I told Joy that this new dish (Mexican Cornbread) "tasted better than it looked".

She came to the table like this because she had decided not to look. : )

Wednesdays in the Word

I recently met a woman with two weeks to live!
She pulled up next to me in a parking lot and wanted directions. And then she kept talking. She told me about an artery that burst and showed me the hole in her neck.
I couldn't help noticing her car! It was bright yellow with green flames all over it and it had a fin on the back. You expected to see a young man driving it and not a 60 year old woman. She said it was a birthday present that she gave herself.
I was thinking that this was some kind of major divine appointment and I needed to share the Lord with her but I was greatly relieved to find out that she knew the Lord and goes to a good church that we know of. I told Bonnie that I'd be praying for her and I have been.
But now I wish that I would have prayed with her on the spot for healing and an extension to her life. We should have prayed and believed God for a miracle right there blocking traffic in the Wal*Mart parking lot next to that wild looking car.... Because desperate faith gets results!
I love the account in Luke 8 of the woman with the issue of blood who was desperate. She had a desperate faith and it got results! I love that Jesus stopped everything to find out what happened. He wanted to know all about why power went out of Him. As a kid, I pictured Him being grumpy when He asked "Who touched me?"
Now, I think He must have been THRILLED! Thrilled that somebody in that crowd had the faith to extract power from Him! That faith gave this woman the healing she was desperate for. I can just picture Him smiling and telling her to "Be of good cheer! Your faith has healed you. Go in peace." What a great example she is for us today.
If you see a wild looking car as you go about your day, maybe you'll say a prayer for Bonnie?
~Becky

Heros

Remember The Adventures of Superman?

Our kids had a Superman marathon yesterday watching these old TV programs we checked out from the library. They thought it was rather fitting since it was a day devoted to honoring heroes who've fought for our country, to spend time watching this 'hero'. I thought that was cute.

One of our boys was so impressed by their language that he kept wishing that he lived back in the day when "Golly" and "Gee whiz" were the worst words anyone used! Amen!

Personally, I didn't remember Lois being so prideful and onary. Ick!

They kept wondering where he stored his suit and hat. : )

The special effects were too funny. Don't you love these old programs? Awhile back, we were on a Roy Rogers kick and we watched all of those we could find. Before that, it was the Lone Ranger. Great fun!

I am really glad that American Idol is over! It was fun but it was TV overload! Especially since my kids can quote all the Ford and Alltell commercials by heart now. Ugh! But, maybe if we check out some more Superman dvd's they'll all be saying "Golly" and "Gee whiz!" ha ha

~Becky

The convention and what school will look like around here next year

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!
It was rather overwhelming! When I first walked into the exhibit hall, I know I had that glazed over look in my eyes. It's sure grown in the last several years....

God blessed and I found what I wanted and only went a little bit over budget. : ) Considering all those vendors and the fact that it's homeschool heaven and that I didn't have my hubby there to talk me out of my 3 unnecessary purchases, I thought I did rather well!ha ha

Here's some things we are going to use next year:

Joy, Andrew and Nathan are going to do A New World of Adventure by Learning Adventures.
I love, love, love unit studies!!! This includes everything but math. Joy and Andrew are using Saxon and Nathan is using Math U See.

Zach is going to do Sonlight's Core 100 American History and their language arts program. But I was blessed to find it used before I arrived! yahoo! And I'm going to use the library and Amazon for the required literature. We love Teaching Textbooks for Math! Zach said that he doesn't love math but he does love this curriculum, and that's a praise report and I am so thankful! (even though it is SO pricey!) We are going to do some various things in chemistry for science. His elective is going to be computer media. Not sure on the official title we are giving that but he loves editing and he wants to work in the media dept. at church, video taping the services. We also bought an interview from a computer genius who shares free software info. that he really wanted. I think he'll have fun with it.

(now for the unnecessary purchases)

I love Geography Matters and we've done their studies for the last couple of years. I bought this adorable piece of fabric from them! And I am going to make into a quilt to hang on the wall. I think all the states will look too cute quilted. Each state has a fun reminder of what is grown there or what it is popular for. The kids love it. Of course, I can't work on this til I finish the quilt I'm working on that was a Christmas gift for someone special last Christmas! I'm slow!

