Faith, Shame, Gangstas and Gladiators!

God doesn’t want you to be embarrassed to put your faith in Him. He doesn’t want you to look like a fool waiting for some magical creature to come down your chimney and leave your rent money in socks you left hanging to dry by your fireplace.

 

Here's a pretty hardcore Scripture I found tonight. And a few other ones to back it up, yo!

 

“If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” [1 Cor  15: 32]

-This should be in a gladiator movie or something. Just saying.

 

**This is all about having faith... in the very core of what we as “Christians” believe in.. the resurrection. What is the advantage of being a follower of Jesus if you don’t have any faith that He is who He says He is? The son of God. Resurrected from the dead? Sitting, right now, on the throne of heaven.

>>Having a problem with your faith? Note Hebrews 12:2 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” AUTHOR.. FINISHER.. of our faith… pretty cool<<

 “So, Sarah, what you’re saying to me is that Jesus can give me faith that I don’t have… to believe in spiritual things… relating to Him?” Why, yes, yes I am. [Note Phineas and Ferb reference or you suck.] “Looking unto Jesus.” -That’s where I start every time I need help in that area. I grab my Bible and decide to get to know Him more. Spend some more time with Him. Study Him. Learn His characteristics. Think about the last time you were infatuated with someone.. You kind of studied them.. You at least learned about them in an intentional way, right? Where did they like to go on a regular basis? What did they like to do? Who did they hang with? etc…

Now, refer to 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds may somehow be lured away from the simplicity that is in Christ.” SIMPLICITY… It’s SO simple, yet we make it SO complicated… with our rules and our doctrine and our religious practices. Just space out for a minute…. “simplicity that is in Christ.” It’s not supposed to be complicated.

 

“… whoever believes in Him will never be ashamed.” [1 Peter 2: 6]

**That last word in its original Greek form- kataischuno: disgrace or (by implication) put to the blush, to shame down, confound, or dishonor.

 

So don’t be afraid to put your trust in Him. Don’t be afraid that you’ll end up looking foolish waiting around and hoping for something that will never come. When it looks like nothing is possible, that failure is imminent, that’s when God seems to move in the greatest way. Maybe it’s because that’s when we’ve finally surrendered and allowed Him to. Regardless the reason, one thing is for sure, when we are in that place of desolation, His name is surely glorified above any other name when a way is made where there was no way before. When there is no possible way that we could make it on our own, and He steps in and rescues us, there is no doubt that a Divine intervention has taken place. Our lives are the testimony. Some of you know. :) Some of you have experienced it. In that way, when we are weak, then we are strong.. because when our circumstances are screaming, “NO, NO, YOU CAN’T!!” I promise you, there’s an invitation.. God’s gentle whisper, “but I can.”

 

Guilt vs. Grace

My beloved, why is it that we keep returning to that which first caused us to be ashamed? That which caused us guilt and condemnation? That which first hurt us? Do you not know? Where sin abounds, grace super abounds. Stop feeling like you don’t deserve better. Stop going back there.

Your attitude should be, wow… okay. That was wrong. My heart’s repentant, but now I’m in a place where I can walk in a super abundance of Grace! Praise God! When I’m relying on my own good actions and good karma to make it through the day, I’m not walking in a realm where Grace can super abound me.

What then? Should I make sure to purposely screw up so that I can walk under Grace? Haha.. no. I think we’ve all got that covered, regardless of whether we try. The Bible says if you’ve hated someone, or thought hateful thoughts toward someone, you’ve murdered them. I think hateful thoughts all the time while I’m in traffic. Just because I’ve learned to cap my actions, doesn’t mean I’ve learned to control my thoughts yet. ;) And if you’ve lusted after another man’s wife (or woman’s husband) you’ve committed adultery… God gave us the law, this perfect law, not to bring us guilt and show us how horrible we were, but to show us how perfect He is, how just He is, and how we could never measure up to His justice by our human standards. Which is beautiful!! Because we can be in the realm of super abounding Grace on a constant basis because of this!! If we were righteous by ourselves, grace wouldn’t super abound us. And since it’s by the Grace of God that we are redeemed and justified, nothing you or I do changes it. Our identity is found in that. So when we really mess up, it doesn’t change who we are. So it shouldn’t change how we view ourselves, because it doesn’t change how He views us. We can still come before this perfect, just, and Holy God, who can’t even look up sin, and He will call us “my son, my daughter” and treat us as such. :)

So does that mean I have a “Grace card” or a license to do whatever I want? “I’m going to be forgiven so I might as well just live my life for me?” Well, let me tell you something about my children first.. These past few months, I’ve put forth a big effort to show them agape love… an unconditional love. The love I feel from God. And then I try to teach them, “you know I how would still love you even if you …. [whatever they did wrong] … ? or You know how you can always come to me and ask me for something if you need it and you know I will always give it to you?  Well, baby, God’s the same way. He’s like your parent. And you’re a child of God, despite what you’re feeling, the Bible says …. [whatever the case may be… God has not given you a spirit of fear but a spirit of power, love and a sound mind 2 Tim 1:7… etc.] I tell my kids daily, “Do you know that I love you?” My patience has been growing lately too! I’ve been teaching and correcting out of love!! Daily I tell them, “Do you know that there is NOTHING you can do that will make me love you any less?” And they know it. And you know what they do? They strive to do better. They work harder. You see, when all fear of condemnation is gone, when it’s a relationship of love, when you are set free from guilt, you don’t want to sin any more. And by sin, I mean anything that violates these two commandments from Jesus- Firstly, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, then love your neighbor as you love yourself. Plain and simple. Everything else is religion, which is not from God. It’s a snare, a trap. Something to keep you from experiencing the freedom there is in the fullness of God’s grace and love.

So if you find yourself returning to something that is causing you to feel guilt. Stop it. You don’t have to suffer. Jesus already suffered all the consequences. He overcame. Grace overcame. Start feeling super abounding grace instead. Start saying, praise God that I’m here right now, because now I can I can stop worrying about whether or not my own righteousness is going to make my life good or bad in the future, and now I can be in a place of super abounding grace! What an amazing place to be. I couldn’t be there before, but now I can. This isn’t the race- you’re not trying to win.. This is the victory lap. If victory is Mine sayeth the Lord, that means the battle is His. We may, in the flesh, not want to give Him the victory always, [what?! I worked my butt off for that and now I have to give God the victory??] but if victory is His, then the battle is His. If the battle is His, that means I don’t have to fight it. And we know from examples, like Calvary, that God is not a loser. He is always victorious. So if the battle is His, He is going to win it. So He will always be victorious. Therefore I will always be victorious!! :) If the victory is His, the battle is His. If the battle is His, it’s going to be victory! Okay God, lol, you can have the victory!!! Haha! All glory to you. Thank you, Jesus!

Pretty freakin long, 'Bout time I said this though. Kudos to those who actually make it to the end.

