Life at the Llewellyns'

Babies, babies, babies!

2012-01-11T15:04:00.003-05:00

It has been quite a while since I last posted, and in between Kenzie's orchestra concert, holiday parties, shopping, guests, Christmas, New Year's and so much more, we had an EXPLOSION of babies!! Here's my list for the last few weeks.... try to imagine fitting in a little bit of sleep around these babies, plus all the holiday activities, and you'll understand why I had NO time to write!

12/3 -- baby girl, family's first baby, born at the birth center
12/8 -- baby girl, family's fourth baby, born at home
12/16 -- baby girl, family's third baby, born at home
12/20 -- baby girl, family's second baby, born at birth center
12/22 -- baby boy, family's fourth baby, born at home
12/26 -- baby boy, family's first baby, born at home
12/30 -- baby girl, family's fourth baby, born at home
1/5 -- baby girl, family's first baby, transfer to hospital from birth center for non-progressing labor

So, eight babies in thirty-three days, and those are just the births I attended; my partners did others as well!! It's a busy few weeks, with no sign of stopping soon. One of my partners did a birth late last night, my other partner did one this AM.

On top of everything, I'm organizing a dinner at a restaurant next week for hubby's 60th birthday. It's not EXACTLY a surprise; he knows it's happening. The surprise is -- he doesn't know who's coming! My parents are flying in from Florida, our daughter is flying in from Texas..... He will be VERY surprised! (And I can write about this, because he NEVER reads this blog -- yippee!!)

So -- if you don't hear from me again soon, it's because I'm either at a birth or busy planning/scheming/partying!

~~~~~~

It is more blessed to give......

2011-12-23T19:56:00.002-05:00

Why is it so easy to forget that we are always blessed when we bless others? I'm so incredibly blessed by God to have so much more than I need...

I had to mail an overnight package today, and happened to have a $50 bill burning a hole in my wallet. I felt God urging me to give something today; I made myself (and God) a promise that after I mailed the letter, I'd give the remainder to the first needy person I saw.

I have to admit, I did have a bit of a mental struggle. 'God, this package is only going to cost about $15 to mail; you really want me to give $35 to a complete stranger?' But the feeling that I should do so was strong and compelling, and I made up my mind that I would follow God's cue, regardless.

When I came out of the post office, standing on the sidewalk outside the door was a young Indian man with his small son (maybe 4 years old), homeless and looking for help. Were they there when I went in? I don't know.... I was so wrapped up in the Christmas rush, maybe I didn't see them -- or maybe them being there right then, at that moment in time when I left the post office, was MY small Christmas miracle. I stopped and spoke with them, told the man of my promise, gave him the money, and also put all the loose coins in my wallet in the little boy's pocket. I got huge hugs and excited thank you's, and I walked across the parking lot trying not to cry.

My wallet is now empty, but my heart is full and overflowing. God, help me remember to always be grateful for all my blessings .....

Luke 6:38 -- Truly, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

~~~~~~~

Mixed messages

2011-12-02T17:40:00.000-05:00

As I sat at the ATM last evening, I had the opportunity to read the signs posted on either side of the screen. To the left of the ATM's screen was a large green sign that entitled "Safety Information". One of the safety tips (in case you can't read the fuzzy print on my photo): "Prepare your deposit envelope and deposit slip before arriving at the ATM."

The blue sign on the right of the screen?? It said: "For your convenience, ATM Deposit Envelope will be dispensed during transaction"!!!! (Sorry, I can't get this picture to post in the right direction!)

So, M&T Bank, what do you REALLY want me to do in order to be safe???

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Thanksgiving funnies!

2011-11-18T11:52:00.001-05:00

Haven't had much time to post lately, but I figured I at least needed to add my favorite Thanksgiving cartoons, old and new! If I don't get to post again before Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful, bountiful day, filled with family, friends, happiness, good food and THANKFULNESS!!

~~~~~

Happy 1st anniversary, Russell and Iris!

2011-10-10T11:29:00.000-04:00

One year ago today, Kenzie and I were in Honduras for my nephew's wedding (posts from then, #1, #2, #3, #4). Amazing how quickly time goes by...... Congratulations, Russell and Iris!!

Wishing you many more years of happiness!

The dogs of 9/11: the other heroes‏

2011-09-12T09:21:00.003-04:00

These are the dogs that worked the trade center that are still alive but retired; they are heroes too. Their eyes say everything you need to know about them. Just amazing creatures.

True heroes of 9/11 still with us today...

Moxie, 13, from Winthrop, Massachusetts, arrived with her handler, Mark Aliberti, at the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11 and searched the site for eight days.

Tara, 16, from Ipswich, Massachusetts, arrived at the World Trade Center on the night of the 11th. The dog and her handler Lee Prentiss were there for eight days.

Kaiser, 12, pictured at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, was deployed to the World Trade Center on September 11 and searched tirelessly for people in the rubble.

Bretagne and his owner Denise Corliss from Cypress, Texas, arrived at the site in New York on September 17, remaining there for ten days.

Guinness, 15, from Highland, California, started work at the site with Sheila McKee on the morning of September 13 and was deployed at the site for 11 days.

Merlyn and his handler Matt Claussen were deployed to Ground Zero on September 24, working the night shift for five days.

Red, 11, from Annapolis, Maryland, went with Heather Roche to the Pentagon from September 16 until the 27 as part of the Bay Area Recovery Canines.
Abigail
Tuff -- Abigail, above, was deployed on the evening of September 17, searching for 10 days while Tuff arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on the day of attack to start working early the next day.

Handler Julie Noyes and Hoke were deployed to the World Trade Center from their home in Denver on September 24 and searched for five days.

Scout and another unknown dog lie among the rubble at Ground Zero, just two of nearly 100 search and rescue animals who helped to search for survivors.
~~~~~

During the chaos of the 9/11 attacks, where almost 3,000 people died, nearly 100 loyal search and rescue dogs and their brave owners scoured Ground Zero for survivors. Now, ten years on, just 12 of these heroic canines survive, and they have been commemorated in a touching series of portraits entitled 'Retrieved'.
The dogs worked tirelessly to search for anyone trapped alive in the rubble, along with countless emergency service workers and members of the public.

Traveling across nine states in the U.S. from Texas to Maryland, Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas, 34, captured the remaining dogs in their twilight years in their homes where they still live with their handlers, a full decade on from 9/11. Their stories have now been compiled in a book, called Retrieved, which is published on Friday, the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Noted for her touching portraits of animals, especially dogs, Charlotte wanted 'Retrieved' to mark not only the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, but also as recognition for some of the first responders and their dogs.

"I felt this was a turning point, especially for the dogs, who although are not forgotten, are not as prominent as the human stories involved," explained Charlotte, who splits her time between New York and Amsterdam. "They speak to us as a different species and animals are greatly important for our sense of empathy and to put things into perspective."

Charles Mayfield

~~~~~

Proud to be an American

2011-09-11T00:01:00.001-04:00

In remembrance of 9/11/2001 and looking forward to our future.....

"Home of the Brave", performed by Eric Dodge

"In God We Still Trust", performed by Diamond Rio

So glad I have a sump pump!!

2011-09-09T11:20:00.003-04:00

The rain around here has been relentless this week. It started mid-day on Monday and has continued to pour ever since. This morning, it's gray and very overcast, but NOT raining. However, that appears as if it will be short-lived, because www.weather.com is showing more storms here starting in about an hour and going through the night, light showers tomorrow morning, and MORE storms tomorrow afternoon.

Here is an amazing video of flooding in Ellicott City, MD. This water is running DOWN the hill from the tremendous amount of water that was dumping on the area.

So much flooding caused a retaining wall in Ellicott City to collapse, smashing several cars parked nearby.


(photo from the Ellicott City Patch)

More pictures of Ellicott City, from the Baltimore Sun:

Check out the flooding on Rt. 29, which is a major road (3 lanes in each direction) connecting Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC. This flooding is right outside the entrance to Columbia, MD.

Kenzie and I decided to drive around Laurel and Savage yesterday and take photos of flooding. Here's some of what we saw:

Flood waters receding on Contee Road behind Laurel Hospital

Water into the woods (and over the bridge the night before) on Brock Bridge Road, Laurel, MD

Further down Brock Bridge Road, near Annapolis Junction, MD -- bridge at the river completely covered by flooding

Another view of the same area -- see the large tree that floated downstream and is across the road?

Water and mud left as river starts to recede.

Laurel Lake, extremely full!

Another view across Laurel Lake

Spillway/overflow creek for Laurel Lake

You can see in this photo how much higher the water was the day before!

Little Patuxent River, Savage, MD (taken from the Bollman bridge next to Savage Mill)

View of river from opposite side of bridge

And lastly, a video I took of the Little Patuxent River:

It's lightly raining right now; I guess the next round of storms is gearing up. I'd better get off the computer and keep working on my Ark!

~~~

Cruise to the Bahamas -- Day 3 at Port Canaveral

2011-09-07T22:17:00.002-04:00

Port Canaveral wasn't one of the locations where our ship was originally supposed to stop; however, Hurricane Irene changed those plans. At first, I wasn't too thrilled about this stop. I've been to Florida SOOO many times before; why would I want to stop there on a cruise?? But it was what it was, and we were determined to make the best of it.

We were supposed to go on a special trip at Grand Turks to visit an uninhabited island and see/touch stingrays in the wild. Since we were no longer going to Grand Turk, we decided to use our refund for a different side trip. We eventually settled on an airboat ride into the Florida swamps to look for alligators. Mackenzie was a bit ..... dubious??.... at first, but as you'll see from the pictures, she had a GREAT time!

A view of Port Canaveral from the ship

Kenzie's ready for another adventure!

Looking at one of the other airboats and the dock

Ready to GOOOOOO!!!

Look closely -- it's our first alligator sighting of the afternoon!

And here it comes.....

Captain Kenzie, ready to to go hunt down those varmints!

