Updated Jewelry Blog

I've spent some time updating our jewelry blog and we have some new pics up... Wish we did better at keeping up with it!
I guess that's the only good reason to have stayed home yesterday... Although if we didn't go every rainy day we wouldn't have gone much this summer!
Come have a look... We promise we won't bite. :-) http://www.2sistersbeadwork.blogspot.com/

rain, rain, and more rain

I'm sitting here watching it rain... Kinda depressing.
I love the rain, but we've had so much rain this summer... When I think about it raining, raining, raining and then going right into snowing, I get sad!
Last summer was GORGEOUS and I had this dream of it continuing this year, too. But it's just rained and rained and rained. Seems like we've really only had a couple weeks of summer this year.

Farmer's Market & jobs

Nasty weather this morning... So we didn't go to Farmer's Market.
Wind slanting at an angle drives rain into the tent, which gets the pretty jewelry wet and ruins the business cards. Not a good idea...

Jake still doesn't have a job, and life is tight. He's applied to several places and we're waiting to hear. He made the right choice, but it's hard!

New Necklace

I just made this and I'm happy with it! :-) I haven't made any new designs in a long time.... Mostly I've just been making what I knew would sell.... (not that that's bad, just rather commercial of me)

I've wanted to make some fun stuff, too, but I just haven't had time or the energy to spend it on purely creative & fun designs. It's been a difficult summer.

So, here's what I had the time, excitement & energy to create tonight!

Not a great picture, but effective in showing off the center of the necklace. It's one of my wirework pieces. And it was fun!

The Stash

This is The Stash!
Here you see their storefront, the inside of the store with our jewelry at the bottom left corner and then our display...
We're excited!!!









They have paintings, collages, drawings, hats, bags, jewelry, candy, photographs...
If it can be made by hand, they probably have it. All of the displayed merchandise is locally made, which makes it even better!
In the back, (basically behind the photographer in the second picture) they have a classroom.
I get to teach beading classes, and others get to teach painting and drawing and sewing and knitting and... again, if it can be done by hand, they probably will teach you how to do it.

Definitely one of the best stores that has ever come to Fairbanks, Alaska!
And we are delighted to be part of it.

Again, here's their link: http://threadsinmystash.wordpress.com/

Farmer's Market

We got there.
We made some money.
We came home.
Now we're tired.
We're going to bed as soon as possible!
Thank you, God!!! :)

Scars

Okay, I'm not one for cheesy stories, but for some reason I liked this one... Probably because of the situation going on in our home right now.
******

SCARS OF LIFE

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida , a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore. His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could.

Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him.

From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.

Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, 'But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go.'

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you. The Scripture teaches that God loves you.. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go.

You just never know where a person is in his/her life and what they are going through. Never judge another person's scars, because you don't know how they got them.

Silly Survey

Yes, for whatever reason I am compelled to fill these things out... Here's this one:
*****

1. Do you like blue cheese? no

2. Have you ever smoked? no, but I've had a cigarette and pretended for a scene

3. Do you own a gun? my husband owns three, and I hate them

4. What flavor of Kool-Aid was your favorite? I didn't really like kool-aid...

5. Do you get nervous before doctor's appointments? still do

6. What do you think of hot dogs? on the grill, honestly the texture grosses me out... I HATE lima beans and that's kinda what hot dogs remind me- all mealy and grainy

7. Favorite Christmas movie? hmmm... I'm not much of a Christmas movie person, but I do like the Veggie Tale 'Star of Christmas'

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? water & Diet Coke, sometimes juice

9. Can you do push ups? only the girly ones

10. What is your favorite piece of jewelry? the pearl earrings Jake gave to me our second Christmas

11. Favorite hobby? jewelry! reading

12. Do you have A.D.D? the over concentration part, I think it's related to the hypothalmus, but I'm not sure... Read Dr. Amen's book!

