bsmiles and sunny days

It's been over a week since I have turned over a new leaf with the kids and I am feeling really hopeful. Last night, however, Max came in from a romp outside chalked full of running, barking, and eating dirt in the yard after which he promply dribbled mud and slobber all over my blanket. Without hesitation I whacked him in the head. This troubled Dale, who: a. adores this dog more than any other worldly possession and b. keeps me in check with my mindless acts of cruelty to pets. I didn't even think about it, I just smacked him. Here's the difference though, I felt remorse about it. We've had this puppy for a while now and have been through every stage with him because we got him so little. He has driven me to the very brink of going out of my mind with rage due to his puppyesque antics. Because he is huge now, I don't worry too much about hurting him. I used to give him a whack everytime we stepped out of line without a thought. It's effective, but not always n...

I call her everyday. If it's three o'clock in the afternoon, it's because Leila has just gotten up from her nap and asked to call her. She gets off work about that time and we just need to hear her voice, even if no one really has much to say, and usually Leila doen't have much to say at that time. If it's seven o'clock in the evening, I have just finished cleaning up dinner and have something pressing to share. If it's anytime on a Saturday, mostly we just need to feel closer to home and she can always make us feel better. And she cracks me up. This is the oldest trick in the book, the first time must've been in high school when she pasted a corner of a brownie over her front tooth and then kept eating- this makes me laugh out loud just thinking about it-announcing to the room of people, "This brownie is so good!" Everyone looked to see what she was eating and started to laugh. "What?" she said in total bewilderment, "It is r...

I was shocked to open my blog and see an ad for mail-order brides in the corner. My sincere apologies for allowing something so dastartdly to be promoted here. We survived another Saturday, but this one didn't seem nearly as long as the last few have been. For one, we spent Friday separate, the boys in one city, the girls in another. Unfortunately for the girls, I'm thrifty and we spent the day with our friends. The boys went on all kinds of adventures and found an array of wonderful treasures, one being The Dangerous Book for Boys which has thrilled them to no end to keep top secret and out of the eyes of the entire female population of this dwelling. I keep joking about needing to preview it, being the matriarch, but the boys and Dale have assured me that it's not for my eyes. Kennedy invited a friend over last night. This morning I made canned cinnamon rolls, per Kennedy, and turned on Tom and Jerry. When I called my mom I told her it felt like a real Saturday. You know...

Saturdays without a football game on the otherside of the state were a relief. Saturdays without a basketball game inside the city limits were fun at first since we could all sleep in, but we miss having a team to root for, and honestly, we miss the excitement. I avoid going to the store on Saturdays because it's just too frightening to drag my parade of children through the busy isles. If the truth be told, these event-free days can be a little long and boring. Last weekend, Kennedy decided to remedy this pitfall with a great idea. Actually Micah came up with the one that stuck, "Let's make a Chuck E Cheese in our backyard." Kennedy got onboard and they spend the entire morning drawing up plans and coming up with ideas for games. This was Micah's first idea. His building skills have inspired him to be an architect when he grows up, so he took the most initiative to draw up plans for his games, and he ended up with the most elaborate creations. Kennedy came up...

Yesterday the kids found this guy firmly planted on the wall outside our back door. The wind was whipping around him and he wasn't going anywhere. Dale said he was "of biblical proportion." I knew it would be hard to convey the size of him in a picture so I put this dime up on the wall next to it. Yeah... it still doesn't do him justice. I've never seen anything quite like it. There are other giant bugs here, like these green pokka-dotted beetles that perch on our screens and hiss when we try to knock them off. I don't like anything that hisses. I also saw this other giant beetle the other day that are all black and have long skinny bodies. When they go into defense mode, they stiffen their back legs to look bigger and just stay right there in the middle of the sidewalk to frighten off predators. When he stuck his back half into the air, I laughed, because I was intimidated enough by the looks of him moving, even though they move super slowly. I didn't ...

Scooter got a sweat-er, Scooter got a sweat-er! This dog hates clothes, but he looks so cute in them that Kennedy cannot bear to not put them on him. I attempted to take this photograph twelve or fifteen times, but he just wouldn't look at the camera. It was a fluke that he looked my way as the flash lit this time. Notice the claws on this beast. Poor thing; I don't know if it's the breed or if it's that when we run him, he runs after the treats and then lays in the grass the rest of the time we're at the park, but he cannot keep his nails trimmed. I have to hog tie him about every month and trim them down. They get so long they catch on the carpet! I'd ask the vet about it, but that would mean he'd have to actually GO to the vet and, frankly, I just don't feel like it. So I just hog tie him and clip them when they start catching. Leila would take him to the vet it she could. She'd also take him to the doggy salon, the doggy resort, and...

A couple of weeks ago I enrolled the kids in AWANAs so that they would have a midweek activity that all of them can be involved in and make friends. I expected to be able to sit in the lobby and read a book while they went to their classes, but the pastor leads a regular service during that time, so instead I decided to sit in. The worship is more intimate in this setting. One thing is the leader; he's an average singer, but a powerful worshipper. His heart is so pure in the position that it promotes a true attitude of worship in the body, thus producing a corporate focus completely separate from his ability or personality. This is a rare treasure. Our pastor teaches expositionally Sunday mornings as well as Wednesday nights, which I always appreciate. You know what to expect and he is thorough with the text, which is also rare. I don't know what it was about last week that struck me so deeply, but I was especially moved during worship to a place of deep humility and vulnerabil...