SuperNanny gone awry!

Ever the Supernanny fan, I tried to implement trick, er, meal time method of getting toddler to eat her food, which is abundant praise! Counting the bites and when she takes a bite, give up cheers and woo-hoo's!

It works . . . and the whole family gets involved. Little guy even LOVES the game and will raise his food covered hands into his hair to celebrate each and every bite we fuss over.

Lunch today -

Little Missy goes "AAAaawwww" giving us fair warning that she's about to take a bite preparing us to witness said event, spoon poised at her wide open-smiles at the corners- mouth, eyes big in anticipation.
She takes the bite.
"Woo Hoo, one bite for you!"
We clap, little guy raising his hands up.
I turn to give little guy a bit, but he doesn't get a bite 'cause . . .
"AAAaaawwww" and it repeats again~
and again
and again
WHAT!
She isn't even swallowing that last bite!
Either it is a mad plan to starve little brother or the method works so well she is now stuffing her face . . . We're at 16 bites and her bowl empty.
Finally!
*Whew*
Now I can feed little guy.
Don't know about you, but I don't think I like this method!

Comments and answers.

Mike's a stay at home dad. Totally made me laugh!

Trisha, I've been in Mexico since 1997, met and married my hubby on the field and together we have been in Ensenada since 2004, I think . . We are career Missionaries, so were here till God tells us otherwise.

Heather, you are SO SWEET, and I am e-mailing you info right away! Do you know what lesfa is?

And Charlsie, I know, isn't this fun?! :-)

Care packages

First off, Midsummer Night You are so free to ask away anything about signing . . . no promise that I'd have the answer, but I'd be happy to share from what I know.

Missionary Blog Watch is talking about care packaging. He challenges us to list what we'd like to receive in a care package.

My hubby and I are blessed to belong to a church that annually has a "Project Mission Wish" that sends us out a care package filled with the items that we listed, then the church people do what they can to fulfill these wishes and the packages are sent back to us. When I gave birth to our first child - almost everything! I needed came from this mission wish! What a way to wrap you up with LOVE!

We are fortunate to live 2-3 hours from the US boarder, so any random craving can be fulfilled for the most part. Besides, here in Ensenada, Mexico there is a McD's, Burger King, Carls Jr., KFC and a "Cafe Tomas" that is a Starbuck rip-off, and a close copy! Also we have a CostCo, Office Max, Home Depo, and soon to open, Wal-Mart. Not hard up, are we. So the items listed are mostly wishes and things we either can not afford to buy, is frivolous to buy for ourselves, or they just don't stock here, like:

lefsa - if you don't know what it is, don't send it! It's comfort food for me.
Cheese Wiz - you'd think they would have that here, but no.
Cereal - Honeynut cheerios, Life, Lucky Charms, Capitan Crunch
Goodies - like mint fudge covered oreos. They have oreos here, but they DO.NOT. taste the same, the chocolate is just different here, less sweet, more salty.
Microwave popcorn
Kid craft items - glue, finger paint, kid scissors, construction paper, poster board, and the like
Little girl shoes - all types, size 8, especially the going-to-church type shoes
Play-doh
DVD's - anything from the "The Animated Stories from the Bible", or "Boz, the Green Bear Next Door"
Pretty things - like lip gloss, silk scarf, perfumed lotion and shower gel, scented candles, linen spray, other like things to pamper the "me in mommy" :-) Stuff I generally don't buy for myself. Board Games - like Killer Bunnies (really, a nicer game than you think), and CandyLand, and Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Sorry, etc.
Black picture frames - all sizes
CD writable
a good book on manners - and "Dare to Repair: A Do-it-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home" or other make-a-house-a-home type books
Christian books you'd recomend (fiction or otherwise)
Stamps - since we are so close to the boarder we do receive and send our mail state side, so this is an on-going expense.
When I asked my hubby what he'd like in a care package all he had to say was a Gift Card for Home Depo, also do-able since we have state side access.
Classic or good books on audio CD - for those long drives to and fro the states
Home Videos of family - reading picture books "to" our kids, a way to keep Grandma fresh in their memories and have special times even though they are far away.

And at this time I am preparing to put on a deaf women's retreat, with an "Esther" theme where we will be doing "spa" type things for each other - you know, nails, feet, face . . . It aught to be fun, but anything and everything you could think of would be appreciated, should you feel inclined to help.

