My Tic-Tac color is...

You are Orange.You are outgoing and optomistic. You always try to
find the bright spot in everything. You are
energetic and people are naturally attracted to
you. However, you are not always sure of what
your purpose or goals are.Most Compatible With: Fresh Mint

Which Tic-Tac Flavor Are You?
brought to you by

My Three Sons, Joshua, Nicholas and Joseph. 

The Fork

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live.
So, as she was getting her things in order, she contacted her preacher and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, whatscriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. Everything was in order and the preacher was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

"There's one more thing she said excitedly.
"What's that?" came the preacher's reply.
"This is very important," the young woman continued.

"I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The preacher stood looking at the young woman not knowing quite what to say.
That surprises you, doesn't it?" the young woman asked.
"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the preacher.
The young woman explained. "My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement.
In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say,

'Keep your fork.'
It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!'
So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a forkin my hand and, I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?"

Then I want you to tell them:

"Keep your fork ..the best is yet to come."
The preacher's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged theyoung woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death.
But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven wouldbe like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She knew that something better was coming.
At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand.Over and over, the preacher heard the question, "What's with the fork?" And over and over he smiled. During his message, the preacher told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died.He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right.

Happy St. Patricks Day

For all of you who are of Irish descent this is the day for you to? a) Party till you puke, b) join a parade, c) spend it with family celebrating, d) spending the day making a special dinner of cornbeef and cabbage, e) Wishing you were Irish

Today is a wonderful day I got my letter in the mail saying Nicholas was accepted at my school of choice, Yea! My dilemma was do I want to send him to the new school around the corner that is in the process of being built and will be finished by this fall and hope he gets a good Teacher or send him back to the run down school with a known Teacher that is so fabulous he deserves to have an award. Yup, he is going back to the run down school with the awesome teacher. Ok, the new school is just that "new" but there will be so many bugs to work out it is crazy the first year. Now my next dilemma is do I want Joseph who has a awful teacher this year and my person who I wanted for a teacher next year for Joe is going to the new school to teach math so that leaves not so wonderful prospects for Joes 5th grade. Do I want him in 6th grade to go to the same school as Nicholas and request this wonderful teacher or just hope and pray he gets a good teacher in the next several years.

Super Saturday

Well what a wonderful day I took Charles to work and I am so enjoying the morning, it is sunny and about 50 out at 7:30 in the morning. I love getting up early before the rest of my family just to be able to enjoy the day have a cup of coffee and read a book, oh the days before I had Joseph. I love my not so little boy but I just wish that he could stay in bed a little bit longer so I can enjoy the days of old. I should have known that when I was pregnant with him and he would always wake up at about 5:30 that it would be the end of that season of my life, only to recapture the love I have always had for reading at some later point in my life when the children are gone.

Yesterday I got to have a brief few moments with one of my dearests friends in the whole world, she came to Seattle for a conference for Mary Kay and we got to spend about 3 hours in Seattle on one of the most gorgeous days to have, the sun was shining you could see out over the Puget Sound watch the waves just crest one another as there was just the slightest amount of breeze blowing.
For those people who have never been to Seattle they got one of the most wonderful weekends to be here. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner it is such a wonderful place to visit with moderate pricing and your choice from about 50 different cheesecakes, "Heaven, I'm in Heaven...!" Gail I had a wonderful time even though it was not long enough I will always treasure the time we spent together and I loved meeting your wonderful friends.

Wonderful Wednesday

Wednesday started out wonderful with rain not much but enough to say hey there is still the prospect of more. We have had such a drought this winter that I am afraid of what this summer will hold for us. Nothing from what others deal with but for us it is major, our ski resorts didn't open this year but for maybe 2 weeks. Now Mt. St. Helens is acting up again we get to see some awesome pictures daily over the news I just wish she would hurry and blow her top for real and not these little steam bursts and such, I cant wait to see it. I was part of it back in 1980 when she first erupted I was part of a choir that traveled to Washington just after it blew the first time I used to have a jar with ash it it, but alas over the years it has disappeared. Tonight was bible study and an interesting thought came up. "If the bible is written and inspired by God how come his name isn't on it as authored by"? It was a fun discussion.

