#100

So, yeah, this is post #100 for me....I forgot to mention it in an earlier post, and when I realized it was the big 1-0-0, I agonized over what to post on this, oh so special, blogiversary. But then yesterday at church, this hit a chord with me, and I knew I needed to post it, if not only for others to see, but mostly for me, so that I will be reminded of it.

Jeff is preaching a series about "Living righteous from the inside out" and going through the sermon on the mount, Matthew 5-7, and yesterday he was focussed on the beatitudes, Matt. 5:1-12. How many times have all of us heard a sermon on this passage? And how confusing is it ALWAYS?!?!!! We try to make sense out of what Jesus taught thousands of years ago, using translated words that don't really mean what they look like they mean. Anyway, that is always how I felt about it. Until yesterday.

If you want to read Jeff's simplified version of this sermon on his blog, go here. But this is what jumped out to me. Blessed just means happy. "Happy are the..." And here, he took the opposite of what the scripture says. It is amazing to me how these describe exactly what the world teaches us...it is astounding to me...


* Happy are the spiritually self-sufficient, for they don’t have any need for God.
* Happy are those who disconnect when sin troubles them, for they don’t ever feel bad about it.
* Happy are the aggressive, powerful and manipulative, for the will get their way.
* Happy are those who creatively self-medicate and self-satisfy, for they won’t ever have to be bothered by their flaws.
* Happy are those who won’t forgive, for they won’t ever be taken advantage of again.
* Happy are those who secretly indulge, for they will have it both ways.
* Happy are those who cut their losses short and divide relationally, for they will maintain the upper hand.
* Happy are those who blend in, for they will be accepted and included.


It takes a couple of weeks for the audio sermons to appear on our churches website, otherwise I would link you there to listen to Jeff's sermon in person. If you haven't been there before, feel free to check it out. I wish this sermon was on there already, but I will link you to it when it gets there. Anyway, it hit me, hopefully you can get something out of it also!

So, onto other news.....I'm sick. I think it's just sinus stuff, but I feel miserable. I didn't really realize how bad I felt until Brent called me from work this morning, and told me to go buy some new medicine b/c I sounded horrible...for Brent to mention it, it must be bad. I feel congested, plugged up, swollen, snotty, etc....I think the California allergies are kicking my butt...I may need to find some sort of seasonal allergy medications for this...it's NOT GOOD!!!

One of my favorite kids books of all time, The Hallowiener has become one of Judah's favorites as well! And, sadly, in amongst three moves in the last 2 years, we lost track of it. Knowing that fall is here, and Halloween is indeed drawing near, I went in search for it once again. And much to my surprise, it was a very brief search! It was on the Halloween book table at Barnes and Noble! So we bit the bullet, and paid the $5.99 to have the joy of this wonderful book in our home once again. And Judah is in more love than he was before! If you don't have it, please do yourself and your kids the favor of acquiring this wonderful book!

I'm going to start selling some thing on Ebay. Mostly Judah's baby clothes and things, seasonal stuff, etc. Any tips? I've ever only bought stuff on Ebay, and I'm a little nervous to start selling. But I need some way to put money in my camera fund, and I think this will help, maybe just a little.

Judah just asked me to please get him some juice in a cup, and I told him he needed to finish the juice that was in the juice box before I would get him some juice in a cup, and this was his response. "But this is the juice that hurts my feelings."


I was going to do some sort of comment contest...but I don't have anything very interesting to send to a winner. I was contemplating sending a winner a cherry or blueberry pie in the mail, but after recalculating how much it would be to do that, I realized I could use that $35 somewhere else...sorry!!

Have a great week everyone!!!

Saying Goodbye to Grandma

What a whirlwind of a trip! It seemed like Grandma was only here for a day, it went by too fast! Judah is already going through Grandma withdrawals! We had such a great time with my mom here! Some of the highlights:

Seeing Grandma for the first time!


Washing up


The beach! How could we not go to the beach?!?!?!?!





Saying goodbye at the airport...




Thanks, Mom, for all you did for us while you were here. For staying overnight with Judah, for helping me get ready for the party, for keeping me organized, and just for being here for Judah! He loves you so much, and so do I! What a special treat it was to have you here all to ourselves! Thanks, again!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Yesterday was the day Judah has been waiting for FOREVER! The day was filled with laughter, playing, baking, decorating, excitement....and then the party started! Judah was so excited to have all his friends over to his house, and the kids had F-U-N! Lots of sidewalk chalk, a mini bounce house, pizza, cake, ice cream, and this...


Public Service Announcement to all mothers out there....black frosting may look really cool, and be essential to the color scheme of the party, but it makes for some really, really messy kids....