After the airboat ride, we were given a demonstration by a local animal rescue group that specializes in wildlife/exotic creatures. Here are the "critters" they brought for show and tell......

So guess which one Mackenzie had to hold afterwords?????

ugh.

Back at the ship, leaving Port Canaveral, and enjoying the warm breezes.

A view of Cocoa Beach from the balcony of the ship.

Another look back at the beach


And last, but not least, our towel critter for the night? Is it a bulldog? Not quite sure......

Tomorrow...... arriving in Nassau, the Bahamas!!

~~~~~

Rain, rain, go away....

2011-09-07T13:23:00.001-04:00

.... and don't come back for a long, long time! In addition to the 7+ inches we got a week and a half ago from Hurricane Irene, we're now dealing with THIS:

I think I need to go dig out the canoe and paddles.... Good thing my house has a sump pump....

~~~

Cruise to the Bahamas -- Day 2 at sea

2011-09-06T15:27:00.000-04:00

Today was a full day of sailing. We were pretty lazy most of the morning, and slept in until the very last minute before breakfast ended, then dashed out for food. After breakfast, we went to a shopping seminar in one of the lounges. At these talks, they tell you about which stores in a particular port can be trusted, which offer special deals, how to make the most of your shopping trip, and much more. The room where this seminar was held was called the Butterfly Lounge. In the back of the lounge, there was a wall of glass cases and in each case was a mounted butterfly. I knew Kenzie would be bored with the talk, so I brought my camera along and turned her loose taking photos of the butterflies. Here are a few good ones; she took over 90 photos! Click on the picture if you want to see a larger version.

After the talk, we had a quick lunch and went back to the room for some gazing at the ocean.....

.....and goofing off in the room!

Then Nelson and Kenzie headed off to the pool and the waterslide. Here's the main pool on the ship:

But that's not where I found them -- they were goofing off up on top of the ship in the kiddie pool! Why?? I don't know.....

Then off they went to the waterslide! Here they are before going down the slide:

Then downstairs to the pool for more fun!

While they played around, I walked around the deck and took shots of the ship and the scenery.

That evening was the first formal dinner. Here's Mackenzie dolled up for the occasion:

Nelson was having a good time!

And apparently I was, too!!

This is a lousy photo, but it's a view of the dining room from where I was seated. The circle of lights on the ceiling is where you can look up to see the 2nd floor of dining room seating.

Standing in the lobby/atrium of the ship, looking up about 7 floors. Glass elevators are on the right, outlined by the blue lights.

Another view of the elevators (taken at night, pretty dark pictures!)

The bar in the lobby, and one of our favorite performers on the cruise was sitting on the small stage above the bar that evening. (Very hard to see again!)

Then back to the room, where we discovered our new towel critter, complete with Nelson's sunglasses!

And then, off to bed. Tomorrow, Port Canaveral, Florida.

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Cruise to the Bahamas -- Day 1

2011-09-06T00:04:00.001-04:00

Nelson, Kenzie and I took a cruise last week. This was a belated 30th anniversary gift to ourselves. I didn't mention it in advance (for security reasons!), plus the fact that Hurricane Irene was threatening to cancel the whole trip! However, the storm passed and the trip was only delayed by one day. The ports of call were changed, which was sad, because I really, REALLY wanted to visit Grand Turk. But due to the loss of one day of vacation time, plus the fact that the hurricane apparently did some major damage to Grand Turk, our ports of call were changed to Port Canaveral, FL; Nassau, the Bahamas; and Freeport, the Bahamas. Still nice places to visit!!

Pictures and highlights from our first day:

Hurricane Irene!

2011-08-28T13:20:00.008-04:00

We dodged the bullet on this one! We had a LOT of rain (about 6 1/2 - 7") and high winds last night, but even though the lights flickered quite a bit, we never lost power. Our sump pump was able to keep running, so our basement did not flood either. We did some quick calculations -- the sump pump continuously operated for over 12 hours from 10 PM - 10 AM (pumping every 2 1/2 to 4 minutes); pumped 10-12 gallons each time; this means we've pumped well over 2,500 gallons so far!! (And it's STILL pumping at 3 PM, just not nearly as frequently!) Glad it's pumping OUT and not flooding my basement!

However, there was a fair amount of damage in and around our community and town. Here are some shots from our drive today.

The main entrance to our community was blocked by an enormous tree that fell across the whole street, burying one car!

In the apartments near our house, we saw this large tree, which fell into the parking lot. Amazingly, it appears it fell between two cars, but didn't heavily damage either of them!!

Another tree blocking Montgomery Street in Laurel:

This one is a bit hard to see, but if you look closely, you'll see the bottoms of the guard rails are exposed. The side of the road washed out completely, and it's a VERY long drop to the stream below.

Miscellaneous shots around town:

A large pine tree took down power lines and a pole in west Laurel on Brooklyn Bridge Road:

Now the rain has stopped, but we've still got much stronger winds than I had expected. Let the clean-up begin......

My schizophrenic postings

2011-08-02T12:27:00.002-04:00

I am woefully behind in posting blog updates, but have lots to share -- just haven't had lots of time to actually get around to doing the sharing!! So my next posts are going to bedated retroactively, just to keep events in chronological order. Hope I don't make y'all crazy trying to figure it out!!

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Why aren't they bald yet??

2011-08-01T16:36:00.002-04:00

Just for kicks, I decided to photograph the dog hair swept up last Monday, Wednesday and Friday..... and here are the pictures:

Monday's sweep --

Wednesday's sweep PLUS Monday's in the background --

Friday's sweep --

Cumulative for five days --

And this is only the hair from the living room, dining room, kitchen and hallway; bedrooms are still carpeted -- and then there's still the stairs and the entire basement. There's enough hair to make an entire puppy!! So the question remains -- why on earth aren't these two bald yet??

~~~

Our belated anniversary dinner cruise!

2011-07-29T17:04:00.000-04:00

We purchased vouchers to take a discounted dinner/dance cruise on the Potomac River for our 30th anniversary (on the Spirit of Washington). We'd hoped to go on our actual anniversary (the 18th), but were unable to get a reservation until the 28th. Oh, well, waiting a few extra days wasn't THAT big of a deal!!

Some pictures from our trip:

The "Spirit of Washington"

Our table

A view of the buffet before it opened

More of the dining area

A view of the Washington Monument and DC Harbor (yes, it was a hot, hazy DC day!)

Haines Point and the cherry trees

I didn't know we had a paddlewheel boat on the Potomac! Guess I'll need to go check this one out! (Appropriately called "Cherry Blossom"!)

The chapel at the military base we passed

A view of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from the ship; I cross that bridge many, many times each year going to the birth center. It was interesting getting to see it from a different vantage point.

The sun setting over Alexandria, VA

I need to find out what this pretty building is!

A VERY old lighthouse under renovation

National Harbor Place

Nelson and I outside, enjoying the views

Osprey nesting on the buoy

Ship flag

Another sunset view, looking towards Alexandria, VA

The marina at the National Harbor -- how the "other 1%" spend their money!!

The sunset this particular evening was spectacular.

Sunset over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Alexandria, VA

Statue entitled "The Awakening", now located in National Harbor Place (was moved from Haines Point). Click on the photo to get a better look at the sculpture -- it's pretty cool!

View of the lights at National Airport from the top of the boat

And yes, a good time was had by all!

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A girls' afternoon out!

2011-06-28T12:02:00.010-04:00

Morgan has been staying at her in-laws' house since early June while her hubby is recuperating from his surgery. While she's been up here, we've tried to take opportunities to get together a bit more often. On Friday, we all decided to go visit The Pottery Shop in Ellicott City, MD, taking along Morgan's friend Becki. The store is a really cute little place, sort of a 1/2 pottery, 1/2 Starbucks-style place!

We'll go back later this week or early next week to pick up the finished projects, but in the meantime, here are the girls in action and their projects.

Mackenzie decided that turning a bowl into a watermelon would be a great project!

Morgan decided to paint small "thank you" gifts for her in-laws.

Focused attention on this project....

Becki hard at work as well.

Stripes of different colors added to make the watermelon more realistic.

A look inside the completed project!

And a look at the outside of the completed project!! She ended up using four colors of green to achieve the mottled stripes on the outside of the bowl. I can't wait to see how this will actually look once the bowl is fired and the true colors appear -- I think it's going to be gorgeous!

Morgan working on details of her secret project!

Morgan's project......

Becki's project.....

Kenzie admiring her handiwork and wondering why everyone else is taking so long!!

I just HAD to get pictures of this little guy! He was hanging over the cash register and is just too cute!!

I need to make one of these -- it looks like ME at the end of most weeks.....!! :)

~~~~

Forgive the language, but not the sentiment!

2011-06-17T21:14:00.002-04:00

Making the rounds on Facebook and other places today. If you're not one of "those" kinds of dads, thank you -- and ladies, thank the dads if they're not!!! If you ARE one of those kinds of dads, it's time to wake up and get back in the game, guys......

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/16/pearlman.fathers.day/index.html

A father's day wish: Dads, wake the hell up!

By Jeff Pearlman, Special to CNN

June 17, 2011 10:18 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Jeff Pearlman says a mom acquaintance is bereft that her husband shirked child care
Pearlman says he's a stay-at-home-dad fully involved in care of his two young children
He says dads need to get involved, childhood is short, tiredness from work no excuse
Pearlman: Here are 10 rules for righteous dadhood

Editor's note: Jeff Pearlman is a columnist for SI.com. He blogs at jeffpearlman.com.

(CNN) -- The woman started crying.

I didn't expect this, because, well, why would I? We were two adults, standing in a preschool auditorium, waiting for the year-end musical gala to begin, talking summer plans and Twitter and junk fiction and all things mindless parents talk at mindless events. Then -- tears.

"My husband," she said, "doesn't care."

"Uh, about what?" I asked.

