Today we....

I didn't make it to the gym this morning because my small Bible Study group had a brunch at our leader's house. I had the best intentions of making a coffee cake and taking it, but I didn't have time so I grabbed some "Whole Grain Banana Bread" from Walmart. Hey....at least it had some kind of "whole grain" in it (it was whole wheat flour). I figured it had to better than the white flour version. Our Bible Study leader made a great Stuffed French Toast with strawberries and cream cheese. It was really good...not too sweet...and when I find the recipe I will try and post it.

Our study this year was on the life of David and I was so blessed by my small group as well as the study. I hadn't been in a small group Bible Study for a while and I am so glad I decided to join this year. It was a "precepts" type study where you really get to dig deeply into the Word of God. I could go on for hours about all I learned, but the "application theme" I got from the year was about David being a "man after God's own heart" despite his failures and sins. This is what I want to be...a "woman after God's own heart". One of the biggest things I found was that David had a repentant heart, even if it took a while sometimes to get to that point. There were a lot of reasons he was "after God's own heart", but that was something I could really relate too. I am really going to miss this study over the summer. We have a four week short study in July and August, but it's week by week so that people can come even if they are on vacation and we don't get to have the small group fellowship I came to treasure or the in depth type of study. I am continuing my in-depth study of the Torah over the summer. I am part-way through Numbers and should be able to finish it in about 10 more weeks.

After I got home, I checked on the girls' schoolwork and got to work on getting more of the adhesive tape off of the french doors. Alyssa had to leave and come back because they were having a luncheon at school for the ROTC Color Guard. She is the new Color Guard Commander for next year...Go Alyssa! This means she will be organizing and arranging every color guard that performs next year...from every assembly and sporting event to special parades, etc. It is a big responsibility and I am so proud of her. Jenna won't find out what her position in ROTC is until next year.

I did work on our french door on the east side of the house (where it was cooler) and got the adhesive off there. After that I went through all the medications and organized and threw out the really expired ones as well as cleaning out my drawers, etc. Tomorrow I get to work on Jenna and Tara's room and will try and work on the south side windows in the morning before they get too hot. I also want to start on "Project Weeding" tomorrow. I figure if we do 30 minutes or so a day, we will be in good shape for the wedding. I don't think the girls will be so excited about the new "project", but...oh well.

The girls had Jr. High youth bible study tonight at the church (the older two are in leadership and Sammy attends). Tara and I are home alone and just relaxing. She helped vacuum part of the kitchen for me and now is asleep next to me on the couch. I will get her ready for bed and relax until the girls get home later.

This week so far--

Tim left today (Wednesday) for a ten day deployment for the Air Guard. I can't say where he is until he gets back, but just pray for his safety if you think about it. He is teaching fire fighting and confined space rescue classes while he is there. I am hoping he has some cool pictures when he gets home that I can post. I need to get this posted before it is too late tonight just in case he gets a chance to get to a computer.

Monday and Tuesday we spent getting ready for Tim to go. He got all the trim painted aroud the windows up in the office and we cleaned up the window frames. He is hoping to finish that when he gets back so we can move our office stuff upstairs before the wedding and clear out part of the living room. We also did A TON of laundry so it was ready for his trip and ran errands and got his presentations ready.

Today I took Tim and two of the guys who were going with him to the airport. They have a really LONG couple of flights before they get where they are going, but I am hoping he will get to check the blog at the airport and possibly a few times while he is there.

Today we did quite a bit of schoolwork and then I tried to catch up on the blog. I was so far behind that I didn't have time to even think about trying to be witty or clever (not that it happens a lot, but occasionally). I just wanted to get stuff posted. I did work on taking some of the tape off the frames of our big windows before the blinds for those are delivered. I am waiting for them to call me back with the status of them.


Tonight was AWANA awards night and Tara got an award for finishing her first Sparky book. I am so glad things are starting to wind down for the year. It will be nice to have Wednesday nights free for a while. Sammy took a picture of her, but it didn't turn out so well, so I will try and post another of her later.


Tonight is American Idol results night and, yes, I couldn't stand it so I cheated and looked on the boards to see who got kicked off before it was on in my time zone. I am a little sad because my favorite, Melinda, left tonight. We had been rooting for her all season. I guess next week I will have to root for Jordin. She was my second favorite.