It was fun to have Zachary along. He's so sweet. And he patiently followed me around for hours shopping and going to lectures. He got really worn out. He wanted to know how I could keep on going and he said "Mom, books must give you energy or something!" ; ) They probably do, I love them!

This was his reward. A marshmellow gun. Sorry, my toes are in the photo!!!



Cute, huh? (the gun and not my toes!!) It came with marshmellows. Very easy to make! We are going to give it a try so that Nate, Joy and Roo can shoot back at him. : )

All the way home, we talked about potatoe cannons and matchbox rockets! This is what we will be up to this summer and he's pretty excited. And it's all science! So, of course, I'm excited. This was from Vision Forum.
Besides the shopping, I heard some inspiring and helpful lectures on high school. I was so blessed to be coached through some choices by my dear friend and evaluator Debbie Strayer. She is such an encouragement!

~Becky

*Note to myself, just in case I forget: It wasn't in the least bit relaxing so remember that you do not want to make this weekend into a family vacation even if you can afford it someday. : )

The weekend

Today is actually the real date of the bowling party. ; )

Tonight the teens from church are having an end of the school year party with a Christian concert, laser tag and lots of food.

Tomorrow is the Home School Convention for our state. I haven't been since Zach started Kindergarten. I was a nervous wreck! : ) Now, for phase 2 of this homeschooling journey, Zachary and I are heading over there to spend the day together to get the scoop on high school!

Saturday, it is Joy's turn to go camping with Daddy! Every 8 weeks or so, he takes one of our kids camping for some one on one time with him. This is part of his STRATEGY. They just about go no matter what the weather is like. Joy is blessed. This is great camping weather. It was pretty cold in Feb. when Roo went but of course he didn't mind in the least. They love it and look forward to it for months. It's a Mennonite campground on a lake and they have canoes, a game room, tree house, playground, human Foosball, 4 square, and a pool. Lots of fun!!!!


Sunday, is church of course, and the awards for Junior Bible Quiz. Nathan is going to give a little speech about what JBQ has meant to him. yay!

Not sure what Memorial Day holds, maybe a NAP! ha ha

Have a blessed holiday weekend!

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

Be anxious for.... homeschooling high school.
Be anxious for ...the finances to home school high school.
Be anxious for....curriculum choices for all your kids for next year.

This is the way I have been acting and Philippians 4:6 was such a good reminder to ...
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God;"

If I keep it up, Prov. 12:25 says

"Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression."
And I'd much rather have the second half of Phil. 4:6 instead! "- the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding..."

This is also a comfort from Ps. 138:
"The Lord will perfect (= accomplish, finish, fulfill) that which concerns me."
-Which at the moment, can you guess? It's homeschooling high school. : )
I'm so glad to have Him in on this! I believe it was His plan before it was Zach's desire or mine. So, I think I'll let Him be in charge and provide and I'll step down.

The Lord doesn't want us anxious and depressed. He's so good to us! : )

My sincere apologies

Dear Postal Carrier,

I am so sorry that I did not hose down our mailbox before you came yesterday. It must have been a terrible yet memorable event to put mail in our box. You were faithful, though. I bet you were wishing it was rain, snow or sleet you had to deal with instead of this. My kids told me how bad it smelled. I got distracted but I really should have remembered to take care of that issue because how often does a neighbor throw up on your mailbox?! And if I ever do have 'a next time', I promise to be more prompt. I hope that you aren't planning revenge by sending our mail to Timbuktu! ; )

~Becky

Princesses of the King

The Missionettes are having a retreat!

Joy and I are actually going!!! (the Lord moved some mountains and made it possible for us to go even though we only found out about it at the last minute) We are really excited about attending an all girl event!!! Bless Joy's heart, we drag her to just about every Royal Ranger event known to man since my hubby and I teach the Ranger Kids and all her brothers are in Rangers.

