Birthday Party Success!

Today is my son's 6th birthday.  They're not lying when they say they grow up too fast.  This morning I watched him making pancakes for breakfast.  He asked me to come over and pour some into shapes so I tried, but they kept coming out funny.  "That one looks like a pickle."  "That one looks like the moon."  At least he was positive about it.  Apparently I even made one that looked like a chrysalis.  Props to me for that.

Since his birthday fell on a Monday, we decided to have his birthday party on Saturday.  And MAN did we have fun!!  We asked the boys to come at 9am, still dressed in their p.j.'s.  We fed them cereal, watched Saturday morning cartoons and had a rockin' pillow fight.

Here are some pics of the event!

The invitation.  Funny story about Noah.  My son said he wanted to invite this little boy to the party, but I found out later that he was no longer in C's AWANA group...and hadn't been since LAST YEAR.  With no way to contact him, we had to forfeit the attempt.

We had gobs of cereal waiting for them!

Coloring pages of Phineas and Ferb - C's cartoon of choice.

Can't forget the vitamins!

The favors, their own cereal spoon and some magic milk straws.
(They also took home a box of their own cereal concoction.)

Pillows are fluffed and ready for the pillow fight.

My blue couch joined in the festivities.  Can you see why I love it so much?  : )

The pillow fight!

The Birthday (pan)Cake!  Layered with chocolate chips, this was a huge hit!

Overall, this party was absolutely perfect.  I would totally recommend it to anyone looking for an easy (and affordable) birthday option!  

(For more ideas on the event, take a look at the blog where I stole this idea from here.)

My thoughts on occupying ANY street.

First of all, Occupy Wall Street confuses me.  Can some tell me EXACTLY what the goal of the movement is?

I read on the Occupy Wall Street website that this movement is"fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations."


Huh?  


How much power can major banks, multinational corps and the so-called "Wall Street" possess if not first granted by our friend, Mr. Government?  None.  


Let's consider, for instance, the housing market crash.  Thanks to my real estate classes, I've learned quite a bit on the subject:


In 1977, Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act which required lending companies to quit discriminating against credit requests from people in low-income neighborhoods.  Up until the year 2000, the percentage of lending devoted to low-income living was at or around 30%.  


In 2000, during the Clinton Administration, that percentage was raised to a whopping 55%, and in 2007 (during Bush's administration), was raised again to 55%.  


So herein lies Problem #1:  Subprime mortgages.  More than half of all mortgages being given out by financial institutions were what we call "subprime", which literally means "less than prime." 


Problem #2:  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were busy buying up these loans.  Banks lend buyers the money, then turn around and sell those loans (more specifically the interest) to larger companies (e.g. Freddie Mae, et al) so that they have the cash to keep giving mortgages to borrowers.  That's fine and dandy, and it worked great, unless it's the government insuring most of these mortgages, and most of these mortgages are subprime.


Problem #3: Investors stopped investing.  How is it that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could keep buying up these mortgages from the banks?  It's because investors would invest their money for what are known as Mortgage -Backed Securities (MBS).  I'm not going to go into the details of those.  When the interest rates jumped up on the subprime mortgages, the borrowers could no longer afford them so they stopped paying them, which obviously made investors worry about their investments and stop investing.  With no more money coming into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and no money being paid on the mortgages, it only makes sense that the entire system crashed.  


But wait.  Who started the problem?  (Answer:  the government)


In a study regarding lottery winners, published in The Review of Economics and Statistics, results showed that more money does not solve a spending crisis.  Essentially people who cannot handle a budget rarely do any better when more money is handed over to them.  So while I am in 100% agreement with the OWS movement in that large corporations (big banks, etc) should not be bailed out of financial hardships as a result of stupidity, I also don't believe they should be paying more in taxes than is already required.  Teach the government to work on a budget, and then reevaluate the tax percentages.  


