Habeus Corpus

Yes, Snuffy, that is what it means. Very good, you get an A. Apparently what it means is that the warden is in CONTROL of the body, holding him against his will. Supposedly unjustly. Well, they file these lawsuits when they are not being treated very well by the other prisoners. The other prisoners don't like rapists, child molesters, etc. So, when someone gets sent to prison, the other inmates ask for their "papers", meaning, they want to know what they are in for, so they know what type of person they are dealing with and how to treat him. Well, this guy is not being treated well and now figures he shouldn't have to be there. Well, I say tough noogies. You wouldn't be there if you hadn't been a lowlife scumbag, creepy voyeur...but I digress. Anyway, they try to find a loophole in the system somewhere and a reason why they shouldn't be there. In this case, I think the loophole he is looking for is that the police reports were incorrect. However, he pled guilty to all the counts against him, so there he sits. Right where he should be. Hopefully for a long time.

I have wasted so much time on this. And now I know more than I ever cared to about the prison system.

Updates

Well, the prisoner is apparently filing a Habeus Corpus suit. I spoke with the DA's office. Which basically means he is suing the warden for unlawful detainment. Yeah, right, buddy. You wouldn't be there if you hadn't broken into women's apartments and made their lives miserable. He is apparently not getting treated very well in prison. Good. I have wasted too much of my time dealing with this.

I have received three letters. The "investigator" is a retired (for ten years) woman who lives in a retirement community and sings in the local community choir. I'm thinking it's mom. Trying to use the sympathy ploy in the third letter. Not gonna do it. I owe him nothing.

I just got off the phone with the wife of the contractor who said, "I am not interested in finishing the job" on the patio. I am still looking for the contract, so I called to see if they could send it to me. They "lost" it. Can't find a bunch of files that are in storage. Okay, Hillary. You are in business. You are supposed to be much more organized than I am. I guess I will have to keep looking. I am a reasonable person. Why are they doing this? How frustrating. My friend (who referred them, and has known them since they were both kids) cannot believe this. I don't think I am that difficult to deal with!

It's hot. Again. I just don't feel like me today. I am frustrated, tired and cranky. Hopefully, the kids are good. I am just not going to try to do much today. I will likely have a short fuse. Send a little prayer this way, okay? Thanks! I am sure I will be back to my normal happy self tomorrow.

Three

"Rebekah, put your toy in the playroom."
Five minutes later,
"Rebekah, put your toy in the playroom."
"I wiiilllll-aahh. How many times do I have to TELL you!"

A typical conversation at our house:
"Rebekah, did you eat the cookie?"
"No, Jess-ca did."
"NO I DIDN'T! SHE'S LYING!"
"Rebekah, did you eat the cookie?"
"Yes."

"Rebekah, how old are you?"
"Ree"

Rebekah was extremely talkative while Jess was gone at Papa's house. She didn't stop talking! We figured she was making up for lost time. Had to squeeze as much talking in as possible while her sister was away. Scott and I were laughing so hard all weekend. She comes up with the darndest things. Her big "problem" all weekend, that she kept bringing up, was who she is going to marry. Finally, Sunday morning she figured it out. Matthew! She wanted to marry Matthew! And she told him so! Kris said, "Nope. You can't. He's your cousin." I said, "Well, technically she could. But that would be too wierd. Kris is already her aunt and her godmother. She would also be her mother in law!"

So, the decision is still not made. Scott ages about ten years every time the girls talk about getting married. They are three and five! They are not supposed to be talking about this stuff yet. So, Scott's comment is, as he looks at me as though I am tne responsible one, "Well, we wouldn't have this problem if we had boys!"

Frogs and Caterpillars and Stink Bugs, Oh My!

I have bugs. I don't know if I should call the bug guy or not. The caterpillars are eating my passionflower vine and the toads got rid of all the daddylonglegs, but will the bug guy kill the caterpillars and the toads or just the bugs? The toads are babies of the original toad couple. They are hiding out in the grass in an old gopher hole. The gophers haven't showed up lately. None. But there is one hole in the grass that when I put the hose down it, it seems to go to China! The other ones are all linked together and when you put the hose down one of them, the toads pop their heads out. That's when I show them to the girls.

