"...And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again...." This song seems to be in my head a lot lately. I wonder why that is....

I'm about ready to put my computer in the dishwasher--I keep getting these INFURIATING popups!!! And that is Chris' domain to fix.

We've been letting Peter Rabbit roam around the house during the day. Can you believe it? His cage is so small, and he looked so bored in there. It's just a matter of cleaning up his small, dry "backfires" from time to time. He hasn't eaten all the electrical cords or torn into the couch, Garfield style. He's surprised us with what he's been interested in devouring, though. I was just finishing up an apple, when somebody brought him over to me . Well, he smelled that apple and went crazy! So I gave him the rest of the core, which he loved. He also nibbled on some dry bagel on the ground and some raw oats. When I brought home the groceries last night, he was in the kitchen checking things out and got very excited over an open bag of tortilla chips in one of the bags. So I gave him one of those! He's also nibbled on the cat's food and enjoys radishes, carrots, and lettuce. Oranges--no.

Last night, on the Christian channel, I actually caught something really good. Often, if it's opulently dressed pastors shouting about prosperity or something, I quickly change the channel....but this was about the reality of Heaven and Hell. There were testimonies by some men who had taken a "break" from their body when they were in the hospital and where they were when they were in limbo. These were not Christian men at the time--they were mostly atheists, actually. One guy, who had been run over by a vehicle driven by the KGB and was pronounced dead and in the morgue's freezer, with collapsed lungs, actually was not quite dead and came to as they were about to do an autopsy on him. His experiences of pressing darkness and terror caused him to turn to the Lord and be saved! One of the weirder ones was of a man who was in the hospital, very sick, and when he went outside his body for quite awhile, he went to stand beside his wife and talk to her. He felt very much alive and actually got mad at her for "ignoring" him! But then he was called away down a long, gray, blurry tunnel by some blurry people, who seemed syrupy nice at first, but then got ruder. Eventually, after walking forever with these people, he got severely abused and injured by large numbers of them for a long time. He said they really derived satisfaction from it, and although it was horrible, he kinda knew that was where he deserved to be. He was finally left alone on the ground, scratched, emotionally and physically battered. He was there for quite a long time, when something told him to "pray to God." He didn't even know how to pray, and struggled to remember the simplest things to say even from being a tot in Sunday School. But whenever he could manage to say anything prayer-like or about God, it was like boiling water on all those horrible people--they couldn't stand it! He drove them all away calling out to God. And Jesus came down and gently lifted him up. All the filth and shame and injuries, inside and outside, evaporated. Jesus hugged him like a Father, patted him on the back, comfortingly. They had a wonderful conversation! They reviewed the man's life, and he learned that whenver he had been kind and good, it made the angels, God, and Jesus happy. But whenever he had been selfish and bad, the opposite. I'm getting a little fuzzy on some of the rest of the details, but the man had to go back to earth. He didn't want to leave at all and wanted to know Jesus and the angels would be with him. Jesus said they always had been and something about the value of repenting, casting our cares on him, and all the good things that matter that are supposed to be coming out of our hearts and mouths towards God and man. The man hosting the show said that there is a dangerous trend afoot, where people who nearly died and experienced a bright light and comfort, will come back and preach comfort and "everyone goes to Heaven, it's all good after this". They try to discourage people from believing in the sin, the Hell, the salvation aspects!! Another atheistic physician, who was dying of some acute illness, barely held on through the night waiting for his Christian friend to show up and show him how to be saved. This man had been witnessing to him about the love of God for 5 years and had endured some arguments and ridicule from this Doctor. But who did he desperately want when he was dying? It was an endless night of hanging on. He kept slipping into horror and coldness and deep darkness, but in the morning,He did pray the sinner's prayer, and experienced God's salvation and peace!! I really love these stories! There are really good to remind us about the realities of Heaven and Hell, sin and salvation, and to pray for those around us!

If you want to check out an amusing website, try iusedtobelieve.com--stuff adults believed as children, like words to songs, what they saw on TV, all sorts of silly things.

An inspirational story from Guideposts: Joel Osteen, a Texas pastor, wrote the story. Among other things, he told about his mother who got very sick with liver cancer in 1981. She was very yellow and lost a lot of weight. The doctors didn't have any hope for her. "But my mother never gave up. She didn't complain about how sick or weak she felt or how hopeless the situation looked. She spoke only positively of her situation. And she filled her mouth with God's words. We'd hear her going through the house speaking aloud, 'I will live and not die. I will declare the works of the Lord.' She was like a walking Bible. Something powerful happened. Her appetite came back, she started gaining weight. Her natural color returned. It has been nearly 25 years since my mother received that death sentence, and today she is completely free of cancer."

