We ♥ Tooshies Challenge :)

The challenge this week at I ♥ Faces is 'tooshies!' We usually focus on faces, but this week Angie and Amy decided to switch it up - lol! I immediately thought of this shot I took of Jayden. Jayden was born early. He weighed 4 pounds, 10 ounces. He was 12 days old when I took this picture. He was, without a doubt, the smallest healthy baby I had ever seen. I love the way both his dad and mom are cradling him, to keep him safe. Pretty much the way God wraps me up in His hands and keeps me safe. What blessings we have all been given. Even the blessing of tiny little tooshies! :O)

To check out other tooshie shots, head on over to I ♥ Faces. Even better ... join the fun!

Meet Sawyer

This is Sawyer.

Sawyer is a palomino quarterhorse. Beautiful, calm, peaceful.

Sawyer, Gus, and Rascal all get along fairly well. We weren't sure what to expect, but so far/so good!

Of course, Gus is still the head dog! So to speak - lol!

Kali took this picture of me with Rascal :).

Gus, Kali, and Rascal. It's all good as long as there is plenty of petting and treat-giving :).

Mark with Gus. For those who have asked, Gus' foot is doing much better. It will still be some time before we can ride Gus again, but at least he's getting better.

And this is Lindsey with Rascal. Lindsey lives next door and she loves our animals. She spends a lot of time with them and with us and we are so thankful for her!

Happy Thanksgiving, 2009

Today is Thanksgiving. As I think about all the blessings I have been given, and all I have to be thankful for, my wonderful husband is at the top of the list. A quiet, unassuming man. He loves me, he loves our children, and he loves us as a family.

Jason was our first born. He has grown into a responsible, dependable young man that I am so very proud of. Jason has established himself in a career and is building his own life, apart from our household, just as the Bible instructs children to do.

Kali would have been our 4th born had the two in between her and Jason survived. As it is, she is our girl. Set in her ways, firmly knowing where she is going and what she believes God wants her to do with her life. If you had told me 11 years ago that we would now be closing in on our 11th year of homeschooling and be busy traveling all over the country giving speeches, debating, and helping at conferences - I would have thought you had lost your mind.

Bobbie is new to our family. She loves my son, my son loves her, and I love her because she loves my son. Sound hokey? Not at all. Bobbie is part of our family, she fills an important role. And, she's funny and willing to try new things...like teaching a donkey to walk through a hula hoop :O).

Something new I am thankful for this year is our ranch and critters. We are fewer in number family-wise this year, as Mark's dad and step-mom passed on since last Thanksgiving. Their blessing to us made this ranch and all our critters possible.

I am thankful to God for the opportunity to be in this wonderful family. I thank God for the opportunity to travel with my daughter as she stretches her wings as a leader and commands the platform for Christ. I am thankful that my son is becoming the man I always prayed he would become. I am thankful he has a young lady in his life that loves him just as he is. I am thankful that God has blessed us with our church home and our friends there. And also for our wonderful youth group who accepts me as one of their own. Who would know I'm 56 years old when you look at my kiosk on a Wednesday night?!? Thank you God, for being so good to us, even though we don't deserve a day of it! And thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus.

Thanksgiving Is Almost Here

Only Garfield! lol! Seriously, so many things to be thankful for. So many family members and friends and blessings. Think about it. Be safe. More tomorrow.

I ♥ Faces, Solar Flare Challenge

The challenge this week at I ♥ Faces is "solar flare." Yes, I know I'm supposed to include a photo with a human face, but I really liked the way this one turned out! So, I decided to share it anyway :O). Gus and Rascal eating as the sun was getting ready to set. To check out the other solar flare shots (the ones with human faces), visit I ♥ Faces.

And, I'm going to cheat and also count this as my You Capture entry for sunsets :). To check out other sunrises/sunsets, just visit I Should Be Folding Laundry here.

Lead the Escape, 2009 CFC Conference Tour

The 2009 Communicators For Christ Conference Tour is titled Lead the Escape. Kali and I have been to two of the conferences, and leave for the last conference of the year tomorrow. The twelve-member intern team came to our church last week and presented their drama by the same name. We love the interns and have learned and had a fun time with them at the conferences and here at home.

This is Josh. He teaches Team Policy and oversees Model U. N.. He is also the tournament director, along with Robin. They even do a little ditty called: Josh and Robin, to the tune of Rockin' Robin. :O)


Robin :)

Robin and Kelsea during Gecco, a global environmental, economical, and financial simulation.

Kelsea in Lead the Escape.



This is Eric. He teaches media track along with Katie Mac.

