I am feeling unwell. Probably a cold or allergy, but it feels nasty. Savannah's saga goes on. She has been trying to start up her business, as you know if you checked out her website. Unfortunately, though she invested in lights and an online publisher for her galleries, she has had no business. She continues to work at Golden Corral, much to her dismay. Lately, she has been able to do some freelance reporting for a weekly paper in the next town that also publishes on base papers. It does not pay well. At all. But, she loves it. Recently, she applied for a job at a bank, because it carries benefits. She interviews tomorrow. The problem? She does not really want to, holding out hope that she can do her business and reporting. The problem with that? She has to pay off her loan if she still intends to try to attend grad school in the fall. What to do? Another restaurant closer to our house needs servers, but is the money as good? At least she would no longer also be a janitor. At Golden Corral she also has to sweep, vacuum, wipe, put away salad, AND clean the bathrooms. I am too close to the situation to advise. Please pray about this and let me know if you have any words of wisdom.

My in-laws were here yesterday just for the day. it was a great visit, I think.

Funny Friday

Several years ago, when singles were at our house constantly, we often shared breakfast lunch and/or dinner with them. During one such meal, Jeanette(just turned three) suddenly called out, "The drink, the drink! I am poisoned!" and keeled over in her little booster seat. The guest was totally befuddled and the rest of us dissolved in fits of laughter. What he did not know was that we had spent the past few weeks studying Shakespeare and had lately been working on a Hamlet skit. Each child had 2 or more parts. Jeanette did not actually have a part, but she had been paying attention, apparently!

Savannah added some new pix to her portrait gallery, you can see them at: http://www.savannahssmiles.com/home

I meant to take a picture yesterday, but no such luck. I was as frazzled as you can imagine as three girls had soccer practice quasi-simultaneously in separate locations. We got to church 30 minutes late and without supper. Gotta find a solution for this, since next week we also have a track meet for two kids at the same time in yet another location!

I found the following information intriguing, especially since I drive a beast of a vehicle. It is a 1990 Ford 15 passenger van. We are currently in the market for an 8 passenger in this century. We would not all fit, but find that we travel in 2 vehicles most of the time anyway. The gas saving( 9-12 mpg) and ease in parking and getting around would be great, plus it is just getting old! I really should have looked this up on snopes, but I have been on this computer too long already!

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon.. Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons. Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are c reated while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount. Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco...... ... 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon/Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco..................0 barrels

Conoco..................0 barrels

Sinclair..................0 barrels

BP/Phillips.............0 barrels

Hess......................0 barrels

ARC0.....................0 barrels

If you go to Sunoco. com ..; , you will get a list of the station locations near you.All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do.Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers !!!!!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!If it goes one level further, you guessed it ..... THREE HUND RED MILLION PEOPLE!!!Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take?

Personally, I am not expecting any of you to pass this on, or it to matter to Japanese readers. Just found it interesting and thought you might, too.

Our history topic this year was meant to be the Famous men of the Renaissance and the Reformation(from Greenleaf press). But, I decided to start with the Reformation first. Since I have found the Renaissance to require more outside activities, and we had a new baby in the fall. Anywho, we are nearing the end of our reformation study. yesterday we completed John Calvin and read some actual documents written by him and one in particular a rebuke by Sebastian Castellio. He tried to reason with Calvin over the persecution and subsequent execution of Michael Servetus over his opinions on the Trinity. I found his parable applicable to many current controversies. He presented a parable to illustrate that tolerance and mutual love constitute a Christian imperative. As I could not find it online, I had to type it out(I did NOT include the entire text). It IS long, but even my children enjoyed it(ok, found it interesting?).