Another story from a travel TV show about Germany, I believe: Hundreds of years ago, when the the plagues were raging, one town prayed to God to spare them. They promised Him they'd act out the crucifixion/Passion every ten years if He did. God spared the town, and they have been doing what they promised every ten years, even to the present time! I saw a blurp of it--there was a man up on a cross, and it looked realistic! I guess the men even grow their hair and beards out for months and months beforehand to make it look more authentic!

Things that go bump into the piano!! (RC car) 

Our very own exercise wheel! 

Two dolls! 

Two more dolls! 

We've been very good this year, Santa!! 

Zach's new rabbit, Peter 

Jessica as a Chinese Tea Cup in her class's production of The Nutcracker  

It is Tuesday, 12:48 p.m. The reality? I just finished breakfast, which included gingerbread men snitched from my girls' 7.99 Costco all-ingredients-included (YES!!!) gingerbread house. The gingerbread isn't really top quality, but that didn't stop me!

I felt like I got ran over by a truck this morning, so after dropping off the girls at school, I lay down in front of the heater to sleep some more. Three hours later.....here I am, much more alive. Yesterday, I went to the mall TWICE and did some intense planning and shopping for Christmas. The night before that, I had stayed up till 3:00 a.m. watching too many of my favorite shows on TLC--"What Not to Wear." Zach's doing math, and he is working on finishing up an Alexander the Great book. The girls have a half day tomorrow, and then everybody's off school for awhile! I think I can be done with Christmas shopping tomorrow, if I'm lucky. Anybody out there done? If so, good job! My little fantasy, when I planned this week off, was to bake cookies with the kiddos all week and enjoy the Christmas music, take it easy, etc. Yeah, right!

Anybody watch that relatively new kids show about Lazytown, with the hero in the blue spandex or whatever who tries to get kids moving and eating more fruits and veggies? I read a review about how well the show was doing and how it does affect kids positively. That made me wake up a bit. In winter, kids can happily watch TV all afternoon and evening if they are not stopped. And it seems like a parent has to infuse some of their own precious energy to come up with different indoor active ideas. Since I didn't have to work last night, I took the time to look up "indoor active games for kids" on the internet, and found some neat ideas which kept the girls busy for the rest of the evening! (Zach was at a friends house playing with and wishing for his friend's new rabbit). First, we tried playing variations on tag outside. But William was puzzled and stood at the front door and howled at us. He didn't want to put his shoes on and join us. I also felt kinda silly running around the house outside in public, although the exercise was great while it lasted, and it was exhilarating. So we came in and played "zombie tag." The person who is "it" has to be the zombie--they close their eyes, put their hands out in front of them and groan while they look for their prey. And whenever they groan, the others have to groan back (kinda like Marco Polo). Then it was a treasure hunt. The website (Wizardkids.org or something--no it is not a witchcraft site) had printable clues in pirate language that rhymed. So I hid these clues inside and outside, and they led to a treasure at the end, which happened to be gold candy coins the first time--hid in the cookie jar! My Mom had sent over some stocking stuffer candy, and I ended up using some of that; now I'll just have to replace it. They had SO much fun! After a few times, they took over writing clues to do their own games. But they did need help hiding them, cuz, for example, Zoe would put the clue saying, "Look on the piano" on the piano.

Our big fat Greek feast 

The Champions 

Greco-Roman thumb wrestling 

Yesterday, our family celebrated the end of Zach's 30 days of Greek studies. My parents and Kristi joined us for "Olympics," Zach's recital of Psalm 139, a puppet show, and a Greek dinner. We were supposed to do a big thing for the end of our Egypt studies, a Passover seder, to be precise. But I would rather do that in spring. Zach did a really great job memorizing the Psalm. He didn't think he could do it, but I told him that Olympic champions wouldn't win with that kind of attitude, and that he COULD do it. This is the longest thing he's ever memorized. I am so proud of him! Chris videotaped everything. I talked a bit about the ancient Olympics, and then Zach and I did a little play. We used this little colorful folding stage with a curtain and put it on the piano bench. The play was something Zach had to write based on an ancient Greek myth or legend of his choice. He picked the story of Daedulus and Icarus. We made cardboard characters with popsicle sticks and acted out what he had written. It was fun! Then the kids all came parading out--Zach had a homemade Greek flag, Jessie had a homemade torch. We did "chariot races" where the bigger kids wore this toy jingle bell harness and Will was the rider. They took turns taking off, with Will sitting on his rear on the wood floor and suddenly being RACED forward! They did a javelin throw with a long skinny beef jerky; there was Greco-Roman thumb wrestling, running on the treadmill, and the long jump. They all got "olive leaf crowns" when they were done (small silk ivy wreath).

