I recently signed up for an online weekly Bible study.  These words are from it.:

"When we turn away from the light of Christ, even for a brief season, it’s unsettling how quickly darkness clouds our minds. We begin to doubt, to question, to fear.

What if God isn’t real? What if believing in him is pointless?

That’s when we run to the Word. Drink in the truth. Let the words refresh our faith and bring new life to our souls. Jesus is our only hope. And our best hope."



I have a confession to make.  I haven't read my Bible in several months.  I haven't been to church since August.  I brought my Bible with me to Hawaii, but so far, it has just been sitting in my bedroom waiting for me to pick it up.  It has even gone so far as to collect MOLD because 1. we live on the rainy side of our Hawaiian island and 2. I haven't read it.  (Personally, I think #2 has more of an impact than #1 does.)  That doesn't mean I haven't talked to Jesus and heard him answer me.  It just means that I haven't grown in THE WORD.  The Word is where we as Christians grow and get the strength we need to get through our daily tasks.  Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." I personally take this to mean that it influences how we think -- are we manipulative or pure in our hearts and thoughts?

I am far from being a Bible scholar.  I am SOO not perfect!  However, I am forgiven by Jesus' blood on the cross.  I sin so much every day even though like the apostle Paul, I don't want to.  "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate."--Romans 7:15 


We must persevere toward our goal. What is our goal?  To be more Christlike and to live our lives in a manner that's pleasing to him.  Faith comes into play here also.  "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1  If we have faith, we can be assured that God is for us.  He will never leave us even when it seens the whole world is against us.  Faith, hope and love get us through our darkest days    Do YOU have God's love in your life to help you?  If not, I pray you will.  If you desire to come to know Jesus, all you have to do is sincerely seek him and pray for his forgiveness & for him to come into your heart.  If you would like to, but you don't know how, here's a start.  (It's just like talking to a friend....He IS THE FRIEND!)

Dear Jesus, I know I've sinned & come before You asking Your forgiveness.  Please enter into my heart and cleanse me of my sins.  Amen.  That's it.  You don't have to do anything to earn forgiveness.  I'd love to hear from you with your thoughts about this post.  It's not my usual post, but I felt led by God to post it this morning.

Love
Dea

ALOHA from 2013

My, my, my!  How time flies!  I can't believe I've been in Hawaii 5 months already!  WOW!  Let's see...what all has happened in those 5 months?

1. Jason & the boys successfully made it to Hawaii from Georgia.  ALOHA to all the Shatterly & Parker cousins who are reading this. 

2. Omri finally made the long flight from Ohio to Hawaii.  He says ARF, by the way!  He also says the weather's a LOT nicer!   He has gotten in the ocean a couple of times.  I don't think he really cares for the waves, though.  He keeps trying to rescue the boys from them. HA!

3. I've "island-hopped" several time for work.  I've been to Maui 3 times & Oahu twice just for work.  I'd like to be able to go sight-see on those islands--maybe after the boys get grown & I don't have to pay for their tickets, also.  (Hey, a Mom can dream, right?)

4. I "met" my first sea turtle (Honu is the Hawaiian word).  As I was snorkeling, I put my head down as he/she was headed up to get air.  SCARED ME TO DEATH!  I got out of the water as quickly as I could & just sat on the shore gasping!  Jason, of course, was laughing at me for letting a gentle giant scare me.  He did eventually talk me back into the water & there was an OLD turtle just hanging out watching us watch him.  :)

5. The boys got new bicycles for Christmas.  They are tall enough now that they got "adult" bikes instead of kid bikes.  This is a big deal at our house right now.

6.  The boys have also played on their boogie boards so much we had to get them new ones.  They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being in the water! (me--I don't like sand in my bathing suit, but love the water)

7. We had a traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc.

8.  We still haven't gone to a luau, but we HAVE been invited to one in April.  We'll be celebrating a little one's 1st birthday.  1st birthdays are a BIG deal here in Hawaii.  There are over 200 people invited to this.   I got stressed over 10 people coming to my boys' first birthday party, I can't imagine trying to organize over 200 guests!  WHEW! 

9. We have gone to see the volcano a few times.  You can only smell it & see smoke from it during the daytime unless you fly over in a helicopter.  At night, if you go to the Jagger Museum at Volcanoes National Park, you can see the glow from the lava inside the crater.  It's pretty amazing.  (I'm attempting to post pictures from my phone onto here...we'll see how THAT works out!  HA!) 

