I thought I'd share a little humor today. I got this in an email this morning and it made me laugh so let's see what it does for you.

Welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline.

If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly.

If you are codependent, please ask someone to press 2.

If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5 and 6.

If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press. No one will answer.

If you are delusional and occasionally hallucinate, please be aware that the thing you are holding on the side of your head is alive and about to bite off your ear.

Marley & Me is a book we got my mother-in-law a couple of years ago. After reading it she gave it to me to borrow and it ended up on the shelf ever since. I am working on catching up on all of the books I have sitting around and thought I’d pick this one up.

Being the dog lover that I am, I knew this book would be a good one. Marley is a yellow lab that the author claims is the worst dog ever. Marley isn’t a mean dog, he is just rambunctious and anxious, and big. Whenever you have that combination in a dog you kind of know what might happen.

This was a great book. They even have a children’s version of it that my mother-in-law read with Evan.

I have to admit that I didn’t want to read the end of the book because I knew it would mean saying goodbye to Marley. Our dog Abby is almost 11 and I find myself thinking about how much time she has left with us. You just never know. Our other dog, Chelsea died at the age of 11. Abby, however, has been much healthier and still has lots of spunk (when she’s not sleeping). She will bravely take on any sized dog even though she is a mere 4 lbs.

Anyway – back to Marley. This was a book that was very easy to read and had lots of laughs in it. I kept thinking to myself – why did they keep this dog after all it did? But after reading Marley’s story I can see so much good in him. Dogs have a way of getting inside our hearts you know.

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything out here and thought I’d better write something or you would think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth.

Last week we spent a week at the lake. We spent a day at the Ft. Wayne Zoo which was wonderful. It was only a little over an hour from the lake house and it was the 2nd time we had gone there. If you ever get a chance to go I highly recommend it. I’ve been to bigger zoos but this one has so much to offer. It is fairly reasonable to get in. Only $8 for adults and $5 for kids. They do have some things inside the zoo such as a train ride and a water ride that cost extra if you want to do them. I like the idea of only paying for what I’m participating in. Anyway – I saw my special monkey there and was pretty excited about that. Please don’t ask me what type of monkey it was because we saw tons of them there and let me just say it was cute. It was born on June 26, 2006 which happens to be my birthday. Well, I’m a few years older but let’s just leave it at that. We had been there last year right after it was born and it was clinging to it’s mother while she maneuvered around the monkey area and it was so cool to watch. This year my little monkey friend was out on its own with its mother nearby. I remember last year Evan and Todd had to peel (no pun intended) me away from the monkey area because I just loved watching the baby monkey with its mother. We had a great time there and then stopped at a pet store afterwards to see some cute puppies and pick up some supplies for our little furry girl at home.

One of the other days we went school shopping. That is always a blast ----- NOT. I say this because Evan is extremely picky about what he wears and he is also very hard to fit. Because he is big for his age we usually have to get very large sized pants and then cut off about 8 inches off of the length. And guess what? I don’t sew. Since he goes to a Christian school he has to dress up and wear dress slacks, and a shirt and tie on Wednesdays for chapel. There are no clip on ties that fit him anymore unless we want them to just go down to the middle of his chest. Hopefully I can learn how to tie a necktie before next Wednesday, and hopefully it will stay on all day.

We also had Evan’s birthday party last Saturday which was 4 days after his birthday. We had family and friends there and had a good time. We have a party every year. Evan loves having the kids of our friends there. He was counting down to his party the whole week we were there. I did miss having my sister there this year. She is in Mexico on business and couldn’t make it.

Now we are back to reality. I have to admit in some ways I’m not looking forward to things starting up again. Once school starts it seems like life gets so hectic because all of the other church activities, meetings, Cub Scouts, etc start up.

I know that Evan is not really looking forward to going back to school but I think he is ready in a lot of ways. He is so bored that I’ve become his best friend – playing with him a lot. Our house really needs some serious organization done on it. Hopefully when my friend goes back to school next Wednesday I’ll be able to be an adult and get some work done around the house.