Strength

What does it take to be strong?

Most of all a sharing of strength with strength

knowing that real strength

comes from the joining of hearts and hands.

Commonly Confused English Words

Advanced You scored 93% Beginner, 86% Intermediate, 81% Advanced, and 61% Expert!

You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.

Whew!

Well I am so glad to be finally back at my computer after 3 days with the flu I am finally starting to feel normal again. It all started Saturday with kind of a scratchy throat but I thought hey I will get over this I had Joey scheduled to have a friend come over to play but by noon when I new something else was going on I called and cancelled. By 3:00 the chills hit and my body hurt so bad my clothes hurt to touch my skin. Charles came home and new instantly "What do you want me to do"? "Please go to the store... more TheraFlu"he went to the store got medicine and took care of me for the next 2 days finally yesterday I could start moving slowly it is amazing how much energy you loose when you are sick. Well that about sums up my last three and a half days. Anybody want the Flu?

The Car

What a great name it is rather intriguing, I finally got my car back last night I am so excited! We took it to the shop and it was what Charles thought it was, being the fuel pump that is or rather the ground wire that leads to the fuel pump that went out. Now $300 dollars later we are "Lookin' for Adventure" it has been a long 6 weeks waiting to get the money to get it fixed.

The boys have been having fun with this new game they have been playing "Jack and Daxter" Charles bought it "for himself" and started playing it and then here come the boys wanting to play this cool game LOL Charles is saying "no way" I am going to beat it first then you can play it, the whole time he is thinking I am not going to get started playing this game than have them beat the game in like 2 hours when I am still on the first level. It is pure torture for the boys.

I was just reading my sisters blog and she was talking about my other sister getting ready to have her 4th child and first girl to boot! She is planning on naming the baby with a middle name of a song title and it was fun reminiscing about the song but I also have a name with a very popular song attached to it and every where I go I have had people singing to me the song, it is kind of fun but rather annoying as well. Good luck Kris!

A Poem About Prayer

The Prayer of Cyrus Brown

"The proper way for men to pray."
said Deacon Lemuel Keys,
"the only proper attitude
is down on his knees."

"Nay, I should say, the proper way to pray,"
said Reverend Dr. Wise,
"is standing straight with outstretched arms,
with rapt and upturned eyes."

"Oh, no, no, no!" said Elder Snow.
"such posture is too proud.
A man should pray with eyes fast closed
and head contritely bowed."

"It seems to me his hands should be
austerely clasped in front,
with both thumbs pointing to the ground,"
said Reverend Dr. Blunt.

"Last year I fell in Hodgkins' well,

head first," said Cyril brown,

"with both my heels a stickin' up,

my head a pointin' down.

"And I done prayed right then and there,

the best prayer I ever said,

the prayin'est prayer I ever prayed,

a standin' on my head!"

Update

Well the results are in partially that is. Two weeks ago I had mentioned that Charles had gone to the hospital-
he wasn't feeling well he had a really bad pressing feeling in his chest and some pain, they kept him part of the day diagnosed him as having Angina http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/pages/4/1675_51092.htm
and he and was given a prescription to take. Well this week he had to go in for more testing, he took a stress test and and echocardiogram. There are some other blood tests he has to do next week. The cardiologist called yesterday and said that things looked fine and there wasn't anything to worry about. Praise God! I am so glad about that, but there are things to be concerned about like his high cholesterol (he is now on a prescription for Lipitor) and being over weight. Ok I understand these things and we have actually been trying to do something about this sense the first of the year, now unfortunately this Dr. Was an absolute jerk and had we met this man before we had a battery of tests performed we would have chosen another one. So now we have learned we do need to screen these Dr.s. He told Charles he needs to be 160 lbs. coming from a man of Asian descent I understand where he is coming from but, Charles is height-weight proportionate (granted he has lost 20 lbs sense the first of the year) and his goal would be to be 185 but last year he hired a trainer and ate protein shakes and stuff he couldn't break the 200 mark. So now where to go from here. The Dr. Also said it was all my fault that Charles is over-weight because I am the one doing all of the cooking. Nice huh! I don't remember holding my husband down and force feeding him.
I'll give more info as I learn it.

