NOT-SO-WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

by Robin

We were in the midst of Fay. I was bored. I had sleeping puppies on my lap. Camera next to my end of the couch.

Who could resist a picture or two or three or ten?

It's so rare that they stay still for a closeup.

And to get a toe shot........ priceless. Chihuahuas hate to be on their backs. Wanna see a chihuahua in a bad mood? Put them on their back.

I could kiss this wet nose all day long. I love the little mole.

Oh and this fat belly. It's irresistable & must be rubbed.

Or the precious bunny rabbit position where the feet are up by the front feet? See that right ear wanting to go up. It's trying.

Because they were so exhausted, I decided to mold & shape them the way I wanted to photograph them. My goal here was to show you the difference in length of the arms (height), but what my eye sees is LOVE. Puppy love. Adorable snuggling.

Hope they don't hate me when they grow up and I show this to their girlfriends.

I mean........c'mon...... this is adorable stuff, right?

Oh yeah, and my original thought was to show you the difference in arm length. Captain is so much taller & leaner than Tiki. Tiki is "the baby."

GARDEN & HARVEST REPORT

(Carrots, onions, basil & parsley pictured)

brought to you by Robin & Tiki

I pulled all my onions inspite of not being 100% of certain of my decision. As you can see, they're under 2". I could have taken a chance that they'd continue growing over fall and then pull them. However, I wanted the space for new items. These onions had been in the ground since Feb, I think (should check dates). I started seedlings in peat pots and I felt that the peat pots were stunting growth. Next year, I will not do that. They do love lots of compost & manure and I had done that, but maybe not enough. Next year!! Next year!! This is a learning process for me. It has been my first full year of gardening in Central Florida.

I picked a dozen or so carrots from the garden and somebody ran right over to make a nest of the tops. My 3 girls thoroughly enjoyed my entire afternoon in the garden, digging up bug for their eating pleasure.

HOT PEPPERS

This is the variety that I harvested last week. Not big, but then again, we just had a dry month. I figure I should get a big harvest in Sept after the hurricanes drop buckets of rain on us.

I have no idea what this is. I'm suppose to have 5 varieties of peppers but this is one not mentioned on the packet. Must research to determine type. I love the multi-colors on the bush. They're rather large. I have only 1 of these.

Hungarian Wax (or maybe Anaheim). Either way, they're very much like a banana pepper. Mild & delicious. Wish I had more of these plants!

Orange Serrano Chili - hotter than a jalapeno, but cooler than a cayenne.
I love the orange variation that I accidentally got in my package. There is some curling of the leaves, probably a deficiency in the soil.

Slim Red Cayenne peppers, picked & drying to make crushed hot pepper for seasoning dishes. Seeds are very hot!! The skins are good for "crispies" which can be fried in oil & put on eggs for breakfast or whatever you want. My parents have a friend that loves his crispies.

Red jalapenos (they were green but tend to go red if they sit on the bush or if it is fall) They have some cracking on them due to heat stress.

NEW STUFF & CHERRY TOMATOES

AVACADO TREE - new addition (1 ft.) Gifted to me by Betty who also gifted me with my chihuahua puppies

MANGO TREE - new addition (18")

These have strong roots, so don't plant them right by the house.

Even with rain, everything look awful from the destruction of Florida heat (91 deg daily) & sun. However, God has a cure for this.

NEW GROWTH on Bell peppers (Spring plants). I've been pondering the reason why my wilting plants are beginning new growth at the bottom of the stalk rather than from the tops. My only guess is that the plant knows hurricane season is around the corner. So, God has growth show up at the bottom for the new season and the old growth can be broken away between heavy rains & high winds. Amazing how God's providence is unique even for coastal plants.

More growth on my 1yo Bell pepper plant in the main garden. I have nearly pulled this plant twice. I'm glad I didn't now.

Mess of tangled tomato vines. My big toms died but the cherries lived. It was a chore to separate the 2 and then rehang the growth to redistribute the weight again.

Here is the picture of the cleaned-up cherry tomato plants (1 yr old). I gave a 4H friend some seeds years ago and her original bushes are still alive, being about 4-5 yrs old.

