Can You Feel The Love?

To my faithful followers - I've missed blogging so much! I can't wait until I can get a new laptop and better internet service. Ours has been down for the last few days, and I tried about 10 times before that to get this post done. Hopefully it will work this time!


I have many pictures to show you from the last month or so - but for this post, I don't want another day to go by without saying THANK YOU to some super special people.

First, I want to thank my daughters for their love and support while I've been hobbling around with my broken foot. Shauna drew this delightful picture for me in church one night. I especially like the way she got my purple clothes that I've been wearing to match my purple cast and that the "after" picture shows me wearing a more colorful rainbow shirt. :) Staci pointed out that the cast is on the wrong foot - I hadn't even noticed that; but I think the picture is wonderful anyway. The girls have also been helping me with the laundry. Shauna can put the clothes in the washing machine and start it - Staci's not quite tall enough to reach in, so I have her help me remove them from the dryer.

Also, my mom has been super wonderful - she's been my morning chauffeur - she wakes up VERY early so that she can get to my house at 6 am - we try to get the girls dropped off at daycare at 6:30, and then she takes me to the bus stop after that. It makes for a long day for her - by the time she gets back to my house after work, it's 6 pm. Then, she takes me to do other errands. If anyone has some great ideas for a thank you gift for her, suggestions are welcome. My husband has been picking me up after work; and my sister drove me to work the first week. I'm so thankful I have other people willing to drive me, but I am SO looking forward to driving myself again soon. (I used to take that for granted; no more after this).

Also, my dearest, best in the whole world, in-laws, have been sending cards and emails, as well as my sister-in-laws. I do appreciate all of the love and support, and want to say

THANK YOU!

The second group of people I need to thank is my dear church friends. The first week of my broken foot, a family from church delivered dinner to our house - chicken alfredo, salad, and french bread - delicious! Then, a few weeks later, we went to pick up the girls from daycare, and were delightfully surprised with a full dinner. Sis. Connie, the school principal, who is also our church drummer, had made chicken noodle casserole (so yummy) and Sis. Sullivan, our pastor's wife, had made a home-made apple pie for dessert. There was also a fresh green salad, homemade dinner rolls, and strawberry lemonade.

I think this was THE BEST meal we've eaten since the accident

You ladies are awesome!

THANK YOU, thank you, THANK YOU

I also have a few other dear friends, Amy (another gracious driver), LaNell, Pat, and Jennifer, who have been super supportive as well. And of course, I cannot forget to thank you, my dear blog readers and followers, who have left comments. Thank you all!

P.S. As I was typing this, a dear friend from work, Victoria, told me she brought me some leftover steak and corn-on-the-cob from her barbecue because she knew I didn't have yummy food for the 4th of July. Thank you, too!

Give Them an Inch and They'll Take a Mile

A week or so ago My mom and the girls and I went to Round Table Pizza for their family night. They have the pizza and salad buffet, games, balloons, and face painting. I usually don't allow my girls to get their face painted, but thought - it's summer time, there's only a handful of kids at the daycare, the Round Table employee doing the face painting looked bored as she had no customers - so I figured this could be a small summer treat for the girls. I expected them to have a little flower or heart on a cheek, and that would be that. I let the girls know they could do it AFTER they ate their food. :)

The next thing I know, I look over to where the face painting is happening and can't believe my eyes. Shauna looked like Jezebel! I was completely shocked and actually surprised that the worker did a full face painting without asking me first. However, the thing that really made me angry was the black eyeliner around the eye. She's 7 years old for goodness sake! And Shauna has sensitive skin - I don't see how this could be good for her face. After Shauna was done, I told Staci to just get something small; of course, she wanted to look like her sister, so I said "just the eyes, but not the black liner." You can see from the pictures that she didn't listen.

As soon as this happened, I thought - what a good blog post that would be - it's true what they say - "Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile." It also reminded me of a church sign quote I've read before: "Never give the devil a ride, he always wants to drive."

My pastor is always preaching about how we need to be careful what we do and allow into our lives - it may be something that seems insignificant and small, but it can have profound effects that we can't even begin to fathom.

Have you ever allowed your kids to do something, and then regretted it? Well, I certainly did in this case.

So, what did I do - I said "as soon as we get home, I'm taking your picture, and then we're washing it off - and DON'T go in the house and let Daddy see it." So, what do you think happened the second we pulled into the driveway - Staci jumps out of the car, runs into the house and says "Daddy, look at us!"

