The real enemy is ignorance...

a line from my latest read "Three cups of Tea". It's the story of an American climber turned humanitarian in remote northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. Very intriguing book and a good read. The last few chapters will get under your skin a bit if you are in the military as it tends towards villifying our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq but he does balance it out by saying his visit to Pentagon showed him they were the laptop Army and the rest weren't,etc.

So what's my point? That the reality is we may have missed key opportunities to win the hearts of Afghani's etc. Indeed ignorance on both our parts is sad - anger and ignorance is dangerous.

Of course the true enemy is Satan who enjoys the ignorance of God, others and himself.

Read the book.

Nonsense...

ok, so humans need to be good stewards of the earth, but this crowd is often the population control people as well....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090221/ap_on_sc/af_climate_stranded


Homemade laudry soap, lentil soup and homemade wheat thins...

That's what's been going on today! I am trying De'Etta's dry homemade laundry soap recipe (1 C washing Soda, 1 C Borax, 1 C grated bar soap -- I used Fels Naptha as that's what I had on hand) so we'll see....

Dinner is cooking -- crackers in the oven and lentil soup on top.

Blanket tents....

It's sad how much video games have robbed children of imagination (as I contemplate buying a systym again with tax funds -- mainly so Ross will bring his friends over to play and not just go to their houses!) ...

A friend's son was over this week to play with Noah and was quickly bored with Playmobil (we have quite a bit) and Legos wanted to get on the computer (so did Noah) and I said no. Noah said come in my tent....built of dining room chairs and blankets.... this boy didn't have a clue what it was or why you would want to be in one!

They did go to the trampoline and stay off the puter but still it made me sad....(and yes he is a child who is constantly on the computer/video games,etc). Now I'm not saying my boys aren't on the computer to much, I think they are but I've kinda forced them to be bored at times just for this reason -- I loved it when we lived at Ft. Irwin and they played war games in the desert with friends for hours on end, tried to set things on fire (no not that they and their little friends did so without permission and help but that they were being normal boys!), wanted to see how things worked,etc!

We are so politically incorrect....(nerf gun wars in my house, laser tag, war games complete with two ways, helmets and prisoners, and I would love for Ross to get into shotting sports in 4-H so maybe I need to buy a weapon with the tax money instead of a ps2?)

Eclectic ipod and such...

That's our family!

Ross says the kids at school find it totally strange that his ipod contains things like "A boy named Sue" by Johnny Cash, "Cabin Fever" from Muppets Treasure Island, and "Behind the Clouds" by Brad Paisley alongside, Toby Mac, Classical themes from Pirates and Narnia, Avalon, Elvis, Gretchen Wilson, Weird AL (!) and Dierks Bentley to name a few. I think it's great that he has such a wide and varied interest in music and isn't afraid of his friends opinion or their narrower viewpoint on the subject.

Books -- biographys, self-help, fiction, how-too, military themed and science fiction all grace our shelves.

We love to camp, explore, watch movies, eat out at interesting places, craft, walk on the beach, visit historical sites, ride horses and go to formal dances!

I guess Charlotte Mason's view of a liberal education by feasting on the richness of life is definetly where we're at! It's definetly been a challenge though moving back to a small town where many people have never been outside KS and are ok with that, now I think I want to be settled and content but there's a lot to see in KS too!

Semper Gumby..


That's me! And every other military wife who wants to survive/last. For those of you who don't know Gumby he's a clay figure that was on tv for years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumby), very flexible and always able to adapt and bounce back. One site says this is the Marine Corp wife motto but I don't think they have a lock on the issue by any means...


It's interesting to me how the Lord slowly and quietly teaches us things many times... such as flexibility ... if we are willing to be taught - and sometimes even kicking and screaming the whole way. And how He reveals our growth at times. I have learned by hook and by crook to be somewhat/more flexible over the years and it's amazing to me how many people I meet in the "civilian world" who just aren't! Even over little things -- what type of bedspread to use, what color things are, what time to meet, how to run an event,etc,etc,etc. Now that doesn't mean I've got things down pat by any means or that I never want things my way, a certain way, or don't get irritated when things change last minute; but God is slowly but surely working on me in this area.
I loved the saying I saw one time "Blessed are the flexible for they shall never be bent out of shape..."

So today is Monday and not Friday... but yesterday I had a few moments to add.
I've been making draft stoppers finally! Something creative... I'd been feeling very dry creatively doing everything else that "needs" to be done and not anything fun .... these are just fabric tubes filled with rice and placed on the windowsills in hopes it will help with our heating bills. But it was fun and Noah had fun helping fill them with rice.
If you can sew a straight seam you can make these too easily! (too easy 1sgt!) just choose your fabric (I got 9 out of one yard), cut long enough to fit your window and approx 4-6 in wide depending on how fat you want them. 1/2" sem allowance to close the tube and 1/4 " for the side seam, turn, fill(approx 3-4 cups of rice), sew closed and you're done! I also made one for the door which was longer and 6-7" around. So cost wise it was around $1.25 apiece.
Am going to make the double sided ones for front and den doors today (with copper pipe insulation inside them -- much cheaper than the ones on tv -- $1.87 for 6 ft of insulation at Lowe's and a 1/2 yard of fabric.).
Managed to get some math done with Ross too without to much of a fight. I really think he is not going to PS next year either.
Blessings and pictures later....