WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF THE BIRDS

we're just a family of finches making our way in the town w/o a frown.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

isn't that interesting?

ok this will probably be very short because aislyn hasn't stirred yet, and it is getting to be that time. everyone should read today's bible verse it corresponds with yesterday's rant.

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." - Matthew 9:12-13 NIV


how funny is that. on a different note. school starts again in a month. my eldest will be in 2nd grade this year. she and i are starting clogging this september as a fun thing for the two of us. we are both very excited. the man of the house is talking about going back to school for his mba. this could be a huge step towards a job in kenya. anywho, the baby calls.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Christianity

ok, this is my disclaimer. i am a southern baptist, by choice, so please don't think i'm hating on any one denomination. some recent occurrences have brought some questions to my mind. if you have answers or thoughts please share.
1. should all be welcomed into a church? i always thought yes, healthy people don't go to the hospital for extended treatment. we are all sinners and we all need the grace of God. we recently had "church in the park" this is when we meet at the local park sing great old hymns, and cook out. i invited one of my best friends ever. she is not a mooch and so she brought baked beans, yummy, with her to the gathering. we waited until everyone else had gone through the line before we got up to get our food. while standing in line she over heard a discussion about how unwanted all of the "extra" people were. as if her mere presence was offensive. she didn't come to mooch free food. she came to enjoy the fellowship. it probably goes without saying that she was furious. i attempted to make it better, but how could i excuse such horrible behavior. i was bent for the rest of the day trying to make sense with what had happened.
2. why are certain people made to feel unwelcome when they go to church? i personally don't think God has a real negative opinion about any socioeconomic group, but hey i could be wrong. i remember my grandpa quoting abe lincoln "God must have love poor people best, that's why he made so many of us." for a while we had several lower end people attending our church. i am lower end, so please don't think i am trying to be hateful. i tend to deal with and enjoy this class of people more than the wealthy. anywho, they one by one stopped attending. these people were in our choir and were our sunday school teachers. someone said something offensive about them or there families and they stopped attending. now i don't believe in running away from problems, but why create them.
3. why are visitors not called or visited? this really irks me because we as Christians should be going out and telling of our faith, and the people that visit our churches should know that we have the desire to keep them in our church. if our church isn't the best fit, that's fine too. some effort should be made on behalf of these people. we attended our current church for almost a year before we joined, and not once did anyone darken our door. might i add that we live in a town of 600 people. when we went to one of the huge churches in canyon, we were visited after our attendance. our sunday school class has taken this as one of our duties. we are going to call and visit our visitors. we want them to feel welcomed and needed at our church.
4. why would you naturally assume the your congregation was not capable of random kindness? a few weeks ago my sunday school teacher, the pianist, his wife, and the family of finch spent an entire sunday afternoon baking cookies. we then packed them into bags to take out to the rest of of sunday school class that doesn't come very often. one of the couples wasn't home, so we left their bag by their door. it wasn't until we got back to the church that we realized we hadn't put who the cookies were from, but we had listed all of the times our church met. we assumed they would recognize the times and know they were from us, we were wrong. the recipient of the cookies called her mom to tell her what they had received and wondered if she knew what church they were from. i should add at this point that both the mom and daughter had been members of our church forever. the mom said what a nice thing it was, but that it couldn't have been our church. WOW i felt like i had been kicked in the stomach.

Christianity as i understand it is all about love. this interpretation could have something to do with the lack of love i felt as a child, but that is how i see it. when i was living at the children's home in canadian we went to church camp every summer. one summer we were listening to the speakers and it was the invitation. i heard a man's voice whisper "come to me child i will not leave you. i will never forsake you. i will be your father. i will always love you and always care for you." i almost ran down the aisle. i wanted that. why can't other people in our churches understand that other people need that too. they thirst for what we have. let's give it to them. there is plenty to go around and God's love is infinite and meant to be shared. if you are a Christian act in love. hope everyone has a blessed week.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee

my mom sent this to me and i felt the need to share it with you my friends. i know it is a little long, please read it anyway, and let me know what you think.


A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
You might want to send this message to those people who mean something to you; to those who have touched your life in one way or another; to those who make you smile when you really need it; to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendships you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life.
May we all be COFFEE

Thursday, July 26, 2007

presenting ........

i'm going to be a big copier. my favorite in-law did this introduction thing on her blog and i thought it was awesome cool, so i am going to do it too. hope you enjoy.


My Love- this is kind of self explanatory i think, but for those of you who may bit a wee bit slow. this is my hubbies site. it is brand new and we're going to work on it as soon as we find some spare time.

Ben and Christine- ben and my hubby grew up together in a town smaller than happy. ben and his wife are missionaries in ecuador. they post pics and wonderful stories you should check them out and keep them in your prayers.

Bible verse- is exactly what it says. this is the site that provides commentary on the verse of the day, so if you think the verse is particularly interesting go check out the site.