I suppose watching my husband run a business gives me a bias in this situation.  He is incredibly fiscally responsible when it comes to running his business and our family willingly takes a smaller income just so he can pay off his business debts faster (e.g. truck leases). 
My husband and I pay for our own health insurance, we are funding our own retirement (and don't anticipate taking in Social Security, although we pay it dutifully), my husband lowers the unemployment rate via his business, and we give to charities monthly.  We are definitely part of the 99% who work hard.  However, I refuse to see the economical problems we're facing originating from the (much too stereotyped) 1%.  I'd argue that it's a two-fold problem resulting from a) the lack of morals we are seeing throughout our country's leadership, both government and corporate and b) yes, I'll say it - our government is too big.

Curious...

I have two siblings and five cousins in my generation of the family tree.  The kicker here is that, of the 8 of us, we are ALL FEMALE.  So I missed out on some seemingly necessary information regarding the opposite sex.  Some of it was easy to understand and accept:  they like dirt, and trucks, and blowing things up.  And if they can't participate in it themselves, they like to watch shows about it.  But after being married to a man for the past 7 years, one thing still puzzles me.

Why do men believe they have the power to change the color of a traffic light?

Goodbye.

Last ride in my Dad's jeep.  

Yesterday my family said goodbye to our puppy.

No, she wasn't really a puppy - she lived a full and happy life - but she was the youngest in the line of our childhood dogs and therefore always the baby.  I realize some people may mock the relationship a person can have with a dog, but until you experience the transformation of an animal becoming a family member, it's difficult to comprehend the the reality of the loss.

Reba was our first childhood dog.  We brought her home because she managed to run circles around my little sister (who was a mere toddler at the time) without knocking her over.  Win.  She became the Lassie of the neighborhood, roaming the block playing with the kids and barking at the strangers.  At one point we had to quarantine her because we found out the neighbor boy had jumped on her back and injured it.  She didn't do a thing to him.

Sarah, our second dog, was my personal dog.  My mom insisted "NO BLACK LABS" because we had a friend with a black lab who left dreadful amounts of black hair all over their house, but it was because of that black lab that I wanted a black lab.  Catch-22, ugh.  So I decided I'd go for a Siberian Husky.  "NO SIBERIAN HUSKIES BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO BIG."  Seriously mom?  What CAN I have?  =)  I finally settled on trying to find a Siberian Husky mix because they'd likely be white with light eyes, and if mixed with the right breed, would be smaller.  Besides, our family has always been a sucker for mutts.  Whatever the dog, I was going to call her Honey because I thought it was the perfect name for a dog.  One afternoon we walked into the Humane Society and - lo and behold - the angels were singing and shining down on this one dog.  She was a medium-sized Siberian Husky mix named Honey.  I kid you not.  I called my mom over, absolutely thrilled that God would answer my request so perfectly...until my mom pointed out the reason she was there: "Does not get along with other dogs."  Seriously?  I'm sure I looked for a candid camera at that point.  Or suggested that some animals were meant to be wild and we should go ahead and set Reba free.  Yeah, that didn't work.  So we kept looking.  Long story short...we came home with Sarah - a black lab/dalmation mix.  I'd like to say my mom ate her words, but since she was the one who let me get Sarah, I won't.

Penny came very soon after.  She was the runt in a pack of misfit pups - part coyote/part German Shepherd.  Little did we know what we were in for.  A snapshot of her life includes electrocution (her own fault), eating a couple pounds of chocolate and sprinting through the house for. several. hours., trying to escape the lawn chair she was tied to while down at Fiesta Island, and keeping all the airplanes out of the yard for the many years we were blessed to call her ours.  And to this day we've never had a plane land there.  In honor of her service, I made this:

I put it on her little grave in my parents backyard.

Last night I went to bed just fine.  I was thinking a lot about my younger sister, to whom Penny belonged, because I realized this was her first night without her dog.  Those first nights are always the hardest.  But I was fine...until this morning.  Because I have to go to my parents house today.

