The face of Jesus? What now...

He shares a room outside with a dozen other guys
And the only roof he knows is that sometimes starry sky
A tattered sleeping bag on a concrete slab is his bed
And it’s too cold to talk tonight
So I just sit with him instead and think

How did I find myself in a better place
I can’t look down on the frown on the other guy’s face
‘Cause when I stoop down low, look him square in the eye
I get a funny feeling, I just might be dealing
With the face of Christ

See you had no choice which day you would be born
Or the color of your skin, or what planet you’d be on
Would your mind be strong, would your eyes be blue or brown
Whether daddy would be rich, or if momma stuck around at all

So if you find yourself in a better place
You can’t look down on the frown on the other guy’s face
You gotta stoop down low, look him square in the eye
And get a funny feeling, ‘cause you might be dealing ...
With the face of Christ

- excerpted from "Face of Christ," Chris Rice



I saw the face of Jesus down on Sixteenth Avenue
He was sleeping in an old car, while his mom went looking for food
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my soul
Didn't you say you wanted to know me?
Well, here I am, and it's getting cold

So, What now?
What will you do now that you found Me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected
But if you'll remember this is right where I said I would be
You've found me

- excerpted from "What Now," Steven Curtis Chapman


Tonight I'm in line at Panda Express. Obviously homeless guy in line behind me. He asks the server if they serve coffee, which they don't. I assume a lot of places give out free coffee. "I'll buy you some food if you're hungry," I say. He looks at me. Doesn't know how to order food. "You can pick rice or noodles, and then two other things." Stuttering. Mumbling. Me to the server, "Give him some rice and pick some other stuff for him, please." Guy in front of me in line passes me three dollars cash and says he'll split the cost of the extra meal with me. Cashier gives me the employee discount- 30%, $7.68. Between that and the cash, I now have $10 to pay for a $5.60 meal. Funny how stuff like that works. A crippled hand reaches out to take the food. "Thank you very much, ma'am." I hope he figured out how to use the drink dispenser.

Something worthwhile

I just stumbled upon this website called AdoptaPlatoon (http://adoptaplatoon.org/new/indexmomlink.html). As the name suggests, it's an organization that links families, churches, youth groups and the like to a soldier or soldiers to provide cards, letters of support, and care packages. If you have a moment to read the story of how it all got started, it will really touch you and hopefully encourage you to participate as well.

We submitted our application this evening, and though they say it takes a while to get in contact with each applicant for a phone interview, I'm really excited about this opportunity. There are so many soldiers out there sacrificing everything for our country; this is really the least we could do.

Check it out.

Not to worry

Some people, who shall remain nameless, were leary of getting the boys play kitchen stuff for Christmas. Not a full kitchen set, mind you. Just some play food, a cash register, some pots and pans, that kind of thing. Is it really something to worry about? Not when preparations for a "birthday cake" devolve into a full-on knife and spatula duel. I'm not too concerned.

Entirely too windy!

Yesterday was just ridiculously windy. There was so much dust in the air, I had to drive with my lights on in the middle of the day, as if the road was socked in with fog. They even closed the 14 freeway in both directions because the visibility was so low with all the sand blowing around. I rolled down my window to order at the Wendy's drive-thru and dirt starting flying in. And get this- at my mom's work, they had to take care of a lady who had been blown over by the wind. Not a frail old lady, but a middle-aged average-weight lady BLOWN OVER by the wind!! Now that's just too much wind.

Merry Christmas!

Now *that* is how you clean house

My husband- gracious, loving, and kind man that he is- cleaned the house for me today. The whole thing! Toilets, floors, everything. I only wish I had been here to see him using the LEAF BLOWER to get dust bunnies from under the couch, though I did get to witness the car squeegee put to work on the bathroom mirrors.

Christmas Donation

Today I gave blood. For a good long time, I had wanted to do it, but was too scared. I didn't like the thought of laying there as my blood was draining out of me. After 9/11, they had a blood drive at work, but too many people signed up, so I didn't get to do it. Finally a few months back, they had a blood drive at church, and I decided to go for it.

I was nervous, but the guy who did it was excellent and I honestly didn't feel any pain with the needle at all. It wasn't weird to have my blood drained out. They do it very discreetly and professionally, so that it's really not a big deal.

I came home from that experience feeling good about myself and decided I definitely wanted to donate again. Weeks passed, and I had to cancel the next appointment I'd made, which brought me up to today.