Thursday Thirteen

This is two birds with one stone: a meme that Flip Flop Mama tagged on everyone and today's TT. Some random questions (aka a kreme or fleme)

1. Favorite president of all time: I'd have to go with Lincoln
2. Who would you like to meet if you had a time machine: Besides Jesus? Albert Einstein, and maybe he could explain relativity and how light and time are interrelated in a way I could "get" it.
3. Favorite teacher of all time: Miss Judy McKay in elementary school, MN
4. Willy Wonka or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Really can't say, I liked them both and they both had elements of freaky in there.
5. Katharine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn: Audrey.
6. Favorite element on the periodic table: iron? That's on the table right?
7. Favorite line from a movie: "It's just a little bit of harmless brain alteration, that's all" (bazillion points if you can name the movie!)
8. Most useless skill: touching my pointer finger to my pinky over middle and ring finger of same hand without any help
9. Most valuable skill: The regular beating of my heart without even trying. I think it's pretty valuable.
10. Favorite tv show: Oh, boy - I have a few. "Who's line is it anyway" "SuperNanny" "House" "CSI" and "The dog whisperer"
11. Superman, Batman or Spider-man? Superman.
12. Favorite dance move: (in ice-skating) where the spinning gal brings her skate up above her head behind her.
13. Most useless invention: Those little targets you can buy for your little boy to aim at when teaching him to go in the big potty. Seriously, Fruit loops people!!! (mostly stolen from Flip Flop, this one)

A funny

It took me a bit to get it, but once I did, I laughed and laughed.

Wordless Wednesday

At a renaissance fair in Big Bear. The little Missy made herself comfortable in the queen's court.

I'm getting a crazy cold!

I've been pretty fortunate not to get annoying sicknesses like a cold, just big monkeys like growths on ovaries. Still, growths don't make me feel lethargic. (PS: I have an MRI scheduled for the 4th, won't find the results until the 11th, so I've got no new news)

Anywho - I'm getting something pretty fierce and where I want to tell you about the WONDERFUL women's retreat I went on this past weekend, and some humorous stories, and other very meaningful stuff (if I have any), I'm afraid that my head is just going "ouch,ouch ouch AACHHUU, AAACHHUU, sniff, sniff, ouch ouch ouch" and that is pretty dawg-gone dull, even to me.

Yet DO enjoy this link to Heathers blog, and DO click on the image to enlarge it and read the fine print . . . SO worth it!

AAAACCHHUUU! Sniff.
OK, bye.

Ready to laugh?

THANK YOU FLIP FLOP MAMA FOR THIS LINK!

Now watch me and my hubby cut some rug!

For all ye mission minded people.

This was a funny that I totally related to . . . Go see!

Not all sign is universal!

Mexico has it's own sign language, that we are learning now.

There are some similarities. The alphabet is pretty much the same. But there are glaring differences too.

For example, once I was trying to converse with a deaf woman of Mexico when she asked me in what I thought was ASL
"You, lesbian?" to which I was shocked and confused.
NO! I signed.
She looked at me again and signed "You, America?"
Uh, yes . . . And I asked her to spell out what - to me - was the sign for lesbian.
She spelled out i.n.g.l.e.s. (that's Spanish for "English")

The ASL sign for lesbian is the MSL sign for English.

Yeah, just in case anyone asks you where your from.

Deaf does not mean quiet.

Virginia is deaf.

I see her often. She is wife to our pastor to the deaf, who is deaf himself. She is a mother, and my friend. I meet with her on Tuesdays to pray and have coffee, our kids running around our feet.

Just the other day her little boy had a styrofoam cooler and he raised it over his head and let it drop.
Virginia saw it from the corner of her eye, and rushed over telling him "Shhhh! Don't do that! It's too loud."

It really didn't make any noise at all.

A misconception that I've run across while working with the deaf is that often people will assume they are quiet.

No, they are not. At least not initially.

When I worked with deaf children one of the first and ongoing things they learned was to self regulate their noise. They can't hear themselves yelling, or the consequence of slamming a book against their desks. Only that the hearing staff JUMPED when they did so. That's actually pretty amusing, really.