I don't know if my caterpillars are going to produce some ugly moths or some beautiful butterflies. I guess I will have to wait and see. They are not attractive. Black and red with poky things all over them. These are the things we played with as kids? You couldn't pay me to touch that thing! Eeewww! Jess wants to put one in her bug container so she can watch it grow. That might be a way to find out what kind of butterfly it turns into...

Found a spider in Rebekah's bed the other night. When Jess was gone. Good thing. Jess had nightmares of spiders in her bed for a while. At least we think it was a nightmare. She talked about a BIG spider crawling on her bed about a year ago. Well, I don't want creepy crawlies in the house. And the big huge ant hill in the back yard. If I put the poison out, they might shrink me and take me into their ant hill (a la The Ant Bully). What to do, what to do.

two funnies...cuz we can all use a laugh

UNANSWERED PRAYER?
The preacher's 5 year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head, for a moment, before starting his sermon.

One day, she asked him why.

"Well, Honey," he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages, "I'm asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon."

"How come He doesn't do it?" she asked.

THE BLESSING

My wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to our six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to say," she replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," my wife said.

Our daughter bowed her head and said, "Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

Don't forget to pray

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers!
What beautiful animals!" he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river he heard a
rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7 foot grizzly charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his
shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over
to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw
and raising his right paw to strike him. At that instant the Atheist cried out: "Oh my God!..."

Time stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky:
"You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others I don't exist, and even credit creation
to a cosmic accident.

Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"
The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You
to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps could you make the BEAR a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.
The light went out.
The sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together and bowed his head and spoke: "Lord, bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen."

Lenten humor

John Smith was the only Protestant to move into the large Catholic
neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling
a big juicy steak on his grill. Meanwhile all of his neighbors were
eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday during
Lent.
On the last Friday of Lent the neighborhood men got together and
decided that something just HAD to be done about John, he was just tempting them
to eat meat each Friday of Lent and they couldn't take it anymore. They decided
to try and convert him to be Catholic.

They went over and talked with him and were so happy that he decided
to join all of his neighbors and become a Catholic. They took him to
Church and the Priest sprinkled some water over him and told him "You were born
a Protestant,you were raised a Protestant and now you are a Catholic".
The men of the neighborhood were SO relieved, now their biggest Lent temptation
was resolved.

The next year's Lent rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came
and just at supper time when the neighborhood was setting down to
their fish dinners came the wafting smell of steak cooking on a grill. The
neighborhood men could not believe their noses!

What was going on???

They called each other up and decided to meet over in John's yard to
see if he had forgotten it was a Friday in Lent. The group arrived
just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water.
He was pouring small droplets over his steak on the grill and saying "You
were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish."

Brog Charrenge

1 Butt Dust
2 Noone
3 Stree
4 invalide



Any takers? (just come up with a funny or creative story to explain one of the above)

Come on, you know you want to. Come on!

Somewhere between Toddler and Teen

Jessica. My sweet little girl. I love her so much. She has the sweetest disposition. Even when she is trying to get away with something, it is not mean, malicious or anything like that. She is just very active. She went to my dad's house with him on Friday, after he spent the day with us. Well, I was going to pick her up on Saturday, but they went to Dad's brothers house and they were just leaving to pick up their four granddaughters and bring them back. So, she wanted to stay to go to the "Beach Party" they were going to have on Sunday afternoon. Joe is the overseer at a church camp up in the mtns. about a mile from Dad's house. So, they have a HUGE pool, a kitchen with ALL KINDS of cookies, snacks, treats, etc. and chocolate milk, juice, punch, you name it. And they give this stuff to the kids freely. Jess loves going up there. So, she stayed Saturday night as well and called me in the evening to tell me how much she missed me. I told her I would see her probably on Sunday night. She didn't do too well at church on Sunday morning. Dad can't hear her very well, so when she would try to whisper something to him in church, he couldn't hear her. She ended up getting frustrated, crying, and they left church early. Bummer. Well, then they did the beach party thing. That went well. She didn't want to get out of the pool. She is learning how to swim, go under water holding her breath, opening her eyes under water, etc. Two hours in the pool, 70 degrees. She didn't want to get out. After a long tiring day, she was exhausted. We were going to pick her up, but there was a fire in the mountains around Gorman and Lebec. The fwy was closed for a while. So, we decided to pick her up on Monday morning. She called us about 7:30pm bawling her eyes out. She would not take "Morning" for an answer. So, we piled into the car and drove up there, not knowing if we could get through or not. It was okay. The road was open. We could see the flames from the fwy. They were very close in some spots. Well, we got there, picked her up and got back home around 10pm. She was SO happy to see us. I guess two days away from Mom is too much. She is, after all, only five years old!