Driving over to the donation center, the Lord laid it on my heart to make this a new Christmas tradition. It may seem an odd thing to correlate with Christmas, but really it makes perfect sense. By giving blood, I remind myself of Christ's sacrifice for me. My blood may save someone's life, but Jesus' blood gives us eternal life. Christ came to this earth as a man for the purpose of shedding his blood for us. The whole Christmas story is incomplete if we just look to the manger. The real miracle of Christmas is *why* God came to be with us. Without His blood being shed, there would be no forgiveness... no reason at all for Him to humble Himself and become a baby... a baby born to die.

So while blood donation may not be a traditional Christmas activity, my gift to others will serve to remind me of His gift to all of us. And that's worth celebrating.

Speaking of Merry Christmas

Before the holiday gets past us, I wanted to blog about the whole "Merry Christmas" fiasco.

As you've no doubt noticed, there has been in recent years a great uproar from those who are offended that people don't say Merry Christmas anymore. They do have a point, to some extent. It's a little ridiculous to effectively banish the phrase from common speech, since the majority of this country is still Christian, and even more than that celebrate Christmas.

However, it's equally ridiculous to get all upset when people or businesses don't say it. Back when I was a kid, oh so many years ago, I distinctly remember tons of people saying "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings." I mean, let's face it. Even if you don't recognize Hannukah or Kwanza or whatever other holiday, there is still more than one holiday this time of year- Thanksgiving or New Year's, anyone? And is it really that troublesome to wish someone, regardless of their holiday of choice, season's greetings?

And I'm starting to wonder if this is all just somebody's imagination anyway. In the print ads I do see "holiday" this or that, but in the stores and business, all I ever hear is a big fat MERRY CHRISTMAS, so I think we'll all survive. After all, the season isn't about the words we say, but Who is in our heart.

Should we call her Happy Holidays?

I love this story, especially the last line.


AMERICAN FORK, Utah - Merry Christmas to you, Mary Christmas. That's what the former Mary Young is hearing this holiday season, after she married Brian Christmas earlier this year.

"It was meant to be," Mary Christmas told the Daily Herald of Provo. "God has a sense of humor. What are the chances that it would ever happen?"
She has found, however, that she is not alone. Mary Christmas has been working at Ancestry.com for three years and discovered there are as many as 100 other Mary Christmases in the United States.

The last name of Christmas has its origins in Wales, she said.
"It was given to people that were born on Christmas Day," she said. "Somewhere back there someone of my husband's ancestors was born on Christmas. It is not a super common name." Christmas said her husband's grandmother, Joy Christmas, once was stopped at a counter at JCPenney, under suspicion for using a phony name.

The name brings compliments. "For many people, it seems to make them happy. 'You are my favorite,' they tell me. 'I think of your name and it makes me happy,'" Christmas said.

Her husband, Brian, says the best part of her name is that he has Mary Christmas all year long, not just in December.
___
Information from: The Daily Herald,

Don't get the wrong impression

Just in case my Grinch sketch fooled you into thinking I can actually draw, behold my attempts at a motorcycle.

(The letters spell something about Spider-man)

Was this in the job description?

Yes, we moms do it all: pay the bills, take the kids to school, wash messy faces, and.... draw. Maybe it's not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of mommy "duties," but when your sweet little one says to you, "Mama, you could draw the Grinch?" (and you'd have to hear him say Grinch), how can you refuse? I think I did an OK job.

The Reason for the Season

Jesus vs Santa

Santa Claus lives at the North Pole...
JESUS is everywhere.

Santa Claus rides in a sleigh...
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa Claus comes but once a year...
JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa Claus fills your stockings with goodies...
JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa Claus comes down your chimney...
JESUS stands at your door and knocks.

You have to wait in line to see Santa Claus...
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa Claus lets you sit on his lap...
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa Claus doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy (or girl,) what's your name?"...
JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa Claus has a belly like a bowl full of jelly...
JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa Claus can offer is HO HO HO...
JESUS offers healing, help and hope.

Santa Claus says "You better not cry"...
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."

Santa's little helpers make toys...
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.

Santa Claus is a "jolly old elf"...
JESUS is the King of Kings.

Santa Claus may make you chuckle but...
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa Claus puts gifts under your tree...
JESUS became our gift and died on a tree.

Baby Jesus is borned

Tyler is enthralled with baby Jesus this year. He goes through the grocery store singing "Hap Birday, Hap Birday, baby Jesus." He points out every manger scene we come across. If we forget to recognize it when we pray, he reminds us, "You could pray, 'baby Jesus is borned.'" We spend a lot of time making sure our kids know the reason we celebrate, but like so many other things, it's actually the children who keep the simple faith so clearly.

My little spy

In the interest of male bonding, Brian took Colby along while Christmas shopping for me today. Lucky for me, it's tough for a 5-year old to keep secrets.

