Tex, Tiger, Lao Hu the Kitten

A few of you know that I've had a friend here who got rid of her unborn baby this week. It's a long story and probably shouldn't be shared in it's entirety on this here blog. But, I will say that the Lord did something fun for me. I say fun for me because my husband shot me a look the second he laid eyes on my little gift of grace.

As I walked out my door and into the stairwell to walk outside, I saw him. It was as if he was looking up at me and saying "Yes! You can rescue me! Your friend's baby is gone, but I am RIGHT HERE!" 

I picked him up, turned around and brought him home. I knocked on the door and met my husband who looked at me and said "Carrie, don't even think about it."We have both decided that we have more on our plate that we can handle already, so the cat needs to find another family. But on the heels of the situation with my friend, I was certainly not going to abandon it. I would rather sleep outside with it bundled on a park bench than let it go outside without a mother cat or a home. 

 Long story short, we have taken the cat in for the weekend and will give it up for adoption on Monday to a loving friend and home. I have to say that giving it up was hard. I know it's for the best, but my compassion strings were playing a loud tune. My poor husband got pummeled by the snowball of emotion that started tumbling about two weeks ago. While as a couple, we had made the rational decision that a pet isn't a good idea for our family right now, but that didn't matter when I looked into this sweet kitten's eyes. 

I was frustrated that we had to give him up and the first night, that I rolled over in bed and said in a rather non-submissive tone "Sometimes compassion isn't rational." 

It just isn't.

While I still believe that statement is true, I am also thankful for a husband that knows we have limitations that have to be considered. If I weren't married to him, I'd be that old lady with 16 kids, 85 cats and a collection of porcelain hummingbirds shoved into my china cabinet. 

"Anorectal" Ads Dripping with Immaturity

If you are offended at potty humor in any way, shape or form, skip this post.  It's dripping with immaturity and inappropriateness. I just couldn't help it. 

As I walked home from dropping the kids off from school, my peripherals stumbled upon this beauty.  Just your typical "Anorectal Hospital" ad.  

Apparently this ancient cauldron has not yet seen the "Anorectal" doctors, because he is still leaking.  

He is still leaking hot lava.

I shivered, laughed, shivered again and then took the picture.  The vividness of this picture was effective in it's not so subtle message that "anorectal" problems can plague us all. 

Worldview Perspective

A little worldview perspective for you on a Wednesday morning.

Lennon vs. Lenin

While sitting down with Selah, her Chinese textbook and a friend, a mounting cultural conversation happened.  

"Mom, who's Lennon?"

Thinking to myself "How do I describe John Lennon to a 9 year-old girl who has no concept of boy bands, pop music and cultural icons?"  I paused.

I was lining up bullet points in my mind:

1.  British pop-star

2.  Co-founder of one of the most successful rock bands in modern music history.

3.  Prolific singer-song writer. 

On and on my mind raced.

She was still looking at her Chinese textbook when she pointed out his picture to me.  

"See, this guy...Lenin."  As in Vladamir.

Oh, THAT Lenin.  Well, he wasn't quite as cool as the Lennon I was thinking about.  Sporting similar names, slightly different lives. 

Eating Jewish Style

I love our history curriculum. I love history. I am admittedly a moron in history.

History Odyssey has several books to choose from that will add tons of hands on stuff to do with your kids. I have issues with sitting still and learning.  While  my kids do sit down and crank out worksheets everyday, I have also found that we all need a change of pace. Frequently.  They have coloring books, craft books, recipes, 3D models and links to all types of websites to give them a better understanding of what's going on.  And honestly, it helps me have a clue as to what happened in Ancient Mesopotamia.  It seems that I was busy keeping my hair sprayed bangs in place while my colleagues studied history in junior high.

We are studying Ancient Israel right now. Besides it being fascinating, it has stretched our understanding of God's grace to the Israelites as they were in slavery, wandered and finally inherited the promises of God.  

We had friends coming to our house for dinner on Wednesday, so I decided to do a reenactment of  a Passover Seder meal. Little did they know that this would require them to wear a head dress and clean our house with our children.  One of the first parts of the Passover is to clean the house of yeast.  So, I put pieces of bread on the shelves and they cleaned it.  It also gave me an excuse to not organize the bookshelf before having them over for dinner.

The boys wore turbans.  My 4 year old told me he was a Jewish pirate.  Yes, that just might be a pair of pajama pants on my husband's head.  Oh, the things he does to indulge my creative side.

We had a blast recounting the afflictions the Israelites suffered in the desert.  We then went on to celebrating the hope found in the cross and our own redemption as His children.  

Days are evil. God is not.

I walked into my house this morning filling up my mug with coffee and cream, hoping it would make sense of a world that hurts.  Maybe, just maybe, my consistent morning coffee would add security to what my eyes have seen in just this last week alone.

A friend pregnant with baby #3.  Illegal.  Baby.  Wanted by some, unwanted by many. Told to dispose of it.  It's just a baby.

A friend pregnant.  Fearful of a history spotted with miscarriages.

A young girl.  Abused by a hand supposed to comfort. A parent taking revenge on a child.  In public.



I cry.




A friend pregnant.  Surprise.  Knowing the joy.  Fearing the sacrifice.  Miscarriage.  Grieving.  Hurting.