Ramirez clan- these are my in-laws. i love this family dearly and i am so glad that i know them. she is an amazing woman who loves her family and God. this is often a rare thing to find now days.

Cranky fitness- this blog is so funny. it is her comical often cranky take of fitness as a whole. she often has very funny comments about different fitness aspects.

Pattylicious says- this is one of my nearest and dearest. she is a mom of two boys, the wife of the mayornator and the teacher of the future. she is truly a wonderful friend who has held my hand through some of the most difficult and wonderful times of my adult life. love this woman.

Big 'uns- is another friend of mine. although relatively new to the friendship circle we have had some great times together.

Princess of everything (and then some)- is exactly as her name implies. she is mom to big 'uns. her blogs are filled with humor and wonderful pics of fiberglass cows.

well that is everyone so far. if you would like to be added to my little list give a shout. i would be absolutely delighted to add you. hope the week is excellent and you weekend wonderful.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

sounds of silence

i didn't really understand that whole silence is golden until i had children. please don't think that i don't love the girls i do, but silence is something i long for from time to time. i can hear the wee one beginning to wake so until next time. "what is a friend? a single soul which dwells in two bodies" aristotle

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

i love my friends

WORD OF THE DAY: fructuous: fruitful; productive


i once heard friendship described as the family you get to choose. i like that description. i got to talk to one of my really good friends last night on the phone, and it made me realize that i miss her terribly. i have several really good friends that i just don't see or talk as much as i would like. one lives in kileen, one in grandbury, one in portales, and even the ones that are local i don't get to see very often. thanks to myspace i'm getting back in touch with some really great friends from high school. i remember how horrible i was in high school, and for the life of me i just can't figure out why any of those people would want to contact me. maybe they realize the potential for change in a person. that is what i like to think. it is strange to see all of us grown up with jobs, and husbands and kids. anyway, i am truly blessed to have the friends that i have and everyday holds the potential for a new friend. FOOD FOR THOUGHT IN THE WORDS OF SHAKESPEARE "I AM WEALTHY IN MY FRIENDS."

Monday, July 23, 2007

life is good

WORD OF THE DAY avatar: an incarnation

the word of the day is in honor of the eldest of the wee finches. avatar is the name of her favorite cartoon. anywho. i know that i haven't been the most dedicated blogger recently, but here i am. this weekend was awesome. we spent friday with pattylicious and fam. it was the mayornator's birthday. then we went back to their house on saturday for a bbq. the weekend was magnificent. we had so much fun. anywho, the wee one calls, so i'll leave you with some words on friendship. FOOD FOR THOUGHT IN THE WORDS OF THE LATE GREAT BILLIE HOLIDAY "IF I DON'T HAVE FRIENDS, THEN I AIN'T GOT NOTHIN'"

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Pampered chef

it is official i am a pampered chef consultant, so don't hold back you know you want to host a party. seriously you want to host a party. i hope you all have a great day, my wee one is yelling at me, so if you want to host a party just let me know. thanks.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

an important lesson

A friend of mine emailed this to me and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Make sure you read all the way down to the last sentence. (Most importantly the last sentence

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. "A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND I AM HONORED!
Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole in your life.

I Love You.

Monday, July 16, 2007

good morning starshine

WORD OF THE DAY: QUIESCENT: AT REST, STILL; INACTIVE


i hope everyone had a great weekend. our weekend was very busy. we organized the garage, and got the lights working again. we sorted all of the molds and are in the process of cataloging them on the computer. sunday was wonderful. our sunday school class has decided to reach out to the "lost group" as finch calls them. too old to be youth and not old enough to be in the older people's sunday school class. yesterday the teacher, our pianist, his wife, and the fam of finch spent the day baking cookies and putting together bags for these people. during sunday evening service we delivered the bags to people, and told them how much we would love for them to join us. it left a real warm fuzzy. we got a notification that we have to get rid of the goats, so this week they will leave us. i am horribly devastated by this. i have grown very fond of sancha panza. they will be going back to the lovely lady that sold them to us. hope everyone has a great week. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: IN THE WORDS OF Alfred Adler "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."

Friday, July 13, 2007

pizza night

this is aislyn's baby dedication(it is one of the few pics with me in it.)



WORD OF THE DAY: paraskavedekatriaphobia (a word that is derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Παρασκευή, δεκατρείς, and φοβία, meaning Friday, thirteen, and phobia respectively; alternative spellings include paraskevodekatriaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia) or friggatriskaidekaphobia, and is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, which is the fear of the number 13.

hope you enjoy the word of the day. tonight is pizza night. there is much excitement in the air. i've been thinking lately about kenya quite a bit. the longer i think about it the less scared i am, and the more excited i seem to be getting. the recent events on the fourth were a real wake up call. i have people here that i will miss terribly, but i need to be where God wants me to be. there is a great amount of peace that i have found in that realization. on a different tangent, todays bizarre american holiday is fool's paradise day. this i courtesy of Bizarre American Holidays, if you are interested here is there site: http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/
hope everyone has a great weekend. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: in the words of Dan Quisenberry "The future is much like the present, only longer."