"Hey mama, guess what we saw at the Disney St-.... oops. I can't talk about that..... Maybe after Christmas."

Randomly wondering

Whenever I see a patrol car cruising the streets in the area, I start to wonder. Is this is a good thing? More police presence means less likelihood of crimes, right? Or maybe crimes are already increasing, which is why they need increased police presence. So what do you think? Do you feel safer when you see police around, or do you feel that maybe you never were as safe as you might have thought?

Thanks, Brigitte!

Check out the adorable artwork Brigitte made for Tyler's new pirate big boy room!! I found her on eBay, and she also sells her work on http://www.etsy.com/ (her seller name is artgoesfun on both sites). Not only does she do fantastic work, she's a sweet lady who is really easy and fun to work with. If you need anything for your kids' rooms, please try and support her. She's just getting her online business up and running, so get ahold of her before she becomes rich and famous!

Are you sure?

click to enlarge

There are supposed to be nine people in this picture. I can only find three. Can you help?

Let it snow baby, let it reindeer

Just because I live in the desert doesn't mean I don't appreciate a good snowflake... as long as I don't have to deal with the cold weather and poor driving conditions! A fellow mom shared this link with me, and it's quite amazing. Take a look at http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/. There are actual photographs of snow flakes, as well as movies of snow crystals growing. Check out the galleries; simply fantastic. Everything in creation displays the glory of God, but these little flakes are at the front of the pack.

PS- The title of my blog comes from the Relient K Christmas album. Don't want the quote police coming after me.

I'm not a crafty mom

It's not that I don't like crafts. Some things people come up with are surely adorable and clever. It's just that they don't come very natural to me. Most of the time at MOPS I just let Kalani finish mine for me instead of working on it myself. So at times, especially around Christmas, I start to feel inadequate about my lack of creativity. Today at Michael's I found a cute little glitter craft that I bought for Colby & I to do together. It may not be the most complex or intricate piece of art, but we did it together and it was fun. We made a memory. :)




In other news, I promised more Christmas pictures:

This last one is really special, even amongst many special Christmas ornaments:


It was given to us last year by our dear friends Paul and Jaime Reichman, who are ministering in Krasnoyarsk, Russia (http://paulandjaime.spaces.live.com/). They were with us last Christmas and brought us this pretty ornament which depicts one of the main buildings in their city. We made many happy Christmas memories together before they left (guys, do you remember the xtra large gingerbread man cookie with every conceivable form of icing or decoration on it?), so a special ornament to remind us of them at this time of year is very precious to us.

It's beginning to look a lot like... well, you know

CHRISTMAS! We just barely started getting the house ready for Christmas... more pictures to come!

It's 11pm, and the hospital is calling

Sleeping soundly through the end of "Shrek the Third" the other night, I was startled awake by the sound of the ringing phone. With a sleepy stumble, I made it over to pick up the receiver. I looked at the clock. 11:00pm. This can't be good... any phone call at such an hour must be bad news. The kids are here with us; they're ok. Maybe my parents? My brother? It doesn't help my nerves when the voice on the phone says, "Hello, this is so-and-so from Natividad Hospital..." My mind races through the list of loved ones once again. Who would be in Natividad Hospital? She goes on. "Your son, Colby, was seen here last Tuesday?" Yes. It was only an ear infection. Could there somehow be bad news associated with that, and a week later? "Well, we've discovered that instead of charging your credit card, we issued you a credit."

Ok, wait. You made a mistake in your billing office, and you're calling me at 11:00 at night to clear it up?

"Do you think you could give us your credit card number so that we can make the charge?" Let's see. It's late at night, I just woke up, and some stranger on the phone is asking me for my credit card number. Is this one of those incredibly bizarre yet somehow still realistic dreams? I told her I wasn't going to give out my card number over the phone, but suggested she bill me. "Please hold." Several moments later, she comes back with a response: "Ok, we're going to avoid (yes, "avoid") the charge and we'll send you a bill for the copay you owe."

Gee, thanks. And GOODNIGHT!

I did it!

I had taken this picture of a sweet little girl enjoying the "snow" falling at the Christmas tree lighting at the mall the other night. I liked the composition, but some of the other elements in the photo bothered me. A lot.

After googling around for a quick second, I came upon a video showing me how I could accomplish the affect I was going for. Of course, it always works so perfectly when somebody else is showing you how to do it, right?









Complaints to Brian for help resulted in him sitting down beside me on the couch to see what he could figure out. Lo and behold, just by the mere act of him sitting his wise self down, the method from the video all started coming together. So I guess I should say "we" did it, though it was mostly just his auora contributing to the effort.

