Our Own POEM

Thanks to Darshia who sent this to me after reading, Dad's Night. This was fun and will be great in a photo album. LOL

If You Give a Man (ala *If you Give a Mouse a whatever series*)

If you give a man manicotti,
he'll need some Whoppers to go with it.

If he eats the Whoppers,
he'll need to tickle the ivories to work off the sugar.

If he tickles the ivories,
there will be dancing.

If there is dancing,
there's a fun party!

Family Fun Gone Awry

Quote of the Day: "God says, don't count to far or you'll break your brain!" Am I the only one who "subtly" tests her homeschool children at all hours of the day?
Michael and I had a plan. Geocaching from 9 - noon. Lunch. Pool with the littles. Dinner. Mike would go finish work on tomorrow's sermon.

Somehow, we didn't make the 9 a.m. thing...... then the older boys had work and other plans. Jared had a sore throat....

Michael DID taste the chips and voted for Ghiradelli. It's final...this family prefers the Giradelli - though I and one other like the Guittard. LOL Arielle documented this moment with 12 photos - this is my favorite. We headed out to geocache at 11:00. We did not find ANY of the caches that we sought. At 1:00 I saw dancing spots.....I was either about to have a high blood pressure attack or a migraine. Can we vote here???? ::snort:: We headed home. On the way, I realized my eyes have been wonky all day, I've been nauseated - I thought a migraine was on the way. We got home by 1:15 and it had already hit. Mike told me to take meds and head for bed. I did.

He decided to go ahead and take the kids who were home to the pool so that the house would be quiet. I had Stacia, she napped for a couple of hours. They picked up Arielle's friend, Ashley and headed for the pool.

Yep - my head still hurts...but I'm taking drugs. I've not had a migraine since early in Mike's deployment - would have been Sept/Oct....the diet and exercise changes have really helped, I think.

Mike is at the office working on his sermon. I'm going to see what I can do about keeping the lights down and the children quiet and then go to bed as early as possible...and yes, take some more drugs.

I think there were moments of family fun in the day - it just wasn't the together day we had planned.

Friday Recap

Quote of the Day: "Why can't we just eat the snot?" ::gag:: ::choke:: ::gag::

Produce Co-op

Stacia "helps" with laundry Mike and I ran down to San Antonio (normally a 3 1/2 hour drive) for the retirement ceremony of a chaplain who used to be Mike's supervisor (2 assignments ago). It was a great ceremony and it was fun to quickly reconnect with Jim and Patty....as well as couples from Church on the Way (which we attended on Wed nights when we lived in San Antonio).

I was really looking forward to this trip. Sounds funny...but it would provide 6 hours of ALONE conversation for Mike and I (yes - surprisingly the trip took no more than 3 hours each way). I also hoped to be able to get some Death By Chocolate. We discussed our favorite spots on the way into town. We'd not had either of them in AK or here in W TX - SIX YEARS! On our way home Mike suggested Marie Calendars. He loves the garlic/artichoke chicken dish there. I'm going to have to try to find the recipe. THEN we headed to Bennigans where we shared this: I DO have this recipe, but have never taken the time to make it. Some things are simply meant to be SPECIAL and not made at home. LOL

The older boys worked varying shifts...Jared held down the fort with the youngers. I ordered pizza to be delivered for them. Cy was home in the evening and they watched movies. He picked Jamin up as we weren't home by the time he got off work.

We made great time...::snort:: and got to chat with a policeman right outside of our town. I could NOT believe that the man simply gave Mike a WARNING for a burned out bulb in Cy's license plate!!!!!!!! I think I'm bitter about this. "What???? Aren't you going to give the man a TICKET?"....if it were Josiah or Me, I KNOW *WE* WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A TICKET FOR SPEEDING. I simply do not think it's fair that I never speed now and *I* get tickets and Mike well....you see how it is. ::snort:: Those of you who know my story of how God cured from my speeding habits are laughing now...the rest of you will have to wonder. ::snort:: My head hurts tonight and I don't have the energy to write the story out.

Summer Reading Challenge Giveaway

Congratulations to Christa and Renee, last week's winners. Your books are in the van - that's a very good start on their journey. I'll drop them off tomorrow or Monday a.m. It's time for two more books to find new homes...