Taking Pictures With My Heart

Taking Pictures With My heart

~Vickey L. Banks~

It was an extraordinary moment at the end of and otherwise ordinary day.
I was walking down the hallway of our home when I came upon the sweetest sight I had ever seen: my three year-old-son brushing his teeth. No, it wasn't the fact that Parker was brushing his teeth; it was what he looked like at that moment. With aid of his well-used footstool, he still had to stand on his tippy toes to barely see into the mirror. Clad only in his tiny white T-shirt and"big boy" underwear, the little muscles in his calves were clearly outlined. He looked so small, so innocent and pure.
I froze in place. Looking on, I realized that someday that same precious little boy would probably be bigger than I was. He would be able to pick me up! So, I willed time to stand for a few marvelous moments while I soaked up the memory of what he looked like on his tiptoes.
I thought of going to get my camera to capture the moment forever, but I couldn't bear to turn away. Instead, I did what mothers have been doing for centuries.
I took a picture with my heart.

Monday Morning Thoughts!

Well in looking at the last time I updated it has been a while 1 week can go by in an instant. It is a sad morning I don't get to go on my usual Monday morning foray's to Value Village for dollar day madness ;) Being that it is presidents day and they opened early with half off of everything in the store it is killing me to be at home. The boys are off this week for what is called "Mid Winter Break" it is a stupid break, Teachers get over it! I never had it when I was growing up but it makes the children get out of school later in the summer because of it. I am not staying home because they are home this week mind you because they are old enough to be by them selves, it is other things going on today but they are a thought. Now that I have ranted a little bit I just thought what a day to to be rummaging, oh well I will get over it. Charles and I went out last night with Joe and Tabatha last night to the casino they have the best sushi at a wonderful price, plus the casino was having special drawings for $40,000. There were 20 drawings of $500.00 then 2 Grand prize drawings of $10,000. You are not going to believe this But Charles and I did not win... hehee! Ok so it was no big surprise there but it was sure fun dreaming about what we could do with and extra ten grand. Oh and then as we were standing watching the black jack tables (it was standing room only, and no machines were available) This guy kept betting $100.00 for each hand, 20 hands later he left without wining a hand. I wonder where he gets his money from.
Well those are my thoughts for the moment!

Happy Valentines Day

Well today is Valentines day a day for Love, it started for me as an awesome day, I got to sleep in and then I had to get out of bed... Charles was in a really grumpy mood today and boy did I hear it. You always take your frustrations out on the ones you love, but did it have to be Valentines day? Ok I did the Value Village thing with Tabatha and Charles today I got a couple of choice items today I am so glad. I got a set of crystal coasters (Princess house) that come in a brass caddy, I presently own them and was happy to get another set of 4 to replace the broken ones that I have encountered over the years. I got a brand new rice cooker just like the previous one I had owned and loved, and a few baby things for a friend. The day shopping was awesome. Charles and I came home and did a few things and I sent him to Costco to pick up a couple of things for dinner along with that he brought me home some roses. They are so beautiful. He can do the sweetest things and we agreed not to do anything for Valentines Day because of some bills we need to pay off. He broke our deal the stinker! Ok he is forgiven. I got the boys a "Sweet Valentine" It was devoured I think in 5 minutes flat. Boys will be boys.
I had the most wonderful talk with my longtime friend (Sister) Patrice yesterday I am so glad that we got to talk sometimes life gets in the way of our intentions and time goes by, I am so glad that we can talk and we are transported to where we left off with our last conversation.

The Beauty Of Tenderness

Tenderness,

How harsh and unbearable

Our world would be without it.