So here I am thinking my baby is still a baby. She still needs her mommy.

Yesterday, I was on the phone with my friend, Lana. Her daughter Melanie asks to talk to Jess when we are done on the phone. Comes back ten minutes later, "Are you done yet?" So we give the phones to the girls and they talk. And talk. And talk. For like 20 minutes! Jess is walking around the house talking on the cordless phone! When Lana tells Melanie it is time to have lunch, she gives Jessica her phone number so she can call her back! She's five! Melanie is six. I am so not ready for this. I figured I had several years left before I had to share my telephone!

So, I am not sure exactly how old my daughter is. Yeah, I know she is five. I guess that is somewhere between toddler and teen. What am I in for?????

Electric Bill$

So, people have been receiving some extremely high electric bills this summer. And, with the increase retroactive to January, it could get a lot worse. Hopefully, the rest of the summer is not as hot. I thought I would share with you a few bill amounts from various locations, so that, either you will feel better or worse about your own situation.

Quartz Hill, July $300
Canyon Country, July, $300
Lancaster, July, $525
Palmdale, July, $450
East Palmdale, June, $1050
Frazier Park, July, less than $200
Castaic, July, $800
Rancho Santa Margarita, July $895


Feel free to add your own on the comments. I just read too, that the increase may not happen until November. SCE requested that the increase not go into effect until November. That is good, since this time of year is the worst.

Why he doesn't blog

So, he wasn't actually working all that overtime. He was out racing cars! Go figure. That's a guy for you. They tell you one thing and do another. Yea, now I will have to go out and buy the tshirts and die cast cars and everything. Opening stores, racing cars, it is amazing that he has time for seminary classes, too.

Well, if he gets popular enough, maybe people will stop calling him James Scott.

A store in san diego

It's bad enough I can't go into a restroom without seeing his name plastered all over the place. Scottowels, James River Corporation, Fort James, Scott paper products. Now there is a store in San Diego called Scott James East Village. Too funny. In case I forget about him I can always go shop at his little boutique in San Diego.

Check this out. They have this really cool handbag. Made entirely of seatbelts! Holds up to 5000 lbs. I need to get one for my MIL. She carries that much change in her purse.

Thank you! Thank you!

Thanks, guys, I feel loved. Everyone have a wonderful day. I am going to attempt a marathon clean and get my house cleaned up. We'll see...wait, how did it go? Do or don't do. No try. Okay, do.

I wonder

I wonder if I were to turn off the comments, if I could then convince myself that people are actually reading my blog, but nobody is commenting because they can't. Whereas now, I think nobody comments because they don't read it. Is anybody actually reading it? Am I doing it for me, or you? I guess a little of both. Some feedback would be nice. Otherwise, I might as well do it the old fashioned way, get out pen and notebook and write down something witty that nobody else will ever read. My eyes only. When I was eleven, shortly after my brother died, my mom took it upon herself to read my diary. I was mortified. Angry, hurt, frustrated. Not only because she had read it, but because of what it said. I would never have actually done it, but after my brother's suicide, I spent some time thinking about suicide. I contemplated it. To myself, or so I thought. She sat me down to talk about it. My mother blew the whole thing out of proportion and thought I was suicidal. Nope. I wasn't drinking, taking drugs, dressing wierd, hanging with the wrong crowd. Nothing. My brother had just hung himself in a tree and I had found him there. I was dealing with death the way a pre-teenager would. I went to a private Baptist school and my mother picked me up from school every day, how much trouble could I get into? But from her perspective, she was completely in the right doing what she did. Boy, was I angry. I felt I couldn't trust her. I never wrote in a diary again. I am a writer. I write for me. I would still write, but not in one spot, only bits and pieces here and there, hidden in my purse or other places. When I got a computer, I would write and delete, never printing anything. I became paranoid about someone finding something I had written. I had a lot of secrets then. Not anymore. There are years of my life that I would like to be able to look back on and read my thoughts, but they are gone. They were not saved, to be read and re-read later. They were erased.

