A Picture of Excellence

I began teaching AWANA JV his 8th grade year.

I sat and watched him play basketball for a local home school covering school. We called him Superman. Players who thought they could charge over him found themselves running head on into a brick wall.

I watched him make hard choices, find peace, and grow spiritually.

He was in youth group with my son, and a student leader for the same group.

I went to his wedding.

Thursday, I watched him graduate from the police academy, with honors.

This is Tim W., now an officer for the town I live in! His father, in law enforcement for 30 years (now retired), pinned his badge on him.

To say we're all proud of him is a huge understatement!

Tuesday is Guest Star Day!

"Spousal resistance anchors you to reality, a reality in which God calls you to love your actual spouse, not your preferred one." -Jeremy Pierre

Thank you to my Kelly for sending me this excellent post!

Our Fridge

Remember in this post where I had these bins and put all the ingredients for each meal in them? I felt so organized! It really did work out well, and anyone could grab a bin and start dinner.

Now that we're eating more plants, I discovered that veggies don't stay fresh very long. It was so discouraging to see things wilt and have to be thrown out. Eating healthful foods is not cheap, by any means.

That's when I remembered the bins:

Now, I've been able to group like-items together, all scrubbed and ready to go! The top shelf has a bin full of red and green peppers. On top of that is a bin with washed grapes, cherries and blackberries. Next to that, without a lid, is a bin with peaches, lemons, and kiwi.

One bin full of scrubbed carrots, ready for juicing!

Below the carrots are beets and something else I can't remember. Fennel and cauliflower next to that.

I'm still working out some of the kinks in the system, but it worked beautifully!

Ok, I'll bet all you seasoned moms out there knew this, but I just discovered it:

I took the crisper drawer, washed it out, then lined it with paper towels. I washed all my leafy greens such as lettuce, cilantro, and parsley, then put them in the drawer. I adjusted the setting and voila! My lettuce stayed crisp and didn't wilt!

Who.

Knew.

The drawer next to it has a broken lid, so I put veggies in that didn't need as much attention:

Cucumbers, mushrooms, radishes, and celery.

This is a TON of food! People open our fridge and can't find a space for anything. Yet, somehow, we still run into the "There's nothing to eat!" syndrome.

Yeah, we saw that coming, too.

Here's a simple solution to Himself wanting something RIGHT NOW:

The ingredients look ok, but honestly you can't beat fresh juice. I know there's stuff in this that I shouldn't have because of migraine triggers.

Lastly, here's proof that we're still eating meat:

But the deli drawer is a great place for bulky apples and pears, too!

I still buy milk for Glenna, but I liked this stuff with my cereal and in smoothies long before we did the Reboot:

Being the only one who likes it means there's more for me. Right?

Organizing the fridge made prep time go more quickly, foods last longer, and less waste with hidden foods rotting away.

Now to figure out a way to eat healthful foods affordably. I'm open to suggestions!

The Call

This is me.

This is me at work.

This is me at work trying to upgrade our software on our server.

This is me at work trying to upgrade our software on our server while on the phone with the software company.

This is me at work trying to upgrade our software on our server while on the phone with the software company for an hour and 30 minutes.

This is me at work trying to upgrade our software on our server while on the phone with the software company for an hour and 30 minutes and failing.

This is me.

Mad Mom

Oh my goodness, look at these beets I'm chopping! They're totally turning everything red!

Ewww, gross, Mom! You're going to eat that?

Of course I'm going to eat it! I'm putting it in juice.

It looks like blood!

Ewww, you're right! You should totally take my picture.

Ha ha! Right!

No. Seriously. Take my picture.

Beets. It's what's for dinner.

*Note to Gafut: I know you think God made them for garment tinting alone, but they're actually pretty good in juice! It also makes the juice a lovely red.

July 29th

Do I even need to say what happened on July 29th?

Unfortunately, one event was that we had to take Cloé to the airport so she could return to France. Sad day.

The other, of course, is that Glenna turned 15! Her brother bought her a cake and we sang to her.

Now she's taking Driver's Ed.

Sigh.

July 22nd

On July 22nd, Paul's sister, Sarita, got married! I was the director for the wedding.

I love doing that.

I love Sarita. She taught Spanish and Algebra to both Tyler and Kelly. She was a high school leader when Ty and Kelly were in youth group. She's this amazing, beautiful girl and we're so happy for her and Nathan, her husband!

We had Cloé with us, so she got to see what a wedding in America was like.

Here's some decorations.

During the photo session before the wedding, one of the groomsmen found this tiki left over from a church play. There were two of them, actually, and I can't wait to see the hilarious photos that came about with them!

