Peer Pressure is good - Sometimes....

Most of the time when we hear the words "peer pressure" we automatically think - BAD! But in some cases, it's actually a wonderful thing.

According to wikipedia, and I quote: "Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer

group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to the group."

Our youngest son - Jeremiah received the Holy Spirit February 3, 2008. But, he was very reluctant to be baptized due to nervousness about the whole church seeing it. I know - hard to believe coming from Jeremiah - my sanguine! But that all changed, last evening at church. A couple of his friends, Trey and Austin, received the Holy Spirit and wanted to be baptized immediately. This was good for Jeremiah. It encouraged him to go ahead and do what he knew he needed to do. We have not pushed him about being baptized, but we have talked with him over the past year about the necessity of it. But it was his peers that encouraged him to go ahead and take the plunge!

We are very proud of him for overcoming his anxiety and just doing what he knew was the right thing to do!

God is Good All the Time!

My little artists...

Just wanted to show off some artwork from my boys. This year, Andrew had to make a replica of the Alamo. He loves Lego's and so he created one from his Lego collection.

This is Andrew's artwork from art class. He and his classmates were making dome buildings. It is an excellent piece of art! Andrew loves to draw and it is apparent in this drawing.

And this is one of Jeremiah's rendition's of a platter - looks yummy!

Rest & Relaxation versus the hurried life...

We just got back from a wonderful 6 day vacation doing absolutely NOTHING! If you're a kid reading this - you're going "BORING!" But if you are a parent reading this, you're probably thinking "Such luxury!"

We have been needing a few days to just relax and not be on a time schedule. I love being able to wake up when I want to and not have to beat the clock! It doesn't happen too many times a year, but when it does, I enjoy it.

We went to Glen Rose and spent several days at my mom & dad's weekend home. The pace there is so much slower and sometimes I wish we could move to a smaller town (as long as there's a great church, Walmart and hospital!) Doug is coming up on his 20 year anniversary with his job and I jokingly asked if we could just move after his 20 years are in. Don't worry - friends, we're not planning to move.

Back when I was younger (I'm not old yet!) before I was a mature adult (hahaha!) I could not imagine living in a small town away from the big city life. But as the years progress, I actually enjoy the small town life better. People seem to have more time for each other. In the big metropolis, we never seem to have time for each other - we're too busy trying to get to our next appointment. I love being able to sit on a front porch swing and watch people go by as we talk to each other and our neighbors. And in small towns, you can walk to town - as we did this week.

Okay - snap out of it girl - get back to reality! Gotta go take care of some projects!

Media vs Economy

Okay - I know that our country is having financial issues and very bad ones at that. In fact, it's downright scary seeing what our new President and Congress is doing with this "pork bill". So at the start of this musing, I just want to say that I do realize that there are many people out of work and many companies going under. This post is strictly an observation that I've made in our area of the country.

But I have a bone to pick with the media. For months now, we've been hearing how bad it is and that no one - absolutely no one is doing any shopping. Just about every day before Christmas I heard the media talking about how poorly the stores were doing because everyone was just "window shopping".

My husband and I went out to eat the other night at a restaurant in a NEW shopping center called Arlington Highlands. If you've ever visited this area, it is huge. You can shop, eat, shop, eat, shop eat all day in this one area and never visit the same shop twice. And they are still building NEW stores in this center.
Because the media has told us for months that no one is buying anything - I took pictures of the very full parking lot (we had to look for a parking space). Evidently, according to the media, we were all just driving around, burning fuel, and trying to look as if we were shopping.

So - dear - let's go look at the menu and just see what they have? And - let's just peek in the window of that fabric store - after all, we are just window shopping - right?

Here's a picture of Doug and I at Mimi's Cafe - just checking out the dessert. Sure looks good - doesn't it - too bad, we're only checking it out!

A Squirrel named Jellybean

I'm sure every parent that reads this post can relate to the following story in some way.

Once upon a time there were 4 very happy children who loved playing outdoors. One day as they were playing the youngest came running in yelling "Daddy, Daddy - come here - I want to show you something."

And as a very attentive father would do - he followed his youngest daughter outside - curious about what she wanted to show him. She took him to the side of the house and down on the ground were 3 "somethings" lying on the ground. To Daddy, they looked dead so he came back in to get gloves so he could get rid of them.

"There are 3 dead puppies outside!" He exclaimed to his rather astonished wife as he walked back inside.

"3 what?" She said as she quickly ran outdoors.

As she looked at the "puppies" she noticed one was still breathing. So she quickly ran back in and got some gloves to handle it. With the children's help, they made a little bed out of a shoebox and gently placed the baby in it.

After showing it to the neighbors and doing some research online, it was decided that this wasn't a puppy at all, but a squirrel. Evidently they had fallen out of their nest earlier that day due to some very high winds.

Now Mommy and Daddy didn't want any squirrels in the house! Just imagine the shredded furniture and chewed walls. They both shuddered just thinking about it. But on the other hand, they couldn't let this poor innocent creature die.

Mommy, knowing that this squirrel didn't have much of a chance told her children that he probably wouldn't survive through the night, but she would do what she could to keep him hydrated.

The oldest daughter imediately named this little squirrel - Jellybean. "Because," she said, "He's not much bigger than 4 or 5 jellybeans."

Miraculously, Jellybean survived through the night. So the family decided they'd better buy some animal formula and a bottle to feed it. So off to the pet store they went. While there, a veternarian assistant told them about an animal shelter that could take the squirrel and help it to be able to survive on its own in the wild. Now that was great news for Mommy and Daddy!

And so Jellybean was taken to the animal shelter where he grew and grew until he was strong enough to go back to his environment.

The End.

Okay - we don't really know the ending so far, but the kiddo's were very glad that someone would be able to help him grow up. And boy are we glad we're not having to raise a squirrel!