10. We have watched countless surfers attack the waves.  I have decided this redneck girl is too chicken to try to surf!  I think some of these guys & girls have death wishes.  It scares me just to watch them sometimes.

11.   Hawaii is GORGEOUS!  My pictures cannot possible do it justice. (As I said, I'm trying to figure out how to get some on here for y'all.)

Til I figure that out, Happy Aloha Monday, y'all!

Dea

I am horrible at updating what's been going on since we moved to Hawaii!  This is the first post from the Aloha State, can you believe it???  And..no pics!  I mean, come on, I live here & am being selfish not posting pics for everyone to look at!  Seriously, I rarely remember my camera & don't have a computer here so until I do, no pics.  Sorry guys! 

It is beautiful here.  However, beauty comes at a cost.  A very HIGH cost!  Grocery prices are crazy high cause everything is shipped in.  We've learned to buy our fruit & veggies at the local farmers' market.  Unlike mainland prices, fruit/veggies at the grocery stores are all priced by the pound.  Yes, lettuce, cabbage, green onions, celery...all priced by the pound..not the "each".  I told Jason the other day we weren't buying any more lettuce at the grocery store.  The last head of iceberg lettuce I bought in Texas was oh, about 85-90 cents.  Here?  It cost $3.87...yes, that's for ONE head of lettuce!  However, I can buy 6-7 papayas at the local farmers markets at a cost of 6-7 for $1.  :-)  I am LOVING me some papaya!  Mango?  not so much  I never did care for fresh pineapple from the grocery stores either, but the fresh ones here?  straight from the fields?  AWESOME!  And truly fresh bananas?  YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, as soon as we get a computer up & running, I'll put some pretty pics up.  Til then, imagine all the gorgeous pics you've seen & yep, that's what it's like only more so.

Aloha,
Dea

Last Day

By the time most of you read this, I will be on my way across the nation to the great state of Hawaii.  I am super excited & can’t wait to get there.  It all seems a little surreal right now, though.  I just will ask that ya’ll keep Jason & the boys in your prayers as they’ll be on their own for about a month. 

 

(I’ve kept this post short as we leave for the airport in a just a little bit and because I fell at Dad’s & skinned my elbow which makes it painful to type.)  I plan on posting pics from Hawaii sometime soon, but til then, head over to Facebook for mobile uploads from my cell.  Til we hear from each other again, stay safe & aloha!

 

Love,
Dea

A smile isn't always a smile!

Although I did not write this post, it is written by another 4 Paws mom who gets it.  Her life is a near parallel to ours with Matthew.  Here's the link, please go & understand, I'm not whining about my life...well, not much, anyway!

http://zachandtwinkie.blogspot.com

Love,Dea

Randomness

We’ve had a very busy couple of weeks.  A week or so ago, I flew to Little Rock to see a concert with Danielle, a BFF from college.    We went to see Lady Antebellum.  We really enjoyed the show.  They had Thompson Square and Darius Rucker open for them.  I liked Lady A, but I liked Darius Rucker better.  For those who aren’t aware, he is “Hootie” from Hootie and the Blowfish.  

While I was in Arkansas, Scott was at pre-teen church camp.  A really exciting thing happened while he was there!  He came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior!  He will be baptized on July 22.  The same week, Matthew spent a week with very dear friends of ours, the Pivonkas.  Jamie and John’s daughter was in our training class at 4 Paws when we got Omri.  Their daughter got a Service Dog also, Kyto.  Omri and Kyto played all week!  Jamie & John woke up their last night there to one of Matt’s night terrors.    Not good!  Luckily, since they had gone through training with us, they knew the commands to use on Omri for him to help calm Matthew down.  Thank GOD for 4 Paws and for Omri! Thanks John, Jamie, Hailey, Katie and Kyto for having Matthew over!