Well, Daddy wasn't too happy either - and the faces were immediately washed off. The girls were sad that they couldn't wear their face painting to daycare, but oh well!

I know this really wasn't that huge of a deal (at least I hope so), but it certainly gave me food for thought to be extremely specific the next time they want to do something.

It's also a reminder of the importance of good communication. If I had specifically told them ahead of time = you can get a small heart or flower on your cheek, and that's it - then we could have avoided the entire drama! :)

That's my thought for Friday. May you all have a blessed weekend!

Rhonda

My Baby's A Kindergarten Graduate!

As some of you already know, I got behind on my blogging when I broke my foot the end of May. So, although it's been three weeks since June 2, I wanted to show off my little graduate. Staci is 5 1/2 years old - with her birthday being November 28, she is the youngest person in her class, making the December 2 enrollment cut-off by only 4 days. She is a super bright student who already loves reading and spelling. She likes to say "Is it time for l-u-n-c-h?" and things like that. There's no tricking this child from hearing what you don't want them to hear by spelling the words! :)

Staci and the best kindergarten teacher ever, Mrs. Riddlesperger

Staci, the night of graduation

Staci with our pastor's wife, Sister Sullivan

She is also one of the best readers in her class. Her teacher said that she's always had good readers (my oldest daughter was also a "reader" at her kindergarten graduation), but that Staci has the best expression of any kindergartner she's ever taught (and she's one of the oldest teachers at her school). Each year at Faith Christian Academy, the graduation is an involved performance where each class demonstrates something they've learned through the school year. They start with transitional kindergarten (the 4 year olds) who recite the books of the Bible and read some blends and simple words. The t-K's get their diplomas to graduate to Kindergarten; and then it moves on to the current Kindergarten class. The K class recites a Bible memory verse for each letter of the alphabet, and counts by 2s, 5s, and 10s to 100. Then, two readers are chosen to show how they learned to read in Kindergarten. Staci was the second reader. She only made one little mistake (left off one word at the end of a sentence). I was actually a teeny bit disappointed because Staci thought she would get to read a story that had exclamation points so she could show off her expression, but a different story was chosen for her to read at graduation. So, although she has great expression, you can't tell from this video clip. (side note - YES, I bought a new camera to replace my lost one - and it can record video; this is the first video I ever recorded in my life. HA HA!). After the Kindergartners get their diplomas, the rest of the grades do their performances, then the 8th-grade valedictorian gives their speech, and the 8th graders get their diplomas. All in all, it's about a two-hour long performance. The children always dress nice and do an excellent job. I'm very thankful that my girls have a positive, Christian learning environment!

Here is the video clip of Staci reading (the very end is cut off - I'm sorry; I guess when the clips upload to YouTube, it cuts off a few seconds at the end). Click here to view the video.

More From "Squids Will Be Squids"

Shauna's favorite story in the book is "Horseshoe Crab & Blowfish."

The moral: It takes one to know one.

Staci's favorite story in the book: "Straw & Matches."

The moral: Don't play with matches.

A Monday Musing ~ Mrs. Octopus and the Flip Flops

This story was written by my 7-year-old, Shauna, on April 23, 2009 as part of a class assignment. We all thought it was funny, and wanted to share it with you.

Mrs. Octopus and the Flip Flops

One day I saw an octopus in the shoe store.
The octopus was looking for a pair of shoes.
She couldn't decide which ones she wanted.
Suddenly her money started flying everywhere!
Mr. Snail the cashier started saying "I'm rich! I'm rich!" but Mrs. Octopus quickly put it back into her purse.
Finally she decided which shoes she wanted
the pink flip flops.


My husband asked me to type this up and email it to my mother-in-law, but since she reads my blog, I thought I'd go ahead and post it here for your reading pleasure. :) We're pretty sure that the inspiration for the octopus shopper and Mr. Snail as cashier came from the reading of "Squids will be squids." If you haven't read this book, and have school-age children, we recommend it. It has several short stories and they usually have a moral at the end of them.

Here is an excerpt from one of the pages - this story is "Grasshopper Logic":

And you can read a review on Amazon by clicking here

Fabulous Friday! Thank You Jesus and fellow bloggers!