Anyway, this is what "we" came up with. I still wish the background was something other than the facade of the mall with spotlights glaring down. A nice fluffy pine tree or Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland would have done the trick. Were I more proficient at Photoshop, maybe that could happen. But for now, it's a sweet little girl in the courtyard of the AV Mall, and I like it a whole lot. Who knows... maybe in her imagination, there's a snow-covered pine tree there after all.

It's the thought that counts

It truly is the thought that counts. But what if money nor time was an object? What would you get me for Christmas? Leave me a gift, and let's find out! Put one on your page and I'll return the favor. :)

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Thank You

We just have no concept of how lucky and blessed we are. Please watch this and say thanks to a serviceman or their family.

Big boy bedroom

I love this little pirate bedding set by Olive Kids (http://www.olivekids.com/dr-pira.html). Tyler's going to be needing a new bedroom theme since the Boyd's Bears are a little baby-ish for him now, and I believe this one is the winner! They have wallpaper border, pillows, window valances, a clock, the whole nine yards. So fun! And most likely the last bedding set I have any input on...haha!

Trip to the cat house

A few miles out of town, there's what they call an Exotic Feline Breeding Compound. This is a sanctuary for exotic cats, and they were having a Kid's Day today. Instead of the cats sleeping all day like usual, the volunteers gave them toys and food to coax them out of their slumber. Ironically, the price of a child's admission was higher today than any other day of the year. Maybe they should call it "Make Money off the Kids Day." They also had another wildlife group there displaying some other rescued animals not of the feline persuasion.

This guy greets you as you enter the gift shop. They're really serious about preserving the species.

Don't you wanna just take this guy home with you? Bad idea. He'll eat your face off.

Maybe it's just me, but this one doesn't look like he really wanted his picture taken. Bad hair day maybe.

Despite trying several different angles for this shot, he just would not get his face out from behind that annoying bar on the cage!But check out those patterns!

This one is just pretty.

Here's a cutie (psst, it's not a cat).

Baby desert fox...
....and the face of a baby desert fox.

The definition of "so ugly, it's cute":

Aren't the colors just electrifying? (Please, don't hate me because I'm clever)

We concluded the outing by eating burritos at Taco Bell. In Rosamond. It just doesn't get better than that.

Are they for real?

I recently signed up to get these ads from Google placed on my blog. Supposedly I'll get paid when people click on them. They only send a check when you amass $100 worth of income, so maybe by the time Colby goes off to college I'll find one in my mailbox.

Clicking on my own ad would obviously be a violation of the terms of the contract with these ad people, but when I saw one touting hypoallergenic cats by "Lifestyle Pets," I had to check out the URL for myself. Please note, I didn't click on my own ad, just to be clear. :)

So I found something quite disturbing at http://www.allerca.com/index.html. They have actually genetically engineered cats so they won't trigger allergies. Apparently, these cats which were "developed using proprietary methods...patent pending" are "produced by LIFESTYLE PETS" to provide "a significant new alternative to the traditional treatment of cat allergies."

Wow. I mean, they're cute and all, but am I the only one who finds it a little creepy? Not to mention you'd have to be out of your mind to pay $6000 for a cat (that's just the starting price). I dunno, maybe there's something to it, but right now I'm filing it in my "not so sure about that" category.

Now if they could figure out a way to genetically alter dogs so they wouldn't pee in the house and chew up toys, they might be onto something!

I love Christmas as much as the next guy...

... but really, decorating already? I know the stores get Christmas merchandise right after Halloween, but usually you don't see people decorating their houses until at least Thanksgiving weekend. As of yesterday, I've seen no less than 3 houses in various parts of the city already decorated for Christmas! It's not even mid-November!

Here's how we've started getting prepared for the holiday- cleaning out the bedrooms!

It's been about.... oh, 5 years since we've gone through the toys and cleaned out the ones we don't use anymore. We had saved most of Colby's toys for Tyler, but Tyler ends up just playing light sabers or Legos with Colby! So we loaded up a truck-full of toys and took them to the Goodwill. Colby said he didn't mind because it just made room for him to put more new toys. Somehow I think he missed the point.

Even America

On the way to church, Colby was "reading" his Bible to us.

"God said, 'Bring the light!' and light came to all the worlds, even America."

Sorry, your cat had a hole in it's head

To the person or people who put the flyer on the mailbox,

I see you're looking for your cat. I think I took it to the pound. What else could I do? I took it to the vet, but they wanted $300 to fix the HOLE in it's HEAD. Yes, you read that right. Your cat had a quarter-sized, 3-inch deep hole in it's head.