  We went to see our local July 4th parade.  This is Omri under the truck.  Doesn’t he look patriotic?  We spent the day napping, eating hot dogs and hamburgers that Jason grilled out and vegging in front of the TV.  That night, Scott wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home with him while Jason and Matt went to see the fireworks.  While they were gone, Scott got worse so I took him to the Emergency Room.  They initially diagnosed him with pneumonia then changed it to an asthma crisis. (They’re still not really sure what caused his breathing crisis.)  He was admitted to the hospital overnight.  We went home the next day around 6:30 P.M.  Here is Omri calming Scott down on his hospital bed.  Matthew had gone on a church youth group trip to 6 Flags and to see the Texas Rangers play ball.  We were afraid Omri would burn his pads on his paws so he stayed home.  Good thing, too, cause when we took him to hospital, Scott’s heart rate dropped 30 beats!Currently, Scott is in bed, but we have a follow-up appointment with his pediatrician first thing in the morning to see if he is doing better or not.  He is breathing a little better, but I can tell he’s still not 100% & probably won’t be for a long time.  I just hope he doesn’t have to be re-admitted!

Scott took this picture of Omri earlier tonight.This is Omri in his

Men in Black costume.  Whaddya think?

Love,

Dea

What the heck is that thing anyway?

First of all, I gotta ask, What the heck IS this thing?A friend of mine’s son is stationed at Ft. Hood & he sent me this picture of a critter he found in his shower stall.  The consensus on Facebook was that it was some kind of creature from the cricket family.

Of course, we’ve gotta have some Omri pics, right?

This is after he recuperated from burning the pads on his paws at 6 Flags.Unfortunately, once he healed, we took him swimming at Lake Belton and now he has an ear infection.  This is him at the vet’s office getting checked out.  This is him getting his ears cleaned by Jason and meLet’s just say he was NOT impressed with ear cleaning.  LOL  Jason and Scott had to hold him still yesterday while I put his antibiotics in his ear.  If a dog can give you a Go to Heck look, he gave me one when we got done. 

Jason and the guys at work have become the “adoptive” parents to a litter of kittens.  These are the 2 girls from the litter.  They’re lying on the top step of one of the cement trucks.  Someone dumped them off a couple of months ago.  When they were first dropped off, Jason wasn’t sure if they’d make it at all—they were THAT little.  Now, I’m not a cat person AT ALL, but there is NOT reason for someone to do that to a litter so small they may not survive!  If Scott wasn’t allergic to them, we’d bring one of them home.

Right now, Matthew and Omri are visiting one of the families we went through training at 4 Paws with, but this picture is the Friday we picked Matthew up from Boy Scout Camp.  Omri didn’t get to go cause we haven’t trained any of the Scout Leaders as handlers.  I think they were happy to see each other, don’t you?

I will end with a picture of my handsome, man!  He HATES having his picture taken so this is about as good as it gets for him. 

 

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you my most exciting news!  If all goes well, I will be starting a new job in August.  Here’s a picture of where we’ll be going:Can you tell? No?  How about this one:  Still no?  Okay, here’s a map from googlemaps:   (In full disclosure, all these images came from googling Hawaii.)  I’m hoping to get some similar once we get there. 

 

Now for my final question, Who will come see us?????

What’s been going on around here anyway?

I haven’t posted very much lately.  We’ve been way too busy!  May was taken up with soccer—Scott’s team didn’t make the playoffs!  Wah!  They failed to make them by 1/2 of a goal.  Really?  half a goal!  Instead of going to the playoffs, our coach had a pool party at his house.  A good time was had by all!We also had Science Fair competitions.  Scott won 3rd place for his!  Way to go, son! His project dealt with different gauge copper wires and conducting electricity.

We had field trips as well; Scott’s class went to one of the local TV stations for a tour, then they visited the Dr. Pepper museum.  The teacher divided the class into groups of 4-6 at the end of the tour & those groups got to mix their own soft drinks.  Scott’s group mixed watermelon, strawberry and coconut---it was interesting…I was the “chaperone” for their group so I got to taste it…

For Memorial Day, we took the boys, and Omri, to 6 Flags over Texas in Arlington.  The boys had an absolute BLAST!  Jason and Scott rode the roller coasters and swings.  Matthew was scared to ride them so he rode go-karts, the train and all the water rides!Omri didn’t get to ride anything except the train, but he was a trooper!  He got LOTS of attention while Jason or I would wait with him while the boys would ride.  (Being a true Lab, he lapped it up! LOL)  He was a little sore for a few days afterward…he didn’t even want to walk to go outside to “potty”.  Poor baby!  Obviously we need to exercise more.  Today, we took them to Belton Lake & Omri chased tennis balls and swam til he couldn’t swim any more!

