So Long Ordinary

For the first time ever I've entered a blog give away contest. They are "all the rage" in bloggity world now and since Heather invited me to join hers and I would absolutely LOVE for her to do a painting of the girls (one of the prize options) I just had to enter! If any of you are bloggers, you are invited to join the drawing as well. I encourage everybody to peruse Heathers blog "Graced by Christ." It is a lovely blog and I'm glad I've finally discovered it! Thanks, Heather!

*UPDATED FOR CLARITY* I just realized why so few people comment on this blog. It's kind of hard, isn't it?! Well, I just made it easier. Now you can leave a comment without a Blogger account. Just click the comments link, add your comment, and choose "Other" where you can place your name (a web address is not required to use this option) or use "Anonymous" and be sure to sign your name at the end. After the word verification, you can send your comment! I'd love to hear more from you at anytime, about anything! If you don't see your comment right away, don't worry - it has been sent to me to review first and then I'll post it. (This is to avoid "junk" or spam.)

Somebody very, very special to me is turning 60 today. This person has influenced my life in ways he probably doesn't even know. He raised me to work hard, to love God, to finish what I started (I'm still working on that one), and to talk less and act more. He taught me how to ride horses, fish, hike, camp and enjoy the mountain air. He was patient enough to teach me to drive and he made me learn stick shift first. And he just laughed when I drove my mom's car into the ditch...the laughing became less and less frequent in direct proportion to the amount of little accidents I had. He even surprised me and fixed my new car after I ran into my old car with it. A very patient man. And I scared him more than once. This man even let me have pigs in 4-H. I think we both learned from that one. But, in the end we had good pork. He tolerated me "helping" him while he puttered around the farm. He gave me my first job sweeping hangars out for $2 an hour. He bought me countle

Busy, busy, busy. I know I seem to have fallen off the planet...just so busy with lots of stuff that takes priority over blogging. Someday I'll be back, I promise! I'm hoping that by mid-week next week my life will have calmed down enough that I don't cringe at the thought of sitting still for a while and trying to organize my thoughts well enough to create a blog post. My brain is like Jell-O, I tell you. Jell-O. My condition is compounded by the fact that suddenly Brooklyn is not taking naps. Yes, I know that those of you who have had the painful and unfair experience of kissing afternoon free time goodbye can understand now where I have been! But I will be back soon and you can look forward to more regular updates. Until then, you have my permission to back away from the computer and step outside to enjoy the sun and summer fun for a while.

I know I've been sort of hit-and-miss with the blogging the past month or so. I've been busy with some special projects, summer Bible studies, and just trying to keep on top of the usual chores, errands and responsibilities! I really haven't had much to say but I've been thinking...I've got a list of blog topics I really want to write about someday. The nature of my blog may change somewhat in the next several weeks as I implement a little more writing about topics other than family updates and pictures. I've said all along that this blog is an opportunity for me to improve my writing skills...family updates don't quite do that even if I do love writing them! At the same time, I know that the majority of my " readers " - doesn't that sound fancy, I have readers! * ahem* Anyway, most of the people who check in on this blog are either relatives or friends and really only care about the cute antics of my children.... So, the family updat

This is why I love blogging. You put a little something out there - such as a hint that you need a little comic relief in your life - and people start praying and telling you their jokes and sending encouraging notes and things start happening and suddenly.... Man, my life is funny! We all know that life isn't always all giggles and snorts - unless, of course, you are at a junior high girls' slumber party. And that is okay. Because I can honestly say that even though I passed a few days without anything really good to laugh about, I never lost my joy. Not once. You see, that is the really awesome thing about our God. I can't quite explain it, but I look back and see that the joy of the my Lord was there - even though I was more stressed than usual, maybe a tad grumpy, a little excessive in my self-pity, way over-tired, more growly than giggly, and seriously feeling some culture shock.... again. He used friends and family from near and far to help me gain perspecti

I so needed a laugh. It's been hard to find anything remotely funny about my life lately - then I read this post and I'm still giggling! If she can turn that awful day into something hilarious then surely I can see the humor in my own bad day/week/month.... Go read - "Ode to Mary" by Antique Mommy It's there - the humor in my life, that is - somewhere! I'll let you know when I find it.

Loud rap music next door drove us out in search of a quiet place. We found a little sandbar by the Pastaza River and spent some time just playing to the sound of rushing water. Sean and I are really loving the camera (and fighting over it just a bit) and since we have the two most beautiful subjects in the world to take pictures of...

I stole his camera and then I got some great shots of Sean playing with the girls on our living room floor today. There were limbs, curly blonde hair, and giggles all over the place. Finally still enough for a focused picture... Just "this close" to crawling. You can't see the tooth but it's there on the bottom front, a little to the left.

Wow, what a week! I just haven't had the time to blog. I'm sorry!! But, as busy as I have been, I just can't think of much blog-worthy material. Sean mentioned in his blog that he's been doing aircraft maintenance. Other than that bit of "change from the norm" our days have been full of the same ole stuff and nothing special.... Guess who's getting her first tooth?! I was totally unprepared for the deep sadness that settled over me the moment I felt that sharp little tooth on Maddie's gums. She is 9 months old. And I know teeth are a good thing (they really help out with life) but I guess I just wasn't prepared for my baby to... well, grow up. It goes so fast. Too fast, sometimes. We took our visitor to Baños today. That's up the road - a quaint, touristy mountain town. We ate at our favorite little restaurant La Posada del Arte and then we did some souvenir shopping around town. On the way home we stopped and bought more plants f

We took our guest to church yesterday. It was a pretty good service but, as usual, we were plum tuckered by the time it ended at 12:30. Sitting still on hard little benches with no leg room, trying to keep our kids happy/still/quiet, and also trying to focus on the sermon in Spanish...all these things just wear us out every Sunday - no matter how much we enjoy the service! Sean didn't help with worship yesterday so I did have his help with the girls - a lot of times, he can't even sit with me once he finishes helping with worship. It was nice to know he was there to help me and I was able to enjoy a little more of the service (and I didn't feel like a misused, under-appreciated, over-worked jungle gym by the time the last Amen was said). As I mentioned before, our house guest hails from Zambia...he wasn't the least bit phased by what we thought was a long service. In Africa, they are just getting started at 12:30! Oh.

A couple of "movie nights," a few walks around Shell, trips to the store for more Coke, an outing to the ice cream store, a little relaxed book reading, and not much else.... Cherry Ice Cream and Purple Sunglasses Along for the ride Helping Daddy re-attach the bumper after our very bumpy drive to Quito.

Check out Sean's post about our time in Quito and his other post about some touring we did while we were there. It was a great time and we were able to get some things done that can only be done in the city - like dentist appointments, shopping for groceries in a supermarket, and - the real highlight - eating at Papa John's Pizza, McDonalds, Taco Bell and TGI Fridays... Quito is so different than where we live in Shell. So. Different. It is hard to believe they are in the same country sometimes. We hadn't been to the city for more than 5 months and, I have to admit, we were struck with a mixture of culture shock and relief when we entered the city. Quito is a beautiful city. To us it is anyway. It just seems all sparkly and clean, full of all sorts of fancy and newfangled technology...stoplights, for instance. We enjoyed cool mountain air (albeit slightly - okay, very - polluted) and real sunshine and "quiet" nights (in other words, no roosters crowi

Made it home safely today at about 4:30 p.m. Had a great and productive time in the city. Brought home groceries, Papa John's pizza, and a stray teenage boy. Will write more later!