I grabbed my bag of school books and folders to head out to my team meeting. It was 6:30 and I had to be at the meeting place by 7. I reached for the door and my cell phone went off. That's odd, I thought, who would be calling me? I already talked to Gram today.

It was my brother. Curious, he doesn't call me often. "Hey, it's your brother. What's up?" He sounded tired and a little under the weather so to speak. We exchanged greetings and then the true nature of his call began.

"So I thought I might do something nice for mom for mother's day." He said.

"Well isn't that special." I said, waiting for the blow.

"Wouldn't you like to have a visit from mom for two or three days so she can hang with you and the kids?" He asked.

Silence.....

"I thought I would surprise her by buying her a ticket to fly up to see you, if that is alright with you." He waits patiently for my reaction.

Silence......."Of course she can come visit us." I say. ( What in the hell am I supposed to say, "Hell no!" Nope, can't say that. He took her in, cares for her by way of groceries and deals with her on a semi daily basis. The guilt enters along with the reality that I am not doing a thing to help him.)

"I thought you might like that." He laughs.
" Great idea. I'm sure she will love that. Just let me know the details when you get them." I say with a slight tenseness to my tone.

We speak of a few other things and hang up, then I go on to my meeting.

So there you have it. I am going to have a visitor next month for three or four days. Prayer. That is all I ask for. For those of you who don't know, I don't really mesh well with my mother. I haven't since around age five. So I ask for lots of prayer.

Woohooooo!!!!

I am so happy! Shad finally got to play a game of softball last night. Okay, the team has had no practice, ( to much rain) and they pretty much sucked, but it was so great to be out on a Sunday night watching Shad do one of his favorite things. The girls and I bought hot cocoa and sat on the bleachers. It was a little cold, but it was worth it.

Tonight is week three of my second class, then it's two more weeks and off to the next class. It's great going to school like this. It is a bit stressful, but at the same time it is just the right speed for me. I am sure that could change as soon as I get into the meatier classes, but for now it is just what I need.

Last night Hailey and I were doing are before bed time reading, and in the story it talked of oil lamps. Hailey wanted to know what they were. She also pointed out that the people in the story had a television and it mentioned turning the dial to change the channels. She inquired as to what this was all about as well. Now, I am only 34, and oil lamps were around my house, but as antiques. I know all about channel changes with dials though. Man, our kids are so un aware of what life has been like for the people before us. Needless to say that today we are doing some research on oil lamps and we are taking a trip down the road to the antique store to see if we can find one, and to see if we can find one of those old time televisions. (smirk, smile) This is home schooling at it's finest.

We are about to go to the Farmer's Market to see what is available in the way of fresh fruit and veggies. We will walk as it is only about three blocks from the house. I love the energy there.

I took the girls to a "game club" at a local pizza place. These kids were so cool, and friendly, not to mention extremely intelligent. The parents were rude and hard to talk to. However, the girls had a good time. Hailey played a game called The Settlers of Catan which she seemed to like. Mackenzie and I played Who? What? Where? Jr. which is a lot of fun. You get three cards that tell you who to draw, what to draw them doing and where to draw them doing it. Then everyone has to try to guess the answer. I had to draw a butterfly playing a guitar in a tree and a donkey sneezing in New York City. Mackenzie got a centipede bowling in a submarine and a seal blowing bubbles in a movie theatre. Very fun game.

We haven't heard from anyone, but are sure it's all good back in Vegas. We will be there in May, then in June we go to see my sister get married in Salt Lake. That should be loads of great times and produce many memories. I get to see my favorite uncle, and my niece who I haven't seen in such a long time. We will take the girls all around down town Salt Lake while we are there and perhaps get in a school lesson or two as well.

check out www.artakiane.com

Blessings

I still don't like the people here, and I am starting to really hate renting, however I started my second class last night and that kind of took my mind off of all of the crap. I am stuck with the same team as last time and I know there is a reason for this. I am doing my best to deal, and approach it in a positive manner. See, one class and I already grew up!