Thursday, July 12, 2007

long time no blog

WORD OF THE DAY: didactic: conveying instruction; teaching some moral lesson.

our internet service has been out since monday afternoon, so that is why i have been so negligent in my blogging. as you know tomorrow is pizza night. this week and next will be held at the house of cowden. we are very excited. i hope everyone has had an exciting and wonderful week. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: in the words of
Paul Valery "What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves."

Monday, July 9, 2007

day camp

WORD OF THE DAY- proselytize: to convert (someone) to another religion, belief, etc.

today adara has gone to her very first church camp. it is only a day camp, but she was very excited about it. they are learning about missionaries, so i thought that the word of the day was appropriate. the weekend was good here. we have almost all of our ceramic molds organized, this has been a very slow process. we got to see the cowden clan on friday for pizza night. that is always good fun. sorry this is short, but the wee one is needing to be held and loved. hope everyone has a great week. FOOD FOR THOUGHT- in the words of Groucho Marx "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."


Friday, July 6, 2007

pizza night

WORD OF THE DAY- languid: lacking vigor or force
sorry still not up for my usual piss and vinegar. the cowden clan is coming over to hang with the finch clan today. this is way cool because i get to see pattylicious 3 times this week instead of the usual 2. i hope everyone has a great weekend. i hope you enjoy the verse of the day. i thought it was only fitting to go along with all of the other knowledge i'm attempting to empart. joking. i was talking about the food for thought on wednesday with pattylicious and her mother, so i decided to go ahead and put it up. thank you for everyone who has listened to me whine for the past few days. i really appreciate it. it is always good to feel loved, especially when you don't feel lovable.FOOD FOR THOUGHT in the words of
Oscar Wilde: "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."

Thursday, July 5, 2007

the morning after

there is no word for today.i'm sorry, i'm way to hurt, exhausted, and confused to write a very deep or thoughtful blog today. i also don't feel that i want to air my issues over the vast internet, so if you want to know call or email me. you guys know where to find me. thanks pattylicious for listening to me. hope work is good today. for my hubby thank you for being so understanding. the only thought for today is to tell people that they are loved and be kind. fragile hearts break easily.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

cowden tuesday

WORD OF THE DAY- ratiocination: the process of reasoning.

i chose today's word because i thought it was fitting. pattylicious and i have joked that between the two of us we could rationalize anything. today we discussed child logic. if you don't have children or have never enjoyed the reasoning of that child, you just don't know what you're missing. i told her about when the eldest of the finch children was in preschool and she kicked a kid in the head. please don't think that she is a violent child because she isn't. the teachers told the children to sit in their squares, so she marched over to her square only to find another child in her spot. she asked him nicely to move, and he didn't move. she asked him again to move, this time a little more firmly, and still he didn't move. this was when she decided to kick him in the head, and guess what he moved. as she explained this to me i could tell that it made perfect sense to her 4 year old reasoning. it did not however make sense to any of the teachers present. when i asked if she had told the boy that she was sorry she responded with "but i'm not." in her mind she got him to do what she had asked, she wasn't sorry at all. i love the logic and reasoning of children. today was a blast at the cowden casa. all we did was hang out and chat. tomorrow is the fourth and the clan of finch will be joining the clan of cowden to enjoy the day. today is my father's birthday, so we called and sang happy birthday to him. i'm really excited about tomorrow. hope everyone has a blessed and safe fourth, and remember to thank a vet for the freedoms and liberties that we are celebrating. FOOD FOR THOUGHT- in the words of Bertrand Russell: "The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good."


Monday, July 2, 2007

HOME SWEET HOME



eldest baby finchdad and eldest baby finch

dad and wee baby finch

see you later

did you miss me?

WORD OF THE DAY- convivial: relating to feasting, drinking, and good company; festive.

the word of the day is in honor of where i have been and where i am going. it is always good to be home. to see all of the chores left undone, and all the things that are still needed to do. the fam had a great time with my dad. the smallest of us even figured out how to get my dad's dog to come to her. simply sit on the floor with tortilla in hand and say "lala" while making the come here motion with your other hand. while at my dad's she also figured out how to use the doggy door. also very cute to see. as the fourth approaches the excitement is building in the house. woo hoo vacation. the hubby has his year evaluation this evening, so we're excited. we also received confirmation that our application part two had been received and evaluated. we are going to call in january to be reactivated. this is so that i can loose enough weight to fit their guidelines. woo hoo. things are very exciting in our household right now. the eldest monkey will be going to camp on the 9th. its only daycamp, but she is excited. FOOD FOR THOUGHT- IN THE WORDS OF JAMES THURBER, who i adore, "All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."