Baby Cherry tomato (left) growing in the wrong side of the garden. This one was transplanted after my pruning of the established plants. I have 2 of these babies. One in the carrot section and one in the hot pepper garden across the entire yard. I'm guess either chickens or my feet transferred the seed.

HERBS

Thankfully for me, herbs don't mind the heat. My small plants are a year old and growing like weeds. They're approx 2-3ft cubed each plant. Cilantro died out but the seeds should be growing soon with the rain from TS Fay.

FLAT LEAF ITALIAN PARSLEY

CLOSE UP on seeds (right side of plant)

After harvested, in a big bowl, I shook & pulled seeds off those pods and kept the seeds to make into babies.

This basil plant is a year old & was transplanted to the back spot in the spring. I really thought it had died but inspite of sandy soil, lack of spring rain & lack of love from me, it took off again. I just love the smell in the corner of the garden. It was a pleasure to work around the herbs.

Left is a dried series of sweet basil seeds. These were pulled on one quick slide of the hand and put in a baggie.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?
by Robin

What do you see and think when you look at the above picture? Young learner? Slow learner? Learner with disabilities? Nope. It is none of those.

This is the work of a homeschooler. He just turned 12yo, in 7th grade, tested appropriately for that age/grade and when given lined paper to take notes for ice core drilling research, this is what happened. Does he know how to write correctly on lined paper? Yep. He has pretty much always done it right since he started school. I think what I see when I look at this work is a strong development of creativity working in his brain. He is familiar with drawing picture horizontally. The schematic on the page before this lined sheet was printed horizontally. Amazingly, he did not feel the restraints of lines to hold back his deep creativity working in his brain. He was deeply engrossed with research, turned the page to take notes and kept writing until he was called for dinner. Infact, it hadn't phased him until this point that maybe he wasn't taking notes as the paper was designed. I'm still not sure it bothers him. He plans on transferring all his notes to a Word document before presenting them; so for him, this isn't a problem of how the paper is used.

Is it efficient? Maybe not in our minds. Is it efficient for him? Maybe so. Who can say for sure? God created him to be unique and unique he is. He is loving his role in the FIRST Lego League and his logo design was picked for their t-shirts. He is loving every hour he spends building, researching and programming. I think we have found his niche. I love that he thinks outside the box. This is the beauty of homeschooling. The passions of their heart are searched for and discovered in new ways. It is independant thinking at its best. It reminds me much of the spirit of our forefathers. There is no malice in intent of being different (than England) but they were strongly driven, passionate, free-thinkers in pursuit of dreams.

Thank you God for our freedom to homeschool in this great country.

FIRST WALK TOGETHER!!
by Robin

They hated those harnasses but learned to live with it by making small whines each step. Aye-yi-yi!! Chihuahuas are very vocal in communication.

Above is Tiki and below is Capt'n. He was a quick learner and love the walk. My little runt above, on the other hand......... "Momma, please hold me." They're really opposite in personality.

Then, we had some crazy lady down the street who thought it would be fun to let her rottie & catahoula dogs out the front door. I did the Mama panic routine, throwing caution to the wind, grabbing a rottie's collar while the catahoula gave poor Samantha a sniff-down without proper hellos & a dinner. I told her afterwards to bit the next boy that does that to her. The young fishermen grabbed the babies while I proceeded kindly tell the woman to get her dogs and don't give me that story about how they won't bite. They were growling, running with hackles up!

"Look at them!!" I exclaimed! "They're just ounces big!" (Ok, maybe a pound was more accurate but who's counting when your blood pressure is up.)

Normally, I'm a pretty nice & happy person; but..... don't get the Mama in me in Protection Mode. It ain't purdy.

And the nerve.......... she never once said sorry. Like I said........ crazy woman.

(Steph, the allergy pills seem to be helping Sam some, but oatmeal did not.)

SHARING THE LOVE AWARD

by Robin

FLMom at The Narrow Path has blessed me with the Sharing The Love award. Memoirs of a Mommy created this award in honor of the donor that saved Noah's life. The purpose of this award is to raise awareness about organ donation and to share the love ... share this award with blogs you love, blogs that make you smile, blogs that make you laugh, blogs that make your day, and blog owners that leave you uplifting comments. (Please include the aforementioned links when posting the award to your blog.)