Most Illustrious Prince, suppose you had told your subjects that you would come to them at some uncertain time and had commanded them to make ready to go forth clad in white garments, to meet you whenever you might appear. What would you do if, on your return, you discovered that they had taken no thought for the white robes, but instead were disputing among themselves concerning your person? Some were saying that you were in France, others that you were in Spain; some that you would come on a horse, others in a chariot; some were asserting that you would appear with a great equipage, others that you would be unattended. Would this please you?
Suppose further that the controversy was being conducted no merely by words, but by blows and swords, and that one group wounded and killed the others who did not agree with them. “He will come on a horse,” one would say.
“No, in a chariot,” another would retort.
“You lie.”
“You’re the liar. Take that.” He punches him.
“And take that in the belly.” The other stabs.
Would you, O Prince, commend such citizens? Suppose, however, that some did their duty and followed your command to prepare the white robes, but the others oppressed them on that account and put them to death. Would you not rigorously destroy such scoundrels?
But what if these homicides claimed to have done all this in your name and in accord with your command, even though you had previously expressly forbidden it? Would you not consider that such outrageous conduct deserved to be punished without mercy? Now, I beg you, most illustrious Prince, to be kind enough to hear why I say these things.
Christ is the Prince of this world who on His departure from the earth foretold to men that He would return someday at an uncertain hour, and he commanded them to prepare white robes for His coming: that is to say, that they should live together in a Christian manner, amicably, without controversy and contention, loving one another. But consider now, I beg you, how well we discharge our duty.
How many are there who show the slightest concern to prepare the white robe? Who is there who bends every effort to live in this world in a saintly, just and religious manner in the expectation of the coming of the Lord? For nothing is there so little concern. The true fear of God and charity are fallen and grown cold. The true fear of God and charity are fallen and grown cold. Our life is spent in contention and in every manner of sin. We dispute, not as to the way by which we may come to Christ, which is to correct our lives, but rather as to the state and office of Christ, where He is now is and what He is doing, how He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and how He is one with the Father; likewise with regard to the Trinity, predestination, free will; so also of God, the angels, the state of souls after this life and other like things, which do not need to known for salvation by faith(for the publicans and sinners were saved without this knowledge), nor indeed can they be known before the heart is pure(for to see these things is to see God Himself, who cannot be seen save by the pure in heart, as the text itself says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”). Nor if these are known do they make a man better, as Paul says, “Though I understand all mysteries and have not love it profiteth me nothing.” This perverse curiosity engenders worse evils. Men are puffed up with knowledge or with a false opinion of knowledge and look down upon others. Pride is followed by cruelty and persecution so that now scarcely anyone is able to endure another who differs from him. Although opinions are almost as numerous as men, nevertheless there is hardly any sect which does not condemn all others and desire to reign alone. Hence arise banishments, chains, imprisonments, stakes and gallows and this miserable rage to visit daily penalties upon those who differ from the mighty about matters hitherto unknown, for so many centuries disputed, and not yet cleared up.

(skip to the end)

I ask you then, most illustrious Prince, what do you think Christ will do when He comes? Will He commend such things? Will He approve of them?

Makes you think, doesn't it?

I meant to post a Friday Funny, but did not really have one until late Friday and then I got too busy. In the meantime, more things occurred, so you are blessed to be regaled with a few hilarious happenings at our house!

On Friday, we had granola bars for snack time. By the way, we have snack everyday at 3pm. I read this idea in Edith Schaeffer's(wife of Francis Schaeffer of L'Abri) book The Hidden Art of Homemaking. I love the idea of everyone stopping whatever they are working on and taking a break. You know we are hungry at that time anyway. The funny thing is, my kids are SO trained into this that they start checking the time no matter WHERE we are and asking what we will have for snack. I usually offer several varieties of granola bars, since everyone has their preferences. Apparently, some of my children are too lazy to actually read the box entirely, and prefer to guess at what they think it says. This drives me crazy, and strange things often result from this. Like the time I ended up coming home from the grocery store with fish sticks for breakfast instead of french toast sticks! Congratulations to you if you are still following my very fractured train of thought. In the middle of snack time, Anna was answering Savannah that her choice had been peanut butter flavored granola bars. She told us all how glad she was to have it. You see, she had understood the box to say that the flavor of granola bars it contained were oats and honey cinnamon apple peanut butter, and that just did not appeal to her. But Anna is a brave soul, and was willing to give this odd concoction a try. Imagine her relief to find that the box had three flavors of granola bars packaged separately! Savannah gave her a sidelong glance and dubbed her, "variety pack!"