I have a book I came upon at the book store. It is called Akiane - her life, her art, her poetry. It is a super inspiring story about a young girl who is an artist, a poet, and, well, you just have to check it out. Here is an example of her poetry

The Hollow Compasses

Our thirst is drying the distance

There are no longer silent streets

It is not our eyes that see God's love

Time watches us like naked seeds

The liars are timing the truth

With blisters trapped in the strife

When knives of conceit divide us

Who will find our forgotten life?

The doubt we paint is always a prison

The dried-up light escpes last hail

The darkness sheds its poisoned voices

With hollow compasses we sale

-Akiane

Hi Sabrina! Good to hear from you!
I will send you my info.


Blessings and love and peace and chocolate cake!!!!

:(

I am really not likeing Northern California right now. Making friends is a lot harder than you would think. Okay, the place is beautiful, the people aren't.

This is where we go for park day. It is right near a school, and there are so many trees and plants. It is always cold as the sun is always hidden in the trees. I love the green.

The second picture is of my nephew. He was sad that the "big boys" wouldn't let him play Jedi swords with them. He got over it in about five minutes, but those five minutes when he was upset were just heart breaking. So a note to all of you "big boys" out there, try to remember the little guy once in a while. You were little once too.

Jellies!!!!! They are so awesome! I love to just sit and watch them hang out and float around. They are not easy to capture on film, especially when they are behind a huge glass wall, but I got the best picture I could while being surrounded by a huge crowd of on-lookers, most of them children.

These were the big ones, but they had some that were no bigger than the tip of a pen. Crazy!

Jellies!!!!!!! Look them up, they are so cool!!!!

These are some of the shots I took a couple weeks ago when in San Francisco. I just love to take pictures here as there is always something of interest to shoot. The first one is Alcatraz, the second is the City of San Fran and the third is a street in the city. All of the hills are crazy, and I often wonder what this place must have looked like before it was covered in concrete.

I am going to try to remember to take more pictures around here and then share them with everyone.

I finish my first class this Monday night and start my next one the following week. I am looking forward to the new class but am not sure I want the same team to work with. Sadly this is not my choice, and in the end, I will end up learning a whole lot more dealing with the difficult people than avoiding them.

Peace and blessing to you all.

Visitors From Home

The girls cousins came to visit, as well as their Aunt Shonna and Uncle JR. We have been spending time traveling and playing and well, just having a good time.

They leave tomorrow, and the girls will be very sad. I am just glad we got to spend time with them. It has been great having visitors from home as we miss everyone so much.

Prayers to the Carders, and the Palmer family. Prayers to Sara and Jules. Thinking of you Susie, and praying as well. Miss you all!!!!!

Just a moment of thought

One of the first things I noticed when I moved here was that the people here are more friendly. Back in Vegas, no neighbor ever come up and said hello. You had to make first contact by going out when you saw someone getting the mail, or sneak in a hello when people were getting in their cars to leave. Around here, every neighbor on each side of us come over to say hello. They introduced themselves and were friendly. It's just an observation.

School is going fine. My Learning Team is weak, yet we are muddling through. I have learned a lot this first semester which will be over in two more weeks. Then I go right on to my next class. For the final day of this first class, the team and I have to put together a Power Point presentation on Ethics. Oh, this should be good. (I am being very sarcastic)

I started reading some books outside of my school reading. (this helps me not stress over the amount of reading I have to do for school. Strange I know) One of them was a book on Alcatraz. It is written by the son of a former guard who worked there during one of the escape attempts. I am amazed at the way things were done during that time. Families lived on the Island along with the prisoners. Would you feel safe doing that? It was a good story, but sad. It is called Battle at Alcatraz by Ernest B. Lageson. I even got him to autograph the book which was cool. It allowed me to find out some information straight from the author.

I am also reading a book on homeschooling. It is called Teach Your Own by John Holt and Patrick Farenga. It has really opened my eyes to some of the things that went on in the past, and helped me to realize just how long people have been homeschooling their children. I have only just begun reading it, however it is really interesting and insightful. It talks about the different questions homeschoolers always get regarding socialization, special needs children, quality of the education and so on. I am enjoying it.

So we will be visiting in May around Labor Day. Perhaps we will get to see some of you. I wonder if there is a gathering around that time? I will have to look that up. I can't wait to see the babies!!!

I tend to read Mark Palmer's blog ever day, even though I have never met him. He is in need of prayer, more than usual. Could you please pray for him?

