Blah Blah Back Sheep

this morning I woke up to Madeline singing...

Blah Blah back sheep have you any wool
Yes sir, Yes sir three bags fool
One for my master.
One for my lame,
One for the guinea pig who live down the lame,
Blah blah back sheep have you any wool
Yes sir yes sir 3 bags fool

Santa At Last

This year Madeline finally decided to talk with Santa. Although she kept her distance, every time Santa would lean in to talk to her she would lean away. She drew him a picture of a snowman and Santa and asked for "headphones that keep your ears warm, a turtle, and for her sister to get here very soon." Last year she saw a man in Hobby Lobby that had a short white beard and white hair but he was ina blue sweat suit so naturally she went up to him and told "santa" what she wanted. The man was very nice to play along. And magically enough she got what she asked for...cowboy boots.

The poop got frozen...

Dad called me this morning to tell me that one of our horses, Duna, was at the vet with colic. Duna tends to colic whenever the weather turns cold because she does not drink the cold water. She is 22 years old and each year this gets a bit harder on her. Typically, when this happens my dad and sister isolate her from the other horses, limit her food, give her warm water to drink, and give her some medicine and that can usually take care of it but not yesterday. Well, when I got off the phone with dad, Madeline asked me what was wrong and after I explained to her that Duna coliced (basically constipated, can be deadly to horses) she said, “I know what happened, the poop inside her has froze, you see horses are strange sometimes when it snows the snow gets in the horses bottom and frozes the poop." Even though I am very worried about our horse I had to hold back a smile as Madeline was explaining this to me.

It's Just Difficult...

Last night both Kelly and I were on the phone and Madeline was having some difficulty entertaining herself until we were done. Finally, she accidently knocked over something which fell with a CLANG. I told my friend that I had to go to take care of what ever Madeline knocked over and hung up. After talking to Madeline for a few minutes she said, "it's just difficult when both parents are on the phone."

Labor Day 2007

Well I started this post back in September but forgot to publish it then forgot about it all together, anyhow here it is a bit late...We asked Madeline what she wanted to do for Labor Day and she, without hesitation, said "canoeing!" So we checked the weather and with no rain and a mild forecast we made plans to go. (There is a great place to canoe on the Brazos River just outside of Glen Rose, TX about an hour away.)

All Madeline wanted to do was swim or throw and collect rocks. It was an absolute beautiful day...until! About 1 mile left to go we heard a distant rumble of thunder that quickly became an all to close CRACK of lightning and BOOM of thunder. A storm rolled in very quickly. It was about the second rumble of thunder that we began to row faster but our fastest was not fast enough. With about 100 yards to go we spotted a group camping that had a open air tent canopy so we pulled off and got out of the water and rode out the storm under this flimsy canopy with two complete...but very nice...strangers.

The storm literally scared the pee out of Madeline and almost me to be honest. Other families who were also rowing as fast as they could had to pull off on sand bars or steep banks andflip their canoes over themselves.
the storm lasted about 20 minutes and although we were a bit frazzled (not kelly) we finished the last 100 yards.

Fall Family Fun Night

Madeline was a Kangaroo that adopted a lamb for Halloween (you can see in her pouch the little lamb hanging out). Unfortunately, her mother did not have the foresight to take a full length picture of her. Our church had a Fall Family Fun Night for the community where we had Trunk or Treat for the kids. We decorrated our truck as a old time county jail. We had trunks that were a real fire truck, a fire station, a gamestore (gamestop), a zoo, a dump, and a Krispy Cream. Madeline was more interested, though, in handing out candy to other kids rather than getting it herself.

come and listen

Over the years I have spent many summers and a few cold January's ministering to orphan children in Targu Mures, Romania. I have said that if you can hold a child, play with a child, or love a child this mission trip is for you. Most of these children have heard the gospel and the promises of God but they have never experienced it. That is what we have been called to do, show them Christs love through our love...it is that simple. I know most of these children personally and have watched them grow. I love them! I have not been able to go to Romania to see them for 2 years and my love for them has only grown stronger in that absence. When I see their picture or think of them a tear comes to my eye. I pray for them by name that they would come to have the joy of knowing Christ and that Jesus would write His name on their hearts and their name on His hand.

favorite pictures

Here are a few favorite pictures I have taken over the years from China, Romania, Hungary, England, and USA. I hope you enjoy them

the greatest show on earth

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls welcome to the greatest show on earth...At the last minute we decided to go to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus and it was a good thing. Madeline was very excited until we got there. She suddenly became frightened of the clowns(I do not blame her because I'm not particularly fond of clowns myself but I posed with 2 less imposing ones to try to ease Madeline's fears...it did not work) Last year at the Shriner Circus a clown came within 3 feet of her and she got so scared she wet herself. Well she was able to control herself this year but buried her head several times in Daddy's shoulder when the clowns came close. Her clown anxiety gradually fadded when she realized that they would stay far away from us and she settled in and enjoyed herself. She danced threw most of the show and loved eating a hotdog and popcorn, the jumping puppy dogs and tigers the most. When the circus was over (9:45pm) we thought Madeline would fall asleep very quickly for the car ride home not so she talked and talked about it all the way home. But within 30 seconds of her laying down in bed she was out, sleeping peacefully with her new white tiger stuffed animal souviner.