      So I've been spiritually vague for a while now as some of you may have noticed. A number of things led to my spiritual ambiguity. I grew up in church, but I never knew who I was. I didn't know the truth of my identity. Listen, it's about to get real, so let me start by saying, if you're one of the friends I have that hate religious posts, don't worry, this isn't about religion. I hate religion. Religion tells me I am weak, I am a sinner, I am faulty, I need to do works to be favored by God, I suck at life... you catch the drift.
      If you're one of those friends that say Jesus is used as a crutch for people that can't handle life... then let me stop you right now and agree with you. Now I don't know how awesome your life must be, but I need a freaking crutch. I am weak. I eff up a lot. I mean, like, a lot. This past year and a half or so I've made some of the worst decisions of my life. My life was heading in a horrible direction. Thank the Lord I have a crutch, and his name is Jesus. When I made the decision to seek God, when I realized how screwed up I was, that's when He reached down, picked me up and said "What are you talking about? What sin? You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Daughter, I love you just as much on your worst day as I do on your best. I'll never leave you, nor forsake you. Don't be trapped in bondage by guilt. Guilt and condemnation are not from me. I bring peace that passes all understanding. My joy is your strength. The battle has already been fought. It is finished. Walk in joy and let your mind be at peace." Whoa. This is the Star Breather, All Knowing, All Seeing, Living God.
      I am human, I walk in the flesh more than I'd like to admit, there is no way that I would be where I am right now without Christ. It used to really bother me when people said the idea of "God" was a crutch... I didn't want to be one of those people, but now I can BOAST in my weaknesses, because it's not about me, it's about Him. When God used people in the Bible, it's no coincidence that these people were extremely unlikely to be used by God. I mean, Moses was weak kneed & afraid to talk infront of people, Paul slaughtered Christians before he became "Saul," David killed a man to sleep with his wife... in the natural, there is no way that these people could be called faithful or righteous. God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. In the natural it doesn't make sense, but God uses those kinds of people and it glorifies Him. Our faith rests on God's power, not on man's 'wisdom.' We shouldn't lean on the 'wisdom' of man. Now... I'm totally okay with having to lean on God. I'm okay with the fact that I have to keep my eyes focused on Him and walk, talk, and see in the supernatural despite my circumstances. It doesn't bother me that I need Him. And trust me, this did not come easy to me. As a single mother, and as a pretty independent person, I was really stubborn. I felt like I had something to prove. "I don't need anyone to take care of me, I can take care of myself." How foolish...
      Now this change in my attitude took a lot of work... like a ton. You see, not believing in God is easy. When my bestfriend lost her baby girl, it shook me to the core. I forgot who I was, who the Bible says I am. I prayed so hard and believed, and called other people who I thought were more "in" with God than I was [lol], and they prayed and believed that everything would be okay. And when she lost that little girl, I was angry. Bible verses came to me like "with faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains." Did I not have even a mustard seed worth of faith? Do you know how little those things are? And the elders and spiritual leaders I called.. what about them? Did they not believe?? From there I lost it, I became a double minded person. I still considered myself "spiritual" but, as stated early, I was spiritually ambiguous. I just kind of floated around, drifting wherever life took me, making "a higher power" fit the description of who I thought He should be... I would try to pray to this "higher power" sometimes, but felt completely disconnected, you know? Like I was talking through a telephone who's wire had been clipped? So I stopped caring. I figured, if God wants to talk to me, He knows where to find me. I'm reminded now of the story of Elijah. Long story short- he decided to go to the mountain where God gave Moses the 10 commandments. Some b&;*^# wanted to kill him so he ran from her and ran to this place where God had moved before, wanting to see God move again. And God said to him, go to the edge of the mountain, cuz I'm about to pass by. So there's this huge, fierce wind that breaks boulders off the face of the neighboring mountains... but God wasn't in the wind. And after the wind, the earth began to shake and there was a mighty earthquake... but God wasn't in earthquake.. after the earthquake a blazing fire came down from the sky, you probably guessed it, God wasn't in that either... and after the fire came a still small voice. And Elijah knew it was God. I'm reminded of another verse in the Bible that says "Be still and know that I am God." Sometimes we get so caught up in the storms in our lives and we are just waiting for this great wind, or mighty earthquake, or fire from heaven, when He is right there whispering in our ear the whole time.
      God will meet you where you're at, always... but if you want to move further, you have to make the decision to seek Him. Every day I had to seek Him. Every day I had to speak life to my circumstances. Every day I had to diligently push forward. It was a battle of the mind... even while I slept I had to block out what I thought I was, and remind myself of who I really was. I had to keep going until my heart caught up with my head knowledge. I'm going to repeat that. I had to keep pushing forward until my feelings caught up with what I knew was Truth. You can't expect to sit where you're at, wanting to build a relationship, especially one based on faith, without doing anything. You have to make the decision to believe, and be consistent with that. And most of all, you need a spirit of humility. It's funny how when we are broken and humbled, that's when we usually reach out for God... but when everything's going good, we just kind of keep Him there in the background just incase we need him to fix something for us. Listen, if you keep living your life that way, you're never going to get any further than you are RIGHT NOW. There's no growth in that. The Bible says the double minded man is like a wave of the ocean, tossed to and fro by the wind. I don't want the wind dictating my life. He says a man that wavers in completely unstable. I was completely unstable. I was moved by the wind. I was not grounded. At the top of the wave, I was all 'Peace, Love, Higher Power. Que Sera, Sera' and at the bottom of the wave, I was filled with fear, inner turmoil, self loathing, bitterness, guilt, depression. There was no stability. Every aspect of my life was suffering. I did not know who I was. I was having an identity crisis.
      Who am I? What is my identity? I'm glad you asked. I am a child of the Most High, Yahweh, El Shaddia (God Almighty), Jehovah Jireh (my Provider), I Am, The Author of Peace, The Ancient of Days, The Comforter, The Creator, The Beginning AND The End, The Everlasting God, The Maker, The Living God, The Lord of Hosts, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Holy One, Redeemer, Immanuel... I am the righteousness of Christ... not because of ANYTHING I've done, but because of what He did. I have been crucified with Christ. The old me is dead and gone, and through Christ, I am a new creation, old things are passed away and all things are made new. When God looks at me, He doesn't see the images burned into my head of the horrible things I've done. He sees the righteousness of Christ. He has forgiven and forgotten everything I've done. I am dead to the law of sin and death. I live under grace and mercy. "Mercy rewrote my life." When He was crucified, the law was buried with him. No longer does it have dominion over me. The law that says I am a sinner- ok right, SEE-Ya! Mercy says I am redeemed, restored, like new. I don't have to walk in shame for the things I've done. I walk under the umbrella of unmerited favor and grace. He looks at me with nothing but unconditional love.
      And that's who God is. That's what God is.. Love. For while we were yet sinners, he sent His son to be our replacement on that cross. That's love. I mean, while someone is screwing you over, cursing you, ignoring you etc... could you make that kind of a sacrifice for them? Well? Not in the natural, no. Not walking in the flesh. Absolutely not. But God operates in the supernatural. He is the epitome of grace, love, and mercy. Mercy is never deserved, but He gives it freely and he never looks back. Love is so important to God that Jesus talked about love being God's greatest commandment. He rebuked people who abided by the law but refused to show love to the fatherless, homeless, widows, poor and sick. In 1 Peter he says above ALL things, love.... In 1 Corinthians, he describes love as patience, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, unselfishness, slow to anger, and humility. Love always sees the best in people. Love trusts and hopes and perseveres even when in the natural, you don't have to. Anyone can love someone who is being nice to you, but how many can love people that have wronged you? People that really don't seem to deserve it. Love is the greatest form of spiritual warfare. If something is going wrong in your life, if you have an obstacle you need to overcome, go out and start loving people. See if your life doesn't change. See if God doesn't bless you. If you are having problems in your life, stop everything and study LOVE. Study how much God loves you, learn to love yourself, then get busy loving everybody else. (If you don't love yourself, then 'love your neighbor as yourself' doesn't really mean anything). You don't have to FEEL loving to show love. It's something you have to "Put On" everyday... like the "armor of God"... He gives it freely, but we have to put it on. Every morning we need to wake up and make the decision to put on peace, put on humility, put on compassion, put on a joyful attitude, and above all these put on love.
      If we are a "Godly" nation, then why is there so much suffering? We expect the government to do what we as Christians are anointed to do. Is it because we as a whole, the body of Christ, have shifted responsibility to the government? God's words to the body of Christ were to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give to the poor, be a friend to the friendless, house the homeless etc... If every "Christian" in this country would start loving a little more, that would fix our poverty problem. Think of the change that could happen if every Christ follower started loving and helping just one person a day. Because God doesn't care if you go to church and tithe and sing the songs and live a "good life".... our "good works" are like filthy rags compared to the goodness of God. There is nothing we can do that will ever earn us grace. And thank God for that, because there is no way we could ever live up to being perfect. We don't have to strive to earn it. Instead, He simply wants us to walk in love. And loving people is helping people.