What was really funny was that when I wandered out from the reception to see how the car was coming, I found this:

That's two tiki heads and a ton of balloons in the get-away car.

We all laughed so hard!

The reception had lots of food and dancing. It was so much fun! Now, I have to give a little background story to these next photos:

A couple of years ago, I let the girls watch the movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise. There are so many cultural references to this movie, so I watched it with them and censored out the rough spots.

Seeing the movie through their eyes was pretty funny. One of the things they noticed was that whenever Tom's character was anywhere near the Kelly McGillis character, some part of the song Take My Breath Away would be playing.

It was almost like a stalker theme, it was so bad!

Ba da ba DA DA . . . Take my breath awaaaaaaayyyy!!!!

After seeing the movie, one of the girls would start singing it to the other, or they would text it to each other. It was quite the joke around here.

Well lo and behold, during the reception the song came on! Glenna immediately ran to find her sister, who was running to find her. They simply had to dance!

See Kelly's cool new haircut?

I wish I had recorded this on video. They're dancing so dramatically and singing the song to each other.

I hate blurry pictures.

But . . .

I love sisters!

The Game Master

Continuing my recap of the summer, I bring you to an evening at home. Paul was over. So was Ty.

Not many people know that Tyler is a pretty spontaneous cat. At the spur of the moment, he comes up with a game for everyone to play.

In this instance, Paul was idly strumming his guitar.

Ok, you keep playing, and I'm going to try to throw these playing cards into the hole of the guitar. We'll see how many cards it takes before I can do that.

Paul is amused and agreeable. The game begins.

You can see Himself sitting in the background, in his chair. Kelly bought the chair for her room but we can't get it up the stairs. Chair is 29" wide, stairway is 27.5". She was heartbroken.

Anyway . . ..

See the one flying up by Paul's head? No one said all of Ty's spontaneous games were safe.

I think the count was 15 before he got one in. He then did a series of rapid-fire cards and made a mess. No one said Ty's spontaneous games were tidy, either.

My Girl

. . . and her new roommate!

Every room in her unit has only two girls per room, so once again Kelly doesn't have to have three in a room! God is certainly granting her favor in this.

Abby, from last year, did not return to Kelly's school this year. Kelly's roommate, however, is named Abby! She's a freshman and as you can see, she's adorable.

I was unable to drive down and settle Kelly in. I'm going to make the trip as soon as possible, though. Maybe this weekend?

I love you, Kelly!

Looking carefully past Kelly, you can see Snowflake is in his proper place. Hopefully, there won't be more adventures for him this year!

The Magic that Wasn't

Enter in a most embarrassing moment.

On Friday, July 15th, I brought Glenna, Cloé, another French student named Justine, and a girl from her host family named Tori to Magic Kingdom.

After 30 minutes on hold, it was discovered that my pass was all used up for the year and we couldn't get into the park.

So sad, but true! Because I'm now a seasonal cast member, I am only allowed 6 entries per year. Previously, each time I've been issued a new main gate pass it has meant that my count started over. I was so excited when I got a new main gate pass in June.

Alas, it was not to be.

The other embarrassing part was that I had signed up for a Space shift that afternoon, thinking we'd enjoy the park in the morning, I'd do my shift, then we'd watch fireworks and head home. Instead we did the only thing we could do; we rode the monorail to the Contemporary and the Polynesian, got some Dole Whip, then rode the monorail back to parking. I had just enough time to take them all the way back home, drive all the way back to Disney, then work my shift.

Here's the very understanding gang in the gift shop at the Contemporary:

Pick a hat, everyone! I love that Cloé is wearing a chipmunk hat.

The dude everyone poses with at the Polynesian:

They did manage to buy some souvenirs, and from our many monorail rides I was able to teach Justine to say, "Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas."

Time well spent.

July 12

After work, I stopped by a house and picked up the French chaperone. We invited her to go with us to Epcot for 1/2 a day. Cloé and Glenna were ready to go and we loaded up the Jetta for the trip.

We tried to go on Soarin' because I love to visit my home state, but the wait was 80 minutes and the fast passes were sold out. So, we headed over to Test Track:

Hands gotta be in the air, right? That's the French chaperone, Sima, sitting in front of me.

Disney tip: Use the single rider line and you'll barely wait in line. It's more than likely that you won't be in the same car, but who cares? Meet up at the end.

I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of Cloé zipping by, but here's Glenna:

Back seat, great expression. That's my girl!

I really should have taken more photos while we were there. I did take pictures of the important things, like this:

I was in line, ready to get in and have my picture taken, but the rest of my party had moved on without me! Next time.

