Yesterday we went on a little "outing". We were going to Menlyn to check out Exclusive Books and do a few other things. In the car on the way there Kiara was blabbering away and being so bubbly. She was talking to Lisa and looking out the car window and she just sounded so cute I couldn't help making a comment about it.
"Somebody is so cheerful today!" I said.
"Oh! Who is it?"
"It's you Kiara. You're being so happy and cheerful."
"No, I'm not cheerful. I think I'm funny!"
Later we were in the bookstore and I was looking at calendars. You know the ones with theme pictures for each month? Anyway, there were cats, wildlife, flowers etc. I saw one with James Dean.
"Joy likes this guy." I said, as I picked it up to have a better look at the pictures.
"Oh!" Kiara's eyes widened. "Is it Tim?" (Tim is Joy's boyfriend)
I just laughed and laughed...
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sara Jane
You live with a person all your life and sometimes you forget to tell them how special they are and how much they mean to you. I have lots of brothers and sisters but each one is different and special to me.
So here I want to write something for Sara, my youngest sister. She just had her birthday on the 17th so, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA." I took some time to think of 10 words that describe you, things that I like about you.
10 Things I Love About You
So here I want to write something for Sara, my youngest sister. She just had her birthday on the 17th so, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA." I took some time to think of 10 words that describe you, things that I like about you.
10 Things I Love About You
- Cuddly
- Lovable
- Spunky
- Spirited
- Bubbly
- Rascally
- Petite
- Caring
- Strong-willed
- Shyness
Our Great Adventure: Updates
"When life throws lemons at you, make lemonade!"
Hmmm, it seems like we're drinking lots of lemonade these days. Well, newest update is about the eletricity situation of our new house. Yipee, I love surprises! We just found out today that our new landlord owes the electricity company TONS of money. And because he's not paying up they cut his house off from receiving electricity. So our dilema is that we need electricity and we need the landlord to sort out this problem so we can move in.
Weapon of choice for today is: Extreme Praise.
Okay here I go, "Thank you Jesus for lemonade!"
Hmmm, it seems like we're drinking lots of lemonade these days. Well, newest update is about the eletricity situation of our new house. Yipee, I love surprises! We just found out today that our new landlord owes the electricity company TONS of money. And because he's not paying up they cut his house off from receiving electricity. So our dilema is that we need electricity and we need the landlord to sort out this problem so we can move in.
Weapon of choice for today is: Extreme Praise.
Okay here I go, "Thank you Jesus for lemonade!"
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Happy Birthday
YOU ARE SPECIAL
Don't say you're not important,
It simply isn't true,
The fact that you were born,
Is proof that God has a plan for you.
The path may seem unclear right now,
But one day you will see,
That all that came before,
Was truly meant to be.
God wrote the book that is your life,
That's all you need to know.
Each day that you are living
Was written long ago.
God only writes best sellers,
So be proud of who you are,
Your character is important
In this book you are the "Star".
Enjoy the novel as it reads,
It will stand throughout the ages,
Savour each chapter as you go,
Taking time to turn the pages,
I want everybody to know that today is the birthday of someone really cool and special and it's for him that I'm posting this poem. Happy Birthday Philz!! I love you so much and you're such a great friend. You're always so understanding and caring, fun and spunky, full of life, crazy about Jesus, a music freak, a true XDer! I pray that Jesus will give you the desires of your heart this year. Forever be an XD! Yeah!!!
Don't say you're not important,
It simply isn't true,
The fact that you were born,
Is proof that God has a plan for you.
The path may seem unclear right now,
But one day you will see,
That all that came before,
Was truly meant to be.
God wrote the book that is your life,
That's all you need to know.
Each day that you are living
Was written long ago.
God only writes best sellers,
So be proud of who you are,
Your character is important
In this book you are the "Star".