13. What is one trait you hate about yourself? saying stupid things

14. List three thoughts at this moment:
I don't want to clean the garage
I wish Jake wasn't mad at me for making him clean the garage
I am still sleepy

15. List three beverages you drink on a normal basis: water, Diet Coke, water?

16. Current worry: money

17. Current hate right now: money being crazy tight

18. Favorite place to be? any place my friends are

19. How did you ring in the New Year? with my family

20. Where would you like to go? Washington

21. Name three people who will complete this... not sure

22. Do you own a pair of slippers? two

23. What color shirt are you wearing? pink

24. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? NO

25. Can you whistle? Yep

26. Favorite color? green

27. Would you be a pirate? only if I can pick who I am pirating with

28. What songs do you sing in the shower? worship tunes, whatever's stuck in my head

29. Favorite name for a girl other than your own kids? Auralee, Lauralai

30. Favorite name for a boy? Joshua

31. What's in your pocket right now? a big scarey plastic fly that Abigail found

32. Last thing that made you laugh? my husband

33. Best bed sheets as a child? holly hobby

34. Worst injury you have ever had? I fell climbing on a stage at a camp in Texas- I had a black bruise as big as my hand for a month; funny thing- I ended up playing a character called 'wounded' for most of the rest of the summer and I had these bruises on my legs and arms & we wore shorts for our performances all summer... all our team, including me, had a hard time not laughing 'cuz of the injuries and me talking about being hurt

35. Do you love where you live? sometimes

36. How many TV's do you have in your house? 3

37. Who is your loudest friend? my daughter! Deborah is LOUD

38. How many dogs do you have? none, but I want one

39. Does someone have a crush on you? I hope not

40. Favorite book? right now I'm really enjoying Charlaine Harris

41. What is your favorite candy? reece peanut butter cup

42. Favorite sports team? hockey, probably UAF

43. What song do you want played at your funeral? How Great Thou Art, Blessed be your Name, LOTS more :)

44. Are your toenails painted? Yep, dark red :)

Elevate!-

This is the curriculum I am getting to help create... Some friends of mine work for Fellowship church in Grapevine, Texas. Fellowship is between Fort Worth and Dallas, and is pastored by Ed Young. You might have seen one of the books he's written- I haven't read any of his books so I'm not going to comment. :-)
I got to visit the church a couple times my last year of seminary and liked it very much- It's a little big & slick for my taste :) but I'd probably be all about it if I were there and regularly attending.

Busy

Yikes. I've been busy lately... Every free moment has been taken up with either writing for the Elevate curriculum or making jewelry.
It's good to be doing stuff I actually get paid to do...
However, I also miss getting to blog! :)

When we went in to The Stash they chose about a third of our inventory. Janie was concerned about clearing out our inventory, but I LOVE the idea of having stuff out every day instead of just Farmer's Market days.
It does mean I've been working as often as possible to fill up my inventory holes. I feel pretty good about my progress now. I've got more bracelets than I know what to do with, and enough necklaces to fill every space.
Now I just need to do some more wirework pieces... I love doing it, but it takes more time than anything else I do.

'You're Beautiful' by James Blunt

We're in the middle of watching Sesame Street right now, and I just saw the funniest thing... James Blunt performing a parody of his song 'You're Beautiful'. Some of the best parodies of songs are the ones artists create for Sesame Street- or maybe SS creates it and asks the original artists to perform them, I don't know which...
This one was so funny! And I think James Blunt was trying not to laugh, which made it even funnier. They did a parody called "My Triangle", sung with Telly. Telly's the big purple monster who loves triangles, and Blunt was singing about seeing a triangle in a crowded room and falling in love with it...

Here's the original lyrics:

You're Beautiful
My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,'Cause I've got a plan.
CHORUS:
You're beautiful.
You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
CHORUS:
You're beautiful.
You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

So the new lyrics went something like this:
My Triangle
My Triangle
My Triangle, it's true
3 Corners, and 3 Sides
With an hypotenuse

I wish I could remember all the lyrics! They were clever and backed up by this hysterical dream sequence of Blunt seeing a triangle across a crowded room and going to it...

****
One of the other hysterical parodies on Sesame Street is a version of REM's 'Shiny Happy People'. They transformed it into 'Shiny Happy Monsters'... Pure silliness. The monsters were laughing hysterically, and then on the next verse 'Sad Monsters Crying', they'd be falling over themselves and each other wailing... Very fun. And REM looked like they were having a BLAST.

Tired day

Got to Farmer's Market- Had a really slow day. It was good, we just didn't sell much.
Now I'm TIRED... Setting up, being there all day, tearing down at night... Doing FM really wears me out.

Jake's really sick, and he's refusing to go to the doctor since we don't have insurance yet... Sounds like he's getting bronchitis again. Yikes. He freaks me out.

