Embarrassment... sometimes it's the only way!

Yes, that is a Golden Retriever getting ready to eat her breakfast...... there is a problem here!

So, Lilo has a little weight problem. A 26 pound problem to be exact according to our vet! She has been reduced to diet dog food, and actually protested the first two days by not eating at all! Silly dog… she finally caught on to her new feeding – food in bowl, down 20 minutes, and then the bowl is picked up! Well, we thought she was making progress, however yesterday she resulted to lying on the floor to eat her breakfast! Even after I told her to get up, she refused. So like any good momma, I got out the camera to capture her bad behavior, and presto… after a few shots she actually stood up to finish her breakfast! From the looks of her, she looks to have lost a few pounds, and she is moving around more (of course it helps that B takes her for walks around the neighborhood three times a day!) so we are hopeful when we return to the vet the first week of June we will see about a 10 pound weight loss this first month! (at least that is what they are hoping for! it seems like Jenny Craig for dogs!)

Don't worry, Stitch has been put on a diet as well, he's just taking it in stride!

The rain… what more can I say about the rain. Seriously, I think it has been raining for about seven days straight, with rain predicted for the next five days as well. I love it! I mean everything is so crisp outside right now! After the thunderstorms it is so great to go outside and just breathe in the cleanliness of it all! The rain is like a metaphor of our life right now… cloudy with much sun on the horizon. God uses the rain to bring new growth, and to revive the world around us. Everything is always so much greener here after the rain. I know in the next few months, God will bless us richly. And that the blessing will fulfill our desires. This process is very different for me, not so much Derek. I am a calendar type person- it is planned, written down, and revisited. Derek on the other hand just goes with the flow… (and that works because I have the plan LOL) The not knowing, the unknowns, and the time lines are what I am working on giving up control of. If it were my way (which I fully know) it is not, our plan would take place June 11- However, I must remember that this will happen in His time, in His way, and with His guidance! Through this process he has opened doors and made things happen that we never thought could. He continues to amaze us in His desires and what he reveals to us! We are anxiously awaiting his new blessings upon us!

It was raining so much, it was actually flooding our flowers! You know.. the new ones we just planted a few weeks ago! Geez... I would hate to think I did all that work for not!

And standing water is everywhere!

Joy is the theme of my song,

And the beat of my heart,

And that joy is found in You.

For You showed the power of Your cross

And your great saving love,

And my soul woke up to You.

I heard Your beautiful news;

Grace so amazing, so true...

Shout it out, let the people sing

Something so powerful should shake the whole wide world.

Make it loud, make it louder still;

Saviour we´re singing now to celebrate Your beautiful news.

There´s a God who came down to save

Showed the world His amazing grace

There´s a God who came down to save

And He calls your name
(Beautiful News.... Matt Redman)

Two great smiles! Two great kids!

An attempt at straight hair on a rainy day!

Yesterday in a very rare moment (the rain is making M & B a little stir crazy) M actually posed for some pictures! I must say having her hair straightened put her in rare form! So of course, B had to join in on the fun! Derek was actually home this weekend, the first in about 6 weeks! We all stayed in our pajamas ALL DAY yesterday and just hung out and watched movies, read, and slept! It was a glorious day! We did start rearranging a few things around the house… and let’s just say that Monday we will be really busy finishing that plan! I think we could use Clean Sweep to come in and get us organized! We all have accumulated so much stuff!!! Really, just in our cast-offs we could probably support a small village in a third world country! I mean seriously how many shoes, shirts, and pants can one person have?

School is ticking away for us. We only have 8 ½ actual school days left! That is not much time at the end of a year! We are in the middle of a big musical production, so that will eat the first three days of this week, and then Friday we will have our Jr. Achievement Pizza Party. (If you don’t teach, but would like to have some involvement in the classroom, Jr. Achievement is a great opportunity to serve!). That takes us into our last week of school that is a complete blur already… out of town field trip, awards, class party, 5th grade picnic… and then the final day! It will be bittersweet for our students this year. Many of them will get really emotional on the last day of elementary school. This year, more than ever we will cover them in prayer as they head-off to middle schools around the county. Many of our students are on waiting lists for magnet programs, and are worried about where they will end up!

School ending means summer vacation for us! We, as usual, have a lot going on, and hope to get a few extra basketball tournaments included in our vacation this year! Derek thinks that they will place highest enough in state to go to Nationals… we are very excited about that! We are thinking that we may make the round-trip to see everybody, but we will send out dates later! We did book our Gatlinburg trip, and we are actually taking another friend with us this year! It should be a trip to remember!

B is having a birthday Friday! She will be 7, and we can hardly believe that. Where has the time gone with these two? M turns 10 in July, and E will be 23 this year! Time just flies! It is truly like the blink of an eye.