Thursday, October 30, 2008

Celebrating Emily!

This smiling young lady celebrated her tenth birthday last week, can you believe it? The little girl disappears and the lady is emerging (sometimes invisibly, but there, nonetheless!) She is the dependable helper who fulfils the meaning of her name very well... Diligent and industrious. Emily loves to read, create cards for her family, tidy the house, drink hot tea, and ride bike at full speed. Long division, Mexican food, wearing socks, and washing dishes are not too high on her list of priorities.
Notebooks, scrapbooking stuff, stickers, and a new book to read... this is her cup o' tea! Thanks to the grandmas for remembering this special day. Emily loves gifts!

After her favorite meal of baked chicken and mashed potatoes, we enjoyed this yummy strawberry creme pudding cake. This begins the birthday season at our house... Coming up next is Mandie Jane!


Saturday, October 18, 2008

Today's Derek Moment

How do you explain the term "punish" to a three year old? In devotions we have been reading Bible stories about the sufferings and death of Jesus. This morning we came across the thought that Jesus took our punishment for us, which provoked an interesting discussion. "Punish is when we spank you for doing something wrong," we explained. "Or when a man kills another man and he has to go to jail, that is a punishment." Derek nodded eagerly. "And when a car hits someone, that's punish, right?" No... That would be an accident. We tried again. "Punishment is paying for your sins." Pause. "Oh, and sometimes you need lots of money-?" (Chuckles.) We'll try again another day. Ideas, anyone?
The idea that Jesus is coming to earth to take us to heaven is a little more comprehensible and fascinating. Derek agreed that it will be great to go with Jesus, "If he has little children for me to play with!"

Men Working

No, this is not sarcasm. These men are some of the hardest working men you can find anywhere. Not only do they provide for their three wives and their 16 children (collective number, folks; not respective!), they are also missionaries, preachers, teachers, prayer warriors, farmers, and businessmen. Would you give them a hand and lift them to the Throne today? Much appreciated....

Monday, October 13, 2008

Surgery On My Kitchen Table

Several weeks ago while picking oranges, Tim had the misfortune of running a very large thorn deep into his arm. He pulled it out, but the tip broke off and remained deeply embedded in flesh. We tried putting salve on it in hopes of drawing it out, but instead, it just healed over nicely with nothing more visible than a small bump. Depending on his arm movement, Tim could feel the prick of the thorn, but hesitated to dig for it himself. When we heard that the two clinic nurses were coming to our house on Friday, we asked them to come prepared to do surgery.



The victim solemnly anticipating The Event of the Day.
For some reason my tough hubby requires about twice the amount of lidocaine that the rest of us would need. (Yep, coffee's allowed in this OR!)
If two heads are better than one, all these heads surely guarantee success!
Cool and professional... except not so cool. Perspiration was running pretty heavily at this point. Missy took a stab (yeah!) and had the fun of extracting the thorn...
While Rick gets the fun of stitching up.
The POINT of interest... all of 3/8th inch long!!!
Like I say, no time for boredom around here........


Monday, October 6, 2008

Puppy Love

No words needed here, right?

When Life Hands Us Oranges...

We make orange juice, of course!

Oops... I don't really want this pic here, but it won't move either, so here it is! (See, I'm not so bright, really.) Talk about juicy fun!
The classic Tony wink... complete with a juice drop on his eyebrow!