The floodgates now open, she told me her husband works from home. But he never drops their daughter off at preschool. He never picks their daughter up at preschool. He never wakes up with their daughter, never puts her to bed, never takes her to a movie or a carnival or a ball game; never comes up with fun daddy-daughter activities. "All he worries about is golf," the mother said. "Sometimes he'll take her to the driving range for an hour. But that's it. ..."

Two days later, by mere coincidence, a different mother cornered me. I was sitting in a pizzeria with my son, Emmett, and daughter, Casey, gnawing on a calzone. The woman, another preschool regular who always seems to be dragging around her kids with the worn look of a chain gang inmate, glanced my way and muttered, "My husband would never do that."

"Do what?" I asked.

"Be out alone with both of the kids at once," she said. "Never."

In case you are wondering, I am that dad. The one who works out of the house. The one who drives his kids to school, packs lunches and pushes swings and arranges play dates and attends teacher conferences and -- generally speaking -- frequently finds himself alone in brightly colored rooms filled with women and tykes.

Along with my wife (who, until recently, also worked from home), I wipe snot, clean poop, order time outs and say no -- Really, no! I'm being serious, no! -- to the damned ice cream man and his Satanic siren call. I know all of my kids' friends, and most of their tendencies (Ashley and Emily love dolls, Lucas only wants to talk about Derek Jeter, Tyler digs applesauce).

Hence, I have been sent here today, on behalf of the stay-at-home mothers of the world, to convey to my fellow pops a message of love and hope in this lead-up to Father's Day: Wake the hell up.

Really, wake the hell up. Now. I understand that most of you have 9-to-5 jobs, that you leave tired and come home tired and just wanna chill in front of SportsCenter with a bowl of chips. But, seriously, you have no remote idea: Being a stay-at-home parent is exhausting. At the office, you can hide. You can take lunch. You can pretend you're working while scrolling the Internet for Yankees-Blue Jays and, ahem, Lindsay Lohan news. You have genuine social interactions with folks over the age of, oh, 12. People ask questions about your day -- and listen to the answers.

I envy you, but I sort of pity you. Kids grow. Age 1 turns to age 3, which turns to age 7, which turns to 15 and 18 and 21, all in the blink of an eye. If you're there, as I am, it flies. If you're not there -- if you're almost never there -- it barely exists at all. Which is why I just can't stomach those millions of dads who view their days at home as recovery from work, who'd rather rest than engage, who have no problem with passing the tykes off for more alone time with mom and who, literally, moan to their wives, "You have no idea how hard I work."

For you, I offer these 10 commandments of righteous fatherhood. Pay close attention, because, behind your back, people are pitying your wife:

1. No golf on weekends: Seriously, it's ludicrous. Your spouse is home with the kids all the time, and you think it's OK to take five hours on a weekend day to pursue your own pastime? Selfishness, thy name is Father.

2. Wake up: Literally, wake up. With your kids. On at least one of the two weekend days -- and perhaps both. I know: you wake up early for work. Not even remotely the same thing. Rising alongside the kiddies is hard. And crazy. And (gasp!) sorta fun, if you'd just stop moping.

3. Change diapers: If you have little kids, and you don't know how to change diapers (or, even worse, refuse to change diapers), you're pathetic. That's no exaggeration -- p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c. It's not all that hard, and though the poop sometimes winds up on the fingers, well, uh, yeah. It just does. Wash your hands.

4. Play with dolls and paint your toenails: How many fathers do I know who refuse to get girlish with their girls? Dozens. Dude, put aside the machismo, break out Barbie and slather on some pink polish. You'll make a friend for life -- and nobody else is watching.

5. Do things you don't want to do: It's easy to take the kids to the driving range -- because you want to be there. Now try spending the day having a tea party at American Girl. Or crawling through one of those wormholes at the nearby kiddie gym. Fun? Often, no. But this isn't about you.

6. Order the wife to bug off: I recently met a mother who told me her husband hadn't been alone with their 9-year-old daughter for more than two hours ... ever. Inexcusable. Let your wife do her own thing: relax, take a run, whatever. Entertain your children solo. They don't bite (Note: CNN.com is not liable if your children do, in fact, bite).

7. Surprise! Just once, on a random day without meaning or purpose, show up early at your kid's school/camp/wherever, say "Get in the car!" and take him/her somewhere special. Just the two of you, alone. A movie. A park. A hike. The memory lasts -- I promise.

8. Dishes Don't Clean Themselves (Nor Do Toys): It's amazing how this one works. You pick up a dish, run it under hot water with some soap, rub it down with a towel and place it back on the shelf. Then repeat.

9. Wake up your kid: Not often. But if you want to score big points and create a killer memory moment, walk in Junior's room at, oh, midnight, wake him/her up and go outside for 10 minutes to watch the stars.

10. For God's sake, tell your kids you love them: They never see you, and they'd probably like to know.

Bud, as you read this your wife is expecting little -- and your kids are expecting even less. Pull one out of the blue. Make Father's Day less about you, and all about them.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeff Pearlman.

Anatomy of a wedding cake -- June 2011

2011-06-12T16:22:00.014-04:00

I've posted about the Anatomy of a Wedding Cake (Part I and Part II) in the past, as well as pictures of the wedding cake I made in Honduras last year for my nephew (baking and decorating), and decided it was time to post pictures of a more recent creation. These photos are from a cake I made this past Friday and Saturday with the help of my daughters. While it was a bit over-the-top for my personal tastes, it fit the design of the rest of the reception perfectly, and the bride and family were very happy with it! Enjoy the creative process!

~~~~

It takes a lot of supplies and a lot of table space to get started with making a large cake.

Look closely -- one of the eggs we used had a double yolk!

First layer into the oven.....

All four layers glazed and cooling on the table.... sure doesn't look like much right now, does it?

One layer with icing, second layer added and waiting....

Two layers iced and it's time for BED!! It took most of the day to get to this point, believe it or not!

Saturday AM -- and now working at the small kitchen in the upstairs of the church. The flowers the bride's mother got for the cake were all white and needed to be painted -- YIKES!! Here is Morgan busily at work, painting the icing orchids.

All four layers iced and waiting for decorations.

Happy with how her painting is turning out thus far!

A look at the flowers in process.

Ribbon and edible beads added to cake -- and yes, EVERY SINGLE ONE of those beads had to be placed by hand! What a tedious process.....

Adding painted flowers to the cake

A close-up of one of the orchids Morgan painted -- she did a fabulous job!

More flowers, adding feathers.....

Still working....

Another orchid.....

Gold-tinged roses

Beginning to assemble the top of the cake. We wanted to create a "mound" of flowers, but knew that a pile of icing would not support the weight of the flowers trailing down the sides. We considered several possibilities, then ended up using a paper bowl upside down, poked it full of holes to put flowers in, and used icing to "glue" it to the top and toothpicks to help anchor it! Strange solution, but it worked!

Arranging the roses....

Adding more flowers

In process.....

..... and more flowers added.....

Another angle.....

After adding more flowers and peacock feathers.....

Orchid close-up....

Nelson and our friend Becki put the cake on our "litter", placed it on top of a rolling cart, and took it via elevator to the first floor of the church.

Moving it into the reception hall

Waiting for the caterer to give her OK to place cake on the table

Carrying the cake up the stairs to the platform

.....and moving towards the table while Morgan supervises!

Almost there!

Morgan completes some final touches around the cake base.

A view of the stage with drapes, DJ, and cake on the left.

Cake in place, ready for reception!

Bride and groom getting ready to share cake! (sorry, but I didn't remember to ask permission to show their faces, so I'm not going to do so right now!!)

And that's it!! Wedding cake from start to finish. Hope you enjoyed the process!

~~~~

10 Things Never to Say to a Stay-at-Home Mom

2011-06-10T20:11:00.003-04:00

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10 Things Never to Say to a Stay-at-Home Mom

1. When the kids are older, do you think you'll get a real job?

2. How June Cleaver of you!

3. Oh, so you don't work?

4. Since you have extra time on your hands, could you whip up a few dozen brownies for the bake sale tomorrow?

5. All day with your kids? I can't even imagine.

6. I'm jealous. I wish my husband were rich so I wouldn't have to work either.

7. What do you do all day, anyway?

8. I'm sure you're not the only one who's ever wasted money on a college degree.

9. That explains why your son is so clingy!

10. Weird. I assumed your house would be superclean.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/05/31/hearstmagfamily5277360.DTL#ixzz1OvCmHSRx

~~

Videos of performances from yesterday's recital

2011-06-05T13:48:00.006-04:00

Here are videos of some of the performances from yesterday's recital. Enjoy!
~~~~
Mackenzie doing her solo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPIRjZsm2_M

Several of the students performing the theme to "Phantom of the Opera"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWyXp4vMAf4

All of the stringed instrument students performing an impromptu piece. Mrs. Guillory handed out music and they just "winged it"! Kind of fun!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KXT9jOapiQ

The advanced strings students performing Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons -- Spring" -- fabulous!!

Thanks for a great performance, kids!!

Poetic justice....

2011-06-05T13:29:00.002-04:00

Heard on the news today -- enjoy!!
~~~

Five months ago Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on a Florida couple who didn't owe anything on their home. Now, those homeowner's have foreclosed on Bank of America, according to WFMY News.

The homeowner's, the Nyergers, were forced to take the case to court after Bank of America refused to accept their proof that they'd paid cash for their home.

A Collier County judge immediately accepted the family's evidence, confirmed the Nyergers' claims, and told Bank of America to pay all legal fees.

The bank refused, and the family's attorney did what the bank had tried to do to his clients -- he seized their assets. Within an hour of being locked out of his bank, the branch manager handed over a check for the legal fees.

Check out video on the reverse foreclosure here:

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/homeowner-forecloses-on-bank-of-america-branch-2011-6#ixzz1OQLPP7GY

~~~~

Happy stuff for a change!

2011-06-04T23:13:00.002-04:00

So, today......

.....my dad got out of the hospital.....

....my son-in-law got out of the hospital......

....and Mackenzie's recital piece went well (in spite of having tendonitis in her right wrist!! (such a trooper!)

