Being lavoed

I woke up to this on my fridge.

My daughter did it - she has a heart about that big ~

I love her for it.

Still, it is bittersweet for me - because it shows dyslexia -

I believe dyslexia is in my family, and that I have it, even if we've never been tested for it.

It comes from my mothers side.  For one thing - we ALL can't spell.  I'm not the only one that struggles with left and right, and I know there are some that will get lost in a Wal-Mart.

This link has great information about the symptoms of dyslexia if you're interested.

My daughter has some very marked symptoms.

True to my nature, I'm reading several books about and from dyslexic authors and one in particular calls himself, not dyslexic but a "creative learner" . . .

'tant that the truth!  So, where it pulls at my heat strings to see "love" and "you" spelled incorrectly - I LOVE LOVE LOVE that she uses the  letters as adornment. . .

as it so happens I was watching some past scenes of America's Next Top Model and find a scene where one of the girls struggles with her dyslexia  . . . which I posted below.

no privacy

 Being a mother of small kids I've lost the sense to close bathroom doors way before now . . . but this particular door just gives me more cause . . . We have a cool bathroom in our master bedroom - it's door is a sliding mirror door.  So when closed it looks like a closet - but the door sticks and is heavy to move.

I'm just making excuses for myself, I admit.

End result; I don't think there ever was a time our now 3year old wasn't able to come check on us at any time and just chat while we're doing our business . . . and we just don't care, as long as they don't.

I mean . . sometimes, I just would care for the sake of that poor nose . . .

Anyway - not remembering the particulars, I'm doing my business . . reading a magazine when said 3 yr old comes in wanting my attention for some particular thing . . .

"I'm busy now, I'll go when I'm done." I explain

This little negotiator gets reeeeeal close and looks me almost nose to nose - with his other hand on the flusher he flushes it without ever taking his eyes of mine and says

"You're all done now."

Digno y Santo (LSM); Michelle Pfingston.mp4

Cultural differences

I just read a most excellent post about our trips to the gas station in Mexico.  Click Here to read it.

Funny he didn't mention that you throw the toilet paper into a trash receptacle . . NEVER NEVER into the toilet.

So being so close to the boarder I have seen the DIRE consequences of this little cultural difference on both sides of the boarder.

On one side the visiter is backing up toilets and causing a whole butt load (pun intended) of problems for septic tanks everywhere . . .

On the other side visitors - at a loss of what to do with the toilet paper (looking round, looking round) if female will use the feminine hygiene disposal receptacle until that little bitty thing is overflowing and then just start throwing it down on the ground.

Because any self-respecting person KNOWS you DO NOT through toilet paper in the toilet!!!!  The lesser of two evils is to place it on the ground.  In consideration to the USA-ers, not wanting to back up their systems.

This is really bad news if it is a public toilet in a park.  And the poor thing doesn't have a feminine hygiene disposal receptacle to stanch the flow of used toilet paper to the ground . . .

eww

eww

eww!

Then the native USA-ers come in and *tsk*tsk* at those messy others . . . .

It really does look bad - doesn't it?

And then they bless your heart . . .

Trying to put my priorities into practice I started - at the beginning of the school year - to gather the kids up at 6:30 in the morning, sometimes piling them all on the couch or into our bed, to read the Bible.  They'd be barley awake if awake at all . . . with the two year old running around . . .

"OK!  Where are we?"  pause  "you awake, Andrew? . . . Can you hear me, Sarah? . . . Alex . . shhhh!  Be quiet . . we are going to read the Bible now."

The past couple of days the 2 year old grabs a small new testament and announces "I read Bible!  SHHHHH  BE QUIET eb'y body, I read Bible"  over and over . . . what funny little mirrors they are of us!  Ha ha.

Sometimes . . ok, OFTEN, I would just go on thinking that even if they WERE sleeping, their spirit is awake and can take it in.

Then yesterday I drove their father to the ER state side.  He's had a bad cough for two weeks that just kept getting worse and we were concerned it was pneumonia.  He checked in at the ER at about 3pm and was moved to a room about 10:30pm.  Finally about 11 I left and drove home.

It was a late when I arrived home.  I looked forward to sleeping in.

I blame the stressful day for my laps in thinking

. . . I mean really - WHAT WAS I THINKING?  I'm a MOTHER of SMALL CHILDREN and every mother knows that even when you're pulling teeth to get them up on the weekdays, come Saturday and everyone is UP AN AT 'EM at the crack of dawn.