Some enjoyed making throat noises to themselves because the rythmetic vibrations felt comforting. So for hours they would happily play going "ung . . ung. . .ung . .ung". They get each other's attention by beating on a table or stomping on the ground (vibrations). And laughter, emotions like surprise, anger, sadness - just comes out at the hearts level.

In reality - the school for the deaf was a very noisy place. A sign we used looked like turning a key, but at the throat under the chin, and meant - "turn if off".

Virginia now giggles quietly, and is very careful not to be "loud", and she is careful with her children that they, too, aren't loud. I think she is more careful about that than I am! :-)
She blesses my heart, she does.

We've got spirit! Yes we do!

We've got spirit! How 'bout you?


If you don't know, September 15 at midnight (OK, so that is technically Sep 16) a shout goes up from the peoples in each community, in each town, in each pueblo. It is the shout of independence. The independence they gained from Spain. Don't worry - there were no pinatas! These pictures are from the shin-dig at Calvary Chapel in Ensenada - every one is deaf in these pictures except the children and the guy with the sombrero hat, that's the pastor . . .



My kids didn't make it till midnight. They turn back to pumpkins a lot sooner then that. I think they made it to 9pm?

Q. Does Mexico have a 4th of July?

A. YES!
It's right after the 3rd and before the 4th!

This is most certainly true.

I am no writer, folks.

I have no skill at turning a catchy phrase or two. I've tried to keep journals. I have about 5 laying around the house filled to, at most, page 10.

I skipped 8th and 9th grade entirely (you did not read that wrong, but it's a long story) and I think that's when they taught about punctuation and predicates and such - missed it.

My family has the "can not spell" gene pretty strong. It's a dominate gene, it is! (seriously, it's not just me, Scrabble is a riot when we try to play!)

I do have some smarts. Have documents to prove it, have my BA, graduated from college - magna cum laude - but when it comes to writing I am, well, just not gifted. I am not a mother, who is a writer, blogger.

Nope.

I can recognize why good writing is important. I do appreciate those writer-mothers out there that can relay their daily lives in humorous, witty, insightful manner. I often find myself wishing I could.

I blog because I wanted connection to other mothers. I blog because I don't keep memory books for my kids - this is it. And, like I said, I don't keep journals - this is it.

But there is no creative-writer-struggling-to-break-out-of-wife-and-mother-mode here.

I give honors to those creative writer ones out there that I am enjoying daily! I am in full envy mode today. BooMama had me in stiches today!

So what do I have to offer to this blogging world? Hmmmm . . .
Ah-ha! ( light bulb)

I have cute pictures of darling kids!

Captivating

*WHEW*
The final chapter!

An Irreplaceable Role.

Often it seems that we are spinning our wheels. Or that what my hubby and I are doing with the deaf is producing very little. The difference we make - miniscule, the role we play-puny. We begin to start to measure ourselves to other ministries, and/or question our "effectiveness" and we start to feel that we are falling short of . . . Everything.

It's then that we have to get back to the bottom line. It is this - are we where God has called us? Yes. Then we need to not worry about how "successful" we are, because our only requirement is to walk in obedience. The rest is up to Him!

Besides - haven't you heard "Even if you where the only person on earth, Jesus would have died for you."? And - even if you bring a glass of water to someone it's like doing that to Jesus. So, even if we work with/help one person, that person is special enough for Jesus to die for, so they are important enough to me.

I found this chapter very general, a bit repetitive. Kind of anti-climactic. But this stood out to me.

"How it turns out is not longer the point. Living in this way, as a woman alive is a choice we make because it is the woman we want to be. It is our loving response to our Lover's invitation." (pg.215)

Often - mostly - I've found that ones "ministry" is often really God working on us - oh and P.S. He uses that to further His kingdom/bless/help others along the way.

Ak! I've been tagged!

A word association meme. I was tagged by Barefoot in the Garden . . . (he he)

flip - flops

sand - E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.!

vacuum - blackhole

southern - hot

testosterone - poisoning

My five words are . . .

Jesus, Chocolate, Peace, Humor, Hospitality

Do consider yourself tagged!

A Tankini for two (year old, that is)

My husband and I agreed to not place out little girl in bikini's not because she wouldn't look adorable in them but for the same reason this modesty button was placed up for. So a shopping we went. Now that she was potty trained I wanted a two piece that she could get the bottoms down easily. We looked and looked . . . There were LOTS of bikini's and halter, belly showing tops, but the only tankini I could find was in size 4. No matter, we bought it. Now we have a couple of years to go before the butt isn't sagging on it, but I think it is worth it all the same.