Thank you so much to my fellow bloggers who left encouraging comments regarding a speedy recovery for my broken foot! I am so THANKFUL to Jesus Christ. I was able to do a limited amount of walking last night, and my foot did not throb as it had done before. Also, I slept better than I have since the injury. Thank You, Jesus! God is so good - and we really can have things go so much easier when we maintain a happy, positive, thankful attitude.

I've been having fun "scooting about" on the knee scooter that I rented from Carol at www.scooteron.com - what a great invention this is! It is SO much easier than using crutches. I've been able to take the bus and light rail train to get to work, and I can carry my lunch bag and shopping bags on the handlebars! By the time my cast gets removed, I won't have any calf muscle in my right leg, but my quads and thighs should be super muscular!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Rhonda

Update on Me and My Attitude (and a Broken Foot)

Dirt road leading to the trail - I love the beautiful blue sky!
The start of our ride ~ this trail is really neat; over 30 miles long with many different access points


New friends: Sheldon, Alex, Tristian & Katti

Me and my beautiful daughter Shauna. She wasn't too thrilled about being near the river and not able to go into the water (we didn't have any life jackets with us)

Documenting her "first solo ride" on the trail

My sweet Shauna doesn't like her helmet, but hey, it's the law!

Some of you may have been wondering why I've been moody/depressed lately, and why I haven't felt like posting much. Well, it all has to do with MY BROKEN FOOT. That's right. On Saturday, May 30, Shauna and I went to the American River Bike Trail with a family from church. It was a glorious day - perfect weather, good company, a nice little breeze; it was wonderful. This was my first time being on the bike trail in about 3 years, and Shauna's first time riding on the trail, as the last time I went, she was pulled in the bicycle trailer behind me. I was so proud of Shauna! She did not complain about being tired or her legs hurting the entire time we rode - and the most she'd ever ridden before that day was about 1/2 a mile to the school down the street from our house.

We rode about four miles, and were debating amongst ourselves whether or not we should continue on to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, which would have been about another mile or so east. I joked that I didn't know if I'd have the energy to make it all the way back, and that we'd have to send Alex (the husband in the family from church) back to the truck to come get us. We decided to head back west on the trail. After only about a half-mile into our trek back, I sped up as I approached a hill, and went to pass Alex's seven-year-old son on the left. Unfortunately, his bike wheel decided to turn to the left at the same time, and as our wheels touched, a crash was imminent. I veered my bike to the left so as not to fall on Sheldon, and then fell off on the right side of my bike, my right foot twisted inward, and then my overweight body landed on my foot. I immediately knew it was broken. Since Sheldon was understandably terrified (his left ankle was a little bruised and minorly sprained), I just sat on the bike trail and tried to take deep breaths and keep myself calm. It was just a freak accident; nobody's fault - just something that happened. The funny thing about it is that I was trying to avoid riding close to my own child, as she was a little wobbly. :) Anyway, Alex did end up going back to get the truck. We had to ride about another half-mile to get to the vehicle access lot, so I got back on my bike and pedaled with my left foot. I guess I could have been a DRAMA QUEEN and freaked out myself and called 9-1-1 to have the paramedics come carry me off the trail, but that's just not in my nature. HA HA!
Immediately I was very thankful - because things could have been so much worse. As we were heading east on the trail earlier in the day, there were very many serious cyclers on the trail. However, at the time of our accident, heading west, there was no one on the trail behind us for a good 5 minutes or so. I was also thankful because Alex had a big enough truck that he was able to get us all and then he drove us back to where we had parked, and Katti drove me home while Alex drove my truck home. Then, Alex went to his house and brought me by some crutches so that my husband Matthew could take me to the ER. When we got home around 3, I told Matthew to go ahead and do his errands because it didn't matter if we went to the ER at 3 or at 6 pm, because it always takes forever (like a 3 hour wait) at the ER if you aren't seriously dying. Here I had another reason to be thankful, we were able to get in touch with my mom and my sister, so they watched the girls for us while we went to the hospital. When we got to the ER, there was practically no one there! Kaiser had some sort of fast track process, and we were in and out of the hospital within one hour (x-rays, splint, and everything). I was really amazed and thankful.
I hate to admit this, but unfortunately my thanks did not last very long. I am not a homebody, and I'm a melancholy personality, so being unable to drive has been very taxing and depressing. I am on day 19 of this injury, and although I still have pain and am unable to put weight on my right foot, I'm actually doing okay physically, but not so swell mentally and emotionally.
I think what depressed me the most about this whole situation is the timing of the event (Shauna feels I've ruined her summer plans as I nixed the Disneyland trip for the end of this month and we won't be able to go to a water park any time soon) and the fact that it seems like I'm having a very hard time exercising.
In March I decided it was about time I put some emphasis into working out and losing weight. I went back to Curves after a long absence and went for about 3 weeks. In mid-April, my back went out. The pain was so bad that I went to the chiropractor for the first time in my life, even though I was terrified. This put me out of commission regarding exercise for about one month. I had been feeling great for about one week before the bike ride, and thought what great exercise this would be. I envisioned myself riding weekly and losing a lot of weight. :) Well, so much for that great plan. HA HA!
I know that there is a purpose to everything and I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude. I appreciate all of your prayers in this situation.