The theme of the weekend is "His Princesses." Which is a lovely way to remind us that we are daughter's of the King of Kings! I love that! So, they are having a royal banquet and we are all to come dressed as princesses! (or in our Sunday best) I'm going to wear my bridesmaid's dress from a wedding I was in last year.

I have this other semi formal dress, that I bought at a garage sale years and years ago for $7.00. I just never could part with it because I thought it might come in handy someday. It didn't really come in handy to wear anywhere in public but I did have some fun in it when Joy was little. When she was 3 yrs. old, she used to ask me to put it on and then she'd put on her dress up clothes with her boa and plastic heels (too cute!) and we'd dance around the living room together to her favorite Christmas song. (but she doesn't remember that)

Today when I had that dress laying out, she said that she wished she could wear it as her princess gown. She tried it on and it pretty much fit her. It's a little long, but oh so, cute. All I need to do a little bit of altering to the waist but it looks adorable on her! She said that it really didn't look like it would fit me. -Gotta love that honesty. I said, "Let's not discuss that and pretend that it would!) ; )

This is the dress.

Do you think it needs some fake white fur around the shoulders for a stole? Can princesses wear black? Is there a way to shine up old cloudy rhinestones? We have a month to figure it out.....

Princess suggestions welcomed here! : )

~Becky

Who can't wait to go tiarra shopping!!!

My boys made my day!

During a conversation in which Zach and Nathan were wondering why we don't eat these everyday,I told them how unhealthy that would be and how I'd been thinking it might be neat to someday try following the dietary laws that God gave in the Old Testament....
They weren't going for that idea at all. (I guess we like pork around here) Then one of them said "If you did that, Mom, you'd look like a model."

And the other one said:
"Not, that you don't already."

Isn't that too sweet?!?! I don't think they are right about that, I just want to remember that they said it! : )

~Becky

Our adventures on aisle 4

I'm glad that all our shopping trips are not like this one!

One kiddo dropped a sweet pickle jar.....which left me very wet and sticky.

Another kiddo, who dreads being the center of attention for any reason, was busy pretending that he didn't know us, two aisles way with the other shopping cart. Then we realize that we have grabbed someone else's cart making our total 3! It was full of white bread and the donuts. ~Dead give away that it wasn't ours! ; )

~Becky

The tea, the chocolate and a book suggestion

The Mother/Daughter Tea

Here's our picture.

Oh! I want a chocolate fountain of my very own! Yum! Those are too fun! Actually, it's probably better that I don't get one. ; ) I got a kick out of a couple little girls who would put their pretzels under the chocolate, take a bite and then stick them back in the fountain. EWW!!

It was a great, girly time! And goodness knows, she and I were overdue for one of those! (but we have another one coming up that is going to oh, so fun. I'll post about it soon)

I was rather surprised though, when someone at our table insulted all homeschoolers in general. Maybe she didn't notice she was outnumbered. ha ha. But, I didn't take offense. It doesn't bother me if she thinks all homeschoolers are weird. (she doesn't know the fun she's missing!!!)

Then she told us her opinion of how just ghastly it is that some girls only want to grow up to be wives and mothers. (That was me! And I'm loving it!!!!)

Speaking of which, have you read this book?

It will totally encourage you in your glorious roles as wives and mothers. And if it doesn't radically change your life, then it will, at the very least -BLESS it. ~ And your hubby will be really glad you read it.

~Becky

A little more p.e. is happening around here now

I pretty much gave up p.e. for the cold months of winter. I know you may not think FL gets cold but it does -or at least it gets what I think is cold.
The first time we exercised in the cold, my kiddos caught colds, so it seemed to defeat the whole healthy purpose.
I'm not sure what my excuse is for the beautiful months of spring that have slipped by.....
But, we're back at it now.