~~~~

Too much, too much, too much.....

2011-06-03T13:31:00.003-04:00

Updates on the last few days --

Solomon is still in the hospital, but recovering well. He had a "swallow test" this AM to see if he could swallow liquids and if the liquids would go down. He passed the test; he can swallow with some difficulty, but he CAN swallow. He's supposed to be allowed to have liquids later today, and he'll probably be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, if all continues well.

My dad is still in the hospital as well. They're tweaking his blood thinners to find the right amount for him. Additionally, they've decided to put in a vena cava filter (http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/vascular_surgery/vs_vena_cava_filter.aspx) to help prevent any other clots from breaking off and travelling to the lungs again. This is a pretty simple procedure done under just a local anesthetic. He's actually probably having the procedure done right now as I'm typing this, so I'm hoping to hear back from Mom some time soon as to how it went. Again, if all continues well, he should be discharged tomorrow.

In the course of e-mailing back and forth trying to notify all family members about all the above, I found out my sister's father-in-law is ALSO in the hospital up in New England with severe pneumonia. While doing x-rays, the doctors think they might've found a mass in/on his lung; however, they won't be able to do further testing to find out more until the pneumonia clears up somewhat.

And if all THAT wasn't enough..... my husband's boss's wife died yesterday of cancer. She's been ill for years, but has always fought and bounced back. While I'm glad her pain is over and that's she's finally whole and happy again in the presence of God, my heart breaks for her husband, son/daughter-in-law/granddaughter and her daughter who are left behind. She was a lively, happy person who was funny and could light up a room, and she will be terribly missed. Prayers for the Krout family.

So my highlight for the week is -- getting a new washing machine?? While that would normally not be a big deal, after a week like this, something new, shiny and functional seems like an exciting prospect!! Sometime this afternoon, my new LG front loader should arrive. It's exciting to be getting a machine that will actually RINSE and SPIN!!

Mackenzie's violin recital is tomorrow -- I'll have to see if we can get it recorded and post it so grandparents and family can see it!

Updates later on all the patients....

~~~~

Now my DAD is in the hospital -- what a day!

2011-06-01T12:41:00.003-04:00

I just received a call from my mom a few minutes ago. My dad went out this AM to get the newspaper; when he didn't come back in, she went out to check on him. He was staggering in the driveway and then passed out in the front yard. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital, has had a battery of tests run thus far with nothing seeming to be out of the ordinary. He'll be spending at least a day or two there while they check him out. Please be praying that whatever happened was a minor glitch and he'll be back to normal ASAP. Thanks.

~~~~

A life-changing experience

2011-06-01T12:22:00.004-04:00

Thirty-five years ago this month, I had the opportunity to travel for about 5 weeks abroad with high school and college-aged singers and instrumentalists. It was an amazing, life-changing, eye-opening experience, and something that I've never forgotten. Recently, through the wonders of the internet, many of us who went on that trip are starting to reconnect. It's been great fun to share pictures, memories, and reminisce about the experiences we had that summer.

The organization that sponsored the trip was AYIC (America's Youth In Concert). They sponsored this trip through most of the 70's and into the 1980's. Thousands of students benefited from this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One of the folks who went on this trip in 1983 wrote a blog posting about this today, and it truly spoke to the essence of what this trip was about. I just felt like sharing it here with you all today. Enjoy my "sentimental journey"!! -- http://www.daninfocus.com/

Pivot: America's Youth In Concert

I began playing the trumpet in fourth grade. In eighth grade, I was asked by the band director to play French horn for a year. I loved it. She couldn’t get me to go back and I played it throughout high school. My sophomore year, I was chosen to play in the 1982 all-state band. Right after that, I auditioned and was accepted for the America’s Youth in Concert tour of 1983. This four week tour of Europe became a major pivot point to my life.

America’s Youth in Concert was the vision of Lynn Geddes in the early 1970s. With all the social unrest over the Vietnam War and the low stature of America’s youth abroad, he decided it was important to give Europe a view of the finest, talented youth America had to offer, while providing those youth a chance to see the world outside their own country. He put together a band, choir and orchestra made up of youth between the ages of 15 and 20, led by some of the best directors available.

After a few days practice at Rider College in New Jersey, we performed our debut concert in Carnegie Hall on July 3. For a kid who had hardly left Idaho, this was the big time. As the first chair horn player in the orchestra, I had a few small solos in the various pieces we played. Consequently, I can boast of soloing in Carnegie Hall – all 4 measures. We packed the buses, drove all night and opened the July 4th celebrations on the U. S. Capitol steps in Washington D.C. Another concert in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and we were off to Europe for three and a half week. We played concerts in London’s Barbican Centre (home to the London Symphony Orchestra), Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral, Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio and many other sites across England, France, Switzerland and Italy. We even played the center ring of a three-ring circus outside a small town in Switzerland. It was truly the opportunity of a life time.

Royal Holloway College

In the retrospect of 25 years, I am amazed my parents let me go on this trip, much less someone would take on the task of moving 250 hormone-ridden, immature teenagers around the world with only 14 chaperones. Surprisingly, troubles were few and the adventures were many. After a three hour trip into London with one of the chaperones the night before, I struck out with my friends, leading everyone all over to see the sites. It was the first time I had seen a subway, much less a city on my own. It never crossed my mind it was remarkable that we could turn 250 kids loose on London and everyone would get back to Royal Holloway College before the last train ran. Granted, I was on the last train, having taken in Pirates of the Penzance at the Royal Theatre, Drury Lane.

Another discovery I made on this trip was the difference between my upbringing and that of some of the other kids. It made me appreciate the practical lessons my mother taught me. For example, a button came off one of my shirts one day while we were on the bus. Someone remarked that it was too bad the shirt was ruined. I looked at him like he was nuts. I went up to our chaperones, borrowed a needle and thread and proceeded to sew the button back on, right there on the bus. It must have been something of a novelty as kids were literally hanging from the luggage racks to watch this amazing feat. I remember overhearing one girl complain to her parents on the phone about being expected to make our own beds. Huh? I know my mother will attest I rarely did it at home, but at least I didn’t think it “beneath” me. Yes, mother, I did make my bed every day I was on the trip.

I had more than my share of troubles. I lost my camera, passport and money in New York City and didn’t find them for three days. I ran through a glass door in Paris and got 25 stitches in a French Mercy hospital (Don’t believe Hillary Clinton about the superiority of French socialized medicine. It is terrible!). In Nice, we were playing on the beach, waiting for the bus and I was hit by a big wave and lost my glasses in the process. I borrowed someone else’s spare set as I didn’t have one, but the prescription wasn’t nearly strong enough. The last week of the trip was literally a blur to me.

I learned so much on this trip. Not only was it a musical education under the direction of Clyde Roller, Houston Symphony conductor, but it was a life education. I learned how to roll with the punches, get myself around in strange places, communicate without knowing the language, keep my spirits up in difficult situations and see life from a much larger perspective than Pocatello, Idaho (pop. 52,000). Perhaps most important, I quickly found good friends I could depend on to help me stay out of trouble. I am grateful to those who made it possible, including my parents who sacrificed a lot.

Once I returned home, I began to see the changes this Pivot Point had on my life. I remember going to a dance shortly after and being puzzled by the way all my friends behaved. I couldn’t understand it. They had changed so much. Fortunately, a friend of mine who had also traveled took me aside and explained that I was the one that had changed. She warned me that I had changed forever and would never see things the same way again. She was right.

The trip of 1983 was one of the most influential events of my life. The growth I experienced in that month gave me confidence I didn’t know I had. It broadened my view of the world and helped me understand there are many more people out there who need my help. It taught me to look for simple ways to bring about large scale change. I probably wouldn’t have ever left my little town I grew up in without this experience. As a result, there are many more pivot points I wouldn’t have experienced. Consequently, when my son was given the opportunity to travel to Hawaii after graduation, I thought it was a great opportunity for him. I think travel is perhaps the best teacher of all. I know I want to learn more.

~~~~

Son-in-law's surgery today

2011-06-01T12:18:00.002-04:00

Please be praying for my son-in-law Solomon today. He's in surgery right now as I'm typing, being treated for a condition known as achalasia. It's a strange condition that's made it extremely difficult for him to eat over the last year and a half. Mostly he's only been able to eat very soft, very mushy foods or things that can be cut into TINY pieces and easily digested. At the time the condition was diagnosed, Morgan and Solomon were well into wedding plans, Solomon had been accepted into grad school, and so they decided to wait on the surgery either until a better time or until the problem worsened. It did get worse over the last several months, but thankfully the timing worked to have the surgery done during his summer break from college.

For you curious types, here's a link describing achalasia. I had never heard of it before this came up.

http://www.pacificdigestive.com/handouts/achalasia.html

Please keep Morgan and Solomon in your thoughts and prayers today. They've only been married about 9 1/2 months, so this is very scary and upsetting for her, not to mention how nervous he is about the surgery.

I'll update later in the day after I hear any news. Thanks.

~~~~~

Update -- Surgery was supposed to begin around 8:45 and last 3 - 4 hours. Apparently they started late, because Morgan texted me an update at 11:40 saying "they're about half-way through surgery without complications. He's very stable and everything is going very well."

I'll update more later.

Amazing Grace

2011-04-24T09:30:00.000-04:00

In remembrance of this blessed day, enjoy this music!

Il Divo, perform at the Coliseum in Pula, Croatia

http://www.clarrissegill.com/videoclips/amazing_grace.php

Last night's CBA concert

2011-04-22T11:10:00.005-04:00

Last night was the end of year concert for our homeschool group's band and orchestra. Enjoy!

The Advanced Orchestra

The Advanced Orchestra

The Combined Orchestra (intermediate AND advanced)

The kids did a GREAT job, as usual!