First the 2 year old came buzzing around, I don't know what time it was, I didn't look.  Didn't have to . . I knew it was still Too Early, my headache told me so.  That and the grey skies.  But said two year old was in distress because he Couldn't Find his Bible (the little new testament) . . .

Soon the 5 year old comes crawling to my bed shortly followed by the 6 year old.

And then my 5 year old says "Why are you not reading the Bible to us?" . . .

and that blessed me to my core -

Because he WANTED to hear it - so I can assume he wasn't COMPLETELY asleep all those other mornings?

He LIKES to hear it?

Alright - so maybe I'll get up now, after all.

solo tu amor

It's time for a name change here!!!

I'm done with diapers - mostly -

The middle one still wets at night - but we are otherwise all done . . so I'm no longer "between" diapers . ..

Any thoughts on a name for this blog, then?

I'll have to think it over.

Meanwhile:

Because "No Bake" is my middle name . . .

Planning my boy's 5th birthday was a no brainer.

I *REALLY* like no-brainners.

He's all into soldiers, half his wardrobe is camouflage , and most of his toys follow suit.   Army theme then . . . 

So I googled images of army cakes to get an idea - and was thinking I would have to order something 

that whole "no bake" thing . . . you know

And I asked my boy to come over and choose which one'd he'd like.  I'm thinking a Jeep, or a Tank or something . . . but pictured was one simple chocolate cake with a bunch of toys on top . . .

And that was what he wanted.  The toys win the vote.

So I went to Costco - got one of their chocolate cakes with some pretty chocolate roses in the middle.

We got that home and I whacked those roses off - softened them in the microwave and made a road with them  . . . then sprinkled the rest of the cake with green sprinkles and had the kids line the cake with m&m . . .

and the boy and I topped it off with toys . . .

VOILA!

It turned out so well and was easy-peasy like I like it . .. .

We are happy people.

What is one to do?

Beware: I'm taking a different turn here on my blog.

If your interested in our ministry - I still am posting about our work with the deaf over on www.bajacompassion.blogspot.com

Anyway - so I ask, what is one to do when one's mother has an undiagnosed mental illness?  Hmm?

When said mother is not stupid by any degree . . . but rather in her own world?

Need to know where I'm coming from?  Then you need to read "The Glass Castle" and watch some episodes of Hoarders (paying special attention to the cases that has animals living in the house) and add to that the movie "Anywhere But Here" and you may have a small taste of what my life has been like.

Even then, your only going to get a sense of it.  Everyone's "crazy" is a different as a person's musical tastes.

My relationship with her comes from a place of obligation and compassion rather than a true feeling, or warm fuzzes.

So mother's day is kinda hard on me - I see all these "best mother in the world" type thing . . all the "you are so special to me" stuff . . .

it's just different for me . . . you know.

I have yet to see the card for mothers day that says "Thank you for birthing me."  but I'm sure I'm not the only one who could use one of those.

Ehem . . .

Hello there.

BAJA COMPASSION MINISTRIES GOT HELP!

And other good news going on . . but I need to type up a newsletter right now .. so I'll be back later . .

Promise!  In the mean time  - in our bible study with other missionary women it encouraged us to write a "psalm" of our own that played with words that started out with the same sound.  I chose "H" and here goes . . . penned by your's truly:

Hark! Heaven hears His heirs shout 

HOSANNAH in the HIGHEST!

He Healed His own!

Halleluja!

Like a hen to her young

so He Holds us in Hand.

Holy is He! 

My Help,

My Hero!

Hesitate not to hide in his hugs.

Happy - oh hear it! - Happy 

my heart is humbled, 

and in Him I find 

my Home.

Quotes from our Bible Studay.

I'm not going to be able to go to our ladies bible study this week so I want to put down some quotes that I like here;

" . . . one is pronounced blessed when God is present and involved in his [her] life."

"Trying to be our own God is exhausting."

How do I even start?

Update! I found I was misinformed - it was Miriam's sister, Mitzy, who passed away.  She was 3 years old. 


This was good news only to Sarah, who didn't lose her best friend. Apparently after Miriam recovered from chickenpox her little sister came down with it.


It's a different child, but the same sorrow.


Miriam died last night.

She was 6 years old.

The doctors prescribed bad medicine.

She was out of school for a couple of weeks because she had chickenpox.  But she was back in class with my daughter, Sarah, on Monday.   After school Miriam's mother and father were hosting, in their very humble baptist church that he pastors, a VBS put on by a visiting church group.

So thrilled was Sarah to be romping around hand in hand with her best friend.