Maybe I should go back a bit. You see, the cat is actually mine. I got it from the pound back in June. It stayed around our house for a few days and then disappeared. I assume this is where you came in. Strange, since it had a collar, a tag, *and* a microchip, that nobody called me. I guess you thought you might as well take the collar off and claim it as yours since it wandered into your yard. That's actually fine with me. I didn't want the cat, but it was so darn friendly, I couldn't bear to think of it being put down.

In the last few weeks, "your" cat had been visiting our yard frequently. One morning a few days ago, Tyler saw it on the block wall and wanted me to get it down to pet it, and that's when I noticed it. Yes, the hole. Don't ask me how it got there, but right in the top of the cat's head, near the ear, was a hole so deep I could see the cat's brain inside. Like I said, I tried the vet. Not going to spend $300 on this cat.

So that's when I took your cat to the pound. I'm not sure if it's still there. You may go check. It'll be the one that seems a little air-headed.

Heaven for feet

Meet the newest addition to my Crocs collection, fuzzy bliss for toesies.
Picked these up tonight at the mall after browsing the web and finding them sold out everywhere. Interesting that things sell out online faster than in the stores these days; a sign of the times. Anyway, I was actually just wondering the other day how I was going to continue to wear my crocs through the winter without my feet freezing. I had resigned myself to the fact that my toes might just have to get cold. It's not like I'll be trudging through snow here in the desert. But then, lo and behold, I saw these advertised in one of my parenting magazines and I thought, "Yes! The answer to all of my problems!" They're so incredibly soft. The thing I love about Crocs is that it feels like you're not wearing shoes, and if I have to wear shoes, I'd rather feel like I'm not. These feel just like you're wearing your most cozy socks out into the big cold world. Brian still thinks they're ugly, now just with fuzz added. It's ok. I'm good with that.

Tyler's back!

For the past...oh, 3 or 4 weeks Tyler has been under the weather. I didn't realize how much it was affecting his personality at the time, but I couldn't help but notice how whiny he was. There were days when he literally just moaned "mama mama mama mama" over and over until I thought I would pull my hair out. Then a couple days ago, it was like he woke up a new boy. He had a smile on his face when he got out of bed, and just continued to bring joy to the household all day. Brian and I both immediately noticed the change, and even now, a few days later, we keep saying, "wow, it's great to have Tyler back!" Right now he just told me, "I stand righ' here an' talka you" in the cutest voice ever. I forget he just turned 2 sometimes by the way he talks. He even ordered his own grilled cheese last night at Red Robin, and the waitress had no trouble understanding, "I wanna grill cheese." Although, he refused to say please. Working on that! Anyway, since he's finally in good health, I hurried him over to the pediatrician to get his flu shot. He didn't even whimper or wince. As I told a friend yesterday, our kids ain't no pansies. I think he had his eye on the lollipop. :)

Speaking of Red Robin, Colby almost surprised us by departing from his tried and true order of mac & cheese. He was on the verge of ordering grilled cheese, but decided at the last minute to get one more mac & cheese so he "could say good-bye." And he literally did. We'll see if he can bear to abandon his cherished mac & cheese next time we go. I'm betting not; he's a pretty sentimental guy.

And lest you think the only thing I have to blog about is my kids, I shall tell you of our date last Friday. The boys stayed over with my parents and Brian and I drove to Santa Barbara for a Chris Tomlin concert. It was outdoors at the Santa Barbara Bowl, which is a really unique and beautiful venue- the ideal location to praise God and contemplate His greatness. In keeping with the "How Great Is Our God" theme, speaker Louis Giglio gave an awesome talk about how awesome God is by using the universe and stars to show his point. Did you know that if the earth were the size of a golf ball, the largest *star* we know of would be the diameter of two golden gate bridges laid end to end? And that's one star in one galaxy in all the vast universe. Amazing. And if you want to hear something even cooler, check out this video-

The official word is in

Time for a dose of cute

Each night, Colby usually wants me to come and lay with him for a few mintues before he falls asleep. Knowing this, you'd think I'd plan for it, but tonight I was busy when he asked if I would come sleep with him. "I'll be there in about 5 minutes," I said. Must have been too long for him, because after a couple minutes he yelled, "Mama? Did you say 5 minutes or 5 HOURS?"


Tyler has been asserting himself a lot more in recent days, like today in the car when he kept telling his brother, "Listen! Listen, Colby!" I guess Colby hadn't learned his lesson from yesterday when he kept interrupting Tyler's story and Tyler scolded, "I'm talkin' you, bruddah!!!"