*Miserly Moms* by Jonni McCoy - This old standby is filled with tips, recipes, and many ideas. If you are wanting to shave some $ off your living expenses - this may be a place to start....and it's free to the one who comments below and is picked. You gotta love that! Jonni even gives a plug for freezer cooking and mentions the Feingold diet. ::snort:: This book has been gently read - no marks or comments in the margins. ::snort::

*Intimate Faith - A Woman's Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines* by Jan Winebrenner Read an excerpt from chapter one to see if this book is of interest to you. I consider this book to be a primer on living a life that encompasses spiritual disciplines…I would personally recommend that you branch out into some classics of the faith and do topical studies from the Word on the various spiritual disciplines. I HAVE used this book as a resource for several years...it challenges me to "walk a bit deeper". This is a new copy!

If you would like to own one of these books post a comment below. Please let me know how to contact you (either a blog link or an email address). I'll select a winner sometime on Wednesday - to be safe comment by Tuesday midnight if you want to be considered.

You must be a participant in the challenge - defined by having added your link to Mr. Linky or commented to the original post. It doesn't matter WHEN you sign up - you just need to be a participant. If you aren't a participant now, and would like to be, click above and go sign up. ::snort::

I'll mail either book domestically or internationally.

2007 FREEZER CHALLENGE

It was bound to happen. I've worked on a reading challenge, a scrapbook challenge, a clean up challenge, a play challenge, and now I'm going to tackle the FREEZER.

I'm going to get my freezer ready to truly SERVE me and serve me WELL during the upcoming school year. I plan to defrost it yet again, take inventory of what is hiding in the deep recesses of the thing, bake and cook and prepare sauces, breads, cookies, meals, and stock it. You can decide how YOUR freezer will best serve you. If that means cleaning and inventorying and then filling it from the frozen dinner aisle at Sam's with treats, that is fine. You decide what needs to be done for it to become your servant for the upcoming year. This challenge will run until Tuesday after Labor Day.

I've contemplated a prize. A personal sense of accomplishment seems like it would work. Then I considered either a copy of The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet by Nanci Slagle (discovered there's a new 4th edition out and considered giving away MY copy and buying the new one for myself....binding has been snipped and it's in sheet protectors and a huge notebook...but that would be tacky! ::snort::), or Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough, or one of the zillion other books on the market...Bulk Cooking, Once a Month Cooking, Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer....but I realized that true freezer fanatics may have all these books. Then I considered a gift certificate to 30 day gourmet or Amazon. Then I considered that I still have to award a certificate to the reading challenge, and pick and mail books for another month on that challenge. Then I considered our budget. Then I considered that this is my spending money..... I'm still considering what the prize will be....and if it will be randomly selected from all who participate (as the book giveaways are) or if I will choose a participant who is the most gung-ho, inspiring freezer organizer/cook of the month. Note I did not say "most improved" because I suspect I would win THAT category hands down. ::snort:: Keep checking back and I'll edit this post when I figure the prize out. I've emailed 30 day Gourmet about gift certificates. The prize may yet end up being a sense of accomplishment....worked well for me on the other challenges. LOL

If you'd like to join me, here are the simple rules to participate.

1. Please leave a comment here so that I can visit your blogs and borrow your ideas. ::snort::

2. Grab the graphic if you'd like and display it on your blog (thanks to JEN - for sending me a graphic that was cuter than any I was creating! LOL) Please SAVE the graphic to YOUR computer and then use it where you'd like.

3. Post your plans or your intent to participate on your blog (don't forget to comment here so I can borrow your ideas ::snort::).

4. You can either post one blog at the end of the challenge with before and after photos....or post throughout the month and let us know how and what you are doing. Be sure to post before and after photos.....

5. Remember you choose your goals...if you simply want to clean it out and then load it with Ben and Jerry's - that will work. ::snort::

I WANT IT ALL!!!
{From my journal}

My heart’s desire is to wholeheartedly, intensely, passionately pursue God. Not as an abstract…but the very heart of God.

It’s so easy to slide. Looking back over the past couple of weeks I see a pursuit of being a godly mother, a great homeschool teacher, a satisfying wife, an awesome Senior Protestant’s wife. I see a drive to have an organized home, dynamic women’s ministry, intimate relationships, lots of summer fun, the best curriculum picks for my family, a well stocked pantry/freezer, a healthy cholesterol lowering diet, a svelte body, freedom from pain….

None of these things are BAD. All are roles and activities, works if you will, created for me to walk in by GOD before I was even born. (Eph 2:10)

Certainly, a case MAY be made that in pursing faithful fulfillment of His call I am pursuing Him. . . but I sense there is more, more, more.

What’s my problem? I sense in the last couple of weeks that my focus, my emphasis has slipped. I don’t have to turn 180* from my Heavenly Father to get off course. Satan doesn’t have to get me to do a complete sell out, I only have to get 1 or 2* “off course” to miss my destination. Knowing this I often set aside times for “course corrections.”