*Side Note* If you are tithing, and you aren't giving with a cheerful heart, you might as well just stop. Can I tell you something? Tithing is under the law. We are not under the law, we are under Grace. When we give to our church or to an organization that helps those less fortunate, we are just opening up our lives for a blessing. I'm going to say it again, if you are facing something that in the natural seems like it's going to kick your @$$, start loving, helping, giving and see if God doesn't move mountains. The one time God says to us, "test me," is when he talks about giving. Give and see if God doesn't give back. Not just in finances but in every aspect of your life.

      Now, If you're one of those friends who is about to quote like a billion contradicting Bible verses or Old Testament images of a wrathful God, save it. I know. I've read them all. And I've come to realize there is nothing I can say or do that will change anyone's mind. All I know is that it is the goodness of God that brings people to him. Two things there... Goodness and God. Not me. God's the one who does the heart changing. And it's his goodness and mercy that bring people to Him. I'm not concerned for you, though. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. I don't have all the answers, and I'm okay with that. Cuz if I did have all the answers, would I continue to seek Him, to want to know him more? I have confidence, not arrogance. Confidence in God, that He is who He says He is, no matter where I'm at in life. No matter what, I am a child of Christ. And I am confident in the fact that He can use us no matter where we're at in life, as long as we make ourselves available. We don't need to wait to be perfect before we open up ourselves to God. Cuz let's be real... that will never happen. And I'm okay with that. Because his strength is made perfect in my weakness.

*One last thing. If you are bothered or distracted by the fact that I used certain words (Like eff, a double s, love others as even when you don't feel like it), I apologize. I use certain words for emphasis when I talk or write, and do not feel convicted in using them. If/when I feel that conviction, I'll let that go. For now, this is me, and God thinks I'm pretty rad, grammar errors and all.

Where's My Freaking Parental Handbook?

It's amazing how parents can try their hardest to do what's best one minute, and the next minute, not be so sure in their decision... but what sucks is that our kids are the ones that have to deal with our decisions... regardless of whether our decisions are right or wrong...

Last night, Jayruh's flip flop broke.. No big deal, right? yeah........ not so much.

A little bit of backstory.. black is Jayruh's favorite color. These flip flops were black. They were a rather nice pair too, not the flimsy kind you can buy at Walmart. She's had these shoes since WAY before she could fit into them. I can't remember where I got them.. come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I found them somewhere or they were a "hand me down." So not only has she had them forever, they're also her favorite color and "go to" pair of flip flops (she has like 4 diff pairs)... My Jayruh is extremely sentimental. She hates to throw ANYTHING away. She cries like you wouldn't believe- not because she's being a brat, but it's traumatic for her to know she's never going to have them again... no matter what the item is... I understand, I was the same way as a kid.

Anyway, when it was time to leave church last night and her shoe was broken (beyond repair, I might add) I made the quick decision to toss the shoes away. I couldn't find the broken one, and I wasn't going to bring home the one that wasn't broken. My house is SOO cluttered from the move, I didn't want ANOTHER single shoe with no match.

Jayruh lost it. She was sobbing. She was traumatized. I've never seen her like that before. In the car on the way home she kept repeating "you can't throw it away" in between sobs... She wasn't telling me I'm not allowed to throw it away, she was repeating it in disbelief. Like I said completely traumatized. Why didn't I just bring them home and throw them away when she was asleep, or next week, or next month? They were already too small for her anyway...

In my mind, there was a bigger picture. It wasn't just about a shoe. It was about losing something that you love. It was a life lesson. It was teaching her that nothing lasts forever, that things of this world are not eternal. We love things, we lose things, we mourn things, but then ultimately life goes on. I thought, it's better she experience that first with the shoe than with a parent, grandparent, beloved pet ... etc... It was about the difference in material things and things that actually really matter.

This wasn't my intention when I threw it away though.. I didn't expect that intense reaction from her. As I held her in my arms on the way out to the car everything inside me wanted to go get her shoes and bring them back to her... it's just a stupid shoe, why not? All the way home I was seconds away from turning around and getting them out of the garbage. When I got home I held her and loved on her until she fell asleep in my lap, which was no easy task.. she cried herself to sleep. I kept repeating over and over the "life lesson" which I mentioned above. "baby, we have things that we looove. And we cherish them and take good care of them while we have them. but not everything lasts forever. It's okay to cry and be sad. You miss them very much, I know. That happens in life sometimes. We lose things and it hurts us, but everything will be okay. You cry as much as you need to, my love. Everything will all be okay." I rocked her to sleep like this.