Enjoy the novel as it reads,
It will stand throughout the ages,
Savour each chapter as you go,
Taking time to turn the pages,
I want everybody to know that today is the birthday of someone really cool and special and it's for him that I'm posting this poem. Happy Birthday Philz!! I love you so much and you're such a great friend. You're always so understanding and caring, fun and spunky, full of life, crazy about Jesus, a music freak, a true XDer! I pray that Jesus will give you the desires of your heart this year. Forever be an XD! Yeah!!!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Our Great Adventure
I would venture to say that moving is like an adventure. In our case it's like Monster on the Move. Monster..?--That would be our home, and yes we are moving! So far it's been a series of miracles big and small, and some we don't even know about. Every time we move somewhere it's like an obstacle course or a test in faith. Either we don't have a house, or we don't have money, or we don't have a moving truck, actually it's quite a long list. Right now we're in the middle of packing and my room is covered in boxes as we speak, (or more like: as I type).
The Lord supplied a company that is graciously donating the use of one of their trucks to us. The scheduled date for moving is none other than the 22nd of September. Yikes! That's about a week's time, a week to pack all my junk and precious treasures. Oh well, that should be long enough.
Ok, so I have to admit in spite of any worries or fears I have it's been an amazing ride so far. The miracles that we've seen are so cool and it's just the beginning. For example: our new contract starts on the 1st of October, but our current landlord won't let us leave till the end of Oct. unless he gets new tenants. We're praying that the Lord can do another mighty miracle and get new tenants so we can leave. It's the 14th right now so that doesn't leave Him much time to work. But then again, who are we to put God in a box? If it's His will the new tenants could appear at our doorstep just like that!
The new house needs some building and fixing done before it's really ready for us to move in. A few of the boys work on the house and sometimes stay the night. But there's no electricity and there's no water! At first we had to rent a generator to be able to use the power tools but now a sweet friend offered the use of his for as long as we want. The Lord also supplied us with new power tools, the owner of a small hardware store let us buy all the tools we needed for cost price, and they're a good brand too.
All the material we have so far and that we're using to build has been donated to us. Plywood, logs, bricks, tiles, tile adhesive, sand, cement, kitchen cupboards, shelves, etc. It's quite long list of what the Lord has done for us.
I'll try to keep you all posted with news of us and the move. I'm sure that there's plenty more exciting news to come. We might not have Internet for awhile in the transition of houses but I'll be as faithful as I can when we do. We started having prayer meetings every night at 8:30 to pray for everything concerning the move. Please help us out by keeping us in your daily prayers we really need them. Here's a short list:
Prayer Requests
-For our Honda to get fixed. Supply of car parts and mechanics.
-For all the building that is happening for everything to be done correctly, and without any eventualities, for safety and protection
-For a tenant to take over our lease at the end of September
-For the water and electricity situation to be solved smoothly and speedily
-For the packing and closing down of our house
The Lord supplied a company that is graciously donating the use of one of their trucks to us. The scheduled date for moving is none other than the 22nd of September. Yikes! That's about a week's time, a week to pack all my junk and precious treasures. Oh well, that should be long enough.
Ok, so I have to admit in spite of any worries or fears I have it's been an amazing ride so far. The miracles that we've seen are so cool and it's just the beginning. For example: our new contract starts on the 1st of October, but our current landlord won't let us leave till the end of Oct. unless he gets new tenants. We're praying that the Lord can do another mighty miracle and get new tenants so we can leave. It's the 14th right now so that doesn't leave Him much time to work. But then again, who are we to put God in a box? If it's His will the new tenants could appear at our doorstep just like that!
The new house needs some building and fixing done before it's really ready for us to move in. A few of the boys work on the house and sometimes stay the night. But there's no electricity and there's no water! At first we had to rent a generator to be able to use the power tools but now a sweet friend offered the use of his for as long as we want. The Lord also supplied us with new power tools, the owner of a small hardware store let us buy all the tools we needed for cost price, and they're a good brand too.
