget when He provided heating fuel for us when no one new we even had the need.  The Lord laid it on our hearts not tell a single person that we were about to run out of fuel oil one cold week in November a few years ago.  Instead He wanted us to watch Him work.  It was going to get really cold that weekend.  We prayed, and left it in God's hands.  Then MW called to see if we knew anyone who needed fuel- because he knew someone who had a full tank they couldn't use and had to get rid of.  Have you ever heard of someone asking people to take fuel oil off their hands?
What a surprise it was to MW when Jason said, "We do!"  Our God is amazing!)

4.  God would begin to direct us even now about where He wants us to be.  If He does not want us in this country, pray that God will call others there.  The need is so great there.  Most of them have never even heard of Jesus.

5.  Our church... that God would begin to fill the places we now occupy with people who have a passion for God and His Word, and a true love for people. Our church is praying for revival, and Christians in our country desperately need it.  We all have become so distracted by the treasures of this world.

6.  Pray for our families who are willing to part with us for the sake of the Gospel.  Pray for the ones who are not yet willing.  Pray for those that are lost.  There are many.  Pray for those that are discouraged.

7.  Pray for those I am mentoring/discipling.  At some point they will have to be trained by someone else.  At some point they will be training others. Pray that God prepares the way.

8.  Pray for us.  We need it.  We desire it.

We praise our Lord who is still on the throne, and always will be.  He is worthy of our praise, our trust, our service, our lives.  May we give Him what He is due today.

My son is a football lover, so basketball is really new to him.  But come to find out... he is really quite good!  He is really good on defense mainly.  He still has a lot to learn on offense, but he's loving it!  Who says homeschoolers don't play sports?!

Yes, I am carrying too heavy of a burden... 45 pounds too heavy!  I am back in the groove of exercising and eating right.  No, it isn't a diet.  It is just good choices.  I am on week 2 and I have lost 9 pounds.  I have exercised everyday except Sunday.  I feel great!

For exercise I am using an elliptical trainer and strength training with dumbells.  My hubby has been right there eating right and exercising.  He has about the same amount to lose as I do.    I love exercising with him.

You can find great exercise tips and videos at Spark People.

I'll post soon about what I am eating.  If you have not signed up for my mailing list, now is a great time!  You will be notified each time I post, so you will get the great tips of how I am losing the weight.

Here is our church Christmas play.  My daughter is the singing angel and my son is the little brother.  There was not a dry eye in the place by the end of this play! God really worked in hearts with this play.

See my son in the blue jacket in the back?  This is his picture after making it to the top 10 in the National Geography local area homeschool Geography Bee.

How did he do overall?  My son placed 2nd in the geography bee!!!  He almost won it. At the end of the final round, he missed the fewest questions, so he automatically advanced to the championship round.  There has to be 2 competitors in the championship round, so they had a tie breaker to select the other competitor.  The other competitor was either 6th or 7th grade, possibly 8th???  There are 3 questions in that round.

They both missed the first one.  They both got the second one right.  My son missed the third one.  It was about something we had not studied at all.  We were so proud of 2nd place!!!  Ben was not disappointed at all when he missed the last question.  He was so shocked to be in the championship round!  He is only in 4th grade and this is his first year competing.

Are we planning on participating next year?  You betcha!  My son loved it!  It was alll a fun game to him.

Congrats, buddy!!!  We are so proud of you!!!!  We are also proud of all the competitors.  They really answered some tough questions half the audience didn't even know!

Yes, we are a sentimental, corny family who loves to make fun childhood memories with our children.  What do I mean?  Well, check out our family traditions every Holiday season.

How about a fun trip to get a Christmas tree, complete with hay ride, tree hunt, and the always popular Christmas tree song.

And if that isn't fun enough for you...  How about the traditional decorating of the tree.  The boys do the lights while the girls bake cookies.  Christmas music from Manheim Steamroller and Celtic Holidays CD's play in the background.

(He is totally shocked that we put a tree in the house!!!)

Then I direct the kids in decorating the tree.

When all is said and done, we eat cookies while watching a movie in the light of the Christmas tree.

What is your Christmas tradition?

OK... my daughter is turning 5.  She had a slumber party/tea party.  The girls had a great time.  Here is the video.

They made turkeys because my daughter was born on Thankgiving Day... we called her our little ButterBall Turkey!   Here are the instructions.  They also did "group circle nail painting."  After watching Kung Fu Panda, they played a little and went to bed.  It was a lovely party.

Yep.  It's that time of year again.  It is already snowing.  I can't get my kids to do anything this morning.  It sure is pretty, but I hate cold weather!