A couple of weeks ago as I was trying to face my addiction to books my husband calls me to the computer where he has Amazon pulled up and shows me this book. He thought it looked like something I would enjoy. It is the “Women of Faith Novel of the Year”. Well you know I love the WOF conferences and how could I resist getting their novel of the year. So yes, I click the button and in 2 days it is at my doorstep. We pay one price annually and get free 2 day shipping so that really isn’t helping my book addiction at all.

Anyway – I get the book and even though I still have 50 or so other books to read I decide to read this one first. When I read about it on Amazon it sounded like a book about a lady who had it all but still wasn’t happy. I thought she somehow went and lived with the Amish or something to discover her purpose in life. Silly me – I guess I didn’t know what a Quaker was.

Quakers don’t refer to themselves as Quakers. The are called “The Religious Society of Friends”. They are not Amish and do use modern technology.

Here are their basic beliefs:
“Friends believe that there exists element of God's spirit in every human soul. Thus all persons have inherent worth, independent of their gender, race, age, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation. Their opposition to sexism, racism, religious intolerance, warfare and the death penalty comes from this belief.”

“Simplicity, pacifism, and inner revelation are long standing Quaker beliefs. Their religion does not consist of accepting specific beliefs or of engaging in certain practices; it involves each person's direct experience of God.”

This is a really good book. Heather, the main character in the book is starting to deal with the fact that she has a nice home, wonderful husband and son, and really everything that this world thinks is good, but is still not happy. This book really isn’t totally about her Quaker experience although it does play a part in the book. This book is broken into 3 sections. The first section is her discovery of her situation. The second is where she tries to figure out what to do about it, and the third is where she is stretched to live out what she knows is right.

I found myself jotting down notes while reading this book. I don’t normally do that but there was quite a bit I could relate to and a lot of good things to really think about. Here are some quotes from the book that I made note of.

Section 1

"I’m scared that God will ask more of me than I feel like giving. Not so much time – I’m used to not having time. But my life, my comfort."

"I’m used to taking care of things here, worrying about Will and you. I don’t even know what those dreams are anymore."

"We’ve got to figure something else out, Heather. I can’t keep working these hours; you can’t keep up this Jonesin’ stuff, because at the end of the day, we’re both still miserable even though we quote, have it all."

"We tend to fit the gospel into our lives and not our lives into the gospel, Jace."

"We’ve sold our souls by selling our time to the highest bidder."

"It seems like people in my parents’ generation knew how to keep from overloading themselves. Or maybe they just didn’t complain about it like we do. Haven’t figured out which."

Section 2

"I’m seeing firsthand what it means to be in the world but not of it."

"I’d rather use more grace for having tried and gotten it wrong than for not having tried at all."

"God is found in locales you’ve never imagined; you’ll meet Him in all sorts of faces and places you never thought possible."

Section 3

"Mr. Purpose has offered his hand, I’ve placed mine in his, and we’re riding along to someplace I’ve probably never dreamed of."

"I could have been in my house at this moment, sitting on my plush couch with a cup of warm tea, a Bible in my lap, and a study book beside me begging God to make me whole while doing none of His dirty work. But no. I cut rot off tomatoes in a roach infested kitchen off of North Avenue. It didn’t get any better than this. I can’t believe I get to be here."

"God wants us to care for the poor and the lonely and the sick, not just for their sake, but for ours. Because in this, we become like Him, growing a bigger heart than we ever thought possible."

"Don’t die in the desert of your Christian radio, Pottery Barn lives."

"We can only change the world by changing ourselves."

"Sometimes we fail to notice a shadow darting through trees and jumping over the river just out of our gaze, until one day, we realize how precious these years are, how more precious the next ones will be, and how we’d better confront the shadow if we want to live in peace."

Today is Evan's 9th birthday. I cannot believe he is 9 already. We love you Evan and hope you have a wonderful day!

One of the blogs I always enjoy reading is Antique Mommy. She normally writes stories about her experiences with her 3 yr old son Sean. Over the past 2 weeks, however, she has been writing about her grandmother. It is in 6 separate posts. Antique Mommy is a very gifted writer. I strongly suggest reading this true story. It will touch you. I promise.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Conclusion

Our dog Abby is pretty much into people food. She is good about eating her dog food but when we sit down to eat she is right there begging for whatever we can spare off of our plates. Sometimes we eat on TV trays and if Evan gets up and forgets to push back his tray she will try her luck at getting at his leftovers. She's sneaky like that.