MY BROTHER MICHAEL

Where to begin. I have sat down to write may letters to people who have been so kind, gracious, and compasionate to my family but the words just do not come. I have never been very eloquent with words and now is no different, so please bear with me. My brother Michael, Big Mike as he was known to his co-workers, died suddenly and unexpetedly July 16, 2007. We were all in shock, my brain was numb and my body felt dull for over a week. My brother was a big guy (6'9"...well 1/4" shy of that), he saw life in black and white (right and wrong)...no grey in between, and that proved to be difficult for him growing up in school and later at work. But I belive he found his "nich" in life when he began working for KLOVE Radio in Rocklin, California as an IT Tech. He would ALWAYS talk fondly and with love of his co-workers and could not believe he was getting paid for what he was doing. He often would say "I get paid to pray" He was a solitary person for the most part but had a lot of love to give. He enjoyed fishing (eventhough he did not catch anything), computers, and gold mining. His heart was that of a child's and so was his faith...just as in Matthew 18:2-6. Like a child does, he saw the beauty of Gods creation in everything, whether is was a shooting star, a big fish swimming in the water, or a rainbow...just to name a few. He would also go out of his way to help people, whether is was giving some one a ride home...buying them lunch...putting gas in thier tank, or shaving his head for children with cancer he would do this graciously and with no expection of repayment. He would also drop what he was doing to help a friend regardless if it was going to interfere with something he wanted to do. I guess I am telling you all this because I want you to know the same person I did. Heaven is definately sweeter now that both my brother and mother are their.

Madeline says Hello

Last week we were taking care of a friends dog, Barney. When we brought Barney home and introduced him to our dogs, they said hello to each other in the usual dog way, sniffing each other's bottoms. Madeline, very curious about this asked, "what are they doing"? I told her they were saying "hi" to each other and that, that is one way dogs say hi. Madeline said ok, laughed and went on her way. A few hours later I notice Madeline with her hands on her knees and legs bent with her bottom in Barney's nose. I asked her what she was doing and her reply..."I'm saying hi to Barney"!

Sick in San Antonio

Madeline had been looking forward to Sea World for a couple of weeks, she even invited Aunt Sue Sue and Cousin Nathan. AND THEN...Wednesday night in San Antonio she comes down with a 103.5 fever and Thursday morning it was no different. Other than the fever Madeline was fine, she was active and energetic. I cried and cried because we had to tell her she could not go to Sea World. It was the one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. Luckily, Friday morning it was back down below 100 so it was off to Sea World. Madeline had a grand time and loves Shamu, she cannot stop talking about him.

Chicken Pox

Madeline got a slight case of the Chicken Pox the Friday before we left for vacation. She had about 30 spots all together. I thought they were bug bites because she has been vacinated. Little did I know that you can get the pox up to 5 weeks after a booster and she had her booster in late April. Her fever appeared only after the spots stopped appearing but you wouldn't know it because she was running around like nothing was wrong.

Lucy the Turtle

Sunday Kelly came home with a fairly large red eared slider turtle he found in the grass near his work. Poor thing was washed out by the flooding rains. Madeline fell in love and wanted to keep it eventhough, at first, she would not get near it. Well she warmed up and named it Lucy. We let it go on Memorial Day in the creek behind Dads house.

GOTCHA!

Madeline's 4th Birthday Party

Madeline had a GREAT 4th Birthday. We bought her a bicycle. To suprise her we set it up in her room after she fell asleep, so when she woke up in the morning of her birthday she would see it...NOT! She got up and ran right into our room and exclaimed, "It's my Birfday today, am I 4?" She totally missed her present. To get her back into her room to discover her present I told her to go change. She walked right back into her room and, you guessed it missed her bicycle again. When she finally noticed it she smiled big and asked, "is that for me?" We had her party at The Little Gym. She had a blast.

80 to 100 mph

North Texas has experienced it's worst severe weather season in about 10 years. Being from California, I have never become use to this. Thunderstorms scare me to death. In late April & early May we have had to seek shelter in our tub several times. (For those of you who are wondering why the tub, well if you do not have an sturdy interior room in your home, it is suggested that you seek shelter in your tub...preferably a good old cast iron one.) Luckily, during the April 24th storm, Madeline and Nathan enjoyed playing with flashlights while we waited it out.

May 2nd Kelly, Madeline, and I were waiting out yet another storm in our tub. Madeline thought it was fun to eat dessert tub and I was trying hard not to let on that I was scared to death. The wind was blowing at an estimated 80 to 100 mph when we heard a loud hollow thump. You know, people say that strong winds and tornados sound like a freight train going over your home...not so, to me it sounded like a freight train plus a low flying jet combined. The strong wind lasted about 10 to 15 minutes and we got 3.5" of rain in 40 minutes. When all was said and done and the winds had calmed a bit, Kelly went to survey damage if any (Madeline and I stayed in the tub a bit longer just for good measure) and discovered we had lost our big beautiful tree in the front yard. It landed right on our truck but no damage was done to the it. We were blessed to only have a tree fall down. Our neighbors in Kansas experinced a F5 tornado a few days later destroying a whole town. We thank God for the protection He aforded us and pray for peace, comfort, and provision for the families who lost loved ones, homes, and livelihood in Kansas.