I am hoping to get a lot of stuff done around the house for the wedding this next week. Taking the tape off the windows was one of them. I need to do it in the morning, though. I was trying to do it this afternoon and they are south facing windows and it was hot! I think the tape is a little "funkier" then as well and might come off better when it is not so warm.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a quiet affair this year. Tim and I were exhausted from the charity game and my m-i-l was out of town. There was a miscommunication between my mom and I and so we didn't end up getting together until Monday (she went to lunch with us for Sammy's birthday).

We just kind of lazed around all day. Alyssa got me a new iPod case and the other girls got me a candle holder and some lavender lemon tea lights for my bathroom. Tim got me the sound system that will coordinate our sound through the whole house. We will be able to listen to music about everywhere and, I think, we will be able to listen to different things in different rooms at the same time. The system is not in yet, but I am hoping soon.

49er Charity Basketball Game

As I said in the last post, Sammy's birthday was the same day as our annual Charity 49er Basketball game with the fire department. Tim started this 14 years ago and has been organizing it ever since. This year the whole family was involved. It was held at the girls' high school and Jenna marched in the color guard and Alyssa and Tara sang the national anthem.

Jenna is the second one from the front


All the pictures of Alyssa and Sammy singing were from the back, so we got this one from the front


Here's the guys before the game actually started


After the game, everyone came to the house for pizza (in the pizza oven, of course), ribs and chicken. It was just what we had planned this house for...fellowship and sharing. Because I was busy cooking and hosting, I had Sammy and Amanda take pictures for me. Of course, the majority turned out too blurry to post. Oh well. We had an awesome time.

Sammy's Birthday--May 12

Sammy turned 14 years old on May 12. I can't believe how old my girls are all getting! Unfortunately for her, it was on the same day as our charity basketball game with the San Francisco 49ers and so we couldn't do a lot that day. She did get to open presents and her best friend, Amanda, got to come to the game and spend time with her. Sammy got an iHome clock radio for her iPod and a Super Paper Mario game for our new Wii. She also got an new iPod with the money she got from her relatives for her birthday. Her old one was only 4GB and almost full with songs so she wanted more memory.



Happy Birthday Sammy! We love you!!!

Wedding Update

We only have a few more weeks until the wedding and we have been using American Idol nights to prepare. We finished making favors and wrapped and tied flatware as well as making general plans. On American Idol's country western night, Alyssa got out her cowboy hat and Tara insisted on wearing it. Here she is with the happy couple.

Prom 2007

The weekend of the Prom was also our big Home Show weekend. Before I ever knew when the prom was, I had committed to working the Home Show for our "Smart Wiring" guy. I made Sammy promise she would take pictures for me (Tim was working). Alyssa was the only one going out of my girls and Jenna and Sammy stayed home and had some friends over to play video games. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of the Home Show (I forgot my camera Friday and Sunday and Sammy needed it Friday to take Prom pictures). Our booth was really cool and we displayed all kinds of Home Theater and automatic lighting,security, etc. Anyway, Alyssa had a nice time even though she forgot her house key and got locked out in the snow until I heard her knocking on the door. For me, the weekend was just exhausting! I think next year I will only work Friday and Saturday and use Sunday to catch up.

Alyssa and her date

Passover Seder Dinner

The Sunday after Easter we had a Passover Seder Dinner at our church. Yes, it was a little late, but we couldn't get it scheduled before that. I was totally privileged to be able to perform part of the Haggadah as Mary, the mother of Jesus, about the time of Jesus' death and resurrection. The whole thing was very moving. All the time, I could only think that for thousands of years people have been celebrating this very same thing in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt and God's saving the Jews and also how the whole ceremony is so prophetic. Having just studied the Pentateuch this last year in depth, it even had more meaning. I found myself loving how God is so consistent and gives us His message of salvation over and over again. Jenna, Sammy and Tara all went with me (Tim had a meeting and Alyssa was working). Jenna and Sammy thought it was a bit long (three hours!) and didn't quite think about it to the depth that I did, but someday I hope it will mean as much to them as it did to me.

Seder Plate


Part of the dinner was a potluck and I had to bring a salad. This wasn't necessarily authentic Jewish fare, but it came from an Italian cookbook. At least that is in the Mediterranean area. It was really good, but I am finding my stomach can't handle onions as well as it used to and I think next time I would saute them. It also had grape tomatoes and mint as well as a red wine vinaigrette.
Orzo Chickpea Salad