After devotional we either jog one mile or we ride bikes 2 miles. And we try to go 2 or 3 times a week. The kids prefer biking and I prefer jogging because I can bring Honey. (although she is really slow but I may be when I'm 49 too! I take that back, I'm slow at 37!) The kids are rather sick of jogging. But, last year they were all able to jog a mile without stopping and for which they were rewarded. I however, never was able to pull that off and reward myself. ; )

The new thing I've started doing, is going out after dinner for a little more exercise. Because I'm not in a big hurry (like I am in the morning- to get school started) I ride to the 'pond' which is really a lake but since we are having a drought, it doesn't even have a foot of water in it. It's fun to ride over there because you go through the historic district and can enjoy all the cute remodeled bungalows that were built in the 20's and 30's. One of my kiddos came last night and got pretty absorbed in the quaint atmosphere.... They were riding right in the middle of the road toward and oncoming car, so I yelled and they got back to the side of the street. This cute person said "Mom, I was looking at the houses and planning what mine is going to look like someday." : )

Here's a nice quote from our President:

"People ought to exercise everyday....
yet, more than a third of our children
don't get an hour's worth of exercise in
a week. How about parents playing a game
with their children in the backyard for 30
minutes or an hour? It would be good for
the child, it would be good for the parent,
and it would be good for the family."
~President George W. Bush

~Becky

A sweet letter

Isn't this one adorable letter?!
It reminded me that 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach' right? And maybe that counts with little men too. But after I hugged him,
he said "I'm sorry that I don't actually eat what you cook though."
Oh, I laughed and laughed, because it is true! He quite often asks if I'm "offering a peanut butter and jelly option to this meal." : )

But, that is probably Grand Daddy Don's fault because when I was little, he said "I hope you have a child as picky as you are someday!'
And so voila -Andrew!!!
I think he takes the cake though....(and that he would eat!)

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom

Dear Pat,

I'm sure it wasn't easy to become an instant mother to an 8 yr. old : )

I remember...

~eating the dough when you baked

~listening to Shirley Temple records

~roller skating door to door to hang advertisements for Dad's stores

~going to plays on Mt. Helix

~cookie pizza!

~the paper maiche Snoopy head you made for my costume in the Christmas play

~the Easter dress and hat you made for me

~all the slumber parties

~Thomas Brother's maps being your second favorite book in the world : )

~Shaklee and make up lessons


Thank you for....

~having my colors done

~teaching me to drive when I couldn't get the hang of it from Dad or Grandpa : )

~letting us talk you into lots of trips to the beach

~rides everywhere! Unlike my friends parents, I always knew that you wouldn't mind giving me a ride to any Bible study or teen devotional I wanted to go to

~for charging up your credit card for all those clothes for going off to college and all the help getting ready to go

~for sending cute decorations when my dorm room looked so gloomy

~for listening to me talk nonstop every night when M. broke my heart. (you must have been bored stiff but I couldn't tell) Your listening ear, helped heal my heart and then God brought me the man of my dreams!

~for loving my hubby

~for being a sweet and loving 'Gramma' to my kiddos.

~And most of all for showing me your absolute love for the Word of God. I never doubted that it sustained you and was the most important thing in your life. I'm so thankful to have had that example.

Happy Mother's Day!
I love you,

Becky

Achievement Night and Mother's Day

Tonight is our home school group's Achievement Night where we honor our children for their accomplishments throughout the year. It's always a really nice evening. Everyone dresses up and brings a main dish and dessert to share. Someone has a relative who is a professional photographer and we each have a family photo made.
In past years, each family takes the stage for a few minutes and passes out "diploma's" for whatever grade their children finished and the fathers say sweet things about the kids and their wives.... but that took WAY too long!
The next year it was shortened to just the passing out of diplomas and no sweet speeches.
The next year (to save more time) the parents didn't go on the stage at all and the president of the group passed out the diplomas as our kids filed past...

Kind of funny how things evolve!