Babies found in cans meant for trash.  Against all odds.  Found.  Survived.

Belligerent parent's heart changed. A child's plea for them.  Prayers answered. Hopes captured.


Days are deceiving.  Control is fleeting. God is hope.

What's in a Sacrifice?

Jobs says he authorized biography so his kids can know him.  

As I saw this headline, my first thought was sadness.  To live a life and realize at the end of it that your children revere you as provider...and stranger.  And then I started thinking about those few individuals that live in any given generation that sacrifice their own families in order to serve the world at large.  Whether you admire or abhor Steve Jobs, we have to sit and think through what it means to sacrifice.  Did he make billions of dollars? Yes.  But now his children are sitting with a filled bank account, but empty memories of their father.  And guys like that aren't usually doing what they are doing for the money.  They are visionaries.  Thinkers.  Motivators. World Changers.

At what point does one realize that they will have to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others?

That they have been placed in such an extroordinary position that their lives will require more of them than most.


It's easy to villianize this type of person.  To say that they neglected their families and they should have been home more.  But, let us also realize that if Jobs decided to pull back, the ripple effects of his absence would be too numerous to measure. I for one am thankful for his sacrifice and hopeful that his kids will see that sacrifice and be grateful one day too.


*** As a quick sidenote:  I think that this type of extraordinary talent happens in only a handful of people in each generation.  I do not in fact endorse people using lame excuses to not be with their families.  That is all.

Get Real Bookshelves

I had a rough day.  But I will say that it ended in a few minutes of laughter.  Out loud.  By myself.  

One of the things that cracks me up about blogging, pinterest and social media in general is that we get to pretend our lives are packaged neatly, wrapped in eco-friendly paper and placed on our matching antique hutch that we bought at a thrift store and restored ourselves while our husbands coached family friendly soccer on the weekends.  

I look at this picture and I wonder if there are actually kids living in these homes.  Let's take a little showcase tour of the above photo. 

My favorite bookshelf was the one where all the books lined up in a lovely rainbow color sequence.  My bookshelves are also lined up, looking like a rainbow.  They start and end and have lots of colors...just like a rainbow.  And, you never know when and where the books will pop up...just like a rainbow.

Then, the little merry-go-round bookshelf.  It would take my boys 4.3 seconds to shovel the books onto the floor, sticking their rompuses inside those little cubbies.  They would then convince little sister to do it.  They would spin around in it until they puke.

Then there's the wooden dinosaur, ant-eater looking bookshelf.  My kids would take the books, slide them down the railings and jump off the top, pretending to be ninjas.

Another favorite of mine is the tree bookshelf.  I can guarantee those tree limbs would end up having birds drawn in neon crayon.  They would all be pooping on the heads of dolls lined up at the bottom. 

As fun as having a personal hammock to nestle into next to a glorious bookshelf would be, I'm not sure real life would allow that to happen.  Maybe it's just OUR real life that doesn't allow that to happen.  Sometimes I look at these things and I would love to have a house that looks like a magazine.  And then I remember that trying to keep couches egg shell white and bookshelves stacked in color coordination would require more of me than I'm willing to give to my furniture.  

Monkey Man turns 4

Dora, Dora, look who's four-a!  Our monkey man turned four this past week.  

Actually, he turned 4 two weeks ago, but the calendar has not been our friend lately, so we celebrated late.  He didn't know.  He didn't care.  There was pizza and cake to be had, that was enough for him.

As we went around the table and told him what we loved about him, he made silly faces and squirmed in his seat.  Being uncomfortable showing emotion...check...he is ready for junior high.

We told him that he is a great leader

he knows what he wants

he perseveres

he loves to protect those he loves

is an awesome big brother to Makaria

he is VERY cuddly.  

He opened a Buzz Lightyear back pack and just about had a stroke.  He was so excited and has asked to wear it every hour since opening it.

His siblings got him candy, a "pre-owned" Bible, and some "pre-owned" stickers. 

Then, it was time for the Buzz Lightyear scooter. Being half-naked and Buzz Lightyear are two of his love languages.

I made a Buzz cake.  I simply printed off pictures from the internet, colored them and slapped them on.  There was no way I could have fashioned a Buzz on my own and still kept all my hair intact.  He didn't care what it looked like, it was Buzz and there was chocolate.

I can so vividly remember this kid being in utero, it's scary. I get restless leg syndrome just thinking about it. 

The next day was the celebration with his classmates at school.  The bakery only had three choices for kid's cakes.  You cannot detour from the set birthday cake script.  If you do, complete panic happens.  DO NOT ask them to change anything.  So, I cut out a spider man from a coloring book cover and laid it on top of the white chocolate Hello Kitty.  

This sweet class is singing Happy Birsday!  

Eating with his friends. 

This dude makes us laugh every day.  He adds so much passion and excitement to our days.  We love this little monkey!

Eat, Play, Give

Here's a great website called freerice for your kids to practice vocabulary, math, grammar, geography and other subjects.  Every time they get an answer right, 10 grains of rice are donated.  The more they play, the more they learn.  The more they learn, the more lives are saved through the gift of rice.

Pretty easy formula if you ask me.