Word Meme

So, I saw this meme on another blog and decided that I wanted to do it. So, here goes.
It's a word association meme where I am to write what the words mean to me.

Buttercup: Buttercup reminds me of two things. First it reminds me of the flower. We had them all over our yard in connecticut and I remember we, as kids, would pick them and rub them under our chins. I remember that if something happened when you did that, it meant something. But I can't remember what it was that it was to do or what it meant. The other thing Buttercup reminds me of, is a book I used to read as a kid with the title Buttercup. It was about a bunny who was scared of the dark and the scary figures she thought she was seeing.

Bookstore: I love going to bookstores, not that I do it a whole lot. But I do love them. I could spend hours in a bookstore and chilling out in the cafe with a book and sipping some coffee. I also enjoy buying books for other people.

Pasta: Pasta makes me think of my family on my mom's side. My grandma came over to the U.S. from Italy as a little girl. When I was a kid, she'd make us her homemade chicken parmagian all of the time. My mom also makes homemade spaghetti sauce. She'd cook it in a huge pot and then fill tons of tupperware containers with it and freeze it. We ate pasta all of the time. I love Italian food.

Inspiration: I like this word. There is just so much power in it. Every day we have an opportunity to lead a life of inspiration. To inspire others. To inspire our children toward their dreams.

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is Comfy

Is it 6:00 P.M. yet?

Well, today's day care day is a tough one. It's my first real tough day though, so with 5 kids...and having them for the past 2 weeks, it's amazing I made it this far. The miss and R are both super whiney today. And I mean super whiney. R won't stop throwing toys. I have talked to him about it....I have re-directed him. I eventually put him in time out. But what did he do as soon as he was out of time out? He threw toys again. And he isn't just throwing them in the air, he is throwing them AT people. And the miss is just whining and complaining about everything. So, my patience has started to wear thin just a bit. But in an hour my day will be halfway over.

In other news, I have decided that there will be no more pacifiers with the miss starting tomorrow morning. This will make for a tough weekend I am sure. And I know my family who know my stance on Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny will find the method I am going to use a little absurd, but I think it may work. Oh and in case you aren't family, we don't incorporate Santa or The Easter Bunny into the holidays. I can explain that all in another blog on another day. Anyway, we are going to collect all of her pacifiers tonight and leave them in a bag on her window sill. Then tonight while she is asleep, the Paci-fairy will come and take them away and leave her a special toy in their place.
Since I am not sure if the miss knows what a fairy is, I found a picture online and printed it out so that she can see what the Paci-fairy looks like.


I've explained it to her a few times already and she does seem to get a little sad. I know she won't be happy tomorrow...and I know she'll scream for it tomorrow night when she is ready for bed time. Tonight, I will let her go to sleep with her pacifier with the knowledge that when she falls asleep, I will take the pacifier from her and put it with the others.

Last night we sold Luna to a really sweet girl. She recently moved out here with her hubby who is in the Air Force. They have a Great Dane puppy and were looking for another puppy to be her playmate. She and her hubby both grew up with labs. She brought her puppy over last night to see if Luna would get along with her and then she paid us for Luna, we put her in the gal's truck and off she went. I was a tad sad to see Luna go. But I know that we just at this time couldn't give her the attention that she really needed. Also, the weather is getting colder and soon it would be too cold to keep her outside. Keeping her in the house scared me because I knew she'd chew up everything and DH and I just don't have the time right now to train her. We also couldn't keep her in the garage on cold nights because she'd destroy the bowflex.

I am so happy to know that she is going to a loving home and will have another puppy to grow up with. She will love having a playmate and they really did look so cute together. The great dane is only 3 months old, so Luna was a monster in size compared to her, but soon I think the great dane will be bigger, that's for sure. So, Luna better not be too tough on her now.

Well, that's all I can fit in for now...time to round up the troops. More to come this evening or this weekend......

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Positive ways to see children -- Oh and just for the record, I unfortunately can't take credit for these. They are from a handout I received during training for my Family Child Care Home license.