At least my family is really getting a kick out of it this time. This year we only have to come in dressy/casual attire. My hubby is really glad he doesn't have to wear a tie ! The newsletter said that we were to bring "desserts to share." I thought, 'OK, that's sure easy!'
But then the next newsletter arrived and it said that we are now to bring "healthy snacks." Too funny! You see someone complained about all the sugar intake.
I don't know, but somehow the evening seems to have lost some of the essence of celebration...
Maybe it's just us, but our kids aren't too excited about going to celebrate with carrot sticks. ; )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mother's day is on the way!
It's fun to watch the kids scurry around and keep secrets. Sundays are so busy with church etc... that my hubby has decided that Mother's day will have two phases. (last year he postponed it all together for a more convenient day, because we were in CO, cleaning out Grand Dad's house to sell)
So, Mother's day Phase Two will be next Saturday. We will be going to both services on Sunday morning because the drama group that Joy and Andrew are in, were asked to do the Behold the Lamb song (again!) for the whole church this time. Which is really neat. (and since my battery was dead at the women's conference-I'm really glad for another chance to film it!)

Andrew made me shake hands and promise that I will not be on a diet on Sunday.
Today he wrote me a letter saying that he wanted to buy me lunch today for Mother's day. It was so cute. It was a keeper of a letter, since 'lunch' was misspelled. I love those little notes. He handed me a $5.00 bill and said "you can get pretty much anything you want to!" : )

Saturday, the Missionettes (similar to christian girl scouts)
are having a Mother / daughter tea!
Joy says that she has 'nothing to wear.' (I'm SO glad I have a daughter!!!!! They are so much fun!)
So, we will be going there tomorrow (after we figure out what to wear!) and the guys are all going to Carlos' to help dig up two tree stumps. Their kind of fun! That night my hubby and I are going to have a much needed date night. yay!
That will be our weekend! I hope yours is blessed and that you have a wonderful Mother's day!!!
~Becky

God is the best travel agent!

I'm going to share the details that go with this post and give the whole praise report as it has unfolded in the last couple of months!

That Saturday, our kids prayed to be able to go and visit their grandparents. (my parents) We found out that they couldn't come to see us in Feb. as we were hoping for. We asked God to make a way, since 6 plane tickets to CA were not in our budget.

Our dear friend from TX (who works for an airline!) emailed us on Monday and said that they wanted to give us 6 airline tickets to go anywhere we'd like to!!!
And that just blew us away!!!
All that we have to pay for are the taxes on the tickets!
Amazing!
Prayer answered!!!

My dad was really excited because it's been a long time since we've come to see them. I took the kids 3 yrs. ago but my hubby couldn't get the time off from work.

We are planning to go in September when my dad has a week off from work. Well, that week, just so happens to coincide with our 16th anniversary! (we were married in CA)

And so....
we are going to spend one night in the same hotel where we had our honeymoon!!! Ahhhh!!!!

Is that a romantic way to spend an anniversary or what?!

The hotel was new back then and our two night stay we was a wedding gift from Paul and Michele. (my brother and sister in law) It is so expensive to stay there! I hope it was cheaper back then. Gracious!!! But, we are saving up...

My parents are more than happy to keep our kids for us that night. (Come to think of it, I don't think I've asked them to babysit in about 8 years. ha ha -Because you really miss out on a lot of free babysitting when you live 3000 miles apart!)

The last time we left our kids with anyone and went away together, was for a 10 day mission trip to Mexico! Our kiddos were really young and well, romantic is not a word I'd use to describe that trip. We had seperate rooms and they were full of teenagers. : )
(but one elderly lady from our church was somehow convinced that Andrew was conceived in Mexico! Too funny!)
So, this is a really big deal for us. My hubby has been praying for us to have a night away, but who would have thought it would be in CA,
on our anniversary,
with my parents babysitting
and that we'd be going here again?!

It's just so perfect. I'm in awe!
God is the best travel agent ever!

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

What a blessing it was to read Psalm 127 today!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of ones youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed.."

I used to call my kiddos "my rewards from the Lord," which was a long title to use. ; )
( I need to get back to that) Speaking the Word has power and it blessed them and it reminded me of the truth. Because sometimes it feels as if the "quiver" may self destruct. You know, when they are all fighting and annoying each other...
But the truth is, they are weapons! And one day, they will be 'shot' from our home and they will do some damage to the enemy's kingdom! Hallelujah!
May they fly, true and straight, wrecking havoc on the kingdom of darkness and pointing many to the SON.