The highlight of the night was when Brent brought in Judah's new bike from us. Hit face lit up! Brent made him wait on the stool until he brought it in...


And this was his reaction!


What a great night, and a great day for Judah. He is so happy to be 3! And now a 'big boy'!

Here are some more pictures of the party!

A Super Hero Party!!!
The long awaited Batman Cake


Spiderman cupcakes


"helping" Grandam with the frosting!


Helping himself


The Batman mask


The guys...


Allie the artist


The bounce house (thank you Brady!!!!!)


My little bouncer



The present opening madness....




The singing and the candles



Bike riding in the dark


Pirates don't wear shirts!


ARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!


Steele says "AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!"


The end!

one day late.......

So the Brent quote of the day was: "Sometimes I just wish he had an 'off' switch." I have been sitting here for 1 1/2 hours waiting for Judah to go to sleep. We have been through everything tonight. Too many excuses to count, crying, spanking, some more whining, yelling, kicking the wall... I'm exhausted, and I sent Brent to bed over an hour ago. Now, all this complaining stems from one thing. He had a late nap. GOD FORBID THAT CHILD HAVE A LATE NAP!! ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!!! We had one of the most lovely days in my recollection. We ate a leisurely breakfast, watched some cartoons, got dressed, and headed over to the Paschall's house to pick up Sharon and Benji for a day trip to the beach. The beach was, well, AMAZING! It was a.....


And that's where it stopped....This post never got posted last night. The above is all I got done, I shut the computer and went to check on Judah, and he had a bloody nose. He was so concerned, in his awaken stupor, about getting a booger out of his nose, that he gave himself a bloody nose...So then we had to start all over. He didn't end up getting to sleep until about midnight. Let's just forget about it! ok? ok!

Tonight went much smoother! Dad and son are both sleeping soundly, and I feel it is time for me to join the snoring duo, and make it a trio! Goodnight!

From this:

To this!


It was about time! Thanks Erica!

In other news, my mom will be here on Thursday!! We are all excited, especially Judah. He keeps trying to say when Grandma will be here, like, "When Grandma Marsha gets here in next day, it will be my birthday." It's pretty cute! He also keeps asking how old he will be, and is practicing doing "3" with his fingers. Judah is also going through a "can I take my shirt off" phase. He is shirtless at home about 75% of the time. I think we've been watching a little too much wrestling with him around, and he will run out of his room, shirtless, and scream, "Let's wrestle!!" Thank goodness for Dads who like to wrestle!

Not much else happening around here. It's still hot, just not as hot. And I think I'm going to try to round up some people to go to the beach with tomorrow. I'm sure the water is wonderful!

Some new pictures....


"dog sitting" Lincoln today....





Have a great week all!

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Sunday morning, at 10:29 a.m. I became a real Californian! I experienced my very first earthquake! We were all sitting in church, Jeff was preaching, and then it felt like a big rig was rumbling by. But it got a little stronger, and then the trusses that hold up our projection screen started to shake a little bit. About that time, I looked over at Brent, put my hand on his leg, and we both realized we had just been in an earthquake. It was nothing, really, and any Native Californian laughed at us when we acted so excited about it. The epicenter was just north of Lake Elsinore, which is about 10 miles north of where we were. It registered a 4.7 on the Richter Scale, which, from all the information I can find, was the biggest one this year!

So apparently, there has been more than normal earthquake activity in Southern California in the past couple of weeks. Here is a good picture to show it.


See that big red blinking dot right below Fontana? That was us!!!

Everyone is ok, and I'm pretty sure that if there was any damage, it would have been on TV.

In other news, we are still unpacking....I know, we're taking forever. I just have no motivation when Brent isn't here, and then when he is here, I just want to have family time, not stinky unpacking time...ugh!

But we're working on the "music corner" of our front room, and I really like how it's turning out. We are going to try to have all of Brent's drums out, along with my guitars on the wall, and also display all of out other "instruments", like smaller drums, rain stick, tambourine, etc. We also plan to have our stereo with all our music over there. We haven't converted to the dreaded iPod style music, so we still have alot of space filling, bulky CD's. But we like it that way! I'm currently scoping out what kind of seating I want in that area, keeping my eyes out for stuff on Craig's List and other sites. I'll post some pictures when it's completed!

Other than that, just a lazy Labor Day. It's too hot to do anything outside, so we're getting a little cabin fever.....It was 106 today, and above 105 for the past week...we're melting alive. It's supposed to drop into the mid 90's this week, but I'm not sure I will even be able to tell the difference. Maybe at night I can start opening up the windows and turning off the AC again. One morning I woke up at 7:00 to let Jager out, and it was already 88 outside. The sun had barely come up. Again, ugh.

Have a fantastic (4 day) week! My mom will be here in 10 days!! YAY!!!