1. The child isn't bossy, he is a natural leader and a good director.

2. The child isn't clingy, she is affectionate.

3. The child isn't naughty, he is independent, assertive and persistent.

4. The child isn't sneaky, she is inventive.

5. The child isn't a tattletale, he seeks justice.

6. The child isn't too talkative, she communicates well.

7. The child isn't timid, he is careful.

8. The child isn't talking back, she is courageous and honest.

9. The child isn't loud, he is expressive.

10. The child isn't goofy, she is creative.

11. The child isn't spoiled, he knows how to get attention when needed.

12. The child isn't stubborn, she is persistent.

13. The child isn't shy, he can entertain himself and is inner directed.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

More Pictures

Here is My blue-eyed Mister



The miss and two day care kiddos

Lovely Crazy Luna



Ro my other day care kiddo



The miss and R playing

Stand In The Rain

I was just recently introduced to the new Superchick song, Stand In The Rain. I wish that I could find an mp3 of it so you could hear it. Anyway, I love...LOVE the song. First of all, here are the lyrics.....

Superchic[k] - Stand In The Rain
From the album Beauty From Pain 1.1

She never slows down
She doesnt know why
But she knows that when shes all alone
It feels like its all coming down

She wont turn around
The shadows are long
And she fears if she cries that first tear
The tears will not stop raining down

Chorus:
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when its all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You wont drown
And one day whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain

She wont make a sound
Alone in this fight with herself
And the fears whispering
If she stands, shell fall down

She wants to be found
The only way out is through everything
Shes running from
Wants to give up and lie down

Now, awhile back, this was me......standing in the rain. I was hurting a lot. My heart was heavy. I was lost, confused, torn. This wasn't too long ago. But through it all, I held onto the faith, the hope, the knowledge that everything would turn out to be okay...that I would be blessed...that happiness would soon come....that sunshine would break in through the clouds. And right now, today, I can tell you that it is so true. The work that God can do, is amazing....amazing....what was lost was found.....it was!

So, if you are in the rain....continue to stand. The sun is coming. LOL..reminds me of that song..here comes the sun..do do do do..here comes the sun and I say, it's alright.

Lots of Pictures

Okay, G.G. requested some pics, so here are a TON!

This one is from this morning.


Here's the miss yesterday afternoon


Here is the mister yesterday afternoon


This is from last week...


Last Saturday we went to the ASU game at CU. Thankfully they played much better last week, than they did yesterday.

Here's the mister before we left for the game


Here's me, DH and the mister outside of Faeryland Mom's house.


The mister was the hit of our section. He got tons of attention. But after the 2nd quarter he spent the rest of the game sleeping in his sling.


There were tons, TONS of ASU fans at the game and we sat amongst them.


At the end of the game, the team came over to their fans and chanted thank you's to us.


The mister loves his play mat and the miss plays on it with him. These two pics were from a couple of weeks ago

Blessed By A Blogger

I belong to a blog ring, Christian Women Online. What is so wonderful about this particular ring, is it sends me to the blogs of many Christian women so that I may enter their lives for a moment, laugh at their stories, share with them their struggles, learn some lessons and even be encouraged in my walk with God.

On Friday's, Christian Women Online allows us a chance to share one such blogger who had a post that blessed us, made us think, taught us. One of my regular reads is Windscraps. In this blog, written by Shannon Woodward, we are immersed into her life stories by her captivating writing. The best part is she always includes the sacred into her everyday stories. HA! I should have written about her for the Quote that Christian Women online did this past week. She always includes a Bible message into her posts, whether discussing a baby chick left on its own, or a humorous tale about her grandfather. She takes the time to reflect on how it relates to the Bible and in turn her readers are left to reflect.

She has written many blog posts that truly have blessed me. There is one in particular that I have read more than once. I remember the first time I read it, I whispered out loud, "WOW!" It reminds me that we should live our lives placing God first. It is so easy for us to get stuck in the busyness of our days and neglect the one who we love the most and who loves us the most. Not only that, but we should be so on fire for God, that we aspire to be, well what Shannon's son aspires to be, the M word.

Her post is pasted below. But please visit her site with the link above. Believe me, you will be blessed!!


