Nostalgia...

Yesterday, my dear baby C'sa decided that there was a snack that she simply did not want to try. She had eaten quite a bit of the other items presented to her and then declared, "I am all done!" Teasing her about the fact there was something left, she replied, "I'm not trying it, Mommy can eat it!" We all got a chuckle out of it and it immediately threw me back to the days of "Mikey" in the Life cereal commercial.

Checking in on my favorite blogs today I found that Susie had a bit of nostalgia of her own. That inspired me to post this old commercial for your enjoyment and a little trip dowm memory lane!

Uncharted territories...

Being a mother and a female, I have very distinct dreams and hopes for my two daughters based on what I know about being a woman. My son however is a different story. This boy is "all boy" and I simply cannot even pretend to imagine his future. Now I know that the future is not certain in any case and I do not pretend that I will ever have any insight as to what lies ahead for any of my children, but I decided today after reading an article that if I could pick someone for my son to emulate it would be this man (homeschooled as well!)...


JACKSONVILLE (FBC)–Living with acclaim and accolades could easily overwhelm an 18-year-old recruited by the nation’s top college football teams. His decision to commit to the University of Florida recently pre-empted local television news programming and created a media frenzy throughout the nation.

But when Tim Tebow was asked to recount the record-setting statistics of his high school career, the Florida High School Player of the Year said he could not. “I’m sure someone kept the stats, but I haven’t kept track,” said the member of Jacksonville’s First Baptist Church.

Nor does he surf the internet where dozens of stories and scouting reports have been written about the talented young athlete. Instead the dual-threat quarterback for St. Augustine’s Nease High School has been taught that honoring God is more important than athletic accomplishments.

Read the full article

A "Post It" Note

My blog usually flows like a very irregular tide (that would be an oxymoron wouldn't it? Using the term very loosely, of course). Some days it is powerful and strong with a lot of writing, some days it is like a shallow (very shallow) tide pool with not a lot of writing or content. Since I love to write and have been told it helps keep the blood actually circulating to the brain (very important when the last of the remaining brain cells need fuel to fire) I am committing myself to try and post something daily. It may not be spectacular or very witty, but it will at least just "be".

Now, when in a week I have not written anything at all, you have my permission to call me to task. Just be gentle, you may stress out one of those remaining brain cells!

Ta ta for now, hopefully something brilliant will spill forth... tomorrow.

My American Accent?

Growing up in the DC Metro area, I learned how to speak "Eastern Standard Diction", typically what actors, newscasters and politicians learn to fill many different roles without sounding like they have an accent. So I was interested in seeing what my results would be when I ran across the quiz/poll below on Stepping Heavenward's blog. I was pleasantly surprised that the results pretty much agreed with my upbringing despite living so close to Philly for the past three years, LOL!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
North Central
The Northeast
The West
Boston
What

Tag, I'm It!

Mrs. Frodo, my dear friend at Apollos Academy tagged me for this a while ago, so here we go:

Nine Weird Things About Me

Or Things About Me That Don't Come Up In Common Conversation

1. I had the honor of meeting Rita Moreno at a National Hispanic Council On Aging dinner in DC while I was in high school.

2. I am related to Scottish missionary Dr. David Livingstone and George Whitefield (and it is pronounced "White"field, not "Whit"field as most Americans believe; I promise, my mother is a Whitefield!)

3. My great uncle Mac was Ranger Hal.

4. I was a student in one of the first Communications Arts Magnet programs in the country (read: guinea pig).

5. I am allergic to whey, yet am obsessed with pizza!

6. My paternal grandfather traveled from Georgia to New York City to be a laborer on the Empire State Building and then became a DC taxi driver for over 40 years after.

7. I have a tattoo on my ankle that I got when I was 20. I would love another, but Mr. Clean has requested that I resist the urge (while on the outside I am a mild mannered homeschooler, on the inside I am a juke joint singer with B-52's hair!).

8. I love motorcycles. Mr. Clean had one before we became "responsible parents".

9. I would easily become a "raw foodist" and follow Serene Allison around like a groupy, if I could still eat steak!

Words of the Wise

K.Z. and Mr. Clean have been preparing for the annual Pinewood Derby that his Cub Scout Pack has every year. Being that this is K.Z.'s first year in Cub Scouts he is extremely excited and has no clue what to anticipate. Mr. Clean being the veteran Boy Scout, knows exactly what to look forward to and in preparation has purchased not one, not two, but THREE car kits (possibly more that he has yet to fess up to) lest one gets, "messed up".