(wasn’t he a cute puppy???)   He LOVES his tennis balls!

 

 

What’s been going on in your neck of the woods????

 

Love,

Dea

Child with Autism Seeks Mom Who Isn't Crazy...LOL

While reading the Caffeinated Autism Mom's blog, http://www.caffeinatedautismmom.com/2012/01/pyramid-of-crazy.html , it occurred to me that while as a mom of a child with autism may think their child is odd or indeed crazy at times, they probably think the same thing about us as parents.  What other parents go absolutely insane when someone in public insults their child thinking we can't hear them?  Or that we don't see the same things they do when our child "acts up" or "throws a fit"?  If you have children at all, you understand how stressed and, yes, embarrassed any parent gets when a tantrum is thrown in public or when they run off & you can't find them.  Now, imagine this happening every time you go out in public, or experience something new, or when you go to church and something unexpected happens.  This is what our lives are like ALL the time.

In our instance, Matthew will willingly go to Scott's soccer games because he likes being outside.  That being said, it is extremely difficult to "control" him at these games if Omri isn't there.  Our local soccer complex will ask us to leave if we have Omri with us.  I'm not quite sure how to go about fighting this attitude even though I know we have the ADA on our sides.  It's not like we have an attorney on retainer that we can call & ask them to "go to bat" for us.  (or would that be Go to goal since it's soccer?)  Anyway, imagine the dirty looks you would get if your child were to run off screaming from you.  People instantly believe you are beating them or worse...there is no sympathy...no help except from the people you know & they ARE willing to help.  We consider them our angels.  Thankfully, all of our soccer parents this season have fallen into that category.  If Matthew disappears, they'll notice before we do & ask if we know where he's going or why.  If we don't, one will help us try to find him.

Anyway, if you read my blog at all, you know how we live, and there's no reason to beat a dead horse to death, but I do think you'll enjoy reading the above link.

Love,

Dea

Over it

I am SOOO over it!  Over what you ask?  Over IT!  You know, IT!  Life as a special needs parent, life as a working mom, life as a wife, life in general!  Most days, I go along just fine humming the song from “Finding Nemo” that Dory sings…you know….”just keep swimming, swim, swim, swim.” However, today is NOT one of those days.  I am FED up with everything.  I don’t even want to think about cleaning my house, cooking supper or helping with homework.  I just want to sit & do nothing but vent to you, my friend(s ).  I am done…stick a fork in me…done!  Not medium rare or medium well done either…I’m talking 100% Well done…like Beef Jerky!  Maybe I need a vacation or a margarita or two or twenty?  Who knows?  There’s not any one thing that has set me off either.  I have resigned myself to the fact that one or both of the boys will have to attend summer school this year.  Wah!  I have also resigned myself to the fact that my husband, who I love to distraction, will not help me with the laundry or housekeeping unless I have a meltdown.  Omri is the only one who does what he’s told.  Thank God for the wonderful trainers at 4 Paws !!! 

Jason and I saw this sign at McDonald’s while waiting to go through the drive-thru & thought it was funny.  How are you supposed to rent them anyway?  Are you supposed to have someone with really long arms try to pick your movies while you drive slowly by REDBOX?  LOL

Jason and I did have a little bit of fun, though.  We came into possession of 2 tickets to the Alan Jackson concert Friday night.  It was a SOLD OUT concert.  (Like no one would’ve guessed that, right?)  Anyway, we had a “good time” like it was “5 o’clock somewhere”.Sorry about the image quality, but I was using my phone’s camera…not bad all things considered I think.

Even though I am, by my own admission, over it all, I know someone who is always there & isn’t “over it all”.  Do you know this Special Friend I have?  Do you know who I’m talking about?  Jesus is the only one I can turn to in times like these & know He really cares & loves me in spite of myself!  My genuine hope for anyone reading this is that you will come to realize that even though we get down, depressed & just in a “funk” sometimes—that doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t right there beside us cheering us on.  We have decided to send Scott to Preteen Church Camp this summer.  Join us in prayer that he will develop a closer relationship with Jesus & that he will, hopefully come to know Him as his Savior.  After all, isn’t that more important than being “over it all”???

 

Here’s praying my attitude gets better!

 

Love,

Dea

Autism Island: 50 things you SHOULD say to autism parents.