Blessings to you!

Just a quickie!

Thought I would share a few things.

School was cool. I enjoyed it and look forward to the fight ahead.

A quick story:

My cousin has been down a long and crazy road. He has chosen many a wrong path. His brother dis-owned him a few years ago, and he went to jail for six months for some crazy things. His wife divorced him and left with his child while he was in jail. Before he was put in jail, I had the chance to talk with him a little about the path Shad and I have been on with God. He listened, but said something to the effect that God couldn't possibly forgive him for all of the things he has done in his life. He was very depressed, and I was not sure he would make it through the night. He did of course, and then went off to jail and that was the last I have heard from him.

He has been on my mind a lot, and in my prayers even more.

So, today, I talked to someone in the family to see if they have heard from him or know how he is getting along. They say my cousin has been going to church, reading the Bible and stopped drinking and smoking. This alone is huge. But I also found out that he went to see his brother, knocked on the door with a Bible in his hand and simply apologized for all the things he ever did wrong to his brother and asked for forgiveness. The news brought tears to my eyes.

God is so amazing! I just had to share.

Our house sale didn't go through, so if you know anyone who wants a house, well, we still have one for sale. Or maybe God is trying to tell us something? HMmmmmm.........?

Just a quick note

School starts for me on Monday night. I am filled with anticipation, horror, anxiety and the such, but I also know that God is right beside me. So with that said, I guess I should just pray and meditate and move on with my day.

The girls and I are going shopping for my sister today. I love to go to the mall during the day. It is so quiet. Her birthday (My sister's) is coming up and I want to get her something real nice. We have at least one birthday in every month in my family. August is full of them, as well as May.

I am trying very hard to stay in touch with everyone but it is hard to do for a person who sucks at it. I just need to practice. I am writing more letters though. School will put a dent into that I am sure.

We have a couple of home school families coming over tomorrow afternoon to hang out. I am trying hard to start a community of God loving people who will feel free to visit at any time. Our door is open, so lets see who God brings our way. If you could pray about that, well, thanks.

Blessings to you all, and prayers for all.

Someone turned 8 today! She picked out her own cake, got a new bike, and went shopping at the mall. She blew up a bunch of yellow smiley face balloons and has been playing some kind of game with them most of the day with her family. She is very happy and has had a greatly blessed day.

Her mom and dad are very proud of her and love her very much.

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

This is my favorite picture from yesterday in San Francisco. We went to see our Nephew who was visiting with his school. It was cold, but we had a super time walking around, showing the girls the city and going to Alcatraz while hanging out with Ryan. He is an amazing young man.

Mackenzie said her favorite part of Alcatraz was solitary confinement. Should I be worried?

Hailey loved seeing the Sea Lions that were being lazy in the dock. There was one that looked like he or she was praying. They were cool.

I am finally savey on the whole downloading pictures thing. Wow, if only someone could have pointed it out a little sooner I could have been sharing lots of pictures with you. I am a picture addict. We have photo albums everywhere and tons of pictures on our computers. While this one is not mine, it is from my computer and is just a test to make sure I have it down. I will be adding lots of things for you all to see very soon.

life moves on

I am now a college student. Weird!

Our house is also off of the market as we received an offer. I am so happy because now we will be able to pay off our truck and have no debt other than the usual. Except that I am now about to be in debt because of school. It's all good though.

I was just reading my email from the home school group I am with and someone went to their childs doctor and was treated pretty crappy as soon as the doctor found out they were home schoolers. The doctor made comments regarding kids being too protected when they are schooled at home and how they should have to go to school so they can deal with "shitty" teachers. Okay, so the doctor thinks teachers are shitty and that it is our duty to send our kids to deal with these kinds of people? What about dealing with shitty doctors? Doesn't that count? The doctor also started talking about home schoolers being a red flag. What in the hell does that mean?

While this lady was able to turn the other cheek and not say anything, I wouldn't have been so nice. I am pissed just from reading her email. I am so happy to have not had the chance to deal with assholes like that. I could care less what others think about me teaching my children at home.

Not much else is gong on. We have a nephew coming up with a school group this next weekend and then we will get to celebrate Mackenzie's 8th birthday on the 20th. Hailey starts tennis this weekend as well.