When I was about twenty years old, I spent some time going to see a MFCC. I went to see the counselor my boss knew. He wanted me to lose weight and thought that counseling would help. He paid for half the sessions. Actually, the woman was just getting her certification and needed her final hours. Well, I knew that I should have seen someone with more experience when she sat there with her mouth open when I told her all the things I had been through. I have some interesting stories. After going there for a while, and spending a lot of money, I decided to get a notebook and write it all down instead of paying $60 per hour (I paid $30) to tell her a bunch of stuff she didn't really want to know about anyway. At least it would not cost as much. So, even though I no longer lived at home, I would write and hide it. So nobody would find it. I was a closet writer. Not anymore. I write here.

I find it easier to express my thoughts in writing than in speech. I always think of something else to say when I speak, only it is always after the fact. When you write, you can fix it or change it. It's not out there and gone forever.

So, feel free to comment if you would like. I will just pretend that all you people are reading and for one reason or another don't want to write things down. Your secret is safe with me.

One camping experience

We were supposed to spend two weeks at Carpinteria State Beach in our camper at the campsites there. There were two other families there that we knew. SO, we get up at 4:30 in the morning to leave, getting all the last stuff in the camper. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, getting dressed. I stood up and my knee popped out of place. I couldn't straighten it. At all. Severe pain, couldn't stand on it. This happened all throughout my teenage years, but I was always able to straighten it and it would "pop" back into place. Well, this time I couldn't. My parents helped me into the back of the camper, all the while I am hobbling on one foot. So, we get to Carpinteria and throughout the course of the day, I still could not straighten my leg. So my parents take me to the emergency room at Santa Barbara hospital. X-ray. Go to your regular doctor. Okay, so the next day, we go to West Hills. It took the dr. about 30 minutes to slowly straighten my leg out. Childbirth didn't hurt as bad as this. He said any longer and he would have admitted me to the hospital and put me in traction. So now I have this knee brace on my leg and a pair of crutches. Back to the beach. Have you ever tried to get into the back of a camper without bending or putting pressure on one leg? Next to impossible. I spent the next two weeks inside the camper. Keep in mind we were less than two hours away from home. I couldn't get outside by myself, though. And going to the bathroom in the camper toilet in the closet was less than fun. No showers. No getting out. Everyone else got to go out on the beach, have fun, etc. I was stuck in the camper-jail. I got out of the camper one time in two weeks. I don't have fond memories of camping.

Tribute to a Wonderful Woman

To a friend who needs a little pick me up. You are amazing. You do everything. And you do it with a smile on your face. You took your whole family of six camping. And I know who did the washing, packing of clothes and food, organizing, staying up late to get finished the night before, unpacking, setting up, watching the kids, chasing the kids, making the kids sit so they don't run away, calling the kids when they run off, feeding the kids, putting sunscreen on the kids, holding the kids when they got boo-boos, cleaning the kids up when they played all day and got dirty. Yeah, and that is just the first day. You are loved and admired by those around you. And we are in awe of all that you do. You are totally different than our previous priest's wife. Different but equally amazing. Mother Betty was amazing. You are too. I don't know how you do it.

You, maam, truly are Mrs. Incredible. And even when things get you down, you hide it extremely well.

You work your butt off, have people at your house at all hours of the day and night, shlep kids around in your minivan and take teenage daughters to work and the mall. You work a full time job and take care of six at home, plus whoever shows up! You can whip up a great meal in a matter of minutes and everybody thinks it was all planned. Six pounds of ground beef to meatloaf for twenty in thirty minutes. You are Semper Gumby. Do you get thanked for it? They appreciate you, even if they don't show it. I bet they all learned to appreciate you even more when you were on bedrest for a few days, huh?