The Stash

Big News!!
Beth and I have jewelry placed in another local shop. They're called 'The Stash', and everything they have is handmade by local artists. Exciting!!
We don't know how well it will sell, but it gives us another venue where our stuff is seen 6 days a week.
Here's a link to their website: http://threadsinmystash.wordpress.com/
They are located downtown on 3rd ave, and have a classroom in the back! Isn't that just the best? I'm hoping to teach some beading classes with them, and maybe leave the JoAnn's thing... We'll see.

A New Job

It looks like I'm going to get to write!
Some of my Company friends are part of the children's program at a large church (and I mean LARGE). They write the lessons, and are part of the creative planning team. Their size and growth has allowed them to start looking for writers for some of their curriculum. I get to be one of those writers! Yay! Which means I get paid, and I get to write, and I get to practice writing lesson plans for someone else to lead (totally different than writing them for yourself)..
I'm excited, and am also in the throes of trying to figure out how to make it work. Since I'm a mommy and a wife and a jewelry maker...
I do my beading after I put the girls to bed. I'm not sure I can write with them up and demanding either...
However, this was definitely an answer to a prayer, because I'd been seriously considering finding a job in the school system up here. I was praying about whether to seek out a position as an aid, or talk to a couple of the private schools about teaching FT. I really felt like God was saying no, but I didn't see how we were gonna make it through the winter without some more income.
*****
Thank you, God for being in control!

GGRrrrrr

I am in a bad mood today... I don't know why really.
I didn't get enough sleep, and I worked really hard yesterday. I'm sure that has contributed, but a big part of it has been Deborah. She's sick, whiny and has talked NON-stop since she woke up. I just want some peace and quiet! I think I'm ready for them to be in school and we've still got a month to go.
I love going to church, but it's hard on the mornings that Jake plays. He has to be there at 7 am to practice for the 9 am service. And I have to get the girls & myself ready and then there on time by myself. Which I seem to find difficult. Pretty pathetic when I consider how many years my mom did everything by herself. (my dad traveled A LOT for his job, particularly in the summer)
Also, Abigail is being difficult about going into her class for kid's church- she has been for about a month, which means I miss the first 20 minutes. And I'm terrible 'cuz that's my favorite time- the music portion. I know I'm terrible, but if I miss that part I'm sad...
Anyway, I'm feeling like scratching somebody...
I love being in a bad mood. Makes me so pleasant.

Quiet

It's been raining all day, and I've gotten to listen to the quietness. I like the rain. And we mostly don't get the bucket dumps of Texas- more steady and constant...
I worked on my beading last night and listened to the thunder. Didn't see much of the lightning... But I enjoyed the rumble.
Feeling quiet and contemplative today...

Notes to Managers

My husband is now leaving his job at FM. I wish he'd go a little slower- like have one job before he leaves the other one... But I do agree with his choice.
Anyway, I have compiled this list based primarily on his recent experience, but also combining some of my past job experiences with some of his...
******
MANAGERS! BOSSES! TIRED OF YOUR EMPLOYEES?
HERE'S GUARANTEED WAYS TO GET THEM TO QUIT!!!

1. When they get injured on the job, terminate their insurance. In fact, don't only terminate it- Make sure that the injured part doesn't know their insurance has been terminated until a month after the termination date.

2. Determine to make your expectations as unclear as possible. Then yell at your employees & call them names (such as 'stupid' or worse) when they don't succeed in achieving the expectations you kept hidden from them.

3. Tell your employees they're doing their job wrong and then walk away without explaining how you want it done.

4. Call them at home and demand information about specific purchases that occurred during an exceptionally busy day and then hang up without telling them why you wanted the information.

5. Switch employees around on the floor, and call it 'cross-training'. Put employees in areas they don't know or care about. Make sure that no-one is around to help them, so they sink or swim on their own.

6. When an employee goes above and beyond their job requirements and starts getting noticed, get jealous. Get even. Take away the fun parts of their job and let them keep only the nasty & boring parts.

7. When preparing to hire a new employee, make sure to let the old employee get at least 6 months behind on their paperwork. Then demand that the new employee have everything running correctly after 2 weeks on the new job. Remove the old employee so that no-one is around to properly train the new one.

8. Greet your employees in the morning with a variation of this line, "I didn't bring you here at this time to do that!" Then walk away in a huff without telling them what you do want them to do...