Dinner was really good--I got three Greek recipes off the internet--stuff I hadn't made before. We had Greek salad, Souvlakia, and Baklava. Different fare, and delicious! It seemed kind of summery cuz Chris barbecued the marinated chicken cubes (the stores didn't have any lamb) and there was plenty of veggies like tomatoes, cukes, green peppers.

After dinner, we watched "A Merry Christmas Bean" movie, which was quite funny. Tonight at 6:00 we'll go to the Christmas program at Church. Tomorow night is Jessie's class program at school, and since I have all week off, we'll all be able to go--yay!

I was examining my mini hot glue gun whilst waiting for it to warm up, and you'll never guess what one of the two warnings says. I am not making this up. "Warning: Nozzle & glue will burn unplug after suing."

"And visions of homework elves danced through their heads." 

Zoe really gets stressed out by the Christmas season. 

This is the charming "choo-choo" that took us to our Christmas tree. 

"Dashing through the house, in a one-William open sleigh...." 

Yes, William fell asleep in this box with a gingerbread cookie in his mouth. 

It's been a long week, and we're only 2 days into it. I have not started my Christmas shopping....but I do have 9 days of vacation time to use up!!! Yay!!!!

My Mom had a Christmas luncheon today at her house. She provided a very nice meal with goodies in her beautiful, Christmasy house. A very neat group of Christian ladies were there, and as is tradition with these get-togethers, my Mom had everybody share what the Lord's been doing in their life. It was such a blessing to hear people share, really such a blessing and a comfort to know I'm so not alone, and that God is so loving and caring and faithful!!

I don't know what the deal is with the "situation under the neighbor's camper." So far, so good....

Elementary homelessness, my dear Watson?

Om, yeah.....I'm posting again 10 hours later.....

The night before last, as I drove into our yard about midnight, my lights shone on the car across the street. There was a guy messing with the tire, like removing it, ya know, with a jack and a tire iron. This car of our neighbor's is quite dented, and they don't seem to use it. And I'm like, "Does this young black man live next door to these people? What's going on?" As I walked into my house, I looked back at him, wondering if I was looking at a tire thief. He was looking at me, too, but then he disappeared. And the tire remained. (And this morning, there is still a tire on that spot, plus one resting on it....?!?!)
Last night, I turned out the lights and headed upstairs to bed at 1:00. And then the next door neighbor's 2 dogs started barking their heads off. They do this from time to time, and being the suspicious night owl that I am, I like to peek out the windows and see if there are any scary dark figures about, causing the dogs to raise an uproar. Well, this guy, I assume, had been waiting for me to put the lights out. I was looking out the front room, and I saw this strange blue light flash onto the front porch ceiling. When I was upstairs "gone to bed" as far as he was concerned, but still peeking, he goes to work on the tire again. I see him use a flashlight, which, before he leaves, switches to a blue light. And the dogs are still barking, and I'm uneasy and feeling very Nancy Drewish. One of the dogs decides to bark in its back yard toward the alley. Apparently, its owners are gone or dead asleep. And they don't have their new shed light on, helping to illuminate the dark back corner of their yard. So, I'm staring into the alley from the laundry room, fully expecting this guy to show up as the cause of the dogs' unease. And my attention is drawn to the dark axle area of this large camper vehicle, parked in the neighbor's yard directly in back of our house across the alley. I stare at this little pin light until my eyes see stars. Surely, that's that guy's blue flashlight, isn't it? I watch for the longest time, and the light moves very slowly, and it looks like someone has a flashlight in their teeth, and they're removing a tire. This is all under the camper. (Can you remove a tire from under a vehicle on the inside?) I stare, wonder, think, fear, pray, and finally call 911. I think that's the first time I have called them. It's 2:something in the morning, my feet are bare and ice cold standing still on the lineoleum of the detached laundry room. The guy on the line hears my story through chattering teeth and tired mind. Within a few minutes, two policemen on foot show up in the alley with their flashlights. Yay! They shine their lights here and there, talk to me, and!!!!!!!! "Don't see anything." They leave, and from my post, I STILL see the stupid light. They shut my back gate for me, though. It had been open(chain link), and so was the shed. But I was too scared to shut either. They certainly didn't spend too much thorough time shining their light under the camper....and even made a comment about how it was probably a homeless person trying to keep warm! I watched a few more minutes after they left, prayed for safety for the umpteenth time, and wearily went to bed at 2:45. It was a few minutes before I could sleep. Not really a satisfying conclusion to my "mystery"! This morning, I looked under the camper, and I saw a tarp under there. It was wedged under at least the tire I had watched, and their was a small mattress with a clean sheet on top.....nothing else...no tire iron, flash light...but the tarp was kind of raised near that tire, and the dirt underneath was disturbed, like this person may have hidden partially under the tarp and maybe a coat or blanket when the cops shone their lights. Argh! What's a girl to do?!