Maybe I'm a horribly harsh parent. Maybe I made the wrong decision. it sucks that my kids have to suffer the consequences of such decisions. I'll never know whether or not I did the right thing. She was okay this morning, but I can't just erase the image of her in so much pain last night... damn I wish parenting could be more black and white. I'm beginning to hate grey more and more.

An email that made me laugh :)

The densest element in the known Universe has been found!

Pelosium:
A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named Pelosium. Pelosium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311.
These particles are held together by dark forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
The symbol of Pelosium is PU.

Pelosium's mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons within the Pelosium molecule, leading to the formation of isodopes.
This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientist to believe that Pelosium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.
When catalyzed with money, Pelosium activates CNNadnausium, an element that radiates orders of magnitude more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons as Pelosium.

Brigitte Gabriel- expert on the Middle East

"We gather here today to share information and knowledge. Intelligence is not merely cold hard data about numerical strength or armament or disposition of military forces. The most important element of intelligence has to be understanding the mindset and intention of the enemy. The West has been wallowing in a state of ignorance and denial for thirty years as Muslim extremist perpetrated evil against innocent victims in the name of Allah.

(homosexuals hung for their "crime")

I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted, 'Allah Akbar!' My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word 'infidel.'

I had a crash course in survival. Not in the Girl Scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of 13, dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night, waiting to be slaughtered. By the age of 20, I had buried most of my friends--killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York, or Britons in London. We were Arab Christians living in Lebanon.
( Two year old child beheaded in the name of Allah)

As a victim of Islamic terror, I was amazed when I saw Americans waking up on September 12, 2001, and asking themselves 'Why do they hate us?' The psychoanalyst experts were coming up with all sort of excuses as to what did we do to offend the Muslim World. But if America and the West were paying attention to the Middle East they would not have had to ask the question. Simply put, they hate us because we are defined in their eyes by one simple word: 'infidels.'

Under the banner of Islam 'la, ilaha illa Allah, muhammad
rasoulu Allah,' (None is god except Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) they murdered Jewish children in Israel, massacred Christians in Lebanon, killed Copts in Egypt, Assyrians in Syria, Hindus in India, and expelled almost 900,000 Jews from Muslim lands. We Middle Eastern infidels paid the price then. Now infidels worldwide are paying the price for indifference and shortsightedness.

Tolerating evil is a crime. Appeasing murderers doesn't buy protection. It earns one disrespect and loathing in the enemy's eyes. Yet apathy is the weapon by which the West is committing suicide. Political correctness forms the shackles around our ankles, by which Islamist's are leading us to our demise.

America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam. You hear about Cahaba and Salafi Islam as the only extreme form of Islam. All the other Muslims, supposedly, are wonderful moderates. Closer to the truth are the picturesof the irrational eruption of violence in reaction to the cartoons of Mohammed printed by a Danish newspaper.
From burning embassies, to calls to butcher those who mock Islam, to warnings that the West be prepared for another holocaust, those pictures have given us a glimpse into the real face of the enemy. News pictures and video of these events represent a canvas of hate decorated by different nationalities who share one common ideology of hate, bigotry and intolerance derived from one source: authentic Islam. An Islam that is awakening from centuries of slumber to re-ignite its wrath against the infidel and dominate the world. An Islam which has declared 'Intifada' on the West.

America and the West can no longer afford to lay in their lazy state of overweight ignorance. The consequences of this mental disease are starting to attack the body, and if they don't take the necessary steps now to control it, death will be knocking soon. If you want to understand the nature of the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the world.

This is the ugly face of the enemy we are fighting. We are fighting a powerful ideology that is capable of altering basic human instincts. An ideology that can turn a mother into a launching pad of death. A perfect example is a recently elected Hamas official in the Palestinian Territories who raves in heavenly joy about sending her three sons to death and offering the ones who are still alive for the cause. It is an ideology that is capable of offering highly educated individuals such as doctors and lawyers far more joy in attaining death than any respect and stature life in society is ever capable of giving them.

(Hindu man begging for his life before being murdered for his beliefs)

The United States has been a prime target for radical Islamic hatred and terror. Every Friday, mosques in the Middle East ring with shrill prayers and monotonous chants calling death, destruction and damnation down on America and its people. The radical Islamist deeds have been as vile as their words. Since the Iran hostage crisis, more than three thousand Americans have died in a terror campaign almost unprecedented in its calculated cruelty along with thousands of other citizens worldwide. Even the Nazis did not turn their own children into human bombs, and then rejoice at their deaths as well the deaths of their victims. This intentional, indiscriminate and wholesale murder of innocent American citizens is justified and glorified in the name of Islam.

(Rabbi and wife assaulted and murdered in the name of Islam)

America cannot effectively defend itself in this war unless and until the American people understand the nature of the enemy that we face. Even after 9/11 there are those who say that we must engage our terrorist enemies, that we must address their grievances. Their grievance is our freedom of religion. Their grievance is our freedom of speech. Their grievance is our democratic process where the rule of law comes from the voices of many not that of just one prophet. It is the respect we instill in our children towards all religions. It is the equality we grant each other as human beings sharing a planet and striving to make the world a better place for all humanity. Their grievance is the kindness and respect a man shows a woman, the justice we practice as equals under the law, and the mercy we grant our enemy. Their grievance cannot be answered by an apology for who or what we are.

(Man and child after being stoned to death)

Our mediocre attitude of not confronting Islamic forces of bigotry and hatred wherever they raised their ugly head in the last 30 years, has empowered and strengthened our enemy to launch a full scale attack on the very freedoms we cherish in their effort to impose their values and way of life on our civilization.

(Common sight. A boy parading around a severed hand and foot from an infidel)

If we don't wake up and challenge our Muslim community to take action against the terrorists within it, if we don't believe in ourselves as Americans and in the standards we should hold every patriotic American to, we are going to pay a price for our delusion. For the sake of our children and our country, we must wake up and take action. In the face of a torrent of hateful invective and terrorist murder, America's learning curve since the Iran hostage crisis is so shallow that it is almost flat. The longer we lay supine, the more difficult it will be to stand erect."

- Brigitte Gabriel

(Brigitte Gabriel is an expert on the Middle East conflict and lectures nationally and internationally on the subject. She's the former news anchor of World News for Middle East television and the founder of AmericanCongressforTruth.com )

Please see hissheep.org/islam/pictures_of_islam.html

Some interesting quotes from the Qur'an:

"Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends." (Surah 5:51)

"Slay them wherever you find them...Idolatry is worse than carnage...Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme." (Surah 2:19...0-)

"Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it." (Surah 2:216)

"If you should die or be slain in the cause of God, His forgiveness and His mercy would surely be better than all the riches..." (Surah 3:156-)

"Seek out your enemies relentlessly." (Surah 4:103-)

"Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme." (Surah 8:36-)

"Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them." (Surah 9:121-)

"Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given [Jews and Christians]...until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (Surah 9:27-)

"If you do not fight, He will punish you sternly, and replace you by other men." (Surah 9:37-)

"Prophet make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home." (Surah 9:73)

Kevin Rudd is the Shizznit

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - Australia

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks..