The M Word

He was six, and we were driving through a gray mist, past an unbroken stretch of evergreen trees.

"Mom, when I grow up, you know what I want to be?"

For a long time he'd thought he might like to be a teenage mutant ninja turtle, but since he hadn't mentioned that for awhile, I figured he'd gone on to something else.

"No, Zac. What do you want to be when you grow up?" I glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw his reflection captured there.

"I can't remember what it's called," he began. "It's that m word."

"Musician?" I offered.

"No."

"Medic?"

"Not that either."

"Moose-hunter?" I grinned at him in the mirror. He grinned back, but shook his head.

"Mom, I'm serious. It's that m word that means you go over to other countries and you tell people about Jesus."

His words entered my ears and worked themselves down to my heart, where they settled like a warm blanket. "Really, Zac? You want to be a missionary?"

"No ... not a missionary," he said. "It's that other m word." He scrunched his forehead, trying to think of a way to refine his description. With another glance, I saw his face relax. He'd thought of a way. "It's that m word that means you go over to other countries and tell people about Jesus ... and they kill you."

The blanket around my heart became a tourniquet, twisting and tightening. And I experienced a moment of pure schizophrenia. Two beings awakened in me and fought for dominance. One half -- the She-bear half, roared a silent Never! to the thought of my son being martyred, to the thought of anyone daring to turn their ignorant wrath on my boy. But as quickly as I screamed that noiseless denial, the Sister-in-Christ part of me forced her way to the surface. Yes, Zac. You hold on to that devotion with everything you've got, she whispered.

He let his pronouncement hang in the air, and then he turned those green eyes toward the treeline outside the window. I watched him staring at the blur of gray-green mist, and without the privilege of entering his thoughts, I knew them. He was dreaming of someday.

I drew a breath ... and began to pray.


What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. -James 4:14 NIV

And anyone who gives up his home, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, or property, to follow me, shall receive a hundred times as much in return, and shall have eternal life. -Matt 19:29 TLB

Grease Babies

Okay, a friend of mine sent me a link to a really cute flash movie called Greaser Babies. You HAVE TO WATCH IT

View it here

Crossroads

So, as a Christian I know that when faced with decisions, big decisions we are to trust in God. We pray about it, he leads us. But does anyone else feel like I do, in that sometimes it is just really hard to do that. And what if it is something that has to be decided quickly? And how do you know if you make the right choice? I know that even if you do or don't, God still is there and holds your hand, but should I feel bad if sometimes knowing that doesn't fully give me the peace that I know it should?
Is this proving that I am not where I should be in my walk with God right now?

And what if this decision is one where you and your spouse have opposing views? As a Christian wife, I know that I am to let my husband lead.....go in his direction. But what if it scares me to do so? Am I doing too much wrong by wanting to debate my hubby on something? Should I just do as he says and desires? Maybe if he sought the Lord in it first, I'd feel better? But then we are back to my questions above.

I know that know matter what, we will be fine. We always are. God provides. But not knowing what lies ahead can be scary.

I have always been good at adapting to change. But it doesn't mean that it doesn't stress me out or worry me.

Well, through it all, my hope is in God. I will try not to worry, because I know He will keep us under His wing.

Busy Busy Busy

Well, we have all been busy and tired this week. I know I haven't posted a whole lot, and I am sorry for that. Monday and Tuesday, I spent most of the day cleaning like a mad woman. Tuesday night I had a lady come interview me for day care for her two kids. So, I was busy getting her paperwork together, picking up the house, and cleaning it very well. She came on Tuesday night and was sooo happy with me, the house, the day care room, and the curriculum that I do. She told me that she had been to 5 other home day cares for interviews before coming to me and just didn't like any of them. But after seeing the day care room, in my basement, and going over the paperwork, she was sold. She put her deposit down and her kids start up on Monday! YAY! She has an adorable four year old boy and a super cute 9 month old girl.

