Some comic "strips" make me laugh

Kids Eat Free

THIS LINK IS WORKING NOW!

Thanks to Becky, I now know what nights kids eat free for every restaurant in the country (well, at least in the southeast). Now you do, too!

Tonight it's CiCi's for us!

Gear? Check!

They've decided they are ready to join me during my morning laps.

Pictures of Typhoon Morakot

The outcome is sad and the Big Picture has captured the devastation. Please pray for the various Asian countries affected by this natural disaster.

A La Carte

Biblemap.org
A free Bible atlas that uses Google maps to plot geographical locations mentioned in the English Standard or King James versions of the Bible.

Seeds Family Worship CDs
Songs written to help kids remember the Scripture verses.

Amy Beth's fake boyfriend story
Single young lady, Amy Beth, writes this while the AC repairman works on her apartment's broken cooling unit. Her real reason for posting is that she's trying to avoid him because he’s hitting on her "like a Major League Baseball player goes after a home run pitch."

The Acid Test of Being a Christian
Article found on monergism.com, written by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Chruch, PCA, in Manhattan, NY.
There are two kinds of people that go to church: there's religious people and real Christians. A religious person is someone who is trying to save themselves through their good works. A Christian is somebody who sees themselves as in God's debt.

I Heart Faces challenge

I am enjoying what little I know (and am slowly learning) about photography. I Heart Faces is one of my favorite photo blogs and I've hesitantly decided to enter a photo in this week's challenge (week 29). The theme is funny, silly faces and I knew instantly which photo to browse and pick from my collection.

PUCKER UP!

A new baby doll

My sweet neighbor gave this cute baby doll to Abigail today. She even came with a small baby bag in tow, full of baby toys and feeding items. Abigail clung to this doll all afternoon and into the evening before bedtime. See those motherly traits come to life? I'll have to do better at capturing her holding, burping, and rocking her new doll for another post.

If there's a tree nearby, he'll climb it.

Maria's Big House of Hope

In case you missed it, here's the clip from Friday's 700 Club featuring the Chapman family talking about the new orphanage in China they helped to fund: Maria's Big House of Hope.

Typical morning at the breakfast table

They sure do make me laugh. I enjoy listening to them talk to one another during the breakfast meal. I'm usually a few steps away at the kitchen counter or sink, leaning with a listening ear. There's so, so, so much to be thankful for.

First day of school

School has started and my boys are L-O-V-I-N-G it. That's no exaggeration, I promise. They were asking to go to school this morning.....Saturday!

They are growing up so fast - one in kindergarten and the other in PreK. I only took a few snapshots of their first morning at school because I didn't want to be "that mom".

A La Carte

Three pastors were beheaded
Three pastors, taken hostage by extremists, were asked to change their faith to Islam. They refused and had their heads cut off.

Questions to ask when preparing for marriage
By John Piper. Enough said.

The beauty of God's creation
Justin shares a link to Randy Alcorn's blog where amazing photographs of God's creation are posted. Prepare to see the wonder of our Lord.

Wordless Wednesday (late evening edition)

Warrant for lock-up!

We don't know WHO (yet), but someone submitted Mitch's name to be "arrested" and locked-up for an hour today while making calls to friends and family to raise money for MDA. We witnessed the entire arrest and followed him to jail to show our support as a family. Thanks to all those who donated money to this wonderful cause!

A La Carte

Dear Twitter, Today I.....
A great post by guest blogger Robert Sagers who writes, "But what happens if Facebook shuts down? What will occur if Twitter decides to close all of its accounts? What if Blogger and Wordpress decided to close shop? Will something of the archiving of the day-to-day lives of millions of people be lost, and will something of a generational memory be lost with it?".

Do You Talk To Your Neighbor?
From Boundless Line, blog contributor and columnist Matt Kaufman writes, "I don't talk to my neighbors much, even though I work at home and take walks a couple times a day: We smile and wave and exchange a few friendly words now and then, but normally I just keep on moving. I'm busybusybusy, and I don't have time to stop and engage with the people who live around me. If I did, I'd run the risk of getting caught up in a conversation that might last more than a few seconds. I've already got friends, and I prefer to pick 'em out on my own, not get tangled up with folks just because they happen to live in my neighborhood.

