Please, Once Again, Welcome Some Friends

Not long ago I did a post mentioning that I one of my friends from many years ago had started his own blog. I want to let y'all know that now his family has their own blog too: Wilkinson Family.

But, it doesn't stop there. My very bestest friends in the world, my friends/cousins/sisters, their family has a blog now. It's still under construction, but in about 2 weeks it will have a whole new look! So, soon, visit Two Ponies Training Center.

Also, before I forget, (I really meant to do this earlier, but we've been pretty busy lately and I just now got a chance to do this) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my parents! March 19th (I know, I'm really late, sorry guys) was my parents' 20th anniversary!

Anyway, I need to go do dishes now. The new look on the blog is still under construction, but I'm working hard and intend to get it finished very soon. Bdee bdee...that's all folks.

Nonsense

Really. And if you don't want to read it, I totally understand. I know who you are, and I will find you.

Just kidding.

Really.

Seriously, I really think it's amazing all the new friends I've made because of blogger. It's always so neat to log on and see comments! Somebody really does like what I say! It really is a great ego booster...as if a human being, created with the biggest ego and me-firstness that God ever put into any of His creation, seriously needed an ego booster. And, of course, if there are no comments, it's such a sad, dreary day. O.K., I need to get a life. I warned you this post was about nonsense...I didn't force you to read it, and you can't say I didn't warn you!

This afternoon we had a church picnic/barbeque at the park, following after door-to-door. We passed out little tracts with the Gospel message, as well as postcards announcing our Easter services. There are some Saturdays when we actually go witnessing door-to-door, but every other Saturday we just pass out flyers.

My dad actually got kicked out of the apartment complex that we were in, though. We split up to put the flyers on people's doors, and when we were done and we came together again, he wasn't there. We couldn't find him anywhere. We later found out that a lady had called the manager, and the manager came and told my dad that he couldn't hand out flyers. So Dad, undaunted, just crossed the street to the apartments over there, and kept on working. None of the rest of us were bothered by anybody, except that I kept finding Jehovah's Witnesses flyers, and sometimes I saw the lady that was putting those out. I was strongly tempted to take all the flyers and put them in my pocket so that nobody would see them. Yet somehow I wasn't sure whether or not that was actually wrong, so I prayed, and I ended up just taking them down and putting them on the ground, and putting ours on the doors. A lot of them were on the ground anyway; I didn't want to just put ours on top, because then somebody might think that they had all been placed there together and that therefore there was no difference between Christianity and Jehovah's Witness. So I just put theirs on the ground, and I think that might have been the best thing to do. I was told later by somebody else that I should've just taken them, but somehow I didn't feel like that was right to do, like maybe it was stealing or something. I don't know, it just didn't feel right to me, so I didn't do it.

So then we all went over to the park and Pastor Daniel grilled hamburgers, and the ladies put out chips and buns and such, and then after the burgers we had ice cream and brownies. Because, of course, as everybody knows, there just couldn't be a Christian, Baptist, fellowship without food. It's just completely impossible. And we threw a football, and a frisbee (not together, of course, at different times), and just hung out. I got to have my beautiful niece to myself for awhile, and let her sit in the grass and play. She's five months old now, the prettiest little girl that was ever born (of course, I'm not biased at all, am I?). What's more, would you believe that at five months old, she can already sit up? Let me be specific: she cannot pull herself up to a seated position, but she can, once she is placed in a seated position, hold herself there. It's really amazing. Again, I'm not biased, am I??!! But really, I haven't seen other babies at that age keeping themselves upright. And she's walking -- she really is! If you support her, and kind of lean her back and forth, and sometimes even if you don't lean her, she will pick one foot up and put it down in front of the other, and then do the same on the other side, and just keep going for as long as you let her! Oh, I so enjoy being an auntie...and I can't wait until I'm actually a happy little mama!

So tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday. I love to call it Resurrection Sunday instead of Easter, because too much now, Easter is connected with eggs, candy, and cute little bunny rabbits and chickies. Of course, that's not to say that all these things have their place (particularly the candy, and its proper place is in my mouth! O.K., think diet...diet...diet), but it's truly sad how they have become connected with the day that celebrates what our Savior did for us. So, let's do this:

I say: "He is risen!"

And you say: "He is risen indeed!"

Ready?

He is risen!

And you say:

O.K., I'm Back!

Whew! Breathe deeply. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In, out. O.K., we can slow down now and get back into routine!

Seems like the last few weeks have been so BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY...you get the idea. I am so sorry to all my bloggie friends for not coming by for awhile. Been so constantly busy I haven't hardly had time to read books other schoolbooks, much less get back on blogging.