Ribbon Border - Cardmaking/Scrapbooking idea

For all of you crafters out there - I just found a great blog site called Inspirational. The latest blog post introduces us to a lovely lady named Claire, who lives in Ireland. Check out this post by Inspirational.

Click here for Claire's tutorial on the ribbon border

Here's another cute scrapbooking idea that can also be used for cardmaking:
Compelled by Circles

Happy Crafting!

Flag Day 2009 & American Cuties

My friend, Jean-Elle
My cutie pie, Shauna, age 7 years, 8.5 months

My All-American girl, Staci, age 5 years, 6.5 months

From wikipedia

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Flag Day is not an official federal holiday, though on June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) U.S. state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday.
Title 36 of the United States Code, Subtitle I, Part A, CHAPTER 1, § 110[2] is the official statute on Flag Day; however, it is at the President's discretion to proclaim officially the observance. The longest-running Flag Day parade is held annually in Quincy, Massachusetts, which began 1952 and will celebrate its 59th year in 2009. The largest Flag Day parade is held annually in Troy, New York, which bases its parade on the Quincy parade and typically draws 50,000 spectators.

Thursday's Thought ~ The Will of God

I was just getting ready to prop my feet up and read a book on my lunch break, but when I saw the quote at the beginning of Part One of the book A Slender Thread by Tracie Peterson, I had to share it with you.

"Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly set free! No one can hinder him. It is only when we introduce our own will into our relation to God that we get into trouble. When we weave into the pattern of our lives threads of our own desires we instantly become subject to hindrances from the outside." A.W. Tozer

I must admit, I don't know who A.W. Tozer is (to find out who he is, click here), or that I'd ever heard of him before I read this quote. However, it compelled me to stop reading and write this quick blog post. I'm of the type who loves to use the concordance to complete a Bible study - Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is my favorite; however, if I'm at work, or unable to use Strong's, my online reference tool is BibleGateway - This is a fabulous site that lets you search by passage, keyword, or topic, and it has several versions of the Bible; and also several languages. (Side note: last year, for a back to school bulletin board, I looked up 2 Timothy 2:15 in many different languages, and placed them on the board, with a bulletin board border made up of flags of different countries.)

My favorite verse in the Bible that specifically states what the will of God is concerning us:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Anyhow, I went to BibleGateway and entered in the phrase "will of God." This phrase is found in the King James Version of the Holy Bible only 23 times. Below are the most pertinent verses to understand what the will of God is for our lives, but 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is the most direct, specific verse.

To make intercession for the saints according to the will of God – Romans 8:27

To be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

To give yourself to the Lord – 2 Corinthians 8:5

That we be delivered from this present evil world – Galatians 1:4

Not to please men, but to be the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart – Ephesians 6:6

That ye should abstain from fornication – 1 Thessalonians 4:3

To give thanks in every thing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

To receive the promise, if we have patience – Hebrews 10:36

That with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – 1 Peter 2:15

To suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. – 1 Peter 3:17

To not live in the flesh to the lusts of men – 1 Peter 4:2

To abide for ever – 1 John 2:17

May we be thankful in EVERY thing, and not weave our own tendencies and desires into the fabric of our lives that we are trying to shape after the will of God. Have a blessed day! Rhonda
Well, my lunch break is over now, so I didn't get to read any of the book yet. I'll let you know how it turns out when I'm through with it. :) Happy Thursday, all!