I have been working on their curriculum a lot over the past few days and getting each week prepared. They are going to learn a letter each week. They will learn the sound that the letter makes, different words that start with that letter and the sign for the letter. Then using different words beginning with the letter, I incorporate math, social studies, science, songs, books, arts and crafts and a Bible lesson. It's going to be fun and I have found really neat things for them to do.

Yesterday morning, I was on the computer reading other people's blogs and some of the sites on my sidebar. I visited the Proverbs 31 site and read some articles there that made me realize that I spend too much time during the day on the computer and should instead be taking care of my house. There are some cluttered places that I had been meaning to organize lately. On their site they have printouts to help get organized. One was a pantry inventory list. We don't have an actual pantry in our kitchen, so I use one of our kitchen cabinets to house our food. The biggest drawback to that, is that lots of stuff gets put behind other things and to be honest, half the time I don't know what we do or do not have for food. I try to look before buying groceries, but the majority of the time, I buy things that we don't really need. Steve puts the groceries away and will say, "dear, we have like 10 bags of rice now and 4 boxes of popcorn." So, yesterday using forms on their site, I cleaned out my pantry and completed the inventory form and also prepared my dinner menu for next week. I then used the day care lunch menu, dinner menu and pantry inventory to prepare my shopping list. This way, I buy only what we need. It feels so good to be organized.

We had a junk cabinet in our kitchen too and it was so cluttered and messy, that when you'd open it, stuff would fall on you. So, I got that all organized as well. The top shelf houses all of my recipes and what not. I have some books but then there are also tons of recipes I have ripped out of magazines and what not. So, yesterday, I took a three ring binder and made dividers for appetizers, side items, meals and desserts and then organized all of my recipe pages that way.

I also went and made the bed. Silly, I know. I have never been a bed maker. It is the one thing that has never bothered me. I could care less if my bed is made or not. DH sometimes laughs at me because I'll clean our bedroom up all nice and then leave the bed unmade. I also know that he really likes it made. So, I made the bed.

I really felt like I accomplished a lot yesterday. With all of the rooms in the house being pretty clean, it's nice to now start working on little places and getting them cleaned up and organized. Plus, the menus and pantry forms will really help us save money on groceries. Since, I liked to just go and always buy the same things regardless of whether or not we needed them.

I am also going to try three brand new recipes next week. Two will use my crock-pot. So, I am excited to try the new dinners and I hope they are yummy. Poor Steve...I grew up eating very bland foods and I like my stuff plain. Steve likes flavor and spices and hot stuff. So, I am trying to find some happy mediums. Hopefully, slowly, I will get more into really hot stuff and spicy stuff.....it'll take baby steps.

Oh, if you are interested in any of the home organizing stuff, here are the two sites I used.
1. Virtuous Women Household Notebook
This site has food organizing charts, weekly and daily planners and also cleaning charts and schedules.
2. Organized Home
This site has tons of free printables that you can use to make your own planner if you wanted to. There are phone and birthday lists, calendars, party planning lists, menus, shopping lists, school schedules, homework lists, kids chore charts,
car maintenance schedules, financial organizers, and so forth.

You know you're a mom when....

So, over at Everyday Mommy it was suggested that we write a post on today, the 12th, completing this sentence..... You know you're a mom when....

So, here goes.....

You know you're a mom when you can be completely captivated by two big blue eyes staring up at you with so much awe and wonder.

You know you're a mom when you can be peed on, pooped on and puked on and not even cringe. In fact, you're used to it.

You know you're a mom when you can take one look at your child as soon as they wake up in the morning and know that they are sick.

You know you're a mom when your children are bathed, dressed, fed and entertained and you haven't even changed out of your pajamas or brushed your teeth.

You know you're a mom when going to Walmart, which is usually a stressful thing, becomes a time of relaxation if you get to go without the kiddos. You find yourself relaxed and zoning as you walk around the store. And the long checkout line doesn't bother you, because it allows you time to pick up your favorite magazine and read a big chunk of it in peace. When else do you get time to do that?

You know you're a mom when you can't remember the last time you were able to use the restroom without the kiddos banging on the door or following you in.

You know you're a mom when you know the entire morning cartoon schedule for PBS, Nick and Disney.