Why I would never survive as a single mom

2011-04-06T16:39:00.007-04:00

In our house, we've been dealing with mice this winter -- lots and LOTS of mice. Between the very cold winter and an irresponsible neighbor who let one unspayed cat turn into a neighborhood full of cats, I think the rodents have been driven indoors for protection.

We've had a "system" here all winter: hubby sets the traps, hubby empties traps, life is good. Until today, while hubby is at work..... and the trap goes off..... and there's a mouse, caught by its tail, screaming (I didn't know mice could do that...) and DRAGGING THE TRAP AROUND BEHIND IT THROUGH THE BASEMENT!! Gross, gross, gross, gross........

I ended up calling a nearby friend whose husband works from home and begging him to come over and remove the critter from my home! Ugh.... Beyond disgusting..... blech .....

OK -- back to my daily activities, once I unwrap my brain from the grossness factor of the last 45 minutes........ (And my sister in Honduras, who deals with scorpions, snakes, and all kinds of weird, scary insects is probably laughing hysterically right about now!!)

~~~~

First signs of spring around here?

2011-04-01T17:34:00.003-04:00

Sent to me by my mom (thanks, Mom!)

~~~~~

The Middle Wife!

2011-03-30T15:50:00.002-04:00

Here's an oldie, but goodie, sent to me today by a former client! I always get a laugh out of it, so I'm sharing with any of you who may not have seen it yet. Enjoy!

The 'Middle Wife' by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher..

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them.. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.' She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

'My Dad called the middle wife.. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this..' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little
hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes along.

~~~~

Springtime in my kitchen

2011-03-22T11:55:00.003-04:00

Several of my orchids are deciding to bloom at once. My kitchen window ledge is full of springtime!!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Cool cars

2011-03-22T10:02:00.005-04:00

I've always been fascinated by the way people decorate cars to suit their personality. Recently I've seen quite a few of them in my area, and just this week, managed to photograph two of the cute ones I parked close to. I'll have to see if I can get more pictures soon -- in the meantime, enjoy these!

A VW with "LADY BG" tags -- decorated with magnetic lady bug stickers, cool flowered seat covers, and really nice tail light covers!

Shock Top!! I saw this one clear across the parking lot and had to go check it out -- it's an advertisement for a brand of beer!! Several people tell me it's a good beer. I wouldn't know; I hate the stuff, myself!! But the car is still pretty cool!

~~~~

Our unexpected day in New York!

2011-03-20T19:28:00.009-04:00

On Tuesday evening, our friend Toshi called. Turns out her family was supposed to go to NYC the next day, but their son was running a high fever, and they didn't think they should go. She GAVE us three bus passes to NYC AND three tickets to see "The Lion King" on Broadway!! Oh, my goodness, what a HUGE and unexpected surprise! We hurriedly made plans to pick up Morgan from VA, re-arrange our day on Wednesday to accomodate this, and got up early on Wednesday to meet the bus. Here are a few shots from our fun day!

Yes, it WAS cold!!

Signage outside the theater

Girls in front of another "Lion King" sign, with Morgan sporting her new hat and scarf bought from a street vendor

We visited the Toys R Us on Times Square -- the one with the huge in-door ferris wheel! Of course, the girls had to take a ride. Here's the car they ended up in!

The Lego displays are incredible. Check out this huge tower and the helicopter hanging from the ceiling behind it.

Morgan checking out a Lego replica of the Empire State Building.

Mackenzie posing in front of the "chandelier" in the Barbie house!

The girls found these pincher-type grabbing gadgets -- and of course, a pinching battle had to ensue!

Hanging out with King Candy in the Candyland section!

The gross-out moment of the day -- in the candy section, we found this disgusting item -- "Larvets"!! These are actually crispy larva, and in this case, cheddar-cheese flavored...... uck. (And no, we did NOT try them!)

Back outside on Time Square, we were amused to see that the crystal ball already had the sign in front of it for 2012! They stay ahead of things in NY, don't they?

A view up Time Square in one direction.....

....and then the other!

Inside the theater was an ENORMOUS wooden sculpture of Mufasa (which ended up also being a pivotal prop in the play).

Think they were just a BIT excited to be at the play??

The costume for Scar.

What an amazing and completely unexpected day!! Thanks again, Toshi, for this wonderful gift!

~~~

Relationships?

2011-03-12T17:54:00.012-05:00

If you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front of him and never say it's not quite as good as his mother's....

....then adopt a dog.

If you want someone always willing to go out, at any hour, for as long and wherever you want ....

....then adopt a dog.

If you want someone who will never touch the remote, doesn't care about football, and can sit next to you as you watch romantic movies.....

....then adopt a dog.

If you want someone who is content to get on your bed just to warm your feet and whom you can push off if he snores....

....then adopt a dog !

If you want someone who never criticizes what you do, doesn't care if you are pretty or ugly, fat or thin, young or old, who acts as if every word you say is especially worthy of listening to, and loves you unconditionally, perpetually ...

....then adopt a dog.

BUT, on the other hand, if you want someone who will never come when you call, ignores you totally when you come home, leaves hair all over the place, walks all over you, runs around all night and only comes home to eat and sleep, and acts as if your entire existence is solely to ensure his happiness ....

.

..

...

....

..

..

....then adopt a cat!

You thought I was gonna say... Marry a man, didn't you?

~~

Mystery in Florida's Biscayne Bay??

2011-01-26T13:14:00.002-05:00

Is it a "piano bar" or a "piano on a sand bar"??? Funny story!

Obituary for the Pillsbury Doughboy

2011-01-25T11:20:00.006-05:00

Sorry I've been so negligent in posting recently; my work has kept me pretty busy!

This oldie but goodie popped into my head last night, and I thought it was too good not to share again! Enjoy!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear friends,

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much dough on half baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Christmas lights

2010-12-26T22:32:00.000-05:00

Bringing back this oldie, but goodie, just because I LOVE it!! Enjoy the light display!!

~~~

Enjoying Christmas at our house -- 2010

2010-12-26T11:29:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2010......

Enjoyed starting the day with lightly falling snow.....

...enjoyed watching the dogs opening their gifts.....

...enjoyed the presents sent by grandparents....

And enjoying the gifts from family.....

....and enjoying the love of family......

Enjoying visit from daughter and son-in-law.....

....enjoying the thoughtfulness and creativity of beautiful handmade gifts (complements of Morgan!)......

....enjoying a "handing down" of a well-loved doll to its new "mommy".....

.....and enjoying more grandparent gifts.....

....followed by more family visits from husband's sister and brother-in-law in the afternoon, phone calls from grandparents, calls to daughter in Texas, and a generally restful day....

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas day too......

(And now it's starting to snow here on the 26th -- how much will we get?)
~~~~~

Emmanuel.......

2010-12-25T01:49:00.002-05:00

....... God with us!

Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas!

~~~~~~

Digital Nativity!

2010-12-20T09:54:00.002-05:00

Here's a great YouTube video my mother sent me this AM. I love the ending: "Times change; feelings remain the same!" Enjoy this cute look at how the Christmas story might happen today.....

~~~~~~~~~~~

Concert videos

2010-12-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

These are mostly for my mom and dad, but anybody is welcome to see them!!

Here is the CBA Orchestra (both intermediates and advanced) playing the "Halleluiah Chorus" at the Christmas concert on 12/2/10. (Sorry I missed the first few measures!)

Additionally, here's the CBA chorus performing "Mary, Did You Know?" Unfortunately, my 12-year-old videographer filmed more of ME playing the piano than she did of the choir singing!! And at points you can also hear her humming along with the music!! Since she's sitting so close to the piano, it's difficult to hear them sometimes -- but they did a great job! At least this is proof to Mom and Dad that all of those years of piano lessons did not go to waste -- I'm still playing!!

Enjoy!
~~~~~

Breastfeeding Baby Jesus

2010-12-15T13:31:00.001-05:00

A beautiful artistic rendition of a topic I'd never really considered before.....

~~~~

Winter already?

2010-12-14T11:42:00.005-05:00

Hmmmmm....... Winter holidays? Love 'em! Snow? Not so much..... I thought the first official day of winter was December 21, so what's going on here?

I woke up yesterday to find this ......

And as pretty as it was, I was very glad it melted off quickly during the day ...... only to open the curtains this morning to find.....

I'm starting to think this is going to be another very loooooooooong winter....... sigh.....

~~~

Mackenzie's Christmas photo!

2010-12-13T11:21:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd share the photo we're sending to friends this year!

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season!

~~~~

Christmas card from me to you!

2010-12-13T11:13:00.002-05:00

I've been sent this beautiful on-line Christmas card by several people this year and wanted to share. Hope you enjoy it as you prepare for the celebration of our Savior's birth!!

~~~~

Unexpected Thanksgiving treat!

2010-11-26T16:46:00.011-05:00

Yesterday, Nelson, Mackenzie and I went to Harrisburg, PA to spend Thanksgiving Day with my daughter-in-law's family. They live within 20 minutes of Hershey Park and during the day, we were talking about the park, the chocolate factory, and all of the interesting things in Hershey. Mackenzie mentioned she'd never seen Hershey, so our hosts checked on-line and found out that the Chocolate World tours were open last evening. So after dinner, we took an impromptu trip over to Hershey's Chocolate World, did the tour, and then explored the gift stores and displays in the huge atrium area. I used my cell phone to take these pictures, so they're not the greatest shots in the world, but here they are anyway!!

They had this large, lovely tree right inside the front door....

And then -- look at this beautiful Christmas Cottage they had on display --

Now look again, more closely. You'll see that every single part of this house (which is as large as the storage shed in my back yard) is made of CANDY!! Wow!!

The roof is made of Cookies And Creme chocolate bars, and the spaces in between are individual Kit Kat bars! The decorative edges are large and small York Peppermint Patties and the red trim pieces are Twizzlers!

The design over the front door was created from wrapped and unwrapped Hershey Kisses.

Along the roof ridges, you can see Hershey Kisses that weigh almost 3 pounds each!

The front door design was created from red Twizzlers and the door wreath was made from holiday-wrapped Hershey Kisses!

