Ummm, how old is this picture? Soooo old.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tim, the Tool Man (never thought I'd say that:)

One of the boys took this picture of Tim the other day. Budding photographers, aren't they?I have to take a minute to applaud my husband. Now, Tim is a very intelligent person. You can ask him how to do something on the computer, or how to translate something in Greek, or where something is in the Bible, and he can usually answer without blinking. He is great. But I never have reffered to him as Mr. Fix-It. Until now.

Our washing machine has been acting funny for awhile now, and we have often talked about getting a new, more energy efficient model. When we came home from my uncle's house on Sunday, I opened the lid of my washer to put the clothes in the dryer, but I found the tub FULL of water. There had been no draining or spinning going on at all. Frustrated, I tried several different settings on the machine, and it flat our refused to spin or drain.

I had recently read a fellow blogger's story about how she and her dh had fixed their refrigerator, so feeling inspired, I googled the problem, finding several possible causes. The easiest problem to fix, it said, was if the lid latch was broken. I didn't think this was the problem, but I tried it out, sticking an ink pen down the lid latch. Sure enough, the machine clicked on and started spinning. Yay! Problem diagnosed. By this time, Tim was putting Kate to bed, it was after 10pm, and I finished the cycle and headed to bed.

The next morning, I told Tim about my discovery and issued the challenge to fix the daggone thing. Bless him, he pretty much had to take the whole thing apart to get to the lid latch. When he did, he discovered that piece A had come unglued from piece B. Since it was Memorial Day, all of the appliance parts stores were closed, and he decided to attempt to Superglue it back together. After letting it dry, I was impressed at how well it held. He put it back where it went, put the machine back together (which of course was the hardest part), and Voila! I have a working washing machine again:) AND, it didn't cost us a dime.

My husband's handyman skills have developed quite nicely! I am so impressed! Thanks, Tim!!!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Smiley

Ben's tooth has been wiggling for about 2 months now, but he usually won't let me near it. Last night he let me work on it for awhile, but the second there was a little discomfort, he decided he would rather go to bed than let me pull it. This morning he impressed everyone at school with his rabbit impressions... he flipped the tooth straight out with his tongue... apparently kindergarteners are into weird teeth. He kept talking about it in the car, and by the time we got home I was more than ready to pull it. I will sometimes tie a string around it and let him walk around using the string to wiggle it. We did this today, and the string was on so tight that there was no way that I could get it out of his mouth without pulling the tooth. He refused over and over again, until I just walked over and yanked it really hard. He was mad at me for pulling it for about an hour, and he wouldn't even let me look at him. But then he dropped his tooth down one of our air vents, and I had to fish it out. He was so grateful that he agreed to smile for the camera. He is over it now, and back to being happy that his tooth is gone.

Meanwhile, Kate has pretended all day that HER tooth hurt, and she had to pose like Ben, even though she wasn't holding a tooth.
And Will just wanted his picture taken. Everyone else was doing it.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Tomatoes... The Real Kind!

I have talked about having a vegetable garden for years. I know next to nothing about gardening, but I do know that fresh, home-grown veggies taste WAY better than store bought. So, this year I convinced Tim and our friends to start a garden with me. Tim and some of the guys tilled it up for me, and then Christa came over and we planted it! We have peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, strawberries, watermelon, lettuce, carrots, and one pumpkin that I bought by accident. There is also a random pumpkin coming up that I didn't plant, because the seeds from last year's pumpkin had not totally decomposed in the compost bin. There were actually about a dozen of them, but I pulled up the rest to make room for the other stuff. Finally, Tim put up a fence to keep out the rabbits and small children that wander about the yard. I am trying not to get my hopes up too much, because I am worried a rabbit will eat it all or we will have a drought or some sort of disease or something, but I am really excited! Hopefully in a few weeks (or months?) we will have some home-grown lovin' on the table. Wahoo!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Precious Boys

My agency, A Helping Hand, currently has eight little boys on their list of Waiting Children. They range in age from 2 to 8 years old, and they are each precious. Several of them have been waiting for years for a family. If you are currently considering adoption, hop over and take a gander at these adorable faces. And if you are not currently considering adoption, go over and pray for each of these kids. Some of them need surgery, some of them need therapies, but all of them need a loving home where they will be treasured. For some reason, boys usually wait longer than girls, even though they are just as deserving of a home.

Oh, and there is one little boy (who I am completely in love with) who has a grant associated with his adoption. I don't know who the donors are, but that is awesome!

Go on, click on the link! Do it!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Bill


Yesterday Will told me that he wanted to be called "Bill". I said that was fine because Bill is another nickname for William.

He said, "Who's William?"

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

An Early Mother's Day Tribute

I am blessed with mothers in my life. As a child, I had the two best grandmothers in the whole world, plus a great-grandmother who loved me like crazy. (I am thankful to still have my Ninnie:) I have a cousin (whom I am named after), who treats me like a grandchild, cooking for me and being generous in every way imaginable. I have an aunt who has always been there for me and is now doing the same with my children. I have Jee and Lynette, who are not only my friends, but wonderful grandmothers to my kids. I have "Second Moms" who love on me like I am their child. And I have "Friend Moms" who counsel me in the ways of motherhood, which I often need. I am so very thankful that God has put so many amazing women in my life, allowing me to have partners for the journey.

But in all of the world, there is nobody like a Mama. My own Mama (aka, Mimi) is amazing. She is the kind of Mama who will drop everything to help me out. Just this past weekend, she came and spent a couple of days taking care of the kids so that Tim and I could do all of the things we needed to do. She is a wonderful grandmother who adores her grandchildren, and I am blessed to have a mom who is also my friend.

In just a few days she is going to visit my brother, so I wanted to make sure I did something to honor her before she left. (Jacob, be sure to give her an extra big hug from me on Sunday, ok?) There are a million wonderful things I could say about my mom, but I thought I would condense them into a Top 10 list for fun.

The Top 10 awesome things about Mimi (in no particular order).

1. She makes the world's best chocolate chip cookies.
2. She loves to eat out and travel (our weaknesses).
3. She taught me to always look to the Bible for wisdom and guidance.
4. She taught me how to treat others with respect.
5. She taught me the importance of family.
6. She taught me the value of friendships.
7. She made sure I got a good education.
8. She never said no when I asked for a book.
9. She cares about the things that are important to me.
10. She went all the way to China with me!

Mimi being adventurous...


Saturday, April 25, 2009