All the material we have so far and that we're using to build has been donated to us. Plywood, logs, bricks, tiles, tile adhesive, sand, cement, kitchen cupboards, shelves, etc. It's quite long list of what the Lord has done for us.
I'll try to keep you all posted with news of us and the move. I'm sure that there's plenty more exciting news to come. We might not have Internet for awhile in the transition of houses but I'll be as faithful as I can when we do. We started having prayer meetings every night at 8:30 to pray for everything concerning the move. Please help us out by keeping us in your daily prayers we really need them. Here's a short list:
Prayer Requests
-For our Honda to get fixed. Supply of car parts and mechanics.
-For all the building that is happening for everything to be done correctly, and without any eventualities, for safety and protection
-For a tenant to take over our lease at the end of September
-For the water and electricity situation to be solved smoothly and speedily
-For the packing and closing down of our house
Thursday, September 4, 2008
You've Got Mail!
Joy did an art project with the kids this afternoon and the assignment was: mailboxes. Each one had to make their own personalized mailbox. So, using small cardboard boxes, colored paper, glue, and other accessories the kids got to work. Even Kiara helped by designing the cover for her mailbox. Of course there was also the usual competition of whose was nicer/cooler! But since each one made their mailbox how they wanted it there wasn't any problem.
They all got really excited by the whole thing and started talking about how they were going to send mail to each other, and hoping they would in turn receive goodies. Kiara, in customary toddler fasion, kept asking every five minutes if she had mail; or she would ask me to write her a letter. It was so cute to see her just as excited about it as the older ones.
Later after dinner we got together for a little "family time". Most of us were doing art, mainly painting, in the dinning room. Jed made popcorn for everyone, and then read Asterix and Obelix out loud to us while we painted.
Kiara got a few letters in her mailbox and she was so happy. She even wanted to write letters back right away. The kids kept writing notes back and forth to eachother and even to Joy and myself. It's rude not to reply to your mail, so I made little cards/notes for each one of the children and put it in their mailboxes. (they're all in bed so no chance of getting caught) Nothing fancy, just a note to say what I appreciate about them. I didn't forget to stick to important rules like: something boyish or manly for Jed, something feminine for Niki, and something cute(with BIG writing) for Kiara. I gave her stickers in her note and I can't wait to see her face when she gets it tomorrow morning.
It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you get this piece of paper, clumsily folded with loving little squiggles of writing inside. Maybe the grammar and spelling are terrible but the translation is simple: I love you is what it says.
They all got really excited by the whole thing and started talking about how they were going to send mail to each other, and hoping they would in turn receive goodies. Kiara, in customary toddler fasion, kept asking every five minutes if she had mail; or she would ask me to write her a letter. It was so cute to see her just as excited about it as the older ones.
Later after dinner we got together for a little "family time". Most of us were doing art, mainly painting, in the dinning room. Jed made popcorn for everyone, and then read Asterix and Obelix out loud to us while we painted.
Kiara got a few letters in her mailbox and she was so happy. She even wanted to write letters back right away. The kids kept writing notes back and forth to eachother and even to Joy and myself. It's rude not to reply to your mail, so I made little cards/notes for each one of the children and put it in their mailboxes. (they're all in bed so no chance of getting caught) Nothing fancy, just a note to say what I appreciate about them. I didn't forget to stick to important rules like: something boyish or manly for Jed, something feminine for Niki, and something cute(with BIG writing) for Kiara. I gave her stickers in her note and I can't wait to see her face when she gets it tomorrow morning.
It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you get this piece of paper, clumsily folded with loving little squiggles of writing inside. Maybe the grammar and spelling are terrible but the translation is simple: I love you is what it says.
Laughs With Dave Barry
This article of his is my favorite, at least for this month! There's no knowing what Dave Barry will come up with next.
***
The bleu plate special
Dave Barry, Miami Herald (back column)
What lies ahead for the European Union? This question is very much on the minds of concerned journalists looking for a way to take a tax-deductible vacation abroad. For this reason, I recently spent several weeks assessing the mood in a broad cross-section of Europe, ranging all the way from Paris, France, to several other parts of France.