Separately, Rudd angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote:

'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.. Take It Or Leave It.
I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. '

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'

'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'

'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

Who Stole My "Parenting For Dummies" Rulebook?!

The girls had a friend over (kaylin)... they were playing in the girls room and they asked me if they could get board games out of the closet and I told them no, after I was done cooking we'd play and to stay out of the closet. They asked me repeatedly and every time I told them no, growing more and more impatient by the minute.. Their friend went home... 30 mins later I'm putting laundry away and walk into their room and two board games are on the floor, a few pieces scattered on the floor. I finished the laundry and turned off the tv and asked them to come to their room. here's the convo:

"girls, please sit down. i'm not happy right now. do you know why mommy isn't happy right now? what's that? (pointing to the board game)"

Girls: board games...

"And where did you get the board games?"

Girls: out of the closet

"And what did mommy tell you about going in the closet?"

KAYLIN DID IT! IT WAS KAYLIN.

"I didn't ask who did it. I don't care who did it. I told you both not to go in there and not to play with the board games. And you did not obey me"

Jayruh: It was Angelina and Kaylin! I'm telling you the truth!
Angelina: Nuh uh! Kaylin did it.

"It doesn't matter. When I ask you two to do something, and you guys don't obey me, you both get spankings. That's just the way it is."

both girls get spankings.

I lay it on Jayruh a little harder than Angelina because Jayruh's been completely un-phased by spankings lately and is her normal giggly self as soon as my hand is off of her. She started crying immediately and I pulled her on my lap and told her that I love her and I spank her because I want her to learn "to do the good things" I pulled Angelina on my lap and kissed her too. And Angelina looked at me dead in my eyes and said "I did it mom. I did it first. Jayruh didn't do it. I’m sorry" Jayruh said very sincerely “sorry I didn’t do anything about it” Talk about feeling like a lousy mom... It’s not Jayruh’s responsibility to make sure Angelina is doing what she’s supposed to. I'm at the point with the girls where if I tell them to do something (like stop fighting) and then they fight, I don't care who started it, they both get in trouble. This way they play nice, and usually they look out for each other whenever I tell them they both are going to be in trouble if either one doesn't listen to me... It’s worked really well in the past (mainly when it comes to fighting or running after each other in the store (something they are both active participants in), but this time I feel cruddy. Jayruh has such a gentle/sensitive spirit and any kind of retribution really, really affects her. When I left the room I got teary eyed... why does parenting have to be so difficult?

Breakfast for Dinner!!

So it's that time again... finals are coming...

You may be asking yourself, what does a crazy-busy single mother/full time student do for dinner at night when she has two mouths to feed that can't skip dinner to continue getting that precious needed study time? Well, since you asked...

Breakfast for dinner!! The girls were super excited. And to make things even faster and clean-up even easier, I remembered I bought one of those shake and pour pancake mixers about a month ago that I hadn't opened yet... no messy mixing bowl and whisk or anything!!



I was beyond stoked that dinner was going to be so easy and quick. I moved last nights frying pan and this mornings breakfast pan to the back burners... turned on the two front and got everything ready for scrambled eggs and pancakes. (Yeah, I didn't do my dishes today or last night.. what of it?!)



While the first pancake is cooking, I grab four eggs. The girls are begging me to let them help crack the eggs, but I said no, I really didn't have the time to clean up a mess tonight. I'm so mean. So anyway, I start the eggs cooking and by the time I get back to the pancake and get it on a plate, I figure the batter needs to be shaken again before pouring another one. I give it one super hard shake over my right shoulder and batter goes EVERYWHERE.. All I feel is this thick glob plop down my shoulder and on my leg. My foot is covered in batter... I totally forgot to put the cap back on first...

I burst out laughing. The girls are looking at me like I'm crazy, but then jump at the chance to dip their fingers in the batter dripping down my oven and put it in their mouths. I told them to wash their hands and then started cleaning up when I saw a camera flash...



Gotta love Jayruh! You can't even begin to see the extent of the mess that was all over the front of me... but it was dripping down the entire front of my body all the way to my foot.

I really need to find a new spot to put the camera where they can't reach. This is the last picture that was taken on my old camera before it was mysteriously broken... that's definitely Angelina's foot... So I know who the culprit was.




Anyway, I salvaged enough batter from scraping the inside of the container with a spoon so I was able to make one more pancake. The girls still got to have their breakfast for dinner and they loved it!

So now my kitchen is covered in pancake batter. Which is slighter worse than yesterday's kitchen disaster... but I still hadn't finished cleaning up yesterday's kitchen disaster!! see this jug of water?



Yeah, about half of that splashed down my cabinets (leaking inside and wetting all the plastic bags I keep down there), all over my floor, and of course all over myself.. How did I accomplish this? I got the idea of re-using my plastic water bottles.. I absolutely hate dirtying a dish... I go to extremes to avoid doing it at times... So I love the plastic bottles I can grab and go, but to save money, I figured I would just reuse them a few times before recycling them... and while I was pouring the fifth bottle, the cap of the jug just came right off and it GUSHED out... it's kind of a trend that's been going on lately. Stuff spilling all over, that is... I guess kitchen spills are becoming a trend too. At least that time it was just water. Hence the pink comforter blanket still laying on the kitchen floor.. it was the closest thing to me when the water poured out everywhere so I left it on the floor while I got the cabinets dry.



The plastic bags were being aired out so they didn't smell like mildew from the water. My kitchen is a disaster...

When I stepped down and my foot landed in something cold and squishy I came down with another case of the giggles. I had to grab my phone and start taking all these pictures that I put in this post.



So needless to say, tonight will not be as productive as it needs to be. Which means I probably wont get enough sleep... which is frustrating with having epilepsy because I'm way more seizure prone when I'm not rested... but it was definitely hilarious. I am amazed that so many times it's the littlest things that set me off and get me upset, and other times, things that I could legitimately be like "Oh crap that freaking sucks, this just totally set me back for what I needed to get done" about don't phase me. hmmmm... I should probably go clean that up now... LMAO (JK I did that BEFORE the blog, but I still SHOULD do the dishes... ;)

This is another place I stepped in it RIGHT AFTER cleaning my foot up.. rofl..


You can't tell in this picture, but my cabinet next to the oven is COVERED..


And you can see where little fingers were licking the batter off of the oven :)

Why I love Justin Bieber

First off, the kid has an awesome voice...



Secondly, he's adorable...



Wanna know what the big deal is about this kid? Besides the fact that he is amazingly talented...