In the true spirit of the race, both K.Z. and Mr. Clean have been working on the car design and development together, down to weighting the car and spray painting, although Mr. Clean refused to let K.Z. be in charge of the "help book" (aka: "secrets to crushing the competition") in fear of it being lost forever and due to the fact that our Cub Scout cannot read anything weightier than Dr. Seuss yet.

In the spirit of the Pinewood Derby season that is upon us, Mr. Clean pulled out his race car that he made 20 something years ago. It was still in fairly good shape minus one wheel.

K.Z. in all his wisdom says to me, "this is Dad's car. He said that he didn't win the race he was in. I bet it's because his car only has three wheels."

Homeschool Holiday is officially over...

In just a mere two hours our Christmas holiday will come to an end, school wise. For the past three weeks we have done everything except a lick of school work. This all ends tomorrow and oddly, I am quite excited about it. My house works so much better on a routine and the past few weeks there has been none, just chaos wrapped in a bow. So tonight I look forward to starting a cold rainy Monday morning surrounded with books and little ones.

Welcome to Aduladi World!

This is just really a test to see if I want to make the jump from one blog to another as the host for my current blog has been doing a lot of "updating" and frankly I am quite frustrated! So, if you eventually see more and more written here, well then, "Bob's your uncle!"

Here is the player list for this team of ours...

Mr. Clean - head honcho of the house and general all around great hubby. Nicknamed by my dear friend p31wife due to his shaved head and tall stature (not due to his love of cleaning and disinfection; still waiting for that to kick in!). Pretty amazing guy in my book!

Angel - CFO, teacher, head chef, etc., etc., etc.,

K.Z. - 10 year old, number one son! Lover of all things bug like and gross and destined to be "daddy's little man". He is the spitting image of Mr. Clean (before he adopted the Kojak look) and a bundle of energy.

Xena - 8 year old warrior princess daughter. The baby nicknamed Xena and it fits her personality perfectly. She will either grow up to be Wonder Woman or a contestant on American Idol. My vote is for Wonder Woman although she has a great voice!

C'sa - my baby (okay she is 6 and technically not a baby anymore)! Quite a match for Xena and also a great friend.

Eazy - our super laid back 5 year old who just might grow up to invent something super cool.

Das - "Das Baby".  My heart and soul.  My 2 1/2 year old alpha male. 

The Best Christmas Present Ever...

Today after a long morning of running errands, K.Z. and Xena and I were relaxing while C'sa napped. Xena commented about the cross I was wearing and decidedly told me that it was not like the "real cross". Taking her up on this, I wanted to hear her take on the "real cross".

She stretched out her arms while putting one foot on top of the other and said, "the real cross was shaped liked this and it was BIG! This is how Jesus was on the real cross and they put nails in His hands and his feet!". I asked her if she thought it hurt Jesus and with wide eyes she replied that it did. At this, K.Z. got interested in the conversation so I dug a little deeper and asked why He would do that if it hurt so badly.

"So we would not die!” Xena shouted excitedly, "and we could go to heaven forever!”

After a little more discussion K.Z. thoughtfully interjected, "I cannot go to heaven because I have sin in my life." On that, I pounced.

I grabbed a small piece of tissue paper that was on the floor (after all, who has time to vacuum when there are souls to win for the kingdom?) and said, "Imagine this is sin". Then I crumpled it and tossed it away from me. "That is what God can do with your sin and why Christ died on the cross. The sin is gone. Forgiven."

Xena excitedly replied, "Yeah, He can crush it!"

After a long discussion I told both of them exactly what they needed to do to live with the Savior for eternity. I also followed it up as I always do with, "when you are ready and if you would like help with what to pray, just ask Dad or me." Usually this is followed with the obligatory, "Okay", and life carries on. Not today.

In a small voice K.Z. asked if we could pray right now. Then Xena asked if she could as well. I talked a little more to them about the commitment they were about to make and how important it was to know it, really know it, in the bottom of your heart that it was the Truth and the only way to heaven. They both acknowledged they believed that.

Already an emotional wreck trying to hold it together (the thought of my children joining Mr. Clean and I in eternity always makes me a little weepy), Zach asked if we could get my prayer shawl and pray under it's cover. That pretty much sent me over the edge (but I held it together). I have a prayer shawl that I like to use simply for focus. I believe you can pray anytime and anywhere, but when I need to be completely focused and not in my everyday world, I escape to the shawl and pray under it, blocking out everything else. When the children discovered me doing this one day they were quite curious about it. I simply explained that I use it when I have something really important to pray about and I need to concentrate completely. Now my son wanted to use it for the same reason.