The sidewalk was made from chocolate pieces and the door mat was a FIVE POUND Hershey bar!

The fence railings on the porch were covered with Ice Breakers Frost, wrapped with Twizzlers "ribbon" and the garland was made of more Hershey Kisses! The porch itself was made from white-chocolate-covered Kit Kat bars!

Each railing post was topped with another large Hershey Kiss. The stained glass windows were made of a sugary mix; the colored portions were Jolly Ranchers melted into it!

The snowman was covered with the Ice Breakers Frost; his hat was made from mini-Twizzlers; his scarf was long braided ropes of various flavors of Twizzler strings; his eyes were York Peppermint Pattys and his buttons were made of dark chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Even his "carrot" nose was made from orange Twizzler strings!

This isn't the greatest picture in the world, but this was the information poster that shows the details of types of candy used on this cottage.

For a confirmed chocoholic like me, what a treat this was!!
~~~

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-24T09:35:00.004-05:00

Enjoy your Turkey Day from two new perspectives!! Hope you have a wonderful, joyous and THANKFUL day!!

My big news of the week!

2010-11-23T19:24:00.009-05:00

Check out my new job!! WooooooHoooooo...... so very excited!!

http://www.briobirth.com/2010/11/meet-your-regional-reps.html

Meet your Regional Reps

We are so excited to introduce our Regional Representatives:

Region 1 - Laura DePreta
Region 2 - Jenn Riedy
Region 3 - Pam Llewellyn
Region 4 - Jo Garrett
Region 5 - Tracy Kemper
Region 6 - Debra Lawrence
Region 7 - Dena Jones
Region 8 - Kathy Kiger
Region 9 - Angie Taylor & Jenny David
Region 10 - Gretchen Vetter
Region 11 - Kimberly Bianco
Region 12 - Lynette Pettibone

We are so excited to work with these amazing educators! We encourage all of you to assist your Regional Rep in building your educator community and promoting Brio Birth courses in your area.

Posted by Brio Birth at 4:48 PM

Busy, busy month!

2010-11-21T10:30:00.010-05:00

My business partners and I have been extremely busy keeping up with all the "Snowmageddon babies" that were conceived during our back-to-back-to-back blizzards of last February! On November 10th and 11th, we did four births in under 36 hours! That might be a new record for our partnership!!

So...... my personal belated congratulations to the couples I worked with:

Jia and Matt, who gave birth to a baby girl, Leila, on November 11 at their home; it was a lovely homebirth for their second baby, and a personal victory for Jia, as her first labor two years ago had been long and difficult. This one was sweet and rewarding!

Kristina and John, who birthed their baby, Katherine, at our birthing center on November 16. This was their first baby, and Kristina did an AMAZING job of staying relaxed and calm all the way through the birth process! Good job, mama!!

And just yesterday, Ksenia and Adam gave birth -- after an EXTREMELY long labor -- to their beautiful little girl, Anastasia at our birth center in Virginia. I'm so incredibly proud of her; she was in ACTIVE labor for nearly 44 hours (71 hours total if you include early labor!) -- and she never ONCE asked to be taken to the hospital. This was a difficult struggle of a birth, and she did it!! Congratulations to this lovely family!

On top of all of this have been my interviews with a new childbirth organization to potentially be hired as a regional representative/teacher trainer. I had a first interview on Tuesday and was called back on Friday for a second, follow-up interview. I don't know when I'll know for sure whether or not I got the position, but I'm hopeful! More information to follow on that soon, hopefully!!

I'm being very bad today -- skipping church!! -- but after being away from my house for about 40 hours and hardly sleeping in two nights, I needed a break today!!

~~~~~~

2nd VBAC for Carole!

2010-11-07T23:28:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Carole and Ross, who welcomed baby Asher into their family this evening! This was Carole's second successful VBAC, and I was incredibly blessed to work with these two fabulous people. Getting to see their four older daughters (two biological, two adopted) arrive at the hospital afterwards to meet their new brother was absolutely priceless! What a joy! Welcome to the world, little boy -- and thank you to the whole family for allowing me to be part of such a special day.

~~~~

Another birth announcement!!

2010-10-29T12:02:00.000-04:00

A beautiful baby girl (as of now still unnamed!) joined the world early this AM!! Please join me in congratulating Marcela and Benjamin on the birth of their 2nd daughter, who was born at home at 1:34 this morning. Mom and baby are doing fantastically well!!

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The Honduran Adventures of Fluffy and Curly!!

2010-10-27T11:13:00.001-04:00

Mackenzie's two favorite stuffed dogs go on all trips with her. This time, she wanted to do a photo diary of the trip from their perspective -- so here it is!!
~~~~~

Day #1 -- Today, we got to fly with our Mommy, Mackenzie, on TWO big planes to Honduras. Planes are lots of fun!! We got to watch TV and play games!!

And of course, we ALWAYS put on our seat belts when the captain told us to!

Sometimes, we just snuggled with our Mommy during the ride.

And after the plane rides, we had to take a long, bumpy ride from the airport to our hotel. It was like a FOUR HOUR ride over really bumpy roads. Our mommy put us in the rolling crate (her carry-on bag) to keep up safe during that trip; otherwise, we might've bounced out the window!! Mommy didn't take any pictures of us that evening, 'cause she was REALLY tired!!

Day #2 -- Today, we woke up Mommy and told her we really, really, REALLY wanted to see the hotel. So here we are, exploring our new home!! This is us sitting on the desk in our hotel room. And of course, we too will only drink bottled water in Honduras. What self-respecting American dog would want to go home with a case of Monte-Ruffa's Revenge??

We sat on the bed and watched TV for a while, but found out that even Lassie and friends speak Spanish here!! We just watched the pictures.....

Then FINALLY Mommy took us out to explore. Here we are, checking out the pool.

We decided to work on our tans a bit. We're kind of pale (especially Fluffy!!)

The surroundings were so beautiful and the breeze was so nice!! This was doggy-heaven!

Later that day, Mommy and her family took a drive to visit a nearby fort called San Cristobal. We explored all the nooks and crannies, 'cause that's what busy dogs like us are supposed to do!

We helped guard the lookout towers. Those silly humans didn't seem to have any guards in those towers at all, so we took over. We're such good, responsible dogs!

Here we are again, on guard duty. We're staying VERY alert!

We even tried to operate the cannon, but nobody would help put in the cannon balls or light the thing!!

Mommy came and took us off the cannon and explained it was only there for decoration. Silly us!!

Then we all paused for a photo by the gates to the fort.

It was a fun day!!

Day #3 -- After two busy days of exploring and travel, our Mommy was VERY tired. When we woke up in the morning, she was SQUISHING us!!

Look at her hogging most of the bed. She hardly left any space at all for us!!

Later that day, we went up the mountains to visit Mommy's family. We stayed hidden all day, which is why you won't see us in these pictures. You see, they had LOTS and LOTS of animals that were much bigger than us, and it made us nervous. They had this CAT that kept scratching Mommy (why didn't she stop picking it up?? that's what we wanted to know!!).

And they had a BUNCH of big dogs. Mommy seemed to think they were absolutely wonderful. We didn't like them at all. We stayed hidden!

This one has the same name as one of Mommy's big dogs at home (Cody!). Still, we weren't sure he wouldn't eat us, so we didn't come out of hiding!

We must say, though, that those dogs may have the house with the coolest view in our whole family. I mean, really -- what dog wouldn't want to live in a place like this? Lots of room to run around and the best view ANYWHERE!

Our mommy's mom (our grandmother??) was busy all day making cakes. It smelled really good in the house. Why didn't we get any people food to try?? That is so NOT FAIR!!

Day #4 -- Unfortunately, on this day, "Grandma" went away to decorate cakes and took the camera with her, so there are no pictures of us. We wish we could've gone, 'cause we hear we could've jumped up and eaten CAKE!!

And chased chickens, turkeys, and geese around!!!

And played in this BIG field!!

But nobody let us do that, so instead, we stayed in the house with the BIG DOGS and MEAN CAT and hid some more...... sigh...... boring......

Day #5 -- This was the big day; the reaon we all came to Honduras in the first place -- AND MOMMY LEFT US HOME AGAIN!! That was so mean..... But Mommy explained that we would've been very bored and would've had to be on our best behavior, so maybe it was OK that we didn't come along.

Here's Mommy, waiting to go into the wedding.

Here's that cake again. And we never did get any to try....... we're very upset. But the humans look very happy, so we guess it must've tasted pretty good!

We're still upset that the CHICKENS got to come to the wedding and we didn't. We're so much better behaved and dignified than stupid birds....

.... and we would've had a lot of fun chasing this big fluffy one away from the food tables!!

And this moth??? We could've eaten an exotic new treat if we'd come too!!

And our "Grandma" found lots of new little friends that could've play with us if we'd come along. But nooooooo.......... we just stayed home in the crate.......... blah.......

Day #6 -- Mommy went to visit some really old ruins this day. She said it was a place called Copan Ruins. Here she is, climbing down the side of an old temple. We didn't go along -- it looked just too scary for little dogs like us -- and WAY too big for us to climb up!!

Day #7 -- This was our last day in Gracias, Honduras. Mommy took us for a ride to visit the town. Here we are, in front of an old church.

Mommy decided to get in the picture with us!!

And then we visited another old church. This one was REALLY pretty, and didn't even have the gate on the fence closed!! You mean dogs can just go in and out whenever they want to???

Nope, apparently not. We had to sit outside on the front step and get out picture taken there. We guess dogs are not supposed to go inside of churches after all!

Then Mommy discovered this big tree with pretty orange flower on it. The flowers were HUGE!!

Look at this!! The flowers were nearly as big as our heads!! (Mommy wouldn't let us eat the flower though!)

And then we visited ANOTHER church!! This town is full of old churches!!

We got to play on the gates. (Guess dogs aren't allowed inside this church, either!!)