Autism Island: 50 things you SHOULD say to autism parents.: Wow!  50 things you should not say to autism parents went viral this week getting over 10,000 views in 48 hours.  Thank you to everyo...

Autism Island: 50 things you should not say to autism parents.

Autism Island: 50 things you should not say to autism parents.: I wrote this post for two different people: autism parents, and the people we interact with.  If you are an autism parent I hope...

Autism’s UGLY side

It’s not often that the A word rears its ugly head as badly as it did yesterday.  THANK GOD FOR THAT!  Yesterday, Matthew was completely out of control!  He refused to get out of bed to start…that should’ve let me know what kind of day it was going to be…then I got 3…yes 3, e-mails from his teacher in less than an hour.  He failed his Science test and didn’t do his English homework at all.  (Okay, not that big of a deal…he just retakes the test and gets detention for English…)  It gets worse…At lunchtime, as his class was walking into the cafeteria, he saw Scott.  For no reason that anyone who witnessed it could discern, Matthew walked up to Scott, punched him in the arm and flicked his ear.  (Scott’s arm is still sore tonight.)  Finally, he was doodling in his Math workbook instead of working so his teacher got onto him.  What did he do?  He utterly DESTROYED his Math workbook to the point of no return.  Yep…got to get him a new one ordered—you read that correctly---they have to ORDER him a new one.  *sigh*  Is that it?  Not yet!  When she asked him why he did that, he then started yelling and throwing stuff around the classroom. 

Have I mentioned I believe his teacher is an absolute SAINT????

I do not know why he does this kind of stuff, but I do wish he didn’t.  I’ve had people tell me it’s because we don’t discipline him enough or the right way.  I’ve also had people tell me,”if he were MY kid, he wouldn’t do that!”  (These statements are from people who work with kids every day—kind of scary, huh?)  When he runs off in public, they’ll say stuff under their breath, thinking we can’t hear them, like “what kind of parents are they anyway to just let him do that?”  Seriously?  Do they think we WANT to chase him and try to find him when the sensory overload gets to be too much?  Do they think it’s fun to see everyone of his peers get invited for sleepovers & birthday parties & not him?  Do they really think he’s not noticing this?  HE DOES!  I DO!  His Brother does….he’s not invisible…just different.  Autism is not contagious!  Your kids won’t “catch” it from him.  They may even be better off if they know him!  It’ll make them more compassionate & aware of the fact that just because someone thinks differently than they do—it doesn’t mean they can’t be your friend!   Do these people think it’s fun for Scott to have an Autistic brother?  Unfortunately, Scott gets the brunt of Matthew’s aggression.  Jason & I stop it when we can, but it is impossible for us to be around ALL the time.  We can’t afford it financially for one of us to quit and stay home with them.  We tried that for 2 years & it isn’t feasible at this time.  He doesn’t qualify for Social Security because of our income, but if I quit work to take care of him, the Social Security he would get wouldn’t be as much as I make—kind of hard to justify that, huh?  Money isn’t everything, but it is essential if you want to live in a halfway decent part of town.

Then there’s the part of me that worries about what would happen to him if something happens to me or Jason.  I know one of our family members would take him and they would try their best, but they don’t understand what Autism is and how if affects our daily lives.  They get to see bits & pieces when they’re around, but unless you’re around it 24/7, you just CAN’T “get it”!  I don’t want Scott to feel obligated to take care of Matthew, so we encourage Scott to have as many interests as he can that are separate from Matthew. 

 

Sorry if this has turned into a rant, but I just got to let it go sometimes or I feel like I’m going to explode. 

 

Peace and love to all!