Ellen and the doggy drama

Just a warning, this will be a rant.

These rescue people need to get off their high horse and get a clue. Seriously. To come in and take away a little girl's dog is just horrible. There's no reason why that dog needed to be snatched away from a perfectly good home. I thought the rescue was supposed to find good homes for dogs, not take dogs away from them. And now they're saying they won't let the family have the dog back because the kids are under age 14. Come on! The girls are 11 and 12 years old! First of all, it's a dumb rule, and second of all, can they see outside the box at all??

All these dog people on the internet are saying "the rescue was right" and "you can't just dispose of a dog when you don't want it." Get real! It's a D-O-G and it wasn't given away willy nilly. Ellen tried her best with the puppy, and when she realized it wasn't going to work out, she found an excellent home for it with PEOPLE SHE KNEW. Would they rather her just keep him locked in a cage all day or out in the yard alone all day maybe?

Evidently the rescue people are all knowing and they're the only ones who could possibly be able to find a good home for a dog. Please. These rescue places are all on power trips and need to get over it. Just this one stupid policy has turned a whole lot of people off to rescues, I can guarantee you that. Mutts & Moms has driven a bunch of people straight to the pet stores (puppy mills), and I hope they're happy. At least they enforced their policy. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Magical Good Behavior Dust

Forget pixie dust... tonight we had good behavior dust floating around our house! It was so nice. The kids played together without arguing or fighting for a good 30 minutes. The phrase, "yeah Tyler, I guess that is your pillow" is not an oft-heard sentiment between our two boys at this point! Then when it was time for bed, nary a whine was heard. Did I mention it was SO NICE?? Praise God for nice family moments that inspire me to believe that it just might all be worth it.

aww, we love Heroes!

Brian's and my synopsis of the new season so far, as written in an email to a friend:

I'm actually a bit annoyed at Peter's storyline. All last season we were built up to the moment when Peter would finally discover control and would break out as a hero who could kick some serious keister. Yet this season they return to the same "I'm still trying to discover myself and how these things work" only now they've added the twist of "and by the way, who am I really - I'd rather be some low level street thug than try to figure it out."

Sylar, now that he's been reintroduced, seems interesting enough. Why is it that his powers aren't working? Interesting. I guess we'll find out later.

Claire, same story, different day. "Why am I different, and why should I hide it" is getting old as it enters the second season.

Mohinder's as clueless as ever.

Bennett - Again, same guy different day. Looked to turn over a new leaf, but still thinks he's in control and Mr. Superspy. "I'm only trying to do what's best for my family."

Shame about DL. Downright shame.

Maja and Bro, well, um, okay, so what's the big deal if her brother can reverse the effect and bring everyone back to life? Most unconvincing people yet.

Nathan seems intriguing, but they haven't really dealt with him much yet.

Finally Hiro. Oh dear what have they done to you Hiro? Can his story line get much more painful? Where is this going? Is Kensei going to teach him how to use a sword, or are we just sitting here wasting valuable time learning about the once drunkard Kensei going straight and becoming a hero.


And now, some fantastic predictions by Brian:


Peter - something will fall out of the sky and hit him on the head. He'll then regain his memory, and forget again how to use his powers. He'll search for Nathan who'll be glad to see him but kill him for being so darn frustrating.

Sylar - Eats one too many jungle leaves and goes normal (as opposed to going crazy, since he's clearly already there). Lives a quiet peaceful life driving his Nissan Versa back and forth to his normal job every day.

Claire - continues to whine, even at her high school reunion. Never gets hired to do pedicures.

Mohinder - survives from pure ignorance. Like Bean. So annoying, even bad guys can't get rid of him.

Bennett - Well, getting shot in the eye isn't the worse thing that can happen I guess. He can't possibly live as a copy repairman for long time.

As for DL, it's probably just a phase (lol)

Maja's going to perform for the sad circus. and her brother's going to be the ringmaster. It's going to be a killer show.

Hiro's going to kill kensei, take the girl and hop to the future and get a Cloud-like hairdo.

Brian = fabulous

Tonight my husband posed a question.

"You know what I love about you?"

Awww, this is bound to be a sweet moment. Not having been particularly lovable today or in the recent past, I wondered just how hard he was going to have to think to come up with something nice to say.

"Everything."

He's more than I deserve.

