Happy New Year

A prayer for the new year and every year. If only the world would give it its rightful place in their lives, what a different world we could be living in.



I know that you long to fulfill everything I've asked of you, but what I long for the most is to see you happy, living in joy, going to bed each night tired but with a feeling of fulfillment and happiness, and truly loving your life.



There's no way I'll be able to magically wipe away all your fears and worries—at least not on Earth—but there most certainly is a way to relieve them. Do you know what that is? It's in the Bible: "Become as a little child" you can learn from their example of living more for the moment, and enjoying the simple things in life.



Enjoy the time you have right now. If you don't enjoy it right now, you really don't get another chance. You can reminisce about good times or regret bad times. You can remember with fondness how you did enjoy the moment, or lament that you didn't. But the only actual time you can enjoy the moment is right now, at the moment. So seize the moment! Seize the joy!



Do you know the secret to a merry heart?—Don't take life so seriously! I spent a major part of My ministry trying to get people to lighten up a bit and enjoy life and the beauty of God's creation, as well as wine, women, and songs!



So HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!!



Quotes from Surviving and Succeeding

25 Things

25 things I am thankful for, from this past year:
-a pain free cesarean
-a well built and healthy child number 5
-more snow then the past 4 years
-the kids had no major illnesses
-Faith now and Forever GN
-Baileys as a Christmas present
-fun parties
-quick loss of weight after pregnancy
-I received more understanding for the human race
-a new laptop
-opportunity to teach my boys
-a nice holiday with my parents and siblings
-a crazy idea to try out
-accident free children
-trip to the UK and got the best liquor chocolates ever for 99p
-trip to Italy for a seminar and had great pizza and great ice cream
-my blog...keeps me updated on myself
-changes in my school plans
-room changes
-new home members
-kids got to perform for Christmas even though we had hardly any time to prepare
-Megashift book summary
-almost learned to adapt to having 5 kids
-that I am another year closer to something, anything, whatever it is..
-the Lord supplied laptops for the kids' school

Christmas Joy

The kids were able to visit various retirement homes for their Christmas witnessing. Everyone loved them. I brought Dustin to some of the places nearby, and he was a real hit. He would go from arm to arm and just sit on their laps or babble to them.
It is amazing what a baby can do. One incident stood out to me. One of the ladies was blind and hard of hearing. She looked a bit lost with whatever was happening around, but when Dustin was put in her arms, there was an amazing change. She broke out into the biggest smile ever and her face shone. It was very touching and sweet. She sat there holding him and he cuddled in her arms without making a sound.
Another cute time was with a man who couldn't speak. Dustin sat on the table opposite him and they 'spoke' together using whatever sounds they could. The man was smiling and laughing as they communicated in a way we can only guess at.















One of our 12 FS members was the entertainer for the restaurant in the building where he has his offices. He invited us to accompany him and have the kids perform for the customers. The kids did their best show and the crowd was very responsive and appreciative.





My adorable little rascals experiencing something 'fweaky'. (see a previous post)

Merry Christmas

We are visiting my parents' home this year for the Christmas/New Years season. We have a large Family and all our relatives live nearby so our Christmas went something like this:

First a Christmas with my Grandma, with tea, snacks, and cookies, and then presents for her great grand kids.

The next day a Christmas at my aunts with my uncles, nephews and niece etc. with a nice dinner of salmon, ham, cheeses and toasts, with good drinks, (I had some 20 year old wine and some pink champagne) then a few cakes and my aunts famous chocolate moose, (an old Christmas tradition).

The next morning another smaller Christmas from my other grandma, who couldn't be with us this year, but sent over goodie bags which we passed out at our Christmas breakfast.

Lastly but not leastly, the Christmas with the home here, (mainly composed at the moment of our family), which we have not even celebrated yet (still waiting for the last of the siblings). We will have our Christmas dinner then and the gifts we have gotten for each other.

Come to think of it, we had also a Christmas celebration with our home before we left. Yay for Christmas...and yay for Jesus who was born then.

And here is a Merry Christmas from Dustin who is soo happy to mess up the piles of presents...

Potty Time

Dustin started using the potty. He quite likes it. I put a small chair in front of him like a table and some toys and he plays happily for awhile.


Oh the joy....

In the Life of a Three Year Old

When I said, "Bed time" Liani sorta threw herself on her bed and lightly bonked her head on the wall. I left the room with her OK and smiling. When I came back in a minute later I saw her walking around the room holding her head saying, "Oh the pain, the pain." over and over in this melo-dramatic way.



Here is a typical conversation with Liani:
One of my boys asked me something about mammals. I replied with a comment on how not all animals are mammals. The following conversation ensued with Liani, who pretty much 'knows everything', and I:

Liani: Mammals are not mammals.

Mom: Mammals are animals that feed their babies milk. Even people are mammals.

Liani: People are not animals, because mammals are not people. And birds can fly.

Mom: Animals can be reptiles like crocodiles, mammals like dogs, birds and fish.

Liani: I know, but, when animals are mammals the fish can swim, but crocodiles don't fly, they come to eat you.

...and on it goes.



Vanity
Liani is the vain one of the family. Here are some reasons why I know:

a. She can't wear a sweater over her dress because then she does not look like a girl.
b. When she dances, she needs to wear a skirt or some sort of special dress otherwise, in her own words, she 'dances like a boy'.
c. She needs sparkely, golden shoes to dance because that is what dancers wear.
d. I will find her wearing a different set of clothes at an odd time of the day and it would be because 'my pants don't spin', 'my shirt did not match' (as if...), or 'they didn't make me pretty'.



After being outside, Liani ran in the room saying, "That was the fweakiest thing ever. It was so fweaky. That was the worst thing in the life." I was picturing all the horrible things a 3 year old could see that would prompt such an outburst. "What was freaky?" I asked. "Daddy took pictures of us in the snow without our jackets. It was fweaky."

Wasted Day?

This is me....sometimes it seems all I do all day is make a baby smile, sit on the floor and shake a rattle to make him happy, chop out shapes for my 3 year old to glue, help my boys build their lego, struggle through a math page with one of the kids, and since I can't be much of a help in home duties I wonder if I am meeting up to people's expectations....but after all is said and done, my kids' expectations are what matter, and I am at peace with a 'wasted day'.

007

Agent A, code name Purple, (aka Gatte Phuqu) welcoming you to the biggest 007 reunion in the world as a send off for some of our highly trusted Agents to a new location. Enjoy, but be careful, not everything is always as it seems.



Our Grand Casino where we fling our hard earned money around...



Agent S on a stakeout in a nursery



Agent M looking for her next victim...



Agent Little in training...



Agent AV and A looking sweet and sassy but armed and dangerous...



Agent MI aquainting himself with his new 007 gadget....the latest weaponry on the market



Agent J with her weapon of choice



Agent S...don't get on her bad side



Agent D and M undercover as a couple



Agents M, J.M. and A about to blow their cover



Lot's of happy smiling people...but don't be fooled, behind the smiles are minds hatching devious plans of World domination or how to stop the dominators...








Ok, but we are harmless...I mean look at us...


Trying to take a nice pic...one too many drinks, girl...




pics courtesy of DV and Josh

Christmas Past

I was browsing our home VDOs and came across this. It is from Christmas 2004. Kay was 7 at the time. Thought it was so cute as she looks so small compared to all the big guys.