I tried to become an iPhone owner but couldn't do it. I bought one and returned it 2 days later.
Abraham P. displays his frustration with his new iPhone.

Thankful for my dirty dishes

Although our house has a dish washer, there are often times when we pull "clean" dishes out only to realize they aren't really clean. One of us ends up scrapping and hand washing the yucky dried item. I usually roll my eyes at the dishwasher and sigh upon grabbing the sponge and dish detergent. Complain, complain, complain.

I saw this poem at a friend's house yesterday. She had it taped right above her kitchen sink at eye level. I'm going to do the same.

Thank God for dirty dishes; They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry, We're eating very well.
With home, health, and happiness, I shouldn't want to fuss;
By the stack of such great evidence, God's been very good to us.

The $13 stuffed dog

This little grey pooch was a gift to Luke on the day he was born into this world. None of my kids are very attached to any one toy but Luke just likes knowing that Mercury, his dog, is around and easy to locate. We traveled to Atlanta three weeks ago for my brother's wedding and accidentally left Mercury in the hotel room. The hotel staff was happy to send him back to us via FedEx for the low rate of $13. I would have been happy with media mail....but, Luke is no longer worried about Mercury and those 1300 pennies were well spent.

Abigail's first official haircut

Abigail is two years old and, yes folks.....she just had her first official haircut. I'm not gonna count the time a few weeks ago when a certain big brother decided to experiment with a pair of scissors by chopping off a few strands of his sister's hair. My friend, Bridget, enjoys cutting hair (she'll tell you she's no pro but I beg to diffa') so we ventured out to her house this morning for Abigail to get a few inches taken off.

First snip snip!

What is she doing with those clippers back there?

This isn't so bad.

Checking the sides to make sure they're even.

Oh happy day! Her neck if open to the breeze!
You did a fantastic job, Bridget!

Pride comes before the fall

My boys love the water

A kind friend gave us their used side-by-side fridge/freezer last week so it's now in our garage ready for extra gallons of milk and lots of frozen casseroles I plan on making. However, it needed some cleaning, so I gave the bottom drawers to the boys to have fun with while I scrubbed some of the shelves in the fridge. They had lots of fun, can't you tell?

Redbox code today only

Redbox code good today until midnight.

27HZ4KT

The National Infantry Museum

As a family, we visited The National Infantry Museum that just opened here in our town a month ago. Let me just say that I was moved to tears as I walked through this amazing place. We are not a military family but I have plenty of friends who are, some of whom have served a tour or two in Iraq. The cost that comes with being a soldier for this country is much and I pray that I appreciate them for their sacrifice of time, family, and life.

Our children enjoyed seeing the various time periods of war and differences in the uniforms. In the children's play area/dress up room, Andrew tried on some Army issued greens. There were no smaller sizes so he settled for the next best thing. I think I'm gonna cry.

Abigail is your typical girl with a thing for shoes.

Luke....well, he would rather be naked, so he didn't play soldier. Looks like he's making a gang symbol here, huh? Who knows with that kid. He's so unpredictable....and I love him!

As we exited the massive building,
we walked outside to this sight.
Incredible.

Another great thing about this amazing museum is that IT'S F-R-E-E!

White water rafting

Mitch and I had a blast rafting this past weekend with some friends. I hope we don't wait another seven years to do this again!

Colored ice for bathtime fun

Oh, I knew immediately when I saw her post on Little Hands, Big Work that I was gonna do it! I didn't waste any time....I rushed to the kitchen, filled the muffin tin with water, added four drops to each circle, and put it in the freezer. I didn't tell the kiddos as I wanted it to be a surprise when I found the right time to plop the colored ice in the bath water. Today, after an afternoon full of slip-n-slide fun, the kids needed a good rinse in the tub. Quickly, I threw the colored ice in the water (to their amazement) and listened....."Wow! Look at the colors! Watch as it melts! The water is turning blue! Can I eat it?".

Such fun!

P.S. - Typical bath water is warm to hot.....the ice doesn't last very long so don't be disappointed.