9. Give an employee responsibility for a specific area, but absolutely no authority to order parts or items when the store runs out of them, and remove any system to let the purchaser know that certain items are needed. Then yell at the responsible employee for not having the items.

Gullible?

I've been feeling very stupid lately... I was so shocked at my sister's behavior, and really couldn't conceive of her doing what she did...
I can remember being amazed at the things my students would do... Just in complete shock that my wonderfully creative and incredibly smart students would be so thoughtless.
For example:
-race on the Seattle highway system (if you've driven there you know why that would be a little shocking, bumper to bumper traffic for most of the day, so they were zipping around other cars)
-get in a car accident 'cuz she was talking on her cell phone, fixing her lip gloss and trying to look at the map to find the party she was going to
-picking on the new student
-lie about reading their assigned homework (mostly I'm amazed 'cuz I'm EASY, you tell me you were too busy and I'll give you another chance, and I can tell they didn't read it 'cuz they can't answer the questions... Duh.)
-flaunting their sexuality in poetry and in comments made in one of my one-on-one english classes (and yes, she ended up dropping out, thank you God)
*****
In a conversation last night where I was asking Jake how I could be so stupid, he told me that I'm NOT gullible. That I just have high expectations.
I expect my students to cooperate and use their intelligence and want to do their best. I really expect my students to realize that driving is DANGEROUS and consider their driving choices based on the fragility of their lives and those around them.
I really expect other people to respect the things that don't belong to them, and not to touch them.

This means I get disappointed sometimes.
But it also means that when my kids would mess up, I'd be the one rooting for them to get themselves straightened out 'cuz I knew they could.
It also means I had students who discovered they could do a lot of things they didn't think they could. I gave them parts they didn't know they could do, and then they would discover they could.

IQ Test

Just took one of those free IQ tests on the internet... I feel VERY silly.
Came up 141 and I don't know enough to know if that's good or bad...

Books I read in June

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King A
Really enjoyed this. I’ve never read it before and I thought it was good. A very straight forward vampire story- I appreciate the fact that he touched on the sensuality of the mythology and didn’t dwell in it! Interesting relationships. Good characters. People you cared about and wanted to see survive.

Hour of the Hunter by J.A. Jance A
First in the Walker family series. I really liked this. Not a mystery- more of a thriller along the lines of James Patterson. You know who the bad guy is the whole time and the reader is waiting for it to all fall together & for them to get the killer. Jance mixes Papago (Arizona Native American) mythology stories through out the story.

Kiss of the Bees by J.A. Jance A
Second in the Walker family series. Again, excellent thriller mixed with Papago myths. Interesting use of mystical elements and suspense writing. I appreciate the fact that none of Jance’s stories get as gruesome or disturbing as Patterson’s.

Day of the Dead by J.A. Jance A
Third in the Walker family series. Same thing- excellent thriller mixed with Papago myths. I do admit that this one gets a little more gruesome, mostly because it’s touching on what can happen to young Mexican women trying to escape the horrors of their native country by coming to the U.S. In this book, a couple uses them as sex slaves and murder victims. While very little of the torture or murders are described, this one was very real for me because of the article I recently read about slavery in the U.S. And I read to escape reality, not dip into it...

A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George A
A young woman holding an ax is found beside the decapitated body of her father and the dead body of the beloved family dog. Did she kill them?
Wow. This was excellent. Disturbing, dark, and powerful mystery, although I want to make it clear this well-developed novel rises above the ‘genre novel’. Amazing how she ties up a bunch of loose ends. Interesting characters, interesting situation. This one started out a little slow for me- the first chapter puts the reader smack dab in the middle of a strange world- but after the first two or three chapters it was so good I was compelled to find out what was going on...

A Moment on the Edge: 100 years of Crime Stories by Women edited by Elizabeth George A
Excellent anthology. Really good stories and some amazing authors- everybody from Dorothy Sayers to J.A. Jance to Ngaio Marsh to Joyce Carol Oats. George has organized the stories according to year written and published so that you get an impression of ‘how far we’ve come, baby’. Some of them are mysteries, some aren’t.