5 years ago

It's been 5 years since I became a mother. As much as it's a special day for Colby because it's his birthday, it's a really special day for me too. All my life I had only dreamed of being a mom. Even in high school when the substitute teacher asked us what we wanted to "be" in our lives, I caught a lot of flack for saying "I want to be a mom." He said I should have higher dreams and aspirations. To me, there's nothing more fabulous as a "career" choice than being a mom! After we started trying for a baby, there were 13 months where it didn't happen. During that time, I was convicted by God that my life could still be worthwhile even if I didn't have kids. I didn't like the prospect, but I accepted that it could happen. But the Lord saw fit to make me a mom after all. I feel so blessed and truly lucky that these two little boys have been given to me for a time. Five years ago, I became a mom and my life will never be the same.

I'm shrinking!

I have to come here and tell the "world" (all one of you who reads my blog) that I'm back on the wagon with Weight Watchers. This time I have my beautiful pal Kalani along with me for the ride, and we're in for the long haul. I have about 50lbs to lose, and the first week I lost 3.8lbs. It's a start! I will wear a bikini next summer, just you wait and see!

Time for an update

Well, in the last few weeks, we've had quite a few changes here at the Kuhn household. First of all, we took our house off the market. We decided we were just not motivated enough to sell in the current market. Soon after that, Colby started junior kindergarden. It's kind of "kindergarden-lite." They still go every day and have the same hours as kindergarden, but it's a little less pressure and a little more casual. Basically, it's like kindergarden used to be, where now they're doing formerly first grade work in kindergarden. He had a couple rough days where he didn't want to be dropped off, but overall he's doing fine.

About a week after Colby started school, Tyler turned 2 years old. We had a Mickey Mouse party for him and a Pluto ("hot diggity dog") cake. He's working on potty training, and I'm working on being PATIENT with the process. After Tyler's birthday was mine- the big 30. I'm good with it. :)

Most recently, we added a sweet little girl to our crew- a little Maltese named Phoebe. I have tons of pictures of her on my myspace www.myspace.com/baak She's really sweet and even tolerates me dressing her up and carrying her around in doggy purse.

See ya!

Well, we turned someone away from seeing the house today. The realtor called at 5:00pm and said they'd be by at 6:30pm. That's usually when we eat dinner, and since I figured I didn't want dinner smells in the house, we'd wait until after they left to eat. So I got the house all ready and got everybody outside so the house would remain in a ready state for more than 3 minutes. We all sat out there until 7:00pm, when I declared we were going inside to eat. Sure enough, the doorbell rang at 7:30pm. She started in by apologizing for being "a little late," which is when I cut her off and advised her she could come back at another time. We were in the middle of dinner and bedtime routines with our kids. Honestly, she could have called and said they were running late, and I would have been fine with that. But we are not so desparate to sell our house that we bend over backwards and let people treat us with disrespect. We are sellers in a buyers market, but we are still people with lives. Maybe we lost a sale, but we still have our self respect. :)

Let's pretend

Today Colby came up with a game: "Mom, let's pretend we're animals at the zoo and you're the guy who takes care of the animals and feeds us lunch."

Gee, that should be a real stretch of the imagination. :)

Spelling lessons

Me: What letter does "bread" start with?

Colby: B

Me: What letter does "spaghetti" start with?

Colby: S

Me: What letter does "milk" start with?

Colby: A cow

Burger King- BOO!

Burger King now features the Simpsons movie on their kid's meals, along with a generous warning on the bag: "This movie is rated PG-13. Some material may be unsuitable for children under the age of 13." So knowing that it's an unsuitable movie for children, they still go ahead and market it to....children. Fantastic.

Shouldn't be this hard

In this modern day and age, why should it be so hard to find Peter Pan birthday party supplies? I mean, you can find anything else under the sun including Tinkerbell and Captain Hook partyware, but poor Pete just doesn't get any respect.

What is a video camera?

The definition of a video camera:
An expensive piece of electronic equipment useful for catching the moments just after your child spontaneously performs an incredibly cute, funny, endearing, or adorable action.

The faith of a child

This week was VBS, and part of the program is hearing missionary stories each day. As we were driving home last evening, Colby saw the lights of the prison near our house and asked me if that was the jail. He went on to say that maybe he could go to the jail and tell the bad guys about God. And then they could let the bad guys out and they could change and become missionaries and tell people about God too. My prayer is that this wouldn't be just a childhood game of imagination, but that God would be working on his heart at this tender age, to mold him and shape him for a great calling in the future. Watch out Chuck Colson! :)

We ALLLL scream for ice cream

Apparently we weren't the only ones who heard that Baskin Robbins was selling ice cream cones for 31cents tonight. When we got there, the line was wrapped all the way around the outside of the building! Since we had already spilled the beans to Colby about going for ice cream, we had to go to plan B. We ended up at Cold Stone, where we spent as much for 3 ice creams as we would have for 48 cones at Baskin Robbins. So much for cheap ice cream!