One of the main reasons I like him is because his songs and videos are definitely age-appropriate... Don't know how long it will last, but the most action Justin has gotten in a video is a peck on the cheek... the kids in the video are having a good time dancing (without being all over eachother) and just hanging out (I know, I know, it is without parental supervision lol.. but still)... this compared to a Miley Cyrus video (who is just one year older than Justin I might add)... wow... and I like Miley, don't get me wrong, but which would I rather have my daughters watching and copying dance moves from?

Justin Bieber


Miley Cyrus- Party in the USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11SvDtPBhA

and don't even get me started on the differences between the way the girls are dressed in each video...

(Yes, that is her bra hanging out of the front of her shirt)

Think back to 3LW... this video was recorded when they were 16, 17 and 14 years old...

3LW


YIKES!!

And Justin's songs are not nearly as intense as other songs by groups like Immature... and each member of this group was 14 when they sang the following... shirtless at times... and lying in bed at others..

Immature


Then there's Justin Bieber at a bowling alley with friends singing about his first love...

Justin Bieber


Again I ask you, which dancers would I rather my girls immitate??

If you guessed Britney Spears when she was 17 doing "One More Time"... you're out of your mind.

I like Justin. I like the image that he is portraying... I like that his songs and his videos are fun and light-hearted. It's like he's not trying to sell music to strictly the adult population. He's being a kid and I totally respect him for that. He brings me back to elementary school and the way I felt about my crushes.. lol.. I sit back and smile and reminisce when his songs play. Also, The kids in the videos aren't bumping and grinding and acting way too mature for their age. They are having fun just being kids. Justin Bieber is awesome. Which is why I went out and bought his CD yesterday, to show him support...

and that's kind of a big deal for me, because I the last CD I bought was the "504 Boys" when I was 13 and in the 8th grade ...

Wobble Wobble!!


(yeahhh... Justin Bieber would have totally been more age appropriate)... and the fact that Justin's new CD could possibly hold a golden ticket that would win you a trip to the Bahamas all expenses paid to see him in concert didn't influence my decision to buy the CD at ALL... okay, that was a total lie... LMAO

Kids and Prayer ~ cute!!

KIDS AND PRAYER

3-year-old Reese :
'Our Father, Who does art in heaven,
Harold is His name.
Amen.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A little boy was overheard praying:
'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy,
don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


After the christening of his baby brother in church,
Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian
home, and I wanted to stay with you guys.'


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


One particular four-year-old prayed,
'And forgive us our trash baskets
as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they
were on the way to church service,
'And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?'
One bright little girl replied,
'Because people are sleeping.'


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and
Ryan 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the
first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral
lesson. 'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,
'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,
' Ryan , you be Jesus !'


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A father was at the beach with his children
when the four-year-old son ran up to him,
grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore
where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
'Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.
'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
'Did God throw him back down?'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


A wife invited some people to dinner.
At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and
said, 'Would you like to say the blessing?'
'I wouldn't know what to say,' the girl replied.
'Just say what you hear Mommy say,' the wife answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said,
'Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to
dinner?'

Child Slavery and Haiti's Orphans.. What Can You Do?

If you're anything like me, you've probably financially given as much as possible to the Haiti relief fund. With money starting to get tight, and still having the uncontrollable urge to help in any way shape or form, it's time to look for other ways to help. Here is one way we can ALL help..

Haitian orphans are extremely vulnerable right now. There are reports of human traffickers abducting the orphaned children. There is evidence of children being stolen amid the death and destruction in Haiti. There are reports of unauthorised people taking children by road to the neighbouring Dominican Republic and of planes illegally loading children before they left the airport.

We have documented around 15 case of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time," Luc Legrand, an adviser to Unicef said. "Unicef (United Nations Children's Fund) has been working in Haiti for many years and we know the problem with trade of children in Haiti and unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with international 'market'.... See More
"This is going on, this is happening now, and we are starting to have the first evidence of that, this is unquestionable."
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said child trafficking in Haiti was "an existing problem and could easily emerge as a serious issue over the coming weeks and months".

Take Action for Haiti’s Orphans

• The United States government has issued humanitarian parole for the few hundred orphans that were already matched with adoptive parents in the United States prior to the earthquake.
• There are still over 50,000 orphans left in Haiti after the earthquake. These children have no one looking out for them. Some orphanage workers are reporting that they are overseeing 50-100 children per worker, with food and water running out or already gone.
• You can make a difference!

Contact the following government officials from Florida and either call, fax or write to them. Pray first and be polite, straight forward and brief. Below is a sample of what to say. Feel free to copy exactly if you wish:

“Thank you for supporting the humanitarian parole for the children who were already matched with a family in the United States. BUT, we must do something for the orphans who were not yet matched. There were thousands in orphanages with documentation before the earthquake. These children ARE extremely vulnerable right now and must be granted the same humanitarian parole. Where do you stand on expanding humanitarian parole for them? What actions are you taking to ensure that they are safe?”

Also, you can contact the Haitian Embassy at www.haiti.org as well.

Here are the contacts to write, call or fax:

George LeMieux
United States Senate
356 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202)224-3041
Fax (202)228-5171

Cliff Stearns
2370 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202)225-5744
Fax (202)225-3973

Bill Nelson
United States Senate
716 Senate Hart Office Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202)224-5274
Fax (202)228-2183

Corrine Brown
2444 Rayburn House Office Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202)225-0123
Fax(202)225-2256

What is humanitarian parole?
Humanitarian parole is an extraordinary measure, sparingly used to bring an otherwise inadmissible alien into the United States for a temporary period of time due to a very compelling emergency. Not that humanitarian parole may only be requested for persons who are outside of the United States. Parole into the United States may be granted temporarily on a case by case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

Quotes I like by Demetri Martin

- ‘Sort of’ is such a harmless thing to say. Sort of. It’s just a filler..... Sort of – it doesn’t really mean anything. But after certain things, 'sort of' means everything. Like after ‘I love you’.... or ‘You’re going to live’.... or ‘It’s a boy.’


- I saw a guy at a party wearing a leather jacket and I thought, ‘That is cool.’ But then I saw another guy wearing a leather vest and I thought, ‘That is not cool’. Then I figured it out: ‘Cool’ is all about leather sleeves.



- Whenever I investigate a smell, I find that the answer is always bad. It’s never: ‘What IS that? *sniff* .........muffins!’


- I got some new pajamas with pockets in ‘em. Which is great, because before that, I used to have to hold stuff when I slept. But now I’m like, ‘Where’s my planner? There it is. “Keep sleeping.” All right, perfect.’


- I like fruit baskets because it gives you the ability to mail someone a piece of fruit without appearing insane. Like, if someone just mailed you an apple you’d be like ‘Huh? What the hell is this?’, but if it’s in a fruit basket you’re like ‘This is nice!.



- I feel stupid when I write the word banana. Its like, how many n-a’s are on this thing? ‘Cause I’m like ‘Ba-n-a … keep going. n-a n-a … damn.’