Dea

Palm Sunday

What did you and your family do for Palm Sunday?  Did you worship the Lord?  It’s a great time to do so!  This is the time of the year when Christians all over the world celebrate Easter.  We do not celebrate Jesus’ death so much as His resurrection and his triumph over death and sin.  Why is it called Palm Sunday?  Here’s the Biblical Reference from the book of John—chapter 12:  On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.   I’m no preacher, but Palm Sunday was 6 days before the Passover feast in Israel.  Jesus was crucified the day before Passover and rose 3 days later.  This rising from the dead is what we’ve come to celebrate as Easter.  It’s not about eggs and candy.  It’s a celebration of being free from the curse of death that was laid on us when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden.  Jesus offered himself willingly as a sacrifice so that we as unholy creatures can approach and be with the Most High Holy God.  I attended Sunday School with Matthew today as we’re still working on getting Omri used to going to church.  In his Middle School Youth class, they talked about the Parable of the Wedding Feast in the book of Matthew in The Bible.  “Many are invited, but few will enter.”  I believe this is a reference to the fact that God desires all of us to accept Jesus as His Son and our Savior, but not all of us will come to him and accept Him as Savior AND Lord.  Do we live our lives everyday to reflect this or are we caught up in petty spats at work?  Do we willingly share with others what God has done in our lives or are we too afraid of being ridiculed and cast out?  These are tough questions and ones I struggle with every day.  I’m not perfect, Lord knows, and it’s only by HIS Grace that I can approach God’s throne with confidence that He hears my prayers.  Do you have this same confidence?  If not, I encourage you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and find a good Bible believing/Bible teaching church in your area.  Sometimes you will need to visit several before you find one that feels like “home”.    How do you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior?  It’s as easy as A, B, C.  Accept Jesus is God’s Son and that He came down from Heaven to die for your sins.  Believe that He died for your sins, rose again, and is in Heaven preparing a place for you. Confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior.  Although this blog is more about family than a Christian outreach, I feel that I would not be fulfilling my responsibility to spread the Good News if I didn’t offer up this opportunity for everyone who reads it to accept Jesus. 

As far as our Wonder Dog, Service Dog, Omri goes, he is doing GREAT!  He went with us Friday night to Texas Roadhouse.  I had a Steak Kabob, Jason had Steak and Ribs, and the boys had Ribs.  Omri did really well!  His little nose was working overtime heading into the restaurant, but he went right in and went into an “under” at our table.  He got up only once…when the servers started clapping and dancing to celebrate another customer’s birthday.  All he did then was stand up under the table and look at Jason.  Jason told him it was ok, and Omri just laid back down.  As we left, we got a lot of stares and I could hear people saying, “I didn’t realize there was a dog in here.”  That is the GREATEST compliment we could get when he’s with us.      He did well at church this morning, too.  He laid down in Sunday School for about 30 minutes, then he started whimpering so I took him to “potty”.  When we got back in, he laid back down and chilled out til we finished.

It’s been a rough week for Scott.  I received a phone call from school on Monday saying he was complaining of a tummy ache.  When I went to pick him up, he was pale and sweaty.  I asked where he hurt, and he pointed right over the spot where his appendix lives so as a precaution, we took a trip to the ER at the new Children’s Hospital.  Thankfully, it wasn’t that, but dehydration so we got to go home after about 7 hours.  He did have an ultrasound AND a CT Scan just to be sure because of how tender he was.  Then on Friday, when I took him for his allergy shots, the second one stung so much he had tears!  Next, I think Scott broke his little toe yesterday before his soccer game.  He was walking back into the living room from the kitchen and caught the corner of the coffee table.  I thought he’d just stubbed it at first, but once he calmed down, he told me that the corner of the table had caught between his 2 littlest toes and pulled them apart.  It looks pretty bad…swollen and bruised.  He still played in his soccer game, though.  He played goalie for about half of the first half and then he played mid-fielder for about half of the second half.  He said that while he was playing it didn’t hurt.  He has been wearing flip flops around the house instead of his shoes to try to keep the pressure off of it. 

Matthew is working hard in school trying to get caught up so he doesn’t have to go to summer school this June.  He really wants to go to Boy Scout camp, and it’s the same time as summer school so he’s been working hard to be able to go to Boy Scout camp!    It’s kind of fun to have something like that to motivate him to do better.  Today, after church, I went to Wal~Mart grocery shopping and bought some cacti and some other little plants to go in our flower bed in the front of our duplex.  Matthew and Scott helped us with that.   I will post pics after the camera battery charges up a little.