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris B
Harper was struck by lightning at the age of 15 and she can now tell where bodies are and what killed them. She can’t talk to spirits and she can’t tell who did the murder. She just finds bodies. A mystery with the twist of knowing exactly how the people died, just not who did it.
I enjoyed the characters, the mystery and the situation, but I think that the constant "Woe is me, Nobody likes me ‘cuz I find their dead family and they don’t want to pay me" could get a little aggravating...

Kingdom’s of Light by Alan Dean Foster B
Liked it. A wizard’s animal friends are compelled to complete an adventure to save their world after a terrible evil destroys the wizard. I enjoyed the relationships between the animals- one dog, one snake, one bird, and three cats. When the wizard is killed, the animals are transformed into humans and compelled to go find the all the color that has been stolen from their world.

Cold Burn (a CSI novel) by Max Allan Collins B-
An original novel based on the show. Good solid writing. The mysteries weren’t as twisty as I’d like, but they weren’t bad. So much of the show is about HOW they figure the mystery out and, in my opinion, that search didn’t come across in writing as well as it does visually.

Grave Matters (a CSI novel) by Max Allan Collins B+
An original novel based on the show- much better than Cold Burn. Twisty, satisfying mysteries. Enjoyed it.

The Magic Shop books by Bruce Coville
This series is very good- Excellent YA novels. Funny, light and imaginative story with more depth than you might expect... Each story is about a 5th-7th grader with serious problems, ie. A bully, a teacher who makes their life hard, a habit of lying, etc.. Through the course of the books each kid learns how to deal with their problems. I’d recommend these to any student I taught- good clean fun stories with excellent themes about living real life:
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher A
Jeremy’s got problems with a girl at school and his art teacher seems to hate him. While running from the girl he ends up in a magic shop where he sees the most beautiful multicolored ball, and he wants it more than anything.
The Monster’s Ring A
Russell is being chased by a bully from his school when he comes upon a mysterious magic shop he’s never seen before. Inside, the odd shop keeper thrusts a small box in his hand and tells him it has what he wants...
Jennifer Murdley’s Toad A
Jennifer is plain & a little dumpy and all she wants is to be pretty. She’s running from other girls at school who are teasing her about her appearance when she finds the magic shop. She buys a toad with more than a little attitude...
The Skull of Truth A
Charlie has trouble with the truth. One day his lies get him chased by an angry crew of boys, and while escaping he discovers the magic shop. He steals a mysterious skull only to discover he can only speak the truth around the skull.
Juliet Dove, Queen of Love A
Whenever she’s teased, shy Juliet defends herself... By saying the sorts of mean things that should never be said. When she finds herself in the magic shop, she chooses a beautiful amulet with a powerful love spell- every boy she meets falls hopelessly in love with her, and the amulet won’t come off...

Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand by Gail Carson Levin B
I enjoyed this silly light tale and finished it in about half an hour. Levine is the author of Ella Enchanted and I honestly couldn’t help myself when I saw the book at the library (I LOVED Ella Enchanted- the movie’s good, but the book is EXCELLENT). It wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was a ‘Disney Fairies’ book- one in their new series about Tinker Bell and the other fairies of Never Land. The book is about the power of a magic wand to fulfill wishes and cause wand madness, and about the power of love. Aimed at 7-11 year old girls. Lovely artwork by David Christiana. Doesn’t really cross over to adults well, but it was certainly a cute story.

A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris B+
Entertaining story about a single, small-town, librarian from the South. Roe Teagarden inherits a rather substantial estate, including a house complete with a skull hidden in a window seat. My favorite line from ‘The Mummy’ is "I’m a librarian!", so I admit I particularly enjoyed the whole idea of a librarian sleuth discovering ‘who-dun-it’.

The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower 1 by Stephen King A
I think the writing is excellent. I just didn’t like it very much. I’m sorry, Valette! Not so much the darkness as the nastiness of it. I’ve got so many friends who love this series that I’m gonna give the second one a try. The one benefit of reading so fast is that I’m more willing to spend some time on books I don’t like... Since I know this is only the first part of a larger work, I’d like to give the whole thing a little more of a chance...