We visited a few other places, and then we had to come back to the hotel so Mommy could finish packing for our trip back to Maryland. She made sure we were very comfortable in one of her bags!

Then we made another VERY long, VERY bumpy ride back to a big city called San Pedro Sula. Unfortunately, Mommy was starting to get sick. She didn't feel good at all. Look how sick she looks.

In our new hotel, we tried to go to sleep in the pretty bed.....

...... but right across the street from our hotel was a BIG park. We had to keep sneaking peeks out the window! It was fascinating being in the "big city"!!

Day #8 -- This was the day we took the two planes back home to Maryland. Sadly, Mommy was VERY, VERY sick on the plane, and so her mommy didn't take any pictures of us. But we got to sit and watch out the window as we flew away from Honduras.

Goodbye, Honduras, and goodbye to our Sowers family!! We hope we'll get to come back and visit you again sometime!!

~~~~

Happy Birth-Day......

2010-10-26T22:51:00.000-04:00

....to baby Lorenzo, born this evening at 5:08 pm to parents Holly and Chris (and big brother Jake)! Lovely homebirth of an 8 lb., 11 oz., 22" long baby boy! Parents and baby are happy, healthy, and doing well -- midwives and birth assistants could do with a bit more sleep!! :)

Welcome to the world, little boy!!

~~~~

Day #8 -- heading home!

2010-10-25T18:13:00.000-04:00

This last morning in Honduras, we ate breakfast in the hotel's cafe, called the Cafe Skandia. It reminded me of a mixture of an old-style diner and Ikea!! The food was abundant and good, and much of it was traditional American fare, for those who might've been looking forward to returning to French toast or bacon!!

Just outside the cafe was the swimming pool area. It was clean and lovely; I wish the weather had been a bit warmer, and that Mackenzie hadn't been sick -- she would've loved to go swimming here.

The lobby of the hotel -- a lousy picture I found on the internet somewhere!!

From the dining area looking towards the lobby of the hotel.

There was a beautiful mosaic picture on the wall of this area.....

.....here's a closer look at it.

On the other side of the lobby was a sitting area, with this wood carving surrounding a support column.

Mackenzie wanted her picture taken next to these flowers to show how large the floral display was.

Back in our room, after packing, I took a few more pictures from the balcony.

I read on-line that there are actually TWO statues like this in the park; from my window, I could only see one. They depict local women who would've done their laundry in the river in times past.

Another look at the cathedral at the end of the park. I can find no name for except the San Pedro Sula cathedral, so I guess that's what it's called. I wish we'd had more time -- I would have liked to have a look inside.

The bell tower.

Looking down the side of the cathedral and to the mountains beyond.

We headed off to the airport around 9 AM. Thankfully, the drive in the "big city" is faster (and easier on the rear ends!) than the drives tend to be in rural areas of Honduras. I had shown a picture on Day 1 of the size of the airport from the outside. Here are two interesting shots to show how small it really is. The departing gates are upstairs, and in these pictures, I'm standing between gate 1 and 2.

Looking to the closest end, with a snack shop and coffee shop.

And looking down the entire length of the departure gates. Yup -- that's it!! No way you'll get lost, like in Atlanta, BWI, or Chicago!! Just one long room with 8 "areas" for departure! If you can't figure this one out, you should NOT be flying alone!!

A few shots out the window, just to show how uncluttered and slow the airport is.

You'd never see a tarmac this empty at any local airports in the MD/DC/VA area!

At the gift shop in the airport, I found some Honduran jewelry in orange -- Mackenzie's favorite color! Here she is modeling it -- and even smiling though she felt so sick -- what a trooper!

And finally, on the plane, getting ready to head to Atlanta and then home.

A few last photos taken from the window....

....and then we're off....

.....as we head higher into the sky.....

.....looking at the beautiful land below...

.....and hoping we'll get to return someday....

'Bye, Sowers family and Honduras!

~~~~

Day #7 (Part 2) --The trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras

2010-10-25T15:38:00.000-04:00

After getting the LandCruiser loaded and all the passengers loaded as well, we took off on the long, bumpy trip to San Pedro Sula. We stopped not too far down the road to take some pictures.....

Mackenzie kept herself occupied by playing the Nintendo DS most of the day. Sometime that evening, I found out she'd had a sore throat since the AM and was feeling pretty bad, but for most of the day, she kept it pretty well hidden!

On the day we had arrived in Honduras, we had seen a street vendor selling these strange-looking fruits. With the busy days leading up to the wedding, there really wasn't much time to find out about them, but now on the way back to the "big city", we realized if we didn't find them soon, we'd NEVER get to try them. My niece, Kirstin, had described them to us as having an outer skin that peeled like an orange, contains a white fruit like the inside of a grape, and a small pit in the middle, rather like a peach. With that strange description in mind, we decided we MUST try one. Trish was able to find another person selling these on the street -- here's a bagful of them.

We studied them rather suspiciously -- even my rather adventuresome father (in the background) didn't think they looked terribly appetizing!

Displaying the strange-looking fruit for the camera.

Some way of getting the outer skin punctured is needed to start eating this fruit. In our case, it was suggested that we use our teeth to pull off a spot. Once that was done, we could see the inner fruit -- which indeed DID look rather like a grape, and which was sweeter than probably any other fruit I've ever eaten. It was REALLY good -- but a lot of work for such a small piece of fruit.

During this drive, we were able to stop at a small roadside stand, rather like a souvenir shop, and buy some interesting items to bring home. The long drive also gave all of us the chance to chat and get caught up a bit, as we really had been pretty busy in the days leading up to the wedding.

We arrived at our hotel, the Gran Hotel Sula, around 4:45 pm. Here's a picture of it from outside --

-- and from the park across the street.

Our room looked like this --

(BTW, the three pictures above are NOT mine -- I found them on other places on the web!! For some reason, almost all of the room shots I took are no longer on my memory card -- weird.)

These pictures below ARE mine!! This is a view from our balcony to the park directly across the street.

Here's the local municipal building. I like the sculpture of the bird on the building just above the clock. Why the clock says almost 9:00 is a mystery -- obviously, it would've been too dark to take these pictures at that time of night!!

A beautiful church towards the end of the block.

And you can ALWAYS feel at home if there's a McDonald's nearby!! (And NO, we did NOT go there to eat, in case you're wondering -- but I suspect that even there, your burger might come with a side of refried beans, tortillas, or fried plantains!!)

Sunset over the mountains surrounding San Pedro Sula.

Around 6:30 or so, we all loaded back into the LandCruiser and headed off to a local steakhouse that Allan knew of.

Outside the restaurant was a pond full of turtles -- Mackenzie found this fascinating!

And as we waited to be served, we got a view of this critter on the outside of the window!

The place looked pretty much like any American steakhouse you might find, and was even decorated with cobwebs and scary stuff for Halloween already!

Last photos of family -- my sister Trish and her husband Allan.....

......my dad and mom......

..... Mackenzie and me.....

....and "Cousin" Bob!! I'm not sure I've even written about Bob this week. He's a friend of the Sowers family; I'm not even sure how they all met originally, and interestingly enough, his last name is also Sowers! Even though there seems to be no family connection that any of them can find, they've decided to jokingly nickname him "Cousin Bob"!! So that's pretty much how we referred to him during the week!

The area we were sitting in was all eating area; I realized later that outside the eating area, under a pavilion, was another eating area, the grill where the steaks were cooked and a bar.

I wandered outside for a few minutes to get pictures and watch our dinner being cooked!

A view of the bar....

...the entrance/exit to the restaurant, and the display case on the right with the yummy-looking desserts!!

And Mackenzie posing with the cow!

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was pretty late, and Mackenzie was DEFINITELY not feeling well, so there are no photos from the evening, except for this..... (Kenzie's favorite stuffed animals!!).....

Then she crashed, sound asleep, while I stayed up entirely too late and watched the first of the rescues of the Chilean miners! While I couldn't find any broadcasts in English, it didn't really matter -- the relief on the faces of the rescued miners, the pride of their co-workers and the joy of the families were things easily understood, no matter what language barrier there might be!

And then off to sleep for a long day of travel the next morning.......

~~~~

The sing-along!

2010-10-24T14:33:00.000-04:00

Our dog, Cody, is back to his old tricks. He's started singing along when Mackenzie practices her violin. There seems to be something that's especially interesting to him about the open E string -- that's when he does most of his "singing".