One Strange Week

Hi Again, it has been several days sense I have written it happens every time Charles goes on vacation. I don't get a chance to do the things that I normally would. It didn't start out to be Charles vacation but it ended up being that way it started by Charles not feeling very well on Tuesday and staying home from work and then Wednesday morning he was on his way to the hospital.
He was there for several hours but he checked himself out of the hospital when they wanted to admit him. He didn't want to stay there for no real reason other than to observe him, he said "I live 2 miles from the hospital if there is a problem I will com back" they gave him a prescription and he has an appointment with another Dr. next Monday the 21st (sense he checked himself out and didn't get the answers he wanted) so when the time comes I will update about that Dr. visit.
Well everyone else here is doing very well, the boys finally got to spend the Christmas money that was sent to them from their grand parents so they all have been planted in front of the TV playing "Burnout 3" it is a pretty fun game seeing all of the different ways you can crash a car without getting hurt. Well I am going to go for now but not without a favorite quotation.

Happiness

Happiness sneaks in through a door

you didn't know you left open.

~John Barrymore~

Amazing Race

Well we just finished watching "The Amazing Race" I cant believe that Freddy and Kendra won the race and collected the million dollars. Kris and John were robbed of it by American Airlines and then at the end the stupid train came along and forced them to stop and come in even later, Charles and I think they still may have come in first if it hadn't have been for the train. I so wanted Bolo and Lori to win but when they were voted out a couple of weeks ago our next couple was John and Kris to win the million, they were always nice to each other never raised their voices to each other or anything, unlike some of the other couples that were in the race. Well that is my take on the show and then to see the new one starting really soon with Rob and Amber going to be on it from "Survivor" boy this one ought to be fun.

And God Said... No

And God Said... No!

I asked God to take away my pride. And God said "No".
He said it was not for him to take away, but for me to give up.
I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, And God said "No".
He said her spirit was whole, her body was only temporary.
I asked God to grant me patience, and God said "No".
he said patience is a by-product of tribulations. It isn't granted, it is earned.
I asked God to give me happiness. And God said "No".
He said he gives me blessings, happiness is up to me.
I asked God to spare me pain. And God said "No".
He said suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.
I asked God to make my spirit grow. And God said "No".
He said I must grow on my own. But he will prune me to make me fruitful.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. And God said "No".
He said I will give you life, that you might enjoy all things.
I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as he loves me.
And God said, finally my child you have the idea.

Random Thoughts

Joshua got back tonight he has been gone sense Thursday to a Christian youth conference in Portland. In retrospect in is nice to have him home, yes there are days that I could strangle him but he is funny and I missed him. I am so glad he got home safely. He was impressed by a church that has an outreach for teen prostitutes, they go out with a flower tell the young lady that she is beautiful and worthwhile and their church has a rehabilation group for those wanting to get out, all they have to do is go with them like she was being picked up and they take her away. I am so glad he got to go and spend some time with other Christian teens.
While Joshua was away I got to spend some one on one time with both Nicholas and Joseph that was nice Joey spent the evening with a friend so it was just Charles, Nic and I what a weird feeling to have one child home and that it was Nic.
I went with Aathina yesterday when she had her tubal ligation I was her ride home it is amazing what surgeries are considered outpatient now we were there a total of 5 hours and she went home feeling fine and everything. She was having tears about no longer being able to have babies, I so understand those feelings of loss. Charles and I really at one time wanted a larger family we are grateful that God gave us the 3 wonderfully healthy boys we have but I always wanted to have a girl. I guess I will have daughter-in-laws. I hope and pray I can one day be a wonderful Mother-in-law to my daughters and they can respect and love me without obligation.

You will find, as you look back upon your life,

that the moments when you have really lived are the

moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

~Henry Drummond~

3 Questions

A. First, recommend to me:
1. A movie:
2. A book:
3. A musical artist, song, or album:
I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want. Im adding the caveat, Keep it clean.
Then, I want you to go to your blog, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything they want.

Thanksgiving and Gratitude

THANKSGIVING

To fill our cup with Thanksgiving

means to live in the belief

that GOD is working for good even

when things seem to be falling apart.

GRATITUDE

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues,

but the parent of all others.