AT supper, Michael and I were chatting as the kids got up and began clearing when we suddenly looked over and noticed

this! It is a little blurry because the flash would not work for some reason.
This afternoon as we ate lunch there were simultaneous converstions going on(as if you are surprised by this). Unfortunately, many of my children are easily confused about who is talking to whom. So, as we were discussing the merits and intricacies of the multi grain frozen rolls I have discovered and fed to the family twice, another thread was introduced. Thus it happened that we were explaining the difference between sunflower seeds and sunflower nuts when Anna asked how they got sunflower seeds attached to the strawberries. Did they do it when they were first planted, or after they were picked? I guess you really should not eavesdrop and try to join in conversations where you don't really know what people are talking about!

Did someone say "variety pack"?

Wordless Wednesday

(for forty-five more minutes)

Melinda sent Liberty Braves Fan gear! Thank you ! It fits fine!

Humbled again!

Every time I think, I might have this parenting gig down(insert any other topic here as needed), I go and prove that , no really, I don't. If you know our family, you know that one of our long standing commitments is AWANA clubs. Memorizing the Word of God is the main emphasis. At times, I have pondered about the "reward for learning" aspect, is it bribery? And what happens when some kids learn faster, and so, get more rewards? But in the end, having addressed these issues in my family, having God's word hidden your heart is always positive! It WILL come back to "haunt" you. Not the best choice of words, but I am not much for using my thesaurus at the moment. A few weeks ago, Anna-Laura competed in a Bible Quiz about an hour from here. I went along with an assortment of other siblings. We came in late(intentionally) and snuck a seat in the back. Anna was up next. Liberty was quietly playing on the floor; occasionally cooing or shaking her rattle. But not very loud(in my opinion.). Out of nowhere, the AWANA missionary for our area swooped in and asked me if I would take the baby out so as not to disturb the quizzers. I am mostly positive they could not hear us in the front, and I would certainly have removed her if she had fussed at all. I was about to explain this when Savannah scooped her up and left. I have all kinds of explanations I want to give, reasons I should have been able to stay with the family intact, but I will not(and did not) disgrace myself further. Fast Forward to this weekend when the younger girls went to the AWANA games. The morning games went great. In the afternoon, trying to care for the baby in the stands and keep a 5 year old and seven year old interested, while cheering for our church got to be a little much. The ever friendly Trinity made friends with another observer and the two went out to buy fries before I could catch them. I DID manage to quell the coke sharing with a juice box. Imagine my face when I glanced around to find Trinity running up and THE SAME AWANA MISSIONARY behind her, telling me she wanted to make sure my child found me. Trinity is a runner and fearless(see my post "Trinity hits the road"), but I thought I had a handle on her, NOT! I feel like my name is MUD to that woman. My baser self wants to EXPLAIN and JUSTIFY! Later that same day, Trinity ran onto the track circle and ran alongside the runners(a definite no-no), and then ran onto the track DURING a race. When we got home, she jumped on her bike and rode off unbeknownst to all. We found her at our pest control man's house(at the corner of our three house street), but still! What happened? BTW, she had been playing hangman in a classroom with the aforementioned friend at the AWANA games. I decided to stake her to me(seen on a website here.) Then it was a performance Sunday for her children's choir. Naturally, I did NOT appear onstage with her. We are still working on this. I guess I really needed to be humbled in this area, and I just want you all to enjoy this uncomfortable moment with me. Sometimes it helps to know that the person you put on a pedestal is really just like you, dependent on Christ for strength. Not that I ever thought I was, or wanted to be on anyone's pedestal, but the next person who says, "Wow, you have ten kids, you must be so patient! " Gets referred to this story! All the glory to the One who placed these children with me, knowing that I would HAVE to rely on Him!



Sorry so blurry. Guess which one is Jeanette?