Great, the one who dies young . . .

Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?

You're Beth March of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott!
Take this quiz!








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Confessions of a slacker blogger

I must admit . . . Ever since my discovery of Bloglines I have become a class "A" lurker. I tend to only comment if I have something to say. So, I tend to just read through a lot and lurk :-) he he

This came to mind as I was going over FlipFlop Mamma's list that she posted and wondered how she could answer them all! So, Flip Flop, do ya? I give you honors if so because even at my little list, I don't have the time in the day to comment on them all . . .

But in penance . . . To all who swing by here (lurkers too) consider this a comment to your blog - from me and assume I am reading yours. :-)

Captivating

Chapter 11

Warrior Princesses
mmm
doesn't that just sound GOOD?!

feminine yet strong. I like this combination.

This chapter touched on some hot topics, but I am going to focus on the warrior that we as women are called to be. I can not agree more - we are called to battle with the enemy. Who roams about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. It is not us who are strong but Jesus in us that gives us the victory since He has already won it. "But we must apply it" (pg.196)

He trains my hands for battle (Ps 18:34)

Like it or not we live in a warring time. And the battle is bloody. The enemy wants to destroy you and all that is yours. Right now in the small church down here in Mexico God is really speaking to the ladies about this. Just last night our "Deborah" gave the example that once when there was a terrible windy night that did a lot of damage, she slept through it. The next morning when visitors came over and complained about the awful wind and the damage it caused she waved it off, declared it nonsense. Turns out that the wind took off a good portion of her roof, but she was asleep.

Her lesson to us was this: The enemy is already already in our "territory" and if we think otherwise it could be that we are just spiritually asleep, but damage is being done none the less.

I challenge you to seek just how many times the bible speaks to us to "wake up" and how many times does the bible speak about us in battle - our the Lord in battle? Hello-o, "the Full Armor of God" not "the lounging robes of the Lord"

That is the point! Wake up!~ there's a battle going on and we need to defend our homes and our hearts. If we are not then what is getting in through our doors, TV's, radios, computer that is destructive and from the enemy? What are we allowing to creep in between us and our husband, children, family, friends, or the Lord? And we will be attacked. The ladies here are experiencing that right now something heavy. The enemy wants to destroy us! I know it.

We stand at the door of our homes in defense of them by the power of the Lord, armed with the sword of the Word. Jesus's name is P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L, so use it as the powerful weapon against the enemy that it is!

"Ladies, you are the Bride of Christ . . . and the Bride of Christ is a warring bride." (pg. 195)

PS:

-Our lesson last night was from 2 Chronicles 20, I encourage you to read it for yourself and see:

• enemies came against Jehoshaphat and were already in their territory
• he turned to the Lord, and his prayer was mostly of a declaration of who God is and what He had done
• he states (and I know I can too!) "we have no power to face the [enemy] that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you"!
• even the little ones were there :-)
• Then God said don't worry, I've got this. (paraphrasing) :-)
• they battled entirely with praise and thanksgiving
• and the enemy was defeated entirely by the Lord!

Let's apply it!

The Bermuda Triangle of DVD's

Today Charlotte's Web went missing.

This is the latest in the long line of DVD's that have all of a sudden VANISHED, case at home, just no DVD!

My dear hubby is beginning to suspect me of randomly just hiding these DVD, for fun and giggles and to add some spice to our relationship.

I searched high and low, cleaned out some dust bunnies I found along the way . . . Nothing. So we had to appease little miss with the Wiggles (now I understand why my cousin was so pleased to bless us with her son's own collection of the Wiggles!)

When the Wiggles were (thankfully) finished, I went and took the DVD out and yet the DVD player continued to hum as if something where still inside!

I peeked in - nothing. So I picked it up, gave it a shake and

Voila!

Out came:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
A Discovery channels special on sharks ( a favorite of hers)
Boz
The Incredibles (one of the first to go missing in action about a year ago!)
A Veggie Tale video
and Charlotte's Web

Count 'em, that's 6 DVD's that were all in the DVD player at once! Seven, if you consider the Wiggle DVD played while these 6 were held hostage inside!

I can. not. explain it.