~Becky

The weekend

Boy, did we pack a lot into it! It was a great time and a lot of fun having Phil here.

On Friday we picked up Carlos and went and had authentic Cuban sandwiches which were awesome! I haven't had one like that in years. Yum!!!

We headed to a near by park where we had some fun, saw some alligators and the guys shot their air soft guns. (at each other and not the gators)

When my hubby came home from work, he, Phil, Zach and Nathan headed to the Royal Ranger grounds for the black powder rifle course. All of them passed the test even though they only had 4 hrs. of sleep. (Nathan was one of the youngest guys there) The boys came home with a very healthy fear of guns so it must have been a great course. Uncle Phil is giving us his black powder rifle and they are very excited! Here is my hubby (in orange) shooting:

Saturday night, we had Carlos over for dinner and then the guys kept their cigar smoking tradition. ICK!!! (my hubby and his brothers smoke one whenever they get together which is once and sometimes twice a year, so I guess I can't complain) : )

Sunday after church, the guys headed to Carlos' to change a water pump in our truck. They taught Zach to do it! What a great memory for him, surrounded by his dad, his almost uncle and his real one, working on a car! Did I mention it was one testosterone loaded weekend?!

Then we took Phil to our favorite beach to see the sunset. Of course, we can never pass up a chance to play in the water either. My hubby actually enjoyed it and wants to go again soon. Stop the press! ; )

It was a gorgeous evening. Phil enjoyed watching the wind surfers. Then a storm rolled in and we raced to the car to head home and have pizza.

Phil left yesterday morning! Life is back to normal now. I have an exciting praise report to share tomorrow! Now, I have school to finish, tile to go look at, a library trip to make and a book sale to go to tonight. (Besides getting giddy about annuals and loving the beach, I get all excited about used curriculum fairs!) : )

Blessings,

~Becky

We are all about signing and shooting today

My brother in law flew in last night to go to an event with my guys. They are going to take a black powder rifle course and get certified to shoot those old fashioned guns. (Rangers compete with them) So, they just left to head out to the Royal Ranger camp ground for a day and a night for shooting and male bonding. : )

Joy and Andrew are performing a drama by signing to the song Behold the Lamb again for a ladies conference at church. I'm hoping to get it on video. (we accidentally taped over their performance for Easter) I get blessed every time I see it. Maybe I'll get techie and learn how to put a snippet of it on the blog....

Have a great weekend and a blessed day in the house of the Lord!

~Becky

Some fabulous field trips

The Lord blessed us with some great field trips recently. At times it seems that the more you spend, the better the field trip, but that was not so with these. They were free and some of the best we've been on in a long time.

The first one was to a wholesale nursery and it was by far the most inspirational one we've ever been on. This home schooled (with Rod and Staff and Saxon) young man had the idea to start a nursery on his family's 5 acres of land when he was 9 yrs. old. Today they own 45 acres and have a flourishing (pun intended) wholesale nursery business. He is 17 now and he runs the business with his family's help. He is brilliant. When his only English speaking employee quit, he had to learn Spanish -quick. He used Bi-Lingual America (which I am sure going to look into it) and became fluent in 3 months! He was so motivated that he used to get up at 3:00 AM to study. (He's been tested as being at a 3rd yr. college level! How awesome is that?!) He has an invention he is working on that a lawyer and some engineers think will be successful. He memorized this 300 page irrigation book and had questions that the authors couldn't answer for him. He needed this system to treat the water and get the right ph balance for the plants (you can tell it was over my head) and it cost $12,000.00. He studied it and decided to make one on his own. God gave him favor with that company and they agreed to sell him the parts for only $4,000.00. He built it and that company actually thinks his design is better than theirs. He also has a web design business on the side. He was such a sweet, soft spoken humble young man. (with a rightfully proud mama!) It was so inspirational to see how God gave him a vision and a passion for this and what all has become of it. I could go on and on about the things he's designed and studied.... Just amazing!

