You have no idea how much the Lord has blessed me this Thanksgiving week-end.


Twice ....I heard uttered from one particular brother's mouth to one particular sister's ears...without knowledge that I was w/in earshot..... the words...."I love you."




And, once from the same mouth to the same ears.......................... I heard...."I am sorry for...."

Something about the film, Tangled....made my husband cry. I haven't seen it yet so I have no idea.

Thanksgiving 2010

Wait...how do we carve a turkey???????

btw.... Butterballs are out...Honeysuckles are in. That was the juiciest most delicious bird ever.


Cranberry Stuffing...it was a first and it was a hit.

Luke 17:16

When your Apple Cranberry Pie fails...





...make Apple Cranberry Cobbler.




Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Candied Oranges

Dusted w/ Ginger & Sugar.


Both bitter & sweet.

Zion Evangeline was dedicated in Reformed Living today.



We hit Dairy Queen for Blizzards.



The boys arrived home from NYC safely. We won't talk about the cockroach that climbed out of Braverijah's luggage.

Sorry...no photo.

And the Lord gave us two rainbows!!!!!!!! Snapped a shot of one of them.

Zion: "Wait, what if the vajajay doctor just got the job so he could look at vajajays?"

At 2 o'clockish AZ time/4 o'clockish NYC time...a girlfriend and I were praying on the phone specifically for immediate protection. The Lord is so GOOD! I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW WONDERFUL HE IS!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you, Lord for loving my boys...for their adoptions into Your family. They are Yours and YOU ARE the loving Father, best friend, protector, and provider you claim to be. YOU do intervene on our behalves.

Chaperoned by his older brother, our little (never mind his sudden & ridiculous height) Mcabe is currently en route to NYC...where he booked a shoot w/ Patrick Demarchelier or click here.

Word is...this gig is a very BIG deal in the fashion/modeling world. He is supposedly doing a BIG campaign w/VERY BIG models...whatever that means??????????

We are praying specifically for safe travels, physical, emotional, and spiritual protection. For open & closed doors...for wisdom and discernment...for fantastic lessons learned...for inspiration...and lots and lots and lots of FUN for our sons.

No invasive airport x-rays/pat downs or bed bugs returning home in their carry-ons would be nice too.


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Not exactly sure where I land on the whole airport x-ray security issue (because I certainly do hope they x-ray and pat down troublesome people)...but that discussion's for another post altogether.

Damon

It is seriously time to pray for Damon. Just got off the phone. He wants to leave. He is in pain.

I yelled at him. Loudly. Forcefully. It was not pretty....but exactly what I would say to the boys.

I think he is staying.

Please, friends....pray

Obviously, only the Lord sees the future...but I do believe in the bottom of my heart that he will not survive the streets again.

Guess who turned 15!

Galilee Polina, you've come a long way, Baby. The fact that you are my daughter humbles me.

I am so blessed and encouraged by evidences of the Lord's continual healing of your heart and by evidences of your trust in and submission to Him amidst life's trials and tribulations.

I thank Him for you and for the gifts of discernment and exhortation He has given you.

You are loved and oh so beautiful.

So when we started home-educating the clan over ten years ago we had a handful of hopes and dreams.

One of our hopes was that our sons would have very strong ideas or firm convictions upon high school graduation about the direction their vocational lives would take them. None of this wasting time trying to figure things out.

The Lord is so good. He has blessed them and us w/evidences of direction and clarity. And, with evidences of abilities, talents, convictions, passions, and motivations.

CHRISTmas Cards

Booking mini sessions now. In and out...quick and easy breezy.

In Flanders' Fields

In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.

John McCrae, 1915.

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Growing up...all the women in my family and all the women in the neighborhood wore red paper poppies on Veteran's Day. What a lovely sentiment. I wonder if the tradition continues anywhere?

I can't be mad at the boys for picking up a hitchhiker on the side of the road at 2 a.m. last nite despite everything they've been taught about hitchhikers, right?