You know you're a mom when you find yourself dancing along with your child to the wiggles. And you have actually gone on their website to see if they are coming to your city because you just KNOW that your kiddos would LOVE to see them live.

You know you're a mom when your days and nights are filled with smiles and laughter at the cute and funny things they do and say.

You know you're a mom when you're on the verge of losing it, because your kids have just been pushing the limits, and then they say something that just melts your heart and in an instant all that frustration that had started to build up, disappears.

You know you're a mom when you have to remove the diaper, baggie of wipes, baggie of snacks and small toy from your purse before finding your lipstick that is at the bottom.

You know you're a mom when you get so excited when a new kiddie movie comes out in the theaters, because it means that you can actually go see a movie and maybe your hubby can come along too. It's so nice to sit in the theater and eat popcorn and get out for a bit, even if it means you have to make 3 bathroom trips, clean up spills and try to keep your child from wanting to run loose.

You know you're a mom when you KNOW each and every time your child is doing something they shouldn't even when you are on the other side of the house.

You know you're a mom when sleeping in is 7:30 A.M.

You know you're a mom when everything you want to do for the day is worked around nap times, lunch time, and feedings.

You know you're a mom when the instant the baby is placed in your arms after giving birth, your heart just swells up inside of you, you cry and you can't take your eyes off of the little hands and feet. And each day that you notice your child getting bigger, you are sometimes saddened because you wish they could just stay little forever.

Pictures

So, I know I am overdue for pictures of the kiddos....so let's begin.

Here is the mister with Daddy. He was cuddling and being all smiley with his head resting on DH's shoulder. When I started to take pictures though, he perked up, looked at me, smiled big and began to pose. It was so stinking cute.



I took the miss to a free gymnastics class yesterday. One of her friends is enrolled in it, so we got to try it out for free. Oh my goodness, she LOVED IT! LOVED IT! And she did such a great job. She had a blast. Here are some pics from yesterday.

She loved the balance beam and she walked across it all by herself. At the end of the beam, she put her arms up and yelled, "Tada!"



The next time around, she tried it sideways.



She also loved hanging from the bar. I tried to get a picture of it, but my shutter speed is so slow, but what they'd do, is put the bear on the top of the bar and she'd curl up and try to kick it. She again did a great job. After getting down from the bar, she'd grab the bear and give it a kiss.

A Praise For Peyton

On my sidebar you will notice a section with links, entitled Kiddos To Pray For. One of those kiddos is Peyton. In 2003, she was diagnosed with clear cell sarcoma, a rare cancer that strikes around twenty children per year.

Today I ventured onto her site to read her mom's latest journal entries. I was pleased to read the following post......


Thursday, August 17, 2006 9:02 AM CDT


Sometimes the Lord calms the storm;
Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.

My friend Dena and I have had this running inside joke we have been doing since Peyton got sick. One of us will call or email the other and say, "God is good, all the time!" and the other will say "All the time, God is good!" I just called Dena to say that again this morning because Dr. Bowers called with wonderful news about Peyton's scans. Not only are the clear of tumors, but the bone loss he was quite concerned with, is non-existent!! Even the place on her ankle is "mysteriously" gone :)

Peyton is now a full-fledged member of the ACE (After Cancer Experience)program and will only be seen in clinic and for follow-up scans....ONCE A YEAR!! We told Peyton last night that she will be 7 years old before she is scanned again. You should have seen her face!! She was just so happy!

Thank you all for the prayers. Thank You, my Lord, for knocking this one out of the park! I know Your Word says You delight in our delight. I was just thankful to hear it wasn't relapse, but to find out You took the bone loss issue away too, blows me away. I've been delighting in the news and in You and I'm so glad You know that!!!


Love,

Marni
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, I just wanted to post this for you all to see. Sometimes, I think we can get caught up in all the hurt in this world...all of the prayer requests, that we forget sometimes to shout for joy for all the miracles God performs everyday!

Saturday Photo Hunt

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This week's theme is food.