I have missed all of you. I love to visit you each, see what new troubles and joys, heart-aches and heart-throbs, pains and gladnesses each of you are experiencing.

People have asked me recently why I blog. I have a few reasons:

1. I love to blab on and on about whatever comes into my head -- and I like even more that people out there don't mind listening!


2. I love to meet new people on the blogosphere. Different from meeting people by face, where you only see one facet of a person in the few minutes (or hours) that you spend with them, you can read somebody's blog where they pour out their heart on some issue -- and you feel like you know them better than you would've known them had you spent that time just sitting somewhere chatting about meaningless things. Bloggers, at least most of the ones I've encountered, blog for the sole purpose of sharing the things that are a part of who they are...which is not usually what you would chat about with a stranger. Yet strangers read these, and thereby become no longer strangers.


3. I love making new friendships in the bloggie world that wouldn't necessarily happen otherwise. For instance, I live in California. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have a chance to meet the wonderful family in Texas (either family, I just remembered there are 2), or the really nice lady in Wisconsin, or the people that are so safety-conscious that I have no idea where they are!

That's about all I've come up with for now. Like I said, I love to just blah blah blah, and this post has been mostly just one of blah-blahing (and letting you know that I'm still alive!).

Here I Am!

Thanks for your concern; yes, we've been really, really busy lately (thankfully, not sick). I just have a little while, so I'm going to try to stuff everything into this one post. If I don't make it around to say hi to everybody, I'll really try to do so within the next few days!

I just got this in an email -- is this cute or what?!!!

A nurse on the pediatric ward, before listening to the little ones chests, would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe, but she never got a response equal to four-year old David's comment.

Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart. "Listen", she said..........."What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap -tap - tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin and he asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?"

Isn't that great!! As long as we're on the topic of kids, let me share a few more pics of my beautiful niece...

ALERT!!! CUTENESS COMING!!! CUTENESS ALERT!!! CUTENESS ALERT!!!

sleeping like a baby

Have you ever seen a cuter baby!!!!

With this ring...

Train up a child...

I'll post more pictures soon... Can you believe that little lady is already 4 and half months old!!! My, how time does fly...

Tomorrow we'll be heading up to my favorite small town, to visit some very very dear friends who live nearby. We'll be returning on Monday... So don't get worried because I'm not posting, just know that we're having a blast with my 'sisters'!

Seems like we've just been running and running lately, always busy. Speaking of running, I don't know if any of you know that I've been working on losing weight! No, I'm not exactly overweight, but I knew that if I didn't start working on it I would easily become overweight within a few years. Last time I was measured I was 5'6½", and about a month ago I was up to 153 lbs. So I started eating less and moving more, and I am currently [I think] at about 148. I had gotten down to 146.5, but somehow I went back up again. I'm actually enjoying jogging for 30 minutes each day, and exercising, and bicycling, and rollerskating, and walking, and all the other moving that we're doing...but I'm really not enjoying the eating-less!!

I saw a great card at PetsMart yesterday: the cover had a cat eating a salad, with a look of disgust and repulsion on its face and spinach sticking out of its mouth. The inside said: I may have gone green, but I'm still thinking chocolate! This was just so appropriate to how I feel right now! I'll eat the good-for-you stuff, but I'd much rather be eating chocolate!

Some of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that I'm taking sign language classes, among my other classes. I'm in ASL2 now, having finished ASL1. Hopefully next semester I'll be taking ASL3, and keep going in later semesters with ASL 4, 101, 102, 103, 104, and 105. The class is going well, we've finished Unit 9 (technically it's Unit 9 because it's a continuation of SL1, but for this class it's actually the third unit), and we'll have a test next Monday. Seems like the class has a bit of an modesty problem, though -- we have a couple guys that think they're total hunks, and a bunch of gals that go around half their rear ends (not to mention their fronts) showing. Some the guys have made innuendos right there in class, and they're usually surrounded by the girls in the class (with the aforementioned modesty issues). The ages of the people in class range from 15 to nearly 90! It's really pretty amazing, yes, there is an old lady who is nearly 90 years old, learning ASL! She is an inspiration to everybody else -- if she can do it, so can we.

I think that's about it for now. I'm out of time again! (I've already saved and left this post before). So I'll have to make the rounds and visit everybody later. Hope y'all have a blessed week and weekend!

Quickly...

Just letting everybody know I'm alive. We've been pretty busy lately and I haven't had a chance to post in awhile... Got a lot to say, and I want to catch up with everybody, but I really don't have the time (we're about to leave for church)... But just in case you were wondering, we're all O.K., just a little busy. Thanks!