I would say, based on this trip, that the biggest problem facing Europe today is that everything over there is hard to pronounce. Even the word "France" is pronounced as a different word entirely ("Fwonce"). But basically the mood of Europe is good, except when you order your food incorrectly, in which case Europe can get snippy. My family and I experienced this personally at a cafe in Paris called Le Mistral (French for "The Snotty Attitude"), where we offended the waiter by committing the unforgivable blunder of existing. To make matters worse, when the waiter, after ignoring us for 15 minutes, reluctantly came to our table, I made the horrific faux pas (literally, "hors d'oeuvre") of attempting to order my food before I ordered my drink, if you can possibly imagine anything so gauche (French for "American").
The waiter was so offended that--I am not making this up--he tore up his order slip, spun around and walked away in what the French call "une huffe." So we went to another cafe, where the waiter was very nice, and where we wrote, in what we hoped was French, a letter of complaint to the Le Mistral management.
After our meal, we marched back into Le Mistral, where I handed the letter to the manager, who read it and handed it to the snotty waiter, who also read it.
The three of us then had an argument. Unfortunately, we conducted it in French, which I have not studied since the 1960s. If you translated this argument into English, it would probably go something like:
MANAGER: What is the problem?
ME (pointing at the waiter): There is a duck in your elevator.
WAITER: I do not know what you are talking about!
ME (forcefully): Give me the fish of my uncle!
After several minutes of this, we marched back out, proud of having made our point. Meanwhile, back in Le Mistral, they probably laughed until tears fell into the bouillabaisse, and vowed to be even ruder to American tourists, in hopes of generating more linguistic comedy entertainment.
I found the European mood to be mellower in Provence (French for "Province"), an extremely picturesque sector of southern France filled with picturesque houses and fields and little picturesque towns connected by winding roads upon which the French whiz around at speeds upwards of 17 million kilograms per hour in cute French cars the size of an Altoids tin.
Provence was once occupied by the Romans, who built picturesque ruins until their empire collapsed as a result of eating too much cheese. The same thing happened to us. We consumed cheese by the metric ton. We bought it at open-air markets, which are held in certain towns on certain days. The rest of the time, France is closed. (You think I'm joking.)
On market day, all the residents of Provence get into their Altoidsmobiles and whiz to the same town, where they form a massive traffic jam and park in every conceivable place, including on top of other cars. Then they walk around the market and buy delicious, inexpensive cheeses, sausages, breads, pastries, candies and other delicacies. Then they go home and throw all the food away. At least that's what I assume they do, because, despite living in Cholesterol World, they're all thin. The entire population of France weighs less than a standard American softball team.
But we tourists, not knowing the local customs, actually ate the food. Our schedule was: Eat, sleep, then go to the market again. Eventually, we had to tie our French rental car to a post so it couldn't flee when our bloated bodies lumbered toward it.
In conclusion, the European Union is an important issue that everyone should care about. I urge you to go over there and assess it for yourself. If you happen to eat at Le Mistral, and you happen to see a waiter who looks like a ferret with a mustache, and you happen to speak French, tell him, for me, that he has a duck in his elevator.
***
The bleu plate special
Dave Barry, Miami Herald (back column)
What lies ahead for the European Union? This question is very much on the minds of concerned journalists looking for a way to take a tax-deductible vacation abroad. For this reason, I recently spent several weeks assessing the mood in a broad cross-section of Europe, ranging all the way from Paris, France, to several other parts of France.
I would say, based on this trip, that the biggest problem facing Europe today is that everything over there is hard to pronounce. Even the word "France" is pronounced as a different word entirely ("Fwonce"). But basically the mood of Europe is good, except when you order your food incorrectly, in which case Europe can get snippy. My family and I experienced this personally at a cafe in Paris called Le Mistral (French for "The Snotty Attitude"), where we offended the waiter by committing the unforgivable blunder of existing. To make matters worse, when the waiter, after ignoring us for 15 minutes, reluctantly came to our table, I made the horrific faux pas (literally, "hors d'oeuvre") of attempting to order my food before I ordered my drink, if you can possibly imagine anything so gauche (French for "American").