 

Love,

Dea

Omri's letter to 4 Paws and the Pink Girlz and Yoda

Dear Pink Girlz and Yoda,

My boy and his family took me on a new adventure today. We went for a ride in
that big red thing they call a truck to a place that had the most water I've
EVER seen! They called it Lake Belton. When we got out of the truck, my boy
headed straight for the water. Wait! Why would a boy willingly go towards that
much water? I mean, hey, a bath is bad enough, why go into any water?
The adult human my boy calls "Dad" had one of those fuzzy yellow balls they call
tennis balls. He threw it into this thing they called a "lake". I couldn't
help myself! I flew into that wet stuff! I HAD to retrieve that ball! It was
MINE! When I got to it, I had a hard time getting it into my mouth...it was all
wet. When I turned around with the ball, my new family was yelling, "Atta boy,
Omri! Good job!" I don't know what they were so excited about, but apparently
I did something they really liked. When I got back to them, they told me to
"Drop it" and then they threw it into the water again! I was in HEAVEN! This
is such an AWESOME game! Why didn't ya'll tell me about this fun game? We need
to tell all the labs at 4 Paws about this! (Maybe the Golden Retrievers, too
although I wonder how long it would take all that hair to dry?) I don't know if
you Paps can carry a tennis ball and swim, but if you can, you definitely need
to try this!

Give hugs and doggie kisses to Mama Karen, Jeremy, Alicia, Jessa, Jenn, Jennifer
and the rest of the gang!

XOXO,
Omri (AKA The water dog!)

P.S.  I also went to Scott's soccer game with Matthew on Saturday.  It's almost a dog's version of heaven!  A bunch of kids playing with balls???  Seriously guys, who knew all this fun took place outside 4 Paws???

…and in breaking news…

Don’t you just hate it when your favorite show is interrupted with that statement?  I know some people who absolutely hate it when that phrase comes up.  My son, Matthew, for instance has not been pleased with March Madness this year.  His number one favorite show is “The Big Bang Theory” which comes on Thursday nights.  Well, guess what show was pre-empted for the NCAA basketball tournament this past week?  Yep…also, tonight, “The Amazing Race” has been delayed due to basketball games earlier in the day.  Right now, Matt is about to go bonkers waiting for “60 Minutes” to finish so he can see how the “country boys” do tonight on TAR.  Isn’t it funny how we all seem to find a favorite team or person to cheer for whether it’s basketball, reality shows, or real life?

The boys haven’t had such a fun Spring Break this year.  Scott is so far behind on his schoolwork, he may have to go to summer school this year.  Matthew is behind also, but he isn’t as far behind as Scott is.  Therefore, all Spring Break, they’ve had to work on school work instead of just vegging out in front of the TV or playing video games.  Omri looked at Jason and me every night when we got home as if to say, “Why aren’t they going to school this week?”  I’m sure he’s going to miss them tomorrow when they go back to school.  Omri went to Scott’s doctor’s appointment with us Friday.  Matthew was so happy and proud to show off his special dog.  Omri got to meet all the staff at the allergists’ and some of my co-workers when they went to lunch.  He absolutely LOVES an audience.  He did ALL his tricks and just gave his doggie grin to everyone he met. 

 

Can you say  Omri’s getting to be one spoiled dog???

I do promise he works!  I typically have my camera in Omri’s bag that we take with us when he works, I just forget to take it out & take pictures of them!  I’ve been toying with the idea of putting a sign on Omri’s harness that says “Will work for food”, but in light of the news I heard recently about people in North Korea starving to death, I’ve decided not to do so at this point in time.  I really think we who believe in miracles, and I do, need to pray for the people of N. Korea to get the food they so desperately need.  This is a situation that has really spoken to my heart.  I really don’t know what I can do as one person, but if as a group of believers, we can band together and pray for the leaders of N. Korea, maybe their citizens will get the physical nourishment they need.  I also believe that we can’t reach others for Jesus as he wants if they don’t understand how much we care about their physical well-being as much as their spiritual well-being.  It’s hard to focus on the things of the spirit if our physical needs aren’t being met adequately.

I recently started reading a book called “What Women Want: The Life You Crave and How God Satisfies” by Lisa T. Bergren and Rebecca Price.  The picture came from amazon.com so please forgive me for the “Look Inside”

 

 

 

 

 

  I must say, this book should be enlightening in more ways than one.  I don’t have a ton of time to read, but I love to do it.  Give me anything to read & I am SO very happy!  I will read anything from inspirational novels to books like this one to romance novels.  (That’s my dirty little secret, I guess.  I love to read romance novels…I know they’re terribly unrealistic, but they allow me to escape from reality briefly.)  How about you?  What do you like to read when you get time?

 

Love,

Dea