- I wanna make a jigsaw puzzle that’s 40,000 pieces. And when you finish it, it says ‘go outside.’


- One of my friends has a stutter and a lot of people think that’s a bad thing, but to me that’s just like starting certain words with a drum roll. That’s not an impediment, that’s suspense! What’s he going to say? Car?? …or Carnival?? …Carburetor!?!? Man…





- A drunk driver is very dangerous. So is a drunk backseat driver if he’s persuasive. ‘Dude make a left.’ ‘Those are trees…’ ‘Trust me .’


- I like the beach. I like to get there really early before everyone else shows up and take like thirty bottles with notes in them and throw them into the water. Then I wait for everyone to come to the beach and when someone goes to pick up one of the bottles, I go up
behind them because when they open it there’s a note saying ‘I’m standing right behind you.’


- I like sports; I like professional football. I like to get to the stadium and see the games live, you know. And I paint my chest before I leave the house. But I don’t have many friends, you know, so I usually just do punctuation and tack on a group already in progress. But sometimes it works out kind of weird because we ended up on TV one time and it said ‘JETS?’


- I went into a clothes store and a lady came up to me and said “if you need anything, I’m Jill”. I’ve never met anyone with a conditional identity before. What if I don't need anything? Who are you?


- The digital camera is a great invention because it allows us to reminisce.... Instantly.


- I used to play sports. Then I realized you can buy trophies. Now I’m good at everything.


- I saw a door that said exit only. So I entered through it and went up to the guy working there and said “I have good news. You have severely underestimated that door over there. By like a hundred percent.”


- I don’t like thank you cards because i don’t know what else to say. It’s like what to I put on the inside?.... “See Front”





- So I was eating this cereal, and I had all these questions and comments. Luckily there was a number on the box. So I called, and said, ‘I have a question: Is this cereal as delicious as i think it is? And I have a comment: yes.’”


- I feel like my washing machine is sneaky. I put clothes in there and detergent and I hear all this noise and this turning around then I open the lid to see what’s going on and it’s like,... ‘…What man we’re just hanging out in here. There’s nothing happening, don’t worry about it. I’m a washing machine, not a Show-you-how-I-do-it machine.’


- I noticed that there are no B batteries. I think that’s to avoid confusion, cause if there were you wouldn’t know if someone was stuttering. ‘Yes, hello I’d like some b-batteries.’ ‘What kind?’ ‘B-batteries.’ ‘What kind?!?’ ‘B-batteries!!!’ and D-batteries that’s hard for foreigners. ‘Yes, I would like de batteries.’


- I was on the street. This guy waved to me, and he came up to me and said, “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.” And I said, “I am"


- About a month ago I got a cactus. A week later, it died. I was really depressed because I was like ‘Dang! I am less nurturing than a desert.’

**New as of 02.04.10**

- I like parties, but I don't like piñatas because the pinata promotes violence against flamboyant animals. Hey, there's a donkey with some pizzazz. Let's kick its ass. What I'm trying to say is, don't make the same Halloween costume mistake that I did.

- Employee of the month is a good example of how somebody can be both a winner and a loser at the same time



- I like clothes, you know. I dig fabrics. One of my favorite clothing patterns is camouflage. Because when you're in the woods it makes you blend in. But when you're not it does just the opposite. It's like, 'Hey, there's an A-hole.' But when you're in the woods you're like, 'Is there an A-hole out here?' They look like trees.

- My favorite fruit is grapes. Because with grapes, you always get another chance. 'Cause, you know, if you have a crappy apple or a peach, you're stuck with that crappy piece of fruit. But if you have a crappy grape, no problem - just move on to the next. 'Grapes: The Fruit of Hope.'

- My plumbing is all screwed up. Because it turns out, I do not own a garbage disposal

- I keep a lighter in my back pocket all the time. I'm not a smoker, I just really like certain songs

- There's a saying that goes "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Okay. How about "Nobody should throw stones." That's crappy behavior. My policy is: "No stone throwing regardless of housing situation." Don't do it. There is one exception though. If you're trapped in a glass house, and you have a stone, then throw it. What are you, an idiot? So maybe it's "Only people in glass houses should throw stones, provided they are trapped in the house with a stone." It's a little longer, but yeah.



(this next one is awful... sorry)
- If I ever saw an amputee being hanged, I would just yell out letters

- There's a store in my neighborhood called Futon World. I like that name, "Futon World." Makes me think of a magical place that gets less and less comfortable over time.

- I like video games, but they are very violent. I want to create a video game in which you have to help all the characters who have died in the other games. "Hey, man, what are you playing?" "Super Busy Hospital. Could you leave me alone? I'm performing surgery! This guy got shot in the head, like, 27 times!"

bumper stickers- random rant

Bumper stickers drive me absolutely batty... let me rephrase that, bumper stickers that make no sense to ME drive me batty. okay.. A. Why would you intentionally put a bumper sticker on your car if it's not intended to be understood by everyone... example.. (13.1)... (CH)... (MVY)... (DK)....? Really?? what does that even mean?? B. Can you not see the agony you have caused me?? I hate you. and C. Why is this even blog worthy??!

I wanna take some random numbers or letters and put them on the back of my car. or better yet, some random words... (WIRE) or (ROPE) or (PETUNIA) ... but knowing my luck, they would be acronyms for something... Part ExtraTerrestrial United Nudist International Association...

bills bills bills

So I went to check my mail this morning on the way back from taking Angelina to school, hoping that there was a check from financial aid in there... No check..

UGH

but there were like 3 bills...

I put them back in my mailbox...

Hopefully if I wish really really hard, when I check my mail this afternoon, they will have vanished...

Oh yea? well YOUR MOM needs to work on sequences at home cuz she doesn't understand it

So this is what bothers me about having 20+ kids in a classroom... These papers (see the attached picture) get sent home weekly.. and every week Jayruh's is "wrong"... If the teacher would take the time to find out what's going on instead of just telling me Jayruh isn't doing well with any of these assignments, she would see Jayruh can totally understand the concept of sequence. I sat down with her the other day and worked on a few of the take-home assignments.

Basically Jayruh cuts out four pictures. Then puts them in order according to which of the pictures happened first, second, third, last. We did one the other day with three pictures... and Jayruh got them "wrong" and I was frustrated... I'm like "Jayruh, tell me what is going on in each picture and then tell me which order they go in"

And here is what I saw going on in the picture.. Picture 1 - Girl picking apples from trees and putting them in baskets.. Picture 2- Girl taking baskets of apples to her "Annie's Apples" truck.. Picture 3- Girl stirring pot and making applesauce..
And here is what Jayruh told me was going on in the pictures.. Picture 1- Girl picking apples from the tree.. Picture 2- Girl cooking different kinds of things with the apples.. Picture 3- Girl taking the rest of the apples to her friends..