Katie Mac and Socrates :O).




Tim - reminiscent of the A.N.N.O.U.N.C.E.MENT Song :), which he sang with Janie.


Janie doing a snippet of her interp.

Phil - the man of 1000 faces. . . .

. . . . and juggler extraordinaire.


Kristen. She was pretty much everywhere!

Here is Austin. He collects gnomes, but I can't recall if they are Garden Gnomes or Lawn Gnomes . . . .

. . . and Gerald, Austin's gnome!

Hannah taught a lot of classes and was a vital part of the Greenies, during Gecco.

The Greenies consisted of Katie Anne, Kali, and Hannah.

Katie Anne was really funny! and also did some dramatic bits.


Justin held the new position of Tour Manager. I know he was invaluable to the team.

And I couldn't make a post regarding anything to do with Communicators For Christ without including a photo of the beautiful Mrs. Moon, the founder and leader of CFC.

(An interesting side note * * * the homeschoolers that follow my blog may recognize the name Teresa Moon. She wrote a book that I used when Kali was in elementary school - years before we heard of Communicators For Christ. Mrs. Moon wrote the book Evaluating For Excellence: A Handbook for Evaluating Student Progress.)

Thanks to all the interns, Justin, and Mrs. Moon for a great conference experience! We are praying for God to bless your efforts as you encourage young people to step away from artificial communication to authentic communication for Christ. Love you all so much!

Finally in Naples

Kali and I finally made it to Naples late this morning. We started out last night after her class was finished and drove a couple hours before stopping for the night. Then up early this morning. Not my favorite time of day - at all. I don't typically do six o'clock in the morning. Six o'clock at night I can do all day, just not six o'clock in the morning. Interstate traffic was bad. A light rain caused big trouble. We came across a total of six major accidents. Traffic was backed up literally for miles in both directions. Not good. Needless to say - we were late arriving to the conference. At least we got there before lunch, and that was a good thing. I say "good" because today's lunch was from Panera Bread. Yummo!

We had fun debate classes today. Lots of high energy kids...whoa! Should be an interesting week :O). Tomorrow we work on Public Forum debating.

You probably won't get any more posts this week. And you definitely won't get any photos. Sorry. We are staying in a lovely hotel. A lovely hotel with stinky internet service. I am not lieing - it took over a full minute just to open my hotmail account. That didn't even include trying to read any mail. I'll be thankful to click submit on this post and just say, "have a great week! I'll be in touch Monday!"

A Visit to the Ranch

A couple days ago, Jason and Bobbie came out to eat lunch and visit the ranch. Once we got in past the horses, we fed treats to Mona and Hershey.

They seriously love treats! And they will eat treats as long as you will feed them.

Bobbie was funny. When we told her you could lay on the donkeys, or hug on them, she just plopped right onto Mona's back! The donkeys love the attention! They are so sweet and loving!

Somewhere about here, Bobbie wanted to know if Mona and Hershey knew any tricks. I told her I wanted to teach Hershey how to walk through a hula hoop. So, Kali went out to the car and got my hula hoop that I use as a prop on photo shoots, and we began.

The first thing you do is to select your target. Sorry, Hershey, but you are the smallest and most likely to fit!

Next, you terrorize, I mean catch your target so you can teach her this really cool trick!

Just look at my baby run! :O) Cracks me up!

Hershey: Save me, Mona!

You may have to practice a little diversionary tactic while your partner gets set up with a handful of treats.

Zero in on your target . . . .

. . . . bribe them with treats . . . .

. . . then begin the process!

The thought is to "treat" your way through, one body part at a time!

First leg through . . . .

. . . . second leg and torso through . . . .

. . . . come on, Hershey! . . . .

. . . . and, she's through the hoop! Whoo!Hoo! (Not as easy as it looks here, but not as hard as I figured it would be, either!)

After all that hard work, you need a little down time to relax. I know! Let's wrestle Jason to the ground! hahaha! Sorry, son! Actually, Jason can give as good as he gets, I just didn't get a picture of him doing it. I was too busy laughing!

Mona: Hey, Heshey! I think that Bobbie-girl is OK! Look at her put a good one on Jason!

Gus: I wonder if Jason needs help??? Neigh! He can handle it! but I'm here just in case!

Rascal: I don't care, just stay away from my food! and that means you, too, Mona!

Well, everyone's been loved on, played with, hugged, kissed, petted, fed, and treated! even tricked!

So let's head on home! It's time to call it a day.


This week's You Capture challenge was Photographer's Choice. To check out a whole bunch of cool photos and stories, click here.