The Zoo

In Minnesota

2012-02-01T23:00:00.001-06:00

Sand is in short supply, but snow will do....

Actually, snow is in short supply as well, but there was still enough yesterday to bury a small boy!

Congratulations!

2012-01-31T22:31:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to my 70,000 visitor!! I don't know who you are, but you live in Minneapolis :-) Thanks for visiting!

Happy Birthday, Marcus Mumford!

2012-01-31T22:19:00.000-06:00

Couldn't let the day go by without wishing Marcus a very happy birthday! In honor of his birthday, Molly and I rolled down the windows of the car and listened to The Cave, very loudly. It was cold, but very worth it!

And now, you can enjoy that most excellent song in honor of Marcus' birthday, as well.

It's not the best recording of the song, BUT it was from OUR concert in Kansas City. The gal who recorded it was right behind us, and you get the idea of what it was like to be in a 10,000 person sing-a-long!

ἐλευθερία

2012-01-31T21:59:00.001-06:00

My Facebook friends know that I have been planning out my tattoo for the past few days. In the process, I was spending some time "hanging out" with the Greek Bible. How fun is that? Well, for me, it's lots of fun!

I think I already told you that my tattoo will say this:

Ὑμεῖς γὰρ ἐπ' ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε
(For you were called to freedom -Galatians 5:13)

And so it will. But, my dear friend Jen also gave me an outstanding verse the other day:

οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου, ἐλευθερία
(where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom -2 Corinthians 3:17)

Now I'm thinking, I'll need one verse around each ankle...eventually.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post :-)

The point is, while I was wandering around the Greek Bible, I was looking up the Greek words in a Greek Lexicon. You know, to make sure that my tattoo really said what I wanted it to say. Wouldn't it be awful if I got this permanent tattoo and it ended up saying something like, "I like to eat octopus"

Anyhow....while browsing through the lexicon, this word, ἐλευθερία, struck me. In both of my tattoo verses, it's translated "freedom" but the lexicon gives more detail. Here's the definition:

ἐλευθερία, n \{el-yoo-ther-ee'-ah}
1) liberty to do or to omit things having no relationship to salvation 2) fancied liberty 2a) license, the liberty to do as one pleases 3) true liberty is living as we should not as we please

Wow! It makes me like these verses and that word all the more! Maybe you all find this quite boring and uninspiring, but not me! I'm going to enjoy living in ἐλευθερία.

That Was Close

2012-01-30T21:57:00.000-06:00

Mumford certainly dodged the bullet tonight. We let her out to "do her business" before bed. As soon as she got out the door we heard her barking loudly but didn't think too much of it. BUT, when we opened the door to let her back in, we were greeted with that distinct odor of skunk :-(

We hesitantly let her into the house and gave her a good sniffing over, only to discover that apparently her new furry friend has really poor aim. Somehow, Mr. Skunk missed Mumford completely, much to our pleasure. I really didn't want to give a dog a tomato sauce bath before bed tonight!

They are kind of cute little critters though, don't you think?

This Has Gotten Completely Out of Control!

2012-01-30T14:00:00.000-06:00

So, as I was driving Molly to her guitar lesson today, she sprung this one on me: "Mom, I want to buy a banjo!"

Whoa! This was news to me. Here's what she had to say..."Since accordions are $1000, I thought I would learn the banjo first. They're cheaper."

So, my daughter who plays the flute, dabbles in the piano, and is just learning the guitar, also wants to learn the banjo AND the accordion!

This music thing around here has gotten totally out-of-control!

Awww, Man!!

2012-01-30T13:53:00.002-06:00

I was going to stop by my local tattoo parlor this afternoon to find out how much my tattoo is going to cost, and...sadness....the only tattoo parlor I've ever stepped into has CLOSED! Apparently the one piercing that I had done there was not enough to keep them in business :-(

Now what's a girl to do? Anyone know of a reputable tattoo shop close to where I live?

She's So Talented!

2012-01-28T22:37:00.000-06:00

So, I came up to the kitchen around noon on Wednesday and discovered that Nina had painted this...

She was supposed to be doing her school, but it was kind of hard to get upset with her when she made such a beautiful painting :-) I guess I could just say that she spent the morning in art class!

She continually amazes me with her artistic talent, whether it be creating works of art on fingernails, on skin, or on paper!

Maybe she'll let me have the picture...hint, hint!

Random Pictures

2012-01-28T21:28:00.000-06:00

Just a few random weekend pictures. Chris took a subset of the kids to the zoo today (while I helped Aidan with his homework and went grocery shopping)

Raelea & Zoe doing some sisterly bonding.

Raelea, cousin Rachel, Emily, Zoe & Marcus enjoying the zoo.

Emily with our house guest, Max. Max & Rachel are spending the weekend with us.

70,000

2012-01-25T22:25:00.000-06:00

It's the countdown to 70,000 hits. It seems like just a little while ago we were celebrating 60,000. Let's see if Crystal can be the 70,000th blog reader :-) She's usually my milestone marker! I predict we'll reach the mark on....Monday.

These Guys Are Impressing Me More And More!