I promise I will finish up the Honduras post soon, but I've just been super-busy...... in the meantime, hope you enjoy this!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCPL-AsO1jo

~~~~

Day #7 in Honduras (Part # 1) -- Touring Gracias and preparing to leave

2010-10-22T11:30:00.003-04:00

The morning of our last day in Gracias, Honduras -- and Mackenzie is still trying to learn Spanish by the "immersion" method. I mean, seriously -- is there any better way to learn another language than by watching cartoons??

Luggage was all packed and ready to go.

Kenzie decided to do something special for the maids -- she used a bath towel to create a swan, like she'd learned on our last cruise. I was surprised that she remembered how to do it, but obviously, she's very good at remembering all those creative-types of things!

Kenzie posing with our favorite waiter, Fernando -- whose name (I found out on this last day) is really Joni Fernando!! Hope he didn't mind us using a shortened version all week long....... : (

While waiting for us to get ready for our tour around the city, Kenzie took one last opportunity to relax by the pool.

Then we hopped into Allan's LandCruiser and began our tour of the city. Now, we had been through almost the entire city during the course of the week, but we were always on our way to or from shopping, or the wedding, or some other event. I had seen several things that I really wanted to get a better look at before leaving Gracias, so I asked for a last-minute guided tour, 'cause who knows when I'll ever get a chance to go back there again?

Unfortunately, I didn't write down the name of this church, and I've spent entirely too much time on the internet trying to research it with no success, so I'm going to have to ask my Honduran-living relatives to fill me in on this one. Trish -- help???

These huge trees are called ceiba (pronounced "say-ba") and they grow to enormous proportions. We saw many of these while in Honduras.

We drove down this side street and stopped to get a picture of the scenery and the gardens of the house on the left.

Another shot of the wall and garden.

San Marcos church next to the central park.

This church has beautiful gates -- actually, the entire church is beautiful!

The sanctuary and altar inside San Marcos.

A closer view of the altar area.

A view of the door of the church from the inside looking out.

The side of the church.

The park next to the church was remodeled about two years ago and contains some very interesting things..... this is a statue of Lempira, a chief of the Lencas.

This is the visitor's center in the park.

Mackenzie found this tree and its flowers to be interesting, partly because she loves the color orange and partly because the blossoms were so large and resembled lilies.

These two statues made me laugh. I'm assuming the one is Mary and Jesus; the other, I forgot who it was -- but the part that made me laugh was that someone (maybe during the last renovation?) decided to paint the hair, glasses, moustaches, etc. on these statues with black paint. It just made them look funny to me!

This is the "Palacio Municipal" which I believe was where the government offices were located.

A monument in the park -- I couldn't determine what it was for.

And a statue dedicated to the workers of Gracias.

Who decided that a police station should look like a castle or a fort? This building had turret-like structures on the ends. Very interesting!! Hopefully, I won't be thrown into the tower for commenting on this unusual architectural design!

Even the entrance looks like a castle door!

This is the Iglesia la Merced. I wish we could've gone inside, as I'd seen some beautiful pictures of it on the web. It supposedly is the oldest church in Gracias, and it certainly is lovely.

The view down another side street. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the mountains and the clouds over them -- they're so incredibly beautiful.

These were the stores and shops located across the street from our hotel. I wish I'd had more time to explore a bit!

This is what the taxi cabs in Gracias look like. I cannot begin to imagine how bumpy those things must be with three wheels and driving on cobblestone streets. My back starts to ache just thinking about it!

Every bank that I saw had at least one armed guard in front of it. I don't know how well these guys are trained -- or if they are trained at all -- but I know I wouldn't mess around with someone carrying a gun that large!

I saw several places during the week that had World Vision's logo on it. Apparently, some of their visiting staff was staying at our hotel the last day we were there.

And then it was time to start packing the LandCruiser. We had to put seven people and the luggage for that many people into the Cruiser. We finally decided that it might just be easier and better if we put most of it on the roof and give ourselves a bit more leg room.

Finally, after getting it all strapped down, it was time to start the long drive back to San Pedro Sula. More on the drive and our stay in the city in my next blog posting.

~~~~~

Birth Announcement!!

2010-10-20T17:25:00.000-04:00

We interrupt this series of Honduran posts to announce the birth of beautiful little Chesed Joy -- I was told her name refers to God's covenant kindness!! She was born Monday evening around 8 pm after only a four hour labor, and weighed in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce. Congratulations to the parents, Laura and Joel, and big sister, Grace. Welcome to the world, little girl!!

Day #6 in Honduras -- Our Visit to Copán Ruins

2010-10-20T17:22:00.003-04:00

We saw so many interesting things on our trip to Copán that I'm not even sure how to organize or display them here. This may end up turning into two posts -- we'll see!!

This was the first overcast morning we had the whole time we were in Honduras, and I was a bit concerned that our outing might get rained on. However, it cleared up later, and the weather was fabulous by afternoon.

Sights on the sides of the roads --

Riding two on a mule (or a horse, I can't tell in this shot!)

Carrying loads of wood..... and a spare roll of toilet paper, just in case!

A mule carrying a load down the road, with no-one guiding him!

Sights that take your breath away in fear.....

.....or sights that leave you nearly breathless from their beauty.

What drive through Honduras would be complete without encountering the guy herding his cattle down the road?

Once we reached Copán, we decided to hire a tour guide to show us around and explain what we were seeing. This was VERY helpful, and I know the kids found the information he shared to be quite interesting!

I took this video while standing in the Great Plaza to try to show how huge of an area it covers. You can also hear the voice of our tour guide describing one of the artifacts displayed on the plaza.

This was an altar used for human sacrifice. The guide told us the curved trough cut in the stone was used to allow the blood to flow down for collection -- yuck!

The kids were allowed to climb up the stairs of this temple; this was exciting to them!! And boy, are those steps high and steep!

The cousins at the top!

The ball field -- and the captain of the WINNING team was sacrificed after their victory. It was supposedly considered a huge honor!

The guide said this statue was their "fertility god"!! I think this thing would scare anybody from wanting to have a baby!!

Kenzie looking down onto the grounds of the royal residences.

David and Kenzie taking a break near a carving they liked!

The kids all got a kick out of this statue of a "dancer"!! They thought it looked like a teddy bear!

Looking down from the tallest temple onto the ball field.

Kenzie and David with another sculpture they liked.

Kenzie and I posed on the steps on the back of the tall temple, shortly before the tour ended.

The three musketeers -- and their tour guide!

After leaving Copán Ruins, we headed into the nearby town -- which is called "Copán Ruinas"!! I loved this steep hill covered in cobble stones.

A view up a side street with another steep cobblestone road and a view of surrounding hillside.

Allan took us to a gift shop in town that he knew had good prices, and while we were getting out of the LandCruiser, look who we ran into -- the newlyweds!! They were staying at a nearby hotel for their honeymoon!

A church on the plaza in the center of town.

A very pretty hotel next to the church -- this is where Russell and Iris were staying for their honeymoon.

A fountain in the park -- I wish it had been running!!

And what posting would be complete without a picture of our meal? Allan picked up some very traditional food from a street vendor. He supervised the cooking of five plates of the food, to make sure it was cooked well enough for our sensitive "gringo tummies"!!

After eating, we had another 2 1/2 hour trip back to the hotel in Gracias. We still needed to pack and get ready for the next day's trip back to San Pedro Sula. We would take a photo tour of Gracias first thing in the AM, as well. More on that in my next post!

~~~~

Day #5 in Honduras -- The Wedding Day!! (Part 4 -- The Reception)

2010-10-20T12:47:00.003-04:00

Russell and Iris stood outside so people could get a few pictures.

Then they moved to another spot for the formal posed shots.

Oops! Somewhere along the way, somebody realized that the little girls were missing from the photo session! Here they come!

And finally, the whole group together (PLUS one extra!! I think that's the lady announcer from the ceremony??)

I found the very eclectic gathering of people fascinating. Here are a few shots of folks attending the wedding.

Yet another party crasher!

And of course, we MUST have shots including the family members!

Posing with the cake!

One last photo before the demolition began!

Cutting the cake!

I cut the first several layers of cake, while these ladies watched how I disassembled and cut. They served the cake as well.

After a while, they figured out how I did it and offered to take this sticky job off my hands!! Yay!! (though I did notice that the pieces being served got increasingly larger as these gals served!!)

And here's what remained of that large cake and four sheet cakes!

With a large wedding like this, it wasn't surprising to see a large pile of gifts; I especially liked the gift "wagon"!

One thing we didn't get many pictures of was the buffet and the food. It seems like these are the only two photos I have of that aspect of the reception:

The bouquet toss --

Some things remain the same, no matter WHERE in the world you are!!

I had to stick this photo in! When I was decorating the cake the day before the wedding, there were four little girls that hung out around my workspace all day long. They were very curious as to what I was doing; they were very helpful, washing up plates and knives for me, helping me turn the large cake around to decorate another side, etc.; they tasted my American icing, tentatively at first and then with great gusto (!!); they helped shoo away the bees, wasps, etc.; and when the cake was done, one of the little girls very shyly asked for some help with her English schoolwork!! They were just so delightful and sweet, and when I saw them helping at the reception (as best as I could tell, they were workers, not guests!), I gathered the three I could find and had a picture taken with them. Here are my new little friends --

And so the afternoon finally ended, with guests piling into their trucks to leave --

Back at the hotel, Mackenzie and Boo decided to sit by the pool and cool their heels, literally and figuratively! Boo was still wearing her bridesmaid dress, so they just sat and chatted at the edge of the pool. It's a shame these two live so far apart -- they are just best buds when they get together!

Of course, no posting would be complete without yet more pictures of food. In the hotel restaurant, they brought out this appetizer -- nachos, refried beans, cheeses, all heated from below in this cool ceramic serving dish!

One more "of course" -- if a Tampa Bay baseball game is being shown on TV, be assured that my parents will find it to watch -- even in Honduras and even if the entire broadcast was done in Spanish!!

And that was the end of our very long and very happy day. Next day -- a trip to the Mayan ruins at Copan!!

~~~~~~

Day #5 in Honduras -- The Wedding Day!! (Part 3 -- The Wedding Ceremony)

2010-10-19T17:26:00.001-04:00

The bride, Iris, entered, escorted by her father. He's holding her dress slightly, because there was almost a trip-incident up at the beginning of the aisle, and he was trying to help!

She looks beautiful!

The maid of honor helps with the train

Iris and Russell stand on the stage next to the pastor.

They were supposed to sit on the little stools while he gave the message; however, they discovered that her under-skirt was too poofy and stiff, and she COULDN'T sit!! They ended up standing through the ceremony after all!

This young lady came up to do the Scripture reading.

Russell reciting his vows.....

....and Iris reciting hers.

At this point, the little ring bearers came forward with their ring pillows.

Russell giving Iris her ring....

....and Iris struggling to get Russell's ring on!

The pastor prayed for the couple.....

....while the congregation prayed for blessings on them as well.....

....and they are now husband and wife!! Kiss the bride!

At this point, most American weddings are done. However, there is one more Honduran tradition -- where the couple is lasso'd together! Iris's brother Melvin and his new bride (just married in April) were the ones to place the lasso around them.

The little boys and girls were ready to be done with the wedding and move on to the reception! Watch out for that little girl at the end with the scissors -- she looks a bit dangerous!!

And the wedding was over!!

Up the aisle, still lasso'd together, with the train carried by the ring bearers.

And it was time for the reception!! More to follow in the next post!

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