I haven't lived with Penny since I moved out of my parents house several years ago, but I go to their house quite regularly (can anyone say "free babysitting", haha).  I have no doubt I was secretly Penny's favorite visitor (don't worry Penny, I won't tell anyone) if only because I would come in feeding her handfuls of treats.  Actually, the treats were a ploy to get my mom's puppies to like me and, to this day, have STILL not made a dent in our relationship.  But if chunky ol' Penny was going to go wriggle and squirm to stand up and trot over to me, of course she was going to get some.  Of course.

But not today.  Yesterday she joined our two other childhood dogs wherever dogs go when they die.  There are some arguments that animals make it to heaven, and I'll be okay believing that if only because it makes me smile to think that she's running with her canine sisters and probably keeping the angels from landing.

 Rest in peace, Penny.  We love you.

Something to Think About...

There's an old adage among Christians which generally comes up in the face of catastrophe and essentially says there is no reason to fear because we know how the story ends and God wins.  


Amen to that, right?


Well, yes. 


 And no. 


I've started to realize that not many Christians (including myself) really know how it's going to end.  We simply know that God wins.  However, I've felt compelled to learn more than that and while, in reality, I know so little about prophecy and the end times, the more I learn, the more I want to know.  Thankfully I have a good friend who wants to learn about this too and we often have conversations about what is going on.  And from conversations with her, listening to online sermons by Pastor Ray Bentley, reading books by Chuck Smith and Joel Rosenberg, and reading through numerous websites, here is what I know and why I am SO EXCITED to be living in this generation:


Signs and Seasons:
Genesis 1:14 - "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. ' "


That word signs means "signals" and the word seasons literally means "appointed time."  So let the lights in the sky be for signals and for appointed times.  


The Lunar Zodiac contains 12 constellations which most of us are very familiar with.  If I asked you your zodiac sign, you could probably tell me.  However, this mindset is a warped interpretation of what these stars are actually telling us.  


In Psalm 19:1, David says that "the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the works of His hands."  And he's not lying.  The Lunar Zodiac gives a wonderful depiction of God's story, starting with Virgo, the virgin, and ending with Leo, the lion of Judah.  


Feasts:
Leviticus 23:4 says "These are the appointed feasts of the LORD...which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them."  


That reference to "time appointed for them" is the same word used in Genesis 1:14 for seasons.  Basically, each feast has been given a season, an appointed time, to happen.  The other key element in this verse is that these feasts belong to the LORD - not necessarily to Israel, despite the fact that they are often referred to as the Feasts of Israel.  If we belong to the Lord, these feasts should mean something to us as well.


Now, if you know nothing about these Feasts, here is a basic summary:


There are 7 feasts: 4 spring and 3 fall.  These feasts are celebrated every year on specific days, however they also represent major prophecy fulfillments and, so far, those prophecies have happened on actual feast days.


1. Passover - fulfilled, by Jesus at His death
2. Unleavened Bread - fulfilled, by Jesus at His burial
3. First Fruits - fulfilled, by Jesus at His resurrection
4. Pentacost - fulfilled, by the Holy Spirit at the Day of Pentacost


Summer Harvest


5. Trumpets - unfulfilled
6. Day of Atonement - unfulfilled
7. Tabernacles - unfulfilled


Now, before I go into this next part, I must pause and say I do not know when Jesus is going to return.  It could be tomorrow, it could be 50 years from now.  However, I do believe it is soon - if not within my lifetime, then very possibly within my childrens'.  


Like I said, all feasts are given appointed times.  However there is one feast - the Feast of Trumpets - where a precise date could not be given because it was determined by the new moon.  To solve this problem, this feast was (and currently still is) celebrated over the course of two days.  In other words, while we know the feast is coming, we don't know the exact day or hour of this Feast.  Verses to keep in mind regarding this feast:


About the day of Christ's return, Matthew 24:36 says "No one knows about that day or hour."
I don't necessarily think this implies Jesus will be returning during the Feast of Trumpets (though, hey, He could!), but 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that Jesus will return with the sound of a trumpet so I do believe there is some sort of a connection here.   