We miss everyone and are looking forward to getting to see some of you in May.
Peace and blessings

Shad went to work today at three in the morning. His usual time is around seven, but today is a special day. He is making an arrest. Anyway, that is how his work is going for those of you who are interested.

We are still unpacking, still looking for things, and our house is a mess most of the time. It is driving me a little crazy because I need to get all of this stuff done soon so I can take on school. I am about to start college again. I will be needing a lot of prayer. It isn't easy going back to school at 34 years old. I feel that God is directing me in this way though, so I am doing what He wants.

We are studying California History as required by law and my searching for a book led me to a place called The Golden Apple. It is a lot like L.I.F. but not so expensive. I found a book that is perfect. God has been doing that around here a lot. Showing me things, leading me places. We might be starting a house church here is a few months. In the History of the World that we are doing, we started reading about Ancient China and how silk is made. Then last night I was reading with Mackenzie from one of those Magic Treehouse books and it was about Ancient China as well. They even have a little thing about how silk is made and Mackenzie was amazed that we were reading this and how we had just studied about it. Her eyes twinkled with excitement which put a smile on my face as she is loving to learn more and more every day. Thanks Amy.

I am officially off of my depression meds. I dream some super vivid and crazy dreams too. But other than that, I feel good. Now I am going to tackle the other med I take.

Running and walking is nice up here and very popular. Sheba pouts if she doesn't get out to walk too. She sulks in front of the window watching people go by with their dogs. It is so sad. Oh, at the vet, we found out that Sheba is two years older than we thought. They said that a lot of places will put down a younger age of an animal so that they have a better chance of being adopted. Hailey is upset now and worried that Sheba will die sooner. And, of course I said she would, but that it doesn't change the fact that she is alive now, so we are all doing better with that now.

Missing you all.

Today is VET day for the dog. Sheba has the longest nails I have ever seen only because she tries to run and bite when we try to cut them. I look at her and she seems so happy and eager to get out today. She won't even know what is about to happen until we get to the door of the office and she smells the place. Once she becomes aware of her surroundings, she will start to shake with fear and shed like a tree in fall. Poor Sheba! However, once her nails are cut she will feel a lot better. So will I as this means she won't be making the clicking sound any more on the kitchen floor. It is driving me insane!

Pray for me as I am looking into going back to school. God has placed an urgency in my heart to learn to counsel. For what or whom? I have no idea. I just know I am supposed to go back to school.

Every Saturday we go to the Farmers Market down the street. On the way there last Saturday, a car was pulling out of a parking spot, and the wheels were making this horrid squeaking sound, and Mackenzie turns around and says "Geeze! Get your tires fixed would ya!!!!" Shad was so proud.

I am still working out the bugs so I can post pictures. I have many from our trip to Washington D.C. that I would love to share.

Nothing is new. The sun is out and Mackenzie has Soccer today. Other than that, I am just being a lazy mom and hanging out in the living room in front of the T.V.

The girls are playing some pretend game and soon they will start thier reports. Hailey is writing about African Elephants, and Mackenzie is writing about Desert Tortoises.

It is the most amaizing thing that Mackenzie has never been to school a day in her life and she is reading and writing now. I guess I'm doing okay.

I think I will take a nap.

I am a craft artist now. I started making crafts and am sending them to a shop to be sold. How cool is that? Okay, the shop is in the family, but still, it is kind of cool.

My dog is trying her hardest to catch the phantom squirrel that is living on our roof. The little thing comes down once in a while into our back yard to, well, I really don't know what it is trying to do, but the dog takes off chasing it and it is the funniest thing. I just hope the dog doesn't ever catch it. Go little squirrel!

Mackenzie started soccer yesterday and it was such a joy to watch her play with all of the other kids. She didn't know any of them, yet she jumped right in and played and laughed. The coach had certain games for them to play like "shark in the water" and "tail grab." Mackenzie said it was "great!" Worth every penny in my book.

Hailey starts a babysitting class next week. We shall see how that goes. Pray for her anxiety as it has gotten a little worse with the move. She starts tennis in February. Watch out Stephanie!

Love and miss all of you Apexers! (my spell check wanted to replace Apexers with abusers. What's up with that!?!?)