I’ve awaken the last few mornings with the same drumbeat pounding in my spirit and with tears in my eyes. “Father, LORD, I want to pursue YOU above all else.”

I can’t let my focus, my drive, my intense desire for Him slip. There’s an ache, a desire, a craving in my being. I crave, and want to crave more, an intimate relationship with Christ. I crave this more than I crave attracting Michael’s attention, touch and affection. I crave His presence more than I crave Ghirardelli’s intense dark chocolate with mint….and when I sense this craving, this desire, this intensity slipping….it is time to quickly examine the need for a course correction.

I need to constantly check my bearings and make sure I’m pursuing HIM more than the works He has called me to or the blessing He so extravagantly showers on me. In our first pastorate there was a darling, godly, wise, elderly woman. It never failed that when an altar call was given she would hobble forward. Keep in mind this woman DEFINES the essence of a Godly Woman, and at 80 years of age, the entire small town KNEW it. Week after week, Michael would ask her how he could pray for her. We loved this woman. Week after week she would say “I just want more of Him. I just want to know Him more.” At the time, I prayed that Mildred could rest in Him…and quit striving. Now I get it. What an honor to be at her homecoming. How she and angels must have celebrated when she saw Jesus face to face. I see in Mildred a nearly perfect balance of rest and striving. Like Mildred’s love of Christ, my relationship with Christ is meant to be ever growing, ever deepening, totally fulfilling, but never quite enough….

I want it ALL.
©2008 D.R.G.

Summer Play CONTINUES

Quote of the Day: "If a man wears a crown, HE'S IN CHARGE!" muhahahaha

We woke up today with sunburns. It was raining this a.m. It's funny that it LOOKS overcast but it is still warm. Strange....

We opted for a day of inside fun.....we'll save the neon mini-golf for the weekend or next week. Thanks, Deja.

First, I went to Curves - my fun - sort of. LOL

Next, we made cookies. We usually do this at least once a week....but haven't since before our trip. Reading the newest Hannah Swenson mystery was SURE to motivate me to bake cookies! ::snort::

We had to grind flour - not sure why THIS is fun, but the youngers enjoy it.

Then we HAD to decide which chocolate chip would the official G family favorite. Two had been recommended to us. Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate and Guittard Semi-Sweet....both made with REAL ingredients! You KNOW by now, that I don't' spend real $ for fake food - right? ::snort::

The wider, flat chip is Ghiradelli.....

Everyone got into the act... (though I won't post ALL the photos)

Hmmm....MY favorite is down by one....Michael will HAVE to vote and if he picks my favorite...we'll be tied...and EVERYONE knows that Mom and Dad's votes count double....Stacia ATE the chips set aside for Michael....but we rescued a few so the day isn't a total loss. Since there wasn't a clear cut winner I decided to use both bags - double the chocolate - how can you go wrong? I also added almond flavoring to the vanilla. ::snort::

Ah man - we're running out of Rapadura. I quickly went online and ordered more. It's cheaper to order online and pay shipping than to buy it around here - of course I AM ordering 33lbs at a time. ::snort::

Oh my WORD - caught in the ACT..... (yes, we eat raw dough and don't remind me about the egg - I choose to deny that inconvenient fact - froze a few balls for cookie dough ice cream next time I make ice cream)

And what is that suspicious bulge in his cheek???? ::snort::

Are there any other homes in America where a sentry must be posted to guard the cookie dough?

After lunch the boys played PLAY STATION - a treat around here. It was unexpected and they were happy.

Stacia took a nap. Arielle and I met Mandy at the theater to watch No Reservations. We really liked this movie. I LOVED the behind the lobby chef scenes. It had romance (but only two kissing scenes and well OK I don't want the censors to grab me again), it has humor, and the monopoly scene between Kate and Zoe reminded Arielle and I of monopoly games with BreAnne. I suppose technically this is a Chick Flick....which is why I made a date with a friend to go alone. My crew really isn't into chick flicks and so I did without for over 20 years...then I discovered I could go to a movie ALONE. ::snort:: I do think that my Uncle or Jamin or any male who is interested in cooking would enjoy parts of this movie.....probably.

The older two young men are working again tonight. Jared has Civil Air Patrol again. We met Mike for dinner (I'm getting SICK of BK Tendergrill salads). At BK Zander was excited to be given a crown.....see the quote of the day! ::snort:: Michael will stay at work until 9:30 and bring Jared home. The older boys will be home after 10:00....the youngers are playing a bit more play station. I need to write a newsletter for tomorrow and set up tables for co-op. I also hope to do some blog reading and possibly more of Key Lime Pie Murder....

Stacia's camo hat doesn't really show up in sepia.....