This is a picture of one of my last nights at Indiana where I was attending college. I went with a bunch of my closest friends from my floor to Joe's Crabshack. It was my first time ever eating there and I loved it. We had the waiter take a picture of us.
I'm the one in white.
The picture has my friends, Carrie, Charity(the one I am leaning on), Julie and Jen.

I sure do miss those girls.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you are wearing today.

Jeans, a black Underoath tee and flip flops

Soup
Who was the last person you hugged?

My hubby

Salad
What do you like to order from your favorite fast food place?

Favorite Fast Food Place = Taco Bell
I order a taco salad, a side of rice and one caramel apple empanada. Oh, and I dump the rice into my taco salad.

Main Course
What time of day do you usually feel most energized?

Wow, I dunno...I think mid morning and then I get exhausted...I feel ready for bed around 9:30 at night and then around
10:00 - 11:30, I get my second wind and stay up later than I'd like to.

Dessert
Using the letters in your first name, write a sentence. (Example: Sweet unusual spaniels are nice.)

Enjoyment resides in chocolate addicts.

Love Is Worth Saving

Once upon a time there was an island where all forces of personality and feeling lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to all the forces that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left. Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to preserve until the last possible moment.

When the island was almost sinking, Love decided he needed help. Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I cant. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!" "I cant help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," answered Vanity.

Sadness was close by so again Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me go with you." "Oh.Love, I am so sad that I need to be alone!"
Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love felt blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder her name. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way.

Love realizing how much he owed the elder asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?"

"It was Time," Knowledge answered.

"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how much Love is worth saving."

It's going to be alright

To those who I think need to hear this....

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

I can tell by your eyes that you're not getting any sleep
And you try to rise above it, but feel you're sinking in too deep
Oh, oh I believe, I believe that

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

I believe you'll outlive this pain in you heart
And you'll gain such a strength from what is tearing you apart
Oh, oh I believe I believe that

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

When some time has past us, and the story if retold
It will mirror the strength and the courage in your soul
Oh, oh, I believe I believe,

I believe
I believe

I did not come here to offer you cliches
I will not pretend to know of all your pain
Just when you cannot, then I will hold out faith, for you

It's going to be alright
It's going to be alright

-Sara Groves

In regards to this song, Sara wrote, When my kids get upset, I sing to them. I think adults need lullabies too. It took me a while to get here, but I believe what this song says.

-Sara

In Other Words

"Don't let schooling interfere with
your education."
- Mark Twain -

So, I admit it, this quote scared me and I wasn't going to take part this week. I wasn't sure what to write about at all. So, I then went and read what everyone else who had participated wrote. And sure enough, reading everyone else's got me thinking. It sure did.

I realized that I am already doing that thing parents do. Ya know the thing where parents kind of decide their children's futures. My kiddos are only 2 1/2 and 2 months old, but I have already made up my mind that they will be amazing students. I have decided that they will get A's and B's and go on to attend private Christian universities and earn degrees.

In fact my hubby and I talked about this a couple of months ago. He asked me, what if the miss doesn't want to go to college? And I answered rather matter-of-factly, "Oh, she'll want to and she will!"

In my home growing up, education and schoolwork were very important. And thankfully, for my dad, I loved school. I loved learning. I was an over-achiever and I got great grades. I was even enrolled in a special program in elementary school for gifted children where we could be a little more challenged. I didn't go on to college right away though. I am now working on getting my degree while also working, running a household and caring for two children. But I will eventually have my degree and the main reason being because I feel it is important.
I don't want to expect my children to attend college and earn degrees if I don't even have mine. I feel it is hypocritical of me.

Anyway, as I read over other posts by this week's participants, I realized that God or my children for that matter, may not have the same plan for their lives that I have for them. Or, perhaps my children won't end up being the type of students I envision them to be. I also realized that learning may not end up coming as easily for them as it did for me. In other words, "Mom, let go of your expectations, now."

There were many gals who because of the demands placed on teachers to instruct in certain ways, ended up having their children either behind or too far ahead. They wound up home schooling their children so that they could teach their children at the levels they were at and guide them each step of the way.

Reading over varying experiences with kids and schooling, I realized that I need to allow my children to show me what it is they need. I can't dictate what it is they need. I can't make that decision for them.