At the surprise baby shower for Sarah's and Miriam's teacher today we noticed that Miriam and her mother were absent - but it wasn't dwelt on.

Then later at the VBS I was talking with the youth pastor's wife . . . she told me the news.

And I grieve.

I'm actually surprised at how my heart hurts for Augustina - Miriam's mother.  I came home and just sobbed on my husbands shoulder.  Then I asked him to tell Sarah - which he did, and she came out of the room all red eyed and we hugged and cried together.

They have two younger children than Miriam - the youngest has down syndrome.  And they are a humble, poor, family.  How does a Pastor continue after burying his daughter?  How does a mother function?  If you remember, would you please pray for this family?

I'll be hugging my kids a little tighter tonight - that's for sure.

I posted on our ministry blog.

GO HERE and see what happened to me today!

For all my Colorado friends!

You're from Colorado if: 

 You'll eat ice cream in the winter. 
 When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.
 It snows five inches and you don't expect school to be canceled. 
 You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature. 
 You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.
"Humid" is over 25%. 
 Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and away from the mountains. 
 You say, "The Interstate," and everybody knows which one. 
 You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard or ice storm. 
 You buy your flowers to set out on Mother's Day, but try and hold off planting them until just before Father's Day.
 You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat. 
 You know what the Continental Divide is. 
 You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and again as an adult.
 You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities. 
 You always know the elevation of where you are. 
 You wake up to a beautiful 80-degree day and wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.
 You don't care that some company renamed it; the Broncos still play at Mile High.
Everybody wears jeans to church. 
 You actually know that South Park is a real place, not just a show on TV. 
 You know what a "trust fund hippy" is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder.
 You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags. 
 A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you. 
 Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the Raiders. 
 When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.
 You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels "sticky," and you notice the sky is no longer blue. 
 Received from Mike Hillman.

Jealousy- red or green?

In our study of "A Heart Like His" this week we looked at jealousy - the very sour type, of envy that King Saul had of David, and the good kind like the kind of jealousy that God has for us.

you can biblegateway.com your way through the word jealousy and find how it's used throughout the bible - but this is what our bible study pointed out: the difference between the word OF and FOR


jealous of= bad, envious, spiteful, hateful, coveting
jealous for = good, protective, sense of belonging, love

And where the study pulled out several references from the bible that pointed to the 'jealousy for = good' idea, it didn't take into account one of my favorite verses :

Song of Solomon 8:6
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame

Jealous like RED hot!

I like the idea that God jealously protects us.  I like it very much - and it is right that he do so since we belong to him.

I'm just saying.

Bible Study: A Heart Like His.

Me and some fellow missionary gals are in week one of this bible study that focuses on David.


And I will not promise to post every week about it because that was such a dismal failure with the Boundaries book study - but if something stands out for me I will attempt and have the best intentions to get it posted here. Promise.


Today's insight wasn't from the study, per say, but how the Lord spoke to me - and I'm excited about it.


It's the idea of David being a man after God's own heart - my workbook asked what that meant to me. I've always understood it to mean that David had a heart like God's - so I was trying to define what that meant as I read over the verse again:

1 Samuel 13:14 (New International Version)

But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command.

As I mulled on it the word "after" really popped out.  It didn't say "like" - not even in the King James Version, but "after".  I looked for any other reference like this in the bible and came up with Acts 13:12 

Acts 13:22 (King James Version)

. . . and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

That little word gives me the sense of pursuit - David was a man that pursued God's heart.  Like in woo-ing. A seeking out, a desire to win favor, a passionate persistence . . .


Just stop and think of the implications of that!


(If it helps; think of your significant other first. "Prince Charming is a man after Princess's heart." or "Prince Charming has a heart like Princess" . . . see the difference?)


God makes it clear in the Bible that we are pursued, and wooed by Him.  And that is beautiful - but what if we did the same?


So- go ahead and do what I did: put your name in there~

~Michelle is a woman after God's heart.~

Doesn't it just blow your mind - or is it just me.  If it's just me, I'm OK with that . . . 

How to Clean the House

How to Clean the House 

1. Open a new folder on your PC. 

2. Name it "Housework." 

3. Send it to the Recycle Bin. 

4. Empty the Recycle Bin. 

5. Your PC will ask you, "Are you sure you want to delete
Housework permanently?" 

6. Calmly answer, "Yes," and press the mouse button firmly. 

 Received from Doc's Daily Chuckle.

John Carroll - Balance Beam

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