2012-01-24T22:53:00.001-06:00

Okay, two weeks ago, I had never heard of these guys, and now they are becoming one of my favorite bands! Time for you to take another listen to Romantica :-)

I Should've Known

2012-01-23T15:54:00.001-06:00

I should have guessed this would happen!

The verse I wrote down this morning was James 1:2-4. This should've given me a clue as to what awaited me in the coming day....it says

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I'm slow! That various trials thing....I just didn't get how various those trials would be!

So, here's how the first 2/3 of my day have gone...

Hubby is leaving town for work for a few days, that's sad :-(
Children woke up, that's good.
Children started bickering, that's bad.
Started the laundry, that's good.
The pile is about as tall as I am, that's bad.

Gimpy dog needs to be watched, so she doesn't slip and fall with her cute little sock on, this is time consuming.
Two children get in a squabble that requires intervention on my part...in the middle of teaching another child to read, this is really time consuming.
The switch for the light in the bathroom breaks off....like completely gone, puzzling
Gimpy dog needs to go outside, and needs to be accompanied so she doesn't slip and fall; time consuming.
After reading lessons are done and children have been instructed, so much time has been consumed that school starts an hour late.

At 11:30 Molly needs to be driven to guitar lessons.
While on the way, children at home call to have me mediate a dispute.
While brokering a peace agreement via the phone, I go on auto-pilot while driving and fail to think that maybe turning onto the guitar instructors very steep street is not such a good idea with the fresh snow and ice.
I get off the phone when I realize, there is NO way the behemoth rear-wheel drive van I drive is going to get back up the hill we have just driven down.
I send Molly into her lesson, while I try all the various options for getting a vehicle to move on a slippery slope, all to no avail.
I call hubby, who hasn't left the state yet, to "vent."
Hubby calls me back and says he is on the way to rescue me :-) , that's sweet!
Children at home call with "issues."
Hubby and I push and pull (with our Ridgeline) to get the van unstuck.

As I drive home I recount to Molly my verse for the day, and we work really hard on counting it all joy.

Aside from a child who is having a REALLY difficult day, things seem to have improved since I arrived home...but the day's not over yet, so more joy may be awaiting me :-)

Because It's MY Blog

2012-01-22T21:50:00.001-06:00

For those of you that tire of my frequent Mumford and Sons related posts...this isn't for you.

For the rest of you :-) Here is an amazing video that reminds me of why I like this band so much!
Mumford & Sons | Sigh No More | {el.de.te} from {el.de.te} on Vimeo.

Change of Plans

2012-01-22T21:29:00.002-06:00

Chris and I were going to go out to eat for lunch after church...just drop the kids off at home and away we go.

BUT, it was not to be so. Once we got home and let the dogs out, Snickers slipped on the ice and tore one of her nails. This was discovered by finding a trail of blood all over the house :-( So instead of going out for lunch, we cleaned blood off the floor and carpeting, and then Chris spent the afternoon at the emergency vet clinic.

Poor Snickers had to have her nail cut way down and now has to have her foot bandaged for several days. She's not too happy about this as you can see.

So, we didn't get a meal out, and we are somewhat poorer than we were this morning :-(

Why I Need A Music Room

2012-01-21T23:53:00.001-06:00

My dining room table!

Kind of hard to eat on it when there's a dulcimer and bagpipes laying on it. It looks like this EVERY day, so when we want to sit down to eat, we have to move the instruments off. Wouldn't it be grand for the instruments to have their own room??

My Rock Stars

2012-01-20T18:46:00.001-06:00

When it's too cold to go outside, what's a kid to do? How about start a band?

That's exactly what some of my kids did yesterday. After an hour or so of practice they were ready to perform...

Lilly Black

Under Black

1.1.Blacksmith

Charlie Black

Introducing...

The Black People

They put on quite a show, I assure you!

Quite A Combination

2012-01-19T16:59:00.001-06:00

Marcus Mumford sings Simon & Garfunkel....does it get any better than this?

Coach Follow-up

2012-01-18T14:44:00.001-06:00

Deb hasn't heard anything from Coach (not that we were expecting that, given their record thus far of poor customer service), but you'll be happy to hear that Deb did get her purse back from the shoe repair guy and it is in wonderful working condition once again.
I just thought you might want to hear what Deb's husband, Peter, had to say a out the whole thing. He was the one who purchased the purse for Deb in the first place.

Yeah . . .I . . . REALLY dont think Coach even tried to fix it. The thing about it is that it was such a simple fix. I think the purse got sent to Coach and there is a person sitting between the "incoming" and "out going" box. There job is to "transfer" from one box to another. Kind of has that "Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory" feel of the type of workers.Peter

There you have it!

Winter Has Finally Arrived

2012-01-17T20:22:00.000-06:00

It's been slow in coming (and I'm not complaining about that), but it appears that winter has finally appeared. We are getting below zero windchills and temperatures for the first time this winter. I don't ever remember making it this far into January without having any days below zero. It is such a bizarre winter!

Anyway, now that the cold has arrived, my mind begins to wander here...

And in 38 days, my body will join my mind, and this pale Minnesota skin will be soaking up the wonderful sunny rays in Alabama!:-) Oh, happy day!!!