Miscellaneous


There is a lot more I could go into, such as Palestine's attempt to separate out from Israel, the return of many Jews to Israel (including Russian and Ethiopian Jews), South Sudan becoming its own state, the massive size of China's army, etc.  There is just SO MUCH going on right now and I only know a small percent of it.  But MAN is it exciting to hear about!  




(Note:  I apologize if this post seems to come out of left field.  I know it doesn't fit in the context of anything else I've written, but as a Christian, I cannot help but take notice of all that is happening right now and that excitement found its way here.)

In Case of Emergency

In case you weren't around, Southern California had a power outage a week ago.  This meant we didn't have electricity in our home for SEVEN HOURS.  I thought we were going to die.  Yet leave it to the loss of our indoor lighting to motivate us enough to go outside and meet our next door neighbors.

Aaand, yes, also purchase some necessary equipment in case of an actual emergency.  Here is some of our loot:

 Non-perishable food.  Okay, technically it is perishable.  But not for quite awhile.

Honey, on the other hand, NEVER EXPIRES.  So I bought these little puppies.

Tools and basic essentials, including flashlights and batteries, a tarp and bungie cords, lighters, markers (not sure what these are for, but the list said I had to have them), and of course duck tape.

First aid kit, iodine tablets (for water purification), emergency blankets, and hand sanitizer.

A large blanket (we need more, I know) and basic toiletries, including toilet paper, chapstick, toothbrushes, feminine products, etc.

Here is Stuart's favorite part:  the crank radio.  This awesome thing will also charge our smart phones!!  

Water!!!  I read that water should be kept in sturdy containers (preferably not the one gallon jugs as those can easily get punctured) so how happy was I to find these 5 gallon jugs.  I bought 2, but will probably grab a couple more as its recommended to store at least a weeks worth of water, 1-gallon per person per day.

And a rolling trash can to store everything in.  This makes for easy transport and keeps it out of the way.  Of course the water won't go in here, but everything else will.  How clever is that?

Not pictured:  Yes, I also ordered some potassium iodide in 2 different doses (for the kids and for us).  Not that there will be another radiation scare but if there is, we won't be panicking and spending hundreds on a couple tablets. Which did happen after Japan's earthquake.   Also, I only pictured a portion of the food.  I have duplicates of nearly everything, plus some instant soup.  All in all, I'd say a solid weeks worth of food for our family of 5.

You know, as I was walking around the store piling my cart high with food, first aid stuff, and camping gear, I know I must have looked a wee bit insane.  I have no doubt my cart was a tell-all for what my intentions were.  But so what.  There is something remarkably comforting in knowing you've made preparations to safeguard your loved ones in the event of a disaster.  I kept talking about making an emergency kit, but never made it further than an extra jug of water housed in our garage.  But talking and doing are not the same thing.  So I'd encourage you to print out a basic emergency kit list and buy one or two things on your next shopping trip.  Keep it in a box either in a closet, a garage, or in the trunk of your car.  I guarantee if an emergency ever happens, you won't regret a cent of what you put into that kit.

The Fork

I dislike forks.

And spoons.  Knives are okay, ice cream cones even better, but I really really dislike forks.

On the other hand, I love good-tasting food.  And in my personal opinion, forks taste like metal.  I would never consider metal an ingredient in any gourmet dish, yet somehow we've democratically approved sticking it into our mouths and calling it normal.  Isn't that the exact same thing we discipline children for?  No wait, somehow it's different because this particular metal has been molded into pointy spikes and holds food, right?

I call it weird.

So if you wonder why carne asada burritos, fish tacos, and sushi are so stinking delicious, don't blame it on the ingredients.  Instead let's give credit where credit is due: no forks.