The three of us gathered together under it and I led them both in prayer. Two of my beautiful blessings prayed for forgiveness of sin and that Christ would be their personal Savior and govern over their lives, hearts and minds. They acknowledged that the only way to salvation was through Him and that He sacrificed His life for theirs. My heart was so full it could have exploded. My tear ducts certainly did!

Afterward the glow on their faces said it all. K.Z. was euphoric in a way that I have never seen before. You could not wipe the smile away. I told them that this was an important day and they should tell someone! First on the list was "Daddy" and then they wanted to call good friends and godly mentors of ours from church, a couple we adore. A gentleman who serves as a church Elder and his wife, a definite "Titus 2" kind of woman! The kids have "adopted" them as kind of surrogate grandparents (they led a small group we were in and the kids have grown very fond of them). I have never seen my son more proud. Normally he can be shy on the phone but today he told our friends exactly what he did.

To top it all off, at bedtime K.Z. asked if he could pray (we have corporate prayer every night as a family and we alternate who says bedtime prayers). He once again prayed the prayer I had helped him with earlier, except this time it was all on his own and in his own words.

My Christmas is complete, I could not have asked for a better gift than the eternal salvation of two of my three children. The greatest part? They are anxious to share there new lives with C'sa and want her to "become a Christian" (in their words) too!

The Christmas Vibe

I am convinced that "Murphy" lives in my house (you know, the Murphy of Murphy's Law?). I am usually pretty on top of all the various Christmas activities that I want to accomplish. I get the annual letter done, pictures taken, presents purchased and mailed, tree up, etc. all in plenty of time. Well, the tree is up and the house is decorated and that is about it.

I had grandiose plans to make amazing Christmas crafts for art class, bake cookies from scratch while teaching the kids how to properly measure and mix (math and science?) ingredients and help the children memorize scripture and the words to our favorite carols (since Xena thinks every line of "Away in a Manger" is "the little Lord Jesus lay down where He lay"). The ingredients for the cookies are still at the store and every line to "Away in a Manger" is still as stated above! Christmas craft? Is "hmmph" spelled with two "m"s or three?

All that aside, at least I could get the pictures done. Here is where Murphy sticks his nose in...

Seeing that there are only 15 (gasp!) days left until the 25th I figured tomorrow better be the day we get our Christmas card picture taken, uploaded and created. So what happens today? K.Z. went to a birthday party at a huge play place and while running managed to give himself a slight black eye. Tonight Xena complained that her chin hurt and when I looked, it was red and chapped. At least the picture will really represent what the kids look like! I am just waiting for C'sa to fall down and get the normal black bruise on her forehead. The Addams Family portrait would be complete!

It has taken me close to 32 years (I am 32) to fully appreciate all the effort my mother put into Christmas when I was a child. The Christmas spirit was live and thriving in our house every year without a touch of visible stress. That's all I want to recreate and every year it seems to get farther from my grasp! So to try and get back that Christmas vibe I always had as a kid I popped in some Nat King Cole singing Christmas songs (it always takes me right back) and stopped to think about what it all really means.

I was confident...

K.Z. (ds-6) is going to a birthday party today. Even better, it is a swimming party (oh, to be 6 and be that excited about putting on a bathing suit in the middle of the fall/winter). He can't wait.

K.Z. is a confident swimmer. No expert at all, but he grew up swimming in my mom's pool and is not scared of the water. Give the boy some floaties or a kick board and he would swim across the English Channel. So I had no qualms whatsoever about sending him along to this party until he said, and I quote...

"I packed my goggles so I can't drown".

Happy Birthday My Love

Today is little C'sa's birthday and I am simply overwhelmed with how "old" my baby has become. My 7 month old nephew was in town for Thanksgiving and comparing "my baby" to my brother's made me realize she is not really a baby anymore. Boy how my heart sighs...

Mr. Clean has summed up the day perfectly, so I can just direct you to his view of the event...

Home At Last...

For the past three years that I have been living in our township I have been waiting for Mr. Clean to come home and tell me we were getting transfered to my dream state or anywhere else in the lower 48. I have been waiting for the next leg of our adventure, ready to put up the "for sale" sign in the front yard and pack up the offspring before they got too comfortable here.

Too late! I am comfortable here. Talking to some friends the other day about some development that is coming to our area, I realized that I cared. This is my home, my children's home. We have friends here that we adore and can't imagine not seeing on a regular basis. I have girlfriends I can envision growing older with, watching our children grow up together with, supporting each other during empty nest syndrome and those "oh so not gentle" changes that happen in life.

I know it sounds a little hokey, but it feels good to be "home". And for that I am so very thankful! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!