Clearly Jayruh doesn't have a problem with putting things in sequence.. she just is not interpreting things the same way that everyone else is.. but it's not that she's dumb and can't do the assignment..

In the attached picture.. the sequence was supposed to be Pic 1- bear with snowball in hand.. Pic 2- Bear with smaller snowball that was beginning to melt.. Pic 3- bear with even smaller snowball that was melting and even bigger puddle by his feet.. Pic 4- bear with no snowball in hand..

And here is how Jayruh interpreted it... Pic 1- bear with no snowball.. Pic 2-bear made a snowball.. Pic 3- snowball starts melting.. Pic 4- snowball melts more..

Like I can totally understand how she is mixing these things up.. I don't think I need a parent-teacher conference to tell me that Jayruh needs to work on these things more.. She understands that things go in a particular order... She's just looking at each picture in a different way. Trust me, we do these things at home, and when she sees a certain picture, she interprets what's happening differently than I do. And who's to say SHE isn't right? Really, our judgement of a snapshot of a story can be totally wrong.

I guess it's hard, because every teacher she's ever had has been blown away by her ability to understand things.. I mean she was talking in sentences at age 2. Her memory is absolutely amazing. She's a very intelligent girl. And to have this teacher telling me she's not, irks me..

typical day in my life.. Fall Semester 09

A typical day in my life

6:20 AM~ first alarm goes off (music on the radio station)
6:30 AM~ second alarm goes off if I haven't gotten up to turn off the first one ( this one is a loud annoying beeping sound that I can't sleep through)
** MAKE COFFEE **
6:45 AM~ wake up Jayruh (in order to keep her in a good mood, I rub her back and sing silly songs and tell silly jokes until she wakes up, then we usually talk about funny things or read a book for a good 10 minutes)
7:00 AM~ make Jayruh breakfast, get the clothes I picked out for her the night before and begin searching for missing sock (lol) Pack her lunch for the day and say "Jayruh I'm going to turn the TV off if you don't start eating"... sometimes this works, sometimes I have to actually turn it off...
7:15 AM~ get Jayruh dressed, help her brush her teeth, do her hair (get yelled at because her hair is so fine and curly that it hurts her for me to even look at it)
7:20 AM~ carry sleeping Angelina out of bed and to the car with Jayruh
7:30 AM~ listen to "Stupid News" on Kiss 105.3 and answer a million questions on the way to Jayruh's school like "what does 'reason' mean? why are you waiting until you get married to have another newborn baby? why do I have to do good in school? why does Santa Clause come at night?"

7:40 AM~ finally make it through the morning traffic and drop Jayruh off at school (her school is less than a mile away) by this time Angelina is usually awake
7:45 AM~ Get Angelina inside and make breakfast for the two of us. Clean up the kitchen. Clean up Angelina. Clean up the carpet where Angelina spilled her food....
8:00 AM~ Start getting ready for school (shower, get dressed... yada yada) Check facebook ;) Write a list of things I need to get done for the day that I don't want to forget.. Pack Angelina's backpack, my backpack... get Angelina dressed, brush her teeth, her hair... etc.. read Angelina a book or play a silly game with her.
(this is also the time I finish hw if I didn't finish it the night before)
9:20 AM~ Leave my apartment
9:30 AM~ Drop Angelina off at her preschool
9:50 AM~ Make it to where I go to park my truck and ride a bus to UF
10:25 AM~ Get off bus and walk 15 minutes to where my class is
10:40 AM - 1:40 PM~ class
2:00 PM~ Get on bus to go back to the place that I park my truck...
2:30 PM~ Get in my truck and head for the house... Facebook/email :)

3:00 PM~ MY TIME.. I need this time!! Usually spend it watching Numb3rs or taking a nap

4/4:30 PM~ Pick up the girls from school/daycare.. go to the grocery store and try not to scream at my kids for fighting the entire time we are there. Say "I don't care who started it" a million times and throw in a couple of "I'm gunna spank your butt when we get to the car if you don't cut it out right now" "Jayruh Marie Miller stop licking your sister, that's disgusting" "Angelina, no dancing when you are sitting so close to Jayruh that you are hitting her" "No we aren't getting candy" "because I SAID SO" "Jayruh, you aren't the boss, you can't tell Angelina what to do" and "keep your hands in that cart!!"

5:30/6:00 PM~ Get home, get the girls inside, snack and juice, and start bringing in the groceries. Put everything away and begin cooking dinner. Repeat most of what was said above with the addition of "get out of the kitchen when I'm cooking" "no you can't have any treats, I'm making dinner right now" and "it will be ready when it's ready now go sit down"

6:15-30 PM ish~ dinner. We sit down at the table and take turns picking out topics that we want to talk about. Also the time of day that I ask the girls to tell me about their days and things that they did in school.
7:00 PM~ clean up from dinner. Do the dishes. Throw some clothes in the washing machine. Get the girls in the bath.
8:15 PM~ Facebook/email :) ha ha ha. Help Jayruh with her writing. Help Angelina with her coloring (lol, she likes to pretend she's doing homework too)
8:30 PM~ put the girls to bed. Read them each two books. Pray for them. And usually listen to them talk for a little while. Right before bed is when Jayruh fesses up about all the bad stuff she did. She can't go to bed feeling guilty. So we talk about everything that's on her mind. Angelina gets extremely silly and having a serious conversation with her at bed time is impossible ha ha.
9:00 PM~ Jayruh's asleep... Angelina's crying because she wants to come out of her room... FINALLY SIT DOWN TO DO HOMEWORK... completely exhausted and drained
Angelina comes out several times before FINALLY going to sleep around 10:30/11:00 PM.
Sometimes homework is delayed if I have a show that's on like Leverage, House or Lie to Me (=

12:00 AM~ Bed!!
6:20 AM~ fml

Random things I think about- Yoplait Pink lids

So as I'm licking the pink lid of my Yoplait yogurt today, something occurs to me. This is utterly disgusting. I mean, the idea of sending in the lids and Yoplait donating 10 cents for each lid for breast cancer awareness is awesome... but even on the commercials, the women are licking the lids and then putting them in envelopes. How gross. I wonder who opens the letters. Do they wear gloves? With this swine flu scare going around, who would want that job? On second thought, with the economy the way it is, I'm sure many people would take that job...

And then I wonder, are there people that actually open up all of those envelopes and count the saliva covered lids? Or does Yoplait just have a set amount of money that they are going to donate regardless of whether or not people actually send the pink tops in? Is it just a ploy to get people to buy their product, under the impression that they are helping by donating money to breast cancer awareness? I applaud Yoplait for what they are doing, but why not just tell everyone when they buy their yogurt, a portion of the money goes to charity?

Yuck... can you imagine being a mail carrier? Thousands of people licking all over those tops before putting them in the envelope... or even without the Yoplait tops, people lick envelopes all the time. Gross..