But, I still wouldn't mind one bit if they are A students and then get all excited about attending college. Oops, there I go again.

The Way I See It

A couple months back, I came across a blog post written by a Christian gal who was furious with Starbucks. She had mentioned that she read a quote on her Starbucks cup that morning that was completely against God and her religious views. She mentioned that she was no longer going to purchase her coffee there.

I, at the time, was unaware that Starbucks even had quotes on their cups. They began placing these quotes, entitled The Way I See It, on their cups back in 2005. I had their coffee back in 2005, but to be honest, I never once paid attention to the cup. If I did, it was to see if they remembered to mark decaf, since I was pregnant.

So, this morning, I ran to Starbucks for a venti vanilla latte with a pump of almond. YUM. I looked for the quote and it was pretty big. Yep, sure was. And I liked it! I then noticed a website address. I browsed their website and found a bunch of other quotes that I liked.

Here's a few of them. Be sure to at least read the last one, because the rest of my post is in regards to it.

The Way I See It #129
The first person to walk on Mars could be alive today. If so, she's most likely two years old and living in China.
--Andrew Zolli
Futurist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer.

The Way I See It #139
I recently read about a young woman in another country who was executed because of her religious beliefs; yet, I still complain about traffic.
--Jason Willis
Starbucks customer from Springfield, Oregon.

The Way I See It #148
Great teachers should be paid like doctors or corporate attorneys. I worry about what will happen to our economy and our democracy if we don’t start to take teachers' jobs seriously.
--Nínive Clements Calegari
Co-founder of 826 Valencia and co-author of Teachers Have It Easy.

The Way I See It #153 (On my cup today)
Is art entertainment?
Art teaches us about who we are. Entertainment tells us who to be.
Art is a public service. Entertainment is a private product.
Art opens our minds. Entertainment thinks for you.
Art is publicly offered. Entertainment is publicly traded.
Art is the words we wish to say, but lack the language to say it.
--Justin Dillon
Musician. His band, Tremolo, can be heard on Starbucks Hear Music™ station, XM Satellite Radio Channel 75.

The Way I See It #92
"You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny."
--Dr. Rick Warren
Author of The Purpose-Driven Life.

After reading the quote from Rick Warren, I went searching for the blog that I had come across awhile back. I wanted to bring this quote to her attention. Google didn't find it though, but I did come across a USA Today article concerning the quote.
And I learned some other things about some companies out there that plant Christian messages on their merchandise or in their stores.

In-N-Out Burger places notations for Bible verses on all of their wrappers and cups. Their company spokesperson says that it is so miniscule that many don't even notice it. So, hey, the next time you get an In-N-Out Burger, look for the verse.

Forever 21 stores places John 3:16 on their shopping bags.

Hobby Lobby plays only Christian music in their stores and Alaska Airlines places prayer cards on their meal packaging. Steve and I actually noticed that when we flew Alaska Airlines to our honeymoon. We actually held onto our prayer cards and told many about it.

I originally went onto the Starbucks site in search of the quote that offended the blogger. And while there were quotes that questioned God and even some very VERY liberal quotes, I was happy to see Rick Warren's quote. I mean, not everyone they quote is going to be a believer and while, I can see how a Christian can be bothered by a quote from someone with very strong views against Christianity, when you think about it, it could open doors. I mean, the point of Starbucks placing quotes on their cups, is to spark conversation. And maybe a believer out at Starbucks with a non-believer, could use a quote against God to stir up a conversation regarding God and their beliefs. I guess, we shouldn't be too quick to become offended or to have the expectation that everyone will have our same beliefs or tip-toe around them. Anything can be used to glorify God.

Go Diego Go

So, the miss loves to watch Go Diego Go and Dora The Explorer...and see, good things do come from having your child veg in front of the TV sometimes. Some days, I feel guilty for how much TV my little gal watches. But today, we were in the car, and she kept saying Help, Help and then something that sounded like adudame. So, I looked up Help Me in Spanish and sure enough she is saying Ayudeme. :o)

She's such a smart cookie and she doesn't even know it!