The other trip was to Honeymoon Island. We were blessed with a sweet park ranger who gave us two programs. The first one was on shells and we learned the different names of the two most common ones and learned why live shelling is prohibited etc...
She had the younger kids go on a "treasure hunt" to look for these shells. Well, it turned out to be a real treasure hunt for Joy! She found a $20.00 bill blowing in the wind. : )
(and she generously bought us Slurpee's on the way home)

The next program for the older kids was all about sea grass. They learned which kinds the sea turtles eat and which kind the manatees eat etc... Then we searched for creatures with nets and examined the water in a microscope. It was so much fun!!!
After all that we played on the beach. I was about the only mom who wanted to play in the water! ; )

~Becky

Another fun contest!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom for some great contests!

I want the ipod and of course I'll always go for some chocolate!!! ; )

Wednesdays in the Word

We aren't always good
and we don't always readily forgive.

It's a wonderful thing that God is so unlike us, isn't it?

"For You, Lord are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all who call upon You."

Here are some more wonderful things about Him from Psalms 86 that I am thankful for:

Thank you Lord that "in the day of trouble I will call upon You for you will answer me."

Thank you Lord that "You are great and do wondrous things."

Thank you Lord that "You alone are God."

Thank you Lord that "great is your mercy toward me."

Thank you Lord that "You have delivered my soul..."

Thank you Lord that "You have helped and comforted me."

Thank you Lord that "You show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed."

Thank you Lord that "You are a God full of compassion, gracious, long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth."

~Becky

Me and my Tri Star

I have a love/hate relationship with my vacuum.
(this one is similar to mine)
More often hate than love actually. It's a tank! It must weigh 40 lbs! We bought it used 5 yrs. ago for $300.00 because we wanted something that was really going to clean our carpets and help with allergies. It does! It picks up dog hair and dust by the pound! (can you tell that I don't change the bags as often as I should?) My step mom still has the one I grew up using! (it's cute and retro looking in a turquoise green color) I've often wanted to retire my 'tank' to a closet and head to Target for a cheap LIGHT WEIGHT vacuum.

But for some reason, my hubby loves it! (not that he actually uses it-ha ha) But, there's something about it that he appreciates. Maybe its the beefy motor? I can't remember because I usually zone out when he recites all the good qualities of my vacuum. ; )

Anyway, after breaking belts just about weekly and filling our house with a lovely burned rubber fragrance, the rug attachment finally bit the dust. Or ceased to bite the dust, anymore.

The repairman called today:

"We can fix your attachment for $88.00 or we can offer you a trade in on your old unit and give you $1350 towards the new model."

$1350.00 or $ 13.50? I'm thinking.

Purely out of curiosity I asked how much the new model is. He said $2700.00. choke!
But, only $1350 for me, with my trade in. (Goodness, are we really talking about VACUUMS
here?!)

Then I heard the sales pitch for the new one and mercy me, I wanted one! He said "Basically, everything that you don't like about yours, has been changed and is no longer an issue and you can use it one handed because it goes in whatever direction you turn your wrist. You can even use it while talking on the phone because it is so quiet now."
AAAHHH! It sounded heavenly! And I had a radical change of heart towards Tri Stars. ; )
When I told my hubby all this on the phone today, he said:

"Where's my wife? I want to speak to my wife. What have you done to her?!" (he's so funny!)

I told him how the repairman is going to fix our attachment and wants us to bring in our whole vacuum to discuss trading it in.

To which he said, "Send Zach in with the money (to pay for the attachment) and be sure you wait in the car!" I laughed and laughed.

So, no trade in for me! I won't be vacuuming and talking on the phone any time in the near future. And I probably can't get it to go where I want it to even if I turn my whole body. But just the thought of it will make me smile, as I lug my 'tank' out of the closet and thank the Lord that I don't have a two story house!

*Updated later:
The repairman had Tri Stars from every decade. Too cute! My mom's is from the early 50's. They were made in 1946 after the war. He said "they were made by engineers who had nothing to do and this is what they came up with." Wow! No wonder, it's a "tank!!!!" ; )