Ever heard of irony?

Right now we're watching a competition on Food Network wherein two people are trying to peel 50lbs of onions in less than 3 minutes, 18 seconds. They interviewed the gentleman before the challenge, when he was quoted as saying, "I just hope I don't embarrass myself! haha" Umm... you're on national TV, in a RACE to chop ONIONS... way too late, man..way too late.

Let's remember

All of these videos and quotes from the gunman at Virginia Tech are completely horrible. How much news coverage has been given to the innocent victims that lost their lives? How about we concentrate on the good, upstanding people who were lost that day, instead of focusing so darn much on a crazy man.

Read this article- every word. Yes, it's long, but how much time have you spent learning about Cho this past week, without even meaning to? Look at the pictures. Take 5 minutes and purposely get to know a little about the families who lost their loved ones.

This is an excerpt about Henry Lee, one of the students:

"Friends continued to post hundreds of messages and remembrances on Lee’s Facebook.com page since he was shot to death, knowing he would never get to view them.

“Remember how you used to freak out when I hugged you all the time?” one read. “I’m not so sorry for that anymore.” "

In an interview I saw with a man from a nearby funeral home who helped recover the bodies, he said that what got to him the most was not seeing all of the bodies, but hearing all of their cell phones ringing... over and over again. Imagine- all these parents, wives, friends trying to get in touch with their loved one... and the phone just keeps ringing.

Please, let's get Cho off the TV and bring some dignity to the departed.

What do you think

Recently I heard someone speak about our thought life. I realized I have a lot of work to do in this area. Like the speaker said, what if, when running errands/grocery shopping/whatever, instead of having a schedule to keep and tasks to accomplish, I went in with an attitude of, "Who might be in this store that I could show kindness to?" Wouldn't that change my perspective on the slow checker who can't get the price check done? Or the elderly lady who's blocking my path to the peanut butter? Instead of getting aggravated at these folks because they're wasting my time, why don't I share a smile or a friendly conversation while I'm waiting? Wouldn't that show the world God's love more than being in a rush to get things done? How many opportunities have I missed because my thoughts were entrenched deeply into this world instead of dwelling on eternity?

I can relate

My Lego Lesson


By Janice Joos, MOPS Council Coordinator

I am a mother of two boys. With this honor comes a very large collection of Legos. For birthdays and Christmas each boys always receives a Lego kit to build. They both love to follow the directions step-by-step until the structure is completed.

For Jacob's ninth birthday his brother gave him a very large Lego kit. Jacob was thrilled as he knew that it would be a challenge and take him a few days. However, there were points in the process when Jacob became frustrated at the challenge, and there were even times where he had to stop and take apart the last two or three steps because he had made a mistake.

During the last day of his working on the piece, I watched him as he became frustrated. He knew he made a mistake but couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong. He reviewed the page of directions again and again, but he could not find a solution. Then I watched him as he picked up the box and studied the picture of the completed starship. Several times he looked at the picture and then his pile of Legos until he figured out the problem. I asked him, "What are you doing?"

"I needed to step back and look at the bigger picture," he replied.

Wow, I was struck at the truth in his words. Not just for building Legos, but for all parts of my life. It's east to worry about the small stuff, but that's when I need to step back and look at the bigger picture of my life and the lives of my husband and children. Who would have thought you could learn this kind of lesson from a box of Legos!

Heavy heart

This morning at our MOPS meeting, we heard from one of our moms who just had premature twin baby boys. To protect her privacy, I won't go into the whole ordeal here, but suffice it to say that things are not going the way we all would have liked. One of the boys is especially sick. Their whole family needs prayer and the Lord's continued comfort and guidance.

Get better, baby boys!!

Something to blog about

I got a new book at the library, "Heaven," by Randy Alcorn. Dave Ludwig spoke in church a few weeks back and said the book had really got him thinking about heaven in a new way, so I thought I'd check it out. I requested it a few weeks back because it wasn't "in stock" at our library, and then when it came in, you had like 3 days to pick it up. Luckily when we were there today, I was able to pick it up because they hadn't sent it back to it's original library yet. If it's like any of the other books I check out at the library, it'll sit on my shelf for 3 weeks and then I'll have to turn it back in, but I want to try and actually read this one. :)

In other news, tonight we got to visit with some family we don't see often. They have a new baby in the family, who you can see here. She's a beauty! :)

First Blogger blog

Well, it seems like "everybody's doing it"... moving to Blogger, that is. More respectable than Myspace, I suppose. So I'll try it out too.

For those who are confused by the name, BACT is the first initial in each of our names. Pretty complicated, I know!