She was visibly upset, drunk as a skunk, and in her 30's. I guess her boyfriend had kicked her out...so they told her to get in..... and gave her a ride to the nearest gas station.

For goodness sake!!!!!!!!!!! She could've had a gun or been an ax murdering psycho freak chick!!!!!!!!!!!

Bria put my mind at ease by telling me that Mcabe was all set and ready to go w/a choke hold from the backseat.

Darn it. Even though they disobeyed direct orders...I do believe they did the right thing.

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And what were they doing out at 2 a.m. you might ask? We haven't given them a curfew because they tell us where they are...take all our calls...and phone us periodically during their time away from home. They tell us when they screw up too. It's not easy...but they come clean.

When they are told to come home now/immediately/rightnow...they do.

I love these boys so much and I do not for one moment take for granted the bonds of trust we share.

Don't get me wrong...I am fully aware that they are more than capable of lying through their front teeth.

I am confident though of this.

The Lord is faithful to reveal such things to us. See Daniel 2.

I am so in love with my brothers and sisters in Christ tonight. It's not like I don't love them every night...but tonight....well..... it's an over the circus top sorta love.
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I just read Dawns blog entry regarding Zion's purse. Bummer, I've been there. I'm sending a check tonight and you can tell her someone from church has her covered. All she needs to do is pray for the person who took her money.

Love ya!

Baptism

What a joy to hear the testimonies of 15 believers last Sunday and then to rejoice with them and the angels as they were baptized.

And of course, I cried like a baby. Each and every dunk had me balling my eyes out.

One of the most bittersweet moments ever...

A few months ago Zion lost her purse. She looked high and low...in every cabinet...under couches....under beds...in closets but couldn't find it anywhere. She was very disappointed because her wallet was in there. In her wallet was all the money she had in the world...$35.

I talked with her about keeping track of things and how it probably wasn't the best idea to keep all of her money in her wallet when we go out...but only a few dollars. She was sad. I was sad for her.

This week Bradley got a call at work from someone over in lost and found. The message went something like this...

"Bradley, we have a very glitsy, very flowery purse up here and we think it might belong to one of your children because inside is a journal and inside the journal on the front page it says, "Zion loves so and so (insert boys name) and your Zion is the only Zion we know soooooooo.....come pick it up."

Brad comes home that night with the best news ever! They found Zion's purse!!!!!!!

She is overjoyed. Runs over and pours out all it's contents onto the family room floor and tears into her wallet. It's empty. The $35 is not there.

Oh my goodness...my heart broke.

"Someone stole my $35 dollars???????"

"It looks like it," I said wanting to cry.

"AT CHURCH?????????"

That's when my heart shattered.

"Honey, it was the Lord's money anyway, right? And you never know...maybe the person who took the money from your purse will think about doing that his or her whole entire life and that might be one of the very things that brings that person to repentance."

She listened and agreed through her wound...but oh my goodness...it stinks.

It's so interesting.

I post here all the time about films I love. Films I highly recommend. Films w/all sorts of content. Films some might take offense to.

For some reason...this particular song has pushed buttons.

Processing.

Pink

If your are UNDERAGE or sensitive to the use of the eff word...please do not click on the below post.



For clarification purposes.

We do not drop eff bombs regularly in our home. Sometimes when one of us is super super angry or frustrated....one might slip out. When one does...we repent. Not for the eff word but for the fear, pride, anger, disappointment, resentment, bitterness, or frustration which gave it a voice. For the heart issue that manifested itself by the use of the eff word in a negative, disgusting, violent, and hostile manner.

In my humble opinion, Pink's use of the eff word in the song below....is brilliantly beautiful. Filled with unconditional love, deep compassion, life altering passion, wisdom, understanding, and hope. What a juxtaposition.

She made me cry. Actually, the thought of a selfless loving father singing this very song to his wounded child is what made me cry. For those of us who are in Christ...WOW! Renewing of the mind sorta stuff.

I love when art makes me think deeper about the world/culture in which I live.

Processing things as transparently as I know how as they arise in my heart, soul, and mind.