I am passing this award along to.........

Angela's Hello Dahrlin' (lots of food!)

The Pioneer woman. (cows, horses, food, give-aways)

Steph's little corner of the world. (Reilly bug!!)

Ginny's Crowz Nest (if you love animals, read here)

Life with Lizz. (She's a hoot but doesn't blog often)

http://www.testosterhome.net/ (Mom w/ 5 boys!)

Renee's Steppin Heavenward My good friend, mom to 11 & more coming. If you love adoption, read here.

SAM, CAPT'N & TIKI
by Robin

You will have to forgive the low light quality. Sam has a puppy on each end of her. They are getting along much better today. She couldn't decide if she was going to be mad at new brothers or excited to play, so we alpha rolled her once and now she's good.




Stay tuned in the next 24 hrs or so. I feel a garden report coming on.

BLENDED FAMILY Update:

I quickly wanted to add that Sam did much better tonight (day 2). I had Sam & the pups on a leash in neutral territory this morning and there was still one growl. So, tonight, Jack had Sam on a leash, in the LR, and let the puppies down on the floor. He kept giving her voice commands, lots of verbal praise, lots of physical praise too. Eventually she got to the point where her tail was wagging and she was into the whole little brother thing. Even if she is loving to them, we're mindful that one playful romp can injure a pup. I guess that will have to become our mindset with owning any toy dog.

I think it will come over time since Sam is such a great girl. The baby boys just love her tail. Best chew toy ever! They were also looking for milk but didn't find any.

BACK TO SCHOOL

by Robin

We didn't really think this thing through when we picked up our chihuahua brothers this weekend. :o) Not that I would have changed a thing. I think we've finally come close to settling on names. Captain is the cream-spotted one and Tiki has brown spots.

Math took a bit longer than normal.

Now that they're exhausted, reading should go much smoother.

(Yes, I know we originally said 1 puppy, but we simply could not leave out of there without two. They make great companions for sleeping & play-partners during the day.)

Where is Sam through all this transition? Well, she's put-out a bit but learning how to deal with the fact that she's got 2 brothers now. They can be in the same room but only with a LOT of supervision.

SEMI-WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

by Robin

Sam & Simon Peter wrestling. I'm sure the dog owner's manual says not to get on the floor if you want to be alpha, but oh well. She LOVES to wrestle.

FIRST Lego League Team # 2307!! Simon Peter in gray.

Random updates:

*2 wks to go for our puppy!

*Catepillars are eating my 'mater leaves.

* Homeschool officially, seriously, begins on Monday for us.

* I've been getting the nicest thank-you notes about the musical.

* My vitamins are making me nauseated! Help!

* I've had a couple good hair-days in a row. Yeah!

* Clipped primary feathers on my chickens. One flew to the neighbor's yard.

* I didn't enjoy Kids Extreme Bowling (AKA Disco Bowling to Disney teen stars music videos) today and hated Walmart worse. Hmmm, or maybe equal. Tough call.

* I cooked nothing gourmet today. Taco Bell for lunch and Frozen fish stix & fries for dinner. (Do you still love me Angela? LOL)

* I love my hot tub!!

Acts 4:33

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.

Story by Robin

My Sunday was so amazing!! Jesus is still alive and He loves us much more than we could ever know. Sometimes it is hard to know that because we don't see Him in a physical sense and we have to rely on faith, which can waiver at times. But, He graced me so tangibly yesterday, I just have to testify to His grace in my life.

While I'm not an apostle, I feel appointed, by God, to teach kids and plant "seeds" of faith in the hearts of our community. Working for nine weeks with the Simon Says has brought on quite a bit of spiritual warfare in my life. For the first three weeks, my body was physically attacked, but I was blessed by my sister coming during my worst days. Then, I had attacks of discouragement from within our 'camp' of helpers another couple weeks. Each week, I brought my troubles to the Lord and tried to leave them at His feet. As the saying goes, "The Battle is the Lord's".

