Home Away from Home

We made it here safely. Our room is really nice.


Nice fluffy pillows but at 4 AM I sure was glad I brought my own.

If I had as much money as Oprah

So have you read anything about the "Safe Haven" law in Nebraska? Parents can leave their child, up to the age of 17, at a hospital if they can't take care of them. And I guess this is quite the problem.

I had heard about this in the news but recently read about it on a blog.

I know from hearing things and seeing things that some kids would be better off in a different situation than they one they are in with their parents. So some kids are better off being dropped off at a hospital.

As I read articles about this people are actually flying to Nebraska to leave their kids at hospitals before the law changes.

This hurts my heart. All these kids need love. I wish I was in the position of say Oprah, that I could create a place for all these kids to stay, to be loved, accepted, and a place that they could grow into mature loving adults.

I know I'm dreaming but wouldn't it be nice if a big name celebrity with lots of dough would do something spectacular here, in this situation.

It would take a lot but it could be done.

I dunno, just thoughts. Thanks to Francis Chan for making me think a little more and a little differently.

Crazy Love
"...if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."
"...we are each given different gifts and talents by our Master. The thing that matters most is how we use what we have been given, not how much we make or do compared to someone else. What matters is that we spend ourselves."

The WhatNot's take over.

The Today Show was overtaken this morning by The Muppets.










I grew up watching The Muppets so this was a lot of fun to watch. Ellie did think it was a neat as I did. I think I need to introduce her to The Muppets.
During the show they did a segmant on making your own Whatnot. Evidentally you can go to FAO Schwarz to create your own or you can go to their website and create it. I think this would be something neat to do with the kids. So I guess when I go to New York someday this is something I would like to do.

Have you seen this yet?

It's sad that things have gone so far.


You can read the story here.

After reading this article I wasn't angry I think I hurt. Why attack one of our special holidays. Why can't people say Merry Christmas if they want to. We, the USA , have a wide variety of backgrounds in our country. We have many holidays on our calendar. They are not all holidays that I celebrate and that's ok. We are a nation of many religions and they all have their different celebrations. Maybe I am sheltered but I don't remember there ever being protesting the celebration of any of them except recently Christmas and Halloween. It seems like in the past 10 years Christmas has been attacked more and more every year.

Why can't we just celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Is it because we as Christians think that everyone should celebrate our holiday. How can we expect someone who does not believe in Jesus to celebrate Christmas the way we do. Or how do we expect Christmas to have the same meaning for them as it does for followers of Christ. It seems as if we expect them to nod and go along with us pretending they believe.

As for myself, a Christ follower, I have to ask:

Why do we have Christmas?

Why did the celebration of Christmas start?

Is it simply a time to buy family, friends, and all the significant people in our lives gifts?

Don't we get caught up in trying to out do each other, I do.

Don't get me wrong, I love to give someone something they want or like. And yes I like to get things, don't we all.

But why has this become the focus of Christmas.

Why have I let this stress of gift giving overcome me.

Why?


I can't imagine being a virgin and a an angel coming to me telling me I have the Son of God in my womb.

I can't imagine feeling the fear Mary must have felt knowing what would happen if word got out around town.

I can't imagine traveling on a donkey while pregnant.

I cannot imagine giving birth in a stable.

I cannot imagine the weight on my shoulders raising the Son of God.

I also can't imagine expecting anyone who does not believe in Christ to be able to understand these feelings.

Just thinking of all the emotions she went through is enough.


I want to celebrate the miraculous birth of the Son of God.

I want to keep things in focus this year.

Yes I will still buy my loved ones gifts. But I don't want the gift giving to be what shows them I love them. I want to spend time with them, listen, share and love them.

And I guess on the above issue brought to my attention via facebook. I just have to show them love. I refuse to argue about this. How will others ever see Jesus if I argue with them and I don't love them. I am not condoning the ads and I do not like them at all. All I am saying is that there are people out their who don't see Christmas the way we as Christ followers do. It's just sad that it has come so far. And there is actually arguing over Christmas.

Next Blog

I was wasting time today by hitting the next blog button at the top of the page. I found this blog. I have no idea what anything on the page says but I found this picture, I am assuming taken by the author of the blog.


There are several other really good pictures on his blog.

As I looked a little closer on the page I found the words Hill of Crosses, so I googled it. And this is what I found.

This is really amazing. It was so cool to read the background of this hill. I think I'd like to go there.

I love my boy!

Silas always gets a blanket when he wants to read a book. He makes sure he is all cuddled up before he begins his book.

Girls Night to celebrate Jaki.

Last night my friend Trish hosted a party to celebrate the fact that my fiend Jaki has been cancer free for 5 years. We had so much fun talking, eating, playing twister, Indian leg wrestling, and telling stories. I was just great to get together with friends and celebrate Jaki's life. It was great to meet new people and just be with the girls.

Some of you ask for my Pizza Dip so here it is.

8 oz. cream cheese softened
1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 C. Shredded Italian Cheese blend
Pizza Sauce (enough to cover the dip.)

Mix seasonings with cream cheese
Spread in pie pan
Cover with 1/2 the cheese
Spread Pizza Sauce on top
Top with rest of cheese

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.


I hope you all enjoy this.

Thanks for a great time last night. I am so glad we were able to celebrate Jaki together.

Weekend wrap up

It has been a busy weekend.

Eli attended the National Youth Workers Convention with his company, they had a booth on the show floor.

The kids and I decided to do Halloween in Waverly. I had a wonderful friend that came to help me with the kids. Our Friday started out with a bang. At around 3:30AM Silas woke me up and he didn't go back to sleep until about 5AM when I decided to try getting his pillow and blanket. My alarm was set for 6AM, I guess I turned it off. All I know is that I was having a weird dream and cracked open my eyes to see if it was real and it was light out. Let's just say the first words out of my mouth were well paniced. Our day was quite rushed. We had to pick up Paul, go do laundry, take Ellie to the dentist and get ready for halloween festivites.

After some emergency wig help we were ready for trick or treating. Silas was such a trooper, he walked a long way. The Diva in Ellie came out in full force. We made our rounds and then headed to the Rittenour home to say hey. Then it was time to head to get a spot for the parade. We got their in good time and had great seats. Once the parade started these two grown women came and stood right in front of Ellie. Then as Ellie tried to get candy they took it right out of her hand. Now I know I can go buy candy at WalMart no biggie. But she didn't understand why they were doing that and I'm not sure I did either. She couldn't see anything and I was already holding Silas. I had Parent rage! How dare someone stand in front of her and then take something right out of her hand. I know, I know love them. It was just hard to handle by myself with two kids. Let me say the positive note about the parade- THE BAND WAS AWESOME!!!!!! You guys rocked. It was so fun to watch them having fun while they were playing and dancing. So after the parade we went to Fred's for some good eats. I believe that was the first meal I had all day so it was quite tasty.

The evening ended with great conversation and watching Police Academy.

Saturday morning we headed to my mom and dad's. We hung out for a while went shopping and had dinner with my brother and his son. Roast and Dumplings, my favorite thanks Mom.

Sunday we went to Sunday School and church. I have lots of thoughts and things I am digesting that I might share at some point from church. After Church we headed to Panera bread. I really like that place and the kids do to. Then it was home for a nap and relaxing. We got home last night and just relaxed.

Today was a pretty good day.