For some reason she loves cooked pasta. She will go crazy for plain old pasta. Of course I don't give it to her with any type of sauce on it because she thinks it's great just the way it is. Cheese is also one of her favorites. As a matter of fact I hide any pills she ever has to take inside a piece of cheese and she gobbles it up. Never mind that weird taste it gets with a pill wrapped inside.

She even likes ice cream and yogurt. She likes to lick the lids off of my yogurt cups. I guess she is just as interested as I am in keeping her digestive track healthy when licking my Activia lids.

The only thing I've found that she doesn't like is bananas. And don't think you can trick her with strawberry-banana yogurt either. One sniff of that and she is turned off.

We used to have a maltese-pomeranian that loved chicken. Even if I got raw chicken out of the fridge she would go nuts.

Oh - did I mention that Abby loves bologna too? For some reason our mailman started giving her bologna. Any time she sees a mail truck she practically strangles herself to get to it. Sometimes she even trips over her own feet getting there. I try to tell her that only our wonderful mailman gives her bologna. It can get kind of disgusting in the summer on the days I work and the mail sits in the mailbox for awhile and the bologna is slowing cooking. Even on Sundays she drags me down to the mailbox to see if there is something there. By the way - our mailman is pretty cool. He asked me once if Abby would want to ride with him around the block. I told him she is not the best traveler. He then started naming off some of the dogs in the neighborhood that he has taken for a ride. I thought that was pretty humorous.

So - if you have a pet - what kind of people food do they like?

I found this really cool prayer in my KLOVE devotional a few weeks ago. Thought I'd share it. It's something I need to pray everyday.

Lord, help me to give my children the best – not of things, but of myself, cherishing them on good days and bad, theirs and mine. Teach me to accept them for who they are, not just for what they do; to listen to what they say, if only so they’ll listen to me; to encourage their goals, not mine. Let me give them a home where respect and integrity are the cornerstones, and there’s enough happiness to raise the roof. May I give them the courage to be true to themselves; the independence to take care of themselves, and the faith to believe in You. May I discipline them without demeaning them, demand good manners without forgetting my own, and let them know they have limitless love no matter what they do. Let me feed them properly, clothe them adequately, and have enough to give them small allowances – not for the work they do, but the pleasure they bring. Let me be moderate in all these things, so that the joy of getting will help them discover the joy of giving. See that their responsibilities are real but not burdensome, that my expectations are high but not overwhelming, and that my praise is thoughtful and given when it’s due. Help me to teach them that excellence is work’s real reward. And when it comes – let me revel in each honor, however small, without once pretending that it’s mine – my children are glories enough. Above all, let me ground them so well in Your truth that I can let them go. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

I tend to like most of the books I read. I guess because I usually check out their reviews first before buying them or they are given to me from a friend to borrow. I loved this book. What I loved most was the way it was written from the perspective of a 10 yr old girl. It’s a story taking place back in the late 50’s. Sally O’Malley takes us on a childhood journey which includes her older sister Nell and younger sister Troo. Before Sally’s dad passes away from injuries he received in a car accident she promises him she will take care of Troo.

Sally has a mother who ends up sick in the hospital for weeks and she is left with a step-father who loves the bottle and is rarely home. Her sister Nell is wrapped up in her boyfriend and doesn’t do a very good job of taking care of the two younger girls. While Sally is dealing with taking care of Troo she is also faced with 2 girls around her age that had been murdered in her neighborhood. She is fearful that she will be next. Sally has a wild imagination and as she tells the story of her childhood there is lots of humor that goes right along with it. I just loved how she phrased things. I highly recommend this book. It was one of those books that I didn’t want to end. I just wanted to keep on living with Sally O’Malley and finding out where the rest of her life took her.

You've got to check out this site. They are soooooo cute.

I am signing up to take the Proverbs Challenge that Karolee at My Montana Moments is hosting. I have not been spending time reading the Bible like I should so this is exactly what I need to get me going. If you are interested in joining the challenge just click on the button above.