I had a couple of good weeks until last week. Our car was down and in need of some engine-threatening maintenance. So we became a 1-car family all week. Wednesday's initial run-through with the kids had its share of challenges, including me accidentally making a child cry. (In my defense, she was tired & getting sicker by the hour. Still, that didn't help how horrible I felt inside.) The next day, our musical director's car broke down and she had to have it towed in. For Christians, there's no such things as coincidences. Everything happens for a reason and all things work for the good of those than love Christ (Rom 8:28).

On Thursday morning, I awoke to Ms. Lori (musical director) on the phone and had an hour-long chat about changes, challenges and we tried to encourage each other and laugh about the car situations. After breakfast & another call from Lori, I knew I still needed "lifting up" in my heart. Maybe even a good cry. So, I went to my YouTube Favorites. I have a couple special videos that always bring me strength and joy. I started with this one. My Favorite!! (That's My King!) My kids have even memorized it. I wanted so badly to call the church office and put my request in for this one to be played on Sunday morning. Oh, but then I remembered that they don't take requests like a radio station.

Then, I listened to this one this one (Orphans of God) because I know it will give me that good cry I needed. It puts things in perspective for me too. Last, I put on Brooklyn Tab Choir's I'm Amazed!! . It talks about God's love. Whew, we had revival until the fight had come back into me. When I went to my online Bible study, It was about putting on the whole armour of God (Eph 6). God was speaking back to me in response to my worship & praise. I had to testify all that to my "Simon Says" group because I wanted to encourage them too.

Saturday's rehearsal went so much better. Not only did it go great, but it went fast. Sunday morning, my son blessed a bunch of us to tears with his singing. THEN....... get this..... THEN, what pops up on the screen, but my video, "That's My King!" Again, more tears. He knew my heart's desire. He spoke it into the heart of our pastor. And there it was. More tears of joy. And, I could hear the congregation getting fired up as they watched the video too. What a spiritual high to think God cared enough to put that video there for me. Me. Undeserving me. God who created heaven & earth. Me. More tears.

Fast forward through a great performance. Not flawless but who cared. It was funny. It held the audience captive. It preached SOLID SCRIPTURE to a packed house! (We had two other churches in attendance with ours.) Each child got their 15 minutes of fame and then some. I was a proud mama, not only to my 2, but to my 15!! I know Jack probably thought I'd never shut up and get to the ice cream social & then Cracker Barrel.

While at Cracker Barrel, we ran into a few other families from church. (not unusual in our small town) Let me interrupt here to remind you that we just had a hefty car repair bill two days ago.... Ok, so we are finally done with the meal and the waitress comes to us and says somebody paid for our dinner. Is it so wrong to cry at Cracker Barrel? Maybe, so I held those back. In my heart of hearts, I felt like God blessed us through somebody's generosity because of the expenses occurred from the car.

It had been a day of miracles. It had been a visit with God. It had been a reward for a long & sometimes trying nine weeks. It had been a time of strengthening my relationship & dependency on Him. It had been a time to watch children mature through commitment, nurture gifts they didn't know they had, see life-lessons unfold and make new friends. I wouldn't be surprised if we had twice the response of children & helpers next year. (If we do this again next year.)

God, I'm amazed at how you love me and how much you care. I'm blessed because of You. Thank you. It's my desire that I have blessed You back.

THE PROMISED ONE
by Robin

Let me set up this video before you watch it. This is Andrew who has a solo during our performance tonight at church for the musical, "Simon Says". He's been practicing this song (intensely for a month) along with the other several songs, choreography and drama parts for 9 weeks. Our kids get to perform tonight not only for our own church but for 2 other churches who are coming. It's going to be a packed house.

So, this morning was a "teaser" song for the members to get excited about & come back tonight. We were humbled that the pastor asked Andrew to be the teaser. (Hang on, I'm getting weepy.) This video is Andrew at rehearsal this morning. I did not video the actual performance as to not be a distraction. You'll hear a couple interruptions & wrong notes as the praise band works out the song. Our pastor is on the keyboard to the left and musical director of the program on the grand piano behind Andrew. She's the one who believed he could do it! Thank you Ms. Lori for your faith & friendship through these past 9 weeks.

May God get the glory for raising children up with gifts & talents to further His good news!