Click on this photo to make it larger and check out this way cool backpack:
See it? It's a turtle shell! I saw a couple of them, but I didn't see any worn by children. Are the Ninja Turtles making a comeback or remake?

Shortly after we spotted the backpack, the skies opened up. Lightning was directly over our heads in the America section of Epcot! The Sima and I were concerned for our safety as we waited for Cloé and Glenna. I think it was her first big thunderstorm and it was gnarly. I pointed out the lightning rods on every building and she felt a little better.

It poured rain and we were so hungry. We didn't wait for it to stop completely before heading to Japan - Glenna was craving some Asian food!

Afterward, in Morrocco, I caught Glenna trying to get a creative photograph.

So that's how she does it!

We loved going through the French section this time! Boy students don't chat much, but Cloé and Sima had so much to say about that section. We were relieved to hear the perfume was way overpriced there; we would never spend so much on perfume, and neither would they! Sima treated us to a dessert (a tart, yum!).

We stayed to watch the fireworks but ended up being in a poor spot. They say at Epcot, you can stand anywhere in the World Showcase and see the fireworks. Well, where we were standing (between France and the UK) there were trees from the island blocking it a bit, and the speakers were either not working or not there.

We really enjoyed Epcot, even if we didn't get to see or do everything. I think they enjoyed it, too!

July 11

I had a million people in my house. Or, so it seemed.

It was marvelous.

Kelly had her friends Aleah and Kate stay over. Her bedroom looked like this:

Wall to wall beds, anyone?

The upstairs guest room looked like this:

Guest bed, futon, and sleep mats housed Cloé, Bekah, Maria, and Glenna.

If you've lost count, that's seven girls upstairs! All was made possible because of the remodel we did.

Still sunshiney and wonderful!

July 8th

On this day, we took Cloé to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. These two parks are smaller (meaning fewer attractions), so it's easier to do them on one day.

Here's a park tip: If you're going to Hollywood Studios, go directly to the Toy Story Midway Mania and get your fast pass. The fast passes for this place go quickly (as in by 11:30 am!) and the line is always long!

Kelly and Cloé in line for Toy Story. We got fast passes and then hopped in line since it was only 30 minutes (actually took less time).

Here's Cloé, a monkey, and a Drama Queen:

All three girls next to Mr. Potato Head:

It was kind of funny, because this robotic Potato Head can reach up and pull out his ear.

On this occasion, however, he dropped it! Cast members had to come out and put his ear back in.

I'm so glad Cloé was here for that.

This was the first time we chose a female French Student. I'm so glad we did! I have loved each and every student who has come to our home. With Cloé, however, I was able to see things I'd never seen at the Parks, such as:

Beauty and the Beast! We also saw Little Mermaid! I didn't even know what they were about!

Here's an awful and blurry photo of a screamin' good time:

Kelly and I on the Tower of Terror, minus Glenna and Cloé, front row, right side. See my flowery shirt?

Kelly and I have been on this before, but we had forgotten how intense and scary it is! She thought I looked so calm and collected in the photo. I think the camera simple caught me on an inhale before the screams.

We weren't able to convince Chloé to go on a roller coaster. I think she may have gone on Expedition Everest, but it wasn't running any of the times we were nearby. We also had the thrill of Florida thunderstorms and rain ponchos. What's not to love?

Catching Up

Because I'm all about current events, I wanted to post these photos from July 3rd. In fact, the next few days I'll be posting photos from last month.

You're welcome.

For July 3rd, we attended our town's celebration of our independence. We had Cloé, our French Student, with us. In fact, we had only picked her up from the airport a few days before this, so we were still kind of new to each other.

Look at this beautiful photograph of Glenna!


Heh, heh. Moms can get away with this.

Much better! She's wearing her new favorite shirt - Captain America! How appropriate.

Here's Cloé!
We sure miss this girl. She's hoping to come back next summer, and we're hoping and praying that she'll be able to as well!

Ok, ignore the dork in the front of the photo and check out Himself's new hat!
It has been a long search to find a hat big enough to fit his melon. Seriously - we must have tried on every hat in the county.

Mother daughter portrait:
Niicccceeee!

Finally, the sun is beginning to go down.
I should have posted a crowd shot. This place was so packed, it took some people three hours to get out of the parking lot. We parked at Ty's apartment and walked over! It was a better plan and we arrived home much sooner.

Wait, what were we there for?


Oh yeah!

Fireworks set to cheesy rock and roll music = Party!

Hey, It Works!

I was driving with my Kelly somewhere, and we spotted this resourceful worker airing his dirty laundry:





I meant that literally!


Good for you, dirty laundry airing man!