May I be so bold as to speak for the ladies of the church? We love you and we appreciate you! Keep it up. You are an inspiration to the rest of us. If other people don't appreciate all that you do, that is their problem. They aren't paying attention.

And, if you are crabby, you hide it VERY well.

Too funny not to

The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget....
was this particular Sunday sermon...
"Dear Lord," the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust." He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening!) Leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mommy, what is butt dust?"

Email from the heart

I just read a story about Joe Dobbie, the guy who sent an email to a woman he met at a party. It was nice, very romantic. Having been the recipient of affections that were not reciprocated and also having been the one to write the love letters, I can understand. When I was a teenager, I was "lovestruck". A boy in my seventh grade class. I thought I was in love. He was very nice. He didn't make fun of the love letters I gave him, and, to my knowledge, he didn't share them with others. It eventually faded out.

About ten years ago, not only did I get the "love letter" from the guy who broke into my apt., but also I went on a blind date with this guy I met through the singles ads. I don't recommend doing this. He unscrewed the lightbulb above the table at Coco's for "ambience". We met at a restaurant at dinner time and he told me he had already eaten. I paid for my food. He didn't offer to. He called me on the phone several times after that. I never saw him again. I never intended to. He has called me on the phone every birthday since then. I have been married for seven years and he even tells me to say hi to my husband. No other calls. Just on my birthday.

Joe Dobbie wrote to a woman he was infatuated with. They talked for a few hours at a party. Did she go home and thank her lucky stars that she didn't give this guy her phone number? Did she go home and laugh? Did she go home and think, well, he was nice, but not my type? Apparently, she thought it was humorous enough to forward to her sister and her sister forwarded it, etc. etc. so many times that the next morning he was getting phone calls from all over the world. The email said that she had a beautiful smile and that he would remember it and would she go out with him? What is so wrong with that? It was nice. A little more revealing about his feelings than most people would admit after first meeting someone, but so what? They were his feelings and he is entitled to them. I don't think the entire world is entitled to read them. Not fair. It is one thing for her to tell her sister about it, it is another to forward the actual email.

He seems like a nice guy. I hope he finds someone nicer than Kate. Now at least, the world knows that there are still nice guys out there who aren't afraid to show their emotions. And I think Kate will have a hard time finding a date now. She seems to be the uncaring soul.

Good luck Joe Dobbie! I hope you find a nice girl.

About me. In case you care.

I copied this from Jennie's site. It is fun to meet people through blogland. I have to give her credit. So, here goes.

Besides, Joann will be back tomorrow and will be looking forward to reading some blogs and there are hardly any written! So, write, people!


GRUB-OLOGY
What is your salad dressing of choice? Italian
What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Not sure I have one. Maybe Tommy's
What is your favorite sit down restaurant? anyplace with really good japanese, Benihana, Tokyo Steak (Lancaster, Palmdale), Musashi (Northridge)
On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? 20% unless something is really terrible. 30% for Zeke at Claim Jumper, Valencia. Greatest waiter!
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? bacon, peaches, strawberries, chocolate, ice cream, root beer
Name three foods you detest above all others. Oysters, hmm, I am sure there is something else.
What is your favorite dish to order in a Chinese restaurant? Do I have to choose only one? Chicken chow mein, yang chow fried rice, sweet/sour pork!
What are your pizza toppings of choice? Ham and pineapple at Numero Uno. Thick crust, with tomatoes.
What do you like to put on your toast? Butter and cinnamon
What is your favorite type of gum? juicyfruit