Have a Hot Time, Hades! Book One of the Myth-O-Mania series By Kate McMullan B
From the back: What a myth-o-maniac! Zeus’s version of the myths is completely wrong. That story about Zeus single-handedly overthrowing Cronus, the big bad leader of the Titans, and becoming Ruler of the Universe? Baloney! He is officially Ruler of the Universe, but that’s only because he cheated at cards. It’s time to set the record straight. For the first time ever, Hades, King of the Underworld, reveals the true story behind the myths.
This was silly! Only about 45 to read, and very fun. McMullan takes the old myths and sets them on their ear. Her light and fun writing is easy to read, and her knowledge of the Greeks myths makes it a delight. Reminiscent of Disney’s Hercules in style & humor, but lacking what made the movie too dark for kids: the sexual innuendos and emphasis on evil getting all the fun.

Phone Home, Persephone! Book Two of the Myth-O-Mania series by Kate McMullan B+
From the back: That story about Hades kidnapping Persephone when she was picking flowers? Poppycock! Persephone wasn’t picking flowers. She was plotting a way to escape her overprotective mother, Demeter, and she hitched a ride to the Underworld.
Again, very silly. I liked this one even better than the first one. Persephone is fun, and I enjoyed the lightness of the love story.

My mom

My mom just turned 69! She's looking pretty good.

She's very annoyed at me for blogging about anything having to do with our family- Beth's depression, Mom's hospital trips, our finances, anything.

She hates to have anybody know about any of our problems.

Very private lady, my mom.

Friends Community Church

Ben Sanders is the worship leader.

Our worship team.. That's my Jake on the guitar in the blue shirt. Isn't he cute? :)

(Although, it's probably better if you don't think he is cute.

'Cuz I might have to kill you if you do think he's cute...

That was a joke, just in case you didn't get it.)

Most of the time it's very hard to find seats if you're late, but we actually had a pretty low turn-out for Father's day. . . Summer is so incredibly beautiful and so short that people pretty much go, go, go as long as there is light and sun. It's funny to me that we'll get packed church services at -30 in February, and almost empty on summer weekends.

We had over 1,000 total in our 3 Easter services. Pretty cool.

Father's Day Service

You are seeing what you think you're seeing...
Count the bright shining lights going down the aisle and you get three motorcycles.
Yup, motorcycles.
Yup, they are inside our church.
Yup, they were LOUD. Jake loved it!
:)
That's him sitting down on the stage, at the far left of the pictures (stage right for those of you who know what I mean).
We've got a surprisingly large number of people in our congregation with motorcycles, so the church kicked of the new motorcycle club on Father's Day...

Sunday Walk

We all got to go for a walk this last Sunday. Lots of fun. Jake was dogsitting over the weekend and the dog needed a walk so we all joined in and had a blast. We're all wearing our 'mud clothes'. They don't quite fit right and they're not pretty, but we had a great time.

Deborah sat down in a puddle right before we left our friends' house & got her pants all wet, so she's wearing shorts borrowed on the spot. She got so many mosquito bites! Even though we were wearing bug dope, we all got some big ones. The mosquito is the Alaskan bird, you know.

You might also notice Deborah isn't wearing her hat. She carried it the whole way, 'cuz she hates wearing hats... I'm so glad she didn't get a wicked burn.

Fingernails

Beth took this shot...
I love how intent we both look. :)
We've finally gotten to a point where Deborah will let me trim her fingernails without fighting me. Thank you, God!
Now I reward her for her good behavior by painting them. For her 5th b-day she got a little box of 'princess nail polish'. They're little girl colors with a bit of sparkle that I'm okay with her wearing. Purple with a picture of Jasmine, pink with a picture of Ariel, and white with a picture of Cinderella.
Shockingly cheap and well worth the bribe factor.

You would have laughed if Beth had taken a picture of the fight that occurs when it's time to trim Abigail's nails.... Well, maybe not... Remember, she's 2. Almost 3, but still definitely 2. She HATES having her nails trimmed. She's terrified of the clipper. She's convinced that it's going to hurt and no matter we do- talk to her, prepare her, hold her down, show her me trimming mine, promise nail polish- NOTHING prevents the wails and drama. When it's over she also can have her nails painted, but she typically can't sit still long enough for me to complete the task. (oh, the web we weave when we marry a guy with a touch of ADD :) I think half the torture for her is just having to sit still while I use the clipper. Poor kid. It's hard to be 2. At least when you're an adult you can, well, I hate trimming my nails and I'll just be careful and not slice myself. Not Abigail. If I let it go too long to avoid the screams and torture, she ends up scratching herself. Big long gashes on her face and tummy.