The waiter was so offended that--I am not making this up--he tore up his order slip, spun around and walked away in what the French call "une huffe." So we went to another cafe, where the waiter was very nice, and where we wrote, in what we hoped was French, a letter of complaint to the Le Mistral management.
After our meal, we marched back into Le Mistral, where I handed the letter to the manager, who read it and handed it to the snotty waiter, who also read it.
The three of us then had an argument. Unfortunately, we conducted it in French, which I have not studied since the 1960s. If you translated this argument into English, it would probably go something like:
MANAGER: What is the problem?
ME (pointing at the waiter): There is a duck in your elevator.
WAITER: I do not know what you are talking about!
ME (forcefully): Give me the fish of my uncle!
After several minutes of this, we marched back out, proud of having made our point. Meanwhile, back in Le Mistral, they probably laughed until tears fell into the bouillabaisse, and vowed to be even ruder to American tourists, in hopes of generating more linguistic comedy entertainment.
I found the European mood to be mellower in Provence (French for "Province"), an extremely picturesque sector of southern France filled with picturesque houses and fields and little picturesque towns connected by winding roads upon which the French whiz around at speeds upwards of 17 million kilograms per hour in cute French cars the size of an Altoids tin.
Provence was once occupied by the Romans, who built picturesque ruins until their empire collapsed as a result of eating too much cheese. The same thing happened to us. We consumed cheese by the metric ton. We bought it at open-air markets, which are held in certain towns on certain days. The rest of the time, France is closed. (You think I'm joking.)
On market day, all the residents of Provence get into their Altoidsmobiles and whiz to the same town, where they form a massive traffic jam and park in every conceivable place, including on top of other cars. Then they walk around the market and buy delicious, inexpensive cheeses, sausages, breads, pastries, candies and other delicacies. Then they go home and throw all the food away. At least that's what I assume they do, because, despite living in Cholesterol World, they're all thin. The entire population of France weighs less than a standard American softball team.
But we tourists, not knowing the local customs, actually ate the food. Our schedule was: Eat, sleep, then go to the market again. Eventually, we had to tie our French rental car to a post so it couldn't flee when our bloated bodies lumbered toward it.
In conclusion, the European Union is an important issue that everyone should care about. I urge you to go over there and assess it for yourself. If you happen to eat at Le Mistral, and you happen to see a waiter who looks like a ferret with a mustache, and you happen to speak French, tell him, for me, that he has a duck in his elevator.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Gardener's Guide
Gabe bought this really cool book on plants and gardening. While studying it one day I found this little piece of paper glued in one of the front pages. Obviously the former owner thought it a valuable addition to his book. This is what it said:
GARDENER'S GUIDE
BULB: Potential flower buried in Autumn, never to be seen again.
DROUGHT: Weather immediately following planting.
HOEING: Manual method of severing roots from stems of newly planted flowers.
HOUSE PLANT: Much better idea.
PROPAGATION: Method of increasing plant population. Normally only effective with weeds.
CREEPER: Slow demolition expert.
I laughed so hard after reading that and when I showed it to Gabe he was almost rolling on the floor with laughter.
Gabe and I are sorta the "gardener freaks" in our home. He's something like a walking encyclopedia and I know quite a few weird plant names (like: phalaenopsis) courtesy of Kiara's flashcards. Anyway, I like plants...a lot. I wouldn't say that I know how to take care of a garden. I just like to, that's all.
Btw, phalaenopsis is an orchid species. So it is actually a real name and not one I made up. I have a white one that sits on my desk. It's not as fancy as the one in the picture, but I think it's beautiful.
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