TECH-OLOGY
Number of contacts in your cell phone? About 50
Number of contacts in your email address book? 10-15
What is your wallpaper on your computer? My two girls
What is your screensaver on your computer? Whatever came with the laptop
Are there naked pictures saved on your computer? yeah, 2 and 4 year old baby butts in the bathtub! To embarrass them when they are teenagers. Just kidding.
How many land line phones do you have in your house? one, but it is vonage through the computer
How many televisions are in your house? 2
What kitchen appliance do you use the least? My Showtime Rotisserie (think Ron Popeil on TV) It's cool, but I don't lug it off the shelf much.
What is the format of the radio station you listen to the most? radio? I don't get to listen to radio. I have a 3 and a 5 year old!
How many sex toys do you own that require batteries? Hah, that's funny. Who has time for that? Refer to question above.
BI-OLOGY
What do you consider to be your best physical attribute? Okay, five minutes later, I still can't think of one. Pass.
Are you right handed or left handed? right
Do you like your smile? No, but my husband does!
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? two babies
Would you like to? yes, just one more baby. Maybe it is not meant to be!
Do you prefer to read when you go to the bathroom? Maybe. But I am not going to admit it here.
Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? Smell
When was the last time you had a cavity? About 7 years ago
What is the heaviest item you lift regularly? #1 daughter. 51 lbs.
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Nope

MISC-OLOGY
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Nope
If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? Don't want to. My mom named me after my great aunt. Mom is gone now...
What color do you think you look best in? Jewel tones. I am too pale to wear pastels.
How long do you think you could last in a medium security prison? I pray I never have to find out.
Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? Yeah, Palmolive dish soap when I was a kid! Talk about yuck!
If we weren't bound by society's conventions, do you have a relative you would make a pass at? Okay, ewww!
How often do you go to church? Every Sunday and a few Wednesdays.
Have you ever saved someone's life? No. But I would.
Has someone ever saved yours? Yes, thank you, God!

DARE-OLOGY
For this last section, if you would do it for less or more money, indicate how much.

Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000? I’d need more than that, that’s not something you’d want to see. (million maybe?) I must concur. Yeah, I don't see that happening.
Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? On the cheek, yes.
Would you have sex with a member of the same sex for $10,000? No, no money for that one.
Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? Nope, I like my fingers!
Would you never blog again for $50,000? Yeah, but who's going to pay me to not write? I'm not that bad!
Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Yeah, right. LOL. Again, who's going to pay me for that?
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Is the emergency room visit covered after? Afraid not.Even if I said I would, I wouldn't be able to really do it. Physically impossible. My brother in law would do it, though.
Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? Who am I to decide when someone else should die?
Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? No, no head shaving. I couldn't do it. How much money was that?
Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? I only watch one show now, Whose Line is it Anyway? So, that wouldn't be a problem.

Current temp: 64 degrees

How cool is that? Literally. Yeah, it is 6am and 64 degrees. I didn't use the air conditioner at all yesterday. It never got over 78 in the house.

The girls are both up. Jess was awake when Scott got up and Bekah got up before he left. They are watching cartoons. They aren't supposed to be up yet, but I guess now would be a good time to get them on an earlier schedule. Early to bed, early to rise, or sleep in late and take a nap. I have to take Scott's car to get the maintenance done on it today, anyway. So we have to leave pretty soon. At least it isn't hot out. Maybe I will bake today.

Rebekah just looked out the window and announced, "It is morning now! Look, Mommy, it is morning now!" Jess, who has done this before, was like, "Yeah." Rebekah has never seen the sun come up before. Now, if you think about it, it really is amazing. That it comes up at the designated time every morning. The earth and sun move at the exact right time that they are supposed to. Every day. For thousands of years.

Scott was showing the girls a paper cup last night. "This is what people make. God makes things like flowers, people, what do you think is more difficult?" I had to add that, not only does He make flowers, but they start out this . big as seeds, and then the entire flower is grown out of that. Exactly the way it is supposed to look. The same way, every time. So, the entire instruction manual for the flower, tree, etc. is in a package that is this . big. Amazing. God is amazing. Whenever we think we have it all figured out, just take a look around. Or start counting the hairs on your head. He knows how many there are. And that number changes every day!

Have you ever seen the passionflower? It is amazingly beautiful. The name Passionflower refers to the passion of Christ: the 3 stamens represent his wounds, and the 12 petals represent the apostles. Passion fruit is sweet and aromatic, in fact, the fruit is used in Hawaiian Punch for flavor.




I have one in my front yard. Every time I look at this flower, I am amazed that God made these beautiful, intricate flowers. And everything else. Take a look around and think about all He has made. And enjoy this reprieve from the heat. It is August, it will heat up again. But, we are assured that the cool will come again. Isn't God great?